Prologue

Outside Ponyville

“Okay girls are you ready for this one?” Rainbow Dash asks her friends before she takes off to perform a new trick. Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all nod, eagerly awaiting their skilled friend to see what she has been training for.

“Alright then I’m off!” and with that Rainbow Dash was off. She began with flying through clouds and setting them in place to where she wanted them.

She then stated planning how she would do it in her head. First she would put all the clouds into place to form a trail of her cutie mark in the sky and then begin to fly through them without breaking them apart. Next she would build up speed while tracing through pattern and perform a Sonic Rainboom. Finally she would stay within the break gaining more speed to perform a second sonic rain boom and wrap it up with her Buccaneer Blaze. She smirked knowing this would be the trick to get her into the Wonderbolts.

As she began to pass through the clouds and gain speed, she noticed that the temperature began to suddenly drop. Today was supposed to be a little cooler than normal days since they just finished up winter wrap up a few days ago, so she just carried on.

“Look at her go! I wonder what it would be like to fly like through the clouds with such agility.” Pinkie Pie began to think out loud, “I bet it must be one of the most amazing things ever to do, just like that time I worked for hours to help bake all those cupcakes for that cupcake eating contest and I was full of frosting and sprinkles that had me smelling like baked goods for days and…”

“Um, Pinkie I think it’s safe to say that it is a marvelous feeling,” Rarity said, stopping Pinkie Pie from going off to an endless speech of how flying should feel. “Strange it feels that it’s getting cold again wouldn’t you agree girls?”

“We did just wrap up winter and the weather pony did say that it was going to get cooler today but it does seem strange” Twilight began to speculate.

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much y’all; you know ‘em pegasi sometimes change the weather because of some crazy thing. Besides looks like Rainbow Dash is about to finish up her trick.” Applejack assured her friends.

Rainbow Dash began to build up more speed, enough to perform her Sonic Rainboom when she noticed that she was flying harder than she would need to pull off her trick. The weather began to get really cold now, but Rainbow Dash knew she had to finish it. She gave it all she had and was able to perform a successful Sonic Rainboom with some ice crystals as an after effect; however she decided to end the trick there.

“Way to go Rainbow Dash, woohoo.” Fluttershy cheered in her quiet tone.

“All your practice has paid off. Now I’m positive the Wonderbolts will let you in. Although how were you able to make the ice crystals come out of the Sonic Rainboom?” Twilight began to question her cyan colored friend.

“That’s just it…That wasn’t part of the trick at all; in fact I had to stop midway because the cold weather was beginning to drain me.” Rainbow Dash wondered herself why that happened and why she was nearly out of energy already.

Just then the mane six noticed that it had begun to snow. Though this snow wasn’t normal; it had a blue aura to it and seemed to resonate with Twilight and Rarity.

“My word this snow is just….lovely.” All of them looked at Rarity as she said this. “I feel wonderful and so full of life, why I feel as though I could create a whole new line of dresses for the next Gala for nearly every mare in Ponyville.” Rarity began to seem to enjoy the weather condition however Twilight seemed confused.

“Wha…Snow?!? This shouldn’t be happening; we wrapped up winter on time this year. Why is it snowing and why is it glowing blue?” Twilight began to try and understand the situation. Just then they could see Spike running up to them as fast as he could with a scroll in his hand.

“TWILIGHT!!!!! You….have…..to…..read…….message……..Princess…..urgent…..” said the little dragon trying to get his breath back from running. “Whoa….Rarity you look amazing right now.” And then Spike seemed to gain all his energy back. At first everypony was surprised with Spike’s quick compliment to Rarity out of the blue, when they noticed that she seemed to just radiate.

“Oooooh Rarity that new glowing look is amazing, you’ve have got to tell us how you are doing it. Is it some sort of spell, or maybe is it the snow cause if it’s the snow I’ll just roll around in it to see if I glow too,” Pinkie Pie complemented her friend. Twilight was intrigued of how this was happening but she was busy reading the scroll Spike came running with.

“Uh oh girls, the Princess has requested to speak with us as soon as possible. We need to find out why this is happening to Ponyville; and Pinkie, don’t roll around in the snow, we don’t know what it could do to you.”

“Okay Twilight let’s go.” Giggled Pinkie Pie.

Princess Celestia’s throne room

The girls arrived at the Princess’ throne room to see Celestia patiently awaiting their arrival. She was looking outside to see how much the unusual weather effects were affecting all of Equestria.

“We came here as fast as we could Princess Celestia,” said Twilight as she and her friends knelt down in respect. “What is it that you have called us here for?”

“Ah, my faithful student, I thank you and your friends for arriving on such short notice.” Addressing the mane six while breaking her deep thought. “As you can see the weather seems to be in winter even though it is now spring. Do you girls remember when you defeated Discord?” All of them nodded their heads. “Good, it turns out that even though the elements of harmony defeated him and returned things back to normal, there were still traces of Discord’s chaos left in Equestria and they have begun to taint the weather elements thus driving them out of control.”

“Weather elements? I’ve never read anything about them at all in my studies also I thought only pegasi could alter the weather.”

“It is true that pegasi can control the weather, Twilight Sparkle, but much like the elements of harmony the weather elements help maintains the balance of the weather in order to prevent something like this, although the way this is happening is unusual.” Celestia responding to her student.

“Just hold on your highness,” Applejack kindly interrupted, “Because of these fancy elements that are now going out control there is something unusual about them. What could be more unusual than the snow being blue and Rarity glowing earlier?”

“I believe our little friend here could explain that Applejack. You can come out now Levia.” Celestia called out to the balcony and from there came out a blue sprite that glowed similar to the snow.

As the sprite got closer to everypony, they could see it that it was a tiny version of a unicorn. Its fur was sky blue and her mane looked like it was covered in ice but that was just its color and finally her cutie mark was of a crystal ball that outlined with snowflakes. Some of its features such as its mane were foreign, it had wings similar to parasprites, but they were more interested that such a thing existed.

“Girls I would like to introduce you to Levia. I know she is probably something new to you all and you may have many questions to ask but I need you to do this task for me.”

“We will do it Princess, just tell us what we have to do,” Twilight responding confidently to her tutor’s request.

“One of the weather elements has been located at the cave where there once was a dragon that nearly spread smoke throughout all of Equestria due to his snoring. What I need you girls to do is go inside the cave, retrieve the element and bring it back here.” Celestia continued on.

“Don’t worry Princess, we will get this done; c’mon girls and Levia, let’s go.”

“Twilight, I’ve arranged transportation for you girls to get there quickly. Just head out to the courtyard and an airship should be waiting to take you girls there.” And with that the girls took off with Levia to the courtyard to complete the task ahead of them.

“You didn’t tell them about Levia’s complication with this situation big sis.” Princess Luna stated as she flew in from the balcony. “With her involvement it may take longer than it needs to take to get this done.”

“I understand that, however this is something personal for Levia and I think on the way to the cave she will tell them of her situation,” Celestia responded to Luna, but her regal sister of the night still had a look of doubt on her face.

“I know Twilight and her friends are fit for this task, especially since they’re the ones who freed me of being Nightmare Moon, but I just can’t shake this feeling that trouble will happen when they help Levia out.”

“I remain in slumber, still wondering over the images that play through my mind. I see joy, laughter; love….a new land where I can begin anew. Could this be my escape now from it all or will the cycle repeat?” A voice in the dark caves of the mountain wonders, thinking of the new journey ahead.

Chapter 1: Levia's Confession

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“Will the ghosts of my past finally be able to rest in peace or will they haunt me and affect the warmth I feel from these images of anew road ahead of me?”

In the airship

“Well then, to help pass the time until we reach the cave, I believe introductions are in order,” said the little blue unicorn sprite to the girls. “My name is Levia Frost and I’m what you would call a ponysprite.”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends Rainbow Dash, AppleJack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy,” said Twilight while going down the line of her friends.

“Um…Levia can I ask you something, that is if you don’t mind?” Fluttershy sheepishly asked.

“Awwww aren’t you the cutest thing I have ever seen. I really love your mane, do you do it yourself or have a stylist, and your voice is just so soft and quiet it just makes me squeal with excitement,” But then Levia realized she was making Fluttershy uncomfortable with her barrage of compliments, so she decided to calm down. “Sorry about that, now what was it that you wanted to ask me?”

“Oh it’s just that…um….you’re one of the cutest things I’ve seen before. You wouldn’t happen to be related to parasprites would you?” Fluttershy said with some excitement.

“Well for once somepony actually guessed what we are related to,” Levia said with relief and astonishment. “You don’t know how many times others thought I was related to butterflies and bees. Yes, I’m related to parasprites; however my race happens to be refined and intellectual compared to our….eh less matured cousins. How were you able to guess the relationship so easily?”

“Oh… well, I take care of animals in Equestria at home. I should introduce you to them and see if we could find you a friend.” With that comment from Fluttershy, Levia’s perkiness plummeted. The girls wondered what Fluttershy said that could bring down the little sprite in an instant. “Is everything okay? Did I say anything wrong cause if I did I’m sorry and I’ll….”

“No…it’s alright, it’s just….” Levia trailed off in thought deciding what to say next.

“If something is wrong, you can tell us sugarcube,” Applejack assured Levia.

“Thank you girls,” Levia said holding back her tears. “I’m glad that you girls care for me but it’s more important right now that you know why I’m with you doing this task for your princess.” The girls looked at each other with concern of why Levia wouldn’t open up, but they knew that they had to learn what was going on. With a nod from all of them Levia decided to continue. “The reason that the princess chose you girls is because the weather elements can only be made tranquil with one of the Elements of Harmony.”

“But if only one us is needed, then why bring all of us? I mean, don’t you think that only a couple of us would be needed.” Twilight interjected.

“That may be true, but the cave is actually more complex than it looks so we need a large party to search for it. Also only a unicorn can make this weather element tranquil. When either you or Rarity come across the weather element, just use your element to control it and then retrieve it.”

“This one? How many are there?”

“There are four of them. The one we are going after is the cold weather element. Then there are the heat weather element, and the storm element. The heat weather element can be made tranquil by an earth pony, and the storm element can be made tranquil by a pegasus pony. After all three have been made tranquil the fourth one will appear, however I still don’t know what it is.”

“Yeah, but how are any of us going to use our element without actually having it on us? Plus couldn’t one of us get lost while looking for this weather element?” Rainbow Dash asked the little sprite.

“Don’t worry, I have the solution to that. Now, all of you gather around closely.” Levia said to the girls. The Six had circled the sprite when Pinkie Pie squeezed between them and got as close as she could to Levia.

“This close Levy? Or maybe this close?” asked the pink mare as she now had the sprite practically in her mane. “Or is that too close? Do I need to be behind the girls or maybe do you need me to be just within hoof’s reach. Although I can’t really go by your hoof, because if I did then I would have to be where my nose could touch you! Oh, and can I call you Levy or maybe Via or just Levia?”

“You need to learn how to respect others personal space. If you haven’t noticed, Levia doesn’t seem to be in the mood for your antics.” Rarity said and then turning to Levia, “I’m really sorry for her Levia, I know she can be random but that’s just who she is and…”

“Hehehe…..hehehehe….hahahahahahahahahaha,” everypony, except Pinkie who decided to join in on the laughter, was confused why Levia was suddenly laughing.

“Hahahaha….thank you Pinkie Pie. I needed that.” Levia gratefully responded.

“Well I like to see everypony, or everyponysprite, smile and laugh away their troubles. Glad I could help.”

“Now that I feel better, let me start my spell,” Levia said. Twilight was interested to see what spell that Levia was going to use. Levia began to glow and then her mane and tail began went from a frozen sky blue to a snow white while her cutie mark pulsed. Her horn looked like ice was growing on it then a small white ball of magic appeared at the tip and divided into six pieces and went into each of the mane six’s heads. “There that should do it.”

“What kind of spell was that?” Twilight asked Levia.

“I hope whatever happened with this spell doesn’t do anything weird like the snow. It’s bad enough that I still feeling a little drained, I don’t need some new spell doing something worse.” Everypony then was staring at Rainbow Dash. “Why are all of you staring at me like that?” Rainbow Dash finally spoke.

“Wow Dashie, when did you learn to talk without moving your mouth?” Pinkie Pie asked her friend.

“What are you talking about Pinkie, you know can’t do anything like that.” Rainbow responded to Pinkie. “Jeez, did this spell make the others crazy? I wonder If Twilight knows what it did.”

“I don’t know at all what it did, Rainbow Dash; I’m actually quite interested in the fact that you can talk without moving you mouth.” Twilight said to her cyan friend. Rainbow Dash then had an expression of shock that Twilight knew what she was thinking.

“Twilight I didn’t say anything at all. How did you know what I was thinking?” said Rainbow Dash with a tone of worry.

“Well I think I should explain what I did now.” Levia said without moving her mouth. The girls were now shocked that Levia could do it to. “What I did was use a spell that enables all of you to use telepathy. You can now hear what the other pony is thinking of as well as hold a conversation with them from a distance.” The girls just stood there trying to grasp how Levia was still talking to them without using her mouth/lips. Levia decided to actually speak instead of using telepathy. “I did this so while we are exploring the cave we can communicate with each other as well as help guide each other so we don’t get lost.”

“That’s amazing! You have got to teach me how to perform that spell.” Twilight ecstatically said.

“And there she goes again about a new spell.”

“Who said or thought that?” Twilight quickly said to her friends. All they could do was just point a hoof at each other.

“Hehehe…don’t worry girls we still have some time, let me teach you how to use this properly; and don’t worry Twilight, I’ll teach you how to do this.” Levia giggled at the girls’ inexperience with telepathy. For about half an hour, she taught the girls how to talk to each other, choose who to talk to, close off your thoughts so others wouldn’t eavesdrop, and how to pass off an image in their thoughts to another. Twilight and Rarity understood well since unicorns have a natural connection to magic. Surprisingly, Pinkie Pie picked it up within ten minutes mainly to her spontaneous and carefree nature despite earth ponies not having a connection to magic. Trailing behind her was Fluttershy whom calmly understood it at her own pace; however Applejack and Rainbow Dash had the hardest time learning. Even though pegasi have a small connection to magic, enough to alter the weather, their views upon magic is what really hindered Rainbow and AJ’s progress.

“Well the airship is nearing its destination; do you girls have any questions before we land?” Levia asked the mane six.

“Yeah, what is it that Fluttershy said that made you all sad? It’s not like she said anything insulting to you or thought you were a butterfly. All she was going to do was introduce you to some of her animal friends or are you not an animal type of pony, because it’s okay if you’re not. All you have to do is just find a place within the town away from the Everfree Forest.” Pinkie asked.

“Oh Pinkie Pie I… um… don’t think it’s necessary for her to tell us why.” Fluttershy responded to her friend. “Honestly you can tell us when you want to…if that’s okay with you Levia.”

Levia took a moment to think about it and decided that it would be best for them to know, “No, you girls deserve to know why I go depressed earlier. When Fluttershy talked about making some friends with the animals it brought back some painful memories. Then when I was training you girls on how to use telepathy, I realized how strong of a bond all of you have despite how different you are and it reminded me how it was like with my family.” The girls could tell this was something hard for Levia to say/admit so Twilight decided to cut her off.

“Levia we know this is hard for you but you don’t have to do this. You can tell us when you feel most ready. Just know that you are also our friend and we are here for you.” Twilight comforted Levia. Levia seemed to go blank after that, she couldn’t believe how in such a short time that these six strangers were already looking out for her and calling her their friend. She began to shed a couple tears that sparkled like ice in the sun.

“Thank you Twilight, you really are a good mare along with your friends, but I need to do this so please let me continue.” Levia told Twilight. Twilight then allowed the sprite to go on. “As you can see I’m definitely not from this land nor are the friends that I now call my family. We all came from a land known as Animardia. It was, at one time a peaceful land much like Equestria, however corruption began to ruin the great things we stood for. My friends and I did everything we could to help out, and at first everything seemed to be right, but we were wrong.” The girls were now worried to hear what happened next. “Major conflicts began to break out; we were on the brink of civil war. That is when we threw all our cards on the table and gambled the future of our home.”

“What cards were thrown on the table, I thought you and your friends were trying to fix the problem not play a card game, unless playing a card game was part of a plan to fix the problem.” Pinkie Pie interrupted Levia.

“PINKIE!!!!” exclaimed all the girls to Pinkie Pie for her interruption.

“No it’s alright hehehe…a little joy always is good even if it is at the wrong time,” Levia reassured the girls, “It turns out that our gamble paid off; we prevented civil war and put a huge dent in the corruption that was happening.” Levia’s tone began to drop. “Although our gamble came with a price.”

“Wha…what do you mean it came with a price?” Rarity regrettably asked.

“We lost our home, our careers, those dear to us, we lost everything.” Levia’s words impacted the mane six and left them speechless. Levia gave them a moment to absorb what she said and then carried on, “We had nothing to fall back to and no place to go to. All that we had was each other, so we decided that we had to leave our homeland and seek out a new place we could call home. We encountered many places and only stayed there long enough to rest up and keep traveling. The worst of it all is when winter came. We had to ration out our food and tensions between each other rose. We began to argue a lot to the point where we were going to fight. We were starting to fall apart, but one of us held us together still. We moved on until we got lost in a forest. We wandered around aimlessly but then strange creatures of the forest began to hunt us down. Even in times when it would seem hopeless to anyone else, we fought on, but then…I still don’t understand this, but then pure chaos erupted.”

The girls were afraid to ask what she meant by that but Rarity decided to break the silence.

“And what was this pure chaos that erupted?” Rarity asked.

“I still don’t even know, but reality itself began to twist. The grass turned into…soap, the leaves on the trees became candy, day became night and night became day in a matter of seconds, even the predators began to freeze in place and just go loony.” Twilight began to speculate what may have been the cause of the anomalies but decided to hear more of what Levia had to say. “It looked like reality was about to fall apart until a white light encased us and in a flash, everything returned to normal except I was alone.” Levia couldn’t hold back anymore, she decided to let herself break down. “I used my magic to try and find them but I couldn’t. I panicked and just started searching and ended up with no results. I didn’t know what to do and by then I had lost it. My fear of losing my family came true and was left all alone. I didn’t want to go on anymore…so I…..I….was going to put myself out of my misery.” Levia’s blue glow had completely disappeared and she was on the ground choking on her tears. The girls could see that this was too much for her and decided that it was enough.

“Levia, please no more. You can stop now. This is too much for you to go on.” Twilight said while trying to comfort Levia.

Twilight picked up the little sprite and held her as close she could while the rest of the girls came by to embrace Levia as well. Levia sobbed loudly, not only because of her pain but of the warmth of her new friends… that they were there for her. It brought back painful memories of everything that she once had, now all gone right before her eyes. Levia couldn’t finish and just cried while the mane six comforted her. After a few minutes, Levia’s face was cold with her icy tears but was surrounded by the warmth of others and she just couldn’t cry anymore.

The airship finally reached its destination and began its descent to the mouth of the cave. Levia seemed to have recovered although her glow was faint and the mane six felt empty after hearing Levia’s sad tale. The airship landed and the girls were getting their winter coats on knowing that it was going to get cold within the cave. The drive that they had was now over and all they wanted to do was just get the task over with. Before stepping out Twilight decided to see if she could lift Levia’s spirit back up. If she was able to do that then maybe everypony else would feel better too.

“Levia can I have a word with you?” Twilight asked approaching Levia. All she did was just nod and followed Twilight. “I’m sorry that we asked you what you went through and of what you lost. I should’ve stopped you earlier and waited another time that way you wouldn’t be in the pain we caused.” Levia was confused as to why the purple unicorn was apologizing to her.

“No Twilight….I’m the one who should be sorry. I brought all my burdens down upon you girls and broke down. Now all I did was just make you and your friends depressed. It’s just that….now that I’m not alone and saw how related you girls were to my family I just wanted to have that level of comfort that I could with my family.” Levia lamented.

“Like I said earlier, we are here for you and we will take care of you. When we get back I’ll talk to Princess Celestia and see if we can have you stay with one of us in Ponyville.” Levia couldn’t believe what Twilight had just said to her. After all that she had lost, there may finally be a place that can now be called home.

“Do…. Do you really mean that?” Levia asked.

“I do. We will make sure you can have a place to call home and then we will find the rest of your family so we can reunite you with them.”

“Oh thank you, thank you Twilight Sparkle!” Levia said as she embraced Twilight. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you.” Levia got her spirit back and now was returning to her normal self with newfound hope.

“Don’t worry about that. Come on let’s get the rest of the girls so we can go.” Twilight said as she brought Levia to gather her friends. As they arrive, the rest of the ponies see Levia looking better thus raising their spirits back up.

“Well you’re looking a lot better there sugar cube.” Applejack said

“Yeah it’s all thanks to you girls here. I’m glad that I now have friends that are willing to help me out once again.” Levia took this moment to reconcile her thoughts, “I need to finish telling you my story before we step off this ship girls.”

“Hold on there, are ya sure it’s a good idea? You didn’t really seem well throughout your tale and I don’t think it’ll be good for ya to tell us until another time.” Applejack trying to stop Levia.

“It’s alright, I have no more tears to cry and it actually gets better from here.” Everypony gave a sigh of relief to hear from Levia that there is a bright side. “One night when I thought I couldn’t handle it anymore I heard what sounded like the screaming of fillies. By the time I went to investigate it I saw that there was no pony there but it looked like I just missed them. I gained some hope that there were others, even if they didn’t want to interact with me, just knowing that there was civilization brought me back up. I decided to sleep and woke up to see the statue of a dark and scary looking alicorn. Luckily for me there was some candy left by the statue so I got to have somewhat of a breakfast. After that I followed the trail and ended up seeing one of the best little towns I’ve ever seen.”

“Wait…you were in Ponyville!?” the girls said interrupting Levia.

“So that is where you girls live, right?” Levia asked the mane six. All told Levia that is where they lived. “Wow…to think of living there. It must be great, but I’m going off track here. Anyways I went exploring there and ended up finding a nice tree in the middle of town that happened to look like a house as well.”

“That’s where I live Levia, and it also happens to be the town library.” Twilight told Levia.

“Then you have a lovely home Twilight. Now one day while returning from exploring around the town a window happened to open up and some weird magical mist came out of it and enveloped me. When I came to, I found myself in Canterlot Castle with your princess.”

“Interesting, when Spike sent off one of my letters you got caught in it and it reacted with your magic and teleported you to Canterlot. There is so much I need to study on ponysprites now.” Twilight now seemed to get giddy knowing she has something new to study.

“I can help with that. Now to wrap things up, your princess helped me out and took care of me until the strange weather effects happened. I was able to tell her why they were happening this way and here I am now with you girls.”

“Then tell us why the snow has got a blue glow to it, why Rarity was glowing, and why I was drained of all my energy.” Rainbow Dash asked the little sprite.

“You see the snow is reacting to foreign magic that is most likely near the weather element. The reason why you were drained of all your energy is because of how it reacts to pegasi. Since pegasi have a small connection to magic, the snow reacted with that connection, however since pegasi don’t do well with magic it acted more as a toxin rather than a supplement.”

“Then why wasn’t Fluttershy affected by it, she is a Pegasus also?” Rainbow Dash questioned Levia.

“What was going on at the time when you started to feel drained?”

“I was performing a new trick for my friends.”

“Now it makes sense. What happened is that since you were exerting yourself, the magic that was in the weather begun to take its toll on you unlike Fluttershy who was just watching wouldn’t feel the effects unless she would do something that would cause her to exert herself.”

“Then why was Rarity glowing and I wasn’t, or does it have to with something with her being a unicorn and me an earth pony? I did want to roll in the snow to see what would’ve happened but then Twilight told me not to because we had to rush to go see Princess Celestia.” Pinkie asking away.

“Nothing would have happened to you or Applejack because as earth ponies you have little to no connection to magic unlike Rarity and Twilight. Like I said earlier, for unicorns, the weather effects act as supplement thus increasing their magical capabilities.” Levia said answering Pinkie Pie’s question.

“Then how come Rarity was glowing and I wasn’t?” Twilight asked Levia while taking notes on what has been discussed.

“Ah taking notes I see, good we are going to need that extra knowledge. Rarity does your horn happen to use magic on its own?”

“Well when I was a filly my horn dragged me all across town into the mountains to a rock crop. There is where I discovered gems as well as what my cutie mark was, but what does that have to do me glowing?” Rarity asking Levia.

“Mainly because some unicorns are known to activate their magic without their control, kind of like a stove turning on without anypony touching it.”

“It seems like you know a lot of how this magic works. Could you tell us what the cause of all this is?” Twilight asked Levia while finishing up her notes.

“That is the best part. This magic is similar to two ponies I know and they are myself and one of my friends that went missing.” Levia said with excitement.

“Really, that’s great. Who are they Levia?”

“Why none other than our main colt Rev. This is his type of magic so I’m positive he may be somewhere in that cave and I know finding him will make finding the other two easy.” After Levia finished her statement up the girls began to step out of the airship and ventured into the cave.

“What did she mean by ‘our main colt’ Dashie?” Pinkie asking Rainbow Dash

“I don’t know but whoever he is I should buck him for messing up my trick.”

“Calm down Rainbow, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t do something like that.” Applejack said trying to calm down Rainbow Dash.

“Although I do love how his magic made me glow, I need to ask him later on how I can do that.” Rarity adding on to the conversation.

“I was hoping that it was another ponysprite…um…you aren’t going to think bad of me for that are you?” Fluttershy asked her friends hoping for a positive response.

“Of course not Fluttershy, I’m just glad that whoever this Rev is can really help out Levia.” Twilight reassuring her timid friend and then turning her attention to Levia, “By the way Levia, is Rev his real name? It seems rather short.”

“Nope, it’s just his nickname, his real name is Revenant Soul.”

“Another presence has entered here but this one seems familiar. Could it be….and my name……..my name was said. I can see her now….wait, she is with others. I need to warn them. Levia….Levia…..if you can hear me tell the others to beware for there are others with ill intent in here and if you happen to find me then leave me, I do not want my past to affect them. It would be best......live with them……………..abandon me……………I will……………suffering upon them.”

For those who made it hear thank you for reading and I hope you take an interest into the story. If there are any questions about the story feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to answer without spoiling anything. The next chapter will be coming soon, hopefully within a couple of days but if not then sorry to make you wait because of work. Other than that keep on reading and let me know how I'm doing.

Chapter 2: Revenant's Awakening

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Now to help out understand the telepathy that will be used in the story, the text will be in purple. Whenever you see purple text it means telepathy is being used and sounds being heard through telepathy. Hope this helps and enjoy

“The embers……..fade. It doesn’t look like………..much time left………..Levia please………live on without me………….”

Within the caverns

“…and then Fluttershy flew up to the dragon’s face and told him to leave. Seeing timid old Fluttershy mouth off a dragon was pretty cool.” Rainbow Dash said to Levia.

“Wow and here I thought this yellow pegasus couldn’t harm a fly. You may be timid most of the time but you can get stern when you need to.” Levia addressed Fluttershy.

“Yes, but I hope we don’t run into any dragons while in here or any other creature for that matter,” said Fluttershy.

The girls had been going through the cave for an hour now and were telling Levia of the interesting things that have happened in Ponyville. The more she heard of it, the more excited she got to living with them.

“For a small peaceful town, a lot of crazy things do happen. Are you sure there isn’t no curse put upon your town, because
if there is I know a couple of spells that can help out?”

“It’s okay Levia, we’ll be fine and also there are no such things as curses.” Twilight responding to Levia’s question.

“But going through this dark cave does prove to be a curse of its own; don’t you think we should take a moment to rest?” Rarity began to complain. (Not whining just complaining)

“Yeah I reckon we could take a moment to rest up and gain our strength back.” Applejack suggested to the group.
Although Rarity and Fluttershy were starting to relax, the rest of the girls decided to join them.

To help pass the time, they informed Levia what they did throughout Ponyville. Levia began to question Rarity if she could style anything for her when they got back. Rarity agreed that she would work on something for her although she explained to Levia that is would take her time since she never worked on a ponysprite. Afterwards, Twilight told Levia of some of the holiday and events that happen throughout Ponyville. Levia was captivated the whole time hearing of the great events and holidays they had as well as how they were celebrated. What caught her interest was the Summer Sun Celebration of how all of the ponies stay up throughout the night and watch Princess Celestia arrive and raise the sun. She imagined how it would be to see that with her new friends, and hopefully with the friends she searched for.

“That sounds lovely. Tell me after this cave was cleared out was there any mining done to it?” The girls gave each other confused looks to hear a weird question from Levia.

“I don’t think so, why do you ask?” Twilight asked Levia. Then Levia pointed out to the girls of some unnaturally made tunnels within the caverns. “Huh, that’s weird. You’d think a cave that was once inhabited by a dragon would be clear.”

“Or maybe the dragon had babies and now they are all hiding in the cave growing up. *Gasped* that would mean Spike could have some dragon friends and each of us could have an assistant of our own. I hope there is a pink one in there and it likes parties and candy,” giggled Pinkie Pie.

“Or maybe they’ve gotten bigger and now are mean, scary looking dragons?” Fluttershy began to worry.

“Ugh, either way it wreaks of wet dog in these tunnels now. Let’s just hurry up and get this over with,” Rarity began to complain again.

“Just like you. When things start to get dirty you’re one of the first ponies to not get her hooves wet,” Applejack responding to Rarity.

*Twitch, twitch, twitch*. Pinkie Pie’s face had worry written all over it.

“Uh oh, my tail is a-twitch a-twitching',” and with that the mane six were preparing for the worst. Levia just sat on Twilight’s head wondering what all the fuss was about.

“Um….what is so special about Pinkie’s tail twitching?” Levia asked.

“Oh it means that something is about to fall Levy,”

“And how can you tell?”

“My Pinkie Senses!” responded Pinkie with her tail still a twitching.

“Uh…I’m not following.”

“Well what happens is that I get different feelings and they mean different things. Like when my back is itchy, it means it's my lucky day. And, when my knee gets pinchy, that means something scary is about to happen.”

“Okay so then with your Pinkie Senses do you know what is going to fall?” That’s when the ground began to shake and slowly crumble.

“Hmmm…I guess I would have to say us,” Pinkie said in her delightful tone.

Before the girls could react, the floor broke apart and the girls fell further into the caverns. RainbowDash decided to take flight and catch her friends. She grabbed Applejack who was using her lasso to catch Rarity. Fluttershy was clinging on to Pinkie Pie for dear life while Twilight was casting a teleportation spell. After all the chaos the girls look around to see themselves lost within the caverns, and worse they were separated.

“Girls can you hear me, GIRLS!!” Twilight called out to her friends. Then she realized she could try the telepathy spell that Levia used on them. “Girls can you hear me, I’m using the telepathy spell that Levia taught us.”

“I here you all clear Twilight, it sounds like you’re right next time. Can you hear her too Fluttershy?” Pinkie Pie responding to Twilight.

“Um…yes I can hear her.” Even Fluttershy’s thoughts she is quiet.

“Pinkie Pie is Fluttershy the only one with you?”

“Yup, the rest of the girls must be somewhere else.”

“Twilight, Twilight is that you?” Rarity trying to communicate with telepathy.

“Rarity?! Thank Celestia you’re okay what about RainbowDash and AppleJack?”

“They are with me and fine Twilight where you are?”

“I don’t know. I must have teleported somewhere else but we need to find each other before we keep searching.”

*BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK* Twilight heard from the telepathy.

“Girls what was that?!?!” Twilight asked. Hearing the barking noises really made her worry.

“Um…Twilight this is AppleJack. Am I even doing this thing right? Whatever we are going to take a while cause it seems we’ve ran into them diamond doofuses again.”

“Wait, AppleJack!”

“Don’t worry Twilight,” Rarity said trying to reassure her friend. “She’s got RainbowDash with her and I’ve got some payback for them for ruining my fur when they made me drag that rusty cart.”

“Rarity wait up for us,” Pinkie Pie interrupting, “C’mon Fluttershy let’s go help.”

“Um…wait Pinkie I don’t think that’s a good ideeeaaaa!” Fluttershy trying to stop her party friend, but she was being dragged by her.

“Girls! GIRLS! Darn I can’t get to them now. What do I do? I’m all alone and lost.” Twilight began to worry.

“Don’t worry,” Then a little blue light began to float out of Twilight’s mane. “You’ve still got your magical ponysprite LEVIA FROST!” Levia exclaimed in a heroic manner. All Twilight could do was just stare realizing that the only backup she had was a ponysprite. “What don’t tell me you’re not happy to see me?”

“Oh no I’m glad you’re here. I’m just more worried for the girls though,” Twilight said while trying to put on a more grateful face.

“Yeah….you’re a terrible liar,” All Twilight could do was just look down on the ground and draw a circle with her hoof. “Don’t worry Twilight I’m sure your friends will be fine, besides I think it would be a good chance now to search for the weather element.” Twilight then began to ponder of how convenient the situation turned out to be. She thought to herself that maybe Pinkie’s tail twitching may have helped her out for once.

“Okay Levia, let’s hurry up and find the weather element and then help out our friends.” The two began to journey further into the cavern to search for the weather element.

“So who are those diamond doofuses that AppleJack was talking about?”

“Oh well that’s not what their names are. It is actually the Diamond Dogs and they are a group of dogs that act as jewel thieves. They captured Rarity one time when she was jewel searching, so we went to go save her. By the time we got there she was fine and the dogs seemed more scared of her.”

“So miss drama queen can put up a fight huh. Well if I was there, they wouldn’t stand a chance against me. I’d use my magic to blind them, and then I’d follow up with my Frost knick combo. Then I’d use some of my illusion magic to confuse them and get ‘em with the old magic barrage. Finally, in there confusion I’d get ‘em with the spell that Rev taught me to have them running with their tales between the legs.” Levia said gesturing all her motions of how the fight would play out.

“Hehehe… you’re a little spunky one aren’t you?”

“Yeah well it one of the many things that Rev likes about me, he says ‘it gives color to the situation even if it seems bleak.’”

“So tell me what Rev is like. You seem to speak of him fondly, you wouldn’t happen to like him would you?”

“What? No, I don’t like him that way. He is more like the big brother I’ve never had, but not to me but the rest of my friends. He’s always looking out for our welfare before his own but he’s been like that. He’s smart, tough, brave, understanding, and a little quirky but that’s what a bunch of others like about him. Although, I think what distinguishes him is how much desire he puts into something, whether it be a mission he was involved in, or be it just helping out another pony. He refused to give up and always found a way.”

“Levia, you aren’t trying to sell him off to me now are you?”

Before Levia could respond she stopped and just floated there. She began to feel a pulse of magic and she started to shake. Her head darted in many directions trying to find where the pulse was coming from. She finally saw a tunnel that gave off the most amounts of pulses and darted into it.

“LEVIA! Wait where are you going?” Twilight yelled while running after the ponysprite. Twilight was wandering what is it that could’ve driven Levia to dart off like that. She thought to herself that maybe she sensed where the weather element was or maybe some of Rarity’s magic. All she knew she had to keep up with her otherwise she would be left alone. Twilight followed Levia for a good five minute sprint until she saw the little ponysprite floating right in front of a wall. Twilight took a moment to get her breath back before she spoke up.

“Levia, why did you dart off like that? You could’ve easily left me behind or at least tell me what the rush was for.”

“They're here.” Twilight was confused to see that was all Levia had to say.

“Wait what’s here? Is it the weather element, my friends, the Diamond Dogs?” Twilight asked Levia.

“The element and Revenant. Twilight I need you to hit this wall.” Levia sternly said to Twilight.

Twilight could not believe what she heard. Being told to hit a rock wall was a crazy idea that even Pinkie Pie wouldn’t do.

“What!?!?! Are you crazy? How is hitting a rock wall going to help?”

“Because it isn’t real; it’s an illusionary wall. It must have been setup to fool somepony thinking that there is nothing behind it. Twilight you need to hit this wall to break the illusion.”

Twilight was still in shock hearing of what she had to do. She went up to the wall to feel if it was really there. As she thought, she felt a normal cold, hard, cave wall.

“Levia, sweetie, that’s a real wall and no illusion. Hitting it won’t do us any good.”

“Then try your magic. As long as something with enough force hits it, the illusion will disappear.” Twilight had to think it over for a minute before responding.

