//------------------------------// // Owl's Well That Ends Well // Story: The Impact of Humans on Ponies // by the koopanater //------------------------------// "I can't wait for the meteor shower tonight!!" Jasmine's voice rang out with excitement in the human's house. It's been over two weeks since Princess Celestia's visit and things haven't changed much outside of Rarity starting to work on dresses for the humans and Cali picking up a new hobby of cooking. There was something with the Crusaders that the girls told them about, but they were busy that day with Xavier and Jasmine busy in the spa and Cali buying groceries. Today, or rather tonight, was a very rare event. "I know, a meteor shower tonight. What are the chances." Cali said happily, though not with the same excitement as Jasmine. "It only comes every 100 years apparently too, so many other ponies will be there." "This brings back memories of the meteor shower that happened back on earth." Cali reminisced. "I watched it with my family that night." "Oh yeah, there was a meteor shower that one night!" Jasmine remembered. "I watched it with my parents that night." "I thought you said they were always too busy?" Cali recalled. "I did, but they took the night off to watch it with me. They still loved me, they were just busy with work and were usually tired after work and usually went straight to bed." "Ah, got cha'." Cali said as she grabbed a basket with a blanket over it. "Anyway, I made a special dish for tonight's picnic." "Ooh, what is it?" "That's a surprise." "Aww, okay." Jasmine said as she turned to Xavier who was sitting on the couch. "Are you ready Xavier?" "Huh, oh. I was actually thinking of sitting this one out." Xavier admitted, surprising the girls. "What, why!?" "It's nothing, I just think I'm going to sit this one out. Besides, I'm close to finishing another project, and I want to focus on it." Xavier explained with a solemn face. "Are you sure?" "Yeah, I'm sure. Don't let me ruin the mood though, go have some fun tonight." Xavier put a smile on, though it was clearly faked. The girls wanted to question it, but they didn't want to press further since he already was feeling down. "Well, have fun I guess." Cali said as she and Jasmine left the house. Once the door closed, Xavier dropped the smile and sighed. "Sorry girls, but I don't think I can go without crying." He whispered to himself as he pulled out his photo again. This time however, he reached behind the photo and lifted, revealing that the photo was folded in half. Once he lifted the photo's other half, three more humans could be seen, the three looking older than the other two. One was male while the others were female, but one of the females were younger than the other. "I wish I could spend this day with you..." Tears began to form in Xavier's eyes, but this time they flowed unrestrained as a memory formed in Xaviers head, a memory of a hill with five humans sitting on the top, a meteor shower falling for them to watch. "So do you know what's wrong with Xavier?" "I don't, sorry Cali." When the girls left the house, they walked in silence for a bit until Cali broke the silence by asking Jasmine if she knew something. "I might have been here longer, but he hasn't really said much about himself. I'm sorry." "No need to apologize, I just wanted to know." "Maybe we can ask the others? They've known him longer than us. Maybe they know something about him?" "That sounds like an idea, we can try that." After a bit more walking, they saw some of the girls on top of a hill, with the rest of them walking up, including the crusaders. "Howdy girls!" "Oh, perfect timing." Twilight said happily. "Spike just finished setting up." "Yeah, I wish I had someone to do whatever I told them." Rainbow said. "Ooh! Ooh! Me! Me! Me!” Scootaloo exclaimed, bouncing up and down. “I’ll do whatever you want, Rainbow Dash!” “Oh yeah, Pipsqueak?” Rainbow Dash asked. “How about taking out the trash?” She then tossed an apple core to her. "Yes ma’am!” Scootaloo nodded as she picked up the apple with her teeth and ran off. "Wow, really? Thanks kiddo." Cali said as she gave Spike a small noggie. "Oh, come on." Spike said bashfully. "Spike, you are such a little star that I had to make a little bow tie for you." Rarity said as she levitated a big bow that was studded in gems onto Spike's neck. “Gosh, you guys are embarrassing me.” Spike replied with a blush. “Stop it.” There was a silent pause before Spike spoke again. "Twilight, your turn." "Spike, that's enough." Twilight lightly scolded. "Oh, right. That's enough." Spike said. It was then that Fluttershy noticed something. "Hey, where's Xaiver?" The two humans tensed up a bit at that question. "Oh, well, he's not coming tonight." Jasmine's answer left the ponies and