Chapter 4

I stood in the half-light, watching Rainbow as she boasted to her surrounding friends.  I stretched out my arms and felt my shoulders pop, then flapped my wings a few times to limber up for the upcoming race.  It was probably unnecessary, considering the day I had had so far, but I didn't want to freak out Rainbow Dash by looking too nonchalant.  Look, I'm not cocky or full of myself, but I knew I would win.  Remember those abilities I mentioned?  I can fly at over two hundred miles per hour.  Fun fact, that's faster than anything alive.  There was no way she was as fast as she is in the show.  Even with all I had already seen of Equestria, I've seen way too much science crap to believe in that.

Max, you have to listen to me.  The whitecoats and flyboys are still here.  How can you be racing of all things at a time like this?

God, I can't believe this.  Voice, you just told me to go with the flow and enjoy myself.  We're going to meet Princess freaking Celestia for Pete's sake!  She's gonna help us get them outta here before they try anything.

Very well.  I can see that you know exactly what you're doing.  The sarcasm was quite evident in its tone.  Obviously, it had been learning from the best.

"Um, excuse me.  I'm so sorry to intrude, but are you all right?"  I glanced down to see Fluttershy, whose look of concern became one of fear.  "I mean, it's okay if you don't want to share.  It wasn't any of my busi-"

I cut her off with a wave of my hand.  "You're fine, and I appreciate your concern.  Now that you mention it, I'm not okay; I haven't been in a long time.  This has been a really weird day for me, but I promise I'll explain in Canterlot, okay?"

She looked relieved after I said that.  "O... okay.  If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask.  That is, if you want to."  She almost killed me through overexposure to absolute adorableness.

I expected the pegasus to go join her friends in the circle around Rainbow Dash, but instead she opted to go snuggle up next to Fang, who was sitting against a tree.  I watched, fuming, as he pulled her into a hug and fell asleep.  A part of me said I was being ridiculous, that he's not going to ditch me for a member of a different species, but a much more vocal part of me wanted blood.  Luckily, the arrival of the chariot and the cheers of ponies and bidrkids interrupted my  blood-lust.

"You can do it Rainbow Dash!"

"C'mon Max!"

"Rainbow, Rainbow, she's our mare!  She can do it, 'cause we all care!"  Guess who that one was.

If the pegasi pulling the chariot were surprised in any way by our motley crew, they sure didn't show it.  I watched incredulously as the rest of the flock clambered into the carriage.  I guess, once again, my "never trust anyone" plan was being overruled, but what else is new?  Once they got settled, all my fellow birdkids shot me happy grins, with the exception of Fang, who chose to chose to  give me a simple thumbs-up.  I ignored him, hoping he would get the message, and instead turned my gaze to the gleaming city in the distance that was Canterlot.

"Looks nice, doesn't it?  Aw, forget that stuff.  First to the castle wins!  Of course, you could just follow me, assuming you can keep up, that is."  I didn't need to turn to recognize that overconfident voice.  Regardless, I faced Rainbow Dash.  The smirk on her face reminded me much too much of sadistic scientists who already believed me beaten.

"Oh, don't worry about me," I said, shooting her a look that was halfway between a self-satisfied smirk and one of malice, "I just can't wait to see the look on your face when I get there first."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Is the sky blue?"

Fortunately, Pinkie Pie intervened before one of us (me) tore the other's throat out.  "Oookay maybe I should give you guys a count off.  Three... two... one... GO!"

I have to admit, Dash is a pretty fast mare.  Her blazing takeoff would have left poor Newton in tears with her blatant disregard for physics.  I launched myself into the air as well and gradually began taking back the ground... er, sky, I had lost.  Pouring on the speed, I pulled up alongside the cerulean pegasus, her multi-colored mane whipped around her face in the wind as her wings worked powerfully.  Dash's face colored in surprise when she turned, and I could just hear her voice over the sound of the wind.

