//------------------------------// // Revenge of the Minotaurs // Story: Eragon's New Home: Equestria // by MetalBrony823 //------------------------------// The dragons turned in many different directions on and on when they flew into the clouds in be sky. All of them were following Eragon and Saphira, with Murtagh and Thorn flying next to them on the right, just because. "Wonderful. Just wonderful!" Eragon praised his students. Saphira looked back at the other dragons and the riders, still soaring. "You all learn fast. I am most proud of you all." "Yes, you are all doing quite splendid." Murtagh added. "What fine dragon riders you will all make." Said Thorn, also looming back at the other new riders following from behind. Glaedr, and Umaroth were watching for themselves, noticing the new riders looked riser promising for the future generations to come ahead of them. If they were dragons again, both would fly with them. Still, they were proud. "Excellent work, Dragon Riders!" Eragon called out to them. "Let us be back on the ground. Saphira. Please take us in low from here." The blue dragon nodded her head, and she was swooping down back to the surface of the earth. The other dragons followed thereafter. They all landed one at a time, with Dervoc being the last, a d the loudest thanks to his gigantic size. Eragon and Murtagh got off their companions and the others did the same after. "That was rather easy." Skalmo remarked, in surprise. "I did not know that I would have it in me, even if I am a dwarf." He pulled out Knurl and looked at his reflection through it. "I am so glad that you became my dragon, Gridgorn." His dragon friend smiled "thank you. And I am so glad I am your friend and your protector. I think that the dwarves should have been included to the other a long time ago when they were first established." "I concur. Dragons and Dwarves do make an excellent team." "Alright! Now, we will be doing a sparring lesson." Eragon announced. "I know it may sound a little silly because you might have fought with foes before, but practice makes perfect." They all looked rather eager hearing that. "Now, I will assign all of you to one sparring partner. The rule is that magic and killing are not allowed. Please do not maim or seriously injure your opponents in any way." Murtagh than tapped him on the shoulder, and whispered to him "Eragon, could you please not assign me with Skalmo. He will try to kill me without hesitation in a duel." "Don't worry, Murtagh." Eragon whispered back to him. "I am very well aware that Skalmo has a grudge on you. So I will assign you to spar with Dervoc." Murtagh looked at the urgal, breathing a low grunt from his nose,, cleaning his sword. He was intimidated by his size and how he fights. Then, he thought of the urgals he had killed with a eragon while they were still under Durza's control. "Perhaps you are right." "And besides, I will be announcing switches between sparring partners after all. Don't worry, I will not make the dwarf your sparring partner." The son of Morzan gave a relief sigh. "Good." "Now, I will assign you to your partners. Calraeli, you will be training with Skalmo. Blodhgarm, you will be with me, and Murtagh will be with Dervoc." Each of them looked at their partner, and all pulled put their swords. Murtagh and Dervoc looked at each other for a long time, at least the urgal didn't have fire burning in his eyes to him like Skalmo would have, fr the dwarf would try to kill him without hesitation. "Are you ready, Murtagh?" Dervoc said at last, sounding determined "Yes. I am ready when you are ready, Dervoc." Murtagh readied himself in a battle pose. "This should be an interesting spar." "Indeed, this would sound like a really good training idea. But I must warn you, I was named one of the best warriors in mine clan. Prepare yourself." Then he did a battle pose of his own. It was a little still, until they finally clash. Ramr was so strong when it hit Za'roc. It was almost like a boulder or a Warhammer trying to strike it, but nontheless, Murtagh was strong and held his ground. All rider swords were indestructible. Dervoc did a sweep through the grass, but Murtagh jumped up to not have his ankles sliced off. The lone rider did a few strikes against the large urgal. He concentrated, and clashed Za'roc with Ramr, two attacks that were vertical and one horizontal. "You're pretty skilled." Murtagh acknowledged Dervoc. "I am an urgal after all." He replied proudly. So more more strikes ad clashing continued, making this sparring rather fierce. Dervoc wasn't really as fast as an elf or human would strike a sword, but still, he was rather swift, Ramr made low sounds whenever it struck Murtagh's sword. Finally, Dervoc knocked Za'roc out of his partner's hand, landing on the grass with a loud "shing". Without warning, he pushed Murtagh right on his back with full force. Murtagh was rather impressed that an urgal pinned him down like that. It was like he was a twig or a small rock compared to this giant. Besides that, Dervoc smiled and lifted him back up to his feet. "You fight well, brother." He said proudly. "Aye. You too." Then Murtagh picked up Za'roc, ready for round two. "Don"t let your guard down." The urgal warned. Then he discovered a powerful swing at the son of Morzan, but luckily, Murtagh blocked it at the very last second, then round two had begun. Meanwhile. Calraeli and Skalmo were circling