"You know Ren, I still don't understand why you play video games in the morning."
"Because Mason, it's a hobby of mine. I even do this before I get ready for school."
"Really? Do your parents know that, Ren?" I paused at the question Carrie said.
"Umm...No?" I replied sheepishly. Carrie and Kodi giggled at the answer while Mason just shook his head. After we woke up and ate our breakfast, I was busy playing Street Fighter V again, as it's one of my top ten favorite games ever! The others are Mario, Sonic, Pokemon, and such. "But anyway, you must play games, right Mason?"
"Sorry, but I do training everyday, so I don't have the chance to play video games." Mason replied, causing me and Kodiak to gasp in horror.
"What?!" I exclaimed in shock. "But why?!"
"Yeah, I thought all humans like playing video games?" Kodi thought with a raised brow.
"Well, most of them, but not for me." Mason replied, glancing away. I shrugged as soon as I finish the fight with Cammy. Good job girl, we defeated the final boss thanks to your skills Cammy!
"Whoa, you're so good at video games!" Kodi exclaimed in joy.
"Thanks, it's the second most skillful thing I ever do, besides painting and drawing of course."
"So, when do we go outside and go play with our friends?" Carrie asked, wanting to go outside so badly.
"Alright, we can go you guys." I said, saving my game profile and turning the Xbox One off. "Let's go, besides, I just finish anyway."
"Yay!" Kodi and Carrie cheered in unison as I grabbed my Hacking Gun and put on my shoes. As we left the home-ship, we began heading our way to the main square of Ponyville.
"Hey Ren, did you say that art is your second most favorite thing you like to do?" Carrie asked, surprising me a bit.
"Yeah, I love doing that since the second grade, it was like my favorite thing to do, beside playing video games." I replied with a soft smile.
"Really? You must really do well with painting if you love it so much." Mason said, smiling softly at me, causing me to rub my head bashfully and blush a bit.
"Yeah..." I nodded.
"Hey, wait Ren, didn't you say you were planning on trying to get a job as a painter here in Ponyville a while ago?" Kodi reminded me, causing me to widened my eyes.
"Oh crap baskets, I forgot!" I exclaimed in shock. "Thanks for reminding me, Kodiak!"
"You were planning on becoming a painter here?" Carrie asked, confuse on why would I do that.
"Well of course, you guys, I thought earning some money here so that we don't have to worry about buying stuff while we're here.“ I answered as we finally arrived to Ponyville. ”But you know…I guess I should ask Twilight for help to in order to get the job.“
“Well, I hope you’ll do well Ren!” Kodi supported me, causing me to smile back at him.
“Yeah, we know you’ll do awesome, and maybe paint me a picture of me and Mason?” Carrie suggested, causing Mason to blush lightly, but tried to hide it away by covering his mouth with his scarf. I chuckled a bit to hear that Mason would like to see it too, oh well, I won’t mind.
“Sapphire Shores, we love you!” We stopped and looked to see many ponies forming a crowd and cheering for somepony, but I don’t what it is. Soon, a pony came walking out of the crowd, and to be honest, I was surprised to see what she looked like. She walked proudly among the streets like a famous celebrity, and everypony were gazing at her from behind. This pony had so many accesories and clothing that I bet she could rival Lady Gaga with that. She even had a mix of blue and light blue on her mane and tail and even wore a light purple eye shadow and a white top hat above her head.
“Whoa..who’s that?” Carrie asked in surprise.
“To be honest, I have no idea.” I responded with eyes raised upon seeing her. She must be famous if she got everypony’s attention.
“Well just looking at her just makes me dizzy…” Kodi said, his eyes swirling around, as he fell on his butt.
“Hmm…maybe we should see Rarity.” Mason suggested.
“Really? Why’s that?” I asked in confusion.
“Because she left her shop the moment the crowd appeared.” Mason specified. Oh, I guess that makes sense. We walked over to Rarity’s shop, she apparently walked out of it, along with Twilight and Spike.
“Can you believe it?” Rarity asked. “I can’t! She wants to buy my dresses! But the only this is…I need to get more gems!”
“I’ll help you Rarity!” Spike immediately offered, looking disoriented.
“Oh Spike, really? That would be fantastic!” Rarity replied with a gleeful smile.
“Hey girls, what’s up?” I called out to them.
“Oh hey Ren, Kodi, Carrie, and Mason.” Twilight noticed us as she said “We were just introduced by none other than Sapphire Shores!” She and Rarity got excited, leaving us confuse.
“Sapphire Shores? Who’s that?” Carrie asked curiously.
“If I had to guess, it was that pony we saw that got everyone excited and happy.” Mason deduced.
“Oh, right. So what’s so special about her?” I asked curiously, causing Rarity to gasp in shock.
“You don’t know who she is?!” Rarity exclaimed, grabbing both my cheeks. “She’s the pony of pop!”
“So technically, she’s a singer?” Kodi questioned.
“Oh wow, that’s so cool!” Carrie exclaimed in joy. “I wonder if we’ll meet her again!”
“Well, don’t worry.” Twilight assured. “Because Rarity needs to get a lot more gems to make five more dresses for her.”
“Five dresses for her made from gems?” Kodi asked in concern. “Are you sure you can do that Rarity?”
“Of course, Kodiak!” Rarity scratched his ear, much to his joy. “Besides, Spike is going to help me!”
“I don’t know Rarity, I’m no Gemologist, but Gems are really hard to find.” I said, crossing my arms. “Are you sure you can find them?”
“Of course I do Ren!” Rarity nodded with a smile. “You see, not only do I use my horn for designing dresses, I can also find gems with it! Isn’t it amazing?”
“Wait what?” I asked in shock.
“So wait, you can use your horn to find gems?” Carrie asked with a smile.
“That’s so cool! How do you do that?” Kodi asked.
