It was finally time. Carter was pacing towards Fluttershy’s house in his new suit. It was time that he confronted his anxiety and just enjoyed his time with her. One by one his fears began to slip away from him, and with each step he grew in confidence. This was merely something new, and while it wasn’t something he was fully looking forward to, he was planning on enjoying every minute of it nonetheless. He was determined to be on his best behavior for the occasion so that Fluttershy would feel happy to have had him over.

He arrived at the front door of the old cottage that Rarity described Fluttershy’s house to look like. He swallowed his spit and knocked on the door. He waited a while, but there was no answer. He proceeded to wait for a bit longer before knocking on the door another time, using a bit more strength on his second attempt.

“Carter? Is that you?” He heard a quiet, soft voice say on the other side of the door.

“Yes, it is me, Fluttershy. I am here for the… tea party.” Carter said, never imagining the day he would say those words in the same sentence.

“Oh, lovely. Give me just a moment. I’ll be with you momentarily.” She said.

Carter stood there for a while, rocking back and forth on his hooves while he waited for her to finish up with whatever she was doing.

“It’s okay, Carter.” He said, trying to boost his confidence before the event began. “She doesn’t expect perfection out of you, just play it cool and absolutely remember to be yourself. Nothing more, nothing less.”

The door opened up and the two were revealed to each other. Fluttershy was seen with a green dress that ran down into a skirt of sorts near her backside. She had shoe-like coverings over her forehooves, and a little hibiscus in her mane. Carter was relieved that he now knew that he wasn’t the only one who took things seriously.

“Wow, Fluttershy. You look absolutely beautiful.” Carter said, trying to pick out only the best and most high class adjectives he could think of to describe her so that he would seem in character for the occasion.

“Hello, Carter. You are looking very handsome, yourself.” Fluttershy said, returning the compliment. “Shall we begin?” She gestured for him to come inside.

“I’d be most honored.” Carter said, walking through the door.

It was nothing that he had imagined the inside of the cottage to look like. There were animals of many species all around the living room, with little structures for each of them respectively. He was astounded by the organization of it all. He looked into the dining room and saw a small wooden table with an elegant tablecloth laid over it that had many colors displayed in a pattern that looked perfectly refined in his eyes. Upon it was a small tray with the items appropriate to the event. He spotted a large kettle with steam coming out of it - presumably with the tea inside of it. He also saw two expensive looking tea cups, a small plate of cookies and a cup with sugar and a spoon.

“Wow, you really know how to have a tea party, don’t you.” Carter said, surprised by how prepared Fluttershy really was for the tea party.

“This isn’t my first tea party, Carter.” Flutteshy replied. “I know quite a bit about how to host a very entertaining tea party.”

“You have raised my outlook on the matter quite a bit. I am looking forward to testing your skills in this area of expertise.” Carter said, trying way too hard to sound super sophisticated that not even he himself understood what he just said.

“Um, right.” Fluttershy said. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable around him, as he seemed to expect so much from her. Carter could tell the moment she said those words. He felt awful, thinking that maybe he came across as some tea connoisseur with the correcting style equivalent to that of Gordon Ramsey.

“Okay, I can’t keep this up. I am so sorry, Fluttershy! This is not how I expected things to go.” Carter said, admitting his faults. “I want to act like I know what I am doing, I really do. The truth is that I have absolutely no clue what to do.”

“Hahaha.” Fluttershy slowly built up in laughter. Carter thought that he had said the wrong thing at the wrong time. She wiped the tears from her eyes and recollected herself.

“What?”

“Carter, you don’t have to know everything or act high class or anything like that.” Fluttershy said.

“What do you mean?” Carter inquired.

“I accepted you here because I wanted to have a peaceful time with you, not some high and mighty stallion from dreamland.” Fluttershy said. “Just be yourself, no one’s gonna judge you on anything. It’s like when we were at Twilight’s castle; you weren’t afraid to act like yourself then, so why not now?”

Those were the exact words that Carter needed to have a new look on things. She was right, why would he need to fake it to be an enjoyable guest? She invited him, no one else.

“Ok, you are right.” Carter admitted. “Before I possibly put a damper on anything else, shall we begin? For real this time.”

“I think that would be lovely.” Fluttershy said, leading him towards the table.

