Bloodlines

There was no wind today and clouds covered the sky. It was a bleak day, but that seemed appropriate. On the other side of the mountains one could hear a thunderstorm, the sound echoing through the peaks and valleys, but the wall of stone kept it at bay.

Luna was making a few test swings with the hammer, which had already proven to be a match for the blades, but the cage of enchanted metal was probably not, so she would need to be especially careful.

“Are you ready, Luna?” asked Celestia quietly, as Silk took his position and turned towards them.

“Ready as I will ever be.” she responded, rolled her shoulders and readied herself. This time, she and Celestia would fight at once, the taller alicorn taking her position by her sister’s side.

And yet, it was Silk, who initiated the combat. Swinging his staff, he got the blade swirling and spinning around the handle, turning it into a lethal blender. But yet, all blades stuck together, which alerted Celestia, that something might be up. He even held the staff in his grasp, instead of attaching it to his side.

And within a moment he was charging at them. Luna took into the air, while Celestia fired a blinding ball of energy at the charging stallion. Who in turn simply dug one foot into the sandy ground, shot one maneuvering blade straight upwards, cutting Luna off and hit in a wide arc towards Celestia.

Both alicorns reacted quickly, Luna weaving past the hooked blade, to not become a target once more and Celestia dove back. Only for her to feel a pressure on her side, pulling her forward. With wide eyes she realized, that Silk had used the same technique, he had when they first fought, something she had nearly forgotten. It was also odd, because Silk had not shot out his blade. But she found herself trapped, only this time there was not just a halberd descending onto her, but a loudly whirring spiral of death.

Only for the hammer to land in her hands. She had reached towards Luna, who had tossed the magical weapon at her and Celestia used it, to bat against the approaching weapon. Right at the middle of the handle, but she did not activate the vibrations yet. It would not work with the blade still as one, and even if, it would dismantle the weapon alone, not the entire armor.

And she simply knew that that would not be enough. Still, with her action she managed to stop the advancing blade. For whatever reason neither she nor Luna had ever been able to push the stallion back more than a fraction, while they themselves never felt any large amount of force being put into his attacks.

She used the time she bought herself, to swiftly untangle herself and duck away, only for her to hear the change in the whirring sound. Suddenly the hammer was assaulted by an impossible amount of impacts, as the halberd blade briefly split and hit onto the weapon, causing Celestia to nearly drop it.

With a hiss, she ducked away and pulled the hammer with her. She had no time to check if the enchantments were still good, as she was in Silk’s range. And the entire staff turned into a singing tool of death. It was then, when the blades finally sprang over, onto his armor, but he kept his staff in hand.

While the day alicorn gained distance, she passed the hammer to Luna, who was charging at Silk from behind, but suddenly he raised his arm, faster than usual, the elbow bending slightly, and his index pointed straight at Luna.

The alicorns had never seen him do that, but both immediately knew, that this was not good. Luna tried to shield herself with the hammer, while desperately trying to veer off to the side, only for her to realize a little problem. From instinct, she had turned the hammer sideways, for a large area of protection. But there was a huge, molten hole in it from Celestia’s attack.

Suddenly the night alicorn felt three pangs of pain. One in her right arm, one in her right shoulder and the last on her face, drilling through her cheek and exiting through the side of it. A pained gasp escaped her and blood began to flow from three viscious puncture wounds.

Luna knew, that if she had not moved to the side, her throat, the center of her head and her heart would have been pierced instead. Cold fear ran down her spine, but she kept herself together and passed the weapon towards Celestia, while speeding up, to escape the pointing finger, that began tracking her.

Celestia did not have a much better time. For as she tried to land a good hit against the stallion’s side, to end it, he instead transfered the blades onto his weapon and let it expand, cutting along the alicorn’s arms, just as she was about to hit him, causing her to drop the weapon in a pained yelp.

The hammer hit against his side, without doing any damage and without the alicorn being able to activate the runes. Only Luna pulling her sister back with her magic saved Celestia from being diced. Healing spells were cast and Celestia used her spear to lure Silk away from the hammer.

Which Luna picked up and went for an attack again. It was Celestia who was now trying to avoid the pointing fingers, as blades ran along the stallion’s arm. Only for her to be hit by the hooked hip blades, that Silk used. Her eyes widened, but by now they had figured out how to deal with it and her horn blazed, to summon a spire of rock, to intercept him. Only for her left leg and her lower stomach to erupt in pain.

Another four puncture wounds. And that was when Celestia understood. She had not been able to see the projectiles, but there was only one explanation. Silk was shooting the blades off of his finger.

And as she saw the stallion flying towards her, and her own body being pulled towards him, time seemed to slow down. Only for Luna to save her this time. The night alicorn dive bombed Silk, slamming the hammer down onto him.

Forced to deflect the attack with his weapon, driven into the ground and using the blades to push Luna away, before she could reapply her strength, Celestia was given enough time to tear the hook out of her own armor.

There was no thanks between the sisters, as Celestia blasted Silk with another blinding light and Luna disengaged. But Silk did not let up. The butt of his weapon and the finger of his right hand were each directed at a princess.

Luna felt pain shooting through her back and her left wing, as her muscles seized up from the wounds, dooming her to plummet to the ground. Celestia managed to avoid the projectiles and pulled Luna aside, from an upwards slash of the chainblades.

More healing spells and the princesses were both panting from exertion, but they still had more than enough power to continue. And this time, there would be no retreat for them, only victory. Their wounds disappeared, their pain too, while they alternatingly dove at Silk.

Despite their seemingly disadvantageous situation, both princesses had understood something. Each blade he fired was something that Silk was missing. His number of blades dwindled and while they did mostly deal heavy damage, none was fatal and the alicorns could recover.

