//------------------------------// // A dog and pony show. // Story: The Impact of Humans on Ponies // by the koopanater //------------------------------// "Are you sure you're okay with this?" "For the hundredth time, yes, I'm okay with doing this." With Jasmine entering Xavier and his friend's lives, things have changed, but not by much. One might think that another human walking around would stir something up, but since the residents of Equestria are kindhearted and accepting, it took only a day for them to accept Jasmine into town. Now that Jasmine's been accepted in a few days since her arrival, Xavier has taken her around town to buy her things for a room that she claimed in his home, though she was adamant. "But you shouldn't be spending money on me, I should be buying this stuff..." Jasmine argued, trying to get Xavier to stop from spending his money on her. "Hey, you shouldn't be sleeping on the couch for too long. And besides, I have enough money to spend on you for this. Plus, the other's said that they would help out if needed, so there is no worry. And before you say anything about them using their money, they gave me everything since they didn't need it. Everything they gave me just needed some polishing and it looks brand new. So don't worry, we have you covered." Jasmine was about to retort, but a crowd cheering got their attention. Confused and curious, the two where the cheering was. When they found the crowd, they saw that they were fanning over another pony that was in town. She was in a blue suit and looked quite polished. "I wonder who that is." Jasmine wondered out loud. "Somepony in blue and very popular." Xavier said, earning a deadpan look from Jasmine. "Anyway, why do you think she's managed to attract this crowd, and why do you think she's here?" "Dunno, I guess she's popular. I haven't exactly been following the trends here. Whoever she is, she seems to be loved." As Xavier was speaking, the pony left, leaving a bunch of bodyguards to keep the distance from her. Seeing that getting to her wasn't an option, the crowd dispersed and left, leaving the two humans standing. "Well, since she's gone, I guess we should-" Turning to Jasmine, Xavier saw that she was walking away. "Huh, Jasmine? Where are you going?" Jasmine looked back at him sheepishly, "Um, well I was going to try and follow her. I kinda want to know who she is." Jasmine admitted, earning a sigh from Xavier. "You haven't even been here for a week and you're already looking for trouble..." Jasmine blushed. "Well, she did look like she was heading over to Rarity's place, so we can go over there if you want." Jasmine smiled brightly as Xavier led her along, happy to be able to meet somepony so popular. After a bit of walking and chatting about who the mare was, the out-of-place duo made it to Rarity's boutique. "Now, are you sure that you want to do this?" Xavier started. "We don't know who she is and for all we know, she could-" "Yes I'm sure. C'mon, I want to see her." Sighing, Xavier opened the door to the boutique, to see both Rarity and the pony talking. The two ponies turned around, and upon seeing the humans, they each had different reactions. "Oh, Xavier. Jasmine. What brings you here?" Rarity asked. "Well, Jasmine kind of wanted to see what the crowd outside was interested in, so she convinced me to help her follow her. So here we are." Xavier explained as Jasmine looked at Sapphire Shores with bright, gleamy eyes like a kid amazed at a magic trick. "Rarity, are these those 'humans' that have been stirring up things?" The blue-dressed mare asked, surprising Xavier, as Jasmine was too preoccupied in aweing at her. "You know us?" "Of course I do, the Princess made it known since forever ago. Though, I remember her saying that there was only one of you." "Well, she kind of only came here recently. My name is Xavier, and this is Jasmine." Xavier introduced, though Jasmine wasn't paying attention, so Xavier nudged her, earning a very surprised jump from her. "And sorry about her, she's a daydreamer." "Oh, it's okay, she hasn't seen somepony so dazzling before." Rarity said, with the mare nodding to confirm that she was okay with it. "Phew, I was worried it would make you uncomfortable, Ms..." "Oh, It's Sapphire Shores, famous pop-star." The mare said, now known as Sapphire. "Wait, you guys have pop stars here?" Xavier asked, earning a nod from Rarity. "And I happen to be know as the pony of pop." Sapphire said with pride, which made Jasmine even more impressed. Sapphire Shores then turned back to Rarity. "Anyway, back to our conversation, I'll take it." This made Rarity very happy. "And five others." Rarity stopped herself. "I beg your pardon?" Rarity asked. "Yes, five more. Each in a different jewel. For costume changes." Upon the short explanation, Rarity looked over to an empty chest, and fainted soon after. As Xavier ran over to Rarity, Sapphire