Zephyr Breeze walked out of his house way too early on a mid-autumn day, and made his way over to his salon. He had pursued his goal of becoming a stylist, and for once in his life, he had completed it. He moved out of his parents’ house, as well as his sister’s house, and found someplace else to make a living. The place he chose was a little town up north called Our Town.
It had apparently gotten its name a while back when it was being run by Starlight Glimmer, who was now Princess Twilight Sparkle’s star pupil. Zephyr had never received the full story from any of the ponies who had lived here back then, but he was sure that they didn’t exactly look back on those memories fondly. Strange, since the few times he had met Starlight, she had seemed lovely.
But, here he was, with his own salon, living without any help from his family. He even snagged a special somepony along the way. He felt proud of himself as he strutted over to his workplace.
And then he immediately felt tired as he saw the long line leading out the door. It would be a long day ahead of him.
Around lunchtime, his special somepony came in to see how he was doing. It wasn’t quite winter yet, so Double Diamond was mostly out of a job until the weather cooled. Running tourism for the snowy mountains was tough when there were no tourists and no snowy mountains.
“Hey Breezy, how’s it going?”
The tall stallion sighed, still cutting away at somepony’s mane. This was either his 10th or 20th mane. Each one seemed to be more complicated than the last. It was either that, or he was overworking himself, but that really couldn’t be the case. He was a strong, independent stallion now. He could handle this, he was sure, because he was responsible.
“It’s… going,” was all he could really muster as he did… something. He wasn’t sure what it was called, but the mare sitting in front of him asked him to do it, and his hooves seemed to know what they were doing. He figured that was good enough.
“Hey, are you ok? You… wanna take a break or something? Get a bite to eat, maybe?” his coltfriend asked him, walking over to him and laying a hoof on his withers.
“Maybe later.” He addressed the mare in the chair in front of him, “Excuse me, please turn your head and look down.” She did as instructed, and Zephyr turned back to his coltfriend. “I’ve got to finish with this fine young mare here,” he made sure to drag out the word “fine”, which made her blush. He may be involved already with somepony else, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be a little flirtatious. “And then I said I’d get to that stallion sitting by the door.” He gestured to the aforementioned stallion, who was currently reading a magazine with some pretty mare on it.
Double Diamond seemed unsure, but stepped back and gave Zephyr some space to work. “Ok, just take care of yourself. Food and fluids, don’t forget!” he yelled back as he walked out the door, being waved off by his significant other.
“Yeah, yeah, I know!”
If Zephyr Breeze had been unsure of how many manes he had cut and/or styled (fabulously, he might add) when noon had rolled around, then he was completely lost by the evening. All four of his hooves hurt, which didn’t happen often, and he decided that he didn’t like it. Even his wings, which he didn’t use often during styling (they were too big for most things), were feeling the strain. Mistakes had been made along the way, some of them more obvious than he would like to admit. Though today had been his most productive day since graduating from college, he ended it feeling worse than he had before.
A headache had been present since around 3pm, and his stomach begged him to fill it with something. He stopped by the bakery, just two doors down from the salon, and grabbed a rather stale muffin. It wasn’t the best thing he had ever eaten, but it certainly wasn’t the worst.
After that rather disappointing meal, it was time to head home. It was only a minute away, as it was just across the street, but it gave him just enough time to worry about what Double Diamond would say when he realized that Zephyr hadn’t taken care of himself at all.
He pushed open the door with a wing and poked his head through. No sign of his coltfriend. He walked fully in, and instinctually made his way to their nice, large, comfy couch, collapsing on top of it with a loud “Oomph!” Zephyr turned his head to look out the window behind the couch. Princess Twilight famously had a bit of trouble handling the sun and moon, but she had since mastered the use of both, which made for a wonderful twilight that he didn’t want to miss. Especially on a day like today.
Double Diamond walked in from the kitchen, having heard Zephyr come in, and stopped right in front of the couch. “You have a good day at work, hun?” he asked with a little bit of a smile.
Zephyr turned back around to face him, then groaned, resting his head on his hooves. “Would you believe me if I just said yes?”
“No.”
“Then no.” Zephyr buried his head under his arms and attempted to relax. It didn’t work as well as he’d hoped, but it was a start.
Diamond got up onto the couch and laid down, facing Zephyr. “So what did we learn today?”
“Ughhhhh, are we really doing this?” He removed his arms and glared at his coltfriend.
Diamond smiled a bit wider, enjoying this probably a little too much. “Yes. It worked for the Princess of Equestria, why shouldn't it work for a hair-dresser?”
“Stylist!” Zephyr corrected, returning his arms to their rightful place, over his eyes. “And fine. I learned that I shouldn’t overwork myself. Can I have a lollipop now?”
Diamond shrugged. “Eh, close enough,” he grabbed a lollipop from beside the couch, setting it gently in front of him, “but I’m expecting something a little more detailed for the journal,” he teased.
Another groan, but he grabbed the lollipop anyways. “Fine,” he said from around… a grape flavored lollipop. Not his favorite, but it was still candy.
Diamond leaned in for a nuzzle. “I love you, Zeph.”
Zephyr tried to be coy about it, but he returned the gesture. “Love ya, too, babe.”
