//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: The Retrieval  
// Story: Lyra's True Feelings 
// by OtenBrony 
//------------------------------//

	Even though the chances were slim, Lyra dashed her eyes all around the front of the building to see if there was any possible way in Equestria to get in the office. She assumed all the doors were locked after she tried the front door only to be meet with resistance from the knob. Lyra began to flood her mind with ideas of how to gain access to the building, even thoughts of breaking in came up in her mind. 
No. I won't resort to theft...will I? It would just be one day of the shop being closed. Bon Bon would understand if I can't make it in the office legally. She would...right? Lyra knew that Bon Bon would since she's always kind and understanding, but the small fear of Bon Bon being angry or disappointed still held a strong grip on Lyra's heart and mind. She lowered her eyes to the ground and couldn't help but worry about the fear even though she knew it was unnecessary. 
Lyra began to think about how she basically promised Bon Bon that she would come back with the ingredient. Bon Bon had smiled at Lyra for taking the job and being there for her, and now Lyra would fail her. Thoughts such as those began to grow in Lyra's head and brought a sense of sadness and failure along with them. The sadness began to envelope Lyra and the feeling of being a failure caused her to feel like a completely useless pony. 
Just when the dark feelings seemed like they were going to dissuade Lyra from succeeding in the retrieval of the ingredient, Lyra forced herself to think positively and feel nothing but hope in her quest. She forced herself to think nothing except returning to Bon Bon with the special ingredient that she wanted. She quickly began to think of ideas of getting into the office again. Some of the ideas seemed to be either nearly impossible or just plain crazy, but it didn't matter to Lyra. All that mattered to her was that she return to Bon Bon with the ingredient. "I won't fail her. I can't fail her," said Lyra quietly to herself. 
A thought that she had a few minutes ago suddenly came back to her: theft. She trotted and looked around the building and eventually saw an open window on the side of it. She cocked an eyebrow in suspicion at how conveniently placed the window was for her new found plan, but she didn't argue with it.  Am I really gonna resort to theft? It seems kinda extreme...even for me, thought Lyra. She pondered the idea for a moment before making her decision. 
Yeah I am...I guess. I DID say I'd get the ingredient and it DOES belong to Bon Bon and the office shouldn't be closed anyway! So yeah, I am. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? Lyra swiftly cut the last question from her thoughts in fear of what her mind might come up with for an answer. 
Lyra silently moved over to the window and laid down beneath it in case somepony was inside the room. She popped her head up above the window edge for a second to get a glimpse of the room. There seemed to be nopony inside the room that she could see. Lyra took a deep breath and tried to gain some self-confidence for her heist. Okay...okay...it's all good. Just remember how it went down in Metal Gear Pony, Lyra. Gotta be stealthy.
She then quickly vaulted her body over the window and landed on the floor of the room with a thud that she felt was louder than wanted. To take precaution in case the thud was heard by somepony, Lyra hid under the desk that was inside the room. Lyra, while under the desk, listened with all of her might for the sound of any hooves coming towards the room. All Lyra could hear was silence from the post office. After a minute of hiding, Lyra decided that it was all clear and decided to move out from under the desk.
She crawled out of the small space of the desk only to feel a slight pain in her back. Note to self, desks are way to small to hide in...ow, thought the unicorn while rubbing her back with one of her fore hoofs to try to settle the small pain. While doing so, Lyra finally took in the sight of the room that she was in. It was easily distinguishable as an office of somepony since it had a desk, a computer on top of the desk, and several filling cabinets pushed against the right wall.  
Lyra duly noted this finding as her mind snapped back to the job at hoof. She moved over to the door of the room and silently cracked it open to peer into the next area. She poked her head out of the door and noticed that she was looking at a hallway that was lit up by a chandelier with light bulbs instead of candles. She then saw a light switch on the right side of the hallway right next to the door she was looking through. 
Okay, so somepony must be here to have turned the lights on, concluded Lyra. With that in mind, she tried her best to move even quieter through the building. She silently creeped through the hall and tried to head to where she saw ponies disappear when they went to retrieve a package for customers. After heading through the hallway and several other rooms that were empty, she found the reception room and the front desk. When Lyra reached the front desk, she started to mentally picture the worker ponies and their paths to get an idea of where to go to find the package of ingredient. From her mental images, she believed the door behind the front counter would more than likely lead her to her desired location. 
Lyra quickly and quietly hopped over the counter and hid behind it in case somepony did hear her despite her attempts of being quite. Once again, Lyra could only hear silence from the office. She began to get concerned from the deathly silence. She knew that somepony had to be there, so where were they? It's not that she wanted ponies to be around to catch her, it just made her nervous when the post office was like a ghost town. Lyra shook her head of the thoughts and forced her mind to focus on her task and forget the fact of the ghost-like office. 
