Author's Note

Some swearing ahead. From a chapter that has "Cthulhu" in the title, I think that that's expected.

Tale 11: Call of Cthulhu

Dear Sweetie Belle, AKA Sweetie Void

You are invited to the Eldritch Party, in Azathoth’s Belly. If you accept, then press the eye of the pyramid that has been sent along with this invitation. It is advised that you don’t bring mortals with you.

Cthulhu

Sweetie Void stared at the letter, then at the small pyramid on her hoof. Then, she shrugged and pressed the eye.

The pyramid suddenly broke into pieces that floated to form a circle in the air, with a diameter of one meter, the eye at the center. The eye then glowed red and grew until filling the whole circle. The red glow disappeared, leaving a black hole with countless eyes within.

Sweetie Void looked at the portal for a moment, then shrugged again and jumped in, the hole closing behind her, the pyramid’s pieces breaking apart.

Sweetie Void fell for a while into a dimension of horrors, passing by countless grotesque monsters of various shapes and sizes, generally with too many limbs and/or eyes and/or mouths and/or other stuff. And lots of very sharp fangs.

Then, she dropped through another hole which looked to be inside a giant mouth, and she landed on flesh, beside some bone-like protrusion and an eye staring right at her. Looking around, she saw that the whole place, even the sky, seemed to be made of flesh with eyes, mouths, tentacles, bones, and other stuff everywhere, all of various sizes.

At the same time, she saw a being before her who towered over her by hundreds of meters despite being seated. She looked up, and up, and up, until she could see his octopus-like head.

“So… Cthulhu, I presume?” she asked.

The being chuckled. “Yes. I am Cthulhu, the host of this party. Welcome to Azathoth’s Belly, Sweetie Void. Yog-Sothoth, welcome her with your best drink. If she is like you said, she can handle it.”

“I know,” a voice answered him, at Sweetie’s left. When she looked, she saw a heavily-cloaked figure standing where nothing had been present before. Nothing could be seen from its humanoid-shaped body except its sharp-nailed hands, one of which was holding a glass with a liquid that was glowing black with little eyeballs floating in it. “Greetings, Sweetie Void, I’m Yog-Sothoth, but in this form, you can call me Umr At-Tawil, or Umr for short, or Yog, whichever you prefer. Here.” He extended his arm, showing the glass to Sweetie Void.

The filly grabbed it in her magic, eying the liquid inside with some suspicion. “Thanks. What is it?”

“It has a long name that would take one hour, thirty-seven minutes, twelve seconds to pronounce. To make it short, you can call it Blood of Azathoth. You can drink it. An entity of the void like you has nothing to fear from it.”

Sweetie Void stared at the drink a few more seconds, then shrugged and drank all of it in one go.

Immediately, she could feel herself melting from the inside, which wasn’t a problem as her body immediately reformed. Her mind also went blank for a moment before it recovered with a terrible migraine that lasted a couple of seconds. She shook her head, coughed an eyeball and some blood, then gave the glass back to Yog.

“Woah. Holy cow. Yeah, I know Gods that wouldn’t survive that. That drink is a universe-destroying weapon. My compliments. Oof…”

Yog took the glass which disappeared into nothingness.

“Thank you.”

Cthulhu then talked. “Yog-Sothoth has been observing you for a while now. When he told me that you managed to kill Crakkthulx, I was already impressed. Then, you go and kill Galeem and Dharkon themselves. I really wanted to meet you after that.”

Sweetie Void blushed. “I didn’t do all that alone.”

“But you did most of the work, and considering that you are still far from being matured, that’s already a very good achievement. Some of us even saw you fight Void while you were still a mortal. Words about you have been spreading ever since, and you gained a lot of respect and fear.”

Sweetie Void remembered the feeling of being watched while in the void. Uh, she may actually get to meet some of these beings today.

“Between that and your nature as an entity of the void itself, I decided to invite you. You have a place in this party. Everyone will finally sate their curiosity about you.

