//------------------------------// // 30 - Breaks // Story: Bushkeeper // by Odd_Sarge //------------------------------// “Bushkeeper—” “Andrew.” The white pegasus mare nodded and took another breath. “Andrew...May we take a break?” The teenager looked out over the ponies strewn about the field, all exhibiting blank looks on their faces. He couldn’t blame them, though, thirty minutes straight of repeating foreign words was probably incredibly tiring to them. To Andrew, however, he was extremely excited to be teaching the ponies English. There was something heartwarming about hearing the ponies speak his language and their clear desire to get better at enunciations. Andrew didn’t nod as he spoke. “Yes.” He was testing the ponies’ abilities to remember their quick lesson, and was glad to see that they picked up on the word. Most of them bound off to stop by the river or munch on the apples over yonder, but a few of them stayed behind. Andrew suspected that they weren’t there to learn more English, and he was right. “Bushkeeper,” began one of the unicorns, “We would like to discuss the future with you, if that is not too much to ask.” Andrew opened his mouth, but was cut off by the stallion. “We only bring simple questions for you to answer.” “Oh, well in that case…” The teenager sat down, followed closely by the ponies. The stallion’s eyes flickered over to an earth pony mare next to him. She looked fearfully between Andrew and the unicorn, then spoke up in the quietest voice that Andrew could imagine. “Will… will you protect us?” The Bushkeeper nodded eagerly. “Of course, yes.” The cream-coated earth pony gave a meek nod and gentle smile. “Good… I fear for the foals, but I believe that you can help us with them.” “Do you want to eat us?!” All the ponies, Andrew included, stared at the midnight pegasus mare. She too, like the white pegasus a minute prior, had also helped carry the teenager to the Great Green on light wings. “Er, no?” “We’ll take that as a yes,” the blue stallion muttered, eyeing the mare strangely. That left Andrew with three other ponies who could ask questions; the unicorn stallion, a white unicorn mare, and the foal of said unicorn mare. ‘Wait, a foal?’ “Play?” the foal asked, clambering atop his mother to stare at Andrew. The teenager chortled softly and picked up the foal. “Sure, buddy.” He ruffled the colt’s mane and looked to the unicorn stallion. The mother seemed quite pleased to see her child receiving the human’s attention. “I have an actual question, Bushkeeper. Will you be able to survive the frost moon?” “You know, I’m not too sure.” Andrew slowed his scritching of the colt in his lap and thought a little bit. “I might be able to, but if my hunger continues to be a big problem, then my best bet would be hanging out with a bear before winter.” Another pause. “Actually, that’s not too far-fetched.” The stallion blinked. “I’m afraid I didn’t understand a word of what you said, Bushkeeper.” “Andrew, call me Andrew. Yes, I will be able to live.” “Wonderful, now—” “Can you fight, Bushkeeper?” “I’m sorry, what?” The white mother caught Andrew’s questioning tone. “Can you fight the monsters of fwafwa, Bushkeeper?” This was a whole new category to the teenager, and he certainly did not like the name of fwafwa monster. He shook his head slowly. “No. I have no idea what that is.” The unicorn stallion stood and nodded urgently. “That is a good point. We must teach the Bushkeeper our lessons about the land.” Before Andrew could have a say in anything, the rest of the ponies stood and bowed, giving their goodbyes. All of them wandered off to join their herds elsewhere for their break, all except for one tiny pony in Andrew’s arms. “Welp, I’ve got you now.” The Bushkeeper waggled a finger in front of the cradled foal’s muzzle. The colt giggled again and waved at the appendage. “Play!” he cooed. “You’re old enough to speak, yet you look like you’re a year old.” Andrew shrugged. “Oh well, I’m not the one calling the shots on whether or not Earth’s laws apply to this world, that’s the gods’ problem.” He carried the foal down to the river, prodding him playfully all the while. The coos of the colt brought the attention of the nearby Mint. The azure mare and Greeny trotted over, both with warm smiles on their faces. Andrew extended the foal out to them, his hands hooked under the colt’s forehooves. “Yo, check out this thing. It’s adorable.” Mint leant forward to nuzzle the foal’s belly, and the colt latched on immediately. She froze as the colt threw his hooves all over her muzzle and struggled forward in an attempt to free himself from Andrew’s grasp. “Play, play!” he cried. Mint blew a raspberry into the colt’s sensitive belly, causing the child to begin squeaking. She pulled away with a giggle, but not before leaving behind another nuzzle for the colt. “See? Told ya!” “Do you know how to play with a foal, Andrew?” Yet again, the teenager was amazed with the speed at which Mint was able to pronounce his name. It came out smoothly now, without the normal croak of the other ponies that could speak some English words. He shook his head. “No.” “Place the colt on my mate.” Greeny pulled back suddenly. “What? I don’t want to be apart of this again!” Unfortunately for the stallion, he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. After being plopped down on Greeny’s back, the foal immediately darted into the stallion’s mane and hid. The unicorn resigned himself to his fate and sat down. Mint moved forward, muzzle mere inches away from where the colt sat. A tiny white hoof thrust out at her and bopped her on the muzzle. Smiling, the mare returned the gesture in kind, causing a shrill yip from