//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Running Into Complications But For Who // Story: Ponyllateral // by It Never Ends //------------------------------// "Thanks again for coming with me Derpy. I really appreciate it since Bon Bon had to work a double shift today. I just hoped I wasn't intruding on your free time." Lyra said as she and Derpy walked. "Oh you're welcome and don't worry it's no trouble at all I'm always happy to be of help for any of my friends." Derpy in a cheerful tone which made Lyra giggle. "That's what I like about you Derpy no matter who the pony or what the reason you always keep a joyful mood." Lyra complimented. "Aww shucks thanks Lyra." Derpy said clearly blushing at the compliment. "You're welcome." Lyra said smiling. They continue walking toward the farm. Derpy decided to occupy herself by thinking of all the new delicious muffin recipes she would ask Applejack to teach her, the thought made her stomach rumble which caused her to giggle to herself she returned to the thought again but was soon interrupted by Lyra who was quietly singing the song Pinkie Pie had sang about smiles. "Come on everypony Smile, smile, and smile! Fill my heart up with sunshine, Sunshine." Lyra sang as Derpy watched her trying to remember if she had heard the song before. While trying to remember another thought crossed Derpy's mind. "Hey Lyra you know that I don't mind coming with you to Applejack's farm but why are you going there?" She asked her friend. "Oh well you see I ran out of bait three weeks ago and decided to try something new this month." Lyra said with a smile on her face. "And apples where the first thing that came to your mind?" Derpy questioned. "Not really it's actually a very funny story how apples came to my mind. Want to hear it? Lyra asked. "Yeah!" Derpy yelled with enthusiasm "Alright I was walking to Twilight's library to see if I could find a book." Lyra explained. "What kind of book." Derpy asked. "Umm...well...It's a...ah it's was just a regular book." Lyra said to Derpy, who noticed that Lyra was struggling a little to get her words in order but decided to ignore it. "What happened next?" Derpy asked reminding Lyra to continue her story. "Oh yeah sorry, where was I?" She pondered before finally remembering. "Oh right like I was saying I was heading to Twilight's library but I was coming from the Everfree forest so it was a pretty long walk and getting pretty hungry so I decide to stop by Sugarcube Corner and grab a snack but right when I was about to reach it I got hit in the head real hard with an –" Lyra was about to finished but she was interrupt "It was an apple and that's what gave you the idea to get apples right!" Derpy said confidently. "Nope it was a baseball." Lyra said bluntly. "A baseball?" Derpy said confused as she rubbed her head with her hoof. "Yep according to everypony that was there I was unconscious for about eight minutes." Lyra said simply. "Oh my where you ok?" Derpy asked concerned. "Oh yeah I was fine funny thing though I felt like I was still awake though." Lyra said. "Really? Wow did you see anything like a light." Derpy asked with curiosity growing in her eyes. "No it wasn't like that Derpy." Lyra said as she chuckled a little at Derpy's question. "Oh ok but how did the ball hit you." Derpy asked. "Oh that's easy apparently those Cutie Mark Crusader fillies where trying to get their cutie marks in baseball, Scootaloo the Pegasus of the group, hit the ball really hard and bad luck for me it happened to be falling in my direction." Lyra said as she rubbed the back of her neck with an awkward smile on her face. Derpy listen carefully but was still confused, wondering when the main point of this conversation would come up. "Umm Lyra not to sound like I'm rushing you but what does this have to do with you eventually wanting apples?" Derpy asked confused. "I was just about to get to that part, when I woke up Applejack gave me three free apples as a way of apologizing to me for the three fillies’ incident. Once the world stopped shaking around me I headed straight for the library. After the pain left my head the hunger in my stomach came back so I decide to eat the apples and once I took that first bite you know what I realized at that moment. "What!?" Derpy asked as her eyes grew with curiosity. "That Applejack's apples taste amazing good!" Lyra said, as she jumped a little in the air. Derpy looked at Lyra with a confused and dumbfound face. "Lyra I think everypony knew that." Derpy said trying her best to not sound rude. "What I mean is that I don't think anything could resist these apples, which makes them the perfect bait." Lyra said proudly. "That's another thing that's got my curiosity Lyra." Derpy said firmly. “What do you mean when you say bait? What are you trying to catch?" "Umm... something?" Lyra said nervously. "You're still trying to find those creatures with the weird disfigured hoofs right?" Derpy said with a straightforward face. "How did you know?" Lyra said taken aback by