Author's Notes:

New chapter!

The arguement about magic isn't in this chapter, it'll be next chapter. Speaking of next chapter, it will either come out earlier some time next week, or it may not come out until the 18th, as I'm away from the 13th to 17th, so either the next chapter will be shorter, and come out early, or it'll be a long chapter but be released later.

Let me know which you'd prefer :P

As we left the castle and walked over to the Crystal Heart, we saw the group of six in question. I thought at that moment what I would call Twilight and her friends, as a collective anyway... The Mane Six.

I'm sorry, it just had to be said, OK?

Anyway, I saw what they all looked like. One was an Alicorn, and assuming that all alicorns are in somewhat related to royalty here, I assumed that this was the Twilight Sparkle we have been told of. She had a light purple coating, kind of light mulberry and had a mane that had a variety of purple and pink in it. There was also a unicorn, who had a white coat, with a purple mane that was fashioned in a way. Judging by this, I figured she was into fashion in one form or another.

There were two Pegasi as well; one who was yellow furred and pink maned, who looked like she was one of the shy type, if her hiding behind her mane was anything to go by, and the other was blue coated and her mane was quite frankly something you'd see from a fucking Skittles packet.

No, I'm not joking.

The other two were regular ponies. One was pink. (Yes, pink main and tail, pink coat.) The other was orange coated and had a yellow main and tail that was tied up. The thing I noticed most of all was her bloody Stetson that she was wearing on top of he head, which gave me a thought.

I fucking swear, if she starts speaking in a Southern US accent then I'll-

"Twily!" Shining shouted to the group as he walked down the steps towards them.

Twilight's smiled at that moment. "Shining Armor!"

She more or less ran over to her older brother and hugged him, which he returned. She let go and spoke to him. "I've missed you, B.B.B.F.F."

I stood there in confusion at what the hell she meant. Thomas muttered under his breath in volume that could only have been heard by us three. "She probably means Big Brother Best Friend Forever or something." I nodded so he could see.

She then turned to us and her eyes lit up and... well, sparkled.

How that was even possible is beyond me.

"Are you the humans that Princess Celestia wrote about?" she said, her eyes sparkling and having a Cheshire cat-like grin on her face.

"Uh... I guess we are, I'm-" I began, extending my hand before I was cut off.

"Oh my gosh!" she said, now unable to control her excitement, trotting on the spot. "OhmygoshOhmygosh ImTalkingToASpeciesUnseenToTheRestOfEquestria Ihavesomanythingstolearn IcouldteachthesehumansaboutEquestria! I'M SO EXCITED!!"

"Err, good to meet you too?" I said watching her trotting on the spot as her grin got even wider. Thankfully, the white unicorn was at hand to help.

"Hello there, darlings. You'll have to excuse Twilight here, she can get quite worked up over new discoveries."

"Does this happen often?" I asked.

"Not too often, but you'll get used to it darling," she replied.

Twilight finally got some common sense into herself and recomposed herself. "I'm sorry, but this sort of thing has never happened before. I can get quite enthusiastic when new information comes to light." She then coughs to clear her throat and extended her hoof. "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle, but Twilight is fine for me."

I quickly glanced back to Thomas and Nathan, and the smirks on their faces and the nod from Nathan were enough to put our plan into action. I turned back to Twilight and shook her hoof. "Ma name's Jack Luss. It's a pleasure tae meet ye, Princess."

Twilight's smile wavered slightly in confusion, which was the reaction that was telling me that I was going the right way about this. "It's easier for both of us if you call me Twilight, honestly."

I smirked. "Alright 'en, Twilight it is." I then turned to the others. "What of yourselves, eh?"

The unicorn was surprised and I think slightly disgusted by my change in attitude. "I'm Rarity, darling. I'm Ponyville's resident fashion designer. I must say, the outfits you're wearing are rather uncouth."

"Oh, come on, mate," I continued in the Glaswegian slang. "They're naw at bad."

"I must disagree with you on that. They're rather plain."

"Well, duh, they're naw supposed tae be dinner suits."

"Still, that looks rather bland."

I turned to the pony with the Stetson. "Who might you be?"

"I'm Applejack," she says in a predictable Southern US accent. "Now before you say anythin' else, can you PLEASE talk normal?"

I had a expression of mock hurt on my face as Shining and the other two laughed. "Can't I keep it up for a bit longer?" She shook her head.

"Bugger."

"Well, it was fun while it lasted," I laughed. "I was talking the way a lot of people from our home city spoke. The Glasgow patter, it's called. Mainly for neds."

