With the two humans gone, Rainbow Dash lay in the orchards for almost an hour, still restrained by Jean's Jacket. She was infuriated and embarrassed by her defeat, and she wasn't looking forward to the ridicule Twilight was surely going to give her for letting the two humans get away. She was also expecting Applejack to give her a tease for getting tied up. She struggled to get free but the fabric of the jacket was too strong. The boredom of the wait was filially brought to an end when she heard a familiar voice;
"Rainbow? What happened ?" It was Twilight
Rainbow tried to answer but the apple was still stuffed in her mouth.
"Applejack! Fluttershy! Over here!" Twilight called
Upon seeing Dash bound by the jacket and gagged by the apple, Applejack let out a hearty laugh
"What in tarnation did those things do to ya?! Hahaha!" Applejack was nearly on the ground laughing
Twilight used her telekinesis to pull the apple from Dash's mouth. Dash took a deep breath and said;
"Those… Those freaks! Those two legged weirdoes! When I get my hoofs on them…" Dash said, her face now crimson
"What's happened?" Twilight asked
Dash quickly thought of an excuse "They um… Snuck up on me! yeah! They snuck up on me and tied me up!"
Twilight frowned "I find that hard to believe since you were in the air the whole time. Did you go after them yourself?"
Realizing she was caught, Dash's head dropped "Yes…"
"Rainbow! I told you to come get us if you saw them!" Twilight scolded
"I know! I know! I just thought I could take them myself" Dash said
"On the bright side, we now know what these here humans are capable of" Applejack intervened
"We also know that they probably won't want to come with us willingly…" Twilight said, still angry at Rainbow
"Yeah, yeah I get it…" Rainbow said, then looked up at Twilight "can you get this thing off me?" Dash said referring to Jean's jacket.
Twilight used her magic to untie the sleeves and pull the jacket off Rainbow, who in turn immediately stood up and stretched her wings.
"What is this?" Twilight said, examining the jacket.
"Its some kind of human clothing" Dash explained
"Hmmm, if it's clothing, Rarity might want to look at this" Twilight thought
"Which way did they go?" Twilight asked Dash
"That way" Dash said and pointed to a trail of apple cores left by Jean and Max
Upon seeing the apple cores, AJ stomped her hoofs "Those little apple stealin' varmints!"
"Oh yeah, they helped themselves to the apples" Dash said
"Come on, we've got a lot of ground to cover" Twilight reminded
"Hold on" Applejack said, "My dog Winona can track them"
"Good thinking!" Twilight said aloud
Applejack left and returned a short while later with her dog, who in turn sniffed Jean's Jacket and began leading the four deeper into the orchard.
Meanwhile, the two humans wandered aimlessly through the trees.
"I'm just gonna go on record and say it: I think what we did to that pony was a mistake, we should have just ran." Jean said
"We gave it a fair warning" Max replied
"Yeah, but sooner or later we might run into it again, and by that time it will probably have brought friends to back itself up." Jean theorized
"Well until that time comes…" Max said
"Still, the problem remains; we don't know where we are or have a plan"
"Relax man" Max said "I got us into this mess so I'll get us out, I promise"
"Well you let me know when you think of a strategy, I still think we should try talking to them" Jean said and leaned against a tree
"You still want to talk to them? Even after they send that rainbow pony with wings after us?" Max said skeptically
"yes"
Jean's head perked up when he heard something
"Quite!" He whispered sharply
There was movement in the bushes. The two humans tensed. A mid-sized dog came out of the brush and the two relaxed
"Here girl!" Jean said and got down on one knee
Winona fearlessly walked over to Jean and allowed him to pet her.
"Good puppy" He said
"Where'd you come from?" Max playfully said to the dog
There was a voice in the distance "Winona! Here girl!" The voice called, it sounded like a southern accent.
The dog barked and went running toward the voice.
"sounds like company, lets get to cover." Max suggested
The two humans climbed an apple tree and hid amongst the leaves. Looking down, the two humans saw four ponies come out of the brush, Rainbow Dash among them.
"It's that rainbow-bastard…" Max whispered
"Looks like the trail ends here" Applejack said to Twilight
"Have Winona sniff the human's coat again"
The dog smelled the jacket, but immediately looked up at Applejack and whimpered.
"Nope, nothin'. I think the humans are somewhere close by" AJ concluded
Back in the tree Jean nudged Max. "Did you see that? They're using that dog to track us down!"
