P + P = <3by BubbaBrickChaptersCharming SurpriseCharming ConfidenceCharming ForeshadowCharming SurpriseThe perfect end to a perfect day, Posey thinks to herself. Sitting on the end of the pier with Pipp, she cannot help but stare at all the new fascinating charms on her friendship bracelet. She nearly gets herself lost in the warmth of the sunset before Pipp brings her back to reality. “See? Not so broken now, huh?” Pipp says with a smile and a wave of her hoof, rattling off the matching charms on her own bracelet. “Thanks, Pipp!” Posey responds, nearly overwhelmed with joy, “This has been the best day EVER!” With a bit too much pizzazz, Posey throws her fore-hooves up in the air, flinging her hard-earned friendship bracelet into the sea. She gasps as she watches her prize sink out of view. “I got it, Posey!” With almost no hesitation, Pipp dives into the sea after the bracelet, screaming in her coloratura voice, “besties forever!” Pipp dives in quick and just as quickly comes back up with the bracelet. Overjoyed at seeing her friend save her bracelet, Posey gets a bit too excited and, with a bit of a mischievous spirit she rarely shows to others, she jumps in after Pipp. “CANNONBALL!” Posey hits the water on top of Pipp and both quickly surface. When they see that neither of them was hurt, they share a laugh. As their laughing putters out, they start to get lost in thought. Despite a rough start to the day, their time together was the closest thing to perfect either mare has experienced in a while. Pipp felt a great amount of satisfaction making some pony she is fond of happy, and Posey was grateful some pony was willing to spend the day with her. These good feelings, however, had an unintended side effect. The two mares, just floating and bobbing about in the water, started to unintentionally get closer to each other. Paying more attention to the sunset, the mares bump together. Simultaneously, they snap their necks around and end up muzzle to muzzle. Rather than back off or push the other away, both of them lock their focus on each other. Posey is drawn to Pipp’s eyes for what seems like the first real time, becoming enamored with their kiwi green shades and sparkling like flowers covered with morning dew. Pipp, due to her shorter stature, found herself with Posey’s mouth hovering over the tip of her nose. Her lips were slightly parted, allowing a bit of warm, sweet, and sugary cotton candy breath to caress Pipp’s face. BANG! Their brief moment of blissful togetherness was shattered when the Trot-walk’s sunset fireworks detonated above them. Forced back into reality, they both realize that they were still in the water and Pipp was still holding on to Posey’s bracelet. “Umm here’s your bracelet back,” Pipp says as she outstretches her hoof, presenting the rescued bracelet. “Oh, uh, thanks. That was… nice of you,” Posey tries to remember how to have coherent thoughts before reaching out her own hoof. Pipp slips Posey’s bracelet back onto her hoof. As Pipp pulls away, though, their hooves graze each other. Instantly, both sets of bracelets light up in the same rainbow glow that they have been doing all day, except they were not on a ride this time. The newest charm materializes. It was a simple, aqua blue water droplet. But as they look closer, they realize that there was an image inside of it. The image they see is of the two of them kissing. “Uhhh huh huh uhh.” Posey begins stammering, trying to find some real words, but she cannot. Her face gets so red from embarrassment no one could fault any pony for mistaking her for Sprout. Pipp on the other hoof was reacting more calmly, although she was just as red and speechless. Seconds that seem like hours go by of her just staring at the new charm. She looks up at Posey, who is frantically looking all over the shoreline for the words. For no reason other than it felt right, Pipp reaches out and puts her hoof on Posey’s shoulder. Posey, still riding high on an emotional rollercoaster, looks down at the hoof on her shoulder and then looks at Pipp. After an awkward moment of silence, Posey’s panic sets in again. “Well thank you for today, Pipp, but now I need to get home and garden my water. I mean, water my garden… Bye!” Pipp barely opens her mouth to speak before Posey takes off like a jet ski for the shore. Pipp flaps her wings dry and gives chase but only gets as far as the beach before overwhelming herself in confusion. She hovers over the shoreline as she watches the trail of smoke from Posey running as fast as she can up the beach, into the town, and on her street. Upon finally reaching her home, Posey slams and barricades the door. Pressing her back against the door, she takes many deep breaths trying desperately to get her heart out of her throat. “I can’t believe that happened,” she says to herself, “how did it? Why did it?” After locking her door, she starts pacing around the house asking herself the same questions she cannot answer. Her train of thought then guides her to the friendship bracelet that managed to stay on her galloping hoof. “Why did I want this ridiculous thing anyway?! So, a few ponies get a couple of pretty charms, and the next thing I know is I am acting like a foal in front of the whole town! Is this last charm some sort of practical joke by Izzy to make me look silly? That must be it! She used some of that unicorn ‘jinxie’ magic she is always going on about to make me look bad. While I was with Pipp, no less! Now she might never want to be my mare-friend!” Posey freezes, processing the words that were just blurted out. She had never thought about Pipp like that before, at least not that she could recall. Her mind starts to go through the day’s activities, except this time she was noticing things she was doing just to be closer to Pipp. Such as getting cheek to cheek in front of the mirrors at the Funhouse, making a real effort to win a prize for her at the various stalls just to hug her, holding hoofs on the more intense rides, and