"Did you say Remus?" Roman abruptly asked.
"Uh yeah. He's one of the two horses I live with," Virgil answered, a little confused.
"Is he a dark bay Arabian stallion with white markings that makes it look like he has a mustache?" Roman continued.
"Yup," replied Virgil and popped the 'p' for emphasis.
"That's my brother!" Roman whinnied.
"Oooohhhh so your the twin Remus told me about," Virgil said with a snicker.
"The one and only! Did he tell you about how amazing I am?" the chestnut nickered while tossing his head over dramatically. That caused both Logan and Virgil to roll their eyes and Patton to giggle.
"No, he just told me about how you where a bloody coward, a right foul git, and an all around prick to be with," Virgil said with a snicker.
The next thing that came out of Roman mouth is something Virgil could only describe as Offended Princy Noises™. It sound somewhere between an angry goose's honk and a screaming mountain goat, both of which Virgil has heard first hand (hoof?). Virgil broke out laughing at the noise, as did Logan while Patton tried to stifle his many giggles. Patton tried to compose himself and chastise Virgil for being rude, but it wasn't working.
Their happy moment was cut off when Virgil heard barking. He jerked his head up to see two wolf like creatures coming right at them, slipping underneath the fence and charging towards them.
Virgil whinnied in fright, rearing up a bit before cantering away from the creatures and to the safety of his Sulking Corner™. He watched as the creatures skidded to a stop next to the horses, both looking at him with confusion just like the other steeds.
"Virgil are you okay?" Patton called.
"Maybe! What're those animals standing next to you?" Virgil called back.
"Oh this is Remy and Emile, the ranch dogs. Sorry, I didn't warn you about them, but they're friendly!" whinnied Patton.
"Okay," Virgil said uncertainly as he started to cautiously trot back over to the others.
As he approached he saw the two 'dogs', as Patton called them, sitting patiently next to the horses. One of the dogs was slightly fluffy, tan in color with bright light brown eyes and a light pink collar. The other was rather fluffy, almost completely black although there were a few white markings on his fur with darker brown eyes and what appeared to be a green collar hidden in his neck fur. They were both panting, the tan one's large pink tongue flopping out of their mouth while the black one was holding a squished object in their mouth (white and brown in color with a tiny green thing sticking out the top and cylinder shaped).
"Hello! I'm Emile, the loyal golden retriever border collie mix and welcome to the Ranch!" the tan dog barked causing Virgil to shutter as remembered the time a wolf pack almost killed him. He was still new to the wild and had wondered away from Ethan and Remus in the winter. The wolves were hungry and saw Virgil as an easy target. He only survived because Remus jumped in at the last second.
Virgil shook off the memory and replied with a shaky hello.
"Wasup hon. Name's Remy, just a border collie," the other dog said though it was muffled from the thing in his mouth.
"Nice to meet you, too," Virgil said.
They were going to continue talking until Patton let out a sharp whinny.
"Talyn!" he squealed, galloping over to the fence, Roman and Logan following close behind with Emile and Remy at their heels.
Virgil watched as the three horses reached the fence were the three humans were leaning their backs on. Now that he was closer to them he had the chance to observe them better. The one Patton ran to was a small human with brightly colored hair and glistening objects perched on their nose and over their eyes. They were wearing a bright outfit and holding out their hand to Patton with something in it for him to eat. The one stroking Logan was a slightly taller human with darker and shorter hair covered by a bright object, some fur was growing on their chin and the sides of their face. Their attire was one of duller color and was simply patting Logan's neck. Finally the human with Roman was the tallest of the bunch, but not by much with light brown hair, their teeth bared and dressed in semi colored objects. This human was pulling their twig like limbs through Roman's forelock and rubbing his hand on the stallion's muzzle.
The horses seemed so content and, dare he say it, happy with the humans. It puzzle Virgil so much that he had to check it out himself. The stallion slowly started to walk over to the humans, going to the one that was cooing over Patton. He stayed about a tail-length away but stretched his neck to get a quick sniff of the human. To his surprise when he did the human bared their teeth at him and began to stoke his muzzle. He jerked his head away in surprise, but after a few moments put it back as he realized he liked the feeling. The human nickered and cooed at him, their small, soft hand rubbing up and down on his muzzle, tickling his whiskers.
"Do you like it Virgil?" Patton asked while smiling at him.
"It's. . . . Nice," Virgil admitted.
"Yeah Talyn's pretty great. They're my rider and owner and I love them so, so, so, so much," said Patton.
"Who are the other two?" Virgil asked, looking at the other human's.
"The one with Logan is Joan, they're pretty nice and funny, but loud and has a foul mouth. The other is Thomas, the owner of this land and Roman. He's funny, nice, and cares deeply about us. All the humans do," Patton explained.
Virgil nodded and trotted over to the one called Joan who was still stroking Logan. When Virgil arrived Joan bared their teeth as well, but Virgil ignored the gesture and began sniffing the human.
"Looks like you made a new friend Joan," Thomas laughed.
Joan and Talyn both laughed at the comment. Virgil noticed Joan was ducking their head so he took the time to sniff the strange object covering the human's hair. It was bright orange in color and awfully soft so Virgil decided he wanted it. The stallion nibbled on the object before nipping it between his teeth and pulling it off Joan's head.
"Hey! My beanie! Give it back, you asshole!" Joan shouted, lunging for their object now dangling in Virgil's mouth.
Virgil took small steps back to avoid the flying human, before he turned tailed and started cantering around the arena. Joan stumbled, but caught themself and continued to chase after Virgil, all the while shouting at the stallion.
"You little motherfucker! Get back here with my beanie!"
Thomas and Talyn were almost on the ground from laughing so hard and the other horses were quite amused too. Virgil did eventually give Joan back the beanie after nearly an hour of 'Extreme Keep Away: Horse Addition'. After that the horses were fed their evening meal then brought into the stable for the night, excluding Virgil who stayed in the paddock. Remy and Emile went into the house with Thomas, Talyn and Joan leaving Virgil alone.
In case y'all were wondering, the object Remy has is a Starbucks dog plushy I found that seemed perfect for him.
Here's a picture of it.