Looking around the town, Izzy was nowhere to be found. And that put Misty off, that pony was usually the easiest to run into. Always aware of everyone and everything.
This strange fact didn't last long. Because Izzy appeared behind Misty in a flash. It reminded Misty of Opaline's surprises from back home.
"Ah!" Misty yelled, turning around towards Izzy.
"Oh hey, Misty!" Izzy said, tilting her head. "Whatcha up toooo?"
"I-izzy… good.. GREAT even, yeah, I was just talking to one of the Pipp-squeaks just a few minutes ago" Misty replied, fidgeting a bit.
"Huh.. so you wouldn't happen to know why I saw all 3 of them acting really peculiar" Izzy Said, pulling her hoof close to her face in contemplation.
Misty began to sweat, her stomach dropped with guilt "NOPE, I wouldn't know! Must just be kids being kids!!!" Misty said, feeling her eyes dart around.
"Hm, ok! Huh" Izzy said, strangely slinking around Misty, eying her up and down. Misty froze, feeling Izzy's eyes crawling around her whole body. Like a snake.
"W-what are you doing??" Misty asked, following her friend with her eyes.
"Your sparkle looks…. different today…" Izzy commented, looking both suspicious and shocked. "Less pink, more red" She said, eyeing her with a strange expression and emotion Misty hadn't seen yet before.
"Does it??? Well, I don't know anything about that, you are the sparkle expert!!!" Misty exclaimed half-excitedly but half filled with dread.
"Well… usually pink is your sparkle color, but changing colors usually means a change in magical ability." Izzy said, contemplating.
"Oh.. w-well I have been trying t-to learn some new spells.." Misty said, dilating her pupils. "Yeah! Um, the library has some old books they brought out of storage with all kinds of history and spells!" Misty said.
"Oh. Well, it's probably fine then! I think" Izzy whispered at the end. "Well! I have to go! See you later Misty!!!" Izzy yelled as she galloped away.
"Uh! OK!...uh" Misty yelled back as she watched the unicorn run away. Misty thought maybe Izzy had become suspicious of her, but maybe not? That unicorn was hard to pinpoint.
Misty felt disappointed in herself. She hadn't even the slightest clue why your "Sparkle" has magical qualities, or even why hers had changed. Perhaps her earlier practice of levitation had impacted it in some way? But Misty didn't know how that would happen.
She saw that Pipp's salon was a few feet away, she felt a bit bad the last time she had run out. Her hair probably did need some cleaning, Opaline didn't have any hair products. Although, Misty didn’t have any money either, so buying anything was out of the question. Until of course, she could find out how to obtain money.
Walking over to the building, noting a unicorn trotting out of the store with a freshly groomed mane, and pulling the door open, she could see different ponies in the chairs with a small performance from the employees on the stage while they had their hair done.
She carefully trotted her way down the aisle, seeing many holding phones or books. Books that had come from the library archives of history that had long been labeled as propaganda by the leaders.
Titles like "Celestia and Luna take on Discord"
"Tree of harmony" and Misty's favorite. "Magical spells and ailments, a guide on curing magical diseases".
Misty heard from Opaline many magically oriented curses she had done in the past. For Misty, it was as though traveling back in time to all the stories she had heard. She thought for a second.
"Wait, I should've gone to the library! There should be plenty of information about magic there! Ugh… why didn't I do that earlier!"
Misty slapped herself over the head, she should've thought of this sooner. It would be so much easier to get a book instead. She chuckled to herself, thinking about the library as she turned to go back towards the door.
"Gasp* Misty!!!" Some pony said from her side.
Misty turned her head to see the one and only Pipp Petals looking at her.
Her stomach dropped, she remembered the blatant conspiracy theory she told the small unicorn about Pipp. She froze in place.
"Would she know about what I said? No, no way, she can't know. It's fine, she's only saying hi"
Pipp eagerly walked up to Misty. "Hiiiiii Mistyyyy" She waved her hoof.
"H-hey, Pipp!" Misty said.
"Wow, ok so like, last time you were here was a huuuggge bummer. But look! You're back now. So nice to see Zipps outburst didn't scare you away!" Pipp happily exclaimed.
"Yeah..it's fine really. I know what it's like to be obsessed with something…." Misty said, looking to her flank.
"Weelll, do you want to get your hair done? I'll post your new style on my pooonnyyygrammm" Pipp said, singing the last word while fluttering her wings.
"O-oh, well I don't have any money to pay for something like that.." Misty said, drooping her head.
"Ohh, that's fine! Consider it my treat after the incident with Zipp! My apologies again by the way" Pipp said.
"But-"
"Uh, nuh uh. No buts!"
Pipp sat her down in a chair, whirring her around to the mirror.
