Caramel's Light

by Squeak-anon

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Big Macintosh, Applejack, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Comedy, Caramel
Length: 33894

Caramel can't seem to do anything right, when he finds feelings for a certain purple unicorn.

Caramel can't seem to do anything right. When he finds he has a crush on a certain purple unicorn, this proves doubly true.

Story now coming out Bi-weekly thanks to Sanctus, more soon!

Published 2011-09-11 19:05:30 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-23 13:58:58 UTC

A Light for Caramel

Caramel Apple was stuck working the apple cart for the day. He was on loan from his own farm to the Ponyville Apples. He had been told it was because his cousins’ had a particularly heavy apple crop this season and needed sompony to keep shop while they worked. But he knew it was really because they didn’t want him around the farm. He sighed, looking at his cutie mark. It was three horseshoes, it should have been four. But it marked his talent, losing things. Or perhaps being lost. He wasn’t quite sure.

Maybe his talent was being useless.

He tried to be helpful around his farm, he really did. But everything he tried seemed to turn out for the worst. If he bucked some apples, they’d fall into the river. If he tried to plant some crops, nothing would grow on the land for days. He’d tried everything, but nothing seemed to work out. It was obvious his farm looked for any excuse to get rid of him. They’d given him a position as deliverypony for a while. He’d done his best, but they always made him take packages to the far reaches of the village, only to find that the patron hadn’t ordered anything. If he actually managed to find the address in anycase. He’d return to find they had ‘gotten the order wrong’ and finished the day’s work in his absence.

He sat his head down on the cart, feeling miserable. He hadn’t received a single customer all morning. It seemed this was going to be another thing he failed at. The ponies here knew very well of his reputation and either rushed past a little faster than usual, or ignored him completely. He imagined returning to his cousin’s farm in a few hours without a single bit earned. They’d be convinced he was useless too, they’d probably never want his help again. He’d already lost the grass seeds for the earlier Winter Wrap Up, not to mention the incident with Granny Smith’s false teeth. This would be the last straw he was sure of it, another bunch of ponies on the long list of those that would be better off without him.

“Hello?” said a voice. “I haven’t seen you around in a while. Where’s Applejack?”

Caramel snapped out of his reverie to find a purple unicorn looking at him. “Oh...Um...are you talking to me?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t think I’m talking to the apples.” She put on a friendly smile. “Well, technically I am, the Apple family going back generations and all. But I mean, I’m not talking to a physical apple as in the small fruit.”

Caramel just stared.

“Are you alright?”

“Um...Um..yeah...I’m fine.” Caramel stuttered. “Applejack’s back at the farm. It’s Applebuck Season.” He paused. “Would you like to wait for her to come back?”

Much to his amazement, she laughed. “Oh no, that’s fine. You can sell me some apples right?”

“Me? Oh!....Yeah, I mean sure! If you want to buy some, just call me the applepony!” Caramel paused. “I mean, I am an Apple pony.. Like you said....you know...cause I’m an Apple...well..not the...fru- well...You know.”

“Yes,” the unicorn said charitably. “I know. Don’t worry, Caramel.”

Caramel froze. “You know my name?”

“Of course, you’re Caramel. We’ve met twice before. When I first came to ponyville and during the Winter Wrap up. Remember? I’m Twilight.”

“Oh.” The memory surfaced in his brain. She was the one who’d found the grass seeds after he’d lost them. They’d somehow ended up on the roof of the bakery. “Yeah....well it’s nice to meet you again Twilight.” He tried the name on his tongue. It sounded nice.

“Likewise.” Twilight examined the apples around the cart. He couldn’t help but notice how nicely her mane was combed “Do you have any red Gala’s? They make a good replacement for rubies apparently.”

“Rubies?”

“For Spike.”

Caramel looked even more lost.

“My friend, he’s a dragon, you’ve met him too.” she raised an eyebrow. “Not very good with faces are you?”

His face reddened slightly. “W-well not really. I’m pretty forgetful,” he admitted. “I’m not sure how I could forget your face though... I mean, it’s a pretty memorable face. Not that it’s ugly or anything! I mean ...um...it’s a very nice face, and your mane looks nice too. If you don’t mind my saying that is. You probably comb it a lot...Um...Not to say that you...Um....You know what? I’ll get those Galas.” He ducked behind the counter before Twilight could reply. Searching hastily through the various apples he had in stock. Caramel pushed aside a basket of red Delicious, looking past the fugis and dodging around the Granny Smiths before finding the bushel in question.

“Ah! Here we are,” he said, lifting it onto the counter top. “How many did you want?”

“Oh, just two, I’m meeting Spike for lunch.”

“Ah, well you’ve picked yourself a good apple. Nothing better than a Red Gala to fill you up!” Caramel attempted a smile. He shifted through the apples piled in the basket, trying to find the best two to give her. “So...um....It’s a nice day isn’t it?”

“Oh yes, Rainbow Dash did a fine job of clearing the clouds today. It’s so nice I might take my books outside later. I’m studying paleolithic runemancy today, and this weather is just perfect for reading.”

Caramel stopped himself from asking what most of that meant. “Yeah. Super reading weather for sure.” Caramel fumbled with the apples some more, trying to ignore his heart hammering away in his chest. She was being so nice. Why was she being so nice?

He found two apples and after a quick check to make sure they were the best in the bunch, gave them to her. “That’ll be two bits.”

Twilight frowned. “I thought it was four bits for two apples?”

Caramel floundered for a moment. “Oh...well it is! But you see um...you were so...well... I mean....well...You see you seem so...That I..." He paused. "...We’re having a sale,” he finished lamely.

“Oh, well that’s lucky.” She smiled. Caramel instantly decided she had the best smile in the universe.

Twilight turned to leave. Caramel’s mind raced on how to get another word in.

“Um, wait!” he held up a hoof. “That...sale, I forgot, you get three apples with that. Not two.”

Twilight paused. “I only need two, it’s just me and Spike.”

“Well....what if somepony else came with you to lunch? You know...for the extra apple?”

Twilight pondered this for a moment. “That’s not a bad idea. There’s somepony I’d love to have lunch with.”

Caramel’s heart soared.

“Fluttershy’s probably taking a break from tending to her animals about now. She works so hard. She’d appreciate it if I invited her to lunch.”

It fell back into his hooves with a lurching thud.

“Oh...”

“Could I have a Granny Smith instead of a Gala for the third apple?” asked Twilight. “She likes those best.”

“Sure....no problem.” Caramel mumbled. He fetched her the apple in question. Twilight floated it into her saddlebag and turned to leave.

“Thank you very much. I’m sure she’ll enjoy it.”

“You’re welcome,” Caramel replied, crestfallen.

“Have a wonderful day Caramel.”

His ears perked up when she said his name again. He was still amazed she’d bothered to remember it. She’d knew him, and was still willing to talk to him, and buy apples no less! He felt thoroughly out of his depth.

It suddenly occurred to him that he hadn’t replied.

“Oh! Yeah, thanks, you too-” But she was already walking down the road by the time he’d opened his mouth. “Twilight.” Caramel said the name slowly. He felt afraid that if he said it too fast the words might get away. Caramel sighed, sitting his head on the counter and staring dreamily after her as she headed off towards the center of town. “Twilight...” he whispered again, to himself this time. He really liked that name. “Twilight...”

“What about her?”

Caramel jumped, whirling around to see his cousin Applejack.

“Oh, nothing!” he said quickly.

“The way you said it, it sure didn’t sound like nothin’.” The orange pony eyed him suspiciously.

Caramel quickly searched for something to change the subject. “I sold some apples!” He pointed to the bits lying on the counter.

“You did!?” Applejack quickly hid her shock. “How many?”

Caramel glanced at the bits, knowing he was three short. “Two.” he lied. He would have to bring some apples from his own farm next time he came over. He didn’t want to tell Applejack he’d gone around giving her apples away. Even if it was to a friend.

“Well, good for you Caramel!” She slapped him on the back in a way he was sure would leave a bruise. “You might be cut out for this yet.”

“Thanks...” Caramel groaned.

“Now, why don’t I help you pack up? If we hurry, I reckon we’ll be back at the farm in time for dinner.”

He brightened at this. Things were looking up.

“Sure, I’ll get the-” he was interrupted as he tripped headlong over the stopping blocks in front of the cart. “Ow...”

“Whoa there!” Applejack looked him over worriedly. “Are you alright sugarcube?”

Caramel got slowly to his hooves. “Yeah, I’m alright. I scuffed my leg a bit but...” he noticed she was staring. “What’s wrong?” He followed her gaze, she was looking past his head at something behind him. He turned around to find the Applecart speeding down the hill into the horizon.

“Horseapples.”

To Be continued

Home Life

Applejack had been awfully nice about the whole thing after they’d managed to stop the cart. Somehow it had managed to roll halfway across town before it finally slowed enough to be caught. He’d collected the apples that had fallen along the way, which took up the rest of the day and returned them, slightly bruised, to the farm. Caramel felt terrible, for once he’d thought he’d managed not to screw something up for once, but everything had gone bad, as always. Somehow the fact that his cousin was being so kind about it made it worse. She’d even still let him come to dinner, though it was cold by the time they got there. Granny Smith gave him the evil eye whenever she thought he wasn’t looking the whole time. The apples couldn’t be sold in that condition, they’d have to be made into pies and other deserts to hide the blemishes, which meant extra work for all of them. Knowing this, he very much wanted to sink into a large hole and never come out. He hardly touched his food.

They sent him on his way with what he didn’t eat wrapped up and put in his saddlebag. Even if Granny Smith was angry she was still an Apple, hospitality came first.

Applejack walked him home, there was an awkward silence as they progressed through the emptying streets of ponyville toward his own farm at the edge of Hoofdale.

“Aw, don’t look so glum, sugar cube,” said Applejack. “It wasn’t your fault. Just a bit of bad luck is all.”

He sighed. “Yeah, bad luck...my only luck.”

“Now don’t you go frettin’ bout it. Your luck’ll change. Just you wait and see.” She patted him on the back. “Just don’t give up, that’s the Apple Motto.”

He nodded, avoiding her eyes. They approached the edge of town where his farmland began.

“Really now, you cheer up, and give the family my regards ya hear?” Applejack turned to head back to her own farm. “You can make it on your own from here right?”

Caramel managed a small smile. “Yeah, I’ll see you later Applejack.” He began to walk into the trees that bordered the land, he glanced back once, to see the orange earth pony waving him on his way.

He felt a little better, perhaps she was right, maybe things would change for him soon. A pony could hope right? His steps were a little more lively as he came towards the house, a rather old two story red brick building. He could see that all the work had be finished while he was away, as usual. The apples were all stored away in the shed, and the apple trees closest to the house were bare.

Caramel knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” asked a voice.

“It’s me, I’m back.” He peered through the peephole.

“Oh, welcome back Caramel.” The door opened and Caramel stepped inside. His sister, Toffee Apple stood there looking him over. She was a rather stocky pony, her coat was a pale brown to offset her blond mane and tail. “No broken bones...that’s a good sign.” She smiled.

“Thanks.” Caramel rolled his eyes.

“So, how did it go? Don’t leave me hanging,” she said, leading him into the living room.

“I managed to sell a few apples if you’re wondering.” Caramel muttered.

“Oh that’s great Caramel!” She slammed her hoof into his back in the exact place that was still sore from his earlier encounter with Applejack.

“Thanks....” he groaned. “But I have to be honest....not everything went well..”

Toffee’s smile faded. “What happened?”

“Well, I may have knocked the applecart off its blocks.”

She sighed. “And?”

“And it might have rolled half way through town.”

“And?”

“And most of the apples might have fallen off and got bruised...”

“Oh Mel...” Toffee put a hoof to her forehead.

Caramel hung his head. His earlier good mood evaporating. “I’m sorry. They really didn’t mind all that much...they can still make pies out of the apples...”

Toffee looked at him for a moment. “Oh, it’s not that bad I suppose...you’ve had worse days right? At least you managed to sell some Apples. I won’t tell Grampa Jonagold if you won’t.”

Caramel looked up towards their Grandfather’s room. He knew the old stallion would probably be asleep. If he got wind of another screw up, Caramel would never hear the end of it.

“Deal.”

Toffee nodded. “Good. Come to think of it, how many apples did you sell?”

“Oh,” Caramel’s face flushed. “Well....I sold a couple...”

“How many is a couple?”

“You know.....a few...”

“And just how many is a few?”

Caramel twiddled his hooves. “Three...”

Toffee shook her head.“Well....that’s not.....nothin’. Right?”

“True enough.” Caramel turned towards the stairs. “I think I’ll go up to my room.” If Grampa asks, tell him I sold more than that. Please?”

Toffee nodded.

Caramel walked up the stairs to his room. Making sure to walk softly past Grampa Jonagold’s door, he went inside and stat down on the bed. He felt quite a bit worse having talked to his sister. She did her best he supposed, but really Toffee could only do so much. Their Grandfather was getting on in years, and it was looking more and more like he certainly wasn’t up to the task of taking over the farm. It was going to her, and he was well aware of that. Caramel didn’t mind this fact. She worked hard, and enjoyed doing the odd jobs around the farm. He was more than happy for her, but he really hated feeling like a burden. It seemed as of late that everything seemed to be going downhill as far as he was concerned.

He reached over and opened the drawer of his nightstand, pulling out a bag of caramel chews, he dumped a few onto it’s surface, and poked at them with a hoof.

“Perhaps I have some really awesome talent I just haven’t discovered yet?” he mused. “I’ll probably stumble upon it any day now. Yeah...that’s it.” He thought about this for a moment. “Maybe I’m meant for something bigger. Maybe I should look into being part of the royal guard or something.” Caramel thought about this. He’d probably look ridiculous in armor, and in anycase he wasn’t a pegasus. “Then again...maybe I’m just a lost cause...” he popped a caramel chew into his mouth.

He sighed. “Why am I so delicious?”

Caramel’s mind turned to the day’s events. There wasn’t much he wanted to re-live, but one memory stuck out in particular. The unicorn who had purchased the apples from him. She’d remembered his name. She’d seen him screw up before, and still wanted to talk to him. She wasn’t even a relative! She didn’t have too.

But she did.

He briefly wondered if he’d see her again. Or if he wanted too. Why ruin a perfectly good memory? She’d probably want nothing to do with him if they ever got to know each other. But...she’d been so nice. She wouldn’t really do that would she? The kind mare who had been the only good thing in his long day? He wondered if Applejack knew her. She probably did. If he asked, she might even take him to see her again. They could talk then. He’d like that. He had seen she liked books, perhaps if he bought one for her she’d be more inclined not to laugh in his face. But which one to buy? Would giving her a gift on only the second-or maybe it was the third- time they met be awkward?

For the second time that day Caramel felt horribly out of his depth.

To Be Continued.

Finding the Light

Caramel stood behind the applecart for several minutes. He was completely motionless as he was still convinced this was all a dream and that if he moved too much it would all pop like a giant soap bubble.

She said yes....He thought. She said yes...

“Mommy...is he alright?” said a small filly walking by. Her mother glanced Caramel out of the corner of her eye. She’d thought he was a statue until her daughter had pointed him out. She noticed he wasn’t blinking.

“Don’t stare honey.” she said quickly, rushing the small pony past Caramel’s cart.

“She said yes...” he whispered under his breath.

“It talks!” the child yelled as she was pushed into the crowd.

“She said yes...” He said it again. Still not quite sure it was true. “She said yes, she said yes, she said yes!!” Unable to keep still any longer Caramel jumped around the cart happily. “She said yes!”

“Well, landsakes Caramel, what’s got you in such a state?” said a familiar voice.

Caramel missed a step, falling head over a tail onto the ground. He landed at the hooves of his cousin Applejack, who was staring at him oddly.

“Are you alright?”

“Ow.” Caramel groaned. “Yeah, I’m alright...wait...I’m better than alright! She said yes!” He was on his feet again in seconds. “She said yes!”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Who said yes?”

“She did!” Caramel hopped happily. “She said yes. To me! Do you believe it?”

“Well I can’t rightly start if you don’t tell me the poor gal’s name!”

“Twilight!” Caramel yelled. “Twilight....” Caramel paused. “Oh no....Does she have a last name? Oh Celesita...Did she ever tell me? I’ve forgotten haven’t I? This is teri-”

“Woah, there Caramel. Did you say Twilight? As in Twilight Sparkle?”

“Sparkle! That’s it, thank you Applejack. I was panicking for a minute there.” His face split into a dreamy grin. “Twilight Sparkle....”

Applejack tsked. “Wow, he’s got it bad.” She waved a hoof in front of his face. “So, you got yourself a date. Well I’m plum proud of you, Caramel.”

Caramel’s face flushed. “Date? Is it a date? I mean we never really called it that...I mean she might think it’s weird if I start calling it a date. We’re just...” He paused again. “I have no idea what we’re doing...” he realized. “Oh horseapples I have no idea what we’re doing! I have to plan something! But what? Maybe a nice dinner.....no wait... is 4 o’clock to early for dinner? Is going for food moving to fast? Maybe we should just take a wa-”

He was cut off as Applejack shoved a hoof in his mouth. “Calm down, sugarcube. I know Twi as well as anypony here, and you want me to tell you somethin’?

Caramel nodded.

His cousin lifted a hoof to his ear and whispered, “She was talking about you yesterday.”

“She was!?” Caramel yelled.

Applejack shushed him.

“Sorry,” he said, lowering his voice. “She was? What did she say?”

“Well, don’t tell her I told you this. Normally I wouldn’t but honestly, and I mean nothin’ by it sugarcube, you need all the help you can get.”

Caramel was forced to agree.

“She was talking to Fluttershy yesterday, and I overheard as I was bringing my cart to the Apple celler. She was sayin’ she fancied some colt from the market. Blushin’ like a red delicious I reckon.”

Caramel froze. “A colt in the market?” his ears drooped. “So...she likes someone else?”

He was almost knocked off his feet as Applejack punched him in the side.

“No! She was talkin’ about you for peat sakes!” She sighed. “Look, what I’m tryin’ to say is, she likes you Caramel. Just be yourself and stop worryin’ so gosh darn much. Ya hear?”

“She...she was talking about me?” Caramel’s heart fluttered.

“You’re missin’ the point sugarcube.” Applejack patted him on the back. “You’re gonna be fine.” She paused. “Come to think of it, what’re you doin’ in the market today anyhow? Shouldn’t you be helpin’ on the farm over in Hoofdale?”

Caramel suddenly remembered what he was here for in the first place. “Oh no...”

“What is it?”

Caramel slumped, sitting on his haunches. “Remember how I sold those three apples yesterday?”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Ah thought you said it was two apples?”

“Oh...” He’d neglected to bring two apples to replace the one’s he’d given away. “Well you see there’s a funny story about that...”

“You gave them the Twilight didn’t you?”

Caramel nodded.

Applejack sighed. “Continue.”

“Well...” he looked at his hooves. “You know my sister Toffee sometimes exaggerates right?”

“Yeah...”

“Well she might have made it sound a little better than it was.”

Applejack eyed him suspiciously. “How much better we talkin’?”

He squirmed under her gaze. “It may have been a bit high...”

“Spit it out.”

“Forty apples...” Caramel murmured.

She stared for a moment. “Fourty apples!? She get kicked in the head or something!?”

“I don’t know!” Caramel cried. “I told her not to tell Grampa I didn’t sell many yesterday. I

guess she thought she was looking out for me. Now he’s gone and bought this cart. He expects me to do it again today!” He looked up at his cousin. “I need your help Applejack. I can’t disappoint him again, I just can’t...We really need the money....Please?”

Applejack smiled. “Well, I wouldn’t be much of a cousin if I didn’t help you out a bit, now would I? But no more of this lyin’ business, you hear?”

Caramel brightened. “Deal!”

“Good, now, we’re gonna need a sign.” She turned walking towards her farm. “I’m gonna go get some wood. You stay here.”

“Alright Then....Wait!” he called after her. “what do I do in the mean time!?”

“What’dya think? You try to sell some Apples!” Applejack disappeared into the crowd.

Caramel stood there for a moment. Well......how do I do that?” he thought.

Applejack always yelled out her sales and tried to entice customers over. He could do that couldn’t he?

“Hello sir!” he said to a passing stallion. “Would you like some delicious apples toda-”

“No.”

This was not going as he had planed. “B-but they’re really juicy and...”

The stallion just kept walking.

Caramel sighed. He tried again on a passing mare. “What about you ma'am? Would you li-”

“Just had lunch, sorry.” She hurried past.

“Oh...alright..... How about you two foals?” he asked, spying two fillies walking home from class. “A nice apple will keep those teeth nice and shiny! What do you say?”

They sized him up. “No thanks. We don’t buy apples from losers.”

