Keir's Revenge Matrix

Keir's Revenge Matrix!

In the Swamp Region, two quirlicorns fight for their right to cause shenanigans. . .

901 Whym | 2085 Antares

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Word Count: n/a                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Chime count: Whym: n/a Antares: n/a

Whym first noticed her inability to move. She loved to move: to toss and turn her covers, to fidget while eating, to laugh and laugh at her cousin’s hilarious dancing. 


Well, she used to for the latter. Whym wasn’t sure if they would even consider her a family member after what had happened. None of them believed her, not even after months of begging. She supposed that this was normal. Quirlicorns enjoyed her for laughter, for her neverending jokes even in the most dismal situations. 


None of them truly understood her hidden ambition to explore the unknown. They wanted her to stay and become a gardener, like her mother and her grandmother and her great-grandmother and her great-great-grandmother and- well, Whym had a feeling that the length of this line was exaggerated, but nothing could be proven. Besides, who would even want to play with plants all day when there are five other regions to explore? There had to be a drop of traveler’s blood running inside of her veins. 


She hoped, anyway. And if not, she wanted to prove them wrong. All of them. 


Maybe she would be un-disowned, if that was possible. She missed her little sisters who looked up to her with stars in their eyes. 


This anger had driven her to her current predicament. She had run into the Swamp Region, where… Well, she might have offended a deity with her harsh, infuriated tongue and burning anger below her hooves. 


She struggled, the bonds starting to loosen around her. Finally cracking open her eyes, which took more effort than she would admit, Whym noticed that she was in some sort of an entrance to a giant maze. A quirlicorn hung on the other side, limbs tied similarly to Whym’s. 


The other’s galaxy-like hair hung down, and the mare seemed to also be stirring awake. 


“Hi!” Whym chirped, keeping her voice light, “My name is Whym!” She finally shook herself from the ropes and landed on her rump. “Ouch. This grass is made of paper cut-outs.” She wrinkled her nose. “Bleh, not even nice enough to give us real grass, are you?” 


Whym turned around slowly, taking in her surroundings. Most of it was filled with green hedges, forcing them inside a box. At least it isn’t claustrophobic. Yet. “What’s this?” she muttered to herself, trotting to a paper that hung on the wall. 


She read:

“Welcome to the Trials. If you are here, this means that you have offended THE MIGHTY KEIR OF THE SWAMP REGION. Hopefully, you survive and are traumatized for the rest of your life. If not, you wouldn’t be the first ones to fall. 


Here’s a hint for the first trial, as I do feel a tad sorry for you: [redacted]” 


The rest of the page was missing, torn right after that colon. “Figures,” she complained before turning to the other one. “You still haven’t introduced yourself! What’s your name? How in the Six Regions did you manage to get your mane hair like that? I’m so jealous. I’ve always wanted cool mane and tail hair like that.” Okay, so what if those weren’t the most relevant questions? “By the way, do you like food? I like food. I should’ve eaten before this, but I didn’t know that I would be kidnapped by a deity.” 


Whym stepped forwards, humming an off-beat melody and taking the ropes off. “Is that better? I hope it is. Geez, those were not fun to be in. Hmm… I guess we gotta explore this ultra-fun maze, don’t we? You can give me mane tips along the way! It’ll be much more fun with that.” She pointed at the paper. “That’s the note if you wanna eye it over. I wasn’t exactly known for reading.” 

---

Total Word Count: 627
Whym: 627 // +2
Antares: 346 // +1 

Antares had regrets. She should not have left home. Various others had told her it was a bad idea and that she would regret it, but the lure of adventure and new experience was too much. Besides, how else was she supposed to discover her magic? By sitting around and waiting for it to develop? That was no fun. Her herd was boring and unimaginative and she needed to go out and find herself, like in the stories she would read as a young foal! She didn't need to listen to them; at least, not when it came to this. She was confident that travelling the regions would be good for her. 

