The Fate of The Warchief

by The Blessed One

Chapter 2: A Good First Impression

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" A loud, shrill shriek filled Garrosh's groggy ears, not exactly what he wanted to wake up to. A groan of displeasure escaped him as the shrill sound accosted his ears ceaselessly. Placing his hand on his face in a futile attempt to block the rays of the morning sun, he sat up from the small ditch he'd slept in behind the house. His eyes were greeted by one of those pudgy animals screaming at him as if he had done something horrific. She had a coffee-brown coat and dark brown hair; two other things he noted was a pair of saddle bags mounted on her back and a large Gilnean top hat atop her head! He was sure she was female, for he knew no male could come anywhere close to making that detested sound. He staggered to his feet and started to walk down the ally way as the damned thing still kept screaming and sobbing. Feeling a primal growl involuntarily ascending his throat, Garrosh decided he had had enough of this thing and her incessant noise, he turned to her and gave a roar right from his toes! Her reaction was not something Garrosh had initially expected: She fainted.

Confused and drowsy, he didn't bother to care. He stepped out of the ally way without a second thought, and what he saw when he did so, he would not soon forget. There had to be at least fifty small, round-stomached, big-eyed horses! As if to add to the matter, there were maybe thirty of those buffalo creatures he had seen from earlier in the open desert, and they were all staring at him. The silence went on for ancestors knew how long; the only noise or movement was that of a single tumbleweed's journey across the main road. They all stared, and he stared right back. After thinking it would never end, Finally one of the big-eyed horses broke the deafening silence, he had a brown coat with a large, fake-looking black moustache, and he sported a blue vest bearing a silver star medal and a black hat with a red band.

"Big boy, yer in a heap o' trouble."

---

Breaburn Slowly got to his haunches, it had been an.... Eventful night of sorts. He smiled as he remembered it, and he looked down at the sleeping mare next to him. "By Celestia! last night was wonderful!" he thought. He had just gotten off of work, and after a brief bath, headed straight to the "Salt Block" to take a load off. After he'd ordered a mug of hard cider, he saw her. Toffee was her name, and boy was she ever pretty. He had started out just talking with her. As it turns out, she worked there as a waitress and a "Massuese" of types, and after a bit talking about each other's lines of work and a few more drinks (on her part), she was feeling a bit too lonely to go back to her house alone. Breaburn, being the gentlecolt that he was, offered to go along with her. After receiving a kiss for his offer, one kiss turned into.... A lot more of them. After stopping to take a breath, he left her for a very short time to get two more drinks and to ask Mr. Saltworthy if he could use his guest bedroom for the night. Saltworthy knew Breaburn well and trusted him sincerely, so of course he granted it to him. After Breaburn returned to her, things got a little fuzzy past that point, but he didn't really mind. He liked what little he did remember though.

"Mornin' Toffee, sleep well?" he asked, to which she sat up and kissed him on the cheek before she spoke.

"You made sure Ah didn't." She whispered in a soft and very sensual tone. His heart skipped a beat when he heard her say that. Maybe he had found the mare for him? Sure he was still young, but he was always a sucker for romance.

"Y-yeah... Ah guess yer right." His nerves were on fire, and he was now shaking and sweating. Why didn't he know what to say all of the sudden? He was doing great talking to her last night; why was he so worried about failing now?! She noticed his obvious nervousness and decided to play around with it a bit.

"If you don't wanna get up just yet, then it's fine by me, sweetie." That same lustful voice carried the words to his ears. At first, he thought he was going to hyperventilate, but then he urged himself to calm down and go with it.

"Ah'll stay as long as ya want me to, honey." He said as calmly as he could, she gave a heart-filled giggle before saying.

"Ah wish Ah could, sweets, but Ah gotta go run a few errands first." She said in a somewhat sad voice, so he responded.

"Will Ah see you again today?" both inspiring hope and overwhelming fear rose in his chest as he waited for her answer.

"How 'bout this evening, sweets?" Yes!

"Sure thing." He stated collectedly.

