Around A World: Equus

by Dragon Shimmer

Another shard in forest

Diana pushes the crystal ball that has Sunset's memory shard into the middle of the round table. It is lightened the wagon. Diana sighs in relief when she finally can use this shard somewhere.

In the night, Twilight and Spike gaze around the wagon. Twilight wants to check the light to see how it works. Matt checks the hologram map on the table and sees many blue dots around. Diana explains. "That's just something that is not crystal shard around us."

Spike pokes at the hologram map. "Where will we go, Diana? This wagon can go on the water, right?"

"Yes, it is. It also can fly if you want to go in the air." Diana sits on the chair. "At least we will have energy for survival."

Twilight rubs her chin. "So, how can we get money?" The others suddenly turn to Twilight, making her quite nervous. Twilight explains. "We didn't go anywhere without money, right? I see that the money that I, Twilight, and Sunset have will not be enough for this trip."

"Wow, you know how to rub salt into a critical wound." Diana huffs. "Any ideas?"

Spike raises his claw. "Singing? Or just making a show like Trixie always does?" Diana shakes her head. "Why not?"

"Because someone is going to like it when we do that." Diana glares at Matt. "Right?"

"Stop accusing me, okay? I promise that I will never steal anything again unless it's necessary." Matt slams the table. "You are very talented at baking. Why don't you just open a cake shop and sell it?"

Diana huffs. "I admit that we have a kitchen but how can we get material to make the cake?" Matt pulls out the flour, fruits, and chocolate from his dimension pocket, then a hammer slams into his body again. Diana rubs her head. "That's why I keep accusing you."

Twilight yells at him. "Matt, where did you get these things?"

"From the zebra." Matt stands up. "I found their food storage so I got some food from them, you know, to pay for what we did."

Twilight counters. "That's not how it works."

"So what? Do you want us to die of starvation?"

"But there are plenty of ways not to steal things like this."

Matt and Twilight keep arguing with each other. No one seems to fall back. Twilight and Diana take the hammers and leave them alone to fight each other. When the duo steps outside, many eyes are staring at them. From far away, those eyes are like a flashlight.

Spike takes some wood, chairs and some marshmallows to make a small campfire. Diana lies on the table and is stargazing. She takes a deep breath and enjoys the fresh air. The chirping, the stars, the quiet. The black cat relaxes greatly as a result of all of them. Spike gives her some roasted marshmallows. "Thank you." Diana takes it and eats it. "Love the fresh air in this jungle."

"Unless it is unnatural." Spike takes the stick and plugs some fish. "The clouds are not moving on our own."

Diana laughs. "That's because you can't control this area."

"I guess you're right." Spike sighs. "So what is your world going to be like?"

"Not so much. In big cities, people are in a hurry to work, and some of them even don't have time to relax. There will be dust around the car that makes you cough sometimes." Diana rolls around. "The small country is opposite the big city too."

"Wow, that sounds wonderful. I would like to visit there. Because Twilight wants to see what a car is?"

Diana giggles. "If that 'unicorn evolves to alicorn' can handle the new. And I bet that you can't too.

"We can. Don't be like that." Spike laughs. "So, what will we do now?"

Diana glances at the bushes. "Prepare yourself."

Spike turns to the bushes. Many timberwolves are jumping out of the bush. They are all glowing at the duo. As usual, Spike breathes fire at them to make them retreat, but the wolves don't back away. Spike feels weird about this. A timberwolf throws another wolf to jump to Spike. The purple dragon slams the wolf immediately, then creates fire from his claws to burn the wolf.

The door is opened as Twilight and Matt go outside after a long fight. They see the timberwolves standing aside. Spike pats Twilight's back. "Those timberwolves are too weird. They don't scare off the fire as usual."

The Timberwolves are starting to attack them. Matt quickly punches at the wolf's jaws, then throws the sword at another wolf. Diana slams her paw on the ground and many shadow hands appear and immobilize them. The timberwolves are struggling to get out of the bind.

Twilight takes a closer look at one of them and finds that their eyes are red and green. "Weird, the eye is not normal too. That's mean..." Twilight's horn is glowing and a purple wave runs through them. They see a figure waving a wand inside the wave. Twilight points at the figure. "Someone is controlling the wolves."

Spike raises his wings and starts chasing the figure. Diana demands Twilight. "Twilight, you should go back to Ponyville right now."

"Why?"

Diana gives her a scroll. "I bet something is not right about this. Here is the teleportation scroll. You can teleport back here. After 10 minutes of being there, if the village is fine, you will teleport back here, got it?

Twilight takes the scroll. "Fine." Twilight flies to Ponyville as fast as possible.

Suddenly, a roar comes from behind the wolf and a bear is charging at them. Matt takes out his sword and blocks the bear's attack. Both of them jump back and start circling. Looking at the bear, its fur is like a universe inside it.

Matt grins. "You are such an attractive bear but..." Matt raises the sword. "You should get out of here or someone will bleed."

The bear roars at the swordsman. Matt grips his sword tight, then they charge at each other.

