“Aha! And that, is how you do it.” Hitch Trailbazer, the Head Sheriff of Maritime Bay, proudly states after another long day of patrolling the streets of the town.
“Ah, listen, I know you like to take your job seriously and all that, but all you literally just did today was issue parking tickets.” Sprout, Hitch’s Partner-in-the-Law said annoyingly.
“Sprout, we’ve been through this before many times. The ponies of Maritime Bay deserve a sheriff who can not only protect and serve while enforcing the law, but also somepony who can issue parking tickets properly. And I must be that pony. We must be that pony.”
“Ugh, fine. Just, I’ll be back at the station.” Sprout walks away angrily.
“Hm.”
As Hitch is busy packing up his things into his bag, little did he know he’d be meeting somepony else of whom he knows.
“Hey Hitch. How are ya?”
Hitch looks up from his bag to see that Pipp Petals, the Pegasus, is standing right there in front of him.
“Uh..., oh. I...” Hitch stutters, his eyesight quickly becoming dazed as soon as he moved his head and looked up towards the winged pony.
*gulp* “Uhm... I uh...” Hitch’s face starts to blush.
“Oh sorry. Were you saying something?” Pipp asks as she didn’t happen to notice Hitch (appear trying to) say something back as she was too busy looking at her phone. “I’m sorry. It’s nice to see you again, and-“
“Uh... what exactly is the reason you are here in Maritime Bay today? At this hour? At this minute? At this second?!”
“Oh, You know. Content.”
“Content?”
“Yeah. I figure, why only limit myself to pegasi when I can show off my stuff to earth ponies. You know what I mean, right?”
“Uh..., yes! I do, know. Understanded.” Hitch smiles sheepishly.
“Well, nice to see you again. I’m off to greet some unsuspecting earth ponies. Bye.” Pipp trances away happily, humming gracefully to herself, off to another area of interest.
“It was great to see you again!!” Hitch shouts out after her. Though Pipp is a good long ways away to have had heard him.
“Oh.” Hitch looks down at his hooves, feeling down about that whole conversation of which he’d just spoken. Thinking of what he could’ve done differently. Sad thoughts entering into his head.
Until he notices, as Pipp was busy trancing away, did she not must’ve notice a pen (of her own specialty) drop down onto the concrete sidewalk.
“Ah hey!! You dropped your pen here!!” Hitch shouts in the general direction of where she went, only Pipp is way too far away to even hear him.
“Huh?” Walking over to it, Hitch picks up the pen with a hoof and, looking both left and right, behind and in front of him, making sure no pony is around, does he uncontrollably sniff the pen. The pen having a strong perfume smell, smelling like... Pipp Petals herself, most likely.
The smell coming off of the pen making the pony feel... relaxed. The smell reminding him of that time he went to the spa. Getting a lovey-dovey grin and hearts appearing in his eyes.
Hitch continues to sniff the pen dreamily until...
“Uh, what exactly are you doing?!” Sprout asks, breaking up... whatever his Partner-in-the-Law is doing.
Hitch immediately freaks out of his funk, dropping the pen onto the ground and (trying) to regain his composure, to also pretend nothing happened.
“Uh, what? I... you...”
“Did I just see you sniff that pen?” Sprout asks questionably, pointing a hoof towards the pen on the sidewalk.
Hitch turns around to face Sprout, silent before speaking: “Pen? What pen? I most definitely was not sniffing a pen?!-" Hitch immediately draws a hoof over his mouth after what he just said.
Sprout moves closer to Hitch, staring at him and the pen intensely.
“I know who’s pen that is.”
“Noyoudon’t!” Hitch quickly bursts out.
“Aha! I knew it! You, like her. Admit it!!!”
Hitch Trailblazer, staring at his coworker with a sheepish smile, sweat coming down his already blushed face, thinks of what he can say. How he can get out of this.
Only instead, he tells him the truth.
“Fine,” Hitch’s face returns to its normal look, picking up the pen with a hoof, “I’ll admit it. I like Pipp. Scratch that, I think I’m in love with her.”
“Oooooooo.” Sprout playfully replies back.
Ignoring him and rolling his eyes, Hitch continues: “It’s just, after everything that recently happened..., when I first laid eyes on her in Zephyr Heights, I got this feeling. And every time I was around her, I felt weak. Like I couldn’t do anything. Like-“
“Like you have a crush on a pegasus,” Sprout interrupts him, “Yeah yeah yeah. And you liking her so much that you would sniff a pen of hers. Very stalker -ish y’know.”
