a princess and her sheriff

why not sure I'll marry you part 7

Hitch, Sunny, Izzy, and Periwinkle stayed in their hotel room until dark, where ponies who lived outside of Zephyr Heights had already begun the journey back to Maretime Bay or Bridlewood. Hitch would rather have left as soon as he concluded business with Queen Haven and Zipp, but he couldn't deny that it was smarter to begin their journey late at night when there would be no nearby ponies wanting to talk to him simply because of the wedding.

Thus, they snuck out of Zephyr Heights from their hotel and walked for a few hours before they made camp. When they arrived at Maritime Bay two days later, it was past midnight, so Periwinkle and Hitch went to their respective houses while Sunny and Izzy went to the lighthouse. Hitch plopped onto his bed and got under his covers with a cheerful smile. Though his bed at the hotel room was extremely comfortable, nothing could be the comfort of his own bed in Maretime Bay.

The next day, Hitch took a shower, ate breakfast, and began trotting to the police station, humming a cheerful tune as though it were a regular day. But as he walked down the streets of his beloved town, ponies were giving him looks of surprise or encouraging smiles. Obviously, every pony was thinking of the wedding, making it clear that this day would be anything but normal. Still, Hitch continued to smile and sing a merry tune to delay the inevitable for as long as he could as he made his way to the police station.

The two seagulls and the crab were napping on top of the police station sign until they heard Hitch's footsteps. The seagulls chirped with glee as they flew down to meet Hitch while the crab snapped its claws vigorously.

"Yes, yes, it's nice to see you guys, too," Hitch said. "Now, let's say we enjoy another day of protecting our citizens and upholding the law?"

The critters responded with a single saluting and the crab clamping its claws again. Hitch smirked and walked past the critters to open the police station doors. He opened his mouth to give the station a good morning but he was quickly interrupted by hoof grabbing him by his badge and pulling him inside. Sprout closed the doors before the critters could get in and turned to Hitch with a frustrated glare.

"Hey, Sprout. What's going on?" Hitch asked.

"What's going on? What's going on?!" Sprout shouted. "How about the fact that you got married to a pegasus princess! One of the few pegasi that can fly of all ponies! Every pony has been ballistic ever since the royal wedding! My mom and I have spent the last 3 days with ponies coming to the station just to ask questions about you and the princess. They're always asking why you didn't tell them that you were getting married, why you were holding that marry me sign, if you are going to stay in Zephyr Heights to be a prince, or if you were going to make me sheriff."

"Ponies were asking if I was going to make you sheriff?" Hitch asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sprout rubbed his leg with a nervous chuckle and said "Well, said ponies are mostly me and mommy, but there are a few other ponies who were curious about that too."

"Uh-huh. Sure," Hitch said. "Did anything unrelated to the wedding happen?"

"Just the typical argument and somepony tossing litter on the ground. Mommy made sure everything was under control apart from that," Sprout said. "But back to the matter at hoof, why did you marry the pegasus princess?!"

Hitch huffed and said, "Okay, first of all, her name is Princess Pipp. Second of all, it was a misunderstanding mixed with being pressured and…being talked into wanting to be legally married."

"You want to stay married to her? Have you lost your mind?" Sprout asked.

"Actually, Sprout, I've been concerned about everypony's state of mind ever since Presto Tetrachord was caught," Hitch said. "Secondly, I don't even know if we will stay married. We will occasionally visit each other and get to know each other."