New Light
The sun was starting to go back up on the horizon, and one Gem in particular had been more or less isolated from the rest of the group; Jasper. She really needed some alone time from her last fiasco with the Gems, to put it lightly, mostly because of the sudden, unintentional fusion with Garnet. To think that she just insulted the girl for being a fusion, and minutes after she ended up fused. It'd been days since that, but she was still fuming from the event no less than if it'd just happened minutes ago. The images, visions, and thoughts that blasted through Jasper's head may have ceased, but, that didn't mean Jasper had forgotten them really. She tried to make heads or tails on what in the name of Homeworld happened, but the more she thought of it, the more confused she got. And the more confused she got, the more frustrated she became. And her frustration easily showed amongst the land around her. For the days being gone, Jasper had ended up further away along the coast, many signs of obstacles and objects beaten down; rocks turned to rubble, dents in the cliff wall, pits of sand kicked away. Her frustration on trying to put two and two together was beyond annoying, and frustrating to Jasper. What did happen while she was fused with Garnet? She loved to get it out of Garnet if Garnet was ready herself. To her, she felt Garnet was purposely hiding why, and that angered the Homeworld Gem even more so.
Speaking of Homeworld, Jasper's state of being stuck on Earth hadn't ceased either. She can tolerate until someone would get her back home, but, as it stands, Jasper couldn't stand it very much longer. Currently, her frustrations over both facts had brought her punching down a tunnel through the cliff wall like her fists were jackhammers for a while, until she stepped back out, thinking she might get caved in if she continued forward. The Gem ended up in an angered pace soon after, her mind stuck in threat mode. While she was pacing around, ready to pound whatever, someone else soon showed up nearby through the air. Not a good time for her.
"Jasper! There you are!"
Soon, Jasper looked up with a annoyed glare to see Lapis and Peridot flying down to her. Amongst many, Lapis had gotten a few on board, and Peridot decided to give her a hand with Jasper.
"What do you want, twerps?
"It's Garnet, she wants -" suddenly, Jasper punched the wall again, leaving a cracked fist-shaped hole in the wall.
"I'm not bothering with her until she clears it up," Jasper growled. Lapis and Peridot grew genuinely scared when she watched Jasper beat down the wall next to her.
"Uh ... Jasper?" Peridot began to say.
Jasper silenced them both with a horrifying death glare. Afraid a bit, Lapis and Pearl started to back up, both hands raised up. Garnet would love to get everybody together, but, they didn't want to risk their own Gem over it.
"We'll leave you alone," Lapis said, her water wings out and taking flight again. Peridot soon took off too, both Gems far out of sight fast. Jasper gave a rough sigh, continuing to pound at the earth. If she couldn't get her way, she will carve one out. However, Peridot took off so quick, something ended up falling out and landing nearby; her magic key. However, both flying Gems didn't notice, and Jasper was too ticked off to mind it either. Her mind remained strictly set on pounding the daylights out of the earth. As Jasper's single-handed excavation continued on, she had failed to noticed what her pounding was actually doing. Further up the cliff, her pounding was shaking the walls more and more. These tremors were making seabirds fly off their perch, knocking rocks down, and cracking up the earth. Soon, Jasper took a moment to regroup ... Yet pounding was still occurring without her help.
Jasper turned to the cliff, unsure what was hitting the cliff, when the entire seaside wall shuttered and opened up with an explosion! Jasper just avoided a sudden hit, but the explosion did end up showing another excavator apart from Jasper, attracted by the pounding. This newcomer, to start, was simply huge, about the size of an elephant, but the beast didn't look a thing like an elephant. In fact, it looked more like a large armadillo in a way; strong crystalline armor along its back. It's tail was long, and ending in a rounded club. The head was elongated, ending in a flattened snout, slits for eyes along the side of its head. The entire body had a sort of purple coloration, the gem armor much darker in appearance to the rest of it. Its claws; large and broad for digging, scrapped the ground nearby Jasper. As for the Homeworld Gem; with her only back up long gone, she was by herself against this thing ...
What're the odds of that?
Of course, being in the open, it didn't take long for the Gem monster to notice her, its tail raised in a threatening posture. Jasper quickly ducked as the tail swung around, slamming a seaside Boulder into rubble after one hit. The tail rushed upward, and tried to hit Jasper like a hammer about three times in the sand, Jasper dodging each one. Jasper took to action, jumping at the beast and slamming her fists hard in a dive, the armor cracking slightly. The beast gave a painful groan, shaking its back wildly to get Jasper off. The shaking turned to bucking like an enraged bull, shuttering the ground. As the bucking went on, the vibrations started moving the key around. During the bucking, the beast's large club tail swung around, and whacked the key into the wall, opening the portal by mistake. Course, both fighters failed to noticed in their tussle. The Gem monster finally made Jasper loosen her grip off its back, the Homeworld Gem started to get disorientated with the wild bucking. Jasper ended up loosing the grip on its back, thrown in the air, and the beast making a direct hit with its club tail. Like a hole in one, that single hit landed Jasper directly inside the portal, no time to react or stop herself from flying through. Seconds after, the portal shut closed behind her, Peridot's key shooting out and landing on the sand. As for the Gem monster, sending the problem over, it started to walk back into the cliff, leaving the battlefield behind it ...
