• Published 19th Feb 2017
  • 10,374 Views, 621 Comments

Bushkeeper - Odd_Sarge



A hiker strays a little too far from the trail. Consequently, he's just discovered the hike of a lifetime.

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3 - Families

What the pegasus lacked for in height, he made up for in speed. Andrew was just barely able to sidestep the pegasus as it barreled past him.

“Woah!”

“Woah,” Mint agreed from the sidelines. The pegasus threw its wings outwards, halting its drifting form. Within seconds, the pegasus was hurtling back towards Andrew.

"I was expecting a good old fistfight, not a game of wipeout!” He dodged another kick aimed at him. The pegasus snorted, landing on the ground. The black creature pawed at the earth, crouching low in preparation for another boosted launch. Ready to make some sort of effort in the game, Andrew bent down, arms out by his sides. With a snarl, the pegasus took flight. Andrew’s eyes widened as the pegasus came straight towards his chest, its hooves held out forward.

“This is gonna—” Andrew felt all of the air in his lungs leave him as he and the pegasus, the attacker held firmly in his grip, went tumbling down into the green grass. “—hurt,” he wheezed out weakly as he lay on his back.

The pegasus squirmed in his grip, squawking indignantly. Andrew felt the pegasus’ hooves smacking against his chest in a futile attempt to get free. The black wings that had sent the pegasus flying around Andrew now lay trapped between Andrew’s elbow and chest, twitching slowly, unable to move in its constrained form.

"Gotcha.” Andrew chuckled, grunting as one of the hooves caught him hard in the stomach. He sat up, holding the rambunctious pegasus close to his chest to prevent an escape. He looked down at the screeching creature, cringing at the high-pitched wail. “Cut it out, man. I caught you fair and square.” The pegasus stared up at him, silent for a moment. Andrew opened to his mouth to praise the feisty fighter for his compliance, only for the pegasus to begin whimpering, tucking his tail between his hind legs.

When a grey pegasus came flying over to Andrew, he realized that the black pegasus was much smaller than he seemed; it was three fourths the size of the mare. Andrew stood up, stumbling backwards as the mare stomped her hooves on the ground in front of him hard enough to send dirt flying.

“You’re just a kid,” Andrew sighed, looking down at the whimpering colt reaching for his mother. Gently, Andrew dropped the colt to the ground and took another cautious step back, watching the colt run to his mother. The mare huffed, swatting the teary-eyed colt on the nape of his neck with the tip of her wing. She sat down and pulled him into her lap with both wings, making comforting coos as he shivered.

Andrew took a look behind him, the unicorns’ attentions focused upon the colt and his mother. Mint looked a little saddened, lips curved downward in a frown as she held his hood of blueberries. Andrew got an idea from the sight.

“Mint.” All ears perked up in the herd, drawing their attention away from the colt. Andrew chuckled, snapping his fingers and pointing at Mint. “Mint.” He gestured for her to come forward with a finger. “Bring me my berries.” Mint’s eyes focused on his finger, mesmerized. Andrew slapped the hand against his forehead. “Right, I forgot.” Stepping over to the mare, he held his hand outward. Mint took notice of what he wanted and took a step forward, dropping the sack into his hand.

“Thanks.” After shooting a smile to the mare, Andrew walked back over to the colt. The mare holding the colt looked up at him, teeth bared for a moment, dropping the look once she saw the berry that Andrew held between two fingers. The pegasus herd behind her seemed to realize that Andrew had food, all eyes immediately drifting to his sack of berries. The mare whinnied, nudging her colt with her snout. The black colt turned, eyes widening as they landed on the berry. Andrew crouched down, not quite eye level with the colt, but close enough.

“Here.” He offered the berry to the colt, smiling. The colt looked up at him, then back to the berry. Andrew sighed, rolling his eyes. “Just like when Mint first ran into me,” he mused. He waved the berry in front of the colt. “Take the—”

Chomp!

Andrew pulled back, alarmed. “Woah?” Andrew chuckled, shooting a look back at Mint.

“No, It’s woah. It’s not a question, see?”

“Woah.”

Andrew snapped his fingers at Mint again. “You got it.” He returned to the colt, extending another berry. “Now let’s try that—” Andrew leaned backward as the colt lunged for the berry again. “Aha! You didn’t get—”

Chomp!

Andrew paused, bringing his saliva covered fingers in front of him. He turned around and frowned at the chewing Mint.

“Really?” The mare didn’t respond, content to sit there enjoying the berry. Andrew returned to the pegasus herd, all staring down his bag with a fierce hunger in their eyes. Sighing, he stood up, reaching a hand into the bag.

“Here we go again,” he grumbled, beginning a berry trail back to the thicket.


The black pegasus colt seemed to have forgotten that he had tried to kick Andrew, now content to lie at the human’s feet. The pegasus herd had followed Andrew back to the bushes, but not before Andrew had told off some of the unicorns that had come forth to nip at Andrew’s new followers. The campground held a tense atmosphere as both pegasus and unicorn alike watched each other, hoarding away berries for their own herds.

