Soren The Alicorn Part 2: The Effects Of War

Chapters

Fatigued Inspiration
Night Wing?
Choices
A Weeping Stowaway
Late Arrival
To Change A Mind
Battle of the Nyrs Part 1
Battle of the Nyrs Part 2
Battle of the Nyrs Part 3
Inescapable Losses
A Fire and A Deal
A Disguise
The Detour
Reacquainted
Lucid Dreaming
The Mailmare
A Long Shot
To Fix A Conscience
One-Sided Conversations
Appreciation
Sleepflying
The Four Beat
Burning Dash
Fire Training
The Impossible Stone

Fatigued Inspiration

Soren was beyond exhausted as he dragged himself through town. The only good thing about that magic outburst was that an idea came to him, an idea that only a certain somepony can help him with. Soren decided to try to find Luna or Twilight. As Soren was walking through town, Rarity saw the fatigued alicorn and trotted over to him.

"Hello, Soren," she said. "You look like you can barely stand. Did Rainbow Dash overtrain you again?"

"I'm fine," Soren said while breathing hard. "I just need some rest. Do you know where Twilight or Luna are?"

"They should be at the library, but Soren, I'm glad I found you. I have been meaning to tell you something." Soren sat down while Rarity continued to speak. "Has Twilight told you about what happened when you disappeared?"

"About what Cain did or the fact that you all turned your backs on me?" Rarity hung her head with guilt. Soren sighed. "I'm sorry it came out like that. I'm not mad at any of you. Go on."

"No, no, you have every right to be sour with us. We were so afraid of getting ourselves hurt or worse that we forgot the fact that you are one of our friends. And friends should always be there for other friends, even if they can't offer assistance. They do not have to be there physically to help; they can offer moral support."

"I'm happy to hear that, and can I just say that you four don't have to help me if it means putting you girls in danger. I couldn't bear it if I caused any of you to get hurt." Soren started shaking now. "I really need to get some rest. I'll see you later, ok?"

"I cannot make any promises about staying out of the way. Friends should help each other no matter what." Soren smiled and waved goodbye to his unicorn friend as he walked away.

As Soren continued to tread through Ponyville, he noticed that he was strangely more fatigued than he first realized. He only performed very few spells, so why is his body already giving up? Soren's train of thought was halted as he caught sight of the Ponyville Library. Gathering his remaining strength, Soren walked up to the front door and knocked a few times. When there wasn't an immediate answer, Soren yelled out Twilight's name. Although he had to strain to yell that loud, Soren's voice was loud enough to get Spike's attention. The little dragon opened the door and saw Soren.

"Heya, Soren," Spike greeted. "Do you need something? Perhaps a bed?" Spike laughed as he saw that Soren was about ready to collapse on the doorstep.

"Are Twilight and Luna here?"

"Yeah, Twilight's showing the princess her star chart upstairs. Come on in." Soren nodded and followed behind Spike as the two walked towards the stairs. Spike stopped right at the foot of the stairs. "Hey, Twilight! Soren's here! He wants to talk to you and the princess!"

"Be right down!" answered the voice of Twilight Sparkle. Within the minute, Twilight Sparkle, followed by Princess Luna, walked downstairs.

"Are you feeling better, Soren?" Princess Luna asked as the two mares walked towards Soren and Spike.

"I guess. I seem to be very fatigued from a certain spell I did. You two most likely saw it. The pillar of fire?" Everyone there nodded. Soren sighed again and decided to sit down.

"Spike said you wanted to talk to us," Twilight said. "What is it?"

"Luna, can you come here real quick?" Without saying anything, the princess walked up to Soren and sat beside him. Soren then proceeded to whisper in his marefriend's ear. "Find the Doctor for me." Soren then collapsed and fell asleep. Twilight looked at Luna, who was still trying to figure out why Soren needed the Doctor.

"What did he say?" Spike asked. "Is he sleeping?"

"Soren is fine; he is simply exhausted. Twilight Sparkle, you and Spike keep watch over him. I need to do a quick favor for Soren." Luna started walking towards the front door, but Twilight's voice stopped her.

"Wait, Luna!" The blue alicorn turned her head. "At least tell me what you need to do." Luna looked at Twilight, then back to Soren, then back to Twilight.

"Very well. Soren wishes for me to find a certain somepony. That is all he said." Luna continued to walk out of the library, leaving Twilight Sparkle and Spike more confused than they would like to be.

It was nighttime by the time Soren woke up. Groaning, he looked around and saw that the only source of light was a lit candle on the table in the center of the library's main room. Soren walked over to it and just stood there. He turned away from the flame so he can adjust his eyes to the darkness. When Soren's eyes were finally adjusted, he took another look around the room. This time he saw Twilight Sparkle sitting in a chair next to a desk. She was staring at him as if she was psychically pulling information out of him.

"Hey, Twilight," Soren said groggily. "Can I help you? You look like you're trying to read my mind."

"Who did you tell Luna to find?" she asked.

"It's private."

"Does it involve the Doctor?" Soren paused.

"...yes."

"Thank you for being honest with me. That's all I wanted to know."

"All I want is some information from him, that's all."

"He always owes somepony information, even me."

"Twilight..."

"I'm fine, Soren. I just...miss him."

"Maybe this will help you. Is Doctor from this world?"

"How did...? No...he's not."

"From the stories you've told me, I can guess that ever since the Doctor showed up, his enemies or animals from his world have also shown up. This also leads me believe that the longer the Doctor stays here, the more our two worlds combine. Maybe he's trying to fix this, and as a result, he is leaving more often and staying away longer. I know for a fact that if he loved you, he would never want to leave you for good." Twilight smiled at Soren's ridiculous theory.

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Soren, even if that idea of yours is entirely crazy." Soren gave a small laugh. "It's late. We should try to get some sleep. You can stay here if you like."

"Thank you. I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Twilight proceeded to go to her bedroom upstairs, while Soren decided to sleep on the couch downstairs.

Soren found some blankets and brought them over to the couch. Once he was comfortable, the alicorn stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, thinking about the past that the Doctor and Twilight shared. 'Hopefully everything works out for them' was Soren's last thought as he drifted back to sleep.

Night Wing?

The next morning was calm and slightly warm. Sunlight shined into the library's lobby and brightly lit up the room. Soren groaned since the light was too bright, even for his closed eyes. After moving slightly, Soren noticed that the bright light was now being blocked by something. After slowly opening his eyes, Soren was greeted by a noise.

"SURPRISE!" cheered five voices. Soren screamed and teleported away. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Luna look all around the room for Soren but couldn't see him. Pretty soon, Twilight Sparkle was on top of the staircase, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.

"What...What are you girls doing here so early?" she said after a big yawn.

"It's not that early," Rainbow Dash said. "It's almost noon."

"Noon? Already?" Twilight noticed that Soren wasn't standing with everypony. "Was Soren gone when you all arrived?" Everyone started laughing.

"That colt disappeared on us after we scared him," Applejack explained while chuckling.

"I still want to know why you girls did that," said a voice above them. Twilight descended the stairs, and
the seven of them looked up to find that Soren teleported up to an empty bookshelf. The girls started laughing again.

"Forgive us, Soren," Luna apologized. "We wanted to see if you would be scared by the same trick twice." Luna started to hold back a laugh. "And it appears that it worked again." Soren rolled his eyes and teleported himself to the floor.

"Why are you all here?" Soren asked.

"We wanted to check on you after Rarity said you looked like you could barely stand," Rainbow Dash explained.

"It was nothing really. I just used some magic and felt fatigued afterwards."

"How did you became that tired after using magic?" asked Fluttershy.

"The same reason I become tired after using a lot of magic," Twilight explained. "If a unicorn exerts too much magic at one time, the unicorn's energy becomes completely drained as a result."

"Ohhh," the mares chorused. Soren looked at Luna and then flinched. She was giving him a certain look that he hated. Ever since they have been dating, Soren learned about the different looks and glares in Luna's arsenal, and this particular glare was the "tell them" glare.

"Should I?" Soren asked Luna, who nodded in reply. Everyone looked at Soren.

"Should you what, Soren?" Twilight asked. Soren sighed.

"Luna wants me to tell you all why I need the Doctor. I don't know why I was going to wait to tell you; I just wanted to. You see, I have a plan that involves him. I want the Doctor to take me to the past so I can find a book about the Natural Elements, if one even exists. I'm going to study and train in all of the elements, and when I'm done, we will come back so I can fight Night Wing. This is the only way to make sure I am prepared to fight her."

The girls stared at Soren for a few seconds before one of them said something.

"That is probably the smartest plan of action right now," Luna said. "What do the rest of you think?" Soren saw the look on Twilight's face and knew she had a question or two.

"Twilight?" Soren asked. "Any questions?"

"Will you be prepared for the danger that comes with traveling with him?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure the Doctor and I can handle any situation." Soren looked at his other five friends. "Should I go through with this plan, girls?

"If it'll help ya," Applejack answered.
"Sounds dangerous," replied Fluttershy.
"Go for it," said Rainbow Dash.
"But I don't want you to leave," whined Pinkie Pie.

Twilight and Rarity haven't decided on an answer yet. It took a while before Rarity gave her answer.

"I shall vote after Twilight."

"I will only say yes if I can go with you two," Twilight answered.

"You know I would gladly bring you along, Twilight" Soren said, "but it's mostly up to the Doctor. I don't even know if he will want to follow this plan, but I guess we'll find out eventually."

"Alright."

"How about we all do something today?" Soren offered. "I've been studying for Celestia knows how long. I think I need a break." Everypony nodded and then Pinkie Pie exclaimed that they should all go to Sugarcube Corner. Smiling at their energetic friend, the eight friends left the library to spend the rest of the day with each other.

Later That Night

After spending the entire day with his friends, Soren was well spent, so he retired to his cloud house on the outskirts of Ponyville. He was laying on his bed as his eyes grew heavy. Refusing to stay up any longer, the white alicorn fell asleep. Soren had a new kind of lucid dream that night. He found himself in a circular room. As he looked closer, Soren realized that he was in a cave, and this cave had shady looking ponies all around him. Seeing as these ponies were shady looking and that they were in a cave, Soren could guess that these ponies are probably the Shadow Horses. Soren knew they couldn't see or hear him, so he decided to continue to examine the decently sized area.

After turning 180 degrees, Soren noticed a pony that was standing a lot closer to him than the others were. She was a pegasus mare with a grey coat, a light purple mane, and yellow serpentine eyes. She was also wearing some kind of armor that gave her what appeared to be bat wings.

"I'm waiting for you, Nyroc," the mare said. "We all are." Soren stared into the mare's eyes and saw something strange. He couldn't quite place it, but this mare was feeling something besides what she was projecting with her voice. Soren's eyes widened.

"Night Wing," Soren whispered as he woke up. "Was that Night Wing...in a different form or was that her true form? She looked less powerful in that state. Maybe when I fight her, I should try to get her into that form. When Night Wing looks like that, she almost looks...innocent. No! I can't start thinking like that! And I really gotta stop talking to myself."

Soren looked outside at the clear night sky and saw that it was still the middle of the night. After remembering that he should be focusing on finding the Doctor and asking him to help with his plan (and to ask if his special somepony can tag along), Soren was starting to fall back asleep.

The next dream Soren had was in the same location, except this time nopony was standing near him. He saw ponies on the other side of the room, so Soren simply watched and listened. Upon further investigation, Soren saw that Night Wing was sitting on a fancy chair of sorts. He noticed that she looked troubled.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" one of her guards asked.

"I'm fine, it's just that...that stallion that visited us—the one that was preaching to us—kind of got to me. What if he was telling the truth?"

"Nonsense. No pony can be stronger than you right now."

"That may be true, but that pony told us to quit now before we hit the point of no return. If he makes a threat like that, he has something, or someone, to back it up." Night Wing paused. "I say it doesn't matter. I've been around for at least two years and I can still say that even if I give up and try to live my life, I won't fit in anywhere. I was created by Nightmare Moon to resurrect her when she fell, yet...I want to be something more than just a mare whose only goal in life is to resurrect her queen."

Soren couldn't believe everything he was hearing. This went against everything anypony knew about the Nightmare Guardian! Soren's conscience and brain began fighting each other. As Soren continued to listen, his conscience wants him to try and talk to her so he can help her, while his brain is telling him that he still needs to defeat her if Equestria wants to be safe. Since Soren didn't know which part of himself to trust, he forced himself to wake up, even though he knew that that won't let him escape his thoughts on the matter.

Laying on his back, Soren stared at the puffy white ceiling in his room. He knew it was still nighttime but he refused to fall back asleep. Soren got out of bed and walked over to his bedroom window to stare at the stars and the crescent moon. The words that Night Wing said were etched into Soren's mind, and he couldn't force himself to think of anything else. Soren stood there for a few minutes before having the wonderful idea of training his speed to pass the time. 'I just hope I can make the right decision when the time comes.' With a distraction planned, Soren flew off into the night to occupy his time.

Choices

The sun was finally rising over the horizon. It turned the sky a wonderful mixture of light purple and blue. The wind slowly died down as the sun was fully in sight. Soren took in this beautiful sight as he realized that he hasn't seen a sunrise that often. He was relaxing on a cloud after two hours of training. Soren had both hooves behind his head and one leg bent as he continued to watch the sky fully turn blue. After about ten more minutes of this, Soren heard wingbeats. Recognizing them as Rainbow's, Soren figured she would try and mess with him as he is relaxing, but Soren had other plans.

'Time to test my speed,' Soren thought. He waited for the lightning to strike before curling up into a ball and falling through the cloud. Soren straightened himself out and flew straight towards the storm cloud. When Soren flew through it, it vanished. Soren then looped around to float back onto his cloud and acted like nothing happened.

"Can I help you?" Soren asked with a smirk.

"You're no fun to prank," Rainbow replied, sticking her tongue out at her friend. Soren laughed.

"Anything else?"

"How long have you been up?"

"Almost three hours. Why?"

"It looks like you just went through one heck of a work out."

"I did. I couldn't sleep so I decided to work on my speed."

"Well it definitely has improved. Did you have another weird dream last night?" Soren nodded. "Wanna talk about it with your friends?"

"It would be bad if I didn't, but I have a feeling that none of you will like what I have to say."

"I'll be the judge of that. Come on, let's go get everyone." Soren got up, and the two of them flew off to find their friends.

Soren and Rainbow Dash only managed to gather about half of their friends at Sugarcube Corner. The others were still tired and refused to come to the shop until they rested a little more. After almost an hour of Rainbow Dash, Soren, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Luna conversing with each other, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy entered the building. Soren nodded to Rainbow Dash and then asked his friends to gather around the table.

"Everypony...I had two lucid dreams last night; two very strange lucid dreams. In the first dream, I saw the Shadow Horses and a grey mare wearing some sort of armor. The only thing that happened in that dream was that the mare was talking to me, like I was actually with her. She said that she was waiting for me...both her and the Shadow Horses.

"The second dream is when I realized that the mare was really Night Wing in a different form. In this dream, nopony could see or hear me. I was watching Night Wing speak to one of her guards, and what she said..." Soren trailed off but continued a second later. "This was the strangest dream, for as I listened to the things Night Wing said, my conscience and mind were battling with each other. Night Wing said that the only reason she won't give up her plan is because she won't fit in anywhere if she tried to live a normal life."

"Well she's smart then," Rainbow Dash interrupted. "She would probably be chased out of any town for what she's done."

"After hearing that, this next part is going to be even harder to explain. Night Wing sounded like she didn't want to go through with this plan, but she also feels like she has no other choice. I was so conflicted after witnessing that dream. My conscience was telling me to find the good in her, but my mind was telling me that I need to fight her. Girls, I think Night Wing can possibly be changed to good."

"Are you crazy, Soren?" Applejack said. "After all the things that gal's done, you wanna make friends with her?"

"She doesn't seem to fully want to go through with resurrecting Nightmare Moon. She wants to be more than just some slave to her master. Don't any of you believe Night Wing can be changed for the better?"

As expected, every single one of them said no. They all had similar reasons why they said no, but the main reason was because Night Wing attacked the princess. They believed that that was unforgivable. Soren couldn't argue with them, for they wouldn't get anywhere in their debate.

"Soren, you can't seriously be thinking of going against everything we have planned!" Twilight said

"I am. I don't think I can do this. I think she can be changed. That wasn't an act that I saw, Twilight. No one knew I was there. What I saw was the truth behind the Nightmare Guardian." Soren's voice was slightly raising with every sentence.

"Soren...think about how you could even manage to get her to become good."

"I can talk to her instead of fight her."

"And if things go south?" Rainbow asked. Soren paused.

"It won't come to that. I'm following my gut on this one. If she refuses to talk...then I guess I'll have no choice."

"As long as you don't put her over Equestria, Soren," Twilight said. "Look, I appreciate that you're trying to do this the way the Doctor likes to, but I feel as though this is a lost cause and that the result will get you badly hurt. Just let it go for now, ok? How about we all grab some breakfast?" Twilight looked at everyone as she asked the last question. Everypony agreed but Luna had to say something first.

"Afterwards we should all spend time together at the library."

"Why there of all places, princess?" Rarity asked.

"We simply have a feeling that this would be the best place to be."

When the eight friends finished eating breakfast, they arrived at the library. They all decided to do their normal routine of conversing with one another to pass the time. During their long conversation, the group of friends were interrupted by a loud rumbling sound coming from Spike.

"Feels like something's coming," he said as he held his mouth. Within seconds, the dragon belched up a scroll, which landed on the floor in front of him. Spike picked it up and was getting ready to read it. Soren and Twilight looked at Princess Luna and saw that she was nowhere near as confused as everypony else.

"To my faithful student,

Please do not stop reading this letter, for that would disrupt the timing. I can usually assume that Soren or Luna are with you as you are read these letters. My sister has informed me of Soren's plan of studying the Natural Elements, and I agree that this may be the best course of action for him.

As Soren works on his portion of the master plan against the Shadow Horses, it is time for the rest of you to do your parts also. Twilight, you are to accompany my sister and come to Canterlot. I will explain more once you arrive. The rest of your friends are to go from town to town, secretly recruiting ponies to fight in the upcoming battle. The ponies that you find will need to go to the Royal Castle and train with the Royal Guards.

In order to help Soren with his plan, I have included a special gift that is sure to surprise him and all of you. The reason I asked for you to never stop reading this was to perfectly time the gifts arrival. As you finish reading this sentence, he should start arriving..."

The second Spike finished that sentence, a familiar whirring noise could be heard. Soren and Twilight turned to face the appearing TARDIS, and then everyone else did the same.

"Princess Celestia actually came into contact with the Doctor and timed this perfectly?!" Twilight exclaimed. The TARDIS landed, the door opened, and out stepped the Doctor.

"Hello again, Twilight," he said evenly as he closed the doors behind him. The Doctor looked at Soren. "Princess Celestia sent me to get you."

"And here I thought you didn't want to help anypony anymore," Soren said.

"I may not want to help anymore, but it doesn't mean I'm going to just sit by and watch a country destroy itself when I could have done something about it." The Doctor walked over to Twilight and stood in front of her. "I'm sorry you couldn't come with us."

"It's fine," she replied. "Princess Celestia needs me for something more important anyway."

"They want to be together so bad," Soren whispered to his friends. The Doctor looked at Soren with fierce eyes. At first Soren thought the Doctor heard him, but what he said next erased that fear.

"And you...you better not attempt anything stupid when confronting the Nightmare Guardian."

"Why not?" Soren asked defensively, knowing what the Doctor was referring to. "Why does it matter if I attempt to change Night Wing to good?"

"The choice you make will decide the entire outcome of the battle."

"And what choices does Soren have exactly?" Rarity asked.

"He can either choose to fight Night Wing and win or attempt to change her and risk losing the battle."

"And what would happen if he tried to change her?" Twilight asked. The Doctor was silent. Meanwhile, Soren began saying his goodbyes to his friends.

"I'll make my decision when the time comes," Soren said. He proceeded to kiss Luna goodbye and hug the others.

When he was finished, Soren walked inside the TARDIS. He smiled as he looked upon the place of legends, the place that took Twilight and the Doctor to worlds unknown. Soren looked back towards the doorways and saw the Doctor there, talking to somepony. Soren couldn't hear exactly what he was saying, but he did hear the Doctor whisper something about "stopping him."

'Who's 'him?' Was it me? Why would the Doctor want my friends to stop me?' Soren decided to ignore this for now because he and the Doctor have more important matters to attend to. The Doctor closed the TARDIS door and walked over to the console.

"So where to?" he asked Soren.

"Umm...I figured you would know." The Doctor sighed irritably.

"Fine. I'll figure something out, but don't expect this to be a common thing, alright?" Soren nodded as the Doctor flicked switches and hit buttons. Soon the TARDIS made its signature sound and the two of them were off to anywhere and anywhen.

A Weeping Stowaway

"That was more studying than I thought I would do in one seating," Soren complained after studying in the Prance Library. The two stallions were walking through the big city towards the TARDIS.

"At least you have a head start in air magic," the Doctor pointed out. In the beginning of their travels, the Doctor explained to Soren that these Element books are most likely gone by now, so the duo had to travel to the past just to look for them. Luckily they managed to find a book about Air Manipulation in the Prance Library. Soren studied that one book for over four hours and managed to learn quite a few spells that could benefit him. The Doctor also explained to Soren that he shouldn't try to learn every single spell in a book, and that he should focus on spells that would help him the most.

"Do you have an idea for a new location, or am I going to have to do all the work?" the Doctor asked.

"I was thinking about looking in the library in Canterlot, but I don't know what year would be a good time to try," Soren responded.

"Well, think."

"Princess Celestia said that even a pony called Starswirl the Bearded couldn't learn many of the Elements. Do you know what century he was alive in?"

"I believe I do. Let's just get back into the TARDIS." Soren agreed, so he followed his brown companion back to the blue box.

Once they arrived at the TARDIS, they walked inside and Soren couldn't help but smile. He was still excited to be inside the legendary machine. He began looking around the massive control room once again. The brown walls were being lit up with light blue lights that were positioned at certain spots in the room. As the Doctor fiddled with the console, Soren continued to peer at the room. He noticed something grey out of the corner of his eye and turned towards it. Upon getting a closer look, Soren saw that it was a statue, a statue of a pegasus that is covering its eyes with its hooves.

"Hey, Doctor?" Soren asked while stepping closer to the statue.

"What?" The Doctor was still working the console and didn't turn to look at Soren.

"I never noticed this statue here before. Where did you get it?"

"Statue?" Then the Doctor's eyes widened. He turned to face Soren and his face paled upon seeing the statue Soren was referring to. "What ever you do, keep looking at it!" Soren jumped at the Doctor's change of volume.

"Why?" Soren asked. "It's just a statue."

"I'll explain everything when we get this creature out of here, but first we need a plan." The Doctor thought for a few moments as the two of them continued to stare at the seemingly harmless statue. Soren eyes were starting to water but he held his glare.

"Doctor, I can't keep staring for much longer."

"Ok, this is what we will do. We are going to have to take turns staring at it. I'll go first; rest your eyes."

"If you're sure you can stare for a long time. But we still need to get rid of this thing. What is it anyway?"

"This is called a weeping angel, or weeping pegasus in this world. The second we stop looking at it, it'll snap our necks or send us somewhere in time to spend the rest of our lives in while it feeds on the days we could have had."

"How did it get in here, and couldn't it just have killed us earlier before I noticed it?"

"It must have came in when we weren't looking. As for why it didn't kill us earlier, I have no clue, and that's bad news. That means it has some sort of plan; it needs us for something. Switch!" It was now Soren's turn to stare at the weeping pegasus.

"Well I'd rather not give it a chance to complete that plan. What can destroy it? Can't I just use magic to throw it out of the TARDIS?"

"It can't be destroyed by anything, so I highly doubt it could be moved by magic."

"I read that black holes are impossible to escape from. Why not throw into one of those?" The Doctor stared at Soren.

"That could work, but how are we going to get it to the door?"

"You're going to have to trust me. Move over to the console. I know a certain Light Element spell that should help." The Doctor nodded, and the two of them began walking backwards to the TARDIS controls. When they were next to it, Soren's horn began to glow. He pulled the Doctor and hid both of them behind the controls.

"What are you doing?!!" The Doctor yelled, only to be silenced by Soren pointing to the weeping pegasus. The Doctor peeked over the controls to see himself walking towards the TARDIS doors. "Oh, an illusion. Genius." When he blinked, Soren shuddered as he saw the pegasus make a horrifying face when it moved closer to the illusion of the Doctor.

Every time the ponies blinked, the statue moved closer and closer to the illusion until it was right in front of the doors. Seizing the opportunity, the Doctor began handling to the controls and the TARDIS began moving. It only took a few seconds for the Doctor to transport him and Soren into space. The Doctor clapped his hooves together twice and the front doors opened to reveal the darkness of space and the massive black hole devouring stars and planets.

"Wow" was all Soren could whisper as he looked upon the beautiful sight of outer space for the first time. The Doctor edged the TARDIS closer to the black hole and smiled when he saw the statue begin to shake.

"Soren, keep your eyes on the weeping angel! We don't want it getting back in here." Soren nodded and kept staring at the statue. The weeping angel was slowly lifting off the ground now, and pretty soon it was sucked into the vacuum of space towards the black hole. The two of them continued to watch the statue until it flew into the black hole and was completely devoured by the emptiness of it. Once it was gone, the Doctor closed the doors and went to the console to transport them once again.

Soren sat down and started rubbing his eyes.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, I'm just...shaken by that whole thing. I can't imagine you fighting those things so much."

"What makes you think I've dealt with them before? Maybe I just knew about them." Soren gave the Doctor a doubtful look. The Doctor began to chuckle. "Alright, maybe I have dealt with them on more than one occasion. They are a nasty lot." The TARDIS landed, so the Doctor walked over to Soren.

"Here we are," the Doctor said. "Canterlot, 300 years in the past. Shall we?" Soren nodded, so the two ponies walked out of the TARDIS to explore the older version of the capital of Equestria.

Canterlot didn't look that different in the past. It may be missing a few glamorous buildings here and there, but it was essentially the same city. Even the royal castle maintained its beauty and grace. Whereas present day Canterlot had only fancy buildings and clean streets, the Canterlot in the past had a mixture of homes that resembled the ones from Ponyville and it had fewer fancy buildings. Soren was awing at the older Canterlot as he followed behind the Doctor, who was leading them to the public library.

"So why 300 years in the past?" Soren asked the Doctor.

"Have you ever been to the Royal Archives?" he asked. Soren answered yes. "Well did you know that the Royal Archives are a replacement for the old Archives?"

"Shouldn't that be a normal thing? Upgrading books and scrolls as the decades go by?"

"Let me rephrase: The old Archives were abandoned. Those books and scrolls held knowledge beyond belief. Only the royal family was ever allowed in. One day, the Archives were closed off. Royalty would enter the room and never come out. The city was forced to close it off. Some say that ghosts haunt those Archives. Whenever a pony was brave enough to investigate, they never came out and were never heard of again. I have wanted to investigate this for some time now. Since you wanted to go to this particular library, I figured now would be a good time to check it out."

"What could some measly ghosts do compared to what that statue could've done?" Soren replied. "I'm pretty sure we can handle this." The Doctor only nodded in response.

The Doctor and Soren finally arrived at the Canterlot Library. The Doctor said that the plan was to go straight to the Archives without anypony knowing and to use his sonic screwdriver to get inside. When they walked inside, Soren saw that the library was still the same, even in the past. It was still a massive circular room with the librarian's desk in the center. The Doctor noticed that the librarian wasn't at his or her desk, so he began looking around for the pony. Looking at Soren, the Doctor motioned over to the Archives entrance with his head. The two of them casually walked past bookshelves so no one would think twice about them. They were almost to the entrance but were stopped by the librarian. She was a grey-coated unicorn, with a green mane and tail. She also wore half-frame reading glasses and an outfit that covered her cutie mark.

"Sirs, the Royal Archives are off limits," she said.