“Okay I’ll do it, but I don’t see how this will work.” Twilight then light up her horn and started to charge up one of her bolt spells. She charged it up enough to make a burn in the wall and not break it to prevent a cave in. She fired the bolt and made contact with the wall. To her surprise the wall began to disappear and reveal a hidden cave glowing with magic. Twilight was speechless to see what just happened.

“C’mon let’s go in,” Levia said trying to push Twilight in.

“I can’t believe it. How…how did you know that would happen?”

“It's illusion magic, me and Rev have dealt with in the past now let’s go in there.”

Twilight walked in the cave to see a dome shaped chamber with a hole in the ceiling that allowed little sunlight to penetrate. The cave was filled with snow and ice crystals that reflected of a beautiful aura of magic. The further they walked in; Twilight saw her reflection and noticed that she started to have a lavender glow to her. She began to feel more magic flow through her and less tired. She thought to herself that this must have been what Rarity felt in the snow.
Then they saw it, the weather element on a frozen pedestal. It looked like one of the Elements of Harmony with the encounter of Nightmare Moon, but had a snowflake on it. The element glowed with the same color that was in the snow and the crystals.

“So this is the weather element. Okay I’m about to make it tranquil now.” Twilight began to concentrate on her element. Levia was searching around the place looking for something until she came across an unusually sized snow pile. She dug around in it for a little bit and gasped at what she saw.

“Twilight wait! I need you to come over here and help me.”

“Levia don’t we need to…”

“RIGHT NOW!!!!” Levia screamed for Twilight.

Twilight hurried over to see how frantic Levia had become.

“Okay Levia why are you so…” That’s when Twilight noticed what was in the snow pile. She aided Levia to uncover a pony laying there. Twilight went up to him to see if he was alright but when she put her hoof on him, she felt he was cold. “Oh no.”

“Rev...Revenant wake up, wake up it’s me Levia.” Levia said to the unconscious pony.

Twilight thought to herself that this the one Levia went on about. All she could feel was remorse that they’ve come so far to see Levia’s friend in this condition. Twilight then noticed some writing on the ground near Revenant.

“Levia, I think you need to look at this,” Twilight called out to the ponysprite. “It may be something that he left behind for you but I can’t read it.”

“It is probably written in a secret text that only Revenant and the rest of my friends can read. Let me take a look at it and see what it says.”

Levia took a moment to read it and then pondered on the message. She started looking around for something until she spotted hiding behind some saddlebags a fire pit with only a few embers still burning. Levia gained some hope and knew what to do.

“Twilight we’ll be able to save him but I need your help.”

“Sure, what are we going to do?”

“You see that fire pit over there?” Levia pointing to it. Twilight nodded her head in agreement. “Good, what we need to do is re-light the fire. There are still some embers so we should be able to do it.”

“Oh I see, we will light the fire and bring him near it so he can warm up.”

“Not really. Yes we will light the fire but once it’s lite, everything will be alright.”

“Wait how is that going to help?”

“There isn’t much time to explain just help me out,” Levia said to Twilight.

Twilight decided that it was best to aid in whatever way she could.

“Okay what we are going to do is feed our magic into the fire. The best way for this to happen is to concentrate on the embers and give them magic. After that, just imagine the fire growing with life as we feed it with more magic and that should work.” Levia explained to Twilight as they approached the fire.

Twilight didn’t understand how it was going to work, but seeing how serious Levia was about this, she had to do it. They both began to concentrate on the few embers that were still lit and started to feed it their magic. Twilight couldn’t see how this was helping but she saw how hard Levia was pushing herself, so she had to put more magic into it. That’s when she noticed results. The embers burned brightly and caught fire to the rest of the pit.

“It’s small but we need to keep going.” Levia strained to Twilight.

The girls fed more of their magic into the fire and it started to grow. Twilight realized how hard this was for her, but seeing Levia it looked like she was barely hanging in there. Twilight then decided to pick up the slack and feed even more magic to the fire. The fire grew with more intensity and Twilight felt that she was being pushed to her limit. She felt that she couldn’t stop though and then she started to glow with more intensity and her eyes became filled with magic. The fire reacted with this and began to grow out of control. Twilight noticed that this was getting dangerous but couldn’t stop, she was losing control. Twilight was doing everything she could to not lose control but she was overwhelmed by her own magic. The fire burned with more intensity and then exploded with pure magic which broke the girls’ concentration and ceased their actions. Levia and Twilight came to their surprise that everything seemed fine and that the fire was normal with magic flowing around it.

“Did…..did it work?” Twilight asked.

Then they hear some groaning from behind them. They turn around to the unconscious stallion getting up. Twilight could now see his features as he approached them. He had a strong build to him, kind of like Big Mac but lean, had dark blue fur, a sharp horn, a red mane that had a pale streak in it, and turquoise eyes.

“Where….where am I?” He asked.

“Revenant!” Levia exclaimed and embracing her friend, or at least his face. He could feel some of her icy tears touching his face. “I’m so glad we found you. I was so worried when I lost all of you guys and almost lost it. Thankfully Twilight and her friends took care of me and offered to help out.”

“Twilight?” Revenant then looked to see the lavender pony standing there. “I see, well I’m here now Levia so I will take care of you.” He then turned his attention to Twilight. “I take it that you are Twilight.”

“Oh yes I’m Twilight Sparkle and I did help Levia out. Princess Celestia is actually the one who took most care of her.”
“Well I still must thank you for helping her and agreeing to help out.”

“Oh it’s nothing really. Just let me get this weather element and then we can go.”

“Hold it.” Revenant said to Twilight. “I understand that you may be on a mission but allow me to regain my magic back. From what it looks like I am the cause of this anomaly so allow me to fix it.”

Twilight was unsure of what he meant by that, but then again a lot of things have been happening that she doesn’t know so she allowed him to do what he needed to do. Revenant then walked up to the weather element and shot a beam of magic from his horn. The beam connected and began to siphon away the odd glow it once had and the snow and crystals began to look normal.

“Now that’s better. Thank you for allowing me to do this now you can continue with your mission.” Revenant then walked over to his saddle bags and began to rummage through them.

Twilight then went up to the element and concentrated on it to release her element. When it appeared, a stream of magic came from the Element of Magic and surrounded the weather element. Twilight felt the weather element go dormant, thinking that it was now tranquil.

“Did it work Levia?” she asked the ponysprite.

“Yeah it worked, now let’s get it, regroup with the others and get out of here. I’m all for the cold but caves aren’t really my thing,” Levia said happily.

“Hehehe well then I guess we should get out of here as soon as we can.” Revenant said while throwing on his coat and saddlebags. He put out the fire and took one last look around before making his way to the group. “Well as you may know I’m Revenant Soul, pleased to meet you Miss Sparkle.”

“You can call me Twilight.”

“Very well then Twilight, shall we find your friends and make our way out of here.”

“Sure but shouldn’t you rest up a bit. We did find you freezing and unconscious.” Twilight was concerned for the stallion. She didn’t know if he would be able to make the trek in such a condition.

“I’m still lightheaded from it but I’ll be fine, thanks to you and Levia lighting the bonfire.”

“No problem there Rev. You know I’m always here to help you out.” Levia interjected.

“Yes yes I know you are. Why do you think I keep you around?” Revenant joking with the ponysprite.

“Well I thought it was my spunky attitude that kept me around, but I guess not,” Levia said pretending to pout. Revenant just rolled his eyes in humor, grateful he had his friend back. Twilight used her magic to put the inactive weather element in her saddlebag and they were making their way out of the hidden cave.

“So how did you end up here in the first place?” Twilight breaking the silence after about five minutes of walking.

“I’m still not sure myself, one moment I was in the forest with my friends fighting off some predators, then things got weird, a white light engulfed us, and next thing I know I’m in this cave.” Revenant replied. Twilight realized now that when she and the girls use the Elements of Harmony to defeat Discord, it also separated Revenant and his friends.

“I’m sorry Revenant.” Twilight apologized.

“For what?”

“For this, because a while back my friends and I had to stop an evil draconiquis from creating chaos in all of Equestria but us stopping him also caused you and your friends to get separated as well.” Revenant took a moment to think over of what Twilight said and how to properly respond.

“You did what you had to do. You saved your land and its inhabitants from danger so you did the right thing,” said Revenant trying to reassure her.

“But it’s not okay. Because of what happened you are now missing your friends and none of us know where they are at.”

“Twilight did you forget what I said that finding Rev would make everything better?” Levia said to Twilight who now feels a little embarrassed for forgetting. “You see, Rev has a link to all of us so he will be able find us or be able to let the others know where we are. So don’t worry, we will find our friends and then we can be a family again.” Levia was full of confidence now that she had her friend back. Twilight realized how strong the bond is between the two was.

“Sorry about that I just feel bad about it that’s all.”

“Don’t, now let’s change the subject to something more pleasant,” Revenant said.

“Well…I have more questions to ask actually.”

“And I may have the answers, so ask away.”

“For starters, what did you mean by gaining back your magic when you went up to the weather element?” Twilight asked Revenant.

“Well it starts out with the bonfire back there. Back in my country I learned how to restore a pony’s vitals and magical capabilities through my bonfires. What I did was mix a restoration spell with some soul magic and pyromancy to create a bonfire that fully restores anypony,” Revenant explained to Twilight.

“Really, I didn’t know that you could be able to combine spells,” said Twilight while taking more notes on the new types of magic she has been hearing.

“Taking notes huh. You wouldn’t happen to be interested in some private lessons would you?” Revenant asked.

“Revenant, you aren’t trying to do what I think you are doing?” Levia said to him through telepathy.

“What, can’t a unicorn teach another one some new spells and share their ideals of magic?” Revenant thought back to Levia.

“Not when there isn’t much for you to learn since you develop your own spells and by magic you mean magic right,”

“Why what other magic do you think I mean?” With that Levia shot a cold spark of her magic at Revenant.

“Levia, what was that for?” Twilight asked.

“Sorry Twilight, I just had to make sure that Revenant still had his senses because of his prolonged period of sleep.”

“Yes and now that I have my senses about me can I continue?” Levia nodded to Revenant to continue, “Okay then, about the bonfires they can be created and lit through the use of magic. By feeding your magic into the fire, it creates the flame that allows magical discharges to flow through the area and rejuvenate others.”

“So how did you lose your magic then?”

“Now is where things get interesting Twilight. You see the bonfire is connected to the casters capabilities of magic. The more skilled the user, the more lively the fire will be and its effects. Now when I ended up in this cave, I set up a bonfire to rest. Then when the weather element went out of control, it reacted with my fire and started to siphon away not only my magic, but my life. I decided to put out the fire but I wasn’t able to so I brought the flames down to a minimal to what I thought would prevent my demise only delayed it.”

“Luckily we showed up and got you back on your hooves sleeping beauty,” Levia teasing Revenant.
They all got a good laugh out of Levia’s comment. Revenant realized that he hasn’t had this much of a laugh since his times back home. He then thought to himself that to himself that wherever the place Twilight lives may finally be a place for him and Levia to finally to call home. He would have to find the other two and then they could all be a family again with a new group of friends to be with.

His thoughts of joy faded when he felt an unnerving presence nearing them. A familiar feeling of uneasiness rose within in him, and knew exactly what it meant. Twilight noticed how his expression changed was concerned with the sudden change.

“Revenant what’s wrong?”

“You don’t sense Twilight?”

“No I don’t, what is it?” Then Twilight began to hear what may have caused Revenant to tense up. She heard the sounds of a group approaching them, but it wasn’t the sound of hooves, but the sound of a group of wild dogs. “Oh no, don’t tell me they found us and more importantly I hope the other girls are okay?”

“You know who is coming?” Revenant asked preparing himself.

“Yeah the Diamond Dorks,” Levia answered while shadowboxing. Revenant raised an eyebrow at Twilight.

“A group of jewel thieves that are called the Diamond Dogs, we’ve had a run in with them before but at least we were all together then,” said Twilight giving clarity to the situation.

“Well I think I can make up for a couple amount of your friends,” Revenant then turned his attention to the direction of where they were coming from. “Well let’s get ready, the fun is about to start.”

Revenant has now finally awoken from his long nap, jeez what a sleepy head. Enough of that, hope you readers are enjoying the story so far and just tell me how it's coming along. Help spread the story too, one of your friends may find this interesting at all. Sorry for advertising if that's okay. Any questions or concerns leave them in the comments.

Chapter 3: Escape

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Sorry for the wait but I think this will make up for it.

The dogs came into view out of the caverns and charged at the ponies. Revenant then charged into the dog leading into the pack kicking off him and pushing a couple of the other dogs back. The dogs stood for a moment dumb founded to see there charged stopped by a single opponent. Revenant took that moment to charge and kick off the fight.

“C’mon Twilight or we are going to miss all the fun.” Levia tugged at Twilight.

“Fun!? I don’t see how this is going to be fun.” Levia and Twilight then joined Revenant.

Levia utilized her small stature to zip through the dogs and create pandemonium amongst each other. Whenever one of them would get close to hitting her, she would use some of her ice magic stop them and create more havoc. Since she was fighting against larger opponents, she had to continuously be on the move and cause as much chaos within the group. Twilight was cautious throughout the whole fight. She would wait for when an opportunity would rise and then shoot magical bolts at the dogs. Anytime one would get close to attacking her, she would teleport either away or behind them and counterattack. On the other hand, Revenant was the center of the fray. He would strike at any dog aggressively and block and dodge any attack to the best of his capabilities. Sometimes he would charge right into the attack, rolling with it and striking back even harder at his attacker.

“This feeling, the joy it brings me,” Revenant thought to himself as he fought on. “The heat of battle, the fire of fighting, the flames of war, the joy that comes from it all is amazing.”

A couple of dogs tried using some lances to stab at Revenant but parried them away with his horn. They tried again but this time he riposte and disarmed the dogs.

“Primal instincts rise within us and take control. ‘Love thy neighbor’ how easily it is forgotten once the firefight of flesh begins. Flesh being bruised, bones being broken, muscles being torn, blood being spilled, a poetic dance of violence this is.”

Twilight had to teleport a couple of times to confuse one of her attackers before she bucked him and then shot a bolt of magic to send him flying. She had a moment to breathe and saw Revenant in the fray.

“Is he really in the middle of all that?” She then noticed a change in his expression. His eyes were that of a determined predator, and then she saw a dark smile across his face. “Is he…enjoying this?”

“I seem to be enjoying this, but still…I am not satiated. I need more and these dogs aren’t providing it. Power, I need more POWER!” Revenant though. Then he bucked at them violently and causing the dogs to be hesitant on attacking him. Revenant then noticed what was going on.

“Oh shit, I was…enjoying the fight. This isn’t good; I can’t succumb to this dark feeling. I need to control myself otherwise…”

“Revenant look out!” Twilight yelled cutting off his train of thought. She shot another bolt of magic at the dog that was going to pounce on him. Revenant was stunned that he left himself open like that.

Then another two more dogs charged at him. He was caught off guard and just took the impact and held them back.
“Revenant I’ll help you,” But Twilight was blocked by a dog and another surprised her and landed a successful blow. That sent her reeling back and made her lose her momentum of the fight. The two dogs took that change and kept her on the defense taking a couple hits.

“Twilight hang on!” Revenant strained as three more dogs joined there friends. Revenant broke his guard and moved out of the way to let the dogs get carried away by their own strength. He then ran over to Twilight to help her but ambushed and started to get surrounded. He started to take a bad beating from the group.
Levia saw and was going to aid him.

“Levia help Twilight out, I’ll be fine.” Revenant told Twilight.

Levia hesitated but decided to help Twilight. She used her ice magic blind the dogs and then let Twilight follow up with a buck to knock them down.

“Thanks Levia, now let’s help…” She couldn’t finish her statement when she Revenant. She just stood in horror at the beating he was taking.

He was getting bite, clawed, and pummeled but he kept throwing them off him. He wasn’t as aggressive as he was but he was still able to put up a fight. Then he was grabbed by his tail and was slammed into the wall and was tossed in Twilight’s direction. He groaned at the state he was in.

“Revenant stop let me handle this from here.” Twilight said to him. She thought to herself though how she was going to do it. It seemed hopeless when a bright flash happened and the dogs started to attack each other.

“Twilight, Revenant let’s go while we can.” Levia told the two. Revenant got up and then they ran away from the dogs.

“Why are they attacking each other all of a sudden?” Twilight asked Levia.

“I used a mix of illusion and ice magic to make them think I was right in front of them when really they were attacking their comrades. The ice part if to not only make it feel as though they hit me, but too weaken them. Enough me explaining though we need to hide.”

They decided to hide in a nearby crevice and let Levia use her magic to create an illusion of them running away. She coated the illusion with their scent so the dogs couldn’t sniff them out. The dogs then chased after the illusion. They waited for five minutes until there was no trace of them. They let out a sigh of relief that they made it out of the fight. Twilight had a couple of scratches from them; Levia seemed fine due to her small size, Revenant on the other hand wasn’t looking to well. He started to limp from his right rear leg, it hurt him to turn his head in a direction, and he was covered in scratches, a couple bites and bruises from the Diamond Dogs. Twilight couldn’t believe that when they first got attacked Revenant was able to fight that many dogs at once. For a unicorn he was pretty strong and had stamina. She thought that it was over for them when Revenant was getting bashed around and got slammed into the wall. When Levia said he wouldn’t give up, she wasn’t kidding. What baffled Twilight the most was that the whole time he never used any magic like she did. She knew he got it back, but couldn’t grasp why didn’t use any of it.

“Revenant, you don’t look good let me try to use some of my magic to help you,” Twilight said to him. She was amazed how he was still standing.

Twilight has been in a couple of fights with her friends when they had to save Ponyville but never seen a pony get thrashed like Revenant did and still stand.

“What was it that keeps on driving him?” she thought.

“I’ll be fine,” Revenant strained, “It looks like we’ve lost them. We need to find your friends so I’ll try and locate them and if we are close enough you should use a teleportation spell to regroup.”

“REVENANT!” Levia exclaimed, “You’re severely injured, just look at yourself! You’re limping around, it hurts for you to even look somewhere, and you look like you could pass out. Stop being thick headed and let Twilight help you.”

“Alright, with you scolding me I don’t think I would be able to pass out,” Revenant said trying to bring some humor into the situation.

“Okay this shouldn’t take long. I’m going to start now.” Twilight said and then began to use what healing spells she knew.
Revenant could feel her magic healing his injuries. He felt how warm, soft, and gentle her magic was and even though it was minimal healing magic, it was very soothing to him. It was so soothing that it felt that he could just pass out.

“Revenant, hang in there and stay with us,” Twilight said continuing her spell. Levia proceeded to give him another cold shot of her magic to keep him up.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Jeez Levia, I wonder now if you really are concerned about me,” Revenant joked.

“Nah I just decided to go through all this trouble just to give you a hard time,” Levia said while giving him another shot of ice magic. Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at Levia’s antics.

“So I take laughing at my pain means you’re no longer worried,”

“No not at all. I’m done with my spell now, how do you feel?” Twilight asked.

“Feeling better now, I’ll see if I can track your friends with some of my magic.”

Revenant couldn’t really tell Twilight that her healing spell only helped out his bite wounds and some of the bruising, he still felt pretty bad but better than before so he was grateful for that. He then concentrated and searched for Twilight’s friends. He detected a lot of the Diamond Dogs, and only five ponies that weren’t near any of the dogs but were moving fast.

“I take it you have five other friends?”

“Yes, did you find them, are they okay?”

“Yes and yes. Did Levia teach you telepathy?”

“Don’t worry Rev, I taught them all the basics. Twilight here was able to pick up on it pretty quickly, she’s got a natural talent for magic you know,” Levia praising herself and Twilight.

“I take it that is what your cutie mark is about Twilight”

“Yes as Levia said I’m a natural with magic as well as the Element of Magic. The big star is the symbol of magic and my capabilities while the smaller stars represent my love for stargazing, but it’s nothing to brag about.”

“Like they say, a dog’s bite is worse than his bark,” Revenant said while looking at his bites.

“I think you know that from firsthand experience,” Twilight joking with Revenant.

“Now we’ve got Twilight joking around. I think our humor is contagious don’t you think Rev?” Levia asked.

“I guess besides all these jokes are making feel pretty good so Twilight I’ll where your friends are through telepathy and then we can go,”

“You ponies aren’t going anywhere!” a voice calling from the dark.

The unicorns turn to see where they heard the voice come from to see four dogs emerging from the dark. Three of them were wearing jackets and studded collars while the fourth one was wearing armor and a jet black pendant. Revenant seemed unease at the sight of the pendant.

“Do you ponies think that you would get away from us,” the red jacket dog said, “Now hand over the weather element!”

“What do you want with the weather element, you guys are jewel thieves not artifact thieves,” Twilight responded.

“We don’t need to tell you, now hand it over or your friends will be in major trouble.” The red jacket dog said. Twilight looked at Revenant with worry that if what he told her about the others being fine was true.

“Nice little bluff but we know the others are fine,” Revenant calling them out, “You don’t look like rest of the pack, mind telling us who you guys are?”

“Heh, why not. I am Rover, the small one in the brown jacket is Spot, the large one is Fido, and our armored one is Shadow.” Rover, the red jacket wearing dog, explained.

“Well now that we are all acquainted, why don’t you guys back off before we sending you running with your tails between your legs,” Revenant calling them out.

“Revenant, are you trying to pick a fight with them!?” Twilight said trying to stop Revenant.

Twilight then saw an image of her friends together searching for Twilight and Levia. She can see that there were no dogs near them and that they were safe.

“I would suggest teleporting us to your friends while I delay them.” Revenant said telepathically to Twilight.

“Watch what you say there blue boy, there are four of us and two of you,” Spot responding to Revenant’s insult.

“Hey there are three of us!” Levia exclaimed trying to make her presence known.

“Who said that, I only see two ponies?” Fido asked.

“I did, Spot. You best be paying attention to me otherwise you’ll regret it,” Levia said flying up to Fido’s face.

“But I’m Fido,”

“Meh whatever,” Levia said and then proceeded to give an icy flick to Fido’s nose.

“Okay we’re done messing around, let’s get ‘em boys,” Rover commanded.

“Twilight now!” Revenant said to Twilight.

Twilight’s horn glowed and was about to teleport all three of them but then a dark magic surrounded her horn and stopped her from teleporting. Twilight then collapsed from the pain.

“Twilight what happened?” Levia asked flying over to Twilight, “Talk to me, are you okay?”

“I don’t know Levia. I was going to teleport us but then I felt an ominous presence and then this agonizing pain,” Twilight said while staying down, “I don’t feel too well. My body feels too heavy to lift itself back up.”

Revenant knew the signs of why Twilight’s spell failed and why she felt weak. He ran over to her and took a defensive stance still facing the Diamond Dogs. He had to delay the dogs long enough for Twilight to recover and teleport them out of there, but this time was different. These dogs seemed intelligent, but the three in the vests didn’t look as intimidating as the others. What really had Revenant on the edge was the armored dog, because of the pendant. Just as he thought, an abyssal pendant, and a game changer to any fight. He had to be careful with this fight and come up with a plan.

“Hahahaha, I bet you didn’t expect that to happen now did you,” cackled Rover, “Looks like we’ll get some use out of this after all. Now let’s get ‘em.” Then the four dogs charged.

Fighting four enemies at once wasn’t really an issue for Revenant, but defending somepony was going to be an issue. When fighting the other dogs, he just jumped into the fray and fought. This time he couldn’t afford to lose any ground. Spot and Fido were the first to attack. Spot came in with a low tackle while Fido jumped to drop on them. Revenant charged into Spot, getting him out of the way, and then quickly bucked Fido in the jaw. A sharp pain shot through Revenant, realizing that he was still injured from the last fight.

“No, I will not let up. I have to keep fighting,” Revenant reminded himself.

Shadow ran up to Revenant and tried to crush him with a hammer fist (er paw), but Revenant slide under him kicked out his legs, forcing Shadow to collapse. Rover saw the opportunity and clawed at Revenant. Revenant was about to dodge, when Rover faked him out.

“Shit, he wanted me to do that.”

Rover weaved to Revenants blindside and gave him a couple of jabs and then pounced on him. He then bit at Revenant’s wounds while putting pressure on his neck. Revenant thrashed to throw him off, but Rover would then try to bite his face and kept punching him in his sides. The other dogs started to charge to join Rover, but then were blinded by burst of light.

“Now it’s my turn to take you pups on,” Levia said floating between them.

“Pups!?” Spot responded bitterly, “Oh we’ll make you pay you little insect.”

Out of all things you do is not to call Levia an insect. She charged at Spots face while encasing herself in ice with her magic to add more power. She collided right between Spot’s eyes forcing him to yelp in pain.

“Don’t you ever call me an INSECT!”

“Then how about a fairy,” Fido said swiping his paws at Levia.

“That’s much better,” Levia said while dodging Fido’s attacks.

Fido was getting frustrated and tried to crush the ponysprite but failed. Shadow tried to chomp Levia, but she dodged it and bit Fido’s paw instead. Fido yelped in pain and turned to Shadow.

“Why are you biting me for, bite her,” Fido scolding Shadow.

“Sorry boss, I’ll just crush her instead.” Shadow responded.

Both dogs tried to crush Levia, but her small size played to her advantage and just kept dodging while hitting them with a couple ice bolts when she could. Spot began to regain his composure and went into the fray.

“Both of you, stop swinging aimlessly and try to work together otherwise you will,” Spot was cut-off when Levia stopped on top of Spot’s head.

“Come on boys, I’m right here. I’m all tired out so you should be able to hit me now,” Levia played at Fido and Shadow. Both of them just grinned and took a swing at the ponysprite.

“Wait you idiots you are going,” Spot was then clocked by both his larger friends dazing him badly, “to…hit….me.” Spot then blacked out. Both the dogs were wondering where Levia went.

“Oh sorry that was just an illusion. I’m actually right here.” Levia said popping on top of Fido’s head.

Fido then caught the ponysprite in both his paws and started to tighten his grip. He couldn’t feel much so he started to apply more pressure. Fido kept applying pressure until he felt a sharp frozen feeling in his paws. He opened up his paws to see them frozen and Levia in a frozen ball. The ball burst and sent ice shards into Fido’s paws forcing him to back off.

“Now it’s time for my Frost Knick Combo!” Levia shouted like some videogame character pulling off their signature move. Levia zipped in a figure eight in front of Fido’s face. Every couple zips she would shoot a couple of ice crystals onto Fido’s head from her horn until the ice crystals formed a target point. She then rode her momentum to crash into the target point, shattering it. Fido took a couple steps back before blacking out himself.

“Okay then Shadow, it’s just you and me,” Levia challenging Shadow. He accepted the offer and continued to fight.
Revenant continued to struggle with Rover until decided to fall on to his back. Rover gasped from the impact and loosened up his grip. Revenant took that chance to bash the back of his head against Rovers face, dazing him, and then getting up quickly running back to guard Twilight.

“Twilight I know you’re feeling awful but once you start feeling better, you need to teleport us out of here.”

“What if it happens again? I don’t know if I can,” Twilight responded nervously. Revenant could see she was traumatized from the pain.

“I know you’re scared but you have to do this for you friends,” Revenant reassured her.

“I….I can’t do it Rev,”Twilight began to tear up, “I don’t want to feel that pain again.”

Revenant saw she was broken. He knows not many could still want to fight after that much pain, even those that have been in a lot of fights. Revenant had to win this fight to help Twilight, despite his wounds.

“That pendant, where did you get it at?” Revenant asked Rover.

“What’s it to you pony?” Rover said as he plunged for Revenant.

Rover took a swipe at his legs but then weaved to clock him in the jaw. Revenant rolled with the blow to land a couple of hooks to Rover backing him off.

“Because I know it’s an abyssal pendant and where it comes from. So I ask again, where did you get it at?” Revenant asked. The two went at it again. Revenant was starting to pick up on Rover’s movements but he was getting slower. Rover ducked under one of Revenant’s bucks and pulled the legs Rev was using to balance to bring him down.

“What good will it do you? All that you need to know it’s that you can’t beat us as long as we have it.” Rover said as he kicked Revenant over to reveal his underside and then punched him hard in the gut. Revenant choked from the blow and was trying to get his wind back.

“Not a bad fight you put up there, so I will let you be… as for your friend over there,” Rover turned to Twilight. “I believe she has what we need. Shadow, stop playing around and end it already.”

“Yes sir,” Shadow then released the dark magic from the pendant.

The dark magic flew at Levia like lighting, not giving her anytime to react. Levia fell to the ground unable to move from the magic.

“No…I can’t lose,” Levia strained.

“Too bad little fairy, now I crush you,”

“Shadow, we have more important matters at hand,” Rover interrupted. He went up to Twilight and went through her saddlebags and retrieved the weather element.

“Now then, we’ll take you also for giving us such a hard time.”

“What?”

“Shadow, grab the purple one and let’s go. I’ll get the others up.” Rover commanded.

Shadow then went up and lifted Twilight over his should and began to follow Rover. Rover began to get Spot and Fido back on their paws. Revenant turned to see Levia trying to get back up to go help Twilight but she was weakened from the dark magic. Everything around him began to fade to black.

“Damn I can’t let it end like this.”

“REVENANT HELP ME!! PLEASE I BEG OF YOU!! REVENANT!!!!!!!!!!!!” Twilight screamed for aid.

Then everything around him became clear. He knew that he couldn’t give up because he had a reason to fight for. With what he had left he stood up and made what he could out of an aggressive stance to the Diamond Dogs.

“I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but these dogs are my enemies,” Revenant’s horn began to glow with power and started to heal his wounds. The dogs noticed what was going on and faced Revenant.

“Still want more huh. Spot, Fido get ‘em.” Rover commanded.

Spot and Fido charged again at Revenant. This time Fido led the charge to meet him with brute force and then Spot would follow up. Revenant calmly stood there as his attackers charged them. He then closed his eyes and relaxed his breathing. He imagined how the dogs would come in. Fido would charge as hard as he could to throw Revenant off his balance, then Spot would follow up with a pounce to bring him down while trying to regain his balance. It was a good plan for the two but Revenant knew how to handle it. Revenant opened his eyes to see them a couple feet in front of him. Fido lunged with all his strength while Spot began to round around Fido. Revenant then slide right behind them keeping his eyes on Twilight. Both the dogs were confused and decided to try again. As they neared him, Revenant sent some magic to his hooves and bucked them in the chest. He heard something crack and walked to Shadow and Rover while Spot and Fido lay in pain.

“What the, Shadow get them.”

Shadow dropped Twilight and used the abyssal pendant, but this time having the dark magic going inside him. Shadow then let out a roar and grew to where his armor broke off him. Shadow looked more feral with his teeth sharp and jagged, his fur standing, and the crazed look in his eyes. Revenant knew what was going to happen and got ready.

Shadow charged like a mad beast at Revenant and swung at him. Revenant read the attacks easily but had to react fast otherwise he’d get hit badly. Shadow then raised both paws above his head and smacked the ground. It shook the ground sending out some dark energy but Revenant moved out of the way. Revenant then took to the offense and used his magic to rocket himself at Shadow. He stopped in front of him and gave a serious of blows to his stomach. Shadow bent over in pain and was greeted with a hoof to his chin. Revenant was going to finish it when Shadow let out a howl that sent him back. Shadow howled once more but with dark energy lashing out at Revenant.

“Aaargh. I can’t let this stop me, I have to keep fighting for her sake,” Revenant said to himself. Levia started to get up to see the fight. She sat there to and was happy to see that Revenant had his fire back in him.

“Looks like you’re finally using soul magic. About time, I was wondering how long you were going to hold back.” Levia said to herself.

“I will use this power once more to punish you jewel thieves.” Revenant said to Shadow, his tone changed sternly to a commanding voice. A voice would dominate his foes into submission. His horn began to glow with intensity and began to form an extension. “Shadow of the Diamond Dogs, you are found guilty of theft, assault, and usage of forbidden arts. You and your group shall suffer the consequences of these actions.”

Revenants horn extension solidified into a sabre of pure soul magic. Rover stood there worried of the sudden rise of power within Revenant. Shadow then let out another howl of dark magic to lash at Revenant.

“Soul Divide!” Revenant said. He then slashed with his horn towards Shadow, dissipating the dark magic. A slash of soul magic ripped out of nowhere and destroyed the pendant, thus having Shadow revert to his normal self and passing out. “The guilty always pay the price.”

Rover was paralyzed at the sight of Revenant and the intent in his eyes. He saw a cold look in his eyes that pierced his very soul. Revenants looming presence made Rover feel like a fly trying to stand up to lion. Rover fell back and could only stare in fear.

“Now, hand over the weather element,” Revenant commanded.

Rover didn’t bother saying a word. He just tossed the weather element at him and coward for his life. Revenant used his magic to catch it and put it in his saddlebag. He calmed down and his horn returned to normal.

“Twilight, are you alright?” Revenant asked in his normal voice. Whatever surge of power that was in him now faded.

“I’m fine, thank you Revenant. I owe you,” Twilight said as Revenant helped her get back up.

“Don’t thank me. We still need to get out of here with your friends and return the element.” He pulled it out of his saddlebag and gave it to Twilight.

“I think it’s best if you hang on to it, especially after what you did back there.”

“No, because if anything was to happen to me it is important for you and your friends need to get out. Levia, are you okay?” Revenant asked turning his attention to Levia.

“A little dizzy, but I’ll live. Let’s go home now; I can use a hot shower about now.” Levia said as she stretched herself out.

“Well guess that means we’re done. Twilight can you teleport us now please?”

“I…I don’t know if I can. What if it happens again?” Twilight was still traumatized from the dark magic.

“Don’t worry; with the pendant destroyed you should be free to use your magic without any fear of the dark magic.” Revenant tried to reassure Twilight, but she still had fear and doubt in her face. “Look if it begins to happen again, I’ll take the pain instead of you.”

“What? But how will you?” Twilight questioned Revenant.

“Like this,” He then put his horn up against hers and let his magic flow into her horn. She felt his magic flow through. It felt as though he was embracing her and that he was her shield ready to defend her from any oncoming harm. She couldn’t help but blush from what she was feeling, “Do you trust me now?”

Twilight nodded, trying to hide her face, as a response.

“Then let’s get out of this miserable place!” Levia exclaimed, “Bye bye, Diamond Pups. Next time we meet, we will send you whimpering back home.”

With flash of her magic, Twilight teleported the three of them to the rest of her friends.

“Damn, the boss isn’t going to like this.” Rover muttered to himself.

Applejack, RainbowDash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were running throughout the cavers searching for their missing friend. They lost track of how long they were searching for, but they had to keep searching knowing Twilight wouldn’t give up on them.

“Twilight, Twilight! Where the hay are ya?” Applejack called out into the cavers. The orange pony felt terrible of how the situation began to look hopeless.

“Rarity, can’t you use that telepathy thing to find her?” RainbowDash asked her friend.

“I’ve been trying this whole time, and I can’t find her. Celestia, I hope she’s okay.”

“Don’t worry girls, this is Twilight we are talking about here. I’m sure that she is already looking for us unless she ran into some of them dogs too. Oh that would be bad, but you think she would be fine. Then again Levia could be with her so she should be fine, although a ponysprite is small backup to have.” Pinkie trying to reassure the girls, but only got them more worried.

“Well we can’t just wait here wondering, I’m going to look up ahead.” RainbowDash said. Before she could take off, Applejack grabbed her tail to hold her back.

“Now hold on there, ya’ just can’t go flying off like that.”

“Then what am I supposed to do then?” RainbowDash questioned Applejack. AJ and the rest of the girls stood quietly trying to figure what to do, “I don’t know about you girls but I’m going up ahead. I can’t stand here waiting for her to pop up out of nowhere,” and then RainbowDash took off, but didn’t get far.

At that moment Twilight, Levia, and Revenant appeared in front of RainbowDash’s path of flight. She collided into Revenant and the two rolled onto the ground.

“What the hay? Who are you and where’s Twilight?” RainbowDash said pinning down Revenant. He was too exhausted from all the fighting to even struggle, “If you did anything to her I swear I’m going to buck you so hard that,”

“RainbowDash you’re okay,” Twilight said embracing her cyan friend.

