//------------------------------// // Choices // Story: Soren The Alicorn Part 2: The Effects Of War // by KingNyroc15 //------------------------------// The sun was finally rising over the horizon. It turned the sky a wonderful mixture of light purple and blue. The wind slowly died down as the sun was fully in sight. Soren took in this beautiful sight as he realized that he hasn't seen a sunrise that often. He was relaxing on a cloud after two hours of training. Soren had both hooves behind his head and one leg bent as he continued to watch the sky fully turn blue. After about ten more minutes of this, Soren heard wingbeats. Recognizing them as Rainbow's, Soren figured she would try and mess with him as he is relaxing, but Soren had other plans. 'Time to test my speed,' Soren thought. He waited for the lightning to strike before curling up into a ball and falling through the cloud. Soren straightened himself out and flew straight towards the storm cloud. When Soren flew through it, it vanished. Soren then looped around to float back onto his cloud and acted like nothing happened. "Can I help you?" Soren asked with a smirk. "You're no fun to prank," Rainbow replied, sticking her tongue out at her friend. Soren laughed. "Anything else?" "How long have you been up?" "Almost three hours. Why?" "It looks like you just went through one heck of a work out." "I did. I couldn't sleep so I decided to work on my speed." "Well it definitely has improved. Did you have another weird dream last night?" Soren nodded. "Wanna talk about it with your friends?" "It would be bad if I didn't, but I have a feeling that none of you will like what I have to say." "I'll be the judge of that. Come on, let's go get everyone." Soren got up, and the two of them flew off to find their friends. ---------------- Soren and Rainbow Dash only managed to gather about half of their friends at Sugarcube Corner. The others were still tired and refused to come to the shop until they rested a little more. After almost an hour of Rainbow Dash, Soren, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Luna conversing with each other, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy entered the building. Soren nodded to Rainbow Dash and then asked his friends to gather around the table. "Everypony...I had two lucid dreams last night; two very strange lucid dreams. In the first dream, I saw the Shadow Horses and a grey mare wearing some sort of armor. The only thing that happened in that dream was that the mare was talking to me, like I was actually with her. She said that she was waiting for me...both her and the Shadow Horses. "The second dream is when I realized that the mare was really Night Wing in a different form. In this dream, nopony could see or hear me. I was watching Night Wing speak to one of her guards, and what she said..." Soren trailed off but continued a second later. "This was the strangest dream, for as I listened to the things Night Wing said, my conscience and mind were battling with each other. Night Wing said that the only reason she won't give up her plan is because she won't fit in anywhere if she tried to live a normal life." "Well she's smart then," Rainbow Dash interrupted. "She would probably be chased out of any town for what she's done." "After hearing that, this next part is going to be even harder to explain. Night Wing sounded like she didn't want to go through with this plan, but she also feels like she has no other choice. I was so conflicted after witnessing that dream. My conscience was telling me to find the good in her, but my mind was telling me that I need to fight her. Girls, I think Night Wing can possibly be changed to good." "Are you crazy, Soren?" Applejack said. "After all the things that gal's done, you wanna make friends with her?" "She doesn't seem to fully want to go through with resurrecting Nightmare Moon. She wants to be more than just some slave to her master. Don't any of you believe Night Wing can be changed for the better?" As expected, every single one of them said no. They all had similar reasons why they said no, but the main reason was because Night Wing attacked the princess. They believed that that was unforgivable. Soren couldn't argue with them, for they wouldn't get anywhere in their debate. "Soren, you can't seriously be thinking of going against everything we have planned!" Twilight said "I am. I don't think I can do this. I think she can be changed. That wasn't an act that I saw, Twilight. No one knew I was there. What I saw was the truth behind the Nightmare Guardian." Soren's voice was slightly raising with every sentence. "Soren...think about how you could even manage to get her to become good." "I can talk to her instead of fight her." "And if things go south?" Rainbow asked. Soren paused. "It won't come to that. I'm following my gut on this one. If she refuses to talk...then I guess I'll have no choice." "As long as you don't put her over Equestria, Soren," Twilight