The Duo

The moon glowed overhead as the darkness quickly set in. Down below, a Pegasus mare was walking down the cracked road as she talked. Next to her, the young unicorn colt stopped walking and looked up at the sky. His mouth opened for a second, but no words came out. The mare noticed and waved her hand in front of his face to get his attention.

“Hey, are you listening?” She asked calmly. The colt nodded his head before opening his mouth once again.

“Are we going to get there anytime soon?” He asked.

“Almost, if we walk for the rest of the night we’ll get there in the morning. If you’re tired, we could always take another break,” She smiled. This wasn’t the first time he asked.

“They’re saying we should stop for the night,” He said. His eyes were still focused on the sky above.

“Who?” She asked, confused.

“The stars, they aren’t lined up right. Something bad is going to happen if we keep walking,” He said. His eyes were scanning the sky above as he spoke. The mare sighed before nodding.

“Alright, whatever you say. Do you want to camp or get in a tree?” She asked.

The colt didn’t even look away from the sky before answering. “There,” He pointed his hoof at the top of a nearby tree and the mare smiled.

“You always want to make it difficult,” She said. The mare walked up to the tree and grabbed two of the low hanging branches before waiting for the colt to come. He looked down from the sky and used the low hanging branches to climb his way higher up the tree. The mare opened her wings and gently ascended up the tree. She sat on the tallest branch and looked around the area.

“It’s coming,” The colt said in a monotone voice. She turned to where he was looking and barely noticed a stalking blue creature walking down the path they had just been on. He had sharp teeth and a dark blue translucent coat. His body was in the form of a wolf, and there was an astral symbol on his head.

“Canis Minor…” She said. She stayed quiet as it walked past their tree and continued along the path. When it past, she turned to the colt to remark about him worrying about nothing. He had his hoof held out to signify silence. She followed his gaze once again and her eyes widened.

A Canis Major was stalking the forest, with its six other children following close behind. The Canis Major could have easily reached the top of her tree if it reached up. Instead, it didn’t notice them and continued along the path that the first did. She stayed quiet until she was sure the creature’s sharp hearing wouldn’t hear her.

“What is she doing out?” She asked.

“The stars…” The colt said. Once again, he looked up at the stars and the missing stars in the constellations. “The wind…” he continued. The mare stopped to feel the breeze and took a smell. She could smell a faint scent of blood. It was rotten and got stronger by the second. “The ground.” The colt finished.

The mare had to think about that for a second. “What do you mean the ground?” She asked. Her eyes were on the ground for any sign of movement but she didn’t notice anything off.

“The dirt is hard, there hasn’t been very much rain recently. That means smells haven’t been washed away within hundreds of meters of here. The blood could be coming from anywhere, and that brings predators out during the night,” The colt said slowly. He let his head fall on the tree and his eyes close. “Good night.”

“Alright then,” She said, only half impressed he calculated all of that. Maybe the first time she was impressed, but now it was just worrying. “What about the stars?” She said, remembering his first statement.

“They look nice,” He said, dismissingly.

The mare looked over the horizon for the next few hours. She turned her head slowly as she did so to not disturb or alarm any of the creatures nearby. On a few occasions she saw an owl get lucky with the field mice, and she noticed a rabbit hopping from bush to bush get bit by a snake and try to get away. It’s too bad the poison made him run into a tree and the snake took his time catching up.

“Good night,” She said, finally closing her eyes as the moon started its descent back down.

The colt might have had his eyes closed, he might have been breathing shallow as he would in dream state, and he might have been unconscious, but it was in his unconsciousness that he was completely awake.

‘Canis Major, as well as minors walking across the forest,’ he said to a reflection of himself. He was in a room that expanded on for eternity in every direction. He turned to his left as another reflection responded.

‘Anything in the stars?’ he asked. This one looked up at the ceiling and was rewarded with a reflection of himself grinning.

‘The Princess must be having troubles with her duties, her magic supply is draining,’ this one looked to his right at the next reflection.

‘It could be wavering, perhaps her mental state is declining,’ He looked down.

‘No, the manifestations are still stable, it has to be a magic drain,’ He closed his eyes and saw yet another picture of himself.

‘I have to see the princess, she must know of this problem,’ he opened his eyes.

‘She already knows, there’s been an influx of power since we’ve slept,’ He turned to his left.

‘Then let’s deal with the situation if time permits, for now let’s continue,’ he said. He turned around and saw another one of him.

‘Danger potency and probability of those Canis. Following with lethality of a group that size and relevant position with the towns nearby. Next bring into consideration the time of year as well as the protective barriers of the sun princess, don’t forget to account for the weaker barrier of the moon, she still has potential to change-,’

The colt felt a shock of pain in his horn and woke with a start. To anyone watching, his body was still and only his eyes opened. The mare was already asleep and her hair was covering her face from the moon’s glow. The colt shook his head. That’s been happening too many times. The millions of thoughts in his head seemed to stop for just a split second. In that time, he felt a cold emptiness and was glad when he was clouded with thoughts again. The colt closed his eyes and let the multitude of his same voice and image in his head emerge once again.

Luna opened her eyes as her horn sparked suddenly. There it was again. For a slight moment, she could feel the dreams of some unusual creature. Normally she could see anyone’s dreams, her thoughts were always bouncing around, trying to capture the worst of dreams and acting if need be. This creature’s dream was horrifyingly bad, and it was for so short of a time that she could not try to intervene.

The first time this happened, she thought she was just imagining it. It was like there was some pony out there that never dreamed, and she only got a fraction of a dream every few weeks. What kind of pony doesn’t dream? Luna turned her attention back to the last pieces of paperwork underneath her hoof.

“Next time… maybe next time I’ll be able to help. In the meantime…” Luna looked towards the door as she gently slid her hoof to the side, the papers following her hoof. The papers fell into the wastebasket and her hoof went up and wiped invisible sweat off of her forehead. “Phew, hard work,” She said. Luna walked out to the balcony and looked up at the night sky. Her eyes landed on the spots where clusters of stars used to be.

Author's Note

Hope you guys like prologue!

Next Time: The better prodigy: A game of chess