Lyra Heartstrings was feeling very excited. It was a sunny Friday morning in Canterlot, and the weather was beginning to warm up again. As a bonus, it was also the last day before the traditional week-long February break, and she was looking forward to having several days to relax and sleep in. As she walked along the road to Canterlot High School, the morning sunlight illuminating her mint green skin and her lush turquoise and white hair, she hummed a cheerful classical melody and smiled.
When Lyra arrived at the school, she saw her best friend sitting on a bench, and jogged over to sit down next to her. "Good morning, Bonnie!" she chirped. "What's up?"
"Nothing much, Lyra," Bon Bon replied. She had cream-colored skin and curly dark blue and pink hair. "Just looking forward to vacation."
"Me too!" Lyra agreed. "I wish we didn't have a math test today, though."
"Same! Who schedules a test on literally the last day before a break?"
"Apparently Mr. Cranky does. But I'm sure we'll do fine. Want to go inside, hang out in the library or something?"
"Sure!" Lyra and Bon Bon got up from the bench. They passed by the large marble Wondercolt statue, then walked up the steps and into the building. As usual, only a handful of students and teachers were in the halls when Lyra and Bon Bon entered. Since they both lived within half a mile of the school, they often got there a few minutes early, which gave them some extra time to hang out in the library or cafeteria.
As the girls passed by the administrative offices, they were greeted by Principal Celestia. "Good morning, Lyra and Bon Bon!" Celestia said with a warm smile. "A pleasure to see you. How are you doing today?"
"We're doing great!" said Lyra. "We're just going to the library before classes start."
"That's good." Celestia smiled, then thought for a moment. "Since you're good students who know the school well, do you think you could stay for an extra half hour after school today? I know it's the last day before vacation, but I was wondering if you could do me a favor."
"Um... sure," said Lyra. "What kind of favor?"
"Would you be willing to give a new student a tour of the school this afternoon?" Celestia asked. "His name's Sky Scraper. He's in tenth grade, the same year as you. He had some trouble at his old school, but I'm sure you two could help him settle in nicely here."
"Trouble at his old school?" Lyra asked.
Celestia nodded. "Yes. Sky is transferring here from Crystal Prep."
Bon Bon groaned. "Oh, great. A Shadowbolt coming over here... just what we need."
"Oh, don't be so negative!" Lyra scolded. "We haven't even met the guy yet."
"I agree with Lyra," said Celestia. "It's not right to judge someone simply because of what school they used to attend. Are you still up for giving Sky a tour?"
"Sure thing!" said Lyra. Bon Bon hesitated for a moment, but Lyra gave her a nudge.
"All right..." Bon Bon said halfheartedly.
"Splendid!" said Celestia. "Wait for Sky in the main atrium after school gets out today. I'm sure the tour won't take too long." And with that, Celestia continued walking down the hall.
Soon many more students began filing into the building. "We'd better go to class now," said Lyra. Bon Bon nodded in agreement. As the two girls went their separate ways, Lyra was looking forward to meeting the new student, but Bon Bon felt unsure.
That afternoon, Sky got ready to go to Canterlot High for his tour. "All right, I'm heading over to CHS now," he told his mother as he walked downstairs into the living room.
"All right," said Evening. "See you in about an hour then?"
"Sure." Sky reached over to the bookshelf to grab his phone, but then remembered it wasn't there. As punishment for what he'd done on Monday, Sky's parents had taken away his phone and laptop for the next month. He was also grounded for the same amount of time, meaning he wouldn't be allowed to go anywhere except to and from school. All things considered, Sky thought the punishment was fair. He pet Duke on his way out the front door, then set off down the street.
As Evening had mentioned earlier, Canterlot High wasn't very far away at all. It was only a mile west of Sky's house, which was quite a bit closer than Crystal Prep was. Sky enjoyed the walk there - the weather was the warmest it had been in months, and there weren't too many other people on the streets. Sky always appreciated a bit of solitude whenever he was out walking.
Within fifteen minutes, Sky arrived at CHS. From the outside, the building looked rather nice. It was about the same size as Crystal Prep, but looked much more inviting. Compared to Crystal Prep's cold spiky exterior, the simple red brick facade of CHS seemed more personable and down to earth. There was also a big white statue of a horse in front of the building, which Sky thought was pretty cool. He was glad that CHS had a different appearance from his old school, and hoped the same would hold true for the inside.
