//------------------------------// // City Lights // Story: Princess Twilight's Escorts // by FerociousCreation //------------------------------// Deep down, I had a strong feeling Caramel wanted to discuss with me about how I was doing alone. I couldn't blame him. If I had to haul one of my friends over a mile as a prisoner, I would easily ask them if they were doing well. Unfortunately for Caramel and myself, Trixie had to be present for the Friendship Festival. If Starlight hadn't allowed Trixie to literally house herself outside my castle, my invitation would have been “lost” during the mailing process. I hated the part of me that couldn't tolerate Trixie most of the time. But Trixie just has to press EVERY. SINGLE. BUTTON. with me. And poor Caramel didn't look in anyway joyful to see Trixie either. I wanted to flash him and me away from the eventual “Prince Caramel” comments. I knew how to endure her barrage of comments. He didn't. Groak scratched his chin and looked at Caramel. “You know her?” he asked, pointing a finger at the fast approaching magician. “You know her?” Tempest asked me. “Yeah,” I simply reply. “She and I have a… history together.” Being in the public setting meant I had to behave how most ponies saw me as: not unfriendly. And I had to set a good example for Tempest; wouldn't want her to regress because of me lashing out at Trixie. “Good evening,” Trixie proclaimed, levitating her hat and followed up with a respectful bow. “I am Trixie Lulamoon.” She eyed Tempest with interest. “You must be Tempest. I assume you have been treated well by the Princess of Friendship.” “I have,” Tempest nodded. “You appear to be a good mare.” I had to cough to prevent myself from laughing. Trixie did have her good moments, but little did Tempest know of her past. Then again, Starlight had a strong friendship with Trixie because of their personal experiences. Maybe Tempest and Trixie would get along. Caramel seemed to be less stressed by Trixie’s presence, but I didn't put it past her that she wasn't up to something. “Have you been enjoying the festival?” I asked. The smirk I have been well accustomed to seeing flashed at me. “It’s been fun. How's your time with Prince Caramel?” And there it was, the expected tease. What made the comment worse was how Groak ate up Trixie’s lie. “Wait… Caramel is a Prince!?” Even Tempest was charmed. “Oh my goodness! I- I never knew Caramel was-!” Tempest and Groak knelt out of respect before Caramel. “Please, forgive me for forcing you to pull Princess Twilight across the Kingdom of Canterlot!” “I always knew my friend was a pony more special than any friend I could ask for,” Groak said. It was actually quite amusing to see Caramel be bowed to. And to know how gullible Tempest and Groak were. Caramel looked more confused and didn’t know how to react to the sudden praise. And I knew he couldn't handle all the attention being fed to him. He would break from embarrassment. But before I could wave them off the Prince, Trixie was much faster than I could have anticipated. She exclaimed, “Rise, Tempest! For I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, who is one of Princess Twilight’s Ambassadors of Friendship, forgives you! And I know, that in due time, the Prince will share his gentle emotions with you.” Ambassador?! Caramel looked at me and rolled his eyes for me. Sure, Trixie saved Equestria once, but she was making it sound like I gave her a seat at the Cutie Map Chamber. “Thank you, Ambassador Trixie,” Tempest smiled as Trixie lent her hoof to the reformed unicorn. At least Tempest looked pleased to be forgiven by another pony. She looked at Caramel and nodded, “I hope that one day you can look upon me without having any worries, Prince Caramel.” “I’m… There is nothing to be worried about between you and me,” Caramel said. “Don’t give me an apology just to pity me. Tell me when you are ready.” Groak stood up and placed his paw on Caramel’s shoulder. “Thank you for allowing me to be your friend.” “And thank you for… allowing me to show you… umm… the wonderful snack of cheese and crackers.” The Storm Creature let out a hysterical laugh and slapped Caramel on the back so hard, it knocked him over. “Sorry!” As Caramel struggled to stand, I made my way over to help him up. “Here,” I said, lending my hoof to him. “It’s the least I can do for when you…” My eyes shied away from the, hehe, unofficial Prince. “...comforted me when I was in my cage.” “Th-Thank you, Prin-” “A Prince doesn’t need to call a Princess by her title.” For once, Trixie’s game worked in my favor. “Please, as I have told you before, call me Twilight.” It was too cute to see Caramel flush as he grabbed my hoof. The spell of a long lost school-girl crush was cast on me, and the stallion I helped up began to do the works on my heart. “I think we should leave them alone,” Trixie said. It was like a dream to hear Trixie want to go away from me. If only she chose to stop living at my castle and got back to traveling. “Let’s go, Groak,” Tempest said. Groak nodded and politely gestured Trixie to walk ahead of him. “Lead the way, Trixie.” “You are just as sweet as Caramel.” Trixie giggled in her hoof. “In more ways than one.” Caramel looked at the stage, and from what I saw, he had the faintest smile. “He does know how to pick the best of friends,” Groak said. “Give yourself some credit. Prince Caramel may have his way of brushing off that flattering stallion magic, but you too can