Author's Note: This is my first try at a Loki X Reader story and also my first time writing in second person. If there are any mistakes I do apologize!
"Heah!" You called as you kicked the sides of the animal you were riding. At the sound of your command the animal took off running. You were perched in a sadle on top of a tall black and white mare and you pulled at the reins telling the horse to turn left. You were taking the horse down a training path which gets animals acclimated and used to different surroundings. You continued down the path, using many verbal commands combined with tugging on the reins, to direct the mare through it. Her hooves made audible noises against the ground and periodically she would nay. As she ran you could feel the gental breeze of the summer day brushing against your face and blowing through your hair. When you came back to the starting point, you gave the horse a pat, and hopped off of the animal, leading her back to her pen in the stable.
You were an animal trainer and behaviorist, and you worked at these stables because of your emense love for horses. Your job here was to train the animals for riding and to desensitize shy, timid horses and socalize them so they were used to human interaction. Some of them were used in shows and agility contests, others became race horses and then some were adopted by family run farms. Other activities of your job were washing the animals, keeping the groomed, and making sure their hoover were taken care of. Occasionally you had to do paper work in the office. Horses were your favorite animal, and you loved being able to work with them everyday. It didn't even feel like a job anymore to you because you always had fun and enjoyed your time at the stables.
You walked the black and white mare back into her pen, and gave her a few sugar cubes for a job well done. She did perfectly on the training path and was well on her way to being something great.
"Hum... You need a name don't ya?" You said to the mare. She was a new arrival and nobody had given her a name yet. You looked at the horse while you tried to think of a suiting name. She was white with large black spots, which almost made her resemble a cow. She also had a long black and silver mane. "I think Silver would be perfect for ya." The mare neighed, as if to say she was in agreement with her new name. You laughed, giving her another pat of the head, and then walked out of her pen, closing the door behind you.
"Hey, [name]!" You heard someone call. You looked to your left, and saw your fellow co-worker, Drake standing next to the pen of his horse. You hurried over to him, curious as to what he wanted. Drake was the same age as you, and you two had become great friends. You both shared a love for horses, and looked forward to going to work when you woke up in the morning. Drake was taller then you by about three inches. He had short brown hair, and blue eyes. He had a very fun loving, thrill seeking personality, and also had a great sense of humor.
"Hey!" You greeted him. His horse poked his head over the gate of the pen. Drake owned a beautiful black stallion that he kept here at the stables. The stallions name was Lightning, on account of him being such a fast runner. Lightning was a very well behaved horse as well.
"How'd it go with the new mare?" Drake asked you.
"Oh she did great." You replied. "She didn't even hesitate when it came to the different terrain types."
"Haha! Sounds like she'll be a quick learner!"
"And hows Lightning doing?" You asked, looking up at the stunning black stallion.
"He's great." Drake answered. "He jumped a double hurdle today."
"That's awesome! You guys will be ready for the contest in no time!"
"We hope so!" Drake patted his horse. He and Lightning were training for an upcoming agility contest. Horses jump over hurdles, and followed specific paths while the rider directs them along the way. The top prize for the winner was a large sum of cash, plus other smaller items. "Hey... Did you hear about the odd horse, boss found?"
"Boss found a horse?" You said incedulously.
"Yeah! A wild stallion. He's really strange..."
"Strange... how?" You asked.
"Well... I think you should just see him for youself." Drake replied. You nodded, and followed him as he led you to the quarentine pen in the back corner. Both you and Drake peeked over the gate at the horse inside.
It was a light brown stallion with a long jet black mane. He stood in the back of the pen, staring at the two of you. You studied the animal, but it took quite a few moments before you noticed what Drake had meant by "Strange."
"Does he... have eight legs?" You said.
"Yeah. Boss thinks it's some sort of genetic mutation." Drake replied, "Odd how he lived to adulthood with it. Most horses with mutations die before they fully mature."
