//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: A Short Task To The Big Reveal // Story: Ponyllateral // by It Never Ends //------------------------------// "Good luck everypony see you in fifteen minutes." Lyra smiled before leaving. "See you in thirteen." Scootaloo said in a challenging manner. "I got Rainbow Dash." "I'll get my sister." Apple Bloom said accepting Scootaloo's challenged. "And I'll be here in ten." And with the finishing of that sentence Scootaloo and Apple Bloom where off to get there selected ponies. They took off fast enough that Lyra, Derpy, and Sweetie Belle didn't have time to tell them who they had picked to get. Actually they hadn't decided yet who they where getting well Sweetie Belle already had her choice Lyra and Derpy on the other hand. "Your not going to join their little competition?" Derpy asked looking at Sweetie Bell. "Nope I'm going to get my sister and her boutique is no farther than a three minute walk." Sweetie Bell said confident she didn't need to rush herself to get Rarity. "I'll meet you guys at the spot." Sweetie Belle than walked away and left Lyra and Derpy to decide who of the remaining three would they get. "So who do you want to get?" Lyra asked. "Doesn't matter to me I'll get whoever I need to." Derpy said looking at Lyra. "I guess you can get Fluttershy since she's a pegasus and I can get Pinkie Pie and Twilight since they both live on the ground." Lyra said to Derpy who was looking at Lyra confused. "What?" "Doesn't Fluttershy live on the ground to." Derpy brought up a good point but Lyra had figured Derpy would have got what she meant but she should have been more clear. "What I meant is that Fluttershy is a Pegasus like you, both of you can just fly there." Lyra explanation made sense to Derpy. "Yeah you're right that would be faster." Derpy said as she looked to the direction of Fluttershy's cottage. "Alrighty than I'll see you at the spot." "Good luck." Lyra said. "You to." Derpy began flying away. Scootaloo had found Rainbow Dash sleeping on one of here favorite trees, she yelled to Dash but she was to busy snoring to loud to hear her so Scootaloo decide to climb up the tree and wake Dash up she hated the thought of disturbing her idol's slumber but Vincent was counting on her to get Rainbow Dash to the meeting plus she couldn't let Apple Bloom beat her to the meeting so for the sake of a better reason she decide waking up Dash would be a necessary annoyance. "Dash? Dash? Dash wake up." Scootaloo said quietly as she tried to wake Rainbow Dash up but when she didn't and looked at the sun and saw the time on the clock tower, five minutes had gone by that made her worry as she knew she had to speed up her process otherwise she would be last it was time for some shouting. "Rainbow Dash Wake Up!" Rainbow kicked up and started struggling on the branch her struggling caused both her and Scootaloo to fall down, the crashed didn't hurt their bodies to much but the pain was still there.Once Rainbow Dash got her focus back she looked at Scootaloo with a annoyed look in her face. "Scootaloo why did you disturb my resting you know I only get a handful of times to sleep during the day." Rainbow Dash complained "Sorry Dash but I need you to come with me." Scootaloo said wanting to hurry and get to the meeting spot. "Why?" Rainbow Dash asked wanting to know what Scootaloo needed her for and why she was in such a hurry. "Because there's a meeting I need to get you to." Scootaloo said very anxious to get going. "A meeting?" Rainbow Dash was now intrigued. "What kind of meeting?" "One that all your friends are going to be at." Scootaloo said really worried that Apple Bloom would beat her to the spot. "Can we please go now Dash." "Scoots your going to have to give me more information than that." Rainbow Dash said still not sure if she wanted to go. "I'll explain on the way there." Scootaloo knew she would have to lie to Rainbow Dash but it would be necessary. "Why are you in such a rush Scoots?" Rainbow knew that she could at least get a quick answer for this question. "Because of a contest between me and Apple Bloom have going on, to see who can get to the meeting first either me and you or her and Applejack." Scootaloo said very quickly, that she needed to catch her breath. "Oh really?" Rainbow Dash grew a big smile "Alright lets go can't let them beat us there, hop on my back." Scootaloo did as she was told, she also had a smile on her face not only was she going to beat Apple Bloom but she was on Rainbow Dash's back who was about to fly as fast as she could to the meeting, they took off in the blink of an eye, they would win without a doubt except for one thing... Scootaloo forgot to tell Rainbow Dash where they needed to go oh well she would have to wait for Dash to stop since the speed she was going at enabled her to hear Scootaloo's yelling, hopefully Dash would stop soon. Meanwhile Apple Bloom was talking to Applejack who had just finished collecting apples. "So let me get this straight, You want me to go to some meeting with you, a meeting that my friends are going to, and it's so important that we have to go now." Applejack basically summed up everything Apple Bloom had told her. "I don't know Sugarcube." "Come on AJ." Apple Bloom whined. "I need you to go so I can beat Scootaloo." "You two got into another