The anatomy went... weirdly. I'll save you telling all about it, but long story short - Twilight asked us for the scientific name for humans, asked us to strip completely naked, got annoyed when we didn't get COMPLETELY naked (leaving our underpants on), got red-faced when Thomas did, was mortified when Thomas said and I quote, "Take a picture, Princess. It'll last longer", took the anatomy with Nurse Coldheart, and got the information within an hour or so.

Oh, and Nathan and I laughed when Thomas made his rather charming comment.

Wonder how that'd go with Cassie if she ever found out.

"That seems to be everything," Twilight said, albeit not as embarrassed as before.

"So what do we do next?" I asked.

"Well, we go to the dining hall," Twilight explained, putting all the information back in her bag. "My friends went off and did their own thing after we left. I told them to get to the dining hall for six, so we could have dinner before we get the train back, and with Shining and Cadence."

"Sounds good to me. What about you two?"

The two responses were "Alright" and "OK".

"Let's go, then," I said, before Twilight raised her hoof towards me.

"Before we go, can I ask you a question?" Twilight asked.

"Sure," I replied, not quite sure of what was going to be asked.

"What was the scar on your chest about?"

I gulped. Oh, shit, she saw it. I'm not really willing to talk about it.

"It... was... err... an accident," I said, trying to pull of the lie as best as I could. It was a lie, obviously, but I wasn't ready to talk about that knife fight, or what led up to it in the first place.

Seeing my hesitance, Twilight seemed to be a bit more cautious with her next question. "Would you... like to talk about it?"

"No, not really," I sighed.

"You know you're welcome to at any time," Twilight said, as she led us back out the door. Looking to the other two, I saw Thomas' face was one of slight sympathy, while Nathan's had twisted into a look of confusion. Now you have to understand that Nathan was on holiday when this incident happened, and we never told him what happened when he came back.

We followed Twilight down the corridor, with me taking point as per usual. I checked my phone, for the time and for the battery life check. I found the time to be 5:57, and I was on 26%. I then tried (and failed) to resist the urge of playing Dictator 2 again. Checking regularly to make sure I didn't walk into anyone, I only manage to put the Oligarchs into prison and cover up a police operation gone wrong before we arrived at the dining hall.

In the dining hall, all of the others were already there. Cadence was talking with Rainbow Dash, Shining talking with Rarity, and the other three talking amongst themselves. When the door opened, though, everybody turned to the door. Cadence smiled.

"Twilight!"

"Cadence!" Twilight almost cried in response.

They bot ran over to each other, Cadence getting out of her seat to do so. I initially thought that they would hug, but I was confused when they stopped. Instead, I heard this - along with seeing a silly child-like dance (that was somewhat cute) -from both.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

After they had done this, they hugged each other. After a good few seconds, it was broken off, and Cadence was the first to speak. "Good to see you, Twilight."

"You too, Cadence," Twilight replied, almost gleeful at seeing Cadence again.

Cadence then turned and looked up to me. "Hello, Jack... Jack?"

I was just raising my eyebrow at this. "What just happened?"

Cadence didn't follow for the first few seconds, then the penny dropped. Cadence smiled upon realising what I was trying to say. "I used to foalsit Twilight when she was a lot younger and living in Canterlot. We came up with a little rhyme and dance for whenever we were playing together."

I smiled. "Makes sense now, I suppose."

Cadence smirked. "I still remember when she said and I quote, 'You're a princess. I'm just a regular old unicorn'."

Twilight blushed at this. "How was I supposed to know Princess Celestia would make me into an alicorn?"

"Wait, hold on. WHAT?" I interrupted.

"What?" Twilight and Cadence responded at the same time.

"You're telling me that Twilight wasn't always an alicorn?"

"No," Twilight replied. "Princess Celestia transformed me into an alicorn version of myself - from a unicorn. I had finished a spell that Star Swirl the Bearded had not finished before he disappeared, as he didn't understand friendship, like I do."