Caramel was taken aback. “Well, that’s not very nice you-”

The fillies ran away giggling.

“Know...” he finished lamely. “How does she make this look so easy?”

He tried this for a while longer before giving up, if anything this got him less interest than when he’d simply been quiet. He stared at the passing ponies, hoping one would eventually stop, but none did. He tried not to look too eager, but when that didn’t work he tried looking pleadingly at everypony who passed. The results were the same.

“Oh come on!” he implored. “They’re good apples! See?” He took a bite out of one. “Delicious!”

This earned him a few odd stares, but no customers.

“You’ll get it eventually. But for now, stop makin’ a mule out of yourself and help me with this stuff.”

Caramel turned to find Applejack had returned with Big Mac in tow. He carried a large fencepost in his mouth, and a larger plank of wood on his back. He opened his mouth and it fell to the ground with a heavy thunk. Applejack had some paint, which she sat down next to it.

“Here we go, all the stuff we’ll be needin’ for a proper sign. How’s business goin’?”

Caramel looked out into the crowd. “Not so well. I haven’t made a single sale since you left....” he said, hanging his head.

“Well we’re gonna change that. All we need this here bit of wood and pain, and in two shakes’a my tail we’ll get you some customers. Right Mac?”

“Eyup.”

Caramel smiled. “Thank you guys for doing this, I really appreciate it. I’ll pay you back for the supplies...”

“Don’t you worry none, Sugarcube. We’re family remember? Apples help Apples, it’s our way.” She gestured to the paint sitting on the ground. “Now enough flappin’ our gums. We need to get to work if you’re going to get them sales before your date.”

Big Mac raised an eyebrow. “Date?”

Caramel blushed. “It’s...not a date really...it’s more of a....well....”

“Date.” Applejack finished. “With, Twilight.”

Big Mac eyed her for a moment. Then looked Caramel over. “....Really?”

His sister hoofed him sharply in the chest. “Yes, really! Now like I said let’s get started! You nail the sign together, Caramel and I’ll paint it.”

The large red stallion walked over to the plank of wood, he carefully placed it over the fence post. Applejack passed him a nail, which he positioned over the two. With a quick jab of his powerful hooves it was done.

“Thank you Big Mac. You can go back and help Granny with those pies now.”

“Eyup,” he said turning to leave. He looked back at Caramel over his shoulder. “Good luck on your date Caramel.”

His face flushed again. “But it’s....I mean I told you it’s more of a....”

Big Mac had already walked away.

“Will you stop doing your best impression of a strawberry and help me? I need to know what this sign ought to say.” Applejack stood poised over the paint cans.

“I thought you had that part figure out?” Caramel asked, looking at the blank wood.

“It’s your sign, not mine, I just know that you need one. It’s your cart, if you want to sell apples, it’s gotta be your message, somethin’ important.”

Caramel put a hoof to his chin in thought. He couldn’t think of anything, he wasn’t a salespony, how should he know what to put on a sign?

It’s gotta be your message, something important, he thought. That’s what Applejack said.

He had an idea.

“Can I hold that paintbrush?”

A short time later Caramel finished. He stepped back and examined his work.

“What do you think?”

Applejack stepped back to get a good look at the sign.

“Landsakes...”

Caramel’s ears drooped. “You don’t like it?”

Applejack’s mouth hung open for a moment. “It’s beautiful...”

Caramel pulled back in surprise. “Really? You think so?”

Applejack examined it closely. “Shoot, I’d say you have quite the talent there Caramel. If this don’t get you some business, I don’t know what’ll do it!”

“A talent you say?” He looked at the sign. It was a strange feeling, nothing had gone wrong or exploded and it seemed like everything had gone according to plan. This was new. Caramel smiled. “Yeah..maybe so. I hope you’re right.”

“Excuse me,” said a voice behind them. Caramel turned to find a rather plump unicorn mare in a rather opulent dress standing behind them.

“What’d I tell you?” Applejack clapped him on the back. He was quite sure he was going to have a bald patch on that area. “Already got a customer. Go get’em.” She shoved him towards the curious mare.

Caramel stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance. “Um...yes ma'am, how may I help you?”

“Are you the the owner of this cart?” she asked.

“That’s me. How may I help you? If you’re looking for apples we’ve got every type you can think of, gala’s red delicious braebu-”

“Nononono, you misunderstand me sir.” She looked past him at the cart. “I would simply like to know where you got the sign. I have to say it’s simply marvelous!”

“Oh!” Caramel said, surprised. “Well...I made that sign actually...just finished it. The paint’s still wet.”

The mare eyed him in shock. “You?”

Applejack stepped up eyeing her right back. “And just what do you mean by that may I ask?”

The mare backed up a bit. “Oh...well I mean nothing by it my good lady-”

Applejack’s stare got a bit harder.

“It’s just that the colt hardly seems the type.” She looked Caramel up and down again.

Caramel sagged a bit.

“Have you got a point to this miss?” Applejack asked curtly.

The mare looked affronted. “Well!” she huffed. “If you must know, I own a mane styling boutique on the other side of town. I was wondering if the creator of that sign, could do something like that for me.” She turned to Caramel. “So I suppose that means you. Now matter how rude your...assistant is.”

“Assistant!?” Caramel leapt to hold Applejack back. Struggling against her brute strength.

“What my cousin, means to say is. I don’t make signs, sorry. I’m selling apples though, so if you want one of them I’d be happy to sell it to you.”

The mare signed. “Pity. You seem to be quite good, despite outward appearances.”

Caramel grunted as Applejack tried to push forwards again.

“But,” she continued. “I suppose it can’t be helped. Give me two of your best red galas.”

Caramel paused. “...What?”

“You said you’d sell me some apples, so I intend to buy some apples. If I can’t have a sign from you I can at least get that much I assume?”

“Y-yeah! Sure you can!” Caramel quickly pushed Applejack over to the side, and rushed to fetch her apples. He placed them in a small bag and passed them to her. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” Her horn glowed as she floated the bag over. She inspected the apples closely, before taking a bite of one. “Hmmm...”

“How is it?...” asked Caramel.

The unicorn produced a handkerchief from her saddlebag and wiped her lips.

Applejack whispered something that made Caramel blush.

If the mare heard her she didn’t acknowledge it. “This,” she began, pausing for overly dramatic effect. “Is delicious.”

Caramel spoke before Applejack could. “Thank you miss! I hope you’ll spread the word! I could use the business.”

“Well, I believe that can be arranged. Though your establishment is....” she looked over the cart. “...quaint, your product is good, and your sign is just darling. I shall recommend you highly.” She leaned into Caramel’s ear to whisper something. “Though I would fire that assistant, she is quite crass.”

Caramel quickly shoved an Apple into Applejack’s mouth. “Um...no I think I’ll keep her, she does good work.” He shot her a look.

“Very well then.” She turned to leave. “Have a good day sir.”

Caramel had never been referred to as ‘sir’ before.“...Sure, you too.”

Applejack spit the apple out, stomping a hoof angrily. “What in tarnation you do that for? You should’a let me give that hoity-toity filly what for.”

“Sorry Applejack. I didn’t like her either, but we really need the money...who knows if we’ll get another sale?”

Applejack softened. “It’s alright I suppose sugarcube. Don’t you worry, I’m sure you’ll sell some more before the day is over.”

Caramel smiled. “I hope so, I’ve still got thirty-eight more to go!” He looked at the mare

disappearing into the crowd. “She said she’d tell her friends, who knows? Maybe it’ll drum up some business.”

“I’ll take two gala’s and a Granny Smith.” said a rather pudgy green mare with a pearl necklace.

Caramel rushed to fill the order. “Sure thing one second please! I have to-”

A stallion in a monocle shoved his way forwards. “I’ll take five golden Delicious and a jonagold.”

“Well....please wait your-”

“I’ve been waiting. Where are my apples young colt!?” yelled an irate pony from somewhere in the crowd.

“Wait! One at a time! Don’t shove, please! I’m trying my best!” Caramel fought his way though the line of ponies, giving out apples faster than he ever thought he could move. He’d lost count, but he was pretty sure he was well past forty at this point.

“Well!” Applejack yelled from a hay bale at the edge of the crowd. “I’d say she told her friends!”

Caramel was jostled and bumped as he tried to find out who ordered what. “Yes, I think it’s safe to- Please miss, don’t shove!- say that.”

Applejack smiled. “Well, isn’t it nice to have customers?”

“Oh yes it’s- Ow! Don’t kick please!- just wonderful. I think I’ve gone over forty apples at this point.”

“Congratulations Caramel. Looks like your sign worked better than you expected. It’s a good thing you were so nice to that city-mare from earlier huh?”

Caramel dodged a stray knee. “You’re enjoying this aren’t you?”

“A fair bit, yes I am.”

“Well, at least Grampa won’t be disappointed. Wait’til he sees all these sales!” Caramel managed a smile between rushing through the crowd. “If this keeps up we’ll be able to do all those repairs. I can’t wait to see Toffee’s face.”

Applejack got her feet. “I really am happy for you Caramel. I bet your Grandpa’s gonna be right proud of you.”

“Thanks.”

“Will you two stop you insipid conversation and procure my produce? I have a meeting at six.” The stallion at the front of the line snapped.

Caramel froze. “What...?”

The stallion scoffed. “I see I’ll have to dumb down my language. “Can you get me my apples please?”

“N-no...after that, what’d you say?”

“I said, I have got a meeting at six, young colt. Now if you pleas-”

A slow feeling of dread crept through the pit of Caramel’s stomach. “What time is it?...”

With a sigh the stallion checked his watch. “It’s half past five.”

“Oh no...”

“Young colt?” he waved a hoof in front of Caramel’s eyes. “Young colt? I still require my apples. Are you quite alright?”

“I missed it....” Caramel whispered. “An hour and a half...”

The crowd began to mummer.

“He looks awfully pale...”

“Is he quite alright?”

“I think he’s in shock, has anyone got some smelling salts?”

“Oh, I do, just let me check my saddlebag. He’ll have to pay be for them of cour-”

Applejack cut a path through the crowd. “Sweet highsteppin’ horseshoes! Caramel, I’ll take care of this. Go!”

Caramel stood despondently. “I missed it...”

“Go!” she shoved him roughly in the direction of the library.

Caramel stumbled for a moment before he found his footing.

“Run!”

He didn’t need to be told twice. His hooves pounded the cobblestone road of the market as he sped outwards the old oak in the center of town.

Things had been going so well. He couldn’t screw up now, not again, not with her, not this soon. They hadn’t even started, the first person who’d been kind to him on his first day in the market and he’d let her down. He hoped she was still waiting.

Caramel skidded to a stop as he came to the tree, he looked around wildly, but she wasn’t waiting outside. His heart sunk as he scanned the town square. She was nowhere to be seen.

Walking now, he came up to the door. He stared at the green wood for a long time.

Should I knock?

Would she be mad? Probably, who knows how long she’d waited outside for him, he was more than an hour and a half late at this point.

Caramel’s head drooped. She’d probably want nothing to do with him now. He’d screwed it up, like everything else in his life. Another thing he’d failed at, another pony who’d probably relegate him to being useless, the first mare who’d ever taken any kind of interest in him.

He felt low, lower than he’d felt in a long time.

What was the point?

Caramel turned to leave.

“So, are you ready?” said a voice behind him.

Caramel’s ears perked up. It couldn’t be. Slowly he turned, to find Twilight standing in the doorway, smiling at him.

“Wha....but I’m....but I’m late....I kept you waiting....you still?”

She nodded.

“Really?”

She nodded.

Caramel paused. “Why?”

Twilight walked over to him, blushing slightly. “Well, several reasons. One, you seem sweet.”

Caramel turned bright red. “...And two?”

“Two, your sister came by earlier, and told me you probably wouldn’t show up on time.”

Carmel stepped back. “Toffee!? She was here? But ho-”

“Apparently you talk in your sleep.” Twilight shuffled her hooves. “You mentioned a few things.”

Caramel’s face was burning like a small sun at this point. “Whatever I said, I-I didn’-...I wasn’t awake...”

Twilight smiled. “Oh don’t worry, you didn’t say anything too embarrassing.” Her face rivaled his. “Apparently you’re quite the gentlemen when you’re asleep.”

Caramel floundered, still confused. “B-but how did she know about the date? I haven’t been home...”

“Big Mac came by your house, apparently he told Toffee.”

“And she came here....”

“Yes, said she was looking out for you...good thing too. I’m sure you didn’t mean to be late.”

“No! Not at all! I couldn’t help it. I had so many customers, and I couldn’t get away. I wanted to be on time, I really did but....”

“It’s okay Caramel, I understand.” She walked past him into the square. “So...you ready to go?”

“You really still want too?”

She nodded.

“Even though you know I’m a screw up?”

She shook her head. “You’re not a screw up Caramel. All you need is a bit of help...I could give it if you want.”

“S-sure!” Caramel rushed to her side. “I’d love that, I need all the help I can get!”

She laughed that fantastic laugh. “Well we’d better get started.”

They walked though the square, past the buildings, and into the market. The sun had almost set, the stars crept in at the edges of the sky as they walked.

They came to Caramel’s cart, Applejack was gone, along with all the apples he’d brought. Apparently he’d sold out.

“Wow.” said Twilight. “Looks like you had a good day.”

“Yeah, I did, my Grandfather is going to be really happy.” he smiled.

“I see you got that sign.”

Caramel froze. The sign....

“Oh! Um...I hope you don’t mind...it’s just that Applejack said I should paint something important and....well....”

“Oh...” Twilight blushed.

“I mean..um...it could be any two ponies...you know....love is importa-” Caramel paused. “Not that I’m....you know......Well...we’ve only just met...but I needed something and...well...”

“Yeah...I know.” Twilight leaned into his shoulder.

Caramel did his best not to fall over from shock. He wasn’t sure what to do for a moment. But then he just walked forwards, she followed, still leaning. They walked till they were at the edge of ponyville.

“You have no idea where we’re going do you?” asked Twilight.

“Well...not as such but....You see.....No...” said Caramel.

Behind them, the sign sat in the ground next the cart, on it, in fresh paint, was a picture of an apple in the shape of a heart, a light brown colt and a purple filly on either side.

Two ponies, both bright red now, with no idea where they were going, kept walking.

To Be Continued.

A Dinner Invitation

A Dinner Invitation

Caramel stumbled through the dark streets of Ponyville on his way home. He thought back to the night he’d had. Everything had gone so well. They’d walked and walked, unsure of the time or the place, with Twilight next to him Caramel could hardly have cared less. Her steady pace keeping up with his, her beautiful mane pressed against his side. It still smelled of old books, like the library in which she lived. He could have stayed there forever.

Still, eventually they had to admit to themselves that if they didn’t go home soon they’d probably get irreparably lost. So they had called it a night. He’d walked her back home. Or at least he’d walked next to her, as he couldn’t remember the way back the library. When they reached her door she’d stopped, turned, smiled that amazing smile and said she’d see him later.

Later couldn’t come soon enough.

Caramel giggled to himself as he reached the edge of his family’s property. This was the best day he’d had in a while. A very long while and now he was finally convinced it wasn’t all a dream. This was real.

He hummed a tune to himself as he opened the door to the main house, dancing towards the kitchen swinging through the halls with reckless abandon.

“So, it went well I suppose?”

Caramel tripped over himself onto the hard tiles. He looked up to find Toffee staring at him much the way a viper might when it’s found a small mouse.

“Come on! I want details! You owe me for saving your flank again you know.”

He leapt to his hooves. “Oh! Hello, Toffee!” he said shakily, a sudden redness creeping onto his face. “Um....”

“The first word you’re looking for is ‘Thank’,” she said smiling.

Caramel chuckled nervously. “Yeah...thank you Toffee, you really did save me back there.”

“You’re welcome, Mel, now, as payment for my good deed, you’re gonna fill me in on everything that happened.” she sat down at the table and stared at him expectantly.

He signed. There’s no getting out of this is there?

Caramel sat down across from her. “Well...it...went....well!” he said. He was still a bit surprised at this fact himself. It felt strange to say it out loud. “Thanks to you she was understanding. She wasn’t mad or anything! It was weird, but....so....well...nice! Nothing went wrong Toffee! Nothing at all....She likes me...she actually likes me..”

Toffee leaned over and hoofed him in the shoulder. “Well don’t look so shocked! You sound like you’re waiting on the sky to fall!”

“Ow!” he yelled. “Sorry! It’s just, this doesn’t happen often! And it wasn’t just the date either! You know the apple cart Grampa Jonagold bought this morning?”

“Yeah.”

He leaned in, as though he were sharing a secret. “I didn’t just sell a few apples, I sold out.”

Toffee pulled back in shock. “You?!”

“I know!” Caramel agreed. “Applejack has a hard time doing that, and she’s the best apple seller in that market!”

His sister eyed him suspiciously. “How did you manage that?”

“Hey! I’m just as surprised as you are. I’m not sure what it was exactly...” He paused, thinking back to that morning. “But I guess it was when Applejack said I should make a sign to attract customers. So I did...It worked! I got this fancy looking citypony to come up to the cart. She asked me to make a sign for her boutique! She told her friends about us, and we were mobbed before lunch.”

“Wait a minute. What did you tell her?”

Caramel paused. “Who?”

“The citypony who wanted a sign of course!”

“Oh....well I said I was busy, so I couldn’t do it.”

Toffee frowned. “Well, would you like to do it?”

“Well...I suppose I wouldn’t mind..why do you ask?”

She got up from the table, and walked towards the hallway. “Well, the way I see it is, you don’t think you’ve been very good at anything in your life do you?”

Caramel opened his mouth to speak, but paused. He really hadn’t.

“Exactly,” Toffee went on, not waiting for his reply. “But, if your sign was good enough for a pony like that to want you to work for her? Well, I’d say you’re pretty darn good at somethin’. If I were you I’d think about it.”

She left him setting in the kitchen pondering what she had said. She was right. He’d done something today, and he hadn’t simply done it, he’d done it well. Could he do it again? Did he want to try?

He got that increasingly familiar feeling of being out of his depth. These were uncharted waters.

“Oh by the way!” Toffee called back. “I invited Twilight over for dinner tomorrow night. She’s cute. Can’t wait to talk to her some more!”

The uncharted waters suddenly turned into lakes of fire.

“Oh Celestia...”, whispered Caramel.

It was at some point during the night, or perhaps it was early morning, that Caramel noticed he was still sitting at the kitchen table. He’d been rubbing his hooves against the wood, and it appeared he’d left a small indent.

“Oh Celestia...”, he whispered again.

His brain had run away with him, at first it ran to escape routes. Could he pretend to be sick? No, Toffee knew him too well for that. She’d spot the fake right away. There’d be no way out there. He considered faking his own death, but he couldn’t do that to Twilight, he’d only just met her. Caramel had very little relationship experience, but he figured that death was usually considered a deal breaker.

She’d be here....he realized. And there was no stopping it. She’d meet Toffee, for the second time actually. But he really wasn’t worried about that. He gazed at the upper floors were Grampa Jonagold lay sleeping. He’d gone to bed early as usual. If he listened Caramel could hear his slight snoring. Caramel loved his Grandfather, despite any flaws he might have had. But that pony was about a subtle as a baseball bat at a tennis game. He wouldn’t hold back anything. He’d ask her all the questions that shouldn’t be asked on the...what was it? Second date? Yes, her buying apples couldn’t count as a date...She’d been a customer then...a wonderful..sweet..beautiful...custo- Caramel stopped himself. He was getting off track. His mind turned back to the looming dinner. It would be a disaster he was sure of it.

Maybe if I hint to her that my family is insane..she won’t want to come? He thought. I mean, it’s got to be a bit weird for her right? Meeting them this soon. We’ve only known each other for a few days. If I can get her to back out...then she won’t see that weird thing Grampa does with his corn...

He decided then. First thing in the morning he would go over to the library and try and gently convince her not to come. He couldn’t outright ask, that’d be awkward. Why is everything about this so complected?

Caramel sighed. And headed up to his room. Where he fell into fitful sleep.

The next morning Caramel woke up before anypony else. He quietly crept out of bed, grabbing a saddlebag and walking gingerly across the old wooden floor. Years of practice had taught him which boards would creak, and which wouldn’t. He silently made his way to the door, slipped out and headed for Ponyville. It was slightly cold that morning, the chill bit into his coat. He shivered slightly, but kept walking. Caramel needed to hurry, he knew his Grandfather would expect a full report on yesterday’s sales and want him out there selling again as soon as possible. He quickened his pace, breaking into a trot. I really need to work out more, he thought. He felt winded by the time he reached the edge of the property and entered the Ponyville proper. He was up very early, only a few ponies were walking the streets, opening shops and setting up carts. He didn’t see Applejack, but vaguely wished she was there. She knew a lot more about this kind of thing than he did. What would be the best way to bring this up?, he wondered. Should I start with a joke? He searched his mind for any witty one-liners he might have lying around. Finding nothing that wasn’t incredibly cheesy, he tried to think of something else.

