A Minor Hitch

By Mist

A Jinglemas 2021 gift for The Chronicler

Racing to make it to the cafe in time, Pipp Petals beelined through the main street, toppling over a nearby pedestrian as she did. While still dazed and in a panic, she extended her wings to halt her running legs. She skid across the dirt haphazardly and pivoted to assist the poor unfortunate soul that had the bad luck of being in her uncoordinated path. Carefully, Pipp assisted them to a stand and brushed the young pony off with her wing.

“Sorry about that! I’m late meeting some friends, I guess I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, miss…” Pipp bowed her head apologetically at the pony before her.

Clearing their throat, the pony raised a brow. Their dark pink coat was now covered in dirt, as they adjusted themselves. When their voice exited their mouth, however, it came out in a deeper tone than Pipp expected.

Pipp could feel the blood rush to her face as she realized her mistake. “Oh… Ummm… Well, this is awkward… Sorry again…” Pipp rubbed her neck nervously.

The stallion scoffed, rolled his eyes, and trotted off, a bit of annoyance in his step as he muttered something about Pegasi being clumsy and careless. Pipp wanted to rebuttal but realized that perhaps a pegasus that had bumped into someone because she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going wasn’t the best candidate to educate other ponies on stereotypes of Pegasi being careless.

With a sigh, she scolded herself internally before she remembered why she had taken out that pedestrian in the first place. Right, the cafe! I’m so late!

With a flap of her wings, she put some hustle in her step and darted her way to the cafe at the corner. She was still getting to know the bay area, but she and her friends had made this spot a regular hangout.

Looking down at her phone, the princess gulped as she saw the time: 2:38 PM. She was horrendously late.

Pipp composed herself and ran a hoof through her stylish mane. She took a few breaths and then made her entrance into the cafe. There at a round table, she could see her friends. Sunny was attentively listening, while Pipp’s sister Zipp sat in silence. Izzy, of course, had her face buried in a milkshake which she was loudly slurping down without a care in the world.

Then, of course, standing at the end of the table speaking was Hitch Trailblazer. His styled mane swayed just slightly as he spoke. Pipp got lost for a moment as she examined him, his strong hooves, his impressive physique, and his gorgeous eyes.

The mare snapped out of her fantasy as she remembered how late she was. Approaching carefully, she cleared her throat to speak. “Uh… Sorry, I’m late, I was…”

Hitch’s eyes narrowed as he glanced over at her. “Why should I be surprised that you’re late for this as well?”

He shrugged. “No worries, I just finished up anyway. Thanks to everyone who came…” He looked back at the rest at the table.

“Hitch, I-“ Pipp didn’t get to finish her sentence before he held out a hoof to dismiss her.

“I have to get back on duty. See you later, I guess…” He said before marching out the door.

A long exasperated sigh escaped Pipp as she sat down after Izzy scooted over to make room for her. Her head flopped onto the table in defeat as another sigh emitted from her. “I suck…” She announced.

“Well, you did miss his commendation ceremony last month, and now you missed him announcing his promotion to Marshal. You can’t really expect him to not be mad,” Zipp reminded.

“Thank you for reminding me, Zephyrina…” Pipp responded with an annoyed tone in her voice.

“Hey, at least you didn’t miss his birthday two days ago!” Izzy chimed in.

Sunny gave the unicorn a nasty look which caused Izzy to make a sheepish face before trying to salvage the situation. “I mean… you suck… In a good way…?”

Sunny facehoofed at that statement. “I don’t even want to get into why that statement is so wrong…”

“On the plus side, at least you can get a smoothie!” Izzy gestured toward the counter in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

Pipp’s eyes widened as she realized she forgot to bring any money. “Darn it, I forgot my money…”

After a long day of beating herself up, Pipp finally retired to her home. Some rest would assist her in getting her mind off what a horrible day she had just endured. Flopping down onto her bed, she quickly pulled the feather-filled comforter over her body and buried her face into her pillow.

She tried to take her mind off of Hitch and how annoyed he was at her. Who needs to think about that, right? No one. So stop thinking about it, Pipp. You’re still thinking about him, and his stylish mane, his cute eyes, his really muscular physique…

Pipp’s daydream was interrupted, however when she heard her door creak open. Her ears twitched and her eyes darted toward the door where she saw her sister standing with a concerned expression. “Still upset over the whole Hitch situation?”

The blood in Pipp’s face quickly rushed to her cheeks. “Why would I be upset over that?”

Zipp casually walked into the room and the grin on her face only got bigger. “Well, I doubt you could be more obvious about it if you tried, your face gets all kinds of red the moment you talk to him.”

Zipp chuckled and placed a hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “Unfortunately, yes, but that’s alright.”

A laugh escaped Zipp as she shook her head. “Sis, no worries, we’ll get things straightened out with Hitch in no time.”

Zipp tapped her own forehead to signify her intentions. “Don’t worry, I have a plan. I just have to make a call to Sunny and we should be able to sort this all out, all you have to do is show up.”

Hitch looked down at a note in his hoof. It had been scribbled down by his longtime childhood friend, Sunny Starscout. Despite being somewhat studious, her writing was still fairly subpar. Grammar and sentence structure was alright, but in terms of readability, it wasn’t always the best. It had taken him an additional ten minutes just to decipher the messy letter.

Meet us at the cafe in town after hours around 10 PM. We have a special surprise for you in celebration of your success. Don’t be late, or I’ll tell everyone you used to sleep with a pacifier until age 8.

The stallion knew better than to test Sunny, so he made sure to show up a good ten minutes early. He had spent too long trying to build up his image as a strong upholder of the law to have it undermined by Sunny’s portrayal of him as some kind of big baby.

Hitch tapped on the door to the cafe curiously, but there was no answer. He knocked a second time to find that once again no one responded. With caution, he turned the knob to find that the place had been left unlocked.

Carefully, he trotted inside, shutting the door behind himself. Within seconds, an overhead light shined down to the center of the cafe. All of the tables and chairs had been moved aside, leaving only a set of two stools next to what appeared to be a karaoke machine, and right beside it was Pipp Petals seated in one of the chairs with a microphone in hoof.

Above them looking in through a ceiling window was Izzy whose magic had created the light for the two. Sunny standing at her side guided her. “Just hold it there.”

Zipp peered down at the scene and a smile grew on her face. She had done all she could, the rest was in Pipp’s hooves.

Pipp’s face turned red as he came closer, she could smell his body spray. He smells so good.

“I wanted to celebrate with the new Marshall if that’s alright?” Pipp smiled sheepishly.

Hitch glanced over the entire scene and then looked back at her. “Even though you missed the celebration earlier?”

“I wanted to make it up to you… I really like you, and the thought of you being mad at me…” Pipp paused, unable to finish her sentence but to her good fortune, she wouldn’t have to.

Hitch trotted forward and sat down on the stool next to her and picked up a microphone. “Apology accepted… I really like you too.” He winked.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to say that for, like seriously, forever and-“ Pipp got cut off when the stallion leaned over and planted a kiss upon her lips.

She could feel herself melting before he pulled away slowly. His tone was husky and quiet. “Just shut up and sing.” He smiled.

A Minor Hitch

by Mist

A Minor Hitch