Zipp was standing outside the Brighthouse waiting for the others to return. Posey had roped her into leading the Pride parade and decorated her mane so the Pegasus resembled a walking Pride flag. She turned around when she heard doors opening and saw Hitch emerging from the Brighthouse. Zipp burst out laughing when she saw that he had added rainbow stripes to his mane.

“What?” Hitch asked as he walked up to her. “I thought we’d match.”

“Oh, I’m not complaining.” Zipp said. “It’s just amusing in a cute way.”

“Zipp, Hitch. Good to see you both again.” A voice called out. The two turned and spotted Alphabittle approaching.

“Hey Alphabittle. Are Sunny and Izzy not with you?” Zipp asked.

“I texted them when I was leaving Bridlewood,” Alphabittle explained as he stopped in front of the two. “They said they’d be right behind me.”

Suddenly the three heard cheering from above and looked up to see Sunny in her Alicorn form preforming aerial stunts. When the Earth Pony turned Alicorn did a mid air twirl they saw she was carrying Izzy on her back. Hitch and Alphabittle’s jaws dropped, but Zipp simply looked impressed.

“Hey everyone. What’d we miss?” Sunny asked as she landed and Izzy climbed off.

“Other than me leading the parade, not much.” Zipp informed them.

“Uh,” Izzy pouted. “Oh well. I’m sure we’ll get to see you leading a parade sooner rather than later.”

“You know it.” Zipp replied.

Sunny walked over to Hitch and held up her hoof in the air. Hitch smiled as he picked up on the gesture. “Up here, down low. Hitch it to a post. Flip it Sunny side up and on a piece of toast.”

While Sunny and Hitch were doing their foalhood rhyme, the Marestream flew overhead and landed outside the Brighthouse. Zoom and Thunder climbed out first, followed by Haven, Sparky and Cloudpuff.

“Thanks for the lift, dear.” Haven called over her shoulder.

“No problem, mom.” Pipp replied as she exited the Marestream, followed by Misty.

“Haven.” Alphabittle greeted, bowing his head.

“Alphabittle.” Haven returned the greeting.

Sparky walked over to Hitch, who lifted him up into a hug. “Sparky. Did you have fun with Queen Haven?”

Sparky nodded, then started reaching out towards Zipp. Hitch noticed and handed Sparky over to the Pegasus.

“Hey, Sparky.” Zipp said gently as Sparky hugged her.

“I guess she recognises her mother figure.” Hitch whispered in Zipp’s ear.

Zipp laughed. “Guess so.” she said, putting Sparkly back on the ground.

“Aw,” Pipp said suddenly. “Why didn’t you four tell me you were going to be using makeup to get into the spirit of things?”

“We didn’t plan it,” Sunny explained. “We just bumped into Jazz and Rocky at their stall in Bridlewood and they styled our manes for us.”

“We didn’t plan it either,” Zipp added. “Posey got me to lead the parade and styled me up for it, and Hitch styled his mane to match.”

“Well, might as well join in.” Pipp decided. “Come on, Misty.”

“Coming.” Misty called as she followed Pipp into the Brighthouse.

Right after the two went inside, Jazz and Rocky arrived, panting heavily.

“Wow. It is difficult keeping up with someone who is flying.” Rocky commented, gesturing to Sunny.

“You know you could have just flown after them, right?” Jazz pointed out.

Rocky snorted. “And leave my marefriend to walk back alone? No thanks, I’d rather keep you company.”

Jazz smiled. “My knight in shining armour.” She kissed her coltfriend’s check.

“Ah. Here you all are.” Posey said as she arrived with Windy.

The Pegasus looked around. “Where are Pipp and Misty?” She asked.

“We’re here.” Pipp declared as she and Misty came out of the Brighthouse. In addition to both of them now having rainbow stripes in their manes Pipp had face paint on her left cheek depicting the bi flag, while Misty had the lesbian flag painted on her left cheek.

Posey gestured with her hoof. “Right then. Come on, everypony. It’s time for the fireworks display.”

A short time later a large crowd of ponies had gathered on blankets at the beach.

“So you’re sure these fireworks are going to take the shape we want?” Jazz asked Posey.

“Positive,” the mare answered. “I even asked Sprout to help design them and had some Unicorns use their magic to ensure the fireworks retain their shape in the air for longer.”

