Bushkeeper

by Odd_Sarge

15 - Fights

Andrew couldn’t roll to save his life, but he definitely had the bulk to stand up to the size. Bracing himself, Andrew placed the walking stick between him and the pegasus. Seeing Andrew’s plan, the pegasus swerved off to the side, clipping its wing along Andrew’s shoulder and making the tall opponent stumble. Andrew recovered quickly from the failed attack, turning on his heel to face the agile creature.

'They’re always so fast.' Andrew frowned, eyes flicking to the rest of the pegasi who were watching. 'At least they have some form of honor.' Ignoring his thoughts as they were shattered by another close pass from the burly black pegasus, Andrew focused more on the combat taking place.

The pegasus had learnt by now that Andrew was fast enough to dodge his attacks, but instead of choosing a new tactic, he simply strengthened his attacks. Speed surged into the wings of the pegasus as it zipped past Andrew back and forth, seemingly hesitant in its sparse attacks. One of the hooves on the pegasus caught Andrew right in the side, but Andrew returned the blow with a whack to the pegasus’ offending wing via stick. Crying out in pain, the burly mass of muscle collapsed to the ground. Andrew prepared himself for a cheer of victory, but was tackled by one of the watching pegasi. He threw the creature off easily enough, their muscle mass nothing compared to their herd leader. All of a sudden, each and every single one of the bystanders began to pile in on Andrew, and it was with a grunt of pain and annoyance that Andrew realized what their plan was; they were going to try and use their numbers to beat him.

'So much for that honor.'

Andrew tried as hard as he could to throw them off of his tail, but could do nothing but wiggle upon the earthen floor of the plain, occasionally swatting at a hoof that strayed to close to his face. His eyes locked onto the burly pegasus, and it was with no small amount of protest that Andrew watched the creature limp over to his bag and pick it up.

Then, the pegasus threw it into the still smoldering fire.

“NO!” Andrew pushed against the walls of flesh around him, but was unable to make any gains. “THAT’S MY STUFF!” Andrew’s face grew hot as he locked eyes with the grinning pegasus.

The pegasus was destroying Andrew’s personal belongings, and he was taking joy in it.

With a roar, Andrew was able to spook most of the pegasi, utilizing their weakened focus to breach their defense. His heart and head were pounding with adrenaline, and he could scarcely recognize the events that were occurring around him. The dazed pegasi behind Andrew collapsed in a pile, but Andrew ignored that. He stomped right past his walking stick, instead going for the fire. The pegasus wilted as he approached, stumbling backwards with a wince; the injured wing was no doubt causing him much pain. Growling, Andrew reached into the fire and plucked out his burning bag. The searing heat was overlooked as Andrew simply turned and tossed the bag into the stream. A satisfying sizzle wafted through the air, and it was all the pegasus could do to not wet himself as Andrew approached. Andrew balled his hands into fists, breathing heavily as he leant down before the black alpha.

“You—” Andrew toppled the pegasus easily enough with a single hand.

“—do not—” He placed a steel toe boot on the pegasus’ chest.

“—show your stupid horse face—” The pressure of Andrew’s boot began to bear down on the wheezing animal’s chest.

“—to me—” Andrew jabbed a thumb back at himself, steadily continuing to apply his boot to the pegasus.

“—ever again.” Stepping backwards and off of the pegasus, Andrew thought about hurting the pegasus in the most masculine way, but instead gave a swift kick to the pegasus’ injured wing.

“Got that?”

The pegasus cried out in pain, causing the herd behind Andrew to go into a whimpering fit. Andrew frowned at the pitiful cries.

'You ponies can be as cute as you want.' He turned around, his stern gaze landing upon the pegasi behind him. 'But it won’t stop me from showing that I can be more than just kind.'

“I want all of you gone,” Andrew whispered, voice weak, but commanding. The pegasi remained shivering in place. Shuddering, Andrew straightened himself. “Take your friend and leave.” Still, they did not move.

“GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!” he shouted, tone full of hatred. The pegasi were immediately on their hooves, and after following Andrew’s pointing finger, they found their leader.

Watching heatedly, Andrew was all too happy to see the pegasi disappear into the clouds, carrying their still moaning leader.

“Good riddance,” Andrew groaned, scrambling for his stick as his adrenaline left him. With his stick secured in his grasp, Andrew crossed over to the banks of the stream, glad that his burnt hands were not hurting as much as he thought they would. The bag had only been in the fire for a minute at most, but Andrew wanted to see the damage for himself. If the bag was destroyed, Andrew prayed that there was at least something to salvage.

