Left Hanging There, in the Spotlight
“Zipp?” one simple question that conveyed so much for Pipp. Clearly Zipp didn’t get it, as all she did was turn tail and run away. The blood roared in Pipp’s ears as the world around her faded into the background. She hung there limply watching as her own sister left her all alone. Gone off with some other ponies that Pipp had only recently met.
“How?” was another simple question with so much behind its utterance. Pipp’s eyes widened as she recalled the last few minutes of her life. And how in a few short moments everything Pipp had ever known and worked towards was stripped from her. Her fame, status, fans, and life as she knew it was all gone. Her secret was revealed to all and spread faster than anypony could contain.
On her special night, one meant to celebrate her newest performance instead turned into the night everything was taken from her. Even her own sister had left her dangling there, in the spotlight. She had no words, and her head swam. She felt nauseous and out of ideas. At that moment the world around her began to come back into focus around her.
Blearily she looked around at the pegasi gathered below her and saw their angry glares pointed right towards her. Some threw things at her, and some only glared. Pipp felt impaled upon their piercing stares. The disappointment in their eyes cut deeper than even the sharpest of spears. But even as a tomato splattered on Pipp’s face, nothing stung worse than her own sister’s abandonment.
The thing that finally snapped Pipp out of her stupor was somepony calling out her name. She looked up and saw five guards on the ceiling making their way through the crowd towards her. Confused at everyponies’ apparent lack of care for gravity she quirked her head to the side and came to the realization that she was still hanging upside down by her performance wires.
She immediately came to the conclusion that removing herself from the situation that she was in was probably for the best. The guards continued to march towards her as she struggled against her restraints. With a little more shifting she felt the wires around her begin loosening. Happily, she looked up only to have her mood worsen as she saw the guards nearly on top of her. She spasmed aggressively and attempted to flap her wings as she felt the wires come loose. The guards momentarily stepped back and shielded their faces from the flailing princess.
In that moment of hesitation Pipp looked around for some safe place to shoot for. Her eyes danced wildly around before coming to a stop and focusing on a shiny blue object on the floor. It was the object she saw Zipp holding earlier, the one she presumed was the cause for all the ruckus that had ruined her show. And it apparently had not only been dropped in all the panic but seemed to be the safest place Pipp could head towards.
So, with her destination in sight Pipp calmed herself and let herself drop. Mid-drop she twisted right side up and propelled herself upwards with a mighty flap of her wings. While her, and every other pegasi’s, wings were useless in any attempts at flight they could still give a pegasus lift, and more importantly for Pipp right now a pegasus could still use them to glide very short distances.
Pipp landed right on the outskirts of the gathered crowd and on top of the shiny blue object. With Pipp now being much closer to it she could tell that it was really a part of her mother, Queen Haven’s, crown. Pipp looked over her shoulder to see the five guards from before running right at her. With haste, she grabbed the blue crystal crown piece and stuck it in her now ruined mane before swiftly taking off towards the nearest exit.
*Thud, thud, thud, thud…*
*Thud, thud, thud, thud…*
*Thud, thud, thud, thud…*
*Thud, thud, Splish, splash…*
“Ew.” Pipp quietly said aloud as she lifted a hoof out of a puddle with a look of disgust on her face. ‘Mane is already ruined, so what’s a wasted hooficure too,’ She thought before looking back up and continuing forward in the dark. She shifted her left wing trying to get it in a more comfortable position, at the same time trying not to drop the cargo that was kept under its fold. Turning another corner she was soon faced with a fork in her path, one alley led to the left and the other to the right. It didn’t take her long to decide which alley to go down as the loud voices shouting her name coming down the left alley was a great deterrent.
Making her way down the right path Pipp caught sight of another ghastly puddle in her way, one that she swiftly avoided with grace. And she was so preoccupied with avoiding the water that she didn’t see the sharp turn right in front of her.
“Ah!” Pipp yelled as she collided face first into a brick wall. “Ow, ow, ow, ow…” Pipp trailed off as she touched her now sore noggin. “I swear this wall wasn’t here a moment ago.”
