The Ultimate Test of Friendship - The Stranger From The Outside

by MegaCartmanX

Chapter IV: Answers We Seek

Never before had Carter felt so out of place in his life.

As he followed behind the princess towards the far off castle - making sure to stick closely behind her so as to not agitate the guards or startle the numerous townsfolk - Carter could sense every pair of eyes that stared at him. Sure, being the only human in sight, which was no doubt a first for every one of them, all while being escorted by the princess, her brother, her niece and numerous guards, no less, was enough of a reason to justify their fascination and mild trepidation toward him, but it still placed such an unnerving feeling upon him. It was as if his mere presence was a crime in its own right. Each passing second just filled him with more of a sense of regret. He wondered to himself if it was even a good idea to get involved in the first place.

While Carter was deep in thought, the princess looked back to the stranger, catching a glimpse of him with his eyes pointed toward the ground while they walked. She could tell that he was quite nervous about the whole situation, no doubt as a result of everything that had recently happened, along with the fact that her brother and the guards were still unsure if they could really trust him. She smiled at him hoping the simple gesture would relieve some of his stress, though he didn’t notice it. The princess, maintaining her light-hearted demeanor, spoke to him in order to get his attention.

“You don’t have to be nervous, sir.” She tried to speak to him in a way that would calm his nerves and get him to converse with her. He lifted his head and looked to her, quietly nodding his head in reply before looking back toward the ground. Her smile dropped. She couldn’t seem to figure out specifically why he was remaining so reclusive. It wasn’t until she caught sight of the looks that the townsfolk gave him when she understood his reasons. She sighed under her breath, feeling sympathy toward the stranger. “Don’t let them get to you, sir. They are simply shaken up just like the rest of us, nothing more.”

Carter looked the princess in her eyes, giving her his full attention. She looked at him with a distressed half-smile, trying everything she could to ease his worries. He began to feel bad for neglecting to talk with her. It wasn’t her fault that all these past events were happening to him and he knew it wasn’t right of him to take it out on her. He opened his mouth to speak, but one of the guards stepped in front of him with his spear pointed straight towards his face. Carter lifted his hands immediately following, turning his head away and rolling his eyes. The princess grunted in response to the guard’s actions.

“You there, stop threatening him this instant -” she stopped in her tracks and stomped her hoof against the ground. “- I think it’s better for us to make a friend rather than an enemy. Wouldn’t you agree?” The princess’ demand startled both Carter and the guard. The guard reluctantly stepped back, lowering his spear. Carter looked to the princess with concern. He could see her shaking once more. He tilted his head and intended on asking her about it, but he stopped himself just before he could speak, thinking it too personal for him to inquire about herself. He quickly changed topics in his head, choosing a more casual, less invasive approach of conversation.

“Your Majesty, do not let yourself be troubled in regards to my thoughts and feelings. I understand that everyone's shaken up by my appearance, and rightfully so. That’s obvious,” he said.

“No, you’re fine. It’s just…” she paused for a moment. Carter studied her expressions; she looked like she was about to say something, but was second guessing herself. “Nevermind that, let’s just continue forward.” Carter, though suspicious about her random pause mid-sentence, chose to dismiss the thought and resume with following the princess.

At one point during their trek to the castle, the princess took a step forward with her right forehoof, only to lose her footing and fall to the ground. A small cry escaped her lungs, though she tried to hide it the best she could. Carter went to aid her almost instinctively, but yet again the guards stopped him, preventing him from laying a single finger on the princess. Two of them kept Carter afar while four other guards ran to aid their leader.

“Are you alright, Your Majesty?” asked one of the guards, holding out a hoof to her.

“Yes, yes, I am quite alright,” said the princess, grabbing onto the guard's hoof and using it to help keep her balance as she got to her hooves. Carter gritted his teeth a bit when he noticed that, behind the cover of her golden footwear, her right forehoof was severely swollen. He felt it unjust that he couldn’t help her, but standing back was the only option he had at that point. And so he waited, watching as the guards aided her until she was back on her hooves. From there she remained quiet for the rest of the journey, though her nervous shaking returned throughout its whole duration.

