Dark Star’s eyes opened slowly. He let out a loud, heavy yawn before trying to reach up and rub the sleep from his eyes. Strangely though, it felt like something was holding his hoof down. Using his other hoof to lift up his sheets, he saw a blob of white holding his entire leg captive. Shaking his head gently, he realized that the mysterious blob was only his younger sister. Letting out an a drawn out sigh, he pried his leg from Pareidolia’s grasp. Upon losing her grip, her grey eyes opened from beneath her frizzled mane.
“Mm, goodmorning Star…” she blissfully hummed, looking up at him and smiling softly as if it were any other morning.
Dark Star merely looked down at her, unamused. “Dol, you can’t keep doing this. You aren’t a little kid anymore and you should be able to stay in your own bed by now.” Her smiling face turned to a frown as her eyes turned away from his.
“Im sorry, I just…”
“Just what?” he said, a little harsher than he meant to.
She curled up a little, as she normally did when put on the spot. “I-I had a bad dream…”
Dark Star let out another sigh, “That’s what this was about?” Pulling himself away from her and jumping out of bed, he stretched himself out thoroughly. Pareidolia sat up, her head tilted to the side so her mane would hide her face. Dark Star ignored her and made his way to the door, “You need to grow up Dol.”
The door shut loudly behind him, leaving Pareidolia alone on his bed. She laid her head down on the sheets and huffed. She closed her eyes and tried to think of some way to get forgiveness from her brother.
Her train of thought was suddenly broken by the sound of shuffling and a floorboard creaking. Thinking it was Dark Star, Pareidolia immediately perked up. “Star, I’m—“ Her eyes widened as she stared at the being on the other side of the room, looking out the window near her bed. It was tall and stood upon two legs and had long awkward limbs. It’s “body” seemed to be made of shadows, or rather scribbles that constantly moved around. What seemed to be its head snapped forward before slowly turning to face the young filly. It had no face and showed no sign of expression other than a thin white line that stretched across the front. It seemed to curve down slightly towards the edges, like a frown.
Pareidolia tried to quickly run away from this “thing”, but only got her legs tangled amongst her brother’s sheets and fell off the side of the bed with a thud. After quickly trying to regain her posture, she peaked over the side of the bed while shaking in fear. She wanted to call for help, but something stopped her at the last moment.
It only stared at her – or at least, she assumed it was staring. Slowly, it turned and began walking around the beds and towards her. Looking around frantically, she used her magic to grab a broom that was lying against the wall in the corner. When the thing came within range, she swung it as hard as she could with her magical grasp. The bristles and wood only phased through the shadows each time. It looked down at its chest, then back to her. Again, the two only stared at each other, the only sound coming from Pareiodolia’s hyper ventilating. It knelt down onto one of its knees, as if to try and lower itself to eye-level with her. Nonetheless it still was twice the size of the young Unicorn even in such a position.
She felt like she would start crying at any second. She closed her eyes tightly, afraid to see what sort of fate this thing had in store for her.
But nothing ever came.
Slowly and only slightly, she opened one of her eyes. The creature of shadows remained where it had before. After what felt like an hour of silence, it cocked its head slightly to the right. Pareidolia responded by unintentionally mimicking its movements. Slowly, it raised one of its limbs and placed it against its chest. Its head bobbed gently.
Is it trying to talk?
Before she could try and figure out what this strange creature was trying to do, the door to the room flew open as a dark blue Pegasus shot through the door. He ran to the other side of his bed, phasing through the creature of shadows as if it were nothing but air.
“Come on Dol, we overslept! We’re gonna be late for school!”
“But—“ She took one last look at the being that her brother unknowingly stood within before Dark Star took her hoof and pulled her onto his back.
Elsewhere in the house, Fluttershy was gently tipping a bag of food forward, letting the brown grams flow out into the bowl in front of her. Three small kittens gathered around the outpouring, meowing in thanks to the one who cared for them. The timid Pegasus smiled in response, petting one gently as they nibbled at their food. At that moment, a blur shot by behind her, causing her mane to blow to the side. All she was able to hear besides the door flying open was what seemed to be something along the lines of “Bye mom!”