others. “Maybe I…” Posey starts thinking aloud as she goes over her short-term memory repeatedly. Taking the bracelet off, she looks at the last charm. Even though the image within it was burned into her memory, she wanted to make sure she did not miss something. But it was the same image that she saw earlier. The image of Pipp and her chest to chest, Pipp’s chin on her neck looking straight up and her looking down to Pipp, eyes closed and clearly locking lips. Her heart starts to speed up again, but without the panicking this time. A smile sneaks its way onto her face at the thought of living out this image. The feelings she felt from earlier were back for a moment, but they went from embarrassment to desire, then to regret, and finally determination. Charming ConfidenceOn the other side of town, Pipp slowly makes her way up the main path to the Brighthouse. She could not get what happened in the water out of her head. It was distracting her so much she made a few wrong turns on the way home. At this point, she was absolutely sure of her feelings, but that’s not what was bothering her. She opens the front door and walks in, greeted only by silence. Her trotting echoes as she makes her way up the stairs to the shared bedroom. A soft glow of light sneaks around the edges of the bedroom’s double door, along with the sounds of her friends and sister talking. She stands at the door with a hoof on the handle but once again hesitates. For the second time today, her confidence faulters. Consumed by confusion and a bit of fear, she lets go of the door, goes back downstairs, and buries herself in a pile of spare sheets on the couch. All bundled up, she tries to go to sleep at first but of course pulls out her phone and starts going through the photos of the day. Starting with some pictures of her working with Izzy at the charm bracelet stand that morning, she deletes any she considers “ugly” or duplicates. Afterwards, she stored what remained in a special digital folder all her friends had access to. But then she got to the pictures with Posey. It’s no secret that Posey is a very hard to please pony, especially to non-Earth ponies. Even after Earth pony magic came to be, the stubborn mare kept every pony at forelegs length. But as Pipp went through her pictures of Posey, you would not know it. In almost every picture, Posey was the happiest pony there. A smile snuck its way onto Pipp’s face as she reminisces on how happy she made Posey. Before she knew it, Pipp was saving all the Posey pictures into a new folder. A private folder simply titled <3. “Pipp?” Hearing her name from somewhere in the dark, Pipp shoots off the couch and panics, tossing the dozen or so sheets in every direction. She quickly runs out of sheets and hovers over the couch, darting her head around looking for whomever spoke. “Is someone there?” Pipp asks the darkness. Her phone bounces on the couch and settles flat with its screen up, its light barely luminating the room. A small bump in the new pile rises and the sheets start to part, revealing the purple and pink tail of Misty trying to shimmy her way out. “Oh hoofness, Misty!” Pipp swoops down and pulls up the sheets around where the buried unicorn’s head is. The knot of sheets loosens up enough for Misty to pop out. She does a full roll backward and ends up with her sitting up. After shaking her hair out of her face, Pipp buzzes around her making sure she was not hurt. “I’m sorry, Misty. I didn’t hear you coming. I shouldn’t have reacted like that.” Pipp says sadly. “It’s ok, I’m fine, really,” Misty says, trying to reassure her friend, “I’m more surprised that I startled you.” “Oh, well, I was kind of in the middle of something,” Pipp stops buzzing around and lands in front of Misty, giving her a belated greeting hug. “Is that why you’re down here by yourself?” Misty says with concern as she hugs Pipp back. A moment of silence between them occurs. Pipp, feeling confused all over again, only hugs Misty a bit tighter. Misty, becoming more worried with every second of silence, just returns the hug knowing Pipp will start talking when she is ready. “Something happened today, and I’m not sure how to feel about it.” Pipp pulls away from Misty to retrieve her phone and sit on the couch. After making sure her new album was ready, she hoofs it to Misty. Misty sits next to her and goes through the pictures. “These are all wonderful, I’ve never seen Posey like that before! But I don’t see the problem?” Misty hoofs Pipp’s phone back. Pipp then pulls the charm bracelet off her hoof and gives it to Misty. “Look at the last one” Not sure which one Pipp was referring to, Misty politely nods and scans all the charms for whichever one looks odd. Because she has her own charm collection, it did not take long for her to find one she did not recognize. “Oh. Oh? Oh!” Surprised, Misty looks at Pipp, who is leaning on the arm of the couch holding up her head and staring into nowhere. “Did this really happen?” Misty asks. “No,” Pipp says softly, “but I wish it did.” “Really?” Misty asks with a near shocked look. “I think I messed up, though.” Pipp continued, not paying attention to Misty’s reaction. She goes on talking about the charm and what happened after it appeared. “And then she took off to her house. I wanted to follow her, but something just stopped me. That’s not me! I’m not some pony who just freezes up like that! What is wrong with me? Misty? Are you listening?” Pipp finally acknowledges her friend, who was politely quiet the whole time. “Oh, sorry,” says Misty as she shakes an enamored look off her face, “Yes, I heard every word. I’m just trying to wrap my head around it all. I mean, you and Posey?” “You think it’s ridiculous?” Pipp asks with a disappointed look. “Oh no!” Misty quickly responds, “there’s nothing ridiculous about you two being together. Those pictures prove that! I’m just surprised, this just came out of nowhere!” “That’s how I felt when I saw that charm,” Pipp says as she slowly leans back