//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: The Flight Back // Story: Revenant Soul: Genesis and The Weather Elements // by cyber_pony13 //------------------------------// Back in the airship “Ow, that hurt.” Revenant strained as Twilight led him into a bed on the airship “I’m sorry Revenant but you need to lie down and rest up otherwise you won’t get better,” Twilight responded with a sorrowful tone. Twilight helped guide Revenant throughout the airship since he was in bad shape from escaping the caverns. He nearly fell a couple of times; luckily Twilight was there to catch him. His sight would get fuzzy to where he couldn’t see anything a few times, and his whole body was shaking. Twilight didn’t know what to do at a time like this, but they had to get back to Canterlot and fast. Twilight helped take Revenant’s saddlebags off and then tucked him inside a bed, careful enough to help ease his pain. He saw the worried look in her eyes and decided to help lighten up the mood. “Escorting me through the airship and now tucking me in? So are you going to read me a bedtime story next Nurse Sparkle?” Revenant said trying to smile through his pain. “This isn’t the time for you to joke around Revenant. I think you might be in some serious trouble. We need to get you to a doctor as soon as possible,” Twilight responded. Revenant could see that she was extremely worried and that only his condition getting better would brighten up the mood. He tried a different approach to the matter at hand. “It may seem my condition is bad, but you shouldn’t have to worry about it. Besides I’ve been in worse shape before,” “Worse!? What could be worse than you completely beaten up, barely being able to walk, and temporary going blind?! Twilight was now getting frantic with the situation. “Try being on the brink of death, but that’s a story for another day,” Revenant muttered to himself. Twilight glared at him thinking that was him complaining at her for worrying so much, “So what do you plan on doing through the long ride back?” “It shouldn’t take long to get back to Canterlot. One of the girls told the pilots to get home quickly so we can get you to a doctor. Until then, I’ll be here taking care of you.” “Thank you, but you need to be with your friends now not me.” Twilight was shocked at how Revenant responded to her. “Wha….What? You need someone here to look after you. What if something bad really happens to you on the way there and no pony is around to help?” Twilight said trying to convince him that he needed help. “*sigh* If you truly want to help me, I need you to pull out the candle stand from my saddlebags.” Twilight rushed over to his saddlebags and rummaged through them. She was interested at some of the things that were in there, but didn’t take much thought in to them since she had to find something that could help him. She then found the candle stand and levitated it to him. “Is this what you need?” “Perfect, now just set down on the nightstand here.” Twilight put down the candle stand on the night stand and looked at Revenant for direction, “Thank you, I’ll take of it from here.” Revenant then used his magic to light the candle stand. It burned with a bright blue magic and quickly intensified to a small flame. Revenant then became calm and was able relax. “Ah, that’s better. Thank you Nurse Sparkle *yawn* I should be good from here,” “Good, how is this going to…” Then Twilight saw that Revenant passed out. At first she thought he blacked out from his injuries but then she saw him calmly breathing. He fell asleep and didn’t look like he was in any more pain. She looked at the flame for a minute and realized he must have used his magic to heal himself like the bonfires. She waited a couple of minutes before she exited the room to join her friends. As she left the room, she was greeted by all her worried friends and Levia. “So how’s the fella holdin’ up?” Applejack asked. “I don’t know. He said he’ll be fine after he lit the candle stand, but I still think he needs to see a doctor.” Twilight said while stomping her hoof. “Wait a candle stand? Twilight dear, how is that going to help him out?” Rarity asked with an expression of confusion. “Back in the caves we found him near a fire pit that had only a few embers still burning. When we lit the fire back up with our magic, he got up and looked fine.” Twilight explained to her friends. All of them shared the same expression of confusion on their faces. “Allow me girls to help shed some light. You see Revenant uses his magic at times to create bonfires with his magic that actually restores a pony’s condition.” Levia explained. “So how does this ‘bonfire’ help him out then?” Rarity continued to question. “Well you know how you felt good when you made contact with the snow,” Rarity then nodded her head in agreement, “The same concept goes for Revenant but with fire. He lights a flame with his magic that lets out a healing light and warmth that circulates through a pony.” “If what he is doing is supposed to be the same thing, then when why was I getting drained?” RainbowDash interrupted. “Since it wasn’t controlled, it became a toxin to you. When Revenant has control it can help anypony, no matter what race they are. Does that answer your question?” Levia asked RainbowDash. “Kind of, but it’s all too much nerd talk for me.” “Pardon my interruption, but you said he saved your life back in the caverns. What do you mean by that Twi?” Applejack asked. “We got attacked by the Diamond Dogs as well and…” “And Revenant beat them all up. He