Lyra tossed her saddlebags onto her couch before flopping down next to them. She stretched herself out with a yawn and closed her eyes, humming a little tune. “Ba-da, ba-da, mare looks like a stallion! Ba-da, ba-da!” She kicked her hind hooves up into the air, flinging her mane back and forth while twisting about on the loveseat. She let loose a silly giggle before jumping up and heading into her small kitchen.
“Hmm, what a funky stallion…” She opened her pantry, despite having already memorized its contents. Empty, as always. Well, except for the twenty-two tubs of crunchy peanut butter that had been there since she moved in. She just ignored those. Prancing happily, she opened her fridge. She knew exactly what awaited her in there as well. Three cases of Crabbe Apple’s Hard Cider and the remains of a box of lo-mane noodles. She levitated two of the ciders and the paper box out and carried them over to the couch.
“She was a stallion! Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm…” She gulped the noodles down in a heartbeat and swiftly popped the top off her first cider.
Lyra gazed around her apartment as she took a long drink. She’d never been one for big houses or useless decorations, so she kept her place simple. She had her loveseat and a single recliner in her living room, both positioned for conversations and radio listening in equal parts. The hardwood floors had a single rug upon it, and the walls were adorned by a single picture of a mint green foal and two other ponies. The smiling filly gazed happily at the elegantly tall white mare who stood to her left as she snuggled into the posh stallion who stood to her right. Lyra smiled, remembering that day.
She set down the cider and the empty takeout box with a sigh. Her stomach growled, demanding more than a mouthful of noodles. “Well, guess it’s time to break out the big guns!” She strode back into the kitchen and opened the cupboard that held her greatest source of food. Lyra smiled as she grabbed the enormous stack of the menus from all of her favorite delivering restaurants.
She plopped them all down on her dining room table and started sorting. Mi Too’s Forbidden Palace, masters of the lo-mane noodles that had made up the first part of her meal; Donut Joe’s Donuts and Mo, specializing in donuts and… more; Hay-Fill-A, home of the original hayburger; and Sea-Food Eat-Food, famous for their seventeen different varieties of seaweed and other seafood. She grimaced, tossing all of them away, searching for the only food that truly drew her eye…
“Ah! Found it!” Lyra grabbed that particular menu and trotted over to her telephone. She dialed, and it rang for a few seconds. “Hi, Pizza Shack? Yeah, I’d like to place an order. One small cheese with spinach, cauliflower, and extra, extra EXTRA crispy hay!” The voice spoke back to her for a moment. “Yeah, it is Lyra,” she laughed. “I do always order the same thing! I’ll have the cash ready when you guys get here. No, thank you. Bye-bye.” She hummed a bit more as she put all the menus back into their special place.
“Don’t know if I should be happy that I don’t have to even give them my address any more, or scared that all those ponies have memorized where I live…” She said to nopony in particular. But then she glanced at the fully loaded repeating double crossbow leaning up against the wall between her living room and kitchen. “Nah, I’ll just be happy. Yay, lazieness!”
Lyra took another swig of her cider and looked back up at the picture on the wall. “Those were the good old days…” She gulped down another mouthful and then set the bottle aside with another sigh. “Darn it, why does thinking about him always make me sigh? Or drink?” She slapped a hoof to her forehead and closed her eyes.
When she opened them, she saw the phone right in front of her. She let her hoof fall back down to rest on her couch as she considered her options. She stared forward for a moment, her eyes crinkled in concentration as a grim frown adorned her face.
“Oh, what the hay. Might as well.” She lifted the phone up and dialed.
The phone rang faintly for a moment before an airy voice with a Fancy accent answered her. “’Ello?”
“Hey mom, it’s Lyra.”
“Lyra! Oh, darling! It is so good to ‘ear your voice!”
“Isn’t it always?” Lyra chuckled.
“It ‘as been so long! You don’t know ‘ow I ‘ave missed you…” Fleur De Lis’ voice broke slightly at the end of her words.
“Hey, don’t get all teary on me, Mom. It’s only been, what… Two, three months?”
“Only two or three? No, eet ‘as been almost six! You left off to Celestia knows where six months ago, and we ‘ave not ‘eard from you since. We did not know if you were safe, or well…”
“Oh.”
“Fillette. Come back to us. Your father misses you desperately. ‘E only wants you to apologize, and zen ‘e will welcome you back with open—“
“Wait. Me apologize?” Lyra’s voice hardened.
“Yes, just apologize to ‘im, and all would be forgiven!”
“Mom. I’m not the one who needs to apologize.”
“Lyra, s'il vous plaît. Ze pride would only get in ze way of our family… Oooh, vat iz zat word… retrouvailles... Reuniting! Yes, our family reuniting.”
Lyra clenched her jaw. “Why don’t you just tell that to him.”
“You know ‘ow ‘e iz, Lyra. Your father iz a strong stallion. ‘E cannot change ‘is stance on anything, especially zis.”
“I think you’re using the wrong term there, mom. The word is ‘pigheaded.’”
“Lyra! Zat iz vulgar racism!”
“Yeah, but it’s true. A real stallion can admit when he is wrong. If he can’t back down from this, I think it’s probably best if we cut ties for longer than just six months.”
“No! Please, darling, just talk to ‘im! Ze past iz ze past, and we must move on!”
