Leviathan
There is no need to shove, Guard. I am quite capable of walking on my own, despite these manacles.
I would be faster if you took them off, of course, but I assume you won't hear of it. I wouldn't try to run, you know. Even if I could escape this golden fortress of yours and make it down the mountain, I could never get far enough away.
What's this? Is this where you carry out executions—in a great hall, filled with an angry herd? (I am not "struggling," Guard. The daystar's light hurts my eyes.) And here, the two diarchs of Equestria? Forgive me, but I don't know how one chief ruler should greet another, since you're the first others I've met in person.
Then again, I'm not a king anymore. You've made sure of that.
So it's a court, is it? I must say, I'm a little insulted you would even pretend to be doing some sort of justice, after what you and your army have done. In fact, I doubt you truly want to know my side of things.
Oh? Well... all right. It will do for passing the time.
First things first. If I read your Equine faces right, I would guess you're wondering why a Diamond Dog is so articulate. In short, our society has castes, and they (I can reasonably assume) are much more rigid than yours. The Dogs who work close to the surface are of the meanest sort, but in the grottos and caverns that you have lately rooted out, we had a culture. I doubt you could fully understand it, any more than I could understand that of the surface. I am last in the line chosen for their intelligence to be kings of the Diamond Dogs.
What I am about to tell you will sound unbelievable. You will probably think I am mocking you or trying to trick you. You may even stop me before my story is finished.
Oh? How quaint. Very well. I will start at the beginning.
Ten thousand generations of my ancestors lived beneath the surface before equines ever came to the land you call "Equestria." Other civilizations rose and fell here, while we endured beneath. (Therefore, I hope you will pardon my never having sent emissaries. I assumed our society would survive yours, as it did the others.) And we knew we must always endure, for just as you keep stewardship over aspects of the surface, so too did we tame great forces within the earth. Most of these you would find uninteresting, if you even understood them. But there is one you will find most relevant.
Beneath my kingdom, there is a cavern of tremendous size. Much of this cavern is filled by a stygian sea—leagues across, and unfathomably deep. Your troops, I know, were upon its shore when they ransacked our capitol. If they looked out across its black surface and saw what rests there, they no doubt mistook it for an island.
That "island" is only a part of the thing that sleeps there. No mortal alive today has seen it in full. But it is described in accounts written by my ancestors, those times when it awoke. Its size is such that it could pick up two bull dragons in its jaws with ease. Its many long limbs carry it fast through water and almost as fast over land. It is entirely covered in impenetrable scales, even at its joints.
We call it "Leviathan."
I have been carried to Leviathan by raft; examined it in the light of mining lamps; stood close enough to touch its scales with my paw. Though it was asleep, the mere sight of it in the light was nearly overpowering.
No one knows where it came from, but there are educated guesses. Its broad diet and scaly hide suggest a relation to dragons or sea serpents... or both. As far as anyone knows, it is the only one of its kind, but no doubt there were others in some dark, primordial time, before my people or yours ever existed. Now it preserves itself by sleeping, immobile, for some three centuries at a stretch, and awakening only long enough to fill its belly.
The more ignorant among us worship it as a god. It is nothing of the sort. A god might be reasoned with. Leviathan is an animal, with an animal's hunger. And while it is capable of devouring most things, it hungers for gems most of all. That was why we hoarded them, and why our people, among all canine-kin, are called the Diamond Dogs. Beyond a few lesser pieces kept by diggers as trophies, all of our mines' bounties went to Leviathan's feeding chamber.
How can such tiny mortals as us feed a creature that size? Because the mound of gems is built over the centuries during which it sleeps. You may have heard reports from your army of a single cavern filled with them—right to the edge of that underground sea.
And where are these gems now? Why, plundered by that army, of course. A victor always thinks himself entitled to spoils. They've vanished into the purses of merchants, mates, and whores across Equestria.
I see disbelief in your faces. Of course my story is too fantastic to be true. I must be lying, or else mad. The alternative is too horrible to imagine.
Ah, but wait! You begin to hear that distant booming that seems to come from everywhere at once. And now, a tremor from beneath. It is no surprise to me. Canines have very good ears, and these sounds have been going on for some hours already. Only now have they grown loud enough for you to hear.
You see, as I mentioned, Leviathan awakes from hunger every three centuries or thereabouts, looking for sustenance. Each time, we are forewarned by occasional small movements—small for a creature of its size, that is—and puffs of smoke as it begins to breathe the air again. In your faces, I see the unspoken questions: Have three centuries passed? Have any of the signs recently appeared?
The answer is "yes."