"His eyes are green too." You said, taking notice of the bright emerald color of the horses eyes. "That's very rare, but it's also odd because green eyes are associated with champagne colored coats. His coat is brown."
"Boss said that he put up quite a fight too. Took him nearly two hours to get him back here."
"Huh... He sure is a weird one..." You said, as you looked at the horse again.
"He doesn't seem to be agressive." Drake continued, "I think he's just scared. Do you think you could work with him as well? You are the behaviorist after all."
"Alright. I see what I can do." You replied.
Later in the day you returned to the quarentine pen. You approched it, and the horse poked his head over the gate.
"Why hello there pretty boy." You said. You held your hand up, offering the animal a big, juicy, red apple. He sniffed it a bit first, but then gobbled it up. You laughed, and then opened the gate and walked inside the pen. He backed up from you, standing in the corner. "It's alright. I'm just hear to look ya over." The animal didn't move much except for swatting his tail at the flies that were buzzing around. You couldn't get over how abnormal this horse was, and how he miraculously survived with such a mutation. You walked towards the animal, petting him on his neck. "See. I ani't going to hurt ya."
You reach up, and attempted to place a bridle over his head. To your surprise, the horse didn't fight you, and you easily straped it on. You then took the lead, and stepped a few feet away from the horse. He followed you. You led him out of the pen and walked around a bit in the stable. You couldn't help but be amazed that even with eight legs this horse walked like it was perfectly normal. It was almost as if he had somehow adapted to it, and it didn't hinder him at all. It confused you, but also was highly intriquing. In all your years of working here, you had never seen such a unique animal before.
After you walked him around, you notice that he had some leaves stuck in his mane, and also was a bit dirty. You decided that he need a good wash and brush. So you took to it. You washed him up, scrubbing the dirt and mud out of his coat, and then brushed out his long black mane. You noticed that he didn't even flinch when you did these tasks. This certainly couldn't have been a wild horse... He's all too calm to be wild.
"Oh hey!" You heard. You looked up, seeing Drake walking up to you. Lightning was by his side, in full riding gear. "How's it going with this guy?"
"It's going fine." You replied, as you continued to brush the horse's mane. "I don't think he was a wild horse. I think he belonged to someone. He walked just fine, he didn't flail when he was washed, and he doesn't mind being brushed. If he was wild he'd be trying his hardest to avoid such situations."
"Huh." Drake replied. "I wonder if he's microchiped."
"Hum... Don't know. Boss has one of those chip scanner dont he?"
"Yeah, but he left. He said his wife called... some family emergency."
"I guess we'll check tomorrow then." You said. You finished brushing the horse, and put the brush back where it belonged.
"Have you tried riding him yet?" Drake asked.
"No I haven't. I don't know if it's a good idea yet. We don't know the personality or temperment of him, and don't know what he's like on the trails."
"True... Well we should try and put the gear on him... You know. See how he reacts."
"Hum... Alright." You agreed.
You followed Drake and Lightning to the shed where all the gear was stored. The noise of the horses eight hooves clicking on the ground sounded in your ears as you walked. When you were at the shed, you tied the eight legged horse to the hitchpost. Drake did the same to lightning. You and Drake both entered the shed, grabbing a sadle, blanket, reins, and the other gear. You placed the blanket across the horses back, and Drake helped you to life the sadle up onto him. He moved a bit at the sudden weight on his back, but did not show any agression or discomfort. You continued attaching the rest of the gear and soon finished with cliping on the reins.
"Looks to me like he's already used to this." Drake said.
"He was definitely owned by someone." You stated.
"Why don't we go down trail 3a?" Drake then suggested. "You can walk him down it, and see if he reacts to anything."
"You read my mind." You replied. Drake and you had an ongoing joke that you both had some sort of telepathic connection. You always finished each others sentences, and had always had nearly the same ideas.
"Cool." Drake untied lightning from the hitchpost, and climbed into the sadle. He took the reins, and started walking towards the path he mentioned while you followed behind, leading the eight legged horse.