I have no doubt that many of the beings you will meet today are the kind you would normally want to beat up, but I have to ask you to avoid violence. We are here to unwind, not to fight. We may be Gods or demons or god-like entities or monsters, but eternity is still a very long time and we need to get away from daily life every now and then. If you want to fight them, then find their universe and have at it with them there.” He chuckled. “But I have no doubt that many will be on their best behavior around you.”

Sweetie Void giggled. “I will be on my best behavior too!”

Cthulhu nodded and got up. “Then let’s go. The others have already started.”

A mass of flesh, tentacles, and other stuff then came out of the ground, and Cthulhu opened part of it like a door, passing through it. Sweetie Void flew after him. At the other side, they found themselves at what was probably a different place of the same dimension, and the filly found herself surrounded by all manners of creatures, some of which looked normal while others looked very nightmarish. Some were closer to her size while others were hundreds of meters or even kilometers tall, dwarfing even Cthulhu. Very loud music that couldn’t be described was blasted.

Sweetie was immediately the center of attention.

Cthulhu pointed up at a giant mass of glowing orbs, eyes, and tentacles. “That’s Yog-Sothoth’s real body.” He pointed at a giant mass of mouths and tentacles from which many nightmarish creatures were constantly spawning and, sometimes, merging back. “And that’s his mate, Shub-Niggurath. They are my grandparents.” Then he began to show the creatures one after another. “Bill Cipher, Lich, Orgolth, The Monk, Khahrahk, Mazu-Palx, the Chaos Gods Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh, Gozer, Atlach-Nacha, Glklthrz, Kthanid, Hastur, Bopo, Chjmoplu, Slender Man…”

This continued for a while, and it was hard for Sweetie to remember all these names, not just because there were many, but also because many of them were very difficult to pronounce, or outright impossible to pronounce if you were a normal person.

Once he was done, Cthulhu pointed at tables full of food and drinks. Some of the tables were Sweetie’s size while others were more the size of Cthulhu. The food… couldn’t be described.

“Food is over there.” He pointed elsewhere, beside a stage where a group was playing the music with instruments that Sweetie Void now wanted to try. “The dance floor is over there.” Again, he pointed elsewhere, at a giant area with many games of all kinds, board games, console games, computer games, and classic party games. “The games are over there.” He then pointed to a last area with chairs. “And the rest area is over there. Have fun.”

Sweetie Void didn’t have to think long of what she wanted to do first. “Twister!”

She ran to the game area, seeing the game named “Eldritch Twister”.

The arrow pointed at “third bottom tentacle, brown” and Sweetie Void grew a tentacle from her belly, making it move toward a brown spot.

She giggled. “Easy peasy. How is it going, uh… Dretza?”

Above her, a giant creature made of limbs and tentacles shook, barely keeping her balance. “Shapeshifters are bullshit!”

The arrow moved, then pointed at “Seventh right foot, red.”

Dretza saw that, then slowly moved her seventh right leg from its place on a yellow spot toward the nearest red spot. However, she had to move around another leg, one of Sweetie’s legs, two arms, one of Sweetie’s arms, three tentacles, and two of Sweetie’s tentacles to reach it. The leg got itself tangled between an arm and a tentacle, and Dretza fell, almost on Sweetie Void who teleported just in time.

Dretza punched the play mat in frustration. “Damn it!”

Everybody around cheered. Sweetie Void, back to normal, jumped in joy. “Yay! I won!”

“Ahahah!” she suddenly heard, and she looked around, seeing a triangle with an eye, two arms, two legs, a top hat, and a bowtie, Bill Cipher. “This one was beginner level! Let’s see how you do against a real professional!” He then grew several limbs and tentacles all over his body.

Everyone around oohed.

“You’re on!” Sweetie Void replied.

Soon enough, the two were a tangled mess over the play mat, legs, arms, and tentacles going in all directions, looping around each other.

Then, with a chuckle, Bill Cipher extended his eye and used it to tickle Sweetie Void on the belly, making her laugh.

“Hey! Stop that! Not fair! Cheater!”

Some of the spectators booed, others cheered, encouraging it.

