Air Horse: Darkening Skies

Ever Stronger Visions.

Copper shivered as she stepped out of the cave. A brisk wind ruffled her mane and wing feathers. She sank into snow up to her knees.

"So, where should we start?" Toby asked when they were outside.

"North?" Skip suggested.

"Wait," Copper perked up her ears. "I hear voices."

Skip and Toby listened. There was the sound a horse talking from behind a nearby structure. Whoever was talking was being too quiet to understand. Copper, Skip, and Toby tiptoed closer to hear. A second, louder voice made them freeze.

"Why didn't you warn us?!"

Copper started at the familiar phrase. Toby scowled fiercely and dashed around the structure. Copper and Skip hurried to follow. They found themselves faced by a scene that, like the angry words, was all too familiar.

Cloudy stood backed up against the structure, head and wings low with defeat. A tall orange land stallion stood threateningly in front of her. A colt, yellow with swirls of orange with a broken artificial wing, stood behind the stallion. The colt held a foreleg up.

Toby didn't slow. He rammed his shoulder into the stallion. The stallion stumbled back, but flattened his ears and flared his wings.

"Back off, Calor!" Skip snapped, going to Toby's side.

"Let us be," Calor spat. "We were talking to Cloudy."

Copper ran to Cloudy's side. Her friend was shaking, not just from fear, but exhaustion as well. Dark circles ringed Cloudy red-rimmed eyes.

Skip drew himself up. "Whatever you want to say to Cloudy, you can say to me."

Calor gestured to his son standing behind him. "Cloudy saw that Mark was going to hurt himself, but she didn't warn us!"

"I tried," Cloudy whimpered.

Copper gently shushed Cloudy and leaned comfortingly against her. Now she understood why the colt seemed to be favoring a leg, but he didn't look too badly hurt.

"He was flying," Toby said. It wasn't a question.

Calor fumbled over his words, probably searching for an excuse. Finally, he stomped a hoof and tossed his mane. He cast one last glare at Cloudy, then said, "I'm not the only one who feels this way."

Calor trotted away, head held high as if it was below him to continue the conversation. Mark shrugged apologetically at the group, and limped after his father.

Copper shook her head. Mark was a good colt, but rarely stood up to his father. She had the sneaking suspicion that it had been Calor's idea for Mark to fly.

"Are you okay?" Toby asked Cloudy, his anger gone as quickly as it had come.

Cloudy shrugged, her head drooping lower.

"I tried to warn them," Cloudy repeated.

"It's okay," Copper soothed. "Mark wasn't hurt that badly."

Cloudy sniffed. Copper was alarmed by the tears gathering in her eyes, but didn't know how to comfort her friend.

Skip stomped a hoof. He was glaring in the direction Calor and Mark had gone. Copper sighed. Skip was becoming increasingly short-tempered these days. Though she didn't blame him.

Once word of Cloudy's visions of the future had spread, horses kept coming to Cloudy and asking what would happen to them. No matter how many times Cloudy explained that she only saw glimpses of random horses, they kept coming. They were desperate to learn their future. And the more horses that came begging to know about themselves, the more frequently Cloudy dreamed.