“This pen.” Hitch looks down at the pen in his hoof. Seeing Pipp’s own name on it, written with her own hoofwriting.
“I have to get it back to her. I must... no, I need to. I-“
“If you wanna go, then go. I’ll take care of all parking ticket problems whilest you are gone. Kapleesh?” Sprout interrupts him again to just tell his fellow law enforcer to go see his pony crush waifu.
“Kapleesh? Kapleesh!"
Like that, Hitch immediately runs towards the direction of where he last saw her go.
To return her pen back. That’s all.
***
After five minutes of running, Hitch finally finds where his pony crush tranced off to.
Pipp Petals is standing right in the middle of the town’s square, live-streaming with her phone, showing all the earth ponies around her of how she’s just like them, but with wings.
Even if all the earth ponies are still hesitant with being around a pegasus.
“There she is," Hitch says to himself, "Okay. Just gotta play it cool.” Hitch takes a deep breath, puffing up his chest, putting on the most confident of smiles he’d ever had, and begins to strut himself over to by her.
Though, the more he gets close to her, the more Hitch starts to quake with nervousness. His once confident smile getting less confident and his strut turning more into a mild speed walk.
“I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t-“
“Hey Hitch. Nice to see you... again.” Pipp says as she sees the earth pony walk on over to her.
“Umph, mmph, eek.” Is all Hitch can muster out.
“Okay. Well if ya here to help, I could use it. These earth ponies still can’t get use to being around a pegasus. If ya could, maybe, oh I don’t know, you can talk them over for me?” Pipp asks as a favor to Hitch.
His whole demeanor getting more and more nervous, his whole face practically as wet as a water bucket, what with all the sweat pouring down.
“O...kay.” Hitch said slowly, then walking on over to the other earth ponies before remembering.
“Oh right.” Hitch takes the pen out from... wherever he had it, and shows it to her.
“This pen is for you. It belongs to you. You dropped it back there. I came to bring it back to you.” Hitch says as straightforward as he can get.
“My pen?” Pipp takes a closer look at the pen in his hoof before giggling to herself. Hitch’s face blushing red from her giggling.
“Oh that. You can keep it if ya want. It’s what I hand out to all my loyal fans. Why, it’s nothing more than a novelty item.”
Hearing this, Hitch’s left eye twitches, having on a sheepish smile, overall looking shocked and surprised.
Hitch looks as if he’s about to say something unflattering.
“You okay? You look like you’re about to say something unflattering.” Pipp asks after seeing Hitch's expression change drastically.
Only he doesn’t.
Taking a deep breath, Hitch instead decides to tell her the truth.
“Pipp, I might as well just say it. I like you. No, I love you.”
“Look, it all started my first time in Zephyr Heights. And when I first saw you... I felt weak, for the first time in, like, a long time.”
“I know this all sounds weird to you, but I really mean it. Look, you see, I don’t normally share with other ponies my true inner feelings, but it’s just, every time I see and think of you, I feel all wonderful inside. I feel like you’re somepony I’ve been truly missing my whole life.”
“Look, I’m sorry for bothering your time anymore. I’ll just talk to the ponies for you, then I’ll be outta your mane.”
Hitch said his true feelings to Pipp, though he himself felt sad doing it. His head down, slouched low.
Hitch starts to walk on over to the other earth ponies, his tail dragging between his hindlegs, before hearing:
“Sorry for what?” Hitch acts surprised by what he just heard, turning his head back to see Pipp being the one who just asked, most likely him.
“For you having a crush on me?” Pipp’s face blushes at that. “I don’t know if you know, but there’s a lot of ponies just like you.”
“Just like me?” Hitch asks surprised.
“Ayep!” Pipp walks closer to Hitch, whispering in his ear: “Only, you are the exception.”
“The exception?” Hitch asks confused as ever.
Pipp’s face blushes a bright red, Hitch’s doing so too in reaction.
“Wait. Huh?”
To answer Hitch’s confusion, Pipp Petals giggles to herself, kissing his forehead before walking away from the still shocked and surprised earth pony stallion.
For the next solid ten minutes, after everypony nearby had walked away from the scene, Hitch finally comes to his senses.
And his senses immediately told him that Pipp Petals likes him back.
Wearing a bright smile, Hitch straightens himself up, getting in his usual posture, and then trots off all lovey-dovey back to the Police Station.