Just outside a small restaurant, called Stop n’ Go, on the corner of the street adjacent to Carter’s house was a grey pegasus mare, who was busy cleaning the windows of the establishment. She was using a rag and some spray to wipe all of the stains off of the glass. Carter came walking over to the front door of the restaurant. The mare looked over at him. She noticed how run-down and exhausted he looked.

“Hello, mister.” She said.

“Hello.” Carter replied, finding it troublesome to keep his focus on her because of how exhausted he was.

“You seem like you have seen better days.” She said, giggling to herself. Carter finally focused on who he was talking to. He noticed that the mare had eyes where the pupils were always crossed from each other.

“Yeah, let’s just say that the night shift hit hard.” Carter said, trying desperately to stay alive, as his body felt like it was using up the last bits of nutrients it had.

“That’s ok. We all have those moments.” She said, resuming her work.

“You know that spray there is cooking oil, right?” Carter said, pointing to the spray bottle near the mare’s hooves. She looked down at it, then looked at the window, which had more smears than it originally started with. She just looked down at the ground and blushed. “You are right, we all have those days.” He tried to present a smile to her to let her know that it was just a joke, but he looked more like some psychotic madman with his droopy eyes. Carter walked into the establishment and was immediately greeted by a dark brown stallion with a black beard and mane, dressed in work attire.

“Hello there, good sir!” He said to Carter with a most gleeful approach.

“Good morning.” Carter replied. “You work here?”

“Sure do. I am the owner of this joint. The name’s Flint Masters.”

“Nice to meet you, Flint.” Carter said.

“You look parched.”

“Is it that self evident?”

“Let me get you a seat at the bar. No little fillies or colts are allowed there, so no one usually sits there.”

“Sweet.” Carter said. Flint walked him over to the bar and gave him a seat right in the middle.

“Alrighty, so I assume you want a nice tall pint of water to start you off?” Flint asked.

“Yes. That would do me very well.” Carter said.

“Alright then. Do you want anything besides that?”

‘What would you recommend?” Carter asked.

“Ohoho. I would recommend my local hay burger. Grilled buns along with a special veggie patty. Easily everypony’s favorite one, here.” Flint said.

“Sounds enticing. What have you got for beverages?”

“We got a couple ciders on tap, but besides hard ciders I also have sodas and juices.”

“Hmm…” Carter thought to himself. “I guess I could treat myself. I think I’ll take a cinnamon cider, just a shot, along with the water, of course.”

“Can do, sir.” Flint said before walking towards the kitchen and beginning his food. “Alright, we need a chef’s special, let’s move.” He announced to the other chefs.

Carter was soon given his glass of water and he instantly drank it down. His body felt so much better and his concentration was beginning to come back in full. He laid back into his seat and sighed. He felt so relaxed compared to what he had been doing the day before.

Carter felt a sharp pain come into his head, sending him into a state of distress. He placed his hooves over his ears and groaned. His mind began giving him another vision. This time, a waitress was coming down with an order for a small family of four who were sitting at a booth in the corner of the restaurant. She passed by the front door and was hit by them as somepony came busting into the room. The waitress lost her balance and fell over, along with the food that she had on her tray. It left a mess and angered the ponies who were hit by all of the remnants.

Soon after, Carter snapped back into reality and looked around for the waitress. He spotted her just as she was about to walk in front of the front door. He jumped out of his seat and ran to her. He placed his hoof in front of her to stop her from moving any further.

“Sir, what are you doing?” She asked, curious as to what Carter was planning. The doors flew open and barely missed the waitress as Carter stopped it with his hoof. “Oh… thanks.”

“Sorry. I know that it must have seemed kind of creepy of me, but time was short.” Carter said.

“It’s fine. I was just wondering what was going on. It was so sudden.” She said, laughing as she continued towards the family, giving the food to them once she arrived. Carter wondered who knocked the door open. He looked outside the windows to try and find the culprit, but it was futile as the oil from the grey mare was still all over the glass. He assumed that it was just a blast of wind from God-knows-where and just walked back to his seat and sat down. He looked up to find Flint with his cider.

“Hoowee. I have never seen such a heroic move, bro. You sure you ain’t blessed with future predicting powers or something?” Flint asked.

“No. I just didn’t want your place looking like a failed art gallery.” Carter said, smiling back at him.

