//------------------------------// // The 'Experiment' // Story: Soren the Alicorn Part 1: New Beginnings // by KingNyroc15 //------------------------------// With the revelation of Soren's stolen singing voice, his friends had an idea: Why not train the voice back into him? Even though he was reluctant to try it, Soren was dragged to Vinyl's club to go practice. Soren was sad during the entire walk though. He just had his singing voice, his main talent, stolen from him, but he was willing to try anything to get it back. The six mares, Soren, and Spike arrived at Club Vinyl around 2 o'clock, so they figured the DJ was bound to be in there. They all walked inside to see Vinyl at her turntables working on something. The group walked up to the stage and stood there until Vinyl noticed them. After a minute of waiting, Applejack whistled loudly to get the unicorn's attention. Vinyl looked up in surprise but soon smiled when she saw who was here. "What's up, guys and gals?" Vinyl greeted. "It's been awhile. Hey, Soren, I heard you saved the princess. That's awesome!" The DJ's enthusiasm was enough to make anypony happy, even Soren, who was sad but smiled a little. "So what can I do for my pals today?" "Something bad happened to Soren," Twilight explained. "He lost his singing voice last night, and we were hoping we could train it back into him." Vinyl Scratch rubbed a hoof to her chin while thinking. "The Soul Stealers got him?" Everypony was shocked that Vinyl knew about the creatures but they still nodded. "Well that sucks because you can't train back something that was stolen. It takes magic...strong magic. But I suppose Soren could get some of his talent back. It won't be as fun without his singing voice." She pushed a few buttons on her turntable and looked at the group. "So let's get started." The ponies smiled, including Soren, as they began to start Soren's training. Vinyl Scratch was able to play some of Soren's songs just with her turntable. As the songs played, Soren tried to softly sing the words, but his singing voice was awful even when quiet. After about three songs, the ponies started giving up. During the fourth song, while his confidence was low, Soren didn't even sing the lyrics; he just let the song play while he acted like he was singing. It was like watching the lead singer of a concert move around stage. Using her turntable, Vinyl added the lyrics to the song while Soren continued to 'perform.' It was like he was performing for a crowd but without lyrics. His friends thought it was somewhat ejoyable to watch. When Soren was tired of acting out the song, he came up with an idea. After grabbing some paper from Celestia knows where, he began to write down some lyrics. Soren jotted down lyrics from previous songs (and one or two new songs). He handed the finished words to Twilight and her friends. "Take these," Soren said. "Go find some stallions, or mares, around town that are willing to sing for a few minutes." Twilight was about to question this order, but Soren raised a hoof. "Don't question it, just do it, please." With no final objections, the mares left the club, leaving Soren and Vinyl to set up. ---------------- One hour passed and Club Vinyl was filled with volunteers. Soren took the stage as the small crowd of ponies chatting with one another. "Hello everypony. I've asked my friends to bring you all here because I'm conducting a little experiment. I'm asking all of you to sing these lyrics that I wrote down so I can see how it sounds. I'd just like to make sure all of you are doing this on your own free time, not because you believe there's some form of payment." The crowd was silent. "Alright, then let's get started." And they did. Soren put the ponies into groups to sing separate songs. When everything was organized, the singing commenced. This 'experiment', that Soren is calling it, lasted most of day. During the experiment, ponies walking by the club heard the singing and entered the building out of curiosity. Everypony that entered saw the same sight: groups of ponies singing lyrics off of a piece of paper while Soren conducted them. Eventually, a crowd formed within the club; they were greatly enjoying the music. "Wow," Fluttershy said to her friends, "so many ponies are watching." Indeed there were a great number of ponies inside the club watching. Soren looked around at the massive crowd that formed. He recognized a few of them, but one pony caught his eye. There was a black-maned mare watching while against the wall of the building, away from the crowd. The mare watched in awe just like the rest but why was she standing alone? Soren shook off the thought and continued his experiment. Around 9 o'clock, the performance ended. Soren and his friends were amazed that the ponies who volunteered had so much free time today. Of course he felt a little bad about not telling them that he lost his singing voice, but he figured it best not to worry them. Soren managed to catch another glimpse of the black-maned mare but he thought nothing of her. Soren was just tired, even though he didn't sing at all. It wasn't very late in the night but he decided to go bed when he got home. ---------------- The warm, dusty air hit the alicorn as he stared at the landscape before him. He was standing on a cliff, looking