Soren The Alicorn Part 4: The Rift

by KingNyroc15

Shayden

"As I tried to regain my strength, I thought of ending this accomplice," Twilight read, "but little did I know that this pony was definitely not what I had originally expected."

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"Who are you?" Soren asked as he readied himself, just now regaining strength.

"Calm yourself. We are two stallions with a common enemy. Should we not work together?"

"Work together? You helped them take Sunny!"

"Of whom are you speaking? The Red mare-friend of yours?"

"Yes. You better tell me where they are going, or I'll treat you as another obstacle in my way."

"Hmm, in your current state? Alicorn or not, you would not pose much of a threat. Even at full strength, you alone might not best me, let alone them."

"Are kidding me?! Do you have any idea what I have fought and defeated? I've defeated the Queen of the changelings, the Elementals themselves, the Mare in the Moon, and basically everything that stood in my way from protecting those I care about. You...you're a bug compared to them."

"So you say. As of now I believe that to be purely an opinion instead of fact. And I know of your excursions; most ponies here do."

"I'm finding that harder to believe. If ponies know me, then I would like to meet me. I'm not from here, yet apparently I have had adventures here already." Shayden sighed.

"Meeting a famous alicorn is quite low on my current list of priorities. The five that took your Sunny are up there, and right now we are wasting time with useless and idle chat. Now would you rather I leave you here or do you want my help?"

"Hmm...how do I know you won't stab me in the back? I wouldn't be surprised given my streak with my adventures. And by up there, you mean the Castle of the Royal Sisters?" Soren looks at the above the trees in the distance. "So you're after them? I hope you aren't expecting to head straight there."

"Given your previous claim of power, betrayal would not bode well for me. I am unwilling to attempt it. And if you deny my help then yes, that is my next destination. Also, it is not the castle of the sisters; it is called the Castle of Faust."

"Right...that Faust character," Soren says as he twirls his hoof in a circular fashion. "If these ponies are as smart as I think they are, then they would want us to show up immediately. I think they can wait another night; it's getting late anyway." Soren sits down and realizes there is a small lake in the clearing they are in. He stares at it then the sky. "We should set up camp. I would appreciate your help tomorrow."

Shayden gives a small growl of frustration. "Fine, but I will not wait too long. I shall NOT let them escape me again!"

Soren pulls out the sonic screwdriver from his mane. "You've been hunting them for awhile now, haven't you?"

"For almost an entire year. Only recently have I found their trail. Heh, I wonder if they even remember me..."

"I take it your previous fights didn't go well." Soren activates the screwdriver, creating a consistent beeping.

"I have yet to fight them. This is the closest I have ever come to catching them." Shayden looks at the screwdriver in curiosity, but doesn't say more. A light groaning sound fills the air. The TARDIS soon lands in front of Soren and Shayden.

"There we go! If you haven't come into contact with them, how would they know you? Give me one second." Soren goes into the TARDIS but leaves the doors open. Shayden looks at the TARDIS, showing no signs of surprise.

"You could say they do not know me, but we have met. Only for two seconds, one year ago. But after what they did, I can only assume that they knew it would affect me." Soren walks out with two rolled up sleeping bags on his back.

"Two seconds, one year ago, and whatever they did affected you? Tonight is going to be interesting, that's for sure. Let's gather some wood for a fire, then we can talk some more."

The two found broken branches on the forest's edge and brought them to their campsite. Soren ignited the bundle as the sun completely set. After finishing their task, Soren and Shayden looked at each other from across the fire.

"So those ponies did something to you, and it was so scarring that you still remember the few seconds of their existence. What happened?"

"What makes you think I want to tell you?"

"Because this is the whole reason you're out here. The Everfree Forest is no joke, however I don't think this version of it is nearly as dangerous as mine. Anyway, you hunted these ponies down nonstop for a year, only to finally catch up to them and have me distract you. You are probably irritated at this point. I'm just curious as to why you are hunting them, but I already have a few guesses."

"There is a reason, and I am not very willing to divulge it to you. You are correct in the assumption that I find you quite irritating. Plus, I have only just met you."

"I've been told that I am very trustworthy. So what was it? Did they pillage your town? Did you witness them hurting a random pony? Did they kill someone close to you?" Shayden winces at hearing the last question. He closes his eyes and says nothing.

Soren's voice becomes softer. "I'm so sorry. If you don't want to talk about it, I won't make you. I've lost a few close ponies myself. I just wanted to see how determined you are, and I can see you are very."

"...Determination doesn't even begin to describe it."

"Oh?" Soren arches an eyebrow.

