Walk-ins Welcome

by Rego

1st Appointment

"Good afternoon! Welcome to Mane…”

The front doors had chimed, but I didn’t see anypony at the entrance.

“Pipp? Was that you?” I called out, but heard nothing. The younger pegasus princess was usually a boisterous mare, putting it mildly. It wasn’t like her to not maximize an entrance. “Rocky?” I waited, but no answer again.

Maybe it was just the wind off the bay. Mane Melody did face the waterfront, so there was always a chance. Keep it together, Jazz!

It was fine. Totally fine! I was just jumpy. Even if I didn’t know my way around this brand new salon yet, it was nothing I couldn’t manage. Still, I’d probably feel better if I checked the weather for gusting wind. I was pretty sure I left my phone on my—”Ahh!”

“Wa—!” THUNK!

A blue mess groaned in pain and rolled out from under my hooficure table. It was a mare, a bright and dark blue unicorn that I’d never seen before. When had she gotten there? And how? Why? She was rubbing her poor horn after bonking it on my station's study underside.

“Are you alright?” I asked, hoping that she wasn’t up to anything. I’d heard the ponies in Bridlewood were… unique, to put it mildly. They had magic too, so hopefully the suspicious mare wasn’t up to anything actually worth worrying about.

“Oh!” She popped up to her hooves and looked around, somehow more freaked out than I was. “Sorry! I was just…” She grasped for some sort of excuse with a smile straining wider by the second. “I was in the area, and saw the door and thought, ‘Wow, what a pretty door!’ So, I jumped through it!”

“And slid under my table?”

“Y-yeah! And now that I’m here, I see that you’re busy doing… ” The mystery mare’s words stuttered to a stop as she scanned Mane Melody’s empty stage and vacant salon chairs. Seeing all of the nothing I’d been up to, she chuckled and rubbed her neck.

I couldn’t even with this mare. My words failed me. She was lying, obviously, and terribly at that. However, as I watched her stumble for something else, I couldn’t help but notice the sorry state of the hoof behind her head. I looked down to see the rest of her set was in the same, poor condition.

“Your hooves…” I muttered in disbelief.

“My hooves?” She parroted and looked down. “W-what about them?”

I dipped my head to get a better look. They were beyond dirty, and not just from trotting through the plains outside of town. Each one was cracked in its own way, breaking at the wall from constant use and abuse. She’d worn them out like a long-distance galloper, but without any of the care needed to maintain them properly. And that was just what I could see from above. If the front was this bad, I could only imagine the sorry state of her soles and frogs.

“Well, again, you’ve probably got a million things you should be doing,” she stammered as she stepped away from my inspection. “I’ll just get out of your mane and—”

“Wait! What about your hooves?”

“Oh, right. M-my hooves.” She chuckled again and kept inching away from me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just caring for hooves is kind of what I’m all about.” I turned around to show her my hooficure cutie mark and flashed my best Ponygram, starlit smile. “I’m Jazz, by the way. Jazz Hooves.”

“Oh. That’s nice. That’s like one of the music things, right?”

I nodded, hoping that some friendly banter would break the ice. “What’s your name?”

The unicorn blinked. “Why do you want to know my name?”

Her question made my heart sink, not from what she asked, but how she asked it. It wasn’t out of suspicion or spite, but earnest confusion. It was as if nopony had bothered asking her before, and if somepony did, her answer wouldn’t matter anyway. The concept seemed completely foreign to her.

I buried the curiosity begging me to pry, and cleared my throat. “Because I’d like to know.”

After an internal struggle played on her face, she finally answered, “It’s Misty.”

“That’s nice, too. Like that mist stuff in the air, right?” I shot back with a playful smile.

“Uh-huh, but I don’t really like mist.”

“I totally get that. Absolutely a nightmare on my mane,” I said while tossing my reddy-magenta hair from side to side. “It gets so frizzy that sometimes ponies can’t even see my ears!”

“Oh wow! That’s really bad. There’s a lot of mist near where I live.”

“Luckily the mist that blew in through the door didn’t give me a bad mane day.” I threw in a wink, hoping my attempts at humor would be appreciated. To my surprise, she laughed at my terrible pun; probably a little harder than she should’ve. “It doesn’t look like you have a problem either because your mane is absolutely stunning! Who does it?”

“Oh really?” She blushed as her eyes flittered about. “Well, I do it. By myself. I’m glad you like it. It took me a while, but I finally figured it out after… Well, I figured it out eventually.” She chuckled again. “Thanks.”

My smile strained again. Had nopony bothered teaching her how to care for her mane? I knew beauty videos were a thing—I’d been posting my own to Ponygrams since Pipp showed me how—but I wasn’t sure whether to be more impressed or concerned. “Do you also know how to take care of your hooves?”

“Sure!” she said confidently. “Kinda,” she corrected. It dwindled away faster and faster as she looked between the mess at the end of her leg and my hoof. “I mean, I know they’re a little cracked…”

I couldn’t stand sitting by any longer when I knew I could help. I sat down and pushed the guest cushion out from under the table. “Would you mind taking a seat at my station, Misty?”