out at the desert below him. The wind picked up again, so he turned his head away from it. As he did this, he saw something: a small town. Blinking, the alicorn was much closer to the town, even though he was on a high cliff just a second ago. He surveyed the wooden town as the sun was high in the sky. Strange, the pony thought. I'm in a desert, yet I can't feel the heat. He blinked again and continued to investigate the town and its inhabitants. It was a small settlement with more ponies than one would think. It wasn't particually advanced; it was more old-fashioned than anything. The alicorn wasn't near the town anymore, but he was looking at it from a decent enough distance. Soon the alicorn heard music and two voices coming from the town. He couldn't make out what the voices were saying, nor could he hear the music very well, but he knew it was there. It looked as though the entire town gathered for this performance. The alicorn continued to watch the townsfolk as they listened to the performers, but then something began to happen. Out of the corner of his eye, the pony saw something, so he turned towards the desert again. He saw a giant cloud of dust closing in on the town. Upon getting a clearer view, the pony saw that it was a stampede, but not just any ordinary stampede; this was a stampede of ponies and they were charging straight for the wooden town. When the dust cloud invaded, chaos ensued. The alicorn walked slowly and helplessly through the town as ponies ran in every direction away from the invaders. The invasion was insane. There were ponies being attacked, magic flying everywhere, even knives soaring through the air. The alicorn even saw a fireball explode when it hit a building. The building instantly caught fire. The alicorn was now standing in the center of town. He looked towards the stage where the performance was and saw a unicorn just standing there, smiling. He assumed that this was the leader of the invasion. The unicorn was soon accompanied by a pegasus, but this pegasus had something special about him. He only had one wing. They conversed but the alicorn couldn't hear what they were saying. All he heard was a name: Coyote Colt. Soren sat up suddenly in his bed and looked towards his bedroom window. It was still night. He was breathing hard as he woke from his dream. What was that about? he wondered. Who's Coyote Colt? And why am I having these dreams?! ------------------- Over the past few days, Soren never thought about his strange dream. He felt that since it was only a dream, he shouldn't think too much about it for now. What he was really focusing on right now was Nightmare Night. Soren's friends explained that Nightmare Night in Ponyville was a huge thing. Apparently one year, Twilight and her friends helped Luna to fit in. Everpony was still afraid of her for being Nightmare Moon but by the end of the holiday, they liked her more. As a result, Ponyville goes over the top when it comes to Nightmare Night. If the entire town goes crazy during this holiday, Soren thought to himself, I can only imagine what Pinkie Pie will do. He chuckled as he surveyed his surroundings. Soren was enjoying the sunny day at a park in town. He decided to relax in this location before heading to his job at the library. It never truly feels like a job, but Soren does his fair share of work. Lately, he's mostly been studying spells, history, and miscellaneous knowledge. As he sat on a park bench deep in thought, Soren began to feel a little sad. The reason for his sadness was very obvious to him (and maybe his friends if they were with him). He missed Luna. It's as simple as that. Although it hasn't been that many days since Luna left, Soren still missed her company. Of course he has to expect these kinds of things since Luna is a princess, but it doesn't mean he still can't miss her. To prevent himself from becoming even more sad, Soren left the park and walked straight for the library. Maybe some work or studying will clear my mind, he assured himself. ----------------- The day started out slow and relaxing for Soren, but that quickly changed when he was finished at the library. As Soren was leaving his job and saying his goodbyes to Twilight, he bumped into two ponies on the way out. He looked at the two ponies and noticed that they were royal guards. When Twilight saw Soren stumble at the door, she trotted over to him to see what was wrong. She quickly noticed the guards at the door. "Greetings Twilight Sparkle," one of them said with a voice of formality. "We have come to deliver a message from Princess Celestia. It is about the preparations for Nightmare Night." The speaking guard held out a scroll for Twilight. "Why didn't Princess Celestia just use Spike to deliver the message?" she asked the guards. "All will be clear when you read the message." Twilight grabbed the scroll with her magic, straightened it out, and brought it closer so her and Soren could read it together. The scroll read as follows: Dear Twilight, As you know, the Nightmare Night parade will be held in Ponyville. Recently, I thought of a brilliant addition, but first I must ask that if Soren is with you, he mustn't read the following portion of this letter. Since he works with you and Spike in the library now, I must assume he could be