The path you were was a small, short trail that passed by a river and ended in a large clearing. You walked down the path, observing the horse to see if he showed any signs of... anything. Be it fear, aggression, or something in between. The walk went just as you thought though. He proceeded down the path without any protest, and took to the terrain changes with ease. At the clearing, Drake hopped off of lightning, tying him to the tree nearby. You did the same with the unnamed horse.
"You know, we need to name him." You said. You were always one for naming every animal that came in, whether everyone called them that name or it was just you, it seem more apporpriate then addressing the animal as He or She.
"Well... what do you think we should call him?"
"I don't know... His mane is kind of spiky, even though I spent twenty minutes trying to brush it... Maybe we should name him spike."
"Haha! I like that." Drake agree with a smile.
The two horses, Lighting and spike, both grazed on the near by grass, and ate the apples you and Drake had picked of an apple tree.
Drake and You decided to relax in the clearing for a bit before you headed back to the stable, and got ready for the end of the day. You both layed down in the grass, watching the sunset shining through the trees.
"Your really good at your job, you know that?" Drake said.
"Huh? What do you mean exactly?"
"Ha... well... I mean you picked up on everything really quickly." He continued. "When I came here, it took me a few months before I got accustomed to Boss's specific rules and high expectations. You came in, took them by the horns, attacked them and adapted.
You had to agree with him. Boss's expectations of your work preformance and his strict rules did seem a bit over the top when your first started working here, but after you found a common ground that kept both you and Boss happy, then it wasn't hard to deal with such regulations.
"You are certainly the best trainer and behaviorist this ranch has ever had."
"Hehehe." You laughed. "You tryin' to flatter me?
"Is it working?"
You laughed again, "Maybe."
You both layed in the clearing for a little bit longer then you had planned. When it came time to return to the stable, you both got up from the groud and walked over to the horses.
"You think he'd be alright to ride?" Drake asked.
You thought for a moment, recollecting on the behavior you have seen from spike so far, "Yeah. I'm positive he'd be alright. He hasn't shown any sort of out of the ordinary behavior."
You both untied the horses. Drake climbed onto lightning, and you carefully pulled yourself up onto spike, taking the reins.
"Alright boy, let's see how ya do." You said.
Drake started down the path and you followed behind, taking it slow at first. Half way through the path you decided to see how Spike ran. So you used a verbal command. Spike took off running. Drake tried to catch up with you, but even though Lightning was incredibly fast, he was no match for Spikes' eight legs which carried him across the ground faster then you thought possible for a horse.
When you arrived back at the stable, you pulled on the reins, bringing Spike to a stop. You then jumped off of him, and moments later Drake and Lightning came up behind.
"Wow! He's fast." Drake said in amazment.
You both took the riding gear off the horses, and placed the animals back into their respective pens. You offered spike a few sugar cubes, but, oddly enough, he didn't take them. He just moved his head way.
Your co-worker was in a rush to get home, so he quickly gathered his things, and said goodbye to you.
"Bye!" You called. "See ya tomorrow!"
You went and got all of your belonging together, and then began to walk to your car.
While you were walking, you heard heard a horse's nay, and when you listened in closer, you swore you could hear a voice from inside the stable. You entered into the building, curious because all the other employees had already left.
When you walked further inside, you saw someone standing by the quarentine pen. You walked closer, now noticing that it was a man. He was wearing some sort of odd clothing which included what looked to be braces, and armor pieces. He was petting spike, the eight legged horse. Spike seemed to have some great affection for this man.
"Hey!" You called. You continued moving forward, closer to the man. "I'm sorry sir, the stables are closed for the day. You're going to have to come back tomarrow."
When you saw the man closer up, you could help but notice his bright green eyes, and black hair which almost mirrored that of Spikes. The same shade of green in the eyes. Bright, vibrent, emerald. And the same spiked hair style. You didn't know what to think of that, but you dismissed it for now.