"Good," She said giving him a quick, tender peck on his lips. "See ya then." And with that, she stretched her back and trotted out, making sure to give him one last little show.

"Yes!" He had never been so lucky, he had just bedded the mare of his dreams, and he even had a second date! Nothing could ruin this day for him, absolutely Nothing! He brushed his teeth and washed his face and hooves in the guest bathroom, and trotted out. What he saw when he got down stairs could have been a better sight: The whole saloon was trashed! Tables flipped, chairs knocked over or smashed, and a window completely disappeared! He cantered outside to see Sheriff Sliverstar and Mr. Saltworthy talking with Chief Thunderhooves, and it didn't look like a friendly conversation either.

"In any case, you said we had a truce! This don't look like no truce ta me!" Said the sheriff, the chief was hasty to respond.

"My people did not do this! We would never stoop so low as to do anything of this sort!" he yelled, but Mr. Saltworthy was not having it.

"Then who did done it?! y'all buffalo are the only here thangs strong enough ta have done it!" he screamed. Breaburn tried to get a few words in, but they were drowned out by all the shouting. He was seconds away from yelling 'shut up' when they we all silenced by a scream that to him sounded all too familiar.

"Toffee" He whispered in horror, before hearing the loudest roar he'd ever heard in his life time. Then, out of the ally way where the roar came from, emerged a two-legged brown behemoth! Fearful silence was all that was heard for about a minute, until the Sheriff spoke up.

"Big boy, yer in a heap o' trouble."

---

What did that little mongrel just say? Did puny horse really think that he had power over him? This was too much. "HAHAHAHAHA!" When he laughed half the crowd shrunk away; what cowards! "Do you really believe you can challenge me?" He laughed again just at the notion of fighting one of these.... things.

"I don't care how big y'all are, ain't nopony steals from my town." The small creature said as darkly as he could. As barbaric as he seemed, Garrosh still had a code, and they would abide by it weather they liked it or not.

"If you wish for me to return what I have taken, then you must defeat me in a duel...." They seemed off-put by just that. "To the death!" He finished his statement, and all the creatures gasped. A yellow one with a slightly darker shade of yellow for its head of hair stood out amongst the crowd when he spoke.

"Oh, come on now, there's gotta be a better way ta settle this than that, right?" Garrosh grinned wickedly at the little coward.

"I will keep my honor, that means it shall be to the death. If I die, then you reclaim your goods. If you die, then I keep what I have claimed!" He bellowed, most of the horses backed away, but the buffalo stood their ground, the biggest of the buffalo then spoke.

"You are not worthy of what you have taken, for you are nothing more than an honor-less thief!" That did it. Garrosh's rage boiled inside of him as he brandished his club and began to pace back and forth.

"And you are not worthy of keeping it, so long as I can take it!" His voice never softening by this point, there would be a fight even if they gave up; they'd had their chance.

"Then I shall challenge you, weakling!" Bellowed the large buffalo, while lowering his head and dragging one of his front hooves in what Garrosh decided was supposed to be an intimidating manner. This was exactly what Garrosh had hoped for. This buffalo reminded him too much of the bastard Chieftain Cairne Bloodhoof to even still draw breath! But this time he would make sure it was fair. He tossed his so-called weapon to a nearby horse with yellow fur and green hair; to her credit she caught it.

"I accept." Garrosh began to walk backwards, and with some momentum he turned his back to him, he turned only slightly when the buffalo spoke.

"What is the name of my opponent?!" Garrosh's smile widened.

"Garrosh, Warchief Garrosh Hellscream!" He too wished to know who he was battling, so he returned the question. "Whom do I duel, buffalo?" He spat, he continued to walk even as the buffalo answered.

"Chief Thunderhooves!" He boomed with pride. How fitting, he is to bring about the end of yet another chieftain. They were roughly one hundred yards apart when Garrosh stopped, turned, and began to pace back and forth once again. Thunderhooves looked as though he were meditating, they were both interrupted when the horse with the over-grown moustache started to announce.

