The next day after lunch, Soren flew to Rainbow Dash's house. He found this situation a little serious because Rainbow was acting very unlike herself. When he arrived at the front door, he called out for her. Eventually, she appeared.
"Oh hey, Soren," she said evenly. "Come on in." Soren followed her inside. Rainbow's house was definitely fancier than his own. She even had her own waterfall!
But Soren couldn't be distracted right now, there were bigger things to worry about. The two pegasi sat on a couch of clouds in the living room. Soren was the first to speak.
"Alright, so what's the problem, Rainbow?" he asked. "After my performance, you weren't acting like yourself. Why?" Rainbow Dash stared at him.
"Because I started seeing and thinking about how happy you and the princess are together. And I realized that...it would be nice to have a coltfriend. Think you could help me out?" Soren was stunned for a few seconds, he definitely didn't expect this from Rainbow Dash at all. This can't be all that's wrong, Soren thought. He gave a forced smile.
"Sure, I'll try my best. Got any stallions in mind?"
"Not really. Just find somepony who is fast, strong, and cool." There's the Rainbow Dash I know, Soren chuckled to himself.
"Alright, but...one more thing. You can't expect me to believe that this is the only reason you were silent last night. Something else is up. What is it?" Rainbow looked down at her hooves.
"...Fine. You can forget the whole 'coltfriend' thing. The real reason I was quiet was because I was jealous of the attention you were getting." That makes more sense, he thought.
"Well there's a simple solution to that." Rainbow gave a disbelieving look to Soren. "How would you like to play an instrument and be included in my performances?"
"Really?" Rainbow was now smiling. Soren nodded in response. "I always wanted to try the guitar. I'll try my best. Thanks."
"No problem. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to talk to a certain somepony. See ya later." Soren waved goodbye and flew out of the house towards Ponyville.
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Soren arrived in front of the princesses' temporary Ponyville home. He knocked on the door and waited. Princess Celestia answered the door and smiled at him. "Good afternoon, Soren," she greeted. "That was a wonderful performance last night."
"Thank you, Princess. Is Luna busy? I would like to spend some time with her today." Celestia chuckled.
"No, she's not busy. Let me get her for you." Celestia went inside and eventually Luna came out. Luna was instantly happy when she saw Soren.
"Hello Soren." Luna hugged him and he returned it. "It has been awhile."
"Yes it has. Would you like to go to the park today?"
"I would be more than happy to."
The two alicorns went to the town park immediately. The weather was cool and sunny, perfect for strolling. They walked around the park, admiring the serenity of Ponyville, before sitting on one of the benches. As they sat there, Soren appeared to be deep in thought.
"What is wrong, my stallion?" Luna asked.
"I need to explain something to you. And I think that since you are the princess of the night, you may be able to help."
"I shall help in anyway I can. What is the problem?"
"Many nights ago, I had this strange dream, only this dream didn't feel like simply a dream. It felt real. It felt like I was actually standing there. I could walk anywhere and see anything. In this dream, I saw a desert town that was raided. It's hard to explain, but I think that town is an actual place and it's in danger." Luna considered all of what Soren said. She stared at him for a few seconds before speaking.
"Soren, we should speak with Twilight Sparkle." That was all she said before she stood up.
Soren followed her as they walked to Twilight's library. When they arrived, the pair knocked on Twilight's front door. Nopony answered, so Luna shouted Twilight's name. The purple unicorn quickly answered the door.
"Oh. Hello Luna. Hello Soren. So sorry about that. I was busy reading a very interesting book about-" Luna put a hoof to the mare's mouth.
"Apologies Twilight Sparkle, but we do not have time to hear about your book. Soren needs your help."
"What's wrong?"
"We need a book about dreaming," Soren answered. Twilight thought for a second. She turned away from the two alicorns to look around the library.
Using her magic, Twilight levitated a decent sized book to the center table. The three stepped up to the table and saw that the book was titled A Guide to the Supernatural and Strange. Luna started flipped through the pages with her magic. She soon found what she was looking for and pointed to it. The title of the section was "Star Sight." Twilight began to read aloud.
Although dreams are a normal quality of life, some ponies have unique dreams called lucid dreams, where they can control their dreaming environment. In a lucid dream, ponies are aware that they are dreaming and can then control what happens during their sleep. What does lucid dreams have to do with star sight? Well, lucid dreams connect with star sight.
Certain lucid dreams are very powerful. In a way, it is more powerful than magic. Some lucid dreams cause ponies to see into the future or 'near-future.' If one sees into the future, they can see things that can happen months or years after the dream. If it's the 'near-future,' the event witnessed in the dream may occur within weeks at most. Those with star sight attempt to master this skill or to at least use it to their own advantage. Only very few ponies tend to have star sight, even if they do not know it...
Luna told Twilight to stop reading. She had already heard enough. It was obvious that Soren may have star sight. Luna assumed he had it when he was explaining his dream to her, but with this entry, it was fairly certain.
"Soren," Luna started, "if you indeed have star sight, then that town you saw is in grave danger. We must act immediately."
"What town?" Twilight asked. "Soren, what did you dream about?" Soren then proceeded to explain everything that happened in his dream, including the leaders of the raid. Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought. "Well I don't know who this Coyote Colt is but I do know the town you saw. It's called Appaloosa. If the raid is going to happen then we need a plan. First we need to go visit Applejack."
"Why?" Soren questioned.
"Because she might be able to tell us more about this Coyote Colt."
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Soren, Twilight, and Luna arrived at Sweet Apple Acres a few minutes after leaving the library. Twilight called for Applejack and the farmer responded quickly. The friends exchanged greetings and they got down to business.
"Sorry for asking this of you Applejack," Twilight said, "but have you received any letters from Braeburn recently?"
