You are standing by a tree
There are 3 paths.
One appears to go to a jungle,
one appears to go to a cave,
one appears to go to a beach,
you could try and climb the tree,
there is a nearby shop you could go in,
or you could do something else.
So what's its going to be?
Written by catprog on 01 April 2003
In the shop
There is a table with a sign saying
<strong>Free Sample:</strong>
Take one
On the table there is a fridge with a range of liquids. Also on the table are various magical trinkets including costumes. What would you like to take, or would you like to buy something?
Written by catprog on 10 April 2003
Unicorn
You’ve never heard of a door-to-door toy salesman before. But you have the time, a nephew whose birthday is coming up, and a baseball bat ready to hand, just in case. So why not?
You look over the table, looking at the free samples the guy spread there. There’s quite a variety, and they’re all cheap. You pick up a headband with what looks like a unicorn horn, one of a matched pair, and look it over. Good craftsmanship, and would be something a little fun and different from the usual action figure. The man is busy pulling something else out of his display case, not paying attention at the moment. You idely slip it on over your head...
You immediately feel different somehow and go to take it off, but as you reach up a bird lands in front of you and you forget about the horn. You watch it as it does a sort of dance. What the heck? How’d that get inside?
You step forward, hoping to shoo the thing away and outside, and oddly your shoes slip off your feet behind you. You look down and to your shock your feet look more like hooves then your old feet. The horn also seems more solid than it was before.
“Welcome, new unicorn!” the bird says, watching from the floor. Or… is it the ground? “It has been so long since we have had a unicorn. ”
“Unicorn? I’m human!”
“For now, The horn is changing you, I am surprised though you would choose a female horn, though, rather than one for a male.”
“Female? I thought it was just a toy.”
“It was stolen from a unicorn , luckily it has found it’s way to a noble person.”
“How do you know all this anyway?” you ask the bird
“Well most of my knowledge is from the horn and not from myself.”
You look down at yourself. Without ever feeling it you have shrunk slightly, while your chest is most definitely not male anymore. You don’t even want to look below.
“What about the original unicorn?” you ask. You’re a little surprised at how calm you are about this. You’re becoming a unicorn, a female unicorn, and all you feel is a mild surprise and a rather intense curiosity.
Magic, obviously.
“She will be fine, her horn will regenerate. That is one of the ways unicorns reproduce, other than the normal way of course.”
You think you would like to see what you look like and as you watch the air in front of you ripples into a reflective surface. “Woah,” you say, and you’re not even really sure if you mean your newfound magical abilities or what you see there. An anthropomorphic unicorn is standing there, tall and regal. Pure white hair is growing over her body as her head completes the last of its changes into something like a horse. Her horn is long and thin, but you know it is sturdy, able to take most strains it might be subjected to.
The fact that your clothes have disappeared is surprisingly not a big issue. Has your mind changed so much, along with your body.
The toy seller - or, perhaps, the horn thief, you think - you thought was behind you has disappeared along with everything else. You’re standing in a thick forest tangled with undergrowth, except for around you and a mare standing there watching you.
“So I see you found my horn,” she says. “It has been a long time since I lost it - not for a unicorn, of course, only for humans. I am glad though it found a noble person to turn into a unicorn.”
“Er, yes,” you say, your voice soft and feminine. “It’s… very nice.”
“Unfortunately, it turned you female, right?”
“Yeah, I was a man before this. Will I become… four-footed, like you? I kind of like hands…” you add apologetically.
“Eventually, yes. For a while, though, you will be both human and unicorn, a sort of in-between form. But in time you shall grow into your full heritage. But until you choose you will remain like this. You’ll know when it is time to move on and fully embrace your new life. In the meantime, you can disguise yourself as human, too.”
“How far away am I from home?” you ask.
“Very far away and no distance at all. This is a pocket dimension, only we two can access it. The horn is the key. There is another dimension for all unicorns which I will teach you how to access, along with all of our other powers.”
“All? I didn’t think unicorns had any, other than purifying water of poisons! What else can you do?”
“Let us begin our lessons now,” the unicorn says, “and I can begin showing you the many things WE can do.”
You nod eagerly. “What is the easiest thing to begin with?”
“Well, talking with animals is quite simple. You merely speak. But I think we can go a little bit harder.”
“Yeah the bird was talking to me earlier. How could he know information about the horn?”
She smiles “The horn passes information to them as well. But it is time for your first lesson.”
“If we are going to work in the human world we need to teach you to disguise yourself as a human. Hopefully my stables are still being maintained over there, I don’t have the power to disguise myself as a human, only a horse.” She looks at you knowingly. “Which will be your ability, too, should you lose your horn. With the horn you can appear as you wish.”
“The horn is important?”
“Very , without it we can only move between the worlds and hide as a horse. The horn tries its best to find someone worthy to take on the mantle.”
“How long does it take to make a new one?”
“A few thousand years. I am still in the early stages of making a new one.”
Lesson one, you think, seems to be: don’t let your horn get cut off. “How did you lose your horn anyway?”
“The short answer is, I was tricked” she sighs before continuing ”I thought I had found someone who would make a good unicorn, and I gave her my horn. But her kindness was a ruse. It rejected her, and rather than return it to me she used its power for evil.”
“That does not sound good.”
“No. Two hundred years she lived. Anyone that went up against her, well they were released into her forest for her to hunt down,” she says hanging her head. “And she didn’t even give them a chance to get used to their new bodies.”
“How was she finally defeated?”
“The regeneration of the horn, it pulled enough power away and it was not able to sustain her any longer. ”
“You mean I am going to lose power as the new one reforms.”
“No, it has found a new host , now both horns are creating the magic rather than transferring it.”
“Does that mean you have to wait longer for your horn?” you ask
She nods “Yes. But better that than one less unicorn in the world. And at the end of the process , we have one more unicorn.” She tilts her head. “I think that is enough of my personal history for now, my child. I think it is time I teach you some of your powers. Is there anything in particular you would like to learn?”
“I still don’t know what abilities are even available,” you point out.
“Of course. My apologies. I suggest you first learn how to disguise yourself as a human, or as something else, so you can return home. Unicorns also have a minor telekinetic ability, enough to mostly make up for our lack of hands; you might like learning that. And, as you know, we can purify liquids, such as water or wine or others. And there are more, besides, but those are all relatively simple and useful. What would you like to try?”
Written by Catprog and Xodiac on 22 February 2014