She shifted her left wing again to get a better grip on the gem after nearly dropping it in her pain-filled collision and took a look around at her surroundings, deducing that she must be near the outskirts of the city. Everything looked run down and stained, with the two brick walls surrounding either side of her being worn and battered beyond an inexpensive repair. Starting forth once more she spied more things within the alley she currently found herself in. There was some form of purple and green moss growing out of the cracks in the brickwork and out of the corner of her eyes she swore she saw movement. Her suspicions to what that movement could be were quickly answered as she came upon an overturned garbage can and saw a few furry creatures dart out from it and away from her.
‘Oh great, rats!’ She silently complained, ‘I hate these stupid back allies! I should be enjoying my after party in the castle celebrating another successful performance, not here!’ Her ears and eyes fell as she thought that last part. Pipp’s thoughts were born somewhat out of annoyance and sadness, but they were mostly out of fear. And not just a surface level fear like she felt during her escape from pegasus palace, no this fear was born from a much deeper and darker place in Pipp’s mind. A fear that terrified her more than anything else ever could, it was a very old fear.
*Thud, thud, thud, thud…*
‘Blue, pink, blue, pink…’
*Thud, thud, thud, thud…*
‘Blue, pink, blue, pink…’
*Thud, thud, thud, thud…*
‘Blue, pink, blue, pink…’
*Thud, thud, thud, thud…*
‘Blue, pink, blue, Green!’
Pipp’s hooves skidded on the marble floor as she screeched to a halt. ‘There it is!’ Pipp internally cheered, ‘The green windows!’
After bursting out of a pair of the throne room’s doors with guards right on her hooves, Pipp had been heading for the castle’s main entrance to make her escape. However, once Pipp had arrived she found at least a dozen guards in wait, blocking her path. The pink pegasus mare quickly changed course for another one of the palace’s exits. No matter which one she went to though, each one had more guards than the last. She had nearly gotten cut off and caught more than a few times too.
She had just barely managed to escape capture due to her small frame and quick hooves. The guards’ armor slowed them down considerably compared to Pipp. This let her get a decent lead, but every exit still had a few guards watching it. So, no matter what she was stuck in the pegasus palace. That was until she remembered that the outermost part of the castle’s west wing had recently gotten a renovation. The construction ponies, under the orders of Queen Haven, had replaced a decent stretch of solid marble walls with windows to make those halls feel more open. They had alternated between pink and blue windows, but before they put in the final windows they’d put in a placeholder. The worker ponies would cut the holes for the windows in the designated sections of marble and then put in temporary, flimsy green windows before putting in the more durable blue or pink windows. And by the time of Pipp’s Glowin’ Up show they had almostfinished, almost.
Pipp heard the thunder of hundreds of hooves as she saw guards approaching her from both in front of and behind her yelling for her to, “Halt!” and “Stop!” Following up those decrees with things like, “Princess Pipp please, we just need to ask you a few questions!” and “You’re done Petals! We’ve already caught Storm, Haven, and you've got nowhere to go!” Pipp knew that they were lying of course, they definitely didn't want to only ask her a few questions. Though she could believe that they caught her mom this quickly she doubted they managed to catch Zipp that fast. So, that’s why she decided it best to block out their shouts and focus on the green window currently in front of her. She knew exactly what she had to do now, though it didn’t terrify her any less. She made sure not to let her terror show on her face as she scraped her left hoof on the ground and let out a whinny, preparing for what probably soon will be the second scariest moment of her life. Only behind what happened moments before, when Zipp had betrayed her oldest and most sacred promise to Pipp.
Pipp psyched herself up as much as possible, doing a few little hops. Then she let out a scream and charged towards the nearest green window, flapping her wings aggressively while begrudgingly trying to remember what her sister had told her about getting lift. It took the palace guards only a split second to realize what Pipp was attempting, causing them to change their shouts of demands into ones of warning, concern, and panic. Despite her helping to pull the wool over their, and every pegasi’s, eyes when it came to the royals' ability to fly, she was still one of their princesses. They wanted to see her captured, forced to pay for her lies and apologize. Not badly hurt, or even worse… Dead. They nearly reached her, but they were just a little too late.