As to your next logical question: I am sad to say that any hope of subduing it is false. When it awakes, the mightiest of warriors are terrified. When it moves, the depths churn like a boiling cauldron. No weapon nor magic nor element of nature can pierce its scales or slow its advance. To Leviathan, iron is like straw and steel is like rotten wood. And it knows neither fear nor pity.
Now it awakes, and for the first time in millennia, sees that it must hunt.
I admit to my share of responsibility. If I had instructed the gem-gatherers to avoid interfering with ponies, a certain small group of them might not have tried to enslave one of your kind several years ago. The few cartloads of gems she made off with were only a minor loss. (You hear that? The tremors grow stronger yet.) But more recently, when she made to steal from us again, my people tried to make an example of her. This was a bad mistake, of course, but you can at least see the reason now—the importance of their work. They did not realize that pony was connected to the Equestrian royal family and could not have foreseen that you would consider their actions an act of war.
But I will not accept the greater part of the blame. You see, ponies do not eat gems. Nor do they have any other practical use for such. To a pony, they are mere baubles, worn for the sake of vanity. Equine vanity brought on the theft, and the theft brought on the war, and the war brought on Leviathan. Vanity is a close relation of arrogance, and your soldiers' arrogance made them turn our messengers away again and again, dismissing them as liars. The small-minded cannot believe in Leviathan until they have gazed upon it.
And all along, you thought it was we who were driven by greed.
Happily, the strength of the tremors means there is not much time to wait. If you gather at the windows now, you will be privileged to see what no one has seen in millennia: the whole being of Leviathan in the light of the daystar. I believe there is nothing more to say, except farewell. Farewell, farewell...
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Tis an excellent read, and very intriguing point of view you used. Riveting!
So Leviathan woke up, saw that the ponies took all his food, and is tired and grumpy?
Aw, they upset the nice primordial horror from beneath the earth, how mean of them.
Ah well, I am sure he can whip something up.
"He is the heart that beats in the darkness, he is the blood that shall never cease. And now he will rise."
Oh, kratos where are you when a big ass monster thretens the world?
Good story, now..... I want to see what this thing will do to equestria. :D
Seems that Rarity doomed everyone...
5051372 I know if I was in that situation I'd probably start messing stuff up.
Hmn, someone seems to have neglected to make any disaster recovery plans. If your species-wide mission is that vital, you should probably spread word of it a little better. Or, you know, at all.
Perhaps all hope is not lost. If Behemoth or Ziz exist in this story's universe, then there's still a chance of overcoming Leviathan. They, meaning Fluttershy, just has to befriend one of them and fight back.
But all the same, this was a most excellent read, dear author. Have a fave and a like.
Diamond Dog story? Diamond Dog story. This is what I look for in writing.
We're gonna need a bigger rainbow.
Very interesting read. Best part, in my opinion, is that you never actually say what Leviathan looks like. That's a classic rule of horror, the "jaws" rule: the less the audience sees of a monster, the scarier it becomes.
5051696
well, considering they their race has seen numerous species come and go from what is Equestria while they have existed in peace from the goings on above Underground, save for having to feed a massive Eldritch abomination so it does not cause the genocide of possibly several species in its hunger, I think they had more important things on their minds than the latest settlers on the land above them.
5051923 And that plan seems to have worked out splendidly right up until it didn't. In this case the disaster isn't even unforseen given that they are clearly aware of the consequences of not having the proper gem stock on hand.
Rex here is spinning up some good PR of this event being anyone else's fault other than his, but disaster planning is everyone's responsibility and it's especially the responsibility of the people who actually know about the potential disaster.
5051969 Right on the money.
Good to see this doing well. Nice job with the revisions following our brief online workshop.
Awesome story, but it kind of feels like it belongs as part of a bigger one. Don't get me wrong, it's really good as it is, but the whole concept of "Leviathan" feels like it could be explored more in depth.
and everyone died, the end
5052241
That was actually the biggest thing I said when I looked at the first draft. I'm really glad a lot of people are enjoying this story as-is.
5052241 ho ho, bitty wastard. But i agree, this does feel like an excerpt or epilogue or even prologue of a much bigger story.
This one I certainly feel merits an upvote, for ancient beasts of massive size are always delightfully fascinating. Although such a beast, however big, I doubt will do much more than wreck a city. After all, the story says the ponies took the entire horde of gems, meaning that they found use for all of it. Meaning that it's not -that- much in Equestrian terms. So if it starts snapping things up, well, yea. Definitely a lot of things what will be broken, probably, but not so much as 'Doom upon society'.