Sweetie Void moved her head toward the eye, then licked it.

“Ew! Eww! Ewww! Gross!” Bill shouted, retracting his eye and growing a hand to clean it.

“Aww, come on. Grown men would love to have little ponies licking them like cats.”

“They are weirdos! And you just got yourself a terrible enemy!”

Sweetie Void scoffed. “Oh, I am so scared!”

“You should be! Haven’t you seen the Death Battle where I trashed your draconequus friend?”

“Not bad. How long did it take you to defeat him?”

“A bit less than three minutes.”

“Oh! Very good! It took me three seconds to defeat him.”

“WHAT?!” Bill Cypher was so shocked that he lost focus and removed a hand from its place on a purple spot when he wasn’t supposed to. “Crap!” His limbs and tentacles disappeared, his body returning to normal as he glared at Sweetie Void under the cheers of the spectators. “How did you defeat him so fast?!”

Sweetie Void smiled smugly at him as she returned to normal. “I took away his magic.” She stuck out her tongue. “Simple as that. That’s one major weakness that almost everybody in my universe has.”

“Ah! I don’t have such a glaring weakness! Actually, I don’t have any weaknesses at all!”

Sweetie Void grinned. “That’s what everybody says before I come and pummel them to the next century.” Her eyes became empty. “I’m everybody’s weakness.”

Bill Cypher glared at her. “We will see that once I come to invade your world.”

Sweetie Void butted head against him. “I will prepare the welcoming party. We are good at that. I can’t wait to have fun with you.”

“Sweet! I like having fun! I live for fun!”

“Then you won’t be disappointed. It will be to die for.”

The two then just glared at each other for a few seconds before they shook hand and hoof. Sweetie Void then walked away, materializing her phone and beginning some research on it. “Let’s see… How does Bill Cypher die…?”

Sweetie Void eyed the food, then shrugged. “Eh. If I was able to drink that stuff Yog gave me, I can eat that.” She began to taste everything on the table. “Mmh… Not bad, not bad at all. Uh, this tastes like carrots. Oh! This cake is good! Maybe I should get the recipe. Yum, I don’t know what is in this soup, but it’s delicious.”

A booming voice coming from a neighboring table laughed. “Girl has an appetite!”

Sweetie Void looked at the giant armored figure and grinned. “I pretty much have a black hole for a stomach. Khorne, right?”

“You got that right! So, I wanted to ask you. I heard a lot of great stuff about you. You won every war you were part of. So, how about you come to my universe? There is one huge war over there, galaxy-wide, multiple factions, powers are constantly shifting. It’s like one huge party that lasts for millenia. You would be right at home. My followers would love to fight you, and your skull would be a great decoration for my throne.”

Sweetie Void thought for a bit. “Mmh… Maybe I will visit.”

“Don’t make me wait too much. Hey, try that stuff. You will love it.” Khorne gave Sweetie a giant purple… something.

The filly grabbed it in her magic. “Thanks.” She tasted it. “Mmm! You are right, it’s very good!”

Sweetie Void played Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The other players were Cthulhu, Kthanid, Slender Man, a giant worm-like monster full of tentacles named Grou, a clown with a name impossible to write but the others affectionately named Pennywise, Lich, Tzeentch, Glklthrz, Vel’Koz, Marie Korbel, and even Void. They were playing online, but because there were only the twelve of them playing Mario Kart in this dimension, then it wasn’t a problem. They each had a different Switch and a different screen.

“Void? You are here too?” Sweetie Void asked.

“Yes. Sorry for being late, Kirby wanted me to read to him a story before bed.”

“Well, glad to have you here. Just so you know, I won’t go easy on you just because we are friends.”

“I don’t expect less.”

“I will not let you win this game, Cthulhu!” Kthanid shouted.

Cthulhu sighed. “For the thousandth time, get a fucking life, Kthanid.”

“GROOOAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!” Grou agreed.

“Too bad I can’t eat the souls of other guests, yours looks delicious,” Pennywise said to Marie.

“I would like to see you try to eat me,” Marie replied.

