Eight Star wasn’t much of a risk taker, but when it came to food, he didn’t mess around. Normally his food stores were filled to the brim, but because Trixie incinerated the shopping list and didn’t tell anypony, his food storage ended up at bare floor before he noticed. With all of his subordinates out, and Darkshine Dancer still asleep, he took matters into his own hooves.
He swallowed hard… and realized that keeping his composure on this trip would be top priority. The Ponyville market was the perfect place to pick up any fruits or other foods he may want… but also a rather inhospitable place to him at times. Looking around, he could see pears, apples, cherries, celery, carrots, everything he could want! Hmm, apples… apples reminded him of one of his more recent players, and so he went over to the apple stand.
The pony behind the counter appeared to be digging underneath for something when he arrived. He cleared his throat and stood before the counter with a smile. “Good Morning, fair pony, I’ve come to make a purchase from your delicious stock!”
The flattery hit the ears of the one behind the counter, who rose up to meet him. “Well that’s mighty k-“ As her eyes met his, she looked over the crimson unicorn. His confused expression, his golden eyes, the black streak in his hair, and that cutie mark… it was definitely “You!”
Eight Star sighed exasperatedly and rolled his eyes. “Just my luck. Yes, me, I got hungry.” He turned his head and dug a jingling pouch of coins from the inside of his black cloak, holding it out.
Applejack put her hooves on the table, hoarding the apples from him. “Well, tain’t nothin’ for ya here, so git lost!”
His stomach growled, and he narrowed his eyes as his horn glowed, levitating the pouch so he could talk. “Oh come now, Applejack, don’t tell me you’re still sore about the whole… trap you and your friends in alternate bodies, then later use parts of your essences to create duplicates which terrorized all of Equestria… thing.”
“Yeah,” she said, “and lemme show you how much!” She stepped back from the cart and turned her back on him.
“Oh come now, facing your r-“ Eight Star stopped mid-word as he saw the entire cart coming at him. He had to stop talking in order to snap his concentration into stopping the surface from flattening him. He crouched down to the ground fast and covered his head on instinct as his energy gave the cart enough push to soar through the air above him and land on the other side. He stood up and shook the apples off of him. “Have you gone mad, filly?!”
The cart had thrown all the apples and other goods all over the square. The ponies surrounding them watched, frightened and intrigued as Applejack stamped on the ground. “Ya’ll go on get outta here, now. Ya ain’t welcome!”
He was surprised by her reaction to say the least, and tried to reason with her. “Look, I just came for food. I’ll pay… triple your price!”
“No way, no how!” Applejack leapt at him, and he cringed a bit, his horn glowing with a cyan color. She twisted at him again, and threw out one of her hind hooves at his face.
He knew better than to be anywhere near her hind legs. His head jerked away, and just in case that wasn’t enough, a streak of cyan energy smacked the side of her hoof, sending her off balance into a stumble. “This violence really isn’t necessary!”
The crowd around the two gasped as Applejack stumbled. One of the random fillies called out: “Go Applejack! Don’t let him do that to you!”
Eight Star groaned and protested. “I just wanted apple fritters!”
Applejack responded, “All yer getting’ is an apple buck!” Regaining her balance in moments, she put all her power into her hind legs and lashed out at his head again.
The sorcerer Eight Star was tired of this, and backed out of reach while twisting the cyan energy around her hooves. It hung her legs in the air for a moment before pulling up and throwing her right on her back. The crowd around him boo’d. “This is the worst publicity I’ve had in years, AJ. It could’ve been avoided by just selling me the apple, but NO! You had to escalate this, huh? You had to bring everypony into this!” He stamped his hooves and lowered his head to her upside-down face as his horn began to glow a dark purple color.
Applejack recognized the color from their game together and she nervously asked; “Wh-what’re you gonna do wit’ that?”
Eight Star scraped his hooves back through the dirt as he gave her a sadistic grin. Stepping back, his horn began to ripple with energy. Waves of dark purple lines of power expanded through the air, passing through the very confused crowd. “Deny me my food, and you will pay the price.”
The energy faded out, and for a few moments nothing happened. She looked up at him and pushed herself back up to a stand. “Yer all jus’ talk.”
As if on cue, the ground began to rumble and shake, and the dirt started shifting back and forth as a thick mist surrounded the town. Ponies began to panic, as boney hooves began to explode from the dirt. Skeletal ponies clambered their way out from the soil, and left newly over-turned graves in their wake. Hordes of the undead sprang from their resting places as Eight Star continued to stare down at Applejack. Screams of horror and panic filled the air as he hissed, “So… apple fritter?”
Applejack glared at him. “No way, no how! I’ll never give in!” She moved to stand on the main mess of apples, kicking some underneath her as she went.
“Are you seriously trying to push me, AJ? Do you know all the things I can mmphf hmph… mmmf… mmm~!” He found a strawberry cake shoved into his mouth as he was talking, and suddenly all of the undead just stopped and stared at him as he chewed on the delicious treat. His eyes turned to the pink earth pony that had just stuffed his mouth with the delectable cake.
Pinkie Pie saluted to Applejack and declared: “Crisis averted!”
Applejack huffed, pushing up some stray hairs that got in her face, and put her hat back on. “Hmpf…”
Eight Star swallowed the cake and grinned. “Ah, that hit the spot! Well, I guess I’ll just get some… pears or lettuce to go with some cakes to take home.” He looked around at the undead as the mist began to clear. “Oh, yeah… those. Uhh… help me carry the bags.”
So, the day ended with Eight Star buying a lot of food, and loading all of the saddlebags on his skeletal minions, who loyally trotted back into the forest by his command.
Applejack commented as she watched them trail off into the sunset. “Pony’s gotta learn his place. Can’t be makin’ demands’a me, an’ pretendin’ like everythang’s alright!”
Pinkie Pie patted her friend on the back. “There, there, I’m sure he was just hungry. I know I get cranky when I’m hungry!” She followed her sentence up with a happy giggle.
The two surveyed the area. Open holes, scared citizens. Yup, Twilight’s going to have a lot of explaining to do to the mayor!
Rainbow Dash Vs Eight Star
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?"