“Twilight!? You’re okay,” RainbowDash said getting off Revenant and embracing her friend. The rest of the girls saw and ran to embrace her lost friend.

“Twilight, thank Celestia that you’re okay,” Rarity said. She then noticed how Twilight looked, “What happened to you? You look like a mess.”

“I’m fine Rarity, but Rev…”

“Nonsense just look at you. You’ve got several cuts over you, your coat is torn, your mane is messed up, and you’re covered in filth…”

“Rarity I’m fine!” Twilight said stopping Rarity from going on, “But Revenant is the one who is in need of help.”

The girls look over to the blue stallion struggling to get back on his hooves. They’re shocked to see a pony in his condition still trying to get up. Rarity nearly fainted from the sight of how much of a mess he was.

“I don’t need anyponies help right now. What is important is that you teleport us out of here again,” Revenant said walking over to Twilight. RainbowDash pushed him back and blocked his path.

“Just hold on there. Who are you and why are you bossing around Twilight like that?” RainbowDash persecuted Revenant.

“Now isn’t the time for me to explain myself. We need to get out of here while we have this moment.”

“You’re not going anywhere until you answer my questions then.”

“RainbowDash please stop.” Twilight begged her friend, “His name his Revenant Soul and he’s the one who saved me.”

“Saved you from what?” RainbowDash asked. The girls were shocked to hear what the stranger did for Twilight.

“That’s irrelevant right now. Twilight we need to get out of here now otherwise the dogs will be hot on our trail again.” Revenant insisted.

“Now hold on there, I’m sure we got some time to hear what you did for Twi here,” Applejack interjected. Then the group heard faint barking sounds coming from one of the caverns, “Or maybe not.”

“Damn, they’re already coming after us. Now would be a good time to leave.” Revenant directed to Twilight.

Twilight then began to use her teleportation spell but only sparks came out of her horn.

“I’m sorry everypony. I don’t think I can do it again with all of us.”

“I know you’re tired but you have to do this.” Revenant insisted.

“Hey leave her alone. If she’s tired then let her rest, besides we can handle a couple of dogs again.” RainbowDash snapped at Revenant.

“Then let me give you some of my strength.”

RainbowDash looked at Twilight if she should let him.

“Let him through RainbowDash, he’s only helped me to this point.” RainbowDash glared at Revenant for a moment and let him pass. He walked up to Twilight and put his horn on hers again.

“Now just do it like how you would and I’ll take care of the rest.” He assured Twilight.

Twilight started to use her teleportation spell and when she started to fail, Revenant did his part. He let his magic flow through her but instead of providing protection, he gave her power. She felt the magic within her similar to her when she first got her cutie mark. Twilight enveloped everypony in her magic and teleported them out of the caverns to the entrance.

Outside the cave, facing the airship

“Woohoo you did Twilight!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

The girls cheered to finally be out of the dark cave and see some sunlight. The snow around them was already melting away and they took off their coats to cool off. Everypony was cheering expect for Revenant.

“Revenant we got out so why aren’t you happy?” Levia asked her friend.

Revenant then walked over to see the land he was in. He just stood there captivated at the view. He could see the sun kissed the land as it was setting, the beauty of the forest below them, and the tranquility of town in the distance.

“So this is where I am now. It’s…….nice,” he said as let himself collapse to the ground. “Looks like I’m done now, at least I have a nice sunset to watch.”

“Revenant are you okay?” Twilight said running over to him.

“I’m just tired, that’s all. Besides I thought you were too tired to move that fast.”

“No it’s just that…you fell down and I needed to see if you were alright that’s all,” Twilight said trying to hide her blushing.

“Well to ease your worries I’m fine. *yawn* I just need to rest up.”

“Well then you can’t sleep on the ground silly. You could catch a cold or sleep walk of the mountain. That would be bad for that to happen wouldn’t it.” Pinkie Pie said popping out of nowhere.

“C’mon Revenant, let me get you to a bed for you to sleep in.” Twilight said offering to help. Revenant was hesitant to answer.

“Alright then.” Revenant answered. Twilight helped him up and offered her shoulder for him to lean on seeing of how hard it was for him to even get up. He took the offer and she was guiding him into the airship.

“Okay what’s going on here? Who is he, where did he come from, and what did Twilight mean ‘he saved me’?” Applejack asking everypony, but all had no answer.

“Also, why doesn’t he have his cutie mark by now?” RainbowDash added.

“As Twilight said earlier he is Revenant Soul, and he is one of my friends that we are looking for. He’s from the same land as I’m from and he helped Twilight escape from the Diamond Dogs. I will answer more of your questions but first let’s get in the airship,” Levia responding to Applejack’s questions. “But still that’s strange.”

“What is that he doesn’t have a cutie mark?” RainbowDash asked.

“Well that and Revenant isn’t really the type to accept help from others unless he really needs to.”

“Ah horseradish. You saw the shape he was in Levia. He definitely needed help, he can barely move on his own.” Applejack said.

“No that’s not it because I’ve seen him in worse shape and still get up without accepting anyponies help.”

“Don’t let it get to you sugarcube. Let’s just get in ourselves so we can go home.” Applejack reassured Levia. The girls followed Twilight and Revenant into the airship.

“Still, it’s rare when he’s like this,” Levia thought to herself. She then had a moment of clarity of what may be happening. “Revenant you wouldn’t be…” Her thoughts were cut-off when she noticed when his tail flicking in a familiar motion. She then knew what was developing and smiled.

Hopefully this chapter makes up for the delay. Been busy with work and all but still I make time for my readers. For an update moving soon, so I will have more time to work on story but updates will probably come later but I will try to push one out before the move and upload a couple when I move in. Don't worry, the Diamond Dogs ain't out yet, they have revenge to plan on.

Chapter 4: The Flight Back

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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.

Chapter 5: Meeting the Princesses

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Canterlot

It was nighttime when the airship docked, and Twilight informed Revenant that he would probably be meeting Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. His mind was lost in the scenery and absorbing the elegance of the city. He has seen some nice places before in his travels but Canterlot would have to be one of the most prestigious cities he has ever been to.

“This place is amazing, I just don’t see why you left Twilight.” Revenant then saw some of the more elite ponies merely glance at them and cocked their heads high avoiding them. “Oh I think I see why.”

“I really didn’t pay attention to them when I used to live here, it was mainly when I went to Ponyville is when I decided to stay.” Twilight said answering Revenant.

“Well I guess I’ll have to see in order to find out.”

Revenant followed the group up into the castle. He almost wasn’t let in by the guards until Twilight let them know he was with them. Revenant was gawking even more of the interior of the castle. The castle in Animardia is nice but more of a fortress. Canterlot castle is itself a work of art. After a few minutes, they reach the throne room where Princess Celestia and Luna are waiting for them.

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” Twilight says while her friends and Revenant bow out of respect, “We have succeed in bringing back the weather element.”

“That is wonderful news my faithful student, you may all rise.” Princess Celestia gratefully responded.

Twilight and her friends rose while Revenant still kept his head bowed down. Twilight gave the weather element to Princess Celestia who then gave it to Princess Luna.

“Thank you Twilight, we can always count on you and your friends.” Princess Luna said praising Twilight and her friends. Both regal sisters then notice Revenant.

“Is everything okay with your friend there?” Princess Celestia asked Twilight.

“Oh well, we did have some trouble in getting the weather element and he may be still in pain.”

“Pain, from what?” Princess Celestia continued to ask.

“We were ambushed by a group known as the Diamond Dogs. They tried to steal the weather element from us and kidnap me but were stopped thanks to him.” The regal sisters raised an eyebrow of interest of what Twilight just said.

“Tell me my sister, do you happen to know of these ‘Diamond Dogs’ that have troubled my faithful student?” Princess Celestia asked her sister.

“I have heard of them. A band of jewel thieves that sometime uses kidnapping as a means of reaching their goals. I will look into this matter and put an end to them.” Princess Luna confidently responded to her sister.

“Thank you,” she then turned to Revenant, who still had his head bowed down. “So may I know the name of the savior of Twilight and her friends?”

“Yes your royal highness. I am Revenant Soul, a wanderer. Please, I ask for forgiveness of my poor title due to being displaced of my homeland.” Revenant calmly responded. The girls were curious with the sudden change in Revenant.

“Aye vay, Revenant there is no need for that anymore, so look up.” Levia said and then shot an ice bolt at one of Revenant’s wounds. He did not move from the ice bolt despite the pain he felt from it. The regal sisters caught on what was going on and knew how to rectify the problem.

“You are forgiven Revenant Soul and you may gaze upon us with thine eyes.” Princess Celestia said with more authority in her tone.

He then raised his head and allowed himself to gaze upon them. He then showed a strong posture, similar to the guards, but with more pride and discipline. Levia let out a sigh of grief that Revenant still acted in some of his old ways despite the fact they left that life behind.

“You can relax now Revenant Soul,” Princess Celestia calmly said.

“As you wish regal madam.” Both the sisters then stared in confusion.

“A bit more relaxed Revenant,” Princess Luna said using his first name only to show a friendly atmosphere.

“Yes….milady” Revenant nearly choked just saying that.

“Uh Revenant, you don’t have to talk to them like that.” Twilight informed Revenant.

“And try relaxing your posture some bit. You aren’t a guard here so ya don’t have to think like one.” Applejack advised Revenant. RainbowDash was holding some laughs back at Revenant of how he was acting.

“I’m impressed that there are others who still honor the old ways, tell us where are you from.” Princess Luna asked.

“I hail from Animardia. It is an old land that has stood strong for the longest of time that still takes great pride and honor of the old ways. We have advanced since then but still have traditions to uphold.”

“Commendable.” Princess Luna said impressively.

“You said that you were a wanderer. Why is that you have left your homeland?” Princess Celestia asked.

“I left because…I…I had to. I had lost everything that mattered to me and now………” Revenant then took a deep breath to reconcile his words. “And now I wander to find a new start, a new life, a new beginning. That is why I’ve left my homeland.”

“I see my deepest condolences.” The regal sisters stepped off for a moment to have a private discussion. They shortly arrived with their decision of the matter at hand.

“Revenant Soul, as gratitude for aiding in the recovery of one of the weather elements and for protecting Twilight Sparkle and her friends, we hereby grant you residency in Ponyville for you to begin the new life you seek.” Revenant was speechless at what he heard from Princess Celestia. The rest of the girls cheered for the great news. Levia went right in front of Revenant trying to bring him back.

“Hello anypony in there? C’mon Revenant show some emotion, we now have a home.”
Home. Those words resonated within Revenant’s mind.

“I said show some emotion!” and then Levia collided into his forehead with her ice magic. That definitely broke his silence.

“ARGH! LEVIA WHY!” Revenant yelled at her. He then looked at everypony staring at him and changed his tone, “I mean…thank you Princess for this great blessing. I do not know how I can repay you.” He said while bowing down out of gratitude

“Well you showed great help in finding the weather element, so what you can do is help find the others when we need to.” Princess Celestia said answering Revenant. She then walked over and lifted up his head so she could see him face to face, “Also it’s the least I can do for you saving my faithful student, so thank you Revenant.”
Princess Celestia then handed Revenant a charter that he would have to show the mayor of Ponyville that would entitle him to a house.

“All of you must be exhausted so allow me to take you all home. I’ll be right back sis.” Princess Celestia said turning to Princess Luna. She only nodded as a response.
Twilight's House

Princess Celestia then used her magic to teleport all of them into the library in Ponyville. Levia was amazed now to be in Twilight’s house instead of just being outside. Revenant was observing his new surroundings and building a better understanding of this place. He figured from the design, the town must be a small one where everypony knows everypony. He smiled, just the way he liked it.

“I’ll leave it to you from here. I’m sure Twilight and her friends will welcome you properly to Ponyville,” Princess Celestia said to Revenant. Pinkie Pie was drawing a big smile of how she was going to welcome their new friend to town.

“Also before I leave Revenant there is one more thing I need to ask of you.”

“Anything Princess,”

“You see, I have Twilight here to learn of the magic of friendship. When her or her friends learn something about it, I have them send me a letter of what they’ve learned. Could you do that for me?”

“It would be my honor.” Revenant responded with one last bow.

“Thank you, well girls I’m off. Do take care of your new friend here.” With that Princess Celestia was gone.

The girls were getting ready to head back to their homes when Pinkie Pie blocked the door.

“Wait girls we can’t leave until we welcome Revenant and Levia to Ponyville.”

“Pinkie, no pony is going to have a party at this hour. Everypony is probably asleep.” RainbowDash objected her pink friend’s proposal.

“Well of course Dashie. Which is why I figured us six could have a little get together.”

“Pinkie Pie I think all of us are pretty tired. I’m gonna go home” RainbowDash said trying to move Pinkie Pie aside. Pinkie Pie had a look of defeat that she couldn’t do any kind of welcoming for Revenant and Levia.

“Pinkie Pie, if you really want to…” Revenant began to say. The pink mare’s face was glowing with anticipation. “You…could do what you need to do.”

“Oh thank you Revenant!” She said quickly hugging him. He grimaced from pain all over his body. “Don’t worry you two won’t regret this. I’ll be right back.” Then she went off to the next room.

“I’ll go get some rags for you Twilight.” Rarity said trotting off into Twilight’s kitchen.

“Rags for what?” Twilight asked. Then Pinkie Pie came back with a small pink wagon. “Pinkie, where did that come from?”

“Oh Twilight, you should know by now that I have stuff like this hidden throughout all of Ponyville.” Twilight didn’t really appreciate the fact that there could be other things that Pinkie Pie stashed in her house.

“More importantly, what is that?” Levia asked.

“It’s my wagon that I use to welcome folks to Ponyville.”

“Really, how come I never saw it when I first got to Ponyville?” Twilight asked in a more serious tone.

“I don’t know guess I just didn’t think of it at the time.” Twilight wasn’t really satisfied with her pink friends answer.

“Well then let’s get this welcome to Ponyville kicked off then.” Levia said.

Pinkie Pie smiled and pushed a button on the side that opened up the wagon to reveal banners, balloons, a couple of confetti cannons, an oven, and a bunch of baked goods. A nice little tune began to play and Pinkie Pie began to sing.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome a fine welcome to you. Welcome, welcome, welcome I say how do you do. Welcome, welcome, welcome, I say hip-hip hooray. Welcome, welcome, welcome, to Ponyville todaaaaay.”

Then the oven burst open and shot confetti at Revenant and Levia. Both were confused why that happened with the oven but then the confetti cannons shot cake batter all over Revenant and Levia.

“Oops. I put the confetti in the oven and the cake batter in the confetti cannons, again.” Pinkie Pie giggled.

“Pinkie! If you knew this was going to happen, then why did you do it inside?” Twilight scolded Pinkie Pie. Reluctantly Rarity arrived with rags to help with the clean-up.

“Ah no need for that, allow me.” Levia assured the girls. She then used her magic to freeze the cake batter on Revenant and herself, and then shattered it frozen cake chunks.

“Oh ice cream cake. Good one Levi,” said Pinkie Pie while eating some of the frozen cake chunks. “Delicious. Try some Revie”

“Pinkie Pie I don’t think…” but it was too late. Pinkie Pie already shoved a couple of chunks in Revenants mouth. He chewed for a moment before swallowing the frozen chunks with delight. “On second thought, these are pretty good.”

“I’ll say you’re a pretty good baker Pinkie,” Levia said after eating some of the chunks. “You know Revenant; with our new home you should find yourself a mare who could cook this good.”

“LEVIA!” Revenant yelled at Levia.

“What? I figured now that we’re settling down, you should find yourself a mare that you can be happy with.”

“What are you my mother?”

“Levia couldn’t be your mother Revie, she’s too small. Also she’s young and has wings.” Pinkie Pie added. Revenant could only bury his face in his hooves.

“Sometimes I have to be Pinkie Pie. Especially now in this town and being around you pretty mares. I have to keep an eye on him and with spring here I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to…”

“Leeeviiiiaaaaa” Revenant slowly said.

“Yes my little embarrassed pony?” Levia teased at Revenant.

“BE QUIET!” Revenant yelled while bucking Levia. She zipped into the next room and a loud crash was heard.

“Don’t worry…nothing broke. I’m fine…my head just hit the wall, that’s all.” Levia groaned from the next room.
An awkward silence befell the room of how Levia and Revenant communicated with each other. They couldn’t tell if they were best friends or near enemies. Applejack decided to break the silence.

“Well I don’t know ‘bout ya’ll but I’m tired.” Applejack yawned, “I think I’m gonna hit the hay now”

“Me too, see you girls tomorrow.” Rarity said. All the girls followed Rarity out leaving their new friends with Twilight.

“Well guess it’s just us now.” Twilight said.

“So it is. I guess I won’t cause any more trouble with you and go myself.”

“Go? Where are you going to go?”

“Probably find myself a local inn and stay there until I can find a house.” Revenant calmly responded.

“Oh well…you could stay here. That is until you find yourself a place to live in.”

“You don’t have to do that. Besides I don’t want to give you any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all. It’s the least I can do for my hero.” Revenant didn’t really take kindly to that. His expression went somber and looked away from Twilight. “What’s wrong? Is it something I said?”

“No no, it’s just….I am not a hero,” Revenant nonchalantly answered.

“What do you mean? You saved me from being kidnapped and didn’t let the Diamond Dogs get away with the weather element, how are you not a hero?” Twilight continued to ask.

“A hero would’ve never put you and your friends in danger to begin with, let alone be in that kind of situation.”

“I don’t know about you, but a pony that still helps another pony and her friends out of something like that and puts himself in harm’s way to ensure others safety,” Twilight said walking up to Revenant, “I think it’s very noble of them and if no pony thinks so, they’re at least a hero in my eyes.”

Revenant’s face burned up and quickly turned away from Twilight. She then noticed his tail flicking in a weird fashion.

“Are you alright, cause your tails seems to be going crazy?” Twilight asked.

“I’m fine, I just may be still hurt from earlier that’s all,” Revenant poorly defending himself. She walked over to him and saw his face bright red.

“Are you sure cause your face is all red,” She then put her hoof up to his forehead, “And you seem to be heating up fast. You aren’t getting sick are you?”

“I’ll be fine. I just need a night’s rest that’s all.”

“Or maybe you need to cool off,” Levia floated on in. “Allow me to help.”

She then stood on his forehead and spread ice out on her hooves. She made sure they were cleated and trotted all over his forehead. Then she started to dance around and do a couple ballerina spins. To wrap up her little performance she did a couple flips and stuck a pose standing on one hoof.

“Feeling better?” Levia asked with a tiny wicked grin.

“Yes Levia. I’m all better thanks to you.” Revenant muttered through his teeth.

“That looked like it hurt,” Twilight added.

“Not at all,” Revenant said shaking Levia off his head. “So why don’t you show me where I’ll be sleeping and we can all go to sleep.”

“Sure right this way.”

She led them upstairs into her room and pointed out to the spare bed where Revenant and Levia will be sleeping. Revenant almost walked into a heavy sleeping Spike, who Twilight had to point out before walking into the room. Revenant saw that there were books up here too and chuckled at the thought there was probably a book in every room.

“I’m pretty sure this is more comfy than the cold cave floors.” Twilight said to Revenant.

“I don’t know. The cold cave floors do great wonders for your winter coat.” Revenant responded as he crawled into the spare bed.

“*yawn* I’m pretty tired myself, see you in the morning. Goodnight Revenant, night Levia.”

“Goodnight Twilight, sweet dreams.” Revenant said.

Twilight then used her magic to turn out all the lights in the house and went to sleep. Revenant laid there reflecting on his thoughts before going to sleep. He was wondering if this was just a nice dream and was going to wake up somewhere lost in the woods, or wake up in a sunlit room with Twilight. How was adjusting to Ponyville going to be like. Was it going to be smooth or complicated? All these ran through his mind but most….

*psst*…most importantly…..

*psst* Revenant then turned to Levia to see what the noise was about. She was pouting at Revenant, waiting for his response.

“What is it Levia, I’m trying to sleep?” Revenant thought to her.

“How come you wished Twilight sweet dreams and not me?”

“Because she is kindly offering us a place to stay in until we find ourselves a house.”

“Riiiight I saw your face light up and your tail a flicking earlier.”

“Oh shut up and go to sleep.”

“Don’t deny it Revenant. You know I’m only stating the obvious.”

“I have no idea what you’re thinking about.”

“You know what I’m thinking about.”

“…”

“Okay Rev, don’t go ignoring me now.”

“…”

“Revenant you can admit the truth, it’s only me.”

“We are sorry. The pony you are trying to connect to is currently off in dreamland, please leave your name and number and he will get back to you at the earliest convenience.”

“Yeah cause we all know Revenant dreams.” She realized what she thought to him. “I’m sorry Rev. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s alright. I’m sure I can finally dream now.” Revenant calmly responded.

“Oh…okay then, night Rev.” Levia though to him before dozing off.

“Yeah, maybe I finally can.” Revenant thought to himself. He took one last look outside the window before going to sleep and allowed his mind to wander.

Canterlot Castle

Princess Luna was in the chamber of the Elements of Harmony putting away the weather element. She sealed the door and turned around to see her sister entering the room.

“I thought I might find you here.” Princess Celestia called out to Princess Luna.

“Good evening sister. Are you having trouble sleeping tonight?” Princess Luna asked.

“No I’m fine, thank you for your concern.”

“So why is it that you have come to see me?”

“After the conversation we had with Revenant Soul, you seemed suspicious of him. Mind telling my why?” Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow to her sister.

“It’s the way he answered. When you first asked him why he left, it looked as though he didn’t want to talk about it. When he did, it sounded like he chose his words carefully in order to mislead us from his original intentions.”

“And here I thought it was because he didn’t have a cutie mark.” Princess Celestia calmly joked.

“Well that too.”

“I understand your concern, but you must know that whatever his reason is, it is his alone. When the time comes, we will all know the truth.” Princess Celestia answered her sister.

“Still, I’ve examined the weather element and found traces of dangerous magic that seems similar to Revenant Soul’s magic.” Princess Luna continued.

“Is that so? And when did you get that information?” Princess Celestia sternly asked her sister.

“Well I…did a quick examination on him while he was talking to us.” Princess Luna sheepishly replied. Princess Celestia shook her head at the answer.

“Please know this, he’s in good company. Just because he may be…questionable, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t trust him. Remember when you showed up for Nightmare Night and everypony didn’t trust you.”

“Except for Twilight Sparkle. She didn’t give up on me no matter how bad things got.”

“Precisely, and now Ponyville eagerly waits for your return for this year’s Nightmare Night; all because of her. Do you understand where I’m getting at?”

Princess Luna sighed with defeat, smiled, and answered her sister.

“I do. We need to give him time. He’s in a new land with a new society to adjust to. He does seem to be a good stallion and he’ll come around. If not then Twilight Sparkle will definitely bring him around. I still have much to learn.”
Princess Celestia smiled that her sister understood and walked over and hugged her.

“Indeed, her kind spirit will pull him out from his troubled past and we all do. I’m learning from her and her friends of all the things they’ve done and couldn’t be happier. We just need to be there for those close to us, because what they have to say could be important even though it may sound like it isn’t.”

“That sounds like something that Twilight Sparkle sent to you in a letter.” Princess Luna giggled.

“Like I said, we are all learning. Good night sister, I’m off to bed.”

“Goodnight sister, I shall guard the night.”

Princess Celestia flew off to her room and Princess Luna went off to the throne room. Upon entering, she asked the guards to exit for a minute. They were uncomfortable to leave their princess alone, but obeyed the request given to them. After making sure the room was clear, she used her magic to signal a certain pony. Out of the darkness, a night sky alicorn with a faded purple mane appeared. Smaller than the regal sister but could still stand over anypony the size of Big Macintosh. His features were undetectable due a shroud of darkness surrounding him.

“What is it that I can aid you with milady?” he asked.

“Thank you Nightingale for your response. How goes the investigation of the Diamond Dogs?”

“Currently underway, the investigation team found interesting traces of foreign magic in the caverns where the weather element was located, but needs to be further analyzed.” Nightingale responded.

“And of the Diamond Dogs location?”

“There are multiple locations that have been hypothesized that need further investigating.”

“I see. Nightingale I have a special assignment specifically for you.”

“For me? Now what is it that troubles you so much that requires my involvement?” Nightingale excitedly asked.

“I need you to look into a ‘Revenant Soul’. He is currently residing in Ponyville and is friends with Twilight Sparkle, so that is your lead. What I want is information regarding where he is from, any reasons why he may have left, what his work of trades were, any relations he may have had, family, and the kind of magic he uses.” Princess Luna ordered.

“Very well milady and before I fulfill your request, you wouldn’t happen to know the name of where he came from?”

“I do, it is called Animardia.” Nightingale’s face lite up with excitement and Princess Luna caught it. “Do you know of this place?”

“Oh I most certainly do.” Nightingale happily answered.

“Then before you go, tell me everything that you know.” Princess Luna ordered. Nightingale gave her his grim smile of approval.

Somepony doesn't trust Revenant. Sorry for not including how Nightingale looks but don't you worry readers, I will have a picture of him. Eventually, in the near future but other than that the next couple chapters will be of Revenant surviving in Ponyville. The adventuring will continue also but for now time for Ponyville antics.

Chapter 6: Welcome to Ponyville

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It was a beautiful mid-morning in Ponyville and Revenant was enjoying himself quite well. He left the library early letting Twilight know that he was going to explore on his own and would meet up with her at lunch. He let Levia wander off on her own, hoping she wouldn’t cause any trouble. Surprisingly, the local town folks were friendlier than he anticipated. A majority of them didn’t really pay no mind that he didn’t have a cutie mark, but the few that did were more intrigued of why there wasn’t one. He would explain to them that he remembers having one just not exactly what it was and they would assure him that he would get it back. Revenant decided to take a moment to appreciate the scenery in the local park.

“First day and I’m already loving it here.” Revenant said to himself. “I have to say, this is the most welcoming place I’ve been to yet. I wonder what Levia is doing?”

Speak of the devil. He spotted her playing with a bunch of fillies. They tried to catch her but couldn’t due to her agile movements and her illusion magic. She would let them catch her a couple of times to not let them get discouraged and would create a couple illusions of her and put out little play acts. Levia had a soft spot for fillies. Always trying to cheer them up, even if it she had to make a fool out of Revenant but he didn’t mind.

“Great, I can hear Levia now telling me to have a couple of my own for her to play with.” He looked over and saw the happy expressions from them and Levia. “Still it would be nice, especially in a nice town like this.”

Revenant decided to leave Levia with the fillies and not ruin their fun. He was passing by a couple of stores and saw some of the nice things they had for sale. What caught him the most were some of tools that were on sale. With tools like those, he could renovate his house and make it fit to his style. Day dreaming of the different ideas he had planned, he wouldn’t see the pony he was about to bump into walking out of the next store.

*Thud* too late.

“Oh I’m terribly sorry. I’m new here, I was daydreaming, didn’t see you and I…” He stopped to see that he bumped into a familiar purple mare. “Twilight fancy bumping into you here, eh no pun intended.”

“Revenant, it’s not a problem I should’ve been paying attention. I was thinking too much of the new books I just bought.”

“I see, well then I suppose we should exchange our information then.”

“I’m sorry but we should what?” Twilight asked with a confused smile.

“You know since we bumped into each other exchange our information.”

“I don’t understand where you’re getting at with this.” She asked even more confused.

“Oh well it’s like when two ponies with their wagons collide with each other and have to exchange their information so they if anything got damaged they know the cause of it.”

“I don’t get it and what do wagons have to do with this if we don’t have any?” Revenant could see that she wasn’t familiar with this joke.

“Let’s forget about it. It was a failed attempt at a joke anyways.”

“That was a joke?” He face hoofed at her cluelessness.

“So how about we go get some lunch?” Revenant attempted to change to the subject.

“Oh sure where do you want to eat at?” Twilight responded.

“I’m still not too familiar with this place so why don’t you surprise me.”

“Sure but where’s Levia at?” Twilight asked searching for the ponysprite.

“Oh I wouldn’t worry too much about her.” Twilight glared at him for a better answer. “Okay okay, she’s at the park with a playing with a bunch of fillies. I didn’t want to interrupt their fun so I’m sure she’ll meet their parents and they’ll treat her.”

“Alright then the girls said they would meet us there shortly so let’s go.”

They went by one of the more popular restaurants in Ponyville. It was a nice little place to eat at with tables in and outside the establishment and a smoothie stand right next to the building. A waiter came by and handed them their menus, but they held off on ordering their meals until Twilight’s friends would arrive.

“You said they would be here shortly right?” Revenant asked Twilight.

“I’m sure they would be here by now unless their running late. *Sigh* I think they need to organize their time more.” Twilight responded. Revenant looked around to see the other guests eating and noticed a similarity within the other ponies.

“You sure this is the right place?”

“Yes why?”

“Well for a group lunch this place doesn’t really seem for that.” Revenant said thinking out loud.

“What makes you say that?”

“Well I’ve been seeing the other guests and a lot are couples and I’m thinking this place is more for…” He was cut-off with Twilight’s sudden giggling. He looked at her with concern for the sudden giggles.

“I’m sorry Revenant, I just got your joke from earlier. It makes sense now since we bumped into each other and we exchange our information to each other and then…” She paused at the moment of clarity. “Revenant, you aren’t….trying to make a date out of this are you?”

“What no, not at all.” Twilight seemed to have a slight expression of disappointment from his response. “I mean it’s not like I wouldn’t go on a date with, you are an intelligent and a pretty mare and all…and uh… oh look here comes Rarity.” He started to flag down Rarity to their table. He was reluctant he spotted her at that time; otherwise he wouldn’t know how to avoid that awkward situation.

“Hi Rarity, glad you can join us. Where are the rest of the girls?” Twilight asked after greeting her friend.

“I’m sorry Twilight but me and the girls won’t be joining you today for lunch. Things just popped up for all of us so we will have to make it up to you.” Rarity apologized.

“Oh no its fine Rarity you don’t have to.”

“But I must dear. Besides…” She then grinned at both of them. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt you two’s little date. I must say though I’m jealous, you should’ve told me you try at Revenant first but oh well. Have fun you two.” Rarity said trotting off with a giggle.

Both sat there looking away from each hiding their blushing when Revenant broke the silence.

“How about I go get us a couple of smoothies and you take our order?” Revenant proposed.

“That would be nice.” Twilight quickly responded.

The situation couldn’t be more awkward if it wasn’t for Revenant nearly falling over his own seat when getting out of it. He walked over to the smoothie stand and was trying to decide what kind to order. By the time he got there he forgot what he was going to order after seeing the variety of smoothies they had.

“Having trouble deciding what you want?” The colt behind the counter asked.

“Yes I am. Just trying to decide which one is best for me and my friend.”

“Which one is she?”

“The purple one over there…wait how did you know it was a mare?” Revenant pointed out to where they were sitting. The colt just shrugged his shoulders at Revenant’s question. The colt looked back at Revenant and then at Twilight a couple of times before speaking.

“Okay I’ll start making your smoothie now.”

"Wha…I didn’t even say what we wanted yet.”

“Don’t worry I know what to get for you and your date. I have to ask though, one or two straws?” the colt casually asked.

“Two straws, for two smoothies and we’re not dating.” Revenant quickly defended.

“Oh I see, trying to get over the friend hurdle. Okay then this smoothie should be one to kick off your first date.” The colt pointed out on the menu. Revenant sighed with defeat that he wasn’t getting out of this one.

“Yes…that one is fine. Also where are your restrooms at?” Revenant calmly asked

“Getting nervous huh, don’t worry it happens to the best of us.” The colt could see he was irritating Revenant. “It’s around the back.”

“Thank you.” Revenant said trying to maintain his composure.

“You’ve got yourself a good one, don’t give up my friend.” The colt said to Revenant as he walked away. He could’ve sworn he saw an abnormal twitch come from Revenant.

Five minutes later, Revenant came back to the stand to see two smoothies sitting with a little note that had a picture of what looked like Revenant’s face. Figuring it was his, he opened up the letter and read it.

“Remember this well my friend. If you wish to overcome this hurdle and build a strong love with your friend, the one thing that could make a difference is…”

Revenant didn’t bother to finish reading the rest of the note not wanting to read what the colt had to say. He picked up the smoothies with his magic and turned around to take them back. To his surprise when he turned around no pony was there. In fact, not only the restaurant but the surrounding area was deserted.

“Um…Twilight…where is everypony?” Revenant cautiously called out. He began looking around the restaurant and still no pony could be found. “Twilight, Twilight where are you? Is anypony out there?”

He put down the drinks and started to look around now and noticed the town itself seemed deserted. A familiar feeling of uncertainty ran through Revenant. With worry, he began to run through town looking for anypony but found no pony. As he continued his search, everything began to look bleak and gray. The beautiful colors of the town faded, the warmth of the sun became dead, trees decayed, and shadows grew dark. After running around for about fifteen minutes, Revenant stopped in the center of Ponyville.

“AARRGGHH! WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYPONY!!!”

“Reeeevenaaaaant…” a ghostly voiced called out. A dark chill ran down Revenant’s spine. “Reeeevenaaaaant…over heeeerreee….”

The voice echoed from all directions and he couldn’t pinpoint it. As it called out for him more, his fears rose. The voice…it was all too familiar. He tried searching for the source of it but felt as though he was getting nowhere. The more he searched, the more things looked the same. Every corner he turned, the same buildings were lined up. It looked as though he was trapped in a maze.

“Dammit, I’m not getting anywhere at this rate. I need to calm down and concentrate.” Revenant then closed his eyes and relaxed his breathing. He would concentrate on the voice with his magic and find where it was coming from.
….over here…” the voice whispered.

“Gotcha,” Revenant smiled.

He used his magic to show him a path to the voice. As Revenant followed it, the maze began to fade into the shadows. He kept going until there was nothing left but darkness and a simple bonfire.

“A bonfire? I wonder…” Revenant speculated. He lit the bonfire with his magic and the flame grew to release a small light. The light expanded to cast the darkness away and reveal where Revenant was.

Revenant observed his new location to only be in horror of the familiar sight. He was in his home town in Animardia, but things were wrong. Houses were burnt, trees were dead, the sky was dark, and the ground was stained with dried out blood. Much like Ponyville, no pony was to be found. He heard the voice call out to him but this time it was close. Revenant turned around to see the ruins of his old house behind him. In the center of the house was a floating mass of darkness with a foldable picture frame in front of it. He didn’t know why, but Revenant was walking over to the picture.

“Why am I walking over to this? It feels as though as if I have no control over myself. Like I’m being drawn to it,” Revenant was in hoofs reach of the picture and moved to pick it up. “Why…why am I going to look at this if I know what it will bring?”
Much to his dismay, he was right. He picked up and looked at the picture to only feel agony. Tears ran down his face and began to feel weak at the knees.

“How could you let this happen to us, Revenant?” the voice called out to him. He could make out whose voice it was now.
Revenant looked up to see the voice was coming from the darkness. Then an earth pony sickly crawled out of the darkness. As it rose, it would stretch out its limbs as they made a distinctive cracking sound. It shook its body as if to dry itself off but only darkness covered it. When it opened its eyes, Revenant face was shocked with horror. Those golden, heavenly eyes only belonged to one kind of mare. That mare was the only one he gave his heart to.

“No…please not you…” Revenant said falling to his knees weeping.

“Revenant, how could it end like this for us?” the mare asked standing over him.

“I’m sorry, I tried…”

“But you failed and look what’s happened.”

“I know…I know I couldn’t save you…

“You promised that you would always be there for us. Where were you when we needed you the most?”

“I was there it….it was….it was because I was too weak. If I was only stronger at the time, if only I had better control of my power, this would’ve never happened. I’m sorry, can you ever forgive me?” Revenant said weeping at her feet. She then lifted up his head so she can gaze at his tearful eyes.

“But of course I can. I love you.” She said as she embraced him. He could feel the darkness on her now spread on to him. He tried to fight it but was too emotionally scarred to fight back. “And now that you have returned, we can be a family again.” Revenant then saw another figure crawl out of the darkness but this time it was a filly.

“No…please no…anything but this…” Revenant pleaded. As he struggled to break free, the darkness bound him. The little filly slowly crawled over to them with little indefinite cries. As it got closer, Revenant felt weaker. All the misery that he carried came crashing at him. Finally, the little filly was only a foot away from him.