"Neds?" Applejack raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"Another term used for hooligans. Some say it's short for non-educated delinquents. They mostly wear casual sportswear, but not all of them do. There's a good film focusing on neds, called, well, NEDS. I have it on DVD if you're interested."

"They sound like a nasty lot!" came from a voice I hadn't heard before, so I turned to see the pink one gritting her teeth.

"They are. Glasgow's still a good place to live, though. Don't let the neds get to you," I replied. "Who are you?"

"I'm Pinkie Pie, the greatest partier in all of Equestria," she replied. She then went wide eyed and gasped. "Oh my gosh! I need to get your 'Welcome to Equestria' party ready for you all, I'll invite all of my friends round, I'll invite everypony!"

She managed to say all of that under one breath. How she managed to do that, I didn't quite know. I still don't quite know today.

Holding her breath? Large lungs? Cocaine?

"Uhhh, that's a kind offer, Pinkie, but no thank you. I'd rather settle in quietly," Thomas said.

Pinkie gasped at this. "You don't want a party?"

"Nope," Thomas confirmed.

"Why?" Pinkie asked.

"Because they're a waste of time to me."

Everypony looked at Thomas with a look of shock on their faces, looking uneasy at Thomas' comment, almost as if they had just seen somebody be betrayed, or as if they heard the grass is green.

Probably with good reason, too. Because Pinkie's mane flattened... and well, her eyes, already massive like the other ponies here, just went wide, with the iris and pupil growing unnaturally. The look that was visible on her face was... actually kind of frightening for a piece of bubble-gum.

"Parties," Pinkie began in a low and upset tone. "Are not a waste of time. They're enjoyable and they're fun to have, especially Pinkie Parties!"

To avoid escalation, Nathan stepped in. "I have no objections."

Despite gaining a "WHAT THE FUCK?!" look from Thomas, it was enough to calm the pink pony down. "I don't know the exact details of your party as of yet, but it should be soon."

"Anyway..." I said trying to move things along and not stand outside all day. "Shall we head inside."

"Yeah," Shining replied. "We can head to the rec room and talk there, unless if you haven't eaten?" he asked, turning back to the Mane 6.

"Nope, we ate on the train here," Twilight replied.

"Well in that case let's head in," Shining said. "I assume we'll have a lot to talk about."

And with that, Thomas, Nathan and I head inside, followed by Shining and his sister who start discussing things with her sister, about some adventure with some evil unicorn they faced recently, and how the castle was. I paid no attention to this and started talking to Nathan and Thomas on the idea we wouldn't get to watch the TCR and BTCC when it came to Knockhill, and eventually we were talking about Group B when we finally arrived at the rec room.

I just hope we don't have to give a lecture to that excitable princess.

Hope. What a quaint idea.

It's a GoldenEye reference if you didn't happen to notice.

When we went into the rec room, I got three chairs and plunked them down for Thomas, Nathan and I to sit on, while the others sat on the seats that were already in the area we were.

"So, who are the two Pegasi?" Nathan asked as he sat down.

"Uhhh, I'm Flu-" The yellow one began, but was cut off by the blue one.

"I'm Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in all of Equestria. Nothing can fly faster than me."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Great. Rude, brash, arrogant, overconfident and a tomboy. Can it get any worse?

"Fastest flier?" Thomas asked with a raised brow.

"Of course I am. Haven't you heard of me?"

"Not from this world, Rainbow," Twilight sighed, rolling her eyes and nudging her at the same time.

"Oh, hehe, sorry," Rainbow said with a sheepish grin. She then continued her explanation. "But yeah, I can break the sound barrier and do a sonic rainboom."

I smirked. "Oh, we've built aircraft that can beat that." I said, waving my hand dismissively, trying to wind her up.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep, the SR-71 Blackbird, a high speed reconnaissance aircraft used by the United States Air Force for over 30 years could reach speeds of Mach 3.2."

"What's Mach?" she asked.

"Mach means the speed of sound. The number following is the amount of times it is. Mach 3.2's roughly equivalent to 2,200 miles an hour."

"WHAT?" she yelled, her jaw dropping at finding out she'd been trumped.

I smiled at this, ignoring her stuttering and turning back to the yellow Pegasus. "May I ask who you are?"

"Uhhh, I'm Fluttershy."

"Nice to meet you," I said, extending my hand. She understood what I was doing as she did the same and we shook hands/hooves.