there with you as you receive letters. Normally Soren, being the Elemental Guardian, is able to read letters from royalty but this is a special exception. Soren nodded to Twilight and, with the guards following, walked over to where Spike was stacking books. Twilight continued reading to herself. Assuming Soren is not reading, I would like to inform you, Twilight, that I wish to test Soren. From what you say in your letters, Soren is a very talented singer. I would like for him to lead a chorus for the parade. I believe this is a great way for more ponies to experience his talent and to also test how he handles large crowds. Please ask Soren to create a song for the parade. He is allowed to ask for anything he may need to prepare for that day. Make sure he is ready by Nightmare Night. Signed, Princess Celestia Also, I delivered this scroll via transport because I ordered these two guards to watch over Soren's preparations, if he indeed says yes. Sending this scroll with them was more convenient. Twilight rolled up the scroll with her magic, placed it on a desk, and walked over to Soren and the two royal guards. Soren noticed her and raised an eyebrow in question. Twilight figured he would want to know what was on the scroll that he couldn't read. "Remember how there's going to be a parade here for Nightmare Night?" she asked Soren. He nodded. "Well Princess Celestia asked for you to lead a chorus for the parade." Soren's eyes widened for two reasons. One was because the princess gave him a great opportunity to show everypony his talent, but the other reason was because he couldn't sing at the parade. Twilight knew Soren was unable to sing at the moment but both ponies did not want to alarm the guards that something was wrong. Twilight simply smiled at Soren's reaction. "The princess said you can ask for anything to help you in the performance." Twilight emphasized 'anything' so Soren would hopefully calm down. It looked as though it worked. "This is...amazing," Soren finally said. "Celestia believes in me enough to ask me to perform in a parade AND to lead a chorus from Canterlot. Wow. It's a yes, but I'll need time to figure out what to do." Twilight nodded. Soren returned the nod and left for his home. The royal guards left soon after. Now Twilight was alone with Spike in the library. "So Soren gets to sing in the Nightmare Night parade?" Spike asked. "That would be great if he could actually sing." Twilight sighed and walked upstairs to her room. She hoped that Soren would find some solution to this problem or that she herself could find someway to get his singing voice back. That night, Soren sat alone in his house, contemplating about the parade. The parade was in two weeks so he had plenty of time to prepare, but how could he perform without a singing voice? Surely he could ask some ponies to sing for him, but would Princess Celestia approve of that? Feeling lost, Soren decided to lay down in bed. As he did so, he decided to take his mind off of the parade for awhile, so he began to think of anything else. Nothing came to his relaxed mind except one thing: the desert dream. Even though he told himself it was simply a dream, Soren thought of it constantly. I seem to have a lot of weird dreams, Soren chuckled to himself as he finally decided to go to sleep. Hopefully an answer will come to me about the parade soon or I'll have to cancel on Celestia. Shortly after the thought was finished, Soren drifted off into a dreamless sleep. -------------- "Twilight! Twilight! Are you awake yet?!" A pony was pounding at the front door of the library. Twilight sat up in her bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She sat there listening for the noise that woke her up to happen again. She looked over at Spike to see if he was awake, only to be unsurprised by the sight of her assistant still sleeping. The pounding continued, so she got up, walked downstairs, and opened the door for the loud pony. To her surprise, she saw Soren standing there with a smile on his face. "Soren?" Twilight asked sleepily. "Why are pounding on my front door? It's still pretty early." Soren felt a little guilty about waking her up. He simply got caught up in his excitement. "Sorry, but I have great news!" "What news?" "I have a plan for the Nightmare Night parade!" Soren's excitement was easily noticed by the sleepy unicorn. "I woke up early and thought of a plan. I rushed over here to wake you up because I need your help." "My help? What plan did you come up with?" Soren's smile became bigger. At that moment, Twilight could imagine a male Pinkie Pie standing in front of her. "I need you to get the Canterlot Choir over here ASAP." Twilight was fully awake upon hearing that. The choir? Why would he need them before they're scheduled to meet? Twilight gave Soren a weak smile. "Umm sure...I'll get right on that." Twilight started closing the door and eventually shut it. She sat against it to listen outside. After hearing Soren leave, Twilight gave a great sigh and stood back up. She walked over to her desk that had her ink, quills, and scrolls. Using her magic, she grabbed the necessary materials and started on a letter to Celestia. I hope you know what you're doing, Soren, was her final thought as she started writing. Dear Princess Celestia...