Chapters Discord snapped his fingers and a thick glass dome was put around himself and Bannuk, keeping the others from interfering. Discord looked fondly at the blade and flourished it as he turned and walked away from Bannuk. Bannuk in the meantime moved his hand from his belly wound to the gushing stump that was once his right arm. Bannuk looked up at Discord and curled his lip up in disgust.
"You are a coward, and a fool to lock yourself in here with me." Bannuk spat.
Envy squirmed under the heavy boot that pressed against her throat. Bannuk did not even look away form Discord however, as he put his weight onto Envy's neck. The snap sounded around the glass dome, and Envy was dead instantly as her brain stem was snapped.
"Oh? And what do you plan to do about it, hmm? You are battered, broken, and soon to be dead..." Discord said with a hint of contempt in his voice.
"This!" Bannuk roared as he let the fury surge through him.
Bannuk's body swelled as his muscled grew larger and he gritted his teeth in pain. His hair grew, resembling the mane of a lion as his skin turned red and rocky. His blood turned to lava and his insides glowed white hot. The wound he had sustained dramatically slowed their bleeding to a dribble of lava. Bannuk clenched his remaining fist and beat his chest as he let out an ear shattering war cry that shook the thick glass dome.
Discord scoffed at the transformation, "You think your power can match mine? Impudent fool! I am the spirit of chaos, and all that you have done is feed me in this world. You should be bowing before me as you would a god!"
"Ancients, give me strength..." Bannuk prayed before charging.
The fiery behemoth leapt towards Discord with crushing force, but Discord merely evaded and drew the blade across Bannuk's back. The blade bounced harmlessly off the rocky skin, and Discord looked disapprovingly toward the blade.
"That won't do at all..." Discord said looking at the blade and raising it into the light as if to examine it more closely.
Discord then ran a hand over the curved blade, and it became black and jagged, the cutting edge now resembling a saw blade. Discord pricked his finger on one of the blade's teeth and smiled at it.
"More like it..." Discord said with murderous glee.
The spirit of chaos then slashed again at the Barbarian. Bannuk countered the blow before it could meet by using a hammer materialized through his fury and bashing Discord backwards. Before Discord could raise himself off of the ground a fury harpoon sunk into his chest and Bannuk instead of pulling, flicked the chain with his arm, sending Discord flying back into the glass wall. As the harpoon dematerialized, Discord slid down the glass wall leaving a trail of blood.
Bannuk smiled, but then frowned as Discord stood up and snapped his fingers. The hole in his chest fixed itself and Bannuk could hear the bones shifting back into place.
"Come now, you will have to do better than that. You see, this, is immortal..." Discord said gesturing to himself.
"We shall see..." Bannuk said as he readied a fury axe and lobbed it at Discord, who narrowly evaded it. Bannuk took advantage of discord being off balance and charged, slamming his shoulder into Discord and ramming him into the glass wall. Discord coughed up blood as his ribs cracked once more under the force of Bannuk's blows.
The Barbarian began to pummel Discord with his one fist, adding a knee strike to the gut every couple of punches. As Bannuk lay his might into Discord, the spirit of chaos seemed to be taking his beating. That is, until he raised the sword and drove it into Bannuk's side, missing the heart but going through a lung.
Bannuk gritted his teeth and ignored the pain, flexing his muscles to make sure Discord could not retrieve the weapon. Bannuk continued to bash Discord bare handed, each blow becoming more powerful than the last. Bannuk finally ended his barrage as he grabbed Discord's skull and brought it to his knee. The blow sounded with a sickening crack as Discord's head split open.
Bannuk tossed the limp body into the center of the dome. and strode over to it. The Barbarian watched as Discord's body slowly worked itself back together. As more and more got fixed, the healing seemed to slow. Bannuk smiled at this. Discord was not impossible to kill, it just took a lot of effort.
"Seems you are nearing your end..." Bannuk said with a smile as he raised a foot and stomped the ground with terrifying force, causing the ground to break and rumble with his fury. The ground covered itself in flames of hatred as it shook with his might, burning and beating Discord's body as it lay on the ground.
After half a minute the quakes and flames ceased and Discord's body was a mere blackened husk. Bannuk panted from the effort he had exerted and spat out a wad of his blood that burned like lava on the ground. Bannuk watched his blood smolder for a moment before letting his body shrink back to its normal state. Bannuk rubbed his eyes wearily, smearing his own blood across his face. The Barbarian looked down once more to the corpse of Discord.
"You didn't really think it would be that easy did you?" Discord said.
Bannuk turned around and was face to face with Discord, looking as healthy as ever. The spirit of chaos then grabbed the blade in Bannuk's chest and pulled it out, making sure the serrated blade tore through as much bone and tissue as possible on its way out. Discord then plunged the sword in once more, this time making sure to hit his mark.
Bannuk gasped as the sword pierced his heart. He looked down at his chest and put his hand over Discord's as if to steady himself. Bannuk looked back up into Discord's eyes.
"Funny how real an illusion can feel huh? And you fell for it so easily! All I had to do was lie in wait for you to make a mistake. And you did oh so easily..." Discord said with a smile.
Bannuk moved his hand from Discord's to Discord's throat. The spirit of Discord eyed him curiously as his weak grip came over his throat.
"So what you're... saying..." Bannuk said, coughing out mouthfuls of blood, "Is this is the real you?"
Discord's eyes widened as he attempted to free himself from Bannuk's weak grip, only to find it had tightened. Bannuk's grip began to crush down on Discord's throat. Discord's eyes began to fill with panic as he once again grabbed the sword's hilt. Bannuk however had other plans, pulling Discord to the ground, Bannuk held once knee on Discord's chest, and the other on his arm that had the grip of the sword, disabling him from pulling it out.
Discord's mind reeled in horror, how could this monster still move? Its heart had been pierced, and it had been bleeding for quite some time now. Bannuk's grip tightened even further, and Discord's eyes bulged, and began to bleed as he struggled for breath. Discord's vision began to turn black around the edges as he limply flailed his arms against the iron tough arm of the Barbarian.
Bannuk slumped to the side, freeing Discord's arm allowing him to use both hands to pry the grip off of his neck. The spirit of chaos heaved in a breath and coughed as the darkness at the edges of his vision faded. Discord looked down at the now lifeless body of the Barbarian and shuddered. Had the monster been in any better shape it would have actually left discord in a vulnerable state.
"Hate to have seen you in your prime..." Discord mumbled as he picked himself up off the ground and dusted himself off.
"Guess we solved the whole Immortal Dilemma though... And like many of my old foes, I still stand as the true immortal." Discord said with a smile.
Discord turned to gloat his victory to the friends of the Immortal King, walking over to the edge of the glass dome. Discord noticed that all four of the others were standing together and had watched their friend die. Discord smiled and waved at them, as if he were a neighbor saying hello.
The Wizard strode up and placed her hand on the glass dome, shaking with rage and sorrow she said something Discord could not hear from the other side of the glass. Discord moved directly in front of her and blew her a mocking kiss. The other three then placed their hands on the Wizard's shoulder, and in a flash of purple light they disappeared form in front of Discord. The spirit of chaos cocked his head in confusion.
"Where did they--" Discord said as a katar blade punched through his chest.
Discord looked down at the weapon that surged with holy light. He attempted to tap into his magic, but found that the power was disabling his somehow.
"You little bitch! You use the power of balance don't you?!" Discord said, incredulous that the same form of energy that the elements of harmony focused with friendship was being used on him.
Arrows pierced Discord and bound him to the ground. The four then surrounded Discord, all of them with grave faces. Discord struggled against the bonds but the power emanating from the blade in his chest he was unable to tap into his chaotic magic.
"Do what you want, you wont stop me by slaying this mortal body, I will merely come back!" Discord screamed into their faces.
"Oh, do not worry. The foes we faced back home were very similar in that regard. But we have methods to deal with beings like you." The Witch Doctor said as she procured a sharp green crystal from her pouch.
"Huh, where on sanctuary did you find that?" Thorne asked as he peered at the soul stone.
"Bannuk actually had it... I did not know why he gave it to me before we left, I suspect he knew he was going to die..." Ayida said shaking her head sadly.
Discord's face twisted into fury, and he was about to make a quip had Ayida not stabbed him through the chest with the crystal. Discord's body writhed against the chains that held him down, screams from multiple voices emanated from the spirit of chaos as his soul was sucked into the small crystal. Ayida put a hand on Discord's shoulder, and let her eyes meet briefly with the fearful ones of Discord, before she yanked the crystal out and Discord turned to ash.
Ayida looked down to the soul stone in her hand and shook her head in disgust. She then looked over to where Bannuk's cooling body lay in a pool of its own blood. Ayida walked over and ran her hand across Bannuk's face, closing his eyes that still held their intent to murder Discord.
Thorne picked up Bannuk's severed arm and brought it over to the rest of his body, laying it where it should be attached, the mighty maul still held firmly in the cold dead hands of the Barbarian.
Vasilisa and Lihua then gathered up the remnants of the Immortal King's legacy, and arranged the armor next to their dead friend. The four remaining Nephilim then circled around their fallen brother in war, and stared solemnly. Ayida knelt down and reached into Bannuk's satchel, retrieving a simple golden ring, and slipping it onto his cold hand.
"Perhaps he will see his wife again now..." Ayida said as she patted Bannuk on the shoulder.
The glass dome that surrounded them burst apart as a beam of light appeared, illuminating Bannuk's body. The three Ancient ones Madawk, Korlic, and Talic stepped into existence circling the friends and the body of Bannuk.
The four remaining Nephilim backed away from their fallen, and allowed the ancient ones to pass. The three Barbarian's who once guarded Mount Arreat towered over the form of the man that so often called them into battle, and had once long ago defeated them, earning access to the mountain.
"It is, as was foreseen..." Madawk said sagely.
"Glory and honor to his name" Talic said with pride.
"Finally, he may return to his loved ones..." Korlic said knowingly.
The three ancient ones then knelt down around Bannuk and each laid their hand on the fallen Barbarian's chest. The light that illuminated Bannuk grew in intensity, and Bannuk slowly lifted off of the ground. The jet black armor that he had worn into battle drifted into the air, and placed itself around Bannuk as it was restored.
Bannuk now fully clad in the armor he had worn before his death, maul still gripped in his lifeless fingers, descended once more to the ground. The moment his boots touched the ground however, the three ancients grabbed hold of him before he could fall. Madawk held his right arm just under the shoulder, and Talic the left. Korlic grabbed his feet, and with the others held Bannuk off the ground.
"What will be the old ones fate?" Ayida asked, voice cracking with the strain of trying to talk in the presence of the mighty guardians.
"He may now be accepted into the gates atop Mount Arreat." Madawk said to the Witch Doctor.
"But... Mount Arreat is destroyed..." Ayida said.
"The mortal plane bears no consequence to that of the spirits. You should know this young Witch Doctor." Madawk continued.
"Come brother, he has waited long enough for this honor. Twice has he defeated the prime evil, and in glorious battle with a god did he finally fall." Talic said to his fellow ancient.
Madawk nodded and all three of the ancient Barbarians let out their war cries as their forms lit up like the sun and faded from the realm. The four nephilim stared at the spot where their friend's body once lay. All that remained was a pool of blood, and a pair of leather tubes, the ones that were usually used to protect scrolls from harm.
Ayida knelt down and picked up both of the tubes, opening the first one. Inside was as expected, a rolled up scroll, Ayida tipped the tube and the scroll slid out. Opening it, Ayida's shoulders dropped as she stared at it.
"What is it?" Thorne asked as he looked over the Witch Doctor's shoulders.
"It is a drawing, of all of us after defeating Diablo..." Ayida said.
The scroll on it held a charcoal drawing Bannuk had done that depicted the five friends beaten and bloody, as they stood over the corpse of the prime evil. The detail on the picture was amazing, a kind of masterpiece they did not expect from their barbaric friend.
Ayida looked at the second scroll tube and handed the scroll in her hands to Thorne so the others could see it. Ayida then procured the second scroll and opened it up, within was another charcoal drawing, this one was of seven different warriors who stood over the form of a demon. In the background of this drawing a large crystal was depicted, and Tyrael was descending.
Ayida gasped in realization as she looked more closely at the largest of the warriors. The large man resembled Bannuk, but without his beard and much, much younger.
"This one depicts him and his old companions slaying Baal in the Worldstone's chamber..." Ayida said.
Ayida noticed something, and pinched the corner with her fingers and rubbed the scroll lightly. A second scroll was stuck to the back of the drawing. Ayida pulled the two apart and noticed this one was not a drawing, but a letter.
Dear Bannuk,
I know you cannot read this, but you no doubt brought it to Malah to read for you. Give the old lady my regards, and let your wife know I wish her the best. I write to you because I have heard how hard life has been for the Barbarian tribes now that the Worldstone has been destroyed. Malah sent me a letter recently telling about how she delivered your daughter who was named after the mother, and I was concerned as to how the child has withstood the tundra. I also would like to extend an invitation to raise her here, I know the Barbarian tribes need you and your wife to lead them in these harsh times, but I can watch over young Anya and teach her myself in the art of combat. You may visit her if you wish, though men are not normally allowed on the Amazonian isles, the elders have permitted a hero like you leeway to the rules. The training will take her into adulthood, and then we will give her provisions to seek you out. Should you accept, have Malah send a letter and I will personally embark to retrieve your daughter.
Sincerely,
Isme
Ayida gasped as she got the the end of the letter, realization plastered on her face.
"What is it?" the Monk asked.
"That is why he wanted to make his name as known as possible. That is why he was so adamant on staying near Tristram after defeating the prime evil..." Ayida said more to herself.
"Get to the point Ayida." Lihua said, losing patience.
"Bannuk's daughter is still alive, and is searching for him. The Amazon he told us about that he fought Diablo in the past with raised his daughter since the north became nearly uninhabitable after the Worldstone's destruction destroyed and ravaged the land." Ayida said eyes wide as she looked at her companions.
The party left Equestria, promising the princess of the sun never to return. When asked upon the whereabouts of Bannuk, they only replied with, 'He is with his wife.' The elements did not understand the notion, but Celestia and Luna understood.
After returning to Sanctuary, on the moor just outside of old Tristram, the Monk snapped the staff over he leg and tossed it down into the ravine as the portal closed, trapping the key to the other dimension between worlds. The spirit of the Cow King appeared with a smile on his face.
"So, I see my revenge is complete..." He laughed.
"What are you on about?" Thorne asked threateningly to the spirit.
"over Twenty years ago that old Barbarian and his friends marched into my territory, and they slaughtered my people. We were only minding our own business and feasting on our prey, the rogues. But they killed us mercilessly, and the Barbarian cut me down as if I were some common demon and not a deity." The cow king said, ending with a harrumph.
"You mean you sent us there, knowing that Bannuk would meet his end in that world?" Ayida said, venom in her voice.
"Of course, why else would I help my enemy, who did not even have the decency to remember about me? Besides, he got what he wanted did he not. I felt his spirit returning to this world and heading for Arreat. you should be happy, everyone wins!" The cow king said as he faded into nothingness, laughing the entire time.
"That leaves a bitter taste in my mouth..." Vasilisa said shaking her head.
The nephilim sat in the tavern in New Tristram, conversing over ale what they should do next.
"I have been following a lead as to where Adria could have gone. Some rumors of Maghda's old cult having a new leader have sprung up, and I can only guess it is Adria attempting once more to raise Diablo." Thorne said to the other three.
"We will need to be careful, Adria will be prepared for us and will no doubt have the demons who still hold loyalty to the prime evils on her side against us..." Ayida warned.
"Perhaps I can be of some help against the demons." A woman's voice said from across the inn.
The four nephilim looked up and spotted the woman. They sat silently, with wide eyes as the woman stood up, revealing just how massive she really was, Towering over everyone else and thickly layered with muscle. Her orange hair hung wildly around her shoulders and down her back. She was heavily armored in plates and chain mail, a massive sword hung on her back, and her heavy metal boots shook the ground in a familiar fashion.
"Well, what do you say?" Asked the giant female.
There is No Cow Level
"This is it?" Grumbled a deep voice, clearly not impressed by what he held in his hands.
"Be not deceived by appearances my friend, of all people you should know this." Replied the second of the two figures as they left the town of Tristram.
"I merely hope this works, I have been let down by more promising leads before. Speaking of... Where is he supposed to be again?" The first returned.
"Just ahead off the road a little ways." Said the second, "Ah, here we go. Now, approach him with it."
The first figure approached the skeleton of a cow which lay near a great fissure in the ground. Holding up the Staff of Herding looked behind him to his traveling companion, searching for further instructions. The second merely motioned for him to get closer. Taking a few more steps forward, he was about to turn and leave when he froze where he stood. Rising form the bones was an ethereal image of a cow wielding a halberd, and wearing a crown.
"We see you have brought the item. That is good. We are udderly pleased..." Announced the ghostly figure of the Cow King.
"Wait, you're a... a cow? Where in Bul-Kathos' name did I go wrong with my life?" reflected the first, thinking back on all the wrong decisions he could have made to anger the ancients.
"And you are a stinking bag of flesh with no fur. Haha, touche!" The Cow King chuckled out, then coughed, "This is no time to be silly. The level of sparkling happiness and rainbows awaits you!"
"You mean the cow level?" The first inquired, instantly forgetting about his life's revision.
"No! There is no cow level, now moo-oh excuse me. move along." the Cow King said, as he waved a hoof, and disappeared. The fissure then began to emit a rainbow glow as a portal opened up towards the bottom.
Looking down into the fissure the first shook his head, unwilling to ever speak of this moment again he looked back to his companion who simply smiled, knowing their effort had paid off. The first then shrugged and jumped into the portal, followed shortly after by the second.
Meanwhile, in Canterlot, the princess of the moon was watching over Equestria from atop a tower, on a balcony. She had just finished holding night court, and she couldn't help but to sigh in defeat. despite her best efforts to attain recognition for her efforts in keeping vanguard over the night, nopony seemed to be thankful towards her. They all gave thanks to Celestia for her hard work at night. She would not be bitter towards her sister though, she was the only one who seemed to notice, and Luna had already learned her lesson from being too jealous of her older sister.
"If only there was something I could do that would prove to them that I too work hard to keep them safe." Luna said in a somber tone looking over all the ponies under her night. "If only I could find something that even their fear of me couldn't outweigh... at least I have made some friends from that small town Ponyville."
Luna turned her attention towards the small town in the distance. Fond memories of last Nightmare Night returning to her. Thinking of the joyful faces of the children she had finally won over thanks to the efforts of her sister's pupil, Twilight Sparkle. She chuckled remembering the games she had played with the locals at the time.
Suddenly Luna's fond memories were cut short as she sensed a disturbance in the night. She could feel a very powerful magic emanating from the direction of Ponyville, no it seemed to be past Ponyville, somewhere in the Everfree Forest. Luna's eyes grew wide as she thought of how her only friends might be in danger.
"Guards! " Luna yelled in her Royal Canterlot Voice, before she stopped herself from slipping into old habbits again. "Guards, to me quickly!"
"What is it my princess?" asked the captain of her personal night guard, a Unicorn colt by the name of Black Ice.
"I have sensed a disturbance near Ponyville in the Everfree Forest, i want you to dispatch a scouting unit to make sure nopony there is harmed." Luna said to her captain of the guard, "And tell them if anything is found, to send word to me immediately!"
"Yes my princess!" Said Black Ice as he saluted and rushed off to pick the ponies for the unit. When out of Luna's sight he allowed himself a small smile as he whispered under his breath, "I truly hope whatever you have us do will earn you some respect Princess"
Morning was quickly approaching and Fluttershy was up early as always to tend to her animal friends. First she set out food for all of her friends that stayed in her house, then moving to the chickens and other critters who resided outside. As she was setting out some food pellets for her bear friends she noticed one of the cubs was hiding in corner of its den.
"Oh my, whats wrong little guy?" Fluttershy asked as she trotted over to the bear cub. As she turned it over to face her she gasped, "Oh no!"
The bear cub had bloodshot eyes, and its tongue lolled out of its mouth as it panted. Placing a hoof to its forehead her alarm grew to panic as she felt how her bear friend was burning up from fever. Fluttershy flew at a speed that would even make Rainbow Dash impressed back to her cottage.
Slamming open the door and startling a little white rabbit, Fluttershy began digging through her closet looking for the animal medicine.
"Lets see here, Bird medicine, no... Fish medicine, no... Uh oh..." Fluttershy squeaked out, realizing she was out of medicine that would treat mamals of a fever. Fluttershy's eyes began to tear up as she thought how she couldn't help her sick friend. Suddenly though, her eyes shot wide with realization. "Zecora must have some herbs that will help! Oh, i hope she is awake at this hour of the morning..."
Fluttershy then took off into the Everfree Forest with a determination to get help for her sick friend.
A coal black Pegasus in Luna's Night Guard armor watched as the young yellow mare flew quickly into the Everfree Forest. He motioned for the two other Pegasus guards to follow him as he flew high over the forest watching out for the mare. Despite the fact that the guards had not seen anything unusually strange in the Everfree, they were still under orders to keep everyone in Ponyville safe, and a lone mare in the Forest could easily be hurt.
