(Settings and characters belong to StarStableOnline. OC are mine)
Destiny tugged at her braid, sighing that it had once again come undone. She watched patiently as Judy led her pony Daydream to an empty stall to wait for her while she visited the library. Satisfied, Destiny followed Judy out of the stable, sneaking a glance at her beloved pony just in time for the stable manager to catch her.
"She'll be alright Dez. She gets along splendid with Butterfly" Judy commented.
Destiny let out a quick sigh. "I know, I know. It's just that...well- she's so old and I'm afraid she'll play too rough or something. Plus her joints have been a little stiff late-" Judy held up her hand. "I've got this Destiny, trust me."
Destiny visibly relaxed, waved goodbye to Daydream and skipped off to the Silverglade Manor library.
With her fair skin, smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks, light green eyes and low-back length straw-blond hair, Destiny Heart looked more like a middle school-girl who should just be developing interest in horses rather than be running a rescue shelter. In fact, she'd been running the shelter, aptly named Rescue Hearts Foundation, for three years now along with major help from Johanna, the stable manager at Jorvik Stables and her older sister Reyna.
"Shelter" in fact was a poor excuse of a description for the massive operation. Rescue Hearts Foundation was a literal foundation: an expansive Abilene style barn colored traditional brick red with white trim, it housed thirty stalls large enough to fit a small crowd of people. The loft sat high above the stalls, a perfect place to store any excess of goods or gear in case the gargantuan tack and food rooms filled up.
Two aisles blended through the barn; one that held a walkway for all thirty stalls which rescued and rehabilited horses filled up, and one just off to the left where four private stalls waited. One of which was used by Destiny's pony Daydream and the other used by Reyna, the teenage owner of the grey Andalusian, Stormflash.
The demands of running such an operation were not lost on ten year old Destiny; hay, grains, medications, equipment, grooming supplies and fencing were the bare minimum of the list. Potential adoptees, school riders and volunteers contributed the largest part of the beehive like atmosphere of the rescue center.
However, slow days at the center did happen, though very rarely, and this particular Friday happened to be one of them. Out of all the workers, volunteers and managers at Rescue Hearts, Destiny's older sister Reyna benefited from them the most. Being a proffesional English rider was always Reyna's dream and so far, she'd come as close to it as she could. When she wasn't teaching new riders how to ride English she was hard at work practicing Dressage and Jumping techniques.
Destiny was a delightful spectator to her sister's sessions; whether they were in the Jorvik Stables paddock rehearsing the steps to the passage or flying over jumps like graceful swans at the Riding Hall, Destiny's heart swelled with pride as she watched her sister dominate the arena with careful and graceful percision.
Part of the reason Destiny decided to drive to the Manor was because Reyna had requested a volumne on "Dressage Techniques For Dummies". She had done a double take at Reyna after the request was made, but the teenager stood her ground on the decision. She had said, "I really need to teach Stormy some new moves. Our sleeve of tricks is getting...well, a bit short. Ya know what I mean Dezzy?" to which Destiny had responded with a blank look and slight shake of the head. The other reason was because the center was running low on grapes, and she knew how good frozen grapes tasted to horses and volunteers on hot summer days.
Destiny grinned at the memory of Reyna's pep-talk in the morning and kept grinning as she entered the Silverglade Library.
"Eeeeasy Stormy- what a good boy! Good job! C'mon, lets get you washed up and ready for snack time. I think we've done enough today." Reyna giggled as she swung down lightly from her saddle. Unclipping her sporty black helmet and shaking her raven-colored hair free she didn't look the least bit tired, when in fact she was ready to collapse from exhaustion.
The teen would usually be up at five am in order to turn her horse out to pasture and have him back into his stall before anyone else woke up. While Storm would be out grazing and whatnot, she would run back to the feed room and set out piles of hay, grains and treats for each of the horses at the shelter in specially placed sacks on the countertops. This way, the volunteers and managers would avoid hiccups and delays in the distribution of food and keep everything running like a well oiled machine.
