The day started off with a strange feel about it. He couldn't put his hoof on it and nothing seemed out of the ordinary when he checked around. Richard even went to his familiar and checked in with her.
"Roxie, have you noticed anything..... off... today?" He looked down at the fluffy bobcat.
Roxie was in the middle of her morning grooming. It was a lot of work to make this much fur look fabulous and natural. "Only thing off, is that your interrupting me." She peered up at the tall stallion and saw the worried look on his face. Roxie let out a sigh, "no I've not noticed anything."
Richard cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to check. Must just be my imagination then. Carry on." He awkwardly walked away to give her the privacy to finish.
Roxie watched him walk away with narrowed eye for a moment. Something was probably up. She'd keep her eyes open today. The bobcat finished her grooming quickly. They would be traveling again today
Despite the reassurance, Richard kept looking over his shoulder during the day as if expecting something to come up behind him and attack. It was about mid-day that he noticed the decrease in light despite it being almost noon. With a start he looked up at the sun. There, part of the sun was missing! "Roxie look!"
Roxie frowned as she tried to stare at the sun. She could barely make out the chunk that was missing from the sun. "Well you don't see that every day." Inside she felt a shiver run down her spine. That was decidedly not normal. "What do you make of it Richard?"
Richard frowned. "I don't know." He continued to try to watch until he realized he could watch the circles of light on the ground without hurting his eyes. The pair continued to watch as more and more of the sun vanished. The light slowly faded, growing fainter and fainter as time went on.
Roxie could only watch with her partner. There was nothing they could do right? Was there some way to turn the tide? Was it caused by something they had done? She could only wait and see as soon a quarter of the sun disappeared, then half, then three quarters.
The world dimmed around them. It felt like dusk although he could see the sun high in the sky. Or what was left of it anyhow. Richard reared up and slashed his hooves through the air. "Whatever the cause, I will set this right!" He proclaimed loudly. "Whatever wrong has been done it shall be undone!"
Roxie purred her approval as the last light of sun vanished. The world went silent for a long second. Then the nocturnal animals began their night chorus. Roxie held her breath. It was so surreal.
Richard turned to being his hunt. He would find the source of this sorcery and put an end to it! It might take some time as he had no idea where to start, but he needed to hurry. The world couldn't possibly survive like this for long. Richard heard a soft gasp from his familiar.
Roxie was about to get up, when she noticed a flare of brightness from one side of the sun disk. "Richard look!" She could only watch in awe as the sun started to come back.
Richard stopped and stared. What had happened then? Had light overcome dark? The pair stood transfixed as just as gradually as it had faded, the sun slowly returned. The world brightened around them once more; until finally the last of the shadow disappeared from the sun all together.
Roxie shook her head after the sun was fully back. "That is by far the weirdest thing I have ever seen Richard. It was as if darkness tried to take over and then was beaten by back the light." Sensing the stallion was ready to leave, she jumped up onto her position on his back and settled down.
Richard shook his head. "I've never seen that before either, or heard of it. We'll have to look into it further as we travel Roxie."
WC: 698