Bloodlines

Bloodlines

There have been quite a lot of those, throughout Equestria. Few families today care to keep record into the distant past and those who do, are mostly nobles, who brag about their heritage. But there is one pony in particular, that has very detailed records of every single bloodline in Equestria. And that, is Celestia herself.

It might sound a little creepy, to think about it, but it all started and still is, made with good intentions. The princess cares for her little ponies, above anything else, with the exception of maybe her sister. And it is to study them a little. Certain families showing inherited traits, bound by the experiences they make in their childhood.

Some seem to errantly mix and disappear. Of course the heritage remains. The oldest dates reach all the way back, to the rather chaotic times, of her ascent to the throne. It was a time of unrest, shortly after discord rule and the ponies did not yet trust the sisters, fearing they were replaced by another, overwhelming power, that sought to subjugate them and rule with cruelty.

And shamefully those paranoid thoughts, instilled from decades of terror and fear, were gathering large followership in the distant parts of Equestria, where the ponies had not witnessed the kindness of the rulers. Nobles armed themselves, traders feared for their possession and the common folk rounded around the ones they knew and trusted, over the newly arrived, unknown alicorn.

But well, that are things to be expected. It was also something the princesses learned to deal with. Even if it broke their heart, they had to lead a small, but still viscous campaign against the misguided rebellion. And while they tried their best to not hurt too many ponies, they knew, if they showed weakness and hesitation, even more of their ponies would die in the long run.

They were hard, but fair to their enemies and kind to those that changed their ways, or even simply remained neutral. Though, all of that, was not why Celestia decided to keep a record on all bloodlines and ancestors of her little ponies. What bloomed into a hobby of hers, started, with a rather grim reason.

The Spellblade family. Mercenaries. Soldiers. Criminals. It was a small family, that seemed to just pop up randomly here and there over Equestria. Always a single one of them, and none looked alike. Nearly none was even called Spellblade. But they all shared two things. Their father and the thing that gave them their name. A spell blade.

Nowadays the term is just used for simple, enchanted weapons, or weapons that could mostly be used by unicorns, or a few skilled pegasi. But in the old days of unrest, they were the name of a small group of maybe the most dangerous weapons, that was ever created, outside of the personal armaments of the princesses themselves. And rarely were they used for good.

Over the 15 years of the war, only 8 of them had shown up, but each one had left devastation in lives in their wake. Nearly all records of them are lost to time and censorship. All but one destroyed. Or so Celestia hoped. She hated to lie to her ponies and try to suppress the knowledge of the weapons, but their very existence was a risk.

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Winter, 3 years after Discord's fall. 4th day after the longest night.

Argunum Cliff was a relatively small mining city, perched between two tall mountains, far north of Equestria. But despite it's small size and it's distant location, it was still a rather wealthy one. Thanks to the rich veins of silver, which had a very high quality too, it had gotten the count who owns it, very rich. The miners were living in good conditions too, and the fortune of the population kept racking up.

That had allowed them, to gather a large army of mercenaries, when they feared for their wealth. But now, everything laid in ruin. The formerly lively town, was covered in large chunks of rock and ice. It pained Celestia to see this. Partly, because she was responsible for it. But she did not avert her eyes, instead, she decided to burn this moment into her memories, to never commit such a horrible mistake again.

Looking down further, she could see spikes of rock, that had erupted from the ground near the entrance of the village, and where her soldiers were camping now. Another pang of pain, this time not only from guilt, but also from her lower rib cage, as well as her hips. A quick flash of her horn, and the pains dulled again.

“Does it still hurt, your highness?” came a voice from the side, tearing the ruler out of her thoughts. Fanning Hammers, a former blacksmith, that had joined her army, was standing behind her, with his eyes showing great concern. His gaze was trained on the bandages around the princess's barrel and back legs.

“Pay it no mind.. But, can you tell me more, about the.. The weapon?” She hesitated to even call it that. The memories of the fight had caused her to see it more like a catastrophe, rather than a tool for war.

“Yes and no.. Try as we might, we can not.. evoke it's effect. Me 'n Sheets have been trying our best to understand it, but it's been eluding us. It's magical in some way, sure. But... Try as we might, we can't figure it out.” he sounded a little frustrated, his bushy, red eyebrows pulled into a furrow.

