Soren the Alicorn Part 3: A True Hero?

by KingNyroc15

The EMP

The Present

The Doctor and Rainbow Dash stepped out of the TARDIS into the colorful and beautiful Crystal Empire. The Doctor nearly shed a tear as he looked upon the magnificent place he once knew. Rainbow Dash patted his back.

"Remember the mission, Doc." He nodded, and the two ponies ran towards the still intact Crystal Palace.

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Three Years in the Future

Soren sat up suddenly in his bed. Sweating slightly and breathing heavily, Soren looked around and discovered that he was in his room. The last thing he remembered was being stomped on by a giant ice pony. Soren shuddered and quickly noticed two more things. 1) Half of his body was wrapped in bandages and 2) Star was sleeping on the ground near his bed. Within seconds, a nurse walked in and, upon seeing Soren, smiled.

"Everypony thought you were dead, sir," she said in a sweet voice. "You had so much internal and external damage done to you that—" Soren raised a hoof to silence her. He pointed that same hoof at his sleeping friend.

"How long has she been here?"

"Five hours, sir."

"Can you leave us alone, please?" The nurse hesitated because he had only just woken up, but she left the room anyway. Soren got out of bed when the nurse closed the door, then he walked over to Star. He brushed her sky blue mane, which woke her up.

"Huh? What?" she said sleepily as she rubbed her eyes. "Must have dosed off." She looked up. "Soren!" Without hesitation, Star embraced her friend, which hurt him a little bit, but he returned the hug nonetheless.

"You were so worried about me that you stayed here?" he asked her. Star nodded. He sighed, then broke the hug. "Star..." The two locked gazes. He looked at this mare, not much younger than him, that had become his second in command, his battle teammate, and overall his best friend.

"The Doctor is about to do something drastic," Soren continued. "He's going to wipe this future out of existence." The mare's eyes widened. Soren exhaled a longer sigh, nervous of what he is about to do. "And it is because of this that you deserve this." Soren cupped Star's head with his hoof, leaned in, and kissed her lips. He could feel her tense up with surprise but immediately relax. When the kiss broke, Soren hugged Star.

"You know I like you," she started, "but I know you love Rainbow Dash. Why would you do something like that?"

"Like I said: None of us will remember this because it will never have happened. However, I wanted to give somepony a reward for her efforts. You deserved at least that...Glitter." She giggled.

"I told you I hated that nickname." Soren laughed also. The two ponies remained in each other's embrace until they ultimately become nonexistent.

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The Present

The Doctor and Rainbow reached the open area underneath the gargantuan, bright palace. The Doctor quickly saw the past version of his TARDIS parked nearby. With the chest piece slung onto his back, the Doctor told Rainbow Dash to stay put as he ran over to the blue box. When he stepped up to the TARDIS, he took out a black wallet. Opening it, the Doctor placed it, along with the EMP, at the doors of the TARDIS. He then ran back to Rainbow.

"What's with the wallet?" she asked as the Doctor motioned for her to hide behind one of the castle supports with him. The TARDIS was within viewing distance of their hiding place.

"That's my psychic paper," the Doctor explained. "Usually it shows the viewer whatever they want to see, but in this case, I left directions for the past versions of us on how to use the EMP and why they should set it off."

"Hold on a sec. If the future won't exist, doesn't that mean both of us will disappear or something? And I thought I had to be the one to set off that device."

"I did say that it had to be you, but I never said it couldn't be the past version of you." Before Rainbow could ask why it had to be her from the past, her and the Doctor heard voices, so they looked toward the TARDIS.

They saw past-Rainbow and Soren walk up to the open space beneath the palace. After they noticed the TARDIS and approached it, the past ponies found the piece of paper and EMP. Soren began reading the paper. The Rainbow Dash that was with the Doctor didn't know what the psychic paper said, but she figured it was very convincing considering the past version of her didn't hesitate to put on the chest piece. The Doctor nudged her.

"What is it?" she whispered. The Doctor pointed past the TARDIS. Rainbow saw another pony running up to the blue box. It was the Doctor. "This is going to be weird, isn't it?"

"It already is, Ms. Dash. Let's just see how things work out."