Shores began to leave. "Yes, I do have that effect on ponies." Once she left, Jasmine began to fangirl about the experience as Xavier helped Rarity up. "You okay Rarity?" "Yes and no." Rarity said pretty sadly. "I was happy to know that Sapphire loved my dress I made, but I used up the last of my gems to make it. Now I have to go and collect more. *Sigh* But there are too many to collect." "Well, maybe you can get some help. It's always easier with another helping hand, or hoof." Xavier offered. "Yes, I will get some help. I wonder if Spike is free?" As Rarity began to get up and leave, Jasmine spoke up. "Oh, can I come?" The other two looked at her confused. "If I help you, I can say that I helped Sapphire!" She said squealing. "Of course, I can use all the help I can get." Rarity said, earning a high pitch "EEE" from Jasmine. Soon the two left, with Xavier left behind. "Wait, weren't we supposed to go shopping for you?!" After grabbing Spike (Who was more than willing to help for some reason) the trio began to their destination, a baren flat of dust and rock. As they were walking, Spike and Jasmine were fanning over Sapphire Shores. "Oh my gosh! Sapphire Shores! The pony of pop! She is awesome!" Spike said excitedly. "I know, she seems so cool, especially when you're right next to her." Jasmine replied happily. "She is! I mean, she's gorgeous and talented and-" The two felt a gaze aimed at them. They looked over at Rarity, who was looking annoyed at the two. The two began to sweat under her gaze. "Heh... and not even half the pony you are." "Y-yeah." Jasmine said. "I mean, you're ten times more gorgeous and talented and-" "Spike, Jasmine. A lady is never jealous." Rarity reassured. "Eh, of course not. But were you totally flipping out or what?!" Spike asked. "Ladies do not "flip out", Spike. However, I was quite in awe." Rarity paused before aiming her horn down. "Oh, I need to find more jewels than ever before to decorate her costumes." As she was doing that, Jasmine looked at her curiously. "So... how do we find the gems?" Jasmine asked. "Well, I happen to create a spell that can detect any gems and lead myself towards them. Once I do that, you and Spike can dig them up." Rarity explained. "Oh, got it!" Jasmine saluted. As Rarity smiled at her enthusiasm, her horn stopped right above a silhouette of gems. "Oh, I found some." Spike hopped over and began to dig with his claws. After a bit, he reached them, and upon seeing them, his eyes began to glow. "Ooooo! You look so delicious..." Before he could do anything however, Jasmine began to pick up the gems. "Wow, you weren't kidding about this." Jasmine said as she put the gemstones into a wagon that they brought along. "But of course. Now onto the next pile!" Rarity said. The three began a system. Once Rarity found a gem deposit, Spike dug into the ground, and Jasmine gathered them. After a while, the three managed to fill up the wagon. Spike of course continued to look upon it in hopes of having one. As he was looking at them, Rarity patted his head. "You've been very patient today, Spike. And for that you get the finest reward." Rarity said as she used her magic to pick up a large gemstone and gave it to Spike. "This is from me to you." Before Spike could bite into the gem, he looked up at Rarity. "Is something wrong, Spike?" "No. It's perfect." Spike said as he held the gem close instead of eating it. This confused Rarity a bit while Jasmine looked with gleaming eyes with a silent "aww". Before Rarity could ask, her horn lit up again and led her again. "Ooo, bring the cart, Spike. There are more over here." When they got over to the gem's location, Rarity became confused. "Oh... oh, strange. It's in the trees." "I'll get it." Jasmine said as she used her magic to conjure a cloud to fly up to it. When she got up to it, she admired the gem for a second, the next becoming fearful as a strange, dog-like head came out, revealing that the gem was part of a collar. The scare was so great that the cloud she conjured dissipated as she fell onto the ground, where she scattered back over to Rarity and Spike. "Uh... uh... good day, gentle... uh, fellow." Rarity said, trying to reason with it. "Uh, I am Rarity and these are my friends, Spike and Jasmine." The two waved nervously. "And you are..." The creature dropped down from the tree to reveal itself. It was a lanky, bipedal dog-like creature with a vest and grey fur. "A diamond dog." It said, walking closer, getting the trio to back up a bit more. "Oh really? Oh well, that explains your fine taste in jewelry." Rarity said nervously as she and the others backed away some more, with the diamond dog moving closer. "I mean I-I-I know that diamonds are a girl's best friend and now I know that they're a dog's best friend too, ha ha ha. So, um, *Cough* you're out hunting for gems as well?" "Yes. We hunt." The creature said. "D-did it just say 'we'?" Jasmine