Still, striking out on her own had been a mistake, as evidenced by the fact she'd hardly been gone two days and already found herself in a questionable scenario. She sighed to herself as she woke up, realizing her legs were tied quite securely. She tried to move them, but quickly found out struggling was pointless.

An oddly cheerful voice interrupted her train of thought, commenting on fake grass or some such thing. It would have been easier to understand if Antares could SEE....but she decided it would probably be better not to tell the other that. She did, after all, need help. She managed to lift her head and rubbed the blindfold off against her leg. She blinked and looked around the odd maze-like structure to see a double-horned mare trotting over to a piece of paper. She opened her mouth to ask for help when the mare read the paper out loud, shedding a small bit of light on their situation. 

Antares paused to think. Keir was famous for his tricks and horrors, easily the most malevolent of the Greater Deities. If they were at his mercy.... Yeah, they were in deep trouble. Antares grunted and tried once more to get free of the ropes but only managed to roll herself around a bit. 

She blinked as the other mare started talking to her. "Er....Antares." she answered as the mare rattled off a mouthful of questions and helped her out of the ropes. She pulled herself up to all four hooves once she was free and shook out her coat. "Thank you. Um, my mane has always been like this. And yes, food is nice, but I ate before I came." As if to contradict her on purpose, her stomach gave a growl of discontentment. Be quiet, you. She thought. 

Her gaze moved to the paper, but she quickly decided it wasn't worth reading a second time and instead allowed her eyes to travel over the walls of the maze. She didn't think they would be able to cheat by looking over them, even if they were both standing on top of each other. "I don't think we have the same type of mane..." she said absently as she studied the fake grass and what suspiciously looked like a fake sky to go along with it. "Not sure yours could look like mine." She pawed the not-grass and nodded her head in a random direction, pointing with her horn. "Why don't we try going that way? The grass looks....more real over there." She had been trying to think up a joke about the grass being greener on the other side, but she couldn't really think of one. Jokes were decidedly not her strongest point. "Maybe it leads to the exit." 

She started walking in the direction she'd suggested, glancing over her shoulder at the other. What were these walls even made of? For a moment she thought they were stone, but at the same time they looked more like really old trees--which didn't make sense. They appeared seamless, perfectly clean-cut and expertly stacked over the fake paper grass. Beneath the grass was a hard dirt floor, which didn't seem consistent with the was the Swamp Region should look. There was something odd going on here.....but with the famous Keir muddling with things, how could it NOT be odd?


"Do you have any magic?" she asked the other mare hopefully. Maybe she had something useful that could help them out of this mess, like Echolocation! Did she dare hope the mare--what was her name again? Whym?--had unlocked her regional form and perhaps had wings to help them out? 

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Word count for this post: 721
Whym: +2
Antares: +2

Total word count: 1348
(sorry idk how to tally the total Chime count xD)

Whym gave the other a pointed glare when her stomach grumbled. Well, they were either knocked unconscious for days until now, or that quirlicorn was lying. She decided to stick with the latter one, although the quirlicorn didn’t seem like she was. 


“Antares,” she tested on her tongue. “An-tar-es. I’m assuming that the ‘er’ part isn’t part of your name. I could be devastatingly wrong about that, but I’m going to say that your parents don’t call you ‘er’ all the time and that you probably prefer Antares to that.” She paused, taking a moment to catch her breath. “Well, your name isn’t that strange. I’ve heard of stranger ones before. Stranger! Doesn’t that word remind you of Stranger Things? I’ve heard about it from my- my parents when I was super duper young. But I haven’t read it or seen it before. It makes me think that it has something to do with gardening because my entire family loves gardening and whatnot. Well, more of gardening than the whatnot part.”


Whym prodded at the walls of the grass, stepping back when she found that those hurt for some reason. It didn’t feel like paper cuts either, more like sharp blades trying to intrude into her hoof. Before she could mention it, her attention was diverted by the mane comment. 