“Well, I got this from when I was a filly, but it’s a long story.” Rarity chuckled. “But anyway, Spike!”
“Yes, Rarity?” Spike immediately rushed over to Rarity, holding his hands together near his chest. Wow, guess he’s quite energetic to find some gems since…you know, he’s a dragon and they eat gems like Twilight said.
“Get the little red wagon, would you? We’re going on a gem hunt!” Spike nodded and rushed over to get it.
“Say Rarity, are you sure you don’t need any help?” I offered, which Rarity waved off.
“Of course not, Ren darling, I’ll be fine.” Rarity said.
“Are you sure? Because carrying a whole load of gems in a little wagon seems kinda hard.” Kodi added, which Rarity began to realize that.
“Well, when you put it that way…”
“I’m back Rarity!” Spike brought back the red wagon. “Here you go, Ms. Rarity! Anything else you need?”
“Good news Spike! Ren will be accompanying us.” Rarity exclaimed, causing Spike to be a little disappointed and me rubbing my head bashfully.
“Yeah, about that Rarity, I can’t.” I said, surprising her, Spike, and Twilight.
“What? Why not?!” Rarity asked in shock.
“You guys remember when I said I wanted to get a job?” I reminded them, which Twilight nodded.
“Well yes, I think it was back before Mason and Carrie woke up from those chambers and you felt bad that you had to borrow some bits from Princess Celestia. So you decided to look for a job as a painter.” Twilight explained.
“Mm-hmm, I was sorta reminded by Kodiak, now I’m going to find a job.” I said, before smiling nervously. “But problem is, I’m going to need to some help.”
“Well, I can help you.” Twilight offered. “I’m sure you’ll get the job in no time.”
“Thanks Twilight.” I said happily, but I also noticed Spike letting out a sigh of relief. Strange, why is he so joy that I’m not helping out?
“Well I’m coming too, Ren!” Kodi said, jumping up and down. I smiled softly and started to scratch his ear.
“Thanks bud.” I said.
“Well then, I guess it’ll be just me and Spike then.” Rarity sighed, until Mason spoke up.
“I’ll help you.” Mason said, crossing his arms. We were all caught by surprised to hear that.
“R-really?!” Rarity gasped.
“Yes, think of it as a make-up for what I said when we arrived to this world.” Mason said in a serious tone before turning to his sister. “Carrie, you can go play with your friends at the clubhouse.”
“Okay.” Carrie nodded as Mason turned back to Rarity.
“I’ll be able to help you with carrying the gems.” Mason said, which made Rarity smiled happily.
“Oh thank you so much Mason, I’ll never forget your act of chivalry!” Rarity exclaimed, which Spike sighed sadly. Seriously, what’s up with him?
“Well anyway, we wish you good luck, Rarity.” Twilight said, smiling at them. “Be careful out there!”
“Thank you, Twilight. We shall!” Rarity nodded. “Come on then, let’s go search for gems! Spike, bring the red wagon please!”
“You got it Rarity!” Spike said as he grabbed the red wagon and he and Spike by Rarity, following her to wherever she was going to search for the gems.
“I hope big brother will do alright.” Carrie said in worried.
“Don’t worry Carrie, after seeing your brother in action from the slumber party, I’m sure he’ll protect Rarity and Spike from danger.” I assured, much to Carrie’s joy.
“Okay.” Carrie nodded as I turned to Twilight and said “So, how am I going to get a job as a painter?”
“Well, it might take a while, but I’m sure Mayor Mare will gladly let you have the job if you paint her a portrait.” Twilight suggested.
“A portrait of what?” Kodi asked. I rubbed my chin for a while before realizing what I could paint for her.
“I think I got it!” I said, snapping my fingers. “But first…let me take you to the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse, like Mason said.”
“Yay!” Carrie exclaimed happily as we headed over to Applejack’s farm. I just hope Mason and the others will do great.
Mason’s POV
Well, that didn’t take long. We finally arrived into some ruined wasteland that seems that nobody has ever used before. I just loooked to only see a mountain or rocks and a few trees in this area. I feel bad for the animals that used to live here to lose their precious homes.
“Oh my gosh!” I overheard Spike as he began to talk excitedly as soon as Rarity’s horn started to glow, probably in search of the gems. “Sapphire Shores! The Pony of Pop! She is awesome! I mean, she’s gorgeous, talented and-”
“Spike…” I called out to him.
“Yeah, Mason?” Spike asked, confused on what I wanted. I glanced at Rarity, who was staring at Spike as he felt like she was offended.
“Oh, well she’s not even half the pony you are. I mean, you’re ten times more gorgeous and talented and…” Spike tried to find the right words, but Rarity gave him a reassuring smile. “Spike, a lady is never jealous.” Rarity responded.
“Eh, of course not. But were you totally flipping out or what?” Spike reminded her, causing me to raise a brow at her.
“Ladies do not ‘flip out’, Spike. However, I was quite in awe.” Rarity reassured as her horn began glowing again, causing her to search around more areas. Soon, I felt something coming out of my scarf as I found Nate and Maddy waking up from their nap. I smiled softly and started petting them, before Rarity let out a gasp.
“Oh, aha!”
“Did you find some?” Spike aske, hopping off a rock that he was sitting on.
“Yes, Spike! Right here!” Rarity pointed. Spike walked over to the spot and began digging with his hands until he spotted them with his own eyes.
“Ooooo!” Spike stated as he licked his lips and drooled. “You look so delicious…” I guess he has a love towards gems. Hmm, I should probably ask Twilight for some info if I’m going to learn all the creatures here in Equestria. Soon, I noticed Spike dug into a hole, picking out a handful of jewels.
