The trip hadn't been too hard, actually Below was feeling proud the way he had handled it. He hadn't spoken overly much, he hadn't asked for many breaks, mostly he just curiously followed at the side of the bay. Texas, he reminded himself the name over and over, he would look highly ungrateful to stumble over remembering it.
He was an okay man Below supposed, not overly friendly, but not overbearing either. A good mixture of both and none, sometimes the man confused him honestly. He could never tell when he was being sincere, his attitude was just as grizzled around the edges as his mouth. Well, all's fair in love and war, or something like that. He didn't really know what it meant, he had only overheard the saying a time or two. It sounded good anyways, it felt right.
He is surprised at the kingdom he has been brought to, its nice, but quiet. There is a dazzling waterfall, he could probably watch it for hours. Just sit and stare as the water forever poured into the bottom, where did it all go? It never stopped, it never flowed over, no matter what. The water just kept feeding into the pool below endlessly, and it drank it all up, not a drop wasted.
"Cool." His reflection winks at him from the crystal waters, that was his favorite probably. He was damn pretty, he thought so, twisting this way and that. Looking at his coat from one angle, then another.
BELOW
ring ring hookah
and I discovered that my castles stand upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand The colt had mentioned finding someone to clean him up, and Texas has vague flashbacks to the few times his own dam had bothered to take care of him. He can recall witnessing other mothers taking care of their foals in such a manner, but has never been involved with such boring parents of parenting. “We’ve got a waterfall for that,” he says in reply, continuing his ambling walk toward the kingdom, “Just splash around a bit or something.”
He’s clearly not paternal, but he’s not inclined to let the boy die on his watch, and that’s better than nothing. Having been raised with a liberal use of teeth and hooves, Texas has always kept his distance from the rearing of his children, even in the rare cases when he was present for their childhoods. Few of them turned into anything of note, but as they reach the border of the Falls Texas remembers that Piety has returned. She was a mother (right? It’s so hard t okeep track these days) and he imagines that she’ll rather like the colorful little colt.
As he stands beside the colt who stares into the water, Texas glances over and asks: “So have you always been that color, or did you have an accident?” Either seems likely, especially with the bubblegum pink mare that’s coming to live in the Falls. Beqanna is populated by stranger looking creatures than when he had been Below’s age, but he’s well past being bothered.
texas 
T E X A S
immortal silver bay hybrid stallion
king of the falls
Had he just suggested Below jump in, splash around? He turned his gaze to the bay stallion, swallowing the lump that had crawled up his throat. "Jump in? Where's the bottom?" He asked nervously, first of all, he could not swim. At least, he had never tried to swim before, he didn't know the first thing about it. Secondly, he feared that he may sink all the way to the bottom, get sucked up in wherever the water was going. It was endless, he didn't know how one spot could possibly hold all this liquid. He leaned over the edge of the pool, peering into the the rippled surface.
A pebble falls from the edge, disturbed by his movement, it sinks in the shallows much to his relief. Maybe there by the edge it wasn't too deep, perhaps he would not have to drown after all. He's considering stepping in, at least one hoof, when Texas moves beside him. He looks up at the man, then back to the water watching his grizzled gray features paint the glass surface.
"Yeah, I was born like this" He replies, delicately testing the water with his foreleg. It's cold. His leg jerks back to dry land thankful for the warmth again, he turns to look up at his... Well, he wasn't sure what he was, his acquaintance? Yes that's it, acquaintance. "My mom is pink, spotted like me. She said my Dad was, um, like a galaxy. I'm not sure what that even means." He eyes the pool again, as if considering it. It was cold but it would also clean him up, maybe he would just have to grit his teeth and bare the chill. "How about you?" Gingerly he dips his leg in again, it's not so bad the second time around, maybe he could slowly work his way in. "Were you born like that?" It might have been an odd question, but to Below, Texas was the one that was a strange color.
