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“Mama! Papa! Hurry up!”

Spindly legs raced beneath me as I pushed myself ahead of my parents. I didn’t know exactly where we were going, only papa knew that information. Regardless, my little hooves pummeled the earth in a playful fashion. One step, two step, three step, four. None of my hooves were striking ground like they should have been as I travelled up ahead to the top of a hill.

“Honey, don’t go too far ahead!” mama’s voice calls out to me as she picks up her pace to catch up with me. It didn’t take her long to do so, but right before she did I giggled and laughed and ran away, “Can’t get me,” my voice bellows out between catching my breath and more laughing. Eventually I found myself falling and rolling on the ground as best as I could with my horns as mama came over and started laughing with me.  When papa caught up he chuckled a little bit and then decided to tell us our vacation spot was just at the bottom of the hill.

“Really?!” Wide green eyes glistened as I looked down the hill and saw nothing but lush green grass, a small stream, and a woods. It was perfect! There were so many things I hadn’t seen before. So many things to do. So many things to explore. So I took off.

“Hyzenthlay! Remember don’t go past the line of trees!” mama worriedly spoke to me before I got too far away.

“I know mama,” I yelled back. Mama always was the worrywart. If I so much as scraped a knee she would be questioning me about as to how I got it and then proceeding to tell me I should never do that ever again. Papa. Papa was the fun parent. He would always calm mama down and say that I need to live life in order to grow up into a decent princess someday.

And I couldn’t agree more.

It wasn’t before I found my first buddy to play with. He was green and slimy looking and whenever I got close he decided to hop away. Giggling I gave chase after him right on into the woods. “Hey, hold still,” I called out to the frog as we weaved between the trees – travelling deeper into the forest with each step and pounce.

Then he seemed to disappear.

“Hey where’d ya go?” I spoke between heavy breaths. Glancing around I searched for my new found buddy, but when I didn’t see him I looked at my surroundings. Trees. A line of trees just standing in the middle of the forest as if they served as some sort of special marker. Oh yeah, that’s right they did. Mama had always told me about some weird land the laid just beyond a line of trees and how nobody dared to venture past them and those that did never seemed to come back.

“I wonder what it’s like over there,” curious, I began walking along the line of trees, following it for several minutes before my frog buddy decided to show up again. Only he was hopping past the line of trees, “Hey come back here! Mama be mad at me if I chase ya there,” I call out to him, but he just continues. Torn between listening to mama and following my curious, adventurous heart, I stand there for a little bit.

Then my legs start moving. I’d only be over there for a little bit. What harm could come of being in this other land just for a little bit? So I once more give chase to my frog buddy and we start weaving through the trees and bushes while I giggle and laugh. Every once in a while the horns that travel alongside my body catch in the brush, but I push forward until once again my frog buddy disappears and I’m left breathless. For a moment I look around and suddenly my grin turns into a frown.

Where was I?

Without even realizing it, I had travelled so deep and so far into this new land I had no idea how to get back to mama and papa. How would I get back to them? How would they find me? What…what if I never got back? What if I never got to see mama and papa again? The questions swirled in my mind as I just stood there looking around, hoping somebody would come along to help me in some way shape or form.

But the question remained were there even people that lived over here and if so then how come nobody who ever crossed the line of trees never come back?


"speech"
notes:: so someone just needs to pretty much kidnap hyzenthlay or trick her into going even further into helovia or think that her parents are actually in helovia idk. free for anybody.

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‘Hello, where are your parents young one?’ Quickly, my white and black colored head turned to look at the person that the voice came from. Green eyes widened as I soon found myself staring at a lightly colored mare who seemed to be giving off some sort of sparkly glittery stuff. Geez, that’s kinda cool. Her head was already at my level though and I found myself peering straight into her golden eyes. Okay she seemed pretty cool. Anybody who had reddish glitter falling from them and golden eyes had to be cool and nice right?

Movement in the trees caught my attention while the mare spoke her name and so I looked up only to find some sort of creature watching us. Instantly my ears perked forwards and a curious look washed over my face.