be kind all on your own.” Just before Tempest walked away with Trixie and Groak, she whispered into my ear, “He does look cute when he is blushing.” It was impossible to deny. But as much as I wanted to tell Caramel he was… charming, flattering him any further may cause him to die of embarrassment; and I was too embarrassed to tell him myself. Tempest looked down at Caramel, and his ears fell back. “Have a good time talking.” “Mmhmm,” he nodded. The crowd applauded behind Caramel and I as I gestured to the ledge. I always wanted to talk with a cute stallion while overlooking a city during a festival. I know it may be a little too specific, but a mare does daydream sometimes. “Let’s talk over here.” “Okay,” Caramel said. We walked over to the balcony and I placed my forehooves on the stone guardrails to overlook Canterlot. I quietly waited for Caramel to initiate the discussion on purpose. If he wanted to talk to me personally and like a normal pony, Caramel should at least try forming a coherent sentence without getting nervous. “How have you been, Twilight?” he asked. “I am sure you have had quite a lot to do this week.” Since I was well prepared to talk about anything, and I knew Caramel would listen, I began to vent my stress. “You have no idea how crazy it has been for me,” I said with a smile. “Then why do you look so happy about it?” Caramel asked, joining me by resting his hooves on the railing. “Well, since you are a Prince, I am sure you know what it is like to have a royal pain in your flank at all times.” “I assume you are talking about Trixie.” I gave Caramel a playful shove. “That’s so mean!” I said with a guilty grin. Caramel shrugged, “I’m not wrong when I say she can be quite a hoofful. I mean, how am I going to explain to Groak that I’m not a Prince?” My hoof batted at him, “Just play along. I think it is a little silly to watch.” A curious brow rose on Caramel’s face. “Is the Princess of Friendship encouraging me to lie to my friends?” I knew it was a playful tease, but part of me was guilty for allowing it to happen for amusement’s sake. So I chose to change the subject to Caramel. “I’m glad you can now talk to me normally.” However, my words reminded him of my title, and he said, “Well… I was distracted and forgot that you were a Princess. And it is nice to finally just… talk with you.” “Me too,” I beamed. “So tell me a little about your week?” That got Caramel thinking about not being nervous. “You are going to love this.” I had to adjust myself and got just a few inches closer to him, just so the crowd did not swallow his voice. “So, after you, once again, saved Equestria, I convinced a couple to help house lost foals in their massive home to help reunite them with their parents.” “Really? How sweet!” I never thought Caramel would do something so kind and clever. Then again, I don’t know much about him. All I knew about Caramel was that he was a sweet stallion who knows how to make me feel special, be it in my castle by giving me roses, or by lending me his hoof while I sat in a cage. I found myself staring at Caramel, remembering that day he came to me when I sat in my cage; and how Grubber started beating on him for no reason; and when he looked back at me, a Storm Creature struck him at his side- “Twilight?” Caramel asked. I blinked a few times, my mind not fully present for my talk with Caramel. “Are you okay?” “I-I’m fine,” I said. It was a lie, though I told myself it was a white lie. “Go on. Tell me your methods on how you united families.” My entire body was scanned by Caramel before he continued. I didn’t want him to worry about me. He admired me. And to see me break again was not something I wanted him to whiteness a second time. “So, what I chose to do was have the children write their name on a piece of paper. I then went to the printing press store and made two fliers. One was an announcement, telling lost foals to come to Upper Crust’s and Jet Set’s big mansion if they need help finding their parents. The second flier involved the list of the foals’ names, and on it, said, ‘Come to Upper Crust’s and Jet Set’s mansion if your child is on this list.” “And how successful was your plan?” I asked, leaning forward with eager anticipation for Caramel to continue. “A huge success!” Caramel beamed. “ In fact, the last colt was picked up at noon today; everypony had a happy ending.” I grabbed Caramel’s hoof, overjoyed to hear his idea end up with all foals going home. “It makes me happy to know you did something so thoughtful!” The stallion flushed and shrugged, “Like Groak would say, ‘I’m naturally great with coming up with ideas.” Caramel tangled his forearm around my hoof. And the warmth of it reminded me of my I imprisonment. I claimed Caramel’s arm close to me, yanking him along with it. Both Caramel and I flushed at my reflex, and I easily surrendered his arm. “Sorry…” It was a microscopic movement, but it was enough for me to notice Caramel inch a little closer to me. “Is everything okay…?” “It’s nothing…” I replied while shying away. Don’t let him worry about you. Caramel looks up to you. “But you wouldn’t have done something like that if there wasn’t.” Just like I did for him, Caramel grabbed my hoof but was much more gentle with it. Dang it… Since he already had my hoof, and because Caramel was such a sweetheart about being concerned about me, I felt like I could tell him about what has been on my mind. “Caramel, did I disappoint you?” “What? No! Of