Around A World: Equus

by Dragon Shimmer

Prepare for a plan

Spike takes Sunset to the empty spot. To make sure no one is going to see them, he takes the cloud to cover themself. Satisfying, Spike turns back to the orange dragon and asks. "Oh right, Sunset. Ready for the first lesson?"

"Eh, maybe..." Sunset is taking the paper on the cloud table. "Nice table you made here."

"Thanks... " Spike sits beside Sunset. "Now, close your eyes," Sunset closes the eyes. "Now, take a deep breath," the orange dragon takes a deep breath. Spike continues. "Now, did you feel anything?"

Sunset shakes her head and puts her claws on the cloud table. Spike holds her claws, then he feels her mana focusing on her claw very quickly, then he releases Sunset's claw immediately. A fireball is created from Sunset claw. It's getting bigger and bigger time by time. Sunset opens her eyes and sees the big fireballs, then she panics and throws them away. The fireball touches the ground and creates a big explosion. Many pegasi on the cloud watch the explosion.

Spike watches the guards flying to the explosion's spot and sighs. "I will change the first lesson. Stay calm when seeing something like this."

Sunset blushes and turns away. "Heheh... maybe."

"Now close your eyes again. This time I will check on you." Sunset nods and closes her eyes. The purple dragon walks around the orange dragon while touching the tail on her body. The purple dragon feels her mana focusing on her chest. He asks. "Did you feel something?"

"I feel... something inside my chest."

"Now, feel the mana and transfer it into here," Spike pokes her chest, then pokes her claws. "To here,"

The purple dragon waits for the orange dragon to do something. He feels her mana going from her chest to her claw, then a fireball appears in her claw. This one is much smaller and smoother than the last one.

Sunset opens her eyes and sees Spike's tail wrapping her claw. Sunset pokes at his tail. "What are you doing with my claw?"

"Nothing," Spike unwraps the tail. "Just some stuff."

"Okay..." Sunset looks at the fireball, "what will we do with this."

"You should make this fireball bigger, then make it smaller, then repeat," Spike creates the fireball. "Like this." The purple dragon makes his fireball bigger, then smaller, then bigger. "Understand?"

Sunset nods and starts doing the same. When the orange dragon tries to make her fireball big but it is bigger than she thought. Sunset is trying to make it smaller but it is not smaller. The orange dragon doesn't know what to do. A water ball hits her fireballs, making some white smoke. Sunset sighs in relief. "Lucky that I don't make a second... panic?"

"Nearly. Do it again."

Sunset nods and starts doing again. This time is better but I still cannot control the fireball. Spike sighs. 'This will be a long time

---

Pinkie and Rainbow Dash are heading to Cloudale by train. When they are getting there, a big explosion shakes the train, making everyone on the train panic and hide under their seat. After a while, they see the train is fine and return to their seat. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are curious about who can create such a big explosion.

After 45 minutes, the train has to park at Cloudale station to check if the train has something broken. The guard orders us to wait here for the next train while checking the ticket for others who want to arrive here. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are stepping down to the city.

Looking around, they see an elevator to go up to cloud city. The duo with many ponies take turns to the elevator. When the elevator arrives in the city, the unicorns around start casting spells on their body. Pinkie Pie is bouncing on the cloud. "Oh, hey Dash, I can walk on the cloud."

"Ughh Pinkie, did you remember why we were here?"

"Of course. We're here to find Twilight and Spike."

Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes. She points in a random direction. "Oh right, you will find it over there. I will fly around here."

"Okie Dokie."

The pink pony bounces away from Rainbow Dash while humming. Rainbow Dash starts flying in the opposite direction. After 45 minutes, she feels hot, which makes her feel weird because the weather in Cloudale is not supposed to be hot. Looking around, she sees a big fireball. Feeling suspicious, the blue pegasus decides to search for the source and sees Spike and Sunset trying to practice with the fireballs.

Spike turns around and goes to the wagon. Rainbow Dash follows him. Something is poking her from her back as the blue pegasus turns around. Spike is shaking his head and staring at her.

Rainbow Dash rubs her head and asks. "Eh... hi. Where have you been all the time?"

"Doing the quest." Spike turns around. "That's all. We won't come back until the quest is done."

"But what kind of quest is it?"

"A quest to go around this planet," replies the voice behind the blue pegasus. Rainbow Dash jumps a little bit and turns around, again, and sees a black cat with the mage hat and cape looking at her. The black cat asks. "What are you doing here, Trash? You're supposed to stay in Ponyville."

