//------------------------------// // Return of the Dreams // Story: Soren the Alicorn Part 1: New Beginnings // by KingNyroc15 //------------------------------// Soren was walking through a field, enjoying the beautiful night sky. He doesn't remember how long he's been walking but it didn't matter to him. After a few more minutes of strolling through the seemingly endless field, Soren noticed the sun beginning to rise. He was about to continue walking when he realized that it was still dark, even though the sun was almost entirely over the horizon. He stopped and glanced at the sun with his peripheral vision. Soren looked straight at it when he realized something was blocking the light shining from the massive star. Upon a closer look, Soren realized that the object blocking the light was coming closer to the ground...and in his direction! He wanted to run away but he was transfixed by the strange shape. When it almost reached him, the object took the shape of a pony. Soren noticed that it wasn't just a normal pony; it was an alicorn. Instead of charging straight into Soren, the alicorn landed in front of him. Since he was watching the alicorn, Soren didn't notice that the environment around him changed. It landed on a cushion that was positioned on the floor of what looked like somepony's personal study. Soren looked around at the new scenery but quickly looked back to the alicorn. He soon discovered that the alicorn was Celestia! ------------ Soren snapped his eyes open and sat up in his bed. "How many times have I done this by now?" Soren asked himself. Gathering himself, Soren realized that he wasn't alone in his bedroom. He saw Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flying in his bedroom, giving him concerned looks. "Are you ok?" Fluttershy asked. "Were you having a nightmare?" Soren shook his head. "I was only dreaming. No nightmare or anything." "I don't think you'd be thrashing like that if it was 'only a dream,'" Rainbow Dash countered. "C'mon, everypony is waiting down below." "Waiting? Why? What time is it?" "It's past noon. We were all wondering where you were. Let's go down and say hi before our friends start to worry." With a nod and a yawn, Soren got out of bed and stretched. He then followed the two pegasi to see everypony else. Soren was surprised that literally all of his friends were waiting for him below his house. He saw Twilight, Pinkie, AJ, Rarity, and Luna. The three of them landed and Soren let out another yawn. "You're still tired?" Twilight asked in disbelief. "How much sleep did you actually get?" "Apparently not enough," Soren replied. "I didn't think the concert would take so much out of me. Maybe that small headache I got when I arrived home had something to do with it." What Soren didn't see was that Luna's expression change. When he mentioned a random headache, she squinted her eyes in contemplation. "Fluttershy?" the princess said. "Yes, Luna?" "Would you mind examining Soren? I would like to make sure that he is simply sleep deprived." With a nod, Fluttershy began a normal examination that she used normally used with her animals. She checked his eyes, ears, tongue, etc. So far nothing seemed out of the ordinary until Rarity noticed something. "Soren," she started, "is it me or has your cutie turned grey?" Soren blushed slightly as all of his friends decided to look at his flank. They gasped as they indeed saw that his cutie mark was now devoid of its normal, bright colors. Luna was the first to act as she stepped up to Soren. They exchanged glances before Luna brought her mouth to Soren's ear. She began whispering something to him and him alone. Before he recognized the spell she was using, his body gave out and he collapsed on the spot. The mares shouted his name as they saw Soren fall down and drift off to sleep. "I need to go to Canterlot posthaste," Luna said. "I need to bring my sister here and show her Soren." "Why? What's wrong with Soren?" Twilight asked quickly. She would have asked more but Luna put up a hoof to silence her. "No time to explain. Just make sure Soren stays within your sight. I shall be back as soon as I am able." With that said, the princess of the night teleported away, leaving Twilight and her friends there to give their sleeping friend more concerned looks. ------------ Oh you're an interesting one. Are you the Fire Elemental? No. You sound different. Who are you? You'll figure it out soon enough. What do you want? Don't worry about it, Nyroc. Who's Nyroc? ------------- Soren opened his eyes. He felt the wooden flooring beneath him. He slowly got up and found himself at Twilight's library. "Oh good, you're finally awake. You had us all worried sick, Soren." Soren turned towards the voice and saw Rarity sitting at a desk. She was reading a book but turned away from it when Soren woke up. He looked around the empty library and then back to Rarity as if he asked a wordless question. Rarity also looked around but looked back at Soren. "Are you wondering where everyone is? Well, don't you worry about