“I can’t believe this is happening.” Andrew’s eyes traced over the crowded clearing. “I can’t believe this is happening,” he repeated. He counted the ponies again and again, making sure to split them up into their own categories; earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi. As he finished counting, it was just too much for him to handle.
'Twelve unicorns, ten pegasi, and fourteen hornless ponies. That makes thirty-six ponies, and nine of them are foals.' Andrew swallowed thickly; the idea that a fourth of the ponies he was responsible for were foals was terrifying. He didn’t want to see them hurt, but as he thought over that idea for a moment, his grip tightened on his staff. He wouldn’t let that happen.
“Andrew?” Andrew hobbled over to where Mint stood.
The mare’s eyes locked onto his own. ”Do you not hunger?”
He paused at that, feeling his stomach. He certainly knew that he should have felt hungry, but it did not appear to be the case. “I really don’t…” he muttered confusedly. Luckily, whatever spell had been cast upon Andrew’s words was able to translate through.
”You should eat,” Mint whimpered. ”We need you strong to lead us.” She paused. ”Where will you lead us, Bushkeeper?”
Andrew was instant with his reply. “North.” Andrew’s eyes flickered around the clearing at the ponies quickly depleting the thicket. “And yeah, I probably should eat.” Mint followed after him as he went over to a wall of berries. Below him, the ponies pecked at the lower portions of the bramble, allowing Andrew free range over the topmost berries. Removing his hood from his mouth, Andrew prepared to start tossing berries into the hood for the journey ahead, but took pause; the makeshift bag still reeked of fish.
All around him, the ponies pulled away from the smell. Blinking, Andrew turned, worried that the sudden smell of meat had thrown off the ponies. Instead, the ponies all looked surprised. Mint tugged on his sleeve.
”You eat fish?”
Andrew was hesitant. “Yes…?” He eyed the unicorns carefully. “You guys eat fish, too?”
“Yes,” Mint nodded, practicing her English.
Blackie stepped up to the two, bowing low. ”Let us know if you wish to consume fish; we are willing to oblige. Not often do we fish, but we happen to be well-versed in catching them.” By this time, the ponies around had resumed plucking berries from the bushes.
“Well, that’s neat.” With a smile, Andrew gave a respectful nod to Blackie, allowing the stallion to return to the grey herd leader. Andrew’s smile fell as his eyes landed on the mare; she was in worse shape than he had expected, and it was a wonder that the mare had even flown at all. Shaking his head, Andrew ignored the stench of fish emanating from his hood, opting to wash it in a safer place. He began to plop berries into the hood.
The mere thought of the clearing being unsafe reminded him of the dire situation that every creature within miles had been placed into.
Andrew rushed through placing berries into the bag, and after a quick snack of two dozen or so berries, he recounted the ponies around. There were still thirty six, and Andrew was certain that no ponies had been left at the fire. Still, he felt that it couldn’t hurt to ask.
Andrew eyed Greeny, and in a moment of fate, the two locked eyes. Greeny nodded, noticing that Andrew wished to talk. He trotted over, a respectful and questioning look in his eyes.
”Bushkeeper?”
“Is this everyone, Greeny?” Greeny took around, doing a count of his own. He gently pulled a unicorn mare out of the way to count the foals wrapped around her hooves. Greeny returned to Andrew.
”Yes,” Greeny relayed. ”All of our willhorns, at least.” Sighing, Andrew gave a thankful smile to Greeny and moved on to the earth ponies.
The burly, orange earth pony stallion met Andrew halfway across the clearing. His short red mane, bounced up and down as he inspected Andrew. Raising an eyebrow, Andrew opened his mouth to speak.
“Do you have all of your herd?” The stallion nodded, not even bothering to look back at the ponies behind him, but Andrew trusted him. Nodding, Andrew gave two pats to the stallion’s withers and went over to the grey pegasus mare on the ground.
