//------------------------------//
// Preparations and Dark Skies 
// Story: Dragon Quest VIII; The Adventure of Eight 
// by Roarin Thunder 
//------------------------------//

The night was thick with anticipation, clouds had been cleared from the sky so the moon's light would show all over the grounds. The stars seemed to shine much brighter than they had the previous nights. 

There were many groups of guards all over the castle and all around it. They continued looking to the sky for any sign of the dragon's approach. Nothing had appeared yet and it seemed that the dragons weren't going to show.

Eight walked among a group of guards and had idle conversation with them, “When do you think they're going to show?”

Rising Star looked at Eight, “I'm sure they will come by the sun's light, but to bad for them, Celestia will not raise the sun tomorrow. The reason is that dragon's fire is strongest in sunlight. That's one reason why you went to Los Pegasus just in time for night, you had the advantage the whole time.”

Eight was shocked, 'In my world, dragon's fire isn't affected by sunlight, it's so different here...' 

Rising smirked at the shocked look on Eight's face, “I can see that you're surprised! You should take some time to learn about this world.”

“I'll definitely have to do that!” Eight exclaimed as he looked at the sky again, 'Still nothing...'

Rising looked to the sky also, 'I hope the dragons are just as surprised when the sun doesn't rise.'

~Shining's Post~

“MOVE YOUR HOOVES! I WANT EVERYTHING SET UP BEFORE THE BEASTS ARRIVE!” Shining yelled as many guards moved all around him.

The guards were setting cannons up and large crossbows ready to launch large stone arrows into the sky. They also had catapults at the back of the castle with balls of extremely flammable material on them.

A team of archers capable of firing many arrows in seconds where on the eastern wall of the castle. The western wall had the same kind of team on it. The grounds were filled with guards capable of fighting down any kind of beast that happened to be in their way.

Canterlot was quiet as everypony had been evacuated some hours ago. Shining walked up and down the top of the front wall of the castle. He had overlooked the defenses and found them to be to his liking. 

'Everything is going according to plan, now we're stuck waiting...' Shining thought to himself as another voice found him.

“Captain, I see that you've got everything under control here.” Celestia said as she walked up from behind him.

Shining nodded, “We're ready for anything, Your Highness.”

Celestia smiled, “I'm ready for them as well.” Shining hadn't noticed yet, but Celestia was actually wearing armor.

She had a set of white and gold armor that extended all the way around her body. Her wings had it's own set of lightweight armor with blades attached to the front of them. She wore a helmet resembling that of Nightmare Moon's helmet, but with white and gold rather than black.

“Indeed you are prepared...” Shining trailed off as another group of guards stopped beside him.

“This armor hasn't been worn in over a thousand years, I had hoped to never wear it again, but times have changed.” Celestia said as Shining listened on.

“Yes, it seems that ever since my sister discovered the elements, all kinds of creatures have come out in order to disrupt harmony.” Shining said to Celestia.

She nodded, “Even if many things may try to disrupt the balance, we must defend it. It's the very base of this world.” she finished with a small smile.

“Do try and relax before they get here, I want you to be at your best.” She finished while walking away.

Shining stood there for a few seconds and then shook his head, 'Back to strategic thinking...'

~Celestia's Point of View~

Celestia walked away from the Captain as she contemplated the defenses, 'My little ponies appear to be ready for the fight ahead, I wish that we would have gotten the message sooner, but we seem to have been able to prepare the defenses quite well.'

Celestia had checked the defenses herself and was satisfied that her castle had been completely outfitted for the occasion.

Celestia continued her walk while guards rushed past her, 'I still haven't found Lulu, I really need to find out where she went...' 

Celestia opened her wings and took off towards the front doors of the castle. When she landed her horn fired up and she was inside the next second.

Celestia then activated her horn a second time and became invisible, 'I'll play Lulu's game of hide and seek.' 

She then cast another spell that allowed her to pass by without noise coming from her hooves. Guards rushed past her and didn't acknowledge that there was anything amiss, 'I must be better than I thought, even though I haven't cast spells like this in such a long while...' 

Celestia continued her quest, 'I can't believe the Council would disrupt the peace we've held for thousands of years. The stress is getting to me after all this time... I had such a good time finding a student and getting my Sister back... It seemed like it would never end, until now...'

Her romp through the halls found herself at Luna's room. Celestia went up to the doors and opened them quietly and she looked through a crack, 'There doesn't appear to be anypony here...'

Celestia went inside and closed the doors behind her. She looked around the room and saw that there really wasn't anypony there, 'I guess Luna isn't here... I wonder where she went?'

Celestia left the room and closed the doors behind her. She then continued her search, 'It can't be that hard to find her, she only goes to her favorite places when she hides... I must continue my search!' Celestia continued on her private war path.

