"Damn..." Said the aquamarine-maned pony with some annoyance. "Why can't I get you out of my head?"

Hitch, Maretime Bay's Sheriff, was in his office at the police station reviewing some papers. Most were unimportant requests, others were somewhat more correctable, and some were extremely important. However, the Sheriff couldn't pay much attention to what he read because he had a certain pegasus stuck in his thoughts: Pipp.

For a few weeks now, the Zephyr Heights' pop star princess had caused his stomach to churn just by having her near him. Why? Although the answer is obvious, it was a mystery to Hitch, because he had never felt that way with anypony before, not even with the rest of his friends.

Sunny was like his little sister, a mare that he would protect as such forever; Zipp was competitive and athletic, and although they often clashed with their ideas, they were good friends; Izzy... it's Izzy, there's not much to explain. But Pipp... she was different... a different pony. Her silky mane, her elegant wings that looked like little clouds, her emerald eyes, her shining hooves, her elegance, her voice... by Celestia, her singing voice was a spectacle worth of admiration.

A blush appeared on his face when he thought of her that way. Why couldn't he get her out of his mind? He always asked himself that every time the image of her ran through his brain, and a blush appeared on his face while his heart beat at full speed.

"Who am I trying to fool? It's obvious what's happening to me..." The sheriff surrendered. "So... Why can't I accept it?"

In the end he ended up leaving the accumulated papers and walked at a slow pace towards the exit. Before walking through the door, he took one last look at the pile of papers, which would surely be bigger the next day, and sighed frustrated.

"I hope those papers are already done tomorrow, I hate coming in and see the pile even bigger," He said to himself.

But the reality was that the pile wouldn't get any smaller at all, because now he was alone in the police station. After firing Sprout, the place seemed big and lonely for him, especially with the amount of problems that accumulated every day. Even if he was clumsy and lazy, at least Sprout could finish the papers quickly. But he was alone now, and although he didn't like it, he preferred it because he didn't want to have another Sprout as a companion.

Once he closed the site completely, he debated whether to go towards the right path, which led to his house, or the left path, which led to the Crystal Brighthouse. While going to his house to take a break after a long day of work sounded tempting, he loved visiting his friends' home because they were always doing something fun.

In the end, he chose to go to Maretime Bay's new lighthouse, where the Unity Crystals were kept, and see what the girls were doing. As he walked there, he couldn't help but think of Pipp again. And it wasn't something he did intentionally, she just crossed a millisecond through his mind, and now he couldn't get her off it.

"Damn, Pipp... What did you do to me?"

But no matter how much he complained or how much he tried to hide it: Pipp was his favorite thought. Even if it interrupted him while he was working, the thought of her filled him with joy, a joy that is difficult to describe. Sadly, when it came to her, he thought very pessimistically because he felt she was unattainable. She was a princess, he was a humble sheriff: she was an elegant pony, he a very casual pony; she was a pegasus, he was an earth pony.

"It wouldn't work," Hitch said, as he sighed with a sad laugh. "Don't get your hopes up, Hitch. She is not within your reach..."

When he arrived at the Brighthouse, after walking for a while under the moonlight, he knocked on the door and waited for somepony to open it. However, several minutes passed and no one spoke from inside, which left Hitch baffled. He knocked again, yet no hoofsteps or sounds were heard from within. He decided to do something risky and slowly opened the door, and was surprised when he found Sunny, Izzy, Zipp and Misty fast asleep on the couch, with the TV on.

What caught his attention was finding Sunny curled up next to Izzy in the corner, while Zipp and Misty monopolized the remaining space. The stallion laughed lightly at that scene; However, he soon realized that somepony was missing among those mares...

"Where... Where's Pipp?" Thought the sheriff.

Without making much noise, he decided to search the entire place for the pegasus. First he looked in the kitchen, she wasn't there; then he looked in the small library that Sunny has, she wasn't there either; He looked in the girls' room, but she wasn't there either. He was beginning to worry a little, until he remembered that there was still one place where he could look for her: the Crystal Room.

Using the elevator, which was just below the Unity Crystals, Hitch went up to said place. Once he reached the top, he searched for Pipp with his gaze and found her sitting outside the room, looking up at the sky, apparently absorbed in her thoughts. The moonlight reflected on her, and if Hitch already felt lost by the pegasus, that image... had completely hypnotized him, because he couldn't describe how beautiful she looked.