Tossing and tumbling like a rag roll in the air, Jasper couldn't figure out where the heck she was going. The lights from the portal flashing by her didn't help her out very much either, until she could just see an opening at the end of the portal path. Spinning in a spiral, Jasper ended up rocketing through the end, crashing hard into the ground. Jasper skidded along the ground hard for a good ten feet, as if a meteor had crash landed into the ground. It took a bit, but, Jasper eventually came back around. However, it was too late to go back through the portal, as it closed up almost immediately after she gone through. She didn't know where she landed exactly, but, it was different from before.
Around her, instead of an empty beach with a rock wall, she ended up out on an open plain, far away from anyone else. Aside from her landing, Jasper saw that none of the land appeared remotely touched by any sort of human or Gem involvement. On the bright side, at least she was alone and didn't had anybody to bother her. Still, even with that, she at least wanted to know where she ended up. Getting up from her self-made path, Jasper took a good look around the place, before starting to walk off. She can figure out how to get back later.
~~~~~~
Back in Beach City, the other Gems were brought together after a while. It did take a while, but eventually the group was brought together (except Jasper of course), meeting up, actually, at the apple tree where Garnet got her vision in the first place. So far, many of the Gems, and the Mane Six as well, had arrived, the last being Lapis and Peridot themselves. Garnet took the moment to give a mental head count from the front down.
"Now, are we all here?" Garnet asked.
"Present and accounted for," Twilight assured.
"Except for Jasper; still beating the daylights out of the beach," Lapis added. Garnet nodded, understanding the idea behind it. Besides, she could always tell Jasper whenever she decides to come back anyway.
"What's this all about?" Diopside asked in curiosity. Garnet remained calm, but her own surprising amount of excitement was duly noted by some of them. Garnet eventually gave a calming sigh, as Lapis landed by Garnet, and Peridot within the crowd. While Peridot did help, she wasn't sure what this meeting was about anymore than anybody/anypony else. Soon, after everyone was here (as much as she will get anyway), Garnet cleared her throat.
"Attention everyone; I'm sure you're wondering why I got you all here. Well, we have a new mission, one that everyone here should be aware of. I had a special vision, and now I feel that I must share it with all of you."
As Garnet was talking, Fulgurite nudged Amethyst.
"What's she going on about?" Fulgurite asked quietly, not getting the vision idea.
"She has future vision; seeing stuff coming up. If she wants everyone to hear it, it must be a big one," Amethyst replied quietly. Still, Rarity hushed them both as Garnet continued her speech.
"Gems. Ponies. In my vision, I saw us changing history of our world for the better. Everyone." Garnet took a moment to relax before continuing.
"We're going to Homeworld."
The news hit everyone like a freight train; that's what Garnet's vision lead to?! For some, the news of such a trip was a bit hard to swallow, especially for Flint. His own experiences back on Homeworld made such a trip something he would never take; he didn't travel for years on end just to loop back! However, Amethyst, Steven, and Pinkie especially found this very exciting, none of them seeing Homeworld before. Peridot found it very interesting too, having tried to get herself home in the first place.
"WHAAAAA?!" Steven gasped, excited as ever.
"WOHOO!! SPACE ROAD TRIP!!" Pinkie beamed, hugging and spinning with Steven.
"Wait, wait, wait, Homeworld? the Homeworld?" Lapis asked.
"You're serious?!" added Rainbow. Garnet's smile grew on her face.
"You bet I am," Garnet replied. This was a surprising amount of glee from someone like Garnet, which told them what exactly she had seen must be a good one. Pinkie was especially giddy about the news, popping up from behind Garnet, hopping in place.
"When can we go? I wanna go I wanna go I wanna go!" Pinkie beamed. Garnet chuckled a bit.
"We'll get there when the ship's ready to go," Garnet promised.
"Ship, what ship? you don't have a ship anywhere in the premise," Peridot pointed out. However, Garnet smirked, and snapped her fingers. Right on cue, Something unraveled from behind her from the tree branches, looking like a large blueprint. The blueprint, much to their surprise, was actually of a spaceship! The design was pretty broad, with no apparent sharp edges along the length. In fact, it appeared in the shape of an Earth Manta Ray in aerodynamic shape, mixed with size capability. It had a view of the top, side, and front in exquisite detail in measurements, types of material, and the precise size of each part needed. The ship's name was called "the Galactic Ray" (fitting the shape.
"That ship," Garnet replied, thumb pointing to the ship.
"What the - where'd that -" Peridot was cut off when she saw a particular Draconequus hanging out in the tree, waving hello to Peridot. He agreed to stay and help, and that's what he did.
