Unveiling the Lies

Zipp flies through the hallway, dashing around every corner, not stopping as she kept hearing her name being called constantly by her mom deciding to block out the sound with the wind in her ears.

She takes one more turn still hearing her name being called about to shout at her mom to leave her alone, but then notices that the voice was turning into one of a stallion's.

Noticing this shift she looks behind her only to see Hitch chasing after her, so she slowed down and lowered herself toward the ground. Making sure to mask her emotions to look like her normal cool self,

“There you are, Sheriff! I was looking for you everywhere, but haha! Look the pony I was chasing ended up to be the one chasing after me the whole time! I want to apologize for Pipp’s behavior earlier, it was completely uncalled for.” She trots up towards him

Hitch stops where he is and takes a deep breath, “You seriously…*pant*...didn’t hear any of my screams for the past 20 minutes…*wheeze* …of you flying?”

*THUD*

Hitch collapses onto the ground after saying the last words. Zipp grows a little worried but she pretends to be amused.

“What can I say? The wind got to my ears. Wow, Sheriff, I didn’t know you were this out of shape. Seems to me like those well-defined abs…, ahem, that you like to brag about so much were just for show. Remind me to make a training course just for you.” Zipp looks away from him to hide her embarrassment

She offers to help him, but he politely declines and pulls himself up. Zipp, though now noticing how long she was out in the open, leads Hitch to the nearest room and makes sure that nopony else is in sight before carefully closing the door.

Hitch notices this motion, sits down on the floor, now offering his hooves out for a hug, “Something tells me that has something to do with why you weren’t able to hear me till a couple of minutes ago, so here you go.”

She hesitates for a few moments, then carefully takes a couple of steps forward trying to play it off cool, but quickly embraces him. Hitch strokes her mane and she buries her face into his chest smiling, “One more thing to add to your list I see…”

“What list?” Hitch asks, trying not to laugh when Zipp nuzzles herself onto his chest, he tries to hide it but every pony finds out very easily how ticklish this stallion is,

“Oh, you know the list of all your talents.” Zipp jokes around and Hitch snorts at the response and props his head on top of hers.

“Well, I’m just using my past experience with what happened in the cave, and also when I had to comfort Sunny as a filly due to her father…you know.”

When thinking back about Argyle, Hitch wished he could have appreciated him more, after all, he made the best desserts and was basically like another father to him.

Zipp makes a disgruntled noise when Hitch brings up the cave though and the tips of her ears and cheeks turn a light pink, “Sorry about ... kissing you so suddenly without asking for your consent. At the time it felt like the right thing to do, I guess. Which now that I'm thinking about it again...that doesn't make sense? Guess I was just too desperate to have a chance at something that couldn’t work out and took advantage of you during the process…” She takes a deep breath now relieved to let out a problem that she was pushing off for some time.

The intimate moment now dawns on Hitch’s mind since he forgot about it, so he slowly lifts his head away from hers and tries to wave it off, “It’s fine, I forgot it even happened. Next time though, give a stallion a heads up? Almost gave me a heart attack.”

Zipp, being convinced, also lifts up her head and accidentally crashes into his jaw, “Oh my gosh! I am so sorry, are you ok?”

He rubs the tip of his chin smiling to try and reassure her

Zipp on the other hand was busy rubbing her forehead as it was throbbing from the collision. Not really paying attention to what he was saying at the moment.

“...ld work” Hitch would finish saying and then looks away trying to hide his embarrassed face.

Zipp, finally paying attention to him, would be confused about what he said. She turns his face towards her with her hooves, “I’m sorry to ask this, but like could you repeat what you said? I didn’t hear you properly the first time.”

With Zipp asking this Hitch’s eyes fly everywhere, his face heating up at each passing second, until they finally land on hers and he takes the time to finally notice all the little details in them, like how they sparkle under the dim light-

“Hello?”

Zipp speaking snaps him out of his thoughts and he repeats what he said,

“That thing you said earlier…a-about you and me not working? We…could work.” Hitch now says less confident than before, but he does the unexpected and put his hoof on hers which was holding onto his cheek.

Oh my, what is this I see!?! A new sudden surge of boldness coming from Hitch?!? Ooh, this is getting juicy!

You are probably wondering, “Hey Narrator, what is happening?” Well I am going to tell you this, I don’t care to know so imma skip this sappy scene

*universal slap*

…Ahem, I mean I will do my job which I was NOT at all PAID for, and INVADE these two INNOCENT ponies PRIVACY…*cough* I do not know why my throat was so sore that I had to scream COMMON SENSE to the unknown *cough*, yeah I am now better

With his hoof on hers, Zipp sports a small smile, “Hmm, maybe we could've...”

Saying this she strokes his cheek slowly to not have his hoof fall off of hers. Hearing this he would slightly tighten his grip on her hoof and asks her with sad eyes, “Could've?”

“Everything is going to be ok. I’m going to make sure of that, so all you need to know is that I’m going on a date with the princess of the northern pegasi empire.”

