It Sleeps Beneath Foal Mountain

by the7Saviors

They all danced to the tune of her madness...

I returned to the world of the living amidst anguished wails and tempestuous cries of voices I recognized—loved ones who believed they had lost somepony dear. Still incorporeal and all but imperceptible to those around me, I took a moment to observe the scene before me. Spike had thrown himself over my gruesome remains atop the altar—his tiny, scaly body shaking uncontrollably as he sobbed and screamed.

Surrounding the altar in an uneven half-circle were the rest of the Guard, many of them showing varying degrees of shame or discomfort at the sight of the grieving drakeling. Further from the center of the altar was my brother and the Lunar Princess. Even from a distance, I could see grief and fury etched into every line of his face. I could hear the hostility in his voice clear over the dissonant cacophony of the Harbinger's bloodcurdling melody.

His ire, unsurprisingly, was aimed at none other than a collapsed Princess Luna. The sight of Luna herself, however, I found very surprising. The mare had fallen, likely knocked to the ground by Shining Armor from what I could see of the situation and her bleeding muzzle. Her face was pale and horror-stricken, her eyes locked not on her assailant, but rather the very monster which she had slain.

So great was the apparent shock of what she'd done that she hardly seemed to hear the enraged stallion standing above her. To hear my brother speak of it, his initial role and that of the soldiers under his command were told only to detain me so that Luna could invoke a rite meant to banish me from this dimension similar to what I'd done to Star Swirl although somewhat more benign if I had to guess.

The expression upon Luna's face was a clear enough indication that Shining Armor's words had a ring of truth about them. My cessation was never her intention and yet the conviction in her eyes as she struck me down was absolute. To me, this could only mean that she was compelled by some power beyond her control—a will other than her own.

With quivering lips and a voice trembling with fear and dismay, the mare herself uttered those very same words. And with those words my suspicions were confirmed—all had happened as it was meant to. The mare knew all too well the weight of what she had done and that evidently included Stygian's death as well.

None of it had been her intention and I was all but certain I knew who had truly been behind her murderous actions. Excluding the Crawling Chaos, there was only one creature I knew of who had the power to overcome Luna's will and the purpose and foresight to orchestrate events to play out as they did.

Who could it be but that broken creature? That wretched Seer? Who else but the Mad Queen, Chrysalis? Who else would have deliberately planned for these events to take place? Who else but she had both the experience in subterfuge and subtlety and the capability and foreknowledge granted by the Masked Messenger?

To that insectile mare, my return was a foregone conclusion. It was simply a matter of nudging events in the right direction. As if to prove what I already knew, a sudden and familiar peal of laughter rent itself from the mouth of the fallen Princess. It was a deranged cackle—a terrible, unearthly sound that echoed across the entire forest surrounding the Ponehenge altar.

Half a minute or so went by before the insane laughter died down and left silent every creature present. No further wails emerged from Spike and all fury had drained from Shining Armor in an instant. For a moment the only sound to be heard was the foreboding music of the Harbinger, whose moon-like bulk continued to draw ever closer as if pulled by the formless black beast stirring beneath the earth.

Then, with all eyes centered on her quivering form, Luna began to rise to her hooves. Another violent fit of shaking stymied her attempts and she once more fell to the ground in a trembling heap, a wordless groan rising from her throat. It was a pitiful, torturous sound that started low and slowly crescendoed into a piercing squeal of agony.

Shining Armor quickly scrambled away, his eyes wide with alarm and horror as he watched the mare flail about wildly. Her legs began to twist and contort at impossible angles, her eyes rolled madly in her head while the rest of her features became nothing more than a rictus of unimaginable pain. Cries of panic and dismay rang out as the entire contingent of Guards flocked around their Princess, but what could they do?

Uncertain of the situation and unsure as to whether it was wise to approach the mare, they could only bear witness to the grotesque sight, only listen to the sickening snap of bones and pop of tendons as they broke and realigned themselves over and over again in an endless excruciating cycle.

For the Princess, the unfathomable pain she endured must have seemed like an eternity. In reality, however, her agonized throes had only lasted a few dozen seconds at most. Then, like the flip of a switch, everything snapped back into place. The Princess slumped back down onto the ground like a puppet whose strings had been suddenly and completely severed.

Another ominous silence fell over those gathered as they gazed upon the weakly twitching Night Princess with pale faces and open-mouthed shock. Luna, her own jaw slack and her cold blue irides rolled up so as to show only the whites of her eyes, remained unresponsive and unmindful of the attention.

A deep and breathy sigh spilled from her muzzle then, bringing with it a baleful black smoke. The thick and tenebrous smog seeped from her mouth, nose, and eyes in a heavy torrent before rising high above and over the startled rabble. It moved with a purpose, twisting and arcing as if guided by an unseen hoof until it reached the center of the altar.

Spike, who had yet to part from my remains, watched in terror as the inky black smoke descended upon his general location, though he did not move. Rather, he once again threw himself over my headless corpse in a vain attempt to shield my body from some perceived defilement by the smoke. It was a touching gesture, if wholly unnecessary.

The black smog finished its descent, landing beside the protective little drake. In lieu of dispersing like any other heterogeneous mixture of a similar nature, the smoke thickened further as it hit the stone. The formless mass warped and distorted and grew in volume—condensing and solidifying into something resembling an equine yet not at all.

Before long, the remaining wisps of ebony smoke finally dispersed to reveal the abhorrent eldritch monstrosity once known as Chrysalis. With a mad cackle of triumph, the Mad Queen swept her eyeless gaze over the assembled Guards before her. More inky smoke billowed from her empty sockets and a wide, repulsive grin split her face as hackles were raised and blades were drawn on instinct.

Before any of the soldiers could make a move, Chrysalis spoke, licking a forked black tongue over her lips and letting out a sickly giggle.

"Sh... Shining Armor, it's been... quite s-some time since I last saw your f-face," she began with no small amount of glee, "y-you have... have no idea th-the joy it brings me to have you h... here to witness this moment! I only w-wish that harlot... were here with you... yeeessss that w-would be positively delightful... b-but... I suppose it hardly matters in the end... a-after all..."

Shining Armor stepped forth, cutting off the rest of Chrysalis' words with a wave of his spear and furious demands to know of the fate of the Lunar Princess and the Mad Queen's role in my slaughter. Chrysalis merely cackled again in response before giving her answer.

"Y-Your precious moon princess yet lives... b-but that is all I can say for... for certain," she answered, "she has s-served her purpose... her fate beyond that role... wh-whether she lives or dies... m-means nothing to me... and y-your sister..."

Chrysalis turned her attention to my body and the baby dragon unavailingly attempting to shield it from view. She lowered herself until she was eye level with Spike and spoke, her twisted grin briefly softening into something far gentler. Her voice was soft and reverent—motherly even as she addressed the drakeling—but was still loud enough for every creature present to hear.

"...I have freed Her from the shackles of Her ignorance and led Her to the truth She so desires," she said with nary a stumble or stutter to be heard, "weep not, little hatchling, for our Goddess will return very soon, and Her resurrection will herald the coming of a beautiful new era.

"It will be glorious—a caliginous utopia ruled by an Old God who once laid claim to this land long ago," the zealous queen stepped away and stood up straight before turning to gaze up longingly at the heights of Foal Mountain, "She will tear this wretched kingdom out by the roots and return the world to its rightful ruler! With Her Sight She will show us the way, and as She ascends so too will we!"