Chapter 74: Void
Lilac Empathy was not quite alone as she entered the antechamber. There was a pavilion waiting here, erected just beside the metal door. She'd seen its like before—many layers of transparent cloth, and the smell of strange incense.
Beneath it all was the faint smell of decay, of uncovered graves and rotting meat. The smell covered it only so well.
As she stepped into the room, ponies appeared from beside the tent. There were at least a dozen, each wearing the strange Inquisitor masks and armor under their robes. They bowed before her as she entered, though there was something perfunctory about the gesture. She felt none of the same sincerity from them as the crowd waiting outside.
“I've brought the unknown god as you ordered, Watcher,” said the pony escorting her. As they walked inside, several Inquisitors stepped behind them, pushing an oversized door into place, and moving to block the exit.
There were no open windows to escape from in here, or even any other tunnels. The excavation had built this chamber with only two exits—one into the Low Place, and another with Inquisitors in the way.
“She was not happy to awake here, and expressed her dissatisfaction to us. She was still cooperative, and agreeable.”
Lilac saw no motion inside the tent, at least at first. Then she saw gemstones glittering behind the fabric, and saw the lace deform just beside her. She saw a pony's face outlined by a mask. There was no further movement. No twitch from legs or hooves. When he spoke, the Watcher's horn glowed, but the fabric didn't move with his breath.
“I am sorry for the... sudden summoning back to us,” he said. “The time for stealth has been unexpectedly taken from us, unknown god. We must triumph now, return you to your exaltation, or be destroyed. Now that she has seen us, we can know with confidence that the Sun Tyrant will destroy us if she gets the chance. She will slay all, and see all our secret works destroyed by fire.”
Even his accent unsettled her. Like nothing she'd heard anywhere on Equestria before—an ancient voice, speaking from the dust. “I know what you tried to do to Firefly,” she said flatly. “You didn't try to persuade her; you just attacked her. She reacted badly to your betrayal.”
“Time moves against us, unknown and true goddess. Thanks to her, we have only one night. By tomorrow, Celestia's army will descend on Willowbrook. They already know of this place—they will find it, and kill all. If they knew what you were, you would have been the first they killed.”
Liar, Lilac thought. I spent my whole life believing ponies when they said that. But you were wrong. Even Twilight didn't attack me. She wanted to help.
“I broke into the restricted section of the Canterlot Library,” Lilac said. She took a few steps away from the cloth tent. Far enough that no limb could reach through the fabric and grab her. Far enough that the strange smell drifting out from inside faded beneath incense and damp stone. “I learned secrets about the True Gods there, left over in the True Tongue. Maybe some of them can help.”
Talking to the Watcher was even worse than speaking to ponies through their masks. She never saw motion from within, just the steady levitation of his horn. His voice always sounded the same too, a breathless whisper without any variation for tone.
“There may be some truth hidden in Equestrian lies, unborn god. But we do not have time for study and practice anymore. We must act quickly—we must bring across more of your kind. They will reward us for our service, and protect all of those who loyally worshiped. We will not need to study their mysteries when we can ask them directly.”
Lilac secured her hooves underneath her. The rocks here were weak and brittle things, so close to the Low Place. They had spent an eternity having their essence leached away into another place. Lilac would need to reach further if she fought, relying on the strength of the planet.
Either that, or somehow steal enough time to carve her own spells, and trick these ponies into empowering them for her. Almost all of these Inquisitors were unicorns, or else wore a mask with a false horn. She might not know which until it was too late.
She glanced around, searching for the pony who had come with her. It would be better to have Firefly here, the pony who had already fought and won against this creature once. She had been in a position just like this, with the leader of the Lightless Star explaining some important step they had to follow together. Then came the knife to her gut.
She found Risk still with her, at least. He bowed to the ground, never looking directly at the canopy. He didn't dare approach as close as she was, or even look up. His whole body shook with the fear of the Watcher's proximity. Maybe he could sense what was really going on with that horn of his.
“How?” Lilac asked. “Hasn't this been your goal from the beginning? You brought Firefly and I the last time you tried, and we're... incomplete. More ponies like us won't be able to save us from Equestria's revenge.”
“She speaks the truth,” the Watcher said. “With the magic Firefly guarded for us, you could be elevated to an Alicorn yourself, and open the way with your own power. I don't doubt that once you had your full power returned, you would remember all we needed.