into the couch and stares up to the ceiling, “I guess Posey doesn’t feel the same.” “Why do you think that?” Misty asks. “Pretty obvious,” Pipp responds obnoxiously. “I don’t think it is.” “What else could it be?” Misty thinks about it for a moment. “Maybe she was scared?” “Scared?!” Pipp responds, leaning her head forward and gives a surprised look at Misty, “scared of me?” “Not scared of you but maybe scared of how she feels around you.” Misty confidently says. Pipp responds by giving Misty an unconvinced look. “I’m not really close to Posey,” Misty continues, “but I think I’ve been in her place. Do you remember when I started coming around and I was really nervous around all of you?” “Yeah,” Pipp responds, still obviously unconvinced. “Before that, I never had any real friends,” Misty continues, “So, I didn’t know how to act at the time. Everyone being so nice to me, it was overwhelming and scary. And whenever being with any pony became too much, I’d make up an excuse to leave and immediately regret it once I did.” Misty pauses for a moment to take a deep breath to keep from becoming overwhelmed by all the mixed emotions her memories brought. Pipp sits up straight and scoots closer to her friend, preparing to comfort her. However, Misty smiles and then looks at Pipp. “Maybe Posey ran away because she has never felt that way before and it scared her.” Pipp considers, “you might be right, that does make some sense.” She goes quiet for a moment “But then why did I freeze up?” Pipp asks, almost whining. “Same thing,” Misty responds, “you felt something new and didn’t know what to do.” Again, Pipp considers, “even if you’re right, it’s too late to fix it.” Misty scoots right up to Pipp and wraps a hoof around her back, “It’s never too late.” Pipp smiles at Misty and the two mares hug each other. “Can we keep this between us?” Pipp asks, “at least until I figure things out with Posey.” “If that’s what you want,” Misty answers before letting her friend go and heading back upstairs. Pipp gathers up her sheets from the floor and returns to the couch, spending the rest of the night scrolling though her new Posey album before finally drifting off to sleep. Charming ForeshadowAs the sun rises over Maretime Bay, Posey steps out of her home and greets the smells of her well-kept flowers. Walking upon her flower beds, she thoroughly inspects each flower, passing up any with the slightest of flaws. At the end of her garden, she turns around to face the flowers and taps her hooves to the ground. With the now familiar green glow, magical vines break the ground’s surface and collect her selections. The vines bring them all to her and tie them up in a bouquet with a discarded stem. Although not an expert at this new Earth pony magic, Posey is always improving. As for her flower choices, she is particularly proud of, a fact she hopes to convey to Pipp in her up-and-coming proclamation. “My dearest, Pipp,” she rehearses to herself as she locks up her home, “I present to you this small token of my affection, a bouquet fit for a princess such as yourself. Ten peonies of light pink for your well-kept coat symbolize the sweet tenderness you have shown to me throughout our friendship. Ten violet verbenas for your flowing mane, your gracefulness, and royal standing. Six green hydrangeas for your lovely eyes and the heartfelt emotions that I believe are mutual among us. And lastly, a pair of white roses for your angelic wings and to a new beginning of our relationship.” Satisfied with her ballot, Posey takes one last look at the bouquet before carefully placing it within her large shoulder bag. With her home and front gate locked up, she heads down the path to town. Not far from her home, the path splits. To the left was the Crystal Brighthouse and to the right was Maretime Bay. At first, she starts down the left path but stops in her tracks to consider. ‘No,’ she thinks, ‘I shouldn’t do this at the Brighthouse. This is between Pipp and I, not her friends. I probably wouldn’t even get to say half of what I want to before Izzy does something silly.’ In actuality, she was not eager to do this in front of any audience. On that slim justification, she turns right for town. As Posey walks down the seaside road, she feels relieved seeing that Sunny is not at her smoothie stand. Still, she keeps her head on a swivel all the way to the salon’s door making sure no pony close to her or Pipp is watching. Finally at the door, she takes one last deep breath for courage and walks in. After a quick scan of the salon chairs, she is again relieved to see that all are empty. Posey knew how unlikely this was going to be on her way in, but things seem to be going her way for now. She unbuttons her shoulder bag and starts to pull out the bouquet. “Posey? Is that you?” a mare’s voice calls from the far end of the salon, behind the stage’s curtain. Surprised, Posey does not realize whose voice she heard and assumes it was Pipp. “Oh, um yes! Its me, Posey!” Nervousness creeps into her voice as the reality of what she is doing sets in. However, her heart shatters when the curtain opens, revealing Jazz and Rocky cleaning the stage. The two of them drop everything and run up to Posey almost at a gallop. Before Posey could say another word, the two salon ponies had her in a chair with a barber’s cape tied to her neck. “Its so good to see you,” says a very energetic Jazz as she sets up a stylist’s kit next to Posey’s chair, “we hardly ever get to do walk-ins these days.” “Oh, well…” Posey tries to respond, but Rocky cuts her off. “Ever since Pipp started her stall at the Trot-walk, it hasn’t been as busy, but that just makes you more special!” “Um that’s nice, but…” Posey again tries to talk, but is again talked over by both Jazz and Rocky. They both continue to trade off talking on either side of her, going through a thorough list of products and services they have to offer as if Posey has never been there before. With all this happening, Posey doesn’t notice that