that. Everyone went to the center of town to wait for Princess Luna and Celestia to come back. Everypony except Applejack that is; she went to grab some food for you. Are you feeling better, Soren?" "Don't say that," Soren whispered seriously. "Pardon? Don't say what?" Soren continued to stare blankly at Rarity. He didn't feel like himself. Why? He felt fine...yet there was something talking to him. It was that voice; it's stronger than the Elemental's voice. It was speaking rapidly to him and he couldn't block it out. Soren sat down and grabbed his head as it began to hurt from the constant, inner noise. "Oh my! Soren, what's wrong?" Rarity was slightly panicking as she cautiously held out a hoof to help him. "Stop!" Rarity jumped back at Soren's outburst. "Get...Get to the Everfree," Soren said slowly. "This voice...This voice is hurting my head. Go and get help...now!" Without a second to comprehend anything, Rarity saw Soren teleport out of the library. She quickly ran to the center of town to get her friends and the princesses. -------------- Soren was curled up on the ground in a clearing in the Everfree. With his eyes closed, he reached up to his head and applied pressure to his temple but the pain wouldn't go away. Soren shed a few tears since he felt like he was either going to go insane or die from the pain before help came. Lucky for him, a certain rainbow-maned pegasus found him before either of those things happened. "Soren!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she landed next time him. "Are you ok? What's happening to you?" He continued to cry. He didn't hear Rainbow calling out to him. All he heard was the loud voice pounding at the inside of his head. Rainbow Dash took a few steps away from Soren as she looked at the sky for any sign of the princesses coming to help. Her ears perked when she heard Soren stop crying. She slowly turned around to discover him right behind her. "Hello, Rainbow Dash," Soren said darkly. "Would you like to hear a song?" -------------------- The Princesses, along with the Elements of Harmony, ran through the Everfree Forest while tracking Soren. Celestia and Luna were in front of their search party as Luna used magic to track down the area that Soren teleported to. As they ran, Applejack decided to speak up. "Never a dull moment with that colt," she muttered to everypony. "Don't fret, Applejack," Celestia said. "I know what's happening to him. That is why I need all of your help." "What is happening to him, princess?" Twilight asked. Celestia, who still held a serious expression, was silent for a few seconds. "Recently, I was visited by a...spirit. It wasn't a visual spirit, but rather a voice in my head." Twilight flinched at this revelation. Could it be the Elemental? "It threatened me and the ponies of Canterlot, but it also made me a deal. The deal was that the spirit would leave me alone and not try to threaten Canterlot if I never speak of that day to anyone. Even though it was merely a spirit, I would never risk the lives of my subjects." "How would the spirit take over Canterlot? Surely you of all ponies could stop it." "I'm afraid it isn't that simple. You see-" "Do y'all hear that?" Applejack interrupted. Everypony started walking quietly to listen. "Sounds like singing," Fluttershy said. "Is that Soren?" "Oh no," Celestia gasped. "All of you, follow me." She sprinted towards the direction of the singing. It exhausted everyone to try and keep up with her; she had a much longer stride than them. Within a minute, the eight mares saw a clearing up ahead. Celestia whispered for them to stop and to peek from behind the bushes. As soon as they looked into the clearing, they all gasped loudly. Soren and Rainbow Dash were standing in the clearing facing each other. Soren's back was towards them and they could see Rainbow Dash clearly. She had golden serpentine eyes instead of her normal cerise color. They could tell that Soren was hypnotizing Rainbow by singing to her. The loud gasp captured his attention as he turned towards the intruding mares. Upon seeing who arrived, he chuckled. "Oh Rainbow~," Soren called. "Would you kindly bring them to me?" The hypnotized Rainbow Dash saluted Soren and flew straight at the bushes the eight mares were hiding behind. "SCATTER!!" Luna shouted as she teleported away, as did Celestia and Twilight. The others simply dove out of the way of Rainbow. They nearly got tackled since Rainbow is incredibly fast, but most of them jumped away. Pinkie Pie, however, was grabbed. Rainbow Dash swooped over to Soren and dropped the pink party pony in front of him. The three unicorns appeared just in time to see Pinkie Pie land. "Heya, Soren!" Pinkie exclaimed in her normally happy voice. "You feeling better?" "You can say that," he answered. "Wanna hear a song?" "Pinkie Pie, no!" Twilight yelled as she ran to help Pinkie, but it was too late. Soren sang a few notes and Pinkie Pie was instantly hypnotized. Twilight heard a scream, so she stopped and turned around. Rarity was grabbed by Rainbow