Zecora silently meditated upside down atop a bamboo staff in her hut. The only sounds to be heard were the chirping of birds in the Forest, and the sound of bubbling from her pot, which had just come to a slow boil. Last night as she meditated before turning in for the night, she had the premonition that someone would be in need of this particular brew. The preparations for this potion took a fair amount of time, but it would quickly do the work that was required of it. Zecora cracked an eye open to check the boil of her pot, noting it was almost ready she lowered herself from atop the staff.
"The needer of this potion will be here soon, With a tale I hope, to boon." Zecora said as she smiled over her brew. She had grown a little lonely out in the forest, and she wanted news of how Ponyville was faring. Just the other week she actually considered setting up a potions shop in the Ponyville marketplace. Before she did anything like that however, she would need to know what kinds of ailments were being spread around, so as to prepare. "No use for potions they do not need, or else my hunger for a social life it will not feed."
Zecora smiled as she heard a knocking at the door. She smiled as she opened it and beheld a familiar yellow face.
"Hello there Fluttershy, What causes you to come on bye?" Greeted Zecora, motioning for the teary eyed Pegasus to come inside her hut.
"One of my bear cubs has a fever, could i please get some medicine? That is, if it's alright..." Fluttershy started out strong, but slowly lost volume and force in her voice as she calmed down and her shyness took over from her earlier adrenaline rush.
Zecora tilted her head questioningly and glanced over at her cauldron, before turning her gaze back to Fluttershy and smiling.
"Of course I will supply the medicine you need, a fair trade for a little gossip i think it will be agreed." Zecora rhymed out as she trotted over to a jar which held some minor flu medicine. As she retrieved said medicine Fluttershy couldn't help but look confused.
"Gossip? Whatever do you need that for?" Fluttershy softly spoke, unsure of what she could possibly have to offer the Zebra, for she had only slightly more of a social life than Zecora.
"Worry not my intentions, they are well. A shop for my potions I wish to sell." Zecora smiled over her shoulder to the timid Pegasus.
"Oh! You want to know what people will be needing!" Fluttershy said as she was enlightened to the need Zecora had for gossip. "Well, I hear the school fillies have been coming down with some mane lice, and Rarity has been looking for some herbal tea."
"Lice and tea? I shall prepare potions immediately!" replied Zecora, happy to know what she needed to prepare.
A knock was heard at Zecora's door, causing her to look up from the bag of medicine she was packing, and a certain yellow mare to jump. Glancing back to her cauldron Zecora trotted to the door. Opening it, Zecora was greeted by the visage of a Voodoo mask, similar to the ones that hung upon her walls. Only, something was different about this mask, it seemed more sinister, and the thing about it that caused the usually stoic and wise Zebra to fall on her flank in fear, was the pair of watching eyes that presented themselves from behind the mask.
Bad Juju
Zecora then took in the rest of the figure before her as it raised itself to its full height on its hind legs, towering over the Zebra. The creature had seemingly no hair on its body, and had a chocolaty brown skin hue. Zecora took in the cruel looking dagger on it's belt, and its clothing that was adorned with various bones and skulls. One thing gave her a start even more than the mask did however. It had a Voodoo Fetish Doll that hung from the opposite side of its belt as the dagger. At full height, the figure was maybe a head shorter than Celestia herself.
A squeak could be heard from within the hut as Fluttershy dug herself under a rug to hide from the terrifying creature at Zecora's door. This caused the figure at the door to let out a small chuckle as it reached off and took off it's face. No, it was merely a mask thought Zecora. Zecora beheld a bald face, and a black mane atop its head. The smile the face held allowed Zecora to regain her posture as she stood back up.
"I have never seen a creature such as you, but it must be you who seeks my bubbling brew." Zecora said as she stepped aside from the door and motioned for the figure to come inside.
"I thank you for your hospitality, and I apologize for scaring you and your friend here." replied the dark figure.
Zecora perked up as the creature spoke in an accent familiar to her own. She wondered if maybe this being came from her homeland, for truly strange things that are still unknown lived there.
"My question may seem crude, but would asking who and where you are from be rude?" inquired Zecora.
"My name is Ayida of The Umbaru, and I come from a land very far away." replied Ayida.
"Hmm, from Zebrica do you hail? or do my assumptions for you fail?" returned Zecora.
"I am not from this land of which you speak, I come from the southern jungle in Sanctuary." explained Ayida, who noticed the Zebra glancing at the dagger and Doll that hung from her sides.
"Ah, you wish to know of these?" Ayida said motioning to her weapons. "They are traditional weapons of an Umbaru Witch Doctor."
"Oh, how rude I did not share my name. I am called Zecora, and i keep this forest tame." Zecora said to her company.
Fluttershy seeing that Zecora was perfectly fine, slowly crept out from under the rug, and crept towards the bag of medicine Zecora had left by the jar.
"And who might this be?" The Witch Doctor said noting the yellow mare.
At this Fluttershy looked shyly over to Ayida and made a certain Lovable noise as she smiled and dropped the bag noticing she had been caught.
"This is Fluttershy, don't mind her she was just dropping by" Zecora said winking at Fluttershy, signaling that she could go.
Fluttershy gave a thankful look to Zecora before she grabbed the bag and sped off to help her animal friend. The Witch Doctor watched in amusement, then turned to the cauldron. As she walked up to it she recognized the familiar concoction.
"This is a potion for finding what is lost is it not?" Asked Ayida.
"The spirits asked that I make this for you, but may I ask what with it you will do?" Asked Zecora.
"My travelling companion and I got separated, and i need to find my way to him. However, he is not the easiest to follow unless he gets into trouble." Replied Ayida.
At this Zecora gave a questioning look, wondering about the odd statement the Witch Doctor had made. Why would trouble cause someone to be easy to find?
"Judging by your look you don't know what I mean. If he finds himself in trouble, he resorts to the simplest and most effective method he can think of. And that is usually as he says, 'smash it and bash it'. You can easily follow the noise or destruction he leaves in his wake when he is opposed." Explained Ayida.
"He seems rather rash to me, but a warrior also you seem to be. May I ask what you plan to do in this land? Please tell me an invasion is not at hand..." Asked Zecora with a pleading look.
"We did come for conquest of a sorts, but what we seek is not to take over but to vanquish evil. Though we do not share religions we both battle for our spiritual beliefs. Sadly, i do not think we will find what we seek in this land. So far all that has been offered to us is a peaceful forest and a calm land."
"Have you been outside the forest as of yet? How many other ponies have you met?" Asked the Zebra
"The forest is all that I have seen, but I do not know if the old one made his way out or not, which is why i asked the spirits for help, and they led me here."
"You find the forest to be calm? Perhaps for your mind i should make a balm... The forest is known by ponies to be a place of danger. It has no mercy, not even for a stranger."
The Witch Doctor laughed at this, a true and hearty laugh. It seemed to Zecora that what she said might have been one of the funniest things Ayida had ever heard.
"This forest is what is known as dangerous in your lands, truly this must be a land of nothing but peace. Where I am from, this forest is less dangerous than some of the cities. But now, i must find my friend lest he get us into trouble with the locals. His kind have had problems with others fearing them just because of their looks."
Ayida then cupped her hands together and dipped them into the still boiling brew. This caused Zecora to jump in panic as she saw the Witch Doctors hands receive burns from the steaming liquid. But then to Zecora's horror, Ayida drank the still boiling potion and sat down, going into a trance. Zecora could only watch in mute horror at what Ayida had unflinchingly done to herself, who in their right mind would do that?
As suddenly as the vision took her it ended, providing her with the knowledge of where the old one was. Ayida turned to the Zebra and winked as looked down at her already healing hands, then smiled and spoke with newly healed vocal chords.
"It will take more than a hot brew to do me harm for long. But i must be going now, perhaps we will meet again my new friend." said a beaming Witch Doctor as she headed out the door. Zecora watched her go, dumbfounded by what she had just seen. Then, she noticed the direction that Ayida had taken...
Straight to Ponyville...
Above the forest circled the three night guards, already growing weary. They were about to head back and report that they found nothing when a strange figure emerged from the hut after the yellow mare. The leader of the three couldn't believe his eyes, did they miss it entering? How? Then the answer came to him as the figure disappeared into the shadows again, blending in with the forest. They would not be able to track the creature like this, and worst of all... It looked like it was heading for Ponyville before it faded from view. All they could do now was warn their princess of what they had seen.
Rainbow Dash sped off to Fluttershy's cottage, her shy friend had forgotten about the girls' morning picnic apparently, and Dash was sent to see if she was okay. As she crashed through Fluttershy's window, she landed in the mare's lap having pushed off a brown furry creature that was there a moment before.
"Oh my, hello there Rainbow. What brings you here?" asked Fluttershy.
Rainbow looked over to the bear cub that was waking up from being pushed off Fluttershy's lap. She looked back up to Fluttershy and made an apologetic smile.
"Sorry 'bout that Shy, but the girls and I were worried because you didn't show up for our picnic."
"Oh no! I completely forgot after i had to fly to Zecora's this morning to get my friend here his medicine."
"Aww, poor little dude, but c'mon Shy, the girls are still waiting!"
"Okay, bye little guy and make sure you get lots of rest so you can feel better!"
The bear cub smiled and let out a yawn as it fell back to sleep on the floor. Fluttershy and Dash then took off to join the rest of their friends for a picnic. The spot they had chosen was close to the edge of the forest, and was atop a hill, near the Boutique.
Applejack had brought some fresh apples, along with some apple fritters, and a couple of apple pies fresh from the oven. Pinkie had brought a multitude of cupcakes, muffins, and a large cake from Sugarcube Corner. Rarity had provided the stylish blanket they sat upon, and had brought some sandwiches Twilight had helped her make this morning. The only thing missing were the two Pegasi.
Pinkie looked up and smiled ash she saw the two fliers making their way over to the picnic.
"Ooh! i see them!" shouted Pinkie.
"Tarnation, its about time." said Applejack with a playful smile.
"Sorry i forgot girls, one of my bear cubs was sick and i needed to get medicine for him. And when I was at Zecora's there was something who showed up and gave me a fright. Luckily they seemed to be nice though.
" Don't you mean somepony Fluttershy? asked Twilight.
"No, it wasn't a pony, it was very strange and scary looking, I thought it was a monster until it started talking with Zecora." replied Fluttershy.
"What did it look like?" Twilight pressed on, curious of what Fluttershy had seen.
"Well it was very tall! just a little bit shorter than the princess. And it stood on its hind legs and had no hair on its body. Its clothing looked very scary too, I think i even saw some metal in its clothing-"
"You mean it was wearing armor?!" exclaimed Twilight cutting off Fluttershy
"I sure do hope it doesn't show up here if its clothing is as ghastly as you say Fluttershy." Quipped Rarity.
"Ah, don't worry 'bout it Rare, no matter how scary it looks I'm sure i could take it down with an easy one two with these babies!" boasted Rainbow as she held up her front hooves.
"Don't be so sure sugarcube, if what Fluttershy said is true, its sounds awful big n' menacin'." stated Applejack
"Ooh, did it look anything like that?!" shouted Pinkie pointing to the stream.
There drinking from the stream was a behemoth of a creature. At the sound of the girls' gasping and having his thirst quenched he turned his head towards the noise. He silently scolded himself for practically walking right past them without noticing just because he was almost dying of thirst. As he stood up, the girls realized in horror just how big this thing was, easily able to dwarf Celestia in size. He was armored from head to toe in black and red heavy metal plates, and he was carrying a large sword upon its back, along with a pair of viscous looking axes at his belt.
As the creature turned to run back for the treeline, not wanting to cause a scene here, he was stopped by the sudden appearance of a pink curly mane coming out of his helmet.
"Ah! How in Bul-Kathos' name did you do that?" spoke the creature in a deep voice looking embarrassed having dropped his helmet with the pony sitting in it.
"I hopped in silly!" replied Pinkie nonchalantly
The creature then scooped up his helmet and dumped the pink party pony out of it before replacing it on his head and running for the tree line.
"Not gonna follow him Dash?" Asked a surprised Applejack.
"You kidding? even I'm not thick headed enough to charge directly at that thing..." replied a shaken Rainbow Dash.
Suddenly as if by the divine willing of Darwin himself a shout echoed across the field...
"Chaaaarge! " Cried out a member of the royal night guard, as a unit of guard ponies 30 strong of all kinds took off in the direction of the metal clad behemoth, resolute on making sure it didn't harm any of the citizens they were charged with protecting, especially since they were the Elements of Harmony.
The giant looked back to the charging force of guards and muttered under his breath, "Anicents, what have i done to deserve this?"
He then set down his pack and even his weapons, not wanting to kill them for doing their job. He cracked his knuckles underneath the steel plated gauntlets and took a boxer's stance.
"Lets get this over with..." Sighed the Barbarian.
'Smash it and Bash it'
"I swear, if he is getting us into more trouble with the locals I am going to set him on fire..." Muttered an angry Witch Doctor as she made her way through the forest. It always seemed to happen like this. They would enter a new area, he would charge off after something for some inconceivable reason, and she had to try and smooth things out. At least the residents of this land had been hospitable, if a little strange to her. Ayida had found the yellow one to be very cute.
Whilst trekking through the forest Ayida found herself dazing off. She realized to her dismay that she had wandered upon a very strange thing indeed. All around her were twelve wooden carvings of wolves, covering the clearing around her. As she examined one, she heard a rustling behind her and whirled around. All that was there was the wolf carvings. Ayida shook her head as she turned back to examine the one that was before her she noticed it was in a different position from what it was in before. Alarms went off in her head as she jumped back, narrowly escaping the jaws of the wooden beast.
"Hahaha, seems I may have underestimated this land. Perhaps it will be a great test of my spirit after all!" The Witch Doctor cackled as she summoned three of her own dogs to her side, along with a monstrous undead being known only as the 'Gargantuan'. The wolves immediately stopped their advance on their would-be prey, instead choosing to raise their hackles at the rotting dogs and giant that stood in their way.
Reaching into her mana pool, Ayida brought forth a skull holding a powerful fire spirit. She then lobbed the skull at the largest of the wolves, watching with glee as the spirit was let loose and howled its fury of its imprisonment, scorching everything around its release point. Then, Ayida whistled and her minions set to annihilation the remainder of the wolves who were too demoralized by the quick death of their alpha to raise much of a defense. The zombie dogs tore limbs off, spraying the ground with sap, as the gargantuan picked one of the unlucky wolves up in both hands, and tore it in two, lobbing the pieces at the wolves trying to escape and tripping them up.
Ayida felt the souls of the deceased soar around her, and she smiled. Then, as quickly as her smile came, it vanished. She had lost the foresight that was brought on by the potion Zecora had made for her. And worst of all, she had been turned around by the fighting, and did not recognize where she had come from. The Witch Doctor stood in the clearing, awestruck by how the forest seemed to not want to relinquish her.
"Spirits... please give me a sign, for I find myself lost again" prayed Ayida. Her answer came to her sooner than she expected.
"GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! " A war cry sounded out in the distance.
"Old one?! Oh no, hes already gone to his fail safe plan..." Grumbled the Witch Doctor as she set off in the direction of the shout.
As the guards charged the mountain of a man, one thing was for sure... His head was not in the game.
'Why do my adversaries have to be so... childish? I cant even get any of my rage built up like this.' Thought the Barbarian. Though he had no qualms with killing those who deserved it, he was a man of honor and abhorred killing the innocent. Roughing them up though, that was another story. He would not be pushed around for just being different. Though old and usually more reasonable than younger Barbarians, he had been made a mockery of his whole life by outsiders, and being the man of honor he was. He dealt with the criticism of his kind.
Finally finding an inkling of the primal fury he needed to fight he readied his old muscles for the oncoming wall of flesh he would smash his way through, and if it would not smash, he would bash it into submission.
The first couple of guards to reach him were Pegasi, and they decided to try a full speed head but. This worked about as well as a bird hitting a brick wall, the guards were left with fractured skulls, nearly broken necks, and were dazed out of commission. The Barbarian could only smile as he pulled back his right fist for the next pony, an earth one this time. Though he pulled the punch, the guard was sent off the ground, and if one didn't know what kind of pony he was, they would have guessed Pegasi by the way he flew.
"Oh my..." Was all Rarity could manage out as she stared at the sight unfolding before her.
"Yeah, he sure is a strong one, hooey he hits hard!" replied Applejack watching the guard sail off to be caught by a fellow guard Pegasus.
"No, it appears a couple of Diamond Dogs are making off with his pack... I noticed it before and they seem to have noticed as well, he has some high quality gems in there." Returned Rarity.
"How can you tell from this distance?" Asked Twilight.
"Please Twilight, gems are my specialty after all, and I can spot high quality from a mile away." Rarity said as she put a hoof in her mane and dramatically threw it into the breeze.
The fighting had come to a halt as the guards noticed the hulk of a man had stopped mid swing to look back to where his pack should be.
"Wha- But... Who?" The Barbarian asked aloud looking for where it could have gone. He looked up to where the girls sat watching, and eating popcorn that pinkie had gotten from somewhere. The party pony then pointed to the edge of the woods where he saw a band of dogs making their way off with his goods. He was immediately reminded of his brother in war Lyndon the Scoundrel. Countless times had he set his bags down to rest, or to have a fist fight, and time and time again Lyndon would try teaching him a lesson and steal his equipment. The mere thought that these dogs were going to take away what he worked so hard on acquiring caused him to grit his teeth.
The guards backed up as they felt the air pressure around the metal clad creature increase, as though his anger and fury wanted to take on physical form. The buckles of the Barbarians armor strained as his body seemed to swell with power. As his vision slowly took on a shade of red, he sprinted after the escaping mutts.
"GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! " He boomed out his fury as he quickly closed the gap on the dogs as they made their way along the edge of the forest into an open field filled mounds of dirt that marked entrances into the dog's tunnels.
"Ahh! its gaining on us!" yelped the smaller of the dogs carrying the large sack full of gems, potions, gold, and spare equipment.
"Run faster then!" cried the other holding onto the heavy weapons.
The dogs leaped for one of the holes, knowing that when they made it under the ground their flanks would surely be safe. However, the Barbarian had other plans for their behinds. One that included one dog's head being forcibly applied up the other's ass. He channeled his fury to manifest physical form as he threw a harpoon straight at the dogs. It collided with the first, pierced, and traveled straight to the second, catching him in the back too, before stopping a few feet out of its chest. He then yanked back the chain connected to the harpoon, and reeled them back in as they whimpered from their wounds the entire way.
"This... Belongs... TO ME! " shouted the Barbarian as the grabbed one of his axes from the second dog's mitts and cleaved its head off with one perfect arc of his blade. The chain had disappeared and the first of the dogs crawled with his front paws after one of the mounds that meant safety. Only for him to have his leg grabbed.
"Ah ah ah, I'm not finished with you..." scolded the Barbarian, blood lust gleaming in his eyes. He held the head of the second mutt as he raised the first by its leg, blood spilling to the ground from the wound that pierced its spine and sternum. It didn't have long to live now, but he would make sure it suffered. He raised the decapitated head high, aiming for the rear of the dog.
A howl of terror, and pain was heard by the girls still sitting at their picnic area. They all cringed at the sound, knowing that the bandit had been caught by the creature.
"Ah don't get it. he didn't seem all that bad when he fought the guards, he seemed more like he was playing with them. But when he saw them varmints runnin' off with his stuff, he really seemed like a monster..." Said Applejack, wondering how one could seem like a playful giant one moment and then turn into a nightmare the next.
"Maybe he had something important in there, or something..." Quietly offered Fluttershy.
"Why of course he had important things in there, didn't you see the gems he had? Oh, I must get him to trade me some!"
"I don't know Rare, he didn't look like the type to hold things like that in such high regard." Twilight said, shooting down Rarity's theory.
Meanwhile the unit of guards were picking each other off the ground and climbing out of trees. A unicorn sent a message to their captain Black Ice about their defeat at the unarmed creature.
Then, a dark figure burst out of the treeline, took in the scene before her and shook her head. Ayida looked over to the girls sitting atop the hill and noticed Fluttershy. She motioned for her minions to stay in the shadows as to not frighten the young ponies. The guards eyed her warily, noting similarities in this one and the one that was here before.
As Ayida approached Fluttershy the yellow mare's friends rushed to stand between the creature and the timid Pegasus. Everyone but Twilight stood in Ayida's way, for Twilight was too stunned by what she saw. Magical energy blossomed around this figure, So much power that she was sure any Unicorn who had the special talent for Magic would be mortified by what they could see.
"Fluttershy, could you please ask your friends to move aside so I can ask you where my friend went?" Ayida said, then looked over her shoulder to the force of guards who were groaning in pain. She then looked back and gave the girls a flat look "I know he was just here"
"Its... Okay girls, this is Zecora's friend i was telling you about..." Fluttershy managed to squeak out.
The other girls looked at the stranger with untrusting eyes. They finally parted and let the Witch Doctor through.
"Now Fluttershy, can you please tell me where Bannuk went?" Ayida softly asked, not wanting to further frighten the timid mare.
"Bannuk?" Asked Fluttershy hiding behind her mane which slid over her eyes.
"Yes, that is his name. Can you please tell me where he went?" The Witch Doctor repeated herself.
"There he is!" a hyperactive pinkie jumped in, pointing to a figure standing on a hill, making its way to them.