However, this morning wasn't a usual morning.
Reyna had stayed up until two am listening to her favorite artist, Raptor, causing her to rouse at six am. Panicking that she'd delayed the center's feed distribution by an hour, she'd haphazardly brushed her teeth and hair before blindly dashing out to the stable in her pajama bottoms and collared work shirt. She'd launched herself into the feed room- only to find that the sacks weren't there and that all the horses had already been fed and that volunteers were busy turning horses out. It had taken her a few beats to figure out that Destiny had let her sleep in, plus done all her chores for her.
Energy levels still pumping at max level, Reyna had changed and gotten Stormflash fed and ready for their practice session. Unfortunately, only an hour into the sesson, the teen already felt the effects of her mad-dash-morning; lack of concentration, countless slip-ups of the steps and Stormflash's frustration at her inability to stick with one command. She decided to call it quits after only another half an hour, electing to get a few more hours of rest before she really screwed something up.
Reyna somehow managed to cross-tie Storm to remove his tack and give him a good grooming. Satisfied with her work she let Storm into his stall while emptying a medium size cup of mixed grains into a small trough right next to the feed bag that hung by the door.
Giving the stallion a quick hug and couple of kisses, she latched the door behind her and stumbled on her path back to her fluffy, cozy bed.
Having rounded the library for the fifteenth time, Destiny was finally convinced the book wasn't there. She'd found all manner of Dressage books and magazines but nothing even close to what her sister had requested. Dissapointed but not discouraged, she made her way to the Baroness to ask about the delivery of grapes. The elderly woman expressed her guilt about not having enough grapes for a full truck as she usually did but promised her life that she'd do what she could to get them in as soon as possible.
Destiny thanked her profusely, accepting the amount that the woman had ready and jogged back to the Manor stable. She approached Judy who had just finished speaking with another rider, requesting an update on Daydream.
Judy let out a chuckle. "She's perfectly fine Destiny, honest. Her and Butterfly are quite the playful pair" She gestured at the buckskin Thoroughbred. "The Baroness even asked about bringing him to your shelter, just so that he can get out and interact with other horses."
Destiny nodded quickly. "Sure! That's a great idea! Tell the Baroness she can bring him whenever she wants and I'll have a stall ready for him the same day. Thanks again Judy!" she called out.
Destiny approached the stall where Daydream stood blowing and nodding her head in anticipation. She couldn't help but laugh at her pony's antics, knowing all too well that the old mare knew what was coming. Poking around in her small knapsack, she produced a shiny red apple which Daydream took carefully right out of her palm. The mare knew better than to simply snatch the treat from her rider, unlike a certain stallion back home, as that only earned her a smack on the nose and a scolding.
Destiny waited quietly while Daydream finished eating the treat in her usual slobbery, messy way. She didn't mind the mess at all, in fact believing that it was the funniest thing her pony could do. While Daydream was still busy licking off a piece of apple stuck to her upper lip, Destiny haltered and loaded her into the blue trailer that they had used for the journey to the Manor.
Unlike the pleasant trip she'd had going to the Manor, the trip back to the shelter had been exhausting for Destiny.
To start off, just a few miles out of the Silverglade area one of the truck's tires blew out so suddenly she'd hit her head on the ceiling from jumping with fright. The driver of the truck said he could replace the tire himself but it would take "a few minutes". Those few minutes turned into over an hour as the driver had underestimated just how heavy a spare tire of such a large truck was. Destiny went as far as to get Daydream involved in the fiasco, asking the pony to roll the tire toward the driver and hold it in place with her muzzle as he tightened the bolts.
The final hitch in the trip was a near fatal run on the bridge to Harvest Counties with a few riders on Warmbloods. The group hashed out obscenities as she and the helpless driver sat back and let the angered girls pass, forty five minutes of uneeded drama later. As the girls raced off in a thundering cloud of dust, Destiny thrust her tounge out at them through the window.
"What are they in such a hurry for? They don't have a whole shelter and a teenage sister to keep up with!" she told the driver, exasperated.