I turned back so I could see everyone. "So, what do you all do here? In Equestria, I mean."

Twilight was the first to answer. "I'm the Princess of Friendship. I solve problem's related to friendship."

"I said earlier that I'm Ponyville's resident fashion designer," Rarity said. "If you ever need anything made for yourselves, then let me know," she added with a smile.

Well, I don't plan on wearing the same 2 sets of bloody clothes for potentially years.

"I organise parties!" Pinkie said, bouncing up and down as she did so.

"Yeah, because we didn't know that one already," Thomas said, rolling his eyes.

"I buck apples for Sweet Apple Acres. One of the best apple farms in all of Equestria," Applejack said.

"I take care of the animals in Ponyville," Fluttershy said, although we only just barely heard it.

"And I'm Ponyville's weather manager," Rainbow said in a matter-of-factly tone.

This bitch will have her arse kicked if she keeps this attitude up.

"What, so you predict the weather?" Thomas asked.

"Predict the weather?" she asked. She then laughed. "No, I MAKE the weather."

"Make the weather?" Nathan repeated, not quite believing what he was hearing.

"Yep."

We all looked at each other, then started laughing hard, much to Rainbow's confusion. I turned to her and said, "Oh, you must excuse us, Rainbow, we thought you were being serious."

Rainbow's look of confusion quickly morphed into that of irritation. "I AM being serious."

We turned to each other, and laughed even harder, to Rainbow's dismay and frustration. "What are you laughing at?"

"Oh, the weather happens naturally where we come from."

"Ouch," Rainbow commented. "That must suck."

Nathan chuckled. "Yeah, tell me about it. We live in Scotland. IT RAINS ALL THE TIME."

Twilight interrupted. "If it's OK with all of you, I'd like to do a few tests on you to get a better understanding of humans."

We looked at each other nervously. I just hoped it wouldn't come to taking an anatomy of us. "OK, as long as we know what they are beforehand."

"Of course," Twilight replied. "The first one I need to do is do a magical scanning test, to test what type of magical energy humans possess."

I chuckled. "Good luck with that. Magic doesn't exist where we come from."

Twilight then gave a smile. But it wasn't a good one. It was, let's face it, fucking creepy. "What do you mean, there's no magic on Earth?"

"Exactly that. Why?" I asked, getting unnerved at her behaviour.

She snapped out of whatever trance she was in. "Nothing, it's fine. There is a chance there is magic lying dormant that hasn't been activated yet. Let's start with..." she explained, while pointing at Nathan.

"Nathan," he completed.

"Okay," was all she said. Her horn lit up for a few seconds and she created a sort of two dimensional grid that passed its way through Nathan... only it went completely around him, to Twilight's confusion..

"That's odd, that's never happened before. I'll try again."

And that she did, only to get the same results as before. "You're right, but... THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

"How so?" I asked.

"Life isn't possible without magic!" Twilight's frustration was rising.

"We're alive, thought," Thomas said, completely confused as what she was saying.

"I was taught as a little filly that life can't exist without magic, yet here you are!" Her mane then started to twist out of place. Her friends noticed this, and began to back away. "How do you manage without magic?"

"Technology," Thomas, Nathan and I said at the same time.

"What type of technology?"

And so we all did about an hour's worth of lecturing (more or less) on human technology. Twilight was baffled by what we'd managed to do, especially when she knew that we had no magic. The others took interest as well, the most notably (and surprisingly) being Rainbow Dash.

She was interested in the cars and was also, understandably, trying to hide her huge interest in planes, especially the SR-71 that I talked of earlier. She mentioned that she was wanting to become a member of the main Wonderbolts team. She was shocked again by my lack of knowledge of the team, but after another reminder that we weren't from Equestria, she told them that they were an aerial display team. They remind me of the Red Arrows when Rainbow showed me a poster.

"Would it be possible for us to see them at an event?" I asked, genuinely interested as to what they were like. "It's just that we don't know how long we'll be here and I'd like to enjoy it while it lasts."

"I don't see why not," Rainbow replied. "There's a performance coming up in a couple of weeks at Princess Celestia's garden opening. I'm going to be there, the Wonderbolts are performing at the events and I'm in the reserve team, they're just in case one of the main members can't perform."

"Maybe if I get a ticket somehow I'll go and watch them," I said, smiling at possibly being able to see these Wonderbolts, and see how they compare to the Red Arrows. "Wonder how they compare to the Red Arrows."

"Who?"