Dash and was now heading towards Soren. Before Twilight could act, she was tackled by Pinkie Pie. Twilight cringed as she saw that Pinkie now had the same golden eyes as Rainbow. Before she could drag Twilight to Soren, Pinkie levitated off of Twilight. She saw the light blue aura and knew that Luna was using her magic. Twilight then sprinted away towards the princesses. "What do we do?!" Twilight asked. Celestia stared at her student then at Soren. Seeing that Celestia didn't have an answer, Twilight looked at Luna for help. "Luna?" Luna hung her head; she didn't have a solution either. "Now then," a voice called. "Only three more left." Twilight saw the horrifying sight of all of her friends hypnotized. The five mares stood behind Soren as he slowly walked up to Twilight, Celestia, and Luna. Celestia bent down to whisper to Twilight. "Don't interfere next time Rainbow Dash flies at us. I have a plan." Twilight hesitated at first but nodded. What could she possibly do to not want me to interfere? Is she...is she going to hurt Soren? "Let's see how much of a fight you three can put up," Soren said while grinning. "Get 'em, Rainbow Dash." Rainbow nodded and flew straight at Twilight Sparkle. Twilight closed her eyes and prepared for impact. She reopened her eyes when she heard a spell make contact. Upon hearing a thud nearby, she turned towards the cause of the sound. She saw Rainbow Dash lying on the ground with a small smoke trail coming from her. With eyes widened in shock, Twilight turned towards the princess. Celestia had a regretful expression but motioned for Twilight to look at Soren. She did as instructed, but as she looked at her friend, she saw something peculiar unfold. -------------- Soren was utterly confused as to how this came about. A few minutes ago, all he heard was a voice, but now that voice literally took over his body. He watched as this entity used Soren's special talent to hypnotize his friend and use her to help hypnotize everyone else. It was like he was just a passenger in the back of his mind as another pony piloted his body. Soren watched in horror as Rainbow Dash flew at the princesses and Twilight. "Why are you doing this?" Soren thought at the voice. "Why not just come after only me like you planned?" After he lost control of his body, Soren soon realized who was truly behind this. When Soren was in control, the voice was disguised, but now that he was inside his own head, Soren can clearly hear the entity's true voice. "Because you tricked me when we first fought," answered a familiar female voice. "As did your friends; they will perish with you then I will be taking Princess Luna." Soren sighed and continue to watch Rainbow attack. Time appeared to move slower in his own head, but it didn't matter. What mattered was what he saw next. Right before Rainbow Dash tackled Twilight, Princess Celestia shot a beam of magic at Dash, which caused her to land on the ground next to them. "Rainbow Dash!" Soren cried out. Soren was stunned at first, but his anger soon replaced that. "You," Soren telepathically shouted to the voice, "you did this!" "She did her part, now I have four other mares to use." "NO!" Soren's voice echoed loudly through his mind, and his body froze up. "No one hurts my friends!" "Then look at what your precious ruler did to Rainbow Dash," the Nightmare Guardian said. As Soren looked at the unconscious body of Rainbow Dash, a memory flashed into his mind. He remembered that day in Appaloosa when he and Rainbow were ambushed by Coyote Colt. He remembered how he felt to see his friend in true pain. "You lost, Nightmare. I'm taking over again. I need to stop you." "As if you could possibly... wait...what?! How are you-" While the Guardian spoke, Soren was slowly gaining control of his body using sheer anger and will power. The Nightmare Guardian noticed and began to panic. "You can't! It's not possible! You're under my control." She knew she was going to lose, so she let it happen. Soren was now back in control. He looked around at his friends as, one by one, they became their normal selves. Celestia took this opportunity to walk up to Soren. Soren drooped his ears in fear of what Celestia might do to him. She stared seriously at Soren, but when she spoke, he knew it wasn't directed at him. "I dont want to see you attacking these ponies ever again, Night Wing." Everypony turned towards Celestia. She knew the name of the Nightmare Guardian? Celestia then put her horn to Soren's forehead. The horn shined liked a star, and Soren closed his eyes. He reopened them when he felt the spell stop. "You'll be alright now, Soren," Celestia assured calmly. "Her connection was weakened, so I severed it completely. She's gone not." Soren smiled at her, but it disappeared when he remembered Rainbow Dash. Turning his head to the right, he saw her. She was still laying there unconscious. With mental fatigue finally kicking in, Soren struggled to walk over to her. He collapsed to the ground next to her. He only said one word before passing out: "Rainbow."