//------------------------------// // Introductions and Awkward Questions // Story: To Fill a Void // by Erebus //------------------------------// A thick silence hung in the air as Luna stared up incredulously at the bipedal figure before her, not daring to speak a word. An estimated eight minutes had gone by since she had been approached by him, each moment becoming more awkward than the last. “Excuse me…Miss?” No response… “I can understand you are probably very disoriented right now, and most likely in need of some form of assistance, but you’re going to have to speak at some point. It would be outside my bounds to assist you without your consent.” Despite her mouth hanging slightly open, still no words formed. Another minute passed, and an exasperated sigh escaped from beneath the hood. “Listen…I would be more than capable of standing around all day to wait for your answer. Simply because I have all the time in the world however, does not mean I would find any comfort in the concept of it.” Slowly he began turn and walk back a few steps, before stopping a short distance away. “If you do manage to overcome your current…mental state, please don’t hesitate to speak up. I was looking forward the conversation after all.” Turning away again, he began his slow trek down the passageway. Upon hearing these words, Luna’s mind immediately started to race, attempting to force her body back into her control. “This creature just saved us from an undoubtedly horrifying death, is offering to aid us in our time of need, and we simply let him waltz off with our mouth gaping open like a fish?!” Forcibly tearing herself out of her daze, she shook her head and called out down the tunnel as loud as her voice would currently allow. “WAIT!!!” As if on cue, the figure stopped mid-stride, his hood slowly turning to glance behind him. The princess quickly clasped a hoof to her mouth, realizing that her shout had unintentionally overstepped the bounds of “intense”. She could have sworn her heart skipped a beat as the being proceeded to spin around and walk back towards her at a leisurely pace, stopping a few feet from her. Gazing down at the alicorn, he crossed his arms beneath his cloak and issued a single drawn out response. “Yeeees?” Luna’s heart began to pump furiously as she stared at intently at the dark figure looming before her, her eyes desperately searching his hood in an attempt to pierce the blackness. Try as she may though, she could find no further indication of a living being beneath the robes than she could ten minutes ago. “Not even our illumination spell can break through the darkness. If we remember correctly, Sombra’s magic was capable of producing the same basic effect…” “Ahem.” The princess was given little time to continue her thoughts as the creature audibly cleared its throat, a slight tapping could be heard on the stone beneath the cloak. “Is there anything I can assist you with ma’am? I really would like to know, but as it stands I don’t want to be walking back and forth constantly. So please, do speak up...I promise you that I don't bite." Luna could hear the obvious irritation of the being beginning to grow…it wasn’t going to deal with her indecision much longer. With a sharp intake of breath, and a mental slap to the face, she swallowed the lump in her throat and allowed her voice to squeak past. “W-we…well we would um…like to…thank you…for what you did for us…” The tapping on the ground immediately stopped. The air of irritation completely fell away as the figure stood absolutely still for a good number of seconds, apparently awestruck at the words she had spoken. As the moments passed, the princess began to get the feeling she had said something to insult him. The silence was cut as the being slightly bent forward, its arm reaching out from behind the robes and bending just below its chest in what Luna could only assume was a polite bow. “Well, I can sincerely say to you…you are most welcome. It was really no trouble at all, Miss…?” Luna gazed up in shock as she quickly realized that the creature was asking for her name. Under normal circumstances, she would have been less than hesitant to announce herself to any strangers who might inquire. This situation however, was quite different. “We know next to nothing about this creature, if we were to simply give away our position as a princess, who knows how it might react.” Despite her misgivings however, Luna was compelled to answer truthfully to this strange being. She felt that no merit would come from being dishonest to somepony who had been kind enough to save her life. “Luna…You may call us Princess Luna.” She hesitantly answered. Upon hearing these words, the figure’s hood began to slide back and forth as if scanning her, but quickly stopped after a moment. “Hmm, Princess Luna…As unique as it is lovely, to be sure. Given the circumstances, I am slightly surprised that you would be so open to give it to a complete stranger though.” “Please though, you must excuse my deplorable manners, had I known I was in the presence of royalty I would have acted more appropriately.” Another bow was immediately given, as if to emphasize the point. Luna gave the being a quizzical look as it returned to its full height; she was quickly becoming lost with its behavior. Only a few moments ago it had acted quite irritated with her, yet now it seemed to have completely forgone that and was actually apologizing to her, despite having done little wrong. Following her better judgment, she allowed these thoughts to slip to the back of her mind for the moment, hastily coming up