course not! Never!” The stallion was doing his best to cheer me up, but just like me, I knew Caramel had a different answer. I looked at Caramel and shook my head. His smile slowly faded, and he looked to the city. “I did… lose some hope when you told me to give up.” Caramel was fast to change his mood, and he gave me a determined stare. “But I never gave up on you! Why else would I keep looking back at you when I walked? Because I knew you would come out as the victor.” His smile was as bright as the city lights. “And now, look at where we are now! The Prince and Princess get to enjoy a wonderful view of Canterlot here on the ledge.” I wanted to be happier because of Caramel’s wonderful words. But there was something I had to tell him. “I may be the one everypony gives credit to, but you need to know something. When I was on my adventure, I really messed up when I was seeking the Hippogryphs. And I was so obsessed with saving Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, I lashed out at my friends.” “But everything turned out well.” “That does not mean I came out unscarred,” I said. Caramel creased his brows. “What do you mean?” Oh no… Everything came back to me. And so did the tears. “Twilight!” Caramel gasped. “Why are you crying?” Instead of me leaping into his arms in helpless abandonment, Caramel wrapped his arms around me and claimed my quaking body against his warm chest. He deserved another kiss after we finished our talk. “Everypony acts like I did nothing wrong, even though I know they have forgiven me,” I sobbed. “And yet, everything haunts me. Pinkie Pie’s expression of fear. The Hippogryph Queen’s anger against my treachery.” I looked up at Caramel, and I tightened my hold on him. “You getting punched and hit over and over…” Caramel’s throat bobbed as he swallowed something. He only looked down at me, tenaciously waiting for me to either continue crying, talking, or both. “You look up to me with such positivity, and I told you to give up! That still… That actually haunts my dreams… Along with everything else that I did wrong.” “Oh…” Caramel muttered. His eyes did not once look at me with disgust; only concern. I didn’t understand why he couldn’t get angry with me. “Why are you not disappointed in me, Caramel?”  I asked. “How can you not be angry with me? I invited you to Canterlot and got you hurt.” “That wasn’t your fault,” he said. “You didn’t know an invasion was going to happen. Throughout my life in Ponyville, I never thought it would have its mess of problems that has happened to it. But those things did happen.” Something inside of my heart wanted to find anything that made Caramel upset with me. “Then what about when I told you to give up? How can you hold me like this if your Princess had no hope left?” Finally, Caramel looked down at me with a bothered crease in his brows. “Stop beating yourself up. Please.” I opened my mouth to argue, but my brain temporarily forgot how to use my voice. “You want to know why I am holding you?” Caramel’s face went beet-red, and his ears were pinned back. Is he…?! “Tell me,” I whispered. I brushed a hoof on his chest to feel his heart pulse. It pounded against his ribcage as if it wanted to be held by my hoof. Even I flushed, anticipating the most extreme. “Because you mean the world to me, Twilight Sparkle,” Caramel confessed; though, it was not the confession I was expecting to hear. “Even now, you mean the world to me. That day, when I saw you in your cold cage, that was an all-time low for you. Now a week has passed, and you are soaring over that low pit you were stuck in.” He smiled down at me, his sapphire eyes never moved from mine. “We all have those moments when we feel like we may never get out of our pit of despair. But even when we feel like that, somepony will come around and want to help. And I saw that you needed motivation when you sat alone in your cage. I wanted to show you that you still gave me hope by looking at you and took every blow I could. Because good resists evil. And I wanted to impress the mare that impressed me.” The only word that could express my shock at how Caramel easily swept away all the sadness from my pillars was… speechless. I looked at the yellow stallion in silence as he breathed heavily. Caramel’s blush did not fade, and in fact, became irritated and got brighter. “Even ponies who are famous get down,” Caramel said. “I would know. I am a Prince.” To think, that even in my crying fit, Caramel still managed to make me smile; which, in turn, made him widen his grin as well. “Do you have any royal pains, Prince of Toy-Making?” He rolled his eyes at my joke. Rude. “Only when customers don’t have patience in waiting for a product to be finished,” Caramel said. “All my toys are hoof-made, never for an assembly line.” “Then I am sure you have your days when you want to give up because of orders, or because you simply don’t want to work,” I said. “Yup!” It was my turn to begin flattering Caramel… Well, only a little bit. “Sounds to me you and I have a few things in common.” His eyes widened at my comment. “Y-You really think so?!” Caramel kept looking around me like a magnet refusing to connect to the same pole as another magnet. “You're just saying that…” “Then you are just holding me just because based on that logic,” I countered, obliterating his silly thought. “You must simply walk over to mares and ask to hold them ‘just because.’” Caramel pursed his lips at me. “Don’t make it