44 days after Zipp's breakdown

Zipp yawned as she woke up from her late night sleep. Last night was different than most of the previous nights. Surprisingly, this was one of the few nights where she didn't have any nightmares. She began to wonder why, thinking it was possibly due to the comfy new pillow she had gotten. And when she opened her eyes, she got her answer.

That pillow she was sleeping on was actually Hitch. She also realized when she opened her eyes that she was not actually in the Brighthouse bedroom, but actually her old bedroom in Zephyr Heights. At first, Zipp was confused what Hitch was doing, sharing her bed with her in her old room, but then she remembered the conversation they had the previous night.

"You want to what!?" Hitch said in response the question that Zipp had asked him.

The five friends were staying in the Zephyr Heights Royal Palace for both the annual Royal Dinner and Pipp's latest concert. After spending the day helping Pipp getting things set up for rehearsal, everypony went to their rooms for the night. Hitch was about to do the same, but Zipp stopped him when she asked a question and got the surprised reaction from the stallion.

Blushing heavily, ears pinned against her head, Zipp rubbed her foreleg as she explained what she asked. "I know it sounds weird, but this is the first night since the breakdown that I'd be sleeping outside of the Brighthouse. Normally there I'd have Pipp or somepony else to comfort me when I get nightmares and wake up. I just thought that since I will no doubt need to be up early tomorrow to help Mom with setting up the dinner, and Pipp would need her sleep for her rehearsal tomorrow, that maybe having you near me while I slept will keep me from having nightmares and waking up in the middle of the night." She explained before it seemed that she made up her mind after hearing herself out loud. "You know what, it's a stupid request. I'm sorry I bothered you, Hitch. See you tomorrow."

She was about to turn around and leave, but then Hitch suddenly trotted up to her side. "Hang on. I was just surprised by your request is all." He explained as he put a hoof around her.

Hearing that surprised Zipp. "Wait, you mean?" She asked hopefully.

Hitch nodded. "If it'll help you sleep, then I'll gladly sleep with you as much as you need." He said before he blushed when he heard what he said out loud. "Uh, I mean-"

Hearing his fumble, Zipp couldn't help but laugh. "Hahahahaha! As fun as that sounds, let's just stick with sleeping for now." She teased the blushing sheriff.

But Hitch wasn't going to go down without a fight. "Shame. I know you'd really love to spend the entire night doing anything but sleeping." He teased back and was rewarded by the princess' entire face becoming red with embarrassment.

Despite being flustered, Zipp just couldn't resist nuzzling into Hitch's neck. "Thank you, Hitch. This really means a lot to me."

"Hey, anything that's important to you is important to me." Hitch replied as he guided the princess to her bedroom.

Or at least attempted to. "Uh, Hitch? My room is the other way." Zipp pointed out with a giggle.

"Uh, I knew that!" Hitch said before quickly changing directions.

As the two lovebirds went to go to sleep for the night, they didn't know Pipp had watched the whole thing and gave a sad smile. While she was happy for her sister that she had a coltfriend like Hitch, who was devoted to her without question, she also felt guilty that she couldn't be there for Zipp. As much as she trusted Hitch, and knew the stalion would keep her sister safe, the pink pegasus just couldn't help but worry every night that a nightmare would come that would drive Zipp to run away again.

Only this time there would be no heartfelt reunion afterwards.

Back in the present day, Zipp was now enjoying the moment she had with Hitch. More specifically, taking the chance to look at his handsome face all she wanted without him noticing. While she unfortunately couldn't get a look at his beautiful golden eyes, she still got a great view of the rest of those smooth textures, especially that thick chin of his below the mouth that both gave the best kisses and released the most handsome voice she's ever heard.

Speaking of. "Take a photo. It'll last longer." Hitch groaned, confirming he was awake.

Being caught red hoofed ogling again, Zipp was surprised, but mostly didn't seem to care as she decided to own up to it and continue. However, once Hitch opened an eye and saw the face of his marefriend, he then said. "You're cute."

"Unfair. So unfair." Zipp thought with a frown and blush, how all it took was two simple words to get her blushing red.

Hitch saw this and just chuckled. "Your pouting only makes you look cuter." Him saying that only made Zipp do it more.

Unable to think of any other ways to get revenge, Zipp just gave her lover a big kiss on the lips and got rewarded by a massive blush covering his cheeks. “Hehehe. Still not as cute as when you blush.” She teased back.

The couple shared a laugh before they stopped and looked into each other’s eyes. “So, did you sleep well, princess?” Hitch asking both seriously and teasingly.

Zipp nodded. “I did. Thank you, Hitch.” She thanked him before her smile turned playful. “You make a really great body pillow, you know that?”

Hitch just smiled proudly at the comment. "At your service with that 24/7, milady. As long as it allows you to get a good nights sleep."

Zipp chuckled and gave Hitch another peck on the cheek. Or at least she was about to when a sudden thought popped into her head. Why she was with Hitch in the first place. "Wait, what time is it?" She asked him.

"I don't know. Eight?" Hitch guessed, his morning brain keeping him from figuring out why Zipp's behavior suddenly changed.

Turns out that might not have been the best answer to give as Zipp as she immediately leapt into the air, shouting. "Oh, crap!" Before flying out the door so fast she almost knocked it off its hinges.

All while the confused sheriff remained and asked aloud. "Was it something I said?"

In the massive dinning room, Queen Haven was already there overseeing the preparations for that night's royal dinner, making sure all was going smoothly. "No, no! I said I wanted the table cloth to be crimson!" She scolded the decorators.

"But, Your Highness, this is crimson." The decorator said as they held up the cloth in question.

"No, that's scarlet! How could you mix the two of them up? There's an obvious difference!" Haven responded.

The decorator was about to respond, but soon found themselves slammed between the doors as Zipp literally flew into the room. "I'M HERE!" She shouted her arrival.