with a question of her own to keep the conversation from going quiet. “T-Thank you kind sir, there should be no need to apologize though. Now…if we might be permitted to ask, perhaps you would be so kind as to tell us your own name?” The figure gazed upwards for a few moments and a slight chuckle echoed through the tunnel. The alicorn scowled slightly at the gesture, confusion playing through her mind. “We don’t understand, have we said something humorous sir?” The creature slowly shook his head and the laughter died down. “No, it’s nothing like that, I’m sorry princess. It’s just that…I’ve gone by far too many names to recall in my time.” A sigh worked its way from under the cloak, and suddenly the figure bent down to eye level. Luna’s eyes widened as it slowly reached up to its face, and calmly pulled back the hood that obscured it. … In all her years as princess, Luna had witnessed many strange things. First contact with the Griffon Nation had certainly been a strange experience, to say absolutely nothing of the Changelings, and of course…Discord himself. Even still, the face of the creature that was currently gazing back at her was a mystery all its own. It had no fur to speak of, besides a short dark-blonde mane that fell back into its robes and covered most of its face. The eyes were almost impossible to see at first, yet she could barely make out two small green irises glinting in the light behind the mess of fur. She hadn’t meant to lock eyes with him for any extended period, though as those eyes stared back into her own, the princess could almost feel a tinge of sadness emanating out from them…something almost akin to longing. Tearing her gaze away from its eyes, Luna noticed that the creature had nothing close to a muzzle, its mouth pushed back flatly against its face, and only a small pointed nose sticking out above it. “However, it would be impolite to ask for your name and give nothing in return. You may call me…Erebus, if you like.” The figure stated, a warm smile graced his face as he stared over at the alicorn. As it introduced itself, Luna couldn’t help but return a smile of her own. Despite this being’s completely alien appearance, she could see that it held no true malice or ill intentions toward her. Pony or not, this creature was little different from herself…it was a living, breathing being, with a personality and feelings all its own. “Erebus? We must say, that is certainly a…distinct name.” The princess slowly began to raise herself from the floor in an attempt to give a more formal introduction, but had the misfortune to forget about her injured leg. Immediately, a lance of fire spread out from the wound, fresh blood seeping out onto the stone. An audible yelp of pain was heard as she winced and hit the floor again. A frown quickly formed on Erebus’ face as he looked down at the alicorn, visible concern in his eyes. Rushing forward, he knelt next to her prone form and tore a length of cloth from the bottom of his cloak. “Please excuse me princess, under normal circumstances I wouldn’t be one to invade your personal space.” He sighed. “If you’ll allow me just a moment, I simply want to tend to your wound quickly, and then I promise I’ll be out of your way.” Despite his attempt to assure her, Luna still flinched as he reached out a hand towards her, instinctively drawing her leg back. The pain instantly doubled under this movement though, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut. “Please…I can understand your hesitation, but I’m going to have to ask you to remain still for just a few seconds. I promise, no harm will come to you.” The princess grit her teeth and winced as she felt a light touch upon the open gash, the burning sensation exploded in intensity under even the slight pressure and her vision blurred. Within seconds however, all the pain in the wound seemed to recede and dissipate, replacing itself with a cool numbness. Upon hastily glancing back, she was granted only a fleeting view of Erebus cinching a black cloth wrapped round the leg. A wave of amazement washed over Luna as she shifted her gaze from Erebus, to the makeshift bandage and back. Her mouth hung open in disbelief as she tentatively moved her leg back and forth, feeling no pain whatsoever. Even with her eyes shut, she had neither felt nor sensed any indication of healing magic, nor did the cloth seem to carry an enchantment of any kind. “You…how did you do that?” She asked, pushing herself back into an upright position. “How could you do that with no magic involved, we don’t understand.” The frown remained glued on Erebus’ face while he pushed himself back against the wall of the cavern, a hand pressed against his forehead. “Listen…this whole situation is probably very confusing for you, so it would be best for me to not confuse you further with intricate details. You could simply say…it’s a…skill I’ve perfected over the years.” Luna however, instantly picked up on the avoidance in his tone, and attempted to see if she could press him on the matter. “Why is it that we get the feeling you’re simply trying to hide something from us?” He opened his mouth to respond, but was quickly cut off by the alicorn. “In all honesty, we would understand if there was something you didn’t feel comfortable talking about.” Once again he attempted to answer, but Luna gave him no chance. “With that in mind, we would still prefer it a great deal if you would refrain from flat out lying to us, as trust is something we cannot afford to simply squander in a situation such as this one…” The princess was just about to continue on with