her shoulder bag’s flap was loose, or that the back-and-forth spins of the chair by Jazz and Rocky’s overzealousness was making the bouquet inch its way out of the bag. Posey is now beyond annoyed at being interrupted and preparing to verbally explode when Rocky suddenly slips on something and hits the floor. Jazz goes silent and quickly hops around Posey who is still practically tied up in the salon chair. “Are you ok?” Jazz asks with concern, offering a hoof up. “Yeah, I’m good. What was that?” Rocky takes Jazz’s hoof and both look where he was standing. Posey gets herself untied and hops off the chair. She turns to see Jazz and Rocky, wide eyed and slacked jawed staring at the floor. To Posey’s shock, she sees that they are staring at what’s left of her bouquet. Petals crushed, stems broken, and all the colors smeared onto the floor, the once beautiful arrangement was utterly destroyed. Posey, seemingly in a state of shock, collapses onto her stomach. Her face goes blank, and her eyes water up. Next to her, Rocky feels a wave of guilt crashing over top of him. “Posey,” Rocky finally breaks the silence, “I am so sorry. It was a complete accident. I will get you some new ones, and…” “You picked those for Pipp, didn’t you?” Jazz interrupts. Posey says nothing but slightly nods. Confused, Rocky looks at Jazz, “the colors,” she whispers softly. Rocky looks back at the destroyed bouquet. Even though they could not begin to understand the deeper meaning Posey intended, it was obvious by the color scheme it was meant for Pipp. Feeling that no words would be enough, the now devastated Rocky starts to back away slowly. He only stops when Jazz wraps a hoof around him. “They were perfect,” Posey finally speaks, “just like her. (Sniff) I worked so hard growing and nurturing them. I doubt I could ever re-create that perfection again. Now I have nothing to give precious Pipp.” Jazz and Rocky watch in stunned disbelief as Posey starts scooping up the floral debris and puts it in her bag. They are stunned mostly by guilt for ruining Posey’s gift, but also because of the realization about Posey having feelings for Pipp. Many questions buzz around in their heads, but they respectfully do not ask them. Jazz walks up to Posey and quietly brushes the last of the flowers into Posey’s bag. Without saying anything or even looking at Jazz, Posey simply pats Jazz’s shoulder and starts to head for the door. With a hoof on the door and a tear in her eye, Posey hesitates to collect herself before walking out. However, before opening the door, another hoof appears on her shoulder and holds her back. A slight gust from behind tells her it was a Pegasus and she assumes it was Rocky. “It’s ok, Rocky,” Posey says, still looking straight ahead at the door, “I know it was an accident and you didn’t mean to, I’m not upset at you.” The hoof pulls Posey around and she is beyond shocked to see Pipp standing there. With her own tears in her eyes, but also a smile on her face, Pipp pulls Posey in for a hug. Posey cannot believe what is happening. More embarrassed about the spectacle she performed than anything else, Posey finally speaks. “Umm, Pipp, how much of that did you see and hear?” “What I needed to, precious Posey,” Pipp says with a sly tone. Posey goes as red as a rose. Pipp pulls away and looks Posey eye to eye. “Oh, Posey. A gift from you is pretty awesome, but you didn’t have to go through that. If you wanted to date me, all you had to do was ask. All I had to do was ask, too, but I was a bit scared.” “You? Scared? Of me?” Still red in the face, Posey nervously starts to readjust her mane poofs. “Scared of Us,” Pipp says as she moves a hoof from Posey’s shoulder, up her neck, and to her face. “but in a good way, like how you were scared on the bigger rides yesterday.” “Well, those rides weren’t that scary when I was with you,” Posey says with a hint of nervousness sneaking its way in. Now Pipp’s pink face turns slightly red. She pulls her hoof away from Posey to swipe her bangs out of her face. Both go on for a few more moments adjusting any and all accessories on themselves until the silence reaches awkwardness. They eventually lock their eyes again, but something seems different to them. Now that their mutual feelings are clear, the veil of indecisiveness between them drops. Their nervous smiles lax into more believable grins, their red blushes tone down to a barely noticeable pink glow, and their wide-eyed-stare softens. Without looking away, Posey offers her hoof and Pipp quickly accepts. Slowly they pull each other closer till their chest to chest. Pipp looks almost straight up and rests her chin on Posey’s neck. Posey looks down and nuzzles her muzzle to Pipp’s. “Still scared?’ Pipp whispers. “Terrified,” Posey whispers back. They both giggle before leaning in the last couple of inches for their lips to meet. Starting off with only a couple of pecks, they quickly escalate to deep kissing. Their hearts explode with euphoria as they stand there, lost in their own little world, oblivious to everything outside of it. Click. Their little world pops like a bubble at the sound of a camera going off. Posey looks over the top of Pipp and Pipp turns her head around. Jazz and Rocky are sitting on the stage, holding hooves, smiling the biggest smiles they have ever made, their cheeks and eyes wet from tears of joy, and Jazz has her phone out. “It’s for you two, I swear,” Jazz’s voice crackles from trying to control her feelings, “I thought a picture of your first kiss would be great to have.” Posey reacts with her all too familiar scowl at Jazz since permission was not granted. Pipp, however, hops and glides over to her friend. “Aww, Jazz, that was super sweet of you,” seeing how happy Pipp was, Posey relaxes her face and walks over to join her. Jazz shows them her picture, and they both get surprised. The picture looks exactly like the matching charms on their bracelets. The now mare-friends look at each other again and simply laugh as those bracelets subtly flash on their wrists.