As Bannuk approached the girls and his travelling companion. He was tired now, and it was evident in the slouch he had to his stride. He had been jumped by a small army of dogs after the howl of the one he tortured sounded off. He must have cleaved down at least fifty of the mongrels before they fled again and offered him a giant bag of gems and gold to leave them alone. And who was he to refuse such gifts of good will? Unfortunately, the dog's forgot to give him a wagon, so he had dragged the gigantic bags of loot all the way back to where he fought the guards.
Everyone but Ayida stared wide eyed at the Barbarian as he pulled two bags of treasure, that managed to dwarf him in size. Then a certain shy Pegasus noticed something else about him, he was dripping with blood.
"Oh no! you poor thing, we must get you to a doctor immediately!" spouted out the alarmed mare, losing all traces of her shy nature at the sight of an injured creature. She flew up to one of his hands and started to pull on it.
"Hmm? Oh, don't worry about me little one. This blood is not mine." The Barbarian said as he took off his helmet, letting himself air out as sweat dripped from his white beard.
"Wha- wh... then... who?" Stuttered out the Pegasus
"Pack of the dogs tried to help the two thieves, so I dealt with them." Smiled the Barbarian, "That's where I got this loot!"
Fluttershy could only imagine how many Diamond Dogs would have to be cut down to drench the armor the Barbarian wore so fully. Her head spun as she got sick from the implications.
Fluttershy fainted.
Error 37
Celestia was enjoying a rather sublime dinner after having dealt with some minor issues that had come up about unfairness in the tax system for the upper class. She had decided it was unfair to tax the wealthy on lower rates, and had to agree, the notion she had previously put in place was just silly.
Suddenly, a scroll appeared in front of her from a puff of green flame. Celestia smiled at the letter sent to her in a way that only her personal pupil could send. She unrolled said letter with her magic and began to read silently to herself while still taking sips out of the tea that was suspended next to her via her golden aura.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Nothing is wrong in Ponyville. There is no need to worry about a thing, and everyone is doing fine. I cannot remember a time it was ever this peaceful, quiet, or safe. There is no need to send anything like a scouting unit of the guard, or to dispatch the army to take care of a couple of big and powerful creatures.
P.S. There was not an entire unit of night guards that was sent here, why would you think that?
Celestia stopped mid sip as she read the last part of the letter. A bemused look on her face as she wondered if it was some kind of joke. Celestia even considered if a certain pink mare had put her friend up to writing a certain prank letter to said friend's mentor. But the last part as she read it over made something click. Luna had been looking a little distraught earlier. She hadn't paid much attention to it after she inquired and Luna dismissed any notions that something was wrong. Looking back to the rest of the letter, Celestia began to worry quite a lot. Were they forced to write this letter, and did Twilight subtly hint that they needed help? She decided to confront Luna first.
"Luna!" Celestia yelled as she spotted her sister try to sneak by the door to the dining hall.
"Yes sister?" Luna said meekly, knowing by the letter next to her sister that her forces had been seen by the elements.
"Mind telling me whats going on in Ponyville?" Celestia said in a firm tone.
"Well, the thing about that is-" Started Luna started before being interrupted by an even firmer tone.
"Do not dance around the subject. Why did I receive a letter from Twilight that makes me believe she is being held hostage? And why did she mention in it that she had definitely not seen an entire unit of your guard?"
"She What!" Luna nearly screamed.
"Luna, please tell me you are not growing jealous of the love of our little ponies again, are you?" Celestia said in an almost begging tone.
"No, sister, you don't understand. I sent those guards because i sensed something possibly dangerous coming from the Everfree Forest. So i sent some scouts, they reported back with a finding so i sent a unit to apprehend whatever it was!" Luna said with a begging look in her eye, not liking the direction her sister had taken.
"What? then why didn't you contact me immediately?" Asked Celestia, still unsure whether she should believe what her little sister said, wondering if the elements did not remove all traces of Nightmare. It would not be the first time the elements' magic had let her down.
"Celestia... I just wanted to show everypony they could count on me, and didn't have to fear me. Also my guard unit has not reported back in some time, this is why i have been in a little bit of a frantic mood. If you say they are being held hostage..." Luna offered, seeing the doubt on her sister's face.
Celestia considered what Luna said, because she loved and dearly wanted to trust her. Then, as she began to look at things in the light Luna had put it in her face became a mask of horror.
"Then... Whatever has made your unit disappear..." Started Celestia.
"May have the elements. Perhaps even all of Ponyville..." Luna said sadly, thinking of all her friends she had made on Nightmare Night.
"But who? Only a powerful force could capture an entire town and unit of guards, without even a single guard retreating to alert others. But who has that kind of power?" Thought Celestia out loud, "Could have been Chrysalis with her grudge against us, or maybe the Diamond Dogs in their quarry needed new slaves. But then why have Twilight send this letter?"
"Celestia... I think we should go personally. If it is indeed Chrysalis again, we will need to be together to defeat her. And if its Diamond Dogs well, then its a matter of royal treaty that they had broken." Luna said, trying to reel Celestia back into what needed to be done and away from panic.
"You're right, I'm sorry for accusing you. Now, lets assemble some guards and go take a look." Celestia said with an air of confidence.
The Diamond Dogs had been in a state of panic. Fifty-two of their pack had been slaughtered by the black metal giant. But some spoke of him reverently, as if he were a god that walked on the earth. They reasoned that only a god could so effortlessly slay that many of their brethren, then single pawedly carry of so much gold, and so many gems, that the dogs meant for him to be distracted as it struggled, and ambush him from below. But, as the figure hoisted the bags, all the dogs could do was wet themselves in fear.
Soon enough, the Diamond Dogs came to an agreement, they would build a giant statue made of gold, and embedded with gems for their new god. But first, they needed to see what it looked like under its armor, to properly portray him, so as not to anger him and bring upon his wrath. Any dog who saw what he had done to the poor pup that tried stealing from him vomited merely thinking of the scene. But such was the fate of those who disobeyed the gods. This was why the dogs would never beach the treaty they had with the god-princess Celestia, even though Ponyville was ripe for the plundering they would only take slaves that wandered onto their lands.
"I shall go and offer our prayers unto our new lord!" Yelled Rover to his brethren. He took the responsibility onto himself as he was the current alpha.
Cheers roared out along the den and its tunnels at the news that a brave soul would fetch their god. He was sent with his two companions that always stayed with him, who bore gifts of dried meat, and fresh fruits. Pleasing their new god was their top priority.
Chrysalis had an ingenious plan, she would take over Ponyville, and kill the element bearers. This would demoralize the princesses, and enact her revenge at the same time. Then her forces would meld back in with a distraught society in Canterlot who were too taken by their grief to know that anything was wrong. All her loyal changelings were starving without a source of food. She needed to act fast, she needed to act now.
As she marched her troops from the forest towards Ponyville she noticed a trio of Diamond Dogs with their heads bowed, and bearing meats and fresh fruits in their arms. It almost appeared as if they were offering a gift to a god. This behavior was unheard of to her, and she wondered if she could perhaps recruit some help from the mongrels if they were showing this odd of behavior. She smiled as she approached the foolish mutts.
Celestia and Luna rushed to Ponyville with their captains of their own guards, and a small unit of their own elites. They all traveled by air, or by sky chariot as was the case for Unicorns and Pegasi.
"Look down there!" Luna said pointing to a group of Diamond Dogs and Chrysalis both conversing just outside of Ponyville.
"Ha! I was right on both accounts of the perpetrators." Celestia said, proud of her own talent for deduction.
The princesses forces descended upon a startled Chrysalis and some confused Diamond Dogs.
"Stop right where you are foul fiends!" Yelled Luna, pointing her horn at the Diamond Dogs.
"Your treachery ends here." Celestia said pointing her horn at Chrysalis.
The rest of the guards prepared themselves for a fight as did the changeling army. Tension built between the two forces, and the dogs could only get more confused.
"Why is everyone talking of invasions and conflict?" Asked Rover, "We do not want trouble, fifty-two of our kind was already slaughtered today from such foolishness as conflict, we only wish to make a peace offering."
Luna raised her horn at this and cocked her head to the side, "What do you mean you lost fifty-two of your own?"
"Peace offering?" Celestia said, looking over at the dogs but keeping her horn pointed menacingly at Chrysalis who stood her ground, a surprised look on her face.
"But... who would want meat as a peace offering? The fruit I get, but meat?" Luna said a look of disgust on her face.
"It is for our new and glorious god who effortlessly slew our brethren for angering him." Rover said with an almost admiring tone to his voice.
"Wait, who is this new god?" Luna asked looking to Celestia who raised her head to look at her sister.
"And if they are here now, who took over Ponyville?" Celestia returned with her own question.
The ground shook from thunderous footsteps drawing closer, the bearer of these massive feet was not amused. He was taking a relaxing nap only to be awoken by the sounds of shouting.
"There better be a good reason for this!" Shouted the approaching giant. Followed closely by was a nervous Twilight who was hoping to do some semblance of damage control.
Faces all around turned to mixes of shock, horror, awe, and reverence for the one and only true lord. The changeling army seemed to edge away from the approaching titan of a creature. Luna's jaw hung open, and Celestia's eyes narrowed as she had to look up to the creature before her, it had been a long time since she had to look up to anything other than a dragon. The dogs, they got on their knees and raised their offering, speechless at seeing their god without his armor on, for the Barbarian now only wore his loincloth, war-belt, and greaves. The Barbarians muscles rippled with his might as he strode up to and came to a stop by the gathering of diplomatic leaders. Twilight trotted up next to him, and almost hid behind his leg in fear and shame as she saw the princesses and her older brother, head of Celestia's day guard.
Shining armor seeing his sister gave a start, then he began glaring daggers at the being who stood between him and his little sister. Without thinking of the consequences he charged a magical blast at the tip of his horn.
"Get away from my sister!" Shining yelled as he loosed the powerful magical bolt at the Barbarian. Black Ice tried to stop his fellow captain but could not reach him in time to stop the immense magical blast, fueled by the fury of a protective older brother.
The bolt sailed straight for Bannuk, who made no effort to dodge or block the arcane missile. The spell connected square in the Barbarian's chest, resulting in a powerful shock wave. The force of the shock caused everypony to flinch and take a step back, everyone but Celestia who had more fortitude than to be staggered by the blast, Twilight who was shielded from the blast behind Bannuk, and the giant himself who didn't even seem to register he had been attacked. For Bannuk was too busy staring hungrily at the offerings the dogs had brought.
Celestia was baffled, even she could not deny the power of her captain. His power was why she had installed him in his position, and had previously asked him to single hoofedly erect a barrier to protect Canterlot. But this man had not even registered his attack, while unarmored no less. Celestia opened her mouth to say something as the Barbarian strode past her to where the Diamond Dogs still knelt, but no words would escape her mouth. The changeling army looked on the verge of running away if the giant made a single move in their direction from where he stood in front of the dogs.
Everypony was silent as Bannuk stood in front of the dogs, it seemed as if everypony held their breath for what he would do next. Then, Twilight trying to diffuse the situation spoke up.
"Umm, princess Celestia... If this is about the letter earlier, Pinkie had me send it because she knew you would come immediately to meet our new friend here... Sorry if it kinda... Got out of hand. He thought it was funny though." Twilight managed out kicking a hoof in the dirt showing off her shame.
This new revelation brought about another wave of shock. Celestia didn't know what to say or think, her mind would not produce anything intelligible, it simply stopped working. Bannuk looked over his shoulder at the still princess of the sun, and let out a small chuckle for he had seen this kind of thing before, it had plagued many an adventurer when the prime evils had attacked for the second time in his life. Bannuk shook his head and turned his attention back to the meal before him as he said.
"You can never see that damn error coming can you?
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.
Tea Treaty
Bannuk came to a halt in front of the horde of Diamond Dogs and four ponies. The dogs took in their deity in his full glory, some of the females even swooning. Celestia raised her eyebrow wondering what the Barbarian could have done to earn such high esteem from the normally savage and simple minded dogs who normally cared only for gems and to flaunt their own brute force. Then she realized, she did not wish to know what he could have done to them. She had a distinct feeling it had to do with the unholy scream she had heard reports of echoing across the land from earlier in the morning.
"It fits you well Bannuk, as to why you haven't used it until now eludes me. Would have saved us a lot of trouble when the prime evil was slain." Said a smirking Witch Doctor looking to the faces of awe around her.
"Prime evil?" Celestia said warily, not wanting to know what these strange beings considered to be evil.
Ignoring the sun princesses' question, Bannuk replied to Ayida, "I had not yet earned the right to wear this yet. Despite the thousands of demons we slaughtered, none of them would bow to my strength. Only when a foe does this can I honor Worusk's memory of valor. The dogs here have given me the great honor of allowing me to wear his legacy."
The Barbarian turned his gaze to address Rover, seeing him as the leader of the dogs. Rover shrunk slightly at first under the powerful gaze from behind the ancient black helmet.
"You have paid me great honor, and for this I thank you. If your people ever find themselves in times of need, call upon my might." Bannuk said to Rover, causing the dog to break into a smile. For his people now had their own god to protect them. The Ponies had the sister gods, the Changelings had their queen god, and the Griffons had their sky god to protect them, but the dogs always had to fend off invasions with their sheer numbers. This had given little to no room to take back any land that was lost however, because these 'god champions' of their people would devastate any who encroached on their lands. Now though, the Diamond Dogs had their own god, a god of death.
"Thank you great one, we will begin erecting a statue to your honor. And with your protection, we may finally build above ground, without fear of invasion!" The other dogs cheered as Rover finished his speech. Celestia and Luna's eyes widened at this as they realized what the dogs were going on about. They knew all too well about the Diamond Dogs being bullied by the Griffons who were protected by their champion from retaliation, but they had let it happen because of the natural ability for war the dogs had. They should have been nearly wiped out with the way the Griffons had bullied them, but their numbers and savagery in combat had allowed them to carve out a living under the ground.
Rover then handed a blank flag to the Barbarian, who returned a quizzical look. Rover merely gave a reassuring smile as he brought forward another item, a smaller one.
"You are our leader now, we will not make you make decisions unless you deem it necessary, but this marks you as our champion. We will follow any command you give us, and we only ask that you protect us if the need arises." Rover said handing Bannuk an amulet of pure black diamond, mined from the deepest tunnel the dogs had dug, so far down, they thought to be close to Tartarus.
"So basically, you want me to be your god?" Bannuk asked, catching on to what the dogs were getting at. As rover nodded to this, Bannuk looked over to Ayida who shrugged in return. Technically, this is what the old warrior had sought when he went on the journey with her. Bannuk wanted honor enough to wear the immortal king's armor, never could he have dreamed he would have the chance to actually lead a people as Worusk had. Bannuk took the amulet and put it on.
"I will be your king, your lands are mine now. And if any dare encroach on my lands, then they shall face me on the battlefield. I will stride the land as a god, and I will crush all who oppose me." The dogs went wild at this speech, and the princesses could only watch in mute horror. It would seem their coming here did end up turning into a diplomatic affair, they had treaties to write.
"We will begin construction of your town immediately great one!" Rover said enthusiastically.
"Good, by the way, I still haven't gotten your name." Bannuk returned to Rover.
"My name is Rover, I was the alpha of this pack." Rover said with a tinge of pride in his voice.
"This pack? there are others of your kind scattered about?" asked the Barbarian.
"Yes, they are scattered about the mountains to the east, and the plains to the south." Rover replied with a questioning look in his eye.
"Send word to them, if they want protection, send emissaries. My kind fell because we were separated. Only when Worusk united the clans did we have a truly unstoppable force." Bannuk commanded.
The dogs liked the idea of a united people. Finally they were on their way to becoming an actual nation, instead of just small packs who held treaties with their neighbors for protection. Rover then whistled, signalling the other Diamond Dogs to go about collecting materials for construction. Something then donned on Rover.
"Great one, what of your companion?" Rover said, wondering if they might have a fight for power. This as not unheard of in the Diamond Dog packs, two strong ones fighting to the death for the spot of alpha.
"Don't worry about me." Ayida called out, foreseeing what the dog had worried about, "He can play king, I am but a humble Witch Doctor. Thrones, crowns, and glory don't interest me. Only the spirits hold my desire."
Hearing what the Witch Doctor had said Celestia gained a certain level of respect if not greater fear for her, for there was great honor and power in the conviction of somepony that was motivated by religious views alone. Twilight then began to stir on Celestia's back, bringing the solar princess back to her senses.
"I do believe we have some discussing to do, treaties to write, and my little ponies to assure" Celestia said looking at the fainted mare on her back.
"Ah, my apologies." Bannuk said, as it registered how young Twilight might be. She had seemed a little innocent when he had first met with her, but he didn't figure she would be so susceptible to the sight of blood.
"You better be sorry." Said Shining Armor who had remained silent, keeping to himself for a while now.
Bannuk shot him a glare, and took a step towards the captain of the day guard. Seeing how short of a fuse the men were on, Luna stepped in to intervene, lest the testosterone get the better of the situation.
"Perhaps we should get to the treaties, maybe over some tea we could discuss them?" Luna said with a smile.
Bannuk nodded to Rover, signalling him to join his pack mates. As the Diamond Dog scurried off, Bannuk turned towards Ponyville and slung the mace onto his back. Ayida walked to his side and whispered to him.
"You need to cut back a little old one, I think the excitement of your honor is getting your blood boiling too fast." Ayida whispered, a stern look on her face.
The Barbarian sighed in defeat, seeing she was right. Her clarity of thought had always proved useful when they fought the demons before, and eh had learned to trust her views when she gave them. Bannuk took off his helmet, and the glow seemed to stop emitting from his armor. He looked back towards the ponies and nodded, before walking towards Ponyville, no longer causing the ground to shake under his feet with the full armor set not donned.
Fluttershy stretched out and yawned where she lay. She could hear talking in the room, this startled her. Where was she? how had she gotten here? Who was talking? Fluttershy was too afraid to open her eyes lest she let whoever was there know she was awake.
"More tea princess?" Asked a young sounding male voice. Fluttershy placed it as Spike, she was at the library.
"Yes, thank you Spike" Said a regal tone, Celestia thought Fluttershy. What was she doing here?
"Could I have another cup too?" Asked another familiar regal voice. Luna is here too? Fluttershy started to worry, why were both princesses here? Was she hurt, and did the princesses get worried and come to see her? Fluttershy quickly did a double check of how she felt, no she felt fine.
"I will have more too if that is alright" Came a deep, resounding voice. This made Fluttershy freeze, memory flooded back to her. The giant that was with Ayida, the blood... Fluttershy 'eeped' as she screwed her eyes tightly closed, not wanting to open them to the sight of more blood.
"Oh, Fluttershy are you awake?" Came the sound of Twilight voice.
Fluttershy opened one eye to look for her friend. She found the face of Twilight smiling at her, she then looked around and noticed her other friends were around the room too. Applejack was talking with Rainbow who was poking a hoof at a large hammer that leaned against the wall. Pinkie was stuffing her face with an assortment of pastries that she had no doubt brought herself form Sugarcube Corner. Rarity was talking to Ayida, gesturing at the Witch Doctors apparel with disgust and most likely offering to make her new clothes. Fluttershy's eyes then landed on Spike who was filling a rather large tea cup, that was looking rather tiny in the Barbarians giant mitts. The Barbarian then thanked the small dragon and sipped from the cup.
Fluttershy's face became blank, she did not know whether to giggle at the sight or cower at the figure. She glanced over at Twilight who only shrugged at the odd sight herself.
"So that should be a good place to start with a treaty, but I must demand that you return my sister's unit of guards before we sign." Celestia said, putting the final touches on an official looking document with a levitated quill.
"Ah, right. Them..." Bannuk sighed.
Shining armor walked into the library then, a distraught look on his face.
"I found them, they are in the jail house. I don't think that place has ever been so full. Also, the jailer said the big guy here snapped the key in half inside the lock." Shining said in defeat.
"Umm, couldn't you just use magic to turn the key still inside there?" Asked Twilight.
"Unfortunately not Twiley, prison bars are enchanted to repel magic." Shining explained to his sister.
Luna was shooting Bannuk a very hostile glare. She did not like the fact that the Barbarian had bested an entire unit of her guards, and she hated the fact they he had the gall to throw them in jail. The daggers Luna was staring were not lost on Bannuk, who merely smiled as he stood up and headed towards the library's door.
"And where do you think you are going?" Luna said, a hint of anger in her voice.
"I'm going to let them out, no reason for them to be in there now that I have a treaty saying they can't up and attack me for nothing anymore." Bannuk returned with a smirk.
Luna stuttered trying to come up with a response, but she knew that her guards had no actual right to attack him in the first place, other than seeing a possible threat. Instead she settled with letting out an angry grunt.
"How are you going to let them out? those bars are magic proof, and are made of solid Fillydelphia industrial steel." Shining explained to the Barbarian.
Bannuk only smiled and left, heading for the prison. The girls and Luna followed him as he left. Shining looked back to Celestia, wanting to go, but also not wanting to leave the princess alone with the last of the creatures. He could smell the darkness in her power, even form where he stood from her across the room. This more than a little set him off, because he did not have a very proficient ability to sense magic, he couldn't even sense Celestia's unless she was actively channeling it, and only up close.
"You can follow your sister Shining, I'll be fine." Celestia said with a warm smile. At this, Shining took off to catch up with her sister.
As Shining left, Ayida stood up and walked over towards Celestia. Taking a seat across from her where Bannuk previously sat, she picked up the cup of tea he had been sipping from and gulped it down.
Celestia's eyes narrowed as she realized what the gesture the Witch Doctor had made meant.
