Sprouting Romance

Ever since the sort-of kiss, Sprout was on top of the world. He felt as if he were a pegasi walking on clouds! He was as happy as a unicorn who had just abolished a mayonnaise factory! He smiled more, pouted less, and he didn't even mind that everypony in town still hated him for the lighthouse incident. His mind was too preoccupied with replaying that wonderful experience from a few days prior, the moment when Hitch pecked Sprout's cheek for a mere second...

Sprout got up bright and early so he could have a little time to himself before community service--or rather, being Hitch's assistant. Which was virtually the same as being deputy, except he wasn't allowed to make any decisions and he didn't get paid. He went for a little walk, feeling the gentle sun warming his fur, until hunger groaned from within his tummy.

Cantering past ponies who either pretended he was invisible or shot him loathsome glares, he made his way to his favorite pizza parlor. He hadn't had a pizza in ages. It had been almost a WEEK! Poor him! After entering the familiar building, he remembered to stand at the back of the queue instead of cutting in line like he usually did. Oh, he was REALLY being a good pony now! If he kept this up, then the Pizza Goddess herself would descend from the heavens and make him a saint...

When it was his turn, he offered the worker behind the counter a toothy smile (only receiving an apathetic stare in exchange) and ordered his favorite pizza--with mushrooms, olives, tomato slices, and basil leaves as toppings. He dumped a large bag of change on the counter to pay for his order, and then sat on a stool in the corner while he waited for his pizza to be prepared.

Later, when the pizza was done, he decided to take it to the sheriff's office and eat it there. It was still a little while before his "shift" began, but Hitch would probably be there already... and he couldn't object to spending as much time as possible around his beloved!

Sprout pushed his way into the office and set the box of pizza on the deputy's desk--no, the assistant's desk. His heart soared when he glanced to the side and saw Hitch at the sheriff's desk, but before he could say anything, Hitch jumped out of his chair and trotted over to him.

"Sprout! Oh, I'm so happy to see you."

As always, Sprout found himself hopelessly lost in Hitch's eyes, which sucked him in like amber whirlpools. "Y-you a-are?"

Hitch nodded and smiled, flashing his sparkling white teeth. "That's correct, my little Sproutie. There's something I want from you... and it's really important."

Sprout inhaled sharply, and he felt his head spinning like a Beyblade. Sproutie? SPROUTIE?! What an adorable nickname! His legs felt so weak, he was just about ready to melt into a puddle of goo.

He was too breathless to speak, so after a brief session of awkward silence, Hitch piped up again. "I'm a little nervous to confess this, but..."

Sprout's eyes widened as he watched Hitch avert his gaze, his tan-colored cheeks turning pink. Hitch was blushing! And why was he acting so nervous? Could it be that Hitch was about to confess his love for him...?

Hitch straightened up and took a deep breath, attempting to fill himself with confidence while he filled his lungs. "I'm going on a date tonight and I need you to keep an eye on the office while I'm out!"

The world seemed to stand still. Sprout's smile still lingered on his face while he processed what Hitch had just said. When he finally realized, his smile faltered for a moment before he forced it back again, disingenuous and a little too wide.

"Oh, really? That's great! Who are you going on a date with?" He spoke through clenched teeth, muffling his voice a little.

Hitch attempted to pull a smug expression, but his blush was still obvious. "It's Dahlia. She asked me out when I was patrolling yesterday. And to be honest, in the back of my mind, I think I've had my eye on her for a while..."

Sprout backed away, stumbling every few steps. "How wonderful! A-anyway, I should really get to eating my pizza before it gets cold..."

"Great! Anyway I'm gonna go on patrol now, and afterwards I'm gonna get my mane done at the hair salon..." Hitch strode towards the door before halting and shooting Sprout a serious glare. "Don't start a war while I'm gone. And I mean it this time."

"Yeah, yeah, not doing that again..." Sprout mumbled as he slumped onto his chair. He didn't meet Hitch's gaze, instead staring at the floor. Sprout listened to the door shut after Hitch made his way out.

And then he was alone.

More alone than he had ever felt in his entire life.

His father left when he was a colt, his mommy ignored him for most of his life, Sunny had stopped being his friend because he so fervently believed the lies he had been taught by society... and went a smidge too far trying to fight back against a non-existent threat. He just wanted everypony's respect, and he thought he had been protecting his neighbors against death by unicorns and pegasi! But at the end of the day, everything he did was a massive screw-up and nopony needed him, not even Hitch. He was too miserable to eat.

Well, almost. His mouth began to water as the delicious cheesy scent of pizza wafted up from the box, and he slowly lifted the lid to open it...

...only to find that the pizza had no toppings at all! There was only cheese and sauce and crust.

"Those foolish ponies must have left all my toppings off just to spite me!" he growled. His anger quickly gave way to sadness, and he wore a sullen frown. "Everypony in town hates me. Hitch will never love me. I...I should leave."