"Zipp!" Haven gasped upon seeing her daughter enter.

"I know! I know! I overslept, and I'm sorry!" Zipp quickly apologized.

But Haven wasn't listening to the apologies and instead said. "I wasn't expecting you to show up." She admitted.

"Yeah, I know. But I'm here now." Zipp assured her mother before asking. "What do I need to do first?"

Haven had found herself in a very awkward position. This was not at all how she expected Zipp to act. And while normally she would be overjoyed at seeing her daughter dedicated to the role of heir, this was not one of those normal times. “W-well.” She stammered out as she tried to find the gentlest way to put this. “After everything that had been going on lately, I thought it would be best if I handled tonight’s preparations myself.”

This was a surprise for Zipp as in the past her mother was always insistent on her performing her royal duties to practice for when the time came for her to be queen. And now here she was telling her to stand aside and let her do it all herself. While normally Zipp would have no problem with having to skip out on royal duties, this time felt different. "I don't understand." She said.

Haven sighed, realizing she'd need to explain herself better. "It's just that with you still recovering from that breakdown of yours, I didn't want to pressure you into doing something you're not comfortable with. I figured you could use this as time to spend with your coltfriend or helping your sister with her upcoming concert." She said with a comforting smile.

However, it seemed explaining more clearly actually did the exact opposite of what she wanted and Zipp now frowned at what she heard from her mother. "So what you're saying is is that you don't think I can handle it?"

"Just as of right now." Haven tried to assure her daughter.

"So all of a sudden you go from constantly reminding me on how I have to be queen one day, making me go through all of that royal training, only now to start backpedaling once you heard I got upset about something two and a half months ago!" Zipp shouted as she flared out her wings in frustration. "What? Because I've been sad for a while that suddenly means I'm incompetent?"

"Zephyrina, that is not what this is about!" Haven again tried to assure Zipp, now finding herself yelling back out of instinct

"Then what is it about, Mother?! Huh!? You're the one constantly telling me I need to start acting like a queen more, so that's what I'm going to start doing!" Zipp firmly stated as she actually started pushing her mother towards the door.

"Zephyrina, what are you doing!?" Haven gasped at her eldest daughter's sudden boldness, too surprised to react.

"I'll take over everything from here, like a queen would. You go and take care of all your other queenly duties." Zipp said, ironically sounding almost like her mother when she ordered her around, before she slammed the door in Haven's face.

Smiling at that problem taken care of, Zipp turned around to address the castle staff. "Well? Chop, chop, ponies. We got a dinner to prepare for."

The poor decorator that was stuck between the door and wall was finally able to fall to the floor with a groan and looked up at the princess now calling the shots for the preparation. "Uh, Princess Zipp? Are you sure it was wise to kick out your mother like that?" They asked, still dazed from the concussion.

In all of her adrenaline, Zipp took that question as a challenge. "I can handle this just fine!" She shouted at the pony on the floor, looking down upon them like they were a helpless insect. "So unless you have any other funny comments you'd like to make, I'd better see these tables decorated and make it snappy!" She added with a stomped hoof for emphasis.

The decorator immediately leapt onto their hooves and started running in place. "Yes, ma'am! Of course, ma'am!" They stammered before galloping off the grab the proper table decor.

Seeing that pony run off, Zipp then turned her attention to the rest of the shocked staff, standing there and just watching her. "Am I the only one functioning normally today!? I SAID GET TO WORK!" She yelled with both pawning hooves and a scare flare.

"YES, YOUR HIGHNESS!" The fearful staff all shouted in unison before they clumsily ran off to do their assigned tasks, more than one pair colliding into each other.

While Zipp smiled at a job well done, her job well done that is, Haven watched from through a cracked door with a worried look. "Zephyrina." She said in concern at seeing her eldest's behavior.

"I'm here!" Hitch announced his presence as he galloped up behind the queen and came to a stop before he started rapidly apologizing. "Sorry it took me a while to get here. Zipp just took off, and I had no idea what she was worried about at first, and then I had to wake up Sparky-" The sheriff blurted out before he noticed Haven wasn't listening to him and instead was focused more on what was going on inside of the dinning room. "Uh, Your Majesty?" He asked.

"........Make sure she stays safe, Sheriff." Haven said after a long pause before she left to work on other things now that she had the time.

"Okay?" Hitch said in confusion before he slowly opened the door and walked inside. "Hey, Zipp, everything all right in he-" He didn't get to finish as Zipp pulled the stallion close to her and she smiled.

"Hitch! Finally! I could use a pony that has a functioning brain right now." The pegasus said happily as she hugged her coltfriend, her once aggressive attitude suddenly gone, at least somewhat.

"Uh, yeah." Hitch replied, still not sure what was going on between mother and daughter right now.

But before he could ask another question, or make another comment, Zipp grabbed him by the satchel and dragged him with her. "Come on, we got lots to prepare for." She told him, leaving Hitch only more and more confused, and also slightly worried about what was to come next.

Hitch and Haven weren't the only ones worried as Pipp also had her concerns about her sister's mood and mental health right now. But she didn't have time to worry about that as she had a concert to prepare for. Thankfully, Zipp had agreed to meet with her the previous evening to help out with setting things up and watch her rehearse as a confidence booster. And since their mother had decided late last night that Zipp would be better off doing this instead of her regular royal training, there wasn’t any conflicting scheduling to worry about and stress over.

However, it was half-past-nine now and Zipp hadn't shown up at all. "I know Zipp has been sleeping in lately, but this is more than she usually does." Pipp said to herself.

Sunny and Izzy walked over to their pink friend and offered their support. "She's probably just spending time with Hitch since she's got a bunch of free time now." Sunny guessed.

"Yeah, making up for not being able to do much last night, if you know what I mean." Izzy teased with a naughty smile.

