Something New

by KingNyroc15

Chapter 7

Last night was fantastic for the stallions; the next morning was hell. The sun beat down rays of fire into the eyes of Soren and Shayden, the former hissing and the latter groaning. While the two stallions shifted in their respective beds, the mares decided to go out to eat breakfast and to let the boys recover.

Around noon, Soren couldn't force himself to remain asleep, so he made his way into the kitchen for a glass of water. Strangely enough, by the time he finished drinking the glass, the headache was almost gone. Thirty minutes later, Shayden dragged himself out of the bedroom. He trudged into the kitchen, groaning the entire way. Soren smirked as the unicorn slowly poured a glass of water as well.

"Somepony's a little hungover," he mocked.

"How are you not?" the unicorn replied bitterly.

"I'm a Time Lord. A lot of stuff heals quickly. Yay for me I guess." Shayden grumbled, downed his glass, then turned to the bedroom.

"I'm going to lay down again." Soren chuckled.

"GOOD NIGHT, SWEET PRINCE!" Soren shouted in his best Royal Canterlot Voice impression. Shayden fell over, cried out in pain, and held his head. Soren peeked through the doorway at the unicorn. "Too much?"

"I'm going to kill you..."

"Get in line. Chroma already has me on his metaphorical hit list." Shayden sighed heavily.

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When Rainbow and Winter returned to the apartment, they found Soren, who was humming with his eyes closed, relaxing on a recliner chair while Shayden, who was laying on the couch, had buried himself underneath a blanket.

"Hello, boys," Winter greeted. "How is the previous night fairing?" Soren simply pointed to Shayden. "He still hasn't recovered?"

"I have," Shayden replied as he sat up, the blanket hanging over his shoulders. "The headache is still barely there, though. And this..." he pointed at Soren "...this pony...recovered extremely quick because of his Time Lord abilities."

"Time...Lord?" Winter tilted her head in confusion. "Sounds like a rather bigoted title, don't you think?" Rainbow patted her shoulders.

"Don't worry about it too much. We'll explain it some day. If you hang with us long enough, a lot of weird things will happen."

"I'm not sure I want to be around if that's the case."

"Rainbow, quit scaring the poor girl," Soren scolded from the couch. "You already hassle Shayden enough. Winter, she's over-exaggerating. Sure weird things can happen around us, but really it's nothing that bad. Makes things quite interesting. Just look at Shayden."

"Buck. You," he retorted angrily.

"Shayden. Language!" Winter gasped.

"He got me drunk!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusing hoof at Soren, who just smiled. Rainbow sat on the ground beside the white pony while Winter sat beside Shayden and petted his foreleg lovingly. "Apologies for swearing, especially if I did so last night."

"Oh, I liked it," Soren replied. "You remind me of when I sing certain songs." He jokingly sniffed as if beginning to cry. "I'm so proud of you!"

"What song did you sing last night?" Rainbow inquired. "Shayden said you were winning a bet by singing—and I quote—'a hell of a explicit song.'"

"Let me think..." Soren rubbed his head with both hooves in circular motions. "I think I got it. Are you sure you want me to sing it? Winter, do you want to hear it as well?"

"From what I heard and saw from the audience, it had to have been somewhat entertaining or hilarious. Let's hear it."

Soren proceeded to sing the song from last night to the mares. Midway through, he found it hard to keep a straight face; the lyrics and the girls' faces were almost making him burst into laughter. Rainbow Dash looked delighted and close to laughing as well, while Winter Solstice looked appalled yet still showing a small smile of disbelief. Once the song was over, Soren bowed.

"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all day." Rainbow fell over laughing every ounce of breath out of her. Winter just rubbed her ear and stared at Soren.

"That was...what did I just...?" She groaned. "My head hurts."

"Now you know how I feel," Shayden added. "That song is very funny, Soren." Winter looked surprised at Shayden.

"You like it?"

"In a manner of speaking. It's not offensive or anything. Just an explicit song to sing at adult parties or at a bar. Not a great song, but—" Shayden paused; he was looking at Soren and Rainbow Dash. Winter looked at the couple as well.

Soren sat upright on the recliner while Rainbow was laying sideways on her back on his lap. Soren was brushing her mane when he noticed Shayden and Winter looking at them. The four ponies locked eyes.

"What?" Soren and Rainbow said simultaneously. Soren continued. "Can't a colt show affection for his special somepony?"

"Why are you two positioned that way?" Shayden inquired.

"Why not?"

"I find it adorable," Winter commented suddenly. "Oh! Idea!" She pointed at the couple. "Why don't you two tell me Soren's story? I've been dying to know why Soren is the way he is yet can maintain a authoritative demeanor. All I can research is rumors and bits of his adventures."

"Are you sure?" Soren asked. "This could take all day. Isn't there something else in town you two would rather do?" Winter shook her head, and Shayden smiled then spoke.

"With what happened last night, what could we do to top that? I have a hangover, for Faust's sake!" He chuckled, causing Soren to laugh as well.

