Moments passed and conversations were discussed between the group of ponies before they finally made their way to the castle doors. Twilight gave the guards a simple nod and they opened the gates, announcing the return of their princess. Twilight led the others across the pale-stoned bridge and into the regal castle, soon finding themselves in the throne room. There were two other ponies waiting in front of Twilight’s throne, both mares. One was a cream colored pegasus with a pink mane, and did not exactly look like the most outgoing. The other was a white colored unicorn with purple mane, looking to be Equestria’s next top model.

“There you are, darling. Honestly, could you not be so late next time? I get you are the princess now, but I know the real Twilight Sparkle would never truly enjoy being late to things that she says to do.” said the white mare in a very charismatic yet deeva-like tone.

“Yes, well hello, Rarity. We had some… unexpected events happen to Flurry Heart, but we are here in one piece. That’s what really counts.” Twilight said, giving off a cheeky smile to try and livin the mood. “It’s good to see you too, Fluttershy.” The yellow pegasus knelt down very timidly.

“Why… Flurry Heart? Whatever could have happened?” Rarity asked.

“She, uh, almost left us and never came back. I think that is the easiest way to say it.” Shining Armor said, still shaken up from the past events.

“Oh, goodness. I am so sorry to hear that.” said Fluttershy with a soft, breathy tone in her voice. “I am glad that you are all ok.”

“Who or what could’ve done that?” Rarity inquired.

“Well, somepony didn’t do their job correctly.” Applejack said, rolling her eyes over to Rainbow Dash.

“But it wasn’t my fault. Also, shut up! I don’t need this amount of guilt today, or any day, quite frankly.” Rainbow Dash said, hiding her face behind her forehooves.

“Right, well now that that is cleared up, we should…” Twilight stopped in her words. “Wait, we are missing one pony.”

“What? I could have sworn that she was with us on the way here.” Fluttershy stated.

“Oh, she probably saw a cotton candy vendor and left us.” Rarity said, shaking her head. “You know how she could be.

Carter let out a very subtle laugh, wondering who this other pony was that would have her friends think so little of her. However, he stopped dead in his tracks after his mind began to present himself with more visions. There was a pink pony with a crazy light pink mane that came crashing through the doors to the throne room with a giant bag of cotton candy between her forelegs. She came in with joy swept over her face, but it was immediately retracted after she tripped and spilled every last bit of the fluffy substance, resulting in a giant mess in the castle and all the others looking at her with a bit of anger in their eyes. Carter snapped back into reality, finding his right forehoof against his forehead. Applejack turned to him and placed her forehoof on his side.

“You doing okay there, partner?” Applejack asked, softly. She tried to get Carter to calm down, noticing that his breathing pattern had become faster and more sporadic. Carter turned around and looked at the giant, bronze door, which remained closed. He saw two guards guarding the door.

Carter reached into his satchel and pulled out Applejack’s tonic. He opened the vial and downed about half of its contents, swishing the liquid around in his mouth before swallowing it. Though he didn't visually express it, the tonic tasted extremely sour. He was hoping that this tonic really would help him at least cope with his headaches… but something didn’t sit right in his mind.

Carter remembered the vision he had that warned him about Flurry Heart’s impending death. If that one proved to be true, then how could he just ignore this one? He hadn’t had any foretelling powers, not any he knew about at least, but he figured that, perhaps, being in Equestria gave him this ability… somehow.

“I feel a disturbance.” Carter said. “A sticky one, at best. You there, open the door, or this room is going to get a lot more pink.” The guard refused to do so, not giving Carter any signs of acknowledgement, and the other ponies gave Carter an awkward look, wondering what on Earth (or Equestria in this sense) he was doing.

“Applejack, you have to trust me. Get your friends to back up.” Carter said, gesturing with his hooves.

“Why? What do ya see that we so clearly don’t?” Applejack asked.

“Cotton candy.” Carter stated, never changing the seriousness in his face. Applejack’s eyes widened and she looked at her friends.

“Do as he says, y’all.” Applejack ordered.

“Are we under attack?” Cadence asked.

“Yes… and no.” Carter said, raising his eyebrow toward the pink princess.

A pink pony with a crazy mane came crashing through the door to the throne room with a giant bag of cotton candy between her forelegs. She came in with joy swept over her face, but it was immediately retracted after she tripped and dropped her cotton candy. Carter saw it coming and jumped to catch the cotton candy bag. He grabbed it and pulled it close to his chest before landing hard on the ground.