I need a reason to visit don’t I? I mean...if I just show up, wouldn’t that be weird? He worried. Maybe I’m over thinking this. I’ll just go. What’s the worst that could happen?

He really didn’t want to think about the answer to that.

As he passed a florist’s stand that was setting up, suddenly an idea dawned on him. He thought back to last night. She’d been so wonderful, he really wanted to say thanks for that. Flowers that’s perfect! He’d show Twilight he appreciated her understanding, and have a reason to visit.

He stopped and looked through the florist’s stock, taking in all the bright colors and shapes of the various flowers in all manner of jugs and jars. Which one would be appropriate? Was there a particular color for this kind of thing?....Was there a wrong color for this kind of thing?

The vendor, a cream colored pony with a red mane and tail, walked over.

“May I help you?” she asked.

“Oh,” Caramel stopped his perusing. “Good morning, I was just looking for some flowers for my...” He stopped short....Caramel suddenly realized he had no idea what to call Twilight . Would fillyfriend be too presumptuous? Would not calling her that be wrong? Was there some other word for this?

The vendor gave him a knowing look. “Ah, you’re one of those,” she said, smiling. “Here,” She picked up a bundle of purple flowers. “These’ll be perfect for her.”

Caramel floundered for a moment. “Oh...well, thank you! I mean...these are lovely...for um...my...her....you know..”

“Yes,” The vender nodded. “I know. That’ll be five bits.”

Caramel payed her, and continued on his way.

Okay, now, just open the door and give her the flowers. It’s easy enough, just say something like ‘These are thanks for last night.’ He paused. No, that sounded....wrong maybe something else. This is a token of my gratitude.’ …..Or was that too formal? Perhaps something more casual would work better, like Hello Twi! These are for yo-

His thoughts were interrupted as he walked into the library door. His head making a resounding thud against the solid wood.

“Ow...”

“Now who could that be.” He heard a voice he recognized all too well from behind the door. The top portion swung away to reveal Twilight staring at him. He didn’t have time to move, his nose was almost touching her's as she peeked out.

“Oh! Caramel!” she said quickly. They both backed up a few paces, blushing profusely.

“Um...yep! That’s my name!” He chuckled. “I...er....thought I would...you know, stop by....I brought you these! As gratitude for my last night thanks.” Darnit. He reached back into his saddlebags, to find there was nothing there. “Oh no...”, he said under his breath. “Where are they!?” He looked around in a panic.

“Um...Caramel?” asked Twilight.

He stopped looking and stared back at her. “Oh...well, I brought you some flowers...you know....I….well...you were so understanding about me being late and all....I wanted to...well..I wanted to say thanks...but it looks like.....I may have misplaced them.”

Twilight smiled. “I think so. You dropped something.” She pointed behind him.

He looked to find the flowers sitting on the ground a few feet back. There was a gaping hole in the bottom of his saddlebag. “Oh.” He tried to be as suave as possible in going back to pick them up, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t working.

“Thank you.” The flowers glowed a faint purple as Twilight grabbed them. “They’re beautiful.” Her face got a bit redder.

“You’re welcome! You deserve them....I really wanted to thank you..”

The two stood there for a moment, twiddling their hooves, faces resembling strawberries.

Twilight broke the silence. “You know, Spike and I were just about to have breakfast...would you like to come in?”

Caramel’s heart skipped a beat. “Yes!” He said a bit louder than he’d meant to.

Twilight’s face broke out into a smile again. “Great!” She opened the bottom half of the door. “Come right in.”

She turned, and Caramel followed her inside.

To Be Continued.

Breakfast At Twilight's

Caramel stepped across the threshold into the library, the smell of old paper washed over him like a wave in a hurricane. It was like the smell of Twilight’s mane, only multiplied by some number he couldn’t begin to imagine. It wasn’t an unpleasant smell by any means, just a strong one. It was accompanied by the smell of cooking food, and for some reason a smell not unlike burning plastic.

Though Caramel’s brain only dimly registered any of this. His most prevalent thought was: Oh Celestia she invited me in for breakfast.

He walked behind her, trying to stare at anything that wasn’t Twilight in hopes of not making her uncomfortable. But he thought that might make him look like he was up to something, so he stared directly at Twilight for a while.

No wait that’s creepy....

He settled on focusing on a point just to the left of Twilight’s head.

The library was extremely neat, all of the shelves were perfectly organized, the books seemingly ordered both alphabetically, and by size. Caramel didn’t even know it was possible to do both. The few books that were lying about were stacked to perfection, not so much as a page out of place. He briefly wondered how often ponies came in to check out books, this place was so immaculate it looked new.

They reached the kitchen, the hard wood of the library floor being replaced by tile. It was just as neat as the library, with spices and ingredients lined up against the walls in neat little groups. Along with several other things that weren’t spices, or indeed anything Caramel could begin to guess at. A small purple creature stood in front of the stove, stirring something.

“Spike,” said Twilight. “We have an extra guest for breakfast. Would you mind making some more daisy pancakes please?”

Caramel remembered now. This was the small dragon Twilight had bought the apple for when they’d met. He briefly remembered seeing him around during the Winter Wrap Up. Mostly asleep. This was where the burning plastic smell had come from. It appeared to be how he normally smelled.

Spike turned around, he was wearing a ‘Kiss the Cook’ apron and a large chef’s hat.

“Sure thing Twilight, we’ve got plenty to spa-” He paused when he saw Caramel. “Who is this?”

Twilight’s face colored a little bit. “Oh, this is Caramel. You know, you’ve met him before. He’s been around Ponyville for a while.”

“Oh.” Spike noticed Twilight’s blushing. “Oooohhh.” His face broke out in a teasing grin. “I see.”

Twilight’s face colored a bit more. “Just make the pancakes will you?” she sighed.

“Sure thing,” he said, pouring a generous amount of mix into the pan. “One ‘lovers’ special’ coming right up!”

Twilight was an unhealthy shade of red by this point. A mixture of annoyance and embarrassment. Caramel hung back in the doorway, trying not to let his own embarrassment show too much. You’re here for a reason. He thought, Just act cool.

He took a deep breath and stepped forwards. “Um, Twilight, would you like to sit down?” he nudged a chair out from the table and sat down on the opposite end. He noticed that the table was set perfectly. In the middle there was a small bowl of fruit, four apples sat around the edges with a single pear in the middle. Caramel wondered if one of the apples was from him. In front of this sat a small pair of salt and pepper shakers shaped like ponies. Caramel recognized them as a pair of characters from a foals’ book The Secret Tree, a small red colt in a baseball cap, and a little filly in a bow tie. He remembered the story from when he was a foal. He’d always thought it was odd that the filly wore a bowtie of all things, but he could still remember when his Grandmother would read it to him. There was still a copy in his house somewhere.

Twilight’s voice interrupted his thoughts. He made a mental note to stop letting his

mind wander.

“Sorry about Spike, he might be annoying sometimes, but he’s a good cook I promise.”

Caramel waved it off. “Oh, no really he’s fine. I know how that goes, I’ve got a sister myself. She’s always saying doing stuff like that. You two have met right?”

Twilight’s face broke out in a smile. It was just as wonderful as he remembered. “Yes, she told me you were going to be late yesterday. Among other things.”

Caramel chuckled a bit louder than he’d intended to. “Ah yes...the dinner...at my house.... tonight?”

Twilight clicked her hooves together. “Yes! At eight o’clock sharp. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve read up on the subject. It’s customary to bring something you’ve baked yourself correct? Normally some kind of side dish, so as not to upstage the host’s main dish. Tell me, will this be formal or casual? And if formal will I need to RSVP?”

Caramel stared for a moment. “Uh...wel-”

“Oh! And does your sister like hay stew?” she began to fiddle with the salt shakers. "There was a recipe for that in a book of mine, it looked very good.”

“Yes bu-”

“ And you live with your Grandfather right?” she asked. “Is there anything he might have a hard time eating? I want to know ahead of time so I don’t offend him by bringing anything he couldn’t enjoy. I would like to get things off on the right hoof.” Twilight rocked the shakers back and forth. “I mean, I know some ponies have a hard time with certain fruits, so I figured I’d ask.”

“Twilig-”

“But then again, if I assume he can’t eat something would that be rude? What if he gets offended? I wouldn’t want to offend him. The book on being a proper dinner guest mentioned not to make assumptions, to let your host dictate what should be done and what shouldn’t be.”

“Tw-”

She fiddled a bit more. Rocking the small objects even faster. “I wonder if I should make two different things just in case. I could get Spike to help...anything to make sure I’m a good guest! I certainly don’t want to be a bad guest because that would be..” she paused “Well....bad! I need to make a good impression after all!”

The shakers fell over, spilling salt and pepper onto the table.

“Oh no! Let me clean that up, one second.”

Before she could get up Caramel reached across the table and placed his hooves on her’s.

“Twilight, calm down!” He suddenly realized what he was doing. Caramel quickly took his hooves away. “Um...I mean, calm down.” he said a bit more softly.

Twilight looked away for a moment. Brushing the salt and pepper around the table. “I’m sorry. It’s just...I’m a bit nervous I suppose.”

Tell me about it. He thought. Now’s the perfect time to convince her not to come! This is excellent!

Carmel opened his mouth to say something. But in that moment, she looked so small and a little scared. She really was worried about this dinner, she’d apparently been reading about how to act since she’d heard. Looked up recipes, thought about what his grandfather might enjoy and had really gone over what she should be doing. Twilight had been trying really hard to make a good impression for his family. Then he realized, it was all for him.

He sighed, he couldn’t try to convince her not to come after all that.

“Twilight?”

She looked up from the table.

“You’re going to be fine, great even. I’m sure they’ll love you, Toffee already likes you, and if my grandfather has any sense, he will too.”

Twilight brightened a little.

“You’re going to be great, okay?”

Twilight took a deep breath. “Okay.”

Caramel smiled. “Good, now, forget these books and recipes. It’s a dinner and we invited you. Come as you are, and we’ll try our best to be up to your standards. Not the other way around. Deal?”

Twilight returned his smile. “Deal.”

Spike chose then to come into the kitchen with the pancakes. He placed a steaming plate in front of the pair of them.

“I’ll leave you two alone for a while.” he said, waggling his eyebrows.

The pair of them turned beet red as he left.

Twilight was the first to take a bite. She went methodically through the pancake, starting at the front, and working her way down in a row until she got to the other end. Then repeating the process.

That’s adorable... Caramel thought as he watched her eat. She’s very neat. I wonder if she’s always like this? The library is so well kept, not to mention the kitchen. I’ll have to clean a bit when I get home...I always thought Toffee kept things neat, but now...

“Are you hungry?” asked Twilight, not icing he hadn’t eaten any of his pancakes.

“Oh! Yes, yes I’m very hungry. Just thinking I suppose.” Caramel took a bite of the pancake in front of him. It was good, very fluffy, he detected a hint of cinnamon somewhere.

“Wow...”

Twilight laughed. “Yes, for all his teasing, Spike actually does know how to cook. It’s one of the reasons I keep him around.” she said, shooting a look towards the kitchen door, which shut with a sharp click.

Since he didn’t want to talk with his mouth full, Caramel nodded.

This is actually nice. He thought. Though he’d failed to convince her not to come, and in fact ended up encouraging her to do so, he felt good. Still, something bugged him, the same thing that had been bugging him for the last few days and would continue to bug him unless he got an answer.

“Um...Twilight, can I ask you something?”

She looked up from a particularly stubborn corner of pancake. “Oh, sure. What is it?”

“Well...it’s just, I’ve been wondering something...for a little while.”

“What’s that?”

Caramel paused, trying to think of how to put it. “It’s.....I just need to ask....well. Why me?”

Twilight looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean...why do you like me?” Caramel asked. “I can’t figure it out. Since I first saw you in the market I thought ‘Oh wow, look at her, she’s lovely, smart, kind’ all that stuff. There’s tons to like about you. But me? I didn’t think I had a shot in all of Equestria.... I’m not... big or strong... or all that brave. I’m not really good at anything, or handsome. But....you like me...I mean I hope you do... But I’ve been wracking my brains trying to figure out...why? I keep thinking it’s just a fluke or a mistake, or I’m asleep. But you said yes to me in the market I’m here today, you’re coming to dinner at my house, and so far...no one has woken me up.”

There was silence in the kitchen for a while. Twilight stared at him.

Oh no... He thought. Oh no...I blew it...I freaked her out didn’t I? I should have just kept my mouth shut. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

“Caramel...” she said at last.

He looked at her.

“You know why I like you?”

He shook his head.

“Well, because you’re not half as bad as you think you are.”

This took him by surprise. “Huh?”

She got up, and walked over to his chair. “Remember when you lost the grass seeds during the Winter Wrap Up?”

Caramel nodded.

“When that happened, I saw how disappointed you were in yourself. But you know what? You still helped, even though you messed up a lot, you still pushed the snow plows-”

“Into the lake.” Caramel interrupted.

“Beside the point. We fished it out...eventually, and you kept going. You’re sweet.” She pointed to the flowers he’d bought her, sitting on the windowsill. “Thoughtful, and you’ve got a good heart. I like that, and I like you. Besides...”

“Besides what?”

Twilight shuffled a bit in her seat. “Well....I never thought anypony would ask me...”

“Wait...You?” Caramel asked, shocked.

Twilight nodded. “It’s....It’s just I’m not exactly the outgoing type...I spend all my time in

here, reading books, and studying magic. I’ve been here for months, and no one’s ever asked.” she looked up. “Until you....”

Caramel paused. “Oh....” he looked at her for a moment, she let a small smile creep onto her face. “Well I’m glad I did.” He reached across the table and put a hoof over hers again. “I really am.”

She blushed, but didn’t pull away. “So am I.”

They finished their pancakes, and Caramel got to his hooves. “Thanks, Twilight.” he said, walking back into the Library with a smile on his face. “That was really nice.”

“Yes it was, you could...come back again tomorrow...if you want.”

Caramel’s smile grew even wider. “Yes!” The sound echoed around the empty library. “Oh...Um...I mean I’d like that.”

Twilight laughed. “So would I...Oh, wait a minute.” her horn glowed. “Before you go, you’ve got something on your face.”

He froze as a napkin floated up to his face. She stepped in front of him, peering at a small amount of butter on his cheek. She was about a good hoof shorter than he was, so she had to look up. He couldn’t help but blush again, she was very close.

“There, all clean,” Twilight said, putting the napkin away. She suddenly seemed to notice where she was, she stiffened a bit. “So....I’ll see you tonight.” she said, backing up a bit.

“Um...yeah. See you then.” he headed towards the door. Before he opened it, he thought of something. “Oh...and Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“You know how you asked if there was anything you shouldn’t bring?”

She nodded.

“Don’t bring corn.”

To Be Continued.

Tired

In Caramel’s defence he almost made it halfway home before the panic set in again. This was going to happen. He’d practically made sure it would happen, and now there would be no stopping it.

He stopped dead in the middle of the road back to his farm, staring into space. A bird may have landed on his head, but he really didn’t care. She was going to be in his house, with his family, for hours.

Take a deepbreath, he thought to himself. You talked to her about this, it’s all going to be fine.

He thought back to breakfast, pancakes with Twilight. He could get used to that, it sounded nice, sitting their, talking in the morning, her sweet smile across the table, the smell of books filling the air. She’d invited him back, he’d get to do it all again tomorrow. If everything went well.

“And I’m going to make sure it does...” he promised himself.

He took up a gallop the rest of the way home. Leaving a startled bird in his wake.

The farm came into view shortly afterwards. Although it was still early, he could hear Toffee bustling around the kitchen already. Apparently everything had been put on hold for this ‘Event’. He hoped that was a good thing. Her silhouette shifted about the kitchen picking spices, mixing bowls, getting the house ready for their visitor.

He walked up to the door and stepped inside, the smell of apples cooking a hundred different ways flooded into his nose with the force of a psychical blow. It was warm and comforting in some ways and frankly alarming in others.

Toffee peeked her head around the doorway, a bit of chocolate staining the side of her cheek. Her face lit up at the sight of her brother.

“Well if it isn’t our little Romeo!” she teased. “Out getting ready for your date?”

Caramel attempted not to blush. “I had some business to take care of...”

“Oh yes, ‘Business’, I’m sure.” she waggled her eyebrows, laughing at the expression this drew from Caramel. Then her face softened. “Oh don’t worry, Mel, I’m sure you’ll be fine. I won’t embarrass you I promise. Now tell me, does Twilight like apple brownies or apple celery stew?”

Caramel’s stomach churned. Sometimes Apples were a bit too efficient at using apples. “Um...why no-”

“Make both! You’re right, Mel!” she disappeared back into the kitchen in a vaguely Toffee shaped cloud of flour.

Caramel gulped.

“Oh, by the way, Grampa’s lookin’ for you.” Toffee’s voice echoed back.

He turned and walked down the hall towards the living room, where his Grandfather could normally be found sitting in a large easy chair.

What now? he wondered as he progressed.

The old pony was exactly where Caramel thought he would be, though his eyes were closed.

“Grampa?”

The old pony snored loudly.

Caramel rolled his eyes and shook Grampa Jonagold gently. “Grampa? You wanted to see me?”

“Huh!? Whazat?” he stuttered. He looked around wildly for a moment before his eyes focused on Caramel. “Oh! There you are, must’a nodded off waitin’ on ya. You weren’t in your room this morning.”

“Oh,” Caramel wondered for a moment if he ought to lie about his whereabouts earlier, but quickly decided against it; he wasn’t a liar. “I...well...went to see Twilight.”

“Ah!” A sly smile spread accross Grampa Jonagold’s wrinkled face. “Goin’ to see your girl eh? Toffee has told me about this filly, from what I hear she’s quite the catch.” he clicked his teeth together in a way that made Caramel horribly uncomfortable. “Very lucky my boy!”

“...Thanks?” said Caramel.

“You’re welcome Caramel. You know, I was quite the stallion in my day. I swear the fillies were lining up for your old grampa! I reckon you must’ve gotten some of the Apple magic. Good genes, that’s what it is!”

Caramel figured it was safer to just nod.

Grampa Jonagold laughed heartily. “Ah yes, I have such memories of them days.” He stared of into space for a moment.

Caramel used this time to think. He and his grandfather had never really hit it off. They’d spoken a lot more in the last few days than they ever had before. He let himself smile inwardly about this. Though he did hope if they eventually grew to talk more, it would be about less..... sensitive topics.

The old pony came back from wherever he had gone, smiling oddly. Then he seemed to realize where he was. “Oh! Sorry about that Caramel, got a bit lost for a second there. In anycase, the reason I wanted you is, that applecart ain’t gonna wheel itself to Ponyville!”

Wait...what?

His grandfather hefted himself from the old chair and pushed Caramel towards the door. “Go on now, the rest of us may get a break to prepare for your little date, but we still need bits Caramel! Get out there and sell, sell, sell! Don’t worry, we got things here. Besides while you’re out you might pick up a few more to bring home. Filly killer.” he clicked his teeth again. It didn’t make Caramel any less uncomfortable the second time around.

“But I want to help!” he protested.

“Nonsense! We need those sales boy! Like I said we’ve got it!” He shoved Caramel outside. “The cart is in the barn all stocked up for ya, just push it and you’re ready to go!”

“Bu-”

The door slammed.

Caramel sighed. It looked like he was going to have to leave it up to them and hope it would turn out for the best.

What’s the worst that could happen?

He thought for a moment.

You know, I really don’t want the answer to that...

Caramel pushed the heavy cart all the way back to ponyville, once again cursing his lack of stamina. He slumped to the ground, exhausted, and stared ruefully at the bushels of apples he had to unload.

Well, they’re not gonna display themselves.

As he set about moving the heavy baskets, Caramel spotted his sign lying on it’s side among the breaburns. He smiled a bit in spite of himself as he picked it up and stuck it into the soft ground in front of the cart. The paint still looked fresh. He eyed the purple mare painted onto the wood, smiling a bit more at the sight.

Perhaps things won’t be so bad.

He felt a bit more optimistic as he set about making an alluring display out of apples. He decided to organize them by color, darkest at the front and lightest at the back. He thought it looked rather nice. He knew he probably wouldn’t get any customers until the lunch rush, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try.

Finishing his work he plopped down behind the cart and waited. The ponies of ponyville milled about as usual. He did notice that they didn’t give him as wide a berth as the last two days, that was a good sign. Maybe his reputation was changing.

Still this didn’t get him any customers durring the morning. Caramel sat there for hours, waiting for the sun to reach the midday point. He decided that if he sold enough apples during the lunch rush he’d pack up early and see if he could help with dinner preparations. He wanted it to be really special, he’d never brought anypony home before, it needed to be something to remember.

