The leaves ended up not harming him so much, but his stomach did feel on fire for a short amount of time, though it quickly subsided as soon as he got a drink of water and a nap. But it's been a few days since he's gotten himself lost in the cave system. He was cold, lonely, and desperately missing home.

His legs grew tired as he looked for what he assumed was his third night in the cavern, but the tunnels were too thin to lay in, much less to turn around and return to the larger chamber.

Bucephalus finally found the torchlight of a nearby Cave system, meaning he was either nearing home or somebody else's home, either way, he was closer and closer to finally getting home and laying spread out in his bed.

The cool breeze of the outside sent chills through him, as he luckily spotted what looked like a bundle of fabric on the ground, hopefully large enough to envelop him.

He glanced around for a second, hoping its true owner wasn't anywhere nearby before rushing over and reaching to grab it. He stopped right before reaching it, finally realizing it was a Golden Oak barding. The thought excited him, he must still be close enough to home!

Bucephalus reached down to grab the barding, but as he did he heard a scuttering of a larger bug and some clacking. Without thinking he shook the barding - two bugs flew out of separate parts, enticing something that Bucephalus could only call a bug brawl.

The larger of the two bugs was mesmerizing to look at - a stunning orange-yellow with what appears to be topaz embedded in its wings.

The clash kept going, soft clacking could be heard at certain intervals, but he didn't want to interrupt them, not knowing what started the brawl, and not wanting to get pinched in the process either - although the bugs weren't bigger than his hoof.

After a few minutes, he laid down, and a few after his eyes grew heavy until he finally rested.

______________________________

The next morning when he woke, Bucephalus blinked the sleep out of his eyes and went to get up and leave, but he noticed the beetle - the fight's victor - was lying on his forelegs. He looked at the bug momentarily, considering his options in this odd scenario. Maybe he liked the warmth his body temperature provided, perhaps he wanted company as well, lost, afraid, alone.

He decided to keep him, nudging the beetle lightly before nodding his head to his back. The beetle eyed him briefly - clacking its mandibles lightly - before skittering up his shoulder and firmly on his back.

He waited for his new friend to settle himself securely before heaving himself up and heading to the barding.

Upon closer inspection, the barding was of a fine quality, not just the Golden Oak, but most likely belonged to a high-ranking member. Bucephalus eyed the fabric wearily before putting it on gently, taking care not to annoy his new insect friend, who gently moved out of the way when the barding covered his spot, before returning to the middle of his back and laying as well as a beetle could.

He huffed slightly and traveled towards the cold breeze, hopefully homeward.