Chapter 6

Guys, I sincerely apologize for the lateness of this update.  Writer's block has gotten so bad that I had to step back and ask myself where I was going with this fic.  So now I know what I'm gonna do with this and- Is that a real gun?  No, put that down.  Just- Aah!

I felt Celestia stiffen at the flyboy's- no.  Nightmare's words.  When she spoke, I was shocked to hear anger, even rage in her tone.  "You are no friend of mine, Nightmare.  Your lies corrupted my sister and turned her into a creature of darkness and hate.  Why do you spin your web of fallacies among these scientists?"

"Hold on," I whispered, finally recognizing the voice despite its robotic tone.  "Did I miss something here?  That almost sounds like Lu-"

"It would be best if you remained silent, Max," Luna muttered through the side of her mouth.  A quiver of anger or fear- I couldn't tell- in her words.

The whitecoat next to Nightmare just laughed.  "So you must be this Celestia that I've heard so much about.  Well, Princess, I regret to inform you that Nightmare has told me nothing but the truth.  In fact, once I explained our purpose here, she offered me quite an interesting proposition: a place by her side once we overthrew the two inferior princesses."

Luna stepped forward and challenged them both.  "I'm afraid that you are gravely mistaken to place your trust in Nightmare.  She is a being of darkness who thrives on the hate and jealousy of others.  Her very purpose is to deceive and corrupt, just as she deceived and corrupted me, and just as she will deceive and corrupt you."

Nightmare strode forward, chuckling.  "Oh Luna, you talk too much."  She rose a clawed hand that started to glow with a dark aura, and before we could react, a blast of deep blue magic struck Luna directly on the horn.

With a cry of pain, the princess fell back, batting feebly at the air in front of her.  Celestia whipped her head around and rushed to her sister.  "Luna!" she cried.

I slowly looked back to Nightmare and the whitecoats.  I was now fully revealed to them.  Who was that who said that this wouldn't end well again?  Oh yeah!  Why does no one ever listen to Max?

Nightmare was looking me over with a curious eye.  "So you are one of the mutants that Ms. Carpenter has been telling me about.  I should have known that you would run straight to the princesses.  I suppose the rest of you are hiding nearby?"

I didn't say a word.  I just stared, balling my hands into fists.

"Well no matter.  I'll deal with all of you soon enough."

By now, Celestia was slowly rising from her unconscious sister's side, fury burning in her usually benevolent magenta eyes.  "No, you won't, Nightmare.  You will regret what you did to my sister."

Nightmare lifted a claw and examined her nails nonchalantly.  "Oh, I am sure of that, Celestia."  She gestured to the flyboys on the other side of the clearing.  "Kill them both."

As one, fifty flyboys rushed directly towards us, teeth and claws bared.  "Iggy!" I yelled, settling into a fighting stance.  "Now would be a good time!"  Right on cue, a couple of Iggy's trademark homemade bombs flew over my head and landed in the middle of the group.  It wasn't nearly enough.  His bombs only destroyed about ten before they were on us.  I saw a spell from Celestia wipe out another five out of the corner of my eye as I threw a punch at the nearest flyboy.  I dimly registered the rest of the flock jumping into the fight as I got behind one and kicked out its knees.  Those idiots; they should have flown away as soon as the flyboys attacked.  Speaking of which...

"Guys!  Think 3-D!  Get airborne!"  I kicked off a flyboy and snapped my wings open, fighting for altitude.  Around me, the flock was doing the same.

Good thinking, Max.  I was afraid I would need to remind you again.

Little busy, Voice.

Indeed.  Drop now.

I folded my wings and narrowly avoided a swipe from a flyboy's claws.  I yanked on its foot and caused it to fall out of the sky.  With a little more room to breath now, I quickly took stock of how we were doing.

So far, we were holding out pretty well.  In the air, our small, nimble forms had a huge advantage over the larger and slower flyboys.  It was pointless, though.  It would only be a matter of time before their numbers overwhelmed us.  Iggy already sported a black eye and Fang and Nudge had both taken nasty cuts.

The next few minutes didn't go so well.  One flyboy got a lucky cut on my arm.  It wasn't long, but it felt deep.  Another managed to pull on my wing and wrench it to the side.  I punched one flyboy and caught a glimpse of Angel and Gazzy; both looked like they were about to fall out of the sky.  We needed to leave, now.

I started to yell to the flock, then cursed viciously.  The flyboys had positioned themselves so that the only way we could go was down.  Sending another flyboy spinning with a kick, I looked down, desperate for some kind of escape route.  Celestia stood there below me.  She had ever left her sister's side.  The alicorn stood proudly, the sun gleaming off her white coat, and magically blasted any flyboy stupid enough to get close.  I could tell she was tiring, though, and I could already see several of the robots trying to flank her.

