🎂

I told the ice cream pony duo goodbye and raced off in the direction Lily Lotus pointed. I left my pay and forwent the free ice cream, asking them if I could collect both later. Hard to hold either if you didn’t know how hooves worked. And… I can trust random ponies, right?

A giant red and yellow tent towered over everything else in Ponyville. I wondered if it could be the one Lily Lotus mentioned. There was a fountain, probably where the poor migraine-misfortuned fish apparently lived. Oh! And familiar faces! Snips and Snails! They had… bags of birdfeed? Huh. I wonder if Trixie had them up to something. Did they still like Trixie? Probably no– okay, seriously, focus girl. Robin. Where is Robin?

I ran through the entire row of tents, looking back and forth frantically like when you’re in a rush at the grocery store trying to find something niche down any particular aisle. My hunt ended at the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. I froze. Memories of thorny vines wrapping themselves around my legs. A monster, a mouth, hungry for pony flesh…

My heartrate quickened. My legs trembled. There was a light coldness in my barrel right over my heart. Funny, even when you’re scared of the dark, you don’t really think of what you’re scared of in the dark. It was mysterious, and that mystery was the fear itself. But now, the darkness had a form. It had a sound. It even had a name. Rattlesnatcher.

I gulped. It was daytime. And he had saved me. I… there was always someone there to save you in Equestria, wasn’t there? I shook my head. Focus, focus. In middle school I knew a girl. Felicia. She was always distracted, and distracting others in class. The teacher and her made a bit of a game where they would put a hand in front of their face and slowly close their fingers as they moved the hand away while saying, “Focus, Felicia.”

No fingers to do that trick now. But I could do something else.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath while bringing a hoof to my barrel.

“And calm,” I said, simultaneously exhaling as I brought my hoof away from me, pointing it to nowhere in particular. “And again,” I mumbled.

Thank you Princess Candance. I giggled at the memory of Twilight performing the same move while hyperventilating. Oh Twilight.

The sound of rustling bushes made me twitch. My eyes flickered open and snapped to the location of the noise.

A pegasus. A brown coat and white mane, but her hair was sparkly and glittery; almost as though some strands were made of tinsel. She hovered gently over a stump. I watched her quietly as she fussed over something. The stump- it wasn’t a stump at all, but rather a small little house, as though for a doll. The pegasus was neatly placing little flowers and mushrooms around it.

I looked around. The only other pony I saw was an older grey foal reading a book on a bench a little ways away.

‘Right. Here goes nothing,’ I thought quietly with a sigh, and I strode right up to the pegasus.

“H-hi! Your house, it’s beautiful,” I said.

The pegasus twitched and looked back at me with alarm. But her surprise was quickly replaced with a calmness.

“Hi,” she said. A quiet but steady voice. “It’s a fairy house. I spend my time making them. It’s my talent, really.”

“Really? Do fairies actually live in them?” I asked, stepping forward a little more.

The pegasus gave a little giggle. “No. Not that I know of. I just enjoy making the world a little more magical.” She seemed uncertain to continue her work or to look at me while talking.

“I think I can understand that,” I said. So ponies also can have that sense of wonder, that sort of longing for the unknown, that mysterious, nebulous, ethereal sense you get when staring up at the stars on a quiet night, or walking along in the woods and the sunlight hits the right place at just the right moment as the wind blows through scattering the leaves to and fro.

But back to the matter at hoof. “Um, I’m actually looking for my friends. One of them’s Sunset Shimmer. Maybe you know her? And the other’s a grey earth pony.”

“Oh, I actually did see them not too long ago. I saw Sunset talking with a stallion. I think they mentioned something about Fluttershy,” said the pegasus.

“Yes! If they went to Fluttershy’s even without me… can you tell me which way to her cottage?”

“Mmhm,” said the pegasus. “Just walk along the outskirt of the forest until you come across a dirt path. Take the path, and not too far it will be right there. If you come to the big red house with the heart-shaped window–you’ve gone too far. Most ponies stay away from there, so I would turn around pretty quickly if I were you.”

“How come?” I asked.

“A strange mare lives there. The others say she’s batty. Had a hole drilled through her hoof. Odd things happen around her, and she has a cutie mark that moves, making faces at you. Honestly, a lot of it is probably just rumors, but either way, I wouldn’t recommend lingering. Particularly since it’s so far out in the forest.”

I made a face. A hole through her hoof?! I didn’t know that was possible. The image of a pony version of the old lady who lives in the haunted house at the end of the street jumped into my mind- the one the children speak in hushed voices as they pass, and the curtains seem to move funny, but only when you look at them with the corner of your eyes. So basically she’s just some sort of misunderstood crazy hermit with a dead rich husband? Got it.

“Thank you!” I told the pegasus with a little wave.

She gave me another, “Mmhm!” and went back to her fairy house while I took off along the Everfree Forest.

One of the many things about being a pony I was happy with was being able to gallop. At first, I only meant to trot; there was no need to go full speed. But the mere joy of moving so fast… soon I was galloping as fast as I could. Almost like being a child again; to just run for the sake of running. I was faster than I was as a human, and I had been quite fast before.

The wind in my mane as the curls bounced… and my tail bobbing up and down… Each hoof felt like it had a spring on it. The sides of my vision blurred, but I could still focus straight ahead of me. The cool air smacked against my face–I was grinning. This was fun. I was having FUN.

