Getting out of the hospital took a little longer than the nurse said it would. The tests took slightly longer to do than expected - there was apparently another test that had to be done, as the number of tests conducted were inconclusive on whether or not I was allowed to leave.

Eventually, a sixth test had to be taken, which proved I was fit to leave the hospital. This took longer than expected as well - something to do with having to switch machine registers which required authorisation from the head of the hospital. But thankfully, I was out for lunch... if you can still count half one as lunch.

During the time I went to sleep and the time I woke up again, Fleetfoot, Soarin, Spitfire and Shining Armor apparently came to see how I was doing before they went back to their HQ - but I was still asleep by that point... apparently snoring quite a bit.

Anyway, on the way out, I decided to grab myself some lunch - a cheese sandwich was more than enough, I thought - and decided, after signing a few forms to say I could be covered by the Equestrian Health Service, to head out down the main set of stairs.

Big mistake.

Because waiting outside of the infirmary were quite a few press members, after hearing "rumours" that I would be allowed to leave. Yay, so wonderful.

It took me a couple of minutes, but eventually I lost them by jumping over a fence and crossing underneath a bridge... and waiting there for the best part of five minutes as I heard the crowd dissipate. I eventually got up and walked back to the castle - but not before one of the reporters for the Equestrian Telegraph managed to get an "exclusive interview".

Because I really didn't have a choice Because I'm nice. At times.

As I was saying, I walked back to the castle, and no sooner as I had done so, I was greeted by a pony in a suit.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"No, it's alright. I was just tasked to show you the room that the Princess has arranged for you to stay in," he answered.

"Thank you. Is the Princess at court?"

"Yes, she is having a few last-minute meetings with Princess Twilight Sparkle and some other delegates about the final details for the upcoming Grand Equestria Pony Summit tomorrow."

"What's that?"

"It's an event where delegates from various areas in Equestria come to Canterlot so they can celebrate the places that make Equestria... well, Equestria, as well as it being an opportunity to sort out any diplomatic issues between politicians."

"So who's going?"

"A lot of ponies and a fair few Griffons, but I heard that your friend Fancy Pants and some of his business associates are part of the Canterlot delegate."

"Is Sonic Blaze part of that delegation?"

"No, I'm afraid not; he had a private meeting to attend to at La Maison Du Cafe. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason," I replied, although I did have a reason for asking.

At least I know he hasn't cancelled on me since we last spoke.

"Well, I believe we should get going," the stallion replied as he began to lead me to my room. "We can talk more on the way there."

And so we did, or rather, I just asked him more questions, and he answered them. It didn't actually take that long for us to arrive at my room... which I noticed was only a few rooms down from Celestia's own personal quarters.

Does she like me? And if yes, why?

As the stallion opened the door with his magic and allowed me to enter, I noticed the room I was going to be staying in was more luxurious than the one in the Crystal Empire, which I didn't even think was possible. The bed looked like you could collapse onto it and they would be so comfortable, any stress you had at all would dissipate instantly, and everything else about the room seemed so up to date, despite the stallion telling me this room hadn't been slept in for over thirty years.

But what really surprised me the most about all of this was how most of my stuff was there, hung up on hangers put onto desks and all of that, in a similar way to the way I had left it on Saturday.

"Wait, how's all of my stuff here?" I asked, completely confused at how basically everything I had was in this room now.

"Princess Celestia wanted your personal belongings sent here," the stallion explained. "So Princess Cadence teleported them here and a servant delivered them here."

"I see."

"Well, I'm sorry," he sighed, before walking to the door. "But unfortunately I have other duties to attend to today."

"Not a problem, I understand."

"Thank you, sir," he replied before walking out and closing the door behind him.

The rest of the day wasn't all that interesting, if I'm honest. I put my solar-battery pack onto charge went out and about Canterlot, looking at places that were hiring as a possible fail-safe for me in case the car thing didn't work out, and took down contact details of whoever was hiring people for work. Most of these were cafes that had vacancies, so nothing that difficult compared to my uni days.

Celestia and I did talk briefly at dinner before I went back to my room, and while I won't go over all the details, she (unintentionally) called me 'honey'... which was quickly followed by a hoof to her mouth and profuse blushing.

