Chapter 1: First Time
Evening had set in across the land of Equestria and the citizens of the town of Ponyville were all leaving their occupations and heading homeward. This was not the case for all ponies, however, as one blue unicorn trotted happily toward the town bar. This pony with a frazzled mane made his way to a building in town center, aptly named The Salt Lick.
Entering through the doors, the pony found the tan colt he was looking for sitting up at the bar. Trotting up to him, he called out, “Hey Caramel.”
The earth pony turned to see his friend hop upon the stool next to him. He raised his glass up and greeted him back, “And an evening to you too, Pokey. Surprised it took you so long to get here.”
“What, you need help drinking your cider because you’re not enough of a stallion to finish it?” Pokey laughed. He then turned his attention to the barkeep, “One cider, please.”
Caramel mocked his laughter, “Oh ha ha. You know what I mean. You’ve been spending the last few weeks with that one pony in her shop.”
“For your information, I’m helping Rarity out with some of her clothing orders,” the unicorn emphasized.
“Is that what they are calling it nowadays?” the tan pony snickered.
“You know what I mean,” Pokey hit Caramel on his limb, “And it’s why I’m not helping you ponies out on the farm right now. She needed a male model so she could work more on her designs and what not for her big order.”
A smirk was on the earth pony’s face, “Are you sure that’s the only reason she wants you around?”
Pokey’s drink had arrived. Before replying, he took a drink of the fruity, alcoholic beverage, “Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think the white unicorn was attractive.”
This statement almost caused Caramel to spit out the liquid he had in his mouth. Swallowing the cider down, he gasped for breath as he looked at his friend, “You’re kidding right?”
“What do you mean?”
“We both are talking about Rarity, right? The fashionista of Ponyville?”
“Yeah, what of it?”
“Pokey, she’s a bit of a princess and a little stuck up,” Caramel warned.
The unicorn was not hearing what he had to say, “Are you just not over reacting? Or even jealous?”
“Please, she’s not the mare I have my eyes on,” Caramel’s cheeks became momentarily flushed as he spoke, “But this isn’t about me, this is about you and Rarity. You can’t be serious about liking her.”
“Why not? She’s very attractive, quite kind, elegant and classy, and all around a wonderful pony,” Pokey listed off a few things as he took another drink of his beverage.
Caramel sighed, “To each their own, I guess. I just don’t see what you see in her.”
Pokey turned to his friend, “Well, it’s the first time I really ever felt this way about anypony. I really like her a lot.”
“Wait,” the tan pony started, “Don’t tell me this is the first time you fell for somepony.”
Looking away from his friend, Pokey replied, “Well….it kinda is.”
Caramel was shocked, “Really? You never had a crush on a filly back in school?”
Pokey shook his head.
“What about with any of your female friends? You didn’t feel like you had a connection with them like that?”
Still no.
“Wow, and I thought I was pathetic,” Caramel commented.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the unicorn became defensive.
Caramel raised his hooves up and waved them in front of him, “Don’t take it the wrong way. What I mean is are you going to do anything about how you feel about her?”
“You mean a confession?”
“More or less.”
The unicorn was silent. Looking at his cider, he picked it up and took a sip. Placing it back down, he mumbled, “I want to….”
“But you’re afraid, aren’t ya?” Caramel asked.
“Is it that obvious?” Pokey replied.
With a good natured laugh, the tan pony hit his friend on the back with his hoof, “Pokey, my good colt, it’s not that it’s obvious. Rather, it’s something everypony goes through. That’s what I learned anyway about this crazy little thing called love.”
Pokey raised an eyebrow, “Just what do you know about love?”
“Heh, that’s a story for another day. But if you don’t want to be kept guessing about how Rarity feels about you, you should just admit to her how you feel about her. Sure you’ll be putting yourself on the spot, but sometimes that the only way to get things done,” Caramel explained. He took a big drink of his cider as soon a she finished.
The unicorn lightly chuckled as he heard his friend speak, “Sounds like it’d work. Heh, never thought I’d ever take relationship advice from somepony like you.”
“Never thought I’d ever give it.”