Whimsyshire

Violence Begets Violence

Ayida as a spiritual guide to her people was not one to argue, when she had something to say, she was heard and listened to. This however, was not the case with the seamstress known as Rarity who insisted on something more 'ladylike' for Ayida to wear. And Ayida held firm in her position of lightweight, practical, and armored. The two locked eyes, neither willing to back down.

"If I wear something like this I will be cut down in no time in a fight." Ayida said, pointing to a dress design Rarity had sketched up.

"And what is wrong with looking nice? You wont need to wear it into a fight, just for formal occasions." Rarity insisted.

"You can never know when a battle will break out, if you are unprepared you are dead. That is why I always wear my armor." Ayida tried to explain to the seamstress who merely shook her head.

"What about Bannuk? He takes off his armor every chance he gets, you call that being prepared all the time for battle?" Rarity returned.

"He is a different story, I have seen that man pull arrows out of his bare chest, just to laugh about how strong and healthy his heart still is to pump his own blood out so fast." Ayida said, throwing her arms in the air at the absurd scene she remembered.

Rarity on the other hand seemed to grow sick to her stomach at the notion. Ayida was happy that the tale had put a hold on the white mare's tongue though. Ayida realized that this was her window of opportunity to escape, turning to make a break for the door she started a dead sprint.

Ayida did not reach the door however, for a light blue aura had enveloped her, and pulled her back over next to the white Unicorn. Despite the fact that she could easily break the magical field, Ayida did not however want to cause the magical backlash that would fry Rarity's brain.

"Ah ah ah, I am going to make you a dress and that is final, even if you will not wear it, I am up for the challenge!" Rarity said, a fiery passion in her voice.

Ayida just sighed in resignation as she prepared herself for the worst as she watched rolls of fabric begin floating around her.

Twilight was gathering supplies that had begun to run low on stock. Twilight would never let her stock of paper, ink, and quills run out, lest an emergency come up and she find herself unable to send word to the princess.

"That is almost everything Twi, just need to get the quills and we are re stocked." Spike said sitting on Twilight's back with a checklist.

"Very good, I feel that with the way Bannuk and Ayida have been acting, something is about to go down. And I will need to document what they do, and contact the princess if anything happens!" Twilight said, a look of duty on her face.

Just then a tall armored figure walked by that she hadn't noticed approaching. It was taller than Ayida, but much smaller then Bannuk. Walked on both legs, scary armor, weapons...

"Another one?!" Twilight exclaimed wide eyed at the being that just walked past her. Only then did Twilight notice how quiet the market had gotten, everypony was watching this new figure that strode silently among them.

The being ignored everything, and seemed as though it was looking for something. Twilight had to warn the princess. Turning toward the Library, Twilight ran off as fast as she could. She did not have time to get new quills, she would have to sue one of the last few in her stock.

Throwing open the door, and rushing inside Twilight grabbed a roll of parchment, some ink, and a quill with her magic. Quickly jotting the letter, she then tossed it to spike, who caught it and quickly incinerated it with his green fire.

The duo watched as the ash floated towards the open door, where it coiled and reformed into paper in front of Celestia who had a bemused look on her face.

"Princess! You're already here?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yes Twilight, sorry to drop in so suddenly, but I need to find Bannuk. Have you seen him?" Celestia asked as she held the letter to her side with her own magical aura.

"No time! I have grave news for you!" Twilight said, a look of distress on her face.

Seeing the distress, Celestia lost the small smile on her face, and turned her attention towards the scroll that she was expected to read, and opened it.

'Dear Princess Celestia, I have spotted another of the strange creatures that Ayida and Bannuk are. It was walking through Ponyville looking for something, come immediately. -Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle'

Celestia looked up to Twilight after reading the letter, a look of concern on her face.

"It was just looking around?" Celestia inquired.

"Yes, I think it may have been looking for one of the other two, but I cannot be sure." Twilight explained.

"Well, unfortunately I have some more pressing matters to attend to with Bannuk. Keep an eye on our newcomer, and try to keep him out of trouble." Celestia said to her star pupil before heading back out the door in search of the Barbarian.

"Well, you heard her Spike. We need to keep it out of trouble, and if it is anything like Bannuk, we have our work cut out for us." Twilight said, setting down her saddlebag and heading for the door.

Celestia had to hurry, if what the message Envy sent was true, war was on its way. And she intended to make sure said war stayed as far away form her little ponies as possible. Celestia spotted a dark blot below her as she flew over Ponyville. She dove straight at it, and landed with a heavy impact that would have broken a lesser beings legs.

Looking up however, Celestia noted the being before her was around the same height as her, not towering above. Celestia realized this must be the new being Twilight had mentioned.

"Hmm, what do we have here? Large, white, wings, horn, crown... You must be Celestia, Bannuk mentioned you." The being stated in a sarcastic tone, definitely male Celestia thought.

"Yes, and you are a friend of Bannuk's then I assume?" Celestia asked, eyeing the thing that was being so rude to her.

"Quite, my name is Thorne..." He introduced.

Celestia perked up at this, Bannuk had mentioned that name before in one of his stories.

"The Demon Hunter?" Celestia asked.

"Ah so you have heard of me, here I thought you were just startling a random passerby..." Thorne responded, not liking how close to being crushed he came. Had he not been paying attention he would have kept walking and been right under where the princess had landed.

Celestia then realized why the Demon Hunter was being so abrasive to her.

"Oh, well, sorry..." Celestia started out, but Thorne simply raised a hand stopping what would have been a long apology.

