Awaken
1
In the dark blue waters of the Northern Sea there rested a small collection of island chains, too small to ever be colonized or even to make their way onto many maps and too deep into the otherwise empty waters for anyone to ever bother with them. Sailors had often reported the area as seemingly absent of any marine life, and the chill that hung over the waters was haunting. Because of this few had any reason to come here and to look upon the island home of the mystical Pannas.
Celestia stood upon the beach, her golden armor glinting in the sunlight, her hoof cups resting in the yellow sand as magically saturated palm trees wafted in the breeze. Beautiful, rare plants and animals dotted the landscape calling this place home. She could see a small creek lining the particular island she was standing upon. Behind her were rocky outcroppings where the grass grew and that framed a small island forest. Bushes and large tropical trees covered in juicy multi-colored fruits and resting atop these trees were large, delicately crafted nests that were home to the legendary Panna bird.
The Pannas were a mostly forgotten species, but Celestia still recalled tales told by sailors of beautiful birds that would take the forms of something alluring and enchanting, usually a beautiful pegasi or griffons that would lead the unwitting sailors to their deaths
'Of course, even with their magical defenses, Pannas could never take on such forms; little more than fairy tales to explain sailors going too long without enough food.' Celestia noted.
The Queen of the Sun heard a mighty cry emit from Philomena as the phoenix made yet another spirited attempt to tag one of the long legged, swan like birds. But just as her beloved pet made for another dive bomb into the giggling flock, the Pannas broke apart, and the one Philomena had singled out twisted and bent at impossible angles. The blue crowned and white winged Panna twisted her form and swooped around the frustrated phoenix, going back to joining her flock as Philomena gave chase, crowing in equal parts irritation and amusement. Celestia let out a small smile at the sight; finding and freeing her pet had been a trial but more than worth it.
Celestia’s mind drifted back to her last visit. She and Luna had been there, side by side; it had not been a time of stress or war. They had ensured the prisons security and had simply… rested; a notion that had become alien to her while her sister buried herself in decadence.
' 'Our enemies never truly sleep, so neither can I,' Celestia thought with conviction. She wondered how her would be niece would respond to such pressures. Celestia had been forged in a crucible of war and fear, while Cadenza had grown up under Luna's pitiful reign. 'A true princess must survive trials by fire.'
Celestia's eyes focused upon the ocean. The northern sea was always dark--some would say unnaturally so, but she was one of the few who had ever known why that was. She could still remember Zecora querying her on this 'admittedly' risky venture.
"My Queen, are you sure this is wise, I know you do not wish to compromise" the prophet had whispered reverently, her head bowed in deference.
"Do not question our mistress's wisdom! Of course this plan shall succeed!" Kindle replied enthusiastically.
Before the two could start bickering, Celestia raised a hoof for silence and spoke, "In my life, I have seen the wisest of scholars and generals alike, broken and beaten with the ease of a child. I have watched as the most sage advice and most ancient well-tested wisdom has been proven false." Celestia gave a small smirk as she continued, "The question you should be asking me Zecora, is not 'is this wise?' but instead, “will this work?"
The zebra leaned forward, nervousness clear on her features, "Will it, your majesty?
Celestia was pulled out of her thoughts as Philomena landed upon her back and began affectionately rubbing her beak along the mare’s elegant primaries.
"Thank you my pet, but I did not come here to question myself, or to think of days long since lost. Rest now, and watch," she intoned gravely.
Taking her warning, Philomena's wings fanned out. Flames danced around her as she took to the sky and watched as her mistress began walking towards the ocean, stopping just as the water graced her hooves.
Celestia's own wings flared and began beating against the air. She reared up and slammed her hooves against the ground as golden light flowed from her horn. The skies darkened with her magic as black clouds swarmed around the islands, lightning arced between them as they crashed together and thunder echoed across the islands as the winds began cutting into the ocean.
"I have had everything taken from me!” Celestia cried. “My home, my title, my rightful crown and all by my very own family!" Celestia’s voice echoed across the skies loud enough to shatter stone.
She took to the skies as the water beneath her bubbled and writhed before the mighty winds she had called to her, the gale-force winds focused only upon the once calm waters leaving the islands untouched.
