The next day everyone gathered in the library again. When they entered, they saw the Doctor standing next to hid TARDIS, talking with Twilight.
"Are you two ready?" the Doctor asked, looking at Soren, who now looked like his normal self, and Rainbow Dash.
"As ready as we'll ever be," Soren replied. He and Rainbow started saying their goodbyes to their friends, just in case they didn't make it back. No one wanted to say it and no one wanted to think about it, but they knew there was a fairly high chance of death. Although it saddened everyone to see their friends leave, they pulled through without shedding a tear. Seeing that the goodbyes were finished, the Doctor began explaining the plan to all of them.
"Twilight and I will accompany Soren and Rainbow Dash in the TARDIS; this is where the two will be when they enter the Spirit World. There is no guarantee that the Spirit World and this world have the same time span. What could be an hour for them, can only be a minute for us. It could even be a whole days for us, while it only takes them 30 minutes. That is why me and Twilight will watch over you until you wake up. I think it's time that we go." Looking at everyone else, Soren, the Doctor, Rainbow, and Twilight all waved goodbye and stepped inside the TARDIS. Immediately, the Doctor started pulling levers and hitting buttons.
"Why do we need to leave the library?" Rainbow asked, curious.
"Just in case our friends decide to wake you two up when we aren't looking. Who knows what would happen?"
"What if they're dying?" Twilight offered. "Wouldn't we want to wake them up?"
"It's not that simple, Twilight. The spirits won't allow them to leave in the middle of combat. It's against their code."
"Fine."
"How exactly do we get into the Spirit World anyway?" Soren asked Twilight as he looked at her. Before Twilight could answer, the Doctor began explaining.
"You two will need to have a lucid dream, which will be easy with the combination of Soren and the TARDIS. In the Spirit World, you both will need to appeal to the Elementals so they will 'grace you with their presence.' After that, everything will run its own course. Simple." Everyone but him didn't think so.
"You said that you and Twilight will stay with us till we wake up," Rainbow Dash said. "What if we die? How will you know?"
"The TARDIS has an organism radar to keep track of all living things within her walls. If something or someone dies, the TARDIS will know," the Doctor replied while resting his hoof on a lever. "By the way, are you two ready to go?"
"Wait, how will the TARDIS help us sleep?" Soren asked.
"It also has a very unique, very new, function to hibernate any life form I want it to. It's only used in dire emergencies, but in this case, it quickens the pace of our plan." Twilight and the Doctor then wished good luck upon Soren and Rainbow as the Time Lord pulled the lever...
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Soren opened his eyes to a very white area. It was flat and went as far as his eyes could see. He noticed that the sky was slightly darker than the white floor, so at least he knew which way was up and which way was down.
"Rainbow Dash," he called out. "Are you here?"
"Over here," he heard her respond. Soren looked to his right and saw Rainbow Dash staring at him through what looked like a window.
"How did you get over there?" he wondered, walking up to the strange window.
"No clue. I woke up, saw you in this window, and waited for you to wake up." Soren began investigating the window.
"Have you tried going around this thing?" Soren looked around the window and saw nothing. He tried the other side with the same result.
"Yes, but you weren't there. This thing is like a portal or something." Soren began pondering the many possibilities of how to reacquaint himself with Rainbow. He placed a hoof on the window and felt solid glass.
"Look out." Soren turned his back to the window and kicked. He recoiled off the window and landed on the ground. "Any glass on your end?"
"No." Rainbow double-checked her surroundings while Soren put his hoof on the window again. The second he felt the window, Soren noticed something different. The glass felt a little more rubbery. Glancing past his hoof, he saw Rainbow's back facing him. She turned to face him, and the glass became solid again.
"Rainbow, can you turn around again?" She obliged and turned her back to him. Soren's hoof once again felt rubber, but this time it was slowly edging forward a few inches; much further than the first time. It soon stopped. "Look at me again." When Rainbow turned back around, Soren's hoof was immediately pushed backward as if the once-rubbery glass became solid again. The recoil of the glass sent Soren backwards into the ground.
"Woah, are you ok?"
"Yeah. At least I figured something out," Soren replied, picking himself up. "This may seem crazy, but it's the only chance we got. Rainbow, I need you to walk around to the other side of this window while I force myself through it." She shrugged then nodded.