I had been in more life-or-death situations than I can count, but I honestly couldn't think of a way out of this one.

"FLOCK! COME TO ME! NOW!"  Celestia's Royal Canterlot Voice put Luna's to shame, but that wasn't a concern of mine right then.  The only thought on my mind was following her instructions immediately.  That voice had an inflection that  told you there would be dire consequences if you didn't do as you were told that exact second, which, in retrospect, there would have been.

I hit the ground and knocked away a flyboy that had been sneaking up behind Celestia.  "STAY CLOSE TO ME!" the princess screamed, still in her Royal Canterlot Voice.  We gathered tightly around the alicorn, watching her back and sides, as her horn began to glow with a golden light.  Slowly, a sphere of light began to form at the tip of her horn.  The sphere rapidly expanded to envelop our group.

There was a bright flash and a crack, and I could no longer see the clearing, or anything, for that matter.

Julia Carpenter, head researcher for Project New Beginnings, lowered her arms from her eyes as the blinding light faded away.  She looked over to the source, but all that was left was scorched earth and the shattered remains of a little less than half her robotic erasers.  Those still standing milled around, wondering where their prey had gone.

The scientist spun to face Nightmare, fury building inside her.  "Why didn't you help?!" she demanded.  "You defeated the blue one so easily!  Killing the others would have been child's play!  Now thanks to you, almost half of my robots are destroyed and the mutants were allowed to escape."

The possessed robot casually gazed at Julia, boredom written across its face.  "Do not worry about your precious robots.  They will be taken care of in due time.  As for your mutants and the princesses, they will perish when I wish them to, and Luna will be dead in two days."

"You can repair the eraser units?  How?" the woman asked skeptically.

"Magic, of course, and I can do much more than repair them.  I can replicate them."

Julia was not satisfied.  "Mark my words, Nightmare.  Many before me have been defeated by these nuisances.  I refuse to underestimate them.  If you had not been so arrogant, then they would be dead and no one would be left to oppose us!"

Quick as lightening, a claw seemingly materialized at the scientist's throat.  She immediately froze for fear of impaling her jugular on it.  "Allow me to make something clear, dear Julia.  I allowed the first slight to my judgement because you were confused.  Should you imply that I do not know what I am doing one more time, I will not hesitate performing some research of my own.  For example, I have been wondering what color your species bleeds.  Please do not entertain any illusions of leadership.  you answer to me now."  Nightmare removed her claw and turned away, walking back into the tent.  "Oh, and by the way, I suggest you prepare yourself and the scientists under you.  We've an invasion to plan," she said over her shoulder.

There was another loud crack, along with a fizzling noise that reminded me of static electricity, and I once again could feel and see my surroundings.  I fell to my knees.  There had been a split-second in which I could feel nothing at all, and that terrified me.  I had been put through a similar torture at Itex, and for a moment I thought I was back in that hellish isolation tank.

I heard Celestia yelling about something, but it was hard to tell what about with the persistent ringing in my ears.  Slowly, I began to take stock of my surroundings.  My clothes were in tatters- not a new experience- and burns covered my body- been there, done that.  The only new thing about this situation was the fact that the burns were apparently from the teleportation, and the world of colorful talking ponies.  That was a new one.  I looked up to see that we were in some unnamed corridor in the Canterlot Castle.  The rest of the flock were shakily getting to their feet, looking just as bad as I did.  The only ones without burns were Luna and Celestia, but I really didn't envy either of their positions.  The night princess was still passed out on the floor and her sister stood over her with tears streaming down her face.

By now, the ringing in my ears had diminished slightly.  "SOMEPONY HELP ME!  I NEED A DOCTOR!"  And there went my ears again.  Trust me, I'm no stranger to explosions of noise,- Iggy made sure of that- but Celestia's Royal Canterlot Voice at close-range made Iggy's biggest bombs sound like firecrackers.  Not even the big, go America firecrackers that you sit and watch from a nearby cave; more like the small ones that you throw at Total because the way he freaks out is priceless.

I've been here too long.  Pinkie Pie's starting to rub off on me.  Where was I?

Before long, a group of guard ponies galloped around the corner.  Without a word the unicorns levitated the fallen princess into the air and took off the way they came while the others herded us after them.  Normally, I would have made some sarcastic comment about being able to walk on my own, but I was a little busy trying to coax some feeling back into my ears.

I took about three steps before I passed out.