"Not bad!  But I'm just getting warmed up!"  With that, the speedster put on a new burst of speed and her form rapidly retreated into the distance.  I faltered for a moment before settling back into a rhythm and grinning.  I never expected it to be easy.  I felt the now-familiar rush of heat as I pushed nature's boundaries.  The beat of my wings increased and I shot forward, the sound of the wind became a furious roar in my ears.  My eyes began to water and I once again caught up to Rainbow Dash.

From there, the race became a fierce battle for dominance, neither of us were willing to give any quarter as we jockeyed for the lead.  Once, while Rainbow's tail was whipping near my face, I got and idea.  It wasn't fair or sporting, but I hadn't survived for this long by being the courteous model of chivalry.  I grabbed a handful of her prismatic hair and yanked, hard.  The pegasus yelped and lost the lead.  Her indignant shouts fell on deaf ears, partly because I didn't care, but mostly due to the sheer volume of the wind around me.

With my view unobstructed by Rainbow's rear, I noticed that we were getting quite close to the castle.  In fact, I was already flying over the quaint homes and shops that I probably would have appreciated more if I wasn't going borderline supersonic speeds... nah.  Angling slightly towards Canterlot Castle, or whatever unimaginative name they had decided to call it, a strange structure caught my eye.  It was basically two tall, white poles implanted smack dab in the middle of what I assumed was the royal garden, with a black and white checkered cloth strung between the two.

I had my customary "it's a trap" moment before I mentally shrugged and decided not to question it.  Diving and doing a bit of a spin that was completely unnecessary but looked pretty dang cool, I blazed through the makeshift finish line, amazed that my turbulence didn't rip them out of their foundations.  As soon as I was through I banked hard to the left.  This served in effectively killing my speed and keeping me from becoming a messy smear on the castle wall.  I settled down on a bed of grass and panted, trying to catch my breath.  Despite that being the fastest I had ever flown over that long of a distance, I threw my arms over my head in victory and yelled, "Max one!"

"What're you talking about?!  I beat you!"  I turned to behold an irate Rainbow Dash, her mane thrown about every way and over all resembling my hair, making her way towards me with an indignant expression on her face.

"Last time I checked, crossing the finish line first indicates a winner," I sneered.

"Yeah, I caught up and went through before you, after you cheated!"

"Listen, Dashie, where I come from-"

She forced her face into mine.  "Only one mare will ever call me that!"

"Well why don't you shove it up your flank Da-"

"Actually, it was a tie!"  The two of us turned, shocked, to find Pinkie Pie approaching us, a photograph in han- hoof.  Somehow.

"Pinkie, what're you doing here?"  Rainbow spluttered.

"Well somepony had to find out who the winner was!  I knew it was going to be close, so I came here and set up a camera!  But I had no idea just how close it would be!  Take a look!"  The overenthusiastic pony shoved the picture into our faces.  It was apparently taken from the right side of her impromptu finish line and depicted me and a certain rainbow-maned pegasus flying side-by-side.  I couldn't believe it.  Our heads were perfectly aligned with each other as we tore through the gate.  Somehow, the mare must have caught up to me in the split-seconds between my sabotage and the finish.  I had to hand it to her, the pegasus was at least as fast as I was, and almost as stubborn.

I faced her and sighed.  "Alright, Rainbow, that was a good race.  You're pretty dang fast."

"Aww, I'm just the fastest flier ever!" she boasted, then deflated at a glare from Pinkie.  "Uhh... you're really fast too, and I mean that.  Nopony has ever been able to keep up with me before."

"Them's just the joys of genetic mutation, RD."

"Genetic what now?" the pegasus asked, head cocked in confusion.

I rubbed the back of my neck.  "Heh, umm... I'll tell you later."  Crap.  Why the heck did I just keep spouting secrets to these ponies?  I blame the time at my mom's house, not that I would trade it for the world.

"Great!" Pinkie shouted, bouncing into the air, "Now you two are best friends!  Ooh!  Here come the others!"  With that, she dashed off towards the finish line she had constructed, tore it down, produced two of those flashing batons you use to flag down planes, and began waving them at the approaching chariot.

