//------------------------------// // House Call // Story: Walk-ins Welcome // by Rego //------------------------------// Finally, it was over. It was finally all over. I took another sip of coffee as I watched the moonrise. It wasn’t like I was going to get any sleep tonight anyway. I was a coward. I knew that now more than ever. Misty warned me about how strong Opaline’s magic was. I thought I’d mentally prepared myself, but I still ran away, screaming at the top of my lungs when she attacked. Magic lasers and flying strikes were one thing, but stealing cutie marks? Controlling full-grown dragons? It was everything that I’d been taught to fear about other pony tribes and more. No wonder Misty was fearless during Nightmare Night. Every day of her life had been a nightmare. I took another jittery sip from my cup. I wasn’t shaking nearly as bad as before, but the caffeine still hadn’t overtaken my fear. Knowing everything was okay now wasn’t helping. I’d magically gotten my cutie mark back. Good. Pipp Ponygrammed a group selfie with everypony safe and sound in front of some random, enormous tree. Also good. But, until everypony was back in Maretime Bay, I wasn’t good. I checked my phone again. Maybe there was an update. They probably all headed somewhere to celebrate. Refresh-refresh-refresh. Scroll past the ads. The Dreamlands’ reunion tour was back on, Rocky was still out celebrating with friends, and the rest I’d already seen. I flopped back in my chair. Why wasn’t Pipp posting? I figured that mare would’ve been live-streaming the whole trip back. That mare wasn’t supposed to be subtle about anything! Knock, knock! My ears perked up and I turned my head towards my front door. Without skipping a beat, I shot to my hooves and broke into a gallop. I turned the knob, ready to give Pipp a piece of my mind for keeping me in the dark. But, as I threw open the door, the only one there on the other side was Misty. Misty grinned. “Hel—woah!” I didn’t even give her a chance to say anything before I pulled her into an embrace. She was safe. I already knew that, but it didn’t feel real. Not until now. Not until she was back. Not until I could hold her in my hooves again. Misty was safe. “Sorry for coming by so late, Jazz. Everypony wanted to have a big party at the Brighthouse, but I didn’t really feel like it, so I asked Pipp where your house was and—” “Is she gone?” I asked, not wanting her to waste another word on excuses. Misty’s breath hitched. It took her a second, but she pulled me closer and nodded into my shoulder. “How do you feel? Are you okay?” Her hooves tugged on my fur as she sank deeper into my side. “No.” I just nodded and shifted to the side, letting her lean on me while I led her inside. My place was a modest, little hoof-me-down house from my grandparents after they’d passed. I was slowly updating and renovating, but at least there was a corner that was unmistakably me. Misty gasped when she recognized it: a little hooficure station in my home. It wasn’t much, just a low table with drawers and a few amenities: hoof polish rack, warming lamp, cozy cushions. I hadn’t gotten much use out of it outside of doing my own hooves and the occasional friend’s. I sometimes regretted getting it at all instead of buying a better couch. Tonight was going to change all of that though. I laid a cushion down and gently sat Misty in it like I had done so many times in the past before taking my own seat across from her. “Thanks, but you really don’t need to give me a hooficure this late,” Misty assured. I shook my head as I began prepping my tools. “It’s for me too. I need to calm down. So much happened so fast today.” “Oh, okay.” She put her hooves between us on the table, tapping them along to a song only she could hear. “By the way, I really like your place. It’s cozy.” “Thanks. Been in the Hooves’ hooves for years. I’ve been renovating and changing the furniture as it breaks, but as you can see—” I motioned to the surrounding salon space. “—I have my priorities.” Misty nodded along as her eyes wandered around the room. Pretty much everything around us was older than me, and it showed. Creaky, scuffed floorboards ran from wall to wall, dotted with furniture ranging from ancient to brand new. I’d tried to scrub the yellowing wallpaper, but it was impossible to clean its age away. “I like to say the house has character.” I pointed to the doorway leading to the kitchen. “For instance, see those notches cut into the wallpaper there?” “The ones with crayon colors?” “That’s the family height chart. Red’s my mom, the blue and orange are my uncles, and green is me.” “Really? That’s so cute!” Misty exclaimed as she looked at the various colored cuts and numbers. “Does everypony in Maretime Bay do that?” “Not really, I don’t think. It’s kind of old fashioned these days, but this is an old house.” Her excitement picked up as she looked around more, giving me time to get everything ready for doing Misty’s hooves. The eye-catching shelf next to the staircase quickly grabbed her attention. “What is that?” “That, my dear Misty, is Knick Knack Cubby Cove,” I stated proudly. “Every cubby houses a tiny toy that’s older than dirt. I used to play with them all the time when I visited. I’ll eventually replace every run-down table and chair in this place, but Cubby Cove will never come down for as long as I live here.” Misty’s eyes sparkled. “There’s so much cool stuff here. Nothing like Opaline’s old castle.” “Seriously? It’s a castle. Places like that don’t just pop up out of nowhere.” “Well, yeah, but I didn’t know any stories behind anything there.” She sighed and slumped down. “And, I guess I never will now that she’s gone.” There were a few words at the tip of my tongue, mostly good riddance stuff and some other, more colorful phrases to add to Misty’s sheltered vocabulary list, but she didn’t look like she was in the mood for it. I reached over and held her hoof in mine, waiting for her to be ready to talk about it. Her ears flopped down, but her smile pulled through as she looked into my eyes. “I tried to talk to her,” Misty explained. “Deep down, I knew she wouldn’t listen to me, but I needed to try. Even after everything she’d done, I still cared about her. I actually felt sorry for her.” Misty bit her lip as she processed her emotions. I bit mine to hold them back. “I don’t exactly know what happened to Opaline. Sunny said she didn’t make it out of the castle before her tree destroyed it. All I know for sure is that she’s gone. She was completely alone in the end.” I nodded along and held Misty’s hoof. Anything else she’d want to hear would be a lie. I was glad Opaline was gone. There was not a shred of sympathy for her after everything she’d put us through. But I knew that it was more complicated for Misty. She sniffled a little and teared up, but I squeezed a little tighter every time, catching her before she fell into sadness. That evil alicorn deserved no tears. Not on my watch. The solemn silence lingered on for a while longer, but Misty pulled through, wearing that precious smile that I loved so much. “Thanks for hearing me out, Jazz. I know you probably think it’s stupid to feel this way.” “I might,” I grumbled, which was putting it mildly, “but your sensitivity is one of the things I love most about you, Misty. I could spend a lifetime painting your hooves, but I’d never match the beauty that’s in your heart.” The cheese might’ve been dripping from my words, but I couldn’t help how I felt. If that’s what would make Misty blush with that wondrous joy of hers, I’d gladly find a good wine to pair with it. I reached for the polish primer and started looking over what colors my more limited selection had available. “Now, let’s see about that hooficure.” I looked back up to Misty. “What do you feel like doing tonight?” Without uttering a word, Misty raised herself up out of her seat and leaned over the table. I almost asked what she was doing, but she answered with her lips. Mist filled my vision and I melted into the unexpected kiss. Her flavor, her fear, her scent, and her love filled me, heart and soul, cresting over me and flowing down my neck and withers. The steam coalesced into a passionate sea, dragging us into its current as we crashed against the waves. We would drown together, sinking lower and lower into pure bliss, but Misty broke away, letting me gasp for air. I returned to shore and the hooficure table to find Misty’s face burning bright red with a nervous, earnest smile. She placed her hooves dutifully between us on the table for her hooficure and cleared her throat to give me her answer. “S-surprise me.”