[Silver]

Nimbus wondered what he should work on next. They had gotten the most basic of obedience stuff out of the way pretty quickly. As stubborn as he was, Mallow was pretty clever. That’s why he was so desperately in need of training in the first place.

They could always go through the motions of easy little tricks, but Nimbus thought Mallow would find that boring. Clever creatures like himself liked to be stimulated, and teaching him stupid stuff like standing still was not likely to get his attention. He wondered if he should ramp up the excitement a little bit.

[Silver]

“Nyx, I need you to stay here, near the stable, okay. I have some things to do, and I don’t want you to get lost.” He rubbed her side and snuck her another candy while Mallow’s attention was focused elsewhere.

Nyx accepted the candy, but she didn’t want him to walk away. She pressed her skull into his chest and let out a disgruntled snort. It was like she knew something was about to happen. She had no way of stopping him from doing whatever he was going to do, but she wanted to let him know that she cared about him.

[Silver]

“Is this a hug?” he asked. He rubbed along the side of her neck and admired the fact that she didn’t stab him with her horn. For a blind creature, she had pretty good aim. Or she was lucky. He wasn’t sure.

“Don’t worry,” he told her. He gave her a few solid thumps on her side with his open palm. “I’ve done this a ton of times. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

Nyx let out a puff of eerily cold air, but she did not move to stop him. It was like they had come to a silent understanding of some kind. He had no idea if she could understand him or not, but for now she seemed content on staying put. It was the best he could hope for.

[Silver]

“Now for you,” Nimbus said, turning to Mallow. He was wandering around sniffing the grass but not eating it. He had no idea why the cavillion was doing that, but he figured he wouldn’t worry about it.

‘This is going to be fun,’ he thought to himself. ‘It’s been a while.’

Nimbus meandered across the paddock to an old familiar rock that was long since embedded in the dirt. It was just a coincidence that such a large stone was buried there. It also happened to be the perfect height for his purposes. He steadied himself then stepped up so he could stand atop the large rock.

[Silver]

“Mallow, come here Mallow,” he cooed. Mallow looked up at him, swished his tail, and looked away in defiance. Nimbus rolled his eyes. “Mallow, come here, I’ve got the goodies! You know you want them.”

As much as Mallow liked not listening, he liked treats slightly more. His eyes were focused on the treat that appeared in Nimbus’ paws even though his body was turned away. It looked like he was debating for a moment what he would do before eventually giving in and wandering over in pursuit of treats.

“I knew it,” Nimbus said teasingly. There was no way Mallow was turning down treats. Honestly he was lucky that he was so food motivated. Otherwise he’d be much harder to train.

[Silver]

Mallow got closer to the stone and Nimbus adjusted where he was holding the treats until everything was in the perfect place. He dropped the treats onto the stone, and Mallow continued munching away at them as if nothing changed. Nimbus took a deep breath in to mentally prepare himself for what happened next.

In a strangely familiar motion, Nimbus leaped as far as he could, trying to hook his leg over Mallow’s side to straddle his back. He clutched at the cavillion’s mane and held on for dear life. As if that would somehow help him not to die when Mallow inevitably tried to kill him.

[Silver]

Mallow wasn’t happy when something dropped onto his back. He immediately charged across the clearing. He had no idea where he was going, but his instincts told him to run away from the threat. Except the threat was currently clinging to him like his life depended on it.

As much as he may look it, Nimbus wasn’t entirely crazy. He knew that this was exactly the reaction that was going to happen. Somehow, his tiny frame managed to cling to the back of the cavillion as he charged. He had some practice at this, thankfully.

[Silver]

It didn’t take Mallow long to realize that his frenzied charge wasn’t helping matters. There was still the heavy thing on his back. Now a sane person might have used a weight for this part, to get Mallow used to carrying something. Nimbus liked to do things his own way, however.

Mallow reared up onto his hind legs, trying to throw the weight off any way he could. At this point, he didn’t even realize that it was Nimbus back there. Not that his reaction would likely have been different either way. He just wanted to be free again, not to have something weighing him down and potentially eating him.

[Silver]

Nimbus could feel himself slipping down. If he hit the ground, it was very likely that he would get stomped by a fury of hooves. He did everything he could to cling on, but it was not looking good for him. He had to get down, and on his terms. Then they could try again.

In an incredible feat of well practiced agility, Nimbus kicked himself off and managed to throw himself to the ground far enough away to avoid being trampled right away. There was no saying what Mallow would decide to do next, but he was briefly safe. Once the air came back into his lungs, he scrambled to his feet and turned to assess the situation.

[Silver]

“It’s okay, Mallow, it’s okay,” Nimbus said in his most soothing voice, even though he was still out of breath.

Mallow seemed pleased that he had dealt with the pest that was plaguing him, but he wasn’t completely over it yet. He was still twitchy and uncomfortable as he put his hooves back on the ground. He looked around, trying to discover his assailant. All he could see was Nimbus standing there, trying to offer him a treat.

Mallow slowly approached the boy and looked suspiciously at the treat. Was this another attempt to bribe him into doing something insane? Well, he would just have to risk it. He grabbed the treat then immediately took a few steps back to be out of reach. Just in case.

[Wild Pet Found]