Andrew was ready to give a name to the mare, but then realized that for the moment, all of the ponies could understand him. Squatting down, Andrew gave a small wave to Sparky, the colt standing by his mother’s side, then looked the mother in the eyes. “Do you have a name, fwalfa?”
Her ears perked up at that, and her eyes cracked open a tad. Name? she whinnied, exasperated. The word was foreign to her. ”I do not, Bushkeeper.”
”That’s interesting,” Andrew thought. ”They don’t have names…” Andrew remained squatting for a moment, thinking up a good name for the mare. “What do you think of Storm?”
Her ears twitched again. "Storm?"
“A name is kind of like… kind of like a title, like fwalfa, except everyone gets a name, at least where I come from.” Andrew smiled. “Storm is a good name.”
”So you will call me... Storm?"
Andrew nodded.
The mare looked so happy despite her weak smile. ”I… I thank you for that, Bushkeeper. Perhaps you could give... give names, for the rest of my herd?”
“You’re welcome, and maybe. But I have a question, Storm.”
”Yes?” she asked, not annoyed in the slightest by her continuously interrupted rest.
“Do you have all of your herd here with us?”
Wheezing, the mare lifted her head from the dirt and nodded. ”The falfa and I have put our differences away for the time in order to lead the entire flock to… to…”
“The north.”
The mare nodded, setting her head back down. ”The north… yes…”
Blackie nuzzled the mare, nipping at one of her ears gently. He pulled away to look at Andrew momentarily. ”Please, Bushkeeper, allow my mate to rest.”
“Alright.” Andrew prepared himself to leave, but paused for a moment. “And my name is Andrew.” He completed his move to his full height, smiling gently as he looked about the clearing. “And I’m the Bushkeeper,” he muttered quietly to himself.
“Andrew?” He jumped at the sound of his name. Turning to Mint, he held a hand to his chest.
“Don’t scare me like that!” Andrew sighed heavily. “Now, what do you need, Mint?”
”When do we leave, Bushkeeper?” Andrew looked up from their position near the center of the clearing. Up through the familiar hole in the canopy, the black smoke covered the entirety of the world from above. Plants would begin dying in this area if this kept up, and all Andrew could do was pray that nature would do something to balance itself, and soon.
“In a while,” Andrew said, returning his attention to Mint. “We need to let the herds rest and eat. I have a feeling that the land on the way to the north will be deprived of food and water.” He paused. “Do you want to go get some water with me, Mint?”
The mare smiled up at him. “Yes, Andrew. I would like that.”
“It’s still weird hearing you speak in two different languages at once.” Satisfied, Andrew led Mint out over the southern log wall of the camp and to the nearby stream.
He stuck his stick into the ground and uncapped his thermos, poured out the old water, and filled up anew; it wasn’t the water from a waterfall, but he would take whatever he could. Mint leant down towards the water and began to drink. As he finished capping off his thermos, he felt something pressing into his leg. Groaning in annoyance, Andrew put his thermos away and stood to pull out the marble orb from his pocket. When he had successfully yanked out the artifact, his eyes widened.
The marble was cracking.
He shoved off his pack and collapsed near the stream. Mint shot up at the sudden movement and clambered over to Andrew. Andrew had realized that the marble was a shell of sorts, and had immediately begun to work. She watched attentively as Andrew began to pick away at one of the cracks forming on the orb. After a minute of picking away at the crack with his fingernail, a chunk of the thin marble came flying off to reveal the center of the orb.
Andrew and Mint shared a glance before returning to the orb.
The amethyst within shimmered faintly as the rest of the marble flaked off easily. Andrew rinsed off the orb quickly in the stream, then gave it a quick once over.
“What’s going on with…” As he spoke, the orb grew fainter and fainter, the color quickly fading to gray. “Mint?”
“Yes, Andrew?” The orb pulsed faintly, dimming in coloration as they continued.