said. "Look, I appreciate that you're trying to do this the way the Doctor likes to, but I feel as though this is a lost cause and that the result will get you badly hurt. Just let it go for now, ok? How about we all grab some breakfast?" Twilight looked at everyone as she asked the last question. Everypony agreed but Luna had to say something first. "Afterwards we should all spend time together at the library." "Why there of all places, princess?" Rarity asked. "We simply have a feeling that this would be the best place to be." -------------- When the eight friends finished eating breakfast, they arrived at the library. They all decided to do their normal routine of conversing with one another to pass the time. During their long conversation, the group of friends were interrupted by a loud rumbling sound coming from Spike. "Feels like something's coming," he said as he held his mouth. Within seconds, the dragon belched up a scroll, which landed on the floor in front of him. Spike picked it up and was getting ready to read it. Soren and Twilight looked at Princess Luna and saw that she was nowhere near as confused as everypony else. "To my faithful student, Please do not stop reading this letter, for that would disrupt the timing. I can usually assume that Soren or Luna are with you as you are read these letters. My sister has informed me of Soren's plan of studying the Natural Elements, and I agree that this may be the best course of action for him. As Soren works on his portion of the master plan against the Shadow Horses, it is time for the rest of you to do your parts also. Twilight, you are to accompany my sister and come to Canterlot. I will explain more once you arrive. The rest of your friends are to go from town to town, secretly recruiting ponies to fight in the upcoming battle. The ponies that you find will need to go to the Royal Castle and train with the Royal Guards. In order to help Soren with his plan, I have included a special gift that is sure to surprise him and all of you. The reason I asked for you to never stop reading this was to perfectly time the gifts arrival. As you finish reading this sentence, he should start arriving..." The second Spike finished that sentence, a familiar whirring noise could be heard. Soren and Twilight turned to face the appearing TARDIS, and then everyone else did the same. "Princess Celestia actually came into contact with the Doctor and timed this perfectly?!" Twilight exclaimed. The TARDIS landed, the door opened, and out stepped the Doctor. "Hello again, Twilight," he said evenly as he closed the doors behind him. The Doctor looked at Soren. "Princess Celestia sent me to get you." "And here I thought you didn't want to help anypony anymore," Soren said. "I may not want to help anymore, but it doesn't mean I'm going to just sit by and watch a country destroy itself when I could have done something about it." The Doctor walked over to Twilight and stood in front of her. "I'm sorry you couldn't come with us." "It's fine," she replied. "Princess Celestia needs me for something more important anyway." "They want to be together so bad," Soren whispered to his friends. The Doctor looked at Soren with fierce eyes. At first Soren thought the Doctor heard him, but what he said next erased that fear. "And you...you better not attempt anything stupid when confronting the Nightmare Guardian." "Why not?" Soren asked defensively, knowing what the Doctor was referring to. "Why does it matter if I attempt to change Night Wing to good?" "The choice you make will decide the entire outcome of the battle." "And what choices does Soren have exactly?" Rarity asked. "He can either choose to fight Night Wing and win or attempt to change her and risk losing the battle." "And what would happen if he tried to change her?" Twilight asked. The Doctor was silent. Meanwhile, Soren began saying his goodbyes to his friends. "I'll make my decision when the time comes," Soren said. He proceeded to kiss Luna goodbye and hug the others. When he was finished, Soren walked inside the TARDIS. He smiled as he looked upon the place of legends, the place that took Twilight and the Doctor to worlds unknown. Soren looked back towards the doorways and saw the Doctor there, talking to somepony. Soren couldn't hear exactly what he was saying, but he did hear the Doctor whisper something about "stopping him." 'Who's 'him?' Was it me? Why would the Doctor want my friends to stop me?' Soren decided to ignore this for now because he and the Doctor have more important matters to attend to. The Doctor closed the TARDIS door and walked over to the console. "So where to?" he asked Soren. "Umm...I figured you would know." The Doctor sighed irritably. "Fine. I'll figure something out, but don't expect this to be a common thing, alright?" Soren nodded as the Doctor flicked switches and hit buttons. Soon the TARDIS made its signature sound and the two of them were off to anywhere and anywhen.