Whimsyshire

The Immortal King

Ayida was in a state of meditation, trying to reach deeper into the realm of the spirits, into Mbwiru Eikura. This was translated to 'The Unformed Land' a plane of existence inhabited by the spirits of the dead that Witch Doctors could reach into and draw powers from. Ayida was having troubles reaching as deep in as she used to be able to however, she needed a sacrifice. As she mulled over what to do with her predicament one of the spirits of her ancestors that watched over her came with a warning. A warning of something that seemed to happen an awful lot lately. Her human meat shield was getting himself into trouble again.

"I cannot leave him alone for five minutes without him doing this!" The Witch Doctor said scowling as she trekked through the deserted streets of Ponyville. She noticed the telltale sounds of doors and shutters slamming further ahead as she trekked on, something she was used to from those not of the jungle from whence she came. Many did not understand how important Witch Doctors were to maintaining the balance, she did not mind though, in honesty she cared not.

Ayida followed her ancestor spirit over towards where she found the old one earlier today. Was it the dogs again? He didn't seem that angry at them after they had given him that generous amount of gold and gems, which they still needed to find something to do with. No, must be something different she thought to herself.

As Ayida made her way out of town she noticed the old one's armor lying on the ground next to a large patch of matted down grass. Was he really running around exposing himself with only a loincloth on again? Perhaps that was why some of the girls she had met with for tea earlier had been looking sick, he was pretty scarred after all.

As Ayida came over the crest of a hill she could see a small army facing another force, judging by the armors they wore it was an invading army and a detachment of guards. The Witch Doctor looked to three dominating figures on the field, all of them had both wings and horns. One on the invading side, two on the guard's side. Then She spotted what she was looking for, sitting in the middle of the conflict was Bannuk and some dogs who were bowing before him. Ayida didn't even care anymore, she just wanted to pull him out of there, because whatever was happening wasn't their business.

Bannuk Took a piece of the offered flesh, it was a raw piece of still bloody venison. Bannuk loved venison, and could identify it by smell. He even considered tearing into the meat raw as it was, but was too wise to dig in to a tempting offering by once hostile hands.

"What is the meaning of this?" Bannuk asked, a commanding edge to his voice.

"An offering to you great one" Rover said regally.

Bannuk raised his brow to this. Were these dogs paying credit to his might? Such things were not unheard of from the Barbarian tribes of the north, most kings of his people were given their title because of their prowess in war. The Barbarian let a small smile show as a thought came to his mind, he finally felt worthy to use it.

Handing back the venison, Bannuk regained a moderately impassive look on his face, as if he was about to give judgement. Rover and his two companions cringed, thinking their gift had been rejected. Their tails stuck between their legs and they began to whimper.

"I want this cooked so that I may have a proper meal" Bannuk said, authority in his tone.

Rover's eyes opened wide with surprise and his tail began to wag. He looked to his companions and motioned for them to do as the Barbarian said. As they ran off to complete their task, Chrysalis had grown angry at the histance of her troops, 'cowards' she thought to herself. Though she had to admit this creature was indeed powerful, it had not acted aggressively towards her or her troops, so why fear it.

"Don't mind the beast, our goal lies ahead! they cannot stop us all before we destroy Ponyville and kill the elements!" Chrysalis rallied her forces, and began to advance towards Twilight, only then did Celestia begin to snap out of her state of shock and make a move to get in Chrysalis' way.

"Oh, are we up for a repeat from last time dear Celestia?" Chrysalis said smugly, Celestia stood her ground however, raising herself tall.

"You aren't fed off my captains love for his wife this time, you are no match!" Returned Celestia.

Bannuk turned his attention away from the dogs who scurried off to do his bidding, and towards the conflict going on around him, only now paying any attention to it.

"Perhaps, but I don't need to best you, only keep you and your sister's attention while my forces kill dear Twilight, then the Elements of Harmony are useless, and all I will need to watch out for is Shining and Cadenza uniting their powers." said the Changeling Queen, grinning wickedly and showing off her fangs.

