Pokey Pierce is needing some help in confessing his feelings to the first mare that ever caught his eye. Will Caramel's advice help or hinder the issue?
"I'm so cool, too bad I'm a loser./I'm so smart, too bad I can't get anything figured out./I'm so brave, too bad I'm a baby./I'm so fly, that's probably why it/Feels just like I'm falling for the first time." -Barenaked Ladies, 'Falling For The First Time'
While hanging out with Caramel at the bar, Pokey Pierce admits that he has fallen head over hooves for the mare that he is helping out. The unicorn is given some advice by his friend about what he should do about admitting his feelings, but will it work for Pokey or will he be able to tell Rarity how he feels?
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.”
The next day, Pokey was helping Rarity again in the Carousel Boutique. Standing on a platform in a very formal attire that would be warn by the elites of Canterlot, the blue unicorn was feeling a bit uncomfortable for a few reasons. Two of the reasons were that he had been standing on that same platform for close to three straight hours without stepping down and he had not changed out of the attire the entire time.
“Just a little longer, darling. I just need to put in a few more pins in the lapel and on the sleeves,” Rarity informed. Her magic levitated a pincushion with a number of pins.
The unicorn lightly nodded, not moving many muscles, “Okay then. No rush, Rarity.”
The other reason why Pokey was feeling uncomfortable was because he wanted to follow through with Caramel’s advice. Just the other day, he told him that he should take charge of the situation and tell Rarity how he honestly felt about her. Yesterday and earlier that day, he was comfortable in his abilities in being about to express his feelings. Now, however, he was less confident.
“I can’t thank you enough, Pokey. When I was given a large order for stallion designs, I didn’t think I would be able to get any of them done on time. Now look at us, we are easily ahead of our deadline!” the white unicorn mused happily as she stuck a few more pins into the clothing on the blue stallion.
Pokey smiled, “Always happy to help anypony in need.”
Rarity smiled and nodded as she finished the rest of her work in silence. As a few more pins were put in and some were taken out, the work was finally completed. “Wonderful! The last order is completed. Now if you could carefully take it off, I can get started on the sewing and finish up the entire order!” Rarity stated as she returned her materials to the proper location.
Following her instructions, Pokey carefully used his magic to get the clothing off of him. It took a minute to completely get the clothing off without ruining any of the fabric. He held the clothing with his magic to pass it off to the white mare.
Returning, Rarity took the clothing from the blue stallion with her own magic, “Thank you so very much again, Pokey. And I do apologize if I didn’t act completely lady-like while working on these designs. I never had an order like this before.”
Pokey smiled and raised a hoof, “Don’t worry about it. You were on your best behavior as far as I could tell.”
The two unicorns shared a laugh together.
“Well, I should get started on sewing this last design and put the final touches on all of them,” Rarity stated, “Thank you ever so much. It was a delight working with you, Mr. Pokey Pierce.”
“Same to you, Ms. Rarity,” the stallion stated.
Pokey watched as Rarity turned around and began to place the clothing near her sewing machine. Once again, she gathered all of the materials she would need for he work so he would not have to go far.
In his head, Pokey knew that he should leave her to his work. Yet something inside him wanted him to admit to the white unicorn how he felt about her. His hooves seemed to be frozen, making him unable to move away or avoid the inevitable situation.
Rarity turned to get some more items for her work. Her eyes caught Pokey still standing in the room, “Is something wrong, Pokey?”
Wanting to say something so he could leave, Pokey tried to speak. But the words he had planned to say were replaced with something else, “Um….I kinda have something to say, Rarity….”
The white mare tilted her head to the side in puzzlement.
“I….I like you….a lot….”
The words caught both ponies off guard. While Rarity’s face grew a light pink tint, Pokey’s face burned a bright red. He immediately regretted that he ever listened to Caramel’s advice.
“Th-That’s really flattering, Pokey. It really is. But I don’t feel the same way.”
Rarity seemed apologetic for what she had just said. “I like you, Pokey, but only as a friend,” she explained.
A large and sorrowful sigh escaped from the blue stallion’s mouth as he stared at the floor, “Alright, I understand.”