“But your mane looks so awesome,” she gaped. “Not like good, but like awesome. You know what I mean? I’m so jealous of your mane. Seriously. What shampoo do you use? Conditioner? Brand of mane brush?” She narrowed her eyes, moving closer to the other mare. “It’s just so sparkly, you know? If we’re in a dark corner sometime, I bet that you can be like a random lantern of hair! Okay, okay, don’t give me that look. I won’t call you jack o'lantern… probably.” Chuckling at her own joke, Whym dipped her head down to sniff the grass at that end. 


She decided, “It smells more real!” Her tail was swishing with excitement, and she leapt to the other side. “Also better,” she added, “Much better.” Ears perked up, Whym chose a direction. “C’mon! Maybe it’s a stream or something. Water is good. Sometimes. Actually, maybe not now, but it’s the best lead we have. If it’s danger, RUN!” The dirt floor was easy to trot over, at least, although she did expect some dew with the grass poking out. 


One of the first lessons she learned was that all plants, including grass, needed water, but just varying amounts. Maybe they were very special grass…? At the very less, they won’t die yet, probably, but Whym didn’t want to try the grass in case it was poisoned or something. It didn’t behave like normal grass, anyhow. 


At the magic question, Whym shook her head. “Nope!” she grinned. “Funnily enough, I came here to learn magic. Well, not here here, but like the Swampy Region here, if you know what I mean. But I do have some gardening skills.” She eyed the ground. “Not that it’d be super useful, but I will say that you should probably not eat the grass unless it’s an emergency. Something about it is wrong. Well, feels and looks and behaves wrong anyways. What were we talking about…? Oh, right! Magic! Do you have any?” 


She kind of hoped that Antares did, although she doubted it too. Which quirlicorn with magic would get into this situation that easily? Especially without even knowing that Keir was the one who trapped them?


Then again, Keir was way overpowered for even a magical quirlicorn to even hope to win against. 


“By the way, what’s your favorite flower? I can tell you all about it. Like the fact that broccoli is actually a flower. I know, strange, isn’t it? Oh! And the fact that tulip bulbs can be substituted for onions. I don’t have a favorite. Mother always said that that’s an anomaly, and I quite happily agree! I don’t like normal. It sucks. Normal is just so plain and… normal.” 


Whym suddenly stopped as there were two routes, a left and a right. She sniffed the air. “Both sides smell the same. What do you think, Antares?” Whym turned, looking at the other mare as though she held all the answers. “Which way should we go?”

---

Total Word Count: 718
Whym: 2066 // 8 chimes [total]
Antares: 1785 // 7 chimes [total] 

Antares didn't have a chance to ask about Stranger Things, and barely managed to even catch the rest of everything else her new travelling companion said. She decided she would only address questions from now on, since Whym seemed to really like to talk on and on--then again, maybe she was just nervous. Was Antares being quiet making her feel even worse about their situation? Fine, she'd say enough to be polite. "I don't think I've ever heard of Stranger Things." she said--well, she'd started to say, but then the mare brought up her mane again and her ears went back at the glowing comment. It took her a second to realize Whim was joking in a good-hearted way and not making fun of her. She rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Please don't call me Jack O'Lantern." 

Her nostrils flared when Whym pointed out the difference in scent and she realized she was right; it did smell more real. Maybe it was even edible? Then again, maybe not; judging from the sharpness of the not-as-real blades it was probably a bad idea to try to eat it. Who knew what spell Keir had thrown on it? Maybe he was fooling them right now. She lifted her head, about to say as much, but Whim had already sped up at this point and she had to match her pace.

"I was about to say, maybe we shouldn't trust the grass too much." she said in agreement with Whim's assessment. "I don't think anything Keir grows could be anything short of utterly chaotic." And at worst it would be downright evil. She didn't even want to think about what that could mean for them. 

She shook her head as they slowed. "No, same! I don't have magic either, and I ended up here because I was trying to explore my magic!" Who could have POSSIBLY guessed their similar reasons for ending up in the maze? "That's such a coincidence, don't you think? Do you think Keir chose to put us both here because of that?" She was starting to like this Whym. Maybe they could be travelling buddies after this.

