[Silver]

Nimbus was nervous yet hopeful as he opened the gate. He wandered through the stables where he kept his equine creatures, stopping to give every single one a little treat or pat on the head. This was something he did almost every day, but today was going to be special. He grinned as he approached the stall he was looking for.

“Hey there,” he said in his most soothing voice. His affectionate gesture was met with a disgruntled noise coming from within the stall. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Something told him that the creature wasn’t too worried about that, but he said it anyway. More out of habit than anything else. Even if Mallow did care, it wasn’t like he could understand human speech anyway. Everything Nimbus said was just for himself, really.

[Silver]

“I’m going to open this door,” he said. He kept his voice even and mild as to not spook anyone standing around. “See? Everything is just fine.”

Nimbus unlatched the gate and pulled it open, letting the Unicorn free into the stables. At first, Mallow thought nothing of this and remained still. Then he seemed to suddenly realize what was going on and furiously charged out of his stall.

Mallow didn’t really know what he was doing once he was out. He looked around and snorted at a few other stalls before prancing outside into the sunshine and grass. Mallow was not an especially well behaved fellow, so Nimbus always let him out all on his own. At least until he could learn to play nice and keep his horn to himself.

[Silver]

Nimbus pushed the stall closed behind himself and raced outside to catch up with Mallow. Normally he just left Mallow to do his own thing, but he had other plans today. Today was the day that Mallow was going to learn to behave. He would not accept any other outcomes.

“Hey buddy,” Nimbus said, holding out his hand at arm’s length to touch Mallow. Of course Mallow wasn’t too happy about this so he let out a grumpy sound and trotted away. Not so fast as to be running, but enough to show that he wasn’t happy.

[Silver]

“You’re going to make this difficult, aren’t you?” Nimbus sighed. At least he had a lot of candy to help him through it. He unwrapped a lolly and put it on the palm of his hand. He held it out and stood otherwise perfectly still. Then he simply waited.

Mallow liked candy, which Nimbus already knew of course, but he wasn’t about to be bribed like this. He wanted to run around and play. If he came over to grab the candy, something bad was probably going to happen. A lot of the time, the candy meant the end of play time as it was used to get him back into his pen for the night.

[Silver]

In cases like these, Nimbus could be unerringly patient. He simply waited and waited for Mallow to come around. He watched idly while the cavillion bounced around like he was having a great time. He knew it was all just a show to get to him, so he wasn’t going to let it. He was just going to stand here and wait. Forever if that’s what it took.

However it did not take forever for someone to show up and eat the candy out of his open hand. Except it wasn’t Mallow. Nimbus froze and his eyes went wide. The fluff on his tails and the back of his neck stood straight up, making his tails look huge. If Mallow was over there, then who was eating out of his hand?

[Silver]

He slowly turned, careful not to move the hand that was currently being nibbled. He was met with the familiar yet unnerving sight of a bony face. It was one of his other tamed creatures known as Nyx. Most people would probably be scared to death by the sight of her, but he was actually relieved. Despite her appearance, she was very sweet.

Nyx looked like a horse for the most part. That is except for the bony spines than lined her spine all the way to her head. Her head itself was made entirely of bone plates and sported a huge horn. It was almost as if the flesh had been melted completely off of her up to the point where her jaw met her neck.

[Silver]

Eerily enough, she also had no eyes whatsoever. She was entirely blind and navigated mostly by her sense of hearing and smell. It also seemed like she had an uncanny ability to sense or ‘see’ something that fleshy creatures could not, but he was never able to really confirm that.

A cold bright blue flame poured from her hooves at all times. It seemed to have a mind of its own at times. It was also somehow tied to her emotions, flaring up when she was upset and cooling off when she was pacified.

[Silver]

A creature like this would certainly take a long time to tame, but for some reason he didn’t find it difficult at all. Perhaps it was her exceptionally calm and sweet demeanor. While she was quite easily spooked compared to her peers, she was also very susceptible to training and handling. It was like she simply liked being around Nimbus.

“How did you get out?” Nimbus asked, mostly to himself. He must have accidentally let her out while he was going through the stables.

