//------------------------------// // The Future // Story: Soren the Alicorn Part 3: A True Hero? // by KingNyroc15 //------------------------------// "Rainbow Dash!" Soren exclaimed happily. He ran up to her, dropped the knife he was levitating, and hugged her tightly. "I'm so happy you're back! It's been so long!" Rainbow Dash felt tears on her coat as Soren wept tears of joy. "How long was I gone? And what happened to the Crystal Empire?!" Soren broke the hug and wiped away his tears. He levitated his knife and helmet near him. As he put away the knife, he answered her question. "The TARDIS took you away for three years." Rainbow's jaw dropped. She now understood why Soren looked different; he was older. "As for what happened to the empire...it would be better if we got to safety first. You're lucky I found you, even if I did nearly kill you. Anyway, it's not safe out here, trust me." Soren put his helmet on and motioned for Rainbow to follow him as they began walking. As the duo traveled through what used to be the Crystal Empire, Rainbow Dash continued to look at the ravaged land around them. Demolished buildings and (Dash shuddered) skeletons were surprisingly common. Soren could sense the uneasiness of his long-lost marefriend. "This is the new Crystal Empire, and it's far from pretty. The Arrival started all of this. After that, it only got worse. Pony became bandits, ice creatures roam the land, and only a few of us survivors have actually been able to maintain a base of operations." "The Arrival? Bandits? Ice creatures?! Soren, what the buck happened to this place?!" Soren stopped to hug Rainbow Dash again. "It's going to be alright. The Doctor and I have almost completed his plan to fix all of this. Since you and the TARDIS came back, we might just be able to accomplish that goal." Soren turned back to their walking direction. "The Doctor is here? So I guess that was him who yelled at us, and I guess that the TARDIS was his." Soren nodded. "Just a few more minutes of walking. Oh, also I wouldn't try flying around in this wasteland. Snipers are just looking for something to shoot at." Dash shuddered again, even though she didn't know what snipers were. Eventually, Soren and Rainbow arrived at none other than the Crystal Palace. The building didn't appear to have changed that much, but the surrounding area did. A great area below the palace was surrounded in stone walls to prevent anything grounded from coming inside. There was also a large area next to the palace that was surrounded by a wall. Rainbow could see ponies higher up on both walls and in the castle, guarding the skies with strange contraptions, which looked similar to the one Soren had on his back. Soren and Rainbow were given permission to enter through a large gate that led them into the area underneath the Crystal Palace. The area was filled with tents and ponies. At least half of the ponies had armor or weapons; the other half were families that looked sad, depressed, or sick, or any combination of the three. The whole area reminded her of the community on Planet Zero. Rainbow Dash felt that the longer she stayed here, the more depressed she will become. The two of them finally entered the palace. It was mostly intact, with a few small holes and ruined decorations here and there. Soren led Rainbow Dash into the conference room, which she had been in with the girls once upon a time. She quickly saw four other ponies that were in the room. Some gave her glares, while others projected neutral expressions. "Soren, who is this?" a young unicorn mare asked with the sound of distaste. "You know how we feel about strangers being in the palace." Although she looked barely younger than Rainbow, the filly seemed like she has participated in many fights. She was a crystal pony with a silver coat, sky-blue mane, and pale blue eyes. Her cutie mark was a five-pointed yellow star. "She's an old friend from the past. Where's the Doctor?" "In his lab outside, but who is she?" "Her name is Rainbow Dash." Soren sighed. "Look, this isn't important right now, Star. I need to bring Rainbow Dash to the Doctor. I'll explain everything later." Star looked straight at Rainbow. "If Soren trusts you, then we all do as well." Pip motioned to the other three ponies at the table. "But one false move and you're manticore bait." Pip chuckled then looked at Soren again. "You might want to explain everything to her. She already looks traumatized by what's outside." "Leave her alone. She's not from here." Soren and Rainbow left the conference room to go outside. After walking through many hallways, Rainbow was led through a doorway and was greeted by an outdoor gymnasium that was changed into a giant lab of sorts. Rainbow Dash saw a lot of guards on top of the wall that surrounded the lab. 