//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Setting Up The Meeting // Story: Ponyllateral // by It Never Ends //------------------------------// You know, I can't remember the last time I had good laugh like today. Lyra's roommate Bon Bon sure is one to make quick assumptions, but that worked out good for me since Bon Bon, man do I hate saying these names, didn't see me, but it was also bad for Lyra since it seems like her dignity has gone down a significant amount. But I'm sure she'll get over it once I tell her the idea that I came up with while hiding in that bathroom. "You ok?" Vincent asked, still having that amused smile on his face. "Physically sure." Lyra said in what could be described as a cross between embarrassment and sadness. "But my dignity feels like it's been stomped on." "Back where I'm from, we have this saying for situations like this." Vincent said to Lyra, who looked at him. "Really? What is it?" Lyra questioned, now curious. "You took one for the team." Vincent said, thinking this might brighten up Lyra a little. He didn't want her to be all sad over something small the whole day. "We're a team?" Lyra tilting her head a little as she looked at Vincent, confused by the saying. "Umm, I'm more of a work alone kind of guy, Lyra." Vincent stated. He wasn't lying, as he really did prefer to be a part of the whole lone wolf category. In his opinion, having a team only caused complications. "Oh." Lyra said, disappointed by Vincent's response. She really wanted to be considered a sort of teammate with Vincent, but if Lyra had come to understand just a few things about Vincent, it was that he was a bit of a loner. "Ok then." Boy, was this pony sensitive! Although that did make sense, as looking at this place gives you a good idea that this species is all about politeness, fairness, kindness, and dare I say it friendship. My personality and attitude just reminded me that I definitely didn't belong here, which made it more annoying by the fact that this place might be my new home. Yep, even that hurts my head to just think about it. I know I've always been about the uncertainty of the universe, but I have to question at what the fuck it was thinking when it put me in this world and why? But this was not the time to pounder on that question right now. I need to get Lyra in a better mood so she'll be more useful with helping me. "But if it's any consolation, I consider you a reliable acquaintance." Vincent said, hoping that some-what of a complement would be enough to cheer Lyra up. "Really?" Lyra's eyes sparkled with joy, although she would have preferred friend, acquaintance was a start in the right direction and she'll take what she can get. "You mean it?" "Yeah." Vincent simply said but in all honesty he thought that reliable might be stretching it a little with Lyra, but it was to late to take it back. "I mean it." I perked up after hearing Vincent say that I'm a "reliable acquaintance". Wow, do I feel tingly inside and not in the wrong way, but in "the princesses just honored" me type of tingly except this was way better because an actual human was right in front of me complementing me. My life was now complete. I could die in peace without any regrets not that I was planning on dying. I'm just overexcited and saying things that are going through my mind left and right. It shouldn't take me more than a few seconds to get my composure back in order. Hopefully Vincent won't think I'm being weird. "Why is she just standing there with a huge smile on her face? I mean, yes, I know she's a huge fangirl of humans but seriously, she's taking it to a new level." Vincent thought in his mind as he continued to look at Lyra. "Just a few more seconds of enjoying the moment." Lyra said in her mind as she stood there, still frozen like a statue. Ok, enough is enough. I've wasted enough time just trying to cheer Lyra up, which was starting to feel like a job, and that was not something I wanted to be feeling and now. Lyra's still acting like a statue, which was weird at first but now it's just irritating me. Time to get back on track, and no more distractions. "Lyra, you ok?" Vincent asked as he snapped his fingers in front of Lyra's face. She quickly snapped out of her trance. She shook her head and then focused on Vincent who was glad to see her back in reality. "Sorry, what?" Lyra asked as she got her focus back. "I said are you feeling good enough to help me now?" Vincent answered, completely changing his original response, since he wanted to hurry and get his plan into motion. "Oh, sure, I'll help you out with whatever you need me to do." Lyra said excited to finally be of use. "Good, that's what I wanted to hear." Vincent said as he started walking out of Lyra's room. "Come on, we'll talk in the living room." "Ok." Lyra followed behind Vincent, but caught up with him just enough to be by his side. Vincent looked down at Lyra, who was