dragon in shock. "What, why!?" The crusaders asked. "Well, we don't know." Cali explained. "All we know is that he seemed upset at the idea, maybe even pained." "So we kind of wanted to ask if any of you know something about Xavier that could explain why he didn't come." Jasmine added. The others looked at each other with uncertainty. "Well, we really don't know much else honestly..." Twilight admitted. "Now that I think about it, he hasn't talked much about himself that much." Applejack added. "Really?" Jasmine asked in shock. "Yeah, not even me honestly." Rainbow admitted. "I honestly only know that he's good at making those gadgets and jumping in to protect us a lot." The group stood in silence for a while, realizing how little they know their friend. It was only cut off by Cali putting down the basket that she brought down onto the picnic blanket. "I'm sorry we brought this up everypony. We came for a nice evening, but instead we ruined the mood." "It's not your fault, don't blame yourselves." Twilight said, trying to make them feel better. "Well, I want to make it up to you girls, so why not lighten the mood with..." She removed the blanket that was covering the basket to reveal... "My special hot cross buns." Everyone looked inside of the basket with wonder, the baked goods tempting them all. "Wow, these look great." Pinkie commented. "Yeah, I made them whenever I could, though it's been a while since I made them honestly." "Well I'm sure they will be great." Jasmine said, flattering Cali. “Hey everypony! Look!” Sweetie Belle pointed upwards to the night sky. “It’s starting!” The group made their way over to Sweetie Belle's location and sat down to watch. Once they did, dozens of small lights flashed in the night sky, lighting it up with beautiful streaks. Everyone was in awe, but while most were simply admiring the show, two certain watchers were thinking about their families and the night they watched a similar event with them. Once the shower ended a few minutes later, the group began to chat among themselves, simply having a good time while eating the snacks they brought. "Mmm, these things are great." Rainbow said as she was eating one of the buns Cali brought. "Heh, thanks Rainbow." Cali said a bit embarrassed. "They are something I made when I had the chance." "These cookies are great too." Jasmine said as she was eating a cookie that was available as well. "Spike made them." Twilight said. "Speaking of, Spike, can you bring us some punch?" There was a notable pause with no response from the dragon. "Spike?" "Over here, Sparke." The group looked over at where Cali was, to which they saw Spike fast asleep with his head inside of a punch bowl. “Ooh, poor little thing.” Rarity said with a concern expression. “Aww...He’s worked himself to the bone.” Twilight added. “And now the punch has been...spiked!” Pinkie joked, causing everyone to laugh. "I think that's the sign that it's getting late." Cali said as she took her now-empty basket and stood up. "I think I'm going to call it a night." "Me too." Jasmine said as she stood up as well. "I guess we'll see you girls later. Take care." The pair then left the picnic to go home. As they were walking, Cali decided to start a conversation. "I'm glad that everyone liked my buns." "They were great, where did you learn to make them?" "W-well, I learned it by myself." Cali said in a sadder tone than usual, and Jasmine noticed. "Hey, you okay?" "Erm, well." After stuttering for a bit, she sighed and looked at Jasmine. "Listen, please don't tell anyone about this, but my life hasn't been all that great." As Cali sighed, Jasmine looked at her with both confusion and concern. "My family didn't have much money, we were struggling. They were always trying to find a way to get a stable job, but no one would hire them for long. I don't even know why they were; they were good people. They were always trying for me, trying to get me out of the terrible place we were in. They couldn't support me though, so they were forced to put me into an orphanage when I was 10. They gave me my vest and hat as a way to remember them by and as a sorry. I still remember crying as they left." Cali raised her head up to the sky as a tear fell, her mind remembering the event. "D-did your life get better?" Jasmine asked in concern. "Unfortunately, no it didn't. The orphanage wasn't doing very good." Cali sighed. "You know how I value action over words?" Jasmine nodded. "Well, I gained that mentality from how people treated me and my family. I still remember how many people said that they wanted to help me and my family, but never did. I also remember seeing them treating themselves nicely to things like nice clothes, food, and even shows in town. I began to resent them, always saying things they