“Alright Nate and Maddy, I gotta help my companions, I’ll play with you later.” I said, which they nodded and went back inside of my scarf. I walked over to them and helped take some gems out of the hole and put them on the wagon. I then noticed Spike was about to shove a jewel into his stomach without nobody noticing, but I stopped him.
“Spike, you can eat that later, focus on the task Rarity gave us and stop fooling around.” I said sternly, which Spike lowered his head.
“Fine…” He walked over and put the gem into the wagon along, with the other other gems that I put in. “Hm…I will miss you, my sweets.” Oh brother…
“Come along, boys.” Rarity said. “We have many jewels to find.”
“At your service, my lady.” Spike bowed to her.
“Yes, Rarity.” I bowed to her as well as we began searching for many jewels. We did much digging and searching around the place, but we managed to find them. Rarity and I had to scold Spike a lot as he was trying to eat the gems himself. Sometimes, that dragon needs to learn obedience and control his instincts.
Once the wagon was full of gems, Spike stood nearby, drooling and licking his lips while I was trying to catch my breath after carrying a loud of gems under the hot sun.
“You’ve been very patient today, Spike. And for that, you’ll get your finest reward.’ Rarity patted Spike on the head before turning to me. ”As for you Mason, I’m sure I’ll find-“
“No thank you.“ I said, wiping off the sweat from my head. ”It’s okay, I don’t need a reward, just helping out for a companion.“ I’m getting hot, guess I should take off my sweater. As soon as I took out my sweater, I was only wearing my gray tank top, which made Rarity blushed a bit to see my muscles. ”What?“
“O-oh nothing, it’s just that I never seen you without your sweater, but you have some nice muscles for a human.” Rarity said, glancing away while blushing. I let out a sigh and put my sweater back on. I noticed Spike glaring at me, and I think I know the reason why. I began pulling the cart and we began heading our way back to Ponyville.
“This is from me to you.” I glanced to see Rarity handing Spike a light blue gem from the wagon to him. Spike licked his lips and was about to eat it, but stopped.
“Is there something wrong, Spike?” Rarity asked in concern.
“No, it’s perfect.” Spike replied as he smiled at Rarity and held the gem close to his chest. Yep, totally called it.
“Oh, okay then.” Rarity nodded as we began heading our way out. While pushing the cart, Spike walked over to me.
“Hey Mason.”
“Yes Spike?”
“I was wondering if you knew any advice about…girls.” I raised a brow at him. Is he asking me for advice on girls?
“Why?”
“Well…” Spike looked over to see Rarity humming to herself before turning back to me. “Promise me that you won’t tell anypony! Especially Rarity!”
“Okay…” I said, letting out a sigh. So great, he’s promising me to keep a secret from anyone, but I’m sure someone with half a brain will know his secret, even Ren. Spike whispered through my ear and said “I have a crush on Rarity.”
“Uh-huh….” I said, with a knowing smirk and rolling eyes.
“Yeah, but I was wondering how to find cute girls, like working out. I mean you worked out judging by those small muscles and I though Big Macintosh had good muscles, but I guess he isn’t the only one here in Ponyville, eh?” Spike nudged me, causing me to blush a bit.
“Sorry Spike, but you got the wrong person to ask advice towards women.” I replied, causing Spike to slump down in disappointment. I then let out a smirk and said “But here’s advice you must remember: You need to be nice to a woman and show her respect.”
“Okay, you got it Mason. By the way, like Rarity said, you really have nice muscles. You must really work hard.” Spike commented, which I nodded. I just hope Carrie is doing well back at Ponyville. I’m still confused about this situation. Why was I on that spaceship? I swear that if Ren makes an assumption of being kidnapped by aliens, I’m going to-
Suddenly, I saw a vision of myself having a machine on my head, as I seemed to be asleep as I didn’t move a muscle, what was that? What’s going on? It was like it was going so static as if something was preventing me from remembering.
“Ugh!” I said, stopping the cart and putting my hand on my head. What the heck was that?! Was that…a memory?
“Mason, are you alright?” Spike asked as he and Rarity looked at me in worried.
“Y-yeah, I think so.” I said, rubbing my head. Man, that really hurt. That just came out of nowhere. Just…what the heck was that?
“Well, just be careful, you nearly gave me a-Huh?” Suddenly, Rarity stopped herself as her horn started glowing again, leading her to somewhere else. “Oh! What’s this? Another jewel. Oh, strange.” She followed where her horn was leading and stopped in front of a bunch of trees. “It’s in the trees.” She spotted a gold gem up on top of the tree. Wait, something’s off, gems are supposed to be found on the ground, not up on trees. Before I could respond, a strange creature popped out.
“Uh…uh….” Rarity nervously smiled at the creature as she started backing away from it. “Good day, gentle…uh, fellow. I am Rarity and these are my friends, Spike and Mason.” Was that really necessary to give your and our’ names to this creature?
“Ehe…” Spike chuckled nervously. I glared at the creature and walked towards it, grabbing my bamboo stick.
“Alright, who are you and what do you want?” I demanded, narrowing my eyes.
The creature jumped out of the trees and walked towards us. “A diamond dog.” What? The heck’s a diamond dog? “And what we want…is to hunt.”
“Um…we?” Rarity asked, hiding behind of me.
“We hunt for gems, But you are a better hunter. So now we hunt..for you!” Wait what? Before any of us could respond, we started to hear digging noises. It’s coming from behind, but I turned around, two more of those diamond dogs appeared. One of them tried to grab Rarity, but luckily, she ducked in time.
“Hang on Rarity, I’m coming!” I exclaimed, but I was pushed aside by the dog in front of me pushed me aside and chased after Rarity. I growled and began pursuing after them. Spike tried to stop them by digging at their tails with his tail.