her small lecture, when a sudden clap of thunder issued and echoed out into the cave. Glancing up, she was greeted with the sight of Erebus standing flat against the wall, his left arm extended out with its fist embedded in the stone. His face held a slightly bemused expression as he gazed down at the alicorn, and proceeded to take advantage of the abrupt silence. “I’m sure that you are in a perfectly acceptable position to assault me with a lifetime worth of well thought out questions...” He paused a moment to removed his fist from the wall. “However, you’re going to have to at least give me a chance to speak if you want any of those questions to be answered.” The princess mentally smacked herself. “Well Luna…good job, you most certainly have made a good impression. First it takes you forever to say anything at all, and when you finally start talking…You can’t even stop yourself.” Erebus had obviously caught that Luna was reprimanding herself, as he stood there chuckling at her look of embarrassment. The alicorn’s cheeks began to turn a shade of crimson as the laughter continued, causing her to whip her head away. “Oh come now, don’t start up with that attitude. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I last had the pleasure of holding a good conversation? I certainly wouldn’t want this chance to be ended by something like this.” His laughter quickly died down while he attempted to lighten her mood. “Tell you what…You remove that frown from your face, and I’ll go ahead and answer as many questions as you like. Does that sound fair enough to you?” He held out his hand towards her, his teeth flashing in a large grin. Luna was still embarrassed at herself, but this soon fell away as she huffed and rolled her eyes. “Very well, so long as you at least keep your answers truthful for us, we certainly wouldn’t mind lessening the tension.” She hesitated for a moment, but lightly dropped her hoof into his grasp. Erebus’ smile grew even wider as he gently shook it a few times. “Well then, if that’s all settled, why don’t you go ahead and pick yourself a question. Before you do that though, how about we get you back on your…hooves.” “Yes, we do believe that would only be proper.” The princess grinned sheepishly as she glanced back at her leg. After giving it a few small flexes, she decided it wasn’t going to change much more and reluctantly pushed herself up onto all fours. Surprisingly, she found that she could still feel none of the pain as her weight shifted onto the injury. Granted, her side was still sore, but it did little to deter her from slowly rising up to her full height. Disbelief still fresh in her mind, she was quick to voice her first question. “All right then, first off…how did you heal our leg so easily? While we are quite versed in sensing it, we detected no magical energy whatsoever.” Shaking his head a few times, Erebus glanced over at the princess. “If you’re that invested in learning how, then it was simple enough really. I never did heal it, nor did I use any magic in the process.” This earned him a confused look, to which he shrugged his shoulders at. “What I did, was simply draw the pain out of the wound and absorb it. The rest was just a makeshift bandage to stop the blood flow.” He explained dryly. Luna took a good few seconds to stare at him wide-eyed, her mind desperately trying to make sense of what he had said, before shooting out a nice slew of questions at him. “You...you did WHAT?! How in Equestria are you capable of doing such a thing? Just exactly what kind of creature are you anyway?” Erebus calmly collected himself for a moment, and politely answered. “I absorbed the pain from your leg. No reason to fly up the wall about it, it’s an ability I’ve always naturally possessed...and it’s not a particularly unique one at that. As for your other question…” He trailed off for a moment, before starting back up. “Well how about we turn this little survey into a two-sided conversation?” Taking a moment to calm herself, the princess soon nodded her head. “All right then, but you first must still answer our own question. What exactly are you?” An awkward moment of silence settled upon the two as Erebus nervously shifted his gazed up at the ceiling and mumbled to himself, his eyes were squeezed shut as if struggling with something. Clenching a fist and sucking in a sharp breath, he finally broke the silence. “I can clearly see there’s no way around this question…and while it won’t be a pleasant subject, it goes without saying that you’ll learn eventually. Therefore, if you’re truly that interested in knowing...” He paused for a brief moment. “Well…how familiar are you with…humans?” The word was nothing more than a whisper as it slipped past his lips, as though he was afraid to speak it. A look of shock worked itself onto Luna’s face as the word fell upon her ears. She had heard that word many times before, but never outside of ancient stories and obscure historical texts. Throughout her younger years she had always been fascinated by Equestria’s mythology, always studying it intently whenever she could. To her it was an escape, a place filled with so many mysteries and amazing things, that it gave her a sense of reprieve from her everyday life. So you can only imagine her reaction when she realized that standing only a few feet from her…was a living breathing piece of it. “You-you’re…a human…? You mean to say you’re a real live human being?” She quickly became flustered at this piece of information. “By the moon…h-how can you be though? All the legends distinctly point to them being