"Hence the Princess of Friendship?"

"Not exactly. I only gained the title of 'Princess of Friendship' after we defeated Lord Tirek, and the castle was created."

Cadence then cleared her throat. "I believe it would be better if we sat down and discussed this over dinner."

With all four of us in agreement, I sat in the seat to the left of Twilight. She was sitting across from her brother, while Nathan sat at the other end with Pinkie, and Thomas sitting across from him, next to Applejack.

We all discussed this for a few seconds longer, with Twilight telling me how the castle came to be and what it was like. I nodded, although I wonder what Einstein would have to say about a castle appearing out of a box. Or any physicist for that matter.

At this point, a waiter came and took our orders. I decided to try the roast hydra, as did Thomas and Nathan. I wanted to see what it was like in comparison to other meats we would normally have back home. The others - mainly Applejack and Rarity seem to be unnerved at funding out that humans are omnivores. Twilight was as well, but to a lesser extent. She just accepted it and moved on.

The one who I didn't expect to understand this was Fluttershy, although when you went over the reasoning for it, it would make sense. She was taking care of animals, including a brown bear named Harry. She said that some of these animals were omnivorous/carnivorous and it was in their nature to do so, so it would be unfair to have a go at us while not condemning them for the same thing.

At least we didn't say that some humans eat horse meat.

Anyway...

After all the orders were taken, we all started discussing amongst ourselves, with me asking Shining where he went after we went off to the medical centre. Shining then told me of going back on duty, and afterwards working out at the gym. I expressed my interest in going to the gym to Shining, who said that if I was interested he would try and work out a schedule that could work out for the both of us.

I then asked him about the guard and what his job was like, specifically if anything funny happened.

"There was this one time," he began, before starting to snicker. "Where Flash and I were stationed in Canterlot 2 months after passing out. We were assigned to guard Princess Celestia's room while she was away on an emergency summit. Eventually, after a few hours, we were to take a break, as other guards would take over while we left. Before they came, however, curiosity got the better of us and we went into the Princess's room.

"In the room we found a ponyquin that had a dress on it that was going to be used for that year's Grand Galloping Gala."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Oh, it's a royal ball that's in Canterlot every year, it's the biggest one in Equestria. Anyway, the princess's dress is there on this ponyquin, and we're staring at it, because it was a gorgeous dress. Then, Flash starts drinking his coffee that he had brought with him.

"Now, there are two versions of this story. If you ask Flash, he'll say that I nudged him and as a result he spilled his drink over said dress."

"Ouch," I commented, wondering what Celestia, being the kind and lovely pony she seemed to be, would react to that. Maybe a full-on rage mode that turned her hair into a fire and basically turning into a psychopath?

"But what really happened is that I made a joke about the dress - one that I cannot repeat - and Flash spat his drink out while laughing."

I sniggered at this, too. There's not many more ways you could fuck up like that.

"So, realising we made a mess, we closed the door as we went out and we went to the dining hall. While we were there, we had a quick bite, with Flash getting us both a slice of cake to go with it."

"Right."

"So when the Princess came back, she was furious. Not only at the fact that her dress got ruined, but also due to the fact that someone stole her cake that she was going to have when she came back. If you want to know how bad the Princess gets when she doesn't get cake, think of a violent beer addict, but instead of beer, replace it with cake."

I started to laugh at this point, knowing where this was probably going to go. "What happened?"

"She called all of the guards in Canterlot onto parade and asked who did it. The sergeants, the lieutenants, the Captain of the Royal Guard at the time, Captain Iron Knight, all called by Princess Celestia. She demanded to know who ruined the dress and who ate the cake. Flash couldn't stop laughing, so the Princess saw and sent him off to do the dishes with the Kitchen Staff. For a month."

Hearing this, I put my hand over my face, turned the other way and just started laughing like a dying penguin.

I couldn't hold in my laughter any more. I just couldn't.