each other, waiting for either side to make a move at them. "Have you ever fought a fellow elf like me before, dwarf?" Calraeli asked "No, but this should be my first time. This should be rather interesting. Just because we dwarves are not good of magic users like Elves are, does not mean we do not know how to fight with a sword, axe, or mace." "I know. Let's see what we can do. And I will not use magic like Eragon said. Besides, it wouldn't be a fair advantage to use magic against a first Dwarven dragon riders Skalmo made a gruff chuckle. "Aye. This should be fun." Then they both charged, mint-green metal versus orange-yellow metal. The dwarf did a mighty spin-swing at the elf, and Calraeli blocked it with a spin-swing of his own. Next, the elf did a forward somersault jump at him with a mighty vertical swing, but only for Skalmo to knock Welden off the elf's hand. The dwarf made another swing at him, but Calraeli rolled out of the way just in time to get the sword back. He blocked another strike, and pushed the dwarf back, causing him to fall on his ass back to the ground after a mighty strong strike. The sparring became more faster, many jump strikes, and slashing, some of them with full-style. Finally, it was decided when Calraeli knocked Knurl off Skalmo's mighty fist, and took it for himself, know having two swords with him. He shown Skalmo's own sword, close to his neck, but he gave it back to him." "Ah, just a few simple tricks." Skalmo remarked. "We'll see how it is next." "I concur, but I must warn you, I am a breed apart from other elves." Finally, Eragon and Blodhgarm were both eagerly matched. Since he was the leader of the new riders, he was facing the other spellcasters at once. He was able to fend off the other magicians, but of course, Blodhgarm was stronger, and swung his sword against Brisingr, making him an even match against. The only difference was that Blodhagarm, being a pure elf, was faster than Eragon. And so the training went on and on so forth. For one long hour, everyone switched places with different sparring partners. Turns out this training was proving them good for being dragon riders. After another long sister minutes, they all took a little break to catch their breath. They fought and trained hard against one another. Eragon went to splash his face with the lake's cold water to cool off, then, even though there was no blood on it, he cleaned his sword in the waters. "You are turning out rather well being a teacher for the new order." Glaedr said from his eldunari. "Thank you, master." Eragon replied "Murtagh himself makes an astounding teacher himself." Eragon looked at his half brother checking on Thorn, smiling at him. In town, everyone was happy as ever. Calraeli and Vaodidr were with Fluttershy and Blodhgarm, checking out some of her animal friends. "Goodness, the bunnies really like you." Fluttershy noted "Aye. I can tell by that." Calraeli looked at the small rabbits and thought of how adorable they all were, with those big ears, and cute little eyes. "So, Calraeli, you like talking to animals?" "Oh of course. I have talking to animals and other creatures ever since I was a young child." He picked up a young little grey rabbit and gently stroke it's head. Blodhgarm then picked up a little grown bunny with floppy ears, then stroked it's head like the other elf did with the grey one he has. "It is one of my greatest strengths that I have." Fluttershy smiled, grateful to hear that. "Wonderful. So, I am going to tend to all my animal friends later on today. If you would like. You are more than happy to help me." Calraeli smiled "of course. I would be more than delighted to help you and your fellow animal cronies." "As will I." Blodhgarm added "Oh, it will be ever so fun. We can feed them, and teach them a few fun tricks they want to learn." Calraeli and Blodhgarm were just as excited as Fluttershy was. Both were looking forward to interact with animals and helping them. Elves are indeed, ones with nature. Meanwhile, Rarity and Applejack were spending a little time with Skalmo and Dervoc. "Tell me, are you two trying to get along a little more?" She asked curiously to both of them. "Oh yes." Said Dervoc. "Me and the half-pint are doing just fine." "Who you calling half-pin, you behemoth?" Skalmo retorted "Alright, alright, let's not come to any blows now, y'all." Applejack intervened. "Pease try and be more close to one other." Dervoc stepped up by saying "we know. Just because we are both friends now, does not mean that we can agree on everything." "Here here. We still have a few of our differences." Skalmo added. "Nonetheless, Gridgorn and Artvazh are Doug rather wonderful. Just look at them." All four looked to where Artvazh and Gridgorn were, probably having a conversation while exchanging minds. "Yeah, I can tell. Just please try not to strain them from each other." Said Applejack "We won't. Me and Skalmo will work out our other differences. We promise." "We know." Rarity said. "So we were rather curious, have you done good. Trying to master the arcane arts?" "Aye. I know I was doing just fine." Skalmo replied proudly. "For a dwarf like me, I know how to use magic well. Not as good as those narcissistic elves of course, but still. I am a fast learner when it comes to magic." "Good. And about the elves, they were already included before dwarves and Urgals came along." Applejack teased, All four