Derpy's accurate response. "Do you remember the whole Gabby Gums incident from awhile back?" Derpy asked. "Yeah?" Lyra said trying to figure out what Derpy was getting at. "Well one of their stories was about your quote "unhealthy obsession" unquote." Derpy said as she covered her mouth with her hoof to try and block out the sounds of her giggles. "You know that explains why everypony kept looking at me funny for three weeks." Lyra said as she smack herself on the head in a playful matter Derpy couldn't help but laugh at Lyra's unfortunate bad luck. Lyra also joined in the laughter understanding that these events where pretty funny considering the nonsense each of them had and knew that if only complain rather than laugh you'll only make yourself miserable. "Alright as much as I would like to keep laughing at my misfortunes I think we should keep moving Derpy." Lyra suggested. "Yeah since you mention how good those apples tasted my stomach's been growling like a Timberwolves. Derpy said as she held her stomach. "Yeah let’s go." Lyra said as she started to move with Derpy following. As they were walking a thought came to Lyra's mind "Hey Derpy?" Lyra said. "Yeah?" Derpy asked. "On the way back we should talk and laugh at your unlucky misfortunes." Lyra said as she playfully poked Derpy's shoulder. "Lyra I promise you that if we do you'll die of laughter and I'll die of embarrassment. Derpy said with a weak smile and mixed emotions in her tone. Lyra didn't know what to say to Derpy's respond without thinking that she would sound rude. So she tries to think of a different subject to and nothing comes to her mind at first. She takes another glance at Derpy who is just walking and looking forward with a little smile on her face. Wow does Derpy have a good poker face I can't tell if she's really smiling or not I, I hope it's real and not some forced smile to hide her whatever emotion she's feeling right now, did I hurt her feelings by mentioning her misfortunes? I should have known better then to mention that what's wrong with me she's got enough troubles with those eyes of her and other ponies who make fun of her. What kind of friend would even joke about that? Yes we did with mines but I'm used to it consider my hobby, which is not an obsession! It's not uncommon for me to get laughed at for it but that every now and then, hers could almost be daily. I should apologies to her. "Lyra!" Derpy yelled to her friend. "What's wrong?" Lyra yelled back looking at Derpy. "There at the club house!" Derpy pointed at the object she had seen. Lyra stood there in shock. She couldn't believe what her eyes were staring at. "Oh my sweet Celestia." Was the only thing Lyra could mutter out? "What is it?" Derpy asked confused and scared. "No bucking way." Lyra said as a huge smile grew on her face. (Half an hour ago somewhere else) Vincent had been walking through the apple forest for a while now he did check his watch every now and again but after a while he decide that until he could figure out the time system in this world he decide to just use the sun as a clock. The walk through the apple forest was a lot longer than he had thought but also didn't bother him like he thought it would since there were plenty of apples to eat whenever he got hungry and the grass, even though he hated to admit it, was soft enough for him to rest on which he did about two times but they didn't last long as his objective kept him motivated to keep moving which was a good thing until a certain thought had crossed his mind. "How do I know I'm going the right way?" The thought ran through Vincent's head. Now that I think of it I really should have found a way to get a map of this place, that would have been very useful rather than walking through an apple fill forest which I have no knowledge of whatsoever. Not one of my best idea buts that's irrelevant right now I just need to keep heading east until I see another forest, easier said than done. I've never been one to complain out loud so I'll work with what I got, wait. "What the hell is that?" Vincent said with a weird look on his face caused by the object he was looking at. He walks closer to it and sees that it's a tree house. Confused as to what horse would build tree house all the way out here, he walks to it to examine it closely he saw that it was well built and that half of the tree wasn't even cut it was sticking out of the house. "Who ever built this thing obviously knows how to construct." Vincent said complimenting the pony made this tree house. Vincent's curiosity finally got to him as he started walking up the steps to get a better look at it. it was pretty big just enough for him to fit through the door although he did have to bend his head down a little to avoid hitting the his head, the inside was much like how he thought it would be a children's tree house filled with posters, colorful window curtains, paper, paint, crowns, flowers in pots, etc. etc. Oh yeah and there was a speaking stand post in the middle of the room for some