“What,” I start to stammer out through my brimming happiness, “What is that? Is it some type of bird?!”

Imagine a kid jumping up and down wanting to be picked to play on someone’s team in a game. That was me right now.

You’d think someone as young as I should be scared of something that they hadn’t a clue of what it was, but not I. Instead I found such things intriguing and exhilarating. If I had to choose between a well-traveled path and making a new path, as sure as the rain falls down I would choose making a new path. Why? Because there could be so much to explore and see! I didn’t want to spend my life doing the same old same old, I wanted new, exciting, interesting things.

“It’s a funny lookin’ bird if it is one,” I finish half giggling. Before I could go on any further though more people came and boy was I excited to see them! The second person was also a mare and she was darkly colored with white specks all over her. It was almost as if the night sky had spilled on her and nobody bothered to clean it up. She asked if I came here alone and then said her name just like the person before. Then she must have felt the need to explain that it was dangerous being alone and how I could have ran into someone mean.

Pshaw.

Then a stallion comes in and boy is he tall. When he looks at me I see his eyes grow wider and curiously I cock my head. Did he know me? Was I supposed to know him? He had a horn, yes, but so did many from mama and papa’s herd. Anyways this stallion goes on to greet the two mares, Resplendence and Ki’irha and then lowers his head to my level.

'And little one, who might you be?' I guess he didn’t know me and I didn’t know him. He said his name was Tembovu and though the name was completely foreign to me (all of them were to be honest) I could sense kindness within him and everybody else.

“I’m Hyzenthlay,” I begin saying almost bouncing up and down out of excitement. Luckily I kept myself somewhat contained though because otherwise I may have stumbled and fallen. Not that that really mattered though. My horns never failed to protect my body when I fell on my sides. “And I didn’t come here alone. I came with my buddy, but he seems to have disappeared.” My voice turns into a mumble as I remembered my frog buddy and began searching for him, “We were playing tag. He would hop and I chased him. Perhaps you guys might have seen him. He’s small and green and hops around everywhere?” I look back up at them frustrated that I couldn’t find my new buddy.

“Or maybe he got tired and went to sleep somewhere. I don’t know,” once more I began mumbling though this time it was out of pondering thought but then I remembered that Resplendence had asked about mama and papa and where they were and my eyes just lit up all proud like, “Oh mama and papa aren’t that far away. They’re…” I paused as I looked around trying to remember from which way I had come until finally I pointed in a direction at random, not realizing it was the exact direction that Resplendence herself had come from, “They’re just a little ways over there! I’m sure if I yell for them they will come.”

“MAMA! PAPA!” I yelled as loud as I could, but little did I know that I had travelled way more than I had thought I had. Mama and papa would never even have the chance to hear a wisp of my voice no matter how loud I yelled nor could I hear their panicked cries as they searched for me miles and miles away.

Several minutes passed as I waited to hear some sort of response from my mama and papa, but as the time grew longer and longer something flipped and flopped inside my stomach. The feeling seemed to only grow worse with the intensifying silence and I began to squirm as my ears fell backwards. I didn’t like this feeling. What was it? Nameless as it was it sure seemed to start to control my every thought. Where was mama and papa? What if something happened to them? What if…I never got to see them again?

“Mama,” I called out softer this time with sadness echoing amongst my chords and tears threatening to leave my green eyes, “Papa?”


"speech"
notes:: ugh...in my mind she's like a little anna from frozen in an 8 month old filly's body. sorry if i double tagged you guys, trying to tag Ki'irha@Resplendence @Ki'irha @Tembovu

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Several minutes passed by as I stared into the distance. I couldn’t see anything beyond the trees, yet I still watched with green eyes for any sign of movement. Any sign of somebody out there. Any sign of mama and papa coming for me. What was taking them so long? They should have been here already. They should have already come in to sweep me away protectively like they did all too often. They should have already been here to scold me for not listening to them.