“Hahaha! That makes two of us.” Flint said, laughing aloud. “Anywho, here's your cider. Small shot, just like you said.

“I appreciate it, Flint.” Carter said, taking the shot of cider into his mouth. “Ick… strong.” His brain felt a little tingly after he swallowed the cider.

“Yep. But it tastes pretty good, huh?” Flint said.

“Sure does.” Carter agreed.

“Want another?”

“Nah, I’m good. Gotta have boundaries at times.”

“Wise words, good sir.” Flint walked off to finish up Carter’s food.

Carter got a refill of water from the waitress from before and he tipped her a gold coin. She thanked him before walking back into the kitchen. Carter took a sip of his water and left it in his mouth for a bit. Once it got warm, he swallowed the liquid.

“Man, I love water. Tasteless, yet satisfying.” Carter said. He took another sip then placed the glass back on the counter. He was quite intrigued with the theme of the restaurant. It was very antique, with old trinkets and knick-knacks hanging around the walls, giving off a very fun vibe. Though there weren’t a lot of customers compared to how many the establishment could hold, those that were there seemed to really enjoy everything about it.

“Your food should be up very shortly.” Flint said, coming over to Carter.

“Tell me, Flint. How many ponies usually come in each day?” Carter asked.

“Eh, probably about fifty or so, open to close. This is a pretty new place of mine, so word has yet to go around.” Flint said.

“How new?”

“About a week.”

“Oh, so this is really new.”

“Yep, saved up my money to renovate this place and started doing something with my life.”

“I see.” Carter said. “Always a good feeling when you feel like you are actually doing something with yourself.”

“Indeed.” Flint said. The waitress came over to Carter with a tray. He looked over and saw that it was his food that was on the tray.

“Your food, sir.” She said, handing him his meal.

“Thank you so much.” Carter said. She nodded and returned to the kitchen.

“I’ll let you eat while I continue on my end. Pleasure meeting you, Carter.” Flint said.

“You too, man.” Carter said.

As Carter ate his meal, he looked up and continued looking at all of the decorations in the room. He saw a wall full of antique clocks. What was really cool was that, somehow, all of the clocks were in perfect synchronization with each other. They all read eleven o’ clock. Carter smiled and took another bite of his veggie burger.

“Wait, eleven o’ clock!?” Carter shouted. He nearly forgot about his promise with Fluttershy. It all came back to him. Afternoon. He looked down at himself and saw that he was covered in dirt, charcoal and sweat. There was no way that he was going to go to her place looking the way he did. He thought about going home and taking a shower, but didn’t know if he even had a shower. He had no way of knowing if ponies actually had showers.

“Is that gonna be all for you, Carter?” Flint said, handing Carter his bill.

“Yeah, I need to leave! I made a big mistake and might be late to a party.” Carter said.

“Uh oh, that’s never good.” Flint said.

“Here,” Carter started, pulling out a number of gold coins and placing them on the counter. “keep the change.” He jumped out of his seat and ran out of the front doors, heading to his house. He had no clue what to do, but knew that he had to at least attempt something in some way.

“Carter!” He heard a familiar voice shout his name from behind his back. He turned around and found Applejack running towards him.

“Applejack! What’s up?” Carter said. He felt his entire body get pushed back a bit as Applejack got up to him and gave him a big, loving hug. “Woah, what’s the deal, Applejack?”

“Did you do all of that stuff on the farm?” She asked.

“That easy to figure out, huh?” He said, knowing that his cover was blown.

“So it’s true!” She pressed her head against his and nuzzled against his cheek. "Thank you so much! But why in Equestria would you do that for us?"

“I couldn’t help it. You guys were so distraught and despairing that I couldn’t think of anything to do but at least make your lives a bit easier.” Carter said.

“Carter, you don’t know how much that meant to me and my family. I… I can never thank you enough for your kindness and work ethic. It truly means so much.” Applejack said, letting go of Carter.

“That’s what friends are for, right? Gotta stay honest to my word, and I did say that I was gonna help you pick apples.” Carter said. Applejack leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before backing up to give him some space.

“I feel like I owe you that one after all that you have done.” She said. A small blush swept over her face.

“Hey, I know that this is a bad time and all, but here’s the rundown. I promised Fluttershy that I would come over to her house to have a tea party, don’t ask why, not even I know. I am sure that you have noticed by now, but I don’t exactly look cut out to arrive at such a formal event.” Carter said.

