Bushkeeper

by Odd_Sarge

10 - Words

Andrew placed his surprisingly sturdy walking stick against the stone wall.

“What’s the best way to go about this…” Scratching his head, Andrew looked around the clearing for something to focus on. He spotted the earth pony and unicorn foals playing a game that appeared to be similar to tag. The teenager pat Mint on the shoulder and pointed.

“Run.” She eyed the scene, watching the young ponies about the clearing. “Running.” She looked blankly up at him, eyes scanning his face.

Andrew smiled sheepishly at the mare. 'Yeah, I’m not good at this.'

“Run.” She tested the new word a few times. Mint looked back to the foals. “Running?” she queried, pointing her hoof at the motion. Andrew nodded, beaming encouragingly.

“Yes, that’s it.”

“Yes?”

Andrew nodded his head slowly, making sure she would see the motion completely. "Yes."

"Yes." The mare’s eyes lit up, and she soon began nodding herself.

Andrew hummed thoughtfully to himself as the mare repeated the word over and over. May as well go the full mile.

“No.” Andrew pointed at himself, shaking his head from side to side. “No.” The mare shook her head, repeating the motion.

“No?” The word seemed harder for her to take in this time.

“No.” He repeated the same head gesture. Mint, pondered something for a moment, but eventually nodded her head.

“No.”

Andrew snickered, shaking his head.

“I can already see that this is going to be confusing. But,” he pat the mare on the head, “At least we’ve got the most basic of speech down.” Mint smiled at the touch, pressing her eyes shut as she nodded into Andrew’s hand.

“Yes.”

As much as he wanted to enjoy the feeling of her soft mane, Andrew eventually pulled the hand away, far too soon for Mint’s own likings.

“Right, any other words you think we can learn from here?” Mint seemed to understand, for after a moment, she pointed at the berry thicket.

She made a strange neigh. "Berries."

“Berries.” Andrew stood and stalked over to the pile, pulling a handful out quickly, as to avoid the attentions of the still arguing parties. Coming back over, Andrew reseated himself. He popped one into his mouth, and offered another to Mint. “Berry.”

“Berry?” she asked, looking at the berry in his hand. Andrew nodded. She pointed at the berries in Andrew’s other hand. “Berry.” He shook his head. “Berries?” Andrew grinned at the understanding of quantity. Mint smiled back as she took the berry from Andrew’s outstretched hand and munched on the fruit. As the two enjoyed their small snack of the handful, Andrew thought of a few more words that the two would find most useful.

Andrew gestured around the clearing. “Home.” He pointed at the herd of unicorns. “Unicorns.” Thinking, Andrew added in another important word. “And…” He held the word in the air for a short while, long enough to let it sink in before he made his next statement. He gestured at the earth ponies. “Ponies.”

The first three words seemed to be understood easily enough, but Mint seemed hesitant about the last word. She pointed at the earth ponies. “Ponies.” She redirected her hoof to the unicorns. “Ponies.” She looked up at Andrew questioningly. “Ponies?”

'Never thought about it like that before…' He shrugged. “Yes.” Thinking, Andrew brought his finger upwards, pointing at the hole in the canopy. “Ponies.” Mint’s eyes lit up and she stood, nodding.

“Yes…” She trotted over to the center of the clearing, where Lemon and the brown mare were still waging a war. “Ponies!” Despite the broken fragments of English that made up her tone, it still came out as intimidating. Andrew reached for his stick and stood, making his way over to the mare. Mint had gathered the attentions of both herds, the bickering halted. She stomped over to Lemon, glaring down at the stallion as he shrank. “No!”

Holding back a snicker, Andrew couldn’t help but watch with some amusement as the stallion was suddenly berated by two mares. 'Sucks to be you.' After a few minutes, Mint stepped back, her business finished.

The brown mare went to continue in her rant, but Mint stopped her with a stomp of her hoof. “No.” Making a couple of orders to the unicorns via their pony language, Mint returned to the watchful Andrew, ignoring the unicorns and earth ponies, the herds suddenly cooperative as they ate side by side from the pile.

“Those were my berries, I’ll have you know.” Mint looked up at him, head tilted. “Nevermind,” he sighed.

"Andrew?”

He looked up at the use of his name, momentarily stirred. 'Still getting used to that.' “Yes?”

“No… no home?” She pointed at the herds. “No home, ponies.”

“No home?”

The mare nodded. “No home,” she repeated. She tapped the earth lightly. “Andrew home?” Andrew understood what she was asking almost immediately; is this your home?

