//------------------------------//
// An encounter I wasn't prepared for... 
// Story: It Sleeps Beneath Foal Mountain 
// by the7Saviors 
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Having made my decision, I felt both a sense of relief, like a weight lifted from my shoulders and a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, as though I'd somehow signed a deal with a demon. In a sense, I suppose I had, but I found the more I thought about it, the less it seemed to matter in the end. I'd chosen my path, and I would continue down it until I found out what the world was hiding from me. That said, I was unsure of how to proceed in the short term. I'd originally planned to seek out Stygian along with Daring Do, but as I was, and with what had transpired, that seemed a foolish notion now. 

Still, I had apparently gotten what I came here for, and so, stowing my 'gift' away in my saddlebags for the moment, I moved to exit the 'cathedral', physically and mentally preparing myself to trek all the way back to the surface. I'd intended to think of a plan of action as I made my way up, but Sound Mind had another suggestion. I didn't want to rely too heavily on the stallion. suspicious of his motives as I was, but he was quick to assure me that he had my best interests at heart. Inclining his head politely, he stepped past me and down the steps, stopping just at the bottom and beckoning me forward. 

After a moment, I followed with slow tentative steps, still wary of his intentions but curious to see what Sound Mind would do. Once I was close enough, the well-dressed stallion continued trotting forward, but as I made to follow him, the world began to shift around me, the walls and floor wavering in my vision. That mysterious and malignant aura I'd felt so many times before buried its way into my head, my horn burning with the force of it. An intense bout of vertigo made me feel as if the world had flipped sideways and I clenched my eyes shut as I fought against the urge to be violently ill.  

Just like that, the pain and discomfort vanished as quickly as it had come, almost as if it had never been. I cracked my eyes open slowly at first, worried about what I'd see, but they snapped open fully upon seeing countless sand dunes stretching endlessly across the horizon, the smooth sand dyed an almost pale white in the light of the moon high above. I could feel my hooves sinking slightly into the sand beneath me and a bitterly cold breeze caress my coat, making me shiver slightly. It was far colder than it had been that last time I'd spent the night in the desert, but even then it didn't bother me overmuch. More concerning was the method in which we'd been transported to the surface. I turned to look behind me and sure enough, the ruins towered over me, impossibly tall and incredibly imposing from this close.

To my side stood Sound Mind, still smiling his affable smile, though it had turned somewhat apologetic as he saw my baffled and indignant expression. Before I could demand any sort of explanation, the stallion simply stated that time and distance didn't matter to a creature who could see beyond such concepts and had even suggested that I too would come to understand this soon enough. The very prospect was fascinating in the extreme, but while my scholarly curiosity was piqued, this only made me more aware of how alien this stallion truly was. Just who was Sound Mind? What was Sound Mind? What secrets, what wisdom—what madness lay behind those dark glasses?

Certainly, a capable unicorn could use magic to shove aside the laws of physics and warp their way across a great distance, but what Sound Mind had done—whatever that may have been—it wasn't mere teleportation. The thaumic field had been horribly twisted out of balance within the ruins, and it had only gotten worse deeper into its depths. Was I to attempt such a jump at that distance in such conditions using magic, it may very well have killed, or at the very least, magically maimed me. Sound Mind, however, looked no worse for wear despite what would normally be a rather reckless feat, even for somepony of my magical capability. Though I would've preferred some kind of warning prior to the unpleasant experience, I let it go and instead focused on what to do next.

I wanted—needed to study the Book of Iod, but I also needed a place to do so discreetly, a more comfortable and less exposed place than the Saddle Arabian desert to think and plan a new course of action once I'd read my fill of the book. What happened next would ultimately depend on what I found within the confines of that 'sacred text'. It took little time to think of my next destination and, with a reluctant request to Sound Mind to do so, we shifted once more to a new location though I was surprised to find the experience much less jarring than it had been before. In an instant, we'd arrived once more in the isolated forest west of Galloping Gorge. In the distance, a few yards away in the middle of a small clearing I could see the familiar shape of Daring Do's cottage. 

