The Other Half

It was a quiet morning. Calm, serene. For this, Princess Celestia was grateful. Signs of Discord's chaos still lingered, and they were all still recovering, but even as the efforts to rebuild continued Celestia appreciated more each day the quiet stillness.

Deep in the beautiful Everfree lied the castle she shared with her sister, Luna, the modest palace rising above the treetops. Celestia stood atop one of the towers, looking out at the nearby hamlet of Ponyville. The castle hadn't been damaged much during Discord's defeat, and so efforts to rebuild had focused on the towns and villages that had suffered most from his madness.

The years had been horrible. Discod had been truly insane, twisting and altering the very fabric of reality on a whim, with no purpose or justification for it all. He simply ran amok as he desired, leaving a trail of suffering and madness in his wake. Lives lost, lives ruined, it mattered not to the King of Chaos. Sealing him away had brought Celestia great satisfaction and relief.

"My sister, is all well with you this day?" Celestia heard from behind, and she turned to find her sister before her. Luna's expression was unreadable, but Celestia could see the concern in her eyes. Many thought her sister implacable, enigmatic. Nothing could be further from the truth, Celestia knew. Her sister was a caring and empathetic soul.

"Yes, of course, Lulu. Everything is fine. I was considering paying a visit to the nearby village, if you'd like to accompany me" Celestia said, and Luna nodded. Together the two of them descended the stairs of the tower, down to the winding halls of the castle, and out to the grassy fields.

"Tis another of your fine days, Tia. Not so beautiful as my midnight canvas, of course, but a certain charm to it" Luna said, a barely perceptible smile upon her face, which Celestia returned.

"Yes, well, it would hardly be fair to steal all the light from you" Celestia replied. "If I did, how would one see once the sun has gone down? They'd all blunder about. Hardly anything would get done at night if we had to spend all our time during it apologizing to each other for bumping together."

"Hmm, of course" Luna said, her smile widening. She wasn't a laughing sort, Celestia knew, but her smile was more than enough. She only wished more ponies would take note of her sister's beauty, rather than heap all their praise upon the day Princess.

The pair quickly reached the small farming hamlet, their subjects bowing as they passed. Apple farming was Ponyville's economy, along with spending from travelers on the way to the Castle of the Two Sisters. Ponyville's Apple Inn* was said to be one of the homeliest inns in all the land. Celestia tended to agree, though she couldn't publicly endorse any private business, lest it lead to an unfair edge for the inn.

As the two Princesses neared the town square Celestia took note of some worried expressions and hushed conversations, and she began to grow concerned. Had it been just a few ponies she'd have believed it to be private matters, but as she began to see more and more she began to believe it was something more serious than whispers of a bad harvest or impending weather.

"There seems to be something afoul, Lulu" Celestia whispered to her sister, who nodded and leaned her head in closer.

"I've taken note of it as well. Perhaps we'd do well to find a publication, or speak to the town's mayor. Mayhaps they know something of the concerned looks that plague their residents" Luna said. The two turned in the direction of town hall, at the center of town square, their pace increasing. Town hall was one of the village's largest buildings, and so it wouldn't have been hard to find even had Celestia not already known where it was.

Entering into the town square Celestia saw a few ponies crowded around the stall for the town's newspaper, the shelves and racks nearly barren. There was some shouting, though Celestia didn't catch what was said, and she nodded to her sister for the two of them to check it out.

"You've sold out already?! If what you've published is true you'd best get more printed! We've got families out there on the frontier; we need to know what's going on!"

"My daughter lives in Logger's Vale, I need to know if she's alright!"

"I'm sorry everypony, I truly am, but I'm all out! I don't have any more papers and I don't know anything more! If'n-- Oh stars, thank Celestia that, well, Princess Celestia is here" she heard the stallkeeper say, and all of the ponies present turned to face her. None even dared to bow before they were crowding her, crying out.

"Princess, Princess, there's this awful news going around that Logger's Vale has been attacked! The paper says it was dragons, can you tell us anything?! We've got family there!" one of her subjects said.

"I heard it wasn't just dragons. I was told there was this horrible creature among them, leading them all!" another declared. "He attacked the town's guard. Killed them all!"

"That's not possible you old geezer. Not even a Minotaur could take on all of a town's guard at once!"

"He could if there were a bunch of dragons to help! And who you are calling a geezer, you harpy?"