“Yeah, that’s a mighty reasonable problem.” Applejack said. “Lucky for ya, I know exactly the one who could help ya with this sort of thing.”

“Really, who?” Carter asked, wondering who it could possibly be. “Wait. You aren’t saying…” Applejack smirked. “Oh no.”

~

“Oh, so much to do, so little time.”

Rarity was running around her shop trying to get a batch of dresses done before noon for a client of hers in Manehattan, a largely populated place full of daily newfound trends. She was in quite a hurry to apply the finishing touches to her final dress and did so in the nick of time.

“There we go! The most perfect dress.” Rarity said, applauding herself. “I do say, Opal, I think that these dresses mark a new best in the world of Rarity’s fashion wardrobe.” Her cat, Opalescence, merely hissed at the dresses and walked away in a brudish form. “Your words mean nothing, Opal. You wouldn’t know fashion if it hit you in the face.”

Rarity boxed up her dresses and slapped a postal stamp onto the top of the box. She then ran outside of her shop and gave her package to a mailpony, telling them to send it off to the address labeled on the top of it. They nodded and headed off to Manehattan.

“Oh, sweet relief. Now I can relax for a moment.” Rarity said, jumping into a sofa and laying across it in a very dramatic fashion. Her time was cut short, however, after she heard the front door open.

“Rarity! We need your help!” Applejack shouted, running into the shop with Carter following closely behind her.

“What! At this time? How could I possibly help you?” Rarity said, annoyed by the timing of their arrival.

“Hey, don’t get mad at me! This was Applejack’s idea.” Carter said, pointing the blame away from himself.

“Hey now, you asked me what I thought you should do.” Applejack said at Carter.

“Ugh, I did ask, didn’t I.” Carter said, lowering his eyebrows in defeat.

“Ahhh!!! My goodness, Carter. What in Equestria happened to you!?” Rarity shouted, appalled by Carter’s appearance.

“Farm work. That’s what happened to me.” Carter muttered. He turned his head away from the others in shame.

“Rarity, you gotta help him. He has to be at Fluttershy’s house in just over an hour, and there is no way he can go there looking like that!” Applejack said.

“Wait, you aren’t just asking for my help… you are asking for my help in fashion?” Rarity said. A big smile came over her face.

“Yes.” Carter said. “I am.”

“Eee! This is amazing! I rarely work on stallions such as yourself, but this is going to be one of those moments that I will never forget.” Rarity shouted with glee.

“I’ll let you two go about it.” Applejack said, walking out of the room. She winked at Carter before exiting through the front door. Carter just stared down the farm pony with mild annoyance on his face.

“Fine by me. But mark my words, if you make me look like a girl, I swear I will write a terrible review about your handiwork.” Carter said.

“Oh, it is on!” Rarity said with a mischievous grin on her face. “Now to start off we are going to need to get your messy coat squared away.”

“How do you propose we do that?” Carter asked.

“A spa treatment!”

Now Carter felt like he had really messed up. First was the tea party, now a spa treatment? Everything felt like it was gonna go downhill from there. He chose to let it happen and willingly walked with Rarity over to the spa. Though he knew that he had never in his life planned to go to a spa before now, he took it as a chance - a small one at the least - to try something new.

They later arrived at a place called the Ponyville Day Spa. It seemed to be very welcoming, at least from the outside. Carter was not ready to walk in but knew that, because of Applejack, he had no choice. He walked in right behind Rarity and let her do all of the talking.

“Good morning, girls.” Rarity said. Behind the desk were two mares. The one on the left was a blue pony with a pink mane named Lotus, and the other was a pony with an opposite color scheme named Aloe.

These names are hilarious.

“Oh, Rarity! So nice of you to drop by.” Aloe said.

“And I see that you have brought a friend.” Lotus added.

“Eh, I wouldn’t really call him a friend, per say.” Rarity said deviously.

“Hey!” Carter said, feeling betrayed by her mean words.

“I am only kidding, Carter. Grow a sense of humor for once.” Rarity said, lightly elbowing Carter in his side.

“So what can I do you two in for?” Aloe asked.

“This stallion here has to be somewhere really soon for a fancy occasion and he needs some help looking his very best before he arrives.” Rarity explained.

“Ah, I see.” Lotus said.