Pipp jumped just as the first of the guards reached her, their hooves slipping off her uselessly as her wings gave one final flap. She went a bit higher than she expected, but there was no time to dwell on that as she screwed shut her eyes and put up her fore legs to shield her face. And with a mighty crash she broke through the delicate viridescent window, shattering it to pieces and showering the palace guards in shards. The shards, thankfully, bounced harmlessly off of their tough armor and fell to the marble floor below them, thankfully not cutting Pipp up either.
She could feel the wind whip her face and wind roar in her ears, blocking out the sounds of the terror-stricken guards. She unfurled her wings more and caught an updraft, causing her to soar high into the sky. The world seemed to grow still as the air around Pipp calmed and the sounds of the night filled her ears. Pipp dared to open her eyes just a smidge, and instantly regretted not doing it sooner. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she marveled at the beauty of the night sky that seemed to go on infinitely in front of her.
‘It’s so gorgeous!’ She thought in wonder, ‘Has the night sky always been filled with this many stars?’ Pipp never really ventured outside the castle that much other than for performances and meet and greets with her Pippsqueaks. But even when she did she mostly just looked at her phone, and when she wasn’t staring down at her screen and did look up those few rare times she was out and about at night she never saw this. Maybe a few specks of light at best, but never this colorful and dazzling display of pure spectacle. Not even in her wildest dreams could she have thought anything could possibly have been this pretty, it left her in a slight daze.
To her it felt as though an eon had gone by, when in reality it had only been a few precious seconds. She breathed in and enjoyed the night’s cool breeze, before looking at her unfurled wings and lathered herself in this feeling of freedom. ‘I’m flying…’ She thought in amazement, ‘I’m flying! Maybe I really can fly-’ “AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!” Pipp began screaming as she started to feel herself fall. The things around her began to blur as her speed increased and the ground began to get closer. She tried in vain to flap her wings, but in her terror they had clamped shut, locked up, and were no longer responded to her commands. She began to panic, flailing about and freaking out. In her haste to escape the castle she never thought about what she’d do if she managed to get out the one of the green windows, now that lack of foresight had come back to bite her in a big way.
Her body hurtled across the sky as she looked for some way to slow down. She looked up and immediately looked back down, shut her kiwi green eyes, and covered her face with her fore legs once again as her amethyst mane and tail whipped around in the wind wildly. She was careening straight towards an enclosed glass walkway, one that was raised just enough to be in Pipp’s path. She smashed straight through it, coming out the other size miraculously unscathed.
She opened her eyes and saw glass shards traveling next to her and saw that she had also somewhat slowed down, barely though. She reached a gold tipped sparkling hoof up and made sure that her golden headdress was secured tightly to her head. After making sure it was okay she pulled her hoof back, it brushed through her mane as it did so. It took only a second for it to dawn on her that she felt nothing in her mane just then. She reached her white tipped foreleg back into her mane and confirmed her fears, the gem was gone. The one wanted so when she saw Zipp again she could ask her why it was so important that she had to ruin everything and break a promise over it, a promise that she better have not forgotten. If Pipp managed to live through this fall somehow that would be the first thing she’d ask Zipp when she found her. ‘I’ll ask her why this gem was so important that she had to ruin my whole show over it to start. From there maybe I’ll ask why she abandoned me and left with some recently imprisoned strangers? And after that I’ll go on to ask so much more, like why did she break her promise to me?’
She looked around and time then seemed to slow as something shiny and blue caught her eye, ‘The gem!’ Pipp quickly shot a hoof out to grab the blue crystal, only for it to be slightly out of her reach. She swiftly looked back down and realized that she had almost reached the ground and had not slowed down nearly as much as she needed to in order to survive her fall. As horror filled her and dread krept up her spine she attempted to reach the gem in a now panicky flail. ‘I want to see Zipp again, I need to talk to her.’ A few tears slipped out of her eyes as she continued to think, ‘I don’t want to die here, because of my own stupidity. I don’t want to leave mom all alone.’ Her vision began to blur as the screams of a few pegasi below reached her ears, ‘No, I don’t want to die. I need to see Zipp again. I need to ask her!’ Rage began to bubble up inside Pipp, ‘I need to ask her why she broke her promise!’ She would not let fate take her now, she was in control of her own destiny. And her destiny was not to die here, to be nothing more than a puddle, ‘No! I refuse to die here!’ Her destiny was to live, It was to be a better idol, a better princess, a better pony, a better friend! ‘I. Will. Not. Die!’ To be a better sister.