"Oh."
"Hold it!" Flint suddenly said, cutting the excitement short. Alongside him was Pearl and Diopside. As mentioned, not everyone found the news easy to take. By the look on Flint's face, he wasn't happy with it.
"So you're telling us that we're all going back to a planet stuck thousands of years in war, even after all they did to Earth?"
"Correct."
"Well, you can tell me until you're blue in the face, I'm not going!" Flint decided firmly.
"Come on Flint, it'll be fun," Amethyst said, a playful punch.
"Don't give me any of that; me and Jade didn't travel thousands of years to find a new home, just to jump back to Homeworld again! Besides, how do you expect them to let you back so quickly anyway?"
"I wouldn't decide this if they wouldn't," Garnet said.
"Well you just did! If you want to waste your time, fine, but I refuse to go back," Flint finished, starting to walk away. None of the others bothered to stop him, seeing his mind set on it. After that, Pearl was next to talk.
"Uh, now Garnet, I'm sure you have everything set on this plan, but do we even have everything for this?" Pearl asked. Garnet smirked again.
...
Soon, the group ended up in another part of the area, still outside of Beach City. The place in question looked like an abandoned barn house; somewhere Garnet found while roaming about the place. It at first appeared like any regular barn, but Garnet opened it right up to show that it was filled with all sort of things. Metals, old junk, different parts scattered, surely a place to find plenty of materials to work with. The others looked inside and saw all the potential parts for the ship all over the place.
"I'm sure we got plenty to work with," Garnet concluded.
"Well I'll be," Applejack said, walking around inside. With her arms folded, Garnet leaned on the rim of the door with a smile. Twilight looked over everything inside the barn too.
"It looks very primitive," commented Peridot, looking at the rubble.
"We got everything we need here, no problem. So?" Garnet said, looking to everyone else. Pearl was the main one who wondered on it, pacing a bit in her mind as well as her movement.
"Well, that's awfully decent of you, Garnet. Although, I admit, it's not entirely a stretch, we've got plenty of materials to use, albeit for primitive propulsion space travel ... But this idea is ludicrous, it'll never work - Although, several humans, a dog, and a monkey did make it into space ... I don't know why I didn't think of this before, this can actually work!"
"That's the spirit, Pearl," Garnet said.
"What's a monkey?" Peridot wondered.
"Oh my, well we need to get ready then - there's so much left to do; orders to finish, designs to make. Oh, how long will it be until it's ready?" Rarity asked.
"Don't worry about that, Rarity, you can stay and help, or we'll notify you. Either way, it's not going to be done that quickly; there's a lot to work with," Garnet explained. That settled her worry down a bit.
"Well, what're we waiting for? Come on, let's get started!" Fulgurite said.
~~~~~~
As for Jasper, her own time outside of Beach City was a far quieter one. The place just looked all too different for her; everything seemed smaller compared to her, and more brightly colored. The ground didn't feel as rough as the beach was, and the air clearer. Most of this stuff didn't bring out any sympathy from Jasper, but it beats Beach City, and the Gems that got her stuck in the first place anytime. Unfortunately, the place wasn't safe from her fuming, a few spots left with punches and kicks from her anger.
Her walking about had gotten her onto a lone dirt road for her to go along on, not seemingly being used for a long time by the looks of it. That didn't bother Jasper at all, as she preferred nobody to bug her anymore than she already had been. So much things had happened over the course of the last few days; fusing with Garnet, seeing Rose's weaponry used by Steven, being stuck on the planet at all, getting thrown into another place by some random teleport. It was a lot to take in so fast, and Jasper still couldn't get a grip on any of it.
"Okay, where am I now?" Jasper wondered. Even if she didn't want to jump back so soon, at least she would like to know where she ended up. As she kept walking, the road started to go through from open plains, to partial forest. The trees, compared to Jasper, were pretty small in height for the most part. Some trees were about normal sized without maintenance, though some Jasper can reach the tops of easily. Though, Jasper could care less for it ...
"OOFF!"
Jasper stopped for a moment on the noise. It didn't sound like anyone familiar to her. As she looked, one of the trees was actually shaking, as if something was hitting it. Jasper wasn't sure on what was going on, but suddenly something was in her sight, running out of the forest and ramming another tree. The impact made the tree shutter, a good amount of leaves falling down from the tree. The animal took a moment before starting to eat up some of the leaves. The animal was about as big as the ponies would be, albeit thinner than normal. There was a few differences between this thing and the ponies. One thing was no cutie mark on the flank, which was a odd thing in and of itself. It had hooves, though they split in two toes, rather than a signature single-toe hooves of ponies. Its tail was stubby, and looked like the tail of a rabbit or hare. Its head had a set of curved horns, curving backward to make an excellent ram, though the tips just reached the back of the head. His fur was a bluish grey with a whiter underbelly. After eating a few of the leaves, he looked up to Jasper, a little intimidated by the overall posture, but not much.
