Author's Note
Hey everyone.
This story gets a little deep for one of the characters. It is highly recommended to use the interactive highlighted links to enhance the experience of the story.
You might notice some words in this story are referenced from certain movies, video games, etc. I wonder if you’ll notice them.
The cover image here was done by RainbowFire, and I must say myself that she did a wonderful job.
But without further delay, please enjoy this short story!
This Isn’t Happening
“So is this like an old Bridlewood pony’s-tale or?...”
Misty had just finished her side of how Equestria had become to the group. ‘They thought it was a joke?’
Before Misty could defend her story, Izzy chimed in. “I’ve never heard it. But maybe that’s just my own corner of the community. Where did you say you grew up exactly Misty?”
Misty nearly choked on air, looking over to Zipp as she immediately butted in, further pressuring the young mare. “Yeah, where did you grow up Misty?”
Sunny and Hitch noticed her more frantic state. “Uhh, NOWHERE, and, NOPONY, and I- probably gotta get going to get back right about now, bye!” Misty said, then quickly making a beeline to the door.
Izzy’s mouth hung open. Her shock wasn’t just Misty’s sudden panic, or the fact that she was leaving, but also had to do with how Zipp had been acting all night.
From the very beginning, Zipp did not seem to be a fan of Misty. Even after Izzy telling her that Misty was okay, Zipp wouldn’t let it go, finding ways to poke holes in the blue mare’s story whenever she got the chance, further stressing her out. Izzy quickly got up to go after her.
“Wait, Misty? You can’t leave! This party is all just for you-...”
Zipp had also gotten up, approaching the purple unicorn. “Hey, I didn’t mean anything by all my questions. I was just- trying to get to the bottom of things and figure out the real truth.”
Izzy looked as if she wasn’t listening up until Zipp had said ‘truth’.
“Heh, truth? You wanna know the truth, Zipp?” Izzy now turned to the Pegasus, eyes glassy, but her face filled with rage. “If you could for once stop playing detective, live a little, and not assume anypony new is a criminal or a suspect, maybe things in life would be easier for everypony else. I told you time and time again, Misty is not a threat, she’s just… a little awkward… *sigh* … why couldn’t you just leave her alone?”
Zipp was in shock, her jaw slacked. Izzy was frustrated, sure. But she’s never seen Izzy so serious before, meaning every word she said. She was - for the first time Zipp has seen - disappointed in her. “I-I..”
Izzy shook her head, closing her eyes as she did so. She scoffed. “Now you know what it feels like to be put under pressure.” Her voice sounded as if she was about to cry.
Izzy took the silence as an opportunity to turn more towards the rest of the group, now walking past them, to the back glass door of the Brighthouse, exiting to the rear deck.
Sunny and Hitch walked up to Zipp, who now had her ears flat against her head, looking up towards the ceiling to prevent the tears from falling.
“Zipp, it’s okay. I’m sure Izzy is just… shocked at what happened.” Sunny said, trying to comfort her friend, putting a hoof on her back, right between her wings.
“I… I was only trying to find out who the real Misty was…”
“Zipp, it’s fine. Izzy is just… overwhelmed at what happened. She understands, but she just wants to cool off.” Hitch said, trying to alleviate the situation further.
Zipp nodded, her head now hung low, tears falling immediately. What was once a tough and tomcolt of a pony, was now in pieces. “Maybe I should … *sniff* … go talk to her.” Zipp started to turn, before being stopped by Hitch.
“Let me see if I can talk to her first. As much as it pains me to say this Zipp, but you are probably the last pony she wants to talk to.”
All Zipp could do was nod, another sniff coming from her as Sunny, and now Pipp, tried to comfort her.
Hitch made his way to the sliding door, opening it to get to the mare in front of him. After closing it, he turned and just looked at Izzy. He was a little lost at the moment. While she was a little bit slouched, under the ambient lighting of the Brighthouse, Izzy’s figure was enhanced. Her body being complimented by the lighting, showing off her curves and features. Her hair almost sparkled, being helped by not just the Brighthouse, but the moon illuminating her as well. Her mane itself looked so good right now, that even Pipp would be jealous.
Izzy was known to be a very exciting mare, often being as energetic as she can, trying to make everypony happy. She was rarely ever upset or serious. She always saw the silver lining to things.
If meeting her for the first time right now, nopony would ever think that. The soft music from the outside speakers did not help her situation.
Hitch always thought of Izzy as being a pretty and likable mare. He never thought that he would ever find a unicorn attractive. Actually, he never thought he would even see one up until she just showed up, later resulting to today, where all pony-kind are now friends. But here he was, looking at one, who was not only one of his best friends, but also the mare he had a liking towards. In simpler terms, he had a crush.
For Hitch, it was tough to try and get readings from Izzy. He was known to flirt easily, but with Izzy, it did just about nothing. Time and time again, Hitch would attempt to get signals from the unicorn, seeing if she maybe was interested. But, to his dismay, she would find his attitude as just Hitch being Hitch, and it bothered him.
About a week ago he had decided to take a last attempt, going to Sunny about his predicament. At first Sunny thought it was very cute, flustering the stallion, but she then got serious, reminding him that Izzy is just Izzy, and that if he really wants what he thinks he is looking for, that he will keep trying.
“What do you want, Hitch?”