He thought about that for a moment.

Okay, something good to remember. He mentally corrected.

“So, how’d it go?”

Caramel jumped, tripping over a bushel of apples and falling head first onto the ground.

“Land sakes!” said Applejack, looking down at him worriedly, “I’m sorry, sugarcube, didn’t mean to go sneakin’ up on you. You alright?”

Caramel made a mental note to start paying more attention to his surroundings, his day dreaming was starting to become dangerous to his health.

“Yeah,” he said as she helped him up. “I’m fine, about used to it by now really.”

Applejack laughed. “Well, I just thought you might like somethin’ to eat.” She looked off to the left. “ And....while I was at it figure out how that date’a yours went.” she reached into her saddlebag and returned with a slice of apple pie.

The look in her eyes told him that the pie was more or less a bribe for information.

Oh well, I am hungry.

Caramel accepted the pie, but as he placed it on the cart top something occurred to him. “You haven’t asked Twilight?”

“Tried, she got all red at the mention’a the word date, said she had to put Spike to bed and ran off.” she paused. “It was 9 in the mornin’”

“Oh.” said Caramel, remembering his reaction toToffee asking about it. Applejack's eyebrows arched, waiting for his reply. “Well....”

“Yes?”

“Well....things went wonderfully!” he said finally, a grin breaking out on his face. “We didn’t even have to do anything. No plan, no set up, just the two of us walking through ponyville ‘til we had to turn back. It was so.....” he looked for a word.

“Wonderful?” Applejack supplied.

“Yes! I’d hardly believe it if I weren’t there.”

Applejack smiled. “Well shucks, I’m happy for the both’a you. I swear you two are cuter than a pair of peaches.” She playfully hoofed Caramel in the back. Right over the bruise that was just starting to heal.

Caramel winced, blushing at the complement. “Thanks...We’ve actually got something planned for tonight...I’m kinda worried honestly.”

“What is it?”

“Well, Toffee invited her over for dinner...tonight.”

“Oh!” she laughed. “Well shoot I thought it was somethin’ bad. You got nothin’ to worry about Caramel. Toffee’s got a good head on her shoulders. You won’t have too much to worry about.”

“It’s not Toffee I’m worried about...well... a little. It’s my grandfather.” Caramel admitted. “He’s...not the most socially....sensitive.”

Applejack’s was silent for a moment. “Your granpa’s my uncle Jonagold right?”

“That’s the one.”

Applejack thought for a moment. “The one who does that weird thing when he eats corn?”

Caramel nodded grimly.

“Ah...” Applejack looked uncomfortable for a moment. “Well I still say you’ll be fine sugarcube...just watch what you cook, alright?” She let a smile slip back onto her face. “Really, I’m sure it’ll go wonderfully. With you two together, I can’t see it goin any other way. Now you enjoy that pie. I gotta get back to my own cart...I left Applebloom in charge...”

There was a crash from the opposite end of the market place. Applejack looked panicked and dashed off into the commotion.

Wonderfully. Thought Caramel. Wonderful.

How many times had he used that word? He thought back through his life, and found a distinct lack of it.

Until recently.

When he'd first met Twilight, it'd been wonderful and the second time he’d seen her in the marketplace, that’d been wonderful too. When he’d plucked up the courage to ask her on a date, when she’d said yes, their walk through the town, pancakes this morning...

Wonderful

Since he’d met her, suddenly he had a reason to use that word.

‘It’ll go wonderfully’, Applejack had said.

“It’ll go wonderfully.” he whispered under his breath. He remembered the promise earlier that morning. He smiled and took a bite out of the pie sitting on the cart.

It really will.

The sun was almost in the middle of the sky when Caramel saw the first of the lunch customers arriving. It was the same unicorn mare from yesterday. Today she was done up in a dress layered with multi-colored feathers. The general impression landed somewhere between a peacock and a fireworks display.

She marched up to Caramel’s cart, nose upturned. Caramel briefly wondered if her neck was simply built that way.

“Hello, Apple Pony,” she said stiffly. “I require two granny smiths for lunch. Make sure they are as green as possible, no blemishes.”

“Coming right up.” Caramel grabbed the apples in question, making sure they were unbruised.

“Have you reconsidered?”

“Reconsidered?”

The unicorn gestured to the sign stuck in the ground next to the cart. “Reconsidered my offer to make a sign for my boutique.” She looked Caramel in the eye. “Though your apples are good I really must say your talent is wasted here.”

Caramel was unsure how to respond “W-well I wouldn’t say wasted...”

The mare raised an eyebrow. “Do you enjoy working here?”

Caramel thought for a moment. “Well...I wouldn’t say ‘enjoy’ but it’s not ba-”

“That’s what I thought. Now, young stallion, my offer still stands, and will stand. Whether or not you will take it is yet to be seen. I hope you will make the right decision.” She placed some bits on the cart turned curtly and walked into town.

Caramel stood dumbfounded for a moment.

What just happened?

Caramel didn’t have long to ponder this. The lunch rush hit like a wave in a hurricane, stuffy ponies of all types bombarding him with orders for every kind of apple he had in stock, their impatient jabs ringing in his ears.

Maybe she’s right...he thought passing a pair of gallas to a stallion in a top hat. This job isn’t what I enjoy... he tossed a fuji to the mare yelling at the top of her extremely fancy lungs. Is it? I mean...Do I enjoy painting? I never did it until the sign....

An old couple with a parakeet on their shoulder asked if he sold slices. He explained that he didn’t have a knife. The bird tried to nip his ear as he moved to the next customer. But....It worked didn’t it? I did it well, could I do it again? Caramel announced he was out of braeburns to a few disapointed groans. I mean...I don’t particularly enjoy this job....but it makes money right? It’s stable...that’s whats important.

“This isn’t a jonagold you lummox!” screamed a prissy mare in a large hat. “I asked for a jonagold!” she tossed the apple back over the cart. Caramel barely managed to duck out of the way.

“Sorry! I’m sorry, I’ll get you that apple right away!” He turned to a quickly emptying bucket of jonagold apples.

But would I be happy with this...

“You’d better, and get it right you hick!”

If I tried something else...I might fail....

“Apple Pony! Apple Pony! I’ve been waiting for ten minutes! Get over here this instant!”

I’ve failed before....

“Apple Pony!”

A lot....

“Apple Pony!”

Who’s to say it won’t happen again?

“Have you got corn in your ears? Or is your brain not working?”

But....I didn’t fail this time...

“Apple Pony!”

I succeeded....My sign is what brought these ponies here.

“I have never been kept waiting this long! If I do not get my apples this minute I shall be personally insulted!”

These rude...

“Apple Pony!”

Belligerent...

“Hello!”

Ponies....

“I shall have service, and I shall have it n-” The screaming pony was silenced by granny smith apple shoved in his mouth.

“We’re closed.” said Caramel shortly.

Murmuring broke out among the crowd.

“We’re closed.” he repeated.

“B-but what is the meaning of this? We’re hungry”

“And I’m closed.” Caramel started packing up.

“You can’t do this!”

Caramel put on a plastic smile. “You know what I can’t do?”

The ponies looked apprehensive.

“I cannot....put up with....this.” he gestured to the crowd. “Any of this!” he felt a pit of rage bubbling in his stomach. “You pompous, stuck up bunch of....of....I don’t know what!”

The crowd took a step back.

“I’m tired!” Caramel continued. “I’m tired of the insults, of the yelling, of this! I’m tired of being told what to do. I’m tired of trying to impress everyone, and failing again and again! Tired of being looked over!! I’m tired of it! All of it!”

Caramel stood their, hyperventilating. The ponies stared at him for a movement, unsure what to do.

“We....are...closed.” he said again.

With some resentful whisperers they dispersed.

Caramel slumped to the ground, whatever was propelling him through his outburst had been spent.

What now? he asked himself.

I’ve chased off my main customers....

He sighed.

No going back now....

He got up and began loading the apples back on to the cart.

I’ll take her up on that offer.

He’d managed to sell a good amount of apples before his impromptu closing. Grampa Jonagold would be very happy about that.

But I’ll have to tell him. Caramel thought.

His grandfather had always been a traditionalist, every pony in the apple family had an apple job. Painting signs didn’t fit into that. He wouldn’t like it.

Caramel made his way back home.

I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Caramel decided. For now...I just want to get through dinner.

To Be Continued.

Dinner and a Story

Caramel took his time walking home. He wanted to get there in time to help with dinner, but he didn’t relish the idea of telling his grandfather what he’d done. The sooner he got there the sooner he’d have to. Of course it would have to happen eventually, but stalling was one of the few things Caramel considered among his talents.

Eventually though he did come to the edge of his family’s land. He took a deep breath, filled with the smell of Toffee’s cooking.

The most he can do is yell at me. He thought. Plus after dinner he’ll be full. Who isn’t happy when they’re full?

The heat from the kitchen flowed over Caramel as he approached the door. He sat the mostly empty cart by the stairs and headed inside. The walls had been decorated with various apple themed things, apple streamers hung from the ceiling, apple mats had been layed strategically around the house and, of course, fresh apples sat on every windowsill. Toffee had gone all out.

At the moment, she was in the dining room, placing a smoking bowl of apple cobbler on the overstocked table.

“You’re home early!” She remarked with a happy little jump. “Sold extra hard to be here early for your little Juliet?”

Caramel’s face colored. He opened his mouth to reply only to have a spoonful of something shoved in.

“Tell me, more apples?” asked Toffee, looking up at him expectantly.

“Mhmmphh mphm?” asked Caramel.

“You’re right!” she spun around and danced back into the kitchen. “Everything’s better with more apples.”

Caramel swallowed whatever it was she’d forced on him. It tasted of apples-of course, what else would it taste of?...But...there was hint of garlic. He made a mental note to find out which dish that was and accidentally spill it.

He found Grampa Jonagold balanced on a ladder in the sitting room, putting up large apples themed stickers. Very briefly he considered telling him then, and got as far as opening his mouth when his grandfather turned around.

His face lit up and Caramel quickly closed his mouth.

“There you are m’boy!” he bellowed, jumping off the ladder with more energy than Caramel had seen in quite a long time. “Just finishing up the preparations for your little date! How were the sales today?”

“Oh, well they were alr-”

“What am I saying, of course they were great! With our little ace in the hole how could they not be? I am so proud of you.” He grabbed Caramel in a hug, patting him roughly on the back.

Caramel winced. “Um...thanks Grampa, that means a lot.”

It really does....He thought morosely. I wonder how long it will last.

“Now!” Grampa Jonagold released him. “Let’s get you right and proper for your little filly eh?”

Suddenly Caramel found himself being led by the hoof up the stairs to his grandfather’s room. He’d hardly ever been inside disregarding the one time he’d had to help rebuild the roof after an unfortunate kite accident. It smelled of distilled cider and old hay.

Caramel tried not to trip as his grandfather came to a stop in front of an old wardrobe.

“Now, I’m about to give you something that has been in our branch of the Apple family

for generations. Passed from Apple stallion to Apple stallion as a tradition. I think it’s about time it fell to you.” He opened the wardrobe with a flourish. “Congratulations.”

Caramel’s mouth dropped open.

“Speechless eh?” Grampa Jonagold grinned “Thought you’d be, this beauty has seen me through more than one date, and now it’s yours.”

“Well....thanks Grampa, b-but it’s...it’s...”

“Too fancy for you? Don’t worry, I thought the same when I was your age. You get used to it, whip this thing out and BAM! The fillies will be falling all over’ya.”

“Well...no that’s not exactly what I was thinking....”

Grampa Jonagold arched an eyebrow. “Pre-date jitters? Perfectly understandable.” He patted Caramel on the back again. There was a cracking sound. “I know exactly how you feel, felt the same way when I met your grandmother.” His eyes got that faraway look. “Put this old thing up after that. Didn’t need it any more.”

It was quite for a moment.

Caramel sighed, he couldn’t turn down such a gift. Not with its history. “Well...suppose I’d better change.”

His Grandfather’s face lit up again. “I suppose you’d better!” He turned towards the door. “You’re going to look great!” He walked out into the hall, leaving Caramel alone.

Caramel let out another sigh. Maybe she won’t laugh too much...It’s not that bad... he took a hold of the hanger and prepared to get dressed. But did it have to be blue?

Toffee set yet another dish on the table, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow. She’d changed out of her cooking apron, and into a modest dress. Normally she wouldn’t be caught dead in such an outfit, but her Grandfather had insisted.

It is something to her credit that she managed to hold back the laughter that threatened to come bursting out when Caramel descended the stairs.

“Well...” she said between suppressed snickers. “You look....‘nice’, Mel.”

Caramel shot her a look. “It was grampa’s idea.”

Caramel stood dressed in an antique blue suit. Its large buttons hung haphazardly underneath a comically large collar that refused to stay down. A pink flower that had seen better days hung cheerily above the pocket, which held a green handkerchief. Darker blue streaks ran down either side, ending in a pair of tails.

Toffee finally abandoned any pretense of seriousness, and fell into a fit of laughter banging her hoof against the floor.

“Thanks for the support,” Caramel huffed, walking past her into the kitchen.

She rolled over and got to her feet. “What are you doing?” she asked, drying her eyes.

Caramel stood there for a moment. “Well...I’m helping. What do you need?”

“Oh no you’re not!”

“Huh? Why no-”

Toffee appeared behind him and began shoving him towards the door. “This is your date,

you’re not getting all dirty in the kitchen before Twilight shows up. Now get! Go on! Shoo!”

“B-but I want to help!”

“You can help by staying clean and in one piece until dinner starts. Good luck!” She turned and headed back into the kitchen.

Caramel was left in the living room unsure what to do with himself. Twilight wasn’t set to arrive for another half hour. He realized he missed her. It’d only been this morning when they’d shared breakfast, but it felt liked days. He wondered for a moment if she missed him as well.

He needed something to take his mind off it. Toffee was taking care of the final dinner preparations, his grandfather had taken care of the decorations and he was already dressed, as much as he didn’t like what he was dressed in.

There’s nothing for me to do.... He thought morosely. Of course he was grateful his family had worked so hard to make this night special. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a bit unnecessary. He wracked his brains for something, anything he’d forgotten, something that might be necessary for tonight.

Dinner.....decorations.....dress....What else? What else do ponies have on.... his thought process stalled for a moment. He gulped. Dates.

He looked around the room, perhaps something would come to him. His eyes fell on the old bookshelf in the corner, landing on one book in particular. It was missing most of its spine and the pages were horribly dogeared, but it gave him an idea.

Gifts. The word surfaced in his brain. They get each other gifts! It’s been long enough hasn’t it? He wondered, he didn’t want to rush things.

Caramel walked over to the shelf and picked up the dusty old book. It wasn’t particularly thick, and its cover had been marred by one to many spilled glasses of juice and many more uses as a coaster, but he could still make out the faded words of the title:

The Secret Tree.

He hadn’t read it since he was a small colt, but he still remembered the story from his days with his grandmother as she read aloud and he pointed at the pictures. He had a bit of time, and as a small smile appeared on his face he opened the book and began to read.

A filly, who always wore a blue bowtie, lived on a hill by a town by the forest. She did not have many friends, but that suited her just fine. Every day she would walk down into town to visit a little library, which is the best kind of library because it only has room for the best books. There was always a kind pony behind the counter who was the epitome of librarianiness, from his big glasses to his soft voice, would always tell her what a smart little filly she was and say how nice her blue bowtie looked. Then he’d bring a ladder to retrieve the largest book from the tallest shelf at the back of the library. It was a book of fairy stories that the little filly loved. At the start of every day she’d check it out, go to her secret reading spot and spend hours pouring over the fantastic tales inside.Then at the end of every day she’d return it. It was only polite for little fillies to be punctual after all.

But, early one morning the filly in the blue bowtie came down into town to the little library as she always did. The kind pony behind the counter told her what a smart filly she was and how nice her blue bowtie looked. But then he frowned and told her that somepony had already come in to check out the largest book from the tallest shelf at the back of the library. He, being the epitome of librarianiness, could not turn down a pony who wanted to check out a book, as much as he wanted to keep it for her.

The filly in the blue bowtie was very upset, not being able to read her favorite book. But her mother had taught her well and she thanked the kind pony behind the counter and left without checking out anything at all.

On the walk home she lamented the loss of her book. It seemed she would simply have to wait until tomorrow to check it out, and continue her reading. Oh how cruel was fate!? She’d just gotten to the bit about the wizards, but there was nothing to be done. So, saddened, but hungry, the filly decided to get something to eat.

After buying a lunch of roasted hayseeds and a cupcake, she decided to go to her secret reading spot. While she still didn’t have anything to read, a secret reading spot should make just as good of a secret eating spot shouldn’t it?

Carrying her bag of food, the little filly in the blue bowtie went back up the hill, past her house and into the forest. She knew the path by heart. She went past the mossy boulder, being extra careful to be quiet, so as not to wake the sleeping dragon, under the roots of the oldest oak, three times for luck, jumped over the small creek, being careful not to touch the water for there’s never a small creek without some kind of nefarious beast, then through the hanging leaves of the weeping willow and into the glen.

In that glen, surrounded by flowers, was her secret reading spot. It was an old tree. Though she’d read books about plants she’d never been quite sure its breed, but its trunk was full of holes and nooks just perfect for a filly to crawl into, and its leaves were just dense enough to shade her from the sun while letting in enough light to read by. They were polite that way.

She sighed, it is hard to be sad in such a place, but without her favorite book the whole thing felt a bit wrong. Like putting lettuce in a peanut butter sandwich.

Still, she was here and she had food, so she found a comfy nook and set about eating. As she chewed, there was an odd sound, like a bird only slightly lower pitched. She ignored it and kept eating, but then it happened again, slightly louder. It sounded like it was coming from directly above her. She ignored it for a bit longer before her curiosity got the best of her.

So, bracing her hooves against the bottom of the nook she peeked into another hole in the trunk a little ways up.

A colt in a clover baseball cap lay with his back turned to her gnawing on the tip of his hoof with worry. In front of him, there was a large book.

The filly in blue bowtie gasped, it was her book! The one from the library, it must have been him who checked it out!

She hopped up and tapped him on the back. The colt in the clover baseball cap yelped and almost fell from the tree, his cap wiggling on his head because it was a size too big.

“Who are you!?” he asked, angry at being disturbed.

“Well, I might ask you the same question!” said the filly in the blue bowtie. “Along with what you’re doing with my book!”

“Your book? I checked this out from the library. It’s nopony’s book.”

This caught her off-guard.

“Well....that’s right. But I’d meant to check it out, as I do every morning, that counts for something,” she said testily. “And what are you doing here? This is my secret reading spot. I’ve got rights you know.”

“Well I’d say it’s just as much my reading spot as yours.” said the colt in the clover baseball cap. “And besides I got here first. It’s terribly impolite to interrupt someone when they’re reading.” He frowned.

“Well, what do you think you’ve done!?” she asked. “I’ve been reading that book for a while. I’d just gotten to the story about the wizards.”

The colt in clover baseball cap blinked. “Well so did I. Just now in fact. Did you read the part about the dragon?”

The filly nodded. “Yes, it was so exciting! Now you see my predicament. I would very much like to finish it.”

“Well,” the colt began, looking her over. “We’re in the same place. We could just read it together.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “I don’t know. I’ve never met you, or seen you around town. For all I know you could be a stranger. My mother told me to avoid those.”

“Well,” The colt put a hoof to his chin. “Mine did too. So if she warned you about strangers, and me about strangers then neither of us can be one. Because then they wouldn’t have had to warn us about them.”

The filly in the blue bowtie had to admit this made sense.

“Well that still doesn’t explain why I haven’t seen you before.”

The colt in the clover baseball cap explained that his family had moved here only a week ago. He came from the little town on the other side of the forest. He’d hated it there because it didn’t have a little library. Which meant it was no place that anypony ought to live. His house was in the town by the bakers, and he didn’t have many friends, which suited him just fine.

He’d seen the tree on the ride and decided it looked like a rather nice place to read. So he’d looked for the perfect book to do so. Finding her book he’d come here to enjoy it.

The filly in the blue bowtie listened to his story, nodding at the appropriate points, and not at all interrupting until it was finished.

“Well,” she said considering. “If you really want to read it that much...and you promise you’re not a stranger, then I suppose there would be no harm in reading it together.

So they did.

They finished the story about the wizards much faster than she thought they would. The sound she’d heard earlier was the colt biting his hoof during the suspenseful bits.

