Pipp's Freedom

by Jhoira

Pipp's (And Sunny's) Journey

Sunny and Pipp trotted down the road towards Zephyr Heights. It had been two days of traveling for the two. They had a tent, a very high quality one that the queen had insisted on sending, but Sunny had wanted to sleep out in the wilderness. That had been fine the first night but the second Pipp had rolled into a dead bush in the night. And she had been picking twigs out of her wings all day.

Pipp had kept Sunny talking about herself for the first leg of the journey. With well place questions and comments she'd learned much of Sunny's past. The two reasons were that it would put to rest any lingering concerns Sunny might have had about Pipp being self centered. Also it was simply interesting to learn about others. Especially those so different from herself.

Sunny smiled at Pipp. "Sorry, I've been talking about myself all this time. But you're a very good listener Pipp."

"Thank you! But it's not hard when you are so interesting... Your life has been so dynamic!" Pipp hadn't meant for it to come out precisely like that. But it wasn't a bad thing for what it was. She was supposed to be making Sunny interested in her... And feeling appreciated lent itself well to that. If Sunny truly developed an interest in her... Pipp stomped on that thought. She wouldn't make someone else play her mother's games!

Sunny grinned at that. "I suppose it has. But what about you Pipp? What's the life of a princess like?"

Pip have a small sigh, her shoulders slumping a bit. "Stressful." Pipp's brain was just catching up to her mouth as it continued. "Zipp is going to be queen so she's expected to fit a certain image. Not to say she doesn't have stress too, but it's different stress. Mother trotted me out to be the..." Her brain finally regained control from her emotions and snapped her mouth shut. Having someone genuinely care about how she was doing and not asking generic interview questions was so refreshing she'd gotten carried away. Even Zipp just thought of her as mother's pawn.

Sunny had noticed the pause. "Uh, Pipp?"

Pipp quickly though you a way to finish the sentence. "Figurehead. No, no, the face. The face of the family. I was trying to think up the right word." She gave her best smile to Sunny, not letting it quiver even a little.

Sunny nodded, making a sympathetic noise. "Ah, I can see how that would be stressful. Do you get along with the queen?"

Pipp nodded. "Yes. Mother is a great leader. Doing what's best for the people and trying to help everyone." A rehearsed, but true enough answer. As a queen, her mother was excellent. Her top two priority's were that the pegasi society was prosperous and fair, and that their family stay in power. The former being only slightly more important than the latter.

Sunny seemed to notice a little something off, so she changed her question. "Do you get along with your mom?"

Pipp hasn't expected that question right after the other. So she very nearly answered truthfully. "N..." her eyes widened as she realized what she was saying and tried to change it, but couldn't change fast enough so it just ended in nonsense. "Nnngrlmmm..." Pipp quickly looked off to the side, hiding as best she could her attempts to bring herself back under control. Taking a few long, deep breathes, and as quiet as she tried to be she tried to keep it quiet, out of Sunny's hearing.

Sunny let the silence hang as they walked a minute without exchanging words. Eventually she started the conversation up again. "Do... you want to talk about it...? "

"No!" Pipp flinched at being overly emphatic, but she couldn't let her own personal feelings get out. A few seconds went by before adding. "But... Thank you." She couldn't help but let the awkward silence hang for a few moments. She didn't know what exactly she should do here. Then she hit on it. "Did you know that we have a pool?"

Sunny nodded, the change of subject was obvious but she wasn't going to push. "Yes, Zipp mentioned it when she mentioned about how your m... The queen never takes her crown off. Ever."

Pipp blinked at Sunny's sudden change and shook her head, actually cracking a smile. She didn't like her mom, but her name/their relation wasn't anathema to her. "You don't need to go that far Sunny. It's just... Well... Like I said she's a very good queen. To the exclusion of other things at times..."

Sunny nodded. "I'm sorry." Though this time she didn't wait long before changing the subject herself, apparently having made peace with the situation. "So, pegasi like to swim?"

Pipp nodded and smiled at Sunny's obvious acceptance of the change. "I'm guessing it had to do with us being unable to fly! Though I wonder what'll happen now that we can fly again." They managed to make small talk for another hour before the sun started to dip down below the horizon to end their day.

However when they were settling down for the night, to end their journey with more chatting then rest Pipp kept shifting and digging into her wings with her muzzle. Sunny couldn't help but notice. "You ok?"

