Whimsyshire

"Celestia!" Luna called as she galloped down the halls of the palace looking for her older sister.

"Luna?" Celestia could be heard from behind a door.

Luna burst into the room, face panicked and slightly out of breath as if she had just run a distance. Her eyes darted about until they locked onto Celestia who wore a startled and confused expression on her face.

"Luna what is the matter?" The older Alicorn said with concern on her voice.

"Dragons,... Ponyville,... More,... Ugh..." Luna collapsed on the floor where she then tried to regain her breath as she panted heavily.

"Luna calm down then tell me what is going on. What dragons, what about Ponyvilly? And more of what?" Celestia stated in a caring town trying to calm her sister down.

Luna heaved in air for a few seconds longer before coughing to clear her throat and trying again, "Blue dragons are flying for Ponyville, and two more beings came from Bannuk's world."

Celestia stiffened at this, the blue dragons were a troublesome bunch, and if they were headed for Ponyville it meant that Discord had allied with them and planned an attack. But more than the rest Celestia feared the news of two more monsters from wherever Bannuk came from. For truly it was the only word to describe anypony with such destructive power as that man and his two friends she had met already.

"There... is something else isn't there sister.." Celestia stated more than asked. At this Luna looked at the floor nervously before meeting Celestia's eyes again.

"My spies have sent word that the Griffins are growing roudy, Envy has spread propaganda flaunting how successful our economy is doing. The Griffins are becoming jealous of us sister..." Luna said. Celeestia instantly knew what this implied.

"We can only hope the two new arrivals to our world are friendly..." Celestia said in dismay, things kept going from bad to worse.

"Umm... sister..." Luna said, only now noticing that they were standing in the kitchen.

"Yes Luna?" Celestia asked.

"Why is there a half eaten cake one the table?" Celestia froze at this, and began to sweat slightly.

"Sister! is this why you have been becoming rounder? Sneaking off to have a snack like this?" Luna teased.

"Shush you! I've been under a fair amount of stress lately. and I will have you know it helps me keep a clear head to... Indulge myself every now and then." Celestia said with an air of dignity.

"But sister in all seriousness... the dragons... Saphiria their matron is with them. And Bannuk just woke up before i hurried here..." Luna said her jovial tone becoming dark and foreboding.

"Oh, oh no... If Saphiria watches Bannuk fight she will want to fight as well... Ponyville could be wiped off the map." Celestia mumbled.

"Let us pray for Bannuk's strength sister..." Luna said softly.

Twilight and the other five elements sat and watched as zombified Griffins and Diamond Dogs constructed buildings and erected a wall around the new town. Fluttershy was whimpering and the other elements were visibly shaken by the moving corpses. Thorne walked up behind the girls unnoticed and looked down, seeing their eyes following the zombies.

"Amazing huh? Ayida whipped them up to help construction move faster. Things go quicker with a couple hundred workers don't you all agree?" The Demon Hunter said with a smile.

The girls minus Fluttershy only looked with horrified faces toward the man. Pinkie, her mane deflated, was the first to snap somewhat out of it and adress him.

"But this si horrible, they look so gloomy. What if they cna never enjoy a party again?" The pink party pony said, tears visible in the corner of her eyes.

Applejack was the next to speak up, "I enjoy hard work as much as the next pony, but isn't this slavery?"

"Where did these Griffins come from?" Twilight spoke up suddenly.

Thorne frowned at the questions, these girls all had childlike innocence about them. Did they not realise how dark the world could be? Their attitude towards the zombies killed his good mood.

"They attacked us. They burned and killed Bannuk's dogs, and we killed them back. Now they work through death to repair the damage they caused through their evil actions thanks to Ayida's magic." Thorne explained in a sour, almost hostile tone to the girls.

"They attacked?" Dash spoke up now with a worried tone. As much as she did not like how Gilda had treated her friends, she did not like the idea of Gilda maybe joining the other Griffins and attacking innocents.

"Yes,and they paid for their crimes with their own blood. And don't look down on me for saying they got what they deserved, some were trying to make it to Ponyville. If they did not die, many more would have in their place." Thorne said, before turning around and storming off.

Twilight did not like what was going on, why did the Griffins attack and even plan on attacking Ponyville? Twilight saw Bannuk off in the distance, doing repairs on his armor.

"Girls, I'll be right back" Twilight said as she trotted off towards where Bannuk was attacking metal plates back together with pieces of leather.

As Twilight made her way over to the massive barbarian she realized something was off. He was repairing the black armor he always wore. Why did it need to be repaired, wasn't it nearly indestructible?

"Bannuk..." Twilight nervously stated to the man.

"Hmm?" Bannuk said looking up from the set of armor, "Hey there Twilight. What are you doing here?"

"Umm, Luna told us to stay here to be safe, im guessing from the Griffin attack..." Twilight said.

"Yeah, probably. They aren't very happy with me right now." Bannuk laughed heartily.

"Why not, if you don't mind me asking." Twilight said.