“Let’s get you back home, shall we?” he suggested. He loved spending time with her, but he was worried as to what Mallow would try to do while she was around. He was well known for not getting along well with other equines. The last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt.

[Silver]

Nyx didn’t want to go back. She resisted his attempts to guide her back to the stable. Though she couldn’t see, she could feel the way he was intending to lead her. She wanted to stay out here with him, especially if he was offering lollies.

“I know you want to play,” he said sympathetically. “But you can’t stay out here right now. I need to help Mallow right now. Won’t you help me help Mallow?”

Nyx made a rattling-clicking sound that he had come to associate with annoyance. He really didn’t want to give in, for both of their sake, but she was just so sweet that he found it difficult to resist her. It was for her own good, however, so he kept that in mind to improve his resolve.

[Silver]

Something that Nimbus had not yet noticed was that Mallow had stopped prancing around like he owned the place. He was instead standing perfectly still and watching the two of them interact. There was a flare of jealousy in his eyes. He wanted to get the candy, but this strange thing had come along and taken it. How dare she!

Mallow made a loud, disruptive sound to bring the attention back on himself. Nimbus had all but forgotten that he was supposed to be the one he was working with. He looked at Nyx, then the stable, then back to Mallow. Perhaps she was able to help him with his plan. She was, after all, the first thing that Mallow seemed to actually react to.

[Silver]

“If you want a candy of your own, you better come over here and play nice,” Nimbus said. His voice had a lightly teasing tone to it. Almost like he was trying to convince a toddler to stop throwing a tantrum long enough to earn themselves a cookie.

Nimbus grabbed another piece of candy and held it out for Mallow to see. “Here it is,” he said. “I know you want it.” Nyx took a couple of timid steps closer to him, but he held her back by her chest. “Not right now,” he whispered. “If you stay there, I’ll give you one next, okay? Stay.”

[Silver]

Nyx was happy enough to stay since it had been suggested to her. Something about that made Mallow even more frustrated. She wasn’t even going to take the treat now? Fine! He would take it! He came rushing over and gobbled up the sweet candy. Nimbus jerked his hand away quickly, lest he lose a finger.

“There, I knew you’d figure it out.” Nimbus reached out again and rubbed his hand against the cavillion’s pure white neck. His beautiful pastel mane and tail along with his almost too-white body certainly didn’t give the impression of such a grumpy creature.

[Silver]

It was almost funny, looking at the two of them. They couldn’t be more different from one another. Not only did they look hugely different, but they also acted very different as well. Somehow, Nimbus still thought that they could be friends. He just had a funny feeling about it.

“Look at how lovely you are,” Nimbus said. Mallow took exception to this and decided to nip at him. Nimbus rolled his eyes and let out a light sigh. Nothing about this was going to be easy. He could tell that he had an entire long day’s worth of work ahead of him.

[Silver]

“I’m not going to give you more candy if you act like that,” Nimbus said firmly. Generally, when training a creature, he focused less on the words of the command and more on the tone. If he said things firmly or sharply, that discouraged behavior. If he said them sweetly and with praise, that encouraged a behavior. Usually.

“Now, now,” he cooed softly. “Let’s see if we can teach you something useful.”

Nimbus took a few steps back so that there was space between him and Mallow. Nyx was standing nearby, merely watching what they were up to. Or whatever her version of ‘watching’ was, anyway. He grabbed out another treat and said, “Come here, Mallow. Come here.”

[Silver]

The teasing, taunting way he said the words made Mallow curious. More than that, he wanted that treat. Still, he was reluctant to go over and give it a try. This situation seemed really sketchy. He didn’t want to give in.

“Oh, I know you can do it, Mallow,” Nimbus said. It might have been the first directly encouraging thing he had said all day. “Come here, Mallow. Come here.”

Eventually, Mallow tossed his mane and trotted over. “Good boy,” Nimbus cooed. He patted his face and gave him the treat. He wagged his tail and smiled brightly. Everything about his body language said that Mallow was doing a good thing. It was a shame that Mallow didn’t really seem to care about anything other than that treat.