smiling at him sweetly. He returned her the kind gesture with a pat on the head, the way he would pat a pet, but Vincent didn't really care if Lyra saw it that way or not. When he looked back at her he saw she was fixing her mane which Vincent had messed up a little. The sight of this made him chuckle a little. He should have seen that coming though, remembering yesterday and seeing all those ponies with different mane styles. Vincent had to wonder if Lyra would find it fascinating that humans where practically the same in that they were always fixating on making their hair look good. Another thing these ponies had in common with humanity. Vincent guessed it must take them hours to get their manes right, and if that was the case, he'd hate to see how long it took these ponies to make their manes look decent. Anyway, they had reached the living room. Vincent noticed a bowl on the floor of the kitchen and milk and hay all over. "Lyra must have done that when Bon Bon went into her room." Vincent figured as much before focusing back on the milk and hay. "If hay is all they eat around here, I'm going to fucking starve." Vincent took a seat on the recliner that he had slept on last night. Lyra went to another recliner and moved it to where It would be facing Vincent. She then sat down and eagerly waited to hear Vincent's plan. "Alright Lyra, do you remember when Derpy mentioned those Elements of Harmony?" Vincent needed to make sure that Lyra remembered this particular question. "Yeah, I remember." Lyra said shaking her head up and down confirming Vincent's thought, ready to answer any of the questions Vincent had for her. "What about them? You need more information on them?" "I don't just want information on them Lyra. I want to meet them." Vincent said with a very serious tone and expression, wanting Lyra to know that he was not fucking around. Lyra felt cold and not the Hearts Warming Eve snowy cold but the "Windigos had just come into her home and started causing an ice blizzard that would eventually freeze her" kind of cold. She could see it in Vincent's eyes how serious he was, and the tone of his voice was basically giving a demand rather in the form of a question. "He isn't kidding around," she thought. This scared her a little, since the idea of Vincent meeting the Elements was not something she liked to think about since the outcomes of her thoughts always ended badly. She believed that Twilight and her friends wouldn't be so open minded with Vincent like Derpy and her where. Looking back at Vincent's eyes again, she could see that he was waiting for her to respond. Lyra didn't know how or rather didn't want to answer because she knew that Vincent was expecting one answer and one answer only would satisfy his demand. Lyra knew that lying wasn't a good idea and that saying no was an even worse idea. After hearing ponies say that they where caught "between a rock and a hard place" so many time, she finally understood what they meant, and she didn't like the feeling. "Umm, Vincent I don't think that's a good idea." Lyra said, not sure on whether to be nervous about Vincent's demand to meet the elements or his reaction to Lyra' response. "I know this seems like a bad, rushed move to make, especially since I haven't been here longer than a day. But it's going to happen eventually, so I'd say we speed up the process." Vincent's explanation made since to Lyra, but it didn't put her worries at ease. "Vincent, if you don't mind me asking, why would you want to meet the elements already? You've only been here for no more than a day, right?" Lyra wanted to know what Vincent's intentions where before even considering about taking him to the Elements. "Actually, Lyra, I do mind." Vincent said firmly. "Pony feathers," Lyra cursed in her mind. She had already expected Vincent to more than likely keep his reason to himself, which didn't help Lyra feel like she was a little filly trying to get her older brother to spill his secrets to her. Except Vincent couldn't be her brother since he was human and she was a pony and that would be just weird... Lyra smacked her head with her hoof. Why in Celestia's name would she compare that to this situation. There where other examples she could have chosen to use, but for whatever reason she choose that. She smacked her head again and than started shaking her head back and forth rapidly in a cartoonish style. When she looked back at Vincent, she could see that he had a amused look on his face. "Umm..." Lyra muttered as she felt the embarrassment creeping back into her body. "You know, Lyra, you just reminded me of a question I had meant to ask you yesterday, but I forgot to because I was tired as hell from everything that had happened." Vincent said, still having that amused look on his face. "Oh... What question would that be?" Lyra asked, knowing that the question wasn't going to be something flattering. "Does your species