//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: That's One Sick Stallion 
// by NovaAce75 
//------------------------------//

After about five more minutes of sitting in the bathtub almost lifeless, Pipp finally decided to pull herself out, using a towel hung up on a shelf as she dried her mane and body. Her face was still beat red in color as she tried to calm herself down. She knew she had to cool off before she went to eat with the others, but she was contemplating flying out of a window and pretending like this day never happened. She was already so embarrassed by getting caught with Hitch that not much else mattered to her right now. The more she thought about it the worse it got as she quickly dried herself off. The sooner she got out the better it would be for her. So after a minute or so of drying herself off, she slowly walked out towards the living room where the other ponies surely awaited her. Still, the thought of even staying in the same room as them was nerve-wracking on its own. Now, Izzy was a different story, but Zipp and Sunny? After what just happened? She'd die of embarrassment. Even still, it was too late to turn back, so she slowly made her way to meet up with the others.

When Pipp finally made it to the living room, the group was all settled together. Izzy was laying down on the floor, playing with Sparky, while Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch all sat down at the table, Hitch with a bowl of soup, which the stallion joyously slurped up. Pipp gulped, slowly making her way to the table, sitting adjacent to Zipp and Hitch, as well as opposite ends from Sunny. "H-Hey fillies, we-welcome… hehe~" Pipp trailed off, unable to look anyone in the eyes. Hitch was too preoccupied with his soup to really notice Pipp at the moment. His tail idly swished to and fro behind him as the warm soup filled him with a calming feeling. Zipp was sitting with a smug grin as she looked over between the three, she was having a hard time not bursting into laughter, but she held it in for the sake of making Pipp and Sunny more comfortable. Sunny, like Pipp, was avoiding eye contact with the other. She still sported a light blush from the shock of earlier and was far too embarrassed to speak up. In fact, the table was silent for the most part, with the four all not wanting to say a word.

However, soon enough Zipp was the one to break the tension. "So Pipp~" She spoke coyly. Pipp's ear flicked as she nervously looked up at her elder sister. "What's wrong Pipp? You've barely touched your soup~ If you don't take any, I'll just give it to Hitchie~ He seems to love my cooking just as much as you do!" Zipp snickered, pointing over towards the stallion on the other end of the table, who continued to mindlessly slurp up his soup.

"N-Nono, it's fine heh, I'll eat! Look, see?" Pipp took this moment to fill her mouth with noodles from Zipp's soup. With a rather loud slurp, once again breaking the awkward silence, she downed a good portion of noodles in one go. "H-Haha! Yum tasty!" She looked away sheepishly.

"Ooh, Zipp you've got to make me some famous soup too!" Called Izzy from the living room. "By the sound of that slurp it sounds really tasty~"

Zipp smirked again, "why thank you, Izzy, ~" She turned back to face Pipp, her eyes narrowing over at the pink Pegasi, before looking back to Hitch. "So Pipp… I hate to ask, but what exactly were you doing with the Sheriff in his bath… together?~" Zipp asked Pipp smugly, resting her hooves on the table as she leaned forward. Pipp luckily had her mouth empty- otherwise, she'd spit up a good amount of soup right at Sunny.

Sunny looked away from her nervously, but she also leaned in a bit, showing her interest in the situation all the same. Pipp gulped, rolling her eyes as she looked around the room to avoid eye contact with the others. "Oh well uhm… You see it's really erm… simple really, so…" Pipp trailed once again. "Hitch went into the shower and uhh… I just wanted to make sure he was alright! So I went in, but I tripped and uh, fell in the tub."

"Pfft, is that right now?" Zipp cut into the middle of the story, entering her disbelief for the story off the bat.

"YES! T-That's h-how it started! And uhh, then I washed his mane and we leaned in… to… hug."

Zipp sneered, "with your faces?"

"YEP! That's it, just a friendly hug between friends!" Pipp laughed, clearly hiding something behind that laugh of hers. Even so, Zipp saw right through that. Sunny was still looking on a bit nervously.

