“Featherhoof! Oh, where could that silly filly have gone off to in so little time?” Light Feather asked impatiently as she looked around the Ponyville market. She’d taken her eyes off of the small yellow filly for less than a minute and now she was nowhere to be soon. Light feather herself was a bright, grassy green color and her mane and tail were each of a blue color with lighter green stripes.
She groaned slightly, realizing she was most likely going to be late for weather duty before making her way towards the next stall. “Excuse me.” She called out to the pony behind the counter as she approached.
“Light Feather! Hello. You’re looking fine this morning.” The blue stallion earth pony complimented, smiling at her. Lightfeather rolled her eyes at him, but wore a smile all the same.
“Yes, yes, I know. Sorry, but I don’t have time for flirting, Blueberry. Did you see Featherhoof run by here, by any chance?”
“I’m afraid not. Did she run off again?” Blueberry asked, growing a concerned look on his face.
“Yeah, That filly is so easily distracted.” Light Feather replied as a few memories flickered through her mind.
“Kinda like her mother?” Blueberry teased with a smirk.
“Oh, shush you. I’m gonna keep looking for her. I’ll see you later.” Feather said with amusement in her voice before turning to continue her search.
“Need any help? I mean, I’m not getting much business today anyway, so-”
“That’s sweet of you, Blueberry. But I don’t think that will be necessary. If it turns out I was wrong about that, though, you’ll be the first pony I come to.” Light Feather said, smiling back at him over her shoulder.
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Good luck!”
<><><><><><><>
It had been at least an hour since Feather had left Blueberry at his market stall. In that time, she had gone from mildly concerned to deeply worried. There was absolutely no sign of Featherhoof and Light Feather was growing increasingly late to weather duty. She was presently around the edge of the center of town, where the lines of houses began to disperse and become more scarce.
“Light Feather!” Rainbow Dash’s voice called out from above. Feather barely had time to look up before a prismatic blur impacted the ground in front of her, kicking up some dust. Feather shielded her eyes for a moment before lowering them to see Rainbow herself glaring at her. She put on her best innocent grin.
“What’s the hold up!? We’ve got a lot to do today, and you never showed up.” Rainbow demanded in an irritated voice.
“I’m sorry, Dash, really, I am. But my daughter, Featherhoof seems to have gone missing. I’ve been looking for over an hour and I still can’t find her.” Light Feather replied, looking down.
“Oh… That is more important than work, usually. Need any help finding her?” Dash said, a bit more calmly and with realization lining her voice.
“I’d love some help. You remember what she looks like?” Feather asked with some relief.
“You bet I do! That filly is adorable. Now, I can’t offer any help right now, but as soon as the workload decreases enough, I’ll send a couple pegasi to look around.” Dash replied, holding a hoof up to her chest.
“Thank you, Rainbow.” Feather smiled before spreading her own wings and taking flight. She heard the whoosh of air behind her as Rainbow took off again. Feather looked around for a moment before deciding she would resume her search in the center of town.
“Mommy…” A voice suddenly said, causing her to stop mid-flight. Her eyes instantly darted towards the voice, but saw nothing but the edge of the Everfree Forest a little ways off. The voice was Featherhoof’s, without question, but sounded different somehow. There was none of her usual bounciness to it. “Mommy…? Where are you? I’m scared.” Light Feather hovered there for a moment, looking apprehensively at the forest.
“Featherhoof…?” She asked, edging forward slightly in the air.
“Mommy, there are bad things here. They want to hurt me. I’m scared. where are you, mommy?” Featherhoof’s voice echoed into Light Feather’s ears. Her protective instincts began to urge her to head into the forest, while her practical mind urged her to stay right where she was. The forest was dangerous. She shouldn’t go inside of it all by herself.
Especially when one took into consideration the growing frequency of disappearances in the forest in recent months. More ponies than usual were wandering into the forest and none were coming back. Search parties had never found much, if anything, to hint at where the ponies had gone. Light Feather turned in mid-air to head for town hall. She wasn’t going in there all by herself.
“I hear them! Mommy, they’re getting closer!” Featherhoof’s voice echoed again. Light Feather’s logical thinking stopped almost instantly, causing her to pivot and shoot like a missile into the forest. Her daughter was in danger, and there was no time to go get a search party organized.
“I’m coming, Featherhoof!” Light Feather shouted as she was enveloped in the shroud of the Everfree Forest.
<><><><><><><>
“Featherhoof! Where are you?!” Light Feather shouted against the forest backdrop as she progressed deeper with every hoofstep into the shadows. She had had to make a landing earlier to avoid being bludgeoned by the trees, given the speed at which she had been flying. Now she trotted along a narrow path, following the sound of her daughter’s voice.
“I’m here! Mommy!”