“I will bring your doom and win this game,” Lich said.

Sweetie Void selected Rosalina and chose the Blue Falcon, the Triforce Tires, and the Flower Glider.

The three tracks proposed were Donut Plain 3, Waluigi Stadium, and Animal Crossing. Sweetie chose random. She didn’t care which track they will play in, they were all fun.

She wasn’t the only one choosing random, and a random ended up being selected, the random selecting Choco Mountain.

Tzeentch snorted. “Easy map. Almost no shortcut. Boring.”

“Say that when you get crushed by a boulder dropping right on you,” Void said.

“The chances of that happening are low.”

At the starting line, Sweetie Void was eighth. She could see that Cthulhu took Bowser, Kthanid took Mario, Slender Man took Kamek, Grou took Peach, Pennywise took Bowser Jr., Lich took Dry Bowser, Tzeentch took Ludwig, Glklthrz took Link, Vel’Koz took the Inkling Girl, Marie took Dry Bones, and Void took Luigi.

“Good luck everyone,” Sweetie Void said as the countdown began.

“Thank you. Good luck to you too,” Marie replied.

The race began, and Sweetie got a perfect start, getting a boost. Sadly for her, most of the others also managed to get a boost, so it didn’t help her much, only climbing to fifth place by the time of the first turn. She couldn’t get any coins. Thankfully, she was able to get an item box just as it reappeared.

Vel’Koz was the one at the lead, followed by Void, Slender Man, and Pennywise. Vel only got a banana peel, but it allowed him to protect himself from a green shell thrown by Slender Man.

“Fool! You really thought you would get me with this toy?” Vel asked.

Slender Man remained silent. He wasn’t known for words.

But then, Void, who got a mushroom, took the lead.

“Void damn it!” Vel cursed.

Then, he was hit by a red shell thrown by Pennywise who cackled. “Got you!”

“You will pay for that!”

Sweetie Void, who got a Bob-omb, passed him, getting fourth place. She tried to get a good shot on both Pennywise and Slender Man who were before her as they approached the cave area of the track. She threw the bomb which landed right before Pennywise who could only scream “Shit!” before crashing into it, triggering its explosion which caught Slender Man. This allowed the filly to pass second.

“Yay!”

Meanwhile, Marie, who was last, got a star, allowing her to gain ground while sending Lich and Kthanid flying.

“Hey! I was about to get a good shot on Cthulhu!” the latter complained.

“You were in my way.”

Sweetie Void looked at Marie as she passed through a double item box, getting a banana peel and a mushroom. In the glider section that followed, she threw the banana peel at Void, only to miss him.

“Hey, Marie, right? Cthulhu told me this is your first time here too. You look like you are just as old as me. Judging by your appearance, are you some kind of Lord of the Dead?”

“Yes I am. Why?”

“I have a friend who is a Lord of the Dead too. If you want, I can send you to her once this party is over. As long as you aren’t the kind who kills innocents, you two should hit it off.”

“Uh… I don’t kill innocents anymore?” Marie hesitantly said.

“Good enough, I guess. So, you want to see her?”

“I guess. It would be nice to see someone else who manipulates the dead but isn’t evil.”

Sweetie Void was now side by side with Void, regularly getting first only to be passed by him. They were able to avoid the boulders. When they next passed the item boxes, Sweetie got a coin while Void got a green shell that the filly avoided.

Cthulhu, who managed to climb to third place, fired a red shell which hit Sweetie Void.

“Nothing personal, kid.”

“Oh come on!”

Sweetie Void was now sixth place, behind Glklthrz who was protected by three banana peels.

Tzeentch, who was tenth, got a spiny shell. Doing some calculations, he waited for the right moment to use it. Once he saw Void in the right position, he threw it.

Void, very closely followed by Cthulhu and Grou, began gliding, only to be warned that the spiny shell was coming. He panicked.

“Nonononononono!”

The shell struck him, the explosion catching Cthulhu and Grou. The three fell into the pit as a result.

Void simply groaned. Cthulhu punched the ground hard. Grou roared.