"Hold up. Broccoli is a flower? I thought it was just a stinky vegetable..."  Antares was surprised by this random fact drop, slowing to a halt with Whym as they reached an intersection. "As for my favorite, I'm not sure. I never really thought about it before." 

She inspected both options, tilting her head thoughtfully as she pawed the ground. "Let's try this--" she started to turn to the right, but was quickly blocked by what felt like an invisible wall. She snorted in surprise as she fell back on her hindquarters, her tail not helping her disrupted balance any. Well that was unexpected. She blinked and got back up, then reached forward with one hoof which clicked against the invisible barrier. 

"Maybe not this way." she decided, turning to go the other way. It wasn't blocked with an invisible barrier, which was a good thing. 

---

Word count for this post: 505 (+2 chime for both)
Total Word count: 2601

“But Jack O’Lantern is such a good name! I wish that I was named that. But would I be called Jack? Lantern? Oooo what if I call myself O? Hm.” Whym rubbed her chin in thought. “Might want to stick with Whym though!” She prodded at the grass under her hooves, glaring it as though it held the secrets to escaping this place. “Hmph!” Still, her tone didn’t seem that upset at the moment. She supposed that there were worse quirlicorns to be trapped there with, and she had a sensation that she was being stared at, judged by a quirlicorn that she couldn’t see. Probably Keir, she decided.

It felt like multiple pairs of eyes though, drawn on the two. Whym turned her head when Antares asked about Keir and shrugged. “If we get out of here alive… Maybe? I dunno. Doesn’t feel very magic-y in this place, y’know? Also, I kind of offended him when I first entered after crashing.” She blinked. “Then again, why was he waiting for me? Oh well! Definitely a coincidence! And I just wanna get out of here and eat food. Maybe ice cream! What’s your favorite flavor? I like oreo most of the time. Oh, and chocolate chip. And strawberry. And banana. And blueberry. And-” She cut herself short. “I’m rambling again, aren’t I? Anywho, I like ice cream a lot.”

Whym stared. “You don’t have a favorite flower? I’m so happy! My family said that everyone has a favorite flower. Hmm… Well, I guess it’s not broccoli if you didn’t even know that was a flower.” She leapt back when Antares smacked into the barrier. “Are you okay? Do you have any evil magical dust on you? Here, I have- Actually, no, I don’t have my first aid kit that I left all the way back in- Well, technically I didn’t leave it.” Whym closed her mouth before the fact that she was disowned could escape her vocal cords. Antares didn’t need to know that. “You don’t look injured. Do you feel funny anywhere?”

Padding the invisible barrier, she tilted her head. “We gotta be careful. Who knows what’s in here? Anyhow, no more crashing into invisible walls!” At the next intersection, Whym immediately crashed into another wall, effectively giving her muzzle a slight bruise. “Ouch! Heh. Well, I guess that I also gotta be careful.” Waving her tail, she walked to the next corridor, only to smack the thin air.

“Hey!” She called, turning her head upwards. “That’s just plain unfair! You can’t just put a random wall in the middle of nowhere!” She huffed and leaned on one of the walls, only to fall through. Half of her body laid on one side, and the other fell into a separate part of the maze. “Hmm… This is new!” Her clumsiness and impatience came in handy this time, it seemed. “There’s more grass on this side!” The ground looked even softer, though Whym was hesitant to touch the blades of grass.

Whym dragged herself through before sticking her head back out on the other side. “Come on! We’re almost there. Maybe! Probably not.” With those cheerful words, Whym returned her head to her side of the maze and looked around. “Where to, next?”