reason, Vincent figured that however many of those horse where in here that was where the main one made his or her speech. After looking around he saw that there was an open hatch that lead to a second floor he walk to it then climbed up the ladder and stuck his head up to look around and saw not that the second floor particle looked like the first. He climb back down and decided it was time to start walking to his destination when Vincent got back outside he looked to his right and saw that there was another set of steps that led to what looked like a watchtower. "Well there's something you don't usually see on a tree house." Vincent thought as he put his hand on his chin. "I may not have a map but a watchtower that high could be more useful." Vincent stood there for about a minute before finally making up his mind. "Doesn't look like any of those horses will be coming by anytime soon and I'm not in a rush. Alright I'm going to use it." He decided. I headed up the steps and saw that while it was small it was still big enough for me to fit through as long as I crouched a little anyway I went to the side that the telescope was at and looked through it. I saw that on the west hemisphere was a farm with not surprisingly a corn crop field, chicken coops, a well, and what looked like a small carrots factory or something like that, after I finished checking out the farm I looked towards the east and saw that I wasn't too far from the forest, I would reach it in about seven or less minutes if I run there. Well finishing that thought I was about to leave before I decide to look at the town because I had never gotten a chance to get a good look at the town, once I did imagine my surprise when I saw how the whole town was. It looked like it was in the renaissance period or that one period in time in Europe that looked good before the Black Death created a shitstorm and destroyed everything. Hope these things don't have too many fleas here. Now that thought made me laugh anyway I knew it was time to go I head back down the steps, things are going my way so far seems I got the better half of that 50/50 chance... Wait did someone just yell... Oh shit. "There at the club house!" Derpy pointed at the object she had seen. "Oh my sweet Celestia." Was the only thing Lyra could mutter out? "Oh my God." Vincent mutter out. "What is it?" Derpy asked confused and scared. "In most stories this situation is usually the other way." Vincent thought. "No bucking way." Lyra said as a huge smile grew on her face. No fucking way is right... Wait did she just say "No bucking way." Whatever doesn't matter I need to get the hell out of here. I know I could just shot them but knowing these things have intelligence I'm sure others will hear the gun fire and come looking around, pluses having to find a place to hide there bodies would take up a lot of time to so killing them will be put on hold as a last resort. I looked out towards the north and figured that if I run fast enough there an then change my direction I should be able to out run them, once I get inside the forest I'll be able to lose them in there. I just need to wait for the perfect opportunity which better come soon because the way that mint colored horse is looking at me with that giant smile is giving me an itchy trigger finger. "Lyra is that one of those things you've been obsessing over." Derpy whispered to her. "Yes Derpy but what makes this a dream come true that it's right there in front of us... And it's not an obsession! Derpy yelled. Vincent saw this as an opportunity to getaway, He jumped from the tree house once his feet hit the ground he started sprinting forward to the north liked he planned never bothering to look back. "Lyra it's running away." Derpy said as she and Lyra watch the creature run away although Lyra was still a bit in shock before snapping out of it. "Derpy quick we have to catch up to it so we can talk to it! Come on before it gets away. Lyra screamed loud enough that even Vincent heard. Great now I'm a hitman that's about to be chased by two female horse this seems like something out of a cartoon/movie cross over story or something stupid like that. But whatever I need to focus on getting to the forest. "Lyra do you think we can catch up to it? And if we do you think it will be able to understand us if we try talking to it?" Derpy said as she ran with Lyra. "I don't know but life has always been about taking chances and this is one of them." Lyra stated as they chased the creature. These horses why did they have to be walking in this forest? On this day? Must be a classic case of "wrong place at the wrong time". Another expression that always brings out complications in situations. What am I an attraction for complications? On that note I take it back on that getting the better half of that 50/50 chance, I got the cluster fuck of the half and God does it bring a lot of unnecessary complications. "But for whom is the real question? Me? These horses? Maybe all of us." Vincent thought as he kept running.