Since they had a lot of time until sundown they decided to read the next story too, for it was a very large book. And by the time the day was over they’d read The Mare and the Man in the Moore, The Colt Who Loved the Moon and they even managed to finish The Brave Knight of Midnight. But alas, the sun must set on even the best of days, and the two had to say goodbye. The colt in the clover baseball cap let her take the book back to the library, and promised he would not check it out again if they could do the same tomorrow.

She agreed, and they walked back. She showed him all her tricks to avoid the creatures of the forest that he’d never noticed, and they went their separate ways.

The next day, the Filly in the blue bowtie walked down into town to visit the little library, the kind pony behind the counter told her what a smart little filly she was and said how nice her blue bowtie looked. Then fetched the ladder to retrieve the largest book from the tallest shelf at the back of the library.

The colt in the clover baseball cap met her at the entrance to the forest with a smile on his face, and together they went in. Past the mossy boulder, being extra careful to be quiet, so they would not wake the sleeping dragon, under the roots of the oldest oak, six times for luck, helped each other over the small creek, being careful not to touch the water for there’s never a small creek without some kind of nefarious beast, then through the hanging leaves of the weeping willow and into the glen. Where they sat and they read every day, just the filly in the blue bowtie, the colt in the clover ball cap and the book of fairy stories.

And that suited them just fine.

Caramel closed the book, his smile growing a bit wider, he knew exactly what to get Twilight now. He raced off to the storeroom to find some supplies.

He found everything he needed in the pantry hidden beneath the winter tree covers and several apples far past their prime. There were several cans of paint and paint brushes available. He’d been surprised at the amount of colors available. But then he thought back to all the little accidents around the house, every scratch needed to be painted over didn’t it?

Well at least some good came out of them. He mused, closing the pantry door.

He examined himself, he’d managed not to get any paint on his suit, though in his opinion it might have made it look better, and turned to admire his work. They didn’t have any paper, or canvas, as far as Grampa Jonagold was concerned if it didn’t sell apples there wasn’t much of a reason for it to be on an apple farm.Though there was plenty of spare wood sitting around for much the same reason as the paint. The trouble had been finding a piece of the right size that wasn’t scratched, pitted, scorched or otherwise damaged. Eventually he found a small block that seemed perfect for the task.

So, spending as much time as he dared before Twilight arrived, he painted her gift. This was only the second time he’d tried his hoof at painting and the result now sat drying on his nightstand.

He couldn’t help but smile.

She’ll love it.

Feeling a great bit better about the looming dinner, Caramel checked the clock hanging on the wall. He’d finished with very little time to spare. Twilight would be arriving in less than ten minutes.

He shook the stiffness from his limbs, he’d been standing in the same place for far too long. Racing over to the mirror he checked his hair, done in it’s usual way. He silently thanked Celestia that his grandfather didn’t know anything about hair styling. The suit was bad enough as it was. Still, it had been a nice gesture.

Caramel exhaled slowly, looking his reflection in the eye.

“You’re gonna be fine,” he said to himself. “You’re gonna be fine....” He stared into his

own eyes for a bit. “Won’t you?”

His reflection offered no answer as the doorbell rang.

Caramel’s heart leapt into his throat.

Here we go....

He stepped out of his room, trotting down the steps two at a time. He had to get there before Toffee or, Celestia forbid, his grandfather did.

Surveying the living room as he hopped past the final stair, he saw Toffee coming down the hall. He put on a bit of extra speed and made it to the door first, but not by much.

He tried to stop his heart from beating so fast as he readied himself. He wanted badly to rip open the door, but that wouldn’t be gentlemanly.

What would her books say about this? He wondered for a moment, taking a breath. Just open the door. Everything will be fine. Taking another breath, he slowly opened the door, and gasped.

She looked lovely.

Twilight was wearing a modest red dress with yellow sleeves, there was a matching sash tied around her neck, it all beautifully complemented her natural purple color. She didn’t appear to be wearing any makeup, but her face looked lovely nonetheless as she smiled, lighting up as she saw him. She was blushing slightly.

Caramel caught himself staring.

“O-oh Twilight! Welcome!” he said a bit louder than he’d intended. “You look...beautiful.”

She turned her head bashfully. “Thank you...a friend of mine heard about dinner. She absolutely insisted.” Twilight looked him over. “You look very handsome yourself.”

This caught Caramel off guard, he’d almost forgotten the horrid blue suit he’d been wearing for most of the night.

“Oh, me!? No, no, you’re being too generous. This is my Grandfather’s old suit....it’s nothing special.”

“Oh, it’s your grandfathers!” she said examining it a bit more closely. “That explains the stripes,” she said running a hoof along the side. “Very early pre-modern ponyvillian. It’s really well taken care of if it’s that old. It must mean a lot to him.”

Caramel felt a flash of guilt for thinking so badly of it all night.

“Yeah... I suppose it does.”

He looked at her for a moment and realized her hoof was still pressed against his chest. She’d leaned in a bit close to look at the details of the fabric.

Twilight seemed to realize this at about the same time and looked up to find his eyes looking into hers.

“Um...ah....” Caramel fumbled for something to say. “You have lovely eyes.” He’d never seen them this close, from a normal distance they were pretty, but here from so near, they were astonishing.

“Thank...you...” she softly.“Yours too.”

“Ahem.” Toffee cleared her throat.

Caramel almost fell into Twilight before regaining his balance. “Ah! Yes...Um...how silly of me! Would you like to come inside?” he said, stepping back into the house, blushing furiously.

“Oh, oh yes! Thank you.” Twilight stepped inside, her face matching her dress.

“Sure, wouldn’t be much of a dinner if we spent the whole night on the doorstep.” Caramel laughed nervously at his own joke. “Let’s sit down.”

He led Twilight into the dining room with Toffee bringing up the rear. As they walked he tried to find his grandfather, who was nowhere to be seen. Twilight sat across from him at the table. There were four place settings, two on the right for Toffee and Twilight, and two on the left for Caramel and his Grampa Jonagold, wherever he was.

Toffee noticed his absence and nodded to Caramel.

“I’ll be one sec, hun.” she excused herself to look for their missing grandfather, leaving Caramel and Twilight alone.

“So much food!” she said, looking over the table, bowls of food practically spilling off the sides. “You didn’t have to do all this!”

“Oh, that’s Toffee” said Caramel, grinning despite his nervousness. “Give her any excuse to cook and she’s all over it. Though, she might have gotten a bit carried away this time.” he looked around, then pointed a hoof to a vaguely red dish sitting on the left corner and mouthed, “Don’t eat that one.”

Twilight laughed that laugh he loved so much, he couldn’t help but join in.

“What’s so funny?” asked Toffee returning with Grampa Jonagold tow.

“Um...Nothing! Nothing at all! Isn’t that right Twilight?” he asked.

“Oh no, nothing that I can see.”

Toffee looked at them for a moment. “If you say so. I found this one out cold upstairs,” she said cocking her head towards her Grandfather.

“I need my sleep!” he protested. “Gotta have my wits about me. Stay sharp and all that.”

He looked around the room until his eyes fell on Twilight. “Ah! There she is! Nice to finally meet you!” He walked over and took her hoof, shaking it enthusiastically. “Twilight right? Toffee didn’t tell me you were a unicorn. Could come in plum useful whe-”

Toffee shooed him into his seat before he could finish. Caramel had no idea what he was going to say, but had the feeling he wouldn’t have liked it.

His grandfather sat down with a huff. “What’ch do that for?”

“The food, it’s getting cold.” Toffee said reproachfully. “I didn’t cook all of this so you could talk over it all day.”

“Fine,” Grampa Jonagold grumbled.

“Um... It’s nice to meet you too Mr.Jonagold,” said Twilight, her hoof still moving a litttle.

“Oooooh, Mister Jonagold,” he puffed out his chest a bit. “I like this one.”

“I bet you do,” said Toffee. “Now come on eveypony, dig in!”

Caramel leaned over looking at the food, and hoped the night would go well.

To Be Continued.

Confrontation

Confrontation

Caramel chewed very slowly on a chunk of apple casserole. He was trying trying to find the perfect speed so he looked as though he knew the first thing about polite dinner etiquette, without at the same time looking like a llama with a piece of chewing gum.It was proving to be a more difficult task than he'd anticipated.

Just be cool...smooth...everything’s going well, he thought to himself.

They’d managed to make it through the first course: a delicious apple salad with stewed apples and a side of apple chutney. His grandfather had been far too busy putting food in his mouth to make many comments. Caramel dearly hoped this pattern would continue throughout the night. Toffee, while a bit more chatty, seemed to know how important this was to him and kept any questions she posed to a minimum level of embarrassment.

“So,” she said, looking at Twilight. “You run the local library, huh? I bet that’s interesting.”

Twilight nodded enthusiastically. “Oh yes very! The hardest part is keeping the books in order, Spike -that’s my assistant- is always leaving adventure stories lying around. Still, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. We just got some new stock in, mostly fiction, which of course he’s very happy about.”

Toffee nodded. “I’ll have to come by sometime perhaps. Been a long time since I read a good book.”

Twilight smiled. “I’d like that.”

Caramel began to imagine Twilight and Toffee as friends, trying to decide whether this was a pleasant development, or an altogether horrifying one. He decided that he would cross that bridge when he got there and hope there wasn’t a troll underneath. In the meantime he joined the conversation.

“Yes, and perhaps I could show you around the farm sometime,” he offered. “It’s pretty nice, if you don’t mind...well...trees... but if you happen to love them you’re in for a treat!”

Twilight laughed at his joke while Toffee rolled her eyes.

“Well I happen to live in a tree,” Twilight grinned. “So I like to think I’m rather fond of them.”

Caramel felt a strange warm feeling in his chest as they laughed together. It was the same sensation he’d felt when he asked her if she’d go out with him, the same sense of elation from their first ‘date’ and breakfast that very morning. He felt like he’d never stop smiling.

Even Toffee broke down and chuckled a few times. The night was going better than he could have hoped. Eventually Toffee cleared the table of the plates from the second course, and went off to fetch dessert, leaving Twilight and Caramel alone with Grampa Jonagold, and him with nothing to eat. He tapped his hoof impatiently against the wood of the table.

Oh Celestia... Caramel thought. There’s nothing to keep him quiet anymore....

His grandfather looked at Twilight across the table while they waited. She fidgeted nervously under his gaze. He then looked at Caramel, who wasn’t doing much better.

“I swear, you two are cuter than a pair of foal’s boots!” he said with a wide grin. “Lovely couple.”

The complement was unexpected, and though it was somewhat embarrassing, Caramel let out an internal sigh of relief.

He seems to really like her.

“Now, what are your thoughts about marriage?”

Twilight went from a shade of purple to deep burgundy, while Caramel choked on nothing in particular.

His grandfather chuckled and slapped his knee. “Ha! Shoot, ya’ll ought to see your faces, I wish I had one of them fancy cameras. This is too priceless.”

There was a pause.

“Oh...” said Caramel. He forced out a laugh. “Ha..ha..ha..ha good one grampa...Isn’t it Twilight?”

Twilight smiled a bit too widely and laughed. “Hmm, yes. Ha, ha, ha. Good one Mr. Jonagold.”

“Whooo yeah.” He wiped away a tear. “But seriously, ya’ll remind me of Sprout and I.” His smile faded a bit. “That was Caramel’s Grandmother, Apple Sprout. Finest gardener you ever saw, that mare. She could make a rose bloom in the middle of the driest desert.”

It was quiet for a moment.

Caramel looked at his Grandfather. He suddenly seemed a lot older. His eyes had that faraway look they seemed to get whenever the topic came up, like he was somewhere else entirely.

He chuckled softly. “I’m getting old...”

“Old but spry!” said Toffee, bursting through the kitchen doors, an apple pie expertly balanced on her flank. She set it down in the center of the table and carefully doled out slices. “This old coot boring you with his stories?” she asked teasingly.

“Oh no! Not at all!” said Twilight quickly.

“Word of warning, once you get him started you might as well forget any plans you had for the day.”

Grampa Jonagold shot her a look from across the table. “Well Twilight happens to enjoy my stories. Don’t you Twilight?”

Twilight nodded. “Oh yes, I’m always fascinated by stories of from the older generation of ponyvillians. It’s a unique perspective on history.”

The old stallion grinned. “Hear that? I’m a unique perspective.”

“You’re unique alright,” said Toffee rolling her eyes. “Anyway, let’s get a ‘Perspective’ on this pie before it gets cold.” She smiled. “How about it?”

Caramel was happy for the change of subject, his grandmother was a rather sensitive topic. Though he found himself surprised at his grandfather’s behaviour, he seemed more jovial than usual. Making jokes, trading quips with Toffee, being so lively and vibrant. As he ate his pie he couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty for his early assumptions that the old pony would ruin the night.

They ate for a while, the occasional bit of conversation coming in between bites of pie. Toffee had really outdone herself, it was delicious. As Caramel ate, he watched Twilight go through her slice with the same methodical motions he had seen that morning. She’d brought a fork along. They didn’t have any in the house, being earth ponies they couldn’t properly use them. He noticed his Grandfather and Sister stealing occasional glances.

He hadn’t thought about it much, but they’d hardly come in contact with anypony who wasn’t earth born on a day to day basis. So far they hadn’t made much of a fuss about it besides his grandfather’s earlier comment. He hoped the trend would continue.

Caramel couldn’t help but smile when he noticed that almost every bite Twilight took had the exact same amount of apples.

He suddenly remembered the gift he’d prepared. His smile grew a bit wider.

Now...now’s the perfect time! Gotta finish...

Caramel attempted to eat his pie quickly. He shoved the rest of it into his mouth, only to find that the filling was akin to molten lead when ingested in large quantities. He bit back a yelp, trying his hardest not to spit the sweet sticky lava back onto the plate.

Okay, bad idea, bad idea! Act casual! Just chew it and swallow... Act normal.

He attempted to smile around a mouthful of pie.

Oh sweet Celestia it burns!

“Boy? You feelin’ alright?” asked Grampa Jonagold.

Caramel nodded, trying to chew.

“You sure?” His Grandfather put a hoof to his chin. “You look a little red.”

Twilight looked on, concerned. “He’s right, you don’t look well.”

Toffee smiled. “He’s looked like that all night. I can’t imagine why.” She winked in Twilight’s direction. “ I’m starting to think red’s his natural coloring.”

Caramel attempted to glare at her, he didn’t think it was very threatening considering his cheeks bulging with pastry .

“Ekush meh,” he mumbled.

Caramel quickly got up from his seat, and tried not to run into the kitchen, his tongue suddenly feeling very sympathetic to the plight of charcoal. He all but slammed the door open, rushed to reached the sink and quickly spat out the offending substance. He bit his hoof, trying not to yell at the throbbing pain still in his mouth, fumbling to turn the faucet on he took several quick gulps to rid himself of the last remnants of molten pie.

Crisis averted, he made sure to clean out the sink. If Toffee found evidence he’d spit out any of her food, third degree tongue burns would be the least of his problems.

He breathed through his mouth to soothe the remaining ache as he walked over to the cupboard where he’d stored his project. He couldn’t help but grin as he moved aside old farm supplies and cooking utensils, reaching his goal. His heart speeding up as he finally uncovered the small painted block.

He grabbed it gingerly, making sure the paint was dry and wouldn’t chip. He turned it around a few times, checking each side to make sure it was perfect.

Taking a glance back towards the living room door, he could hear his heart now beating in his ears. His confidence wavered for a moment.

What if I screwed it up and she doesn’t like it?... He thought. I’ve never painted anything so small before...or so important. He looked from the door to his gift, feeling its weight, seemingly heavier than it had been before.

Caramel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He thought back through the events of that day, the good things and the bad.

Hearing the jeering of ponies at lunch?

Bad

Closing the cart?

Bad.

Not telling Grampa about closing the cart?

Bad

Breakfast with Twilight?

Good.

Seeing Twilight standing at the door happy to see him.

Good

He paused.

Oh so good...

This could be a good day, or a bad day, Caramel decided. Right now it was tied. He’d had so many bad days before he could hardly count them all. But he could win this one. He could make a day he’d remember and, he hoped, one she would too.

He turned, and headed towards the door.

Then paused, turned around, and headed right back.

There’s no harm in working on the presentation a bit is there?

He quickly found a small basket and some old wrapping paper from last Hearths Warming. It had little cheery windigos on it, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. He placed some straw in the basket, wrapped the block and placed it gently in the center.

Now, he thought. Now it’s ready.

He grabbed the basket’s handle in his teeth, and headed back to the dining room.

Toffee and Twilight were talking about something or other. He really couldn’t hear them over the thudding in his chest. Something about history, or maybe it was cooking? He wasn’t sure. Grampa Jonagold sat off to the side making his way through what Caramel guessed was his third slice of pie.

He cleared his throat, with more volume than he intended. All of the chatter in the room stopped, his grandfather had a bit of pie sticking out of his mouth as he turned to look.

Caramel felt his face heating up.

“What’cha got there, Mel?” asked Toffee.

“Oh, meh mift mor Mwimight.” Caramel realized he was biting down on the basket handle so hard he could taste bits of wood. He sat the basket on the edge of the table, removing his teeth with some effort and tried again. “It’s a gift,” he stumbled. “A gift for Twilight.”

He looked over at the purple unicorn, whose face was now colored by a slight blush.

“Oh! you really didn’t have to,” she said quickly. “I mean, really, dinner is enough.”

“Oh...” He paused, this wasn’t an angle he’d be expecting. “Well...I didn’t do it because I had too.” He nosed the basket gently towards her. “I did it because I wanted to.” Caramel smiled a little.

Twilight looked at the basket, then at him and smiled back. “Well...in that case I guess I can’t really turn it down, can I?”

He chuckled softly. “Nope, no choice.”

The basket was bathed in a purple glow as Twilight picked it up, carefully removing the block from the straw, and brushing off any lingering strands. She turned it around a few times, before slowly tearing the paper off.

“Oh my...” she said softly.

Caramel’s heart skipped a beat.

“It’s...beautiful!”

It quickly resumed beating at twice its regular rate. His face broke out into an almost impossible grin. Floating in front of her, was the small wooden block he’d spent the afternoon painting, each of its six faces adorned with two little foals performing various actions. A purple one in a blue bowtie, and a yellow one in a clover ball cap. The first showed them running towards the forest, a book held between them. A quick turn displayed the pair sneaking past a large boulder, shaped like a dragon, and beneath that was the two taking turns going under the branches of an enormous willow tree, then helping one another over a creek and under the hanging vines of the willow tree. The final face, which sat proudly at the top, showed the two of them under a blanket, reading as the sun set over the tree hollow they hid in.

“The Secret Tree...” said Twilight. “I loved that book as a filly. How did you know?”

Caramel twiddled his front hooves a bit. “Well...I noticed the salt shakers in your kitchen this morning...I figured you probably liked the story. I have a copy, my grandmother used to read it to us as foals. So I took a chance and made that for you.”

Twilight looked from the small gift to Caramel then back again.

Oh no.... Caramel felt a jolt of fear up his spine. That’s creepy isn’t it? Noticing something like that. I’ve freaked her out, haven’t I? Oh Celestia, I should have just given her an apple or something. She likes apples, apples are go-

His thought were interrupted as Twilight hugged him.

“This is amazing!” she yelled.

Caramel was pretty sure his mane was standing on end. The shock of it left him too stunned to do much of anything. Several thoughts slowly drifted across the surface of his brain, they might as well have been gibberish for as much as he heard any of them. He stood stock still, like a granite statue until something finally got through, he briefly picked up the words “Hug her back.”

He obliged, wrapping his hooves around her as well. She was a lot shorter than he was, his head almost resting on top of hers.

After a few minutes his brain got another message through, this time that he ought to say something in return.

“Oh!” he said realizing he hadn’t thanked her yet. He floundered a bit, not used to accepting praise. “Well...thank you. I’m glad you like it.”

“I love it, it’s perfect.” she said softly.

Toffee cleared her throat.

Caramel’s brain was suddenly kicked back into the driver’s seat, and he realized where he was. Twilight apparently realized the same thing at almost exactly the same moment, as the two of the separated and stumbled back to their seats, cheeks burning.

Caramel coughed in what he hoped was a convincing manner. “Um...so...yes, you’re welcome.”

Twilight nodded, smiling behind the red tint of her face.

Grampa Jonagold eyed the block of wood from across the table.

“Mind if I see that?” he asked.

“Oh..sure.” said Twilight. The small block floated over to him.

Caramel’s grandfather took it carefully between his hooves. “Huh,” he said inspecting the paintings. “That’s pretty neat. What’d ya use? A stencil or something?”

Caramel realized his grandfather was still unaware he could paint at all. He’d been wary of bringing it up, especially now with what happened at the applecart in mind. Still, there’d be no avoiding it now.

Well, he said it was ‘Neat’ maybe that’s a good sign?

