In her short life, Svenja has made few serious mistakes. She tried to eat a bee, once, when she was very young and learned her lesson quickly. She tried to drink the saltwater from the Bay's beach and discovered in due time that it wasn't consumable. She'd taken blows both emotional and physical, but none as devastating as this one. Never has she messed up so monumentally.
The sabino wasn't sure what drove her to her coupling with the Bay's resident Atlantian. Loneliness, maybe...frustration, desperation, a general sense of wanting to be in control. But whatever it was, it'd left her feeling broken, and now she feared there may be a permanent reminder growing inside her.
Distraught by her own carelessness and the possible consequences, Svenja quickly fled the Bay, throwing herself into the ocean and swimming until her legs felt like lead. She was desperate to get the smell of him off her coat and wash his presence from her body. It was a mistake, she thought over and over, the short-sighed actions of a foolish filly who didn't know any better. All she wanted was to forget but it seemed too real now. What would dad think if he found out what she'd gotten herself into? Would he be angry, disappointed, ashamed, resigned? She didn't think he'd ever raise his voice to her, but she was still afraid of whatever his reaction might be.
If only mother were still here. She would have given her kind words and gentle reassurances and loving embraces. Father could give all those, yes, but it wasn't the same. All she wanted was her mother's warm presence to comfort her, but the last time she saw her mother it'd been a passing glimpse as she walked into the forest. There would be no one waiting for her with a smile and a kiss on the cheek when she got home this time.
When the roan filly landed on the beach of the crossing isle, she didn't pause long to take stock of her surroundings. She fled inland, unaware of the landscape as it blurred by. The leaf-bare branches of trees and shrubs that clawed and clung at her thick winter coat were not enough to ground her, but eventually the sound of crashing water pulled her to awareness. She was at the Falls, she realized as she came to a rapid halt on its frozen banks, staring tearfully up at the majestic cascade.
It was dark and cold now. So, so cold. Svenja collapsed on the frozen sand, shivering violently against the sub-zero air that bit at her skin and dug its way past her muscles and into her bones. She was used to the cold but she felt it more keenly now than ever, hyper aware of her body in a strange and unpleasant way. The only source of warmth she had were the tears that ran down her face, warm rivulets that stained her ebony coat and froze into crystals as they fell from her cheeks.
The gentle sound of her sobs drowned out the rustling of barren branches and the crunching of snow until it was too late, movement in the corner of her eye causing the young mare to scramble to her hooves. She struggled to find purchase on the icy shore of the pond but managed to stand nonetheless, ears laid flat in the black mess of her mane. "Go away, whoever you are!" she shouted angrily, ignoring the way her voice wavered at the end. Desperate to ward off any interlopers, Svenja stomped an angry foot and snapped again, "I'm serious! Leave me alone!"
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