Soren the Alicorn Part 3: A True Hero?

Chapters

Why An Alicorn?
The Wind Elemental
The Oath
Fire And Ice
Soren
The Promise
The Recruit
The Dream
The New Plan
The Lunar Mare
Hearts & Hooves Day
A One-Way Trip
Welcome to Planet Zero
The Raid
A One Pony Army
The Decision
Winter Wrap Up
A Chance For Redemption
Apologies
The Crystal Empire
The Future
The Battle
The Frozen Army
The EMP
An Invitation
The Grand Galloping Gala
A Green Light
New Guests
Confrontation
An Unexpected Visitor
Lost Hope
A Voice in the Night
Beginning of the End
It's Time
Joy or Sorrow?
The Earth Elemental
The Cloaked Mare
Hidden Intentions

Why An Alicorn?

Journal Entry

It has been 3 days since the speech I gave to the ponies of Ponyville. It's been very nice living as only a pegasus, even though I can bring back my horn at anytime. During my speech a few days ago, someone asked why I was an alicorn. It was at that moment that I realized that I am missing some crucial information about myself. I decided that it was time that I figure out who I truly am. Today I'm going gather my friends at Sugarcube Corner so they can help me with this dilemma. I already have a plan in mind.

-Soren

"So why did ya gather us here, Soren?" Applejack asked as the group of ten walked into Sugarcube Corner. Together in the building was Soren, Spike, Twilight and her friends, Octavia, and Vinyl. None of them sat down; Soren assured them that this was going to be quick.

"I wanted to tell you all that I need to find out some important information about myself," Soren replied.

"What kind of information?" asked Twilight.

"Do you remember the speech I gave a few days ago? A colt asked me why I was an alicorn. I couldn't give him an exact answer because I also didn't know why I'm an alicorn. I doubt I was just born as one. I need to figure out who I actually am. And before you all say 'I am who I am,' think about it. Octavia and I are siblings, but how am I an alicorn when both of our parents are earth ponies? It wouldn't be that strange if I was just a unicorn or pegasus, but I'm both. Something must have changed me into that."

"Wasn't it Nyra?" Rainbow Dash offered. "She kidnapped you as a foal. Maybe she also transformed you on accident."

"That's highly unlikely. If I remember correctly, Octavia said I was already an alicorn, right?" Soren looked at his slightly older sister.

"Well, our parents were the ones who assured me that you were born as you are."

"Then that begs another question: How come ponies didn't react to seeing a young alicorn? I remember that when I first arrived here, ponies kept staring at me. I take it our parents never mentioned anything like that?"

"Not that I recall. Soren, how would you go about discovering this kind of information anyway?"

"I plan on talking to a certain, smart stallion who knows the truth about me; he has to know by now. First, I need to go to the library to grab something. Let's go!" Without hesitation, Soren trotting out of the building. The group of friends looked at each other before chasing after him. Since Soren wasn't running too fast, it was easy for his friends to catch up.

"So what's the plan?" Vinyl asked. Soren remained silent for a few seconds.

"Let's just get to the library. Everything will make more sense when I explain it there."

Everyone arrived at the library within minutes. Soren led his friends inside and immediately started going upstairs. Stopping his friends from following him, Soren turned to Twilight.

"Can I grab something from your room real quick?" Twilight nodded, so Soren ran upstairs. A few minutes passed before he came back down. Everyone noticed that he now had familiar necklace with him. Twilight recognized Soren's plan immediately.

"How does the Doctor fit into all of this?" she asked, eyeing her emergency necklace.

"The Doctor is a time traveler; he probably runs into future versions of us, and we wouldn't even know it. When the Doctor and Derpy returned from their adventures, do you remember his expression towards me?"

"He was a little sad," Pinkie Pie answered normally.

"Right. He said he saw me. It was almost like I changed in the future or something. It may be unrelated to what I'm trying to find, but can you all see the hunch I'm going on?" Only Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Octavia nodded. Everyone else was either lost or didn't believe Soren's hunch was accurate enough.

"Twilight, I need you to activate this necklace again to bring the Doctor here." Soren walked up to her and placed the necklace in her hoof as he locked eyes with her. "I need to know who I really am. It would give me closure at least. Please." It was really hard for Twilight to say no, especially considering how much this meant to one of her closest friends.

"*sigh* Alright, but only because it means a lot to you." Soren thanked her, and she began using magic on the necklace, which began to emanate a light blue aura.

"Now all we have to do is wait," Soren commented. "Any questions so far?" Everypony in the room looked at each other to see if the others had questions. Finally Rainbow Dash spoke up:

"Do you have any guesses on how you became an alicorn? And how do we know the Doctor actually knows the truth?"

"I can't make a solid guess on the truth, obviously. That's why I'm relying on the fact that the Doctor may know the truth about me. Hopefully he will be willing to explain it." Just then, a familiar noise echoed throughout the library. The TARDIS appeared before everyone, and the Doctor quickly stepped out.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked.

"Everything's fine, but Soren has something he wants to ask you," Twilight replied. The Doctor turned his attention to Soren, so the white pegasus began.

"Doctor, I realzied that I don't know my entire past or the full truth about me. On the day of a speech I gave to the town, someone asked me why I was an alicorn? I couldn't give him an answer, for I didn't know either. Now I want to know. I was hoping that you know who I am." The Time Lord remained silent and couldn't maintain eye contact with Soren. Everyone became more interested now.

"Doctor...who am I?" Soren asked, stepping closer to him.

"I-I can't tell you...at least not yet. I know who you are, but I made a promise to not tell you right away. I was told, however, to ask you to do something beforehand."

"Hold up," Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Who did you make a promise to?"

"I cant tell you. Please believe me. Soren, I promise you: If you do this one thing, your truth will be shown to you."

"I'm listening."

"If you truly want to know the truth then listen closely. In order to figure out who you are, you must defeat the Elementals" The room was filled with gasps, words of surprise and shock, and mumbling. Although Soren was shocked, he tried to remain calm.

"Why do I need to fight possibly the strongest spirits in the world just to know who I am?" Soren questioned.

"I don't know honestly, but I promised that pony that I would follow their orders. There are more bad news, unfortunately, but there are also good news. The bad news is that you must fight in the Spirit World since that is where the Elementals are. Unfortunately, you can still die there. The good news is that you're allowed to bring one pony to help you. Be warned though: in certain fights, magic or flying will probably be prohibited. The spirits have their rules. So do you still want to find out who you are?" Soren could only nod at this point. "Then who will you bring?"

"Before I even consider that, I need to know a few things. Why can I only bring one friend and why do I need to not only risk my life but a friend's life as well just to find the truth?"

"Soren, if I could tell you, I would. I said you need to trust me on this. This is how it needs to be. I should know; I've seen you in the future." Soren sighed in defeat. Looking around the library's foyer, Soren eyed each of his friends, waiting to see if one of them would be willing to help. He knew the only ponies capable of this kind of fight were Twilight and Rainbow Dash. He looked at them for a good minute before deciding.

"I choose...no one." Every pony in the room exclaimed "What!" simultaneously.

"I'm choosing no one because I can't risk any of your lives on this, especially you, Rainbow. I couldn't live with myself if I got any of you killed. I've decided that I should do this alone and that's final." The room was silent. Finally somepony spoke up:

"You can't be serious, Soren!" Twilight exclaimed. "We're talking about the Elementals right now. How can you say that you don't need help fighting them?"

"Twilight, it is precisely that reason that I can't ask for help. I am an alicorn, which means I can take a beating. I've proven it multiple times. But let's say I bring somepony along; do you really think they can take the same beating as me and survive? I can't take that risk."

"How do the rest of you feel about this?" Most of the ponies there felt that Soren's decision was probably for the best, but others (like Octavia, Spike, Dash, Twilight, and the Doctor) thought otherwise. Even though Soren refused help, Twilight remained persistent. Soren soon realized something.

"You want to be the one to help me, don't you, Twilight?" Soren asked. "I know you're magic is strong, but how can you survive their attacks? I doubt we can outsmart them."

"I'm definitely powerful enough to help you, so is Rainbow Dash. I'm not asking you to take me with you exactly. I just want you to promise us that you'll bring somepony to help."

"Unless someone wants to risk their life just to help me, I won't accept any help," Soren replied flatly. The library was quiet once again, but this time it was only a few seconds before there was a volunteer.

"I'll go with you," stated Rainbow Dash with a determined look. Soren arched an eyebrow. He has never seen Dash that serious before. "You and I both know that you can use your magic to make me ridiculously strong. So why can't you just take me?"

"Are you sure you wanna do this? If I bring you along, there's a pretty low chance of survival, even less of a chance for you. I also can't promise that my magic will make you stronger again; it may have been a one-time thing." Rainbow walked up to Soren and stared straight into his eyes. He was now able to see the burning determination and confidence in her rose-colored eyes.

"What happened to that adventurous stallion I started dating?" Dash asked with a smirk. Soren laughed and hugged her. To everyone else, it seemed like a normal hug, but to Soren, it could be the last hug he ever gave her.

Author's Note

This Part of STA is a little peculiar. It was originally designed to be in story arcs. Instead, I will start what would have been an arc with a journal write from Soren. If the explanation was confusion, just wait. It will make more sense when the story progresses. PS haters: Try not judge a book by its cover this time.

To those who noticed the Crossover tag, I had to put it on at first because the story wouldn't be approved otherwise. I don't think it's technically a Crossover but meh.

The Wind Elemental

It seemed like hours went by as Soren and Rainbow laid on the ground, facing each other, as they talked about anything. They were guessing on how everypony at home was reacting to this; Rainbow wondered if anything was going to happen to her like it did for Luna, wether it be here or somewhere else, to which Soren assured he would protect her with his life; and the couple agreed that after this is over, they should spend some time together. The two sat up and hugged each other. As they hugged, a rumble occurred. Breaking the hug, Soren and Rainbow looked around and saw that the sky was now a dark grey. Many clouds started appearing in the sky.

Soren looked at Dash, and she looked back at him. 'The time is now,' he thought. Knowing what was about to happen, Rainbow nodded. They stood up and prepared for the only Elemental that would bring clouds: Wind. Then a white streak appeared, shooting all across the darkened sky. The wind and lightning picked up as the Elemental landed on the ground a short distance away from Soren and Rainbow.

This Elemental was a grey pegasus stallion that was slightly taller than both Soren and Rainbow. He had a stylish white mane and tail, green eyes, and a cutie mark that resembled a typhoon.

"Hey looky here, it's the Elemental Guardian," said the Wind Elemental. "Funny name, ain't it? You're the Elemental Guardian, yet you protect the Elements of Harmony, not the Elementals themselves, even though we don't need protecting. Oh well, scratch that thought. Anyway let me introduce myself: I am the Air Elemental."

"We know who you are," stated Rainbow Dash. She had a look of boredom and irritation on her face.

"And I know who you are, Rainbow Dash," the Wind Elemental pointed back. Rainbow Dash could only laugh. "Don't believe me? Fine. Let's see...you are the youngest and only pegasus (except for Soren) to perform the Sonic Rainboom, you hate losing or failing, and~ you love Guardian-boy over there." He pointed towards Soren, and he saw the alicorn look at Rainbow and her returning the gesture. "Can I assume that he loves you back?"

"We haven't been dating for that long," Soren said as he winked at Rainbow and turned towards the Wind Elemental. "What should we call you? The Earth Elemental was called Terra, so what should we call you?"

"Why you can call me Skybolt, the 'youngest' Elemental and the fastest one of them all. I have used Skybolt as a name for so long that I don't even think the other Elementals remember my technical name. Anyways, should we get started? We've been, or I should say I've been, talking too long." Soren and Dash nodded, but Skybolt noticed something quickly: "No no no, I don't like that. That's going away." Skybolt pointed towards Soren's horn, still stained red from earlier. The Elemental clapped his hooves together and the horn vanished. He then began to fill the space around them with thunder clouds, and the ground soon started disappearing. All three ponies immediately started flying, and Soren and Rainbow quickly realized that this battle was going to be a dog fight.

Lightning then flashed in the background, not only signaling the start of the fight but blinding Soren and Rainbow for few seconds. Next thing Soren knew, he was being tackled by Skybolt. The Elemental punched him twice and bucked him in his chest with great power. Soren was impressed that such a strong strike was possible while flying.

"Is that all you got?" Soren asked, rubbing his chest and grinning. Skybolt smiled.

"No. I also have this." He swiped his hooves down and caused the air around him to go straight down with alarming speed. Rainbow Dash was charging at Skybolt right before he did this. She was flung downwards but recovered and flew next to Soren.

Skybolt now stared at them with such a serious expression. Skybolt curled up, while still flying, and started glowing yellow. He then threw his hooves in all directions like an explosion. One second passed before multiple lightning bolts started striking everywhere. Soren and Rainbow began flying spastically, trying not to get hit. As Rainbow Dash dodged and weaved, Soren made his way to one side of Skybolt. Skybolt was still in his 'explosion' position, focusing on sending as much lightning as possible at his opponents. Rainbow noticed Soren and followed his lead, flying to the other side of Skybolt.

Once they were in position, the two of them charged at the spirit. Right before they slammed into him, however, Skybolt shot upwards. Luckily, Soren was expecting something like that. When Skybolt flew up, Soren readjusted and flew right over Dash so they wouldn't collide.

Regrouping, Soren and Rainbow flew next to each other once again. "This guy is more of a challenge than Terra," Dash commented. "Got any plans?"

"As a matter of fact, I think I do," Soren responded. Skybolt heard their conversation and started laughing, but his laughter was soon drawn out by the sound of singing. He looked down at Soren with a angry expression.

"What do you think you're doing?" Skybolt asked seriously and partially irritated.

"Exactly what it sounds like," Soren retorted. "I'm going to show you just how powerful I can be without magic."

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

At this point, Skybolt and Rainbow noticed that the thunder clouds started to vanish, causing random streaks of light to shine down on the aerial battlefield. Skybolt looked around in shock and slight horror, but Soren continued.

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

As Soren was nearing the end of his song, Skybolt decided to finally take the chance to attack him. Luckily for Soren, Rainbow Dash intervened by bucking Skybolt in his chest.

"Ha! That's payback for Soren!" she exclaimed confidently.

"This. Isn't. Possible!" Skybolt said angrily. The spirit went from being a confident pegasus to a furious Elemental spirit. Dash decided to grab Skybolt since he was in shock. She then threw the Elemental at Soren, and Soren put him in a headlock. Headlocks while flying can become very lethal very fast since the other pegasus can't fly. Midair plus strength equals a very deadly headlock.

"Let me go!" Skybolt shouted with a strained voice.

"Surrender and I will," Soren said evenly. Skybolt continued to struggle against Soren's hold. Soren looked at Rainbow and smirked "He's more hot-headed than you." She frowned at him but couldn't stop herself from chuckling at the joke.

At this point, Soren felt tired of trying to show mercy to this pony, so he gave Skybolt one final warning.

"Now you listen very closely because the next words that leave your mouth decided wether or not I end this. You can't win; that's a fact. So just surrender and we'll be on our way, or you can keep resisting and I can make sure that you'll need a new body after this." As he threatened Skybolt, Soren's voice became serious enough to make Rainbow shiver. Unfortunately, Skybolt's answer disappointed Soren.

"I don't give a flying feather what you do! I'll still be the fastest Elemental and pegasus around. I'd rather die than surrender to two mortals like you." His persistance was commendable, but he still had to be dealt with. Soren shook his own head and looked at Rainbow Dash.

"Could you be a dear and do your signature move for me, please?" he asked. Skybolt's eyes widened.

"You're gonna have her do a Sonic Rainboom and hit us both?!" Skybolt squirmed even more as he saw Rainbow starting to perform it.

Soren's face was stern and ready for the impact. He looked down at the squirming Skybolt. The 'young' Elemental looked up at the white pegasus and saw how serious he was. Up to this point in his life, Soren have never seen such fear in a pony's eyes. He knew that what was about to happen was wrong, but he also knew that it was Skybolt or them. Soren tilted his head down in order to whisper to Skybolt.

"This all could have been avoided if you simply gave up when you were beat. But instead you chose arrogance. I'm so sorry for this, but I'd just like to say...that I'm not going to be hit." Skybolt snapped his head up, wide-eyed.

Soren let him go.

Skybolt didn't fall for more than one second before Soren saw a rainbow blur whiz by, slamming into the spirit. Both Soren and Rainbow Dash looked at the unconscious Skybolt as he fell down further and further into the sky abyss. When Skybolt was just a falling speck in the clouds, the ground slowly rematerialized.

The couple landed and stared at each other. Soren walked up to Dash, looked deep in her eyes, and discovered fear in them. He quickly hugged her and started to weep.

"Never, ever let me become that dark again," he said softly, hugging Rainbow harder. The two just stood there embracing each other, making a silent promise to prevent Soren from acting like that again.

Author's Note

Wonderwall is sung by Oasis.

The Oath

"How did I get here," Soren asked himself aloud as he stood upon a hill outside of a nearby city. "I was resting with Rainbow Dash and now I'm suddenly near Canterlot? What's going on?" After looking at the city shining in the night, Soren decided to fly to the castle to see if the princesses could possibly tell him what was happening. Before he could launch off of the ground, however, Soren was stopped by a very deep voice.

"Halt! By order of the princess!" Soren looked to his right and, at first glance, saw a purple-armored stallion staring at him. 'That armor...' Soren thought before responding.

"Halt? Whatever for? I'm just traveling to the castle to talk to the princesses." The stallion got in a fighting stance, and Soren got a better look at the guard. He was wearing armor that was different shades of purple and blue, and the armor had a strange eye on the chestpiece. The guard was a unicorn stallion with a grey coat. Soren wasn't able to see his mane under his helmet, which seemed to have a sharp fin of sorts on top. The most striking feature however were the stallions eyes; they made Soren freeze in place. 'Yellow eyes...just like Nyra's.'

"If you won't cooperate then I will be forced to take physical action against you. Last warning: leave now!" This pony wanted a fight, Soren knew it. 'He wants to fight? Why not give him what he wants.' Soren got in a fighting position as well and smirked at the guard. "Very well," the stallion said. "But I tried to warn you."

The last thing Soren remembered was that conversation. He groaned as he started to wake up. As his senses came back to him, Soren heard a conversation near the place he was laying down.

"...he just wouldn't leave, so I had to take extreme measures. However, as I was hauling him to the dungeon, he kept saying your name, Princess." Soren recognized the voice; it was the stallion that kicked his flank.

"Very well," a familiar voice said. "You may leave, soldier. We shall handle this stallion ourselves."

Soren heard the guard leave, so he tried to move but felt instant pain in his shoulder. Cringing in pain, Soren opened his eyes and looked around. The room he was resting in was fancy; he assumed he was inside the royal palace. Soren tried to turn on the bed he was on, but he instantly felt a hoof on his back.

"Thou shouldn't move when one is so injured." Soren recognized the voice now.

"Luna?" he asked. He tried turning around, but he felt sharp pains once again. "Why do I hurt so bad? Who was that stallion guard?" Soren had many questions; so much was happening right now. Princess Luna helped to turn Soren over, and when he saw her, Soren saw a confused look etched on her face.

"Who are you? And why was thou lurking around the palace grounds? To answer your questions: That stallion was one of our lunar guards and he fought thee. Thou made a grave mistake challenging one of our guards; their strength cannot be matched. As a result of the conflict, our guard stabbed his horn into thou's shoulder and knocked thee unconscious." Something seemed off about Luna and it wasn't her memory loss. Soren shrugged it off.

"I'll think twice next time, and I wasn't lurking around the castle. I somehow arrived near the palace and wanted to ask you or your sister if you two knew anything. And how do you not know me? It's not like this is the first time we've met."

"Should we know you? Thou doesn't seem that familiar. But if thy knowest our sister personally then maybe we have met once upon a time. What is your name?" Soren sighed before continuing.

"It's me, Soren, also known as Nyroc. I'm not supposed to be here; I'm supposed to be in the Spirit World fighting the Elementals with Rainbow Dash. Me and her decided to rest but then I appeared near the castle."

"Ahh young Nyroc, the Nyr who defeated the Shadow Horses and saved Canterlot! Now we remember thee. You look different from the last time we saw thee." Luna thought for a moment. "Thou art missing a horn. Why is that?" Soren felt his head and discovered that Luna was telling the truth.

"First of all, your vocabulary doesn't need to be so formal with me, even if you are a princess. As for my missing horn, the Air Elemental got rid of it for a more fair fight. I guess it hasn't returned yet. To change the topic, can you heal my shoulder? I need to get back to Rainbow Dash and being injured isn't going to help our cause." Soren decided to not think about what's going on; he just wanted to get back.

"Very well. The wound will take at least a week with basic healing spells...but we believe we can speed up the process and have you healed before you leave. Also, if you were indeed in the Spirit World, we can send you back." Soren nodded, and Luna began healing his wound. He still didn't know why Luna seemed a bit off, but it wasn't important right now. Half an hour went by and the wound was almost healed. Before Soren was completely healed, Luna decided to ask one more question.

"So if thou art fighting the Elementals, how many have you and Rainbow Dash defeated?" The wound was now fixed, so Soren sat up. He saw Luna preparing a spell that would most likely send him to the Spirit World.

"Two. Luna, before you send me back, can I ask...am I in the real world?" Princess Luna chuckled. Her horn shined brighter as she spoke.

"My dear stallion, you were never awake to begin with. I am the princess of the night; I know when my subjects need my intervention, even if they dream within their dream. Good luck with your fight, young Guardian." She casted the spell, and Soren was surrounded with light.

Soren sat straight up, breathing heavily. He looked around and saw that he was back in the vast emptiness that was the Spirit World. He turned to his left and noticed that Rainbow Dash was still fast asleep. 'I thought we were already dreaming. How does a dream within a dream work?' Soren thought. Thinking it best to ignore the fact, Soren went back to sleep to rest for the upcoming battle. With his eyes closed, he unintentionally began thinking about Luna and her lunar guards.

Eventually, Soren woke up, except it wasn't a natural awakening; it was a wake-up call via somepony nudging him. Opening his eyes, Soren saw Rainbow Dash standing above him, pushing and nudging him to wake up. Soren finally stood up but was still a little drowsy.

"You ok?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You looked like you were having a nightmare."

"What makes you say that?" Soren asked as he rubbed his eyes then felt his head. 'My horn is back.'

"You were moving a lot in your sleep."

"Alright, and yes, I'm fine. It was just a dream I can't remember. How was your 'sleep?'" Soren used his wings to emphasize air quotes around 'sleep.'

"No complaints. Still weird that we can sleep while already asleep. I'm curious, though...while you were moving around, you said Luna's name a few times. Why?" Soren wanted to tell her the truth, but they didn't have time for the full explanation.

"In my dream, I was transported to Canterlot. I wound up in the castle, and I spoke to Luna. I then woke up, saw you still asleep, and went back to sleep. I had another dream about her. If I had time, I would share every detail I remember about both dreams, but we need to focus." Dash nodded and asked the question that was on both of their minds.

"So how do we get the last two Elementals here?" Once again, just like the first time they arrived, Soren and Rainbow sat down and tried to come up with a plan.

After a long conversation about how to get the Elementals to arrive, the two ponies heard lightning strike the ground. Looking to the west, they saw thunderclouds above that general area. A few seconds of silence passed before another lightning bolt sounded. This time, Soren and Rainbow saw a flaming object hurdling towards the ground. By the time the object was half way to the ground, the fire went out. The object slammed into the solid blankness and somehow created a dust cloud upon impact. Soren and Dash began walking towards it, staring at it the entire time. Upon reaching it, the pair noticed that it was just a stone slab with what looked like ancient writing on it.

"Can you read that?" Dash asked.
Soren studied it but couldn't translate it. Nevertheless, he had an idea.

"I cant translate it," he began, "but luckily I know how we can. Dreams are strange; you can make almost anything happen with reason. If I concentrate hard enough, maybe I can gain a certain ability."

"And what ability is that?"

"The Doctor told me that the TARDIS can grant companions the ability to translate any language into another language, preferably Equestrian. Since we are in a dream, maybe, just maybe I can gain the ability to do just that."

"Let's cross our hooves." Soren's horn started glowing as he began concentrating. Minutes passed before Soren's horn shined even brighter. "Is it working?"

As he continued to focus on the writing, Soren noticed the words changing. As Soren continued his spell, Rainbow Dash decided to examine the whole slab. Once the writing finally became readable, Soren's horn stopped glowing.

"What's it say?" Rainbow asked, hearing the spell stop.

"The format is weird. It's like a riddle, but I don't think it's supposed to be one."

"Before you read that out loud, take a look at this thing." Soren walked around to the other side of the slab and saw a necklace nailed into the back of the stone by its chain. The necklace was just a chain with a pendent. The pendent itself looked like an eye. 'An eye! Just like that lunar guard's chestpiece!' Soren realized. Soren used his magic to carefully pull the necklace out of the stone and loop it around his neck.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Rainbow asked.

"We don't have much else to do. Not only is this necklace giving off a lot of magic, but I think I know what to do with it." Soren walked to the front of the slab and faced it. Staring at the words, Soren began reciting.

"In the dark, we tear and rend. To end all evils, with spines to bend. Lust and power, hunger and might. By Luna's will, and dark of night."

The eye pendant flashed white, and Soren could feel immense magic surrounding him. Rainbow shielded her eyes from the luminescent light as it began to change Soren. He felt his body changing; he felt his wings changing; he even felt his teeth changing! When the light vanished, Rainbow looked at Soren and saw the completed transformation. Soren now had a fur-ish grey coat, yellow piercing eyes, sharp teeth, bat wings, and he was wearing armor of different shades of blue and purple. Also, his chestpiece had the same eye that was on the pendant.

"Soren? Is that you?" she asked, slowly stepping closer. "Wow, you look...awesome! You're like half-bat, half-pony...and half-alicorn too! How do you feel?"

"Stronger..." Soren quickly put a hoof to his mouth. His voice became so much deeper that it actually made Rainbow take a step back. "My voice is so deep. Anyway, I'm fine. We still have to find the Elementals."

"But we were never gone," a new voice said. 'Why do they always have to sneak up on us?' Soren thought. "That slab was merely to test you and to give you a fighting chance. However, I find it very strange that the armor didn't make you frenzied. Instead it immediately accepted you. Interesting..."

When the voice stopped mumbling, a pony appeared from behind the slab. It was a pony that looked to be entirely made of crystals. He was a light-blue crystal unicorn with a darker blue crystal-like mane, which looked like frozen fire. His eyes were grey and his cutie mark resembled a top view of a whirpool. This had to be the Water Elemental.

"You're the Water Elemental, arent you?" Rainbow Dash asked. He nodded. "Why do you look like you're made of ice?" After she asked that question, Rainbow looked at Soren once again to get used to his new look.

"I may be made of ice," the Elemental started, "but I assure you, I am the Water Elemental. Ice is fairly related to that Element in any case." This pony projected sophistication and a calm demeanor.

"So what's your name?" Soren asked.

"So formal with everypony. Very well, if you must know, my name is Frostbite, and my friend should be here any second..." Frostbite looked up and shouted at the sky: "Unless she wants to hide up there and spy on us!"

The sky gave another crack of lightning, and a fireball flew down to the ground. When it landed, the fire cleared out to reveal a mare. She was a slender unicorn and was taller than everyone there. She had a white coat and pure fire for a mane and tail. Her eyes weren't even a color; she seemed to have fire where her eye color should be. They also saw that her cutie mark was a meteor.

"That is one fierce looking mare," Soren whispered to Rainbow. The Fire Elemental relaxed, and as a result, the fire of her eyes changed to a blood red color.

"Hello again, Soren."

Author's Note

Credit to Aegis Shield who made me a big fan of the Lunar Guards.

Fire And Ice

"Soren~," the Fire Elemental said happily with something between a confident smirk and a genuine smile. "I can't believe we're actually meeting face to face." Soren and Rainbow noticed that her voice wasn't threatening or intimidating; it was fairly normal.

"I am the Fire Elemental, but you two knew that by now, I presume? My name is simply Blaze, since you two keep asking about our names." Blaze scanned Soren mane to hoof. "Quite the handsome Lunar Stallion aren't you?" 'Shouldn't have said that,' Soren laughed to himself, grinning on the outside.

"Hey, back off!" Dash exclaimed. "He's mine." She nearly flew at Blaze but thought twice about it.

"Oh? Are you two an item? Soren, last time I was with you, you were with Princess Luna. What happened?" Soren was surprised to be the center of attention all of a sudden.

"It doesn't matter," he answered quickly. "What matters is that we all get down to business. We came to defeat all the Elementals so I could find out the truth about me, and that is exactly what we plan to do. Let's get started." Frostbite smiled and Blazed laughed.

"I love a stallion that's eager for a fight," Blaze commented before her and Frostbite got into fighting positions. Soren looked over at his fuming marefriend and told her to focus, then the two readied themselves. 'The last battle,' Soren told himself. 'It all comes down to this.'

The fight started with Frostbite casting a spell which sent icicles at Rainbow Dash. As Dash started flying away from the spell, Soren flew in front of her and swung his bat wings to break the ice. Soren then retaliated by shooting lightning at Frostbite. The Elemental was quicker than he anticipating because Frostbite quickly created a dome of ice to protect him. In the background, Soren heard the noise of air cracking. 'Teleportation.' He looked over to the spot Blaze was standing at but didn't see her.

"Soren, look out!" He heard Rainbow Dash yell. Soren looked back at the ice dome and saw a red glow quickly forming.

Soren realized that the color is being created by heat. Closing his wings, Soren dropped straight down, horn beginning to glow, just in time as a thick stream of fire passed right over his head. Blaze's flamethrower spell barely missed him. Realizing she missed, Blaze started to drag the fire downwards. Luckily Soren prepared magic on his way down or else it would have been too late to do his next defense. Soren dropped next to Rainbow and casted a magical shield around the two of them. Seeing that her flamethrower was having no effect, Blaze stopped the spell; Soren broke his spell as well. He and Rainbow then flew forwards and towards each other so they could cross paths and loop around to attack the Elemental duo. Right as they crossed paths, Soren whispered something to Rainbow.

"Be ready" was all he said. 'If we're going to win this then I need Rainbow Dash to transform again.'

As Soren attempted to loop around to attack one of the Elementals, Blaze sent fireballs at him. Normally it's an easy spell to dodge, but Blaze made it so the fireballs followed her target. Seeing no way out of it, Soren started to cast another spell. He turned towards the fireballs, readied his spell, and sent a very strong gust of wind at them, causing them disappear. In combination with that, Soren also sent a tornado towards Blaze and Frostbite. Frostbite stood in front of Blaze and casted his own counter-spell. This one created strong, cold winds that made Soren's tornado vanish.

"Although this is fun," Blaze started, "I have to change this battle up a bit." She looked at Frostbite, and they exchanged a silent understanding. "Now!" Frostbite and Blaze crossed each other's paths. Frostbite was facing Dash, and Blaze was facing Soren. Standing between Soren and Dash, the Elementals casted a spell together that brought forth a giant wall of fire, separating Soren and Blaze from Dash and Frostbite.

"Now I have you all to myself," the fiery mare said. "I hope your friend can deal with a little cold weather." Soren knew it was now or never. He had to transform Rainbow or she could die fighting Frostbite.

Blaze saw Soren staring over to where Dash was. "You're not getting to her without defeating me. Don't even try." Giving Blaze an intense stare, Soren magnified his magic so he could cast a powerful spell. Soren smirked before he began to run extremely fast. He managed to create a spell to majorly increase his speed. This would give him enough time to give a charm to Rainbow to help her in her battle.

Soren ran next to the firewall and managed to get a glimpse of Rainbow Dash. He had to focus, for the next part would be tricky. He had to give Dash a charm but the result would cancel his speed spell. Using the limit of his magic, Soren created a ball of magic and flung it towards Rainbow. The second the spell left his horn, Soren's spell broke. He quickly looked towards Blaze and saw a fireball coming at him. Soren ducked, then Blaze started yelling through the firewall.

"Frostbite, keep an eye on Rainbow Dash! Soren did something to her!" Soren knew that Rainbow smirked right then because she knew exactly what he did to her. Now Soren's only goal at this point was to waste time until Burning Dash was reawakened.

To continue the fight, Blaze created a strong downdraft that brought Soren to the ground, flattening him out. She then rushed up and tried to stomp on his head, but he just barely rolled out of the way. He felt her spell cease, so he stood up. Looking at his opponent, Soren saw Blaze run up to him and punch him. Soren retaliated with more hoof-to-hoof combat.

"You're pretty strong...for an alicorn," commented Blaze sarcastically as they fought.

"What alicorn isn't strong?" Soren responded.

Blaze smirked. "You," she said as she turned around and bucked him square in the muzzle. Soren was sent tumbling back, muzzle bleeding now. Soren held his mouth as he got up. Before Soren could say anything, he and Blaze heard a strange noise in the background. It was a sound similar to sizzling. Blaze instantly recognized the sound.

"My fire wall is disappearing...but that means..." They turned towards the massive wall as it shrunk. When it was gone, they saw Frostbite walking towards them with Rainbow Dash on his back. Soren's heart instantly dropped. Frostbite put Dash on the ground and walked over to Blaze. As he did this, Soren rushed over to Rainbow. Frostbite was about to try to stop Soren, but Blaze prevented him from interfering. They just stood there, watching.

"Rainbow Dash?" Soren said weakly. She was covered in cuts, and a few ice splinters were still attached to her. She wasn't bleeding a lot, but she was in very bad shape. Soren sat next to her and held her head so she could look at him. "Dashie?" he said again. Her eyes opened just barely enough to look at him. Soren started to tear up at this point.

"S-Soren,...I-I tried my best. I-I...I'm sorry." Her voice was so weak. She started closing her eyes, but he softly and repeatedly slapped her cheek like he was trying to wake her up.

"No, you're staying awake until I'm through with those two. You hear me? Just stay awake long enough, ok?" Soren was trying to be serious but he still had tears coming down his face. 'There's only one thing to do,' he thought.

'Help her...' a chorus of voices echoed in Soren's head.

Soren ears perked. 'Voices?'

'This armor...It can help her...'

Without a second thought, Soren obeyed the voices. He put his hoof on the chestpiece to remove it, only to be surprised when the armor to retracted itself all the way back into a necklace. Soren didn't know if this was a good idea, but he was willing to do anything if it meant saving Rainbow Dash's life. He propped Rainbow against him as he fastened the necklace around her. Laying her back down, Soren recited the wording that activated it.

"In the dark, we tear and rend. To end all evils, with spines to bend. Lust and power, hunger and might. By Luna's will, and dark of night."

Dash started transforming, but Soren didn't watch, for he had to focus. 'The armor will do its thing, but now it's time to get serious.' Soren stared straight at the two Elementals with a serious expression.

"You shouldn't have done that," he said in a darker voice. "Now you're both going to pay."

"Oh? And you think you're strong enough to take on both of us?" Blaze asked. Without flinching, Soren answered her question.

"If I'm not strong enough to defeat both of you, then I can guarantee that I'm strong enough to kill all three of us in the process. I was hoping to not have another situation like last time, but you two crossed the line. Nopony ever, EVER, hurts my friends, unless they don't want to see tomorrow." Frostbite seemed to shrink a little after Soren finished, but Blaze only laughed and got into a fighting position again.

"We'll see about that," she grinned. She nudged Frostbite so he would focus. With all three of them ready, the ponies charged at each other to finally end this battle.

Only a few minutes of fighting passed before Soren was heavily damaged. He was sent flying by another slam from Frostbite. Soren now knew exactly how to fight Frostbite since he is made entirely out of crystal, but with the addition of Blaze helping him, Soren couldn't get a shot at unicorn. With another downdraft, created by Blaze, filling the air, Soren could no longer fly, so he had to fight both of them on the ground. It wouldn't have been much of a problem, except for the fact that the Elementals have amazing ground tactics. When Soren fought one, the other would ambush him from a different angle. 'If only I had enough time to cast a Horn-Lock spell,' Soren thought as he struggled to get up.

Before he could get up, however, Soren was hit by another fireball. He knew he couldn't take this much longer. Sure he dealt some damage to both of the Elementals, but he was taking a massive amount damage in return. Soren looked over at Rainbow Dash now and again and saw her in a stable condition. She was unconscious at this point, but she was alive.

"It's over!" shouted Frostbite. "Just give up before you get yourself killed."

"Weren't you two listening?" Soren asked, anger still in his voice. "I said that if I can't beat you two, I'd rather kill all three of us right here. If I die here, who knows what you two will do to Rainbow." Soren was sent flying towards the ground again via a magic bolt. He had no strength left. 'I am going to die here. I have burns, cuts, bruises, you name it.'

"I admire your persistency and bravery," Blaze started, "but even you can't be stubborn enough to not admit you are losing."

"I never said I was winning," Soren panted heavily with one eye open. "I was only saying that I was going to end all of us." The two Elementals began walking towards Soren.

"I don't think I've ever heard you sound that dark, Soren," a new voice commented. The combating ponies all looked around for the voice, and they eventually saw an earth pony standing a good distance from them. He was chestnut brown with a darker brown mane and a cutie mark that resembled an hourglass. 'The Doctor!'

"How are you here?" Soren asked.

"The same way you got here. I just used the TARDIS to put me to sleep. Time Lords don't need sleep you see, so..."

"Enough!" Blaze interrupted. "Who are you?"

"Why I'm a little hurt that the 'all knowing Elementals' haven't heard of me. I'm the Doctor and from the looks of it, you two have been hurting my friends." The Doctor glanced at Soren and Rainbow Dash as he spoke.

"So what?" she retorted. 'What a mistake she just made,' Soren thought.

"So what?" the Doctor repeated sarcastically. "It means that you two will not win this battle." Blaze started laughing.

"And how exactly do you plan on winning?" asked Frostbite as his partner calmed down. Laying on the ground, Soren face-hoofed and smiled because these two idiots don't know how powerful the Doctor could be. The Doctor started smiling as well and took out his sonic screwdriver. He then answered Frostbite's question.

"Like this." The Time Lord then activated his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at Rainbow Dash. Soren saw Dash's coat slowly change to white. After a few seconds passed, Rainbow stood up. Her eyes were closed, but Soren could guess what's under those eyelids. Stalwart, the Doctor stood still as everypony looked at Rainbow. Very soon, she opened her eyes and everything seemed to explode. Her mane and tail turned into the rainbow flames that Soren remembered, her wings became bigger than normal, and lastly her eyes changed to red. Burning Dash was born, and she also had Lunar Guard armor on. Everypony but the Doctor was in awe. Finally, the Doctor spoke.

"Now...where were we...?"

Author's Note

I can only imagine your reaction of the next chapter.

Soren

"Oh that's right," said the Doctor. "We were just about to finish this." He and Soren could heard the Elementals talking to each other in the distance as they stared at Burning Dash.

"What do we do now, Blaze?" asked Frostbite. It seemed like he was the only one of the two who was now worried.

"What do you mean?" smiled Blaze. "One is defenceless, one can barely stand, and the other doesn't look so tough. We got this." Burning Dash puffed out hot air through her nose and flew insanely fast at Blaze. Soren and the Doctor saw the expression on Blaze's face quickly change to one of shock and surprise as she was struck in her chest. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Soren started to talk as Dash attacked the Elementals. Soren would have helped her, but he was too weak and he would probably just get in her way.

"You took a beating for her?" the Doctor asked. Soren nodded. "I could tell she means a lot to you. All of us can; Twilight, Octavia, everyone. You two may have only started your relationship not too long ago, but I can tell it will last a long time." Soren stared at the Doctor for awhile. Dash did mean a lot to him. He still had one question for the Doctor though.

"Why won't you tell me The Truth?" The Doctor sighed and began explaining.

"Before I came into this spirit world, I told Twilight the truth about you. She was surprised to say the least, and that's really saying something considering she used to travel with me. I couldn't tell you because it would have created a paradox. If you knew the truth before this, you wouldn't be here fighting, then you wouldn't be here as the truth unfolds, thus creating a paradox." Soren's eyes widened. He was right. The Doctor was absolutely right. Feeling more at ease, Soren went back to watching Dash make quick work of the Elementals. Soon, he arched an eyebrow at what he just saw.

"Did Rainbow just absorb Blaze's fireballs with her mane?" Soren asked.

"Fancy that. I can see why you brought Rainbow Dash to fight over Twilight. I don't even think Twilight can manage that." Burning Dash was now using her fiery mane to blast back Frostbite and Blaze. Frostbite looked like he was now unconscious or at least faking it. As for Blaze, she was beat up almost as bad as Soren.

"This is impossible!" Blaze growled, staggering a bit. "You're a pegasus, yet you have magical powers like a unicorn." Dash grabbed Blaze and began flying high. "W-What are you?" Burning Dash just stared at her and finally spoke.

"I'm Rainbow Dash," she said as she threw Blaze straight towards the ground. Blaze bounced twice before skidding to a stop. The Fire Elemental looked up at Dash, her voice weak and defeated.

"Hehe...looks like you two beat us...but before we leave...we need to do something first...Isn't that right, Frostbite?" Before any of them could look at Frostbite, Blaze shouted "Now!" Soren and Rainbow then saw a blue beam of energy shoot past Soren, then they heard it impact something. 'The Doctor!' Soren looked next to himself and saw the Doctor on the ground, holding his chest. He quickly sat beside him and turned the Doctor onto his back.

"Doctor! Are you ok?!" Soren was slightly panicking. He saw the bright blue mark on the Doctor's chest.

"I'm fine...kind of...but don't worry. This was supposed to happen." The Doctor's voice sounded strained. 'What kind of spell was that?!' Soren heard Dash give a sound of frustration and a sound of a hit which he assumed was a buck to the face. "Time is a funny thing sometimes," the Doctor said. "Looks like it's time for the truth. Before I go, you need to promise me a few things, Soren."

"Anything. What is it?" Dash flew to Soren's side and sat next to him.

"First, when I regenerate, I'm afraid that there's a chance I won't remember any of you. Don't be concerned. Second, bring me to the past. Twilight will know which point in time. Last, I need you to investigate the project the princess is working on. I wouldn't trust those Lunar stallions without knowing more first." The Doctor sighed contently. "I'm afraid that's it. It's been fun...Soren. You, me, and the weeping pegasi...but I'm afraid this is goodbye...technically. Get back!" Soren and Dash did as they were instructed and stood away. The Doctor then curled up on the ground, and yellow mist protruded from his body. A few second passed before the mist shot out of his body in all directions like a geyser. Soren and Dash shielded themselves with their wings.