"Everypony, please, calm down! My sister and I have not heard of any such dragon attacks, but I promise you we'll get to the bottom of this and get everypony the peace of mind they deserve" Celestia said, her voice rising above the crowd. She watched as the stallkeeper produced a newspaper for her, and she took it in her magical grasp.

"So you did have more papers stashed back there! How many more are you holding out on us?!"

"That was the last one! If I had more to sell, of course I'd sell them! What kind of businesspony would hold back his stock, you harpy?!"

"I'M NOT A HARPY!"

"ENOUGH!" Princess Luna thundered, and the crowd fell silent. "Nopony here is a harpy, a geezer, or anything of the sort! Now be STILL! So that my sister and I might better understand this commotion."

Celestia nodded and unfolded the newspaper, the first words alarming her.

Frontier Village Attacked!

In a shocking and horrible display the frontier village of Logger's Vale, on the border between Equestria and the dragon badlands, has been attacked! Details are sparse from what few ponies managed to escape, but all tell the tale of countless dragons descending upon the hamlet in the morning hours of last Tuesday, their numbers led by a violent and mysterious creature. The survivors tell of this creature, who called himself "De'mah 'Tokam", KILLING the town's guard and enslaving the entire village! As we all struggle to recover from the aftermath of Discord's rule, this author must question what this means for the future of Equestria.

Celestia showed the article to her sister, who looked grim. Searching through more of the paper Celestia found what was apparently a testimony from one of the village's escapees.

"It was horrible!" cried one mare, scuffed and dirty from days of running from Logger's Vale to the next nearest town, Hurricane's Respite, to tell the tale of the attack. "Those brutes all came down from the skies and surrounded the village, and when the guard tried to confront them this...this...CREATURE killed them all!"

When the young mare was asked if she could describe this 'creature' what she had to say chilled this reporter to his core.

"He was tall. Twice as tall as any of the guards he... He k-killed. Their spears just...BOUNCED off his armor, and he... He chopped them ap-apart... He was a demon, a monster. His... He... It was horrifying... He couldn't be stopped! NOTHING anypony did mattered! He danced among them and his sword just... SLASHED through those poor bucks' bodies with a terrifying flash of light. I... My sister..."

One of our secretaries had to console the troubled mare, readers. Whatever happened to Logger's Vale, it is this journalist's hope that it is put to rest quickly.

Celestia shared a look with Luna, alarmed by what they'd just read. Whatever it was, they needed to do something. It was clear they wouldn't be able to send a detachment guards. They'd probably have to go themselves, and confront this 'De'mah' the same way they confronted Discord.

"This...is a troubling development indeed, my little ponies. My sister and I are going to speak with the town's mayor, and then we're going to come up with a plan to deal with this new threat. It's clear that whatever this creature is, he's not from Equestria. We're going to do everything we can to put an end to this, quickly" Celestia said. "In the meantime, I'd like for everypony to remain calm and--"

"LOOK, UP IN THE SKY!!" a mare screamed, and Celestia turned to look. What she saw chilled her, and made her heart leap.

Dozens of dragons. Hundreds, even, soaring across the skies of Equestria, beating their wings towards the numerous villages, towns, and hamlets that dotted the kingdom. One dragon dove down towards Ponyville, his wings tucked against this body. He neared the ground and threw out his wings to slow his descent, and he perched himself on the town hall with a tremendous BOOM, ponies everywhere scrambling in panic.

"STAY YOUR HOOVES, AND HEAR THE VOICE OF KONVORNAK!" the dragon thundered. "I COME BEARING THE WORD OF THE HIGH LORD, DE'MAH 'TOKAM, SO THAT ALL MAY HEAR OF HIS MIGHT! A NEW AGE IS DAWNING, AND THE RACE OF THE DIV WILL RISE ABOVE ALL OTHERS! THE HIGH LORD, DE'MAH 'TOKAM, DEMANDS OF THE KINGDOM OF EQUESTRIA TO SEND BEFORE HIM ITS RULER, SO THAT HE MAY CAST JUDGMENT!!"

Celestia once again shared a look with her sister, her coat no doubt pale, and she was about to step forward when the dragon rose into the sky and took off, ascending into the heavens and leaving naught but a cloud of dust and dirt that slowly settled over the town square of Ponyville.

Celestia's fears then hardly prepared her for what was to come.

Author's Note

*This is a reference to Resident Evil: Outbreak, and the hotel in-game of the same name.