But they weren’t here nor were there any signs of them coming. There was no rustling of the leaves on the bushes. No crack of a breaking twig. No birds flying off suddenly. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing.

Ears fell as the silence passed and this weird feeling began to permeate throughout my body. From the tip of my nose to the end of my tail, I just felt sick with something and I didn’t like it. Didn’t like it not one bit.

‘He is a red dragon sweetie.’ My ears perk back up with a happiness that just seems to shove the weird feeling aside. These people were here with me at least. Two mares, a stallion, and apparently a dragon – so cool. I jumped back when the dragon flew off somewhere but watched him with wide and curious filled eyes as he went about his way. Then Resplendence mentions trying to find mama and papa and then says something about protection in someplace called the Falls if need be.

I was about to say something along the lines of mama telling me not to go with strangers and to stay where I was if I ever got lost, but Ki’irha beat me by saying I could teach her how to chase frogs one day and instantly my choice of words changed.

“Oh,” I piped up excitedly, “It’s not that hard. All you gotta do is crouch down real low like this,” I get down as low as I could and still walk at the same time as I began to demonstrate my method to chasing frogs, “And then you gotta sneak up on your frog like this,” Slowly I skulked around the group, trying to hold back fits of giggles, “And then once you get close enough, you jump out at them to make them run and you run after them!” Of course I did the whole action of pouncing towards my invisible frog and then ran around the group as if I was chasing a frog until I ran out of breath and stopped.

“It’s lots of fun,” I exclaimed with a grin so wide that it felt like it took up my entire face. After this though, Ki’irha also speaks about her home, the Aurora Basin. She says stuff like she would love to help me search for mama and papa and that her home was beautiful and had lots of friends I could make there. It all sounded so nice.

Then Tembovu speaks up. First he comments on my name how it’s a mouthful and giggles ring out of me as I begin to reply back, “You should hear papa’s name then, his name is Hru…Hrudu…Hrududi…Hrududil. Yeah his name is Hrududil!” My tongue falters as I try to say my father’s name while trying to remember it at the same time. I had only heard mama call him by name once or twice and everybody else just called him sir or some other words. However I never did really ever hear mama’s name. I’m sure her name was pretty though.

Tembovu goes on to say how Resplendence was right about her home being the closest to the border and might be the best place for my parents to find me, but then his tone changes. His words go from purposeful to almost lost as he speaks about how if I wandered far and how he wasn’t certain that I would find them (or they find me) and how this place was supposedly enchanted. Instantly, my ears fall again and I look at Tembovu with mixed feelings of sadness and confusion, “What are you saying? Why you say these things?” I took a stumbled step backwards, away from Tembovu, as I thought about what he said. I knew what he said, I…I just didn’t want to believe it. Did I really mess things up that badly this time? Did I wander so far away that mama and papa weren’t going to find me?

Green eyes looked to the ground as I thought about this, about Tembovu’s words for a few minutes before I felt something inside me shift, “You’re wrong,” I whisper just loud enough for them all to hear then my voice is louder and clearer with my next words, “You’re wrong! They’ll come. I know mama and papa will find me,” I look at Tembovu with a steeled resolve, fully believing that I was right in mama and papa coming to find me, “You’ll see. They’ll come.”

With that, I ran to Ki’irha’s side. I didn’t know I was running to her until I was already there, but I guess she was the one that I felt the most comfortable with right now. After all, she was the one who offered to search with me. Perhaps that was it, but it could have also been something about the chance to make friends at her home too.

“Mama always told me to stay where I was if I got lost,” I began slowly and softly, “Could we stay for a bit longer to wait for them?” The phrase ‘and then I’ll go home with you if they don’t show’ was self-implied. Hopefully she would get the message. Hopefully mama and papa would come like I hoped they would. But what Tembovu said about this place being enchanted made me feel sick again and though I wanted to believe that mama and papa would come so badly that I proclaimed that they would, deep within me I began to doubt that they would.


"speech"
notes:: @Resplendence @Ki'irha @Freya (in case the Ki'irha tag doesn't work) @Tembovu