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Total word count (for this post): 543
Whym: 3114 // 12 chimes [total]
Antares: 2833 // 11 chimes [total]

Antares couldn't help a giggle as Whym said there would be no more crashing into walls right before she promptly crashed into a wall. It actually took some effort not to burst out laughing when she crashed into a wall randomly placed in the middle of the walkway of the maze, though she knew it wasn't funny. She'd been incredibly annoyed when SHE had crashed into the wall--but she had to admit, even if it was just to herself, that seeing someone else crash into non-existent walls was absolutely hilarious. 

She would've cracked when Whym crashed through the wall, but an odd noise captured her attention and made her turn her head, so she didn't actually see Whym fall. She did hear her fall, though, and quickly looked back to see her walk through the maze wall. She swished her long starry tail and followed her through. "This is by far the oddest maze I have ever been in." she stated, looking around with Whym as Whym asked which direction they should go. "I don't know, are you sure it's not magical? Seems a bit magical to me. Then again, I'm not the best at sensing magic...." she trailed off, feeling a little bit embarrassed. She was a quirlicorn, after all, by definition a  creature of magic.  You'd think she'd at least have some basic knowledge. 

Her ears went up as she detected the odd noise again and her head turned from side to side, trying to pinpoint it. It disappeared before she could figure out where it was coming from, or even what it was. "I feel like we're not alone in here." she stated, stepping in place a few times as she tried to weigh their options and figure out where to go. One one hoof, the left looked pretty decent and not at all life-threatening. On the other hoof, so did the right. There really didn't seem to be much of a difference between their choices--

Until a fierce-looking zombie quirlicorn rounded the corner. It was stiff, lifting its massive hooves from the knees, its fur matted and torn, patches of skin showing through in some places. A once-beautiful horn was now cracked and shattered and the mane and tail of the undead beast where wispy and bleached of color. It smelled like rotting meat and one eye was missing--which didn't seem to hinder it any as it looked RIGHT AT the two mares. 

Antares felt a chill down to her bones her eyes locked on the gaze of the zombie. "Whym...." she said slowly. "Stay calm. Whym?--WHYM DON'T RUN!!!" 

The zombie bared its yellowing teeth and screamed out a sound that seemed to shake the air around them. The thundering noise of at least a dozen other zombies clomping slowly along could be heard and two more poked their heads around the corner, echoing the first one's cry. Antares gulped and backed away before she whirled around and took off. "NEVERMIND! RUN!!! RUN!!!!!" 

As luck would have it, Antares ran straight into a wall--a wall that Whym somehow avoided. She quickly side-stepped and followed in Whym's hoofprints more closely, except for when Whym hit a wall herself, in which case she quickly dodged to find a new way. Luckily the zombies weren't very fast but they DEFINATELY looked scary. Antares frantically tried to think of a plan. "Have you ever run into zombies before???" she exclaimed as they struggled to flee. Was it just her, or did the walls seem to be getting closer together? 

"....Whym, I kind of need you to focus--" 

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Word count for this post: 597 (+2 chime for both)

Total word count: 3703
Whym total chime: 14 
Antares total chime: 13

“Magical? Of course it’s magical!” Whym replied, following Antares’ lead as though the latter knew exactly how to navigate this… interesting maze. “If it wasn’t, then there would be marks on the walls that you—well, me too, but we can ignore that part—crashed into. Quirlicorns are warmblooded, so unless we both managed to somehow develop the body temperature magic-thingy, it’s magic.” She yawned, her colorful coat seeming to ripple slightly, as she trotted down the maze corridors. Although she had enough sleep (while she was knocked out), Whym was still tired from going through the maze for probably hours so far.


And not only that, but Whym was hungry. “Probably Keir,” was Whym’s response to Antares’ question on if she felt any other creature in the maze with them. She refrained from insulting the deity, even though her chest bubbled with several choice words that she wanted to blurt out. Though, Whym didn’t have a death wish yet, so she’d reserve her shouting for later. Preferably, when the two were out of this place and in a different region so Keir couldn’t catch them. 


