Whimsyshire

Violence Isn't The Answer

Bannuk flexed his hand, thinking back on the message he 'wrote'. Bannuk did not like magic, and he really did not like having someone take control of his hand with it to write a letter. If he did not trust Ayida with his life, he would have crushed her to a pulp then and there. But, he understood that the Griffons could not be led to believe him an uneducated idiot. If they thought that, they would try to out maneuver him in battle, instead of avoid him completely.

"So, do you pledge fealty to me in exchange for protection?" Bannuk asked, snapping a finger.

A Diamond Dog then came up at the command Bannuk gave, and produced a Griffon skull. Bannuk took the offered skull took off his helmet, and drank from it. The red liquid dripped down his chin as he finished in one go, then crushed the skull with his gauntlet clad hand.

The other alpha dogs practically shrank back. They held fear for him before, but now they felt awe. This godlike being that stood before them flaunted an air of invincibility. They understood that in time, none would question the Barbarians rule, why should they try now? As an answer, the alphas took off their own clan amulets, all of varying diamond colors, one a topaz yellow, another a ruby red, and finally an amethyst purple.

Bannuk took the amulets in his hand, and tied them to his belt, where they dangled in plain sight.

"Good, now off with you. Go to making your towns, and let any who stand in your way know that they also face me. But be warned, I have made a deal with the princesses to not cause harm to their ponies, and to allow open trade. They are not our enemies, but can be useful allies." Bannuk instructed.

"But they let what the Griffons did go unanswered for! They sat and watched as we were nearly wiped out!" Angrily said the first of the alphas, who immediately held his tongue as Bannuk raised a hand as if to strike him.

"Do not question me, besides, what happened has made you dogs more resilient and strong. Do not bellyache like pups from hard times, grow strong with every hardship you survive." The other alphas nodded at the wise words that came from the old warrior, the first only grew ashamed of the way he acted and was thankful not to come to the same fate that so many Changelings and Diamond Dogs had just earlier that day.

As Rover led the alphas off, Bannuk let out a sigh, and procured a cloth from Ayida's outstretched hand. He then licked the cloth and cleaned the blood from his face. He did not usually like to drink blood, especially not blood that was already starting to cool. But the show of strength was needed to reinforce his rule, he had learned that from many chieftains he had met in his long life. Also, he needed to look presentable. The pink one had invited him and Ayida to a party later in the night.

"Quite an eventful day huh old one?" Ayida chuckled out.

"I'm getting too old..." Bannuk said in a sigh of defeat.

"What makes you say that?" Ayida said, eyeing him cautiously.

"My kill count for the day is only ninety six..." Bannuk said, disappointed in his numbers.

The Witch Doctor laughed out loud at this, her worries were for not. This warrior still had a lot of fight left in him she realized, and she would not want to be the Griffon champion should they not take the hint from the message she had written using Bannuk's hand.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, you were unarmed, and I had a clear advantage when they were running away form us like that. I'm sure the next time we face an army you will be more prepared, and they will not be so cowardly." Reassured Ayida, patting his shoulder in a gesture of friendship.

"Hah, you are right, I should not be complaining about my age when I still make mistakes like a pup!" Bannuk said, clapping a hand to Ayida's back with enough force to send her forward a couple of feet.

"Uhh, oops... Sorry..." Bannuk said sheepishly.

"Just shut up and lets go to this party. Lest the pink one teleport into more of our armor again..." Ayida said with a shiver, remembering her own experience with the pink mare jumping out of her medicine pouch. How she had fit in there she had no idea.

"And you're sure she cannot use magic?" Asked Bannuk, remembering the helmet incident.

"According to the purple one, only the ponies with horns can use magic." Ayida said, shaking her head.

"I guess we have seen stranger characters in our journeys..." Bannuk said, thinking back to the first time he met Covetous Shen.

As the two warriors approached the bakery they were instructed to go to, something felt wrong. Ayida felt watched, but what really unnerved her, was that the spirits did not know who or where the watcher was. She could sense a gathering inside of the bakery, 'Sugarcube Corner' read the sign, but she could not place the watcher. As they approached the bakery she turned to Bannuk.

"I think there is an ambush in there..." Ayida said in a hushed tone.

"I will go in first then, get behind me and be ready to give me support." Bannuk said walking up to the door, and unslinging his mace. Ayida readied a skull with one hand, and moved behind Bannuk.

As Bannuk opened the door, he beheld darkness, but he could smell sweat in the air. Someone was waiting nearby, then he stopped half way in his door as his battle reflexes kicked in. Whirling in place he leaped in the air, narrowly avoiding the blast of a confetti shock wave. Ayida however, was not so fortunate and took the blast. She was sent rolling head over heels back wards into the middle of the street, covered in confetti.