“Now then…let’s become one with the abyss, my love.” The mare said. Then the filly leaped at Revenant with a screech.

“*Gasp*, Wha….wait that was all….” Revenant said as he wakes up in a cold sweat and frantically looking about in the room.

He finds himself still in Twilight’s room with her and Spike across from him and Levia right by him all still asleep. He looked outside the window to see the dawn starting to rise over the horizon.

“Another nightmare. *sigh* How much more must I be tormented by them?” Revenant muttered to himself.

Unable to fall asleep, he silently made his way into the kitchen for a glass of water. As Revenant poured himself a glass, he began to think about the nightmare. What did it mean? What began with joy turned into pain, misery, and regret. Memories of Revenants old life still haunted him; however, something was different this time. Seeing the ones he loved emerging from the darkness is what had him thinking the most. Whatever speculations he formed, they all weren’t good.

“Revenant…is that you?” a soft voice called. Revenant looked to see Twilight entering the kitchen and turning on the lights.

“Oh sorry I didn’t mean to wake you.” Revenant apologized.

“It’s okay I was planning on waking up early anyways for some studying.” Twilight responded.

“Guess you take your studies seriously, even on a weekend. Is that what you do on your spare time?”

“Well there’s that then reading, organizing, planning out my schedule for the next week…”

“I meant things for fun.” Revenant said in a playful tone.

“Oh well reading, and…” Twilight said trying to think of other fun things.

“And…”

“And practice any new spells and if any of my friends want to do something, I’ll join them.”

“Well that’s better…I guess.” Revenant responded while both of them shared a small laugh

“Hey Revenant you still alright? You seem rather pale right now.” Twilight asked concerned over the stallion’s health. Despite having a nights rest, Twilight still speculated that it would take more time for him to fully recover from yesterday.

“I’m feeling better now thanks to your hospitality. It’s just that I had a bad dream, that’s all.” Revenant somberly said.

“Oh my, what was it about? Was it of something from yesterday?”

“I rather not talk about right now.”

“That bad?”

“Well its bad luck to talk about your dreams before breakfast, so they say.” Revenant said trying to bring a pleasant mode.

“I’ve never heard of that before. Is it something that you believed in back in you old home?”

“Yeah everypony believed in it. Still do to this day, besides it always made great morning conversation of hearing how your family ticks.”

“Well guess I’ll have to wait for breakfast to hear what makes you tick.”

“Guess so,” Revenant then looked outside the window to see the sun slowly rising. “Well if I’m not needed right now, I’m going out for a run.”

“You sure that’s wise? Yesterday was pretty bad for you and I don’t want you to strain yourself.” Twilight concerned for Revenant.

“I need to clear my mind right now.” Revenant said knocking at his head.

“What if you get lost?”

“I’ll use my magic to find my way back and if anything goes wrong, Levia will let you know.”

“Alright then….I think it’s still best that you rest most of the day.” Twilight said after trying to stop him. Revenant made his way to the door but Twilight stopped him before he stepped out. “Revenant…just…don’t push yourself too hard.” He smiled to let her know he understood and he took off.

The run was feeling good for Revenant. He was going at an easy pace and would slowly build speed to see what his condition was like. Running through the town this early he could hear the sounds of some ponies waking up and going through there morning routines. Passing through the market place he saw a couple ponies setting up their booths. Guess some ponies have to get business going early. After going through the town, he decided to check out some of the surrounding areas out of town. Revenant crossed the bridge that lead out of town and headed north. Now that he was out of the town, it was time to test some magic. While running, he channeled his magic to his hooves to run faster. He picked up speed fast but started to feel his pain kicking in. Thinking that so far physical damage was done, he channeled magic to his heart and lungs. Revenant then felt his blood pumping strongly through his veins and was able to breathe as if he wasn’t running. Things seemed good from there and decided to go up a hill. While scaling the hill, he channeled more magic to his legs again, but this time building speed and numbing them of pain.

After reaching the top, his magic wore off and he started to cough and choke. It took him a moment to recuperate and saw that he coughed up some blood. He chuckled at the thought of Twilight seeing him like this. She’d be scolding him that he should’ve listened and get rest throughout the week, but she was only looking out for him. He turned around to see that the hill he was on overlooked Ponyville. It was a sight to behold. From the hill, you could see all of Ponyville and its friendly citizens bustling about. The sunrise only captured the moment even more of how it practically made the town glow.

“Home…It seems I may have finally found it,” Revenant then felt a refreshing breeze go by. “Sage, Fefnir…I will find you guys and when I do, we can finally be a family again. A fresh start in this lovely town will be best for all of us. Please stay strong…I know it may take some time but have faith and it’ll be worth it in the end. Count on it.” With that, Revenant then charged down the hill and into Ponyville ready to take charge of his new life.

Chapter 7 Hello Crusaders

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Twilight's House

Revenant was packing up the last of his saddlebags making sure he had everything he needed. Two weeks have passed since his arrival into Ponyville. Things were awkward at first but eventually he blended in with the rest of the citizens and he even made a couple other friends, one of them being Pip whom looks up to Revenant. Early on in his first week, he was able to find a nice house on the outskirt of Ponyville and was able to promote his business idea of a hiring hoof to the mayor. Lucky for him it was approved and since then he’s been getting clients to aid the citizens of Ponyville from repairing a roof to babysitting a couple fillies.

He looked around one last time in the library before throwing on his saddlebags. After making sure things were in good order from when he first arrived, he was making his way to the door. As he opened it, Revenant reflected on the last couple weeks he spent in Twilight’s house. It was pretty interesting, having Levia and Spike have a witty comeback contest, organizing the library in different orders that Twilight kept coming up with, trying out new spells with Twilight and being the test subject of some, boy that was bad. He was surprised how Spike and him got along, and was able to get him out of the library a couple of times with or without Twilight’s permission. No matter what happened in her house, he loved it.

“Yeah…good times, I can only hope to have more,” Revenant said to himself.

“Why do you say it like that?” Twilight said as she came out from the other room, “Just cause you’re moving out doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time together.”

“Yeah well, things are more fun when you live with someone.” Revenant responded. He couldn’t help but smile at her of how good it was to live with her. She could only return the smile back. “By the way, where’s Levia at?”

“Oh she’s with Spike on an errand run.”

“I see…well I’ve got everything I need and if she drops by tell her I’m at our new home. I’ll see ya around.” Then Revenant left. Twilight wanted to tell him something, but couldn’t find the words the words to say and just watched him walk away.

Revenant was leisurely walking through the town into the market place to help feed his addiction. If it was one thing that he couldn’t go a day without was…

“Howdy Revenant, how’s it going for ya?” Applejack greeted him as he walked up to her stand.

Was none other than an apple from the Applefamily. After helping out with some farm work with Applejack, Revenant learned of the irresistible, juicy, and tasty freshly grown apples. Ever since then, he’d been hooked and can’t get enough of them.

“Good so far, thanks for asking.” Revenant said as he eyed the apples. Applejack caught his gaze at the apples.

“I see yer hear for yer daily fix huh?”

“Uh-huh,” Revenant responded as he was deciding which ones to get. “Let’s see I’ll take that one, that one, that one….and that one.” Afterwards he gave Applejack the bits he owed and was about to leave when another one was tossed at him.

“And here’s one on the house for your hard work at the farm. You know I could still use a good workhorse such as yourself.”

“Well official place of business is at my new house so drop by whenever you can.”

“No problem, now don’t go eating all of them at once ya hear.” Applejack said as he walked away. He was too busy enjoying one of the apples to really care. She knew he was good business; Applejack just didn’t want him to spend all his bits on apples.

Revenant was enjoying his apple and looking around town enjoying the view more. Everything looked different now that he has settled in Ponyville. It wasn’t foreign anymore to him, it felt homely. He would pass by a couple shops and the owners would wave at him or say hello. Word of Revenant’s helping hoof business has really spread and been bringing in good business. Who would’ve guessed for such a nice town, a lot of crazy things happen.

Unfortunately for Revenant, while he was too busy enjoying his apple, he didn’t realize that he ended up near the local school or the pony he was about to bump into. *thud* too late…again.

“Oh jeez not again, I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention and I was…” He then recognized who he bumped into. “Terribly sorry Cherilee, I was in deep thought and I tend to lose track of where I’m at when I’m thinking.”

“Again, how often does that happen?” Cherilee joked with Revenant.

“Usually when I’m buying apples or when I’m buying new tools.” Revenant sheepishly answered.

“I see well perfect timing bumping into you. I was about to go look for you to see if you could help me with something.”

“That depends what do I need to do?”

“Well I realized earlier during class that I needed to take care of some errands. So I let out the fillies early for recess so I could find you to fill in for me. That isn’t too much to ask is it?” Cherilee asked.

“It seems everypony has errands to take care of today,” Revenant chuckled, “Sure I’ll fill in for you, just go over the lesson plan with me for today and I’ll continue it.”

“Are you sure, it is a little more difficult teaching these young fillies here?”

“Eh I’m a quick learner.”

“Well alright then, just follow me into the classroom.” Cherilee said as she led Revenant into the school. Out in the playground three little fillies saw Cherilee with the stallion walk into the school and began to gossip.

“I knew it!” The little white unicorn jumped for joy. “I knew Ms. Cherilee had a special somepony to meet with today!”

“Sweetie Belle, I don’t think that’s what he is here for. Didn’t you see him bump into her earlier?” The orange pegasus responded.

“But Scootaloo, didn’t you see how she was throughout class today? Ms. Cherilee knew she had to ‘take care’ of something today and she probably let us out for recess early so he can meet up with her.” Sweetie Belle continued.

“Ya think she would have her colt friend show up while we are all still here?” Scootaloo continued to pursue the issue.

“Girls, aye don’t think he’s her special somepony. I’ve seen him before helping out my older sister around the farm. I think he’s that new pony that they’ve been talking about.” The little yellow filly interjected.

“Now that I think about it Applebloom, Rarity has been talking a lot about a new stallion in town, maybe it is him?” Sweetie Belle added to Applebloom’s speculation.

“Maybe cause RainbowDash spoke of a new stallion that she couldn’t trust yet.” Scootaloo added.

“How come RainbowDash can’t trust him? He seems nice and my sister seemed to be okay with him.” Applebloom said.

“I don’t know, but if RainbowDash doesn’t trust him, then neither do I” Scootaloo responded.

“C’mon girls, how about we find out what he is like in class today to see if he really is all that bad.” Sweetie Belle said being the voice of reason.

“This look like another job for the…” Applebloom initiated.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!!” All three of the fillies yelled.

“And that’s it for today’s lesson plan. You think you can handle it?” Cherilee asked Revenant.

“Basic pony biology seems easy enough. I’ll be sure to cover in great detail where ponies come from and debunking the whole pegasus brining the foal through the window myth.” Revenant joked.

“That’s not funny.” Cherilee sternly responded.

“Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Don’t worry I won’t touch that subject.”

“Well alright then, I’ll call the class in from recess and introduce you to them.” After calling in the class and a few introductions Cherilee told the class she should be back before the end of the day. Then she left, leaving the class in the hooves of Revenant.

“Alrighty then, now that formalities have been done let’s continue where Ms. Cherilee left off. Any questions before I begin?” Then a white hoof went up into the air. “Ah yes…Sweetie Belle is it?”

“Yes Mr. Soul…”

“Please, it’s Revenant and go on.”

“Okay Revenant, are you Cherilee’s special somepony?”

“Sweetie Belle! He meant ask a question about something the class, not that!” Applebloom said correcting her friend.

“Well didn’t see that one coming…No I’m not, she’s just a client, any other questions?”

“Oh well do you have a special somepony?”

“SWEETIE BELLE!!!” Scootaloo and Applebloom yelled at their friend.

“Or that one either…No I don’t. I barely got here so I’m more concentrated on getting myself settled in before I can indulge in such luxuries. Anymore questions you have to ask?” Revenant asked sternly. He didn’t wish to continue on the matter.

“Well do you have a special somepony in…”

“SWEETIE BELLE! Enough before you get yourself in trouble.” Applebloom said full of worry for her friend.

“Interesting…you with the bow, are you her friend?” Revenant asked Applebloom.

“Um…yes sir.”

“Excellent since your friend is so interested about my personal affairs, how about I answer those types of questions while you two are helping me get settled in my new house or should Ms. Cherilee be notified of such matters.”

“*gulp* no sir.” Both the little fillies somberly said. Scootaloo could only bury her face in her desk as the other fillies snickered at them.

“Good now then let’s get on with the lesson.”

At first Revenant went into the lesson like any normal teacher but he could see that some of fillies were losing interest. Instead, he decided to do a more interactive version of the class. He called out three random fillies of different species and had them each do different things that would specialize in what each species could do. For the pegasi, they would go outside and he would use his magic to bring some clouds close enough for them to work with it. Revenant decided to have the rest of the lesson be taught outside so the class could have fun while learning. All the students were having so much fun with the lesson; Revenant didn’t realize he was done with the lesson. So he then got everypony back inside to review what they learned.

“Okay then class, now that we are done let’s review what we’ve learned.”

“AWWW.” The class said in unison.

“Now now, I know you all were having fun outside but that doesn’t mean we can spice up this review.”

“How would we do that now Mr. Soul… I mean…” Applebloom said.

“It’s okay like I said earlier, call me Revenant. Now then how about every time somepony gets a question right, they get a piece candy from this jar.” Revenant said as he levitated a jar full of different colored candy out his saddlebag.

“Uh…Revenant I don’t think that’s much of a…” Scootaloo began to speak but then Revenant shot a piece of candy in her mouth with his magic. She then was able to taste the rich flavors of the candy and had the look of satisfaction on her face. The other fillies in the class were surprised to see him use magic with such precision.

“You were saying?”

“That these are awesome, where did you get these?” Scootaloo ecstatically asked.

“Now that is a secret, so then let’s get this going. First question, why is it that earth ponies have better stamina and endurance when it comes to strenuous work than the other two species of ponies?”

“Oh that’s an easy one. Its cause earth ponies have had to work hard for most of their lives and couldn’t use magic to help them.” Applebloom answered.

“Ah but what of the pegasi, they couldn’t use magic either so wouldn’t a pegasus be just as good as an earth pony?” Revenant added on to his question.

“Oh isn’t it because pegasi can use the weather to help them and earth ponies have to make up for it by working harder and dealing with the harsh conditions, especially when it’s really hot.” Twist jumped in.

“But that doesn’t mean earth ponies are better than the pegasus race. We could do your stuff and ours just as good.” Scootaloo interjected.

“Very good teamwork there girls, I think that deserves a couple pieces for you two.” Revenant said as he levitated a couple pieces to them. “Now then Scootaloo, since you’re ready to defend the pegasus race, how about you next?”

“Sure…I can answer anything…” Scootaloo nervously responded.

“If you say so, then tell me…Out of all the weather conditions that happen, which one does a pegasus most benefit from?”

“Well that would have to be during a storm since pegasus can control the weather and cause lighting to appear.” Scootaloo confidently responded.

“You are correct but lacking in your answer. You see a unicorn’s horn can act as a natural lightning rod and with the proper magical spells, they could use it for their own benefit. So how would the pegasus benefit more than a unicorn?”

“Um…well…” Scootaloo said nervously trying to find the answer.

“Revenant, allow me to answer that one.” Diamond Tiara raised her hoof in the air.

“Not so fast, Scootaloo here is trying to ‘prove’ the pegasus race is superior and having somepony else aid her wouldn’t really help her point. So Scootaloo, do you have an answer?”

“Of course I do…its cause…” Scootaloo then saw her scooter and thought of how she powered her it like a battery. “It’s because pegasi have a natural connection with lighting so during storms, we could use lighting to get ourselves all pumped up like a battery and work through the storm plus we don’t need no magic to help.

“Are you sure? It took you a while to come up with that one.”

“Uh…yes I’m sure…” Scootaloo said hoping she was right.

“Well then that’s correct, however lack of confidence does deduct a piece so you won’t get as many as the last question.” Revenant said as he gave her a piece. “Still good answer though.

Okay then as discussed earlier, a pegasus benefits more from stormy weather, and due to an earth ponies enduring past they can handle harsh conditions especially the heat. Now for a unicorn, what they lack physically is made up mentally and their natural resistance to the cold…”

Already some fillies were raising their hooves to answer the question.

“Easy there little ones I’m not even done yet. Now in the cold, the mental state of a unicorn is stimulated, thus improving their magical capabilities. Would anypony care to answer why?” After that all of the raised hooves went down and the class started to discuss it amongst each other. Then Sweetie Belle stood up to answer but stopped as everypony looked at her. “Well then, you have an answer?”

“Um...no I don’t…” Sweetie Belle sadly said as she started to sit back down.

“Oh c’mon now, you stood up because you have something to say.”

“I do…it’s just that…I don’t want to be wrong.” Sweetie Belle lamented.

“Well it never hurts to try. If you’re wrong, you’re wrong. What matters is that you tried and that you learned something so give it a shot.” Revenant calmly reassured her.

“Okay then…” She then took a deep breath before giving her answer. “A unicorn gets smarter in the cold because there roots came from cold lands and a lot of early magic was developed based off of ice since they saw how structured and powerful it was. So then they would have their minds develop in the cold so it hereditarily passes down throughout the species.” Everypony just watched in awe of how Sweetie Belle answered the question. Even Revenant was speechless.

“That’s…that’s correct.”

“Is that all?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Yeah that’s all. I really have nothing to add on to that. Since you answered so well I believe you and Applebloom won’t have to help out today after class.” Revenant said as he gave her a good chunk of candy.

“Really? Thank you Revenant.” Sweetie Belle said with excitement.

“Yup although… now I won’t be able to answer those questions from earlier, oh well then.” Revenant said trying to tempt Sweetie Belle. He could settle in on his own but with extra help he’d be able to get his business going faster.

“Oh well…I guess I could…if you don’t mind?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Not a problem and thank you. I’ll be sure to let your older sister know of how well you did today.” Revenant said. Sweetie Belle then sat down with a smile. “Okay then last question, whoever wins this one gets the whole jar. I warn you though, this is a tough one.” The class was ready to tackle this one. “Well guess we’re all ready to answer, okay then here it is. Out of hearing of how each race is superior in their own particular way and how each one could topple the other, which race out of the three is the best one and why?”

Revenant could’ve sworn he heard a pen drop. For once, the whole class was in complete silence and looking through their books to find the evidence for their answer. It seemed an eternity was going by until a familiar voice broke the silence.

“Sorry I’m late everypony I…” Cherilee said as she walked in. She was cut-off seeing of how hard the students were looking through their books and notes. Cherilee stood there in amazement to see the kids working so hard for their academics.

“Ah Ms. Cherilee you have returned, tell me how did things go?” Revenant asked.

“A little delay but fine…”Her focus was still on the class. “Revenant, why is the whole class studying very hard right now?”

“What isn’t this what a teacher would want from her students?”

“Well yes but I’ve never seen them like this?”

“Well they got bored with the lesson so I made things a little fun for them and made a small competition out of it.”

“Really!? I must say it seems very effective, you wouldn’t mind being an assistant sometime to help me out would you?”

“It would be my pleasure Ms. Cherilee.” Then the school bell rang to release the students.

“Well thank you Revenant I’ll be sure to drop by your house to pay you.”

“Take your time, there’s no rush. Well little ones it seems our time is up. I hope you all had fun and maybe we can pick up this competition next time. I’m off see you later fillies.” All the fillies waved at Revenant goodbye as he left. Shortly afterward Cherilee let them go home for the day.

“Wait, Revenant!” Sweetie Belle said as she caught up with Revenant.

“Ah Sweetie Belle what is it?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted help?”

“Sure, but I was kind of joking. If you still want to help by all means follow me also where is the rest of your friends?” Revenant asked Sweetie Belle. He knew they were probably close by, he could sense them.

“Oh well they said they had to do other things so guess it’s just you and me.”

“Darn, well thank you Sweetie Belle. It’s real shame that they can’t help because they might’ve been able to get their CUTIE MARKS if they helped.” Revenant emphasized hoping to draw out the other two.
Then out of the blue Scootaloo came racing by on her scooter and Applebloom tagging behind. Revenant chuckled of how his ploy worked like a charm.

“Cutie Marks?” Both the small pegasus and earth pony asked.

“Yes girls I really mean it. You might be able to get your cutie marks or at least know what to do to get them.”

“Then what are we waiting for let’s go.” Scootaloo said with excitement.

Revenant laughed of how excited the three were. He knew that they didn’t want to but he wanted to help them earn their cutie marks. When he was there age, he remembered the joy he felt when he got his. Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember what it was so he’ll settle for helping these fillies on theirs. Revenant took another apple from his saddlebag, began to eat it, and led the girls to his new home.

Sorry if this chapter felt dry but it has some clues of how they will be affected later on in the story. Other than that next chapter is coming up shortly and many thanks for your patience and support.

Chapter 8: Digging Up the Past

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A couple things before you begin. Sorry for the delay but work has me going crazy. Secondly, one of my pre-readers did inform me there were a couple themes that were too dark so I'm sorry if you find them that way too. Finally, this one is split into 2 chapters due to going into Revenant's past and his endeavors. Don't worry though, the adventuring continues after this chapter but other than that enjoy.

It took ten minutes for Revenant and the crusaders to arrive at his new house. Revenant’s house was a nice looking one story house. It was a cottage design that most of the citizens of Ponyville had but with an added gate to the entrance of the house which gave it a more Victorian feel. Inside the house was just as pleasant as its exterior. Before entering Revenant decided he would give the crusaders a tour of his house. Upon entering there was a small space for anypony to wipe their hooves before entering the living room which also had a help desk for Revenant to discuss business with anypony. There were a couple of couches with a coffee table in the center of the room and a dining table on the other side of the room. Revenant then led them over into the small kitchen and laundry that were right next to each other in the room behind the dining table. Not much décor but since anypony wouldn’t really spend time in there, Revenant didn’t bother with that area much.

“Well girls, what do you think so far?” He asked the crusaders.

“This is a nice house you’ve got her Revenant. You live here all by yourself?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“No, Levia should be here but it doesn’t look as though she is here.” Revenant responded.

“Levia? Who’s she?” Scootaloo asked.

“One of my closest friends, you girls will meet her soon enough but for now follow me.” He said as he led the girls to the basement.

In the basement were a couple of boxes that had to be moved up into his study and then unpacked. Some light poured into the basement but with no renovating done to it, the basement was a pretty dark place. The crusaders were a tad frightened of how creepy it was.

“Don’t worry girls, there’s nothing down here, I’ve cleared out all the ghosts before moving in.” Revenant calmly said.

“Gh-gh-gh-ghosts?!” The crusaders said in frightened unison. Revenant got a small laugh out of them.

“Sorry girls couldn’t help myself. This place isn’t haunted, but this basement does need some renovating. For now, let’s just get these boxes up to my study.” He said calming down the crusaders.

The crusaders quickly got the boxes and moved them into the study, in order to not spend any more time in the basement.
Within Revenant’s study was a single desk and chair in the middle of the room, two empty bookcases on the side walls, and a draped window behind the desk. A door within the study led to Revenant’s room which was locked for the time being.

Things were going well for the unpacking process. Revenant took the time to meet the crusaders and understand how they became that in the first place. He then asked them what they have done to earn their cutie marks. After hearing of all their failed attempts, Revenant got a small laugh out of it. The girls seemed a little hurt by it, but he assured them that he was only laughing at the fact that their determination was unbendable and that they should keep trying, knowing that they will succeed.

“Got to say girls your determination is admirable, but I don’t think you need to try everything.”

“Then what is it that we can do to earn our cutie marks?” Applebloom asked.

“Well little ones, you need to find out something that you’re good at and then branch on it to discover what the pinnacle of your talent is.” Revenant said.

“I don’t get it?” Applebloom asked.

“Well let’s take me for example. When I was young I discovered that I had a specialty in a different branch of magic and did everything I could to expand on it. Only from there did I discover exactly what I truly specialized in and earn my cutie mark.” Revenant explained.

“But you don’t have one…” Scootaloo interrupted.

“Yes that is also true. My memory is still a little hazy from my past but I know that it has something to do with my magic, so as long as I keep expanding on it, I’ll get it once again.”

“But what if you don’t get it back this time?” Sweetie Belle asked

“Then I keep on doing what I do and make the most of my life.” Revenant casually responded.

“WHAT!? But how if you don’t have your cutie mark?” Sweetie Belle continued to pursue the issue.

“Because having a cutie mark doesn’t necessarily tell ponies who I am. Through my actions, the way I treat others, and the way I live my life defines me. I concentrate more on my life and those who are important to me and do the right thing. Try it girls and you may get your cutie mark sooner than you think.” Revenant told the girls. They pondered on it for a moment but Scootaloo broke the silence.

“I thought we were going to do something that would earn our cutie marks today not learn more about how to earn them.” Scootaloo complained.

“Well I did say you would learn to but maybe we could try something…” Revenant was cut-off when he heard his door open and set of hooves walking in. “Interesting, I wasn’t expecting any visitors…”

“Revenaaaaant, I’m home! I also brought the gang over.” A familiar voice called from the living room. “Where are you?”

Revenant and the crusaders left the study to go see who arrived in his house. To his amusement, it was Levia with the mane six.

“Hi Revenant” The mane six greeted him.

“Hey girls, what brings you hear?” Revenant asked the group.

“Well me, Rarity and Dash were on our way to pick up the fillies at school but saw they weren’t there, so we asked Ms. Cherilee and she told us that we’d find ‘em at your place.” Applejack answered Revenant.

“And I was on my way to give you an invite to a party tomorrow at Sugarcube corner.” Pinkie Pie answered next.

“What of you Fluttershy?” Revenant asked.

“Oh well….I was coming by to see if you would help me with some of the animals back at my home…that’s if you don’t mind?” Fluttershy asked.

“A jobs a job, I’d be gracious to help you,” Revenant then turned to Twilight, “And you?”

“It looks like you left behind this book behind back at the library so I decided to bring it back to you.” Twilight answered. She then levitated him his book from her saddlebags.

“Interesting, I thought I had everything. Oh well then, thank you for returning it back to me.” As Revenant got his book, a little foldable picture frame fell out of it. “Oh you dropped something, let me…”

As Twilight went to pick it up, Revenant quickly snatched it up, opened it to see what it was. To his dismay, it was exactly what he feared. His expression went somber after viewing it and put it back in the book.

“Revenant is everything alright?” Twilight asked. The rest of the girls were concerned of Revenant’s sudden change.

“It’s…it’s nothing, nothing at all,” Revenant sighed, “Thank you girls for dropping by and crusaders, thank you for the help.”

“No problem Revenant, if it makes you feel better you can join the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Sweetie Belle offered.

“Hehehe…that sounds like fun. I’ll be sure to keep in touch with that.” Revenant chuckled. “Well I’m a little tired so we can talk tomorrow. Have a safe trip home.”

“Revenant, why don’t you show them around our new house?” Levia suggested.

“I’ll do that tomorrow Levia; I think I’ll turn in early tonight.”

“Revenant, I’ve noticed that something’s been bugging you over the past two weeks we’ve spent with you,” Twilight said. Revenant then turned to her with a look of concern. “I didn’t want to say anything thinking that you were still just adjusting but something is wrong. You could tell us what it is.”

Revenant was pretty hesitant to respond to Twilight.

“Just leave him alone Twilight. If he doesn’t want to say anything about it then let him be. Besides we don’t really need to worry so much about him.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Rainbow Dash, how could you say that? Obviously something is wrong with him and Twi just wants to help. And what’s with you? Ever since Revenant has been around you haven’t been too friendly around him.” Applejack scolded Rainbow Dash.

“I have my reasons.”

“RainbowDash…” Applejack said getting annoyed.

“Girls enough, we don’t need to argue over this,” Twilight said trying to calm down the two. Revenant could see his past was an issue with the group. He decided that it was time they know.

“Thank you Twilight for your concern and RainbowDash is entitled to her feelings towards me,” That definitely caught every pony’s interest. “I think its best that you girls know.”

“About the picture?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah and some.”

“Are you sure Revenant? Do you really think now is the best time; especially with the fillies here?” Levia asked motioning to the crusaders.

“Yes, they need to know. Besides if I’m to be accepted, then they need to know.” Revenant took a heavy sigh before beginning. “Please take a seat girls, this is a heavy story for you to take so before I begin let me give some guidance.”
The girls took a seat on the couches and on the floor. Levia brought cushions for those who were on the floor.

“Okay then, if at any time you feel as though we need to take a break don’t hesitate to ask. If you feel as though we need to continue another time then we will. Other than that any other concerns before I begin?” Revenant addressed the group.

“Nah just I want to hear everything about you so we can know who you really are.” Rainbow Dash smugly said. The girls glared at their cyan colored friend.

“Then I will heed your request. Alright guess I’ll start from the beginning. Back in Animardia when I was a filly, I was a very energetic, optimistic, and joyous colt. Much like you are today Pinkie Pie.” Pinkie Pie smiled at the thought while a couple of the girls raised an eyebrow imagining how he would’ve been at that age. “Things were great, until my father disappeared on us.”

“Oh my…what happened to him?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t know, my mother said he had an important mission to do when he left, but the only word we got from the kingdom was that he never returned.”

“What did your dad do for a living?” Scootaloo asked.

“He was part of the royal guard for the kingdom. He was the spitting image of the perfect warrior. He led many victories against rival nations and was very benevolent to those under him. Everypony trusted him with their lives. Sadly, after that day, no pony every heard of him again.”

“And what of you mother? She must’ve been very shocked to hear the news.” Rarity asked.

“Oh it was but I had to be strong for her. During those years is when we encountered Levia and her friends. Turns out they worked with my father on his missions and were the last ones to see him.”

“So tell us Levia, what happened to Revenant’s old man?” Applejack asked.

“I’m not entirely sure. Things were going well but before we entered a restricted area that an enemy at the time was trying to take. Before we went in, he told us to leave and look after his family. We did everything we could do resist, but he was serious and when he gets serious…it’s best to listen to him. After that we met Revenant and his mother and looked after each other since.” Levia explained.

“Yup and during one day in the market with my mother, some stallions thought it would be a good idea to mug us. I was still young at the time so I got messed up badly,” The girls were shocked to hear how rough things got for him. “That moment was when I discovered I had soul magic. I succeeded in keeping them off and some guards came by to arrest them, but they saw what I could do and took me and my mother as well. It was then that the kingdom decided that I would be trained to be part of the royal guard. My mother protested it but I told her that this was my chance to find out what happened to my father.”

“Dear Celestia, that’s horrible. They practically stripped you away of your foal-hood.” Rarity said.

“I can relate to that…” Twilight quietly said. Revenant heard her.

“It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. It’s pretty similar to Princess Celestia taking you in under her tutelage Twilight.”

“Yes, but at least for me it was something I wanted to do for knowledge. You on the other hoof, they were training you for war. Your mother was afraid that she would lose you too.” Twilight added.

“True but I had to make the best of the situation. Through my training, I built strong relations with the royal family and they practically accepted me as one of their own. Things actually were going well until I became old enough to enlist.” Revenant paused to gather his thoughts before continuing. “My mother’s anxiety finally got the best and had her bed written. The royal family allowed me time to spend with her because they knew what was about to come next.”

“What…what happened after that?” Applebloom dared to ask.

“My mother passed away, but I promised her to always make my life worth living and to always endure. After that I dedicated my life to the guard and was enlisted into the ‘knights of the blue flame’.”

“Hmm…that sounds cool what are they?” Scootaloo asked.

“They are a higher echelon of the royal guard that specifically serves the royal family. That is where I met my master, Lord Sif. He took my training to a higher capacity than I could ever imagine. He grew on me and eventually became a father figure to me. He was rough, hard, disciplined, but also kind and caring…just like my old man. Unfortunately, with the ‘knights’ I still couldn’t find out what happened to my father. I got close but never found the missing piece. At least things got better by then.”

“What do you mean by that? Did you find a clue that would help you find your dad?” Twilight asked. Revenant then smiled and pulled out the foldable picture frame.

“No, but I found something better, something that my mom and dad would’ve wanted me to find all along.”

“Oh I know, I know.” Pinkie Pie said jumping up and down. The girls raised an eyebrow to see what their pink friend had to say. “You found the mare of your dreams didn’t you Rev?” Revenant shook his head in disbelief.

“I don’t know how Pinkie Pie but you’re right…I found love.” He then handed the group the foldable picture and let them open it to see. They all gasped at what they saw.

Within the picture frame were two pictures. The one to the left was Revenant only a couple years younger but with a beautiful cream-colored mare with her hooves around him. Her hair was naturally combed to where even Rarity was jealous but what her most distinctive feature were her golden eyes. They both looked happy being with each other and the picture to the right was a small filly with a pale green coat and a hazelnut mane, similar to the mare’s mane.

“Wow Revenant she’s gorgeous, who is she?” Rarity asked.

“That mare is Terra Belleza, and she was my wife.” Revenant responded

“His…wife…”Twilight thought to herself.

“You two look so happy together and…is that your child in the right?” Fluttershy eagerly asked.

“Yeah, my pride Junior,” Revenant answered.

“So how did you two meet?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Funny story how we met. Let me tell you it.”

Initiate flashback sequence in next chapter.

Chapter 9: Sparks in the Heart

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Knight Training Grounds, Animardia

It was a nice day outside in the training grounds for the knights of the blue flame to train. A young blue stallion was dueling with his mentor. For them it was a normal training day but to the other knights they thought they were seriously trying to kill each other. Every strike that was thrown, a guard or parry was conducted. Back and forth the momentum would jump between the two stallions. Between the blows thrown, horns slashes, and soul magic strikes, the battle was more than a duel but a showcase of skill. The young stallion thrusted his horn at his mentors throat, and he responded with a parry. The young stallion grinned; he then feinted with the attack and quickly switched to bucking his mentor, breaking his guard.

“This is it, now is my chance.” The young stallion thought to himself.

After breaking his mentor’s guard, he swung with his momentum and had his horn charged with soul magic. He then did a rising slash with his horn which would send a shockwave of soul magic at his opponent. It would’ve been the finishing blow, but his mentor allowed his guard to be broken and have his loss of balance played to his advantage. As the young stallion rose with the attack, his mentor flipped out of the way of the attack as well as the shockwave and took a combat stance.

“Good job…” In a flash the mentor zipped by his student with his horn glowing, “But you still have more to learn.” Then nine explosion of magic hit the young stallion, dropping him to the ground.

The young stallion was defeated. He sighed at his defeat but his mentor walked up to him offering his hoof. The young stallion took it and stood up to face his master. He couldn’t see his master’s face due to the half mask that he always wore that covered it.

“Good job Rev, you’ve grown a lot.” His mentor spoke to him.

“Thank you, I thought I had you there, but I’ll get you next time, Master Sif.” The young Revenant responded. Lord Sif then smiled at him.

“We’ll see about that. That was good of you to feint your opponent and then proceed with that attack and could’ve worked, but you gave yourself away.” Lord Sif responded.

“Then what was it that I did wrong Master Sif?”

“That stupid smile on your face,” Revenant was confused at what Lord Sif told him. “Whenever you seize the moment, you draw that stupid smile on your face and give yourself away. For the undisciplined, they would never notice but for someone with miniscule deductive skills could see that you were preparing something.” Lord Sif sternly responded. The young Revenant then bowed his head to his master.

“Very well then master, I will train to refine myself.”

“You’re a good stallion. Strong in heart and spirit, a smart mind, and great potential…But that stupid smile is going to be the death of you. Still, you have all the qualities to master soul magic. I will get you there only if you want me to.” Lord Sif praised him.

“I will master it, count on it.” Revenant said smiling.

“*sigh*There’s that stupid smile again…” Lord Sif was then interrupted when a messenger came by with a scroll. He took it, read it, and handed it back to the messenger. “It seems the royal family has requested for me. Rev, keep doing well and continue with the rest of today’s training.” As Lord Sif followed the messenger, the rest of the knights stood at attention. After he left the rest of the knights quickly surrounded Revenant.

“Dude, we thought you had him I think you should’ve won.” One of the knights said.

“Well Lord Sif said it was something easily readable so I still need to work harder.” Revenant responded.