“Run, Rarity! Run!” Spike shouted before grabbing onto one of the dog’s legs, causing him to trip and grab the other dog’s tail and make him fall as well. I ran towards them and grab my bamboo stick before jumping up into the air and attempted to attack them. Unfortunately, one of them noticed me and tackled me, sending me off a distance from them. Well, that happened.
I slowly got up to see Rarity about to be pounce by one of the diamond dogs. “Gotcha!” Oh no, you don’t! I narrowed my eyes and ran as fast I could before grabbing my bamboo stick and swatted him away.
“Hey!” Soon, the dog growled angrily at me. Spike tried to help by trying to fight him, but he kicked him away, causing me to grit my teeth. That bastard, kicking an innocent child..I mean dragon child!
“You bastard!” I ran as I tried to attack him with my bamboo stick, but the two dogs grabbed and threw me awy, knocking me into a nearby tree. It’s so hard fighting off three powerful monsters like dogs.
“WAAH!” I opened my eyes to see Rarity being kidnapped by the Diamond Dogs and began heading towards their hole. I began getting back up and tried to go after them, but due to the pain they gave me, I was running as fast as I could. “Unhand me this instant, you ruffians! Stop! Put me down, you scum! You rough-”
“Rarity!” Spike called her. I caught up wit him as soon as Rarity got inside of the hole and struggled to stay out of it. “Ah, dirt!” She exclaimed. I immediately jumped and grabbed her hoof.
“Hang on Rarity!” I yelled as I tried pulling her up, but those three mutts grabbed her and pulled her deeper down. I wasn’t able to grab her hoof back as those mutts finally managed to pull her away from me.
“AAAHHH! SPIKE! MASON!” Rarity screaming as she was sucked in the hole.
“Which, what, where?” Spike muttered as he ran over to the hole.
“SAVE ME…!” Rarity screamed in an echo from a distance beyond the hole. I gritted my teeth and hit the ground with my fist in anger.
“NOOOOOOOOO!” Spike shouted.
“Dang it!” I screamed in anger. I then turned back to him with a serious expression. “Spike, I need you to head back to Ponyville and get the others!”
“W-wait, what about you?” Spike asked hesitantly.
“Just please get them!” I exclaimed, which he immediately nodded and ran off to get them. I dove down the hole and after several seconds, I finally landed on the groaned. I glanced around my surroundings and saw that I was some sort of underground dungeon or something. And great, they’re multiple holes that lead into different parts of the tunnel. Now, how am I going to find her?
“WAAAHH!” Well, that answers our question. I looked around to see the hole in the far right was where Rarity and those mutts are. I immediately followed that scream and I finally arrived, but hid behind the shadows, seeing Rarity backing away from the diamond dogs.
“Oh please, Diamond Dogs. Please let me go.” Rarity shivered in fear those dogs started laughing at her.
“No!” One of them stated.
“You’re our precious little pony!” The big one stated.
“For ever! Muhahahaha!” They began laughing again, while I clenched my fist in anger at them while I’m hiding. Once I get my grubby hands on these bastards, I’m gonna make sure they won’t harm anyone anymore.
“B-but whatever do you want from me?” Rarity asked, confused but still terrified.
“Gemsss!” The small one hissed. Gems? They’re interested in gems?
“Gems?” Rarity asked.
“Yes! The gems, the jewels!” The average one stated.
“Find them! Find them all!” The big one shouted.
“Oh! Is that all?” Rarity asked, tilting his head in confusion. I narrowed my eyes in anger to hear all of this. So you’re telling me is that these idiots just want to use Rarity to find gems with her gem-finding spell? Oh my god, you have got to be kidding me right now.
Rarity used her horn again and did what they asked. Rarity was searching for more jewels in the ground until she stopped, picked up a stick by using her horn’s magic and marked the spot with an X.
“There. A lovely pocket of jewels are there.” Rarity said as she began walking away from them. “Now, you would be so kind as to show me the exit?” Unfortunately, another dog wearing some armor pointed a sharp spear at her, causing me to growl in anger.
“Good!” One of the dogs hopped excitedly as he pointed his finger on the X-mark. “Now, dig them up, pony!”
“What?” Rarity raised a brow. “But you said you wanted me to find the gems.”
“Yes! Find and then dig!” The diamond dog demanded.
“Dig?” Rarity asked, feeling quite irrtitated now.
“Yes…Dig.” They nodded their heads as Rarity let out a moan and began digging it lightly, well actually, she was barely tapping the ground. I growled in anger as soon as I watched this, these dirty little bastards, treating someone like that. I’ll make them pay.
“Oh for goodness sake!” The medium-sized dog face-pawed himself. “Fine! Just stop. Stop! Dig, dogs! Dig!” He called toward the other guard dogs that were in a hole above them. “And fast!”
Well, at least he won’t force Rarity into doing more labor.
“She won’t dig, she pulls!” The big one announced, while they held up a saddle and a cart, causing me to widened their eyes. While the guards are digging the ground, the three stooges walked towards Rarity with the saddle.
“I beg your pardon?” Rarity replied with widened eyes as she began backing away from them. “But what, pray tell, are you doing?”
“Others will dog. You will haul the wagon.” The big one answered.
“Prrrecious pony pedi will be reserved.” The small one added as he placed the the saddle on her once she reached a dead end.
“Well, somebody certainly needs proper nail care. When was the last time you two had a manicure?” Rarity asked, noticing their messed-up fingers. “You’re scratching up my coat with those jagged things.” I made a sweat-drop upon hearing that. Is her looks more important than the situation she’s in? “Please be quiet!” The average on answered.
“Good heavens, what is that smell?” Rarity exclaimed, putting her hoof on his nose.
“Smeeeell?” The average asked as he released a horrid stench of his breath at Rarity. Man, that smells so bad, I could practically smell it from here.
“Ah, mystery solved. It’s your breath.” Rarity replied, waving her hoof away to get the smell away from her.
