//------------------------------//
// Chapter One (Greatazuredragon) 
// Story: Operation Exquisite Corpse 
// by The Red Parade 
//------------------------------//

“Hey, you dropped something!” Lyra shouted as she grabbed the dropped package with her magic, only to see that the rude trench coat wearing stallion that had stumbled upon her was nowhere in sight. “Rude!”

Grumbling in annoyance she brought the package closer so she could give it a better look. Common brown wrapping paper, strong strings tying it tightly closed and an address from Manehattan written in truly awful hoof-writing at one of the sides. Yup, it was a completely ordinary looking package about the size of her head.

“Now what?” Lyra wondered out loud, right hoof placed underneath her chin. Sure, the stallion had been frightfully rude, all but tackling her and then leaving in a hurry without so much as an apology. But that didn’t mean that leaving the package on the ground was the right thing to do. But Bon Bon would be back with the groceries shortly and would undoubtedly be worried if Lyra wasn’t here when she did so, she was a worrywart like that, so going after the stallion was also out of the picture.

Groaning in annoyance she looked upwards in search of inspiration for how best to solve this conundrum, but the clear blue skies up ahead offered no solutions.

“Sorry for the wait, Lyra,” she heard Bon Bon voice as the grocery store’s door opened with a chime, only for the beige-coated mare to stop and look at the brown package still held aloof in Lyra’s magic with a puzzled expression. “What is the package for? Do you need to go to the mail?”

“That’s it! Bon Bon you are a genius!” Lyra excitedly exclaimed as she hugged her now slightly confused looking very special somepony.

“What?” the mare asked, happy for the hug but no less confused by the mint-coated unicorn actions, something that was not helped by the fact that Lyra was currently ignoring her question in favor of rummaging through Bon Bon’s saddle bags containing their newly bought groceries, as if in search of something.

“Here we go!” Lyra happily proclaimed as she held the package of muffins she had just retrieved high, as if doing so  was some grand achievement. “Why waste time and bother looking for that rude pony when we can just mail the package? Sheer genius!”

“What rude pony?” Bon Bon asked as Lyra opened the package, feeling that she was missing something. A feeling that grew stronger as the unicorn grabbed a single muffin and hurled it high into the sky. “And what exactly are you doing?”

“Some rude pony that crashed into me dropped the package before hurrying away,” she explained with a shrug as she stopped tracking the thrown muffin in order to give Bon Bon a smile. “And I told you already, since finding him to give the package back sounds like a bore I’m mailing the package away to its destination, problem solved!”

Bon Bon stared at her, sometimes admittedly quite odd, companion for a few short moments, before she opened her mouth intent on asking how throwing a muffin to the sky could possibly relate to sending a lost package through the mail system. Only for an airy, chipper voice to cut her short.

“Hi, Lyra, hi, Bon Bon,” Derpy Hooves happily greeted them as she landed right next to the two mares, a smile firm on her features as she munched on the recently thrown and now no longer airborne muffin.

“Hi, Derpy, thanks for coming so fast!” Lyra chirped as if summoning the mail mare by throwing a muffin up high was perfectly normal. But then again, this was Ponyville. “Could you deliver this for me, somepony dropped it before they could send it!”

“Sure, no problem,” the grey-coated mail mare readily agreed, accepting both the package and the rest of the muffins that were her payment and storing both upon her delivery bag. “Have a nice day!”

“You too Derpy, thanks for the help!” Lyra said as she waved to Derpy as the mare took to the air and flew away in a barely controlled spiral that seemed to miss the nearby buildings out of sheer luck. “Okay, problem solved, now let’s go home, I’m starving!”

And with those words Lyra nuzzled Bon Bon and started to happily trot away, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

Bon Bon opened her mouth, as if to ask for further clarifications about what had just happened. Only to stop, close her mouth, shake her head, and decide that it probably wasn’t worth it. She loved Lyra to bits, she really did, but something she had learned from living with the mare was that sometimes it was best to let the mare’s oddities alone. It was far less headache inducing that way.

With a small sigh she followed after the mint-coated unicorn, an indulgent smile on her muzzle as she listened to Lyra enthusiastically talk about the coming lunch as they turned the corner and headed home.

Both of them missing the very frazzled and worried looking trench-coat wearing pony that had just come rushing from the other direction and was now frantically searching the area by mere moments.