Marie got the lead as a result. At the next item box, she got a banana peel.

“Don’t drop it,” Sweetie Void advised. “Keep it behind you. It can protect you from a shell.”

“Thank you.”

Sweetie Void, who managed to climb to third place, suddenly found herself bowled over by Lich using a Bullet Bill in the section with the boulders, just before he returned to normal.

“Move,” he commanded.

“Darn!”

And not helping at all, Glklthrz got a Blooper, getting ink on everybody’s screens, partially blinding them.

“This trick won’t work!” Vel shouted, only to slip on a banana peel he couldn’t see because of the ink. “Gnarkrkraah!!!”

“Hey-hey! We-we sai-said no-not the-the mo-moms!” Glklthrz whined.

“Vel’Koz, calm down,” Cthulhu warned before he was hit by a red shell.

“Got you!” Kthanid exclaimed.

“Azathoth damn it, Kthanid! Get yourself another target for once in your fucking life!”

“Never!”

As Lich, who was now first, started the third lap, Tzeentch was slowly gaining ground and was behind Sweetie Void, respectively fifth and fourth place. The filly tried to remain before him, but then, when she hit the first item box of the third lap, she only got a red shell that she hesitated to use, especially when she saw that he got three green shells.

Tzeentch fired a first shell at the left wall. The shell bounced and hit Sweetie Void from the left.

“Ok, good shot,” she congratulated.

Next was Slender Man who was also hit by a green shell. Then Marie who was also hit. Thanks to that, Tzeentch reached second place, behind Lich.

After the glider section, a spiny shell hit Lich, allowing Tzeentch to reach the lead.

“Curse!” Lich shouted.

“GROUAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Now, he just had to get a banana and he should be good. The chance of another spiny shell appearing in the same lap was low.

Suddenly, a boulder dropped right on him.

His eye twitched.

Void burst into laughter.

Now, Pennywise was in the lead, Kthanid behind him. Penny got a coin at the next item box, to his frustration, while Kthanid got a mushroom, allowing him to get the lead.

Behind, in ninth place, Sweetie Void got a golden mushroom.

“Jackpot!”

Thanks to it, she rapidly gained ground, passing the others one by one. She had to avoid Slender Man’s fire flower, which wasn’t easy, but she managed to reach fourth place, just behind Marie. She couldn’t pass her in time before passing the finish line.

Behind, Tzeentch was hit by a piranha plant from Void, then rammed by Grou using a star.

He screeched.

Kthanid ended up first, followed by Pennywise, then by Marie, then by Sweetie. Behind the filly were Glklthrz, Slender Man, Void, Cthulhu, Lich, Grou, Vel, and Tzeentch.

“Fourth place, not bad,” Sweetie Void said. “Good game, everyone. Bad luck, Tzeentch.”

“So much for your plotting,” Vel mocked.

“Don’t be so smug! You are just after me!”

“At least, I’m not last.”

Tzeentch glared at Vel’Koz, then dropped his controller and walked away.

Vel scoffed. “Sore loser.”

…

“Well, I’m ready for another race. Who wants to continue?” Sweetie Void asked.

“I will show to all of you how great I am!” Gozer suddenly said as she approached.

“Aren’t you the one who lost to a bunch of children and old men?” Vel asked.

“Shut up!”

Sweetie Void was dancing to the eldritch music played by the band. It was very… chaotic, to say the least. Her still mostly mortal mind could barely understand what it was hearing, but it was still fun. More than once, she was almost stepped on by one of the giants, but she was able to dodge around their feet or whatever other appendage they used to stand and dance.

Every once in a while, she danced with Marie, with whom she became good friends.

Then the band stopped, and entities were invited to come to play on the stage. One by one, Gods and demons climbed on the stage to sing or play an instrument, or both, showing different styles from different universes.

Sweetie Void decided that it was her turn, so she flew on the stage and turned herself giant before she duplicated herself and materialized several instruments.

Taking the mike, she said, “The song I’m about to play was the light in our darkest moment, when everything seemed lost. Now, it is the hymn of my organization, reminding us of what we lost and everything we fought for. This is… our Lifelight.”

