Ducenti Septuaginta Septem

by Capacitor

Chapter Four: Destiny

Part One: The Prophecy, The Princess and The Portal


Chapter Four: Destiny

"Two days ago, the new star fell to the ground, oddly not ceasing acceleration upon reaching the point of terminal velocity. Its speed surpassed that of sound, somehow causing an arcane discharge visible as an expanding circular wave of condensing light and leaving behind a multi-hued streak in the air.
This wave displaced the grim storm clouds brought about by the windigos, fully clearing the sky. An hour later, the sun rose for the first time for about a month.
Probably at the time the object hit the surface, a phenomenon named by my student Clover as 'Fire of Friendship' melted the snow and dispersed what remained of the windigos' herd.
Another interesting phenomenon that has occurred since then is the spontaneous appearance of strange images on the flanks of several ponies. My student's, for instance, now shows a purplish flame in the shape of a heart.
I have confirmed that it is magical in nature, yet I could not determine its origin. It is somehow deeply connected to the psyche of Clover and interwoven with his magic.
I do not have any explanation for any of this, but I still have a remaining lead. I will try and organize an investigation of the star's crash site as soon as possible."

—Star Swirl's Journal, 967 before Nightmare Moon

[Equestria, Everfree Castle; 17th of Dawn in the year 1004 after Nightmare Moon]

With a start he snapped out of his memories of the past and back into the dreary present.
Again, he'd done it again. It was just all so – tiring. He blinked, turning away from the metal oblong he had been staring at.

After the fateful not-day, he had more than a year of peace that actually made him believe everything was fine. Then Discord happened, plunging the facility into chaos. Whatever he had done to the world, he didn't know, but it had caused the machines to run amok. The automated announcement had blared nonsensical, contradictional messages, everything had been rattling and shaking. He would never forget the 'Butter Overflow Exception'.
If it hadn't been for the voices, he wouldn't even have known what was going on. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able or supposed to do anything about it, so he had to stay in his quarters and bar the door while waiting and hoping for the unproductive chaos to end.

He had been immensely relieved when a wave of white light and inexorable magic had stopped the flickering lights, wild readings, howling machines and culinary impossibilities. The announcement had declared the defeat of Discord by the Elements of Harmony. Everything was back to normal, back on schedule.

However, there was one thing the Elements' magic had been unable to repair: his peace of mind, which remained missing ever since, paranoia eating away at the bit of sanity he had left.

Then, another year later, the 'maccident' had occurred. Apparently, some weird mutant had started running around in Equestria, creating surges of powerful magic that disrupted the delicate sensory equipment. Even worse, the bloody thing hadn't been on any schedule, which meant that he had to access the main control panel, which he had no idea how it worked, get tons of readings which left him totally clueless because he had no idea what they were supposed to mean and then amend the 'programming', which he had no idea what it was, of the Operative Core, which he had no idea how it worked, either.

Both him and the voices had been very angry at whatever had caused all the commotion.
He had been angry because it meant incomprehensible overtime work.
The voices had been angry for – well, different reasons.

'We had 98% correlation. Now we have less than 75%. Not even Sombra with his ridiculous empire managed a drop in correlation ratio that great. We will have to make a full-scale amendment. I only hope it just caused a linear translation of some kind. This stupid mutant is the worst mortal in this science-forsaken dimension!'

It had taken several months until the whispers had incorporated the mutant into their predictions and the Core had been properly reassigned an amended schedule. In the end, they reached 94.3% prediction correlation ratio.

While the next incident was only minor, it somehow managed to put one of the Elements into grave mortal danger. As a result, the noble title of the 'world's worst mortal' was passed to a mare known by the name of Trixie Lulamoon.

Then, just a week ago, the automated systems had announced that Discord had been freed again. Although nothing had really happened, the Listener was now living in constant fear, perpetual paranoia leaving him to expect the world being torn asunder any moment.

