The Sword and the Shield

It's been a few years and... We won, we did, but I can't help but dwell on it.

After I...murdered...De'mah, Luna and I set about rebuilding our world. I was technically the High Lord of the dragons, but I relegated the title to Aldurmaax and guided him on how best to lead his species in the aftermath of De'mah's zealotry. It was a long process, but eventually we rebuilt. We rebuilt the towns and villages, the cities and hamlets. We rebuilt the castle, and we began moving ponies into 'Tokamelot. We studied what we could of De'mah's spaceship and his ethereal sword, but learned next to nothing. Things were looking up, and then...

Something happened with Luna. She was taken, corrupted, lost. I don't know if it was the dark magic, the rage and anger at De'mah, the fact she wasn't able to strike him down along with me. I never told her the truth of how I murdered him, and so she was left to believe that she'd been left behind, unable to exact revenge upon De'mah. She blamed me, accused me of wanting to exclude her from our kingdom's affairs. She...attacked me... I'd had no choice but to use the Elements. She sleeps now, interred in her beautiful moon. For how long I don't know. A thousand years? More? Less? It will take a strong and pure soul to cleanse her of her wickedness, but I know it will not be me. My heart has been too tainted by the poison of De'mah 'Tokam.

With Lulu gone I had our castle boarded up and sealed off, and I moved to 'Tokamelot, renamed it Canterlot, and settled in. I had De'mah's ship destroyed, its pieces reduced to cinders, and had a mausoleum built for him, deep in the underhalls. I placed his sword in with his body, and it is often that I stand before his sarcophagus, staring at the blank stone, lost in thought. It is less often that I slide off the tomb's cover and stare at his skeleton, encased in his now-dull armor. I stare at the empty eye sockets of his skull, at the jagged hole in his armor's chestplate, at the runes and sigils the dragons carved into the plates and greaves and pauldrons. Were they dragon runes? Or Forerunner? Would I ever know the truth about his species and the Forerunners?

Did I want to know?

...Life goes on, though. I am alone, in a hollow city, not more than a ten minute trot from my con, my lie, my sin. Aldurmaax governs the dragons, and they swear loyalty to the Kingdom of Equestria and our peaceful ideals. It alarmed me to learn that they still worship De'mah, but there is nothing I can do about this. I am left to just believe in Aldurmaax's assurances that they respect and revere him only as a mighty warrior, and are committed to upholding their new ideals of peace and harmony.

Doubts still linger.

As we begin to move on from the shadow of De'mah 'Tokam, though, I stare at the pale moonlit sky, the Sangheili's bones entombed beneath my hooves, and pray to mother that I will one day see my sister again, and that together we will build a brighter future for all of our planet.

One can only dream.

Far from Equestria, from its star and moon, its lush fields and blue oceans, was Sanghelios. Arid, dry, as dangerous as it was beautiful. Among many of its states was 'Tokam, the third most powerful. Its elders, wise and aged, had convened, as they had many times before, to once again discuss their kin.

It had seemed intriguing. A world so unlike their own, verdant and green, yet ungraced by the Forerunners' magnificence. What's more, it was home to numerous alien species, each with their own culture and customs. Their kin had waged a righteous war in the name of the Forerunners and 'Tokam, but it had been long since he had been heard from.

"There is nothing. There is no name to this planet, its star system, its coordinates. It is without description beyond that which could be seen by one's own eyes, and it has been many cycles since we have been graced by one of De'mah's messages. We have come to accept that he is lost to us, and we must now accept that it is unlikely we shall ever again see him" one of the elders said.

Another nodded. "A grim but pragmatic attitude. Still, what he told us was of great interest. That a world of numerous intelligent species had emerged without the influence of the Forerunners is worth seeking out, if only to learn more of how this came to be. Imagine what we could learn."

"De'mah insisted there was nothing to learn but that it was plagued by cowards and weaklings. This may be, but that is but one perspective. I regret that De'mah did not see fit to tell us of this world's location, so that we might appreciate it for ourselves."

"I've no doubt in De'mah's assessment of this planet. If he declared it to be a world of Doarmir's, then I trust his judgment and agree with him: we'd have learned nothing from them, and without any gifts of the Forerunners to guard the world would've been little more than a scientific curiosity" said yet another elder.

"We cannot retain ourselves to Sanghelios forever, brother. The Forerunners' gifts proved to the first of our kind that we had once been graced by a wise and benevolent race, and De'mah's discovery proved that we are again not alone in this universe. De'mah insisted it was a world of cowards, but he also spoke of these Div creatures, a warrior-culture, as honorable as our own. Unity with another powerful intelligent species would be nothing but beneficial to the future of the Sangheili, particularly if they truly were as powerful as De'mah indicated" the first elder said.

"Whatever we may think, the point is moot. There are no coordinates, no navigation charts, nothing. De'mah, his Div, and his verdant world are now lost to us. In time, his word will spread to the other city-states, 'Tumai, 'Vadam, and the others, and perhaps one day, far from now, our kind will once again set foot on this unknown planet and judge, for ourselves, the merit of its native peoples. Whether we judge them well or judge them ill is a decision for our descendants. We can only hope to guide their thinking, and hope it is through their wisdom and honor that they make the right decision."

"One can only dream, brother. One can only dream."

Author's Note

So full of hate were our eyes that none of us could see.

Our war would yield countless dead, but never victory...

And so it ends! This journey has reached its destination, and I very much hope that you enjoyed riding along. What is next for me I do not know, but I enjoyed writing this story. It felt so...cathartic, to write out the tale of De'mah 'Tokam, to depict the nightmarish terror he inflicted on Equestria, once a story relegated to vague flashbacks and the opinions of those who survived his malice, now properly fleshed out. It is true what Princess Celestia said: sins never die, but that is another story for another time. For now, I thank you for reading this, and hope to see you again in the future for more!