“I suppose it is…” He shook his head at his momentary lapse. “Yes,” he reaffirmed.

“Ponies home… and… bushkeeper home?” Something stirred within Andrew at the final realization of what Mint wanted, what she wanted for her herd, for the ponies. Crouching down, Andrew slowly brought his hand through her mane and down her neck.

"Yes.”

---

“Ponies!” Mint yelled out into the sky above the plains. Huffing, she pointed upwards, then looked to Andrew.

“Pegasi,” he supplied.

“Pegasi!” she yelled this time. Andrew sighed, shaking his head. While Mint was occupied calling for the pegasi, Andrew decided to reflect on the previous day’s events.

He remembered waking up in the cave and stepping out in a green pasture. The valley, he realized, had been full of other creatures that he had neglected to look at. What were they doing out there with the ponies? Andrew supposed that it could have been an open grazing ground, but didn’t the area belong to the earth ponies, or did they simply not care?

Andrew glanced upwards. The pegasi cared about territory, but the herd leaders of the earth ponies and unicorns seemed averse to the idea. The black colt that had attacked him on sight and visited him during the night, had simply been protecting what he had seen as his clan’s territory, but his mother had shown that there was some sort of agreement between the pegasi and unicorns.

He looked back to the forest, thinking of the unicorns and earth ponies left to their feasting. What were the earth ponies’ role in all of this? They had taken him to their home and somehow healed most of his wounds, but Mint had spoken as if it was not their true home; they were looking for one. Did the unicorns have a pact with them, too? 'Maybe I’m interpreting Mint wrong.'

The giant black spiders. Had they taken up the home of those earth ponies? Or had the brown mare simply been sneaking apples from the grove? The daring night raid made more sense in that view, yet, the earth ponies seemed to be strong and fit, despite the fact that they showed bone like the unicorns and pegasi.

Andrew looked back to the earth pony den. They had also clearly shown that they had a much better concept of shelter than the unicorns or pegasi. Perhaps the earth ponies were the ones who had painted the murals upon the cave’s walls… but what did that even mean?

'What was I doing in that cave, anyway?' He recalled falling off the ledge and being carried by the earth pony stallion, but why had he been carried to the pool of water?

The earth ponies had done something to heal Andrew, and he felt that the cave and It’s pool of water had something to do with it. He would have to go back and investigate it further.

Finally, Andrew went to reflect on the last hours of the day. The amethyst, the tooth, the—

“Wait a second…” Andrew pat himself down. The orb was still sitting in his pocket, ominous as ever, but the keratin had disappeared. Eyes widening, Andrew surveyed the area for the artifact. He had gone and lost it, and he had known that the bone was important.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid…” Frustration plagued the teenager as he scurried across the plains, looking for the bone. He stopped, pivoted towards the den; the landmark would serve as a good place to scan the area from. Retracing his steps from earlier that morning, Andrew found himself standing before Greeny, the stallion lying on his stomach, seemingly occupied with something.

“Greeny, what are you… you…” The stallion looked up, snorted at Andrew, then returned to the bone, the bone that he was currently carving.

Andrew could not help but come around to the front of the stallion to watch him work. Greeny looked up as he gnawed the bone like a dog, but otherwise ignored Andrew. All along the bone, Greeny had gnawed an intricate looking series of carvings. Near the top of the tooth, he had carved intertwining ribbons. Despite their lack of color, Andrew felt that they were that of the ribbons in the cave. As Greeny leant back to admire his work, Andrew leant closer.

The carvings that Greeny had finished could only be described as beautiful. The circles and lines that made up the engravings connected in small groups, encircling the bottom of the bone. Andrew noted that the ribbons were also just above where the engravings had started, and as he looked up at Greeny, he noticed something even stranger; Greeny’s mouth was moving, quiet murmurs of the pony language reaching Andrew’s ears, his eyes tracing over the lines.

Greeny smiled down at the carving, blew lightly on it, and set the bone down. Andrew leant back, shooting the smiling unicorn a raised eyebrow. Greeny’s smile slowly fell, and with an audible grumble, nudged the bone towards Andrew. Cautiously, Andrew thanked him and held the bone up.

Andrew stared at the shapes that had been carefully gnawed into the bone. One thing immediately popped out at Andrew; a bipedal figure, standing amongst a group of unicorns with a long stick in hand. The shape of the sun and moon, separated by clouds, sat in the background. He could see one or two pegasi floating above some trees, but what attracted him most besides the human figure, were the lines beneath the earth that the unicorns and human were standing on.