"If you two really want to hear everything..." Rainbow and Soren hopped off the chair. The three ponies sat around the couch, which Shayden was still laying upon due to how comfy it was, and faced each other. "Luckily, I had experience with telling someone my life story before. Her name was Robin; she'll show up in the story. Anyway, I should be able to give a great summary of everything. I could probably tell this to my kids at some point."

"Soren," everyone said.

"Right, rambling, sorry. It all started when I was found in Ponyville as a foal..."

For the second time in his life, Soren had to explain everything that happened to him since arriving in Ponyville. Freezing Rainbow, dating Luna, saving Fluttershy from Soul Stealers, his first concert, discovering his family, finding the Doctor then traveling with him for a bit, the Battle of the Nyrs (it was still hard for him to explain everything), defeating Cain, fighting the Master and Queen Chrysalis, finding out who he truly was, almost killing the Master, fighting Chrysalis again, fighting Nightmare Moon, abandoning his friends, saving a filly from her undead mother, confronting the evil versions of Twilight and her friends, meeting Shayden, and finally defeating the Crystal Gang.

During the story, the group went out to get food, all while Soren continued with the story without pause. It took several hours to explain every important detail of each adventure. As the story unfolded, Shayden and Soren bickered a bit, each time resulting in Winter settling the dispute. At first, Shayden wasn't convinced that everything Soren experienced was the truth. With some convincing from Rainbow and Winter, Shayden eventually had to believe the tale. He still couldn't understand how that much could happen to one pony.

The sun was setting when Soren's life story was finished. The ponies stretched and laid around the apartment. Winter and Shayden were surprised that when Soren said it would take all day, he meant it.

"You know, Winter," Rainbow began as she hopped onto the reclining chair, "you really balance them out." She referred to the stallions. Shayden saw Soren open his mouth.

"Don't. Say. Anything," he warned, knowing a joke was arising.

"Fine," Soren replied. He paused for a few seconds before blurting out, "One might say she's in the middle of us, if you know what I mean."

"Oh my," Winter chuckled, blushing a little, while Shayden magically shut Soren's mouth.

"Not. Another. Word." His magic weakened soon after, loosening Soren's jaw a bit.

"But—" Shayden shut his mouth again but applied pressure this time.

"Don't make me grind your teeth."

"If you do," Soren barely managed to say, "how will you get out of this room unharmed?"

"What do you mean?" Soren motioned his head towards Rainbow Dash. When her and Shayden made eye contact, she smirked then cracked her hooves. Shayden leaned back and released Soren's jaw. "Good point. How did you do that by the way?" Rainbow shrugged.

"You just...crack your hooves. Like this..." She demonstrated again.

"Stop it! That's honestly freaking me out."

"Oh lighten up, Dawn," Winter said. "We're just having a good time."

"Wait..." Rainbow began. "Dawn?"

"That's his born name," Soren explained.

"What? You never told me that, and you didn't say it in your story."

"I didn't?"

"I've been Shayden longer than Dawn," Shayden explained. He pointed to Winter. "Only she gets to call me that." He paused. "And my older brother. Can't stop him from calling me Dawn."

"How is your brother doing anyway?" Soren asked.

"Adjusting to life in this Equestria. Same as me. From everything you went through, I can see that even this place has dangers."

"Everywhere does, bottom line. I was just lucky enough to deal with them before they killed me, or worse, my friends."

"You shouldn't keep dwelling on your past," Winter interjected. "I know all of those things hurt. Losing Nyra, who is actually with you again; seeing your friends and innocents being hurt; witnessing deaths. But all of that is over. You have a better life to look forward to."

"But does Nyra?" Winter locked eyes with Soren. Does this pony care so much about others that he truly doesn't worry about himself? she thought.

Rainbow and Shayden decided to remain silent. Winter stood up and approached Soren. She looked at him as he stared back into what appeared to be a disappointed expression. He was wrong. Soren found himself being embraced by the mare. He didn't know what to do at first, but he soon hugged her back.

"I'm sure Nyra is happy with you and your friends," she said softly. "Just like how happy I am that Shayden has such a caring friend who helped him through dark times." Soren patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry about what he's been through." Winter brought her head back. How did he turn this around to comforting her?

Soren smiled at her. "Winter, if there's one thing you should remember about me, it's that I would throw myself in front of a train to help those I care about." He wiped a tear away from her eye. He pointed to the stain on his hoof. "This...is enough proof that I can help you. One tear shows pain...and I'm the doctor that heals pain." Shayden and Rainbow embraced their respective lovers. Soren glanced out of the window and saw the moon rising.

"One more stop tomorrow, everypony. Let's get some shuteye." He stood up and led Rainbow to the bedroom. Looking back at the other couple standing up, Soren commented one last thing. "Oh and Winter..." She looked at him. "I may be a fighter at times, but I'm more certainly a lover~." He winked at her before disappearing into the bedroom.

Winter saw how distraught Shayden became. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him passionately on the lips.

"Don't worry. You're mine," she whispered vivaciously.