Rainbow Dash glares at the black cat. "Stop calling trash, you stupid cat. Last time you were just lucky."

The black cat looks at the blue pegasus. "You sure? Lucky that I have Sunset's sword in the wagon. Can you get it for me, Spike?"

"Sure Diana."

Diana sits down and waits for the sword. Rainbow Dash shuddered when that sword is stabbed into her chest. Rainbow Dash asks. "Can I go with you and Twilight?"

"What can you help us with, Trash bin?"

Rainbow takes a deep breath for a while, then answers. "I can help you search and gather some supplies because I am the fastest..."

Diana raises her paw to cut her off. "Please go home. You do not belong here."

Rainbow Dash glares at her. "Hey, don't cut my word like that."

"You fast. Yep, I admit it when we first met at the library but... " Diana sighs. "Not enough."

"Not enough? What does it mean?"

Suddenly, the black cat is not at her spot anymore. Rainbow Dash looks around to find the cat. A dark blade is near her neck, which makes Rainbow Dash surprised. She turns around and sees Diana holding a staff with a black blade. Rainbow Dash gulps. The black cat pushes her away and walks to Sunset. "Go home. You are not supposed to be here."

"Can I at least... meeting Twilight?"

Diana sits down. "Twilight is doing her mission. She will come back tomorrow."

"I see. Can you tell me where she is?"

"I can't. But don't think that you will find her because I will root for you here."

Rainbow throws her front hooves in the air. "Okay, now you want to imprison me here."

"To not disturb her in the mission."

"Fine. But can I at least tell Pinkie that you are here?"

Diana turns to Spike, who is carrying the sword. Spike gives the black cat the sword and goes with Rainbow to get Pinkie.

---

Twilight is watching the mine through binoculars. She sees the guards are still guarding in front of the mine without shifting. Matt yawns and jumps from the trees. He sees the black cat standing in front of him. Matt waves his hand. "Why are you here, Diana?"

Diana takes out the bread, cakes that are shaped like a pony head, etc... Twilight looks at the cake and asks fearly. "What is it?"

"Cake. What? You don't like it?" Diana takes a stick and plugs the 'head' into the stick. "Here, take a shoot."

Twilight takes the 'head'. Looking at it, she wants to vomit. Turning to Matt, he is eating the 'head' without a problem. Twilight closes her eyes and bites the 'head'. There is a 'battle' inside her mouth. Twilight bites it again. "Wow, this thing is so good."

"Thank you," Diana takes out the 'eyeball'. "Here, have some flan."

"You know Diana, you should stop making the food with these 'haunting' shapes," Matt is eating the 'eyeball'. "That's why you always lose in cake competitions, except on Halloween."

Twilight nods. "I agree. Wait, what is 'Halloween'?"

"A day where people in there wear costumes and cosplay," Diana folds her paws. "I believe your place has a festival like this. My little sister told me."

"You're right. It is called 'Nightmare Night'."

"Sounds like a villain's name," teases Matt. "I will call myself the Darkness Sword if I am one."

Diana gives him a smirk. "Sure, go ahead and be burned by the flame of a certain dragon."

Twilight giggles. They start enjoying the dinner. Diana taps a crystal ball to open the hologram maps and waves her paws through it. The map reveals the purple dots of all escaping tunnels. Twilight watches the dot and feels something not good about these dots. "What is it?"

"Bomb." Diana makes a magic circle. "By magic."

"Okay..." Matt stands up. "What do you know about this mine?"

"The mine is the place to transport the kidnapped ponies and creatures somewhere." Diana folds her paw. "From what I know, this place exists for one month."

"One month?"

Diana turns around. "Twilight, where is Celestia's guard? I assume that they will be here for now."

"I... don't know." Twilight looks at her bag and finds nothing about the related information. "Don't know."

"Looks like we have to take this risk." Matt looks at Diana. "You won't go?"

"No." Diana looks at the sky. "Your mission: make violence there and save as many kidnapped ponies as possible."

"No..." Twilight jumps on Diana. "Ponies will die if we do that."

"Then what are you going to do? Teleport the kidnapped ponies one by one?" Diana slaps her hoof away. "Your mana pool is not large enough to do that."

Matt points at her. "Then why don't you go with us? Your mana pool is far larger than everyone in this world."

"Sorry but I can't." Diana huffs. "Anyway, do you want to do it or not?"

Twilight is silenced for a while. Matt searches his dimension pocket to bring out his black cape and wears it, then heads to the mine. Twilight looks at Diana, who is lying on the tree and stargazing. She grits her teeth and follows the human to the mine.