"I shall put it this way. What has one created when they hurt somepony and give them nothing left to lose?"

"A pony that kills for his revenge. We might not be as different as you think; we have some similarities. We have both been broken to the point where we have nothing to lose and nothing will stand in our way to see justice. The only difference is I recovered from that. I can't say I will approve of you killing them though since I don't know your relationship to the pony who died."

"I cared about her... She was my everything..." His voice lowers. "And you are wrong. I will not kill them." He looks Soren in the eyes and smiles. "That would be too leniant of me." Soren sees the look in his eyes. Insanity? A feeling I'm all too familiar with.

"So was she your love?"

"No. She had adopted me. If you are to understand, I will need to start from the beginning."

"Take as long as you need." Shayden got into a comfortable position and took a deep breath.

"I was born to a quaint little farm with your average loving parents and a single brother. At the impressionable age of seven a large tornado tore through the area, decimating our farm and most of the property. We were left with no place to call home, and my parents decided we were to move to the nearest village.

"Like many of the established towns you have no doubt seen, it was a small gathering of hovels that had managed to establish a school. My parents wanted me to have at least an inkling of a proper education, so I of course attended said school.

"Being of a more... divergent... appearance, I was an immediate and obvious target for the collective persecution of the other fillies and colts of the school.

"As a young colt, I looked much like my mother. Pure white coat with matching mane and tail of a pink color, much the same as the dawn of a new day. Thus, my birth given name was Dawn. Coupled with the family name of Shine, I was in possession of a name and appearance that my schoolmates believed better suited for a filly. And so I suffered for it.

"It began as simple snickering and pointing, but quickly grew to verbal abuse... and eventually to physical attacks. My parents began to notice bruises and one day traveled to the school with me. (*lets out a long sigh, head lowered*) And so hell ensued. While they were in conversation with the teacher, a group of five colts and fillies approached me and began a furious bout of physical abuse. Being a young unicorn, I made the mistake of thinking I could force them back with a simple concussive blast spell... But my emotions overrode my better judgement, over-charging my intended spell... and causing a large scale detonation."

Shayden closes his eyes for a moment as if composing himself

"T-the school contained no survivors... m-my parents included. I woke a few hours later, saw what I had done... the soot silhouettes of my parents... and ran. I did not stop running, but I had direction at first. I had tried running home but it was out of the question. My brother no doubt perished as well due to my folly. So I ran onwards, not stopping until I was unable to retain wakefulness.

"When I awoke next it had been a whole day. I was in a forest and I wept, not knowing what to do nor where to go. I did not move that day and hoped beyond hope that I would not be discovered due to fear of the consequences of the destruction I had wreaked. The next day, I began to look for nourishment of any kind. Water was obtained from puddles on a ground, in which I saw that I did not appear the same. My coat was now a deep gray, probably a side affect of the over charged spell.

"My scavenging lasted for a week, finding foods that appeared edible and sleeping under trees or within caves. Some of the edibles I found were in fact inedible poisons that wracked my body and deteriorated my health. Eventually, I was starved and weak, knowing death was fast approaching. I had wondered quite far, into another forest. I fell over under a tree and broke a leg. After all I had been through... I finally gave up the struggle for life. I then lost consciousness for what I had hoped was the last time.

"I was left with dreams, mostly grim reminders of the previous week. In between dreams I would temporarily regain consciousness and find myself in a basket. Looking up I could see what appeared to be my mother, holding the handle of the basket in her mouth. Upon waking up days later, I was in a new shelter made of dirt walls and a roof made of sticks and dried mud covered with leaves. This mare was not my mother. I now saw she had a lavender mane and matching eyes. Her coat was off white, almost tan. She told me of how she discovered me by chance and that she brought me to her home to help me. At one point, she believed me to be too far gone. But eventually I had supposedly regained wakefulness long enough to consume some food. Afterwards, she confided that I had been in a fever for a week, of which I had no memory.

"Next, she expressed wishes of returning me to my family, a statement that reduced me to tears, which would cause me to stop conversing with her. (*He slightly smiles*) Oh but she was a determined mare and wanted to pierce the veil I was covering myself in. It began with an exchange of names, her's being Lilly. For fear of being recognized, I then created a new identity for myself. From that point on, I called myself Shayden. She believed me, and so I became used to the new name, my old one beginning to sound more foreign and alien as years would pass.

"At first, I refused to use my magic, fearing further death and destruction would ensue. I would help her around her home tending her gardens which supplied her crops. She noticed that I seemed to have an aversion to my own abilities and tried to ask, but I would always refuse to speak of it.