“Um...no,” said Caramel, finding his tongue. “I didn’t used a stencil...I found some old paints in the cupboard, the wood’s a piece of the old barn.”

The old stallion looked up from the project and directly at Caramel. “I didn’t know you could do something like this. And you did it by hoof?”

Caramel nodded. “Though, I did the small bits with my mouth...” he admitted.

“How long have you been at it?”

Caramel pulled a nervous shrug. “A few days really...I kind of had a knack for it.”

“I’ll say,” said Grampa Jonagold inspecting the block of wood once again. “I’ve been around a long time, boy, and I’ve hardly seen any earthponies that could paint this well.”

Twilight nodded in agreement. “He’s really got a talent for it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Caramel blinked, this was not the reaction he’d been expecting. “Um...It never really came up?”

His grandfather smiled. “Well, looks like you’re a pretty talented pony Caramel! Grade A salespony, and now this. I’m glad you found yourself a hobby.”

Caramel bit his bottom lip for a moment.

Perhaps I should tell him now? He wondered. Everyone’s having a good time, maybe he’ll react better...

“Well...the thing about that is...” Caramel began.

His Grampa raised an eyebrow. “The thing about what?”

Caramel fidgeted in his seat under the old stallion’s gaze. He looked at Toffee, who gave him a little smile.

He took a deep breath.

“I...Well let’s say...just for a moment, that I might that I might consider it as a bit more than a hobby?”

Gampa Jonagold paused for a moment. “How so?”

Caramel fidgeted a bit more.

Time to come clean.

“You remember when I sold out of apples the day before last?”

The old pony smiled at the memory. “Shoot, I couldn’t rightly forget that now could I?”

Caramel felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he saw his grandfather’s smile.

“Well...you see, it wasn’t exactly my...’Grade A salespony skills, that helped me...” He winced as the smile faded. “Applejack came up with the idea to make a sign...like a grand opening thing. So she rounded up some wood and paints and I made one to draw in customers. A pony saw it and told her friends, they’ve been coming to me for lunch since then....before that I’d only ever sold three apples.” Caramel looked across the table at Twilight. “To her...”

His grandfather frowned. “Nonsense! What about before that, you sold forty apples that day without any fancy sign. Toffee told me so.”

Caramel stole a glance at his sister. “That...might have been less than true..”

Toffee joined Caramel’s fidgeting as their grandfather eyed them both for a moment.

“Well...he wanted to impress you is all!” She insisted. “So I might’ve...fudged the truth a tiny bit.”

For a moment, from Caramel’s perspective it seemed as though all sound left the room. He was fairly certain that if her were to really try, he could hear the sound of apples growing outside. His grandfather glowered at the pair of them. Everything jovial about him vanished. When he finally did speak, he didn’t yell, but Caramel pulled back nonetheless.

“So, you’ve been lying?” He asked.

“Well, not exactl—”

“Yes, exactly!” The old stallion held up a hoof. “Do you know what I did when I heard of those sales? How much that Applecart cost? What if your sales hadn’t gone up? Hmm? How would I have made that money back?”

Caramel said nothing.

“We’re not in the best of times, boy,” he continued. “We need everything we can get. This farm has been here for decades, and I plan on it being here for quite a few more. If that’s to happen, I need the truth from the get-go!”

“But it worked out for the best!” Toffee interjected. “He found a talent, and he’s even got a job lined up to paint something fo—”

A glare from the old stallion silenced her.

“And don’t you start young filly. You’re worse than him! You’re the one that told the lie in the first place. And why? What did you hope to gain?”

Caramel lowered his head, looking at the floor. “Don’t be mad at Toffee...I asked her to...”

Grampa Jonagold paused for a beat, then looked Caramel in the eye. “Then the question falls to you. Why?”

Caramel felt the ice in his grandfather’s stare, he shivered, ears flat against his head. He wasn’t quite sure how to answer that. He looked back into his memory at the day he’d come home, how he’d felt walking through the door, knowing he hadn’t sold anything. Knowing the entire reason he’d been sent was to get rid of him. That he’d just disappoint everyone again. He felt that familiar feeling rising in his chest, the same one from that morning. The shame he felt when he’d lost the grass seeds, or broken something, made a mistake, injured himself or someone else on accident, the one he felt when he was alone after a bad day.

“Because...” he started. “I wanted you to think I was worth something...”

The silence returned at that. But this time it was different, the anger in his grandfather’s stare was replaced by a look of surprise. For the first time since he could remember, his Grandfather floundered.

“I....I don’t think...” The old pony closed his mouth. “Boy..I...” His face hardened again “Regardless of what you thought. Asking your sister to lie is inexcusable.” He got up. “This dinner is over. Twilight, you should go home.”

The purple unicorn sat, looking at Caramel. She turned to Grampa Jonagold, frowning. “I agree.”

Caramel didn’t think he could feel much lower, but in that moment he sunk so far he

didn’t think he’d ever come up.

“I agree that he shouldn’t have lied,” she continued.

His ears perked up.

“But I think you should hear him out. Look at him, he’s obviously sorry, and if he’s that

concerned about what you think of him maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to punish.”

Grampa Jonagold jerked back in his chair, anger briefly coloring his features. “Are you going to tell me how to treat my own grandson? This, is an Apple Family matter young filly!”

“And he’s an Apple!” she shot back. “Which means he’s a good pony. You should give him a chance to show you.”

Caramel could see his grandfather clench his jaw.

“I know he’s a good pony,” he said in measured tones. “This morning I was very sure.” He turned his gaze to Caramel. “But now he’s not acting like it. Now, Twilight, please leave. There is nothing more to discuss.”

They stared at each other for a moment. Then Twilight turned to Toffee and Caramel.

“Thank you for dinner, it was wonderful.” A purple halo appeared around small wooden block near Grampa Jonagold’s hoof. Twilight snatched it away and floated it gently by her head. “And your gift was absolutely lovely Caramel.”

She offered him a smile. Caramel returned it weakly, somewhat shocked at her standing up for him suddenly.

“I-I’m glad you liked it,” he managed to stammer.

He listened to the sound of her hooves, until he heard the front door shut sharply.

Grampa Jonagold eyed the Caramel and his sister for several moments before he spoke again.

“Toffee, clean up this mess. And do it quickly so you can get some sleep, tomorrow bright and early you’re getting up to harvest the left field.”

“All of i—”

“All of it.” He turned his gaze to Caramel. “And you, it looks like it’s going to rain. Go outside and pick up every apple you see on the ground before the water rots them. If I see a single one left I will not be happy.”

Caramel thought about protesting, but quickly abandoned the thought. It’ll do me no good...

“Yes sir...” he said quietly, as he got up from the table.

His Grandfather got up briskly, and marched up the stairs to his room, stomping more than was necessary.”

Toffee looked at Caramel. “I...” she started.

“I know.” he said. “I know...Well, I’d better do as he said...though it’s not like things can get much worse.”

He walked out the door and into the night before she could reply. He looked out at all the apples that needed to be collected, and gave a heavy sigh.

This was not a good day.

He walked over to the nearest tree, pounding his head against its trunk. The wood was soft from the humidity.

I blew it... He thought. Things were going so well and I blew it. Why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut? I should’ve have told him...

He lifted his head, only to slam it against the tree a second time.

“Blew it,” he said out loud.

“Caramel?” said a voice.

He didn’t need to turn around, he’d never forget that voice.

“Twilight,” he said not turning around.

“Are you okay?”

Caramel knocked his head against the the trunk again. “I’m....really not,” he admitted. “I’m useless.”

He heard her hoof-steps growing closer in the slightly damp soil. “You’re not useless. And I don’t think your Grandfather thinks so either.”

Caramel sighed. “I don’t know what he thinks...that’s the problem.”

He flinched a little when he felt her hoof on his back, out of surprise more than anything. Caramel finally turned to look at her. She looked just as pretty as she had inside, her red dress a bit dirty towards the bottom due to the soil of the apple field. Caramel realized he was still in his suit, but that didn’t matter much at the moment.

Twilight smiled at him kindly.

“Well, maybe you should talk to him?” she suggested.

Caramel let out another sigh, this one more tired. “I don’t know how to do that either...” He turned back to the tree, his head making a resounding thunk against the trunk. “Like I said...useless.” He brought his head up, then down again. “I’ll understand if you want to date someone who’s less of a loser.”

Twilight didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she leaned in, and gave him a peck on the cheek.

“I really don’t,” she whispered.

Caramel looked up in shock to see her blushing, ears folded slightly.

“Goodnight Caramel.” She gave a sheepish smile, then turned and walked away.

There was a burst of thunder as rain began to drip onto Caramel’s head. He stood, staring until he couldn’t see her anymore.

After several minutes he managed:

“Goodnight Twilight....”

Maybe today wasn’t such a bad day afterall.

To Be Continued.

Gathering Clouds

“Caramel! Get your flank up, boy!” Called Grampa Jonagold’s harsh voice from downstairs.

Caramel’s body complained as he rolled over in bed. His everything hurt. It had taken hours to collect all the apples from the soggy ground and the rain, which had turned into a proverbial monsoon, hadn’t helped matters. His joints had settled into a slow steady ache and he hadn’t gotten much sleep. He opened his tired eyes to see that the sun hadn’t risen yet.

This is going to be fun, he thought morosely.

“You got five minutes!”

Caramel flinched in bed, knowing his grandfather meant business. He rolled over onto the floor, lying there for a moment. A small wave of sadness flowed down his spine, his grandfather had been on good terms with him. Admittedly for a small moment, built on lies, but still a moment. It’d been nice.

“Four Minutes!”

But now it was over.

He let out a slow breath, the dust bunnies that had collected around the bed went spinning slowly through the air.

Nothing to do but face the consequences.

Caramel righted himself, and trudged out of his room and down the stairs. The clouds from yesterday’s rain lingered in the sky, as a result everything both inside and out looked grey and washed out. Caramel allowed himself a bitter inward laugh.

Fitting.

He could hear Toffee working in the kitchen, from the sound of it scrubbing pots. He stole a glance as he walked past, noticing the mountain of kitchenware she had yet to start on. Knowing his Grandfather, he had the feeling she would be doing housework until the very sight of a pot sent her into fits.

They shared a momentary look of mutual pity as Caramel walked into the dining room to face his grandfather, who was sitting behind an outstretched edition of the Equestria Daily. There was an air of cold in the room. Caramel shivered.

It was a while before he found his voice. “Yes grandp-”

“That’s sir,” said the old stallion curtly.

Caramel decided it was safest to nod.

His grandfather put the paper down sharply, and glared at Caramel. “Do you know why you’re getting such an early start?”

Caramel shook his head.

“Because, I want you home before midnight. And do you know why you might not get home before then?”

Caramel shook his head again.

“Because, the cart is filled with new stock, and I don’t want to see hide nor hair of’ya till every single apple is sold. Hear me boy?”

Caramel opened his mouth, but a glare killed any protest he might have had.

“Yes sir...” he said simply. His ears pinned themselves to the back of his head as he walked out the door into the early morning air.

The ground was still soggy from last night’s rain. Caramel’s hooves sunk into the moist earth with every step, making the trek to the barn all the harder. He opened the doors to find the cart, as his grandfather had told him, fully stocked. Every bushel was filled to bursting with all kinds of apples. His Grandfather had understated just how much ‘New Stock’ there was. Caramel could hardly see the cart under the mountain of fruit. It was going to be a feat to get to ponyville without spilling any.

Caramel hung his head, and set about harnessing himself up to start pulling it.

It’s going to be a good day Caramel. He thought morosely.

He set his hooves in against the ground, and tried to go forwards, only to end up dragging them through the moist hay that covered the barn floor. He tried again several times to no avail. He strained, and grunted pulling with all his might until he feared his shoulders would fall off.

Finally Caramel slumped to the ground, defeated.

I haven’t even started yet, he thought. I haven’t even started and already I’m failing.

His vision clouded for a moment. There was another wave of sadness, cold and biting. Caramel shivered, laying his cheek against the floor, the hay stuck him uncomfortably, but he couldn’t be bothered to care.

Useless, he thought.

The door to the barn opened, Caramel didn’t look up, he figured it was just his grandfather coming to yell at him for taking too long. He closed his eyes and prepared for the tirade.

There was a creaking sound as the cart behind him got lighter.

His head swiveled to see the old stallion unloading three bustles of the stock, and setting them in the corner. He did so wordlessly, with a tight lipped unreadable expression. Caramel watched in silence as he unloaded two more, then quietly walked to the door.

Caramel managed to find his mouth.

“You...don’t want to sell those?...” he asked, having thought of nothing else.

His Grandfather paused in the doorway, the cast a glance over his shoulder. “Need to check for bad apples.”

There was a pause as the two of them stared at one another. It was a while before Grampa Jonagold finally spoke again.

“Look boy, I don’t want to kill’ya. Just make it home safe alright?” With that he turned and walked back to the house.

Caramel blinked a few times, then got up and attempted to move forwards. Without the extra weight the cart rolled after a bit of a strain. He cast a look towards the retreating form of his Grandfather as the old stallion shut the front door. Then back at the bushels he no longer had to carry. There were still mountains of apples for him to sell, but they’d gone from soul crushing to moderately soul intimidating.

He stared at them for a moment, before starting the long trek to the ponyville market.

By the time he got there the sun was peaking over the horizon, a pale yellow dot behind a curtain of clouds. Several thoughts were going through Caramel’s mind, most of them blocked out by the blinding pain in his shoulders. He slumped in the middle of the square, earning a few odd looks from some passers by, though they paid him little mind, with the exception of the occasional pony in fancy dress whose glares he could feel from the other side of town. He tried his best to ignore them, and after a moment of rest on the ground, he set about unloading.

It was no small task, it reminded him of a game he’d seen some unicorns playing as a foal, where they’d magically removed one wooden block from a tower of them, in hopes it wouldn’t fall over, the main difference being that the cleanup in his case would probably take a lot longer and involve an ambulance in some way.

It was an arduous, slow task, but eventually Caramel managed to empty the cart, finishing when the sun, nearly invisible behind a wall of clouds, was quite a bit higher than when he had started. He let out a sigh, situated himself behind the counter, and tried his hardest not to fall asleep.

He looked blearily out at the ponies who crossed in front of his path. No customers would come, this he was fairly sure of, he’d made that a certainty the previous day. He slumped down by the register, resting his chin on the countertop he let out a long sigh.

And history repeats itself.

He was unsure how long he sat there feeling sorry for himself, but the time seemed to stretch on for hours, though every time he looked up at the dingy hidden shape of the sun, it never seemed to move. Though it was autumn the air was muggy and humid. He flicked his ear at an errant bug who had decided it was a good place to land, and refused to give up on the idea. This served as his only distraction until he heard a familiar voice clear its throat to the right of him.

Caramel looked up to see the fancy pony from a few days ago standing their tapping a hoof impatiently. She was wearing a large dress that made him quite certain she was hiding several other ponies underneath it, and perhaps a fruit basket.

A memory surfaced in his mind.

I’ll take her offer....

He’d thought that, right after telling off all the business she’d sent his way. He took a moment to consider just how paradoxical that was.

Obviously I am ever the shrewd businesspony, he thought morosely. She’s probably here to tell me what an idiot I am.

He sighed, and turned to face her.

“Um hello...” It suddenly occurred to him that he had never actually asked for her name. His face flushed, and at the back of his mind his inner grandmother chastised him. “You...” he finished lamely.

“Hello to you as well. I had figured your upbringing never taught you to ask a lady’s name, this is our third meeting and you seem to have yet to do so.” She neglected to mention the fact she’d never asked for his either. He had a feeling it wasn’t of great consequence to her besides. “Quartet, if you must.”

“Um....yeah...sorry about that...Quartet...” The name stuck to his teeth a bit and it came out sounding a bit more like ‘Quater’ than he’d intended. She didn’t seem to notice, or if she did she didn’t care. “I’m Caramel by the way.”

Quartet nodded, but barely. “Well, it’s about time we exchanged titles, Carmel.”

Caramel decided to ignore the fact she mispronounced his name and take the fact she’d said it at all as complement.

She adjusted her skirt, Caramel unconsciously checked to see if any fruit rolled out. “Am I to assume this means you will take me up on my offer finally?”

He blinked.

She gave him a level stare. “Well? Am I?”

“Y-you still want me too?”

She raised an eyebrow. “You mean even after you scared away half of my friends with your rather loutish demeanor? Yes. If only because I heard you shoved an apple into Monocle’s big fat mouth and, despite my ladylike disposition, that is hilarious.”

Caramel blinked again.

“What? He had to go to the dentist to get it removed, all the highest social orders have been laughing about it for weeks.”

Caramel blinked a third time.

“I’m allowed to laugh every now and again aren’t I!?” She huffed. “I swear, what do you farmponies think we do all day? Sit around and eat crumpets?”

“Yes,” Caramel answered automatically.

Quartet shot him a glare.

“Um....I mean...among other things.”

She turned her nose up. “In anycase, you still have not answered my question Carmel. Yes, or no?”

Caramel paused for a moment. His grandfather would probably frown on this, especially while he was being punished. He cast a glance towards the mountain of apples behind him, then at Quartet, and an idea floated to the surface of his brain.

Unless I finish my punishment early....

Caramel took a deep breath. “I’ll do it.”

Quartet’s face broke out into a smile. The first one Caramel had seen that didn’t seem to come from reference in a book of etiquette. “Wonderful! My boutique shall look quite lovel-”

“Under one condition.”

She paused, smile fading to a more businesslike expression.

“Condition?”

He nodded slowly. “My price.”

Quartet gave him a look. “That is hardly a condition, that is to be expec-”

“I’d like to be paid right now, by you buying every apple I have currently in stock.”

Applejack stared dumbfounded as ponies in workmen's clothes moved bushel after bushel of apples onto the back of a moving cart, signed with a very opulent looping pink script that read Quartet Cuts. Caramel sat next to her, somewhat dumbfounded himself.

“And...you’re sayin’ that actually worked?...”

“Eyup,” said Caramel.

“You sold, not seventy apples, but seventy bushels of apples, in less than five seconds?’

“Eyup.”

“And she paid you...in bits...right there.”

“Eyup.” Caramel gestured to his saddlebag, which was filled to bursting with small circles of gold. “Turns out there wasn’t any fruit in that dress...just a lot of pockets...”

“What’s that?”

“Um...nothing...” Caramel said quickly. “In return I start work on a large sign for the Quartet Cuts boutique tomorrow morning.”

Applejack bit her bottom lip. “Um...are you sure Jonagold’s gonna let ya’ll do that? Last I heard he was awful mad at ya.”

Caramel paused. “Well...the way I see it he punished me, I got through the punishment and made enough money to keep the farm running for months in the course of a day. He can’t stay mad for too long can he?”

Applejack shrugged. “I dono, he ain’t exactly known to forget quickly. And I don’t think money was ever really the point.”

Caramel lowered his head a bit. “Well...yeah...I know, I shouldn’t have lied...and I won’t, ever again. Apple Honesty right?” He sighed. “I really just wanted him to be proud of me anyway...maybe this’ll impress him...and I won’t even have to lie anymore anyway.”

He felt a hoof on his shoulder and looked up to see Applejack smiling a bit. “Now come on, I have no doubt he’s proud of ya, you didn’t have to sell seven apples for that. If he didn’t love you, and didn’t have any pride in you, he wouldn’t have taken it so hard that you lied to him.”

Caramel felt a bit of guilt begin to gnaw at his stomach a bit. He let out another sigh.

“I shouldn’t have done it. That was stupid.”

Applejack tapped him on the head. “We can agree there.”

Caramel looked at her for a moment.

“Hey, calls’em as I sees’em. But at least you meant well.” She smiled again. “What are you gonna do now?”

Caramel looked up at the sun, it was still fairly high in the sky behind the curtain of clouds. “Well...I’m not expected back at the farm for another few hours...” He looked back at the now empty cart as the last bushel was loaded up. A small smile slowly spreading across his features. “I think I’ll go to the library.”

Applejack smirked. “Ahh, I see, going to see your sweetheart?”

Caramel’s face flushed. “Um...no!....I mean....yes....if we are...I mean we haven’t really...I...”

Applejack mercifully, shoved him in the general direction of the large tree in the town square. “Well go on get! Geeze, no wonder Toffee likes teasin’ ya so much. You make it too easy.”

Caramel decided it was best to just glare at her and wave. He couldn’t keep up the glare long and a smile snuck its way back onto his face as the library got larger in his field of vision.

Today’s actually turning out to be a pretty good day.

As he thought that, the clouds above finally decided to burst, thick heavy raindrops began to pelt him.

Caramel laughed, he couldn’t help it. That was just his luck. Still, as he started to gallop to the library to get out of the rain, he could think of no better place to take shelter from the coming storm.