"But I have learned that sometimes. Providence. Must. Be. Forced!" Celestia roared.
And with that proclamation, the waters were torn asunder by a raging maelstrom, lighting and thunder roaring around Celestia as a mighty vortex of water opened beneath her. As the ocean's maw spread wide, Celestia could see her prize at the bottom of the ocean floor. Hundreds of fathoms below, waiting for its release.
The solar queen’s horn lit up and a golden aura subsumed her form, and soon her entire body was encased in golden light as she hovered above the spinning vortex. Slowly, she began to change, her muzzle stretching and widening along with her neck as new growths sprouted from her sides, the long, beautiful feathers of her wings shifting into fins as she dove into the raging whirlpool.
The alicorn princess grimaced ever so slightly as the water struck her newly minted skin, it only served to hide her identity from her enemies and was a tool like any other, but self transformative magic had always been her sisters favored school. Not that there was a magical art that she could not use with a level of mastery that would put the greatest minds to shame, but it had never been a favored school for her. 'Perhaps it reminds me too much of Discord,' she thought distastefully, as the raging dark waters embraced her and she was pulled down into the ocean. Above her, the seas calmed and Philomena let out a mournful cry.
The seawaters raged around Celestia with enough force that any normal pony would have been torn to shreds, or at least blinded by the constant surging currents, but the tempest barely phased her as she forced her way deeper and deeper into the ocean's depths. The whirlpool sealed itself behind her, blocking out the light from her sun, and a shiver ran up the alicorn's spine's as she remembered who, or what, she was about to release upon the unsuspecting world.
To this day Celestia still remembered what he had whispered upon his imprisonment, 'At the bottom of the ocean even light must die, even night will die.'
Dismissing those memories from her mind Celestia inspected her shifted form, searching for any imperfections. She only vaguely resembled a merpony, in fact she was far closer to a shark than a maiden of the sea, but that was exactly what she had wanted, something monstrous and alien to her real self so that she might deceive those who would see her.
After what felt like hours of travel down the raging maelstrom, Celestia reached a giant blackened stone riddled with holes that jutted out from the ocean floor. The area around it was completely absent of any signs of life, and the only thing that marked it as the meeting place was a magical impression left upon its surface.
Celestia burst from the vortex, the whirlpool collapsing around her, and she quickly found herself subsumed in water and darkness. To anypony else, the blackness would be complete, the seafloor far too deep for her sun's glorious light to enter and fill the void.
'The perfect place to keep monsters,' she reflected.
But Celestia was not a normal pony. She was an alicorn. Sol Invicta. And even the deepest darkness could not hide anything from her sight. She allowed her gaze to wander through the nearly featureless waters and wrinkled her nose as something dark and vile brushed across her muzzle.She tried to ignore the debris, but as it fell over her lips she was reminded of the taste of copper and blood that stung her tongue like acid. She quickly let her magical aura fling it off her as she floated in the high pressure waters, waiting for her escort to arrive.
Then there was a mad scuttling from the darkness, the sound of far too many legs, disorganized and poorly matched. She felt some sort of weight coming towards her, ‘But from where?’.But then, suddenly, a mammoth monstrosity burst forth from the rock precipice, with lidless black eyes on stalks, a hard, crimson red shell and countless legs and claws jutting from its malformed carapace. The abomination roared as it sent one of its mighty pincers down to crush her.
Celestia caught the clawed strike with her transfigured forelegs and held the clamps wide open as she stared at the hulking creature that towered over her, its mouth splitting open sideways to reveal several layers of jagged teeth. Celestia saw a writhing mass of tentacles shoot out at her from the abominations mouth, they had sharp barbs on the ends of them as they struck at the alicorn, she forced the claws aside and dived through the dozens of violent, cutting daggers and landed a strike against its mutant underbelly, eliciting a maddened screech from the creature as it was flung into the waters, away from its rocky hold.
But her efforts were for naught as the abomination charged at her again, completely unaffected by its current position in the water; but even from her vantage point Celestia could make out blood leaking from the creatures underbelly.
'I've no time for this wretch!' Celestia reared back as her enemy approached, bubbles and blood spilling from its maw as it roared and gurgled senselessly.