In time, the small group had arrived at the gate of the castle. Two guards stood posted on each side of said gate. When one noticed their leader approaching them, he announced “the princess is approaching, open the gates!” The gates then opened soon after, allowing the small group entrance into the castle. Each guard saluted as the princess passed by them, quietly greeting their leader. The purple alicorn nodded in return, allowing them to drop their salute.

Just as he assumed. When the guards took notice of Carter, their expressions changed within an instant. They stared at him with bewilderment and concern. Carter didn’t even pretend to acknowledge them in return, keeping his head and eyes straight forward as he followed the princess.

They soon made their way into the throne room. When Carter stepped foot in the middle of an art piece embedded into the floor located in the center of the throne room, the princess stopped. The rest of the group followed suit. She then turned to the guards and escorted them away from the human, wishing to speak with them in private. Meanwhile, the prince and his foal separated from the others, heading out of the throne room. Carter figured that it was most likely to get the foal some help, as he knew her injuries weren’t just gonna heal themselves anytime soon. Before leaving with the guards, the princess looked back at Carter and told him to patiently stand by. He acknowledged with a subtle nod, not giving her much eye contact. This put her in a state of mild curiosity, but she accepted his reply, nonetheless.

With that, Carter was able to spend a brief moment appreciating all the intricate and elegant decorations. They seemed like they were placed with the most precision and attention to detail in mind, making what would normally be a bare, empty excuse for a room to appear rather pleasant and welcoming, feelings which Carter gladly accepted. He couldn’t quite hear what the princess and her guards were discussing about, but he figured it didn’t concern him. As long as they weren’t planning on killing him, he was just fine.

The guards saluted the princess one last time following the end of their discussion before turning around and heading out of the throne room. From there the princess trotted back to Carter and stopped a couple feet in front of him. Then, before speaking to him, she cleared her throat and smiled.

“I sincerely appreciate your patience,” said the princess. Carter pulled his head back subtly. He couldn’t help but feel awkward. The way that she made him feel welcomed and acted non-confrontational was so odd to him. And the mere fact that he was nothing more than a stranger to her made everything nothing less suspicious. Still, he kept his mouth shut and allowed her to continue, making a conscious effort to visibly show her that he was indeed listening. “I am so, so sorry about everything that has happened in the last half hour or so. I understand this might be very overwhelming, but rest assured, you are in good hooves.” Carter stifled a chuckle, finding her use of terminology quite humorous. Although he was sure that it made sense to her and her kind. “Now I don’t want to waste your time as I know that you’ve taken quite a beating. Let's take care of those wounds of yours, yes?”

“... No.” Carter said briefly. “I will be alright…” He paused for a moment. Due to his prideful ego, he initially decided against her offer. However, he immediately regretted his response when pain in his chest due to his injured body flamed up at that very moment, reminding him that he was in fact in a lot of pain. From possibly fractured ribs to big, swollen bruises and bloody cuts, it was evident that he was indeed needing to address his wounds, soon if not immediately. He wanted to change his answer, but refused to go back on it so soon. So, doing his best to change it in a casual, non ego-draining manner, he ended his sentence with: “- but if it’s alright with you, I do believe I may have... a few wounds here and there, or at least it feels like that. I might need some aid after all. But it can wait…”

Hell, Carter. Grow up! You haven’t even been here for more than a couple hours and you’re already trying to kill yourself again!?

“Are you sure?” asked the princess, looking back on his wounds. She could clearly tell that he was in quite a bit of pain, but did not want to seem pushy with her offer. “It’s honestly no trouble at all if you require medical aid. Judging by the way I see it, things shouldn’t take too long, if time is what you’re concerned about.”

“I assure you, I’ll be okay for now.” Carter felt so dumb for answering the way he did. His "tough guy", ego-filled excuse for an answer ate him up inside, filling him with guilt. He knew that she was just trying to be helpful. Who was he to deny her? In another attempt to hide his ever-growing shame, he flipped the topic of their discussion entirely. “Are you doing okay, yourself, Your Majesty? I hope that the stumble you had earlier didn’t cause too much further harm.”