The two ponies sat down in their assigned seats and began. Fluttershy leaned over to grab the tea kettle. She poured the tea into her cup, feeling the hot liquid evaporate into the room, giving off a pleasant smell. Fluttershy’s face gleamed with happiness as she lifted her nose and took in the sweet aroma that the tea gave. She then asked Carter for his cup, and once he held it out to her, she poured him his share of tea. Once both of the cups were filled, Carter and Fluttershy touched them together, making the familiar sound of glass hitting itself, which gave them the que to drink.

Carter was not sure if there was a correct way of drinking the tea, so he waited for Fluttershy to take a sip of her’s so that he could get an idea. She noticed him looking at him and knew what he wanted. She held up her tea cup so that he could see it.

“You just place one hoof on the tea cup while the other one goes under and props the plate underneath the cup. Lift the cup and take a sip, then simply place it back down on the plate between sips.”

“Got it.”

Carter held his tea cup and put it to his lips. He sipped a bit more than he should have, getting a mouthful of hot tea trapped in his mouth. His eyes widened as he tried to swallow the tea instead of spit it out. His mouth burned like a hellish fire before he could get it down his throat, only moving the fiery heat from his mouth down to his stomach. He froze for a second as he let his body deal with the pain that he went through. Fluttershy was laughing to herself as she watched Carter struggle with his first sip of tea. He looked at her with an expression of shame over his face.

“Careful, it’s hot.” Fluttershy said, knowing very well that he knew that by now.

“It’s good, don’t get me wrong. But hot damn!” Carter froze. “I am very sorry about that. I will refrain from using such foul language.”

“It’s quite alright, just be careful.” Fluttershy said as she took another sip of her tea.

First time participating in a tea party and I am already looking like I don't know how to function as an adult. Come on, Carter… get your crap together.

Carter made a second attempt to drink his tea, this time blowing on it before consumption, and then sipping it ever so slowly. That seemed to do the trick. His taste buds got more of the taste than the heat. He found himself really enjoying the tea. He was the type of guy who would normally enjoy a glass of soda every now and then, but this tea (albeit not his favorite beverage by any means) was proving to be something that he liked that wasn’t just another pop.

“Don’t forget that there are cookies and sugar near you if you feel inclined to better your tea.” Fluttershy said, pointing her hoof towards the two tea complementaries.

“Tell me, Fluttershy. What does one usually talk about during a tea party?” Carter asked.

“In what sense? Like conversations or just in general?”

“From what I know, every tea time conversation starts with, ‘wonderful weather we’re having.’ But I can only assume that something like that only lasts like maybe one to three sentences at most.” Carter said.

“I’m not sure if there is a definitive topic to talk about.” Fluttershy admitted. “But I don’t mind what we talk about, as long as it doesn’t get too hectic. An example of a good conversation starter would be something like a past memory or event.”

“Ah, ok.” Carter took his last sip of tea before starting a conversation of his own. “What made you so interested in animals? I see that you are quite an animal lover.”

“That is a great question.” Fluttershy gently placed her tea cup and plate down on the table and cleared her throat. “Back before I got my cutie mark, I fell from Cloudsdale. Falling from way up in the clouds and all was quite a scary experience, and I had no clue how to fly at the time. I was nearly killed that day, but by some miraculous destiny I was instead saved by a group of butterflies.

“They saved me from my impending doom and I immediately fell in love with animals. I had never seen so many before then, as I had never physically seen the wonders of the world below Cloudsdale. It wasn’t long before I found my purpose and got my cutie mark. Ever since that day I have devoted my life to these creatures.”

“Interesting story, Fluttershy. Seems easy to get a cutie mark. I just wonder why I don’t have mine.” Carter said. He was legitimately wondering why he didn’t have one by now. Everypony he talked to described getting theirs as a filly. Even though he knew that he just became a pony not too long ago, his cutie mark should’ve been on him from the start. Although, personally, Carter was not into the name “cutie mark” all that much.

A small, white bunny came over to Fluttershy and began to whisper something into her ear. Carter was surprised when he heard it let out only a few squeaks. He thought for sure that if ponies could talk then everything else in this world should be able to as well. But alas his hypothesis was falsified. She listened to it for a second before she fully understood what it said.

“You can talk to bunnies?” Carter asked.

“Actually, I can talk to all animals.” Fluttershy stated.

“How?”

“I don’t know. I guess it’s just a special gift of mine.” Fluttershy got out of her seat. “Forgive me, Carter. I have something I must do really quickly.”