"No worries, but why are you looking for me now? I would imagine you would want to talk to me, but why are you in such a hurry?" Thorne inquired, it seemed strange to him that one would dive bomb a person they wished to simply greet.

"I was looking for Bannuk, but when I saw a dark figure form above it turned out to be you." Celestia said, a hint of apology still in her voice.

"If you are looking for him, just go to Fluttershy's cabin. He said he was going there to take the little mare home." Thorne explained.

"Thank you, we will have to meet properly soon but this is important." Celestia explained, taking to the air in the direction of the aforementioned cabin.

Thorne shook his head, these ponies seemed too trusting of strangers. Even though most of them fell silent at the sight of him, it was like they did not fear any harm would come of them. Thorne then looked around himself, what was he looking for again?

"Fuck..." The Demon Hunter cursed, placing a hand over his face, and massaging the bridge of his nose in between his eyes. He had forgotten to ask if she had seen Ayida.

Thorne the noticed a purple mare making a beeline right for him.

"What now?" The Demon Hunter sighed in frustration.

Bannuk did not get along well with animals. This was because he loved them so much. The little creatures however did not like the fact that he loved them so much, because being the big man he was, he could eat a lot of them. Fluttershy's animals were going crazy at the sight of the titanic Barbarian, they could feel his predatory hunger as he looked at them. Bannuk held resolute however, he knew how important these animals were to Fluttershy, and he would not hurt her by indulging in a snack. No matter how much this small white rabbit jumping up and down on his head wanted to become stew, Bannuk would not indulge himself.

Angel was trying to scare the Barbarian away from his unconscious caretaker. And he was failing miserably.

Bannuk sipped a glass of cool water as he tried to ignore the rabbit. He was watching Fluttershy try to apologize for Angel's behavior. The corner of his eye twitched in time with Angel's bouncing, and his fury built up inside of him. Only the cute stammering mare trying to apologize and failing adorably kept him from smashing the bunny.

Bannuk suddenly rose from his seat, and grabbed the rabbit before tossing it onto Fluttershy's back. He had seen enough to know Fluttershy was fine, and he wanted out of this place. He was tired, hungry, and wanted to break something.

"Well, I need to get going. My friend will be looking for Ayida, and I bet he is failing miserably. He always had a horrid sense of directions." Bannuk said, excusing himself.

"Oh, um... Goodbye Bannuk." Fluttershy said, waving as Bannuk left her cottage. She then shot a glare at Angel who simply crossed his arms and seemed to pout.

Not even three steps out the door, and Bannuk was set upon by a band of five Griffons. Their talons and daggers glanced harmlessly off his armor, and only served to increase his headache.

"Last straw..." Bannuk mumbled as the Griffons backed away, seeing their ambush fail.

Bannuk pulled the Immortal King Worusk's favorite weapon, a viscous maul off his back. A single mighty cleave with it splattered three Griffon skulls, headless bodies falling limply to the ground. A mighty bash connected with the shield the fourth had pulled from it's back. The shield crumpled under the blow, and the bash hit the Griffon square in its chest, turning its rib cage to gelatin, and sending to splatter against a tree some 20 yards away.

"Wh-what are you?!" Screeched the last of the Griffons, too afraid to take flight.

"I am your death foolish bird..." Bannuk's voice nearly sang out. Oh it felt good to let out all that pent up aggression, and to tap into the primal fury.

Dropping his weapon, Bannuk grabbed the Griffon by a forelimb it held in front of itself defensively, and pulled it in closer to him. Bannuk then released his grip on it's arm, and grasped both wings, torquing both of his hands, and snapping the Griffon's wings at an odd angle.

The Griffon let out an earsplitting cry of pain. This made Bannuk think of the timid mare inside the house behind him. Bannuk then dragged the Griffon off a ways into the forest where Fluttershy would not be able to hear the screams quite so vividly. 'poor girl has been through a lot today' Bannuk thought to himself, then turned his attention back to the whimpering Griffon.

"So, I have some questions about your military forces. And you have answers I seek." Bannuk said, ill intent dripping off his words like venom.

"I will n-never talk..." The Griffon said, stifling back tears of pain.

"I respect the honor you hold for your country and people, but... Your kind has been very, very cruel to my dogs... And you know what they say... Violence begets violence" Bannuk said grabbing the Griffons left talon.

"Now, tell me about your military strength. I am going to count to eight, and if you don't tell me what I want to know by then, I will rip out an eye and ask again..." Bannuk explained calmly, emphasizing each word.

The Griffon simply began to whimper even louder. As if prompted by the show of cowardice, Bannuk began.

"One..." Bannuk put his thumb under a talon and his forefinger behind it, and pressed it backwards with the thumb, breaking the digit. The Griffon let out a horrifying screech.

"Two..." Bannuk moved to the next Digit, and repeated the process. Another screech, the Griffon was openly weeping at this point, but still refused to give any sign that it would talk.

"Three..." Bannuk's eyes held a fierce determination, the screeches of pain would not deter his resolve in fact, they only gave him more of a will to carry on with the 'interrogation'. He required what this Griffon knew, and if it was unwilling to give up it's information, it meant to harm his subjects.

"Four..." Only death would come to those whose evil corrupted the land. Bannuk would make sure of it.

Bannuk let the now broken and gnarled talons of the Griffon fall limply to the ground as he grabbed the other set. Little resistance was offered, the Griffon too weak to fight back at this point, all strength sapped from the sobbing.

Bannuk wondered how far he would actually have to go before he broke its will. Judging by the resolute glare from behind the bloodshot and teary eyes, he had a ways to go.