extinct…” “That’s because they all but are.” Erebus’ remark immediately tore Luna from her amazement, causing her to gaze over at him in confusion. He obviously noticed this, as he gave her no time to voice a response. “They were wiped out. Annihilated. Cleansed from existence.” He swept his arm over the pile of bones behind him. “This is all that’s left of them… a few mindless corpses, driven on by nothing but twisted instinct. I can honestly say though…that I amount to even less than them.” His tone was flat and dry as he continued. “But before you get all sympathetic, thinking that I'm just gonna pour out my life story…just please don’t”. He took a moment to lock his gaze with her own, a look of pure apathy in his eyes. “Listen...it’s just…a bit of a sore subject okay? I would prefer that we keep away from it…if at all possible.” The princess stood motionless, completely taken aback by what he had said. She couldn’t even begin to fathom what was going through his mind. “To lose one’s entire race…To simply lose everything you have ever known, and not even care?” It was something truly unthinkable to her, but it was becoming blatantly obvious that pressing the matter would gain her nothing. “Better to let him open up to it of his own accord.” Putting it behind her, Luna hastily decided to change the mood. “If it is a subject that unsettles you, then we would be none the wiser to let it go here and now. We too have pieces of our past that would be better left unsaid.” She allowed a small smile to come to her face. “Now then, we believe it is your turn to ask us a question, is it not?” “Thank you princess…I appreciate your patience towards the situation.” He lightly returned the smile. “However, I do believe you mean three questions. After all, you did go over the limit yourself when you flew off the handle.” “All right then, we suppose that’s only fair. We may have…overreacted, just a little.” She said, laughing slightly. “Alrighty…to start off, how about something simple? It's my guess that you certainly didn't make your way here of your own accord. So then princess, would it happen to be that you’re searching for a way out of these caverns?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. The question caught the alicorn completely off her guard, causing her jaw to drop slightly. Out of all the things she had expected him to ask, this had never even crossed her mind. “Well, w-we hadn’t considered…asking for your help, but yes…we would like nothing more than to return to the surface.” “Hmm, in that case…” Erebus walked a few paces past Luna and turned towards her, cocking his head down the tunnel. “I hope you don’t mind walking while we talk.” His mouth cracked open in a wide grin. Luna stared at him hesitantly. “You are sure you don’t mind taking the time to escort us?” He simply scoffed at her the statement. “First off, you still don’t get to ask a question yet. Besides, if I don’t want to stay down in these caves anymore, I highly doubt that anyone else would…you included.” Suddenly his grin turned smug and he began to take a few steps forward. “That is, unless you would rather make your way back all by your lonesome.” Upon hearing those words, Luna’s eyes went wide, and she wasted no time to catch up with him. “Hehehe…no I didn’t really think so.” Casting a glance sideways, he threw out his second question. “Now that we seem to be on track, perhaps you might be willing to indulge me as to what exactly you are? I’m getting a pretty good idea, but it’s lacking solid support.” Luna was about to give him an awkward look, but quickly remembered the circumstances. “There’s no telling how long he’s been down here, he likely has no knowledge of the current state of the world.” She decided to come across as plainly as possible. “We are a pony, good sir.” Erebus slapped his hand to his face and groaned. “You could be a tiny bit more specific than that you know…” The princess snickered and grinned at him. “Don’t go blaming us, we simply answered what you asked…but we suppose we could.” She cleared her throat before starting. “The pony race consists of five subspecies; the Earth Ponies, Pegasus and Thestrals, Unicorn Ponies, Crystal Ponies, and the Alicorn subspecies to which we belong. Alicorns are, in all honesty, the ancestral line from which all the current groups have grown. For many generations, Alicorns have been considered responsible for leadership of our entire species.” Erebus’ hand remained glued to his face. “Tch…Of all the strange things to happen to me, this might just top it all.” He let out a deep sigh. “I wake up after the whole of an eon and everything’s being run ancient mythology…ponies no less. Ah well, I suppose there could have been worse things to come back to.” “From your tone, we can only take it that your own time was quite dissimilar from our own.” Luna stated. “I suppose that depends on what you can consider my time, but even still…yes. You could say that mythical equine beings didn’t tend to govern nations…or talk for that matter.” His hand slowly slid back into his cloak. “Now then, here’s my final question. You’ve already quite clearly confirmed that you are a princess, as I have been addressing you. Yet, I cannot help but wonder as to why a princess such as yourself is wandering the darkest parts of this world. Surely your superiors would rarely allow you to leave their sight, would they not?” Luna gave herself a moment to put her answer together. To her it was obvious that Erebus considered her part of a monarchal royal family, which might have been true…a few millennia ago. “We are afraid