Silk could not. Still, it seemed that he was putting it all into the fight. His staff was a dangerous extension and change of angle for his slashing chain attacks. He could redirect and change the pace of his slashes and he even sometimes vaulted with it, to gain extra height and speed.

The stallion was practically flying over the arena of rock and sand, that their fights had carved into the mountainside. Blood of the alicorns shone over the ground and flashes of magic and clinging of metal mixed into a symphony of battle.

Until suddenly Luna dropped the hammer and flew upwards. Silk, following her with his hand, did not notice as Celestia suddenly slammed her hooves into the ground, covering the stallion with sand. It was then, when she teleported under the hammer, grasped it firmly and just as Silk was about to lower his hand and point at her, she drove it into his chest.

With a twist of her hands and a little magic, the enchantments activated and the sound of a massive bell being rung, followed by the hideous sound of tearing metal, rang along the mountainside, drowning out even the thunder.

Silk practically exploded in a cloud of blood and metal, as the high velocity blades that remained dug into the armor, tearing it apart and the strings tightened around the shrapnels of metal, dragging the lethal weapon throughout Silk’s body. It was an instant and both alicorns were showered in a painful rain of metal, that riddled them with cuts and a few puncture wounds. But after the moment was gone, they stood alone, with the torn apart remnants of Silk’s armor, and his badly diced up body.

It took them a few seconds, before they could clear their vision and look down at the pony, that they had both come to respect over the last weeks and both gasped in shock. Before them, laid a cut up skeleton. Well, not exactly a skeleton.

But the pony inside the armor looked so incredibly frail. The muscles, atrophied and practically non existent. No mane, no tail. Sure, the pony could not have been older than 30 or so, from appearance, but he looked incredibly sick and weak.

The inside of the armor, as they could see now, was lined with silk and around the joints were complex sets of gears and smaller joints. Celestia put a hand over her mouth and Luna stared solemnly.

Silk had been a cripple. There were few ponies in these times like that, mostly sons and daughters of nobles, as the others simply died. But Silk appeared to have had a case of muscle degeneration. And Celestia assumed it was not because of the armor, but instead, something that was made for him to fight it.

Now all the odd designs at his tailor shop made sense. They had been clothes for himself, to allow Silk to move normally, despite his condition. But neither of the alicorns felt pity. Because Silk did not deserve pity. He deserved admiration. Not because of how brave or strong he was, to fight with that condition, but instead, how well he fought in general.

“We should bury him here..” said Luna finally. “There should be a tombstone for him, or a memorial. He fought valiantly and well. Never before have I met someone of his caliber.”

“Well, we might have met one or two..” said Celestia with a sad smile, trying to lighten the mood a little. To allow herself to taste the victory they had wrung from Silk. “He really did go all out at the end. He barely had any blades left.. And they still did so much damage. Well, he did not suffer.”

Both remained silent, unsure of what to do, until a younger mare trotted up to them. She had to be around 20, or barely so, with a sullen, heartfelt expression. She joined the alicorn sisters and both looked rather surprised and confused. They had never seen this mare before.

“Ahem, I am sorry miss but.. What are you doing here?” asked Luna finally. She looked briefly to her sister, then to the mystery mare.

“Ah, I am sorry. I am his son’s marefriend. I was just checking on Silk, as he had not visited us for a few days in the trading post.” her voice trailed off, her eyes not leaving the dead body before her.

She was a pretty thing, with her amber coat and light brown mane, both well kempt. She might be the daughter of a trader or such. “I guess it was to be expected. We heard, that he was battling you two and well, we were rooting for him but.. You two are gods.” her head hung low and while the words were not said in an accusing way, they still stung.

“He fought better than anyone else.” Luna’s words caused the mare to smile faintly.

“I know. I saw the last bit. I also knew he was having fun. I liked the old fool. He made me my wedding dress, but I… I did not know him too well. Still, I know this will hit Cotton hard. While he and his old man did not see eye to eye, he loved his stupid father. Always making a fool of himself. Could barely speak right. But he went up and fought the gods.” A tear leaked down her eyes, but then she took a shaky breath and looked at Luna and Celestia with a somewhat level gaze.

“What will you do with us now? You practically won already, the cities in the south slowly stop supporting us and our money is running out. Silk here was basically the last thing keeping you from overrunning us entirely.” She was slightly afraid, but tried to stay strong.

Again, Luna and Celestia did not entirely know how to respond, or even how to feel. They felt something akin to guilt, but also resolve. This time it was Celestia who spoke up. “We will allow you to surrender. And even if not, those who do not fight us, will not be killed. Me and my sister, we are not gods. We are not hateful, revenge seeking creatures. We two used to be normal ponies too. Your father in law was a strong adversary, worthy of our respect. He showed us fairness, so we will show it to you just as much.” she put a hand on the mare’s shoulder and showed a motherly smile.

“We will remember Silk’s valiant efforts.”

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After all these years, Celestia was still not sure, if they couldn’t have found a better way. But in the end, it had been respectable of Silk and towards the stallion. Still, Celestia did not really like to remember the fight.

It had been a fair victory in the end. But not one she really liked to have in her books. Still, it had to be done. And to this day, she had kept a few things she learned from Silk. His brilliant combination of simple tasks. The prosthetic work that were still partly used to this day, to allow ponies with disabilities to move more freely.

Silk had, like many of the spellblades, shaped a little bit of Equestria. Just a little, just as the founder of the wonderbolts and the students of Starswirl did. His son had become a large trader, who bridged between the royal siblings, and the revolting merchants, in memory of his father’s respect for the two.

Her heart was still heavy. But in the end, she had taken a lot from the long battle against Silk. Something, that had helped her and Luna well, in the upcoming battles.