“Zombies?” she shuddered as the green, broken quirlicorn came over. “It’s smelly.” Perhaps the latter sentence was very unnecessary, but at least she didn’t insult Keir with it. “Antares-” she cut herself off as the zombie continued to head towards them, scenting the air for fresh meat and brains. When the zombie’s gaze cut towards the two quirlicorns, Whym stepped back, nearly tripping over her white-blue tail, and galloped in the opposite direction. 


Despite Antares’ warning, Whym refused to slow down. “We have to run!” she shouted over the speed she was traveling as Antares changed her mind and began to gallop after her. Dodging the first wall due to her forming a zigzag pattern, she had plainly hit the second. She cursed Keir in her head. She had smacked into enough walls that day, thank you very much. 


Wasting a few seconds by rubbing her hoof on her head before returning to her previous speed, Whym exclaimed, “Hey, maybe I can be an egghead now! There’s definitely a few bumps on it! Could they work as speed bumps for carriages? Hmm… No, I think that that would hurt quite a bit, and hospital bills are so expensive. Have you ever been to the hospital before? I think that both of us would need a checkup after this.” And probably a non-zombie therapist, though Whym didn’t voice that part out loud. “By the way, how common are zombies in your region, wherever you came from? I’m pretty sure it’s not native in the Plains Region. At least, I haven’t seen any before today. So no, I haven’t dealt with flesh-eating or regular or whatever zombies!” 


“At least they’re not fire-breathing though?” she continued after a slight pause of crashing into another wall. Much to Whym’s dismay, this wall was very visible, but she had thought that it might’ve been one of the phase through ones. “Hey! Don’t laugh. I mean, you could laugh. Laughter’s very good for the soul, I think. And if it’s detrimental, I should be dead. I mean, we might die very soon, but you know what I mean. Oh wow. I said a lot of ‘I mean’s so far. How many do you think I’ve said?” 


A brief frown crossed over her face when Antares told her to focus. “But focusing is so boring… How can any quirlicorn deal with focusing? There might be a hungry zombie back there, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t talk about your tail! Seriously, I’m going to have to change my tail to match yours. Do you think that the quirlicorns outside would think that we’re twins if I did actually do that? Hah! Hilarious!” 


Whym blinked. She could’ve sworn that she saw a cat-like figure with three tails ahead. But with a second glance, the figure had disappeared. “Hey Antares, do you know what a cat with three tails is?” Then again, she could be hallucinating. “Hmmm…” She took a quick glance behind her and paled when she found a second zombie chasing after them. “Actually, I think that we need to find the way out, Antares! Where is it?!”

---

Total word count (for this post): 706
Whym: 4417 // 17 chimes [total]
Antares: 4136 // 16 chimes [total]

Egghead?? What was Whym even talking about? Antares would have asked about the strange expression, but there wasn't time considered the army of zombie quirlicorns that seemed intent on catching them--it wasn't fair, the zombies didn't seem to be walking into any walls, unlike Whym and Antares. It seemed like every other step was an unexpected crash or quick maneuver as her horn grazed an unexpected object. 
"I've only heard about them." she answered Whym as they seemed to gain a small distance from the foul creatures. Some part of her pitied them, even if they did scare the living daylights out of her. They must have had families once too, herds, dreams.... it was sad that they were now scary monsters chasing two innocent fillies through a maze. Well, she assumed Whym was innocent.


Scratch that, Whym was definitely innocent. Who else would crash into a wall on purpose just in case they would be able to run through it? Antares couldn't repress a light bubble of giggles. "A lot." she answered as Whym asked about the "I means". If she didn't know any better she'd think it was Whym's favorite expression. She slowed down slightly as Whym kept talking. The zombies weren't as fast as them, even if they did seem to have an easier time navigating the maze. 


"I think everyone would be able to tell we're from different regions. We act very different." Antares pointed out at the twin comment. She almost pointed out that most quirlicorns found it relatively easy to focus when they were running for their lives, but decided that comment wouldn't be productive and chose not to speak it. 