There was no hope for him in Maretime Bay. He destroyed his own dream of becoming the sheriff, and now nopony wanted him around at all. He could go away forever, and nopony would miss him! His mother would probably forget he was ever born, just like she used to when he was a colt. He begrudgingly ate a slice of the plain pizza as he pondered this. There was no doubt that it was still tasty, but it was difficult for him to enjoy it. He was too busy thinking about his future life as a hermit.

He swallowed the last bite of the slice and clambered out of his chair. "I should go right now... It's not like anypony will even notice."

Taking one last glance around the sheriff's office, and leaving the rest of his pizza sitting on his desk, he walked towards the door. One of his front hooves was still greasy from holding the pizza slice, and left sticky marks on the floor with each step--he hoped Hitch wouldn't be too mad about that. He went outside and quickly brainstormed about where he should go. He knew there was a desert somewhere on the way to Zephyr Heights, so maybe he would live there, hiding away from civilization and eating sand for every meal! It was all he deserved.

And so, trudging past ponies he knew resented his presence, he set off for the desert and left his life in Maretime Bay behind.

The sky was ablaze with a red and yellow sunset by the time Sprout reached the desert. He collapsed on the ground, wheezing from exhaustion. He was surrounded by sand, rocks, sand, dry shrubbery, sand, and sand. This would be his new home. He lay there as he tried to reclaim his energy, but then he winced as his stomach rumbled with a twinge of hunger. It had been several hours since he had eaten the singular slice of pizza.

"I guess I better get used to my new lifestyle..." he muttered to the vast emptiness surrounding him. He used his hooves to shovel sand into his mouth, cringing at the gritty texture. Swallowing it was even worse, and he choked as the hard, tiny grains scratched his throat.

"Ugh, I can't do this! I need to find a different food source." He weakly heaved himself upright, and looked around. He saw a scorpion scuttle by and briefly considered eating it, but soon decided he wanted to remain vegetarian (and he didn't want to risk being stung, anyway). He began trailing off in a random direction, leaving hoofprints in the sand. He hoped he would find food before it got dark. Or water. He was beginning to get thirsty, too...

Eventually he spotted a ditch in the ground, and he quickened his pace, cantering up to it. He peered down and saw that the ditch was several pony-lengths deep, but growing from the bottom was a swarm of cacti! His ears perked up with delight. Cacti were full of water, weren't they? At least, that's what he had learned from cartoons. That would solve his thirst, and maybe he could eat part of the cactus too. He hoped that cacti tasted like cookies.

How would he get down? He leaned over the edge, observing that there wasn't really any space to stand because of just how many cacti were down there. He leaned some more, and more, and then...

Oops! His hoof slipped and he let out a yelp as he fell into the ditch, only to squeal like a banshee being caught in the shower when he landed smack-dab in a patch of cacti. Suddenly he was a living pincushion, sharp needles poking into him from all sides. He writhed in an attempt to break free, but that only cause more cactus spines to prick him.

"Owowowowowowowwwwwwwwww!"

He had no choice but to stay still. Some of the needles had broken off the cacti and were still sticking out of his fur, making him look like a hedgehog. He looked up at the sky above, which was growing darker by the minute. There was no way he could climb out of the ditch! It was too deep, and he couldn't even stand on his own four hooves. This was how he would die!

I hope mommy doesn't take the news of my death too badly. And I hope she doesn't check my internet history.

He had some pretty nasty stuff in there. Such as vegan meatloaf recipes.

He sighed, but quickly cut himself off when he realized that even breathing too deeply increased the pain. He was stinging all over, with no hope of escape... and he would die alone, unloved, and an utterly useless failure.

He closed his eyes as a tear trickled down his cheek. He waited for the pain to fade, for unconsciousness to steal him away. But then one of his ears twitched as he heard shuffling from somewhere up above. He tried to ignore it at first, but then something whacked him on the head.

"OUCH!" He flinched and opened his eyes, ready to rage at whatever had hit him, only to spy the end of a rope dangling in front of his face.

"Sprout! Can you climb up!?"

His heart skipped a beat at the familiar voice. Baring through the pain, he lifted his head and squinted upwards. There was the world's most handsome stallion, cautiously looking over the brim of the ditch and watching Sprout with concern. Hitch had come to his rescue!

It took several moments for Sprout to answer his question. "I don't know if I can. It huuuuuuuurts!"

Hitch cringed as Sprout's voice became a whine. Still, he responded in a somewhat comforting tone. "Erm, just try, OK? You're gonna be all right."

Sprout sniffled. "Fine..."

Whimpering and yelling the whole while, Sprout reached for the rope and began to climb upwards, his coat still burning with pain. Hitch flattened his ears back against his head in an attempt to block out Sprout's whining, until the red stallion finally heaved himself onto higher grounds.

"Are you OK?" Hitch asked, retrieving his rope from where he had it tied around a large rock.

Sprout was panting from pain and exertion, lying on his belly. "Y-yeah, I guess."

