Chapter 1: Return
Princess Celestia watched, torn between shock, concern and wonder as the purveyor stood at the shattered window to the old newborn station in utter silence. Only the small music box in his hand continued to play in the silence around them as he stared into the old room.
Just like two hundred years ago, his face was covered by the impenetrable blackness of his polished mask. And just like she remembered, the shadows softly swirled around his form. But there was a difference: unlike before, the shadows now carried small traces of red; the crimson lines intertwining with the black mass around him, disappearing into his form only to reappear at another position.
"You're back..." she finally whispered. Fear and worry started to spread over her face, "Does this mean..."
"No." he replied without looking at her, "The time has not come yet... I still can not hear the cycle approach."
She breathed out in relief but continued to watch him with concern, her worst fear pushed aside for only a moment.
"What happened?" she asked after an agonizing moment of silence.
The music box stopped playing, the last notes from the little machinery echoing through the empty corridor softly. He closed his hand around the delicate device and returned it to his robes before turning around slowly to face her. For a moment, Celestia thought she could hear a whisper go through the old halls of Canterlot Central.
"We died." He stated with a grave voice. "Just as I commanded, the void came and swallowed everything..." he paused for a moment. "How long was I gone?"
"For over two hundred years..." Celestia replied with a sad voice. Many of her beloved subjects had left during that time, and many new ones had come to leave just like the others. No matter how much she tried, remembering the loved ones she had lost to time always saddened her.
"Two hundred years... It felt like more time had passed..." he said with an impassive voice. "Then again, the void never had a real time line of its own, and without the order we imposed on it..." his thoughts trailed off to the time spent in solitude within the void, countless decades spent in silence. For all he knew, thousands of years could have passed unnoticed by him and in utter darkness. Until...
"What happened to you?" His thoughts were interrupted by Celestia. Again, for a moment she thought she could hear a whisper on the verge of her hearing. But there was no one here except for him and herself.
He looked into her face. "I changed..." he paused for a moment. "When the void came to swallow us, I waited for it to consume me as well... but it never did. Instead, I floated through the darkness aimlessly, waiting for my end to come... but nothing happened." Celestia shuddered at the thought of spending an eternity in that place. "So I did what I have always done, I waited... and I listened..." his voice was almost a whisper now. "And I learned."
He turned away from her to look through the broken windows once more. "I had almost forgotten what the void sounded like... but with my race gone it was finally quiet enough for me to hear its whispers once more. So I listened... and I changed..." he held out his hand and immediately, shadows started to form from the walls and items around him, traveling through the air and towards his open hand from all directions.
"The void I once embedded this world with is still present..." he allowed the shadows to curl themselves around his arm. "As is its bond with me..." the shadows slowly fell from his arms and retreated into their surroundings again. "It shall be of use for me..."
"What do you mean?" Celestia asked with worry.
"Can you not hear them? Even when I still lock my mind from your thoughts you should be able to hear them..."
Celestia's eyes widened, there it was again. Nothing more than a breath, but it was there. A whisper in the air around her.
"Now..." the shadows from his form started to grow and reach out to her. As the black wall roared around her she could make out the whispers even clearer, and she could hear his voice; "See, what I see..." he performed the phase shift, the world around her vanished.
What Celestia saw next would haunt her for the rest of her life. She saw the purveyor stand alone in the darkness, and roaring like a storm above him, she saw them.
Millions of them; uncountable to the eyes alone, roared around him in an endless maelstrom. Souls, innumerable souls... and all of them were screaming.
She could hear most of them scream at her in anger and frustration, while others begged for mercy or cried for lost loved ones. And while most roared there were also those that stayed the closest to his form, only whispering softly in short sentences and with broken words. The pleas and screams around her were deafening and Celestia had to struggle to keep herself from falling to her knees.
Celestia looked down, and saw the purveyor stand at the center of the vortex, his mask removed and a strange expression on his face as he observed the storm around him in silence.
Then, with a motion of his hand the screaming stopped, and the vortex slowed down. Only a soft murmur remained as the souls continued to drift around him at a slow speed.
"Who are they?" she whispered in fear.
"As I drifted through the darkness, I only realized too late that it would be nothing but a matter of time until they found me..." he spoke without looking down, "And after an eternity of listening to the void, the first of them did. It took time for all of them to arrive... but as I was the only thing that remained of their old world they were drawn to me like moths to an open flame."