"Terribly sorry, but why is that?" the Doctor replied, playing along. "We just moved here from Manehatten and this is our first visit to this library."

"Ponies disappear in there," she answered seriously. "They decided to go inside, only to never return."

"Does anyone know why?" Soren asked.

"Some say ghosts, others say spell mishaps when they practice in there. I choose to believe the ghost tale myself, for every now and again, I can hear moans and crying coming from down there."

"Well I'm sorry to persist, ma'am, but we will need to see these Archives for ourselves." The Doctor reached into his mane and pulled out a black wallet. He opened it so the librarian could see. "Manehatten Undercover Police. I'm the Doctor and this is my colleague Soren. Would it be too much of a hassle to allow us inside these supposedly haunted Archives?"

"I'm afraid I cannot stop you two, but be warned: No pony has ever returned from going in there to investigate."

"Thank you. We will be careful." The librarian nodded and walked away. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Soren began walking down the hallway that lead to the Archives.

"You keep your psychic paper in your mane?" Soren asked randomly.

"You never know when it will come in handy. Here's the plan: while I investigate the area, you need to find all the books you can about the Elements, understood?"

"Got it." Soren and the Doctor stepped up to the door; the door had the faded golden words of 'Royal Archives' written on it. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began unlocking the door. "And she thought not giving us a key would stop us," Soren laughed. The door unlocked and the two colts stepped inside.

Although there was barely any light in the room, these Archives were not that different from the present day version, except for one thing. Instead of a wood circle in the center of the room, Soren noticed that there was a gap in the center that had railings going around it. Soren trotted up to it and looked down. He saw a whole second floor underneath them. It was the same size as the floor they were standing on, and it had the same exact layout.

"I have a bad feeling about this Doctor," Soren said. "This area is blocked off in the future. They did that for a good reason."

"Just be on the lookout for anything wrong." The two ponies walked downstairs and began searching the floor.

After many minutes passed, neither of them saw or heard a single ghost. Soren managed to find books on the fire and earth elements, so he brought them to the center of floor to begin reading them. The center had a circular wooden desk, which had the only light in the entire room via a candle. Soren was just about to start reading one of the books when he began to hear voices. He couldn't understand them since they were whispering, but it sent chills down his spine nonetheless.

"Doctor, do you hear that?" Soren asked. "Doctor?" He looked around for the Doctor and saw him standing still, looking down an aisle.

"Don't blink," said the Doctor. Soren became instantly scared. After grabbing the books he found and putting them in his saddlebag, Soren trotted over to the Doctor and looked down the aisle. It was there that Soren saw the unmistakable silhouette of a weeping pegasus. Soren continued to stand there, shocked that they ran into another weeping pegasus already.

"Sometimes the weeping pegasi steal the voices of their victims so they can communicate with other beings to lure them in," the Doctor explained. "This isn't the only statue in this room, Soren."

"How many do you think there are?"

"Based on the amount of voices, at least six could be lurking around in here. We have to leave right now. Slowly walk to the stairs." The Doctor continued to watch his statue as Soren scanned the room for more. "Soren, we need to be side to side so I can watch behind us and you can look in front of us." Soren nodded and stood next to the Doctor.

Carefully making their way up the stairs, the Doctor and Soren continued to move forward, all while looking at any pegasi that came into view. They made it up the stairs, but Soren froze from what he saw.

"Soren, why did you stop?" the Doctor asked urgently. "There are two more weeping pegasi coming our way." Two more statues appeared from around a nearby corner.

"It doesn't matter because there are three more guarding the exit! We're trapped! Any ideas?" The Doctor was silent. "Doctor, a plan would be great right about now."

"I-I don't have one!" They were both on the top floor. Soren was staring at the three statues guarding the door and the Doctor noticed that his three pegasi were all at the foot of the stairs. After a few seconds, Soren managed to think of a plan, even if it was a crazy one.

"You're going to have to trust me again, Doctor," Soren said. "Follow me towards the railing in the middle of room." They got to the railing but the statues were closing in on them. "Keep looking at your three statues," Soren instructed as his horn began to glow. After he concentrated enough, Soren grabbed the Doctor and threw both of them over the railing. On the way down, the Doctor looked up at the railing so the pegasi couldn't follow them. Right before the two colts slammed onto the desk below, a flash of light illuminated them and the room.

Soren opened his eyes and found himself in the TARDIS. He called out for the Doctor and the brown stallion immediately responded.

"Finally you woke up!" he exclaimed. "You've been sleeping for a few hours."

"I didn't expect to be unconscious, especially not for that long. I only used a teleportation and an anti-gravity spell to get us here. What were you doing while I was out?"

"I went back to see the librarian and to tell her to never allow another pony in there ever again, for they will die. She asked how we escaped, so I told her about the teleportation spell you used. I then came back and began working on the TARDIS. Are you ready for our next destination?"

"I guess, but Doctor, you seem a lot happier now."

"Something that thrilling hasn't happened to me in quite some time. I even experienced what my past companions have experienced now and again: uselessness. In the Archives, I didn't have a plan, and I felt like it was the end for both of us. But then you came up with something, something that I could never have thought of. This allowed me to understand how my past companions have felt before. Thank you, Soren. I'm glad I decided to go on this little adventure."

"I'm sure Twilight will be even more pleased than you when she learns that you're becoming your old self again." The Doctor agreed and began pulling levers on the TARDIS console to once again take them to another location in Equestria's past.

Late Arrival

Dear Princess Celestia,

It's been two weeks since Soren and the Doctor left Ponyville. Everypony is starting to worry, especially Luna and I. This isn't like the Doctor to be gone for this long (granted, the Doctor can usually be late, but never like this).

Luna and I had an interesting conversation today. For the past few days, your sister has been thinking about what Soren told us about Night Wing, who, as you already know, is technically called Nyra. Luna explained to me that maybe we're wrong about her, that maybe she can actually change. I am not yet ready to believe this, but eventually we came to an agreement.

According to the battle plan you gave us, Soren is supposed to fight Nyra alone, and then we will catch up to him when the Shadow Horses' forces (who as you know are predicted to attack Canterlot) die down. Luna and I have agreed that if both Soren and Night Wing are not fighting when we catch up to Soren, then I'll give her a chance for redemption. But at this point, we are all still hoping for the safe return of Soren and the Doctor. The eclipse is in a few more weeks, and we just got word from our spy yesterday where the Shadow Horses may be hiding.

See you soon,
Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Inside The Time Vortex

"So do we have everything?" the Doctor asked Soren. Soren looked at and counted all of the books about elemental spells that he and the Doctor have collected over their visits to many different libraries. The Doctor suggested to Soren that he should simply collect the books he needs and then study them when they return to Ponyville. Soren greatly missed that little town, and he especially missed his friends.

"Yes, I have everything I need," Soren answered after counting that he had six books. The Doctor nodded and began to pilot the TARDIS back to the present.

The Doctor smiled as he realized that this seemingly little adventure has changed him for the better. He was becoming his normal self after he had been strictly solitary for Celestia knows how long. And it was all because of that incident with the Weeping Pegasi in the abandoned Royal Archives three hundred years in the past. Soren was the one who got them out of that mess, and as a result, the Doctor was put in the position that some of his past companions were in. The Doctor's smile grew bigger as he thought about what Twilight's reaction will be. She'll be so excited when she sees him.

'And I her. I can't wait to go back to Twilight,' the Doctor thought to himself as he aimed the TARDIS for Ponyville.

The Ponyville library was dead silent as a purple unicorn was sitting in the lobby, studying a geography book about Canterlot and the surrounding area. She was trying to figure out where exactly in this area the Shadow Horses were hiding, but she was interrupted by a whirring sound that seemingly came from everywhere. Twilight Sparkle looked behind herself to see the wonderful sight of the TARDIS landing near the bookshelves. She began trotting towards the machine once its doors opened but found herself stopping when she heard an interesting conversation taking place.

"How could you get the year wrong?" Soren asked the Doctor. "You're a time traveler, you should know these things."

"Well excuuuse me, Mr. Alicorn, but I didn't see you correcting me when I got it wrong the first time," the Doctor childishly responded.

"And two times after that," Soren muttered. A split second later, he noticed Twilight standing in front of them.

"What are you two arguing about?" Twilight Sparkle asked the two stallions.

"As we were returning, the Doctor forgot what year we were suppose to return to. Unfortunately, so did I." Twilight was now standing next to Soren as they faced the Doctor and the TARDIS.

"Well I can slightly understand that happening to you. You had amnesia after all, and you never asked the year. But Doctor, I'm surprised at you. You're never this...this..."

"Foalish?" the Doctor suggested, while suppressing a laugh. Twilight tilted her head at the Doctor's different behavior. She leaned over to whisper something to Soren.

"Is this the same Doctor you left with?" she asked. Soren laughed.

"Yes it is, and I believe he's back to normal," Soren replied with normal volume. "Don't you think so, Doctor?" The brown stallion walked up to Twilight as Soren took two steps back.

"Hello again, Ms. Sparkle. It's been too long since we've been together like this." Twilight gasped, smiled, and quickly (and tightly) hugged the Doctor. Soren couldn't help but smile at the tender moment.

"What happened during your travels?" Twilight asked. "How did you change back?" The Doctor chuckled.

"Still as studious as ever, I see," he said. "Why don't I let Soren answer that one. I need to make sure the TARDIS is working properly, but don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. We just had a little bit of a mishap inside the TARDIS is all." Their hug broke and they just looked at each other for a few seconds. Twilight decided to make the first move, so she gave the Doctor a quick kiss. The Doctor blushed. "Umm, right, uhh, TARDIS...fix...now." Twilight giggled as he walked inside the machine.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this happy before," Soren commented. "Anyway, let me tell you the glorious tale of how the Doctor returned to being the Doctor." Soren spent the next five minutes explaining the adventure to Twilight. He told her how a Weeping Pegasus snuck its way in and how they ran into more of them at the Canterlot Archives. Soren even went into detail on how the Doctor felt during their escape. After the story was completed, Soren pulled out the six books he collected and explained to Twilight where they went to find them. She was very happy about this, yet she still showed signs of sadness after hearing how many places they went to.

"What's wrong?" Soren asked.

"How long do you think you two were gone?"

"I can gather that we came back later than planned. How long has it been?"

"...fifteen days..." Soren's eyes widened.

"What?! Half a month? We've been gone for half a month? Even though it's been a few days for me and the Doctor, I figured he would take us back to day after we left. How did this happen?"

"Sometimes the TARDIS does what it wants. I've explained this to everypony. They understood...for the first few days anyway."

"Oh no, everyony must be so worried. How's Luna?"

"It'll be better if you're the one to go check on her. Come on." Twilight Sparkle led Soren back into the TARDIS. "Doctor?"

"Yes?" he answered from the other side of the console.

"Soren is leaving to go check on his friends. I can't wait to tell you how long you two have been gone."

"I didn't take months again did I?" Twilight laughed.

"No." She looked at Soren. "Go on, Luna should be at her home. I'll stay here with the Doctor." Soren hugged Twilight and then ran out of the TARDIS. He then ran out of the library and headed straight for his marefriend's house.

The day was nice, warm, and quiet as Soren ran through Ponyville. He had a steady pace going...that is until Pinkie Pie tackled him. No pony could ever seem more happy to see Soren than her. Pinkie Pie was literally bouncing with excitement, but since Soren was under her, his body became a trampoline.

"Ow, Pinkie, get off!" Soren levitated Pinkie Pie off of him. "Remind me never to be gone so long next time."

"Oh my gosh, Soren, you're back!" Pinkie exclaimed. "You have to go say hi to everyone. They really missed you, I really missed you, so did the princess. She's really patient but I can tell she missed you. Wanna know how-"

"As much as I would love to know how you know, I'm going to see Luna right now. Why don't you go say hi to the Doctor? He's back to normal and is at the library with Twilight right now." Pinkie's eyes and smile both widened considerably.

"Perfect!" Pinkie ran off, leaving a puff of smoke where she once was. Soren rubbed his head and continued on his way.

Within the minute, Soren finally made it to Luna's house and knocked on the door. At first there was no answer. 'Twilight said she would be home. Or maybe she doesn't want to answer because she's mad at me.' Eventually, the door opened and out walked Princess Luna. Before Soren could even get a word in, Luna used the Royal Canterlot Voice on him.

"COME INSIDE RIGHT NOW!" she yelled. Soren, wide-eyed, saluted and hurried inside.

While inside, Luna and Soren sat down and faced each other. Soren was about to speak but Luna stopped him.

"We will do the talking, thank thee very much," she said. Soren was already feeling bad about how long he and the Doctor were gone. "You and the Doctor were gone for two weeks. By Twilight Sparkle's explanation, that is about ten days too long. After a few days, all of us assumed the worst. Lucky for you two, Twilight Sparkle was able to calm everyone. As a good faith to your return, I began contemplating about what thou said about the Nightmare Guardian. Thou will be glad to know that we are on thy side for allowing a chance for redemption, but be warned, Twilight Sparkle is not.

"Since your absence, a spy managed to infiltrate the Shadow Horses. We now know when and where they will strike. They will attack Canterlot during the day of the nearest eclipse. On this day, you and you alone will traverse the forgotten Canterlot Caves in search for Night Wing. Once the Shadows are dealt with in the city, Twilight Sparkle and her friends will accompany you in the cave. I have also made a deal with her. We agreed that if you and Night Wing are not fighting when they catch up to you, she will be willing to give the Nightmare Guardian a chance to prove herself worthy of forgiveness. We cannot say the same for the rest of our friends, but back to business. What is your progress on studying the Elements?"

"I have a decent amount of Air and Earth magic learned," Soren answered hesitantly. "I'm beginning to learn Water and its variant of Ice. But Luna..." Soren walked over to his marefriend and hugged her. Luna returned the gesture. "I'm sorry for how you felt when I was gone. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Of course, my stallion. 'Twas not your fault a crazy machine decided to not arrive on the correct day."

"Thank you. Do you want to go meet our friends at the library?" Luna nodded.

Author's Note

I'm glad I finally have a way to count how many words are in each chapter now. I type on my phone and have no way to check, until now that is.

To Change A Mind

Soren and Luna arrived at the library a few minutes later. With Luna leading the way, the couple walked inside. Soren called for Twilight, and instead of her answering, Soren received a bouncy Pinkie Pie on top of him yet again. Once again, Soren had to use his magic to get Pinkie Pie off of him. He looked around to see that all of his friends were there.

"That took you longer than expected, Soren," Twilight commented.

"Luna had to scold me and explain some things first," Soren said. "Since the Doctor and I were gone far longer than planned, I think we need to get down to business. I hear we managed to plant a spy in the Shadow Horses."

"It's true," Rainbow Dash said. "Luckily Princess Celestia managed to find a colt brave enough to try, and it was so worth it."

"We even know exactly when they plan to attack," Twilight added. "Since they plan to attack on the next eclipse, we still have two weeks until then.

"Two weeks?!" Soren exclaimed. "First we come back late and now this?"

"Simmer down, Soren," Applejack said. "I'm sure you're all caught up with that studying you had to do."

"Actually, I mostly know Air and Earth spells. At the locations we went to, we grabbed the books without reading them. We figured I would have enough time to study before the battle."

"That should be good enough to fight Night Wing," Luna assured.

"I don't want to take a chance. I should keep studying just in case."

The clock in the library struck 5 o'clock. Everypony decided to go have dinner together as they talked about what's been happening in Ponyville since Soren and the Doctor left. After their dinner and conversations, the group of friends parted from one another to head to their respective homes. Soren found it strange that the Doctor didn't want to come to dinner or to talk to anyone; that stallion remained in his TARDIS even when he and Luna came to the library. Soren decided to ignore it for now, for he was tired from his adventure with the time-traveling stallion.

The Ponyville library was dark and silent as the moon reached its apex in the sky. The only noise that could be heard inside the building was the soft humming of the TARDIS. Inside said TARDIS, the Doctor continued to check to make sure everything was working properly. He was just about to be done but he heard a knocking at the door. The Doctor opened them and saw that it was Twilight Sparkle. She walked inside and stood next to him as he finished his inspection.

"It's been too long since I've been in here," Twilight said.

"Yes it has," the Doctor replied distantly.

"Doctor, I know that tone. What's on your mind?"

"Do you remember what happens to unicorns who learn too many offensive spells?"

"They usually become so in tune with their power that they can't even perform normal spells."

"That is what will happen to Soren by the end of his battle with Nyra."

"Can you do anything about it?"

"Yes, but...I was hoping it wouldn't come to that."

"Come to what?" The Doctor then began explaining to Twilight what has to happen in order for Soren's magic to revert to normal. Twilight gasped at the end of the explanation.

"But no unicorn will be foolish enough to risk that! There has to be some other way."

"I'm afraid there's not. And we both know that there is only one unicorn that is willing to risk anything to make sure Soren stays safe." The tone in the Doctor's voice convinced Twilight that this was indeed the only way to help her friend. "Try to get some rest, my dear. I'll handle everything from here. Just make sure Soren doesn't study more than you usually do, alright?" Twilight smiled, hugged the Doctor, and walked out of the TARDIS.

As soon as she closed the TARDIS doors behind her, the time machine already started to disappear. Twilight watched as the TARDIS vanished from sight. 'No unicorn should ever have to do that to save another. It's absolutely mad.' Twilight turned around and walked upstairs to get some sleep.

The next day, Soren decided to secluded himself in his house to study. It is because of the fact that the eclipse will happen in less than two weeks that Soren wishes to study as many elemental spells as possible. Two days later, Soren is still studying as much as he can. Luna decided to talk to him on this day to hopefully convince him to stop studying for the time being.

Luna flew up to Soren's cloud house and let herself in. It was dead quiet inside, but what did one expect if the resident was studying for three days straight? Luna eventually found the stallion in his room. Soren was lying down on his bed, reading one of the six books he collected from the past. Even though she walked in, Luna wasn't sure if Soren noticed her, for he continue to focus on his studies. Luna smiled at the determination on Soren's face as he read.

"We have never seen thou so focused before," Luna commented. Soren jumped a bit because of the sudden intrusion.

"Oh hi, Luna. What brings you here?" Soren asked, already guessing the answer.

"I have come to ask you to take a break. Three days is long enough for one study session, wouldn't thou agree?"

"I have less than two weeks to study as much as i can in order to prepare myself. There is no room for error during that fight."

"There are multiple reasons why you need to stop studying, Soren. First, everypony needs a break for time to time. Second, the more spells you learn, the more unstable your magic will become. And third, what about your plan to negotiate with Nyra?"

"I'm still planning to try and convince her to stop her evil ways. And if my magic becomes unstable, I'm sure you or Twilight can help me with that. Luna, you of all ponies should understand that I need to prepare myself for anything. Once this is over, I'll have no need to study these Elements anymore."

"Soren, even though I am for convincing Nyra to become good, I still must ask why you feel so strongly about this."

"In those dreams I saw, I witnessed a mare who was unsure of herself. A mare who felt useless, cast out...and scared. She doesn't want to do what she does anymore, but she has nowhere else to go. No pony in their right mind will allow her anywhere near their home. She's an outcast, an evil, scared outcast. If only I could show you that dream..." As he was speaking that sentence, an idea came to Soren's mind.

"Luna, is it possible for you to show my dream to yourself and one more pony?" Soren asked excitedly.

"We are the princess of the night. It is the most basic of our abilities."

"Perfect. Then I have a plan."

It was close to midnight as the Ponyville library began its process of closing until morning. Twilight Sparkle yawned and closed the book she was reading. She locked the front door and the windows then went upstairs to her bed. Once she was in her room, Twilight turned off her bedside lamp, which shrouded the entire library in darkness.

Ten minutes went by before a flash of light illuminated the library lobby for a few seconds. Two ponies had teleported themselves inside. They were on a mission; they looked around the library to check if anyone heard their entrance. Seeing as no one woke up, the two ponies quietly walked up the stairs to the second floor. One of the two opened the door that led to the bedroom of Twilight Sparkle. The second pony turned on the bedside lamp so they could see better. Soren looked at Luna as she stepped closer to Twilight Sparkle's bed. The princess looked back at Soren with questioning eyes.

"Should we be doing this? It's wrong to sneak into somepony's hosue, even if she is a friend," she said.

"I like this about as much you do, but it's the only way to show Twilight what I saw."

"Very well. Give me a moment." As Luna prepared the spell, Soren had flashback to their conversation earlier in the day.

"Perfect," Soren had said. "Then I have a plan."

"And this plan is?" Luna asked.

"To get Twilight on our side about trying to change Nyra to good. I need you to use a spell on me and her so our minds can receive the same dream. Hopefully this will make her understand why I need to at least try to change her."

"Sounds reasonable, but how do we go about doing this?"

"It's not the nicest way, but it needs to be done."

So it was at this moment that Soren's plan was coming into fruition. Luna's horn was lighting up the entire room at this point. The two alicorns exchanged glances and nodded to each other. Soren laid on the ground and closed his eyes. Luna proceeded to use the spell on both Soren and Twilight. She didn't fall asleep like Soren did, but instead she put herself in a stasis of relaxation. Luna knew that she didn't need to be asleep to witness what the two friends were about to see.

During the spell, Luna noticed that Twilight was turning in her sleep and making sounds of annoyance. Unfortunately for Twilight, the princess of the night had to keep the spell going until the dream was over. She didn't like to use magic on ponies like this, but she felt it had to be done. It wouldn't have any negative effects on Twilight, but Luna still couldn't shake off the feeling that it was still wrong to do.

Thirty minutes passed before Twilight awoke with a gasp and started breathing heavily. Luna's spell broke, so the princess exited her stasis. Twilight looked around and quickly saw Princess Luna by her bed.

"Princess?" Twilight asked. "What are you doing here? What spell were you just using and who are you...?" Twilight eyes widened. "You used a spell to make me see that dream didn't you?"

"Please do not be cross with us, Twilight Sparkle. It was to help you understand Soren's point of view."

"Is Soren here?"

"Yes I am," Soren replied groggily. He slowly sat up and looked at Twilight, who was still confused.

"That dream..." Twilight started, "was that truly Night Wing?" Soren nodded. "But she was so..."

"Innocent-looking, I know. Do you now see why I was thinking that she could become good?"

"Yes. But first I have to ask: Whose plan was it to sneak into my library?" Luna looked at Soren.

"Umm...me." Soren was slapped one second later. "I deserved that," he said while rubbing his cheek. "We didn't feel good about doing it if that makes it any better." Soren was slapped again. "Ow! What was that for?"

"That was for forcing me to see a dream without my permission. I figured this entire thing was your idea."

"Well if you're done hitting me, I'd like to know if you changed your mind on giving Nyra a second chance."

"I'd have to agree and disagree with trying to change Nyra. I won't argue with you to not attempt to help her, but in the dream, Nyra said that she is only continuing her feeble attempt because some stallion told her to, that way a pony would care about her. It's true that she isn't entirely evil; she is just a mare who is sad, scared, and angry at the world. And I'm starting to think that you'll be the pony who cares about her."

"May luck be on my side," Soren comment. "I still need to study some more in case things take a turn for the worse, but I need to take a day off first."

"That is a wise decision, Soren. Or shall we start calling you Nyroc?" Luna teased with a smile.

"Both names are mine, so either one works. I've grown quite used to Soren though."

"I myself have grown quite used to sleeping in the middle of the night," Twilight said sarcastically. "And I would like to keep that habit, so if you two don't mind, I'm going back to sleep."

"Sorry again, Twilight. Hopefully it won't happen again, but if it does, I'll ask you first. Let's go, Luna." The princess nodded.

"Should have asked me in the first place," Twilight muttered when she pulled her blanket over her so she could fall back asleep. Luna rolled her eyes and smiled at their irritated friend. The two alicorns walked out of the library, said goodnight to each other, and left for their homes. The remaining days before the eclipse would go by quickly for all of Ponyville.

Author's Note

A few things:
As you can tell, negative comments don't effect me...at all. And if you're going to have a negative comment, at least give me some ideas on what to fix. Although this story is planned ahead pretty far, I would be willing to change a few things as long as the storyline doesn't lose its flow.

Battle of the Nyrs Part 1

Three Days Later

The past few days went by too fast in Soren's opinion. After the night when he and Luna changed Twilight's dream, Soren only studied for one more day. Although he wanted to study more, Luna practically forced him to relax until the eclipse. At this point, the eclipse is one week away. Earlier today, Princess Celestia sent letters to every trustworthy city and town. These letters stated that everypony who is going to be fighting for Equestria is to report to the Royal Palace as soon as possible. As of right now, many ponies from anywhere imaginable are being escorted via chariot and train towards Canterlot, including Soren, Luna, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike.

The weather was grim, for it was snowing. Although it was depressing, the weather set the mood perfectly for tonight and tomorrow afternoon. The cold chariot ride to Canterlot gave Soren the necessary amount of time to think and reflect on things. He thought about the eclipse and what it would do to him and Nyra, he thought about how the battle would effect the ponies participating in it, and he hoped that there will be zero major injuries or worse.

The last thing Soren thought about before reaching Canterlot was where the Doctor went. The Doctor could easily help in this conflict, so where was he? Soren pondered on this subject some more to pass the time. Eventually, he had a realization: The Doctor explained to Soren that when Soren was unconscious, he went to see the librarian to explain what happened, and then he came back to work on the TARDIS. Except Soren deducted that either the Doctor didn't only work on the TARDIS, or he went somewhere and then worked on the machine; either way, the Doctor was hiding something. As Soren was sleeping, the Doctor had to have gone through time to tell Nyra to follow through with her plan because he knew that Soren would be the one who would care about her. But something happens in the future, something that caused the Doctor to want to stop him. Soren stopped pondering on the subject as he saw that Canterlot was less than a mile away.

Within the minute, at least six chariots, all carrying about three to four ponies, landed near the train station. As ponies were disembarking from their rides, a train came up to the station. Soren and his friends knew the train had ponies riding on it, so they wanted to see how many. They were not disappointed; compared to the amount of ponies the chariots carried from Ponyville, about three times as many ponies exited the train. Although their numbers were great, the ponies were still nervous. How many did the Shadow Horses have?

The group of nine friends paused at the gates to Canterlot. They looked at each other with grim expressions. None of them wanted this to happen, yet they had no choice at this point; it was fight or...(They refused to think of the alternative). Soren walked in front of his friends and faced them.

"I need to say something," Soren started. "These past few months that I have been in Ponyville have been exciting and fun, yet dangerous and stressful. I'm glad you all stuck with me until today. Without all of you, I don't know what I would be. You have showed me what true friendship is all about. It's all about trust, loyalty, generosity,... basically the Elements of Harmony. I have done nothing but put you all in danger, yet you still stayed by my side. I have put your lives at risk, but I have managed to save you at the same time. Whether it was me being possessed or shadow creatures stealing my voice, all of you stood by my side. I have actually started to feel what the Doctor felt: putting the ones you love in danger. The stress of danger has gotten to all of us, but we will push through it. Now, all I have to say is: Be strong, be brave, and then we will not lose. We will win and we will save Equestria!"

A simultaneous "Yeah!" was yelled by the group of friends. Soren smiled at his loyal friends. 'I have already put them through so much, yet they stay by my side. Hopefully everything will be fine after this week.' All of them began walking towards the castle to go see the princess.

Six Days Later

It was the night before the battle. Everypony that was participating tomorrow had gathered in the theater hall in Canterlot for a speech from Princess Celestia. The building was nowhere near as packed as if a play was occurring, but it still held a good amount of participants, including the Royal Guard. A single spotlight shined on center stage. Her Highness walked onto the stage and stopped when she reached the center. The look on her face told everypony that she wanted to be here as much as anyone else.

"My little ponies, tomorrow will be a grave day for Canterlot, especially since Hearth's Warming Eve is on said day. The Shadow Horses' numbers are unknown, even with the recent spy we planted into their ranks. But do not fret, for we will be successful in defending our shining capital. Now then, I would like to ask my sister and our best chance at defeating the Nightmare Guardian, Soren, to say a few words." The sun princess nodded to the front row, where Princess Luna and Soren were standing with their friends. Soren became nervous; he never had to speak to a crowd of this size.