clearly didn't mean." Cali clenched onto her basket hard in anger. "I learned over time that their fake words were not as strong as action of actually helping, so I became colder." Before Cali could become angrier, she took a breath. "But when I met you, Xavier, and the ponies, I saw that you all were able to use your words to quell a civil war, so I thought maybe there are people out there that really do mean what they say." As Cali looked into the sky, Jasmine looked at her sympathetically. After a bit of time, Cali lowered her head to look at Jasmine. "Sorry for getting all emotional with ya, I never thought I would tell you this." "I-it's okay Cali, I understand." She went in for a hug, only to have Cali put her hand onto her forhead. "Don't. I don't need the hug, you listening is enough. Just please don't tell anyone else, even Xavier. I will tell them about it, but not now." Cali sighed. "I won't tell anyone." "Alright, but you promised. You break that promise-" "I'll lose your trust." Cali looked surprised, even a bit irritated at the cut-off by Jasmine. "Believe me, I know the pains of secrets and promises. It's quite the story." "Sounds like it." With that, Jasmine began to tell Cali the story of when her and Fluttershy were models all the way home, bonding more through their stories. The Next Day The day started like any other, with Cali cooking a breakfast of eggs and toast and Jasmine helping set the table. As the two were working, Rune entered and hopped onto the table. "Oh, hello Rune." Jasmine greeted. When she saw her however, she saw that the fox had a paper in it's mouth, and looked like it wanted Jasmine to take it. Taking the note and reading a bit, she turned to Cali. "Hey, it looks like Xavier wrote us a note." "Really? What does it say?" Cali asked as she was finishing the toast. "Umm.." Please don't disturb me today I had a rough night with bad d failed tests Don't worry about me, take care Xavier After Jasmine read the note out loud, the two looked at each other in concern. "That guy is a mystery all right." Cali said. "He'll open up, I-I'm sure." Jasmine tried to reason. "Meh, let's just eat." The two began to help themselves to Cali's cooking. The two ate in relative silence, and even when they finished and were cleaning up. As they were cleaning however, they heard a knock at the door. "I'll get it." Jasmine said as she went to the door, and when she opened it, she saw Twilight. "Oh, hello Twilight. What are you doing here?" "Well, I wanted to get everypony over to the library to show you something. Are you available?" "W-well, me and Cali are. Xavier doesn't want to be disturbed." Jasmine admitted. "It's hard to tell why, but Rune delivered a note to us telling us he didn't want to be disturbed." "Oh, well I can show him later then. You and Cali come over whenever, I'm going back to the library. See you." With that, Twilight left and Jasmine reentered to tell Cali the news. "Hey Cali, do you want to go over to Twilight's place? She says she has something she wants to show us." "Sure, let's go." After getting ready, the duo left the house, leaving Rune in charge since it was unlikely that Xavier was going to leave his room. After a bit of walking, Cali spoke up. "So what is it that Sparkle wanted to show us?" "I never asked, but it seemed important." "Okay then." The two continued to chat while walking, and soon they made it to their destination. When they got there, they saw the rest of the girls chatting. "Hey girls, what's going on?" Jasmine asked. “Oh, we were just talking about Twilight’s newest assistant.” Rarity answered. “New assistant?” Cali asked. “Yep, say hello to Owlicious!” Twilight said as she showed the two a brown owl that was resting on her back. The owl looked at the two with a blank stare, whether it was observing them due to them being different or simply staring was a mystery. The two didn't seem to mind however. "Oh my goodness! Hello little guy." Jasmine went in happily and petted it's head, the bird taking the affection as it closed it's eyes. "Huh, interesting." Cali noted. "When did you find him?" "Last night when I put Spike to bed." Twilight explained. "He helped me by retrieving a report I was working on was blown away by the wind. It got cold last night so I let him stay inside, and during the night he was helping me out a lot, so I decided to take him in as my 'junior assistant'." "Huh, neat." Cali walked over to it and patted Owlicious on the head lightly. "In that case, I hope you two a happy partnership." "Thank you Cali." “Yeah, Owlicious is a fantastical, fluffalicious feathery little friend!” Pinkie commented. “I’m...HOOKED!” The group chuckled at Pinkie's joke. "He's just wonderful." Fluttershy commented. "He's just wonderful." A mocking voice caught