I didn't mind, however. If I was honest, I found her 'affection' towards me... rather cute.

And then there was the other half of me thinking, Why am I okay with pursuing a relationship... with a pony? And why am I criticising Nathan for the same thing?

And after going back to my room and putting my phone onto charge from the battery pack, for the first time since coming to Equestria, I slept well. No nightmares, no sudden waking up at stupid o'clock, no drinking at night to make myself feel better... nothing.

I was woken up that morning by the brilliance of the sun shining in through the sliding glass doors that lead out to the gorgeous views that could be seen from the outside balcony. Getting out of bed, I grabbed my phone and looked at my phone... to remember I needed to switch it on and enter the password after recharging.

Doing this took longer than it should have... but when my phone finally finished its loading sequence, it showed the time was 08:42.

I've slept long enough.

And so, I got dressed into some of the smarter clothes that Rarity had made for us, brushed my hair into a somewhat acceptable state, and headed for breakfast.

After asking a maid for directions. Again.

As I walked into the hall, I noticed Celestia talking to her sister, Cadence and Twilight, with Luna taking notice of my entrance and smiling briefly before turning back to the conversation at hand. Further away were Thomas and Nathan, neither of whom noticed i was there. I turned and walked over to the area to get toast, as I wasn't particularly hungry that morning.

I turned back to find somewhere to sit, but saw Celestia waving me over to sit at her table. I breathed internally and walked over to the table, still somewhat tired even after being awake for 10 minutes or so.

"Good morning, Jack," Celestia said.

"Mornin', folks," I replied nonchalantly.

"How are you?" Cadence asked expectantly.

"Aye, ah feel a bit tired but apart from that, ah'm alright," I replied, stretching my arms and yawning as I did so, before turning to everybody else. "You're all going to that Pony Summit today, right?"

The response was some "uh-huh"s and nods.

"You're having a word with a pony who might be able to create cars in Equestria?" Luna asked.

"Aye, but I've got some contact details for work at various places if it doesnae work oot."

"I see."

"Celestia, has Sonic Blaze said anything over when he'd meet us?" I asked, turning back to her.

"He did ask me to pass on a message to meet him at La Maison Du Cafe, a cafe nearer to the centre of the city. He said to be there at one o'clock."

"Alright, thank you."

"Well, I better get going," Twilight said suddenly, getting up and yawning as she did so, which added to the already sleep deprived look she had on her face. "I still have a few things I need to check on before the opening at ten, and I want everything to be perfect."

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned at her tiredness.

"I'm fine, Jack," Twilight replied as she began to walk out of the hall. After she did so, I turned to the others.

"Is she okay?"

Cadence was the one to answer after she sighed. "No, she's not. She's obviously very tired, as she's been up for the last three days straight, making her plans for the Summit and hasn't actually had any form of rest. It's not quite as serious as what happened to you on Saturday, but it's still quite an issue."

"If you're all gonnae be daein' stuff there, is there anything that can be done for her?"

"After the opening announcement, she's going to take a nap to catch up on sleep, so she feels well rested to continue."

"Hopefully that works out. Ye don't mind me coming along, dae ye?" I asked. "I've got a few hours to kill until one, so I might as well dae somethin'."

"Of course," Celestia said happily. "You can meet more ponies and get on good relations with them, potentially for business. And I also consider spending time with you as a bonus."

No sooner as Celestia had said this, she went wide eyed, as she realised she said something out loud that I suspect was only supposed to be a thought. She also covered her mouth with her hooves again, and blushed in a stark contrast to her fur colour.

Noticing her bizarre behaviour again, I looked to Cadence an Luna. The former did not seem to know what to make of her aunt's behaviour; the latter, on the other hand, was snickering at her sister's behaviour.

I turned back to Celestia. "Celestia?"

"Yes, Jack?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," Celestia replied nervously. "Why?"

"It's just..." I replied, sighing as I decided to leave the subject alone for now. I could have always asked her after the Summit. "Never mind. It's nothing."