When they heard the sound stop, Soren and Dash looked back at the Doctor. Soren stumbled as he looked at the new Time Lord; he couldn't believe his eyes. The Doctor regenerated, except he looked way too familiar. His coat had changed to white, and his mane and tail changed to black. Also, his cutie mark resembled a brightly-colored six sided gem. And most shockingly: he grew wings and a horn. He looked like Soren! 'No...he is me. I'm the Doctor?! How is that even possible?! And why is he a foal?' Soren just stood there, confused beyond belief.

"Soren, look at that."

"It can't be!"

"Is that...you? The Doctor changed into you? How...why... what?!" Dash was stammering as much as Soren was in his own head.

"I...don't know how...but it's there...right before our eyes. I'm the Doctor." Soren looked at Rainbow Dash; she was back to normal. "This is too much to take in." A rumbling soon occurred. The spirit world began disappearing all around Soren and Rainbow Dash.

"Quick! Grab the Doctor...me... whatever. Hurry!" Soren and Dash held on to the unconscious past version of Soren as the world around them became darker and darker...

Soren awoke with a jolt. He looked around and saw that he was in the TARDIS. He continued to look around and soon saw Twilight Sparkle sitting next to the newly transformed, foal-sized Doctor. 'How awkward will this get?' Soren asked myself. 'I used to be in love with Twilight.' Twilight heard Soren stir and looked over at him. Her face and eyes were so sad, yet she still smiled at him. "It's time," she said softly, sadness in her voice as well.

"Where do we take him? He said you would know. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this." Twilight nodded and walked over to Soren.

"I'm sorry for doing this, but...he never gave me a proper goodbye. Please don't tell Rainbow Dash." Before Soren could put one-and-two together, Twilight walked closer and kissed him. It was passionate on her part, but Soren just stood there since it was awkward for him. The kiss ended, and Twilight just looked down shyly. "Sorry, I...I just had to. Anyway, I know where the Doctor, or you, needs to be dropped off."

She walked towards the TARDIS console. 'Poor Twilight. She lost the pony that loved her the most.' Soren sighed and heard Rainbow Dash beginning to stir. The TARDIS began to move, and Soren waited for Dash to regain her senses before filling her in on what they were doing.

"Twilight," Dash started as the TARDIS moved through time and space, "where exactly are we taking past-Soren?"

"We have to take him to the past a few months after Octavia was born. She's the older sibling after all."

"What?"

"Isn't it obvious by now? Soren was never 'born' from his parents. He had to have been adopted by his parents. Therefore, we need to take him to the Melody family's house so they can find him and adopt him."

"A foal on a doorstep..." Soren added. Twilight nodded.

"When we arrive, past-Soren will be a foal and Octavia should be a few months old. Hopefully, Soren's body should grow normally as he ages, making him seem normal." The TARDIS landed.

"Well," Soren said, "this is it." Twilight nodded. Using her magic, Twilight created a basket with a blanket to put past-Soren in. Levitating the basket with the child in it, she took him outside to the Melody Mansion in Canterlot.

"You alright, Soren?" Rainbow Dash asked as Twilight stepped out of the TARDIS. "I know this is just as weird, if not weirder, for you then it is for me."

"I'll be fine. It's just so... complicated. Time travel hurts even my head sometimes. I guess it all makes sense when I think about it: me acting similar to the Doctor sometimes, my knowledge at random times, and I guess my adventurous spirit. All because I'm the Doctor." Soren sighed again.

"Well, I wouldn't say the Doctor is a major part of you. He's just your past. You never even had dreams about him. It wasn't the Doctor that fought Nyra, it wasn't the Doctor that saved Appaloosa, and it defintely wasn't the Doctor that beat the hay out of the Elementals." Soren looked at Dash with watering eyes. Touched by her comforting words, he quickly embraced her and kissed her.

After the kiss, Soren hesitated to say something but he felt it has to be said. Even though it has only been a short amount of time, Soren already felt a strong bond with Rainbow. "I-I love you...Rainbow Dash," he said as he still hugged her. She tensed up when he said that but she quickly calmed down.

"Love you too, Soren." The two continued to sit there, hugging each other until Twilight walked back inside. The unicorn was now wet from the rainy night, and as she saw Soren and Rainbow, she didn't want to interrupt their moment. Twilight simply walked to the TARDIS' console and set their course for present day Ponyville. They had a lot of explaining to do.

After they stopped hugging, Soren and Rainbow looked at each other and smiled.

"So what happens to the TARDIS?" Soren called over to Twilight. She looked at the console with distant eyes. "Twilight...do you want to be the new Doctor? Is that what you think the Doctor wants you to do?" She shook her head.

"He wouldn't want me traveling around alone, risking my life and those who will try to help me. He'd want me to just stay in Ponyville and wait until the TARDIS is absolutely-"

DING!

Something made a noise on the console. It took awhile but Twilight managed to find out what it was. There was a slot and it had a key coming out of it. "A TARDIS key?" Twilight wondered. "The TARDIS must have made it for me. But what about-?"

DING!

Something next to the slot went off. This one produced a sonic screwdriver personally made for Twilight.

"Wow, egghead," Dash joked whole-heartedly, "it looks like the machine wants you to be the next Doctor." Twilight didn't look too thrilled about that. Soren stepped next to her and draped a hoof around her to comfort her. She looked at him.

"Why me?" she whispered. Soren smiled at her.

"Because. You traveled with the Doctor a lot, you know how to work the TARDIS console, and you know how the Doctor did things. No guns, no violence, no harming. You don't have to be the new Doctor...but the Tardis will need you someday." Twilight smiled and hugged him. Soren returned the embrace.

"You're still so much like him," Twilight commented, fighting back tears. Soren patted her back, and the TARDIS soon landed.

"Come on, you two," Rainbow Dash said. "We got a lot of explaining to do." Soren and Twilight both nodded and started to follow Dash outside. One more thing still bugged Soren though.

"Where are you going to keep the TARDIS until it needs you?" he asked Twilight. She chuckled.

"In the library basement, of course. The Doctor used to keep it down here when we were traveling, so I figured why not bring it back." And sure enough, the three friends found themselves in the basement of Twilight's library when they walked out. 'It's good to be back,' Soren thought to himself. The three friends looked at each other and smiled. Then they exchanged nods and headed out to gather all of their friends.

(End of Arc: The Quest For Truth)
(Next Arc: The Lunar Assassin)

Author's Note

If you're going to give me crap, try to remember that up to this point, everything was a dream.

This Part was originally going to be in arcs. Instead of the chapter names, the chapters were going to be called Quest For Truth I, Quest For Truth II, Quest For Truth III, etc (I'm just using this arc as an example). I decided against it due to the fact that this was going to be the only Part with that format. It would just look weird, so I decided to give each chapter a name like the other Parts.

The Promise

Arc: The Lunar Assassin

Journal Entry

I finally know who I am...I'm the Doctor. But am I really him, or am I my own pony? What will happen now? Will I use the TARDIS to travel the universe, or will Twilight do that? The TARDIS wanted her to be the next Doctor, but I highly doubt she will. I guess it doesn't matter. Only one thing matters right now: A promise I made to a friend.

-Soren

It was a peaceful day in the bustling city of Canterlot. Sunny skies, no cloud in sight, a slight breeze, and ponies playing music in the background. Not many genres of music are played here other than classic, but what can one expect from a fancy city? Although classical was favored, two musically inclined stallions decided to play a different genre. These two were moving a cart to a town square, hoping to liven up this sophisticated environment.

Once they were in a town square, the twins smiled as they began taking things out of the cart and setting up their stage. This alone caught the eyes of a few ponies. The bystanders waited until the stallions were finished. The pegasus twins, both light blue with deep green manes, finished setting up a phonograph and a make-shift performing area. They started their music and introduced themselves.

"Greetings Canterlot!" said the lighter voiced twin. "We are known as the Pega-Singers, and we are here to entertain you with something new!"

Ponies stopped to watch and listen to these stallions' performance; others scoffed or continued on with their day. As the duo began singing, a stallion with yellow eyes stared at them from a distance, a look of expectance on his face. His eyes darted around, looking at random places that would only seem random to all but him and his friends. At these places were more yellow-eyed stallions. From their respective positions, they each poked their heads up from cover, looked at each other, and nodded.

The first stallion glanced back at the performing duo. 'Why the princess wants to see these two, I'll never know,' he thought. As the duo's first song ended, storm clouds started forming around the city square. The clouds made the area so dark that the other ponies didn't see the squad of Lunar Guards fly out of hiding and grab the Pega-Singers. With their mission accomplished, the guards, with singers in tow, flew off towards the palace.

"So what ya'll are sayin' is that Soren here is the Doc?" Applejack asked. She was making sure she understood what Soren, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash had just finished explaining. The trio arrived in Ponyville in the middle of the day almost three days after they initially left. They quickly gathered their seven friends and brought everypony to Sugarcube Corner. It took awhile to explain everything, but everyone understood what happened.

"Strangly...yes," Soren responded to Applejack's question. "I am technically the Doctor, but he, or I, lost our memory after the regeneration."

"So is that how you lost your memory?" Rarity asked.

"I don't think so. Remember, we place me at the front door of the Melody Mansion. I should have childhood memories but I don't. Nyra did something to me after she foalnapped me. The result was more memory loss."

"I'm sorry, dear."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm fine now. All I wanna do is relax. That was a heck of a fight we just went through. Right, Rainbow Dash?"

"Yeah it was. We definitely need a party or something." Rainbow purposely hinted a party at Pinkie Pie, who jumped up with a huge smile.

"*gasp* We could have a party celebrating Soren and Dashie kicking those spirits' butts, or we could have a normal party with random party things, but that's boooring, or how about-" Rarity put a hoof to Pinkie's mouth to stop her very long sentence.

"Or," started Rarity slowly, "we could just have a little get-together with all of us plus Vinyl and Octavia." Both Pinkie and Soren nodded, as did everyone else. "Then it's settled. Where shall we have this party of sorts?" Soren looked at Twilight. 'Where we always have parties, of course,' he thought with a smile.

"Same place?" asked Twilight looking back at Soren. He gave a 'why not' shrug . "What do you think, girls? Is the library fine?" They all quickly agreed.

Later that night, the 'party' was in full swing. Of course, Pinkie Pie invited more ponies to "liven up the party." Even with the addition of a few more ponies, Soren, Octavia, and their friends were enjoying themselves. After a few hours were spent eating sweets, drinking punch, and dancing, Soren found himself sitting by a rather large grandfather clock. As he relaxed and watched the other ponies dance, he began thinking about many things, mostly about the Doctor. The biggest thing that ended up in his mind was a question. 'Why does the Doctor want me to investigate the Lunar Guards? I thought they only existed in that dream I had but apparently not. Do I really need to investigate this little project that an old friend is working on? Who knows how many of those guards there-'

DING DING DING

The grandfather clock sounded off loudly next to Soren, interrupting his thoughts. After the clock stopped ringing, Soren noticed that it was dead quiet and not because he drowned out the noise. 'Is it me or did the music stop?' Soren looked around and saw that everypony was standing still; the music really did stop. Seeing Applejack, he trotted over to her.

"Why did the music stop?" he asked her. Soren quickly noticed that she was staring wide-eyed at something. Instead of verbally answering her friend's question, the farmer pointed towards the front windows. There behind the glass, in the darkness of night, was a set of yellow eyes that seemed all too familiar to Soren. He scanned the room and discovered that all of the guests were staring at the monstrous eyes in the window. He then saw Rainbow Dash, who was one of the most calm ponies in the room. He began trotting over to her, but the front door of the library burst open. Screaming was heard, followed by running. Looking back to the door, Soren and his friends saw a silhouette in the doorway.

"PARTY GOERS OF THE LIBRARY, HEAR US!" a booming voice sounded. 'Is that...?' Soren thought as everypony stopped to look at the silhouette. The pony walked into the light and only a few gasped were heard as everyone saw their Princess of the Night. Still using a loud, but not booming voice, Princess Luna spoke again. "We seek the one called Nyroc. Where can we find him?"

"Luna!" Soren said happily as he stepped forward. "What brings you here?"

Luna relaxed; she wasn't expecting an immediately calm and happy response. "We sensed an ancient magic in the Spirit World and believed you were the one who caused it. Didn't thou say you and thy friend were fighting the Elementals?"

"Indeed we did, and we won. Although we did have an... incident, but that doesn't matter right now. Why are you storming in here with those Lunar Guards creeping around?" Soren gestured to the stallions still watching through the windows.

"We are here to ask thee what happened in the Spirit World to cause such magic. Was there powerful magic that was not used by thou or the Elementals?" Luna started squinting her eyes at Soren like a mother would to get her child to tell the truth. He wasn't going to lie anyway, so he didn't understand why she was trying to intimidate him.

"If you mean me becoming a Lunar Guard for a little bit, then yes, I would say there was indeed powerful magic. Why is this so important?" Luna's eyes widened and dead silence filled the room again. The stallions at the windows stirred.

"And thou had no trouble being accepted by the armor?" Right then, Soren had to explain everything that him and Rainbow Dash did with the necklace. Luna nodded and understood, but she still had to warn Soren. "Tis disturbing that the armor did not make you two frenzied, but 'tis more disturbing that one armor accepted more than one host. We need look into this. The true reason we came here was to make sure you made it back alive. My sister and I were worried." Before Soren could even ask Luna another question, she turned around and left, her guards following right behind. When the air finally relaxed, the ponies of the party started to exit the library. Meanwhile, all of Soren's friends gathered near him.

"Why was the Princess interested in that armor you were talking about?" asked Octavia, Vinyl stepping up beside her.

Soren shrugged and replied, "Maybe it was because it wasn't supposed to be in the Spirit World? Or maybe you can only get the armor from her personally. Either way, the Doctor was right."

"About what?" Spike asked.

"About investigating the Lunar Guards. Luna was obviously more interested in the armor than finding out if I was alive. She already knew I would survive." He quickly looked at Dash. "Rainbow Dash, did the necklace travel into the real world with us?" She nodded and motioned for everypony to follow her.

All of them went into the library's basement. Soren and Twilight told everyone to enter the TARDIS, which they persisted against at first. Eventually, they all walked inside. Twilight stayed with everyone else while Soren continued to follow Rainbow Dash. She led him to the console and sure enough, the necklace was just laying there.

"It was next to me when I woke up," Rainbow explained, "so I picked it up and put it here." Soren started smiling and Twilight noticed this.

She groaned. "Ohhh, you have a plan, don't you?" she asked with concern and a tinge of annoyance. Soren nodded.

"Don't worry," he assured. "It's not an immediate plan. We just got back after all. But it will have to be soon..." Soren sighed. "And I'll have to do it alone."

"What? Why?"

"Trust me...it'll be easier this way, and I won't be far. After a few days of relaxing, I need to travel to Canterlot disguised as a Lunar Guard. While I'm there, I'll try to find out as much as I can about the Lunar Guards from any sources. I'll try not to stay too long, but it has to be done...for the Doctor." He looked directly at Twilight and Rainbow Dash as he said the last part. They nodded, but the look in their eyes were begging him not to go. 'Two days,' Soren thought, 'that's all the time I should relax. I'm used to that by now in any case.'

Half an hour after the group of friends entered the TARDIS, everyone besides Soren, Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow Dash, decided to leave the library. They said their goodbyes to each other and left. Now it was only the four of them left inside. They all exchanged glances to one other, waiting for someone to speak.

"Who wants to say something first?" Soren asked. Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other then Twilight smiled, giving her friend permission to go first.

"How long are you going to be gone exactly?" she asked. "Can't you at least have a deadline or something? I mean, we just got back."

"I know, I know, but I promised the Doctor. And the sooner the better...right? Plus it shouldn't even be dangerous. Why would Luna have new guards if they were evil?"

"I just want to say one thing," Twilight started. "Those guards look tough. Who knows what kind of training they do? Just make sure you don't do anything drastic, ok?" He nodded then looked back at Rainbow.

"We'll spend the next few days together; just you and me. It won't make up for the length of time that I'm gone but it's the least I can do." Dash gave a small smile. It was then decided that after three days, Soren will head off to Canterlot disguised as a Lunar Guard.

The Recruit

Soren and Rainbow Dash made the most out of his three days of relaxation in Ponyville, but eventually the time came; the time to start his mission. Soren, along with Rainbow and Twilight, arrived at the Ponyville train station.

"No one else wanted to send me off?" Soren wondered.

"They said that they know you will be back soon," Twilight replied. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Soren only nodded. "Well...good luck then." She hugged him goodbye.

"You're crazy for doing this," said Rainbow Dash. "But you'll be so cool if you fix some big problem over there." Soren chuckled and hugged Dash just as the train's whistle went off. "That's my signal. I'll see you when I get back." Soren proceeded to step onto the train, but he turned around to wave goodbye one last time to his friends. The door closed behind him, and Soren was once again alone with his thought. 'Why am I always the one to leave the place I love?' Within minutes, the train was off for Canterlot.

Three Days Ago

The Canterlot Dungeon is a forgotten place in the castle, rarely used for anything besides interrogation should the need arise. Even though the princesses usually do not like to use the dungeon anymore, it didn't stop two Lunar Guards from bringing two ponies there for the time being.

A pair of pegasus twins started waking up in said dungeon. Rubbing their eyes, the two looked around to see where they were. They found themselves in a cell, the walls made of stone and smelling of soot. They became confused when they also saw a fireplace in their cell. Although confused about everything that happened to them, the duo made the most of it and got cozy on two comfy-looking seats near the fireplace. Within a few minutes, a dark blue mare flanked by two guards walked in. She stared at the twins intensely but soon softened her expression.

"Do you know why you are here?" asked the mare with a voice of authority. The two stallions, slightly in fear, simply shook their heads. "Very well. Let us explain the 'situation' at hoof..." The stallions looked at each other worriedly. Words didn't need to be exchanged between the two; they knew what the other was thinking: This was going to be a long day...

Train to Canterlot

Soren was in his private room on the train heading for the capital. He was staring out of the window, thinking of how to go about his plan. He only had a starting point: Become a Lunar Guard, hide true identity, and find out as much as possible. But what exactly was he trying to find out? What did the Doctor want him to investigate? All these questions, plus many more, were swimming throughout Soren's mind. He barely even noticed that he finally arrived at his destination. Grabbing his necklace, Soren recited the oath and transformed into a Lunar Guard. 'Well, here goes nothing' was Soren's last thought before leaving the train and commiting to his plan.

The Next Day...

"Hey, Brick! Who's the new guy?" Two stallions were conversing in the Lunar barracks. The barracks are the places that almost every Lunar Guard sleeps and trains in. Two stallions were in the main lobby, along with countless others, and they were staring at a new recruit, who was just sitting in a corner, ignorant of the surrounding conversing guards. Brick had just walked into the main lobby, and his friend was asking him about the new guard.

"Don't know," Brick answered his friend. "He's just sittin' there." Brick thought for a moment. "Imma say something." His friend almost protested but knew that he was right...to an extent. Brick was quick to walk over to the loner stallion. He stood right in front of the newcomer, but the newcomer chose not to acknowledge the stallion. "Hey buddy! Why are you sulking in a corner? The rest of us are chattin' and you're just sittin' here." The recruit was silent.

"Answer me!" Brick demanded. His demand turned a few heads and silenced one or two conversations. Finally, the new stallions answered.

"I'm not sulking," he said. "I'm just relaxing. Is that such a crime?"

"It is when the rest of us are talkin' and have to look at some loner stallion in a corner. Now I'm gonna ask you nicely to get off your flank and just chat with some of us." Brick liked to be persistent, even if he had to make up excuses. 'All guards here treat each other like family,' Brick thought, 'and family members talk with each other. So why was this guy sitting here?' The mysterious stallion stood up, slightly looking down.

"I'll get off my flank...but it's not worth my time to chat with you." The stallion was very shady in his responses. Brick's temper was quickly building. He saw the loner stallion starting to leave, but Brick stopped him by putting a hoof on his shoulder. The newcomer sighed. "Listen, I don't want to cause trouble, but I'll be more than happy to smack a colt if I need to." Some eavesdropping stallions were taken aback by that answer, but Brick lost his cool at that point.

"You think you can take me on? Some colt who hasn't even done our training yet? Well here's lesson number one!" He swung at the recruit, but the recruit ducked and bucked Brick across the room. Brick got up and charged at his new opponent. 'Stupid stallion,' thought the newcomer as he flew in the air and dive-bombed Brick, tackling him to the ground. A mare's voice could be heard in the background but both stallions couldn't be distracted. One had to win.

"Princess?!" a surprised guard exclaimed. "What brings you here?"

"We heard there was a new recruit," Princess Luna replied, "so we decided to meet him ourselves." She soon heard the commotion and saw the fight between two guards; one was clearly winning. "Is the new stallion fighting?"

"I'm afraid so. He was just minding his own business in a corner until one of the guards decided to hassle him to get up. They haven't been fighting for too long before you arrived." Princess Luna and the guards continued to watch the fight come to a conclusion.

"Whoever the winner is shall be punished," said Luna, "but the loser will already be embarrassed for losing, so we shall not punish him." The last hit in the fight was the recruit bucking the other guard in the chest and sending him into a wall, creating a dent in it. The guard was now unconscious, and the recruit made it look like a stroll in the park.

"STALLION! COME FORTH!" Princess Luna yelled with the Royal Canterlot Voice. The recruit, along with everyone else, was now at attention. The newcomer walked up to her with a grin of victory on his face. "You defended thine honor, which is commendable, but we do not tolerate fighting within our ranks. So as a consequence, you shall fight again, only this time it will be against two guards. Two guards step forward!" Two random Lunar Guards stepped out of the surrounding crowd. Princess Luna looked back at the newcomer. "Show us thy skill in battle." The recruit turned towards the two guards and got in a fighting position, the rim of green around his yellow eyes burning like fire.

After a minute since the fight started, the new guard was still putting up a good fight. He wasn't losing, but he wasn't winning either.

"This is not possible!"muttered Luna. "One Lunar Guard should not be able to fight two other guards easily. It can't be possible." Luna was slightly wide-eyed as she watched the near-unimaginable battle happen right before her very eyes. The same guard as before was standing next to her.

"Princess, are you alright? You seemed worried." Before Luna respoded, the rookie bucked one guard into the other and nearly jumped on top of them, only for the two to roll away.

"We are fine...just frustrated that this new stallion is fighting the guards like they are practice dummies." Luna was slightly shaking with irritation. 'Who is this pony?' she thought. 'Who can easily best my guards? Is it...him?' "When the battle is over, grab the stallion that makes a fool of other guards."

"Yes, Your Highness." He saluted then joined the crowd surrounding the fight.

The rookie was standing on his hind legs, swinging at the only guard standing. The other was knocked out by being slamming into a pillar after the rookie charged him. The second guard jumped around the recruit and, ironically, bucked him into a pillar. The recruit lay there, exhausted because of his armor. 'I can't last that much longer,' the recruit thought. 'This armor is draining my energy.' He slowly got up and barely dodged the guard about to slam on him. Unfortunately, the first guard got back up and grabbed him from behind. The second guard took this opportunity to buck the recruit's face.

After that strike, the newcomer collapsed. The two guards pinned him down to make sure he wouldn't get up. Princess Luna then walked over to the barely conscious newcomer and stared at him.

"Who are you?" asked Luna, who stared into his eyes. "The one who so easily fights my guards. The pony whose eyes show much more than thine actions do. Eyes that show loss, violence, determination, and a strange hint of love. You are not the one we search for, but you have seen many things, correct? Guards! Bring him to my chambers. We would like to interrogate this stallion privately." The guards saluted and started dragging him towards the Royal Palace. 'This is no ordinary Lunar Stallion,' thought Luna.

The Dream

Ponyville

Soren has only been gone for three days and all of his friends were already worried. What if something bad happens in Canterlot? What if he gets hurt? They knew Soren was strong enough to endure most things, but it doesn't stop them from worrying about him. Yesterday, after spending the entire day with her friends, Twilight Sparkle came to the library exhausted. She found herself going to bed earlier than usual, but she needed the rest. After getting settled in bed, she went to sleep almost instantly.

Twilight had a strange dream that night. She found herself inside the royal palace. She was walking through the halls when all of a sudden...BOOM! Not knowing why, Twilight rushed towards the origin of the explosion. She turned a corner and saw a giant hole in the left wall of the hallway. When Twilight came closer, she saw two ponies fly out of the hole and slam into the opposite wall, both looking exactly the same. 'They must be part of the Lunar Guard,' Twilight thought.

She just stood there and watched as the two stallions started to fight each other. One appeared to have a blades attached to his wings as he swung said blades at his weaponless opponent. During the fight, the opponent kicked the blade away from the user. The next thing Twilight saw was a blade coming straight at her face...

She woke up suddenly. Panting, Twilight looked at her body....unharmed. She then looked outside...morning. 'Why was that dream so vivid?' she thought before getting out of bed and heading downstairs to eat breakfast.

Soren woke up with a throbbing headache. 'Where am I?' He looked around and saw that he was in a familiar bedroom. 'Oh yeah, the guards dragged me into the castle, but would that mean that I'm in the bedroom of...?' Soren quickly jumped off of the bed, then he was stopped by a voice.

"Halt, stallion!" Princess Luna shouted. "Thou should not try to resist. Thou would not win against a goddess." As part of his plan, Soren had to maintain his charade.

"Why did you bring me here?" Soren asked. "I'm nothing special." Soren put up a metaphorical glass defense that he knew would eventually shatter.

"Oh but we know thou art special. One does not easily fight two ponies of equivalent strength. Thou should have been overpowered, yet thou wasn't. Explain yourself!" Soren didn't have much of an excuse, so he put up another glass wall to try to support the first.

"I was just more skilled at fighting is all. Equal strength but different minds." Soren felt that he was being backed into a corner in this interrogation.

"Maybe so. Thy strength gave in towards the end, however. 'Twas the armor's magic. It seeps away the pony's energy so it can use its magic. So tell me stallion...how does one replenish such energy?" This was a test; Soren knew it. Unfortunately, he didn't know anything about this armor...but he can guess.

"They eat and sleep of course." 'Close enough,' Soren thought. Luna squinted intensely at him.

"How much food would one have to consume?"

"More than the average pony." Still squinting at Soren, Luna was silent for a few seconds.

"Very well. Then we assume thou art hungry after such a battle. The palace chefs have made many foods for you while you were asleep." Princess Luna used her magic to open the door and bring in a cart full of food. Unfortunately, Soren wasn't hungry at all, and if Luna was telling the truth then he should be. 'If I eat all of this then I'll surely be sick,' he thought worriedly. Luna saw him hesitate.

"Is something wrong, stallion?" Luna smirked. Soren started to panic. How was he supposed to get out of this one? 'Maybe I can turn the tide and make this interrogation become more even.'

"Fine, you caught me...but...I'm not the only one hiding something, now am I? Care to say something, Princess?" Luna was taken aback. Sure, she was correct about this mysterious stallion all along, but how did this stallion know that she had a secret?

"Who are you to make such accusations?" Soren sighed and pushed the eye on his chestpiece. The armor retracted, his coat turned white, and his eye color changed back to green. Luna stared at her old friend in shock.

"N...Nyroc?! How do you have Lunar armor?"

"Do you remember when Rainbow and I went into the Spirit World?" Luna nodded. "Well the Elementals foolishly gave us one set of armor so the fight would 'be fair.' I guess it came back with us when we returned to our bodies. There's really no good way to explain it."

"Thou received a powerful gift from the spirits. Consider yourself lucky." Luna rubber her chin in thought. "Hmm...since thou has the armor, maybe...just maybe, you can help us." Soren became more interested. 'Was this why the Doctor needed me here?'

"Help you with what?" Luna motioned for Soren to come with her to the bedroom balcony. They walked onto the balcony and stared at sky for a while. The sun was just coming up over the horizon. Luna finally turned towards Soren and began explaining.

"We art threatened...we can sense it. Somepony within our ranks has evil intentions. Wether it be servant, royalty, or guard we are not sure. We need to discover this pony before they decide to strike. Since you are the Elemental Guardian and now have Lunar armor, we are asking you to train to help us so we can uncover this traitor." Soren sighed irritably but not for the reason Luna thinks. 'There's always something threatening,' he thought. 'There's never peace or relaxation anymore.' Luna waited patiently for his answer.

"The Doctor sent me here with his dying wish to investigate the Lunar Stallions, but now I know that this...let's just call this pony an assassin. Now I know that this assassin is the main reason I'm here." Soren looked Luna dead in the eyes. "I'll do it." Luna smiled, but her expression quickly changed to sorrow.

"Dying wish? So the dear Doctor is...?"

"Dead. Yes. But he regenerated, if you know about that process." Luna nodded. "His new regeneration is closer than you think, but anyway, what's the plan?" Luna forced a smile.

"Thou shalt train under our guidance specifically. If questioned by other guards, say nothing about the personal training. As with your original plan, stay hidden as much as possible. Learn as much as you can and so will we. We have told our sister about our senses, and she is already investigating. This pony cannot get the opportunity to attack or we fear it will be too late." Soren followed along perfectly, so he nodded.

"Right! I'll train right away. This is unrelated but if I may ask: Why is your accent so strong when addressing the other guards, yet when you talk with me your voice is more normal?" Luna chuckled.

"We must appear strong and forceful to not only build the strength of our guards but to also scare the assassin from attacking...if he is indeed a Lunar Guard in disguise." Luna looked back at the rising sun. '8 o'clock,' she thought. "Soren." He looked at her. "We believe there are some old friends of yours that would like to meet you." Soren tilted his head in confusion. "Follow us."

The two alicorns left her bedroom, and Luna began leading Soren through the royal palace towards the dining hall. As they neared the large room, Soren noticed something. 'I thought Luna had personal guards. I guess she doesn't trust any pony other than her sister or me so long as that assassin is running around.'

Within the minute, Luna and Soren arrived at the entrance to the dining hall and stepped inside. Soren immediately saw Princess Celestia sitting at the head of the table, eating her breakfast. When the doors opened, Celestia looked to see who entered and smiled. "Luna...and Soren. Well this is a nice surprise. What brings you to Canterlot?" Soren sat in a chair to the left of Celestia, and Luna sat in a chair to her sister's right.

"Well I suppose I'm here to uncover this assassin that Luna told me about." Celestia's smile changed into a serious, but neutral, expression.

"Have you any leads, Luna?" Celestia asked her sister. Luna dipped her head and shook it. "Very well. We will have to discuss this later. Right now, I think Soren may want to greet these two stallions that know him."

"And who exactly are these stallions?" Soren asked her. Celestia's smile came back.

"Oh just our entertainment." As she said this, two familiar ponies walked into the dining hall. Soren saw them and began smiling. 'They show up at the most random of times.' The Pega-Singers saw their old friend and couldn't help but joke around with him.

"Why hello~, Soren."

"You're sure it's him?"

A stallion and a waitress were conversing in a secluded area of the royal palace. The mare nodded to his question. The stallion chuckled. "Well this just got more interesting...and more dangerous."

"How are going to fight him?" the mare asked. The stallion pulled an object out of his saddle bag and showed it to her. It was a necklace with a strange medallion on it.

"With this. This is the armor of the Nightmare Guardian. I managed to grab it before they buried her. Luckily, the stupid Canterlot ponies didn't notice that she was missing anything." The mare was clearly confused.

"But that's just a regular set of Lunar Armor. How is it any better than what you already have?"

"Simple, my dear. The Nightmare Guardian's armor can hold much more magic. It also intensifies offensive spells when used. Magically, it's better than any regular Lunar Armor." The stallion put away the medallion and surveyed the area before continuing. "Do you remember the plan?" The mare nodded.

The New Plan

"How long have you two been in Canterlot?" Soren asked the Pega-Singers. "Why are you two here?"

"We've only been here a few days," said the deeper voiced and taller twin. "Living here is great. We were worried at first because we kinda got ponynapped when we arrived, but the princess explained that she needed us."

"Let me guess: she needs you to spy for her." The two stallions nodded.

"You'd be surprised how many conversations we can eavesdrop on without being noticed," the lighter pitched and shorter twin explained. "No pony here questions anyone that seems harmless."

"How much have you two found out since you arrived?" Celestia asked. The two stallions both rubbed their chins in thought.

"Well if Luna is the target, we can assume that the assassin is a Lunar Guard. That way he can get as close as possible to her..." started the first twin.

"...but we soon realized that maybe Luna isn't the main target." finished the second. "Maybe Celestia is also a candidate for assassination." Both of the princesses' eyes widened.

"I think Luna is the main target," Soren commented confidently. Everypony looked at him. "Luna sensed that she was in danger. To the best of my knowledge, unlike Celestia's Royal Guards, Luna's guards have magically enhanced armor. A smart assassin would gain as much strength as possible to take out a powerful target. If he has Lunar armor, he has it because it's the easiest way to get close to Luna, and it gives him a strength boost. There's not an easy way to get to Celestia without doing the exact same thing but with Solar Armor. The problem with getting to Celestia is that she is always escorted by her most trusted guards, so she's safe all the time."

The princesses and twins were stunned by Soren's analysis. Soren continued. "So we know for a fact that this stallion is a Lunar Guard. Now we just need to narrow it down." Soren started rubbing his chin. When he glanced up at everyone and saw all of their shocked expressions, he stopped. "I became insanely smart again, didn't I?" Everyone nodded. Soren noticed that Luna was the most stunned of all, and he quickly found out why.

"You're him..." Luna said, "you're the Doctor. Aren't you?" Soren nodded and smiled. His words flashed in Luna's head: His new regeneration is closer than you think. "So all this time..." Soren nodded and motioned for her to stop.

"We have more important things to talk about than how I found out I'm the Doctor. Also, keep in mind that I don't have the TARDIS or sonic screwdriver by my side. I'm technically the Doctor, but I chose not to be him. I'm Soren now." Luna nodded. Celestia cleared her throat.

"Yes, back to more pressing matters. Luna, do you have a plan of action?" Luna became more serious and focused.

"Yes, dear sister, I do. I shall train Soren to use the Lunar Armor he obtained to the best of his abilities. As this happens, the twins and I will gather more information. We need to uncover this assassin before he strikes." Celestia nodded with approval.

"Well then..." Celestia looked at everypony there. "Sister...Soren... Pega-Singers...let's get started."

Ever since that peculiar night, Twilight has been pondering about the dream she had. 'Why did I dream about those Lunar Guards? Why were two of them fighting each other? Were they really trying to...end each other?' Even though a full day passed, Twilight remembered her dream perfectly. As a result, she estimated that it had to be more than some random dream; it meant something.

Twilight stood up from her bed, went to the bedroom window, and looked outside; the sun was setting. 'I need to go to Canterlot,' she decided. 'Maybe I can help. It's what the Doctor would do. Doctor...' Twilight sighed and went downstairs to leave.

Within minutes, she arrived at the Ponyville Train Station. There was only one more train that leaves for Canterlot, and she was determined to get on it. As she started to step onto the train, Twilight looked back at Ponyville and thought of her friends. 'I explained my dream to them; they'll know what I wanted to do.' Turning back towards the train, Twilight started her secret quest to go help whatever pony needed it.

The Next Day

"Princess?" Princess Luna looked at the Lunar Stallion addressing her. "Not that it's any of my business, but don't you think you're training that rookie too hard? He's been at it for five hours now." The two ponies looked at the guard undergoing training in the Lunar Barracks. He was currently fighting two other guards at the same time to focus on reaction. The other guards assumed that the rookie was still being punished for fighting within rank. To answer his question, Luna shook her head at the guard.

"We consider this an aftermath of his punishment. At the same time, this stallion intrigues us, so we are seeing what he can do." The slightly confused guard simply saluted and walked away. Meanwhile, Luna was pondering what the next step in their plan should be. 'We need to lure out the assassin, but how?' At this point, the rookie guard was knocked back by one of his opponents and now looked like he was exhausted. Luna shouted for them to stop, then she motioned the rookie over to her side as they walked out of the Lunar Barracks. "How did the training feel, Soren?" Recovering his breath, Soren looked at his friend.

"Exhausting...to say the least, but this training...is needed. As I was training...I could hear the voices of those...'ancestors' that the other guards talk about." Luna gave a small smile.

"Then you are almost fully connected with the armor. The ancestors will guide you, strengthen you, and even heal you. Connect with them as quick as possible because I have a plan."

"And this plan is..."

"HAHAHA. That's their plan?!" the mysterious stallion laughed as his assistant told him some important information. The waitress mare nodded and proceeded to explain.

"It can't be avoided. They'll find you eventually." The stallion laughed again, even though he knew she was right.

"'Tis true that this cannot be avoided, but this will also work to our advantage. Find out when the princess will connect with her guards in their dreams. While she is off in dream land, I'll kill her and whatever foolish guards are protecting her."

"That just might work," said the shorter of the Pega-Singers. Princess Luna and Soren brought the duo into Luna's bedroom to explain the new plan. Luna had already explained everything to Soren on the way to find the twins. "So you can look at their thoughts just by going into their dreams?" Luna nodded.

The new plan was to have Luna invade the Lunar Guards' dreams as they slept to see if one of them was the assassin or knew something about him. Luna claimed that she can easily go into ten dreams a night if she tried, but she explained that it should only be five per night.

"Yes," Luna started. "We are also aware that it is an invasion of privacy, but it is for the good of Equestria. We shall start tonight."

"Luna," Soren said calmly, "I still think you should go into as many dreams as possible in one night. The more time you take, the more questions that will be asked." Luna put a hoof to her chin in thought. It took a minute for her to give an answer.

"Very well, Soren. Your logic is commendable. Guard my bedroom as we commence the plan." She turned towards the Pega-Singers and pointed a royal hoof at them. "And you two can help Soren, if you wish." The duo looked at each other, then back towards the princess.

"We're sorry, princess," the taller apologized. "We aren't fighters, we're entertainers. We can only do so much for you, Luna." The princess understood, so the pegasus singers left the room. It became quiet as Soren and Luna exchanged glances.

"'Tis very strange..." Luna said.

"What is?" Soren asked.

"We both still do not know their names. They have yet to properly introduce themselves beyond their stage name. Do you know their names?" Soren shook his head and looked out the window; the sun was just about to disappear under the horizon.

"I've known them for quite awhile and have yet to know their names. I just assumed they didn't want anypony to know. Anyways, shouldn't you start the plan?" Soren looked back at Luna after she failed to respond. He became nervous when he saw her. Luna was now standing erect, ears perked, mouth growling. She was staring into nothing, but she sensed something. "What is it?"

"He's coming. I sense powerful magic."

"Where—" And just like that, the glass doors to the balcony were smashed to pieces. A Lunar Guard had slammed through it. The guard took one look at Soren and instantly charged and tackled him. Soren was then slammed against the wall, nearly having all of the air knocked out of him. Even with weakened breath, Soren fought back. The assailant tried to headbutt and punch Soren, but Soren's hooves interfered with both plans. Luna grabbed the assassin with her magic and threw him off of Soren. Luna and Soren quickly stood side by side, facing the stallion. They were pretty confident that this assailant was done for...but then he started reciting an oath. The Lunar stallion oath! 'No...' Soren thought as he saw the necklace the guard was holding in his hoof. 'Not her armor...anything but that...' Luna and Soren's expressions changed to horror as the attacking pony changed before their eyes.

Twilight Sparkle groggily walked through the Royal Palace. She had stayed up for nearly forty hours, hoping to find the two ponies she saw in her dream. 'How can one sleep when they predicted something so serious?' she convinced herself. 'I don't know how Soren puts up with his starsight.' Since she is 'Celestia's Favored Foal,' Twilight was never asked why she was up so early or why she looked tired.

Twilight was just coming up to the castle's library when she heard a BOOM! Everypony near her started looking around, worried. 'No...' was Twilight's last thought before sprinting towards the cause of the explosion. It took a few minutes, but Twilight somehow found her way towards the origin of the explosion. 'Please don't end like the dream,' Twilight thought to herself as she bounded around the last corner. Just like her dream, Twilight saw the hole in the wall and two Lunar stallions fighting in the hallway. She saw the blade that one of them had; she also assumed the opponent didn't know about it.

Without thinking straight, Twilight forgot about her magic and decided on a silent approach. She began hugging the wall and slowly edging her way towards the fight. She needed to get close enough to stop both fighters, but she froze when she saw that the hidden blade had joined the fight. She gasped silently as she saw that it was a wing blade. Wing blades are rarely used by anypony anymore. They are only used by skilled earth pony or unicorn fighters. Twilight stood there, frozen in fear, watching the opposing stallion barely dodge all of the bladed swings. The guard without a weapon was cut a few times but luckily they were only small cuts.

After a few seconds, the stallion without the blade found his opening. As the opponent swung his blade, the stallion kicked it hard and caused the blade to soar down the hall. Twilight's eyes widened in horror as her dream was coming true before her very eyes. The wing blade was coming straight at her face. All she could do was stand there, frozen in fear, as the blade swiftly came closer...

...and closer...

...and...closer...

...until it was stopped. Realizing that she wasn't dead, Twilight looked forward and saw that the blade was stopped by a pale-yellow aura, but before she could find the unicorn doing the spell, the blade was sent flying back towards the fighting stallions. The stallion that didn't wield the wing blade saw it coming and ducked. The owner of the blade looked up from the ducking guard to see a blade fly straight at him and into his chest. The blade struck just below his medallion, right into the small, unprotected area of his chest. Slowly, the surprised stallion collapsed on the ground, bleeding externally but mostly internally.

Twilight, just having witnessed the extreme change of events, finally looked behind her to see a waitress unicorn, who looked like she didn't regret the fact that she had just murdered a pony. This mare was pale-yellow with a tan mane, and she was staring evenly at Twilight before putting her hoof to Twilight's lips to shush her. "He deserved it" was all she said as she trotted down the hall. Now oblivious to the mare she just silenced, the waitress didn't notice that Twilight decided to slowly follow her.

The other Lunar Guard that was fighting was standing over the dead stallion. 'I don't know if this is right,' he thought to himself. He was suddenly caught off guard as somepony pushed in the medallion on the dead pony's chestpiece, causing the armor to retract. Luckily, the green and yellow-eyed guard didn't recognize the dead pony before him, nor did he recognize the mare that picked up the medallion. He noticed her mumbling to herself.

"What are you do—" He couldn't finish his question as the mare underwent the process of the first transformation of a Lunar Guard. She squirmed as the armor enveloped her body. Seconds later, the transformation was complete. The other guard was shocked beyond belief. 'Why did it have to be a mare?!' he screamed to himself. 'Why does she have to look just like her!' The now grey-coated mare, although in a frenzied state, spoke normally to Soren.