Pipp dried her bleary eyes and gave her wings a poignant look, and with enough mental force she was able to make them obey her once again. Then she swung her glare onto the blue gem that was just out her reach, falling right next to her. With her wings back under her control she looked forward and stared out for a few seconds. And just like that it hit her, like a switch had been flipped in her brain she saw it. A path, a way to safely slow down. A way to survive, to live.
A short distance ahead of her she saw a large fan spinning fast at a diagonal angle pointing up. Somepony was using it to dry off a few wet garments, and now Pipp knew exactly how she was going to use it too. Pipp looked back over to the gem and gave her wings a flap pushing her just far enough to the side to be properly lined up with the fan and in grabbing distance of the gem. Pipp waited for just the right moment, making sure her timing would be just right.
‘Okay, I got this. I got this!’ Pipp silently prepped herself, ‘Okay, just in three…’ She slightly adjusted her wings, ‘Two…’ She double checked her position to the crystal, ‘One…’ She locked her eyes on the fan, ‘Now!’ Pipp’s wings snapped close and she plummeted straight towards the fan. And just before she’d be turned from pony to confetti she flared open her wings and lurched forward, grasping the blue gem in her fore hooves. Pipp came so close to the ground that she could feel the fur on her stomach brush against its stone surface. But just at that moment she was caught in the fan’s updraft and launched into the air.
“Yes!” Pipp cheered aloud before the wind whipped away her voice. She had managed to succeed in not crashing, however she still needed to burn off some speed if she had any hopes of landing in one piece. Pipp frantically searched around for a way to slow down, and she found her salvation in the form of some nearby flat roofs. She angled her wings so she’d touch down on the nearest flat roof to the right of her.
As she approached the sea green roof she quickly popped the blue crystal into her mouth and bit down on it. A plan formed in her head as she stretched out all four of her hooves and slightly pulled her wings in. ‘Just calm down Pipp,’ She thought, ‘This’ll work, it has to, I think…’
*Skrrrrrr*
Pipp’s hooves clanked against the roof as she made contact. The metal of the roof screeched in protest as her hooves scraped across it. She closed her wings almost all the way and let herself slide the rest of the roof’s length. Glancing around she noticed the next flat roof was to her left across a city street. Looking forward once more she saw the stretch of flat roof coming to a swift end as she sped towards a spiked one that was soon to take its place. With another round of mental encouragement she bunched up her legs and ready her wings. And just as the flat roof was coming to an end, she gave her wings a hard flap and jumped. She glided right over a city street below and couldn’t help but take a peek down. With the help of some nearby streetlights she was able to make out at least seven guards talking to some pegasi, no doubt about her. Her fears were soon realized as she saw a pegasi below point right up at her. A guard’s gaze followed their point just in time to catch Pipp landing on the other sea green flat roof.
‘Nononononononononononono!’ Pipp mentally freaked out, ‘That guard just saw me, that guard just saw me!’ She continued to slide across the flat roof losing speed all the way. ‘They know I’m up here!’ Pipp rapidly began scanning her environment for any means of escape, ‘I gotta get out of here. Find a way to get down and-’ Time seemed to slow as her eyes widened and locked onto it. An old mattress, left in a dark alley off to her right. As soon as Pipp caught sight of the old box spring she didn't hesitate. Her wings flew open and she shot off the roof, aiming straight for the mattress.
She braced for impact right as a strong gust of wind threw her off balance, twisting her wings all the wrong ways. She landed hard on her side smashing right onto the center of the mattress. Her momentum caused the box spring to go sliding backwards deeper into the alley. And right as Pipp was starting to calm down it hit an abrasion in the stone ground, flinging a very surprised pink mare right off of it. The wind was knocked out of her as she hit the cold stone, causing her to open her mouth and drop the blue gem. She finally slid to a stop right at the end of the alley, the blue crystal stopping a short distance from her drowsy face.