"Well first, i sent an intimidating message to Envy, then when she showed up with an army I killed them and almost her. Some wierd thing saved her though, looked like a lot of animals stitched together." Bannuk explained, eyeing a tricky piece of leather that he was struggling with getting out without busting the metal so he could replace it.

"Wait... multiple animals..." Twilight froze, "Discord is free?!"

"Is that his name, I have a score to settle with him..." Bannuk said as he scratched his beard absent mindedly.

"Bannuk I don't think even you could fight Discord, he is Immortal! We seal him in stone with the elements because not even the princesses could find a way to destroy him!" Twilight explained, beginning to panic.

Bannuk stopped working on the armor and looked to the purple unicorn with a grim smile on his face, "That just makes him sound even more fun."

"Bannuk we have company on their way" Ayida called as she walked over.

"Hmm?" Bannuk responded breaking his gaze with twilight.

"Some flying beasts are on their way, atleast a couple dozen. One of them is really big too." Ayida explained.

"How big?" Bannuk asked, gaining interest.

"As tall as a siegebreaker, and twice as long." The Witch Doctor said.

"Siegebreaker? What is that?" Twilight asked.

Bannuk smiled as he looked down to the purple unicorn and answered her, "Fun."

As the first of her flight landed, Saphiria chose to circle above and watch how these creatures fared against her children. The blue matriarch let a toothy grin appear on her face as she watched the Diamond Dogs run in fear and take shelter under the ground. The grin disappeared as she took note that a number of dogs and a few Griffons as well charged and started climbing on one of her sons. Her eyes then narrowed in anger as she saw her child unable to fend off the ferocious attack that followed, the Diamond Dogs and Griffons climbing on him showed unnatural strength and ferocity. They tore his scales off and sank their mouths into his flesh.

Saphiria then noticed one of the strange creatures Discord had mentioned giving orders to these brave and ferocious fools. The creature then threw a bottle at her son that let loose an elemental that scorched his exposed skin. Her son was soon dead, and Saphiria was not amused. The matriarch roared an order for the rest of her children to avenge their fallen brother, but before a single one of them could unleash their icy breath three of them were struck by harpoons and pulled to a hulking figure on the ground.

The creature then bashed the first of her kin to reach it from the chain with a large blunt weapon, a sickening crack could be heard even from where Saphiria flew far above. Her child roared in pain but was silenced as the creature jumped on its snout and with a thunderous blow to the forehead split the dragon's skull open, spraying the creature in blood and brain.

The creature then jumped onto the second one it had pulled down and dispatched it in the same fashion. Saphiria watched then as her one of her daughters dove to help her kin, but was assaulted by a shower of arrows that did not stop at simply piercing through her, but then turned in midair and buried themselves once more into her flesh. She was dead before she hit the ground. Saphiria tracked where the arrows had come from to where a third creature stood.

The dragon matriarch was getting furious, these puny creatures dared to slay her children like this? Saphiria halted herself in midair, preparing a deep breath to bathe the land below in her mighty ice. But before she could release the breath something caught her off guard and demanded her attention. Several purple balls floated lazily through the air, a few to her children and many to herself. The giant dragon cocked her head questioningly at the balls that seemed to float from the forest, but she soon realized she was in danger as one of the balls struck a child, exploding with enough might to blast through scales and obliterate the flesh underneath.

Saphiria then let loose her breath at the floating balls which exploded on contact, neutralizing her breath. Though she froze solid one of her children, she had managed to save many others from the purple balls. She then noticed two more creatures in the treeline watching her closely. Though her icy blood was beginning to boil in rage, the dragon matriarch knew she had to fall back. She had not brought any of her eldest children, choosing to give these young ones a chance at battle instead. Fighting now would only sacrifice more of her children.

"This is not over 'Immortal King'. Next time I will bring my eldest children to prove your name false." Saphiria hissed over the land. Her booming voice heard far across the open area.

Bannuk wiped dragon brain off of his face as he watched the large dragon and her children retreat. He then turned his attention to the two approaching him from the treeline. The old Barbarian smiled as he saw the Monk, and spat on the ground as he saw the Wizard. As the two drew closer to Bannuk he set his maul's head on the ground and rested his hands on top of it's long handle as he addressed his old companions.

"Vasilisa, Lihua. Normally I would ask how you got here, but right now there is something more important... You scared them off!" Bannuk said pointing a finger at Lihua.

"It is not my fault if they were frightened off by my greatness!" The Wizard said with a huff as she turned her nose into the air.

"It is good to see you too old one, may Ytar grant you many years." The monk said placing a fist in an open palm and bowing to her friend.

Bannuk grumbled a little before hefting the maul onto his shoulder and pointing his chin towards a wooden hut with smoke rising from a clay chimney, "You two are probably hungry, we can grab a quick bite but then we need to head off."

"Off? Where are we journeying?" Vasilisa asked Bannuk.

"To war." Bannuk stated simply as he cast his gaze towards the mountains Envy called home.