//------------------------------//
// Starting the quest 
// Story: Around A World: Equus 
// by Dragon Shimmer 
//------------------------------//

The moon has risen and everyone in Ponyville is sleeping. Inside the Golden Oak library, there is a human who is looking for something as he searches all over the library. A black cat hears the noise and levitates to a halt.

The Swordsman struggles to break free of levitation. The black cat just puts him on the sofa and asks. "What are you trying to steal again, Matt? Can you please lie on the bed and close your eyes?"

"I am trying to get some money." Answers Matt. "We should leave now. I feel something will happen if we don't leave fast."

"But what about Sunset, Twilight, and Spike?"

"I have a plan." Matt whispers. "I have stolen a cart and parked it outside the library."

Diana's eyes widen and she leaves the library. She sees a large wagon. The wagon is large enough to accommodate around 10 creatures. Looking around, the black cat sees the nail and the nail is still relatively fresh. Diana slowly turns to the swordsman but he doesn't care. Diana holds her fist up and wants to punch the swordsman. 

Matt gives her a smirk. Diana sighs in frustration. "I am not about to ask where you got this wagon. What are you intending to do now with this?"

"Can you summon some ponies to pull the wagon?" Matt throws many things from the wagon. "We have endured so long."

"And why are you stealing this?"

"Well... we will have a long journey so... I saw this wagon from an azure unicorn wearing some kind of magician costume and ... you know." 



Diana rubs her forehead. "Fine. We will need some long transport." Diana spins her paws and summons some skeleton ponies. "This sounds hopeless." 

"I will prepare some stuff. I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

Matt prepares for a long journey. Map, money, books, or anything useful for the journey. The noise wakes Twilight up and she runs to him. When she sees Matt searching for something on Sunset's table, Twilight yells. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Eh... cleaning?" 

Twilight frowns. "I don't see any brooms on your hand."

"Eh... I... I am looking for a broom to clean this place up."

Twilight's horn is lighting up and wants to levitate the swordsman but he quickly punches into her belly, enough force to knock the purple alicorn out. Matt sighs and takes the rope to tie her up, then takes her to the wagon. 

Diana sees the purple alicorn tied up. The black cat doesn't know what to say now. Matt puts his stuff on the wagon, then climbs upstairs to get a lot of stuff. Diana shakes her head. "This will be difficult."





Rainbow Dash takes a deep breath to take in the morning air. Today is her day off so she is free. When flying through the park, she sees a familiar azure mare lying on a bench. 'Why is she here?'

The blue pegasus glares at the azure mare and decides to hide in a bush. The azure unicorn wakes up and looks around. She sees something different and rubs her eyes. The mare slaps her face and realizes that this is real. 

"No..no... where is Trixie's wagon?" The mare runs around looking for her stuff. "Noooo... my wagon. Trixie can't live without it."

The azure mare runs around town. Rainbow Dash feels a bit of pity for her when she loses her wagon. Rainbow Dash flies to the guard station to report the loss. After 30 seconds, she gets there and meets a coral earth pony. 

The coral earth pony notices her and asks. "Oh hey Rainbow Dash, long time to see you."

"Yeah... anyway, I'm here to report a theft case."

"Stealing?" The coral mare takes a sip of her coffee. "Your house is being stolen?"

"Haha, nice joke, Coral Blade." Rainbow Dash coughs. "A unicorn named Trixie is losing her wagon."

"Oh, Trixie." Coral takes a note. "I forgot to take her into prison for making the town her slave. Lucky for her that time I was meeting Princess Celestia."

"I am happy if she gets sent to jail, but I won't be happy if she just runs around town looking for her wagon."

Coral Blade takes the paper. "Oh right. Tell me what that wagon looks like?" Rainbow Dash is silent as the coral mare leaves the guard station. "All right, I will meet her in more detail. Thank you for giving me a job."

Rainbow gives her a smirk. "You're welcome. Now see you, I have to taste the cider from Applejack." 

Rainbow flies away and starts looking for the azure mare. This will be hard.





Twilight wakes up and looks around. She finds that this is not the same room she slept in yesterday. Despite her best efforts, the purple alicorn falls to the ground and stumbles. Look at her back hooves. The ropes are tied up hard. 

Taking a look around, she sees Spike and Sunset still sleeping on the bed. The purple alicorn tries to wake Spike up. Spike groans and yawns, then he turns to look at Twilight. Spike closes his eyes, hugs Twilight, and mumbles. "Warm pillow."