the colt as he scrambled away further into Greeny’s mane. Andrew watched with rapt attention as a hybrid game of hide and seek and tag began to take place in the stallion’s black mane. One of the colt’s hooves would dart out in an attempt to bop Mint’s snout, but the mare would dodge the attack. Sometimes, the opposite would hold true, and the colt would be able to dodge a prod to the nose. Andrew didn’t really know why Greeny had been used as a resting place for the colt, but it was probably just to include the stallion in somehow. Plus, the colt was much smaller than the mare, it would be unfair for her to be towering over the young foal. The comparatively tall teenager, however, definitely could play unfair. He butt into the pair’s game with perfect timing, prodding the tiny pony gentle on the muzzle through the use of his long arms and a pointed finger. The colt paused as Andrew left his finger to sit there, his eyes trained on the teenager. The Bushkeeper held back a giggle as the colt began swatting a forehoof pitifully at his hand’s wrist. Mint killed Andrew’s fun after a moment or two of the bullying, pushing the teenager’s arm away carefully. She fixed him with a frown. “That was not very nice.” Andrew stood and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I suppose that was. Sorry.” Mint loosened up a little bit at the teenager’s apologetic movements. “Let the foal have a taste of revenge.” Sighing pleasantly, Andrew crouched down again and put his face right before the colt. The white unicorn foal reached a hoof out hesitantly, then set it on his nose. The Bushkeeper went cross eyed as he stared at the hoof, prompting a giggle from all involved parties. Except for the stallion being ignored, of course. Greeny stared up at the two above him with a roll of his eyes; he was being sorely left out of the fun. Andrew took notice, however. He hefted the foal back up and handed him off to Mint, who took the tiny creature eagerly. Ignoring the sounds of joy beside him, Andrew sat down and pulled Green into his lap forcefully. The stallion gave a cry of surprise, but a hand wrapped around his muzzle suppressed it immediately. Like the reaction of Storm’s second son, Greeny was confused and a bit angry at having his muzzle restrained. The stallion couldn’t wiggle out of the tight hold that the human had on him, and so was left to the will of Andrew. “You’ve got some dirty fur, my friend.” The teenager flicked a bit of dirt off the stallion to emphasize his point. Greeny grumbled something under his breath, but was unable to get another word through. After about a minute of sitting there drawing his hands through the stallion’s dirty mane and coat, Andrew was joined by Mint, the mare suddenly foal-less. The teenager watched the white foal he’d been playing with scamper up the hill to his mother and the other foals, but turned his attention to Mint soon after. The mare crawled into the little space that remained in Andrew’s lap and snuggled in beside Greeny. Shaking his head at the adorable sight, the Bushkeeper found himself swapping between the two with his free hand’s scritches. Another short time passed with the sound of ponies playing on the hills and others splashing in the stream. Andrew flicked an eye over to said ponies in the stream, and it gave him an idea. He hooked his free hand under Mint, and did the same with the hand on Greeny’s muzzle. The stallion snorted immediately upon the release of his muzzle. “Don’t do that!” “Well, if you’re gonna be like that, then you’re going to have to suffer through this next bit...” Andrew waddled over to the stream, and with as much care as he could offer, dropped the two ponies into the cool water. Both ponies were equally surprised at the action, but despite their splashing and flailing, Andrew did not let them go. Mint calmed down shortly after, so the human saw fit to let her go first. She gave a calm neigh and prodded Greeny’s still flailing side. “He wishes for us to clean.” Andrew was glad that Mint took notice of the large amount of dirt that clung to the stallion’s body, and was happier to see that Mint took it upon herself to dip down into the shallow stream and clean herself. The teenager knew that Greeny would definitely not wash himself, so he got to work scrubbing the dirt away the best he could with hands and running river water. Greeny’s incessant yelling called over some of the ponies from their own activities. The earth ponies came first, and upon seeing the situation in the stream, wisely chose to leave; they had more in common with the dirt in their fur, after all. Most of the pegasi and unicorns, however, came down to the stream and eyed the party of three. The unicorns quickly joined in with their herd leader in washing themselves, and the pegasi seemed to already have the art of bathing in a stream down to an art, their bathing methods sending spouts of water high into the air and onto their fur. It amazed Andrew that the ponies knew the basics of hygiene at such a level, but he suspected it was more to do with the presentation of their coats: many of the lighter-coated ponies were being extra careful with their fur. The ponies around began to splash at each other in the stream, leaving Andrew laughing at the water fight that ensued and Greeny’s predicament: Greeny remained trapped in the human’s grasp, unable to wash himself, or even defend himself from the water that splashed him in the eyes. Groaning, the stallion lay his head in the water and resigned himself to the scrubbing and splashing of Andrew and the ponies. He’d dealt with worse in his lifetime, but still… “This was a mistake,” he whickered with weakened exasperation.