Hearing my laugh, or more specifically what it sounded like, Shining joined in as well, with him hitting the table once or twice as well, with Cadence and Twilight quizzically looking at us, not knowing what the hell was happening.

Eventually though, we recovered. "Sorry, that just reminded me of when my wee cousin was drinking beer behind his dad's back, and he got home one night with a bottle of beer in his had and his dad was waiting at the door. Safe to say he wasn't allowed out the house for a month."

Shining chuckled. "But I never got caught. I was always extremely good at keeping a straight face, I suppose that and my good work ethic got me to be Captain of the Royal Guard as well."

"A belated congratulations," I replied.

We discussed more incidents that happened between us, including many of my work antics that had spawned from my 20 years of working, from getting my first job while I was still in school, to my most recent job, and the antics in there with my colleagues. After we had finished, Rarity and Shining had continued talking, so I turned to my right to look at Twilight.

I was a little worried. Twilight, for one was talking with Cadence. I heard my name involved, so I listened in. Twilight was talking about my scar on my chest, and my explanation as to how I got it. Cadence looked to my general direction with a wince on her face. She looked slightly worried about it, so I feared she would ask me about it herself later. I mean, I trust Cadence, but not to the extent over telling her what happened.

Eventually, our food came, with Nathan and Thomas being served first and working their way up the table to myself, Cadence, Twilight, Rarity and Shining. Twilight and the three of us also getting our drinks, with me ordering a simple glass of water.

What? I had whiskey last night, I am NOT going to end up like poor Jimmy.

While we were eating and discussing things, I decided to ask an unanswered question for the second time. "Cadence?"

"Yes, Jack?"

"When we were talking last night... you never mentioned how you knew about... her, or what her name was. How DID you know about that?"

Cadence giggled. "I couldn't know everything that happened. But to answer your question, I'm the Princess of Love. My special talent is seeing ponies' emotions, especially love, happiness, sadness, you know? I could see the pain behind your eyes and traced it back to find the source - and of course see-"

"OK! OK! I get it," I panicked, just in tie to cut her off, before she blabbered on about the past, which I'm still not willing to tell anyone yet.

"Are you alright, darling?" Rarity asked, showing concern at my sudden outburst.

Looking at her, I sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine, Rarity. I just would like to avoid thinking about that at the moment."

"Are you sure? You can always talk about it if you want to."

"I'm OK. There's no need to worry about me."

With that, Rarity shrugs and goes back to eating her vegetable salad. Me and Shining conversed some more after that, with Shining suddenly remembering something midway between our conversation.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The Grand Galloping Gala is coming up in a few days. Cadence and I are going already, but we did have a few spare invitations for ponies that were going to the Gala, but now can't come. I'd like to invite you to the event, and Cadence will agree with me here."

"Absolutely," Cadence began, with a smile adorning her face. "The Galas that Twilight and her friends went to a few years ago was a big improvement over the last few decades it was hosted. Auntie Celestia said that the Gala was "always boring", but they managed to liven up the event each year after Luna's return."

"Besides, you can meet some of the people in Canterlot," Shining explained. "Some of the nobles there will be interested in your cars and your technology and you could work with them to help provide Equestria with a more flexible means of transport, and you could make money for doing so while you're here."

I thought over this hard for a few seconds. I can't really see any reason why not to go, so I agreed. "Sure, if it's alright with you."

"Of course," Shining said, before turning to the other end of the table. "What of you two?"

"What was that?" Thomas and Nathan said at the same time, obviously not hearing Shining's explanation.

And so Shining explained again, what the Grand Galloping Gala was and that they (Cadence and Shining) would like to invite us to go. Both agreed, with only Nathan seeing a problem.

"How would the Canterlot nobles react to us? I mean, we've only been here for two days, people all over Equestria will start hearing about us, and Twilight mentioned a lot of them were very snooty."

Cadence laughed. "I understand, some of the nobles can be quite prejudiced towards others, but if you dress up smartly and you be polite around them, I don't see why they would hold a grudge. Besides, if any of them are giving you hassle, just tell Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Shining or myself and we'll deal with them."