Zipp looked between Pipp and Sunny. There was some tension there, the tension that really wasn't there before by the looks of it. She furred a brow before shaking her head. "Well, alright, if that's what it was, then I guess it isn't such a big deal!" Zipp declared, sitting up. She had the feeling that if this lasted any longer things would begin heading south. Besides, she put Pipp on hot coals long enough, but sweet Celestia would she hold this over Pipp forever if she wanted to. Zipp stood up and walked over to Pipp, nudging her lightly. "You're doing great sis, remember to put the Sheriff to bed after you're both done eating." Zipp informed her before looking toward Sunny and Izzy. "C'mon girls, let's leave them to their devices, we don't want to catch a cold too after all~"

"Aww, we just got here!" Izzy retorted before smirking as she collected Sparky, letting the baby dragon ride on her back once again. "Though if getting a cold means some famous Zipp soup then no promises!~" Izzy spoke giddily, trotting outside with Sparky in toe. Meanwhile, Sunny and Zipp stayed a bit longer.

Sunny, who hadn't said a word up to this point since she got here, stood up from her seat. "Well… I guess that's all it is. But Pipp… can we talk a bit tomorrow?" Sunny asked the Pegasus at the other end of the table. Pipp gulped but nodded a yes. Sunny smiled softly before trotting towards the door, leaving Zipp as the last one to say goodbye.

Zipp smiled before trotting to the door, though before she left she looked back to Hitch and Pipp. "Heh, you owe me one. I won't tell mom about your little crush on the sheriff now that I know it's all but confirmed at this point~ Though do me a favor: Don't try and kiss him again while he's sick, got it?"

Pipp giggled a bit nervously, knowing nothing was going to get past Zipp. She shook her head. "S-Sure thing, ehehe…" Zipp snickered before leaving, closing the door behind her.





Once again, Hitch and Pipp were left alone, once and for all. Hitch was a bit dazed. He had just finished his bowl of soup and was getting a bit drowsy. Looks like the sheriff was ready for his nap. Hitch yawned a bit loudly as he stretched his hooves. "Mmph… That was really nice. Thanks, Zipp~" Hitch complimented the chef, though not realizing that she had left, showing off just how dazed this cold was making the poor stallion. Pipp breathed a small sigh before slowly standing up and nudging the sheriff off his chair.

"C'mon Hitch, let's get you to bed." Pipp responded softly, her blush dying down a lot since then. Hitch complied, slowly climbing out of his chair and making his way down the hallway to his room. Pipp used this time to recollect her phone, which she had left sitting on the couch after she rushed to the bathroom earlier. She escorted Hitch the rest of the way to the stallion's bedroom, where she turned on the lights and led him to the bed. "Alright, you should stay in bed for the rest of the day. When you wake up you'll feel so much better! Just like how I feel after some beauty sleep~" Pipp hummed.

Hitch smiled, finally climbing into bed, the warm sweet sweet bed. He felt like he could pass out almost instantly. He laid down on his side, however, didn't tuck himself in. Pipp noticed this, looking at his covers she slowly climbed onto the bed, beginning to drape the covers over the stallion. "All nice and cozy, right HiIIITCH!" Pipp suddenly shouted as she was suddenly pulled down. She was pulled into laying down right next to the sheriff, who wrapped his hooves around the smaller pony and held her close. All that progress that had gone to lessening her blush and making her more comfortable had gone down the drain as Pipp went red, her wings shooting out to her sides. Pipp shivered, feeling the stallion's soft fur and warm body pressed up against her was better than any blanket by a long shot. Not to mention the way he held her, made her see stars. She took a couple of seconds to process just what happened exactly before squealing as she attempted to force herself away from the stallion. She pulled away, however, contrary to before, Hitch was just as strong as he always was, keeping Pipp locked in place. "H-Hngh! H-Hitch! Let go of me!" Pipp demanded, trying again and failing at pulling away. She huffed, looking up to the stallion's face, however, he was fast asleep! "W-What?! How can you be this strong when you're passed out?!"

