Sins Never Die

by CodenameOne

Two. Twenty-Two: The Lone Blade

Two. Twenty-Two
The Lone Blade

---

Princess Celestia ascended the cobblestone steps to the roost, the Dragon nest located at the flat top of the mountain peak. Seven pillars stood around the edge of the circular stone pad, purple fire licking at the air on top of them. Rain fell upon Equestria this day, making steam rise from the fire pits. In the center of the Dragon shrine, the rain producing a mist around the edge of his dark-red armor, stood the Sangheili warrior De’mah ‘Tokam. His energy sword ignited, producing the same steam in the rain. He regarded the Equestrian Princess with his dark eyes, off-hand clenched in fist. In the rain, the lights built into his armor illuminated him and his features; his red armor shining blue where the lights shone. The rain ran off the edges of his clad, and dripped off the tapers and pointed edges of his shoulder pauldrons.

The Equestrian Empire had waged a year-long war against De’mah and his legion of Dragons, and Celestia had grown weary of it. There were no Dragons to be seen anywhere, a request made by Celestia herself. She told De’mah that she would face him alone, and settle the war once and for all. Now, here she stood, regarding the dark warrior that had led her race to the slaughter.

Cracking out of his stillness with a roll of his shoulders De’mah began to pace. “This is it, huh? This is where I am to finally do battle with you face to face? One on one? Tell me, Princess; do you think you are winning, or us? My Div are a million strong, and they will rain fire upon your villages. They have even built for me a magnificent city, one in which thousands of Sangheili will some day live. But you and your sister are strong leaders, as well as warriors. And your Equestrians are innately powerful, but are afraid of power and violence. Your race is a contradiction to itself, a paradox truly worthy of destroying the universe.”

“Enough, De’mah ‘Tokam. I no longer have the energy or desire to fight you. This war has gone on far too long, and your Dragons are murdering us by the thousands. I surrender... Take me away” Celestia retorted.

“Hmm... Seems you are wiser than I thought. Do follow me.”

As De’mah turned his back, Celestia charged her horn, green energy arcing off the tip maliciously. De’mah quickly spun about, raised his sword, and lunged for the Princess as she let off the spell.

---

“In darkest days, when you feel naught but your own flesh, and see naught but the void, the lone blade shall light the way...” Princess Celestia whispered, standing before the sealed door at the end of the mural hall, deep in the castle catacombs. The impression of the energy sword on the door glowed red, as it always did when a living being approached it.

A nervous knot in her stomach, Celestia licked her dry lips, magic reaching out to the door. It responded to her touch, the blood-red impression darkening. The door clicked, signalling the release of the lock, and it grinded open. There was darkness beyond, lit only by the lone blade on the door. The door opened wide, stopping at a certain point. In this position it illuminated the sole feature of the room; a coffin.

Celestia stepped closer, heart thumping in her chest. She looked the somber stone capsule over, its surface bare. The Goddess of the Sun reached out with her hoof, the stone cold to the touch. She steeled herself, and pushed, dust kicking up as the stone grinded together. Shaking, she pushed harder, and the cover to the coffin began to come off. Light shone into the long-dark interior, revealing the sole of a boot that had once been dark-red, dulled to maroon by centuries of the air.

“Celestia?” a voice reverberated through the underhall, startling the Sun mare. It was Twilight. Quickly, Celestia put the coffin’s cover back into place, and retreated from the tomb, locking the door behind her again. The red light from the blade bathed her fully in its glow, making her white coat red. “What are you doing down here, again?”

“N-nothing, my student. What brings you down here?” Celestia asked as Twilight approached her, sitting on her haunches. Twilight looked curious, clearly not convinced by Celestia’s excuse.

“Word has come back from the humans. They started their push on the Dragons’ home territory. The bad news, however, is that the Covenant ship arrived to push them back. The other good news is that Kuyaki was able to drive them away, with the help of some Dragons still loyal to us” Twilight explained.

“Very good; let us hope this war ends soon” Celestia declared briskly, preparing to walk past Twilight. She was stopped by the lesser Princess, who cocked her head. This was it, Celestia supposed; this would be where the very fabric of Equestria would be undone, by a thread that had split a millennium ago.

“This door... What is it, Princess? Why does it glow when you get near it? What is its significance?” the studious mare asked. Celestia cursed in her mind, knowing that the truth would be too hard for Twilight to take. But still knowing there was no way around it. She had to know, if she hadn’t guessed already.