Hitch’s ears pop up and he raises his eyebrows confused. Judging from Zipp’s tone and earlier answers it seemed to be something she didn’t plan. He leans closer to her face and then asks with a straight face,

“Can I kiss you?”

"What?" Zipp leans back, checking to make sure she heard him, right, "Uh...are you feeling ok?"

Hitch uses his hoof to pull her closer. Both their faces are now inches apart, if one of them spoke their breath would surely hit the other’s face.

Zipp murmurs under her breath deciding to play along, “My, my Sheriff, I want to know where this confidence boost is coming from?”

~~That is what I want to know as well, I mean like isn’t he supposed to be shy~~

*This connection has been severed, please wait a couple of minutes for it to be fixed*

Hitch chuckles and responds to Zipp’s question amused, “Well if I’m to lose my chance to be with you…I need to make sure I seize it before it completely slips from my hooves.”

He smirks to himself, “Then again you never belonged to any pony.”

Hearing this, her face heats up a little, but she tries to mask it with a smug grin, “I’m glad you know that…ok then! Permission granted-”

Zipp’s words would be cut off at the end when Hitch finally closes the distance between them and she slowly eases into it. The kiss lasted just a moment before Hitch leans back with a sad smile.

Even though she wasn’t satisfied with this, she knew it was necessary after all feelings, especially romantic ones, are dangerous and cause complications for everything. “I know this is like a typical jerk move...but do you want to stay friends.”

Zipp gets up and moves away from Hitch, who was just looking down calculating something in his mind.

He then gets up and moves toward her, but keeps a friendly distance, “I’ll always be your friend, and nothing will ever change that. I mean yeah if we were something more then I'd be the happiest pony in Equestria.”

"Haha,I didn't know I had that affect on you Sheriff."

"Do you want the answer to that?" She shakes her head. She knew that the answer would be something that would have her heart skip a beat.

"Well then...we should get back to Pipp and the others right?" Zipp suggests and holds the door open for the both of them, making sure to check the outside surroundings beforehand. Hitch walks out first, and she follows after closing the door softly.

They then chatted about random stuff, but it was kind of awkward, as they worked their way back to Pipp’s room. That is until they turned the last corner and bumped into a very frantic-looking Queen Haven.

Both of the ponies looked at the Queen wide-eyed. That is until Zipp remembered the situation that led to her meeting with Hitch in the first place, and then started to turn to leave before being held in place by him. She looks at him angrily, but he is unfazed and whispers something to her ear then heads into Pipp’s room.

Queen Haven stares at her daughter with a pleading face, so even though Zipp is not in the best mood to talk with her mom she goes along and follows her to the nearest room. The royal’s exclusive swimming pool.

Queen Haven stand around awkwardly not knowing how to start talking with her daughter, so Zipp started the conversation for her, “Why?”

Queen Haven looked at her confused, “I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean?”

Zipp exasperated starts pacing around the room going to speak out one word and then stopping and then try to say something again before stopping again. This cycle repeated a couple of times, sometimes her making expressions with her hooves. Haven stares at her chuckling a little bit at the show she was being given.

This signals her to look at her mom, at first with a pouty face, and then laughing at her reflection gliding with the pool water. She takes a deep breath in and then exhales, “Why did you forgive him so quickly? Or a matter of fact agree to what he did for the deal? Don’t you know that I don’t even want this? To be queen or even royal?”

When Zipp finally said all the things that were bubbling up inside of her, Queen Haven looks down feeling guilty. Zipp flies to her mom’s embrace craving the comfort that she’s been missing ever since she turned into a full-fledged mare, sad about how she took advantage of this when she was a filly. Queen Haven pets Zipp’s very greasy mane,

“I didn’t forgive him completely, just decided to put it behind me. I know we won’t go back to how we used to be, as much as I wish that was possible. The moments were sweet. Now for your last questions….”

Queen Haven thinks hard about what she was about to say, so to make sure her point was put across she would face Zipp to her,

“I did not say anything about what your father proposed, but due to the situation and circumstances surrounding it I will have to, as you said, agree to what he proposed.” The minute she said that Zipp would start stirring from the hug, assumably trying to escape. Her mother tightens her embrace and hurriedly get her main point across,

“Zipp you need to know that whenever you are a royal, sometimes small…no…large sacrifices have to be made to ensure the safety and possible return of the majority of our citizens! As royals, we have to be willing to sacrifice even ourselves to better protect them. Why do you think that flight scam lasted as long as it did? We needed to give them blind hope in their times of panic if they knew that their precious rulers failed them, we feared that they would be lost, confused, plus mostly misguided! Please Zipp you have to know as your parents we never wanted to do this! I prayed, hoped, begged even to the memory of Celestia that it would never come to this, Zephyrina.” Queen Haven tells this to Zipp, tears threatening to pour at any chance given but her still putting on a strong face and now cupping Zipp’s face in between both her hooves.

