Better Together
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and its characters are property of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I claim no ownership over anything but the story of this piece of fiction.
The sun had started to set over Ponyville, as it did every day. But today, the sun was setting on what is celebrated as Hearts and Hooves Day. A day that put love and relationships high atop a pedestal. A day that couples can enjoy themselves on a much more intimate note than the rest of the year.
But that depended on if one had a special somepony to celebrate with.
Caramel did. Or rather, he used to.
An amber-coated stallion sulked down the street, stopping to shake his brown mane out of his face. All he could do was sigh. Today had been an absolute let-down for him.
At the beginning of the day, Caramel thought he was in for one of the best days of his life; He had just met a light-blue pegasus named Wind Whistler, and seemed to hit it off quite well for most of the day.
Until his clumsiness kicked in.
She only seemed nice until Caramel knocked part of his drink into her face. Wind Whistler bit back hard, accusing all of the stories she heard about him to be true, before storming off in a huff. Caramel tried desperately to explain himself, but the pegasus mare was long gone.
And Caramel was left to stand in a sun that had begun falling westward.
The earth stallion shook his head. He had been a walking time bomb in the past, something making sure that if it was the worst that could happen, it would happen. But as he worked on the town's premiere farm, Sweet Apple Acres, he was able to accomplish tasks with more and more efficiency - and with less damage.
But no. Today, of all days, was the day the powers that be decided that Caramel spilling tea onto Wind Whistler would be hilarious. Caramel's ears flapped back, his thoughts growing depressing.
But then he calmed down, remembering where he was going.
Despite working on the farm, he lived next door to the dressmaker known as Rarity. Since day one, he had begun to make it a habit of saying good-bye to the farm's owners, the Apple Family, before leaving for home each day. He smiled a little as his thoughts drifted to the family of ponies he worked with and bid farewell to on a near-daily basis:
There was the elderly matriarch, Granny Smith (whether or not she was awake to hear him).
The eldest pony, the stallion Big Macintosh, who often helped him out when strength at his level was required.
The youngest, little Apple Bloom, who he rarely saw; She was often out with her friends, looking for their cutie marks.
And then...Applejack.
Caramel stopped walking for the moment. He let his mind project the image of the orange mare, her yellow coat and tail tied at the ends, her cowpony hat almost never leaving her head. Her love of hard work and brutal honesty.
The smiles she would give him when he did a good job on anything.
The thoughts continued, warming Caramel's heart. Ever since he awoke that morning, he had wanted Applejack to accompany him through the day.
That was when his smile turned into a frown. He had been hired only as a farm-hoof, he reminded himself. Applejack saw little else in him other than making life at the farm a bit easier.
Besides, Caramel thought, she couldn't honestly like me for me. Not after my outbursts.
Anypony in his line of work can have stress build up from time to time. The problem is handling it efficiently. Numerous times, he had to toil away on something, only for Applejack to come along and have him start something else. A brief shouting match would begin, followed by Caramel simply huffing and going to do the job.
That anger boiled over off-work, too. Caramel bitterly recalled the time those salespony twins came to town, then ran away after attempting to take Sweet Apple Acres. Before they arrived, the Apples had run out of their famous cider before everypony had a chance to drink it. He verbally attacked her, stating she always ran out of the cider and that she kept making the same excuses each time. He tried to make up for it after the twins left, praising the cider for its superior quality. But he went home that day knowing full well the damage was done.
Sighing again, he continued walking to Sweet Apple Acres, his thoughts teetering between how wonderful life could be with Applejack and how impossible it would be for somepony like him to get on the good side of somepony like her.
After a short while of walking, he found himself nearing the small barn that was refurbished to contain the Apple family residence. He knocked on the front door, waiting for somepony to open it. That somepony was a tired-looking Applebloom.
"Howdy, Caramel," The filly said, her exhausted expression lifting slightly. "Take it ya came to say goodnight?"
"Yeah," The stallion smiled slightly. "Mind if I come in?"
The door opened wide to allow Caramel entrance. Once inside the small living room, he was greeted by the sight of Granny Smith, an aged light green mare sitting in a rocking chair. This evening, however, she hadn't fallen into her usual nap. She was as awake as she could be for a pony her age, her lips curled into a warm smile as she noticed his arrival.
"Well there you are, Caramel," Granny Smith beamed at him. "I was wondering when you'd come around and say yer goodbyes."
"Well, I'm here," Caramel nodded. "I guess I'll see you next time, Mrs. Apple."
"Now now, don't get all formal with me," She laughed. "Matter of fact...would you be a dear and go into the dining room? There's a little gift we have waiting for you."
"A...gift?" Caramel grew confused. "Um...Mrs. Apple? It was Hearts and Hooves Day, not my birthday."
Granny Smith merely kept on smiling. "Oh, believe me, dear, I know what day it is. Go on, into the dining room." She motioned to a doorway in the living room, the one leading to his supposed destination. Caramel realized Applebloom was walking up the stairs to the second floor of the house. He also realized she was holding a hoof over her mouth, as if stifling back a cry. Or, wait...was she giggling?
Realizing he would get no answers simply standing where he was, Caramel obeyed the old mare and went into the dining room.
He stopped as soon as he was all the way in.
The room itself was small enough without being too cramped. A large table was set, seats fitting five ponies (The Apples and an extra chair for guests or Caramel). Usually at this time, dinner had long been eaten. But two meals with the appropriate silverware were sitting on the otherwise clean table. And one of the five seats was currently occupied. The occupant looked to the doorway, smiling at him. Her hat resting on the back of the chair. Her yellow mane still bound at the end, but neatly brushed.
Applejack.