“Are you kidding me? There’s no way anypony would’ve seen that coming. A miniscule amount of deduction skill to Lord Sif is practically equal to the quick keen eye of the top ten archers in Animardia.” Another knight said.

“Well…”

“He’s just being hard on you Rev. We know you’re good, heck phenomenal more like it.” Another knight interrupted Revenant.

“I guess so. No matter what though, I will beat him and when that day comes I’ll know I’ve mastered soul magic.” Revenant responded.

They were about to continue their training when a young stallion came limping into the training ground. Revenant and the knights rushed to the injured knight to help their brother in arm. He told them he was attacked and that his opponent was surprisingly skilled. Then a voice called out drawing all the knights attention.

“Don’t listen to that wuss. He’s weak and an idiot,” The attacker said as she emerged from the woods into the training ground.

Revenant and the knights were confused to see that the attacker was a young beautiful mare. Her cream colored coat only complimented her hazelnut hair but most importantly her golden eyes.

“You know I thought you ‘knights of the blue flame’ were supposed to be the elite and honorable not this sad excuse for a stallion.” The mare pointed at the injured knight.

“How dare you speak so ungratefully to us? Have you any idea what we do to keep this country safe and in harmony?” One of the knights angrily responded. The rest of the knights rose ready to fight.

“Stand down gents, let me handle this.” Revenant said stepping in front of his comrades.

“But Rev she…”

“Stand down.” Revenant said getting serious. A lot of the knights knew when Revenant got this serious; things were going to get resolved.

“Okay then, you mind telling me why one of my comrades is claiming that you’ve assaulted him?” Revenant asked the mare.

“Assualt? After what he did, I think that was the least I could do to him.” She responded.

“Well then what did he do?”

“My little sister was about to break up with him. He didn’t take to kindly to it so he thought of getting a little payback was just.” The mare answered.

“What do you mean by payback?”

“Well it looked like as though he broke in a trash the place but how was I supposed to know what he would do next?”

“Is this true?” Revenant glared at the injured knight.

“Well…not all of it…just the breaking in and trashing part…I wasn’t going to do anything else I swear.”

“We’ll discuss this later but for now…” Revenant said as he turned to the mare. “May I ask who you are?”

“Why? You wanna try a crack at me?” She scoffed at him.

“You are a lovely mare, but the reasons to know who you are is in case we need names if this matter has to be escalated to a higher level.” Revenant said.

“I see, trying to keep this matter under the rug huh. Fine then, my name is Terra Belleza and you?” Terra asked.

“Revenant and that is all you get to know.”

“Fair enough, I know how you knights have your little code names, but still I think I should take this up to your superiors.”

“Then what can I do to keep this issue…as discreet as possible.” Revenant offered.

“What can you do huh…?” Terra took a moment to think of what she would want. “How ‘bout I fight you? You look strong.”

“I see…” This caught Revenant off guard. “Fair enough, what are your terms?”

“If I win, I get to inform your superiors and you recommend the maximum punishment for your friend.”

“And what if I win?”

“If you win then I’ll trust you to punish him properly and will let this be discreet.” Her terms were harsh and in her favor, but there weren’t any other options.

“Fair enough, but I must warn you…” Revenant took a combat stance. “You’re in for the ride of your life.”

“That’s what most stallions say before they fail.” Terra coldly said taking her stance.

“Well then I promise to satisfy you then.”

“That is yet to be seen.”

The two then clashed. To Revenant’s surprise, she was pretty good. Nearly every blow he’d thrown, she would have a guard or a dodge for it. She would also see moments when to strike and either barely miss or scathe Revenant. He underestimated her and decided to kick things up a notch. He filled his horn with some soul magic and tried a couple slashes at her. These slashes would only have magic hit and not actually cause any cuts. One slash got her and caused her to back off.

“Surprised you there huh?” Revenant taunted her. “You’re pretty good, but against me…it’ll end here.”

Revenant then charged and began to unleash an onslaught of attacks on her. She was able to dodge or block a majority of attacks but the few got her hindered her capabilities. Revenant went in to finish her but Terra then turned the battle in her favor. She caught Revenant’s finishing strike and used his momentum against him to spin him around of couple of times before slamming him. The spins forced Revenant to land incorrectly, forcing him to land hard on his back. He quickly got up and assumed his stance.

“You’re not so bad yourself. Definitely worth the fight, but I thought you ‘knights’ were supposed to be unmatched in combat.” Terra taunted back at him.

“But of course we are especially to worthy opponents… and it seems I’ve met one. Shall we?” Revenant said offering to continue the fight.

“Let’s,” Terra responded with a smile.

They both continued to fight but this time it wasn’t out of spite. They fought because they loved it. Whatever hate and rage that fueled the fight was now gone. Instead it was fueled with joy, pleasure, and ecstasy. There were moments to where they would actually be laughing as they fought. The spectators didn’t see two ponies fighting, but saw two ponies communicating and building a bond. This was the first time Revenant and Terra felt such pleasures from a fight. Within the fight, it looked as though these two were destined for each other.

Revenant’s audience was amazed at his tale and was held in silence.

“That…that is amazing,” Rarity said breaking the silence, “To think something so wonderful was found in something as barbaric as a fight.”

“Yeah…everypony said that we were star-crossed lovers and that it was meant to be.” Revenant said

“So what happened next?” Pinkie Pie said full of anticipation.

“Well her little sister arrived and stopped us. Honestly, we didn’t want all the fun we were having to end, but it had to and we went our separate ways. Though after that we kept running into each other a lot, literally, and we decided to go out. Things just went great from there and we decided to get married and raise a family. The royal family hosted the wedding and then I left the ‘knights of the blue flame’.”

“Wait you left? Why would you do that?” Rainbow Dash asked. Everypony was shocked to now see Rainbow Dash involved in the story.

“I didn’t want to end up disappearing on them like what my dad had done to me. I explained myself and surprisingly, my master told me it was for the best. The royal family then gave me a job and I settled down with my family.” Revenant then took in a deep breath for the next part. “Sadly, that joy only lasted a couple years, in fact. It has only been a few months since I lost them.”

Everypony was shocked to hear it. This was the part they didn’t want to come to but knew it would happen eventually.

“Revenant…you can tell us another time…if that’s okay with you?” Fluttershy asked.

“No…I’ve gone this far and I’m going finish. Within the city, a civil war began to rise and things were getting ugly. I did what I could avoid getting involved directly but Terra and it was inevitable. We did what we could and things looked like they were going to turn out well. But then…” Revenant’s expression went dark. The girls feared to hear what he had to say next, “One day, our neighbored got attacked. It was so sudden that nopony knew what to do, except for me. I did what I could to aid the citizens and my family but then…” Revenant began to lose his cool. “But then I can’t remember a thing after that. I remember aiding others but then things just went black from there. I remember fire, screams, crying, death, and sorrow, but I don’t remember what happened.”

“Revenant its alri…” Twilight began to say.

“No it’s not!” He snapped at her. “Because after all that happened, the next thing I know I’m waking up in a pile of burnt rubble to see everything ravaged. I searched everywhere to find them but only found my wife and son’s corpses and the charred remains of my house!”

The girls were horrified to hear what he said. They all sat there in silence, devastated at what they heard. Revenant couldn’t hold back anymore.

“To my horror, I found my family dead. Everything that I lived for was taken away from me and I didn’t know who to blame. The knights found me later burying my family and brought me before the royal family. They gave me the chance to help them, and I took it, but this time I was out for blood. I saw what had to be done to end the civil war, but it would come with a heavy price.”

“What was it that you had to do?” Twilight dared to ask.

“I had to infiltrate the enemy and bring them down from the inside. It worked but it labeled me as a traitor to my own and was going to be sentenced to death. So I had no choice but to leave and search for a new home. I should’ve given up but I promised my mother that I never would and so I continued to live my life.” Revenant then dried his eyes and turned away from the girls. He didn’t wish to speak anymore.

“…and now we’re here with you girls.” Levia finished up. “I’m really sorry you girls had to hear that.”

“No, we needed to know.” Applejack said

“Revenant…I’m so sorry for all that you’ve been through.” Twilight said trying to approach him.

“Its fine…what matters is what I do from here. Twilight…I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier. I lost it but I’m fine now.” Revenant somberly said. The girls knew that he wasn’t holding up to well. “I’ll see you girls tomorrow, have a goodnight.” Revenant then left them and went to his room.

The girls were silent for a moment and decided it was best they leave to. It started to get dark outside and was about time for everypony to go home. As the girls were making their way out, Levia went to stop Twilight.

“Levia what is it?” Twilight asked.

“Twilight you need to talk to him.” Levia told her.

“What? Why me?”

“Because out of everypony here, he trusts you the most.”

“I don’t know the way he snapped earlier was like disturbing an Ursa Minor who missed his nap. Plus he doesn’t seem in the talkative mood anymore.”

“Ursa what?” Levia asked.

“You know an Ursa Minor.”

“Never mind that. Tell me Twilight, how do you feel about Revenant?” Levia asked. Twilight wasn’t sure how to answer this question.

“Well he seems alright…just he has a lot to deal with…” Levia was glaring at Twilight for a clearer answer. For a pony sprite, her icy glare was one that could nearly match Fluttershy’s stare. “Okay…I really like him, a lot. The two weeks he spent living with me were one of the best times I’ve had and it pains me to see him this way. I didn’t really want him to leave and wanted him to stay but I just don’t know how he feels about me.”

“*sigh* you ponies nowadays…Twilight, Revenant cares a lot about you too.” Levia said.

“Really?”

“Yeah he’s just too dense to realize it and let’s his mind get ahead of him more than his heart.”

“Well he was pretty stubborn when I was telling him to get some bed rest.” They both shared a small laugh from that.

“You see Twilight, you two would be great together,” Levia now pointed to Revenant’s room, “Now go, help him from himself, and show him what’s to be found here.”

“Alright Levia…I’ll do it,” She began to head to his room but stopped and turned to Levia, “and thank you.” She then went to go check up on Revenant.

“Twilight!” Rarity called out for her. She saw Levia and went up to her, “Levia, where is Twilight?”

“She said she would catch up. She just wants to ‘check’ on Revenant to make sure he’s fine.” Levia hinted.
Before Rarity could respond they heard a little purple dragon running in their direction with the rest of the girls.
Twilight paused in front of Revenant’s door. She wondered exactly how he was going to respond to her, what she would say, how she would say it, and…

“No, I should just go in there and do my best.” She said to herself. She then knocked on his door. “Revenant, its Twilight…can I come in?” There was a short pause before she heard a reply.

“You can come in.” Revenant said as he answered the door.

“Revenant…I wanted to check on you before leaving to see if you’re okay.”

“Yeah I’m…no…I’m not alright.”

“Then what is it that’s really bugging you?”

“It’s just that…I lost everything that I once had and now I have things to care for once again. But I fear as though I’m doomed to lose it all once again.”

“It’s okay. I know you’re afraid but nothing bad will happen to us.” Twilight said while she embraced a surprised Revenant.

“How can you be so sure? What if I end bringing chaos to you and your friends?”

“We’ve dealt with trouble before and if anymore comes, then we’ll take care of it together.” Twilight said comforting his fears.

“Strange I believe you, it’s just that…” He then looked her in the eyes. “It’s just that I don’t want to lose you. I really care for you and I just don’t to lose somepony that I lo…” He then realized what he was about to say and turned away from her.

“Revenant,” Twilight said turning his head so she can look at him. “It’s okay, I feel the same way for you and it just scares me every time to see you push yourself so hard and I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Revenant could feel his heart racing now. He decided that it was best to lead with his heart and not his mind this time.

“Twilight, I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For everything, I should’ve been more open with you. I realize now that all of you are precious to me and I don’t want anything bad happen to you girls…Especially to you and I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.” Twilight then wrapped her hooves around Revenant’s head and he wrapped his hooves around her.

“I know you will.” She said as she slowly leaned in to kiss Revenant.

They were close enough to kiss when Spike busted in. He panted heavily at the ground and couldn’t look up from the fatigue.

“Spike? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked in surprise.

“I….I….hold on let me catch my breath…” Spike said as he gasped for air.

Twilight saw that he had a scroll in his claw and used her magic to read it. She sighed at what she had read.

“What did it say Twilight?” Revenant asked.

“The Princess has requested that we retrieve the next weather element. She has arranged transportation for us and we’re supposed to meet with somepony at the town market tomorrow morning.” Twilight responded.

“Then another task from the Princess we must fulfill. Let’s get a good night’s rest, tomorrow is probably going to be rough like the last one.”

“Okay…C’mon Spike let’s go home.” Twilight said as she walked off with Spike. All he could give as a response was a thumbs up as he followed her.

Revenant sat there realizing what just happened and was a little ticked off at Spike barging in at that moment. Still Revenant was pretty happy to know how she felt, so it didn’t bother him too bad. Then he heard a set of hooves heading in his direction.

“Hello who…” Revenant was going to ask when he saw it was Twilight. “Twilight what are you…”

He was cut-off when he felt her soft lips pressed against his. She pulled away and looked into his surprised eyes.

“Sleep well Revenant, I’ll see you tomorrow.” After that she left to catch up with everypony else.

Revenant stood there in silence realizing what just happened. Then a little pony sprite floated on in with a smile across her face.

“Don’t worry Rev; Levia will look out for you. Now you can thank and praise me for my generosity.”

“Thank you Levia but next time try not to let a cock block happen.” Revenant said as he joked with Levia.

“Well at least now you and Twilight got somewhere. So…” She asked.

“So…”

“It was a decent amount of time for you two to be alone with each other.”

“Nothing really happened if that’s what you are asking.” Revenant responded.

“But your tail says otherwise,” She said looking at his tail twitching. “So…

Revenant grabbed his tail out of embarrassment to stop its twitching.

“So…we just kissed that’s all and made a promise.” Revenant said walking off. Levia followed him.

“So you two made a promise and sealed the deal with a kiss? Well it’s a start so when am I expecting foals?” Levia asked. Revenant glared at her for that one. “Too soon?”

“Yes, and now we should go to sleep; we’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” Revenant said as he was getting ready to go to sleep. Levia went to her little bed hanging by the window and got herself all tucked in.

“Before I forget…I know you didn’t tell them when they were together, but when it was just you and Twilight…did you tell her everything?” Levia quietly asked. Revenant gave her a heavy sigh. She knew that his next answer wasn’t good.

“No…not even Twilight should know. I don’t want to plague her with such darkness that resides within me.” Revenant sadly answered.

“So when you said you didn’t remember what happened, you were lying?” Levia continued to ask.

“Not entirely…I remember enough to know that something’s should never be spoken of.” Revenant answered.
They both laid there in silence, reflecting the next task from the Princess. ‘Sleep well’. Those words echoed in Revenant’s head. He could only hope that his soul wouldn’t be haunted anymore but at least, not as bad.

Alrighty then, now that you've made it this far...have a cupcake! Besides that, the story is about halfway now. IStory is officially off hold! Hooray! Now to continue editing five more chapters. Until then thank you for reading this far, I plan on making the wait worth it.

Chapter 10: The Next Weather Element

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Revenant wakes up to find himself once again in the darkness with only a lit bonfire to comfort him. From the burning flames he can see his memories in Ponyville. He finds them comforting and kindles the flame to have it expand. Upon kindling it, the flames begin to light up his area to reveal to him he is in the woods. Illusions of the mane six and the cutie mark crusaders appear with him. It looks as though they are camping somewhere in the Everfree forest. Eventually they all gather around the bonfire and have a good time telling stories, roasting marshmallows, and just horsing around. RainbowDash, Scootaloo, Applejack, and Applebloom looked as though they were having a competition of telling the best ghost story. Rarity and Sweetie Belle were spending quality time with each other roasting marshmallows by the fire. Pinkie Pie is scarfing down smores while Fluttershy is calmly eating hers right next to Pinkie Pie. Revenant finds himself next to Twilight reading a book with her with their tails intertwined.

“How sweet…looks like all of you are having a good time.” A familiar voice called out to him. Revenant sighed at it.

“I was wondering when this was about to turn into a nightmare. So, let’s get this over with.” Revenant responded.

After his response the illusion faded as well as the light leaving the bonfire illuminating a small area. Revenant could see a figure appear next to the fire. It was the same one from his previous nightmare.

“Am I that easily replaceable or have you forgotten everything?” the mare asked him.

“No I haven’t forgotten nor are you replaceable. You still have a place in my heart…Terra,” Revenant responded to the mare.

The darkness that once enshrouded the mare now faded away to reveal that it was his former wife. She still retained her beauty and only radiated by the fire.

“I see…tell me how long do you plan on hosting this charade?” Terra asked him.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb. When we were together, I knew what resided within you and I easily accepted it. Now these ponies, this Twilight Sparkle…You have to hide who you really are. You and I both know that they will find out about it.”

“And when they do…I’ll be sure to handle it properly.” Revenant quickly responded.

“Right…I don’t think that will happen. You already spilled your guts out to them and they all believe that is all you have to hide.” Terra said to him, “Imagine the look of betrayal on their faces when they find out what you really are. Oh and poor Twilight, I can only imagine how heartbroken she would be.”

Revenant raised an eyebrow at Terra’s behavior. He didn’t know what to make of it but he decided to let it pass, for now.

“They will feel hurt at first, but with time, they will see through it and will learn to trust me once again, and as for Twilight…” Revenant stopped to think how she would feel.

“Forget about her. You know that you two can’t be together, unless you want to bring harm to her.” Terra said.

“Ah. No…I don’t….” Revenant somberly responded. Terra then walked over to him and grabbed his hoof. She placed it over hear breast so he could feel her heart beat.

“Can you feel it? The love that still beats within my heart for you,” Terra then leaned to his hear and whispered, “There is still a chance for you to be with me, so please come with me so we could be together again.”
Revenant pondered the thought. His heart was being torn by two different loves. One for Twilight, and one for Terra. A vicious tug-o-war within his heart and would only seep into his soul, tearing it apart as well. He then realized what his nightmare was about.

“You were pretty convincing acting as my wife. You even got her eyes right, however…your attitude gave yourself away earlier. Now tell me who you are?” Revenant demanded at Terra.

“Heh…deductive analysis…like always.”

The form of Terra began to undergo metamorphosis. As her body convulsed and twisted, Revenant tried to make out what he would see next. He couldn’t tell but had to watch with great pain of the form of his wife being distorted in such a manner. The metamorphosis was completed to reveal the form of a stallion. More of an apparition than a whole body but Revenant could slightly make out its features to see it was a unicorn roughly around his size.

“So this is who you really are? I would imagine you’d truly reveal yourself or are you a coward for such matters?” Revenant demanded from the apparition.

“All in due time Revenant, but for now I need to torment you.” The apparition calmly said.

Revenant began to worry. He didn’t know why, but he felt fear from this thing. Whatever this apparition was, it was in his head and it could easily find ways to break him.

“Well then, how about we get that little piece of darkness that resides within you that you so desperately keep hidden and reveal it?” The apparition asked.

Before Revenant could respond, the apparition then walked into the bonfire and made the fire burn with rage. The fire grew out of control and engulfed everything. Revenant could feel the heat around him, but to his surprised wasn’t burning. The fires then became one with the darkness and chains shot out binding Revenant. He felt the searing pain from the chains as they burned into his hide and felt the darkness forcing its way into him. Revenant then felt ugly emotions rise within him. Rage, hate, bloodlust, but felt immense power from it all. He began to succumb to them but realized why he put these away in the first place and fought against them.

“Gaah….Dammit…who are you?” Revenant strained.

“Why Revenant I’m shocked. I’d imagine you’d know me out everypony.” The apparition responded sarcastically.

“Aaargh….Gaah…these feelings….this power….it feels good but I have to fight it…” Revenant’s voice slowly contorted

“No don’t do that or else we won’t be complete.”

“Complete? What do you mean by that?”

“Well what else could it mean?” The apparition then revealed itself and Revenant could only stare in horror of its identity. “By we, I mean you since….hehehehe…..I am you.” Everything then flashed into Revenant’s mind. It flowed into him so much he couldn’t take it and blacked out.

“Revenant wake up….wake up…..Wake Up!” Levia shook Revenant’s face.

“*gasp* Levia…Is this….” Revenant said as he jolted up.

“It’s okay Revenant. It was just another nightmare.” Levia said trying to calm him down. Once he was calm she decided to ask him what it was.

“You know it is bad luck to talk about that stuff before breakfast.” Revenant responded.

“Fine…But we need to hurry up, it’s almost time for us to meet up with the rest of the girls at the town market.” Levia said as she fluttered off.

“I’ll get us a quick bite to eat and we’ll be off.” Revenant said getting out of bed. Once he left, he thought to himself. “Or else we won’t be complete…wait does that mean?” Revenant then concentrated on his soul and felt a familiar aura. He dreaded of what will come of it but he had other matters to worry about.

Ponyville Market
Revenant was running over to the rendezvous point with Levia riding his head. He used his soul magic to speed up his pace so he wouldn’t be late. Shortly afterwards, the mane six came into view and he decided to slow down his pace. Moments later he trotted to them trying to find who they would be meeting.

“Sorry for being the last one to arrive girls.” Revenant apologized.

“Yeah, sleeping beauty here wanted to get some extra time sleeping,” Levia adding in her input while Revenant face hoofed.

“No worries, we’re all hear so Twi,” Applejack turned to Twilight, “Who are we supposed to be meeting?”

“I don’t know, Princess Celestia just said meet at the town market at this time.” Twilight answered.

“I do believe this is where I come in.” A night sky alicorn said as he appeared out of nowhere. Everypony was shocked to see him.

“Oh are you the one we are supposed to be meeting?” Twilight asked him.

“Correct but where are my manners, please allow me to introduce myself. I am Nightingale, Princess Luna’s loyal and most trusted servant.”

“Oooooh your big, though not as big as Nightmare moon, but still big. Oh sorry I meant Princess Luna. Still think of her as that since its fun being scared by her.” Pinkie Pie randomly said. Nightingale chuckled at the thought.

“It is my understanding that you ponies are the ones to retrieve the next weather element,” Nightingale asked the group. They all nodded their heads as a response, “Perfect. Then there’s no time to waste.”

In an instant Nightingale teleported them into Canterlot to where the airship was waiting for their arrival.

“Alrighty then, let’s get going.” Nightingale said as he led them on the airship.

As he led them into the lobby, the airship took off onto its destination.

“As we wait to arrive to our destination, I’ll be briefing you of this task.” Nightingale addressed to the group. The group agreed to his announcement while Revenant stood there calmly trying to collect as much as he could on Nightingale.

“Okay first of all we are heading into the mountains to retrieve the weather element of heat. As we get closer to our destination, you’ll notice that the temperature will be rising so for you own health and protection majority of you will be wearing these.” Nightingale then revealed to them a several pendants that had a faded navy blue gem in them.

“Oh what are these for, and I must say they do look lovely.” Rarity asked.

“Although I don’t think ‘jewelry’ is going to help us,” RainbowDash added.

“Shame and Princess Luna worked so hard on these for you girls…and you as well Revenant,” Nightingale said turning to him. Revenant just stayed quiet staring at him.

“So…how will these help us…if you don’t mind me asking?” Fluttershy asked.

“Simple really. Since the heat will be draining most of you, the pendants will keep you cool and should protect you from the abnormal conditions.” Nightingale continued

“What do you mean by ‘most’ of us?” Levia asked.

“Ah yes…you see all of you will feel the effects except for Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Since earth ponies have a high endurance, they can withstand it and not really be affected at all. However there are still enough pendants for all of you just in case something goes wrong.” Nightingale answered Levia.

“We’ll take them then,” Twilight said as she grabbed them and gave them to everypony. “Is that all we need to know?”

“No…you see…there is going to be some ‘trouble’ again.” Nightingale responded.

“Diamond Dogs I assume,” Revenant finally spoke.

“Why yes…they’ll be back, and from what I’ve gathered they’ll be more prepared.” Nightingale responded.

“And by ‘prepared’ would they happen to have anything else from the abyss.” Revenant persecuted Nightingale.

“Sheesh, it feels like your interrogating me,” Nightingale responded. Revenant kept his glare at him, “Relax I’ll answer your question. From what it looks like, we don’t entirely know but I would be ready for the worst just in case.” Nightingale answered. Revenant wasn’t really satisfied with it but he could tell he wouldn’t get anywhere with him.

“Fine, I’ll be getting ready.” Revenant said as he walked out of the lobby. Everypony was silent for a moment before Twilight broke it.

“I’m sorry Nightingale. He’s not like this; normally he’s very helpful and kind. It’s just he’s going through a lot right now.” Twilight apologized.

“I see…then again we are nearing our destination. This element will have tempers flare so do watch your azure friend over there.” Nightingale calmly responded.

Within a couple minutes the airship docked and let out the group at the edge of a forest that was at the base of several mountains. Stepping off they could already feel the heat. Rarity was the first to complain how it would ruin her mane as they all put on the pendants to protect them except for Pinkie Pie and Applejack. They didn’t feel much of a difference in the heat and found it somewhat pleasant. Levia also used her magic to give everypony telepathy once again so they could stay in touch.

“Okay then, the last known location is somewhere within the mountains. There are no caves this time so getting lost shouldn’t be a problem.” Nightingale explained. “You will head through the forest and up the mountains. Be careful when in the mountains cause some have some lava pools in them. And if you happen to run into any Diamond Dogs, try to avoid a confrontation with them. You ponies may be good, but they’ve got numbers.”

“We’ll be fine, and if it comes down to it I’ll take care of them like before.” Revenant responded.

“Fair enough, I’ll be waiting for you all with airship here.” Nightingale said.

“Wait…you’re not coming with us?” Fluttershy asked.

“That is correct. I have ‘errands’ that I need to attend to and besides fighting isn’t really my forte.” Nightingale calmly responded.

“What’s the matter, can’t handle a couple puppies?” Revenant jokingly asked.

“Hehehe…puppies…”RainbowDash giggled at his joke.

“Not really I just favor cats more.” Nightingale then looked at the sky, “The sun is pretty high up, so it’s going to be blazing out there. Other than that good luck out there oh and Twilight, you’ll be in charge of the group here. You don’t mind a mare taking command, do you Revenant?” Nightingale said turning to him.

“No…not at all.” Revenant calmly responded.

“Good then take care.” Nightingale said as he saw them off.

“Oh and one more thing Revenant,” Nightingale telepathically said to him. “Do watch your behavior out there. You wouldn’t want to give the Princess any reason to not trust you or consider you a threat.” Revenant could feel him inside his thoughts. It wasn’t normal telepathy, it felt as though he was picking his brain apart and see inside of him.

“How much do you know?” Revenant responded.

“Enough to keep an eye on you. You may have everypony fooled, but just know that one mistake you make, and I’ll be sure that you regret waking up from that cave.” Nightingale threatened.

After that he disappeared into the airship. Revenant hadn’t felt this feeling in years. The last time he felt something like this is when he discovered that he could…

“Revenant, are you coming?” Levia called out to him.

“On my way!” Revenant responded. He wanted to think about it more but he had a mission to take care of. He had to be vigilant to protect the girls from any danger and hopefully that his fears didn’t come true.

And the story is back on it's tracks. Sorry for the wait but there is more to come.

Chapter 11: Ambushed

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The group trekked through the heated forest for roughly half an hour before reaching the base of the mountain trails. They could tell it was no easy journey and the heat wasn’t making it any better. Rarity was already having a fit about it, Fluttershy didn’t look so well from it, RainbowDash was getting really edgy, and Twilight and Levia were getting exhausted. The only ones of the group that were holding up were Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and surprisingly Revenant.

“How come…you’re walking like you’re not bothered by this heat Revenant?” RainbowDash asked.

”I’ve built a tolerance for adverse conditions, but believe me this heat is getting to me too, and it doesn’t help that I’m a unicorn.” Revenant responded.

“Oh yeah…why’s that?” RainbowDash continued to ask.

“Because unicorns do best in cold, not heat. This is having the same effects on us like it did with you in the cold.”

“So the last…weather element will…help pegasi right?” Twilight asked.

“Pretty much so AJ, Pinkie, enjoy this now before you start feeling sluggish.” Revenant addressed the earth ponies.

“Sure thing Rev,” Applejack responded, “Phew, It looks like ya’ll look as though you need a break.”

“That’ll be best, but what does our party leader say?” Revenant said as he turned to Twilight.

“Yes…let’s…”Twilight immediately responded.

The group took a rest under some of the trees near the base of the mountain to get some shade. Levia decided to spread an ice mist around to help cool everypony off. The girls were starting to feel better while Revenant sat by himself. Normally, he would be right with them, but he had to keep an eye out for them. While going through the forest, he noticed a set of fresh tracks that were ahead of them. At first they didn’t bother him, but then he noticed how they also spread out while leaving marks on the trees. He knew another group was moving within this area, but he feared that they weren’t friendly.

“Alright I feel better…ready girls?” Twilight addressed her friends while they all said they were ready, “What about you Revenant?”

“Good to go.” As they left Revenant decided to leave his pendant behind and use his magic to detect if there was anything else nearby. He detected nothing but still moved on.

While scaling up the mountain, they noticed that the heat was getting worse. The pendants were doing their job of keeping them fine but they could still feel the blazing heat. Applejack and Revenant had to help their friends a couple times so they wouldn’t slide down. The trail was stable most of the time, but it would give out every so and then. After about an hour of a treacherous trek, they made it to a clearing on the mountain. Within the clearing was a small lava pool and rocky outcrops that looked as though they could be mined for gems. The groups decided to rest up within the clearing and examine the area.

“Hmmm…” Revenant said as he was examining the area.

“What you looking at Revenant?” Levia asked him.

“Dragon scales, or at least what’s left of them?” Revenant responded.

“You know about dragons?” Twilight asked with interest.

“Only the basics, hence why me and Spike get along well. A buddy of mine back home truly knows dragons.” Revenant continued to examine the scales.

“Really, he must be pretty old since dragons have such a long life span.”

“Jokes on you, he’s around my age, I think about year and a half younger than me.” Twilight blushed at her failed presumption. “Don’t worry though, I hear that a lot when I mention him. You see his whole family is into studying dragons. And if he were here he’d be going nuts on this find, in fact, it looks a migration will be happening sometime this year.”

“How can you tell?” Fluttershy asked with worry.

“The decay of the scales. All I know is that if they’re this old and brittle, then a migration is about to come here. If only my friend was here he’d know…”Revenant then chuckled. “Funny that this weather element would be near an area where dragons roost, what are the odds?”

Then Revenant felt a response with his magic from the pendant he left behind. It was on the move to their location and it was getting near.

“Everypony get ready!” Revenant shouted at the group.

“Revenant what is it? Oh is it dragons cause that’d be funny after you talked about them.” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Worse…”

“Worse….What could be worse than big, scary, fire-breathing dragons?” Fluttershy asked.

A few seconds later the clearing was surrounded by a mass of armored dogs. Nearly each one had a weapon and a handful of them had the same type of pendant that Shadow had back in the caves.

“An ambush…” Revenant answered Fluttershy’s question.

The dogs slowly circled them as the ponies backed themselves into a small circle. The dogs were ready to attack but were only closing the gap.

“Been awhile hasn’t it?” A familiar voice cackled. Then Rover, Fido, and Spot appeared out of the pack.

“Well if it isn’t the three stooges,” Levia called out to them. “Came back for another beat down huh?”

“Actually we came by just to give this back,” Rover said as he tossed Revenant’s pendant at the ponies. “Smart little trick trying to throw us off with whatever magic you did but we found you eventually.”

“Revenant you left it behind? Why, Princess Luna worked hard on that for us?” Twilight said to him telepathically.

“I was trying to throw the dogs off our trail, unfortunately they’re not as stupid as they look.” Revenant responded.

“More importantly what are we standing around for, let’s get ‘em.” RainbowDash said out loud.

“Not yet, first let’s drag this out to our advantage, and try and use telepathy.” Revenant thought to RainbowDash

“But…”

“He’s right. There’s too many of them for us. Let’s come up with a plan while we stall them.” Twilight assured RainbowDash.

“Fine”

“So you found us, congratulations. What do you plan on doing next?” Revenant called out to the dogs. “I’ll stall them as long as I can, while you come up with a plan, deal?” Revenant thought to Twilight.

“Already ahead of you.” She assured him.

“Simple really…we’re going to get our revenge.” Rover responded.

“Revenge…for what?”

“Don’t play dumb, after what you did to us in the cave, we won’t forgive you.”

“You won’t forgive me? Well that’s good I thought you guys would’ve done something worse.” Revenant taunted the dogs.

“Then how about we just beat up your friends first then you.” Rover angrily responded.

“Now your sounding like a bad guy, but I think you can do better.” Revenant joked with Rover. The girls were a little worried of his humor.

“Well then let’s see how your attitude changes after this!” Rover then pulled the weather element out of his jacket.

“Wha…they got it already?!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Hahahaha….did you really think we’d let you beat us to it this time. We learned from the last failure and we won’t be making the same mistake again.”

“Oh don’t worry we know you won’t,” Levia stepped in, “Because this time we’ll be taking it from you.”

“Rover, that little one looks a lot like the one we dealt with earlier.” Spot said to Rover. Levia and Revenant caught what he said and they were shocked at what they heard.

“Earlier…what do you dogs mean by earlier?” Revenant demanded in a more serious tone.

“Oh now somepony isn’t joking no more…hehehe. We ran into a little thing much like yours earlier guarding the element.
"I’ll admit he gave us a rough time but we took care of him.” Rover cackled.

“What do you mean…’took care of him’?” Levia asked with regret.

“We smashed him into the ground and pounded him some more until he couldn’t get up!” Fido excitedly responded.

Revenant and Levia were in stunned in horror to hear what they heard. Levia felt herself on the verge of tears as she imagined the worst out of the situation. Revenant lost his cool and drew everybody’s attention to him.

“You sick, vile creatures! What the hell did you do to Fefnir!?” Revenant shouted with malice.

“Oh did we hit a nerve…perfect, like Fido said earlier…we beat him up until he stayed down.” Rover gladly responded.
Revenant was ready to charge at them when he felt some magic holding him back.

“I know you’re mad but we can’t lose our cool now. I practically have a plan ready.” Twilight thought to him.

“Grrr…alright then, what are we going to do and tell all of us.” Revenant responded.

“Okay listen up girls…We’re going to have to fight our way through.” Twilight thought to the group.

“That’s your plan? I could’ve come up with that.” RainbowDash responded.

“Oh hush RainbowDash, let Twilight finish. I’m sure she wouldn’t resort to something as barbaric as that…right Twilight?” Rarity somewhat defended her friend.

“Yes I do. Since Applejack and Pinkie Pie aren’t affected by the heat, they’ll be the first ones on the offense. After they cause a dent in them, Revenant and RainbowDash will make an opening so the rest of us can get out of this mob. Levia, you’ll provide support for them until they get out of the mob. Meanwhile, Rarity and I will be chasing down the dogs trying to cut them off. Fluttershy, you’ll be our eye in the sky. Once the rest of you break free from the mob, you will join us in the chase so we can corner them and get the weather element.”

“That sounds good an all but what of the rest of the dogs?” Applejack asked.

“That’s when Levia and Revenant come in again. They’ll delay them with illusion and soul magic to give us enough breathing room. Once we get the element, we’ll meet up and I’ll teleport us to the airship.” Twilight finished up.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Applejack agreed.

“Yeah let’s do this.” RainbowDash added.

“Revenant wrap this up so we can do this.” Twilight thought to him.

“On it,” he responded. “So what do you guys want with the weather elements in the first place.”

“Like we said the last time, you don’t need to know.” Rover said.

“Yeah, you ponies don’t need to know what the boss’s plans are.” Spot added.

“Shut it Spot, they didn’t need to hear that.” Rover said as he smacked him upside the head.

“So this goes all the way up to your boss, it must be important…speaking of him…is he the one supplying you with these abyssal pendants?” Revenant demanded.

“Argh no more talking. Fido, have the rest of the dogs get them, we’ll signal you when we’re clear.” Rover commanded Fido.

“Sure thing…let’s get ‘em boys.” Fido ordered the pack to attack. As a majority of the pack attacked, the handful of them ran off with Rover and Fido to provide security.