As he left the Core chamber, he decided it was time to go to sleep. In his current state of mind, he wouldn't get anything done anyway. So after storing the mop and bucket in a broom closet, he returned to his quarters, comforted himself with a drink of stale dimple cup booze and snuggled up in his ancient blanket that had once been tapestry back when ponies still lived in the castle above. Under the warmth of embroidery depicting the official signing of the Equestrian Constitution, he quickly doze off into the welcoming embrace of darkness.

---

“Attention, please! Attention! This is an emergency! Attention!”

He drifted back into the world of the waking with a feeling of sheer terror.

“This is an emergency! This is a pre-recorded message! An anomaly has been detected. All facility associates are to remain calm and wait for instructions.”

He unwrapped himself from his bed and sighed as the white noise violated his ears.

“The Elements of Harmony have been affected by a defective spell. The connection between the Elements and their wielders is subject to massive interferences.”
-static-
He flinched and silently cursed the fact that covering his ears would risk not getting the whole message.

“This event is occurring as scheduled by the schedule. There is no reason to panic.”
-static-
“This event is part of the scheduled ascent of the bearer of the Element of Magic to the status of an alicorn princess.”
-static-
He groaned and rubbed his head.

“Prediction correlation ratio is 94.8%.”
-static-
“Please receive instructions from the current communication executive. The current communication executive is encouraged to contact the chief schedule supervisor for direction. If there is currently no communication executive available, feel free to panic.”
-static-
“This has been a pre-recorded message. Thank you for your attention.”

He didn't even have to look at the memo at the wall any more. In the past three years, he had cast the spell so often he knew it by heart by now.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on the magic.

The whispers slowly emerged like a corpse from a pool of murky water.
'What is it, executive? Another deviation from schedule? Has unscheduled subject “MAC” broken something, again?'

“No, oh Great One. We are completely on schedule.”

The voices grew lighter. 'Ah. Then finally the moment has arrived for Twilight Sparkle to become the luckiest pony in Equestria,' the whispers hummed, content. 'You know the procedure. First give me the prediction correlation ratio, if you please, then head to the mandatory participant observation room.'

“Ninety-four point something percent.”

The stallion departed from his cell and dragged himself to the observation room. Glancing at the dull grey walls, he announced the notification lights that were lit up. “E1, E2, E3, E4, E5.”

'Excellent. Would you mind reading out E1-C to E6-C?'

“Sure. Why not.” He scanned the many labels until he found the correct row. “Let's see: one two, two four, three five, four three, five one and six six.”

'That is honestly funny. You can go back to sleep, though. Your services will not be required until morning.'

Relieved and anxious on equal parts, he did as proposed. Head hanging, he slumped back to the small chamber that accommodated him. The spell that enabled communication with the Watcher had yet to fade away when sleep overcame him and he fell into a silent darkness that was only interrupted by a faint vibrant buzzing from another mind.

---

[Equestria, Everfree Castle; 17th of Dawn in the year 1004 after Nightmare Moon]

When he woke up, it was from a rhythmical tingle in his bones and the faint echo of an annoyingly cheerful song in his head.
A true, true friend helps a friend in need, a friend will be there to help them see—
'Get up! You have to prepare an instrument for observation. To the control room!'
—to see the light—
He shook his head in attempt to banish the infuriating singing from it and got up. While he rushed towards the Core chamber, the words still haunted his mind, rendering him unable to compose himself. He was nervous, he was trembling due to the happy music, he couldn't feel the darkness behind his eyes.

Long story short, he was that close to having a hysterical breakdown.
The chamber was, apart from the buzzing of the machinery, quiet as always. The glowing parallelepiped hung under the ceiling like a pure soul in Tartarus, casting its ghost-like light on the controls beneath. His glance danced over the excessively complicated panels, finding no indication what to do amongst them.

“What exactly am I supposed to do?”

'We will need prime access. Approach the locked panel.'

