Unfortunately for Soren, it was indeed going to be a long day, but not simply for the reason of hearing the summary of Pinkamena's life story. The entire time he heard her tale, Soren found Pinkamena to be charming but brash. She was pretty nice once you gain her trust, but Soren was told by her what happens when she doesn't like a pony. At this point in his life, Soren has lost count of how many times he was on Death's doorstep. Sometimes it was entertaining to him to humor the thought of all of the pain ending at any of those times. He quickly shook away the thought, though, for it's not healthy to think that way.
Walking away from Pinkamena's cave, Soren yawned. It was only the afternoon and he was already tired. He knew it was going to be a long day; he knew that he would have to face Twilight Sparkle. Surely she has lost her patience and will just try to end this conflict. He witnessed her losing patience when she fought Sunny. Soren stopped walking.
Sunny...
He couldn't imagine what she was going through. The mare loved him; that much was obvious. She sang a song about him, for Celestia-sake! She was so scared for him, yet she chooses to remain strong. I don't give her the credit she deserves. That needs to change. She's already done a lot for me. Readying his magic, Soren teleported away to Appaloosa.
--------------
"Not good, not good, not good, not good!" The Doctor was pacing feverishly inside of the church. Bastian, Derpy, and Sunny felt his pain; they were all worried about Soren. He was captured by a murderer! Bastian told them of Pinkamena's near-infinite death count. The Doctor was more worried of the news they received a few hours earlier. Twilight Sparkle appeared in town and issued a death threat to all of Appaloosa. "The entire town. The. Entire. Town!"
"Doctor, calm down," Derpy said. "We should just evacuate every—"
"We can't. She wouldn't allow it. Plus, everyone would be vulnerable." He sat down and began tapping his hooves to his head. "Come on, think think think. There has to be something."
"Aren't you guys forgetting about Soren?" Sunny asked. The crystal mare was found by the Doctor as she was resting in the grass. The two waited for Soren to return, but he never did. After an hour of waiting, the two returned to the church, only to be told by Bastian where Soren is more than likely to be.
"He may be dead by now," Bastian replied bluntly.
"I doubt it."
"Sunny, it doesn't matter if he is or not," the Doctor said. "Right now, we have a bigger situation on our hooves." The sound of the church doors opening silenced the conversation.
"Did it ever occur to you all that Twilight is simply threatening the town because this is the last trial?" Soren asked as he walked up to everypony. He saw Sunny fighting the urge to run up to him again. He responded by trotting up to and hugging her. "How are you holding up?"
"Better now," Sunny replied. She smiled and closed her eyes as she enjoyed the hug.
"Awwww," Derpy sounded.
"Derpy!" the Doctor whispered.
"What? They're cute!" she whispered in return. The Doctor walked up to the alicorn.
"Soren, since you're back, I'm sure you can help us with this crisis. In the meantime...I think now would be a good time for you to answer for a few things." Soren saw the slightly irritated look on the Doctor's face. Not a good sign.
"Ok..." he said nervously.
"Why did you leave Rainbow and your friends?" Soren had to really think about the answer. He didn't want to betray the future, but he also didn't want to lie. Actually...the Doctor wouldn't be alive for that event.
"I was putting her and the girls through so much. I endanger them all the time, and I couldn't live with that. After I defeated Nightmare Moon when she resurrected herself somehow, I left with the TARDIS. I guess you can say I needed to find myself."
"I'm going to ignore the fact that Nightmare Moon returned and ask are you going through a life crisis?"
"It's more along the lines that I hate my life. I didn't want to be around anypony in fear of getting them hurt or worse...until I met Sunny. She helped me realize that no matter how fast or how far I run, I will always need company to keep my straight. I'm like you, Doctor; I don't trust myself without someone to keep me level-headed."
"At your point in time, how long has it been since you arrived in Ponyville?"
"I'm going to guess seven months."
"Seven months?!" Sunny and Derpy shouted in disbelief.
"I have only been doing these adventures for around seven months. Too much has happened to me and my friends during that time. They deserve better than me."
"Soren, no they don't," Sunny interjected. "You keep saying that, but it is precisely what you do that makes them deserve such an amazing friend. You protect them; not only that, you protect your country. You're a hero."
"What kind of hero can't even save himself?!" There was dead silence after his outburst. Calming down, Soren jumped on top of one of the benches and spoke to his friends. "We need to gather everypony in the church or underneath it in the caverns. It's all or nothing now, people! Let's go!" Everyone took a few seconds before finally nodding, then the five of them sprinted out of the front doors and scattered throughout Appaloosa.
Every pony they ran into was instructed to take shelter in the church. Since the entire town heard Twilight's threat, no one questioned Soren and his friends. Within the hour, dark clouds appeared and created a giant ring around Appaloosa; then the clouds slowly began covering the town.
Five more minutes passed and Soren knew they had run out of time. He hoped they had managed to gather everypony. If not, hopefully the rest went into the Crystal Caverns. Soren, Sunny, the Doctor, Derpy, and Bastian reacquainted in front of the church and watched as the clouds fully enveloped the town.
"She is here," Bastian commented. "What will you do, Soren?"
"That depends on what she throws at us. What is known for attacking entire towns?"
"Scared animal herds?" Derpy suggested.
"Daleks, Cybermen, the list goes on," the Doctor added. Soren shook his head.
"It's not from your universe, Doctor. It does need to be sentient or easy to manipulate. It will have to be as numerous as a horde." Soren sat down to think. "Many in number, big enough to take on a pony or two, easy to manipulate..."