"So that is how it is then?" Celestia said with a monotone voice.
Ayida leaned back in her char and smiled. She tilted her head as if to listen to something, then turned her attention back to Celestia.
"No, I was still thirsty, and the little dragon seems to have sneaked off after the white Unicorn." Ayida said with a playful smile.
Celestia grew less tense and tilted her head to the side.
"I thought it would be funny to see your reaction if you thought I was in charge. Bannuk may get a little hot blooded at times, but he is still old and wise. Plus, I don't do well with large scale decision making. The Witch Doctors of my people are spiritual advisers, not leaders." Explained Ayida.
Celestia regained her warm demeanor at hearing this. She smiled as she levitated the pot of tea from the kitchen into the living room where they sat, and poured some more tea for them.
"So how is Bannuk going to release my sister's guard?" Asked Celestia making small talk.
On cue the sound of metal screeching and snapping could be heard across Ponyville. Many ponies gritted their teeth at the offensive sound, and more then a couple ducked under stalls suspecting mischief from the infamous Cuty Mark Crusaders.
"He didn't..." Celestia said wide eyed.
"He did" Ayida said casually sipping her tea.
Celestia coughed as she regained her composure. She would never get used to the raw physical power the Barbarian had. What put her off just as much though, was the latent energy the Witch Doctor had swirling around her. Even back when she was fighting the Changelings, she had barely used a fraction of her power. Celestia briefly considered it a good thing the Diamond Dogs had put the two strangers in a political position, so that treaties could be signed with them before enemies were made.
"So, you mentioned a... 'Prime evil' was it?" Celestia inquired.
Ayida's eyes grew cold as she thought back.
"Yes, the prime evil... There were three prime evils to start with, and four lesser evils. Bannuk was part of a group of seven champions that fought them twenty years ago. Him and his old companions slew two of the lesser evils, and then the three prime evils. They didn't stay gone however. The two final lesser evils led an army of demons against all of mankind recently. There were five of us champions, and we slaughtered thousands of demons. Finally we killed the two lesser evils, and bound their souls within a powerful stone. Little did we know we would be betrayed. The prime evil Diablo, the lord of terror was resurrected by one of his agents, a woman we trusted. Diablo now also had the souls of the other six evils inside of him, granting him their power. Diablo became the sum of all evil, the prime evil." Ayida explained
Celestia's face grew pale, five champions stood against an army of demons, and fought the very embodiment of evil itself. Not only that, but Bannuk had done it twice in his lifetime? No wonder why Ayida was happy to allow him to lead.
"By the way, Bannuk will not be able to sign this." Ayida said, picking up the treaty.
"Why is that?" Celestia asked with a concerned look on her face.
"Barbarians are nomads, and though Bannuk has lived a long time, few of his kind learn how to read, especially not the warriors. Bannuk is illiterate..." Explained Ayida.
A gasp could be heard from the entrance to the library, there stood with a look of utter horror on her face, Twilight Sparkle.
"I-Illiterate?!" Twilight sputtered out, then promptly fainted.
Alpha Dog
Bannuk appeared at the doorway, and ducked inside. Looking down he noticed the fainted purple mare, and looked up to the princess. A guilty look crossed his face, followed by a sheepish smile.
"Please tell me I'm not the cause of this." Bannuk said with pleading eyes.
"You did." Ayida stated simply.
"Well, that makes twenty two then..." Bannuk sighed, shaking his head.
"What..." Celestia stated, more than asked.
"When I jail broke Luna's guards a number of them kind of fainted. One or two may have been knocked out from debris, but I didn't stick around to check. Luna is looking after them though." Bannuk explained, then nudged Twilight with his foot.
"I'm not doing anything about this by the way." Bannuk stated, glancing up at Celestia.
"You can't just leave her there though, you have to do something about it." Came Rarity's voice from the doorway, who was peeking inside to the fainted form of her friend.
"You wish, I have, um... Ancients damn it whats the word... Tip of my tongue..." Bannuk searched for the word he was looking for, glancing over to Ayida who merely shrugged, for she was even more unfamiliar with diplomacy than he was.
"Are you claiming diplomatic immunity?" Celestia asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah that one!" Bannuk said pointing a finger at Celestia.
"Where on sanctuary did you hear that from?" Asked Ayida, confused on how the Barbarian had heard a word she had not.
"Bah, emissaries were always snooping on land they didn't belong on. Always claimed that, but they had no agreement with our people other than the one where they died if they got near Mount Arreat." Bannuk spat on the ground, thinking back on the memory.
Rarity seemed to turn a little green at the gesture the Barbarian had made. She was impressed by their strength and all, but she did not like the mannerisms of the two 'ruffians', and she found it most unbecoming of a king to act as such, even if he were a king of dogs.
"Well, now. About that treaty Celestia." Bannuk started meekly.
"You don't know how to write, I know." Celestia said with a smile that did not tease or taunt, but understood.
"Well, I can seal it in the way my people seal a deal." Bannuk said, with a grin on his face. He was not used to people showing understanding when confronted with his illiteracy. He tried to act wise, despite his brashness at times, and this led people to assume he was 'civilized' for fighting his peoples primal urges towards violence to an extent. By no means did he not slaughter what stood in his way, but he would at least come up with a plan before rushing headlong into the fray of battle, and this led him to a long life as a warrior.
The Barbarian drew a dagger in his right hand as he approached the table and Celestia was too taken aback by the sudden appearance of the weapon to act. But Bannuk did not go for the princess with his dagger, he drew the blade across the palm and sheathed the dagger. Then the Barbarian rubbed his right thumb into the wound, covering it in blood. The other girls had filed into the library, and Twilight had gotten over her 'incident' and they all watched wide eyed as Bannuk pressed the bloodied thumb onto the treaty, signing it with his own bloody thumb print.
"An oath signed in blood, holds more weight than one signed in ink." Bannuk smiled at the queasy ponies.
Celestia was the quickest to recover from the sight of Bannuk cutting himself. She grabbed her napkin from off the table with her magic and levitated it up to the Barbarian.
"Here, wouldn't want you bleeding everywhere." Celestia said with a warm smile. Bannuk only chuckled at this and instead of taking the cloth napkin, raised his right hand and opened it revealing the palm.
For what seemed like the hundredth time today, Celestia was left speechless. All the girls gaped at what they saw, for no wound was there anymore. Only the smear of blood where he pressed his thumb in the wound gave evidence to his injury. Celestia had a sickening revelation at seeing this. There is all of the possibility that what Ayida said was one hundred percent true, Bannuk alone could probably have slaughtered armies of demons. She had a small amount of doubt before, but now it was crushed.
Celestia glanced over at Ayida who gave a knowing smile, and nodded. 'She has the same ability to heal herself as well.' Thought Celestia
"Well, if the diplomatic duties are done, I'm going to go admire my statue. Also I'm going to tell them to find a safe place to put my treasure. Not sure what I'm going to do with he gems though, since they lack magical qualities." Bannuk said making his way to the door.
Rarity's eyes grew wide, "Those gems you had in your bag were magical? Is that why they radiated like they did?"
"Yes, got an eye for gems do you?" The Barbarian asked, hoping to have a source to trade his 'useless' gems to.
"Well, I use them in my work. Also it is my special talent, couldn't you tell from my cutie mark?" Rarity said, turning herself to show the side of her flank to Bannuk.
"What...? Are those tattoos to show your occupation?" Inquired a confused Barbarian. He had noticed each of the ponies having the marks, but had paid little attention to it, war paints being common among his people.
"Y'all don't know what cutie marks are? Don't ya' have one? Gosh mah' sister would go crazy..." Applejack said, lifting the back of Bannuk's loincloth with a hoof, and seeing the bare behind, let it drop back down.
"Don't do that." Said a blushing Barbarian. Ayida could only cover her face, talking ponies she could handle, but the giant muscular white rump of her friend, that was pushing the limits. Ayida, like many others of the party that hunted the evils looked up to Bannuk as an older brother. And seeing her older brother's bare ass was not something she had wanted.
"Don't do what?" Asked a confused Applejack, had she accidentally done something offensive to his culture?
"Well, where I am from, clothes are for modesty's sake." Explained Bannuk.
"But were all naked! Doesn't bother us." Explained a bouncing pink pony.
"Not exactly the same..." Bannuk tried to explain, finally getting his blush under control.
"Is it something to do with your biological structure?" Asked a well red purple mare.
"My what?" Returned a confused Bannuk.
Twilight sighed, "Are you hiding something on your body with clothing." Explained Twilight.
"Ah, yes actually." Bannuk said, happy for Twilight 'dumbing' down her previous question.
"Well what ya'll got hiding under there?" Said a curious Applejack, reaching up again for the loincloth.
Bannuk was too quick for her, leaping backwards at a speed that was surprising for his bulk. But, he was no match for the pink party ponies ability to do what she wanted.
"Gotcha!" yelled the pink mare as she grabbed his loincloth with her hooves form behind him, and yanked down, and trotted over to join where her friends were standing then looked back to Bannuk.
Almost every mare in the room fainted, pinkie included. Only Celestia and Shining were left conscious. Ayida hard thrown her arms in the air and yelled obscenities as she turned and left the room, into the kitchen, cursing the spirits for her luck the entire way. Bannuk simply turned a shade of red that would challenge Big Macintosh, then pulled his loincloth back up.
Celestia coughed into her hoof, trying to regain her composure. Never before had a diplomatic meeting gone this awry.
"So, it's um... always out?" Celestia asked.
Bannuk nodded his head. The embarrassment starting to fade.
"So, I guess that makes twenty eight... Counting Twilight twice..." Bannuk said with a sheepish grin, trying to lighten the mood.
Bannuk looked over the construction of his new city clad once more in The Immortal King's Legacy, glad to be rid of those ponies for a little while. Not that he minded them, but he wanted things to blow over before he went back to Ponyville. In all his years he had not been embarrassed as much as he was in that library. He couldn't even blame Shining for trying to strangle him for being 'exposed to his little sister'.
Rover approached the Barbarian with a few strange Diamond Dogs Bannuk had not seen before.
"You were right Rover, he's massive... He looks like he could storm the gates of Canterlot all by himself." Spoke one of the strange dogs.
"Are these the alphas of the neighboring packs?" Asked Bannuk in a commanding voice.
"Yes my king." Rover said as he bowed.
"We came to test your might, but we have seen the pile of Changeling corpses. We wish only to know what our terms of fealty are to you..." Said one of the alphas. All three of the neighboring alphas came looking for a fight, but their blood lust was gone the moment they saw the demolished army at the edge of the woods. Now they only wanted to strike a fair deal, hoping not to become slaves of this 'war god'.
"You will build a city above the ground, and you will obey any treaties and promises I make to other countries." Bannuk said simply.
"Above ground?! What about the Griffons?" Exclaimed one of the alphas.
"And what of taxes, Royalty always claims a right to those." Exclaimed another.
Bannuk smashed a greaved foot upon the ground, cracking the ground he stood on, and causing the dogs to fall silent.
"There will be no tax, only a call to arms in times of war. And as for the Griffons, I have had a treaty written up and sent to them, courtesy of my adviser Ayida." Bannuk said gesturing with a thumb over to the Witch Doctor who sat in the shade of a tree meditating.
"What kind of treaty?" Asked the lat alpha.
"One that states, if they trespass onto my lands with ill intents, they will be slaughtered." Bannuk said with a wicked grin.
Fifteen Minutes Ago
"Hey look, the dogs are building above the ground!" squawked a surprised Griffon flying above the clouds to his nine companions.
"Heh, why don't we remind them why they have stayed underground for so long." said another.
As soon as the Griffons drew their weapons and swooped down to an altitude of twenty feet, they were met with flying axes. Five of them fell immediately, then three were taken out by a cluster of harpoons connected to chains, and were dragged into a hulking black figure. The ninth was hit with an exploding skull and burst into flames. The last Griffon, seeing his entire squad taken down in a matter of seconds turned in the air to fly away, but the black clad figure leaped to the impossible height of where the Griffon was, and grabbed him.
On the ground and restrained, the Griffon got a better sight of the monster that had grabbed him, it wore black armor that radiated power, and it held a dagger. The Griffon tried to move but the smaller figure that had thrown the exploding skull was holding him in place with some kind of magic. He could tell because she was holding a doll to the ground that had one of his feathers stuck in it.
Bannuk then carved a message into the bird, ignoring the screams of agony as he sliced into its chest his treaty with the Griffons. As he finished, he nodded to Ayida, who cast a hex that would keep the Griffon alive until he reached his goal, and make sure he took no pit stops along the way.
As the 'zombified' Griffon flew off in the direction of his king, Bannuk could only smile that he had found a way to send the letter so soon. On the Griffons chest was the message for the Griffon champion.
"Stay off my dogs' land or else. -The Immortal King" The message read.
Violence Isn't The Answer
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.
Envy For Love
Envy was the spirit of jealousy, and as all spirits, she was powerful. One of the most powerful to be precise, because she fed off the jealousy of all beings around her. But, the source of a large portion of her power was in fact, herself. Envy craved what others had, but she rarely got what she truly wanted, love. Thousands of years ago, Envy saw the love ponies had for Celestia, and she wanted that kind of love. So, she took over the Griffons with her might. They however, did not love her. Her jealousy only grew as she heard how show was viewed as a tyrant, while Celestia was loved as a mother. Envy felt great fury that despite her best efforts, she could not get what she wanted. This had led her to war with the ponies a millennia and a half ago. The war ended shortly after it began however, when Celestia sought her out and confronted her. Celestia told her that she did not want to destroy something she wanted and could not have, she reasoned that because the love of ponies existed and Envy could not have it only meant strength for Envy. She listened to Celestia's reasoning because she knew she would need all her strength if Discord ever broke loose again. Envy did not want anything of that psychopath. His madness was one of the few things Envy feared.
As Envy reminisced to herself upon her throne she was brought back to reality by the crashing and shattering of glass. A bloodied Griffon collapsed to the foot of her throne, and rose. He looked ragged and torn, as if he had flown for days without stopping.
"What is the meaning of this?" Envy said, unhappy that she was interrupted whilst day dreaming.
"H-h-h-he... Carved a m-m-message for you..." Stuttered out the fatigued Griffon.
"What?" Envy asked, a confused and slightly concerned look crossed her face. She held a massive talon up to bring a halt to her guard captain that was advancing on the bloodied Griffon.
"In my f-flesh, a message... for you..." The Griffon said, standing up on his hind legs, and revealing the message that by some magic, still looked fresh and had not scabbed over.
Envy's eyes widened as she read. Something dared to attack her Griffons? And they also dared to protect those mongrels that held jewels that put her treasury to shame. Whatever this 'Immortal King' was, it was dead. Her eyes narrowed as she clacked her beak in frustration.
"I'm s-s-sorry my queen, the spell has taken control of my b-body." The Griffon stuttered out.
Envy looked confused at first, then her eyes grew wide as she launched into the air and tried to warn her guard captain who had tackled the bloodied messenger. A second too late came her warning though, for the Griffon exploded in a powerful torrent of flames, an elemental spirit bursting from the corpse and incinerating everything around it including the guard captain.
Envy growled at the sight of her guard captain being taken out by a halfhearted attempt on her life. The Immortal King would pay for this, nothing mocked Envy like this and got away with it. This meant war.
The fortifications of Bannuk's new town were going well. Houses were built, and a wall was erected. Next came the making of catapults to launch nets to ground air troops. The message he sent would ensure war thanks to Ayida. Though he truly did hate magic, he could put up with hers.
"My king, we have received a message from the Griffon champion." Rover said, producing a rolled up scroll
Bannuk took the scroll and looked around, he could not find Ayida. She had mentioned venturing off to find something she needed for a spell. The Barbarian cursed silently to himself.
"Can you read?" Bannuk asked Rover who gave a questioning glance in return.
"No, but why do you ask? I did not read the message if that is what you are asking." Rover said, tucking his tail between his legs. Did Bannuk not trust him yet?
"I cannot read either... Ayida always did that for me." Bannuk said, allowing his shoulders to slump.
"Ah, do not be sad though my king, none of us Diamond Dogs can read, we think it as usually a waste of time that could be better spent working!" Rover said wagging his tail, happy that his king had not meant to question his loyalty.
"Well this does need to be read... I think I might ask help from our neighbors..." Bannuk said thoughtfully.
"As long as the white one with a purple mane does not come here we will be fine with company if they wish to come over as well." Rover offered. The Diamond Dogs with a now open trade had acquired many goods for their gems and minerals. But the one called Rarity was forever banned from the Diamond Dog lands.
"Rarity?" Bannuk asked.
"She is quite infamous around here, perhaps I will tell you the tale later." Rover offered.
"That would be good, but for now, I have a reader to seek out." Bannuk said, waving off the notion that Rarity could do anything harmful to the dogs.
Celestia had left to resume her duties in Canterlot, but Luna remained to keep an eye on the new faction. As the princess of the night sat upon a cloud and watched over the Diamond Dog's town, something caught her eye. Ayida was channeling something very powerful. Luna moved the cloud closer to get a better look at the magical weaves to try and decipher the spell, but it was starting to look like a mere message. Why would a message spell have to be so powerful? Luna dismissed the harmless enough spell as she noticed Bannuk leaving his post with a scroll in his hand. But, he wasn't heading towards where Ayida sat in the shade. Where was he going with that?
Luna then decided to trail Bannuk as he headed for Ponyville. She was a little confused however, if he was looking for something to be read to him why wouldn't he head for the library? Surely young Twilight would be the best choice for having something read. But instead, Bannuk took the road that would take him to Sweet Apple Acres. Where was he going? Luna had better keep a close eye on him...
Bannuk approached the apple orchard, eyeing the fruits with a hungry eye. But, food would have to wait, he needed to know what this said, and he needed a source that would not blab what might be in here to the princesses. He was looking for the bright red stallion he had met last night at the party. Big Mac was his name he remembered. The stallion seemed to have the kind of personality that would not gossip.
"Perfect..." Bannuk smiled, spotting the red worker pony.
As Bannuk approached, Big Mac looked up from the bucket of apples he had just set on the ground to the looming black figure that could only be one being he knew. Though he could not see Bannuk's face, the bulk gave the armor clad Barbarian away.
"Fine day is it not Big Mac?" Asked Bannuk striking up conversation.
"Eeyup." Replied the red stallion.
"Mind lending me a hand- er, hoof?" Bannuk asked offering the letter.
"Sure." Big Mac drawled out, taking the letter and unrolling it with a hoof. Big Mac had heard his sister Applejack gossiping to granny about Bannuk being illiterate, and how it was nice to see that not just posh city slickers could rule a land. So Big Mac understood what he was being asked to do, and began to read aloud.
"Immortal King, You have quite some nerve sending such a message to me, and being so cruel to my subjects. Your actions ask for nothing but war, and I hope you will be happy to hear I accept. But you will not like what we have in store, for your dogs are grounded, and have no defense against my air troops. There is a reason they remained underground, I will be more than happy to educate you on this as well. -Queen of the Griffons, Envy" Big Mac read off.
Bannuk had a surprised look on his face.
"Didn't count on air assaults from them?" Big Mac asked seeing the look on Bannuk's face.
"No, Ayida is taking care of that she said. But, I did not know the Griffon champion was a she... Now I feel bad about some of the things I said..." Bannuk stated, thinking back on the many things he said about making the Griffon champion look like a little bitch.
"Hmm?" Big Mac inquired.
"By the ancients... Your princesses must think I'm a sexist now..." Though women usually stayed to household if not healing tasks in the Barbarian tribes, Bannuk knew many fine warrior women, and he felt he dishonored them by acting like all women were weaker than men. It was fine for insults sake to make a man sound 'girly' but when making fun of a woman for being a girl, that was sexist in Bannuk's eyes.
As Bannuk walked off, Big Mac could only shake his head and smile. In the face of a war he had a disadvantage in, the Barbarian cared more about looking sexist than having to go to battle.
Ayida had finally finished the spell with the last reagent she scavenged in the forest. She needed this message sent to make sure they got some range to deal with the flying troops of the Griffons. Not that much harm could be done from afar to her or Bannuk, but the new town couldn't just be allowed to fall, and its citizens slaughtered.
Thorne would be put on guard duty while Bannuk and herself went to face off with this Griffon champion. She needed some info first though, so she would have to brave the questions the purple mare would more than likely fire at her when she went to the library. Such was a small sacrifice for knowledge on ones foe.
As Ayida made her way into town, a few ponies actually stayed outside instead of fleeing to the safety of their own homes. Perhaps seeing the princesses with her had left the ponies less afraid of her and her friend. Ayida looked around taking in just how colorful the ponies were, and how happy they seemed in their day to day lives.
"Thorne is going to hate this place" Ayida laughed to herself as she approached the library door.
Ayida allowed herself into the library, knocking on the door as she entered.
"Twilight, are you home?" Ayida called out.
A purple dragon then appeared form the kitchen wearing a frilly pink apron. Ayida raised an eyebrow at this, but then shrugged it off, not all to surprised at the girly apron when she had viewed girlier things already in this world.
"Hey Ayida, Twilight went over to have tea with Rarity, and I was left to watch the library." Spike grumbled not liking that he wasn't invited to see the white mare.
"No, problem. Are you familiar with the library's set up? I am looking for a book on the Griffon kingdom." Ayida said closing the door behind her.