Hitch frowned as he gazed down at him. "Why did you come all the way out here? I told you to keep an eye on the sheriff's office, and you failed! And you even left your pizza there to get all gross."

Sprout buried his face in the sand with a huff. "I ran away 'cause nopony loves me and I'll never be good enough for anything. So I decided I'll live in the desert forever, away from everypony else!"

Sprout did not look at Hitch's face, but heard the bemusement in his voice. "Why would you feel the need to do that? You may have done some bad things, but everypony deserves a second chance. You'll get there someday. And..."

Hitch paused, and so Sprout lifted his face off the ground to look up at him before he continued.

"I like having you around. When I couldn't find you, I was really worried."

Sprout stared at him. "How DID you find me?"

"First I followed the pizza grease hoofprints on the street," Hitch gestured to a nearby rock, where his two seagull companions were perched, "and then these critters scouted from the sky until they found your hoofprints in the sand."

"I see..." Sprout gave the little birds a thankful half-smile.

Hitch sat next to him, his gaze scanning over his torso. "You've got a lot of broken cactus spines stuck to you. Does it still hurt?"

Sprout rolled his eyes. "What do you think?"

"Can you sit up?"

"I'll try..." Gritting his teeth, he managed to adjust his front hooves and slowly sit upright.

"Now let me deal with these..." Hitch used both his hooves to grasp a needle in Sprout's side and pull it out.

"OW!" Sprout flinched from the searing agony that shot through him for a few moments afterwards.

"I'm sorry, it's hard to grip these with my hooves! Just stay still..." Hitch carefully selected another needle and tugged it out, and this time it didn't hurt nearly as much. Sprout shut his eyes but didn't cry out, and managed to relax as the other stallion continued to pluck out needles. Once he was completely calm, he felt butterflies fluttering in his tummy from how close Hitch was sitting to him, and the way his hooves brushed against his fur while attempting to grab onto each needle.

Then Sprout mentally shooed the butterflies away, and even imagined smacking a few with a fly swatter! He would have to get over his feelings! He thought back to how flustered Hitch had looked while mentioning Dahlia... He had never seen his shyness overshadow his confidence before, not even after receiving the secret love letter. Sprout knew that Hitch would never look at him that way.

Hitch broke the silence again as he continued to work. "I hope you'll come back to Maretime Bay with me. It's... lonely without you. In fact, that's why I made you my assistant after you couldn't be deputy anymore. It was because I still wanted to be with you whenever I can.

A flicker of warmth warily surged in Sprout's chest. "Really? But... you won't be lonely anymore. You've got Dahlia now."

Hitch sighed and added one last extracted needle to a pile that had formed. "We're not going on another date. Dahlia said that even though she finds me attractive, she found my personality to be... not very exciting. That was a nice way of saying that I'm boring. I wish there was somepony out there who liked me for me."

Hitch lowered his head and stared at the ground, his ears drooping like wilted flower petals. Sprout's heart ached at seeing him so defeated.

"Hitch, if it helps you feel any better, I don't think you're boring. I do agree you look good, but... I like you for who you are on the inside, too."

Hitch briefly glanced at him, sending him a tender smile before focusing on the sand beneath his hooves again.

Sprout nervously bit his lip for a moment, before reaching over and placing a tentative hoof on the sad stallion's back. He felt Hitch relax under his touch, and the butterflies returned. This time, he didn't chase them away. He had never comforted another pony before... It was odd, but nice. Hitch had comforted him multiple times, so it was only fair for him to do the same.

"So... Does this mean you're gonna come home?" Hitch asked, amusement sparkling in his gaze as he turned to Sprout once more.

Sprout clicked his tongue and suppressed a groan, removing his hoof from Hitch's back. "Fine... I guess."

"Good, because you've still got a ton of community service to fulfill! You don't wanna be a fugitive, right?"

Hitch shot him a cocky smile, and Sprout scowled at him in return. But deep inside, he was elated that Hitch was feeling at least a little better. He was about to get to his hooves, when suddenly Hitch leaned over and planted his muzzle against Sprout's shoulder.

"Eep!" A shiver ran up Sprout's spine, and then he felt teeth grazing his shoulder before Hitch reeled back and spat out one last needle onto the ground.

"Sorry, I missed one and thought it would be easier to get it out with my teeth," Hitch chuckled mischievously.

Still shaking, Sprout fumed at him. "W-warn me next time!"

Hitch got to his hooves. "All right, I'll keep that in mind the next time you go gallivanting off to the desert and land in Cactus Town." He caught sight of his seagull friends, who were beginning to doze off as the first stars twinkled in the sky. "Looks like the critters need to get home too. C'mon, let's go."

Sprout stood up as well, and a smile slowly spread across his face. Maybe Hitch would never love him, but his words were echoing in his mind. Hitch needed him around and wanted to spend time with him. That had to count for something, right? Maybe Sprout wasn't such a useless, unwanted pony after all.

And even if he was to everypony else, all that mattered was that Hitch cared about him.