Upon following the trail, she could make out her two children flying off towards town. A smile on her face, she closed the door with her tail as she walked outside and forward to a few trees just a short distance away. In front of the one closest to the cottage was a large sword planted in the ground. Planted several years ago, weather proved to have no effects on the metal which was as pristine as the day it was set.
“Sometimes I wonder just where he gets it from.”
Her only response was the chirping of birds that were perched along the hilt. Nevertheless, Fluttershy retained her smile as if it War himself answering.
-------------
Elsewhere, Dark Star landed in front of the schoolhouse with a somewhat shaken-up Pareidolia clinging to his back. She’d flown with him before, but she was more prepared for flight that time. She shook her head gently, trying to fix her blown-back mane. Happy with it once again drooping over her right eye, she looked forward only to wish her mane covered both her eyes. There, by the door that the other young ponies were filing into was the creature of shadows. It stood, slightly hunched over, watching her from afar. Pareidolia shrank down, trying to hide herself.
“Uh, Dol… I know we did this as kids an all, but…” Dark Star, oblivious to his sister’s turmoil, shrugged her off. She fell to the floor with a soft thud. “You’re kind of heavy now.”
Not getting the reaction he thought she would give him, he turned to see the white filly hiding behind him. He cocked an eyebrow, “What’s gotten into you lately?”
“D-don’t you see that… weird thing?” She pointed a hoof towards where it stood, still as a statue. Dark Star’s eyes followed her hoof to where she was pointing.
“You mean Thunder?” he said. Pareidolia looked at him as if he was crazy, but then looked to see that her hoof was, indeed, pointing at the blue Pegasus who stood talking to a filly right at the doorway, inches from the source of her worry. “Yeah, he’s a weirdo, but calling him a ‘thing’ would just be insulting to everything else that’s a ‘thing.’”
Pareidolia frowned, “You mean you can’t see—“
Her words were cut off as Thunderclap and the filly, a Unicorn, took notice of their friend and came to meet him. The filly was the first to speak, “And where have you been? No no, let me guess… you overslept, am I right?”
Dark Star sighed, lowering his head like a child being scolded, “Yes mom, I overslept.”
“Please,” she said, “if you must call me something, then try something more meaningful, like ‘Madame’ or ‘my lady.’ After all, one day I’ll be a world-famous author amongst the high-class of Canterlot!”
“I don’t think Canterlot is big enough to fit your ego, Feathers.” Thunderclap said, feeling sorry for his fellow Pegasus. He too shrank down to avoid the daggers she glared at him. Feather Quill was a goldish-grey Unicorn with a long dark brown mane that nearly reached the ground. Unlike the others, she had her cutie mark by now. A feather quill to compliment her name. It appeared to her shortly after winning short-story contest by writing a sixty-thousand word novel about the flaws in the government over in the Griffon Kingdoms. She substituted political figureheads as mere farm animals simply because she “felt it would be more fun to write that way.”
Before she could continue, Feather caught sight of the young Unicorn that hid behind Dark Star. Immediately, she dropped her high-and-mighty act and pushed Dark Star aside and practically tackled the shy filly, “Oh, Dolia, I feel like it’s been forever since we last saw each other!”
Pareidolia smiled a little, petting Feather on the head as if she were a large pet who was excited to see their master return home after a day of being gone. “I missed you too Feathers.”
Dark Star rose back onto his hooves, dusting himself off. “I swear, sometimes I think you only hang out with us so you can tackle Dol at the beginning of every week.”
“What can I say?” she began, keeping a hoof wrapped tightly around the smaller Unicorn, “We Unicorns gotta stick together!”
Dark Star only rolled his eyes before turning and trotting off towards the door that led into the classroom, “Come on, we’re already late and Ms. C is probably about to start class.” The group agreed began following in his trail. Pareidolia tried to steer away as she neared the thing that still stood watch by the door, but Feather’s tight grip kept her from moving too far.