"IZZY!" Pipp shouted with a blush as she jabbed the unicorn, who just laughed in response. "I don't need to know about that side of Zipp's life!"

"Shame. I'm pretty sure it would be entertaining. And we could all use a little more spice in our lives." Izzy continued teasing as Pipp now started lightly slapping her in the face with her hooves. Thought this didn't do anything other than making Izzy laugh even more. "Hahahaha! Stop! It tickles!"

"Okay, I think that's enough teasing for today." Sunny said as she separated her squabbling friends before turning to Pipp. "I'm sure Zipp and Hitch will join up with us sooner or later. Let's just focus on preparing for tonight's concert."

Taking a deep breath, Pipp was able to calm herself down. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." She agreed with a smile.

"So, Pipp, what have you decided on singing for tonight?" Sunny asked.

"I'm not sure." Pipp admitted. "I tried to come up with a new one, but I keep on hitting creative block."

Izzy gasped dramatically at that information. "Not the Blockywockys!" She said in terror.

Not understanding what the unicorn meant, Pipp decided to just chalk it up to Izzy being Izzy and said. "Uh, yeah, let's go with that." Before she turned back to Sunny. "So since I can't create a new song, I figured I might as well just use a song I've already sung."

"You think ponies won't feel cheated by that?" Izzy asked.

Pipp nodded in assurance. "I've done it many times before. So long as I didn't promise a new song beforehoof, which I know for a fact I didn't this time, I'll be fine."

"Okay. Well, what is the song you are choosing to sing?" Sunny asked.

"I.....don't know." Pipp confessed, looking at her hooves in embarrassment. "The problem is that I need a song that fits the moment. I can't just go on stage and sing whatever. The last time somepony tried that, let's just say they lost more than their career that day." She grimaced at the memory, that just confused Sunny and Izzy.

Then, in a wingbeat, Pipp's mood changed as she put back on her smile. "Oh, well. It'll come to me sooner or later. Though preferably sooner, if you ask me. For now let's focus on getting tonight's concert ready to go!" She said with determination.

"Yeah!" Sunny and Izzy cheered as all three of them highhoofed.

Hours of concert prepping later, and it seemed nearly everything was in place. However, there was one thing that Pipp noticed was missing throughout the entire time, or rather one pony as all this time Zipp had still not shown up. "Seriously?" Pipp thought as she tapped her clipboard impatiently. "I'm just about to rehearse and she still hasn't shown up. How much time does she need to make kissy lips with Hitch? Did she just forget her promise?" She started ranting angrily before it slowly started to dawn on her. "No, no, no. Zipp wouldn't just forget something like a sister promise. And even she and Hitch would tire of staring into each other's eyes eventually. No, something else was going on here." And when the realization dawned upon the pink pegasus, she started to panic at the thought that Zipp was in trouble.

Oblivious to Pipp's worrying, one of the crew came up to her and asked. "Uh, Princess Pipp?"

"EVERYPONY, TAKE FIVE!!" Pipp suddenly shouted before she dropped her equipment and flew out of the room, leaving behind several confused ponies.

"..........Five what?" Izzy asked randomly.

While everything seemed to be going well for Pipp, saying the same for Zipp would be a complete lie. Try as everypony did, especially Hitch, it seemed that all the preparation was just angering Zipp more and more. "I already told you which soaps I want to use!" She yelled at the ponies showing her the options.

"Y-yes, you did." One of them said before they quickly added. "But that was for the East Wing bathrooms. These are for the West Wing."

That reasoning did not fly well with Zipp. "No sane pony cares what kind of soap it is! Just use the same for all the bathrooms! And if you don't have enough, flip a damn coin!"

Shortly after, Zipp was focused on all of the seating arrangements and memorizing which ponies were which. And since every able pony in ZH was attending, which included many new earth ponies and unicorns that moved in, along with several coming from Maretime Bay and Bridlewood, it was a task that even her mother would have trouble with. And all of that was also while having to make sure all of the food to be served was good enough. "Okay, so I put Gingerbread next to her father Royal Rumble. Next!" She shouted before she was feed one of the meals. "Too much salt. Next! Wait, no, it's Gingerpie." She paused to take another sample. "It's a 'Royal' dinner. Try harder! Next! No, no, no! It's Gingerleaf! Gingerpie died two years ago." Again another pause to try another sample, one that almost made her vomit as she spit it out into the cook's face. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? ARE YOU TRYING TO POISION ME!?" She screamed as she grabbed the cook by the throat.

"No, no, no, no!" They pleaded for their lives.

Thankfully for the cook, Hitch was there to prevent a possible royal execution. "Okay, I think they got the picture. No pickles." He said as he removed Zipp's grasp on the cook and pushed them away. "Let's just move onto the next one. Maybe I'll taste it."

Zipp just glared at Hitch, frightening the sheriff. "Don't take my job." She warned him before shouting. "NEXT!"

Alongside that, she also had to prepare a whole speech to say at the dinner to everypony present. But her mind was not functioning like the supercomputer she wanted it to be today and she barely got five words written. "Come on! Come on!" She said as she looked at the paper while continuing to inspect the decor for the dinner. "How hard is it to write a simple spee-Who put these flowers here!?" She demanded an explanation for the placement of the flora she passed.

"Umm, you said to put them there." Hitch pointed out.

If she heard her coltfriend or not is not clear as all the pegasus shouted next was. "They're clearly too tall! No one can see past them! We need everypony able to see everypony! Replace them with something shorter!" She ordered before she looked at the table cloth. "And why is this table cloth rose colored? I SAID CRIMSON!"

The decorator was walking right by with the last cloth to put on the table when they heard this. "Oh, come on!" They complained before starting to take the tarps off the tables.