competition didn't you?" Applejack asked already knowing the answer. "Yeah." Apple Bloom confirmed Applejack's suspicion. "And you want me to go so you can beat Scootaloo." Applejack knew that it was all in good fun she just didn't like to get involved to much. "And Rainbow Dash since Scootaloo's bringing her." Apple Bloom caught Applejack's attention when she mentioned Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash huh?" Applejack said with a curious look. "Yes siree apple." Apple Bloom smiled knowing she had just got the Applejack's attention. Applejack may not have wanted to get involved with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo's little competition but with her own rivalry with Rainbow Dash, when it came to things like this it reminded her that no matter how small the competition may be she wanted to make sure she was the one to win it and knowing Rainbow Dash, the moment Scootaloo mention this being a competition between her and Apple Bloom that involved Applejack and Rainbow Dash getting to this meeting first she would be racing to the spot. Knowing this made it easier for her to make a final decision. "Alright little sis hop on my back, tell me where we're going, and off we will be." Applejack instructed to her little sister. "Alright we're going to the edge of The Everfree forest from where exit is located." Apple Bloom instructed. "Alright then hang on tight sugarcube ." Applejack said as she ready herself. "Let's go!" Apple Bloom yelled. And with that Applejack took off towards the Everfree forest's entrance determination in her eyes as the adrenalin kicked in she would not lose to Dash. Now Sweetie Belle on her task was having trouble getting Rarity's attention sense she was busy finishing up a new dress however instead of continuing to try and grab her older sisters attention by yelling at her she decided to just get in front of the dress Rarity was working on. "Sweetie Belle will you kindly move so I can finish up my design." Rarity said in a tone that could only be describe as a mixture of whining and annoyance. "I must finish this." "First you need to hear what I have to tell you, otherwise I'm staying right her." Sweetie Belle stomped her hoofed down to make her point. rarity could tell her little sister wasn't joking. "Fine." Rarity said annoyed as she reluctantly agreed to her sister's demand. "What do you need dear?" "I need you to come with me to a meeting." Sweetie Belle said with a smile glade that her sister was listening to her. "I've been called to a meeting." Rarity asked since she had no knowledge of a meeting that Sweetie Belle was talking about. "Yeah you and your friends have been called to this meeting." Sweetie Belle said thinking that would convince her sister to leave already. "My friends have been called to? Who has called for this meeting." Rarity's question made Sweetie Belle worry, knowing she couldn't mention Vincent she decided to do say something else. "I'm not sure about who but I know whoever it is, has clothing that you've never seen before." Sweetie Belle knew that would catch Rarity's attention like a fish and a hook. "Really? Clothing that I've never seen before impossible." Rarity founding it hard to believe there was clothing out there that she had not yet seen. "You'll never know unless you go." Sweetie Belle said giggling a little at the rhyme she just made. "That is a good point." Rarity said as she thought about this meeting and the mysterious stallion who set it up but she soon made up her mind. "Alright Sweetie Belle I'll go but first let me finish this design." "Ok." Sweetie Belle walk out of the way towards the door. "Just please hurry we need to –” Before she Sweetie Belle could finish her sentence she looked back and saw her sister standing next to the now completed dress with a smile on her face. Sweetie Belle was dumbfounded by Rarity's incredible speed with the completion of the dress. "How did you?" Sweetie Belle asked still a dumbfounded. "I may struggle from time to time with certain designs but when I need to be fast I'm fast and furious with my work." Rarity said proudly. "Shall we be off now?" "Umm yeah lets go." Sweetie Belle while still confused was a lot more happy to be done with he task. Sweetie Belle and Rarity headed off to the Everfree forest Sweetie Belle looked at the clock tower and was relieved to see she still had time, Rarity on the other hoof was anxious to see this new clothing that she would probably be able to get and use. In another part of the town in the sky above it Derpy was lowering herself to the ground, despite her eye problem she landed well although she did loose her balance and wobbled a little she didn't fall down once she regained her balance she saw that she was in front of Fluttershy's front door Derpy raised her hoof in a victorious manner for herself because she didn't crash into the door. Derpy remembered that she had a task to complete so she knocked on the door and waited for an answer, the door slowly opened and a light yellow pegasus peaked out. "Hello." Fluttershy said. "Hi Fluttershy." Derpy greeted in a cheerful manner. "Oh Derpy." Fluttershy opened up the door fully and looked at Derpy. "Hi what brings you here?" "I need you to come with me to a meeting." Derpy figured she be as truthful as possible. "A meeting? I have a meeting to go