"Oh, I'm not doing anything...just killing you..."

Author's Note

I am now at the point of the story where I really like to work on it.

The Lunar Mare

Soren ducked just in time to dodge the Lunar Mare trying to tackle him. She shot past Soren and halted her momentum behind him. Unfortunately for Soren, he wasn't quick enough to dodge the mare's buck to his back. Soren was sent flying down the hall past the sneaking Twilight. As Soren, who was still unrecognized by Twilight, recovered himself, Twilight Sparkle found her way into Princess Luna's bedroom. She was shocked to find the princess not only in a magical cage, but doing absolutely nothing inside. She just sat there, not even trying to escape!

"Princess Luna, why are you just sitting there? Get out of that cage!" Twilight started to use her magic to try to destroy the cage.

"Calm thyself, Twilight Sparkle!" Luna shouted while waving a hoof at the mare. "We are in here for our own protection. We shall not interfere with Soren's battle. 'Tis the assassin we are safe from at the moment, but I fear he was backstabbed." Twilight looked back at the hallway through the hole in the wall, but she couldn't see much of anything from her position. She heard fighting (or at least a one-sided fight) happening in the hallway.

"Wait...so that stallion is...?" Luna nodded. "I guess my dream makes more sense now, but it doesn't matter. We need to help Soren."

"You are right, Twilight Sparkle. The assassin is gone, and we fear that Soren may need more help than we think now that that mare donned the Nightmare Guardian's armor." Luna smiled as she removed the magical cage. "What is it your Doctor said? Onwards and upwards?" Twilight gave a small smile and followed Luna into the hallway. Down the hall, in the direction that Twilight arrived from, the two ponies were still fighting, except one of them refused to fight back.

"Soren, fight back! What are you doing?!" Twilight shouted as loud as she could to get the stallion's attention. Soren was too busy dodging a tidal wave of attacks to look at his friend, but he at least he heard her. Gathering his breath slightly, Soren decided to respond.

"I...I can't. I won't hurt her." In Soren's mind, the attacking mare looks exactly like Nyra. It would be too much if he was the one that killed her (or killed a pony that looked too much like her). His conscience was internally fighting with his brain. Soren was so conflicted that he'd rather let the mare hit him than fight back.

Down the hall, Twilight was panicking and thinking of a plan, while Luna was standing regal and calm. "Soren!" Luna shouted. "I know this is hard to do, but thou must either kill her or let us kill her. There are no other options." Deep down, Soren knew Luna was right, but it was still too much. Who knows what will happen if he has to re-live Nyra's death? 'I'll just look away...yeah, it's that simple,' Soren lied to himself. Soren glanced over at Luna and nodded. Luna knew his choice. "Twilight, hold down the mare if possible."

Twilight nodded and began to focus on solely the Lunar Mare. As she did this, she couldn't help but realize how that mare and Nyra looked similar. It finally clicked to Twilight why Soren refused to fight: He lost a friend right before his very eyes, so why would he want to fight, or even kill, somepony that closely resembled them?

Soren threw the mare against the wall and tried to hold her there but to no avail. She headbutted him and sent him stumbling back. The mare nearly tackled Soren but was suddenly stopped. She noticed that she was enveloped in magical aura. The mare panicked and mentally asked her ancestors for help. However, the ancestors of the armor knew she wasn't Nyra and refused her plea. Cursing under her breath, the mare was brought to the ground. Luna approached her slowly with a serious stare on her face. The mare was truly becoming scared now. She just lost and was about to be punished, or worse.

Princess Luna looked towards Soren, who was being hugged by Twilight as he looked away from the mare. Luna turned back to face the culprit, who now had sweat forming on her forehead. "Thou disgraced the Lunar armor and what it stands for. Even the ancestors punish you by refusing to cooperate. Now it is time for the ultimate and old punishment for attempting assassination against the rulers of Equestria."

Luna closed her eyes and her magic aura started turning grey. She opened her eyes, which were now completely white, and focused on the mare. Soren clutched Twilight harder as he heard all of this occurring. 'Even hearing it might be too much for him,' Twilight worried. Luna's aura surrounded the mare. Luna walked up to her and pushed the medallion to retract the armor. She took it from the ex-waitress and continued with the mare's punishment. The aura around the mare started to become smaller and smaller. Pretty soon, the mare felt immense pain and started screaming. Soren tried covering his ears, but she was just too loud. Before the screaming could hit its highest point, it stopped abruptly. It was over; the mare was gone, and not a single drop of blood was spilled.

"Shrunken from existence..." Luna muttered before looking at Soren and Twilight. She walked over to the stallion, who was strongly fighting against the oncoming tears. Soren, now back to his normal colors, looked at Luna and wiped away any tears that were on his face.

"Even though..." Soren began with sadness in his voice, "even though she wasn't Nyra...it was like experiencing it all over again. I'm done...I'm done with all of this." The two mares were confused, but Twilight asked the question before Luna could.

"Done with what?" Soren stared blankly, yet still with a tinge of sorrow and anger.

"All of these...'adventures.' Putting ponies in danger; getting ponies killed, innocent or not; and most inportantly: never having enough time to spend with the ones I love. I'm leaving for Ponyville as soon as possible. When I get there, I'm taking a very, very long vacation."

Soren turned his back to the mares and walked away. Twilight sighed. 'That's how the discorded Doctor was started; he questioned his adventures. Looks like things never change, even in different regenerations." Luna saw the distress on Twilight face and put a wing around her.

"It is alright, Twilight Sparkle. Soren indeed deserves a long time off. He has been through so much in such little time. He has suffered losses and experienced deaths. If this goes on, he will surely snap, if he hasn't already. Take care of him. Keep him in Ponyville with all of your friends. If a crisis arrives, I shall count on you to tackle it first, but do not be afraid to ask for help from my sister and I." Twilight smiled and shed one tear—only one—before heading out of the royal palace.

It was dark outside; Twilight assumed it was around ten o'clock. She needed to catch up to Soren and take the last train to Ponyville. As Twilight entered the train station, she saw her friend sitting on a bench, waiting for the train to arrive. He looked very depressed as he stared at the floor. Twilight slowly walked up to him and sat beside him. Soren never looked at the purple mare but that didn't stop him from conversing with her.

"Why does life have to be like this?" Twilight was taken off guard by the strange question. She thought for a few seconds before answering.

"Sometimes life can be cruel...but it's best to move on. No pony is telling you to forget about what happens, they just want you to move past it and get on with your life." She paused. "Soren... I was with the Doctor when he started questioning his adventures like this. He always found a silver lining, but...I think that you need to find a rainbow lining." Soren looked at the unicron and stared at her. He then looked forward through the windows at the starry night sky.

"I guess you're right, Twilight. I shouldn't doubt my ability to save ponies, but it doesn't mean I will accept death as an option. The second we get to Ponyville, I'm going to find Rainbow Dash right away. It's time I spent a lot more time with her." Twilight started smiling. Not only because Soren was feeling better, but because she thought of a fantastic idea.

"Soren!" she exclaimed excitedly and suddenly. The alicorn slowly looked at her. "Hearts & Hooves Day is coming up! You and Rainbow should celebrate it with something very special." This time it was Soren's turn to smile. He nodded at the brilliant idea.

Eventually, the train arrived and the two friends got onboard. In their own train room, Soren looked at Canterlot through the train window. His expression changed to sorrow for a little but changed back to content when he looked at Twilight. He could now argue that she was his best friend.

(End of The Lunar Assassin)
(Next Arc: Planet Zero)

Author's Note

The reason these chapters were published so quickly is because I finished them faster than I anticipated. I don't know if this will happen again. It isn't a bad thing in any way. I guess you can expect me to upload at any given time, not that I had a systematic way of making chapters from the beginning.

Hearts & Hooves Day

Flashback

The Doctor dragged the tied-up Master into the TARDIS. He, Soren, Twilight Sparkle, and Rainbow Dash had just defeated the Master aided by Queen Chrysalis. When they reached the console, the Doctor propped the Master against the railings. He then went back to the console to take his nemesis to an isolated planet. The Master was surprisingly quiet; it made the Doctor slightly nervous. He looked at the defeated Time Lord and shuddered when he saw his smile. The TARDIS started moving as the two Time Lords stared at each other. After a few more seconds of staring, the Doctor finally turned back towards the console to double-check his destination. The second the Doctor turned away, however, the Master somehow grabbed his laser screwdriver, cut the ropes, and ran towards the TARDIS doors.

"No! Wait!" the Doctor shouted as he turned to look at the Master, who had already opened the doors. The only thing outside the TARDIS was the time vortex, which could take the Master anywhere in any point in time. In this universe, the Master knew the vortex was surprisingly safe. He looked back at the Doctor and laughed.

"Until next time, Doctor." The Master jumped out of the TARDIS into the time vortex. The Doctor rushed towards the doors and looked outside. He knew he wouldn't see sim, but he looked anyway. 'Anywhere at anytime...' thought the Doctor. 'I wonder where he'll end up.'

Present Day

Today is Hearts & Hooves Day in Ponyville and love is definitely in the air. Many couples around the small town are having quality time with their special someponies. Wether it's a date or something else that's special, couples are enjoy each other's company, and Soren and Rainbow Dash are no different. This is Soren's first Hearts & Hooves Day since appearing in Ponyville, so he didn't know what to expect. He and Rainbow Dash were laying on a big cloud, for they wanted some privacy for awhile. Soren returned to Ponyville yesterday and both Rainbow and Soren couldn't be happier. The two ponies were now on the cloud, holding and looking at each other. The coupled kissed each other, then finally stood up. Rainbow Dash started to grin.

"You know...you look good as a pegasus," she complimented. Soren decided to hide his horn again, so he was once again a pegasus. "Wanna race?" Soren could only laugh as the mood of the moment kept changing. He nodded at his marefriend. "Last one to the Town Hall buys dinner."

"That doesn't seem fair," Soren commented, "I was going to pay for dinner anyway." He wasn't lying and Rainbow knew that, but she also took it as a challenge.

"So you think you'll win? We'll see about that." The two pegasi stood side by side and faced the direction of the Town Hall. Ready, the two counted down together.

"Three...two...one...Go!"

They took off at insane speeds, causing the cloud they were standing on to disappear.

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was walking through town, heading towards Sugarcube Corner for a snack. As she treaded through town, she was very lost in thought. She found herself thinking about how Soren started to become discorded. She then realized that the Doctor's (now Soren's) darker half is still a part of him. 'It seems as though he will never be able to rid himself of that curse,' thought Twilight as she spotted Sugarcube Corner. She was almost to the front door when a boom echoed throughout the town. Many ponies around her looked to the sky and saw something amazing. Everypony saw a Sonic Rainboom, but this Rainboom was being mixed with a new kind of 'boom.' This one, known as the Sonic Fireblast by Soren and his friends, was like a Sonic Rainboom, except instead of a rainbow it had green fire. These two blasts fused together into a fiery rainbow. Just then, the spectators saw two pegasi, flying side-by-side, swoop past everyone.

"It's Rainbow Dash!"

"Who's that white pegasus?"

"Wow!"

Many similar things could be heard coming from the mouths of amazed bystanders. Not many ponies have seen Soren without his horn, but the two racers were moving so fast that Soren would still be unrecognized even with it. As the racers disappeared from her sight, Twilight Sparkle decided to grab her snack and meet her friends at whatever destination they were racing to. Yet when she turned towards the shop, she instantly started debating whether she should actually disturb Soren and Rainbow or not. 'I'll think about it" was her last thought before entering Sugarcube Corner.

Soren and Rainbow Dash landed in front of the Town Hall and skidded to a stop. The two started to debate on who won, but eventually they considered it a tie.

"It's been so long since we raced," Soren said. He fell to the ground, laid on his back, and gave a relaxing sigh. Looking at him, Dash sat next to Soren.

"It's been awhile since we just hung out." Soren's ear went back a little.

"I know. I'm still sorry. Those things just had to be done. I'm here now, aren't I? And I plan to stay here for a good while." Dash smiled and laid on the ground with her coltfriend. The two were very relaxed at this point of the day. By now it was an hour or two past noon. The sky was mostly clear; it was sunny, and it was quiet. The day was perfect for them.

"Hiya guys!" exclaimed a familar, hyper voice. The pair sat up suddenly and were greeted by the sight of Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy. "Why are you on the ground? There are benches everywhere." The pink mare threw her hooves up to emphasize 'everywhere.'

"Hey guys," replied Rainbow Dash. Her and Soren stood up to properly chat with their friends. "What are you all doing here?" Applejack stepped forward.

"Well...how to put it? The three of us decided to keep each other company since we don't have..." She let the sentence drift so Rainbow or Soren could figure out what she was saying.

"None of you have a special somepony for today?" Rainbow asked. Fluttershy and Applejack shook their heads. Pinkie just stood there smiling.

"Hard to believe mares like you don't have special someponies by now," Soren said. "You'd think the Elements of Harmony would have stallions at their hooves." Soren chuckled at his own joke. "So did you three just come to hang out or something?" The mares looked at each other.

"I guess we just have nothing better to do," Fluttershy said. "We've been spending time with each other for today."

"I reckon we should just find some lonely colts who would wanna be our special somepony. What do ya'll think?"

"Ok," Fluttershy answered shyly. With that, the three mares took their leave.

"Well that was strange and random," Rainbow pointed out. Soren nodded in agreement.

"So what do you want to do now?" The two pegasi sat on the ground and began thinking.

The Master looked around Ponyville. After the time vortex dropped him off, he had no idea what year it was or where he was, so he decided to look for the nearest town. Ironically, that town was Ponyville. In said town, the Master was hiding around corners and in alleyways to avoid attracting too much attention to himself. He still needed to find out what year it was. Unfortunately, he couldn't see a newspaper in sight. The Master realized that he was going to have to ask for the date. He walked straight into the open and looked for the nearest pony. He saw a mare with two saddlebags and walked towards her.

"Uhh excuse me," he addressed. The mare looked at him. The mare was a magenta earth pony with a red mane. The saddlebags hid her cutie mark, but the Master could care less about that. "I had a nasty fall earlier. I can't seem to remember a few things. If it's not too much trouble, can you tell me the date?"

"Oh you poor thing. Well, the year is 1003 and—" The mare couldn't tell the stallion the month or day because he ran off after hearing the year. 'Yes!' he exclaimed to himself. '1003...in Ponyville. The timing couldn't be better. Now to start my plan.' While thinking to himself, the Master sprinted towards a giant tree in the middle of town.

"WOOHOO! GO SOREN!" An energetic white unicorn mare and her sophisticated, grey, earth pony roommate were walking through a park. The unicorn caught sight of two pegasi kissing each other on a bench, and she recognized both of them...so she cheered them on. Her roommate face-hoofed and groaned after her friend yelled at the couple. The two pegasi instantly stopped and turned to see who was cheering for Soren.

"Did you really have to yell that?" Octavia groaned. "They obviously wanted to be left alone." Although Octavia didn't necessarily want to see her brother making out with his marefriend, she still respected the need for privacy.

"Tavi, you know me," Vinyl Scratch started, "I always have to embarass ponies, especially my friends, and especially their brothers or sisters." Octavia sighed as the pegasi couple walked up to them.

"I never took you for the one who watches other couples kiss, Vinyl," Rainbow Dash joked. Vinyl laughed and began to have a conversation with Rainbow. Meanwhile, Soren walked up to Octavia.

"So how have you been?" Soren asked her. "Are you mad at me for not being around?" Octavia shook her head.

"I'm just glad you're safe. I've grown used to you leaving on some adventure with your friends. I don't get mad at you for not spending time with me or the fact that you leave randomly; I just worry that you may not come back." Soren hugged Octavia, and she returned it. "I still miss you sometimes," she whispered. Soren smiled and their hug broke.

"So what are you and Vinyl doing today?"

"Well, since we don't have coltfriends, we decided to do what most ponies do in this situation: spend the day with friends."

"That's what Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie are doing today. What have you done so far?"

"Well, we—" Octavia was cut off by Vinyl, who just ended her conversation with Rainbow Dash.

"We played music together. Now we're walking around town. It's been a pretty fun day so far." Vinyl smiled sheepishly as Octavia glared at her.

"Yes...we did all of those things. What about you and Rainbow Dash?"

"Well you already saw one of the things we are doing today," Soren chuckled, "but we also raced. You actually reminded me: I want to play music with Rainbow later. I bet she's still killer on the guitar." Rainbow smiled and gave a friendly punch to Soren.

"Sounds like you two are having a wonderful time together. What will you two do for dinner? It's nearly 4 o'clock now." Soren and Rainbow Dash looked at each other. They hadn't thought about their plans for dinner. They were too busy enjoying each other's company.

"We don't know, actually," replied Rainbow. "We were too busy having fun, I guess."

"Well, Vinyl and I are going to ask Twilight and her friends if they are open for dinner in town tonight. We have become very good friends with them over the past few weeks. Would you two like to join us, or do you two plan on having a romantic dinner alone?" The two pegasi exchanged glances. Soren shrugged, so Rainbow decided to answer Octavia's question.

"A romantic dinner sounds nice. What do you think, Soren? Does a nice dinner and some extra fun at your house sound good?" Deciding to play around with Soren, Rainbow's voice became more intimate as she asked those questions; she even blinked an eye at him. Vinyl caught that.

"Aww yeeaa. Soren's getting lucky tonight." Octavia face-hoofed again, Soren blushed, and Rainbow started laughing.

"I'm just teasing him, Vinyl," Rainbow explained. "He basically said it was up to me to decide what to do. We'll join you guys. Why not, right?" The four ponies relaxed and started heading towards the library.

"Do you really have to be so forward, Vinyl?" Octavia asked as they all left the park. Vinyl gave a big smile and nodded. Octavia simply sighed.

Eventually, the colt and three mares arrived at Twilight's library. Soren knocked on the door but no pony answered. He knocked again only to have the same result.
"Guess she's not home," Soren said.

"Where do you think she is?" Rainbow asked.

"Maybe she found herself a special somepony," Vinyl pointed out.

"Although that would be great, I don't think she did," Soren added. "Let's split up and look around town. I'll go with Rainbow Dash to Sweet Apple Acres and Fluttershy's cottage while you two go to Carousel Boutique and Sugarcube Corner. Let's meet back here when we're done, ok?"

"Yes, sir!" Vinyl half-joked, saluting. Octavia nodded and started dragging Vinyl, who pretended to be frozen in her salute. Vinyl started to walk normally after a few seconds.

"Well," Rainbow said, "let's fly." The two pegasi took off for their destinations without hesitation.

The sound of wings flapping was music to the Master's ears. He was hidden away within Twilight's library, working on the TARDIS in the basement. He's been working on the complicated machine for half an hour with barely any results. 'Luckily the Doctor's companion was stupid enough to leave the TARDIS key here.'

After making sure the ponies (especially Soren) were gone, the Master walked back downstairs. He opened the TARDIS' doors and stepped back inside. The interior was making a strange sound like the machine was sick, the lighting in the room was red, and the console itself looked slightly damaged. The Master never struck the console, but he felt like he was about to.

"You better cooperate this time, you blasted machine." The TARDIS groaned a little louder as a response, but the Master ignored it. He walked up to the console and started pressing buttons. His concentration showed that he was trying to do something very specific. The Master started thinking out loud.

"I have the date and the location of the area in the universe, but I just need the blasted planet." He smacked the side of a monitor to see if that would help; unfortunately for him, it didn't. "A nation of conflict, a nation of thieves and bandits, a nation that has lost all hope and can never be fixed. But which planet is it on?!"

After another ten minutes of searching, the Master yelled in frustration and walked out of the TARDIS. 'I'm running out of time,' he thought. Just then, he heard a door open and close. He gave a small smile. 'Company.'

"Spiiiike, are you home?" The voice of Twilight Sparkle was unmistakable for the Master. His smile grew even larger. "That lazy dragon is probably taking a nap." Twilight opened the door to the basement and started walking down the stairs. At this point, the Master's grin was so big and sinister that anypony would shutter if they saw it.

'Looks like I'll have more leverage than I thought,' the Master realized. He hid right next to the doorway at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's that sound? Is that the TARDIS?" The Master noticed that he left the doors open, but instantly realized that this is an advantage; she'll be distracted. Twilight Sparkle walked through the doorway then heard shuffling next to her, but before she could turn towards the sound, she was knocked unconscious...

A One-Way Trip

Soren and Rainbow Dash were walking through the Sweet Apple Acres fields. They were pretty exhausted having searched a great area looking for Twilight Sparkle. First, the pair had flown to Fluttershy's house and searched there and the area around it with no sight of the purple unicorn. Next, they flew to Sweet Apple Acres to check there. Now, they had just finished running around Applejack's home for the past twenty minutes with still no results.

"Where is that egghead?" groaned Rainbow Dash.

"No clue," Soren replied, growing tired. "We won't find her any time soon at this rate. We need a better plan."

"I say we just meet up with Vinyl and Octavia and see if they found anything."

"That's good enough for me. Let's start flying again." The pegasi took flight once again and headed straight towards Sugarcube Corner. "This turned into an interesting Hearts & Hooves Day" was the only thing Soren said as they flew towards their destination.

Right as the couple was almost clear of the acres of apple trees, Soren felt a soft ringing in his head. He ignored it, assuming it was nothing but the wind passing through his ears. Within the minute, however, it got worse; it grew louder and slowly increased in pitch. Very soon, Soren started to get a headache from the inner noise, so he put a hoof to his head to attempt to somehow soften the pain. Rainbow Dash looked at Soren with concern as his flight path angled downward.

"What's wrong, Soren?" she asked. Soren couldn't respond; he was too busy trying to rid himself of the pain. With every passing second, his flight angle became steeper and steeper. Rainbow looked at his wings and noticed that he was barely flapping them. "Soren, start flying! What are you doing?" Soren tried to fly, but he felt as though the pain was almost numbing his entire body.

"I...can't. This ringing...in my head is...unbearable." As Soren put a second hoof to his temple, his wings stopped flapping altogether. He went into a nose dive, and he couldn't do anything about it. Rainbow Dash dove as fast as she could to catch up with Soren. Soren cracked open one eye to see what was happening and saw the ground coming very fast towards him. He closed his eye and braced for impact, but he felt something grab him and hit the earth with him. The ringing softened, but it didn't go away. Soren opened his eye again and saw Rainbow Dash lying down near him.

"Rainbow Dash, are you ok?" The cyan pegasis slowly got up and brushed herself off.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a hard landing. Nothing I haven't done many times." They both chuckled. Rainbow saw Soren still holding a hoof to his head. "Is the ringing still there? Why is that happening?" Soren painfully shook his head in response.

"I don't know. But...I think Twilight is in danger." Rainbow tilted her head and gave him a confused look. "I barely heard Twilight's name within the ringing, but I know I heard it. You don't think... that her emergency necklace works for me now, do you?" Rainbow's eyes widened.

"We have to go to the library. Now!" With that said, the two ponies raced towards the library on hoof since Soren was in no condition to fly, albeit he was barely in any condition to run also.

As they came closer to the library, Soren noticed the ringing was getting softer and softer, and pretty soon, it no longer bothered him. As a result, he began running at full speed. Rainbow Dash noticed this and also ran at full speed. Within the minute, the pair arrived at the Ponyville Library and burst through the door. What they saw next surprised and shocked them. Soren and Rainbow Dash burst inside to see Spike holding Twilight's emergency necklace while he was being held captive by a very familiar earth pony. The earth pony had his fore-leg around the dragon to prevent escape and was using the Doctor's old sonic screwdriver to activate the necklace.

"The Master," Soren growled menacingly. The Master kept his cool as he held Spike and stopped the screwdriver. Rainbow and Soren started to slowly walk forward, but the Master spoke up.

"No, no, no," he said calmly, "you two better stay put. If you two try anything, I'll make sure this baby dragon doesn't get to see his precious unicorn friend again." Taking a more serious tone at the end, the Master managed to stop Soren and Rainbow in their tracks.

"Where's Twilight?!" Rainbow Dash demanded. "You're outnumbered now that we're here." Soren sighed and looked at her.

"Rainbow Dash," Soren interrupted, "it's obvious he used Spike to get us, especially me, here. The question is..." Soren looked back at the Master, "why does he want me here?" The Master chuckled.

"Well why don't you go downstairs and find out? I'm sure Twilight will be more than happy to see a familiar face...Doctor." Soren flinched at the word. 'How?' was his only thought before leading Rainbow down into the library's basement; the Master and Spike were right behind them.

When they reached the basement, Soren, Rainbow, and Spike heard a strange noise eminating from the TARDIS. Soren was unsure if he wanted to walk in there, but if he didn't, who knew what would happen? The three of them walked inside and saw Twilight Sparkle off to the side, unconscious. They quickly ran over to check on her as the Master shut the doors and began working on the TARDIS' console. Althought worried about Twilight, Soren kept his eyes on the Master. 'He's up to something,' Soren thought, 'and it's probably more evil than his last plan.' Twilight slowly regained consciousness and looked at her worried friends.

"Spike...Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked groggily. "Where...am I?" Spike hugged Twilight, then he and Rainbow looked at Soren, who was staring intensely at the Master. The Master took notice and smiled.

"Relax~," he said, dragging the word, "we're just going on a little trip. Just like you used to do, 'ey Doctor?" Soren simply scowled in response. "You need to relax more. We're about to leave. Let me just—" Sparks flew from the console, and the TARDIS groaned. Soren had enough. He ran at the Master and slammed him away from the console. Without getting up, the Master shot his laser screwdriver at Soren, but the white pegasus moved out of the way, causing the laser to hit the console.

"Hahaha!" the Master laughed. "You are such an idiot! You think I didn't plan for you to attack me in here? I needed to damage the console anyway. You just gave us a one-way ticket to your demise." Soren's confidence shattered. He looked sincerly at his friends, who were worried yet calm. The Master stood upright by the double doors as the machine tilted and shook with great intensity. Soren held onto the console, and Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike held onto the railing. Eventually, the TARDIS landed with a loud thud. More sparks flew, and the hissing of steam could be heard. Soren looked at the doors to see that they were already opened by the Master.

"He's gone," Soren stated to his friends. "Is everypony alright?" Everyone stood up and nodded.

"Where did the Master go?" Twilight asked. "Where are we?"

"Only one way to find out," Spike replied as he headed for the doors. The others were hesitant, mostly because of how Soren looked.

Soren had an almost neutral face, but what truly worried his friends, or at least Twilight, were his eyes. Rainbow Dash couldn't see it very well, but Twilight could see the emotion in his eyes from a mile away since she's been with the Doctor for so long. She could see the eyes of fear, rage...and failure. 'I must be imagining things,' Twilight assured herself. 'Soren couldn't start being like that...could he?' As Twilight thought to herself, she followed her friends outside the blue box to see what 'demise' awaited them.

They were immediately greeted by a horrible sight. They were staring in disbelief at the desolate, ruined world that stood before them. The ground was mostly made of what they assumed to be dark grey rock. Some volcanoes could be seen and heard in the background as they erupted now and again. The land stretched for as far as their eyes could see with no notable hills, besides volcanoes, in sight. All in all, this world was destroyed.

"What is this place?" Twilight asked in shock. "It's so...dark." Soren and Rainbow Dash looked up and noticed that the smoke from the volcanoes was creating its own clouds, thus making the world darker. "This can't be Equestria."

"I don't like it here," said Rainbow. "Those clouds aren't good for anypony..."

"If anypony is even on this rock," Soren corrected as Twilight secretly studied him.

The ponies and Spike picked a random direction to walk in. They were hoping to find the Master, but most of them were just looking for any sign of life. After many minutes of walking, the group was close to giving up. This planet had to be desolate. All of them decided to sit down on the slightly warm ground and all gave a simultaneous sigh of defeat.

"It's hopeless," Spike complained. "That 'Master' pony is nowhere to be found, and we can't even find any sign of life."

"Soren," Twilight called, grabbing his attention, "maybe we should just head back to the TARDIS. We need to fix the controls." Soren shook his head.

"Why not?" Rainbow Dash interjected as she shot into the air. "You're the Doctor! You should be able to fix your own machine." Soren stood up and looked at her.

"It's not that I won't try, it's that we're being watched. And I'd very much like to know how there is life on this planet." Rainbow landed on the ground and started looking around, as did everypony else. Soren continued to look at Rainbow as he spoke once again. "You all are looking everywhere but the place they're actually watching us from."

"Then where are they?" Twilight asked. Soren pointed towards the sky. Everypony but him looked up and saw four pegasi hovering above them, staring at them.

"What do you guys think you're doing up there?" shouted Rainbow. "Get down here or I'll come up to get you!" The four pegasi started laughing; one nearly fell out of the sky. Rainbow flushed angrily and scowled at the laughing pegasi. Soren walked up to her and put his hoof on her shoulder to calm her down.

"We aren't from around here," Soren explained to the pegasi. "We were tricked into coming here. Can you four help us until we leave?" The pegasi stopped laughing and started gliding down to the ground. The four ponies landed in front of Soren and his friends and faced them.

"Yeah, we'll help ya," the pegasus who appeared to be the leader of the four said. "Y'all don't look like bandits, but be warned: it ain't pretty out there." Everyone but Soren exchanged nervous glances as they followed the pegasi to the west.

Welcome to Planet Zero

The group of eight reached their destination after a lot more walking (and flying for the pegasi). It took awhile, but the four pegasi led Soren and his friends to a community of sorts. The area of this community was fairly large, and the whole place was surrounded by a sturdy-looking stone wall. There were no buildings or roads, only tents and dirt. The tents themselves weren't very tall but seemed big enough to act as a decent home. There were obviously many residents living here since tents littered the place, but the question on everypony's mind was 'How many?' The group had just arrived the center of the community when the pegasi stopped to address them.

"Well, this is it," one of them said with boredom. "Welcome to Planet Zero. Just find a tent that isn't occupied and call it home. We're off to tell the leader we have more company." The pegasi, Soren, Spike, and the mares exchanged names, then the pegasi flew off. Soren and company looked around and noticed that a few ponies were stepping out of their 'homes.' The residents looked at the newcomers and began whispering to each other with worry, distaste, or curiosity. Spike soon realized something as they were being talked about.

"Wow! We sure do stick out like sore hoofs around here compared to the other ponies." With that said, the mares and Soren looked at each other and compared themselves to the community. They were so brightly colored in comparison to the darkened, dirty community. It was like seeing a bright light in the middle of night. The group of friends sighed and went out to find any available tents.

"This place sucks!" exclaimed Rainbow, who then looked at Soren. "Why can't you and egghead fix the TARDIS?" Rainbow Dash was obviously frustrated at the depressing planet all of them were stuck on. The four of them found two tents relatively close to each other in the western part of the community. They split the tents accordingly: the boys get one tent, while the mares camped in the other. All of them were now gathered in Soren and Spike's tent, and Rainbow Dash was getting frustrated already.

"Rainbow Dash, just relax," Soren calmly said. "We just needed a place to stay while Twilight and I try to fix the console. Until we get the TARDIS running again, be on the lookout for anything strange. Also, stop complaining; there's no need to get stressed out." Rainbow Dash just sat on her haunches, crossed her fore-legs, and frowned. "Now then. Twilight, should we work on the TARDIS as soon as possible?"

"Not just yet," she replied. "Although I agree with Rainbow Dash that this place isn't the happiest to be in, I think we need to talk to this 'leader' before doing anything. We wouldn't want to break any of their rules on the first day." Soren understood her worry, so he sat down beside Rainbow Dash and put a leg around her; he felt her calm down. Pretty soon, Twilight and Spike sat with them, and the friends comforted each other with small talk.

After many minutes passed, a pegasi could be heard calling out names throughout the community.
Most of the names Soren and his friends didn't recognize, but there were four that they did: Twilight Sparkle, Soren Melody, Rainbow Dash, and Spike. The ponies stepped out of the tent and followed the flying pegasus as he called more names. At least a dozen other ponies were now following him as he led them to a big tent near the center of the community. The tent was maybe a few heads taller than the other tents, but it definitely looked important.

"Why do you think they called our names?" Spike asked, a little worried. Twilight gave a reassuring look to her assistant, who was riding on her back.

"Relax, Spike. I'm sure it's nothing bad...at least I hope." Spike tried to follow Twilight's advice, but he found himself unable. The large group of ponies walked into the great tent and saw a peculiar sight. They saw eight unicorns, four on the left and four on the right, standing guard on either side of a red carpet that led to the back of the tent. At the back was a fancy seat that looked as though royalty sat upon it. It was decorated with purple velvet and fake gold. On this seat was a middle-aged stallion that looked like he has seen his fair share of battles. This bearded, brown-coated, black-maned stallion addressed the group of ponies after they stopped walking.

"If any of you question why you were called, step forth," he demanded with great authority. The ponies were hesitant, but eventually, one by one, they all took a few steps forward. "Very well. I shall explain why all of you are here. As you all know, the Bandits have raided our camps one too many times, and in retaliation, we have raided their camps as well. Both of our groups have suffered casualties in this stalemate of a battle, but we all know that the first group to stop fighting will surely lose. This is why I have decided to recruit more ponies to defend our community against these monsters." The ponies in the crowd started to become nervous. "All of you will report to training and, if you seem fit enough, you will be assigned to a position. These are dark times on this even darker planet, but they must be stopped."

As the leader ended his speech, the unicorns ushered the mob to leave the tent. Soren and his friends started to follow, but were stopped by a commanding voice.

"You four will stay." The dragon and three ponies turned back towards the leader as he walked up to them. The stallion stared intently at all of them and addressed them.

"You four aren't from around here, are you?" Soren and his friends, once again, gave each other nervous glances. "No need to lie. I can see the truth on your faces. Where are you ponies from? Why are you here?" Rainbow Dash was about to stand up to the leader, but Soren put a hoof in front of her to make her stand down.

"You're right," Soren answered, "we aren't from around here. I guess you can say that we were tricked into coming here."

"Tricked? Explain yourselves."

"Before I answer, I need to ask: Is space travel possible on this planet?"

"Of course, don't be ridiculous."

"Just making sure. Anyway, our spaceship was hijacked by an evil pony who took my friend here hostage." Soren motioned at Twilight. "He managed to get us all inside the ship as he set the coordinates for a random location. We landed here with our controls smashed, and the evil pony ran off somewhere on this planet." Soren's friends were amazed at him. They couldn't believe he could lie so easily, although it was all true. 'I guess the Doctor isn't completely gone,' Twilight joked to herself. The leader looked into Soren's eyes as he listened.

"How can you be so sure that this pony is still on this planet? He could have fixed the controls and left, leaving you all stranded here."

"The controls of the ship are far too complicated for him to fix. Twilight and I are the only ponies that can repair the controls. It would mean a lot to us if you could help hunt down this stallion and stop whatever plan he has in stored." Twilight quickly looked at Soren, as did the rest of his friends.

"If you all manage to be recruited than you may easily find the pony you are looking for. However, be warned: if you endanger my ponies, I'll have no problem hunting you down myself." With nothing left to discuss, the group was forced out of the leader's tent. As they walked back to their own tents, Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow had a few questions for Soren.

"What the hay was that all about, Soren?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I find it awesome how you took charge, but why did you speak for all of us?"

"And why are you putting a bounty on the Master's head?" Spike bluntly asked. "I thought you and Twilight just wanted to capture him." Soren stopped walking but refused to look at his friends.

"He was captured before, and this is the outcome of his escape." Soren's voice became serious. "No more second chances. If it requires a hunt, then so be it." Avoiding Rainbow's question, Soren started walking again. Rainbow Dash and Spike just looked at Twilight, who closed her eyes and shook her head. She didn't know why Soren was acting this way. 'He might already be changed, and we wouldn't even know it,' she worried to herself. Twilight led her friends to their respective tents to waste away the remainder of the day. Tomorrow, training starts.

"How can you be so confident with your little plan, sir?" a scruffy pony asked after listening to a plan that interested him. "What makes you think it would even work?" The blue-coated stallion facing the scruffy leader gave a sinister smile.

"If my four targets are where they should be, then this plan cannot fail. Trust me, I'm a master at planning." The blonde stallion chuckled evilly.

The Raid

The next day, Soren, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Spike started the training program, along with many others. It wasn't too hard at first, but after three days of training passed, Twilight and Spike were barely managing to keep up. Everypony ran miles, performed vigorous acts of agility and endurance, and had to practice hoof-to-hoof combat. Not only was the training exhausting, it also prohibited Soren and Twilight from leaving the community, thus preventing them from working on the TARDIS.

When the one week mark arrived, ponies were starting to be dismissed from training since they could no longer keep up. Dismissals were inevitable since a team cannot have unfit ponies. After ten days passed, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were dismissed, along with five more ponies. Soren and Rainbow Dash tried to convince the trainers to let them stay, but their plea failed. Twilight and Soren didn't complain any further, for they soon realized that this would give Twilight time to work on the TARDIS.

The training was nearing its two week mark when the remaining twelve recruits were addressed by The Leader, as he liked to be called. The Leader, once again, spoke with great authority to the crowd.

"I would like to congradulate you all for enduring your training. You are nearing the end; the two week mark signals the completion of this program. You all didn't think the training was that hard on accident, did you? We had to make sure you were all physically and mentally enduring. Tomorrow, the remainder of you will be asked to investigate and/or invade the bandits' campsite. I know this may be a lot to ask for your first assignment, but the future of this community rests in your hooves. Sleep well tonight, for tomorrow will be the start of your assignment." After the Leader finished his speech, Soren and Rainbow rushed to meet their friends.

The pair found the unicorn and dragon in the girls' tent. Although Rainbow Dash was excited when they burst inside the tent, Soren remained silent.

"Hey guys," Spike greeted, "how was training today? I still can't believe you two are about to finish two weeks of that exhausting workout."

"Yeah, it's tough," Rainbow Dash replied, puffing out her chest, "but it'll all be worth it tomorrow. Can't wait to finally go into action." Twilight became more interested.

"Action? What's happening tomorrow?" Soren decided to answer this one.

"We're receiving our jobs tomorrow. Anyway, how are the repairs coming along?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.

"I've made a little progress, but she's not doing too well. The console is pretty damaged, and I can't figure out the problem. It seems like the Master's laser did more than just damage it. I did figure out what year we're in though."

"And that would be..."

"6,005. We went about five thousand years into the future. How this civilization came to be I'll never know, but I'm more interested in the community and its 'jobs.'" Again, Soren wanted to change the subject. He was very reluctant to talk about this topic, and his friends noticed it.

"Let's not talk about the team right now. I just want to relax and think."

"What's up, Soren?" Rainbow asked. "This is going to be exciting, and you're acting like you don't want to be a part of it. What gives?"

"I have to agree with Rainbow," Twilight added. "You haven't been acting like yourself, Soren." The mares continued to ask Soren to explain himself. He tried to ignore their questions by coming up with fake answers, but eventually, he snapped.

"I hate this place, alright?!" Soren yelled over his friends. The tent became silent. "This place is terrible! There's basically a war going on between this place and these bandits, and we got stuck in the middle of it! I don't know about you all, but I'm sick and tired of being dragged into conflicts all the time. I just want some time to relax, but nooo, now I can't even go one week without some evil pony or crazy Time Lord threatening me and my friends. I'm sick of it all!!!" Soren extended his wings and stormed out of the tent. He could be heard taking off into the sky as the strong silence slowly lifted. Rainbow attempted to follow Soren, but Twilight stopped her.

"Don't. It'll only make things worse. The Doctor went through something like this, and the only way to help him is t–"

BOOM!

An explosion rocked the entire community like an earthquake. The three of them quickly exited their 'home' and saw what chaos awaited them outside. Random explosions could be seen and heard in the background as ponies fought each other to defend their community. The bandits were invading!

"We need to find Soren, now!" Twilight commanded over the mayhem. Rainbow took to the sky while Twilight and Spike kept to the ground. They decided to split up to cover more ground, or whatever ground wasn't destroyed.

As she flew, Rainbow Dash couldn't see anything but the complete destruction that was happening below her. She saw dog fights happening between the pegasi but not too many were occuring. All she could see was a battle. A battle that took everypony by surprise. She was about to go reunite Twilight and Spike when something bright-ish caught her eye. Rainbow looked down once again and saw a familiar pony fighting. He was a blue-coated stallion with a blonde mane and a grin that could make anypony wince in fear. 'The Master!' she realized. Filling with rage, Rainbow shot like a bullet straight at him...

Meanwhile, at the edge of the community, away from the chaos happening, a white pony was flying above everything, looking down at it with a disgusted expression. 'This is what the world has come to?' he thought. 'Lies about hope and victory? It's time to give this place my final piece of help.' The white alicorn's horn started glowing with such intensity that the princesses themselves would have to shield their eyes from the raw power of the spell. With a deep breath, the pony cast his spell.

In the center of the community, Twilight and Spike met up with The Leader and were now defending themselves against bandit after bandit. It wasn't particularly difficult for Twilight Sparkle and The Leader, but the bandits weren't push-overs. While Twilight held down a bandit with magic, another BOOM erupted around them. The boom created a wave of green fire in the sky. 'A Sonic Fireblast!' Twilight thought as her and Spike's mouths opened in awe. Everypony stopped and stared at the sky. 'What could cause such a thing?' some were probably wondering, but two mares and a dragon already knew the answer.

As the fireblast departed, a green comet smashed into the center of the community, near enough for Twilight, Spike, and The Leader to have front row seats. When the comet landed, everypony soon saw that it wasn't a comet that was surrounded in green fire, it was a pony; an alicorn to be more precise. The fire disappeared, and the white alicorn stood tall and angry. His mane and tail were flowing like fire, and his eyes were pure white. It was a terrifying sight to most, even for the ponies who knew the alicorn. The alicorn looked around and addressed the community and bandits.

"THIS VIOLENCE WILL END NOW!" he shouted in the Royal Voice. "YOU BANDITS WILL LEAVE THIS GUARDED COMMUNITY AT ONCE OR FACE DIRE CONSEQUENCES!" Most bandits already wanted to obey this angered alicorn, so they started to back away. As the bandits were leaving, Twilight slowly walked towards Soren. Soren stared intensely at her, so she froze. They continued to stare at each other as the last of the bandits began to retreat. Once all of the bandits were gone, Soren ended his spell. His eyes and hair returned to normal, then he almost tumbled over from the exhausting use of magic. He steadied himself as Twilight stepped up to him.

