Caramel sat in the Ponyville public library. The sun shone through the windows. It was a beautiful day outside and caramel would have much rather been doing something else, but he wasn’t. Caramel had been going to the library every Saturday for several months now, and it had just become a habit.
Caramel had originally been going to the library to get closer to a mare that he liked. She had a soft yellowish tan coat and a soft pink mane, blue eyes and a quiet personality. She had a pretty name too.
“Fluttershy…”
Caramel quickly returned to the book that lay in front of him, embarrassed that he had said the name out loud. He couldn’t believe he was still thinking about her. He didn’t have a chance with her, a fact he had learned a few weeks ago. Caramel had started coming to the library because Fluttershy spent so much time here; reading on animal husbandry or veterinary practice. Her true motives were actually quite similar to Caramel’s.
As it turned out, Fluttershy had been coming to the library to get close to somepony as well. Sadly for Caramel, it was not he but rather the mare of her dreams, Twilight sparkle, who was also the librarian. Caramel had accidentally interrupted them making out behind the desk when he went to check out the next Daring Do novel. He may not be that smart, but he could reasonably conclude that he was not Fluttershy’s type.
Caramel did not stop going to the library though, he just stopped thinking of Fluttershy. Mostly it was time he could spend alone with his thoughts, but in a public area. Caramel didn’t have many friends to go do things with on the weekends, and it felt better to be alone with other ponies than it did to be alone and well, alone…
Caramel sighed. Often his cherished time to think turned into him holding a mirror up to his life and wishing that somepony besides himself was staring back. He had almost no friends, his last relationship had ended badly, and he had been too nervous to approach his crush. Not that that last part made much of a difference, but it added more to the pathetic personality profile he had built about himself.
Caramel needed something to distract himself or he was going to end up feeling depressed all day. He got up to find a new book to read, not that 1000 Ponies that Changed Equestria wasn’t interesting, but it was most likely not going to make him feel better. Besides, he was pretty sure he had overheard from some of the younger patrons that the library had the new Daring Do novel.
As caramel approached the bookshelf he was looking for, a strange feeling came over him. It was an instinctual feeling of dread, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what it was about. He looked around for anything out of place. Then a there was a rush of air followed by a pony. This pony was a cyan pegasus who rudely slammed into him at a high speed, knocking Caramel into an adjacent bookshelf. She scanned the brows of books, her rainbow mane swaying as her head moved.
Caramel was about to say something, but there was a loud groaning noise from behind him, followed by a loud crack. He turned around in time to see the shelf he had hit, crack and then fall off the wall that supported it. Books buried the tan earth pony.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Caramel was waking up. He could hear voices coming from somewhere, but his vision was blurry and he was unable to identify the voices owners.
“The least you could do is apologize.” Said the first voice, “but you should try to do something nice for him.”
“Come on! We’ve saved Equestria how many times?” the second voice came back “He should be doing nice things for ME!”
“Rainbow Dash, you slammed him into a bookshelf, causing it to collapse”, the voice paused for emphasis, “Resulting in multiple injuries to this poor pony. Can’t you do one nice thing for him? Maybe you could buy him lunch or something.”
Caramel rubbed his eyes and tried to get a better view of his surroundings. He was in a hospital room, but he didn’t realize it right away. Twilight Sparkle and the rainbow maned pony from the library were both standing next to his bed.
“Oh good, you’re awake!” exclaimed Twilight, “I was concerned that that you might have been seriously hurt when the magical compendium volumes one through thirty-six fell on you.”
“Uh… ya, sorry for slamming you into a bookshelf.” The rainbow maned pony said. Twilight nudged her in the side. “Uh, maybe I can buy you lunch or something.” Although Caramel knew the words were forced, he appreciated the gesture.
“That sounds nice.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The two ponies were seated at a table in front of a small cafe. Caramel had ordered a daisy sandwich, and so had the pegasus. “It occurs to me,” said Caramel as the waiter trotted away, “I don’t think I know your name.”
“My name is Rainbow Dash.” said the rainbow pony.
“My name is Caramel, nice to meet you.” The two ponies sat in silence for a while. Caramel didn’t care all that much if Rainbow Dash didn’t want to talk, he was happy to not be alone for lunch, although, there was a question nagging on the back of his mind. “What book were you looking for when you crashed into me?” he asked.
“Do you promise not to laugh?” asked the pegasus. Caramel nodded. “I know it’s a series more for young ponies, but I really like the Daring Do novels. I heard that the library in Canterlot had the new one, so I went to see if twilight had it too.” Caramel smiled. “You promised not to laugh.” said Rainbow Dash defensively.
“I wasn’t going to laugh, well not out loud at least. I think it’s funny that you crashed into me while I was looking for the same book.” Rainbow Dash’s body language did a complete 180. She all at once became interested in caramel, as well as becoming more talkative. Rainbow Dash wanted to talk to him about the book series, badly too. This drastic change in behavior threw Caramel for a complete loop, but he was in no position to complain.
“You like Daring Do too? Which is your favorite? Oh man, did you read the last one! That was such a cliff hanger there at the end!” Eventually Caramel was able to get a word in edge wise, but not before the mare had fawned over favorite fictional character. They continued talking throughout lunch, and even continued talking after lunch.
Caramel and Rainbow Dash continued talking as they walked together through the park, and not just about Daring Do. Caramel got to hear about all the tricks she likes to do, and how she helped save Equestria, and all the other amazing things she did. Caramel at one point tried to come up with something cool that he himself had done, but couldn’t think of anything.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Caramel and Rainbow Dash went out again a few days after that, and then again a few more days after that. A few months later, rainbow dash even moved in with Caramel (they had originally tried the reverse, but it didn’t work out well). Rainbow Dash didn’t let living with Caramel stop her from doing awesome things though. Caramels lack of doing amazing things only motivated her more to do outrageous stunts, if only to liven up his life.
But with all the things that changed for the two ponies, one thing did not. Caramel still went to the library every Saturday, but now he was never alone.
The End.