Thankfully, it seemed that Andrew wouldn’t have to worry about that. Sighing a breath of relief, Andrew brought his waterproofed hiking bag up from the stream. Though it wasn’t entirely free of water, Andrew was sure the internal compartments were thoroughly dry. Picking his thermos from the bag, the bottle mercifully unheated, he unscrewed the cap and took a long pull from the bottle.

“So much for resting and recuperating,” he grumbled, eyes coasting to the remains of his ruined meal.

---

By the end of his second hour at camp, Andrew had safely snuffed out his campfire, made sure that all his supplies were with him, and begun to move towards the ongoing pillar of smoke to the north. His earlier estimation seemed to be wrong as the sun began to quickly pick up its once faltering pace, the orb now estimated by Andrew to dip below the horizon within the next two hours. Andrew was still determined to make it to the northern campfire, and so he pushed through the pain in his leg and hiked further north.

Within the first hour, Andrew was able to walk without too much of a hassle. By the second hour, however, the terrain began to slope more and more, causing Andrew to take breaks more frequently. Quickly, his supply of water began to dip lower and lower, just like the sun above him, or rather, below; night had fallen, yet the moon still lingered out of sight. In the pitch black, Andrew had lost the smoke, but he remained transfixed to the invisible path before him, crossing over the slopes without rest. Now he was desperate to find the fire, and if he was unable to by the time the moon rose, he feared that the fatigue that had been creeping into his mind would force him to make camp.

But yet again, Andrew showed that he wasn’t one to quit.

An hour later found the moon rising above the land, and still, Andrew walked. He walked, walked, and walked. The teenager could see nothing before him but the thoughts of who he was to meet across the next hill, or the next, or the next one after that. Eventually, things settled into a blur for Andrew; he was incredibly tired. Shaking his head, Andrew sank his walking stick into the land before him and pulled himself forward. He was tired, but he was not smart enough to stop, his journey further fueled by his determination to reach the encampment. If any of his friends were watching, they would call him stupid, and he would disagree; he knew someone was there, and they were close.

Unbeknownst to Andrew, two more hours had passed in the relative quiet of the plains. Andrew wasn’t sure how far he’d walked at this point, but the hilly terrain had left him and he was now crossing through a moonlit flatland of grass, so he assumed that he had gone quite a distance. Vegetables were scarce in the new zone, but grass was plentiful. Had he been more awake, Andrew would have noted the land seemed perfect for grazing.

Suddenly, Andrew jolted into an awakened state. Before him, scattered in the moonlight, was the same pillar of black smoke he had seen hours prior. Andrew nearly tossed his stick to the side, but managed to hold on to it as he sped up to go over the small hill between him and the campsite. As he crested the landform, he stood stock still in the darkness, staring down at the glowing embers of the campfire, hardly believing.

Looking up, a black pegasus colt whinnied up to Andrew.

Pleasantly surprised, Andrew dumbly slid down the hill, a combination of a tactically-placed rock and his low energy sending him sprawling across the grassy earth. The pegasus colt was immediately by his side, nuzzling him with worried snorts.

“I’m good,” Andrew wheezed as he sat upwards. He smiled woozily and ran a hand through the pony’s mane. “S’all good…”

With his final words spoken, Andrew slumped backwards, out like a light.

---

Andrew awoke to the all too familiar sounds of ponies bickering. Groaning, he went to sat up, but something pushed against his chest, keeping him pinned to the ground. It wasn’t enough to stop Andrew entirely, as he knew he could easily overpower a pony, but nevertheless, he stayed put and opened his eyes. Shooting a questioning glance to the colt looking down at him in fear, Andrew remained silent and looked to the source of the ongoing arguments.

The grey pegasus mare, who he recalled as the herd leader, was currently talking to a tall, black stallion. Andrew attempted to bring himself upwards, ready to beat the stallion into submission once more, but then he saw that the stallion was different from the one yesterday. Unfortunately, Andrew’s sudden start attracted the attentions of the two, causing the colt holding him down to let out a groan and send a glare to Andrew.

"Bushkeeper," the stallion addressed, stepping over to Andrew. He bowed low as Andrew stood, dusting himself off. The stallion looked up at Andrew, expression hopeful. "You bring bush food?"

“Fire.”

The stallion tilted his head at that. Andrew sighed at his increasingly common mistake and looked around for the smoke. Spotting the ever-increasing smog, Andrew pointed. “It’s been getting bigger.”

"The mountains." The mare stomped up to Andrew and the stallion. "The bushkeeper has no food. We will continue to the mountains." Andrew said nothing as the stallion went aside with the mare again, their conversation untranslated for him. He was glad to be unable to hear the discussion taking place; it would be awfully one-sided for him to get yelled at for most of it. Andrew looked down when the colt began to tug at his leg. It grinned up at him, then pranced over to a small circle of rocks.