I turned to Sound Mind, puzzled as to why we hadn't appeared inside the cottage as I'd intended, but Sound Mind only shook his head and silently motioned for me to watch the clearing. I did so, wondering what the issue could possibly be, but as I observed the cottage I quickly understood that something was wrong. A soft amber glow could be seen in the window and the door to the cottage stood slightly ajar. My breath caught in my throat and I felt my heart pound just a bit louder and faster in my chest at the sight. Somepony or something had gotten here before me, who or what could it have been? Why were they here now? Was somepony trying to find me? One of my friends come to check on me? Doubtful at this time of night. Possibly some villain come for revenge against Daring Do? A thief? Or perhaps just a curious traveler who'd somehow stumbled across this place on the way to their next destination?

Whatever or whoever they may have been, I didn't want to take any chances as I was now, so I retreated further into the trees in an attempt to keep myself hidden should the intruder come out of the cottage. I bade Sound Mind do the same, but to my shock, he had already vanished, gone completely from my sight. There was little time to dwell on this development, as just at that moment my ears picked up the slow groan of a heavy metal door being pulled or pushed opened then closed once more a moment later in the distance, followed by the tell-tale clop of hooves pounding softly against the dirt. 

The sound seized my attention and I turned back to the cottage to see to my further surprise, not one of the girls come to check on me—not a villain out for revenge nor an invading thief or curious traveler—but the Princess of the Night herself of all ponies. I watched, mouth slightly agape in utter bafflement, as Princess Luna cautiously stepped out from behind Daring Do's humble abode and into the moonlit clearing. For a brief minute, she simply stood there just outside the cottage, her ethereal mane like a self-contained sea of stars billowing in an eternal breeze and her downcast expression deeply pensive and terribly troubled. With the lights left on, the door left ajar, and Luna herself emerging from Daring Do's cellar, it didn't take much to deduce that the mare had been investigating the cottage... but why? 

Had she simply been worried about me and had taken it upon herself to check on me after all in the place of my other friends, or was there something more? Did she know something of Daring Do's demise? If so, how was that possible? Why was she here, and why now of all times? Questions upon questions stacked themselves atop one another as I retreated even deeper into the trees, now desperate to stay hidden from view. Unfortunately, my decision to move further away proved to be a mistake, as, despite my attempts at subtlety, the sound of leaves, dirt, and twigs being crushed beneath my hooves was enough to alert the other Princess. Her ears perked up and my heart raced as her head snapped up and over to my general direction.  

I stood frozen in the shadows, my every muscle tensing with unrestrained terror as the Princess' eyes narrowed with suspicion. She took a slow and deliberate step towards my position, then another, and a few more before stopping short just a yard or so away from the edge of the clearing. I held my breath as she searched the trees, her eyes shifting this way and that. She frowned in consternation and lit her horn, casting a spell that made her irides glow like frosty blue embers in the night. Despite my efforts to remain silent, a sharp gasp escaped my lips, for I recognized the spell being used. It was a spell to enhance one's natural sight by several degrees, and with that, my attempts at stealth were now in vain.  

I felt all hope drain from me, replaced by fear and panic as Luna reeled back in surprise. For a long moment, we locked eyes, mine wide with terror and hers wide with shock and confusion.

"What manner of creature are you?" the Princess exclaimed, her voice tinged with disgust and hostility. Unable to come up with an appropriate response, I simply stood locked in place as she took in the sight of me. Slowly, her expression changed from one of wariness to one of recognition and soon after, utter horror, "no... it cannot be... Twilight? Twilight Sparkle... is that you?"

