"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.
"Halt!"
Obediently, she paused, and her hoof hovered in midair.
"You are not worthy!"
"B–but—!" Misty whimpered and hung 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. 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 and squeal "...she'll teach you anyway!"
Misty gasped in surprise and fright and backpedaled a few paces. "Sneaksy! You're here? Now?!"
"Shh shh!" Sneaksy held a hoof up to her rainbow respirator to hush her.
Embarrassed, Misty nodded, and she furiously attempted to dust herself off to make herself appear more presentable. Fortunately, the purple cloak she donned obscured most of her unkempt—and distinct—mane.
"Is he, um, okay?" She motioned to the remnants of the pony she had previously spoken to, who had been savagely reduced to debris scattered across the ground.
"I may have gotten a little too excited! Sorry, Señor B! I've just never had somepony reach out to me like this before. Don't worry, he's fine! If he can't pull himself back together, I'll just have to do it for him." Sneaksy patted Señor Butterscotch's detatched mailbox head affectionately. "By the way, I love your disguise, miss...?"
Misty clumsily tapped her hooves together as she improvised on the fly and conceived an appropriate label. "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..."
"Oh, yes, of course! That's because, I, um— That's because I stole it! Yes! From somepony fancy!" Whisper nervously fidgeted. She adjusted her bejeweled masquerade masque. "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 incognito artists 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 mystically and whispered dramatically.
Whisper giggled awkwardly and glanced sidelong to conceal 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 retrieved all of her artsy supplies and levitated them beneath her violet cape for later. "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, maybe. It's hard to be stealthy when you're a dummy with metal hooves."
That last part sounded like an apt description for how Whisper felt about herself.
She lifted her foreleg and gingerly stepped on the stone path. She winced 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..." Sneaksy 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 and closed her eyes as she focused. She tentatively lifted her foreleg and slowly, ever so slowly lowered her hoof...
"Um, Whisper? You're not breathing. You have to breathe. That's the most important part! Breathe!" Sneaksy gestured with her hooves encouragingly to enunciate her point.
"Yahh!" Whisper unceremoniously tripped over her own foreleg and collapsed in a tangled heap onto the path. "Oof!" Some of her frizzy cobalt and teal mane emerged from her hood, which she hastily tucked aside with a swipe of her hoof.
Sneaksy winced. She hissed 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, anyway. Square two!"
"'Square two...!'" Whisper echoed half-heartedly from her uncomfortable position on the pavement. She forced herself to smile as she strived to express genuine excitement.
Whisper succumbed to Sneaksy's goading and reluctantly shook the spray paint she had been provided. The yellow, purple, and blue coating that encircled the can's exterior failed to represent what color the paint within truly was. "But how do you tell what color is inside? They all have the same wrap."
"I remember! That one's blueberry, this is spring green, this is royal purple, and this is gold!" Sneaksy levitated three paint cans simultaneously and presented them in a triangular display.
"R–right... So, this one's blue?" Whisper transferred the can to her mouth and prepared to spray.
"Wait!" Sneaksy waved her hooves dramatically. "You didn't shake it enough!"
"Wike whtis?" Whisper bobbed her head up and down repeatedly until the pea within the can clattered against the metal walls. It generated a satisfying pinging sound as it thoroughly mixed the paint.
"Exactly! Proceed properly painting your pony, protégé! Or whatever you're actually going to make."
Whisper froze, then transferred the can to her hoof. She... suddenly realized she hadn't actually conceived a plan.
"Art doesn't create itself, silly." Sneaksy balanced on her hind legs and motioned to the brick wall with both forelegs. "This is your canvass, a great, barren expanse unto which you shall produce your masterpiece. Mold your wet clay into a beautiful vase! Or a pot or cup or something. Whatever is deep enough to hold your ambition!"
"I don't think I'm that good yet at, um, 'molding'."
Sneaksy waved her hoof dismissively. "Pssffhh! As if! Art is for everypony. Anypony has the ability to create. It's in you! You just have to reach inside your heart and feel it."
"I think you're selling my abilities a little too much." Whisper gazed thoughtfully at the can of spray paint. She raised her head and considered the blank brick wall.
Sneaksy tapped her hooves together excitedly as she observed from the sidelines. "That's it! You're envisioning, aren't you? You're envisioning!"
"I, umm... I think so." She transferred the can to her mouth and depressed the nozzle. Hesitantly, she drew a blue stripe. Then, with further motivation from Sneaksy, another. A long rectangle, a pair of ovoid shapes, and two circles. Another pair. Thin curls. Misshapen hearts. When the outline was finished, she used purple to trace the lines and added a splash of extravagant yellow and vivid ruby red. In her intense focus, a strand of her teal and cobalt mane fell before her eyes, yet she neglected to notice.
Sneaksy tilted her head to the side as she appreciated the art from an alternative angle. "Oooh...! Aahh...!"
Whisper delicately deposited the spray paint onto the ground alongside the other cans. "I know it's not much."
"I love it! It's so you."
"But it's just a butterfly. It doesn't even look that good. I tried to make it look like its flying, but the body turned out to be so flat..." Whisper motioned to the mural she had created. The bright red hearts that adorned the butterfly's majestic purple wings weren't symmetrical. Its yellow antennae were crooked.
"You created something original that came from your heart! That takes courage! I'm proud of you. You know..." Sneaksy leaned in. "It's just like your fake cutiemark. I thought it'd looked familiar."
"M–my what?!" Whisper's spine constricted, and the hair along her back straightened in horror. "Uh, wait...!"
"Art is for everypony, Misty. Even ponies like you who are too afraid to express themselves." Sneaksy used her levitation magic to remove her rainbow respirator, which revealed her beaming smile that had been concealed beneath. "I can see you smizing! Don't deny it, you had fun."
Whisper delicately touched her masquerade piece. "Yo–you knew... all along?"
"I'd recognize one of my best friends anywhere. It's okay, I won't reveal your secret identity if you really don't want me to. When you're on the dance floor, nopony knows it's you—everypony will think Maretime Bay has a new secret street artist!"
Whisper giggled nervously. When she finally removed her masquerade mask, she tucked it into one of the pockets of her cloak.
"Hey, Misty? Art makes the world go 'round, but friends like you make my world go 'round and 'round." Izzy lowered the hood of her cape and smiled tenderly.
Misty shuffled closer. Of course, she could sense what, inevitably, was coming. When it eventually did arrive, though, she wasn't as prepared as was necessary. Izzy tackled her and squeezed her tightly in a hug, which elicited a squeak from her.
When they separated, Misty lowered her hood. "Izzy, can we, um, do this again? Soon?"
"You're smizing again~!" Izzy grinned.
Misty blushed bashfully. "Maybe you could teach me the basics of spray painting so it doesn't look so amateur?"
"Right! Starting with square one!"