"That, I have a problem with" said a scowling Barbarian. This made Chrysalis freeze where she was.

"Come again? What have I done to you?" Chrysalis shot at him, not liking the direction the beast was taking.

"Threatening my friends makes me angry, and when I get angry. Things die..." said the Barbarian simply.

Celestia could not believe this, the Changeling Queen's arrogance had made the titanic being a temporary ally of hers. Though he claimed friendship with her pupil, Celestia did not trust him, but would put up with him due to the current conflict. Celestia began stepping close to the Barbarian to show that she stood by him as an ally, only to be stopped when the giant raised his arm with his palm open in her direction.

"Stay out of this" Grunted the Barbarian.

"Quite the cocky one, but what could one creature do to an army?" Gloated Chrysalis trying again to rally her troop's morale.

"Who says I'm alone?" The Barbarian's scowl turned into a smug grin.

"What's that supposed to me-" Chrysalis started before being interrupted by a large section of her troops being incinerated. She looked back and saw another of the strange creatures, this one armored and darker. Then, she reeled back in horror as she saw the back line of her troops be mauled by three zombie dogs and crushed by a giant zombie monstrosity. The dark figure then breathed out a swarm of locusts who began spreading across her units, devouring their flesh, exposing muscle, organs, and even down to the bone.

The Barbarian then charged, and slammed into the front row of her forces, smashing all that were in his way under his mighty feet. He raised his hand and conjured a hammer of primal energies, and slammed it upon a single Changeling, spraying gore across its allies as a shock wave continued followed a straight path following the blow, crushing another dozen of her soldiers.

"Spread out and swarm them, it is only two creatures!" Shrieked Chrysalis in vain, for her units were still panicking as they were all being slowly eaten alive. Scores of her units were being torn asunder, smashed, crushed, and even melted as the darker and smaller of the creatures conjured small areas of acid rain upon her army.

The ponies could only watch in horror as their formidable foe was easily torn asunder by a mere two opponents. One of which was even unarmed. Celestia began to doubt her ability to bar their friendship of her pupil, who hid her head under her hooves, not wanting to see or hear any of this. Shining had rushed to his sister's side, and hugging her close upon the ground, shielding her form the noise and flying gore.

Luna was worried for other reasons, all she could think about was where her unit was if these creatures could be this violent...

Ayida let the souls of the fallen black bug-like ponies swirl around her, the old one turned a possibly troublesome situation into a quite lucrative one. She had gotten her sacrifice, and she could feel her full powers beginning to return to her. She allowed some of her mana to recharge as she enjoyed the view of her minions and her companion doing the rest of her work. Bannuk truly was a great warrior, it still was a mystery to her why he still had not used 'that' though. He would be nigh unstoppable if he finally decided to, but he dismissed her previously when confronted about it claiming he needed to be honored for his prowess by his foes first.

As the massacre went on, Chrysalis' panic grew, until she sounded a full retreat, the remaining fraction of her units took to the air, trying to outrun the swarm of insects that plagued them, only narrowly escaping death. As Chrysalis unfurled her wings to take flight however, the Barbarian jumped an impossible distance to close the gap between them, and grasped her by the throat.

"I have a good mind to tear your legs off and beat you to death with them, but I am in a good mood today. So here is my alternative. If I hear you have been seen within ten leagues of Ponyville, I will crush every bone in your body one at a time, and before I finish you, I will cut off your ears as a trophy." Bannuk said, eyes glowing red as the fury swelled within him. For a moment, Chrysalis saw a white haired behemoth with stone for skin, and lava for blood. Smoke pooled from the images mouth as fire raged inside it's eyes and mouth. She saw the incarnation of fury for a moment, then it was gone, unseen by any of the other peers.

The moment Bannuk released her throat she sped off after her army. They had a hive to relocate.

The dogs returned in greater numbers bearing the cooked meats and appraising the gore upon the ground seeing their god victorious in battle. Bannuk strode over and accepted the gifts offered to him. Quickly eating his fill as not just a few royal guards vomited at the site of meat being eaten.

