Amidst the Howling Dark

First Blood

"The Elements worked on Discord. Won't they do the same for this De'mah?" Luna asked of Celestia, and the day Princess nodded in agreement. After speaking with Ponyville's mayor they'd returned to the castle to discuss how best to handle the situation, and after some deliberating Luna had brought up the idea of using the Elements.

"Discord's defeat proved that the Elements, when properly used, can eradicate even the darkest of evils. Or, failing that, contain them. If the Elements do not purge this De'mah of his wickedness, then they'll at least seal him away in stone forever" Celestia said. She hoped it would be the latter, so that they might study this unknown creature and perhaps learn as much as they could from his physiology. Were there more of his kind elsewhere on their planet? What was their government? Would they retaliate? These questions and more lingered on Celestia's mind, all to be answered once 'De'mah' was dealt with.

"What of his dragons, sister? Will they need to be dealt with as well? The Elements are powerful, but to use them against on all of his followers is something I'm not sure we could manage" Luna said, and Celestia nodded. She hadn't thought of the dragons, but if anything they were likely just following De'mah, and not his ideals. She didn't know much of dragon culture, but had to figure if a non-dragon had swayed them then once he was out of the way, they would capitulate.

"We won't need to, I'm sure. Once this De'mah falls, the dragons that serve him will give up their ambitions. This whole affair is a grave thing indeed, but I'm confident that we can handle it, Lulu. If we could defeat Discord, then we can defeat this new creature" Celestia assured her sister.

"Then let us get to it."

As Celestia had come to realize, the village that De'mah had attacked was indeed on the frontier. Intrepid ponies had established villages and towns all across the wide expanse of Equestria, and Logger's Vale was one such village, being on the border between Equestria and the badlands. True to the words of the newspaper the town had been enslaved by dragons, half a dozen of them perched on buildings around the village. Celestia looked to her sister, who nodded, and they stepped forward. It'd taken them a few days of flight to reach the little hamlet, and as Celestia took in the sights she wished that they'd have been able to come sooner.

Juvenile dragons, each barely a few feet taller than Celestia, stood watch over dozens of ponies as they labored for one purpose or another. A few houses had been burned away, their remains still smoldering. Celestia could only hope that no ponies had been inside those houses, but if the newspaper article could be trusted, then she supposed it was naive of her to think that way. One juvenile dragon took note of Celestia and Luna, and stalked over to where they were trotting, dark eyes regarding them with malice. "The Equestrian Princesses. De'mah will wish to see you. Follow me, now."

Celestia and Luna did as told, falling in behind the dragon as he led them towards the sawmill. As they neared the structure Celestia took in the sight of a creature she'd never seen before, and she gasped silently. He was about as tall as the juvenile dragons, but clad in some manner of white armor that sealed his entire body from head to toe. He was bipedal, but that was the extent of features familiar to Celestia. He was no dragon, certainly no Minotaur, and so Celestia had to ask just where this thing could've come from.

A land far away, to be sure. Far beyond any known land or island, perhaps even from the entire other side of the planet.

"Stay" the dragon commanded, and he ascended the ramp to the sawmill to speak with the creature, who turned around to face the Princesses. Celestia nodded to her sister, and from the saddlepacks on their backs they floated out the Elements of Harmony. With a charge of their horns the Elements began to hover around them, and Celestia watched the creature carefully. He folded his arms over his chest but otherwise stood still, and Celestia swallowed the lump in her throat.

Here goes nothing.

"With our call upon the great Harmony, we send forth these Elements of that magical force to cleanse the wickedness of the creature De'mah 'Tokam, and to free this village from his bonds of cruelty" Celestia exclaimed, and the Elements rapidly charged up. Celestia closed her eyes as the gems ascended into the air, and when she and her sister opened their eyes the magical buildup discharged and a magnificent beam of magic ascended high into the afternoon sky before careening down towards the unknown monster. The magical energy slammed into him and he vanished in a maelstrom of color and light.

As the Elemental gems came back down the two sisters returned them to their saddlebags, and the dust and light began to dissipate as they approached the sawmill. The silhouette of the tall creature stood amidst the dust, and Celestia believed him to have been sealed in stone, immobile as the silhouette was. In the time between when they'd been charging the Elements and when they'd gone off the creature had lowered his arms, the two limbs hanging at his side. Celestia strained to see into the cloud of dust, and waved a hoof to try and dissipate it. With the creature sealed away in stone he'd have to carted bac--

From inside the cloud there was a terrible flash of light and a sound unlike anything Celestia had ever heard before, and twin blades slowly came to light, emanating from some manner of handle in the creature's hand. Celestia's eyes went wide and she stepped back with her sister as the creature stepped forward out of the dust cloud, utterly and completely unharmed. The demon leered at them from behind the tinted glass of his visor, and he raised his magical sword into the air.

