The Magical Herd

You decide you wish to visit the forest. You were already eagerly imagining what kinds of magical creatures you could find hidden amongst the trees, and not just equines. You were sure there were many things living here that even your wildest dreams could not imagine, things that no human has ever set eyes upon before.

She did not seem startled at all, probably she had smelled you coming. She flicked her fuzzy tail about and smiled at your approach.

"Greeting traveller! I am Magenta, from the Mequis Meadow. And there's a good reason for that. I'm a Mequis!" She laughed at her not so funny joke. You smiled pleasantly, not wanting to offend such a friendly and good-intention being. She seemed to be mostly cat, though she had hooves on the front. You wondered how her coat could have such a starlit gleam to it. She notices you looking at her so she starts to pose.

You hear a yawn, and you turn around to find another of these Mequis creatures.

Misha pops up in front of you again, blocking your view of the red one. "Oh that's just Molten," she shrugs. "But he's not as pretty as me! And far too lazy too!" She begins taking up new poses, probably trying to show off her other side.

There was a black blur and a quick hiss and Magenta was replaced by another black female flaunting her tail. "I'm Midnight, and much more beautiful that Magenta." she says. Magenta sat to one side glowering at the newcomer. This was starting to turn into a beauty pageant, and the competition was fierce.

They paced around each other, glaring into each other's eyes, fur raised along their back. Things were not looking good for avoiding this confrontation. But just as it looked like the tension was about to snap, a red and purple furball exploded out of nowhere and tackled the pair. The furball got up and shook itself off.

"I'm Marbles. I decided to call myself that because everyone says I'm crazy. Realm Keeper SunBlind once said I must have lost my marbles. I don't know what they are, but I liked the name anyway. Plus it started with a letter M. We decided we all had to have a name that started with that letter. Magenta picked her name because of her colour. And Midnight chose her name for the same reason, also because its looks like she has start on her back. It took a while for Molten to choose his name, but finally another traveller said his mane looked like molten silver, so he finally gave in and chose his name. And then there's Mutt...." She stops for a breath and looks around, finally locating the one called Mutt.

"That same traveller suggested that name. He didn't explain what it meant, but it sounded funny so he wanted to be called that." Mutt grinned proudly. You wondered if you should explain the name. Maybe he'd like it, but then again, he might be disappointed that it wasn't necessarily a compliment.

"Missing is another of our group. One day she disappeared. It took us a long time to find her. She'd gotten so lost she'd found her way into the Leagi's rainforest, really nice place to visit if you haven't already been. After that she'd keep disappearing without telling us, but at least we knew where to find her. Finally, we called her Missing, just so we could say, Missing is missing again!" Marbles giggles.

Missing looked up at you, and there certainly was a mischievous glint in her eye. Perhaps she was planning another of her adventures.

By this time, Magenta and Midnight had planned their revenge on Marbles and flattened the crazy critter to the ground. Mutt ran around happily, trying to get in on the game. After watching him for a bit, you wondered if it was actually Mutt who had lost his marbles. On cue, Marbles lept up and ran around like an idiot with Mutt. Guess you couldn't call them the same name.

You leave after a bit. As you walked along, you kept your eye open for a glint of small glass balls in amongst the leaves and moss of the forest floor...who knows. In this place, maybe you really could lose your marbles.