"Alright, I want me a nice clean fight now!" Garrosh cared not what the fool had to say, even his foe looked annoyed by the interrupting windbag. Garrosh's focus was now on the civilians, on how the gravity of this duel was now taking its tole on them. "The match starts when that there clock strikes eight, got it!?" Both he and the Chieftain cast a quick glance at the clock tower. Garrosh merely nodded once; Thunderhooves spoke, but he was too far away to hear. The seconds ticked by as the town held their breath, Garrosh paced, waiting for his chance to take what was now his! When the final minute began to tick away, he removed his poncho, showing all with eyes his muscular, heavily-tattooed, scar-riddled body. Most of them gaped, some gagged or feinted, others showed so much fear he could smell it.

"Twenty!" Garrosh heard the horse say, his pacing came to an halt as he dug his feet into the hot, cracked dirt. "Fifteen!" he clinched every single muscle in his body, and heard more mutterings from the horses watching. "Ten!" His rage built itself within his blood stream. "Five!" He thought back to his battle with Cairne Bloodhoof. "Four!" Gorehowl's downward strike that ended his life. "Three!" He thought of his last words. "Two!" His last breath. "One!" This village would soon learn why he was the slayer of Gods! "Fight!" Garrosh sprang forward, letting loose a animalistic howl as he broke into a battle sprint! Thunderhooves got to his, for lack of a better term, hooves and charged the Champion at full speed! The next few seconds lasted a life time, they both were going break-neck speeds! Garrosh lowered his shoulder to the beast of a chieftain. The chieftain lowered his head, for one second, time seemed to grind to a stop. Garrosh felt the blood lust over-take his body, his mind, his soul. Crash! Garrosh's shoulder hit its mark, his enemy was sent flying though the air for a full three seconds, before landing with a dull, hollow thump.

"Lok'tar Ogar!" His orcish words echoed though all the desert. Garrosh stood tall and righted himself before he began to walk over to his fallen adversary, to strike the final blow. "Let all in this world know that I, Garrosh Hellscream, am the slayer of all!" He claimed victoriously as he stood over the fallen chief. He raised his arm to the sky, with the intent of crushing this weakling's skull with his bare fist, but that same voice from before spoke up again.

"You saved them, and then you killed them." His hand stayed suspended in the sky for what felt like an eternity, but eventually, he lowered his hand to his side, and spoke eerily softly.

"Remember this day chieftain, for it was the day Garrosh Hellscream, spared your life." With that said, he went back and picked up his poncho and left the buffalo there, to rise whenever he felt he could. "Are you the leader of this village?" He asked the small brown horse with the ugly moustache. he took longer then Garrosh would have liked to answer.

"Y-yes Ah am, so welcome ta Appleloosa I guess." So that's was this settlement's name was, what an odd name. It mattered not, for he needed a real weapon.

"Then perhaps you can answer my questions, for as you can clearly see, I am victorious, so all I choose to take from this village is now mine." He saw almost all of them cringe. Their leader was a bit more apprehensive.

"Oh, come on now! Ya said ya got to keep what was your's, not the whole town!" Garrosh knew he had won, for none would fight him after what they had just witnessed.

"Then shall I finish him?" He saw the pony look behind where he was standing to the buffalo, and after some time, he got his response.

"No." He continued as he would have before.

"Good, then tell me, horse creature, does this place have a blacksmith?" Again he took more time than Garrosh preferred to respond.

"Horse creature? We ain't no horses! We're ponies, and no Appleloosa ain't got no blacksmith." Garrosh didn't like his tone, nor did he like the word "pony".

"Then do you have a weapons merchant here?" Surely they had to at least have a that. The pony spoke again after putting his hoof to his chin in thought.

"We ain't got a weapons merchant, but we got a lumber store, why?" Garrosh reached down and grabbed the pony that was still holding the chunk of wood by the top of her head, pried the club from her hooves and dropped her on her rear end, leaving her to run away screaming into one of the gathered crowds off to the side.

"Because this," He waved the club in the pony's face. "Is not my idea of a weapon! Now show me this, 'lumber store'." He could tell the pony was nervous, but he ignored it. The pony led him to a small, red store with a beige awning. The building itself sat across from the village's clock tower. After haphazardly crouching/proning through the entrance of the tiny establishment, he finally saw what it sold: Axes, chains, wheel barrels, and other semi-useful items.