took a whole pack of them on by himself without using magic too.” Levia interrupted. “A whole pack of them!? He must be really brave,” Fluttershy said quietly. “And strong,” Rarity said with admiration. “But he didn’t come out too well. Things got really bad when we meet up with the same dogs that kidnapped Rarity.” “Those ruffians! I bet Revenant showed them a thing or two.” Rarity pride fully said. “Well he was having trouble, but things got bad from there.” The girls stood with anticipation to hear what happened next. “I was going to teleport us to you girls but then some ‘dark magic’, at least that what Revenant called it, stopped me from using my magic and made me feel weak.” “Dark magic? I know some magic but is that even a real thing?” Rarity asked. “I guess it is, the Diamond Dogs were the ones who used it.” “But how, I thought unicorns were the only things that could do magic. Or was one of them a magician.” Pinkie Pie interrupted. “No Pinkie, they had some pendant that did it. Then Revenant and Levia got beat…” “They were cheap shots that got us. Any other time and we would’ve kicked their…” Levia interrupted. “Levia, quiet down or you’ll wake Revenant up,” Twilight said calming down Levia. “Sorry” “They were going to take the weather element and I away but then he got up and started to use his magic. He bucked two of the dogs knocking them out, let his horn grow with magic, and then some burst of magic came out of nowhere and destroyed the pendant thus defeating the dogs.” “Whoa that sounds so….cool,” RainbowDash said with amazement. “So then Twi, why would he do it now and more importantly what did he do?” Applejack asked. “I did it then because the situation dictated it and what I did was use soul magic.” Revenant said opening the door. “Revenant, you should be asleep right now.” Twilight said concerned for Revenant’s condition. “I’ll sleep when we get to…Canterlot, but all of you should know why I did that back there.” Revenant responded. “So then tell us what ya’ did back there.” Applejack jumped in before Twilight could respond. “What I did was soul magic. It’s a rare type of magic that very few use and even less mastering it.” “But not you Rev, I know you’ll master it. You’re probably even closer than ever now.” Levia interjected. “*sigh* this mare, I can never get enough of her,” Revenant thanking Levia in his subtle way. “How come a lot of unicorns don’t know that magic?” Twilight asked. “Because of what has to be done to learn it. You have to look deep inside yourself and know how to control, strengthen, and harden your soul.” “That doesn’t sound too hard.” Rarity said. “Try doing it when you have to put various amounts of pressure on your mental state that would breakdown almost any pony or drive them into insanity.” Revenant responded sternly. He saw their negative reactions to his sudden change of tone. “I’m sorry for that, but some are just born with it, either way in order for one to know if they can use soul magic they have push themselves beyond their limits.” “So what does it do exactly?” Twilight asked. “It gives you power than you can imagine. It physically, mentally, and spiritually strengthens you because it is your very soul that fuels it.” “What does that even mean?” RainbowDash said in confusion. “Pretty much the stronger your will and determination is, the more power you get.” “Oh okay then, why didn’t you say that in the first place then?” RainbowDash responded. “Don’t know, but moving on. You may gain power, but the repercussions that come with it are the issue. When first using soul magic, you need to know what your limit is and then you expand on it from there. If not then your soul will tear away at your body and just weaken you to where it may even kill you.” All the girls were in shock to hear what they said and how Revenant said it so casually. “Is that why you didn’t use it before, because you might’ve…hurt yourself?” Twilight cautiously asked. “No, I’ve learned great control of soul magic. The reason for me not using it is because of how lethal it can be.” Revenant responded with a more serious tone. “As I’m pretty sure what all of you want to know next is how it’s lethal, no?” All the girls nodded in silence to hear his answer. “Well then, what it does is that it attacks the opponent’s soul. It does damage the body but the secondary effects damage the soul.” “Wait, so when you slashed at one of the dogs with your horn you attacked his soul? But you were too far away to hit him.” Twilight questioned Revenant. “Now here is where it gets interesting. Soul magic acts as an extension of your body, so like how you saw my horn grow; that was my soul extending out through my horn to attack. Then I was able to hit him from a distance because I made it extend out that far.” Revenant then noticed that a couple of them were getting lost or losing interest except for Twilight. “So overall you did some new kind of fancy magic that saved Twi here. I don’t care too much for it, but you helped out one of our friends, so mighty thanks.” Applejack said being the first one to break the boredom amongst the group. “Thank you for your gratitude. When somepony needs help, I’ll do what I can to resolve the issue.” “I like that kind of attitude. Besides you seem pretty strong, mind helping me out on the farm for when you get better?” Applejack asked. “Oh also I need to get to work on some new colt design fashions for this season and I was wondering if I could borrow you to help model for some of the designs?” “Oh oh oh, and maybe help me bake some