Whimsyshire

Valor of the Ancients

Celestia heard the screeching as she made it to the cabin. It sounded as if it came from deep within the forest, but that did not have her immediate attention. Fluttershy was at her doorway, staring at the corpses of four Griffons.

"Damn him..." Celestia muttered under her breath as she walked over and covered Fluttershy's head with her wing.

Fluttershy did not even move, she was in a state of shock and had the images of the Griffons with their skulls crushed stuck in her head. The smell of blood burned in her nostrils, and tears stung her eyes. The yellow mare was frozen, her mind too fragile for the sight she beheld. Celestia had no choice.

Touching her horn to the mare's head Celestia altered Fluttershy's memory and knocked her out. Fluttershy would not remember anything after Bannuk left her house. It would be as if she had laid down for a nap as he left. Now Celestia only had to clean up the bodies to assure that Fluttershy did not see them again. Her element of kindness could not grow callous because of a war.

Having cleaned up the bodies Celestia made her way towards where the screeching had come from. It had grown silent shortly after Celestia began moving the bodies. She regretted whatever fate the Griffon in question had met. Coming to a clearing Celestia spotted the tall dark form of Bannuk, who was dripping wet. Before him lay a Griffon whose talons were all snapped and hung from odd angles, he was missing an eye, and both of his shins were shattered by the looks of the bone shards protruding from them.

Bannuk looked back and saw Celestia standing there, taking in the sight. Bannuk spat on the ground and wiped his mouth as he turned back to his handiwork. It had taken the Griffon quite a while to finally break and tell him of Envy's military numbers and where they were stationed.

Celestia just stared with her mouth agape at the cruelty. She had seen a lot of cruel things done, but never had she witnessed such carnage on a single being.

"What have you done..." Celestia whispered as tears formed at the corner of her eyes.

Bannuk sighed and turned fully around to face the Princess. His front half was caked in splatters of blood, Celestia suspected by the amount that the Griffon died of blood loss, not actual trauma.

"I saved lives." Bannuk said evenly, locking eyes with Celestia.

"Saved lives! You call this saving lives?" Celestia yelled at the titanic man.

"With the information I have pried from him, I will save thousands of lives. Innocents will be spared, and I will end this more quickly." Bannuk stated, still keeping his even tone and stare.

Celestia realized then what kind of ruler Bannuk was. Bannuk would willingly take on the mantle of a villain, for the greater good. Bannuk would do what no other would do, to assure that the righteous were victorious. But, Celestia could not ignore the cruelty he enacted to go about this. Even though she realized his sacrifice, she could not pardon him for this action.

"I want you away from my little ponies..." Celestia said in a firm voice. Bannuk only nodded in understanding.

"Don't worry, the war will not be fought on your border. Only Thorne will remain behind to guard my villages, Ayida and I are going to the Griffin capitol to end this." Bannuk said as he strode past Celestia, back towards where he left his maul outside Fluttershy's cabin.

After Bannuk had left, Celestia let herself weep. She did not like how the Griffons had acted, but no creature deserved such cruelty. All Celestia's work towards peace between the surrounding nations were for naught. War was coming, and the only thing to look forward to was the peace that would follow.

Twilight and Thorne looked high and low for Ayida, but they could not find her. They had already checked with Zecora at her potions stall, and they had checked Sweet Apple Acres and Sugarcube Corner. The next place on Twilight's list to check was Rarity's shop.

Upon approaching Carousel Boutique, Thorne and Twilight could hear the sound of Ayida yelling. Thorne's eyes widened at this as he kicked in the door and drew his bow. What he saw though only made him cover his face with his hand and shake his head.

Ayida was in a posh pink dress with a powdered white wig. She was surrounded in a blue aura and suspended in the air as Rarity sewed on some last minute finishing touches. The Witch Doctor looked like she was ready for murder, so Twilight decided to step in.

"Um, Rarity? It looks like Ayida is a little less than willing about this..." Twilight started.

"Oh nonsense darling, I am making her a fabulous dress for her! How could she not simply love to pose for me?" Rarity quipped in.

"Oh, you will regret this you little snake." Ayida spat.

"She seems a little upset, how long have you been keeping at this?" Twilight inquired.

"Oh, around an hour now." Rarity smiled.

"An hour?! Your lucky she hasn't lashed out at you yet!" Twilight yelled, severing Rarity's telekinetic hold with her own on Ayida. Twilight then set Ayida down and released her.

"Twilight, I was almost done. If the product is not finished how can I prove to her that I was right and she will love it?" Rarity pouted.

Ayida grabbed her voodoo fetish and walked over to puck a hair off the seamstresses head. Sticking the hair in the doll, Ayida smiled smugly at Rarity.

"Ow! what was that for? That was most unladylike" Rarity scolded.

"How do you feel about the color green?" Ayida asked.

"I... Beg your pardon?" Rarity returned with a confused look on her face.

Ayida's smile grew into a wicked grin as she held up the doll and waved a hand over it. Rarity could feel magic touching the top of her head, and she heard Twilight gasp and Thorne suppress a laugh. Rarity looked over into a mirror, and beheld herself with a green mane.

"I think green looks quite good on you, at least that is my opinion on the matter. I think now that you see it you will agree that I am right." Ayida said smugly.