~Typhon and his Five Dragons~

Typhon continued to wait for the sky to change from the dark of the moon to the light of the sun, but nothing happened, 'Could they have known about this attack? If so, she's not raising the sun in order to weaken us! What am I to do?!'

One of the dragons in the group spoke, “Typhon! We need to attack! If we don't have the sun to back us then we'll have the next best thing! The cover of night!”

Typhon glared at the dragon below him, “We'll need more raw power than you think to invade this castle! We're not to be underestimating Celestia! Her powers are great, even under the night sky! Besides, apparently I will be facing the Dragon Slayer! I have a lot of thinking to do before we can just march in there! Don't you understand, Zarron?!”

“All I understand is that Lance had to have been right about you! You're scared of Celestia and the Dragon Slayer! Maybe he should have been the one to lead us!” Zarron roared back while the other dragons seemed to agree with him.

“Lance is an overrated egotistical fool! Him leading anyone would result in failure!” Typhon growled back to Zarron.

“But he's still far more capable a fighter than you! I've never seen you lift a claw to attack anything! The display that you showed at the council meeting was the slowest movement ever! It took you all of twenty seconds to get to Lance. He's moved faster than that in any combat training I've ever seen from him!” Zarron roared as Typhon smirked.

“Who says that's my true strength? Why would I waste everything on Lance? You'll see what I'm capable of soon enough. Now we move and I don't want to hear anything from any of you unless it's about the current situation.” Typhon flapped his wings and shot off being closely followed by the others.

Another figure flying at a safe distance had heard every word exchanged between the group, “So, I'm an egotistical fool that leads missions doomed to failure? We'll soon see what you're capable of, Typhon...” With that, he blasted forward through the air.

~Luna's Secret Chamber~

Luna had been watching Celestia the whole time and breathed a small sigh of relief when she finally left, 'We still cannot face her...' Her mind continued to think about what had happened then night beforehand.

Luna trudged back over to her armor that had been created a few months back. She remembered enchanting it to provide a shield to certain attacks and she was proud of it.

'Can we fight once more? Can we fight beside one we fear and one we do not trust?' She thought of Eight and the fact that he was helping the Guard. The thought of some other creature being trusted to fight on their side disgusted her, but she knew that he was capable.

Her thoughts turned to the way he fought a few days before, 'We can understand our sister wanting to make powerful allies, but to trust him more than ourselves? It seems as though our sister has grown to soft for being a Princess... I have to be there for the fight! To show her how wrong she is!' Her thoughts stopped as she dipped into her magic.

Her armor was covered in navel blue magic as she began to them on herself, 'We will show the dragons not to mess with our subjects.' She snapped on her body armor with that thought.

'We will show our sister that we can be trusted.' Luna slipped her hoofs into the metallic slippers.

'And we will show Eight that we are not to be messed with!' Luna put her helmet on and looked into a mirror.

Dark blue armor strapped to her body and had holes in the sides to allow her wings freedom. Her hoofs had on big metal slipper armor and her head was adorned with a dark helmet that accentuated her eyes and seemed to command fear in her enemies.

Luna smiled at her reflection and it smiled back, 'We are ready for this night.'

Luna moved turned around and then found herself face to face with her Sister, “Gotcha!” 

~Eight learning the rounds~

Eight watched as the armaments were loaded and soldiers moved all around the group he was in. Rising had told Eight to follow them until they reached Shining Armor and he had done little to help the preparations besides watching the sky.

Rising made it to Shining who acknowledged them with a nod, “Rising! Is everything alright on the ground?” 

Rising nodded, “Yes Sir! All stragglers have been accounted for and we are at full combat strength! Even an ant would be unable to survive after step inside this place!”

Well, that's all great if we were dealing with ants, but the situation calls for dragons and I would hope to survive this night!” Shining said as Rising agreed with him.

“Then I shall assure you that we are able to take down many dragons tonight.” Rising smirked and looked at Eight.

“We also have the newbie here to help us out.” Rising finished with a small chuckle.

Eight raised an eyebrow, “I've fought more dragons than you've ever fought! I'll show all of you what I'm capable of!” Eight finished with determination.

Shining nodded, “You've no need to really prove yourself to me, I've seen your abilities first hoof and I'd be glad to have you on our side any day.”

Eight scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, “That's pretty nice to hear... Thanks! I'll do my best to make sure that you keep that opinion!”

Shining smiled, “Wouldn't have it any other way!” Shining then took his binoculars in his magic and looked into the sky.

Rising looked up too, “Do you see anything, Captain?”

“Yes, I see something getting closer. Rising and Eight get to the grounds!” Shining then pulled out a magical voice amplifier or MVA for short.

“POINT ALL ARMAMENTS INTO THE SKY AND FIRE ON THE NORTH MOST POINT! NOW!” Shining yelled as the weaponry on all sides pointed at the incoming dragons that could be seen clearly.

All at once, weapons were fired and the battle had begun.