Art Makes the World go 'Round!

"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.