have any kind of drugs like weed, meth, marijuana and things like that?" Vincent smirked as he saw the confusion grow on Lyra's face. Marijua-huh? What in Celestia's name was that stuff or any of those things Vincent had mentioned? She couldn't even think of how to pronounce those names right and her confusion kept on growing as she didn't know if she should be insulted, dumbfound, or intrigued by these strange sounding things. However a part of her kept telling her that what these things where was probably nothing good. "No, I'm pretty sure we don't." Lyra said truthully, but still confused. "Yeah, I figured but I had to ask though. Just to be sure, you know," Vincent said, chuckling a little at the uselessness of the question itself, but mostly at the reaction it caused Lyra to have. The mint unicorn looked like she was trying to figure out the question like it was a puzzle. This gave Vincent an idea. "Would you like to know what a drug is, Lyra?" Lyra wanted to know, but a part of her kept telling her that it be better for her species to not know what these drugs were. So against her need to know, she decided to let Vincent keep that information to himself. Lyra would hate herself for this later. "Thanks for the offer, but I think it be best for you to keep that to yourself." Lyra said, she was already hating herself. Vincent laughed for a little bit. It made sense that a pony that lived in a "perfect" little kids' world wouldn't want the concept of drugs to excise in this place. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if Lyra had some uneasy feeling when she heard the word. Regardless, it gave Vincent another good laugh. "You're right. It's best if certain human traits stay in the dark." Vincent said, knowing that this might be the nicest thing he would ever do for this planet. "Back to the matter at hand, are you going to help me set up this meeting?" "Vincent, in all honesty, I'm not sure how Twilight and the others will react to you when they see you." Lyra said, feeling that she should at least try to convince Vincent to reconsider his course of action, even though she knew that wouldn't be easy. "Might turn bad real fast." "You think so?" Vincent said, he already had his mind made up on this, but decided to hear what Lyra would say to him, he figured this might be kind of amusing if not funny. "It's just everyone here isn't as open minded as me or excepting as Derpy or fascinated by strangeness like Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom." Lyra tried to state as much truth as she could think of, although her Cutie Mark Crusader comment was mostly due to the fact that they where still fillies. "Their reaction might not be what you're hoping for." "I never hope, Lyra. I think, I do, and I accomplish." Vincent said, practically telling Lyra his routine for completing assassinations. "What do you mean?" Lyra asked, not understanding what Vincent was getting at. "It means I'm not hoping for them to react to me the same way you, Derpy, and the fillies did. I'm expecting them to react differently. More than likely, they'll freak the fuck out." Vincent was completely honest with what he just said. To him hoping was overrated and just for idiots who couldn't open their eyes to reality. He saw these kind of people as children who where still afraid of the dark, which was actually pretty ironic, considering Vincent had learned this at a very young age. Regardless knowing this helped him to become the person he was, not just a killer but a person who always preferred to embracing the uncertainty of the universe, random chance, just taking what nature throws at you and running with it rather than always lying to yourself by hoping things would go your way. Vincent knew it never worked out that way. That thought reminded him of his confrontation with Max, and how it proved his statement correct. He pushed that thought away, though as he knew that now was not the time for this, there was still the question that Lyra was avoiding to answer and now he that he remembered it he was becoming annoyed with Lyra and her refusal to give him a answer. "Look, Lyra, I get that you don't like this idea but I'm going to be honest with you when I say that this is my decision, and I don't really care what you think of it because I'm going to find a way to meet them, one way or another, and with or without your concern. Now you can either help me or stay out of my business." Vincent said very seriously with a look that could be described as angry, but Lyra couldn't really tell, as she was scared at Vincent's response. "I...I..." Lyra was still a little scared, but she didn't know what scared her more: the idea of letting Vincent and The Elements of Harmony meeting or how calm Vincent was when he was obviously angry, and how little he could make her feel without yelling. But it didn't matter. She had came up with a decision. "I'll help." "Alright