laughed with her. "Aye, ain't that the truth." Dervoc agreed. "I myself am doing quite well with my magic. It was.... A little tiring for me however." "Me too." "Well, didn't Eragon teach you that some spells can kill you?" Rarity asked them "He did, especially necromancy." Rarity made a disgusted groan. "Oh I cannot stand necromancy. What kind of ghoul would even want to raise the dead like that?" "A Ra'zac perhaps." Dervoc suggested "That is a really good point." Rarity made another shiver down her spine "I almost do not even want to know what kind of dark sorcery they would try to use." "Me neither. All Ra'zac are savage, evil monsters that should be eradicated from the face of the earth." Said Skalmo. "Eragon did say hat there were more eggs out there, hidden. He said so himself, and I have not forgotten that. He has gotten that from Murtagh before he and a thorn went to self exile." "Bah!" Snarled Skalmo. "The son of zmlrzan was probably lying to him. Probably still under the king's curse, evil on the inside." "Oh stop it, you." Said applejack. "Murtagh has changed. "You have to try to give him a chance." The dwarf gave a other gruff breath. "I will never forgive him for what he did to Hrothgar, but only for Eragon's sake, I will not kill him." "Good. You and Murtagh might have a few details in common." Rarity said "Hmph, I will accept dwarves and urgals being quite similar, but I will guaranty you, me and the son of Morzan have nothing in common." "Tut tut, Skalmo." Said Dervoc calmly. "You go on too fast. You are being driven by revenge and anger once again." "He is right, dwarf." Said Artvazh in a distance. "Let us not jump over to conclusions. Just have faith on the youngling. And think about how Thorn feels." Skalmo thought about it, but he said "what he did to Hrothgar is beyond my forgiveness. For Thorn, I suppose he was still only a youngling in the battle of the Burning a plains where the king had died." Then he looked at Thorn having a conversation with Twilight and Spike. "Perhaps you are right. I should not jump to conclusions right away..... For Thorn, anyway." "See, that isn't so hard." Applejack said with mild proudness. "Just wait, and it will get better." "She speaks correctly." Artvazh agreed. "Let life carry, Skalmo, and everything will be better." "And think of me and how Thorn will interact. Think about what is also good for me and not only yourself." Gridgorn reassured. "I know. You're right." "Ah!" A mare screamed. It was Roseluck, running down the streets. "Minotaurs!" She exclaimed Many ponies gasped. "Minotaurs?" Said Dervoc. "Here?" "I did not believe they would even exist." Skalmo added, also quite surprise of such a creature. "Where are they?" Asked Applejack. "On the east side of town!" Then she ran away. On the other side, three large, hulking Minotaurs were walking through the street. Looking white terrifying and intimidating. One was white and had water buffalo horns, another was blackish brown and had African buffalo horns. And the last one, who was the leader, was black and white with yak horns. The one with the water buffalo horns was smashing a few food stalls on his way through the road. The second one, who was the one with the African buffalo horns, was looking around at the other ponies, looking as scary and terrifying as he can be, showing them that he was no pushover. "Okay, boys, we saw the dragon here." Said the leader in a Brooklyn accent. "Keep an eye out for any one of them." "Right boss." Said his cronies. The African buffalo horned minotaur looked angrily at the water buffalo one. "And let's not try to screw anything up, okay Rigby?" He teased him in a tough, low voice. "Oh shut up you moron!" The other one shouted. "Don't tell me to shut up you feeble little maggot!" "So are you calling a maggot, you insufferable brute!" "Shut up! Both of you!" Said the leader. "Focus. Let's go what we came for, and after that, we'll take what we want from these weaklings for all I care." The other two Minotaurs both cheered. "Hey, you!" Said Rainbow dash, who was with her friends, ready to fight these goons. The Minotaurs were not afraid of them since they were so large. "Who are you, and what do you want?" Twilight demanded. "I am Ardaran Ironskull." The leader introduced "Name's Grabaran." Said the African Buffalo one "And I am Turbur." The last concluded "What do you want?" Applejack said The Minotaurs looked at one another, and the leader said at last "we were looking for a little creature named Eragon." "That would be me." Said the rider. He pulled out Brisingr from it's scabbard, and the other riders joined in as well." Saphira made a growl, ready to eat them all. "I will come at you all at once! "No!" Said Eragon. "It's alright Saphira. We can hand,e these barbarians." Then he turned back to the brutes. "What business do you have here?" Calraeli demanded. "Revenge! Revenge on him for killing our friend, Jarranak." The leader said. Obviously, he was referring to Eragon. They all looked at him. "You.... You know about that?" Said the rider in surprise. "How can we not. What you did to our friend was unforgivable." "He gave me no choice!" Eragon protested. "He brought it upon himself. The Minotaur of yours was mugging me, wanting to empty my pockets for everything that I had." "What do you expect? We are thieves after all. We take whatever we want, whenever we want." Said Grabaran "And we want