Hitch spun around in his swivel chair, bored. He sat, waiting for the phone to ring or somepony to enter the sheriff's station and ask for information. In the meantime, his animal companions kept him entertained.
”Tweet tweet.” Kevin cheeped considerately as he pushed a colorful puzzle cube toward Hitch from the desk’s edge.
“Oh, thanks Kevin.” He stopped twirling around in his chair, feeling the sensation of dizziness.
”Tweet! Cheep chirp?”
“Hey, you know I can understand you now right? I know, I’ve been at this cube for years. One day, Kevin—one day I’ll beat this thing. . .” Hitch began turning its sides. His face twisted with concentration with beads of sweat forming on his forehead. His tongue stuck out of his mouth to one side.
After an eternity — just a few minutes — he slammed the cube onto his desk in frustration. “. . . and that day is not today.”
"Nothing ever happens in Maretime Bay except for Code 33 violations. No more fear cases or Canterlogic patrols, and no Deputy Sprout to train. Not to mention finally getting all the Canterlogic paperwork for that catwalk model done; That was a rough one."
He checked the clock and observed that only ten minutes had passed. Groaning in boredom, he jumped off of the chair and approached his office plant, Phil. He grabbed a paper cup from the water jug station and filled it to quench Phil’s thirst.
Hitch paused when he heard a mare’s cry originating outside. "Somepony, stop him! He took my saddlebag!"
His head shot up as he dropped the cup, recognizing the voice. "Sunny?" He retrieved the cup from the floor and recycled it, then went to help Sunny by sheriffing-it-up.
The door of the Sheriff's office swung open and Hitch struck a heroic pose. "Don't worry! Sheriff Hitch is on the chase!"
THUD!
Somepony ran into the door as Hitch remained in his broad stance. On the other side of the door, a dazed thief lay on the pavement, clasping Sunny's saddlebag. His impact with the wooden door had left a visible indent. Some mares in the distance watched the situation unfold in stupefaction. A waitress serving coffee to a customer kept pouring, not paying attention, and overfilled their cup. Their customer was also fully immersed in a daydream with her eyes locked onto Hitch’s body, despite fresh hot coffee being spilled onto her.
Hitch helped the loopy robber stand and escorted him into the cell inside. Sunny entered the station as he locked the cell. She placed a hoof over his shoulders and leaned on him. She smiled while trying to say something, but her words couldn’t come out over her panting.
He smirked. “Sunny, you should really start coming to the gym with me. Especially if we’re going to go on more adventures again.”
“Th-thanks. . . ugh. . . Hitch.”
"You're welcome, Sunny. I’m happy to help."
She glanced toward his desk and abruptly perked up. “Oh, you have a puzzle cube!” She trotted toward the desk and retrieved the cube. Several rotations and clicks later, she had effortlessly solved it for him.
His animal companions snapped and chirped, laughing. Hitch’s ears folded back and his mouth dropped agape in shock. “Sunny! You did that so quickly! You have to teach me sometime.”
Sunny placed the puzzle cube in its original spot and turned around with a smile. “Sure! It’s really easy.”
“Says you,” He murmured under his breath.
Hitch gazed at Sunny. Something spoke within him—his heart. He reflected on the lifetime of fun they have shared together and how different she was from other mares. In a good way. Clutching the saddlebag by its strap, he formulated an idea. He fiddled with the bag, holding it for just a moment longer. “Hey, Sunny, would you like to go out this evening? You can decide where we go.”
Sunny pretended to deeply ponder the proposal. “Oh, I’m not really sure if I can! I’d need to check my schedule, but it’s in my bag.”
"Oh, right. Here you g—" He then realized her trickery, "Heyyy."
Sunny let out a giggle. "Yeah, we can hang out tonight. Meet you outside here at seven?"
He puffed out his chest. "I'll be there."
Hitch believed being punctual was the same as being tardy. Arriving somewhere ten minutes early was the only “on time” Hitch knew and abided by. So, after heading home to don a fashionable tie, he sat in front of the Sheriff’s Office. Patiently, he waited as ten minutes melted away and turned into fifteen, then twenty. He didn’t mind the wait, it allowed him more time to mentally prepare for later.
He spotted Sunny approaching in the distance and began reassuring if he was proper. Nervously, he adjusted his tie and brushed himself off.
