Phase Two - Dragon..?

‘So… no, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh. Just, start the story from the beginning, and I’ll try and take it seriously.’ A voice called from down the end of the phone line, stifling a laugh as they spoke.

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It had been about a week since the Loshenka stallion had arrived at The Grove, a quiet livery stables settled in a corner of the Fera’lia Kingdom, nestled into a vast forest that stretched as far as you could want to ride. He had supposedly settled in very nicely - the two training him, Koda and Jade, had been fooled into a peaceful sense of hope by the ginger stallion.

As a recap, when the pair met the stallion, he had been caught slinking through the electrified fencing they had attempted to catch him in with ease.

For the first few days of being at The Grove, he had settled down nicely: put in a field with Jade’s Teddy Cob Viper and Koda’s Bear, he had shown no signs of wishing to escape.

Oh! So, he just wanted to be with friends in a more comfortable, quieter environment, right?

Wrong.

He had been subtly studying the land, the fence line, the hedges surrounding, all in an attempt to make the grandest escape you’d ever seen. Koda had had a sneaking suspicion it would come around ever since he caught him and Viper lingering by the back of the paddock - Bear was snacking on the berries the other side, whilst the Loshenka seemed to just be, quite simply, sniffing the fenceline and staring off into the distance.

‘You’re turning him into some sort of criminal mastermind. Which, for the record, he is not.’ Jade had scoffed, shaking his head as he hand-fed Thalia some sugar cubes. They were out at a show, taking Thalia to help get Parakeet some experience out in busier environments. What they hadn’t expected amongst the chaos was a phone-call from Bai Anli, Jade’s mother, saying that she had just had to make the stallion do the walk of shame back to his paddock after clearing the fence with ease. She went on a slight rant about how much scope he had, and how elegant it was despite the circumstance, but overall, it was the same message: he hadn’t quit his old tricks that easily.

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An hour before our current time, Jade had been riding Viper out on an endurance trail, and it had taken a little less time than usual: in Jade’s books, this was a win! They were getting faster, and more comfortable. Whilst they typically stuck to racing, Koda had persuaded him to try out endurance - it was a slower pace, but it would help Viper to run quite so fast for longer. Koda himself was training his cobs for it, and so they’d started together.

The routine after was the usual: untack, give Viper some water, wash off, get a drink for Jade himself, maybe a snack, put Viper in the field. That all went perfectly; if you ignore that Viper had been a pest to wash, and had spent half of his time trying to soak Jade through.

‘You- absolute- Viper, stop it- Vi, quit it. Please?’ Jade muttered, putting the hose back up to tie his dual-coloured hair in a high ponytail. He was a bit precious over his hair, especially because he had recently spent ages trying to bleach some symmetrical raccoon striping in the front streaks (which were, surprisingly, very even). ‘You like being bathed with a hose. I do not. You don’t need to share it. Genuinely, take the bath all for yourself. I mean it.’

As Jade lead Viper to the field, he scoured through the trees lining it, trying to spot the Loshenka. Usually, he would trot at the wooden fence, trying to greet Viper as he came over, but today… not a ginger leg in sight. Bear was happily munching away on the grass, but he was the only horse in the whole paddock.

Dangit.

Untying Viper’s halter and shutting the fence behind him, Jade began to stomp back to the barn, and his face fell more than it already had.

His saddle-pad was missing, saddle strewn all over the ground.

‘The heck?’ He muttered, picking the saddle up and swinging it back over the stable door.

| You // ‘Jieying!!!! 🍀’ (@bitingyou)

Ginger thing’s out again. :|

| ‘🫐 Lingxue <3’ (@kodazpaws)

LMAOOOO

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‘You’re such an ass, you know that?’ Jade muttered, holding onto a halter in one hand and the phone in the other. A leadrope trailed on the floor behind him, and a little cob was nibbling it, in hopes of a snack.

‘You just told me you lost a whole seventeen-hand stallion, and it took the racing saddle-pad from inside the barn. How am I not supposed to laugh?’ The voice snickered slightly, the culprit of the noise evidently shuffling around in the background. ‘I’m getting my shoes on. Just wait.’

‘I will. And come and get your pony, he’s being a pain,’ Jade huffed, turning around and looking at the pale Teddy Cob behind him.

‘Who? Parakeet? Why isn’t he in the paddock with Thali and Vi?’

‘… he needed enrichment.’

