HTML Testing

Irina had avoided all but the roughest bodies of water, escaping the sight of her own reflection like the plague. She knew she was getting lighter, and within the next few years she’d be the same pearly white as her sire, but she felt saddened by it. She noticed her legs losing the rich, dark chocolate hue she was so fond of, saw the dapples disappearing one by one from her back… and with every trace of color that left, she felt as if her soul was going along with it. Each passing day without her daughter made her feel more and more empty. As she swam from Paradise to the Crossing, alone, she found herself deliberately going through rougher patches of the surf; it wasn’t that she wanted the sea to sweep her under, it was just that she didn’t think she’d care if it did. The waves chopped against her, breaking against her legs as her hooves found the cold, wet sand of the Falls. The mare didn’t shake herself before leaving the beach, dripping water and collecting more debris as she made her way inland.

She stuck to the shadows during the day, though this afternoon had been moody and overcast. When she was sure the last bits of sun had disappeared below the horizon, her slim form broke from the treeline, drifting out into the meadow. It wasn’t long before she found the stream that stemmed from the Falls, and she followed it up to the pond the area’s namesake fell into. Her blue eyes had been glued to the ground the whole time, but as she neared the water’s edge, she dared herself to look.

The water’s surface was smooth, and the moon gave her ample light by which to see herself. After a deep breath, Irina arched her neck over the edge; for the first time in over a year, she glanced upon her reflection, and the face staring back at her seemed almost foreign in regards to how much it had changed. The ears were still the same, just slightly curved inward, and her cornflower-blue eyes were the same, though tainted with varying shades of melancholy. Instead of the stormy grey she was used to, however, her skin was the color of silver, her mane pale at the ends. She could tell even the silver was receding, hints of cloud-white showing through in the creases of her body. It saddened her to see this, her form empty of color, of vigor; before a minute had passed, Irina couldn’t take it anymore and thrust her front legs into the water, her image broken into dozens of ripples and bubbles. The rest of her body soon followed. When the water skimmed the sides of her stomach and pooled, brisk, along her breast, the mare closed her eyes, letting out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.

Knowing herself was too much at that moment. But knowing the Falls, the pond, the moon… that she could handle.