Chapter 3 - Permit
Chapter 3
Permit
"Lyra!" Bon Bon hissed as she practically dragged the unicorn away from the gathered crowd. "What do you think you're doing?"
Lyra blinked and looked at her friend. "Oh hey, Bon Bon. You decided to come!" She took a step back and indicated the banner above her front door. "Isn't it great? I was going to call it LyraBon, but I wasn't sure if you'd be willing to help out with the shop or not. I really do owe you for giving me the idea though. Thanks for that!"
"The idea for what?" Bon Bon raved. "And just what do you mean, shop? You do realize you need a permit to run any kind of legitimate business here, right?"
There were times in every pony's life when he or she would learn something completely new. These times were often accompanied by a look of delight by the newly-enlightened, and an eagerness to put their new knowledge to good use.
This was not one of those times. This was one of those other times, when a pony would learn something new and it would leave them speechless. Not because of how exciting this new knowledge was, but because the wind had just been knocked out of them by the proverbial gut-punch it had unleashed upon them.
"I need a permit?" Lyra asked weakly.
Bon Bon pressed a hoof to her forehead, then turned to address the crowd. "Grand opening's been delayed due to technical difficulties! You can all go home now, nothing to see here. Sorry! Don't call us, we'll call you!" With that said, she actually did drag Lyra this time, and she didn't stop until they were both inside Lyra's home, where she kicked the front door shut with a bang. She then quickly turned back to the unicorn in order to put an end to the nonsense. Her expression softened, however, when she saw the look on Lyra's face.
"Oh, Lyra," she breathed. "I know this must mean a lot to you, but you have to think about what you're going to do before you take action. If you opened up a shop without a permit, you could be fined! Then you'd be in even worse shape than you're in now."
Lyra flopped onto her couch, laid her head on the hoof-rest and sighed. "I tried to think of what to do. That's why I came to you, remember?" She rolled over and faced toward the couch. "I just want this all to go away."
As silly as the unicorn could sometimes be, Lyra was Bon Bon's best friend. It was hard for the earth pony to see her friend having such a difficult time. She walked over to the couch and gently nudged Lyra with her muzzle until she turned around and looked up at her.
"Look, if it means this much to you, I can help you through the process of getting a permit," she soothed. "The process doesn't take very long and we can probably have one by the end of the day. Just keep in mind that they aren't free, so it is an investment, and you need to be absolutely certain you want to do this."
Lyra raised her head up slightly. "You'll help me?" she asked quietly.
Bon Bon closed her eyes and nodded. She was then promptly knocked off her hooves as Lyra leapt off the couch, wrapped her up in a big hug and then began bouncing around the room ecstatically.
"You're the greatest, Bon Bon!" Lyra exclaimed. She jumped up onto the couch and hopped in place. "Can you believe it? We're going to have our own item shop. We'll sell everything! That way, it won't matter what anypony needs, we'll have it!"
"Whoah now," Bon Bon interrupted. She put her hooves up defensively. "I never said anything about helping you run the shop. I just said I'd help you get the permit."
Lyra stopped hopping and stared at her friend, her golden eyes wide and desperate. After a moment, her ears drooped and she lowered her head. "Oh," she murmured.
Bon Bon rolled her eyes and looked away. It didn't take very long for her to come to a decision.
"Fine," she huffed.
Iron Will was having a bad day. It was not an average sort of bad day, either. It was the kind of day that starts off on what one might consider a good note, and then gradually becomes more sour as the day drags on. A good day gone wrong – the worst of all the kinds of bad days.
He had thought his appointment with the unicorn had gone rather well, all things considered. She hadn't fled town, for one. Hadn't fainted, either. As far as those ponies targeted by Can't Run, Can't Hide goes, that was about as good a start as one could hope for.
Unfortunately, his employer didn't quite see things that way. Sure, their previous track record was horrendous, but it was because of that fact that they were that much more desperate to hear of immediate results from their new collector. They didn't care if the pony was conscious or unconscious. They didn't care whether she split town or not. All they cared about was the bottom line, and the bottom line was a pile of bits for the Canterlot Royal Bank with Lyra Heartstrings's name on it. Once they had that, they could collect what would end up being an enormous fee from the bank and find themselves at the forefront of the collection business. They had been sure to make that very, very clear to Iron Will when he had reported in on the morning's results.
The minotaur cleared his thoughts with a snort. He wished they would make up their minds. First they wanted extreme caution, then they wanted ruthlessness. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance.
How about they let Iron Will do his job and they keep their scrawny muzzles out of Iron Will's business? he thought. He was certain that he had been off to a good start with the unicorn, so he would continue the friendly method of collection regardless of what his employer said. If it came down to it and he absolutely had to get nasty later, then so be it, but he preferred to keep things simple. If it was working, stick with it.