"Oh. Hello."
"Training?" Jasper asked, legitimately confused by the ramming.
"Huh? Oh, no. Want some?" He offered, showing some leaves to Jasper.
"No thanks."
"Eh, suit yourself," he replied, eating up the leaves. Jasper just rolled her eyes, and began walking away. However, the young Ram actually moved over to her.
"Where you heading off to?" He asked while chewing.
"Nowhere, now go away," Jasper growled, moving a bit quicker to stay ahead. The ram looked ahead of the path that Jasper was going, and the colossal Gem was heading towards some mountainous terrain. The peaks looked a bit rocky themselves, giving the Ram some confusion on why Jasper was heading that way.
"I wouldn't be going that way if I were you," the young ram warned.
"You're not me, now get away," Jasper warned, kicking up some dirt. The ram stopped as Jasper continued forward on the road. It seemed this creature knew when somepony's not going to listen, so as Jasper left, the Ram went on ahead and had a few of the leaves before heading back into the forest. Jasper continued on from there, not taking the Rams words to mind in the slightest.
As time went on, and the sun lowering a bit more, Jasper continued on to the mountains, along the road she was on. No, there wasn't any exact reason for her heading to the mountains anyway, mostly for the sake of going on the road. The land around her started to climb upward as she neared, with the pine trees around her growing tall. Jasper turned back, having a better view on where she'd been. She saw where the forest ended, and where the open plains began. However, the clouds above her had covered up the sky by that point, turning the blue to grey, and the sun being blocked out. Jasper hadn't really paid much attention to the sky, but, the clouds did come around a bit above her. Jasper was going to continue on until she reached an opening amongst the forest. She got about half way through when something else stopped her.
Something fell on her from above.
Then another.
And another.
Jasper looked around, and started to noticed something small falling out of the sky around her, and a slight pitter patter of rain began to fill the air all over the place. Looking at her arm, it began to get wet from the oncoming rain, droplets forming up on her skin and moistening her hair. The drizzle of rain soon turned into a ripe downpour, soaking Jasper in rainwater.
"What the -" Jasper said, unsure how to take this sudden amount of sky water. While it was barely noticeable before, it became unable to ignore as it went on, hitting her all over, along with everything else around her. Jasper tried shaking the stuff off, but no matter how much she tried, more droplets seemed to form up on her. She was starting to get frustrated with it, but then ...
*BOOM!*
A distant, yet strong rumble of thunder echoed around Jasper. Within the darkening skies, Jasper was caught in a storm - something she hadn't experienced just yet. Taking on war Gems is one thing, but taking on something foreign to her was quite another.
"Who's there?!" Jasper demanded, looking around a bit more. A flash of light of the sky above finally caught her attention, looking up to see flashing lights, followed by more tremendous thunder. Even if it seemed very far, the rumbling made it sound extremely huge, whatever it was. Looking up only made the water get in her eyes, Jasper getting a sting on them.
"You think you can mess with me up there?!" Jasper snarled. Her only response was another, even louder thunder, and she could even see the branching lightning bolts dance about in the sky. Thinking this storm was a fighting attacker, Jasper brought her arm out to block off some of the rain from her face. Since she was higher elevated though, the lightning struck dangerously low. Jasper felt that this storm was either mocking her, or not even caring about her, which angered her even more. She's a veteran of the wars before, it could at least take her seriously! Soon, the lightning started to hit ground, striking down in the forest in a number of spots. It would've been enough to catch a fire if the rain wasn't pouring down everywhere.
"Mock me will ya? I'll show you!" Jasper yelled. First, she tried to jump up to reach the storm, but no matter how high she tried, she couldn't reach it. The highest she got was twenty feet off the ground, but, she wasn't even close. More lightning and thunder rang out, as if the storm was mocking her for her attempts. Furious, Jasper actually rushed to the forest, grabbed a large tree, and threw it directly skyward at her supposed foe. While it did actually got to the clouds, all it did was shoot through, and land about a mile away to the ground. It didn't effect the storm in the slightest, as the lightning continued forward. Jasper wasn't sure how to fight something she can't even touch, and the lightning struck a nearby pine, splitting the tree in two right through the middle! The hit was extremely loud, brutal, and the effects were in a blink of an eye! Jasper gasped a bit, as more lightning danced around in the sky above her, landing around nearby and coming her way! There was only one thing Jasper could do, though she wasn't thrilled about it.
Run.
Soon, Jasper was rushing through the cover of trees, away from the road, thinking that going through the forest would help her loose the storm. However, the storm seemed to effect everywhere she went, lightning dancing above her to light up the path for seconds at a time. The booming thunder didn't help her either. She'd fought deadly enemies before, but at least with them, she can hit and fight. That wasn't the case with this storm, and the lightning proved to be a fear factor alone. A number of trees were easily struck by the dancing bolts, some of the trees nearly crushing Jasper here and there, but the tough Gem handled each one. The rain also effected the ground she ran on; turning firm earth into slick mud and dirt. That, combined with the rain hitting Jasper's face, made the Homeworld Gem run almost blindly through the storm weather. While running, Jasper ended up hitting a exposed tree root, falling forward and tumbling in the mud.