BELOW
ring ring hookah
and I discovered that my castles stand upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand He shouldn’t laugh at the colt’s sudden nervousness, but Texas cannot control the smile that creeps along his lips as the boy looks worriedly into the water. “It’s shallow at the edges, just like all water.” He replies, stepping over the tall grasses at the water’s edge to place one foot into the water. It feels nice despite the chill, especially on this hot summer day, and he decides to wade the rest of the way in, both for his own comfort and to show the colt the gradual slope into the depths of the pool. “Just don’t get in over your head, unless you know how to swim. And maybe don’t get too close to the rapids -” he gestures toward the opposite end of the pool, where the water begins to flow down toward the Misty Rapids and become the Cobblestone Creek. “You might get sucked in.”
With the water lapping softly at his chest, Texas listens as the colt explains his parent’s colors. So there’s probably even more like him out there, Texas muses, weirdly bright and colorful foals. “Like stars,” he says when the colt mentions galaxies, “Maybe he looked like the stars.” Texas had seen a star mare once, teal and silver and bright.
“I’ve always been brown,” replies the bay stallion, “But with a little less grey hair, I think.”
texas
T E X A S
immortal silver bay hybrid stallion
king of the falls
A sideways glance from Below as the colt tentatively stuck his leg in again. Perhaps it wasn't too bad, just here on the edges. He gave a skeptical look at the pooled water in the middle, out there now, that was different. He knew he would likely drown just as the silvered bay has suggested, because Below was never taught how to swim. He steps back as the man enters the water himself, avoiding the water as it rushes in wide ripples away from the stallions body, splashing against the shoreline. Well then, maybe he could get in as well, just here on the shallow end, that wouldn't be so bad right?
His teeth knock against the waters chill, though it is hot outside the water still has a jolting bite in his opinion. It was a drastic change from one temperature to the next and he held very still trying to adjust. Sucked in? He gulps, the colt had not thought of that outcome, hadn't even known it was possible, eyes widening at this bit of information. "Sucked in? Who knew the water was so dangerous." He was afraid to move now, not wanting to test the new found knowledge and meet his untimely demise. "I think I's good right here." The water was barely tickling his stomach better safe than sorry he thought, besides his overlong mane and tail become stringy when wet, much to his displeasure. Soaked tendrils grabbed at his legs like weeds and he thought they felt gross as well, slimy even. This was not what he had in mind.
"Always brown? How strange, didn't your ma have no pretty colors too? What about the other horses here, are they brown too?" Below was for the first time, starting to think that maybe he was the odd one. "That mus' be awful boring. Gray instead of something nicer, prettier. Why not gold instead, oh, oh why not blue?" Yes, this older man would look nice with a spattering of blue hairs instead of gray he thought. Hadn't he got to choose what color he was turning? Maybe he needed someone to help him pick better colors, well, Below was just right for that job
BELOW
ring ring hookah
and I discovered that my castles stand upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand Texas should have known better.
Below keeps talking, and Texas briefly wonders how much trouble he’ll get in if he accidentally forgets to keep an eye on the colt and he gets swept downriver. Not a lot, right? I mean, maybe a little. Maybe enough to avoid it, he decides, and rather than amble off downstream to let the boy play in the water decides to stand nearby.
This is a horrible idea, as the colt continues to chatter, and Texas looks down at his reflection in the chest deep water and wonders exactly how long it would take him to drown if he just stuck his head in and inhaled. Long enough for the colt to ask questions about drowning, he’s sure, so Texas turns back to Below with something akin to a muffled sigh.
“My mother was buckskin,” he replies, “and my father was chestnut. No pretty colors in my family.” He takes a moment to consider the rest of the residents of the Falls, and his expression lightens somewhat when he remembers Nixie. “I might be the only brown one, but there’s a mare here that’s so pink she makes you look rather dull.” Texas has never seen a color like Nixie’s before (though he’s not seen anything like Below either, with his spots and splotches of color). “You’d probably like her – her name’s Nixie.”
texas
T E X A S
immortal silver bay hybrid stallion
king of the falls
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