The stallion approached. "Bushkeeper." he whickered.
“Sup?”
The grey mare eyed Andrew’s raised hand, then looked to the stallion, snorting. "How can you take such a creature seriously?"
“Can you understand me?”
"And it makes too much noise," she grunted.
“Yup.” Andrew sighed, crossing his arms. “One-sided.”
"Fwalfa, the willhorns—"
"—own the ‘bushkeeper.’ Yes, I am aware."
“Own? Excuse me?”
Fwalfa, or the sound Andrew had heard the stallion address the mare by, turned to Andrew with a growl. "Quiet!"
Rolling his eyes, Andrew motioned for her to continue. “Rude,” he sing-songed. Thankfully, the concept of talking behind one’s back on Earth had not carried over into the pony culture. Andrew went ignored.
The stallion frowned as Fwalfa returned him to focus. "It is disrespectful to treat one beyond the herd as such."
"And it is beyond the fwalafa to trust outsiders more than the herd."
The stallion shook his head. "Where have you gone wrong, Fwalfa?"
"What do you mean?" She relaxed a little, ears folding backwards as she continued. "Do you believe I am not doing what is best, Falfa?"
"I believe the fwalafa must change."
With the stallion’s neigh came the outcries of the herd. Sparky and a much smaller filly went off to the side, the remaining six pegasi left to spout words in their pony tongue. Andrew, for his part, took a large step back and tried to listen to what was being spoken. He barely caught anything understandable, but he did acknowledge the fact that the word ‘fwalafa’ was brought up quite often.
'It sounds kind of like wolf pack law.' Andrew rubbed his chin thoughtfully, eyes scanning over the crowd periodically to stop any fights that could break out at any moment. 'And… what’s the name... Falfa? Falfa is trying to change it.' Muttering to himself, Andrew attempted to think of something he could do to help the stallion; if he could get the stallion on his side, then he could possibly convince the herd to fly back to the berry thicket and put out the fire.
“But how…?”
Then, with a literal shock as a reminder, Andrew pulled the amethyst orb from his pocket.
He had completely forgotten about the artifact on his journey from the mountain, and it had definitely changed since the last time he’d seen it. No longer did it contain the red and purple mix to its hue; it had turned a pure white. Without prior knowledge, one would think it to be a pearl, rather than a lump of amethyst. Upon contact with the sunlight, the orb began to shine a red light upon the earth in front of Andrew. Suddenly, every movement in the area paused, all being attracted to the image being spun from what Andrew recognized as fwafwa.
Like the white wisps that Mint, Lemon, and Greeny had conjured to teleport Andrew to the mountain, the red ribbons moved in unpredictable, yet hypnotising ways. Slowly, a pattern began to form, and it was all Andrew could do to stop his hand from shaking as a burning sensation ravaged the palm of his hand. Many of the pegasi took rushed steps back, desperate to get away from the shape that was forming above the grass.
A flame.
It was not a true fire, Andrew realized. It looked more akin to a projection rather than a true physical element, and it was with this insight that Andrew held on. He grit his teeth together, ignoring the now searing heat in his hand. The flame split into two, and gasping, Andrew finally dropped the orb. His role in the process was complete, though he did not truly know it. The orb dropped to a halt in the grass, but its projection continued.
Between the two foot high pillars of astral flame was a moving image of a red valley, covered in flame. Thick plumes of red smoke rose from the land, covering the sky in a thick smog. Andrew was quick to notice that off in the distance within the projection was the mountain he had climbed down from. With a shaky, still cooling hand, Andrew pointed to a forest on the edge.
“The unicorns are here.” Hissing, he sucked on his hand, a tear visible in one eye. “That stings,” he muttered bitterly, blowing on his hand.
"The horns!" Falfa neighed worriedly. "Our kind—"
"They are not our kind," Fwalfa cut off darkly. Looking up, she took notice of the black plumes off in the distance. "Leave them to burn in the Light Land."
Andrew stood, eyes wide. “What the—?”
Falfa was equally surprised. "Fwalfa?"
A decadent muttering began to go through the pegasi at Fwalfa’s statement. Andrew could tell that it was split evenly down the middle; three of the pegasi agreed with leaving the unicorns alone, and the other three were hesitant about ‘leaving them to burn.’ The projection stopped abruptly, and Andrew was quick to snatch the orb back up. Instead of putting it back away, he opted to continue holding it in his left hand. Now was his time to shine in the arguments.
“Pegasi?” All eyes locked on him. He cleared his throat.
“Fwalfa.”
The mare looked to him, eyes wide. "It speaks our tongue?"
"Quiet," Falfa neighed softly.
“The Fwabalfa...” Andrew hesitated, unsure if he was pronouncing or even using the word correctly; he was, after all, a human emulating the sound of an equine. “The Fwabalfa should not be left to burn. I… I can give you food if you return with us. There is much to be found there, and I know how to make the most of meals.”
"Do you understand it?"
"He is the bushkeeper!" The mare turned her surprise back to Falfa. "Treat him as such!"
"Pitiful," she snorted. "You do not understand this creature, yet you choose to follow it over your fwalfa?"
'Your fwalfa?' Andrew pondered. 'It’s a position of authority?'
