Around A World: Equus

by Dragon Shimmer

An explosion

Matt is going to leave the room but he sees four ponies stepping backward or flying backward. He knows the orange earth pony and the blue pegasus. The moment four ponies come into contact with each other, they start to scream and run like mad men.

Diana laughs at the scene while Matt just stands there speechless. He doesn't know what to do with them. The purple alicorn and a purple dragon are moving outside due to the noise. They see their friends running.

The purple alicorn takes a deep breath. "Alright, everypony stops."

The purple alicorn casts a spell to freeze them all. Rainbow Dash looks at the purple duo. "Twilight?" Then she turns to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, what are you doing here?"

Rarity answers under the banner. "She's with me."

Twilight helps Rarity out of the banner, then asks. "Have you spent the whole night running around and scaring each other?"

Applejack taps her chin. "Well, it depends."

"On what?"

Rainbow points at Twilight. "Are you the pony of shadow or not?"

"You believe in that old pony tail?" Spike taps his feet. "Not even a filly will believe that." Rainbow points at Applejack. Spike sighs. "Fine."

"Anyway," Rainbow Dash points at Matt. "Is this armor your work? It followed me and Applejack from downstairs to here."

"No? Why should I?" Twilight looks closer to Matt. "I admit this armor is too substantial for ponies."

Matt decides to say nothing and stands still. Applejack bucks at his leg. He wants to yell but Diana casts a spell to make him forget the hurt feeling. Spike claps his claw. "Look, it's just armor. Nothing else."

Suddenly, the organ started playing loudly. Other than Twilight and Spike, everyone is hiding behind them. Twilight rolls her eyes. "I know Spike is a big dragon now, but I'm sure that he is not big enough to cover all of you."

To find out who is playing, they start following the organ sound. Matt decides to follow them. When Matt walks with them for a while, Spike suddenly kicks him and makes him fall to the ground, causing everyone else to be surprised. Matt tries to get up but the purple rope encircles him, making him immobile.

Twilight glares at him. "Let's see who has followed us from the beginning."

The purple alicorn pulls out his helmet and reveals his face and the black cat on his head. All of them are shocked. Spike looks at his face. "Hey, I know you. You are one of the humans who helped us stop the changeling invasion. Matthew, right?"

"Uh... you're right." Matt smiles nervously. "I just came here to visit my old teammates."

"And why did you scare us?" Rainbow glares at him. "You made us run like a little filly."

"Because someone tries to be brave while her hooves are shaking and her wings are covering her face." Teases Matt as Rainbow blushes. "Honestly, if I had a phone, I would record that scream."

"Ah... you want that scream?" Diana grabs the phone. "I recorded it. You want to hear?" Twilight wants to see the phone closer. Rainbow and Applejack are trying to get the phone but Diana levitates them and puts them down. Diana plays with her whiskers. "This will be my collection."

Matt giggles. "Cruel."

Twilight releases the swordsman. "Sorry for tying you. Anyway, I want that phone."

"Ask Diana." Matt points at Diana. "I heard that you all had been stabbed by this cruel cat. Is that real?"

Twilight and Spike turn away as Rainbow Dash just moves forward and says nothing. Diana lies on Matt's shoulder and grins. The organ is still playing loudly. Matt and others follow the sound to see who is playing.

When they get there, they see a pony wearing a cape playing the organ. Twilight gets closer to the pony and slowly and quickly yanks the cape out, revealing a pink pony with a mane shaped like cotton candy. The others are surprised.

Twilight asks. "Pinkie? What are you doing here?"

"Hey, check out my new play." Pinkie plays some of the organs. "See.."

Matt secretly leaves the room but Spike pulls back. Staring at the purple dragon that is as tall as him, the swordsman doesn't know what to say. Spike asks. "Where are you heading?"

"Just... walking outside."

"Doubt it. I think..."

Suddenly, a big explosion is enough to trigger an earthquake. Matt looks outside and the wind blows them away. Matt stands up. "What was that?"

"Something is not right..." The black cat flies high and sees many flashes in the forest. Diana flies to Spike. "Can you take this swordsman back to Ponyville? I have to check on something."

"Sure."

"Make sure that he won't steal anything."

Diana flies to the flash to check. Something is not right.

---

10 minutes later, Diana sees a white dragon with dark cosmic wings suffering from a severe wound. She also sees the orange dragon with red antlers lying on the ground and seems to have fainted. The white dragon is taking out a crystal from the orange dragon's head.

"You are a strong dragon, Sunset." The white dragon is about to take her away. He coughs up some blood and breathes heavily. "It has been a long time since I had to pull everything I had to fight. Anyway, you will be my minion."