“Oh, that? It’s quite fine. Which by the way, I am very sorry for how my guards acted towards you. They do in fact have the one mission of keeping me out of harm’s way, but I didn’t expect them to be so defensive toward you in the process. On behalf of each of them, I am terribly sorry.” The shaking returned the second she finished her sentence.

“Uh… absolutely fine, Your Majesty.” He had to regain composure, finding himself staring too much at the shaking pony, coming up with numerous possibilities as to why she was always shaking. “I understand completely. It’s good to hear that you are alright. I was worried that the pegasus from earlier did a number on you. I mean, I myself do not have wings, so taking the hit when we landed was kind of all I could do. I’m sorry if it wasn’t really conventional to your perspective.”

“No, actually I wanted to thank you for what you did back there.” The princess placed a hoof over her heart and nodded gratefully to the human. “You were very brave to do such a heroic act. I’ve never seen somepony… erm, someone do something like that for somepony, let alone for those they have never met before.”

“I thank you for that, Your Majesty, truly I do. But you don’t need to thank me. I was just trying to help,” said Carter. He maintained a stoic countenance, though he did feel somewhat happy to hear the princess’ complement.

“And help, you did! Were it not for you I fear that things could’ve gone much worse,” replied the princess. “Alright, I do have a couple more questions to ask you before I escort you to the nearby medical center, but I want my friends to be here with me before I continue. They were supposed to be here in the castle long before all that stuff happened, but you know… plans change, I guess. Can you wait that long?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” said Carter, although he wondered just how long that would take. And the term “friends” somehow stuck in his mind. Being the princess and all, Carter figured that these other ponies that she mentioned would be of some similar status to her and her brother. Perhaps leaders of other nations. Hell, anything could have made sense to him. He didn’t even have the slightest knowledge of this new world and yet it felt as if everything about it was getting thrown at him, one after the other.

His questions were soon answered when the first of what he figured to be the so-called friends came through the door and into the throne room. It was a white, unicorn mare with a dark purple mane and an assortment of gems imprinted along her flank. She came in with such finesse, acting as though every pony near her would faint by her looks alone. Carter couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath as he watched the mare strut toward the princess like she was modeling for only the most grandiose of audiences.

“Ugh, I’m so sorry about all that’s happened, Twilight. I can’t imagine wha-”

The mare stopped mid-sentence when she noticed someone in the room she did not recognize. To no surprise to Carter, the white mare gasped in horror as she looked upon the bloodied, beaten, wounded and overall bizarre appearance that was the human. Carter initially did not intend to acknowledge her, as her reaction toward him along with her uptight, narcissistic first impression put him off rather quickly. However, the memory of his brief visit to Hell quickly reminded him about his mission, the whole reason he was here in the first place. And so, he gave off a half-assed smile and held his hand out, subtly waving hello to her. It was rather evident to him that the mare could quickly read through his low-effort greeting and pick up on his sarcasm, but she still returned the greeting with her own nervous, albeit genuine smile.

“Who in Equestria is this!?” yelled the mare, directing her question to the princess, who stood just a few paces behind the human.

“It’s okay, don’t worry. He’s on our side.” The princess replied rather quickly, which brought about curiosity within Carter’s thoughts. “He actually helped us stop that pegasus from taking Flurry Heart.”

“Ah, so you’re the one everypony’s talking about?” said the white mare. “Forgive me, I’ve just never seen your kind before.”

Jerk…

“Are the others coming?” asked the princess.

“Yes, dearie. They should be here any minute. In fact, I could’ve sworn I saw Applejack out of the corner of my eye as I entered through the gates.” Carter felt his heart skip a beat. Hearing “apple” in the name gave him a funny feeling.

“Sorry Ah’m late, Twi.” Everyone’s head turned to the front doors, spotting a familiar orange mare clad with a stetson hat atop her golden mane and apple symbols along her flank. Carter’s eyes widened. It felt like no matter where he went, this mare would always manage to be in the vicinity. “Ah don’t know what happened, but Apple Bloom told me that all the cider spilled out from one of the barrels. Ah don’t know how it could’ve happened, but Ah’m afraid that Ah'm gonna be one barrel short.” Carter turned his head, as he couldn’t help but make a nervous face knowing that he was the one who spilled the cider in order to enter the city unnoticed. Much good that did him.