Meeting Royalty in the Rain

The storm was on Ponyville in seconds. The clouds had bided their time, and now unleashed a torrent of rain. In the few seconds it had taken Caramel to gallop a quarter of the distance to Twilight’s library he could already hear the thunder and lightening booming and flashing behind him. A small gale of wind ruffled his mane as he ran, bringing with it a slight chill. He made a mental note never to think it was a good day again.

The universe just loves proving me wrong.

He galloped a bit faster, the raindrops growing fatter as the wind picked up, already his coat was soaked through, making the cold all the worse. A bit too close for comfort thunder boomed again.

Very wrong.

He put on an extra burst of speed looking back to see the other ponies who had been milling about before the clouds broke similarly ducking for cover. The sun was completely hidden now as the clouds darkened. Caramel was momentarily dazzled by a bright arc of lightning.

He attempted to blink away the spots from his eyes as he reached the library door.

He also realized he’d forgotten to slow down.

Caramel dug his hooves into the ground, the wet cobbles provided almost no traction and he went skidding towards the library entrance like a rogue hockey puck. He braced himself for impact.

The door opened.

“Thank you for coming, I’ll keep an eye on these strange weather patterns, in the meantime Fluttershy you ca- Caramel!?”

He yelped in reply. His hooves struck the doorstep sending him flying into the library proper far faster than is generally polite. He spun through the air before hitting something large, white, and very warm. They both went spinning into the nearest bookshelf, sending various tomes toppling to the floor as it rocked back and forth.

Caramel groaned. His brain kindly alerted him to the fact he’d probably sprained his hoof on the doorstep, along with highlighting various other bruises and nicks from his entrance. It did all of this before it mentioned that the large oak bookshelf he’d bumped into was leaning forwards at at seventy degree angle and growing closer.

He had time to think one other thought.

Very, very wrong.

Caramel closed his eyes.

The thing he’d bumped into groaned as well, before letting out a distinctly feminine gasp of its own. The fur on the back of Caramel’s neck stood on end as he felt strong magic suddenly fill the room. There was silence for several seconds.

He opened a single eye.

The bookshelf stood suspended in the air in a halo of pink magic. It slowly righted itself, the books that had fallen to the floor flying back to their places as it went. In seconds it was like nothing had even happened.

Caramel allowed himself a sigh of relief. He shuddered to think what might have happened had Twilight not intervened.

Then he paused. He thought back to the times he’d seen Twilight use magic and there was something he realized.

Twilight’s magic is purple....

He looked behind him to see the purple unicorn standing there, along with a yellow and pink pegasus, the door between them wide open along with their mouths. They were both completely oblivious to the fact a small river of water had collected in the doorway from the storm outside. They just stared, apparently horrified.

Caramel felt a creeping sense of dread, he slowly turned his eyes back to the bookshelf, the last book settling itself into place before the pink aura vanished. He turned his head down to the thing he’d run into.

Caramel found himself face to face with the physical embodiment of the sun, on whose chest he was currently sitting. Her horn stopped glowing and she eyed him for several moments. To his surprise...she smiled.

“You must be Caramel,” said Celestia.

It took him several seconds to process that he was in fact the Caramel that he must be, and that he happened to be using the ruler of all Equestria as a stool. He stared dumbly at her and nodded before his wits fully returned, he hopped off of the princess with a start.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so, so sorry princess! I was trying to get out of the storm, and I was running and it was slippery, and I didn’t mean to bump into this way your sunliness. I mean I’m normally far more manerful. I don’t make a habit of crashing into royalty. I try to not make a habit of crashing into anypony-”

Celestia silenced him with a hoof before he could say ‘Please don’t set me on fire’. “Calm yourself,” she chuckled. “It is fine, I am well aware of you, and have been looking forwards to meeting you for a little while. Though I admit I did not expect such a...interesting hello.”

Caramel felt his cheeks burning, he hid this with a deep bow. “Um...I really am sorry princess. It is an honor to meet you.”

He could feel Celestia smiling though he kept his gaze to the library floor, figuring that if she decided to turn him into a living candle he didn’t want to see it.

“Rise, Caramel. Do not worry, I have never been one to fault a pony for an accident. It livened up our little meeting in anycase. I was just talking to Twilight about the rather strange weather going on near Equestria. The storm you just came out of is the result of a rather odd formation of clouds around Appleloosa. I was just talking to my student about the possibility of magical interference.”

Caramel blinked, raising his head. He had been aware on some level that Twilight was indeed Celestia’s student, everypony in Ponyville knew that, but he’d never really connected the two concretely in his head until now. Several images of what might happen if he ever put a hoof out of line with her flashed through his head, though he quickly hid the expression of abject terror.

As he turned to look at Twilight, who seemed to be getting over her own bout of horrible scenarios, he noticed she was blushing a bit as well. She looked rather adorable like that, as she looked from him to the princess, her face a bit anxious. This was obviously not how she pictured the two of them meeting. She looked worried and it made him want very much to go over and hug her.

Suddenly he was a lot less worried about ever putting a hoof out of line. He didn’t think he’d ever want to.

He turned back to the Princess, who was a bit closer than he’d expected, he jumped back with surprise, landing on his sprained hoof with a yelp.

She frowned. “Well, that doesn’t look good.” She turned and looked out at the heavy downpour. “And I doubt you can get it looked at in this weather.” She tilted her head a bit as her long horn started to glow. Caramel felt the fur on the back of his neck stand on end again, this time if felt a bit like it might fly off as her magic wrapped around his hoof.

Celestia must have noticed how terrified he looked, as she laughed lightly. “Don’t worry Caramel, a simple mending spell is all I’m doing. You act as though I’m going to set you on fire.”

Caramel blinked again. His hoof tingled, but it felt...better. He looked at the princess, suddenly feeling very foolish. “Uh...sorry. Guess I’m not used to meeting royalty.”

“Quite alright.” She focused a bit and with a little flash of magic released his hoof. “There you go. Good as new.”

Twilight, having apparently gotten over her petrification, walked up to Caramel a bit sheepishly. Her friend, who Caramel recognized as Fluttershy came up to his left, looking a little concerned.

He tried his hoof, carefully applying weight, then trotting in place a little. He couldn’t help but smile as he felt no pain. “Wow...that is better. Thank you, Princess.”

“It is my pleasure Caramel. It is the least I can do for the colt of my student’s romantic interest.”

Caramel and Twilight were the same color for a few seconds, which was a lovely shade of red. Fluttershy’s own face took on an empathetic shade of pink.

Celestia chuckled. “Now I must take my leave. It was nice to meet you Caramel. Fluttershy, thank you for agreeing to investigate the matter further. Twilight, I await further reports from you on the matter, and on the magic of friendship.” She gave Caramel an appraising look. “Among other things.”

Caramel nearly choked on his own mouth.

The princess chuckled to herself before disappearing in a bright flash of white light.

The three of them stood there for a moment and Caramel internally noted that in her own way Celestia had managed to set him on fire. He was fairly certain that if he pressed his cheek to anything right now it would burst into flames.

“Um....” Fluttershy said quietly. “I...I should probably be going...I have to prepare for that trip the Princess was talking about...and maybe I should leave you two...um...alo-”

Twilight’s look silenced Fluttershy with an ‘Eeep’. Before she took a breath and quelled her blush.

“That’s a good idea Fluttershy.” Twilight admitted. “But are you sure you can get home in this storm?”

Fluttershy nodded. “I have an umbrella.” she glanced over at Caramel. “And besides...um...I think Angel’s tail needs fluffing.”

Caramel wasn’t sure if the yellow pegasus was trying to wink at Twilight or having a spasm of some kind, but it didn’t help his blush in anycase.

Fluttershy nodded to him before trotting gently to the door and walking out into the maelstrom.

Through the window Caramel could watch as the wind picked her up and tossed her in what he hoped was the general direction of her house.

He looked at Twilight. “Is she gonna be?...”

Twilight paused for a minute, then nodded. “Um...Yes...I’m sure she will be.”

There was a moment of awkward silence. The only sound that drummed in Caramel’s ears was the constant patter of harsh rain against the window pane.

“So....That was interesting.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah...it certainly was...I think she liked you.”

Caramel perked up. “Really!?”

Twilight nodded again. “She didn’t put you in prison then banish you then put you in another prison in the place where she banished you to, so that’s a good sign.” She smiled encouragingly.

Caramel blinked. “Um...thanks?”

Twilight blushed a little and Caramel stiffened as she gave him a little nuzzle. “All in all it went better than I expected.”

Somewhere in the back of Caramel’s head he wondered just how she had expected this to go, but he decided perhaps it was better not to ask. He nuzzled her in return enjoying the contact, her mane still smelled like book paper. He realized this was the first time they’d touched like this so casually. He decided he liked it. He liked it a lot.

He smiled goofily for several moments before his brain caught up to the rest of him, his cheeks still fairly pink. “So...uh what was Celestia doing here in the first place?”

Twilight’s similar expression dissolved into something more serious.

“There’s been some strange reports coming out of Appleloosa lately. You see the storm outside?” she gestured to the window.

Caramel nodded.

“Totally unscheduled, the pegasi had nothing to do with it, and while occasional unplanned showers aren’t terribly irregular such a dense collection of cumulus arcus contributing to such a heavy deluge is a very rare and almost unheard of phenomena.”

Caramel just nodded.

“The weather in Appleoosa seems to be having an adverse affect on the atmospheric conditions across Equestria, and Celestia and I decided that it was best to send Fluttershy down there to figure out just what’s going on. It took some convincing, she’s rather shy about that kind of stuff, but for the good of Equestria she’s willing to do it.”

Caramel nodded again. “I see, so you think she’ll figure out what’s up with the weather?”

“That’s what I jus-” she paused, the smirked at him and nuzzled his cheek again. “Yes.”

Caramel chuckled, feeling his cheeks heat up again. He looked out at the storm raging outside the library.

“So...looks like I won’t be going home for a while.” he commented.

Twilight looked out too, watching as a cross eyed mare was blown across the town square.

“Oh no, not in this you’re not. You’re welcome to stay here.” she smiled, the paused. “How are things at home anyway?...Last time I saw you things...weren’t going well.”

Caramel’s ears drooped a touch. “Well...Grampa’s still mad, that’s part of the reason why I’m out here. He sent me out this morning with a cartload of apples and said I couldn’t come back until they were all sold.”

Twilight frowned. “Well that seems harsh, how does he expect you to sell apples in this?”

Caramel shrugged. “I don’t know, it wasn’t raining badly this morning, besides, I already sold them anyway.”

Twilight blinked.

He looked at her and tilted his head. “What?”

“You sold a whole cart of apples in less than a day?”

Caramel fidgeted a bit. “Well, I might have cheated. There was this pony who wanted me to paint a sign for her, and I never accepted...so when she came up today I said I do it if she bought me out.”

Twilight laughed and suddenly Caramel found himself in a hug. “That’s brilliant!”

He paused, dumbstruck for a time before hugging her back. “Oh...well..thank you!”

She released him with a grin. “Well, this requires a celebration, how about you help me alphabetize the children’s section?”

Caramel tilted his head, and there was silence for a moment.

Twilight’s grin faded. “Oh...I suppose that’s...um...not fun for everypony.”

As her expression changed, he realized she was serious, a sudden stab of guilt flooding through his heart. He paused for a moment and thought about it. Twilight was a librarian, there was a reason for that. She loved books, adored books she smelled like books. They were a part of her, and since he felt about her they way he did they’d have to be a part of him to.

He sidled over to her and after a second’s deliberation, he nosed her cheek a little, she stiffened in surprise.

“If it’s with you, then of course it’ll be fun. Now where’s the children’s section,” he said softly.

Twilight turned and looked at him their eyes meeting for a moment before she smiled and turned to lead the way.

Author's Note

Long time no see Caralight fans! I really must apologize for the intolerable wait for this chapter. But I've come to realize something in that, with the chapters of all of my stories getting bigger and bigger, perhaps it's better to release shorter chapters with more frequency than longer ones every blue moon. So I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and please if you can in between all of the FINALLYs and IT'S ABOUT TIMES that I so richly deserve if you could say something about whether you enjoyed it or not I'd dearly appreciate it.

Enjoy!

-Squeak

Lightning Strikes

Outside the storm got steadily worse. Caramel followed Twilight upstairs, to the children’s section, it was a colorful little area towards the rear of the library’s second story a little way away from the living area for the librarian. Caramel smiled, the floor around the lines of shelves had been painted with tall blades of grass. He could see little ladybugs sprinkled around the painting. The shelves were short, the perfect size for a foal to reach their first book.

“Here we are!” Twilight said, smiling broadly. “The Foal’s section. admittedly it’s not as big as I might like, but I’ve got all the bases covered. Spike would normally help me with this, but he’s helping Rarity today.”

Caramel nodded. “It looks really nice, did you do the painting on the floor?”

Twilight shook her head. “It was here when I arrived in Ponyville a little over a year ago. The Princess said it was done when the library opened, way back near the founding of Ponyville. Besides,” she chuckled. “I can’t paint to save my life, of the two of us, you’re the artist.”

Caramel’s face got a little warmer. “O-oh...well I wouldn’t really call myself an artist, it’s more of a hobby.”

Twilight tilted her head. “A hobby? Caramel, your hobby just sold more apples in a few hours than you usually manage in a month.” She smiled encouragingly at him. “You’re an artist.”

He opened his mouth to protest, then paused. Why was he protesting? He did like to paint, and apparently ponies thought he was good at it. He’d made money from doing it, and gifts, not to mention he’d like to do more painting in the future. Didn’t that make what she was saying true? Didn’t that make him an artist?

He gave up and nodded. “Fine, I’m an artist.” He couldn’t help but chuckle as he said it, they felt good in his mouth, those words. He felt his lips curl into a grin, which made Twilight smile a bit brighter.

“Told you.” Twilight looked over the shelf and then back to him. “So,” Her smile grew into a grin. “Alphabetizing?” The purple unicorn actually bounced as she said the word.

I’m not sure whether that’s odd or adorable, he thought. It might be a mix of both... and then he realized it didn’t matter, because if it was a mix of both that only served to make it more adorable.

He nodded, smiling. “Alphabetizing.” He looked at the colorful books on the shelf, squinting at the words. “You’ll have to help me a bit, I think the last thing I alphabetized was a bushel of apples. It was very easy.”

Twilight laughed sidling up beside him to playfully bump him with her flank, Caramel’s coat momentarily looked like Big Macs.

“I can teach you I’m sure, it’s rather easy, all you need to do is look through a shelf, they’re marked with what letter they’re supposed to be under, just look at author's name and see if it matches the letter. If it’s out of place, take it out and put it in it’s proper place.” She scanned the J shelf. “Ah! Here we are, J.K Rowdy.” Her horn glowed as she removed the book from its shelf, Caramel still hadn’t quite gotten used to dating a unicorn, he thought magic looked rather beautiful, though he was too shy to say. She continued explaining as he tried to stop staring. “You see the little colts and fillies get confused sometimes, while J is indeed the first letter in the author's name, we don’t arrange the books by first name, we arrange them by last. This book would in fact go under R. not J.” She nodded to herself sticking it back on its correct shelf. “You see, this is why this section needs so much more attention. If it‘s left to its own devices soon it’d be impossible to find anything!”

Carmel blinked, fairly certain that impossible was probably a stretch but, looking at her, she seemed genuinely distressed by the idea that any book would be out of place on her shelves for long. She’d already started scanning the R. shelves for any books that might have been out of place there. He just smiled and shook his head, then started looking himself.

Since she’d started so low on the alphabet, he decided to look through the A’s, Twilight had been right. He found quite a few authors whose first name started with A, but whose last name started with something else. He had to use his mouth, since he wasn’t a unicorn, but he tried to be as gentle as possible with books he did find. He and Twilight often had to walk past each other to get a book to its correct shelf. At first it was awkward, both of them a touch shy to get too close on accident, but as they fell into a rhythm of work, the wide breadth they gave one another got smaller and smaller, till there was barely one at all. They worked side by side, occasionally flank to flank. Both of them did indeed blush whenever that happened, but Caramel found that Twilight didn’t seem to mind, and he most certainly didn’t either.

He worked his way down to the M’s, scanning when his nose bumped into something warm. He froze, and so did said warm thing. He looked over to find his vision filled with a familiar eye. Her eyes were lovely as always and he was distracted once again before he realized that the reason their eyes were so close was because they were cheek to cheek over a copy of Marial Mare’s: If You Give a Parasprite Anything, a recent book sent from Fillydelphia.

They both seemed to realize this at the same time, and jumped back, looking like a pair of raspberries. Both stuttering monosyllabic words like “I” and “Uh” and “Well: before Caramel finally broke the pattern.

“Um...I guess in that case...we’re finished?” he chuckled awkwardly. Twilight had done about half the shelves, and so had he. They stood in front of a perfectly alphabetized bookshelf.

Twilight chuckled as well, looking it over from afar one last time. “Well, I guess we are.” She smiled. “Thank you for the help, that was fun.”

He paused. Fun wasn’t the word he’d have used to describe what they’d just done, but at the same time, he couldn’t say he hadn’t enjoyed doing it, because he’d done it with her. So he just nodded. “Yeah, I’m happy to help, any time, Twi-”

He was interrupted as lightning struck unnervingly close, the room filling with white light before thunder rattled everything that wasn’t fixed down in the room.

Carmel found himself a foot in the air, he was falling clumsily to the ground by the time he realized the sound had made him jump.

“Woah...” He breathed trying to get his heart to slow down. “That...was close.”

Twilight’s face clouded, looking out the window. “Hmm, normally it doesn’t strike quite that close....I have a magical lightning rod. Living in a tree and all, it’s a precaution that’s altogether too necessary.” She put a hoof to her chin. “I suppose that was just a freak bolt from the clouds, lightning magic is quite unpredictable.”

Caramel tried to stop his legs from shaking as he walked over to her. “Are you sure it’s safe in here? Lightning won’t strike any closer?”

Twilight shook her head. “I’m fairly certain it won’t I’ve had problems with lightning before. Last time a tree fell through my window, so I widened the protection radius of the arcane spell matrix within the construct of the lightning rod. It should render any electrical discharge harmless.”

Caramel came to the conclusion that it was best to just trust the sciency sounding words and nod.

Twilight’s face still carried lines of worry, but she seemed placated by her own logic, and turned to him. “Well, since that’s done, and it’s obviously...well...” thunder shook the tree they stood in once again, they both flinched. “A bit too stormy for you to head home safely...is there anything you’d like to do now?” She smiled with a light blush.

Caramel paused, and decided he really wouldn’t mind spending a bit more time with Twilight. Oh no he wouldn’t mind that in the least.

“I-”

His stomach growling interrupted him before he could get any other words out. He felt his cheeks heating up.

Twilight chuckled. “Well I guess that’s our answer...come to think of it...” Her own cheeks began to redden, her ears folding back a marginally as she smiled. “You do still owe me a dinner.”

Caramel blinked...oh yeah, he had missed their first dinner date. The one with his family had quite frankly ended in disaster, so in a way he did owe her. One nice dinner...alone...in her house...

He tried to keep his expression rather neutral, and probably failed horribly.

“O-oh certainly, that sounds great.” He couldn't stop himself from grinning. “I...I could cook for you. I’m not a great cook, but I know a few dishes...just so long as you don’t mind apples...apples...or apples,” he chuckled.

Twilight’s smile curled up with a small laugh. “I think I wouldn’t mind apples. I’m rather fond of them. You know, I once met a very nice pony while shopping for Apples...” She took a step closer to him.

Caramel stiffened, he wondered if the smile currently spreading its way across his face like a wildfire through a wheatfield was goofy looking, he really didn’t care much though. He stepped a little closer and, unable to resist, he nuzzled her cheek. He felt her stiffen a touch at the contact, but he could feel the smile on her face as he pressed close. Her cheek was soft and warm, and as usual she smelled of books.

She leaned back, he could hear the storm outside, but inside the library, for that moment, he couldn’t have been happier.

The moment wasn’t long, they leaned away from each other, both smiling and shifting about with a kind of joyful nervousness. It reminded Caramel of the sparrows he’d seen outside his window as a child in the spring. Was this how they felt in the trees?

“Apples it is then,” he said softly.

And with that, she led the way to the kitchen.

Caramel insisted that she stay in the dining room as he made his way around the kitchen, seeing where everything was and getting a bit familiar with the layout. He was no where near as good a cook as his sister, but when he was a little colt his grandmother had shown him a thing or two, and Toffee had continued to do so over the years, so he wasn’t completely inept in the kitchen...

I’ve only ever started the occasional fire...and most of them were quickly put out...and no one could even prove that fifth one.

Twilight did have apples, a small basket of them in one of the many cupboards of the library kitchen. He sat them on the counter and contemplated them for a moment. They were Fugi apples, sweet, but a little tart. Not the best apples for a pie, and pie wasn’t the best dinner-food anyway.