When she opened the door and walked into the next room, Lyra found the prize she had been searching for: the room where they hold the packages. Lyra's face lit up and a smile spread across her muzzle when she saw the room. Unfortunately, the happiness that she began to feel was short lived. 
She knew that the package she was searching for was in this room, but she didn't know WHICH package she needed to get. The room was packed from all of the packages inside of it. Lyra couldn't do anything besides just look at all of the packages that could potentially be the one she was searching for. Her mind couldn't even begin to think of a way to narrow the search down.
After a couple of moments of not being able to think of a plan, Lyra just mentally sighed and decided she would have to look at all of the packages until she saw one that said Bon Bon's Sweets Store upon it's label. Lyra dreaded this plan, but nevertheless she started putting it into action with the package that was nearest to her. She picked the package up with her unicorn magic and drew it near her. She held the label close to her face, but she couldn't read it because of how dark it was in the room without the lights. Forgetting that her mission was one of stealth, Lyra also used her magic to flip a switch that rested near the door that she entered through. 
The lights on the ceiling of the package room suddenly flipped to life with great force. When they did, Lyra quickly saw that the label on the package she had been holding with her magic read Rarity's Boutique. Lyra set the package down on the ground with disappointment. Lyra continued to do this for many more packages, all of which held no luck for her. She searched about twenty packages and began to fall into a routine of the package searching, but her routine was suddenly stopped when she heard the door behind her open. 
Lyra's concentration on her magic began to fumble and she dropped the package she had been holding. She then whipped around and stared with wide eyes at the pony that stood in the doorway. It was a pegasus mare with a light tan coat and a well-brushed, brown, straight mane. She seemed to be older than Lyra but not by much. Her emerald green eyes opened wide and looked at the room that Lyra had made a mess of with her searching. Her eyes saw that boxes that were supposed to be delivered to ponies soon were all tossed around in the room and not in order anymore. The eyes soon found their way to Lyra and quickly revealed anger to the unicorn mare. 
"Just who the buck are you?! I saw the lights of this room on from the lobby and when I investigate it, I find somepony in here when we're closed. You better start telling me who you are right now, thief!" ordered the mare with a harsh, venomous tone.
"Hang on! I can explain all of this!" replied Lyra.
"Well I think you better explain it all to the police when they arrive after I call them," retorted the mare. The thought of going to jail petrified Lyra and caused her to go into panic mode.
"No! No no no no no no! Please, just hear me out for a second! Please! I can't go to jail!"
The pegasus angrily stared at Lyra before releasing some of her anger and finally letting out, "Alright. I'll give you one chance to explain why in the hoof you broke into the post office and made a complete mess of the packages."
"Okay. Well I work at Bon Bon's Sweet Shop and I went to work today to find that Bon Bon was out of her special ingredient. She said she ordered some more but couldn't come get it. So I offered to get it for her and she accepted the help. When I arrived I noticed the place was locked up and closed, but I didn't want to fail Bon Bon so I broke in to find the ingredient," spouted Lyra in one deep breath, still in her panic mode. Lyra's heavy breathing was the only thing to be heard in the silence of the two mares. The pegasus mare stood there in the doorway for a bit, obviously in deep thought. While the mare was thinking, Lyra began to shake and become more frightened than a filly that had been caught stealing from the cookie jar. Her legs began to feel like they were going to give out and let her fall to the ground beneath her. 
The mare eventually started speaking again. "Hm...well your intentions seem good and everything, but I'm afraid I'll still have to turn you into the police for breaking and entering. I mean, do you even understand how crazy and extreme this was to do? It's just a package anyway," said the pegasus while pulling a cell phone out of the bag she was wearing. That statement was what pushed Lyra over the edge. 
When she was pushed over the edge Lyra fell down to the ground as her legs finally gave out from fear and sadness, and began to sob uncontrollably. Lyra usually didn't do this because she knew that she shouldn't let her emotions get the best of her, but she just didn't care at this point. She just laid on the ground and placed her head in her hooves. She let her body expel all the sadness and regret that she was feeling from failing Bon Bon.
The light tan mare suddenly turned her eyes back to Lyra at the new sound. She was in shock to see the cyan unicorn on the floor in tears. She was confused as to why the unicorn was crying and suddenly felt a sense of pity for her. Against her mind's wishes, she put the cell phone back in her bag and decided to talk to the unicorn some more. 
"Hey...uh...don't cry. Come on," said the pegasus awkwardly. She had never had to deal with a crying mare in a situation like this before.