"Well in that case I'd love to go," Nathan replied, before coming across another problem. "When you say dress up smartly..."

"That's not a problem, darling," Rarity interrupted, already seeing the issue. "I can design suits for you all to wear. You can drop my boutique in Ponyville and I can supply you your suits."

"But wouldn't we need to be measured up first?" Thomas asked, his face screwed into that of confusion.

"That won't be necessary, darling," Rarity replied, using her magic to levitate a notepad that had writing and numbers on the pages. "I sized you all up the moment I saw you."

...

OK. She must be really good to do that.

"OK then," Thomas said, seeing a potential problem to this. "How much would these suits cost?"

"Oh, this will be on the house."

Us three all stared at Rarity as if she'd just grown a second head. "WHAT?"

"Well, I am the Element of Generosity, after all, and considering you don't have any formal attire, a little bit of generosity seems to be what you need."

After this, we went into specifics of the suits, with Thomas saying he would rather have his be more laid back and casual, but still smart, and Nathan wanting a dark blue jacket with a regular tie. I, however, decided to go with the usual black and white dinner suit, with a bow tie.

After this we got back to eating whatever we were eating, and finished quite soon after.

"We've still got another 40 minutes to go before the train arrives," Twilight commented.

"Well, if that's the case," I said happily. "Why don't we watch an episode of Top Gear?"

"Top Gear?" Everyone bar myself, Nathan and Thomas repeated.

"It's a show about cars. I have some of them on DVD to watch, I can go get my laptop now."

"No need," Cadence said.

"Why?"

In a flash of light, my laptop, along with my Top Gear DVD set appeared on the table.

"I can teleport it here," Cadence giggled.

I then asked Cadence about teleportation, which she replied that it gets more difficult the larger the object being teleported, and the larger the distance travelled, so teleporting back and forth from Canterlot would exhaust even her after only 4 trips in quick succession.

With that out of the way, I turned on the laptop, took out the Rush DVD, put in the Top Gear one for the first episode of the tenth season, and got everyone to gather round the sitting area in one of the corners while I set everything up. When that was done I put the laptop onto the table and clicked the mouse over the "Play" button.

"Sit back, relax and enjoy," I said as the iconic Top Gear theme started to play.

"Hello, and welcome to Top Gear!" The voice of Jeremy Clarkson rang out from the speakers on the laptop.

"Just to get one thing absolutely clear... This isn't actually going to go on sale, is it?"

"No. Err... Volkswagen sent it to us, because they said if people like it, we'll put it into production."

"They're not going to be getting any encouragement from me, to be honest. That thing... is ghastly."

"Yeah. Some say..."

"...and that because our producer rigged a phone vote, he now has a new name. All we know is, he's called Cuddles."

"Just for talking sakes, the name of the driver is actually The Stig," Thomas pointed out.

"So, Top Gear top tip. If you want a slow car that looks like a Golf... get a Golf.

"That's interesting. The Stig didn't spin that car once on that lap. Anyway, it's time now for the news..."

"No I'm not. I know who did this."

"Who?"

"Fifth Gear."

After twenty minutes of near non stop laughing, Twilight and her friends finally had to go to the train station to catch the train back to Ponyville. While Twilight was hugging Shining Armor and Cadence, Rarity and the three of us arranged to meet in Ponyville at her boutique on Thursday, as she said she would be done by then.

We waved them off at the entrance to the castle, with them walking away, seemingly very happy with the way the day went, as was I. We had just made friends with another Princess and her friends, the Princess having promised to help try and find a way back for us as soon as possible. I accepted her kind offer, but warned her not to overwork herself to find it.

With them walking off down the road, Cadence spoke up again. "Shall we head back upstairs?"

And so we followed Cadence and Shining back up the stairs. As we did so, I remembered a question that I've been meaning to ask earlier.

I need a bloody map of this place if I don't want to get lost.