“Without that, we can still use your help. Not as a sacrifice, but an anchor. I hoped to wait for you to reach the maturity of your power and confidence—but Equestria will not give us that time. You carry with you the sympathy to your ancient origin. With that sympathy, we will reach across the gulf of space and time, through the Veil, and open the door wide for the True Gods to ascend.”
Lilac heard Saffron's voice in her mind, asking her if she actually wanted to invite more of her kind into Equestria. Did she even know the truth about them?
She did now. Lilac stood up straight, putting herself directly between the cult leader with his glittering gemstones and her frightened pony friend. “You went to the wrong place when you summoned me. I'm from the first home of the True Gods, not their final destination. The Alicorns wrote directions for where they went when they left Equus. Not down, up.”
She pointed up at the ceiling, defiant. “The Alicorns didn't go back the way they came. They weren't banished to my awful home. They're somewhere better. If you use me to get back... you'll never find them. They aren't there!”
Silence descended on the room, instant and complete. The Inquisitors stopped their gentle rustling. Incense curled up into the air. Lilac barely heard her own breathing.
“I don't know what would make you believe that, nameless god,” the Watcher finally said. “Look at yourself, are you not here before us? Firefly too—we have seen the truth of her power. What are you if not the True Gods? The unconquerable chaos of Abaddon would not produce two ponies. You have seen with your own eyes what the Void brings forth to those who stare beyond the Outer Gates. Then you killed it, with the same contempt the True Gods used to cleanse this place in the ancient days.”
Can I fight so many of them at once? Lilac spun in a slow circle, taking in each of the Inquisitors in turn. Each one of them was a unicorn—how easily could they lift her off the ground?
“You didn't find the place of their banishment,” Lilac argued. “You took me from their first home, long before they existed. I'm... an ancestor of the Alicorns you hoped for, or maybe an infant. If you open a Gate, you'll only get more like me. Helpless, confused.”
“Helpless?” demanded the voice. “You weren't there when we trapped Firefly. Her magic summoned a storm that could have leveled all of Willowbrook! You wrote a spell to peer beyond the Outer Gates, and cast it correctly on your first attempt. Do you think powers and talents are commonplace in Equestria? Whenever they appear, the tyrant snatches them away for her own purposes. Not this time. With your help, we will return the Old Ones to their thrones.”
Lilac backed away a few steps further, until she was beside Risk. If she had a horn, she could probably cast something to get out of this. She met his eyes, desperate. Could he teleport them free?
To his credit, he managed to stand up, fighting against fear. “What do we do?” he whispered into her ear.
The ground was hard stone—she couldn't scratch into it with a hoof like the dirt around the grove. I could reach through the Low Place to another one, like the one in Canterlot. But would we survive the trip?
More importantly, how would she do the necessary calculations with evil ponies all around her, wanting to summon some old ponies from the wrong place.
“The... door,” she whispered back. “Two guards.”
Lilac planted each of her hooves firmly on the stone. They had so little power to give, compared to the ones in her cell. Would it be enough to get through a warded door?
“We do not have time for deliberation,” the Watcher said, turning from her. “A spell waits inside that room. You must enter the diagram, and I will begin the spell.”
She heard no command, but there must've been, because two Inquisitors moved, holding open the new metal door. Lilac whimpered at the metal squeaking sound, half-expecting to find a strange demonic form waiting.
Instead, the room beyond was completely unchanged. There was a gentle slope down to a radiating point of not-light, emitting a faint purple glow into the surrounding air. Rather than showing the room by illuminating it, the surrounding walls seemed to grow darker, showing their outlines in the strange contrast.
There was a spell waiting inside too—carved lines, raw ingredients, and a crystal as large as her head, balanced in a delicate spun-gold apparatus. If she went inside, she would probably find a spell not that different from the one Lilac had planned to cast. This was the way to send them home, from the day she thought that was possible.
“Stand near the center, closest to the aperture. The casting will not take long.”
Instead of doing that, Lilac reached into the stones all around her, and pulled with all her might. She needed more than simple resilience here—but strength, greater than anything she'd used in her life. Lilac anchored herself to the ground, then pointed back the way they'd come. “Now, Risk!”
The unicorn reacted. He attacked, sending out a sudden burst of force that flung both Inquisitors away from the door, opening the path for them. Lilac screamed, calling out to the earth for help as she'd never done before. With the sun so far away, there was no growth to answer her here.
So she'd thought. A thick carpet of white fungus sprung up around her hooves, rising to mushrooms at the ankle and above. It rippled and waved with the force of her will, part of her no differently than the plants she had accidentally brought to her aid in House Vale.
