The day had gone by swimmingly for Lyra, spending the majority of it learning with Anthro and Dr. Whooves. Something seemed off about her biped, though, because his mind seemed to wander while they looked over the sprawling nature of the forest. He seemed to look into nothingness, his mind deep in thought. Every time she asked what was bothering him, he could constantly say, "Everything is okay," in his drawn out speech.

Lyra was in the guest room, combing her hair after taking a shower in order to prepare for the night out with Prince Blueblood. She could feel her stomach flutter in a confused array of emotions ranging from excitement to nervousness, she continued to brush her hair even after it was straightened to her liking.

"You look fine," The doctor began, sitting at the edge of his bed as he stared at her reflection, "you don't have to get so worked up over a night out on the town."

Sighing, Lyra swivelled in her chair to face the brown colt as she nervously replied, "It's not just any night out on the town, Doctor, it's a night in Canterlot with one of the most important political figures of this generation. Prince Blueblood wouldn't be expecting any less from me than fabulous."

The doctor pushed himself from the bed, making his way to her side as he softly spoke, "If the prince wanted fabulous, I'm sure he would date a model or a celebrity, If Blueblood asked out a pony that had just crawled out of the woods I'm sure it wasn't because he has a thing for dirty girls."

Lyra, still quite nervous but somewhat relieved, laughed in her throat before she said, "I guess you're right, but again, this is Canterlot. I'm a small town filly from Ponyville, a nudist society compared to the glamor of the capital of Equestria."

The mare turned back to the mirror, using her magic to put on a necklace as she began to rant, "What if I do something weird or embarrassing? What if I use the wrong spoon or fork?"

The doctor, trying his best to keep her calm, spun her around in her chair to face him, "You're overreacting, Lyra, just keep your cool and enjoy dinner at the Palace Diner. I hear that the Apple family back in Ponyville sent a good batch of Zap-Apples to Canterlot, so expect some great food."

Lyra sighed again, she forced herself to look into the mirror and said to the Doctor, "I'm sorry I'm like this, I'm just so nervous."

"You don't have to be," Whooves began, "just have a great time."

There was a knock on the window, the two turned to see Anthro standing on the window-sill. His eyes were locked on Lyra as he gently tapped the glass again, his face showed no smile and his posture appeared to be stressed.

"Anthro," Lyra began as she trotted towards the window to open it, "I was just about to go looking for you."

Upon opening the window for Anthro, granting him entrance, he kneeled down to Lyra as he nervously spoke, "Can... can I talk... talk at you?"

There was a confused look from her, she had never seen Anthro act so distressed when nothing seemed to be wrong. She gave her head a nod, "Sure."

*****

Anthro and Lyra stood outside the doors to the garden, none of the secret agents were nearby which seemed to relieve the biped a bit more. Lyra watched as he paced back and forth, his breath short but quick between each other. She could tell that something beyond the garden was worrying him, something that they had not dealt with yet. After a few seconds of nothing, the long-haired creature turned to her and said through closed eyes, "I... I..."

It became clear that Anthro was going to break down, Lyra could see the look in his eyes that stress was getting the best of him. She had the feeling that maybe he needed comfort despite her little knowledge of his problem, and she had also nearly forgotten about her surprise she had for him.

During the day with Anthro and Whooves, Lyra spend the arts and crafts period to herself in order to create something that would show her appreciation for Anthro's cooperation. She knew that it was stressful for him to be away from his natural habitat and that maybe a gift would show that he was more than a pet to them, she hoped that her hard work would show something more than love for a lab-rat.

Lyra quickly raised her hoof to stop Anthro's stammering, "Hold on, sweetie," she began as she reached through the neck of her dress, "I have something for you."

Anthro paused, having a stressed and confused look on his face when she made him close his eyes and cover them with his hands. She wrapped her hoof around her surprise before pulling it out as she said, "Okay, take a look."

The biped sighed, removing his hands from his eyes he was caught off guard by the gift that hung before him. Draped over Lyra's hoof was a small necklace, using the coloured paper from their arts and crafts and using ribbon as the string. Lyra used her magic to rest the necklace on Anthro's chest, his hand gently holding up the paper heart.

Lyra gave out a cheerful, "What do you think?" She watched as his face changed from stress to a look of tearful joy. His shoulders began to drop as the stress left his body, his lips started to quiver and tears began to roll out of his eyes. She noticed how he was having trouble reading the message on the heart, resting her hoof against his face she spoke in almost a whisper, "It says, 'You'll always be my Secret'."

It took a few seconds for anything else to happen, she watched in silence as Anthro cried against her shoulder, holding her up and hugging her tight.

She could feel the love in him, his gentle grip on her body along with his warm breathing seemed to sooth him more than she had expected. However, Lyra was caught off guard when Anthro put her down so suddenly. When she had her hooves on the ground, she looked around at the garden once more and said, "Now what were you going to tell me?"

There was silence once more, she watched in unease as he held the necklace in his hand. His head looked from the necklace to the mountains beyond the trees and back, his mind deep in thought. After another moment of silence, Anthro sheepishly smiled and said, "I wanted to say... have a good... uh... night."

Author's Note

Very sorry that this is such an awkward, rushed, lacking, and incomplete chapter. I have been feeling bad about the lack of posts to this story and figured that the best thing to do is to just take baby-steps back into my rhythm of writing.

It's hard for me to suddenly jump into a rhythm like periodically writing, but it's extremely easy for me to just derail from one already in place. I've just been so shaken up by the sudden changes that are about to happen in less than two months that I haven't been thinking of this fanfic, mainly what's causing so much trouble is the fact that I am moving off to college for Animation very soon and the whole music career has also been weighing heavy on my time as well.

Again, sorry, but what's here is here and more will definitely come soon.

Love,
DC