“Well luckily for you two, business has been kind of slow so you can get situated right away.” Aloe said, leading Carter and Rarity into the hallway. Lotus separated Carter from her since her appointment was just for a hooficure, which was perfect for her since she was already here. He was brought into a room with a steamed bath waiting for him at the end of it.

“I’ll let you take your time in the bath. Clean yourself off and then let us know when you are ready for the next part.” Aloe said.

“Thank you.” Carter said.

“Enjoy your time.” She said as she walked out of the room to give Carter his privacy.

Looking at the bubbling mass of water in the hot tub was enough to get him quite excited for his spa treatment. Like other people he knew before coming to Canterlot, he always dreamed of owning his own hot tub. If going to a spa included this then he felt like maybe Rarity did have the right idea.

Carter slowly walked into the hot tub and sat down at the base of it. The water was just low enough to keep his head above the water as he sat down. The heat of the water, albeit feeling very intense near the beginning, was actually very relaxing to Carter. He watched all of the dirt and other particles fall off of his coat and drift away and float in the water.

Carter decided to hurry so that he wouldn't have a chance at being late to Fluttershy’s tea party. He dunked his mane under the water and scrubbed all of the gunk out of it until it felt smooth and silky. He liked that his mane was a lot like his hair when he was a human rather than being like the other ponies’ where it was down to the bottom of their necks.

He got out and dried himself off with one of the fresh towels that hung from the rack beside the hot tub. He got all of the moisture off of his body and rang a bell to let Aloe know that he was done. She soon came in through the door to check on him.

"Oh, you're all done. This is good! Now follow me so that we cane adjust your mane." Aloe said, leading him to the next room.

Once inside, Carter was instructed to sit down in a seat and lay back. He did so and Aloe then pulled out a jar. She used a smooth stick to get some of the green goop from inside the jar and carefully smeared the substance onto Carter's face.

"Don't you worry, I know that this is your first time. This is just to moisturize your face while I do your mane." Aloe said, trying to calm Carter's nerves. She could tell that he was not a fan at first.

"Forgive me for my rude manners. I'm just used to feeling ashamed for smearing something on my face, like applesauce or the like." Carter said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Fair enough. Just leave this stuff on your face and try not to scrunch or move your face, ok?"

"Can do." Carter said.

Aloe finished off by placing two cucumbers over his closed eyes and began working with Carter's mane. She got rid of all the knots in his hair and combed it out. Apparently even after a relaxing time in a hot tub wasn't enough to fully clean his mane. Carter let out a quiet yell as he felt something rub against his back hooves. It felt like a file.

"Don't mind that, dear. Lotus is just taking care of your hooves." Aloe said.
"Oh, ok. Startled me pretty good." Carter admitted.

Moments passed as the two spa ponies finished their work on Carter but soon enough they were done. Aloe held a mirror up to Carter's face so that he could see the results of their work. He was astounded to say the least. He looked amazing, but not like a girl like he thought he would turn out to be.

"Wow, girls. You have made me look like quite a fine gentlepony." Carter said.

"It's not everyday we get a stallion in here." Aloe said.

"But we always know how to please our guests." Lotus finished.

Carter was led back to the front desk and met up with Rarity. He was about to pay for his treatment but Rarity stopped him.

"Never you mind that, dear. I got it covered." Rarity said.

"You sure?" Carter inquired.

"I am quite sure." Rarity stated. She pulled out the money to pay for both her’s and Carter’s treatment and gave it to the spa ponies. "We may be done with this, but we are not done yet."

Carter didn't have the foggiest idea about what she was leading on about this time. She walked out of the spa. Carter thanked the girls before catching up with Rarity.

"What do you mean that we aren't done?" Carter asked.

"You want to look your best, don't you?" Rarity replied.

"Yes, of course." Carter said.

"Then you can't go and see Fluttershy like that. You must have a fancy suit to wear."

"A suit?" Carter snapped. "What do you think this is, my wedding day!?"

"Well excuse me, Carter. It's not like I'm getting anything out of this." Rarity said, offended by his tone.

"Ok, right. I am sorry." Carter said. “I will admit that I am very new to this sort of thing, but I just don’t want to seem like that one guy who goes overly intricate with the smallest things. Sure my goal is to look good, but not like the most gucci pony in Equestria.”

“Gucci?” Rarity inquired.

“I meant fancy.” Carter said.

"Just let me do my best to help you. This isn't my first time doing this sort of thing… actually, it's my job."