Charming SurpriseThe perfect end to a perfect day, Posey thinks to herself. Sitting on the end of the pier with Pipp, she cannot help but stare at all the new fascinating charms on her friendship bracelet. She nearly gets herself lost in the warmth of the sunset before Pipp brings her back to reality. “See? Not so broken now, huh?” Pipp says with a smile and a wave of her hoof, rattling off the matching charms on her own bracelet. “Thanks, Pipp!” Posey responds, nearly overwhelmed with joy, “This has been the best day EVER!” With a bit too much pizzazz, Posey throws her fore-hooves up in the air, flinging her hard-earned friendship bracelet into the sea. She gasps as she watches her prize sink out of view. “I got it, Posey!” With almost no hesitation, Pipp dives into the sea after the bracelet, screaming in her coloratura voice, “besties forever!” Pipp dives in quick and just as quickly comes back up with the bracelet. Overjoyed at seeing her friend save her bracelet, Posey gets a bit too excited and, with a bit of a mischievous spirit she rarely shows to others, she jumps in after Pipp. “CANNONBALL!” Posey hits the water on top of Pipp and both quickly surface. When they see that neither of them was hurt, they share a laugh. As their laughing putters out, they start to get lost in thought. Despite a rough start to the day, their time together was the closest thing to perfect either mare has experienced in a while. Pipp felt a great amount of satisfaction making some pony she is fond of happy, and Posey was grateful some pony was willing to spend the day with her. These good feelings, however, had an unintended side effect. The two mares, just floating and bobbing about in the water, started to unintentionally get closer to each other. Paying more attention to the sunset, the mares bump together. Simultaneously, they snap their necks around and end up muzzle to muzzle. Rather than back off or push the other away, both of them lock their focus on each other. Posey is drawn to Pipp’s eyes for what seems like the first real time, becoming enamored with their kiwi green shades and sparkling like flowers covered with morning dew. Pipp, due to her shorter stature, found herself with Posey’s mouth hovering over the tip of her nose. Her lips were slightly parted, allowing a bit of warm, sweet, and sugary cotton candy breath to caress Pipp’s face. BANG! Their brief moment of blissful togetherness was shattered when the Trot-walk’s sunset fireworks detonated above them. Forced back into reality, they both realize that they were still in the water and Pipp was still holding on to Posey’s bracelet. “Umm here’s your bracelet back,” Pipp says as she outstretches her hoof, presenting the rescued bracelet. “Oh, uh, thanks. That was… nice of you,” Posey tries to remember how to have coherent thoughts before reaching out her own hoof. Pipp slips Posey’s bracelet back onto her hoof. As Pipp pulls away, though, their hooves graze each other. Instantly, both sets of bracelets light up in the same rainbow glow that they have been doing all day, except they were not on a ride this time. The newest charm materializes. It was a simple, aqua blue water droplet. But as they look closer, they realize that there was an image inside of it. The image they see is of the two of them kissing. “Uhhh huh huh uhh.” Posey begins stammering, trying to find some real words, but she cannot. Her face gets so red from embarrassment no one could fault any pony for mistaking her for Sprout. Pipp on the other hoof was reacting more calmly, although she was just as red and speechless. Seconds that seem like hours go by of her just staring at the new charm. She looks up at Posey, who is frantically looking all over the shoreline for the words. For no reason other than it felt right, Pipp reaches out and puts her hoof on Posey’s shoulder. Posey, still riding high on an emotional rollercoaster, looks down at the hoof on her shoulder and then looks at Pipp. After an awkward moment of silence, Posey’s panic sets in again. “Well thank you for today, Pipp, but now I need to get home and garden my water. I mean, water my garden… Bye!” Pipp barely opens her mouth to speak before Posey takes off like a jet ski for the shore. Pipp flaps her wings dry and gives chase but only gets as far as the beach before overwhelming herself in confusion. She hovers over the shoreline as she watches the trail of smoke from Posey running as fast as she can up the beach, into the town, and on her street. Upon finally reaching her home, Posey slams and barricades the door. Pressing her back against the door, she takes many deep breaths trying desperately to get her heart out of her throat. “I can’t believe that happened,” she says to herself, “how did it? Why did it?” After locking her door, she starts pacing around the house asking herself the same questions she cannot answer. Her train of thought then guides her to the friendship bracelet that managed to stay on her galloping hoof. “Why did I want this ridiculous thing anyway?! So, a few ponies get a couple of pretty charms, and the next thing I know is I am acting like a foal in front of the whole town! Is this last charm some sort of practical joke by Izzy to make me look silly? That must be it! She used some of that unicorn ‘jinxie’ magic she is always going on about to make me look bad. While I was with Pipp, no less! Now she might never want to be my mare-friend!” Posey freezes, processing the words that were just blurted out. She had never thought about Pipp like that before, at least not that she could recall. Her mind starts to go through the day’s activities, except this time she was noticing things she was doing just to be closer to Pipp. Such as getting cheek to cheek in front of the mirrors at the Funhouse, making a real effort to win a prize for her at the various stalls just to hug her, holding hoofs on the more intense rides, and others. “Maybe I…” Posey starts thinking aloud as she goes over her short-term memory repeatedly. Taking the bracelet off, she looks at the last charm. Even though the image within it was burned into her memory, she wanted to make sure she did not miss something. But it was the same image that she saw earlier. The image of Pipp and her chest to chest, Pipp’s chin on her neck looking straight up and her looking down to Pipp, eyes closed and clearly locking lips. Her heart starts to speed up again, but without the panicking this time. A smile sneaks its way onto her face at the thought of living out this image. The feelings she felt from earlier were back for a moment, but they went from embarrassment to desire, then to regret, and finally determination.