"Relentless beast," Jasper thought, getting up as the lightning closed in. Right next to her, a tree down from the one with the exposed roots, lightning struck off half the tree! Unlike the others though, that one managed to land on her hard! Jasper yelled in pain, and threw the tree off of her, as she ran off again. Being in a more elevated area though, the place kept giving way to drop offs, and steep hillsides. At least with the trees that weathered out the storm, Jasper can get a firm grip on them to balance her bulky frame along them. The slippery mud didn't help though, and some spots had smaller streams going through from the rain alone. Each step was very precarious; one misstep and Jasper could tumble down. Unfortunately for her, the storm wasn't relenting on any creature, never mind her. The lightning and booming thunder was right on top of her, lighting up the path and threatening to strike her at any moment. Three of them were dangerously close, and one of those shots echoed in her ears, as it landed right in front of her! Jasper jumped back, and that misstep finally made her loose her footing on the unstable earth, making her tumble hard down the steep incline! Jasper covered her face, worried her Gemstone would be smashed to bits as her body took the full hit of each spinning tumble, whacking against rocks, other trees and other debris. Jasper's tumble stopped when the Homeworld Gem came to a stop, landing into a fast flowing river below.
Even if she was versatile, the current was hard to regain her footing in, as she got her head back to the surface. This part only made things worse for her, as not only were debris floating down at her, but she was fully exposed. The only upside to being in the river was the rain didn't seem to get whatever part of her was underwater. That didn't mean it wasn't getting hit by fallen branches, rolling stones, and floating logs. Jasper, with her arm against the current, soldiered through the river as every part of her was hit by whatever was flowing downriver. Groaning, tired, and still in the storm, she just managed to get to the otherside of the river. The otherside of the river brought her back to the more opened areas of the forest, leading back to the open plains. Jasper's hair, now fully soaked completely, weighed her down as she went through, soaking her whole body under it. It was fine earlier, but after the march through the river, it no longer offered any protection from the rain. Jasper needed somewhere to escape the storm before it can do her in. Looking around frantically, as she went on, she couldn't seem to find anywhere to seek shelter for the time being. All she kept finding was open areas with a few more trees. As she kept trying to look, she finally caught sight of something further away; a large barnhouse in a clearing. It looked a bit old, out of date, but at least it'll give Jasper somewhere to wait it out.
As the lightning and thunder echoed, Jasper rushed straight for the barn. She wasted no time in opening the giant sliding doors, and quickly shutting it behind her before the storm could go in with her. Her breath slowed down, as she tried to calm down a bit. She was still soaking wet, still frazzled, but she was safe all the same. Inside the barn, it looked pretty empty apart from some inside pens, and a ladder leading to the upper loft where some hay bails were. Even if she was no longer getting hit by the rain drops, the roof didn't block out the sound of every single hit the storm made on the roof. So long as none of it could get in and "attack" her, she was fine with that. The thunder could still be heard outside, and the flashing could still be seen, but both of them couldn't get inside. Realizing that she was safe, Jasper breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down further away from the large door, nearby one of the pens inside. As if everything else wasn't enough for her, now she had this to deal with. While resting, she ringed out her hair of all the access water. the water seeping through the cracks in the wooden boards.
"You okay there?"
Jasper looked up to the voice, looking around the barn. As she was, she then heard the sound of hoofsteps within the barnhouse. She then noticed a faintly lit, orange glow. It didn't take very long before Jasper found out who and what it was. Holding a small lantern in his mouth, Jasper saw the same Ram that she met earlier that afternoon. Jasper sat up straight from her relaxed position, as the Ram placed the lantern down between them both, giving some light.
"No, no, I didn't say get up. You look beat," he said.
"I'm fine, you -" before Jasper could finished, she flinched upon hearing the thunder outside again. The Ran looked out the window at the raging storm.
"Got caught in the storm, huh?" the Ram assumed, seeing that she was still wet from the rain.
"It snuck up on me, I couldn't fight it. How do you beat that thing?"
"Beat what thing?" the Ram asked, head tilted a little bit in confusion.
"That storm," Jasper growled, pointing to outside. Looking outside, as another lightning bolt flashed, the Ram actually laughed a bit, annoying (and embarrassing) Jasper more.
"This is not funny, I nearly got shattered out there!"
"I'm sorry," the Ram said between chuckles, as he calmed down and added "The storm's not a real thing; it's just rain, that's all. It'll past by eventually."
"Rain?"
"Yeah. Don't you know what rain is?" the Ram asked, thinking it was a silly joke Jasper was doing. However, the mood changed when the Ram saw Jasper's truly unsure expression. She really didn't knew what rain was, let alone a storm.