“Do you know what this—”
The orb turned to dust in the palm of his hand.
The fiery explosion of purple powder sent Andrew coughing. Mint ran slow circles with her hoof into Andrew’s back, which, while unusual, calmed the human down enough to recover his breath. His hand was still held out as the dust of the orb sat there, sparkling and mysterious.
“What the heck was that?!” Mint’s motions paused, and Andrew looked back at her in confusion. “What’s wrong, Mint?”
”I do not understand,” she whimpered. I do not understand you anymore! Andrew’s eyes widened as his head snapped back to the powdered orb.
The gift had been used up fully.
“No no no!” Andrew cupped two hands together under the dust and held it close. “That was so useful!”
Mint whinnied wildly as she pranced in place. ”I don’t understand you, Bushkeeper!”
“I know Mint, I know,” he cooed, dropping the powder immediately to hold Mint. His eyes remained locked to the powder as it sank into the water and dissolved. He felt hot tears dripping down the cheeks of his companion, so he forced himself away from the sight of the disappearing amethyst.
Quietly, the two sat there by the stream, both in despair at their lost communication. There was one thing they shared though, and by the end of his stay in the land of strange creatures, he was determined to exploit it fully.
Mint was as intelligent as him, and the other ponies were, too.
“I’ll teach you,” Andrew murmured, running a hand through her mane. “I’ll teach you to speak, to write, to be a leader.”
They didn’t leave the stream for a very long time.
Andrew looked back across the plains at the Berry Forest. He was going to miss the place of his arrival, but it was time to move on.
“Andrew,” Mint said, a tired look on her eyes from the earlier ordeal. We must move.
“Yes,” Andrew nodded. He was glad that he had at least taught Mint a few words, and as he turned around to continue walking west across the Greenland, he listened to the mare attempting to teach the ponies around her, including the pegasi and earth ponies, of the language that she and Andrew spoke. Andrew was proud of her; he could have chosen no better pony for the job, and it made sense as to why the mare had been made the fwalfa of the herd.
Andrew glanced around their surroundings. The blue sky above was slowly turning black due to the close ash clouds from the east, and the birds that Andrew had remembered soaring through the sky were nowhere to be seen. The mountains to the west seemed to grow further as the group moved, and so too did the tall, spiraling mountain to the east grow further. The group was quickly coming upon the new forest. Holding the front of the line of thirty-seven creatures, Andrew took a deep breath and stepped through into the new woods.
For a couple of hours, the forest was all but silent, completely vacated by its creatures. There was something calming about the woods and its silence, however, and Andrew made sure to enjoy the little reprieve from the harsh journey. More than once, Andrew recalled spotting the hint of a white tail through the trees, and it took all of his strength not to follow it. The apparent vision reminded him of the strange apparition that Harmony had given back his memories of.
Harmony... what was she doing right now?
Andrew thought long and hard about it, eyes scanning the forest for any predators that could pop out at any moment. Harmony could be sitting in the Fabal, watching over him, or she could be taking care of the burning plains and forest behind them now. Maybe Harmony wasn’t with him, and was in fact working against him. Various contingencies flooded through his mind, but he shook them all away; being paranoid was a surefire way to breaking down a leader’s mentality. If he wanted to keep the ponies safe, he would have to do as Harmony told him; stay sane, and stay pure.
Running a hand through Mint’s mane, Andrew led the ponies out of the forest and into a new area of grassland. The grass here was nothing like Andrew had ever seen before; a brilliant teal that matched perfectly with Mint’s fur. The ponies all around seemed delighted at this new finding, and as they settled down to chew the grass, Andrew found himself curious. He knew that his digestive tract lacked the ability to consume grass, but he was open to seeing what it tasted like. Plucking a few blades of the teal grass from the earth, Andrew popped them into his mouth, leaving them hanging like wheat stalks.
Immediately, his eyes went wide.