Celestia exploded forward and let out a roar, from her mouth burst a cry strong enough to shatter stone and with it a focused bubble of sound grand enough to fling the creature backwards with a mighty crack, scattering some of it's legs and shattering it's outer shell.
"Cease this! I am the one who called to you, I have come to free the ancient one, he who sleeps and dreams of the end!" she lied.
The creature looked at her, it's glazed eyes now taking in her shape as if for the first time; there was some alien intelligence behind those eyes, guiding them, it suddenly lurched forwards, it’s tentacles retracted and claws hanging low at its sides.
"Krang," Corona muttered, barely capable of hiding her disgust at the bulbous mutation standing before her.
"You came! just as the dreams said you would. The whispers in the dark, he will awaken, awaken," the red creature burbled madly, slavish devotion tainting it's every word.
Turning, Krang began floating deeper into the icy waters and Celestia followed. The alicorn could not stop herself, she asked a question of the hideous slave, "What did you expect to gain in attacking me, what do you do to serve him?" she asked.
Krang did not turn or even slow as words escaped it's malformed mouth, garbled and vicious as it spoke, "Death, he seeks death of what comes here, so few do, fear, they know to fear this place so nothing can live, not where he lies. I find things sometimes, feed them to him so that their souls may fuel and please him in his sleep."
Celestia leaned away from the monstrous thing before her, images of lost sailors and tiny Pannas being dragged into the icy depths and fed to a sleeping abomination filling her mind. She clutched her head as her eyes flared gold, 'I can practically hear them screaming!'
Krang had come to a halt, and Celestia realized he was waiting for her, it looked up at her uncomprehendingly and motioned for her to follow. As they continued downwards Celestia almost made to ask why he had attacked her, when the fact occurred to her, 'He did just answer my questions,' with emphasis on ‘did’ she thought with contempt.
She almost wondered why it was not suspicious of her, but the answer was obvious: Krang was not truly a living and thinking entity, but instead an extension of Squirk’s will. Some simple animal that was in his presence too long, and had mutated from clinging to Sea King. Becoming a living vessel to fulfill the beasts needs, even now, while it slept. She remembered fighting off such creatures in the past, including Krang, who'd been nothing but a runt when they first crossed paths.
It had most likely avoided being destroyed in the final conflict and had bound itself to its master since his imprisonment. Luckily, even as a tool, Krang could still be talked to, could still understand the offer of a powerful 'mutant merpony' to free the sea demon. Enough to not impede her... much... on her trip, and to inform his master of her once he was awoken.
In the distance she could make out what sounded to be breathing, 'not the distance, everywhere, all around me,' she realized as the waters shook and rippled.
Krang moved quickly, the creature’s numerous, skittering, tangled legs not impeding it as it led her towards its master. Celestia could see growths and flesh hanging in strips from Krang’s body as it guided her down to the sleeping tyrant, and Celestia suppressed a gasp at the sight that met her.
Beneath them lay Squirk, just as she remembered him; gargantuan and hideous, he lay imprinted upon miles of stone, twisted and deformed barnacles protruded from his body. The ridge she and Luna had chained him to had clearly risen higher and warped in shape since she had last been here. Almost as if to grip the creature now entombed there.
The mesa’s surfaces were flat and smooth, not at all like any natural cliff formation Celestia had ever seen, but she couldn't think about that now. Displayed before her was the forever open wound; a javelin as tall as a castle tower pierced through what amounted to Squirk’s chest and into the stone ridge, chains reached out from the base and cut their way into the behemoths flesh holding it in place, 'And to this day, he remains sleeping, if only it could be used on something other than him,' she thought, vexed by their own spell. The lance imprisoned Squirk, and could only imprison Squirk.
The mighty sea demon looked in every way an abomination; his amorphous body like a sea dragon melded with some eldritch squid, bladed tentacles, fins and jagged armored growths covered his body as the creature lay sleeping, stretching over the undersea bluff.
Celestia swam down and, avoiding touching him, grasped the giant lance between her forelegs. Magic flowed from her as she forcefully reignited her faded connection with the ancient spells, and with one violent pull she tore it from the stone with a resounding crack. Celestia immediately pulled herself away, leaving the lance lodged in the creature; as Squirk’s bulk began to quake, shaking the mountains and the ocean floor as he began to awaken from his long imposed sleep.
