A Slip in Time

by canonkiller

1 - Blue

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Everything hurts. A lot. You can figure out why; your mind is reeling with temporal displacement, just like that time you accidentally teleported five seconds into the future and broke your own nose tripping into yourself. However, as you slowly open your eyes and see nothing but clear blue skies, you don't seem to have any reference points to figure out just how far off you might be.

Well, lying around won't get you anywhere. With considerable effort, you get up onto your hooves and look around. Despite the tingling sensation as you regain feeling in your legs, you don't seem to be in any serious pain. Once your headache subsides, you should be fine. What is less fine, however, is that the sun is bordering on what you think is the setting side, and you seem to be in a thickly forested area.

Certainly enough, you hear the hollow howl of a Timberwolf off to your right. After a few seconds, more join in, all around you. You're not even sure if you would have been able to take on one with your magic as it is, let alone a whole pack. Instincts screaming, you run towards the largest gap in the ring of howls.

Your hooves pound heavily on the grass; you're still wearing your metal shoes, and they're getting heavier as they collect mud. You know for a fact that you shouldn't have that much weight on legs as unsteady as yours are right now, but you're not sure how long you can stop for.

You try to cast a cloaking spell, but your magic flashes like a foal's sparkler and your headache worsens. Blood roaring in your ears, you stumble off to the side, landing on your rump at the base of a tree. Well, you might as well take your shoes off while you're on the ground.

The wolves have gone quiet ever since you stopped running. As you feel your last shoe come loose, a pair of bright yellow eyes moves into a gap between the trees opposite you. You feel your muscles bracing involuntarily, and your hooves press into the thick grass. The wolf has stopped moving, but you can see it's green tongue lolling outside of it's mouth as it pants.

It slowly backs up, and for a moment you think it might be leaving you alone. Much to your chagrin, it lifts it's head up and howls for the pack. You scramble to your hooves and run, your feet feeling incredibly light without your heavy shoes. (You do hate to leave them behind, though; they were silver plated, and engraved with fanciful stars.) The small loss is far from your mind as the lost weight allows you to increase the gap between the lead wolf and you.

This momentary victory is lost as you break free of the trees and find yourself on the shore of a very wide and very fast river. You might be able to hear a waterfall, but you're not sure if it's downstream or upstream. You unconsciously pull your navy nightgown around you as if it might protect you, but the logical part of you continues to rediscover photographs of Timberwolf mauling.

As you contemplate jumping into the river, something jumps out of the trees upstream. It is most definitely not a Timberwolf, but it's not like anything you've ever seen or read about.

It's a bit taller than you are, but doesn't look as solid. It's running gracefully, with long legs and a billowing tuft on the end of it's lion-like tail. It's fur is white, but not dazzlingly so; it looks like something mortal, not some forest spirit come to whisk you away. It has longer ears than you're used to seeing, and has a single curved horn not unlike those you've studied on Changeling drones. However, aside from being the same white as it's coat, it is framed by a short deer-like horn on either side. Something inside you rings with the word 'fantastical' as the creature comes to a stop in front of you, short ivory mane hanging tangled around it's neck.

It looks at you with two rose-colored eyes, and it suddenly strikes you that this creature is female. She turns, pawing at the ground with a cloven hoof. Her tail whips back and forth, and a small ruff of fur around her neck stands on end. You're not sure if she can speak Equish, but her body language is evident. She begins taking small steps back, moving you towards the river. Her ears flick between facing you and facing the forest, and she's getting more agitated with each switch.

You turn away from her, leaping into the water. You land ungracefully - sure, Mother paid for those diving lessons, but what kind of unicorn would prefer being wet over reading books? - but do not sink. In fact, as you stretch out your legs, your hooves skim the bottom. She glances back at you before leaping backwards and into the water herself, dipping underneath just as the Timberwolves emerge from the trees.

She surfaces behind you long enough to shove your head under as well, leaving nothing on the surface. Squinting against the cold water, you see her hooves and tail stirring up the mud and leaves on the bed, smothering the water around you in an impenetrable fog and undoubtedly throwing the Timberwolves above you off their trail.

You follow her as she begins swimming downstream, careful to only lift your nose out for breath. Eventually, the water slows and the depth of the river drops deeper, turning into a wide lake. She surfaces with a gasp, looking at you as you try to catch your breath.

"Hwa bist ðu?" She demands.

You're not sure what she's said, but her tone of voice is effective. You're not sure if you've ever heard this language before, but you're also not sure if she'll leave you alone in the forest, at night, if you don't try to answer.

Author's Note:

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Comments

[canonkiller]

Will you try to communicate in Equish?

[canonkiller]

Will you try to figure out what language she's speaking?

[canonkiller]

Will you attempt to act or draw to communicate?