Charming ConfidenceOn the other side of town, Pipp slowly makes her way up the main path to the Brighthouse. She could not get what happened in the water out of her head. It was distracting her so much she made a few wrong turns on the way home. At this point, she was absolutely sure of her feelings, but that’s not what was bothering her. She opens the front door and walks in, greeted only by silence. Her trotting echoes as she makes her way up the stairs to the shared bedroom. A soft glow of light sneaks around the edges of the bedroom’s double door, along with the sounds of her friends and sister talking. She stands at the door with a hoof on the handle but once again hesitates. For the second time today, her confidence faulters. Consumed by confusion and a bit of fear, she lets go of the door, goes back downstairs, and buries herself in a pile of spare sheets on the couch. All bundled up, she tries to go to sleep at first but of course pulls out her phone and starts going through the photos of the day. Starting with some pictures of her working with Izzy at the charm bracelet stand that morning, she deletes any she considers “ugly” or duplicates. Afterwards, she stored what remained in a special digital folder all her friends had access to. But then she got to the pictures with Posey. It’s no secret that Posey is a very hard to please pony, especially to non-Earth ponies. Even after Earth pony magic came to be, the stubborn mare kept every pony at forelegs length. But as Pipp went through her pictures of Posey, you would not know it. In almost every picture, Posey was the happiest pony there. A smile snuck its way onto Pipp’s face as she reminisces on how happy she made Posey. Before she knew it, Pipp was saving all the Posey pictures into a new folder. A private folder simply titled <3. “Pipp?” Hearing her name from somewhere in the dark, Pipp shoots off the couch and panics, tossing the dozen or so sheets in every direction. She quickly runs out of sheets and hovers over the couch, darting her head around looking for whomever spoke. “Is someone there?” Pipp asks the darkness. Her phone bounces on the couch and settles flat with its screen up, its light barely luminating the room. A small bump in the new pile rises and the sheets start to part, revealing the purple and pink tail of Misty trying to shimmy her way out. “Oh hoofness, Misty!” Pipp swoops down and pulls up the sheets around where the buried unicorn’s head is. The knot of sheets loosens up enough for Misty to pop out. She does a full roll backward and ends up with her sitting up. After shaking her hair out of her face, Pipp buzzes around her making sure she was not hurt. “I’m sorry, Misty. I didn’t hear you coming. I shouldn’t have reacted like that.” Pipp says sadly. “It’s ok, I’m fine, really,” Misty says, trying to reassure her friend, “I’m more surprised that I startled you.” “Oh, well, I was kind of in the middle of something,” Pipp stops buzzing around and lands in front of Misty, giving her a belated greeting hug. “Is that why you’re down here by yourself?” Misty says with concern as she hugs Pipp back. A moment of silence between them occurs. Pipp, feeling confused all over again, only hugs Misty a bit tighter. Misty, becoming more worried with every second of silence, just returns the hug knowing Pipp will start talking when she is ready. “Something happened today, and I’m not sure how to feel about it.” Pipp pulls away from Misty to retrieve her phone and sit on the couch. After making sure her new album was ready, she hoofs it to Misty. Misty sits next to her and goes through the pictures. “These are all wonderful, I’ve never seen Posey like that before! But I don’t see the problem?” Misty hoofs Pipp’s phone back. Pipp then pulls the charm bracelet off her hoof and gives it to Misty. “Look at the last one” Not sure which one Pipp was referring to, Misty politely nods and scans all the charms for whichever one looks odd. Because she has her own charm collection, it did not take long for her to find one she did not recognize. “Oh. Oh? Oh!” Surprised, Misty looks at Pipp, who is leaning on the arm of the couch holding up her head and staring into nowhere. “Did this really happen?” Misty asks. “No,” Pipp says softly, “but I wish it did.” “Really?” Misty asks with a near shocked look. “I think I messed up, though.” Pipp continued, not paying attention to Misty’s reaction. She goes on talking about the charm and what happened after it appeared. “And then she took off to her house. I wanted to follow her, but something just stopped me. That’s not me! I’m not some pony who just freezes up like that! What is wrong with me? Misty? Are you listening?” Pipp finally acknowledges her friend, who was politely quiet the whole time. “Oh, sorry,” says Misty as she shakes an enamored look off her face, “Yes, I heard every word. I’m just trying to wrap my head around it all. I mean, you and Posey?” “You think it’s ridiculous?” Pipp asks with a disappointed look. “Oh no!” Misty quickly responds, “there’s nothing ridiculous about you two being together. Those pictures prove that! I’m just surprised, this just came out of nowhere!” “That’s how I felt when I saw that charm,” Pipp says as she slowly leans back into the couch and stares up to the ceiling, “I