//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: The Special Ingredient  
// Story: Lyra's True Feelings 
// by OtenBrony 
//------------------------------//

	In her apartment room, Lyra was suddenly awoken by her alarm clock that sat next to her bed. The unicorn sat up and looked towards the source of the annoying noise and realized that it was the alarm. She let out an annoyed groan at the thought of having to get up. After a minute or two, her ears could no longer take the harsh sound coming from the little box. She lazily reached towards the clock with a hoof and turned the damned thing off with great pleasure. "MUCH better," said Lyra out loud to herself. She then proceeded to head towards the room's kitchen to make herself a meal before heading off to work at Bon Bon's shop. 
In the simple, white coated kitchen, she fixed herself a light salad to fill her stomach up, but not make her feel bloated. Lyra had never really operated well when her body felt uneasy or fat. Her magic would begin to have a mind of it's own or she would have random spouts of exposition that she didn't want to say. Her mentality had been like that for as long as she could remember. She had tried to figure out what caused it and a way to fix it, but all of her searches ended to no avail. She eventually gave up on her searches and just tried to her best to stay out of situations in which her 'condition' would show up.
After the quick breakfast, Lyra hurriedly rushed to her bathroom to quickly brush her mane out. She had been so busy with eating that she didn't notice that her insufferable clock read 7:30 on it's face until she had gotten on her bed to rest some more. She had to be at Bon Bon's shop by 7:50, and just the path to get to the shop took about 15 minutes for Lyra. She quickly grabbed the brush with her magic and levitated towards her bed mane. Even though it hurt her from the tangles, she vigorously ran it through the mane to get it in its usual manner. The cyan mare looked at her rushed mane and decided that it would have to do. She rushed through the living room and out the front door while she levitated her bag that contained her lyre behind her. She had never been late to her job at Bon Bon's shop before, and she didn't want to start now. On most jobs, Lyra would have just accepted being a little late to it, but she didn't want to disappoint Bon Bon by making her wait. 
As she ran away from the apartments and down the street towards the shop, she began to think of ways to keep her head straight. Just think of something other than being late. Just keep calm, yeah! I've just gotta keep calm and run on! she told herself. She suddenly felt as if the phrase had a familiar ring to it. She tossed it around in her head for a bit as she rushed to her job, but nothing came to mind so she quickly discarded the thought. She then turned her thoughts back to ones that would occupy her mind without causing her to go insane from curiosity. 
Her mind soon became settled on the thoughts of how her job was going, but not of being late. So it's been what....2 weeks or so since that major performance? Hmm...well no matter how long it's been, the shop has definitely been booming, contemplated Lyra. Indeed, this was the truth. Ever since Lyra's performance of the song that everypony loved, the shop's business had easily been tripled.  Ponies from all over Equestria had begun to hear rumors of a shop where the sweets were extremely tasty and delicious and a mare played beautiful music with her lyre. Lyra thought that the shop had been jam packed with customers before and could not receive more business than it was, but she was wrong. 
From opening to closing time, the entire store was full of ponies trying to experience the rumors of the sweet shop themselves. This new influx of business was bittersweet for Lyra. On one hoof, the crowds brought in a lot of income for Bon Bon and she seemed very happy to be such a popular sweet store. On the other hoof, Lyra barely received anytime to talk to Bon Bon at work anymore. Lyra always felt a pang of sadness when she tried to talk to Bon Bon to only be cut short from the cream colored mare having to either take more orders or fix more orders for the customers. Lyra always just sighed and had to remember that Bon Bon's shop is now a huge hot spot in Equestria.  
As Lyra walked down the road thinking about such thoughts, she suddenly felt a strong force in front that caused her to fall on her rump. "Ow...," quietly said Lyra while rubbing her muzzle. Wondering what the cause of the pain was, she looked up towards the source of resistance. What she saw made her want to punch herself a million times over in the face with both hooves. She was looking with a VERY unamused face right to the door of the sweet shop. "Yeeahhh very good job at not embarrassing yourself, Lyra. You deserve an A+!!" mumbled Lyra mockingly to herself while rolling her eyes, "At least Bon Bon didn't see..."
She shook her head to do her best to forget the incident completely. With her muzzle still stinging a bit, she decided to ignore the pain and walk into her work place. She reached out with her magic and turned the knob and pushed the door open. She took in the sight within the shop, which both surprised Lyra and made her curious. The shop was completely empty in the reception room, not a single pony in the shop to be seen. She questioningly looked towards the clock that hung in the room and noted that it read 7:58. Lyra knew she had arrived late, but that was not what she was interested in right now. The shop should have been open and bustling with customers at this time. With her curiosity reaching to new heights, Lyra tried to get straight facts from somepony.
"Bon Bon? You here?" called Lyra.
After a minute or so, a reply came from the kitchen, "Yeah, I am. I'm back here, Lyra." Lyra noted that her voice had a bit of distress tied in with it, so she decided to trot with some extra speed to the kitchen.  When Lyra entered the kitchen, she saw a frantic Bon Bon rushing around in it. She was rushing from one cabinet to the other, throwing the doors open with her hooves and darting her eyes inside them. 
"Um...are you looking for something, Bon Bon?" asked the curious Lyra while watching the sporadic Bon Bon.
"Yeah, I am. Well to be more specific, I'm looking to see if I have any of it LEFT," answered Bon Bon all while not missing a beat on her search.
"What is 'it' exactly?" questioned Lyra.
