Art Makes the World go 'Round!

by Love And What Came After

A Covert Meeting

"Hello?" Misty lowered the volume of her voice and called once again. "Anypony here?"

"Psst. Hey, kid." The shadow of the alleyway enveloped the mysterious pony. From the darkness protruded a sneering grey muzzle and glossy white teeth.

Misty drew closer. In the tranquil silence of night, her hoofsteps upon the stone path were like miniature avalanches. She cringed and silently chastised herself with every step.

"Stop!"

Obediently, she paused, her hoof hovering midair.

"You are not worthy!"

"B - but—!" Misty whimpered, hanging her head. "I came all this way because I heard she was the best of the best..."

"You didn't let me finish! He coughed and cleared his throat pointedly. His obscured shoulders shrugged and his head bobbed up and down. Briefly, an orange horn revealed itself before promptly vanishing once more into the darkness. "You are not worthy, however...

From the shadows exploded a hooded figure who unceremoniously shoved aside the grey pony and proceeded to bounce excitedly, squealing. "...she'll teach you anyway!"

Misty gasped in surprise and fright, backpedaling. "Sneaksy! You're here? Now?!"

"Shh shh!" Sneaksy held a hoof up to her rainbow respirator, hushing her.

Embarrassed, Misty nodded and furiously attempted to dust herself off to make herself appear more presentable. Fortunately, the purple cloak she donned obscured most of her unkempt—and iconic—mane.

"Is he, um, okay?" She motioned to the remnants of the pony she had previously been speaking to, who had been savagely reduced to mere debris scattered across the ground.

"I may have gotten a little too excited! Sorry, Señor B! It's just that I've never had somepony reach out to me like this before. Don't worry, he's fine! If he can't compose himself, I'll just have to do it for him." Sneaksy patted Señor Butterscotch's mailbox head affectionately. "By the way, I love your disguise, miss...?"

Misty clumsily tapped her hooves together as she improvised and thought of an appropriate title. "Whisper!"

"Sounds a little over-confident, don't you think?" Sneaksy waggled her eyebrows. "And that mask too, it's so expressive! It looks familiar..."

"O - oh, um— That's because I stole it! From somepony fancy!" Whisper nervously fidgeted, adjusting her bejeweled masquerade piece. "You remember that ball held in Zephyr Heights this moon? They were probably there."

"I wish I was invited. The ponies walking the royal red carpet this moon looked stunning! We sneaky ponies and ponies wearing masques have something in common though: when you're on the dance floor, nopony knows it's you. Because of masks." She swept her hoof through the air, whispering dramatically.

Whisper giggled awkwardly, glancing sidelong and concealing the revealed and distinguishable left side of her face. "Dance floor? I guess I'm not a metaphor pony. Can we um... get to square one? Please?"

"Right!" Sneaksy retreived all of her artsy supplies, levitating them beneath her violet cape. "Square one: sneaking. I'm not a master of sneaking—I'm actually medium-sneaky—but with enough practice, anypony can learn to walk quietly. Except Señor Butterscotch! Dummies aren't known for their stealth."

Whisper lifted her foreleg and gingerly stepped on the stone path, wincing as her hoof created an unsubtle clop.

"Move as slow as a pegasnail right now if you have to, just focus on reducing the noise. The trick is to lean all of your weight into your other legs that are already on the ground. One hoof..." she stepped forward, "...then the next..." and another, "...and viola!" Sneaksy set her final rear hoof onto the path, having successfully moved forward without making any noise. "Your turn!"

Whisper inhaled softly to steel her nerves, closing her eyes as she focused. She tentatively lifted her foreleg and slowly, ever so slowly lowered her hoof...

"Uh, Whisper? You're not breathing. You have to breathe, that's the most important part! Breathe!" Sneaksy gestured with her hooves encouragingly, enunciating her point.

"Ahh!" Whisper unceremoniously tripped over her own foreleg, collapsing in a tangled heap onto the path. "Oof!" Some of her frizzy blue and cyan mane emerged from her hood, which she hastily tucked aside with a swipe of her hoof.

Sneaksy winced, hissing empathically. "Ooh, ouch... Okay, maybe we can skip being stealthy for now. Let's just get right to the art! That's the most fun part! Square two!"

"'Square two...!'" Whisper echoed, forcing herself to smile as she strived to express genuine excitement.