37.
Caramel sat on the bench outside Sugarcube Corner and looked at the clock inside anxiously. Redheart was ten minutes late. From his memory, Redheart was never ten minutes late, and he wondered what was keeping her. She was the one who had arranged this meeting anyways.
Outside of Sugarcube Corner, a light layer of snow covered the ground in a thin white sheet. The day was covered in clouds and a wind blew through so cold it chilled Caramel through his black sweater, but no more snow had fallen. Festive lights in bright blues, greens, golds, and reds adorned the houses of Ponyville, and a large pine tree set up in the square had been decorated. Hearth’s Warming Eve was only a few days away; a large sign advertised a play for the occasion to be held at the stadium on the hills just outside Ponyville, and carolers walked through the ribbon-lined streets singing carols. The enthusiasm and friendliness of the lilting voices was infectious, and soon Carmel found himself tapping the snow underhoof.
It wasn’t until a little while later, after the carolers had come and gone, that Redheart appeared. Caramel almost didn’t see her coming, the white of her coat blending in with the pure snow, yet it was not so hard to spot the pink mane, loose and flowing instead of tied up in its usual bun, and the red sweatshirt she was wearing. She walked up to Caramel and told him to wait a minute before heading inside Sugarcube Corner.
Inside, the store was brightly lit. Cookies in the shape of ponies and deer and pine trees and ornaments filled the display cases. Bright, multi-colored signs advertised pies and loaves of bread freshly baked that morning, the steam lifting off in thin wisps. Redheart was soon at the counter and picking up a container with two cups of hot chocolate, a small dollop of whipped cream at the top of each one and a thin line of steam wafting from the surface.
The contained in her mouth, Redheart came back outside and sat on the bench next to Carmel, who had brushed the snow off a spot for her to sit. Redheart took out one of the cups and gave it to Caramel, who took it gratefully and immediately put the cup to his bright red nose.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” Redheart said, taking the remaining cup. “I was packing my things together.”
Caramel looked at her. “You’re leaving?”
“Doctor Stable gave me the holiday off,” Redheart said. “This afternoon, I’m getting on a train and heading over to meet my mother and father in Whitewater Ridge for Hearth’s Warming Eve with the family.”
“Oh, good,” Caramel replied. “I thought you meant you were moving.”
Redheart shrugged and took a sip of her hot chocolate. “I thought about it.”
Caramel took a sip of his own cup, wondering where this was going. “So… you left me a message saying you wanted to talk. About what, if I may ask?”
“Oh, I just wanted to talk for a minute or two.”
Caramel blew a raspberry. “You’ve been avoiding me for months. There’s got to be an explanation why you suddenly called me up to talk. Have you and Twilight broken up yet?”
“Nope. Still going strong.”
Caramel nodded. “How have things been going with her?” he asked gently.
“Doing pretty good, so far,” Redheart replied. “I take my shift at the hospital, get off in the late afternoon, and we go out and spend the evening doing something. I’ve made quite the circle of friends lately.”
“Really? Like who?”
“She’s got connections with Octavia and Noteworthy, so we sometimes go to their concerts and hang out with them afterwards. She took me to a poetry reading with Written Script not long ago, too, and they’ve even got me into writing.”
“I bet that’s been fun,” Caramel said.
“It has. Matter of fact, I think I’ve been having more fun than I have for a while.” Redheart smiled and laughed at the thought, and Caramel thought she looked even prettier than she ever had. She turned and looked at him with bright blue eyes. “What about you? How have things been going between you and Lyra?”
Caramel sighed. “We broke up not long ago. I… caught Lyra cheating on me.”
“With who?”
“Bon Bon. That mare who occasionally helps out here at Sugarcube Corner but otherwise has her own candy business. What’s worse, afterwards, Lyra told me she wanted to continue the relationship, that Bon Bon was an old friend of hers that was just satiating a desire. I couldn’t do it.” Caramel sighed. “I suppose I understand how you feel now after seeing me with Lyra a few months ago and Roseluck back in Trotsworth.”
Redheart’s smiled softened but didn’t fade. “I suppose you do,” she said gently.
Caramel chuckled. “I thought you’d be laughing at me,” he said. “For making myself look like an idiot three times now.”
Redheart shook her head. “I’m not. Matter of fact, at the moment, I wouldn’t even think of doing so. It’s a hard thing to go through, and it’s not something I’d wish on anypony.”
They sat in silence for a while, sipping on their hot cocoa.
“What time does your train leave?”
“I’m meeting Twilight here in about fifteen minutes. Once she arrives, we go over to her place and grab her things, then over to my place to grab my suitcase, and hopefully arrive at the station in two hours’ time.”
“Twilight’s going with you?”
“So is her family. Well, her mother, father, brother, and sister-in-law are going, at least.”
“You’ve hit that point where it’s time to introduce each other to the family?” Caramel smiled.
“Oh, mother and father are in for a shock when they see I’m dating Canterlot nobility,” Redheart chuckled. “But, it’s not about that for me. Twilight’s treated me like nopony has for a while: like I’m special. Like I’m the one her world revolves around. And… I feel the same way.”
Caramel nodded. “I’m sorry about what happened with Lyra,” he said. “I wish… I wish I had just called the thing off the first time I felt something was going to go wrong.”
“When was that?”
“When we went to that one restaurant and Lyra was among the band playing on the patio. I should have gone up to her the next day and told her that she should have just stayed away. I wonder if things would have turned out differently if that was the case.”
Redheart shrugged. “I think I would have turned out a jealous lover anyways. Considering it had happened once before already, I would probably be quick to be suspicious of you. I wager it would have lasted a few more months before a spat.”