I groaned and slowly clawed my way back into the land of the living.  Without opening my eyes, I could tell that someone- er... somepony- had been kind enough to put me in a bed.  Well, either that, or whitecoats had stormed the castle and kidnapped me.  Soon they would come in and tell me that my whole life was a lie... again.  You can't afford to rule out all the possiblilities.

I wrenched my eyes open and looked around.  I was in some kind of hospital room or something.  That was not good.  The flock doesn't do well around doctors, needles, chemicals, or even disinfectant for obvious reasons.  I really didn't need to have an episode right now.  The good news was that my wounds had been cleaned and bandaged.

They didn't really need to bother though.  We Avian-Americans heal incredibly fast.  In fact, judging by how most of my burns were almost gone and my cuts were scabbed over, I guessed that I had been out for about six hours.  I got out of my bed and faced the wall beside me, then smacked a hand to my forehead.  Maybe I could have come to the same conclusion by looking out the window to see the setting sun instead.

I stretched and started for the door, intending to find the rest of the flock.  God help anyone who got in my way.  Before I could reach the door, however, it was thrown open with a crash.  A golden glow encased my body and I was slammed into the far wall, unable to move.  It was only then that I got a look at my attacker.  Celestia walked through the doorway, and I swore I could see fire burning in her eyes; fire that was every bit as hot as the sun she controlled.

Remember what I said a second ago?  Scratch that.  God help me.

"Maximum Ride!" she barked.  "You have a lot to answer for!"

My response was automatic.  "So do you, Princess.  Where I come from, it's not considered proper etiquette to burst into a guest's room and then attack her."

The alicorn ignored my barb.  "Because of you, my sister is gravely injured.  Because of you, an ancient foe of Equestria as a nation now returns with a contingent of soldiers at her back.  And because of you, those forces are now in direct opposition to me and my kingdom!  And now my sister uses her quickly fading strength to tell me that you have prior knowledge of our world?!  What have you been hiding, Maximum Ride?!"

Despite my rather dangerous position, I couldn't help but get pissed.  "Are you kidding me?  If it weren't for me, you wouldn't even know that the flyboys were here!  In fact, you probably wouldn't know this Nightmare creep was back until her foot was planted firmly up your pretty princess a-"

Her glare shut me right up in the middle of what would have been one of my better smart-alack rants.  It was the eyes that did it.  They weren't the eyes of the generous and loving princess.  They were the eyes of a desperate mare who was terrified for the safety of her sister, and willing to do anything to protect her.  Including telekinetically crushing a certain birdkid like a tomato can.

I gulped and sighed.  Maybe it was the stress getting to me, but my nose was itching really badly just then.  I decided to simply come clean, sort of.  "Alright, Princess, in my world, people... um... tell stories about this world.  When the whitecoats came through their portal thing, they had no idea where they would end up.  It was just by purely random chance that we're even having this conversation.  We didn't even know this world existed; those stories were supposed to be fictional.

Celestia eyed me curiously, but I could tell I was no longer in danger of becoming a smear on the wall.  I could even feel the force holding me still loosen, allowing me to scratch my traitorous nose.  "If the stories of our world were fabricated," the regal, white alicorn asked.  "Then why were they so accurate?  My student informed me that you knew her name before she even introduced herself."

"I honestly have no idea."

She looked me over once more before letting me go completely.  "Very well.  I believe you."

I shook my wings and rubbed my arms, trying to restore circulation.  Try as I might, I couldn't understand the alicorn.  We were so different.  Sure, I was innocent, but she had no way of knowing that other that my word.  I wished I could have been raised in a world where I could afford that amount of trust.  "You believe me?  Just like that?  Why?"

Celestia silently turned and walked out of the room.  She looked over her shoulder and smirked at me, saying, "You keep your secrets, and I'll keep mine, Ms. Ride.  Call it an alicorn's intuition, if you will.  I do apologize for my behaviour, but considering the situation, I'm sure that you can see I am rather emotionally compromised right now.  The other members of the flock are staying in the rooms around you, and I am off to visit my sister."  With that, she was gone.

I sat on my bed and thought about what had just happened.  Celestia had mentioned that Luna's strength was rapidly fading.  That couldn't mean what I thought it meant.  Could it?

Voice, any thoughts?

After waiting for a response for ten minutes, I sighed and stood up.  I needed to see the rest of the flock, probably Luna too.  Once I opened the door, however, I realized that both those tasks would be impossible.  I inhaled the heavenly aroma that rolled over me and started walking in the direction my nose took me.

The flock and Luna could wait.  I smelled chocolate-chip cookies.

Hey, my story is now the length of one Background Pony chapter... *sigh*  Sorry for the short chapter.