The lazy sounding response jerked Hitch out of his trance. “How’d you know it was me?”
“I heard your badge jingle against your metal clip.”
“Oh…”
Hitch then walked forward, hearing his badge jingle. He sat next to Izzy, looking at her. She wasn’t crying, but her eyes were still glassy.
“Izzy… I know Zipp was out of line, but you need to take it with a grain of salt. We all know how detail oriented she can be. Yes, she did scare Misty, and now Misty is not here, but Zipp wasn’t trying to do that. She just wanted to know what was behind Misty, if there even was anything.”
Izzy chuckled lightly, almost inaudible. “You want to know why I always try to make ponies laugh, make them happy, why I am always happy, why I always try to cheer somepony up when they’re down?”
Hitch didn’t say anything, choosing to just raise his eyebrows ever so slightly.
Izzy then turned her head to the right, now looking at Hitch. He was almost stunned. He had never seen Izzy so… dull.
She usually looked so beautiful, her eyes a vision, her face perfect, smile bright and white, and ready for anything. But now, she was… in a way, herself…
“I promised myself that I would make sure nopony would ever feel the way I did when I was a filly. I never had friends, my parents… well, my mom died when I was a kid, and my daddy, he didn’t die soon enough. And I was on my own at age 16. Being in Bridlewood, it didn’t help with how depressed it was. It fueled the darkness in me, especially with how everypony treated me. It was nothing but disrespect. But one day, when finding Sunny’s lantern, and seeing the message inside, saying I had friends… It made me think about how gray and colorless it was in Bridlewood, and the hate I got from there. A- and I think that flipped a switch in me where I was like, ‘okay, fuck you, watch this’, and I promised myself a few things from that day, which was to never let them see that they get to you, and to find my friends in Maretime Bay. If there was one thing I wasn’t going to do, was prove everypony right about Bridlewood; that all the unicorns there were shifty, dangerous, and unstable.”
Hitch had never heard Izzy curse. She usually used fun words like fudge or something cheesy. But in this case, she was as serious as it gets.
Hitch decided to just do what he thought was right. As he saw Izzy’s lip quivering, he leaned to her, putting a hoof around her neck, bringing her in for a hug. Izzy now started audibly crying into the sheriff’s chest, letting all the years of pent up anger, sadness, darkness and more just flood out.
All Hitch could do was rub his hoof up and down her back, trying to soothe her.
After minutes of the hug, Izzy had ceased crying, taking a few deep breaths before retracting from Hitch, who took his hoof away from her.
The fur under her eyes were damp, but gone were the glassy eyes. She smiled at Hitch, leaning towards him.
Hitch’s eyes widened, not understanding what was happening.
Izzy tilted her head to the side slightly, closing her eyes, placing a kiss on his left cheek, staying there for a few moments. When she pulled away, she was smiling, seeing the stallion, who was now in shock. His ears were perked, and his mouth hung open.
“Thank you Hitch. You really are a great friend. I couldn’t ask for a better stallion who could understand.”
“Of… of course, Izzy.” Hitch said in a soft tone. “We should probably go back inside, the girls are waiting for us, especially Zipp.”
Izzy nodded. “Okay…” She walked past Hitch. But as quick as she did, she stopped, turning her head back to him. “You know, we should go get breakfast some time. Just the two of us.”
Hitch was dumbfounded at her sudden statement. “Uhh, sure… like- like a date? Or- I mean like a date date type of breakfast like ‘oh what’s a good time’ type of date? Or… ahh, uhm…”
Izzy’s smile grew. “No Hitch, like an actual date, if you’re up for it?”
He knew that the mare was not afraid to speak her mind, but wow was he still surprised that she just straight up said it.
“Uhm, yeah, Izzy. I’d like that a lot.”
She continued to smile, turning back to go to the sliding door. When the two got through, the mares were sitting in the main room, a new guest with them. Misty was back.
“Misty, you’re back!” Izzy said, her tone back to a bright and happy fashion.
Misty didn’t say anything, but rather just smiled sheepishly from the attention as Zipp took a few steps forward.
Izzy’s smile faded a little, but she didn’t show any distaste.
“Izzy. I am so sorry for the way I acted. I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay and that there were no tricks, but my mind got the best of me, and took over, ruining the night. I know I sometimes am a little pushy, and I pushed Misty over the edge. I’m so glad I found her and apologized to her too. We both agreed that she should come back to hang out with us for the rest of the night. I… understand if you don’t want me to be included-”
“Zipp. I would never want to single you out in an activity. Yes, what you did was wrong, but you were just trying to protect everyone, not realizing that we didn’t need it. I know it’s hard for you to let the walls down but if you don’t… we’ll be your only friends. I know that isn’t a bad thing, but we aren’t always around, and you need more friends if you don’t want to be alone like how you are most of the week when we are all out. I can help you but you need to be more relaxed.”
Izzy then went to give Zipp a hug, to which she immediately accepted.
The rest of the ponies waited, smiling at the forgiving duo.
When they separated, Zipp spoke up. “I… think I am up to trying to be more relaxed. How about we start this road to being more relaxed tomorrow morning?”
Izzy scrunched her face, “ooohhh, I can’t do tomorrow, Hitch and I have a date for breakfast.”
Everypony’s eyes widened.