"SURPRISE!" came the call of numerous voices from inside the house as the light flicked on, revealing Pinkie on top of a large pink cannon. Bannuk landed next to Ayida, and he looked down at her with a grin.

"That is for taking control of my hand earlier." Bannuk smirked as he walked over to join the party.

"Oh, this is far from over old one..." Ayida said with a sinister look on her face.

Celestia could not help but giggle at the sight of the Witch Doctor being blasted by the 'party cannon' as Pinkie had dubbed it. She was a little upset that Bannuk did not take the blast, though how far it would have actually sent the giant was questionable.

As Bannuk ducked into the doorway, Celestia waved, and Luna beckoned him over.

"I see you have collected some more followers Bannuk." Celestia commented looking at the three amulets at his belt.

"Yeah, but enough of that. It has been too long since I have had a proper celebration, even if it is with an unfamiliar custom, I intend to unwind." Bannuk said, eyeing some food on the table.

"How long has it been? Celestia mentioned you had defeated some great evil with your companions. Did you not celebrate?" Asked Luna, taking a bite out of a cupcake.

"We did not feel like celebrating, the battle came at a dire cost. As for how long it has been... I think it was close to thirty years ago. A friend of mine had a wedding, that is probably one of my fondest memories too..." The Barbarian said, with a happy look on his face.

Nearby ponies stopped however, they did not look so happy, Pinkie herself looked mortified.

"Thirty years ago?! B-but why?!" Pinkie said, nearly bawling at the thought of how sad he must have been without a party.

"Well, I left home shortly after my friend's wedding. I traveled far and wide, on a journey to find glory and honor. This journey led me on the same path as six other individuals. we then hunted Diablo the prime evil for a time. Then after his defeat, more trouble only followed as his brother Baal invaded my homeland. The price for victory there was our sacred mountain Arreat and hundreds of my brethren. Without Arreat my people became scattered, and without purpose. We were plunged into depression, and so I set off again in search of purpose. Twenty years later I fought the evils again, and as history dictated before, only tragedy befalls heroes who face them... Our friend Leah was possessed by Diablo's spirit, and she became one with his soul as he turned into the prime evil." Bannuk said as though he'd told the story a thousand times. He then grabbed a cupcake off the table and popped it into his mouth.

Celestia and Luna had solemn looks on their faces, Pinkie cried for Bannuk. Bannuk however, felt no urge to cry. He regretted what had happened, but he learned the tough way in his life not to let things weigh you down. Celestia had to admire his strength of heart.

"These are really good by the way, did you make them?" Bannuk asked turning to the crying pony with a now straight mane.

Pinkie nodded with a small smile, then trotted off to receive counsel from her friends.

"What has her down?" Asked Bannuk, not understanding why the mare cried.

"That was a horribly sad story Bannuk, do you feel nothing from retelling it yourself?" Asked Luna, almost believing him to be too emotionally scarred to feel for others.

"I had heard that you two have lived and will live for a long time yes?" Asked Bannuk. The princesses both nodded to this.

"Sometimes, we don't have eternity to sort out our grief. We cannot spend our lives feeling sorry for ourselves, most have to come to terms with this. Especially us with short lives." Explained Bannuk.

"How long does your kind live for?" Asked Celestia, confused by the Barbarians statement, "Surely something as strong as you lives for a long time."

"No, the average male's life expectancy is only about thirty five where I come from. Battle claims us early, and even then old age will get us around eighty if not ninety. Some live to be in their hundreds, I knew a good man named Deckard Cain who was only eighty three, and if he was not slain by demons he would have surely made it to a hundred." Bannuk said with a small smile as he remembered Deckard.

The sisters looked at each other, startled by how young Bannuk's kind lived to be. Bannuk even looked old now, Ayida had referred to him as 'old one'.

"How old are you now?" Asked Luna.

"Fifty five actually." Bannuk said, eyeing a bowl of punch.

"You don't have much of a life left do you?" Asked Celestia, worried for how the Barbarian would fare if the Griffons waged a war in the future when he was a frail old man.

"Hah, I hope not to live to be old enough to die of age. A true warrior should fall in battle!" Bannuk said with fierce pride.

"You mentioned an Immortal King of your people though. Surely he is still around." Shining Armor joined in the conversation.

"If he was still alive, why would I wear his armor?" Bannuk said, pointing out the obvious, "Besides, Worusk only was alive for a couple of years after becoming king."

"Then why call him immortal?" Shining pressed.