“Enough! Search, pony!” He ordered angrily.
“Well, since you insist…” Rarity muttered sadly at she began pulling the cart while finding gems and marking them with a stick. “But I must say the working conditions in here are simply dreadful. Musty and damp, it’s going to wreak havoc on my mane. And this air is stifling, suffocating. And when I try to take a deep breath, the stench of all you dogs makes me nauseated.” Is it just me or she just keeps complaining because of their work conditions, because I don’t think that’s the problem here! “And when I try to take a deep breath, the stench of all you dogs makes me nauseated. You look and smell like if you haven’t bathed in weeks. Have you never heard of soap? You could all do with a good round of soap and water. Water, water, I’m terribly thirsty. Could I please have some water?”
Oh my god, how does Ren handle her? She’s annoying as-Huh? The Diamond Dogs were covering their ears from her constant complaining. Are they sensible to hearing or something?
“Good gracious, I can’t take this anymore.” The small dog pulled his ears. “BE QUIET ALREADY, YOU PONY!”
“And that’s another thing.” Rarity persisted. “I would appreciate if you stopped calling me ‘pony’. I am a lady and I wish to be addressed as such. So you may call me ‘Miss’ or ‘Rarity’ or ‘Miss Rarity’.” Are all ponies like that? Always give their names to stranger or kidnappers like them? Because they’re pretty stupid.
“Enough!” The average dog yelled as he pulled his ears. “Your whining! It hurts!”
“Whining? I am not whining. I am complaining. Do you want to hear whining? Thiiis iiis whiining! Oooh, this harness is too tiight! It’s going to chafe. Can’t you loosen it? Oooh, it hurts and its sooo ruuusty! Rairty continued to complain in a high pitched voice, even starting to annoy me. ”Why didn’t you clean it first? It’s gonna leave a staaain! And the wagon’s getting heeeavy, why do I have to pull it?!“
“Ahh! Make it stop!” The little dog ordered, covering his ears.
“Stop whining!” The average one demanded, can’t take it anymore.
“But I thought you wanted whiining!” Rarity purposely answered, which I noticed. Ahhh, now I see where what she was doing. I guess I shouldn’t judge her like that.
“We’ll do anything, pony!” Th average one exclaimed. Rarity glared at them with an annoyed stare. “Oh, uh, we’ll do anything, ‘Miss Rarity’.” He laughed nervously.
“Anything?” Rarity questioned, dreamily. Oh god, she better not be taking this too far. Later, she had the dogs doing the work for her, as well as improving the conditions around her. As much as I wanted to save her, I still can’t save her as they’re too many guards, but yet again…I can still take them on. Anyway, I saw that the area was covered with ribbons as two guard dogs beside her fanned her. She was given water in a gold chalice. Unbelievable…I came to save her and she handles the situation herself. Rarity…you’re one pony I shouldn’t mess with.
Rarity took a sip from the water and pulled back, slightly disgusted. "Oh, this water is hardly sparkling. But I suppose it will have to do."
The three other dogs were pulling the heavy loads of gems until they stopped for some air. "Wait! Why are we doing this?" The average one asked. Oh, so now you noticed, eh?
"To stop the awful noises from the pony's mouth, remember?" The little one began imitating Rarity's whining but the average dog placed his paw on his mouth, trying to make him be quiet and silent. Now, what are these idiots up to, this time?
"Yes, yes, I know. This is ridiculous! Letting a pony order us around. What are we? Mice or dogs?" The average one asked.
“Mice!” They replied, which the average one glared at them, as they realized their answer. “Dogs!” These are gotta be the most dumbest kidnappers I’ve ever encountered.
The average dog stared at them for a moment, and then continued his speech. "Dogs do not pull. Ponies pull. Let her make the awful noises."
They walked up to Rarity and began placing the saddle on her. "What are you doing?" She asked. The average dog flicked her drink. "Hey, you spilled my drink. Oh!" Rarity began her whining. "Not sooo tiiight!"
"Ha! Make the noises all you want. But move while you make them. Hyah, mule!" He ordered Rarity, slapping her from behind.
I could instantly see the shift in Rarity's eyes. "Did you just call me a... mule?" She asked sadly. Alright, that’s it! I stepped out of the shadows and shouted “HEY UGLY!”
The Diamond Dogs looked back at me with widened eyes. “What the?! It’s that weird creature we encountered back at the surface! What are you doing here?!” The average one exclaimed, glaring at me.
“And what are you?!” The big one asked, scratching his head. I narrowed my eyes as I answered “That’s none of your business, you all are going to pay for hurting an innocent pony, so now I think its payback time.”
“Oh really? And how are you gonna stop us?” The small one asked, snarling at me. I smirked and crossed my arms, feeling quite confident at taking them again. Last time, I was just distracted and surprised by their appearance, but after seeing them, it seems that this fight is going to be easy.
“What’s the matter? You scared to take me on?” I asked, causing the Diamond Dogs to glare at me.
“Oh that’s it!” The average one clenched his fist in anger. “Guards!” Soon, many guards appeared from the ceiling and pointed their spears at me. I just smirked at them before grabbing ahold of my bamboo stick. Time to play…
Soon, all the guards came charging at me, which I instantly dodged all of their punches and such. I grabbed my bamboo stick and hit them over and over, on their heads, shoulders, knees, and even their…groins. One of them attempted to tackle me from behind, which I noticed and backed away before giving him a roundhouse.
I smirked as the three mutts that kidnapped Rarity jaw-dropped at what they were witnessing while Rarity smiled in glee. I nodded, but didn’t noticed that something tackled me, causing me to hit the wall, which my shoulder hit real hard.
“GAAAH!” I screamed in pain as I got up slowly and glared to see one of the guards was the one who tackled me, who began chuckling deviously and attempted to punch me. I instantly rolled underneath before karate chopping him on the back, falling unconscious. I grabbed my bamboo stick and held my shoulder in pain. Don’t worry, I’m fine, just a scratch.
