There was no question that the city of Zephyr Heights was about the most impressive place a pony could be in this day and age. High up, where once only pegasi could go, this shining place was truly a marvel, especially when you were standing on a balcony on one of its tallest towers, as Izzy was currently doing. The energetic unicorn mare was utterly gobsmacked by every direction she looked at, astounded not only by the scale and beauty of the city, but also the new delight of watching so many of its citizens flying around with their reclaimed ancient power. And of course, having a brilliantly sunny day to see it all on was no problem either, with a cool breeze just to put the cherry on top of the cake. But, as always, there came a time when she had to pull herself away and go back inside. Inside, in this case, being the room of her new friend, Pipp Petals, which was about as glamorous to look at as one would expect of a princess. Her other friend, Sunny, was also here, and was similarly impressed by it all, which she was sure to remark on. "Thanks for inviting us for tea, Pipp, especially in a place as nice as this."
"Oh, it's no trouble," Pipp answered. "Aside from Zipp I never really had that many friends, so it's nice to finally throw a tea party for some."
Zipp, who was sitting right next to the younger sister, chuckled. "Yeah, things always got way too awkward when it was just the two of us having these things. We'd run out of things to say and then boom, nothing but silence for the rest of the hour."
Izzy and Sunny both winced to that. "Ooof, yeah, I can definitely see the benefits of having more ponies here," the latter remarked.
Pipp glanced around, then looked squarely to Sunny. "So...Hitch not here today?"
Sunny, taking her first sip of tea, shook her head. "Afraid not. He needed to stay in Maretime Bay to keep a lookout during the unveiling of Canterlogic's new product line. He really takes his job seriously."
To that, Pipp started to smirk, which Zipp saw and rolled her eyes to. "Okay, here we go."
Both Sunny and Izzy looked to her with confusion, then became somewhat concerned when Pipp rushed over to the door of her room, locked it, then flew straight back. "Okay then. If he's not here, we can finally get down to business."
Izzy, gulping her own tea, tilted her head. "Business?"
Pipp nodded firmly. "Oh yeah." Reaching under the table, she re-emerged seconds later and slammed what looked like a pile of paper upon it. "Sunny Starscout, would you be a dear and explain this to us?"
Looking forward, both of the guests saw that it was, of all things, a calendar. And, to be more specific, it was one utterly dominated by pictures of Hitch in various costumes. Izzy, upon seeing that, whistled briefly. "Wow. that photographer really likes Hitch."
In contrast, Sunny simply giggled. "Oh, that. Yeah, it was a bit of a fundraiser set up by the Mare's Institute for a bit of charity work. Hitch volunteered and, well, the calendars kind of became a big seller for a bit."
Zipp snorted. "I'll bet."
Pipp waved her off. "Yes, yes, charity work, all very nice. But Sunny, sweetie..." She leaned forward. "We kind of need to ask the question about, you know, you and him."
Zipp buried her face in her hooves, groaning uncomfortably, all while Sunny just stared at her royal friend with the expected level of confusion. "Um...what question?"
Pipp rolled her eyes. "Honey, don't even try to play innocent here. You and him have been besties all your lives, and here he is, this utter Adonis, and there's no spark there?"
Like Izzy did earlier, Sunny tilted her head to the side. "I'm...I'm not following."
In response, Pipp gave herself a facehoof. "You know, a spark? That special warmth? A beautiful blossoming of feelings?"
Izzy, having apparently picked up what she was putting down, took on a knowing smile of her own, gently elbowing Sunny to her side. "A little bow-chicka-bow-wow?"
"Izzy!" Pipp said, aghast. "But yes, pretty much that."
At long last, Sunny's eyes widened with understanding, and after a second of looking to Zipp, who was silently mouthing an uncomfortable-looking apology to her, she turned straight back to Pipp. "What?! Hitch?! Ew! No! We've been together since we were basically foals! Him and me...that'd be like dating my own brother at this point!"
Pipp blinked slowly, then picked up the calendar and pointed to an especially handsome example of the stallion's photos. "You mean you've been friends you whole life with him, with aaaaaaaaaaaall of this..." she said, gesturing enthusiastically to the picture. "And there's been...nothing?!"
Sunny, who had taken to being rather satisfied with the Princess' feelings of confusion and frustration, took another sip of tea before replying in a more calm and collected manner. "Correct. Were are simply a mare and a stallion who have been best friends our entire lives and are very close to one another, but do not have any romantic leanings."
Izzy looked to her, saying nothing for almost a full minute, then slowly glanced to Pipp. "That's...that's an option?"
Pipp, having recovered from the revelation, shrugged to her unicorn companion. "It would appear so."
Finally taking some of her own tea, Zipp chortled before speaking to her sister. "Told you."
Pipp frowned to that, but then sighed, setting the calendar to one side. "Well then...I clearly misinterpreted the relationship at play here."
Sunny giggled, reaching out and patting her on the hoof. "I wouldn't worry about it. It's an easy mistake to make, especially considering all the mares back home who had a crush on him." She turned to look out of the window. "Seriously, that guy couldn't go one day without some mare giving him doe eyes."
Pipp nodded, accepting that truth, then allowing her eyes to drift down to his calendar again. "So...was Hitch the only one to do something like this?"
Finishing her tea, Sunny shook her head. "Not really. Sprout tried it, at his mother's suggestion of course. But, lo and behold, he couldn't quite compete."
Looking down to the calendar herself, Zipp's tone was as sarcastic as one would expect after hearing something like that. "Oh no, how unexpected."