She barely even felt the ponies trying to tackle her. Someone tried to lift her off the ground, and her hooves did not move. Another slid into her from the side, then stopped with a painful crunch, like they'd just hit a brick wall. A metal weapon struck into her coat, and cracked from the blow, shattering.
The door groaned and buckled, then curved sideways, as huge pillars of stone erupted from the ground, lifting it out of the way, and leaving a new archway in its place. Little patches of the fungi started to glow, species she had no names for. The way was open.
“You will stop this,” said the Watcher. His voice was barely audible over the groan of old rock, and the shouts of Inquisitors. Even so, Lilac obeyed. Her hooves froze in place, seconds from the outside. Blood trickled from her nose, and her thoughts began to fog.
Little Risk was even worse off—he flopped to the side, frozen in place.
“Now turn and walk this way, Lilac Empathy.”
She turned. Every second was iron on her mind, the same touch that had once stopped her from talking about her home. Was that why she could feel the cracks in this one? The Watcher's grip was strong, but brittle. Lilac Empathy wasn't the one under this Geas, not exactly.
“Good. Now inside. Stand in the center of the diagram, and don't damage anything. Now.”
Lilac fought every step. She whimpered and cried; her vision fogged at the edges. But if there was a way out, she didn't find it during the walk. She approached the Low Place, stepping carefully over the lines and between the equipment, without damaging anything.
Finally she found her place, and she slumped onto her haunches, defeated.
Eternity stared back, a tear without depth, shadow, or texture. Her home, and a trillion trillion nightmares. Waiting for her.
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I hope Watcher likes getting ground into dust by Abbadon
Uncanny levels of control the Watcher can exert over others. It would explain how was able to build such a strong cult.
I'm also curious what connection the Watcher actually has to the Old Gods.
The fact that Lilac's name was taken will probably interfere with what is going on but it's likely that they'll get another umbrum that will immediately use the Watcher come power itself up in an attempt ot become like Sombra. Hopefully Lilac will be able to escape.
Lilac just needs to hold out just a bit longer. Help is on the way.
Even if the Watcher believes Lilac, it would not be wise for anyone other than Celestia to call them. I doubt they would look at our sisters in any form of equality. The sisters will be seen as primitives at best. Australopiths at worst.
The one truth. The sisters are not alicorns.
He has a point there. A population of human fillies would still be more empowered than the local ponies.
He's strong but maybe an outside force can break his control. Iris or Firefly, maybe.
If not for the threat the cult poses or "Derek" it might've been nice to see home again. Even so, Earth is no longer home.
Damn... Hope he stay as a pony if go back home. Then at least he could do something to return.
11407333
Oh shit lol he's gonna try to use Lilac's true name in the spell.
Hello Derek. So nice of you to join us! Ahhh, the Watcher's plans were doomed the moment Lilac cast that spell. The more pressure Lilac places on that sympathy, the closer she gets pulled to Derek (or vice versa)... Ironically, Firefly is the only pony this could have possibly worked with, and the Watcher tried to kill her!
My only question now is what will happen to Lilac to summon Derek. Is this gonna be some kinda metaphysical chestburster, or what? The first time he just came through the hole, but this time he's coming through Lilac. There's no tragedy tag, but we'll see...
Who knows, maybe we WILL end up with a Nightmare Moon situation after all!
Well, if it wasn't obvious that the Watcher isn't a pony or is barely one anymore, it is obvious now. Be it a puppet used by an elditch abomination or an eldritch abomination itself. No pony is able to affect another so heavily that they stop a violent escape dead in their tracks just by saying a few words. It wouldn't surprise me if Celestia shows up on the scene and recognizes the bastard.
Of course, another possibility is that the Watcher isn't in control anymore. Maybe he thought he was doing the right thing and tried to summon the ancient alicorns, but summoned the presence of something else instead that took control of him, which then proceeded to try using him to fully summon itself into Equestria.
But who knows, really. Could still be some wacky ass unicorn being evil.
”Big fans of explosives, the True Gods?”
“The same contempt. Not the same tools.”
“Just saying, a little dynamite fishing in the Void could do a world of good.”
As has been noted, relying on Lilac’s sympathetic bonds could have some unforeseen consequences… unless the Watcher knows about her bonds to the Derek and has come prepared for them. We’ll see soon enough.
11408202
I'm beginning to suspect that the watcher has not been entirely honest with the cult. I think he might be possessed by a void entity, and is deliberately trying to call more of them forth.
Phase two, let's go!