Later still, Hitch approached Zipp with some bad news. "Uh, honey? I was just told that the band got sick and won't be able to perform." He reported before wincing in preparation for the inevitable eruption.

"OF COURSE THEY GOT SICK! EVERYPONY JUST LOVES SCREWING ME TODAY!" She screamed as the concept of music made her remember. "And I've still got to see Pipp for her rehearsal. BUT I CAN'T BECAUSE NOPONY ELSE HERE IS ABLE TO DO ANYTHING RIGHT!"

"Zipp, that's not true." Hitch told her otherwise. "Everypony is trying their best. They're just confused by everything going on."

That did not fly well with the heiress. "EXCUSE ME!?" She turned around and shouted in Hitch's face.

At that moment, Pipp had arrived at the dinning room and opened the door to get a front row seat to the climax of the Madness of Princess Zipp.

"I'm just trying to say that all of your stress is making it hard for you to think. Just take a break for an hour or two and we can come back and see how everything is after." Hitch suggested.

"I don't need a break!" Zipp shouted at him. "I'm not messing this up!" She said. "I'm doing it even better than Mother does. I'm doing everything perfectly."

Right after that, she said. "I'm ruining everything."

And it just snowballed from there. "They all idolize me!"

"They despise me!"

"Zipp, try to calm down." Hitch pleaded with her before she held out a hoof to stop him.

"I am calm." She told him before saying immediately after. "I'm losing my mind!" She shouted while flying in circles.

Pipp could only watch as Zipp slowly started to push herself even further into more pain as her sister stopped flying and told herself. "I'm doing fine."

"No, you're not." Zipp told herself in a deeper voice similar to the Queen.

"Yes, I am." She argued with herself.

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"NO, YOU'RE NOT!"

"YES, I AM!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"ZIPP, SNAP OUT OF IT!" Hitch pleaded as he grabbed her shoulders just as she started laughing and/or crying hysterically.

"WHO AM I TALKING TO!? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She laughed/cried all deranged before she collapsed and would've hit the floor had Hitch not caught her.

"ZIPP!" Both Pipp and Hitch screamed at the sight of her as Pipp slammed the door open and ran to her sister. "IS SHE OK!?” She pleaded with Hitch.

Hitch quickly checked for a pulse, and thankfully found one beating normally. "She's fine. I think she just fainted from all the stress." He assessed.

"Oh, thank hoofness." Pipp breathed a massive sigh of relief.

Hitch nodded in agreement before he lifted up his lover and delicately placed her on his back. "I'm taking her back to her room. If she continues all of this, I fear it might not just be fainting next time." He told Pipp.

The smaller pegasus nodded in agreement. "All right. I'll handle things from here." She told the sheriff.

Hearing that both surprised and worried Hitch. "Are you sure?" He cautioned. "I know preparations like this are not something you're new to, but even with all Zipp did there's still much to do. And with your concert later-"

"I know the work will be hard." Pipp stopped Hitch's ramblings. "But I am a princess, too. It's my job to do this. Besides." She said as she looked behind herself and saw Izzy and Sunny joining her. "I won't be doing this alone."

Seeing Pipp's confidence, and willingness to let Sunny and Izzy assist her, Hitch slowly nodded. "Okay. If you believe you can handle it from here, I'll leave it to you. Just don't be afraid to ask for more help if you need it." He said before walking out of the dinning hall with Zipp.

Just as they left, the decorator reappeared, holding several red table cloths in their hooves as they struggled to keep balance. "Okay! I've gotten every single red cloth I have! Just tell me which ones are crimson!" They pleaded before falling to the floor and having the cloths roll around the room.

One of them rolled to Izzy's hoof and she looked down at it. "Oh, it's actually this one. It's a really subtle difference, but easy once you know what to look for." She told the decorator.

"Finally!" They said before they collapsed their head on the floor.

"Let's give them a break for now." Pipp said as she gently pushed the still alive body to the side before addressing everypony else present. "Okay, ponies, tell me everything I need to know." She said before pulling out her phone to take notes.

Zipp had felt like she had been run over by a herd of elephants when she finally came to. "Ugh. Wha?" She weakly asked as she opened her eyes.

Her vision still blurry, she felt something touch her lips that seemed to be glass followed by water. "Here." The pegasus heard the unmistakable voice of her coltfriend said softly before she instinctively took a sip of the drink offered.

"Hitch?" Zipp asked as her vision started to clear and show Hitch's concerned face looking down on her.

A concerned face that showed massive relief once he heard Zipp's voice and saw her eyes looking at him. "Hey, honey. Are you feeling better?"

"What....happened?" Was her response as she slowly sat up with Hitch's support.

"You don't remember?" Hitch asked her before sitting down beside her.

"The last thing I remember was..." Zipp tried to recall, but couldn't remember what happened while she was preparing everything for the dinner party. "The dinner!" The pegasus princess suddenly remembered as she was about to throw off the sheets and rush back to the dinning room had Hitch not stopped her.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Where do you think you're going, young lady?" He said to the struggling mare in his hooves.

"I have to get back to preparing for tonight's dinner!" Zipp exclaimed through her struggles.

Eventually, she was able to break free of the sheriff's grasp and ran to the door of her bedroom to salvage what she could. But Hitch was already on top of her. Literally, as he tackled her to the floor in a restraint hold that the white mare had even less of a chance of escaping from. "After what happened to you? Absolutely not." He told her sternly. "You passed out from all the stress you were putting on yourself, Zipp. Let Pipp take care of the rest of the preparations." He said in a gentler tone, as he knew what constant yelling would result in.

But it seemed that he might as well have yelled at Zipp did not calm down at all. "What!? NO!" She struggled even more. "It can't be Pipp! It has to be me!"

"Why!?" Hitch dropped his calm and shouted in return. "Why are you so insistent and doing this!?