Soren started to count down from three; after "one" he said "go" and the couple put his plan into motion. Rainbow walked slowly around the mirror while Soren tried with all his might to push through the rubbery glass. Once Rainbow reached the other side, Soren's straining stopped. It was quiet...then Soren poked his head from around the window and waved to Dash. She rolled her eyes.
"Quit fooling around," she smiled. Next they sat down and thought about how to get the Elementals to come to them. After about 10 minutes of thinking of random ideas, Soren and Rainbow Dash heard a semi-distant voice.
"Congratulations on figuring out my little trick. Perspectives can fool even the brightest of ponies. It gets rather boring if I cannot find a smart pony now and again, let alone two. So what brings you two here?"
"We're here to meet the Elementals," Soren answered the voice.
"The Elementals? Surely you don't expect them to just talk to you because you want them to."
"Of course not. That's why me and my friend, Rainbow Dash, here are trying to come up with a way to get them to notice us."
"But they have already noticed you, Soren, especially the Fire Elemental. I hear she's helped you out a few times. She noticed that you two are looking for the Elementals, so she sent me here. I know why you two are here. A promise made by a being from a different universe, the quest for the big truth, and Time that progresses with Death."
"Who are you?!" Dash yelled. "Show yourself!" As Rainbow attempted to lure out the cause of the voice, Soren couldn't wrap his head around what he was hearing. 'The voice knows me, knows why we're here, and knows what's going on,' Soren thought to himself. 'And what does he mean "Time that progresses with Death?" There's only one pony that I knew that died. It can't be relevant.' As Dash tried to figure out what the voice is, a silhouette of a pony slowly emerged from nowhere, and it began walking towards them.
Soren and Dash stood up and faced the shadow. The pony came into focus. He was barrel-chested and tall. He had a green coat; a short, brown-colored mane and a short tail of the same color; a cutie mark that resembled the planet that Equestria was on; and most shocking of all, eyes with no pupils or anything, just pure white (but not glowing). Even though this pony only had pure white eyes and was probably blind, Soren and Rainbow could tell that this pony can see just as well, if not better, than the two of them. The stallion stopped walking and introduced himself.
"Hello, Soren and Rainbow Dash. I am the Earth Elemental." The two just stared at him for a little bit before Soren spoke.
"You're the Earth Elemental?" he questioned.
"Yes," the Elemental replied. "Were you expecting someone else?"
"No, but I pictured you to be..." Soren hesitated. He was trying to find the right word without offending him.
"Tougher looking," Dash blurted out. "Like a spirit that could destroy everything if he really wanted to." The Earth Elemental laughed.
"I guarantee I'm who I say I am. My name is Terra. And I know why you two are here; all four of us do. The Promise."
"Who asked the Doctor to make this promise?" Soren asked.
"You don't know? You of all ponies should know."
"Well I don't. The Doctor refused to tell me."
"Oh...well if he refused then maybe I shouldn't tell you. In any case, are you two ready?" Soren and Rainbow nodded and were prepared to fight.
Terra immediately raised his hoof and stomped on the ground. The ground shook violently, and a massive hole formed beneath all of them. The next sensation that they felt was free falling. Soren and Rainbow would have started flying, except they couldn't feel their wings. 'I guess this is what the Doctor was talking about,' Soren thought.
All of a sudden, Soren and Rainbow discovered that they weren't falling anymore. They didn't land; they just stopped. The two scanned their surrounding area and saw nothing but an environment of blue skies, thin grass, and dry dirt. Soren saw they were laying on a plain, and in the surrounding horizon, he could see mountains. The couple got up and looked at each other.
"Your wings are gone!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed suddenly.
"So are yours!" Soren exclaimed back. They both looked at their respective backs to confirm that their wings have indeed disappeared.
"Do not fret," Terra said. "Your wings will come back if you defeat me. If you lose...well I guess you won't be needing them now will you." Terra was on a circular patch of dirt, standing at least twenty yards away from them. Soren and Dash got in a fighting position and stared at Terra. He could take the hint: the fight was on.
The three of them stared at each other for a good bit of time before Soren took one step forward. The second Soren moved, Terra stomped a hoof to the ground and nudged it forward slightly. This caused a single-file wave of rocks to move towards the white unicorn. Soren dodged it, but when he landed, another one of Terra's waves was already speeding towards him. Soren barely dodged that one. Every time Soren dodged and landed on the ground, another wave of rocks was already heading towards him. One particular wave of rocks was in midair, formed horizontally, as they flew at Soren. He curled up on the ground, and the rocks flew over him. Predicting that another wave was about to strike him, Soren was surprised when he felt and heard nothing.