I grinned when Gazzy leaped into the air before the carriage settled down.  He flew in our direction and began to yell.  "Oh my gosh!  That was incredible!  You were so fast, Rainbow Dash!"  Apparently he had forgotten who had practically raised him for the past four years, give or take.

"I must say, that was quite the performance from both of you."

I spun to see Princess Celestia, in all her radiant glory, standing less than two feet away.  "Gah!  You could give Fang lessons!"

Her poker face slipped and a gleam of confusion showed through, but the alicorn quickly reverted back to her passive countenance.  "Excuse me?"

"Nothing," I blurted for too quickly, "Just don't sneak up on me like that."

Brushing aside her pastel-colored, flowing mane with a hoof, Celestia leaned forward and eyed me quizzically.  Since I was already standing at her eye level, she didn't need to kneel as she does with most of the ponies.  "My, you are a strange creature, aren't you?" she asked, but then caught herself, "But where are my manners?  My sister has already raised the moon and, if the growling from your stomach is any indication, you are all starving.  Come, my personal chefs are preparing a grand feast, and perhaps you can shed some light on how you came to be in my kingdom over dinner."

As she walked back towards the castle, I signaled for the flock to follow, and we made our way to the promise of food.  Fang separated himself from Fluttershy for the first time since the hug and walked up to my side.  When I followed his line of sight, I noticed that he was staring straight at Rainbow Dash.  I was about to make a snide comment, but he spoke first.

"You know, I don't know wy you don't like Dash the most.  You two are exactly alike."

I scoffed.  "Fang, that's exactly why I don't like her."

"Fair enough."

I glared at him for a moment until Angel caught my eye.  She was talking animatedly with Fluttershy, who was too busy grilling Total for his life story to listen.  I remembered the last time we met with a world leader, and I thought Angel might need some reminding.

I called out to her and she broke off her monologue and flounced over, smiling sweetly.  "Yes, Max?"

"I'm telling you this once, Angel.  If you brainwash the leader of another country, then I cannot be held responsible for what I might do to you."  Sadly, this had been a problem before.  Remember that movement the president passed out of nowhere, taking about three billion dollars out of the military's funding and putting it towards the homeless?  Our little girl.  Needless to say, I didn't need a repeat of an incident like that, especially with someone... er... somepony as influential as Princess Celestioa.

"No problem, Max."

I watched her walk away until a horrible thought struck me.  This is Equestria.  There's no meat in Equestria.  Each of us needs almost four thousand calories a day, a slight downside of having our stem cells screwed with.  There was no way we could get enough off vegan meals, except maybe for Nudge.  Oh well.  We've survived off dumpster diving and even char-boiled desert rat before.  I guess we could survive without glorious, succulent, juicy meat.

We all took our places at the enormous dining table.  Princess Celestia was at the table's head, of course, with Twilight on her right side.  I had to admit,the alicorn surprised me by not even batting an eyelash when Total jumped up to the table.  Once we were all seated, the princess began casting her eyes around the room. as if she was looking for something.  "Where is that mare?" she muttered to herself, "She said that she would-"

Her self-questioning was noisily interrupted by a thunderous crash.  We all spun in our seats to face the source of the noise.  The impossibly large double doors had been thrown open and slammed into the walls, revealing a navy blue alicorn, proudly strutting across the room towards the table.

"WE APOLOGIZE FOR OUR TARDINESS, DEAR SISTER!  WE MERELY BECAME MIRED IN THAT DEVILRY THAT YOU REFER TO AS 'PAPERWORK'!  BUT NOW, WE CAN-"  The princess's voice faltered as she caught sight of us.  Both Avian-American and pony were clamping hooves or hands to their ears in an effort to lessen the agony that was being forced on us.  Even Celestia was wincing.  Iggy, though, was taking it the worst.  He had fallen out of his chair and curled up into a quivering ball on the floor, in too much pain to even cry out.