asked. "We hunt for gems. But you are a better hunter." As the dog was speaking, Jasmine heard something behind them, and when she looked down, she saw some mounds moving. "So now we hunt... for you!" Jasmine realized what was about to happen and jumped out of the way of two more dogs popping out of the ground, one very small and the other very large. Spike didn't though and got knocked back while Jasmine ran off behind the tree that the dog came out of. She looked out from behind it and watched how Spike defended Rarity as much as possible. Unfortunately, Spike and Rarity were overwhelmed by the three as the first one grabbed Rarity and brought her over to a large hole in the ground and the largest one launched Spike into a tree. Seeing it, Jasmine tried to grab Rarity but was too late, leaving Spike devastated. As he was grieving over what happened, Jasmine began to mentally beat herself up. "What was I doing? Why did I run?" Jasmine thought. "I left them, to deal with those three, and now Rarity's gone..." After a bit more thought, Jasmine made up her mind on what to do. "Spike, go get the others please." Before Spike could ask anything, Jasmine jumped into the hole herself, aiming to save Rarity and make up for abandoning her. Once inside of the hole, realized that there wasn't a simple tunnel but entire cave system, dug out by the dogs. The bad side is that she could end up lost. The good news was that there were plenty of tunnels tall enough for her to maneuver on her cloud as to not be seen. As she got on her cloud, she heard some high pitch screaming that she knew belonged to Rarity. Following the voice while also avoiding the wandering eyes of some armored dogs that were patrolling around, she entered a big room that Rarity and the three dogs that kidnapped her were. Looking over her cloud, she decided to listen to them before taking action. "P-Please let me go.” Rarity shivered in fear as the dogs began to laugh at her. “No!” The small one stated. “You’re our precious little pony!” The big one stated. “Forever! Muhahahaha!” The first said as they all laughed. Jasmine looked at them in worry and regret. She wanted to help, but she didn't know how to, she was just too scared. “B-but whatever do you want from me?” Rarity asked, confused but still terrified. “Gemsss!” The First one hissed. “Yes! The gems, the jewels!” The small one stated. “Find them! Find them all!” The big one shouted. “Oh! Is that all?” Rarity said almost casually. Using her magic, she looked around for a bit until she found a pocket of gems. “There. A lovely pocket of jewels are right there.” Rarity said as she began walking away from them. “Now, you would be so kind as to show me the exit?” Unfortunately, one of the armor-wearing dogs pointed a sharp spear at her, preventing her exit. “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 irritated now. “Yes…Dig.” After a bit of hesitation, Rarity began to dig. Well, more like tap the ground lightly as she was barely digging. The three dogs and even Jasmine looked with wide eyes confusion as she "dug". "What are you doing? We said dig!" The small one yelled out, getting in Rarity's face. "Forgive me, but prior to you so rudely dragging me into your dirt pit, I had a pony-pedi and I am not about to chip a hoof because you dislike my style of digging." Rarity explained annoyed. Once she finished the explanation, she went to "digging", and after a moment the first dog couldn't take anymore. "Oh, for goodness— Fine! Just stop. Stop!" He turned over to some of the armored dogs and pointed at the dig site. "Dig, dogs! Dig! And fast." The armored dogs leapt at the spot and began to dig very fast. Jasmine looked down in wonder as she saw the other two bringing a cart over. “She won’t dig, she pulls!” The big one said, surprising Rarity. "I beg your pardon, but what, pray tell, are you doing?" Rarity asked as the dogs began to put a saddle connected to the cart onto her. "Others will dig. You will haul the wagon.” The big one answered. “Prrrecious pony-pedi will be reserved.” The small one added as he and the big one began to secure the saddle. “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.” “Please be quiet!” The first one yelled out in annoyance, but for some reason Rarity gagged “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. The smell was so bad that even Jasmine smelt it from the roof, silently gagging and covering her nose in disgust. "Ah, mystery solved. It's your breath." Rarity said, surprising the first one as he smelled his breath, gagging a bit from it. But he soon realized what was happening. “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. 