"Sure, let me go grab a few books. Care for some cookies, I just made them fresh." Spike offered.
"That would be delightful, could I bother you for a glass of water too, I might be here a while." Ayida smiled back warmly.
"No problem, coming right up!" Spike said, eager to do a task to ease the boredom of a day working the library.
Ayida decided to herself she rather liked Spike. He did what was asked of him, and seemed to do it well. Perhaps she could give the small dragon some sort of gift for his hard work. But what did dragons like? She would have to inquire with Fluttershy, she seemed to know a lot about the creatures of this land.
Thorne sat in the Slaughtered Calf Inn at Tristam. He had been looking for leads of the disappearance of Bannuk and Ayida, they had last been seen here, and he wondered where they had gotten off to. The demons had gone into a state of depression without their masters, and kept to the hells. This left Thorne with nothing to do, no outlet for his hatred. So when he heard from an angelic messenger that Tyrael had sent that two of his old companions had disappeared form the face of sanctuary, he decided to investigate hoping to find a source of evil to slay.
"I wish they had left me some sort of sign, or clue as to their whereabouts..." Thorne sighed to himself, slumping over the bar table and resting his head in his arms as he let the buzz of ale take over. He thought back to the battles the five of them had, slaying all the wickedness that stood before them.
The air crackled with magic as a staff with a note tied to it fell on the Demon Hunter's head, breaking him out of his drunken daydream.
"Who threw this?!" Yelled Thorne clutching the staff and standing up, knocking the bar stool over.
"Um, sir... It just... appeared above you in a purple flash..." The bartender managed out.
Thorne gave a scrutinizing look to the bartender, and looked to the staff in his hands. He then noticed the note tied to it. Unrolling it, he received directions to where to take the staff, and to talk to this 'Cow King' to find where Ayida and Bannuk had gone. It was in Ayida's writing.
"Oh my..." Was all Thorne managed, before slamming a gold coin down on the bar table and taking off into the night down Old Tristram Road. He had some friends to track.
Not Enough Hatred
Thorne did not like what was happening. First he had to deal with an annoying spirit that hailed itself as some sort of 'Cow King', but at least he knew from Ayida's message that he was on the right track from that. However, Ayida failed to mention in her short message that he would be going through a portal to an entirely new world, and that in said world he would be dropped off in the middle of a forest with no directions.
"When I find Ayida I'm going to..." Thorne began to rant then stopped as he felt something.
In the pit of his stomach he could feel something or someone watching him. Thorne crouched low, drawing his bow and nocked an arrow. Closing his eyes he allowed his years of discipline to kick in, feeling what was around him.
Thorne's eyes shot open as he whirled in place and drew the bowstring back, but what he saw made him hesitate to fire. Standing next to a tree was a small yellow pony with a pink mane. Thorne slowly let the tension out of the string, keeping a firm grip on the arrow to make sure it did not fire. Something about this creature was off to him, it's eyes seem to gleam with intelligence.
"Oh, hi... um..." The pink maned pony began to lose volume as it went one to the point Thorne could not make out what it said. Not that he was paying attention to what it said, he was too busy freaking out that there were more talking animals.
"You can talk?!" Thorne nearly yelled, scaring the yellow mare who hid her face behind her mane.
"........" The pony mumbled again at an inaudible volume. Thorne realized he might be scaring her with his volume and decided to try a different course of action.
Fluttershy had been approached by Luna earlier that day. Luna had said that she felt something coming from the Everfree, something she felt before. When Bannuk and Ayida came to their world. Luna had asked Fluttershy who knew the forest the best to look for what had caused it, since Fluttershy could keep out of danger the easiest in the forest.
Fluttershy had not been expecting what she found however. The being was similar to Bannuk and Ayida, but were any of whatever they were alike in any way? Sure they were all bipedal Fluttershy thought, but Bannuk was physically a titan, Ayida was smaller but Twilight said Ayida had monstrous magical abilities, and this new one she found looked only slightly larger than Ayida, but much smaller then Bannuk. As Fluttershy watched it, she noticed the way it moved seemed to carry more grace than the others. It had skillfully leaped over fallen trees, and weaved its way through the trees.
The thing was covered in spiked armor plates, and it had a bow slung over it's shoulder. Instead of a helmet like Bannuk wore, or a mask like Ayida, it wore a black hood that obscured it's face. Fluttershy tried to catch a glimpse to tell if it was male or female, bet she did not want to risk it seeing her before she discovered if it was friendly. It came to a halt in a small clearing next to a stream. It leaned down and splashed some water under it's hood.
"When I find Ayida I'm going to..." It started in a deep voice, not quite as deep as Bannuk's but definitely male. Also, he seemed to know Ayida and was looking for her. Fluttershy decided to approach and welcome Ayida's friend.
The moment Fluttershy took one step forward after setting herself upon the forest floor and folding her wings tight against her body, The figure spun in place and aimed the bow at her. She froze, it had glowing red eyes underneath the hood. As it looked at her over an arrow, it seemed to loosen up from its tensed position, and lowered the bow.
"Oh, hi um. Are you Ayida's friend?" Asked Fluttershy. The figure did not seem to register what she had said.
"You can talk?!" Yelled the creature scaring Fluttershy.
"I'm sorry, please don't hurt me!" Fluttershy whimpered.
The creature then set down its bow, and returned the arrow to it's back. Then it sat down in front of Fluttershy and waited patiently. After a minute Fluttershy found the courage to come out from behind her mane and talk once again, seeing the creature did not want to harm her.
"Are you Ayida's friend?" Fluttershy asked with more volume this time.
"You know my friend?" the creature asked. Fluttershy perked up at this, it was friendly.
Then a roar cried out behind Fluttershy, one she recognized. Beginning to turn a paler shade of yellow, Fluttershy looked behind her to see a hydra. Worst of all, it was foaming at it's three mouths. Looking back to Ayida's friend Fluttershy let out a scared whimper.
Thorne reacted immediately to the roar. He couldn't believe he was so stupid! Letting his guard down just because there was an innocent creature trying to talk to him, that was when darkness always struck! He should know that, for that kind of foolishness is what had caused his parents and little sister to be taken form him.
Hatred burned inside of Thorne as his eyes burned a crimson red. The beast was barreling its way toward the yellow pony, no time to draw his bow. Reaching for the pouch at his belt, Thorne grabbed a cluster of grenades and hurled them at the charging beast. Two of the heads snapped up the incoming bombs, and were promptly splattered across the forest floor. The thing halted in its charge from this turn of events, offering enough time for Thorne to draw his bow, and launch an exploding cluster arrow. The shot found it's mark in the thing's chest, and the explosion wrenched it's chest open, allowing the secondary charges to wreak havoc on it's organs.
It fell dead to the ground, the light fading from it's eyes. The mare had fainted from the show of violence, there goes his guide.
"God... damn it..." Thorne said through clenched teeth, he was sick of this already. As he walked over to the yellow pony he noticed something he had missed before.
"Wings? No wonder how she snuck up one me..." Thorne whispered as he picked her up and carried her over a shoulder.
Thorne cocked his head to the side, he heard something barreling straight at him. He looked the the mare over his shoulder and then looked to the sound of trees crashing out of the way.
"Oh no..." Thorne said, eyes narrowing as he could see the black clad titan shattering trees that stood in the way of his charge, arms open wide.
Thorne set the mare and his bow down on the forest floor, and held his arms to his side, wincing. Bannuk always watched out for Thorne, the two had been close. Thorne always suspected Bannuk liked him because he did not use magic like the others. Regardless, Bannuk treated Thorne like a younger sibling, just as Bannuk had filled the role of an older sibling to Thorne.
The titanic figure of Bannuk came skidding to a halt just short of Thorne, and grabbed him in a crushing bear hug.
"Thorne! Long time no see! Ayida told me a little bit ago she had sent a message to you. I came to find you as quick as I could, I know how much you hate it when we run off and don't give you directions to find us." Bannuk greeted his friend who had gone limp in his hug. Bannuk looked down to the limp Demon Hunter in his arms and let go.
Thorne let out a deep gasp for air as he was released from the crushing grip. He panted trying to catch his breath, then lowered his hood to look up to Bannuk.
"Hello old friend, age still has not weakened you I see." Thorne laughed sarcastically standing up and picking up his bow.
"What happened to Fluttershy?" Bannuk asked, noticing the fainted mare.
"Well, we got attacked, and she kind of fainted when I killed it." Thorne said, rubbing the back of his head. Bannuk seemed to know this pony, and Thorne wasn't sure if Bannuk would be happy about him causing the mare to faint.
"Hah! You're taking after me already." Bannuk laughed.
"What." Thorne managed out as Bannuk picked up the mare, cradling her in his arms.
"Come, Ayida is waiting." Bannuk laughed as he walked down the path he had broken through the forest.
Ayida had found herself in a bad position. Three little fillies that had called themselves the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' had asked her to teach them how to be Witch Doctors in hopes of finding their special talents. Ayida was busy buying some lemons from a stall and merely waved the girls off, telling them the notion was preposterous. Little did Ayida know in an attempt to better get her attention, the fillies would cause the lemons in the stand to spontaneously combust. How they even managed it was beyond her, she did not even feel the influence of magic. One thing was certain though, she had to evade the fillies.
The fillies chased her however, not giving up on becoming Witch Doctors. As they cornered Ayida in an alley however, the Witch Doctor's eyes glazed over, and as they approached the still form of Ayida, it vanished. Ayida had spirit walked to the other side of the wall, and had given the girls the slip.
"That was a close one, need to find a place to hide..." Ayida whispered to herself, then looked over to a large building with a sign on it that read 'Carousel Boutique'. She rushed for the door, and leaped inside, slamming the door behind her.
"Welcome to my store Ayida, is there something I can help you with?" Asked Rarity.
Ayida spun around and looked at Rarity, then to the shop that surrounded her. Dresses were everywhere, in progress, and finished.
"Uhh-" Ayida began before being cut off by Rarity.
"Oh! You must have taken up my offer to make you a new outfit! How splendid, this will be the perfect challenge for my skills." Rarity squealed in delight.
'Out of the pot and into the fire' thought Ayida as the seamstress advanced on her.
Celestia had indeed gotten a message from Envy, but the contents were not as Bannuk thought it would be. It was asking Celestia to stay out of her way. Something was wrong though, Envy was hot headed yes, but why was she so hostile towards Bannuk?
"What did Bannuk do to get your queen's hatred so fast?" Celestia asked the courier Griffon.
"The message he sent to her was carved in the flesh of a scout. After she had read it, the scout tried to blow up on her, and our guard captain took the blast for her." The courier explained, nervous about being addressed directly by royalty.
"What?! Oh that man, I knew he sought conflict, but to go that far... I will have to talk to him." Celestia stopped as she noticed the Griffon shift nervously under her angry gaze.
"I apologize, you may return now, just tell her I will uphold my end of the peace treaty." Celestia said, regaining her composure.
The Griffon scout nodded and flew off to deliver the message. Taking special care to go around the Diamond Dog lands.
Celestia sighed to herself. She did not want war to happen so close to her border, especially not right next to her precious elements. They would be needed to be in harmony, not the chaos of war to work properly. Celestia just hoped that nothing befell Equestria while this was going on.
"Shining, I need you to take care of all court duties, I have a Barbarian to talk to..." Celestia said, heading for the balcony that the throne room was connected to.
"Yes my princess" Shining saluted.
Celestia then flew off towards Ponyville in hopes of persuading Bannuk to keeping the as war away from Ponyville as possible.
Thorne could not believe his eyes. As they left the dark forest, he beheld a bright land that looked like ti had never seen true evil. He observed ponies in a town not far ahead going about a peaceful day, as if they feared nothing would come to harm them.
"What did you need me here for Bannuk? This land looks like it has no evil in it at all. Sure there are some animals that could cause harm in the forest, but they are not evil only hungry." Thorne said, looking up to Bannuk.
"We have started a war against a tyrant. She and her people are fliers but not of the same species as this one. They are Griffons." Bannuk explained.
"Don't you need an army to start a war?" Scoffed Thorne.
"Yes, and I have one and citizens to protect." Bannuk stated simply.
Thorne laughed at this and shook his head, then sobered up noticing the serious look on Bannuk's face.
"Oh god, your serious." The Demon Hunter mumbled.
"Yes, I was made the king of a species of intelligent dogs when they gave recognition to my might. The Griffons threatened to wipe them out, and as their king it is my duty to protect them. And I need you to defend my city." Bannuk said, looking Thorne right in the eye.
"Me? But I am not the best at protecting, vengeance I can enact, but protection? Why not send for the monk?" Thorne asked.
"They attack by the air Thorne, and you will be dealing out revenge. The Griffons nearly drove the dogs to extinction, you will be slaying their foe for them that they cannot reach." Bannuk said in a firm tone.
Fluttershy stirred in Bannuk's arm and looked up to him. The Barbarian looked down the the yellow Pegasus in his arms, and smiled.
"C'mon Fluttershy, lets get you home. You saw something scary again didn't you?" Bannuk said in a fatherly voice.
As Bannuk walked off Thorne watched him go, he needed to find Ayida. But this land, it was so perfect how was he supposed to fight like this?
"They expect me to draw on the power of hatred in a land like this?" The Demon Hunter huffed. A butterfly floated over and landed on his shoulder.
"Not enough hatred" Thorne mumbled, not even brushing the butterfly off as he took off towards the town in search of Ayida.
Violence Begets Violence
Ayida as a spiritual guide to her people was not one to argue, when she had something to say, she was heard and listened to. This however, was not the case with the seamstress known as Rarity who insisted on something more 'ladylike' for Ayida to wear. And Ayida held firm in her position of lightweight, practical, and armored. The two locked eyes, neither willing to back down.
"If I wear something like this I will be cut down in no time in a fight." Ayida said, pointing to a dress design Rarity had sketched up.
"And what is wrong with looking nice? You wont need to wear it into a fight, just for formal occasions." Rarity insisted.
"You can never know when a battle will break out, if you are unprepared you are dead. That is why I always wear my armor." Ayida tried to explain to the seamstress who merely shook her head.
"What about Bannuk? He takes off his armor every chance he gets, you call that being prepared all the time for battle?" Rarity returned.
"He is a different story, I have seen that man pull arrows out of his bare chest, just to laugh about how strong and healthy his heart still is to pump his own blood out so fast." Ayida said, throwing her arms in the air at the absurd scene she remembered.
Rarity on the other hand seemed to grow sick to her stomach at the notion. Ayida was happy that the tale had put a hold on the white mare's tongue though. Ayida realized that this was her window of opportunity to escape, turning to make a break for the door she started a dead sprint.
Ayida did not reach the door however, for a light blue aura had enveloped her, and pulled her back over next to the white Unicorn. Despite the fact that she could easily break the magical field, Ayida did not however want to cause the magical backlash that would fry Rarity's brain.
"Ah ah ah, I am going to make you a dress and that is final, even if you will not wear it, I am up for the challenge!" Rarity said, a fiery passion in her voice.
Ayida just sighed in resignation as she prepared herself for the worst as she watched rolls of fabric begin floating around her.
Twilight was gathering supplies that had begun to run low on stock. Twilight would never let her stock of paper, ink, and quills run out, lest an emergency come up and she find herself unable to send word to the princess.
"That is almost everything Twi, just need to get the quills and we are re stocked." Spike said sitting on Twilight's back with a checklist.
"Very good, I feel that with the way Bannuk and Ayida have been acting, something is about to go down. And I will need to document what they do, and contact the princess if anything happens!" Twilight said, a look of duty on her face.
Just then a tall armored figure walked by that she hadn't noticed approaching. It was taller than Ayida, but much smaller then Bannuk. Walked on both legs, scary armor, weapons...
"Another one?!" Twilight exclaimed wide eyed at the being that just walked past her. Only then did Twilight notice how quiet the market had gotten, everypony was watching this new figure that strode silently among them.
The being ignored everything, and seemed as though it was looking for something. Twilight had to warn the princess. Turning toward the Library, Twilight ran off as fast as she could. She did not have time to get new quills, she would have to sue one of the last few in her stock.
Throwing open the door, and rushing inside Twilight grabbed a roll of parchment, some ink, and a quill with her magic. Quickly jotting the letter, she then tossed it to spike, who caught it and quickly incinerated it with his green fire.
The duo watched as the ash floated towards the open door, where it coiled and reformed into paper in front of Celestia who had a bemused look on her face.
"Princess! You're already here?" Twilight exclaimed.
"Yes Twilight, sorry to drop in so suddenly, but I need to find Bannuk. Have you seen him?" Celestia asked as she held the letter to her side with her own magical aura.
"No time! I have grave news for you!" Twilight said, a look of distress on her face.
Seeing the distress, Celestia lost the small smile on her face, and turned her attention towards the scroll that she was expected to read, and opened it.
'Dear Princess Celestia, I have spotted another of the strange creatures that Ayida and Bannuk are. It was walking through Ponyville looking for something, come immediately. -Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle'
Celestia looked up to Twilight after reading the letter, a look of concern on her face.
"It was just looking around?" Celestia inquired.
"Yes, I think it may have been looking for one of the other two, but I cannot be sure." Twilight explained.
"Well, unfortunately I have some more pressing matters to attend to with Bannuk. Keep an eye on our newcomer, and try to keep him out of trouble." Celestia said to her star pupil before heading back out the door in search of the Barbarian.
"Well, you heard her Spike. We need to keep it out of trouble, and if it is anything like Bannuk, we have our work cut out for us." Twilight said, setting down her saddlebag and heading for the door.
Celestia had to hurry, if what the message Envy sent was true, war was on its way. And she intended to make sure said war stayed as far away form her little ponies as possible. Celestia spotted a dark blot below her as she flew over Ponyville. She dove straight at it, and landed with a heavy impact that would have broken a lesser beings legs.
Looking up however, Celestia noted the being before her was around the same height as her, not towering above. Celestia realized this must be the new being Twilight had mentioned.
"Hmm, what do we have here? Large, white, wings, horn, crown... You must be Celestia, Bannuk mentioned you." The being stated in a sarcastic tone, definitely male Celestia thought.
"Yes, and you are a friend of Bannuk's then I assume?" Celestia asked, eyeing the thing that was being so rude to her.
"Quite, my name is Thorne..." He introduced.
Celestia perked up at this, Bannuk had mentioned that name before in one of his stories.
"The Demon Hunter?" Celestia asked.
"Ah so you have heard of me, here I thought you were just startling a random passerby..." Thorne responded, not liking how close to being crushed he came. Had he not been paying attention he would have kept walking and been right under where the princess had landed.
Celestia then realized why the Demon Hunter was being so abrasive to her.
"Oh, well, sorry..." Celestia started out, but Thorne simply raised a hand stopping what would have been a long apology.
"No worries, but why are you looking for me now? I would imagine you would want to talk to me, but why are you in such a hurry?" Thorne inquired, it seemed strange to him that one would dive bomb a person they wished to simply greet.
"I was looking for Bannuk, but when I saw a dark figure form above it turned out to be you." Celestia said, a hint of apology still in her voice.
"If you are looking for him, just go to Fluttershy's cabin. He said he was going there to take the little mare home." Thorne explained.
"Thank you, we will have to meet properly soon but this is important." Celestia explained, taking to the air in the direction of the aforementioned cabin.
Thorne shook his head, these ponies seemed too trusting of strangers. Even though most of them fell silent at the sight of him, it was like they did not fear any harm would come of them. Thorne then looked around himself, what was he looking for again?
"Fuck..." The Demon Hunter cursed, placing a hand over his face, and massaging the bridge of his nose in between his eyes. He had forgotten to ask if she had seen Ayida.
Thorne the noticed a purple mare making a beeline right for him.
"What now?" The Demon Hunter sighed in frustration.
Bannuk did not get along well with animals. This was because he loved them so much. The little creatures however did not like the fact that he loved them so much, because being the big man he was, he could eat a lot of them. Fluttershy's animals were going crazy at the sight of the titanic Barbarian, they could feel his predatory hunger as he looked at them. Bannuk held resolute however, he knew how important these animals were to Fluttershy, and he would not hurt her by indulging in a snack. No matter how much this small white rabbit jumping up and down on his head wanted to become stew, Bannuk would not indulge himself.
Angel was trying to scare the Barbarian away from his unconscious caretaker. And he was failing miserably.
Bannuk sipped a glass of cool water as he tried to ignore the rabbit. He was watching Fluttershy try to apologize for Angel's behavior. The corner of his eye twitched in time with Angel's bouncing, and his fury built up inside of him. Only the cute stammering mare trying to apologize and failing adorably kept him from smashing the bunny.
Bannuk suddenly rose from his seat, and grabbed the rabbit before tossing it onto Fluttershy's back. He had seen enough to know Fluttershy was fine, and he wanted out of this place. He was tired, hungry, and wanted to break something.
"Well, I need to get going. My friend will be looking for Ayida, and I bet he is failing miserably. He always had a horrid sense of directions." Bannuk said, excusing himself.
"Oh, um... Goodbye Bannuk." Fluttershy said, waving as Bannuk left her cottage. She then shot a glare at Angel who simply crossed his arms and seemed to pout.
Not even three steps out the door, and Bannuk was set upon by a band of five Griffons. Their talons and daggers glanced harmlessly off his armor, and only served to increase his headache.
"Last straw..." Bannuk mumbled as the Griffons backed away, seeing their ambush fail.