"Ha. That's about as good as any reason can get." Carter said.

"Do follow me back to my shop. I have a few suits that you may try on." Rarity said, walking back to her fashion boutique.

They arrived inside of the shop in little time and Rarity needed some basic questions answered to help Carter pick the suit that he’d not only look the best in, but also one that he would also enjoy.

“Now, dear. What is your favorite color?” Rarity asked.

“Mine? Red and purple. Not together, though.” Carter said.

“Oh, good. I was about to say that those two do not go together at all. At least, not easily.” Rarity said, shaking her head.

“I would like to say that something along the lines of a tuxedo does not look good in red or purple. Not in my eyes.” Carter added.

“Right. We will need to think of something that compliments both looks and feelings. But what could possibly pull that off?” Rarity said, thinking out loud.

As Rarity thought of something that she could give him, Carter eyed a suit that looked like something a middle class pony would wear. It was a nice collared suit with buttons that held it together. The color was green, which he knew to be a good compliment to red, which was what the color of his fur was.

“Hey, Rarity. What about that one?” Carter said, pointing towards the suit.

“That? Oh, that’s just something that I’ve been playing around with. That isn’t quite finished yet.” Rarity explained.

“How about I try it on?” Carter offered.

“Did you not just hear me? I said that it wasn’t finished.” Rarity repeated.

“Yes, but I do like the style of it as it is. I would like to try it.” Carter insisted.

“... Very well. You may try it on, but I will decide if it is the one for you, capiche?” Rarity said.

“Got it.” Carter replied.

Carter walked over to the suit and took it off of the pony shaped mannequin. He slipped it on and buttoned the suit so that it stayed on and looked somewhat fancy. He turned over to Rarity to let her see the results. Her jaw dropped. The way he fit the suit was unlike any pony she had ever seen before. His build made the suit look just right on him - not too tight, yet not too loose. It was almost seeming like destiny made these two inseparable.

“What do you think?” Carter asked, hoping that she would say good things about it, as he also thought it looked and fit pretty good on himself.

“What do I think? I think it looks amazing on you!” Rarity exclaimed in disbelief. Carter was super relieved to hear her say those words.

“You really think so? You are the fashionista and all.” Carter said.

“It really does. I never thought that it’s current design would fit any pony, let alone you! But this really does change things, doesn’t it.”

With that, Rarity helped Carter with the finishing touches to give his look a bit of pizzazz and he soon enough looked ready to go to Fluttershy’s house in style. Though he felt a little uneasy about the results of Rarity’s work, Carter had no doubt in his mind that he did indeed look perfect.

“That is how you go to a tea party!” Rarity shouted.

“Nice job, Rarity. I can’t begin to thank you enough for all of your help.” Carter said.

“Please, darling. I am just doing my job.” Rarity said.

“And a good job at that.” Carter added.

“Yes, well I do believe that you have somewhere to be in a few minutes.”

“Already?”

Carter looked up at the clock to see that it was five minutes until two o’ clock. He was getting very anxious while thinking about arriving at Fluttershy’s house. He let out a slow, staggered breath to try and calm his nerves.

“You seem tense, dear.” Rarity said as she looked over at Carter.

“You think?” He replied.

“Don’t think over it too much. It’s just a tea party. I don’t get what you are so worked up over.” Rarity said.

“Look, I don’t know about you, Rarity, but where I come from, guys like me don’t exactly do tea parties on occasion, if ever!” Carter shouted.

“Look me in the eyes.” Rarity demanded. Her tone lowered a bit, as well as her facial expressions. “You will be fine out there. I know what you can really do, and you know that too. Now, you will go down to her cottage and show her just who you really are: a gentlepony!”

Carter knew that she was right. There was absolutely nothing to get worked up about and he knew it deep down. He stood up, tall and proud, and paced towards the exit. He looked back at Rarity before leaving.

“Go get ‘em.” Rarity shouted.

Friendship Log #003

I have learned that it is important to trust in your friends just as much as it is for them to be able to trust in you. Trust is an important attribute in any friendship, as it makes each other feel safe and included in their presence.

Author's Note

Bit of calmer chapter before more of the main story comes into play. This one was kinda tricky to write, as I didn't want this to just seem like some boring fill-in chapter. Don't worry, this is not the only time Flint Masters pops up. Quite the contrary.