“Applejack, Pinkie Pie Now!” Twilight ordered.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie initiated the first part of the plan. Applejack went head on to tackle the dogs while Pinkie Pie jumped right into the pack. Applejack’s strength from years of work at the farm helped her stand her own against the dogs as she bucked them away and off her. Pinkie’s randomness and being unpredictable confused the dogs giving her chances to strike and having the dogs miss and hit each other. As the two earth ponies stopped the dogs’ initial attack, Revenant and RainbowDash moved in. Revenant used his soul magic to improve his body and reaction time so he would be able to fight in the heat without feeling its effects. RainbowDash dashed through the pack using her wings to clear path. Her speed would keep the dogs at bay and her tailwind would draw the dogs away.

Once a path was cleared, Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy began to make their way out of the mob. Any dogs that would get close to them, Levia would come in and use her magic to stop the dogs. Fido saw what was going on and decided to block their path.

“You ponies aren’t going anywhere.” Fido said trying to cut-off their path.

“Oh yes we are!” Revenant exclaimed as he used soul divide on Fido.
It was a dead-center hit, forcing Fido to fall down. Twilight and Rarity jumped over him and began chasing Rover and Spot as Fluttershy took to the sky.

“Alright we’re good, now it’s your turn.” Twilight shouted to her friends in the fray.

“Sure thing Twi,” Applejack said as she bucked another dog. “Will catch up with you girls soon, just go get ‘em.”
Twilight paused for a moment before having Rarity and Fluttershy follow her into chasing the dogs. The rest of the ponies were starting to make their way out of the pack with Pinkie Pie and RainbowDash getting out first.

“C’mon you two let’s go help Twilight.” Pinkie Pie said to Applejack and Revenant.

“Pinkie they’re stuck in there, we need to help them.” RainbowDash said to her friend.

“But we need to help Twilight out.”

“But we also need to help them too. I’ll help them you go after Twilight.” RainbowDash said.

“What if Applejack uses her lasso to get pulled out of there?” Pinkie Pie suggested.

“Pinkie Pie…that is probably one of the smartest ideas you’ve ever come up with.” RainbowDash said as she flew above the pack.

“I’m chalk full of them. Like this one time for a surprise birthday party I had to…”Pinkie Pie began to ramble. RainbowDash couldn’t hear her since she was already above the fray.

“Hey Applejack, use your lasso on me.” RainbowDash shouted.

“Now why in the hay would I do that?” Applejack responded.

“Just trust me.”

Applejack didn’t really have much time to hesitate. After pushing back a couple dogs, she used her lasso at RainbowDash. She caught it with her mouth and pulled up. Applejack was lifted out of the fray as two dogs tried to attack her. They missed and hit each other instead. RainbowDash put her down right next to Pinkie Pie still rambling.

“Mighty thanks Rainbow. Nice plan you came up with there.” Applejack thanked her cyan friend.

“Actually it was Pinkie Pie’s idea.” RainbowDash assured Applejack. She looked at Pinkie with surprise that she came up with it as she kept rambling on.

“Okay then…what ‘bout Rev?” Applejack asked.

“Oh shoot that’s right…well we could…” RainbowDash was cut-off when they see Revenant charging right out of the pack covered in soul magic. He broke through the lines like a spearhead and sent some of the dogs flying. “Whoa nice move there Rev. What do you call that one?”

“Thanks…after seeing Applejack getting lifted out, I figured it was my time to break out. Oh and I call that soul charge.” Revenant answered RainbowDash’s question. “How you holding up Levia?”

The little ponysprite was shakily floating out of Revenant’s mane.

“Next time warn me before you do that.” Levia responded.

“…which is why you never mix cake batter with confetti.” Pinkie Pie finally finished up her rambling.

“What?!?!” Revenant asked being baffled.

“That’s just Pinkie being Pinkie.” RainbowDash assured him.

“Okay now that we’re all here, let’s go after them dogs.” Applejack addressed the group.

“Sounds like a plan, I got to say though…it feels good doing this again.” Revenant said.

“What do you mean…using your magic or the adventuring?” RainbowDash asked.

“Well that and…the heat of battle…” Revenant grimly said. The girls had a small look of concern.

“Okay…well then let’s get moving now while we have the lead.” Applejack said to everypony.

As they were about to take off everything froze in its place. It was as though time itself stopped except for Revenant. He sensed the same atmosphere that he felt in his nightmares.

“We can’t let the fun end like this now can we?” A voice called out to him.

“No…not here…not now. We have a plan and we’re sticking to it.” Revenant lashed out at the voice.

“True but we were having so much fun back there. The feeling of power, fighting once again. Flesh beating flesh, muscles tightening for impacts, blood rushing through your veins to keep you going, and rage fueling your every action.” The voice said to him.

“I know but…I have to help out the others.” Revenant responded.

“Oh but will they help you? I mean once they know who you really are, will they help you?”

“Uh…I…don’t know…” Revenant somberly responded.

“Exactly and the only way to find out is if you let it happen right?” The voice tempted Revenant.

“Your right but…I won’t allow it. They’ll know and when they do, they’ll be ready.” Revenant said trying to get his composure back. “Besides I don’t know who you are but whoever you are…you won’t harm my friends.”

“I already told you…I am you. Besides the way things are going, the past will occur again.” That caught Revenant’s attention.

“No…it can’t….there’s…there’s nothing similar to the past.”

“Oh ho but there is. Nice town, good friends, a mare you like, come on do I have to spell it out for you? If you keep trying to suppress yourself, only pain and suffering will befall you once more.”

“You’re…you’re right.”

“Good, I’m glad we see eye to eye. Now then, to avoid that from happening, let’s sate that hunger of yours and give yourself what you really want.” After that everything went back to normal.
The girls were about to leave when they saw Revenant looking back at the pack.

“Hey no time to stand around, let’s go.” Pinkie Pie said to him.

“More…” He said in a dark tone.

“More…more what? More parties, more cakes, more pickles, cause I can do all that if that is what you mean?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“More…I need more…” He said once more.

“What the hay is going on here? Twi needs our help now, so why are we just standing around?” Applejack asked as she went up to them to see what is with the delay.

“I don’t know, Rev here says he wants ‘more’,” Pinkie Pie answered.

“More…more what?” Applejack asked.

“This feeling….I’m not sated yet…” Revenant went on.

“Okay don’t go speaking all fancy, what is going on Rev…” Applejack stopped as she saw the look on his eyes.
His eyes weren’t his normal look anymore. They were filled with rage, hatred, and darkness. It looked as though a dark fire was lit inside of them. The color was no longer his either. They changed to a dark violet-red. The look in his eyes told Applejack that things were about to get ugly.

Dark theme in next chapter or two but not too bad but some more insight on Rev.

Chapter 12: Outrage

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]color=cornflowerblue]Before you begin I would like to apologize that there was going to be an image of how Fefnir looked but for some reason i can't get HTML code. So I'll have to figure it out but for now here is the chapter to read. Please don't be mad.

[

Mountain Forest
Fluttershy was flying above the forest keeping an eye on the Diamond Dogs. She was careful not to lose sight of them, since she was the advantage Twilight and Rarity had over them. The girls would coordinate the dogs’ path with telepathy to intercept them.

“Fluttershy we’re coming up at a fork in the road, which way did they go?” Twilight asked her.
Fluttershy looked ahead of where the girls were running and saw the dogs split up. The grunts went to the left and set up a trap while Rover and Spot went to the right with only a couple of the dogs.

“Go to the right. Be careful though, they still have some of the other dogs with them.” Fluttershy responded.

“Thanks Fluttershy keep us updated if anything changes.”

Fluttershy was worried for her friends’ safety. She knew she really couldn’t do much due to her timid nature but thanks to Twilight she felt useful to her friends. Fluttershy did everything she could to put in her max effort to aid her friends and only hoped the others were okay.

Twilight and Rarity kept hot on the dogs' trail. After making the turn at the fork on the road, they noticed they were gaining on them. A couple of times some of the dogs would try to ambush them but thanks to Fluttershy’s warning they were able to evade them.

“Girls there’s a break off in the woods that looks as though you’ll be able use to cut-off the dogs.” Fluttershy informed Twilight and Rarity.

“Thank you, we’ll take it.” Twilight responded to Fluttershy.

“Are you sure we should do this and lose sight of the dogs Twilight?” Rarity asked her friend.

“Don’t worry this is part of the plan.” Twilight said, “Alright Revenant, let’s see if you really were a good teacher.”

When Revenant stayed with Twilight for his first couple weeks, he taught her some magic that he knew and learned from her as well. She decided that some illusion magic would be best for this situation. Twilight casted the spell and made two exact copies of Rarity and herself chasing the dogs. That’s when she and Rarity took the break in the woods to intercept the dogs.

“Oh Twilight, I can’t believe that worked so well.” Rarity praised her friend.

“Neither can I…I’m surprised Revenant doesn’t use illusion magic often.”

As they were on their way to intercept the dogs’ path, Fluttershy kept an eye on them so they wouldn’t lose them. After a little while the girls saw the dogs coming into a narrow ravine and decided that was the moment to ambush them. Twilight and Rarity jumped out of the woods and blocked the dogs advance while Fluttershy landed behind the dogs to block their retreat. The dogs were caught with nowhere to run.

“Wha…How did they…” Spot asked jerking his head back and forth trying to comprehend the situation.

“Confound Ponies! They used magic and now we’re caught…” Rover growled. “But that doesn’t mean we’ll give in without a fight, let’s get ‘em boys.”

Two guard dogs went after Fluttershy while Spot and Rover went after Twilight and Rarity. Thankfully for Fluttershy, the illusions were still there to help distract the dogs. Fluttershy took the time to mainly evade the dogs but when she could she would attack them a couple of times before having the illusions provide aid. Meanwhile, Twilight and Rarity were trying to fend off Spot and Rover. Rarity wasn’t having too much of a hard time with Spot. He was quick and tried to move around a lot due to his small stature but Rarity was able to defend most of his attacks. : Rarity didn’t have much offensive magic, but she’d throw rocks and twigs from the environment, landing a couple hits when she could. Rover was giving Twilight a hard time though. She would use her magic to her advantage to teleport and hit him with a couple bolts. Rover was caught off guard but his sly attacks would keep Twilight on the edge. The clash continued until Rover found an opportunity to end it.

“Enough! It’s time we end this.” Rover then pulled a dark-colored gem from his coat.

Rover shattered it and dark magic spread forth into each of the dogs. Not much changed in them but they seemed to look more feral as well as gain a fain aura around them. They felt the immediate surge of power and howled with excitement.

“Now it’s time for you ponies to say goodnight!” Rover exclaimed.

The two guards’ dogs charged at the illusions and easily shattered them. Fluttershy gasped in fear and quickly flew off into the trees to hide. Spot jumped on Rarity and began to wrestle her down to the ground. Try as she might but she failed to and was pinned down. Rover lurked towards Twilight and she tried to back him off with her magic. It was no good for every time she tried, he simply moved out of its way. He then grabbed her and slammed her against the ravine’s wall. Twilight struggled to break free but couldn’t under the mass of power that pinned her down. Fluttershy could only gaze in horror that her friends were beaten so easily.

“Fluttershy…we need your help…” Twilight beckoned for her friend.

Fluttershy was scared at their aggressiveness and was paralyzed with fear.

“Hahahaha it’s no use. Obviously she isn’t much of a friend for leaving you behind like this.” Rover cackled. Twilight began to grow angry.

“Don’t you talk that way about HER!” She screamed as she broke free of Rover’s grasp and sent him back with her magic. “I know you’re scared Fluttershy but you can do it…isn’t that right Rarity?”

Rarity saw how Twilight was trying to inspire Fluttershy to help so she had to help as well.

“Of course…Fluttershy…is….” Rarity said as she began to break free of Spot. “One of the bravest ponies I know!”

Rarity finally was able to get up and buck Spot off her into the guard dogs, knocking them down. Fluttershy saw with tears beginning to form in her eyes of how much her friends cared for her knowing she was afraid to fight. She was about to move out of hiding when the dogs got back up.

“Even with your friends help you’re no match for us. It won’t matter because it will be all over soon for you ponies.” Rover said.

“And what makes you so sure of that you ruffians?” Rarity questioned Rover.

“You see, what I did earlier was release this ‘abyssal’ magic to give us strength. It starts out small but as we make contact with you, it slowly saps away your strength and gives it to us.” Rover explained. Rarity and Twilight drew expressions of worry on their faces. “That’s right…the whole time you’ve been getting weaker while we got stronger. I’m surprised you were able to fight back, but now you won’t last this time.”

The dogs began to conduct their second assault once more. Rarity and Twilight continued to retaliate, however they felt the effects of the abyssal magic. Despite their growing fatigue, they kept fighting.

“It doesn’t matter what you do…”Twilight began to say. “No matter how much….you try….our strength will never leave us….because our strength comes….from our bonds….our friendship. And that you’ll never be able to take away from us.” Twilight finished.

“Twilight…you’re the best…”Rarity said to her.

Fluttershy watched as her two friends continued to fight despite their injuries. She wanted to help them, badly, but knew how weak she was. Her mind was in a tangle of thoughts of what to do and couldn’t decide. She let out a small weep, but was silenced when a red spark flew up to her.

“You can’t let your friends give a speech like that and fall in battle. C’mon, they need you.” The red spark said.

“Huh…wait you look like Levia except without a horn.” Fluttershy responded.

“Oh so you’ve met my little sister? Splendid then Revenant must be nearby…tell you what. How ‘bout we take care of these mutts and then we go meet them?”

“Umm….okay…but who are you?”

The red spark grinned. Fluttershy could see his features now. He was also a ponysprite but had built similar to Revenant’s but more aggressive. His coat was red and had a red and yellow mane that flared with his spirit. His cutie mark of a pony but encased in a flame. Fluttershy wondered what his meant.

“I see you’ve taken look at my cutie mark…don’t worry I’ll explain that later but for now the name is Fefnir Flare.” He replied.

“Oh…okay Fefnir. I’m Fluttershy.” She quietly said.

“Pleasure to meet ya Fluttershy, you ready to give these dogs a whuppin’?” Fefnir eagerly asked.

“Uh…I guess but I’m not much of a fighter…”

“Nonsense, I see a fighter’s spirit in you. All you need is just a little….push.” Fefnir said as he floated on her head. “Allow me to help you with that.”

Fluttershy began to feel a deep source of heat rise within her. As it flowed through her body, she lost all thoughts of fear and doubt. She remembered this feeling; it was similar to the time when she had to mouth off a dragon or when she defended the crusaders from the cockatrice. It was a welcoming feeling that allowed her to dry her eyes and charged right into the fight.

She flew in quickly tackling one of the guards dogs hitting the back of his neck making him knock out and quickly faced the second guard dog and fought with him. Twilight, Rarity, Rover, and Spot stood there in shock seeing the once timid pegasus change into an aggressive fighter. Fluttershy kept backing up the dog despite his boost from the abyssal magic. She then took the initiative and spun him using her wings to throw the dog down and with her momentum stomping on his chest, forcing him to gasp for air.

“You dumb dogs…won’t hurt my FRIENDS!!!” Fluttershy bellowed.

Spot and Rover looked at each other and then went to attack Fluttershy, completely forgetting about the other two. The two unicorns stood there in shock seeing that their timid friend was handling the two dogs quite well.

“Well what are you two standing around for? Go help your friend out, she may be holding ‘em off now, but they could still turn the tide against her.” Fefnir said as he flew up to the unicorns.

“Wait a minute, you’re a ponysprite…like Levia…”Rarity said.

“Yes I know but now is not the time for me to explain. Just go help your friend out.” Fefnir ordered.

Both the girls looked at each other and agreed to help. They charged into the fight and kept the advantage to them. The dogs would try and fight back but every time they would lash out an attack, one of the ponies would hit them while they were open. Spot tried to maneuver out of the fray but Twilight teleported in front of him causing him to jump back, while Rarity bucked him in mid-air. Spot flew right into Twilight who sent him flying with her magic to Fluttershy who knocked him right back to the ground. It looked as though he was done. Rover was able to hold his ground against the three for a minute but Fluttershy caught one his attacks with her wings and flipped him into the air. Rarity used her magic to pull back some nearby branches and have them whack him like a baseball towards Twilight, whom readied herself a powerful spell.

“This is payback for back in the caves you degenerate mutts.” Twilight said as she unleashed her attack. She shot a powerful blast of magic that sent Rover into a tree, snapping it, and having him collapse right on top of his fallen comrades. The weather element flew out of his coat and Fluttershy caught it in mid-air. As she caught it, her element of kindness appeared and turned the weather element tranquil, making the environment cool down.

“No way…how could we lose…”Rover grunted.

“Like I said, you can’t beat us. Our bonds are what make us strong, and nothing can take that away from us.” Twilight assured the beaten dog.

“Grrh…we lost twice to these confound ponies…but where did this burst of power come from?”

“From me,” Fefnir said revealing himself to Rover.

“You…”

“That’s right…thought you dogs beat me huh, hehehe. It’s gonna take a lot more to put out my fighting spirit.” Fefnir replied.

“Curses….” Rover then felt something inside his coat and reached for it. He pulled out a smoked globe that was flickering with a dark light. “Drat…it seems the others are retreating…guess we have to as well. Take care ponies, the next time we meet…we will defeat you and have the weather element.” Rover then shattered the globe on the ground releasing a smoke that engulfed himself and his comrades. The smoke cleared out to reveal the dogs were gone and nowhere to be found.

“Damn mutts ran with their tails between their legs…serves them right.” Fefnir then looked at the mares that helped them. “Thank you ladies for your assistance, I must say you don’t look like fighters but when it’s time to duke it out you know how to throw some punches.”

“Thanks…I think. Also who are you?” Twilight asked.

“Oh he’s Fefnir Flare, Levia’s older brother.” Fluttershy introduced him.

“Her older brother? That’s wonderful news dearie, also where did that sudden flare of bravado come from?” Rarity asked.

“From Fefnir…he helped me realize that I…oh what was it again?” Fluttershy failed to answer.

“That you have a fighting spirit deep in you that burns to fight for her friends. You may be pretty timid, but those are the ones you have to look out for.” Fefnir explained.

“Really, Fluttershy…a fighter? How could you tell?” Twilight asked.

“Well you see my special talent is seeing a pony’s willpower and knowing how to augment it. Thus I can see whether a pony has a weak will or they have a hidden fighting spirit deep inside them that burns to be let out. Either way, I also know how to strengthen one's will through physical contact.” Fefnir explained.

“Oh so that’s why I felt a burning sensation when you landed on my head.”

“Precisely, however I only do that when I need to. Otherwise, I would train you to draw upon that power on your own.”

“Well thank you Fefnir for your help.” Rarity thanked him.

“Please, your purple friend here is the one you should thank.”

“Me…but what did I do?” Twilight asked baffled.

“Your speech earlier…*sniff* it almost drove me to stallion tears. It’s been too long since I’ve heard such a strong belief in friendship.” Fefnir said being melodramatic.

“Okay I don’t think you need to make a drama out of this…” Twilight responded.

“Sorry just having a little fun now, you girls seemed to have met my younger sister Levia. You wouldn’t have met an azure pony who sometimes goes on about ‘sins and justice’ along with her would you?” Fefnir asked.

“Oh you mean Revenant. Yes, he and Levia have been living in Ponyville for a while now. Though the only time he really went on about that was when he was with us in the caves fighting the dogs again.” Twilight answered him.

“Yup that’s Rev alright. Great colt, strong in heart and spirit, but a little dense from time to time.” Fefnir said. All the girls agreed with him and got a small laugh out of it.

“That’s him alright, speaking of which, he should be coming with my friends since the dogs were retreating.” Twilight assured him.

“Splendid, now I can finally be back with my family again…oh is that one of your friends right now?” Fefnir asked as he pointed to a speeding pegasus flying towards them.

The girls flagged down the cyan pegasus to land towards them. She saw them and began her descent.

“Rainbow Dash, I’m so glad to see you!” Twilight called to her friend.
Sadly, Rainbow Dash didn’t have the same look of excitement on her face. More she had dread written all over her.

“I wish I could say the same Twilight but we need to get back to the clearing…now!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Rainbow Dash what’s wrong…did something happen?” Rarity asked full of worry.

“Oh yeah, something horribly wrong has happened and we need to get there immediately!” She answered her sophisticated friend.

“Then there’s no time to lose, I’ll get us there right now.” Twilight said.

“Wait was Revenant there?” Fefnir asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah he was…and I swear I’m going to kill him once we get there.” Rainbow Dash answered full of malice.

“Rainbow Dash….How could you…” Twilight was stopped by Fefnir.

“Twilight right? Look just get us there now, because if what I’m understanding your friends hate towards him…then I’ve got a very bad feeling that things have gotten a lot harder from here.” Fefnir assured her.

Twilight was silent for the moment and was hesitating to say anything. She didn’t really know what to say and decided to teleport them to the clearing to find out for themselves.

Mountain Clearing

They arrived on the outer rim of the clearing and rushed inside trying to keep up with Rainbow Dash who immediately took off. When they entered the clearing, they stopped in their tracks and gazed in horror of what they saw. The clearing was scarred with magic, much similar to a patch of scorched earth just sizzling with magic; patches of fur were scattered around the place, breaks in the ground, and an injured orange pony tending to a battered pink one.

“Applejack…PINKIE PIE!!!” The girls shouted as they ran to their friends.

As they went up to them, they saw Applejack with her hat off to the side, was scraped badly on her left hind leg and right side of her torso. A couple strands of her mane and tail were gone; her left shoulder was bruised badly, and was using her right front leg as a pillow for Pinkie Pie, who was in worse shape. She had scrapes and bruises all over her body, the puffiness in her mane was gone, and she was faintly breathing.

“Applejack…what happened?” Twilight frantically asked.

“I don’t know…things just happened so fast…we were about to meet up with ya’ll but then Rev fought more dogs and then….and then….oh Celestia why?” Applejack said choking back her tears.

“AJ…is that you?” Pinkie softly asked.

“Shh…don’t talk now…ya need your rest…don’t worry now Pinkie Pie...everything is gonna be all right. The rest of us are here for ya.” Applejack said letting out a couple of tears.

“Oh that’s good…I’m glad there fine…did they get the weather element…and beat those dogs up…”Pinkie asked.

“Yeah they did….and now we’re all gonna go home now and celebrate our victory. I’ll be sure to whip up some special apple cider just for you.” Applejack assured her.

“That sounds nice…….AJ…you’re crying, why?”

“It’s just…it’s just all this dust in my eyes that’s all…” Applejack lied to her friend.

“Hehehe….you’re a bad liar…c’mon now, smile….that’s all I ever really need from anypony…if only Rev could smile more…maybe he wouldn’t be so sad…” Pinkie said as she looked off.

“Don’t you worry ‘bout him…he’s nothing but trouble…”

“No he isn’t….he’s just really sad, lonely, and in pain….if I only knew sooner, I would’ve made him smile more…and we’d all be at sugarcube corner after all this having a good time…and he’d being wooing over Twilight…and then I’ll tell him to go ask her out, but then he’ll say ‘I’m not good enough for her, there may be spark between us but I would only bring sadness too her…’ or something like that,” She said in a bad interpretation of his voice. “But then I’d tell him ‘nonsense you silly willy, you’d two are practically made for each other and if at any time there would be sadness…then your best friend Pinkie Pie would cheer you both up…’ then he’d say ‘you’re right Pinkie, you’re the best friend a pony could have…in fact since you’re so great…I’ll be sure to throw you the best party ever in your honor and get you the biggest cake in Equestria’…then he’d ask Twilight out and then we’d all be having the greatest party ever that even Princess Celestia and Luna would have to attend…”

“No more Pinkie…” Applejack choked on her tears, “No more…just rest up now…so that way you can be ready for that party…”

“You’re right…I’m pretty tired…I have to get some sleep for….the….par….” She knocked out before she finished her sentence. Applejack didn’t hold back her tears anymore.

“Con sarnit! Why did this have to happen…why…why Pinkie Pie!?” Applejack wept.

“Applejack, what happened here, why is Pinkie Pie all beat up and you injured…why…why are you crying so much….you never cry?” Twilight asked.

“It was all because of Revenant…this was his entire fault.” Rainbow Dash angrily answered.

“Revenant…” the rest of the girls said looking in Rainbow Dash’s direction.

As they turned to look, a small blue ponysprite came flying at them. Fluttershy caught her and seeing she was injured too.

“Levia…what happened??” Fluttershy asked.

“Revenant….please….save him…..” Levia let out.

“Levia it’s me Fefnir, did….did this really happen again?” Fefnir asked as he went up to his sister.

“Yeah…but we have to save him….otherwise he’ll….”

“Wait again, what do you mean by ‘again’.” Applejack asked Levia now slowly building up with rage.

“Just…save him, before it’s too late.” Levia said as she pointed out to where she flew from, “Just look…”

Then they saw a figure emerge from the dust created from the fight. Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy saw who it was with their eyes wide-opened while Rainbow Dash was filled with malice. Then it was confirmed as the dust cleared away of which it was that caused all this.

“You know for someone so full of energy, I’d imagine that she’d put up more of a fight.” Revenant grimly said as if he was possessed. “Then again I did catch her off guard so; I still have my hopes up…oh and don’t worry she’s fine, just beaten up.”

“Revenant…I’m going to make you pay for what you did to Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow Dash threatened him.

“Is that so….we’ll it looks like there is more fun to be had here…I got to tell you I was getting bored when the dogs didn’t put up much of a fight.” Revenant responded. “Don’t get me wrong, they did pose a challenge but I expected more out of them.”

“Revenant…what’s going on here? Why are Pinkie Pie and Applejack hurt, why is Rainbow Dash threatening you, and…what happened here?” Twilight asked, sounding as though she was begging.

“Hmph….I kept on fighting the dogs but they fled once they realized they were outmatched, the cowards. So when they left I wasn’t satisfied yet so I decided to see what Pinkie and AJ were capable of. A good show they put on, however they didn’t meet the par…or so it seems….” Revenant responded.

That’s when they noticed something was different within him. His eyes weren’t his normal look anymore. They were filled with rage, hatred, and darkness. It looked as though a dark fire was lit inside of them. The color was no longer his either. They changed to a dark violet-red. His magic formed a dark aura around him that gave off a dark presence. Most of all his voice wasn’t his. It was more ominous, ravenous, and intimidating; one could even say it was even demonic. The azure pony that stood in front of them was no longer Revenant but a manifestation of rage and hate.

“Revenant…what happened to you?” Twilight asked.

“Why nothing at all, just letting out the ‘old me…and man did I forget how great this felt. I’m glad you all are here now. Maybe you can provide me what I’m looking for, or will you disappoint me as well?” the manifestation said readying himself.

“That’s it no more talking, I’m going to introduce you to a world of hurt. I never trusted you and now I know why.” Rainbow Dash said getting ready also.

“I was kind of the same at first…” Applejack said as she got up putting on her hat. “But guess I was wrong all along. It’s time we put you in your place…for Pinkie Pie. You with me Rainbow Dash?”

“You darn right I am.”

“Magnificent…you still have the will to fight; I have high hopes for you two…do not disappoint me.” he replied.

“Then allow me to get in on this.” Fefnir said joining Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

“Fefnir…wait what are you…” Fluttershy began to ask.

“This is the only way girls. It has to be done.” Fefnir somberly responded.

“Wait, you aren’t going to…” Twilight asked. The three getting ready all nodded as a response. “You can’t do this! There…There has to be another way!”

“There is no other way. Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, those are your names right?” Fefnir turned to them.

“Yeah” They both responded.

“Good, whatever you do…don’t hold back…don’t let up….and whatever you do just keep on going no matter what.”

“Gotcha.”

“Good…get ready girls…it’s time we take Revenant down.” Fefnir said. The clash then began.

Thus the clash between friends has begun. Still got more chapters pushing out so stay tuned

Chapter 13: Fading Light

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The clash continued. Three combatants fought with intense ferocity against their single opponent, fueled by their own ambitions. Rainbow Dash is driven by distrust and rage towards the manifestation that was once Revenant knowing all along that something lurked within him. Applejack fighting for the sake of Pinkie Pie and every blow is filled with hate and betrayal for she thought of him as a trustworthy friend. Fefnir was simply trying to get his friend back. He knew now that his former friends will probably change their views of him whether he succeeds or not, but he knows that he has to save Revenant. Whether he succeeds or not, this was the only way. The manifestation fed off the emotions that drove the other to fight him. The morals that used to drive him were now devoured by darkness and distorted into lust for battle. As he fought on, his hidden joy grew more and yet, there was a fraction of light that still fought on against the darkness. As emotions flared within the fight, bystanders watching with sorrow and pain in their hearts….the clash continued.

“Not bad. I’m glad to have met some friends that can also fight well too…Bravo!” The manifestation taunted.

“Shut Up! After what you’ve done…you have no right to call us friends!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Hehehe…yes that rage…that anger…I love it. More…give me more…” It said as he lashed out at her.

He went for a couple of slashes with his magic charged horn and then a series of stabs with it. If it wasn’t for Rainbow Dash’s speed, she would’ve been hit several times but was able to dodge all of his attacks. As she went in for an opening, he ducked under and bucked her in her underbelly.

“Rainbow are you alright?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah I’m fine…just a little winded…”Rainbow Dash answered as she recovered from the blow.

“Revenant….how could you? After all that we’ve been through…why…no, ‘how’ could you betray us like this?” Applejack hurtfully asked.

“What betrayal? This is who I really am so what makes you think I betrayed you?”

“Just look at yourself! You lashed out at us, you beat up Pinkie Pie, and you hid this…this thing from us when we cared for you the most! You decided to be two faced and not even tell us that this was you…that’s how you betrayed us!” Applejack lashed at him.

Applejack charged at him head on. She collided with him and tried to wrestle him down to the ground. Despite her injuries, she was still fighting strong. He was having a hard time with her. He knew that all the years of farm work and being a rodeo pony had made her strong, but he knew how to take on an overwhelming force. As she caught a moment to throw him, he landed and rolled with the momentum to slam Applejack on her injured shoulder.

“Gaah…why you….”

He then pressed his hoof on her shoulder.

“Impressive, to think with this kind of injury you wouldn’t be able to do that. Guess all them years really made you strong huh?”

“Yeah and some.” Applejack said as she bucked him off her.

The manifestation backed off and grunted from the pain. Applejack quickly got up and continued to attack. She would throw a couple of shots and guard herself, but he had to be careful fighting her. She didn’t attack much but every single blow she had thrown had power behind it and any one of them could be decisive if he got caught at the wrong moment.

“Hold on AJ, I’m coming.” Rainbow Dash said as she joined in.

Both the mares worked well together despite their friendly rivalries. Rainbow Dash would use her speed to keep him at bay while Applejack would follow-up with a couple attacks trying to knock him out. A couple times he’d be thrown off when Applejack would lead an attack to only have Rainbow Dash follow up with a flurry of blows. He was able to hold his ground and knew that he had the fight, but still if it continued at this rate, the two mares would get a chance to defeat the battle-hardened stallion. Meanwhile, Fefnir would charge in only when he knew he would get a hit. The manifestation was caught off guard most of the time with him and as he tried to defend himself against Fefnir, he would back off and bide his time waiting for the next opportunity. The manifestation decided that playtime was over. As he ceased his actions, the others saw their moment to end it. As they went in, he let his magic built around him and let out a powerful pulse of soul magic that sent the combatants back five feet.

“Damn soul burst…” Fefnir cursed under his breath.

“Well now this was unexpected. If this kept up, I think there was a chance that I may lose. Thanks for the warm-up, but now I think it’s time to stop horsing around.” The manifestation said cracking his neck.

“Wait…he was just warming up…” Rainbow Dash said.

“There’s no way….we were giving him all we got. He’s just bluffing’.” Applejack tried to fool herself.

“Ahahahahaha….what you actually thought I was being serious? Please if that was the extent of my power then that would be sad, though you two have great potential…tell you what, I’m in a very good mood now so why don’t we stop this and I give you time for all of you to get more skilled so we can really go all out, I think that sounds fair.”The manifestation offered.

“What…no way! We plan on ending this here and now!” Rainbow Dash replied. Revenant gave a heavy sigh as a response.

“Very well…it’s a shame really. I finally meet some worthy opponents and they deny the chance to become stronger. Oh well I’m pretty sure there are others like you at there, but for now…playtime is over.”

His magic began to flow furiously around him and was pulsing with immense power. The atmosphere around him was growing dark and his eyes got darker. His magic began to gather around his horn and build up. Rainbow Dash and Applejack tried to move in on him but couldn’t they were getting pushed back from all the pressure.

“Oh no…Girls get out of way…MOVE!! Fefnir shouted to everypony.

The manifestation then finished his build up and aimed his horn at the mane six. The girls saw, picked up Pinkie and moved out of the way as Revenanthethe air and collided in the wall with an explosion of magic. The girls looked back they dodged it in the nick of time and saw the power behind that attack.

“Bwahahaha…yes! I’m so glad that didn’t hit you all. It is a shame to end it in just one attack much like Pinkie Pie over there!” The manifestation laughed.

The girls looked at Pinkie Pie and then at Applejack with worry.

“Is that true…did he really do that kind of thing to her?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah he did…we gave him a run for his money when it was just us two but then he decided to see how far he could go and used that thing. Poor Pinkie was oblivious to it and got hit and went right through her.” Applejack painfully remembered.

The girls examined Pinkie Pie and saw no exit wound or anything similar to it.

“But how, none of her injuries look like that?” Twilight asked. “Unless…”

“It hit her soul.” Fefnir finished Twilight’s sentence. “If he is using ‘soul shot’ then he’s aiming to end it, whether we survive or not, that’s not his concern anymore. We have to end this now!”

“Right I’m with you.” Rainbow Dash said

“Same here.” Applejack said.

The others stood there wondering what they should do now.

“Guess we have no other choice then.” Fluttershy decided to join her friends.

“Fluttershy…you too?” Twilight asked with surprise.

“I have to…if our friends have been fighting this long then we need to help them too…right?” Fluttershy tried to explain.

“Of course dearie, though I wish there was another way but seems there isn’t right now.” Rarity said joining her timid friend.
Twilight was now conflicted to help her friends. She knew she had to for Pinkie Pie, but she knew that there had to be another way. Levia flew up to Twilight to reassure her.

“Twilight, I know this is a hard decision but you have to do this.”

“But this is wrong…there has to be another way.”

“There is…but first we have to do it this way,” Levia then sent Twilight a telepathic message of how she could stop him without doing what the others plan on doing and bring back Revenant.

“Alright girls let’s do this, for Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said as she joined the rest of her friends.

“So now I got all of you involved…things are getting interesting now…” The manifestation said.

The rest of the girls went up against him. Normally, with all their combined strength no foe would be able to stand up against them, but he fought serious now and was holding his ground all too well. If they were all fine, they could’ve stopped him but some of the girls were trying to recover from their previous injuries and they were down a pony but they fought on. Applejack and Rainbow Dash would do there same strategy but as the manifestation deflected it, Fluttershy would come in to flank him. A couple of times he would get hit, but he rolled with the hits to not feel much pain and would use the momentum to attack any other trying to get him. Rarity would get in close to keep him at bay while Twilight would take the moment to attack him with her magic. He would get hit but never flinched from any of the attacks. Rainbow Dash tried diving on him but he caught her with and flipped her into Rarity and Twilight. Applejack used her lasso to hold him down but he used the rope to swing her around and toss her aside. Fluttershy then brought the fight to him and pushed him back a couple feet. She went to continue the onslaught but he stepped aside and hit her in the side with his magic, staggering her. He then bucked her with his magic and sent her back.

“More…give me more...I need more…” The manifestation said to the group.

“Then how about this.” Rainbow Dash charged in.

As she led a charge and knocked him back, but he flipped with the hit and lashed out with his magic at her. She got clipped by a couple hits but took to the sky. Twilight then appeared in front of him and put her horn to his throat, pulsing with magic.

“Enough Revenant, it’s over…”

“Well now isn’t this surprising…to think that you out of all ponies would have the drop on me…most impressive. I knew there was a reason I liked you. Well go on…do it.” He said to her.

She cringed at the thought and just held it there at his throat.

“What’s the matter, can’t you do it? You’re right there; all it takes is just a little push or swipe of your horn.” He made it sound like it was easy.