“No trouble, take your time.” Carter said. Fluttershy smiled as she turned to follow the bunny outside of the cottage.

Carter sat there with a cookie in his hoof. He took a bite of it, chewing it as loud crunches came with each bite. It wasn’t half bad, but he preferred the tea over the cookies. He was gonna pour some more tea into his cup but figured that it was only appropriate to wait for Fluttershy to return before he touched anything. He was wondering what she could possibly be doing that demanded her presence at a time like this.

That’s when Carter had another vision.

His head throbbed as foggy images began to fill his head. Carter began to see Fluttershy in what seemed to be her back yard. She was helping a wounded snake to health, the cause of its wounds were unknown to him. He then saw the bunny begin to panic, tugging on Fluttershy’s dress. She ignored it as she continued to help the snake, but the bunny would not stop. Finally, Fluttershy turned around and shamed the bunny. The punishment was short lived, however, as she looked up to see a pack of wooden-looking hounds, about five of them. They all snarled at Fluttershy, barking and growling almost rhythmically from each other. They circled around her as she desperately tried to calm them down. She knew that they were about to strike. They stopped in their tracks, staring her down. Carter knew what was to come. Each one leaped into the air and towards Fluttershy. The vision ended there.

Carter found himself back at the dining table and immediately hung his suit over his chair and jumped out of his seat to save Fluttershy. He ran out through the back door and saw her just as she was confronted by the wooden hounds. They came to a stop, which Carter knew meant that they would strike momentarily. He ran to her just as they leaped into the air, pushing her out of the way.

Carter had not thought of a plan past this point. He was in the middle of each creature, getting clawed by the wooden hounds. Each one of their attacks stung him and left bloody messes on his fur coat, though barely visible given the fact that he was naturally red. Carter tried to fight them off enough to get away from them, but none of his efforts were seeming even close to successful.

“Carter, get out of there!” Fluttershy screamed, beginning to tear up as she watched him get absolutely ripped apart.

No shit, Fluttershy!

Carter got up on his hooves when he saw a perfect timing between attacks and rolled between one’s legs. He ran until he was at the opposite end of Fluttershy, making sure that their attention was still on him.

“What are these things!?” Carter yelled.

“They are timberwolves!” Fluttershy answered, hiding behind a bush with the bunny in her arms, scared out of her mind.

“Can’t you just talk them out of this!?”

“I would, but once they have settled on a meal then there is no changing their minds.” She trembled in her spot.

I swear, if she faints again…

Carter watched as one of the timberwolves leapt at him, aiming for his head. He dashed to his right, evading its attack. The timberwolf fell to the ground head first, dazed after impact. Another one lifted its paw and slashed Carter right on his face, resulting in deep gashes appearing on the right side of his face. He yelled out in pain before lifting his back legs and releasing a painful kick across the timberwolf’s chin. It whimpered in pain before falling to the grassy floor.

The other two looked over at the fallen timberwolf before glaring down at Carter, growling viciously. One ran over to Carter’s right while the other took immediate action, swiping its paw out at him. He blocked it with his foreleg, but the claws still lacerated his flesh quite a bit. Carter shifted his weight onto his other foreleg and waited for a good time to strike. The other timberwolf dove out at Carter while his back was turned. He looked over his shoulder after hearing a growl coming from behind him. Carter squatted underneath the wolf as it sent itself through the air, resulting in the weight of the creature knocking the other timberwolf off of its feet.

Carter looked over at Fluttershy. One of the timberwolves had made their way to her position and began driving their teeth into her flesh. Her innocent screams of pain rang in his heart as he watched her body slowly rip apart. The blood from her wounds began to stain her mane. Carter ran at the timberwolf and used his weight to push it over onto his back. Once the timberwolf was on its back, Carter jumped onto its stomach and began delivering heavy punches to its face with his front hooves. He shouted in anger as each blow connected with the creature’s wooden face. Carter continued to wound the timberwolf, blood seeping out of the cracks in its wooden features.

"Leave. Her. Alone!!!" Carter’s conscience knew that he was acting out of anger yet again, and needed to stop himself before it was too late. He barely prevented his right hoof from striking the timberwolf’s face, which would have been enough to end its life. Its eyes stared into Carter’s with nothing but fear radiating from its pupils. Carter was breathing heavily, staring angrily at the creature. He recollected his thoughts and moved his hooves down. He hopped off of the timberwolf and turned back towards it.

