//------------------------------// // A New Act To Start // Story: Dragon Quest VIII; The Adventure of Eight // by Roarin Thunder //------------------------------// Twilight disappeared as the lead wolf smashed into the ground where she had just been. He sniffed the air and found that her magical scent led to the other side of the bridge. Twilight activated her horn once again and blasted the ropes connecting the bridge causing it to fall into the chasm and leave the wolves without a way to run after her. ‘Okay, time to go find everyone!’ Twilight thought as she galloped towards the castle. The wolves on the other side of the now broken bridge seemed to be cursing their luck. Though the lead wolf was grinning with his sharp teeth poking outwards. “We haven’t failed brothers. This time, we’ve won and will continue to do so.” He said calmly while padding back into the woods. “Let us keep watch over the forest while our God continues his ritual.” ~ Lance had looked around for his weapons for a good five minutes before quickly growing enraged over the situation. Even after growing enraged he’d stomped around the dungeon for another five minutes or so before finally finding the exit. He punched the doors several times and with each attack the doors remained still, ‘Magic must be imbued to them. I’ll need a greater force than just a regular fist...’ He looked at his left arm and then clenched his clenched his fingers to form a fist as he started to concentrate magic into it. His muscles began to expand starting from his shoulder and going down to his fist. Lance pulled his fist behind himself as the arm expanded to gargantuan size behind him as he prepared to unleash the energy built up. On the other side of the door many guards gathered in preparation for Lance to make his break for it. What they never expected was the amount of magical pressure bearing down on them as the floor of the castle began to shake a bit. “What’s happening?” Asked one Guard as he held one hoof off the ground. “I’m not su- AHHH!” Yelled one of the guards standing closest to the now flying doors. But it never stopped there, a gigantic fist plowed through the very earth as the floor of the castle blasted toward the rest of the guards. Many of them were swept up by the attack when the fist itself had been stopped by Lance. He watched as they blasted toward the other end of the hall with glee evident upon his face, ‘That was too easy, surely Celestia has greater guardians than that!’ His oversized arm began to shrink down to it’s normal size after a few seconds. Lance moved the arm in question a few times and began to punch the air rapidly with it. Finally, he stopped and began to move forward with his plans. ‘I need something to fight with! So, where can an armory be found around here?’ Lance thought while sprinting off towards his next destination wherever that may be. ~Another Section of Canterlot Castle~ Eight ran with Cadance on his tail through the random castle hallways with no idea where he was going. Cadance tried to catch him with her magic, but the effort was wasted as Eight would always manage to slip out of the bluish aura. “Stop trying to stop me, Cadance! I know that something is off here! You had to have felt that shaking going off inside the castle!” Eight shouted at the pesky pink Princess. “Do you even have any idea where you’re heading?!” Cadance questioned Eight as they saw two large doors coming up ahead. A small sign declared that it was the Armory just ahead, “The armory!” Eight yelled back at her as another voice joined in. “THE ARMORY?! Just what I needed!” Eight immediately stopped to see the same dragon that had tried to kill him just a few days back. Cadance noticed him at once and immediately summoned a magical barrier to stop him from getting to the large doors behind it. Lance skidded to a halt just before the barrier in question. Lance moved his head to look over his right shoulder and saw the pony from before, ‘She’s with that creature they called, “The Dragon Slayer”. Now this is interesting...’ He trailed off in thought as he turned to them both completely. ~Outside the Castle~ Kicor was thoroughly annoyed at the moment. He had two princesses trying their hardest to distract him while waiting for guards that Kicor was convinced would never show their faces again. “You sure that you don’t want to play cards, Kicor? Come on! For old times sake!” Celestia begged while cards seemed to magically fall from her mystical mane. Luna was making the effect while Celestia tried her hardest to entertain the impatient Gryphon. Sadly for her, it seemed to be completely futile. “Where is Lance?! The one I’m supposed to escort?!” Kicor questioned as both Princesses froze up and cards stopped falling out of Celestia’s mane. “Well…” Celestia had no idea what to say. ‘They both should have been back by now...’ Celestia thought to herself as Kicor padded past her. Luna stood in his way this time, “What art thou doing?” “I’m going to get Lance of course. I felt a strong magic within the castle and it felt to be of dragon origin. So, he must have escaped your guards.” Kicor finished while trying to move past Luna. Celestia had moved to stand before him again, “Are you absolut-” “Stop playing games with me. I only desire to get moving. So move or I will have to forget any sort of friendship forged long ago.” Kicor stated with deadly resolve. Celestia looked over at Luna and then sighed, “Very well…” She stepped to the side and turned to Luna expecting the same thing. Luna frowned, but moved anyway, “We are not sure why we shouldn’t defeat this whelp, but if thou thinks that this is the best course… Then we have no reason to disagree.” Kicor nodded at them both, “Good choice.” He padded past them and toward the castle stairs without looking back. ~In the Armory Hall~ Lance looked at