From a passing glance, Andrew could only see the shapes as simple lines, but as the patterns began to repeat themselves in alternating patterns, he began to realize that they were writings. Greeny had written in some sort of language, and he must have been reading over the bone to make sure he had carved it correctly.

Andrew stood, taking a step backwards from Greeny. The stallion stood, looking up at the human with confusion. Andrew kept his eyes trained on the bone in his hand, trapped in awe of the pony pictograph language.

'No wonder they’ve been showing so much intelligence.' Andrew looked back at Mint, who had begun to whinny at the descending flock of pegasi. 'They’re just nomads.'

“Bushkeeper!” Mint cried, looking straight at the human. Shaking himself, Andrew slowed to match Greeny’s walking speed. Andrew walked in silence, ignoring Greeny’s calls for him to return from his thoughts.

Mint was making good progress on learning English, and the knowledge of an existing pictograph language for the ponies meant that teaching an alphabet would definitely be possible, but perhaps a little difficult. Mint’s smart enough, Andrew figured, eyeing the pegasi as they alighted before Mint. Handing the bone back to Greeny, Andrew took his place beside Mint.

“Why’d you bring ‘em here, Mint?” She looked up at Andrew, a stern look on her face.

“Homes.” Andrew blinked at Mint’s ability to figure out plural words, but as the purpose of the meeting dawned upon him, he turned back to the pegasi, expression serious.

'Territory disputes.'

Author's Note:

I tried my best to put in more development and eliminate some confusion for this chapter.

Comments

[Odd_Sarge]

So uh, thanks for 100 likes. Makes me kinda jittery, but your reading is appreciated.

Edit: Just noticed that the last two chapters were the same exact length. Whaddya know.

[Advent Link]

Damn , I was wrong about the tooth. (Quite glad I was too)
I wonder if your pegasi eat fish?

[AShadyDetective]

I still wanna see a special that shows how he's recorded in history.

[Odd_Sarge]

8015084
Chill dawg, we're not even halfway through his first week.
Maybe. I don't know If I'd do a special... It'd probably be an epilogue of sorts.

[AShadyDetective]

8015085
Dear god you responded fast, and yeah, your right, sorry.

[Odd_Sarge]

8015060
What did you think the tooth was going to be used for?
Fish: I think ponies can eat what we eat, but only in small amounts; reserve meat eating for emergencies.

[Advent Link]

8015183
well, one theory was that it belonged to discord in the future. the other was that it would be fashioned into a circlet/crown with the tooth acting as a fake horn so he could seduce Mint with his manly wiles, thus becoming king of the unicorns. then an innocent dark foal puts on the crown thingy, but becomes corrupted by the malevolent powers lingering from the spider, turning the tooth black and red turning the young colt into...

SOMBRA

(dUN, DUN, DUUUUUUN~)

ok that last part was a lie.

[Odd_Sarge]

8015716
oh

Jokes aside, thanks for commenting.

[karl]

Wow, I'm really liking this story so far. Keep it up!

[A.P.O.N.I.]

I thought that, given the content you might find this interesting:Primitive Technology: Firesticks. (Youtube link) He is able to make an incredible amount out of grass, wood, and clay.

Edited because I couldn't get the embedded youtube to work properly.

[Odd_Sarge]

8025822
Ha! As If I hadn't been watching that Aussie since he first started... which I have.

Thanks for reminding me about the channel, though. You completely forget about it after a couple weeks without uploads. Thanks for commenting.

[HIEfan]

Another great chapter, keep it up.

[Alondro]

8015183 I thought the tooth would be filled with poison gas and inserted into Duke Leto Atreides so he could bite it and blow the poison into the face of Baron Vladimir Harconnen.

[Alondro]

8015084 He mutates into Discord because magic radiation has weird effects on hyoomans.

[Prismmirror]

From Chapter "7":

He spied the earth ponies, their stomachs showing bone beneath. It was a nasty sight to see through the fur. Suddenly, the brown mare’s foray into the spider-infested apple grove the night before made a lot more sense.

From Chapter "10":

Or was the brown mare simply sneaking apples from the grove for food? The daring night raid made more sense in that view, but still, the earth ponies seemed to be well-fed, as they did not show their bones like that of the unicorns and pegasi.

So, which is it? Internal story consistency is important, and you don't want to contradict yourself.

[Odd_Sarge]

8083550
Fixed. Meant to say they looked strong while still showing bone like the pegasi and unicorns. Good spot.

[Enmar]

I do like this chapter, it flows a lot better :]