The wolf was whimpering to itself, feeling absolutely wounded by Carter’s attacks. Blood continued to leak from the cracks between the timberwolf’s wooden features. Carter slowly walked over to the creature and lifted his right hoof. The wolf barked in panic, but ultimately watched Carter as he placed his hoof on its head. He began to softly pet the wolf, hoping it would come across as an apology.

“You guys didn’t deserve this. You were only doing what you were taught to do. You don’t deserve to die because of your instincts.” Carter said, continuing to calm the fearful wolf. He was fully aware that this was not something he'd usually do, but there was a certain part of him that took over. There was a strong sense of kindness in him. The other timberwolves all stared at Carter in confusion.

“Did he just say that to us?”

“Wait, you heard that, too?”

“I thought I was just going crazy.”

“Maybe we are crazy. I’ve seen this before, where an entire pack goes crazy after… ah, what was it.”

Carter stopped their conversation.

“You understood me?”

“I could say the same to you.”

“It would seem.” Carter said.

Fluttershy was wondering who Carter was talking to. She heard nothing but his voice mixed with those of the timberwolves. She carefully turned her head past the bushes and looked over her shoulders to find Carter conversing with the timberwolves. She couldn’t believe it. He was actually pulling it off, let alone talking to animals. She was met by the familiar stench of tree bark as she turned to find a timberwolf right in her face. She let out a soft shriek as she hid her face behind her mane. She stopped herself after finding it wounded, blood leaking from its wounds.

“You poor thing.” Fluttershy said, moving over to the injured timberwolf and proceeding to heal it. Carter looked over and found the cream colored mare with bite marks all over her body. She too was losing a bit of blood.

“Fluttershy, you are in no condition to move.” Carter shouted.

“I must help this poor creature. It’s just a part of my character.” Fluttershy said, insisting that she helped heal the timberwolf.

“Bah, if you are so determined to protect your marefriend over there, then why don’t you get up and help her, yourself.”

“I am not his marefriend!!!” Fluttershy shouted. She had had enough of these creature’s stupidity. The clouds above them began to darken as she slowly walked towards the wolf pack. They all cowered in fear as Fluttershy came over with a stare so menacing that even Carter’s mane was sticking straight up. He placed his hoof over his mane to try and comb it back in place, but it was stuck in its current position.

What on Earth?

“Now you listen here, fellas. I am not merely a chew toy, I am a pony! As such, you will not only treat me with respect, but also my friends.” Fluttershy pointed to Carter with her hoof. “That pony over there is my friend and nothing less, so you will treat him with just as much respect as me. Do I make myself clear!?”

“Wow.” One of the timberwolves leaned over to Carter’s ear. “Your marefriend has a way with words.” The poor wolf was about to wet himself due to the amount of fear he felt in his soul.

“What was that!?” Fluttershy growled.

“Friend! I said friend! Do not hurt me you sick freak!” The timberwolf shouted in a state of panic.

“Now, leave this place!” The injured timberwolf got up and grouped up with the others.

The timberwolves scurried away from the pegasus pony while she walked over to Carter, who was on the ground. His right hoof was placed over his wounds as he tried to stop the blood from coming out of his muscles.

“*gasp* Oh my gosh! Carter!” Fluttershy was horrified by what she saw before her.

“It’s ok. You couldn’t have done anything. Just let me rest here for a bit. I won’t let some simple wounds affect our tea party.” Carter said, insisting that he would finish the night off right. He tried to sit up but felt a sharp pain pass through his entire body, forcing himself to fall back on the ground.

“Carter, you cannot stay like this. There must be something I can do.” Fluttershy insisted. She then had an idea spark in her head. She quickly flew into her cottage and came out with a roll of bandages. “This will at least stop the bleeding.”

Fluttershy took Carter’s front legs and analyzed them. She saw several scratches near the base of each of his legs, which were most likely caused by the flurries of onslaughts coming in contact with them while he blocked the timberwolves attacks. Carter winced for a second as Fluttershy tightly wrapped the bandage around Carter’s wounds. Once she was done with his legs, she looked at his stomach. There weren’t many wounds, but the ones that were visible were deep, blood-clotted gashes. Fluttershy whined in sympathy for Carter and finished wrapping the last of the bandages around his wounds.

“There you go, Carter. That should make you feel much better.” Fluttershy said, helping Carter to a sitting position.

