"Today's the day!!!" Lyra and Bon Bon shouted in unison as they burst through the library doors.
"Shush!!!" hissed Miss Cheerilee, the school librarian. Lyra and Bon Bon just shrugged and giggled as they sat down next to Sky.
"The day for what?" Sky asked.
"The new SIA 97 movie premieres today!" Bon Bon replied. "Didn't you hear?"
"Well, I knew there was a new one, but I didn't know it was coming out today," said Sky. "I heard they filmed it in Monaco last summer. Is that true?"
Lyra nodded. "It sure is! Bonnie and I have been looking forward to it for months - they really went all out on this one!"
Bon Bon held her phone up to show Sky a picture of the franchise's lead actress. "Iris Magnifico. AKA Moonlight Envisage, AKA Special Intelligence Agent 97. Is she not the most gorgeous woman in the world?"
"She is quite stunning!" Sky agreed. "Doesn't she have a sister who's also an actress?"
"Yep! Iris and Chestnut, the Magnifico Sisters," said Lyra. "They had a falling-out not too long ago."
"I think Chestnut is jealous that Iris is prettier and more popular than her!" Bon Bon whispered.
"Well, I don't follow celebrity gossip, but that sounds about right to me," said Sky. "I've seen several good movies that have Iris, but I can't remember anything Chestnut's been in."
"That's because Iris is the superior actress and person," Bon Bon said with a smirk. "Iris Magnifico, my beloved..."
"Celebrity crush?" Sky chuckled.
"Mmm-hmm," said Lyra. "Bonnie's got a whole gallery of Iris pics on her phone."
Bon Bon blushed bright red. "No, I don't!"
"Last time I checked, you did," Lyra said smugly.
Bon Bon sighed. "Fine, maybe I do. I don't think you can blame me, though. Everyone loves Iris."
"True..." Lyra chuckled.
"What's the new movie called again?" Sky asked.
"SIA 97: The Monte Carlo Conspiracy!" said Lyra. "Say, if you're free on Sunday... do you want to watch it with us?"
Sky's eyes lit up. "Sure, that'd be great! What time were you thinking of? I'm not doing anything on Sunday, so any time works for me."
"We haven't decided yet," Lyra replied, "so I'll text you when we do!" She turned to Bon Bon. "Does that sound good to you, Bonnie?"
"Fine by me!" said Bon Bon. "It'll be me, you, Tavi and Sky."
"Octavia's a good friend of ours," Lyra explained to Sky. "British girl who plays the cello. Do you know her?"
Sky thought for a moment. "I think she's in my History class. I've never actually talked to her, though."
Lyra smiled. "Trust me, you'll love her once you get to know her. She might seem kind of stuck-up at first, but that girl knows how to party hard!"
"Nice," Sky chuckled. "Anyway, I was just doing some last-minute review for the Chem test today. Do you want to study with me?"
"Oh, sure!" said Lyra. "I could really use some of that. It's been three weeks and I've still barely figured out stoichiometry."
Sky nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that stuff's been tripping me up too."
"I took the test earlier today," said Bon Bon. "It's really not as bad as Dr. Hooves made it sound. The stoichiometry questions are pretty basic, easier than the ones on the homework. So it shouldn't give you too much trouble."
"Ah, that's good to know!" said Sky. "Maybe we're not screwed after all."
Lyra giggled, and she and Sky began reviewing their Chemistry notes together.
Eventually, the lunch period ended and it was time to head to class. "You feeling better about this?" Sky asked as he and Lyra went to Chemistry together.
"I think so," Lyra replied. "What about you?"
Sky nodded. "I think so too. Good luck, Lyra!"
Lyra smiled. "Same to you, Sky!"
Sky and Lyra arrived on time and sat down at their usual desks, which were located right next to each other. But before passing out the tests, Dr. Hooves made half the class move to the lab tables to prevent students from cheating. "Bye, Lyra..." Sky chuckled as he took his backpack and moved to the back of the room.
Once half the class had moved, Dr. Hooves began handing out the tests. As soon as Sky got his copy, he flipped through it. It was almost all multiple-choice questions, which was good.
"Does everyone have a copy of the test?" Dr. Hooves asked.
His students nodded in response.
"All right, then. You may begin now!"
Sky cleared out any possible distractions from his mind, and set to work.