After that was taken care of, the three Diamond Dogs backed away in fear while Rarity managed to get the saddle out of her back and ran straight towards me.
“Mason, darling! That was amazing!” Rarity complimented. “Thank you so much for saving me!” I nodded with a smirk before frowning and darkly glaring at the Diamond Dogs, who shivered in fear at my glare.
“Don’t thank me yet, we still have to deal with them first.” I replied, pointing towards the three.
“W-wait!” The big one yelled. “We don’t have to do this! We’ll do anything!”
“Yeah, I-I mean, we’re not scared of you or whatever!” The small one added, causing me grabbed my bamboo stick and gonna kick their butts.
“Who cares?!” The average one said, as he hid behind the big Diamond Dog. “Look, we’ll do anything, just please! Don’t hurt us!”
“Anything, eh?” I asked, interested. They nodded their hoods quickly as me and Rarity looked at each other before smirking at that idea. Anything, eh? Well, this has been intriguing.
Ren’s POV
“It’s…It’s…so beautiful!” Mayor Mare exclaimed happily. After we took Carrie to the Cutie-Mark Crusaders Clubhouse to go and play with her friends, we headed towards Mayor Mare’s office as me, Twilight, and Kodiak were talking to her about hiring me for the job as Ponyville’s Painter. She told me that if I want the job, I should prove to her how good I am. I made a portrait of herself, which was so perfect in every outline.
“That’s the most beautiful painting I’ve ever seen!” Mayor Mare, taking the portrait. “You’re hired Ren Loodan!” I raised my fist in the air, happy to hear that.
“Good job, Ren!” Kodi exclaimed happily as he jumped on my lap and nuzzle me. I smiled and scratched his ear.
“Congratulations Ren, you did it!” Twilight exclaimed, happy to hear that I got the job.
“Thanks you guys, although…” I rubbed my head bashfully and chuckled nervously. “I was starting to have doubts on myself, but I’m glad I got the job!”
“Yes, you can start next week, in the meantime, you don’t mind…”
“Yes Mayor Mare, you can keep it and it’s on the house!” I said happily, which made Mayor Mare happy.
“Excellent, ta-ta!” And with that, Mayor Mare took the painting and left the office. Soon, we left the Mayor’s office with happy smiles on our faces.
“Wow Ren, you did so wonderful, and I thought you said that you weren’t good at painting” Twilight teased.
“Well, I just have doubts on myself and I don’t show my art skills that often.” I replied, sweat-dropping and rubbing my head bashfully.
“Well whatever, I knew you could do it!” Kodi said happily, which I smiled at him. I’m finally a painter, this is the third greatest thing that ever happened to me. The other two were unlocking all achievements in that Sonic Mania game, and finding a fifty bucks on the ground back from my world. Can my day get any better?
“HEEEEEELLP!” What in the world? We saw Spike, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. “Rarity! Woods! Jewels! Dogs! Hole! Taken! SAVE HER!”
“What did he say?” Kodi asked.
“He’s saying that Rarity was taken by some gem-finding creeps called the Diamond Dogs!” Applejack explained.
“Diamond dogs?” I asked.
“I’ve heard of that.” Twilight spoke up. “Diamond Dogs are greedy and arrogant beasts that has a distant love towards any type of gem!”
“What?!” I exclaimed. Oh man, this is bad! “Hey wait a minute, where’s Mason?”
“Apparently, Spike told us that Mason went down a hole to go and save her from those mutts!” Rainbow exclaimed, much to my surprise.
“Oh no, we have to save them!” Kodi exclaimed.
“Yeah, come on everyone, let’s go!” I yelled as we began heading our way towards where they headed off. It’s a good thing I dropped Carrie to the clubhouse, I don’t think Mason would appreciate his little sister being brought into this mess.
We finally arrived to the wastelands to see…so many holes. Wow, these Diamond Dogs sure are good at digging.
“Hold moly, that’s a lot of holeys!” Pinkie stated with widened eyes.
“I know, right?!” Kodi agreed.
“Come on, everypony!” Twilight said. “Let’s get started!” She approached the nearest hole and peered down into the darkness and called “Hello…?” Suddenly, two glowing eyes appeared, growling at her, causing her to gasp and get shot with mud in her face.
“Twilight, are you okay?!” I asked in concern.
“Y-yeah, I think so…” Twilight responded, wiping the mud out of her face. Suddenly, the hole Twilight looked down sealed up. Oh crap, there blocking the exit!
Kodi, Fluttershy, and the others peered down in different holes, only to get shot with mud on their faces, and the holes sealing up.
“Quick everyone! Find a hole before its filled in!” I exclaimed.
“Oh my!” Fluttershy exclaimed upon seeing many of the holes being sealed away. Pinkie bounced before and tried to dive head-first into one of them, only to fall into a mound of dirt.
Applejack tried to fight against one of the spraying sod and forced her way in, but got pushed back as the hole filled up with dirt. “Nope! Ain’t no forcing our way in!”
“We’ll see about that!” Rainbow scoffed as she rose up and flew straight down for one of the holes as she tried flapping as fast as she could, but it filled up, making her gasp and pump her wings to slow down, but she didn’t slow down enough as she hit on the soft dirt.
“Now I’m used ticking myself up and dusting myself off.” Applejack shook her head. “But Rarity won’t even touch mud unless it imported!”
“Well…you aren’t wrong.” I shrugged as Twilight began panicking.
“Oh Rarity!’ Twilight shouted in worried.
“We gotta save her!” Kodi exclaimed.
“But they blocked up all the holes!” Rainbow reminded us. I thought for a while until I widened my eyes, thinking of an idea.