“Sorry, I’m a little late.” Sunny trotted closer, but she was panting for air, “I forget how far the brighthouse is from here without skates on.”
“You ran all the way here? If I had known, I would have had a trolley pick you up.”
“It’s fine, thank you. Since the adventure all the way to Zephyr Heights and through Bridlewood, I knew I needed the cardio.”
“Well you didn’t have to run, I would have waited all night.”
Sunny raised her eyebrows. "You would have?"
Hitch realized how desperate that sounded. "W-well no, but — you know — I wouldn't. . ."
She laughed a little. "It's okay, I know what you meant. What's that you're wearing?"
Suddenly, he noticed that Sunny was not wearing anything and remembered that he had decided to wear one of his ties, Hitch panicked. He frantically yanked the tie off and tossed it onto the ground, using a rear leg to subtly scoot and conceal it behind himself. “N-nothing! Nothing at all! What do you mean?”
“Well, let me tell you. . .” Sunny smiled, blissfully unaware. “. . . I have the best place in mind.”
They both strolled downtown and enjoyed the moderately-cool weather as the evening sky began to transition to twilight. They walked closely, talking about their week.
Predictably, many mares tracked Hitch’s movement with lustful glances as he walked — strutting if you asked any nearby mares. Though, Hitch didn’t pay attention to their advances. He simply saw their motives as friendly instead of romantic. Even random unnamed gifts meant to be from the heart, he considered as thanks for his hard work. Sunny was different, she treated him normally — as a friend — instead of a hot stud like most others. With years of continued friendship and build-up, he believed now was the time to try moving forward with her.
As Hitch walked, mares around the street paused in their activities to admire him. One of them was tending to some sunflowers for a local shop before she stopped as well. Even the sunflowers turned away from the setting sun to face Hitch. However, she did not see Hitch as only hot, but admired what he does for the town and adores who he is — a caring stallion for all he cares about. For months she has kept her feelings hidden, as well as telling herself that she could never get somepony like him to fall for her. Today was different, she couldn’t not try this time. Even while putting herself down all this time, it did not stop her from making a move. She put down her equipment, took off her gardening hat, and went to him.
”Hi, Hitch, Posey fawned, stepping up to him from the side. “What are you doing this evening?” She batted her eyelashes, maintaining captivating eye contact with him while wearing a faint blush and a huge smile.
“Sunny and I are hanging out tonight—somewhere downtown according to her,” Hitch replied casually.
She peeked around Hitch to confirm Sunny was standing beside him. “Oh. . .” Her bright smile instantly evaporated.
Sunny raised one of her hooves, waving. “Hi, Posey!”
A false smile was produced, “Hey, Sunny.” She returned to her normal stance after confirming Sunny’s presence; her radiance dissipated. "I'll leave you two to it then. Have a good night," she said dismissively.
Sunny smiled cheerfully. "You too, Posey."
"Have a good night," Hitch wished Posey politely.
A short distance later, Sunny claimed they had arrived at their destination. They stood in front of darkness living between two buildings. One faint cone of light illuminated a door near the rear of the alleyway. He raised an eyebrow in utter confusion, “Are you sure?”
"What’s wrong?" Sunny asked, "Are you nervous?"
“W—well, uh. . . it’s not exactly the kind of place I had in mind. You have the brighthouse and I have a paid-off house.”
“Trust me! You’re gonna love this.” Sunny grabbed him and led him into the shadows of the alley where they were invisible to passersby on the street. “I’ve done this a lot, but we’ve never done it together! Plus, this is your first time! Even better, for your first experience, you get to have special backdoor access.”
Hitch felt his heartbeat accelerate. He blushed and gulped nervously, his eyelids fluttering. “I—I don’t know, Sunny. . . This is kind of sudden. I didn’t know you were into—”
Sunny led him to the door illuminated faintly at the end of the alley while beaming excitedly, interrupting his sentence. “—Into history-themed escape rooms?”
"Yea! — wait what?" Hitch reacted bewilderedly.
Sunny opened the inconspicuous door behind her to reveal an elaborate escape room that lay ahead. "Special backdoor access so we can bypass the lines that are usually upfront! This totally isn’t what you were expecting, was it?”
Standing like a statue, blushing a little, and in a cold sweat, Hitch replied, “N—no. Not at all. . .”