"Because of how much effort was put into killing him. The army that did him in, did not get the luxury of knowing they did it. After all of his men fell, he kept fighting until he was the only one left standing. Then, as the bloodrage he had settled, he fell. Thousands of corpses were at his feet as he ascended into the high heavens as a true warrior." Bannuk said with a gleam in his eye that resembled a child telling the story of his hero.

"But, I may not get my way, you might like to hear." Bannuk continued thinking Celestia did not want him gone so soon.

"What do you mean?" Asked Celestia, she almost did not want to hear what he was going to say, in just one day he had given her more surprises then she had received in the last few centuries. At least this day had broken her monotonous cycle of day to day life though.

"Ayida is trying to tap into the power of the afterlife. If she succeeds, there is a chance she will be able to find true immortality. Though she keeps saying she would need a source of power that can last forever to fuel the spell as sacrifice. Good luck finding that though." Bannuk laughed.

Celestia froze, she knew of a few such powers that met the requirement. She hoped however Ayida did not get her hands on it. Though she considered them friends, she did not want these beings loose in her world forever.

Seeing Celestia freeze Bannuk laughed again.

"Don't worry Celestia, and don't take offense, but Ayida said you do not have the power she requires." Bannuk said, trying to ease Celestia's nerve.

Celestia saw this, and forced herself to visibly relax and keep the turmoil she felt to herself.

Ayida on the other side of the room was conversing with Zecora who had decided to join the party, only happy to be socializing with the ponies who now felt she was not so strange now that the new creatures had shown up.

"You said your friend was easy to track, but you did not say how you could see him from a mile back." Laughed the Zebra.

"He is a good man though, despite what you might hear he did to the dogs or Changelings earlier today." Ayida said.

Zecora waved a hoof dismissively, "They more than likely deserved what they got, and I am glad to hear the dogs are now on a leash are they not?"

Twilight walked up to address the Witch Doctor, but then saw Zecora.

"Hey Zecora, it's good to see you finally attend a Pinkie party!" Twilight smiled to Zecora who smiled in return.

"Hello there Twilight" Greeted the Witch Doctor.

"I have been meaning to ask, how do you use magic without a horn? I have been trying to figure out how you tap into the world's magic without a focus for it." Twilight rambled off.

"The power I use is not from the world around us. My power comes from myself, and I use it to channel the spirits to do my will. I need not focus magic, for it emits from my very body." Explained Ayida.

Twilight was left baffled by this concept. The magic she saw the Witch Doctor use when she fought the Changelings was immense, and she was to believe it was not channeled form the world, but came from Ayida herself? The notion was preposterous, but she had no proof Ayida was lying.

"Thank you, and welcome to Ponyville. I have a lot to think about..." Twilight walked off to where her friends were all talking.

The party was winding down, many of the guests had left and Bannuk had found himself back to talking with the princesses after his voyage through all the treats the bakery had to offer. Ayida was playing a game of chess with Shining Armor, and was thoroughly smashing him. The girls were all talking, still trying to cheer Pinkie up, who could only mutter out about how sad Bannuk's story was.

"By the way, you might get a request from the Griffons to take up arms with them against me." Bannuk said as he sat in a chair next to Celestia, with Luna leaning over the table on the other side of her sister to look at him as he spoke.

"What did you do?" Asked Luna.

"Killed ten Griffin scouts who were attacking my dogs while they were working on the town. Sent a message back with the last one after Ayida turned it into a zombie." Bannuk said as he yawned. It had been an eventful day, he needed a rest.

"What have you done... You could have started a war!" Celestia reprimanded.

"Like I said, we who live short lives, must make the best of the time we have. If I plan to leave my mark on the world, I need to act fast. Not all of us have eternity." Bannuk explained.

"Violence is not the way to be remembered. Acts of good, and justice are what capture the attention and cause you to be remembered." Celestia tried to convince Bannuk away from outright war.

"Oh, I agree. Violence will not get me remembered... But slaying a god will. The dogs tell me stories of the Griffon's sky god. I will make a throne of his bones, upon which the world will remember MY legacy. But do not fret, I hear he is a tyrant anyways. no point in overthrowing a loved monarch." The Barbarian gave a hearty laugh as he laid bare his plans.

Celestia had to admit, she would not object to that tyrant being dethroned. But did Envy really deserve what Bannuk planned to offer? She had wronged Celestia in the past, and she was undoubtedly evil. But unlike another certain spirit of great power, Envy was manageable, and occasionally would listen to reason. But, if Bannuk did what he said he did, the Griffon's leader would not rest until she got her talons on the one responsible. What would happen to Equestria if Ayida used Envy as a sacrifice and achieved immortality for herself and Bannuk?

"Checkmate." Ayida stated, defeating Shining Armor.