Livestream

by bahatumay

Chapter 9

Sunny blended another banana smoothie. For how often she just hung out with her friends, she really did put in the hours at the smoothie stand.

As she passed the completed smoothie to an excited colt, her ears picked up a snatch of heated conversation. “I did; but that storm-”

She glanced back to the next pony in line, and tried to listen over the sound of the blender.

“Or is that a lie?”

She scoffed. “Why would I lie about that? If I don’t sell you the flowers, I don’t get money. Which I need.” Her eyes narrowed. “Unless you’ve been lying to me and that’s why you think I’m lying to you,” she returned.

Sunny had to step in. She scrambled over the counter and made her way between the two. “What’s going on here?” she asked.

Both mares turned to Sunny and started talking at once. She couldn’t keep track of who was saying what.

But they all noticed when the light from the Brighthouse flickered.

They rounded on each other again. “Look what you’re doing!”

“Me? This is all you!”

Sunny grimaced.

---

“You’ll need to be patient. Bad liars don’t like silence. Stay quiet, and they’ll instinctively try and say something to fill the silence and build up their lie. And the more they say, the more information they’ll give up.”

Sunny dismissed the app with a hoof, though it took her two tries. Sage Wisdom technically wasn’t wrong, but the way she implied that ponies were constantly lying bothered her. And worse, it felt like ponies were taking the wrong advice to heart. The magic had flickered a few more times these past few days, and it was concerning her.

She climbed up the stairs to check on the beam again and then slowed to a stop.

Zipp was sitting there, staring into the beam. It reflected off the amulet she wore.

“Hey, Zipp,” Sunny said, slowly approaching. “You ok?”

“I don’t know,” Zipp admitted. “I think part of me thinks this is my fault, somehow?”

Sunny looked into Zipp’s cyan eyes and felt a surge of compassion. “Zipp, you can’t blame yourself for this.”

“I know. It’s just… I can’t shake the feeling that I’m somehow responsible.”

“Zipp, that’s ridiculous,” Sunny said firmly. “You’re a great friend. I know you’ve been struggling with your relationship with your mom, but this isn’t you. Your doing, I mean,” she quickly amended. “Not your fault. You’re definitely allowed to feel how you feel.”

Zipp cracked a smile, but it faded. “I guess. I mean, I have been…” She shook her head. “No, it’s… never mind. You’re right. It’s probably nothing.”

She stood up and shook her wings out. “Just in my own head, I guess. I’ll go for a quick fly. I bet that’ll help.” She flapped her wings to get into the air.

“Zipp,” Sunny said, making her stop. “You’re going to be just fine. You care so much. And, for what it’s worth, I think you’ll be a great queen one day.”

Zipp grinned, her red eyes crinkling. “You really think so?” she floated.

“I know it,” Sunny assured her.

Zipp chuckled and flew out the door.

---

Pipp sang softly to herself as she brushed her mane. Sure, the magic was flickering again, and Sage Wisdom’s streams were large enough to put dents in her numbers, but there was no reason she couldn’t keep up her appearance.

Her phone vibrated. Zipp had texted her.

I’m so sorry!

Her brow furrowed. Sorry about what?

And then the picture came through, and her eyes widened. She slumped back, her eyes staring forward and unfocused.

---

Pipp lay on her stomach, kicking her rear hooves idly, her crown askew, as she stared at the bottom of an empty carton of vanilla oat swirl ice cream. Another was calling her name. But did she really want that going to her hips? She might. It was sounding worth it right about now.

She heard a friendly chuff and rolled over to see Cloudpuff, head cocked questioningly.

“Oh, Cloudpuff, thank you for coming in my time of need. You’re the only one who understands- aaand you’re gone.”

For the puppy had already grown bored with Pipp’s listlessness and scampered off. She sighed at being left alone and made her choice.

As she tore open another carton and shoveled another spoonful into her mouth, she heard a knock on the door.

“Hey, Pipp?” Zipp said. “Are you doing ok?”

“I’m really not up for visitors now,” Pipp said as she dug the spoon in again.

“That’s fine,” Zipp said comfortingly. “Take all the time you need. It’s just numbers and not a reflection of who you are. I’m sure you’ll be back up and at ‘em in no time.”

Pipp grunted her acknowledgment and took a big bite of her ice cream.

Comments

[Yoshifan30]

“You’ll need to be patient. Bad liars don’t like silence. Stay quiet, and they’ll instinctively try and say something to fill the silence and build up their lie. And the more they say, the more information they’ll give up.”

It felt like it was a bad advice

[Yoshifan30]

Oh boy things are not going well here it looks like sunny it's been noticing the ponies are basically lying to each other and even the magic is starting to flicker again which that means they're arguing with each other all because of sage wisdom's advice and apparently it's taking effect on everybody zipp is feeling guilty for what happened between her mother Sunny wants to reassure her that's not really her fault that maybe they just need to talk this out better but things really went downhill when Pipp heard from her sister that her views went down all because of Sage wisdom seriously somebody needs to stop her