“Good evening! Welcome to Mane Melody!” I repeated for the however-many-eth time today. “Be with you in a second,” I added, hoping I actually would be. Posey’s indecision over hooficure designs had reached minute twelve, and I was starting to lose it.
“Well this is a surprise,” Rocky said as he went to check in our latecomer. “Good evening, Misty!”
“Hey, Rocky.”
Misty was here? A smile split my face at the joyous news. She’d been coming to Mane Melody less and less. I couldn’t find her anywhere at Bridlewoodstock, let alone Bridlewood itself. If only Posey would make up her hay-filled mind between bright white and eggshell!
“Hello, Jazz,” Misty said as she approached us from behind. “Are you busy?”
“A little, but we should be done soon,” I replied with my best smile before turning to the indecisive mare next to me. “Right?”
Posey’s ear flicked and she glanced out of the corner of her eye at me. “Something bothering you, Jazz?”
Let’s see. One of my best friends in the whole wide world had just shown up out of the blue after weeks of being gone, but instead of greeting her with a huge hug and a smile at the door, I’m stuck here watching the blandest back and forth shuffle between the most basic colors imaginable for a hooficure that’d take all of two minutes if the pony in question would just make up their stupid mind!
“Nope!”
Posey turned to look at me and my customer serviceable grin and the timid unicorn watching us in the mirror. “You know what? I think I’ll skip the hooficure today.”
“Great!” I said quickly before she could change her mind. “Rocky, will check you out Posey? Thanks!” I helped her along to the front as politely as possible, though she didn’t seem to appreciate the helpful bump at the end.
With that distraction out of the way, I opened up and offered Misty a hug. “It’s so good to see you!”
With only a slight hesitation, she took a few steps forward and met me halfway. Even if she hadn’t seen me lately, I’d heard from Pipp that Misty had been warming up to everypony. Being close to her was just so refreshing after working all day, especially when it’d been so long since we’d seen each other. It felt so good to just love on her.
She giggled a good giggle and squeezed back. “It’s good to see you too, Jazz.”
Misty broke the hug and took a few paces back. I was so tempted to pull her back in. I’d missed getting my Misty fix a lot more than I thought I did the past few weeks. Still, I was a professional, and we were still open for another half an hour despite it being almost dusk. I straightened up and trotted over to the mirror.
“So, what hoof-look are we going for tonight?” I asked while motioning her closer to me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you come by this late.”
Her smile and ears fell with melancholy. “Well, actually… I was sort of just coming by to say goodbye.”
My heart nearly dropped out of my chest and shattered on the ground.
“Only for a little while!” she quickly added. “Maybe. I hope.”
I blinked past my stupor to get my brain function back. “What? But why? Where are you going?”
“Just away, for a while. There’s”—Misty’s eyes drifted down to her hooves. “There’s something I’ve got to do, even if I’m not sure I want to do it or not.”
“I see. Well, do you maybe know when you’ll be back?”
She didn’t look up; only shaking her head.
Misty was leaving? I guess I was glad that she thought to come here, but I didn’t want her to go. She was just starting to open up to me, too.
The unicorn was already a far cry from the timid mare that had tumbled through the doors. Every time she came to Mane Melody was precious, a special treat to jump-start the morning. She’d tell me about all the things she’d gotten up to with Pipp and the others at the Brighthouse, making me just a little jealous.
Sunny had always been just a bundle of positivity, despite how we all treated her before she and her friends brought magic back. It was no wonder a good mare like her would be able to help Misty out of her shell. As for me, I liked to have fun too, but there was just a little too much baggage there for me to feel completely at ease around Sunny Starscout. Even if she didn’t care, I still did. Now though, I really wished I’d worked on that more when I wasn’t working. There was always time later, I thought. Just me being too scared. Again.
“I’m really sorry, Jazz.”
“No-no! Thank you so much for stopping in before you head out. I’d be more worried if you just vanished.” I slapped on my bravest face, but looking at her, I couldn’t help but get misty-eyed myself. “But I’m going to miss you so much.”
Her eyes widened, almost in shock. I really hoped it wasn’t. We were so much closer than that, or at least I thought we were. “I’ll miss you too, Jazz.”
I took a deep, calming breath. You are not going to send her off a big, blubbering mess, Jazz Hooves! I stamped my gloom into the ground and buried it under a smile. “Before you go, do you mind if we do one more hooficure for the road? My treat.”
Misty lifted her hoof and looked at it with apprehension. “Well, actually, I went to a thing in Zephyr Heights recently and Pipp gave me one on the way there. You said I shouldn’t get them so often, right?”