After admiring the building for a little while, Sky walked up the steps to the main entrance and entered the school. In the main atrium, two girls were waiting for him. "Hi!" said one, a girl with a minty color scheme. "Are you Sky Scraper?"
"Um... yep, that's me," Sky Scraper replied. "Are you two giving me a tour?"
"We sure are!" the minty girl replied. "I'm Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings."
"And I'm Bon Bon," said the other girl. "Well, my real name's Sweetie Drops, but I prefer to be called Bon Bon."
Sky smiled. "Nice to meet both of you." He then felt a feeling of warmth inside him as he looked at Lyra. Without a doubt, she was the prettiest girl he'd seen in a long time. She had a beautiful color scheme, an adorable hairstyle, and a pair of gorgeous golden eyes. She was also wearing a lovely outfit, consisting of a sleeveless magenta dress and a pair of frilly blue shorts. Simply put, she looked amazing.
"So where do you want us to start the tour?" Lyra asked him. "Do you know where your classes are?"
Sky shook himself out of his trance. "Uh... nope. I haven't gotten my schedule yet."
"That's fine," said Lyra. "We'll just go this way, then. Follow us!" Lyra and Bon Bon led Sky down the corridor to the left. As they walked, they asked him some questions to get to know him better.
"So you're from Crystal Prep, huh?" Bon Bon asked.
"Yep..." Sky replied. "Unfortunately."
"How come you transferred?" Lyra chimed in. "Just didn't like it there?"
Sky thought about what to say, then decided there was no point in glossing over the truth. "Well, yeah, I didn't like it there. But the real reason is because I got expelled."
"For what?" Lyra and Bon Bon asked in unison.
"Well... I was a bit of a troublemaker at Crystal Prep, not gonna lie. I guess it was my way of protesting against the strict rules and the arrogant culture. Then a few days ago I got into a fight, and... well, that was the last straw."
Lyra looked at Sky sympathetically. "Wow, I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad time there. I'm sure you'll like CHS better, though. People here are a lot nicer and more relaxed."
"As long as you don't cause any more trouble," added Bon Bon.
"I can assure you that I won't," said Sky. "I'm looking forward to getting a fresh start."
"Good," said Bon Bon.
Sky turned to Lyra. "By the way, I, um... really like your outfit," he said with a smile.
Lyra grinned. "Thank you!" she giggled. "I like yours, too!"
Sky was wearing his preferred everyday outfit; a royal blue polo shirt and a pair of black jeans. On his shirt's chest pocket was a symbol of a skyscraper. "Thanks. I'm glad I can finally dress the way I want. Much better than wearing the exact same uniform as everyone else."
"Yeah, I heard Crystal Prep makes everyone wear a uniform. That must have sucked."
"Pretty much everything about Crystal Prep sucked," Sky quipped, eliciting another laugh from Lyra.
"Maybe this is the year we finally beat them in the Friendship Games," said Bon Bon.
Sky smirked. "Even though my cousin's trying out for the Crystal Prep team, I would love to see that happen."
"You have a cousin at Crystal Prep?" Lyra asked.
Sky nodded. "Yep! Her name's Sugarcoat. She and I have been close ever since we were little. Going to school with her was the only good thing about my time at Crystal Prep - she was pretty much my only friend there."
"Well, at least you weren't completely alone," Lyra said kindly. "One friend is still better than none."
"True," Sky agreed. "Hopefully I won't be so lonely here, though."
"Oh, I'm sure you won't be," Lyra said with a smile. "Making friends here is pretty easy, and you already have us to start with!"
Sky couldn't help but smile. It meant a lot that Lyra was already thinking of him as a friend, even though they'd just met.
"As for Lyra and I, we go all the way back to kindergarten," put in Bon Bon. "We've been best friends for ten years!" She and Lyra looked at each other and put their arms around each other's shoulders.
"Really?" Sky exclaimed. "Wow, that's a long time! You must know each other really well by now."
"We sure do!" Lyra giggled. "We have a lot of secrets..."
"...that are kept just between the two of us," Bon Bon finished.
"Then I will ask no further questions," Sky chuckled.
After showing him around the north wing of the first floor, which included the cafeteria and the band room, Lyra and Bon Bon led Sky to the school's library, another large atrium at the center of the school. When Sky walked in, he was very impressed. Nearly every inch of the round walls was lined with bookshelves, and a golden statue of a horse's head sat atop a circular computer desk in the middle of the room. There were two sets of stairs leading up to a mezzanine level, and the dome-shaped roof was made out of blue glass, which let in plenty of sunlight. It was quite the contrast from the dark and gloomy library at Crystal Prep. "Wow, this library is amazing!" Sky remarked.
