A Little Mule's Big Adventure [OPEN]

[Gwendolyn]

Gwendolyn took a deep breath. She was nervous. What would the ponies of Ponyville do when they saw her? Would they do the same thing the ponies in Canterlot did? Would they taunt her about her ears and call her a mutt because she was only half pony? She knew she wouldn't know until she threw herself out there for all of the little town to see. But, nevertheless, she was scared.

The little albino mule took one last breath, and used her hoof to push the door to her little shop open, stepping out into the sun of the beautiful spring morning. Ponyville was already abuzz with daily activity and the shy little mule felt a bit daunted by the amount of ponies running about. But she would not let it show!

She squared her shoulders, held her head high and, with an elegant swish of her head, she adjusted her white bangs - streaked with pink and red - around her horn neatly. Around her slender neck was a beautiful piece of silver jewelry with lovely pink and red stones. The arched of the jewelry wrapped around her neck, two jewels hanging from each arch, but three from the front. Around her lion-like tail she wore a matching band.

She stepped forward into the exciting little town, her red eyes taking everything in cheerfully. Her long ears were constantly changing direction atop her head as many things caught her attention. She pushed her way into the flow of pony traffic and hopped out of it again beside a fashionably cute building. She didn't really bother to see what the building was. It wasn't quite as crowded over here and she decided to pony-watch.

She looked over what the ponies were wearing (if they were wearing anything at all) and was both pleased and terrified. Good grief, what was she thinking? she thought to herself when she saw a pony trot happily by wearing a bright red jewel that contrasted horridly with her darker blue coat. The jewel itself was lovely, but it certainly didn't look lovely on her. But it was balanced out when two ponies walked by who seemed to have a considerable amount more fashion sense.

After watching the citizens for a while, she felt like she wanted to get to know them. If only her dreadful shyness didn't prevent her from walking right up to someone and saying 'hello'.

[Jasper]

Jasper was headed home after a morning of mining. He wasn't pulling his cart today, he'd already hit a pocket of midnight blue sapphires. But not just any sapphires, these were Star Sapphires. Very lovely ones too, and they had reminded him of some moonstone he'd found a few days ago. And there was the silver lode he'd hit the week before that- it had inspired him enough to quit work early, pack up the sapphires in his saddlebags, and head back to his workshop on the double.

He was thinking of a delicate silver circlet, perhaps with a large piece of moonstone carved into a crescent moon for the center stone, and a few star sapphires on either side, tapering from largest to smallest. should there be even smaller sapphires hanging from delicate silver chains for the part of the Circlet that was off the face? He loved the poetic idea of hanging stars in one's mane. But one had to be careful. He'd pulled off such an idea successfully before, but he'd also had a couple failures, where once he was done, he had to admit his creation looked nothing so much as a many legged bug, sitting atop a pony's head. With gems for eyes. It was not an experience he was eager to repeat.

As he approached his workshop, which had once been 'Tick-Tock's Clock Shop' but was now named 'Jasper's Fine Jewels' -Not that this kept ponies from bringing him their clocks for him to mend, mind you... He noticed a very unusual looking ...pony? Unicorn? Mule? Who appeared to be waiting outside his shop. Jasper inspected her closely as he approached, noting her unusual tail, long ears, cutie mark, but most of all, her necklace and matching tail band.

He bristled slightly, sensing a rival jeweler, and wondering if she'd come to spy on his shop while he was out. She looked innocent enough, even a little shy and wistful, but one could never really tell, could you? But, even so, one ought to be polite. At least until one was sure one was a spy. Then one was justified in blasting one's ego to smithereens with one's withering sarcasm. Ugh. Too many 'ones'. One has really got to watch that. he thought to himself, and the little joke lightened his mood and made him smile.

"Good morning," Jasper addressed the little mule, cheerfully as he stepped past her to unlock his door and switch the sign from Closed to Open. "Were you waiting for the shop to open, or just taking a breather from the rush and bustle of the street?" If other ponies taunted and teased her, this one would not. He might not care for her profession (if she turned out to be a rival) but at least he wouldn't hold her species against her!