I don’t want to get out of bed. I wish I had one in Ponyville. I should probably get one, but where would I put it? There’s not much room at the library, and I can’t just put it in Twi’s room. Maybe... maybe I could get my own house in Ponyville. That sounds like a nice idea, but where do I get that kind of money?

Eh, I’ll figure it out later. I think back to the other day, when I met Cadence. Princess Cadence. That really is a surprise. She’s hardly like Celestia or Luna, but she’s not a bad mare either. I wonder what her story is. I’d like to meet her again. I walk out into the hall and approach a guard.

“Hey, do you know where I could find Cadence?”

He looks at a clock. “I believe she may still be asleep.”

I fold my arms across my chest. “Humor me, buckethead.”

With a sigh, the guard leads me down a few hallways. After a while, I feel like we must be on the other side of the castle. The guard stops at a door and speaks. “This room belongs to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. If you have any more questions, ask somepony else.”

“Well, fine, see ya later, Mr. Friendly.” He walks off, going back to his post. Mi Amore Cadenza? Yech, no wonder she told me her name was Cadence. I’m about to knock on the door, but I think about the time... if she’s asleep, I wouldn’t want to be rude. I give the door a gentle tap. No response. I try a little harder, this time I get a reply from the other side. “Who is it?”

I grin “Doris.”

She’s obviously confused. “Doris? Doris who?”

I have to laugh. “Doris locked, that’s why I’m knocking.” I hear her laughing and she opens the door. “Anthony! Heh, that was funny!”

“And people say knock knock jokes are dead. Anyway, I didn’t have anything better to do, so I figured I’d come see you.”

“Awww, thanks! Here, come in.” She opens the door wider to let me in. Her room is actually rather small, the main difference from mine is the double bed and a private bathroom.

“Not a big fan of being a princess, I take it?”

“Oh, I’m fine being a princess, I just... I’m not as concerned with formalities and such.”

“I can tell, Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“Ugh, please don’t tell me you’re going to be calling me that?”

“Only if I want to annoy you.”

"Thanks, I think. So, anyway, what are you? I mean I know you’re a human, but where’d you come from?”

I wrap my arm around Cadence and give her a smile. “Well, you see Cadence, my mommy and daddy liked each other very much, and-”

She giggles. “Not like that. I mean, what exactly is a human?”

“Well, in all honesty, it depends on who you ask. There are lots of theories.”

“Oh really? Like what?”

“Well, some people believe humans were created in the image of a higher being or by magic. Some say we evolved from apes. Then there are those that think we’re the result of a monkey and a pig doing the Horizontal Tango.”

“Horizontal... oh. Oh.” A blush spreads across her face. I take it she’s never heard that euphemism before. She continues. “And which one do you believe?”

“I honestly don’t care. I’m here and that’s all that matters. Though the idea of a pig screwing a monkey is hilarious.”

“Heh, you really are quite something, Anthony.”

“Aw, thanks!” I give her a hug. Wow these ponies are soft. And her wings are very fluffy. Then the door opens.

“Good morning Cad- What!?” Suddenly I’m being tackled to the floor. “Cadence, run, I’ll take care of the monster!” I see my attacker is a white unicorn stallion, I can also see that he’s really angry.

“But, Shining-”

“I’ll handle this, go!”

“Shining Armor, you get off of him this instant!”

He backs off of me, staring at his hooves. “Yes, dear.”

Cadence sighs. “Well, that wasn’t quite how I wanted the introduction to go, but I guess it’ll have to do.” She uses her magic to pull me to my feet. “Shining, this is Anthony. I met him two days ago. He’s very nice.” The stallion shoots her a sheepish, apologetic look. “Anthony, this is my husband, Shining Armor.”

“You certainly know how to make an entrance, Mr. Armor. Not to mention an impact.”

“Heh, I’m sorry, I just. I thought you were attacking her...”

“No way, she’s actually nice to me.” I walk a bit closer to Shining. “And for your safety, I’d suggest you don’t do that again.”

“My safety? I’m captain of the Royal Canterlot Guard! I’m the best of the best.”

“Oh yeah? Ask Celestia. Unless I’m mistaken, I’ve held the record for best performance on your little training regiment since four months ago.”

This got a surprised “What!?” from both of them.

“Yeah, your little entrance exam was pretty lame.”

“You think so, huh? How about a little friendly competition?”

“Sure. Out by the gardens behind the castle.” I turn to Cadence. “What do you think? Sound good?”

“As long as neither of you get hurt badly, I suppose you can settle your little testosterone competition.”

Shining Armor and I are now staring at each other from across the field. Cadence has a whistle, and she’ll decide when the match starts and stops.

“You know, you can still back out, Anthony. I’m not going to go easy on you.”

“Now? Heck no, I’m not gonna run from a challenge.”

“I warned you.”

The whistle blows and I Spark up, giving Shining and Cadence quite a surprise.

“Bring it on, four-legs. Let’s see what ya got.”

Shining charges at me, and I do the same. At first, all we’re doing is butting heads. I don’t have as much forward push, but I’m more resourceful. I use my right hand to push on Shining’s side, making him fall over. Arms are so useful. Speaking of...

I rush at my opponent, and attempt a punch, but he’s put up a pink, magically summoned barrier. I keep punching it, but I can’t break it. Shining smirks. “That the best you have?”

“Not even close.” I speed up, throwing a flurry of punches, impacting the barrier. I can see Shining begin to sweat. Eventually I break the barrier, and Shining backs up. “Woah, you’re good!”

“You haven’t seen anything yet!” Igniting, I surround my arms in flames. It’s mainly to impress him though, I’m not going to burn him. This is just a friendly competition after all. Nevertheless, Armor puts up another bubble shield, this time around me.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Shining smirks as I try and punch the shield. Wait... The shield is solid! I turn off my flames and just stare at Shining. “You think you’ve beat me?”

“Try and get out, if you think you can still win.”

I grin and go intangible, and simply walk out of the pink bubble, making Shining Armor gasp. He tries an offensive spell, but it’s not fast enough and I cancel it before it hits me. Now he’s really freaked out. I rush up to him. He tries another shield around himself, but I just walk through it like before, push Shining onto his side, and sit down on top of him. He can’t get the leverage to throw me off, and he’s accepted that magic doesn’t work. With a frustrated sigh, he taps the ground twice with his hoof and Cadence blows the whistle. I get off Armor and help him up before Powering down.

Cadence walks over. “Wow, you certainly are something else, Anthony.” I shrug. “Eh, they’re just powers. If I couldn’t use them and Shining Armor didn’t have magic, I’m not sure I’d still win.” I turn to Shining and hold out my hand. “That was fun. You were pretty good.” He shakes my hand and nods his thanks.

“You are good at magic though. kinda reminds me of Twilight...”

“Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yeah, you know her?” The couple shares a laugh.

“She’s my little sister, and Cadence is her old foalsitter. How’d you meet her?”

“She was the first pony I met when I came to Equestria.”

I decide to recount my adventures, and after a while, Shining is called to... do something. So Cadence and I just sit and talk like before at the cafe. After telling my stories to so many ponies, I sort of want to tell them about my experience with the Changelings... but I’d rather only have to tell it once, so I guess I’ll wait until I have a chance to get everyone together to tell it. I’m just glad I’m not going to run into Queen Chrysalis again.

Next Chapter: Chapter 36 Estimated time remaining: 30 Hours, 31 Minutes