Falls

I DON'T WORRY,
WORRYING DON'T AGREE
THINGS THAT BOTHER YOU, NEVER BOTHER ME!

Someone a little more present might have been rather sad they were never collected upon after being whisked away from their brand-new home by a neighbor. As soon as she was sent to the Ridge, that was that, and she heard nothing from the Good Witch since. Talya, however, excelled in making sure she was always happy and therefore didn’t care one bit. She had her fun poking around in the jungle grown thick at the base of the Ridge and she had even more by climbing up the steep slope to the top and looking down over Atlantis.

The only problem was that there wasn’t anyone she was very interested in playing with. At least, no one she’d seen yet. Surely there was a young horse or someone with a playful spirit who would’ve been more than happy to entertain her. Talya, however, had gotten very good the last few years at finding fun by herself. She forgot why (fancy that) but for a long, long time she’d been tucked away and hidden from everyone and specifically told to keep to herself.

At any rate, even the colorful jungles and turquoise waters of Atlantis couldn’t keep her occupied forever. Talya couldn’t remember if there were rules about not going off the island or telling someone before she did, but she didn’t stop to ask. Like a child sneaking somewhere they weren’t supposed to and not the fully grown mare she was, Talya looked all around her and made sure everyone was far up the shoreline or tucked in the jungle before she dove into the water and made a swim for it.

She washed up on the familiar shores of Crossing Isle with a big, happy smile on her face. Head high, she looked all over, wet mane slapping her neck as she did. There was no one here on the shore, but she knew where to go to find someone. So, Talya started inland with light steps and her wet tail flagged out behind her cream and white painted hind.

It didn’t take long for her to find her target. A dark-dusted young red stallion was standing all by his lonesome in the Falls and Talya decided she couldn’t have that. A loud, happy, boisterous whinny burst from her lungs as she paused to make sure she had his attention and he didn’t look as though he had any murderous intentions.

(Again, a smarter mare would know much, much better than to approach an unknown stallion during this season.)

Talya trotted up to him, a picture of youthful energy, ears perked and eyes bright and happy as she watched him. After the customary exchange of breaths, she caught the familiar smell of men and mud and still water. It was almost enough to dampen her spirit, bringing up a memory she’d forcibly buried deeper than any others, but Talya was far too determined to have a good day to let anything sour it. So she stretched her smile a little wider and danced a bit in place before her boisterous, loud, happy voice joined the party.

“Hello! I saw you standing here and I thought maybe you were alone! I’m alone too. Well, right now I’m alone, but I don’t want to be. Do you want to be alone? If you don’t want to be alone we can spend some time together. I know a ton of games. I promise I’m not boring.”