Walk-ins Welcome

by Rego

2nd Appointment

“Good morning! Welcome to… Oh, Misty!”

“H-hello, Jazz.”

I was honestly surprised to see her. Well, not see her at all, but see her in the salon. I’d bumped into her a few times since her last visit, but Misty was always on the move. The flighty unicorn seemed to always be hiding in the strangest places. I’d tried to say hi, but she’d always skitter away as fast as she could. I wasn’t sure she even remembered me.

“Welcome back to Mane Melody! I hope your hooves are doing better.”

“Oh, yeah,” she tittered again as her eyes drifted down to her hooves. “They’re okay, I think. Thanks again. For helping me with that.”

“Friend of yours?” Rocky asked me while stepping out of the side room. He smiled after getting a better look at her. “Wait, I know you!”

Misty’s eyes shrank in fear. “You—you do?”

“You’re Photoblued, right?”

She blinked and tilted her head. “Photoblued?”

“You mean you don’t know? You’re only the latest trend on Ponygram! Pretty much photobombed every Bay tourist’s timeline at least once.”

Before Rocky’s thickheadedness could chase the poor girl off, I quickly grabbed my phone from my desk and ran up next to her. “It’s just a stupid hooftag. Don’t worry about it.” Flipping open to Ponygram, I tapped the #photoblued page and scrolled through the pics. “There’s a lot of ponies visiting us since magic came back, and you kept popping up in pictures.”

“There’s… a lot,” she mumbled under her breath.

I thought about putting my phone away, but she kept swiping through the album. A smear of blue here, a misplaced curl of mane there. She finally stopped at a promo post for Mane Melody with Pipp, Rocky, and I posing outside of the salon.

“You got me too,” I admitted with a titter. “Right there behind that bush planter.” Her eyes drifted to the end of her tail poking out onto the sidewalk.

“Am I famous?” A conflicting kaleidoscope played out on her face as she tried to wrap her head around what she was seeing.

“It’s fine!” I snapped my phone shut before she could freak herself out more. “Stuff on Canternet flies by in a flash, you know! You’ll be old news before the end of the week.”

“But wait! This is good, I think. If I’m trending, then that means I can…” her thoughts drifted into her head until they exploded out in a wide smile. “I need your help, Jazz!”

Excitement. Wasn’t expecting that. “What do you need?”

“Could you make me beautiful? Like, really quickly?”

“That’s what we do here,” Rocky answered with a wink. “But how quick is ‘quick?’”

“Umm… as fast as possible?”

I’d heard ponies wanting to get in-and-out of the chair, but the short turnaround time wasn’t sitting right with me. “Why does it need to be so fast? If you’re in a rush, you can always come back later.”

Misty shook her head and her ears fell flat. “I-I can’t do that! It’ll be too late then! Please! It doesn’t have to be a lot, just anything you can. I’ve even got bits this time!” She dug through a small pouch on her side, frantically searching for coins.

“Woah, calm down, Misty!” I backed away to give her space to relax. “You don’t have to beg for help. We’ll figure out something that’ll get you in and out in a flash, alright?”

Misty stopped right as she was about to dump her bag out on the floor. “You will?” She sighed in relief and tied the end back up by hoof. “Oh, Thank you! And umm… sorry about that.”

Crisis averted! I relaxed and unfolded my phone again to check the day’s schedule. “Our first appointments don’t arrive for another ten minutes. I think I can squeeze you in for a speedy hooficure, but I’m not sure we can do anything more without keeping you longer. Maybe a quick herbal coat wash?”

“No!” Misty quickly said while turning her body away from me. But as fast as she’d ducked away, she went rigid again and forced a smile. “I-I mean, no thank you. A coat wash would definitely take too long.” She laughed, her eyes darting back and forth between me and her hindquarters. “Just the hooves are fine, Jazz.”

Not wanting to question her further, I simply nodded my misgivings away. “One Jazzy hooficure coming right up!”

Rocky went back to preparing for our early bird appointments while I guided Misty to the hoof station. I tried my best to keep her calm, but no matter what I did, it was like she was trotting two steps away from panic. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why. If it was a bunch of unicorn jinxie stuff, she was too scared to tell me. I’d have to remember to ask Izzy about it the next time I saw her and hope to hoofness that I understood what she said.

I sat Misty down in the seat and she finally began to relax. After shimmying on the cushion, she dutifully placed her forehooves on the tabletop as I joined her. I couldn’t help but smile seeing the healthy hoof walls facing me; a dramatic improvement from the last time she’d come to Mane Melody. There was nothing serious. A little expected wear and tear, probably from galloping around at full clip like she’d been in those Ponygram pictures.

“May I?” I asked, putting my hooves out for hers to grab.

“Oh, sure,” she replied and met mine in the middle.

“Let’s see what we’ve got here.” I rolled the hoof up, down, and all around trying to spot any problems. “No sole cracks or fissures, clean frogs…” I sighed in relief. My work had held up with her active lifestyle. “You’ve been using the repair cream, I see.”