"Are you sure?" Cadence replied suspiciously.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

The other two princesses looked at each other for a few seconds, shrugging when they couldn't come to a conclusion.

"Well," Celestia announced, still blushing as she got up. "I should... uh... be preparing for the Summit. Farewell for now."

And with that, she walked away from the table, at a rather hurried pace. After she closed the hall's doors, I turned back to the other two princesses. "What the bloody hell's goin' on now?"

Luna spoke up. "During the course of the time you were in hospital, Tia seemed to have been a bit more worried than usual, and when I asked her about it, she was very secretive about it. After seeing her behaviour as I passed her going to court, being content about something, and seeing what has transpired here, I suspect my sister... may have... feelings for you."

I was completely shocked to the core. I already had my suspicions about her behaviour, especially at the hospital and at dinner, but actually hearing this from somebody else was making me realise I wasn't just imagining things.

"Has she said anything?"

"As I said, my sister was very secretive about this."

"Can I ask a question?"

"Of course."

"Why me?"

Luna sighed. "I do not know, Jack. I honestly do not know. Your only hope in finding answers is talking to her about it."

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose as I thought over this. I can't believe this. There's so many reasons as to why a relationship like this won't work. I'm a human. She's a pony. I'm a nobody who just happened to be brought here by that idiot Discord. She's a princess, loved by all, and will probably have nobles trying to court her already. Why? What does she see in me? And what if-

"Jack, are you alright?" Cadence asked me suddenly.

I looked up to meet her eyes. "Yeah, I'm alright."

"If you need to talk about anything, you know where to find us."

Eventually, ten o'clock came rather quickly. The castle was full of delegates from the capital of the nation to the most remote corner of the country, and even some Griffons were present at the gathering. Thomas, Nathan and myself were talking amongst ourselves about what happened at the hospital.

"...and then, after all that, she walks off to court," I finished explaining to them, looking for their reactions.

At first, neither of them said anything to this. Then, after I detailed the events of earlier on to them, they both started laughing in a similar fashion to the way Thomas and I laughed about what happened to Nathan.

"And here you are, having a go at me for having a pony have feelings for me!" Nathan hollered, still laughing at my expense.

"Yeah," I replied, hardheartedly laughing with him. "Speaking of which, how did that date go with Spitfire?"

"Good, or at least I think so," Nathan replied. "We went to a cafe, and it seemed like she wasn't interested in a one night stand and was actually pursuing a relationship. She gave me her address, but it's for sending letters only, as we can't exactly walk on clouds. She was actually slightly upset about that, so hopefully that's a good thing."

"Anything else?"

"Well-"

All of a sudden there was a fanfare that had cut Nathan before he finished, gathering everybody's attention and making them all turn to the group of four princesses and a purple baby dragon, who I assumed to be the Spike that I had heard so much about, walk on stage. Princess Luna walked further forward to the crowd.

"Welcome to the Grand Equestria Pony Summit!" she announced, gaining cheers from the crowd. Princess Luna walked further along the stage to make way for her sister and the other three to come further forward.

Celestia spoke next. "You delegates have travelled far and wide to represent your cities as we seek to celebrate and learn from all the unique places that make up our wonderful land of Equestria.

"At tonight's welcome reception, Princess Cadence will dedicate this beautiful friendship statue made up of gemstones from each of your home cities."

As she said this, her horn lit up, and she used her magic gently pull up the cover for the statue that was previously mentioned, the crowd gasping and gawking at its gigantic and stunning appearance. The statue itself was extremely shiny, almost like a second sun, to a degree. It also was extremely tall compared to everyone in the hall (think Liam Neeson compared to Peter Dinklage) and was in the shape of a mare holding one of her forelegs out.

The baby dragon was licking his lips upon seeing the statue, but the reason for which eluded me. I mean, how can you eat solid stone and think it tastes delicious?

The dragon was snapped out of his behaviour by an elbow, if you will, from Twilight, as Celestia continued talking. "Now I'd like to turn things over to the one who organised the summit: Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

As per usual, the crowd cheered for Twilight, but eventually calmed enough for her to speak, albeit tiredly. "Thank you, everypony. With delegates from over fifty cities attending three days of conferences, receptions, and meetings, this is the largest Grand Equestria Pony Summit yet.