Bannuk pulled the Immortal King Worusk's favorite weapon, a viscous maul off his back. A single mighty cleave with it splattered three Griffon skulls, headless bodies falling limply to the ground. A mighty bash connected with the shield the fourth had pulled from it's back. The shield crumpled under the blow, and the bash hit the Griffon square in its chest, turning its rib cage to gelatin, and sending to splatter against a tree some 20 yards away.
"Wh-what are you?!" Screeched the last of the Griffons, too afraid to take flight.
"I am your death foolish bird..." Bannuk's voice nearly sang out. Oh it felt good to let out all that pent up aggression, and to tap into the primal fury.
Dropping his weapon, Bannuk grabbed the Griffon by a forelimb it held in front of itself defensively, and pulled it in closer to him. Bannuk then released his grip on it's arm, and grasped both wings, torquing both of his hands, and snapping the Griffon's wings at an odd angle.
The Griffon let out an earsplitting cry of pain. This made Bannuk think of the timid mare inside the house behind him. Bannuk then dragged the Griffon off a ways into the forest where Fluttershy would not be able to hear the screams quite so vividly. 'poor girl has been through a lot today' Bannuk thought to himself, then turned his attention back to the whimpering Griffon.
"So, I have some questions about your military forces. And you have answers I seek." Bannuk said, ill intent dripping off his words like venom.
"I will n-never talk..." The Griffon said, stifling back tears of pain.
"I respect the honor you hold for your country and people, but... Your kind has been very, very cruel to my dogs... And you know what they say... Violence begets violence" Bannuk said grabbing the Griffons left talon.
"Now, tell me about your military strength. I am going to count to eight, and if you don't tell me what I want to know by then, I will rip out an eye and ask again..." Bannuk explained calmly, emphasizing each word.
The Griffon simply began to whimper even louder. As if prompted by the show of cowardice, Bannuk began.
"One..." Bannuk put his thumb under a talon and his forefinger behind it, and pressed it backwards with the thumb, breaking the digit. The Griffon let out a horrifying screech.
"Two..." Bannuk moved to the next Digit, and repeated the process. Another screech, the Griffon was openly weeping at this point, but still refused to give any sign that it would talk.
"Three..." Bannuk's eyes held a fierce determination, the screeches of pain would not deter his resolve in fact, they only gave him more of a will to carry on with the 'interrogation'. He required what this Griffon knew, and if it was unwilling to give up it's information, it meant to harm his subjects.
"Four..." Only death would come to those whose evil corrupted the land. Bannuk would make sure of it.
Bannuk let the now broken and gnarled talons of the Griffon fall limply to the ground as he grabbed the other set. Little resistance was offered, the Griffon too weak to fight back at this point, all strength sapped from the sobbing.
Bannuk wondered how far he would actually have to go before he broke its will. Judging by the resolute glare from behind the bloodshot and teary eyes, he had a ways to go.
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.
Fury Incarnate
Envy had to admit, whatever this thing was it was powerful. Envy flexed her talons, the bones popping as she readied herself for the first move. It was just a matter of timing, she needed to wait for something, anything to throw the Immortal King's focus off so she could pounce. Envy eyed the joints in the armor, the leather straps that held the ancient plates together. She would have to strike there first to open him up for a mortal blow.
"You are indeed very strong, but after using so much energy on my men you must be running low on your reserves. Bow down before me and lay down your arms, I might be merciful enough to grant you a slow death." Envy bantered, hoping to throw him off balance. The only thing she got in response was a deep, cruel laugh.
"What do you find amusing insect? You think yourself better than a god?" Envy said, rage building at the insolence.
"You do not understand how I fight at all. I draw power off of the primal energies of fury, and my fury only builds as I fight. If you wanted to fight me when I was at my weakest you would of had to show some bravery and meet me first in battle." Bannuk taunted.
Envy was near her limit of control, if something did not distract him soon she would just have to exert herself and tear him to pieces with her full power. Envy stepped off the boulder upon which she perched. She circled Bannuk, who stood his ground keeping an eye on her as he hunched down and held his weapon close in front of him in a defensive stance.
A lone Griffon, seeing his queen about to engage the Barbarian dove with reckless abandon as it screeched at the giant man. Bannuk hearing the screech turned his attention to the sky, and swatted the dive bombing Griffon away with his maul, cracking it's skull open as if it were an egg. This was what Envy waited for however.
With talons as sharp as a razor, and hard enough to cut through iron Envy started to tear at the leather straps along Bannuk's arms, chest, and neck. Bannuk had a hard time catching the flailing Envy as she sped around him, but he finally managed a clip her with an elbow to the skull. The blow was glancing, but got her off of him.The chest plates of his armor, and his pauldrons fell to the ground, exposing his pale flesh underneath. Envy grinned wickedly at this.
Bannuk seeing that his armor had been torn from him ground his teeth in anger. She was fast, and he would be in trouble if he got distracted again. Seeing the legacy of Worusk torn from his very body however, gave him pause. Bannuk would need to change his style up if he was going to fight something this fast, the maul would not cut it.
Bannuk took off the helmet, fearing it would get in his way if she darted out of it's limited field of vision. He dropped the maul and instead grabbed the legendary weapons he had strapped to his waist. These dual swords were brutal and rather larger than a regular sword. Most important of all, was the origin of these swords. They were known as Bul-Kathos's Children, and were used to slay thousands who had stood before the legendary Barbarian of old who guarded Mount Arreat first.
"You think taking off more of your armor and dropping your slower weapon will let you keep up with me? I will rip you to shreds, and I will leave your vitals for last, lest you accidentally have a quick death." Envy said, licking her talons at the thought of his blood running down them.
"I will take your precious dogs, and finally make them my slaves. No more will any have better jewels than I, and when I am done with your subjects..." Envy said with a malicious grin, "I will gather your pony friends, and kill them one by one in front of each other. Perhaps that will show those insolent ponies to have what I cannot!"
Hearing threats against him were nothing to the Barbarian, even the dogs he could stand because he knew they were tough enough to survive. But the girls? Bannuk hated those who would persecute the innocent, especially when he considered them friends. Bannuk was nearly at his full capacity for rage, his fists shook and began to glow red. The very air itself trembled at the rage being barely held back, the floodgate of Bannuk's self control threatening to burst.
Envy seeing the rage, and thinking that she was close to making him go berserk so she could take advantage of an angry opponent egged him on. Envy had fought many a worthy foe, and they would always slip up when provoked by their own rage.
"And before I kill them, I will let them comfort my army in the barracks. I will see the last of their innocence stripped from them before they die. I will-" Envy was cut off as she realized she might have made a terrible mistake.
Bannuk's body began to grow, his muscled swelled, and the leg plates of his armor flew off as the straps that held them together broke. His skin began to glow as red as heated steel, sracking in areas, revealing magma underneath the skin. His white hair and beard grew out, and now hung around his head like a lions mane. His eyes and mouth glowed with an inner fire, his anger made solid form. Bannuk had become Fury Incarnate.
Envy took to the air and hovered ten feet off the ground as she looked down upon the now colossal Barbarian who seemed more best than man now. She flinched as the molten gaze fell on her, and she could feel the blood lust emanating from him thick in the air. It was as if his anger made the very air itself crave for her blood, and a gust of fire that had appeared on the breeze forced Envy to land.
Bannuk then took off, faster than a being as large as he had any right to move as he slammed his shoulder into Envy. Envy drew her own sword as she realized she did not have the upper hand in this fight, she may even be in mortal danger. The power such a being held, and his power did not scare away the others around him? Why was he so lucky, why was he so loved?
Envy's eyes began to glow a bright green, and her power surged through her veins as she allowed herself to reach one hundred percent. It had been centuries since she was last fighting a being that caused her to use this much power.
The two took off simultaneously at each other, Bannuk swinging his mighty swords with a speed that belied their size. Envy barely managed to dodge with her lightning quick movements, only with the aid of her wings did she manage to twist and weave between blows and managed to score glancing cuts along Bannuk's arms and legs. As an opening appeared, Envy lunged.
Bannuk seeing a jab heading for his chest intervened in the nick of time with his left forearm, the blade piercing through and coming out the other side, just short of his chest. Bannuk did not flinch, he ignored the pain and delivered a devastating kick to Envy's chest, sending her sprawling away from him. She coughed out a beakful of blood, and wiped her face with the back of a talon. If she had been a little slower and had not moved backwards and reduced the force of the impact she might have had her entire rib cage collapse on her. Envy glared up at the Barbarian who pulled a sword that now glowed red out of his arm, the wound cauterizing itself with only a small splatter of the lava that ran through his veins on the ground.
"M-monster..." Spat envy, nursing her chest that had multiple broken ribs.
Bannuk strode up to the fallen Griffin, the ground burned beneath his feet. As a force of nature he stood towering over Envy, who only glared back. In a last ditch effort, Envy launched an arcane bolt from her talons. The bolt was swatted away, but had served its purpose as Envy began to fly away. Bannuk was not having any of it.
With a mighty bound Bannuk had landed on Envy's back, and drove his knee in between her shoulder blades as they fell. Envy Screeched and tried to twist from under the molten Barbarian who singed her feathers and back fur. The struggle was to no avail, Bannuk proved too heavy and Envy met the ground with her already broken ribs.
Bannuk stood and stepped back, his fiery glare observing the broken form in front of him. Envy's rib cage had completely collapsed, blood seeped from where bones stuck out of her chest. Her spine was snapped where his knee was, the bottom half making an odd looking lump in her back where it bent upwards. She had the thousand mile stare as her beak moved weakly, trying in vain to bring in a gasp of air. Her right talon clenched and opened as she fought for consciousness. She was finished, and Bannuk let his fury abate as he shifted back into his normal body.
Something did not feel right though, the ancients were finishing up the last of the Griffins that had not already fled. Envy was as good as dead in a minute or so when she finally suffocated. What was that strange feeling? He had felt this before, twice before to be exact. First when he slew Diablo in the Chaos Sanctuary, and then when he sealed Azmodan in the black soulstone. This feeling meant his victory was hollow, he was not done yet.
"Who is there?" Bannuk boomed over the battlefield, he could feel someone watching.
A dark, maniacal chuckle was his answer. Then a pair of eyes appeared, followed by a wide grin, with one tooth sticking past the rest. The chaotic form of Discord then emerged out of thin air.
"What a wonderful performance of chaos! Nothing quite does it like a war, does it my sweet Envy?" Discord cooed as he pinched the dying Griffon's cheek.
Envy focused her eyes at the familiar voice, and tried with all her might to move away from Discord, but her wounds were too serious and she was stuck. Blood gurgled from her beak as she tried to force what little air she had in her flattened lungs into a scream. Discord only laughed at her vain attempts.
"Now now, is that any way to treat your savior Envy? Without you this lovely war would be done, and if that happened I might become weak enough for the elements to work on me again!" Discord exclaimed, snapping a finger. Envy's chest was immediately inflated with a sickening series of pops as ribs mended to their rightful places.
"Aaaaaaah!" Envy screamed in torment as her body knitted itself back together and she experienced the pain of the injuries happening again but in reverse as nerves hooked back together.
Bannuk had seen enough, he charged at Discord. The drconequus saw the Barbarian coming and decided it best not to be where he was, so with a snap of his fingers he teleported several yards away just as a sword cleaved the air his face previously occupied.
"Ho ho! Close one, I might have to watch out for you, lest I end up like my friend here." Discord said, pointing his lion paw to Envy.
"Well, it has been a blast watching this whole thing play itself out. But alas, we have regrouping to do. Tata!" Discord grinned as he grabbed Envy who had just started to raise herself off the ground and teleported away.
Bannuk watched them leave with a look of disgust on his face. If he had not wanted her to suffer, he could have just crushed her skull. But he let his rage cloud his judgement and she got away. But such was the cost of Bannuk's power, when at full strength he could not plan, only act instinctively. He was grateful that he was alone on the battlefield, comrades had fallen to him before when they had gotten in his way during his berserker transformation.
Gazing over the ruins of his town, Bannuk noticed the ancients were done with their butchering of the Griffin army and he let them return to the high heavens. Bannuk stood as the only one left on the battlefield, bleeding from the few cuts Envy had inflicted that had not sealed up. He was tired, but now was not the time to rest. Bannuk had dogs to rally.
Ayida and Thorne watched the majority of the battle. They knew better than to get in Bannuk's way when he got like this. They were happy enough though to shoot down any Griffons who had tried to make their way towards Ponyville. But one thing put them off, what was that thing that took Envy?
"Celestia has some answering to do..." Ayida mumbled as she watched Bannuk retrieve the pieces of the Immortal Kings Legacy from the battlefield.
Thorne looked at the burned town, and the slaughtered Diamond Dogs. He focused mainly on the dead women and children, as he felt a familiar revulsion rise in his stomach.
"We have some vengeance to enact..." The Demon Hunter said as he fired another arrow at a fleeing Griffon. The arrow homed in on the Griffon, and found the heart easily. Thorne's eyes glowed red as the corpse plummeted from the sky.
"Let us go give that old fool a hand before he collapses from exhaustion." Ayida stated as she strode down to the burning ruins of the town.
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.
Spoke Too Soon
Dreams of battles long past drifted through Bannuk's mind, countless deaths flew past him as he slumbered, each one he remembered clearly. He cared not if they died slowly or painlessly, it only mattered that they had in the end not been a match for him. Bannuk longed for a foe who could face him as an equal, but he refused to fight one of his friends, they were among the few he cared for in the world.
In the dream, Bannuk finally came to the carnage that was his most recent fight, the one that Envy escaped from. As he watched her flee in his dream, the ground rose underneath him, growing into a mountain of corpses. The mountain rose higher, and higher into the heavens until he could make out in the distance his ancestors who looked down upon him. Bannuk reached out a hand towards them longingly, if he could just make it a little farther, then he could join his family in the high heavens.
"So close..." Bannuk rumbled softly in his sleep.
Thorne raised an eyebrow at this, he had never head Bannuk talk in his sleep before. He had seen the look of longing the old Barbarian had on his face when he slept, but it seemed more intense this time. As to what Bannuk dreamed about, the man had never spoken. Thorne then turned his attention back to the dogs that were crowding around the windows to look in at Bannuk, Thorne had already warned them he had not slept in days and needed rest, so fortunately they kept quiet. But they all had a distinct worried look on their faces.
Thorne went back to fiddling with his equipment, making sure it was all working properly. Bannuk was going to be out for a while, and he had no intention of falling asleep from sitting idly by his side.
Ayida was busying herself with cleaning up the battlefield. For anyone else it would have been a grueling task, but the corpses literally cleaned themselves up upon her command. After they were all properly zombified, Ayida then set them to the task of cleaning and rebuilding. Construction would go exponentially faster with a tireless workforce, and Ayida now had some fresh corpses to call upon in battle. Her old ones were starting to get weak from decay.
Rover approached the Witch Doctor nervously, as she added a few decorative touches to the zombies in the form of headdresses and bead jewelry. The Diamond Dog held his tail between his legs as he walked up to and tried to attain the attention of Ayida.
"Umm, is it.... Necessary to use even our dead like this?" Rover asked, not at all happy about seeing reanimated Diamond Dog corpses walking about. Ayida turned her attention to Rover, her mask's gruesome visage causing Rover to yelp and jump back in fear as it seemed to emanate a dark aura.
"Hmm? Ah, worry not their souls are at rest. And their bodies have the great honor of serving the community even in death. Truly none can deny them that honor can they?" Ayida said as she went back to her work.
Rover merely pressed his ears against his head as he whined slightly before asking, "How is my king doing?"
Ayida noticed the concern in Rover's voice, and took her mask off as she turned her full attention on him, "The old one is fine, he just needs his rest. The fool fought an entire army by himself after pushing himself to get so much done in so little time. Put your worries to rest, by tomorrow he will be as good as new."
Rover smiled at this, and bowed to Ayida before turning and heading off to give some assurance to the other Diamond Dogs. As Rover disappeared around a corner, Ayida slipped her mask back on and returned to her work. The zombies would need to look their best for the upcoming siege of the Griffin empire.
"And why would I or my brood be interested in aiding you?" A voice rumbled, shaking the very ground before it.
Discord put on a charming smile as he ran a finger along the massive dragon's jawline, "Because, the gems those Diamond Dogs have stashed away will be sure to keep your scales shimmering with health. You wouldn't even have to dig for them yourself, just crush some insects to get what you want."
"And what of this leader of theirs? How strong is he really, I heard he nearly killed Envy." Returned the massive blue dragon.
"How did you hear about that? I thought your brood chose to ignore political quarrels between the lesser races." Discord said with a confused and almost defeated look on his face. He was hoping the blue dragon matriarch had not learned of the Immortal King and could be told there was little to no threat.
"While true we do not care for their quarrels, only a fool would ignore what goes on around them. Do you think me a fool?" The dragon asked, eyes narrowing.
"Of course not Saphiria, But he is not a threat to one such as you. He has strength, but his movements are slow, no match for your might in the slightest." Discord purred out to the dragon.
"I will consider this, but be warned Discord. You may be powerful, but even you will not be able to face my entire flight of dragons if you double cross us..." Saphiria hissed as lightning crackled between her jaws.
Discord bowed to this as he made his way out of her den. That was a close one, if she had been in a foul mood instead of such a cheery one, he might have been in trouble. Discord continued on his way via cloud, making a beeline in the direction of the Everfree Forest. Hopefully he would have equally good luck in finding what was there. The closer he got to the forest however, the more he became acutely aware of chaotic magic at work.
"There is another who harnesses the powers of chaos in this realm? No, it can't be... But, then who is giving off this chaotic aura..." Discord mumbled as he sat upon his pink cotton candy cloud.
Discord began to get the feeling that the Immortal King was not from this realm at all. It would explain a lot, like how such a powerful being only now became known. But what would lie on the other side of the portal? Only time would reveal it to him, so Discord doubled his pace towards the forest.
"Better watch out... Don't want to get caught before i learn anything..." Discord mumbled as he turned his cotton candy cloud into a boring regular cloud so as to not draw attention.
As the single white cloud raced across the sky, The princess of the sun was preparing to head back to Canterlot to rally more guards to up the defenses on all major cities. Celestia was almost ready to leave but she first had to finish one important bit of business.
"Luna, if you could, please tell the elements to stay close to our new allies. We don't have near enough guards to keep them safe for now, and I feel Bannuk and his friends may be the only ones Discord doesn't want to face yet."
"Of course sister, I will tell them at once."
Celestia fidgeted slightly as she seemed to remember something, "And... Tell Bannuk I am sorry for losing my temper. I told him to stay away from us, but with Discord out, Ayida might be right. They are our only hope as long as Discord is too strong for the elements."
Luna nodded at this and watched her sister depart on a chariot to Canterlot. As Celestia became a dot in the horizon Luna finally turned toward the library where Twilight waited. Luna began to trot towards her destination only to be stopped as she felt a strong surge of magical energy emanating from the forest. As suddenly as the energy had begun it ended, cut off rather abruptly as if something had not come, but had left.
"What now?" Luna groaned as she continued on her way to retrieve Twilight and the other elements.
As Discord ripped the portal open with his magic, he beheld a wondrous sight indeed. The portal did not simply lead to a far off land, but an entirely different plane of existence. No wonder that Immortal King was so strong but unheard of, he must have just recently come to this plane.
Stepping through the crimson portal Discord felt his essence being stretched and shot through the portal as he was transported through. The whole experience was rather painful as the massive amount of raw magical power did its work. As he emerged on the other side of the portal Discord gasped in, taking in as much air as he could as the pain subsided. Dazed from the trying mode of transportation, Discord took a few seconds to take in his surroundings. The land was unlike any he had seen. Sure some places had a hostile air to it such as the infamous Everfree or the dangerous Badlands. But no land was like the one he beheld now. The sky was dark, the land was torn, and there was an overpowering aura of death around the land.
"Oh my..." Was all Discord could manage out as he absorbed the sight of bodies strewn across the land. The corpses were of strange creatures that loosely resembled the Immortal King, but something was off about them. They had appeared to sustained a fair amount of rotting, but the wounds on them seemed fresh as they oozed blood.
It finally occurred to Discord what could have caused this when he saw something come shambling out of the fog. The figure was rotting and battered, and with a start Discord realized it was a zombie. Zombies were thought to be a legend, even among the immortals to the best of Discord's knowledge. The concept of them was truly horrifying, an army of the dead could only grow in power if the corpses of the fallen were risen, nature itself seemed to prohibit the idea of undeath. But here one was, shambling towards him. Despite the thrill he felt from such a chaotic creature existing, Discord could not let that thing near him lest it be infectious. With a flick of his wrist a magical bolt blasted the zombie in its mid section, separating it in two.
"Surprising, that should have vaporized it--" Discord stopped his self monologue as the top half of the zombie began crawling towards him with a renewed vigor. Perhaps he had underestimated how horrifying these things were. With another flick the top half splattered across the ground of the moor in front of Discord. That was a close one, the zombie almost got in range of touching him.
Discord looked up as he heard the sound of something retching. What he saw made him begin to think coming here was a horrible idea, a female zombie by the looks of her curvier shape was throwing up corpses that then rose as new zombies. Such a thing was ludicrous, even by Discord's standards. Surely if one could harness these abomination in battle, a handful could end up decimating entire towns with relative ease. Discord was about to see what he could do about the growing force in front of him when a red beam shot out of the fog and disintegrated the zombies in mere seconds. The sheer magical force of the spell stopped Discord in his tracks, that was more power than even Celestia had, Discord would have to be careful.