guess Posey doesn’t feel the same.” “Why do you think that?” Misty asks. “Pretty obvious,” Pipp responds obnoxiously. “I don’t think it is.” “What else could it be?” Misty thinks about it for a moment. “Maybe she was scared?” “Scared?!” Pipp responds, leaning her head forward and gives a surprised look at Misty, “scared of me?” “Not scared of you but maybe scared of how she feels around you.” Misty confidently says. Pipp responds by giving Misty an unconvinced look. “I’m not really close to Posey,” Misty continues, “but I think I’ve been in her place. Do you remember when I started coming around and I was really nervous around all of you?” “Yeah,” Pipp responds, still obviously unconvinced. “Before that, I never had any real friends,” Misty continues, “So, I didn’t know how to act at the time. Everyone being so nice to me, it was overwhelming and scary. And whenever being with any pony became too much, I’d make up an excuse to leave and immediately regret it once I did.” Misty pauses for a moment to take a deep breath to keep from becoming overwhelmed by all the mixed emotions her memories brought. Pipp sits up straight and scoots closer to her friend, preparing to comfort her. However, Misty smiles and then looks at Pipp. “Maybe Posey ran away because she has never felt that way before and it scared her.” Pipp considers, “you might be right, that does make some sense.” She goes quiet for a moment “But then why did I freeze up?” Pipp asks, almost whining. “Same thing,” Misty responds, “you felt something new and didn’t know what to do.” Again, Pipp considers, “even if you’re right, it’s too late to fix it.” Misty scoots right up to Pipp and wraps a hoof around her back, “It’s never too late.” Pipp smiles at Misty and the two mares hug each other. “Can we keep this between us?” Pipp asks, “at least until I figure things out with Posey.” “If that’s what you want,” Misty answers before letting her friend go and heading back upstairs. Pipp gathers up her sheets from the floor and returns to the couch, spending the rest of the night scrolling though her new Posey album before finally drifting off to sleep.
Charming ForeshadowAs the sun rises over Maretime Bay, Posey steps out of her home and greets the smells of her well-kept flowers. Walking upon her flower beds, she thoroughly inspects each flower, passing up any with the slightest of flaws. At the end of her garden, she turns around to face the flowers and taps her hooves to the ground. With the now familiar green glow, magical vines break the ground’s surface and collect her selections. The vines bring them all to her and tie them up in a bouquet with a discarded stem. Although not an expert at this new Earth pony magic, Posey is always improving. As for her flower choices, she is particularly proud of, a fact she hopes to convey to Pipp in her up-and-coming proclamation. “My dearest, Pipp,” she rehearses to herself as she locks up her home, “I present to you this small token of my affection, a bouquet fit for a princess such as yourself. Ten peonies of light pink for your well-kept coat symbolize the sweet tenderness you have shown to me throughout our friendship. Ten violet verbenas for your flowing mane, your gracefulness, and royal standing. Six green hydrangeas for your lovely eyes and the heartfelt emotions that I believe are mutual among us. And lastly, a pair of white roses for your angelic wings and to a new beginning of our relationship.” Satisfied with her ballot, Posey takes one last look at the bouquet before carefully placing it within her large shoulder bag. With her home and front gate locked up, she heads down the path to town. Not far from her home, the path splits. To the left was the Crystal Brighthouse and to the right was Maretime Bay. At first, she starts down the left path but stops in her tracks to consider. ‘No,’ she thinks, ‘I shouldn’t do this at the Brighthouse. This is between Pipp and I, not her friends. I probably wouldn’t even get to say half of what I want to before Izzy does something silly.’ In actuality, she was not eager to do this in front of any audience. On that slim justification, she turns right for town. As Posey walks down the seaside road, she feels relieved seeing that Sunny is not at her smoothie stand. Still, she keeps her head on a swivel all the way to the salon’s door making sure no pony close to her or Pipp is watching. Finally at the door, she takes one last deep breath for courage and walks in. After a quick scan of the salon chairs, she is again relieved to see that all are empty. Posey knew how unlikely this was going to be on her way in, but things seem to be going her way for now. She unbuttons her shoulder bag and starts to pull out the bouquet. “Posey? Is that you?” a mare’s voice calls from the far end of the salon, behind the stage’s curtain. Surprised, Posey does not realize whose voice she heard and assumes it was Pipp. “Oh, um yes! Its me, Posey!” Nervousness creeps into her voice as the reality of what she is doing sets in. However, her heart shatters when the curtain opens, revealing Jazz and Rocky cleaning the stage. The two of them drop everything and run up to Posey almost at a gallop. Before Posey could say another word, the two salon ponies had her in a chair with a barber’s cape tied to her neck. “Its so good to see you,” says a very energetic Jazz as she sets up a stylist’s kit next to Posey’s chair, “we hardly ever get to do walk-ins these days.” “Oh, well…” Posey tries to respond, but Rocky cuts her off. “Ever since Pipp started her stall at the Trot-walk, it hasn’t been as busy, but that just makes you more special!” “Um that’s nice, but…” Posey again tries to talk, but is again talked over by both Jazz and Rocky. They both continue to trade off talking on either side of her, going through a thorough list of products and services they have to offer as if Posey has never been there before. With all this happening, Posey doesn’t notice that her shoulder bag’s flap was loose, or that