Eight Star was surrounded. His position had been compromised by his earlier appearance in the royal court, and the crystal wasn't back to its full energy yet. He stood before the entrance in a black cloak and hood as multiple military stallions encircled him. They had all sorts of interesting weaponry, the kind which used... bullets and mechanics, and whatever else.
"Eight Star, we have you greatly out-numbered! Surrender yourself or we will have no choice but to use force!" Sergeant Richter shouted as he hefted his Equestrian-Issued Assault Rifle Mk.6.
"Dear upset, unruly soldier ponies... I have no intention of surrendering myself." As Eight Star spoke, the soldiers prepared their weapons for firing. "I do have one thing to say though, and you can take this back to the royal family." A dramatic pause ensued as his horn lit up a soft grey. The air of the Ever-Free Forest surrounding him lit up with grey orbs which rose and fell with wispy energetic tails trailing behind them. "Fail Weapons!" He lifted his hooves and stomped them to the ground. The air around him groaned deeply and the soldiers pulled their triggers in reaction... but nothing happened. To their shock and horror, their weapons fell to pieces in their very hooves.
Sergeant Richter huffed and sneered. "You can't get away with this!"
"Get away with what? Defending my home?" Eight Star snickered and swished his mane. "If you want to fight me, you have to do it with your natural abilities, else the forest will fight back." His horn glowed brighter, and the floating orbs responded. Moving through the air, they acted like weapons as they began to punch and smack into the soldiers surrounding him.
Amid the noise, the Sergeant shouted out; "fall back!"
The soldiers scattered like leaves in a harsh gust, and Eight Star chuckled at his achievement. "Run... run like scared little foals..." He turned, and was about to head back into the entrance to the cavern, when a blur of speed and colors swooshed by his face. A hoof connected with his jaw, and he staggered violently to the side at the surprise assault.
He looked around in confusion, staggering back to a stand. He turned to where he thought the aggressor went and his horn lit up cyan. "Who's there?!" The trees rustled, and he turned to face the noise with a wary, shifty pair of eyes. He didn't hear his aggressor bolt down behind him and with a twist, kick him square in his left flank. With a quick shout, his horn lit up brighter, and a field of cyan energy surrounded him like a bubble. He turned and looked at who it was. "You!"
"Surprised? Impressed?" The sky blue pony hovered above ground as she put a hoof to her chest, boasting: "I know, I am pretty awesome." Her rainbow colored hair and tail were shorter cut than most ponies, perhaps for the speed. Her cutie mark was a cloud that shot out a rainbow-colored bolt of lightning, and Eight Star knew who it was immediately.
"Rainbow Dash!" He lifted a hoof to rub at his jaw line as his bubble of energy faded from existence. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"Well," she started by rolling her magenta eyes, "when Luna saw you leaving Canterlot, she sent the soldiers after you. I just happened to notice and did a bit of aerial support. I knew they couldn't take you out, but I'm unbeatable!" She landed on the ground and pressed her hoof forward through the dirt, beating at the ground with her other fore-hoof. "It's not your game, so my rules rule! You better be ready!" She started to charge, galloping at him with her hooves pounding hard against the dirt, her wings flapping for an extra push of speed.
Eight Star's horn lit up brightly with a brown hue and he slammed his fore-hooves into the ground once again. This time, the ground made a growling sound, and a wall of stone shot up out of the ground, separating the two of them. "Now, now, RD, how do you think Twilight would feel about all this?"
She twisted in mid air to avoid the stone wall, then pounded her hooves into the dirt as she cornered towards her adversary. Darting towards him, she smashed her hoof into his shoulder. "This is for me, not Twilight!" With the impact, she pulled herself to float before him and began swinging multiple attacks, lashing out at the sorcerer with her speed. "How better to earn my way into the Wonder Bolts than to beat you for Luna? She'll give me any reward I want!"
Taking the first hit, Eight Star reacted quickly and his horn lit up grey again. Orbs of grey energy exploded between him and his pegasus aggressor, as wisps sped between them to protect him. He was forced to back up as the onslaught continued, and his eyes shot open wide as he felt his rear touch the stone wall. "You would risk the end of reality as we know it for a chance at your dream?!" He quickly ducked and dodged to the side, causing the frantic Rainbow Dash to punch the wall.
She wiggled her hoof with a momentary whine of pain. She saw her target try to create distance between them, but she grabbed his cloak. Pulling it, she got closer to him and grabbed from both edges, lifting him into the air. "The Princess knows what she's doing. She wouldn't ask for anything that would cause things to go wrong."
Eight Star nervously looked down. "Of course she wouldn't." Holding up his horn, he undid his cloak with his unicorn power and felt himself fall from Rainbow Dash's grasp. He hit the ground a little harder than he wanted and groaned as he stood back on all fours. "You leave me with little choice, pegasus!" He raised his horn again and it beamed brightly with all of the colors of the rainbow.
Rainbow Dash looked at the empty cloak, then down at the fallen unicorn. She threw the black article to the side. "What're ya gonna do, shoot rainbows at me? That's it, time to end this!" She zipped back up into the air. Her wings flapped and pushed as she gained speed, jetting into the air. She made a quick loop, and began soaring back down, her speed getting faster and faster as she neared her target.
Eight Star's horn kept glowing its bright medley of colors, as the ground shook and cracked around him. From the large gash in the ground that opened up, a huge webbed paw which was made of magma and fire drew forth. Grasping the edge with its pointed claws, as a massive monster climbed out. Rainbow Dash extended her wings as breaks as her eyes went wide. "What in Equestria is that?!"
The head came next and it was shaped like an alligator snapper turtle's. The flesh of magma and fire set the tops of some of the trees on fire as it rose from the cracks. Following that was a large curved shell of a body, made of dark brown stone, and spiked in a primal fashion. As it climbed its way from the depths, its other arm swung up at Rainbow Dash, who dodged like a fly.
She took the hint... the giant monster was a bad thing to go against, and she flew to the side and pointed down at Eight Star, shouting; "That is so cheating! This isn't over! You haven't beaten me!" Then, with a flash of speed and a rainbow trail, she flew out of the forest.
Eight Star was sweating, not only did he have a very hot magma elemental, but his level of mana expenditure was getting very high. He looked up at the beast he had summoned, and it turned to him with a low, dirt-rumbling growl. He smiled weakly and admitted; "She ran, Prometheus. You can go back to sleep."
He had the sense that the elemental wanted to crush him... but Prometheus was closely controlled by the very Chaos Crystal which gave Eight Star orders and power. It gave him a sincere glare of reluctance before it slowly descended back into the depths of Equestria.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, the sorcerer made his way back into the Chaos Crystal's Sanctum. "Too much excitement... and pain. Definitely too much pain. Having this much power really sucks sometimes. Now, who on my roster needs healing practice?"