“I really am sorry, Pokey. You are a wonderful stallion,” Rarity tried to comfort Pokey with her words.
“Heh, at least I got it off my chest,” the blue unicorn half-heartedly let out a chuckle, “At least that’s something, right?”
The mare gave a small smile as she looked towards Pokey, “It isn’t easy to bare your soul. And if I may be honest, you are stronger than I by doing that.”
Pokey looked up to Rarity, still struggling to keep a small smile, “I guess you’ve had some experience with what I just did.”
Closing her eyes and turning her expression into a blank one, Rarity spoke, “Yes and no. I would be lying if I said you were the first one to confess to me about your feelings. Many colts have always stated that they have had feelings for me and I had turned them all down. I honestly didn’t think much about it until just a short time ago. It wasn’t until I was on the other end of the confession did I realize how much it could hurt.”
“You’re feelings were rejected? By who?” Pokey questioned.
A small smirk appeared on Rarity’s lips as her eyes stayed shut, “That’s a secret.” Her expression turned back to what it was as she continued, “But when I spoke to him, it was as if I bore my entire soul to him. However, he said no. It wasn’t until that moment that I realize the pain a single pony can deliver to another with so much as a word.”
The stallion felt guilty just hearing her story, “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Rarity opened her eyes up again, “No, it’s okay. It made me a better pony, or that’s how I would like to see it. I’m sorry that I don’t share the same feelings for you, Pokey. I understand that it’s not easy to do what you just did, even if it’s just a little bit. I hope we can still be friends.”
Pokey smiled back, this time with no struggle or forcing of it, “I would really like to be.”
“I, again, apologize for this, Pokey. You really deserve better than this,” Rarity apologized yet again.
With a sad smirk, he replied, “It’s fine. I had to confess how I felt to the first mare I feel for sooner or later, right?”
Caramel climbed out of the window onto the roof of the barn with a saddlebag on his back. Carefully trotting on the wooden planks that made up the barn roof, he sat down next to his blue unicorn friend.
“Hey,” the tan colt spoke.
“Hey,” was the only thing Pokey said. He didn’t move his head to look at his friend. Instead, his eyes were fixed at the landscape before him.
“Did ya tell Rarity how you felt?”
Pokey replied with another short answer “Yeah.”
The tan pony edged on, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
With that answer, Caramel easily pieced together what might have happened. He knew better than trying to pester his friend about it. Instead, he opened up his saddlebag and pulled out six glass bottles of hard cider in a carrier. Taking one of the bottles, he offered it to the unicorn. The blue stallion took the bottle and opened it up while Caramel set the bottles carefully on the surface of the roof as he took one himself, opening it.
“You gonna be okay?” Caramel asked as he watched Pokey take a drink.
Pokey was silent.
“Can I say something about all of this?”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it,” the unicorn stated.
“You’re not talking about it. I am,” Caramel corrected.
Pokey quickly gave up and took another drink of his cider.
Caramel began, “I don’t know what happened between the two of you. Good, bad, whatever. All I can say is that you can’t stay fixated and depressed forever.”
The unicorn took another large drink from the bottle.
“I’m not saying move on and not think about it. Instead, I suggest you don’t forget to live your life,” the earth pony added.
Finishing the drink, Pokey threw the glass bottle off from the roof at a tree. A loud, shattering noise came from the impact. He picked up another bottle from the carrier and opened it.
“Life still moves on, with or without you,” Caramel finished as he took a drink from his bottle.
Pokey took a small drink of the newly opened cider. He continued to stare off out at the landscape in front of him. He finally spoke again, “It hurts.”
“It always does.”
“How long will it last?” he asked.
“It might not go away. You just gotta learn to live with it,” Caramel explained.
Pokey sighed in a defeated tone. He at in silence for a few moments before speaking, “Thanks, Caramel.”
The tan pony was puzzled, “For what?”
“Picking me back up after I fall flat on my flank,” Pokey gave a small smile to his friend.
“What are friends for?” Caramel smiled, “Now, Pinkie Pie is throwing a party later tonight. How about we go so you can get your mind on something different?”