you are mistaken sir, as Equestria has not been run by a monarchy in quite some time.” Erebus paused slightly to consider her words. “Not a monarchy eh? Hmmm…” His head perked up. “As uncommon as it might be, I can only assume you’re part of a diarchy then?” Luna nodded. “That is most certainly correct, we are but one of two rulers that have governed the country for generations, the other would be our sister, Princess Celes…” The alicorn abruptly halted her explanation as something familiar brushed past her face. Up till now she had completely forgotten about the wind currents that periodically came through the tunnel. She paused midstride and looked up at the human. “Hold a moment…do you happen to feel that?” Erebus stopped as well, his brow furrowed in confusion. He stood perfectly still for a few seconds, before shaking his head and turning back towards Luna. “Yes princess, in fact I do feel that. That…would happen to be a draft.” He raised his index finger matter-of-factly. Luna took a good moment to glare at him. “We realize what it is, what we need to know is where it came from.” “I swear, your sense of humor just tends to up and leave whenever it feels the need to.” Erebus shrugged through his cloak. “I suppose you haven’t been paying attention to where you’ve been walking, have you?” In fact, the alicorn had been all too preoccupied with the current conversation to look ahead readily. However, gazing down the tunnel, she could make out nothing besides the pressing darkness. Erebus apparently noticed her confusion and tapped her lightly on her shoulder. “Perhaps you might not need to strain your eyes so much if you doused your light.” He suggested. Giving a small huff, Luna cut off the spell she had been holding for the past hour and allowed her eyes to adjust. Slowly she began to make out something she had been completely oblivious to. Down the passage, about twenty meters forward, a dim white glow flickered in and out of existence. Looking closer, she soon noticed something else she hadn’t…the tunnel itself began to open up into large cavern where the light was based. The princess was snapped out of her inspection when she noticed that Erebus had started towards the mouth of the cave, moving at a steady pace. Reluctantly, she quickly moved to catch up with him, still unsure as to what lay ahead. As the two made their way towards the end of the passage, Luna’s anticipation began to get the better of her, the silence wracking her nerves. She was just about to ask Erebus what exactly the source of the light was, when suddenly, the darkness around them was replaced by a low fluorescent glow. Blinking her eyes to clear her vision, Luna’s mind almost ceased to function as she stared at the sight before her. The two stood on the edge of a steep precipice, spanning hundreds of feet above the ground of a massive cavern. The space itself was unlike anything Luna had seen before, expanding outwards for miles and miles, with no visible end in sight. The sheer size of the cavern began to beg the question of how the princess had managed survived her fall to begin with. The one thing that left her completely awestruck though, was not the age old cave…but what was contained within. Below them, spanning out over nearly the entirety of the space…was a sprawling metropolis the likes of which the alicorn had never laid eyes on. “E-Erebus…what exactly…i-is that?” Her jaw hung open as she stared out incredulously at the sight before her. Erebus gazed down indifferently at the massive city before him, arms crossed beneath his robes. Without even bothering to face the alicorn, he solemnly answered her question. “That, Princess Luna…that, is humanity’s final accomplishment…” Stepping forward a few paces, he swept his eyes over the ground, searching for something, before stopping next to an oddly smooth patch of stone near the edge of the cliff. With a swift motion, he waved his arm over the spot before him, as if wiping something unseen from the floor. Luna gazed on intently as a low rumble issued from the spot beneath the human; her mind was awash with confusion. Her bewilderment only served to double as slowly, a short metal pedestal rose out of the ground before him. Erebus tapped his foot impatiently, staring down at the platform before him. After about fifteen seconds, a faint static was heard and a faded blue keypad sprang to life above the pedestal, flickering slightly. Reaching his hand out, he moved his fingers in a blur over the screen, occasionally pausing when it began to flicker. The princess looked on, her mind attempting to process what exactly was happening, but was brought back to reality when she began to make out another rumble, this time coming from below the cliff. Apparently satisfied with his work, Erebus waved his hand over the console once more, causing it to slowly die out and return to its spot within the stone. Walking over to the edge of the cliff, he turned and motioned for Luna to follow him. “Please excuse my silence princess, but I doubt you would find any meaning in my words even if I was to explain.” He stated. Luna gave a defeated sigh and looked up at him. “Speaking as we have no idea what you just did…it’s safe to say that you’re correct.” She paused. “…However, might you at least tell us what we’re standing around here for?” Her question was immediately answered however, as a large metal platform rose to the edge of the cliff, and came to a stop directly in front of them. Stepping forward, Erebus turned back to the alicorn and shrugged. “Princess, sometimes you’ve gotta go down…to come up.”