P + P = <3

As 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.