“Yeah… I’m gonna—” he began to pluck up handfuls of the grass and toss them into a pouch in his bag “—keep some of this for myself.”
After the short break, Andrew led the ponies towards the mountains north. The plains went for quite a while to the west, and it seemed like there wouldn’t be much on the other side. Going on his intuition, Andrew felt that past the northern mountains would be a safe refuge for the ponies to live. He ignored the pain in his leg and kept walking, determined to lead the ponies all the way there. After an hour of walking, the ponies and Andrew all stopped to watch the sun peek out from beyond the black clouds. Just being able to see the sun again gave all of them hope.
By the time the sun had begun to dip below the horizon, the moon nowhere to be seen through the trees to the east, Andrew’s legs felt ready to fail him. They had traveled a decent way from the south, just barely able to reach the small grove of trees that trailed along the edge of the mountains. As he stuck his stick into the ground and sat down, Andrew smiled up at the mountain. To the ponies around him, the looming obstacle would be impossible to pass, but Andrew wasn’t worried, he knew they could do it, so long as they all worked together.
Sparky, unlike the other foals, was dead set on making himself useful. Andrew could see him helping ponies from all of the herds settle down from the night; he helped the earth ponies dig a hole into a hill, helped to bring down some clouds for the pegasi to sleep on, which was quite the strange sight to see, and at the sight of the shivering unicorns, arranged a set of stones to form up a campfire. It was interesting to note that the earth ponies and pegasi did not look cold; the earth ponies most likely protected due to their huddled sleeping den, and the pegasi from their need for fur in high altitudes. Andrew was proud that Sparky was taking initiative as a child just beginning to grow into an adult, but as Sparky settled down near Andrew, the truth of the colt’s actions was brought to light.
He beamed up at Andrew, silent. It was endearing that the colt looked up to him, but just a little disappointing that he had done it to impress Andrew. Rolling his eyes, Andrew pat the colt on the head and pulled him close. Mint and Greeny were pressed up against each other on the other side of the campfire, Mint fast asleep whilst her mate worked hard on his latest addition to the carved bone. Lemon came up to Andrew and nosed him. Andrew paused in petting the colt he had forced into his lap and looked to the unicorn.
Lemon, for once in his life, looked happy. There was a toothless smile on the stallion’s face, and as he settled down next to Andrew and sank into his side, Andrew felt something surge into his heart. Already now, his presence was truly beginning to change the acts of the ponies around him. Storm, the pegasus herd leader, had apparently learnt from her ways of treating the others poorly, and Lemon had quieted down now in speaking down to the ponies. There was no doubt in Andrew’s mind that the ponies would soon be back to bickering behind his back, but it still felt nice to know that the ponies were at least trying around him.
As the colt fell asleep in his lap, and Lemon already snoring by his side, Andrew looked around their encampment, located near the edge of the trees. Thirty-six ponies, Andrew recounted. It still amazed him to no end that all these ponies were following him. He turned his gaze away and up to the stars. He had not been much of a stargazer back home, but with his extended stay out in the wilderness, stargazing had been growing to replace his previous nightly pastimes.
For hours, Andrew lay there, staring up into the stars. At some point, his neck had been strained enough to make him reflexively lie back to stare up at them. There was something captivating about the unfamiliar lights in the sky. With each star he jumped between, a small line would begin to trace itself across the sky. Just like many nights ago, he found the familiar flower and stick figure and let out a quiet laugh to himself. The constellations reminded him that in just a few days, he had turned the black colt into a devout follower; Sparky certainly didn’t mind being touched or touching Andrew anymore.
When Andrew fell asleep deep into the early morning, for the first time in forever, his dreams were sweet.
It turned out that the hardest part of a scaling a mountain was finding a place to start. They had made progress little by little up onto the cliffed-rock walls, and by the time the morning had turned to afternoon, the ponies and Andrew had only then found a way up. It certainly wasn’t easy for many of them, but with the help of the pegasi, paths were found up the cliffs and ponies were held up against walls to prevent them from falling. With each step up the mountain’s winding trails, Andrew cursed his limp more and more. It was by the time they had reached the second plateau that Andrew had given his walking stick to a pegasus to carry and begun climbing with both hands.