---

Rainbow Dash is flying back to Ponyville. The cyan pegasus is still angry when Applejack leaves her like that. After searching around Everfree forest for hours, she had to flee from the hydra after flying through it by accident. The cyan pegasus is heading back to Ponyville. She sees many Timberwolves attacking the pony, while the guards are fighting back. Rainbow Dash is surprised when she sees this.

A flash is slashed across her wings as she falls to the ground. A pegasus guard is holding the shield while the other guards are carrying her back.

Rainbow Dash sees Coral Blade commanding her soldiers. "Unicorns, we keep firing spells that are related to fire. Earth pony, hold the position."

Rainbow Dash looks at them. "What is happening?"

One of the guards replies. "We don't know. The wolves suddenly attacked our school. We have to take you somewhere safe, Madam."

"But I want..."

Suddenly, a firewall is raised between the guards and the wolves, forcing them to stand back, then the figure flies to the ground on a high. An explosion appears between the wolves, shattered into pieces.

Twilight stands in the smoke and blasts some of the wolves after the firewall is brought down. She forms a earth ball from the ground and kicks at the tree. Suddenly, the wolves around stop moving.

Twilight whispers. "That pony is missing."

Rainbow Dash flies and hugs her tight. "That was awesome. Where have you been, Twilight?"

The cyan pegasus sees the purple unicorn's horn shining, and it shoots a purple orb into the sky. The purple ball starts creating waves of light. Twilight sighs. "Sorry Rainbow Dash, I'm just focusing on casting the spell."

"Where have you been?"

"Well... I am working on the quest to reclaim Sunset's memory."

Rainbow glares at her. "Why don't you tell us? I just worry about you."

"I'm fine. Anyway..." Twilight takes out the scroll. "I have to go back to the others."

"Wait... Can I come with you?"

Twilight shakes her head and activates the teleportation scroll. Rainbow Dash tries to get her back but it's too late. The purple alicorn is disappeared before she can reach her.

---

Spike is looking around the jungle looking for the creature that was on the tree before. He lost his track. Suddenly, an arrow is shot from the bush. Spike ducks to dodge it, but another arrow comes to the other side and slashes him a little.

'Two?' Spike runs to the bushes but another arrow shoots from the bush to stop him. The purple dragon takes a deep breath and is determined to burn the holding area.

Suddenly, a purple light sweeps through the area. Spike sees two ponies on the tree through the bushes. The purple dragon quickly throws a fireball inside it, causing the ponies to fall to the ground. Not wanting them to resist, the purple dragon quickly flies to them and takes one of them.

The red pegasus is struggling to get out of his grips but seeing smoke from his mouth, the pegasus stops struggling. The cyan earth pony points to the staff that has Sunset's memory on it and yells. "Release her immediately, monster."

Spike grins. "You know I won't, right?" The cyan earth pony is shuddering. "Now, give me that staff, or else you will see this pegasus' blood."

The pegasus is going to say something but Spike covers her mouth immediately. The earth pony is hesitating to give the staff. Seeing the blood dripping from the pegasus's neck. The earth pony gives up. "Fine. But you have to release her."

"I promise that."

Spike slowly takes the memory shard from the pegasus's mane and walks toward the earth pony. When the duo comes close, Spike takes the staff and releases the mare. As the mare approaches him, a fire stops her from attacking him. Spike pats the mare's head, then leaves them alone. The red pegasus is feeling humiliated by this patting, then she punches the earth pony to make sure that she doesn't explode inside.

---

Twilight is teleported back to the wagon and sees Matt wrestling with the cosmic bear. Twilight is surprised by the human's strength. Timberwolves are no longer visible to her.

A yawn escapes Diana's lips as she sits on the table. "You're late, Twilight. I like that purple orb honestly."

"Practicing with Sunset makes me like this. Anyway..." Twilight points at Matt. "Is he okay?"

"He doesn't want to hurt the bear because... He wants to make it his pet."

"Is he crazy? No one was able to tame a Usar Major before."

Matt holds the bear's paw and uses all of his strength to throw it away. He then jumps on the bear and punches its face repeatedly until the bear is knocked out. Matt lies on the ground. "Wow, that bear has more strength than our world."

Diana drags Matt back to the wagon, then teleports the bear away. Sunset opens the door due to outside noise. She asks. "What's happening outside?"

Diana lies. "Just some warm-up."

Sunset tilts her head and yawns. "Weird. Who will warm up during midnight?"

Twilight replies. "Uhmm... Just have to fix the wagon for a while."

Sunset rubs her head. "Alright, I will go back to sleep."

Sunset closes the door as the duo sighs in relief. Spike comes back with two memory shards. Diana looks at the shard. "Hmm... Looks like that shard has the power of nature. That's why those jungle animals attack us."

"And attack Ponyville." Adds Twilight. "Lucky that I came back at the right time so the town is safe."

The others are slightly shocked by the news. Diana sighs and gives advice. "All right, we will go to the Crystal Empire tomorrow."

Spike raises his claw and asks. "I don't think we should go there. There will be a blizzard there."

"Don't worry. We will be fine."

The group walks into the wagon. The wagon is pulled by two skeleton ponies. After a while, the wagon flies to the moon.