Something nice and simple would be the ticket...

He looked around some more until he found a head of lettuce and cherry tomatoes, Twilight had a little bit of feta cheese in the refrigerator. Caramel smiled as he figured out what he’d make. A simple cold apple salad would be perfect for dinner, and he could make something sweeter for desert...but what? It would make sense to get it in the oven now, so when they were done with the salad it would be hot and ready.

Pouring through the cabinets once again he found a small bag of granola, along with various other spices and a pan. He grinned wider, he knew what he would make.

The door to the kitchen opened shakily as Caramel walked backwards through it, holding a tray in his mouth. It trembled as he tried to keep his balance.

Steady...Steady... He chanted internally.

Twilight sat behind him, looking a touch worried. He turned to face her, his cheeks perked up around the tray. In two little bowls lay the cold apple salad he had prepared. It wasn’t anything resturant quality, and it looked a little messily prepared, but he had to say he was a bit proud of it.

“Mere ,mouh mho,” he said cheerfully with a mouthful of tray carefully setting it down on the table.

Twilight smiled with apparent relief, looking down at the prepared dish in front of her, then back to Caramel. “This looks very good, I didn’t know you could cook.”

He grinned, feeling some pride welling up in his chest. “Well, I’m no great chef, but when you’re an Apple, you tend to learn a thing or two about being in the kitchen. I can handle myself pretty well I think.”

As long as you don’t consider the fires.

He shook that thought away and sat down across from her with a bit of a bounce in his movements, feeling rather good about himself, it had been a fairly nice day, and he’d had too few of those in his life. He smiled wider as he noticed the trend between his good days and Twilight’s immediate proximity. She smiled back, a faint blush on her cheeks as they began to eat.

The salad was crisp and flavorful, he was relieved he’d managed to get the balance right. There was just the right amount of sweetness in the apples to offset the slight vegetable tartness of the other ingredients. He internally wondered what Toffee might think of it as he took another bite. He couldn’t help but steal glances at Twilight. He didn’t want to seem as though he was staring. Then it might seem as though he was self conscious about whether she liked it or not...which he admittedly was, very much so, but, if she knew that, it might make her self conscious about eating it...which he didn’t want. He wasn’t quite sure what was the proper etiquette for a, mental air quotes, ‘Chef’. There happened to be a spoon on the table, which happened to have a reflection of the window, which happened to have a reflection of Twilight in it. He figured staring at that shouldn’t be too awkward....Unless she happened to look into the window and see the reflection of the spoon, which he supposed had a reflection of him staring at the reflection o-

Ahhh! Stop overthinking and just eat!

They ate in relative silence for a moment, which Caramel took to be a good sign. In the Apple family there was an old saying, that a quiet table is a happy table, mouths too full of food to flap fulla gossip. He pushed his worries aside and focused on eating, from the sound of Twilight’s chewing, he could only guess she was enjoying it.

After a while eating in silence, Twilight paused to look at him for a moment, her large purple eyes seeming to consider something.

“Caramel, may I ask you a question?”

He stopped eating, looking back at her, tilting his head slightly. “Oh, well sure, if you want too.”

Twilight seemed to think for a moment, before looking off to the side, her ears folding ever so slightly. “Well...and tell me if this is too personal, but...You’ve mentioned her a few times...and your grandfather brought her up at dinner...besides those brief mentions...I don’t really know much...Could you tell me about your grandmother?”

Caramel’s ears stood straight up at the question before folding back a little, his hoof rubbing idly against the surface of the table.

“Oh...well...I suppose...if you’re interested.” He looked off to the side, a slight frown playing over his features.

Twilight waved a hoof in the air, eyes widening. “I-if you don’t want to talk about her it’s fine! That’s alright, I shouldn’t have asked...”

He looked back to her, taking a deep breath. “No...no it’s okay...really, I just...Have I mentioned her?...I remember Grandpa bringing her up, but I...” He thought for a moment, she had been crossing his mind more and more lately it seemed.

Twilight nodded. “When you gave me that gift...with the paintings from the book.” She gestured to the little wooden cube she had placed on a nearby shelf. “The Secret Tree? You mentioned your grandmother used to read it to you...”

Caramel nodded, thinking back. “She did...I loved that book when I was a foal...” He gave a little laugh, looking down at his hooves at the memory. “I remember she’d do funny voices for the filly and the colt...”

Twilight smiled lightly. “That sounds lovely.”

He nodded. “It was...” He was quiet for a moment, the rain pattered against the window. “You’re very smart...I’m guessing you’ve picked up that she’s not around anymore...Grampa made it pretty clear at Dinner...”

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it and nodded.

Caramels sighed. “You’re right...she’s not...she hasn’t been since I was very small, maybe a bit younger than my cousin Applebloom.” His ears folded slightly. “I’m not sure I quite remember what she looked like, but I do remember her voice when she read to me...she liked doing that, she was a very happy mare, a little shy if I remember her right...odd for an Apple.” He chuckled softly. “Great gardener...Grampa mentioned that...” He grew quiet again. “...I think she always understood me just a little better than he did...though she wasn’t there long. She didn’t mind when I messed up, didn’t yell or punish, just smiled and told me I’d get it another day.” He swallowed, taking a deep breath. “Another day...”

Twilight looked concerned, leaning a touch closer to him, her hoof reaching out to touch his as it continued to rub against the table. “Do...do you want to stop? We can talk about something else.”

Caramel shook his head, his mouth settling into a hard line for a moment before it melted into a softer smile. “No...it’s alright...it’s nice to talk about it.” He took another deep breath. “Haven’t in a while...” He was quiet for a moment before continuing. “Anyway...she got sick...I don’t quite remember with what...she wasn’t a very strong mare, physically, always a bit wispy and thin...We do have a few pictures...so I know I have that right.” Thunder rumbled outside the tree as the branches shook in the wind. “She just kind of...wasted away...she gardened until she couldn’t anymore... I have a memory of her struggling in the field while my Grampa watched...whenever he tried to help she’d just smile at him for a moment, and he’d know to let her do it on her own...” Lines formed around his mouth, he let his breath out in a sigh. “She was out there every day, and no matter how sick she got, the trees and the flowers never so much as turned brown...” He lapsed into silence again before going on, looking at his hooves. “She was bedridden for the last of it...but she still smiled..still seemed happy to see me...until she couldn't any more. She...she seemed far away, I think she said something to me, but I can’t quite remember what it was...” His face scrunched as he thought on it, but nothing came. ”The...her bed was empty. I came by and her bed was empty...That was the end of it.”

He felt a coldness, as he finished telling that part of the story, it was familiar, like an old wound aching in the rain. Sudenly he felt something warm at his side. He stiffened with a little gasp, looking up to find Twilight beside him, leaning on his shoulder, her cheek pressed to his. He didn’t push her away. He leaned back, closing his eyes. “I miss her sometimes...”

She simply nodded, and in that moment he gained a new appreciation for her. She wasn’t just book smart...she knew that quiet comfort, was sometimes better than empty words. She simply stood with him as he thought about something that had been hovering around the edge of his mind for a long time. He hadn’t thought about her that way...for quite some time...not really and truly, but he felt good for doing so, it was sad but...necessary, he thought.

They enjoyed the moment until they smelled the burning.

Caramel went stiff.

“The apple sticky!”

He suddenly bolted to the kitchen, leaving Twilight blinking in the dining room. When he reappeared he was holding a rather charred tray with a pot holder in his mouth. His ears pinned themselves back as he walked forwards and set it on the table.

“Um...desert?” he said lamely.

Twilight eyed the dish for a moment, blinking a few times, as the world seemed to return to normal. She took a deep breath. “It...it doesn’t look that bad, I think I will try a piece.” Her mouth stretched open in what seemed to be an encouraging smile as a fork floated over to the pair of them. She pressed it down into the dish, where it promptly bent against the crust. Her eyes widened as she stared at the warped silverware. “Um...maybe we can save it for Spike when he gets back?...He likes most things...”

Caramel looked at the smoldering desert, crestfallen.

Twilight paused, then threw the fork in some random direction before stepping up beside Caramel, she nosed his head up a bit, nestling under it. “It’s the thought that counts.” she said softly, looking up at him from beneath his chin. Caramel went stiff for a moment, before a smile broke through his frown, he nestled his chin down against her, pressing close.

“Well...In that case...” He wrapped a hoof around her. “I think about you a lot...”

She smiled in turn, nestling against him warmly. “You too...”

And at least it wasn’t a fire this time.... he thought absently, before letting that thought drift off and enjoying her closeness once again.

Caramel wasn’t quite sure how long they stayed like that, the rain pounded against the windows and lightning flashed over them, but he didn’t feel like it was even a concern. She felt warm and soft against him and he wanted to hold her forever, if only he could. But eventually, it was time to disconnect and clean up. They shared a smile as he collected the dishes and headed to the kitchen putting them in the sink, running a bit of water over each before scrubbing it clean. He couldn't leave her with dirty dishes, he even managed not to break any as he placed them back where he’d found them. He shot the Apple Sticky dish a look, but he had a feeling that that one dish in particular would never quite be clean again...he’d have to look into getting her a new one.

As Caramel, with no small measure of embarrassment, quietly slid ruined desert into the trash he heard a knock at the door. He walked back into the dining room, making his way to the main room when he heard it open. His ears flicked, he heard an urgent voice alongside Twilights, his blood ran cold, how late was it? Could it have been his grandfather? Oh that was the last thing he needed right now. He quickly trotted the rest of the way to the front door, only to find Toffee standing in the middle of the room, looking around wildly. As her eyes locked on him she closed the gap between them in a flash, racing past Twilight, who looked worried and confused.

“Toffee!?” he said his eyes wide with surprise.

“Caramel! Have you seen Grampa!? Please tell me he’s here...” Her eyes looked frantic as they searched his for an answer.

“W-what? Grampa, Here? Why would he be here?” He paused. “Toffee...what’s wrong...tell me.”

She took a deep breath. “He went looking for you as few hours ago, before the storm hit, he wanted you to come home, said he felt bad, but then this storm hit...and I haven’t seen him...And...I...I don't’ know where he is, Caramel. I thought you might be here, I was hoping he was too...I don’t think it’s rained like this in Equestria for years...He should have been back by now...”

Caramel’s eyes widened. “You think he’s out in this!? Right now!?”

Toffee nodded. “There’s nowhere else he could be! We have to find him, quickly!”

Caramel nodded, looking back to Twilight. “I’ve gotta go!”

She nodded. “I’m coming with you.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but her eyes brokered no argument.

“Both of you just come on!” Toffee yelled.

And without another word, they charged out into the howling wind.

Author's Note

Pre-read by Lightsideluc

Special, glowing, awesome amazing stupendous thanks to Sanctus for getting this story back on its feet and funding this chapter. He's just awesome, and I'd like to thank him deeply.

Thanks to this wonderful benefactor, chapters will now come out bi weekly, next chapter on the 6th of November at the latest.

Asking

Caramel descended the stairs into the kitchen the next morning. The smell of apple pancakes wafted up from the stove as Toffee cooked, humming a tune to herself. Grampa Jonagold sat at the table studying the day’s edition of the Equestria Daily layed out on the table.

Caramel quietly sat down across from him, watching his sister prepare the food, and waiting for the daily errand to be issued. He knew full well that his grandfather would think of some useless task for him to do, as he had yesterday, and almost every day before that. He hoped it would at least be a good job this time around. Not like polishing the the apple buckets, or going all the way to Cantorlot for a new pair of eyeglasses.

He looked at Grampa Jonagold out of the corner of his eye, the old stallion seemed engrossed in whatever article he was reading. His light green mane brushed out of his eyes and his dark red coat clean and ready to begin the day. Caramel quickly averted his gaze as the old pony looked up from his paper. Taking a new interest in the cup of lemonade next to his plate.

From behind his small glasses Grampa Jonagold inspected him.

“So..” he started, smacking his lips. “Yer sister here told me you managed to sell some apples yesterday for that farm over in ponyville?”

Caramel looked up. So he’d already asked Toffee about it, hopefully she’d covered well. “Um...Yes sir.” he nodded quickly taking a sip of his lemonade.

“Good, good, I had to make sure. Couldn’t believe it when she told me. You, our little Clumsy Caramel selling forty apples all on his own!”

Caramel choked. “What!?” He shot Toffee a look, but she was hiding her face behind a cabinet door.

“Now don’t be modest boy, yer sister done told me all about it. I bet them Ponyville apples is singin’ your praises. You should be proud!” His Grandfather beamed. “Here I am trying to make you into a workhorse, when it’s obvious what you are!”

“B-but Gramp-”

“A sales pony!” Grampa Jonagold continued, heedless of Caramel’s protests. “That’s why, today I’ve got a very special job for you. Follow me.”

The old pony got shakily to his hooves. Caramel followed him out to the barn, at a total loss for what to say. He was in over his head now, what was Toffee thinking? He’d wanted to look good, but not that good! What did his Grandfather have in mind?

Grampa Jonagold came to a stop in front of the barn doors and turned smiling to Caramel. “I’ve got a surprise for you, boy. It’s right in here.” He opened the doors with a flourish. Inside something lay under a tarp. It was large and bulky whatever it was. Caramel walked forwards for a closer look. It came up to about his neck, and looked to be rather heavy. He couldn’t begin to imagine what it might have been. But he had a feeling it wouldn’t be good.

“Well go on.” Grampa Jonagold urged. “Take a look at it!”

Caramel hesitantly grabbed the corner of the tarp and pulled. It slid away to reveal a wooden cart. Caramel stared at it in horror. He suddenly had an idea of what his errand for the day would be, and he didn’t like where it was going.

“Surprise!” Grampa Jonagold clapped in him in the back with a hoof. Caramel was quite certain the bruises in that particular area would never get a chance to heal. “After hearing how good you did with the Ponyville Apple’s cart, I thought, ‘Why not use some of that salespony charm for ourselves?’ So I went out this morning before you woke up, and got this baby at a great price! Isn’t that wonderful?”

Caramel just stared.

“Speechless my boy? I totally understand, it’s overwhelming isn’t it? We’re going to make so much money! Good thing too, I still need that hip of mine looked at. Darn thing’s creakier than a metal door at the bottom of the ocean.”

“B-but...But Grampa! I can’t-”

“Wait to get out there and sell some apples?” Caramel found himself being pushed towards the cart. “That’s great! It’s already loaded up, you get this to the ponyville market and go get’em Caramel! I have faith in you boy. Good luck!”

Caramel found himself harnessed to the cart before he knew what was happening. He turned to protest again, but seeing his Grandfather’s smiling face, he found he couldn’t. He works so hard, Caramel thought, I can’t disappoint him....

“Thanks, Grampa...” Caramel said quietly. “I’ll go right now.”

This comment earned him another hoof to the back. “That’s the spirit! Now get out there and sell, sell, sell! Bring us home some bits!”

The cart was heavier than it looked. It was at this point more than any other Caramel regretted the fact that the Ponyville town square was at the top of a hill. It took him half an hour just to lug the cart up.

When he finally arrived, he sat on his haunches for a moment, gasping for breath. What had he gotten himself into? The ponies around here wouldn’t buy anything from him. He knew that from yesterday, and then he’d had Applejack’s cart. With his own cart he’d be lucky if anypony came within 20 feet.

Still, he was here. Nothing to do but set up. Caramel, unloaded some bushels of apples, placing them around the cart in a way he thought might look attractive to the unwary passerby. He found an umbrella wrapped in some cloth. He opened it, and layed it against them, maybe if he looked like he knew what he was doing somepony might buy something. Apples didn’t like being in the heat. Right?

As he turned to look at his work, his head collided with something hard.

“Ow!” yelled a voice. There was the sound of fluttering of pages as a book fell the ground.

Caramel’s head was spinning. That voice was familiar, but he couldn’t place it, he waited for his vision to stop swimming, and looked around. The purple unicorn from the previous day sat rubbing her head.

“Twilight!” he yelled, he was on his hooves immediately. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! Are you hurt? It was my fault. Oh Celestia, I am so so sorry. I didn’t mean it. Of course...you know, I’d never mean to hurt you.” No...wait..that sounds weird. “Or anypony really! “he quickly interjected. “Do you need help?”

Twilight looked up. “Oh Caramel, hello. I’m fine really. Don’t worry, it was more my fault than yours. I should really choose between reading and walking.” She nodded to the book that had fallen to the ground in the collision. “I didn’t see you.”

Caramel raced over retrieve the book. The cover was filled with words he couldn’t fathom the meaning of. He offered it to Twilight, who floated it into her saddlebag. “Oh no, I was setting up the cart. I should have been paying more attention. Really, it’s my fault. You know me, Clumsy Caramel.”

Why did you tell her that nickname? His brain screamed.

Twilight laughed. Oh Celestia she had a great laugh.... “Fine, I guess we’ll share the blame.”

“Um..yeah.” Caramel chuckled. “I guess so.”

Twilight looked past him at the cart. “That’s not the same setup you had yesterday is it?”

“Oh, uh, no. Grampa Jonagold bought us our own cart this morning. We could use the money.”

“So it’s new is it? Well you should have a grand opening sign.” She gestured to the crowd. “To draw in customers. I’m sure Applejack could help you with it.” Twilight smiled. “If she doesn’t mind the competition that is.”

Caramel stared at her for a moment. It was only the second time he’d seen her smile and he was quite sure he never wanted to stop seeing it. Wow she was pretty. Perhaps he should have brought that book he’d thought of...but she was already reading a book. It suddenly dawned on him that she ran the library. Applejack had mentioned it once before. Would she need books? Maybe something else...

Caramel realized he’d spaced out for a moment.

Oh no... he thought. If he replied now, would it be awkward? Maybe if he acted like he hadn’t heard her she’d repeat it, then he could reply...but that might make him seem uninterested in what she had to say...Why was this so hard?

He chose to reply. “Oh, me? I’m no competition.”

Twilight looked briefly at his cart. “Well your apples look pretty good. I’d say you might give her a bit of a run for her money. How about I help?”

Caramel’s heart was beating three times faster than it should have. “H-huh? Oh! That’s not really necessary, I couldn't...I mean..”

“I’ll be your first customer. Come on, we’ll set the tone for the day.” She smiled again.

He would have jumped into a volcano if she’d asked.

“Okay...” he said dreamily.

Twilight picked out two Golden Delicious apples, and set them on the counter. “How much is that?”

Caramel suddenly remembered he had neglected to ask what the prices were before he’d left the farm. He really didn’t want to charge her, but if he returned home empty hoofed, his Grandfather would be disappointed. Caramel didn’t want to see that.

“Four bits.”

Twilight fished the money out of her saddled bag and set it on the counter. Grabbing the apples. “Thank you.”

Caramel floundered for a moment. “O-oh no, thank you!”

“Good luck, Caramel” Twilight turned to leave.

Caramel thought for a moment. Twilight was so kind to him, she’d been his first customer two days in a row. Did that mean she liked him? He thought. It seemed like she liked him. But did she like him, or like, like him? Maybe she was just being charitable...he thought. Perhaps she saw that he was a screw up, and everything she said was out of pity....

He sighed, looking up as she walked away. That was probably it. There was no way in the wide world of Equestria she’d ever like him.

You don’t know that. Said a little voice in his head.

Yes I do. Caramel thought back.

If she was doing this out of pity, would she have remembered you name? And bought apples from you twice?

Maybe.

Well there’s only one way to find out.

Caramel’s mouth was open before he knew what was happening.

“Twilight!” he called.

She turned. “Yes?”

Caramel’s face turned bright red. Curse that voice, there was no turning back now.

“Um...are you..busy this afternoon?”

Twilight pondered for a moment. “Not really, why do you ask?”

Caramel’s face got redder. “Um...well you see...I was wondering....If...you know...you had nothing to do....if you would.....you know.... kinda....” His voice petered out.

This time it was Twilight’s turn to blush. “Oh! Oh you mean....if I’m not doing anything...you’d like to...”

Caramel resembled a tomato at this point. He nodded.

Twilight’s face got just as red as Caramel’s. “Oh....oh my..”

His heart sank. She was going to say no. He just knew it. “Well...if you don’t want to... I understand...I’ll jus-”

“I’d love to!” she blurted out. Twilight quickly covered her mouth with her hooves. Surprised at her outburst.

Caramel got that now familiar, ‘out of his depth’ feeling.

“So you....”

She nodded.

“With me...”

She nodded again.

His heart nearly burst in his chest.

“Um...how’s four?”

A final nod. “Um.... S-see you then?”

“Um...yeah...” Caramel said. He didn’t dare move in case he woke up.

“Good...” said Twilight.

“Good..” said Caramel.

To Be continued.