Monument

by Equimorto

Captain S******'s suicide note; Dated 01/12/994

I have been to the room that's been haunting my nightmares again. I have read the entirety of Twilight Sparkle's diary. They'll come to erase my memory as soon as they find out. I won't give them the satisfaction. I won't allow them to make me a part of this again.

I know everything of what they did. I know the reasons behind the bloodbath of their staged five years war. I know of the battle that came before that, a thousand years ago. I know of every disgusting crime they committed through history in fear of wars that never came. I know of their secrets and of the death they have brought.

I know of the beast that sleeps below Canterlot. The lobotimised snake they built their capital on top of. The rotting chaos daemon whose carcass infests the tunnels below the city, spreading through them like a fungus. I've read Twilight's diary, every page of it. Its body is growing.

I know they were desperate. They were terrified. They knew the day would come when the snake would wake again. They knew they had not defeated it fully. They dug up one of the horrors we created when we feared a war and threw away lives and sanity at it until they got what they wanted. They drove a nail through the daemon's skull hoping that would put an end to it. That's what the Spire is. Nothing but a shell for the knife lodged in the beast's head, the same way the mountain is just a shell for its corpse. A hollow pretty lie to save appearances.

They're fools. It was not enough. Nothing of what they could do will ever be enough. The blood of five years' worth of sacrifices only kept the monster asleep so long, and a hundred more Spires couldn't kill it. One day it will wake again. Right now madness spills like a river from its wound. Twilight saw it. Twilight walked in it. She walked in the snake's light and heard the song of its dreams, and it drove her insane.

I found two things in the Archives that shouldn't have been there. Burn the first one if you want, if you can find it. I dare you to look at the second one.

One was a simple message. 'You've been here before'. My own hornwriting. I know why I saw that place in my dreams. This was not the first time I was there.

The second was a picture. I know why the dreams I've had of that place were all nightmares.

I have seen the face of the abomination whose sleeping body we walk on. I have looked into its eyes. I have seen the creature below Canterlot, the monster warping the endless tunnels under the city with its mere dreaming presence, I have witnessed the putrid horror we live our lives upon. I can sense its heart beat underneath my hooves.

Twilight found joy in the madness she fell in, drawn to the music of the daemon's soul. I have found only despair in this insanity. Yet I see more clearly than they ever could that furthering this death march towards the inevitable catastrophe that awaits us is the greatest madness of our kin. I have looked at Chaos and it has left a smouldering gash in my soul. I dare not envision the sea of agony that would swallow us all the day it once more arose.

I will not be here for the day the snake wakes, nor the one its rotten rancid infection spreads past the confines of its prison tomb and seeps into the thin cover of dirt we've thought could keep us safe from the horror. I will not be here to forget what I have learnt, to live on an ignorant over the deathless corpse of our world's sleeping demise. There are wounds of the mind no spell can cleanse, and I will not let them try. Think I'm insane if you want. One day the creature will rear its head again and your marble towers will crumble and your own nightmares will come to life. You will be there. What good will all your efforts have done you then?

Call me a coward if you want. My choice is made.

Sassy Saddles

Comments

[Bicyclette]

I know the reasons behind the bloodbath of their staged five years war. I know of the battle that came before that, a thousand years ago.

the presence of Luna in the 600s did make me think that original rift between Sisters went differently here

That's what the Spire is. Nothing but a shell for the knife lodged in the beast's head, the same way the mountain is just a shell for its corpse. A hollow pretty lie to save appearances.

ooh love this!

They're fools. It was not enough. Nothing of what they could do will ever be enough. The blood of five years' worth of sacrifices only kept the monster asleep so long, and a hundred more Spires couldn't kill it. One day it will wake again. Right now madness spills like a river from its wound. Twilight saw it. Twilight walked in it. She walked in the snake's light and heard the song of its dreams, and it drove her insane.

and augh, an entire civil war just to kill off enough ponies to power a blood sacrifice? that is very hardcore!

One was a simple message. 'You've been here before'. My own hornwriting. I know why I saw that place in my dreams. This was not the first time I was there.

The second was a picture. I know why the dreams I've had of that place were all nightmares.

i guess the memory erasure the first time managed to leave some dormant subconscious traces...

I will not be here for the day the snake wakes, nor the one its rotten rancid infection spreads past the confines of its prison tomb and seeps into the thin cover of dirt we've thought could keep us safe from the horror. I will not be here to forget what I have learnt, to live on an ignorant over the deathless corpse of our world's sleeping demise. There are wounds of the mind no spell can cleanse, and I will not let them try. Think I'm insane if you want. One day the creature will rear its head again and your marble towers will crumble and your own nightmares will come to life. You will be there. What good will all your efforts have done you then?

love this entire monologue. again, it's easy for writers to overdo or underdo a passage like this, but i rather like how you've done this one.

Sassy Saddles

ah, the "larger than average" unicorn that leapt from the Spire! the S.S.! and somehow the darkness and heaviness of all of this contrasted with the very light role that Sassy Saddles has in the canon, the absurdity of that contrast, there is something delectable there.

[Zaveryn]

OOOH!!!! The larger than average unicorn from before!!!

[DiscordantDisciple]

I know of the beast that sleeps below Canterlot. The lobotimised snake they built their capital on top of. The rotting chaos daemon whose carcass infests the tunnels below the city, spreading through them like a fungus. I've read Twilight's diary, every page of it. Its body is growing.

DISCORD?????????? nooo omg
eldritch deity discord my beloved, wild