Misty fiddled with her Cutie Mark bracelet as the Marestream soared through the skies towards Zephyr Heights. It wasn’t that she was afraid of crashing. Pipp might not have been Zipp, but she was able to fly the Marestream fairly well. No, Misty’s nervousness came from the fact that she was alone with the Pink Pegasus Princess next to her. Pipp was oblivious to Misty’s nervousness as she hummed to herself whilst piloting.

Pipp was the cause of Misty’s nervousness, not that the Pegasus was aware of that fact. More and more Misty was finding she was being left alone with Pipp when the group weren’t all hanging out together. This was because the others sometimes had other things to do. 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. Zipp and Hitch were nearly always at the sheriff station, being the only two employees. Sure, Pipp had to run Mane Melody as she was the owner, but she would usually invite Misty to come along so the Unicorn would have company during the day.

Something Misty noticed during all this time spent with Pipp was that her heartbeat always picked up whenever when the two were together. At first she had no idea what was happening 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 developed a crush on Pipp. And the more Misty thought about it, the more she realised that her friends were right. Once you took the time to get to know Pipp outside of the persona she presented to her fans you saw how wonderful the pink Pegasus truly was. Pipp loved doing things for and with her friends, whether it be something like giving them a makeover or taking part in a pillow fight. That and Pipp was very comforting to be around. She could be surprisingly gentle and sincere when she wanted to be. Then there was her appearance. A lot of ponies described Pipp as beautiful, but Misty wondered if those ponies understood just how beautiful Pipp was. From her green eyes that shone brighter than the emerald gem in her tiara to her fluffy wings that felt like a warm snuggly blanket. All these aspects combined to make Pipp seem like a shining star in the sky, illuminating Misty’s life.

“We’ll be at Zephyr Heights in ten minutes.” Pipp reported. She looked over to see Misty fiddling with her bracelet. “Careful, Misty. You’ll break it if you’re not careful.”

Misty quickly stopped. “Right. Good point.” While trying to think of a way to spend the next ten minutes 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 pulling out her phone and switching on the 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.

A short time later the Marestream landed outside Zephyr Heights castle. 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.

“Hello, my little Angel.” Haven greeted.

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, have either of my daughters ever shown an interest in someone romantically?”

Misty raised an eyebrow, but decided to answer the question. “Pipp’s not interested in anyone as far as I can tell, but Zipp seems to have a crush on Hitch.”

Haven gasped. “Really?”

“Really,” Pipp said, returning to the group. “But she’s pretty subtle about it.”

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 dad 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 bring 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 set off into the castle. Inside there were streamers of different kinds of pride flags hanging everywhere, with some walls also having full size flags hanging on them. Suddenly there was a bang from inside one of the rooms and confetti flew out of the open door, showering over Pipp and Misty. Misty squealed and leapt in fright before huddling against Pipp, who draped her wing over the Unicorn’s back.

“Sorry.” Someone called from inside the room.

“Confetti cannon.” The princess laughed, before noticing Misty still seemed frightened. “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.”

As the two neared their destination Misty started to realise where they were going.

“Wait,” she said, turning to her friend. “Pipp, don’t tell me…”

Pipp smirked, before opening a large pair of double doors that led out into a grassy area where a familiar tree stood.

“You brought me to the Together Tree?” Misty asked.

“Yeah. I noticed during the Manesquerade Ball that you weren’t too comfortable with large social gatherings, so I figured we could watch the parade from up here, just the two of us.” Pipp explained.

Misty smiled at her. “Thanks, Pipp.”

Pipp smiled back. “No problem.” Suddenly her ear twitched. “Hey, do you hear something?”

Misty paused to listen, and then she heard it too. “Yeah.”

The two crept towards the source of the sound. Peering around the tree they found the royal guards, Zoom and Thunder, in the middle of kissing. 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 show you my old foalhood room 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.

“You know,” Pipp asked. “Since it’s pride month, are you part of the LGBT community?”

“I think I’m a lesbian,” Misty answered. “Or at least the only crush I’ve ever had has been on a mare.”

“Oh, so you’ve got a crush on a mare?” Pipp asked curiously. “Who is she?”

Misty smiled nervously. She wasn’t about to admit her crush on Pipp right to the mare’s face. “That my secret. For now, at least.”

“Alright.” Pipp didn’t press the point. “Me personally, I’m bi. I’ve had relationships with both mares and stallions in the past, but none of them ever lasted more than a month. I’m not really good at romance.”

“Ouch,” Misty said as they approached the edge of the platform. “Tough luck, Pipp.”

Pipp chuckled as they leaned against the railing. “I know, tell me about it.”

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 unlimited kindness in spite of how she was raised 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. “Like I said, I’ve been in a few relationships before and none of them worked out.”

“Well…” Misty began, leaning in and kissing Pipp on the lips. The Pegasus was taken aback, but then melted into the kiss. “Let’s see if we can’t change that.” She finished when she pulled away.

Pipp giggled happily and let out a dreamy sigh 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 within the branches of the Together Tree.

“All right. We’ve got all three.” Zoom celebrated. “Told you putting the image of kissing in Pipp’s head would work.”

“Yes, alright.” Thunder relented. “So, operation firework?”

“Operation firework.” Zoom confirmed as she pulled out her phone.

Author's Note

Remastered on June 14th 2024.