I closed my eyes and turned away, unable to bear her words and horrified expression. The last thing I'd wanted was to see any of my friends or family like this, and though I had no idea of the extent of my physical changes, it was clear they'd become so severe that I was nearly unrecognizable. Faced with such an unexpected and unwanted encounter, the only thought to grace my mind in that instant was escape—escape from this place, escape from Princess Luna, escape from her words, from her eyes that looked at me with fear and confusion. My horn flared to life, blazing with thaumic energy as I pumped more fuel into a teleportation spell that would send me somewhere far away from here. I heard Luna cry out my name, begging me to wait, pleading with me stop and talk to her, but I didn't listen. I could do no such thing, not as I was now. 

Ignoring her words, I blinked out of existence in a blinding flash of magenta and reappeared several kilometers east of the cottage, my blind and hasty teleport having brought me right to the edge of the Galloping Gorge. So great was the strain of what I'd done that upon my arrival my body almost immediately seized in agony and my horn burned as if it had been doused in magma, but I rode out the pain, simply satisfied that I was alive and had escaped Princess Luna's gaze. Once the pain had subsided somewhat, I pressed forward, afraid to stay in one place for too long lest the Princess track me down. I spent the next few hours or so in a haze, my mind paradoxically sharpened and sluggish from both my recent experience and the aftershocks of pushing my magic past its limits in a desperate bid to flee.

In a daze, I descended the cliffside, having somehow found a path down into the gorge in my delirium. I believed I might've heard the sound of Luna's voice calling me from high above at some point, but it may very well have been the paranoid workings of my own rampant imagination. I paid it no mind and continued my reckless descent until at last, I found myself wandering the rather humid interior of a large moist cavern situated near the bottom of the rockface. I'd long since lost track of time and had no idea how long I stumbled about, but I eventually regained some of my bearings. Feeling battered, bruised, weary, and sick, I came to rest against a particularly large stalagmite jutting out of the ground nearby.

For a time I remained slumped against the slick stone, retching profusely and attempting to catch my breath. My emotions were left in tatters, my thoughts inundated with the implications of what my being discovered by Luna could mean for me and my research. They would come looking for me, and it would only be a matter of time before they found me and started asking questions I, in no way, had any intention of answering. It took me a good minute or so before I realized tears had begun spilling from my eyes, but even then I did nothing to stop them. Overwhelmed, I wept openly, sinking to the floor as I let my breakdown run its course. I almost didn't notice the gentle touch of a hoof resting itself on my shaking shoulders.

Looking up through a haze of tears, I saw the softly smiling form of Sound Mind staring back at me. His dark glasses gave nothing away, but that didn't matter to me, nor did I care at that moment to ask where he'd disappeared or why. All that mattered was that he was here now, that somepony was here. I thought back to the words he'd spoken in the sacrificial chamber. I thought back to Luna's reaction to my appearance and understood that even if I couldn't trust his motives, Sound Mind might've been the only one I could rely on going forward. Had he allowed himself to be seen by Princess Luna, perhaps things may have gone a lot worse than they did. It was a simple rationalization, but an effective one.

The longer it took for me to solve this mystery, the more monstrous I would become in both mind and body. Looking at Sound Mind, feeling his twisted aura and seeing that smile that looked just ever so slightly off, I could tell this stallion was like me somehow—no, worse than me. He was a true monster, a horrific enigma wearing the skin of a pony. I couldn't fathom his true nature or intent, but the more time I spent around him, the more I could 'see' it. Still, even knowing this brought a strange sort of comfort in that I wouldn't be judged or abandoned for whatever I was becoming. If I somehow fell to this 'darkness' before I was able to accomplish my goal, at the very least I wouldn't be alone.

Something bothered me about that thought but I was too exhausted to delve too deeply into it. Without realizing it, I had rested my head on the cool wet ground beneath me and my eyes had closed themselves almost involuntarily. I didn't know if Sound Mind was still there, but I knew he would be there when I next awoke, and so with my emotions once more in check and my worries suppressed for the time being, I let my weary body rest and consciousness fade as sorely needed slumber took hold.