“I…I can’t….I can’t do it….” Twilight said as she fell to her knees.

“Tragic…you should never hold anypony in that kind of position unless you’re ready to go all the way through. Let me show how it’s done.” The manifestation said raising his horn charged with magic.

“Twilight NO!!!” Rainbow Dash flew in.

“Stay out of my way!” The manifestation said as he battered her away into the rest of her friends.

Fefnir and Levia tried to combine their assault to stop him but failed when he dodged both their attacks and swatted them with his soul magic. He then looked at Twilight ready to end it. He grinned and brought down his horn to end it, but stopped a few inches away from her.

“Wha…what are you doing….” He said said.

Everypony looked to see who he was talking to but there was nopony there. It looked as though he was yelling at himself.

“Stop this….don’t you know we have to do this….to gain power…” He then backed off and started to groan in pain.

“Argh….why….we need to do this….doing this will give us more power…..you don’t want be weak anymore right…” Then his horn began to spark wildly and he yelled in pain.

“AAARRRRGHH!!! No stop….stop….ARRGHH…Twilight….” The manifestation said sounding like Revenant. “Twilight….please….end it now…..I can only hold it back……for so long……” he strained as he fell to the ground holding his head in pain.

Twilight saw what he was trying to fight back whatever was making this way.

“Twilight now…do it!!!” Levia shouted at her.

Twilight got up and quickly ran up to him and placed her horn on his. She let her magic flow into his horn and formed a spark. A few moments later, the spark began to engulf his horn and shone with a warm, bright light. Then the spark exploded sending Twilight back to her friends who caught her.

“It’s alright we got you.” Applejack assured her.

When the smoke cleared, they could see Revenant slowly getting up.

“Drat it didn’t work…” Rainbow Dash said getting ready to attack him. Levia got in her way.

“Wait…look at him.” She pointed out.

As the manifestation got up, the dark aura around him was gone and hiis eyes were back to normal. Revenant was back to himself and was looking around as if trying to see where he was. He looked at all the destruction before he spoke up.

“No….it happened again….what….what have I done….” Revenant said before he passed out.

Twilight quickly ran up to him to see if he was okay while the rest of the girls began to relax. Pinkie Pie was slowly coming to now. All of them knew the journey home would not be easy, and explaining the ordeal to the Princess would be another story entirely.

Edge of the Forest

Nightingale was waiting outside the airship for a while before he saw the group returning. He was surprised to see how bad they were looking and that Revenant was being carried.

“Oh dear Celestia…what happened out there girls? You all look terrible.” He said to the group

“Well you sure know what to say to the ladies…” Rarity said to him.

“Hehehe…sorry about that anyways I hope that everything went alright?” He asked to Twilight.

“Things got….bad but we still got the weather element.” She replied

“Excellent now quickly let’s get all of you home and taken care of.” Nightingale said pushing the girls inside.

“Wait don’t we need to report what happened to the Princess?” Twilight asked him.

“Oh no no no no no no no….she would have my hide if she saw all of you like this. Have you seen her angry, believe me, her fury would silence an Ursa Major. Just tell me what happened and I’ll report it to her.” Nightingale assured her.

As they were on their way home, Twilight explained what happened throughout the mission up to where she and the others teleported to the clearing. She lied about Revenant going berserk and told him that the dogs caused some massive explosion and that Revenant had defended them from the blast. Nightingale understood most of it but saw a few holes within her story.

“You don’t say…all that happened.” He said.

“Unfortunately, that all did, I’m just glad that we’re all okay.” Twilight said.

“So you say and yet…I feel as though that your story doesn’t add up…as if you’re not telling me everything.” Nightingale said to her.

“But of course not…I’ve told you nothing but the truth, I wouldn’t lie to the Princess.” She replied to him.

“I would hope not…Applejack, Rainbow Dash a word if I may?” He asked for them.

They walked up to them wondering what they were called for.

“Tell me is everything true of what Twilight has said. Even with the dogs causing you all this much harm.” Nightingale asked them.

“Well…” They began to say but stopped seeing Twilight’s worried face. They knew she lied to him but didn’t know exactly why. All they knew is that Twilight was their friend and they couldn’t just betray her like that.

“Eeyup…what she said was all true and all….” Applejack said to the best of her abilities.

“Really….you seem to have a hard time believing it yourself there Applejack. Surely the ‘element of honesty’ wouldn’t dare lie to the Princess just to defend her friend now would she?” Nightingale continued.

“What of course not….hehehe….Twilight wouldn’t lie and neither would I….” Applejack said biting her lip.

“Then why was Pinkie Pie so hurt, Twilight said ‘she got hit with some dark magic’. I’m no medical expert but I did see some traces of magic on her so…” Nightingale began but was cut-off by Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah all that is true. Those dogs definitely paid for what they did to her.” Rainbow Dash said fighting the urge to say it was all Revenant’s fault.

Nightingale looked at the threes faces trying to see if anyone of them would crack and glared the most at Applejack. Rainbow Dash caught his gaze and stepped in front of him.

“What? You think that Twilight would lie about all this…She is the Princess’s number one student right?” Rainbow Dash said. “Do you doubt Princess Celestia’s very own personal student?”

“No…I’m not…just making sure all facts are straight.” Nightingale said backing off. “Very well then, this is one hell of a report to give so you girls go rest up….”

He was interrupted when they heard a commotion coming from the other room. Pinkie Pie came bouncing out wrapped up in bandages like a mummy while Rarity tried to stop her.

“Pinkie….You need to rest up. Stop bouncing around the place, you are still injured.” Rarity complained trying to catch her.

“Aw but Rarity how could I not? Just look at me, I’m like a mummy pony. Oh maybe I should dress up as that for Nightmare Night. I bet you I could get more candy this year which reminds me I could really go some candy about now. Is there any candy on this thing here?” Pinkie Pie ranted on.

“Well I see somepony has recovered quickly. We are nearing Ponyville so you girls go on home and take a nice long rest. Hopefully the rest that appear don’t cause this much trouble.” Nightingale said as he left the group. Moments later Fluttershy joined the rest of the girls.

“How’s he holding up Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

“Well….” She said as she scrapped her hoof on the ground. “He doesn’t look that injured but he’s passed out right now…I don’t think he’ll wake up until tomorrow.”

“Great, we have to lug him all the way back.” Rainbow Dash complained.

“Don’t worry…I’ll inform some of the crew here to take care of that.” Rarity assured her.

“I can’t believe I lied to him…me lying….Nothing good can come out of this.” Applejack blurted out.

“Well what choice did we have, Twilight is the one who started the lie, and we couldn’t just leave her out to hang like that.” Rainbow Dash added her input.

“Yeah I know but…still…I just don’t feel all too right about it.”

“Girls thank you…I’m sorry that you two got dragged into this.” Twilight apologized to the two.

“Yeah well…you’re our friend unlike a certain somepony.” RainbowDash referred to Revenant.

“Look something was wrong with him that made him do that…maybe it was some of the magic the dogs used… or maybe.” Twilight speculated.

“No Twilight…It was all him. One sec he was fighting the dogs, then the next he turned on us. It was all on his own.” Applejack answered her.

“No….that can’t be true…”

“Well it is…I just hope that we made the right decision lying and all.” Applejack somberly said.

“Yeah, if we told the truth then he’d be out of our hooves and probably be in jail.” Rainbow Dash said.

“But wouldn’t I for lying as well?” Twilight said.

“Um well….no….anyway why did you go lying to Nightingale and all?” Rainbow Dash defended herself.

“I don’t know….it’s just….maybe this is something that we help him with.” Twilight said to her friend.

“I sure hope so Twi, I sure hope so….” Applejack finished.

Diamond Dogs Hideout

Rover, Spot, and Fido walked into their boss’s lair with their heads down and tails between their legs fearing of their upcoming punishment. It was one thing to fail once, but twice in a row…they were surely going to pay a heavy price for all this.

“Unbelieveable….to think that with all those dogs and power and you still lost to those ponies!” The boss shouted at them.
He was a large Rottweiler that hulked over all the dogs and easily stood a good eight feet when he rose. He had a scar over his left eye and a chunk of his right ear missing from him. His presence struck fear at those smaller than him and he looked more like a bear than a dog.

“You three should be punished severely…so severe that you’d wish that you were a pony yourself and not a dog. Why I’d oughtta…”

“Hold on their blabber gums, what’s with all this yelling?” A calm voice interrupted the boss.

“None of this concerns you pony! What I do with my dogs is my concern not yours.” He barked at the voice.

“Whoa now, there’s no need to shout,” a yellow pegasus emerged from the shadows.

He wore lab coat wherever he went since he was always working on something and his mane was unkempt and brown. He didn’t really care too much of his style since he was always focused on his work. The one thing though that bugged him was others getting all serious without any logic behind it, much as to what the boss was like to his dogs.

“Now what is with all this senseless yelling about, I have work that needs to be done and can’t complete it with all this racket.” He went on.

“Like I said it doesn’t concern you. I agreed we’d help you but not let you interfere with the way I run my dogs.” The boss argued.

“Oh on the contrary, if it involves the weather elements then it is my full concern. Did they get it…hmmm…did they?” the pegasus continued blowing off the boss.

“What does it look like to you?”

“Well I see an over induced testosterone freak yelling at a small batch of puppies but hey what do I know…I’m just one of them confounded ponies right?” the pegasus joked. The boss snarled at his remarks. “Okay fine…no need to get all vicious with me…can’t take a joke huh. Well it’s obvious they don’t have it but do tell? Do you pups have the small gems I hid in your collars?”

“Of course we do” Rover quickly answered.

“Good hand them here.” The pegasus motioned to them.

The dogs pulled out the gems and slowly passed them to the pegasus not pissing off the boss anymore then he was. The pegasus then tapped them and they all showed playbacks of the dogs after the weather elements. At first he didn’t look interested until he saw an azure pony. He saw how he fought and then used this magic in the caves.

“Hmm…..” The pegasus said to himself.

He continued to examine more of the playback of today’s raid in the mountains. A smile began to draw on his face when he saw the same azure pony fighting again but not a sloppy as the last time. He saw how skilled he was and how he looked out for the others. Then he got excited when he saw the azure pony stare at the pack when he could’ve left but then saw him charge back into the horde but with rage, bloodlust, and dark ambition. He saw it till the end and paused for a moment before speaking.

“I don’t know about how you’re boss feels…but I say you dogs did a fantastic job, in fact, you did better than I hoped for. Don’t go raging on them ‘el jefe’ they did well. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to my research.” The pegasus began to walk off.

“Grrrr… be gone mutts before I change my mind!” The boss barked at the three.

They quickly ran off not wanting to feel their boss’s rage. He then followed the pegasus to confront him.

“How dare you undermine me in front of my dogs! I should make you suffer for that and how did they do well at all, it was a complete failure!” The boss yelled at the pegasus who was walking along.

“You know how I feel about senselessness. You should’ve given the time to hear everything before going at them like that. Sure they didn’t get the weather element but there is still two more out there and they definitely served their purpose so far.” He replied.

“Purpose…whatever purpose is there besides retrieving the weather elements?!” The boss continued.

“You sure like to yell a lot don’t you? It’s alright I like to hear myself too just when I’m insulting those of a lower intellect that’s all…and when I’m reading my stories.”

“Unbelievable….” The boss snarled

“Hey don’t judge, petty pink princess is almost done getting the stallion to love her and they left it at such a cliffhanger that I have to wait ‘till next week for the next issue to come out.” The pegasus defended himself.

“Not that! I meant that you and your smart mouth can’t answer a simple question! Now tell me why I shouldn’t be punishing my dogs right now?”

“Oh right that, well you saw the playback did you not?”

“I did now go on…”

“That azure one, he’s the catalyst that keeps interfering….”

“So we take him out and the next one is ours then!”

“Not so fast there…you saw the way he fought. There was such desire, motivation, such….darkness.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Jeez let me finish alright. You’d think as their boss you’d have better manners but a dog is a dog…I guess. I’m getting ahead of myself now so let me get back on track. That azure one has two different motivations behind his fighting. One: to feed a dark hunger within him; the other is for others….” The pegasus finished.

“So….”

“Well I thought you’d pick up on it now so I intentionally gave you the moment to interrupt me. Guess I have to explain everything like always. You see there is much we can learn from this and we just got our ace in the hole.”
“What the azure one? What use does he prove to us?”

“Ah now you’re getting it. We use his motivation to our advantage; turn his strength into his weakness…”

“I see now…So we should have him lose himself and turn on his friends. Seeing him fight like that as a feral beast… he couldn’t tell the difference between friend and foe. All he saw was his next prey, just like an apex predator.”

“Ding ding ding we have a winner folks. Sadly though, causing him to do that again did cost you a lot of your troops, and besides after that display I deduct that he turned on his friends and they probably hate his guts now. Instead why don’t we use his friends to our favor?” The pegasus suggested.

“Ah extort one of them or hold them for ransom. That sounds perfect but which one?”

The pegasus then pulled the gems out of his coat pocket and played the playback of the caves.

“There you see…that lavender one. Don’t you see the passion in his eyes? Just as your dogs were taking her away, a spark flares within in him. The passion, the will, the fire that burns within him when something threatens her….oh yeah! Look at him go! He fights with his very soul just to protect the mare he loves….MAN THIS IS JUST RICH!” The pegasus said ecstatically.

“Enough, I’ll let the dogs know what to do for the next weather element. What if the azure one doesn’t show up? What if what you said is true of them hating him?” The boss asked before walking off.

“Oh don’t worry he’ll show up…there’s just no way he’d let his pretty lavender princess go off into battle alone. But we should always prepare for everything so…I don’t know I’ll let you decide. After all, I did just discover our ace in the hole.”

“Very well, continue with your research then.” The boss began to leave.

“Oh and before you go, since you had your dog’s put in so much effort, why not let some of my folks help your dogs this time?” The pegasus suggested.

“Hmm…I’ll consider it.” The boss said as he departed.

The pegasus then was left alone to his own thoughts. He pulled out his book that he kept on him and went to his favorite part and began to monologue.

“But please we need you…no I need you…you can’t leave us like this.” The pegasus said in a feminine voice

“I’m sorry, but if I stick around…I will only cause you great pain and sorrow…This is good bye my pretty ‘lavender’ princess…we will not meet again.” The pegasus said in a more heroic tone.

“And then the pretty ‘lavender’ princess watched the stallion she loved walk off into the distance readying to disappear from the world. She knew there was another way for him to feel joy again, all he had to do was open his eyes and realize that there was still a chance for a happy ending. So the pretty ‘lavender’ princess chased after him, knowing that she would still be able to save his haunted soul.” The pegasus said closing the book.

Terribly sorry for not having a picture for the pegasus in the lab coat. Still having trouble with that issue but to let you know that those who have a picture play a big role in the story. There you have it, Revenant's darkness has emerged. How will it affect everything in Ponyville now....well read on to find out.

Chapter 14: Turning Point

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When Revenant woke up the next day he felt so terrible that he had Levia and Fefnir take care of work the whole day. When he finally got better, he asked what happened and Levia and Fefnir told him everything. He was ashamed of himself that he let that happen and couldn’t bring himself to see the girls. After that he was pretty secluded from everypony. A month went by after the mane six and Revenant got back from the mountains, and a slow month it was. The only time the mane six saw him was when he was working helping others out. Twilight and Fluttershy tried visiting him a couple of times but Fefnir would tell them that he’s out working. They asked how Fefnir was doing and he replied that he enjoyed this town just it was unfortunate that things turned out the way they did. They decided to hire Revenant for a couple of jobs to try and talk to him but he would lead away from the subject. When he was done helping the girls he would just leave without asking for any pay. A couple of times when Twilight would pay him, he would leave it within her house. He couldn’t take payment from them not after what he did. Applejack had some resentment towards him but still felt bad knowing it wasn't him. Even when he came to buy some apples, both of them couldn’t really look at each other or say anything. Rainbow Dash was the only one who really didn’t feel any remorse for him. She’d see him pass by and would ignore him but a couple of times would put a dark cloud above him. No pony was affected by this except for the mane six. Life in Ponyville just went on.

Ponyville
“And that is why young fillies must watch their nutrient intake so they can grow into a strong, healthy pony.” Revenant said as he finished with the lesson to the fillies.

Ms. Cherilee hired Revenant to help her with a lesson of physical health. He gladly accepted the chance to teach the fillies because even in dark times, he’d try to make the fillies smile. If a filly could find the time to smile, then there should be no excuse for anypony to not smile, at least that’s what his mom always told him.

“Okay then class let’s head outside so Revenant can demonstrate exactly what it means to be healthy. That’s fine with you right?” Ms. Cherilee asked him.

“Not a problem at all.”

“Okay then lets go class.”

The fillies cheered happily that they’d get to have another class with Revenant outside. They knew that with Revenant, he always demonstrated the lesson and would make it fun. Outside he explained of how an improper diet would have you begin a task slowly and would end up all sluggish. He overexagerrated the movements to get the fillies laughing, but then would do a phenomenal feat such as stand on his front to hooves and do push-ups while keeping his balance. While he explained, he pushed off to land. Revenant planned to land perfectly but decided to mess up the landing to keep up the comical mood. Failing to stick his landing, he lands face first in the ground. The fillies laughed while Ms. Cherilee was concerned.

“Oh my Revenant are you alright?” She asked him

“C’mon Ms. Cherilee if the fillies are smiling, shouldn’t you?” He said as he got up with a smile.

“Well that was a pretty funny wipeout.” She giggled.

“Indeed which is why, class, carrots are also important to your eyesight.” He addressed the fillies.

“Yeah otherwise you wouldn’t have landed on your face.” Scootaloo added. Everypony else continued to laugh.

“That is true, so who would like to try some fun tricks out?” A bunch of the fillies were eager to learn.

With the earth ponies he set up a couple of events to have them try and wrestle him down. He would have a small fight with them but would have them win in the end. Some of them would flex their tiny muscles to show off their earth pony strength. Applebloom said that she could take ‘em all on since she worked hard on a farm. A couple of fillies tried, but Revenant discreetly let some of his magic flow into her so she could win. She was surprised she won and quickly looked at her flank to see if she got a cutie mark.

“Aw…nothing. I was sure wrestling would’ve been my special talent.” Applebloom pouted.

“Don’t worry Applebloom, maybe wrestling isn’t it, but working hard is a strong possibility so just keep working hard at things and I’m sure you’ll get it.” He assured her.

For the pegasi he wanted to see their agility. Since he knew that some were still young and couldn’t exactly fly yet, he had a couple poles set up a long the playground for them to weave through while using their wings to help them. Most did well however Scootaloo was getting bored of it.

“When you said that you wanted to test our speed, I thought we’d be going fast.” Scootaloo said.

“I said your ‘agility’ but if you want to go fast then why not you get your scooter and show us what fast really is.
Scootaloo grinned with excitement and went to her scooter and put on her helmet. She zipped around the poles with ease and went up the slide. She jumped off the slide and did a couple flips and landed into a drift heading right back at Revenant. She went a little risky and zipped as close as she could to him without actually hitting him. She rode up along a tree and turned in air to land on the ground facing the group.

“How was that?” She asked while a bunch of the fillies cheered.

“Very impressive Scootaloo, you sure know how maneuver well…tell me when did you get good on that thing?” He asked her.

“Don’t know I guess I have a knack for things that can go fast and do a lot of quick movements.” She said.

“You don’t say…tell me have you ever looked into choreography?” Revenant asked her.

“Please that stuff is boring; I live in the fast lane.” Scootaloo replied.

“Well maybe you might get bored in the fast lane and stop by to see the ‘signs’ one day.” Revenant tried to allude to her, but she was still concentrated on speed. “Alright then now how about some love for us unicorns huh?”

The little unicorns were excited to see what he had in store for them. He decided to have them move a ball with their magic through some areas while they physically moved the areas as well. He showed them that unicorns aren’t weak and that using their magic to aid them is there specialty. Most of them were doing well but Sweetie Belle looked like she was having trouble.

“What’s the matter Sweetie Belle?” He asked her.

“I’m just not good with magic that’s all.” She sadly told him.

“Why what do you mean, you’re a unicorn. It’s second nature to us.”

“To you maybe but I’m just not good at it. I don’t’ want everypony to see how bad I am at it.”

“Didn’t you ever ask for help?”

“I tried to help her on that but I’m an earth pony so I could only help so much so I sent her to Twilight for that.” Ms. Cherilee inputted.

“Oh that’s good and how did that go?” He asked Sweetie Belle.

“All she did was give me a bunch of books for me to read but they were boring.”

“Hehehe…typical Twilight….what about your sister, surely she helped you out, right?”

“Rarity is always busy with her boutique and whenever she tried it always something about fashion or jewels and I don’t really like all that stuff.”

“I see….” Revenant took a moment until he came up with an idea. “I have an idea for you to try.”

“What if it doesn’t work and everypony sees me mess up?”

“Then you try again or a different method, c’mon let’s just give it a shot.”

“Hmm…okay what is it then?”

“Alright then, when we use magic we think of how we would control it so I want you to tell yourself or the ball that you will move it.” Revenant explained.

“You want me to tell a ball to move?” Sweetie Belle asked him with concern.

“Sure like this...” Revenant cleared his throat, “Ball, move left.”

Then the ball moved to the left with his magic.

“You see now you try it.”

“Okay…” Sweetie Belle took in a deep breath before beginning, “Ball...move left…”

The ball didn’t nudge one bit.

“You see it didn’t work.”

“Now hold on, you can’t give up after the first try. Give it a couple more shots.”

Sweetie Belle tried a couple of more times but still didn’t get any results. She began to get discouraged.

“Maybe we should try a different approach. Why don’t you try singing to it?” Revenant suggested.

“What…I can’t do that?! It would look stupid.” She protested.

“Oh c’mon I’ve heard you hum before and it sounds like you got a voice in you. As long as you are trying that is all that matters.”

“Well alright, I’ll try it but just one time. And don’t laugh…you promise?” She asked him

“I promise.”

“Pinkie Pie promise?”

“I have no idea what that is but sure…Pinkie Pie promise.” He assured her. She stood there waiting for him to Pinkie Pie promise. “Well….”

“You’re supposed to Pinkie promise now?”

“Well didn’t I just do that?”

“No you have to do it.” He looked at Sweetie Belle with a raised eyebrow.

She then told him exactly how he was supposed to do it. He sighed with grief and performed a Pinkie promise. She then hummed a little tune and then sang to the ball to move. That’s when she saw that she moved the ball with her magic.

“I…I did it?” She couldn’t believe it herself.

“Good keep going.” Revenant motivated her.

Sweetie Belle kept going and was able to move the ball through the course. A bunch of fillies gathered just to hear Sweetie Belle’s voice. After she completed the course, they cheered for the little unicorn.

“That was amazing Sweetie Belle I didn’t know you could sing so well. How come you don’t sing more often?” Revenant asked her as he gave her a hug.

“I get really nervous in front of ponies because I don’t want them to see me mess up.”

“Listen here Sweetie Belle there is nothing to be nervous when in front of others. When you are up in front of them it is your time to shine. They had their moments but didn’t take it. Which is why when you are in front of others, it is their time to pay attention to you.” Revenant assured her.

“Okay maybe I should try that for the next talent show.” Sweetie Belle thought out loud.

“And I’ll be sure to get front row seats to see you do well.” Revenant then looked at the time. “Oh dear it looks like we are almost out of time Ms. Cherilee.”

“Indeed we are thank you Revenant for helping out with the lesson once more. Okay class is dismissed. Go on and get your things from the class room and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As the fillies began to head inside the school the crusaders went up to Revenant to ask him something.

“What is it crusaders?”

“Hey whatever happened to proving who was the best race out of us ponies Revenant?” Scootaloo asked him.

“Yeah you said next lesson that you’d decide who won.” Applebloom said loudly.

The other fillies heard what she said and more of them began to gather around him with the same question. Soon the whole class surrounded him and barraged him with the same question. There was no way out and had to think of way to answer them before he was crushed under them. He chuckled to himself the thought of death by fillies, cute and hilarious.

“Alright fillies hang on give me some space,” He said while using his magic to give him some breathing room.

He thought for a couple of minutes of how to decide how to determine the best and then it hit him.

“How about we have ourselves an iron pony competition between the class to see who is the best?”

“Aw yeah now we’re talking.” Scootaloo cheered.

“So who you gonna pick Revenant?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“To make it fair, we should divide the class up into teams. A team of earth ponies, a team of pegasi, and a team of unicorns. Whichever team does the best wins and determines who the best is.” Revenant suggested.

The fillies cheered at the idea.

“What do you say Ms. Cherilee, shall we do this?” He asked her.

“Sure but when should we do it?” She replied.

“The week has just started so how about this Saturday, I’ll set-up things and the parents could get involved if they want.”

“That sounds wonderful; I’ll let the parents know.”

“Perfect! I’ll be seeing you this Saturday then little ones. Have a good time until then.” Revenant said as he left.

The fillies waved him goodbye and began to talk which team was going to win. He could still hear their excitement as he walked away. Fifteen minutes later and he arrived at his house. As he entered he made his way to his study when Fefnir stopped him.

“Just hold your horses there Revenant…we need to talk.” Fefnir said to him

“This again…look I’m glad you and Levia are concerned but…” Revenant started.

“It has been a month. A full, long, sad month…this isn’t healthy for you.”

“How ironic I just got done with a health lesson for the fillies with Ms. Cherilee.”

“And did you learn anything from the lesson you taught?” Fefnir asked him.

“What are you getting at with this Fefnir?” Revenant asked sternly.

“*sigh* you need help. I know everything didn’t go so well in the mountains but it’s obvious that this is not the right way to deal with this.” Fefnir explained.

“Then what other way is there? I practically lost my friends after what I did to them. I can’t go back to them…not like this…”

“Then when Revenant? When? You may not see it, hell I really don’t see it but from what others are saying it is affecting them as well.”

“And who are these ‘others’ you speak of?”

“Your friends, you know Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. They are feeling the effects of it too.”

“Please after what happened I don’t think they would see me as a friend let alone a pony.”

“Then what about Twilight? Out of all of them, she definitely deserves something from you.”

“Like what Fefnir? Because everything that I did before just went up in smoke after the mountains.”

“An apology, an explanation, and hell, I don’t know, anything! Just some form of contact. You’ve secluded yourself from them and it’s time you make amends with them.”

Revenant took a moment to digest what Fefnir said.

“You’re right…I need to talk to them…” Revenant responded

“Good now if you just…” Fefnir began

“But not now. The way I still am I can’t face them….not like this. Once I gain control then I’ll face them. Hopefully they can forgive me and we could move on from there. Heh, maybe me and Twilight may build a relationship afterwards…until then though…” Revenant began to leave “They won’t see...If any of them drop by tell them that I’m deeply sorry and that I wish to make amends. If they want to talk, this Saturday at the school will be the time.”

“Revenant hold on a minute…” Fefnir called to him as he left. “Revenant…REVENANT!!!”It was too late; Revenant already took off to be alone.

“Maybe I should’ve stepped out of his study sooner…” Twilight said as she came out of his study.

“I told you that you should’ve let him head straight into his study when he got home.” Levia said as she went up to her brother. “But noooo, you wanted to do your way. ‘Let’s ease him into it,’ yeah now look where he is at.”

“I’m sorry okay, I’m not Sage so how was I supposed to know what to do?” Fefnir regretted.

“If only Sage was here, he’d know what to do.” Levia said out loud.

“Wait who is Sage, is he another one of you guys?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah and the eldest of us. Him and Revenant see a lot eye to eye but in moments like these Sage is usually the one to be the voice of reason. Sage is the one that is supposed to pass on Revenant’s dad’s wisdom to him.” Fefnir explained.

“So we just have to find him and everything will get better right?” Twilight hoped.

“If it were that easy but things never really are.” Fefnir said.

“Stop being a downer Fefnir, you think Twilight needs to hear that right now?” Levia scolded him

“I’m sorry but I’m just looking at the facts in front of us.”

“He’s at the next weather element isn’t he?” Twilight speculated.

“Most likely but we don’t have a clue where the next one could be at.” Fefnir said.

“All that we know is that it is the storm element and it could be anywhere.” Levia said to Twilight.

“Then I’m going to go talk to Revenant, do you know where he went?” She asked the ponysprites.

They told him that he probably went to the Everfree forest. Ever since they got back from the mountains, Revenant has been going there every night to train. What better place for him to control his dark nature than to be where most ponies dread to go. Twilight dropped by Fluttershy’s house to see if she saw him go into the forest but she said she just got home. Twilight decided to go in there and search for him. Fluttershy tried to stop her because it was starting to get dark and that she would get lost. Despite Fluttershy’s efforts Twilight went in.

Everfree Forest
She knew her way through the forest due to all the times she’s had to been in there. She looked in in different areas hoping to find him when she dropped by Zecora’s place. She asked the zebra to see if she’s seen anypony come by in here. Zecora told her that she did see a pony that looked troubled and headed further in the forest. She pointed Twilight in the direction he went in and she went in the direction. A couple of minutes later, she entered a clearing where she saw the azure pony sitting there.

“Why did you come here?” Revenant asked her not bothering to look.

“I came to talk to you, I….I heard that you won’t see us until you’re ready.” Twilight answered him.

“So I take it you were in my house waiting for the right moment to talk as well huh.”

“Yes…look everypony is concerned about you and…we don’t want to see you like this.”

“Is it them…or is it just you?” He caught her off guard on that comment. She was hesitant to answer. “So it is you then.” He got up and turned to face her.

“I see…Fefnir is right though you definitely deserve an explanation let alone an apology.”

“Then tell me what is it? What happened back at the mountains and what is it that you need to control?” She asked as she approached him. He held his hoof out to stop her.

“Unfortunately now is not the time for that. I’m sorry that I can’t explain at the moment. But please at least accept my apology for all the pain and trouble I’ve given you.”

“Of course I can accept your apology but if you want me to forgive you then you need to explain what is it that happened to you.” Twilight said to him.

“Heh…blackmailing me huh…fair enough. Guess I should talk, or better yet, let me show you.” Revenant said cracking his neck and stretching out.

“What are you going to do?” Twilight asked.

“Just watch and understand.” Revenant said getting ready.

He began to control his breathing and begun his training. He started out with simple motions to warm-up but shortly afterwards he went into his training. Twilight took a seat nearby and just watched him. For the first five minutes he practiced his normal attacks but then he started using soul magic. Every strike, every motion was filled with soul magic and would leave a trail as he attacked. Twilight then saw the beauty of his art. As he struck, she saw him not fighting, but producing art. It was as though he was dancing more than fighting. She’s seen other fight before but Revenant, when he performed he put on a play. It shone even more in the moonlight that bathed the clearing. After about fifteen minutes he stopped and relaxed for a few.

“Oh wow, that was beautiful.” Twilight said out loud.

“Never heard that one before, if Lord Sif was here he’d have my hide for somepony commenting about it like that.” Revenant chuckled.

“So why did you stop…are you done?”

“No, it’s now time for me to show you what you wanted to know.”

“The whole time then you were just warming up…”

“Yeah and now it’s time for things to get serious. I will warn you, now is the chance for you to leave. I don’t know what will happen from here so for your safety, it’s best you leave now.” Revenant warned her.

“I intended to stay here until I could get you out of here.” She assured him.

“So be it then…” He submitted. “Then let’s begin.”

Revenant controlled his breathing like he did from the start and gathered his magic around him. He let it grow and expand with power. Slowly it rose until it burned brightly around him.

“Alright…here we go.” He said to himself.

Revenant then concentrated on the dark feeling inside of him. He felt it and began to feed it his emotions. Rage, bloodlust, and darkness began to flow through him. His began to change to the violent color once more as well as the magic around him. He felt a dark pain rise within him and he slowly crumpled to his knees.

“Revenant enough you don’t need to…” Twilight said as she ran up to him.

“Stay back….I don’t want…you getting hurt.” He strained through his pain.

“It’s okay Revenant.” She said as she slowly went up to him. “I know you can do this…I believe in you.”

Revenant was silent at her words. They echoed in his mind and felt a second surge of power rise within him.

“No…you won’t…take…hold of me….again. I control this power….not you!” He fought against his darkness.

He fought more and more against it until he let out a scream along with magic pulsing out of his horn. After that he began to stabilize and look around.

“Revenant…is that you?” Twilight asked him

She looked at him and saw that he still had the aura flowing around him and his eyes were the violet-red colors. This time she didn’t see the rage inside of his eyes. She saw that it was still him inside of it.

“Yeah…it’s me still.” He then looked at himself and felt the power within him. “So this…this is what power is huh. I can see now how I can lose it, let alone be controlled by it.”

“You did it Revenant…I knew you could do it!” Twilight congratulated him.

“You’re right, looks like I beat it.” Revenant he said.

He enjoyed the new found power and tested it out. He was shocked to see how much force was behind his blows. To think that he used it on his friends disgusted him, but now that he felt control…he knew that come Saturday he would make things right. After he was done testing himself, he pulled back the power inside of him and turned back to normal.

“Thank you Twilight…”

“For what?”

“For believe in me when…when…” Revenant then felt dizzy and collapsed on the ground.

“Revenant!” She said as she went up to him. “Don’t worry I’ll…”

“Twilight…” He groaned. “Please not so loud…I’m pretty tired now and I just want some sleep now.”

Twilight sighed that he made her worry for nothing.

“C’mon then let’s get you home.”

“Nah, it feels great here especially under a nice night. I think I’ll sleep it here for the night.” Revenant said beginning to doze off.

Twilight looked at him for a moment and laid down right next to him.

“Then I’ll just keep you company for the night.” She told him “No exceptions.”

“Won’t you get cold throughout the night?” Revenant asked her.

“I’ll be fine…as long as I’m right beside you.” Twilight said nuzzling up to him.

She then felt something whipping her from behind. She looked back to see his tail twitching all over the place. Revenant was too tired to hide his blushing face.

“I see your tail has gone crazy again.” She softly said to him.

“Yeah dang thing’s got a mind of its own.”

They both giggled at the thought of it.

“It’s alright…I don’t mind.”

Then she felt it going crazy even more.

“Okay now I mind.”

“I’m sorry what do you want me to do about it?”

“How about you just sleep and get some rest.”

“That *yawn* sounds good about now.” His eyes began to grow heavy and started to shut. “Thank you Twilight…for believe in me when I couldn’t believe in myself…”

“Don’t worry Revenant. No matter what happens I’ll always belie….” She stopped to see him passed out now next to her. She giggled at him for that. “Goodnight Revenant, please sleep well now.”

She gave him a kiss goodnight and looked up to the sky above them. It was nice to see the moon so bright tonight and the stars light up the sky. Some of the forest animals emerged from the forest to see the two ponies laying there and decided to find a spot in the clearing to sleep there also. It was if nature itself knew that this moment, this clearing was for the two unicorns. This moment was not to be disturbed and was tranquil that not even the predators of the night would disturb. Twilight rested her head on Revenant and fell asleep hoping that he too would be dreaming about this tranquil moment.

Oh snuggles... Just had to throw that in there since one of my pre-readers said about this chapter. Had to throw in a nice scene after all the things that've happened but now they sleep....and maybe me too I'm tired. Night or morning where ever you're reading this from.

Chapter 15: The Big Event

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Saturday Morning/ Ponyville Schoolhouse

A nice breeze was blowing through the fields at Ponyville Schoolhouse that were set-up for today’s event. Ponies were gathering all around and taking the stands to spectate. Majority of the audience were either parents or older siblings of the fillies competing today. Out of the ponies, a familiar band of ponies were eagerly waiting to see their younger siblings do well.

“How much more do we have to wait? Can we get the event started already?” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Just cool your jets there Rainbow Dash, there’s no rush.” Applejack assured her. “Besides what brings you here, I thought you had some important things to take care of?”

“Ah well….I always have time to take care of those things. “

“By ‘those things’ you mean napping or trying some new tricks out huh?”

“No….maybe…..it doesn’t matter. I’m here to see Scootaloo win.”

“Oh and what makes you so sure she’ll win?” Applejack challenging her cyan friend. “I’m pretty sure with all the years of hard work on the farm Applebloom will win this.”

“Both you girls need to calm down” Rarity said to them. “This is a team based event not individual event….but if anypony is going to carry their team it’s Sweetie Belle.”