"Oh. Well, don't worry. You can wait here with me if you want," the Ram offered. However, Jasper didn't want to be seen as a coward for doing so, she got up, crossing her arms.
"Don't be dumb; Why would I be -" the loud thundering from outside shut her up. With all the trouble she'd gone through already, it was probably for the best. "... ugh."
~~~~~~
The storm had stuck around longer than Jasper would like; keeping her in the barn house for hours more with the Ram. It was a good thing Gems didn't need sleep; even if Jasper did, she couldn't sleep a wink with all the racket of the rain throughout the night. the Ram seemed to cope with it quite well though, resting on some comfortable hay nearby Jasper, who was also laying in it. The hay wasn't the most comfortable thing ever, but, it beats the wet mud outside. There wasn't much talk between the two at first, the Ram mainly doing his own thing as Jasper waited. Eventually, the Ram chilled out next to Jasper.
"So, you live here or something?" Jasper asked at one point. the Ram looked up to her and nodded.
"Not the perfect home, but, it provides," he replied with a smile. Jasper heard another thundering boom from outside, and could only agree.
"You the only one?" Jasper asked, wondering if anypony else lived there with him. The Ram's mood changed a little bit.
"Oh. Well, no, it's just me. But, it's not a problem," he assured her. He didn't mind being alone very much, though it was nice to see some company come around.
After letting the lantern go out, the Ram was soon off to sleep. If only Jasper could so easily. By the time sun broke for the next day, the storm itself had since past; although the clouds still left it a light grey. The barn was still standing after the storm, the trees around weren't as effected as the trees from the mountains. A number of puddles were left on the ground all over the place, leaving the ground moist. The Ram opened up the doors, both he and Jasper looking outside at what happened. For Jasper, she was surprised that everything wasn't washed away or flattened by that storm.
"Well, the storm's gone," the Ram said, trotting out. However, Jasper wasn't as sure at first, but eventually walked out too. there wasn't anymore rain falling from the sky, but the ground was still muddy and wet from yesterday's downpour, so, Jasper watched her step. for the Ram, looking up one of the trees, he began to scrape the ground, lowering his head down. As with before, the Ram then started to run at one of the trees, but this time the leaves didn't fall down so easily. The ram backed up, and rushed again, but still nothing.
"Stubborn tree," the Ram sighed, readying another charge again. Nearby, Jasper watched the young Ram try to get some leaves off the tree. Normally, she'd care less, but something kept nagging in her head that seemed out of place. She wasn't sure what, but, it reminded her from Garnet's fusion with her - as if she needed it. Eventually, Jasper went over to the Ram after he tried another five times.
"Need help?" Jasper asked, before he could charge again. The Ram looked up to her (way up).
"I got it, just give me a second," the Ram insisted, before charging again. However, the mud made him slip, and he ended up hitting the tree, upside down on the ground. Still, no leaf fell. the Ram got himself upright, as Jasper went over to the tree he was ramming at.
"Let me show you how it's done," Jasper said, cracking her neck to her ready. the Ram looked up, seeing Jasper gripping both sides of the tree, and leaning her head back. In one strong lunge forward, Jasper's forehead slammed hard into the tree, dislodging a ton of leaves off of the tree for the Ram to have. As for the Ram, he was left amazed by the seemingly little effort Jasper needed to knock all the leaves down.
"Wow, thanks!" the Ram said, walking right over for his breakfast. Jasper moved aside to let him eat his fill, feeling something else a bit odd in her. Like a sense of satisfaction. Jasper even smiled, but suddenly she shook her head to get her mind straight; what was going on with her? the Ram took notice of Jasper's trouble, and stopped eating for a second.
"Hit your head too hard?" He asked. Jasper just gave a rough huff.
"Yeah, whatever," Jasper replied. Feeling that he should be thanking her, the Ram got a bunch of leaves together, and brought them over to Jasper.
"Here, you want some? You did knock them down yourself, after all."
"I don't need to eat," Jasper replied.
"What're you talking about? Everypony needs to eat sometimes."
"Do I look like a pony to you?"
"Oh, good point. Well, if you want any, they'll be right here; I'm pretty full," the Ram said, setting the leaves down where he got them from. There's no point in making Jasper eat if she doesn't want it. Then, another question past the Ram's mind.
"Wait. What are you anyway? Never seen anything like you before," the Ram asked.
"You wouldn't have ... I'm a Jasper," Jasper said, the last part coming out a bit roughly for her. Her mind was still a bit buggy, so, she just tried to get comfortable with herself.
"A Jasper? You mean there's more of you?"
"Not here, anyway, but yeah ... Speaking of which, where am I?" Jasper asked. Might as well get the question out while she could. The Ram moved some of the leaves with his horns into a bigger pile when she asked him that, giving the Ram a bit to think.
"Oh, you're in Ramicorn actually. Why, you lost?"