"And let me tell you, putting it all together has led to more than one sleepless night."

Aye, nae shit, Sherlock.

"We're so excited to have you here and to learn more about life all across this great land of ours."

The crowd cheered again, but the dragon started tugging on Twilight's tail, indicating he wanted to say something.

"And now my faithful assistant Spike would like to say a few words."

Twilight stepped back to the rest of her peers, allowing Spike to come forward and start speaking.

"Um, hello, everypony!" he began, although not as confidently as the princesses. "I'm here to help any way I can. So if there's anything I can do for any of you—"

"We love you, Princess Twilight!" called out a random pony from the crowd.

So, guy comes on stage and tells everyone that he'll do his best to help them if they need anything, and he only cheers for the princesses? Aye, good one.

"We love all the princesses!" another mare called out, gaining cheers from the other gathered ponies in the hall.

I kinda have to feel sorry for that dragon.

After we had spoken to a few delegates, we left to do some things in Canterlot to pass the time. We all played Dictator 2 on our phones and tried to see who could last the longest under the Siberian Empire scenario.

Me, being the best out of all of them; Thomas bugged out after only ten turns, and Nathan lasted for seventeen turns. I myself had completed all twenty one turns.

Eventually, though, twelve fifty five came around, so we walked down to the cafe that Sonic Blaze arranged to meet us. Nathan decided to take his BMW there, just in case. It took quite a bit of looking, you know, being alien to the city and everything else.

When we did find the cafe, we also found an ecstatic Sonic Blaze. "Good afternoon, folks!"

I laughed at his excitement. "Good afternoon to you too, Sonic Blaze."

"Please, sit down."

And that we did, with me sitting opposite Sonic Blaze and Thomas and Nathan sitting across from each other, Thomas sitting next to Sonic Blaze.

"How are we all?" Sonic asked.

"Good," Thomas replied.

"How about you, Jack?"

"Aye, I'm fine."

"How are you feeling, after Saturday, if you don't mind me asking?"

I sighed. "Aye, I'm alright. I mean, I felt a little tired but that's it."

"So, cars..."

"Yeah. What do you need to know?"

"You said there were complications?"

"Yeah, it's about a variety of factors."

"Like what?"

"Well," I began, noticing Sonic pull out a notepad and quill, ready to write. "There's the issue of what fuel to use, who you want the car to be for, what type of uses it has, off-road capabilities, redesigning the car to fit pony anatomy compared to ours, and if you base your car off of one of ours, you have to redesign it so we don't get sued if one of the manufacturers finds out about it."

Sonic wrote down everything at a pace that would put Twilight to shame. "I see... can you be more specific about those issues you speak of?"

“Well, in regards to fuel, there's many different types of fuel to power the cars, but there's three main types; all of these have their own problems.”

Nathan continued. “The first one created, and the most common type, are fossil fuel powered cars. They're either powered by petrol or diesel, although sometimes cars powered by LPG exist, all of which are derived from oil. I'll save the chemistry lesson, but these types of cars are the most common types you will find.

“The problem with petrol and diesel cars is the way they work. The engine that provides the power for the car burns the fuel that gets put in the engine's cylinders, causing an explosion that causes the pistons to rise. The problem is that the fuel doesn't just go into thin air, its waste product needs to go somewhere.

“As a result, the liquid petrol, for example, will end up becoming two things - a gas called Carbon Dioxide, which is also in the air you breathe out, and water. But if there's not enough air in the chemical reaction, it results in incomplete combustion. This results in carbon monoxide being produced instead of CO₂. This is a bad thing because carbon monoxide is extremely toxic.”

“If it's toxic, how do you still allow the cars to be made?” Sonic asked in horror L.

“We realised the risk that this was doing to the environment. As a result, we fitted devices called catalytic converter, which convert the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and other less harmful gases.”

“That's a relief to hear. Are there other problems?”

“Well, the other main problem is that oil eventually runs out, as there's only so much oil that exists, and it can't be made so much as manufacturing it on an industrial scale.”

