Six Hundred Words (written by OtterMatt)

by Spabble

Phone Tag

Lyra laid the magazine on her lap and leaned her head back against the sofa, closing her eyes. Her ears turned accusingly towards the kitchen as the blaring ring of the phone broke her relaxed state. Bon Bon’s hoofsteps sounded across the linoleum, followed by the clatter of the receiver being picked up.

“Hello? Oh, hi mom!” Lyra perked up a bit. Vanilla Bean was an awesome mare, and if she was calling, there was a chance they might be getting invited over for dinner. Lyra decided she needed to pay attention to this conversation.

“Oh, nothing much,” her marefriend said, “we did just take a trip into Canterlot for a musician’s conference.” A short pause. “Yeah, for Lyra. Some of her old ensemble friends wanted to discuss getting together for a benefit concert.”

Lyra debated getting up to say hi herself as Bon Bon went silent, apparently listening. “Yes, mom, I know,” she heard Bon Bon say, her voice quieter. “I know we didn’t come out for Hearth's Warming last year.” Lyra frowned and got up, walking over to the window, looking out at the dusting of snow Ponyville was just starting to accumulate as winter set in. “It depends. Is Red Hot going to be there?” Lyra winced. This conversation was going downhill fast, she could tell. “Well, if he’s going to be there, then I’m not.” And there it was.

“I don’t care if he is my brother, you remember just as well as we do how Hearth’s Warming went last time.” Bon Bon paused to listen. “Of course I love you all—even Red—but I can’t be around him. We’ll just end up in another fight and ruin things all over again.”

Lyra sighed. That had been one of the worst times of her life. It was bad enough when somepony fought with her directly, but to watch Bon Bon argue on her behalf—against her own family, no less—had been heartbreaking.

“Mom, I’m not going to go home for Hearth’s Warming without Lyra. It would still be awkward and I’d be lonely.” Another pause. “Well, yeah, her family didn’t start a fight because she had a marefriend.” Lyra walked to the kitchen doorway, staring at Bon-Bon’s back. Of course she would allow Bon Bon to go see her family without her, and Bon Bon likely knew it, but she wasn’t about to give in to her brother. Sometimes it was scary how stubborn she could be...

Don’t do this, Lyra tried to telepathically plead with her marefriend. Bon Bon’s head was bowed as she talked into the phone and her voice was sounding more and more strained. “Well, you didn’t exactly jump in to back me up, either,” she accused, making Lyra wince in sympathy.

Bon Bon held the phone away from her head, smacking her other hoof against her head and muttering to herself, “Stupid, why’d you say that?” She sighed and returned the phone to her ear. “Mom, don’t cry. I didn’t mean anything, really.”

There was a lengthy pause.

“I know. I’m sorry, too,” she said quietly into the phone. “I think this is a pretty good example of why I shouldn’t be at home when Red Hot is, though. I don’t want to keep putting you and dad through this year after year.”

Lyra walked silently across the floor, knowing she would be needed as soon as the conversation was over. Bon Bon’s shoulders were sagging with every sentence, it seemed.

“I know, mom, and I promise, we will come visit soon.” Bon Bon stopped to wipe a hoof across her eyes. “I don’t know, but we’ll make time. I promise.”

“I love you, too, mom. Bye.” Bon Bon set the receiver back on the countertop. She turned around to see Lyra already sitting right by her side, hooves out and ready for her to collapse into. Bon Bon did just that, trying to find a way to tell her marefriend what had just happened even as she was breaking down into tears, but Lyra shushed, gently comforting her.

Comments

[OtterMatt]

First! Wait a sec...
677 words, I went a little over this time, but I don't mind. That's a good problem to have. And yes, you'll just have to accept that for the duration of this scene, ponies have phones. Outside of that, let me have it! What do you think of my little vignette?

[totallynotabrony]

I didn't spot any technical errors, but I feel that maybe you broke the rule about don't be tempted to explain too much outside of the actions/dialogue. We basically know exactly what happened because Lyra's thoughts told us.

It's good, though. A nice little read, as all of these chapters are.

[OtterMatt]

1351029
The big part of that in the prompt was to not let the guesswork by the other character fill in where it shouldn't. Like a house rule against metagaming, if you're into D&D style games. The outside character shouldn't fill in what she shouldn't know. I feel like it's okay, because Lyra was there, so she's not guessing about the past because she knows, and I don't think she infers too much about the conversation at hand.

Thanks for sticking with me! All this feedback has really been awesome.