【Wʜᴏ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ﹖】SkyWishes21~
PHS Magical Mystery//Nona~
Mare~
13hh【Wʜᴏ sʜᴇ ɪs】➢ƤєяѕσηαƖιту
There are many things one could say about Nona, both good and bad. One of the first things that comes to mind is that she's a realist. She's seen a lot of odd things during her days as a parade horse, and she's come to the conclusion that most everything that seems out of this world is just a craft made by humans to tell stories to their young. Even the horn on her head is just a fake ... right? Nona always tells the truth, no matter what the circumstances and gets very, very frustrated when no one takes her seriously. When she was younger and first starting out, she saw someone stealing parade supplies and refused to let them ride her. The humans just thought she wasn't well trained until they discovered what that person was doing.
Nona is also easily overwhelmed, not with a lot of sights but with a lot of people and conversation. She is really picky about who she interacts with and how many because otherwise she'll kinda just shut down and stop responding and try and get herself to a quiet place to calm down. She is also quite judgemental - if there's something she doesn't like about you she won't hesitate to let you know. However, the reverse is also true, if there's something she loves about you, she'll tell you as often as possible. Many have described Nona as very blunt with her words.
If Nona wasn't a parade horse, she'd love to do steeplechase. She can be very fast even with all of her fluff and would quite enjoy the challenge of the steeplechase. However, she's not very competitive and would rather hate the rough talk of the stables there. Nona is known as a fairly refined horse after all, even if sometimes she'd walk the dirty streets of many cities for a fancy parade. She rather abhors vulgarity, even if she does occasionally use it to make a point and immediately regrets it.
➢Ƥαяαɗєѕ
For the first few years of her life, Nona was a parade horse. When she first started, Nona was one of the middle horses, well respected but there was another horse who led the parades in her old hometown. She grew close to that horse, a handsome mare named Esther. Esther taught her everything she knew, how to prance higher and better than everyone else, the funny things about humans and their parades, and even strange stories from her youth.
Unfortunately, Esther was getting on in years and fell ill. Though she recovered, she was never able to lead a parade again and instead lived out a healthy retirement in a stable out in the mid-west. Those who ran the parade looked frantically for a new lead horse. They looked through all the horses, even considered buying a new one, until they saw Nona. Pretty red and gold Nona who pranced like Esther did and held her head high like Esther did. Simply put, Nona was a perfect fit.
It just so happened that the first parade she was going to be in was the annual Christmas parade. Esther's special halter with the pretty golden horn fit perfectly on Nona, and she pranced her way gloriously through the first parade she led. Everyone loved her, and afterwards she was given the treatment of a queen. That didn't stop rumors from flooding the stables she lived at, though, and the other horses there either looked at her in awe or in disgust. After all, she wasn't really the most well liked horse there.
For years, she led the city's parades without incident. Maybe occasionally she'd trip, but that wasn't too bad. At least, not until her normal rider fell ill, and a replacement had to to be found. Nona didn't trust him, not at all. She'd be a little rowdy with him, but nothing too bad. That is, until she saw him stealing some of the parade fundraiser cash and some of the most important props.
After that, Nona would not let the man ride her at all, bucking him off all the time. The stable staff apologized profusely, saying that she wasn't usually like this and they didn't know what was wrong with her. During this same time, police were undergoing investigation for the robbery, and Nona kept trying to point them to her new rider. They didn't get it.
Once it was discovered that the new rider was the thief, the stable staff realized what she had meant by not letting him ride her in the parade. She was given many different treats as an apology, and they vowed to trust Nona's judgement more. After all, Nona knew what made a person and what didn't.
For years after that, she was lauded with honor in the parades. Unfortunately, hard times fell on the city, and the parade budget was slashed to give more money to more important projects for quality of life. The stable she lived at also suffered greatly, and with great sorrow they sold most of their horses, including Nona. She was purchased by the Phoenix Hearth Stables, which being a remote stable doesn't really participate in parades, and now lives a quiet life there. Well, if life at the PHS can be quiet.