“Why not?”

“Again, it's down to chemistry, but I'll not bore you to death with the details.”

At that moment, a waiter came over to our table. “Can I get your orders?”

“Can I get a cappuccino, please?” Nathan asked.

“Certainly. How do you like it?”

“Milky with a lump of sugar.”

Thomas answered when the waiter turned to him. “A latte with two teaspoons, thanks.”

The waiter wrote this down, before turning to me. “What about you, sir?”

“Can I get a cappuccino, with 2 teaspoons please?”

The waiter finished writing this rather quickly. “Anything else?”

“No, thank you.”

“What about the other types?” Sonic asked after the waiter had left, seemingly interested in all of this as he furiously wrote down every detail.

Thomas was the one to answer. “Then, there's electric cars. They're the favourite for car makers in the future. Petrol and diesel car sales are to be banned in the UK in the next couple of decades, can't remember exactly when, but car companies are creating electric cars for when that happens, in order to cut down on the amount of CO₂ being produced.

“There is a battery that has chemicals in it that produces electricity, which powers a motor that in turn, is responsible for the car's movement.”

“Another advantage of electric cars over petrol or diesel cars is that electric cars have instant torque, so they can accelerate much quicker than their petrol counterparts.”

I picked up from where Thomas left off. “The downsides, however, can't be ignored. The batteries usually contain lithium, which can cause the batteries themselves to explode. They also conduct electricity, so if it does explode, using water to control the fire can end up making the situation worse. They'll eventually need to be replaced with a new battery, so they need to be able to dispose of the battery properly.”

At this point limit, the waiter came back with our orders, giving them to us in his magic. “Here you are.”

“Thank you,” we all replied politely as the waiter walked away.

“I see,” Sonic replied, writing down every detail he could. “What's the other one?”

“Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles,” I explained. “These cars are very clever, and they work by putting Hydrogen into the fuel tank. The hydrogen then goes to the fuel cell, which takes electrons from the atoms and uses these electrons to make electricity, and the process from then on is similar to the electric vehicle in regards to the motor.

“The major advantage to this is that because the gas involved is hydrogen, the only waste product is water, and they also tend to have a range larger than their electric rivals, being more akin to petrol cars.

“Hydrogen has its down sides as well. Hydrogen is extremely flammable, so if you do the wrong thing, then the car goes up in a ball of flame. Fuel cells are also very fiddly as well, as well as hydrogen being extremely difficult to store in the first place. It's the reason why there's only a dozen or so hydrogen filling stations in UK, none of which are in Scotland.”

“Okay,” he said, finishing writing all of that down. “So if we were to build cars in Equestria, what would you recommend we do?”

“At the moment, it would be best if we started with petrol and see what ponies can come up with, otherwise we'll switch to electric.”

“I see. I can understand the target market problems, so I won't ask about that. What do you mean by ‘rearrangement for pony anatomy’?”

“Well, if you follow me,” Nathan explained as he got up out of his chair. “We’ll show you.”

And so we followed Nathan to his BMW M3, Sonic Blaze being absolutely gobsmacked by its appearance. He seemed to be in awe of the car and it's styling.

Wonder what he thinks of a supercar, I thought to myself.

“Is this one of yours?” he asked.

“Yep,” Nathan replied. “This one's mine. It's a BMW M3, which is the performance version of the BMW 3-series saloon cars.”

“BMW make the car?”

“Yes. They're based in Germany. But here's what I was talking about,” Nathan explained as he opened the door and showed Sonic Blaze the problem.

Despite all of our efforts, Sonic couldn't reach the pedals AND look out the windscreen at the same time.

“Well, it's a shame that I can't try it for myself,” Sonic replied.

“Well, I can still show you,” Nathan replied in a somewhat confusing manner.

“What do you mean?”

“What if I showed you what this car can really do? You know, drifting and showing you how quick this is.”

“What's drifting?”

Nathan just gave him this devilish grin.

Looks like it's going to be last Monday all over again, I thought to myself.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the wait, but I got sidetracked by the Bahrain Grand Prix. Unfortunately,Vettel won.

And, unfortunately, writer's block is a thing.