"Time and prison have not been kind to you Squirk, but now it is time to awaken!" she cried.
Golden magic illuminated the black ocean and lanced out from her magically malformed horn and struck the sleeping behemoth. Celestia immediately disappeared back into the shadows, magic blending around her as she moved.
"Who... Dares... disturb Our tomb...?" his deep echoing voice questioned, it was more than a sound, it pierced right into her mind; the surrounding stone quaked at his ragged proclamation.
"You will find... only death here," with that, a single red appendage reached out and cleaved through a great mesa, shattering it into a thousand pieces as though it were a pile of dust.
'After all that has happened to you, all this time and you still haven't changed. Did your defeat teach you nothing?' she pondered silently, as the behemoth continued to wriggle and writhe. Squirk’s movements were causing quakes with his every twist against the lance, and breaking chains that bound him as he thrashed. The once silent sea was filled with noise as the prison’s metal whined and screeched at the monster’s every move.
Celestia watched from her hiding place as the lance was slowly, agonizingly, forced out from the Squirk’s body, Black blood filling the ocean. Even with her eyes it was hard to perceive what was taking place. She finally came to focus on Krang, as the creature simpered around its master. Its bulbous crustacean head spitting words incomprehensible to normal pony folk, but Celestia could understand him.
"Oh hallowed one! You have returned to us! Come again to drown this world! We beseech you, how may we sacrifice ourselves in your name?" it pleaded excitedly. Floating in the deep blackness of the ocean and hopefully awaiting its, master’s, reply and Krang’s black stalked eyes filled with a mad fervor.
Celestia lurched backwards as the blood floated closer to her, the waters surged as Squirk's maw appeared from the shadow of blood and consumed his servant in one bite, Krang's once massive frame barely even matching his master’s teeth in size.
Celestia leaned back, disgust and horror warred on her face as she watched the ancient weapon fall out of his body. black blood oozed from his open wound as the lance drifted deeper into the recesses of the ocean floor, "You devoured him?" she asked aloud.
Squirk's gazed came upon her, piercing the shallow illusion she had hidden herself with. An alien intelligence measured Celestia's disguise, as the beast still tried to recover from it's long imprisonment. His eyes were layered, white, then gold and finally a black slit in the middle. She had always hated sharing her favored color with this abomination.
"It's life, my life," His voice whispered.
Celestia barely had time to finish her thought as one of Squirk’s massive barbed appendages glided through the ocean parting the water with their speed as he almost struck her.
"What are you doing? I aided you!" Celestia roared as she righted herself while summoning up a sickly dark-green shield, still hiding her magical signature. 'This ruse will do no good if the beast discovers me!'
She glared at the giant from behind her shield and watched as his blood melted through the surrounding stone. The ocean water sizzled and burst from the contact as Squirk simply floated in place, watching her.
"You are a pawn in this domain... controlled by unseen whims and desires," he whispered in her ear, Squirk’s voice reverberated and crashed against her shield; as ever he wasn't even moving his mouth.
"Do not speak to me so imperiously. I freed you Squirk, and I know that even now you cannot hope to challenge the princesses, not without your Flashstone Amulet!" the beast offered no reaction. Instead, it remained floating, the swishes of it's many tails forming whirlpools around them.
Celestia persisting, laying her trap.
"The amulet you desire, one half is kept by an alicorn who lives in the southern seas. Should, you call her she will come, destroy her home and she will flee with your prize in her clutches!" Celestia explained, her eyes watching carefully for the slightest movement, not an easy feat in the deep darkness.
"Is that information not worth my life- a reward?" she asked, hoping he had not seen through her disguise, let alone her faux subservience.
She felt the attack before she could see it, a cracked and red appendage wrapped itself around her shield and crushed the spell. Celestia found her disguised body held in Squirk’s grasp, the creature’s giant empty eyes glazing over at the sight of her, then it tightened. She struggled and struck against it but her disguised strength soon failed her and there was a mighty crack that echoed throughout the ocean floor.
With that, Squirk let her broken carcass drop, and the creature tore through the ocea. It's movements dragging the acidic blood over Celestia's defeated form as he disappeared into the distance.
'He is fast and vicious as ever,' Celestia reflected bitterly.