"Luna, can you start first?" Soren whispered to his marefriend. Luna agreed. The two alicorns joined Princess Celestia onstage. They faced the audience once again, and Luna began.

"Over the course of this month, we have deduced that these Shadow Horses are located within the abandoned Canterlot Caves. The plan is to send Soren here into these caves to confront their leader, while we defend Canterlot from destruction. Some of you may recognize Soren, but for the rest, this is your first glance at the newest Elemental Guardian. One last thing: We have noticed that a certain amount of you believe that the Shadow Horses plans are entirely foolish and pointless. We would like to say...you may be correct, but it does not give any of us excuses to not defend our homes from these traitors. I now wish to pass over the speech to Soren." Luna nodded to Soren, who returned the gesture, still nervous.

Soren took a deep breath and tried to relax as much as possible. "Some of you may be wondering what's so special about me. You may be wondering if I'm from the royal family, and I can easily say that I am not. I don't know where I'm originally from, but my adoptive family is from this very city. I am the Elemental Guardian and what is known as a Nyr." Whispers of surprise and confusion could be heard. "The Nightmare Guardian is also a Nyr. I am one of the few ponies that can ever hope to defeat her. The princesses made it their duty to protect Canterlot, for they couldn't forgive themselves if they failed to protect all of you."

"How can we trust you to beat her?" a random stallion asked. "Some of us haven't even seen what can you do."

"You can trust him because I am trusting him with the lives of Canterlot," Princess Celestia intervened. "For over 150 years, not a single pony died from an unnatural cause. Tomorrow...that streak may end, but hopefully it will not come to that. I know that all of you that have signed up know what you are getting yourselves into, and I am honored by the gesture. Do not fear for your own death but instead fear for the death of your loved ones. Use their love to strengthen your spirits and lift your hearts to the task ahead. The eclipse will happen around noon tomorrow. I will need all of your to wake up early and prepare yourselves for the inevitable. We can win this, we will prevail. Now go...go rest for the day ahead. I believe in all of you." The spotlight faded, the princess sisters walked off stage with Soren in tow. The crowd dissipated and left the hall. Everypony left to get as much rest as possible, for tomorrow was the Battle of the Nyrs.

Soren woke up early in the morning. Him and his friends had received rooms next to each other at one of the higher floors of the castle. Sitting up in his bed, Soren rubbed his eyes and looked towards his room's balcony; he saw that the sun was in the process of rising. Soren walked onto the balcony and looked upon Canterlot. It was a beautiful sight in morning; the snow was brightly lit by the sun's rays, which caused the entire city to shine with unmatched beauty.

"It's beautiful to see in the morning, isn't it?" a meek voice commented. Soren turned around to see Fluttershy walking up to him. He didn't hear her knock. She must have let herself in.

"It is," Soren responded. "Too bad this bright gem had to be found during the darkest day." Fluttershy stood next to Soren as she put her forelegs over the railing. "How are you feeling today?"

"Scared and nervous, but that's only because..." The yellow pegasus stopped her sentence.

"Because?" Fluttershy quickly looked at Soren with a sad face.

"Because I'm scared that this may be the last time we see you." Soren could see that she was fighting back tears. Even Soren felt like he might start crying because of how sad she looked. Instinctively, Soren walked over and hugged her. He shushed her softly so she would relax.

"Fluttershy...no matter what happens, I won't die, nor will I allow any ponies to die, at least if I have the power to prevent it. The Shadow Horses on the other hoof, they chose their path and they have to pay the consequences. I don't know if I could find it in myself to actually kill a pony, but..if it has to be done..."

Fluttershy sniffled before continuing. "How are you feeling today?"

"Nervous. I still don't know if I'm going to make the right decision today." Soren paused. He really didn't want to talk about the battle right now. "Do you miss your home? We have been here for six days." Their hug broke. Soren could still see sadness in Fluttershy eyes, but at least she was smiling at this point.

"Of course. I miss my home and my animal friends, but it's ok because all of my friends are here with me. Do you miss singing? You haven't sung a song in quite some time." Soren was surprised by this question. It's true; Soren hasn't sang a single song in awhile.

"I do. It's surprisingly how I got my cutie mark. When this is all over, I'll sing a song for all of my friends. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great. Everyone should be awake by now. Let's go see them." Soren agreed, so the two friends left Soren's room to meet up with everypony.

Battle of the Nyrs Part 2

The Canterlot Caves...once home to greedy ponies who sought the gems that hid within the massive cave system. Now abandoned, the caves are empty and devoid of life, until recently that is. These caves, albeit a maze, were now the base of operations for the Shadow Horses. In hindsight, it was a smart choice for them to pick this particular location, for it is right underneath the very heart of Equestria. Now was time for their attack, now was the time that Night Wing expected Soren to show up soon, now was the time where everything ends.

Soren nervously walked through the dank, creepy caves, searching for the area where Night Wing was located. As he trekked through the dark place, Soren was remembering what happened before he came here. After he and Fluttershy went to see their friends, they all had to go meet the others outside the castle so they could ready themselves for battle. At the edges of the castle where everypony was standing, Soren stood side by side with Luna and Rainbow Dash. Without looking at the two, he spoke to them.

"I don't want to lose you or any of my friends today," Soren said seriously.

"It will not come to that, dear Soren," Luna replied. "We will make sure no pony is maimed or worse."

"Yeah, I bet these Shadow Horses won't stand a chance," Rainbow Dash added.

"Just be careful, ok?" Soren asked. "I should go. I'll see you all when this is over." As Soren flew off, Rainbow watched him leave. She knew what he planned to do, all of their friends did, but it didn't mean she still agreed with his attempt.

Soren flashed back to the present. The caves seemed never-ending. Lucky for him, he decided to come to the caves a little early so he could get a head start. Within a few more minutes of walking, Soren heard a very loud rumbling coming from the surface, almost like a quick earthquake struck the city. 'Sounds like the battle has begun,' Soren thought as he began sprinting through the Canterlot Caves.

On his way through the caves, Soren realized that there were no guards or anything patrolling the area. Another thing he realized was that he could sense a bit of magic not too far from his current location. Soren continued to walk deeper and deeper into the caves, and the more he walked, the stronger the magic became. 'Is this Nyra's magic? How could I even sense her magic? Or is she...?' Soren's thoughts trailed off when he saw light coming out of a doorway at the end of the pathway. Soren sprinted towards it and soon found himself within a circular room. He quickly realized that this area was all too familiar. Looking around, Soren saw none other than Night Wing, horn aglow, walking towards him while grinning.

Night Wing stopped a fair distance away from Soren, and within seconds, the two started slowly circling each other. Soren saw that she looked exactly like how he saw her in his dream. She had a shortish blue violet mane, a grey coat, and purple and black armor that covered most of her body.

"It doesn't have to be this way, Nyra," Soren said. Nyra laughed.

"Are you growing soft on me, Guardian?" she asked. 'I know you are,' Soren thought. He was the first to attack. Soren ran towards her and strained to create a total of fives copies of himself. The six Soren's all charged at her, but Nyra was very prepared. As Soren and his copies were about to impact her, Nyra created a small yellow orb and drew it near her. When the orb was in front of her, it exploded outward, creating a wall of explosions that blasted all of the Sorens back. The clones disappeared and Soren was lying on the ground. 'This is going to take longer than I thought,' Soren said to himself as he got up.

As Soren looked for Nyra while getting up, he saw that she was about to jump on top of him with what looked like her hooves on fire. Soren quickly rolled out of the way. As Night Wing hit the ground, Soren saw a blast of fire shoot from beneath her. 'Looks like she learned dark fire.'

"Even if you manage to kill me, you would still have to fight both of the princesses," Soren explained.

"It doesn't matter. Somepony told me that everything will work out in the end if I just follow through with the plan."

"Who told you that?"

"A stallion who called himself a doctor." Night Wing could see the surprise on Soren's face. Deep down, Soren already knew the Doctor talked to Night Wing, but when he turned out to be correct, Soren still couldn't stop from feeling surprised. "I take it you know him."

Soren nodded. "He helped me when I needed to study the Elements to fight you." Soren knew they were both thinking the same thing: Why was the Doctor helping both of them? "I don't know what the Doctor told you, but I do know that deep down you're scared and confused about what you want to be in this world." Soren saw her take a step back as she had a surprised expression. He saw her expression rapidly change from shocked to mad.

"You don't know anything!" Night Wing proceeded to shoot a lightning stream at Soren, which in turn covered his entire body in electricity. Lucky for Soren, the lightning impacted his horn. If it hit anywhere else, he would most likely be dead. As Soren was being constantly hurt by this electricity, he began slowly walking towards Nyra while trying to talk to her again.

"I know you have had second thoughts about this plan," Soren shouted over the pain. "And I know how you truly feel."

"How could you possibly know how I feel? You don't know me! This is only our third encounter." Soren ignored her question and continued to talk to her.

"I know you feel scared and worried. You're unsure what to do, but most importantly, you feel lonely." Nyra stood there and stared at the alicorn who was still being slowly brought to the ground by her magic. 'I know he could easily break out of this spell,' Nyra thought. 'So why is he just taking it?'

"Fine. If you're so sure of yourself..." Nyra stopped the lightning spell, and Soren fell to the ground. She walked over to the unmoving Soren, and when she reached him, she used a dangerous spell on the two of them. The spell created a purple mist that connected their two horns. Soren recognized the spell almost immediately.

"A...Trust Spell?" Soren asked between gasps as he continued to lay there. "You do know...what happens...if you...betray me?" Nyra nodded. The Trust Spell is more dangerous than one first realizes. It connects two ponies together for as long as the caster wants. If one pony were to harm or lie to the other, then the betrayer will go through pain based on what they did. Nyra used the spell on Soren to make sure he wouldn't lie to her.

"I do," she said. "Not only do I not want you to lie to me, but I also don't want you to think I'm trying to trick you. You know things you aren't supposed to, and I want to know how." The two Nyrs stared at each other for a minute before before Soren spoke first.

"What did the Doctor tell you?"

Meanwhile on the surface, Canterlot was in the midst of battle. Ponies were tackling each other, pegasi were participating in massive dog fights, and unicorns were casting spells left and right. From the sky, Princess Luna was sending spell after spell at any and all Shadow Horses she came across that were not fighting anypony. She refused to risk hitting a pony on their side just to down one opponent. As Luna flew around the great city, a friendly pegasus flew up to her with what looked like a scroll in his mouth.

"Have you news, pegasus?" the princess asked. The pony took the scroll from his mouth and handed it to her.

"Yes, Your Highness. It is from Princess Celestia." Luna immediately opened the scroll and began reading to herself.

Dearest Sister,

I do not know where in Canterlot you are right now but I hope this reaches you quickly. A few guards and regular ponies are injured, but there are no casualties so far. I also have seen no major damages to the city. We have managed to fight this battle with all our might and magic, and now a small portion of their forces are beginning to retreat. I have already sent Twilight and her friends to seek out Soren and to help him in his battle with the Nightmare Guardian. When this is over, hopefully nothing like this will ever happen again.

Your Dearest Sister,
Celestia

"Thank you, messenger. Fly back and help your brothers and sisters in combat." The pegasus nodded and flew back towards the ground to fight any enemies. Luna looked towards the mountain that Canterlot was built upon. The entrance to the Canterlot Caves was on the side of the mountain. 'I hope you are safe, Soren. Please be victorious.'

Canterlot Caves

'This conversation with Nyra is going nowhere!' Soren thought. 'She is still too stubborn to listen to reason.' After she cast the Trust Spell on them and told him what the Doctor said to her, Soren tried to convince her that there was good in her. Apparently the Doctor visited her and persuaded Nyra to continue with this battle plan. He said that if she does this then she will find somepony who will care about her. Nyra had asked Soren how she could possibly be good, especially after nearly killing me and capturing the princess. Soren explained to her that in time she will be forgiven by enough ponies. Obviously she didn't believe him and then started to get angry again.

As of now, Nyra stopped the Trust Spell then shot a lightning bolt at Soren. The impact was so strong that it sent him flying across the room, causing him to slam against the cave wall. Soren just stayed there on the ground, never looking up.

"Are you already finished?" Nyra asked from halfway across the room. She swore she could hear something after asking that. She took a few steps closer and realized that she could hear laughing and that it was coming from Soren. The white alicorn slowly got up, and the laughing was more audible. This laughing wouldn't be heard if somepony told a joke, this was something different.

"Well, Nyra, I tried to be nice," Soren said in a disturbingly calm tone. Nyra readied herself, but what came next surprised her, for she would never expect an opponent to do this in the middle of a fight. Nyra found herself stunned as she witnessed this event.

"This appeared as a moral dilemma ‘cause at first
It was weird though I swore to eliminate the worst
Of the plague that devoured everypony it’s true
I was vague on the “how” - so how can it be that you
Have shown me the light

It's a brand new day
And the sun is high
All the birds are singing
That you're gonna die
How I hesitated
Now I wonder why
It’s a brand new day

All the time that you beat me unconscious I forgive
All your crimes incomplete - listen, honestly I'll live
Mr. Cool, Mr. Right, Mr. Know-It-All is through
Now the future's so bright and I owe it all to you
Who showed me the light

It's a brand new me
I got no remorse
Now the water's rising
But I know the course
I'm gonna shock the world
Gonna show this horse
It's a brand new day

And Luna will see the evil me
Not a joke, not a dork, not a failure
And she may cry but her tears will dry
When I hand her the keys to a shiny new Equestria

It's a brand new day
Yeah the sun is high
All the angels sing
Because you're gonna die
Go ahead and laugh
Yeah I'm a funny guy
Tell everyone goodbye…
It’s a brand new day"

Author's Note

"Brand New Day" is sung by Neil Patrick Harris.

Battle of the Nyrs Part 3

Immediately after he finished singing, Soren quickly advanced on Nyra, sending all kinds of spells at her. Grinning, Nyra blocked some of the spells, but was also hit by a good amount. As a retaliation, she began using dark magic. Her horn began to glow purple, and the cave started rumbling. Soren looked up to see at least twenty stalactites falling down on both of them. Both alicorns teleported out of the way of the spikes. Although that was intentional, Nyra knew it wasn't a very smart plan.

The two Nyrs looked at each other from across the cave room. Nyra was still grinning while focused, and Soren was serious but was smiling. Nyra admitted to herself that his expression unnerved her. Before the two alicorns could send another barrage of spells at each other, voices broke the silence that the pause in conflict caused.

"Sweet Celestia. Brother, do you see her?" said a familiar voice.

"She's so hot, she's so flippin' hot," replied a deeper but still familiar voice. Both Soren and Nyra turned towards the entrance, which was equal distance from them, and saw two pegasi standing there. Nyra didn't recognize them but Soren knew immediately that they were the Pega-Singers.

"What are you two doing here?!" Soren exclaimed.

"We expected you to be more grateful for some backup," said the shorter twin.

"Hey, lady, do you like music?" the other twin asked Nyra. She didn't answer, instead she sent an explosive bolt at them. The twins simultaneously flew up into the air and landed across from each other on either side of Nyra. "Well let's change your attitude then."

Soren watched at the Pega-Singers began to sing and dance around Nyra. She constantly tried to blast them with magic and even tried to levitate them off the ground. Since she could only see one at a time during levitation, whenever she tried to levitate one, the other would bump into her to disrupt the spell, thus releasing the twin. Soren took this opportunity to set up a certain spell that would end this.

At the end of their song, the twins managed to position Nyra to where her back was turned towards Soren. Quickly realizing her position, Nyra turned to face Soren, but it was too late because the next thing she knew, she was pinned down to the ground by Soren. She struggled but Soren had enough time to cast his next advanced spell: The Horn-Lock Spell. This was the same spell that Nyra used when she captured the princess. Once the spell was cast and he was sure Nyra couldn't use magic, Soren got off of her and stepped away.

The twins were now standing side by side with Soren as they looked upon Nyra, who was slowly sat up. But Soren wasn't looking at Nyra, he was looking at the device that the taller twin had on his back.

"What's that on your back?" Soren asked.

"Your pal Vinyl Scratch gave it to us. She said to bring it to you in Canterlot. She says it's called a soundboard."

"So it can play music and stuff? That's pretty cool. How did you guys know to come here anyway?"

"Well that's an interesting story. You see..."

Hey Luna,

Rainbow Dash here. The Shadow Horses are gone, and me and my friends should be running through the Canterlot Caves by the time you get this. I just wanted to tell you that...and I also have a question. After Soren left, you and I had a little chat. Right before you had to leave, you told me to "cherish my time with him." What the hay is that supposed to mean? I guess you can tell me later.

See you then,
Rainbow Dash

Canterlot Caves

"Why are you trying so hard to help me?" Soren and Nyra were sitting in front of one another. The twins were off to side, sitting down as well, watching the conversation take place. After the Singers finished explained to Soren that Princess Luna told them where he would be, the four of them decided to sit down and talk things out, since Nyra had clearly been defeated.

"I know there is good in you, and I know you're lonely," Soren answered. "I can help you, we can help you."

"There is nopony who could possibly help me!" She paused. There was sadness as she spoke the next sentence. "Not after the things I've done."

"Allow me to at least try to help you have a normal life. A life where you can experience friendship, fun, and love."

"How could you, of all ponies, show me how to find love and friendship? I'm nothing but an evil mare created by Nightmare Moon." The Pega-Singers decided to answer this one.

"This lucky stallion right here is actually dating one of the princesses," the taller twin explained. Soren almost blushed.

"It shan't be a good day for her," she muttered to herself, but no one heard her.

"Do you want to know what love feels like?" Soren asked.

"Might as well since I already lost. But no funny business, lover colt." Soren facehoofed and finally blushed.

"Not like that! I'm going to sing a song." Soren looked at the twins. "Can you give me the soundboard, please?"

"These caves go on forever!" Rainbow Dash complained. "How are we supposed to find Soren in here?" Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were flying above Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack as the group of friends were quickly moving through the Canterlot Caves to catch up to Soren.

"I don't know, Rainbow, but we have to keep moving forward," Twilight Sparkle replied. 'Why can't I track him with my magic? One would think two alicorns would be using magic left and right. Unless...' Twilight picked up the pace after she expected the worst case scenario.

As the girls ran (and flew) through the cave system, they began to hear tranquil sounds echoing through the area. The sounds calmed them and made them less nervous, but it didn't lessen their focus.

"Why it's like nature is singing a song to us," Rarity commented.

"It sounds like an actual song, don't it?" Applejack added. As the girls gained more ground, Twilight's eyes widened.

"That's because it is an actual song! Somepony is singing. Come on, we need to follow it." With newfound determination, the six mares continued their journey through the maze of caves.

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognise your beauty's not just a mask
I want to exorcise the demons from your past
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart

Soren had just finished singing "Undisclosed Desires" for Nyra. As Soren sang, Nyra was entirely focused on him and his voice. The lyrics to the song had captivated her. When the song was over, Soren looked at Nyra, who looked as though she was just coming out of a trance.

"It would be nice for somepony to sing a song like that to me," she finally said. "I never knew how powerful songs could be."

"If you have a normal life, eventually you will find somepony to love, and they will love you in return. Did I mention that you won't be starting alone? You'll have at least one friend." The Pega-Singers came forward and simultaneously said "Make that three." Nyra smiled. She actually smiled!

She sighed. "I will give living normally a try."

"Yes!" Soren exclaimed. "This is a new start for you, Nyra. You won't regret it. Let me remove that spell from your horn now." Soren walked over to Nyra and removed the Horn-Lock Spell. In return, Nyra's horn began to glow. Soren's eyes widened.

"Don't be scared, it's just the Trust Spell. I just want to make sure I can fully trust you." Fortunately and unfortunately for them, the spell wouldn't reach its destination in time.

As the spell was about to reach his horn, Soren saw the most horrible sight in his life. A sickening piercing sound echoed throughout the room. Soren managed to see what had just happened: a stalactite flew straight into Nyra's side, going through most of her body. She didn't scream in agony but simply fell over, shocked.

"NO!" Soren screamed. He quickly used his magic to teleport the spike out of her. He also began trying to use magic to heal her, but he quickly realized the wound was far to great to heal. Knowing the inevitable, Soren sat beside Nyra and held her in his legs. The twins, wide-eyed, were struck silent at the sight.

"Who would do this?" Soren whispered. Then the three of them heard hoofsteps. Tears in his eyes, Soren turned towards the noise. He saw Twilight and her friends walking up to them with expressions of sadness and guilt. Soren turned towards Nyra and began stroking her mane to calm her. He knew she was dying, everyone knew, including her.

In return to having her mane stroked, Nyra spoke to Soren. Her voice was so weak that everypony had to be completely silent to hear her. "Don't cry, Soren. I am at peace, I assure you. It is because of you that I feel this way. You three were willing to give me a second chance. That alone brought be happiness." Nyra coughed violently. Soren was trying his hardest to stay strong, but he was barely able to. Before he could break down, he took a few deep breaths and gave one last symbol of friendship to Nyra.

Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you.
By now you should've, somehow, realized what you gotta do.
I don't believe that anypony feels the way I do about you now

Back beat, the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure you've heard it all before but you never really had a doubt.
I don't believe that anypony feels the way I do about you now

And all the roads we have to walk are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
But I don't know how

Because maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall

Today was gonna be the day but they'll never throw it back to you.
By now you shoulda, somehow, realized what you're not to do.
I don't believe that anypony feels the way I do about you now

And all the roads that lead you there were winding
And all the lights that light the way are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
But I don't know how

I said maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall

Nyra died towards the end of the song. The cave was completely silent, except for the sounds of a few ponies crying. Soren wiped his eyes with parts of his leg that wasnt covered in blood and began thinking. 'Nyra was maimed by a spike and then my friends walked in. One of them had to have thrown it.' Soren slowly stood up and turned towards his friends.

"Soren, are you-" Twilight began, only to be silenced by Soren's voice.

"Quiet!" Furious, Soren walked up to the six mares. "Which one of you threw it?!" The mares flinched away but were silent. "Well?" When not a single one of them answered, Soren already lost his patience.

Soren's horn started glowing, his eyes turned pure white, and he began floating off the ground above everypony. When he stopped floating, Soren spread out his wings and they were soon covered with fire. All eight ponies backed away from Soren.

"WHO THREW THE ROCK?" Soren asked in a voice that rocked the room. With his flaming wings, glowing eyes, and slightly bloody forelegs, Soren was indeed a terrifying sight.

"I threw it!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she flew up to get in Soren's face. Without calming down, Soren's eyes turned normal, and they both floated back down at the same time. Soren still held the same, mad expression as he landed.

"Why?" Soren asked angrily. Rainbow Dash proceeded to explain to Soren how they were traveling through the Canterlot Caves to find me. Eventually they heard singing so they followed it. Within a few minutes, they found this room, and the first thing they saw was Nyra casting a spell. Panicking, Dash saw the stalactites on the ground, picked one up, and threw it across the room.

"Soren, I'm sorry," she apologized. "You know I wasn't trying to actually kill her. We just wanted to make sure you were safe." Soren didn't say anything right away. He walked away from them towards an empty portion of the room. Turning back to face his friends, Soren spoke again.

"I'm disappointed in you, Rainbow Dash. You betrayed me and my plan; you acted without thinking, and this caused a new friend of mine to die." Rainbow Dash flinched when he said she betrayed him. "I'm leaving, and don't think any of you can follow me."

Soren used magic to create a ball of air, which floated right beside him. He then teleported away, and the ball of air exploded outward, causing a gust of strong wind. Rainbow Dash sat on her haunches and hung her head. Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder as she sat next to her. Rainbow hugged Twilight but didn't cry.

Author's Note

"Wonderwall" is copyrighted by Oasis.

Inescapable Losses

It was a stormy night for Equestria. The battle was over, Nyra was defeated, the eclipse was passing, and everypony began celebrating as they were preparing for the Hearth's Warming Holiday. The weather seemed to be mourning the death of Nyra, as was a lone colt as he sat in his hidden cave. The cave itself was connected to a ravine, which was situated within Equestria's grey, rocky outlands near Ponyville. The cave also had a few crystals along its walls that acted like mirrors. The white colt stared out into the ravine; the cave being close enough to the surface that he could easily see the dark grey clouds above. He just sat there, thinking. Although the colt was deeply sad, he wasn't crying; he had finished crying about her a few minutes ago. He simply began remembering what had happened during that battle.

After he left his friends in the Canterlot Caves, Soren went to the one place that his friends have told him about but would never think to look for him at. After he spent hours thinking in his current location, Soren sensed a buzzing in his head and an eerie whisper that he thought he would never hear again.

Do you see what happens when I leave?
"Not even slightly," Soren replied out loud.
Come on, be a smart colt and use your mind to speak.
'Have it your way, Cain,' Soren began to think. 'Why are you here?'
To make a deal that would benefit us both.
'What makes you think I would trust you?'
Because I'm the only one that can heal you.

Soren's ears perked.

That's what I thought. Now before we begin, I think it would be best to sing one last song for Nyra. Wouldn't you agree?

Without realizing it, Soren's eye color changed from green to grey.

'Fine.' Soren, without knowing why, felt the need to walk up to one of the few crystals that lined the cave walls. He focused on his own reflection as he began to sing.

"Bleeding I'm
Crying I'm
Falling I'm
Bleeding out. Oh
Bleeding I'm
Crying I'm
Falling I'm
Bleeding out

Bleeding now I'm
Crying out I'm
Falling down and I'm
Feeling nothing like
Laughing now I'm
Stopping now I'm
Reaching out and I'm
Feeling nothing"

Suddenly, Soren found that he wasn't moving his mouth anymore, yet the singing continued. Looking at the mirror, he saw that his reflection continued to sing.

Yeah, you've created a rift within me
Now there have been several complications
That have left me feeling nothing
I might say, you were wrong to take it from me
"Left me feeling nothing"

Soren quickly knew that he and Cain were taking turns to sing at this point.

"Crawling now I'm
Beaten down I'm
Tortured now and I'm
Feeling nothing like
Hunting now I'm
Stalking now I'm
Reaching out and I'm"
Killing nothing

Yeah, you've created a rift within me
Now there have been several complications
That have left me feeling nothing
I might say, you were wrong to take it from me
"Left me feeling nothing"

I can feel you ripping and tearing
Feeding and growing inside of me
Ripping and tearing and
Feeding and growing inside of me
"I want this, more than you know
I need this"
Give it back to me

You've created a rift within me
You are the cause of these horrid complications
That are ripping and tearing and feeding and growing inside of me
Yeah, you've created a rift within me
Now there have been several complications
That are ripping, tearing
Feeding, growing
Ripping, tearing
Ripping and tearing and feeding and growing inside of me

"I want this
More than you know
I need this
Give it back to me!"

Soren noticed that although he thought Cain sang at the end, it was actually him that sang the last line. 'No!' he yelled at Cain. 'I'm not letting you fill my head with any more angry emotions or songs.' Soren ran over to the mouth of the cave and took a deep breath of fresh air. He managed to catch a glimpse of the mountain that Canterlot was built upon. Becoming saddened again, Soren decided to sing another song.

"I got dosed by you and
Closer than most to you and
What am I supposed to do
Take it away I never had it anyway
Take it away and everything will be okay

In you a star is born and
You cut a perfect form and
Someone forever warm
Lay on lay on lay on lay on
Lay on lay on lay on lay on

Way upon the mountain where she died
All I ever wanted was your life
Deep inside the canyon I can't hide
All I ever wanted was your life

Show love with no remorse and
Climb up with your seahorse and
This ride is right on course
This is the way I wanted it to be with you
This is the way that I knew that it would be with you
Lay on lay on lay on lay on
Lay on lay on lay on lay on

Way upon the mountain where she died
All I ever wanted was your life
Deep inside the canyon I can't hide
All I ever wanted was your life

I got dosed by you and
Closer than most to you and
What am I supposed to do
Take it away I never had it anyway
Take it away and everything will be okay

Way upon the mountain where she died
All I ever wanted was your life
Deep inside the canyon I can't hide
All I ever wanted was your life"

Tearing up, Soren closed his eyes as he lengthened the last note. He kept them closed as he stood there, feeling the stormy wind move past him.