Lyra turned her head up towards the mare and sniffled while trying to hold back more tears so that she could talk. "You don't understand. I failed Bon Bon. I tried being there for her whenever she needed it, but now I failed her and I'm going to jail as well..." 
The mare quickly caught onto Lyra's feelings for Bon Bon and suddenly felt two feelings from out of nowhere. One was sympathy for the lovestruck unicorn that had begun to cry on the ground again. The other was one that the pegasus hadn't felt in a long time: understanding. Lyra's story reminded the pegasus of her own love life before she settled down in Ponyville. The pegasus sighed and knew what she had to do.
Lyra was still crying on the floor when a hoof was suddenly extended out towards her. Lyra looked questioningly at the hoof and the pegasus that was extending it. Her tears and sadness were replaced for a second by confusion. Even though she was still in confusion, Lyra decided to take the hoof. When she did the pegasus helped Lyra to her feet. 
"I'm File Folder. I know, what a name right? I went through a lot of teasing because of it. I think my parents hated me and that's why they gave me that name. Anyways, what's your name?"
Lyra was still confused while in this emotional roller coaster that she was riding, but she managed to get out, "I..uh...I'm Lyra."
"Alright. Well, Lyra," Folder sighed, "I REALLY should turn you into the Ponyville police, but I'll let you go. But before you go, you need you package right?" Lyra could only stare in both confusion and gratitude at Folder for what she just said she'd do.
"You..you mean it? You'll help me out?"
"Yeah. I'm a sucker for love stories. Let's leave it at that," said Folder, "Also, if you did manage to steal the package, we would have to tell the owner of it, Bon Bon, that it was stolen. I don't think that would have gone over well between you two." Lyra was suddenly was really glad that she had been caught instead of making off with the package. She hadn't even thought about that consequence. 
"Just wait here and I'll return with a sign-off sheet that says that it was picked up. Don't move," ordered Folder as she walked out of the room. Lyra's body and nerves soon began to relax and feel some happiness returning. She would be able to return to Bon Bon without empty hooves and not be a failure after all. A slight smile of happiness began to spread across Lyra's mouth. 
When Folder returned, she was caring a clipboard with a sheet on it that contained many entries and numbers. "Just sign your name here. And since you're not the official owner of the package, you'll need to sign the code of release right here," explained Folder while pointing her wing to certain places on the sheet. Lyra easily remembered the code that Bon Bon had told her and quickly filled the sign-off sheet with ease. 
"Alright. So what's next?" asked Lyra.
"Now we find your package," replied Folder after making sure the code was correct. "Well I'll do most of the finding since I can read the coordinates on the sheet and actually find it. No offense meant."
"None taken."
While she was rummaging around a stack of packages deep in the room, Folder asked, "So if you don't mind me asking, how did you make it into the building in the first place?"
"Oh well I came in through an open window that I saw outside."
"Ah it must have been the one to my office. I opened it for some fresh air."
"You mean 'opened it for convenience'," stated Lyra to herself playfully.
"Huh? I didn't hear you."
"Oh nothing," replied Lyra mentally giggling to herself, "So if I came in through your office, where were you? I walked through a lot of the building and I didn't see you at all." 
"I was probably in the coffee room getting something to drink," answered Folder. After a few more minutes of Folder searching for the package, she suddenly yelled with enthusiasms, "Ah-ha! Found it."
Lyra jumped from the unexpected loudness, and it took her a while to comprehend what Folder had said. But when she did, Lyra felt like one of the happiest mares in all of Equestria. She didn't even try to hide the smile that was spreading across her muzzle. She looked towards the package that Folder had distinguished as Bon Bon's. It wasn't as big as Lyra had expected. It was slightly larger than a hoof, but no where near the size of some of the other packages in the room. 
"Hang on, Folder. I'll use my magic to carry it. It'll probably be easier that way for the both of us," offered Lyra. Folder looked towards Lyra and nodded her head, giving Lyra permission to do so. After Lyra and the package were out of the room, Folder turned off the lights and closed the door as she left. After doing so, Folder followed Lyra to the front door and unlocked it for her with the employee key that she had in her bag. 
As Lyra began to exit the building through the unlocked door, Folder stopped her with a hoof. "Hang on a second before you go. Now I have two favors to ask of you since I let you go. The first favor, don't you ever try something as stupid and extreme as this again for everyponies sake. As for the second favor, go win Bon Bon over."
Lyra gave Folder a confident smile and nodded her head, silently making a pact with her to keep the promises. And with that, Lyra galloped off back towards Bon Bon's shop with the package in her magical grasp.