/// A bit shorter today, needed a small wholesome filler for the next big chapter :) Enjoy.

After the discovery that the horses can actually understand simple comands already and act pretty tame, the group of eight decided to have a little horse day today, completely forgetting any other tasks that should be done around the base. Like the construction of that third house in case they have any newcomers soon or just for space purposes really.

"Careful! You need to hold on tighter!" "Yeah yeah we got it dad." Phil huffed and watched Tommy being led around on Carl, with Techno bribing the horse to follow him and not actually listening to Tommy's attempts at steering him. His insane ass wanted to test how fast the horse can go and Techno does not want to be responsible for the chaos that will happen afterwards. The teen was very much frustrated with not being allowed to ride on his own, eying Dream who was happily steering his horse on a loop around the stable.

With Phil both still sore and not as trusting of the horses yet, Bad was the one who got to try riding the black and white horse instead. He was trying to follow Dream around the stable, but looked far more nervous than the masked man, even if you could only go by body language in his case.

"Come on, I can try alone!" "Tommy you don't know how ro ride a horse. You will hurt yourself." "No I won't! Dream has no idea, and he can do it! Bad too!" Techno simply raised a brow, not letting go of the rope around Carl's neck. "You can't even ride a bike." "Yeah yeah stop mentioning that." Tommy crossed his arms, pouting like the child he was.

Techno, being the loving big brother figure he is supposed to be, immediately makes Carl walk forward again once Tommy had let go of his mane, which lead to Tommy yelling and trying to grip onto it again. He didn't manage to do so in time and in his panic, slips off of Carl's back and hits the ground hard. "Tommy!" Phil was already halfway towards the two while Techno stared down at the teen.

"You were saying?" Tommy glared daggers at him, flipping him off as he pushed himself back to his feet, shrugging Phil off who wanted to make sure he didn't get seriously injured. "You bitch! You did that on purpose!" Techno snorted and leaned against Carl, who sniffed at his pockets for treats. "I have no idea what you are talking about. You lost your balance, your fault."

Tommy tried his best to look angry, but he looked more like a puppy throwing a temper tantrum. "Besides. You got to ride the past hour. It's my turn now." "This isn't fair!" "Nothing is fair." "Boys..." They look over at Phil, Techno grinning at his friend, who immediately hides his face in his hands.

"I meant to say guys..." "Nonono you don't get to change that now." Phil whines, grinning despite his red face. "I changed my mind. Go back to bullying Tommy. Leave me alone." "Wait hold on-" Tommy yelps when Techno lightly shoves him, throwing a string of insults at him.

"I'm addind that to your Dadza quotes by the way." "My what?" Puffy, who had silently watched the chaos unfold, snorted. "And you say Wilbur is the family dynamic pusher." Phil went back to his spot by the fence, laying his head on his arms, watching as Techno now tried to climb on Carl's back. "Oh Wilbur is much worse than this, believe me."

Techno held on to Carl's mane, gently patting his neck. "Now don't embarrass us both and throw me off. Tommy will never let me live that down." With a gentle nudge to his flank, Carl began to trot forward. He had to give Tommy credit for staying on as long as he did without saddle or reigns. It's definitely weird and not that easy to find his balance when the horse is walking around.

"Good boy... go easy on me." Techno gave a soft tug at his mane and Carl began to turn into that direction. This was easier than he thought it would be, even with the balance and lack of things to properly hold on to. And the thought of falling off was still at the back of his head, never leaving him.

Imagine if the horse gets spooked and tramples you.

Long and painful death.

"Hey Techno!" The pink haired man shook his head and looked over to where Dream was approaching him on his own horse. His expression was hidden behind that black smile of the mask, but somehow Techno still knew he was gonna be in trouble in a few seconds. "Yeah?" "Race me!"

Dream stirred his horse on to bolt past Techno, cackling like a madman. Carl immediately began to run along to his horse friend, making Techno yelp and cling to his mane. "Nonono stop what are you doing?!" He heard Phil and Bad yelling somewhere behind them, but their yells got overpowered by the wind and his own heartbeat roaring in his ears.