"Are you alright?" she asked. Soren didn't answer, instead he looked around at the unconscious, injured, or probably dead ponies that lay everywhere around the area. Some were bleeding, some were breathing heavily, and some were too weak to get up. He sighed and began.

Any dolt with half a brain
Can see that ponykind has gone insane
To the point where I don't know if I'll upset the status quo
If I throw poison in the watermain

Listen close to everypony's heart
And hear that breaking sound
Hopes and dreams are shattering apart
And crashing to the ground

I cannot believe my eyes
How the world's filled with filth and lies
But it's plain to see evil inside of me
Is on the rise

As Soren sang, he started becoming slightly angry again. Seeing this as the only way to get through to him, Twilight decided to sing as well.

Look around
We're living with the lost and found
Just when you feel you've almost drowned
You find yourself on solid ground

And you believe there's good in everypony's heart
Keep it safe and sound
With hope you can do your part
To turn a life around

I cannot believe my eyes
Is the world finally growing wise?
Because it seems to me
Some kind of harmony
Is on the rise

Twilight looked at Soren the whole time as she sang. Looking into his eyes, Twilight could tell that Soren didn't agree with what she was singing to him. He then stood next to her, side-by-side, as the two faced opposite directions. At this point, the two sang their thoughts simultaneously.

Anyone with half a brain
Take it slow

Could spend their whole life howling in pain
He looks at me and seems to know

Because the dark is everywhere and
The things that I'm afraid to show

Twilight doesn't seem to care that soon the dark in me is all that will remain
And suddenly I feel this glow

Listen close to everypony's heart
And I believe there's good in everypony's heart

And hear that breaking sound
Keep it safe and sound

Hopes and dreams are shattering apart
With hope you can do your part

And crashing to the ground
To turn a life around

I cannot believe my eyes, how the world's filled with filth and lies
I cannot believe my eyes, how the world's finally growing wise

But it's plain to see evil inside of me is on the rise
And it's plain to see rapture inside of me is on the rise

After their song ended, Soren and Twilight continued to stare at each other. Eventually, Rainbow Dash limps into view. Spike is the first to notice her.

"Hey, you two!" he yelled at Twilight and Soren. "Rainbow Dash looks hurt!" Soren merely looked in the direction, but Twilight rushed over to help her.

"Oh my gosh, Rainbow Dash, what happened to you?! How many ponies did you fight?" She looked straight at Soren as she responded.

"Only one...and it was the Master." Soren eyes widened. Making a growling expression, he became angrier than before. 'Now he's crossed the line,' Soren thought.

Author's Note

"Brand New Day" belongs to Dr. Horrible/Niel Patrick Harris.

A One Pony Army

"Bring her in here to rest," the Leader instructed. The Leader led Soren and his friends into his tent. After it was clear that the raid was over, the Leader caught up with Soren and his friends and offered a place for Rainbow Dash to heal.

"Those blasted bandits caused such destruction," the Leader commented as Rainbow was put down onto a makeshift bed by Twilight. Soren glared dangerously at the stallion. Leaving his friends' sides, Soren stormed up to the Leader, the others watching with concern.

"Just who do you think you are saying that?!" Soren fumed. "Weren't you planning on doing the exact same thing to their camp? Don't act innocent with me because I know that, in a way, you're just as bad as their leader. There's a war going on between this place and the bandits, I understand that, but now it's time to end it." The Leader was struck in awe at the gall of this alicorn.

"How dare you?! I'm the leader of this community, and I will not stand by while some alicorn tries to take over." Just before Soren and the Leader got into a massive argument, Twilight intervened.

"You two, be quiet!" The stallions looked at her. "Soren, I understand why you're upset, I truly do, but we need to calm down right now." Soren remained silent. "Leader, I need to repair our ship, so I will be leaving as soon as possible to go do that. Spike will stay to take care of Rainbow Dash, while Soren comes up with a plan to deal with the Master."

"You expect me to just stand by and do nothing?" the Leader asked.

"Of course not. You will be repairing and helping your community. This is the best plan we have and you know it."

"She's right," Rainbow Dash defended in a slightly strained voice. "Twilight is the best organizer there is. It would be smart to listen to her."

"Very well," the Leader said, giving in. "I've seen what you all can do, so I'll leave it up to you four to solve our conflict." After everypony nodded, the Leader left to check on his community.

"That pony is almost as stubborn as you, Rainbow," Spike joked. Rainbow Dash had enough strength to give Spike a friendly punch to his arm; they both chuckled. Twilight walked up to Soren, who has yet to lose the seriousness in his eyes.

"Soren..." Twilight started calmly. "I know you're angry, I know everything is going wrong and there are ponies getting hurt or worse, but I need you to relax and think clearly." Twilight leaned in closer to whisper the next part. "Becoming slightly discorded won't help anypony." Soren growled a little at Twilight. She backed away quickly, which caught Spike and Rainbow's attention.

"I'm not becoming discorded," Soren replied with slight anger. "There's so much chaos on this planet, and I plan to stop it tomorrow."

"What's your plan?"

"You all are going to stay here to help this community while I go and confront the Master. First, I'll need to ask the Leader where the bandits' camp is."

"Oh no, you're not going out there alone," Twilight said. "I'm going with you. He's my enemy too." Soren sighed and his voice became softer.

"Twilight, listen to me. We both know there are no other options. You need to fix the TARDIS, and Spike needs to help Rainbow Dash. Plus, I don't want to risk anymore lives. I'm going alone and that's final." Twilight looked down. She was still unsure about the idea, but deep down she knew Soren was right. Twilight looked at Soren. He smiled at her. "Please, Ms. Sparkle." Twilight felt like crying a little, but instead she nodded and hugged Soren.

"Just come back to us, alright?" Their hug broke and Soren agreed. After he was done conversing with Twilight, Soren left to go find the Leader, then he planned on flying to the bandits' campsite tomorrow morning.

When Soren left the tent, Rainbow spoke to Twilight. "Do you really want to let him go alone?" she asked. Twilight sadly shook her head.

"What could I do? If we protest against him, he might become discorded again. He'll be alright... he has to be, right?" Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Spike exchanged glances.

"So tell me 'Master,' did your plan go as expected?" the bandit leader asked the blue stallion.

"Of course," the Master replied. "We caused serious damage and took some lives, and most importantly, the white alicorn is enraged. Everything went as expected." The bandit leader looked doubtful.

"Even if that were true, what is your next plan of action? Don't forget that we have a deal."

"Yes, yes, if my enemies perish, then I will help you bandits defeat yours. I'm a man, err pony, of my word. Anyway, the next part of my plan requires us to just sit here." The leader raised an eyebrow. "Trust me, our little alicorn pal will show up very soon."

Soren flew over Planet Zero's landscape as the sun could barely be seen rising through the thick clouds. The dark, rocky earth constantly reminded him of how doomed this world was. After he left his friends, Soren found the Leader and asked the stallion where the bandits' camp was. Once he was given a direction, Soren was off the next day. As of now, he has been flying for at least ten minutes in a single direction and has yet to see a camp of any sort. Soren went over his plan; he wanted to get in, do 'something' to the Master, then leave this horrid world with his friends.

As Soren finished going over his plan, he saw something in the distance. He quickly figured that it was the bandit camp. Soren decided to land a few yards away from the entrance. The camp itself looked more like a base than a camp. The walls surrounding the area looked to be made of tougher material than the other community's walls. These walls were smooth and absent of moss or any sign of decay. 'The bandits obviously created the stronger campsite,' Soren thought, "so why is this battle a stalemate?" His thoughts were cut short, though, by a loud voice created by a microphone.

"Well, well, well," the pony using the microphone said, "look who finally decided to show up." Soren looked on top of the walls and saw speakers on certain portions. He also saw many ponies standing on the thick wall. One of them was holding the microphone, and he looked all too familiar.

"Hello again, Master." Soren spoke loudly, yet calmly.

"Oh, I do love it when you use my name, Doctor. Never gets old. Would you like to come inside? We've been expecting you."

"Yes I would, actually, but you're leaving with me when I'm done in there, whether you like it or not."

"We'll see about that. Bandits!" The bandits on the wall were at attention. "Go ahead and greet our guest of honor." The Master laughed evily as he left Soren's sight. At that moment, a dozen pegasi flew out of the base and into the air. Soren took flight as well, knowing that he would be dive bombed if he didn't.

As they flew in the air, Soren and the twelve pegasi looked at each other for a few seconds before half of the group flew straight at Soren. Soren smirked, and his horn began to glow. He then launched forward to meet his welcoming committee. Before he and the six pegasi almost came into contact, Soren casted an old spell that he accidentally used on Rainbow Dash; it was the spell that freezes ponies in a block of ice, and he used it on all of the ponies flying at him. The frozen ponies fell to the earth, but upon impact, the pegasi didn't shatter into pieces. Only the ice shattered, then the pegasi were simply too injured to get up. Soren, still holding his smirk, stared at the other half of the pegasi and repeated the same process with them.

After the twelve pegasi were dealt with, Soren flew directly into the bandits' camp. Upon landing inside, he couldn't see anypony, but soon the sound of air cracking surrounded him. Within seconds, unicorns appeared all around Soren, their horns staying aglow. Soren had to think fast or die right then and there. Soren knew the unicorns were about to blast him with countless spells, but he had an idea. Soren's horn began to luminesce as a few of the unicorns already started to fire at him. While he prepared his spell, Soren had to dodge bolts and beams of all kinds of elemental magic (dark, ice, fire, lightning, etc.)

Within seconds, Soren's spell was finished charging. He casted it just in time to be hit by a explosive bolt of magic, except his newly created shield blocked the spell. Soren managed to create a shield. After he noticed that he was safe, Soren wrapped his spell around his body like armor. The unicorns didn't falter as they saw the 'armor;' they believed it wouldn't hold against their onslaught. Luckily for Soren, they were wrong. In retaliation, Soren started casting his own spells to defeat his enemies. He managed to clear a path deeper into the campsite, all while keeping his shield up.

Eventually, Soren made it into the center of the camp. He noticed that the unicorns had stopped firing at him, but he decided to keep his shield just in case. In the center of the bandit community, the Master and a pony that looked like he could be the leader of the bandits were waiting for Soren. The pony next to the Master was rugged and had torn clothing. This black-coated pegasus looked tough but not as tough as one would expect from a bandit leader. Soren assumed he had to be clever and sneaky or had some hidden ability.

The Master projected an evil grin, but the Bandit Leader held a neutral expression. "Looks like you didn't die," the Master stated. "How unfortunate. It seems as though I'll have to do it myself." Soren looked at the Bandit Leader; he expected the stallion to be ready to help the Master. The leader looked bored.

"Don't look at me," the Leader said. "This is between you and him." The Master pulled out his laser screwdriver and shot it at Soren. Soren wasn't hurt directly by the laser, but when the laser hit the shield, the combination of the two energies created an explosion that sent Soren reeling. Soren steadied himself and saw that the Master was still pointing the screwdriver at him.

"Shall we get started, Doctor?"

The Decision

Show him mercy.

Soren rubbed his head as he and the Master stared at each other. Both were waiting for the other to make the first move. With his peripheral vision, Soren noticed that the ponies surrounding him and the Master were only watching, not interfering. 'Looks like these bandits have some honor,' Soren thought. 'Or they just want to see a good fight.' The Master chose to strike first and sent a laser at Soren again. The alicorn jumped out of the way and started casting fireballs at the Master.

"Die you little runt!" the Master yelled at Soren as the alicorn constantly dodged his shots.

Soren had no problems avoiding the lasers, but he did have trouble landing a hit on the Master. Both stallions were very skilled at dodging. Soren decided to create a slightly different form of a fireball. When this type of fireball hit the ground near the Master, it exploded into embers that flew from the impact spot. The Master was singed by a few of these; the spell irritated and slightly weakened the Time Lord. Soren ran up to the Time Lord and shot another splash fireball; this one was a direct impact. The Master flew onto his back onto the ground. Soren jumped on top of the Master and pinned him there. The Master twisted and turned but couldn't shake off Soren. He couldn't even use his laser screwdriver, for it was knocked away from him.

"Give up!" Soren shouted. "You lost!" The Master, ignoring Soren, was still trying to break free. "I'm giving you one last chance: give up and I won't take drastic measures." The Master instantly stopped moving and looked at Soren.

"Drastic measures? Since when does the Doctor use drastic measures?" he asked with boredom.

"I'm not the Doctor anymore; I'm Soren. You have caused so much mayhem that I'm through giving you mercy. Last chance: Give up or face the consequences."

Do the right thing.

"The voice is calling you, Doctor. Don't you hear it?" Soren was silent. "What will you do? Kill me or let me go?" Soren was surprised that the Master could hear the strange voice as well.

"What is this voice?" Soren lost some of his seriousness.

"Somepony is calling out to you, trying to guide you, and I believe I know who it is. You should know too. Who else knows how to communicate with us Time Lords?" 'He's right,' Soren thought to himself. Soren looked around and didn't see the pony, so he looked back at the Master with a very serious expression.

"Last. Chance." was all Soren said.

"Ha ha ha, you might as well kill me because I'll never give in to you." Soren raised a hoof, but just when it was about to make contact, the hoof was stopped. Soren looked at his hoof and saw that it was covered in purple aura. He looked around once again and saw Twilight Sparkle, horn aglow, standing there.

"I'm disappointed in you, Soren," Twilight said. "This isn't how we do things. I tried speaking to you telepathically to get you to stop, but I can see that it didn't work."

"Let me go, Twilight," Soren demanded calmly, looking at the pinned stallion. "The Master doesn't deserve mercy, not after all the things he's done to us."

"I know that the Master deserves what's coming to him, but you know as well as I do that death is never the answer. Do you know what the Doctor told me one day?" Soren, still angry, looked at her. "Violence doesn't end violence...it extends it." Soren's stare softened; he looked back at the Master, who still looked bored. Twilight removed her magic from Soren's hoof and wrapped it around the Master to pin him down. Soren stepped off of the Master. He then proceeded to sit on his haunches and bury his face in his hooves. Twilight walked over to Soren and sat next to him. Seeing that he was beginning to weep, Twilight hugged him.

"What's happening to me, Twilight? I've resorted to killing ponies. Why?!"

"It's ok. It's the world and Master that's getting to you. We'll leave soon. We just need to figure out what to do with him first." Soren broke the hug and wiped his eyes.

"You fixed the TARDIS?" Twilight nodded. "What was the problem?"

"That's not important right now. We need to deal with the Master. What should we do with him?" Soren stared at the magically-pinned Time Lord. He now scowled at Soren.

"Dump him on another deserted planet besides this one," Soren said with no emotion. "He deserves solitude and boredom."
Twilight nodded. She then lifted the Master off of the ground and started to leave the camp. Soren noticed that everypony took a step away from him and Twilight as they walked by. Looking forward, Soren and Twilight left the bandits behind and carried the Master back to the other community.

At the community, a mare and a dragon were waiting for their two friends to return. They waited by one of the entrances to the camp, staring into the horizon for a glimpse of the two ponies. Just as the bandaged mare turned to walk back into the camp, the dragon exclaimed something.

"I see them! They're coming!" The mare turned towards the horizon and saw three ponies, one of them floating, heading in their direction. The mare sighed with relief, and the dragon started running to meet them, the mare following right behind him. The returning ponies saw their friends and picked up their pace. The friends met halfway and happily greeted each other. After greetings were exchanged, the ponies went back into the community to explain everything to the Leader.

"So this is him? The pony who almost trapped you all here?" The Leader was addressing Soren and his friends in the Leader's tent.

"Yes sir," Soren answered. "The Master is a manipulative stallion that can get almost anypony on his side if they don't know him. We defeated him and now we're going to send him to a deserted planet where he belongs."

"As long as he's taken care of, I have no objections. Where will you all go now? I have been told by Twilight Sparkle herself that she has fixed your spaceship." Twilight faced her friends.

"The damage done to the TARDIS caused it to become stuck in an infinite loop. When we landed here, she was stuck between the first second of leaving and the last second of landing, thus causing an internal paradox, which I had to fix."

"Wait...TARDIS?" the Leader asked. "Your ship is the TARDIS?! Then that means..." The shocked stallion stared at Soren. Soren sighed.

"Hello...I'm the Doctor." The Leader wasn't the only pony in shock; Soren's friends were shocked as well.

"You know about the TARDIS?" Spike asked.

"But of course. Everypony knows about it. It is a thing of legends, as is the Doctor. However, you look nothing like how you are described in the history books."

"Yeah, regenerations can do that to a stallion. Anyway, Twilight, Rainbow, Spike, shall we take our leave?" Everypony nodded, so the friends, along with the still magically-pinned Master, began to leave. The Master was last out of the tent, so he whispered something to the Leader.

"You only survived because he is an alicorn." The Leader shivered.

"Weren't we supposed to stop their conflict?"

"What conflict...?"

Soren and Twilight stepped back into the TARDIS. They had just finished dumping the Master on a random, deserted planet. "So are we finally done?" Rainbow Dash asked. Soren and Twilight both sighed.

"We sure hope so, Rainbow," Twilight answered. "The Master won't be leaving this planet without some sort of transportation."

"Indeed," Soren said. "I just want to go home and relax for once. I'm tired of all these things that happen to us." Twilight walked up to Soren.

"I know you're exhausted, but you can't run away from danger all the time. It will come again one day. I just hope for our sake it won't be very soon." With that said, Twilight began to work on the TARDIS' console to send all of them home.

"Hopefully everything will be fine until Winter Wrap Up is over," Spike commented as they left for Ponyville. "I don't wanna miss another holiday because some evil pony decides to show up." Although it was meant as a joke, that comment only caused everypony to remain silent, the whirring of the TARDIS being the only sound.

(End of arc. Next arc: The Cloaked Mare)

Winter Wrap Up

Winter Wrap Up Day

The holiday was finally here and Ponyville was already doing its job to welcome spring. Not a single pony, save for a select few, wasn't working around town. Some unicorns and earth ponies were cleaning up snow while others were building bird nests or planting seeds. Some pegasi were clearing the skies while the others were fetching the southern birds. All was going according to Twilight's plan.

Somewhere in Ponyville, as the ponies continued to work, a mare was strolling through town. In her winter cloak, she looked around at everypony and smirked. She walked up to Town Hall and stopped in front of it. A nearby stallion and mare noticed that she wasn't working, so they trotted up to her.

"Excuse me, miss?" a stallion said to the mare. "We noticed you aren't working. Did you not get assigned a job?" The mare simply smiled and continued to look at the Town Hall.

"Oh I was assigned a job. My job is just a little...different than yours."

"Then what is your job?" a mare politely asked her. The mare looking at the building finally turned towards them with a grin.

"My job is to make sure no more harm comes to this town." The two ponies seemed confused, but within seconds, they became frightened.

Coming out of the ground behind the cloaked mare were four shadows. Each shadow had their eyes closed as they started to take the shape of male earth ponies. When the shape of a pony was made, the shadows transformed into stallions. Their coats were dark grey, while their manes were pitch black. The stallions opened their eyes, and the two ponies could see that each had a different eye color: red, blue, green, and yellow. The two ponies stared at the monsters as the mare continued to smile.

"Please run" was all the mare said. The ponies took her advice and fled from the scene. The mare turned towards her 'stallions' as she addressed them. "You know what to do. Gather up everypony but don't harm a single one." The mare thought for a few seconds. "Except the alicorn. You can play with him all you want." The mare smiled as the stallions jumped high into the air, landed on nearby rooftops, and continued into town.

Soren and his friends were enjoying the holiday so far. Soren, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash just finished clearing the snow at Sweet Apple Acres and were now walking towards the frozen ponds and lakes near town. The three of them wanted to catch up to the rest of their friends. When the ponies made it to the ice, they saw at least ten ponies, Pinkie pie being one of them, skating on the same pond in a criss-crossing pattern. After they were finished with the pond, it broke into perfect square pieces, except the ice around the edges of course. Pinkie Pie walked up to Twilight, who was viewing the spectacle, then quickly saw her friends watching from a nearby hill.

"Hey, guys!" Pinkie exclaimed. Twilight Sparkle turned around and saw who Pinkie was talking to. Catching up to her pink friend, Twilight gathered around Soren, Rainbow, and Applejack.

"Are you all finished clearing the snow at Sweet Apple Acres?" Twilight asked.

"Yep," AJ replied. "Finished a lot faster than last year."

"Fluttershy still waking up the animals?" Rainbow asked. Twilight nodded.

"She should be done soon. We're done here for now, so let's meet her at her cottage." Everypony agreed. "Does anyone know if Rarity is almost done?"

"Knowing last year, I doubt she'll finish anytime soon," Rainbow commented.

After a few minutes passed, they arrived at Fluttershy's cottage at the perfect time. They saw the yellow pegasus leading a group of squirrels and porcupines into her house, probably for warmth or food. Once the critters were inside, Fluttershy gently closed her front door and scanned the area for any other creatures she may have missed. Instead of seeing more critters, Fluttershy saw her friends walking up to her.

"Hello, everyone," she greeted. "Are all of you done with your jobs as well?" The five of them nodded. "Well that's good. The whole town might finish before sunset."

"How 'bout we all grab somethin' to eat?" Applejack asked. "Ah'm sure we could all use somethin' to snack on."

"Sounds good to me," Soren replied. "To Sugarcube Corner?"

"To Sugarcube Corner!" the five mares exclaimed simultaneously.

One hour passed and the six friends finished their food break. Stepping out of Sugarcube Corner, they saw three ponies sprint by. They watched the two mares and one stallion run away as if something scared them. They all looked in the opposite direction and saw a few more ponies running away.

"Run!"
"Are they following us?!"
"What are they?!"

Before Soren and his friends could comprehend what scared those ponies, they heard a mare scream in the distance. Reacting quickly, all six of them sprinted towards the sound. As they ran deeper into town, Soren and co. witnessed more and more ponies fleeing from a certain spot in town.

"Winter Wrap Up will never be finished at this rate," Twilight commented. "Why are these ponies so afraid?" Her question was soon answered by a dark stallion turning a corner while chasing a young colt.

After the colt ran past Soren and his friends, Fluttershy flew after him. The dark stallion stopped to look at the remaining five. His yellow eyes glowing fiercely even in the day. Soren looked upon the dark pony with a hard gaze. The pony chuckled deeply and howled at the sky. The howl was nothing like Soren and his friends imagined. It was such a loud, deep shriek that it was probably heard from Canterlot. As the pony howled, the five ponies curled to the ground and tried to shield their ears. 'He's like an animal,' Soren thought as his ears rang after the howling stopped.

The dark stallion stood stalwart, just waiting. Soren and his friends stood there watching him as the pony continued to grin. Eventually, more dark stallions were seen turning the same corner that the first one came from. The original pony was joined by three more stallions that looked exactly like him, except Soren and Twilight noticed that they had different eye colors. 'Yellow, green, blue, red,' he thought. 'Is there any significance to that?" His thoughts were cut short by Rainbow nudging him.

"What are those things?" she asked him. "They are definitely not normal stallions. And why do they all look alike?"

"It wasn't from natural birth, I can say that much," Soren responded. "Stay cautious. They don't seem friendly. Let's just make sure no one gets hurt."

The four stallions began mimicking each other. They all stood straight up while smiling. Pretty soon, laughter was heard, but it wasn't coming from the dark ponies. Soren and his friends shuddered from the laughter, except for Pinkie Pie.

"Does somepony think those dark ponies are funny?" Pinkie Pie asked happily. As the laughter stopped, the five ponies saw a mare wearing a cloak walk up from behind the dark stallions. The mare was only a year or two younger than Soren and his friends. She was an earth pony with a dark red coat and a grey mane. Her cutie mark was hard to describe. To Soren, it looked like a circle with fancy lines drawn inside it.

"That cutie mark..." Twilight muttered. "I've seen that mark somewhere before." The mare chuckled.

"As you should, Twilight Sparkle. You of all ponies should have read about where my cutie mark came from. It's history. Anyway, let me introduce myself. You all can call me Terra Firma or Terra for short." The mare was interrupted by Soren.

"No," he said bluntly.

"What?" Terra questioned.

"I'm not calling you Terra. That's the name of the Earth Elemental, and I know for a fact that you're not him."

"Don't you think I know that. The Elementals may have names, but in actuality, they have none. Those are merely nicknames that they use to please us. We cannot fathom a being with no name. Seeing that you're stubborn, I'll move on. I am here to help this town." Confused, Twilight and her friends started whispering to each other while Soren just remained silent. Suddenly, Applejack said something.

"Y'all call terrorizing our town helping it? What the hay do y'all think you're doing?"

"True our methods are... unorthodox, but we needed to do something to get this one's attention," Terra explained, pointing at Soren, "but if you mares feel brave enough to try and get in my way then I guess I'll have no other choice. So what'll be?"

Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash scowled at Terra. Pinkie Pie and Soren's expressions stayed the same. The scowling mares kicked the ground with their hooves like they were about to charge. Terra smiled and clapped her hooves together twice. Two seconds passed before all four mares were blasted backward. The four dark stallions each slammed into one with unimaginable speed. Soren turned towards his friends in shock. Not only did the stallions have insane speed, but they attacked Pinkie Pie even though she showed them no harm. Soren gave a fiery glare to Terra.

"Now you just crossed the line," he said darkly. "No one hurts my friends, especially if one isn't trying to start a fight!"

Soren's horn started to shine very bright. He surrounded himself with white aura and casted a Time Spell to make himself move very fast. To Soren, the spell affected everything else but technically it only affected him. Using the spell, Soren ran up to each of the dark stallions and casted another spell on them. Created with more magic, orbs were attached to the four stallions' backs. During this process, Soren glanced at Terra from time to time and noticed that she was drawing something on the ground. As the Time Spell wore off, Soren was fatigued by his use of magic.

The dark stallions turned towards the alicorn and ran at him at a slightly slower, but fast, speed. Using the last bit of his strength, Soren used one final spell. His horn glowed, as did the orbs on the stallions' backs. As the stallions drew near, Soren jumped into the air and hovered as he casted his spell. The orbs shined bright, and trails of magic connected all of them. The stallions' backs were quickly dragged near each other. They were brought together, back to back, as they sat on the ground unable to do anything. The stallions tried to fight the magical force, but it was far too strong. One would try to stand up but was forced back down by the spell.

The fatigued Soren landed a good distance away from them. After seeing that the spell was working, he turned his attention to his friends and saw that they were getting up, but before they could run over to Soren, a green light flashed. Everypony looked at Terra and saw her standing in her drawn figure on the ground. The lines of the drawing were glowing green. The green light surrounded both Soren and Terra, then it formed separate spheres of green around both of them.

"What is this?" Soren shouted. He turned towards his friends and saw the look of terror on Twilight's face.

"This is just one of the many spells I know," Terra responded. "You and I are going to spend some quality time together, Guardian" Terra looked at the four mares. "I'll let you four continue to clean up winter with this town. I know how important it is that you finish, but don't worry, I'm sure we'll see each other soon enough." The circle of unique designs Terra was standing in illuminated once more, as did the green barriers surrounding her and Soren. A green light flashed again, but when Twilight and her friends uncovered their eyes, they saw that Terra and Soren were gone.

"Where...where did Soren go?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Twilight," Applejack began, "you alright? Ya look terrified." Twilight indeed looked like she just came face to face with her worst nightmare. The purple mare sat down and finally spoke.

"That magic...it shouldn't be possible. Equestrians learned that magic from zebras, but it went extinct centuries ago. If Terra knows that type of arcane magic, then Soren and Ponyville are in deep trouble." Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack exchanged worried looks.

A Chance For Redemption

"Ooh, my head," Soren groaned. He sat up and started rubbing his head. Once the pain mostly went away, he looked at his surroundings. He wasn't surprised to be in a completely different location. Soren noticed that he was in a cave, yet there was no sign of fungi or moisture. 'This cave is relatively new,' Soren deducted. The cave room he was in was dome shaped and only had one entrance.

As he continued to scan his surroundings, Soren heard a noise nearby. Remembering that Terra captured him, he started sneaking towards the opening of the cave room. When he approached the opening to a new room, he saw magic bars blocking the opening. 'I'm not just in a cave, I'm in a cell.' Soren poked his head around the corner and looked through the bars. He could now hear a voice and see a pony. He saw Terra looking at the ground where more symbols were drawn. She seemed to be talking to herself.

"So close," Terra thought aloud. "We are so close, mother." 'Mother?' Soren questioned to himself. "With the alicorn captured, this town should be easy to protect. My stallions are already at work and will be invulnerable for a few nights due to the eclipse. Redemption will soon be ours, even after...what you did." Soren decided now would be a good time to speak to her, but as he opened his mouth to talk, Terra spoke first.

"Are you confused yet, Soren?" Soren just stood there, shocked. Terra turned towards him. "Don't be surprised that I know your name and that I knew you were listening. I've lived in this cave for years, so I know how to listen for the slightest noises in here, but I'm rambling. Would you like to say something?" Soren stepped closer to the bars.

"I don't mind you rambling, but I need to ask a few things. I want to know about your mother and your 'redemption.'" Terra was slightly surprised by that request. She took a step back and seemed reluctant to answer. Soren looked at her with soft eyes. "Please...Terra." She looked at him, confused. He actually called her by her name; the alicorn who was so stubborn before.

"...Fine. But I'm only telling you because you're trapped here." Soren nodded. "The redemption I crave is to right the wrongs that my mother caused. When I was a child, my mother and I lived in a small village. The village disappeared but I'll get to that soon. Our family knows a great skill that we pass on to generation after generation. Our generations are earth ponies, every single one of us, so the skill we learned is to use magic like unicorns. It is a very arcane and powerful magic, but eventually that skill was misused...by my mother. She was a fast learner and mastered almost every spell at her disposal. After I was born, she had a horrible plan: to teach me magic and to combine our forces so we could become as powerful as the princesses themselves. Can you guess what we would first test our magic on?"

"The village..."

"Exactly. When I was skilled enough to use magic as if second nature, my mother said it was time. I didn't know about her plan until that very day, but after she explained her...idea, I wanted no part of it. She became so angry with me when I refused to use my magic for evil that she caged me within our own house as she laid siege to the village. She put me next to a window so I could watch the mayhem that she caused. Since she was fueled by anger and blinded by power, she didn't realize that I could escape the cage I was in. I escaped and went straight to Canterlot. I had to teleport there, and I was only able to do that because of the pictures that my mother has shown me of the shining capitol.

I managed to send word to Princess Celestia, so she flew to the village to stop my mother. She was successful in stopping my mother...but not in saving the village. When the princess arrived at the scene, some families were hiding or fleeing as their homes burned to the ground. When Celestia returned to Canterlot, I asked about my mother's punishment, but she said it was best not to ask. Of course, as I grew up, I realized what became of my mother." Terra finished, and Soren saw tears starting to form.

"I'm so sorry, Terra. I truly am. Your mother was power crazy. She had some sort of plan and your home was only the start for her. You mentioned redemption. Why? Wasn't justice served that day?" Terra walked closer to the bars.

"Not for me. I became an outcast. Ponies feared me because they knew what I was capable of. When I realized that ponies ran from me, I fled civilization and started planning how I could redeem myself. I created a plan to defend a town that truly needed help."

"Ponyville."

"Yes. I heard rumors of all the villains that show up here. I noticed that it only became worse when a certain alicorn arrived in town." Soren looked down.

"You're not the only pony who thinks that," he muttered.

"Hmm?"

"Lately, I realized that my very presence in Ponyville is bringing harm. No matter how many times I defeat evil, I can't help but think that I caused it in the first place. Knowing that, Terra, if I bring evil to this town, what does that make you?"

"You listen to me: I am not evil. I can save this town. Being raised by that monster of a pony, I learned that I need to do good so others don't think of me as evil, but...I believe my actions today will prevent me from seeming heroic, especially considering how easily you defeated my shadow stallions." Terra looked down and sighed.

"Terra, look at me." She looked back up as Soren got as close as he could to the bars. "I know what you did today was wrong, but maybe there's a chance to make things right. Your stallions aren't attacking anyone in Ponyville right?" Terra nodded. "So maybe you can pass it off as a one time thing. I can explain to everypony out there that all you wanted to do was to help. What do you say?" Terra turned her back to Soren.

"Forget it. They won't believe that. I've already caused too much damage." She groaned in frustration. "What was I thinking?! Invading the town so I could defend it?!"

Soren was going to tell Terra to calm down, but he came up with a better idea. He sat down on the ground and started tapping a beat. Terra's ears perked, but she didn't turn back around. Pretty soon, Soren started singing.

I can't see where you comin' from
But I know just what you runnin' from
And what matters ain't the who's baddest but the
Ones who stop you falling from your ladder

When you feel like you're feeling now
And doin' things just to please your crowd
When I know you like the way I know you
And I suffer but I ain't gonna cut you 'cause

This ain't no place for no hero
This ain't no place for no better colt
This ain't no place for no hero
To call "home"

And every time I close my eyes
I think, I think 'bout you inside
And your mother givin' up on asking why
Why you lie and you cheat
and you try to make a fool out of she

I can't see where you comin' from
But I know just what you runnin' from
And what matters ain't the who's baddest but the
Ones who stop you falling from your ladder, cause

This ain't no place for no hero
This ain't no place for no better colt
This ain't no place for no hero
To call "home"

Soren had his eyes closed as he tapped the beat and sang the song. When his song ended, Soren heard a faint noise. Opening his eyes, Soren saw Terra crying.

"Terra?" he called out. Terra was sitting down with her face buried in her hooves. Suddenly, the bars standing between them disappeared. Soren slowly walked over to the mare as she wept. He sat beside her and embraced her. After feeling the hug, Terra slowly stopped crying.

"Thank you," she said weakly.

"I had an old friend that felt like an outcast just like you. She did evil things, but I gave her a second chance..." Soren abruptly stopped, sighing at the painful memory. "I can help, we can all help, my friends and I. Just give us a chance, and we can make life better for you. Just come back to Ponyville, apologize, and we'll ask them to forgive you." Terra wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and looked at Soren.

"OK, I'll go. Soren...I'm sorry for everything. I just wanted to help."

"It's alright," he said softly. "You'll be considered a good pony before you know it." Soren noticed a vision of Ponyville on the ground near Terra. He saw that it was nighttime and looked at the moon; he saw something peculiar. "Umm, Terra?"

"Yes?"

"Exactly how long were we gone?"

"Almost two days. Why do you ask?" Soren continued to look at the slightly waxed, white moon.

"Umm, no reason." 'So that spell knocked me out for two days? How am I not starving?' Soren thought to himself. "Let's just go to Ponyville and straighten this mess out."

"Alright." Terra then started to draw symbols on the ground again. Soren soon realized how skilled and complex the spells she uses are. The floor became a shining green as the light covered the two ponies. A green light flashed and they were gone from the Everfree cave.

Author's Note

"Short Change Hero" is performed by The Heavy.

Apologies

The sun was high in the sky as Rainbow Dash stood on top of Town Hall, looking any which way for a sign of Soren. It has been three days since his disappearance, and everyone was starting to worry. Ever since Soren disappeared, the dark stallions have been warding the entire town. Going into her third day of searching, Rainbow Dash has yet to give up looking for Soren. She even quit taking naps during the day. Deciding to take a break from her perch upon Town Hall, Rainbow chose to fly to the Ponyville Library to talk to her friends. If the pegasus would have stayed on top of Town Hall for a little longer, she would have seen the flash of green light appear nearby.

"Why does that always give me a headache?" Soren groaned as he rubbed his head yet again.

"It's the two magics colliding with one another," Terra explained. "Unicorn and earth pony magic don't mix well."

"Oh well. The headache is pretty much gone by now. Let's just go see Twilight in the library then we can sort everything out."

"Right." The mare and the alicorn started running through town to quickly get to the library. Soren noticed that it was daytime now, and not only that, it was around noon.

"By the way, have you heard of the Doctor?" he asked Terra.

"Is he that time traveler that angered the Elementals?"

"Yes but he had help. I'm asking because your spells seem to cause us time travel." Terra laughed.

"What?! You girls can't be serious!" Rainbow Dash was beyond shocked at what her friends told her. All six of them were present in the library to discuss the situation at hoof.

"I'm truly sorry, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said. "We all want to find him almost as much as you do, but we must face facts: he's gone and we cannot find him. I'm sure he will show up eventually." Rainbow Dash's frown didn't go away.

"You all are just going to give up looking for him? Just like that?!" The five mares looked down. They knew they shouldn't stop looking for their, but what choice did they have? He's been gone for three whole days and they have yet to see him. "I'm not quitting on him, and I'm surprised the rest of you are." The mares looked up guiltily, but their expressions quickly changed to shock.

"Why do you all look so surprised?" Rainbow asked, confused. "Are you surprised that I'm not giving up on Soren, even after three days? Friends shouldn't abandon other friends, so why do you girls want to quit?" They started to point behind her, but before Rainbow could turn around, a voice spoke up.

"Wow, remind me to never go away for more than a day. You get pretty irritated when I'm gone too long." Rainbow Dash turned around and saw Soren standing in the doorway...and standing next to him was Terra. Rainbow Dash growled and was about to charge at her, but Soren intervened. He stood in front of Terra and pointed a hoof at Rainbow.

"Easy there, Rainbow. No need to hurt her. She hasn't done anything wrong. I'm back aren't I? Just calm down."

"Calm down? She hasn't done anything wrong? Did you forget about what happened a few days ago?! She attacked Ponyville!" Rainbow was flying by now, staring down at Soren.

"She did attack Ponyville, but let me explain her side of the story." Soren proceeded to tell everyone about Terra's childhood, her power-crazy mother, and why she wanted to help Ponyville.

"That's awful," Fluttershy commented when Soren finished the story. "What kind of mother would do that?"

"One that deserved what was comin' to her," Applejack added.

"Terra, we had no idea..." Twilight Sparkle started.

"It's alright," Terra interrupted. "I was completely wrong in my actions. I should have simply offered my protection instead of trying to force it upon all of you. It's just that I didn't believe you all would accept my shadow ponies as protection. They do look frightening. Can you all find it in your hearts to forgive me?" The six mares exchanged glances then nodded to Terra. Terra smiled and thanked them.

"Now that that's taken care of," Soren said, "what will you do next, Terra?" She sighed.

"I know exactly what I must do. I have to leave Ponyville...forever." Everypony but Soren seemed confused.

"If that's what you feel you must do, then we won't stop you." Terra turned towards the front door and started leaving. She stopped at the doorway to look back at Soren.

"Thanks again, Soren, for everything." Soren nodded at her. Terra started leaving again while softly singing to herself. "This ain't no place for no hero. This ain't no place for no better colt. This aint no place for no hero to call home."

As Terra sang the bridge of his song, Soren's eyes widened. He quickly trotted out of the library to hear her for a little longer. Rainbow Dash walked up to Soren as Terra vanished from their sight.

"You ok?" she asked. "You looked surprised that she was singing."

"That one part of my song...I-I never paid that much attention to it."

"I'm guessing you sang that to her when you were captured? What part didn't you pay attention to?"

"This ain't no place for a hero."

"Why is that so special?" Then it clicked for her. "Soren...what are you thinking?" she asked slowly, praying that her theory was wrong. Soren turned around and walked back inside the library. Rainbow joined Soren as everyone else gathered near.

"Soren, what are you thinking?" Rainbow Dash said a little louder to get his attention. Their friends noticed her tone of voice.

"Is something wrong, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked. "Soren, what is she talking about?"

Soren sighed. "I sang a song to Terra to comfort her, and as she sang a certain part of the song as she left, it spoke to me. It says, 'This ain't no place for a hero.'"

"Y'all better not be sayin' what I think yer sayin'," Applejack warned. Soren nodded to her.

"I am. Girls, I've decided to leave Ponyville."

"WHAT?!" all six exclaimed in unison.

"Why would you want to leave Ponyville?" Twilight asked.

"I've put you girls and this town in so much danger. Evil ponies threatening royalty, dark halves harming ponies, a renegade Time Lord. Everything I have fought has caught you girls and this town in the crossfire. I think it's best that I leave." Pinkie Pie started tearing up.

"Please say you're joking," she said weakly. "Say it's a joke, Soren." Soren walked up to Pinkie Pie and hugged her. He whispered 'I'm sorry' in her ear, and she started crying waterfalls of tears. Soren hugged tighter as he heard his friend sob. As he hugged Pinkie, Soren looked at all of the sad faces on the rest of his friends, except Rainbow. Rainbow Dash was simply looking at the floor, and Soren couldn't see her face at all. He patted Pinkie on the back and walked over to his marefriend.

"Even though I'm leaving my closest friends, there's one pony I could never hope to leave." This made Rainbow look up at him. As she held a sad expression, Rainbow punched Soren's shoulder hard. He tried not to flinch. "I'm sorry Rainbow, but I feel like this has to be done in order to keep everypony here safe from harm. Yet at the same time, I need to ask... will you come with me? I can't imagine being separated from you." Rainbow Dash just looked at him with a frown, but it slowly turned into neutral expression.

"You're awful for leaving your friends, you know that right?" Soren nodded sadly. "I guess I should tag along so you don't get yourself killed. I'll go with you." Rainbow was reluctant at first, but she still wanted to be close to Soren. The two shared a hug and turned towards their friends.

"I'm sorry I have to go, but you all understand my reasons, right?" Soren asked. Half of his friends nodded while the other half shook their heads, all mares with tears in their eyes. "I think we should leave now. What do you think, Rainbow?"

"One last thing." Rainbow nodded towards her friends, and they nodded back.

"Wha-" Soren was tackled by all of his friends as they gave him a giant group hug. Now it was Soren's turn to cry. "You have no idea how much I'm going to miss you girls. If Octavia asks about me, tell her...tell her that I went on a vacation. I don't think I have the heart to tell her the truth."

"We will," Twilight said. "There's no changing your mind is there?"

"Twilight, you and I both know that I don't want to leave, but we both know that it has to be done." Soren and Rainbow Dash went to the library's front door and looked back to their friends. Soren looked straight at Twilight Sparkle and said "Onwards and Upwards."

After waving goodbye to their friends one last time, Soren and Rainbow flew into the afternoon sky and across Equestria so Soren could try to escape all of the evils that lurks within the shadows of the land.

“If it’s time to go, remember what you’re leaving. Remember the best. My friends have always been the best of me.”

-The Eleventh Doctor

(End of arc. Next arc: The Crystal Empire)

The Crystal Empire

The Crystal Empire...arguably the most beautiful area of Equestria, with Canterlot as a close second if not the best. This empire has been safe for months now. After King Sombra returned and was defeated, the crystal ponies have been living their lives in peace. Although the recent weekly snowstorms are the worst weather since Sombra's rule, the crystal ponies continue to go about their lives in freedom and peace. One particular stallion is quite interested in the strange weather as he steps up to the Crystal Palace.