Lyra sighed. “Mom. You know what happened last time we talked. If we did it again, nothing different would happen. I just wanted to call to talk to you and let you know that I’m here in town for a bit, but leaving again soon.”
A small sob came through the phone’s speaker, and Lyra rolled her eyes. “Oh, but... Very well, darling. I wish ze two of you could move past zis, but I am glad to speak to you. Can we meet? ‘Ow long before you go again?”
“Yeah, we could grab lunch tomorrow. I’m catching the evening train to Ponyville at six tomorrow, but we should have some time before—“
“Fleur, who’s on the phone?” At the sound of the new voice, Lyra froze.
“Fancy, it iz Lyra. Please, do not fight again!”
“Oh, so did she call to apologize? Because I forbid you to talk to her if she didn’t!” Lyra gritted her teeth at hearing those words.
“Fancy, no. She iz my daughter too! I miss ‘er so terribly and—”
“Mom, put him on the phone.” Lyra knew that her mother recognized her low, emotionless tone.
“She wants to talk to you, Fancy.” Lyra could hear the phone shift hooves on the other end.
“Yes?” The hard voice brought forth so many emotions within Lyra, but she held herself back.
“Look, I don’t want a fight. I’m not here to talk about what happened before. I just wanted to tell my mother that I miss her and wanted to talk to her before I—”
“’Just wanted?’ Oh, like what you ‘just wanted’ before? I told you, until you admit to me that you were wrong, you will have no more contact with us, and—”
“No.” Lyra interrupted. “You said I would have no more contact with YOU. I wanted to talk to MOM. I couldn’t give a manticore’s ass what you said about me talking to mom. She’s her own mare, and if I want to talk to her, I will.”
“Listen here, you little—”
“Oh, please. I’ve already heard it all. You’ve said your piece, and I’ve said mine. I’m fine cutting ties, since neither one of us is going to budge on this. But mom doesn’t need to suffer. She cares, even if you don’t. And she loves me.” She let the rest remain unsaid.
Her father paused for a moment. “Fine. Speak to her. I’m done.” Lyra heard the phone hit the floor and hoofsteps walk away on an immaculate marble floor.
Lyra could hear the crying before Fleur even picked up the phone. “I’m sorry Mom.”
“I… I just want us to be a family again…”
“Maybe someday we can be again.”
“I ‘ope so. Oh, I ‘ope so more zan you could ever know.” With this, Fleur began to sob.
“I love you mom.” Lyra whispered.
“I love you too, belle.”
Lyra smiled softly. “Do you still want to grab some food tomorrow?”
“With all my ‘eart.” Fleur spoke so quietly that Lyra could barely hear her. She wanted nothing more in that moment than to hold her mother close and tell her that everything would be just fine, even though she had no way of knowing that.
“How about the usual place? I haven’t been there in forever.”
“Me either, mon chéri.”
“Alright, meet you there at one?”
“Zat sounds simply lovely.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
“I love you, beautiful Lyra.” Fleur repeated.
“And I love you, beautiful mama. Goodbye.”
“Au revoir.”
Lyra set the phone down gently as tears welled up in her eyes. She looked back up at the painting, at that wonderfully sweet and gentle mare. But then her eyes moved over to the stallion, and Lyra growled softly. She lifted the phone up off the table beside her and threw it all the way across the room. It clattered to the floor, and Lyra stood up, her flanks heaving. If only he was here, she’d be able to—
A swift knock at the door broke her train of thought. “Pizza Shack!”
Lyra composed herself and strode over to the door. She opened it, revealing a blue earth pony stallion wearing a red and white uniform. “Hey Lyra!”
“Hey there Noteworthy. Twelve bits, right?”
“Yes ma’am!” The stallion grinned. He pulled her pizza out of his delivery bag as Lyra tossed him a twenty bit coin.
“Keep the change,” She said with a wink.
Noteworthy cracked a huge smile. “Thanks! It’s really good to see you! You’ve been gone for too long.”
Lyra laughed. “I really have, haven’t I?”
“Yeah. Some of us have missed you.” He gave her a meaningful smile.
“Well, I’ve missed some of you too.” She added another playful wink.
He laughed. “Hey, how long are you in town? We should totally grab lunch some time and catch up!”
Lyra grinned back at him. “Sorry Note, but I’m only here ‘til tomorrow afternoon, and I’m gonna have lunch with my mom tomorrow. Rain check?”
Note’s grin faltered for a moment, but he returned to his cheerful self quickly. “Oh, sure. Just give me a call. You have my number.”
“Yeah, and I’ll always call it when I want the best pizza.” Lyra smirked.
“Oh, you and your jokes.” He looked down at his watch. “Well, I’ve gotta run. It was good seeing you!”
“You too.” Lyra smiled as the blue stallion trotted away. And certainly not because of the way his uniform emphasized his flank… Well, not just because of it.
Lyra carried her perfect pizza inside and sat back down on her couch. She opened the box, picked up her cider, and turned on the radio.
“…and here’s classic for all you fans of the good ol’ days out there!” As the opening riff sounded out, Lyra tossed her head back and chuckled at life’s sense of humor.
Ba-da, Ba-da! MAAAAARE LOOKS LIKE A STALION! Ba-da, Ba-da!
She dug into her food, and turned her mind away from the painting and the telephone that still lay on the floor across the room.