Carl followed the gray horse around a loop of the stable, easily keeping pace with the other horse. The longer they kept going, the easier it became for Techno to think again. It was scary and he was definitely still trying to find balance and rhythm in Carl's step, but he was still on. He was still on Carl's back racing next to Dream.

And if that didn't give him a huge confidence boost.

With rational thoughts still not having returned, he began to grin and tried to nudge Carl's flank, telling him to go faster, to not run beside Dream, but ahead of him. Carl did just that, raising his tempo and easily getting ahead of the other horse. Oh how much he wished he could see Dream's face now, who stared after him trying to catch up.

Now it was Techno who was cackling, clinging to Carl with a wide grin and adrenaline pumping through his veins. After another lap he noticed how Bad had steered his horse away from the chaos, letting it eat some wheat while they watched the two chase each other. He would have waved or yelled something, but he was too occupied with staying on Carl's back to do anything else really.

But when he felt his legs starting to feel numb, his hands shaking from how tightly he held on to Carl's mane, he decided that the fun was over now. Carefully he tugged at his mane, leaning back a bit to try and get him to stop. Thankfully Carl seemed to understand and began to slow down, his gallop slowing to a simple trot as he walked over to where the others were standing.

"You are crazy you know that?" Phil helped him as best as he could to slip off of Carl's back, his legs shaking a little. "Wasn't my idea. Carl decided he wanted to race with the other horse." Said horse was now peacefully drinking some water as if nothing had happened.

Dream tried to steer over to the others as well, but seemed to have a bit more problems with his horse. He tugged at it's mane to get it to stop, but apparently tugged too hard on it. The gray horse skidded to a full stop, the sudden change throwing Dream forwards and off his horse.

"Dream!" Sapnap and George ran over to their friend, who was already starting to push himself up. "I'm okay." "I knew this was a bad idea." Bad made small braids into the back horse's mane, eying his friends. "Oh it definitely was. You guys scared us half to death when you ran off like that!" Techno huffed and sat down in the grass, waving off Phil's comment.

"We're fine, aren't we?"

"You are, Dream isn't."

"He said he's okay."

"He's high on adrenaline, it will start hurting later."

"God you really are such a dad today."

"I just don't want you to get hurt!"

"Nothing happened Phil, it's fine."

Phil crossed his arms, almost looking offended. "This isn't some game. You could have gotten seriously injured. None of us actually know how to ride a horse and you two immediately go off racing. What if you fell of and broke something? Or the horses run over you after you fell off? This isn't just because we are in this world, this is something that can happen back home too."

Techno sighed, leaning back against the fence. "Alright. I'm sorry. We'll be more careful. We just wanted to have some fun..." "Not if fun hurts that much." Dream slumped down next to Techno, rubbing his shoulder. "That was on you." "Oh fuck off."

"I think we had enough horse time for today. Let's not risk someone else getting hurt." Puffy pushed herself off the fence and stretched. "Let's go back to base, I'm hungry and its far past lunch time by now. We can continue learning tomorrow." There were murmured agreements as the croup filtered out of the fenced area and walked towards their base.

That was, until Tommy pointed at something in the distance. "Guys? Do you see that?" The group turned to look where the youngest was pointing, spotting two figures walking over the hill by the forest. One of them tall, the other pretty short. "Are those two of ours?" "I don't know, hard to tell." "One way to find out."

Bad raised his arm and waved. "Hey! Over here!" The two figures stop for a second, probably looking into their direction. Then they sprinted down the hill, running along the edge of the forest and towards the group. The smaller one was faster than the other, coming into view much quicker, much to Tommy's delight.

"TUBBO!" The blonde began to run, screaming and cheering along to the distant yells of Tubbo. And soon enough the second person came close enough to recognize them as well. A dirty yellow sweater with a coat over... a mess of brown hair.

"Is that..." Phil and Techno were moving before Bad finished the sentence.

"Wil!"

"Phil!"