The two watched the past versions of themselves converse with one another. Although Rainbow and the Doctor couldn't hear the conversation, they knew the three from the past all agreed on using the EMP on the cloud cover. Spreading her wings, past-Rainbow readied herself. In a blink of an eye, she took to the sky.

Dash gained a lot of speed as she flew upwards towards the top of the cloud dome. The chest piece she was wearing began to emit a golden glow as the EMP built into it began charging. The ceiling of the dome was closing in, and Dash looked like a golden comet about to tear through the clouds. Since that was basically the plan, the mare had no problem speeding up, yet again, during the last few yards. The four ponies at the palace saw Rainbow pierce the clouds.

Nothing happened at first...

It was quiet...

...then...

...an explosion shook the entire empire. All of the citizens looked to the sky and saw a ring of golden light expanding from the point where past-Rainbow Dash struck the cloud dome. The light expanded over every cloud, destroying them completely. The Doctors, past-Soren, and Rainbow continued to watch in awe from their respective spots. Everything seemed fine...until the Doctor next to Rainbow gasped.

"Look there," he instructed while pointing. Rainbow noticed sadness in his voice. She looked to the sky and also gasped. She was looking at a trail of black smoke shooting towards the ground. Within the smoke, if one looked hard enough, was the occasional glimmer of gold.

Without thinking twice, Rainbow and the Doctor ran to the estimated impact point. Once they arrived at the sight, which was by the edge of the empire, the two saw a small crater, and inside the crater was the slightly dented EMP chest piece.

"Where did I go?" Rainbow wondered aloud.

"I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash. Look closely at the device." Looking into the crater one more time, Rainbow barely noticed the clump of slightly burnt rainbow hair that was caught on the device. Multiple feelings flooded Rainbow Dash at that moment: sadness, anger, confusion.

"Your machine killed me!"

"Rainbow, calm down. Windigos were the ones causing the cloud dome. They must have retaliated after the sonic boom. They are sinister spirits after all."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?!" She sighed in defeat. "I guess it's time to disappear."

"Maybe for me, but not for you."

"But I died in the past. I shouldn't exist."

"That's right. You shouldn't exist; that doesn't mean you can't. Do you know the rule about paradoxes?"

"I know the universe doesn't like them."

"Exactly, but sometimes, the universe allows paradoxes in order for something important to happen in the future. You're obviously needed, Rainbow Dash. The universe isn't done with you. It's a shame I won't be around to see what you're needed for." Rainbow noticed that the Doctor was beginning to fade away.

"Doctor, wait! Why did it have to be the past-me and not...well, me?"

"It doesn't matter. Just wait here for Soren. I'll be with him when he shows up." Before Rainbow Dash could say another word, the Doctor faded from existence. The weight of everything caused her to fall to the ground and sit there. She sat perfectly still for a minute before Soren and the Doctor ran up to her.

"Rainbow Dash! You're ok!" Soren exclaimed as he sat down in front of her. Rainbow quickly gave Soren a strong hug. "I'm glad your fine too, Rainbow, but why the strong hug?" She broke away.

"Um, no reason. Just...I love you." Soren gave a small laugh.

"I love you too, Rainbow. It's been too long since we said that to each other. Not since we went to the Spirit World thanks to the Doctor." Soren covered his mouth as soon as he realized the spoiler he just explained.

"I sent you to the Spirit World!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Is that true?" Soren chose not to try and lie, so he nodded.

"Don't ask about it, Doctor," Soren stated. "Timelines and all that."

"Oh right, right. I guess that's still in my future, huh? Oh well. I do look forward to seeing you both again. As of now, I shall leave in the TARDIS. Until then..." The Doctor held out a hoof, which Soren shook. Rainbow Dash gathered herself as she watched the two colts. After the Doctor walked away, Soren turned back to Rainbow Dash.

"So?" he pressed. Rainbow's ears perked. "Shall we explore the Crystal Empire?" Rainbow Dash groaned and fell backward onto the ground. Soren stared for a second and said, "I'll take that as a 'not right now.'"

(End of arc. Next arc: [REDACTED])

(There's only two arcs left, so I'll just say when arcs end instead of giving out the names.)