"You have my approval" Bannuk said simply to the dogs who all got an eager look on their face, before running off to gather more of their brethren.

"Well old one, I came to bail you out of the trouble I found you in, but it served me well to get some sacrifices to replenish my strength." Said a smiling Ayida. Bannuk merely grunted in response, happy to have had his fill.

"Want any? there's more than I can eat alone" Offered the Barbarian, finishing off his second leg of venison.

"Don't mind if I do" Said the Witch Doctor much to the dismay of the princesses as they had to watch two creatures gorging themselves on meat.

'at least they haven't seemed inclined to eat ponies, or else they wouldn't have starved themselves for this long.' Celestia thought warily.

The ponies eased visibly as the zombies sank back into the ground, out of sight and waiting to be summoned again by their master. As he wiped his face, satisfied with his feast he looked to the Witch Doctor as he stood up.

"It is time that I donned it" Bannuk said.

"What, for real?" The Witch Doctor nearly gasped.

The Barbarian simply strode to where he came form and was napping before, making a beeline for the pack that the dogs had taken earlier. As he came upon it he reverently opened it to retrieve what lay inside.

Celestia strode over to Twilight, as Shining got up form shielding his little sister who had passed out from the shock of what had happened. Celestia levitated her onto her back, much to the surprise of every guard present, for who could be allowed to touch the princess in such a way. Celestia then turned to her guards.

"You may all return to the castle, my sister, Shining Armor, and I will be watching over the elements and Ponyville for a short time so Black Ice, I want you to take care of the royal affairs until we return." Celestia said, regaining her air of authority. Black Ice saluted and complied despite the fact that he served Luna before Celestia. Meanwhile, Luna only looked to her sister with a troubled look on her face, she knew as well as her sister things had gotten ugly fast. The guards all complied though and left the Princesses and day captain to comfort the Element of Magic in her time of distress.

Right as the guards had cleared out, The four remaining ponies, one of which still being unconscious and carried on her mentor's back, turned to head towards Ponyville. But, they turned as they heard hundreds of paws running toward them with incredible fervor. Shining was readying himself to erect a barrier to hold back the dogs when they stopped short and the dog trio from before came to the front.

"Where has the great one gone?" Rover asked a look of worry on his face as his pack mumbled behind him.

"Bannuk is getting something special" Said the Witch Doctor who sat silently in the shade, and was until now unnoticed by the dogs.

"Who are you?" Asked Rover, noticing similarities in the Witch Doctor to the great one. Smaller in stature, softer voiced... Rover then continued, "Are you his mate?"

The Witch Doctor faltered for a moment, unable to believe what she had heard. Then laughing hysterically.

"Spirits be thanked no! I am his travelling companion, and sister in war." Ayida said with honor in her voice.

The dogs murmured their approval of her if she had gained the great ones respect enough to travel with him. They then grew silent as they heard thunderous footsteps coming their way. Shortly after the dogs grew quiet, the ponies lesser hearing picked it up too, it was definitely the Barbarian returning. But something was different, this was not like the stomping heard before. Despite the resounding of metal crashing upon the earth it was clearly not a stomp as before, it was a simple stride. As Bannuk came into view, it became apparent why. One glance at the black plated armor, different than the set he wore before, this set seemed ancient, but still holding every bit of power as it ever had, perhaps even more form all the battles it had seen over centuries apparent in some scuffs upon it. The armor itself seemed to radiate, as if the spirit of a dauntless warrior resided inside of it, and a massive and viscous looking war hammer was held in the Barbarian's hands which were protected by thick black gauntlets. Each step resounded from sturdy greaves, as if not a mere man walked there, but an immortal.

Bannuk had donned the Legacy of Worusk, the only ever king of the barbarian tribes from centuries ago. A man who's might brought him a title that was wrought from always leading his people into battle, literally on the front lines.

The Immortal King.