Phantoms

Sunny took a deep breath. He hadn't been inside the Rainbow Mart for months, now--not since the fog had lifted from the town. However, he had questions, and he needed to ask them in person and without raising too many concerns. That, and Kerfuffle had insisted on breakfast.

He tilted his head, flicking his ears as the bell on the door jingled. He heard the familiar clippity-clack of Kerfuffle's prosthetic hoof on the tile.

"Hey there, Mayor! I got your letter. Hope you don't mind gettin' up this early. I gotta keep my sleep schedule up, y'know." She slid into the booth, taking her seat across from him. Today she was wearing a full-length version of her usual fur-lined vest--it was especially chilly out.

"I understand completely," Sunny replied. "And I don't mind at all. In fact, I needed the early morning. My sleep schedule's been out of whack ever since...you know."

"I getcha. How's Petunia doing?"

"She's doing...fine. Listen, Kerfuffle, we've got business to get to--"

"Ah ah ah! Nope! Not before I've had my coffee." Kerfuffle smiled wide. "Can't have a good morning without a good cuppa!"

"R-right." Sunny sighed. "I've got a lot of questions, though..."

"We-ell, good thing my schedule's clear, huh?" She flagged down a waitress. "I'm gonna have my usual," she sang, "and Sunny--what'll you have, Sunny?"

"What's your usual?" he asked.

"Butter coffee with a spoon o' sugar."

"Really? Butter in coffee?"

"Hey, it's good for ya. Don't knock it till you try it!"

"Well, I guess I'll have a butter coffee as well. No sugar, though."

The waitress nodded, scrawling their order on a notebook and trotting away without ceremony.

"So how's Cloudy doing?" Kerfuffle idly buffed her hoof, using the fur to polish it gently.

"She's heading for Ponyville."

"What? Isn't she a teenager? I guess she's striking out on her own, or--"

"They say there's a Rakshasa there."

Kerfuffle fell silent.

The waitress came back, dropped off their coffees, and wandered off. Sunny took a silent sip of his; it was still quite hot, but the butter gave it a rich flavor that he hadn't encountered before. He quietly filed that information away for later.

"I guess you're gonna need the whole story, then." Kerfuffle casually downed half of her coffee in one gulp. "This is gonna take a while, Mayor."

"Well," Sunny muttered, "good thing my schedule's clear, huh?"

"So," she said softly, "it all started when I was born..."

So, it all started when I was born. Yeah, great start to a story. But this is important. As you know, I was born without a hindleg to stand on. My parents had enough money to get me a prosthetic when I was a filly, and they always made plenty of time in the day for talking about how I was just like other ponies, just as good and just as special. Looking back, it wasn't the best strategy.

By the time I was twelve I was trying to prove it. I didn't just want to have my mom and dad talking big. I wanted to be big. I wanted to stand on my own hooves! So, I made them. My hooves, that is. Yeah, that prosthetic? Hoof-made. My own design! I got a unicorn friend of mine to do the enchantment. That's how I got my mark. He moved away to Canterlot, but I still shoot him a letter if I need to make another hoof.

Anyway, things were good for a while, but I just kind of...trailed off. Around the time I turned 18, I just felt...spent. I felt like I didn't have anything left in me. Imagine that, right? Me, not making anything!

But my folks wouldn't stop pampering me. They decided that I needed a vacation. And as it turns out, tickets to Rumindia were cheap that year.

The trip over was kinda boring in hindsight. I mostly spent it watching the waves...because whenever I stopped watching the ocean, I started getting seasick. I was so glad to be on land again.

Unfortunately, that was when I found out why the tickets were so cheap. It was almost monsoon season. I barely got to my hotel before the storm set in.

So, drenched in lukewarm rainwater and wondering why the manedryer in the bathroom was for display purpose only, I sat down with a pamphlet somepony had left in the room.

It was all about the local mythos--you know, the usual tourist-bait stuff. Come look at these Bovist monasteries, check out all these local Herdist traditions--there was something about a snake talisman? I wasn't really that interested in it. The thing that really caught my eye? A warning about the local forest. It said there was some kind of horrible monster out there--it had crashed a couple parties, ruined a couple rituals, and everyone was being told to stay well out of the woods.

I won't pretend that I wasn't a morbid filly back then. I wanted to see the monster for myself, the same way that you might want to lean over the edge of a roof. Just to see it, y'know?

"You never struck me as the adventurous type," Sunny muttered.

"You'd be surprised. Nopony thinks Rarity does any fighting, but let me tell ya, she's a feisty mare. You kinda have to be, if you're gonna make it in the clothes biz!" Kerfuffle laughed, and chugged the rest of her coffee.

Sunny had barely made a dent in his own drink. "But you couldn't get to it right away, I imagine?" he muttered, taking a sip.

"Oh, no. It was raining cats and dogs out there. They don't kid around with those monsoons. There was water up to my withers 'till 10 in the morning!"

"Goodness."

"Yep. They said it was pretty bad that year. Wouldn't've made a difference anyway--I hardly got any sleep that night."

"Why? The storm?"

"No, no. My missing leg started aching."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Funny thing about 'phantom' limbs. They aren't there, but that doesn't mean they don't hurt..."