"Pipp…" Hitch mumbled softly in his sleep, and the hold he had on her slowly tightened, pulling her closer, Pipp's head being pulled right up against his chest. Pipp whimpered softly. She was losing the will to pull away, and quickly! She didn't want to spend all night hugging the stallion, yet with each passing second, she lost more and more of the will to pull away from her capture.

"Mmph…" Pipp huffed, attempting one last time to pull away from Hitch but failing, resulting in her giving up entirely. "UGH! Fine, you win you stupid big stallion." Pipp huffed, accepting she was probably going to have to stay there for a while. Even still, she wasn't really that mad either. She sighed, at least being able to reach for her phone in the state she was in, tucking her wings back in she held her phone out. She paused for a moment, checking the time before blushing as an idea came to mind. Slowly she held the phone out as far as she could, using the camera app on her phone and aiming directly at her and Hitch. She snapped a photo, smiling as she did.

"I guess I got one good thing out of this…~" Pipp sighed, placing her phone down. She looked back up at Hitch before nuzzling deeper into his chest. She was a bit tired herself, so she might as well take up the opportunity to catch some Z's as well. She wrapped a hoof around Hitch, followed by a wing to act as a little makeshift blanket as she dozed off before eventually falling asleep with the biggest smile on her face.





A few hours later, Pipp would wake up, yawning lightly. Pipp stretched out, grumbling softly to herself as she woke up from that morning slog. She slowly looked around, pausing as she remembered where she was. "Oh right… I'm in Hitch's room. Which means…" She nuzzled back into the chest of Hitch, still hugging the stallion lightly as she did, breathing a soft exhale.

"Uhm… Pipp? Are you awake now?"

Pipp's eyes shot back open as she looked up. Hitch was looking back down at her, blushing himself. Pipp's face went red as her eyes went wide. She squeaked, before quickly pulling herself away from the stallion, nearly falling off the bed. "H-HITCH! I'm so sorry! I-I didn't know you were awake!"

Hitch watched her pull away, giving him time to finally sit upright. "Hngh, ahhh~" Hitch stretched out before flinching as Pipp apologized. "O-Oh! Don't worry! I woke up like… five minutes ago, b-but I didn't want to move and accidentally wake you up… You were smiling so brightly it made-"

"H-HAHA! OH WELL PFFFT, that's fine, you could've just woken me up ehehe!" Pipp waved her hooves defensively before flinching, turning back to Hitch, "wait, does that mean you feel better?"

Hitch nodded, "oh yeah, I feel great! Sheesh, I felt like I was gonna flop any second yesterday, but now I feel as strong as an ox! Though the more I think about it, I can't remember much from yesterday either. I remember waking up really late… then wanting to leave but you stopped me. Then I think I took a bath… and you washed my mane… and then Zipp brought some soup! But after that, I don't remember anything else. I must've fallen asleep right after huh?"

"Oh? OH! Yeah, yeah you passed right out, ehehe… So you don't remember anything else, right?" Pipp asked, pressing her hooves together a bit nervously.

"Not really… Why do you ask..?" Asked the stallion curiously as he climbed out of bed.

"Hah, n-no reason, no reason at all! Well then, if you're feeling all great, then I guess my work here is done!" Pipp declared, breathing a sigh of relief as she picked her phone up.

"Well, I still want to know why I was… well... Why we were sleeping together..?" Hitch asked Pipp, blushing heavily as he looked over at her. Pipp was turned around but she hadn't had the courage to turn to face him, blushing heavily herself.

"Uhm… Well, you see… When you fell asleep you- A…A…" Pipp paused, stopping in the middle of her sentence as she dropped her phone and tilt her head up. Hitch looked over confusedly before realizing what was happening. Pipp suddenly let out a loud sneeze, loud, yet still adorable, sneeze. Pipp groaned, wiping her nose for a moment before the realization hit. "Oh noooooooo…" She groaned.

Hitch snickered lightly, "I'll call the girls and let them know, don't worry." Hitch sighed before leaving the bedroom, leaving the princess to flop over in defeat.

END