Sunny giggled. “Okay! No time like the present. Let’s start!”
They spent several hours together solving various “historically-accurate” puzzles—puzzles that were based on the inherently-flawed earth pony knowledge of ponykind history and, therefore, were inherently historically inaccurate.
Already familiarized with all of the puzzles, Sunny allowed Hitch to tackle most solo. She observed from a distance, curious of his general pony-history knowledge. She kindly assisted him when he asked for help.
Overall, Sunny was ecstatic to have a companion to share her knowledge with and experience the joy of the escape room challenge. Hitch’s expectations for the evening, meanwhile, hadn’t yet been met. He found himself not matching Sunny’s enthusiasm.
Click. "Yay! We did it!" Sunny pumped her hoof into the air in celebration. "That was a great time, too! Just two hours.”
Hitch nodded solemnly. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“Oh, um. . .” Sunny frowned and glanced downwards, bowing her head briefly. “Is something wrong?”
“No, not at all! This was a lot of fun, I just, uh. . . had a different idea for how things should have gone earlier tonight.”
“Huh?” Sunny tilted her head to the side, prompting her friend to repeat what he had said to ensure she had correctly interpreted his words.
“You know what, all of these fun puzzles got me feeling hungry. You wanna go get something to eat?”
“That’s a great idea!” Sunny perked up. She trotted toward the exit door and held it open eagerly, waiting for Hitch to catch up.
Outside once again, Hitch scanned the area for restaurants and found a modest restaurant primarily serving pasta.
"Oh, that place looks nice. There’re open tables, I bet we could get service immediately. Are you interested in pasta?”."
After a few seconds of waiting, there was still no response.
"Huh? Sunny?" Hitch glanced over his shoulder to discover that Sunny had disappeared. “Where did you go?” After a few glances, he noticed her ahead, beyond the restaurant he had brought attention to. He rolled his eyes with an audible sigh and cantered to catch up.
Hitch caught up to her, "Hey, I foun—"
"Hey! I got us some carrotdogs. I thought I’d get some food for us since you were hungry."
"I— But— There’s a—" He paused, surrendering trying to be the attempt to lead the night, and just went along with Sunny’s plans. "Sure, I'll have a carrotdog. Thanks," he added with a diminished voice of submission.
They carried their carrotdogs with them as they took a brief detour to Sunny’s smoothie stand for some smoothies before finally heading toward their final destination — a location of Hitch’s choosing. Finally, a suggested addition to their evening of fun together could be proposed by him alone.
Atop the crest of an isolated hill, Hitch spread a blanket out for them so they could sit together near the coastline and watch the sun set over the distant horizon. Unfortunately, due to the unforeseen events that had occurred earlier in the evening, the sun had already dipped beneath the horizon. As night descended, the crescent moon-shaped beaches hugging the cliffs Maretime Bay had been founded atop were carpeted in a soft expanse of shadow. Reflected moonlight scattered and created what resembled hundreds of scintillating stars that blanketed the ocean's surface.
What could possibly go wrong now?
"How was this?" Hitch asked to see if the evening was remotely acceptable.
"It was great. We haven't hung out like this for a while. Not since our long adventure to bring magic back. So it was nice to get back to normalcy with you."
“I planned for the sun to start setting just when we arrived here, but. . . I guess that didn’t work out.”
"Of course the sun wouldn't be up after starting an escape room at seven!"
"Yeah." Hitch wanted to share his many thoughts for how he would have planned their shared evening together differently, but why spoil the evening?
The night breeze was calm. It softly swept past them, gently swaying their manes and causing the grass to emulate the waves of the sea. The trees surrounding them sang with their leaves. Even with the sunlight long gone, the moonlight aided in these outstanding visuals. One visual, however, eclipsed them all: Sunny. This was it, the moment where Hitch's dream evening with Sunny could end in the same conclusion, even if all other factors had diverged from the original vision. Hitch gazed at Sunny while she admired the spectacle presented before them, the moonlight striking her shining mane.
Hitch leaned in and reached with a hoof, attempting to go for a hoof-hold and prompt kiss.
Sunny leaned to the side to stretch and yawn, entirely unaware of Hitch’s attempted advances. "It’s been a long and pleasant evening, I could use some sleep!"