"So this is where you went," a friendly voice said. Soren was truly glad it wasn't Cain speaking to him anymore. With his eyes returning to green, the sad alicorn turned around to see that the Doctor and his TARDIS were behind him. Soren knew the brown stallion would find him after the battle. Frowning, he walked up to the Doctor.

"Where were you?" Soren said, anger building. "You could've helped us!" The Doctor simply shook his head as a response.

"Nyra dying was a fixed point in time, so no matter who interfered or what happened, Nyra was going to pass away. I'm sorry."

"If that was a fixed point in time, why was it so important for her to die?" The Time Lord stared at his new friend with a sorrowful expression. He put a hoof on Soren's shoulder.

"Soren...your life will change drastically because of this day. I can't say too much, but what I can tell you is that all I came here to do was to balance your magic out so it wouldn't be unstable."

"You have to erase the Elements from my memory, don't you?" The Doctor nodded.

"But keeping one won't hurt you. Which one do you like the most?"

"I guess I'll keep Air...but Doctor, how could you of all ponies erase magic?" He chuckled.

"I won't be doing the erasing. She will." The Doctor pointed to the TARDIS, and her doors opened soon after. From those doors, Princess Luna walked out into the cave. The midnight mare looked sad as she approached Soren and hugged him.

"We art sorry it had to be this way in the end, my stallion," the princess said. Soren began to worry as he felt her tears touch him.

"Luna, why are y-" Soren couldn't continue his sentence due to Luna grabbing his head with her hooves and touching her horn to his. A bright light immediately illuminated the entire cave. Soren knew something bad was going to happen as a result, so he instinctively fought against the spell.

As Soren fruitlessly struggled, Princess Luna looked at the Doctor, who in turn hung his head. Looking back at her struggling coltfriend and feeling guilty for what she was supposed to do, Luna had newfound determination. 'I cannot allow Soren's mind to be erased as a result. He deserves better.' Luna had an idea, but she asked herself if it was any better than the original effect. 'If it's for Soren, I would be willing to do anything to save him.'

"I'm sorry, Soren," Luna said softly. Soren looked at her. He began to tear up again as he saw Luna's tears streaming down her cheeks. The light became brighter and a low rumbling began. Very soon, a single, blinding flash signaled that the spell was complete. Princess Luna and Soren were blasted a foot or two away from each other, both of their horns singed at the tip.

"Princess, no!" Groaning, Soren looked up to see the Doctor running over to Luna. Once he reached Luna, the brown stallion held her head so he could examine her. Soren saw the Doctor's neutral expression turn angry. "Why, Luna?!" He gently placed her head down on the ground. "Of all the things you could have done!"

"What...happened...to her?" Soren said weakly. "Is she...alright?" The Doctor, sadness returning, looked at Soren.

"It's going to be fine, Soren. It's just..." He sighed. "I need to tell you something." Soren remained silent and attentive. "You do realize that Rainbow Dash meant no harm, right?" Soren struggled to nod. "She is very sorry though."

"Why...did she...throw it?"

"Sometimes...the ponies that love you the most, make the smartest yet dumbest mistakes." The Doctor looked at Luna after he said that. He then looked outside and saw that the storm had died down. "I need to go. Don't worry, you're fine, but one word of advice: Always keep your friends by your side."

With that said, the Time Lord walked over to Luna, situated her onto his back, and made his way into the TARDIS. Soren reach out a hoof to stop him, but he was so weakened that his hoof fell back to the cave floor. The TARDIS doors closed and soon began disappearing. Soren's eyes slowly began closing as the TARDIS continued to vanish. Once it was gone, Soren fell asleep.

Author's Note

"Numb" is copyrighted by Disturbed.
"Dosed" is copyrighted by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

A Fire and A Deal

Dear Princess Celestia,

This will be a long letter, but all of this needs to be said. Soren has been gone for three days, and no pony can seem to find him. Your sister has been gone for quite some time as well. Where is she? We could have used her help yesterday; there was a forest fire at the edge of Ponyville. I was in my library, reading a fantastic book about the history of Cloudsdale, when Rainbow Dash kicked the front door open and urgently said that she needed my help.

The forest fire was at the edge of the Everfree Forest and slowly grew in the direction of Ponyville. On the way, Rainbow Dash explained that the fire was too strong for the weather pegasi to stop alone. As we neared the edge of town, I could already see many ponies running back and forth, collecting water to put out the fire. The fire was massive when I saw it. Luckily, I had already thought of an idea on how to stop the fire as we ran through town.

I looked at Rainbow and asked her to gather as many pegasi as possible so they could create a tornado to absorb the fire. As she flew off to do that, Applejack came running up to me. She told me that she saw a hooded pony go into the forest. I explained to her that while the pegasi and I worked on the fire, her and Rainbow should create a very small search party to find this hooded pony and bring it back to town for questioning. She nodded and ran off to find Rainbow Dash.

Eventually we managed to put out the fire by bringing the fire tornado to the local reservoir. Afterwards, Fluttershy and Rarity came up to me to inform me that Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were chasing the hooded pony around town. We eventually managed to chase down the hooded pony. (Technically, Pinkie shot her party cannon at the pony, hitting it off of a roof.)

When we surrounded it, the pony began to speak. It was stallion, but what was strange was that he seemed to recognized us. (Also Rainbow Dash pointed out that this pony was a unicorn.) The strangest part, though, was how he talked; he only opened one eye at at time as he talked to us. (We couldn't see his face, just his glowing eyes.) One eye was glowing yellow and the other was glowing grey. As he switched eyes, his voice changed, almost like he had two ponies in him. One voice sounded slightly sinister, the other voice...sounded a little like the Doctor. I knew it wasn't, but that still raises the question: Who was this pony?

I saw that Rainbow Dash was ready to pull that hood off of the stallion, but I stopped her the first time. We had to know more about this pony, and if we became hostile, we could scare him away and never find him again. The strange became stranger as this pony called me Ms. Sparkle (just like the Doctor does) and began gloating about how he started the fire. He seemed to know that we were about to capture him because he chuckled and said the one thing I will forget: "The only thing that stands in your way from stopping me is a close friend of yours."

Although we were baffled by this, Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to fly straight at him. The stallion stepped to the left at just the right moment, then he hit Rainbow's side, which sent her a few feet away. After that he said that it was time for him to leave, so he started walking away, but we were all frozen there, amazed by what this pony easily did to Rainbow. He didn't run away...he teleported. Princess, we are trying our best to find this mysterious pony. Wish us luck.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

Three Days Earlier

The Royal Palace is usually very quiet during the night. The only noises that are heard are the hoofsteps of the nighttime guards during their patrol. Other than that, there is almost no noise to be heard. However, on this night, a strange sound could be heard coming from Princess Luna's bedroom. It only lasted a few seconds, but the noise was unmistakable to the few ponies that have heard it before.

A few papers flew around the princess' room as the TARDIS landed inside. Once the TARDIS completed its landing, the Doctor, with Princess Luna on his back, stepped outside. He carefully made his way to the princess' bed so he could place her on there. Once Luna was laying on her bed, the Doctor frowned.

"Why did you do it, Luna?" he asked no one. He knew the alternative wasn't better, but she's a goddess for her sister's sake! The consequences could be much more dire. A knocking came from the bedroom door, breaking the Doctor's train of thought.

"Luna, are you in there? It's your sister." The Doctor walked over to the door to let Princess Celestia in. She looked the Doctor, looked at Luna, and became worried. "Doctor, what happened to her?"

"I think it would be best if we let her wake up first. Come in." The goddess and the Time Lord stood on both sides of Luna's bed as Celestia attempted to wake her sister up.

"Sister, can you hear me?" Celestia said softly as she gently nudged Luna. "It's time to wake up." The princess of the night groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Upon seeing her sister and the Doctor, Luna smiled.

"Hello, dear sister, dear Doctor. What do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" The Doctor looked at Princess Celestia.

"Let me handle this. Princess Luna, do you know what happened earlier today?"

"Is it not day?" asked a confused Luna. She sat up in her bed and began pondering the Doctor's question. "No, I cannot say I remember the events from earlier. Have I missed something important?"

"There was a battle between Soren and the Nightmare Guardian today," Celestia said while guessing what became of her sister. "He helped to save Canterlot from her."

"The Nightmare Guardian was here?! Who is this Soren stallion who apparently has the power capable of defeating her?" Celestia hung her head. Her guess was correct. Luna had truly lost her memory. Not just of earlier today, but of Soren.

"I will explain everything tomorrow," Celestia said. "For now, you should go back to bed, sister. The both of us will be doing the same."

"Actually, my TARDIS is still in her room," the Doctor pointed out.

"You can spend the night in the palace, Doctor. Let us leave Luna to rest." The Doctor reluctantly agreed and followed the sun princess out into the hall. He walked by her side as the two walked further away from Princess Luna's bedroom.

"How many days has she forgotten, Doctor?" Celestia asked.

"From the day she met Soren until now," he answered seriously. "The spell she was supposed to use on Soren backfired and caused her to lose her own memories of him, including everything that happened on the days she was with him. She chose to do this to herself. Instead of erasing Soren's memories of the past few months, she erased her own."

"Is Soren's magic still unstable?"

"Not yet. Since Luna refused to follow through with the spell, she simply halted his magic from growing out of control. I'll give him one or two weeks before his magic overwhelms him."

"Does Soren know about this?"

"...No. There's nothing we can do for him at this point. Sadly, he's on his own."

"...I believe you. You would not sound so serious and sorrowful if you had a plan. I only wish there was something we could do."

"There isn't. We will just have to see what happens in the next few days." The princess and the Doctor remained silent as they continued through the dim, quiet halls of the Royal Palace.

The Next Day

The morning after the Doctor left, Cain began speaking to Soren again. At first, Soren simply tried to ignore the voice in his head, but he eventually found himself unable to. Cain began explaining to Soren how he was the only one that could help Soren in his current predicament. Cain explained that Luna's spell didn't heal Soren; Soren still had chaotic, unstable magic waiting to be unleashed. Cain predicted ten days at most. Soren asked Cain if there was anything he could do since Cain was so smug that he could help. The spirit said there was, but it required them to make a deal.

If you help me with one, only one, big plan of mine, I will heal you and leave you alone.
'What's the catch?'
We join forces, and by that I mean I get to come back into your body.

Without Soren's consent, Cain started to change Soren body slightly, due to another "pony" entering. This time Soren could feel his eyes changing and he could also feel Cain trying to take control. Soren fought back hard enough for Cain to stop his spiritual assault.

"Oh? You're stronger than the last time we met. Very well. In all seriousness though, I will not attempt that again since it looks as though we have even control of your body."
"Wait...you can use my mouth to physically talk now? Something else feels off as well."
"It would appear that we can both use your mouth, yet I can only see out of one eye, which is the left one."
"Weird, I can only see out of the right eye. Maybe only one eye can be open at a time? I guess we really do only have fifty percent control."
"Back to business. Do you want to practice your fire magic?"

Soren raised his right eyebrow. He still doesn't trust Cain, but it looks like he really doesn't have a choice at the moment.

A Disguise

Soren, with Cain halfway in control, flew to Ponyville in the middle of the night. Although Soren was the one flying, Cain was the one directing them. He made them land in front of a clothing store. When Soren tried to open the door, he wasn't surprised to find it locked.

"Well, only one other way in."
"Why do I do these things?"

Soren teleported inside. The small store had all kinds of clothing that ranged from coats to shirts to dresses to socks. Cain forced them to take a look around for a very particular piece of clothing that he wanted. It only took him a minute to find what he was looking for. Running over to the racks, Cain levitated a grey, hooded cloak over to them. There was nothing special or outstanding about it; it was just a plain, grey cloak.

"Why do you need this?"
"Well we can't be recognized now can we? Let's see here..."

With a little magic, Cain enchanted the hooded cloak. They put the cloak on and walked over to the nearest full body mirror. As they stood in front of the mirror, Cain magicked the hood onto their head. The first thing Soren noticed was that they couldn't see their face. From the outside, it was pitch black under the hood, but for inside, they could see perfectly.

"Do you like it?" Soren noticed that when Cain spoke, his left eye appeared and shined with a bright yellow.

"I guess. I still don't know why we need a disguise." Soren's right eye appeared and shined with a bright grey as he spoke.

"We don't want that reputation of yours to be ruined, do we? Now that we have this, we can begin my plan. Tomorrow morning, we are going to see exactly how much fire magic you learned."

Knowing that he still had no choice on the matter, Soren decided to follow Cain's lead. The two teleported out of the clothing store and left for the outskirts of Ponyville to find a place to rest.

The Next Morning

Cain decided to say "good afternoon" to everypony in Ponyville by starting a fire on the edge of the Everfree. He explained to Soren that it was to show them how strong they were, but Soren didn't believe him. As they watched the fire burn, Soren felt himself smiling, no doubt because of Cain. As the fire slowly began its journey towards Ponyville, the two-soul pony turned around and began walking into the Everfree Forest. Little did they know that a certain farmer managed to see them leave.

"Why do we have to do this?" Soren asked Cain. They were walking along the edge of forest while inside the forest. "You could hurt a lot of ponies by doing things like this."
"Oh hush. They'll put out the fire. I just need it to distract them."
"While we what?"
"Go to the other side of town, of course."
"You better tell me this plan of yours or else I'll attempt to take back control of my body."
"Please, we are both at a stalemate. I can't take control, and you can't regain it. I promise all of this will be worth it. Now come on."

"And where do you think you're going?!" a familiar voice asked angrily. Soren and Cain looked towards the sky to see a cyan pegasus mare flying towards them.

'Rainbow.'
'I didn't think we would be spotted.'
'Talk to her.'
'And give her a chance to distract us? I don't think so. How about we just...'

They quickly teleported away and appeared at the edge of Ponyville. Soren saw Fluttershy's cottage in the distance and knew exactly where they were. They weren't on the other side of town from where the fire was, but they were close enough to run the remaining distance. Soren and Cain began running through town as they began looking for whatever Cain needed. Within a few minutes of running, a high-pitch springing noise could be heard coming up from behind them. Looking over their shoulder, the two saw Pinkie Pie bouncing towards them with a smile.

"Hiya, Mr. Hooded Pony, where ya going?" she cheerfully asked. Soren and Cain tried to ignore her as they continued running. Effortlessly, Pinkie Pie bounced ahead of them, and she began bouncing backwards so she could look at them. "Where are you off in such a hurry? My friend Applejack said that you started a fire. Is that true? Because if it is then that means I have to try to stop you, and if I have to stop you then I have to bring out my party cannon and I never leave home without my-"

Pinkie Pie stopped her bounce in midair. She just hovered there as she looked at the spot where the hooded pony used to be. Finally landing on the ground, Pinkie Pie shrugged.

"Well, I guess I need to play hide-and-seek with him first." Smiling, the pink party pony pulled out her party cannon out of thin air and began riding it through town in search for the cloaked colt.

Soren and Cain were hiding on top of a random building they teleported to. They needed to catch their breath before continuing. Breathing fast, they laid on their back and closed their eyes.

'What are you looking for anyway? You know I can help right?'
'Yes because you're totally going to help an evil pony.'
'I can try to separate myself from you if you don't trust me.'
'We both know I'm not going anywhere, old friend.'
'We both know I'm more than capable of finding a way to get rid of you.'
'But why would you rid yourself of the only thing keeping you sane?'

Soren was silent. Before he could mentally respond, Soren heard a confetti cannon go off and was soon blasted off of the roof. He landed with a thud in an alleyway between the building he was on and the building next to it. Rubbing his head, Soren looked up to see all six of his friends staring at him. Cain took control and began chuckling.

"Looks like the gang is all here."

"Who are you?!" Rainbow Dash yelled, ready to charge.

"I'm hurt that such a question had to be asked. But surely, you can recognize me, Ms. Sparkle." Soren/Cain looked at Twilight Sparkle as her eyes widened.

"You better just stay away from me," Soren said, taking back control. "You have no idea what we're capable of." Cain noticed that Rainbow Dash was about to charge.
"Go ahead, Rainbow. Fight me. It won't do you any good."

Ignoring the hooded pony, Rainbow Dash flew straight at him, only to miss and to be struck in the side by him. Rainbow flew a few feet down the alleyway before hitting the ground. She got up and just sat there, staring at the mysteriously strong stallion.

"Well it looks like my job here is done. But one last thing: If any of you want to stop me, then the only thing that stands in your way is a close friend of yours." With that said, Cain teleported away.

It was night by the time Cain decided to bring him and Soren to Canterlot. He said that Soren should go meet a certain somepony in the Royal Palace. They teleported most of the way to Canterlot and flew when they were close. Still wearing the cloak but without the hood up, Soren walked up the night guards blocking the door. Once Soren told them who he was, they immediately let him inside.

He noticed it was very quiet inside the palace at night. Quietly winding through hallways, Soren made his way through the beautiful castle. Eventually, they found Princess Luna's room. Soren knocked on the door and was surprised when the double doors instantly opened with magic; he didn't even have to say who it was. The sapphire aura closed the doors once Soren stepped inside. He looked around and saw that Luna was standing on her bedroom balcony, looking at the nighttime Canterlot.

"Hello, Luna," Soren greeted. She turned around, and Soren saw that she had a puzzled look on her face. "It's me...Soren. Sometimes you called me Nyroc. Did that spell short-circuit your brain?"

"Nothing of the sort has happened. It simply took us a minute to remember thee," Luna replied while smiling. "Our sister has explained to us the events of the Battle of the Nyrs, which occurred a few days ago. It's an honor to meet the hero that saved our beautiful capital." Luna closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly. As she did this, Soren instantly became worried.

"Umm, Luna?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know me? Personally know me?" Soren felt his heart drop as he saw Luna put a hoof to her chin in thought.

"I'm afraid we don't," she answered, putting her hoof down. Even if Soren could respond, he wouldn't be able to, for Luna's bedroom doors opened once again. This time Princess Celestia walked inside.

Soren looked at the sun princess with depression in his eyes. Celestia surveyed the scene and knew what had just happened to Soren. She hung her head to silently apologize to him.

"Hello, sister," Luna said, breaking the silence. "We were just talking with-" A crack of the air and a bright light interrupted Luna's sentence. She looked back to where Soren used to be, only to find him gone now. "Why did he leave so suddenly?"

"Luna...can you hand me that letter over there?" Celestia pointed to a nearby desk that held a clutter of paper. In this clutter was a midnight blue envelope, which stood out among the other paper. Princess Luna levitated the sealed envelope to her sister, who in turn grabbed it with her own golden aura. Casting a spell, Princess Celestia burned the letter and it disappeared.

"You just sent the letter somewhere. May I ask where and to whom?"

"It's best that you don't know. I'm sorry, Luna." Luna nodded in understanding. Luna was expecting Celestia in the first place so they could talk. She was surprised when Soren walked in instead. Now Soren was gone, her sister randomly sent a letter somewhere, and her sister also excused herself from Luna's room. Something just happened that threw her entire evening out of balance.

Soren teleported back to his secret cave to be alone. It seemed like this cave would always be used for moments when he is deeply sad. As he lay on the ground, Soren wiped away his current set of tears. Just as Soren was beginning to 'accept' Nyra's death, Luna had to be taken away from him as well. Soren felt more tears on their way, but stopped when a quick burning sound came from above. He looked up and saw a midnight blue envelope float down in front of him. Wiping his eyes yet again, Soren picked up the letter and opened it. It was a note from Luna to him.

Dearest Soren,

Your battle is tomorrow, and I do not think I can follow through with the plan the Doctor has given me. I write this letter in case the alternative happens and I lose my memories of you. Please try to understand that you need your memories more than I need mine. You have already experienced memory loss, which has been mostly recovered, but I have not. I am over one thousand years old, I have seen a lot, and I have also missed a lot.

Although I may be mentally gone from your life, I will never be gone physically. We will always be friends, and I am sure that deep down I will always remember our time together. Even though I will forget you, I will always love you. Maybe I will still be able to help you on your adventures. Before the Battle of the Nyrs truly starts, I will be telling one of your closest friends to "cherish you." I will not tell you who, but I can promise that she would never turn her back on you, nor will any of your friends for that matter.

I will always love you,
Princess Luna

Soren began crying again. His love was gone...but is there another one looking out for him? He wasn't sure looking for a new love was a smart idea. He just lost one so why risk losing another?

'A detour is what you need, dear friend. Don't lose the pathway to happiness. I have my plans in life, what do you have?'
"...Nothing."

Author's Note

To those who are enjoying the story so far, I would like to say that I have a close friend of mine creating new cover art for every part of Soren The Alicorn. Hopefully by the end of the third part, I will have new art for the STA1 and 2, but I will not rush him.

The Detour

Day of the Fire

After Twilight and her friends encountered the hooded stallion, they gathered in the library to figure out what to do about him. They all agreed that they may know this stallion. With that in mind, the seven friends (including Spike) began to think.

"Twilight, any ideas on who this feller is?" Applejack asked Twilight Sparkle. Twilight hesitated before answering.

"I-I only recognize one of his voices," she replied. "One voice sounded like the Doctor for a few seconds."

"I heard that too!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "But it can't be him. Soren stopped the Doctor from being a meany."

"Well who else could it be?" Rainbow Dash asked. The six mares began naming different ponies or different possibilities on what, or who, that pony was. Meanwhile, Spike walked up to Twilight and nudged her side. The purple unicorn looked at him.

"Yes, Spike?"

"I think I know who it could be," he said. Everypony became silent and stared at him. "Maybe it could be Soren." They all gasped in disbelief.

"Why would it be Soren?" Rainbow asked. Then everything began making sense for Twilight.

"Wait," Twilight interrupted. "Spike may be on to something. Do you girls remember that evil half of Soren we had to deal with? If you remember, we never stopped him; he just teleported away. What if he caught up with Soren and merged with him somehow?"

Everypony exchanged worried glances. They knew it had to be true; there was no other explanation. Seeing that her theory was most likely correct, Twilight sighed sadly. 'If only the Doctor was here.' As if answering Twilight's plea, the TARDIS could be heard landing in the library. Once his TARDIS landed, the Doctor, who was displaying a neutral expression, walked through the doors into the library.

"Hello, Twilight," the Doctor said with slight sadness in his voice. "I'm back from the Royal Palace." He began to notice everyone in the library. "Is something going on, or did I interrupt your daily hang out time?"

"Yes, Doctor, something is going on," Twilight replied. "You arrived at the perfect time."

"That tends to happen now and again. What do you all need help with?" Twilight then began to explain what happened in his absence, starting with the fire.

'There she is. She's probably worried about me,' Soren thought while talking to Cain. The two of them were in Ponyville, looking at Rainbow Dash, who was standing on a random rooftop. Cain decided to come back to Ponyville, for he felt Soren needed some kind of closure. (He never told Soren but the truth is that Cain can't continue his plan if Soren is completely out of it. Although Cain has an evil plan, it doesn't mean he is completely heartless. Since Soren, who Cain technically calls a friend, was struck with that much emotional turmoil, Cain decided to help him by taking Soren to Ponyville to find a friend to give him comfort.) The "double-pony" alicorn continued to watch Rainbow Dash, who was looking up at the sky with a worried face. Soren assumed all of his friends were worried, but he knew Dash felt something more.

Since he wanted Rainbow to noticed him, Soren made noises on the roof he was standing. Rainbow looked in his direction, and Soren made sure to make eye contact with her. Soren calmly jumped off the roof, knowing Rainbow would follow him. Once he was on the ground, Soren chose to hide around a corner. Seconds later, he heard her land on the ground near him.

"Where are you?" she muttered to herself as she looked every which way. Soren didn't hesitate to reveal where he was hiding. Dash readied herself as she faced him. "So you decided to come out quietly? Who are you, and why are you here?!"

Soren remained silent and still. Rainbow Dash couldn't see under his hood, but she was determined to pull that thing off of his head. Accelerating forward via flying, the rainbow pegasus reached out for Soren's hood, only to miss because Soren teleported away. Recovering to the ground, Rainbow turned towards the hooded pony when he reappeared.

"Why did you start a fire near Ponyville?! Is that part of your plan?" she asked angrily. Instead of giving his friend an answer, Soren responded with another question.

"Did you make a promise to Princess Luna?" Soren asked. Rainbow Dash didn't appear to recognize his voice, but she did flinch back.

"How-How do you know about that?"

"What was the promise you made?" She was silent at first. Soren knew she didn't want to answer. "Can you at least tell me who the promise was for?"

"...It was about my friend, Soren." Soren didn't comment on that; he simply took one step closer to Rainbow.

"Rainbow Dash..." said Soren, taking another step towards her. This alone made Rainbow take a defensive position again. "You know that deep down, a part of you trusts me right now. I also know you are wondering why that is."

Dash cancelled her defensive pose and sat down with wide eyes. She then looked down as if ashamed. Soren began slowly walking closer. Hearing footsteps, Rainbow snapped her head up and saw Soren slowly closing the distance between them. She must have sensed no danger from him because she continued to sit there and make eye contact.

"I know about the promise you made ," Soren explained while looking at her rose-colored eyes. Dash remained silent, but attentive. "You promised the princess that you would cherish that friend of yours." Now Rainbow became shocked. Soren sat in front of her, and he put a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't be afraid." Soren proceeded to use his other hoof to grab his hood and pull it down. Rainbow gasped when she saw that it was Soren all along, just like Spike predicted.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash," Soren said softly. "Long time, no see." Soren saw Rainbow shed a tear. He wasn't sure if it was because of the fact that he was the one that nearly burned down Ponyville or if she was just that happy to see him.

"S-Soren? Why are your eyes different colors?"

"Oh yeah...that. I'll start from the beginning." Soren then began explaining everything to Rainbow. From what happened after he teleported away from his friends to how Cain promised to help him.

Once Soren was done explaining everything, the two ponies heard their friends calling for Rainbow Dash. Soren did a few things before he left. While he put his hood back on, Soren explained to Dash that their friends will immediately know the hooded pony is him. Soren then hugged her and whispered "Don't forget to cherish me." After that, he jumped back into a fighting position so it would look like the two of them were about to fight. Their five friends ran up to the scene and gasped. Continuing with the plan, Soren looked behind him to stare at his friends. After giving a smile that his friends could see, Soren used magic to rip slits into the fabric where his wings were. He then spread said wings and made them look as large as possible.

"Ooo," Pinkie Pie said.
"Wow," Rarity commented.

Soren shot into the air. He took one last look at the six mares below and flew off. Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle ran over to Rainbow Dash.

"Did he hurt you? What happened?" Twilight flooded Rainbow with questions, but the cyan pegasus remained seated on the ground, looking at the sky.

The Next Day

The Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters is a ruin of legend. It was where Celestia and Luna ruled before Nightmare Moon was born. After sending the evil mare to the moon, Princess Celestia and her subject traveled to the largest mountain nearby to create a place of security and safety, of beauty and grace. As the ponies continued to build the capital of Canterlot, the Castle of the Royal Sisters was left to wither away in time. To this day, the castle shows its age, yet it still has beauty. Wether it be the architecture or the history hidden within, the ancient castle is another spot in Equestria with unmatched beauty of its own category.

But within this historical castle, an alicorn continues to practice his magic under the guidance of a sinister spirit. 'Again,' the spirit mentally said to the white alicorn. The alicorn sent a stream of magic into a nearby piece of rubble. He was attempting to explode it from the inside, to no avail. After a nonstop hour of practicing the same spell, the alicorn decided to give up for now. He walked over to an intact wall to sit down and lean against it. Breathing heavily, Soren looked up at the night sky. There were countless stars that could be seen and a full moon that illuminated the land below. Using the break to his advantage, Soren began 'talking' to Cain.

'So Cain?'

'What is it?'

'Can you tell me what your plan is now?'

'If you really want to know. My plan is to make sure I stay with you forever. More accurately: I would be taking over your body.'