cakes for the Cakes. I know this doesn’t have to do with you being all strong or being good looking to model,” Rarity blushed a little bit from Pinkie’s comments, “but I think you’d be pretty good at baking. If you’re not I could teach you.” “Girls I don’t think we need to overwhelm him with all these favors.” Twilight said stopping the girls from any other requests. Then she felt a soft tap on her shoulder to see Fluttershy next to her. “Umm…Twilight,” “Fluttershy not you too.” “I know Twilight…it’s just I was wondering if could help me nurse some of the animals with his magic…that’s if you don’t mind Revenant?” Fluttershy said turning to Revenant. Revenant then let out a hardy laugh. He allowed himself to calm down before he responded back to the girls. “And here I thought I’d be a deviant. Girls, it would be my honor to help you. Well then, what is this Canterlot like?” Twilight took the moment to explain to him of how it is a city of the highest status and of how many rich and famous ponies live there. She told him that’s where she was born and that she took tutelage under Princess Celestia. He then asked her how she met all of her friends. That’s when he learned the important role that all six of them have and of some of the feats they’ve done for Equestria. At the end of Twilight’s explanation, one of the guard ponies on the ship came by to let them know they would be arriving at Canterlot shortly. “Well then, if we are going to see royalty I need to look presentable. So is there a washroom on this thing?” Revenant asked. “Down the hall, second door on your right, we need to wash up ourselves so we’ll be in the one across from yours.” Twilight said pointing where he would find it. “Got it down the hall and then the room across the second door on my right.” “Hey that one is for mares Revenant.” RainbowDash objected. “I know, just messing with ya’ll. See you girls in a few.” Revenant said and then walked down the hall. The girls shortly went down to wash up as well. Pinkie Pie was having too much fun with the soap and spreading it out all over the place. Rarity stepped away from it and was spending a lot of time washing herself and fixing her mane. Applejack and RainbowDash did a quick wash not really seeing the reason to take so much time in cleaning oneself up unless they had to go to a big event, such as the gala. Levia was humming along with Fluttershy as they were cleaning up and Twilight was able to clean up her scratches and fix her mane so the princess wouldn’t notice. In the other room, Revenant took the time to collect his thoughts. He was in such a deep thought; he didn’t feel much pain from cleaning himself up. Revenant didn’t really know how to take hold of his situation. Should he accept the new road that had been laid out in front of him or should he let Levia be with them and go his own way. He could stay with them but he feared that more trouble may come to them if he did. Also, the Diamond Dogs had something from the abyss and that put more doubt into Revenant. What if he disrupts the happiness that he sees in the girls? What if he brings misery not only to them but on the peaceful land they live in? What if he endangers her once more, but then fails to save her like he did with… His thoughts were cut-off when heard knocking on the door. “Revenant, its Twilight. Are you okay in there?” “Uh…yeah I’m fine what’s up?” “Nothing it’s just…” “Your taking long time in there Revie. Looks like somepony takes longer than Rarity, who would’ve guessed?” Pinkie Pie said cutting off Twilight. “I don’t take that long! Besides I’m sure he is just grooming himself to make a strong impression in front of the princess. At least he knows class, unlike somepony.” Rarity indicated to Pinkie Pie. “Like who? Dashie? I know she’s all tough but I’m sure she can be all classy when she needs to.” “Never mind,” Rarity said face hoofing herself. “Oh also Twilight wanted to make sure you were fine. Otherwise if you weren’t she would’ve had to break in there and…” “PINKIE!!!” Twilight said silencing her talkative friend. Revenant chuckled at the commotion. “No worries I’m fine. I’ll be out in a few.” He then heard them walking away leaving him to his thoughts once more. Revenant then banished out the negative thoughts from earlier and only thought of good things. He looked over himself to see if he presentable and he was. Most of his injuries were cleaned up pretty well to where you could barely see them. He knew some of them might scar up but his fur would grow over it. He practiced hiding his pain as he walked around and then decided to step out of the washroom. He walked down the hall to grab his saddlebags and then join the girls and see they were landing at their destination. “Whatever happens, I’ll handle it properly. If I bring my past with me, I’ll be sure to bury it along with anything else that can cause harm to these girls.” Revenant then looked at Twilight. “I won’t let you down Twilight. I will see this through to the end and keep you safe. And this time, I won’t fail like I did with…” “I’m sorry Revenant, did you say something?” Twilight asked Revenant. “Oh no, I didn’t say anything.” Revenant said looking away to hide his blush. “Buck, got to control my telepathy better” Terribly sorry for the wait readers. Moving always eats up time but hey got some chapters to make for ya'll. Now we'll see how Revenant deals with the Princess. Any questions that you don't understand of the story don't be afraid to message me. I'll answer to the best I can without spoiling anything.