“Hey! Play nice you two!” Andrew walked over to the green unicorn and the grey pegasus that stood over a berry that had fallen to the ground. The grey pegasus’ ears flopped down to the side of her head, backing down. The green unicorn seemed to take it as a victory, whinnying as he bent down and gulped down the berry. Andrew rolled his eyes, pushing the stallion away.

“Get outta here, Greeny.” Greeny snorted, plucking another berry from the bush. He held it between his teeth, made one last glare at the pegasus mare, and went over to Mint, where he placed down his offering. Andrew shot an apologetic smile at the pegasus. “Sorry about that.”

He picked a berry from a higher part of the bush, brighter and just a little bit bigger than the rest, and held it in front of the mare. She hesitatingly swiped it from his fingers.

"You guys sure like biting my fingers.” Andrew watched with an eyebrow raised as the mare went to his side. “What are you doing?” He chuckled as her tail brushed against his chin, the mare doing a full circle around him. “Being cute I…” He paused, staring the mare down as she held his hood in her teeth. “... on second thought, you’re real sneaky.” Snorting, the mare dropped the bag to the ground and nosed out a few berries. Filling her pile up to some sort of personal limit, she then nosed the bag back towards him.

“Huh.” Andrew scratched his chin as he tucked the corner of the hood back into his pocket. “You guys really are smarter than you look.”

“Woah!”

"What is it— oof!” Andrew went tumbling down to the ground as a unicorn barreled past him. “Hey!” He stumbled back to his feet, staring at the disappearing forms of a green and azure unicorn. Before Andrew could do anything else, another tug on his jeans sent the hood of berries to the ground. He gave a disapproving look to the pegasus mare as she slowly ate.

“You know what? I like your style.” Andrew sat down, pressing the lower part of his back to the mare’s side. She did not move. Andrew reached over, grabbing a berry at random from the pile and tossing it into his mouth. “Yeah… that’s good,” he hummed. The mare agreed, her own reverberation of pleasure shaking through her throat.

“So…” The mare brought her head up from the ground and glanced at the resting human. “How ya doin?” She snorted, returning to the berries. Andrew laughed. “Yeah, I figured you weren’t much of a conversationalist.”

The two sat in silence for a while, eating their fill of Andrew’s berry pouch. Andrew felt the mare stop moving, the mare setting her head down with a sigh. He moved on to watching the unicorns and pegasi herds eat from their own stockpiles. Eventually, everyone had seemed to have eaten as much as they wanted, as many of the adults settled down to rest their weary hooves. The foals, despite their parents’ vocal displeasure, however, took the time to enjoy their much larger group of playmates.

“At least the little guys get along.” Andrew pressed closer to the warm mare’s side, smiling as he watched the foals play. He glanced over at the mare for just a moment. “Don’t you think that’s nice?” All he got from the pegasus was a snort. “Wait, are you actually sleeping?” Andrew slowly turned back to the rest of clearing when the mare did not reply. “Sleepy ponies…” he observed of the rest of the adults’ states. He brought his hands to the back of his head, leaning over the back of the mare. Andrew stared up at the bright green canopy above, smiling.

“Wish I could sleep just like that…” he muttered, closing his eyes. Just as he felt the blackness beginning to take him away, a hoof prodded him in the chest. He looked down, peeking out of one eye at the black pegasus staring at him.

“Come on,” Andrew groaned, standing up to stretch. The pegasus stared up at him, eyes and mouth wide with curiosity. He raised an eyebrow at the colt. “Whaddya need, squirt?” The colt did a full circle around Andrew, the teenager watching carefully as he himself spun. The pegasus gave a tentative sniff of one of Andrew’s boots, then, with one last look at Andrew’s face, settled down beside his mother, immediately swept under one of the great, grey wings.

“Right,” Andrew sighed wistfully, watching the colt smile as he took the place of Andrew. He gave a cheeky grin to the two before he walked away. “That’s your momma.”

The remaining foals were still available for interaction, but Andrew was far more interested in the other ponies. Specifically, Mint and Greeny. Carefully avoiding the many tails that lay about the clearing, and maneuvering around the frolicking foals, Andrew pushed his way out of the clearing in the direction that the two unicorns had disappeared. Looking around for a moment, Andrew found a trail of hoofprints and cautiously began to follow them.

Yet again, Andrew found himself attracted to the flora around him. It was the prettiest environment that he had the pleasure of walking in, and he had been to New Zealand’s luscious green hills. There was a lovely grove of birch trees just a little ways from the campground, littered with many flat stones and a small hole in the canopy, just big enough to allow a pleasant beam of sunlight into the area. Filing away the location for later, Andrew pushed through another bramble of bushes and into another clear area.

Andrew paused, breath held as he saw the two unicorns. He retreated a little ways back into the brush, watching the couple.

Mint sat by a clear blue lake, head leant down to watch a group of fish swimming by the shore. Greeny came up from behind, a bright red rose held between his teeth. Mint flicked an ear and turned to the stallion, whinnying at the sight of the flower. As Greeny sat down with the delicate flower, Andrew was expecting Mint to come forward and take the flower from him. Instead, the mare scooted closer, and even more gently than any of the unicorns plucking a berry from the thicket, Greeny slid the rose between Mint’s ear and her head. Andrew left as quietly as possible, careful not to ruin the intimate moment.

And in that moment, Andrew finally thought of home.