Following closely behind the orange mare was a blue, pegasus mare with a strange prismatic color-schemed mane. She had the image of a cloud with a rainbow ejecting from it upon her flank. Carter began to catch on to the recurring traits found with each pony, although their designs were still very different from what he was used to when looking at a pony, which still made it difficult for him to accept things as they were. Carter recognized this particular pony from the brief appearance she made earlier with her report for the princess. Unlike the others, she came into the castle whilst flying just above the ground, though it wasn’t like any of the other mares had a choice.

“This crud couldn’t have happened at a worse time!” Carter studied the blue mare’s behavior and tone of voice, concluding that she had a very sporty, fearless and high-self-esteem nature. “Who is this?” asked the blue mare, looking over towards the human. The princess looked to Carter, who returned with a blank expression.

“Let’s just wait for the others to arrive, then we will exchange greetings,” said the princess. She could tell that the stranger would get annoyed if everyone asked him that question individually.

As they continued to wait, two more ponies entered the castle, all mares. A pink mare with a jittery, happy-go-lucky personality and frizzled mane of similar, albeit lighter color, and an image of many balloons along her flank. And a cream colored pegasus mare, who had a pink mane similar to that of the pink pony, though it was much longer and rested along each side of her face behind her ears. She too had a flank emblem: a couple pink butterflies. While the pink mare was noticeably shorter than the others, though not by much, the cream colored pegasus was taller, though more slender than her other pony counterparts.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Twilight. I hope everything is alright,” said the pegasus. “Oh… and I see that you’ve brought company.” Carter sensed a shy attribute within the pegasus through her quiet, timid voice as she spoke. She would lower her head when she spoke, though as she continued talking, he figured that it was more so due to seeing him for the first time, just as everyone else did. However, unlike everyone else, she didn’t seem appalled or fearful about his presence, but rather cautiously curious. “I don’t believe we have met before, have we?” Carter didn’t respond verbally, but shook his head in reply all the same, keeping a straight face the whole time. She smiled for a split-second, but his lack of such a smile in return put her back in a timid state.

The pink pony was nothing less than crazy, at least according to Carter’s first impression of her. She was not afraid to speak her mind, and the way she swiftly moved around the room greeting every one of her friends at a speed that gave him trouble keeping track of was something he couldn’t decide as either impressive or concerning. It came across as almost supernatural. When she got to Carter, she stopped right in front of him with her face no more than a couple inches away from his own. She stared at him with a intrigued expression on her face, analyzing him like she was looking to acquire data for a science project. Carter simply stepped back, raising his brow and looking back at her with a stoic expression.

“Pinkie, back away from him,” said the white unicorn. “Why is it you must always make guests feel so weird?”

“I dunno… this guy just gives me a funny feeling,” replied the pink pony, all while keeping her eyes locked on Carter’s. “You are a guy, aren’t you?” Carter grunted in reply. The pony continued staring at the human. Carter, feeling a bit overwhelmed by her odd behavior, turned to the princess and asked her if she was the last one expected to arrive in order to divert the awkwardness of the situation.

“Ah, yes. Pinkie’s the last of them,” said the princess. “Alright, thank you all so much for coming. I’m sorry about that little incident, but I can assure you that it’s over. You may also notice that we have a new guest with us, today. This is the one who helped us save Flurry Heart. I’m sure you all are very interested to meet him, so let’s begin with introductions.” Waving her hoof away from herself, the other ponies all evenly dispersed around the room, forming a circle of sorts around Carter, with the princess positioned sitting on her throne. With that, the princess started the conversation. “First off, welcome to Equestria! My name is Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and the leader of this proud nation I get to call home. These other ponies that you see are my closest, most best friends in the world. Together, we make up the Council of Friendship! I’ve only recently become the new ruler, and so they help me from time to time when things get a little overwhelming. But I digress. Girls, why don’t you introduce yourselves to this kind sir.”