Luna was struck dumb by our appearance, but then continued at a much more bearable volume.  "We... I am sorry about that.  I sometimes forget that we no longer utilize the Royal Canterlot Voice, and judging by your reactions, your kind has never heard it used before at all."  She suddenly glanced over to where Iggy was just getting up off the floor.  His fingers were massaging his temples and wet streaks traced down his face where tears had flown.  "Are you going to be alright?  I sincerely apologize for my outburst."

Iggy, for his part, sat with a blank expression on his face, unaware that he was being singled out.  I reached across the table and tapped his arm.  "She's talking to you."

He jumped and turned in Luna's general direction.  "Yeah, I'll be fine."

This merely served to confuse the indigo mare even more.  "Why could you not respond on your own?" she asked, taking her seat directly across from Celestia, "Can you not see- Oh my..."  Luna trailed off as she finally saw his milky, clouded eyes.  "Dear ancestors.  We... I am so sorry!  I... I had no id-"

"Don't worry about it!" Iggy snapped irritably.  He always hated being treated like a cripple.

Everypony stared at him with shock and pity evident in their faces.  Fluttershy, however, took it the worst.  "Wh... why didn't you tell us?  How did this happen to you?" she cried, tears welling up in her eyes and threatening to pour down her muzzle.

Iggy simply shrugged.  "This is exactly why I didn't tell you.  Food first, then Max will tell the story."

I resisted the urge to kick his skinny butt, as it probably would have sent the ponies into hysterics.  Instead I asked, "And why is it my responsibility to explain everything?  Last time I checked, your mouth was working just fine."

"Cause you're our beloved and fearless leader."

I rolled my eyes, then facepalmed.  "I'm rolling my eyes, Iggy."

Total, becoming impatient,, placed his front paws on the table and huffed.  "Look, this is all very touching, but I have to listen to them argue twenty-four seven already.  Can we please have our food now?"

Both princesses were stunned.  Their eyes were threatening to bug out of their heads as they stared at the Yorkie.  Twilight was busy trying in vain to rein in her laughter.  Get it?  Rein in her... forget it.  "Oh yeah, Princess.  Their dog can talk.  Did I neglect to mention that?"

And that, I thought, is why Twilight is best pony.

That's  not how you say Rarity, Max.

Well look who decided to join us.  How does it feel being freakin' wrong?

Celestia made a visible effort to regain her composure and managed to stop sweeping the floor with her jaw.  "Well then, we'd best get the meal out of the way, as ow I am even more eager than ever to hear your tale."  She turned to a set of smaller doors that I guessed to be a servant's entrance.  "Bring out the feast!"

The doors were flung open and all worries I had about food vanished in an instant.  A train of ponies, each bearing a different dish on its back, made its way into the dining hall.  Combinations that I never would have thought possible were paraded before me and eventually set on the table.  The torrent of ponies pouring through the doorway only seemed to increase as pony after pony entered.  While there were plenty of floral-based dishes, fruit and vegetable arrangements greatly outweighed them.  I couldn't even name most of the dishes they carried, but every last one of them looked delicious.  I really hoped it only felt like I was drooling all over myself.

Finally, the river of servants dwindled down to a stream and eventually stopped.  The last two ponies carried plates and silverware, which were placed in front of us.  It took all of my willpower not to start cramming food into my mouth, but I and the rest of the flock managed to resist the urge.  I turned to Celestia with an expression that was meant to be expectant, but probably looked more like pleading.

She allowed a knowing smile to cross her muzzle and simply said, "Dig in."

I doubt the alicorn expected us to follow her suggestion literally.  I began shoveling anything I could reach in my mouth in complete disregard to the silverware placed before me.  I didn't even pause for the time it would take to distinguish taste, though I'm sure everything was delicious.  Of course, that probably doesn't mean crap coming from the girl who had enjoyed rabbit flambes on more than one occasion.

Eventually, my binge gradually slowed until I could once again interact with the world around me.  This time, I opted to utilize the knife and one of the five different forks by my plate and began eating in what I hoped was a semi-civilized manner.  Looking around, I saw that the flock had followed my earlier example, with the exception of I ggy, who was busy hacking up a daisy he had accidentally swallowed, with Rainbow Dash pounding on his back.  Judging by the horrified looks we were getting from our dining partners, our table manners had not impressed them.