"Isn't it?" Lyra agreed. "It's a nice place to study or just relax with your friends. Let's go upstairs!" She led Sky up one of the staircases to the mezzanine, and Bon Bon followed behind. From there, the trio headed out a side door and into the second-floor corridor.
"By the way, how many floors does this school have?" Sky asked. "From the outside, I couldn't tell if it was two or three."
"There are three, but the third floor is only used for storage and offices," Lyra explained.
"So basically only two," said Bon Bon.
Sky nodded. "Ah, good to know. Crystal Prep has four, which I always thought was overkill."
"Oh, definitely," Lyra agreed. "By the way, what do you like to do in your free time?"
"Well, I like to draw stuff, usually buildings," said Sky. "I've always been interested in architecture, which is why I have this symbol on my shirt." He pointed to the skyscraper symbol on his chest pocket.
"That's awesome!" said Lyra. "Architecture is really cool. Are you going to take an art class here?"
"Yep! I signed up for Drawing & Painting - hopefully it gets put on my schedule."
"I hope so! Bonnie and I are taking that class too, so maybe you'll be in the same class as us!"
"That would be great! Anyway, what kind of hobbies do you like to do?"
Lyra smiled as she held up the gold pendant around her neck. It was shaped like a lyre. "Well, I've been playing the harp since I was really young. I got this necklace for my birthday a few years ago."
"That's amazing!" said Sky. "The harp is one of my favorite instruments, it sounds so smooth!"
"It does!" Lyra agreed. "My dad's also a harpist, and he began teaching me as soon as my fingers were long enough to pluck the strings. The golden harp we have at home is an heirloom in our family."
"You must come from a long line of talented people, then. I've never had any musical talent whatsoever."
"No shame in that. And if you change your mind, you're never too old to start learning!"
"Well, Lyra tried to teach me how to play once, but I was no good at it," Bon Bon chuckled. "I've always liked confectionery myself. Baking chocolate and other types of candies."
"Ooh, sweet!" said Sky. "You'll have to bring some to school someday."
"I do! I like to keep a stash in my locker. I don't have any in there now, though - wouldn't want to leave them there over break."
"Ah, of course. You're lucky that you get a whole week off like that - Crystal Prep is much stingier with vacations."
"Yeah, it's really nice," said Lyra. "After Christmas break, we get a week off in February and a week off in April, so a vacation every two months."
"That is a sweet deal!" said Sky. "I like this school way better than Crystal Prep already."
Lyra and Bon Bon showed Sky around the second floor, then went back down to the first floor and walked him through the south wing, which included the gymnasium. All in all, Sky quite liked the vibe of the school. It seemed like it would be a good place for him to make a fresh start. The tour finished back in the front atrium. "So what did you think?" Lyra asked.
"I really enjoyed that!" Sky replied. "And it was a pleasure meeting you, too! Thanks for giving me a tour."
"You're welcome!" said Lyra. "Any plans for your break next week?"
Sky shook his head. "No. After I got expelled, my parents grounded me for a month, so I'll be stuck at home for the whole week. Although that's still better than going to Crystal Prep."
"Sorry to hear you got grounded," said Lyra. "I don't have much planned either. Just relaxing and sleeping in."
"Sounds like a great plan to me!" said Sky. "Anyway, I'd better head home now. See you again soon!"
"Bye, Sky!" Lyra replied. "You too!"
Sky walked out of the building and began heading home, while Lyra and Bon Bon stayed in the atrium for a bit longer. "Well, looks like you and Sky hit it off pretty well," Bon Bon remarked.
"Yeah, I guess we did!" Lyra chuckled. "He seems nice, don't you think?"
Bon Bon thought for a moment. "Sort of, but for some reason I don't quite trust him. Maybe it's just because he's from Crystal Prep."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "I think you've been watching too many spy movies, Bon. He said a bunch of times that he hated Crystal Prep, so he's clearly not one of those types."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Still, I'm going to be keeping an eye on him."
Lyra shrugged. "Suit yourself. Anyway, let's go to the mall now. We were going to do that this afternoon, weren't we?"
"Of course! I'm ready if you are."
Lyra and Bon Bon smiled at each other, and the two girls headed out of the school to begin their February break.