them both with rapt interest, “I knew we’d meet again, but so soon? Seems like I”m very lucky. You don’t seem to be injured as you were just a few days ago either. Very curious, how do you heal so well, “Dragon Slayer”.” He finished mockingly. Eight took a defensive stance immediately, “Why should I tell you anything?! I should be asking you why you’re over here in the first place!” “Is it not obvious enough that I’m looking for weapons? How about you, why are you here!?” Lance returned with as Eight frowned. “Uhhh… I Just ended up here, I guess…” Eight trailed off awkwardly. Cadance felt as if she were being ignored, so she stepped forward, “Well, you won’t be getting any weapons as long as we’re both here!” Eight looked over at her, “You actually plan on fighting this guy with me?” “Yeah, I wouldn’t be here otherwise!” Cadance stated to Eight. “But I thought you were trying to stop me from doing anything like that!” Eight exclaimed to which Cadance frowned. “It sounds like you don-” Cadance felt the tiles shake as Lance stepped toward them. “As amusing as you both seem to think you are, I don’t have time for this.” Lance snarled as his right arm surged with magic. Eight watched as the arm grew much larger and his decision to act became far easier, “Accelerate!” He cast while being surrounded by a blue light. He ran to Cadance, picked her up and jumped high into the air just as Lance’s fist hit the area where they both had previously stood. Lance’s arm shrunk back down quickly as he jumped into the air after Eight. Eight found himself landing on the side of the wall and running down the side of it with practiced ease as Lance flung himself toward the floor where Eight was heading straight for. “Here you go!” Lance roared as he let loose a large amount of dragon flames upon them. Cadance reacted quickly with a shield summons. The flames surrounded the shield and seemed to roll right off of it. The shield floated while being constantly attacked by the dragon below. Cadance struggled with her magic while the shield began to crack slightly, “Eight, I can’t hold this, we’ve got to get closer!” Eight nodded, “I’ll add my magic and then we’ll push straight for him! If I can get a few good hits in, then this will be all worth it!” Cadance began to push forward as the flames seemed to allow their magical strength to push right through. Lance finally had to stop his attack as the shield blasted toward him with no way to stop. Eight made it break apart while Cadance flapped into the air near the ceiling of the castle hallway. Eight powered himself up with a quick tension boost and went in close, “Multifist!” His fists began to move so fast that he appeared to have four arms. Lance took two hits and stumbled back as the next two shots came in he managed to move out of their way. He struck back with his own furious blows that seemed to match Eight’s quite easily. Their fists collided multiple times bringing small shockwaves that broke pieces of tiled flooring up with each hit. Eight and Lance collided one more time, but this time they had hit each other in the face directly. Knocking them away from each other and sliding against broken tile until they skidded to a stop. Lance rolled over and jumped quickly to his feet, “Hope that’s not all you can take, we’re not done here yet!” Eight pushed himself back up as well, “No way! I’ve got more fight in me than that!” Lance smirked and opened the palm of his hand to reveal a small circle, “Do you see this circle? This has the power to control environments.” Eight frowned and gripped the hilt of his Dragovian Sword only for his body to freeze. Lance seemed to be completely immobile seeing that his arm hadn’t moved at all. “You both fight pretty well… Almost made me want to watch, but I have no time for tomfoolery.” A griffon padded calmly past Eight who was shocked to feel so helpless. Lance felt his body returning to normal as the Gryphon continued to walk toward him. He immediately hit the floor from fatigue. “It took you long enough! I swear tha- ACK!” Kicor picked up Lance by his throat, “Foolish child! I should kill you right now! Do you have any idea what you’ve caused?! I can smell the blood of Typhon that seeped into your scales!” Lance gripped the strong foreleg with his clenched fists, but found that he was weakening ever more so for exerting the energy to resist. Finally, Kicor dropped him to the ground where he lay gasping for breath. Kicor then turned his sights to Eight, “And you must be the “Dragon Slayer”. You don’t seem all that strong though… Regardless, I’ve heard that you have plenty of potential, so I’ll be watching you in the future.” With that, he released Eight who hit the ground immediately. Kicor looked back to Lance, “Come along, we have places to be.” Lance reluctantly got up and followed Kicor. Eight watched him as he walked by and Lance sneered slightly as he left. Cadance walked over to Eight and put a hoof on his side, “We should go too.” “Yeah…” Eight finished as they followed Kicor and Lance. ~Within the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters~ Twilight moved around quietly while looking around the dark and dusty place, ‘They have to be here somewhere! This is the only place they could have been taken to!’ “Twilight…” Twilight’s ears twitched at that, “Huh?!” She immediately put a hoof to her mouth. “Twilight…” Twilight shook her head and put the hoof down, ‘It’s just more tricks, I have to keep going!’ She tried to move, but her hooves were stuck to the ground. It seemed that a purple mist had shrouded the area around her and she could hear a loud stomping sound coming her way. “We’re here for you!” An all too familiar voice rasped into her ear. ‘Nightmare Moon!’ She panicked immediately. She felt pain at the base of her horn and hit the ground. Blackness seeped into her eyes.