Turning himself invisible to the naked eye, Discord continued onward towards the direction the beam had come from. He only got to the ash piles that was once zombies when the form emerged from the mist that he presumed had shot the beam. The being was far smaller than the Immortal King, and wore strange almost ornamental looking clothing.
"See that? Not even a challenge for my greatness!" The thing said smugly as if calling back to somepony. Discord immediately got the feeling that this mage was very full of herself, very full of pride. Discord adopted a wicked grin, pride was easy to use to twist one's heart. Discord may have found the champion he was looking for.
Vasilisa was growing impatient. Her companion was taking a long time to clear out the last of the wretched mothers. Though she did not like the wizard's attitude, she could clean up the zombies that plagued New Tristram much more quickly than Vasilisa. Killing the zombies was easy enough, but you had to burn the body after killing it or it could be risen again.
"Ytaar give me the patience I require with that one..." mumbled the monk as she set off to find her companion. It was easy enough to follow the trail of ash and magical scorch marks to track the wizard
"Lihua, where are you?" Vasilisa called out. The night was fairly misty and visibility was dreadfully low. Finding the wizard would prove quite troublesome indeed.
Holding her palms together in front of her and closing her eyes, Vasilisa began to chant. Spiritual energy flooded from around her palms to envelope her entire body. She allowed her senses to extend beyond her being to the moor around her. She could feel Lihua's arcane energy. Focusing more intently on the source of the energy, Vasilisa managed to pinpoint exactly where the wizard was. Then she felt something strange, another source of magical power, but a darker, more chaotic one next to Lihua's position.
Her eyes flew open as Vasilisa raced off in the direction of the wizard, vaulting over fallen trees and dodging obstacles. The monk beheld a portal being opened by a truly strange looking creature that was seeming made of many parts of other creatures. Lihua followed the creature through the portal, and it began to slowly close behind them, and would have successfully if not for the quick actions of the monk as she stuck her hands into the now mere crack in reality. Straining with all of her physical and spiritual might, Vasilisa reopened the portal, and jumped through it.
As the all too familiar feeling of being transported via portal washed over her the monk readied herself mentally for what may lay on the other side. Perhaps she had found what had happened to the other three of her friends. Tyrael had mentioned Bannuk and Ayida going missing, shortly afterwards Thorne had disappeared as well. Was that strange creature the cause of their disappearances? Lihua did appear to be lacking a lot of color, almost a gray hue had overtaking her flamboyant clothing, perhaps a spell? Vasilisa would have to break the spell as soon as possible.
Discord was having a truly lucky day, Saphiria did not attack him. He had survived a brush in with a zombie. And best of all, he had successfully influenced the mind of a gullible but powerful being of the other dimension. Luck surely had finally changed in Discord's favor.
Something was wrong however... The portal was still open, it should have closed by now. There was only one possible reason for this. Something had followed him and his new pawn back. Discord was not expecting this at all, whatever it was had to be fast and strong if it had kept the portal open and entered through it, for Discord had made sure it would close immediately after both he and his brainwashed companion had gone through.
"Me and my big mouth..." Discord groaned as he watched a form emerge from the portal.
Chimeras, Cockatrice, and Fillies Oh My!
Chimeras, Cockatrice, and Fillies Oh My!
The monk rolled out of the way as the deadly arcane beam disintegrated all the forest's vegetation it came into contact with. Vasilisa pulled out her fist blades and took a defensive stance as she began to chant one of Ytaar's sacred mantras to grant her increased regeneration. The monk was good, but she knew she was not getting near the wizard unscathed. Lihua may be arrogant, but she earned an increasing right to gloat with every demon she laid waste to, and that was no small amount. But Vasilisa could tell something was off, Lihua was too full of herself this time. The amalgamation of different creatures next to her must be at fault, perhaps some sort of demon?
"This is for your own good!" Vasilisa yelled as she summoned a spiritual bell in front of her and struck it with all of her might, causing seven images of her flying off, one straight for the Wizard who did not even have enough time to swear before being struck.
"Not bad I must admit... But not good enough!" The wizard choosing not to spend her precious split second on swearing had instead used it to coat her skin with a magical layer of diamond hard crystal to protect her. Wasting no time the wizard began a volley of arcane bolts upon the monk. Though most were dodged or merely missed, many still met their mark and Vasilisa was starting to show signs of fatigue as her bodies ability to heal itself was being strained.
Discord noticed the now sluggish movements of the white haired female that had followed him and his new toy back into this world. Wasting no time Discord closed in on her and pressed a digit from his lion's paw onto the monks forehead and let his chaotic magic seep into her mind to corrupt any and all flaws her personality might have.
"That will not work on me..."
"What the-" Discord began before being cut off by a kick that could shatter stone to his jaw. Were he not immortal the snapped vertebrate and pulverized skull might have killed him. Luckily though unlike Envy, Discord truly could survive a few minor abnormalities to his physical form. However, he did not want to face many more blows like that, lest his immortal essence be exposed without a physical shell to protect it.
Vasilisa was glad that her spiritual training had left her mind and soul empty of all evil. The broken demon before her had tried to twist her heart and mind to do its bidding, but it was no more. Vasilisa turned to Lihua who was looking around confused having regained her color.
"Your mind is in right place now, yes?" Vasilisa called over to the wizard, still keeping a safe distance just in case.
"H-huh? Yeah, I think... Umm,... Where are we again?" Lihua managed out as she pinched the bridge of her nose and screwed her eyes shut as a massive headache overtook her.
"That creature used its dark influence to shroud your mind and twist your heart." Vasilisa said pointing to the creature who's head was 180 degrees from where it belonged.
"What is it?" The wizard said, her curiosity outweighing her headache.
In response to this Discord's right arm came up and he snapped his fingers as he disappeared into a puff of smoke. The two women just stared at the spot the creature had once been in, then at eachother, then back to the empty spot on the forest floor.
"Not dead apparently..." Mumbled the monk.
Envy was preening her feathers as she held her royal court, nodding occasionally as reports were issued to her from all over her kingdom. Nothing truly out of the ordinary other than civil unrest as the news of the military loss spread. She truly hoped they took the news of Discord escaping were kept secret though, that would lead to widespread panic among the towns and cities.
Envy nodded and waved off the scroll bearing Griffin that had just finished her report from High Talon Peak, the closest settlement to where the Immortal King had claimed as his territory. The mayor had asked for an increase in guards and supplies in case they had to use the bunkers to defend the local populace.
"Send them the troops and supplies they requested, and keep couriers ready if the dogs and their new master attack. I want to know as soon as possible if they invade." Envy commanded to the newly appointed guard captain standing at attention to her right. The captain saluted and flew off to send the orders down the chain of command to have a detachment be sent off with resources for High Talon Peak.
"I guess I should actually thank Discord..." Envy said as she watched the courier and guard captain leave her alone in her throne room, "These fools couldn't run this kingdom without me..."
On cue, Discord's broken form snapped into existence sprawled on the floor in front of Envy, causing a startles squawk from the Griffin empress.
"Discord what in Tartarus happened to you?!" screeched Envy as Discord grabbed his head and twisted it back into place, followed by the sound of bones snapping together.
"Plah gaw wong" Discord struggled out of his limp jaw, earning a confused look from Envy. At this Discord screwed up his brow and looked down his snout as he used his magic to reform the bones in his face and repair the tendons and muscle in his face.
"Plan gone wrong, horribly wrong I fear..." Discord restated, a sullen look on his face.
"What... What did this to you? Dragons?" Envy said as she watched Discord check his face in a mirror he conjured from behind his back.
"No the blue flight is with us, but I payed the Immortal King's home world a visit and brought a few beings back with me. That did not work how i planned it." Admitted Discord as he glanced away from the mirror and to the gaping visage of Envy.
"Home world... of course..." Envy said as she broke her gaze away from Discord and looked down as she thought, eyes darting as she imagined what the news implied, "Is he an invading conqueror?"
"I can only imagine so, his home world was a magnificent place full of so much chaos even I was briefly overwhelmed by the feeling... But it was so dark and broken I wish not to associate myself with it again. I found a being there that I twisted to serve me, but it had an ally follow me back who was actually immune to my influence." Discord ranted on.
"Immune huh, how is that possible? Even the elements were turned by you I hear." Envy commented.
"Simply put, it had no chaos in its heart, no thoughts or urges outside what it views as morally right. Most likely a religious fanatic, isn't the first time but it's rare that I come across them. Especially ones willing to kick me in the jaw..." Discord explained rubbing his no longer damaged jaw.
"So what do you propose we do now? We don't have anyone able to fight on their level other than you the dragon elders and me. Will it be enough?"
"Not as it stands, we need to get you a boost of power..." Discord said thoughtfully.
"And how do we go about that?"
"You feed off the envy of your people. We use propaganda." Discord said as he snapped his fingers, now wearing an old fashioned printing press outfit.
A tapping sensation was all Thorne was aware of, and it was beginning to cause a small headache to form. The tapping was ever vigilant and the headache was ever growing, if it did not stop Thorne feared that he would lose his nerves. Where was it coming from? What was causing the tapping to occur?
With a start Thorne woke up as he realized the tapping was occuring on his forehead and what was hitting him felt like a rock. As Thorne rubbed his eyes to clear his blurred vision, he found the source of the tapping. Bannuk crouched over him, his right index finger extended and touching his forehead.
"W-Wha..." Thorne mumbled out.
"You were sleeping..." Bannuk said with a flat tone.
"No, I was keeping watch over you. I closed my eyes for a mere minute..." Thorne rubbed his aching head
"You reek of booze... And you have a grenade in your hand..." Bannuk's stare grew accusing.
"Oh... Well then..." Thorne said, looking down with bloodshot eyes to the orb in his hand.
Bannuk grunted in reply and smacked the Demon Hunter upside the head, causing the smaller man to go sprawling on the floor and drop the grenade that was loosely held in his hand. Said grenade skipped across the floor as it began to glow, increasing in intensity as it went until blowing a hole in the wall.
"What was that for! You could have blown us up if that landed closer to us!" Yelled a startled Thorne, now fully awake.
"You almost did, or were you not paying attention that you activated it in your sleep?" Bannuk grumbled as he stood up and stretched, letting out a deep and drawn out yawn, "Where's Ayida?"
"Gathering the bodies and making zombies no doubt. Provided we haven't both been asleep for too long." The Demon Hunter said as he picked up his bow and slung it over his shoulder.
The two ventured out of the house through the hole the bomb had created and beheld a large group of Diamond Dogs staring wide eyed at the hole and the groggy eyed duo. Thorne rubbed the back of his head and looked apologetically towards some of the dogs as Bannuk strode off towards where he could see Ayida working in the distance.
"Is there a problem my lord?" Offered a Diamond Dog to Bannuk as he strode past.
"No, merely a wake up exercise, it happens more than you would imagine." Bannuk said with a bored look on his face.
As Bannuk approached the Witch Doctor who was ordering around a rather large group of zombies something caused the old Barbarian to freeze in place and watch quietly. Ayida had stopped what she was saying mid sentence to a zombie, and had cocked her head to the side as if listening to something. Ayida then looked off into the forest with a scrutinizing glance before turning to address Bannuk.
"Did you feel that?" She asked.
"No, whatever magic you felt I did, and can not." Bannuk said bluntly, still not fond of the entire magic thing.
"Someone is channeling a lot of magical energy in there." Ayida said warily.
"Think it's that thing that interrupted my fight with Envy?" Bannuk said beginning to gain interest.
"No, his magic felt chaotic in nature, this feels more... arcane. Familiarly powerful as well." Ayida said with a small smile and glint in her eye.
Bannuk covered his face with his hand and shook his head, "No, please not that foolhardy brat..."
"Yes, that foolhardy brat."
"It wont work. We need to find that demon to get home. Seemed like only he could open the portal." Vasilisa said as she sat cross legged on the ground meditating.
"Nonsense, I simply need to exert myself more. This is but a trivial matter for one such as I." Lihua said as she stuck her nose into the air.
"You were just in your Archon form yes? If that did not do, then you can not do. Take a lesson from the holy teachings and show some patience. I'm sure we will either come across another demon who will lead us to the previous. Or we will find a new ally here who will help." The monk said as she stood up and put her hands on her hips as she looked at the wizard.
Lihua simply crossed her arms in front of her chest and stuck her tongue out at the monk before turning her back to where the portal once stood and walking off through the undergrowth.
"Are you sure that is the way to go?" Vasilisa inquired.
"No, but it is better than doing nothing." retorted Lihua.
As the two bickered and walked through the forest they went unaware of the small cockatrice that followed them. The beast stalked its would be prey for quite some time, waiting for its chance to strike. Normally cockatrice were known to pounce out of a bush without warning, but this one had learned. After failing to turn a yellow Pegasus into a statue, it had learned to wait for the perfect moment and see if it could handle its prey. The time would be soon, the two arguing strangers to the forest had stopped and were yelling at each other. As much as it wanted to be careful, the cockatrice knew that if it did not act soon another predator would be drawn in by the racket the two were making.
The cockatrice was seconds from pouncing when it stopped dead in its tracks, its petrifying red eyes shrank in fear as it saw the shadow of a chimera behind its once prey. The cockatrice hunkered down in the bush and stood its ground knowing it was well hidden and safe, unlike the prey.
"You always run off, and I always have to come and save you. If Bannuk were here he would be giving you stern scolding." Vasilisa said, her patience wearing thinner by the second.
"But he's not! Him and Ayida are lost somewhere and we will never find him. Especially not wherever we are now!" Yelled the wizard.
"Which is why I have to yell at you in his place. You need to slow down lest you take in more than you can chew. If I had not saved you who knows what that demon could have done." Vasilisa said as a pair of giant blazing red eyes opened in the darkness to her side.
The chimera took this opportunity to leap out and attempt to bite down on the monk. Unfortunately this was the wrong choice and as it closed its mouth all it got was pain as its teeth chipped and cracked on the steel gauntlets the monk wore. Vasilisa then did a back-flip kick into the chimera's jaw causing it to fracture, and the beast to lift its front legs into the air after its head. The wizard then launched a freezing ray, chilling the beasts blood until the entire chimera was covered in a sheet of ice. The monk then finished with a seven sided strike, a secret technique that channeled spiritual energy to increase speed and strength, and giving the appearance that seven attacks happened simultaneously. The frozen chimera shattered and hailed shards of blood and bone upon the forest floor.
"Where was I... Ah, yes. You need to keep your head calm, and not be so brash!" Vasilisa said, shaking a finger at Lihua.
"Wait... did you hear that?" The wizard said, raising a finger to silence the monk. The two of them listened intently to the now silent forest. Silent, except for the faint sound of rustling leaves.
"The bush, something is in it." Vasilisa said pointing a finger to a shaking bush.
Lihua readied a ball of arcane energy in case anything else decided to attack. Vasilisa in the meantime moved in slowly to check what was spying on them. The shaking only seemed to grow more violent with the closer she approached it. When she stood over the bush in reaching distance the shaking stopped and she paused with held breath. ready for an attack at any angle. A minute passed as she stared at the bush and the entire forest seemed to hold its breath with the monk as the silence dragged on.
Finally a small figure broke from the bush to run away but Vasilisa was too quick and jumped over it, pinning it to the ground with her right knee on its back and her left hand gripping the back of its neck, right arm poised above its skull ready to attack. The monk pulled her right arm farther back to ready a mighty blow when she was stopped by something most unexpected.
"Somepony help! Monster!" The voice of a small girl cried out from under Vasilisa. The sound of a child screaming in fear from under her caused the monk to loosen her grip for a mere second. But this was all it took the small yellow equine creature to wriggle out from under the monks grip. The filly was about to run when it was yanked into the air by its red tail by Vasilisa who held it in front of her face.
Vasilisa stared intently into the animals face, it looked like a small horse. But she as sure it had just talked to her. It looked frightened too, not the kind of frightened an animal gets, but the kind of fear you see in a child about to be attacked by something. Vasilisa took in these facts as Lihua walked up behind her to look at what she had caught. The filly looked with wide frightened eyes between the two strangers, tears building in the corner of her eyes.
"Applebloom where are you!" Called the voice of another young girl.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Called a third.
The monk turned her attention from where the noises had just come from to the whimpering pony she held in the air. She then shot a glance back to Lihua who merely shrugged. A startled gasp rung out and then Vasilisa could feel a soft tapping on her boots that caused her to look away from Lihua and down to an orange filly kicking her shins.
"Let her go you big meanie!" The orange one said, tears of fear running down her face but determination in her voice.
"Did... Did that thing just talk?" Exclaimed Lihua.
"By Ytaar, I have read of many species capable of speech and intelligence like us, but never have I read of talking ponies." The monk said with wide eyes as she lowered herself to look the orange filly in the eye while keeping the yellow one held in the air.
"Does that horse have wings?" Lihua commented with interest.
"Pony, body structure is much smaller than a horse." Corrected the monk, turning her attention away form the filly still kicking her shins.
"Let her go or I will go tell Bannuk on you and he will beat you up!" The orange one screamed.
Vasilisa and Lihua froze staring at each other, eyes wide and pupils now pinpricks. Vasilisa's left hand shot for the orange one and grabbed it around the chest under the forelegs and lifted it into the air as she stood up and addressed it.
"What... Did you just say?" Vasilisa spoke slowly and clearly. Tears were freely falling down the fillies face as it rethought what it had just said.
Vasilisa shook the pony with a scowl, only unleashing a torrent of sniffling as it tried to stop crying.
"That can't be coincidence, Bannuk is not a name you hear anywhere but in the barbarian tribes of Arreat." Lihua commented.
"Where is he?" Vasilisa said again.
"...." The filly whined and looked to her friend who was too scared to make any noise.
"Where is the old fool?" Lihua joined in on the questioning.
The orange one gulped and tried to speak in vane for a few seconds before finally regaining her voice, "Please don't hurt us."
"I promise no harm will come of you, just tell me where my friend is." Vasilisa said firmly.
The fillies exchanged glances before the yellow one finally spoke up, "Scoots did it just say Bannuk was its friend?"
"Yeah, now that you mention it they do look really alike... But they aren't as big as Bannuk, and they are a lot paler than Ayida..." Scootaloo said.
"Ayida is here too!?" Exclaimed Lihua startling the fillies.
"Y-yeah, they live that way." Scootaloo said pointing off into the forest, and coincidentally where a shaking white filly was hunched down.
Vasilisa dropped the two fillies onto the forest floor and they landed with a dull thud, Scootaloo rubbing her rump where she landed and Applebloom rubbing her head.
"Lead the way." Vasilisa said to the fillies.
"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.
Bannuk once again donned the armor of the Immortal King, the repairs he made were complete, and he was ready to set out. He just needed to take care of one last piece of business before setting out.
"You are to either stay here with the dogs or go back to Ponyville. Do not follow us." Bannuk firmly stated looking down to Twilight Sparkle.
"Don't worry, what you and your friends are about to do... I want no part in it, or even to witness it." Twilight said solemnly.
Bannuk grunted as he nodded at this and turned around to rejoin his party. Twilight watched him leave for a minute, the armor had a strange glow to it, and the maul on his back pulsed with power. Twilight did not like what they were doing, but she still wished for their safety.
As Bannuk approached the others he nodded to Ayida in signal that he was ready to go. The Witch Doctor then drew some dust from the pouch on her hip and threw it into the air. The five companions began to shimmer, and had faded before the final speck of dust even hit the ground.
Discord looked over the army of Griffins with a glint in his eye. Though it may appear to be an orderly army now, Discord knew better. Armies were always uniform, up until the first charge at least. Then fear and instinct won out over discipline in most cases and chaos ensued. Especially when aerial combat was involved. That was one of the reasons why Discord favored the Griffons and Dragons so much when he needed somepony to manipulate into a war.
Discord giggled with mad glee as he cast his eyes toward the Blue Dragon matron Saphiria, who was currently telling her eldest and strongest children of the danger they faced. Discord actually did not care what the outcome of the war was. Sure these creatures from across the realms were powerful, but they were not immortal. Worst case scenario Discord might have to go into hiding for a century if things went south for him. But from what he could figure from the young magic user he had control over for a short time, and how the Immortal King looked, the king was getting towards the end of his age limit.
"So... Saphiria tells me one of the ones you brought back yourself was able to counter her breath with several magic balls..." Envy said as she approached Discord.
"Yes, it would appear she has some formidable magical talent. She is weak physically though, take advantage of that if you must." Discord said with a sour face, unhappy that his thoughts were interrupted.
"Discord!" Saphiria yelled from where she perched on a tower, overlooking the Griffin army and her kin.
Discord shook his head and winked out of existence with a snap of his fingers and reemerged floating in front of the dragon on a hammock suspended between two clouds.
"Yes dear?" Discord said with an exasperated sigh as if she had awoken him from a nap.
Saphiria growled, the deep rumbling shaking the tower and causing slight cracks in the mortar.
"Alright alright, what is it?" Discord said as he snapped his fingers, making the hammock disappear.
"Something is coming. Fast. I can sense it moving across a magical leyline..." The Blue Dragon said.
"What?! But the leyline here is not powerful enough to use for transportation!" Discord exclaimed. Admittedly he was not paying attention and he had not noticed before how the leyline thrummed with power underneath the ground.