'What?! But I've read that spirits have to abide by their oaths!'

'Obviously you don't know what kind of spirit I am then. I'm not a normal spirit, I'm a discorded spirit. We go by a separate set of rules, albeit some are the same. Although it is true that I will be forced to leave your body after you help me, my plan is to make a paradox out of our agreement.'

'What do you mean? What's the point of the making a paradox out of this?'

'Hahaha, and here I thought the Doctor taught you everything about time travel. I'll explain: Since we made an oath that allows you to be free of me when you help me, if I manage to follow through with my plan, then it will create a paradox. I will be with you forever, yet the oath will try to force us to separate. Tell me, do you know what a Reaper is?'

'No.'

'Once a fracture of any kind, in this case a paradox, appears in the time line, a few Reapers will appear from the Time Vortex to "sterilize" the disturbance, devouring everything in its path until the problem is solved.'

"So you plan to destroy this entire world?!" Soren asked out loud now. "How do you know about all of this anyway?"

"You can learn a lot from being in the head of a Time Lord for a long time."

"So that's why the Doctor became discorded. But how did you have a body when the Doctor was still discorded?"

"Technically he wasn't discorded anymore at that point. He just believed he was." Soren remained silent. He had to stop Cain, but how? Suddenly, Soren's head started to hurt. As Soren grabbed his head, Cain began mentally laughing.

'My plan is almost complete, Soren. Ever since I merged with you, I have been slowly taking over. In a few days, we will be one, but I assure you that I will be in control. You'll just be a lonely thought in my newly acquired mind.'

Soren sighed. 'If only the Doctor was here.'

Reacquainted

Dear Princess Celestia,

After that scary incident with Soren's evil half, Cain, we were all happy he was safe. As he recovers in the hospital, Soren smiles in his sleep. As our friend slept soundly, the Doctor began explaining something to us while we were at the hospital in Soren's room.

"I just saved Soren from being completely possessed by Cain," I remember the Doctor saying seriously. "Soren has been through too much over the past few weeks. He needs a break...from everything."

The Doctor made us promise to show Soren how much we appreciate him by doing something small but meaningful with him. He also wanted us to make sure Soren took a long break from anything dangerous or threatening. My friends and l easily agreed. After that, the seven of us left the hospital so Soren could rest.

At the time I am writing this, Soren has been in the hospital for a full day. Spike volunteered to stay behind so Soren would have company. Princess, I feel as though I should ask: why have all of these things happened to Soren?

Your Student,

Twilight Sparkle

The Next Day

Soren woke up feeling fantastic. He hasn't had a good nights sleep in a while. As Soren started rubbing his eyes and looking at the hospital room he was in, he was surprised when he heard Spike's voice near him.

"Looks like the crazy alicorn is finally awake," Spike joked.

"Heh, give me a break. I was almost possessed...again. How bad was I hurt?"

"The doctors said you don't have any major injuries. You were just very drained."

"Well that's good." A silence passed between the dragon and the alicorn. Eventually Soren wanted to ask Spike about something. "Hey Spike? You're never really with us when we go off on some crazy adventure. Don't you ever feel left out?"

"Twilight asked me this before. I guess you can say I feel left out, but after seeing all the damage that those adventures can cause, I think I would prefer to stay in the library. I couldn't be that much help to you guys anyway."

"Oh, don't say that. You can be plenty helpful! Wasn't it you who ultimately saved the Crystal Empire? That sounds like a very important dragon to me."

"Haha, quit flattering me." As Soren and Spike continued to laugh, a doctor peaked his head into the room.

"I thought I heard voices coming from this room," he said. "I see you're feeling fine now, Soren. Did that long sleep help?"

"How long was I asleep?" Soren asked.

"Only a day. Your caring friends brought you in two nights ago and you've been sleeping ever since. Luckily, you were simply exhausted. If I recall correctly, last time you were here, you fought the Nightmare Guardian."

"It's been that long, huh? I suppose that's a good thing."

"Anyways, since you are feeling fine now, I can tell you that you may leave whenever you feel like it. Hopefully you won't be back anytime soon."

"We all hope for that, doc," Spike commented. The doctor chuckled then walked out of the room. Spike looked at Soren. "So how about we go see our friends?"

"Yes, please. It's been way too long." Soren got out of bed, stretched his legs, and motioned for Spike to hop onto his back. Once Spike was on top of Soren, the two of them were out of the hospital.

As they walked around Ponyville, Soren and Spike ran into each of their friends one by one. First, they ran into Fluttershy. She was on her way to Sweet Apple Acres to pick up some apples for her animals. After asking how the shy pegasus was feeling today, Soren and Spike accompanied her on her way to the farm. Next, the three friends arrived at Sweet Apple Acres only to be greeted by Applejack. For some reason, Soren had this urge to ask all of his friends how they were doing today. So far, Fluttershy and AJ were both fine, so Soren assumed the rest of his friends would be also, yet he still planned on asking every single one of them anyway.

Soren asked AJ where the rest of their friends were, so she said he and Spike should check Rarity's place. Soren and Spike said goodbye to AJ and Fluttershy and ran towards town. They soon arrived at Carousel Boutique, and the two of them walked through the front door. Rarity was almost ecstatic to see Soren. The three of them were able to chat for a minute or two before Rarity said she was busy at the moment. Soren and Spike said their goodbyes and left the designer to her work.

"Where else could our friends be?" Spike asked as they closed the door behind them.

"I think the answer is simple," Sore replied. "We have yet to check Sugar Cube Corner." Spike stood on his back and shouted "Onwards!" Soren couldn't help but laugh. After Spike repositioned himself on Soren's back, the two trotted towards Sugar Cube Corner

As the two came up to the front door of the shop, Soren asked Spike to be silent.

"I hears voices," Spike commented.

"Exactly, voices," Soren emphasized.

"Do you think everyone else is inside?"

"Let's find out." After they walked inside, Soren and Spike were happy to discover that Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were all at the counter, talking to one another.

Soren only took one more step forward before he was tackled by Pinkie Pie. Luckily, Spike jumped off of Soren's back in time. As she gave Soren a bear hug, Pinkie Pie was so happy to see him that she began to talk so fast that Soren couldn't understand her.

"You were unconscious for one day and you already have mares all over you," Rainbow joked. Soren got out of Pinkie's chokehold and wiped himself off.

"It's good to see you too, Rainbow Dash," Soren retorted as he walked up to her so he could give her a friendly hit on the shoulder. After that, Soren looked at Twilight. "How are you feeling after all that happened?"

"It wasn't anything too new," she replied with a smile. Soren chuckled.

"Do you think the three of us can get reacquainted since I have been gone for nearly a week?"

"Of course."
"Sure."
"Yes!"

Soren laughed once again before he and Spike sat down with the three mares. The conversation started, and Soren quickly learned that his friends haven't been doing that much since he left. Twilight explained that they were mostly focusing on how to find him. When they weren't focused on that, the six of them were thinking about what Rainbow Dash said about him. Now Soren became curious, so he asked about what Rainbow said. Twilight, Dash, and Pinkie looked at each other. Twilight explained that Rainbow told all of them about her feelings towards him. After that, they talked it over and everypony was wondering how he felt about her.

"But I'm dating..." Soren sighed and looked down. "Luna." Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder.

"Soren...the Doctor told us what happened to the princess." He snapped his head up. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. To you, I could only guess that it felt like she died."

"I-I-" Taking a deep breath, Soren stopped himself from breaking down. "I felt very close to her. She was taken away from me because she wanted to save me. If only I held back on my studies-"

"No, Soren! Don't start blaming yourself. It was her choice. She loved you enough to sacrifice herself just to make sure you were alright in the end. Just remember that although she metaphorically died in your eyes, she didn't physically die." Soren sighed again.

"I know...but it still hurts. That's why it's way too soon for me to have any feelings towards another mare." Soren looked straight at Dash. "Be patient with me, Rainbow Dash. Give me time, and then I will give you an answer. Ok?" There was a silence after Soren stopped talking. Eventually it was broken by Spike asking a question.

"Hey, Soren? Why don't you sing for the ponies in town like you used to?" Soren's face lit up.

"That's a great idea, and I think I know the ponies that can help me do that. Rainbow, would you be willing to play guitar?"

"Heck yes!" Soren also looked at Twilight.

"Twilight, can you sing with me since Luna is..."

"Sure." Once they were ready, the five friends walked out of Sugar Cube Corner and headed towards the ponies who can throw a great party: Vinyl and Octavia.

Lucid Dreaming

Soren, Spike, and the girls soon arrived at Vinyl & Octavia's house. Soren knocked on the door, and a few seconds later, Vinyl opened it.

"Soren?!" Vinyl gasped. "You're back!" The DJ proceeded to hug her friend. "How ya been, buddy?"

"F-Fine...You're kind of...crushing me...a bit," Soren strained. Vinyl let go of her hug and patted Soren's back.

"All in a days work. So what bring you here? Looking for Octavia?"

"Actually I was looking for both of you. Is my sister home?" Soren noticed that Vinyl looked a little sad now.

"Yeah...she's home. Come on in." The group of friends crowded inside the musicians' home while Vinyl began explaining. "For the past few days, Octavia missed you, Soren, but she was mostly worried. Ever since the fire near town, Tavi started to fear the worst had happened to you. It got to the point where she would listen to your Canterlot concert when she felt really sad. I tried to tell her you had to be fine, but she remained worried."

Soren instantly felt bad. 'How could I put my own sister through that?' Hearing music coming from upstairs, Soren ran up the staircase and into Vinyl's studio. It was there that he saw Octavia sitting on a couch situated against a wall, eyes closed as she listened to a familiar voice. The classy mare opened her eyes at the intrusion, and soon her eyes widened when she saw Soren standing there. She immediately got off of the couch, ran over to Soren, and hugged him.

"I'm so sorry, Octavia," Soren apologized as he hugged his sister. "I never should have made you worry so much." Soren felt Octavia shake her head.

"I'm just happy that you're back," she said, tearing up. "But you do have a lot of explaining to do."

"Of course. Let's go downstairs." The siblings soon left the studio and walked downstairs. Their friends were sitting and waiting for them on the two living room couches. As soon as Soren and Octavia descended the stairs, Vinyl asked the question everyone was wondering.

"Now would you mind explaining what happened to you?"

"It would probably be better if we gathered all of our friends before doing that," Soren replied. Everyone agreed, so they all left the house to do find Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy.

It took all of thirty minutes for Soren, Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, Spike, Vinyl, and Octavia to find their three friends and for all of them to gather at Club Vinyl. The time for truth was now. They all sat down and Soren began to explain the long story of what happened to him in the past week. It took awhile to explain everything, but his friends were polite and silent through the entire story.

"I have a favor to ask of you," Soren said looking at Vinyl after finishing the story. She asked what, so Soren continued. "I want to sing for everyone in Ponyville since i haven't done that in a long time. I was wondering if you and Octavia want to help me."

"Yes!" Vinyl exclaimed. "Pinkie Pie, go get the decorations, but ease up on the bright colors, ok?" Pinkie's smile was so big it almost didn't fit on her face. The pink party pony instantly shot out of the door, leaving a small smoke trail behind her.

"I'll never figure out how she does that," Twilight commented. She then looked at Soren. "The rest of us will spread the word around town, unless you need us to do something else." Soren shook his head, so Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack left the club to do their part.

Now it was only Soren, Octavia, and Vinyl left at the club. Soren decided to walk over to the DJ stand. Once he stood at the station, Soren noticed Vinyl was smiling at him. Making eye contact, Vinyl Scratch spoke to Soren, all while keeping her grin.

"So~?" she asked.

"So what?" replied a confused Soren.

"A little bookworm told me that there might be something going on between you and Rainbow Dash. I can see that it's true because of the way she looks at you."

"Vinyl!" Octavia exclaimed. "That's none of your business-"

"Relax, Octavia," Soren interrupted while laughing. "Vinyl, to satisfy your curiosity: No, Dash and I aren't dating...but I would be lying if I said I haven't thought about it at this point."

"I thought you were in a relationship with Her Highness," Octavia said. Soren looked down and paused for awhile.

"...I was." Octavia gasped.

"Woah...what happened?" Vinyl asked in all seriousness.

"She had her memories erased as a result of saving me!" Soren exploded. "...It's my fault..."

"Soren..." Octavia said while walking up to him. Once she reached him, Octavia hugged Soren again. "Princess Luna wanted to save you. She knew what she was doing, and she did it because she loved you. She would rather forget you than let you die, can't you see that?"

"I guess you're right." Soren wiped away a tear. "But it still hurts."

"As it should. This happened at the Battle, correct?" Soren nodded. "Then it wasn't that long ago. Don't fight the pain; it will only make things worse. You will feel better days from now, Soren. I can guarantee it. All of your friends are here to help you."

Wiping away more tears, Soren slowly backed away from his sister. "Let's just drop the subject for now. We have a party to throw."

The party was amazing! For once, even Octavia was glad the party lasted for so long. Soren sang at least 15 songs, 3 of which were with Twilight. His throat was a little sore but he didn't care; he was having too much fun. After everypony left Club Vinyl, Octavia walked over to Soren and congratulated him on a wonderful performance. She gave him a hug and walked over to their friends, who began to clean up the building. Soren decided to help as well. After they finished cleaning up most of the place, Vinyl told everyone that she'll take care of the rest tomorrow.

The group of friends stood around each other before Soren cut the silence by commenting that he was tired. Everypony felt the same; it was a crazy and exhausting party, but it was still very fun. Soren then mentioned that he could finally have a normal night's sleep. Everyone all laughed and parted ways after that.

Soren was having a peaceful sleep, but a random dream soon found its way into his mind. Opening his eyes, Soren looked at the environment surrounding him. It was a field, and Ponyville was also nearby. Although it was interesting to be in a familiar environment for once, something else intrigued Soren. He heard a voice near him, shouting at him to get up. Unconsciously obeying, Soren stood up and looked around once again. His eyes widened when he saw who ordered him to stand. It was the Doctor...except something was off. The Doctor's coat was grey and his mane black. His eyes were also an ice-cold blue.

"Do not fret, Soren," the physically discorded Doctor said. "This is just a lucid dream."

"A what dream?" Soren asked. "I've only had starsight dreams so far."

"Lucid dreams aren't that special; they just allow the dreamer to feel everything in the dream."

"Sounds special to me, but why am I seeing you of all ponies? Why the discorded you?" The Doctor laughed.

"I'm not the discorded Doctor... technically anyway. I'm his conscience. And you...you represent your own conscience. I can explain further if you like."

"Go ahead, enlighten me."

"Our consciences represent our inner emotions and personalities. Deep inside, the Doctor is still his discorded self. His normal personality just shoved it away into his subconscious. Your conscience is doubtful and questioning. You used to have such confidence in the real world, but now you hide your doubts, your worries, your fears."

"Is there anyway I can remove the discorded part of the Doctor?"

"What fun is there in telling you exactly what you can do? I'll tell you in the form in a riddle: When a new relation is formed, a life or two must be taken." Before Soren could ask anything else, the dream started to fade from him.

When he woke up, Soren instructed himself to not focus on the dream right now. 'For once in a long while, i have freedom,' Soren thought. 'I have a break, and most importantly, I have a free mind.'

When morning came, Soren decided to try to hang out with Rainbow Dash today. He wanted to fly with her, race with her, or do any sort of activity they usually do together. He got to her cloud house and asked her if she was busy today.

"I actually have to help Applejack with some farm work," the rainbow pegasus explained.

"Alright, then I may as well go to the library. When you're done, want to meet me there?" Rainbow agreed, so Soren flew off towards the library. He soon realized that he actually had something to do there anyway.

Soren landed at the doorstep within a few minutes and knocked on the door. Twilight was happy that Soren decided to drop by, but her smile faded slightly when Soren asked her about lucid dreams. The unicorn thought for awhile before instructing Soren to find the same book they used to read about Starsight. Soren found the book and brought it to the table in the center of the room. The two of them found an excerpt on lucid dreams and began reading.

Lucid dreams...the one place a pony can create any world they wish and live it like it was real. To most, lucid dreaming is impossible, but to the others, it is a phenomenon that brings them joy.

Lucid dreaming is when a pony realizes they are dreaming and then begins to control their dream. Lucid dreaming has been known to connect to starsight, but not the other way around, for some reason. When a pony enters a lucid dream, their body almost always reflect their conscience...

Before Twilight continued, she stared straight at Soren. "Did you have one of these last night?" she asked. Soren nodded.

"I thought it was going to be starsight at first, but the Doctor called it a lucid dream."

"The Doctor was there?"

"Well, not him exactly. More like a representation of his conscience. He was discorded."

"What?! So deep down, the Doctor is-"

"Discorded, yes. Apparently his discorded half was simply moved to his subconscious, at least that's what he said."

"This is bad, really bad. I thought he was back to normal."

"Calm down, Twilight. If this is indeed a problem, we will help him. Let's just see what happens, alright?"

"Alright, but now I have to investigate this further."

"If you have to. You don't mind if I leave eventually, do you? Rainbow Dash and I are going to hang out today."

"No, I don't mind. I think I'll be pretty~ occupied today."

"Don't strain yourself. I don't know how long Rainbow will take to get here, so how about we just talk the day away?" Twilight agreed so the two friends sat in the lobby of the library and did exactly what Soren suggested. Rainbow Dash showed up one hour later, then her and Soren left the library to spend their own time together.

Author's Note

Hello everyone, I'm back. Had to go on hiatus for the time being to work on other things I am currently writing. Instead of working on Part 2, I was actually working on Part 3 of this story. Until I got to about chapter 20 of Part 1, I was occasionally working on Part 3. It's just that that part has so much character build, rises and falls, and interesting twists. It just begged me to work on it now and again, but eventually I had to commit to Part 1 and 2. Recently, that feeling has returned. I have now completed the finale of Part 3, but obviously it will require more revision. Once again I will commit to finishing Part 2, but if I have the need to work on future chapters, a hiatus may be called for again. We shall see what the future holds.

One last thing: I don't mind if people say they don't like the story, but I ask that they at least give me something to fix or work on instead of just saying the story was bad. Without a good reason, their words mean nothing. Again: I don't mind negative comments, but I prefer constructive criticism. One last thing: To those who say my OC is "too perfect," name one video game that doesn't have a perfect main protagonist. I am genuinely curious to see if there is one.

The Mailmare

Rainbow and Soren found themselves going to a lake on the edge of town. At the lake, the two friends simply laid down and talked to each other. Soren made sure that, even after all the chaos and the way he treated her, that Rainbow was alright.

"Don't worry about it, Soren," she assured." I know I stepped out of line killing Nyra...but I panicked. I didn't want to lose any of my friends, and I did whatever was necessary." Soren nodded slowly in understanding.

He didn't know when it happened, but soon Soren's mind started to blank out. At this point, luckily, Dash wasn't saying much, but Soren still couldn't make heads or tails of what she was saying. Eventually, Rainbow noticed Soren wasn't all there, so she started to shake him. He then passed out. It wasn't a dangerous form of passing out; it was more like falling asleep randomly. Soren reopened his eyes to see Rainbow's face. She was sitting in front of him, shaking him.

"I'm fine...kind of," Soren said groggily.

"What happened?" Dash asked.

"I saw a mare named Ditzy. Why I saw a random mare I have no idea."

"Ditzy? She's a mailmare. Should we talk to Twilight about this?"

"I promised that I would hang out with you today, so I'm going to keep that promise." Soren shrugged off the image of Ditzy and asked Rainbow Dash where they should hang out next. She asked Soren if he wanted to go to Sugarcube Corner to get something to eat. That sounded good to Soren, so he challenged her to a race. Dash smirked, and the pair of flyers immediately rocketed into their race.

The place was fairly quiet when they arrived. The only pony there was Mrs. Cake; she told the two that Pinkie Pie was out and about, doing whatever it is Pinkie does on her days off. Soren and RD grabbed some food, sat down at a table, and started talking once again. Soren decided to explain his lucid dream to her, and she followed along fairly well.

"Do you think the discorded Doctor has any connections with Ditzy?" Dash asked after the dream was explained. "You're not the kind of pony to have normal dreams, Soren."

"Unless the Doctor knew Ditzy, I don't think-" Soren paused abruptly. "Wait..."

"What?"

"Do you think it's possible that the Doctor had another pony companion before Twilight?"

"Wow." It was now Soren's turn to say 'What.' "It's nothing really. I just find it funny how there aren't many smart, interesting ponies in Ponyville besides our group of friends."

"It's not like I try to be this way. It just sort of...happens."

"It's not a bad thing. Relax. Let's just finish our food."

Once their food was finished, the two of them talked about what to do next. Seeing as though nothing else would entertain them right now, Soren and Rainbow Dash decided to finally go and talk to Ditzy. They left Sugarcube Corner and flew straight for the post office. When they arrived at the surprisingly spacious building, Soren and Rainbow saw only a single mare working inside. A little bell chimed the arrival of the two friends, and the mare at the counter looked up and smiled at them.

"Welcome to the Ponyville Postal Service! My name is Pendant. How can I help you two today?" The cheerful mare known as Pendant was about the age of Rainbow Dash. Her coat was khaki colored, her long mane was seemingly the color of gold, and her cutie mark was a gold pendant attached to a chain of the same material.

"Is Ditzy working today?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"She is, but she's still delivering mail. Ditzy should be back soon, if you two are willing to wait." Soren and Rainbow didn't mind waiting since this was their only activity to do as of now.

The two figured that since Ditzy was supposed to show up soon, they may as well get to know Pendant a little better. After talking to the golden-maned mare for a few minutes, they learned that her job is to organize anything around the post office, which in itself is apparently a massive job. They were about to ask her why she had a pendant for a cutie mark, but the little bell of the post office sounded. The three ponies turned towards the front door to see Ditzy Doo flying in from the entrance.

"Pendant, I need a new batch of mail..." Ditzy trailed off as she saw who was in the post office. The grey pegasus squealed and flew at Rainbow Dash. "Hi, Rainbow Dash! I haven't seen you in awhile," the silly mare exclaimed as she hugged her friend. Rainbow Dash asked Ditzy to let her go, so the mailmare did. Rainbow then introduced her to Soren.

"Soren, this is Ditzy Doo, also known as Derpy. Derpy, this is Soren. He's my cool new friend." Soren blushed from the slight praise, but it soon faded as Derpy crushed him with a strong hug.

"Nice to meet you!"

"Do you...do this...to all the...new ponies...you meet?" Soren strained.

"Uh-huh. So, Rainbow Dash, I take it you introduced Soren to my friend, Pendant."

"Yeah, both of us got to know her, but that's not why we're here," Rainbow said. "We need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Do you know the Doctor?" Derpy's eyes widened.

"U-u-umm...I...I...I..." Derpy immediately flew straight out of the building, leaving her saddlebags to fall to the floor. The remaining three ponies in the room raised an eyebrow at each other. This was getting interesting.

"So the Doctor did have a previous companion," Soren said.

"You two stay here. I'll go catch Derpy and bring her back," Rainbow offered. As Dash flew through the front doors, Soren turned towards Pendant.

"You don't know who the Doctor is, do you?" Soren asked. She shook her head. "Alright. I'll explain who he is, but you better have an open mind."

Derpy eventually came back, albeit she was practically dragged inside by Rainbow Dash. The pegasi mares showed up right as Soren finished explaining the Doctor to Pendant. Soren looked at Derpy, who looked like she [ireally didn't want to be here. Soren began calmly explaining everything to Ditzy, including his two dreams.

"Since I don't have normal dreams, I was wondering if you are connected with the Doctor somehow," Soren explained. "I just want to know if you have traveled with the Doctor before." Derpy opened her mouth to answer, but Soren didn't hear words. All he heard was noise; a high pitch noise to be accurate. Soren tilted his head in confusion. "Rainbow, did you hear that as well?" Soren looked at the rainbow pegasus to see that she was just staring at him, as was Pendant.

Eventually, everything became very strange for him. The three mares stood next to each other and began to lose their colors. The colors drained to the floor, which was also having its colors dissipate. 'What the hay is going on here?!' Soren thought as the world around him became different shades of black, white, and grey. He looked at his cutie mark to see that it still had color. Everything but him became monochromatic.

"Do like it?" a voice asked Soren from somewhere in the room. "I made this myself." Soren turned towards the front desk to see the discorded Doctor relaxing on it. The conscience of the Time Lord jumped to the floor and slowly made his way over to Soren.

"But if you're here, then I'm-"

"Dreaming, yes. Good thing you aren't slow to pick up on things."

"When did I-"

"Pass out? Right after you asked Ditzy Do if she used to be a companion to the Doctor. I figured that was a good time for us to get reacquainted, and this is the only way for me to speak with you."

"So you can make me pass out? How? You're just a conscience."

"Oh, I'm much more than that, but that isn't important right now. I also can't make you pass out whenever I feel like it. A pony's conscience can only handle so much. I will only have a chance to talk to you when you are relaxed enough."

"This is madness! A conscience can make other ponies pass out?!" Soren pinched between his eyes and groaned. "Look, I just want to know how to fix the Doctor's conscience. Can't you tell me how to do that?" The Doctor was quiet for awhile.

"You will need to watch his past in order to understand how to help him." All of this had Soren asking too many questions with not enough answers. The main questions being: How can he possibly make Soren pass out on command? Soren shrugged it off and asked another question.

"I don't want to pass out at awkward times like you just made me do. Is there any way for you to check if I am at a good location to fall asleep at?" He nodded.

"I know where all of my closest friends are as long as they are in the same universe. If you want, I suppose I will only make you fall asleep if you are in a good location. I told you as much as I could for now. Follow my advice and wake up."

"I'm not done asking question!" But it was too late. Soren felt himself regaining consciousness.

Soren woke up to the sight of wooden shelves and countless books. 'How many times have I ended up here?' Soren thought as he groaned and sat upright. He looked around and noticed Ditzy, Pendant, Twilight, and Rainbow all staring at him. Soren slowly got to his hooves and assured them that he was fine.

"We already know that," Rainbow said. Twilight walked up to Soren.

"Did you see the Doctor again?" she asked him. Before Soren could answer, Derpy started to stammer.

"I-Is he r-really back?" she asked nervously. Pendant calmed her down while Soren spoke to her.

"If you're worried that he's still discorded, don't be. Only his conscience is, apparently. The Doctor is his regular self as of now." Soren paused. "I just realized something. Where is the Doctor, anyway?" No pony in the room could answer that question, so Soren moved on to the topic of what he just finished dreaming about.

As he was finishing up his explanation, Soren started to hear a loud, high pitch noise in his head. "W-Why do I know things all of a sudden?" Soren gasped, grabbing his head. "I see the Doctor...and Ditzy...in the TARDIS. He already looks discorded. Wait...he's yelling at her..."

"Soren, don't!" Derpy shouted. "That's when the Doctor-"

"Let him," Twilight interrupted. "I think he needs to see this."

"The Doctor hit her...he actually hit Derpy. I...I can't see anymore. The memory ended when they left each other."

"That's the darkest part of his life," Derpy explained. "That's when everything changed for him."

"Derpy, I need you to explain the relationship you had with the Doctor in the past."

"I was his first companion when he arrived in this world. We went on many, many adventures together...but it was during one adventure that everything changed. We were traveling in the Caverns of Truth underneath the Everfree Forest, searching for Discord. This wasn't the Discord you all knew, this was when he was at his strongest, before the princesses stopped him. In the caves, we got separated, but eventually we found each other, except...the Doctor seemed different. He told me that we were leaving, but I protested, saying that we needed to stop Discord. The Doctor then did two things that he has never done before: He shouted at me to get in the TARDIS and he hit me."

Derpy started crying at this point, yet Soren still had to ask for a little more info. Derpy had to force herself to explain the rest.

"We got in the TARDIS, and I told the Doctor that I wanted to go home. He agreed, so he dropped me off in Ponyville. I hugged him goodbye, but he shoved me away and said that he didn't need me."

