It Sleeps Beneath Foal Mountain

by the7Saviors

I dreamt of monstrous musicians...

When I awoke next, it was suddenly, and with no small amount of terror and panic, my mind alive with scarcely remembered visions of an indescribably horrendous place full of cosmic chaos and madness far beyond that of what even Discord could accomplish.

It was not unlike the mystifying and terribly vast domain of the planet beast I'd stumbled upon once before. More so than even the domain of my previous nightmare, I felt I did not belong in this place. I felt as though I'd made some terrible trespass into the layer of ultimate cosmic evil, or the realm of some ancient malevolent god.

Images of massive, writhing things made of countless ropes of slimy flesh and bulbous eyes flashed across my mind. The blasphemous creatures danced about in an erratic and frenzied manner, frantically piping on strange instruments with an almost religious fervor.

Wrapped in long, spindly digits at the ends of their slimy, ropy limbs, the instruments were akin to flutes and horns. I knew not how they played them, for they had no mouths with which to blow out each sickening note, yet play they did all the same.

I would've hesitated to call the sounds they made music, and if it was indeed some type of song they played, it was unlike even that of the impossibly large, planet-like monstrosity I'd had the displeasure of beholding in my previous nightmare.

There, in that inexpressible, indefinable dominion with its writhing, towering eldritch horrors and music unfit for mortal ears, I had never felt so insignificant, so powerless as I did then. The experience was almost enough to break me, and I was sure it would have had my mind seized onto the entirety of said experience.

As it was however, I could not remember much beyond a few brief glimpses, and I was glad of it, for what little I did remember was enough to tug at my sanity. Despite the gaping holes in my memory, I could tell that this nightmare—and I say that with a healthy bit of uncertainty—was far more horrifying and visceral than the nightmare before it.

A startled cry had escaped my lips, but nothing more thankfully, and as I sat there, trying to catch my breath and quell the shaking in my limbs, I finally began to take notice of my surroundings. To my shock, I found myself sitting upright in my own bed, staring wide eyed around my bedroom in the Castle of Friendship.

Confusion took hold of me as I tried to think back to what had transpired the night before, and after a moment, I remembered, with startling clarity, the trip I'd made through the Everfree Forest. I remembered all too well, that unsettling journey and the purposeful foray into the Cave of Harmony.

I'd been observing the Tree of Harmony for any signs of strange activity, but my observations bore no fruit. Eventually, in my extreme exhaustion, I had fallen asleep right there on the cold hard ground, but that was not the end of it.

Something else had happened to me, that much I knew for certain, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what it had been. I did not remember leaving the cave, nor did I remember trekking back through the forest, yet here I was, safe and sound in my own home somehow.

Was it a case of somnambulism, or something else? Perhaps Spike or Starlight saw through my ruse and went looking for me? That they, or any of my other friends, had found me unconscious in the Cave of Harmony seemed as good an explanation as any, yet I couldn't shake the feeling it had been something altogether different that pulled me away from that place.

It had been an unnerving and surreal night, and I was not above believing I had somehow been spirited back to my home by some other, unknowable force. In any case, I had made it back, but what of the tree and its lack of activity, save for the eerily cold glow?

What of this new horrific nightmare I'd suffered? Why it came to pass and what it meant, I didn't know, but I was starting to believe this wouldn't be the end of it, not by far. As I continued my attempts to steady my shaky breaths and rapidly beating heart, I remembered the saddlebags I brought with me, and the journal therein.

I squinted against the early morning rays of the sun shining through my window as I looked around the room for my bags. Curiously, and somewhat disappointingly, I did not see them at a mere glance. My eyes then landed on the nightstand next to my bed, and I was surprised to see that my journal sat, unassuming atop it.

Rather than any kind of relief at not having left the thing behind, I felt instead, an odd sense of foreboding as I gazed upon the book. I had no idea how it had gotten there, or where my saddlebags were, but that was not the source of my unease. I had the strangest sense that somepony, or something had tampered with my journal somehow.

It was with some reluctance that I reached for the journal, and when I finally did, I'd done so without the use of telekinesis. I couldn't quite fathom why, but I didn't want to touch the thing with my magic, and so I grabbed it with a hoof and brought it towards me.

I stared at it for a moment or two, turning it around in my hooves and trying to find out just what it was about my own journal that disturbed me. Resigning myself to whatever happened next, I finally pulled the journal open and flipped through the pages one by one.

Upon reaching the end of my documentation I froze, my eyes wide with disbelief and my heart heavy with a dread that was becoming all too familiar. At the very bottom of the page was a passage I most definitely did not remember recording at any point during my stay in the cave.

