Max was exhausted, he had spent the night outside and received very little sleep that night.
"Let's get you cleaned up" Jean said and tossed his jacket to Max to wear, as all of his clothes were wet.
"Thanks" he said draping the coat over his shoulders
"How was your night outside?" Jean asked
"Cold and wet… Where did you sleep?"
"A nice cozy library"
"What happened? Why didn't you meet up with me?" Max asked
"They um… Caught me" Jean said
"They caught you? Are you sure we can trust them?" He said
"Relax, they're all harmless. Except for that Rainbow one." Jean explained
"Heh heh heh, Doesn't she like humans?" Max said recalling the incident between the humans and Rainbow
"Listen up, we're approaching the edge of the orchard now. We're going to go meet our hosts, be on your best behavior" Jean warned
"Hosts? You mean those talking animals?" Max said
"That is exactly what I'm talking about, be more polite. We'll be staying at Twilight's library"
"Twilight? You gave it a name?" Max said
"Her not it. And I didn't give her the name, she already had it." Jean said
The three cleared the brush, Twilight's ears perked up when she saw Max.
"See? I told you I could get him" Jean remarked
"I have to hand it to you, you were right. It would have been better if I could had done this myself" Twilight grumbled
Max looked over his new "hosts". Applejack gave him warm smile
"Howdy partner! You sure are a tricky critter!" She joked
"What's that supposed to mean?" Max said, unintentionally offended
Aj was confused, "I didn't mean nothing by it…"
"That's his way of saying; 'nice to meet you too' " Jean said
Aj raised an eyebrow then turned away.
Max's little outburst discouraged Rarity and Pinky from introducing themselves.
"He seems like a bit of a rough one…" Rarity whispered
"He's probably just scared after what happened with him and Rainbow, not to mention the fiasco at the castle. Let's just give him a little time" Pinky said sympathetically
"What did I just tell you? Lay some trust on me, they're complete and totally harmless" Jean whispered, fed up with Max's attitude
"Except her" Jean said and pointed with his thumb to Dash, who in turn sneered
"Stay away from her?" Max said
"For now at least"
"Ok…" Jean said directing Max's attention to the six mares "You've already met Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. This is Rarity, Pinky Pie, and Twilight" He said introducing them
"Charmed" Rarity said
"Hiya!" Pinky chirped
Twilight approached Max, "You must be Max, our princess wants to speak with you."
"And what makes you think I want to speak with her?" Max said defiantly
Before Twilight could answer, Jean intervened; "Because the princess is currently your only hope of going home. If I were you, I'd do what the nice unicorn says and go talk to the princess…"
"Ok ok. I'll play your game." Max said, Jean rolled his eyes
"Look here pal, I'm not too keen on our situation either, but an attitude isn't helping." Jean explained
"Lets get going, the princess is waiting" Twilight said
Jean was up and ready to go but Max was reluctant to move.
"Who is this princess?" He whispered
"Her name is Celestia, remember the big white one from the castle? That's her."
"So she's the one who gives the orders here?"
"Yep, it's probably a not good idea to make her angry" Jean advised
"How did we get here anyway?" Max continued
"Celestia will fill you in on that" Jean said
"What are you two whispering about?" Dash said hovering above them
Max opened his mouth to say a snide remark, but Jean stopped him.
"Let me handle this…"
"Don't make me say it" Jean said with a wry grin
"You wouldn't dare…" Dash growled
"Say what?" Max said
"There's a word which Rainbow over here HATES being called" Jean explained
"Don't say it!" Dash warned
"I'm gonna say it!" Jean said, his smirk growing
"I'm warning you!"
Jean took a deep breath "YOUR NAME IS DASH-MMMPH!" Rainbow clasped her hoof over Jean's mouth to prevent Max from hearing the word "Dashie"
"I swear, I'll tie you up and hang up upside-down from a tree branch if you say it!"
"Say what? What don't you like being called?" Max said, now intrigued
"None of your business!" Rainbow snapped
Jean pulled Dash's hoof off his mouth "Her name is-!" Jean said , Dash struggled to silence the human. The Pegasus looked up to see the rest of the ponies staring at the tussle between Dash and Jean.
"Rainbow, let him go…" the librarian said
"He started it!" Dash accused
"Bullshit!" Jean said dusting himself off
Just then, couple of strong looking bulls pulling a wagonload of anvils passed by and gave Jean a dirty look, Jean smiled uneasily.
"You're the one who was pointing fingers" Max said
"I have no idea what either of you just said… what does 'pointing fingers' mean? For that matter, what's a finger?" Twilight asked
Jean held up his hand and moved his fingers "These are fingers, pointing fingers means making accusations."
"Interesting…" Twilight said jotting down a few notes on human phrases "Listen up; behave all of you. How many times do I have to say it? I either of you start anything else, you'll spend the rest of the day locked inside the library" Twilight said as if she was talking to children
"Yes mother" Jean said
"Watch your tone"
In Ponyville, the two humans were at the center of it all. Heads turned and ponies took double takes at the two legged strangers. Jean didn't seem to mind but Max was visibly cringed.