“Oh no! Twilight I am so sorry. I… I-” The pink pony looked at Carter with a confused look. “Who is this pony?”

“Pinkie Pie, so happy to see you!” Twilight said, giving the pink mare a hug. Applejack and Fluttershy ran over to Carter to help him back on his hooves while Rarity used her magic to lift the bag of cotton candy off of his body.

“Thanks, you guys, or uh… girls, rather.” Carter said.

“Of course, sir.” Fluttershy said. A small but noticeable smile ran across her face.

"Uh, not to seem odd or anything, but how did you see that coming?" Rainbow Dash asked. Carter knew that he had to think of something, as he thought there was no way they'd believe the truth.

"I… smelled it from here." Carter said, his words almost sounding more like a question than a statement.

"Smelled it? Ok… but how did you know that Pinkie Pie was going to trip and spill it?" Rarity questioned.

"Just a guess. I could sense the enormous size of the bag, so I figured something was gonna go down. Can't say I'm wrong for thinking so. After all, I do believe that this room would be a lot more… pink we're it not for a bit of caution." Carter said. He knew damn well that this fib of his was fooling nopony, but still chose to continue through with it.

"I suppose you’re right." Fluttershy said, looking around the room and imagining a cotton candy covered castle. Her eyes dilated after getting a clear image in her head.

"Not like it wouldn't be cool or anything!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "Now that I think about it, that was a missed opportunity. I mean, just imagine how much fun we'd have cleaning up this mess! Nom nom nom, delicious!" Carter simply stared at the overly-excited pony go about her ways as he shook his head in embarrassment.

"You know what, by the time we get about half way done eating all of that, I do believe we'd be cleaning up more than cotton candy." Carter said. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle got a good laugh out of Carter's joke, whereas Fluttershy and Rarity felt a bit nauseous at the thought.

"Wow… talk about a party pooper." Pinkie Pie said, rolling her eyes half jokingly.

"I think he has a point." Twilight said. "Oh, which by the way, I know that not all of you have met him, but this is Carter."

"I noticed that you are an alicorn." Fluttershy stated. "That's a very cool thing to see. I don't believe we have seen a male alicorn in quite some time, if ever."

"I appreciate the compliment. At least, I took it as such." Carter said.

"Do what you want with her words, but do not feel like you must now woah the crowd." Rainbow Dash said. "Leave that stuff to me."

"Well, Carter, I must say that it is an honor to meet you." Rarity said, nodding her head slowly, resembling something like a bow of respect.

"Nice to meet you, too." Carter said, doing the same in return.

“So why are you here, Carter?” Pinkie Pie started. "Did you just come to snack on my cotton candy, is that it? *Gasp* That's how you knew that I would trip and spill my cotton candy. You just wanted it for yourself, which would explain why you caught it with your own hooves instead of something as simple as magic! Well I've exposed you now, Mr. alicorn. Or should I say, faker!" Her face flared up and her cheery voice dropped to somewhat of an angry tone.

Carter was left speechless. Of all his years on Earth he had never met a person quite as “thrilling.” Yet with being in Equestria for about a couple hours or so he felt as though he just hit the crack-head jackpot. He eyed Twilight for her assistance, and she was already on the move to help him out of this predicament.

"I am so glad you guys met, but Carter is actually here because he has lost his way home. I offered him help to locate his homeland and return safely.” Twilight said. Carter looked at her and mouthed the words, “thank you.”

"Wherever do you live, Carter? There is no such place that we know of where ponies live besides Equestria." Rarity asked.

"He says it's called America." Applejack informed. "Right?" Carter nodded.

"America? That has never been mentioned in any of the books that I've read." Twilight said. "Nor on the map."

"And she reads like every book out there." Spike said, scratching the back of his head and hiding his words behind sporadic coughs. Twilight heard his words easily through Spike's arguably poor cover and eyed him down with a stern look of betrayal.

"I don't believe we have ever heard of it before, either." Shining Armor added.

"Do you by any means have a slight clue or direction where this place is?" Cadence asked.

"No." Carter said. “Believe me, there is no way that I’d be wanting to make this up. In fact, I am quite a terrible liar.”

“Yeah, you are.” Pinkie Pie said. “I see it all over your face, you wanted to steal my cotton candy!!!” She jumped into the air; her mane somehow jetted out in different directions, like how a cartoon character would express its mood if they were beyond angry.