He silently approached her, and careful not to scare her away, he sat down next to her. Apparently, Pipp was so thoughtful that she didn't notice Hitch's presence until he decided to break the ice.

"Hello," Hitch simply greeted.

The pony slowly turned to her side and felt her face suddenly turn red, since the moonlight was now also pointing at him, and the same thing that Hitch thought about Pipp a few moments ago is what she thought by seeing him like this. You really think Hitch is the only one who feels this way about her? Well, the reality is that she's been thinking about him a lot too, although it's been happening to her for months, so she's had that feeling way longer.

"H-Hey..." The princess returned the greeting, a bit nervous. "I didn't hear you arrive," She returned her gaze to the night sky.

"Sorry if I scared you. I found the others asleep, and when I didn't see you with them, I wanted to know where you were," The Sheriff explained himself.

"You didn't scare me, don't worry," She said with a light laugh. "And I'm sorry if I worried you. It's just that I couldn't sleep, so I took advantage of the fact that the others fell asleep and went up here. It's quite quiet and lets me think without interruptions."

"Did I interrupt something important?" The sheriff wondered.

The purple-maned pony was about to talk too much and say that she was thinking about what he could be doing, but she preferred to get rid of that idea.

"No, don't worry. They were just meaningless things, you know, when you only think for the sake of thinking," The pegasus lied. "Besides, I could use some company, being alone all the time is not that fun..."

"Well, even though I'm already seated, do you mind if I keep you company?" Hitch asked.

Pipp couldn't help but laugh at Hitch's comment, which caused a slight blush to appear on Hitch's cheeks. Although the silence between them was pleasant and did not bother either of them, they both wanted to break the ice, but neither knew how to do it. Then Hitch decided to speak, but Pipp beat him to it...

"It's a beautiful night," Said the pegasus

"Indeed..." The sheriff agreed. "Although you are more so," He thought.

"There are no views like this in Zephyr Heights. The fact that everything feels so natural in this place... I like it," Pipp said with a smile.

"Well, we may not be super updated, but at least we can enjoy basic things like going to the movies or hanging out with friends," Hitch pointed out.

"The simple idea sounds so nice..."

"You... didn't do those things at home?"

"Honestly? I never had time because of 'royal duties'," Pipp sighed sadly. "Besides, I had no friends..."

That last bit baffled Hitch completely. "Are you kidding? You are a princess, a pop star, you have thousands of fans!"

Pipp smiled wistfully and looked at Hitch in the eyes. "The only friends I have are the ones in this Brighthouse... and Jazz and Rocky, of course. But beyond that, there is nopony. I couldn't leave the castle because Mom was afraid that anypony would ask me to fly, and she had to keep up our facade. In addition, communication through networks was very fun, I could have 'friends', 'fans' on the Internet, sharing with them what I am so passionate about. But deep down, I think I never left my phone because... I felt alone."

Hitch didn't know what to answer, because the truth is that he didn't expect something like that, especially not from somepony like Pipp. He just said the first thing he could think of:

"You have us now, Pipp. You've got me..."

That last thing caused both ponies to blush, especially Pipp, because those words caught her completely off guard. Even so, the pegasus couldn't help but throw herself at the earth pony and hug him, which caught Hitch off guard, but he didn't hesitate to return the hug.

"I-I'm sorry if I get a little dramatic with this..." Pipp said, braking the hug and looking away a bit sad. "I-It's just that... I don't know... I've never felt so at home as here in Maretime Bay..."

"Hey, don't worry. You don't have to be sorry for opening up to me, we are friends, right?" Hitch said with a forced smile.

Friends.

A word that hurt both of them, but it was true. They were friends now, so there was nothing wrong with being somewhat open and intimate, right?

"You're right..." Is the only thing she said.

Once again, they were enveloped in a prolonged silence, which was now somewhat uncomfortable. Still, Hitch took a risk with a question that he hoped wouldn't make things worse...

"Hey, um, Pipp," She sheriff called out.

"Yeah?" The pegasus replied, looking at his eyes.

"If you don't mind me asking... Have you had any... serious relationship?"

The question made the pegasus tense a little, she was not expecting a question like that at all.

"S-Serious relationship...?"

"You know, when you go from being friends to... the other thing..."

"O-Oh... well... n-not really... like I said, I couldn't leave the castle and I had to keep up the façade of flying. Which means that I don't know anything about those types of relationships..." She explained.

