//------------------------------// // Zephyr Heights Pride (Brightpetal) // Story: Equestrian Pride // by RedRanger3142 //------------------------------// Misty fiddled with her Cutie Mark bracelet as the train rumbled along. After Canterlogic had been brought back as Canterlove, Sprout had been putting the company to surprisingly good use. His first act was to build a train line to connect Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood. Said train had been named the “Friendship Express” by Sunny and Misty after they found a book about the railway of ancient Equestria in the Zephyr Heights archives. The new Friendship Express was currently only a single line between Maretime Bay and Zephyr Heights as the track to Bridlewood was still under construction. Misty looked around the carriage. It was empty except for her and a certain Pink Pegasus Princess next to her. Pipp was oblivious to Misty’s nervousness as she hummed to herself while tapping away at her phone. A glance at the screen showed Pipp was texting her mom to inform her when they’d be arriving. Pipp was the cause of Misty’s nervousness, not that she knew that. The more Misty hung out with her friends, the more she noticed that whenever they weren’t hanging out as a group Misty found herself alone with Pipp. There were several reasons this kept happening. One was that whenever Sunny wasn’t working at her smoothie cart she and Izzy would go off exploring and come back at sunset covered in mud and twigs. Two was that Zipp and Hitch were nearly always at the sheriff station, them being the only two employees. And three was the two had recently started hosting a tv show together. Despite the disaster that was Sunnyside Up Sprout commissioned three new shows; an arts and crafts show hosted by Sunny and Izzy, a sitcom staring Zipp and Hitch playing fictionalised versions of themselves who were a newly married couple in the force struggling to look after their infant child (played by Sparky of course) and a show in which Pipp and Misty talked about the history of music. Something Misty noticed during all this alone time with Pipp was that her heartbeat always picked up whenever the Pegasus came close to her. At first she was worried she had caught a disease and could pass it on to Pipp so she described how she felt when she was around Pipp to Sunny and Izzy one day. To Misty’s surprise her fellow Unicorn started rolling around on the floor laughing while Sunny (through giggles) explained that Misty had a ‘celebrity crush’, though not in the usual sense of the term. A celebrity crush normally referred to somepony who had a crush on a celebrity they idolised without having met them in person, while Misty had developed a crush on her friend who happened to be a celebrity. Pipp looked up from her phone and saw Misty fiddling with her bracelet. “Careful, Misty. You’ll break it if you’re not careful.” Misty quickly stopped. “Right. Good point,” she turned to face Pipp. “So when will we be arriving?” Pipp checked her phone. “In about a half hour,” she answered. Misty nodded, shifting in her seat. While trying to think of a way to spend the next half hour she suddenly felt herself pulled towards her friend. “Um, Pipp? What are you doing?” Misty asked, realising Pipp had pulled her into a wing hug. Pipp didn’t answer, instead switching to her phone’s camera. For a second Misty thought Pipp wanted a selfie, then she realised Pipp was using the camera as a mirror, checking the two were presentable. Misty glanced down at her shoulder, which was brushing against Pipp’s. The lack of space between them made Misty blush. Just because she now knew why she reacted this way around Pipp didn’t mean she knew how to approach the situation. After all, the two ponies were practically from different worlds. A short time later the train pulled into the new Zephyr Heights station. Pipp and Misty disembarked to find Queen Haven waiting on the platform, noticeably without her guards flanking her. “Mom” Pipp called, jumping into her mother’s waiting embrace. Misty watched the two hug, desperately trying to not think about how Opaline never treated her like that before she found herself being greeted by Sparky and Cloudpuff. “Careful you two, try not to scare the poor girl” Haven said as she let go of Pipp. Cloudpuff returned to his owner while Sparky climbed onto Misty’s back. “Hey Misty,” Pipp said. “Can you and mom talk amongst yourselves for a minute. I have something to do real quick.” The young Pegasus flew slightly away from the others and pulled out her phone. “Livestream?” Misty asked as she walked over to Haven. “Livestream,” Haven confirmed. The queen glanced around before leaning in and lowering her voice. “I’ve been meaning to ask one of you, are Hitch and Pipp…” she trailed off. Misty’s body suddenly felt like it was filling with ice. She shook the feeling off before answering in an equally low voice. “No, they aren’t. What gave you that idea?” Haven waved her hoof around. “Oh, just a video making its way around the Canternet.” Misty frowned. She knew what video Haven was talking about. It was the one Sparky filmed of Hitch looking after Pipp when she fell ill (the first time). After the video was released a lot of ponies came up to Hitch and Pipp to ask if they were dating. Sunny and Izzy got a kick out of this, but Zipp and (whenever she was with the group) Misty would vanish from sight whenever this happened and only return afterwards. During one such instance the two ended up ducking into the same alley and confided each other’s crushes to the other. “You guessed the wrong daughter,” Misty found herself saying. “Zipp’s the one with a crush on Hitch.” Haven gasped. “Really?” “Really” Pipp said, returning to the group. “But you wouldn’t notice it unless you knew how Zipp normally acts.” “Or she told you” Misty added. Haven shook her head. “I need to spend more time in Maretime Bay.” “There’s a firework display later today if you want to come,” Pipp informed her. “I bet Alphabittle will be there” Misty teased. Pipp giggled as her mother’s face turned red. “Um, yes… well… er, don’t you two have somewhere to be right now?” she stuttered. Pipp nodded. “Right. There’s a place I want to show Misty that’ll have a great view for the upcoming parade. And since I know she’s not the best with crowds I sent Zoom and Thunder to check the area was