Chuckling awkwardly and making a point to swallow first (I know, I'm so freakin' considerate), I said, "Heh.  Um... sorry you had to see that.  We need a lot of calories, and it's been a while since we had a decent meal."

"Pay it no mind," Celestia tittered with a wave of a hoof, "But if I may, what kept you from feeding yourselves properly?"

I sighed and lowered my fork. My hunger was pretty much sated from my feeding frenzy a minute ago.  "I might as well start from the beginning.  Please don't ask questions until I'm done."

"Fair enough."

The room became completely silent as I began, even the flock had taken a beak from cramming food in their mouths to listen.  "One thing you have to know about our world is that it's much more advanced than this one.  Twilight probably told you about the 'creatures' that attacked her.  Those were man-made machines that are just a fraction of what the scientists in our world are capable of.  Unfortunately, we always seem to attract the evil ones.  Alright, I want you to picture one of us with no wings.  That's a normal human.  Before any of us were even born, a group of sadistic scientists called whitecoats grafted avian DNA onto our stem cells.  When we were born, we came out two percent avian, ninety-eight percent human.  They raised us in our own little corner of Hell, and forced us to perform experiments that dragged us a little closer to insanity every day.  Eventually, we escaped, and they sure weren't happy about that.  Skip ahead about four years of running for our lives from those machines I mentioned and a lot of messed-up crap that would scar you all for life, we find out the whitecoats are planning something.  When we got there, a group of them were planning on traveling to a different universe and basically take it over.  We followed them through, and here we are.  You don't have to worry about your nation, Princess, we intend to kick these creeps' butts as soon as possible, and then you'll never see us again."

I ignored the flocks' protests to my last statement, and instead looked to Celestia for her response.  I didn't have to wait long.  "You traveled with them for the mere purpose of sending them back?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We couldn't let them do to this world what they tried to do to ours."

The with alicorn lowered her silverware and leaned forward.  "Ms. Ride, I think that you-"

Her voice was drowned out as my brains were smeared against the inside of my skull.  I was forced to view thousands of images from my past, flickering one after the other.  The pain kept me from recognizing most of them, but quite a few other stills made their way to the forefront of my mind: a horribly deformed cat-mouse hybrid, dying of starvation due to a terrible metabolism, an eraser's jaws snapping shut less than an inch from my nose, the deadly flight under the Institute in New York, Total first revealing his ability to talk weeks after we rescued him from the Institute.

I was aware of an awful keening noise, and it wasn't until the pain finally started to lessen that I realized it was me.  I regained feeling on the floor in much the same position Iggy had been locked in minutes before.  As I got up, pushing the flock away and insisting I was fine while trying to maintain as much dignity as possible, I heard Celestia's accusatory outburst.

"Luna!  What is the meaning of this?!  What have you done to her?!"  It was only then that I realized three things.  It had been about four months since the Voice had made me experience an episode like that, the images I had seen just now were those that I had already lived through, rather than things I had never seen before, and Luna's horn had a quickly fading, midnight-blue aura shimmering around it.

The alicorn didn't respond to her sister's accusations, and instead sat staring straight ahead.  Her eyes were wide and her face white underneath the indigo fur that covered it.  She was muttering in a low, horrified tone that none of us could make out.  It was only then that I finally put two and two together and realized that she had been the cause of my newest "incident."

I shakily got to my feet and made my way over to her.  Standing in front of her as threateningly as I could given my state, I demanded, "What did you do to me?!"  Immediately, I winced at the frail sound that escaped my lips.

This seemed to finally snap Luna out of her trance.  She looked at me with hurt and sorrow evident in her eyes and said, "We are sorry.  We... we had no idea that thou hast suffered so greatly.  We simply needed to know that thine claims were true.  We swear, we knew not of the pain our spell would bring you."  I just stood there like an idiot, unsure of what to feel, let alone say.  The dark blue alicorn turned to face her sister.  "We had to know for sure, dear sister.  Thou nearly accepted their story unchallenged.  We could not allow that to happen."