The white dragon opens the portal and prepares to step inside. Suddenly, an earth wall stops him and the dragon jumps back. Turning around, he sees the black cat stepping closer to him. ThA white dragon summons his sword and fires at the black cat with it, but the black cat just slaps it away.

In his shadow, many dark ropes rise around him, pinning him down. The white dragon struggles to stand. Diana takes the crystal from the white dragon and wants to analyze it, but a beam pierces through the crystal and breaks it on Diana's paws. The crystal is shattered into many shards and flies away.

Diana glares at the dragon as she clings to the rope in an attempt to kill it. Suddenly, a fireball flies in front of them, then it flashes to blind Diana. After the flash, the white dragon is missing, and the orange dragon is still lying on the ground.

Matt, Twilight, and Spike run to the black cat. Spike looks at the orange dragon and asks. "What's happened? Why is Sunset being hurt like that?"

"Looks like she has fought that white dragon." Diana folds her paws. "He wants Sunset to become his minion."

"Sounds... horrible." Spike takes Sunset. "I will take Sunset to the hospital."

The purple dragon flies away. Diana asks. "Where are the others?"

"I have told them to go home." Answers Twilight. "Anyway, we should go to my library. The sun is already setting."

Matt looks at the sun. He finds it moving too quickly, at least in comparison to his world. The swordsman decides not to ask for this and follows Twilight.

---

Matt is relaxing on the sofa. He found the walk from the forest to here incredibly annoying when the ponies around him kept watching him. Diana taps her feet. "You know, I don't know what kind of dragon that is."

Twilight asks. "Which dragon?"

"The dragon has weird wings." Diana sits down. "I don't know if he came from space or not."

"Space? I don't think any creatures come from space." Twilight taps her chin. "We only know Princess Luna has been sealed in the moon for 1000 years."

Diana gives her a smirk."Nice torturing for a creature. I will add that to the punishment."

Twilight smacks the black cat. "Look, Princess Celestia didn't mean to do that."

The door is opened and Spike walks inside. He says nothing and sits down next to Matt. The purple dragon sighs in frustration. Twilight asks. "What's wrong, Spike? You don't feel so well."

Spike replies. "Sunset has woken up."

"That's great. We can visit her right now." Matt stands up and pulls out some bags. "Come on, I just want to see her face right now."

Spike adds. "The problem is... she doesn't remember anything."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she doesn't know anything, like a doll."

The room suddenly is silenced. No one in the room has a sentence. Diana just climbs upstairs and takes something from it. Matt takes out a shard of crystal and spins it. Diana stops and flies to the swordsman and asks. "Where did you get it?"

Matt answers. "Well... when I hang out with ... Ummm... Applejack and others, this crystal flies to me. It's unique so I'll take it."

"Great. That's great." Diana takes it. "This is the one that the white dragon takes from Sunset's head."

Twilight is stunned and shivers. "Don't tell me this could be a ... memory shard."

"If this is her memory shard..." Diana sighs. "We have to collect all of them because that white dragon broke it. I was careless that time."

"That's okay." Matt pats her back. "It is better than being his underling. I don't want to face her again. She gave me a near-death moment last time."

Matt and others head to the hospital to visit the orange dragon and hope that this crystal works.

---

Inside the castle in the dark sky, a yellow Abyssian is taking care of a white dragon with cosmic wings. The white dragon still coughs some blood and looks at the magic circle that marks him. When the yellow Abyssian wraps the bandage around his wound, he asks. "What happened to you, Angra? Did you meet someone strong?"

"She makes this magic circle like a gift." The white dragon laughs. "In trade, her memory is lost. Don't worry too much, Sound."

Sound grits her teeth as the white dragon feels cold inside. Sound glares at him. "Thanks to you, my dear master. We are too late for the plan to take over this world."

Angra gulps. "If I don't go there and check Equestria, we don't know who I should avoid."

Sound shows her paw and puts it near his neck. "No excuse. Next time if you try to do this again, I will kill you, get it?"

"Fine." Angra huffs. "Anyway, I sense the heroes in Equestria."

"Heroes?" Sound laughs. "Please, if they are heroes, they are heroes for Equestria, not this world."

"No. I mean… anyway, we should prepare." Angra takes the map of Equus and points at random points. "We will avoid Equestria for a while. Tell Orcust to capture this village for me."

"... oh right, this will be easy." Sound stands up and leaves the room. "You should prepare too."

Sound closes the door. The white dragon takes out the crystal ball and shows Sunset's face. The white dragon smiles. "It has been a long time since I could fight like this. We will see you soon, Sunset. I am waiting."