the back-and-forth spins of the chair by Jazz and Rocky’s overzealousness was making the bouquet inch its way out of the bag. Posey is now beyond annoyed at being interrupted and preparing to verbally explode when Rocky suddenly slips on something and hits the floor. Jazz goes silent and quickly hops around Posey who is still practically tied up in the salon chair. “Are you ok?” Jazz asks with concern, offering a hoof up. “Yeah, I’m good. What was that?” Rocky takes Jazz’s hoof and both look where he was standing. Posey gets herself untied and hops off the chair. She turns to see Jazz and Rocky, wide eyed and slacked jawed staring at the floor. To Posey’s shock, she sees that they are staring at what’s left of her bouquet. Petals crushed, stems broken, and all the colors smeared onto the floor, the once beautiful arrangement was utterly destroyed. Posey, seemingly in a state of shock, collapses onto her stomach. Her face goes blank, and her eyes water up. Next to her, Rocky feels a wave of guilt crashing over top of him. “Posey,” Rocky finally breaks the silence, “I am so sorry. It was a complete accident. I will get you some new ones, and…” “You picked those for Pipp, didn’t you?” Jazz interrupts. Posey says nothing but slightly nods. Confused, Rocky looks at Jazz, “the colors,” she whispers softly. Rocky looks back at the destroyed bouquet. Even though they could not begin to understand the deeper meaning Posey intended, it was obvious by the color scheme it was meant for Pipp. Feeling that no words would be enough, the now devastated Rocky starts to back away slowly. He only stops when Jazz wraps a hoof around him. “They were perfect,” Posey finally speaks, “just like her. (Sniff) I worked so hard growing and nurturing them. I doubt I could ever re-create that perfection again. Now I have nothing to give precious Pipp.” Jazz and Rocky watch in stunned disbelief as Posey starts scooping up the floral debris and puts it in her bag. They are stunned mostly by guilt for ruining Posey’s gift, but also because of the realization about Posey having feelings for Pipp. Many questions buzz around in their heads, but they respectfully do not ask them. Jazz walks up to Posey and quietly brushes the last of the flowers into Posey’s bag. Without saying anything or even looking at Jazz, Posey simply pats Jazz’s shoulder and starts to head for the door. With a hoof on the door and a tear in her eye, Posey hesitates to collect herself before walking out. However, before opening the door, another hoof appears on her shoulder and holds her back. A slight gust from behind tells her it was a Pegasus and she assumes it was Rocky. “It’s ok, Rocky,” Posey says, still looking straight ahead at the door, “I know it was an accident and you didn’t mean to, I’m not upset at you.” The hoof pulls Posey around and she is beyond shocked to see Pipp standing there. With her own tears in her eyes, but also a smile on her face, Pipp pulls Posey in for a hug. Posey cannot believe what is happening. More embarrassed about the spectacle she performed than anything else, Posey finally speaks. “Umm, Pipp, how much of that did you see and hear?” “What I needed to, precious Posey,” Pipp says with a sly tone. Posey goes as red as a rose. Pipp pulls away and looks Posey eye to eye. “Oh, Posey. A gift from you is pretty awesome, but you didn’t have to go through that. If you wanted to date me, all you had to do was ask. All I had to do was ask, too, but I was a bit scared.” “You? Scared? Of me?” Still red in the face, Posey nervously starts to readjust her mane poofs. “Scared of Us,” Pipp says as she moves a hoof from Posey’s shoulder, up her neck, and to her face. “but in a good way, like how you were scared on the bigger rides yesterday.” “Well, those rides weren’t that scary when I was with you,” Posey says with a hint of nervousness sneaking its way in. Now Pipp’s pink face turns slightly red. She pulls her hoof away from Posey to swipe her bangs out of her face. Both go on for a few more moments adjusting any and all accessories on themselves until the silence reaches awkwardness. They eventually lock their eyes again, but something seems different to them. Now that their mutual feelings are clear, the veil of indecisiveness between them drops. Their nervous smiles lax into more believable grins, their red blushes tone down to a barely noticeable pink glow, and their wide-eyed-stare softens. Without looking away, Posey offers her hoof and Pipp quickly accepts. Slowly they pull each other closer till their chest to chest. Pipp looks almost straight up and rests her chin on Posey’s neck. Posey looks down and nuzzles her muzzle to Pipp’s. “Still scared?’ Pipp whispers. “Terrified,” Posey whispers back. They both giggle before leaning in the last couple of inches for their lips to meet. Starting off with only a couple of pecks, they quickly escalate to deep kissing. Their hearts explode with euphoria as they stand there, lost in their own little world, oblivious to everything outside of it. Click. Their little world pops like a bubble at the sound of a camera going off. Posey looks over the top of Pipp and Pipp turns her head around. Jazz and Rocky are sitting on the stage, holding hooves, smiling the biggest smiles they have ever made, their cheeks and eyes wet from tears of joy, and Jazz has her phone out. “It’s for you two, I swear,” Jazz’s voice crackles from trying to control her feelings, “I thought a picture of your first kiss would be great to have.” Posey reacts with her all too familiar scowl at Jazz since permission was not granted. Pipp, however, hops and glides over to her friend. “Aww, Jazz, that was super sweet of you,” seeing how happy Pipp was, Posey relaxes her face and walks over to join her. Jazz shows them her picture, and they both get surprised. The picture looks exactly like the matching charms on their bracelets. The now mare-friends look at each other again and simply laugh as those bracelets subtly flash on their wrists.