Standing still, the stallion simply stared at the palace as if it would produce an answer. He scanned the massive building and eventually looked towards the top. Glancing past the building, he noticed something strange about the weather. The snowstorm's clouds, which were surrounding the entire empire, were swirling together high in the sky. The entirety of the clouds looked like a swirling dome that has formed around the Crystal Empire. As the stallion looked upon this phenomenon, he smiled.

"Right, well if she brought me here, then something interesting must be happening." The stallion turned his attention back to the empire. He saw crystal ponies shopping, playing, and enjoying their day. He continued to smile as he started walking through the streets.

"Tell me again why we left Ponyville," Rainbow asked, still trying to fathom Soren's decision. Soren sighed. This was the third time he had to answer Rainbow Dash's question. The couple was currently flying across Equestria, mostly in a random direction.

"We left because evil seems to be attracted to me," Soren answered. "Wherever I go, villains or bad things are always around the corner. I'm hoping it will stop eventually, that way I can return home. But you...you could return at anytime, so why stay with me?" Rainbow Dash scowled at him. The answer should have been obvious.

"Because you're my coltfriend," Rainbow said. "I'm not gonna let you travel around by yourself. Besides, I know you want to relax, and I know the perfect place to visit."

"Oh? And where is that?"

"The Crystal Empire! It's awesome over there. There are crystal ponies that live there, and they have this cool-looking palace that's also made of crystals." Rainbow Dash was actually getting pumped just by talking about it. Soren chuckled at this.

"So basically, everything is made of crystals, except the plants I'm guessing?"

"There are probably plants made of crystals too."

"Sounds like a good place to visit, especially since I've never been there. Lead the way." Soren looked towards the sky and noticed the sun slowly starting its descent onto the horizon. "Actually, let's stop at the nearest town to get some food and some sleep."

"Sounds better than my plan to just wing it there in one trip." The two continued to fly until they found a resting point.

The Next Day

The stallion investigating the Crystal Empire's weather stood near the blizzard's cloud cover at the edge of the empire. He made a face of thinking and concentration as he constantly stared at it. Eventually, he decided to walk straight through the clouds. Pretty soon, the pony was surrounded in grey clouds and cold winds. They didn't bother him, but they made him much more curious as he stepped out of the clouds. What he saw next amazed and shocked him. He was still in the Crystal Empire but in a completely new area!

"So walking straight through the clouds causes one to teleport to a random point on the edge of the city," the stallion thought aloud. "This is definitely turning into an interesting trip." His thoughts were soon cut off by a curious sight that he saw out of the corner of his eye. In the sky, he saw two pegasi that just flew through the cloud dome. He could see that they weren't crystal ponies, so he deducted that these two were new visitors. Curiosity got the better of the stallion as he decided to run through the empire just to meet them.

Soren and Rainbow Dash finished flying through some nasty cloud cover and finally arrived at the Crystal Empire.

"Sweet Celestia, that weather back there was horrible," Rainbow Dash moaned as they continued flying. "Even I wouldn't like to fly through that again."

"This trip is amazing so far," Soren said sarcastically. "We must have arrived during some bad weather." The two of them flew to the center of town before landing. Although the clouds held a rough blizzard, it was simply snowing inside the empire. Upon entering the empire, the first sight Soren saw was the massive crystal palace Rainbow described to him. 'That place is huge,' Soren thought. He looked around at the homes and buildings of the area. Already he was impressed.

"You were right, Rainbow." She looked towards him as they landed in front of the castle.. "This place is amazing."

"Heh, I told ya. Maybe we'll get to see Shining Armor and Princess Cadence."

"Who?" Rainbow Dash face-hoofed.

"I forgot. You had amnesia, so you don't know about them, plus we never really talk about them anyway. Shining Armor is Twilight's brother and captain of the Royal Guard. Princess Cadence is Twilight's old foul-sitter and princess of the Crystal Empire. The two of them got married awhile back."

"Haha, talk about love at...first..." Soren was laughing but saw something out of the corner of his eye. He trailed off to get a closer look at the object. He took a few steps forward. "Rainbow Dash..."

"What's the matter? See something amazing?"

"I guess you can say that. Look." Soren pointed a hoof, and Rainbow trailed it to see a very familiar object. The two of them continued to stare at it, shocked. The TARDIS was sitting on the side of a road that led to the Crystal Palace. After giving each other a look, they walked up to the blue box. As they stood in front of it, Soren looked worried. "You don't think Twilight followed us, do you?" Soren asked. Rainbow shook her head.

"None of our friends would do that, but I'm really curious to know how it's here. Let's go inside." Soren agreed with her. He pushed on the door and discovered that it was unlocked (or the TARDIS simply recognized him as the Doctor). Being a gentlecolt, Soren ushered Rainbow to go first. Rainbow Dash stepped inside, and just as Soren was about to follow her, a voice yelled at them.

"STOOOOOP!!!" Soren froze, then the TARDIS doors slammed shut. Rainbow Dash immediately started pounding on the doors to be let out. Soren turned to look at the pony who yelled at him. His eyes widened as a familiar stallion ran up to him. The stallion had a brown mane, a chestnut brown coat, and an hourglass for a cutie mark.

"Doctor?" Soren asked in disbelief as the Time Lord stopped in front of him. The Doctor caught his breath and looked a little surprised.

"Oh, have we met?" the Doctor asked. "Don't think we have. Anyway, let's get your friend out of—" The Doctor couldn't finish his sentence since the TARDIS started to vanish right before their eyes. Within a few seconds, Rainbow Dash and the TARDIS were gone. Soren and the Doctor looked at each other.

"So what's the problem this time?" Soren asked.

The Future

An armored pegasus was doing his weekly scouting of a quiet area of the Crystal Empire. He heard a strange noise a few seconds ago and was now looking for the origin of it. The Crystal Empire houses many strange noises and sounds since The Arrival, but this particular one was different. The pegasus soon heard a door creaking open. 'Gotcha' was his only thought as he swiftly, and silently, flew towards the noise. Minutes later, he saw a sight that irked him. 'Stupid bandits.'

The 'whirr'-ing of the TARDIS could be heard clearly in the silence that was the Crystal Empire. After the blue box landed, Rainbow Dash immediately stepped outside. She gasped as she looked upon a destroyed Crystal Empire. Small craters were dotted across the land, destroyed buildings had portions of their respective foundations missing, and the sky was grey with strong winds blowing. The place was now grim and dirty. Rainbow spent a few minutes walking through the horrible land.

"What the hay happened here?!" she gasped. "How long was I gone?"

"Not long enough to escape from me," said a mysterious voice. A pegasus swooped down and slammed into Rainbow Dash, knocking her away. As she got up from the blow, Rainbow scanned her assailant. The pegasus was bigger than her and was wearing metal armor and a metal helmet that looked fairly hard to see out of. The armor itself looked old or partly destroyed; she assumed it was self-crafted. Dash couldn't see his face, but she could see two weapons slung onto his back. Rainbow couldn't make out what they were, for they were in their holsters.

As Rainbow looked at the attacker, he jumped in air to attempt to slam onto her. She pushed away from the spot she was at then took to the sky. Rainbow launched herself at the armored pegasus and punched him. Although the strike slightly hurt Rainbow, it sent her opponent rolling backwards, but he quickly recovered. He drew a knife from one of the holsters and threw it at the mare. She flew into the air, causing the blade to completely miss her, yet as it continued on its path, the knife became surrounded in magical aura. As Rainbow noticed this, the stallion flew up, grabbed her, and brought her to the ground. As Rainbow Dash was pinned to the ground, surprised beyond belief, the knife appeared next to the armored 'pegasus' and was now pointing straight at Rainbow.

Looking into the defeated mare's eyes, the stallion seemed to hesitate. He tilted his head, and upon realizing something, backed away quickly. Rainbow Dash stood up and stared at her attacker. He took his helmet off, and Rainbow Dash nearly collapsed from disbelief as she looked at her old friend. He was a white alicorn with a black mane and green eyes. His coat was dimmer than usual and his mane was scruffy.

"S-Soren?" Rainbow Dash whispered in disbelief.

The Future

"Rainbow Dash!" Soren exclaimed happily. He ran up to her, dropped the knife he was levitating, and hugged her tightly. "I'm so happy you're back! It's been so long!" Rainbow Dash felt tears on her coat as Soren wept tears of joy.

"How long was I gone? And what happened to the Crystal Empire?!" Soren broke the hug and wiped away his tears. He levitated his knife and helmet near him. As he put away the knife, he answered her question.

"The TARDIS took you away for three years." Rainbow's jaw dropped. She now understood why Soren looked different; he was older. "As for what happened to the empire...it would be better if we got to safety first. You're lucky I found you, even if I did nearly kill you. Anyway, it's not safe out here, trust me." Soren put his helmet on and motioned for Rainbow to follow him as they began walking.

As the duo traveled through what used to be the Crystal Empire, Rainbow Dash continued to look at the ravaged land around them. Demolished buildings and (Dash shuddered) skeletons were surprisingly common. Soren could sense the uneasiness of his long-lost marefriend.

"This is the new Crystal Empire, and it's far from pretty. The Arrival started all of this. After that, it only got worse. Pony became bandits, ice creatures roam the land, and only a few of us survivors have actually been able to maintain a base of operations."

"The Arrival? Bandits? Ice creatures?! Soren, what the buck happened to this place?!" Soren stopped to hug Rainbow Dash again.

"It's going to be alright. The Doctor and I have almost completed his plan to fix all of this. Since you and the TARDIS came back, we might just be able to accomplish that goal." Soren turned back to their walking direction.

"The Doctor is here? So I guess that was him who yelled at us, and I guess that the TARDIS was his." Soren nodded.

"Just a few more minutes of walking. Oh, also I wouldn't try flying around in this wasteland. Snipers are just looking for something to shoot at." Dash shuddered again, even though she didn't know what snipers were.

Eventually, Soren and Rainbow arrived at none other than the Crystal Palace. The building didn't appear to have changed that much, but the surrounding area did. A great area below the palace was surrounded in stone walls to prevent anything grounded from coming inside. There was also a large area next to the palace that was surrounded by a wall. Rainbow could see ponies higher up on both walls and in the castle, guarding the skies with strange contraptions, which looked similar to the one Soren had on his back.

Soren and Rainbow were given permission to enter through a large gate that led them into the area underneath the Crystal Palace. The area was filled with tents and ponies. At least half of the ponies had armor or weapons; the other half were families that looked sad, depressed, or sick, or any combination of the three. The whole area reminded her of the community on Planet Zero. Rainbow Dash felt that the longer she stayed here, the more depressed she will become.

The two of them finally entered the palace. It was mostly intact, with a few small holes and ruined decorations here and there. Soren led Rainbow Dash into the conference room, which she had been in with the girls once upon a time. She quickly saw four other ponies that were in the room. Some gave her glares, while others projected neutral expressions.

"Soren, who is this?" a young unicorn mare asked with the sound of distaste. "You know how we feel about strangers being in the palace." Although she looked barely younger than Rainbow, the filly seemed like she has participated in many fights. She was a crystal pony with a silver coat, sky-blue mane, and pale blue eyes. Her cutie mark was a five-pointed yellow star.

"She's an old friend from the past. Where's the Doctor?"

"In his lab outside, but who is she?"

"Her name is Rainbow Dash." Soren sighed. "Look, this isn't important right now, Star. I need to bring Rainbow Dash to the Doctor. I'll explain everything later." Star looked straight at Rainbow.

"If Soren trusts you, then we all do as well." Pip motioned to the other three ponies at the table. "But one false move and you're manticore bait." Pip chuckled then looked at Soren again. "You might want to explain everything to her. She already looks traumatized by what's outside."

"Leave her alone. She's not from here." Soren and Rainbow left the conference room to go outside.

After walking through many hallways, Rainbow was led through a doorway and was greeted by an outdoor gymnasium that was changed into a giant lab of sorts. Rainbow Dash saw a lot of guards on top of the wall that surrounded the lab. 'They sure like their security,' she thought. Soren pointed to a brown stallion in a lab coat.

"There he is." Soren walked away from Rainbow and up to the stallion, whom he began to speak with him. Rainbow just watched as the Doctor turned to look at her then he proceeded to give a big smile. He ran up to the pegasus and started shaking her hoof.

"Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Rainbow Dash. I'm the Doctor. Soren has told me so much about you. Since you're here, I could only assume my TARDIS came back as well?" Rainbow nodded. "Fantastic! Soren, now we can finally complete Project: Nova. We can save the Crystal Empire!" Soren patted the Doctor's shoulder.

"In good time, my friend. First, I need to show Dash around and explain everything that has happened while she was gone. See you at the performance later?"

"Oh, I wouldn't miss it for the world. Divine Remedy has such a beautiful voice. See you then, Soren, and goodbye, Ms. Dash." Soren and Rainbow waved goodbye to the energetic Doctor as they re-entered the castle. In the doorway, Rainbow Dash turned to Soren.

"I sure hope meeting a past version of the Doctor is the weirdest thing that happened here." Soren frowned slightly.

"Then prepared to be disappointed."

Soren led Rainbow Dash into his room of the castle. It was fairly small with only one window that he uses to look out over the Doctor's lab. Fortunately, it was big enough to house two ponies. The couple sat next to each other on the bed as Soren began to explain everything.

"After the TARDIS took you away, I asked the Doctor what was happening in the Crystal Empire. From what he could gather, the clouds surrounding the entire empire were trapping everypony inside. Three years later, it's still occurring, except that blizzards appear much more frequently. I started helping the Doctor in his investigation, and, through intense experimenting, we later found out that time progresses a lot faster inside the Crystal Empire than outside."

"What do you mean?" Rainbow questioned. "If three years went by in here, then how long has it been out there?"

"By our calculations, months have passed everywhere else. Maybe around ten to twelve. That's how fast time is progressing in here, yet nopony notices a thing."

"Earlier you said something about 'The Arrival.' What is that exactly?"

"Ahh yes...that. After about six months of investigating this phenomenon after you left, something horrible happened. A massive blizzard struck the empire, then ice creatures showed up out of the nowhere and attacked everypony. These creatures are unique, for they are made entirely out of ice; no organs, no brains, just instincts. We assume someone or something is creating them."

"When that filly warned me about becoming manticore bait, was she talking about an ice creature shaped like a manticore?" Soren nodded.

"When the ice mimics a creature, they receive all of its abilities and strategies. Lucky for us, they can't copy specific ponies or large creature. And before you ask, yes we have fought ice ponies." Rainbow Dash started rubbing her head.

"This is a lot to take in." Soren put a foreleg around her and brought her in close. Rainbow Dash then asked: "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"I think you've heard enough for one day. Just remember that there are bandits and dangerous animals out there and that me and the Doctor can fix this."

"Well of course you two can," Rainbow chuckled. "There's nothing that two Doctors can't do. Does he know that you're a future version of himself?"

"No one knows that I'm technically the Doctor." Soren looked outside. "We've been talking for too long. How about I show you what we do for fun around here?"

"Sure."

The two arrived at a tavern that was built within the castle. The floors and walls were made of smooth, blue crystals, and decorations hung from the ceiling and walls. Nice furniture littered the tavern and were made of wood and stone. The first thing Rainbow noticed was the stage that extended from one side of the room to the other. The stage stood out the most, for it was made of chiseled stone and had curtains made of velvet. From the entrance, the stage was on the opposite side of the tavern; the bar was to the left; and many seats and tables were positioned to the right, leaving a small middle area open to dancing. Even though everywhere outside the castle looked terrible, the tavern looked amazing. Soren ushered Rainbow over to a table that was close to the stage. He sat right next to her as a voice sounded throughout the room.

"Hello, fillies and gentlecolts!" the male voice shouted. "I hope you're all ready for some entertainment because it's time for your favorite performer once again. Performing her song 'Mr. Sandman' with her backup choir is the talented, the beautiful, Miss Divine Remedy!" Applause resonated throughout the room. Rainbow knew that every single pony was applauding.

Lights shined on center stage as the curtain drew back to reveal a gorgeous, middle-aged, unicorn mare. She had a light grey coat, black mane with a stripe of cerulean and blue styled into it, green eyes, and a cutie mark that showed a microphone with a stand and music notes surrounding the top. The song started, and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but become immediately entranced by her smooth voice.

During the song, Rainbow looked around the tavern and saw many different reactions from the ponies, all of them adoring. Everyone either smiled, looked infatuated, tapped to the beat of the song, or were relaxing. Rainbow chuckled when she saw a few mares looking as love-struck as the colts. The song ended and applause once again sounded. Once the admiration died down, Divine had something to say.

"I would like to perform a special song for you all tonight. I am going to perform a duet with my husband, Hardy Tune, in honor of Soren reuniting with his long lost love, Rainbow Dash. I hope you all enjoy it." Soren went a little wide-eyed at this, as did Rainbow Dash. First of all, Divine Remedy knew that Rainbow Dash was back, so she planned a special song for them. Second of all, she managed to make all of the heads in the tavern look at Soren and Rainbow.

Divine introduced the next song as 'Dream A Little Dream' as Hardy Tune stepped onstage. Hardy was a sturdy-looking earth pony stallion that was around the same age as Divine. He had a black coat, a brown mane, soft blue eyes, and a cutie mark of a saxophone. He gave his wife a kiss before the music commenced.

The song was slow but amazing nonetheless. Soren mentioned to Dash that this wasn't the first time they performed together, nor was this song new to anypony here, but it was still a brilliant song. Divine's voice was sweet, Hardy's voice was deep but smooth, and together they sounded fantastic. When the song ended, the applause was louder than ever. The married couple calmed the audience down so they could say something else. When it was quiet enough, Divine spoke once again.

"I'm glad you all enjoyed that song, but I would like to ask Soren..." The stage light shined on him and Dash. "...and his love to perform a song for us." The audience murmured in approval. Soren chuckled and looked at Rainbow Dash.

"What do you say? Wanna make a new song?" Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. "My magic will help. Just think about how you feel, and the words will come out." Rainbow Dash thought for a moment before shrugging. The couple took the stage as Divine and Hardy stepped backstage. As she faced the crowd, Rainbow slowly became nervous. She wasn't sure how an improvised song would work. It could go horribly wrong.

As Rainbow and Soren each stood in front of a microphone, Soren illuminated his horn. It didn't show, but Soren was using a surprisingly large amount of magic. Not only was he illuminating a few instruments, but he was using magic to project Rainbow Dash's feelings towards the instrument to make a completely new and improvised song. Rainbow looked nervously at Soren; when he noticed her expression, he put a hoof on her shoulder. He knew she wanted him to go first. The instruments began playing, and Soren began.

I got so much love
For you darlin' and I,
I wanna let you know how I feel

And it's true that I love you
And it's true you're the only one and I do,
I adore you
And it's true girl

You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive
You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive
You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive
You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive

Rainbow took a deep breath and began.

You said - you said - you said
That I'm the only one
You said that I'm your number 1
Now your gone and I feel numb
Tell me where do we go wrong
You are my best friend and boyfriend
Now it's seems like you're my worst friend
I gotta do soul searching
Without you I'm a whole different pony

I ain't acting like I used to
I don't feel love like I used to
It was your love I was used to
Why do I had to lo-lo-lo-lose
Your love your love your love
Your love is what it was
That have me feeling buzzed
You are my true love

And it's true that I love you
And it's true you're the only one and I do
I adore you
And it's true girl

You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive
You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive
You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive
You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive

Hey girl you're the only one
Must be my number one
Now your gone I feel so numb
Tell me how do we go wrong
First friends then we became best friend
You used to be my girlfriend
Now your my worst friend
Yeah I gotta do a lil soul searching
Without you I'm a whole different pony

I don't even act like I used to
I don't even feel loved like I used to
I guess it's your love that I'm used to
And I feel bad that I lose you
I get so many things that I wanna sa-sa-sa-say
I guess this mean that I'm missing you
Sorry for the things that I did to you
I'm so lost without you

And it's true that I love you
And it's true you're the only one and I do,
I adore you
And it's true girl

You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive
You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive
You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive
You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive

Rainbow's voice impressed many ponies. Most thought their voices went together very well. The couple actually sang one and a half songs that night. They named the first one 'Alive' and the second 'Missing You.' Both songs were about how they felt about each other and how they miss each other if separated. Soren and Rainbow Dash would have finished the second song, but an alarm sounded, interrupting their singing. Through the alarm's loud noise, Rainbow could hear commands being shouted, even from Soren. She turned to him.

"What's going on?" she yelled over the commotion.

"The alarm sounded," Soren shouted back. "They're here."

"Who's here?"

"Not a 'who,' but a 'what.' As for what's here, the ice creatures are." Rainbow Dash couldn't respond fast enough as Soren flew out of the tavern.

Author's Note

"Alive" is performed by the Black Eyed Peas. It may be a little unorthodox but I made my choice.

The Battle

Rainbow Dash caught up with Soren as they started flying side by side. Soren was making his way towards the palace entrance while giving commands for some ponies to stay inside. Flying through the main hallway, Soren looked at Rainbow Dash.

"Stay inside," he repeated flatly.

"No way, Soren," Rainbow responded. "If there's a fight, I'm helping." Soren landed, as did Rainbow. He walked up and got in her face.

"I'm being serious, Rainbow Dash. You have no experience with those things out there. I'm not asking you to stay in here forever, I'm asking you to stay so you can watch and learn about our enemies. Is that so much to ask?" Soren's acquired authority managed to cause Rainbow to be silent. "I have to go defend the palace. I'll be back soon." Soren took off again but stopped in mid-flight to say one more thing. "If you want to watch, go find one of our snipers on the upper floors." When Soren flew off again. Rainbow huffed and began walking back through the castle.

On any normal day, ice creatures will appear and attempt to invade the palace. Luckily for the ponies defending it, the creatures don't appear every single day. Whenever the creatures do appear, the entire castle is ready for them, especially Soren and Star. Even though she looks young for her age, Shining Star is one of the best fighters of the castle. She uses a pistol-like crystal weapon and her telekinesis to defeat her enemies. Soren uses a dagger and a sniper. Together, they are nearly unstoppable.

Outside the castle, Soren is battling two ice ponies, a manticore, and three ice wolves. Star is fighting four ice ponies and an ice griffon. The two commanders are relatively far from each other but close enough to aid one another if they are in danger. The other ponies that are also defending the castle are fighting their own battles with various creatures. This is an average brawl for everyone.

Soren's battle was going smoothly. He took out the ice ponies with only his dagger and a big rock that he hurled at them. As of now, he was fighting the ice animals. Since he can fly, Soren easily dodged the wolves, but the manticore had wings so it followed him. Aiming at the manticore, Soren missed three shots with his sniper. Rolling his eyes, he gave up on the sniper for now. He pulled out his dagger and executed a loop over the manticore. The manticore tried to follow but couldn't quite flip as fast as the alicorn. Soren got the advantage, and he threw the dagger at the back of the manticore's neck. The beast went down, so Soren flew off to fight the wolves.

From a sniper's balcony at the castle, Rainbow Dash was watching everything. To her, the ice creatures didn't look too difficult to fight. After all, she knew almost all of the animals. Even the ice ponies didn't prove much of a threat. She turned to the sniper.

"Does anyone think those ice things are a little too easy to fight sometimes?" The mare shrugged.

"As long as we defend the castle, it doesn't matter to us." That sounded reasonable to Rainbow Dash. She found Star on the battlefield and decided to watch her fight.

The mare had just used two shots from her 'pistol' to down the last two ponies she was facing. Star ran out of enemies to fight just as Rainbow Dash looked in her direction. Before Rainbow could look somewhere else, the sniper shouted something in alarm.

"Sweet Celestia! Soren's down!"

"What?!" Rainbow Dash quickly looked for Soren and saw him pinned by the manticore he was facing not too long ago.

"He's got no weapons on him," the sniper stated. "The dagger is in the beast's neck and Soren's sniper was flung away from him. I-I can't get a shot without potentially harming him!"

"Just shoot the thing! Soren will live." The mare shook his head.

"Sorry, miss. We don't take the risk of downing our own just to kill a single ice beast. I'm afraid to say—"

A shot echoed throughout the area.

The manticore fell just as it was about to finish off Soren. Rainbow Dash looked around and noticed a sniper floating nearby. 'Did Soren do that?' Rainbow thought.

"You cut that a little close, Star," Soren said after he got up. "Couldn't shoot it any faster?" The young mare walked up to Soren and floated the sniper towards him.

"If I remember correctly, you were the one that got ambushed." Soren put the sniper on the ground.

"Doesn't matter. We defended the castle...again. I swear they're getting too easy to fight." Star nodded then Rainbow Dash flew down in front of them.

"You ok, Soren?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I've been through worse I guess." Rainbow Dash eyed the sniper on the ground.

"Curious?" Soren asked. Rainbow nodded. "Well, after a few weeks of fighting those creatures (which wasn't easy, mind you), our mechanics started crafting weapons to help defend ourselves. Since the empire is abundant in crystals, we used them as conductors for our weapons." Soren levitated the sniper to Rainbow's eye level so he can explain how it works. "Like all the shooting weapons we made, they run on magic. The trigger here starts the chain reaction. It causes a small crystal to strike the large crystal in the body of the weapon. The strike causes a spark of magic. The spark then travels to a skinny crystal in the barrel and fires out in such a concentrated beam that unicorns couldn't possibly copy it. It's not pretty, but it protects the ones we love."

"That's...so...awesome! So is it the same for Star's weapon?" Star nodded.

"The handheld just uses smaller crystals," she explained, "but it also decreases the speed and range of the shot. I think we should check on the Doctor's progress, wouldn't you say, Soren?" Soren nodded and the three of them left for the Doctor's lab.

"So what's this project the Doc's been working on?" Rainbow asked Soren. The three of them were walking through the palace, almost at the outside lab, when Rainbow asked the question.

"It's called Project: Nova," Soren started. "When completed, it will wipe out whatever is causing these clouds. We started almost two years ago when the Doctor had an idea. I won't go into overly complex detail, but he realized that a strong sonic explosion should clear the sky. We predicted that it will explode into what we call an Energized Magical Pulse." Star started giggling. Soren rolled his eyes. "Go on, say it."

"It's like I'm hearing a second Doctor in front of me," she laughed. Rainbow Dash gave Soren a concerned look, but he returned it with a sweet smile to put her uneasiness to rest. Star calmed down after she saw this. "Try not to get too sentimental with Rainbow Dash near me, Soren," she said playfully. "I might get jealous." Rainbow tilted her head in confusion.

"Don't worry, Rainbow Dash," Soren assured. "Star just has a crush on me is all. I'll be honest with you: before you came back, I started having a little crush on her myself, but I still stayed loyal through these three years." Even though Soren was honest, it didn't stop Rainbow Dash from punching his shoulder.

"I deserved that," Soren said. "I know you're probably a little mad but we...need...to..." Soren trailed off as they stepped outside. The three of them looked upon a horrible scene. The Doctor was at his lab looking up at the dozens of ice ponies that have lined up on the protective wall. A specific pony caught the Doctor's and Soren's eyes. There was a red ice pony with burning white eyes in the center of the line up. He looked at the new arrivals and grinned.

"Soren the Alicorn," the ice pony said in a smooth, monotonous voice. "Welcome. I have a message for you from the Ones Above. The message is short and to the point. They say: You have until noon tomorrow to destroy this lab or we will send an army onto you." Soren told the mares to stay put. He then flew to the Doctor and stood by him.

"I hope that thing is almost ready," Soren whispered to the Doctor. After Soren whispered that, the two of them remained silent until the blood red ice pony spoke again.

"Not going to respond? Very well. The warning still stands. We shall take our leave." The wind picked up quickly, and one by one, the ice ponies started dissipating as the wind blew them away. Once the creatures were gone, Soren, the Doctor, Rainbow Dash, and Star were all alone at the lab.

"Soren," the Doctor began, "you know what has to be done." Soren looked down with his eyes closed.

"Soren?" Rainbow asked with concern.

"Will the EMP be ready by tomorrow morning?" Soren asked the Doctor as he looked back up.

"I make no promises, but I will be working all night on it. We are at the final stages and the timing couldn't be closer. It all ends tomorrow; one way or another."

The Frozen Army

The Next Day

As the sun slowly rose over the horizon, Soren looked at the Doctor's lab through the bedroom window. In the background, he could hear Rainbow Dash's light breathing while she slept. 'It's amazing that she can sleep so soundly at a time like this, but then again, she doesn't understand,' Soren thought. With a sigh, Soren decided to go down to the tavern for what could possibly be his last drink.

To Soren's surprise, the tavern was empty. One would think a pony would spend their last remaining hours drinking if given the chance. Soren was impressed yet slightly disappointed at this fact but it didn't matter. Sitting at the bar, Soren asked the bartender for two drinks. 'Two drinks to symbolize the fall of an army. What army that is depends on the Doctor at this point.'

It was two hours before noon and Rainbow Dash couldn't find Soren anywhere. She already looked through two entire floors with no sign of him. Upon giving up on this method, she flew outside to ask the Doctor. As always, the Time Lord was busy at his lab. With two hours left to complete the project, who could blame him for staying here constantly? Rainbow Dash landed far enough away to not get in his way but close enough to speak normally to him.

"Doctor," Rainbow Dash said.

"Yes?" he responded as he ran around the place, trying to finish his work as fast as possible.

"Have you seen Soren?"

"He's probably just preparing for later. Have you tried the tavern or armory?"

"Why would he be in the...? Wait. The armory? Of course! Before I go, can I ask you something?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"You told Soren that he knows what has to be done. Why did he look sad about that? What's going to happen?" The Doctor stopped working. He looked at her and sighed.

"I supposed I could tell you now. I was going to have to tell you anyway if we want to save the Crystal Empire." The Doctor motioned Rainbow Dash to take a seat with him next to a table.

"When the EMP is complete, we are not going to use it here." Rainbow Dash tilted her head. "Let me rephrase: we aren't going to use it on this day. We plan to use it three years in the past; the day you and the TARDIS disappeared. However, there's a catch: everyone in this timeline will no longer exist." Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. "That point in time in the past isn't fixed, so if we prevent this from happening, this Soren, and everyone else, won't exist."

"But what will happen to you?"

"That's an easy one: You and I will be traveling to the past. In other words, we will be the only ponies to remember any of this. So to recap: we take the bomb to the past, you set it off to prevent this future, and Soren and all of the Crystal Empire will never have to experience these things ever again." Rainbow was silent. It was the perfect plan, but could she technically kill off Soren and the entire empire? 'I'll still have my Soren,' she thought. 'He just won't remember any of this.'

"I'll do it," Rainbow answered evenly. The Doctor smiled.

"Great, and don't worry, everything will be fine. You'll see."

"I trust you, Doctor. More than you know."

"Well, find Soren and tell him that the EMP is almost ready. I'll be here until it's finished." Rainbow nodded and flew off towards the armory.

Soren, Rainbow Dash, Star, and the three ponies from the conference room a few days ago stood at the entrance to the area underneath the castle. They were all waiting for the 'army' that the ice ponies promised. When it was finally noon, the clouds became pitch black and the temperature dropped considerably. Many, if not all, ponies were freezing, but they refused to show it. They simply waited for the army to appear. After minutes passed, snipers sounded off that they can see the army. Within seconds, everypony saw what was coming. There were hundreds, possibly thousands, of ice creatures which ranged from manticores to ponies to horses to wolves and even basilisks. 'The big horses and dragons are new' was Soren's only thought. The Frozen Army stopped about half a mile away from the castle.

There was silence.

Rainbow Dash looked at Soren and Star. Soren had two snipers slung across his back and two daggers holstered on his sides. He was wearing full iron armor that was much nicer than the earlier set she had seen. Star had her trusty pistol, which she was levitating, and a sniper and a dagger, which were holstered on either her sides. Star also had light armor on, which was made of something Dash couldn't name. The rainbow pegasus herself was given two handhelds to try out. She had no practice with these things but then again, there wasn't time.

A single word shattered the silence.

"CHARGE!!!!" Soren shouted to everypony. The countless defenders of the palace opened the gates and charged out of the walled-off area, while the Frozen Army charged to meet them.

Within seconds, the two armies clashed in chaos. Ice was shattering, weapons were flying, and magic was soaring. Soren and Star decided to save their magical weaponry for later since they were busy attacking ice creatures with their daggers. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was in the sky shooting at any and all ice creatures that came within eye sight. She had decent aim, but her elevation made it difficult to produce a strong enough blast to down the beasts in one shot. She flew in closer and soon heard a similar yet more powerful handheld go off. Looking around, she noticed Star using her own weapon. From what Rainbow could see, Star's weapon was probably the strongest pistol. The younger mare managed to take down three creatures with two bullets. Refocusing on the battle, Rainbow Dash turned around just in time to see two griffons flying straight at her. She grinned and unloaded two shots right at them.

"Getting tired?" Soren panted while running with Star. She shook her head, too focused for words. Both of them were sweating from all of the dodging and levitation they was doing. Soren wished he could use his strongest spells against these creatures, but sadly, too many ponies were too close. Right after they both jumped on top of a manticore and killed it, Soren's armor started beeping.

"Cover me, Star," he commanded as he investigated the noise. An alarm was going off on his right fore-leg. He looked at it and saw the words 'Project: Nova' flashing in red txt on a small screen. Soren chuckled. 'So that's why the Doctor helped to make this. I'm on my way, Doc. Just gotta grab Rainbow Dash.' Soren looked towards Star. She downed another two enemies and looked back. They exchanged a silent conversation, and Star nodded.

"You better come back" were Star's only words as Soren flew into the air.

Rainbow Dash was starting to be surprisingly good with her weapons. She was becoming more accurate and destroying ice creatures with one shot. To her, it felt like this place was slightly changing her, but she shrugged it off. Rainbow Dash barely saw Soren out of the corner of her eye as he flew towards her. After making sure nothing would attack her, Rainbow flew to meet up with him.

"How are you holding up?" Rainbow Dash asked when the two became close enough.

"I'm still alive, aren't I? Anyway, the Doctor finished Project: Nova, so we have to go meet him." Soren paused. "Did he tell you the result of the spell?" Rainbow simply nodded. Soren put a hoof to her shoulder. "Don't worry about us. It's better this way." The couple then flew off towards the Doctor's lab.

At his lab, the Doctor took one last look at his masterpiece. It was a golden chest piece with a glowing rainbow-colored gem on the front. The Doctor chuckled. 'Rainbow Dash will be wearing Soren's cutie mark just to save everyone.' The Doctor heard wing beats. He turned around and smiled at his arriving friends.

"Glad you two came as soon as possible," said the Doctor. "It's finally finished. Now we just need to take it to the past, set it off, and all of this will never happen." Rainbow Dash nodded, but Soren tilted his head towards the ground.

"What's wrong, Soren?" Rainbow asked. "You said it yourself, it's better this way."

"I know, I know, it's just that...these ponies had lives, even if they were in a hell hole. Some of them had dreams and...love." Soren whispered the last part so Rainbow couldn't hear it. "But I'm just thinking of the present versions of them. Just go set it off so none of us have to go through this." Rainbow could hear the sadness in Soren's voice, but before she could say something, Soren turned away and hurriedly flew back towards the battlefield. Rainbow was about to go after him, but she felt the Doctor stop her.

"Let him go. He has something that he needs to do, and I think it's more important for us to do our part of the plan. After you arrived, the TARDIS came to me. She's in the armory right now so let's go."

Meanwhile on the battlefield, the Frozen Army was charging at the Crystal Palace nonstop. Ponies were becoming tired and impatient at the possibly never-ending army. Only the leaders of the resistance remained stalwart. Star has never given up in her life, so she wouldn't start now. She assumed that she had destroyed the most monsters by now since Soren left for awhile. Speaking of the alicorn, after Star's umpteenth kill, she heard his wing beats. She's been fighting with him long enough to know the sounds of solely his wings.

"'Bout time you got back," Star stated. She noticed that Soren was a little sad. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he responded. "I just need to find the right time to do something important." Soren paused as he scanned the battlefield. He saw that nothing had changed in the past half hour that the battle has been going on. Absolutely nothing. "This needs to end now."

Soren flew up above the battle so he could see the transition between the two armies. Since there was no definite line, Soren felt bad about his next decision. Using magic, the alicorn created a tall barrier that separated most of the ice army (and some of his own army) from the Crystal Palace and its respective army. Soren was on the side of the Frozen Army when he landed.

"EVERYONE, RETREAT IF YOU CAN!" Soren shouted to his teammates. "I SHALL HANDLE THE REST!" His fellow fighters were hesitant, but they trusted their leader. Soren fended off the ice creatures long enough for the others to pass through an opening in the barrier that Soren created. Once everyone was through, Soren sealed the gap, leaving him to face the Frozen Army alone.

Soren faced the slowly approaching army and sighed. Soren knew that the Doctor's plan was relatively flawless, so he had nothing to lose. It didn't matter if he died here; he was technically going to die anyway. Why not go out with a bang? The beasts seemed to enjoy the idea of a lone alicorn fighting all of them. The red ice pony appeared out of nowhere.

"Foolish alicorn. You dare fight us on your own. You will die within the minute. Once we kill you, we can easily take the castle and destroy your lab!" Soren grinned as the ice creatures growled in amusement. "Before we begin," continued the red ice pony, "I believe your friend has something to say." Soren turned around and saw Star standing very close to the barrier. Soren walked up to her and noticed the extremely cold stare she was giving him.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked evenly with a hint of worry. "You're going to get yourself killed." Although everypony knew that the Doctor could help save the empire, they didn't realize that they would be wiped from this existence, and Soren wasn't about to mention that, even at this moment.

"I owe it to somepony to make sure she doesn't die before me." Star's eyes widened, and Soren teleported her into the Crystal Palace. Soren sighed once again and faced the ice army that was waiting for him to be ready. Soren stood tall as he and the creatures stared at each other. The two forces just waited...then the ice creatures charged first.

"That bucking alicorn!" Star cursed to herself as she ran through the castle. "I need to get to a sniper's post." She rounded a corner and ran upstairs. She had to run up four flights of stairs before reaching the lowest sniper balcony. 'If those beasts don't kill him, then I will.' After a minute went by, Star finally made it to her destination. One second she was happy that she made it to her destination quickly, then the next she wished she could crawl into bed and forget what she was looking at.

Down below, on the battlefield, was a horrendous sight to almost everypony watching. Soren was indeed fighting off the army but...he was already horribly injured. Star grabbed a nearby sniper and used the scope to look directly at Soren. From what she could see, he had a gash on his forehead near his horn, cuts on his legs and body, and a limp or sprained wing.

Soren was smacked by a manticore, flew back a few meters, and landed with a hard thud. Star saw that he wasn't getting up. 'C'mon, Soren...You can do this.' Star's hope was in vain as two manticores held Soren down, his stomach pushing against the ground. One manticore held down Soren's body while another spread out Soren's wings. The biggest ice pony anyone has seen so far then walked up to Soren. Soren looked at him dead in the eyes then just rested his head on the ground in defeat. The big ice pony smiled as he stood up high on his hind legs. The pony whinnied then slammed down on both of Soren's wings, breaking them both.

The sound alone made Star throw up.

The EMP

The Present

The Doctor and Rainbow Dash stepped out of the TARDIS into the colorful and beautiful Crystal Empire. The Doctor nearly shed a tear as he looked upon the magnificent place he once knew. Rainbow Dash patted his back.

"Remember the mission, Doc." He nodded, and the two ponies ran towards the still intact Crystal Palace.

Three Years in the Future

Soren sat up suddenly in his bed. Sweating slightly and breathing heavily, Soren looked around and discovered that he was in his room. The last thing he remembered was being stomped on by a giant ice pony. Soren shuddered and quickly noticed two more things. 1) Half of his body was wrapped in bandages and 2) Star was sleeping on the ground near his bed. Within seconds, a nurse walked in and, upon seeing Soren, smiled.

"Everypony thought you were dead, sir," she said in a sweet voice. "You had so much internal and external damage done to you that—" Soren raised a hoof to silence her. He pointed that same hoof at his sleeping friend.

"How long has she been here?"

"Five hours, sir."

"Can you leave us alone, please?" The nurse hesitated because he had only just woken up, but she left the room anyway. Soren got out of bed when the nurse closed the door, then he walked over to Star. He brushed her sky blue mane, which woke her up.

"Huh? What?" she said sleepily as she rubbed her eyes. "Must have dosed off." She looked up. "Soren!" Without hesitation, Star embraced her friend, which hurt him a little bit, but he returned the hug nonetheless.

"You were so worried about me that you stayed here?" he asked her. Star nodded. He sighed, then broke the hug. "Star..." The two locked gazes. He looked at this mare, not much younger than him, that had become his second in command, his battle teammate, and overall his best friend.

"The Doctor is about to do something drastic," Soren continued. "He's going to wipe this future out of existence." The mare's eyes widened. Soren exhaled a longer sigh, nervous of what he is about to do. "And it is because of this that you deserve this." Soren cupped Star's head with his hoof, leaned in, and kissed her lips. He could feel her tense up with surprise but immediately relax. When the kiss broke, Soren hugged Star.

"You know I like you," she started, "but I know you love Rainbow Dash. Why would you do something like that?"

"Like I said: None of us will remember this because it will never have happened. However, I wanted to give somepony a reward for her efforts. You deserved at least that...Glitter." She giggled.

"I told you I hated that nickname." Soren laughed also. The two ponies remained in each other's embrace until they ultimately become nonexistent.

The Present

The Doctor and Rainbow reached the open area underneath the gargantuan, bright palace. The Doctor quickly saw the past version of his TARDIS parked nearby. With the chest piece slung onto his back, the Doctor told Rainbow Dash to stay put as he ran over to the blue box. When he stepped up to the TARDIS, he took out a black wallet. Opening it, the Doctor placed it, along with the EMP, at the doors of the TARDIS. He then ran back to Rainbow.

"What's with the wallet?" she asked as the Doctor motioned for her to hide behind one of the castle supports with him. The TARDIS was within viewing distance of their hiding place.

"That's my psychic paper," the Doctor explained. "Usually it shows the viewer whatever they want to see, but in this case, I left directions for the past versions of us on how to use the EMP and why they should set it off."

"Hold on a sec. If the future won't exist, doesn't that mean both of us will disappear or something? And I thought I had to be the one to set off that device."