"I got one yesterday, but why ya askin'?"
"I think we should start from the beginning. Can we come in?" The farmer led the three ponies into the barn and they sat in the living room. The three ponies started explaining about Soren dream. Applejack now knew why Braeburn's letter was so important.
"Braeburn has mentioned this Coyote Colt fella before," Applejack said. "The colt's a unicorn with an eye patch. He's also got his own gang. I don't know why he has so many followers in your dream, Soren, but it can't be good. Why is a letter so important at this point?"
"We just need to make sure Appaloosa is safe for now," Soren explained. "If it is then I have a plan. If not...well...it wouldn't hurt to help them repair." Twilight secretly stared at Soren. He's handling this with surprising calmness... she thought.
Her thoughts were cut short by Applejack giving a letter to Soren. Soren read the letter then explained it to everyone. It turns out that Coyote Colt had attacked the town before, but only mildly. In the letter, Braeburn explained that the sheriff is preparing to defend the town against Coyote Colt in case he strikes again.
"Well the good news is that Appaloosa hasn't been raided yet. The bad news...is that Appaloosa hasn't been raided yet." Twilight and AJ gave him a confusing look. "Let me put it this way: my dream hasn't happened yet, but Appaloosa is still in danger. We need to go there and make sure my dream doesn't come true."
"If I recall correctly," Luna started, "then there is a train that leaves for Appaloosa every week or so."
"You're right, Luna," Twilight responded. "If we wanted to, we could leave next week."
"Sounds like a good plan," Soren said. "Now I just need the right ponies to help. We'll decide that the day we leave. Trust me. Just make sure all of our friends are willing to leave on that day."
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Soren spent the next few days normally. When he wasn't working at the library with Twilight, he was teaching Rainbow Dash how to play the guitar. He didn't realize he could play with magic until he tried. He assumed it was just a result of his previous life.
Rainbow Dash was a very fast learner, but then again this was Rainbow Dash he was teaching. Soren taught Rainbow to learn the pitch of each string and basic chords, instead of only memorizing each song's notes. This method actually helped her to memorize a song within a day or two.
Their lessons have been going on for five days now. Since Rainbow has already learned three songs by heart, Soren felt it was time for her to perform for the town.
"What?!" Rainbow said in shock. The two of them were in her house practicing. "You already want me to perform? It hasn't even been a week since I started practicing." Soren put a hoof on her shoulder.
"I know you have doubts, but you already learned three of my songs. What more do you need?" Soren smiled at the usually confident mare.
"More time." Soren chuckled.
"Tell you what. You and I will perform tomorrow instead of today. I'm not waiting until we come back from Appaloosa to hear you perform. Will that be enough time? I'll even tell you what songs I want us to do." Rainbow put a hoof to her chin then shrugged in agreement.
"Yeah, why not? Wait...You said until we come back from Appaloosa. Does that mean I'm going with you?" Soren laughed.
"Of course. I already know who's going. However, all of us need to vote on something that day, but let's not worry about that yet. Right now, you need to practice." Soren told Rainbow Dash which songs to practice then left. As Soren flew over Ponyville while admiring the view, a single thought came to mind. Is this going to be my new life? Do I even want to know my past?
-----------------
Vinyl Scratch planned the performance to be in the middle of town where she made a stage for Soren. It was around seven at night when a crowd formed in front of the stage. Lights came on and flooded the area. Through the curtains stepped Soren and no one else. Soren addressed the crowd and told them that, for the past few days, he has been teaching a certain pony to play guitar. He said tonight was the night to show off this pony's skills, but he wouldn't reveal who the pony was until the end of the performance. Soren surrounded a small set of drums with magic and started the first song.
Soren planned out the performance perfectly. The first two songs were more for the entertainment of the crowd. The last song is where Dash' skills were to be tested, for it had a guitar solo. Backstage, hiding behind the curtains, was Rainbow Dash playing her guitar.
The third song started. She knew the curtains would go away when her solo began. She was honestly a little nervous but knew she could pull this off. With a grin of determination, she began her solo. During the solo, Soren could see the faces of the crowd; they were anxious to see who the pony playing guitar was. Soren gave the crowd their wish as he magically drew the curtains back. Gasps were heard as they saw a rainbow-maned pegasus standing and strumming away at the guitar. After the solo, the song ended.
Rainbow Dash was panting a little from the solo. It was silent...then...the crowd cheered. Hooves stomped the ground hard enough to feel it on stage. At first, Rainbow looked around in slight disbelief but smiled. She looked to Soren and mouthed 'Thank you.' He simply waved for her to bask in the applause. She did just that as she stepped closer to the crowd and took a bow.
When the performance was over and after their friends congratulated Rainbow Dash, Soren and Rainbow walked back to her house. They talked about the performance along the way.
"Seriously?" asked Rainbow Dash. Soren nodded.
"I mean it," Soren answered. "You're a natural. I can't wait for you to perform with me more often." The pair arrived at her house. Rainbow turned towards him.
"Can't wait either." Rainbow paused for a few seconds. "Soren..."
"Yeah?" They looked at each other then Rainbow Dash hugged him. Surprised, Soren hugged back.
"Thanks for everything."
"You're welcome. Come on now, we need to get our rest for tomorrow." The hug broke. Rainbow started chuckling while rubbing the back of her neck out of slight embarrassment.
"Yeah, you're right. Forgot about the trip to Appaloosa. Maybe I'll see my good friend Strongheart while we're there. She's a crazy acrobatic."
"I look forward to meeting her. Anyways, I'll see you and the girls tomorrow morning." With a wave of his hoof, Soren took to the sky towards his home. Out with the calm, in with the serious, Soren told himself.