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and found the right image on my phone. "The Red Arrows, one of the finest aerial display teams on our world," I said as I showed her the image.

"Wow! They look awesome!" Rainbow complimented.

"I've seen them perform as well. They do some pretty good stunts, the Gypo Pass and Opposition Barrel are amazing to watch. Actually, I think I've got a video of it on my phone actually, hold on..." and then went about finding the video. I eventually found it. It was a while ago, at the 2014 Scottish Air Show in Ayr. "Ah, here it is." I then turned the phone around and let the footage of the Red Arrows arriving behind me overhead, and the demonstration, be seen by Rainbow and the others.

It was safe to say she enjoyed watching and was slightly disappointed when it ended, as did the others, but Rainbow more so.

"These Red Arrows could give the Wonderbolts something to worry about," Rainbow commented.

"It would be pretty good if we could see how they compare," Thomas said.

"What are these cars like, though?" she asked.

"We've got our own cars here," Nathan said. "Who wants a spin?"

"Ok, I'll see what it's like," Rainbow said. "Hopefully it'll be cool."

"Ah'll go too, then," Applejack added.

"If it's fun, then I will, too!" Pinkie agreed.

But nobody else wanted to go. Suits us fine. Their loss, anyway. Although I did get the feeling that Shining told Twilight of our antics last night, or rather, MY antics, as she shot me a cold glare as I asked her if she wanted to come with us.

We walked out of the rec room and went to the entrance. As we did so, we decided that Nathan would take Applejack, Thomas would take Pinkie and I would take Rainbow Dash. When walking to the old chariot depot, we decided, we would do some drifting, much to Thomas' annoyance. When we got there, they walked over to their respectful cars, leaving me and Rainbow to the Merc. I walked over and opened the other door to allow her to sit in the front passenger seat.

"Wow, this is actually pretty cool so far," Rainbow commented.

"Thanks," I said as I closed the door and slid over the bonnet to the other side and opening the door. I sat down and started the engine, and let Rainbow listen to the sound of the 4 litre twin turbo V8 come to life.

"Whoa," was all she could muster in a mix of awe and fear.

"This specific car has an engine that has 8 cylinders that produce 476 brake-horsepower." I explained

"Horsepower?!" she was clearly shocked by the name.

"It's a measurement of power coined by a Scottish engineer by the name of James Watt. He enhanced the design of the steam engine so it was more efficient, which was instrumental in the Industrial Revolution at the time. He came up with the idea of horsepower, and the unit of power used internationally, the watt, is named after him."

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get to the cool stuff."

"OK, then. Buckle up, Rainbow," I said. Rainbow was confused, until she saw me put my seatbelt on, and she did the same, surprisingly without complaint. I then put the car into Drive mode and got the car moving out the space. From what I could see, Nathan had already got to the garage exit, and Nathan had just started up the engine. I then got behind Nathan's car and flashed the headlights. I leaned out the window, and Nathan did the same.

"Just follow me," he stated simply before putting his head back in and winding up the window. I put my head back in as well, but left the window open just so I could really hear the noise the engine was making.

"Ready?" I asked with a smile on my face.

"Ready," Rainbow replied with a determined smile on her face.

Nathan took off, with the tyre smoke in our view, so I let it die down. While doing so, I saw the red Audi had finally stopped behind us. Shame Pinkie won't get to experience drifting. When the smoke cleared, I turned off the traction control and stepped on the accelerator pedal.

Rainbow was shocked to say the least at the sudden jolt forward, but I was focused on catching Nathan, who had turned to the right and was drifting in the direction of the castle. I let the tyres squeal and then hit the brakes, managing a perfectly held slide, as well as a set of screeching tyres and a screaming Rainbow Dash to boot. The car continued forward, with the revs getting even higher before going into second gear. After about two seconds more travelling the car reached 60mph and I had to brake again, this time to do something a little bit different.

When we got more or less to the Crystal Heart, I turned the car to the right only to turn sharply to the left mere milliseconds later. When Twilight and the other three came out, they were in for a shock at seeing me do a donut around the Crystal Heart. Or two.

Okay, it was six. What's the big deal?

After the last one I pulled out just as Thomas had approached the corner. Rainbow was showing a very fearful face, but I knew a speed freak like her would enjoy this sort of thing. The tire smoke gradually reduced as I pulled away and slid the car around while going after Nathan. Rainbow had finally gotten used to the feeling of drifting by the end of this corner, if the "This. Is. AWESOME!" was anything to go by. I was just hoping Nathan made a mistake so I could overtake him and therefore proclaim I was the better driver. (He wouldn't accept it either way, just for talking sakes)

Eventually, after a couple of minutes of screaming tyres, gasping and standing in awe from the residents and the slight sound of understeer behind us in the Audi, he did.