The voice came from her right. She pivoted mid-step and galloped towards the source of Featherhoof’s voice. After a few moments, she came to a screeching stop in the middle of a small clearing. She could see Featherhoof just ahead, her tiny rear leg caught in some vines. Featherhoof looked to her mother, and a bright smile spread across her face, relief washing over her.
“Mommy!”
“Featherhoof! Oh, I’m so glad you’re alright! What are you doing all the way out here? Are you hurt?” Light Feather sighed as she galloped to her daughter's side. She reached down with her mouth and began to tug at the vines that held Featherhoof’s rear leg.
“I… I…” Featherhoof looked away for a moment, her smile fading. Light Feather stopped tugging on the vines and stood up straight.
“Featherhoof?” She asked, reaching out her hoof to rub comforting circles into Featherhoof’s back. Upon contact, the surface of Featherhoof’s fur seemed to disperse, like a cloud of smoke. Light Feather’s hoof immediately drew back in shock as Featherhoof seemed to dissolve into thin air, leaving behind a bluish purple cloud of smoke. Stars and sparkles filled the smoky creature as it grew and began to take shape.
Light Feather backed up rapidly, as a memory entered her mind. She knew this creature; she had seen it before, and done her part to put it away, along with the rest of Ponyville. The creature assumed a shape reminiscent of an Alicorn of about Princess Luna’s size. It stood, staring at her with a face devoid of eyes and an aura radiating from her that was as cold as snow.
The Tantabus.
“How…? What…?” Feather stammered as the Tantabus began to approach. This was impossible. Completely impossible! Princess Luna had forgiven herself and absorbed the Tantabus inside of a massive dream. How could it be here, in the waking world?! Adrenaline began to beat through Feather’s veins as she turned, spreading her wings to take flight.
She never got off the ground. Something slammed into the back of her neck, sending her spiraling to the dirt with a cry of pain. Her head struck a stone that was jutting from the ground, causing sparks to explode across her vision. She cradled her head for a moment before struggling to get back up. She shook her head wildly, trying desperately to clear her vision of sparks and her mind of fog so she could get away.
Something grabbed her by the tail as she came back up and pulled. She let out a panicked scream as she was hurled through the air, her side colliding with the trunk of a tree a moment later. All of the air rushed out of her lungs, leaving her weak and barely capable of movement. She could see again, at least.
She wished that was not the case. There was another creature before her. It stood in front of the Tantabus, which seemed almost amused by everything that was happening. Feather’s eyes widened and her pupils shrank at the other creature’s gruesome visage, however. It stood about as tall as a diamond dog, but was lacking a head, in it’s place was a bulbous lump covered in blisters and leaking blood, pus and some other, unspeakable substance.. It’s left arm was of normal size, but it’s right was massive, disfigured and covered in spines that were shaking and bristling, making a sound like a thousand rattlesnake tails
The creature took a lumbering step forward, raising it’s massive appendage into the air. Feather tried to move, but she found her legs unresponsive. “Oh, no!” She looked down to see a dark purple aura surrounding her legs. “No, no, no!” She turned her eyes back up to look at the Tantabus, whose horn was glowing.
“SOMEPONY! PLEASE! HELP ME!!!” Feather screamed in desperation, struggling against the magic to no avail. She didn’t even notice the massive limb barreling down towards her head…
<><><><><><><>
Featherhoof sat at the edge of Ponyville, looking towards the Everfree forest with sadness and guilt in her eyes as the sun dipped ever closer to the horizon. She should have never left her mother’s side. She looked up at the sky. No sign of the search parties yet. She sighed and looked down, closing her eyes and struggling to keep calm.
This was all her fault. Her mother had gone into the forest alone, presumably to look for her. Featherfoot shivered with fear before gazing back up towards the sky. She saw a bright cyan smudge against the orange sky, drawing closer. Rainbow Dash was back!
Featherhoof immediately stood up and started waving frantically to catch Dash’s attention. She succeeded and watched with hopeful eyes as Rainbow Dash swooped down. She landed a short distance away and looked to Featherhoof with blank eyes. Featherhoof drew closer, growing uneasy.
“Rainbow Dash? Where’s mommy?” She asked.
“Kid, I… I don’t… I don’t think you’re mommy is coming home.” Dash said slowly, looking away.
“Wait, what do you mean? Of course she is. She has to!” Featherhoof said, looking at rainbow with a frown.
“Heh… sometimes I wonder if the naivety of foals is a blessing or a curse on them.” Dash said solemnly before sitting down and letting her saddlebags fall to the earth. Featherhoof drew closer.
“What do you mean?”
“Look… we didn’t find your mother. All we found was…” Dash didn’t finish the sentence. Insead, she opened her saddlebags, cringed and withdrew a small bundle of blood stained, grass-green feathers.