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?” During this entire time she was complaining, Jasmine looked down in even more confusion than before. "What is she doing? Complaining at a time like this. She's a captive and yet she is complaining about everything in this hole."Before she could question farther, the small dog finally had enough of Rarity's complaining. "Good gracious, I can't take this anymore. Be quiet, pony!" He yelled out in rage. "And that's another thing. 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'." Rarity began her complaining again, getting the dogs to go from annoyed to angry, and then to fear and pain from hearing her complain more. "Enough! Your whining! It-it-it hurts!" The first one finally said, cracking under Rarity's complaining. “Whining? I am not whining. I am complaining. Do you want to hear whining? Thiiis iiis whiining!" Rarity began to speak in a high pitch cry, which sounded like nails on a chalkboard. "Oooh, this harness is too tiight! It’s going to chafe. Can’t you loosen it? Oooh, it hurts and its sooo ruuusty!" As Rarity was complaining, everyone in the room was getting hit from her whining, even Jasmine wasn't faring well as her ears hurt from the echoing that was happening from the top of the room. ”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 whined. During the short break in between Rarity's whining, Jasmine realized something. Rarity, despite being a hostage forced to work, she seemed rather calm. And when she was told to stop whining, she began to get worse. The only ones who were in distress was the dogs and their hearing. Even Jasmine wasn't unphased from the whining, so she realized that she is getting the dogs to play her game. If they wanted to keep her, they would have to put up with her. “We’ll do anything, pony!” Th first one exclaimed. Rarity glared at them with an annoyed stare. “Oh, uh, we’ll do anything, ‘Miss Rarity’.” He laughed nervously. "Anything?" "Or maybe she just like to be treated like a queen..." The events that followed Rarity's whining-fest was something that Jasmine thought was over the top. Still, Rarity was still making the rules. After all, she got the dogs to make her a little room for her to relax in, with a pillow, curtains, a gold chalice of water, and even two armored dogs fanning her with large palm leaves (Where they got those things she will never know. Unfortunately for Jasmine, Rarity also got a bunch of the armored dogs to decorate the area, with some dogs getting uncomfortably close to her hiding spot. The three original dogs were hit the hardest though, as they were forced to pull the carts. As Jasmine was trying to stay hidden, she overheard the trio of dogs speak. "Wait! Why are we doing this?" The first asked. "To stop the awful noises from the pony's mouth, remember?" The little one began imitating Rarity's whining, but the first dog placed his paw on his mouth, shutting him up. "Yes, yes, I know. This is ridiculous! Letting a pony order us around. What are we? Mice or dogs?" The first asked. “Mice!” The other two replied, which the first one glared at them disapprovingly, as they realized their answer. “Dogs!” Jasmine facepalmed at the sheer incompetence of these dogs 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 first dog didn't answer as he "Accidentially" bumped her drink over. "Hey, you spilled my drink. Oh! Not sooo tiiight!" "Ha! Make the noises all you want. But move while you make them. Hyah, mule!" The first ordered Rarity, slapping her from behind. Rarity then stopped and processed what he said. "Did you just call me a... mule?" Rarity asked. Unbeknownst to all of them, the one unaccounted for was faring differently. Before those on the ground could continue, they felt a strange wind blow through the room, confusing them all since they were underground where no wind should blow. Before anyone could question it though, one of the dogs that were decorating fell to the floor, stunned. Before long, the rest of the decorators fell to the ground. When the rest looked up, they saw Jasmine holding a tornado with a bunch of rocks in it in her hand, clearly mad. To the dogs, seeing her was both concerning and frightening, but to Rarity, she was confused. Not at why she was here, but to the cloud Jasmine was on, for it wasn't white like before, but a dark grey, almost reflecting Jasmine's emotions. Jasmine didn't wait for long before throwing the tornado in her hand at an armored dog, hitting it square in the face. The dog fell over as the tornado dissipated. Jasmine then cast another tornado and threw it at another dog with quick succession. Soon, Jasmine was sending dogs into the ground as the trio of dogs ducked for cover as one of the last armored dogs fell. When things calmed down, Jasmine floated over to the three and glared at them. "Let me make this clear to you three, you ever do something like this again to someone, I will not be so nice as to just leave your troops dazed, got it?" The three shuttered under her gaze and simply nodded. Once they did, Jasmine's face lost its glare and adopted a worried one as she floated over to Rarity. "Are