Despite that, I recognized the writing as my own, though it was terribly shaky and erratic in its composition. The passage was fairly short, and was just legible enough to read clearly, though I couldn't make any sense of it. The words, if they could be called words at all, read as thus:

'Kadishtuor ph'nglui fhtagn n'ghftnah... Ehye ehye llll mgeplllln'gha h' ahf' ah n'gha ng n'ghft ephaimgah'n'ghft r'luh ehye... Yog ahmgr'luh yeeogng uaaahnythorr cahf ahnythor nilgh'riyar ahna r'luh ph'nglui h' n'ghftnah ng mgah'ehye mgleth mguln ot ah'legeth mgn'ghft... Uh'eor ah'n'ghft ahor mghlirgh mgr'luh...'

One could've dismissed this as gibberish—the scribblings of a madmare, or a foal who did not yet know how to write proper Ponish. I felt, however, that this was not the case, as the words, unfamiliar as they were, still seemed to have a structure of some sort.

It seemed to me as though this were written in some other language completely unfamiliar to me. It was not Old Ponish, nor was it similar to any other languages I'd come across in my years as a student of Celestia, or as a scholar in general.

How and why was it then, that I'd written these words down in my journal, and what did they mean? I couldn't even hazard a guess, but what I did know, was that I found the words abominable and repulsive.

Merely looking at the hideous scrawl gave me a strong urge to fling the journal clear across the room in disgust. I stayed both my hoof and my magic however, and forced myself to study the words carefully. I focused on those words in the desperate hope that I could blot out the memory of that wretched place and all that dwelled within it.

The more I read through the odd collection of letters, the more I was convinced that it was possibly some kind of archaic written language, perhaps the writings of some old, long forgotten civilization.

How I'd managed to write out something I'd never seen before baffled and worried me. I was however, every bit a scholar, and the prospect of a hitherto unknown, and possibly ancient race that had yet to be discovered, awakened the philomath in me.

The fear, disgust, and uneasiness were all quickly being stifled beneath my growing curiosity and a new sense of wonder and excitement. My excitement only grew as I realized this could be just the clue I'd been looking for, and as speculation after wild speculation ran through my mind, I closed my journal, set it aside, and flung myself out of bed, eager to begin my research.

On my way to my own personal library, I ran into Starlight and Spike, both of whom were happy to see that I was in such high spirits. Their reaction gave me pause, and when I'd asked them if they'd noticed anything strange that night, they replied that they'd seen nothing out of the ordinary.

Spike had come to check on me in the middle of the night, and found me, or rather my magical double, sleeping soundly. This of course, meant that neither had come to take me back to the castle, and nopony else had known that I'd even left.

What then, was it that had brought me back here?

The question had caused the more troubling memories of that trip, and the following nightmare to creep back into the forefront of my mind, and, in a panic, I quickly bid the two farewell and hurried off. A few moments later, I'd mercifully managed to once again push the thoughts back down into the deep recesses of my psyche where I hoped they'd stay for the foreseeable future.

An eager smile returned to my face and I continued on my way to the library, satisfied that I could finally make some progress. I was blinded by my scholarly zeal, and from the moment I set hoof in the Everfree Forest that night, I continued to make nothing but terrible, terrible mistakes.

Author's Note:

A shorter chapter, but I felt I conveyed what I needed to... for now.

Comments

[Yosh-E-O]

Most certainly well communicated. This chapter need not be long for what one needs to grasp from it has been achieved along with a strong hook for what may be learned in the next segment.

I almost had forgotten how Cthulhu communicated. The way he got into the minds of anyone anywhere in the world. The epic influence of himself and his followers.

Are you familiar with the game "Eternal Darkness"? It borrowed heavily from Lovecraft and, between "Call Of Cthulhu" and the game I must say you're doing a fantastic job of getting us to feel how the influence of the unseen does much to meddle with the minds of mortals.

[FanficReader920]

*shiver* This is getting unsettling...... I love it.

[Omniverse Infinity]

Omni:Oh no twilight...I might be wrong and I pray I am,for the chaotic music and eratic dancing combined with what little you do remember seeing...I fear you just caught a glimpse of AZATHOTH The Nucular Chaos,it who lies at the center of infinity.

[the7Saviors]

9372074
I've heard of Eternal Darkness, but I haven't played it myself. I've heard it's fantastic though.

[TheJacksonFive]

Your stories got me into Lovecraft. Thank you

[Coranth]

"Twilight Sparkle, whatever you are doing, STOP! This will only lead to madness, your undoing, your unmaking..."

[PrincessLaLa]

9372546
Sooo, Pinkie Pie?

[Comrade Abigor]

So i used a R'lyehian translator and to translate the text it didn't came out very helpful as it seems these translators aren't that good. But i got to say. Whatever is manifesting as a tree is either dumb or idk like if it wanted to give a message to a mortal why not do it in a language THEY CAN UNDERSTAND! We know the tree understands and possesses the local language of Equestria even if it doesn't it wouldn't find it hard to just learn it through telepathy. So if you want to give a message to someone why not give it in a language they know but instead tell them in a language they have no idea where it even came from. Like for real tree you're supposed to be a god here the more evolved being i expected better of you. At the very least you could have given her the means of translating the message.