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.