“Oh for crying out loud, Pinkie Pie! Enough with the cotton candy talk!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “The main focus here is to help Carter get back home, no ifs, buts or whys. Capiche?” Pinkie Pie glared over at Carter.

“You win this round, mister. But I’ve got my pinkie pie eye on you. So… watch out!” Pinkie Pie said, trying to threaten him. Carter, however, was just loving the wacky and crazy expressions and banter that she was throwing out.

“Don’t let it get to you, dear. She is always like this.” Rarity whispered in his ear while Pinkie Pie wasn’t looking. Carter followed up with a nod to show that he heard her.

“So… what could we do to help?” Fluttershy asked. Carter sat down and pondered at that question. What on Earth… or rather, what in Equestria could they do to help him get back to the world of humans and non-talking ponies. He crossed his forelegs and stared at the ground. He knew that he was put there for a reason, but how to get out and return home was beyond his comprehension.

“Fluttershy might be onto something.” Carter said.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“What could you do to get me back? Nothing, that’s what.” Carter got up on his hooves. “None of us have any clue on how to find my home. No one here has any idea what I am talking about. Perhaps I just bumped my head a little harder than I thought. The point is, I do not believe I will ever return home.”

“I fear he has a point, Twilight.” Applejack said. “I reckon we truly can’t do anything with the knowledge that we currently have about his homeworld. I’m afraid he might be stuck in Equestria… forever.”

“That’s horrible!” Rarity shouted.

“But it’s probably for the best. I would hate to know that I’d just left my home, but I would make sure to not dwell on my past and start working with what I’ve got.” Spike said. “That’s not to say that I wish to move away from Equestria and never return.”

“Well, since you put it that way,” Twilight said, looking maliciously at Spike. The poor dragon felt uneasy about this, even though he knew it was merely a joke.

“Don’t even tease about that, Twilight. You know how I feel about that subject.” Spike pouted, crossing his arms and giving her a stern look.

“Oh, cheer up.” Twilight said.

“I must say that even though this seems very hard to accept, this is not at all my first time moving. It should be no trouble for me to figure out how to live in this place.” Carter said.

“You’re really just gonna accept it like that?” Applejack questioned.

“I’m… afraid I have no choice. At least, not from what I have just learned. I’m quite positive that you’d be making the same choice that I am if you were in my hooves.”

“You’re right.” Applejack stared at the floor. Carter knew that she was upset. The distressed look on her face showed just how much she wanted to help him, but ultimately knew that there was nothing that she could do.

“Look on the bright side, Carter. At least it will be like a brand new start. Sure you miss out on all of the good things you had, but any bad ones you may have had will be gone to counter them.” Rarity said, trying very hard to ease his pain, which was quite evident through his face.

“That is true.” Carter said, raising his brow. “It’s whatever by this point. I will just have to accept this new life and make sure I do the best that I can with it. I should be glad that I am not dead, instead.”

“Yeah, that’s always good.” Shining Armor said, looking over at Flurry Heart with a paranoid look in his eyes.

“Now then… I guess that I should start getting to know you guys if I am going to be living here from now on.” Carter said, trying to subdue the distress building in his heart.

“That is a great idea.” Twilight said. She raised her hoof and ordered everypony to sit down while they chatted. “I should start, as I don’t believe that my introduction was at all formal. Ahem. My name is Twilight Sparkle, the ruler of Equestria and Princess of Friendship. As a member of the Mane 6, I represent the essence of magic.”

Well I’ll be… she sure has her work cut out for her.

“Do tell me, your highness. What is the Mane 6?” Carter inquired.

“Excellent question. The Mane 6 consists of myself, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy.” Twilight informed, pointing to each one as she named them off.

“I’m Applejack, as you already know. I work on Sweet Apple Acres and sell apples. I represent the essence of honesty.”

“I’m Rarity. Representing the essence of generosity, I work in the Carousel Boutique, selling elegant fashion clothing across Equestria."

“I’m Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolt extraordinaire and top notch flyer overall. I represent loyalty.”

“I’m Pinkie Pie! I share my laughter with everypony! It’s something between my hobby and my job, but I don’t mind, either way.”

“I guess that leaves me, huh.” The cream colored mare said behind her long, delicate mane. “I’m Fluttershy. I-i-i represent the essence of kindness. I enjoy t-t-taking care of animals.”

Okay… so laughter, generosity, loyalty, honesty, kindness, and magic. Quite an interesting world they live in. To think I live with leaders that represent power, wealth, and supremacy.