“Is also driving Sheets crazy. Says he ain't ever seen something like it. Magic feels bad he says, hell if I know what he means. All I can tell, is that the thing is made out of pretty good steel. Seems to also be a bit hollow or so, from the soun' of it, but it's still really heavy. But as far as I can tell, it's just a war hammer.” He finally concluded, still seemingly annoyed as his inability to help the princess with her request.

Sighing softly, the alicorn turned around and limped past the soldier, who fell in line behind her. Finally, she addressed him, with a gentle smile. “It is alright, Mr. Hammers. It might have been crafted magically, maybe bound to a phrase or so.. I will speak with Archmage Ink about it.” Her wings were fine, but each flap would send pain through her cracked ribs, thus she opted to walk through the fresh snow.

Reaching the camp, she walked past the prisoners, who looked at her with baleful eyes. They had lost everything. And Celestia was partially to blame for it. Still, she strode with her head held high, or rather, limped with as much poise as she could, past the former villagers, up to a large tent. And with a last look towards the destroyed town, she stepped inside.

“No, no.. Nononono! That is not possible!” Came the voice of a rather young stallion, from within. Ink Sheets. Prodigy of his time, well, second only to Starswirl. Still, the unicorn was promising and where Starswirl was a lot more.. Innovative with his methods, Ink was a by the book stallion. But right now, he seemed a little frantic.

He could not have been older than 17, too young to be in such a position, but he had been the student of the former wizard guild master and thus had been officially elected as the archmage. Even if he was smart enough to delegate that position to the older and more experienced unicorns. Celestia always mused that he was also too young for war, but the pale beige colored stallion, with the knife on paper as a cutiemark, had insisted to join on her campaign.

Right now however, he seemed to freak out about something. A thin, metallic sheet flew by his side, something, that he seemed to line the inside of his cloak with. Celestia had never seen him use it much, only to hold a few supplies. It was the thing that had given Ink the title of a genius. Sheets of metal, that responded to his will, more than his magic, allowing him to focus on his spells, while the metal were used for menial task, like gathering scrolls and holding ingredients.

A spell unique to him. And right now the metal sheet was dragging over the handle of the hammer, and then practically disappeared into the floor, where it soon after exited, leaving just the tiniest, perfect cut. The moment he noticed Celestia, he froze and the sheet of metal disappeared under his cloak. “Y-your highness!” He bowed deeply, the anger still not having left his voice.

“I was just.. doing some experiments.. I did not notice you.” the stallion was usually rather polite and soft spoken and not easy to anger. It concerned Celestia, to see him like this, but she held her mask of serene dignity. She let the stallion gather his composure, before she cleared her throat.

“It is quite alright, Archmage. I take it that you did not make progress?” She asked, trying to stir the topic into a professional direction, which he seemed to appreciate.

“Yes and no.. I have..” he hesitated, seemingly struggling with something, then he sighed and shook his head. “All I have found out, is that this thing is enchanted in some way, but it is impossible to tell in what way, as every single spell glides off of it. According to my magic there is nothing there. I can not hold onto the hammer. It is not absorbed, it is not passing through it, but it is like there is nothing to hold onto. But I can literally lift it's handle with my hooves..

“It is infuriating.” Something rung in the back of Celestia's head, but she could not remember it well and Ink was already continuing on. “But as far as I can tell.. beside it, it is impossible to invoke the power. Not by any phrases, not by any magic impulses, which would make sense, given the.. late owners condition. I can not gauge anything from this weapon anymore, and I fear there is nothing to gain from this. But perhaps you could describe the fight to me? Or better, you could show me your memory.”

She raised an eyebrow. Mind magic had been the initial breakthrough, of the aspiring mage, linked to his talent, to seemingly gauge informations very well. Especially from others. Though, it caused them to either briefly, or sometimes permanently lose that knowledge, as it was indeed, a sort of gauging it out. Still, other than that, the process was harmless and Celestia had shown resistant to the negative effect, due to her alicorn status. Still, she was hesitant to share the exact information with the mage.