Carter was lost in thought between the princess’ greeting. “Princess of Friendship?” he muttered under his breath. Such an interesting title was not something that he expected to hear from the ruler of the nation. Of all things, friendship seemed like the least likely, let alone necessary. And the friends he saw standing around him were also not what he at all expected. They seemed like just regular commoners, nothing he thought a princess would associate herself with in such a way. But perhaps he was just jumping to conclusions. Maybe there was a reason for all of this unusualness. He continued to listen, hoping for some answers to clear his numerous questions.

“My name is Fluttershy.” The cream colored pegasus was first to introduce herself. Carter turned to her as she spoke. She kept her head low, barely giving him eye contact. Carter felt a little pity for her. He did come across as menacing, so it was obvious why she’d be so nervous with her greeting to him. Hoping to lessen her nervousness, Carter gave her a genuine, apologetic smile and silently nodded in return. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for the mare to return the act, giving him a smile of her own in a way that let him know that she forgave him and that they were now on good terms. “It’s very nice to meet you, sir.”

“The pleasure’s mine,” replied Carter, in hopes that his words would further better his first impressions. Fluttershy held a hoof up to her mouth and giggled, charmed by his kind reply.

“I’m Pinkie Pie, pleased to meet you!” The pink mare was the next one up. It was obvious to Carter that she was anticipating her turn, introducing herself immediately after Fluttershy was done talking. And the way she appeared to almost buzz around as she talked gave Carter a good laugh, though it was only for a brief moment. It was as if she downed multiple liters of caffeine just before the occasion.

“Good to meet you, too, ma’am,” said Carter. He looked away for a second, trying his hardest to calm himself before his laughter would come across as degrading or insulting as opposed to playful.

Carter didn’t notice it, but the princess had a smile on her face as a result of seeing the stranger laugh. Even if it was only a mere chuckle, she was able to see something other than stern expression and defensive behavior in him, which gave her hope that he was starting to loosen up around them and earn his trust.

“I’m Rainbow Dash” - said the blue pegasus, pointing to herself in a proud manner - “and this here is Applejack.” The orange mare beside her took off her stetson and placed it over her chest, politely nodding to the human.

“It’s very good to meet ya, sir,” said Applejack. Carter returned with a nod of his own.

“Guess that just leaves me, then.” The white unicorn stepped forward and gave off more of a bow than a nod, tucking one of her forehooves behind the other and slightly lowering herself to the ground in a polite and courteous manner. “My name is Rarity. It is good to make your acquaintance, sir.” Carter tilted his head and smiled, caught off guard by her introduction. He initially took her for something of an impolite narcissist, but the way she introduced herself seemed to contradict those first thoughts he had of her. She came across as very mature and conscious of her every move, making an effort to present herself to him the best she could. Carter felt obligated to respect it, returning with a similar gesture.

These ponies have some weird names…

“Well, well. You surely do have a lot of friends here, Your Majesty.” Carter said with a sigh, relived that the introductions were now done with.

“Yes I do, and I am glad to have each one of them,” replied the princess. “Now then with all of their introductions out of the way, may we get to know a little about you?” Carter was then left to respond accordingly. He found himself in a clash against his thoughts. He still wasn’t willing to tell them the full truth about why he was here nor about the things he did in his past. However, they were proving to be very kind to him, treating him very well in regards to being their guest. So, after running it through in his head, he decided to answer their questions, but only that. Unless they were to ask, he would keep his mouth shut.

“Very well.” Carter stood up tall, cleared his throat and took a deep breath before continuing, calming his nerves. “My name is Carter Johnson. I am from a planet called Earth.”

“Well it’s an absolute pleasure to finally get to meet you, Carter. Again, welcome to Equestria,” said the princess. “Now I must ask you. What brings you here on such a day like today?”

This is where Carter had to plan how he would respond. Again, the whole truth was not something he wanted to be let known to the public, for it would possibly get him in huge trouble… or worse. It wasn’t like him to lie, so he cut out some key details, forming a fake story based on the truth.