➢Ƈняιѕтмαѕ
Christmas has always been one of Nona's favorite times of the year. The snow, the lights, and the good cheer that everyone seems to be in. And of course, the Christmas parade. While she no longer has the opportunity to be in a Christmas parade, she will always have fond memories of the years she was a part of the parade.
Nona also appreciates how everyone seems to be nicer around the holidays, how they try to work to be kind to each other and how everything seems to be so happy. She herself does try to be a little less judgemental, even if it's really really hard. Old habits are hard to break after all.
Her favorite decorations have to be the holly. Many have compared the little plant to what she looks like, and she can't help be accept the praise gladly - after all, Nona finds holly to be a really gorgeous plant. She especially loves the way it looks on the wreaths made of pine needles, combining the scent of pine and the glory of the holly plant.
➢Mαgιc...?
Nona is very aware that she is not, in fact, a unicorn, that the horn is a part of her halter and that the only reason she looks as fancy as she does is because she got lucky with genetics. She keeps the horn because one, it reminds her of the glory days when she would parade more often, and two, something about it just feels right. Occasionally, in private moments before moving to the Phoenix Hearth Stables Nona would daydream about what it would be like to really be a unicorn. However, she knew this was silly. Unicorns aren't really real, right?
Well, once she moved to the PHS, something seemed distinctly off. There were gates that led to nowhere and yet somewhere, rumors of strange things found in the woods, and the three owners seemed to believe that unicorns were real. The silly things - they aren't. None of the other tolters seemed to notice, except perhaps Ophiel, but he was known as a weirdo and not someone Nona would ever willingly associate with.
And then, she met Holly/Hailey, a blue and pink winged dog who randomly appeared in the woods and turned into a human, right in front of Nona's very eyes! Hailey claimed that Nona had very, very, very distant unicorn ancestry, making her just the more sensitive to the mystical side of the world. Most human places were too "real" to be remotely able to have any magical signal, or there were heavy distractors that only a full blood unicorn could pass. But in the PHS, something was definitely off.
Hailey has invited Nona to come visit an actual realm of magic, however Nona refuses. If anything even more magical were to happen, she fears that her entire worldview would fall to pieces and she would be driven mad. As it is, she's already kind of an outcast thanks to her telling Sterling about the first visit, though sine she's shut up about it they're slowly accepting her back. Nona doesn't want to be like Ophiel.
➢RєƖαтισηѕнιρѕ
As with any large group of people, there's people you can connect with and people you can't. For Nona at the Phoenix Hearth Stables, this is no different. While she's overwhelmed by crowds and conversation, she's gotten to know the tolters there quite well. Well enough that she's definitely formed opinions about some, if not all of them.
First off, there's the herd leader
Whirlwind. Hoo boy, does Nona have some opinions about her! While she keeps her mouth shut around Whirlwind, out of respect and a desire to not get clobbered by someone who likes Whirlwind, Nona cannot stand the mare. All she ever seems to do is talk about herself! What an egotistical braggart. How can anyone stand to be around her?
At least Whirlwind's mate,
Sterling, isn't half as bad as Whirlwind herself. In fact, Nona rather admires him for his persistence to continue even with his injury. However, she cannot stand how he never takes her seriously about the strange things she's seen in the forest of the stables. She hopes to one day get him to see what she sees, but he stubbornly refuses to listen to her.
And of course, she has to deal with
Ophiel. Ophiel the conspiracy theorist, who seems to think that Nona is willing to listen to his crazy theories, even when she's seen crazy things herself and really just wants to keep to herself. Ophiel is constantly asking if she's seen anything weird and believes that she's a good tolter to listen to him. She's not. Nona would rather him leave her alone.
On the other hand, Nona has made some pretty good friends while at the PHS.
Nightingale happens to be, in Nona's humble opinion, one of the sweetest and kindest mares that Nona has ever met. She's been teased about having a crush on Nightingale, but she doesn't actually. However, she does enjoy spending time with her. It's very curious to her how Nightingale is able to be on such good terms with the birds of the forest. How does one do it?