"Now just relax, pick what you want! It doesn't have to be a haircut either! Take it away, Rocky!"
Misty began to sweat in her seat. Everything was getting dizzy. She felt guilty for receiving such kindness from Pipp after her admittedly nasty lie. The guilt would probably stick around for a while.
"Hey there! Hm, I saw you last time you were here, but you rushed away so suddenly!" The pegasus declared. "Names Rocky by the way" He said as he held out his hoof.
Misty stared at the stallion's hoof, wondering if she should accept a hoof-shake. She hesitantly held out her hoof and shook it up and down, while he smiled.
"So, Pipp gave you a free styling! Lucky you! So what do you want?" He asked.
"I- I don't know.. um, my hair has always been the same" Misty whispered.
"Always the same? Well, we'll have to change that!" Rocky happily trotted over to the products and scissors. "A cut?" He asked.
"Ah..n-no cutting please" Misty said.
"Alrighty" the stallion rubbed his hooves together. "May I braid it then?"
"Um, sure"
"This will take a while then, strap in!" He exclaimed.
Then began the long process of braiding her hair. Rocky told her it would take a long time, but she never expected for it to be as lengthy as it was. She felt guilty, all this work, and she wasn't even paying! It was akin to stealing in her mind.
To pass the time, Misty wondered what books she could bring back to Opaline. Magic? Spells? Ancient Equestria? She had a hard time imagining what she would find.
Her hair went this way and that, other ponies were leaving and some were coming in. She closed her eyes, almost dozing off. It was a solid couple hours for sure, but it was finally finished.
"Ok, go ahead and look" Rocky said, turning her chair.
Her hair looked different. Misty's eyes watered at her new appearance.
This was too much, truly. Her gut welled up with guilt again, her eyes leaked tears. Her reflection was one not of Opaline's assistant, but one of her own. Her own identity. She was afraid of what Opaline would think, would she scold her? Yell? Demand that she change it back? Misty didn't know.
She wiped her face of her sorrow "thank you" she said.
Rocky looked at her with solemn expression "no problem, come back anytime" he smiled.
Misty got up out of her seat and walked out of the salon. It was getting quite late, and she still needed to check out a book to bring back home. Turning a corner, in her view was the library. She sighed, moving her hooves to get straight to the building.
The door jingled when she came in, no ponies in sight for the time being. There were piles of unorganized books in the room. It was dusty and unkempt. She wondered why anyone
would come here at all.
The aisles were packed, stretching from the door to the counter. Rows of them stretched to the ceiling. She turned her head to each side, eyeing some titles on the shelves. Some even looked to be of pegasus origin, meaning they had transferred them over from the pegasus city.
"Hello?" Misty said, drawing her eyes across the room. "Uh hello?"
"What?? HUH??" A small old pony looked out from one of the shelves, straightening the glasses on her muzzle.
"Oh my, I didn't expect somepony this late" the pony whispered to herself.
Squeezing around some books, the Mare looked at Misty.
"Hello dear, what might you be here for so late?" The old pony asked.
"Hello ma'am, uh, you wouldn't happen to have any books on old world unicorn spells would you?" Misty asked the mare.
"Well, I don't know why you would need any of those. Old world unicorn magic is quite complicated. Unicorns only just recently learned to levitate objects. And these books claim that changing matter to other types of matter, teleportation and even time travel was possible!" The old pony exclaimed as she almost dropped the books she was holding.
Misty looked strangely at the pony who was in front of her. Did she not want Misty checking out books?
"Uh, well, that's what I came for. I was just curious about the old types of unicorn spells" Misty said.
"Well, I suppose your curiosity is admirable"
the old pony said, beginning to dig into the piles of books, tossing them about and skimming some pages. "Hm, no. Ahhh, no not that one. Hm ah yes!"
She held a book close to Misty's face. The title was "Starswirl, Magic and Destiny"
"This is a copy of a book made by the most ancient unicorn to ever exist. He was once thought to be a myth or propaganda, but now, with these new developments, it's likely he was real."
"Wow…" Misty said.
"Hitch and Sunny visited me and told me to freely give history books to anypony who wanted them, so go ahead and take it." The old pony said.
"Thank you very much" Misty said, taking the book from her hooves.
"Don't get too carried away now, it will probably be a very long while before any high level spells can be performed by a unicorn in this age. It will take years of practice and honing your magical power. At least, that's if ancient unicorn abilities are to be believed" the old mare explained.
"Alright…" Misty said. She looked at the book, it was a cool green color. The swirl and sparkle on the cover only added to the old looking appearance.
She wondered if the book would help in her pursuit of magical knowledge, or if she was always destined to fail at spells. Either way, Misty hoped Opaline wouldn't scold her too much.