She then took a big breath before her doubles began to play.

Then, she closed her eyes and she sang.

“Colors weave into a spire of flame
Distant sparks call to a past still unnamed
Bear this torch against the cold of the night
Search your soul and reawaken the undying liiiiiiiiiiiight!”

She sang, with all her soul, a double joining her for the chorus. As she sang, she reminisced about everything that happened to her since that fateful day she crashed into Dedede’s cake. All the friends she made. All the friends she lost. The terrible battles she went through.

Her smile.

Her light.

As she and her double sang together the last part of the song, she was crying.

Then the song ended, and as her doubles played the last notes, she opened her eyes, staring into the sky.

When the last notes were played, she took another big breath and said, “The Omniverse is terrible. Suffering is everywhere, and we have to constantly struggle for everything. But… It’s beautiful, and I’m happy to be part of it, alongside all of you, good and bad.”

Silence followed.

Then, Void applauded, then Marie, then Cthulhu, and before long, many of the partygoers were applauding.

Sweetie Void smiled. “Thank you.”

Sweetie Void was sitting in the rest area, looking at the party going on around her.

“I don’t envy you,” Cthulhu, who was sitting not far, then said to her. “While you won the fight for your friends, you still have the fight for your life to do, and no matter the outcome, it isn’t very good for you. Either you end up devoured, or you become a Devourer yourself and suffer eternal maddening hunger. Both are fates worse than death. I don’t know how you manage to still smile despite that.”

Sweetie Void shrugged. “I’m trying to remain positive. The song I sang isn’t just my organisation’s hymn. It’s my hymn. I try to follow its message and to always see the light, no matter how bleak it may be.”

“What light is there?”

“That if I win and become a Devourer, then I will be able to continue to be with the people I love despite the hunger. I’m sure it won’t be easy, but I will fight for it, like always. And even if I lose and become part of DD, then I will at least have all the nice memories I’m making for myself as I explore universes to keep me company. Thank you by the way. I’m making a lot of nice memories thanks to your party.”

“..........You are strong.”

“Thanks.”

“Yog.”

The next instant, a glass of Blood of Azathoth appeared on the table beside Sweetie Void. The filly immediately took it and downed it in one go.

“You will always be welcome at this party, even if you become a Devourer.”

“Glad to hear, but I won’t be able to play games anymore. I would win all the time with my omnipotence and omniscience. It wouldn’t be fair to the others. Too bad, I love games.”

Cthulhu chuckled. “At least, you will have Yog to talk to. I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of conversations you two will have if the time comes.”

“Not eldritch enough to comprehend THAT, uh?”

“You got that right.”

Sweetie Void giggled. After a moment of silence, she then said, “Say, I know that you said that violence is banned here, but… can I punch you?”

That caught Cthulhu totally off guard. "What?"

“I mean, there is this trope about punching you, which is actually about when mortals manage to beat a God or some cosmic entity. And me, I wanna say “Yeah, right, I literally punched Cthulhu, deal with it.” So… Please?”

Cthulhu stared at Sweetie Void for several seconds, then burst into laughter. “If you want to punch me, then come to my universe and we will settle this!”

“You’re on!”

Eventually, the party began to end, Yog sending entities back to their universes when they asked for it if they couldn’t return by themselves. It was hard to say how long the party lasted. There was no indicator of time in this place. Sweetie Void was with Void and Marie, ready to go and to bring her new friend to meet the others.

“And remember, expect my visit sometime soon, once I convince someone to make a deal,” Bill Cypher said.

“I’ll be waiting for it, Bill,” Sweetie Void said.

“And I’m waiting for your visit, remember!” Khorne said.

“Of course!”

“It was great to have you with us, Sweetie Void. Expect an invitation for the next party,” Cthulhu said.

“I can’t wait to get it. Maybe I will be able to bring some of my friends by then. Well then, goodbye everyone!”

With some last goodbyes, Sweetie Void opened a rift, and the three jumped through it.