"Ok, that's enough, Derpy," Soren interrupted. "I'm sorry for making you remember all of that." He walked up to Ditzy and put a hoof on her shoulder. "I promise you: I will fix the Doctor's conscience. I will do everything in my power to help him." Looking up at Soren, Derpy smiled.

"You sound just like the Doctor," she commented, tears still flowing down her face. "You also have caring eyes and a confident voice...just like him." Soren had a strange idea, but he figured it would help Derpy feel better. He leaned in close to her and whispered a question.

"Would it make you feel better if you imagined that I was the Doctor and hugged me?"

"W-w-what?! B-but we barely know each other."

"This is to help you feel better, Derpy. You don't have to if you don't want to." The crying mare stood there, thinking. She finally closed her eyes and hugged Soren. At first, everyone else in the room was surprised, but they knew why he let her do that. Soren reminded her of the Doctor.

"Would you like to meet the Doctor?" Soren asked her as the hug ended. Derpy was very hesitant at first, but she eventually said yes. "Twilight, is there any way we can bring the Doctor here?"

"I know the perfect way," Twilight answered. "Follow me." The unicorn began running to her room upstairs. Everyone else gave each other a glance before following the mare up the staircase.

Author's Note

I don't know how long it's been since I uploaded some chapters but here ya go. I've been procrastinating a lot lately. Maybe it has to do with me being lazy, maybe it has to do with the fact that this isn't a high priority for me, or maybe it's due to the fact that I recently got Fallout 3 and have yet to put it down. Let's go with the latter, shall we? What else is there to say? Blah blah blah the story gets more interesting blah blah haters gonna hate blah blah allons-y!

A Long Shot

Everypony gathered on the second floor in Twilight Sparkle's room. When they entered the room, the group of four saw Twilight levitating a necklace of sorts. The necklace had a black string running through a blue pendant that had strange shapes on it. Turning towards her friends, Twilight began explaining her plan.

"This is an Emergency Necklace," she explained. "When charged with magic, it will send a signal to the TARDIS that the Doctor can pick up. Then he will come as soon as possible." Everyone agreed that this was a great plan, and as Twilight started to tell the tale of how she got it, Pendant asked Soren if she could speak to him in private.

"What is it?" he whispered.

"The Doctor wouldn't happen to be a brown stallion with a dark brown mane, would he?" Pendant asked while also whispering.

"Yes. Why?"

"So that's the stallion that Ditzy has a crush on." Soren's eyes widened.

"Ditzy...likes the Doctor?" Pendant nodded. "Could you excuse me for a second?" Soren and Pendant walked over to their friends. "Twilight, Rainbow Dash, can I speak with you two for a second?" he asked with normal volume.

"Is something wrong?" Twilight asked him as they stepped away from Ditzy and Pendant.

"Kind of. I just want to avoid something. Pendant just told me that Ditzy has a crush on the Doctor."

"Really?" Rainbow smirked while looking at Twilight.

"What?" the confused unicorn said.

"This isn't anything to be worried about," Soren explained. "I just feel like when the Doctor shows up, we have to make sure he doesn't act too...friendly towards Twilight...for Ditzy's sake."

"Why?" Rainbow asked. "I'm sure she can handle it."

"I'm sure she can as well, but let me ask you a question. How did you feel when I was dating Luna?"

"...Good point. We don't need Derpy feeling jealous." The three friends decided to walk back to the other two mares. Once they were all together, Twilight started using her magic on the necklace. Within the minute, the TARDIS appeared and the Doctor sprinted out of her doors.

"Is everyone alright?!" he shouted. The Doctor looked at Twilight, who used her head to motion to where Soren was. He walked over to Soren, who put a foreleg around the Doctor's neck when he got close enough.

"I can't explain why right now, but I need you to not act like Twilight is your marefriend. Ditzy is right over there." The Doctor quickly looked up, and his body became tense as he saw his previous companion. Soren could hear Ditzy starting to stammer to Pendant out of nervousness, but soon she regained herself. Her and the Doctor walked up to each other and started having a private conversation.

"We should leave these two alone," Pendant said to the others. No pony protested, so Soren, Twilight, Rainbow, and Pendent all left the library.

It was only about 4 o'clock in the afternoon as they exited the library. One of them commented that today seems like another long day. As the four of them walked through Ponyville, they began to talk about the situation.

"How can that nice looking pony possibly be evil?" Pendant asked.

"He is nice, but apparently he still has a little 'evil' left in his conscience," Twilight replied before looking at Soren. "Soren, you mentioned that the Doctor's conscience told you that witnessing his past can help him. How will that help?"

"I don't know, but I do know that sleeping may be the only way to fix the Doctor. I may need to sleep now and again in order to help faster."

"But the Doctor looked fine!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Why do you need to do anything?"

"His evil conscience could be a seed waiting to grow. I don't want to take any chances."

"So how exactly is sleeping going to work?"

"When I sleep, I talk to the Doctor's conscience. In every dream, he's been giving me advice on how to fix him. The more I sleep, the more I learn. But..." Soren walked over to Rainbow Dash and pulled her close. He began whispering something in her ear. As he did so, Rainbow's eyes widened, and the others clearly saw this. When he finished whispering to Rainbow, Soren saw her expression and chuckled.

"It's not what you think, Rainbow," he assured. Soren patted her on the shoulder and flew away.

"What did Soren whisper to you?" Twilight asked once the alicorn was gone.

"He...He wanted me to grab something for him," Rainbow lied. She then took off as well.

Soren stood by his bedroom window, looking upon Ponyville. He was enjoying the sunny day scenery as he waited for somepony. But that wasn't the only thing he was thinking about. 'How is my plan even going to work? It's up to the Doctor's conscience to decide if my plan will work or not.' Looking upon the town one more time, Soren noticed a pegasus flying towards his house. He smiled as he saw Rainbow Dash approach his cloud house. The athletic pegasus flew through the bedroom window and landed.

"You know, the way you worded that request was very misleading," she commented right away.

"Yeah, it could have been worded better."

"You literally asked me to 'come over and sleep with you.'" Soren laughed.

"At least I made sure you understood what I was asking."

"Why do you need me to sleep near you anyway?"

"Earlier today, Twilight and I read a chapter in a book about lucid dreaming. Although she stopped, I continued to read a little more. I managed to read something that could be helpful to us. It is said that if a unicorn experiences a lucid dream, ponies that sleep very close to them have a chance to enter the same dream. It's a long shot, but if this is true then maybe you can help me confront the Doctor's conscience. I don't know how this will end, but at least I'll have a strong pony by my side." Soren offered his bed to Rainbow Dash, but she decided to sleep on the cloud floor. Shrugging, Soren got on his bed and lay down. Pretty soon, the two were fast asleep.

Soren opened his eyes and was graced with the sight of an entirely white area. He stood in the middle of nowhere as he looked in all directions. All Soren saw was: a never-ending floor; Rainbow Dash laying on the floor; and the Doctor's conscience, staring at him from a few feet away.

"Why is Rainbow Dash here yet sleeping?" Soren 'thought.'

"Her conscience has yet to accept the possibility of this lucid dream," the Doctor said. Soren was surprised that he couldn't say anything in his head without it being projected. "Soren...do you know what happens when a pony doesn't have a conscience?"

"They become a sick, twisted, evil pony."

"That's only metaphorically. What would happen if, oh I don't know, one conscience killed another?"

"You never wanted to help me, did you? You just wanted me here so you could kill my conscience. And I'm guessing that means I would die in real life as well?" The Doctor smiled evilly at Soren.

"Bring it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed out of nowhere. Soren looked to his right and saw that Rainbow was already in a fighting position. Accepting Rainbow's challenge, the Doctor charged at them.

Being a lot faster than Rainbow or Soren expected, the Doctor had no problem tackling Soren to the ground, separating Soren and Rainbow Dash by many feet, and starting to punch him. Soren quickly threw him off and jumped away from the killer conscience, adding distance between the two of them. Rainbow quickly flew over to Soren, but soon Soren started slowly walking towards the Doctor.

"Rainbow Dash, no matter what happens and no matter what he does to me, you cannot interfere right now," Soren said seriously. He looked at the Doctor menacingly. "If you hurt Rainbow, I will end you."

"Why did you bring me here if you don't want me to fight?!" Rainbow yelled.

"I said I needed back-up. That's all." Soren's even tone unnerved Rainbow just a bit. Not wanting to anger him, Rainbow did as she was told and sat down, staying out of the way for now. Meanwhile, the Doctor chuckled and motioned for Soren to come at him. Soren sent a few lightning bolts at him but was surprised to see the spell disintegrate mid-flight.

"Magic only works with a physical horn, not a spiritual one," he explained.

"I highly doubt that. So it looks like we both have to resort to punching and kicking," Soren smirked. That's when the all-out brawl occurred. Soren and the Doc began hitting each other a lot. They jumped away from each other to breathe for a few seconds. The Doctor looked as though he barely got hurt, yet Soren was already bruised.

'I should've expected nothing less from a Time Lord,' Soren thought.

"Yes you should have." Soren ran at the Doc. Once he was close, Soren tricked his enemy into thinking he was about to tackle the stallion, but instead, Soren jumped over him. From behind, Soren wrapped his forelegs around the Doc's neck and put him in a headlock. Soren decided to lay on his back with Whooves on top of him so it would be harder to break the hold. As he began to strangle the Doctor's conscience, Soren realized something: If he kills the conscience, then the Doctor will surely be killed in the process. Soren let the conscience go and jumped away; the Doc laughed in return.

"Good guys have too many rules and morals," he smirked triumphantly. Soren backed up until Rainbow Dash was close enough behind him.

"Any ideas on how to stop the Doctor's conscience?" Soren asked, turning towards his friend for a few seconds.

"No...turn around!" she yelled suddenly. Soren obeyed and saw the Doctor charging at him.

"Pay attention!" the conscience said as he tackled Soren yet again. While having a hold of Soren, the Doctor chuckled. "Now time for the real fun." He put his forehead to Soren's. The alicorn then began seeing everything that the Doctor went through before he became discorded. All the betrayals, all the friends he lost, all the enemies he had to fight, the chaos growing within his mind, everything! Soren now understood why the Doctor acted the way he did, but even after seeing all that, Soren still didn't see The Truth that was described in the visions. He assumed the conscience didn't want him to see that, or maybe he is denying that he even saw the Truth. After the visions were over, Soren blacked out.

To Fix A Conscience

Rainbow stared wide-eyed at the scene before her. Soren blacked out after whatever the Doctor did to him. The Doctor got off of Soren and looked at Rainbow.

"What did you do to Soren?!" Dash demanded. The evil stallion chuckled once again.

"All I did was show him everything I went through to become discorded. He's still witnessing it as we speak, but he'll wake up eventually." The Doctor sat down yet held eye contact with the pegasus. "So I guess we have to wait for him to wake up since you agreed to not interfere."

"You don't expect me to believe that you're just going to sit there, do you?"

"My quarrel is with him, not you. I may be 'evil' but I'm still the Doctor. Bystanders get in the way only if you let them." Rainbow felt even more hatred for this discorded pony; she felt like snapping his neck. When she saw him starting to grin at her, Rainbow relaxed a little.

"This place is getting to me."

"Let it. Let the anger flow through you. You want to kill me, just like you did the Nightmare Guardian."

"I didn't want to!"

"Then why did you?" Rainbow was speechless after that. Luckily, Soren started to wake up. The Doctor walked away from Soren while motioning that Rainbow can see to him. The mare ran up to her friend; she quickly saw that he was still out of it. Rainbow began shaking Soren, but it didn't help.

"R-Rainbow...I-I need you to...do something for me," Soren said slowly. "I...need you to...hit me."

"How will that help?" she asked him.

"Just...do it!" Almost refusing his offer, Rainbow still obliged and smack him across the face. After the mule-smack, Soren was so full of energy that both Rainbow and the Doctor were surprised. He jumped up, did a flip in the air, and landed with a crazily energetic smile. "Now! Where were we?"

"Why do you seem hyper now?" the conscience asked.

"Well you see, I found inspiration through the many visions you forced me to see. It is because of that that I know the perfect way to get rid of you. Rainbow, come here." Soren pulled Rainbow in and whispered: "Get Twilight." Before Rainbow could ask how she could get Twilight, Soren grabbed her.

"You're going to hate me for what I'm about to do," he said before he lifted a hoof. Rainbow then found herself in Soren's room. She looked at the bedroom window and saw that it was now sunset. Looking at Soren's sleeping form, Rainbow thought one thing: 'That son of a mule actually hit me. I'll have to get him back.' She chuckled then flew out the window, heading towards the library.

Soren continued to fight the Doctor's conscience. He was once again pounding on the Doctor but the stallion was barely being hurt. Unfortunately, when the Doctor hit Soren, it hurt him as though a strong spell struck his body. Punches met punches, bucks met bucks, and eventually Soren was almost becoming too weakened to fight. Soren stumbled from another one of the Doctor's hits. The stallion took the opportunity to buck Soren square in the chin, sending him flying a decent amount of feet away.

"Soren!" a faint voice said. Soren tried to find the pony who shouted his name but he was too beat up to really focus. Eventually a figure rushed up to him; it was Twilight.

"Stay...back..." Soren commanded weakly. "When...the time...is right...I'll need...your magic." Soren strained very hard to stand up. He ultimately fell back down to the ground.

"Let Rainbow and I handle this. You're far too weak to fight." As Twilight stood over Soren, the Doctor began walking towards them.

"You need to...remember a spell...that can separate...a conscience from...a body." Before Twilight could say anything, she was sent flying by the Doctor slamming into her. The mare bounced on the ground twice before picking herself up. She looked at Soren and saw the Doctor hitting him. Soren felt like his time here was ending; he didn't know how much more he could take.

"Leave him alone!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she appeared from nowhere. The Doctor laughed and kicked Soren in his stomach.

"This is where it ends, little alicorn," he gloated. Rainbow started to fly at him, but she wasn't fast enough to stop what came next. The Doctor raised a hoof and slammed it as hard as he could into Soren's chest. The pain was so intense for Soren that he didn't move after that blow.

Rainbow Dash punched the Doctor a split second after his strike. She then landed next to Soren and lifted his head slightly. Soren struggled to look at her. When he did, he could see her fighting back. Rainbow has never seen him so weak before, neither has Twilight.

"You're going to be fine, Soren," she comforted, not entirely sure she was telling the truth. "This is almost over, and then you'll be fine." Soren cupped her face and smiled.

"Dear, sweet Rainbow Dash," Soren whispered. "I told you that the plan was flawless, yet you still doubt me." Using the last of his strength, Soren lifted his head and gave Rainbow a kiss on the cheek before drawing his last breath. Both Twilight and Rainbow were in complete shock about Soren.

'We're lucky I figured out what to do with the discorded Doctor,' she thought. Twilight walked over to a still, shocked Rainbow Dash, who was still holding Soren.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled as she stood next to her. Rainbow slowly looked at Twilight "I need you to focus and help me here. You need to do something for me." As Twilight explained the plan to Rainbow, the Doctor grinned victoriously at Soren's dead body. The two mares used the distraction to their advantage. Rainbow grabbed Twilight and threw the mare up as high as she could. Rainbow then flew at the Doctor. Quickly noticing her, the stallion rushed forward and punched Rainbow in the stomach. As Rainbow grabbed her gut in pain, the Doctor noticed that Twilight was missing...but it was too late. The missing mare reappeared as she slammed on top of the Doctor. As she sat on top of him, Twilight head-butted him. She knocked herself out for a few seconds but that was all part of the plan. When she woke up, Twilight noticed her horn glowing.

"Perfect," she groaned, rubbing her head.

"What did you do?" Rainbow strained as she slowly got up.

"I made a spiritual connection with the conscience, that way I can bring him into the real world using a lot of my magic. Now would be a good time for us to wake up." Rainbow nodded, then the mares exited the lucid dream.

It was nighttime when the two mares found themselves in Soren's bedroom once again. Picking herself off of the floor, Rainbow grabbed her stomach. It was apparent that the Doctor's conscience wasn't lying when he said killing a conscience could kill the actual pony. Twilight, who also chose to sleep on the floor, stood up and walked over to a book on a nearby table. Rainbow watched as her friend casted a spell that looked like a stream of mist was entering the book. Once it was obvious that the spell was complete, Rainbow spoke.

"What did that spell do?" she asked Twilight.

"I used most of my magic to drag the Doctor's conscience into the real world. Surprisingly, he only appeared as a spirit because that was all that was left of him. I then used my remaining energy to send him into the nearest inanimate object of my choosing. I decided to send him into this book. I figured a spirit can't cause too much harm as paper."

As soon as she remembered what that spirit did to Soren, Rainbow quickly went to Soren and started shaking him. Twilight stood next to the bed and used her remaining bit of magic to scan his vitals. Since she was expecting the worst, Twilight gasped when she noticed something amazing.

"What is it?" Rainbow asked sadly.

"He's in a coma! H-How can that be? He died!"

"Shut up, Twilight!" Rainbow shouted while looking at her friend with teary eyes. "He didn't die, he just..." Rainbow turned her head back towards Soren. She then closed her eyes and looked down.

"You're right, Rainbow Dash. He didn't die...somehow. At least he's still alive. We need to take him to the hospital just to make sure he stays that way." Rainbow Dash continued to look at Soren. She eventually nodded in agreement, and the two mares brought their comatose friend to the Ponyville Hospital.

One-Sided Conversations

'Being in a coma isn't so bad. At least it gives me time to reflect and think about things I never had the chance to.' It was the day after Soren's encounter with the Doctor's conscience. During that time frame, he has been trying to listen in on the outside world. Obviously there was no luck so far, but he felt he was getting close. Towards the end of what Soren believed to be the first day of his coma, he began seeing things in his mind. Soren began to see ponies, ponies that he has met before. He saw Luna and Nyra, but they weren't acting right.

'In one day, Soren...' Luna said to him. 'You lost both of us in one day.'

'You didn't even have the decency to try to save us,' Nyra added. Both mares had even voices. They betrayed no emotions; they simply spoke words. Even though the words weren't supported with emotion, they hurt Soren nonetheless.

'Go away!' Soren screamed in his head, frustrated that they technically spoke the truth. Soren attempted to use his magic for the umpteenth time. This was the one task that he hoped to accomplish soon.

All of Soren's friends came to see him the next morning. They all hoped that he was going to be awake, but their hopes were crushed. Soren was diagnosed as being comatose. The doctors didn't know the cause of the coma (for Twilight and Rainbow Dash chose not to tell them) or how long it would last. Everypony could only hope that the coma wouldn't be permanent. Twilight Sparkle looked at the expressions on all of her friends' faces. Each one of them portrayed sorrow and guilt. Twilight could tell that everypony besides her and Rainbow felt guilty that they couldn't be there for Soren. Thinking about Rainbow, Twilight glanced over at her pegasus friend. She figured this was affecting her the most.

'She developed a crush on him since Appaloosa,' Twilight thought. 'It's almost like, at this point, she shares a strong bond with him. I understand that we should feel sad right now, but Rainbow Dash feels a lot worse. This crush of hers...I think it's much more than that.'

"This sucks," Pinkie Pie whined randomly, causing Twilight to snap out of her thoughts. "Why do bad things have to happen to Soren all the time?"

"Ah don't know, Pinkie," Applejack replied. "No pony deserves what he and the Doc go through."

"Umm, Twilight?" Fluttershy said, walking up to the purple unicorn. "Can't you help Soren?" Twilight shook her head sadly.

"I really wish I could, but I don't know any spells about waking up a comatose pony. I've read books about injuries and spells that could heal said injuries but I don't know a spell for something like this." The unicorn thought for a few moments before saying something else. "There is one thing, but I highly doubt it's helpful. I have read a book about events that were thought to be impossible yet were proven to be true. There were a few pages that explained that a comatose pony isn't simply unconscious. It's almost as if they are awake and asleep at the same time."

"What does that mean?" AJ asked. Twilight continued.

"It's a pretty ridiculous theory, but some say that ponies in comas could possibly hear everything around them, even if they are unconscious. Being a mare of science, I couldn't accept that theory without the slightest of proof, which the book seemed to have a lack of for that subject. An unconscious pony...still able to hear everything near them...it's impossible."

"But you said those 'events' in your book hold things that were true," Rarity said.

"Y'all can color an apple orange but it don't make it an orange," AJ retorted.

"True. But Twilight, do you think Soren can hear us right now?"

"I think all of us are hoping that he can. It's just that...*sigh* I don't know. I want to believe it, but there's no way to tell."

"Ooo ooo, I have an idea!" Pinkie exclaimed while smiling. The other five mares looked at her. "If Soren can hear us, we should talk to him!"

"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Like telling him things as a sign of friendship." Pinkie Pie replied, still holding a large smile. The five mares exchanged glances then shrugged. They were willing to do that if it meant believing in Soren.

Fluttershy was the first one to talk to Soren. Since she didn't know what to say, the timid pegasus simply told Soren that they all appreciated him and his hard work.

"I didn't know what to say to a pony who can't talk back," she explained to her friends after she walked out of the room. All of them waited in the hallway, which had enough seating for only half of them. Rainbow, Twilight, and Applejack were standing, while Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy occupied the seats. Fluttershy took her seat next to Pinkie.

Rarity was the next one to go. She wanted to cry when she walked in but decided to stay strong. She also didn't say much to him. She told Soren how brave he was to fight and fix everything to keep Ponyville safe.

"I truly didn't know how much he's done for us and Ponyville until now," she told her friends while fighting the oncoming tears.

Third was Applejack. She was the first one of her friends to actually say quite a bit to Soren. Walking over to Soren's hospital bed, the farmer sat in a chair next to him. "Soren, Ah...Ah'm sorry. Ah'm sorry for that one time I turned my back on you. No friend should ever do that to another friend. It's just that...when a pony is scared, she tends to do things she normally wouldn't do. Ah don't even know if you're gonna remember this, but I just wanted to say sorry for abandoning you, even if it was only one time."

Finishing her one-sided conversation with her friend, Applejack walked out of the room and looked at her friends. "Ah only apologized to him," she told them. Rainbow patted her friend on the back to comfort her.

Pinkie Pie decided to go next. No pony remembered how long she was in there because as soon as they saw a crying Pinkie Pie exit Soren's room, the five mares started to comfort her. They didn't ask anything; they just allowed her to let it out.

While her friends calmed Pinkie, Twilight Sparkle was next to speak. As she walked through the room, the unicorn thought about how close her and Soren became over the past few months. Over the few months they have been working and studying together, the unicorn and alicorn began to learn more and more about each other.

"Has it really been only a few months since we found you?" Twilight asked him as she sat next to the bed. "It's amazing how time flies sometimes. Anyway, Soren, I really just wanted to tell you why I think Rainbow Dash likes you so much. You are probably the only friend she has that can either keep up with her or give her a run for her bits." She paused. "Back in the Everfree, after Cain was defeated, I saw the small kiss you gave her before you passed out. I don't know if it was to make her happy or if you like her the same way, but I think now is as good a time as any to say how you feel about Rainbow. I'm still not sure if you can hear me or not, but when you wake up, all of us will show you how much you mean to us. It's the least we can do for you."

When Twilight saw her tears drop onto the floor, she got up and walked out of the room. Seeing that Twilight also began crying, her friends didn't ask anything of her as well, just like Pinkie. Twilight sat next to Pinkie Pie and hugged her. Hugging her pink friend not only helped Pinkie but it helped herself as well.

Rainbow Dash, being the only pony left to talk, walked into the hospital room. The mare tried to remain as strong as normal, and she was mostly successful. She didn't cry. Rainbow never sat down in the room; she simply stood by the bed. She closed her eyes before speaking. She could not find it in herself to look Soren in eye and not break down for what she was about to say.

"Geez, Soren...why? I...we can't believe you went as far as this to help somepony, a pony we didn't know even needed your help. Why? For all we know, you could be in a coma forever or..." She stopped herself, then stomped the ground in frustration. "You better pull through! And you better not do something like this again..."

After walking out of the room, Rainbow was asked for the gist of what she said to Soren. "I don't wanna talk about it" were her only words before sitting on the floor. Her friends didn't press her more; they knew she was serious. Deciding that that was enough for one day, Twilight told her friends that they should come back tomorrow. They all agreed and left the hospital. Even though they would be spending the rest of the day together, the six friends will be thinking of Soren the whole time.

'Yes! Finally got my magic to work. I can hear something, but what is it? It's someone's voice. It's so soft...wait...is that Fluttershy?' Soren thought hard enough to cause a spark from his horn, which allowed him to faintly hear again. He had to focus every bit of his attention to listening to the things going on around him. 'Fluttershy is telling me something. Is everyone else with her?' Fluttershy left the room; he could tell she obviously misses him.

A few minutes passed before Soren heard someone else. 'I can hear Rarity now. She thinks I'm brave and heroic. I guess all of my friends are going to say something to me.' Rarity left then Applejack took her place then Pinkie then Twilight then Rainbow. 'Each of them said something nice. Applejack apologized for turning her back on me; Pinkie Pie was sad that I won't wake up; Twilight explained why Rainbow really likes me; and Rainbow was a little mad that I risked my life to help one pony. She just doesn't get it. Also, Twilight was right about me telling Dash how I feel about her, but how do I feel?

'All of my friends worry that I won't wake up, but I told Rainbow Dash to trust me. This coma shouldn't last for more than a week. That brings up that same thought I had earlier: How exactly do I know some of the things I know? I know I never read any book about some of the subjects I know. Where did some of my knowledge come from? Am I beginning to remember who I was?'

Appreciation

Three days later, Soren awoke from his coma. He suddenly sat straight up and looked around the room. Soren noticed the clock on the wall; it was almost 3 o'clock.

"Am I in the real world now?" Soren whispered to himself. "It's gotta be."

"Soren!" The alicorn didn't have time to turn his head towards the voice, for he was bear-hugged within the next second. An ecstatic, pink pony was hugging Soren by his neck. Any normal pony would be choking by now, but since Soren has been hugged multiple times by Pinkie Pie, he got used to it.

"I'm happy to see you too, Pinkie Pie," Soren said. "Can you stop please?" Pinkie let go and stood by Soren's bed as the rest of his friends also crowded around him.

"How ya feelin'?" Applejack asked him.

"Perfectly fine." He looked at Rainbow Dash with a smirk. "I told you that you could trust me."

"Soren..." Twilight spoke up. Soren gave her his attention. "What happened in your coma? When you woke up suddenly, scaring us in the process might I add, you questioned if this was the real world."

"It doesn't matter."

"You're right," Rarity said. "You're awake and with us; that's all that matters."

"Yeah it does," Rainbow commented. "Let's leave this place."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Everypony looked at Fluttershy, who just spoke up. "It's just that Soren just woke up. Shouldn't he rest for just a teeny bit longer?"

"She has a good point," said Twilight. "Let's just wait awhile before leaving, just to make sure he's alright." Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash groaned. Even though the two mares wanted to leave, they still conversed with their friends for the next hour. It was amazing to all of them how they usually don't have much to talk about, yet they still manage to waste away hours. At the one hour mark, they decided to leave. Luck for them, the doctors allowed it.

"Hahaha, I've been here too many times," Soren laughed as he and his friends walked out of the building. "Granted it's not exactly healthy, but it's still funny, right? Girls?" Soren turned around and saw that all of his friends stopped walking. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, but there's something all of us need to do," Twilight explained. Soren raised an eyebrow. "We just want to show you how much we appreciate all the things you have done for us and for Ponyville."

"Oookay...who wants to go first?" Rarity raised her hoof elegantly. Before she walked over to Soren, she whispered something in Rainbow Dash's ear. The pegasus chuckled then nodded.

"Would you be a dear and stand still for me, Soren?" she asked. Soren nodded, so she proceeded to walk over to him. Standing perfectly still, Soren noticed that Rarity was not going to stop in front of him. While she smiled with her eyes closed, Rarity was about to walk past Soren. He was about to turn his head to look at her, but he felt something rub his chin. It felt soft and smooth, and it caused Soren to blush. Rarity had just flicked her tail to touch Soren's chin. Rarity turned just her head to look at Soren. Once they made eye contact, Rarity winked at him. Soren felt as though he was blushing more.