Hitch retreated, struggling to conceal the disappointment he felt."Yeah! Yeah, it’s late for sure. I guess we should get going, but — uh — would you like to go out again sometime next week?”
“I’d love to! We could even invite a few of the others too! Watch movies with Pipp and Izzy, go out into the world with Zipp and Izzy, or even just take it easy in the brighthouse and play some board games.” Sunny’s eyes glimmered with inspiration. Potential fun was just waiting to be had.
Hitch was unamused. “Play some board games. . . with Izzy, too?”
“Well, she's been feeling pretty lonely and left out, and I want her to feel more welcome! Pipp and Zipp are fitting in just fine, they're sisters after all!”
His ears drooped. “You seem to be aware of everypony’s needs.”
“Certainly!” She said with pride and confidence. "Thank you for tonight. It was a nice reminder that even if things are changing in our lives, we can still have fun together." She emitted a radiant smile from cheek to cheek.
They waved each other goodbye one more time. Hitch watched Sunny descend the crest of the hill. When she was long gone, he released a sigh of disappointment. Failure.
"Friend-zoned forever. Maybe it’s better this way. Being more than friends might harm our relationship, who knows," he spoke to himself.
Logic couldn’t suppress his sensation of defeat. He fell backward onto his back and closed his eyes to mull over what had transpired that evening. The quiet of the evening helped soothe his stressed and flustered self. Even without the sight of his surroundings, the cool air and ambient sounds of nature could ease anypony into tranquil relaxation. The rustling of the leaves, the nocturnal creatures, waves crashing against the shore, and. . . Posey?
"Hitch?" Posey spoke with no restraint in volume.
He scrambled to stand "Ah!"
"Oops! Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you."
Hitch struggled to catch his breath. “No, no. . . it’s fine.”
“I—I couldn’t sleep!” She blurted out. “S—so I went for a walk. . .” Posey nervously drew circles in the grass with her forehoof, bowing her head. She expressed the necessity to explain the reason she was there, even if Hitch didn't ask. Just to make sure he didn't suspect her of stalking him, not that she'd ever do such a thing.
Hitch sat back on his haunches. "Do you usually take this path?"
"Always." Posey looked around in bliss.
"Because there's usually nopony out here, the only sounds are nature itself, and it's just so calming?”
Posey looked at Hitch with a warm smile. "That's. . . exactly right!"
Hitch motioned his hoof, signaling that Posey could sit next to him while they spoke. She accepted and sat down next to him.
"Why couldn't you sleep?"
"A lot has been on my mind lately." She slightly averted her eyes away from Hitch. "What about you? Why are you out here alone this late at night?”
"Sunny just left earlier.”
Posey slowly lowered her head, "How did it go? Your thing with Sunny?"
"I guess. . . things didn’t go how I’d planned. Maybe it’s better if she and I just stay friends. I had fun with her tonight, but it wasn’t, uh. . . exactly how I thought things would go.”
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Posey spoke partly with authenticity and partly with relief.
“Do you know how it feels to be rejected?”
Posey carefully considered how to answer, frowning in thought. "No. . ."
"You're lucky. It brings up a whole bunch of feelings and doubts.”
"Lucky me.” After a few moments of silence, Posey continued. "You know how the moonlight sparkles on the waves?” She raised a hoof, pointing. “It’s gorgeous.”
"and the grass when the wind blows. . ." Hitch added.
"when the trees sing and dance. . ." Posey continued.
"the sound of the beach. . ."
"the cool night breeze. . ."
"with a full moon. . ."
"It's beautiful!" They concluded together excitedly.
After their exchange, they locked eyes — and smiled. For a few aching heartbeats, they remained like this. Abruptly, Hitch stopped smiling, breaking the entrancing spell of the moment. Posey’s smile faded as she watched him turn away.
"Well, it's late and I have Sheriff duty tomorrow. It was nice sharing the moment and chatting with you. Maybe I’ll meet you out here again sometime.” Hitch stood, waved, and began walking away toward town.
Posey reached out to stop him, but he’d already turned away. The words she wanted to shout died on the tip of her tongue as Hitch slowly disappeared into the night, leaving Posey alone. Her hoof slowly returned to the ground with a terminal thud. She bowed her head, her ears drooping as her gaze lowered to the ground sadly.
She scanned her sensational setting once more, “Well, it was beautiful. . . with you here.”