"Howdy, Caramel," She simply said to him. She gestured a hoof to the seat opposite from hers. "Mind if ya sit down?"
Caramel let his mouth slightly gape open in confusion as he took the seat. What was going on?
He continued to look at her, her green eyes fixed on him as well. "So...how was yer day?"
Caramel looked down at his food, a sort of salad he felt was a bit too fancy for the Apples' taste. "Uh...it was..." He tried to start, attempting to explain how good today was. Only he never forgot who he was sitting with. "To be honest? It was a disaster. Just when I thought I found a special somepony...I happened."
Applejack frowned slightly. "What do you mean 'you happened'?"
"I mean me and my near-remarkable attempt to ruin anything!" Caramel huffed. "She flew off just because I knocked a drink into her! It was..." He sighed. "It was an accident."
The mare sitting across from him nodded. "Yeah, I reckon it was. And you know what? If she was gonna get all hot and bothered just 'cause of that...then she wasn't meant to be with you." A brief moment of silence passed before Applejack spoke again. "You're too hard on yourself sometimes, you know that?"
Caramel grew confused once more. "What do you mean?"
Applejack shrugged. "Sure, you make mistakes. But the point is, you've been making them less and less ever since ya started working here. But it sounds to me like you think you're making just as many mistakes now as you were when you started out." She finally began eating her food, chewing and swallowing until saying, "That just ain't the case."
Caramel started to eat as well, contemplating what the farm pony just said. "That still doesn't pardon me from spilling a drink on her."
"Horseapples," Applejack cursed without a second thought. "Then she was just too high and mighty for ya. Thinkin' they can go the whole day without getting a little dirt on them. If they can't get it through their skull that it was an accident, then they just weren't the one." She grew silent, eating the rest of her meal. "Now...ya know who WOULD be right for ya? Somepony who'd live with what ya bring to the table. Who'd be willing to live with the messes ya make, regardless. Who'd take nothing but the plain, simple Caramel, as he is."
Caramel absorbed these words as he ate. Swallowing, he stated, "Okay. But who do you have in mind?"
He looked at her, catching the smile that began to form on her lips, which opened to answer his question. "The one pony yer lookin' at right now."
If there was still food in his mouth, he would have choked. His mouth opened slightly in surprise. His eyes widened. "Y...you? With...me?"
Applejack, to his surprise, began laughing. "Ya didn't think I noticed? They way ya look at me. The way ya talk to me. Always trying to make sure I notice what a good job ya do."
Her smile began to fade, however, when she noticed Caramel shaking his head. "Applejack...no. What about...all those times we shouted at each other?"
She huffed at him in response. "Ya don't think I didn't like shouting? I was never there all the time to see what ya just finished up. I just wanted to make sure whatever needed to be done got done." She looked at her food sadly. "I'm sorry, Caramel. For all those times."
Caramel waited until her eyes met his again. "I'm sorry too, Applejack. Especially after that cider incident with the Flan Brothers, or...whatever their names were."
"What, when ya called me out on my excuses?" She asked. "Now just a minute. Ya had every right to be mad that time. You and everypony else who didn't get what they came for: High quality Apple Family cider." She began to smile again. "Those were yer words, weren't they?"
Caramel slowly began to smile as well. "Yeah. Yeah, they were. Something along those lines, anyway."
Applejack then decided to lean in toward him, surprising him. "Don't let today get to ya. She just wasn't ready to take the real Caramel. To get over his accidents and to be happy with what he is. The way I'M happy with what you are: The kinda clumsy, always determined, well-meaning Caramel."
Caramel, feeling encouraed, began to lean in himself. "And the way I'M happy with the honest, tough-love, hardworking Applejack."
They felt the tips of their noses touch. The two giggled, both at the tickling sensation and at the blatant affection this gesture represented. They broke away to look at each other once more, before Caramel closed his eyes and leaned in, opening his mouth slightly.
He was met with a hoof gently pressing against his nose, causing him to open his eyes.
"Well aren't we the eager one?" Applejack asked with a voice betraying more amusement than annoyance, removing her hoof from his snout. "I'd expect you to know that a gentlecolt doesn't kiss a mare on the first date. He'd wait 'til the third."
Caramel grew slightly disappointed, then suddenly perked up. "So this is really our first date?"
Applejack smiled and nodded. "And when we can go on our third one counts on how fast we get through the first two. Now come on. This probably got cold ages ago."
They sat in the dining room, eating their food and talking with each other between bites, smiling, laughing, and looking into each others' eyes. Unbeknownst to them, Applebloom was peering in through the doorway, her hooves pressed to her mouth in delight.
"Applebloom," Granny Smith whispered to her youngest grandchild loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough for the other two ponies to hear. "Let yer sister finish her date alone. She don't need anypony snooping around corners."
Applebloom walked over to her grandmother. "Is this what you were talking about earlier? Putting together ponies for more reasons than just putting them together?"
Granny Smith nodded. "That's two lessons you learned today. That and learning NOT to go fooling around with fancy love poisons...or, potions, or whatever it is you fed to your brother and teacher."
Applebloom grew slightly ashamed. "I'm sorry, Granny." She then began to think. "So's this mean Caramel might be my brother-in-law?"
Granny thought for a moment. "S'too early to tell that just yet. But I'll tell you this: Those two always seemed to be at their best whenever they're together. Just like caramel and apples themselves." She then vocalized as she moved her aged bones to get out of her chair. "Now come on. Big Macintosh is asleep, you need yer sleep, I need mine...and these two need some time alone."
The young pony helped Granny up the stairs, the two of them deciding to turn the living room lights off. The last thing they saw and heard as they gazed down from the second floor before going to bed was the glow of the dining room lights and the happy conversations of Applejack and Caramel.
THE END