Twilight - Ch5 - END

"I- I'll try again, I promise! I'll keep trying till I-"

Caramel turned to Twilight, raising his voice to a bare squeak

"I hope, for your sake, that you fix this quickly, or else I'll... I'll"

It was in fumbling for something to say that Caramel realized just how powerless he was in his predicament. He had no real intent to harm her, yet knowing that there wasn't a thing he could do to threaten the mare made him feel smaller than ever. Despite this, Twilight could hear the contempt in Caramels voice, causing her to take a step back and lower her head in shame.

"I'm so sorry, I know you're mad at me..."

She dared not look the stallion in the eye.

"Usually I'm very good at this sort of thing, It's just..."

She continued to trot backward as she spoke, oblivious to Caramels saddlebags on the floor behind her.

"...this spell is difficult, and I didn't have a lot of practice! I promise, as soon as I perfect the spell, I will change you back to normal!"

As she finished her thought, her hind hoof knocked the saddlebag over, spilling It's contents onto the floor. Caramels eyes shot wide open as the bouquet he had planned on giving the mare came tumbling out into broad daylight.

"Oh, goodness, what did I..."

Twilight stopped and turned around. Her eyes darted instantly to the bright yellow flowers.
Not at a time like this, Caramel lamented. Not now.

Twilight cocked her head inquisitively, unsure what to make of the sudden occurrence of such a beautiful array of flowers. It took her a second to put two and two together, but the realization made her cheeks blush a bright red.
"O-oh my... These-"

She turned to Caramel, with a shocked expression.

"I- It's alright! I will put them back for you! I don't want to ruin them! They are really pretty, I- I mean, any mare would love getting flowers f-from you... I mean, just getting flowers at all really, from ANYpony! You know, from their special somepony or-"

Twilight wore a smile to mask her embarrassment, though concealed little of it.

"These... are for somepony else... right?"

With pleading eyes, she turned to Caramel. The stallion shuffled to his hooves, then stepped forward. He beckoned Twilight closer, speaking as soon as she was close enough to hear.

"I..."

Deep breaths, he thought. Deep breaths.

"I wish we could be discussing this in a better circumstance than this... But no, Twilight. Those... are for you."
Twilight's eyes seemed to twinkle as they widened. She lifted a hoof to her mouth as she muttered.
"O-oh"

Silence hung heavy in the air . Twilight took to examining the floor and biting on her hoof nervously. Admittedly, It was not the reaction Caramel hoped for. Fearing the worst, he spoke up.

"Twilight? Are you... okay? I..."

He gulped

"I would understand if you didn't want anything to do with me. Honest. You can tell me."

He hung his head, waiting for Twilight's harsh rejection to crush him flatter than any misstep ever could. However, silence prevailed once more; The reprimand never came.  Instead, a soft, angelic voice washed over him like a refreshing breeze

"Caramel, don't think that even for an instant. I-"

She paused and sat on the floor, lowering her face to meet Caramels.

"I have never gotten such a sweet gift from anypony."

Once she finished speaking, she gently brought her hoof to Caramels chin, lifting it slightly to allow their eyes to meet. Twilight smiled and crossed her eyes to look down at the tiny pony beneath her

"A- And to be honest, I've never had anypony s-show any interest in... me."

She stopped, and corrected herself apologetically

" I- I mean, if that's what this is all about in the first place! It's just... I've read books about how stallions will bring flowers for mares they like! It's a very common way to show affection and I guess I just assumed, and-"

Before Twilight could finish her thought, Caramel lifted a hoof and placed it on her muzzle to hush her. The mare gasped in surprise. Unsure of how to proceed, Caramel simply let his hoof linger. Each shallow breath Twilight took blew his mane to and fro, relaxing his nerves enough to encourage him to speak.

"I never had the courage to tell you before, Twilight. I thought today would be a good enough day as any to let you know how I felt... But It's all been one big awkward mess."

He sighed

"I promise to you that the instant you turn me back to normal, we can try it all over again. I'll be sure to actually give you the flowers myself! I'm sorry it ended up like this..."

Twilight grinned and shook her head.

"In case you've forgotten, I am the reason this whole evening has been a bit... Haywire. If anypony should be apologizing, It's me."

Despite the flurry of emotions he was currently experiencing, Caramel managed a smile of his own.

"I just hope you can turn me back soon, Twilight. I'm not much good to anypony at this size. "

His face wore an expression that begged for pity while his tail found refuge between his back legs.

"E-especially not... you"

Twilight looked genuinely hurt at the words that came out of the stallions mouth. Twilight bit her lower lip and blushed the deepest ruby-red Caramel had ever seen on the mare. She placed both her hooves on the table beside Caramel and leaned in closer, whispering

"Caramel! Spell or not, you are the first stallion ever to give me flowers. To be honest, I don't really know what to say."

Her eyes lit up, and questions found their way to her lips too quickly to be stopped. She enthusiastically blurted,

"Does this make you my coltfriend? We can be a couple, right? My copy of Modern Romantic says It's common to make relationships like this public! Oh! Will we have to plan dates? I can do that! Do we hold hooves? That's what couples do, right? I'm sorry, I'm really new to this! It's all just so different and exciting! I hope I'm not being too-"

Twilight was cut off by a warm, tingling sensation. She had been too lost in her tangent to realize Caramel placing his lips on her own, sealing between them a warm kiss. The warmth shot up her spine like a jolt of electricity, causing the hairs on her neck to stand up on end. Her eyes shot wide open as she looked down at the miniature pony; her ears perked up reflexively and her breathing was stilled.
For an instant, all things froze.

Caramel took a few steps back from Twilight, bashfully scuffing his hooves on the table. Twilight was the first to break the hanging silence.

"W-wow, that was... umm... unexpected, Caramel!"

A cheesy smile found itself awkwardly onto Twilight's face.

"N-Not unwelcome in the least! Just... unexpected! It's not every day I... yeah"

She scolded herself under her breath and continued to speak incoherently

"I... wow. That... Caramel..."

Embarrassed and confused, Twilight simply let her head slump to the table in a giggling mess. Caramel couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he trotted closer to her. Comfortingly, he nuzzled the mares cheek.

"I promise I'll give you a proper kiss when you work out the growth spell, Twilight."

His gesture, though largely underwhelming, soothed the unicorn immensely. In turn, Twilight turned to face him.

"For both of our sakes, I hope I can sort that out as soon as possible... However, I-In the mean time..."

A smirk emerged on Twilight's face as she leaned in closer to Caramel. She let her snout come to rest on top of him, gingerly nuzzling him into the table. He wriggled and writhed underneath her, chuckling as he did so. Eventually, she let up on the stallion, allowing him to shuffle back up to his hooves.

As Caramel stood, he turned to the beautiful unicorn above him. She beamed down with a warmth he had thus far never seen from the mare. Despite the overwhelming strangeness of the predicament he found himself in, he couldn't help but feel content and at peace. Not only had Twilight accepted his affection, she reciprocated it. Their eyes met for a long, precious moment as Caramel contemplated all the wonderful emotions surging through him.

If ever a pony felt loved, Caramel certainly did.