"As previously stated, she was determined. And as such, she began to piece together small details of the past of the mysterious colt that had entered her life. Eventually, she confronted me, after years of living with her. Against my own judgement, I had begun to care for her...which terrified me. All others I had ever cared for have all ended up deceased because of me. Due to my caring of her, I told her everything.

"I expected a response of fear, anger, or hate; to be driven away from her because of a newfound resentment. Luckily, I was wrong. My tale had brought her to tears, and she embraced me. From there, my life became better. We expanded the garden and built an actual house, she talked me into returning to magic, and she raised me to what I am today.

"Eventually, I began to experiment with my arcane capabilities, and smoke as well. My favorite activity was changing their colors for my own amusement. That is also the cause of my mane color, since in practice I had condensed a ball of smoke I had turned jet black into a ball which exploded in my face, dying my mane black.

"Years later, my left fore hoof became the unfortunate victim of another experiment. (*looks down to his prosthesis that Soren hadn't noticed before and smiles, lost in his memories*) I was greatly interested in the malleability of clouds and if I could shape my own body much the same as one. This dangerous trick is evaporation and worked well on inanimate objects like rocks and sticks. I soon thought I was ready to test it on myself, the result was the permanent evaporation of my hoof, and the addition of my prosthesis.

"To alleviate Lilly's fears, since that occurrence nearly caused me to bleed out and die, I ended my tests with that form of nebulous manipulation. We soon just remembered the event as a mistake not to be repeated and to be laughed at. I was not at all affected by the loss of a limb. I was alive and that was all I cared about.

"That thought brought me to a realization: Lilly had me caring for my own life again. She had effectively raised me and healed my mental scars. I was finally happy again.... (*His voice lowers and gains a more sinister/angered tone*) This would not last much longer..."

Shayden took another deep sigh, followed by a sniff. Soren assumed he was close to tears.

"After a trip for supplies to the nearest town, they entered our lives. The lowest life forms I ever had the misfortune to encounter! (*His face had contorted into a half pained, half angered expression*) I-I took a solitary walk and upon returning to the cottage... t-there was... (*closes eyes*) The house was ablaze. Laughter could be heard in the distance, but I ignored it at first. A scream informed me that Lilly was inside, so I ran in and dragged her out."

Shayden now had tears rolling down his face. He continued with disbelief in his voice.

"I-I-I thought it was sweat... from the fire... It was b-blood! It was her blood! THEY HAD TORTURED HER! (*He breathes deep to recompose himself*) I was covered in it... I think. She was miraculously still alive. I held her, hoping she could somehow survive. B-but deep down we both knew there was no way in Faust's cruel world she would.

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"As she bled to death in my grasp," Twilight read aloud to her and Rainbow, "she spoke to me. She asked something of me... Her words were 'please, be happy... for me'. Initially I was confused... but I decided to follow her wish. I would be happy. I would achieve this by bringing the murderers to justice."

"Poor guy..." Rainbow muttered with sadness.

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"I had decided that they shall pay," Shayden continued. "Most assuredly they will face judgement. Strict, harsh... (*smiles*) "slow... agonizing... (*breathes deeply*) ...torturous...judgement. Why do they need judgement, you ask? Don't make me laugh! Those mules should not go one bloody day without punishment for what they did! Lilly, she... (*Sighs*)

"Those damned... ponies, if you could even call them that, deserve what I will bring unto them. (*His volume constantly increases*) An ever-lasting, chaotic storm that will make Discord himself FALL TO HIS KNEES AND BEG ME FOR MERCY. It is very...very hard indeed to put into words how I feel, what I will do, and what I will never allow myself to do. (*smiles a slightly insane smile*) Do you want to know what I will not do? I WILL not let the bastards escape, I WILL not let them live, I WILL NOT be stopped by you, I WILL avenge Lilly, and I WILL strip the flesh from their bones to make a cloak of their hides that Pinkamena would KILL for! I WILL NOT be the only one to suffer!!!"

Shayden closes his eyes, teeth clenched.

"Every time...Every time I think of those p... No, they do not deserve anything more than a pronoun. They will be crushed under my wooden hoof, mangled by my magic, stabbed by my horn, and choked by smoke. Maybe THEN...will I begin the torture. AND MAYBE THEN...I'll consider killing the buckers... Sending them STRAIGHT TO HELL..."

His tears were falling from his face onto ground.

"Maybe... Just maybe I will be at peace. Just maybe... (*He collapses onto his stomach and begins talking between sobs*) the damned buckers must know... they must know my pain! The HELL I have been through..."

Soren was speechless. Wiping his own tears away, he thinks 'They ruined this colt's life. They will not get away.