A rampage of the Tarasque is nothing to laugh at, but neither is it something that will end a nation so large as Equestria, though it may end the pony version of Robert Putney Drake.
Short sweet and simple, but it left me craving more.
I would not reject further examination of this premise.
Great work. As many people have stated, it feels like part of something bigger. It was an interesting story, and I'm glad to have read it. Also, I get the feeling it was inspired by a certain Disney movie with a similar beast.
typo
5051390 Just have Twilight cast her 'change this creature's diet' spell so that it doesn't want to eat gems. I'm sure nothing bad will happen if she does that.
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/328/813/8d6.jpg
That about sums up my thoughts. Besides "Wow, that was great!"
5051388
From you, I can always count on an appropriate quote.
5051669
Ironically, the story of mine with an actual biblical monster... is not Biblical Monsters. Confession time: In preparation for writing this, I read several translations of the description of Leviathan from the book of Job. The smoke-breathing was from one of these.
5051774
+1 Internet for knowing about Ziz.
5052241
5052323
5052396
I wouldn't say no to this either, but I have no ideas. That's not to say I'll never get any ideas, of course.
5052466
Inspired by Job 41, actually.
How embarrassing. I'm drawing a blank as to which movie you refer.
5051388
I just realized you commented at about one minuet after me. You where this close to being this storys first comment.
Darling, this is quite beautifu, almost as if a lore of sorts.
5052598 Uh, what about Bob and Zyrian? They got there long before both of us.
5052466
Was that Atlantis?
Can't get behind this one. I have a great deal of difficulty seeing Celestia commit to a war without first attempting to reach a solution peacefully first. Doing so breaks what few tenants of her character we know.
5052611 What!? Then...... Then that means my life has been a lie! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Wait, i think i was only the first to comment on chapter one..... Wait, no dammit.
5052468 yes, that way it can eat the trees in the everfree forest.
5052468 You want it to the planet then??? Your insane!!!!!!
Hmm, I wouldn't say this needs an entire novel written around it, or even something much longer than the original piece, but one more story written from the perspective of a pony, be it Celestia, Luna, Twilight & Co., or even Rarity as Leviathan rampages would be interesting. Two main things most people will do while they wait for the end is seek comfort with loved ones or attack (verbal, physical, or both) the one who they feel is most responsible, and seeing everyone turn on Rarity would be hilarious. Heck I wonder what Discord would be doing while this happened.
I like it. The style would probably have gotten boring if it had gone on too long, since it's pretty much just exposition, but this is short and sweet. Good job!
wellp, that sucks for the ponies.
Oh, he certainly reminds me of another beast of legend.
qph.is.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-6cdd744c89ea9ed06e98259767d57480?convert_to_webp=true
I really like, but I'd personally much prefer if there was more buildup. While I don't see how to do this outside of a oneshot, I don't feel like the true horror of the situation was given enough attention. Unimaginable monstrosity that devours all in its path. Good. Was its physical description left just ambiguous enough to induce fearshits? Good, it's not scary if it's described in full.
But that's about all I can say for it. Rex seems to be describing his tale as if it were on cue cards. He's quite possibly resigned himself to death, but every bit of fear that is missing from his retelling is also taken away from Leviathan. He's both the reader proxy and the narrator, the one who describes what he sees and a general impression of what the reader sees. But he's not afraid enough to induce fear by proxy, and his retelling gives off little more than the usual apocalypse fluff. Perhaps it's the sheer scope of the horror I've read and written, but it feels like there should be at least a little more horror for this beast.
Did anypony else think of this song while reading this fic?
P.S.
Excellent job. Horse Voice
5052295 Oh, I wouldn't say that. Modern-day Diamond Dogs have only super-duper ancient writings of unknown authenticity about how tough Leviathan is. For all we know the next paragraph of the story would have described Celestia one-shotting it with a sun to the noggin or Twilight & Co. "Friending" it into a particularly large statue, and then the King going "oh. We never tried that."
5052750
Hrm, alright. I'll consider this the next time I try first-person horror.
I well and truly loved this story. I like how you do horror. Keep up the great writing!
you know I would like to see the ponies reaction to the leviathan as a chapter it'd be nice
5052613 Yes it was.
5052846 he said primordial that thing is like Godzilla it is from a time where magic was probably so abundant the thing burping was equal to the harmony blast
5052846 Yeah, I have a hard time imagining an animal, even a super-humongous animal, outmatching Celestia. Even Chrysalis had to plan a little to beat her. (Besides, a creature that's slumbered in darkness for millennia is unlikely to be prepared for the power of the sun.)