“Then you have us.” Shining armor began. “Me and my wife are the leaders of the Crystal Empire. We protect it with the aid of the Crystal Heart: an ancient artifact that expels any and all evils from entering our land.”

“Ok. I see.” Carter said, taking mental notes as each pony talked. “I assume you work with Twilight?” He pointed to the purple dragon.

“Yes, I do. I’m kinda like Twilight’s vice leader.” Spike said.

“I see.” Carter nodded, giving off a slight grin to the dragon. “You must feel so gracious being under the care and protection of the leader, herself.”

“Indeed. Without her, I don’t know where I’d be in life.”

Pinkie Pie was about to say something, holding her hoof up and taking a deep breath into her lungs. She was quickly silenced, however, as Applejack swiftly placed her left front hoof over her mouth.

“Do not say anything.” Applejack whispered.

“I must confess, knowing this much already gives me hope.” Carter admitted. “I only need to figure out the rest before I completely feel accepted in Equestria.”

“So what will you do?” Fluttershy asked.

“I figure that I should first look around the land and find a place to call home that best fits my tastes.” Carter said. “Any ideas?”

“Well, Ponyville is a pretty good place. Small town with great ponies of all kinds to complement it.” Applejack said. “All of us besides Twilight live there. I think ya’d enjoy it, too.”

“Hmm.” Carter stared at the ground while thinking about where he might permanently settle down. His mind was on Ponyville, but remembering his previous thoughts about that place were making him second guess himself. “I think Ponyville might be the play.”

“Really!” Rarity shouted in excitement. “Just like that?”

“I think that is the place that best suits me, based on the description you gave me. Besides, if there are five of you already there, then I am sure you can take advantage of my skills. As life has told me beforehand, I am always looking for work, and I know very well that I will need to find somewhere to work if I want a good income to stay alive.”

“Well I thank you for your offer, but do not ever feel like ya owe us anything.” Applejack said. “We are only doing this to help you, nothing more.

“You are quite alright, Carter.” Rarity said.

“Welp, if this is how it is going to be, then I guess I should thank you guys for helping me with my future plans.” Carter said with a smile on his face.

“It was great making a new friend.” Fluttershy said.

“Friend?” Carter asked. The word sounded foriegn to him, as if it was manually taken away from his mind.

“Yes, ya've proven to be a good friend to us.” Applejack said.

“You ok, dear?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah… it’s just that I haven’t heard that word in a while.” Carter admitted.

“You haven’t had friends before?” Twilight asked.

“No… well, not recently.”

“That’s awful.” Fluttershy said.

“I have had notable trust issues when it comes to that kind of a relationship. If you really think I am a friend to you guys, then I am not opposed to that. I just want to make sure that you feel sure about calling me that. It’s not something I take too kindly to.” Carter said.

“Why not?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It’s a long story, and one that I do not wish to spill out quite yet. Let’s just say that, to me, a friend is someone you trust full heartedly. A friend is someone you can fully count on for being by your side, as long as you do the same for them. I haven’t had someone like that in my life for a while. I am not afraid to converse with others, but friendship is something that I don't mess with. Not recently, at least.”

“That is the same way we see a friend, Carter.” Applejack said. “Ya've proven to us that you are accountable and dependable, and so we full heartedly consider ya a friend.”

“Not to mention the fact that you are an amazing foalsitter when it comes to saving little ponies like Flurry Heart.” Cadence said.

“Don’t make us take it back, though.” Rarity said jokingly. Everypony laughed together.

“Then I guess it’s time I go scout around for a new home in Ponyville.” Carter said.

“I guess so.” Twilight said. “Applejack, Fluttershy, can you go with Carter and help him find a suitable home?”

“Can do, Twi.” Applejack said.

“Shouldn’t be too hard.” Fluttershy added.

Carter got up and smiled, shaking everypony’s hoof before leaving the castle with Applejack and Fluttershy towards Ponyville while the rest of the gang stayed with Twilight.

“I’ll be sure to meet up with the rest of you ponies in the future. Thank you so much for your help.” Carter shouted, looking back at the others.

“Take care, Carter.” Twilight said.

With that, a new adventure began for Carter. Though still unable to understand why he was put in such a strange scenario in order to prove himself worthy, he stood strong and kept his head held high as he stared his future in the face, no signs of fear appearing to anyone near him. He didn’t know what he had to do to get back to Earth, but he knew what he must do in order to survive.

Author's Note

This was a chapter that I couldn't wait to write, as the plot now begins to unfold!

As always, comment and ask me any questions if you have some.