Since it was a Friday, Sky didn't bother doing any homework when he came home from track practice. Instead, he took a nice cool shower, then sat on the couch and texted back and forth with Lyra. After getting her number on Monday, Sky had texted her for the first time on Wednesday evening. It was nice having a way to talk with her outside of school.
"How was practice? 🙂" Lyra asked via text.
"Tiring... 😅" Sky responded. "A lot of laps around the school. Needed a cool shower after!"
"Oooof! Yea, today was a warm one."
"It was! I'm probably gonna take Duke for a walk this evening."
"Ooh nice! I had to mow the lawn today. But we have a riding mower so it's fun." After sending that message, Lyra quickly typed another one. "My mom doesn't trust my sister with it anymore since she hit the garage wall last week 😂"
Sky burst out laughing. "Oh deer! 🤣" he typed back. "Hope not too much damage was done!"
"Nah, just a scratch on the front," Lyra replied. "She wasn't going very fast! 😛"
"Ah, good!"
"BTW, we're thinking of seeing the movie at 2pm Sunday," said Lyra. "Sound good?"
"Sounds good!" Sky replied. "Gives us time to get lunch before the movie."
"We thought the same thing. See ya then!"
"You too! 😄"
Lyra sent Sky a picture of her black cat sprawled out on the railing of the stairs. "Also, here's where Artemis fell asleep today... she takes naps in the weirdest places 😂"
Sky laughed again. "Classic 😁"
At that moment, the front door opened and Air Raider walked into the house. "Hey, buddy!" he said when he noticed Sky on the couch.
"Hey, Dad!" said Sky. "You're home early!"
Air nodded. "Yep! I managed to get out of work an hour early. How was school today?"
"Pretty good," Sky replied. "I had a Chemistry test today, which I think went pretty well."
"That's good! You're a lot better at Chemistry than I was."
"Well, it's tricky sometimes but the subject is really interesting. Also, I'm going to be seeing the new SIA 97 movie with some friends on Sunday, just so you know."
Air smiled. "Cool! Your mom and I were thinking of seeing that next weekend." He chuckled. "Don't spoil it for us!"
"Don't worry, I won't!"
Duke hurried into the living room and began sniffing Air, who bent down to pet him. After Air went to hang up his coat and set down his backpack, Duke walked over to Sky and awkwardly squeezed himself into the space between Sky's legs and the ottoman. "How is that comfortable for you?" Sky laughed.
After dinner, Sky was upstairs in his room again, using his laptop. He was reading an interesting article about some of Canterlot's historic buildings. He was about halfway through it when Evening Shade knocked on his door. "Yes?" Sky asked.
"It's time for Duke's last walk of the day," Evening replied. "Do you want to take him?"
"Sure!" said Sky. He closed the article and shut his laptop off, then went downstairs to find Duke. Duke was laying on his side on the living room rug. Sky walked over to him and said the magic words. "Are you ready?"
Duke's ears perked up, then he stood up and bolted into the kitchen, making a beeline for the back door. Sky followed and grabbed Duke's collar and leash from one of the cabinets. Once Duke had managed to sit still, allowing Sky to attach the collar and leash to him, Sky opened the back door and let Duke outside. After peeing in the backyard, Duke quickly led the way down the driveway. At the end of the driveway, Sky turned left and they set off down the street.
It was a perfect night for a walk. The air was warm and the sky was dotted with stars. Sturdy metal lampposts illuminated the quiet street with soft yellow lighting. This was the type of night that Sky found most relaxing; just him and his dog on a nice walk through their neighborhood. Tonight, however, he had a different route in mind.
As usual, Sky took a left when he reached the intersection with the street that led to Canterlot High. Two blocks later, he and Duke passed by the school. It was always a bit surreal to see CHS at night, quiet and empty with no lights on. While Sky stuck to the sidewalk, Duke walked along the grass, sniffing at the ground as he went along. Then Duke stopped, squatted, and took a dump about ten feet away from the Wondercolt statue.
Sky pulled a bag out of his pocket. "Nice going, taking a shit right on the school grounds," he chuckled as he opened the bag. Luckily, there was a trash can at the entrance to the soccer field, so Sky was able to quickly dispose of it.
