Oh this was ridiculous. Zhivka had no idea where she was, or how she'd gotten there, nor what she'd been doing. It had been... Something, and it was important. She knew that much. She just didn't remember what. And to make matters worse, she was stuck in a forest and had to find her way out in two hours!
Actually, that couldn't be that hard, could it? Just... Pick a direction and go that way.
As she started walking, the unicorn looked around, tail swishing back and forth. She wished she could remember what she'd been doing before whatever trickster being had put her here. Things were going so good she started to canter, ears forward.
Then she found a large mud puddle, with the path obscured and elsewhere. Well that was... Kind of gross. And there was muck on top of it... Zhivka leaned forward, looking left and right. One way had to lead to the rest of the path, right? She flicked an ear, listening for the weird voice, but heard nothing. Finally, she started to the left, high stepping in the muck and letting out unhappy sounds as she felt the mud cling to the feathering on her hooves.
Ew ew ew ew ew...
And then she came to a dead end, just a circle of brush. Okay, wrong way... Easy fix... Mindful of the fact the path she'd come off of would be on her right now, since she'd gone left, she started back down the muck. Not too long after she passed the path on her right, she rounded a bush and found the continuation of the path. "FINALLY!"
The pink and white mare shook the mud and muck off as best she could when she stepped out, then started cantering down the path again. Okay, not much time lost by that, surely... She could make it! She could make it out of there!
Until she came to a bramble in her path. The voice from before came back. "Before you is a bramble, it will only move if you answer these riddles three... And then you will be free!" There was a pause. "That wasn't intended to rhyme, by the way."
Blinking, ears going back, Zhivka asked, "Riddles? What kind of riddles?" And why didn't they say anything at the mud puddle thing?
"Oh, you know... The usual kind."
Well that wasn't a great answer. Zhivka shook her head, then huffed out a breath. "Fine, ask me your riddles. I need to get out of here."
The grin was practically audible as the voice said, "Very well." There was a pause, as if the mysterious voice was thinking of something good, before it asked, "What can you break, even if you never pick it up or touch it?"
Ears moving back and forth, Zhivka stared at the brambles, glaring as if they would combust if she did so hard enough. After a moment, her ears pricked up. "A promise!"
"Very good!" Some of the brambles moved, clearing part of the path and letting Zhivka to move forward some. There was another pause then, before the voice asked the next riddle, "When is a door not a door?"
"What!" Pacing in place, Zhivka tossed her head, tail lashing. "What kind of a question is that?! A door is always a door!"
The voice laughed. "Tik tok, time is running, little fool. And for you, it's starting to run out."
It had already been almost two hours?! Stopping her pacing, the pink mare looked around with wide and wild eyes. When could a door NOT be a door?! What kind of riddle was this?! Starting to pace again, she tried to think, picturing a door. Door closed, door open, door a--
Zhivka stopped, looking around. "When it's ajar!"
"Oh you ARE clever, aren't you?" The voice chuckled, almost darkly, as the brambles cleared. "Off you go!"
Zhivka snorted, hurrying through the opening made by the brambles. As her strides made quick work of the path, she could hear... Something. And then she came to an abrupt stop as a raging river cut across the path. Curious, how easy it went through... "What in the world?!"
The voice laughed. "Oh, you didn't think it was THAT easy, did you? You need to answer another riddle to get past this! What is always in front of you but can't be seen?"
She could see the path on the other side, perfect in how it matched to the side she stood on, and the sunlight dappling it where the forest gave way... But the river was too wide to jump. "Is it the sunlight?" She startled as some of the water seemed to get angrier. "Okay not the sun! Uh..." Her ears went back. "Th- The wind?" More water and rapids, and it seemed to get wider, causing Zhivka to back up. "s**t!"
"Tick tock, times almost up! You should answer fast or you'll be... Oh, I don't know... Stuck here? Do you really want to find out what happens?"
Think think think... What could always be right in front of her but never seen? This wasn't how she wanted things to end, she had so much ahead of her in- "OH! Is it the future?"
The water bubbled and started to withdraw from its shore, before shrinking to little more than a babbling brook. "You're correct! Perhaps you're not a fool after all... You'd best hurry and get out, then. Go on, shoo!"
"Don't gotta tell ME twice!" Rearing slightly, Zhivka launched forward and over the brook, galloping for the light at the end of the path. When she got beyond the edge of the forest, she looked back and found... No path? Well, that was weird.. This was such a weird day... She shook her head, then turned and hurried on her way.
Some distance from the forest, she remembered that she'd been looking for somebody, and she was only just slowing down when she remembered who she was looking for. She sighed, shaking out her mane, then looked this way and that. Maybe she should go find Astor and rest for a while... She was sure she could find her son more easily, him and his chicken. Admiral Bokington... The mare smiled at the name, thinking about the sweet little hen, then set out at a trot, a nice and easy gate to not exhaust herself.
[WC: 1,070]