“I… I don’t actually know the whole reason why I’m here.” As expected, each one of the ponies stared at him with various expressions of suspicion. His answer was indeed vague and unhelpful, not much of an answer at all, really, and he knew it. He elaborated, hoping to add enough to his answer to satisfy their curiosity. “All I can remember is that one minute I was watching the sunset and the next I woke up in a forest not too far from here. Everything that happened in between it all is all cloudy in my mind, nothing I can make out.”

“Wait, you mean the Everfree Forest?” inquired Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah… I guess,” replied Carter. “Why?”

“I’m just surprised that you made it out alive. There are a ton of evil creatures that lurk around in that forest.”

“Really?” Carter found it hard to believe her, as his experience in the forest proved to be quite the opposite. Of course, there was no denying that he could have just been really lucky. He trusted the relatives knew what they were talking about. “I guess I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So ye’re saying ya have absolutely no memory of anything that happened between leaving yer home world and arriving here, correct?” asked Applejack. Carter could tell that she was not happy with his answer, nor were the others. It made sense to him. After all, if he were in their same situation, he would also find it pretty difficult to believe such a statement. But alas, it was the very statement he stuck to.

“Believe me, ma’am, I wish I could tell you all something else that happened, but nothing’s coming to mind. It came and went all too fast.”

“That’s okay, Carter. I believe you,” said the princess. The other mares looked at her with confusion in their eyes, wondering how Twilight could believe such a vague explanation. “Do you remember anything leading up to that moment?”

“Ummm… no, not really,” replied Carter, leaving out the details of his encounter in the underworld. “I wish I had a better answer, but I just can’t think of anything else in regards to how I got here.”

“That’s okay, don’t beat yourself up over it.” Fluttershy said, butting into the conversation. “Actually, on a different note, what are you? Like, what species?”

“I am a human.”

The ponies all cocked their heads sideways. They could not recall learning about anything called a human before. Everypony except Twilight Sparkle. She, unlike the others, seemed to recognize the name of the species, though where exactly she heard it from was unknown to her. Carter pursed his lip, feeling awkward with all the sudden silence.

“Huh, can’t say I’ve heard of your kind before,” said Rarity.

“You must definitely live far away from Equestria, if we’ve never heard of that.” added Pinkie Pie.

“Yeah, I’d imagine you’re right,” said Carter.

“Dang… I hope you don’t live too far from here. Imagine what your friends are thinking right now.” Pinkie Pie’s words hit Carter like a bullet through the heart. His stern, emotionless expression slowly changed into a hopeless stare. He lowered his head, looking down at the floor. “And your family, too!” The memories of his past returned once more, filling him with everything from guilt to anger to depression. “Man, you must’ve really lost everything, huh?”

“Pinkie!!!” Each of the other ponies yelled in sync with each other, ordering the pink mare to shut her mouth. Twilight could tell that Carter was deeply hurt. She looked at him with a similar expression, feeling sympathy for the human.

“I-I’m sorry. I don’t think she meant to-”

“It’s okay, Your Majesty,” said Carter, closing his eyes and shaking his head, ridding his mind of the vile thoughts. “It’s just that… never mind.” He didn’t want to bring up his past to them. Even thinking about it scared him. “Don’t worry about it, you guys. I’ll be okay.”

“I don’t think you're telling us the truth.” Carter turned to Rainbow Dash, who approached him with a snarl escaping from behind her clenched teeth. Carter pulled his head back slightly, feeling threatened by the pegasus’ actions. “There’s no way that you just randomly end up here in Equestria with no memory of anything prior to arriving. You are acting very, very suspicious.”

“And the sheer fact that ye’re the only one of yer kind to step foot in Equestria is by itself all the reason to believe that ya are not who ya say ya are.” Applejack joined her, stepping forward and advancing toward Carter.

“Hey, wait a minute! I told you I wish I knew more than what I know, but I don't.” Carter raised his hands in defense.

“Girls, stop!” Fluttershy shouted, hoping that her friends would stop whatever it was they were planning before things got ugly.

“Yes, please stop this instant!” added Rarity.

“Don't tell me you're actually believing this guy!” said Rainbow Dash.

“Let's just calm down and act like normal, civilized ponies!” shouted Pinkie Pie. But Applejack and Rainbow Dash did not hold back, continuing their approach toward the human.