Rarity only stuttered as she looked in horror at her mane, such a sickly shade was horrifying to the fashioniesta.

"I think what she is trying to say is you should not press your views onto others Rarity." Twilight smiled, realizing that Ayida had taught Rarity a valuable lesson in humility.

"By the way Thorne, what in the spirits took you so damn long?" Ayida yelled at the Demon Hunter.

"Not my fault, someone forgot to add a map." Thorne returned.

"Bah, you're always getting lost..." Ayida said waving a hand in dismissal.

"And you are always running off without telling anyone where you are going." Thorne retorted.

"Shut up and lets go. You still need to meet the dogs you will be defending." Ayida said, removing the dress that was covering her armor.

Thorne smiled victoriously having frustrated Ayida as much as he had. And then followed her as she left the boutique.

Envy was not your average tyrant, she actually liked to get her hands dirty. She suspected that this Immortal King would be planning an assault on her capitol, so she decided to attack first. She only hoped that fool Celestia would stall Bannuk with her trivial talk of diplomacy long enough to keep him there before he left. She needed to catch him off guard where he felt safe. This was why she sent the message to Canterlot, and little did Celestia know that she was leading an entire legion towards the Diamond Dog flat lands.

As Envy took a look below her, she saw that the dogs had already built a fully functional town. She had to admit she was impressed by how fast they worked, and she hated that her own citizens were not such stoic workers. The massive Griffon motioned a talon downwards and her legion descended upon the hard working dogs.

Envy smiled smugly, what could not be hers, would be razed. She watched as Griffons carrying burning torches hurled their flames at the wooden structures that easily caught in the dry weather. A mighty blaze took the town as the dogs dug into the ground to escape the air raid.

Harpoons erupted through the chests of a squad of her Griffons, Envy looked down to the source of the chains and reeled back as she beheld a black metal clad titan. The very ground beneath him erupted in fire and shook with his rage. All of her units that he pulled in to the area around him were burned to cinders as he kept pulling more and more in with the chained harpoons.

Envy clacked her beak in frustration, she would have to deal with him personally if this kept up. She whistled and signaled for the rest of her troops to descend on him. That armor looked like it would brush off arrows, they would need to attack with brute melee force. Envy narrowed her eyes to focus on how he moved, how he fought. If her Griffons were to be slaughtered, they would at least serve the purpose of allowing her the upper hand in a fight.

Bannuk was furious, all he had done was for naught. He had lost the princesses trust for nothing, and he would make these Griffons pay. They were coming in for close quarters combat, the fools.

"Come forth and die curs!" Bannuk roared as he hefted his maul and cleaved the first line that came to meet him. By the primal energies of his fury, the foes he slew exploded upon their allies making each swing slay Griffons by the half dozen. The Barbarian was quickly getting surrounded however, and though he did not fear death he still had work to do.

Bannuk stomped the ground with all of his might, shattering it and sending the Griffons on a twenty yard range flying back into their allies, halting the advance on him momentarily. With the brief window he had bought himself Bannuk raised his weapon to the heavens and roared out a prayer to the ancient ones.

Three beams of light descended from the heavens and the light coalesced into three beings of equal size to the Barbarian. The forms of the Ancient Ones, once protectors of sacred Mount Arreat stepped forward. Talic the Defender who wore red plated armor with a horned helmet and wielded a flaming sword and shield, Madawc the Guardian who wore a fur kilt and red war paint across his body who wielded twin axes, and Korlic the Protector who wore steel banded armor and wielded a massive halberd.

No exchange of words were needed for the Ancients to spring into battle, they were ever vigilant in their watch over their kin, and they knew what was to be done. One Barbarian Nephilim was a nigh unstoppable force, but four? The bloodbath began.

Korlic leapt into the middle of a large group of Griffons and swung his halberd, downing multitudes of foes with each blow. The Griffons were easily cleaved in half by the massive halberd's blade as Korlic let the might of the Ancients be known to this new world. Bone and flesh simply parted as blood cascaded from the wounds.

Madawc threw volleys of axes into the airborne Griffon ranks, new axes appearing out of thin air, willed into existence by Madawc's own primal fury. Each axe met either skull or chest without fail, Madawc's aim was perfect, and his barrage was as endless as his fury. Any Griffon that even came near him received two axes to their vitals instead of one as a reward for their skill or luck in getting close.

Talic reveled in a mighty whirlwind of his blade, the destructive frenzy of his attack mutilated and burned any that got near to him. Any attacks were either picked apart by the flaming blade, or blocked by the thick shield. Dismembered appendages littered the ground as he trekked through the ranks of soldiers, only blood and death in his wake.

Bannuk walked through the chaos of the battle towards where Envy had perched herself on a rock. She watched his every move as he advanced unopposed by any of the Griffons who were too busy being slaughtered to notice him. Bones of fallen Griffons crunched beneath his metal clad feet, and blood splattered up his legs as he walked through the puddles of blood that had formed. Bannuk stopped a mere five yards from Envy and the two glared at each other, each sizing the other up.

In the Canterlot gardens a single statue seemed to radiate with power as a multitude of cracks formed in the stone. A dark chuckle could be heard echoing across the beautiful gardens.