I stopped once I came to a lightly maintained path. Odd, my breathing wasn’t even ragged. For a moment, I worried that the pegasus from earlier might have forgotten to mention that there was another dirt pathway into the forest. Though, Zecora’s hut didn’t even have a maintained path, did it? Why’d she still live out in the middle of Everfree, anyway? The ponies accepted her now, wouldn’t she feel safer in Ponyville? But I suppose the Everfree gives her better access to herbs for her potions. And maybe she prefers to be alone?

Bird song rang overhead. The trees seemed to not be as menacing in this part of the forest. I suppose that makes sense; it’s safe enough for at least two ponies to live by. Maybe even Zecora actually lives along the same route, just deeper in.

I closed my eyes and took a breath. Focus, Felicia. The air smelt wonderful. The scent of tree and dew, but sharper than I had ever tasted before. There was a river nearby, in the forest. I could smell it. I opened my eyes and then took a step onto the road into the Everfree Forest.

This time, I walked, meandering along the path, scanning my surroundings. Squirrels. Birds. Twigs. Butterflies. Maybe I don’t have anything to worry about. The walk quickly became boring. But I still can’t see behind the trees. And any thorn or vine could be evil. A hoof tripped over a small rock. Oddly, I didn’t stumble. Just… a momentary surprise, and I kept moving. No loss of balance. Benefits of four legs, I guess.

I stared down at my hooves. They looked exactly as they did on the show– two little circular pastel blue stubs. Impossible to discern any difference between them and the rest of the leg. If the ponies didn’t refer to them as hooves, I might even think that they weren’t hooves at all.

But now I know better. The ends of my feet were hard, and lacked any fur. I stopped momentarily and tapped on one hoof with the corner of another. Yep, hard. Cartilage. But underneath, most of it was softer. I rose the hoof to my face, examining. And I could see it.

It was subtle. Impossible to notice unless you were looking for it, and up close. But there was a line separating where my leg ended, and my hoof began. I could even make out the texture difference between the two. I moved the hoof away, and the colors merged back together, so I couldn’t see the difference anymore. And I moved it back to my face, but this time to look at the underside.

I had no clue what the underside of a horse’s hoof was supposed to look like, but I could make out something like a triangle. The base of it started at the back of my hoof, and the point ended about in the center. By now, I was sitting down and comparing my forehooves. Both were the same. The ridge of my hooves stuck out further than the soles did, almost as though they were cookie cutters.

But how do I hold something? I closed my eyes and tried to remember that feeling from earlier. That freedom when Ember pulled the ice cream scooper from me. Yes, that, right there… move. Move.

Something happened. Yes, yes, right there! But how? What? I opened my eyes and inspected the hoof again. The wall of my hoof was moving. The sight weirded me out momentarily; it’s not everyday you see a part of yourself move that you didn’t know you could move. It was like a boat rudder, or the wings of a plane, but circular. I moved them in, and out. Out was resting. In… in was a grip!

I held my breath as I brought a hoof down, searching. There! A rock! Just the right size. I hovered the hoof over it, and lightly pressed into it. I felt it; hard, with a few jaded edges. But smooth on one side. And… grip. And… slowly, lift.

The rock lifted up into the air, attached to my hoof.

I DID IT!

I’m holding a rock! I’m holding a rock! I hopped up and down with three legs and let out a girlish squee.

Okay, now to let go. Can I let go? Focus… relax… the rock clattered to the ground.

Again, I hopped up and down, giving out more squees!

“Chichiwheklblah!” I babbled in glee, shaking my forelegs like a maniac. “I can hold a rock! Teeeheeeeee!”

I spent the next few minutes prancing along the trail, constantly picking up random rocks and twigs before dropping back to the ground. I could even hold things with my hindlegs! Not that it was very useful.

Fluttershy’s Cottage! I’d know that green roof anywhere! Just like a hobbit hole!

“I’m going to see Fluttershy! I’m going to see Fluttershy!” I cheered in singsong as I bounded over to it.

I stopped dead in my tracks. Silence spilled out into the clearing. Something was wrong.

Broken birdhouses lay scattered and hewn about the ground. Every window was smashed open, the sunlight skipping off the shards. Her rusty red round door was twisted off the hinges, barely even attached to the cottage. Inside was dark, but I could just barely make out a couch fallen over, something that looked like snapped wood.

Silence spilled out into the clearing, and into my panicked heart.

Author's Note

Note on the bit about cartilage: A horse's hoof wall is actually made out of keratin. However, Lilyheart doesn't know that here, and there's nopony around to correct her.

Cameos!! This chapter we have Sparkly sparks' tentatively named Star Dust as the reading grey foal. The helpful pegasus is u/Naki____'s Emilllirilis! Lastly, we finally have a reference to JetBlack's Heartbreak as the odd mare that lives at the end of the forest!

Editors: PandoraFox, Rainy Skies, Ashel, what would I do without you ponies? (Probably whine a lot and cry miserably)

I had the vision of this cliffhanger in my head for the past four or five months- from something like ten chapters ago. It's so exciting to finally get to it! ~~Now, wait patiently over the six months before I resolve it.~~

Merry Christmas, everypony!