"Oh darn," Rarity said, giggling. "He only blushed, Rainbow Dash." Soren snapped his head towards Rainbow, who began laughing.

"Were you trying to do what I think you were trying to do?" Soren asked. Rainbow, trying to catch her breath, nodded. Soren sighed. "Whatever. Who wants to go next?"

"Ooo ooo, I do, I do!" Pinkie exclaimed while bouncing up and down. Realizing something, the pink mare stopped bouncing immediately. "Wait! I need something first. Be right back." And just like that, Pinkie zipped away with a poof.

"I guess I should ask who wants to go after Pinkie Pie." His friends exchanged glances and didn't say anything. "Does anyone want to go last?"

"I will," Rainbow answered. "Gotta save the best for last, am I right?"

"Fair enough." Pinkie Pie returned, rolling her party cannon towards Soren. "How did you get back so fast? You know what, never mind. So what's the plan, Pinkie?"

"I thought me and you could do something super amazing!" she replied. Stretching her forelegs to an unnatural length, Pinkie Pie brought Soren over to her. She began whispering her plan to him. The more of the plan she explained the bigger Soren's smile got. "Now get in the cannon!" she ordered happily. Soren saluted as a joke and hopped into her party cannon, which was pointed up.

"Pinkie Pie...are you sure that's such a good idea?" Twilight asked.

"I have no idea!" Pinkie replied with a laugh. Soren started laughing too as he poked his head out from the cannon and draped his forelegs over the rim of the barrel. Pinkie Pie then started to count down from five.

As soon as she said zero, Pinkie shot Soren out of the cannon. He soared higher and higher while he flapped his wings. When Soren reached his maximum speed, he performed a sonic boom. The air stream that was behind Soren turned into smoke, and instead of having a rainbow ring (like Rainbow's Sonic Rainboom) expand outward, Soren's blast shot out a ring of green fire. Within a few seconds, the alicorn landed near his friends. They quickly noticed that he was partially covered in soot. After noticing it himself, Soren shook it off.

"Well that was...different," Twilight commented. Pinkie Pie simply gave an innocent smile.

"That was pretty sweet," Rainbow said.

"Can I go next?" Applejack asked. Soren, of course, said sure. "I actually need to grab something also." Without another word, AJ was off. Soren, eyebrow raised, looked at Twilight.

"What?" she asked.

"This is becoming more of a talent competition than a display of appreciation. Whose idea was this anyway?"

"I noticed that as well, and it was the Doctor's idea that we do this for you. Is displaying talented tricks bad?"

"Not at all. I'm having a blast. I can't wait to see what the rest of you have planned. Twilight, Fluttershy, which one of you wants to go after Applejack?"

"I'm still debating it. What about you, Fluttershy?"

"I-I'd rather not go next," she stammered. Soren kept looking at her.

"Oh come on, Flutters. How about I think of something me and you can do?"

"Only if you want to. I won't stop you." Soren chuckled. 'She's so shy,' he thought...then another idea came to mind. 'I always wondered about something. Maybe now is a good time to try it out.' Soren quickly grabbed Fluttershy's hoof and brought her close.

"It's alright. I'll teach you that you don't need to be shy around friends. I hope you know how to dance because I barely do myself." Soren and Fluttershy then began to dance to the best of their abilities. Since Fluttershy was practically frozen, Soren took the lead the entire time. Their friends were entertained by their dance. They weren't bad, but they weren't experts. Soren attempted a few tricks (and some of them worked), but he mostly stuck to basic dance moves, like spins and a one-two step.

Once Soren and Fluttershy were done, the rest of their friends began clapping and laughing good-heartedly. When the applause died down, Twilight Sparkle walked over to Soren.

"I came up with something," she told him. Twilight began explaining her idea to Soren. He liked it; it involved a lot of teleporting. Applejack soon came back, but Soren asked her if she wouldn't mind letting Twilight go first. Applejack didn't care, so Soren and Twilight began their plan.

Soren started it by using his magic to launch Twilight in the air. She caught herself with magic and began to float. Soren jumped up and began teleporting rapidly. He started zig-zagging while teleporting. He never used his wings, yet he constantly moved up a foot before teleporting again. He was moving upward towards Twilight, and when he reached a certain height, Soren began flying. When it looked as though he was about to ram into Twilight, Soren teleported away. A cloud then randomly appeared on the ground below Twilight. Soren occupied this cloud by laying down on it; while he did this, his horn began to glow. Soren used his magic to give the floating Twilight a light shove, causing her spell to cease, causing her to start falling. The other mares simply watched their friend fall towards the ground. When she came close to the cloud and Soren, Twilight teleported away before she could hit the ground. Then she reappeared, standing on top of Soren's head with her hooves spread out in a "ta-da" fashion. After their flashy performance was over, the two friends walked back to their audience. Soren asked AJ, who had a hoof-sized red ball, to tell him her idea.

"Ever play a little game my family calls smackback?" she asked. Soren shook his head, so AJ began explaining what they would be doing. Her idea was simple enough. The two walked a fair distance away from each other then faced one another. "This is gonna be slightly different from the regular game," AJ explained as she held the ball, ready to strike it. "Let's see how many fancy moves ya got, Soren."

Applejack smacked the ball over to Soren, who had to react very quickly to prevent the speeding ball from slamming into his face. Hitting the ball into the air, Soren tried to keep an eye on it, but he found it difficult every time Applejack hit it back. She made the ball go ridiculously fast after every hit. After five hits from Applejack, Soren was starting to get the hang of it. Just when Soren was getting used to the game, AJ decided to put a spin on things. Every time the ball came her way, she hit it back in a skillful way using backflips, spinning hits, and even using her hat! Once the fancy tricks came out, the ball only stayed in the air for another minute before Soren missed it. He couldn't do nearly as many tricks as Applejack could.

"Hoo wee! Y'all lasted a lot longer than Ah thought you would." Applejack wiped away some beads of sweat even though the game didn't tire her that much. Soren,on the other hoof, looked beat.

"Yeah...I didn't think...I would last...that long...either." Soren said between breaths. He took a few seconds to take some deep breaths. "No idea why that tired me out so much. Let me take a breather before doing something with Rainbow Dash." The tired alicorn rested for a few minutes before finally asking Rainbow Dash what they will be doing together.

"All you gotta do is catch me," she explained with a smirk.

"A race? That's all?" Rainbow shook her head at him. Smiling, the pegasus shot to the sky. Everyone watched as their friend flew high in the sky and began to arc downward, away from them. A few more seconds passed before everyone figured out what Rainbow Dash meant by Soren 'catching her.'

"She's trying to kill me," Soren commented right before a boom was heard. Looking in the direction of Rainbow, Soren saw her Sonic Rainboom expanding in the sky. He soon saw Rainbow Dash flying parallel to the ground, going extremely fast towards him. 'Gotta think quick! How can I do this? Think. Think. Think!'

Soren came up with something, but he had no confidence that it would work. Readying himself, Soren began to use his magic on the area of the ground he was standing on. As Rainbow flew closer and closer to him, Soren became more and more nervous about the outcome of this. Rainbow flew straight into Soren...and he caught her. His catch caused them both to spin like a top on that one enchanted area of earth. The spell prevented the spinning from drilling into the ground, and it slowed Soren and Rainbow down quicker than their circular momentum would allow. When they stopped spinning, neither of them were dizzy. They stopped in a peculiar way as well. Rainbow Dash was facing Soren while she was leaned back, while Soren held her so she wouldn't fall backward. It was like that dancing position that certain couples end in. She looked at him, and he looked at her. Soren smiled.

"You're crazy," he chuckled right before he did something that shocked everyone there. He leaned in and kissed Rainbow Dash. She was surprised at first, but she soon kissed back. Their friends were struck with awe... except Rarity and Pinkie Pie, who both aww'd. Blushing slightly, Dash stood back up, and after looking at Soren for a bit, she began holding back laughter.

"What?" he asked, wondering why she was slightly ruining the mood.

"Your-Your wings..." she began laughing now. Soren looked at his wings to see them fully spread. It was his turn to blush now, but as he did, he also noticed something when looking at Rainbow.

"Well it looks like I'm not the only with extended wings."

"Oh, I already know they are...but mine didn't go first."

"What makes you say that?" Soren asked, blushing a little more.

"During our kiss, I had one eye open." Soren groaned in defeat.

Sleepflying

"Did you expect that kiss, Rainbow?" Soren asked after gathering himself. He began walking past Rainbow Dash, flipping his tail at her chin as he passed. She rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Can't say I did. You actually surprised me that time. I thought you would need more time before coming up with an answer."

"I thought so too, but I realized something: Losing Luna would have affected me for a long time. It's time I moved on. Heh, ironically enough, Cain was the one who showed me that."

"Are you going to be alright," Soren?" Twilight Sparkle asked, concerned about her friend's sadness.

"Why wouldn't I be alright? I may be doing this too soon, but I need to move on. I just want a normal life." The words from the Doctor echoed in Twilight's mind at that instant:

Soren has been through too much over the past few weeks. He needs a break...from everything.

"A break from everything..." she muttered quietly to herself.

"Twilight!" The unicorn shook her head and looked at Soren.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Pinkie Pie wanted to know if you want to go to Sugarcube Corner with us. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, my mind wandered for a bit. Sorry about that. I would love to go."

Pinkie Pie's plan was for all of them to go to Sugarcube Corner to celebrate. What they were celebrating exactly didn't matter, as long as they were together. On their way to the sweet shop, the seven friends ran into the Doctor and Derpy. Both of them trotted over to the group and joined them on their walk.

"So where are all of you going today?" the Doctor asked while walking beside Twilight.

"Pinkie Pie wanted us to go to Sugarcube Corner," Twilight answered. "How are you feeling, Doctor? I see you and Derpy have become friends again."

"I'm perfectly fine. Why do you ask?"

"Loverboy here said your conscience was all messed up," Applejack explained, motioning to Soren. "Soren said that he, Rainbow, and Twilight fixed it."

"My conscience, eh? Do I have a sinister conscience or something? Someone is going to have to explain all of this to me."

"We will, don't worry," Soren said. "Doctor, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Your conscience showed me your past. All of it. Your heartaches, your troubles, your enemies, but one thing peaked my interest. What were you before you were a pony? I've had dreams about those kind of creatures before. What are they called?"

"Wait a tic, he ain't a pony?" Applejack asked.

"Different story, different time, my dear Applejack. Anyway, if you are talking about my previous regenerations then I believe the name you are looking for is human. I used to be what's called a human. And you say you've seen them before? What were they doing and who were they?" All of them arrived at Sugarcube Corner and walked inside. Pinkie Pie rounded a few tables together for everypony so they could all sit next to each other.

"To answer your question, Doctor," Soren began as he sat down with all of his friends, "I have no idea what they were doing. It looked like some other human was in a coma. I had those dreams weeks ago though. I think the last dream was before Luna and I left for Canterlot to investigate Octavia's family. After that, the dreams stopped."

"I see. I'm terribly sorry about what happened to Princess Luna by the way."

"It wasn't your fault. I moved on in any case."

"Good for you! Now there are other matters that I would like to discuss if you all would allow me. Twilight, Derpy and I came looking for you so I could ask a favor."

"What is it?" she replied.

"I wanted to ask if you wouldn't mind if Derpy and I traveled together for a bit."

"I don't mind at all. From what I can gather, it has been a pretty long time since you two traveled the universe together. Go ahead and have fun. I'm not going anywhere."

"Thank you, Twilight. Derpy, do you want to head out now?"

"Sure. Let me just tell Pendant that I'll be gone for awhile."

"Lead the way." The Doctor and Derpy stood up and began walking out of the building. As the two walked outside, Soren stared at them. Rarity happened to notice that Soren's eyes portrayed a certain emotion.

"Soren dear," she called to him. Soren looked at her. "You seem...sad. Are you sure you are alright?"

"Maybe," he answered truthfully. "Do you girls see how everything is back to normal?"

"I guess," Rainbow said.

"What are you talking about, Soren?" Twilight Sparkle asked him.

"I've noticed that nothing stays normal around here for very long. Something happens, things go back to normal, then something happens soon after."

"And you think something bad is about to happen?" Fluttershy asked.

"I don't want to be right, I truly don't, but if the pattern stays the same, it's inevitable. The question is: when is something going to happen?"

A few days later

Dear Princess Celestia,

Soren has been acting strange lately. I believe he's thinking about everything too much. On the day he woke up from his coma, Soren claimed that something bad was bound to happen since everything was normal once again. After that, he continued to look for signs of trouble, as if he wanted to be prepared for once.

He still spends time with all of us around Ponyville or in the library with me, but he just isn't the same since the Battle of the Nyrs. I think that was when something changed for him. Was it him losing Princess Luna? Nyra's death? Cain's reappearance? I'm not sure. I ask for your opinion on the matter as soon as you are able. This isn't an immediate situation that needs to be dealt with...but I hope that it won't turn into one.

Your Faithful Student
Twilight Sparkle

Twilight set the paper and quill down onto her desk. She looked at Spike, who was giving her a worried look. Twilight gave a reassuring smile at him before looking at the nearby grandfather clock. Midnight. 'Time for bed,' Twilight thought as Spike sent the letter to Celestia. 'Hopefully the princess sends a letter by tomorrow morning. I need somepony's advice on Soren.'

Walking into her room, the unicorn looked through her window. She stared at the darkened Ponyville as she considered Soren's words from a few days ago. ...Nothing stays normal around here for very long. Something happens, things go back to normal, then something happens soon after.

"Maybe he's right," she whispered to herself. "Even the Doctor claimed that heroes are dragged into every mess. Good and evil must always fight, I suppose." Not wanting to think about the subject anymore, Twilight Sparkle got into bed and began to drift off to sleep.

THUD!

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes. Propping herself up, she looked around her room. She knew she heard something; what was it? Twilight got out of bed and walked over to her open bedroom window. Before she could even reach said window, Twilight heard moaning. She looked outside and saw a pegasus colt laying the ground. Realizing that this pony was hurt, the unicorn quickly ran out of her house and up to the fallen pegasus.

"Are you ok?" she asked him. "It's a little late to be flying isn't it? How did you fall?"

"Haha, why do you ask so many questions, Twilight?" the pegasus groaned.

"Soren?" The white alicorn sat up and began rubbing his wing. "Is anything broken?" she asked him.

"No, I'm fine. It was just a nasty fall is all."

"Why were you flying this late at night anyway?"

"I must have been sleepwalking, or in this case, sleepflying. I fell asleep, and the next thing I knew I slammed against solid ground."

"Were you dreaming about something?" He nodded.

"It didn't seem like anything. Just some random pony, whom I didn't recognize, making threats. He was saying that if I keep hiding, he will hurt my friends."

"And that doesn't cause you to worry, especially considering the types of dreams you have?" Soren shook his head. "Ok then. How about this: Why don't you spend the night here tonight? That way I can hopefully keep an eye on you so you don't crash through some pony's window."

"Alright, I get it," Soren said while rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Hopefully these dreams aren't going to be common."

Soren slept normally without another incident. He woke up and got off of the library's couch he was sleeping on. As he stretched his body to limber up, Soren smelled a delicious aroma inside the library. Deciding to investigate the cause of said smell, Soren found himself walking into the next room, which housed the kitchen. It was there that he saw Spike working on breakfast.

"So what's for breakfast today, Spike?" Soren asked. Surprised, the dragon stopped what he was doing and looked at Soren.

"You spent the night here? When did this happen?"

"I'll tell you while we eat. Is Twilight up yet?"

"Nope, but she should be soon. Breakfast is usually ready by the time she wakes up."

Soren and Spike were silent as the assistant finished cooking. A few minutes after Spike set the table, Twilight Sparkle emerged from her bedroom and joined the boys downstairs. Sitting with her friends, Twilight spoke to Soren.

"I take it you slept fine? I didn't hear any crashing last night."

"Are you still bugging me about that? I was sleepflying; give me a break."

"This isn't normal for you Soren. Something is..." Twilight trailed off as she realized what she was about to say.

"Something is wrong?" Soren offered. He sighed. "I told you that something bad always has to happen."

"It probably isn't that bad." Everyone started to eat their breakfast by now. Whenever they stopped chewing their food, someone would speak. "You said you saw a pony you didn't know," Twilight evaluated. "We should ask the Doctor for help. He has met a lot of ponies during his travels. Maybe if you describe the pony you saw to him, he can help."

"Sounds good to me, but don't you think we depend on him too much?" Soren asked after swallowing a chunk of pancakes. Twilight shrugged as she continued chewing. The trio decided to finish eating before continuing their conversation. After all the food was gone, Soren proceeded to explain to Spike why he had to spend the night at the library.

"So you fell out of the sky without breaking anything?" Spike asked Soren.

"If Rainbow Dash can crash into the side of a building without breaking anything, I think falling out of the sky would be more believable," Soren retorted.

Twilight, Spike, and Soren walked into the library lobby as they continued to converse. The multiple, deep BONGs of the clock reverberated across the room; it was noon. The three of them gathered around the center table. Spike sat on top of the table while Soren and Twilight stood next to it.

"Noon already?" Twilight said. "Today is going to be a short day." Just then, a whirring sound was heard in the library.

"I think this day just got a lot longer," Soren commented. The TARDIS appeared along the wall of the lobby. The Doctor and Derpy soon exited the blue box.

"There we go, Ms. Hooves!" The Doctor exclaimed as he stepped through the door. "A few days after we left. Sadly, it was the best the TARDIS could do since we traveled through that rift. That thing nearly stranded us!"

"I know, Doctor, but we're fine," Derpy Hooves replied. "We made back safely. Oh, hi, Twilight! Hi, Soren! Hi, Spike!"

"Hello, Doctor. Hello, Derpy," Soren greeted. "Great timing as always." The Doctor looked at Soren strangely. Soren saw that tinge of sadness appear in the stallion's eyes. "Is something wrong? Didn't you two have fun on your trip?"

"Yes we did, actually," the Time Lord answered. "Funny enough, you were there, Soren."

"Really? I assume you can't tell me what happened or when it happened, correct?" The Doctor nodded, still betraying sadness for some unknown reason.

"Doctor, something peculiar happened to Soren while you were gone," Twilight interjected. "I found him outside my home after he crash landed from an episode of sleepflying. When I asked him what happened, he said he was dreaming about some pony threatening him and his friends."

"It sounds worse when you describe it like that," Soren admitted.

"What did this pony look like?" the Doctor asked.

"Hard to remember exactly. All I can remember is that he had a blue coat and a short, yellow mane." Twilight saw the Doctor flinch slightly.

"...And what exactly did he say to you?"

"'If you keep hiding from me, I'll have to hurt your friends.'" Now the Doctor became worried.

"Doctor, does that pony sound familiar?" Twilight asked him. Nodding, the Doctor looked at Twilight.

"He sounds like an old foe of mine. I've met him on more than one occasion since we've found ourselves in this universe, even while I was discorded, so I wouldn't doubt that he is looking for me. Soren, I hope you're ready to meet the Master."

The Four Beat

"Who exactly is the Master?" Soren asked the Doctor.

"He's a Time Lord like me, except he's evil. For example, in the past, the Master actually transformed every single human on a planet into him. Imagine that: six billion Time Lord look-alikes."

"He sounds incredibly dangerous. At least you managed to stop him."

"In this universe, he's a little harder to fight. He seems to know this world better than I do, and that's bad. I've even seen him use magic, and he's an earth pony! If the Master is indeed coming here, we need to find a way to stop him and fast."

"How can we tell if he will even show up?" Twilight Sparkle asked. "Maybe Soren simply had a nightmare."

"Come now, Miss Sparkle. We both know that cannot be entirely true. Soren is one of those ponies that never has a normal dream and you know it. The Master is coming. I don't know why or when, but-" The Doctor's eyes widened and then focused. "Maybe...just maybe..." the Doctor said quietly as he began to think of something.

"Doctor?"

"Maybe we don't have to wait for the Master to show up. Maybe we can bring him to us. Soren, how many times have you seen the Master in your dreams?"

"Three times by now," he answered. "Why?"

"Just getting every bit of information that I can. So he's been doing this for awhile. I wonder..." The Doctor walked a few steps away from Twilight and Soren. "Yes! I think I have a plan. I have no idea if it will work, but it's a start. Twilight, Soren, meet me at the edge of town near the Everfree Forest in one hour." Soren and Twilight both arced an eyebrow at the stallion who wasn't telling them the plan for some reason.

"If you say so, Doctor," Soren said. "I'm going to go hang out with Rainbow Dash then. I'll see you both in one hour." The Doctor and Twilight waved to their friend as he walked out the front door.

"So why aren't you telling us your plan?" Twilight asked.

"I just can't tell Soren the plan. If I do, the strategy will fail. This is what we are going to do..."

"So there's another Time Lord in town, huh?" Rainbow Dash said. Her and Soren were relaxing at the lake near Ponyville. For the past hour, the new couple were laying down under the shade of a tree. "Why can't the Doctor handle him? He sounds pretty dangerous, and you have been looking for deathmatches recently, Soren."

"I do what I have to, and we can handle it. If the Doctor fought the Master alone, I'm not sure he would make it out. He said the Master is more powerful in this universe. That's why he needs to be stopped as soon as possible." Soren paused and stood up. "I have to go meet up with Twilight and the Doctor."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" The way Soren looked at her told her the answer.

Soren was flying towards the fields between Ponyville and the Everfree Forest. The winds were picking up, causing him to have to fight against them just to gain distance. Luckily it didn't tire him out. It only took a few more minutes for the alicorn to see his two friends looking at the sky, wondering why he was a few minutes late. Landing on the ground, Soren walked over to Twilight and the Doctor.

"So are going to tell us this plan of yours, Doctor?" Soren asked. The Doctor didn't say anything at first; he simply walked up to Soren.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "You're probably gonna hate me for this." The Doctor then put both of his hooves on Soren's head and head-butted him, knocking him unconscious.

As he was unconscious, Soren had a short dream. He was standing on nothingness as he looked at the pony in front of him; it was the Master. The blue stallion still had that smirk on his face, same as in Soren's previous dream.

"Are you ready?" the Master asked. "I'm on my way."

"You don't even know where I am!" Soren retorted.

"Did you ever wonder why I'm in your dreams?" Soren nodded. "Didn't the Doctor tell you I had certain 'abilities?'"

"He said you knew how to use magic without a horn."

"Exactly..." Before Soren could piece everything together, the dream faded from him.

Opening his eyes to direct sunlight, Soren groaned and shielded his eyes. He stood up and rubbed his eyes a little more before looking around. He immediately saw that him and his friends never moved. Soren frowned as he looked at the Doctor.

"What did you do that for?!" he yelled at the Time Lord. Twilight took a step back, but the Doctor remained where he was.

"I didn't want to risk the Master reading your mind during your dream; that's why he has appeared in so many of them. We needed time to make some final adjustments for the plan. If you knew what the strategy was, so would the Master. I already said I was sorry for doing that. Can we put that behind us and prepare ourselves?" It didn't take Soren long to realize that the Doctor was right. If they lost the only advantage they had against the Master, who knows what would happen? Twilight stepped closer to her friends.

"It's time to set up the last portion."

"Right. Soren, I need you to shoot a beam of energy into the air. While you do that, I'll begin to lure the Master here. Twilight, I need you on crowd control; make sure no one tries to figure out what we are doing. If things start to get hectic, we need you over here." Both Twilight and Soren nodded.

Readying his magic, Soren looked to the sky. He still felt left out since he was the only one who didn't know the plan, but he knew it was necessary. When he shot a beam of energy into the sky, Soren thought of something else. 'Things become normal; something else is around the corner,' he scoffed to himself. Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor pointed it at the beam and activated it. The beam instantly became brighter, and a vibrant thumping began.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

Soren felt every pulse vibrate through his body. The longer the spell went on, the more the pulsing hurt Soren's head.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

"Hang in there, Soren!" The Doctor stopped using his sonic screwdriver and stood there.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

"Any second now. Soren, I'll be nearby. I'm going to check to see if Twilight is having any problems. Don't worry, everything is going according to plan." The stallion then trotted off towards Ponyville. Soren watched him run towards the various bushes and trees scattered around the open fields.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

'This is beginning to bug me now,' Soren complained. He heard a zap nearby, so he looked in the direction of the sound. Soren dropped his spell when he saw who appeared out of nowhere.

"Hello, alicorn," the Master greeted. Soren was honestly unnerved that the Master was so calm about this. "I can tell you don't trust my attitude about this; you're reaction says it all. Am I wrong?"

"No," Soren replied. "I hope you know I have backup."

"Of course you do. No pony in their right mind would fight me alone if they knew the things I am capable of. So just where is the Doctor and his...'companion?'"

"I'm right here." The Master didn't move his head; he just glanced in the direction where the third voice came from. Soren saw the Doctor walking towards him and the Master. "I see you haven't changed at all."

"But I see you have," the blue Time Lord replied. "It's strange: You're no longer a coward, but you're not quite the hero you used to be. I can see it in you."

"I don't care anymore, Master, or do you still prefer 'Koschei?'" Soren saw the Master flinch slightly.

"Normally that would irritate me, but not today. Today is when I finally end this little 'feud' of ours."

"I don't know how you plan on doing that, especially after my first move. Now!" A magical aura appeared from thin air and began circling the Master. Seconds passed by, and a cage made of pure magic surrounded him. The Master examined his prison and looked back at Soren and the Doctor. He began to chuckle. It started quiet but began growing in volume.

"HAHAHAHA! Is that the best you can do?! Put me in a little cage? Hahaha. Did you honestly think I wouldn't expect something like this? I'm disappointed in you, old friend."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's simply really," the Master began while closing his eyes. "I'm not who you think I am." His voice changed, and he opened his eyes. His eyes were no longer a golden color; now his irises were various shades of green. The Doctor and Soren were beyond confused. Things became more strange when the Master began to transform. Green fire enveloped him and hid him from sight. The fire then exploded outward in a burst of smoke, destroying the magical cage in the process. When the smoke subsided, the Doctor and Soren saw that someone was impersonating the Master; it was Queen Chrysalis. The changeling queen grinned confidently and laughed maniacally.

"Wait...What?!" Soren exclaimed. "Why are you of all ponies here? Where's the Master?"

"First of all, I am not a filthy pony. Second of all, the Master is taking care of that unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, as we speak."

"If harms her, I swear I'll-"

"You'll what?! Hurt me, destroy me? You're all talk, Doctor," a new voice interrupted. The voice had a lot of distaste when it said 'Doctor.' The brown stallion looked to his right and saw the Master with Twilight slung onto his back. The Master walked up to Chrysalis and stood by her.

"You...You teamed up with queen of the changelings?!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Oh yes. We have been partners for quite awhile now, and do you know what we realized?" Soren and the Doctor remained silent. The Master sighed. "You two are no fun. Anyway, Chrysalis and I realized that we could help each other take what we want. I simply want to end you, Doctor, whereas Chrysalis wants the Elements of Harmony."

"HA! Good luck with that!" Soren boasted. "If you think I'm just going to sit by and watch you two wreak havoc on my home, you have another thing coming."

"Such determination from an alicorn who faints at the clap of my hooves."

"Try me," Soren growled.

"Very well. Chrysalis, if you would be so kind." The queen nodded and whistled. Silent seconds passed by before something happened. One by one, changelings appeared and formed a circle around Soren, the Doctor, the Master, Chrysalis, and an unconscious Twilight. There were at least ten changelings that formed that circle.

"Got any ideas, Doctor?" Soren whispered.

"I think the plan is obvious."

"You two shut up!" Chrysalis demanded. "Now, my children!" Every single changeling opened its mouth and gave an ear-piercing sound towards Soren and the Doctor. The sound hurt the two so much that they couldn't do anything but cringe in pain. It didn't take long for them to fall to the ground. The changelings took this opportunity to pin them down on their backs.