He arrived at his destination and strode towards the small stand with purpose. A pale yellow pony with a wavy, rose-colored mane greeted him nervously.
"Hello," he barked. "Iron Will shall require one dozen of your best roses to be ready for delivery first thing tomorrow morning."
"Wow," Lyra gushed. "I can't believe how easy that was!"
She was walking with Bon Bon with the permit floating between the two of them as they made their way back to Lyra's home. The permit had cost her a fair amount, but she didn't mind. It would pay itself off soon enough. Everything was going to work out fine, she just knew it. With a little bit of effort, she would pay off her parents' outstanding debts and be free to live her life as she pleased once more.
"Are you sure you don't want me to rename the shop LyraBon?" Lyra asked. "I think it fits, since you're going to be helping out. Lyra and Bon Bon, entrepreneurial extraordinaires! Capitalism, ho!" she giggled.
Bon Bon raised an eyebrow. "You still want to call it LyraBon? No offense, but I think our customers might get the wrong idea about us with a name like that. Besides, as much as it pains me to admit it, I kind of like the sound of Lyra's Ultimate Item Emporium."
Lyra tilted her head. "What do you mean, get the wrong idea about us?"
She's truly clueless sometimes, Bon Bon thought. She shook her head gently and looked at Lyra. "Nevermind."
The two friends finally arrived at Lyra's house and walked through the door. Lyra took the permit and hung it on the wall with pride.
"Well, that's that I suppose," Bon Bon commented. She couldn't help but admire the permit as well. It might be a lot of fun to help her best friend out with her shop, after all. With a small sigh, she turned around to look at Lyra. "Well, I'm beat. You want to go get some din... wait, where are you going!?"
Lyra flinched and halted in mid-stride. She looked at Bon Bon, then at the banner that she was levitating before her, then back at Bon Bon again.
"I'm, um, hanging up the Grand Opening banner again," she admitted nervously. "We got the permit already, so I just figured..."
"You figured what?" Bon Bon interrupted. "That you would just trot out there and open up a shop with no counter, no register, no displays, and no inventory?" she asked incredulously.
"Inventory?" Lyra whined. Her shoulders slumped and the banner fell slowly to the floor. This was beginning to be a lot more complicated than she'd bargained for.
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Just a quick question: how is the dungeon crawling going to work?
2338711 There are plenty of ways around that. This won't be a "Recettear with ponies" story, but a story inspired by (and with plenty of nods to) Recettear.
Let's just hope that Lyra doesn't start rummaging around the trash for stuff to sell... that would be disastrous, to Bon Bon. And whoever's trash she's rummaging from.
Hope she doesn't start selling bottled Poison Joke.Hope she doesn't start selling Manticore Fur.Hope she doesn't start selling Mane Clippings.Oh who am I kidding... I expect her to do up and silly things! ... Maybe Bon Bon can also sell some candy to Lyra to sell at her shop.
o lyra
Capitalism, ho!
Been waiting for that line to pop up. Good times, good times.
Had to read up what the inspiration was, and that sounds like an interesting game. The basic premise should be an interesting story. So far it looks good, so I'mma gonna watch.
Well, I've always been a big Iron Will fan, and I like how you've characterized him now that Fluttershy had faced him down.
It'll be interesting to see what Lyra tries to sell...
Capitalism, ho!
This is silly in the best possible way.
Also, this might just make me pick Recettear. Looks very interesting.
wave1:flash1:B S A L E ! ! ! !
(god, it's been so long since I've typed that)
Poor, silly Lyra. She's going to be completely gobsmacked when she sells her first item.
Capitalism, ho!
"You still want to call it LyraBon? No offense, but I think our customers might get the wrong idea about us with a name like that." Pure brilliance.
2403819
I don't get it.
I mean, seriously, in the game it made sense. Recettear was awfully close in pronunciation to Racketeer. I'm repeating LyraBon, and I'm not getting anything...
2408111 Lyrabon is the LyraxBonBon ship.
2408111
If you look at the French roots of many of the character names, you can get Rec et Tear -- Recette and Tear.
oh so you did think of that... darn
i.imgur.com/XEyF22z.png
GODDAMN IT LYRA! First time your in a platonic relationship for a fic with BonBon, and you had to do that?!
6259311
Lyra knows what the OTP is.
"You still want to call it LyraBon? No offense, but I think our customers might get the wrong idea about us with a name like that."
Take that shippers!
6279685
derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/5/6/1147463__shipping_suggestive_lesbian_lyra+heartstrings_bon+bon_food_sweetie+drops_lyrabon_ice+cream_best+friends.png
Return fire.
I am having fun reading comments from eight years ago complaining about a now-canon ship.