“W-why?”

“I just want to be sure you’re okay. I promise you’re in capable hooves with me.” I tried to force my smile to relax, but my worry broke through. “Please?”

After staring at the seat across from me for a few hesitant moments, she finally said, “Okay, Jazz.”

Misty slowly tottered to the table, her troubled gaze darting between the cushion and the door behind her. I really hoped she wasn’t about to make a break for it. I couldn’t chase her down mane street trying to force my help on her. The nervous mare finally worked up the courage to sit down, bracing herself as she touched down with a frightened wince. When nothing bad happened, she cracked an eye open to see me giving her my best calm, reassuring smile.

“May I?” I motioned for her to give me a hoof.

She sucked in her lips and nodded. Misty reached across the table, finally letting me see what I was dealing with. I set my artistry aside and went full-on nursing mode trying to spot any dangerous cracks.

Misty looked away in embarrassment. “I know they’re not really pretty like yours…”

I shook my head. “Misty, I’m not worried about how nice they look, I’m worried if they’re hurt.” I leaned over and winced at the damage. “The crack down here on your hind left is really bad. Have you been galloping around town on this?”

Misty’s ears pinned back as she shrank away. “Maybe a little.” Then, she quickly forced the vulnerability away and threw on another smile. “I think I’ve got something back home I could maybe borrow to fix it.”

Borrow? Another red flag to throw onto the quickly growing pile. “Don’t you worry, Misty. I might not be a doctor, but I am the only certified hoof technician in town with a farrier license. I can fix you up right here if it’s not serious.”

“Really? That’d be great!” Misty beamed with excitement, though it was short lived as she looked herself over. “But wait. I-I don’t have anything to give you.”

“Then consider it a gift.”

Misty blinked. “A gift?”

“Yeah, like a ‘Welcome to Maretime Bay, Misty’ care package. Besides, if you like what I do, you can always come back and have me do them when they’re all healed up!” I leaned over and gave her a wicked smirk. “For all you know, maybe this is just some evil ploy of mine to get you to be a regular customer.”

Misty’s emerald gaze pierced through me, connecting pieces in her head as if she was solving some sort of puzzle. “No, I don’t think so.” Her brow furrowed. The mare was giving my stupid joke way more thought than it deserved. “You’re… really nice,” she said, almost in disbelief.

I chuckled nervously under her probing eyes. “Well, I try to be.”

“O-oh… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“You don’t need to apologize for giving me a compliment,” I assured her gently and began my work. “Just be sure to show off these beauties on ClipTrot once I’m done.”

Author's Note:

This story is dedicated to the ever important "Audience of One". The one whose life may be made better with a momentary escape from reality. Whoever that one happens to be, I hope you enjoy this story. I will do my best to tell it. - Lord Regulus

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If you find a simple mistake in the GSP (Grammar, Spelling, or Punctuation), please let me know through a private message rather than leaving it in the comment section.

Comments

[soniana-draws]

14k words of a rareship that couldn't have ever occured to me? Between two of my fav characters from G5? And a canon divergence where they meet at the start of the show and is set just when Jazz started working in Mane Melody? Sign me up!! I'm all for this

Man just when I decided to stop checking for new G5 fics because nothing was getting my attention I find this, nice. Just read the first chapter for now, but it's already pretty cute <3 a great start already, I know this is gonna be a great story

“I totally get that. Absolutely a nightmare on my mane,” I said while tossing my reddy-magenta hair from side to side. “It gets so frizzy that sometimes ponies can’t even see my ears!”

I never get tired of the 'Jazz has no ears' jokes skfkg

My smile strained again. Had nopony bothered teaching her how to care for her mane? I knew beauty videos were a thing—I’d been posting my own to Ponygram for years—but I wasn’t sure whether to be more impressed or concerned. “Do you also know how to take care of your hooves?”

Wasn't Ponygram a thing that was available for earth ponies after the movie? 🤔 I think before pegasi came along with their advanced techbology there was no social media on Maretime Bay

[TCC56]

“It gets so frizzy that sometimes ponies can’t even see my ears!”

Poor Jazz will never live the ears down.

[Rego]

11910252
I'll get to all the lovely comments later but for now...

Wasn't Ponygram a thing that was available for earth ponies after the movie? 🤔 I think before pegasi came along with their advanced techbology there was no social media on Maretime Bay

ACK! I missed one! Fix't!

[Rego]

11910252
Thanks for checking out the story! A lot of my projects are G4, but I do think G5 has a lot of potential in the fan writing space. I'm looking forward to getting into it more over time. Most will probably be AUs though so I can erase things that the writers trapped themselves into.

11910260

I never get tired of the 'Jazz has no ears' jokes skfkg

Poor Jazz will never live the ears down.

Not gonna lie, I was a little worried that Jazz wouldn't have ears on the cover. We got a happy medium of barely ears thanks to Maren.