"I did say that it had to be you, but I never said it couldn't be the past version of you." Before Rainbow could ask why it had to be her from the past, her and the Doctor heard voices, so they looked toward the TARDIS.

They saw past-Rainbow and Soren walk up to the open space beneath the palace. After they noticed the TARDIS and approached it, the past ponies found the piece of paper and EMP. Soren began reading the paper. The Rainbow Dash that was with the Doctor didn't know what the psychic paper said, but she figured it was very convincing considering the past version of her didn't hesitate to put on the chest piece. The Doctor nudged her.

"What is it?" she whispered. The Doctor pointed past the TARDIS. Rainbow saw another pony running up to the blue box. It was the Doctor. "This is going to be weird, isn't it?"

"It already is, Ms. Dash. Let's just see how things work out."

The two watched the past versions of themselves converse with one another. Although Rainbow and the Doctor couldn't hear the conversation, they knew the three from the past all agreed on using the EMP on the cloud cover. Spreading her wings, past-Rainbow readied herself. In a blink of an eye, she took to the sky.

Dash gained a lot of speed as she flew upwards towards the top of the cloud dome. The chest piece she was wearing began to emit a golden glow as the EMP built into it began charging. The ceiling of the dome was closing in, and Dash looked like a golden comet about to tear through the clouds. Since that was basically the plan, the mare had no problem speeding up, yet again, during the last few yards. The four ponies at the palace saw Rainbow pierce the clouds.

Nothing happened at first...

It was quiet...

...then...

...an explosion shook the entire empire. All of the citizens looked to the sky and saw a ring of golden light expanding from the point where past-Rainbow Dash struck the cloud dome. The light expanded over every cloud, destroying them completely. The Doctors, past-Soren, and Rainbow continued to watch in awe from their respective spots. Everything seemed fine...until the Doctor next to Rainbow gasped.

"Look there," he instructed while pointing. Rainbow noticed sadness in his voice. She looked to the sky and also gasped. She was looking at a trail of black smoke shooting towards the ground. Within the smoke, if one looked hard enough, was the occasional glimmer of gold.

Without thinking twice, Rainbow and the Doctor ran to the estimated impact point. Once they arrived at the sight, which was by the edge of the empire, the two saw a small crater, and inside the crater was the slightly dented EMP chest piece.

"Where did I go?" Rainbow wondered aloud.

"I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash. Look closely at the device." Looking into the crater one more time, Rainbow barely noticed the clump of slightly burnt rainbow hair that was caught on the device. Multiple feelings flooded Rainbow Dash at that moment: sadness, anger, confusion.

"Your machine killed me!"

"Rainbow, calm down. Windigos were the ones causing the cloud dome. They must have retaliated after the sonic boom. They are sinister spirits after all."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?!" She sighed in defeat. "I guess it's time to disappear."

"Maybe for me, but not for you."

"But I died in the past. I shouldn't exist."

"That's right. You shouldn't exist; that doesn't mean you can't. Do you know the rule about paradoxes?"

"I know the universe doesn't like them."

"Exactly, but sometimes, the universe allows paradoxes in order for something important to happen in the future. You're obviously needed, Rainbow Dash. The universe isn't done with you. It's a shame I won't be around to see what you're needed for." Rainbow noticed that the Doctor was beginning to fade away.

"Doctor, wait! Why did it have to be the past-me and not...well, me?"

"It doesn't matter. Just wait here for Soren. I'll be with him when he shows up." Before Rainbow Dash could say another word, the Doctor faded from existence. The weight of everything caused her to fall to the ground and sit there. She sat perfectly still for a minute before Soren and the Doctor ran up to her.

"Rainbow Dash! You're ok!" Soren exclaimed as he sat down in front of her. Rainbow quickly gave Soren a strong hug. "I'm glad your fine too, Rainbow, but why the strong hug?" She broke away.

"Um, no reason. Just...I love you." Soren gave a small laugh.

"I love you too, Rainbow. It's been too long since we said that to each other. Not since we went to the Spirit World thanks to the Doctor." Soren covered his mouth as soon as he realized the spoiler he just explained.

"I sent you to the Spirit World!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Is that true?" Soren chose not to try and lie, so he nodded.

"Don't ask about it, Doctor," Soren stated. "Timelines and all that."

"Oh right, right. I guess that's still in my future, huh? Oh well. I do look forward to seeing you both again. As of now, I shall leave in the TARDIS. Until then..." The Doctor held out a hoof, which Soren shook. Rainbow Dash gathered herself as she watched the two colts. After the Doctor walked away, Soren turned back to Rainbow Dash.

"So?" he pressed. Rainbow's ears perked. "Shall we explore the Crystal Empire?" Rainbow Dash groaned and fell backward onto the ground. Soren stared for a second and said, "I'll take that as a 'not right now.'"

(End of arc. Next arc: [REDACTED])

(There's only two arcs left, so I'll just say when arcs end instead of giving out the names.)

An Invitation

Half an hour after the EMP was used.

"...and that's when the past-me did a Sonic Rainboom and got killed by the windigos. The Doctor disappeared because he no longer existed, but I stayed here because apparently the universe needs me." Rainbow Dash just finished explaining her adventure to Soren. The two were laying on their backs on grass, enjoying the sunny afternoon. It took Rainbow many minutes to convince Soren that she went to a future that no longer existed, but eventually he believed her.

"That's a disturbing thought that the past-you died, yet the new-you, who's supposed to be nonexistent, is still alive," Soren said. "But there's one thing that's still bugging me."

"What's that?" Rainbow turned on her side to look at him.

"The past-Doctor was so...lively and energetic...and happy. When I met him for the first time, he was discorded and solitary. What happened to him to make him like that? Not even Twilight knows, and I highly doubt Cain was the only reason."

"Don't think about it too much, Soren. In the end, he changed back to normal. He was just going through a rough phase." Rainbow paused before continuing. "I have an idea!" This time Soren turned onto his side to look at her. "How about I introduce you to Princess Cadence? She lives here, and unless she had to leave on some emergency, I can introduce you to her. What do you say?"

"I'm willing to do anything to keep my mind from wandering."

"Anything~?" Rainbow teased with sultry eyes.

"Just lead the way, you crazy mare," Soren laughed, as did Rainbow.

The couple arrived at the entrance to the Crystal Castle, and after having to explain who they were to the guards for five minutes, Soren and Rainbow Dash walked inside. While in the castle, the two were escorted towards the throne room. Rainbow Dash looked around at the familiar castle and couldn't help but have flashbacks about the ruined version of the beautiful building. Rainbow visibly shuddered and Soren took notice.

"Remembering the not-future?" he asked. Rainbow nodded. "It's going to be alright. I can't imagine seeing all of that and forgetting it anytime soon."

The couple finally arrived at the double doors that led into the throne room. The two crystal guards opened the doors and ushered them in. Soren and Rainbow Dash walked inside and were instantly greeted by a sweet voice.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? And who is your friend?" They looked across the long room to see none other than Princess Cadence sitting on her throne, smiling at them.

"Hey, Cadence. We just decided to drop in and see what you were up to. This here is Soren. You have to have heard of him by now. The Elemental Guardian? Nyroc? Ringing any bells?" The princess thought for a moment before realization hit her.

"Oh, of course! How did I not recognize you? Celestia and Luna have told me so much about you, but we've never met in person until now." Cadence flew off of her throne and landed in front of Soren. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Soren. I'm Princess Cadence."

"It's very nice to finally meet you, princess," Soren replied as he bowed.

"There's no need for that. We're all friends here. I'm pretty sure the other princesses have said that to you before."

"On occasion. So how long have you–" Soren was interrupted by the throne room doors being opened. A guard walked in and stopped in front of Cadence.

"Message from Canterlot, your majesty." The guard held out a scroll for the princess to see. Cadence then levitated said scroll in front of her. She thanked the guard, and the guard bowed before exiting the room.

"Excuse me for just a moment," she said to Soren and Rainbow. "I need to see what this message says." Cadence opened the scroll with her magic and began reading it. Soren and Rainbow waited patiently for the princess to finish. As she read, the princess levitated two golden tickets away from the scroll so she could read what they were blocking. Rainbow noticed the tickets and her jaw dropped.

"Are those...?" Rainbow started but stopped when Cadence nodded. Soren looked confused the entire time. When she was finally done reading, Cadence rolled up the scroll and levitated it onto her throne. She continued to float the two tickets next to her as she spoke to Soren and Rainbow once again.

"It seems as though Princess Celestia is looking for two specific ponies. She sent two tickets to important and trustworthy ponies across Equestria in hopes to find these lucky two."

"Who are they?" Soren asked, while Rainbow Dash was snickering and trying not to squeal. Cadence gave a small laugh before answering.

"You two. You're both invited to the Grand Galloping Gala."

"The Grand Galloping Gala, huh?" Soren said. "I think Twilight told me about her first Gala. She said all of her friends, including herself, made it...interesting." Rainbow Dash started laughing as she remembered that night.

"We definitely livened up the place," she commented. "It was pretty boring without us ruining the party."

"So what do you think your friends have planned this year?" Cadence asked Rainbow Dash, who shrugged as a response.

"No clue. Soren and I are most likely going to be spending the entire Gala together, unless either of us gets dragged away from the other." Soren chuckled.

"One thing I know for sure is that Rainbow and I have to head back to Ponyville for some attire," he explained.

"You're already set on going back to Ponyville?!" Rainbow asked in disbelief. "But I thought–"

"That doesn't matter right now, Rainbow Dash," Soren interrupted. He didn't want to explain anything to Cadence right now. "What matters is that we ask Rarity if she can make us some nice clothing."

"Alright. We can leave after we're done talking with Cadence."

"You two can start heading back whenever you feel like it. You don't have to stay here for my sake," Cadence explained. "But I do have one question: Why are you two all the way out here alone?"

"We're on a date," Soren lied quickly. "We came here for a little time for ourselves. By the way, when is the Gala?"

"About five days from now. You two should probably start getting ready for it." Cadence floated the tickets and a pair of saddlebags over to Soren, who made a face of confusion.

"Well, it was nice seeing you again, Cadence," Rainbow Dash said quickly, seeing Soren's expression. "Are you going to be at the Gala?"

"Yes I will. All of the princesses show up every year. I will also be spending time with Shining Armor while we are there. Anyways, I don't want to keep you two lovebirds busy any longer. I'll see you at the Gala."

"Wait a se–" Soren began only to be cut off by Rainbow.

"Goodbye, princess!" Rainbow began pushing Soren out of the throne room. Once he and Rainbow were out of the palace, Soren wanted to say something about the saddlebags that came out of nowhere; instead he was slapped by Rainbow.

"Ow! Why am I always the one being hit?" Soren started to rub his cheek.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"What was wh–"

"Why did you lie to the princess about why we came here?" Soren sighed.

"I don't want the princesses to worry about me. All I want is a vacation, and I don't need Celestia or Luna or even Cadence trying to help me." Soren gave an even stare at Rainbow as he began to fly. Dash stood still for a few seconds and watched as Soren slowly flew away.

'There's something about that colt...' she thought to herself. She shook her head sadly and went to catch up with him.

The Next Day

"Rarity, are the dresses finished?" Twilight Sparkle asked. Twilight decided to visit Rarity at Carousel Boutique to check on the Gala dresses she was making for them.

"But of course," Rarity replied. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't complete them before the Gala?" Rarity answered. "Where is everyone else?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure they will show up eventually."

"I only wish I could have made a nice suit for Soren. This would have been his first Grand Galloping Gala, correct?" Twilight nodded.

"I think we all wish he could be here right now, but at least Rainbow Dash is taking care of him."

"And isn't that the truth," a new voice said. "I didn't think all of you would miss me that much." Rarity and Twilight turned towards the front door of the boutique. They both gasped as they saw Soren and Rainbow Dash standing in the doorway. Twilight ran up to Soren and hugged him. "How's my best friend doing?" he softly asked as he returned the hug. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash walked over to Rarity.

"I hope we didn't cause too much of a panic," Rainbow said.

"We were all a little heartbroken at first, but we understood why Soren decided to leave. Everypony needs a vacation now and again, even moi, and especially a hero." (Soren shuddered at that title.) "So why have you both returned? Did you two see anything spectacular?"

"We went to the Crystal Empire," Soren answered as he and Twilight joined the two mares. "I even met Princess Cadence for the first time. As for why we came back, well...apparently Princess Celestia really wants me and Rainbow to come to the Gala." Rarity squealed after hearing that.

"Then I absolutely must make fabulous outfits for both of you. I have already completed the dresses for the rest of our friends so I have more than enough time to make two more. Come, come, Soren, I must get you fitted." Before Soren could say anything, Rarity grabbed his hoof and started dragging him away. Soren looked back at Twilight and Rainbow, who both rolled their eyes and smiled.

After Rarity did her routine of finding Soren's size, Twilight, Soren, and Rainbow Dash went to look for Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie while Rarity worked on Soren and Dash's outfits. By the end of their quest, they discovered that their three missing friends were each at their respective houses. One strong hoofshake and one bear hug later, Soren, along with his five friends, had gathered at Sugarcube Corner for some refreshments.

"Ah never understood why you up and left, Soren," Applejack chastised him.

"It's pretty simple...at least to me anyway. I was tired of my friends being caught in the crossfire between me and anything evil, so I decided to leave to try and prevent anypony from getting hurt. However, I couldn't allow myself to say no to bringing Rainbow Dash with me."

"Yet you did in the future," Rainbow muttered to herself.

"You're a silly, smart pony!" Pinkie exclaimed. "We like you too much for you to just leave."

"I know, but I feel like it's necessary."

"You're starting to become a lot like him, you know," Twilight said. "The Doctor."

"Maybe. I doubt he wanted to see anyone he cared about getting hurt either, especially you, Twilight."

"So are you and Rainbow coming with us to the Gala?" Fluttershy asked. Soren and Rainbow nodded.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," the rainbow pegasus said.

"Since we're back for now," Soren started, "we might as well have a lot of fun with you girls, right?" The four mares agreed happily. "What should we do first?"

Day of the Gala

The past four days were like no other for Soren. He almost felt exhausted from all of the things he did with his friends. He studied with Twilight, spent time with Fluttershy and her animals, went to a "small" party that Pinkie Pie hosted, and even raced Applejack and Rainbow on more than one occasion. It has been a fantastic few days for him. Too bad Rarity was too focused on Soren and Rainbow's outfits to spend time with him. The unicorn assured him it was fine.

Tonight, though, was very important to all of them. Tonight was the Grand Galloping Gala. It was around 5 o'clock when Soren and his friends gathered in the Carousel Boutique. Soren was anxiously waiting in the main room of the shop while his friends put on their dresses in the back room. Rarity had given him a book to look through while he waited. It showed all of her most successful creations, including the very first Gala dresses she made for all of them. It was interesting to see those along with many other outfits Rarity has made, but he was very curious to see his friends in their newest clothing. After they finish changing, the six mares would then wait for Soren to put on his suit.

Soren had to only wait five more minutes before all six of his closest friends exited the back room. Upon seeing them, not only was Soren struck silent, but he could tell that he was blushing. They all looked absolutely beautiful! It looked as though Rarity took a similar approach to their very first Gala attire, but changed them slightly to somehow look even better. Soren was so awestruck that he couldn't describe the modifications even if he tried. Soren thought the first set was perfect, yet Rarity managed to make them look, as Rainbow would put it, twenty percent cooler.

"I can see that these dresses will catch any stallion's eye," Rarity giggled. "Soren is already blushing."

"Just be glad he's only blushing, Rare," Rainbow Dash commented.

Soren checked his wings and cleared his throat. "Well, I didn't know what to expect." He gestured to all of them. "You all look beautiful."

"Well thanks, Soren," Applejack said. "Can't wait to see what you look like in your tux."

"Indeed," Rarity agreed. "Soren, your suit is waiting for you in the back. Come out whenever you're ready." Soren, still fighting the small blush on his cheeks, nodded and trotted into the back room to change.

It only took him a few minutes to get dressed. Soren stepped back into the front room of the store and heard every one of his friends gasp. Rarity gestured Soren over to a tall mirror so he could see himself. He was wearing a tuxedo that was lined with green on some areas, and instead of a white undershirt, he was wearing a green one. Rarity also decided to give Soren a white bow tie instead of the red one that was known to match well with the normal suit. Rarity also added a black fedora with a white stripe going across it. Soren had to admit that he looked handsome in his suit, and he knew his friends thought the same. Rainbow walked up to Soren, leaned against him, and looked at both of them in the mirror.

"Best couple at the Gala," she joked. Soren chuckled. He turned towards Rarity.

"Thank you for the suit, Rarity. It's amazing...and surprisingly simple." Soren smiled as he looked at himself again.

"Well I assumed you didn't want anything over the top, so I stuck to the basics," she explained. "Are we all ready to leave?" Everypony nodded or said 'yes,' so the seven friends exited the boutique and walked to the train station. This was going to be the best night ever!

The Grand Galloping Gala

The train ride to Canterlot didn't take very long. Soren and his friends arrived in the capital just as it was becoming nighttime. When Twilight and her friends told Soren that they rode a horse-drawn carriage to the Gala last time, he was surprised they were simply taking the train this year. He figured there was some catch but knew there wasn't.

When the train stopped at the Canterlot Train Station, Twilight and her friends were the first ones to exit, leaving Soren to exit right behind them like a gentlecolt. Mares first after all. After stepping off of the train, the group of friends looked behind themselves to see many other nicely dressed ponies exiting the same train. They have already seen these ponies but never really got a good look at some of their outfits. Some were fantastic, but they all agreed that Rarity's designs were much better. A stallion and a mare trotted past Soren, humming a catchy tune. Some of his friends heard the couple's humming and became excited.

"Those two were humming the Gala song!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I just love, love, love that one!"

"I think we all liked singing that, Pinkie," Twilight said, "but I don't think we can sing the exact same words like our first Gala. How about we just sing one part of it until we get to the castle?" Everypony agreed, except Soren since he didn't know any of the lyrics. "Don't worry, Soren. It's just one portion of the song. I'm sure you will catch on. Follow my lead, girls!"

The six mares lined up side by side and tilted their heads up, confident and smiling. At first, Twilight started humming the song, then she began singing the same lyrics over and over again. Everyone else learned the lyrics instantly and joined her. Very soon, the six of them started to trot in rhythm to the song. Soren trotted next to them and listened to the lyrics.

Into the Gala, we must go;
We're ready now, we're all aglow.
Into the Gala, let's go in
And have the best night ever!
Into the Gala, now's the time
We're ready and we look divine!
Into the Gala, let's enjoy this night forever!

Eventually the other ponies around the girls began to sing and trot along with them. At this point, the six mares, with Soren singing next to them, were leading a group of singing ponies towards the castle. Soren was very impressed how quickly these mares could get ponies to follow them. It only took around two minutes of rhythm trotting and singing to reach the castle. The seven friends ended the song when they reached the bridge. While many ponies walked past them, Twilight and her friends looked back at Soren.

"So how was that?" Rainbow asked.

"A lot of fun," Soren laughed. "Now let's go enjoy ourselves. Umm..." Soren was smiling. Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled back, knowing what he wanted to say.

"If you want to say it, then say it," she said. Soren smiled even more.

"Allons-y, girls!" The mares laughed and the seven of them began trotting towards the entrance.

Once inside, Soren and co. saw a line, and at the end of the line was Princess Celestia, greeting every new arrival. Since they were the Elements of Harmony and the Elemental Guardian, the seven ponies walked past the line and up to the princess. Celestia noticed them and turned towards the group after greeting a pair of older ponies.

"Hello, everypony," she greeted regally. "Welcome to the Gala. How are all of you?" After everypony (except Soren) answered Celestia's question with varying answers, the princess nodded at them and looked at Soren. "Soren," she said a little softer, "how are you feeling? I heard from Twilight that you decided to leave Ponyville."

"I'm fine, princess," Soren answered evenly. "Can we talk about this later? I don't want to keep all of these ponies waiting." Even though he created an excuse, Soren honestly didn't want to hold up the line.

"Very well. I shall come find you after my sister switches places with me. I hope you all enjoy your night." The seven ponies nodded and walked deeper into the castle. Losing most of his upbeat attitude already, Soren was the first one to walk away from the foyer. His friends soon followed.

They caught up with him after he entered the ballroom and stopped dead in his tracks. Soren saw a four-pony ensemble playing onstage on the other side of the room. Around a dozen high class mares and stallions were seated and listening to the performers. The music didn't catch Soren's attention, but the musicians did. He knew who the musicians were by name. There was the sousaphone player, Beauty Brass, a cyan earth pony mare with a brown mane; the piano player, Frederick Horseshoepin, a brown earth pony stallion with a white mane; the harp player, Harpo Parish Nadermane, a purple earth stallion with a blue mane; and last but not least, the cello player and Soren's older sister, Octavia Melody.

Soren smiled and began looking for a table as close as possible to the stage; his friends soon joined him. The seven of them managed to find two tables next to each other. Soren, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity took one table, while Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack sat in the other. Soren was waiting for Octavia to notice him and his friends so she would hopefully come and say hello.

Eventually, the ensemble's song ended and the musicians looked upon the applauding crowd. Two of the performers, one of whom was Octavia, rolled their eyes when they saw Pinkie Pie near the stage. They couldn't forget what happened last time. Octavia then noticed the rest of the mares and Soren. She muttered something to her musical friends then walked offstage to greet the seven ponies waiting for her.

"I see you all made it to the Gala...even you, Soren." When Octavia said Soren's name, everypony there could hear the slight anger in his voice. Soren flinched.

"Octavia–" he started nicely.

"Don't even try," Octavia interrupted, now angrier but not louder. "You planned on leaving me without saying goodbye. Why? Actually, don't bother explaining right now. We both know there's only one way to explain yourself, and you have about five minutes to decide whether to do it or not; our ensemble is on break right now. I will see you all later." Octavia walked away in a huff, leaving Soren silent.

"What does she mean?" Twilight asked Soren. She would have pressed for more, but Soren began walking away.

Passing Octavia's ensemble on the way, Soren walked onstage as the other three musicians walked off. Soren grabbed a microphone and took center stage. His friends looked over at Octavia and saw that her fellow musicians told her to pay attention. Soren had his sister's, and the entire ballroom's, attention as of now. He cleared his throat.

"Hello, everypony. My name is Soren, as you may or may not know by now. Before the ensemble returns, I would like to sing a song as an apology to my dear sister, Octavia." Soren illuminated his horn and brought something from backstage over to him; it was an acoustic guitar. Soren looked at the crowd and at his sister before starting. Closing his eyes, the alicorn played a few chords then began.

On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings

The first thing I met was a fly with no buzz
And the sky with no clouds
The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound

I've been through the desert
as a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la, la la la la, la la la, la, la
La, la, la la la la, la la la, la, la

After two days in the desert sun
My coat began to turn red
After three days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed
And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead

You see I've been through the desert
as a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La la, la, la la la la, la la la, la, la
La la, la, la la la la, la la la, la, la

After nine days I let my name run free
'Cause the desert had turned to sea
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings

The ocean is a desert with it's life underground
And a perfect disguise above
Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the ponies will give no love

Soren ended his song and put the guitar down. His eyes remained closed as he waited for the crowd's reaction. It took a few seconds, but one by one, the ponies started clapping their hooves in small applause. Soren looked around and smiled at the sight. 'Improvised songs go a long way apparently,' Soren thought. Octavia walked onstage and stood in front of him. They were facing each other as Soren waited for her to speak first.

"Is that the path you see yourself walking down?" Octavia asked. Soren shook his head.

"Octavia, that's the path I wish I could walk down."

"Don't talk like that. I know you have been through a lot, Soren, but we're family. We need to help each other."

"And that is precisely why I left," Soren replied. "Friends, family, everyone. I don't want to see them being hurt because of me. Evil follows me, that's a fact. Wherever I go, danger is right around the corner, but not this time. After I finish talking to Princess Celestia, I'm flying back to Ponyville. I'd rather not take the chance of endangering all of the ponies here." With that said, Soren teleported off of the stage and reappeared near the ballroom entrance. He looked back and made eye contact with his friends and sister. Soren then turned away and began walking out of the ballroom, leaving a dead silence to fill the room.

Author's Note

"Horse With No Name" is copyrighted by America.

A Green Light

The night sky was beautiful tonight. The sky was clear enough for a pony to see the full moon and every star imaginable. Soren had to agree that he favored the night, not simply because he dated the princess that represented it, but because the night was just more calm and beautiful than the day in his opinion. Soren continued to gaze upon the night as he sat on a bridge that connected two towers. He simply stared into the sky, lost in thought for many minutes before wing beats were added to the peaceful silence. Those particular wing beats were graceful enough to where Soren wasn't bothered by the sound. The 'pegasus' landed on the bridge next to him. Soren didn't turn around as the mare spoke to him.

"How art thou, Soren?" Princess Luna asked as she sat next to him.

"Just enjoying the night sky," he replied. "It's very beautiful tonight, Luna."

"Thank you. We made it as beautiful as possible for the Gala. We were actually planning on having an eclipse tonight, but my sister and I agreed to set it for another day."

"What kind of eclipse is it going to be?"

"A solar eclipse."

"Ahh, yes, when the moon appears to have a ring of fire around it." Luna laughed a little.

"'Tis not how some ponies would describe it. They say 'it is when the center of the sun turns black.' Now we art curious of how thou describes the lunar eclipse." Soren stopped looking at the sky and decided to look at the ground. He sighed before answering.

"What is there to say about it? It's when the moon turns red, almost like it's bathed in..." He decided to stop mid-sentence.

"Blood?" Luna offered. "Thou is haunted by that day. The Battle of the Nyrs."

"It'll haunt me for the rest of my life." Luna decided to take a softer approach to this particular topic.

"Is that when it started? When you refused to allow harm to your friends?" Soren nodded. "Soren...as you know, I knew the Doctor very well. He has helped my sister and I on more than one occasion and has helped Equestria even more. He was a kind and caring pony. He helped whomever needed it, saved whomever he cared for, and protected everypony he could. Why do you suppose you're so different?"

"He had hundreds of years to cope with what he did and what he saw. I only had weeks. It's overwhelming to know the harm I can cause just by being around other ponies. I just...don't know what to do." Luna draped a wing around Soren and brought him close.

"Do not fret, dear Soren. There is always light within the sea of darkness. Perhaps we should find my sister. It is time I trade places with her anyway." Soren agreed and flew with Luna towards the castle entrance.

They arrived in the foyer within the minute. The two saw Princess Celestia still welcoming a line of ponies to the Gala, but it seemed as though the line was much shorter. 'The most patient pony on the planet,' Soren thought to himself. The two alicorns walked up to Celestia, who smiled upon seeing them. Princess Luna was the first to speak.

"Sister, we have come to relieve you of your duty. I shall take your place for the remainder of the night."

"Thank you, Luna," Celestia said. "Soren, I'm glad you're here as well. I would still like to talk with you, if that's alright." Soren nodded to her. Once Luna replaced her sister in welcoming ponies to the Gala, Celestia and Soren began walking through the castle while talking.

"If I still may ask, Soren, why did you choose to leave Ponyville? Why leave your friends and your home?"

"I left to protect them, if that makes any sense to you. Trouble is always with me, and I don't want to risk everypony's lives because of it."

"I completely understand. The Doctor has told me something similar to this before. Right before he...changed. I heard you allowed Rainbow Dash to accompany you. I know you care for her very much, but I thought you didn't want to be around anypony."

"Why would I leave Rainbow Dash behind? The very mare that I care for the most. The mare that if she died, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Can you understand now? Because I can't. I want her to be around me, to comfort me, yet I don't want to be around anyone in case danger arises." Soren hung his head. Celestia stepped in front of Soren and put a hoof on his shoulder.

"It's going to be ok, Soren," she said motherly. "I know you have been through a lot, but you must persevere. The Doctor carried this burden as well, but he always found something or someone to fight for. I know you still have many ponies to fight for." Soren gave a small smile and looked up at the princess.

"Thank you, princess. I'll try."

"That's all we ask of you, Soren. I believe that is all I was curious about. I will let you enjoy the rest of your night. Farewell." With that said, the princess began walking away.

"Goodbye, princess." Soren waved to Celestia until she turned a corner. Once Celestia was gone, Soren sighed once again and decided to walk around the castle before meeting up with his friends again.

The inside of the castle was surprisingly quiet, except for the sound of music echoing down the halls. Soren was surprised to find barely anypony wandering about, but most of them were either in the ballroom, in the gardens, or in the halls surrounding these particular places. Soren was alone for now but this was fine for him. He was walking through the white halls of the castle, looking at the various statues, paintings, and furniture that populated the area.

Soren passed yet another hallway intersection when something down the hall to his right caught his eye. It was only a color, yet it was a color Soren had yet to see glowing within the halls of the Royal Castle. Soren saw a glowing light-green light illuminating most of the hallway. Curious, Soren began walking through said hallway to discover the origin of the green light. Soren had to walk around another corner to discover where the green light was actually coming from.

As he turned said corner, Soren noticed the light dimming down. He looked around and discovered something peculiar. The white hallway was completely empty, except for a floating, green, little spirit in the center of the area. Soren saw that the green sphere was hovering there, almost beckoning for him to approach. Becoming curious again, Soren walked towards it. When Soren was within touching distance of the spirit, it began talking, except it was talking in a peculiar way.

Hello, alicorn, the spirit communicated telepathically in a smooth, and slightly feminine, voice. Can you help me? I need a powerful enough unicorn, but no such luck had come my way. Soren was unsure whether to trust this thing or not, but something about its innocence told him to help.

"What do you need and what's in it for me?" Soren replied hesitantly.

Already asking for something in return? I guess I shouldn't blame you for questioning my presence. I simply need strong enough magic and a big room away from all of the commotion. If you help me, I shall tell you a premonition in return. Since Soren wanted to keep an eye on this spirit, he decided to help it anyway.

"I believe I have the room you are looking for," Soren said. "The Royal Library should be more than big enough for you, and it's on the other side of the castle. Follow me." Soren started walking away, and the spirit followed. He didn't know if it was a good idea to trust this thing or not, but he wasn't going to take a chance. His friends would have to wait.

Meanwhile in the ballroom, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were pouring themselves a glass of punch. After Dash poured her glass, she instantly sampled it to see if it was any good. She swished it in her mouth slightly to get a better taste.

"How is it?" Fluttershy asked.

"It's not bad. Let me refill my cup then we can go back to the table." Fluttershy nodded in response as Rainbow poured more of the drink into her glass. As this was occurring, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack were conversing at their table. The six mares decided to put six chairs at one table so they would all be together.

"So why didn't Spike tag along?" Rarity asked. "I was so sure the dear wanted to spend time with us."

"He said he did want to come because he felt like something crazy might happen again like last time," Twilight explained.

"Ah just hope he ain't bored out of his mind back home," Applejack commented. It was at this point that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew up to the table and sat down.

"Has anyone tried to find Soren yet?" Rainbow Dash asked. Everyone shook their heads. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie lit up with a big smile.

"Maybe the princess knows!" she exclaimed as she pointed towards the entrance to the ballroom. All of them noticed Princess Celestia entering the room and looking around. Once the sun goddess saw her star pupil and her friends, she started making her way to their table.

"Hello, everypony," Celestia greeted with a warm smile. "How is your evening so far?"

"No complaints."
"It's fun!"
"Peaceful."

"Peaceful except for the fact that Soren has yet to come back," Twilight added. The princess raised an eyebrow at this information.

"Soren hasn't come to see you all? I wonder where he wandered off to."

"I can answer that," a familiar voice said. Although the mares recognized the voice, they were worried when said voice didn't sound as calm as it usually was. Everypony turned to see none other than Octavia quickly trotting over to the table.

"Octavia dear, is something wrong?" Rarity worriedly asked the cellist.

"Maybe, I don't know. I know where Soren went though." Almost everyone asked 'where', so Octavia continued. "I was wandering through the halls because I...well, I got a little lost to be honest. However, I'm glad I did because I saw Soren talking to a green ball of light."

"Green ball of light?" Twilight inquired.

"It was a floating ball of green light. What more can I say? Anyway, Soren started leading this 'green light' deeper into the castle. They spoke about a big enough room that was far away from the party."

"That would be on the other side of the castle. Princess, do you have any idea what room Soren could have went to? Princess?" Everypony looked at the princess and discovered that her eyes were widened and displayed slight worry. "Princess, do you know what that light is?"

"I believe so, but I pray that I am wrong. If that 'spirit' is who I think it is, then–" A quick rumble reverberated throughout the castle.

"Ah'm starting to think that Soren might be right about bad guys followin' him everywhere," Applejack commented nervously.

New Guests

Soren had no idea what went wrong or what was going on. Everything just happened so quickly. One second, he led the spirit into the main room of the palace library, then the next thing he knew, he was blown towards the wall by a sudden explosion of magic. Slowly getting to his hooves, Soren looked at the center of the circular room he was in and was soon stunned by what he saw.

"It can't be," he gasped. "Not you."

"I'm so glad you remember me. It has been awhile since the Master and I nearly destroyed you all," Queen Chrysalis said. Soren chuckled.

"The Master actually ran into me and my friends again. He's trapped on a desolate planet now. Where would you like to go?"

"Don't get confident, alicorn. You have no idea how outnumbered you truly are." Soren stood tall and stared at Chrysalis with such a serious expression that she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Try me."

As soon as that rumble shook the castle, chaos broke loose. Princess Celestia and the seven mares looked at everything that was happening. One by one, the ponies of the Gala stood up and gave a sinister smile. Once everypony in the room was standing up, each of them became surrounded in green magic. Twilight, Celestia, and the rest of the mares stared in shock as changelings appeared one at a time.

"What have you done with my guests?" Princess Celestia demanded. "Where is Chrysalis?" The changelings obviously remained silent and began casting spells at the eight ponies. Before any spells could hit their mark, Twilight Sparkle created a shield around all eight of them. The changelings stopped their barrage as they saw the shield appear.

"Girls," Twilight started, "it looks like there is only one way out of this." Everyone but Celestia nodded. Fluttershy shrunk a bit in fear; Rainbow Dash and Applejack readied themselves; Octavia and Rarity became nervous; and Pinkie Pie stood on her hind legs, raised her front legs in an attacking sort of position, and growled. They were ready to start.

"GO!" Twilight signaled as she dropped the shield.

Meanwhile, in the foyer of the castle, Princess Luna was still welcoming more ponies into the Gala. She had just welcomed a group of four ponies (two mares, two stallions). After that, Luna was tapped on her shoulder. Turning to her right, the princess smiled when she saw Princess Cadence and Shining Armor standing there.

"Hello, Luna," Cadence greeted. "Have you had time to enjoy the Gala yet?"

"Not very much, but 'tis fine," she answered. "I do not mind allowing my sister to see her star pupil and her friends."

"Are you sure?" Shining Armor asked. "Maybe you should take a break so you can see them too."

"I have already said it is fine, Shining Armor. You two should go enjoy the Gala yourselves instead of worrying about me." Luna welcomed another group of ponies to the Gala.

"That reminds me," Cadence said. "Shining, I don't believe you've met Twilight's new friend, Soren."

"I haven't actually," he replied. "I hear quite a lot about him from Twili and the guards. Is he here?" Cadence nodded.

"Let's go find him. Luna, do you know where Soren might be?" Before Princess Luna could answer, a rumble shook the foyer for a few seconds. Everypony in the lobby became worried.

"I recommend finding the cause of that if you want to find Soren." Shining Armor and Cadence looked at each other.

"I hope you're not too upset about not receiving the premonition I promised," Chrysalis mocked.

"I'll be honest, I was actually looking forward to that. I really wanted to see where my roller coaster of a life will take me."

"I can already assume it will be a horrible end to a horrible start."

"Come on, my life wasn't that bad just because I had amnesia."

"Haven't you ever wondered why you were found with amnesia? I can tell you what happened." Soren's eyes widened then he quickly became serious.

"Tell me."

"Are you sure you want to know? I already said it was horrible."

"Tell. Me."

"If you insist, alicorn. By now, you have probably seen the Doctor regenerate into you." Soren nodded. "Then that means Twilight Sparkle has already transformed him into a foal. Do you remember what happens to you in your foalhood?"

"I was foalnapped."

"Exactly. Foalnapped by Nyra and her forces. Did you know it took ten years for the Nightmare Guardian to acquire her full strength, create an army, create a plan to capture Luna, then position her army in many locations? Did you also know that she needed a power source to regain all of her magical prowess?"

"Enough rhetorical questions!"

"Getting impatient, are we? Fine. As a child, you were captured by Nyra and trained as her second in command. You were brainwashed, to put it simply. When she realized that you were stronger than her, she used you for another purpose: to strengthen her own magic."

"That isn't possible, unless..."

"Unless she squeezed the magic out of you. The Master told me that when you were around 15 or 16, Nyra used you as a catalyst for magic. After siphoning you for a year, Nyra incubated you with a Quantum Frost spell, which is extremely difficult and is considered as one of the many Forbidden Spells. It freezes the pony as if they were in a time capsule. And in that capsule you stayed until Nyra's forces were strong enough to wage war on Canterlot. Once her forces were ready to kidnap Princess Luna, Nyra thawed you. As a result of your immense loss of magic, somehow you became foal sized again. We believe Twilight's spell restarted itself since it never fully ended. Nyra then dumped you in Ponyville. What she didn't plan on was your magic quickly returning. You were still able to defend Luna days later."

"If you are telling the truth, why didn't Nyra recognize me?"

"That's the most interesting part! Not even the Master knows why. How does one forget about the pony they siphoned for a whole year?"

"Shut up!" Soren flew at Chrysalis, horn aglow. The queen of the changeling lit her own horn and clashed horns with Soren. The result was a conflict of auras, thus creating a strong spark that sent Soren and Chrysalis away from each other and slammed them against separate walls.

Soren and Chrysalis picked themselves up, and both of them instantaneously sent a stream of magic at the other. The beams impacted in the center of the library; the result was another small explosion, however this one produced a giant cloud of thick smoke. Soren tried to see through the smoke to no avail, but what he did see was a green bolt of magic pierce through the cloud. The bolt impacted Soren's body and sent him against the wall again. He noticed that everything was green and quickly discovered that he could no longer move, yet he struggled anyway. He heard Chrysalis' wicked laughter from across the room. With an evil smile, the changeling queen slowly walked up to Soren.

"Look at you now," she gloated. "The almighty Elemental Guardian trapped within a cocoon." Soren looked at himself and indeed saw that he was in a cocoon. Giving up trying to escape, Soren locked eyes with Chrysalis.

"What are you planning, Chrysalis?" Soren demanded. To her, Soren's voice sounded slightly muffled.

"I'm not planning anything. The plan is already complete; now there is only progress from here. I'm going to let you remain comfortable there while I go see what my party guests are doing to your friends in the ballroom."

"What?! What do y–" Chrysalis teleported away from the library, leaving Soren hanging on the wall in his cocoon. Soren gritted his teeth. 'I swear by the goddesses themselves, Chrysalis. If anything happens to my friends because of you, I'll finish you off myself.' Soren then started to gather magic in his horn in hopes of escaping his small prison.

Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, and the other six mares were successfully able to defeat all of the changelings in the ballroom. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash began celebrating their victory, while Twilight walked over to her mentor.

"Princess," Twilight started, "if Chrysalis is behind this, we need to find her immediately."

"I know," Celestia responded. "Twilight, you and three of your friends search the west wing; that's the opposite side of the castle. The rest of you search the north side. I will go to my sister and ask for her help in finding the ponies that have been captured. We must hurry, I doubt Chrysalis' plan is simply a hostile takeover." Everypony nodded at their princess.

Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Octavia decided to investigate the west wing, while Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy checked the north side. Sadly, just before any of them could actually leave the ballroom, walls of green fire erupted from the ground and blocked every exit. Green fire then erupted on the ballroom stage, and Queen Chrysalis appeared before them, laughing.

"I don't think any of you will be leaving this room...that is, unless you want my children to fly your precious subjects to our home," she said while looking at Princess Celestia. The princess' expression became more serious as she spoke back to Chrysalis.

"What do you want? I do not believe for one second that the only reason you came here was to ruin the Gala."

"Right you are, princess, but what is the point of telling any of you? I didn't even tell that wretched alicorn, Soren, about my plans for tonight."

"What did you do to Soren?!" Rainbow Dash yelled. Chrysalis laughed her evil laugh once again.

"I forgot he had a sweetheart. Don't worry, I'll be sure to finish him off later, and maybe you can watch." Rainbow growled.

"What is wrong with you?" Twilight asked Chrysalis. "You're acting like the Master."

"That's what happens when friends work together. We had a common enemy, a common purpose, yet when we combined our forces, it still wasn't enough. Earlier I leaned that you all stranded him on some planet. All of you can consider what I'm doing tonight as revenge for him."

"Chrysalis, if you do not stop right now, I will not be responsible for what happens this evening," Celestia warned. "It is one thing to sabotage a wedding to feed your offspring, but it is another to purposely endanger my subjects and hold them captive. Soren is not as weak as you think he is. He has enough magic to smash houses through this castle just to stop you."

"Save me the admiration, Celestia! Now then, if any of you attempt to escape or rebel, my children will start escorting our prisoners to the Badlands, or worse." Chrysalis paused. Her voice become more calm. "I know you, Celestia; I know that you would never risk the lives of your subjects just to stop me. Changelings!" The ten changeling that were 'defeated' stood up. Three of the ten flew over to Chrysalis.

Once they were at attention, the changelings were given orders. "Go to the Royal Library and bring me the alicorn. If he somehow escaped, alert the swarm." The three changelings left, leaving seven more with Chrysalis. The insect queen looked at the eight ponies. "How does it feel to be defeated? How does it feel to–" Chrysalis stopped her gloating when she heard a peculiar noise. Once the room was quiet, everyone could hear that Rainbow Dash began to fight back laughter. When the pegasus heard the silence, she stopped holding it back and began laughing loudly. "Why are you laughing?!" Chrysalis demanded.

"It's just...It's just funny that...that you think Soren was...defeated that easily," Rainbow explained in between laughs. She calmed herself and stared straight at Chrysalis. "Soren isn't one to give up. I bet he escaped a few minutes after you left. Knowing how smart he is, that colt is most likely on his way to come stop you right this minute."

Confrontation

Soren teleported inside the ballroom and saw the sight he was expecting. He saw Chrysalis with his friends, but he also saw Princess Celestia and Octavia there. Although slightly confused, Soren confronted Chrysalis nonetheless.

"Chrysalis!" Soren shouted. The changeling queen grinned then turned to look at Soren.