"All right, fan out and find them. Rainbow, you stay with me, we don't need another incident." Twilight said
Dash grumbled but reluctantly agreed.
Fluttershy got right to work. "Come on out, we won't hurt you" She said in her most soothing voice
As the ponies searched, none of them seemed to notice Winona. The dog was barking at a tree, the very same tree the humans were hiding in.
"That dog is gonna give us away!" Jean whispered
"Time to move!" Max said
"and how do you propose we do that?" Jean said cynically
"The same way we ditched that boring calculus class." Max winked
The two waited for the right moment, when all four ponies had their backs turned the two humans silently dropped down. They ignored the braking dog as they crept away. When they were on the very verge of safety, Rainbow Dash spotted them.
"There they are! Don't let them get away!" She thundered
The humans didn't even look, they instantly broke out into a dead run. Twilight wanted to smack Rainbow upside the head.
"Rainbow! You scared them away! Again!" Twilight growled
"Sorry…" Dash said, embarrassed
They bolted through the trees, they stopped for a quick breather when it was safe.
"Those things are persistent!" Max declared
"We should split up, that dog can track my scent. You find a place to hide and I'll lead them on a chase, then I'll give them the slip. We'll meet up on the other side of the orchard." Jean said panting
"Ok good plan" Max said
Jean nodded and turned to leave.
"Jean!" Max called
Jean looked "Yeah?"
"Be careful man, and good luck" Max said
"You too dude!" Jean said and took off
Jean kept a brisk pace as he walked away. He needed to get as far away from Max as he could to throw the four ponies off. He reached a wide open field which separated one patch of trees from another. Jean chose to go straight through it instead of walking around. When he was directly in the center of the field, he noticed three of the four ponies on the other side. Immediately he crouched down, there was no cover to hide behind. He turned around to creep away, but found himself face to face with a very angry Rainbow Dash.
"Gotcha!" She said with a devilish smile
Jean thought he could outrun Dash; he was wrong. When Jean got up and ran he was instantly tackled by Rainbow. She pinned him
"Guys! Over here!" She called to her friends who came to aid her. Jean threw an elbow back and hit Dash under the chin. The impact caught her off guard, Jean then pushed her off and scrambled to his feet.
"GET OFF" He snarled
Dash rubbed her chin as a wry smile came across her face.
"Where's your little friend? Not so tough now" She said about to charge
Just then Twilight, AJ and Fluttershy arrived at the scene.
"Stop!" Twilight called "There's no need for more nonsense!"
"Shit…" Jean said under his breath
"I got him!" Dash said proudly
"Not the way I asked you but close enough" Twilight said
Jean put his hands up. "Ok ya got me. You obviously went through a lot of trouble to catch me so what do you want?"
"Amazing! It can talk just like a pony!" Twilight exclaimed
"Did you just call me 'it'?" Jean said slightly annoyed
"Sorry… Look you need to come with us" Twilight said
Jean was defiant "And why should I do that?"
Twilight opened her mouth to answer but Dash was faster. Rainbow flew up to head level on Jean, looked him in the eye and said;
"Listen here pretty-boy, you can come with us the easy way or the hard way"
"get outta my face" Jean snorted
"Rainbow! Enough!" Twilight said. Dash backed off
"Your presence has been requested" Twilight told the human.
"Requested? By who?" Jean asked
"Our Princess"
"Your Princess? Tell her I decline the offer" Jean said, dismissing the idea
"This isn't an option" Twilight said
Jean gave her a look of skepticism. "So far today I've been abducted, chased through a castle, attacked twice by ol' rainbow-pony over here, and now you want me to come with you on my own free will…. Max was right, I shouldn't even talk to you"
Twilight sighed. "Look I know you've been through a lot, but my princess has given me specific orders to take you to her. Will you please come with us?"
"….No"
Fluttershy then approached Jean "I can't imagine what you've been through, but I promise if you come with us, everything will be alright" She said in her most calming tone.
Jean wasn't sure why but for some reason he felt as if he could trust this pony. He thought for a minute, then said "Ok, I'll go with you on one condition"
"Ok what is it?" Twilight said, excited the human was finally cooperating.
"You ditch her and her" Jean said pointing to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. "Then I'll go with you"
"Um… Ok, you guys heard the human, take-off" Twilight announced, unsure if it was the right idea
"Alrighty then! See ya Twi!" Applejack said
"If the human gives you any problems, you know who to call" Rainbow said ominously
When they were gone, Twilight turned to Jean "Sorry about Rainbow, Lets go"
"Lead the way"