As Celestia and Luna backpedaled the creature stalked toward them, and Celestia nearly tripped as her hooves hit the ramp to the sawmill. How... she thought. Luna leapt backwards off the mill, her own eyes wide with bewilderment. She landed next to Celestia as the day princess reached the ground, the heavy boots of the monster thumping loudly against the wood of the sawmill's ramp. "Nice try" the demon commented, and the two Princesses paused.

"You... You should've been defeated... I don't understand..." Celestia breathed, the demon chuckling darkly.

"You will. RISE, my dragons!! Take to THE SKIES and RAZE THEIR SOCIETY TO THE FOUNDATION!!" the demon, De'mah, bellowed, and the assembled elder dragons took flight, rising into the sky. "You'll all understand, before you all die. In the name of Sanghelios, in the name of 'Tokam, and in the name of DE'MAH!"

With a great lunge the demon darted forward and swung his sword, and Celestia lit a shield around her body. The sword strucked the shield harmlessly and De'mah recoiled, growled, and stabbed at the shield, his sword again bouncing off it.

Celestia and her sister scurried backwards, away from the creature, who tightened his grip on his mysterious sword and approached them. "You tremble before my might, the might of my power and the strength of my dragons. You are right to fear me, for I will soon rain upon your entire planet a horrific inferno, the likes of which you've never before experienced in all of your years."

"Luna... R-run!" Celestia yelled, and with a beat of her wings she rose into the air, her sister right beside her.

"STAY YOUR HOOVES, so that I might slash them from your BODY!" De'mah shouted after them, but Celestia paid the wicked monster no mind as she and Luna flew as fast as they could away from him, the wind whipping hard against Celestia's ears.

"Sweet mother why did it not work, Tia?!" Luna called out.

"I don't know!! Just fly, Lulu! Fly far and fly fast!" Celestia answered, and somehow found within her the speed to fly faster as the two Princesses raced away from Logger's Vale and back towards Ponyville and the castle. As she went Celestia couldn't help but ask herself the same question. Why didn't it work? Why didn't the Elements work?! What IS that thing!?!

She could find no answer, and so all that remained was survival.

De'mah clenched his free hand hard, his sword hand gripping the handle of the blade hard enough for his hand to shake, as he watched the coward Princesses fly away. If only he'd kept one of his dragons around, so that they could run those weaklings down. As it was, all he could do was watch them escape.

This would not do. What kind of COWARD would run from a fight? No TRUE warrior, no TRUE leader, would back down from a challenge. That they refused to meet him in a fair fight enraged De'mah, and as he thought about it more the more furious he felt. How DARE they run! How DARE they try to strike him down with their sorcery! They DESERVED to SUFFER.

"Rrrg, grrraah" De'mah howled, and he turned back towards the village, his head whipping around as he searched for something to kill, to obliterate. "RrrrRRRRGGH, TOLMIRAK! FIND A SACRIFICE FOR MY BLADE!!" he thundered as he stalked through the hamlet, his blade trailing little wisps of steam as the cool air passed over the superheated plasma. He focused in on a random hut and smashed the door in, hearing mixed yelps of fear and surprise. A few of the ponies had huddled in the small home, and De'mah wasted no time on ceremony as he cut them all apart, his blade flashing and blood and limbs and fabric and wood flying through the air. With their bodies little more than ribbons he took his rage and directed it to their house, the blade passing through tables and chairs and potted plants and windows as he hacked and slashed away.

After a time the rage died, and he was left standing in the ruined house, energy blade humming deeply in his hand. He turned away from the carnage and found Tolmirak standing outside, holding in his hands a squirming and struggling pony. She was a small one, smaller than the others. She screamed and cried for her mother as De'mah snatched her from Tolmirak's talons, and he ran his blade through her torso, silencing her. Her lifeless eyes bored into De'mah's, and with a flick of his wrist he tossed her limp body to the dirt beneath his feet. De'mah stood there, his blade still crying for blood, but there was no more to spill. It was another few moments of standing in silence before De'mah quieted his blade, and he pointed to the sky in the direction that the Equestrian Princesses had flown, and gave Tolmirak one simple command.

"Find them."