“No way, I want answers!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

“I don't have any answers! Why are you interrogating me?” Carter inquired. “I'm not your enemy. Heck, I just saved you from them. I'm not here to hurt any-”

Uh oh!!!

Carter took a step back, tripping over his own feet and falling straight onto his back. The room went silent as the sound of cracking bones filled the nearby area, the source being Carter’s body. His already injured ribs only worsened upon landing against the cold tile floor beneath him. He shouted in pain, grimacing and coughing up blood. He held a hand to his mouth, trying to prevent any of the red body fluids from spilling out onto the floor beneath him.

Applejack and Rainbow both stopped their movement when they saw the human stumble to the floor. They gasped when they heard the crunch of his ribs, feeling an overwhelming sense of regret and embarrassment. Frozen in place, they couldn't begin to believe that they would do something so vile. Even if he was lying to them, what better were they to cause him harm?

Twilight, who by this point had enough of her friends’ strange behavior, jumped off her throne and rushed to help the human. She knelt down beside him, talking to him softly in order to calm him down. His skin had turned pale and his limbs were shaking. It was clear to her that he was in a lot of pain and that he needed to be treated right away. Applejack and Rainbow ran over to aid them, but the princess waved a hoof at them, gesturing for them to back away. She looked back at both ponies glared at them. A fiery anger was seen behind her wide eyes.

“What are you girls doing!? This is not acceptable!” She looked back at Carter and helped him to his feet. He managed to stand, but found it difficult to maintain his balance, falling into the princess’ forelegs. The princess caught him on the way down and motioned for Fluttershy to assist her. The cream colored pegasus rushed over without hesitation and aided in taking the human to the medical center.

While Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy practically dragged Carter away, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie all stood back and watched as the human was practically dragged away by the two ponies. When they turned the corner and went out of sight, the four remaining ponies looked to each other with varying expressions of regret and concern.

"Ah can't believe what I just did..." said Applejack. “But Ah just don’t believe that guy for a second.”

“Especially regarding all that has been happening lately.” Rainbow Dash placed a hoof against her chin in thought. “You don’t think…”

“I don’t know what to think, but you girls cannot ever do that again!” said Pinkie Pie. "We are better than that! We need to lead by example and not lash out simply because we get a little scared!" Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack nodded in agreement, looking toward the ground as their immense feeling of regret returned.

The three mares talked amongst each other, hoping that the human would be okay, but also wondering if they could really trust him. Rarity kept herself apart from the others, unwilling to join in on their conversation. She didn’t want to take part in any accusations knowing that, just like the rest of them, she didn't know him well enough to make any critical decisions. But even with that in mind, there was still a small part of her that agreed with them. She had a strong feeling that he wasn’t telling them the truth and that he was not who he said he was, at least, not entirely. But who he really was was beyond them.

Author's Note:

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. As always, don't be afraid to comment if you so wish.

Peace,

-MCX

Comments

[SUPERETHAN2]

It's one thing to be completely distrustful, but to be outright hostile and even cause him injury without feeling one iota bad about it is too much, especially for Pinkie of all ponies. If it was just Rainbow and Applejack and he didn't get injured that much, fine, but this is too much. At least Applejack isn't a magical bull shit lie detector like many fics like to do, which ruins the fun and progression of him learning to trust them more by forcing him to tell them right out of the gate, completely ruining the flow of such a thing. That's one positive at least. She and some of the others think he's lying but can't prove it. Also love how they conveniently ignored he was injured to the point of coughing up blood after Twilight takes him away.

[MegaCartmanX]

11194077
Damn, you make a couple good points. My original intention was to incorporate Pinkie's... what is it... "Pinkie Sense" to read Carter's lies, giving her an advantage, so to speak. However, now that you mention, it really is wrong for me to portray her as the aggressive type. Yes, I intentionally tried to veer away from the whole lie-detector-Applejack cliché, so hopefully I stood clear of that. Also, yeah, probably should make it seem like AJ and Rainbow Dash actually give a shit in regards to his injuries.

Very good points, indeed. I will be taking them into consideration and editing accordingly. Thank you for the feedback, definitely an eye-opener.