//------------------------------// // The Dream // Story: Soren the Alicorn Part 3: A True Hero? // by KingNyroc15 //------------------------------// Ponyville Soren has only been gone for three days and all of his friends were already worried. What if something bad happens in Canterlot? What if he gets hurt? They knew Soren was strong enough to endure most things, but it doesn't stop them from worrying about him. Yesterday, after spending the entire day with her friends, Twilight Sparkle came to the library exhausted. She found herself going to bed earlier than usual, but she needed the rest. After getting settled in bed, she went to sleep almost instantly. Twilight had a strange dream that night. She found herself inside the royal palace. She was walking through the halls when all of a sudden...BOOM! Not knowing why, Twilight rushed towards the origin of the explosion. She turned a corner and saw a giant hole in the left wall of the hallway. When Twilight came closer, she saw two ponies fly out of the hole and slam into the opposite wall, both looking exactly the same. 'They must be part of the Lunar Guard,' Twilight thought. She just stood there and watched as the two stallions started to fight each other. One appeared to have a blades attached to his wings as he swung said blades at his weaponless opponent. During the fight, the opponent kicked the blade away from the user. The next thing Twilight saw was a blade coming straight at her face... She woke up suddenly. Panting, Twilight looked at her body....unharmed. She then looked outside...morning. 'Why was that dream so vivid?' she thought before getting out of bed and heading downstairs to eat breakfast. ------------- Soren woke up with a throbbing headache. 'Where am I?' He looked around and saw that he was in a familiar bedroom. 'Oh yeah, the guards dragged me into the castle, but would that mean that I'm in the bedroom of...?' Soren quickly jumped off of the bed, then he was stopped by a voice. "Halt, stallion!" Princess Luna shouted. "Thou should not try to resist. Thou would not win against a goddess." As part of his plan, Soren had to maintain his charade. "Why did you bring me here?" Soren asked. "I'm nothing special." Soren put up a metaphorical glass defense that he knew would eventually shatter. "Oh but we know thou art special. One does not easily fight two ponies of equivalent strength. Thou should have been overpowered, yet thou wasn't. Explain yourself!" Soren didn't have much of an excuse, so he put up another glass wall to try to support the first. "I was just more skilled at fighting is all. Equal strength but different minds." Soren felt that he was being backed into a corner in this interrogation. "Maybe so. Thy strength gave in towards the end, however. 'Twas the armor's magic. It seeps away the pony's energy so it can use its magic. So tell me stallion...how does one replenish such energy?" This was a test; Soren knew it. Unfortunately, he didn't know anything about this armor...but he can guess. "They eat and sleep of course." 'Close enough,' Soren thought. Luna squinted intensely at him. "How much food would one have to consume?" "More than the average pony." Still squinting at Soren, Luna was silent for a few seconds. "Very well. Then we assume thou art hungry after such a battle. The palace chefs have made many foods for you while you were asleep." Princess Luna used her magic to open the door and bring in a cart full of food. Unfortunately, Soren wasn't hungry at all, and if Luna was telling the truth then he should be. 'If I eat all of this then I'll surely be sick,' he thought worriedly. Luna saw him hesitate. "Is something wrong, stallion?" Luna smirked. Soren started to panic. How was he supposed to get out of this one? 'Maybe I can turn the tide and make this interrogation become more even.' "Fine, you caught me...but...I'm not the only one hiding something, now am I? Care to say something, Princess?" Luna was taken aback. Sure, she was correct about this mysterious stallion all along, but how did this stallion know that she had a secret? "Who are you to make such accusations?" Soren sighed and pushed the eye on his chestpiece. The armor retracted, his coat turned white, and his eye color changed back to green. Luna stared at her old friend in shock. "N...Nyroc?! How do you have Lunar armor?" "Do you remember when Rainbow and I went into the Spirit World?" Luna nodded. "Well the Elementals foolishly gave us one set of armor so the fight would 'be fair.' I guess it came back with us when we returned to our bodies. There's really no good way to explain it." "Thou received a powerful gift from the spirits. Consider yourself lucky." Luna rubber her chin in thought. "Hmm...since thou has the armor, maybe...just maybe, you can help us." Soren became more interested. 