"The fwalafa must change."
"You are no falfa."
As if the area had just been filled with lava, the temperature immediately rose several levels. Seemingly all of the pegasi were angered by the fwalfa’s words, but the black stallion appeared to have been unaffected.
"No. I am not."
The mare sat there for a moment. Huffing, she bowed her head low, slow and calculating with her movements. "You are dismissed." Straightening herself, she looked a little sad. "Take your followers and leave." Silently, the stallion walked over to the crackling campfire, passing the gathered pegasi. Three mares followed him, leaving behind a stallion and two mares with the fwalfa.
Sparky looked utterly devastated, the poor colt’s eyes flicking between his mother and the falfa. He went to follow the previous falfa, but his mother lunged forward and grabbed him by the nape of his neck.
"Dad!"
'You’ve got to be kidding me.' Andrew stared in disbelief as the stallion sent a brief look of dismay to Sparky.
"Stay." He turned back to Andrew, expression turning to one of neutrality. "Bushkeeper, come."
Andrew looked back at Sparky. “But…”
The stallion saw Andrew’s apprehension. He whinnied again. "He will be fine."
“Fine.” As Andrew walked over to the stallion, he gave Sparky the best smile he could, one that included his teeth for once. “I’ll bring him back, alright?”
The colt said nothing in reply as his mother dropped him, simply opting to stare at Andrew with tears in his eyes. Andrew wished he could run over to the colt and take him away from his mother, but he knew it would be wrong and inappropriate timing. He had to play the waiting game, even if it hurt him; he was used to feeling pain by this point. Andrew picked up his bag and zipped it back up, making sure his thermos was in place.
Andrew gave one look back at the group of six that Sparky was included in, then turned to the tall black stallion beside him.
Andrew nodded. 'Or maybe I’ll bring you back to us.'
With heavy hearts, the group of five left the pegasus herd.
“This is all kinds of messed up.”
"Can you understand it?"
"Him." The black stallion nudged the mare’s side with his muzzle. "We have discussed this."
"Sorry."
"And no, I cannot."
“Are you not sad at all?” Andrew asked, his unburdened arm splayed wide. “You just left your son behind for God’s sake! I don’t know how this works for you ponies, but usually there’s some sort of regret.”
"Bushkeeper," the stallion snorted, turning to Andrew as they walked. "I cannot understand you, but if you are complaining of the trot, surely you have travelled so before? Are you not walking without support?"
“I wasn’t talking about walking, but on that note…” Andrew raised his stick into the air, walked a couple of steps while limping, then resumed using the stick as a crutch. “I hope that proves a point.”
The stallion looked conflicted. He gave a snort, causing the three mares walking near him to stop. "I see." He walked over, inspecting Andrew’s leg carefully. "You are injured? It is hard to tell."
“That’s the jeans for you.” Andrew dusted a bit of dirt off of said articles.
"We could fly it—him."
“I can walk—”
"The bushkeeper can walk."
Sighing, Andrew simply nodded.
"It will take many suns to reach the Fwabalfa by hoof. It would give the Bushkeeper time to heal, and bring us to the Balfawa quickly."
“For the record, I have no idea what that is.”
"Yes," the stallion agreed. "But I cannot carry such a load…"
A white pegasus mare spoke up this time. "You are the falfa; I believe you can."
The black stallion shook his head. "I will try."
"We can help," the other two mares chorused. Andrew couldn’t help but smile at the two simultaneous whinnies, but he still felt uneasy about the whole situation.
The stallion was quite large for a pony, but was still smaller than Andrew. Yet, as Andrew cautiously climbed onto the stallion’s offered back and hooked his arms around the heavily muscled neck of the pegasus, he felt comfortable, as if he belonged. Briefly, he prayed that his walking aid would be safe with the white mare on the journey.
“Alright, now don’t take off until I say—”
The stallion took off.
“—gooo!”
Andrew had expected a careful ascent, but the stallion had taken off at full speed and was currently flapping hard to stay airborne. Andrew could feel the stallion's tense muscles working hard to stay up, but that all disappeared as two mares sidled up below him, propelling the clustered group upwards steadily. Laughing maniacally, Andrew looked off to the side of the stallion’s neck, right down at the disappearing earth below.
“How is this working?!”
A few more minutes passed, and it was at that point that Andrew saw the plan the pegasi had created without human consultation. After reaching a height that reached about the same level as the peak of the tall mountain south, the two mares below the stallion eased themselves away from the cluster, allowing the stallion to keep his wings open wide and glide through the air.
“It’s bad out there,” Andrew managed through the whipping winds that stung at his ears and eyes. “Just look at all that smoke.”
The stallion said nothing in reply, entirely focused on making sure their descent was controlled well.
Carefully, Andrew looked back towards the campsite they had left behind; it was now quite a distance away from them. The smoke had disappeared, but Andrew did take notice of a group of figures flying north, especially a prevalent black figure that lagged behind the rest.
I’ll be back, Andrew promised, returning his attention to the ever-decreasing gap between the burning valley and his pegasus transport. It looked like hellfire had ravaged the lands, and he could see that the fire was now nearing the thicket forest. Andrew swallowed thickly.
“Gods, I hope the ponies are okay.”