Uggghhhhh
Soren rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, Doctor, if you know what Twilight is going to use, by all means, please tell us," he said sarcastically.
"That...wasn't...me." Soren's ears perked as he heard the same noise again but with more than one voice making it. The five of them saw something limp around the corner of a building. It looked like an injured pony.
"What is that?" Sunny wondered. "Doesn't sound healthy. As a matter of fact, it sounds like it's dying."
"It's already dead," the Doctor said gravely. "EVERYONE INSIDE, NOW!!!" The group ran inside to join the numerous ponies crowding the church. The Doctor, with his friends right behind him, ran to the nearest window to look at the pony outside. There were now more of them.
"Doctor," Soren started, "that can't be what I think it is. I've already seen enough of that weeks ago!"
"I'm afraid so."
"What's out there?" Sunny asked. "You said it was already dead, so why worry?"
"It is already dead. Ms. Sparkle is sending a horde of zombies to destroy all of us."
"Zombies? The undead, huh? How many could she possibly have?" Both the Doctor and Soren face-hoofed.
"She had to say it," the Time Lord said.
"I doubt she knows," Soren said.
"Know what?" Sunny asked. The Doctor chose to explain.
"One dead pony doesn't necessarily make only one zombie."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"May I interject?" Bastian tried to say but no one heard him.
"It means that a horde can be create from a few ponies with enough resources, or in this case alicorn magic."
"Soren," Bastian said, getting the white alicorn to look. "Outside." Everyone walked up to the window again and all of their expressions changed to horror. Outside were hundreds, if not thousands, of zombie ponies waiting to charge at the church. Flying above the horde was Twilight.
"You should have given up when you had the chance, Soren!" she yelled. "I don't know how Rainbow lost to you, but I won't make the same mistake. Now you will all see just how much power I wield!"
Twilight's horn sparked with dark purple electricity, and it surged through her body. Bringing her wings towards her, Twilight enveloped herself in her own aura. A bright purple light illuminated the sky as the alicorn transformed. Twilight expanded her wings and the light exploded from her.
The Doctor and Soren were impressed by Twilight's new form while sharing everyone else's reaction of worry. Twilight's coat was now an extremely dark, almost black, purple; her eyes were magenta and the whites of her eyes were a lighter variety of magenta; she had a black and white stripe through her mane and instead of purple, her mane looked like a portion of space made of reds, pinks, and purples; and she wore red armor on her hooves and chest, and had her Element of Disharmony on her head.
"I feel sorry for you, Soren," Bastian commented honestly. "What are you going to do?" Soren slowly walked towards the stage of the church as Twilight continued to speak.
"Soren, your time has come. Everyone's time has come thanks to you. Minions! Attack!" The horde began walking towards the target building.
"Everyone!" Soren shouted as he still made his way to the stage. "We need you to grab whatever weapons you can and fight for your lives. You must spill blood on this day if we want to survive. Protect this building, protect your town, protect your loved ones." Soren finally made it onstage. He stood in front of the organ that was there as well.
The horde came closer as everypony followed Soren's advice and rushed outside once they found a weapon. The zombies were only charging from one side of the church, making defense more manageable. The Doctor, Bastian, Derpy, and Sunny met Soren onstage as he sat in front of the organ.
He used his magic to activate the sonic screwdriver hidden in his mane. Within seconds, the TARDIS appeared next to the organ. Soren ran inside and came back out with his electric guitar. Now that he had everything he needed, Soren used his magic to play the organ. After a few notes on the organ, he switched to playing his guitar with his hooves.
Gone, cast away in time
Evil yours, now evil mine
So I robbed you blind
The voices in my head suggest a less than peaceful side
The endless possibilities
Controlling all our lives
You can't break me
Crush the fears of yesterday
You can't save me
Barriers of trust will fade.
I've stood in the dark
Been waiting all this time
While we damn the dead I'm trying to survive
I'm not ready to die
Damned, watch the masses fall
Burn it down, control 'em all
*Help me* Make me crawl
To daddy's little girl to read the writings on the wall
We'll cast into the nothingness
Their final curtain call
You can't break me
Crush the fears of yesterday
You can't save me,
Barriers of trust will fade.
I've stood in the dark
Been waiting all this time
While we damn the dead I'm trying to survive,
I'm not ready to die
At this point while the battle rages on outside and as thunder strikes, Soren plays a guitar solo and sends a bit of his energy, via magic, to the ponies outside to give them more endurance.
Through the madness we find
Loyalty is no match for power
Say goodbye to your life,
Left to rot in your darkest hour
Prayers won't help you now
As long as you're mine!
Soren stopped singing and playing the guitar. Instead he played a certain pattern of notes on the organ and changed the pitch with his magic. As he played, Soren heard a gasp from Derpy.
"Doctor, look!" Soren noticed that the Doctor is staring at him.
"What? It set the mood," Soren said, thinking it was about his song. The Doctor shook his head.
"Look in a mirror." Soren spawns in a mirror and looks at his reflection. He sees that his eyes changed from green and are almost yellow, and his coat changed into a light grey.
"I don't care," Soren said, knowing full well what it meant. "We have a battle to win. Bastian, how do we get to the bell tower? I want a view of the battle."
"This way," the zebra answered then began leading them. The Doctor and Derpy exchanged nervous glances, and Sunny had no idea why they were worried.