"BECAUSE I HAVE TO!!" Zipp practically screamed as she was now starting to cry.

"WHY!?" Hitch repeated his previous question.

"BECAUSE I PROMISED HIM TO BE THE BEST QUEEN EVER!!!" Zipp shouted so loudly that it actually shook some of the items in the bedroom.

There was a lengthy almost silence in the room as the Hitch and Zipp both stared at each other, the only sound being their panting as both seemed to slowly calm down, Zipp more specifically. Hitch could only tilt his head in confusion at what his marefriend had told him. "What?" Was all he could quietly ask. Zipp looked down in shame, also letting Hitch know she wouldn't try and run off and allowed the stallion to release his hold on the mare before he sat down next to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Zipp, you can tell me what's wrong. Please. l want to help you."

Zipp said nothing for a while until she stood up on her hooves. "It's better if I showed you." She said as she gestured for Hitch to follow, to which he did right at her side.

"Hmmm." Pipp mumbled as she tasted the food in her mouth before she swallowed and gave her verdict. "I liked it.”

"Really?" One of the chefs from before said in disbelief before asking to make sure. "Even with the pickles?"

"Oh, Zipp just really hates pickles. She probably was just really stressed out when she lashed at you." Pipp explained for her sister. "I'm sure it'll be a great dish for the dinner."

"Thank you, Princess." The chef said as they left to prepare more.

"And that should be the last of the food needing to be tasted." Pipp said as she checked another item off the list before focusing on the rest. "How's decorations coming along, Izzy?"

"All the tables covered in crimson cloths, just as the Queen ordered." The unicorn confirmed with a salute as she placed the last cloth on.

"Great job, Izzy. Now lets get some plates on those tables." Pipp said, to which Izzy nodded in affirmation before going to do said task. Next, was an update on the seating arrangements. "Sunny?"

"About three quarters done with getting everypony seated." A tired Sunny said as she moved some names around. "How many ponies besides me have star in their name?" She asked herself, getting confused from all of the similarly named ponies.

"Keep it up, Sunny. I believe in you!" Pipp cheered for her earth pony friend, who smiled back at the encouragement. Looking back down at her phone, the pink pegasus sought any other items on the list not yet checked off. "Okay, next is deserts." She said with some excitement as she flew over to the kitchen to see what the chefs were prepping. "Note to self; make sure to save many samples for Zipp. Poor girl really needs something sweet today that isn't just Hitch." She promised herself as she got to the kitchen doors.

But just as she was about to open them, she heard voices on the other side. Voices having a conversation that was not of the friendly type. "I'm telling you, this city is going one way and it's down." A pegasus chef said to a unicorn one.

"Oh, shut up." The unicorn said, clearly getting tired of hearing what the pegasus was saying, possibly implying they have been saying something similar for a while now, and just wanting to focus on their dessert dish.

"You weren't here when Princess Zipp was in charge of preparations. The mare was an absolute tyrant." The pegasus said.

Hearing the word tyrant used to describe Zipp, her big sister, who worked so hard to never be associated with said word that haunted her for months, made Pipp furious.

"Honestly, if the Queen seriously plans on having her continue to be her successor-"

"We're all gonna die in a week. I heard you the first seven times." The unicorn grumbled.

"I have to agree." Another chef stepped up and admitted. "All Princess Zipp did was yell and make everything harder for everypony. At least her sister is willing to show some compassion."

"Not to mention she was able to clean up the mess our supposed future queen made with ease." A decorator said as they and several other workers from before started to gather around each other. "Yes, she needed her friends' help, but that just shows she actually has brains to know to split the duty. The Queen is making a mistake. We need Pipp as the new heir. Not somepony as unstable as Zipp."

Hearing them call Zipp unstable was the straw that broke the back of patience for Pipp as she flung open the doors, startling all of those on the other side. "Ahh! Princess Pipp!" The first pegasus gasped in surprise at the princesses sudden appearance. And judging by how unhappy she looked, chances are she heard everything they said, making anypony who said something negative swallow massive gulps of fear.

Despite looking like she was about to blow her lid and erupt into a mountain of rage, Pipp took a deep breath and said darkly. "None of you understand what my sister is like, or why she's the way she is. If you did, then you'd understand why she was trying so hard. So no more of this badmouthing her, understand?"

"Y-yes, Your Highness!" All of them, besides the grumpy unicorn chef since they did nothing wrong, shouted in unison before the quickly sped off back to work, worried about what could happen to their jobs if she decided to tell her mother.

Taking another deep breath, Pipp calmed herself down as Sunny and Izzy came into the kitchen. "That, went better than expected." Izzy had to admit.

"Trust me, it took every fiber of my being not to scream at them for how insensitive they were being towards Zipp." Pipp responded before she took another deep breath and look down sadly. "I just can't help but worry about her. All this pressure she puts on herself, needing to be flawless in everyway. I just know she isn't taking whatever comfort Hitch is giving her well."

"Why is she like that?" Sunny asked, feeling there was more to the story then just being the heir to the throne.

".......It involves our father." Pipp answered before saying. "I just wish I could help her. She's so insistent on being the best queen possible, that she tends to not want anypony else helping her. But after hearing all of her problems at her sessions, and seeing it now firsthoof, I want to do more." She said as she felt like she was failing her big sister by barely contributing to helping her with her royal duties.

Just then, Pipp gasped as she had an idea. A crazy one, but one that might just work. And seeing the look to the pegasus' face, Sunny and Izzy seemed to get the picture. "You think of something, Pipp?" Sunny asked.

"I did. And I think I know what I'm going to sing at the concert." Pipp replied before she spread her wings and took to the air in excitement. "You two keep making sure everything goes smoothly. And if anypony else says anything nasty about my sister: I want their name, face, cutie mark, job occupation, and anything else you can squeeze out of them."

