//------------------------------// // 27 - Baths // Story: Bushkeeper // by Odd_Sarge //------------------------------// It wasn’t too long before the pegasus came back to his senses in Andrew’s grip. Chuckling, Andrew managed to hold down the pegasus against his chest. The stallion whinnied furiously, hooves swinging wildly around. A stray hoof caught the teenager in the side of the cheek, but it was so weak that it was virtually unnoticeable. “Sorry bud, but I can’t really let you go back to your friends.” Groaning, Andrew stood out of the water, dripping with the refreshing liquid. As much as he wanted to enjoy the first true opportunity for a bath in over a week, he had to deal with more pressing matters. “Let me go!” “Hold on, I’m trying to figure out how to keep you still…” Andrew’s eyes flicked between his dry clothes and the pegasus. Sighing, he rubbed his head with his free hand. “Guess I’ll just have to do this one handed.” What normally would have taken a minute for Andrew to dress became an agonizing fifteen minutes of pain. Not true, physical pain, but emotionally-burdening psychological pain. “Please!” he huffed, swatting the pegasus on the back of his head again. “I’m so close to being done with this. I just need to put on my shirt and shoes and then we’ll be good!” An idea popped into Andrew’s as the pegasus continued to struggle in his grasp. Acting swiftly, he dropped the pegasus down onto all fours and wrapped a hand around the muzzle of the pony. The pegasus immediately froze. “You good, bud?” The pegasus looked at the hand around his muzzle, then looked up to Andrew, his hooves unnervingly still. “Oookay then.” Keeping his hand on the pegasus’ muzzle, the teenager began to slide his shirt on. One hand slipped into its sleeve, then Andrew switched the hands holding onto the pegasus’ muzzle and tucked his other arm through its respective hole. He then went to work on his shoes. Once the steel toe were secured once more, he loosely slung his hiking pack over his right shoulder and hefted the pegasus up by the stomach, making sure to keep his hand clamped down tightly on the pony’s black muzzle. Andrew ran his thumb across the top of the pegasus’ muzzle, causing the pony’s face to scrunch up. The teenager giggled childishly. ‘Note to self, verify if the hypothesis that if a hand is placed on a pony’s muzzle, then the pony will go docile, is true.’ Andrew waddled a little further away from the pool, and was pleasantly surprised to find that his leg felt fine. In his struggle with the pegasus when emerging from the water, he had completely forgotten to check the wrapping on his leg, but strangely enough, it felt as if the wrapping had gone, replaced by the frayed leg hairs that had lain forgotten beneath. He made a mental note of the pool and what it looked like, then looked for a way out of the pit the two had tumbled down into. It was still night, which was obvious due to Andrew and the pegasus’ five minute soak. A check of his watch told him that it was only seven at night: a mere quarter-hour since the ambush. Truth be told, Andrew was cautious about leaving the safety of the pit, because the spiders apparently could not be asked to follow him down into the area despite the true lack of cover or natural protections. Spotting a slope that led right up and out of the pit in the earth, Andrew threw a glance back at the pool and stared. If Harmony ever appeared again, he was definitely going to ask her what was going on with the water. The pegasus in the teenager's arms began to shudder: whether it was from the cold or an intense ominous feeling, Andrew didn’t know. Andrew did pull the pegasus closer, albeit only slightly; he was still a bit peeved about the pony eating his fish earlier in the week. And attacking him twice. And setting fire to his bag. Yes, just a tad peeved. The pegasus’ ears were cocked at the ready, listening carefully for any trace of the spiders. Scarily enough, the woods were silent. Andrew did his best to avoid any fallen leaves or twigs that could alert any nearby predators as he carved a path back out of the forests. There was no doubt in his mind that the pegasi would be waiting outside, but Andrew was sure that Blackie had a plan in mind. Deeper in the words, the horrible crunching of the spiders’ teeth could be heard. Andrew sucked in a breath and kept moving, his pace quickening only slightly. He was determined to be back to the river to find out what had happened to the four pegasi that Blackie had sent out for fish, and desperate to drop off his newly gained prisoner back at the camp. Eyeing the pegasus in his arms, Andrew thought about the creature as it helplessly stared right back up at him. “You… are a terrible person,” Andrew muttered, quickly picking up pace again. “You’re definitely a jerk, but I’m gonna give you a chance. I don’t need you hurting other ponies, or me for that matter, but I don’t want to see you get hurt either.” The pegasus snorted and tried to move his head. Smiling at the entrapped creature, the teenager kept his hand clamped down on the bulky pegasus’ muzzle and looked forward. The edge of the wood was within sight now, but as Andrew approached it, eager to escape the silent forest, he felt a strange wave pass over him. It made him stop and shiver, and any attempts that he made to move resulted in zero response from his limbs. As soon as the wave had passed over Andrew, the pegasus in his arms had immediately gone still, the pony’s nostrils soon turning to sleepy snorts. ‘What the?’ Andrew’s eyes could still move, however. He was able to easily spot the river and hill he had been standing on due to the rise of the moon. A black figure was visible on the top of the hill, and it was quickly joined by a couple of other figures: a unicorn, an earth pony, and two pegasi, one with their wings flared wide. Upon seeing the black figure extend its wings in the distance, Andrew realized that it was Blackie. Andrew’s view was blocked by the trees, but he was able to catch a glimpse of the five pegasi that were apart of the traitorous pegasus alpha’s group. The wave of paralysis disappeared for him, and so he lurched forward out of the woods. Andrew stared back at the woods and kept walking away. ‘That must’ve been the thing that made the ponies fall asleep earlier. Weird.’ He sighed and looked forward again. ‘Another thing to worry about later.’ Andrew began moving toward the two groups of ponies, now with an unconscious leader in his hands. Seeing the herd of rogue pegasi reminded him of where he had left them a few days prior: whimpering, and with a broken leader. Suddenly, something clicked into place in Andrew’s mind. The pegasus in his hands was definitely the same alpha that he had grounded prior via wing injury, but the pegasus had been flying perfectly fine just minutes before. The ponies knew about the pools that could heal, there was no doubt about it. Andrew had been brought to one after injuring his leg, and that had healed most of his cuts and abrasions, but his leg had still remained partly disabled. The question now: how come his leg felt better after sitting in the water now? The answer was simple, Andrew found; his right leg had been sitting out of the water. Andrew’s herd saw him approaching, and a unicorn came up to meet him. The unicorn, surprisingly enough, was Lemon. He took notice of the black alpha in the Bushkeeper's hands with wide eyes. Andrew said nothing, simply allowing Lemon to lead him over to the two parties that were waiting for him. Storm was the other pegasus that did not have her wings flared, and the earth pony turned out to be Brownie’s brother, the orange stallion with the vibrant red mane. ‘Orange,’ Andrew named immediately. ‘Dude’s bright as day.’ It was true, for amongst the mostly dark colored pegasi, as well as the ponies back at camp, Orange and Lemon were perhaps the most brightly colored ponies in all of the herds. The unnamed white pegasus and unicorn mares were the runners-up for the title of brightest pony, but Orange and Lemon were definitely the most eye-catching. Andrew shook his head and looked to the traitorous pegasi. They cowered in fear under his gaze; seeing their alpha go down due to Andrew again must have been quite demoralizing. Storm trotted over weakly and place a hoof on the black alpha’s head. Andrew released his muzzle, allowing the herd leader to inspect him more carefully. She sucked in a deep breath, and instead of the slap that Andrew had been expecting, gave a soft nuzzle to the stallion’s neck, then stepped back. Storm stared over the keeling pegasi before her. Andrew, still carrying the black alpha, walked over to where Lemon and Orange stood watching. Patting the latter on the withers once, Andrew listened in on the speech that Storm had just begun to present. “Cloudmasters, winged ones… traitors.” Storm shakily took a breath. Blackie rushed over to support her, but she waved him off and continued. “I am very disappointed in all of you.” One stallion lunged forward with a cry, “Please, forgive us, fwalfa!” “Storm.” She repeated her name again, “Storm.” “Storm… fwalfa, we… we…” “Save your pitiful excuse for later. Tell me...” Despite her weakened state, Andrew found himself intimidated by the glowing coals of Storm’s voice as she leant down to the stallion lying at her hooves. “Tell me where our herd has gone…” “The cave! The eastern cave!” he whimpered, hooves over his eyes. “They are unharmed, bound with the grass of—” “Are you loyal?!” Andrew jumped in surprise at the magnitude of Storm’s voice. ‘Good god this mare can get loud!’ The stallion was stumbling over his words at this point, an act seeming incomprehensible due to the style of the pony language. “Ye… yes! Yes! Y-yes fwalfa! I will never de… betr… leave you again!” The pegasi behind the stallion all shared the same reaction and pleas of loyalty. “Then retrieve my herd,” Storm growled. In a flash of dust, the pegasi had lifted off and begun soaring towards the aforementioned east. Andrew wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, and said to Storm, “Storm, lower the volume for next time, will ya?” The mare opened her mouth, then shook her head instead. Blackie laid a hoof on his mate and gave a curt nod to the quiet teenager. “Lead us back to the herds, Bushkeeper.” Andrew smiled. ‘At least they’re learning how to use English.’ The Bushkeeper turned and began leading the ponies back to the west. From the hill he was standing on, he could see the glint of a campfire in the distance. The party of six was silent for the most part, but Andrew could hear Storm breathing heavily behind him. A thought struck Andrew in that moment. He laid the black pegasus on Orange’s back, producing no reaction from the earth pony. Sliding his hiking pack off, the teenager then laid it on top of Greeny, much to the stallion’s displeasure, and then began to take off his shirt. He wasn’t sure if it would work for Storm, but he would try it anyway: his shirt had become soaked due to his inability to dry off after leaving the healing pool. Storm eyed Andrew warily as he approached her. “Bushkeeper, what are you…?” A surprisingly large amount of water came splashing out of his shirt as he wringed it out. The mare shivered as the cyan liquid passed over her, but from the smile that appeared on her face, it was clear that something had worked. “You… you had the cleared water within you.” Storm traced a hoof carefully over Andrew’s pale stomach, much to his embarrassment. Storm didn’t seem to notice, however. She looked up at him, hoof struggling to reach his chest. “Thank you… Andrew.” A tear threatened to escape the teenager's eye, but he shrugged it off. Instead, he smiled warmly. “You’re welcome, Storm.” After putting his shirt and hiking pack back on, and retrieving the unconscious pegasus from Orange’s back, Andrew continued to walk west.