Pipp spit out another twig and nodded, scowling, this time publicly. "Yes, just that bush I rolled into, my wings still aren't clean!"

Sunny giggled a bit and got up, getting a sour look from a Pipp. "Here, let me help. It'll be faster from an outside angle."

Pipp blushed brightly, even noticeable though her pink coat. "Y-You want to help me preen!?"

Sunny came to a quick halt on her way over. "Well I would have said yes a moment ago but... From your reaction, no?"

Pipp calmed down a little, remembering Sunny wasn't a pegasus. "Right." She grinned a little, still blushing gently, though now mostly hidden by her coat. "Sorry, just... Preening is... Very personal between two Pegasi. Not intimate, but like you'd only preen your mate or your kids. Or your parents if they were very old and couldn't do it themselves."

It was Sunny's turn to blush a little. "I saw pegasi preening..."

Pipp giggled quietly, slightly muffled by trying to dig out another stick. "Personal, not intimate. No pegasus would wish a misaligned feather on anyone." Pipp gave a small, dramatic shudder as she spit out a burr. Second one she'd found, to her irritation. Sunny went back to her place and Pipp spent the next ten minute laboriously trying to preen herself to little avail. She'd made as much progress as she could but there were a few last pieces stuck out of reach... Pipp did her best to ignore it and sleep anyway but she kept involuntarily rustling her wings.

"Ok, we need to fix this." Sunny got up and even as Pipp opened her mouth to protest Sunny shook her head. "It's keeping you up. And the rustling is keeping me up."

Pipp scowled but had to admit that a Sunny was right. "Ok... B-But you're just cleaning my wings, ok? I'll preen them after!" Her mother would have probably scowled at her for making that difference declaration. But Pipp didn't care! She wasn't going to throw all her social norms out the window for her mother.

Sunny nodded and walked over as Pipp spread her wings. Sunny removed a few errant twigs but nothing of not. Until she got to Pipp's second wing and found another large burr lodged up out of Pipp's reach at the connection point of her wing. Sunny pulled the burr out and Pipp let out an audible sigh of relief. Sunny had to give it to Pipp, she was made of sterner stuff than Sunny thought if the most complaints that got had been done shifting in place. Another twig was lodged a bit deeper than others taking more work to work it free. In the process Sunny brushed up against Pipp's feathers and couldn't stop a small coo. "Ooh, soft..."

Pipp however heard it. "Sunny!?"

Sunny jumped and blushed gently, she'd forgotten the context of her actions. Quickly grabbing the twig again she pulled it out from between two feathers and cantered back to where she had been earlier. "All done!"

Pipp quickly shuffled her wings thoroughly and let out another sigh of pleasure. She preen herself quickly, correcting her feathers to make sure none were out of line. She sighed happily then looked up at Sunny afterwards, who was still watching her. "Thank you."

Sunny smiled and nodded. "I'm glad you're all better now. And now we should get some sleep!"

Pipp nodded, smiling to herself. "Yes, now that it's possible, for either of us." She grinned and rustled her wings meaningfully before settling down, hearing a quiet snicker from Sunny at the performance.

Comments

[Mica]

Pipp scowled but had to admit that a Sunny was right. "Ok... B-But you're just cleaning my wings, ok? I'll preen them after!"

♫ My girl's a dere, a tsun tsun dere...♪

[LightningChaser04]

11008056
Um.. this may sound silly, probably stupid, but.. what does dere mean? And, what does tsun dere mean?

[ArDee]

11008284
Tsuntsun - morose, aloof
Deredere - lovestruck

Put them together...
Tsun dere - a character that alternates between aloof and lovestruck moods

[n3k1dsk1llz]

Sunny let the silence hang as they walked a whole without exchanging words. Eventually she started the conversation up again. "Do... you want to talk about it...? "

a whole what?
a whole what?!

Now You have to tell me.

[Falkenlied]

Pipp nodded and smiled at Sunny's obvious acceptance of the change. "I'm guessing it had to do with us being unable to fly! Though I wonder what'll happen now that we can fly again." They managed to make small talk for another hour before the sun started to dip down below the horizon to end their day.

Headcanon of Pegasi enjoying swimming as reminiscent of flight accepted, very well thought out.
The characters and pacing are still good.
Still quite a few grammar errors peppered about

[WaywardSon]

"Well I would have said yes a moment ago but... From your reaction, no?"

I love that bit of interspecies confusion. Cultural norms make for fun interplay.