This is Tinkerbell.
She's a 5-year-old Shetland pony owned by Jim and Mhairi Connelly from Kilmarnock in Ayrshire.
You probably won't be surprised to hear that Tinkerbell isn't a real unicorn. Her owners dye her mane, deck her out in a diamanté headcollar with a detachable horn, and take her to fetes, gala days, and parties to give rides to local children.
Tinkerbell's main hobbies are petty theft of snacks, watching TV, and refusing to live in a field like a normal pony.
Although she does have a field, Jim and Mhairi let Tinkerbell wander freely around the house, though she is prone to hogging the TV and pinching fruit. “She had four sheep that kept her company in the field, but when they got taken away she started coming in the house," says Jim. "She’s really a big pet, she’s very docile and gentle. The amazing thing is she sits down like a dog."
And who can blame Jim and Mhairi for letting her in? Tinkerbell is clearly too magical to rough it outdoors.
Here they are feeding her tea like it's a perfectly normal thing to share a cuppa with a goddamn real-life unicorn who lives in your actual house.
Jim and Mhairi don't make a profit out of Tinkerbell's party appearances, but they do charge a fee and put the proceeds toward her expenses.
Jim said: “We don’t make any money at it, with the amount it costs to keep a horse and transport it. But the gala days and fetes always want us there."
The question most people ask them is the one you're probably thinking right now: "Does she poo indoors?"
The answer is yes. “She’s pooed in the kitchen before,” said Jim. “I think Mhairi was there at the time. It’s not exactly the best.”
Oh Tinkerbell.
Look at Jim's face. He's clearly thinking about the carpet cleaning bill. It turns out that unicorns don't poo glitter and rainbows after all. They poo actual poo.
Still, it's worth it. Having a unicorn in your house is definitely better than not having a unicorn in your house.
Moral of the story: Live every day like you're in your very own Disney film, even if it's moderately impractical.
