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“Izzy isn’t exactly beginner-friendly,” Ed was saying, but Stede wasn’t really listening. He was too awe struck by the sight of the beautiful pony. Those who know horses know exactly how this kind of situation usually plays out.
“He’s gorgeous,” Stede said, and reached out a hand. Izzy’s eyes went wide, a lot of white showing, and Ed stopped him from touching.
“He’s still IZZY,” Ed said. “Don’t lose yourself too thoroughly in the scene, Stede, you’ll get hurt. You hear me?”
No, Stede did not. He saw Izzy in a fine black leather harness, and little else. His eyes lingered on the silver-buckled bridle on his face, the bit in his mouth pulling back the corners just a tad, the soft wool felt pony ears, Izzy’s lovely graying hair pulled back into braids like a carriage horse. Best of all, he saw the way Izzy responded to Ed, lowering his head and his eyes and his defenses, yielding easily, leaning into soft touch and soft words.
Ed was talking to him now, low and rumbling, stroking down his neck and down his shoulder. All the tension ran out of Izzy; he shifted his weight and let out a big sigh.
“There you go, fella, just relax,” Ed purred to him. “There’s my guy.”
“Remarkable,” Stede said. “And he’s obedient, like this? I didn’t know he could even get so biddable.”
“Sorta. I mean, he listens to ME like this. But I don’t know how he’ll respond to another handler, especially you.”
“Can I?” Stede reached for the reins. Izzy snorted, a chest-deep noise that, indeed, sounded remarkably like an alarmed horse.
“How bout you just watch for now, hm?”
They had cleared Stede’s cabin of furniture to give them some room for this kind of play scene. Stede watched as Ed put Izzy through his paces, quite literally. Asked him to side pass, to turn this way and that, to yield to pressure from rein, whip, or voice.
“You’ll note I don’t hit him with the whip,” Ed said.
“Yes, I wondered. Doesn’t he like being whipped?”
“It’s just an extension of my arm, when we do this, to give him cues. I know he usually enjoys getting the shit beat out of him, but for this …” He clicked his tongue, and Izzy broke into a jog at the end of the lunge line. “This exercise is about trust, paying attention to each other, bonding. I don’t force him to do anything. I ask him, and him giving me what I ask for is a demonstration of his acceptance of me as his leader.”
“What if he doesn’t do what you ask?”
Ed shrugged. “Then he doesn’t get to do the things he enjoys. He has to work harder.” He grinned. “I don’t pay attention to him and pet him and tell him what a good boy he is.”
“And he likes that, does he?”
The grin widened. “Oh yes.”
Stede reached his hand out towards the line. “Oh Ed, won’t you let me try, darling?”
“Haven’t you ever heard the phrase ‘green plus green equals black and blue’?” He reeled Izzy back in, murmuring whoa, and traded the lunge line for braided reins.
“What? I’m not green! I was very good with our horses! In fact, by the time I left, I hadn’t fallen off in months! And Izzy isn’t green, either, he’s obviously very well trained! You trained him, didn’t you? So you could train me to handle him?”
Izzy gave Edward a look that clearly said ‘don’t you dare,’ but neither of them were really paying him much attention. They were busy staring besottedly into each others’ eyes. So it was a surprise to them when, as soon as Stede took the reins, they were jerked out of his hand. Izzy turned and snorted from the corner he’d bolted into, huffing angrily.
“Easy there, Israel,” Stede said, trying to imitate Ed’s tone. He walked up beside Izzy, moving slow and gentle. He tried to take hold of the reins right under Izzy’s chin.
“Ow! He bit me!“ Stede barked, holding his hand. Izzy looked utterly unrepentant.
“Yeah well.” Ed came up and grabbed Stede’s collar. “Grabbing him so close is kinda like somebody holding you like this, you know? You wouldn’t like getting pushed around like that.” He took Izzy’s reins much lower down and handed them to Stede. “Besides, it keeps your hand out of range of his teeth. Let me see - bah, he didn’t even break the skin. You’re fine.”
“C’mere then, Izzy,” Stede said in a sing-song voice. He tried to lead him out of the corner. Izzy balked and pulled away from him. “Oh but Izzy, you were leading so nicely for Ed!” Stede got him moving, but he pranced at the end of the reins, pulling at the bit, looking for something to spook at.