"I suspect they are using their own power..." Saphiria said direly.
"Where do you suppose they will exit?" Discord asked as he cast his eyes at the ground, taking in the view of the army gathered in the castle courtyard, on the walls, and on the mountainside outside of the walls. They could emerge anywhere if they were powering it themselves.
"There" Saphiria growled pointing a massive talon.
Discord followed where her finger pointed and saw magical energy building, beginning to glow as the energy reached the visible spectrum. Discord's eyes narrowed as the magical field exploded outward, sending any unlucky enough griffin to be too close splattering on the ground and their allies. Discord let out a growl as he saw all five of the outlandish creatures standing together, back to back. They had managed to find each other before coming here. Discord had hoped it would take them longer to unite if they even managed to find each other at all. Now this castle's chances plummeted even more with almost twice as many foes.
The army stared dumbfounded by the entrance of the five, not a single griffin or Nephilim moved a muscle, all stood still and ready. It was as if an intense staring match had broken out, and each side was weighing their chances at victory.
Discord watched the tension build with glee in his eyes. His face resembled a child unwrapping a present, suspense building in his mind. Anything at all would set this off, and whatever it would be, Discord was sure to remember it for all time.
Bannuk clenched his fists harder, waiting for the first move to be made. He needed to know what direction he needed to attack first so that he left no openings. He highly doubted any of these Griffins could penetrate his armor, but if a lucky blow was made and a blade slipped through a joint or cut a strap, he could be left exposed or weakened before he even got a chance at fighting Envy or Discord.
Envy had a snarl on her face, she had eyes only for the hulking man in the jet black armor. She was stronger now after feeding off the jealousy of her riled up nation. Plus she had more hlep on her side this time, she was positive she would see the Immortal King beheaded. She smiled as she wondered if his head would stay alive as her trophy if he truly was immortal.
Saphiria narrowed her eyes at the small creature that had managed to counter her breath with its magical attack. Humiliating did not even begin to describe how that was for the matron of the Blue Dragons. Saphiria would be chewing on the impudent creatures bones before this battle was over.
The silence had stretched on for minutes now, and the Griffons were slowly getting over the shock of the entrance their enemies had made. Discord was starting to grow bored, he wanted his present opened now. Pulling an over sized pin out from behind his back Discord floated down beside a blue dragon and dabbed it into the rump of the dragon. The dragon let out an ear piercing roar at the pain and surprise it felt, and then hell broke loose.
Ayida was the first to react, raising a hand over her mouth she then uncovered it and exhaled a cloud of locusts that spread to all the of Griffins in front of her. She then raised her arms and her zombie dogs and gargantuan leapt from the ground.
Thorne then let loose a volley of hatred enchanted bolts that split into hundreds as they flew out in a cone in front of him, felling line after line of Griffins. Between volleys he also focused his hatred and discipline on trapping the ground in front of him.
Lihua raised her arms and shot out twin red beams that left nothing but dust of the Griffins that were touched. Lihue pivoted her ray to catch any arrows that were loosed and to pick up as many kills as she could manage before the griffons took to the air and became harder targets.
Vasilisa put her palms together in front of her in quick prayer, before summoning a spiritual bell and striking it with a devastating punch, sending holy energy on the resulting shock wave forward, obliterating any Griffins that stood in her attacks path.
Bannuk was the first to break from the circle, in one mighty step he had closed the distance between him and the first line around him. With his first cleave he decimated not only the first row in front of him, but the one behind it as well. His fury caused the bodies to explode with the force of his blow and damage their allies behind Bannuk's targets. Bannuk then smashed the ground with his maul, causing a massive shock wave to decimate the griffons that were in front of where he stood.
The griffins after a second to watch their kin get slaughtered took to the air, loosing arrows and throwing spears and nets. Dragons rose into the sky and began to circle, waiting for a chance to attack. Discord cackled in glee as he watch the carnage.
"Envy is mine!" Bannuk called over his shoulder as he cleaved swathes of griffins out of his way, making towards the castle entrance.
"I'll go with him, stay to watch our rear." Ayida said as she followed Bannuk, lobbing fire bombs and poisonous spiders at griffins that flew too close.
Vasilisa looked around and noticed that any Griffins that strayed too close were riddled with arrows or atomised. The monk then set to the task of finding the strange monstrosity that had led her and Lihua to this world. The creature went against all laws her teachings had, and she felt if any of these creatures deserved death it was that demon.
Bannuk could feel the thrill of battle as he cleaved down and bashed his foes. Deflecting arrows with a spare hand as he hefted his weapon over his shoulder Bannuk, the giant man looked as if he was batting away flies. The barbarian then hunched down, lowering his shoulders before charging straight through Griffin after Griffin, blasting them back with the force of his charge and crushing them underfoot. as he stopped the force kept going and slammed a few Griffins into the castle gate where they splattered across the iron door. Bannuk sized up the gate before walking up and roaring as he planted a heavy heel to it.
The metal groaned under the force of the kick and dented heavily inwards. Bannuk frowned at this and swung his maul, destroying the blocks the hinges were set into and sending the door flying inwards. Bannuk then raced into the castle and batted away and Griffin that got in his path.
Ayida raised dead here and there as she went, focusing mainly on sniping any fliers that swooped too close with her darts. As the Witch Doctor followed Bannuk inside she took note of the fact that there were fewer guards down the hall Bannuk went, than down the other paths.
"Those clever raptors are leading us to the throne room..." Ayida said as she took off sprinting to warn Bannuk.
Bannuk was almost there, he could see the large double doors that the throne room had to lie behind. Ayida was shouting something behind him, but he could not hear her over the blood rushing in his ears. Bannuk lowered his shoulder and burst into the throne room.
Bannuk panted as he looked around the room, only seeing a brightly glowing crystal. Bannuk readied his weapon for an attack from the shadows that the crystal threw around the room. Ayida burst into the room behind him.
"Get away from there you old fool!" Ayida yelled.
Bannuk turned to give her a questioning look, but then the crystal began to hum, gaining volume and shrillness. Bannuk turned to the crystal with a look of realization on his face. The old warrior lifted his weapon in front of him and tensed his body as he stepped in front of Ayida.
The crystal exploded, decimating half of the castle.
Sorry for the long time to upload this chapter, next one should be within a week though. The end of Whimsyshire is drawing close, and I would hate to keep you all waiting in the middle of a battle scene for too long.
Please leave comments on this and the upcoming chapters so that I can know how you have liked my story, and the characters I have written. I know the Wizard and Monk have not had development, but I felt the entire gang needed in on the battle.
Envy held a triumphant grin as she watched half of her castle get destroyed. Sitting on the top of her tower was in fact the correct thing to do. The fool ran in to look for her and got caught in the magical blast wave from the crystal Discord had charged with the Blue Dragon's magic.
Envy flew over the ruble that was once her throne room and peered down into the debris. It never hurt to make sure the job was done, after all, that was how she had managed to live. Envy narrowed her eyes as she saw some rubble begin to move. The boulder was slowly being moved from where it sat. As the boulder rolled off, it revealed a giant zombie pushing the rock off of the smaller and darker of the creatures. The dark one was climbing out from under the bodies of several zombies that were mangled and burned from the blast.
"So that explains you being alive... But where is the other one..." Envy mumbled to herself.
The dark one moved over to where some other ruble lay, and she pointed at it. The giant zombie then moved the rocks and other debris to reveal the Immortal King in a small pool of blood. The dark one then took out a red flask from her belt and removed the Immortal King's helmet.
Envy's eyes shot wide open and she dove to stop what was happening. The dark one had some kind of medicine to help him, she knew it. As Envy swooped closer she was batted away by the giant zombie who saw her coming. Envy roared her challenge at it and attacked it, tearing into it with her claws, tearing out its heart, then ripping off its head.
Envy then turned to where The Immortal King lay, and took a metal fist to the face.
Saphiria nodded to her eldest child, a male Blue Dragon that was nearing her in size. In a mere century he would be old enough to leave the flight to form a new one with a female from another dragon flight. The dragon nodded back to her and roared out to its brothers and sisters. The dragons then started circling closer to the ground. The Griffins fled, and those that were not quick enough were caught as the dragon's icy breath began to bathe the land.
Saphiria smirked, her fangs showing and her eyes full of hate as she watched the courtyard turn into an icy wasteland. The dragon matron looked down smugly to Discord who raised a finger to his mouth as if shushing her while he fed popcorn into his mouth. Saphiria's eyes darted back to the courtyard however when she noticed the torrent of dragon breath was still going. Her children were still attacking because something was still alive.
The dragon breath stopped as all the Blue Dragons ran out of air and needed to inhale once more. As the torrent of icy breath stopped, a glowing purple shell of ice could be seen. Something was under a perfect dome of ice, glowing like a torch in the night. The dragons all regarded this with uncertainty, and then astonishment as the shell broke from a fiery explosion.
Steam rose and the courtyard was once again obscured, this time in mist however. The dragons peered warily into the mist, waiting for anything as they circled far above. Suddenly, strange black arrows slipped out of the mist, as they hit the lower flying dragons, chains were wrapped around them, holding their wings tightly to their bodies, and several other arrows attached to chains flew from them, catching more dragons.
With their wings held to their bodies and them being pulled into each other from the chains, a majority of the dragons fell to the ground, to be obscured by the mist. Saphiria and her eldest son watched with slightly open mouths at the display of it all. Then in a matter of seconds the mist lit up from multiple sources of purple light.
Saphiria's eyes widened in horror as she realized what was about to happen. The dragon matron did not even have enough time to scream before the mist was blown away by the force of the magical orbs exploding upon impact. The mist dispersed quickly, revealing what was once a dozen of Saphiria's eldest children, but was now merely piles of gore. The magical blasts decimated the scales, and the force of it all ripped apart their flesh and shattered bones. Only here and there were parts recognizable in the lake of blood that now filled the courtyard. Only a single dragon down there had survived, one of its kin was splattered across her front as she attempted to raise herself, only to find her forelegs had been decimated.
Saphiria rose slowly from her perch atop the tower to move towards her injured child, but she halted when she saw one of the creatures walking on top of her daughter. The creature was the one wielding a bow, and he looked up at her, his red eyes boring into the matron dragon's. The creature then pulled something from its belt and dropped it onto the back of her daughter. The creature then flipped off as the thing it dropped expanded into a whirling mass of blades that ripped through the dragons scales and flayed into its flesh. Her daughter did not die quickly, and she screamed as the whirling blades sand into her back until it reached her heart.
Saphiria roared her fury and took off, maw wide open and spewing her frigid breath at the creature, but her breath was cut off by the purple orbs from the magic user. Saphira landed in the courtyard that was stained with the blood of her children. Tears of fury ran down the old dragon's face as she stared down her enemies. Her eldest moved from where he sat but Saphiria roared at him.
"No! They are mine. Go help Envy, I do not think she can handle the Immortal King on her own, and I can still smell his presence..." Saphira hissed at her son before turning back towards her prey.
Bannuk moved to stomp on the skull of the downed Envy, but before hit boot met its mark, Envy spun on her back swiping a talon and knocking Bannuk off balance and to the ground. Envy then jumped onto his chest and began raking her claws at the armor, trying in vain to penetrate Bannuk's defense. Envy howled in fury as a gauntlet met her beak, causing hairline cracks to appear.
Envy clenched her right fist focusing her magic into it, and held her left claws open as she balanced herself on her hind legs using her wings for balance as she took aim. Envy was preparing to release her magical blast when a dart hit her arm, causing it to go limp as a paralyzing poison spread up her arm. The spell faded and Envy whipper her head around to screech a warning a the Witch Doctor.
Envy backed up slowly as the hulking man approached her, weapon raised. Envy had her back to the remains of a wall, then a smirk broke across her face. Seeing this Bannuk stopped, and whipped around to face what was behind him just as a Blue Dragon, nearly the same size as the one that attacked his village with her children.
The dragon soared in blasting its breath at Bannuk as Ayida dove out of the way, her gargantuan zombie was not quick enough though. As the dragon landed it shattered the gargantuan under a mighty clawed hand.
The Blue Dragon regarded its prey with respect. This 'Immortal King' had stood up to its breath without even flinching.
"You are a worthy opponent to survive my breath puny one." The dragon bellowed arrogantly.
"Hah, this chill is but a nip in the wind compared to the peak of mount Arreat!" Bannuk spat back.
"Oh? does the little worm want to talk big?" The dragon said, lowering its head and turning it to the side to get a better look at Bannuk.
Bannuk responded to this by bashing the dragon across the cheek with his maul, the resulting force form the blow cracked in the air and broke the tiles underneath as it sent the dragon's head reeling back.
"You wilt against my blows!" The Barbarian roared triumphantly.
The large Blue Dragon raised its claw and brought it down on Bannuk, aiming to crush him. Bannuk had other ideas though, and instead of being crushed, he caught the massive hand and strained against the weight.
"Give up! You will pay for the death of my brothers and sisters! Your conquest to slay Envy ends here!" The blue roared.
"I will not be denied!" Bannuk bellow as he threw the hand, redirecting it to the side and then jumping on top of it.
Bannuk raised his weapon as he ran up the forearm of the dragon, and let loose a mighty blow to the elbow that shook the ground underneath. The dragon screamed in pain as the joint was shattered by the blow. The dragon snapped its jaw at Bannuk, only to have its mouth grabbed.
Bannuk strained with one foot inside the mighty maw, and both hands on the top of the mouth behind the teeth. Bannuk smiled darkly at what he planned to do. The dragon however, realizing its mistake inhaled sharply, before unleashing its breath with as much force as it could. The frigid breath coated Bannuk in a thin layer of ice, Bannuk's armor froze to his skin, causing frostbite in several spots of his skin, and freezing the new leather straps.
The dragon opened its mouth slightly, then snapped down again, shattering the ice, and the straps that held Bannuk's armor together. Bannuk however managed to catch the jaw again before it closed on him though. The ancient black armor sagged off his bulging muscles. Bannuk spat a silent curse at the weak material he used to bind the armor together.
The dragon was readying another breath when Bannuk howled in fury and kicked his leg down as far as he could, while simultaneously extending his arms, straining the dragon's mouth, and tearing the flesh slightly at the corners. The dragon's eyes teared up from the pain slightly and it let out a whimper.
"Crawl back to your mother, mangy cur!" Bannuk yelled as he gave one more heave that dislocated the dragons jaw with a sickening crunch.
Saphiria roared her challenge once more as she dove in maw outstretched at the Demon Hunter. Thorne merely flipped to the side, gracefully avoiding before launching a knife into the cheek of the dragon matron. The knife however bounced off of the Dragons hide.
"Oh hell..." Thorne muttered at the toughness of the old dragon's scales.
Thorne flipped out of the way once more as a massive claw swiped out and nearly eviscerated him. Thorne continued to flip away until he put considerable distance between him and the large dragon.
"I may have some troubles with that hide, my explosives might work though." Thorne called to Lihua.
"Oh please, I can handle this..." Lihua said with a smirk as she readied her spell.
Saphiria turned to face the Wizard who was now coated in a layer of crystal. The dragon matron narrowed her eyes before turning and whipping her tail into the wizard, sending her flying into the castle wall. Lihua pulled herself out, still covered in the diamond tough crystals that were only slightly cracked from the dragons attack.
Saphiria took a deep breath and then breathed her icy blast at the Wizard. Her breath was stopped halfway by a beam of red energy. Saphiria's breath slowly began pushing the beam back towards the wizard though. Lihua saw that her disintegration spell was failing her here, and she gritted her teeth as she gathered her energies.
The frost breath crept closer and closer to the Wizard, now a mere matter of feet from reaching her. The wizard's eyes began to glow a deep hue of purple, the glow then spread across her entire body as she slowly began to levitate off the ground. As the glow spread across her entire form, energy surged around her in a short field of arcane energy. The spell she was channeling then changed drastically in power. The beam of dark red turned into the same dark purple Lihua was glowing, and widened to three times the size.
Immediately the purple beam shot through the icy breath and connected with the throat of the dragon matron. Saphira pulled her head back, and would have howled in pain and rage had it not been for the giant hole in her neck. The only sound to come out was a deep gurgling sound. The blue matron then crawled closer to the Wizard, murderous intent in her eyes as she lifted her right claw and brought it down. The Wizard raised her right hand however and let it meet the Blue Dragon's claw. The moment contact was made an arcane blast tore through the dragons scales and decimated her claws.
The dragon that was once thought to have impenetrable scales, then fell to the ground. The Saphiria's blood then mixed with that of her children. The dragon mother cast her eyes around the courtyard and beheld the ruin she brought onto her babies. The mother wept silently, unable to sob with the hole in her throat. The howl of her eldest son could be heard shaking the castle walls. The moment the sound ended, Saphiria's broken heart beat no more.
Bannuk took off the helmet, and looked to where the rest of his armor lay on the ground. The only pieces he had left on him were the gauntlets, boots, and belt. Bannuk had thankfully worn his loincloth to keep his modesty, but it was still embarrassing and frustrating.
Bannuk's eyes then widened as he felt a pair of talons dig into his shoulders, followed by the feeling of claws raking into his back. Bannuk reached his arms behind him to grab at Envy, but he was too slow and the aspect of jealousy evaded. Bannuk turned a furious glare at Envy, meeting her hate filled one.
"The dragon at least did its part, got your armor off, and allowed me to cleanse the poison..." Envy said with a wicked grin.
"It matters not, you were dead the moment you crossed me." Bannuk said firmly.
Envy pulled a long curving blade from her back, and Bannuk picked his maul up from the ground. The two began to circle each other. Ayida readied her blowgun, but Bannuk raised a hand at her and shook his head. This fight was just him and Envy.
Bannuk leapt at the Griffin and landed with crushing force that would have decimated her, had she not whizzed past him as fast as an arrow. Bannuk barely had the time to block the blow with the speed the both of them were traveling at each other. Bannuk turned and readied his weapon again.
"So, you were able to keep up with that huh? No matter, I am faster and stronger than before. Lets see how you deal with the speed of sound though..." Envy said with an evil grin.
The Griffin then became a blur as she whizzed past Bannuk, who only on instinct alone managed to block the blow. Bannuk grunted at the weight of the blow that nearly threw him off balance. Envy was definitely stronger this time, and Bannuk was still not fully healed from the crystal bomb. Bannuk barely managed to block the next attack, a small nick on his chest where the blade was stopped as Envy whizzed by.
Bannuk spat a wad of phlegm onto the ground. Were he younger, he would have no problem with these kinds of attacks. As it were he was straining to keep up. Envy whizzed by again, but this time Bannuk was prepared, he let the sword hit his gauntlet's palm, and closed his hand around the blade as Envy whizzed past. Gath stumbled slightly but managed to break the Griffin's speed to a halt. Bannuk then swung his maul with one hand at Envy, who relinquished her blade to get away, but was still clipped in the right wing by the head of the maul.
Envy screeched as the hollow bones in her wing snapped like a twig. Envy then put one talon on top of the maul as she grabbed her swords hilt once more in her other hand. She then kicker her legs forward and raked her claws against Bannuk's chest. The Barbarian staggered back as his flesh tore and he let go of the blade but pulled the maul with him.
Envy used the momentum of being pulled with the maul to launch herself forward and plunge her sword into Bannuk's belly. The blade pulled out covered in the large mans crimson blood. Envy licked the blade lovingly as she smiled bitterly at Bannuk who now held a hand to his belly.
"Hah, you don't look so well... Did you not like the present I left you?" Envy asked.
"Your foul trickery will not win this for you Envy." Bannuk said as he readied his maul with one hand, keeping his other on his stomach. Envy dove in blade poised for another stab, she ducked under the slow swing Bannuk made and raised herself as she thrust her sword. The blade was deflected by Bannuk's knee and went high, into his shoulder instead of his heart.
Envy attempted to pull her blade out, but Bannuk flexed his muscles, holding the blade tightly within his body. Envy's face fell at this, and Bannuk was now the one grinning wickedly. A heavy metal gauntlet now was planted firmly on the side of Envy's head, sending her sprawling. Bannuk pulled the blade out of his shoulder and walked over to Envy. The Barbarian kicked her in the ribs, shattering them with his heavy boots. He then placed his boot on her neck, staring into her fearful eyes.
"Your time has come Envy, May hell consume your blackened soul..." Bannuk said as he raised his maul over his head with his right arm, his left hand once again holding his belly.
Bannuk took careful aim for Envy's skull. She squirmed underneath hit boot, and she would have pleaded for mercy had she been able to get air through her throat. Her eyes held horror as she stared not at the man anymore, but the head of the maul that pulsed with power, waiting to take her life.
"Bannuk Look out!" Vasilisa screamed as she burst into the room.
Bannuk turned his head to the Monk, just as Discord appeared behind him with Envy's sword in his hand. The blade sailed, and cleaved through Bannuk's flesh and bone. Bannuk looked at the stump that was once his right arm, he then looked down to the ground where his arm and weapon lay.
Looking up he met Discords eyes, an astonished look meeting a look of insane glee.
"Now then, lets see how immortal you really are..." Discord said with a cackle.
Part two of the end is out, still unsure if I can wrap the ending into one chapter, but it will most likely be another two chapters. Once again please comment on how you have liked the story, and point out any mistakes you might have found. This like the previous chapter has been done with no sleep and little caffeine as I prepare for finals.