Her head turned at the mention of a three-tailed cat, then turned again as Whym's tone shifted. Drats. She'd thought they had at least a small lead on the zombies. "Um--" Her eyes darted around and she noticed a slight shimmer on some of the grass. "This way!" she decided, hoping that acting like she knew what she was doing was enough to get them out of there as she started to follow the faint shimmer. She wanted so badly to speed up more, but it was hard to go very fast when you kept crashing into things! She mentally cursed Keir, though she wasn't brave enough to say anything aloud.


Her strategy worked for a few minutes, but she realized a flaws when she turned a corner and found a hoard of hungry-looking zombies coming towards them. She skid to a halt, accidentally bumping into Whym slightly. "Sorry!!" Her head turned wildly as she tried to think of a way out. Zombies ahead, zombies behind--no wait, some of the walls were fake! She kicked the wall next to her but it was solid. "Check your wall to see if we can go through it!" she ordered, though she probably didn't need to tell Whym what to do. 


"How big is this maze??" she exclaimed in frustration as they finally found a way out of that trap. It was far too close to her liking. She would rather NOT get eaten by zombies and possibly become one herself, thank you very much! Of course she then immediately ran into an invisible wall. Keir must be laughing his skull jaw loose. 

---

Word count for this post: 547 (+2 chime for both)

Total word count: 4938
Whym total chime: 16
Antares total chime: 15

“Right! I mean, saying I mean is hilarious! But it’s not the same as saying that I’m mean, right? Because I try not to be! Am I mean?” Whym’s face contorted into a horrorful expression. “I hope not! I mean, I’m quite talkative and all that, but hey, I really do like your mane.” As the two reared the corner with slightly more sparkly grass, Whym nearly smacked into the wall again. 


The zombies seemed to be running even faster, and she paled. This was generally not good news. Hoping that Antares knew what she was doing, Whym picked up her pace, urging her hooves to gallop faster, and nearly slid into the wall of the dead end. 


Never mind, she decided with a sinking heart. Antares most certainly does not know what she’s doing. Then again, neither do I. Maybe I should get confetti on her mane after we get it=yt and see if it sticks. One of the thoughts in this series was unimportant, though she took it in stride. She reared her hind legs and kicked at her wall. 


It wobbled, and her breath hitched as the zombies only came closer during this time. She kicked it again, ignoring the pieces of paper grass that cut at her hooves. Those would heal soon enough. At least they’re not pointy birthday hats! “This way!” Whym shouted as the wall finally collapsed. She took a sharp left turn, hoping that the zombies would be lost. Then again, they were probably following the two by scent. 


She narrowed her eyes as she saw the ceiling in a different area shimmering. “I think that the zombies are herding us this way!” she shouted, not wanting her words to be lost in the wind generated by their quick pace. The walls of the maze began to become narrower, and Whym darted ahead. She kept her hooves light, not wanting to kick Antares’ face with dust. Hmmm does her mane ever get dusty? Great, now I want to do it, but it’ll definitely be purposeful. She had plenty of experience with treading lightly after all of her gardening training. 


The image of a three-tailed fox flickered again. “Did you see that?” Whym flicked her ear, not having the time to head toward the apparition as another group of zombies ran by to chase them to the left again. “I’m not hallucinating, right?! Because if I’m hallucinating, that’d be bad. Really bad. Maybe you’re a zombie. Maybe I’m a zombie! Maybe we’re all zombies here!!!” Her chest heaved. “That would be terrible. I don’t want to be stuck in this maze forever.”


She skidded to a stop, nearly crashing into a wall. Now in a rectangular box that looked like the starting area, Whym hurriedly glanced at all of the sides. The sounds of the zombies were coming closer, and all of the walls looked solid. She attempted all four of them with Antares, ears folding back… until she realized that none of the zombies entered this zone. “Huh?” she questioned out loud. “Could this be the end area? Can we get out of here? Can I finally cut a few strands of your mane?” 

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Total word count (for this post): 532
Whym: 5496 // 21 chimes [total]
Antares: 5215 // 20 chimes [total]