"Here ya are, take your pick I guess, do ya even have any bits on ya? The question confused Garrosh.

"Bits?" He asked very simply, the pony seemed shocked.

"Where ya from, son?" Garrosh had not the slightest clue why he had just called him "son", nor did he know why all of these "ponies" seemed to speak with a very annoying, almost derelict accent.

"Nagrand, now it's my turn to ask a question, why do all of you creatures speak with such an alien accent?" The pony gave a small chuckle.

"Not all ponies got our accent, just us and some other towns, and ta answer your first question, this is a bit." He pulled a small gold coin from his vest with his hoof.

"Well then no, I have no bits." He spat, returning his gaze to the array of axes. He took his time choosing, evaluating each and every one of them. Although all of them looked fairly simple, he saw axes of all shapes, sizes and conditions. However, one of them had stuck out to him since he had entered the store.

The axe was simplistic in design, but the reason Garrosh had taken an interest in it was for its sturdy appearance. A solid iron handle, wrapped in very worn, brown pleather, that became the blades as it went. A double edged axe, short in length, but forged from a single block of metal, and it did not look very weighty near the blade. It was no doubt meant to combat wood over flesh or armor, but Garrosh was sure that it would be no pushover in battle. The light from the shop's window hit the weapon as he lifted it to level of his eyes, a near spirit guided message to him that this was the axe he would need for the next leg of his journey.

"Do you have second one of this kind?" Garrosh asked, the pony gave it a long, scrutinizing glance.

"Hey Jack!" He suddenly bellowed, and a pony with a dark blue coat and green hair stepped out of the back of the store, probably hiding from the very creature that was now in his store looking for sharp objects.

"Y-y-y-yes S-s-sheriff?" "Jack" managed to stammer out. The mark of a coward, Garrosh thought to himself. It didn't matter to him, as long as he had a duplicate of the axe he desired.

"Ya got another one o' these?" Asked the "Sheriff" holding up the axe that Garrosh had selected.

"B-b-be right b-back Sheriff." The cowardice pony went back into the unseen part of the store. The silence was nerve-grating, but luckily it didn't last long before the frightened swine came back with what Garrosh wanted. "H-here ya go Sheriff." The other pony pulled more gold coins from his vest and gave them to the shopkeeper, before handing the twin weapons to the orc.

"Here ya go, son, careful with them axes, they're a might sharp." He warned; to which Garrosh scoffed.

"I was born with an axe in my hand." He boasted as he took his new weapons in his hands and gave them a few good experimental swings (As experimental as he could, he could barely move without bumping into something in the place), hearing a mortified whimper from the back of the shop as he did so. The pony then finally asked the question that Garrosh wanted to hear.

"Anything else you want, big boy?" Garrosh thought long and hard before asking his next question.

"Do you have any meat vendors here?" He didn't know why, but the pony's eyes widened, (If that was even possible; these creatures' eyes were disproportionate to their heads to start with.) and he started to sweat.

"N-n-no, we ain't got no meat vendors, but i'm sure ya can find some stuff to.....Eat in the Everfree Forest, it's just up North, if ya follow the railroad you'll reach it in no time." Garrosh perked up at the mention of the word "forest". He had always liked sylvan terrain, it made survival very easy.

"Very well then, take me to this railroad." He ordered, the pony nodded and marched out of the store with the Warchief in tow. They were just heading down the main street when a booming voice stopped him.

"You!" Garrosh turned to see the chieftain buffalo was now back on his hooves, and he looked far from happy. "Where do you think you are going!?" He bellowed, Garrosh was having none of this.

"If you are seeking a second battle, then I would recommend you carve your head stone first." He seethed before turning his back to him, but the buffalo was not done.

"Why spare me when you yourself said 'to the death'?" Garrosh stopped to contemplate his answer as the Chieftain continued. "....If you said 'to the death' was the only honorable way to duel." Garrosh had found his answer by then.