Jazz raised her eyebrows. “You asked Sprout to help you design the fireworks?” She hid her face in her hoof. “Oh my glitter, this is gonna be a disaster.”

“Come on, Jazz.” Windy said as she draped a wing over her marefriend’s back. “Posey wouldn’t ask for Sprout’s help unless she thought he was the best pony for the job.”

“I know, it’s just… Sprout doesn’t have the best track record for designing things that work properly.”

Posey giggled. “If you’re thinking of the Sproutous Maximus, it did work as intended, Sprout just didn’t know how to operate it. We know what we’re doing with the fireworks.”

Jazz sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

“So, how long will the images stay in the air exactly?” Rocky asked.

“By my estimations, around half an hour.” Posey replied.

“Do you think they’ll be mad?” Thunder said suddenly.

“Doubtful,” Zoom answered. “Pipp and Misty aren’t even trying to hide it. They even uploaded a photo.”

“Really?” Jazz was curious.

Zoom nodded, showing Jazz the picture on her phone.

Meanwhile on another part of the beach Haven had also found the photo of Pipp and Misty. Accompanying the photo was the text Happy Pride Month, Pippsqueaks! “What in the…” she asked out loud. Alphabittle glanced at the phone screen and laughed.

“You know, I often wonder what those six get up to every day.” He commented.

Over with the Mane Six they were all recounting their day.

“Wait,” Pipp realised. “So you’re telling me we all got together with our crushes on the same day?”

“Looks like it.” Izzy said.

The six all looked at each other, then they all burst out laughing.

Back with the firework organisers Posey was plugging a microphone into a pair of speakers, allowing her voice to be heard across the whole beach. “Attention everyone, the fireworks show is about to begin.”

Everypony looked up to the sky as Posey gave the signal to start lighting the fireworks. Ponies “oh”ed and “aw”ed as fireworks of different colours and shapes appeared above them.

“And now, for the grand finale!” Posey declared, before giving a nod to Windy, who launched the final three fireworks.

Rather than being generic fireworks, these ones took distinctive forms. More specifically, the shape of six ponies; Izzy hugging Sunny, Zipp giving Hitch an envelope with a heart on it and Pipp kissing Misty on the cheek. For the group in question the reaction was instantaneous. Sunny’s eyes widened, Izzy’s horn sparked, Zipp gasped, Hitch’s jaw dropped, Pipp’s wings flared and Misty blushed furiously.

Over with Haven and Alphabittle, the queen put a hoof over her muzzle and whispered “Oh my,” while Alphabittle muttered “What the…” under his breath.

Meanwhile the ones who set the fireworks were all rolling around on the floor laughing. Jazz managed to control herself enough to grab the microphone and announce “That’s all, folks. If you’d like, you can make your way over to the Canterlove community centre where a community dance is just starting.”

Slowly, ponies started to disperse from the beach and headed towards the community centre. Rocky spotted Pipp flying amongst the crowd, making a beeline for them. “And now, we run.” He cried. The six of them bolted.

“Get back here, you lot!” Pipp called. She tried to chase after them, but Misty grabbed the Pegasus’ tail with her magic and pulled her back.

“Woah, Pipp. Let’s not do anything rash. I don’t think yelling at them in public would be a good idea.”

Zipp and Hitch were still staring up at the fireworks. “You know, I wish they asked our permission before doing this, but the fireworks do look nice.” Zipp commented.

“Yeah,” Hitch agreed. “They really do.”

Pipp sighed as she landed beside Misty.. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” The pop star might have seemed upset, but the small smile on her muzzle and the fact that she took out her phone to take a photo of the fireworks revealed how she really felt.

“I take it you lot didn’t know this was going to happen?” Haven asked as she and Alphabittle came over to the group.

Misty shook her head. “No. We were just as surprised as everyone else.”

Haven smiled. “Well, why don’t we all head on over to the dance and you can tell the two of us how your day went. Because judging from this,” she held up her phone with the picture of Pipp kissing Misty’s cheek on it. “It was very interesting.”

The group nodded their heads in agreement and they all started walking towards the community centre. Sunny and Izzy lagged behind slightly.

“So, our second community dance of the day.” Izzy pointed out.

“Yeah, but I don’t mind. I’m with great company, after all.” Sunny said.

Izzy giggled, nuzzling into Sunny’s side. “Me too, Sunny. Me too.”

Author's Note

Happy pride month, everypony.