//------------------------------// // Nightmare Night // Story: Soren the Alicorn Part 1: New Beginnings // by KingNyroc15 //------------------------------// Two Weeks Later... The night was clear, the moon was at full shine, and the town was bursting with joy from the holiday. Tonight was Nightmare Night! There were games, candy, food, and decorations as far as the eye could see. Of all the places where Nightmare Night is celebrated, Ponyville is by far the most enthusiastic. It was almost midnight when everypony in town started gathering in the center of Ponyville. The parade was scheduled to start at midnight exactly. Twilight and her friends knew perfectly well how the parade was set up. First, the mayor would announce the start of the parade. After that, the floats would pour into town from the direction of Canterlot. Next, Soren would perform with the choir while they all stood on their own float. Finally, when all the floats pass through town, Princess Luna would appear and give Ponyville a message of gratitude, just like every year. The one thing that Twilight and her friends were clueless about was how Soren was going to pull off a performance without singing. Twilight explained to her friends that Princess Celestia is testing Soren, so they all had to wonder if he would still pass without singing. Minutes from midnight, Mayor Mare gave her yearly speech about Nightmare Night. When she was done, the floats appeared over the horizon and moved toward Ponyville. Spike and the mares stared at the most magnificent floats going past them. Some were indescribable, others were beautiful. Then out of nowhere, all of Ponyville was filled with music. This is it, the mares thought. One of the last floats to arrive was the Canterlot Choir's float. Just the size of this particular float impressed many ponies, but what amazed everypony else was what was happening on it. Soren stood at the front of the platform and was doing something peculiar. He was conducting! Not only was he conducting for only the second time in his life, he was conducting the Canterlot Choir...and they were singing beautifully. Soren actually managed to find a way to sing for the parade without singing himself. The song was smooth and beautiful, and the girls knew the lyrics were by Soren. The choir made it sound lovely with all of their voices combined. Many ponies will agree that this is most likely the best Nightmare Night Ponyville has ever had. The floats stopped after the choir's song was over. Everypony was silent. A few seconds later, ponies could hear somepony flying. Everypony except one was on the ground enjoying the parade...Soren. Soren was flying high above the floats, and upon a closer look, one could see that he was grinning. "Attention everypony!" Soren shouted to all the ponies within hearing distance. "In honor of Nightmare Night, I would like to perform a trick for you all." The ponies on the ground started mumbling to each other. Some were nervous, some were excited, others had no idea who this white alicorn was. It didn't matter to Soren; he just wanted to perform this trick he has been secretly working so hard on. Soren started to gather magic on the tip of his horn. When he felt enough was prepared, he sky-rocketed upwards. When barely anypony could see him, an explosion occured. This wasn't just any old explosion, this was a sonic boom. But this wasn't a regular sonic boom either. The sonic boom, combined with Soren's magic, created an awesome display of creativity. To describe the sight as simply as possible, imagine a Sonic Rainboom but replace it with dark clouds and lightning. When the dark boom disappeared, a trail of dark clouds could be seen plummeting straight for the ground. The ponies started to panic and would have fled if other ponies hadn't calmed them down and ushered them to continue looking. The audience relaxed and continued to watch the clouds as it came up to the choir's float. When it got close enough, everypony could see that it was Soren flying towards it. Soren landed on the float but something was different about him. His black mane had lightning streaks in it, his eyes were covered with yellow goggles, and his coat changed entirely to black. He looked almost like a Shadow Bolt! When the magnitude of the performance settled on the crowd, they began to cheer and whistle. Soren smiled and stepped off the float to go see his friends. As the mayor introduced the princesses, Soren's friends congradulated him on his performance. Then it hit them. Princesses? As in both? Soren and his friends only expected Luna to show up, but Celestia is here as well? The Princesses of the Sun and Moon stepped onto a stage in front of Town Hall. It wasn't a very big stage; it was mainly used for speeches and music. The princesses shared the stage with the mayor as they spoke. "Greetings my little ponies," Celestia started. "I can see that all of you are enjoying this year's Nightmare Night very much. I can also see that everypony here especially enjoyed Soren's performance with the Canterlot Choir." Celestia nodded towards Soren. "I shall be brief, for tonight is all about my dear sister, Luna." Princess Luna, still remaining in her smaller size, stepped forward. She cleared her throat and was about to speak but Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder. They looked at each other, and Celestia winked at her little sister. Luna gave a mischievious smile and proceeded to speak again. She took a deep breath and spoke. "GREETINGS CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!!" The roofs on the surrounding houses shook from the sheet force of Luna's Royal Canterlot Voice. Ponies froze and the crowd was speechless. "WE APPLAUD THOU'S EFFORTS TO MAKE THIS NIGHTMARE NIGHT ONE OF THE BEST SO FAR. THE PARADE WAS MAGNIFICENT AND THE DARK SONIC BOOM WAS A GREAT ADDITION, SOREN." Soren slightly blushed from all the attention and praise he didn't deserve, but he kept his composure. Luna's voice became more normal now. "Ponyville has always been our favorite place to celebrate this holiday, and it shall remain so for many years to come. The night is still young but the celebration is not. Enjoy yourselves, my subjects, for the holiday shall end before you all know it. But before that..." Luna looked straight at Soren. "...we must give a certain pony a gift for their hard work." The princess of the night walked up to Soren and his friends. She spoke softly so other ponies couldn't eavesdrop on them. "Thou has done noble deeds, my stallion. Thou saved your friend Fluttershy by giving up your own singing voice." Soren's eyes widened. Luna gave a small laugh at Soren's facial expression. "Twilight Sparkle told us everything. Even without a singing voice, thou still managed to perform. And with these two accomplishments, our sister and I wish to reward thou with this." Luna teleported a box from out of nowhere and levitated it to Soren. He grabbed it and proceeded to open it. Inside the box was an object that glowed with bright intensity. When Soren pulled it out with magic, his friends and the surrounding ponies ahh'd with amazement. "Luna," Twilight gasped, "is that...a wishing star?!" Luna smiled and nodded. "With this," Luna explained, "Soren is given one wish. He may wish for anything his heart desires but it cannot be undone." Soren continued to stare at the dazzling star. Anything, huh? he thought. Then I wish... Suddenly, the star evaporated and flew into the sky. Everypony watched the spectacle, except for Twilight and her friends, who were staring at Soren. "Well what did y'all wish for?" Applejack asked Soren. Soren turned to the princesses, Twilight, Spike, and their friends. "~I wished for my singing voice~," Soren sang. His friends cheered and gave him a group hug. Everything was fine again. ----------------- Soren used his singing voice so much during Nightmare Night. He was very happy to have it back. The celebration lasted quite a bit longer than anypony thought. It was probably near four in the morning when ponies decided to go home. Luna and Celestia were the first of Soren's friends to leave, then it was Twilight, Spike, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Last to leave were Soren, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Applejack and Pinkie Pie went off into separate directions to their homes, leaving Soren and Rainbow alone and heading the same way. Their houses are relatively the same direction so they walked together (no pegasus was energetic enough to fly all the way to their homes). Soren looked at the rainbow mare and noticed that she was quieter than usual. He's been noticing this ever since his performance. Rainbow Dash was not being herself so he decided to ask her about it. "Hey Rainbow Dash?" The mare looked at him. "Are you alright? You seem a little...off." She sighed, which is another thing she barely does. The pair was coming up to Rainbow Dash's house. "I'll tell you tomorrow," she finally answered. "Just come on over whenever, alright?" Soren lifted an eyebrow but agreed nonetheless. Tomorrow he'll see what the deal is.