"Because, an old friend would not have wanted me to." He said with a voice cold and cruel as death. He got to the railroad and proceeded to follow it. "I take my leave, and I thank you for your aid, horse creatures!" But he was not done there. "And thank you, Chieftain Thunderhooves, for an excellent fight!" He then broke into a jog, breaking most of the wooden rail ties where he was running in the process. He took inventory as he did so: Clothes, real weapons, food, and water. He kept up his pace, intending to reach the "Everfree Forest" by nightfall.

---

Breaburn could do little but stand there and watch as the brown colossus made his way down the train tracks and away from Appleloosa. He looked back to see all the buffalo, all the ponies, and even the Sheriff gathering around Chief Thunderhooves not only to ask if he bore any injuries from the beast, but also to hear his take on what had just happened. Breaburn couldn't have cared less at that moment, for he knew only two things. One: That he knew that scream from before, and two: That that monster was heading to the Everfree, which grew to the south border of Ponyville. He would have to write a letter to his cousin, warning her to keep her eyes open for any large, brown behemoths, but before all this was to happen, he had to find Toffee and see if she was alright.

So while everypony was swarming Thunderhooves curiously, he darted through the ally way where the beast had originally come from. Once there, he saw his marefriend lying motionless in the dirt. His eyes went wide; his face contorted into an expression of pure terror as he felt himself intake a breath in the form of a gasp, but right before he screamed out her name, he saw that she was still breathing. removing his hat with great haste and tossing it to one side, he covered the short distance between him and the unconscious mare in a flash. "Toffee?" he whispered as he frantically checked her body for the slightest of wounds. After finding none at all and re-donning his stetson, he was left to wonder why the creature hadn't killed her, or why she had screamed in the first place. "Probably jus' from seein' that awful thing...." he thought as her tenderly lifted her onto his back, careful not to forget her top hat. He then proceeded to carry her to his home. His trip went thoroughly unnoticed by the ponies and buffalo, as they were pulled into the short yet frightening tale of Chief Thunderhooves' battle with the enormous beast. Why they all wished to hear it from him when they had all witnessed it with their own eyes he'd never know.

Once to his bluish-green, brown-roofed abode, opening the door was rather tricky, for not only did he not want to drop Toffee, but he couldn't for the life of him find a suitable place to put her hat. Finally settling for placing it on the rail of his porch, he at last was able to get the door open. Now that he was inside, he began the very arduous task of ascending the stairs to his bedroom. Once that hassle was over and done with, he laid Toffee softly down on his bed. After fetching her a cool, wet washcloth for her no-doubt aching head, he kissed her lightly upon the cheek, turned around, trotted back down stairs, and set her hat on his coat rack by the door. He then walked into his work room up to his desk to begin the construction of what would be one of the most bizarre letters he'd ever written to anypony. He just hoped it would beat that monster to Ponyville.

---

It had been a strange day for Princess Celestia to say the very least: First, she had woken up with a mind-numbing headache, which was not a common occurrence even if she'd had a few evening glasses of wine right before bed; then Luna had decided to stay awake all day today; now she couldn't even find Luna to save her own life! She wandered the castle for many minutes before finally gaining a clue were her sister might have gone, and what a clue it was. She saw one of those damnable "Shadowbolts" flying straight for one of the far towers. So she took a deep breath and focused her magic on the staircase of the tower, using an ancient trick that she had never taught anypony to silence her teleportation. It never ever failed. Having successfully teleported inside the tower, she ascended several steps and put her ear to the tower's room door, hoping that Luna was not in there and that the Shadowbolts were just foaling around; her hopes were for not.

"Nothing? nothing!? What do you mean you found nothing!? We know we felt a disturbance last night, you cannot sit here and tell us that you found, NOTHING!" She heard Luna screech, obviously endeavoring to suppress any traces of the Canterlot Voice. She then heard the voice of one of those scourged pegasus.

"We did several flights over exactly where you told us to go, but all we saw was sand and rock." She didn't like how she addressed her sister as if she herself had as much authority. Celestia heard Luna's exasperated groan before anypony spoke again.