Said panel only contained a rectangular field of forty-two unlabelled grey buttons as opposed to vast arrays of the multi-coloured buttons, switches and other input units the other panels featured.
'I will now tell you a series of numbers. You press the keys that correspond to those numbers. 1 is at the upper left, 42 is at the bottom right. It is a hundred-digit passphrase, so do not err.'

“Wait, what?”

'7. 4. 29—'

His protest was to no avail, leaving him no choice but to enter the code. This kind of task was just why he didn't like this chamber. Everything in it was completely meaningless and ridiculously complicated. Pressing forty blank buttons a hundred times? Seriously?

'—42. 9. 18. Got everything?'

As he pressed the last button, to his own surprise, the panel slid aside, revealing a small compartment. In it was an odd grey crown, plain aside a set of multicoloured gemstones. When he took it out, he realised that, even more strangely, it was seemingly tied to the compartment with a few dozen wires.

'Put it on.'

The voices had commanded, he had no choice.
Slightly anxious, he put on the crown. Being made of metal, it felt cold and heavy. Nothing happened.

'Once again, excellent work. You must be so proud. Now, would you kindly cast the spell that allows me to see through your eye?'

Reluctantly, he charged up his horn and wove the spell the whispering voices told him. With a flash of light, magic erupted from his horn and the spell rose up majestically and failed.
He gritted his teeth and tried again.
Finally, at the fourth attempt, his right eye went blind and numb.

The whispers trickled into his mind through the stale taste of metal in his mouth and the electric tingling in his spine.
'At last. We do not have all day, you know. After all, we are to oversee a crucial stage of the plan.
@:\>run 255\'

Almost as soon as the unfamiliar and unpronounceable thought filled his head, the machines tripled their noise levels, producing a series of metallic clanks that exorcised the last bits of silence from the room. A big mirror descended from the ceiling, held by two telescopic rails, and placed itself upright on the floor next to the Listener.

“That never happened before.” The pony was dumbstruck.

Suddenly, the mirror lit up and started flashing wildly in all different sorts of hues while a high-pitched screeched echoed through the room. For about three seconds. Then both the light and the noise stopped in favour of the rough automatic announcement's voice.

“System check completed. Audio-visual output system completely functional.”

'Glass, mercury and a little magic. Simple, yet effective.' The voices commented on the not-at-all-weird-or-scary mirror.
'@:\>query C-* -v\>query E*-C -a\'

The mirror went dull and black, filling with a mass of white numbers and words. He could feel his blind eye twirl in its socket as it scanned the screen. At the same time, the announcement spoke once more. “One one. Two two. Three three. Four four. Five five. Six six.”

His right ear twitched, his lips trembled. The facility was never this active, nor this responsive.
“How do you do that?” he demanded to know.

However, his attempt at communication was drowned as the day's second alarm went off.
Lights flashed, a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in it appeared in the mirror, machines howled, the system blared its dreary message through the facility.
“Attention, please! Attention! This is an emergency! Attention! This is an emergency! This is a pre-recorded message! An anomaly has been detected. All facility associates are to remain calm and wait for instructions.”

Fortunately, one of his ears was presently deaf, so the nerve-wrecking sound that followed didn't hurt quite as much.

“The Elements of Harmony have activated.”
-static-
“This event is occurring as scheduled by the schedule. There is no reason to panic.”
-static-
“This event is part of the scheduled ascent of the bearer of the Element of Magic to the status of an alicorn princess.”
-static-
“Prediction correlation ratio is 95.4%.”

'Yes!'
-static-
“Please receive—”

'@:\>stop 41\>run 132 -v -a\run 100 [179478.713, 8391.262, -9985.966, 60795.924, -48086.164]
-v[400THz, 750THz] -a[0Hz, 1MHz]\'

As soon as the choir had issued the first line, the menace to his pony ears stopped at once. Then the complex responded to the other two commands.
Gears turned deep in the facility, moving ancient devices, aligning sensors, focusing on whatever the task they had been given was. The floating crystal at the room's centre shone ever brighter, casting sharp silhouettes over every surface, its humming swelled to a rhythmic pulse that sent vibrations running through the floor, the walls, everything. Sparks trailed off it, arcing through the air and into various conduits, sending energy to the many parts of the underground complex.