them off guard as they looked at where it was coming from, and they saw Spike sitting in one of the library's windows with a book in his grasp, and he didn't look too happy. He soon realized that all eyes were on him, and caught himself. “Uh...yeah. Cute. He’s quite...the charmer.” While most of the girls payed no mind to him, Cali kept his eyes on him. "Well, Owlicious is just such a star that I just had to make this little bow for him." Rarity then levitated a bow onto Owlicious, one that was practically a carbon copy of the one she gave Spike. As she did that, Cali saw Spike watching in disbelief, before huffing with a face red with anger and re-entering the library, closing the window with a slam. The rest of the girls saw this and frowned. "What's he all saddle sore about?" Applejack asked. "I believe it's jealousy that's got him upset, Cowgirl." Cali said, confusing them. "I think he's worried that due to all the attention Owlicious is getting, he's worried that you'll replace him with the little guy." "What? Pfft!” Twilight started laughing at that possibility. “That’s crazy! Spike knows he can’t be replaced.” Twilight assured, but Cali sighed. "I wouldn't count on that, Sparkle. Trust me when I say that he might not realize it, and may grow more resentful of him." Cali said in a serious tone, one that made the others a bit uncomfortable. "I'm going to talk to him, don't wait up on me." Cali then left the group and entered the library, seeing Spike sitting on the steps of the library. "Hey kid." Spike looked up to see her greeting him. "Oh, hey Cali." He greeted with an angry tone. "What do you want?" "I wanted to talk to you." Cali said sitting next to him. "Now listen, because I'm not going to say this again and I'm going to make this brief, don't you dare let this jealousy grow. If you do, you'll do something stupid that will make things worse for you." Spike looked at her confused. "Just trust me, alright. I've made a mistake that I can't take back, and it's changed me for the worse. Just know that no matter what, Twilight will never leave you. Remember that, please." When Cali said the last part, it sounded a bit pained as she got up and left, leaving Spike to hopefully think about her advice. When she left the library, she didn't stop to talk to the girls as she walked past them with a scowl on her face. Seeing her pass by with her face, the ponies looked a bit worried and Jasmine looked panicked. "Um, I think that's my cue to leave, see you later girls." Jasmine then ran after Cali, leaving the ponies confused on what happened inside. Later; At Night It was a quiet night in Ponyville, and everypony was asleep, all but one certain human. Cali was sitting on the same hill that the picnic was on during the meteor shower, looking up into the sky with a sad face in silence. The silence was cut short however as a voice called out to her. "There you are Cali." Looking down the hill, she saw that Jasmine was walking up the hill. Cali simply nodded to greet her and turned back to the sky. "You took off right after you made dinner. You didn't even eat any yourself." Jasmine waited for a response, but Cali didn't give her one as she continued to look at the stars. "Hey you okay?" Jasmine sat down next to Cali. "*Sigh* Yeah, I am." Cali finally answered. "I'm just thinking about my life." Jasmine looked at her curiously. "I know it sounds like my life was miserable, but it wasn't all bad. I know that my parents loved me, and they would do anything for me, which wasn't much. It was mostly something they said to me the last time I saw them." Cali closed her eyes and sighed. "We promise that we will come back for you once we have more money. Please stay here and wait for us, sweetheart" After saying the quote, Cali opened her eyes and looked at Jasmine. "After that, they gave me my vest and hat as a last reminder of them. I'm not really sure how to take it. On one hand it's the only thing I have left to remember them by. On the other hand, they left me there without ever fulfilling their promise. What do you think I should do, because I don't really know." After thinking for a bit, Jasmine gave her answer. "Well, I think you shouldn't worry about it much. You're out of the orphanage and aren't struggling, so you don't have to think about it. As for your vest and hat, I say keep them close since they are the only things to remind you of your parents. I know they loved you." Jasmine's little answer gave Cali a bit of confidence, so she smiled. "You really know what to say, don't ya?" the two had a brief laugh and looked at the stars again. After a bit of time, Jamine heard footsteps, and looking at where they were, she saw Spike walking into the forest. "Hey, isn't that Spike?" Cali looked at where she was looking and