Her eyes snapped open and exploded with golden light illuminating the darkened sea bed. The princess ground her teeth as the ocean around her began to steam and writhe in response to her roiling emotions. Celestia forced magic through her broken body, resetting shape shifted bones. Golden light encompassed Celestia's altered form, slowly bringing her back to her normal alicorn body.
“Do not think for even a moment I shall not repay this a thousandfold, Squirk!” The sea bed shook with her proclamation as she forced herself back under control; there was still much she had to do.
The blood surrounding her stung, but it did not burn through her, 'Without the amulet, he has no way to externalize his magic. Without it being complete he could not challenge Luna or I; but our niece, well that remains to be seen.'
With the course set and the trial by fire to soon begin, Celestia's horn lit up and, in a golden flash, she disappeared.
Across the seas, deep in the darkness he moved; the life forms of the ocean fled in terror. raging undercurrents followed in his wake as he approached a sunken city pressed against a curved underwater bluff. It's make was Minotaur, but almost all evidence of that fact had faded into nothing. Carvings and statues had been worn away to dust, homes had vanished under the sea, and with a gesture the remaining palaces and stone structures exploded into a flurry of pebbles.
Deep within the shattered palace remains, there was a deep crimson glow that glinted against absent lights, 'So small...'
With a thought the amulet glided towards him and fastened itself to his body, a wreath of broken flesh holding it in place.
The amulet glowed as Squirk moved through the ocean, all things crumbling in his wake as the waters of the Southern Oceans pooled towards him, "She will come, she will drown!"
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So there will be more? It's currently marked as "complete."
3540928
I'm so sorry. I knew there was something I missed. Yes there will be two more chapters before the story finishes, they just need editing, sorry for the confusion.
The fic was once one whole chapter and so I marked it as complete, but then I broke it up a few weeks ago for editing and uploading and forgot to change the tag.
Thank you for telling me though, it would have been embarrassing if it had gone on any longer.
Interesting. Another thing for Celestia to regret as the ages past. Do you suppose that she'll take to wearing sneakers when she comes to her senses?
Somehow, I keep picturing the ponies of the future saying "Oooooh, look at me, I'm Celestia, I'm cool....Oh, LOOK!!!! I'm wearing sand shoes!!"
3541030
Yeah releasing Squirks a risky move, there's mroe to her plan than meets the eye though.
Yay, it's up!
Squirk is now officially The Gravemind.
Krang huh?
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Any relation?
Well that was suitably chuthuloid.
'That is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die'
Not too shabby. Squirk, eh? Dang, the Lunaverse is rivaling the Hasboverse for G1-G4 connections. ;)
3541466
and there's more to come soon. Thanks for the comment. :)
I second that motion
3541877
TY
3542184
Not quite, I based it off Squirk G1 minion of the same name. Odd that they share the same name though.
3542301
Thank you, that is exactly what I was going for,
3542658
Thanks! I love bringing back G1 villains as major monsters.
So is this in the main folder, or the Season 2 folder. Seems to be in both.
Also, I'm almost disappointed this won't be a TMNT crossover. And great job on making Squirk just so...alien.
3543526
I initially put it in the main folder, as I was uncertain I was allowed to put it into the S2 folder. After getting permission I moved it, i'm not sure hwo to remove it form main though, i'll go see about doing that now, TY.
Edit:
Turns out I have no idea how to remove it.
Heh, sorry about that and thank you, i'm glad that came across 'alien' is pretty much exactly what I was going for.
This is promising..
3544613
Thank you!
Oh Celestia, this is just going to be yet another entry for the future "actions I regret" list.
3546187
That it is, still at least it'll make an amusing anecdote to tell her grand kids.
That was frightening!
3553128
Heh sorry, thank you though, that is exactly what I was going for. Thanks for the comment. 
Releasing monsters will not make Celestia very popular. I see no way that this can possibly go wrong.
3559258
It's certainly not a good call from a public relations point of view, I agree.
Of course it can't, releasing eldrich horrors from the dawn of time never goes wrong... right?
Thanks for the comment.
Cap (title/moniker).
____________
3561305
Exactly. It goes right always. In the history of everything that has ever gone right. In no way, do they fail in utterly epic ways.