'They sure like their security,' she thought. Soren pointed to a brown stallion in a lab coat. "There he is." Soren walked away from Rainbow and up to the stallion, whom he began to speak with him. Rainbow just watched as the Doctor turned to look at her then he proceeded to give a big smile. He ran up to the pegasus and started shaking her hoof. "Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Rainbow Dash. I'm the Doctor. Soren has told me so much about you. Since you're here, I could only assume my TARDIS came back as well?" Rainbow nodded. "Fantastic! Soren, now we can finally complete Project: Nova. We can save the Crystal Empire!" Soren patted the Doctor's shoulder. "In good time, my friend. First, I need to show Dash around and explain everything that has happened while she was gone. See you at the performance later?" "Oh, I wouldn't miss it for the world. Divine Remedy has such a beautiful voice. See you then, Soren, and goodbye, Ms. Dash." Soren and Rainbow waved goodbye to the energetic Doctor as they re-entered the castle. In the doorway, Rainbow Dash turned to Soren. "I sure hope meeting a past version of the Doctor is the weirdest thing that happened here." Soren frowned slightly. "Then prepared to be disappointed." -------------- Soren led Rainbow Dash into his room of the castle. It was fairly small with only one window that he uses to look out over the Doctor's lab. Fortunately, it was big enough to house two ponies. The couple sat next to each other on the bed as Soren began to explain everything. "After the TARDIS took you away, I asked the Doctor what was happening in the Crystal Empire. From what he could gather, the clouds surrounding the entire empire were trapping everypony inside. Three years later, it's still occurring, except that blizzards appear much more frequently. I started helping the Doctor in his investigation, and, through intense experimenting, we later found out that time progresses a lot faster inside the Crystal Empire than outside." "What do you mean?" Rainbow questioned. "If three years went by in here, then how long has it been out there?" "By our calculations, months have passed everywhere else. Maybe around ten to twelve. That's how fast time is progressing in here, yet nopony notices a thing." "Earlier you said something about 'The Arrival.' What is that exactly?" "Ahh yes...that. After about six months of investigating this phenomenon after you left, something horrible happened. A massive blizzard struck the empire, then ice creatures showed up out of the nowhere and attacked everypony. These creatures are unique, for they are made entirely out of ice; no organs, no brains, just instincts. We assume someone or something is creating them." "When that filly warned me about becoming manticore bait, was she talking about an ice creature shaped like a manticore?" Soren nodded. "When the ice mimics a creature, they receive all of its abilities and strategies. Lucky for us, they can't copy specific ponies or large creature. And before you ask, yes we have fought ice ponies." Rainbow Dash started rubbing her head. "This is a lot to take in." Soren put a foreleg around her and brought her in close. Rainbow Dash then asked: "Is there anything else I need to know?" "I think you've heard enough for one day. Just remember that there are bandits and dangerous animals out there and that me and the Doctor can fix this." "Well of course you two can," Rainbow chuckled. "There's nothing that two Doctors can't do. Does he know that you're a future version of himself?" "No one knows that I'm technically the Doctor." Soren looked outside. "We've been talking for too long. How about I show you what we do for fun around here?" "Sure." ---------------- The two arrived at a tavern that was built within the castle. The floors and walls were made of smooth, blue crystals, and decorations hung from the ceiling and walls. Nice furniture littered the tavern and were made of wood and stone. The first thing Rainbow noticed was the stage that extended from one side of the room to the other. The stage stood out the most, for it was made of chiseled stone and had curtains made of velvet. From the entrance, the stage was on the opposite side of the tavern; the bar was to the left; and many seats and tables were positioned to the right, leaving a small middle area open to dancing. Even though everywhere outside the castle looked terrible, the tavern looked amazing. Soren ushered Rainbow over to a table that was close to the stage. He sat right next to her as a voice sounded throughout the room. "Hello, fillies and gentlecolts!" the male voice shouted. "I hope you're all ready for some entertainment because it's time for your favorite performer once again. Performing her song 'Mr. Sandman' with her backup choir is the talented, the beautiful, Miss Divine Remedy!" Applause resonated throughout the room. Rainbow knew that every single pony was applauding. Lights shined on center stage as the curtain drew back to reveal a gorgeous, middle-aged, unicorn mare. She had a light grey coat, black mane with a stripe of cerulean and blue styled into it, green eyes, and a cutie mark that showed a microphone with a stand and music notes surrounding the top. The song started, and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but become immediately entranced by her smooth voice. During the song, Rainbow looked around the tavern and saw many different reactions from the ponies, all of them adoring. Everyone either smiled, looked infatuated, tapped to