"Would you chill? They're not gonna bite" Jean said
"How can you be so trusting of them?" Max said under his breath
"I think if they were going to try something, they would have done so already" Jean said
"What if they're going to eat us?" Max theorized
"I'm pretty sure they're all vegetarians… You worry too much, try to think of them as people."
"Except these 'people' have four legs and practice witchcraft…"
"Magic not witchcraft. There is a difference" Jean explained
"And that difference is?" Max snorted
"Witchcraft requires human sacrifice." Jean joked
His joke didn't help Max's fears.
The humans weren't the only center of attention, ponies were also whispering and giggling as Rainbow walked by. She was used to attention and ponies looking up to her, but this was a different kind of attention. She grew wary as three cocky Pegasus colts descended from a nearby cloudbank.
"Hey Rainbow-Crash! We heard something about you!" A brown colt said
"Oh really?" She said with suspicion
"Yeah, we heard the unstoppable Dash just met her match!" Another said
"What exactly did you hear?" She knew they talking about her and the humans
"You got beat-up on by the humans!" Another Pegasus colt said
Upon hearing this, Dash bit her lip. She was known to be undefeated, and know her reputation was about to catch up to her.
"That's not true!" She said defensively
"Oh yeah? Well the humans are right here, why don't we ask them…" The brown colt said flying over to Jean and Max
"Yo humans, is it true that you guys tied Rainbow up?"
Max immediately wanted to explain to them in full detail the events between Dash and them, but Jean stepped between Max and the colt. Jean saw Dash looking at them with pleading eyes, he knew if they told the colts what happened, Dash would be subjected to untold amounts of humiliation.
"Well what happened?" The colt began to grow impatient
"Nothing… Nothing happened between us and Dash. All those rumors you've heard, they're all false, only a real dumbass would believe them" Jean said, lying through his teeth
"Oh…?" The brown colt said in disbelief "Nothing happened?"
"Nope"
"Oh…ok" He said in disappointment "We'll catch you later, Rainbow-Crash!" He said and all three colts ascended back into the clouds.
Rainbow was shocked, she was certain the humans would spill her secret, but for some reason they stayed quiet.
"Why didn't you tell them? That would have been hilarious!" Max whispered
"It wouldn't have been hilarious for Dash, would it?" Jean said
"So? She deserved it!" Max countered
"We're going to be staying here awhile, I think we should at least try to get on their good side. Rainbow probably didn't appreciate all the name call I did before we picked you up " Jean explained, Max sighed
"We're here" Twilight said
Max looked up to see Twilights massive tree house/library.
"This is where we'll be staying. Pretty sweet eh?" Jean nudged
A smile crept its way across Max's face "This is… This is amazing"
"Spike? I need to send a message" Twilight called
The reptilian came down the stairs, he stopped to look at Max, who was even taller than Jean.
"Oh good! You found the other one" he said to Twilight
"Actually Spike, that credit goes to Jean" Twilight said
"It takes one to know one! Nice going Jean" Spike said, with that Twilight began to relay her message to the dragon.
The other ponies chatted up one another, the two humans sat down on the couch. Jean picked up his half-full energy drink from that morning and took a sip.
"Can I please have a sip?" Max said eagerly, Jean handed him the can.
"Didn't you say high-caffeine drinks would kill me one of these days?" Jean said and cracked a smile
"Shut up" Max jokingly said
Jean then felt a hoof tap on his shoulder, he looked up to see it was Dash.
"Can um… Can I have a word with you?" She said timidly
"yeah…" Jean said standing up them turned to Max "That's my last one, don't drink it all while I'm gone"
Dash led Jean to the next room where no one or no pony could hear them.
"Why did you stand up for me like that?" She asked
"Would you have rather me told them what happened?" Jean said with a raised eyebrow
"No… just why? After everything I've done to you. Telling them you beat me would have been the perfect revenge" She said
"True and part of me really wanted to spill my guts and ruin that perfect reputation of yours. But that just ain't me…" He said
Dash looked at him funny
"Look, I actually wanted to you too. I think we got off on the wrong foot… or hoof whichever you prefer. What I'm trying to say is; I think we need to start over"
"Really? You mean after the orchard all the mistrust and accusations?" She said confused
"Unless you don't want to…" Jean said about to leave
"Wait" Dash said "We should start over…" She was embarrassed to admit it
"Ok then…" Jean said and outstretched his hand "My name is Jean"
"Rainbow Dash" The speedster said proudly
Jean was going to shake her hand when it occurred to him she had no hand to shake. Instead he put his hand into a fist and bro-fisted/hoofed Dash.
"So we cool now?" She asked
"Yeah we're cool, I can't say the same for Max though" Jean said
"I know… I'll try to make things right for him" Dash said
"I wish you luck with that, out of all six ponies, you're his least favorite."
"What?! Why?!"
"Do you even have to ask? Same reasons you and me quarreled: distrust. Except he's a lot more stubborn than me, so it's going to be a bit of a task for him to like you. Just give him some time to warm up to you guys." Jean explained