For some reason, Hitch's eyes lit up when Pipp mentioned that last bit. Maybe there was a chance...

"What about you, Hitch?" The princess suddenly asked.

"Me?... Oh, about that... well, we're in the same page. I never had a partner, and the truth is that no one sparked my interest... until recently..."

He accidentally said that last thing out loud, because the pegasus raised her ears and tensed. Although she wanted to ignore the comment, her curiosity got the best of her:

"Until recently?" She asked.

"Dang it!" Hitch thought. "W-Well yes, she's a pony that's been invading my mind lately, but I prefer not to talk about it, i-it's very personal. Besides, I don't think she feels the same, anyway..."

"Are you kidding?" Said the pegasus, getting up and starting to pace back and forth. "I mean, who wouldn't want to be with you? You are a daring, hard-working, fun and protective stallion, you are a Sheriff, you are very handsome and you talk to animals. Everyone loves animals! Any mare would be lucky to have you..."

Pipp stopped short at Hitch's embarrassed expression, and soon she turned bright red as she realized what she had just said. The sheriff was beginning to suspect that, perhaps, she was not unattainable and the feeling was mutual. The pegasus was about to apologize, but then Hitch blurted out something she wasn't expecting at all...

"I think anypony would be lucky to have you as a partner too..."

Pipp's lips snapped shut and she froze in place. Hitch stood up and walked towards her.

"You are a very beautiful pegasus, you are a singer, a dancer, a pop star, a princess, elegant, you know about fashion and your voice is... I can't even describe it, but it is the most beautiful voice I have ever heard in my life," He listed out.

Pipp's reaction was similar to Hitch's: Her expression showed a bit of embarrassment and her cheeks were slightly flushed, and yet the sheriff wasn't going to stop there, but the pegasus beat him to it before he could say anything else.

"D-Do you really believe that?" Pipp asked, to which Hitch nodded "And how do you know all that?"

Was this a good time to say it? The feeling had only been there for a few weeks... and yet, he wanted to let it go. Maybe, just maybe, his suspicions were true and she felt the same as him...

"Because... you're the one who's been entering my mind, Pipp."

"...W-What?"

"The pony that I can't stop thinking about, that I have fallen in love with, is you, Pipp Petals."

Without warning, Hitch kissed Pipp, it was a short but very tender kiss. For a brief moment, Pipp felt like she was out of breath. Was... this happening? She had been daydreaming about him for months, and although it wasn't difficult for her to hide it, right now she couldn't hide her surprise. Her face was redder than a tomato, her heart was beating like crazy and the wings that suddenly rose from her gave her away. When Hitch separated, the pegasus froze.

"...Hey, Pipp?" He called out.

The Sheriff's call brought her out of her state of shock and she blinked rapidly before answering. "...I-I... Hitch, I..."

"Hey, if you don't feel the same, I understand..."

"No no no, don't worry! I-It's not that... I... I feel the same way about you... I-It's just that, w-well... that was my first kiss..."

Now it was Hitch's turn to freeze. Not only did she felt the same way, but that was also her first kiss?

"I swear if this is a dream and somepony wakes me up, I'm going to kill them," The sheriff thought before he could respond. "O-Oh... that's why..."

"B-But don't worry! I-I... the truth is that I have felt this for months, and the truth is... I thought you wouldn't feel the same..."

"It's funny... I thought exactly the same thing with you..."

"Really?"

"Well, you're a princess. I was sure that many other ponies would want to be with you and... I thought you wouldn't want anything to do with somepony like me..."

Pipp just smiled, and now she was the one who kissed Hitch, although it was a little more fleeting than the previous one.

"Oh Hitch, you're as handsome as you are silly, and you're very silly~" The pegasus joked.

Hitch couldn't help but grab the pegasus with his front hooves and lift her into the air, while he spun her around several times and they both laughed non-stop. In the end the Sheriff ended up falling with the pegasus on top of him.

"I think I will never forget the first kiss of my life, especially knowing that you gave it to me," Pipp said with a mischievous smile, still over the sheriff.

"It's funny, because that was also my first kiss..."

They joined their lips again, and this time they allowed themselves to lengthen it until they ran out of air.

After all, the night was still young, they still had time to "interact" without interruptions.

THE END

Author's Note

I told you, Pitch/PetalsBlazer shippers, that I'll make up for what I did in "Broken Heart"!

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks for reading, bye!