"Kind of. This place populated by ponies too?"
"Ponies? ... OH, you mean Equestria! Well not really, but, they visit time to time. ooo, but you know, you're not even close," the Ram said. How far was Ramicorn from Equestria?
"I see. And that makes you ..."
"A Ram, yeah. Name's Cloven Hoof, by the way," the Ram introduced, forgetting to introduce himself last night. Jasper wasn't sure what a Ram was entirely, but, Cloven Hoof seemed to be the standard for a Ram by the looks of it. Either way, Jasper managed to get her mind set again.
"I'll get going now; no point staying here," Jasper said, turning and heading off on her way. Cloven Hoof nodded and waved goodbye. As for Jasper, she continued to go, but suddenly she stopped after a bit, still in Cloven Hoof's sight. It wasn't the feeling within her that made her stop; the fact that she didn't had anywhere to really go did. Even if she left, where was she supposed to go? Jasper, despite that, figured she would go at some point, and fully left Cloven Hoof alone ... Until he came back around again.
"I didn't ask you to follow me."
"I know you didn't, but the next town's over there. I'm heading off there anyway. Who knows; Somepony there might help you," Cloven realized. Jasper wished Cloven told her that earlier, but then again, the storm did stop her already. Plus, if she was going that way, she was stuck with Cloven for a while longer...
~~~~~~
Soon enough, the road lead Jasper back to where she was last time, though with Cloven alongside with her. Unlike before, there wasn't any surprises from any extra storms for the time being. The land was still a bit muddy, but enough for Jasper and Cloven to keep their footing without slipping or falling over. Cloven kept a good trot, as the trail steepened more and more until it was a zigzag up the mountainside. Cloven was going along just fine, while Jasper climbed up to keep up with him. The trail was big enough for Cloven to stand, but Jasper was simply too large to do so without some difficulty. With her body, she could only cling to the wall and shimmy herself along the path at some places where Cloven could walk comfortably. That didn't mean the road didn't broaden at a number of parts, just wide enough for Jasper to stand straight and walk forward.
"How you holding up, Jasper?" Cloven asked, looking down.
"Don't worry about me, Ram," Jasper said, steadying her steps along the route. It was a bit troubling to move along for such a large Gem to do, but Cloven seemed to handle it pretty good. It wasn't just his small size (compared to Jasper), but his hooves dug into the earth as he climbed. Jasper's hands helped in it, but Cloven seemed to climb as easy as he can walk. Eventually, he was two levels ahead of Jasper and rising. Cloven eventually looked down, and saw Jasper struggling a little bit.
"You need some help?" Cloven called. Jasper looked up to him.
"I said don't worry about me," Jasper retorted. Despite her pride, Cloven came down a level or so, just in case Jasper needed it. Jasper's hands were just high enough for Cloven to see them. Jasper tried to take another step, but the particular area was pretty slick thanks to the previous storm. Jasper's weight proved too much for the Cliffside, and it suddenly gave way from under her feet! Before she could fall, Cloven got to action, and lunged forward, his back hooves digging in the dirt, and his teeth and front hooves gripping on one of Jasper's hands. It was no easy task, considering how large Jasper was, but, it was just enough for Jasper to keep from falling down the cliff (again). Thanks to the extra grip, Jasper got a hold again, and pulled herself up to Cloven's level.
"I don't get you; we only met yesterday, and you nearly fell down the cliff to get me. Why?" Jasper asked. Cloven was surprised Jasper had such a question; questioning somepony for saving them?
"I'm just trying to help, that's all. You delt with enough anyway yesterday, right?" Cloven said, as he started climbing again. He got about to the next level, his eye-to-eye with Jasper.
"I would've survived the fall, you know."
"Maybe, but, then you have to climb up here all over again, we can't have that. Besides, my conscience would've told me to do it anyway," Cloven said, as he continued to climb. They were getting close, but Jasper was a bit confused on this "conscience" Cloven said. Jasper looked to him.
"You look conscious to me, why would that change anything?"
"No, not conscious. Conscience. It's that little feeling in your head that tells you what's the right thing to do. Everypony has one, you know," Cloven said, as he continued.
Conscience.
That's when it hit Jasper, like a freight train. That odd feeling Jasper kept getting since the fusion incident. She hadn't gotten these sorts of thoughts before, but this conscience thing fit the description very well. Jasper looked up and saw that Cloven was farther ahead, and Jasper quickly started climbing up to catch up with him.
"Hey, wait!" Jasper yelled, starting to climb fast. "Get back here!"
Soon, Cloven got right to the top, feeling happy to make it without trouble. He took a moment to calmly wipe off some dust from his legs, as Jasper caught up with the Ram.
"Oh, you made it."
"You said everything has this conscience, right?"
"Everypony everywhere," Cloven said, trotting on a bit.
"But where does this even come from?! I never had one for the longest time," Jasper retorted, standing up.
