//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: A difficult start // Story: The Watcher // by GnollReader //------------------------------// "I do not care if you deem them trustworthy or not, our agreement did not involve their presence at this meeting." the shadows danced and vibrated to his voice, the black tendrils of the void enclosing him pulsated with his anger. "It stands as an act of mistrust on your side that you alter it without my consent." He still refused to leave the tear, unwilling to show himself to the element bearers. "I assure you that we meant neither disrespect nor to insult you." Celestia spoke in a motherly voice as she tried to calm him, "None of what takes place within these walls will be spoken of to anypony. They have all sworn to keep this meeting a secret, and you have my word that you can trust them. After all, they are...” “The elements of harmony?” he interrupted her speech, “Tell me princess, do you really expect the element of honesty to carry a secret?” Her presence in this room posed the biggest threat to his work, she could identify lies. Every word he said while she listened would endanger his plans. His knowledge seemed to surprise princess Celestia, “You know of the elements of harmony?” “I was there when they were created and I was there when they stopped Discord.” he stated as if it was the simplest matter of fact. That had been a very troubling occurrence, had they not stopped the draconequus he would have had to set his plans into motion much earlier than intended. “I also read the letters your student writes you so vigorously.” “You read my letters to princess Celestia? Those are personal!” Twilight called out before Celestia hushed her quickly. “May I ask...” she said with an even voice, “Why you read the letters my student sends me?” “Not before the element bearers have left this room.” There was a moment of silence as their stand-off continued. Rainbow Dash got up from her position with a sigh, “Come on guys, let's leave. This is boring anyway. I mean, this is my free day from weather patrol and here I am watching a talking cloud? I should be practicing my stunts!” she walked up to the swirling mist and gave it a scrutinizing look, “I don't even see what the big deal is! It's just an ugly, talking cloud.” “Rainbow Dash! Where are your manners?” Rarity scolded the pegasus. He watched the pegasus from the tear with disapproval, he had only little patience for the disrespectful and her insults only served to lessen it. Spending an eternity in silence had not helped increase his tolerance either. “She's right Rainbow Dash, don't be mean to the poor cloud.” he looked up in surprise as Fluttershy walked up to him, “Poor little cloud, you don't need to be scared of us. You're probably just lonely. Did the other clouds pick on you? Do you need a hug?” she tried to offer him her sympathy. “Fluttershy, that actually isn't his real...” Twilight spoke up with a worried look. The glimpse she had caught of him had been short, but it had been enough to give her a sleepless night. “Quiet.” he interrupted her. Had he just heard correctly? He addressed Fluttershy, “Repeat what you just said.” “You... don't need... to be afraid?” she offered with a timid voice, clearly shaken by his change of tone. “What would make you think I would be scared of you?” he asked with an angry voice. “Cause you're just a cloud?” Rainbow Dash sneered, “You're not even that creepy. I don't understand why Twilight was so worried. And stop picking on Fluttershy or I'll just herd you somewhere else!” he felt his blood start to boil. Princess Luna spoke up with a stern voice, “Rainbow Dash, please refrain from threatening our...” “No.” he interrupted the princess, “I have heard enough. The bearers may stay if they wish, but should they talk of this to anyone else I will not let it go unpunished.” Rainbow Dash mocked him, “Pfff... what are you going to do? Block the sun? Rain on my...” her mouth dropped and she froze as he started to step from the void. His face was the first thing to appear between the swirling void, slowly drawing forward as he fully emerged from the shadows. He towered above her, the black scales glinting in the light as the void started to return to his body slowly. She looked up into his mask and into her own reflection, suddenly unable to make even the tiniest comment or movement. Fluttershy was trying to hide behind Rainbow Dash and was whimpering in a cowering position. Celestia got up from her place, obviously worried what would happen next. He ignored her and addressed Rainbow Dash instead, “Should any of you talk to anyone outside this room of my presence I will drag you to a place outside this dimension where no sun shines and not even the slightest of winds blows. A place devoid of sound, hope or solace. And then, I will leave you there.” she gulped, “Is that creepy enough for you, Rainbow Dash?” She managed to nod somehow, “Super creepy...” “Good.” he turned to Celestia. She was clearly angered by his threat towards her subjects but he did not care for it. Her magic meant nothing to him. “Now that this has been taken care of, we may 'talk'.” he drew the last