Walk-ins Welcome

by Rego

House Call

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.”

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

[TCC56]

Wonderfully beautiful. Great work, as usual.

[BronzeAden]

Misty Brightdawn. Yes.

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

The thought of what Opaline put Misty through just makes me want to either cry or puke. Cracking her hooves, possibly beating her, the mental and emotional scars...

Opaline was a true blue Narc. She only cared for one pony, herself.

---

But seriously, great job on this story.

[Spamotron]

I want a sequel where Misty introduces Jazz to Alphabittle. And, he and Jazz converse about what they’ll do to Opaline’s face if she ever breaks out of the tree.

[Rego]

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Thanks! This one was a real challenge. I relied a lot on my friend and co-worker to help write the textured hair material. I now know more about African hair than I do about my own hair. A low bar, yes, but it still amuses me.
11910302
Sometimes the corniness can be endearing. I embraced it and hopefully stuck the landing.
11910341
I actually hadn't considered Opaline being the one to violently break Misty's hooves. I mostly chalked it up to neglect and uncaring. You're free to use that brush though. I left it vague on purpose after all.

But seriously, great job on this story.

Thanks for giving it a lookie-loo!
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I actually wanted to fit Alphabittle in here somewhere, but bringing up good ol' dad would kill the mood.
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I'm glad my little Misty has made such a good friend! Why don't I brew you two a Misty's Mys-tea-ry? It's her favorite!

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

11910895
Eh based on the fact that every last comment was downvoted 1 time seems equally likely there's a troll or bot around.

As far as the 5-minute episode thing, I wholeheartedly agree. Even ye olde Looney Tunes usually went 6-9 minutes. The best I can think to say is often "cute" even important ones like the most recent with Sunny's mom being revealed. I worry that she was a one-time giggle same with Izzy and the Sea Ponies, and several other things that would make excellent world-building tools. But nah, gags like Izzy using Sunny's toothbrush as an ear massager is much more important than cohesive storytelling.

[Rego]

11910950
Oh, the red flags I meant as part of the fic itself. The downvotes are just the standard assumed "No G5 On My Watch" police. Happened on Jym's fics too.

Maybe if they drop enough dislikes on G5 fics around the site, Hasbro will cancel the show and bring back G4 for a 10th season.

[BirdsBooksBrownies]

11911010
As much as I have a bookhorse shaped hole in my heart I doubt s10 could do anything for her in the sphere of G4. Although 🤔💭 if they could somehow do a special that could breach the divide between the Gens, that wouldn't be unwelcome. But I don't see that happening.

As far as the G5 hate, I roll my eyes at the vocal screamers.

[Sunrise10]

This story was really good, the affection that Jazz and Misty have for each other is super cute, I loved it.

[tamia_98]

Brilliant. I really enjoyed it. I like how caring Jazz is and her shy character. I like how their friendship grew into something and that Misty had a safe place and someone who she felt comfortable and happy around after all she was going through with that horrible Opaline.Lastly, good job on the hair scene.

[Satto Kez]

Your ability to show emotion and make me feel it is amazing.
Really enjoyed this.
Not enough g5 in fanfic yet.

[Rego]

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I always want my fics to make readers feel something, and I want to feel safe in feeling it. I'm glad the three of you enjoyed it and the one of you liked the hair research I did.

[SigmasonicX]

Really sweet story! I never would have thought of this pair, but you really made it work. The ways you tied canon events in was pretty neat, and I liked the bits of humor like Opaline's online activity.

[EileenSaysHi]

The G5 goodfic well has been running a bit dry of late. Thank goodness you’re here with a story that more than makes up for the dearth. Hooray for Misty!

[Rego]

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The idea was to keep it as close to canon as possible with Jazz Hooves in the mix. And boy do I know this ship is exceedingly rare. That's why I commissioned Maren to draw the cover art. A really good investment because it turned out so good!

Also, I knew I had to work in "Opaline Alone" somehow.
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And I am glad to add to the pile of Good G5 Fics. With the building blocks it has in place if you ignore pretty much how the whole show after the movie shook out is such a wellspring of great ideas. I wish I had more time to write in it. I AUs I want to do.