to?" Fluttershy asked a little puzzled. "Well sort of but I thought it be nice to ask." Derpy said as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh well it was polite but I'm not sure if I should." Fluttershy said as she thought about whether she should go or not. "All your friends are going to the meeting to." Derpy said hoping this would help Fluttershy make her decision quicker. "Really?" Fluttershy was now more curious about this meeting. "What kind of meeting is this Derpy?" "The kind that involves the you and your friends since you girls are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony." Derpy said still being a truthful but still secretive. "Oh is this about the elements?" Fluttershy made this guessed since Derpy brought up the elements. "Well sort of it's kind of hard to explain." Derpy was again being truthful as speaking the intentions of an otherworldly creatu... umm human wouldn't be easy to explain. "It be easier if you just come and have your questions answered there." "I guess but than again..." Fluttershy began pondering on something as she looked back inside her house. "What? What's wrong?" Derpy was hoping that whatever made Fluttershy have second thoughts would be easy to handle. "It's just that..." Fluttershy didn't finished still pondering on her thoughts again. "Tell me Fluttershy and I'll see what I can do." Derpy said assuring Fluttershy that she would help her with anything she needed. "Well I'm not sure if I should leave my cottage, what if an animal comes by and needs my help?" Fluttershy said worried for whatever animal that may come by while she was gone. "Derpy looked at the sun and could tell that six minutes had gone by which means she had nine minutes left to get Fluttershy and herself to the meeting she needed to speed this up, she didn't want Vincent to be waiting there all day by himself just than the thought of Vincent gave Derpy a good idea even though it would involve lying it would be necessary. "Actually Fluttershy it's funny you should mention that as there is a new animal that will need to be checked on at the meeting." Derpy said not liking the feeling of lying but what she said about the animal thing was more or less true so it numbed her conscience a little. "And I'm sure you are more than qualified to check on this animal. "A new animal that needs to be checked on? Oh well in that case lead the way I can't wait to meet this new creature." Fluttershy said excited at the thought of meeting a new animal as her love for animals knew no limits. "Alright we're off than." Derpy said happy that she would be late to the meeting. Derpy and Fluttershy began flying towards the Everfree forest like Vincent said, Derpy had to admit that getting Fluttershy to come as a lot easier than she had predicted although she had to thank Celestia that Vincent wasn't around to hear her call him a animal as she could guess that label wouldn't have sat well with him hopefully Fluttershy wouldn't call Vincent that when she would meet him. Finally catching up with Lyra who had Pinkie Pie with her as they headed for Twilight's library. She had convinced Pinkie Pie to come with her by saying that after the meeting Pinkie would have a reason to throw a party later which was more than enough to convince Pinkie Pie. "Wow I cant wait to throw a new party after this meeting!" Pinkie Pie said in her over enthusiastic tone of her. "Hey Lyra what will the party be for anyway because even though I love love love throwing parties I still like to know what there for other wise it would be a shame for a party to not have a reason for being a party." "Like I said before Pinkie you'll learn that once we get to the meeting but first we need to get Twilight." Lyra said not a fan of having to repeat herself. "You'll have to wait until." "Oh so it's like a surprise surprise party but without the second surprise or the party." Pinkie Pie said as she continued to hop. "That would just be a regular secret Pinkie." Lyra said a little surprised Pinkie Pie made that sound more complicated than it was, than again Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie. "Oh your right silly me." Pinkie Pie giggled at her own mistake. "Oh look we're at Twilight's." Lyra was happy that they where here already, she wanted to get Twilight as quick as possible and head for the meeting Lyra wasn't really in a rush as she didn't care if Scootaloo, Apple Bloom or any of the other ponies got there before her she just wanted to get there on time, making Vincent waiting the Everfree wasn't gave her a fearful feeling in her gut but she didn't know if she be fearful for Vincent or the creatures inhabiting the Everfree. Putting those thoughts aside for the moment Lyra knocked on the door two minutes later the door opened and there stood Twilight Sparkle. "Hi Lyra, hi Pinkie Pie what brings you here?" Twilight asked kindly. "Oh well you see Lyra here said she –” Pinkie Pie was cut off when Lyra stuck a hoof in her mouth. "Pinkie if you wouldn't mind I'd like to tell Twilight myself." Lyra said to which Pinkie Pie nodded her head. "Thank you. So Twilight are you busy?" "No not really I just finished the last of my seven projects so now I got the rest of the day to myself." Twilight hadn't mention that she was going to read a book and do nothing else. "Why do you ask?" "I'm going to make this quick and simple. Meeting you need to come to, friends going to, involves something important, you'll be fascinated, a lot of questions you'll want to ask, and will involve logic and science the kind of stuff you like. Please say you'll come please. Lyra finished summing up everything she needed to and now waited for Twilight's answer. "Umm sure." Twilight had some questions running through her mind but decided to put them on hold until they got to this meeting since she could see Lyra was in a rush. "Let's go. Spike I'm going to a meeting I'll be back later." "Thanks Twilight lets go." Lyra said happily as she, Twilight and Pinkie Pie began walking. "This is gonna be so fun." Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "It sure is." Lyra said relieved that she wouldn't be late to the meeting but still a little scared at what would happen once Vincent finally met Twilight and her friends she hoped to Celestia it wouldn't end badly. The trip to the Everfree forest's entrance wasn't a long walk for Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Lyra, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle nor was it a long flight for Derpy and Fluttershy who landed right next to their friends. After they exchange there greetings and hellos they noticed that Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash hadn't shown up yet before any of them could as they saw in the distance of the of the east was a pony running at a fast pace and on the west they saw a pegasus flying at a high speed both where trying to get to the where the ponies where standing before the other and they all knew who these two where. Rainbow Dash and Applejack where giving it all they got both moving so fast they thought they where leaving fire behind them, despite being far away from each other their eyes met when they looked towards each others direction. It began to rain as the ponies watched and waited for they friends to collide which didn't take long as they stopped as so as they reached the spot which caused a smoke clouded to form blinding every pony for a few seconds, the rain was now falling hard, they looked and watched as the smoke cleared and looked to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash staring at each other. "Ha! I win." Scootaloo exclaimed as she hopped off of Rainbow Dash's back. "No way I did." Apple Bloom yelled back as she hopped off her sister's back. "I reckon my sister's right I got here before you Rainbow." Applejack said defending her sister's claim. "I thought you where the Element of Honesty AJ? Why are you lying to yourself?" Rainbow Dash mocked. "Alright then you two will have to settle this some other time right now we need to move to that spot right there." Lyra said interrupting Rainbow Dash and Applejack before they could start having all kinds of contest. "Come on." "So anypony know what this meeting is about?" Applejack asked. "Not sure dear Sweetie Belle said I would see new clothing at this meeting." Rarity said smiling at the thought of these new clothing. "Though I must say I could have done without the rain today." "Derpy said a new animal would be here to." Fluttershy said anxious about seeing this new animal. "I should have brought a blanket incase it's cold." "I just came because I wanted to beat AJ to this meeting." Rainbow Dash said nonchalant. "Pinkie why did you come?" "Lyra said this meeting would give me a reason to throw a party!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Oh cool. What about you Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Lyra said this would involve science and logic two things I'm good at, also I didn't have much to do anyway." Twilight explained. "I hope it's worth it since I prefer to be inside instead of out here in the rain." Before the six friends could continue pondering on this meeting and what it was about Lyra had stopped in front of a tree. Derpy got close enough to Lyra so that only she and Lyra could hear each other. "Lyra are you sure this is where Vincent is waiting?" Derpy asked wanting to make sure they weren't at the wrong place. "Yes. When you guys left Vincent came from the side of my house and told me he'd be behind that specific tree." Lyra said reassuring Derpy's worries. "Oh ok great." Derpy said giving a smile. "Umm Lyra the girls and I would like to know what this meeting is about and why we're here for it?" Twilight asked feeling now was the appropriate time to for questions. "Just hen a figure that the six friends had never seen before in their lives walked out from behind a tree towards them calmly. Lyra, Derpy, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders all smiled at the figure while the mane six had different expressions on their faces. "This is who set up this meeting and is also the reason for this meeting." Lyra said giving a gesture to the tall figure coming from behind a tree. The tall figure started walking but since the rain made the ground more muddy and slippery, the creature fell backwards and onto the tree. "Vincent!" Lyra, Derpy, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all yelled as they ran to him. Twilight and her friends ran towards the strange creature to, not sure what it was but if there friends were worried about it than it must have meant something to them, plus they were now beyond curious.