Twilight glares at him before jumping on Spike's body, making him wake up immediately. Spike grasps and wakes up immediately. He sees the purple alicorn is tied up, which makes him feel weird. The purple dragon asks. "Did you just mess with Diana again?"

"No. Can you release me? We are not in the library."

Spike looks around and finds that this is not in the library. Spike cuts the rope to release Twilight. "Where are we?"

Twilight explains. "Matt takes us to his stolen wagon. I don't know what he is up to?"

"This is seri.."

Suddenly, the door is opened and Matt steps inside with a tray of food. Twilight charges at him immediately, but the swordsman jumps on her to avoid her. Spike glares at the swordsman and asks. "Why did you do this?"

"Because we have to move fast." Matt laughs. "Sorry about these things."

"No excuse." Twilight gets up. "I remembered that we hadn't decided to go with you."

"You all will accept anyway." Matt puts the food on the table. "You should eat. Your efforts won't save anyone in a starving state."

"Wait, where are we?" Asks Twilight. "It seems this place is moving."

Matt grins. "You are in a wagon, 'made' by me." 

Twilight sits down and looks at the roof. Spike pats her back to calm the purple alicorn down. Matt closes the door and heads to the main room. 

Matt arrives in the main room and sees the black cat watching the map with a crystal ball. Matt teases. "Does that crystal ball work?"

"Don't know." Diana taps the crystal ball and it reveals a map around the wagon. It looks like a hologram map. Diana points at the red dot on it. "You will check this dot. If you find Sunset's memory, I assume it would work perfectly."

"Alright. Thanks for helping me all night."

Diana slams the hammer into Matt's head, knocking him unconscious and forcing him to lie on the ground. "Thanks to you, idiot. Now we can be a criminal for kidnapping a princess of this country."

Matt gets up and sees the purple alicorn and the purple dragon heading here. They are all surprised by the map. Diana flies inside to calm her down. The purple duo looks at the swordsman, who is lying on the ground. 

After a while, Diana comes out with a wooden staff, a black mage hat, and a black cape. Standing on the table, she makes an announcement. "Now, I am the leader of this mission." Matt tries to retort but a hammer slams on his body. Diana sighs. "Sorry for this rude invitation."

"I am still angry with him." Twilight sits on the sofa. "Anyway, where did you get this wagon?"

"Matt stole it from an azure mare and I upgraded it to an auto-moving wagon," Diana replied, folding her paws as the purple duo's eyes widen. The black cat taps her leg. "Don't push any further."

Twilight stares at the hologram maps. She feels excited and wants to analyze it. Sunset arrives and stares at the map. Matt takes her back and tells the orange dragon to get back to the room.

Diana smiles. "Anyway, do you want to join us on this mission?"

Twilight is tempted to deny it but Spike holds her mouth and asks Diana. "So what if we don't agree with this?"

"I will teleport you back to the library. For the further question, I won't teleport Sunset back to you because she will be safer when staying here."

Twilight retorts. "What? She will be in danger if she stays with you."

"Are you sure?" Diana asks as Twilight stands back from the black cat. "I should take Sunset's sword and cut your limbs again, should I?"

Twilight turns away from the black cat and answers. "We will come with you."

"Alright. We will wait for Matt and I will say the location later." Diana smiles and spins the staff to bring out two rings. "These rings can spot the memory shard."

Twilight and Spike wear the ring. Diana lies on the table and relaxes. The thing will be hard.





Staying in bed for two days is not fun for a white dragon. He feels guilty when all of his work is pushed to Sound. As the yellow Abyssian enters the room, he takes a seat on the chair to relax. 

Angra asks. "Hard work, right?"

"Yeah, good news, the village is captured. Bad news, Chalice has failed his mission and comes back with a very deep wound."

"I am surprised here." Angra rubs her chin. "I thought Celestia wouldn't stand a chance against Chalice."

"I think so, but the table is turned." 

"How about the village?"

"They are resistant at first, but when we explain a little bit, most of them follow us."

"Well done." Angra takes the map and points at the location. "The Storm Army won't care about that small village. Now, we need to capture this place." Sound looks at the location and finds that it is another village near the ocean. Angra explains. "If we manage to capture this place, the Storm army will be cautious with us when we can release the Hippogriffs under the sea."

Sound silences for a while, then she bows to Angra. "As your command." 

Angara simply yawns and rests on the bed, whispering. "Come to me. I am waiting for you."