The mercury mirror flared in fuzzy whiteness and a sound of incomprehensible crackling filled the chamber.
Then the image focused, revealing an ethereal environment. It didn't seem like a place in the original sense, lacking true orientation and dimensions. It was an infinite void, yet a confined space filled with a haze of shining stars.
In the picture's focus, however, stood the potentially most powerful magician in Equestrian history, Twilight Sparkle, a young, slightly pale purple unicorn with a rose streak running through her blue mane. She looked around with a look of confusion and distress.

“—am I? What is this place?“

'The astral plane, obviously. The place between the living world and the world beyond.'

From the depths of the ether, another figure rose. With her brilliant white coat and her flowing, pastel halo of a mane, Princess Celestia blended right into her ethereous surroundings.

“Congratulations, Twilight. I knew you could do it.” While slightly distorted by the transmission into the underground facility, her voice sounded regal as ever and filled with pride.

Her faithful student eagerly approached her mentor. “Princess, I don't understand. What did I do?”

“You did something that has never been done before.” She placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. As she continued, an aged journal appeared in a flash of her magic, floating beside her, the lettered pages turning on their own.
“Something even a great unicorn like Star Swirl the Bearded was not able to do, because he did not understand friendship like you do. The lessons you've learned here in Ponyville have taught you well.” Celestia patted her student's back.

'Well, what did Star Swirl know. Luckily, he at least managed to compose a dysfunctional spell for Twilight to rewrite.'

Celestia began walking through the spaceless place. “You have proven that you're ready, Twilight.”

“Ready? Ready for what?” The latter turned to follow the noble alicorn.

The voices hissed in irony. 'Cake, of course.'

The two of them strode through the ether, side by side, without ever moving forward. Images, memories from Twilight's past surrounded them, showing events that stuck to her memory and made the princess proud. Music filled the void as the Lady Sun began her ballad.

'Do not look at me like that. Those free-floating magic constructs were beyond the budget. We will have to make do with the mercury.'

With the last words of her songs, Celestia rose up high, angelic wings spread wide, the alicorn shining in full solar glory.

'And she initiated the transformation sequence.'

Something woke up in the young unicorn. She was lifted from her hooves as a white glow emanated from the region of her heart and strands of purple magic orbited her.

'Energy focusing and thaumic decomposition seem successful.'

Twilight levitated higher and higher, rising above Celestia, the light from within her grew stronger and the bands of magic circling her increased in number and breadth while her body was shaken by forces beyond mortal control.

'This is the critical phase. If the amplification is disharmonious, successful recomposition will be impossible.'

The glow within Twilight erupted in a burst of magic that overloaded the mirror. It flared white, crude figures flickering and jumbling over its surface. When the picture returned to normal, Twilight was gone.

'So, dissolution and energetic transition seem to have gone quite smoothly as well.'

The ether was now empty save for the the radiant pony princess. She smiled knowingly before walking off, returning to the physical realm in a much more subtle and less dangerous way, which is without transforming into something entirely different by utilizing the differences in the energy potential between the planes of existence.