then." Vincent got up from his recline. "First thing I need you to do is to get Derpy and the three fillies here fast." "Ok." Lyra said as she got up and headed for the door. She didn't want to ask anymore questions. She just wanted to get this over with. "Give me fifteen minutes." And Lyra." Vincent called to her as she reached the door. "Yeah?" Lyra said as she looked back at Vincent, who looked at her. "Thanks for choosing to help me out." Vincent said, trying to sound as sincere as he could. He then gave Lyra a small smile. "You're a reliable acquaintance." Lyra's face grew a huge smile as she felt her spirit perk up and her heart beating so fast from so much joy that she thought she was going to have a heart attack of happiness. Vincent might have been secretive, a little mean, and kind of scary, but she knew in her heart that he wasn't an evil man and that was more than enough to convince her that helping him was the right thing to do. "Thank you Vincent. I'll see you in seven minutes." Lyra said as she felt the adrenaline pumping into her legs. "Didn't you say –” Vincent didn't finish his sentence, because when he looked back he saw that Lyra was gone. "Huh. She did that whole ‘gone in a second cartoon thing’, weird." Vincent went to Lyra's room, picked up his briefcase and went back to the living room. He sat back down on the recliner and pulled the lever back. He laid back and got comfortable and decide to relax for the next seven minutes as he waited for Lyra to return with the others. Vincent smiled as he thought of how things would work out once he met the Elements of Harmony. He closed his eyes. Lyra had already gotten Derpy. It didn't take long to convince her to come with her, since all Lyra did was mention Vincent needing help. The Cutie Mark Crusaders where also easy to get, as they where already out trying to get their skydiving cutie marks but they where glad to put that on hold, as they wanted to be involved with Vincent's plan. It might have also been because they couldn't convince any Pegasus to help them out by flying them high into the air and letting them fall back down. But mostly it was for Vincent. After gathering everypony together, they all trotted to Lyra’s house. Lyra opened the door and went inside. Vincent had just woken up and looked to see Lyra, Derpy and the three fillies with her. Vincent smiled at Lyra and gave her a nod. "Good job Lyra." Vincent said, impressed, he then checked his watch. "And in seven minutes. Not bad." "Thank you." Lyra said feeling proud of herself for being given another complement by Vincent. "A complement is always appreciated." "Lyra said you need help with something." Derpy said as she smiled at Vincent. "Also, nice to see you again." "Good to see all of you, too." Vincent said, wanting to get the greeting done with so they could focus on the real matter at hand. "And yes, I do need help with something." "Leave it on us." Scootaloo said, enthusiastic about helping Vincent. "Yeah, we're ready for it." Apple Bloom said, also excited about this new adventure. "Let's do this I'm getting anxious." Sweetie Belle said, happy to finally be getting more involved with Vincent, Lyra, and Derpy's agendas this time. "Alright, I need all of you to help me set up a meeting." Vincent said as he waited for one of the ponies to respond. "With who?" Derpy asked, wondering who Vincent would want to meet. "The Elements of Harmony." Vincent's words shocked Derpy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "I'm not sure I heard that correctly, but did you say you wanted to meet my sister and her friends?" Apple Bloom asked, wanting to make sure Vincent said that correctly. "Yes I did." Vincent said, confirming their worries. "Is that a good idea?" Scootaloo asked, not sure what to think of Vincent's sentence. "Lyra." Vincent looked at Lyra expecting her to answer. "I had my doubts to, but Vincent convinced me that it's going to happen sooner or later, we might as well speed up the process." Lyra’s words made sense to the other ponies, and they started believing that letting the Elements meet Vincent was better to do sooner than later was a good idea. "Well, when you put it like that, it does seem logical." Derpy said, believing that Vincent was right about this. "That’s good enough for me." Vincent said as he turned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "What about you three?" Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom had already done a group discussion when Vincent was talking to Derpy. At first they didn't think it would be a good decision, but then they figured that meeting Vincent sooner than later would be a better choice since Twilight and her friends discovering Vincent on their own just spelled disaster. They had their decision ready. "We’ll help." Sweetie Belle said, speaking for all three fillies. "Good. Now I don't want to waste anymore time, so I'll make this quick and simple." Vincent wanted to hurry up and get this going. "We’re all ready. Just let us know what to do." Lyra said. She was ready, along with everypony for whatever Vincent had planned. "All I need you to do is get each of the Elements at the edge of The Everfree forest at the place we exited from yesterday, I don't care how you convince them just do it. I'll be waiting there, so try to be there in fifteen minutes. Ok?" Vincent said, making sure to keep the instructions simple enough for these ponies so they wouldn't be able to fuck it up. "Alright, sounds easy enough, right girls?" Lyra looked towards Derpy and the three fillies, who all nodding their heads in agreement. "Alright, I'm going now. I'll see you all in fifteen minutes." Vincent said as he picked up his briefcase and walked to a window, he was gonna get out that way. "Wait what if somepony sees you?" Derpy said, concerned about Vincent getting to the Everfree without being noticed. "I'll be fine trust me. You just worry about your own objectives." Vincent went out the window and left the five ponies on their own. "Alright, let’s get started." Scootaloo said, excited. They all headed out the door, before departing, Lyra gave one last gesture of good luck before they began their task. "Good luck, everypony, see you in fifteen minutes." Lyra smiled before leaving. Vincent checked his watch a couple of times while he waited behind the tree. The girls had three more minutes to show up. He had rested his eyes for a little while but woke up when he heard the sound of what could be described as a stampede and a jet flying towards each other. Anyway, once awake he got up. Which was a good thing since it was starting to rain before I knew it the rain starting falling hard. "Wish I had brought an umbrellas." Vincent said, he would hate that his suit was getting wet since this was his only clothes now. While waiting, I kept thinking of different scenarios and different outcomes that would follow once I met these so called “Elements of Harmony”. each scenario had either a good or bad outcome, and sometimes a mixture of both. I called that neutral, but I wouldn't have an official answer until the girls got here, which would be in two more minutes. I wonder how these ponies would look and how their personalities would be like. They better be reasonable and not hard-headed. Otherwise, this wasn't going to end well. Which is funny, considering the worst case scenario I came up with was that we all ended up killing each. Don't I have a violent mind? Ok, it was time. I looked out to see in the distance. Eleven ponies walking towards my direction. I could tell that five of them were Lyra, Derpy, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom. The other six where different colors and had different manes. Hell, one even had a Stetson. That one must have been Apple Bloom's older sister. Country heritage must run in the family. She looked like the honest type. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. A white unicorn who must be Sweetie Belle's sister looked like she had an overly-dramatic personality to her, and the way her body language was oriented just screamed upper class personality. I might not be to fond of her. And then there was a yellow-looking pegasus who look like the shy, sheepish type. She looked easy to scare. “That might be fun,” I thought with a hint of a smile. There was a pink pony who hopped instead of walking, and was talking fast I could already tell I would be annoyed by her, if not pissed off. But she seemed easy to manipulate, which I could probably use to my advantage. Then I saw a rainbow-colored pegasus who seemed to have that tomboyish attitude and over confident personality. “She must like to win a lot,” I inferred. Great, an arrogant pony, and finally there was a purple unicorn who was talking to Lyra. I read her lips and saw she must be a real book worm who liked to use logic to solve problem. Might be good to have someo... Err pony intelligent to talk to... It might be good or a pain in the ass. Alright, I'd got as much information as I can from watching them. Now it's time for the moment of truth: the meeting. When they got close to tree I was behind, I heard one of them ask why they where all here, after hearing that, I knew now was the perfect time. I walked out and told myself to be ready for anything. It was good that I had my Heckler & Koch USP45 with me right now. Vincent started walking away from the tree but hadn't noticed that the floor had quickly become muddy. On his next step he slipped and fell backwards, with nothing to grab onto he fell back onto the tree and hit it pretty hard. It hurt like hell but soon Vincent, who was now very dazed, realized he was beginning to blackout. He tried to keep himself awake but he couldn't beat it, before going out he heard the sounds of running hooves heading towards him than he went out like a light.