“Ugh…” She groaned, “Finally stopped, finally on the ground.” Groggily Pipp got up, legs shaking, and looked around. She saw the alley she was in turned off to the left. It also didn’t seem to have any guards in it. Speaking of guards, she thought it probably best to get a move on down the alley before some showed up. She had to get out of Zephyr Heights and find Zipp, being in custody would not help her in achieving either of those goals. She did a check of herself to make sure she had everything. She found her gold headdress still securely on her head, only slightly ajar, and her phone lodged deep in the feathers of her right wing. She gave herself a scare when she couldn’t find it in the past. So, to make sure she’d always know where her phone was she had a special small cloth strap made and put deep in her right wing. Tied to the base of some of her strongest feathers with her phone always strapped in place.
Pipp shook her head out to clear her mind and focus on the tasks ahead. She leaned down and grabbed the blue crystal, holding it to the light for just a second wondering, ‘What is so important about this gem that Zipp would leave me for it!?’ before putting it away and deciding to store it under the fold of her left wing. After a round of breathing exercises and a little pep talk Pipp finally set off down the alley, heading deeper into the darkness of the night. And after avoiding a few puddles in her path she had two things on her mind. First, ‘Why would Zipp break her promise? I don’t get it, she said she’d keep it no matter what. So why now? Why did she break her promise now? For a couple strangers and a piece of mom’s crown? What could possibly be so important about this dumb crystal!?’ And secondly, ‘I hope there aren’t more puddles in these allies, I’d hate to step in one.’ She continued forth turning around another corner, distracted but alert for any signs of guards while lost in thought.
Pipp often thought back to that day, the day she had laid herself completely bare for Zipp. The day she spilled out her guts to her, all her feelings, flaws, failures, shortcomings, and weaknesses. It had been the only time in Pipp’s life when she showed another pony her true self. Never before or since that moment had she done the same thing for any other pony, not even her mother knew what disturbed Pipp so deeply. Only Zipp knew, so when she left Pipp hanging back in the castle it stung.
It stung a horrible, dreadful sting like only the deepest of cuts could. Pipp had been so open with why she was the way she was. Why she hid within the confines of social media and constantly put on a mask, basking in stardom and falsehoods. And like a festering wound the ugly emotional gash had only grown more painful, harder to hide. And when Pipp had reached a precipice in her life Zipp had, knowingly or unknowingly, twisted a knife in that wound. It brought Pipp to her knees and she needed answers. It’s the thing that keeps her going in these dark allies, the reason she holds onto a worthless piece of blue rock. It’s all for her, so she can find out why, ‘Why did she abandon me?’
Pipp had been walking through the twisting labyrinth that was the Zephyr Heights back allies for quite some time. She’d been going over different things in her head constantly. Like why Zipp had left her, how she’d manage to escape and live through her escape, and what she should do now. She had just come to an unguarded side exit from the city that led down the mountain and was left at a loss. ‘Should I leave or go look for Zipp?’ Pipp pondered, ‘I mean maybe Zipp has already left or maybe she hasn’t, I don’t know! Has she even realized she lost this stupid rock?’ Pipp shifted her left wing once more upon thinking of the blue crystal.
Thinking about Zipp brought her back to earlier in the night when she left her. Pipp couldn’t help but think, ‘She knew my fears, yet she left me anyway. Why…?’ Completely, emotionally and physically, drained at this point Pipp let herself fall. She laid down right in front of her escape and curled up into a ball, fore legs over her splayed ears and quivering eyes. Tears streamed down Pipps face as she choked on a sob and let it all out. Her emotional distress at her life being over, being ruined and being betrayed by the one she held closest. Alone in a dark and dingy back alley, surrounded by garbage and filth, and in the middle of the night Pipp let it all out and thought back to the source of all her problems, her fear of abandonment.