the beat of the song, or were relaxing. Rainbow chuckled when she saw a few mares looking as love-struck as the colts. The song ended and applause once again sounded. Once the admiration died down, Divine had something to say. "I would like to perform a special song for you all tonight. I am going to perform a duet with my husband, Hardy Tune, in honor of Soren reuniting with his long lost love, Rainbow Dash. I hope you all enjoy it." Soren went a little wide-eyed at this, as did Rainbow Dash. First of all, Divine Remedy knew that Rainbow Dash was back, so she planned a special song for them. Second of all, she managed to make all of the heads in the tavern look at Soren and Rainbow. Divine introduced the next song as 'Dream A Little Dream' as Hardy Tune stepped onstage. Hardy was a sturdy-looking earth pony stallion that was around the same age as Divine. He had a black coat, a brown mane, soft blue eyes, and a cutie mark of a saxophone. He gave his wife a kiss before the music commenced. The song was slow but amazing nonetheless. Soren mentioned to Dash that this wasn't the first time they performed together, nor was this song new to anypony here, but it was still a brilliant song. Divine's voice was sweet, Hardy's voice was deep but smooth, and together they sounded fantastic. When the song ended, the applause was louder than ever. The married couple calmed the audience down so they could say something else. When it was quiet enough, Divine spoke once again. "I'm glad you all enjoyed that song, but I would like to ask Soren..." The stage light shined on him and Dash. "...and his love to perform a song for us." The audience murmured in approval. Soren chuckled and looked at Rainbow Dash. "What do you say? Wanna make a new song?" Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. "My magic will help. Just think about how you feel, and the words will come out." Rainbow Dash thought for a moment before shrugging. The couple took the stage as Divine and Hardy stepped backstage. As she faced the crowd, Rainbow slowly became nervous. She wasn't sure how an improvised song would work. It could go horribly wrong. As Rainbow and Soren each stood in front of a microphone, Soren illuminated his horn. It didn't show, but Soren was using a surprisingly large amount of magic. Not only was he illuminating a few instruments, but he was using magic to project Rainbow Dash's feelings towards the instrument to make a completely new and improvised song. Rainbow looked nervously at Soren; when he noticed her expression, he put a hoof on her shoulder. He knew she wanted him to go first. The instruments began playing, and Soren began. I got so much love For you darlin' and I, I wanna let you know how I feel And it's true that I love you And it's true you're the only one and I do, I adore you And it's true girl You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive Rainbow took a deep breath and began. You said - you said - you said That I'm the only one You said that I'm your number 1 Now your gone and I feel numb Tell me where do we go wrong You are my best friend and boyfriend Now it's seems like you're my worst friend I gotta do soul searching Without you I'm a whole different pony I ain't acting like I used to I don't feel love like I used to It was your love I was used to Why do I had to lo-lo-lo-lose Your love your love your love Your love is what it was That have me feeling buzzed You are my true love And it's true that I love you And it's true you're the only one and I do I adore you And it's true girl You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive Hey girl you're the only one Must be my number one Now your gone I feel so numb Tell me how do we go wrong First friends then we became best friend You used to be my girlfriend Now your my worst friend Yeah I gotta do a lil soul searching Without you I'm a whole different pony I don't even act like I used to I don't even feel loved like I used to I guess it's your love that I'm used to And I feel bad that I lose you I get so many things that I wanna sa-sa-sa-say I guess this mean that I'm missing you Sorry for the things that I did to you I'm so lost without you And it's true that I love you And it's true you're the only one and I do, I adore you And it's true girl You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive You make me feel alive-ive-ive-ive Rainbow's voice impressed many ponies. Most thought their voices went together very well. The couple actually sang one and a half songs that night. They named the first one 'Alive' and the second 'Missing You.' Both songs were about how they felt about each other and how they miss each other if separated. Soren and Rainbow Dash would have finished the second song, but an alarm sounded, interrupting their singing. Through the alarm's loud noise, Rainbow could hear commands being shouted, even from Soren. She turned to him. "What's going on?" she yelled over the commotion. "The alarm sounded," Soren shouted back. "They're here." "Who's here?" "Not a 'who,' but a 'what.' As for what's here, the ice creatures are." Rainbow Dash couldn't respond fast enough as Soren flew out of the tavern.