Celestia's glare could melt solid stone, and I thanked God or anyone that may or may not be up there that I wasn't on the receiving of that look.  "We will discuss this in greater detail later, Luna."  She stood from the table and strode towards me.  "Ms. Ride-"

"Call me Max.  I've been called everything from arrogant to zealous.  Ms. Ride has never been one of them, and I intend to keep it that way." I snapped irritably.

"Well Max," Celestia continued, placing extra emphasis on my name to try and appease me.  It didn't work.  ""I think that this meal is altogether over, and if you will all follow me than I will lead you each to your rooms."  She turned to address the ponies still at the table.  "I'll be with you shortly, my little ponies."

Six birdkids, one alicorn, and one Yorkie strode out of the dining hall, the enormous doors closing with deceptive silence behind us.  Once we had reached a long corridor with doors lining both sides, my brain finally started working at an acceptable speed and I remembered a rather large reason for our visit to Canterlot.

I placed a hand on Celestia's shoulder and asked, "Wait, what about the whitecoats?  They're still out there."

The alicorn simply chuckled.  "Max, it's very late.  We will have ample opportunity to reason with these 'whitecoats' in the morning."

I wasn't too sure about the whole "reason with the murderous scientists" plan, but this was Princess Celestia, almost a goddess, with her sister, the Elements of Harmony, and seven mutants for backup.  If things went south, we might actually not have to run for our lives again.  Who am I kidding?

"Alright guys, come here."  I stuck out my fist and each member of the flock stacked theirs on top of it.  Even Total put his paw in.  Then we tapped each other's fists, saying good night to each one as we did.  I waited for the flock to split up and take a room before I moved.  As Fang closed the door directly to my left I began to step forward, but a hoof on my shoulder stopped me in my tracks.

"What was that?" its owner queried.

I couldn't help but crack a smile.  "It's just a thing we do.  You must be used to crazy antics by now, huh?"

"Y... yes," came the slow reply.

Before I could let any Freudian slips loose, I slipped into a room and checked for traps.  There were none, just a dresser of mahogany, an ornately decorated door leading to (I hoped) a bathroom, and a king-size bed that I definitely didn't whimper with pleasure on as I sank into its deliciously warm blanket.  Nope.

I rolled over again.  It had been about an hour since I totally didn't squeal upon entering the bed, and I was still completely unable to sleep.  I looked out the window and gazed over the treetops beyond it.  Somewhere in there, the whitecoats were planning on... something.  I couldn't sleep with that, but then the door opened.

Fang made his way to the bed and lay down next to me.  He draped an arm around me and whispered, "It's alright, Max.  It's not like we can do anything until the week is up."  How does he always know exactly what I'm thinking?

"Thanks," I whispered back, "I needed that."

"I know.  We love you, you know, all of us.  You're the only one who can really hold us together, even in a freakin' TV show.  "I know I'm the stoic one, but trust me, I flipped out when I saw Fluttershy.  You're the only one who can really keep cool, no matter what's thrown at you."

"You know I'm never going to let you hear the end of that whole fangirl thing, right?"

He snorted.  "Yeah."

With him next to me, I finally managed to drift off to sleep.  I know what you're thinking, and no, we didn't do that, you perv.

A/N  Oh boy, guys, I'm really sorry about how long this one took.  I had a severe case of a common illness known as writer's block.  My ideas were just starting to become retarded.  To give you a frame of reference, I almost made Celestia the Voice.  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!  Unfortunately, I can't guarantee that other chapters will have faster updates because I'm starting to write Different Worlds: Kindred Hearts again; the finale gave me way too many ideas.

I know I loved being in it!

Gah!  Pinkie!  You gotta get back in the story!  You're a major part of it!

Aw, thanks, but I'm not the Pinkie from your fic, I'm the one from the show!

What?

I'm the one from your story!  Why did Luna do that to Maxxie?

There'd a Pinkie Pie for every fic ever...

Not just fanfiction, comics and animations too!

God help me...