Celestia’s sun shone brightly on the land, the blue sky illuminated in the middle of the day. Only a few clouds dotted the sky, a fact that proved that the town’s premiere weather Pegasus was not doing her job again.
Twilight sighed. While the fact is true, there were now better reasons for Rainbow Dash to forget a few clouds. The speedster Pegasus was close to living up to her trait as a speedster, the Wonderbolts all but accepting her into their fold. It would be a dream come true for Twilight’s friend, and no pony would be prouder than their friends. Except maybe Rainbow herself.
Twilight trotted at a slow pace among the hustle and bustle of a Ponyville that was steadily growing bigger ever since she was crowned a princess. Years before she knew everypony’s face, but now she only recognized one or two ponies on the street.
Quickly trotting through the busy street, with only a few waves to passing ponies (and more “no no no, don’t do that!” at ponies that bowed before her), Twilight thought back about how her other friends were doing. Applejack was working on her farm, as always, but with Trenderhoof’s help (as apology for his behavior during the whole ‘smitten by the farmer’ episode), her apples were now getting world renown as the best apples in Equestria, and the Apple family couldn’t be more proud.
Fluttershy had been taking up some students from both Ponyville’s school and some newcomers to Ponyville itself to teach them how to care for animals like she does. Twilight didn’t know whether or not Fluttershy had an official veterinary license to even teach, but so far she said her students have made great progress.
Pinkie Pie worked at Sugarcube Corner and still babysat for now school-age Cake foals. Additionally, she made a legitimate business out of party making and catering, often having to make trips to other towns to celebrate birthdays, local holidays, or even just to provide food for another event. She has been very ecstatic about the whole thing, and yet she still never failed to make ponies smile wherever she went.
Rarity’s boutique business was now expanding at a pace quicker than the alabaster unicorn could have ever thought. Canterlot wanted the best of the best, and they had deemed Rarity to be the best at her craft, often making huge orders for events throughout the year. Yet even with all the new orders, Rarity still came to the spa once in a while to relax, and often asked the girls if they wanted to come with her.
Now that she thought about it, the last time Twilight sat down with her friends was at the spa, two weeks ago. Sure, she had seen AJ or Rainbow around town once or twice afterwards, but she hasn’t and doesn’t spend time with her friends anymore. They all have had their adventures, but now, like Ponyville, they were settling into a more normal and better life. They had each become more busy than before, and don’t visit each other as much anymore.
Deep in that melancholic thought, Twilight noticed there was an older lone stallion on the road. He had a deep blue coat and a whitening mane that was cut short to the top, somewhat reminding Twilight of her father if he had aged more. He walked a bit weirdly, and a closer inspection revealed that the stallion was missing his left front leg, the fetlock and the elbow gone with only the upper part of the leg as the stump. Nevertheless, he seemed happy enough even on three legs.
While her old friends don’t have much time anymore to spend together, that didn’t mean Twilight couldn’t make friends with other ponies. She was the Princess of Friendship after all. So, with a little skip to her step, she happily trotted over to the stallion.
“Hello, sir!” she greeted. The stallion flinched back a little at the sudden voice before turning around.
“Oh, princess! Near’y gave me a ‘eart attack t’ere,” the stallion said.
“Oh, sorry,” Twilight blushed in embarrassment, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Ah, don’ be. It was jus’ an accident. So what brings ya to me, lass?” Both ponies continued to walk down the trail, at a slow pace: the stallion for talking to his right with the princess, and Twilight for making sure not to go too fast for the three legged stallion.
“Oh, you know, I was just walking around town, seeing some old ponies of the town, along with greeting some newcomers. Forgive me for not remembering, but are you new here as well?”
“New ‘ere, not exac’ly. I’ve been aroun’ fer two months now.”
“Two months?” the princess winced back in surprised. “I didn’t even notice you’ve been here all this time. I’m sorry for not greeting you sooner…”
“Ah, it wasn’ your fault. We don’ rightly get out of the house as much anymore, me an’ Birdie here.”
“Birdie?” Twilight asked.
“Birdie, my wife. Been married fer over sixty years now. Still as beaut’ful as the day I met ‘er, ain’t that right, Bird?”
Twilight noticed that the stallion’s left foreleg wiggled a little bit, and not because of his walking.
“Well… I’d love to meet your wife sometime, so I can fully greet you both.”
“What are ya talkin’ abou’? She’s right ‘ere,” the stallion pointed with his head towards his left side. All Twilight could see was empty space on his left. She saw his left leg wiggle a lot more than before. She wondered if possibly the old stallion was a bit wonky in the mind, and believed that he was walking side by side with his wife. Maybe the arm holds a clue…
“If it isn’t any trouble to ask… what happened to your leg?” Twilight ask, pointing at the missing leg.
“Ah, well t’ere’s a sad story to t’at one. Couple o’ moons ago, my wife and I ‘ere walkin’ alon’ a cliff side when we was attacked by this hydra. Ran fer our lives, but as we ‘ere both old, we didn’ get far before the hydra got up tae us. It grabbed both of us in their jaws, but we were lucky to be spit out when ‘ey tripped and fell off the cliff. The hydra’s teeth got to my leg, and I ‘ad to use the same leg to ‘old onto my wife. The leg was too bad, and it snapped, leavin’ my wife fallin’. I thought I ‘ad lost ‘er, but a couple days later, aft’ I got out o’ the hospital, I found ‘er again, safe and sound.”
…Yup, he’s an old and crazy stallion.
“Wow, that’s um…” Twilight looked to his leg again, and couldn’t stop staring at it. “I’m…glad your wife was safe. Um, if you don’t mind, I have some duties I need to attend to. You know, Princess duties and being busy and all that,” she forced an eager smile as she walked a little faster away from the stallion.
While she felt bad about leaving the stallion like that, it was clear he wasn’t in his right mind, probably from denial of the loss of his wife. Shaking her head, she looked forward and trotted on, heading back to her castle to see if she indeed did have any princess duties she needed to attend to.
The stallion walked into his house, closing the door behind him and being locked shut in the room. All the window blinds were closed allowing little sunlight to pass through. The stallion found his chair by memory in the dim light, and sat down with a smile, looking at the door.
“Well, t’at princess sure is a nice one, huh Birdie?” he spoke aloud. “Shame t’at she couldn’ stay around an' talk more, but who 'm I tae stop a princess from ‘er duties, huh Bird?”
No pony spoke back to him in the dark room. He stared with a smile at the door, before looking at his left foreleg, the stump barely even moving.
“She’s a nice mare, ain’t she?” he asked.
He felt a cold sensation of something touching his left leg, pulling it away. His foreleg wiggled as if it was not a stump but a whole leg, trying desperately to hold onto something even though it shouldn’t even feel anything anymore. It felt like a soft caress down his leg, a cold numbness in a place where nothing should have occupied that space, except if his foreleg was whole his fetlock would be there.
He looked back at the door, dropping the smile to a sad frown. “She’s a nice mare…”
Author's Note
The doctors told the amputee he might experience a phantom limb from time to time. Nobody prepared him for the moments though, when he felt cold fingers brush across his phantom hand.
Happy Halloween!