A campfire.

As the colt began to toss in a pile of twigs, which Andrew realized had come from his open hiking pack nearby, he realized that the colt had made the campfire.

“How?” The human knelt down, watching in awe as the colt began to strike his hoof against a stone, causing obvious pain to the colt, but emitting sparks in return. Soon enough, a blaze had started in a modest pile of grass tinder, and after dumping it into the pile, the colt looked up to Andrew for approval.

“You only saw it once!” Andrew cried, spreading his arms wide. “How could you have replicated everything so perfectly?” He took the hoof that the colt had used to make sparks and inspected it slowly. “And it should be impossible for you to do this with your hoof, yet, you also managed to figure out how to use your hoof to start a fire!”

The colt simply gave a grin and puffed his chest forward. Andrew smiled wholeheartedly at that and relinquished the hoof back to its owner.

“Don’t get cocky,” he laughed. Ruffling the colt’s mane, Andrew stood with aching muscles and decided right then and there that the colt would become a prodigy for Andrew’s human innovations.

“How about Sparky?” Andrew slapped himself internally for the cheesy name, but still agreed entirely with it; a cocky kid who could make sparks with just hooves and a rock fit the bill for someone named Sparky. Sparky seemed to acknowledge that he had earned some sort of praise for the creation of the fire and simply continued to strut around, chest puffed out. A giggling duo of grown mares nearby put an end to his charade as he settled down in embarrassment.

Andrew turned to the grey mare and the black stallion as they approached again.

“Here we go… again.”

Author's Note:

'Pleasant' pegasi. They seem to be rubbing off on Andrew, are they not?

Comments

[AShadyDetective]

No seriously, it's official, Pegasus are A-holes

[Morphy]

8075663

I can only imagine how much worse gryphons are. Add in the shark beak and claws for extra fun if you end up in a fight with one. Owch.

At least he put the beatdown on that leader. Maybe they won't be so eager to pick a fight with a human next time? Or just prepare better.

[AShadyDetective]

8075688
Mess with the human you get the-
What do we have, nor horns but, I mean,

*comteplates life*

[Asheram]

8075788 Brains? They're learning things fairly quickly.

[Advent Link]

A long shot, but I wonder if the ponie's naming system came from the bushkeeper (forgot his name) and went on from there.
8075663 perhaps they just act harder than they are to hide their insecurities. Although throwing the bushkeeper's items into the fire does seem like a sore loser move.

[fractalman]

This would make a neat don't starve mod.

Edit: that pegasus is a JERK. Picking fights over territory is one thing, but throwing the guys bag into the fire just 'cause you're salty about loosing...

[Adjier]

More please.

This is quickly becoming my favorite story to read here.

[Odd_Sarge]

8075663
Hey! Not all of 'em... Hint hint, Sparky.

8075934
That's a real big long shot.
How could you forget our boy's name?
p.s. It's Andrew.

8076295

This would make a neat don't starve mod.

Curious. What exactly is this?

8076994
Already on it, cap'n. You shall get some cute things... later. Definitely not so cute for these few chapters.

[fractalman]

8077068
You really don't know? well...
https://www.kleientertainment.com/games/dont-starve

http://dontstarve.wikia.com/wiki/Don%27t_Starve_Wiki

It's a somewhat famous survival game. It has its own version of the grue, berries and carrots are generally going to be your first sources of food, and spiders are likely to be the first enemy you encounter (unless you do something stupid like attacking a beehive without a beekeeper hat or don't have a light source at night.). Expert players know to scout around once they've got an initial supply of food and other basics. You can also make a hat out of a bush, among other things.

You can also get (temporary) pig allies by feeding them meat, and nearly everything has the potential to kill you, including the mostly friendly pigs.

It even has periodic megafuana attacks.

[Odd_Sarge]

8077084
No, I know what Don't Starve is. I played it a lot, actually, haha.

Just, what do you mean 'this' is? What part of Bushkeeper would be a good mod?

Edit: I think I see what you mean, but I just need clarification.

[fractalman]

8077100 adding apple trees that are guarded by spiders, replacing pigs with ponies, and having random wildlife that occasionally offers food trades...if you manage to avoid pissing them off, of course.

[Odd_Sarge]

8077105
Oh. Yeah, I can see that, haha.

That's actually a hilarious thought. Thank you for sharing.

[DerpyDucks]

Eh starting a fire with flint and hoof!? Sounds painful.

[Odd_Sarge]

8077203
Very.

[ArcaneVisions]

Time to become grand bush keeper ruler of all lands.

[BronyZandermon]

I like this story, but the lack of urgency is killing me!

[Enmar]

like the story, but it does lack that sense of urgency