Pipp, for as long as she could remember, had issues. Issues with a few key things in particular. She had no idea when or why these issues developed; she just knows that she’s always had that for almost as long as she’s lived. She often pondered how they developed, possibly it was the absence of her and her sister’s father in her life from a very early age or perhaps it was the fact that she was very unpopular when she was in school. Constantly being left out of activities and left behind during field trips, all while the teachers stood by and did nothing. Maybe it was a combination of both or something else entirely mixed all up in Pipp’s adolescent life, either way Pipp was emotionally eviscerated by the time she hit her teenage years.
Her self-confidence and esteem were destroyed, completely in the gutters. She kept this hidden from everypony of course, not wanting to be a burden on any of them. But the longer she did the more it hurt, and the more she became scared of what could happen to her. She became terrified of being abandoned and left out, fearing that when others found out that she was just a scared and weak mare hiding behind a thin veil of normalcy that they’d leave her alone in the dark. Alone to suffer and wither away, a slow and painful death. A lonely death.
She couldn’t handle a lonely existence, much less a death. She desired, no, needed connections in her life to thrive. So, she kept it all in until that fateful day, the day her dam of emotions finally broke and she exposed herself, like an open wound. And at that moment, in her vulnerable state, her sister would find her. Zipp broke into the darkness of Pipp’s broken mind and shined a light directly onto her face, demanding to know what caused her sister such great pain. She wanted to know where all this grief had come from, but Pipp denied her. For the next few weeks Pipp avoided Zipp like the plague, but at the sight of Zipp’s emotional distress Pipp finally went to Zipp and talked with her. Relieved that Pipp didn’t hate her, Zipp inquired about Pipp’s ill manor and emotional state. To which, with great effort at first, Pipp finally spilled everything out to Zipp and told her of her disturbed mental state.
Zipp finally got it, the pain her sister was and had been going through. And when she realized that she had just stood by unaware of the unimaginable pain her dear sister was going through she nearly vomited. A few tears streamed down both pegasus princess sisters' faces as Zipp apologized for how she had neglected Pipp and Pipp apologized for unloading all of her pent-up emotional baggage upon Zipp. After they had calmed down they looked deep into each other’s eyes and straight into each other’s souls. That’s when it clicked for Zipp, and she said something to Pipp that meant the world to the small rosy mare. She told her a promise, a promise that no matter what Pipp never forgot. But Zipp, Zipp’s memory of that promise is what scares Pipp the most. ‘Did she forget her promise to me? Did she forget that day?’
From that day on there was an unspoken and deep bond between the sisters. Pipp had a few relapses, but had overall gotten better thanks to Zipp and her help. It also helped that Pipp found solace and eventually success in her online life. Being a princess gave her a slight advantage but in the end she became famous gaining lots of followers and even more attention. Though this sudden shift from the quiet background princess to the forefront had its consequences Zipp was there at every step to support her. It was apparent however that Pipp’s new attitude grated on Zipp somewhat, not to mention the fact that she and Pipp had suddenly switched places in the public’s perspective. But it was all hollow to Pipp, sure she enjoyed the stardom, but it wasn’t real. It was a cope, and she knew it. She thought that maybe she’d feel a connection to her “Pippsqeaks” as she called them, but she didn’t. They helped fill the void in her heart with falsehoods, and she tricked herself into believing that they really were making her feel whole even though it was all a facade. She just hid behind a mask pretending to be someone she wasn’t. She pretended she could fly, she pretended to care, and she pretended to be alright. But in the end she wasn't, and only Zipp could see that. The same Zipp that went against her promise, ‘And abandoned me…’
She must have cried herself to sleep, because by the time Pipp had come to the moon had moved considerably through the night sky. And the night wasn’t silent any longer; it was filled with voices. ‘Wait voices!’ Pipp thought in a panic as her eyes snapped open. She got to her hooves and prepared to run, but as she kept listening to the voices it dawned on her that one of them belonged to…
“Zipp!”
Pipp ran in the direction she heard her sister’s voice coming from, the one she had so many questions for and found her. At the end of a large alley, there she was. She was with the few other non-pegasi from before, which made Pipp hesitate for a moment before deciding that no matter what she needed to confront Zipp and find out why.