“I told you.” Ed handed Stede the whip. “Ask him to walk around you in a circle. He acts up, get him to move his feet.”
Stede did exactly what Ed had done. (And he knew how to lunge a horse, thank you.) But Izzy didn’t respond the way he was supposed to. He crowded Stede’s space. He ignored the whip entirely, then overreacted and plunged away from it. He gripped the bit in his teeth and ignored Stede’s cues with it.
Stede grew frustrated. He pushed into Izzy’s space. “SIDE PASS, you miserable nag!” he barked. And popped Izzy with the whip, just a tiny bit. It couldn’t have hurt. But Izzy squealed with rage, and kicked Stede’s knee before turning and bolting away from him to the other side of the room.
All of this would have been bearable, except that while Stede was on the ground, cussing at Izzy, Ed was roaring with laughter. Slapping his thigh. Tears, actual tears at the corners of his eyes.
“It’s not funny! Your awful pony attacked me!” Stede said.
“Yeah, he did. C’mon, Stede, I think you’ve had enough.”
Stede got to his feet, anger and embarrassment flushing his cheeks. “No, we’re not done —“ He marched towards Izzy, whose eyes gleamed with evil-pony delight at the prospect of a fight.
“No, mate,” Ed said, putting a hand on Stede’s chest. “You can’t force him. You can only ever ask. You’ve got to build up a relationship with him, so that he WANTS to do as you ask. Took me a long time to get there with him.”
Stede huffed. “Maybe with an actual horse, that’s true. They’re big. But in case we’ve somehow forgotten, I am bigger than that little ragamuffin pipsqueak pirate, and I very well CAN force him to do as I say!”
Ed’s fist closed on the front of Stede’s shirt. “Bonnet. You’re not laying a hand on him.”
Stede looked down in surprise at the hand scrunching up his linen blouse. “Ed?”
“That’s part of the play, man. He puts his trust in me, and I take care of him. That includes protecting him. You want to yell at him and fight him when he’s not trussed up in that harness, by all means, go for it. But not now. Not while he’s so thoroughly mine.”
Stede glanced at Izzy, and the naked love and devotion he saw there was startling. He backed down. “I’m sorry.”
Ed smiled. “Why don’t you stay nearby while I bring him down? It takes awhile to leave this headspace, you know.”
“Alright.”
Edward walked up to Izzy and took hold of his reins. “You did a real good impression of an actual pony, you know? Evil little things. Like small dogs and short men.” Izzy smiled around the bit. Ed took the bit portion of the bridle off, and fed him a few peppermints from his pocket. He offered him water from a bowl, and Izzy just stood there, not drinking it.
“Fine,” Ed sighed, and set the water aside. Stede sat on his chaise lounge to watch the aftercare. He took the harness and bridle off of Izzy, rubbing him with a clean cloth as he did so. He sat on the bed with Izzy and took out the braids, brushed Izzy’s newly wavy hair. Izzy laid down with his head in Ed’s lap, and the trio sat in companionable silence for some time.
At length, Edward said, “Alright then, Iz?” and Izzy responded, “Yeah, m’alright.”
“Done being a horse?”
“Yeah.”
“You up to telling Stede why you wouldn’t behave for him like you would for me?”
Izzy shifted, clearly not really wanting to talk, but he said, “Because he hasn’t earned it.”
“Earned what? We talk now, remember? When we’re not being horses.”
“He hasn’t proven himself trustworthy. There have been no moments where he could have thrown me to the sharks, and he didn’t. He hasn’t demonstrated the competence at sea — or at the reins — that will keep us alive when shit goes bad.” He swallowed audibly. “He’s not my captain, and he’s not my handler.”
“I wasn’t either, at first. I earned it with you, didn’t I?” Izzy nodded. “And I’ll be here to guide Stede into being a captain and a handler that you can trust.” He bent and kissed Izzy’s temple. “My wary little pony.”
Stede softened. “I got ahead of myself. I’m sorry, Izzy. I’m sorry, Ed.” He picked up a peppermint from the bowl on his desk. “Can I feed you a peppermint?”
“You bloody well cannot, I’m not a pony right now.”
“Ah. Yes. Well.” Stede ate the peppermint. “Next time, maybe?”
Izzy snuggled closer to Ed. “Next time.”