She's also on pretty good terms with
Lucan, a poet and songwriter. He likes to bounce ideas off of her, and Nona is glad to critique his work. Sometimes she'll try, but she's not very good with words herself, at least the writing of them. She's actually quite impressed by his work, and Lucan in turn is more than happy to turn some of her experiences into epic ballads. She finds it a little embarrassing when he does it in front of the entire herd, but everyone loves it and she loves that.
Eos and Nona are very good at avoiding each other out of a mutual desire to not interact with anyone. Eos tends to hang out in her own little cave and staring at the skies. Sometimes, Nona will find a little gift, a shiny rock or something, from Eos. In return, Nona tries to find funny shaped sticks and pretty rocks for Eos. They've got a friendship based around never talking and giving gifts. It's the best thing.
➢Ƈяιттєя Ƈσмραηισηѕ
As much as she hates it, all the creatures of the PHS seem to be attracted to her. Nona thinks it might be her fluffy tail, or the fact that she's different, but she can't quite be sure. She tolerates them, to an extent, though she wishes that they would leave her alone. It's earned her quite the reputation.
Nona supposes that she can tolerate
Skyfall well enough. After all, the cat doesn't follow her around everywhere, which is nice. However, Skyfall does have the habit of sleeping in Nona's fluffy tail whenever she's sleeping in her stall. None figures if she were still long enough, Skyfall might even have a litter of kittens in her tail. Now isn't that a scary thought? However, Skyfall also has an excellent grasp on the equine language and enjoys indulging in conversation occasionally. She's tried to teach Nona the feline language, but it's really hard for Nona to grasp.
On the other hand, the other cat
Wizard particularly annoys Nona. Much like a fairy tale wizard, Wizard is constantly studying anything and everything to figure out how it works. And for some reason, Nona seems to be of particular interest to him. Lovely. Much like Skyfall, Wizard has an excellent grasp on the equine language, and he won't stop pestering her with questions! Nona may or may not have "accidentally" stepped on his tail a couple times.
When it comes to the dogs though, Nona has even less patience for them.
Mia isn't too bad, since he knows her boundaries, but he does get underhoof a lot since he's such a short little corgi. Nona has stepped on him for than a few times. Why.
And then there's
Thorn. Thorn seems to follow Nona around a lot, something about unicorns? Nona doesn't know why everyone at this stables seems to think unicorns are really real, it's silly. Thorn also doesn't speak the equine language very well - most of the words she knows are either vulgarity or related to magic. Nona's tried to teach her, but Thorn doesn't get it half the time and leaves Nona exasperated ("You are a lady! Act like it!").
Another dog at the PHS is
Bambi, a hyperactive pupper who cannot and will not calm down. He seems to think anytime Nona tries to get rid of him is an invitation to play, and he cannot understand anything she's saying to him at all. It's so infuriating! She's always appreciative of when he's pestering someone else.
【Hᴇʀ Sᴛᴏʀʏ】There are lots of mysteries in this world, will you take a chance and find them out?"Are you sure she's not a unicorn?"
Nona watched as the three stable owners bickered among themselves about her. Her hoof tapped irritably - she was definitely not a unicorn, thank you very much, just a tolter with a fancy halter and a fake horn. At any rate, unicorns weren't real, so why should they care?
The oldest, the dark haired one, Sky sighed. "Aryanna, I'm well aware of the fact that you've done much with magic in your life, but I'm pretty darn sure that this horse is just that - a horse."
The aforementioned Aryanna, who Nona noticed had bright orange hair and a permanent scowl, stomped her foot and huffed in frustration. "Normal horses aren't red with gold swirls!" She said, pointing out Nona's markings.
"Blood bay and chimera are both a thing," Sky shot back, running her hand through her hair. Nona thought this was very odd, why did humans do this?
"Besides," piped in a third voice. "She didn’t trigger the detectors, even with the fake horn." The tallest human, Holly was it? pulled out her smartphone and showed something to the other two humans and shifted the horn a bit. "See? Now let's introduce Nona to the rest of the tolters."
Finally. Holly attached a lead rope to Nona's halter and began leading her through one of the many gates. What an odd place, Nona thought. The handlers seemed nice enough, even if mentally unsound if they really thought unicorns were real. And the place seemed just wrong somehow, almost like it was alive! This was weirder than some of the things that she had seen as a parade horse.
