[Prompt 22] That Could Have Been Solved Faster And Easier

I watched the young stallion trot around the round pen. With a shiver, I brought my coat closer to my chest. Why does it have to be so cold?

I turned my attention back to the stallion, Butter, as most of us called him. His sharp whinny pierced the air. The stallion was at a standstill by the fence. “Fuck.” I whispered, hopping into the pen. My feet hit the ground with a thud as I rushed over to help the stallion. 

I paused, realizing the situation wasn’t what it had seemed. A smile rang across my face as a chuckle broke out, definitely not me. 

“You’re a little stupid.” I chuckled as Butter tried to nudge my arm with the top of his head. “I thought you trapped your leg.” I sighed, petting the top of his head. I knew it wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted me to free him from the icicle that held his tongue captive, in turn keeping the active stallion at a standstill. 

It probably wasn’t the most mature thing for me to do, but you have to admit it was kind of funny. Butter gave me a perplexed look as I stood there laughing. He seemed to roll his eyes as I laughed. Almost as if to say, in a way, ‘do you have to be doing that right now?’ I mean, in a way that’s what he gets. Karma’s a bitch. 

It was just yesterday when he threw Isabella off, she’s still at the hospital recovering from the nasty fall. She’s hopeful, but I was there when she fell off and I could tell how bad it hurt her. The doctors are still running tests, but so far all we know is she fucked her knee up, which can be attributed to her track days and this little fucker. Hence the reason Butter isn’t getting ridden today and was instead being thrown in the round pen.

With a sigh, I decided to help the poor stallion out as he stared into space. “Wait here.” I sighed, running off and hopping over the tall round pen fence. The metal was slick as I threw myself over, nearly landing on my face. I pushed off of my hands and took off running to the barn. It wasn’t that I necessarily had to run, but the cold air burning my lungs felt nice in an odd way. 

I grabbed a few tools from the toolbox by the big stable doors. A big ass screwdriver, too big for any screws I’ve ever seen, pliers, and a hammer. As I ran out the stables I darted back in. Carrots. I ran to the tack room, grabbing a small handful of the treats and rushing back out. 

Butter was waiting exactly as I left him. Staring out into space. 

“How the fuck do I do this?” I asked, talking to no one in particular. I began working, just doing my best. I used the screwdriver to draw a line into the icicle, which would hopefully give me a clean break. I dug the screwdriver in deep enough but not too deep so I’d help my chances at a clean break and limit those at hurting Butter. 

Eventually with enough fiddling around I managed to get the icicle separated from the metal fence. “There ya go.” I chuckled as Butter pranced around, the icicle forcing his mouth to stay somewhat open. It looked like he was holding a frozen rose.

“That could have been done a lot, like a lot, easier.” Mark said from behind me. 

“What do you mean?” I asked, taking a step closer to the side of the fence Mark was on, and admiring my work as Butter continued to prance around. 

“All you needed was a warm liquid to melt the icicle. One stone, two birds. You get the icicle off the fence, and his tongue off of the icicle.” He said it like that was common information.

“I hate you.” I grunted, crossing my arms defensively over my chest. 

“Mhm.” Mark hummed as he walked away.