clear of ponies” she winked at the shy Unicorn. “So that’s where those two went” Haven whispered as Sparky jumped from Misty’s back to Haven’s. “See you later, Queen Haven” Misty called as she and Pipp left the station. “It’s just Haven, dear” Haven called back. Pipp and Misty exited the station into the city. The pride celebrations were largely the same as Maretime Bay, but the crowds were bigger due to Zephyr Heights having a larger population. Slightly nervous about being in such a large crowd Misty hung her head low and walked close to Pipp, who draped her wing over the Unicorn’s back. “Hey,” Pipp said, trying to get Misty to focus on her. “I’m not going to leave your side, okay?” Misty looked into Pipp’s green eyes. “Promise?” Pipp smiled at her. “Promise.” The place Pipp wanted to show Misty was a small public garden with grass and a few trees. Because Zephyr Heights was built on a mountain several of these small gardens ahd been spread across the city so there was some plant life present. And this particular garden near the castle was where Pipp used to come when she wanted to be alone, like how Zipp retreated to the old train station built into the castle. The two were currently in an elevator ascending to the garden so Pipp decided to strike up a conversation. “So what were you and mom talking about back on the platform?” she asked. Misty, who was doing better now that she was away from the crowds, didn’t respond at once. “She asked if you and Hitch were dating” she finally answered. Pipp groaned. “Ah. That video follows us around everywhere.” “Would you date Hitch?” Misty asked suddenly. Pipp didn’t even need to think about it. “No,” she answered. “I mean he is kinda handsome, but Zipp already has her eyes on him and besides,” she leaned in and whispered in Misty’s ear. “I prefer mares anyway.” The elevator reached its destination and the doors opened. Pipp stepped out but Misty didn’t follow as her mind was still trying to process what she had just been told. Pipp, you’re… bi?” she finally managed to say. Pipp nodded in response, then started to walk around a tree, but froze halfway. Misty glanced over her shoulder to see what was happening and found that the royal guards, Zoom and Thunder, were in the middle of a kissing session. The Pegasus and the Unicorn quickly hid behind the tree. Pipp shook her head slightly. “No, we are not interrupting their moment,” she whispered to herself. Then she turned to Misty. “We’ll come back later. I can give you a tour of the shopping district in the meantime.” Misty nodded her head. “Okay.” Zoom and Thunder were gone when Pipp and Misty returned twenty minutes later, probably having returned to Queen Haven’s side. “Remind me that Zipp owes me twenty bits” Pipp said as they approached the guard rail. “You two had a bet on whether your mom’s guards would start dating?” Misty asked. No,” Pipp corrected. “We had a bet on when they would start dating.” Misty rolled her eyes as the two leaned against the guard rail. This, Pipp thought, is why she loved to come here. While you could look over the city from the castle you could only see the tops of buildings and the sound was blocked out. Zephyr Heights seemed more like a separate location than a place you were in. From the garden however you could see the streets and the ponies and hear all the noises of the city. “Wow!” Misty exclaimed as she took in the view. “This is brilliant.” Yeah,” Pipp nodded. “I figured we could watch the parade from up here, away from the crowds.” Misty turned to smile at her. “Hey, thanks.” Pipp smiled back. “You’re welcome.” While Misty focused her attention on the crowd below Pipp pulled out her phone and stared at her. Something about Misty drew Pipp to her. The hidden bravery behind the shy exterior, the innocent cluelessness about the modern world (that was admittedly caused by Misty being raised in isolation) and the Unicorn was downright positively cute. Pipp had concocted a plan a week ago but now that she had Misty here she was hesitant to enact it. It’s wasn’t the best approach to take with a timid pony like Misty, but Pipp couldn’t think of anything else. She could scare Misty off if she wasn’t careful. But the image of Zoom and Thunder kissing was stuck in her head. Choosing to go through with her plan Pipp got Misty’s attention by waving her phone in front of the blue Unicorn’s face. “Hey, before the parade starts, wanna get a selfie?” Misty’s smile brightened. “Sure.” Misty stood beside Pipp as the Pegasus held the phone out in front of them. “Little closer” Pipp muttered. “Like this?” Misty leaned closer so that she was nearly cheek to cheek with Pipp. Pipp smiled slightly. “Perfect.” Right before the camera took the photo Pipp closed her eyes, quickly turned her head and pecked Misty on the cheek. As soon as she heard the click Pipp pulled away. Misty had frozen, her expression stunned. Pipp looked at her phone to find to her relief that the image had been taken before Misty’ smile had vanished, just how she wanted it. Suddenly the phone was lifted out of Pipp’s grasp by Msity’s magic. The Unicorn glanced at the screen, then back at Pipp. “What just happened?” she asked, clearly confused. Pipp tapped her hooves together nervously. “Well, you see I really, really wanted to kiss you but wasn’t sure how.” Misty stared at Pipp blankly for a few seconds. Then to the Pegasus’ shock, she smirked. “Really? I thought you were confidence personified” Misty teased. Pipp laughed lightly. “Not at romance,” she admitted. “I’ve beeen in a few relationships before, Misty. None of them ever lasted more then a month.” “Well,” Misty began, leaning in and kissing Pipp on the lips. “Let’s see if we can’t change that” she finished when she pulled away. Pipp giggled happily as Misty began tapping furiously at Pipp’s phone. When she was satisfied with her work she showed Pipp what she had done. The Pegasus gasped. “How did you know what I was going to type?” she asked. “I know you” Misty simply said. Pipp smiled at her and hit the ‘upload button’ before the two went back to watching what was happening below. While the two were watching the Pride parade they were oblivious to a certain duo watching them from behind the tree. “All right. We’ve got all three” Zoom celebrated. “Operation firework?” Thunder asked. “Operation firework” Zoom confirmed as she pulled out her phone.