"Hello again, alicorn. I see you broke out."

"Easily. I'm going to give you one last chance, Chrysalis. Leave or get thrown out by force."

"Petty threats from a petty pony."

"That's a pretty ironic thing to say considering you need me." Chrysalis arched an eyebrow.

"What makes you think I need you?"

"It's simple really. Let me begin by saying that almost all of your changelings populate this very room." Soren's friends gasped.

"So we could've defeated her this entire time?!" Rainbow Dash groaned. "Princess, now's the time to stop her." Princess Celestia remained still. "Princess, come on. Kick her sorry flank back to her home!" Queen Chrysalis chuckled.

"The princess knows I'm more powerful than her, especially since the Gala is a time for romance." Chrysalis deeply inhaled the air. "I can even taste the love coming from Soren and Rainbow Dash, although it isn't as strong as–"

"As Cadence and Shining Armor's love?" Soren interrupted confidently. "The very love that defeated you?"

"Shut up! Not this time. Those two
haven't even shown up yet."

"So you expected them? This just keeps getting more and more ironic, doesn't it? I ran into two ponies on the way here, Chrysalis. Do you want to know who they are?"

"It can't be."

"Oh yes!" On cue, the fire blocking the main entrance dissipated, and Shining Armor and Princess Cadence walked into the ballroom. As soon as those two entered the room, Soren created a wall around only him and Chrysalis that extended from the ground to the ceiling.

"Are you choosing to fight me?" Chrysalis smirked.

"I'm choosing to give you one last chance, albeit it's probably going to fall on deaf ears. Leave now and we won't have to do this the hard way." Cadence and Shining Armor began to combine their magic as Soren spoke to Chrysalis. The changelings in the room were smart enough to know they have been beaten, so why was their queen continuing to look confident? Why not leave without harm?

"You weren't planning on giving me mercy," Chrysalis stated. "Why else would this wall be up?" Soren chuckled a little.

"Very true. It's really funny how far I've come. I used to give mercy in a past life, and now I rarely have the need for it. It's because of ponies and beings like you that I stopped believing mercy is an option! Now disasters are solved with simple, quick solutions. This solution involves blasting you back to the wasteland from whence you came!" After expressing his anger, Soren gritted his teeth and stared at Chrysalis. The queen just stared back.

"You may think you have defeated me, alicorn," she said, "but I was never here with the intent to win. I am simply here to be a messenger for a mare even stronger than I. You will have to face this pony, and I can guarantee that she will not hold back like you. She will annihilate you with raw power. Listen to my words, alicorn, for this is your premonition that I promised. I also came here, not only to warn you, but to see if you were ready. To see if you were ready to fight without mercy."

"Just shut up, Chrysalis," Soren retorted. "You lost, it's as simple as that. Nothing you can say will make me feel pity for you."

"Pity? You think I want your pathetic pity? Hahahaha! You don't deserve to pity me. Instead I shall pity you, for soon the day will come when you meet you match, alicorn. On that day, you will die." Soren walked closer to Chrysalis and stared at her with more seriousness than their first encounter tonight.

"I welcome that day, Chrysalis." Soren dropped the wall, and Shining Armor and Cadence casted their spell at the changeling queen. The spell was an ever-expanding shield that started to carry every changeling away from the ballroom and the palace.

Soren looked out of a nearby window and saw Chrysalis flying through the sky. He huffed. 'Good riddance.' Soren noticed everypony walking over to him. Rainbow Dash walked ahead of everyone else to get to her coltfriend first. Soren and Rainbow looked at each other for a few seconds before Rainbow flinched back a bit.

"Umm, Twilight?" she called. "Come here." The purple unicorn obliged and stood next to her friend.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Look at Soren's eyes." Twilight stood before Soren and did what Rainbow asked her to do. Twilight gasped as she saw something very familiar in Soren's burning green eyes. She saw many emotions and feelings, like fear, anger, sorrow, exhaustion, and now...age.

"Are you feeling alright, Soren?" Twilight asked. "You have the Doctor's eyes."

"I'm fine," he replied evenly. "I'm just...tired. I really...really want to go home and escape reality."

Princess Celestia walked up to Soren. She sat in front of him while maintaining eye contact. She then extended her fore legs and pulled Soren into her. Soren could feel the sadness slowly surface, and he quickly broke down. Soren wept on the princess as she softly spoke to him, like a mother to a child.

"Soren," she began, "you've been through so much, you've seen so much. I have seen the ponies I love grow old and pass away. I know loss, and I know emotional pain. I can't heal you, but I can comfort you to the best of my abilities. I am so sorry for everything you have had to go through up to this point, but you must persevere...for your friends, for your family, for your home. Even through the hardships you have to endure, you will find solace and love. Please be strong. If Chrysalis spoke the truth earlier, we will need you more than ever."

"But what if I fail all of you?" Soren sniffed.

"Even if you are somehow taken away from us, we will never forget you and the things you have done for us." Celestia gave Soren a slightly tighter hug before letting go. The princess and her subject faced each other and smiled. While Soren wiped away his tears, Celestia faced Twilight and her friends.

"Twilight, I must ask that you and your friends return to Ponyville tomorrow and leave Soren here."

"What?!" the six mares exclaimed in unison.

"I'm truly sorry, but Soren needs time to relax, yet I need to be close by in case this new threat shows herself. Also, Rainbow Dash..." Rainbow locked eyes with Celestia. "...I want you to remain in Canterlot as well. Soren needs you to be there for him. His mind is slowly coming apart from his experiences. He cannot handle much more stress."

"I'll do anything for him," the pegasus said, standing tall.

"I know you will. I am also sorry that things have to be this way. Until this 'threat' passes over, Soren and Rainbow Dash will need to remain here in Canterlot under our watch. I am very sorry."

"We understand, princess," Twilight said with a tinge of sadness. All of the ponies in the room began to leave the ballroom to head to different bedrooms in the palace for the night. As she walked upstairs, Twilight reflected on what Celestia said.

Soren's mind is slowly coming apart. He can't handle much more stress.

'Oh, Soren, why you?'

(End of arc)
(One remaining)

Author's Note

I know everything seems to happen randomly, but by the end of this story, the things that cause these occurrences will be revealed.

An Unexpected Visitor

Canterlot,

Ten days after the Gala

Soren and Rainbow Dash were in downtown Canterlot, enjoying donuts at Donut Joe's shop. The pegasus and alicorn have enjoyed their time in Canterlot so far, yet Rainbow knows that Soren is still not entirely the same. Almost two weeks ago, Soren finally snapped, at least according to his friends. His mind is barely handling the stress of everything that is happening to him. Princess Celestia hoped that Soren would feel better during his 'vacation' in Canterlot. Even with Rainbow Dash by his side, the alicorn still hasn't changed much since the Gala. Today, Rainbow decided to bring Soren to Donut Joe's shop so she could confront him about this topic.

"Hey, Soren?" she started after swallowing a bite from her glazed donut.

"Yeah?" he replied, putting down his chocolate donut.

"Has this vacation made you feel any better?"

"Not really."

"What happened to you at the Gala? I know the stress finally got to you, but specifically what happened?" Soren loudly exhaled.

"It's exactly what you girls think: I snapped...or more specifically, I cracked under the pressure. You all know how I hate putting the ponies around me in danger, yet it always happens. I try to run, but events like the Gala always drag me back. I'm tired, Rainbow Dash, so very tired...of everything."

"I'm sorry, Soren, but I don't know what to tell you. If this is what your destiny is, I think you're going to have to push through. That's one heck of a destiny, though: Saving ponies on a daily basis. Can't you at least agree on that?"

"I suppose I can, but there's a fine line between saving ponies and causing them more harm than good." An annoyed frown appeared on Rainbow Dash's face as she slammed both of her hooves on the table, leaning closer to Soren. Loud, most muffled, voices could be heard outside.

"You listen to me, Soren. You're not a threat, you're a Celestia-damned hero! I don't know if you know this or not but ponies look up to you; they expect you to help and protect everypony. They need you, our friends need you...I need you. I need you to be stronger than this; I need you to be that Soren that defeated Coyote Colt in Appaloosa. Please...I want the real you back."

Soren opened his mouth to respond, but he couldn't find the words in time because he got distracted by the commotion outside.

"What the...?" Donut Joe sounded from behind the counter. He then ran out the front door of the restaurant. Rainbow Dash and Soren watched the stallion through the window as he stood outside. Within seconds, Joe's face went from curious to scared. Upon seeing this, Soren and Rainbow Dash ran outside to join him.

Donut Joe, along with Rainbow standing to his left and Soren standing to his right, looked upon the horrific scene that was occurring down the street. Small explosions, along with ponies running away from said explosions, could be seen not too far from the shop. Rainbow gasped when she saw what was creating the explosions. Soren turned towards her.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Soren...look." He did as he was instructed but nearly fainted as a result. He immediately recognized who was causing the explosions.

"No...It-It can't be her! How?!"

Grinning evilly while walking calmly down the street...was Nyra. The Nightmare Guardian casted a few explosive spells at nearby doors. The doors flew inside their respective buildings, causing the ponies inside to scream and panic. The Nightmare Guardian scanned the area, looking for more havoc to cause. She smiled when she saw three unmoving ponies standing further down the street, watching her destroy the area. She teleported away from their line of sight, thus leaving them worried. Soren and Rainbow Dash checked everywhere so Nyra couldn't surprise them. A crack of air was heard nearby...very nearby. Soren and Rainbow turned around to see that Donut Joe was gone and in his place stood Nyra.

"Hello, Soren," she grinned as she casted an explosive spell to send both Soren and Rainbow flying away.

The couple slammed against different walls a few yards away from each other. Slowly getting up, Soren saw Nyra advancing on him. He found something curious as she walked towards him. 'Why is she grinning so much? She wasn't evil when I last saw her.' Soren quickly found himself being levitated by magic and was pulled towards the bat pony. Once he was close enough, Soren began speaking with her.

"Nyra, why are you doing this?! This isn't you! What happened to the mare I convinced to be good?" The evil guardian laughed at him. She pulled him in close enough for their noses to touch.

"She vanished when she was betrayed," Nyra growled while staring at Soren with soul piercing eyes. Soren felt a part of his heart break upon hearing that. Being smart, Soren used his own magic to teleport out of Nyra's aura. He reappeared next to Rainbow Dash, who was just starting to stand up. Soren helped his marefriend up with a hoof as he instructed her.

"Come on, Rainbow, we gotta get out of here. We need to lead Nyra away from Canterlot."

"Alright...Sweet Celestia, that blast was powerful," Rainbow groaned.

"I know it hurts, but..." Soren looked in the direction of Nyra and saw her, horn aglow, sprinting towards them. "...FLY!" He grabbed Rainbow's hoof and rocketed upwards.

Nyra rushed past the area they previously occupied and charged straight through a wall. The Guardian quickly flew out of the hole in the building and aimed for the escaping couple. Rainbow Dash was flying on her own at this point, and her and Soren tried to fly as fast as they could away from Canterlot. Rainbow looked behind herself and noticed that Nyra was catching up.

"How is she so fast?!" Rainbow exclaimed. "We're almost flying fast enough to do a Sonic Rainboom!" Soren continued to look straight ahead. He knew that if he looked back, he may falter at the sight of a vengeful Nightmare Guardian easily catching up to them.

"We just need to get to Ponyville without Nyra knowing. Start heading in the direction of Appaloosa. I have a plan." Rainbow turned her attention forward again and nodded.

The two of them continued to fly ahead of Nyra for a few more seconds before the grey alicorn decided to send more spells at them. Bolts and streams of magic whizzed by Soren and Rainbow, narrowly hitting either of them every time. Soren's horn began to glow; Nyra knew what spell he was going to use. She stopped her chase as she watched Soren and Rainbow teleport away.

"Hide and seek..." Nyra smiled. "Even more fun."

The cracking of air disrupted the silence of the area that Soren and Rainbow Dash were now in. Dust picked up all around them, so the two began to cough and wave their hooves in the air. Once the dust was mostly cleared, Soren looked around to see where his spell took them. He smiled as he saw a familiar blue object right in front of him and Rainbow.

"Oh how I missed you!" Soren exclaimed. Rainbow also smiled upon seeing the TARDIS.

"So you managed to take us all the way to Twilight's basement? Good job."

"Thanks, but we're not safe yet. I don't know if Nyra will be fooled by that stunt. She could be on her way here as we speak."

"Couldn't she just teleport here?"

"She hasn't been through much of Ponyville last I checked. We need to find—"

"Soren? Rainbow Dash? Is that you?" Soren and Rainbow turned towards the entrance of the basement to see none other than Twilight Sparkle walking through the doorway. "It is!" Twilight rushed over to give both of them a hug.

"It's good to see you too, Twilight, but—" Rainbow started but was interrupted by the happy unicorn.

"All of us missed you two so much. First, you two decided to leave, then you came back for the Grand Galloping Gala only to be separated from us again because—" Twilight's mouth was blocked by a cyan hoof.

"Twilight, I know you missed us and all, but something happened in Canterlot." Twilight backed away from Rainbow's hoof.

"What happened?" Soren took a step forward.

"We need to gather everyone first. Let's just say an old friend came to visit." Twilight arched an eyebrow at the two. She then nodded and led them upstairs.

The three of them split up to gather their friends. Rainbow flew off to find Fluttershy, Soren went to get Applejack, and Twilight was to remain in town to get Pinkie Pie and Rarity. By 2 o'clock, the team of three soon came together into a group of seven as they gathered in the library. Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie looked back and forth between Soren, Rainbow, and Twilight. The three didn't say why they needed them, they just urgently brought them here.

"Does uhh...does anypony wanna explain what's happenin'?" Applejack started.

"Please do," Rarity added. "I was in the middle of a very important design that I have been dying to work on."

"And I was making cupcakes to send to you and Rainbow Dash," explained Pinkie Pie.

"I wasn't doing anything important," Fluttershy whispered. The four mares began talking all together as they continued to question why they were brought here.

"NYRA ATTACKED CANTERLOT!" Soren blurted. It was as though he stole all of their voices, for they were instantly silent. Everypony, including Twilight, stared wide-eyed at Soren. Rainbow Dash hung her head in response.

"He's telling the truth," she explained. "Nyra isn't dead. We saw her rampaging down the streets of Canterlot, then she started chasing us. Soren teleported us to Ponyville after we led her away from the city."

"Nyra...is alive?" Twilight whispered at first. Her voice then became a lot louder as she couldn't comprehend the situation. "How?! We saw her die! Soren held her as she passed away."

"Twilight, calm down," Soren interrupted. "I don't know how it's possible, but it is. Right now, the best course of action would be to alert the princesses." Twilight took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

"Ok. I'll go get Spike. He's probably taking a nap upstairs." As Twilight trotted up the staircase, Soren sat down and buried his head in his hooves. Rainbow Dash sat beside him and draped a fore-leg around him.

"Is Soren alright?" Fluttershy asked Rainbow.

"I don't know," Dash answered softly. "What I do know is that Soren is probably going to have to deal with Nyra again, and I doubt he has it in himself to even think about that."

"Well I hope the princesses can do something about her this time...for Soren's sake," Rarity commented. Minutes passed before Twilight and Spike descended the staircase and joined their friends. Twilight saw that Soren had his face buried.

"Soren?" she called. "Can you look at me, please?" Soren obliged and removed his hooves from his face. Twilight was surprised to see an emotionless expression. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't know," he answered. "Did you send a letter to Celestia yet?" His unicorn friend nodded.

"We told her that you and Rainbow saw Nyra attacking Canterlot. I asked her to respond to me as soon as—" Spike groaned loudly before Twilight could finish talking. Everypony looked at the dragon as he burped up a scroll, which landed in front of him. Spike picked up the scroll and handed it to Twilight. "That was fast..."

"A little too fast," Pinkie Pie added as her eyes narrowed. No one could tell if she was being serious or just being Pinkie. Twilight used her magic to unravel the scroll then she began to read aloud.

Twilight,

I regret to inform all of you that my sister and I will not be able to help with the nearly impossible return of the Nightmare Guardian. This morning, Luna began to act strange. The guards and I issued for her to rest, but she became agitated. By noon, it was clear that something was wrong with her mind. As I write this letter, Luna is attempting to bash down my bedroom doors. I enchanted my entire room so no magic could be used to enter. I am so sorry to leave you all on your own, but I must help my sister.

Good luck,
Princess Celestia

Twilight dropped the scroll.

"So does this mean...?" Fluttershy started.

"We're on our own," Twilight stated.

Author's Note

I am way ahead of schedule so here ya go. Plus I really want my friend to see this. Shout out to Shayden and the reactions he will have after reading this chapter.

PS: Sorry Part 3 is so long. This is the last arc, so it's almost done.

Lost Hope

"It-It can't be!" Rarity stuttered. "Princess Celestia is being attacked by her own sister?"

Everypony was scared, but Soren kept his cool. He watched his friends rapidly talk to each other about the revelation that the princess couldn't help them against Nyra. Not only that, it seemed as though something had corrupted Princess Luna's mind.

"Girls!" Soren shouted. Everyone froze and looked at him. "We need a plan. We can't start panicking right now. Princess Celestia is counting on us to solve this Nyra issue while she saves her sister. We need to make a plan, and we need to start it ASAP."

"Any ideas?" Applejack asked.

"First, we can't worry ourselves over Celestia and Luna, at least not right now. We need to figure out how Nyra is alive, then we need to trap her and...do something."

"Soren..." Twilight took a step towards him.

"Don't. I know what you want to talk about. It's already hurting me enough to think about fighting her once again. Let me go through this at my own pace, Twilight." Twilight stepped back and continued to pay attention.

"I think we need to lure her here like we did with the Master," Rainbow said.

"How about we go about our normal lives for today?" Soren offered. "We can think of different plans during that time and come together after dinner to make a list and hopefully agree on the best one." The six mares and one dragon looked at each other before nodding at Soren. The white alicorn looked at a clock that was on a nearby wall. 'A quarter past 3. Not enough time.'

4 hours later

Later that day, everyone was gathered at the library again. They tried to have a normal day, but who could when a should-be-dead Nightmare Guardian is on the loose and two goddesses are fighting each other? Not a single one of them had any sort of upbeat emotion on their face as they looked at each other. Things have gotten very serious.

"Did anyone think of any ideas?" Soren asked, starting the conversation.

"I don't have one," Fluttershy replied.

"Me neither," Applejack added.

"Nor I," Rarity said. Soren was already starting to worry. He knew he friends must have thought of something, but they probably assumed it was a bad plan. With desperate hope in his eyes, he glanced over at Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle. The pink earth pony shook her head, which in turn caused Soren's confidence to dwindle a little more. Staring at Rainbow, Soren asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Do you have a plan?" Rainbow stared at him for a few seconds.

"My plan was to lure her here like we did the Master and create a trap," she replied. Soren sighed and looked at Twilight.

"Twilight? Anything? Please." Twilight opened her mouth to speak.

"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE! EXIT YOUR HOMES BY COMMAND OF THE LUNAR GUARD!" Twilight put a hoof to her mouth, thinking the voice somehow came from her. Upon a second thought, she, along with the others, knew it came from outside.

All of them ran towards the front of the library to look out of the windows. They gasped simultaneously when they saw what, or more accurately who, was outside. There were Lunar Guards everywhere! They were on top of houses, flying through open windows, wrestling ponies to the ground, and wreaking havoc in general. Soren, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Applejack were just about to storm outside to stop this nonsense, but another voice yelled into the night.

"WHERE ARE THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY AND THE ELEMENTAL GUARDIAN?!" a Lunar Guard demanded. The four brave ponies stopped dead in their tracks. Now it would be foolish to go outside.

"Wh-wh-wh-why do they n-n-need us?" Fluttershy stuttered in fear.

"I don't know," Twilight answered, "but I don't believe approaching them will be a good idea. I think Princess Luna ordered them to find us for some reason."

"Girls..." Soren began softly. His tone alone worried them. "There's really only one way out of this, and before you all say anything, I can assure you it's not what you think. They want all of us, so the only logical thing to do is to run away. I will create a plan while I'm gone. You girls need to run into the Everfree. Anywhere but here. After a few days, come back; I'll meet you here." Soren walked to the center of the room. Rainbow ran up to him.

"Oh no, you are not leaving me behind!" Soren put a hoof on her shoulder.

"I know you don't want to part, but it has to be done. Our friends need you, Equestria may very well need you. The Elements of Harmony are only powerful when combined."

"But—" A flash of light blinded her. After the light cleared, Rainbow frowned. Soren was gone.

"That stupid little...Arggh!" Rainbow kicked the ground.

"Where did he go?" AJ asked. "Why didn't he take us with him?"

"I don't know," Twilight replied, "but he must have a good reason. Girls, we need to leave...now."

"I don't think you need to trouble yourselves by going anywhere," a new voice said. Everyone, mouths agape, turned towards the front door. There, standing in the doorway and smiling with a mouthful of fangs, was the Nightmare Guardian flanked by two Lunar Guards.

In The Everfree

Forest

Soren's teleportation spell brought him relatively near to his planned destination. He needed to see that unique place again, plus it would be a great way to hide from any Lunar Guards. Soren began walking through thick bushes and tall trees, all while thinking about the current situation. 'So Nyra was resurrected by something, or somepony, and was ordered to wreak havoc or to kill me and my friends. At the same time, Luna's mind became twisted, and she ordered the Lunar Guards to find and capture the girls and I. I can assume that the guards themselves were hypnotized by the princess, but why? Why does she need us?'

Soren noticed dimmed light shining onto the ground. He looked up, snapping away from his thoughts, and saw his destination: Zecora's Hut. 'I know that if anypony can help me, it's her.' Soren walked up to the old tree and knocked on the door. Zecora soon opened it and smiled at Soren.

"The legend of ponies everywhere. What brings you to my lair?" Soren smiled. It's been too long since he's last seen his zebra friend. Twilight and her friends introduced Soren to Zecora days after Cain's first appearance.

"May I come in? It's very urgent." Zecora stepped away from the doorway and allowed Soren inside. The two gathered at a full cauldron of purple liquid that was situated in the center of the room. They faced each other as Soren began.

"It's been too long, Zecora. I've done so much since we last met, but you probably already knew that." She nodded. "Something terrible has happened. Do you remember the fate of Nyra on the Battle of the Nyrs?"

"The great battle of months ago. The point of time when you were at your low. I know the fate of this mare, for her cause of death was quite rare."

"I have already forgiven Rainbow Dash for what happened. Speaking of Rainbow, me and her were vacationing in Canterlot, but something happened...something awful. A pony was destroying a street near us. I nearly fainted when I saw that it was Nyra. She's returned, and she's after me and my friends. I need your help to think of a plan to stop her."

"If she is hypnotized, simply break the curse. Surely the effects afterwards cannot be much worse."

"That's the thing: she isn't hypnotized. Technically she's dead, so that means she has to have been possessed somehow." Soren saw Zecora's pupils turn into pinpricks. "Zecora? What is it?"

"I only know of one pony with magic that strong. But I prey for everypony that I am wrong."

"Please tell me!"

"You, along with our friends, may experience much lament when I say that this pony was once destroyed by the Elements." Now it was Soren's turn to be struck with fear. "She who, in history, left her mark as the mare who wanted to see the world in eternal dark."

It all made sense. Nyra being resurrected, Princess Luna acting different, and the hypnotized Lunar Guards. Somehow, she has returned.

"...Nightmare Moon..."

The Next Morning

Twilight Sparkle stood next to a window, looking to the sky to wait for the sun to rise. She knew it was already morning, so why hasn't Princess Celestia raised the sun? Surely she didn't...lose against her sister...right? Twilight shook her head of the thought. She had confidence that her mentor could handle herself. 'But what caused Luna to change? There is a big piece missing from this puzzle, and I plan to find it.'

Twilight looked around at her library that her and her friends were currently jailed in. Nyra and the Lunar Guards encased every window with magical bars that enchanted the entire building. This magic was to prevent anypony from breaking through walls, smashing the windows, or using magic on anything that wasn't inside the building. Sighing, Twilight continued to look around the main room. She saw that Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Spike were all still asleep. Twilight turned back towards the window and continued to watch the sky. 'Princess...Soren...please help us.'

A Voice in the Night

Author's Note

"Renegade" is performed by Styx.
"Look Around" is performed by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

A Voice in the Night

In Soren's opinion, hope was returning. He and Zecora managed to create a plan earlier. Although it was a decent plan,
Soren didn't like what could possibly happen as a result. The only logical thing to do was to somehow defeat Nightmare Moon again. Soren and Zecora assumed that Nightmare Moon most likely possessed Luna. Thinking of the plan, Soren felt sorrowful that there was a chance that he had to defeat Nyra just to get to the mare of darkness. Soren was willing to accept this possibility as long as it would save Equestria. 'Screw my sanity,' he thought bitterly. 'It's not like I was getting it back anyway.'

As soon as he knew everything he had to do, Soren left Zecora's hut and ran towards Ponyville; it was too risky to fly. Upon leaving Zecora's home, Soren noticed that it was still night. At first, he thought it was simply the thick canopy of the Everfree Forest, but after looking up, he could clearly see the stars and crescent moon. This made Soren worry once again; he began sprinting.

It took him a few minutes to return to the edge of the Everfree. He stopped in the fields between Ponyville and the forest. He knew he couldn't just rush into town, for the Lunar Guards were sure to be there. Soren squinted his eyes to see anything going on in the dark town. Finding no luck, the alicorn began trotting quickly yet quietly towards the town. He had to get to the library; he needed the help of his friends for this plan to work. Soren snuck through alleyways and behind buildings. Something was wrong though. Where were all of the guards? All he could see were boarded up (or barred up) houses.

Another minute of sneaking went by before Soren saw the library. After looking around one last time, he ran quickly over to the window. He looked between the strange, newly-added bars and saw his seven friends sitting in a circle, talking. Soren walked over to the front door and attempted to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Upon using magic on it, a painful shockwave was sent throughout Soren's body. He fell backwards and slammed onto the ground.

"That is some strong magic the guards are using," Soren comment quietly. Instead of attempting that again, Soren tried to teleport inside the building. He couldn't do it at first, for the magic surrounding his destination threw off his aim heavily. By chance and luck, he managed to do it. Soren teleported into the middle of his friends' circle suddenly, causing everyone to gasp or scream.

"Soren?!" Twilight exclaimed, holding her chest. "Why, by Celestia's name, would you scare us like that?!"

"Shhh!" Soren hushed. "Stay quiet. I don't know if those Lunar Guards are still in Ponyville."

"They're not," Rainbow said. "They left about an hour ago."

"That's perfect. Zecora and I came up with a plan, and I'll need all of you to do something for me. Since I can guess that empty buildings weren't put on lockdown, all of your homes, maybe except Pinkie Pie's, should be open. Here is a list of what I need from each of you..."

Soren was now flying towards Canterlot. His friends found all of the things he needed to confront Nightmare Moon. To Soren, it was like a piece of each of his friends were with him, cheering him on and giving him strength. 'I can do this, I can do this,' Soren continued to tell himself, albeit extremely nervous.

As Canterlot came into sight, Soren noticed various smoke pillars coming from the palace. 'This better work,' he thought as he landed in front of the slightly ruined castle. Gathering his magic to increasing the volume of his voice, Soren took a few deep breaths before beginning.

Oh Mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long horn of the law
Law mare has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home

Oh Mama I can hear you a cryin', you're so scared and all alone
Hangcolt is comin' down from the gallows and I don't have very long

The jig is up, the news is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This'll be the end today
Of the wanted colt

Oh Mama, I've been days on the lam and had a high price on my head
Lawmare said 'Get him dead or alive' and it's for sure she'll see me dead

Dear Mama I can hear you cryin', you're so scared and all alone
Hangcolt is comin' down from the gallows and I don't have very long

The jig is up, the news is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
The judge'll have revenge today
On the wanted colt

Soren voice was heard throughout most of Canterlot due to the silent night. He needed Nightmare's attention for his plan to work. Within seconds of the song's ending, Lunar Guards landed everywhere around Soren. What Soren didn't know was that the guards were creeping up on him during the entire song.

"YOU WILL BE TAKEN PRISONER AND PRESENTED TO HER HIGHNESS!" one of the guards ordered.

"Such loud voices," Soren joked. "Can't you tone it down a little? Ponies are trying to sleep...I think. It's hard to tell with this eternal night going on!"

"SILENCE!!!" a different, feminine voice yelled.

Every Lunar Guards shivered and instantly bowed. Soren looked around at this phenomenon then at the castle. His eyes widened when he saw the mare he was expecting. There, standing at the entrance of the Royal Palace, was Princess Luna. With her head tilted high and a smirk on her face, the princess of the night stared at Soren.

"Ahh, the Elemental Guardian...the newest Time Lord...the amnesiac alicorn. Finally I have found you." Soren instantly noticed that Luna's voice sounded like two ponies were talking. Standing as tall as he could, Soren spoke back to 'Luna.'

"You only found me because I wanted you to," he retorted. "You could never find me in a million years, Nightmare Moon." Princess Luna laughed wickedly, causing Soren to shiver.

"So you know. You're smarter than I first thought. Enough games..." Purple aura protruded out of Luna's horn and began to surround her body. It swirled around the princess and caused her to faint. Instead of looking at the unconscious Luna, Soren was looking at the swirling mass of magic floating above her. It compressed in on itself and exploded in a burst of strong wind and blinding lights. Soren shielded his eyes at first, but soon dropped his foreleg after the light faded. Soren tried not to shake in fear as looked upon the spell's result.

Flying above Luna was a translucent, black mare with a flowing, ethereal mane that looked like space. She had a purple helmet and armor on, and her eyes were serpent-like and cyan-colored. Her mouth smiled at Soren with plenty of fangs to show. Nightmare Moon was reborn.

"That feels much better, even though it isn't a physical form," Nightmare commented as she landed next to the unconscious Luna. "Now...where were we?" Nightmare grinned, and her guards all stood up to ready themselves.

"I don't know about you, but I was going to teleport to Ponyville. Catchmeifyoucan!" One flash of light later, Soren was gone. Nightmare Moon's smile became bigger.

"I love a pony that likes to play games. GUARDS, AT ATTENTION!" Every Lunar Guard in the area stood up and saluted their princess. "Just in case that stallion is attempting to trick us, half of you search Canterlot! The other half is with me! We have an alicorn to hunt." Nightmare flew back into Luna then took to the air.

Half an hour later

Nightmare Moon slowly flew around the edge of Canterlot as she eyed the guards searching for Soren. None of them have spotted that cursed alicorn yet. She frowned after every guard reported no sightings. Landing in front of a group of stallions, Nightmare Moon addressed them.

"GUARDS, GATHER THE REMAINING TROOPS AND MEET US AT PONYVILLE! THE ALICORN SAID HE WAS HEADING THERE!" The Lunar Guards saluted and sprinted back towards Canterlot. Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon launched back into the sky to lead the closest three guards, who she instructed to follow her, to Ponyville. She scowled as she looked at the small town from her current location. 'I will find you, Guardian, and your death won't be the only one.'

The Elemental Guardian looked upon the night-shrouded Ponyville with both confidence and fear. He feared his plan wouldn't work and that Nightmare Moon will completely ignore him just so she could wreak havoc upon his home. Gulping, Soren closed his eyes, and his horn lit up. He levitated an instrument (which he recently grabbed from town) in front of him. He hit a button on the red, rectangular device and music played. Since he needed as much of the town as possible to hear his next song, Soren increased the volume as loud as it could go (which was pretty loud considering Vinyl invented the awesome contraption). Horn aglow, Soren took a deep breath and began.

Stiff club, its my nature,
Custom love is the nomenclature.
Turn down mass confusion,
Hit the sky because we just keep cruisin'.
Double my fun, double my vision,
Long hard look at my last decision.
Hustle here, hustle there,
Hustle me mare and you best beware.

It's emotional and I told you so,
But you had to know so I told you.
Soft walk to horizon,
One big blast that no one dies in.
This for the folks in Ponyville,
It'll come true if you say it will.

Look around, look around, look around
All around, all around, all around
Look around, look around, look around
All around, all around, all around

It's emotional and I told you so,
But you had to know so I told you.
Please don't look right through me,
Hurts my heart when you do that to me.
Night lights out my window,
Ponyville breeze gonna stroke my skin though.
Dropped a lot of words on an old brick wall,
Rob a lot of banks got a pedigree scrawl.
Put my peg into your square,
Run around like we just don't care.

Look around, look around, look around
All around, all around, all around
Look around, look around, look around
All around, oh yeah-eah-eah!

Seeing many lights in town turning on, Soren flew towards Ponyville to find his friends. 'Now that everypony knows it's safe to come out, time to start the plan.'

Beginning of the End

"Soren, don't you dare do what I think you're going to do," Rainbow warned. Her, Soren, and their five friends were standing in the library. Soren came back because he wanted to explain that he was about to fight Nightmare Moon...but at a cost.

"I have to, Rainbow," he replied. "We both know it's the only way."

"Well, it's the way I don't want!"

"Rainbow, it'll be alright," Twilight assured.

"No it won't! Soren is about to fight Nightmare Moon. NIGHTMARE. MOON. And he's going to do it alone!" She looked at Soren. "We're going with you. We can easily defeat her again."

"Rainbow, did you ever once think that the idiotic things I do have a reason behind them?"

"I...I guess I haven't."

"Did you forget about a certain princess that may or may not be gravely injured?"

"But what about—?"

"No. Princess Celestia needs you girls. If Nightmare Moon...defeats me, the six of you can finish her."

"Soren," Twilight joined, "think about what you are doing. What if Nyra fights you as well? Only a supernova could take those two out at once!"

"Isn't that a funny thought?" Soren grinned sadly.

"Soren!" Rainbow was furious now. "You're not killing yourself to try to win this fight!"

"Goodbye, everyone. Wish me luck." With that said, Soren teleported to the fields around Ponyville.

Looking at the town, he smiled with sadness. Hearing noises behind him, Soren turned around and saw Nightmare Moon, guards in tow, flying straight at him. She screamed a battle cry as she was yards away from Soren. Smirking one last time, Soren teleported away yet again. Nightmare landed where Soren used to be and kicked the ground in anger. Her eyes widened when she actually hit something.

Curious, Nightmare looked down and noticed a strange rectangular device. She tilted her head when she saw a note attached to the top of it. Using her magic, Nightmare levitated the note in front of her so she could read it.

Hit the red button.
-Soren

Arching her eyebrow, the evil mare looked for said button and pressed it once she found it. It began to play a message. A stallion clearing his throat was the first thing that was heard.

Hello, Nightmare Moon. Soren here obviously. I would just like to say that I will be at the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters if you want to find me.

Purposefully, Soren began to poorly imitate Nightmare's voice at certain points.

'Why should I fall for your trap?' you might ask. The answer is simple: If you don't, then the princesses and I will be finishing our spell to basically destroy you. Now you may be thinking 'How could he have Princess Celestia with him when I left her in Canterlot?' Well the answer to that is even more simple than the last one: I have a TARDIS. Bottom line: I'll see you at the castle. Bye~!

Yelling in frustration, Nightmare Moon lifted a hoof and slammed it down on the recorder, breaking it into many pieces. "GUARDS!" she yelled with newfound anger. "KEEP THIS TOWN PRISONER! THE ALICORN'S HEAD WILL BE MINE! NO PONY OUTSMARTS ME!" The tens of guards saluted and Nightmare Moon teleported away.

Nightmare arrived at the ancient castle almost immediately. Stepping through the front doors, she quickly began tracking Soren using magic. Her magic locked onto his aura quickly, so she sprinted through the halls. Grinning evilly, the mare of darkness snuck up to a familiar room. There was only one exit, except for the windows or teleportation of course. 'No escape this time, alicorn," Nightmare Moon thought as she exploded the wooden door off of its hinge. She discovered that she was in the Elements of Harmony Shrine, but ignored the fact when she saw Soren relaxing on the other side of the room.

"SOREN!" Nightmare boomed. The white alicorn opened one lazy eye at her from across the room. Before Nightmare rudely interrupted him, Soren was laying on his back, one leg over the other, and with both hooves behind his head.

"So you finally made it," he stated as he slowly got to his hooves. "I could have taken a nap because of how long you were taking."

"STOP THIS FOOLISHNESS, ALICORN! IT'S TIME TO END THIS!"

"Such anger! You may supposedly be powerful, but your cool snaps easier than a twig." Yelling, Nightmare Moon sent a fast stream of white magic at Soren. The spell impacted his chest and slammed him against the wall behind him. After falling to the ground, Soren stood up and looked at Nightmare, who was carefully but surely advancing on him. 'She assumes I have the upperhoof right now,' Soren smirked.

Soren illuminated his horn, as did Nightmare. Deciding to attack first, Nightmare Moon casted a spell that removed all of the light in the entire room. Soren couldn't see anything, yet he knew what he had to do. He tried to cast a basic spell to light the tip of his horn, but his magic was seemingly blocked. A hoof then punched Soren square in the jaw and sent him Celestia-knows-where. He believed he was standing straight up as he attempted magic once again. The room was lit up for a split second due to a spell being sent at Soren. It impacted his side, but Soren smiled. The spell tore a hole in his right saddlebag, and it was sent back to its caster as a result. The room regained its light as Nightmare groaned because of the spell that struck her.

"What happened?! How did you deflect that spell?"

Soren began to chuckle as he piled the three saddlebag items in one tiny area. He looked at the pile and picked up what caused the spell to bounce off of him. Removing his one and a half saddlebags from his flanks, Soren then put on the creation that can deflect certain spells.

"You see, Nightmare Moon," Soren began, "I was very prepared for this fight. I even had each of my friends give me something that could help me during this moment. The reason your spell was deflected is because I had my friends Twilight and Rarity design a vest that is temporarily resistant to magical attacks." Soren puffed out his chest so Nightmare could see the black vest that was faintly glowing with purple aura. "Ever since I went to Canterlot to get your attention, I had the upperhoof in this conflict of ours. Now it is truly time to end this."

Author's Note

By the way, I'm sorry this part (or this story in general) is so long. It just happened that way. If you like long stories, please ignore this possibly unneeded apology. Also, have a wonderful Hearts & Hooves Day in one week, everyone/pony.

It's Time

Nightmare Moon's horn lit up as she levitated Soren off of the ground. He retaliated by casting an illumination spell to cause his body to shine like a star. With her eyes beginning to burn, Nightmare covered her face with a wing and lost concentration. Soren landed on the ground and quickly ran to his pile to grab something specific. He quickly put on some boots that Applejack (with the help of Twilight of course) gave him to add power to his physical attacks. When he turned around, though, Soren saw Nightmare Moon appear right in front of him, back facing him. With both hooves, she kicked Soren and sent him into a pillar, which caused a section to be taken from it.

After skipping across the ground, Soren steadied himself and watched as Nightmare sprinted towards him. He prepared himself for another impact but was surprised when she teleported away. Taking a guess as to where she would be, Soren quickly leaned forward and prepared his back legs. Once he heard a crack of air, he bucked as hard as he could behind. He cheered on the inside when he felt contact. A surprised Nightmare Moon was sent towards a nearby wall but recovered almost instantly.

"ENOUGH!" she shouted. "WE WILL END THIS NOW!"

"We?" Soren asked but became scared after he realized what she meant. Nightmare smiled when she saw Soren face covered with fear.

"You thought you had gotten rid of her, but in reality, she never left my side after you showed up in Canterlot earlier. Say hello to your old friend." Soren took a step back as a silhouette jumped into view past one of the windows then broke through it. Nyra smashed through the window, leaving glass shards all over the floor. Looking at Soren, she grinned, which allowed him to see her fangs. 'Perfect,' Soren thought with as much confidence as nervousness.

"Thought you could hide forever, Soren?" Nyra asked.

"Well now that we're all here, how about we—" Nightmare Moon began.

"End this. Yadda yadda yadda, we know," Soren interrupted. "But before that...Rainbow Dash would you like to quit hiding and join me already?" Rainbow Dash poked her head out from the doorway.

"But how did you know?" she asked.

"I figured you saw Nyra flying towards the Everfree Forest and decided to follow her. Plus, I know you would never leave my side in a situation like this, no matter how much I begged."

"You bet your jeweled-flank I won't!"

"SILENCE, BOTH OF YOU!" Nightmare Moon interrupted. "Nyra, attack them!"

"Actually, how about I stop you for just a second longer?" Soren offered. He levitated another item from his pile and brought it to him. As he fastened it around his neck, Soren spoke to the two mares across from him. "Do either of you know what this is?"

"A Lunar Medallion?! How?!" Nightmare exclaimed.

"Got it from the Spirit World. Anyway, I'm going to use this because without it, I won't survive what's coming next, although I probably won't survive this either way."

"What can you possible do to stop us?" Nyra asked.

"I'm sorry you had to ask that, Nyra, I truly am." Soren's voice became sorrowful now. "Nightmare Moon, you may have been resurrected somehow, but that doesn't mean you have your immortality back just yet. There is one thing I can do that will..." Be looked at Nyra and sighed. "...that will destroy both of you."

"But not you?" Nyra wondered. Soren nodded and put up a shield around him and Rainbow as he walked up to his marefriend.

"Rainbow Dash, I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this, but you decided to help me and this is the easiest way to defeat them. Ready?"

"If it's to stop them and save Equestria, yes," she smiled at him with such confidence and trust that he smiled as well.

"Again, I'm sorry for doing this." Soren's horn began to glow as it touched Rainbow's forehead. Soren quickly began straining to cast the spell he planned to use. Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon and Nyra began sending spells at the shield, hoping to break it. Soren's horn began to shine twice as bright as Rainbow felt intense magic surge through her.

"What are you...doing to me?" she strained. "It...hurts."

"Stay strong. I'm almost done." Soren's horn became even brighter. Opening his eyes, Soren's confidence rose as he saw Rainbow's mane and tail beginning to transform. He could also feel the heat coming off of them.

An explosion of light sent Soren away from Rainbow. He looked at her and gaped at what he saw. Even Nightmare Moon and Nyra had to stop their barrage of spells to stare, wide-eyed, at the new Rainbow Dash. This wasn't quite like her other form; this was something a little different yet more powerful. Rainbow Dash's mane and tail had transformed into burning, rainbow fire and was crackling with embers. On the ground, a ring of more rainbow fire surrounded her. Rainbow looked forward with her red-colored eyes as her flames reflected off of them. She stared at her two enemies, grinning all the while.