sound weird, Twilight.” I couldn’t help but giggle at his expression. “But you do make a point.” “And…” I was far from finished with complimenting him. “...throughout our talk, you have been using my regular name. Are you just saying that? Or are you actually connecting with me and enjoying our talk?” That got his gears working in his head. Caramel rotated his magnet and managed to hold his muzzle still to attract to my own. “You really are something.” “Are you just-” He held up his hoof and interjected, “Alright, alright, I get it.” We laughed with each other, our arms still claiming the other. It was such a sweet moment. I looked out to the city; the city that me and my friends saved. So many ponies did look up to be, especially Caramel. And he was right. He was right about how I was at my lowest point, and that there are those who will come to aid me when those times come. Part of me wanted to leave and write down this moment in the Friendship Journal. But my heart told me to enjoy Caramel’s company for just a little longer, giving me time to wonder about the detail I was going to go into for my entry. “I hope you are feeling better, Twilight,” Caramel said. “I'm feeling much better,” I winked. My eyes looked up to his forehead, a perfect target for my gift to him. He had no time to react, and Caramel froze as I lurched my head toward him. I let out a drawn-out moan as my lips smacked against his soft head. I recalled the day he came to give me flowers and remembered the rush I felt when I kissed him that day. The same surge ran through my system. My heart pounded against Caramel’s chest to inform him I can be his friend. A very, very close friend at that. I parted my lips from Caramel’s brow and saw him unable to dissolve himself from being surprised. “Thank you for being so sweet.” The corner of Caramel’s mouth twitched upwards, his petrification flaking away. “Your welcome…” Our little moment together was starting to embarrass me a little, and I wanted some time away from Caramel to ponder a few things in my head. “I don’t want to be rude, Caramel, when I ask if you want to get back to listening to the concert with your friend.” “No, it’s okay,” he said, though there was a disappointing twitch in his brow. “I did come with Groak to hang out, and I don’t want him to be a third-wheel. Besides, I am sure you want to see your other friends as well.” “Okay,” I simply replied. It was difficult to not feel bad to part from Caramel so suddenly. But I knew what to do to end our time together. “How about you and I have an entire day together once we get back to Ponyville? I would love to see your workshop and how you make toys.” Caramel smiled as his ears fell back, “Are you sure that would be something you would want to do with me?” “I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t want to spend time with you,” I answered. It was difficult for either of us to make eye contact. “Then… is it a date?” Caramel asked. “Or are we just hanging out?” His question perplexed me. Were we going to make a date of our time together? Or was my time with Caramel going to be a mutual experience? I noted to myself that research would be needed to understand if time alone with a stallion was a date or not. “Let’s spend time together,” I said, leaving his question answered in a vague response. “I think that is what is important.” “Okay,” Caramel nodded. I loosened my hold on my friend, and Caramel did the same. But the two of us looked at each other, locked in a friendly stare. But good things all have their end. A blinding flash engulfed Caramel and I. My body flinched at the unexpected blink of light. When I looked back toward the source, there she was… “Perfect!” Trixie exclaimed to Photo Finish. Beside the obnoxious unicorn stood Tempest, smiling alongside Trixie with a cheerful grin; at least Tempest didn’t look like she was purposefully trying to embarrass me. “Of course it was perfect!” Photo exclaimed, running a hoof through her mane. “I only capture moments that can never be replicated!” She looked at Trixie and asked, “Are you sure he is a Prince?” Tempest’s tall figure loomed over the photographer. “Do you think the Great and Powerful Ambassador Trixie Lulamoon would lie?” That was quite the title to say… “N-No! I was just… making sure. That’s all… ehehe…” I knew Tempest’s heart was in a much better place. But it was hard to deny that she had a natural, intimidating demeanor; mostly because of the scar and chipped horn. “I will be sure that the world will see Prince Caramel caress the beloved Princess of Friendship!” Photo Finish said. Trixie… Why must you embarress me? *** “And here you go,” Groak said as he gave a piece of paper to the vendor. “I will be sure to write to you when the wedding happens.” “Thank you,” she nodded. “Groak!” I yelled. “I thought you just wanted to get some snacks!” “I do want some snacks, Caramel.” He gestured his massive paw to the mare. “Also, before we left the stand earlier, she asked to be invited to your eventual wedding with Princess Twilight.” Groak scratched his chin and asked the vendor, “Can you prepare food for a wedding? I think guests will love having your wonderful invention, popcorn.” “I can make caramel popcorn to make the snack more unique,” she said. Groak’s small eyes shined in his long face. “Did you just come up with that?” The vendor looked at me and winked. “You could say somepony inspired me to do that.” To be continuuuuuuuuuuuuuued?