"You got it!" Izzy saluted with enthusiasm before giving a stink eye to some very nervous chefs.

Pipp smiled at the response and flew off to do some quick composing. "Good luck!" Sunny wished her luck just before she was out of earshot.

As she flew to her recording booth, Pipp has a look of both excitement and nervousness on her face. What she was about to do would change everything, but it would desperately give her sister the support she needed to be the queen she knew she could be.

She just had to hope Zipp would agree with her.

Zipp led Hitch to a door in the castle before she pressed her hoof against a scanner that scanned her hoofprint before opening and granting them both access. Stepping through the doors, Hitch found himself in a massive hallway, filled with photos of many different ponies he could only assume were Zipp's ancestors. "Whoa." He gasped at the sheer number of different portraits, never realizing the Zephyr Heights monarchy went back so long, possibly to the days of Twilight Sparkle.

Hitch was so distracted by everything that he didn't realize Zipp had come to a stop until he bumped into her. "Ooof! Oh, sorry about that, Zipp." He apologized before noticing she didn't seem to be paying attention to him. Instead, the white pegasus seemed to be looking as sad and silent as she was throughout the entire walk here, only now her attention was focused on the wall. Following her gaze, Hitch saw many more pictures on the wall, this time of Zipp with her mother and sister throughout the years. But what really caught his attention was a grey pegasus stallion that was seen in a number of the with the sisters as fillies. The crown on his head and cape around his neck already gave a pretty solid idea of who this pony was, but Hitch still found himself asking. "Is that?"

"My dad? Yes." Zipp answered without breaking her gaze from the picture of her father holding her in the air with a hoof while she was smiling, pretending to fly. She gave a sad smile at just one of the many fond memories she had of him. "We were as close as can be. He always gave off that feeling of ease whenever he was around, like a shield that wrapped himself around us all. He inspired me to be just like him." That smile soon turned into a frown as tears began to form again. "Then, one day he got sick. And kept getting worse, and worse, until...." Zipp couldn't finish the sentence as the memory was too strong to just say.

"Daddy!" A young Zipp cried beside her father as he laid in his inevitable death bed.

The older stallion however, just smiled weakly and looked at his oldest daughter. "Zipp, my brave, fighter princess. I want you to promise me something."

"Yes, Daddy! Anything!"

"Promise me that when the time comes, you will be the best queen you can be." He requested as he slowly held out his hoof.

A hoof Zipp didn't hesitate in taking. "I promise." She swore with a determined look on her face, to which her father smiled.

When the flashback ended, Zipp was now softly crying into Hitch's coat as the stallion held her close to him for support, just as he did when Sunny lost her father. "I'm sorry." He quietly said in comfort.

"After he died, I wanted to honor his dying wishes and become the best queen ever to make him proud." Zipp said as she ceased crying and broke off of the hug. "But all I've done is make him disappointed in me."

"What?" Hitch said in disbelief to what his marefriend claimed. "Zipp, that's nonsense." He retorted.

But Zipp firmly shook her head in disagreement. "No, what's nonsense is believing that your daughter who tries to avoid anything involving her training as much as possible because she's too much of a coward to be the pony she needs to be is somepony to be proud of. That is nonsense. Hitch, I've been rebellious against my mother's policies practically my whole life. I might as well call myself mentally insane with how I want to be the best queen ever, but are too afraid to do so." The pegasus told the stallion as she walked over to another section of the hallway.

Hitch followed closed behind as always and stopped when she did. "What are you afraid of?" He asked her.

Zipp said nothing for a while, and when she spoke she said sternly. "Look up at the wall, Hitch." The stallion did so and saw the many royal portraits of queens from Haven all the way to the first. "All of them, every single queen before me has been the same in how they looked, how they behaved, and how they ruled." Zipp said before she looked down and sat on her haunches. "And look at me." She said as she held up her hooves and looked down at them. "I'm nothing like them. Becoming the best queen means becoming like those before you. But how can I? How can somepony like me become somepony like them?" She asked, starting to sound desperate for an answer.

That answer came from an unexpected source. "You can't." Turning their heads around, Hitch and Zipp saw Queen Haven approaching them with a sad smile on her face.

"Mom?/Your Majesty?" Zipp and Hitch said as the Pegasus Queen joined them by the royal portraits.

"Your father was much wiser than I was." Haven said as she pulled her daughter in for a wing hug. "You ended up becoming more like him than you realize. He would often warn me about the consequences of lying to our subjects about our family being able to fly. Telling me we needed to try and find a real solution, and possibly consult with the earth ponies and unicorns. But even after he died, I still didn't listen to him. I guess I was insane in my own way. And it wasn't until it was almost too late that I realized the consequences of not listening to both him and you."

Hitch had a fairly good idea on what those consequences were. "You mean Zipp breaking down?" He guessed.

Haven nodded in shame, remembering Zipp's confessions when she held her as she sobbed her heart out, before looking down at her daughter in her embrace. "Zipp, I have been making a mistake for many years when it came to trying to prepare you for becoming Queen. I should have been more assertive and explained myself better this morning. Your father wanted you to make that promise because you are an heir that Zephyr Heights has never seen before, and possibly the best thing that could happen to us. You are not meant to rule like I or any of those before us did. You are meant to be your own queen and rule your own way. A way that would still allow you to be true to yourself and the pony you grew up to be. That's why I wanted to hold off on training you for a while. Not because I didn't believe you could do it, but because I needed to teach myself to accept you being a queen different than me."

"Mom." Zipp sniffled at the Queen's words. "I'm so sorry yelling at you." She apologized.

"And I'm sorry for not doing more." Haven apologized in return as she two of them shared a much needed hug before they both stood up. "Now, why don't we go and make sure everything is ready in the dinning room for the dinner tonight? This time more along your style than my own?" She asked almost teasingly.