was surprised. "Yeah, I think it is. What is that little guy doing?" After a brief moment, the two looked at each other. "I think we should follow him." "Yep." The two got up and ran after Spike who was already inside the forest. When they got to the forest, they spotted a bunch of red footprints. "*Gasp* Is that Blood!?" Jasmine asked in shock, but when Cali looked closer, she confirmed what it was. "No, it's ketchup." Jasmine sighed. "I think the kid's leaving them behind." "But why does he have ketchup?" "Let's find out." Cali and Jasmine then entered the forest, following the footprints. As they were, something scared them. ROOOOOAAAR "AAAAAHHH!" After the roar rang out in the forest, a scream could be heard after belonging to Spike. Recollecting themselves, the two humans ran to the source, a very large cave. When they entered, they were shocked to see Spike being cornered by a large dragon. "What is that?!" Cali asked in shock. "I think it's a dragon!?" Jasmine answered in similar shock. As they were processing the sight, they noticed Spike about to be attacked by it. "Grr, no time to be scared, we need to help him." Taking out a bola, Cali threw the projectile at the dragon, but it didn't do much as it wrapped around one of its horns. The dragon took notice of this and turned to them, making Cali regret her action. The dragon began to advance rapidly to the two, scaring them as Jasmine threw a tornado at it, nailing its eye. The hit stunned the dragon as it reared in pain. Seeing it like that, the two girls ran over to Spike and grabbed him. "Cali, Jasmine? What are-" "No time kid, we are getting out of here!" As the two were about to move, a large cone of fire hit the floor. They saw that the dragon recovered from the hit and was even angrier as the three were now trapped. As the three shuddered in fear, a bright purple beam hit the dragon in the eye, causing it to real in pain again. Looking over, they saw that both Twilight and Owlicious at the entrance of the cave. They wasted no time in running to them. "Sparkle, what are you doing here!?" "No time, let's get out of here!" Twilight began to run out of the cave, the others following. It wasn't long before they heard rumbling as the dragon began to chase them. As they were running however, the forest began to grow darker, dark enough to make it hard to see. "I can't see a thing!" They then heard a hoot as Owlicious flew in front of the group, leading them with his great vision in the dark. Following him, they were able to lose the dragon in the thick forest and escape with no injuries. Once they were in the clear, they took a breath. "Now that we are out of there, can you tell me why you were in there in the first place?!" Cali asked as she dropped Spike. "I-I left because I'm not loved anymore..." The statement surprised the group, especially Twilight. "Spike, sure I was disappointed, but you’re my number #1 Assistant, and friend! And you will always be." "Um, what exactly happened?" Jasmine asked. "Spike used a toy mouse and a bunch of ketchup to try and frame Owlicious of killing it." Hearing that, Cali became upset. "Spike! I told you not to do anything stupid! Did you not listen." Cali scolded him, getting a guilty look from. "*Grr* I should have made you promise. At least the ketchup trail kept you from being skinned alive." "But why would you think Owlicious would take your job?" Jasmine asked. "Because he's better than me, he's even helped us now when I got us into this situation." "Well, he can fly, so that's one perk. And he was able to help us here because he's nocturnal." Spike looked at Jasmine confused. "It means he sleeps more during the day and is awake at night." "She's right, I can't ask you to stay awake all night." Twilight said as she rubbed Spike's head. "You are a baby dragon after all, you need your rest." After a moment, Spike went in and hugged Twilight. "I'm sorry Twilight. I shouldn’t have been so jealous.” “And I’m sorry too, Spike.” Twilight replied with a smile. “I should’ve been more sensitive.” After the hug, he turned to Owlicious, who was perched on a branch. "And Owlowiscious... I know now that you weren't out to take my job. Forgive me?" "Hoo" The little owl hooted at him. "Me. Forgive me, Spike." He said, confused and oblivious to his response. "Hoo" Owlicious hooted again, getting a confused look from Spike as he turned to the others, the three of them laughing a bit. "I think he forgives you kid." Cali said. "And I'm sorry for not taking your advice Cali." Spike said. "If I did, I wouldn't be in this situation." "I'll forgive you kid, but don't do it again. Promise?" "Promise." Spike said as he smiled. The group smiled happily, knowing that they all grew closer, and finally welcomed a feathered friend to their group.