“Thank you so much, Fluttershy. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Carter said.

“Yeah… without me…” Fluttershy sighed, burying her face between her front hooves.

“Fluttershy? What’s going on?” Carter asked, noticing the mare going quiet. The peace that came was followed by the sounds of soft whimpers. Fluttershy began to cry to herself, hiding her face away from his view. Carter did not know what to do. He was in a mix of feelings as he watched her. She was sitting right next to him, yet felt so far away. "Fluttershy, please talk to me…"

“I am utterly embarrassed at myself. If I even did one small thing to try and save you like the way you saved me then none of this would have happened. No wounds would have come to you and no Timberwolves would have attacked us at my home.” Fluttershy cried out. Tears filled her eyes. Her soft whimpering increased to a loud cry.

“Fluttershy… I-”

“No! You are right. Things would have been better off if I wasn’t here. In fact, I am positive that you would have been better off with any of the others in this kind of scenario. I just made things harder for you.”

“Fluttershy, please. I didn’t-”

“I ruined your first ever tea party, no, your whole night, just because I was too afraid and too arrogant to do anything to protect you!” She lost it, falling apart and sobbing under the cover of her pink mane. She felt so bad for causing Carter so much pain and suffering when she knew that it could have all been avoided if she had just found the courage to stop the timberwolves by herself. “I am so sorry, Carter. I am sorry for everything.” Fluttershy wiped her tears as new ones filled her eyes. The bunny came over to her position and comforted the poor mare.

Carter couldn’t help himself. Normally he would roll his eyes and walk away... but some strong sense of kindness found its way into him, making him feel sympathetic for the poor pesasus. He knew that words were not going to get through to her, so he had to try an alternative, nerve-wrecking tactic. He looked over at Fluttershy and pulled back her pink mane so that he could see her soft face. Fluttershy paid no mind to him as she continued to cry her heart out. Carter was not ready for what he was about to do, nor did he think it was the best thing to do, but he had no other options. He had to be serious, but not intimidating.

“Sorry? Sorry!? You are sorry for everything!?” Carter shouted, questioning her true intentions with those words. “So you are saying that you are sorry for letting me participate in my first ever tea party? You are sorry for telling me your past stories? You are sorry for showing me your special gift? But most importantly, you are sorry for giving me the best night of my life!?”

Fluttershy froze. She couldn’t believe what Carter was saying. Best night ever? That couldn’t be. She ruined it for him… didn’t she? Her mind was puzzled and her body went cold. She was too confused to even try and make his words make even a lick of sense. All of her sadness faded away, as if they were never with her in the beginning.

“What do you mean?” She asked softly, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Fluttershy, you have given me something that no pony has given me in a long time.” Carter said.

“What is that?”

“... Happiness.”

“What?”

“Yes, happiness. I know it must sound absolutely ludicrous to think that I have not had true happiness in my life for a while, but it’s true. I have lived my past couple years in fear and exile because I was too afraid to go out in the world and be myself. But you… you have shown me the happiness that I have been too stubborn to find for all of these years. This night has shown me that it sometimes takes somepony to get out of their comfort zone to find the joys in life. Thank you, Fluttershy. Thank you for bringing happiness back into my life.”

Fluttershy nearly broke into a fit of happy tears. She fell on Carter and gave him the biggest hug that he had ever received from anyone, let alone a pony of all things. She buried her face into his chest, spilling out her tears onto his fur. He paid no mind to the ever-increasing moisture caused by the salty liquids coming from her eyes. She had the brightest smile upon her face as she continued hugging Carter. The joy in her soul was felt by everything and everyone around her.

"I don't know why in Equestria you are so hard on yourself and so fearful about the things that you do. You are Fluttershy, no one else. I am glad to have a friend like you, don't ever change."

Carter placed her hoof on Fluttershy’s mane, slowly and softly stroking it back. He gave her all the time she needed to process her emotions as he continued to comfort her in her time of need. It felt good to have given someone a reason to cry with joy, something he hadn’t done in a long time. To Carter, crying was a way of expressing emotions that have been trapped away for ages upon.

“Carter… I don’t know what to say.” Fluttershy whispered through her trembling voice.

“Then don’t say anything. Just let the moment pass.” Carter said passionately. He looked into her eyes, which glistened in the night sky. Though his stoic look masked most of his feelings, she could tell that he had a soft heart deep inside of himself. He smiled at her as he held out his hoof and helped her off of the ground.