word out longer than needed and walked up to the table with slow steps, not causing a single sound in the process. Fluttershy didn't even dare to look up as he passed her. He ignored the scared looks of the ponies and the angry glares of the princesses as he sat down at the table in a crossed-legged position with a fluid motion. “Now...” he said with a quiet voice as the ponies stared at him, “What would you like to know?” Before any of the others could recover from their initial shock he was assaulted by a pink blur of words, “HI! I'm Pinkie Pie who are you? Are you a pony? Do you like parties? Do you like cake? I love cake and parties! But I guess you already know that since you've been 'watching' us for like, forever?” she bounced up and down in front of him happily. “Indeed.” he replied with an unmoving voice. While she continued to prattle on happily he studied the flow around her, something seemed off about her. It was distorted. It was a one in a million chance for something like this to occur but it explained quite a few things he had read and noticed about her. He continued to study her while she started to give him a list of her favorite desserts. The others watched with fascination as she bounced up and down in front of the unmoving figure. “So, what's your favorite?” his thoughts were interrupted as she looked up at him with a big smile. “My favorite what?” he asked with slight amusement. He couldn't remember the last time he had met a creature that wasn't intimidated by his appearance, and she seemed completely ignorant of the fact that he had just threatened to drag them off into the abyss. “Your favorite kind of cake, of course!” she said with a beaming smile. “I do not eat.” he replied. “You don't?” Pinkie replied in shock, “But don't you like cake or parties?” “I don't.” Her hair actually deflated a bit when he said that. She squinted her eyes at him, “You're serious, aren't you?” “I am.” “Really?” she asked with hope. “Really.” her smile dropped. Just as fast as her smile had vanished it reappeared again, even broader this time than before. “Well then, there's only one thing to do!” she pulled a small muffin with sugar coating from the table and held it out for him to take, “You have to try one of my extra-special-deluxe muffins!” “No.” he had no intent of consuming something that was probably sweet enough to burn his tongue away. Also, it would require him to remove his mask and that was out of the question this early. “Come on, I know you'll love it!” she bobbed the muffin up and down in front of him. “No.” Her smile vanished again and her hair completely deflated, “Try it.” her voice had changed. “No.” he checked the flow around her again, it had realigned itself. Interesting. She started to bump the muffin against his mask, the frosting leaving ugly stains on the glass, “Try it.” she repeated as she continued to nudge it against his mask. His head slowly turned towards Celestia. Just like the others she had been watching the two utterly speechless. Even with her wisdom she failed to understand at times what made the pink pony what she was. “Get her off of me before I remove her.” he said with a gruff voice as she continued to poke the muffin against his head. “Pinkie Pie, please be so kind and stop doing that.” Celestia said with a wary voice, “It seems our guest is not hungry at the moment.” Pinkie Pie seemed to consider this for a second before looking at him again, “You're not hungry?” “I do not feel hunger.” he replied. There was a poof as her hair suddenly inflated itself again, “Great! That means you'll be hungry again soon! I'm going to prepare the best muffin ever so you can try it!” He doubted she would live long enough to see that day but he still nodded, “Very well.” “Great!” she beamed him a smile and returned to her seat, already starting to make plans for a very special muffin. He picked up a napkin and started to clean the plate of his mask, his vision slightly blurring as the mask simply started to bend the light around the obstacle to give him a free view. While he removed the last traces of sugar he started to talk again, “I am aware that all of you have questions concerning my... nature and the intent of my presence...” a few of them nodded while the others simply listened carefully to his words. He folded the napkin carefully and rested it on the table again, “But before we continue...” he turned his head towards Applejack, she slightly flinched when his gaze came to rest upon her. “There are subjects that I am unwilling to talk about, and there are questions which I will not answer to their full truth.” Applejack raised an eyebrow, “You're telling me you're gonna lie to us?” “I am merely informing you that there are questions I am not going to answer truthfully.” She gave him a doubtful glare, “Because you can't or because you don't want to?” “I will not answer that question.” he replied and moved his gaze towards Celestia. She eyed him with curiosity, this had not been what she had anticipated but it would have to do for the moment, “Very well, I hope we can still find some answers along the way. But first, I believe I promised you tea and medical attention.”