The Last Listener to the Watcher sat in silence and stared into the unsettling void. He was unsure what to think, what to feel, what to make of what he just had witnessed.
Fear was, naturally, an option. Shying away from a world he couldn't understand, from monstrous immortal beings and omnipotent magic.
Happiness? Maybe. It somehow felt right, as if the event was supposed to bring great joy, as if whatever just happened was great in general.
Anger also didn't sound too bad after all he'd been through, the sarcastic comments, the either mindlessly monotone or incomprehensible tasks, the danger of being discovered by the Princess of the Sun.
Disappointment somehow also came to mind. In a way, it all felt like some kind of badly written story.
He might settle for numbness, a lethargic mix of fear and carelessness that would help him endure his trials.
Or despair? Giving up, letting go, finding peace didn't seem so bad if you considered—

Deep inside the bowels of the earth, a forgotten contraption sprung to life. The distracting sound of a loud party hooter echoing through the facility stirred him from his thoughts and a particularly mischievous vent right above his head decided that this was the correct time and place to spout colourful streamers.

He frowned as they gently floated down unto him, creating an insufferable mess and getting into his mane. “Drat.”

'Indeed. The pre-emptive celebration warning has been overridden by the observatory data transmission routine, but the celebration command seems to have gotten through somehow. There must be some kind of malfunction.'

Anger it was, then. He groaned loudly. “You don't get it, do you? I wake up, everything's crazy, there's big magic mirrors and princesses and stuff, you fill my head with all these insane things and expose me to cheesy songs! I've had it! And now the facility itself turns against me and there's streamers all over the place! I never wanted any of this. Nopony ever asked me if I wanted any of this. Because, well, I don't want any of this!”

'Do you think I did? Do you not think I would rather choose an insenescent super soldier, an undead magician, a mannulunculus or a remote-controlled machine? I tried all of those, you know. The former two went ponicidally insane, the artificial lifeform could not be animated properly and the machines were not durable enough to sustain contact to me for more than twenty hours before spontaneously combusting. I had to choose the Listeners to carry out my plan because they worked. You partake in this enterprise because you can finish it.'

“That's not—”

'What do you even have to complain about? You are the only one of My Listeners to witness success. You saw Nightmare Moon only once? Demented was killed by her. You endured Discord for two measly days? Sand Song lived with him for five decades. You complain about handling the Operative Core? Pillar installed it here and reprogrammed it to account for Sombra and the Crystal Empire. You complain about hardships? Goodwyrm died in a civil war. Cheesy songs? That is what you worry about in the final stage of the plan?'
The voices became softer, not accusing any more.
'I never gave you any task that was beyond you. I chose you because I know you can succeed. You are destined and able to finish what the other Listeners have started. You will complete what hundreds have worked for. That, I know for sure.'

The Listener shook his drooping head. “You have made mistakes before. Your predictions aren't always correct. What if you saw something in me that I am not?”

The whispers tittered and laughed. 'Who are you? Sombra? One of the world's worst mortals? No. You are mine, my Listener. I know you, I have looked into your heart and soul and I know you shall not fail. Now is the time all pieces fall into place. Now is the time to prepare for victory. Now is the time for the one final operation that will bring success.
Once more you must persevere, then your part is fulfilled.'

Deep down beneath the surface covered by the cursed Everfree forest laid an intricate net of channels, corridors, shafts, rooms chiselled into the stone. Pervading this system of unnatural caverns was a long-stretched obscenity, a bizarre monster forged from brass, iron, tin, steel, copper. The machines never stopped, just as if they had a life of their own. At the centre of the web of tunnels was a single chamber, heart to the facility in more than one sense. In this chamber sat an old stallion, listening while his ear twitched and his left eye rolled, subject to a will that was not his own. Inside him whispered the echoes of an aeon-old mind that spoke in a way which could not be heard with ears.

The voices explained, elaborated. He listened. The machines listened. They all obeyed.

/.o.0.O.0.o.\

[Equestria, Everfree Castle; 21st of Thaw in the year 489 before Nightmare Moon]

As she emptied the glass of queer water, a pegasus entered the otherwise empty hall, pulling a cart full of book covers, scrolls, quills, sheets of parchment, bottles of ink, yarn and some needles. She moved it to the alicorn and unloaded the requested materials. “Here you go, your highness.”

The princess gave her a faint smile. “Thank you. I—”
“Am Grateful For Your Excellent Work. Please Leave.”