"Is that all?" Nightmare grinned back. "A more powerful ally will be our downfall?" Nightmare turned towards Soren when there wasn't an immediate answer. She saw him mouthing something as he sat down, but she couldn't tell what. "Nyra, what is he saying?"

"The Lunar Oath..."

"By Luna's will, and dark of night!" Soren ended his oath then metallic armor surrounding him. When the transformation was over, Soren was grey coated with a black mane. He also had fangs and bat wings just like Nyra.

"We need to retreat, your highness!" Nyra exclaimed.

"Never! These weaklings could never defeat us!" Nightmare assured.

"That's where you're wrong," Soren said in a deeper voice. "Rainbow Dash's body is full of magic right now...too full actually, but that was the plan. Do you two know what happens when a body cannot handle a lot of magic?"

"It vents it at every opportunity."

"Bingo. Do you want to know why you are about to be defeated by something other than the Elements of Harmony?"

"Enlighten me," Nightmare replied, annoyed.

"I'm the Doctor. I've been alive for too many regenerations to count. I've helped many ponies, but hurt the same amount. I don't deserve the acknowledgments I receive nor do I deserve the friends I've made. I've caused too much harm, lost too many people and ponies to deserve praise and thanks. It is true that I've helped a lot, but in the end, I do more harm than good. I'm glad it's going to end this way: me sacrificing myself to do one last noble deed that will not end in consequence. These ponies don't deserve us here, Nightmare Moon, and you know it. You knew you had a high chance of defeat, so why attempt anything? So you can prove to yourself and Equestria that you still have the power to take over? It doesn't matter, this ends here. I may not deserve to be their protector, but you can be sure that I will give my last breath to these ponies. My name is Soren, I'm from the planet Gallifrey, I erased my memories to become the pony I am today, I loved Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash, I'm the first Elemental Guardian of Equestria, and this will be my last day of existence!!!"

Soren's shield dropped and a massive explosion annihilated the room.

Meanwhile in Ponyville, Twilight and her friends were once again trapped inside their own town, except this time, her, her friends, and many other ponies were rounded up into Town Hall. They have only been inside for half an hour so far. It took the Lunar Guards awhile to imprison most of the town. Applejack suggested that they fight off the guards, but Twilight explained that the guards would most likely harm any or all ponies as a result. They couldn't take the risk; also, Soren had a plan that he said would defeat Nightmare Moon.

Twilight once again found herself staring out of a nearby window as she became lost in thought. Even though her thoughts were very detailed and complicated, Twilight still became distracted by a rumbling noise coming from outside. The Town Hall shook, and everypony inside ran over to the windows to see what was causing it. Voices of panic, amazement, and awe could be heard as the townsfolk of Ponyville stared at the fiercest (and scariest) Sonic Rainboom they have ever seen. It was as if the sky itself was burning into ashes. Twilight eyes widened once she determined where it was coming from.

"Girls!" Twilight called. "Get over here now!" Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy ran over to their friend within seconds. "Do you all realize where the epicenter of that is?"

"The Everfree Forest," Fluttershy answered.

"Yes, but it's in the direction of the ruined castle. That's where Soren said he was going to fight..." Twilight leaned in close so only her friends would hear her. "...Nightmare Moon." The five mares still haven't mentioned to anypony that Nightmare Moon has returned. Whenever the Lunar Guards spoke about Her Highness, the citizens of Ponyville assumed they were talking about Princess Luna.

"We need to get over there now," Applejack said. The other four mares nodded in agreement. The guards, also staring at the fiery Rainboom, never noticed the four mares who snuck out of the Town Hall.

The Elements of Harmony Shrine was just a small part of the rubble that filled the currently burnt and destroyed castle room. Fires of every size and every color of the spectrum were scattered about the area. A pile of rubble near the doorway began to shift and move. A body crawled its way out from underneath the pieces of wall and began to scan the room. After looking at the fire and wreckage that painted a horrible picture of destruction, the pony looked at himself. His medallion was disintegrated and his white coat was stained with dust, burnt from fire, and scarred from debris. He smiled after seeing that he was alright.

He quickly scanned the room again, looking for Rainbow Dash. He found her unconscious near a pillar, mostly unharmed. Soren began to walk over to her, but soon felt a very sharp pain stab him in his side. He fell to the ground as a result. After he sat up, Soren looked at his hooves and noticed something frightening. Golden mist was evaporating off of them.

"No..." he whispered. "I thought I was fine." Soren looked up at his unconscious marefriend and felt a tear form in his eye.

He scanned the room once again as he waited for his time to come. Soren saw Princess Luna, who was also unconscious, and noticed nebulous mist leaving her body and disintegrating into the air. Beside Luna, Soren saw Nyra, who he assumed was dead since Nightmare Moon was defeated. He wanted to walk over to her, but the pain he was feeling was too great to do anything except to drag himself over to a massive, nearby hole in the wall that overlooked the Everfree.

Soren looked out over the forest and listened to the peaceful sounds of the night. Another sharp pain filled his side and regenerative mist escaped from his mouth. He looked from his hooves to the forest and realized what he should do. 'They deserve at least one more,' he thought as he struggled to stand up. Looking across the forest and imagining Ponyville, Soren's horn began to glow, making his voice loud enough to reach his requested destination. 'This is for Ponyville.'

Into the night
Desperate and broken
The sound of a fight
Nyra has spoken

We were the kings and queens of promise
We were the victims of ourselves
Maybe the ponies of a lesser God
Between heaven and hell
Heaven and hell

Into your eyes
Hopeless and taken
We stole our new lives
Through blood and pain
In defense of our dreams
In defense of our dreams

We were the kings and queens of promise
We were the victims of ourselves
Maybe the ponies of a lesser God
Between heaven and hell
Heaven and hell

Soren sensed a pony next to him, so he turned his head. He gasped when he saw Nyra standing there, except she looked different. He could see through her! She was a spirit. Nyra smiled sweetly at Soren then Soren began to cry. She ushered for him to continue singing.

The age of Gods is over
A darkness comes and all
These lessons that we've learned here
Have only just begun

We were the kings and queens of promise
We were the victims of ourselves
Maybe the ponies of a lesser God
Between heaven and hell

We are the kings
We are the queens
We are the kings
We are the queens

"Your voice is just as beautiful as before," the spirit of Nyra commented.

"I'm so sorry, Nyra," Soren apologized while crying. "You died because of me. I failed you."

"No you didn't, Soren. You made me feel like I was special. You gave me purpose and a second chance at life. I don't blame you for what happened, nor do I blame Rainbow Dash. I have already forgiven both of you for what happened. The past is the past, so look forward to the future." Soren was about to say something, but he saw Nyra starting to disappear.

"Nyra, wait!"

"Do not fret, Soren. I will also be a part of your conscience. I can help guide you through the dark times." Nyra's spirit vanished, and Soren was left alone, standing by the hole in the wall. He looked to where Nyra's body was and saw that it was still there. He soon felt the stabbing pain again. It was time. Soren looked straight down, right at the pieces of glass that surrounded him.

Joy or Sorrow?

Twilight and her friends were running up to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. They all hoped that they weren't too late to save their friends. As they were about to enter the castle ruins, a soft explosion was heard. The five of them looked to the night sky and saw something that made their hearts sink. Expanding from the castle was Soren's Sonic Fireblast, except it wasn't a ring of green fire...it was yellow mist. The five mares immediately sprinted inside and aimed towards the estimated origin of the blast.

Eventually, the girls came across the room that used to be the shrine for the Elements of Harmony. Their hope dropped as they looked upon the flames and rubble that decorated the room. They soon saw Rainbow Dash, Luna, and Nyra nearby. Twilight ran to Rainbow while Rarity ran over to Luna and Nyra.

"Rainbow Dash?! Rainbow Dash, please wake up," Twilight shouted as she sat next to her friend. Although Rainbow Dash didn't wake up, Twilight noticed that she was breathing. That alone comforted her, yet something, or someone, was still missing.

"Do any of y'all see Soren?" Applejack asked worriedly.

"U-u-umm..." Fluttershy uttered, making a sad squeal afterwards and sounding like she was going to cry. Everypony turned towards her and saw what was causing her to tear up. With her hooves, Fluttershy held a lock of black hair.

"Is that...?" Twilight whispered. Pinkie Pie already started to fight back tears as she whimpered.

"It-It can't be true," Rarity said.

"Poor Soren," AJ added as she took her hat off and held it against her chest as she closed her eyes.

"I want to say that Soren could still be somewhere," Twilight began, "but I know it would be a lie. We all saw that yellow mist. Soren regenerated; now he's gone."

"We should at least have a goodbye party," Pinkie Pie commented as she wiped her eyes.

"There's only one type of party for the dead, Pinkie," AJ replied. "A funeral."

The Next Day

The pegasi of Ponyville created rain and cloudy skies for the afternoon; today was special. After all of the Lunar Guards took Princess Luna back to Canterlot and after Princess Celestia raised the sun, Ponyville held a funeral for their fallen hero. Many ponies from town gathered around a coffin as Twilight Sparkle stood at a podium. Octavia, Vinyl, Derpy, and Pendant stood near Applejack, Rarity and the rest of mares. Twilight cleared her throat and began the ceremony.

"We all know why we are here. We assume Soren had died since no pony knows where his body is." Twilight had to pause. The end of that sentence formed a knot in her throat. "This wasn't mentioned before so no one would panic, but it now has to be said in order to show how much Soren gave to ensure our safety. Our land was drenched in seemingly eternal night not because of Luna, but because of Nightmare Moon's return. Her spirit manifest itself inside of Princess Luna somehow and possessed her and the corpse of Nyra. Taking action, Soren fought her to the very end. He was successful in defeating her...but at a cost.

"Soren was a very loving, caring, and heroic pony. He wanted nothing more than to find love and protect those around him. In my opinion, and hopefully everyone else's, he succeeded in doing both. Soren's marefriend, Rainbow Dash, was loved very much by him. It was because of her help that Soren managed to defeat Nightmare Moon. Although she didn't see Soren when he died, she still wishes she could have at least said goodbye. I'm sure we all do.

"Soren has been through a lot in his life. He has defeated intensely powerful foes, saved towns, and endured things that would make other ponies go insane. Overall, we cannot thank Soren enough for what he put himself through just to make us feel safe. He never asked to be thanked...nor did he want recognition for the things he did. We will always miss you, Soren...and...we will always be your family."

Twilight began crying towards the end of her speech. Everypony watched as Soren's tombstone was revealed.

(9??-1003)

Elemental Guardian
Friend
Time Lord
Hero

May he always look down upon us with the angels.

While everypony was mourning around Soren's tombstone, a hooded pony stood from a distance and watched as most ponies cried. He never got close to anyone, until he noticed some familiar faces nearby. He knew that Soren's closest friends were around the grave, while everypony else was further away. He saw three familiar fillies that were closest to him. Their names were Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Bell, and they were sitting together and hugging each other. He pretended to walk closer to the group of ponies that were around Soren's grave so the three fillies would notice him. It took a few minutes but eventually one of them spoke.

"Hey, mister," Applebloom called sadly. "Did you know Soren?"

"I guess you can say I was pretty close to him," the hooded pony replied. "I just wanted to see the impact he made, but I also came to have closure." The Cutie Mark Crusaders all tilted their little heads in confusion. The hooded pony noticed this and chuckled. "Just...tell his friends that Soren was very sorry for everything he put them through."

The pony turned his head towards the fillies. They managed to see half of his face; they saw his white coat and his brilliant, green eye. The pony turned around and began walking towards a tall box situated behind some nearby trees and bushes. Upon seeing the strange scene, Applebloom and her friends ran towards Applejack.

"Sis! Sis! There's a pony with a box over there!" she exclaimed when she reached her big sister.

"What?" Applejack asked as she turned towards the direction Applebloom was pointing at. Applejack's eyes widened as she saw the blue box. "Girls, look over there!" she shouted to her friends.

The others, along with Vinyl, Octavia, Derpy, and Pendent, quickly gave their farmer friend their attention and looked. Within seconds, a familiar whirring sound occurred. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash took a few steps ahead of everypony else and just watched as the TARDIS started to disappear.

"Do you think he actually regenerated?" Rainbow asked Twilight.

"I...I don't know," she replied. "But at least he's alive, even if it means he's apparently leaving."

"I don't want him to leave us, Twilight."

"I don't think any of us do. Even he probably doesn't want to leave. Applebloom and her friends seemed to recognize him. Maybe he hasn't regenerated."

"I'll pray for anything just to bring him back."

"He'll come back, Rainbow Dash. If he's the same pony, he'll always come back."

"A hero fights for what's right...

A hero knows when to make sacrifices...

...and although a hero's tale doesn't always have a happy ending...

...those unhappy endings show the biggest and most generous sacrifice that hero had to make.

This is the curse of the hero...

...the curse of sacrifice...

And this is what I, as the Elemental Guardian, have to live with."

End of Part 3

(STA Part 4 Previews):

And when I'm gone, just carry on, don't mourn
Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice
Just know that I'm looking down on you smiling
And I didn't feel a thing, So baby don't feel no pain

Just smile back

"A singer, huh?"
"What's it to you?"

"Nothing, just keep those emotions with you."

"Now you're in my little play-place."
"Let me go!"
"Why can't you just cooperate?"

"I have a marefriend!"

"Burn with me."

"What's the point of waking up if you find yourself in the dark?"

"To escape the nightmares that your mind will feed you."

"Before tomorrow, before you even plan on confronting those sons of mules, I need to warn you. If you get out of control, even for a second, and put [her] in danger, I will fight you, and you will lose."

"How much power do you have?"
"...Too much..."

Author's Note

I hope you all enjoyed Part 3. It's definitely my favorite portion of my long story, Part 4 being a close second. Speaking of Part 4, I'm afraid to say that it will be awhile before I put up the first chapter. I have many things to prepare before typing the final drafts of the chapters.

To attempt to compensate for this hiatus, I would like to show all of you something interesting. The following is how long Parts 1-3 are:

(I am assuming an Equestrian month is 30 days)
(In parenthesis is the total amount of time that has passed.)

STA1: New Beginnings
~72 days
(~2 months, 12 days)

1 week later

STA2: The Effects of War
~43 days
(~4 months, 2 days)

3 days later

STA3: A True Hero?
~45 days
(~5 months, 18 days!)

All of that happened to Soren in under 6 months! That's a small amount of time, I believe. I just felt like it would be an interesting set of facts to show you all. If any of you, for some reason, want the exact amount of days, I guess either I can recount them or you can. Live your life the way you want to.

The Earth Elemental

The next day everyone gathered in the library again. When they entered, they saw the Doctor standing next to hid TARDIS, talking with Twilight.

"Are you two ready?" the Doctor asked, looking at Soren, who now looked like his normal self, and Rainbow Dash.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Soren replied. He and Rainbow started saying their goodbyes to their friends, just in case they didn't make it back. No one wanted to say it and no one wanted to think about it, but they knew there was a fairly high chance of death. Although it saddened everyone to see their friends leave, they pulled through without shedding a tear. Seeing that the goodbyes were finished, the Doctor began explaining the plan to all of them.

"Twilight and I will accompany Soren and Rainbow Dash in the TARDIS; this is where the two will be when they enter the Spirit World. There is no guarantee that the Spirit World and this world have the same time span. What could be an hour for them, can only be a minute for us. It could even be a whole days for us, while it only takes them 30 minutes. That is why me and Twilight will watch over you until you wake up. I think it's time that we go." Looking at everyone else, Soren, the Doctor, Rainbow, and Twilight all waved goodbye and stepped inside the TARDIS. Immediately, the Doctor started pulling levers and hitting buttons.

"Why do we need to leave the library?" Rainbow asked, curious.

"Just in case our friends decide to wake you two up when we aren't looking. Who knows what would happen?"

"What if they're dying?" Twilight offered. "Wouldn't we want to wake them up?"

"It's not that simple, Twilight. The spirits won't allow them to leave in the middle of combat. It's against their code."

"Fine."

"How exactly do we get into the Spirit World anyway?" Soren asked Twilight as he looked at her. Before Twilight could answer, the Doctor began explaining.

"You two will need to have a lucid dream, which will be easy with the combination of Soren and the TARDIS. In the Spirit World, you both will need to appeal to the Elementals so they will 'grace you with their presence.' After that, everything will run its own course. Simple." Everyone but him didn't think so.

"You said that you and Twilight will stay with us till we wake up," Rainbow Dash said. "What if we die? How will you know?"

"The TARDIS has an organism radar to keep track of all living things within her walls. If something or someone dies, the TARDIS will know," the Doctor replied while resting his hoof on a lever. "By the way, are you two ready to go?"

"Wait, how will the TARDIS help us sleep?" Soren asked.

"It also has a very unique, very new, function to hibernate any life form I want it to. It's only used in dire emergencies, but in this case, it quickens the pace of our plan." Twilight and the Doctor then wished good luck upon Soren and Rainbow as the Time Lord pulled the lever...

Soren opened his eyes to a very white area. It was flat and went as far as his eyes could see. He noticed that the sky was slightly darker than the white floor, so at least he knew which way was up and which way was down.

"Rainbow Dash," he called out. "Are you here?"

"Over here," he heard her respond. Soren looked to his right and saw Rainbow Dash staring at him through what looked like a window.

"How did you get over there?" he wondered, walking up to the strange window.

"No clue. I woke up, saw you in this window, and waited for you to wake up." Soren began investigating the window.

"Have you tried going around this thing?" Soren looked around the window and saw nothing. He tried the other side with the same result.

"Yes, but you weren't there. This thing is like a portal or something." Soren began pondering the many possibilities of how to reacquaint himself with Rainbow. He placed a hoof on the window and felt solid glass.

"Look out." Soren turned his back to the window and kicked. He recoiled off the window and landed on the ground. "Any glass on your end?"

"No." Rainbow double-checked her surroundings while Soren put his hoof on the window again. The second he felt the window, Soren noticed something different. The glass felt a little more rubbery. Glancing past his hoof, he saw Rainbow's back facing him. She turned to face him, and the glass became solid again.

"Rainbow, can you turn around again?" She obliged and turned her back to him. Soren's hoof once again felt rubber, but this time it was slowly edging forward a few inches; much further than the first time. It soon stopped. "Look at me again." When Rainbow turned back around, Soren's hoof was immediately pushed backward as if the once-rubbery glass became solid again. The recoil of the glass sent Soren backwards into the ground.

"Woah, are you ok?"

"Yeah. At least I figured something out," Soren replied, picking himself up. "This may seem crazy, but it's the only chance we got. Rainbow, I need you to walk around to the other side of this window while I force myself through it." She shrugged then nodded.

Soren started to count down from three; after "one" he said "go" and the couple put his plan into motion. Rainbow walked slowly around the mirror while Soren tried with all his might to push through the rubbery glass. Once Rainbow reached the other side, Soren's straining stopped. It was quiet...then Soren poked his head from around the window and waved to Dash. She rolled her eyes.

"Quit fooling around," she smiled. Next they sat down and thought about how to get the Elementals to come to them. After about 10 minutes of thinking of random ideas, Soren and Rainbow Dash heard a semi-distant voice.

"Congratulations on figuring out my little trick. Perspectives can fool even the brightest of ponies. It gets rather boring if I cannot find a smart pony now and again, let alone two. So what brings you two here?"

"We're here to meet the Elementals," Soren answered the voice.

"The Elementals? Surely you don't expect them to just talk to you because you want them to."

"Of course not. That's why me and my friend, Rainbow Dash, here are trying to come up with a way to get them to notice us."

"But they have already noticed you, Soren, especially the Fire Elemental. I hear she's helped you out a few times. She noticed that you two are looking for the Elementals, so she sent me here. I know why you two are here. A promise made by a being from a different universe, the quest for the big truth, and Time that progresses with Death."

"Who are you?!" Dash yelled. "Show yourself!" As Rainbow attempted to lure out the cause of the voice, Soren couldn't wrap his head around what he was hearing. 'The voice knows me, knows why we're here, and knows what's going on,' Soren thought to himself. 'And what does he mean "Time that progresses with Death?" There's only one pony that I knew that died. It can't be relevant.' As Dash tried to figure out what the voice is, a silhouette of a pony slowly emerged from nowhere, and it began walking towards them.

Soren and Dash stood up and faced the shadow. The pony came into focus. He was barrel-chested and tall. He had a green coat; a short, brown-colored mane and a short tail of the same color; a cutie mark that resembled the planet that Equestria was on; and most shocking of all, eyes with no pupils or anything, just pure white (but not glowing). Even though this pony only had pure white eyes and was probably blind, Soren and Rainbow could tell that this pony can see just as well, if not better, than the two of them. The stallion stopped walking and introduced himself.

"Hello, Soren and Rainbow Dash. I am the Earth Elemental." The two just stared at him for a little bit before Soren spoke.

"You're the Earth Elemental?" he questioned.

"Yes," the Elemental replied. "Were you expecting someone else?"

"No, but I pictured you to be..." Soren hesitated. He was trying to find the right word without offending him.

"Tougher looking," Dash blurted out. "Like a spirit that could destroy everything if he really wanted to." The Earth Elemental laughed.

"I guarantee I'm who I say I am. My name is Terra. And I know why you two are here; all four of us do. The Promise."

"Who asked the Doctor to make this promise?" Soren asked.

"You don't know? You of all ponies should know."

"Well I don't. The Doctor refused to tell me."

"Oh...well if he refused then maybe I shouldn't tell you. In any case, are you two ready?" Soren and Rainbow nodded and were prepared to fight.

Terra immediately raised his hoof and stomped on the ground. The ground shook violently, and a massive hole formed beneath all of them. The next sensation that they felt was free falling. Soren and Rainbow would have started flying, except they couldn't feel their wings. 'I guess this is what the Doctor was talking about,' Soren thought.

All of a sudden, Soren and Rainbow discovered that they weren't falling anymore. They didn't land; they just stopped. The two scanned their surrounding area and saw nothing but an environment of blue skies, thin grass, and dry dirt. Soren saw they were laying on a plain, and in the surrounding horizon, he could see mountains. The couple got up and looked at each other.

"Your wings are gone!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed suddenly.

"So are yours!" Soren exclaimed back. They both looked at their respective backs to confirm that their wings have indeed disappeared.

"Do not fret," Terra said. "Your wings will come back if you defeat me. If you lose...well I guess you won't be needing them now will you." Terra was on a circular patch of dirt, standing at least twenty yards away from them. Soren and Dash got in a fighting position and stared at Terra. He could take the hint: the fight was on.

The three of them stared at each other for a good bit of time before Soren took one step forward. The second Soren moved, Terra stomped a hoof to the ground and nudged it forward slightly. This caused a single-file wave of rocks to move towards the white unicorn. Soren dodged it, but when he landed, another one of Terra's waves was already speeding towards him. Soren barely dodged that one. Every time Soren dodged and landed on the ground, another wave of rocks was already heading towards him. One particular wave of rocks was in midair, formed horizontally, as they flew at Soren. He curled up on the ground, and the rocks flew over him. Predicting that another wave was about to strike him, Soren was surprised when he felt and heard nothing.

Slowly standing up, Soren stood there and looked at Terra, who projected immense concentration. 'If his ability is so accurate, why doesn't he attack me?' Soren thought. He keep staring at Terra, then an idea came to him. 'Can it be...?' Soren moved his hoof to a slightly different spot on the ground then he had to dodge more waves before he got another chance to curl up on the ground. 'It seems like he only attacks when I move or touch a new spot on the ground. Of course!' Soren looked at Rainbow Dash, who never moved once. Since he still had his horn, Soren used his magic to levitate Rainbow towards him. Using a bit more magic, Soren created a sound-proof bubble around them.

"Rainbow, Terra only sees us when we are on the ground," Soren began explaining.

"Makes sense. So?"

"So, if we could somehow get above him, we can get the drop on him and attack."

"Well use your magic and put me above his head."

"Glad we're on the same page." Soren dropped the bubble and began levitating Rainbow to a position above the unmoving Terra.

"Where are you Rainbow Dash~?" Terra asked. "I know Soren is making you float. You both must have figured out how I am able to see you, but can you actually fight me without touching the ground and without wings?"

'We aren't entirely sure ourselves at this point but anything is worth trying,' Soren thought as he concentrated on his spell. Dash was now above Terra, and the Elemental kept talking since they were silent.

"I can wait for as long as I want. I know you two are not advancing because one of you hasn't moved from their spot. Wait...only one..."

"Hey, I'm over here!" Soren yelled, interrupting Terra's train of thought. Soren then started to run but not before he let go of his magical hold on Dash. She fell down onto Terra as he sent wave after wave at Soren. Dash tackled Terra to the ground and began wrestling with him. Since Terra was a fierce fighter, he wasn't losing the wrestling match, but he wasn't winning either since Dash was a good fighter as well. Dash, however, was soon flung off of him, but Soren took this opportunity to charge at Terra.

"There you are, Soren!" Terra grinned, but it was too late. Soren slammed into him...but it was much more than that. Added to the charge was Soren's horn; it punctured Terra's side as Soren slammed into him. As Soren saw Terra flung towards the ground, a drop of something fell in front of him. Soren put a hoof to his horn then brought it back down to look at it. Soren's breath became caught in his throat; he saw blood. Shocked, Soren looked at Terra as the Elemental slowly got up.

"I...I didnt mean..." Soren stammered. Rainbow was surprised to see Soren in shock.

"That was quite the blow you gave me," Terra said with a slightly weaker tone. "Never seen a horn used on me that way. It punctured pretty deep. Usually unicorns are afraid of it being stuck within the other pony or scared of their horn breaking. I'll tell you what though..."

"What?" Soren whispered, still trying to get a hold of himself. He never planned on hurting any pony that much, especially not with his own horn.

"I can't even move without my side hurting. I can't even perform the most basic Earth spells without the same consequence." Terra demonstrated a small rock wave but groaned in agony. "See? Let me make a deal with you two. You ponies basically pinned me down. So...how about I withdraw from this fight?" He looked at Rainbow. "I doubt your friend can continue this fight anyway."

"So that's it?" Dash questioned, unsure if they should trust the spirit. "You're just giving up? Why should I believe that?"

"Believe me when I say that Elementals never go back on their word when it comes to codes of honor and combat. I am withdrawing from this brawl for the sake of Soren and I."

"I don't know..." Dash began. But Soren cut her off.

"Fine," he said. Surprised, Dash looked at him. "If he wants to give up, then we'll let him. No sense risking our lives further." Dash nodded, as did Terra.

"Before I go, let me give you two a word of advice: The other Elementals won't be so merciful like me. When it comes to combat, they will gladly give up blood and limbs to ensure their victory. We can create new bodies if we truly wanted to. This way, we don't have to worry about fighting. Be cautious." Terra then turned into mist and evaporated. A white light flashed, blinding Soren and Rainbow. After the brightness cleared, Soren and Rainbow were back in the first empty area again. They looked at each other and agreed that they should take this time to rest. They didn't need to sleep in this form, so the two just relaxed and waited.

The Cloaked Mare

Dear Princess Celestia,

Untampered rage...that's how I am going to begin this letter. I thought I knew Soren; we all did. Rainbow Dash, Spike, and I saw a side of Soren that we didn't think was possible. We saw his anger take over. You and I both know what happens to a unicorn's magic when emotions overwhelm logical thinking. Soren...lost himself, to put it simply. He started to become the discorded Doctor. I somehow got through to him and stopped him from taking drastic measures against the Master. Princess Celestia, we...I...fear for his safety...and his mentality. He can't keep going like this. At some point, he will snap. I just hope you and Luna will be available in case we have no choice but to...

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

1 week before Winter Wrap Up

Weeks after the Planet Zero incident, Soren received his wish of relaxation. His friends spent a lot of time with him to keep his mind off of certain things. To help Soren relax, Twilight and her friends did many activities with him. Applejack and Rainbow Dash raced with him now and again; Pinkie Pie threw him, Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike a party as soon as they returned; Fluttershy and Soren played with and cared for many different animals; and Rarity created appropriate winter attire for him.

When one week remained before Winter Wrap Up, Soren and his friends began preparing for the up-and-coming holiday. One night, in order to celebrate the arriving holiday, Pinkie Pie decided to throw a "one week before Winter Wrap Up" party in the fields next to Ponyville. Everypony was invited, so it was a very big and loud party. The celebration had everything: food, music, decorations, entertainment, and games. Twilight, Soren, Rainbow Dash, and a new arrival to Ponyville (an earth pony by the stage name of MC Stall) were the main singers for this party.

By midnight, the party was at its peak. Ponies were dancing, laughing, and having a blast. At a certain point of the night, Soren was no longer singing; instead he was dancing with Rainbow. The couple, along with Twilight and MC, decided to let other ponies sing or play music for the crowd. While a group of random ponies were performing, Soren and Rainbow Dash sat at a table after tiring themselves out from dancing.

"Pinkie Pie always knows how to throw one heck of a party," Rainbow Dash commented.

"Definitely," Soren responded. "We can always count on her to throw a party for random reasons. How long do you think this will last?"

"All night if everypony keeps going." Soren and Rainbow saw two mares and two stallions step offstage as MC trotted back on. The blue-coated, black-haired earth pony grabbed the microphone and wanted everypony's attention.

"All right, everypony!" MC shouted. "Quiet down just for a sec. I wanna do something special before you all get crazier." The audience quieted down and looked towards the stage. "This party that my new friend Pinkie Pie started is awesome, but let's make it even more awesome, shall we?" The audience cheered. "Alright then. Soren..." Soren's ears perked. "...care to join me onstage?" Soren looked at Rainbow Dash. They exchanged nods and Soren walked towards the stage.

MC continued to talk as Soren arrived onstage. "Everypony, me and Soren have a special song that we came up with just for a big party like this." Soren now stood beside MC. "Hope you all enjoy it." The music started so the audience became silent.

Soren was the first to start singing, then MC Stall soon joined in. The two singers sounded great together. It was obvious that both of them spent a lot of time on this song. When the duo started singing the second half of their song, the audience was already dancing. If one thought the party was in full swing before, then this would seem out of control. Some ponies looked like they were having too much fun.

The song was almost over, but the crowd continued to go crazy, even Twilight and her friends were having a blast. Soren knew the finale of the song would have been amazing, but he didn't know there would be a slight interruption. During the second half of the song, a cloaked mare made her way through the crowd towards the stage. Everypony she passed stopped what they were doing to look at her. Since the mare was hidden underneath her cloak, the ponies had a bad feeling about her, or they were simply curious to what she was doing.

Eventually, the two singers onstage noticed the mare and the effect she had on the entire crowd, so they stopped singing. As she walked slowly towards the stage, the cloaked mare seemed to be staring straight at Soren. As Soren and the mare locked eyes, Twilight and her friends began walking closer to the stage. The mare quickly noticed and snapped her head in their direction. The six mares stopped in their tracks, unsure of what to do. The cloaked mare looked at Soren once again as she stood in front of the stage. She lifted a hoof, pointed it at him, and only uttered one sentence.

"It's your fault."

After saying the sentence, the mare walked away from the party and into the Everfree Forest. The crowd was silent until Stall encouraged them to continue the party. As the party picked up, Soren was just standing there. 'What does she mean by my fault?' Soren walked over to his friends, who also had faces of confusion and concern.

"Who was that?" Twilight asked Soren. He shrugged.

"Whoever that mare was," Rainbow Dash started, "she better watch herself next time I see her." Rainbow punched her hooves together.

"Calm down, Rainbow," Applejack said. "Ah'm sure whoever that gal was will think twice before messin' with anypony."

"I hope you're right, AJ," Soren finally spoke. "I hope you're right."

The ponies of the party seemed to have already forgotten about the mysterious mare by the end of the night. The only ponies that seemed to remember were Soren, Spike, Twilight and her friends, and MC Stall. All of them hoped that this cloaked mare wouldn't cause any trouble for Ponyville.

1 day before Winter Wrap Up

In an unknown cave in the Everfree Forest, a plan was being made to free Ponyville from evil and villains. A mare stood alone in her cave, preparing for tomorrow. Removing her hood, she began to carve strange symbols within a circle on the ground. Once the symbols were completed, a picture started to form. It showed Ponyville and its inhabitants going about their business, prepping for Winter Wrap Up. The mare chuckled to herself.

"They always seem happy even though danger is cursed upon them. That alicorn caused evil to favor this town, but tomorrow will be the day that no villain, monster, or spirit will harm this town ever again. On the day of the eclipse, my friends will come, and they will guard this town with their lives."

The mare continued to watch the citizens of Ponyville. While she was doing this, shadowy figures slowly appeared on the rocky wall behind her. The shadows grew in size, but no details, except for their grins and different eye colors, could be seen. The shadows smiled as they also looked upon the town of Ponyville.

The sun was setting as nine ponies and a dragon sat around a table in Club Vinyl and were conversing about Winter Wrap Up. Everypony there seemed very enthusiastic about their jobs for the holiday, especially Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle.

"So your job is to organize all of Winter Wrap Up?" Soren asked, amazed.

"Yep," Twilight Sparkle responded. "Ever since my first Winter Wrap Up, I've been designated the organizer for the holiday. Do the rest of you have your same jobs?" she asked, looking at her friends. Each of her best friends nodded.

"I have to clear some snow around town then get the southern birds again," Rainbow Dash answered. "Same as always."

"I have my same job," Fluttershy said.

"As do I," Rarity answered, "but I thoroughly enjoy it."

"I get to ice skate again!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily.

"This year's gonna be the fastest clean up yet," Applejack commented. The mares nodded in agreement. Soren turned towards Vinyl and Octavia.

"What jobs do you two have?" he asked them. Vinyl rubbed the back of her head as she grinned embarrassingly. Octavia sighed and answered her brother.

"Vinyl isn't allowed to work on Winter Wrap Up anymore," she said. "As for me, I simply help to clean up all the snow in town."

"So what did Vinyl do to get kicked out of Winter Wrap Up?" Soren asked. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie started giggling. Octavia chose to explain the event.

"Last year, Vinyl's job was the same as mine: to clean up the snow. I was shoveling snow from the park while Vinyl was to help haul the snow that was cleared off of the roofs. Simply enough, yes? However, Vinyl had...other plans. She wanted to help clear the roofs as well using her strongest speakers. In hind sight, it just an experiment and the logic was valid enough, but it went horribly wrong. She blasted her speakers at max volume, and the vibrations were so strong that they shook all of the nearby houses. Most of the snow fell...but at the same time, pieces of the roofs fell as well. The damage Vinyl had caused was enough to ban her from this year's Winter Wrap Up." Soren understood the story, and Spike decided to comment.

"Nice going Vinyl," he said sarcastically. "Did you at least help clean up the mess?"

"I would have if they didn't refuse my offer," the DJ pouted with her fore-legs crossed.

"Maybe they would have accepted if you weren't the pony that caused the mess in the first place," Octavia retorted. Vinyl simply said 'Yeah, yeah' in response.

"Well is there anything else I should know about tomorrow?" Soren asked. "It will technically be my first time cleaning."

"Ooh, ooh, there's an eclipse happening tomorrow," Pinkie Pie said excitedly. "The moon will be all red and shiny during the night!" Soren chuckled at his hyper friend. After the girls told Soren more about tomorrow's holiday, all of them left the club to get their rest for Winter Wrap Up.

Hidden Intentions

Princess Cadence and Shining Armor managed to track down the source of the rumble using their combined magic. Both of their horns started to glow dimly while they ran throughout the castle. It took a few minutes for the married couple to finally trace the origin of the rumble to the Royal Library. The two peeked inside before entering. They saw the circular main room in ruins.

Finally entering, Cadence and Shining Armor investigated the half-destroyed room. At first, nothing could be seen, but then they heard something. The sound of a glowing horn could be heard nearby, except this sounded a little different. Upon investigating the room more, the married couple soon found that it wasn't simply the sound of a glowing horn, it sounded like a hissing horn as well.

"What could be causing that sound?" Shining Armor whispered to Cadence.

"Can't you feel that magic?" she responded. "Our magic must have been sensing it, almost like this pony's magic was a beacon."

They walked a few more meters forward before looking down an aisle to their left. It was in said aisle that they found the cause of the hissing horn. They could see a green cocoon glued to a wall, and inside this cocoon was a glowing red light. Upon a closer glance, the two ponies could see that the red light was indeed emanating from a unicorn horn that was touching the shell of the cocoon. Cadence wanted to move forward, but Shining Armor stopped her.

"We don't know what's going to happen," he explained. "Let's just wait for a few seconds."

Their wait wasn't wasted, for the red light became far brighter than it was originally. Pretty soon, the cocoon started to melt. Cadence and Shining began to shield their eyes from the bright light. Once they heard a thump on the ground near them, the couple removed their hooves from their eyes to look at the wall again. Cadence gasped and ran towards the end of the aisle after she saw who was laying on the ground. Shining looked upon the scene of his wife running over to a seemingly unconscious white unicorn, but when he walked closer, he saw that it wasn't just a unicorn, it was an alicorn.

"Soren?!" Cadence called as she sat next to him. "Are you alright?" She reached over to Soren in order to shake him awake but pulled her hoof away in pain after she touched his burning hot coat. "Ow!"

"Cadence, are you alright?!" Shining asked, trotting up to her.

"Yes, I'm fine, but why is Soren's coat so hot? Maybe he was overloading a heating spell to melt that cocoon?"

"That would make sense...wait." Cadence looked up at him. Shining was staring at the center of the main room. "Do you hear that?" Cadence became silent so she could pay attention to any small noises. Sure enough, she heard a buzzing sound increasing in volume with every second.

"It can't be," she whispered.

"Changelings," Shining muttered.

The buzzing grew louder, and soon it was replaced by hooves dropping onto the ground. An unintelligible combination of clicks and buzzes were being exchanged between two changelings. Shining Armor and Cadence readied themselves as the noises approached their location. As the two changelings turned the corner into the aisle the three ponies were down, Shining Armor felt a hoof touch his shoulder. Both he and Cadence turned to see a grinning Soren standing next to them. Soren then put the hoof to his mouth to signal both of them to be quiet.

"I got this," he whispered. The changelings looked down the aisle and, upon seeing the grinning alicorn, were about to fly out of the room. However, they weren't fast enough for what came next. Soren gathered all of the heat he used to escape the cocoon. His coat shined with a faint green as he prepared a spell. Before the changelings could fly away, a giant, green heat wave rushed down the aisle towards them. The two enemies were blasted through the opposing aisle and were slammed against a wall (the same one Chrysalis was slammed against), causing them to be knocked unconscious. After the spell was over, Soren collapsed.

"Are you ok, Soren?" Cadence asked as she used a hoof to help him up.

"Yeah...that was just a lot of magic coursing through me. Took some of my energy away is all." Soren noticed Shining Armor standing in front of him. Soren reached out a hoof to the Captain of the Royal Guard. "And you must be Shining Armor. Twilight's told me quite a bit about you."

"It's nice to finally meet the 'amazing friend' my sis has been telling me about," Shining said as he shook Soren's hoof, "although I wish it would be under better circumstances. What happened up here anyway?"

"No time to explain. Chrysalis is back, that's all you need to know. To the ballroom!" Before Shining Armor or Cadence could say anything, Soren began sloppily running out of the Royal Library.

"Well he sure is an adventurous colt, I'll give him that," Shining commented.

"He's saved ponies more than anyone can count," Cadence replied as she started trotting after Soren. "He could be lazy for all I care." The princess then ran out of the library. Shining Armor, becoming more serious about the situation, sprinted after the two alicorns. He soon caught up to Cadence and Soren, and the three of them continued to run through the castle with Soren leading the way.

"So what's the plan?" Shining asked Soren.

"I need to find two ponies before confronting Chrysalis again," he replied. They took a right towards the foyer.

"Again?" Cadence asked. "Is that how all of that damaged appeared in the library? Because you fought Chrysalis alone?" Soren said nothing more until they entered the main foyer of the castle. Soren was surprised to see that no more ponies were being welcomed inside. Not only that...

"Where's Princess Luna or Princess Celestia?" Soren wondered aloud. He groaned then gave a quick outward breath of irritation. "That's ok," he assured himself. "The plan can work without them anyway. I'm actually very glad I ran into you two before going to the ballroom. I need your help."

"We'll do anything to get rid of Chrysalis and the changelings," Shining stated.

"But that's the funny thing: There aren't many changelings in the castle right now. Think about it." Seeing the confusion etched on his friends' faces, Soren continued. "The ballroom had almost ten ponies last I checked. Without including them, don't you find it odd how we were never attacked on our way here. If Chrysalis wanted a hostile takeover, she would have brought an army with her. She would have brought an army, except~..."

"Except she's looking for something specific," Cadence finished. "But what?"

"Isn't it obvious? She wants something powerful. Possibly to help her accomplish a hostile takeover in the future, or maybe she just wants to make her changelings stronger."

"But Celestia is too powerful for Chrysalis to bring to the Badlands, even by force," Shining added.

"Who said it was the princesses Chrysalis was after?"

"Twilight!" Shining gasped. Soren still shook his head.

"Thankfully, no. Who did she cage in the library instead of destroying? Who recently became a well-known, powerful alicorn in Equestria? Who has the Elementals on his side?"

"You," they said simultaneously.

"Not to gloat, but yes, she is after only me. Why she decided to go after my friends is beyond me, but I can guarantee that she will never ever try anything like this again after I'm done with her. Come on!" Soren ran out of the foyer. Cadence and Shining Armor soon caught up with him.

"I know you have a plan. Mind telling us what it is?" Shining asked. Soren simply smiled and continued to look forward.

Chrysalis was getting impatient. Her changelings should have been back by now. She would have sent more changelings into the castle, but she knew it would ruin her ruse. She had to keep Celestia and her subjects believing they were enormously outnumbered. Since she still had to wait, Chrysalis decided to speak to Celestia.

"So has your sister found my prisoners yet?" she asked the sun goddess. Celestia's eyes widened slightly. How did she know about her telepathic message to her sister?

"No," Celestia replied cooly, "no she hasn't. Even if we do find the prisoners, what can we do? You can still harm a few ponies, even with an alicorn protecting them."

"Very true. I'm glad you think ahead before acting, although that may have been your weakness on more than one occasion." Celestia remained silent.

"Princess, we have to do something," Twilight Sparkle whispered as she stepped closer to the princess.

"Patience, my student. Help will come, even though Chrysalis wants it to anyway."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It means that I need that alicorn over here in order to complete my plan!" Chrysalis shouted. "Now stay quiet while I wait for my three children to return. Also, if any of you interfere with Soren's plans..." She paused. "Actually, I don't think you would like to hear what I have in store." As Celestia spread her wings protectively over the group of ponies, Chrysalis began laughing.