Misty puffed out her chest and nodded proudly. “Yep! It was a little hard to get it on my hind hooves while holding the little brush, but I got it eventually.”

“Really? I’m sorry. I thought applying it would be a breeze with your unicorn magic.”

“O-oh, well, I—” Misty froze and her eyes searched for an excuse again. “I’m not very good at magic.” She frowned, slumping lower. “Like, at all.”

“Wait, are you saying that you can’t do any magic?”

The poor unicorn sucked in her lips and nodded.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry, Misty!” I reached over the table and wrapped her in a supportive hug. “I wish you would’ve told me. I would’ve given you a longer brush. You must’ve been bending yourself into a pretzel trying to get everything.”

After a few moments, she started stammering over herself. I slowly pulled back to see Misty had locked up tight and was buffering like a livecast with no signal. I gently pushed her back down to her seat while tapping the side of her hoof, trying to get her to restart. Eventually, the mare began working again and fell back onto her haunches.

“Are you okay, Misty?”

She shook the last of her shock away and sat back up. “Yeah. I-I’m fine. Sorry again.”

“I’m the one who should apologize, hugging you out of the blue like that. I just wanted to be supportive, but I should’ve guessed you wouldn’t appreciate it.”

“What?” She gasped and covered her mouth. “No-no-no! I did! I promise!”

“You don’t need to lie to make me feel better, Misty. It’s okay not to like hugs.”

“But I did! I… I think I did. I think?” Again, she chuckled nervously and tried to put on a brave face. “I just wasn’t expecting it. That’s all.”

While I seriously doubted she was telling the truth, I decided to let it slide. She was trying so hard not to upset me that I was actually getting upset. “Alright, but either way, I should respect your personal space. Working with Pipp must’ve messed with how I see friendly boundaries more than I thought.”

Misty’s eyes stared directly at me in utter shock. “We’re friends?”

“Yes? At least I thought so,” I said weakly. “Too soon?”

“No. It’s just…” Her head tilted down as her eyes bounced around, trying to work through what I’d just said. Finally, she looked back up at me with the trace of a glimmer in her eyes. “I’ve never had a friend before.”

What? No, impossible. Not how she was saying it. So honestly. So earnestly. So desperately. Everypony had friends at least once. I’d already made friends before I’d even learned the word. Lost a few over time, maybe. Grown apart as we grew into different ponies. But, never? It was foalish on its face. Misty might’ve been a little eccentric—okay, a lot eccentric—but there was no way, not somepony as sweet and sensitive as her, could ever go through life without making one single friend.

So then why did I believe her?

“Do—would you like to be my friend, Misty?” I offered gently.

She tapped her hooves on the table nervously. “What do I have to do? Is it hard? Like getting a cutie mark?”

The pure, innocent questions were still breaking my already shattered heart the longer they went on. I swallowed the dryness in my throat and took her by the hoof. “N-no, we just say we’re friends, and then we’re friends! Simple as that.”

Misty’s mouth fell open. “That’s it? Really?” Her eyes widened as she grew evermore excited by the idea. Eagerness worked its way into her hooves drumming on the table. “Then, let’s be friends!”

Her infectious wonder found its way into my heart and pulled my mouth into an equally large smile. “Friends it is!” I exclaimed. The adorable mare was making me feel like a filly again, not that I was complaining. “Now, before we get too friendly, let’s get your hooves looking as beautiful as you are on the inside.”

“Oh! Oh.” Misty sank back down in her seat. “R-right. I’ve gotta…” She clamped up before saying anything else and put her hooves back on the table.

“Is something wrong, Misty?”

“Not really. It’s just that I almost forgot something important. Again. I can’t fail—I’ve got things I need to do before it’s too late.”

I nodded apprehensively, seeing the nerve-wracked Misty return with avengeance. She’d been so joyful a few seconds ago. Alarms were blaring in my head, but I didn’t want to risk crashing her mood even further. I took a calming breath and pinned my customer service smile back on as best I could. “So, what look are we doing with your hooves today?”

Misty looked down at her hooves and pursed her lips. “Can you do whatever’s popular online right now?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the request I’d heard a thousand times since Canternet came to the Bay. “Probably, but you’re going to need to be a little more specific than that.”

“Oh,” she chuckled while tapping her hooves together and forcing a smile. “Well, maybe something like The Filly Four?”

Author's Note:

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

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

poor Misty

[soniana-draws]

Great ideas to explain how Misty was able to join the Filly Four! I think I'm gonna conside these canon, it makes sense she got to join by becoming a trend on ponygram

Also aw Jazz can already see Misty is going through a lot :(

[Rego]

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Red flags abound in this chapter, eh?

I think I'm gonna conside these canon, it makes sense she got to join by becoming a trend on ponygram

Go ahead! I had to figure out a way to get Misty back in the salon, and this one jumped out at me as a good excuse. When I'm writing canon-adjacent, I try to do my best to give in-universe reasons for things. This would be challenge if I went beyond Chapter 6 because Deus is Machina-ing everywhere these days in Tell Your Tale due to time constraints.