The purveyor turned to her, and Celestia felt a shiver run down her spine as she looked into the impenetrable darkness of his eyes, "They are the souls of those lost to the void... the dreams and memories of my lost kind... and now... now that they are bound to my form and are finally able to leave the void with me again, I shall fulfill their desire."
Celestia took a step back, dreading what he was about to say next. The mask reformed on his face, and the world around her changed back to the old Canterlot Central hospital. The souls were gone again, but she could still hear their murmurs carry through the air softly as the shadows retreated from her form.
He stood before her, observing her in silence and waiting for her response.
"Why have you returned?" she whispered, afraid of the answer.
"I have come carrying the lost souls and forgotten dreams of my race along with my own, and now... I have the chance to give them what I was unable to give them for so long... A new life, outside of the void."
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Hohoho..... tomorrow I will read it.
dashie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw3345-1330646932156.gif
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
Yes! YES! Hahaha, yeah!
Yes! Been looking forward to this! Great start to it, can't wait for more!
It's back... Excellent.
2527950
You forgot the 2nd most important one after that:
2528012 damnit i always forget that one
HUZZAH! SEQUEL! It's great so far, can't wait for more!
AND IT'S FUCKING BACK!
can't wait to see how this plays out
2528029
At least you didn't forget the Twilight Sparkle one. That would've resulted in the universe imploding
2528145 or throwing earth off course and make it plummet into the sun
Yesh!
2528155
Crash into the sun! Now we're deaaaaaaaad!
#yoloswaglensflareapocalypse
2528230 #fo-sho
2528241
#disgonnabegood
PRAISE ALT-err
2528266 #OmgMySkinIsMelting
2528399
#myeyeshavemeltedoutofmysockets
Dude this is awesome so Humanity isn't dead we were just waiting to be reborn that shows the whole reincarnation thing!
So. . . wait. Is there hope this time?
Huh. I hope they don't turn into ponies or something like that. Really would sort of ruin the mood. . .
How is this not featured?
I approve of this.
I enjoy how the last story ended a week ago and ow there is a sequel. I APROVE
Sqee!! That is all.
I can see where this is going and I love it.
Gnoll, plz stop bing so damn awsum. ur makin tha rest of us luk bad
A sequel? Bloody brilliant!
WHY CAN'T I THUMB THIS UP MORE THAN ONCE! I NEED MORE THUMBS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!
So, the immortal Physical God has gone full Eldritch Abomination...
Even as I read this story and enjoy it, it scares the hell out of me. The premise and the main character are a perfect match to the kinds of stories I really try to avoid; horrible ends for ponies I like. And your main pony is my favorite...
2527949
No! You will read now! (Even though my "now" is long after your "now." Details, details...) And you WILL like it! So it was been ordered; so it will be done!
yay
So is Twilight going to be in this? Or are you not going to put Alicorn Twilight in this?
2532807 That's an interesting question... Assuming she's been turned into an alicorn, would it have increased her natural lifespan?
2532924 The things surrounding alicorns have become so confusing. With Cadence and Twilight. I hope season 4 may explore alicorns some more and tell us if Twilight is immortal or not. From what I have gathered Twilight is the Princess of Friendship so she may just be immortal and never die.
2533118 If she is indeed immortal it would be a nice plot twist if she became recently new "Nightmare Moon". At least this vid shows the begining of it(in my opinion.).
Oh, wow. I didn't expect to see a sequel to The Watcher, not this soon.
And it continues the proud (read: I don't know whether to kiss you or kill you) tradition of every chapter ending on a goddamned cliffhanger. Millions of souls, about to be given life on Equestria. Will they be human? Pony? Something else entirely? How will the influx of so many new people affect the world? And what of the end of the world, which is after all still coming?
Tune in next time, same pony-time, same pony-channel!
I want to read this story... but the mane six dead..... I is sad. The mane six is what makes a story IMO.
5 of 6 dead of age
2566980 bruh, you just fucking spoiled a major plot point in the story for me, in the first forsaken chapter!!!
Actually... I'm sorry, I did not think about the fact that 200 years had passed.
T-There's a sequel. I'm not emotionally ready for this.
Dat cover art though.
I feel as though not only this will lead to a lot morality choices but an easy solution could be found... but I won’t say as it may spoil the story and I wish to see how things go