Though, after a few seconds she nodded. “Very well then.. But be careful, it was a rather.. Intense experience.” With a nod from him, she lowered her head slightly and Ink cast his spell. The tent bled away and Celestia was greeted with a similar sight, from earlier this day.

Only this time the village was still in pristine conditions and a lot of dead soldiers laid scattered over the ground, most torn into two. Here and there were red smudges on the ground. They also indicated former soldiers. Anger and sorrow waged within Celestia, as her usually calm gaze was hefted onto the stallion, that was flanked by a few archers. With a simple spell she could enhance her vision and see the burly pony.

He was tall, nearly rivaling her height, and clad in a rather standard looking garb of iron. Though on his shoulders he was lazily balancing a massive war hammer. This stallion was dangerous. Celestia could practically feel it. Something was wrong about him. It reminded her of someone, but she could not place her finger on it.

According to her troops this stallion had practically singlehandedly won them the battle, with something obscure. The huge earthpony, with his weapon, had apparently summoned massive spikes of earth, under the guards, or simply turned them to red dust on direct impact. Not even pegasi were save, as he apparently lobbed large rocks into the air with frightening speed and precision.

They called him Spire. Tall, lethal and oddly enough, absolutely quiet. Even now she could not pick anything up from the pony, while all others around him were exchanging both worried and relieved chatter. He seemed unaware of her, only watching the camp of guards in the distance. Was he trying to break through there? He actually raised his hammer, and she readied herself, but he just made a gesture of swinging it towards her soldier's encampment, with nothing happening. She relaxed a little and then steeled her resolve.

Opening her wings, she took into the sky, her golden armor reflecting the sunlight, now that she stepped out of the shadow of a pine tree. Descending onto the ground. Her arrival had immediately spurred the guards into a frenzy. All of them disappeared behind the gates of the town, except the lone stallion. He stood there, more focused now, the smile wiped off of his face, replaced by a serious look. His red brown eyes seemed to scan and evaluate her and suddenly Celestia felt even more wary.

As the look he gave her was not one of ignorant arrogance. But one of confidence. It was in the way he was actually not leaving himself open, but rather held the weapon between himself and her. And yet, he was not flinching back, and still he said nothing to her. Drawing her spear from it's holster on her back, she began to level it with him. Then she showed a serene smile and her horn flared, as she dashed forward. The next thing she knew was pain. At the time, she had not noticed what happened, but now that she relived it, she could process it.

Her plan had been, to simply drag his weapon away with telekinesis and then run him through with her spear. Instead, nothing had happened and he simply thrust the hammer forward, like a spear, himself. The moment it impacted with her midsection, a booming sound was heard and she was thrown backwards, against a stonewall, her entire front bruised. Her spear had been dropped in the process, laying on the ground, where she had been a moment ago.

Her ears were ringing, her balance was thrown off, as she tried to stand up, and her body felt, like it had been hit by a meteor. The Spire looked surprised on the other hand, standing there with a slightly dumbfounded expression, but he seemed to recover way faster than her, as she noticed him already swinging at her.

It was only her messed up sense of balance that rescued her, as her addled brain saw the distant swing like an immediate attack and she fell over, in an attempt at a dodge roll. A spike of rock sprang from the ground and impaled against the wall, where she just had leaned against. Something red and sticky ran over her face, as she got back to her feet and as she reached up to her ears and pulled away the golden armored glove, she saw that it was tainted red.

Her front was hurting still and as more and more senses returned to her, she felt the intense pressure on her chest, but she was unable to look down, thanks to the neck guard of her armor. And she was given no time. What had only taken about a second, had allowed her silent opponent to launch another attack at her, literally, as another rock shot at her, this time through the air. Another tumbling, hasting dodge.

She tried to cast a spell, to heal her worst injuries or muffle the pain, but her head was still ringing and she could barely breathe. There was no sound, except that intense ringing and her vision faded in and out. But she could not allow herself to fall unconscious. She had bested Discord, lord of chaos. She would not die to some random stallion with an enchanted weapon!

Anger and pure fear for her survival started to flood her. Where magic failed to dull the pain, adrenaline took over. Her muscles reacted, if slow, to her desperate commands and while her vision and hearing were still more than spotty, she at least got herself coordinated enough to avoid the following attacks.

