Old Family and Older Wars

by Hope

Chapter 6

"You poor poor remnant," Khorne sighed, smirking as he strode into the room, his armored bulk shuddering with each step that shook the stone. “Here with two mortals, attempting to establish yourself as a serious contender in this war, attempting to stop it. But you’re not even a third of your Self, much less knowledgeable enough in the current conflict to oppose it on even footing.”

Celestia, Cadance, and Tempest took note of the soldiers who followed in Khorne’s wake, frantic twitching things full of passion, staring at them like a meal to be had.

“Yet oppose it I must, as I always opposed your mindless pursuit of power, and the pursuits of blindly ambitious humans, come to these halls to steal. It is all the same to me, Khorne,” Celestia said, frowning. “It is just a repeat of the same games we have been playing for eons, the ones I finally, in isolation, grew beyond. Even now, here, in the Eye of the Storm, the very seat of our power, I could seize it. I could obliterate you, and you know it. Just as you could reach for that same power, trying to beat me to it. Have you grown shy of oblivion? Too much at stake, too much fun in the continuance of your battles?”

“Blood for the blood god!” The hoard of creatures behind Khorne cried out at the mention of battles.

“I don’t care about your philosophy,” Khorne admitted, shrugging a little. “I care about your passions, Celestia. Same as before, action and bravery is my language. So if you wish to show me how you will stop the war, then do so. Show me, and please stop talking.”

A golden shield was thrown up just before Khorne’s massive axe slammed into it, splitting it but held back from reaching Celestia’s neck, as Khorne’s hoard of berserkers roared and charged forwards.

Cadance took to the air immediately, knowing her advantage and then blasting the few of Khorne’s followers that tried to follow her into the vaulted ceiling of the Cathedral of Chaos.

Her pink blasts did not kill her targets, but transformed them by force, crystal spreading across their bodies until they landed with crunching thuds on the floor among their former allies.

Tempest’s crackling magic scorched a few, but her physical combat prowess was her main weapon, battering and slipping between the berserkers before using magical spheres that turned swaths of them into stone, which was easy for her to shatter.

“Blood!” Khorne roared.

“Blood for the Blood God!” his army roared in reply.

But Celestia just laughed, as he drew back his axe and brought it down, only for Celestia to vanish in a poof of sunlight, reappearing above Khorne.

“I do so hope you are not disappointed by this battle,” Celestia taunted. “It’s not your normal fare, endless bodies littering the floor, only three of us!”

“They will have to be enough,” Khorne growled before ignoring Celestia and striking out, his axe cutting through five of his own before bisecting Tempest, who screamed in pain, squirming on the ground.

However…

“They do not bleed?!” Khorne shouted in horror, staring at the pony who certainly had internal organs but in no way was bleeding. In fact, a shimmering light that drifted out of her veins seemed to power her, rather than blood.

“Celestia!” Tempest cried out. “I’m sorry!”

“You have done nothing wrong, my little pony,” Celestia said softly. “And you will rise again.”

Celestia’s horn lit and the spark of magic within Tempest was pulled out of her, the body falling still as Celestia reclaimed that small fragment of power.

“What sort of disgusting things have you made, that they do not bleed?!” Khorne asked as he turned to face Celestia again among his fallen warriors.

“Well, brother, I know your proclivities and I had no wish to draw your attention to my demidomain,” Celestia chuckled. “I may bleed, as would my sister and brother. But my ponies, well… They are powered by friendship,” she said with a smirk.

Khorne looked as disgusted as a chaos god with warped inhuman features could possibly look, as the crystal golems Cadance had been busy making began to stir, and rise from where they had fallen.

“Celestia, I’m ready,” Cadence said from the rafters.

“Ah, well, time for the battle to begin in earnest,” Celestia shrugged, before she cast a spell and surrounded one of the crystal golem-ponies in Tempest’s magic.

It opened teal eyes, and smiled.

“At arms,” she declared in an echoing voice, leading the small army of golems to face their enemies, and engage.

The battle was bloody, as Khorne would have wished, but when he stood alone against two dozen golems, cutting them down without any bloody reward, listening to Celestia’s mocking laughter, he finally stopped, glaring up at her.

“You rob me of the bloodshed I crave!” he objected.

“And that is what I will do every time you confront me,” Celestia said, amused, as she landed in front of him. “My brother, if you seek to oppose me, if your forces come to bear, then you will face an endless pointless battle, in which my ponies return, again and again in spirit. But no blood, no anguish, if I can prevent it. So is this a war you would wish to wage with me?”

Khorne beheld Celestia in a new light, and grimaced.

“Where did you learn to be so insidious, Celestia, formerly of Malal?”

---

“No, thou art wrong,” Starswirl the bearded said sharply.

Celestia spit the sword out of her mouth and laughed, shaking her head as Luna carefully struck the training dummy nearby.

Here was a creation of hers, practically a doll with a mind, telling it’s creator that she didn’t know what she was doing.

“Whence comes the threat which I hath not magic to slay?” she asked incredulously. “Upon thy own beard, mine own horn hath no equal, nay?”

“Till day comes thou art outclassed, or upon thy horn a blade falls by chance,” Starswirl snapped. “Thy magic wields the force of thine star it is true, Celestia. Ought no force besides become useful to thee? Thou wert wondrous upon a demonstration of mine portal of Di-mensi-ons, what else might find thee unprepared?”

Celestia fumed, but picked up the sword in her teeth again, the thick grip awkward in her mouth as she struck the dummy, teeth aching from the strike but she was able to see where she’d struck. It was a deep enough cut in the straw to do damage.

“Again,” Starswirl said simply.

Celestia complied with her creation’s demand.

It took years of work, years of ponies teaching Celestia new ways of seeing the world, and years of her listening to them to become who she was now.

Celestia was no longer a god or goddess of chaos. Celestia was no longer a deity of any sort. She was a leader, and one that took full advantage of the skills of her allies.

Comments

[duithy]

it lives

[Argentyros]

Pretty much the only way to truly deal with Khorne. It would take essentially locking him into permanent stasis to prevent him from fighting in some fashion or other, in terms of directly trying to oppose him. Robbing his fighting of any satisfaction, and making him CHOOSE to stop, is much less resource (magic) intensive, and probably better in the long run..

[sykko]

I wonder how The Anathame would react to this? Unless this was all part of his mucking about with the great game.