‘Awh, you just like him. Go on, admit it.’

‘Kodio Lockewood, if you don’t get here right now, I swear-‘ The line beeped twice as Koda hung up on the other side, leaving Jade to stand aimlessly in the centre of the stable block, watching as the fat little pony flung the end of the leash about.

About fifteen minutes passed, and when Koda finally got off his bike to park it by the barn, Jade was sat on Parakeet, slumped over him as the little palomino chewed on the bushes.

‘Comfy?’ Koda chuckled, walking over and picking up the halter left on the floor.

‘Mmm. Yeah. He’s very… uh…’ Jade pursed his lips for a moment, sitting up and glancing down at the pony he was sat on. ‘…. Rotund.’

‘Oh, so we’re fat-shaming my son now, are we?’ Koda raised an eyebrow, hands on his hips with a small grin.

‘He’s more like our son, surely?’ Jade huffed, sliding off the side as Parakeet watched him with a side-eye.

‘Oh, co-parenting. You’re forwards,’ Koda hummed, before gesturing to the stables around them. ‘So, uh… where’s our pest of a teenager ferreted himself off to?’

‘I’m… working on that.’ The taller man looked irritated for a moment, tapping his foot on the floor with his arms crossed. ‘If you were a horse, with a strange affection for green numnahs, where would you go?’

‘Probably a tack shop,’ Koda mumbled half-heartedly, glancing at Jade with a shrug.

‘Don’t be daft,’ Jade grumbled, suppressing a smile.

They began to walk off towards a far corner in the yard, past the rows of paddocks, and into the woodlands. It was quiet, comfy, a nice place for a hiding horse to go to - but it was empty.

As they continued to search, Koda couldn’t help laughing softly to himself. When given a questioning glance from Jade, he smiled slightly and laughed louder.

‘Ferreted. Our teenage son, ferreted his way out. That’s what he is. A ferret.’

‘…. He’s a horse.’

‘Yeah, but if I can have a pony named Bear, a pony named Parakeet, and you have a Viper, then we can have a horse called Ferret.’

‘Why would I call him Ferret?’

‘It’s cute. I like ferrets.’

‘Maybe he’s walking around? We might’ve missed him,’ Koda suggested optimistically. His comment was met with a light glare, and a comment about how walking around makes it even worse, because then they can’t find him on anything other than coincidence. Such a grump.

‘Well, where else could he be? I’m sure there must be somewhere he’s shown that he likes-‘ Koda started, before Jade clamped a hand over his mouth and shushed him. Scrunching up his nose, Koda glanced about and raised an eyebrow at Jade, before hearing the sound the other man had.

A tiny meow.

… a meow? Well, a cat’s not gonna help them find a horse. Surely?

As they approached where the noise was coming from, it was… not expected. Well, a cat here wasn’t expected at all, but what was less expected was a tiny little black bengal kitten, snuggled into a pile of slightly mucky rugs, saddle pads and girths. It mewled softly, and they were about to walk over when a tall, thin, ginger horse trotted over and began to get down on his knees, lying down in front of the pile of blankets. The kitten clumsily got to its feet, crawling over and curling up on his back, paws kneading at his withers.

‘…… I’m calling it Missile Launcher,’ Koda whispered, and Jade nodded.

‘Missy for short— hang on, no, we’re not keeping it. Not a chance.’ He looked alarmed all of a sudden. ‘Why the heck would you call it that?’

‘You literally agreed with me. It’s Missy now. That’s done,’ Koda grimaced, sticking his tongue out.

It took a while for them to tear themselves away, and even longer to show the newly named Ferret that they weren’t going to take his feline infant away from him. Sorting the pile of blankets after putting the pair in a safer place, Bai Anli looking after the kitten in Ferret’s stall to keep it safe from his large hooves, it really did just seem comical.

‘His show name could be Dragon Fruit. Y’know, to accidentally keep with the food theme our Loshenkas happen to have,’ Koda hummed, nodding confidently. ‘Dragon, coz he has a little hoard. Maybe he can keep it for his stable.’

‘And how would I explain to the other liveries that they can’t have their lost stuff back because my over-anxious stallion, mother of a feline creature named Missile Launcher, needs to make sure said kitten is tucked up safely?’

‘I dunno. Get Linhuo to buy some new stuff for them, you’ve got money,’ Koda looked rather proud of himself.

‘….only if you ask. My brother’s temperamental and you know it.’