Namely while trying to go round a hairpin at seventy, and as a result trying to correct too much and spinning out.

"Ha, ha, ha," I fake laughed. "The idiot's spun out. Let's show him how it's really done."

And that we just did, with me giving him the two fingered salute as we passed him.

"What did you just do?" Rainbow asked, genuinely curious as to what I did.

"I gave him the two-fingered salute, which we use to say "up yours" or something similar."

Rainbow laughed. "If only ponies could do that..."

We both laughed as we drove back to the castle, with me only drifting every so often, as I was beginning to find it a bit repetitive.

I kind of wish we'd taken the cars back first, because of what we saw coming towards the car as we slowed down to a stop.

Specifically, a furious Twilight and her equally angry older brother.

"WHAT IN TARTARUS WERE YOU THINKING?" Twilight yelled at me, her wings flared in anger as a show of authority. It didn't bother me, though, as I could easily have just got out of the car and stood on her if I wanted to.

"I was taking the car for a spin, Princess," I replied calmly as I got out of the car and watched Nathan's M3 and Thomas' S4 approach us.

"You could have destroyed the Crystal Heart! Or worse still, YOU COULD HAVE HURT SOMEPONY!"

"Relax, Twi," Rainbow intervened. "I was initially scared too, but Jack knew what he was doing, he didn't overcomplicate things."

"Besides, I would have pulled the handbrake if there was a chance the car could have hit someone," I pointed out, as I turned to Nathan, who was walking with Applejack, and Thomas, who walked over with Pinkie. Both ponies had a massive grin on their faces.

"L-L-LOSER!" I shouted to Nathan, with my hand creating an "L" sign with my right hand and put next to my forehead.

"I don't care if you won," he said flatly, with me retracting the "L". "I was just having some fun drifting in the car. Wasn't meant to be a race."

"If you say so, Ken Block," I replied cheekily with a smirk on my face.

Twilight coughed to get our attention, with the angry, ice-cold glare still adorning her face. "You three could have seriously injured somepony."

"Pretty sure I wouldn't do any of that stuff if I didn't know what I was doing," Thomas replied.

"Besides, they're sporty saloon cars. How are we meant to show the performance of them if we don't put them through their paces?" Nathan added.

Twilight's mouth opened and closed several times, but no words coming out. Eventually, she sighed and looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, I was just really concerned for the wellbeing of the ponies here and-"

"I understand, Twilight," I interrupted, gaining her attention. "And I'm not mad; in fact on the contrary, it's nice to see you caring about your subjects. Where we're from, many politicians are self-absorbed, worthless, vile scumbags who only care for themselves."

Twilight was shocked by my use of language to say the least, as were many others. "Are they that bad?"

"Not all, but some certainly are," I replied. "Kim Jong-Un and his fathers, as well as Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin spring to mind."

"But, let's not discuss dictators any further," Thomas said, trying to lighten the mood that was coming. "Are there other tests you need to do?"

"Well, since you can't use magic," Twilight explained. "There are only two that need to be done at the moment, the others can be done later on."

"And they are?" Thomas asked, raising his eyebrows. I knew he was asking another question underneath and was looking for the answer he wanted in the one she gave, and I was hoping for the same answer he was.

"Well, I need to do another test on magic, this time to check it's affects on you and make sure it doesn't harm your body in any way, and I'll also need to take a full anatomy of the human body, for medical purposes."

Thomas, Nathan and I looked at each other, smiling nervously at each other. I then turned back to her. "Who... who will have these results afterwards?"

Noting the apprehension in my voice, she replied in a calm and somewhat reassuring tone. "You don't need to worry about anything. The results will be sent strictly to the Equestrian Health Service board and be distributed to hospitals in case there is a chance you fall ill and need medical attention. They will not be published publically without your consent."

A sigh escapes Thomas' and Nathan's lips, but I'm still not entirely convinced. Still, she's a princess, so it's not like I have much of a choice. "Fine, we'll do it."

A happy smile worms its way onto her face. "Great, if you'd just follow me to the medical centre..." Twilight said, as she started to walk back to the entrance. Reluctantly, we follow suit. As we followed her, I could only think of one thing.

Why do I get the feeling this is going to be extremely awkward?