//------------------------------//
// The Tale of the Long-Legged Mare 
// Story: Her Eyes Reflect The Stars 
// by Lynwood 
//------------------------------//

Once upon a time, long before Equestria, before the Princesses, before even the hearth's warming, there was a mare who was worshipped by a small kingdom of ponies. She was secluded and mysterious, and had long, slender, beautiful legs, and towered high over the ponies of the kingdom, who thought greatly of her.

The kingdom was by the sea and was safe and prosperous. Fish grew so large and were so easily caught that farmers merely had to cast their nets into the water for but a second and have plenty for a night and a day. Stonecutters had only to ask the stones kindly, and they would fall into perfect blocks. Sailors could raise their sails and be taken to any shore on timely winds and gentle waters, and soldiers needed only to brandish their spears to drive their enemies away.

On those occasions when she visited the kingdom, Long-Legged Mare emerged from her shrine built around a sacred pool, into which the waters of the kingdom's mighty sea flowed. This pool was none other than the Pool of the Stars, and the Mare emerged from its waters under the glow of the night to bid greeting to the waiting ponies. Under their fascinated gaze, the mare would dip her hoof into the pool's mud and would lay her hooves upon it and carefully shape it into a figurine of the pony she deemed most worthy of her blessing. She would breathe upon it and give it to them, and they would be led to their happiest, most wonderful life.

However, the queen who ruled the kingdom desired the blessing, and though she was present at every visit, she was never chosen. One night, when the Long-Legged Mare visited the kingdom, the queen gathered her soldiers and drove the ponies away from the shrine, approaching the mare herself and demanding her due. 

The mare refused, and in a fit of frustration and rage, the queen thrust her blade deep into the mare's heart. 

But the mare did not fall. Seawater poured from the wound, first clear, then dark. The waters of the pool grew clouded and foul and the Mare laid her hooves upon the queen and changed her. 

When she was finished, what remained was no longer their queen. She, too, towered over the ponies, gurgling and dispelling putrid seawater from her mouth and eyes, and when the Mare blew upon the ponies who looked up at their queen in horror, all who had ever received her blessing were made the same.

The kingdom fell upon itself and burned, the land shook and sunk, inundated, and what remained was filled by marsh and swamp, forgotten by nearly all.

Ever since then, the Long-Legged Mare has remained hidden. Nopony knows where she has gone, but some still say her shrine can still be found, hidden deep in the darkest swamp and choked in stagnant water. She waits there for somepony to find her, so that she may shape her mud once more, but until then she prowls the dreams of ponies, watching for reasons greater than we can ever know.

However, be wary, for she still desires to give ponies her blessing. If you see her, turn away and pray you do not feel her breath, lest you wish to receive it.

The end.