//------------------------------// // Cloudy Skies ahead // Story: Lemon Pies and Chess: Lemonade // by Lemon Pegasus //------------------------------// (-Around an hour and a half later-) Well, he was here now. School. The building was very much a lot smaller than what Lemon pictured; he pictured a large building with many rooms branching off, but this was just a block, like a house. It looked humble though, a large orange building with a prism roof, as well as a brown door and rectangle shaped windows on either side. The face of the building seemed to have been decorated with white swirling patterns, and a bell tower tipped the roof of the school. There was a small exposed porch at the foot of the door, a few white steps leading up to it, two pillars holding up a pointed roof. A sign post outside the fence perimeter of the building told Lemon that this was definitely the school of Ponyville, or at least the primary school. Only a handful of ponies around Lemon’s age were walking through the gates at this time, supposedly the rest of his future classmates were either already in the nearby playground or still at home. He started walking towards the schoolhouse, his head slightly low due to his shy attitude he felt when approaching the building that would ultimately decide his events for the next 6 years. Laughter and the sound of foals and fillies playing was arising from behind the large structure before Lemon, bringing him to the conclusion he should probably join them, at least until class started. It wasn’t until Lemon had walked the full length around the back of school and saw the playground of fillies and foals that he discovered just how nervous he was. Once his eyes met the faces of all those children, he froze! Once he managed to gain movement again, he retreated back to the side of the school, out of sight. Breathing heavily, he questioned himself. “Ah jeez, shit shit shit…” Despite his young age, his mind still possessed a colourful vocabulary. “Just go out there!” He was about to go… “No!” He did not. “What do I do, what do I say?” All the other ponies seemed to be happily playing; supposedly they already had some friends before going to school. Lemon… Lemon did not. A voice caught him off guard. “You okay, bro?” Lemon froze before turning to face the foal who was addressing him. “Uhm…” Lemon didn’t know exactly what to say here. The foal before him was a cyan unicorn with a brown mane, a few white patches at the tip of his tail. This unicorn, for some reason, was wearing a orange shirt, which really did not blend well with his blue fur. “I’m fine!” he smiled at the foal, who did not seem convinced. “So, that’s why you’re hiding behind the school?” Lemon suddenly abandoned his weak composure of leaning on the school in favour of a more broad one, which of course he was putting on in hopes this foal wouldn’t question him further. “I’m not hiding!” Lemon saw his opportunity to know somepony at this school, anypony as long as he didn’t have to go out to that playground by himself. “So… first day?” “...yes, it’s my first day…” The foal replied. Lemon wasn’t exactly sure how to get a name out of him, asking him would probably sound awkward. “You?” “Kind of-” Lemon was cut off. “Kind of? It’s either your first day or it isn’t…” Well, this unicorn didn’t seem like the most subtle of characters! His sudden aggression somehow made Lemon more confident, making him feel as if he had to stand his ground here. “Yes! It’s my first day!” He chuckled slightly, the way this pony was so easily irritated actually proved to be quite humorous! “Right! So, what’s your name, faget?” The pony asked. ‘Faget’ wasn’t exactly the nicest way to refer to Lemon, but he didn’t really care. “Lemon.” The unicorn chuckled. “You’re named after a fruit?” He stopped sniggering, “I’m Sky.” Finding a new breed of confidence, Lemon stepped away from the wall of the schoolhouse and started making his way towards the playground. “So, what’s with the lemon on your booty?” Sky asked Lemon, surprising the pegasus as to why he would use such an insensitive term as ‘booty’, but he answered nevertheless. “What, you’ve never seen a cutie mark before?” How a pony would have never heard of a cutie mark before was beyond Lemon, sure it wasn’t out of the ordinary to not own one, but to have never heard of one? “No, I know what a cutie mark is!” Well, that’s that mystery solved. “What I mean is: what’s your special talent? Not that I give one, just you know, being a friendly pony and all…” Honestly, what had Sky been up to in his life? His attitude was that of a modern teenager, but a six year old speaking like this? Again, Lemon didn’t really care. “Oh, right. I got it while brewing lemonade, so I’m assuming my talent is my brewery skills.” The two were now at the edge of playground, just walking and chatting until they found an ideal place to sit down. They eventually found an ideal spot under a tree, which Lemon compared to the Super Tree back at the orchard. “Hey Sky, you don’t have a cutie mark yet…” Lemon question Sky as he noticed the unicorn’s flank was blank. “Well spotted, Sherclop!” The foal sighed. “I never get to do what I want and find my cutie mark because my parents are travelers.” Lemon sympathized for Sky. “I mean, we’re packing and unpacking so often, I’m lucky if I stay anywhere long enough to start going to school.” “So, you don’t enjoy traveling?” Lemon asked, “I thought it might be rather exciting to see areas from all over Equestria?” Sky shook his head. “I get where you’re coming from, but what sounds worse: seeing great things but not being able to enjoy them, or just not being given the temptation?” Sky’s point made sense, actually. Seeing great things but being denied their happiness would in fact seem worse than just not seeing them at all. “Well, surely you don’t have to travel if you don’t want to?” Lemon took a slight interest to travel, but really he was going on with this conversation so he could get to know Sky more. “Well, what am I supposed to do?” He picked at the grass in front of his blue hooves, looking as if stressed yet sad, “they’re my parents, I have to go wherever they go.” A group of three ponies approaching Sky and Lemon made them look up. Their posture told Sky they were not friendly.