Zipp giggled at the joke and smiled. "Yeah, I think I owe many ponies an apology for how I was acting earlier." She teased back as the joined her mother and went for the door, Hitch close behind as always.

After arriving at the dinning hall, and many apologies later, Zipp was able to properly now help her mother in setting up what was needed for the royal dinner.

Needless to say, despite the messy set up, when it was time for the actually dinner, it went off flawlessly with barely an issue at all. This was easily the best of these dinners that Zipp had attended, now knowing she had complete support going forward from her family and friends. So much so that she was even able to write and give her speech in front of everypony without so much as stuttering once.

After see gave her speech, and everypony applauded, Zipp sat back down next to Hitch and her mother took over. "And now, mares and gentlecolts, please give a warm welcome to my daughter, Princess Pipp Petals!" She announced as the curtains pulled back to show Pipp standing on stage by her microphone.

Pipp waited for the applause to quiet down before she spoke. "What is going on, everypony? Are you all having a good time?" She asked and got the expected excited reply as always. "That's what I love to hear!" She beamed, flying around slightly for added effected before she came back down. "I'd like to dedicate tonight's song to my big sister, Zipp. Letting her know that she will always have one pony standing in her corner." Hearing that made Zipp quietly gasp before the music started up and her sister began to sing.

"Searchin' high, searchin' low
Lookin' for a place I belong
Searchin' wide, tryin' to find (tryin' to find)
Somethin' to make you feel less alone

You know I heard it said (said)
Home is wherever you are
And friendship is forever (ever)
When you carry it in your heart

And now I see
I've got you, you know you've got me too
When we're together, there's nothing that we cannot do
And if your family can be the one you choose
I choose you, yeah, I choose you."

As Pipp sang, with Sunny and Izzy provided the backup vocals, Zipp felt tears starting to form in her eyes, knowing full well Pipp wasn't just singing the lyrics to a song. No, she truly meant every single word that came out of her mouth. Everything she said was a promise to her big sister. And when the song ended, Zipp couldn't stop herself as she flew up onto the stage and gave Pipp the biggest hug she could. "Thank you." She said quietly through tears of joy.

Pipp returned the hug and gave Zipp a comforting smile. "Anything for a sister like you, Zipp." She said in return, earning several 'dawws' from the crowd.

After the dinner, and all the guests left, the Royal Family and friends helped the staff with the clean up process. "Oh, I'm so proud of you both!" Haven gushed as she hugged both of her daughters.

While Pipp accepted the hug and motherly love as always, Zipp still seemed a little hesitant in the affection. More so than usual. "I really didn't do anything today that I would be proud of." She said as she broke off from the hug and kicked her hoof on the floor. "I nearly ruined the dinner, overworked several ponies, and broke my promise to Pipp on top of it."

"Oh, forget about that." Pipp assured her big sister as she gave her another hug. "There wasn't any rehearsal anyway."

"Yeah, because I never showed up." Zipp said bitterly towards herself.

"That's.....technically true, but probably a good thing in retrospect." Pipp admitted, confusing both Zipp and Haven. Backing away from the hug, she began to explain. "When you didn't show up, I went to look for you and stumbled upon your......episode. Seeing how much you were hurting, made me remember how you mentioned being the sole heir to the throne caused you to feel trapped. I said I would start understanding your problems more, but I can't say I truly have until I saw them with my own eyes" The pink pegasus shamefully admitted as she looked just like Zipp was a few seconds ago.

"Pipp." Zipp said softly as she stepped towards her sister. "It's not your fault."

"I know, but seeing you faint from all that stress made me freak out. I almost thought for a second that I'd nearly lose you again." Pipp quietly cried as she hugged Zipp for comfort. "I know you found out more about being the queen you promised Dad you'd be, and I'll always support you no matter what, but I don't want to just be your cheering section. I want to do more."

"Pipp." Was all Zipp could say again as she heard her declarations.

"You're a strong pony, Zipp, but you're not the kind of pony that can rule a kingdom on their own. That's why when the time comes, I want to rule right alongside you!" Pipp declared proudly for everypony present to hear.

And hear her they did as everypony stopped what they were doing and looked at the popstar princess in shock. Even Zipp and Haven looked at Pipp like she had just grown a second head, but Pipp didn't care and held onto what she said as she turned to her mother. "Mom, is it possible for me to become Queen alongside Zipp, so that the two of us may share the throne?" She asked.

Haven blinked rapidly, trying to adjust her brain to what she just heard, before replying. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Pipp Dear."

Hearing that was not an answer Pipp hadn't expected, but still surprised her after what she had just said. "Why not?"

Haven then really surprised her daughters by smiling at them. "Because when that time comes I won't be Queen anymore." She said softly before looking over towards Zipp.

The white pegasus looked shocked at this, realizing she was the one who would have to either accept or reject this notion. The first big royal responsibility of her and her alone. Thankfully, this wasn't something she needed a lot of time to think about. "I don't know." She answered, making Pipp silently gasp before she smiled. "We'd need to get you a new crown if you're going to be Queen Pipp." She teased.

Hearing that made Pipp smile the largest smile she ever made before she glomped Zipp in the biggest hug she could give.

Once again, ponies couldn't help but 'daw' at the show of love between the two sisters, Izzy shouting. "Yeah! Whoohooo! I know them! They live with us!" Making Sunny and Hitch chuckle and playfully roll their eyes at the unicorn's enthusiasm.

It was about midnight when Zipp found herself somewhere she hadn't been in years; the Royal Graveyard. Walking through the creepy place, she stopped once she found herself in front of one grave in particular. One that read the name; King Braveheart Storm. "Hey, Dad." Zipp said to the tombstone. "It's been a while since I came to visit, hasn't it?" She chuckled briefly to try and lighten the mood.