"You probably just weren't paying attention. Everypony has one, they really do, just some find it harder to listen than others," Cloven pointed out. All this information made way too much sense to the Homeworld Gem, as Cloven moved on along the road. The high view gave them both a wonderful view of the land of Ramicorn. The land was pretty hilly, with tall trees of pine around much of the area. Cloven, good over his eyes to block the sun rays, looked around for the town.
"Oh, can't see it from here," Cloven sighed. Jasper watched him try to see, giving a rough sigh. This conscience thing was bothering her again, but, she rolled with it that time, and picked up Cloven. Cloven was lifted as high as Jasper could reach, the Ram standing in the palm of her hand. With the higher view, Cloven could just make out some sort of settlement further away.
"Bingo! Thanks Jasper," Cloven said, hopping down to the ground. Jasper just followed him down the mountain slope.
~~~~~~
It did take a bit, but eventually the ground leveled as Jasper and Cloven got themselves down the mountain range. It was a relief from balancing along a narrow path, at least to Jasper. The trees lined the dirt road ahead of them both, but as they continued on, they realized something else further ahead. The road they were going along actually split into two different paths. Cloven knew where the town was from there, but as he continued, Jasper stopped.
"Aren't you coming Jasper?" Cloven asked, looking back. Jasper sighed.
"Look kid, I need to go. I've been here long enough," Jasper decided.
"Oh, you sure? The town's not too far from here."
"I'm sure. My home's not here, and we both know that alright? I've been away from it long enough. You get the point, right?"
"Well ... Oh, okay then. It's been nice meeting you, and hey, if you come around again, stop by the barn if you'd like. Goodbye." And with that, Cloven began trotting away to the town, as Jasper began heading off the other road. She wasn't sure if it'll get her back, but it's a start anyway. For the next few minutes it was a straight walk. Jasper was sure that Cloven had made it to the town by now, so she was alone once more. This whole conscience thing was still new for Jasper, but, it explains her shifting behavior a little bit. It didn't explain everything, but, it's a good start none the less. Jasper took the moment to look back to the mountain. To think just yesterday the same place nearly shattered her with that storm, but, in the sunshine it actually looked pretty cool. Jasper gave a small smile, but as she turned around ...
"Congratulations!"
The sudden visitor made Jasper freak out, immediately punching forward. Her fist however missed the familiar fella, and only after did Jasper get a good look at him. Discord.
"You again?"
"Who better? Jasper, I'm so proud of you," Discord said, pinching her cheek. Jasper swatted Discord's hand away.
"Proud of what?"
"You know what my dear; you and Cloven. Course, you new lease can work wonders on your little space trip."
"Space trip?"
"Back to Homeworld, of course."
"Oh."
Discord then snapped his Talon fingers, and suddenly a door soon appeared, marked with a Crystal Gem star.
"Wait ... That's it?"
"Well, I could've got you back at the start, but what's the fun in that?" Jasper was so ready to pound him to the ground, her fist raised and muscles tense up. She nearly got shattered, and the Draconequus had done nothing?! However, Jasper eventually just groaned, her fist lowered; what was the point? Conscience or not, she couldn't hit Discord if she tried.
"Let's just go," Jasper decided, heading to the door. Discord nodded, and opened the door for her like the quote-on-quote "gentlecolt" he was. Jasper was peeved the troll held off his escape, but it's here, so, Jasper just took it.
She could only hope Garnet was ready to talk now.
Boy, the word count was made up here XD
I'd like to credit the contest winner, Dilos1, for the Jasper plot idea ^^ Now, dilos's plot didn't involve the Homeworld thing with Garnet, that was all me - I felt that was required from the previous chapter honestly. 
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When It Rains with Jasper... that is probably the most accurate headcanon for that situation. And of course Discord had something to do with it.
On another note, I questioned Garnet's sanity the moment she said, "We're going to Homeworld."
The home of the Gems trying to destroy you for rebellion and... treason... I guess... Welp, Garnet's future vision has only ever been wrong once.
6867997 thank you, I'm glad you liked it ^^
6867818 I'm glad I was accurate with Jasper and the storm.
That's true; Garnet's future vision has been pretty darn good for a long time.
We need a scene where Jasper and Peridot are sitting inside the house as another storm comes, Peridot deciding to explain it to Jasper, thinking she hasn't seen any before. Jasper instead tells her she knows and is grateful there isn't any lightning, confusing Peridot, making them compare notes on their experiences on Earth and such.
6874455 ah, that does sound interesting ^^
Well this explains about Jasper fear, she's afraid of thunderstorms
9783405
nothing's scarier than a threat you can't control … or in this case, fight.
6868468
Мне вот стало интересно...
Вы слышали о Грогаре? Просто каждый раз когда я слышу про барана в МЛП я вспоминаю самого ужасающего злодея, Отца Чудовищ, Первое Зло, Создателя Тёмной магии и Проклятий... ГРОГАРА