Whimsyshire

Luna had obeyed her older sister's request and had steeled herself against the onslaught that she had witnessed without getting involved. Celestia had told her not to get involved nomatter what happened lest the international treaties become null and void from her intervention. The task of watching had been difficult at first, but after Bannuk had begun his own slaughter she found staying out of the battle quite easy. The princess of the night had even tasted fear as she watched the behemoth of a man lay waste to an entire army. And when he transformed, Luna felt that in terms of raw physical prowess, nothing could possibly surpass him.

Shivering slightly at the memory of the white haired molten form, Luna headed off to tell her sister of what had transpired here. Luna had feared the Griffons might try something like this, but she could never had imagined it to happen so soon and she knew not what to do about it. A battle this close to an equestrian settlement was nearly a breach of the treaty in itself, especially so close to Canterlot. Even after Discord had appeared Luna had full faith in Bannuk's might, Discord had even fled from him after saving Envy.

"I hope sister will know what to do..." Luna said to herself as she flew off to find Celestia.

Ayida and Thorne carried their massive friend between them, he had been up for days, barely getting any rest as he planned the siege he was going to lay on the Griffon kingdom. This had left him fatigued, and straining himself in battling alone did not aid his weariness.

"You push yourself too far sometimes you know..." Ayida said as she looked over to the dozing form of Bannuk. Despite still bleeding from a few cuts that were growing shallower by the second as his healing factor kicked in, Bannuk was peacefully asleep.

"It was a miracle he did not fall asleep halfway through that fight, did you see how sluggish his movements were? He would never have normally let that thing get away with Envy." Thorne commented.

"This is why i kept telling him to stop pouring over maps of the land and get some rest." Ayida said in exasperation.

The two carried Bannuk to a building that had not caught fire and laid him down on the floor. Ayida checked over his wounds and nodded seeing them close up completely on their own. Thorne meanwhile grabbed a pillow and some blankets to cover his friend with.

"I'll watch over him, you know the ponies better so you go question Celestia as to who that was." Thorne said as he sat down on the ground next to Bannuk, and began fiddling with a few of his devices and bombs.

"Fine, but be careful. If you wake him up by setting off one of those bombs or traps he will kill you." Ayida said with a stern tone as she headed out the door.

Thorne looked at the slumbering Barbarian, then down to the bomb in his hands. Tucking the bomb back into its appropriate pouch, Thorne pulled out a flask instead to spend his time fiddling with. He did not really worry that anything would happen to Bannuk anyways, he merely wanted to make sure if he was awoken he didn't murder the offender.

"Cheers" Thorne said as he took a swig of the flask and smiled at his friend.

Celestia was not in a good mood to begin with. Her mood only worsened as she heard the news of the battle from her sister. Envy had some nerve to attack so close to Canterlot, did she not care if Discord was set free by the chaos battles always caused. Celestia could only hope they were at a safe distance.

"And then Bannuk transformed when he fought with Envy. I couldn't hear what they were saying to each other, but he seemed to lose himself to rage, then grew even bigger and turned into something terrible. The ground itself boiled with his rage..." Luna continued to recount the story to her older sister.

"He did what now?!" Celestia said, unable to believe Bannuk had such a power hidden in him.

"It's true, Envy even stabbed him but he did not seem to care and he kicked her in the chest. She tried to run away after that but he jumped on her and smashed her into the ground. I think she would have died if Discord did not show up and save her." Luna continued.

"Discord is free?!" Celestia exclaimed again. Luna only nodded in response to her sister's anger.

"He saved Envy then ran off." Luna explained.

"This is terrible, I don't know how we can deal with him if he has gained enough power from the war our friend has caused. This is why i demanded he take the war away from our borders!" Screamed Celestia.

Luna suddenly gasped and looked behind her sister. Celestia saw this and turned around to see a ghostly form stepping through the wall of the library the sisters were in. The form solidified into that of Ayida, who looked rather displeased. Ayida was also spattered with some blood, apparently she had been fighting too.

"You have some explaining to do Celestia." Ayida said crossly.

"What?" Celestia was taken aback as she received the open hostility in the Witch Doctor's voice.

"Who was the interloper that saved Envy? When Bannuk wakes up he is going to be pissed that she got away because of him." Ayida pressed on anger still in her voice.

"Is Bannuk alright?" Celestia said with some concern, perhaps Discord had fought with him and Bannuk had lost.

"He is sleeping, he has not been getting much sleep the last few days and it has put him on edge and the exercise he had wiped the little remnants of his energy. If he wasn't moving so slowly he would have gotten a hit in on that thing." Ayida said to Luna's disbelief.

