Brightdawn over the Petals
The Mist surrounding the Pipp
Misty sat in the corner booth of the cafe, hood covering her head. Not the black hood she wore when she dragonnapped Sparky, she had thrown that out when she had moved into the Brighthouse. Or rather, she thought she had. It turned out Izzy had saved the hood and used it as a basis to create Misty a dark blue hood to replace it. The creative Unicorn had also made a red hood for Sunny, a purple hood for herself, a light blue hood for Zipp, a green hood for Hitch and a pink hood for Pipp. Said hoods ended up being very useful as the group’s ever increasing popularity meant it was becoming harder to go out anywhere without a crowd forming.
Misty looked up from the book she was reading and glanced around. No sign of a pink hood, meaning Pipp was running late. Hardly surprising, considering Pipp had scheduled a livestream with Ruby Jubilee an hour before she was due to meet up with Misty. The Unicorn went back to her book, an entry from the Spooky Stables series. A film adaptation of the first book had been announced and Misty wanted to have all the books read before it came out. She remembered Pipp had been literally hopping with excitement when she heard the news, to the point where it seemed like she was trying to imitate Izzy.
When Misty first moved into the Brighthouse her friends decided to throw her a welcoming party in the form of a movie night. Sunny picked a historical drama, Izzy a romance story, Zipp a detective noir, Hitch a cop comedy and Pipp a horror movie. Pipp’s choice of movie unnerved the other four, but to everyone’s surprise Misty found it as amusing as Pipp. It turned out growing up with Opaline meant Misty wasn’t phased by things most ponies would find frightening. With a newfound fondness for horror Misty had, with some recommendations from Pipp, begun a deep dive into the genre.
Misty’s ears perked up under her hood when she heard a familiar song coming from the radio on the cafe counter. Without realising it, Misty began to sing along under her breath. “First thing’s first, you gonna look for the spark. That bit of magic way down deep in your heart…” Misty’s voice raised to normal speaking level as she continued singing. “You gonna follow your beat, and then soon you will see. You won’t have that far to go until your song starts to grow…”
“See, this is why Ruby wants you to perform with the two of us.” A voice interrupted.
Misty jumped in her seat and looked up to see Pipp smiling at her from under her pink hood.
“And they say your sister is the sneaky one.” Misty muttered as Pipp took a seat across the table from her. Pipp giggled at the Unicorn’s comment.
“Seriously though, I still don’t understand why you don’t realise you’re a great singer.”
Misty stared at Pipp from across the table. “You know why.” She answered in a flat tone.
Pipp’s ears flattened. She forgot Misty had such a low opinion of herself. Pipp had known her whole life she was privileged, but it wasn’t until she saw how deep Misty’s scars truly ran that she realised just how much so. Despite being the second born, Pipp had grown up the favourite daughter. She and Queen Haven had both been more than content to lie to their subjects’ faces for years while her sister’s disgust over it all led Zipp to have sleepless nights. Yet despite the occasional argument this caused it was never in doubt that their mother loved them both more than anything. Opaline on the other hoof never loved Misty, but gaslit her into believing the opposite for years. It wasn’t until Misty felt true love and affection from her friends that she realised her ‘mother’ had been deceiving her all along.
“So Ruby still wants me to perform with you two?” Misty asked, snapping Pipp back to reality. The Pegasus nodded in response.
“Yes. Ruby believes you have the potential to be as big as me or her.”
Misty sighed. After performing together at Bridlewoodstock Pipp and Ruby had struck up a friendship and started collaborating. One day Ruby had an idea for a livestream; have Pipp’s friends sing along to the karaoke versions of some of Pipp’s songs and have the Pippsqueaks vote who’s performance was best. To Misty’s surprise, her performance of Glowin’ Up won in a landslide, with some fans even commenting that she could sing as well as Pipp and Ruby. To the Unicorn’s slight dismay, the others agreed with the assessment.
“Excuse me,” a voice said. The two looked up to see that a Unicorn waiter had arrived at their table. “Are you two ready to order?”
“Yes,” Pipp said. “I’ll take a large fries and a strawberry milkshake.”
The waiter scribbled down Pipp’s order. “And you dear?” he asked, turning to Misty.
“A fruit salad and a vanilla milkshake, please.” Misty requested.
The waiter wrote the order down, then looked back up at the two. He glanced from one to the other, his eyes narrowing slightly. Without another word, he left to give their order to the chef.
Pipp watched him go over her shoulder. “What’s his problem?” she asked, turning back to Misty.
Misty shrugged. “Probably the hoods.” She said, pulling hers down. Her mane, normally simply swept to the right, was currently braided like Sunny’s once was. Pipp gave her a questioning look. “What?” Misty asked. “It’s not like anyone here is gonna care who we are. That’s why we decided to come here, right?”
Pipp sighed. “I guess you’re right.” She said, hesitantly pulling down her own hood. Her mane, usually styled into a peek a bang that covered the right side of her face, was neatly tucked behind her ear. She also wasn’t wearing her crown, since even under the hood it still caught the light in certain angles and revealed her identity.
The two were in a small cafe on the outskirts of Zephyr Heights. Pipp had been coming here since before her music career started. The place was never too crowded and the staff and regular customers seemed to be some of the few ponies who didn’t care about Pipp’s celebrity status. Since Misty still wasn’t the most comfortable with crowds Pipp thought this would be the most ideal place for them to meet.
Misty looked out the window and saw there were a lot of heavy storm clouds moving in. Great, she thought dryly. Looks like we’ll be walking back to Maretime Bay in a downpour. Misty was so focused on the storm clouds she didn’t notice their food arrive until Pipp clapped her hooves together right next to Misty’s ear. “Ah. Pipp, what the hay?”
Pipp gestured to the plates on the table. “Food’s here.”
Misty shook her head slightly. “Right. Sorry.”
When the two exited the cafe a while later with their hoods back up they found themselves immediately being pelted by large raindrops.
Pipp groaned. “Uh. I knew I should have checked the weather forecast.”
Suddenly Pipp felt that the raindrops were no longer pelting her. Looking up she saw a transparent dome hovering above them, keeping the water at bay. Looking to Misty Pipp saw that the Unicorn’s horn was glowing under her hood. Pipp’s jaw dropped slightly.
“What?” Misty shrugged. “You’d be surprised what you can do with magic when you try.”
Pipp giggled as she nuzzled Misty’s cheek with her own. “You’re amazing.”
Misty seemed taken aback by the sudden gesture. “Like you are?”
“Better than me,” Pipp explained. You lack the natural confidence I have, so it’s even more impressive coming from you.”
Misty’s face was blank for a second. Then, a small smile broke out across her muzzle. “Thanks, Pipp.”
“No problem, Misty.” Pipp responded as the two began walking down the street.
Author's Note
Wow. This only took me around three hours. It honestly doesn’t feel like it.
So, Pipp and Misty. Not a popular ship, but I love em. I’ll probably do a sequel where the two are together, but right now I have other projects I want to focus on. In the meantime, enjoy all.