After that, Sky and Duke were on their way again. A few blocks further south, they arrived in one of Canterlot's numerous downtown areas. The street got more crowded here, as many people were still out and about. Duke darted back and forth across the sidewalk, sniffing at the doors of restaurants on one side and at the bases of lampposts on the other. Most pedestrians smiled at Duke as they passed, but when Duke darted in front of one young woman, she nearly tripped and grunted in annoyance.
"Sorry!" said Sky. "He gets very excited whenever we come through here. There's a lot of stuff to sniff." He looked down at Duke. "Boy, you're just full of energy tonight, aren't you, bud?" Duke looked up at Sky and smiled.
At the end of the next block, Sky came to a busy intersection. Instead of turning left to start heading back home like he usually did, Sky pushed the button for the walk signal. The traffic lights went through a full cycle, but the walk signal didn't turn on. Sky began impatiently tapping his foot.
After three light cycles which seemed to take an eternity, the green symbol of a pedestrian finally flashed on, and Sky quickly jogged over the crosswalk with Duke.
On the other side of the street, the road curved slightly to the right. Tightly packed buildings gave way to lush trees and suburban homes with big yards. Here, Duke moved at a much more leisurely pace, occasionally sniffing at a tree when he passed by one. At the next set of traffic lights, Sky and Duke took a right turn onto a different street. This street ran alongside a small river before crossing over it via a stone arch bridge. On the other side of the bridge, Sky spotted the entrance to Meadowbrook Park, the destination he'd had in mind. He figured he'd take Duke for a walk through the park before heading home for the night. Although Sky had occasionally been to the park during the day, he'd never visited it after dark.
When Sky entered the park, he found that it felt even nicer at night. As far as he could tell, he and Duke were the only ones there, and it was completely quiet except for the occasional chirping of crickets. The paved pathways were illuminated by soft moonlight, and a gentle night breeze helped to cool the air. As Duke trotted through the park, he often stopped to munch on the grass. Sky had long since given up trying to dissuade Duke from eating grass. As long as it never made Duke sick, Sky figured it was fine.
Sky and Duke soon reached a fork in the path. The path to the right continued along the main loop, while the path to the left went uphill through a grove of trees. Although Sky had originally been planning to stick to the loop, the other path looked very inviting, and he couldn't recall ever going up it before. So just for a change, Sky turned left at the fork, and tugged on the leash for Duke to follow him.
The path turned out to be steeper than Sky had expected, and in some places the tree cover made it difficult to see. Duke, however, didn't seem to mind the steep walk, as he continued trotting along at his usual pace. Before long, Sky and Duke passed under the last few trees and arrived at a clearing at the top of the hill. There, Sky was greeted with the most amazing vista he had ever seen in his life.
Sky was standing at the summit of a big hill, and beyond the hilltop lay a panoramic view of the entire city of Canterlot. Sky had always felt that cities looked best at night, and that was certainly true of his home city. From where he stood, Sky could see the whole eastern side of Canterlot all lit up. In the foreground, the lights of suburban houses shone through the trees, and in the background, the bright lights of skyscrapers and radio antennae dominated the skyline. Between some buildings, Sky could even see parts of the ocean, where the moonlight shimmered off the water. Above it all, the starry night sky completed a beautiful picture.
Just behind him, Sky spotted a pair of wooden benches, and took a seat on one of them. For several minutes, he was perfectly content to just sit still and gaze out into the beautiful night. He soon began to dream of having Lyra next to him as he sat there. I bet Lyra would love this, he thought to himself. He could just imagine going out with her on a night just like this one, and then bringing her up here and showing her the breathtaking view he'd discovered. He could just imagine the starstruck look on her face when she saw it for the first time, and then her leaning her head on his shoulder as they gazed out into the starry night together.
Sky awoke from his fantasy when he spotted Duke walking toward the edge of the hilltop. He immediately jumped up and grabbed onto the leash. "Duke!" he called. "Come back here!" Duke quickly followed the command, and Sky pet him on the head. "That's a steep hill, Duke! You could have gotten hurt!"
Sky then pulled out his phone to check the time. The digital clock read 20:35. "All right, it's getting late. Come on, Duke, let's start heading back." He turned around and began leading Duke back down the path up which they had come. But Sky knew he would return to the view in the future, and he hoped that one of these days, Lyra would be by his side to enjoy it with him.