The cool ocean breeze swept across her pelt, cooling her hot, dusty coat and refreshing her completely through and through. The mare threw up her head and picked up a small prance, feeling all of a sudden more energetic. The stripes she wore on her legs blended nicely with the sparse, dry sea grass - the only kind of grass that could grow next to the ocean. The dun mare was tired and exhausted from traveling so many days aimlessly, seeing nothing interesting, hearing nothing interesting, doing nothing interesting. She had merely gone on, and on, and on, until she had reached this place she was at now. One could have a break, could they not?

Adelaide was a lonely horse. She was, in fact, the classic 'loner'. She had never been attached to a herd for more than a year at a time. It wasn't so much that the mare wasn't social - for she always did intend to be, however much she failed - it was simply that she did not fit in. She had never made good acquaintances, never gotten to actually know those whom she would have spent her life with. And it was not that she had been kicked out - for she had not. Adelaide had simply gotten bored with her life - again - and had decided to leave. She knew she would never be missed.

The mare's body was patterned with strange markings, although her coat was relatively free of scars - who would want to hurt her, a plain mare who said nothing and did nothing? On her forehead was a delicate array of dark lines - like a "spiderweb" in appearance, and hence it was called. Down her neck ran vertical dark bars of the same color. A thick dorsal stripe trailed down her rump, and the aforesaid stripes vaguely adorned all four of her legs. The faintest white star on her forehead could also be seen, resting just below the spiderweb, but oftentimes it was hidden by a thick layer of dirt.

As the mare looked around her, she concluded that this was in fact a popular area for herds - she could scent countless mares and stallions that had gone through here. She hoped she hadn't stumbled through a "dangerous" area where any stallion could come up to her and... Well, with her luck, it was wholly possible. A shudder ran through the dun's body at this thought.

It was quite a peaceful area, however, to say the least; the frothy ocean lapped benignly at her hooves, a soft breeze never ceasing to lift her mane and tail and cool down the tired body. Behind her were many tall sand dunes, and to either side were expanses of unoccupied beach. This beach was dotted heavily with bunches of the salty sea grass, which seemed to have overtaken the shores like a weed.

With a shrill whinny, the mare somewhat leapt into the gentle waves of the ocean, her prance resumed, and she threw her heavily built head up, delighted to be having some fun after such a long period without. She romped around joyfully in the nearly-chest high waves as if she were a foal again; tail carried high, head likewise: wide awake in a game, of sorts. It was short-lived, and the now soaked mare trotted, more refreshed than she had ever been, onto the Enchanted Shore once more. Now, completely content, Adelaide lowered her head and began to graze uneventfully on the wispy sea grass. This was certainly a very good place, so far in her travels, to be stumbled upon.


word count: 559 ;o