'Was this why the Doctor needed me here?' "Help you with what?" Luna motioned for Soren to come with her to the bedroom balcony. They walked onto the balcony and stared at sky for a while. The sun was just coming up over the horizon. Luna finally turned towards Soren and began explaining. "We art threatened...we can sense it. Somepony within our ranks has evil intentions. Wether it be servant, royalty, or guard we are not sure. We need to discover this pony before they decide to strike. Since you are the Elemental Guardian and now have Lunar armor, we are asking you to train to help us so we can uncover this traitor." Soren sighed irritably but not for the reason Luna thinks. 'There's always something threatening,' he thought. 'There's never peace or relaxation anymore.' Luna waited patiently for his answer. "The Doctor sent me here with his dying wish to investigate the Lunar Stallions, but now I know that this...let's just call this pony an assassin. Now I know that this assassin is the main reason I'm here." Soren looked Luna dead in the eyes. "I'll do it." Luna smiled, but her expression quickly changed to sorrow. "Dying wish? So the dear Doctor is...?" "Dead. Yes. But he regenerated, if you know about that process." Luna nodded. "His new regeneration is closer than you think, but anyway, what's the plan?" Luna forced a smile. "Thou shalt train under our guidance specifically. If questioned by other guards, say nothing about the personal training. As with your original plan, stay hidden as much as possible. Learn as much as you can and so will we. We have told our sister about our senses, and she is already investigating. This pony cannot get the opportunity to attack or we fear it will be too late." Soren followed along perfectly, so he nodded. "Right! I'll train right away. This is unrelated but if I may ask: Why is your accent so strong when addressing the other guards, yet when you talk with me your voice is more normal?" Luna chuckled. "We must appear strong and forceful to not only build the strength of our guards but to also scare the assassin from attacking...if he is indeed a Lunar Guard in disguise." Luna looked back at the rising sun. '8 o'clock,' she thought. "Soren." He looked at her. "We believe there are some old friends of yours that would like to meet you." Soren tilted his head in confusion. "Follow us." The two alicorns left her bedroom, and Luna began leading Soren through the royal palace towards the dining hall. As they neared the large room, Soren noticed something. 'I thought Luna had personal guards. I guess she doesn't trust any pony other than her sister or me so long as that assassin is running around.' Within the minute, Luna and Soren arrived at the entrance to the dining hall and stepped inside. Soren immediately saw Princess Celestia sitting at the head of the table, eating her breakfast. When the doors opened, Celestia looked to see who entered and smiled. "Luna...and Soren. Well this is a nice surprise. What brings you to Canterlot?" Soren sat in a chair to the left of Celestia, and Luna sat in a chair to her sister's right. "Well I suppose I'm here to uncover this assassin that Luna told me about." Celestia's smile changed into a serious, but neutral, expression. "Have you any leads, Luna?" Celestia asked her sister. Luna dipped her head and shook it. "Very well. We will have to discuss this later. Right now, I think Soren may want to greet these two stallions that know him." "And who exactly are these stallions?" Soren asked her. Celestia's smile came back. "Oh just our entertainment." As she said this, two familiar ponies walked into the dining hall. Soren saw them and began smiling. 'They show up at the most random of times.' The Pega-Singers saw their old friend and couldn't help but joke around with him. "Why hello~, Soren." -------------- "You're sure it's him?" A stallion and a waitress were conversing in a secluded area of the royal palace. The mare nodded to his question. The stallion chuckled. "Well this just got more interesting...and more dangerous." "How are going to fight him?" the mare asked. The stallion pulled an object out of his saddle bag and showed it to her. It was a necklace with a strange medallion on it. "With this. This is the armor of the Nightmare Guardian. I managed to grab it before they buried her. Luckily, the stupid Canterlot ponies didn't notice that she was missing anything." The mare was clearly confused. "But that's just a regular set of Lunar Armor. How is it any better than what you already have?" "Simple, my dear. The Nightmare Guardian's armor can hold much more magic. It also intensifies offensive spells when used. Magically, it's better than any regular Lunar Armor." The stallion put away the medallion and surveyed the area before continuing. "Do you remember the plan?" The mare nodded.