The pegasus jumped and shrieked in shock and surprise as the smile made way to a harsh and disapproving expression, while the princess' eyes flashed red and her voice twisted to a tone that reached beyond audible sound.
But as soon as the sudden change had come, it went away again.

“It's alright, don't be afraid,” the princess said, attempting a comforting smile. “He's just a bit nervous, it's not your fault He snapped at you like that.”

The scared mare, however, backed away, her unsettled stare driven into the princess' eyes. Out of a sudden, vivid red energy engulfed the princess' horn and the pile of writing materials started to move. As bottles unstopped and scrolls unfolded in an eerie blood-like light, the pegasus retreated even further. Finally, when the floating ink bottles, quills and parchments joined into a roaring cyclone of writing fury, she made a run for it.

The pony princess slowly contemplated the event in what could have been an awkward silence if it weren't for the determined rustling of paper and the restless scratching of many quills.

“As a princess, it is my royal duty to treat my subjects with respect and kindness. Your behaviour is simply not tolerable. You should apologise.”

'Mind You, I Am Currently Writing A Letter, An Essay And Three Books Simultaneously. I Do Not Have Leisure For Idly Discussing Moral Matters.'

This really infuriated her. He had been reckless and insensitive before, but behaving in such a way was unacceptable. Nopony. Ever. Treated. Her. Subjects. Like. This!
Even if He was an entity of cosmic proportions, it did not give him the right to be rude, scare ponies and then shrug away the responsibility.
“Listen here. You cannot just ignore what is morally right and wrong. This is not Your world, it is ours, and while you may call moral values idle, we don't. We didn't associate with You to make You our king or something. We cooperated with You because we hoped You would help to free us from the dominion of the sun-controlling tyrant. We will not cooperate with You if You give us reason to believe that You'll be just as much of a tyrannical bastard.”

Accurately drawing a sigil on a sheet of parchment, He answered slowly and calmly.
'First Of All, You Are A Fool If You Seriously Thought I Would Not Have My Own Goals. Everypony Is Motivated By Something.
Second, My Plan Does Involve Overthrowing Your Ruler, So It Is Pointless To Whine About That Topic.
Third, I Do Not Desire To Rule Over Ponykin. Although I Have Some Experience As An Absolute Monarch, I Will Not Take The Throne. It Is Irrelevant To My Plans. As Soon As The Current Ruler Is Usurped, I Will Not Have Any Objections To Ponies Governing Themselves As They Deem Fit.'

While the princess pondered on a response and the fact that He didn't have any trouble writing with more than two dozen quills while talking to her, He started stitching books together and wrapping up scrolls, still finishing the last two works.
By the time she had come up with a repartee, He already placed a last scroll with instructions concerning the other writings on top of the heap of parchment and books.

“I just want You to understand that—” she started, only to be interrupted in a moment's notice.

'Please Take It As Given That I Do Understand. Sadly, There Is No Time Left For Us To Elaborate On That Topic.' He teleported to mess He had made away. 'You Might Want To Arise For – Our Royal Visitor.' He added in a tone that conducted sarcasm like frozen metal.

Heaving herself back up onto her hooves, she scanned the hall. It was still empty apart from her.

'Just Wait A Second.'

With a burst of devastating brightness, somepony teleported into the hall, materializing at its centre. For a moment, the princess staggered backwards at the sight she beheld, then her eyes turned red and her stance secured. Her mouth spoke words that were not hers.
“Well, Here We Are Again. I Have Anticipated Your Arrival,” He said through the possessed pony, smirking up to the towering figure of the ruler of all of Equestria.

Comments

[TheLordSiffer]

Elder God-like beings?

Planning and manipulation spanning over a thousand years?

The implication that Twilight, the Mane Six and the Princesses owe a good part of their success to the benevolence of a secret organization manipulating them for their own agenda?

Me likey! Have an honorary mustache thingy!