Bon Bon then relaxed off her search and turned towards Lyra. Her curly mane seemed to be in shambles from her running around. She sighed and looked at the floor with a long face. "It's my secret ingredient for my sweets. I hadn't payed well enough attention to it since the business has boomed here. Now I'm out of it, and without it I can't cook my sweets like the customers like them. So I'll just have to close for today..."
So that's why there's no customers. She closed the shop since she can't make the sweets, thought Lyra.
"I have a shipment of the ingredient ordered and it should be in Ponyville now, but the sweets wouldn't be made in time. There's a baking stage before the ingredient is added and that stage would take some time. And if I go to get the ingredient, I can't start the first baking stage. If I start the baking stage and go get the ingredient, there's a very good chance the sweets will ruin while I'm gone," explained Bon Bon. While Bon Bon explained the predicament, Lyra sat on her rump and thought for a minute, but she already knew what she had to do. She had to help Bon Bon in anyway possible, no matter the cost. Making Bon Bon happy and at ease was Lyra's first priority. Lyra soon conjured an idea inside her head that would solve Bon Bon's problem easily.
"Well...I can't cook the sweets for you, but I can go get the shipment of the ingredient while you tend to the first baking stage of the sweets," offered Lyra. Bon Bon's head shot up and looked towards Lyra. Her majestic blue eyes began to widen and her lips began to form a smile. 
"Lyra, you'd do that? It's not part of your job so you don't have to if you don't want to," replied Bon Bon. 
Lyra just waved a hoof at Bon Bon's statement and replied, "I know, but I'm just so awesome that I could let this go without lending a hoof to help."
Bon Bon just sighed and smiled at Lyra's false cockiness. "Well...alright. I'll accept the offer of help. I could then open for at least some time today for sure." Bon Bon then proceeded to tell Lyra all of the information that she would need to pick up the delivery.
"Alright. I'll head there right away!" shouted Lyra with a mighty smile on her face. Bon Bon just couldn't help but smile back at her. 
"Lyra, thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me. Everypony can get their sweets when they want, and no have to wait."
"Hey it's no problem. I'm glad to be able to help." After saying that, Lyra trotted out of the shop and began galloping towards the Ponyville Post Office. 
Alright. List: Get to post office, get package from the desk pony, and return to Bon Bon and look like an amazing, irresistible mare to her, recited Lyra to herself several times as she tried her best to focus completely on the task at hand. This time even she shook her head at her wild dreams. I'm just getting a package. The irresistible part will come later, thought Lyra with a sly smile spread across her mouth. Then another thought came into Lyra's mind as she was galloping. I wonder if I'd be considered a creeper or stalker of Bon Bon if ponies knew I had these thoughts... The idea swirled around in Lyra's head for only a second before she dismissed it due to the fact that it was not important to her current task. 
"Must focus on job. Gotta do it for...Bon Bon. She's...worth it...," panted a tired Lyra. She must have been galloping for 15 minutes or so straight. The time that elapsed while Lyra thought really surprised her. Due to her tiredness, she slowed her pace to a slight trot to catch her breath. As she gasped air inside her screaming lungs, Lyra assessed her current, geographical position in Ponyville. She wondered how much longer it would be before she reached the post office. If she remembered correctly, she had passed the town square about 5 minutes or so ago. With that in her mind, she ran a hoof through her mane and thought about what that meant in relation to her time until she reached her destination. 
If that's so and I remember correctly, then that means I have a good 10 minute gallop before I reach the post office. Ugh...why must it be so far away? It's almost like it's not even a part of Ponyville! She stomped a hoof in the ground with enough force for her to feel pain from the resistance. Lyra was so fed up with the galloping that she didn't even care about the pain that quickly shot up her hoof. Even though she was complaining about the distance, her anger mostly came from the fact that she was very fatigued from her galloping. No matter what time of the day, Lyra would always get grumpy or angered when she was tired.
Lyra stood there for a moment in anger but then decided that the anger wouldn't help her task at all. She let go of her pride for that one second and sighed to help relieve the anger. She shook her hoof to escape the pain for a second before galloping once more towards the post office. As she was heading towards the destination again, Lyra focused her mind on the thoughts of being able to help Bon Bon in her time of need. Lyra knew that it was just getting a package of an ingredient, but she took the fact that Bon Bon would be happy with her to heart. The thoughts of Bon Bon smiling and being happy with the package delivery caused Lyra to forget her body's tiredness and gallop even faster towards the Ponyville Post Office. Her hooves began to work overtime while they began to slowly feel the burning sensation of fatigue. The sensation soon turned to pain that began to spread thought her body as she kept pushing her body further. Her body registered the pain that she was feeling, but her mind blocked the feelings and kept focused on succeeding so that she could keep heading towards her goal with great pace.  
Just as Lyra felt like her body was gonna pass out from exhaustion, the building of the post office showed up in her view. When she saw the beautiful sight, she mentally began to rejoice and feel very pleased with herself with how far she galloped to get there. Her thoughts were cut short by the sudden realization of the pain her body was feeling. 
"Ow.....," groaned Lyra when her mind finally allowed the pain to be felt. She slowed her pace to a brisk trot and quickly gasped for air to help ease the pain. Her mind had finally registered the pain, but she was still intent on not slowing up too much.  She trotted to the door to the post office and began to feel eminence joy at the fact that she had finally reached her destination. Unfortunately the joy was suddenly cut short when she closely looked at the door and saw a sign that read CLOSED upon it.  
"Are you fucking KIDDING me?!" yelled Lyra, not even caring that she had said one of her fabled human words in public. 
I can't fail Bon Bon! I have to get that shipment of ingredient!