Although, with each attack he was getting closer and she got less and less time to dodge, but in her wild frenzy, she noticed something. There was only one spire at a time, one rock flying her way at a time. He always seemed to need to end his attack, before he could launch another. Still, he continued to do so with increasing speed, now that he was closing in. And so she did the only thing she could think of in this moment.

She fled. She flapped her wings, the muscles in her chest and back tearing at her cracked rips and her mouth opened to a bloodied, silent scream. Or maybe it was loud, she could not hear it. But she managed to gain distance from that one flap. And while she uneasily rose to her feat, she actually managed to deflect a projectile with a simple burst of her magic.

She then registered, that she at least could muster as much. Though spells were still out of her reach. That single mistake at the start had cost her so much. Now she was unarmed and fleeing for her life. Her mind was unable to cope with the situation and how it had come to this. But as she ran in a panic and skipped and stumbled and fell, she suddenly tripped over something.

Barely managing to keep herself from falling onto her already caved in armor, she noticed, that it had been her spear. In an attempt to at least get back into a somewhat fighting shape, she reached for it, but a new pain shot through her and she was whipped around. The world seemed to spin around her and her hips were on fire. As she had reached for the weapon, the Spire had thrown his hammer and it had collided with her hips.

This time she only felt the boom, as it dented in her highly enchanted armor and shattered her hip bones. Again only her alicorn durability and the powerful armor were keeping her alive. But as she was thrown through the air from the impact, she saw the Spire actually running after his hammer, which laid next to her spear. In a moment, where her consciousness faded, and the pain became so overwhelming, it vanished, she found herself in a nearly serene moment.

Her horn lit up and even as her weapon spun out of sight, she could still feel the weapon, she had crafted herself, over months, responding to her last attempt and it just blindly righted itself up and shot forwards. And as darkness overtook her, she thought about her sister. And how she hoped she would be fine.

The link cut out and Celestia let out a pained gasp. Ink was tumbling back, eyes wide and panting. He had felt the pain and suffocating of the armor pressing onto her lungs. And he was not blessed with near immortality and legendary endurance. He was shivering and retching, before he fell onto the ground. The princess was fairing slightly better. Shaking her head, she stared at the hammer beside her and deep down, she felt fear.

Summoning up her spear, she started to channel more and more energy into it, causing her head and horn to hurt from the strain, before she simply shot the spear through the head of the hammer. There was brief resistance, but it was soon evaporated and the spear shot into the ground, through the hammer head, melting a hole into it and then the stone down below, leaving the weapon ruined.

Ink saw it, with his eyes widening slightly, in awe and terror. But the alicorn did not notice. She stared at the ruined weapon and recalled her spear from deep underground. As soon as it return, she shouldered it and left the tent. Only to face the prisoners of the village again. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Apparently he spear, also laden with magic, and several of her shots had hot the mountainside to the left and caused an avalanche.

While the spear had hit the Spire, it had not killed him. Apparently, with a wound through his chest, he used his own hammer to create massive spikes of rock, that held of the avalanche, allowing the villagers to escape. But as his powers gave out, the rocks broke and the massive tremors had caused a second avalanche And as it crushed the village and closed in on the fleeing ponies, it had been the quiet stallion, who summoned up a last, massive array of spikes, that still stood, before he simply fell over onto his hammer and died.

The body had been recovered alongside Celestia, while her soldier's had streamed in from their camps, the moment they had seen her take the first hit. But the fight had lasted only half a minute, thus they had only reached her, when it was too late. And then even they had been saved by the Spire. It left a bitter taste in the alicorn's mouth.

Looking over the prisoners, towards the spot where the Spire laid, she felt trepidation. Then she shook her head, turned around and left, towards her own tent, to lay down and rest. It was the first time she had ever felt so close to death. And it left her shaking that night.

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Celestia looked at the destroyed hammer, which was suspended over a pedestal. To this very day she felt unease looking at it. It had been the first and nearly the last time, she had felt this way. Learning from it had been crucial for her future fights and she was glad, that something like this had never happened again. Except..

Looking further down the pedestals, to the last one, she saw a book, with silver pages and her touch went to her left wing, which idly twitched and another shiver ran down her spine.