"I have to admit, a unicorn forest does sound kind of magical."
With a giggle, Sunny nodded in response to Hitch, "yeah it does! We'll be able to make it late in the morning at the pace we're going at." She responded with a giddy smile, seemingly unable to hold back her excitement much if at all.
"Well in that case, I think it's best that we all rest up then. We'll have a long day tomorrow after all, and the last thing we need is somepony needing to be carried around because they didn't get enough sleep… Pipp." Zipp responded with a smirk, shooting her sibling a glance.
"Gosh, it was one time! I swear I didn't mean to stay up that late, I just… lost track of time." Pipp answered hastily, pouting at her older sibling. This just issued a laugh from the other members of the group, which only caused Pipp's cheeks to go red. "Drop it! Let's just go to sleep already." The pink Pegasus responded with a huff, turning herself away from the group and laying down. Zipp let out one final giggle, before joining her sister to assure she was alright.
From there, one by one, ponies fell asleep. Izzy was the first to pass out, looks like using up so much energy in the day did mean the Unicorn needed to rest, and wasn't just a fountain of energy. When she passed out, she passed out hard, no way she was waking up, at least not until morning anyways. Zipp seemingly went to sleep shortly after, using her wings like a makeshift blanket, wrapping it around herself to keep herself warm. Sunny was next, though before she removed the bands in her mane, allowing it to fall free, she'd tie it back up in the morning anyways. Pipp eventually found herself falling asleep as well, cuddling up closely to Zipp in doing so, and mimicking the wing blanket her sister had done before. This left Hitch, who actually stayed up far longer, eyes locked onto the campfire.
"Why am I doing this…" He asked himself as he stared into the dying campfire. It'd go out soon without more wood to fuel the flames, not that they needed anymore fire, given everyone was already fast asleep. Hitch just couldn't fall asleep though, his mind racing with worry as he dug his hooves through the ground. Just thinking about it all was enough to keep his mind racing and his body awake, he couldn't go to bed like this, not easily anyways. The poor earth pony groaned in dismay, before finding himself a spot to sleep. He chose to sleep closer to Sunny, she was the only one he was fully comfortable with after all; his childhood friend. Whereas he couldn't definitely say he was as comfortable with the Pegasi and Unicorn in their group. It's not like he didn't know they didn't have their magic, they were relatively harmless! Well… except Izzy, one wrong move and that horn could poke an eye out or something, but still, relatively harmless. He simply wasn't as comfortable with them is all. Hitch let out a soft neigh, grumbling as he laid out on his back, the last bit of flame by the fire dying out, leaving the ponies without a heat source.
Hitch sighed, wishing he had at least packed himself a blanket, yet then again he wasn't exactly planning on sleeping outside with a fugitive of Maretime Bay. Was he even happy with how things have turned out? No, of course not, once they got home, he was just eagerly awaiting to throw Sunny into the jail cell back at his office- no, no he wasn't. He just wanted Sunny to come back home. In fact, he didn't want her to be risking everything to bring back magic; was what she had back home not enough for her? He shuddered at the mere thought, he didn't want to lose a friend. She and Sprout were all he had, if he lost her he wasn't sure what he'd do. The thought made him grumble and groan, placing a hoof to his head in anguish. He began shivering, mumbling softly to himself. No, he'd make sure she'd get back home safely, he'd make sure that she wouldn't get hurt and that they'd be alright, and maybe, once they got home he wouldn't have to throw her in jail, and maybe, just maybe, they'd remain as friends.
"I hope you're right about this, Sunny…" He muttered softly.
"I am."
Hitch flinched, hearing a response, turning over towards Sunny. She was awake, laying on her side and looking over at him, eyes welling up. "I'm positive…" She muttered back. The two of them locked eyes for a moment, as if locked in a deep staring contest, though simultaneously staring into each other's souls more like it. The sight of each other was reassuring, and the stallion soon relented, closing his eyes with a soft sigh.
"Alright… I trust you, Sunny." He nodded, before nearly gasping as Sunny moved over to hug the other pony, hooves wrapped around the larger pony as she nuzzled her head into his chest. Hitch was taken aback, a redness tinting his cheeks as he glanced down at the earth pony in shock. It's not like they haven't given each other hugs in the past or anything, it was just the suddenness of it all. This hug felt more passionate, it filled the stallion with warmth. Sunny kept her face nuzzled up against his chest, refusing to say much else or more away, though Hitch didn't mind. He liked this, he loved the feeling of this more than he originally thought to. With a soft sigh, Hitch soon let his hooves wrap around her as well, pulling her into a full on embrace. Sunny would smile, though obscured by her face in his chest, and Hitch would smile brightly all the same. It didn't take much else before Hitch finally found himself asleep, breathing slowly. The rise and fall of his chest against Sunny's face was all she needed to reassure herself, as she too fell asleep in his hooves.
Once morning came, and the sun slowly rose over the horizon, Hitch had woken up. He was used to waking up early, he was a sheriff after all, it was practically instinct to wake up at the crack of dawn for him. However as he slowly opened his eyes, what he saw was Sunny, still wrapped up in his hooves. So he wasn't dreaming after all. He grew a soft smile, content with this outcome; however what he didn't expect was… Well now Sunny wasn't the only one. To his sides were Izzy, Zipp and Pipp as well! Izzy was nuzzled up against Sunny, with Pipp and Zipp on his opposite side, both with wings spread out. Pipp was closest to Hitch, her wings spread out and practically giving Hitch a nice blanket. The stallion was flush red, blushing madly at the sudden realization that everypony had probably woken up last night and saw him and Sunny snuggled up together. While that was probably true, they were seemingly just as cold as he was, as they all snuggled up close to the sleeping pair to get warm! Hitch huffed lightly, there was no way he could move with all of them like this, so he waited it out, his blush slowly fading as he relaxed himself and allowed the others to get in more sleep before they departed.
Maybe he didn't mind the others as much as he thought he did, but hey, whaddaya gonna do?