you okay Rarity?!" She asked in her normal, shy tone. "I-I'm fine. Thank you, Jasmine." Rarity said, a bit shocked at first but grateful in the end. "When did you get here?" "I-I was here since the beginning..." Jasmine admitted, feeling guilty. "I wanted to save you earlier, but I was afraid to do anything." "Well, not to sound ungrateful, but what got you to come down?" "Um, well, it was when the dog called you a mule..." Jasmine said, sounding sadder than usual, almost broken. "W-what they were doing brings up bad memories..." "Does that explain why your cloud is grey?" Rarity asked, trying to change the topic. Jasmine's sad demeaner broke and was replaced with a confused one as she looked at it, raising her leg up a bit to see. "Um, I don't know actually. Why is it-" Jasmine dropped her leg with a bit more force than she realized. When she did this, a decent sized burst of loud thunder came out, scaring the girls and the dogs as Jasmine jumped up so high that she fell off the cloud, to which it dissipated soon after. The two looked at where the cloud was in confusion and wonder. "Um, yeah, I don't know why that happened." "Well... I guess we should get out of here, oh!" Rarity turned over to the three dogs, all of which cowered in fear. "Hey boys, do you think we can take the gems you so generously mined up with us?" "Y-yes. o-of course. Just k-keep your fr-friend away!" The first said, fearing over both the sheer noise of Rarity and the scary power of Jasmine. "Thank you boys." Rarity thanked them as she walked back over to Jasmine, who was giggling at Rarity's exploit. "Well, that solves my problems." "Um, sure. But how are we going to get them out?" Jasmine asked as she pointed to the carts of gems, for there were way too many for the two of them to take up to the surface alone. "Hmm, well maybe-" Ka-Crash!! Rarity was soon interrupted as she and Jasmine looked over to what the sound was. What they saw was none other than the rest of the others entering the room from a barred door, with Spike riding Twilight like he was a knight and Xavier holding his sword, ready for anything. “Lady Rarity!” Spike shouted. “I’m here to save you.” Before the duo could react, the trio of dogs ran over to the group, pleading like their lives depended on it. The duo knows why but the group knew nothing of what happened before. “Please, get rid of them!” The smaller one begged. "She's so loud." "She's so scary!" The big one said fearfully. "Take them away!" The first said like his life was on the line. Before any of them could ask... "Hey gang." They all looked over to the voice, to which they were surprised to see Jasmine and Rarity not only safe, but a room of fallen over dogs. "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 those.” Jasmine smirked, pointing towards several wagons full of gemstones and jewels. Seeing them all being casually given away was a very big surprise to the group “So wait, you’re letting them leave with all these... jewels?” Spike asked, confused with what’s happening. “Yes, take them!” The first one demanded as he and the two others cowered in a corner. “And them with them!” "Umm... so what happened here exactly?" Xavier asked, clearly confused as to what was happening. "We'll explain on the way up. Come on and help out please." Jasmine said as she led over the group over to the carts. "Let me get this straight. You managed to turn an entire crowd of greedy dogs that captured you into a bunch of servants to mine up gems for you and you managed to knock out said crowd without taking a single hit?" The group had made it back out of the tunnels and back onto the surface, each with a cart of gemstones with them (Except for Jasmine and Xavier who were pushing a cart together) Along the way Jasmine and Rarity told them the story of what happened. "I'm more surprised at Rarity's feat." Jasmine giggled. "Still, I'm impressed at you two." Xavier said, causing Jasmine to blush and Rarity to smile. "Well, just because I’m a lady doesn’t mean I cannot handle myself in a stick situation.” Rarity replied. “I had them wrapped around my hoof the entire time, I even had a plan to deal with the dogs before Jasmine's appearance." “You know, I can’t wait to write to Princess Celestia to report what you and Jasmine taught me." Twilight said, suprising the two. "Us?" Jasmine asked. “Just because somepony is lady-like dosn't make them weak.” Twilight replied with a smile. “In fact, a seemingly defenseless person can be the most deceiving out of them all, and that alone is all that's needed to outshine all the other brutes.” Xavier 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 everyone to start laughing, even Jasmine. The little bit of praise made her feel good about herself, so she truly felt like she belonged with them all, and she was looking forward to spending time with them all, through even the harshest storms and weather.