Slowly standing up, Soren stood there and looked at Terra, who projected immense concentration. 'If his ability is so accurate, why doesn't he attack me?' Soren thought. He keep staring at Terra, then an idea came to him. 'Can it be...?' Soren moved his hoof to a slightly different spot on the ground then he had to dodge more waves before he got another chance to curl up on the ground. 'It seems like he only attacks when I move or touch a new spot on the ground. Of course!' Soren looked at Rainbow Dash, who never moved once. Since he still had his horn, Soren used his magic to levitate Rainbow towards him. Using a bit more magic, Soren created a sound-proof bubble around them.
"Rainbow, Terra only sees us when we are on the ground," Soren began explaining.
"Makes sense. So?"
"So, if we could somehow get above him, we can get the drop on him and attack."
"Well use your magic and put me above his head."
"Glad we're on the same page." Soren dropped the bubble and began levitating Rainbow to a position above the unmoving Terra.
"Where are you Rainbow Dash~?" Terra asked. "I know Soren is making you float. You both must have figured out how I am able to see you, but can you actually fight me without touching the ground and without wings?"
'We aren't entirely sure ourselves at this point but anything is worth trying,' Soren thought as he concentrated on his spell. Dash was now above Terra, and the Elemental kept talking since they were silent.
"I can wait for as long as I want. I know you two are not advancing because one of you hasn't moved from their spot. Wait...only one..."
"Hey, I'm over here!" Soren yelled, interrupting Terra's train of thought. Soren then started to run but not before he let go of his magical hold on Dash. She fell down onto Terra as he sent wave after wave at Soren. Dash tackled Terra to the ground and began wrestling with him. Since Terra was a fierce fighter, he wasn't losing the wrestling match, but he wasn't winning either since Dash was a good fighter as well. Dash, however, was soon flung off of him, but Soren took this opportunity to charge at Terra.
"There you are, Soren!" Terra grinned, but it was too late. Soren slammed into him...but it was much more than that. Added to the charge was Soren's horn; it punctured Terra's side as Soren slammed into him. As Soren saw Terra flung towards the ground, a drop of something fell in front of him. Soren put a hoof to his horn then brought it back down to look at it. Soren's breath became caught in his throat; he saw blood. Shocked, Soren looked at Terra as the Elemental slowly got up.
"I...I didnt mean..." Soren stammered. Rainbow was surprised to see Soren in shock.
"That was quite the blow you gave me," Terra said with a slightly weaker tone. "Never seen a horn used on me that way. It punctured pretty deep. Usually unicorns are afraid of it being stuck within the other pony or scared of their horn breaking. I'll tell you what though..."
"What?" Soren whispered, still trying to get a hold of himself. He never planned on hurting any pony that much, especially not with his own horn.
"I can't even move without my side hurting. I can't even perform the most basic Earth spells without the same consequence." Terra demonstrated a small rock wave but groaned in agony. "See? Let me make a deal with you two. You ponies basically pinned me down. So...how about I withdraw from this fight?" He looked at Rainbow. "I doubt your friend can continue this fight anyway."
"So that's it?" Dash questioned, unsure if they should trust the spirit. "You're just giving up? Why should I believe that?"
"Believe me when I say that Elementals never go back on their word when it comes to codes of honor and combat. I am withdrawing from this brawl for the sake of Soren and I."
"I don't know..." Dash began. But Soren cut her off.
"Fine," he said. Surprised, Dash looked at him. "If he wants to give up, then we'll let him. No sense risking our lives further." Dash nodded, as did Terra.
"Before I go, let me give you two a word of advice: The other Elementals won't be so merciful like me. When it comes to combat, they will gladly give up blood and limbs to ensure their victory. We can create new bodies if we truly wanted to. This way, we don't have to worry about fighting. Be cautious." Terra then turned into mist and evaporated. A white light flashed, blinding Soren and Rainbow. After the brightness cleared, Soren and Rainbow were back in the first empty area again. They looked at each other and agreed that they should take this time to rest. They didn't need to sleep in this form, so the two just relaxed and waited.