//------------------------------// // Ideal Accomodations // Story: Pernicious Problems of Pegasus Parentage // by Shrinky Frod //------------------------------// Hitch Trailblazer sighed as he looked around the chaos that was Maretime Bay. Izzy and Alphabittle were making sure nopony had been hurt in the fight, while the other unicorns helped clear up the rubble. Sprout was cooling his hooves under house arrest until they could figure out what to do with him… and if he even had committed any crimes. The pegasi were helping to clean up adhesive goo that had gotten absolutely everywhere, and the earth ponies of the town were working to do a bit of everything… including trying to figure out just where they’d gone so very wrong. Hitch was wondering much the same. Sure, he’d known Sprout wasn’t the best officer, but “borderline incompetent” was a world of difference from “borderline genocidal maniac.” He’d have to look at what happened later… once he’d had a good night’s sleep. After the last few days, he could use one. As long as Sprout hadn’t gone and commandeered his house too. Returning to his house, Hitch was glad to see it wasn’t a complete disaster, and had even avoided most of the mess during the attack. Stepping inside, he went back to the kitchen, hoping to find some dinner that had survived his time away. He lived in a small house with just two bedrooms, and one of those converted into a makeshift office for the rare occasion paperwork had to come home with him. One of these days, he was going to have the sort of life that would fit here. Until then, at least there was…. Well, looking in the cupboards and fridge, there wasn’t really much that had handled the last few days well. Ramen looked like his best bet for dinner tonight, at least that didn’t go bad. He hoped. After all, he’d only been living there for three years now… even if the papery foam cup had come with the house, like he suspected, that would still be fine. Right? Fortunately, there was a knock at the door before Hitch had to consider the existential question of whether or not the cup of noodles and salt would outlive him. Trotting over to answer it, Hitch shook himself out to make himself a bit more presentable. “I’m coming!” He called out to whomever was on the other side of the door. “If it’s about the mess, don’t worry, I’m suspending litter ordinances until we can get things cleaned up.” He opened up the door to find Zipp and Pipp on the other side, each one carrying a pizza box on her back. “Hi!” Pipp said with an awkward grin. “So, we were trying to figure out dinner and where we were going to be staying tonight, and it turns out that the local hotel wasn’t exactly planning to be hosting a contingent of unicorns, pegasi, and their normal clientele.” “And while Miss Cloverleaf did offer to let us stay at her mansion,” Zipp continued, making a rolling gesture with her hoof. “That’s where Sprout is,” Hitch sighed. “Yeah,” Zipp agreed. “We appreciated the gesture, but spending the night in the same building as the guy who just tried to kill us with a warmech didn’t seem like the best plan. So, we found this little pizza place in town -” “- and we were hoping we could see if you knew anybody with a guest room we could maybe talk into loaning it out overnight?” Pipp asked hopefully. “Mom decided to take the offer, and Sunny isn’t exactly in a place to take time helping other ponies find somewhere to stay right now.” “Well… I only have the one bedroom available, but I could take the couch,” Hitch offered with a shrug. “Not sure how you feel about sharing a bed, but dinner smells like a pretty good idea.” The two pegasi glanced at each other, then Zipp shrugged non-chalantly. “Sounds like a plan, Sheriff.” She grinned as Hitch stepped back to let them in. The two sisters walked in with a sway in their hips that seemed slightly more exaggerated than when they’d been on the road. Hitch had certainly spent enough time watching them both to be something of an expert in the field, he had to admit. “Enjoying the show, Sheriff?” Zipp teased before lifting her pizza to the table, taking Pipp’s to set up next to it as they both fluttered their wings to cool off. “”I mean, if you’re going to put one on, I’m not going to complain,” he shot back as he got some plates out. “So, what’d you get?” The trio settled in around Hitch’s small kitchen table, enjoying a meal that was undoubtedly fresher than Hitch’s original plan (though he kept an eye on the cup on the counter, just in case it got any ideas about trying to escape). By the time they'd finished, it was fully dark outside; Pipp stepped out onto the patio, looking up into the sky. "You know, I never realized how much brighter the sky is away from home." "It's not as good as when we were camping, but I'm not surprised," Hitch mused, following her out. "There was a big debate over it actually, back when Canterlogic was putting on a second shift. Phyllis ended up buying out the neighbors and expanding the facility to end the complaints. They're the company that builds all the 'defensive technology' that you saw earlier." "Sounds like they’re a big deal around here," Zipp commented as she joined them, brushing a wing against Hitch's side lightly. "Town's main industry, and my main supporter in the election," he admitted. "But they'll figure out something to do instead. Phyllis is scary good at the business end of things. I just hope Sprout comes around as fast as she did, once he's come back to his senses." "Hope the ponies back home do too," Pipp sighed, fluffing out her wings, her downy tips tickling Hitch’s flank. "There are going to be some holdouts, I'm sure." "Always are, whatever the change is," Hitch agreed before glancing back into his bachelor’s pad. "I should go straighten out the bedroom for you two, I'll be back in a minute. Make yourselves comfortable, okay? He walked back in, making short work of clearing up any mess in the room. The bed was immaculate, still made up just how he'd left it, but there were still a few things to take care of. Like grabbing a few less than suitable pieces of bedtime reading and stuffing them under the bed, for example. When he got back out, the two pegasi were doing something with their wings, watching each other intently as they bobbed out a three count and then each held a wing in front of themselves. The first time they spread the feathers out, the next they had their wings curled back, then the feathers flat together. Each time, they looked a little more perturbed. "Is that some sort of pegasus secret wingshake or something I don't know about?" He asked them. Zipp startled, letting out a squeaking sound he'd never imagined her being capable of. "No," Pipp frowned, rolling her eyes at her sister's reaction to getting caught. "Just trying to figure something out for tonight." "If you need some extra pillows or something, I do have them," he offered. "And it's an alicorn-size bed, plenty of space for two." Pipp and Zipp looked at each other. Their feathers fluttered and they seemed to have a silent conversation before coming to a decision. "How do you think it'd handle three?" Zipp asked with a smirk as she turned to face him. "Well, I was just going to ta-" Hitch caught himself as Pipp sashayed up to his other side, flicking her tail against his chest. He hadn't become chief law enforcement in Maretime Bay by being that thick. "You know, I've never tried it to find out, but I think it'd take it." He grinned at each mare, turning around to let them snuggle up against his sides as he led them back. "They'd just have to be really friendly." "Sheriff," Zipp purred, nipping playfully at his mane, "we're about to show you what friendship can be."