“You are my first, oh so very precious and ambitious child. And no, no matter how much you beg and cause a fit I will never stop seeing you as the little foal who could barely lift herself to stand on her own four hooves, but…hehe…you would never stop trying and eventually taught yourself how to fly without those strings. Oh, how time passes! Do you want to know something funny Zephyrina? When I was just a young mare, just a little older than you, I was exactly the same. Not wanting anything to do with my royal status. Celestia forbid me from having children and having to deal with that motherly burden.” Queen Haven would lighten up a little, chuckling softly while recollecting to many moons ago.

“You! Really???” Zipp exclaims when she finally processed the last sentence her mother said.

Queen Haven just nods her head and then makes a mock offended face, “What? Do you think that I was some kind of princess character in all of those movies Pipp was obsessed with as a filly? Oh I hated all the lessons and duties I had to attend, I wanted to be like other ponies my age. Shopping trips, having fun, gossiping about all the latest drama and cutest stallions!” Zipp hearing this would come to a very sad conclusion about her mother's earliest years,

“All you ever wanted was friends, mom, isn’t it?”

Queen Haven hearing this raises both of her ears. She would look at her daughter with wide eyes and hug Zipp even more. “Oh my what a clever detective my own little pony has become! Hmm, yes, I guess so. But now, Zipp, after seeing how my life has become I noticed that I was just truly scared about being given the heavy burden the heir to the crown would eventually have.”

“Do you ever regret…going down this path?” Zipp unsurely asks and Queen Haven quickly shakes her head,

“Were you not listening to anything I was saying before? I would never, if ever given a chance, change a thing. I love my life, and both you and your sister are the best thing that has ever happened to me, literally! There is not a dull day when both of you are around.” Zipp laughs along with her mom when hearing that.

“Zephyrina? Tell me, do you care about Zephyr Heights? Do you want to help make it better and safer to live in?”

Zipp’s eyes shoot up, panicking, to her mom, “Of course I do!”

Queen Haven looks down at Zipp with a proud smile, “Of course you do, don’t you? Zipp you don’t have to do something you don’t want to. This kingdom is yours and you are free to rule it your way. This arranged marriage is a choice, one you can make whether to go on with or kindly refuse. If it doesn’t work out me and your dad will work out all the issues so just relax, alright?”

Queen Haven releases Zipp and ruffles up her hair. Zipp waves her mom away from her hair, then fixes it up,

“I’ll get started with working out the details for an alternative to the arranged marriage” Queen Haven heads to the door,

“I didn’t go on the date yet? Why would you work out the details so early on?”

Queen Haven stops and turns around smiling,

“I don't know...maybe because you've abandoned me for a certain earth pony recently? Sheriff is your nickname for him right? I wonder whose the one in charge?” After her mom said that Zipp’s face heats up

"MOM!"

"Sorry, haha, I couldn't help myself."

“So it was that obvious, huh? Doesn’t matter we broke it off, made sure it would never work before we even tried.” She admits and looks down glumly.

Her mother stares at her shocked and then switches to disappointment, “Why? I mean I thought that you would ignore the ruling, and continue to fight with me and your father or something. I mean I even imagined you'd provoke your father by being extra affectionate to Hitch?”

"Mom! Stop thinking weird things! I kind of confessed to him before I reached the castle, and we talked it through a few seconds ago. I don't want to trap him in this mess of being royal, so I just told him about the engagement saying that there wasn't anything I could do...and it ended like that. I would have gone through with the engagement mom if you didn’t talk to me honestly.” Zipp flexes her wings as a way of distracting herself.

Queen Haven looks down contemplating what to say next. She herself did not know how to fix the situation, so she just looks up at her daughter with an uneasy glance, “Well…you should apologize maybe? I mean you really wouldn’t need to since you did nothing wrong, and just assumed you were doing the right thing.”

Zipp sighs. “Heh, I don’t think that would fix anything. It would probably confuse him even more. It's better this way, and he can go find someone else who isn't going to be queen, who'll have all the time in the world to dedicate to him.”

"Or you could tell him you misunderstood everything, that you want to be with him, and see where things go from there."

"That doesn't work with my style."

"Then make it your style. Wow, I didn't think I'd be talking about this stuff to you Zipp. I now feel more like one of those hip moms!"

"Ugh mom...." Zipp drags her hoof down her face.

Her mom loops her arm around Zipp’s neck and then bump her forehead against Zipp’s with a reassuring smile. Zipp shares the smile and they walk to Pipp’s room with a much stronger bond than before. Queen Haven waves Zipp goodbye before heading to the throne room to organize for the northern pegasi’s visit.

Zipp takes in a deep breath then relax, and carefully opens up the door to Pipp’s room carefully in case her friends and little sister were deep asleep.

*Pop*

When the door was fully opened she was met with confetti and streamers popped into her face. This triggers her reflexes and she punches the pony in front of her. Quickly trapping the mysterious pony in a kotegaeshi.

"Start speaking. Now!"