What the...? Stepping through the gate was like stepping into another world. A massive field sprawled out where there was none before, a humongous stable appeared out of nowhere, and beyond it all was a forest. Nona could faintly hear the sound of rushing water. Was there a river in this forest? And there were tolters. About 16 other tolters came galloping to greet her and the handlers from all different directions. Nona nickered nervously. This was a bit much for her, and she turned to look at Holly with trepidation in her eyes.
A gentle laugh rang from Holly's lips. "You don't have to meet them all right now. Let's get you situated, and you can make your introductions later."
***************
Nona found herself exploring the forest more often than talking to the other tolters. Sure they were a nice bunch, but they were just a little overwhelming Especially Whirlwind. Stars, above, Whirlwind. The dang tolter was very self centered and Nona just couldn't stand it.
That's why she found herself by the waterfall when a mysterious blue light pulsed into existence, a haunting tune playing into her ears. So startled was she that she reared and neighed, nearly sprinting away.
The blue light condensed into a strange blue and pink corgi, with wings (wings!), who seemed to be collapsed on the ground.
Groaning, the dog shifted and let out a string of curses that Nona vowed never to repeat. One pink eye scanned the surroundings, and the dog muttered something that Nona had to strain to hear.
"I missed again. Dagnabbit, I always end up in the forest," said the dog, using her wings to shift herself into an upright position.
Nona was flabbergasted. Completely flabbergasted. This dog could properly talk! And was pink and blue! The dogs at the stable only spoke broken horse. And no dog really had wings. Was this something to do with the fictitious unicorns? So dumbfounded was she that she didn't notice that she had stepped on a twig in her nervous stepping.
The dog's head turned sharply to her, pink gaze piercing into Nona's soul. "Are you a unicorn?"
"What? No, unicorns aren't real. I'm a tolter." Well, after this sight Nona wasn't quite sure but she'd admit that.
"Then how...? Never mind. If you're a tolter, then this must be the tolter waterfall. In that case, gimme a sec." The dog clicked her jaw together three times, and a blue light once again sprung into existence. This time however, the dog turned into a human, with blue hair and a fancy dress in three shades of pink.
"My name's Holly, but while I'm like this, call me Hailey," the dog-turned-girl said, winking at Nona.
"I'm Nona," Nona said after five minutes of staring.
"Cute name! I'll see you later!" And with that, Hailey snapped her fingers and the blue light took her away.
That was really weird. Nona sprinted back to the fields, panic on her face. "Guys!" she screeched. "The weirdest just happened!"
The herd leader, one Sterling by name, looked at her with an irritated look. “Oh here we go again. Is this Ophiel-level weird, or just Plasma-weird?”
“What?” It took Nona a moment to comprehend what he just said.
“Supposed magic weird, or just funny looking bird weird?” Sterling clarified.
“Magic. Definitely magic,” Nona said, looking at him dead in the eyes.
Sterling sighed. “I never took you the type to be mixing up with all these rumors like Ophiel does. All right, what happened.”
“Well,” Nona started, a little frustrated that Sterling wasn’t taking her seriously. “I was in the forest, minding my own business, when there was a blue light and a blue and pink corgi appeared! It could talk, like really talk! And then it turned into a girl named Hailey!”
“Hailey?” Out of nowhere, Ophiel galloped up next to Nona and shoved his way into the conversation. “I knew there was something weird about that girl.”
“Both of you,” Sterling said harshly. “Get a grip! You probably just saw Mia in the shadows, and Hailey is Holly’s cousin. She likes to wander the woods. And Nona? I’m very disappointed in you. I never thought you’d tell fanciful tales like that.”
“But it’s the truth! I swear!” Nona exclaimed, stamping her hoof irritably. “Just like I heard the handlers talking about unicorns!”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Sterling snorted. “Keep telling yourself that.” He turned away and flicked her nose with his tail, a sign of blatant disrespect.
Nona hung her head. What did she expect? Now they’d never take her seriously and she’d be an outcast just like Ophiel, just barely tolerated. Why couldn’t Sterling see that she always told the truth? She knew what she saw. But there was no real way to prove it.