“Right. Your walls need time to breathe,” I reluctantly admitted. Stupid farrier training! “Well, what about something else? I can do more than hooves, you know.”
She tilted her head. “Like what?”
“Like…”
Oh, hayseeds! Like what? There wasn’t a lot of time left, and I didn’t want to keep Rocky waiting after closing. We’d already packed up the spa services for the day. A facial or dyeing job was out of the question. Cutting as much mane and tail as she was running around with would take a long time to clean up too.
Well, there was one thing we could do, but I wasn’t exactly confident. “Would you mind if I tried my hooves at styling your mane? Rocky knows a lot more about working with textured hair, but ever since you’ve been coming in, I’ve been trying to learn how to do it better.”
“You have?”
“Y-yeah! We don’t have many manes like yours around here, so I don’t have a lot of practice. But I’ve been watching a lot of ClipTrots and Ponygrams about styling it. I was hoping to give you one when I was better at—”
“I’d really like that!” Misty bounced on her hooves in excitement.
Despite my nerves, I couldn’t help but match her beaming smile with my own. “Then step over to the backwashing station, and let’s get started!”
I took her hoof in mine and led her to the lounger. I guided her down into the recesses, making sure she was comfortable, and started setting her curly mane into the rising bowl. Misty kept smiling all the while, just enjoying the new experience. I was too. This was the first time she’d let me do anything other than her hooves, and I planned on savoring every second of it.
I started rinsing, carefully working the parts of her overflowing mane with shampoo. Even if I was working as fast as I could, there was still a lot of hair to prep. Izzy had one of the longest manes I’d ever seen, but as I kept going, I started wondering if Misty’s was even longer. Her bouncy curls seemed heavier than Izzy’s flowing waves. I wished I could take more time and care, but there was just too much hair to manage in what little we had left.
Running my hooves through her mane was its own kind of magic. There were so many beautiful blue hues and different kinds of hair in her mane. Some of it wove into spirals, others zig-zagged, and some was so tightly wound that it looked like fuzz from a distance. The blues only grew more vibrant as I worked my hooves through it, cleaning the dirt and oil out.
“This is wonderful,” Misty sighed in content. “I never knew having somepony else wash your hair could feel so amazing.”
“There are just so many firsts I get to do with you.” I giggled and grabbed the conditioner. “I’m glad you like it.” I wanted to say more, like how I’d do it again in a heartbeat, or I’d be able to do a better job the next time she came in, but I didn’t want to spoil the mood. This was supposed to be fun.
As I finished up the last bit of mane, my eyes wandered back to her face, eyes shut and resting comfortably, simply enjoying the gentle pleasures of it all. I wondered off-hoof if I should wash her tail too while I was at it, only to spot nothing on her flank.
I gasped in shock before leaning down to her ear. “I don’t want to alarm you, but your cutie mark is gone!”
Her eyes shot open and she tensed up. “Oh, right.” She forced a chuckle behind her nervous grin. “It was just a fake. I just painted it on every day before I left.”
“What happened to it?”
“Funny story. I’ve, umm… never actually had a cutie mark?” After letting the reveal hang between us for a moment, her face fell downcast. “Okay, maybe it wasn’t so funny.”
As I observed the blank spot, the dots began connecting in my head. “You mean, the reason you never wanted me to do your coat was…”
She nodded. “I just wanted to blend in. If you washed it off, then everypony would notice. Being the center of attention was the last thing I wanted.”
“I guess that’s why you’ve always been a little…” Choose your words carefully, Jazz. “A little reserved around others.”
Her gaze drifted away from me. “Kinda.”
“Don’t worry,” I said as I stroked her mane. “Your secret’s safe with me. I know you don’t really like crowds.”
“Actually, Zipp found out, and so I already told the others.”
Knowing that pegasus princess, she probably cornered Misty like she did before about that rainbow lantern. I gave that nosy mare a piece of my mind. “And were you the center of attention after that?”
“For a little bit, but it was mostly about telling me that I didn’t have to hide myself. Zipp even said it was cool to be different.”
“And she’s totally right.” For once. “You’re lovely just the way you are, Misty. I wouldn’t change a thing about you.”
Misty blushed and giggled a little. That glee of hers was too pure for Equestria. “Thanks, Jazz.” And so the smile waned as quickly as it had waxed. “But still, I really want a cutie mark. More than anything.”
“Is that why you’re leaving?”
“Something like that,” she admitted before chewing her lip.
“If you think it’s what you need to do for a cutie mark, then I’m glad you’re going to find yourself.” If anything, it’d hopefully get Misty out from under whoever was always lurking just behind her happiness, reining her back from unbridled joy. “Just promise me you’ll send me an invite to the Cutie Blossom Bash when you do.”