“I’ve got it,” he grunted, heaving himself up another wall. He leant down and began to help the ponies up and onto the third plateau. He was glad that they weighed very little, but still, pain still came to his leg in hot bursts.
“Bushkeeper.” Andrew locked eyes with Mint as he lifted her up. She shook her head once he had set her down. “No.”
Andrew heaved himself into a sitting position and scratched the back of his neck. “What?”
Snorting, Mint turned to the pegasi as they landed. “Pegasi.”
Blackie looked between Mint and Andrew, then nodded.
“Wait—” the pegasi came over “—wait what are you guys doing?” Harshly, Andrew was pulled into a kneeling position by two pegasi. “Ow!”
Mint walked up to Andrew as the two pegasi held him. ”Rest, Bushkeeper.” Slowly she brought her horn, lit with its blue magic, to Andrew’s forehead. Before Andrew could have a say in what was being done to him, he was out cold.
Groaning, Andrew rolled over. It was very cold, but nearby, he could hear the crackle of flames. In his sleepy state, he crawled closer to the fire.
He heard a whinny, but could not identify who had made the sound. Bushkeeper?
“Hwahbuh?” Andrew said, slumping down beside the flames. His eyes cracked open, and as he looked up into the eyes of Mint, he felt awareness flood into his mind. “M-Mint?”
Mint looked apologetic. ”Sorry.”
Andrew sat up, looking around with his hands on his knees. “Did you knock me out or something…” he trailed off. “Mint… are we…?”
Mint was quiet as Andrew stood shakily and looked over the edge of the plateau. Below him, he could see the foals from all three of the herds playing together on their own plateau. Ponies nearby trotted back and forth, leaving Mint and him alone on the high surface. As Andrew looked up, he could see the sun leaning towards the western portion of the sky, and it was with one glance to the south that Andrew realized where they were; they had reached the top of the mountain.
Andrew had been about to celebrate, but paused as he felt something along his leg. As he looked down, he realized his jeans were still on, but as he lifted his jeans up, he realized that a thick binding of teal grass had been wrapped around his calf. It felt cool to the touch, and as he began to rub at the grass, he noted that the coolness seemed to sink into his aching muscles. He tested his walk and found no difference in his limp. Sighing, Andrew drooped his arms. “So much for having my leg healed in my sleep.”
Mint pulled at his sleeve and brought him over to the edge where he had looked down at the foals and ponies below. Look, she ordered, nose gesturing towards the northern horizon. As Andrew looked over the lands below him, he felt his heart momentarily stop.
A vast river snuck up from the smaller green mountains to the north. Further off, he could see the beginnings of an icy wasteland and bright blue mountains, but his eyes were attracted to a giant mountain further off to the northeast. The mountain seemed to be made of pure snow, and it towered far past the few clouds and into the sky. It seemed to touch space itself, and Andrew had to hold everything in himself from shouting in awe. To the west was an ever-extending ocean, its coast lined by a great green grassland.
The grassland was lined with branches from the river coming down from the southern mountains. The land was full of large forests of green that Andrew could tell were teeming with life. The secluded valley was a beautiful sight to behold, and as Andrew sat there with Mint by his side, he collapsed and held onto her, tears dribbling into his eyes. His memories flashed back to an old family vacation, recalling a young Andrew looking over the beautiful Hanging Gardens and the nearby Tigris-Euphrates river system.
And he could see no difference between there and here.
As Andrew held onto Mint, ripples of joy began to shake his body. Mint smiled, glad to see their leader so happy to be halfway done with their journey, but Andrew was glad for another reason.
The land was bright and colorful, and it was the perfect birthplace for civilization.