But the young pegasus knew that she had to get serious and gave a heavy sigh before saying. "I'm sorry I haven't come to visit you in so long. I don't know if you're watching over me or not, but I bet you can already guess that things haven't been going easy for me as of late. I would say it all started when I got my hooves on that cursed necklace of Misty's, but I know it's been going on longer than that."

"It's all just been one big pile of craziness after you died. I try to keep my promise to you of being the best queen ever, but then I find myself afraid of the position because of how it conflicts with my personality, then I move to Maretime Bay and start becoming a detective, which that completely blew up in my face. And then, to top all of it off, that necklace I mentioned earlier possessed me and drove me so mad it lead to breaking down and banishing myself from everypony to keep them safe from myself. Guess that's why I have avoided coming here for so long. I knew you'd be ashamed of me for not meeting your expectations and breaking my promise."

Zipp paused briefly to sniffle as she felt the tears of shame suddenly return, but she wiped them away and stood tall as she continued. "But that's stopping now. I may not become a queen like my mother or her predecessors, but that's okay as I'm going to be my own kind of queen." She looked behind herself and saw Pipp and Hitch standing there. "A queen who won't rule alone anymore."

Pipp and Hitch took that as the cue to step forward and stood alongside Zipp as they faced the grave. "It's an honor to finally meet you, Your Highness." Hitch spoke first, albeit with the same nervousness as any colt meeting their lover's father would be suffering from. "I don't know if Zipp already told you, but I am her coltfriend now." He said as he wrapped a foreleg around the white pegasus. "I promise that I love her more than I love my own life and will do everything possible to care for her and make her happy." His vow made Zipp smile with a blush and she gave him a kiss on the cheek that got the stallion's own cheeks red.

As the couple did their thing, Pipp took the opportunity to step up and say what she wanted to say. "I'm sorry if it looked like I wasn't being a good sister to Zipp at all, Dad. It was never anything malicious, I was just focusing so much on myself to notice how much she was hurting on the inside." She confessed and looked down in shame before Zipp pulled her into a wing hug that cheered the younger princess up slightly. "But like Zipp said earlier, that's stopping now. I plan on becoming a queen with Zipp so we can rule together and share the burdens of leadership without forcing us to change who we are."

Zipp smiled at her sister's promise before she looked back at her father's grave again. "As you can see, Dad, I've been going through one heck of a journey these last few months. One that could've destroyed me, but instead made me closer with my sister than ever and got me somepony to love me back." She gave nuzzles to Pipp and Hitch respectively when she said that. "So, while it might not be how you expected, I think I'm starting to understand how to be the queen you wanted me to be all along." She finished as the three of them shared another hug.

As they did, a gust of wind blew around the three ponies, from their hooves to through their manes. A breeze that felt like a comforting blanket or scarf wrapping around them, especially for Zipp. It was brief, but the moment surprised and amazed the three ponies as they had a fairly good idea what caused such a wind to occur. "I think he heard us." Pipp said as she nuzzled against her older sister's body.

Zipp chuckled and nuzzled her baby sister's head in return. "Thanks, Dad. I promise you won't have wait years for me to come visit again. Maybe next time I can show you the rest of my friends and my new son."

"Uh-du-du, she means the baby dragon I adopted before we started dating! Just to clarify!" Hitch quickly blurted out, trying not to anger the king's ghost

This lead to Pipp and Zipp laughing at his expense. "Wow, you allow her to sleep in the same bed as you, but you won't take it any further?" Pipp teased as the three of them started to head back to the palace for some much needed sleep.

"I just didn't want your father to think we went all the way to breeding before we married." Hitch defended himself. "It's not like we need to rush these things."

"Makes sense." Zipp had to admit before she got a teasing look. "Though all those times I caught you staring at my rump would say otherwise."

Hitch's face became redder than a tomato, but he wasn't going down without a fight. "Well, that's only when you decide to flaunt it and want me staring. I'm just fulfilling your wishes."

"He does have a point. Your butt is large even by our family standards." Pipp pointed out, which got her an annoyed jab from Zipp.

"PIPP!" She hissed at her sister, but the damage wasn't done yet.

"Besides." Hitch continued. "I know for a fact you stare at my rump just as much, if not even more." He smirked triumphantly at Zipp becoming redder than he was.

"Ooooooh! My sister's got a naughty side to her." Pipp teased, causing Zipp to hide her face under her wings.

"YOU GUYS!!!" She shouted in embarrassment, making both her sister and coltfriend laugh. Eventually, she pulled her face out of hiding and said to them. "I wouldn't trade you for the world."

Hearing that made Pipp and Hitch smile before they pulled Zipp into another big hug under the stars, another gust of wind blowing past them.

Author's Note

That's right! We're back with an all new chapter! I did say I could add chapters if I felt they were needed. And this one was needed before the ending was published.

The idea for this chapter came, just as the therapy chapter, from the sister swap arc from the comics. Granted, more in regards to just the setting this time, and a few jokes, but still this was a chapter I realized needed to happen when Zipp confessed how she felt about being heir to the throne and Pipp's vows. A certain song from the Lion King also played a major part in Zipp's behavior again.

It also allowed me to cover some bases that I haven't before like Pipp and Zipp's father and what happened to him, also possibly explains a moment more in a future chapter that I won't spoil for first timers. And the more Stormblazer I can write the better. (I think all I need to write now is something more mature, so if you pervs ask nicely...)

Honestly, while writing this chapter, as well as recent TYT episodes, I came to a realization on why Zipp might be my favorite character; and that is how she connects with my situation about growing up and having new responsibilities going forward. It's frightening and something we don't want to happen, but it has to. And I feel seeing Zipp continue to push forward, both in this saga and in cannon motivate me to keep going forward.

And for those of you reading this in the future and wondering what the H is going on, just keep reading.