“It is a tomb... You remember what I told you of De’mah ‘Tokam, the Sangheili who led the Dragons to war against us 1,000 winters ago? It’s his” Celestia started, interrupted by Twilight’s expression of awe and disbelief.

“You have a Sangheili, buried here!? Why?” Twilight asked.

“Do you remember, what I told you, Twilight?” Celestia asked again, sternfully. “That the Dragons were led to believe that De’mah fell in fair combat against me, and that this was not the case?”

“Yes...” Twilight said, wary of her mentor’s sudden forcefulness, and what she might be about to say.

“And you remember that I said my sins will never die. This is what they have wrought; the war. My sins, my lie, has come back to bite me. But in true cruelty, it is biting all the races of this world... De’mah was not felled in fair combat, like I told the Dragons... I murdered him” Celestia explained, Twilight immediately rebuking it.

“No! That can’t be! You... You murdered him?!” she exclaimed.

“Yes. In cold blood. With little remorse. Cut him down like a dog, upon the very shrine dedicated to him, in the heart of the Dragon homelands. I had his body entombed here, in the Canterlot underhalls. I thought it only proper to have him laid to rest in the very city the Dragons built for him” the Goddess of the Sun continued.

“The Dragons built Canterlot?! You murdered him?!”

“YES, Twilight! Do you not understand the gravity of the Dragon war De’mah led? How the Dragons, who numbered in the millions, were led to commit genocide by a proud warrior, intent on bringing honor to his name?! Do you not understand how my decision was for the best, as Dragon Code demands they serve the race that bests them in war?! De’mah had to die, but I could never defeat him in fair battle. Not even with my sister, not even with the Elements! What I did was a con for the ages; a con that stemmed from cruelty and cowardice. A con of necessity!” Celestia shouted, the red glow of the door intensifying in the wake of her anger.

“But... But the Elements are the most powerful artifacts we know. They can defeat anything” Twilight reasoned futilely.

“Worthless, against a creature not tied to this earth. A creature not bound by the magical energies that are woven in the very fabric of Equestria. I know, we tried to use them, that’s what caused the war. De’mah was, at the time, an outlier. We believed him to be a mysterious creature, native from a land far beyond the borders of Equestria. When he declared war, appearing from, it seemed, no where, and enslaved a small village, my sister and I traveled there to use the Elements on him. He was not affected, but took the maneuver as an assault on his being, and the Dragons took the skies to raze our villages in his name” Celestia explained.

“But why? Why did they serve him?” Twilight asked.

Looking back at the door Celestia stared at the blood-red impression, its glow strong. “Because of Dragon Code. At the time the Dragons were free, independent. Ruled by one of their kind. De'mah arrived, and killed the Dragon High Lord. Code dictated that all the Div bow at his feet, and serve him and all his interests. A STUPID code, that cost us millions of lives, and stained Equestria’s soil with blood forever... They lost, though, and our race was saved. I murdered De’mah, and I will live with that sin for however long I live, but I saved our species by doing it. Or so, I thought, for now the Sangheili have returned, in a time of turmoil, to lead the Dragons, now soured with us, with promises of returned glory.”

“I...I can’t believe it... I don’t know what to think.”

“If you come to be angry with me, you will have the right. If we lose this war, it will be my fault only. I bear the burden of this sin, that saved us only temporarily, that the repercussions of which will damn all our kind” Celestia said, turning around to face the door to the tomb. “'In darkest days, when you feel naught but your own flesh, and see naught but the void, the lone blade shall light the way...' It's an ancient Equestrian prophecy, my Twilight. It can mean anything the listener wants it to. It can be interpreted anyway you want" the Sun Goddess whispered. "I think it means we're all doomed."

---

As De’mah lied on the wet stone, burning hole through his chest, he sputtered and clutched at Celestia’s hoof as she backed away in horror, terrified by the results of what she had done. The Sangheili god looked up at her, his dark eyes boring into hers. With anger and vitriol, and blood seeping from his maw, he spoke. “Your cowardice is abhorrent... That you would... Would... Would dare to strike at a warrior when his back is turned, reprehensible. I die here, now, by the hands of a coward, leaving my Dragons... To face whatever your treachery has in wait for them... I die now know-w-ing that..... That I will... Have my revenge. Even if... If it’s only in my n-name.....”

Author's Note:

Legal disclaimer: Adam Kuyaki, N'por 'Tumai, De'mah 'Tokam, Aldurmaax, and all related characters belong to me. Princess Celestia and all related characters are copyright to Hasbro. My Little Pony is copyright to Hasbro. Halo is copyright to Microsoft Studios.