“Thank you so much for this amazing evening.” Carter said.

“Thank you for coming and making the night so much fun.” Fluttershy replied, continuing her blushing. The two ponies hugged once more before they went back inside to finish up the tea party.

Carter was in no condition to move around, so Fluttershy laid him down across a soft sofa and gave him his tea cup. Once he got a hold of it, she slowly poured the tea into the cup.

"I regretfully need to inform you that this is the last bit of tea. If you need anything at all, do let me know." Fluttershy said.

"You have done more than enough, Fluttershy. The only thing I want from you is to see yourself appropriately situated. Just like you did for me, I can't just lay here while you're standing over there looking like some zombie." Carter said.

“Yes, it would seem that I should get patched up.” Fluttershy said. She looked down at her blood covered body and immediately ran upstairs.

Working with animals and all, I feel like this isn’t the first that she has been this hurt by the wildlife.
Carter leaned over to take a sip of his tea, smelling the sweet aroma it offered before the liquid touched his lips. He hesitantly set the cup down on the floor after finding a long, slippery snake beneath him. Carter looked at it, as the snake’s eyes also stared back at him. In the middle of their staring contest of sorts, Carter noticed that the snake’s body was covered in bruises, as if beaten up by something recently.

“You lost?” Carter asked, talking with a calm tone in his voice. He wondered if the snake would understand him like the timberwolves did.

“Is-s-s Flutters-s-shy nearby?” The snake asked, sounding like a young boy. His tongue slithered out of its mouth after making the noise of an s.

“Yes she is. Fluttershy is currently applying first-aid on herself as a result of a recent timberwolf attack.” Carter explained, pointing his hoof upstairs. “What is it that you need from her?”

“S-s-she was-s-s in the middle of helping me with my injuries-s-s. I es-s-scaped before the timberwolves-s-s attacked. I am jus-s-st wondering if s-s-she could continue helping me now that things-s-s have s-s-seemed to eas-s-se up.”

“I am sure that she’d be happy to. For now, just stay there while she takes care of herself for the time being.”

“Excus-s-se me, s-s-sir.” The snake said, cocking his head to the side. An innocent look appeared over his face as he continued speaking. “Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“What, because you are a snake? No. I will admit that I am not usually talking to the likes of you, but snakes are personally my favorite type of animal.” Carter said, smiling to the creature in hopes to lighten his worries.

“Really? What kind?” The snake asked, almost anxious to know Carter’s reply.”

“Doesn’t matter. Big or small, I don’t really care. Snakes are snakes in my mind.”

“S-s-so… you aren’t afraid of me?”

“The only thing that I fear is something objectively scary, like a creature with the intention of trying to kill me.” Carter said.

“Yeah… I gues-s-ss that would be a reas-s-son to be s-s-scared.” The snake said, doing a motion similar to that of laughter.

“Do you want some of my tea?” Carter offered, pointing his hoof towards the glass cup. “I am not in the mood to drink this last bit.”

“S-s-sure.” The snake said, cautiously slithering over to the tea. He lifted his head up and used his tongue to sip the tea. “Not bad.”

“Yeah. Fluttershy made it, so you know that it is good.” Carter said. “What is your name? Assuming you have one and such.”

“Conda.” The snake said, as he continued to drink the tea from the cup. He was proving to be enjoying the beverage quite a lot.

“Ah, because you are an anaconda. Clever. Your parents must be worried sick.”

“Yeah…”

“Oh, Conda. I didn’t expect you to still be here.” Fluttershy made her way down the stairs on hoof (since her wings were wrapped up in bandages) and trotted over to be with the snake. She had a first-aid kit between her teeth.

“Flutters-s-shy! You’re back.” Conda shouted in excitement.

“I will help you with your wounds right now.” Fluttershy dropped the first-aid kit onto the floor and opened it. She took out an ice pack and told Conda to roll onto the floor and stretch himself out. He did as he was told and felt the cold mass push against his bruises. The poor snake contorted a bit once the freezing material made contact with his flesh.

“What happened to him?” Carter asked, hoping that Fluttershy knew more about the cause of Conda’s wounds.

“This poor thing came to my backyard after a massive attack was unleashed in the snake pit; that’s where they live. He barely made it to me, but only after his parents died.” Fluttershy spoke with sympathy for the anaconda.

“No.” Carter said, his heart dropping in emotions. “Conda, I am so sorry.”

