#atkh extended universe | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

allylikethecat · 1 month ago

Text

Hiiii Remember when I said I wasn't going to write anymore of the ATKH universe and then wrote that olympic blurb but then said I REALLY wasn't going to do anything like that again? Well I guess I really lied because I just wrote another little ATKH oneshot. This takes place sometime between the end of ATKH and the Olympics. Fictional!Matty and Fictional!George are not back together yet, but they are very friendly again and moving in that direction. Shout out to all of the kids and teenagers that were part of the wild post Thanksgiving pony carnage at the barn this morning - y'all inspired me. (Thankfully Pop was absolutely perfect and we had one of our best lessons in a while!)

ATKH Post Thanksgiving Blurb

George winced, and forced himself to smile for the parents watching from the viewing deck. He was teaching a lesson in the front ring, while Matty rode and Jamie taught in the back. He could hear Jamie yelling, and the scuffling of hooves as a horse clearly scrambled. He turned his attention back to Adeline and her pony, wincing again when he heard Jamie shouting for Matty to get on. He hoped that Adeline’s parents weren’t listening too closely to what Jamie was shouting.

I swear to god Dora, either stop throwing your body, or I will ... I guess I’ll just DIE!

George closed his eyes and turned away from the viewing deck, letting his smile drop. He wasn’t sure if being in the back ring with everyone would be better or worse for his blood pressure. Probably worse— he was sure that Jamie would be shouting for him to get on horses as well.

It was the day after Thanksgiving, and all of the horses were fresh. Normally, they wouldn’t try to jump school them after a day off, especially as the weather turned cooler and everyone started feeling frisky, but with them scheduled to leave for Thermal on Sunday, they didn’t have a choice.

“Good job Adeline!” George called, working to keep his tone upbeat and positive. Usually, Polly worked with the pony kids these days, but with her out of town for the holidays, George and Matty were splitting her usual load. Matty had worked with the kids all morning, and now it was George’s turn. Billie and Phoebe had been extremely pleasant in the back ring this morning, George wasn’t entirely sure how things had devolved so quickly. Ross had gone back with a lunge line nearly an hour ago and had yet to return.

He took a deep breath. Just a few more hours he thought grimly, they just needed to make it a few more hours.

“Okay Addy,” called George to be heard across the ring and over whatever carnage was happening in the other ring, “I want you to pick up the left lead canter and I want you to get all the way into the corner like we talked about, and get super, super square to the pink jump, then, you’re going to be super straight on the backside then when you get to the rail you’re going to turn right, a big corner, and canter the jump with the flowers then halt straight alright?”

Adeline nodded and George said a silent prayer to a god he didn’t believe in as she picked up the canter.

Please be straight so we can be done, George thought almost hysterically, he had forgotten how trying the younger kids could be to teach.

“Nice job!” said he called as Adaline jumped the first jump. She might not have been perfectly straight and center, but it was the best he had seen from her all afternoon. “Don’t change your canter, just stay nice and steady through the turn!”

Of course, George had barely gotten the words out and Adeline spurred Frostie. The pony bucked and next thing George knew he had a sobbing seven year old sitting in the dirt and a small pony, that there was absolutely no way he would be able to get on to school, running around the arena in celebration of his newfound freedom.

He just sighed, thinking of the beer he had stashed in Matty’s fridge that morning. He was looking forward to having one more than what was probably considered healthy.

“We survived,” said Matty, throwing himself down onto the small couch in his barn apartment. George had let himself in earlier, and he wasn’t hiding regardless of what Waughy might have teased him about when he had been caught sneaking in.

“Barely,” George said, reaching over the small coffee table to hand Matty that glass of wine he had proactively poured him.

“Adaline got bucked off Frostie,” George said after a moment as Matty accepted the wine glass and took a large swallow, some of the tension now leaving his body. He hadn’t even bothered to take his boots off, still wearing them and his spurs, his legs splayed out in front of him. He had lost the baseball cap he had started the day in hours ago, leaving his curls hanging sweaty and damp around his face. George was pretty sure he had seen it hanging in a tree in the front ring.

Matty winced. “Dora fell off Keke and I thought that Jamie was going to have an aneurysm, then I got on Whisper, because she was fucking wild and Bonnie was doing fuck all about it, and then Bonnie got back on so I could ride Diego, but then Jamie fucking got on her because Bonnie was still doing fuck all and he wanted to make a point.”

George winced, Jamie hardly rode anymore, between the rod in his back and his knee, and if he was getting on Whisper of all horses, he must have been pissed off enough to be really looking to make a point.

“Billie was really good this morning though?” George said, the words coming out like more of a question.

Matty nodded, taking another large gulp of his wine. “Yeah, that’s what Jamie said, that she and Ava are the only two he didn’t want to murder today.”

“Well, the good news is we get to do it all again tomorrow?” George said and Matty groaned.

“I’m lunging all of them in the dark tomorrow morning, I can’t do this again,” Matty whined, “I rode fourteen horses today, fourteen horses, I’m not even going to be able to walk tomorrow.”

George grimaced, the nine he had ridden that day very much paling in comparison.

“I’ll come help you,” George promised, anything to avoid another repeat of today.

Matty smiled, his real one, the one that lit up his face and reached his eyes and George’s stomach flipped. He had been seeing that smile of Matty’s directed his way more and more frequently these days, and he absolutely loved it.

#allylikethecat #keep it kind #fanfiction #matty fic #gatty #fanfic #equestrian au #atkh #all the king's horses #atkh extended universe #surprise happy belated thanksgiving to any followers who celebrate!#fic blurb #blurb #atkh blurb #wild post thanksgiving ponies #it was actually crazy how wild all the horses were today #pop was a rock star though he was just like being wild is too much work lol

7 notes · View notes