"Are you certain you searched everywhere?" Luna asked, to which the black-hearted Bolt responded not long after.

"We're certain, Princess." After finally addressing her as she should have the whole time, Luna gave a defeated sigh before speaking again.

"Very well, Nightshade, you have our leave." She stated blankly.

"....Sorry we couldn't do more." Said Nightshade before Celestia heard what sounded like a mass take-off, but one evidently did not.

"B-b-but that's it? You don't have any other missions for us?!" The pony questioned, sounding a bit frightened of the prospect of no further work.

"No, subject, We do not. Now return to the barracks before your team replaces you." Luna ordered coldly. Celestia decided to risk slowly cracking the door and taking a peek inside the room. The first thing she saw was the final Shadowbolt departing in-flight straight through one of the windows. Celestia then averted her gaze to her sister who was faced away from her unmoving. She just sat there forlornly for what even Celestia thought might have been an eternity. After the length of time had passed and Celestia was just about to find the courage to enter the room, she saw Luna turning and heading for the door. Celestia quickly withdrew her head from near the door and backed a few steps down the stairs, waiting for Luna's exit. She didn't have to wait for more then a mere few seconds.

"Good afternoon, Luna." She said as casually as possible immediately after her sister had opened the door. Luna let a gasp escape her mouth as she jumped back slightly, before regaining her composure.

"Sister! What are you doing here?" Celestia was suspicious of Luna's response to her presence.

"I was looking for you, dearest sister, and now I find you held away in a tower with none other than those wicked Shodowbolts." Celestia cast her sister a somewhat betrayed expression as she spoke. "Hiding something from your own sister, I cannot believe you would trust those mercenaries with something over your own sister." Celestia chided her, but she did ,however, wait for Luna to give her response.

"Sister please, 'tis not as what you think that at all." Luna took a deep breath while scanning the rest of the staircase before continuing. "Last night while you slept, We felt.... Some sort of disturbance, but did not wish to wake you, nor did we wish to seem weak or overly-dependent by simply running to you with our problem." she looked down at the floor as she spoke. "We tried to fix it ourselves, to show you that we could do things ourselves; we see now how foalish the idea was. I'm sorry sister." Celestia walked up and nuzzled her affectionately, and spoke as she did so.

"You don't have to prove anything to me, my dear Luna." After a brief moment, she teleported them both back to the throne room before speaking once more. "Guard!" She commanded a nearby Royal Guard; he gave a salute before doing anything else, so Celestia continued. "Inform the Wonderbolts that I require their presence, tell them that it's of utmost urgency." She ordered calmly; the guard nodded before taking his leave. She then turned to face Luna again. "Luna, I need you to tell me everything you felt, down to even the slightest of details."

Author's Note:

Here's the third update for this story that I'm now addicted to writing. I've also started writing another story, so my speed may or may not be cut in half.

Also, heterosexual Breaburn?! What is this blasphemy?! I honestly have no reason for this other than the abundance of homosexual Breaburn fiction. I really wanted to step out of the box on this one.

On two final note, I despise writing the southern accent, and her is a picture of Garrosh's new weapons, in case my description didn't do them justice.

Comments

[Alex Wadegrove]

4204198 Ah. That's a relief.

[Swan Song]

A couple general thoughts on your grammar structure.

You end dialogue on a period and capitalize the first letter of the explanation. Dialogue should generally be ended with a comma, and the following narration should be uncapped, as if they were one sentence.

For example,

"I demand tea." Said Celestia.

should be

"I demand tea," said Celestia.

You can use an exclamation or question mark instead of the comma.

"I demand tea!" said Celestia.

Also, when a character's dialogue has ended and another person is doing something, you should break it into a new line.

For example,

"I'm sorry sister." Celestia walked up and nuzzled her affectionately, and spoke as she did so.
"You don't have to prove anything to me, my dear Luna."

should be

"I'm sorry sister."
Celestia walked up and nuzzled her affectionately, and spoke as she did so.
"You don't have to prove anything to me, my dear Luna."