Pipp had gotten close enough to the group of ponies while still concealed in shadows and watched for a little bit, just to make sure no guards were about. When she was sure the coast was clear and no guards were about she tried to compose herself as best as she could. As much as she wanted to rage at her sister for everything right then she knew that she should wait until those other ponies weren’t around and they could speak in private.
She started to walk forward and just overheard Zipp talking to the others and saying something about how it could be anywhere. Pipp had a pretty good idea of what it could be. So, she once again reminded herself that now was not the time nor place to talk to Zipp about more important matters and kicked a can in her path to get their attention.
They looked into the darkness towards her as she stepped into the light and revealed herself. She decided then and there that she would go with her earlier plan to voice a minor frustration of her’s to the group first to make it seem as though it was her top priority. So that she could save her real venom for when she and Zipp were alone and she could finally ask her why, the one question that has plagued her mind since Zipp left her, why? And as she looked right at Zipp she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about her in that moment, or if she could even think of her the same way after what she did.
Pipp stopped right in front of the group and complained, “Somepony seriously needs to explain why this thing-” She pulled the blue gem out front under her left wing to show the group and to emphasize her point, “-Was so important that you had to ruin my whole show over it!"
She watched their expressions change to joy as Zipp made her way over to her. The closer Zipp got the more Pipp’s mood soured and the more a thought in the back of her mind became more prevalent. As Zipp began to speak, that thought immediately bubbled to the surface and came to the forefront of Pipp’s brain. ‘Can I ever love Zipp again? I can, can’t I? Well if I can, why am I even questioning it? Even knowing what she did, and forever remembering the promise that she broke. Can I truly ever love my sister in that way? The way I did before?’
Zipp was sitting there looking at Pipp in a strange way, confusing the feathers off of her. The two sisters were sitting right in front of each other, face to face, in the middle of Pipp’s wrecked room after her recent emotional breakdown to Zipp. Pipp had no idea what that glow in Zipp’s eyes meant but she could only guess that she was about to find out.
“Pipp?”
“Yeah Zipp?”
“I’m sorry-”
“Yeah, you already said-”
“No, let me finish.” Zipp looked at Pipp sternly causing the pink filly to clamp her jaw shut and listen to her sister’s words.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t see the signs to know that you were hurting.” Another stern glare from Zipp stopped Pipp from further protest.
“And I’m sorry that I stood by and did nothing, just letting you suffer. But no more.” Pipp looked at Zipp in confusion once more as she started to feel something stir within her that she had not felt in a long time, hope.
“Now I’m sorry I didn’t do this sooner.” Pipp stared at her white filly sister, her emotions were a mess just like her indigo mane that streamed down over her left eye. But within her she started to feel happy, a feeling to her that has long since felt foreign.
“I want to say this to you now not just as your sister but as your friend.” Zipp broke eye contact and looked down before taking a deep breath and continuing.
“I promise you Pipp, that I will never ever abandon you no matter what.” Pipp’s eyes widened as her heart began to beat faster in her chest.
“I will always be there for you, and I will make sure you are never left out.” Pipp felt tears of joy start to run down her face running together with her already ruined makeup from her previous tears.
“Really?” Pipp asked, leaning in as though the closer she got to her sister the more real her promise became.
“Yes Pipp, really,” Zipp confirmed, “And you want to know why Pipp?” Pipp shook her head up and down eagerly in excitement, the first she’s felt in so long.
"It’s because you're so special, you’re loved so much, and you’re my sister.” Zipp began to cry too as she finished. Pipp was stunned by all of what her sister had just said to her that she only knew one way to thank her.
Queen Haven had heard quite the commotion coming from her daughter Pipp’s room and had quickly made her way there fearing some crazed unicorn or Earth pony may be attacking her dear daughter. However, what she found when she got there caused her to stop in her tracks.
There, through the crack in Pipp’s slightly ajar door she saw Pipp and Zipp embracing each other in a loving hug. Haven focused on the sight for a bit, choosing to ignore the room’s horrible state. She'd have to ask Pipp about that later, but for now she just took in the heartwarming scene.
As she turned to walk away she overheard Pipp and Zipp begin to exchange a few words, and she couldn’t help but listen in.
“Pipp?”
“Yeah Zipp?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too Zipp.”