Caramel looked at his cup and took a final sip. “Do you think those wounds will ever be healed?”
“That’s why I’m here.”
Caramel raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re going to start an affair with me while you’re with Twilight.”
“No, nothing of the sort. But Twilight taught me something.”
Redheart took a sip of her hot chocolate and set it down on the bench. “After she began to recover, we went out on a picnic with another pony, Rainbow Dash. Just to fill you in, Rainbow Dash created a Sonic Rainboom that, when she smashed into Twilight, caused her to fall at very high speed from ten feet up. The resulting crash led to Twilight going into a coma while Rainbow Dash went away with nothing more than a minor concussion. If you were in Twilight’s position and you woke up to find that fourteen weeks of your life were taken away by something as careless as that, how would you respond?”
Caramel thought about it. “Well, I’d be angry. Maybe even angry enough to reprimand them or get in a fight with how they were being inconsiderate of me and what they did to me.”
Redheart nodded. “Now, what if they had a sense of guilt over it? What if they wanted, for fourteen weeks, to tell you how sorry they were that it happened and how worried about you they were? Would you still harbor the same resentment?”
Caramel had to think about this one. “Well, I… I suppose I would… I would forgive them. If they were really sorry about it, I don’t think I could stay mad at them for too long.”
Redheart smiled at Caramel and put a hoof around his shoulder. It was warm and more intimate a gesture than Caramel had expected at this point. “For twelve weeks I was with you dealing with a tumultuous relationship. I dealt with stress from my life with you as much as I was dealing with stress from work, if not more so. But after what happened, you seemed guilty. I saw you once outside of Sugarcube Corner with Lyra talking about how you felt you had made a mistake.”
Caramel nodded; he could see where this was going. “But… you forgive me for all that? But how?”
“You were my best friend at Trotsworth and, for a short time, my only friend there. When I was dealing with the stress of work when Twilight was in a coma, you were able to make it go away for a little bit. And when we finally split up the second time, when I spoke with you later you felt sad about it. You can’t be all that bad if you’ve done something like that.”
Caramel found he could not meet Redheart’s eye.
“You’ve got a good heart in you, Caramel, I’m sure of it. It just needs some time to settle down.”
The snow in a few spots became darker and slightly melted away. “I… I can’t believe…” Caramel choked out.
Caramel felt a hoof on his cheek and the tears were dried away. “Caramel, I may still be in a relationship with Twilight and may continue to be for the foreseeable future. But I do want to be friends again. We don’t have to start from scratch. We just need to make sure we pick ourselves back up when we stumble again.”
Caramel finally picked his head up and looked over to Redheart. For a long time, he gazed into the soft blue eyes smiling at him. Finally, he smiled back. “Yeah. I suppose I could do that.”
Redheart smiled and put her hooves around him. Caramel returned the gesture. He wanted to hold on for as long as he could, but eventually he managed to pry himself apart from Redheart, who was looking down the street. Sure enough, Twilight was coming.
“Hey, Redheart!” Twilight called as she approached. “You ready?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Redheart said, getting off from the bench. “Twilight, come over here and meet Caramel. He’s the friend of mine from Trotsworth I was telling you about.”
“Oh, you’re the one who wanted to open the music store!” Twilight said, holding out a hoof. “I’m Twilight, ‘Twilight Sparkle’ or ‘Princess Twilight’ not necessary.”
Caramel extended his own hoof and politely shook Twilight’s hoof. “Pleasure to meet you, Twilight. And yes, I wanted to own a music store.”
“Have you found a decent space yet?”
“No, I’m still trying to earn money. I have a job at a music store now as a clerk. Better money than the bookstore I was at, I’ll tell you.”
“Pretty much the same job, isn’t it?” Redheart jabbed.
“Maybe it is,” Caramel said. “But the pay’s better, so I’m not complaining.”
Twilight looked around. “Anyone know what time it is?”
Caramel turned around and looked at the clock inside Sugarcube Corner. “It looks like it’s about one-fifteen now.”
Twilight nodded. “Well, we’d better head off, Redheart. We’ll need to grab our things and make sure to pick up our tickets early.”
Redheart nodded. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
Twilight and Redheart turned to Caramel. “It was nice meeting you, Caramel,” Twilight said. “Perhaps you and your special somepony can meet us for a double date sometime?”
“Well, I don’t have any special somepony as of yet. But I’m sure there could be a mare or two I could invite to come along with.”
“Or guys,” Twilight said. “I’m not offended either way.”
Redheart laughed. “Of course you wouldn’t. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have treated me the way you did last night.”
Twilight’s face went bright red as Redheart and Caramel laughed. “Oh, please, Redheart! Nopony needs to know about that!”
Redheart whispered something in Twilight’s ear, to which the mare nodded. Twilight began walking off as Redheart turned to Caramel. Without much warning, she wrapped a hoof around Caramel’s neck and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, causing Caramel to go red.
“You’ll find someone, I’m sure,” Redheart said.
Caramel smiled back at her. “Thank you. For forgiving me.”
Redheart smiled at him. “You’re a good friend, Caramel. And for a while, you were a good lover. Don’t think it’s over yet. I’m sure you’ll find someone.”
Caramel wrapped a hoof around Redheart and they held each other for a minute. Eventually Redheart released Caramel and walked away. “Take care!” she called as she galloped off to where Twilight was standing a short ways away. Caramel waved to her as she left, then sat and watched as they walked down the festive lane side by side. Somehow, the cold wasn’t biting through him so much anymore.
“You too, Redheart,” Caramel said when they were out of earshot. “And take good care of Twilight. I know you will…”