“I got it! Let’s dig and tried to find our way underground!” I declared, which everypony nodded in agreement as we began digging. Ha, let’s see those Diamond Dogs try this on for size! Suddenly, we felt a rumble on the ground. Wait, what are they up to-
“Ow!” We turned to see a big Diamond Dog grabbing Pinkie’s tail. Suddenly, another one appeared and pushed Rainbow off of the hole she was digging into. Oh come on!
Then I noticed one of them popping out of the mound between me and Kodiak. “Quck, get them!” I yelled as me and Kodi jumped towards them, but they avoided our attack, causing us to crash into each other.
“Ow!” Kodi said, showing off a hurtful yet dizzy expression.
“Yep, not one of my smartest ideas.” I muttered. Another one appeared, which Applejack noticed him and tried whacking him, but she kept missing him. Eh, this is no time for a game of whack-a-mole! We need to save both Rarity and Mason! Who knows what horror is happening to them right now?! I can just imagine it, and I don’t wanna!
“Alright that’s it!” I exclaimed and I grabbed my Hacking Gun. “I can’t take it anymore! Stand back everypony!” I set it on ‘Break’ and started charging the attack until it was full maximum. “LOODAN LIMIT BREAK!” I fired at the ground, creating a giant hole on the floor. I tried to catch my breath until I noticed everypony’s shock expression.
“What?” I asked.
“…Nothing.” Kodi muttered in surprise until his nose started sniffing something inside the cave before letting out a gasp. “I smell them! Follow me!” Kodi announced as we began heading down the hole. Hang on Rarity, Mason, we’re coming for you!
We follow Kodi down the tunnel as he kept track of Mason and Rarity’s scent while Twilight provided light with her horn, but before long, we stopped to see a chamber full of tunnels.
“Ahh…dang it…”I muttered deadpanned.
“All these tunnels, how are we ever gonna find Rarity?” Twilight asked, worriedly.
“Guess we’re just gonna have to start searching them one by one.” Applejack stated.
“But who knows how long that could take!” Rainbow complained.
“But there has to be a way to find them in time!” I insisted.
“Wait, I know!” Spike spoke up. “I bet they’ve taken Rarity down the tunnel with the most gems!”
“Yeah, that’s a great idea Spike!” I agreed.
“But Spike, Ren, Rarity’s the only one who knows how to find gems, and Mason probably followed them, so we don’t know where he is as well!” Twilight reminded.
“No, Twilight! You can! I mean, you must’ve remembered that gem-finding spell Rarity told you about.” Spike suggested.
“Yes! Rarity showed me how it works a while back!” Twilight replied as she walked up to the mouth of one of the tunnels. “If I can just remember…” As Twilight closed her eyes, her horn began shining, and let out a gasp.
“This way!” Twilight pointed to the far right tunnel.
“Alright!” Kodi jumped for joy.
“Yes, it makes sense Twilight would learn that spell in one day. She is Princess Celestia’s faithful student.” I replied, noticing Twilight’s cheek turning a little pink.
“I-it’s nothing Ren, but anyway, let’s go!” Twilight said as we headed down the tunnel and began heading our way towards where Mason and Rarity are. It was extremely dark, but luckily, I used my Hacking Gun’s ‘Detect’ mode and showed a light in the tunnel, showing a variety of gems. Wow, there’s gotta be a ton of them here. Wonder why these Diamond Dogs want gems so badly? Do they eat them like Spike?
“We’re getting close!” Twilight said. “I can feel it!”
“That’s good to hear.” I nodded in agreement until we started to hear some sobbing and grunting sounds .Wait, I know that sobbing anywhere! “Hey, I can hear Rarity!” I exclaimed in joy.
“It’s just up ahead! Come on!” Spike pointed out. We ran straight towards the next chamber and saw a doorway from where we can hear the crying and all that grunting. Just what is exactly happening in there?
“She must be in there, let’s go!” Kodi said, but suddenly, out of nowehre, a bunch of dogs, wearing armor, jumped onto my friends back, growling while three appeared behind me and Kodiak.
“More workhorses!” One of them snarled as they threw rope bridles onto the girl’s muzzles, which ticked off Applejack.
“Hoh, doggies. If you can take this bull by the horns, you netter be ready for a ride.” Applejack said, narrowing her eyes. “Come on, everypony! Kick them up, kick them out. Buck them up, buck them down!”
“You got it Applejack!” I agreed as I set the dial to ‘Dance’ and shot it at the three Diamond Dogs, causing them to dance into the groove.
“Hey, what’s going on?!” One of the guards asked as he began shaking around. Kodi snarled before biting off one of the guards tail, causing the Diamond Dog to scream in agony. I then set the dial to ‘Knock-back’ and shot it at one of the Diamond Dogs, which they rolled away after being blasted away from it and hit the other Diamond Dogs with it like a bowling ball.
Soon after, everypony had bucked off the Diamond Dogs Gaurds off of their backs, before they ran away in fear.
“Yeehaw!” Applejack cheered. “Git along, little doggies!”
“Nice pun, Applejack.” Kodi commented. I chuckled a bit at that obvious pun.
Suddenly, we started to hear some more grunting as the doorway shaked, which meant trouble. Oh boy, we gotta go save them!
“I’m coming for ya, milady! Hi-hi, Twilight! Away!” Spike yelled as he picked up a long gem from the ground and wielded it like a sword and held onto Twilight’s reins, which caused her to glare at him. “Come on, Twilight! Just gimme this!” Oh wow, it’s like he’s acting like a knight. I’m quite impressed.
“Ugh..Fine!” Twilight groaned. I sweat-dropped and smiled nervously at her. Don’t feel bad Twilight, it won’t end this long for him. Twilight reared up and charged! They crashed through the door, trotting into the room.