“You know his name?” Fluttershy asked.

“He told me his name during our chat while you were upstairs.” Carter explained.

“You can talk to animals, too?”

“I guess so.” Carter and Fluttershy looked down at the snake. Massive amounts of tears filled its eyes, thinking about everything he had lost in the attack, trying to process all of it.

“I am so sorry, Conda.” Fluttershy said, petting his head with her hoof.

“It’s ok. At least I am still alive.” Conda said. The others could easily tell that he did not want to accept it.

“Just take this time to think of only the positives. It’s the least you could do to benefit yourself, right now.” Carter said.

“Right.” Conda said, nodding his head.

“The sun has set. We should probably get some rest.” Fluttershy said, looking outside at the moon, along with the stars that filled the night sky.

“Don’t worry, I will be heading back home, Fluttershy.” Carter began to get himself off of the sofa and proceed to the front door, but his body fell within his first step. Carter groaned in pain as the wooden floor met with his bandaged body.

“Carter, do not be so naive. I am more than willing to let you rest here until you are healed.” Fluttershy said, her voice sounding a bit more direct.

“You sure?” Carter inquired.

“Carter… you saved my life, today. Let me do the same for you.”

“Very well.” Carter was not one to admit defeat, but knew that there were no other options at the moment. With Fluttershy supporting his weight, she helped him walk back to the sofa and set him down, laying him across the soft pillows. The cream colored pegasus reached into a nearby basket and pulled out a soft, purple blanket. She unfolded it and draped it over Carter’s body.

“Here you go, Carter. Take this time to rest up; you have earned it.” Fluttershy said. “Conda, you may sleep in here, as well, or you can go back outside. Your wounds should be fully healed by daybreak.”

“Thank you.” Conda said, curling himself into a ball.

“I will let you two get some shut eye.” Fluttershy gave off a sweet smile before turning to go upstairs. Carter reached out and tapped her right back leg. “Yes?”

“Fluttershy, thank you. I really don’t know how I could ever repay you.” Carter said, a humble tone coming over him. Fluttershy smiled and turned back to him.

“Then don’t say anything. Just let the moment pass.”

You sly pony. Using my own tactics against me.

Carter gave the mare a playfully seductive wink before he turned over and began to close his eyes. Fluttershy sighed and retreated towards her bedroom. As the stallion was left by himself, he felt something move itself across his body. The feeling scared him to death, but after analyzing the source, he calmed his nerves.

“I am sorry, but I cannot sleep. Do you mind if I stay up here with you, at least for now?” Conda asked. His eyes became beady and dilated.

“Yeah, I don’t mind.” Carter replied. The anaconda moved to the other side of the sofa and wrapped himself into a tight coil to give the two of them enough space to rest without touching each other. Carter tossed some of his blanket over the snake as he fell into a deep slumber.

“Good night, Carter.”

“You too, Conda.”

The light of the moon gleamed over the two creatures as they both slept through the night. Nothing but an occasional snore was heard from either of them as the night continued to beam across the sky. Fluttershy leaned over the stairs to check on them. She found the two enjoying themselves during their slumber; Conda’s body was pressed tight against Carter’s chest. She had a big smile on her face as she returned to her room.

Friendship Log #004

Today has been a very eventful day. I have learned possibly one of the biggest and most heartfelt lessons about friendship. There are and always will be faults within each and every living creature’s personality, simple as that. There are times where we over analyze our faults or use them as an excuse to be worse than what we can potentially become. During the times in our lives where a friend is having issues coping with their troubles, it is our job and our pleasure to help them in their time of need. We act as a foundation, those who raise them up when they cannot do it alone. We do not do this expecting them to do the same for us, but rather because part of being a true friend includes being a major support for others so that they can be the best that they can. I never had the courage to do this in my youth, but I now truly understand the joys that are brought upon each and every one of us when we help somepony overcome fears and help them grow as a being. This is the power of kindness.

Author's Note

Tea parties... Wouldn't just be nice if you could do things by the book? Nope, instead some timberwolves gotta go and mess up everything.

This was honestly one of the more fun chapters to write. I really wanted to put Carter in a wacky situation that puts his stern, serious personality with something more slow and calm. I think that this did the job. More or less.

Conda... Not gonna lie, I am pretty bad at names. But you know what, I like it.

Don't forget to comment and/or ask me any questions.

Peace

-MCX