to avenge our friend!" Turbur added in an equal amount of hatred like his friends have, "Please. I do not want to kill you. Leave now." The three Minotaurs laughed "but we want to hurt you! Oh how it would make us smile to see your blood falling out." These monsters really want Eragon dead for this so-called crime he committed. "Please, do not bring all of Ponyville into these. What did they ever do to you?" Dervoc reasoned with them "What are you talking about?" Ardaran questioned "we kill whatever we want, whenever we want. The weak die and the strong survive! Besides, ponies are weak!' "How dare you call us weak!" Fluttershy shouted "We'll show you overgrown pieces of meat who is weak!" Rainbow pounded her hooves together. The Minotaurs pulled out their khopesh swords out, and those were not the only weapons, they had large swords on their left waists. "We will really enjoy killing you." Said Ardaran cruelly. "Wait, everyone." Eragon halted the ponies and Spike. "Let us handle this." The other riders stepped up and joined him, more than ready to take care of this rabble. "Eragon, they are gigantic!" Spike warned. The others agreed with him "they will murder you!" "No they won't Spike." Said Murtagh. "We can take them easily." "That kind of arrogance will get you killed" said Grabaran. "We will see about that." Said Skalmo. "Just in case. Blodhgarm, can you and the other elves lend us your strength?" "As you command, Shadeslayer." Blodhgarm replied proudly. They, they all fought. Eragon was face to face with the leader. The khopesh looked really lethal, but still, they didn't have magic like the riders did. Dervoc swung mighty blows at Grabaran. Both of the, throwing powerful lunches against one another. Grabaran was also fighting rather well, but he did not have magical abilities. They both clashed their horns like argali rams would do for dominance, and were pushing themselves with their beefy hands, both growling at eachother. Without warning, the Minotaur punched Dervoc hard in he face to make him land on the ground with a loud thud. Grabaran was about to kill him with the khopesh, but Dervoc used Ramr to block it just in time, and kick him in the face. Dervoc sliced him three times through his arms, and chest, causing some scratches. "You will pay for that, freak!" Said the Minotaur "Look who is calling who a freak!" Dervoc replied. Grabaran bellows in rage and began swinging at him again. Murtagh and Skalmo were face to face with Turbur, also wielding a khopesh. "You think I am afraid of you?" He said "You should be." Murtagh replied. Turbur sliced his sword, blocked many times from Za'roc. Murtagh lept, and slashed him across his back, causing the Minotaur to bellow in agony. "Now you will die." It was not easy, for the Minotaur was two times Murtagh's size, and inflicted minor wounds on him, such as a small slice through his ribs. With Skalmo, he fought gallantly. At the right moment, the dwarf swooped underneath him, and and stabbed his heart from behind his back. Turbur was the first one to be killed, and a loud thump was heard when he fell dead. "Nice trick." Murtagh acknowledged the dwarf, "Bah, save the formalities." Skalmo replied, still having a grudge against him, Many swings and clashing from Grabaran were a little too much for Dervoc, even if be is the same size as the Minotaur. To make things worse, he pulled out his large sword, and was now wielding -dual weapons. "Jierda!" The urgal shouted. With a mighty swing, he broke khopesh, leaving the Minotaur with only one weapon again. Grabaran growled "you shouldn't have done that!" They both rammed their horns again. Only this times, Dervoc head-butted thr Minotaur four times, making him dropped his sword. For that, the time was right for him, and he sliced the second Minotaur deep on his chest, causing him to fall dead. At last, the leader himself was left alive. Turns out he was more than a match for a eragon and Calraeli. Nonetheless, both of them stood their ground. "Shall we finish him?" Asked Eragon. "He is too dangerous to let him live." "Quite right. He might kill everyone here." Calraeli agreed. "Ready when you are. Then at the same time, they both yelled "Brisingr!" Then they they both shot fireballs of both blue and mint-green at the ,elder, causing him to burn, and die. At last, he battle was over, and the riders have won. All the ponies and Spike went to congratulate them "That was so awesome!" Said Rainbow Dash. "You were like tough and all!" "Oh yes, you saved us all." Fluttershy agreed. "Thank you all." Said Eragon. "We did everything we can to protect this town." "And we wouldn't be standing without you guys." Said Twilight. The riders felt really proud and happy that the town was saved. "Let us not forget about my old friend, Blodhgarm. He provided us with some magical help." Dervoc added "Of course. They will have full credit too." Rarity agreed. "Is everyone alright?" Asked Skalmo They all replied a yes to him, making them all relieved to hear nobody got hurt. "Good. Those beasts were a little tough to fight. Still, we fought gallantly." "Well, we might as well, get rid of the bodies and discard their weapons." Said Big Mac. "Good idea," then the spellcasters went to take care of the three dead corpses and throw them into a pit far away from Ponyville where no one will ever have to see it, and maybe be fed to the vultures later on if they see them.