"Yes, Little Sarah's mane is indeed pink. And so are her hooves and her tail." "No, it wasn't an accident or a mistake. She's magic, that one. Comes all the way from the land of Magh Meall to play hide-and-seek in my roses." "Why? Because once upon a time, I knew a pony ..." ***** PRODUCTION NOTES: Took a rather plain photograph of my garden with ye olde Canon PowerShot A2400 IS then sent it off on a trip down memory lane by way of Photoshop, PaintShop Pro and Playground, where I added the filly and swapped lupins and lilies in favour of roses. Which I do have, btw, but that's a render for another time. Made it a bit more painterly with some soft pastel brushing and poster edges, then let Adam Wright's Postwork MegaPack Actions -- in this case Fantasy Sharp -- work their magic on the colour, lighting and contrast. Et voila! *** I did indeed know a pony in that garden long ago. Her name was probably not Sarah and she was a shaggy little Shetland from in around Stephenson's Village way. One who drove my grandfather spare because she had a tendency to snack on his rose trees whenever she was around. Ate the whole top right off the biggest one that summer, took a couple of years before it grew back. We didn't own her but she would sometimes visit whenever she was out to pasture in the meadow next to our place or Mister Crocker came up the hill with her and her siblings to mow the hay. Working animals they were, nothing extraordinary about them. But to a not-quite-four-year-old who'd only ever seen horses on Bonanza and in my teen-aged uncle's Lone Ranger comic books? Pure, unadulterated magic. Ah, childhood! Those days, they really were la vie en rose. ;-) ***