"That was moving slowly for him?!" Luna exclaimed.

Celestia ignored her sister and opted to answer the glowering Witch Doctor, "His name is Discord, he is the spirit of chaos. He is normally trapped in stone, but he received enough power from the war being this close to escape his imprisonment."

"Imprisoned? If he is so dangerous why not slay him, or does he come back if that happens like angels and demons?" Ayida inquired to the sun princess.

"He is too powerful to fight, only the Elements of Harmony can seal him, but he is too powerful with this much chaos around to be sealed again." Celestia said solemnly.

"Too powerful? Bannuk was barely able to muster enough energy to transform even with his anger pushing him on, and the 'Discord' character still ran away from him with his tail between his legs." Ayida said as she shook her head at Celestia.

"You don't understand, Discord is not the kind to fight on first meeting, he is too dramatic for that. He will want to test you first, put puzzles in your way, then he will face you with seriousness." Luna explained.

Ayida scoffed at this, "Puzzles? Bannuk is going to rip him limb from limb if Discord makes him solve a puzzle just to fight."

Celestia face hoofed at how nonchalantly the Witch Doctor spoke of facing Discord. She did not know how to get the point across that Discord was not a force to be trifled with.

"Please, try to understand he is too strong to-" Celestia began before being cut off.

"No, you try to understand. You held back information from us and it is now a mess, one that spilled over onto our lap. If you are too afraid to clean it up we will do it ourselves. And though chaos may be a powerful force in combat, Fury is more powerful. Bannuk will prove this when he plants that serpents head on a pike. And after Discord is dead, you may sing songs of glory in our honor for years to come." Ayida finished with pride in her voice. She would not let herself or her friends be underestimated. She had helped kill Diablo himself, and no one would doubt her might.

Celestia raised a hoof towards Ayida and tried to stop her to apologize for offending her, but the Witch Doctor merely vanished after her spirit had walked through the wall as abruptly as it had entered. Celestia looked over to her younger sister with a sad look in her eye.

"Do you think they can face Discord and live?" Celestia asked.

"You should have seen him... If that was not full power, Bannuk alone might stand a chance. If the other two are anywhere near his power I think they have a serious chance..." Luna said to her sister.

"But nopony has ever seen Discord go all out before, he has always toyed with his opponents, even together we could not get him to face us seriously. We even had to catch him off guard with the Elements of Harmony." Celestia mumbled

"Perhaps we should put our faith in them, they may be Equestria's only hope." Luna said somberly.

"I only hope we do not suffer many losses from this conflict..." Celestia said with her eyes downcast.

Discord was going to need to find some help, Envy already proved useless against the monster of a creature she had started a war with. If he wanted to keep up the chaos until he regained his full strength he was going to need some outside help, something strong but malleable. Something that loved to cause pain and worried little about what got hurt in a pursuit of gold or glory.

"How droll," Discord huffed as he tried to plan ahead. He needed to gather strength for Envy before he planned the fun parts.

"Why did you save me..." An upset Envy mumbled from her throne.

"Because I need your war to keep me in good health my dear!" Discord smiled back to her.

"The war is lost, I am no match for the Immortal King. I doubt even you could stand up to him." Envy scoffed.

Discord had his talon around her neck instantly as he stared down at her, madness and rage in his eyes, "Such insolence. You know not what my full power is like, I merely need time to soak in more chaos to reach it."

Discord released her throat and she coughed as she rubbed her throat. Anger burned in her eyes, and only her fear of him stopped Envy from attacking Discord.

"I get the feeling you plan on sticking around to see to it my nation is butchered in war." Envy stated what she wanted to ask.

"Actually I plan on helping you to make it last longer, I merely need to find something with enough power to cause this war to last longer..." Discord trailed off twirling his beard with his talon and tapping the floor with a clawed toe.

"Dragons might be up for it if you used your mind games on them, if you fail to convince them they will tear you apart however." Envy offered, fully hoping he would try and fail.

"Not a bad idea, its just crazy enough to work! But we may need something else, something more. Where did these things come from anyway? I haven't ever seen anything like them." Discord inquired.

"You think I know? All I know is that some scouts had heard reports of them emerging from the Everfree Forest." Envy explained.

Discord was surprised to hear this, that forest was one place that was almost as chaotic at times as he was. The land itself refused to be tamed and grew outwards every year, threatening to swallow the land. It had grown large and he had some searching ahead of him if he were to find where this 'Immortal King' came from. Perhaps he could even find whatever was strong enough to live with such a foe. But first, Dragons...

"I'll be back, try not to die while I'm off..." Discord laughed over his shoulder as he walked off. Envy scowled after him.