“Oh! Yeah! I’ll be sure to do that first thing,” she swore with a nervous chuckle.
Despite Misty’s best efforts, her underlying complete bewilderment at the tradition was unmistakable to me. “How about I tell you all about what mine was like while I dry your mane?”
Her hesitation shifted to a sweet giggle at the soft suggestion. “Okay.”
This was taking longer than I’d hoped it would. Rocky had already closed up and was waiting on me to finish on a hair design I’d only practiced a few times on a ponnequin head. Having to restart the fourth flat twist twice and check the Ponygram tutorial again wasn’t exactly helping my confidence either. Luckily, Misty was a patient mare, letting me work up to something presentable as she kept her eyes closed. If it wasn’t for the content resting on her face, I’d be worried she was too scared to open them.
“Almost done, Jazz?” Rocky asked from the seat next to Misty’s.
“I already said you could leave if you wanted.” He’d been watching me struggle the entire time and refuse his help each time. This was my going away present to Misty. He’d have to get his own.
Rocky yawned and looked out the window at the half-past dark o’ clock outside. “You know, I think I might do that now that you’ve gotten through all the twists. Just be sure to lock up before you head out this time.”
If my hooves weren’t full of mane, I’d smack my face. “It was one time, Rocky!”
“And that one time ended up with a Sneaksy mural on the wall.”
“And Pipp loved it! I don’t see the problem.”
He rolled his eyes and shrugged it off. “Just text me when you’re all finished up here, please.”
I nodded and waved him off. Another stupid, pointless, yet satisfying victory for Jazz Hooves! Now I just needed to seal the deal and tie up the loose ends of this manestyle. I grabbed a heavy-duty hair band to keep her mass of mane under control and tied it up at the top. Inspecting my work, I saw a few minor mistakes that hopefully wouldn’t upset her too much. Stupid time crunch. I fluffed the mane a bit more for good measure as I waited for a little privacy.
“Are you done?” Misty asked.
“Wait…” My ear flicked at the familiar door chime. “Okay, now I am.” I spun her chair in front of the mirror. “Viola!”
Misty peeked an eye open, but then her gaze shot out as she saw her reflection. It was a bit messy for Mane Melody standards, but it didn’t seem to matter. Her eyes sparkled at the mere sight of herself. Four flat twists wound up and over her head, leading to a large puffy ponytail bursting out the top and flowing down her neck. I’m glad Rocky suggested going with it over the lower version from the video, even if the last-minute change did mess me up.
“So, what do you think?” I asked.
“It’s so beautiful…”
“You’re so beautiful, Misty. It didn’t turn out exactly like I wanted, but—”
“No! I love it!” she shouted over me, not wanting to hear any of my misgivings. “I love it so much! I tried to do things like this before, but I was never allowed to…” She sniffled and buried her head into my chest, pushing her puff right into my muzzle. “Thank you, Jazz! Thank you!”
Any second thoughts I had were drowned out in an intoxicating sea of coconut and lavender. I reached my hooves around her neck and held her close to my heart. It was a small gesture, a simple parting gift for somepony I loved so dearly, but I could tell it meant the world to her as she rested comfortably in my embrace.
Wait, I loved her?
Misty backed away and rose from the salon chair, beaming that precious smile I’d grown to adore. A smile I might not see again for a long time, if ever. I didn’t want her to go. I wanted her to stay. I wanted to get to know her more. I wanted to help her misting beauty glisten like dewdrops everywhere she went.
But more than anything, I wanted to tell her I loved her, and hope that she felt the same way.
“Thank you, Jazz. I… I’m not sure I really want to go—”
Then don’t.
“—but I know if I don’t, I might never have this chance again.”
Why? Can’t you find your mark here? I’d help any way I could.
Misty trotted towards the door. I followed her, forcing the gentlest smile I could manage without breaking.
She chewed her lip and turned back to me while putting on a cloak she’d hung by the door. Her ears pinned against her braids and her mouth worked, trying to find something to say. Misty started a few sentences, but ultimately gave up on saying anything at all.
“Misty? I promise, hoof to heart, that I will always be on your side. I know your cutie mark will be just as beautiful and wonderful as the mare who wears it.”
For some reason, her eyes shrank away in fear. She threw her hood up and whispered something that I didn’t hear as she ran off into the night. I didn’t regret saying goodbye, or not confessing my feelings, but the dread I felt as she disappeared lingered in my heart, telling me I shouldn’t have let her go.