“Lady Rarity!” Spike shouted. “I’m here to save y-” We all stopped to see many Diamond Dogs were all beat up and out like a light.
“What the heck?” I asked in shock.
“What happened here?” Kodi asked.
“Do you think…that rumbling was this?” Fluttershy asked worriedly. Suddenly, we turned to see three more Diamond Dogs coming towards us in fear, which made me point out my hacking Gun at them, but instead of fighting, they kneeled down, making whines and pleads.
“Please, get rid of them!” The smaller one begged.
“What?” I asked, raising a brow.
“He’s so mean and strong!” The average one said.
“She’s so annoying!” The big one added.
“He’s very scary!” The smaller one replied before they bowed down and announced “We’ll give them back to you!”
“…What?” Kodi asked in surprise.
“Excuse us?” Applejack asked. We heard someone whistling as we looked up to see both Mason and Rarity walking behind them, carrying a wagon full of gems. Well, more like Mason pulling it for Rarity.
“Rarity! You’re safe!” Spike jumped off of Twilight and immediately hugged Rarity.
“Why yes, hello everypony!” Rarity greeted, feeling quite happy with herself. “You’re all just in time to assist me.”
“Assist you with what?” Rainbow asked.
“She means these.” Mason smirked, pointing towards several more wagons full of gemstones and jewels. Dang, just what happened down there?
“Whoa…that’s a lot of gems and jewels.” Kodi muttered, amazed to see them gathered this many. Wow, I must’ve miss a lot with Mason hanging out with Rarity.
“So wait, you’re letting them leave with all these..jewels?” Spike asked, confused with what’s happening/
“Yes, take them!” The average one demanded as he and the two other hid behind stalagmite. “And them with them!”
“Well, if I might ask, what happened?” I asked curiously, causing them to be shivered in fear.
“You won’t believe it!” Rarity started to explain. “Apparently, as I was about to be sent into labor by these horrid Diamond Dogs, Mason came and rescue me by defeating most of the guards here, which shocked and scared them due to his skills in Ken-do.” Rarity pointed towards the three, who were shivering in fear.
“It was nothing, besides, nobody deserves to be locked up like that, Rarity.” Mason said, blushing a bit. Me, Kodi, and everypony else jaw-dropped to hear that Mason took down a whole army of Diamond Dogs. He really is skilled with Ken-do if he was able to take down a whole lot of them. I’m actually sorta jealous.
Suddenly, Mason winced in pain as he fell onto his knees.
“Mason, are you okay?” Kodi asked worriedly.
“Y-yeah, I think so.” Mason replied, gritting his teeth. “I was sorta tackled by one of those mutts real hard, that they hurt my shoulder, but I’ll be fine.”
“No, you’re not fine Mason.” I said, helping him up. “Come on, let me take you back home. It’s the least I could do.”
“…Okay.” Mason nodded as everypony began taking the cart of gems as we began finding our way back to the surface.
After that mess was sorta out, we were back to the surface as we were walking back to Ponyville.
“Wowie zowie!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I can’t believe you got all these gems!”
“Heh, I can’t believe you two took care of those dogs.” Rainbow smirked at them.
“Just because I’m a lady doesn’t mean I cannot handle myself in a stick situation.” Rarity replied with a smile. “I had them wrapped around my hoof the entire time…well…not the entire time, actually…”
“What do you mean, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, if Mason hadn’t come and save me and defeated those brutes, I wouldn’t been able to get away with all these gems..” Rarity replied before turning to Mason. “And I want to thank you my friend.”
“A-anytime, Rarity.” Mason smirked as I was still carrying him on my shoulder. God, this guy weighs a ton, I feel like I need to work out again.
“You know, I can’t wait to write to Princess Celestia to report what you and Mason taught me today.” Twilight said happily. Of course she’ll be Twilight.
“Me and Mason, Twilight?” Rarity asked, with a confused look.
“Us?” Mason raised a brow at her. “What do you mean?”
“Just because somepony is lady-like or gentlepony-like don’t make them weak.” Twilight replied with a smile.
“Yeah, in fact, a seemingly defenseless pony and human can be the one who outsmarts and outshines them all.” I added.
“Mmm, outshines is right!” Spike agreed as he began munching on some gems. “Now you have enough gems to complete Sapphire Shores’ costumes!”
“Not if you eat them all, Spike.” Rarity giggled as she took the gem right out his grasp before he could finish it, causing us to laugh at that, even Mason started to chuckled. You know, maybe I miss the whole thing down there, but I’m glad that Mason protected Rarity from harm.
Later
Soon after, the day started to end as everypony began heading back home and we picked up Carrie from the clubhouse as we began walking back to the home-ship.
“So Ren, did you get the job?” Carrie asked curiously.
“Totally Carrie, Mayor Mare loved the portrait I made for her, and she instantly hired me.” I replied with a smirk on my face.
“Huh, guess you are talented with Art as I thought.” Mason said, smiling softly as he gazed at his shoulder, which was bandaged up from the fight he had with the Diamond Dogs.
“So guys…” Kodi spoke up. “Do you really think that we'll see those Diamond Dogs again?” Kodi asked worriedly.
“Don’t worry Kodiak, if they do.” I brought out my Hacking Gun and said “I’ll be sure to leave them with a big bang.” Everyone started laughing as we were almost there.
“It was pretty fun that you two had fun, I wish I went with you on your adventures.” Carrie pouted, which Mason rubbed her head, causing her to smile a bit.
“Don’t worry Carrie, I’m sure you’ll get your chance.” Mason replied as he looked into the night sky. “Maybe someday…” We all looked at the night sky to see the full moon up. It’s quite beautiful, I always love seeing the moon, always bring me joy and encouragement. You know..for my next painting…I think I could make a portrait of the beautiful night sky…for a special friend of mine that I hope one day that I’ll see again.
To Be Continued