Air Horse: Darkening Skies

Journey's Call

Out of the corner of her eye, Copper watched Cloudy as she, Skip, and Toby grazed. The filly had been jumpier than normal these last few days. She hadn't been rushing around to warn horses about their bad luck as much, instead, she spent a lot of time staring into the distance. She napped a lot in the daytime, as she was now, but only for a short time before waking with a jolt.

Skip burrowed through the snow until he was up to his eyes in the cold flakes. He lifted his head and snorted, blowing a mini-blizzard of snow. "There's nothing here."

Toby walked up, the twigs poking out of his mouth bearing only the slightest trace of green. He started to chew, but grimaced and spat out the twigs. Copper considered doing the same with her own mouthful of dry, bristly grass.

"There isn't anything anywhere. Spring had better get here soon, before we all turned into skeletons!" Toby said.

Copper and Skip muttered in agreement. The extreme cold had killed most green plants, and what hadn't yet shriveled was buried in the snow.

"Warm weather is just around the bend. I can smell it!" Copper threw back her head, inhaling deeply.

Skip snorted. "I don't think it works that way."

Copper raised her wings in a shrug. "It will come eventually. Why be negative?"

"Yeah, sure. Do whatever you like," Skip said, wandering away.

Copper shook her head. Why must Skip be so moody?

Copper swept some snow back with a wing. A smile spread across her face as grass still with some green was revealed. She lowered her head to take a bite, then hesitated. Cloudy needed nourishment more than Copper. Copper walked over to wake Cloudy.

"Cloudy," she said quietly.

Cloudy snorted and raised her eyelids. "What's up?"

"I found some grass for you to eat," Copper said.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry," Cloudy yawned.

Copper furrowed her brow. "You haven't eaten since this morning, and it's getting late."

Cloudy jerked her head up. Copper started and followed her gaze, but saw only open sky and the sun-horse. The sun-horse had already made one crossing of the sky by noon, and was starting to set in the east. Cloudy shivered.

"Are you okay?" Copper asked.

Cloudy gave Copper a small smile. "Fine. You're right, I need to eat."

"It is time."

Cloudy knew she was dreaming before she even opened her eyes. The voice had been a familiar one in her dreams the last few days.

Standing in front of Cloudy was a land mare that looked so extraordinary that she couldn't have been real. The mare, who had introduced herself as Jupiter, had the smoky gray skin of a thundercloud-wave, a mane and tail that was more fog than hair, tiny images of lightening bolts in her eyes, and hooves that were semi-transparent white like ice. She couldn't have been more than a couple years older than Cloudy, but acted much older. And bossier.

"Time for what?" Cloudy asked tiredly. Since taking over her dreams, Jupiter had saying non-stop that Cloudy was going on some grand adventure. Cloudy thought it was the stress getting to her.

Jupiter let out an exasperated sigh. "You're coming to Peak."

"Never heard of it."

"It's where Luna, Solis, and I live. You must come. Luna's future depends on it!"

"What does Queen Luna have anything to do with this?"

"Not Queen Luna." Jupiter shifted. "Look, you have already wasted too much time. Luna- my Luna- sent me to your dreams to call you, but every dream saps her strength even more."

That caught Cloudy's attention. "This Luna is a seer as well?"

"Among other things. She was once powerful, but she has grown weaker recently. You must come help her!"

"What? How can I help her?" Cloudy was more focused on Jupiter than she had ever been.

"It is possible for you to give up your seer's power to Luna, so she may gather her strength again. You would lose you visions, though."

"I would love to get rid of these visions!" Cloudy said, eyes widening.

"Then you must come to Peak."

"Okay, I'll get Copper-"

"No! Only you can come," Jupiter said gravely.

"Why?"

"There is no guarantee that you will return."

Cloudy took a step back, ears flattening. "Are you saying I could die!?"

"Oh, no, I didn't mean it that way!" Jupiter hurried to say.

"Then what do you mean?" Cloudy challenged.

"Luna has visions like you. When we started talking about bringing you, she saw... well, she thinks that you come to Peak, and don't come back," Jupiter said reluctantly.

Cloudy narrowed her eyes. "Why?"

"I don't know. I'm sure you know as well as I, if not better, how vague visions can be."

"How reliable is Luna's visions?"

"Again, you're more acquainted with being a seer than me."

Cloudy pondered it all. Then, she said, "I need to think about it."

"There is no time to think!" Jupiter squealed. "Luna is losing strength fast. If you do not help, Luna will fall!"

Cloudy started at the last sentence. The wording was a bit strange, and she couldn't help but think of her vision of the falling moon-horse from three days before. Was there some connection?

"Oh no."

Jupiter's words pulled Cloudy out of her thoughts. Jupiter was staring at her hooves, which had disappeared from view. The mare's frantic gaze whipped up to Cloudy as more of her body began fading.

"I'm out of time! If you wish to help, go to Whistling Wall," Jupiter was gone completely from view. A whisper of Jupiter's voice reached Cloudy, saying, "Hurry!"

"Wha- Jupiter!?"

Cloudy awoke with a gasp. Copper, Skip, and Toby were standing nearby, watching her curiously.

"Are you okay?" Copper asked.

"Uh, yeah. Everything's fine," Cloudy said, forcing a grin.

A few months before, Copper would have persisted in finding out why she looked so spooked. Now, Copper only nodded and went back to digging in the snow.

"Tonight," Cloudy silently told herself. "I'll start out."