After walking over to them, Queen Chrysalis put a triumphant hoof on the Doctor's chest and stared at him. The Master walked over as well and moved Twilight near Soren and the Doctor. They saw that Twilight's horn was singed and that she was not waking up anytime soon. The Doctor was furious, but issued no threats. He knew they were heavily outnumbered. Now it was the Master's turn to put his hoof on Soren's stomach. Staring coldly at the alicorn, he chuckled.

"You two didn't even put up a fight," he gloated. "Some Guardian you turned out to be, alicorn. You're a disgrace to your kind!" Soren turned his head a bit. Looking past the Master, Soren smiled.

"Hey, Master, do you how fast a pegasus can go after doing a Sonic Rainboom?"

"Very fast, but is now really the time to be asking pointless questi-"

BOOM!

"You're screwed," Soren said as he grinned. The Master towards the noise and, for one second, saw a rainbow blur right before it slammed into him, sending him into Chrysalis. The two enemies were launched a great distance away from Soren and the Doctor. The two stallions brushed themselves off, and soon after, Rainbow Dash landed in front of them.

"I told you that I could help," she said to Soren.

"Never said you couldn't. Doctor, try to wake up Twilight. Rainbow Dash and I will try to end this."

"It won't matter if she can't use her magic," the Doctor explained. "Look at her horn. It's singed; that means the Master did something to her magic."

"Fine fine...Look out!" Everypony flopped to the ground and avoided a laser beam shot from the Master's laser screwdriver.

"You annoying, little equines!" he shouted. "Chrysalis, use the sonic circle again!" Chrysalis nodded and issued the command to her changelings. Soren, Rainbow Dash, and the Doctor looked worried as the circle of changelings, which didn't take long to form, opened their mouths once more.

Burning Dash

The sonic sound from the changeling circle started, but things were different this time. Instead of cringing in pain from the sound, the Doctor managed to counteract the sonic sound with his own. Pointing his sonic screwdriver towards the ground, the brown stallion activated it. Soren and Rainbow Dash quickly realized that they weren't being tortured by the sound.

"How are you doing that?" Soren yelled over all of the noise.

"My sonic reverberations are bouncing off of the ground, causing their sonic sound to reflect off of it and curve over us. Their sonic circle is passing right over our heads as we speak."

"Great job, Doctor!" Rainbow praised. "Soren, we have to get rid of those changelings."

"Well it's a good thing we are pegasi then," he replied. "Grab some clouds and start striking." Rainbow Dash immediately knew what Soren meant by striking with clouds; any pegasus would. The couple braced themselves and shot straight up, passing through the sonic noise above them. Once they were clear of the noise, the two shook their heads clear and began circling over the changelings, forming as many clouds as possible. The Master tried to shoot them as this was happening, but he always missed.

Once a massive cloud was formed overhead, it began to turn grey. Queen Chrysalis decided to fly up to stop their plan, but as she flew towards them, she was almost struck by a lightning bolt that just barely missed her. Standing on the cloud's top, Soren and Rainbow Dash hoof bumped and began pounding the cloud, sending many lightning strikes at every changeling below them.

As the changelings dispersed and ran away, Soren peeked through the clouds to see what was happening to the Doctor. The brown stallion, with Twilight on his back, ran over to a tree that was still underneath the massive cloud. Soren tried to see what else was happening, but he was almost shot by one of the Master's lasers. It zoomed by his head and took out a small piece of the cloud. More lasers starting soaring towards the cloud, so Soren began to fly.

"Ahhh!!!" Soren turned towards Rainbow Dash and saw that her wing had been shot by a stray laser.

"Rainbow Dash, are you going to be ok?" Soren asked.

"Yeah...I'll always be fine. Help me to the ground." Soren nodded and walked over to her. Rainbow hopped on Soren's back and wrapped her legs around his neck. Soren then began to slowly fly towards the ground. The Master saw the two trying to land, so he began firing his laser screwdriver rapidly in their direction. Many shots came close, but all ultimately missed.

"Soren, look out!" Rainbow yelled. Soren glanced to his right and saw a laser that he predicted would hit Rainbow. He knew he wouldn't have enough time to do anything to prevent the laser from hitting her, so Soren did the only idiotic thing he could think of. Soren turned his body quick enough to where he was facing the laser, and the laser impacted his stomach.

Soren and Rainbow fell the remaining few meters and slammed onto the ground. Since she wasn't as hurt as Soren, Rainbow slowly stood up and ran over to him. There was a burn mark on his stomach that still had a thin trail of smoke coming from it.

"Soren, how bad is it?"

"Pretty bad," he groaned. "If I just rest here, I'll be fine...eventually." In the distance, the Master could be heard laughing maniacally.

"Looks like it doesn't even matter if the changelings ran away! I can take all of you on by myself!"

"You haven't won yet!" Rainbow yelled, anger boiling inside her.

"Who's going to stop me?"

"She is!" Soren shouted to the best of his ability. "You didn't think she came unprepared, did you?"

"What are talking about?"

"Do you see that Element of Harmony necklace on her?" The Master arched an eyebrow. "Oh wait, I forgot to drop the camouflage spell." Soren's horn shimmered, as did Rainbow's neck. Within seconds, Rainbow Dash's Element of Loyalty necklace appeared around her neck. The Master's eyes widened. He knew how powerful the Elements can be, especially when aided by magic. "Let's just say that I'm going to magnify her anger towards you right now." Soren shot a beam of light at Rainbow, and she was soon surrounded by a sphere of white light.

"I hope that laser of yours packs a stronger punch, Master. You'll need all the help you can get. Not even I know what's about to happen." The sphere lifted Rainbow a few feet off the ground. When the light finally faded, Rainbow floated back down. Soren and the Master saw that she looked different.

Rainbow Dash's coat was now pure white; her mane was still rainbow but appeared to be made of fire, as was her tail, and it flowed upward; her eyes were now an intense red, and her cutie mark had transformed into a thunder cloud with rainbow lightning. This new Rainbow Dash flew at the Master faster than anyone has ever seen her fly.

Only one second passed before she hit him and sent him flying. Before Rainbow could continue pounding on the Master, she was struck by Queen Chrysalis, who teleported in front of her. Dash didn't flinch from the hit; instead she aimed her hair at Chrysalis and shot it at her. Rainbow's mane wasn't exactly fire, but it still managed to singe Chrysalis after a few seconds. Not wanting to risk her life fighting an opponent with unknown capabilities, Chrysalis teleported away.

After Chrysalis ran, Rainbow Dash soared towards the Master. She looked like a comet that was about to slam into the evil Time Lord. Dash caught up to him, put a hoof on his face, and pinned him to the ground. She was ready to end him, but a voice commanded her to stop. Looking behind her with fiery eyes, Rainbow saw Soren and the Doctor, who was helping Soren to walk without falling, slowly making their way over to her.

"Doctor, do what you want with him," Soren strained. "Just make sure he doesn't come back."

"I'm going to send him to a planet where he can't cause much mayhem and where he can't escape from." Soren nodded and looked at the fiery Rainbow Dash, who remained serious and stalwart. Rainbow then walked over to Soren and stared at him.

"You're a little hot like this," Soren commented, giving a small laugh. When he saw Dash's eyes relax a little, he leaned forward and kissed her. Rainbow eventually kissed back and felt herself slowly change back to normal. After the kiss was over, she hugged Soren.

"You're an idiot" was all she said.

"I know, but at least I'm your idiot." The couple broke their hug and walked over to the Doctor. He was holding Twilight, who was just waking up. Once Soren and Rainbow walked up to him, the Doctor gently placed Twilight on the ground and walked over to the Master.

"Tie him up and watch him while I get the TARDIS." Soren nodded and began tying up the Master with some rope that he magically spawned. The Doctor began running towards Ponyville as fast as he could.

"This won't be the last time I see you, alicorn," the Master promised after the Doctor was long gone.

"My name is Soren, and you can save the clichés for your planetary prison."

"Haha, I like you. You're a lot like me."

"What do you-" The sound of the TARDIS materializing cut Soren off. The Doctor opened both doors and ushered for Soren to bring the Master inside. Soren obliged and dragged the Master inside, placing him against the railing near the TARDIS' console.

"Don't worry," the Doctor said. "He's going straight to the nearest desolate planet." Soren and the Master looked at each other. Neither of them said a word or showed any emotion. Soren nodded to the Doctor and walked out of the TARDIS. Upon stepping back onto the field, Soren saw that Twilight was mostly awake now. The blue box behind him began to disappear, so everyone decided to watch.

"Well that was...hectic," Twilight commented.

"You should have seen what Soren caused me to do," Rainbow added happily. "It was so awesome!" Soren rolled his eyes.

"Let's just get back to Ponyville. The town is probably questioning what was going on out here." Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash agreed with him, so the three friends began walking back into town.

Even though the battle with the Master was flashy and chaotic, most of Ponyville didn't notice it. Rainbow Dash decided to go home and rest, for the battle was taking a toll on her and her slightly injured wing. Since they surprisingly felt fine, Soren and Twilight decided to go to Town Hall and ask the Mayor if the town noticed the battle. The Mayor told them that barely any pony noticed any sort of mayhem coming from the fields. This blew Twilight's mind; how can a crazy battle like that not draw attention to itself? Soren himself would have been surprised, but he had other things on his mind.

After the Mayor asked questions about the battle, Soren had his own questions that he wanted to ask the Mayor. He asked her if it was possible to gather everyone around Town Hall. When she asked what for, Soren replied that he simply wanted to give a speech. The Mayor saw no harm in it, so she agreed to begin inviting the town. His speech would be scheduled in two days.

On the day of the speech, many ponies crowded around outside of Town Hall. Soren stood behind a podium with a microphone situated in front of him. Looking across the crowd, Soren saw his friends in the front. He took a deep breath and began.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, I asked the Mayor to set this up because...I need to get some things off my chest. I wanted to start this speech by saying that I'm sorry for bringing danger to this town...but I also need to say 'You're welcome.' I have managed to stop the dangers that have threatened this place and Equestria, even if I feel as though I am the one that caused all of it. Since I believe that danger follows me, I have decided to cloak myself; I will appear to be just some random pony, more specifically a pegasus. I have almost learned a spell that will make my horn become invisible. As a result, I hope that evil or danger won't find me so easily. During my state of hiding, I will still be studying and practicing my magic, but not as intensely as before the Battle of the Nyrs. I guess that covers everything I wanted to say. Does anypony have any questions for me?"

A few hooves shot into the air. Soren chose a mare that was standing a few ponies from the front.

"I'm sure I'm not the only one curious about this," she began. "Awhile ago, many ponies saw you and the princess spending a lot of time together. Did you two start dating?"

"I won't lie. We did...at least for awhile."

"Did something happen?"

"...Yes," he replied evenly. "Next question." Soren pointed to a stallion in the front row.

"Hi. I just wanted to know: How are you an alicorn? Were you born like that?"

"Well my parents are both... earth...ponies..." Soren paused. "I'm sorry. I think I don't have an appropriate answer for you. I'll have to look into that." The stallion nodded in understanding. Since no one else wanted to ask a question, Soren ended his speech. The crowd stomped the ground in applause, and Soren stepped offstage to be with his friends. Waiting for him were his nine friends, including Spike, Vinyl, and Octavia.

"Octavia," Soren started. "if both of our parents are earth ponies, how am I an alicorn?" His sister opened her mouth to answer him but second-guessed herself.

"Actually, I'm not sure. They never explained that to me."

"Anyone have any ideas?" Everyone was silent. Soren sighed. "Well it looks like I'll need to look into that. But for right now, I need to relax. I'm still a little sore from that laser to the stomach." His friends smiled at him. Pinkie Pie exclaimed the idea to go to Sugarcube Corner once again, so everyone decided to follow her lead.

'Just when I thought I knew who I was, another question needs to be answered,' Soren thought to himself as he walked with his group of friends.

(End of Part 2)

(Preview of STA Part 3):

"Doctor, who am I?"

"I-I can't tell you...not yet anyway."

"Soren, look at that."

"It can't be!"

What matters ain't the whose baddest but the ones who stop you falling from your ladder.

"The day will come where you will finally meet your match, alicorn."

"I welcome that day."

"Soren...is that...?"

"No...It-It can't be. How?!"

"Soren, don't you dare do what I think you're going to do."
"I have to, Rainbow. We both know it's the only way."
"Well, it's the way I don't want."

Author's Note

Get ready for a decently long one!

Now that the foundation has been set, the second, more interesting, half of the story can start. On an unrelated note, I'm curious to know how many people like the story so far. I don't believe likes or dislikes do this story justice, especially since at least 20 dislikes were literally judging this story by its cover. So shout out in the comments if you enjoy this story. Also I need to know a few things: 1) if the amount of songs I use is alright. I don't want this to turn into a musical, and I plan on using more songs. 2) Do you feel that certain chapters should be edited or revised? 3) I had to remove a few songs to avoid too many songs in one chapter, especially the Battle of the Nyr chapters. If you are curious, I would be willing to make a redux chapter and put it in.

(The following is for readers who truly enjoy this story. If you don't like it at all, why are you even reading this? :P)

Now I don't know if any of you will care, but the main reason that every event in the story takes place isn't because I decided it to be so, it's because everything was in a dream. Yes, I am not lying, everything that happened up to this point was a dream. I had many lucid dreams as Soren. They connected like a story and I wrote down the details of what happened. After I personally added conversations, Soren The Alicorn was made. I won't care if any of you think I'm crazy or lying or something. What happened happened. Enjoy the remaining half of STA to come. This half will be entirely made up by my mind; no lucid dreams to help me. Have fun. (PS. Songs will be more plentiful in the next two STAs. If that bothers any of you, let me know.)

Fire Training

After the incident with Cain over a week ago, Ponyville has been quiet and serene. Ponies go about their business, fillies and foals remain carefree, and the air is filled with the soothing sounds of birds. Everything is peaceful, or as peaceful as it can get for Soren. Ever since last week, Soren has been studying and training hard for his confrontation with Night Wing. He's in the library almost as often as Twilight Sparkle (and she lives there!) Princess Luna and Twilight have been mentoring Soren to the best of their abilities. Whereas Twilight doesn't specify her studies on offensive spells, Luna was teaching Soren how to use Fire spells.

One day the three friends were in the library practicing fire magic. Luna was trying to teach Soren how to use only his aura to combust something. Soren was sitting on the ground, staring at a bucket filled with water. He was concentrating on engulfing the water in his aura and then turning it into steam. After a few attempts, Soren managed to combust something: the bucket.

"Maybe we should move on from this and come back to it later," Twilight offered. Luna and Soren agreed, and pretty soon, Luna had an idea for another lesson.

"Soren, we shall teach you fire crowning," the regal alicorn said. "Tis a spell that allows fire to jump from surface to surface."

Soren agreed, so the three friends decided to leave Ponyville and traveled to a safer location. They choose to go to the canyons, which were a small distance away from Ponyville. As they were about to walk out the front door, Soren heard something. When he listened closely, Soren could hear a voice coming up to the door. Timing it perfectly, Soren waited and opened the door. As soon as the door was open, Pinkie Pie flew inside. The party mare landed right in front of Twilight.

"Hello, Pinkie Pie, what brings you here?" Twilight asked.

"I was looking for Soren," Pinkie replied. "There are two ponies that want to meet him. I think their names are the Pogo-Swingers?...the Palace-Ringers?" Everypony couldn't help but chuckle at Pinkie Pie's antics.

"The Pega-Singers?" Soren asked. Pinkie smiled and nodded her head multiple times.

"Yeah, them!" Soren looked at Luna and Twilight.

"Well, let's go say hello before we get back to practicing, shall we?" They nodded, so Pinkie Pie led everypony out of the library, and they began to walk towards town square.

It didn't take long for the group of friends to find the twin pegasi near Town Hall. Soren ran up to them and said "hello."

"Soren!" they said simultaneously. "It's great to see ya again," the taller twin said.
"What were you up to after Appaloosa?" the shorter asked.

"Oh you know, little things like: finding my lost family, reuniting Twilight with a long lost friend, and there's that Nightmare Guardian I have to stop. Nothing big." Soren could help but smile after that sarcastic listing. The twins caught on to Soren's small joke and started laughing.

"You sound like an interesting pony to be around, but we figured that out a long time ago."
"Since you're here, do you want to go sing some songs with us?"

"I totally would, guys, but I have some 'Guardian' business that I need to take care of. Maybe later?"

"Alright then. Well, have fun doing what you do best."

"See you two around." Soren and the girls then began walking towards the canyonlands.

Soren's fire crowning practice was going swimmingly for awhile. The fires were going where Soren instructed them to go, and Soren wasn't straining to make it happen. Everything was fine, that is until Luna asked Soren to increase the amount of fire he used. With Luna standing by his side, Soren began to concentrate even harder now. Within seconds, the snake of fire he was controlling nearly doubled in length. As the snake of fire jumped from rock to rock to burnt tree, Soren was finding it increasingly difficult to control the thing. Eventually, Soren was straining so hard that the spell snapped, and the fire exploded into every direction. After he heard the fire scatter, Soren then heard a scream of pain from nearby. He looked to his left and saw Luna sitting on the ground, holding her right side.

"Luna, what happened?" Soren asked worriedly. "The fire hit you, didn't it?"

"We are fine, Soren," Luna said with a slightly strained voice. "It is only a small burn. Ow." Luna cringed a little. As Twilight Sparkle was running over with a bucket of water, Soren sat next to Luna and moved her hooves. It wasn't a small burn, but it wasn't massive either.

"Excuse me, Soren," Twilight said, putting the bucket down. She then used her magic to levitate the water and applied it to Luna's burn. It hurt the princess at first, but then she felt much better.

"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. Burns are not one of the most pleasant pains." Luna looked at Soren and could tell that he felt extremely guilty for her getting burned. "Soren, it wasn't your fault. We were the one who instructed thee to increase the amount of fire."

"Girls...I don't think I can use fire...at least not until I fight Night Wing," Soren said seriously.

"Soren, you have to," Twilight protested. "Princess Celestia said you need to learn as many Elements as you can."

"Look at Luna! That burn was an accident. Imagine if we were practicing something even more dangerous than that. One of you could get extremely hurt and I don't think I could handle the guilt." Soren sighed. "Can I be left alone, please?"

"Soren," Luna started, only to be interrupted by Twilight putting a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight shook her head and motioned for Luna to follow her. When the mares were far enough away, Twilight spoke to Luna.

"I think Soren needs to release some anger...literally." Even though she didn't want to leave Soren right now, Luna reluctantly agreed, so the two of them walked back to Ponyville.

When Soren was alone, he decided to try something to vent his frustration. After stretching his wings, Soren flew up into the air. While up there, he gathered some magic and released it in a pillar of fire. The fire swirled around itself as it continued to go so high that most of Equestria could probably see it. 'The Elemental Guardian when angered' was Soren only thought as he continued the spell.

The Impossible Stone

After Soren flew away from his friends after talking to Rainbow Dash, Twilight and the girls bombarded her with questions. Luckily for her, everyone else figured out that the hooded pony was indeed Soren, but she still had to assure them that he wasn't going to hurt her. Rainbow Dash then explained everything about what Soren's cloak does and why Soren is trusting Cain.

"What were you two talking about before we arrived?" Rarity asked Rainbow.

"He explained what was going on and made me promise to not forget to cherish him," she answered. Rarity and Pinkie Pie aww'd at the same time.

"Well now we have to help him somehow," Twilight Sparkle commented. "Cain is inside his head and is working on some kind of plan."

"I don't think we can do anything to help him, unless you know a spell that can remove a spirit from a body without harming the host."

"Sadly, I don't. That would require impossible feats of magic that only the princesses have."

"Why don't we just ask them for help?" Fluttershy asked.

"The Doctor said he should handle it, and I trust that stallion with my life." Finding an impasse in the road, the six mares decided to wait and see what would happen during the next few days.

The Next Night, Castle Of The Royal Pony Sisters

'Tonight's the night. Tonight I lose my body,' Soren thought, trying to cope with the inevitable. It was the night following Cain's revelation of his plan, and Soren was nowhere near confident that he could stop this. Even as seconds went by, he could feel Cain inching his way to complete control of Soren's body. Soren looked to the sky for comfort. He watched the sun set as he felt Cain taking the last steps to spiritual and physical domination. Soren noticed that Cain wasn't saying anything. He figured the spirit must be fully concentrating on completing the process.

Wrreeorp Wrreeorp Wrreeorp

Soren's head snapped up. 'He came?' He noticed that Cain still has yet to notice anything outside of his concentration. Soren looked around and finally caught a glimpse of the TARDIS in the corner of the throne room they were currently in. The doors opened and the Doctor ran out of them. After making sure the doors closed behind him, the Doctor turned to face a still Soren.

"Cain!" he shouted louder than Soren would ever expect from him. Soren felt his spirit drop. He had now lost control of his body entirely. Cain now had the physical control, but not yet the mental control. "Oh good, you did hear me. Now I'll give you once last chance: Get out of Soren."

"And why would I do that?" Cain replied. "I'm so close to unleashing a horde of Reapers upon Equestria. Why stop now?" As Cain and the Doctor spoke, their words slowly became whispers to Soren. Soren was truly becoming just a thought in the back of his own mind. He quickly gave up trying to hear what they were saying, so instead he focused on what was happening.

"I'm warning you, Cain," the Doctor threatened. "You inspired me to be less merciful when dealing with lost causes such as yourself."

"Lost causes?" Cain laughed. "Why that hurts, Doctor. Already giving up on persuading me to stop my actions? I've seen your memories, I've seen the things you've done...and caused. And here you are, losing sight of everything you once stood for. I bet you don't even have a solid plan to attempt to defeat me."

"Oh but that's where you're wrong. I do have a plan, and it's absolutely brilliant!" The Doctor pulled something out of his brown mane. It was a light blue rock in the shape of an eight pointed star. "Do you know what this is, Cain? I bet you don't. This is what's going to help me save Soren...by allowing me to use magic!"

"Well take your best shot, Doctor. No amount of magic can stop me anyway, at least not without hurting Soren." Being overconfident, Cain only stood there and watched as the Doctor sat down to pull out his sonic screwdriver. He then used the device on the stone, and soon magical aura flowed out of the stone and began swirling around the Time Lord.

Not wanting to take a chance, Cain sent a dark bolt of magic at the Doctor, who in turn jumped to the side, dodging the bolt.

"You don't realize how flawed your plan is, do you?" the Doctor asked. "All I have to do is use this magic to absorb your soul."

"That magic can't be anywhere near that powerful!"

"But you don't even know the name of the stone. It's called Lapidem de Impossíble."

"What?"

"'The Impossible Stone,'" the Doctor said in a more serious tone.

With a explosive burst of magic, the Doctor sent a stream of magic at Cain. Eyes widening, Cain teleported out of sight. A few seconds passed, and the Doctor didn't see or hear Cain reappear. Knowing the spirit was around somewhere, the brown stallion began talking to him.

"I wasn't lying when I said your plan is flawed, Cain. The second I absorb your soul, the paradox you had planned will be cancelled, which means the Reapers won't show up, thus ruining your plans."

Out of nowhere, the Doctor felt magic envelop him. He was then levitated halfway to the ceiling. Cain reappeared and looked at the Doctor with a smirk. Luckily the Doctor knew the physics behind telekinesis. Using his sonic screwdriver again, the Doctor disrupted the waves that are used to hold an object in place. To retaliate, Cain quickly shot a fireball at the Doctor, and the brown pony was surprised by the appearance of said fireball. Cain had just shot a green fireball, which the Doctor rolled away from.

Growing angry, Cain gathered a huge amount of magic and surrounded himself with it. Dark portals starting appearing around him. Once he was ready, Cain exploded a burst of dark magic at the Doctor, sending hundreds upon hundreds of black bolts at him. Acting quickly, the Doctor dove behind a nearby pillar. As bolts were being slammed against the pillar, the Doctor slowly made his way near Cain while staying behind pillars. The room had eight total pillars, 4 on opposite sides of the room, and 2 were close enough to Cain that the Doctor could probably tackle him.

Cain was about to cast another strong spell to destroy the pillars the Doctor was hiding behind, but he was distracted when a small rock was thrown at his face. Then, out of nowhere, a lasso made of pure energy wrapped around Cain and tied him up. The Doctor took the random opportunity to run up to the evil pony, but before the Doctor could reach him, Cain created a dark bubble shield around himself.

"So, Doctor, how resilient are you?" Cain asked with a wicked grin. The Doctor was confused by the random question. He didn't have much time to think about what Cain said, for another voice shouted at him from nearby.

"Doctor, Cain is about to use a Nova Spell!" The Doctor turned to see none other than Twilight Sparkle running up to him. She came up to his side and stood by him.

"Are you strong enough to create a shield to protect the two of us?" asked the Doctor.

"Let's find out!" Twilight and Cain said simultaneously. Both of the magical ponies casted their spells at the same time; Twilight created a barrier around her and the Doctor, while Cain exploded a wave of terribly powerful magic towards them.

Twilight gasped as Cain's spell impacted with hers. She began to struggle to hold back the nova, but she knew she could do it. Although she was keeping the spell at bay, Twilight didn't know how long her shield would last. During the spells' conflict, something caught the Doctor's eye. He noticed that Cain had very intense, glowing eyes.

"He's not in control anymore," the Doctor commented out loud. "His magic is."

"Lies!" Cain shouted. "I control this magic. It doesn't control me!"

'He actually thinks he can control this magnitude of magic?' the Doctor thought.

"I'll show you what true magic looks like!" Twilight shouted with confidence. The unicorn began focusing, eyes glowing, while she gathered some magic. Once her horn was surrounded with bright white aura, Twilight released the spell she prepared. The spell created a tornado that captured Cain and brought him into the sky. The tied up pony went up higher and higher into the funnel. Once Cain was very high above the ground, lightning began to strike everywhere inside. Cain was instantly struck by one and then another and then another. He screamed in pain as a barrage of lightning struck him in multiple locations on his body.

Once Cain's screaming eventually faded away, Twilight ended her spell. When the tornado was gone, Cain's body fell to the ground in front of them. Silence filled the room, but not entirely. As Twilight breathed heavily from her use of magic, a small buzzing sound could be heard inside the throne room. The Doctor look at his hooves to see that his sonic screwdriver has been going off this entire time...and it was activating the Impossible Stone. He must have dropped the items in shock when Cain went power crazy. Picking up both items, the Doctor turned towards the unconscious Cain and walked over to him. He proceeded to put the stone on the pony's forehead, then he activated his screwdriver. A shadow could be seen leaving Soren's body and moving up the Doctor's legs into his head. Immediately, the Doctor groaned and began holding his head.

"Doctor!" Twilight exclaimed.

"I'm fine, I'm-" he gulped. "-fine. Just...a headache is all. How's Soren doing?" Twilight walked over to Soren, whose ears began twitching. The purple unicorn smiled that her friend was fine after all of this.

Eventually Soren slowly stood up. He immediately saw the Doctor and Twilight, so he smiled. When he tried to walk over to them, Soren nearly fell over, but he was caught...by a wing. Looking to his left, Soren saw Rainbow Dash staring at him.

"Are-Are you Soren?" she asked nervously. She obviously saw how powerful Cain was in Soren's body, and she didn't want a front row seat if he decided to attack her.

"Look at my eyes for the answer," Soren responded weakly. Rainbow Dash continued to lock eyes with Soren. "What do you see?"

"I see...a pony who has gone through too much these past few days." Smiling, Rainbow Dash hugged Soren. When she broke her hug with Soren, Rainbow looked at Twilight. "Everypony is waiting in the next room." Twilight nodded and began helping the Doctor into the next room. Now alone, Soren spoke to Rainbow once again.

"Did you really miss me that much?" he asked. Rainbow frowned for a second and lightly punched Soren in his leg.

"Of course I did! We all did! Every one of us were worried about you." Soren didn't respond with words; he responded with another hug. He was surprised how hard Dash hugged back. The hug broke once again, leaving the two friends to face each other, except Soren started to sway.

"We...will have time to talk later...because right now...I think I need...to...rest." Soren fell forward and fainted.