Both the mares then glared at their sophisticated friend.

“Girls there’s no reason for us to be arguing like this,” Fluttershy interrupted. “We’re here to support them aren’t we Pinkie Pie?”

“Well duh, why do you think we’re here in the first place?” Pinkie Pie answered as she buried her face in popcorn.

“I thought you said that you were here for the big after party to celebrate the fillies’ hard work.” Fluttershy reminded her.

“There’s an after party after this? Oh I hope there are cakes, and balloons, and streamers, and games, and….” But was silenced when Rainbow Dash put her hoof in Pinkie’s mouth.

“I think we get it Pinkie. By the way….” Rainbow Dash said looking around. “Where’s Twilight, I’ve barely seen her this week?”

The girls started to converse amongst each other trying to find out what has kept their friend so pre-occupied the whole week and not seeing her friends. While the girls speculated, Fluttershy remained out of the group, trying to avoid getting sucked in. Applejack was the first to notice Fluttershy’s behavior.

“Fluttershy…you know something don’t ya?” She asked her timid friend.

“What I don’t anything about Twilight being with Revenant…if that’s what you mean?” Fluttershy failed to defend herself.

“No that’s not what I meant, but what do you mean by ‘Twi being with Revenant’?” Applejack questioned Fluttershy.

“Well earlier this week she came by asking where he was and went into the Everfree forest. The next morning I saw them both walking out of the forest with each other, and since then nearly every night they go in there together.” Fluttershy answered

“She’s been with that jerk this whole time?! Why I’d outta kick his flank!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Kick whose flank for what?” Twilight asked as she joined her friends.

Pinkie Pie quickly jumped her friend. Rarity and Applejack had to pull her off before she squeezed the life out of her. Meantime, Rainbow Dash kept her distance and was glaring at her the whole time. Twilight took a moment to get her air back after her near-death experience thanks to Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie, what was that for?!” Twilight asked

“I’m sorry Twilight, it’s just we’ve barely seen you this whole week and were worried.” Pinkie Pie answered.

“That’s sweet of you girls but I was busy the whole week.” She answered.

“So busy that you couldn’t spend time with your friends or does that jerk matter to more than we do?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash wondering who she meant.

“Uh what she meant Twi is what’s with you spending more time with Revenant then with us this whole week?” Applejack asked kindly trying not to build an aggressive atmosphere.

“I’ve been helping him set-up this whole event. He’s barely had any time to relax so I decided to help him.”

“If that’s true, then why keep it a secret from us, we are your friends after all?” Rarity asked.

“You girls are my friends, but the way you’ve been with him this whole time hasn’t been friendly to him.” Twilight answered.

“He deserves it after what he did. Besides what’s the deal with you to going into the Everfree forest every night?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“How did you….”

“I’m sorry about that Twilight…” Fluttershy quietly answered. “They started to talk about it and then asked me and I just said it…I’m sorry for that.”

“It’s alright Fluttershy…” Twilight sighed. “You see girls, after what happened back in the mountains he went into seclusion to train.”

“Train for what?” Applejack asked.

“To control what he calls his ‘darkness’. He’s been working very hard on it and I went to see him earlier this week and helped him.” Twilight answered

“Helped him…how?” One of the girls asked.

“I don’t know really, he just said that me being there helped. Actually the first day I was with him, he mentioned that was the first time he controlled it. After that I’ve just been there for him to help him improve.” Twilight finished.

“Oh my, that sounds like a lovely romance story. To think a stallion with dark secrets trying to fight them, but then a mare comes by who helps him through his pain thus igniting a flame of love.” Rarity poetically said out loud.

“Romance story? I thought we were talking about Twilight helping Revenant with his training in the forest, or are you saying that the two are a romance story.” Pinkie Pie then gasps with realization and looks to Twilight, “You’re crushing on Revie aren’t you Twilight?”

“What…no it’s nothing like that at all…I just want to help him out that’s all….” Twilight nervously responded.

“Now that I think about it…when we were at his house last time you were the last one to leave and it took a while before we saw you. I’ve also noticed that at times when you’re together his tail twitches. Strange that’s the only time it happens though.” Pinkie Pie continued.

“Twilight dear, are you…in love with him?” Rarity asked her trying to be friendlier. “It’s okay to tell us, were your friends.”

“Well…oh look the event is about to start.” Twilight quickly said dodging the question.

Revenant walked into the center of the field while levitating a microphone with him. It looked as though he tried to do a sound check from it and got unfavorable results. He decided that it was best not to use it and used his magic to amplify his voice.

“Can everypony hear me?” Revenant addressed the audience who easily heard him. “Okay then….Good morning ladies and gentlecolts. Thank you all for showing up for today’s special event. Today the fillies will be having a little competition to decide which the best pony is. Within this competition, they will be tested on endurance, agility, and intellect. Now then to help judge this competition we have Ms. Cherilee, The Mayor, and every pony’s favorite dragon, Spike.”

The judges waved to the audience as they are introduced.

“Now the class has been divided into teams. So let’s give it up for them shall we.” He introduced the fillies as they joined the field.

The audience cheered for their young fillies and wished them the best of luck.

“Alright now that we’re all set let’s kick things off and remember have fun out there ‘because if you’re doing something that isn’t fun then you must be doing something wrong.”

The fillies were getting ready to start the events and prove who the best race out of them was.

“Are you ready...now….BEGIN!”

The big event then kicked off. A couple events consisted of some racing as well as relays for them. Earth ponies and pegasi started strong on those events but the unicorns had their time to shine on the more puzzling events. While earth ponies and pegasi tried to mainly go through it, the unicorns used what little capabilities of magic they had to have them overcome the challenge and pick up their score.

What really had things going though were how the cutie mark crusaders worked during the event. At times they looked as though they were helping each other out not knowing they were competing. Scootaloo would be stumped on a puzzling obstacle and Sweetie Belle would help her out. Applebloom would help give a push for Sweetie Belle on some of the running events and Scootaloo would help Applebloom on the maneuverability. Then some events they would get in each other’s way trying to hinder their respective teams. A couple events they even got into a small tussle. Revenant just couldn’t pin what the crusaders would be doing next and only stared at them baffled and had to facehoof a couple times. After a couple hours of cheering and excitement the event was down to its final competition.

“Well this has been an eventful day so far am I right?” Revenant addressed the crowd. They responded with their cheers and applaud. “I know things have been going good but alas, it all must come to an end. The scores for each team are very close and what better way to settle this than a good ‘old fashion tug-o-war but this one has been designed for all three to compete at once.”

Revenant pointed out to the tug-o-war pit where a rope was tied off in the center and split out into three directions. He explained that each end has been designed for each respective team to use their abilities to the fullest, ultimately defining which team would be the best. The fillies went to their respective ends and got ready to pull.

“Get ready and…..oh look a squirrel.” Revenant said. He could’ve sworn he heard a simultaneous groan from the audience. “Sorry ‘bout that folks…now then fillies….PULL!”

The fillies began there three way tug-o-war. The earth ponies had their teeth sunk deep into the rope while having their feet firmly planted on the ground. The pegasus had their grip and used their wings to pull with more force. The unicorns used their magic to aid them in pulling the rope practically doubling their strength. No pony could tell who was going to win. The crusaders decided to change that. Applebloom dug hard into the ground and started pulling the other teams vigorously; Scootaloo was flapping her wings as fast as she could in order to maintain her team and pulling the others. Sweetie Belle thought of a tune and would have the rope tug more against the other teams with her tune. The rope was being pulled in multiple directions as if…

*SNAP*

The teams fell back and looked up to see if they won. To their dismay they saw that the rope had snapped and that none of them had gained the advantage. Everypony just gazed in amazement of what had happened. It was so quiet that not even birds were chirping. All were baffled and confused of what had just happened.

“Uh….wow….never saw this happen before….” Revenant said to himself trying to come back to reality. “Okay then everypony, it seems that the final event has ended in a way I’m sure that will never happen again. So since a winner can’t be determined by this event we’ll go to the scores of the past ones.”

Revenant then went to the judges who tallied up there scores. He then came back with a trophy for the winning team and several medals.

“Alright then everypony the winners of this event are the earth ponies due to being ahead by merely five points of the other teams. It was a close one but a winner has been decided.” Revenant said as the spectators cheered for the winners. Some of the pegasi pouted in the stands that they lost while a couple of the unicorns had a more optimistic view point towards it.

“I hope all of you had fun as much the fillies did and don’t worry we can always do this again to determine a new winner or can the champs hold on to their victory? Other than that have a great day and do partake in the after lunch party here, if you need me I’ll be here.” Revenant said as he left the field.

Everypony was enjoying the free lunch that was provided for them at the school. A lot of the parents were talking about their fillies as well as congratulating them on all their hard work. The mane six were together with the crusaders telling them of how proud they were. Applebloom was hoping for her cutie mark to appear but still a blank flank. She was still pretty happy though that she won. Scootaloo scoffed at her and told her that she was lucky. Sweetie Belle was just laughing at her two friends argue over the competition.

"My little ponies, you did great and you still showed great teamwork even though you were on opposite teams.” Twilight praised the crusaders.

“Thanks Twilight, we couldn’t have done it without Revenant’s help though.” Scootaloo responded.

“Oh and what do you mean by that?” Rainbow Dash asked her.

“Speaking of him, do you happen to know where he’s at?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t know; let me ask Spike he may know.” Sweetie Belle said as she went off.

Moments later she returned with Spike who directed the mane six and crusaders where he was. When they all went to go see him they saw him talking with The Mayor.

“….so you see I think it would be a high-time for us to invest and take my little business further than Ponyville and reap the income. What do you say?” Revenant propositioned her.

“Well you do bring up a lot of good facts, and so far you haven’t really let anypony down. Alright then I’ll see what I can do.” The Mayor responded.

“Thank you so much. You won’t regret it.” Revenant assured her.

“Oh I see your friends are here to see you. I’ll let them talk to you now.” She said as she walked off.
Before any of the mane six could speak to Revenant, the crusaders quickly leaped on him and thanked him for his help.

“Okay crusaders I get it. As comfy as the ground is I would prefer to stand now.” Revenant joked with them as they got off him.

“So what was that all about?” Applejack asked him as he got up.

“I was making a business proposition with The Mayor to help extend business to benefit Ponyville.” Revenant answered.

“Oh that’s good so how have things been?” Twilight asked.

“C’mon Twilight you should know since you’ve been with him all week and barely seen us.” Rainbow Dash interrupted before Revenant could answer.

“Rainbow Dash be nice, I think it’s time we settled things now don’t ya think?” Applejack stopped her friend.

“Well…I guess so… but this time you’ll tell us everything, and I mean everything.” Rainbow Dash said to him. “Just know we’re only doing this for Twilight.”

“I was hoping that it would be for all our sake, but hopefully after this, things could start getting back to the way they were.” Revenant began.

Before Revenant could start explaining himself, he stopped to see a familiar alicorn walk to them. Other ponies around him began to clear the way and some even bowed to him. The rest stared wondering why he was here.

“I do hope I’m not interrupting anything.” The night sky alicorn addressed the group.

“Nightingale…what is it that you want?” Revenant asked him.

“Actually shouldn’t you be near Princess Luna?” Twilight asked him.

“Ah the Princess decided to give me some time off and I heard of this event so I wanted to see it. I must say you fillies did an excellent job. The Princesses would love to hear this.” Nightingale said to the crusaders. Their eyes began to glitter with excitement and imagination that the next time the regal sisters show up to see them.

“But that isn’t the reason you’re hear talking to us now is it?” Revenant continued to ask him.

“*sigh* you are right. As much as it pains me to be the stick in the mud, but I’ve got a message to pass to you all.” Nightingale addressed to them.

“Is it another weather element?” Twilight asked.

“Indeed it is, hopefully the last one you have to find.”

“Wait a minute; I thought Princess Celestia said there was four of ‘em. This would be the third one right?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Oh are we going to get a vacation after this one is that it?”

“Hehehe….I don’t know about that but, let’s discuss somewhere more….private.” Nightingale then used his magic to encase them all in a field of magic that made them invisible to the outside world. Nopony would tell where they were or could hear them. “That’s better now the fourth one will only reveal itself when all three have been united. I’m pretty sure that means that once we get the third one then the fourth should appear with it and you’ll be done and most definitely rewarded.”

“So where is this one at…is it somewhere dark like the caves, or is it in a terrible forest? Oh I hope there aren’t any scary creatures at this one.” Fluttershy began to speculate.

“I can assure you that shouldn’t be the case. This time we got it early so hopefully there shouldn’t be any trouble.” Nightingale continued.

“Well if there’s any trouble we’ll take care of it like last time.” Rainbow Dash said confidently.

“About last time you all did well, especially you Fluttershy to think after that you’d be more….courageous but even I get scared at times so it’s natural.” He said to them giving some confidence to Fluttershy.

“Then what are we waiting for let’s go.” Twilight said to the group.

Before they could move, time felt as if it stopped except for Revenant and Nightingale.

“This again, what do you want now?” Revenant asked him.

“A talk no…a message to you.” Nightingale said in a hostile tone. “I know what happened back in the mountains, what happened to you, and what you did to them…especially to Pinkie Pie.”

“How….do you know so much?”

“It’s my job to know this much and get this straight. That little slip you had back there would’ve had you gone for good but lucky for you they protected you from it. If it were to happen again, I won’t let it slide like last time and I’ll make sure you’re punished harshly. I suggest to you that you sit this one out or do you want to cause even more pain like last time to them?”

Revenant was silenced by his cold words.

“I’ll take it that you’ll agree with me on this. Good now it’s time for us to go.”

“There’s one more thing I need to ask you?” Revenant spoke up.

“Oh and what is it?”

“Why….why are you doing this to me?” Revenant asked him.

“What do you mean by that?”

“This….threatening me….installing fear….doubt…..why are you doing all this?” Revenant asked him angrily. “All I want is a new life, a simple one to where I can settle down and maybe start a family…but you….you seem to keep me away from all that….why?!” Nightingale took a moment to think before answering Revenant’s question.

“I am only looking out for what is good for them, for Equestria. Now if you don’t mind there is business that needs to be taken care of. Farewell Revenant, do take care and not break anything for me okay. Tata for now.” Nightingale said.

Nightingale then teleported away with the mane six and brought Revenant back to the school at the party. Revenant just stared off in the distance, angry, afraid, and powerless compared to Nightingale. How did he know so much and why did he torment him? Revenant began to feel his dark feelings rise but he quickly suppressed them.

“Why…why is this happening?” Revenant thought to himself.

“Hey Revenant!” A familiar voice called out to him.

He turned to see Levia coming up to him.

“Hi crusaders how did it all go?” She asked them.

“Great we all had fun.” Applebloom answered.

“Yeah but you’re the one who won.” Scootaloo added.

“It’s alright there’s always next time besides you have a visitor Rev.” Levia turned to him.

“Really who?” He asked putting aside his other thoughts.

“Why you’re biggest fan.” Fefnir said as he led Pip to him.

“Hey Pip how’s it going?” Revenant asked him.

“Great! I’m really happy that you helped us out and that I was able to win. I wanted to be as good as you so I had to work really hard to do this.” Pip happily answered.

“That’s wonderful. I’m glad just keep it up and someday you can be great.” Revenant assured him.

“Really you think so?” Pip asked with anticipation.

“Believe us kid, you got a spark within you.” Fefnir answered him. “Keep hold of it and have it grow, because that’s what is going to keep you pushing. You may even get better than Revenant, wouldn’t you agree Rev?”

“Anything can happen.”

“Oh wow then I’ll be sure to work really hard then and maybe be better than you one day.” Pip responded with excitement.

“Well how about you don’t go running off like that first eh son?” Pip’s dad said as he joined them.

“Oh sorry ‘bout that dad.”

“It’s alright; I figured you’d want to see him…so you’re Revenant Soul huh? Hey son why don’t you go play with your friends for a little bit okay?”

“Yeah c’mon Pip you can help us out with our next plan to get our cutie marks.” Applebloom said as she dragged Pip off with the rest of the crusaders.

“Oh sure what is it?” He asked.

“Well it involves catapults so we were thinking that….” Scootaloo explained as they ran off.
Revenant and Pip’s dad both stood there laughing at the crusaders and their crazy schemes.

“The things fillies come up with nowadays…so my son looks up to you a lot.”

“Indeed he does, but he only wishes to be a stallion like you though.” Revenant assured him

“Ah don’t sugar coat it. I’ve been busy with work lately I really haven’t had much time to be a father to him.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s all right, I know he was overjoyed to see me here for him so at least I know I’m getting back on the right track. I must know….how do you have connections in Canterlot?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I saw you talking with that alicorn, we don’t get too many of them and all have been from Canterlot from what we’ve seen so far.”

“Oh well I really don’t have connections to Canterlot. I only know because of Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”

“Huh I see…they’re a good bunch to be with. They’re all good mares individually but together is when they truly shine.”

“Indeed they do.”

“So tell me which one?”

Revenant was thrown off by his question.

“I don’t understand what you mean?” Revenant dared to ask.

“You know which one?”

Revenant just had a blank look on his face. Pip’s dad shook his head in grief.

“Man you’re dense. What I mean is which one are you interested in?”

“Whoa where did that come from…and I’m not dense…well not too dense…” Revenant replied.

“C’mon you hanging out with six pretty good mares, there is no way you can’t be interested in one of them? So I ask again which one?”

“Well…”

“Fess up, you’re a stallion. So quit stalling”

“Alright alright, don’t need to go hurting my pride. It’s Twilight Sparkle.”

“Ah the librarian…didn’t know you were into those kind of things. But you know as they say ‘different strokes for different folks’.”

“Wait what!?! Hold on it’s nothing like that at all!” Revenant tried to defend himself.

“I know just messing with you…so why then?”

“Well she’s smart, pretty, kind-hearted, caring. She’s always looking out for anyponies best interest. Her attitude towards a situation is just admirable. We share a lot of things in common. I mean, when I first arrived here she gave me a place to stay for a couple weeks. The whole time I was here she looked out for me even when I was too ‘dense’ at the time. We both enjoy being with each other, and she doesn’t give up on anypony. For a while I was pretty troubled and she was there to help me through it all. Even when I was in dark place for a time, she was there searching for me and stayed with me through it until she pulled me out of it. She’s just a beautiful mare in general and…” Revenant rambled but was cut-off by Pip’s dad.

“Enough I get it. Jeez you’re smitten aren’t you? So how long have you two been going out?”

“We actually haven’t really?” Revenant shamefully answered.

“Why in the hell not? After all that you are still nowhere?! What is stopping you?”

“Things….aren’t going….the way I hoped…”

“What did you do?” Pip’s dad sternly asked Revenant.

“I…I messed up…big time….I really don’t want to go into it but….I did some sinful things that now I don’t know if they can be fixed.” Revenant sadly answered.

“I don’t know what it is and I don’t want to know but, from what you told me about her….she’s something that needs to be in your life just as much as she needs you in hers.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying go to her…make things right. Give it everything you got to make it all right.”

“But what if her friends….”

“It doesn’t matter” He interrupted Revenant. “As long as you are putting in the effort to fix everything and make up for what you did things will turn out for the best, but only if you do everything you can to make things right.”

Revenant was frozen at his words. They swirled in his head with all his emotions. He began to feel as if he was being thrown into a whirlpool of his own thoughts. Then he remembered, that night. The night he made a promise to her and then everything became clear to him now.

“You’re right…I need to go to her and fix everything whether her friends like it or not.” Revenant said with newfound confidence.

“Thank you, are you sure I’m the one Pip should be looking up to?” Revenant asked him.

“Who knows…he’s still young.”

“Right oh and one more thing, I’m going to need your son’s help. Do you mind?” Revenant asked.

“Of course not, it would make his day even better.”

“Great I’ll be sure to not keep him too long.” Revenant said as he went off. “Fefnir…Levia let’s go we’ve got work to do.”

“Ah but things were getting good.” Levia complained.

“I see that your drive is back in you. If that’s the case then we’ve got some adventuring to do.” Fefnir chuckled.

“And if we’re adventuring then that means we’re meeting up with the girls after all.” Levia added as she followed Revenant and Fefnir.

He went to search for Pip, Spike, and the crusaders. He needed there help if he wanted to get to the mane six. It all became clear to him now, what had to be done. He had to do it, no matter what anypony else thought. Even if Nightingale revealed what happened at the mountains to the Princess, he wouldn’t care. Just as long if he can make things right, nothing else mattered.

Nightingale why are you so mean to Revenant? Can't you see he just wants a normal life with Twilight and the rest of the girls? Next chapter takes the mane six to the next adventure in Neighagra Falls.

Chapter 16: Wisdom of the Wind

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Neighagra Falls City

The mane six arrived at a town near Neighagra Falls late afternoon by train this time. Within the town, they could see everypony scrambling about finishing up their last adjustments to the town. Stores, buildings, and houses were being reinforced, and ponies were stocking up on supplies. It was if they were preparing for a storm to hit. The girls asked around what was going on and the town folks directed them to go to the mayor’s office. They finally arrived there seeing that it too was being secured. Outside they could see a stallion giving out orders to the ponies and controlling the chaos.

“That must be the mayor, let’s go find out what’s going on here.” Twilight said to the group as they approached the stallion.

“Alright everypony I believe we should all be safe. Tomorrow should be the day it comes so for now go to your homes, be with your loved ones, and pray that it doesn’t happen but if it does, then hope that it ends soon.” The stallion dismissed the citizens to head back. As the crowd left, he saw the mane six approaching him.

“You don’t look like anypony from around here. I don’t know why you’re here but you need to leave now for your own safety.”

“That’s just it, we were sent here to investigate this area. What is going on?” Twilight asked.

“Wait a minute…are you the group that Princess Celesita spoke of from Canterlot?” He asked.

“That’s right, we were sent here by the Princess herself.” Twilight replied.

“Thank Celestia that you’ve arrived, quickly let us step into my office. You all must be tired from the way here coming from Canterlot.”

“Actually we’re from Ponyville.” Pinkie Pie corrected him.

“But we do appreciate that you mixed us up with Canterlot ponies.” Rarity added.

The mayor didn’t really care about that and he shoved them inside town hall and guided them into his office. It was a big office that was lined with pictures of Neighagra Falls and of past mayors of the town. Behind him was a map of not only the area but of all of Equestria. After the mayor offered the girls a seat he explained to them that a lot of strong wind and rain has been going through the town. They were signs that a huge storm was about to hit the town and he ordered the town to batten down the hatches and prepare for it.

“Sorry to rush you ladies in like this. I am Steadfast. I am reluctant to have you girls here right now.” Steadfast introduced himself.

“I must say that’s very impressive of you to handle such a dire situation considering the reactions from all the ponies here.” Twilight praised him.

“Believe me it wasn’t easy…I don’t know what it is with this town but when things go wrong they go to me.” Steadfast speculated.

“It’s probably because they trust you. You must be a pretty good mayor for them to have that much faith in you.” Applejack added.

“I doubt it. This town has always looked towards it’s mayors for answers when something happens and so far have never been let down. I just don’t want to be the first.”

“You did a great job organizing everything like you did, you should be proud of yourself.” Twilight assured him.

“Thank you, but still I worry what if it all goes wrong?”

“We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. That is what we are here for.” Rainbow Dash said to him.

“I must say I feel re-assured that you all arrived as well as the ponysprite’s knowledge.

“Wait ponysprite…how do you know about them?” Twilight asked him.

“I don’t know really. When all the bad weather happened, he appeared in my office and gave me the warning. Afterwards he’s been helping me out with this crisis. I must confess, I don’t think I could’ve done it without him.” Steadfast responded.

Just then a green ponysprite flew in. His blue mane was slicked back and seemed to always have a small breeze around him. Instead of him having wings like other ponysprites he had wings similar to a pegasus and his cutie mark was a pegasus wing flared open with wind surrounding it.

“Believe me sir you would’ve been able to done this without my help.” The green ponysprite said to the mayor.

“I find that hard to believe. The wisdom that you’ve passed on to me is that of a sage.” Steadfast added.

“Wisdom is merely one gaining clear insight to a situation and weighing out all the options. Everypony has it; they just need to listen for it much like how the wind carries the words that many others have spoken.” The green ponysprite answered. His calm tone was soothing as the cool refreshing wind in the summer.

“Wait….a wise ponysprite; you wouldn’t happen to be Sage?” Twilight asked him.

“Oh so you know of me? Yes I’m Sage Wind and pray tell, where did you hear of my name?” Sage asked her.

“I’ve met your younger siblings, Fefnir Flame and Levia Frost. They spoke of you being the eldest as well as the wisest of them.” She replied.

“Ah so they are doing well, that is most pleasant. Tell me though, if you’ve met them then what of an azure pony known as Revenant Soul?” Sage continued.

“Yes…we’ve met him as well.” Twilight responded with a more somber tone.

“I sense a disruption in your tone. That must mean things aren’t well with him. Hmmm…. I would love to discuss more with you but it is getting late and we all need a good night’s rest for tomorrow.” Sage said as he flew off.

“Wait where are you going? You’re going to leave the conversation like that?” Rarity asked him.

“Forgive me for my rudeness, but I must ponder over some things right now. I will remain hear by this map until later.” Sage apologized to them.

“I’ll help my wife get more dinner ready then for you girls.” Steadfast said getting out of his chair.

“Oh we don’t want to impose…” Fluttershy began.

“It’s alright; you girls are here to help my town. The least I can do is offer you some food and a safe place to sleep for the night. The guest rooms are upstairs on the left side of the hall. Do make yourself at home.” Steadfast said as he walked out of his office.

Fifteen minutes later the girls met with the mayor and his wife in the dining hall with a full entrée of food for them all. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were holding back Pinkie Pie from diving right into it all and creating a mess. Rarity was eyeing not just the food but the setup, the plates, and the table of how well designed it all was. Fluttershy felt really comfortable here and was caught humming a nice tune. She quickly re-acted and tried to hide here shame but Twilight assured her that it’s okay for her to feel comfortable here. Sage showed up a couple minutes later finding his place at the table and they began to eat. Most of the dinner conversation was of what the girls did back in Ponyville and what the town was like. It seems that every time they talked of Ponyville, other ponies wanted to see it.

After dinner the girls offered to help clean up the dishes and the table. Rarity and Fluttershy were in the kitchen with the Steadfast’s wife helping out with the dishes. Rarity was praising the mayor’s wife of how well designed the dining hall was and they both shared their tips of fashion. Fluttershy was excluded from it until Rarity brought up that Fluttershy did some modeling for a little bit. They all had a nice laugh of how it all unfolded. Pinkie Pie was with Rainbow Dash help drying the dishes, though Rainbow Dash had to keep an eye on Pinkie Pie who found a new way to dry plates by spinning them. A couple times she had to dash by and catch a couple falling plates. Applejack, Twilight, and Steadfast were in the dining hall cleaning up the table and re-organizing the seats.

“Twilight, may I have a word with please?” Sage asked her as he finished cleaning up his plate.
She looked to the other ponies help cleaning up the table.

“Don’t worry Twi we got this.” Applejack assured her.

“Thanks AJ. We can always count on you.” She replied.

Sage led Twilight back into the mayor’s office and looked at the map for a little bit before turning to Twilight.

“Ponyville huh, must be a nice place for one to settle down. Especially from somepony such as yourself who isn’t from there.” Sage began.

“Wait how did you know I wasn’t from Ponyville?” Twilight asked.

“I connected the dots. Six ponies from Ponyville don’t really have contact with royalty in Canterlot. So after paying attention to all of you at dinner, I deducted that you are most likely the one who would have such connections. Perhaps a member of your family knows of them, or maybe you are under tutelage of somepony who knows of them.”

“Actually I’m Princess Celestia’s student. How were you able to come up with all that?” Twilight asked being intrigued at his wisdom.

“The way you were at the table. I could see that you’ve had been with refinement before but what got me the most is when you spoke of the princess. You spoke of her casually as if you know her personally.” Sage finished.

“Wow, when they said that you were the smartest of them they weren’t kidding.”

“Many thanks for such praise but you yourself must be one of great potential and intellect for Princess Celestia herself to take you under her tutelage.”

“I wouldn’t go far as to say that.”

“Modesty as well…you must be a knockout for colts aren’t you?”

“Um…I wouldn’t go to that extent. Besides I’ve really haven’t met any colt that would feel that way.” Twilight responded.

“But you have and you’ve made an impact on him his life as well.” Sage assured her.

“You mean Revenant…Sure we’ve hung out but we’ve never really…had anything serious…” Twilight answered hesitantly.

“Your tone changes when you speak of him, as well as right now you were more hesitant of your answer.” Sage sighed before he continued. “I must know, what is of him right now? I bequeath that you tell me all that you know about him.”

“Sure but why didn’t you ask me that at dinner?” Twilight wondered.

“Do you not feel how the atmosphere of the room has changed when speaking about him? Not only that when you spoke of his name earlier, you seemed…saddened while some of your friends had other emotions.” Sage continued

“Wow I know I’m smart but you….you sound like Revenant’s old master.” Twilight thought out loud.

“Ah so he has shared some of his past…then he must truly care for you. If you feel the same then you would tell me all that has happened with him. Starting with the first time you met.”

Twilight then explained to Sage of their times with Revenant in the caves of how he was reclusive but showed his valor when trouble came. Next was his adjustment to Ponyville and living with her for a couple of weeks until he got a house and started his own business. Then when he shared with him his past, the possible relation between the two and finally, what happened at the mountains. After all that Sage took a moment to think over all of it.

“Interesting….so you are the catalyst that has changed him.” Sage then put his hoof to the window and felt the wind blowing. “It seems great change is upon us Twilight. I do hope you are ready for it.”

“Change….what kind of change?” she asked.

“That I’m unsure of. From what it seems is that tomorrow things will change either for better or for worse. It all depends on you though.” Sage informed her.

“Me….what is it that I have to do?”

“I’m sorry that I’m unclear but that is all that the wind tells me.”

“The wind….you’re communicating with the wind? I thought that you were being deep.”

“Well I was being deep but also speaking truth. The wind carries many words as well as premonitions of what’s to come. I know it may seem a difficult concept to grasp but it’s much like how magic works in certain ways.”

“I understand…I may not know how you do it, but it’s much like how we unicorns have a natural ability with magic.”

“Precisely but now it’s getting late, you should get some rest.”

“Your right…*yawn*…I should get some sleep. Do you have any more words from the wind before I sleep?” Twilight asked. Sage hesitated a moment before speaking.

“I’m sorry that is all I have for you at the time. If you gave me more time to think about it, you’d be up for a while.” Sage apologized.

“Then thank you…I’m off to bed. See you tomorrow.” Twilight said as she left.

Sage looked out the window again and listened to the wind blowing.

“Actually there are two changes that will happen.” Sage thought to himself. “The first involves you Revenant. If you make the right choice then Twilight’s choice is next, however if either one of you does wrong…then I can only fear the outcome.”

The next day/Sunday

After having a nice breakfast the girls began to leave the town into Neighagra falls to find the storm weather element. As they began their trek with Sage, they noticed that the weather was turning ugly. Dark clouds were hanging overhead, the wind was picking up, and thunder wasn’t too far behind. Sage looked at the group to see how they were doing.

“How you ladies holdin’ up so far?” Sage asked.

The girls gave him a positive response.

“Good to hear that, you do know how this weather will affect you ponies, mainly the earth ones?”

“Of course we do. Twi and Rarity here learned a spell to help us when the weather gets ugly.” Applejack answered him.

“But just in case I brought us lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of rope.” Pinkie Pie added.

“Why would we need that much rope Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash asked her.

“Just in case the weather gets really bad, we could tie it to each other so we don’t get blown away.” She answered.

“I do hope we don’t have to resort to that, let alone have this weather get ugly.” Rarity added.

“Well I’m glad you girls came prepared let’s continue on. The weather is getting worse by the second.” Sage addressed the group.

While going through the wooded area by the falls, tree branches began to fly off and head towards them. They were no problem at first but then some big ones came there way. Applejack would buck a couple them away while Pinkie Pie simply bounced on them changing their trajectory. They finally got up to the path that would take them to the top of the falls. Unfortunately it began to drizzle and made the path slippery. Slowly they moved along the trail but then Rarity missed a step and was about to fall off. Rainbow Dash quickly caught her and set her back on her hooves.

“Are you okay Rarity?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“No I’m not.” She replied

“What is it Rarity?” Twilight asked her.

“It’s my mane! I just used some of the new hair shampoo earlier this morning that the mayor’s wife let me used and now it’s all ruined!” Rarity complained.

All the girls shook their heads at typical Rarity. Sage was the only who was confused.

“Is she….” He began to ask.

“Not really except when things get dirty.” Pinkie Pie answered.

“Well when it comes to trekking or adventuring you plan to get dirty.” Sage responded.

“Just because we are going on an adventure doesn’t mean we can’t look good for it.” Rarity said as they began to follow the trail.

The trail normally doesn’t take long however due to the weather it made it more difficult, especially that now lightning appeared in the sky. A couple of bolts nearly went at them but Twilight would use the spell she learned to protect them from it. The wind began to pick up hard and was making it hard for them to go further.

“There in this opening let’s go!” Sage directed to them. The girls quickly went in to an opening in the wall along the trail to avoid the storm.

“Wait can’t Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy go on ahead?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah we should be able to. Let’s go Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash said putting on her goggles.

“I… I can’t.” She replied.

“What do you mean? You’re a pegasus and this is our kind of weather.” Rainbow Dash tried to give her confidence.

“I can’t Rainbow Dash. Not because I’m scared but because I don’t have high wing power like you.” Fluttershy confessed.

“But shouldn’t this weather help boost it, isn’t that right Sage?” Twilight asked him.

“Yes it does since pegasi are designed for this weather but their base wing power can only be amplified so much. It is true that her power will come from her will and drive but she can’t over exert herself to the point where she suffers the after effects. I’m sorry to say it but it looks like Rainbow Dash has to go alone.” Sage sadly answered.

“Right then, don’t worry girls I’ll find that element within a couple minutes.” Rainbow Dash assured the group.

“Hold on Rainbow Dash let me do this first.” Twilight stopped her friend from taking off.

Her horn then formed a white ball and shot it into Rainbow Dash’s head.

“Hello, can you hear me Dash?” Twilight thought to her.

“Whoa you learned telepathy? When did that happen?” Rainbow Dash shockingly asked.

“From Levia a couple months back. I practiced it until I got it right.” Twilight answered her friend.

“If so then allow me to accompany Rainbow Dash. I should be able to handle the weather but I will hang on to her if I need to. Twilight would you please?” Sage asked her.

Twilight casted the telepathy spell again on Sage and the rest of the girls just in case something was to go wrong.

“Alright let’s ride Sage.” Rainbow Dash said.

She jumped out of the opening with Sage holding on to her and spread her wings. Sadly, the wind caught her and took her back. A couple seconds later she flew to the opening and assured the girls she would be fine. Rainbow Dash took off to the top of the falls and began her search for the element.

Thirty minutes have passed since Rainbow Dash took off and have barely heard any updates from her. The girls were already dried off and were getting worried.

“Oh I do hope she is okay?” Fluttershy feared for her friend.

“It’s Rainbow Dash we’re talking about. If anypony could handle this storm it’s her.” Applejack assured her.

“But still it only looks like the storm is getting worse. Some trees have even toppled over from the storm. I’m gonna try and contact her again.” Twilight said to her friends.

She tried contacting her with telepathy but couldn’t do it. The girls began to fear the worst. Minutes later there fears were put to rest they saw the weather stop as if somepony had hit the off switch.

“Wait…did it just stop like that?” Twilight asked.

“It must’ve been Rainbow Dash. You see I told ya girls she can do it.” Applejack said to them as they all cheered.

“Hello can anypony here me?” Rainbow Dash thought to the girls.

“Rainbow Dash you’re okay. Good job for getting it.” Twilight responded.

“About that, I didn’t find it.” Rainbow Dash replied.

The girls looked at each other with wide eyes.

“What do you mean you didn’t find it? I thought that only an Element of Harmony could make it tranquil.” Twilight questioned her friend.

“Twilight this is Sage, you and the girls need to get up here now. I think I may know why.” Sage thought to them.

With no time to spare, Twilight concentrated on them and teleported to their location. They were at the alongside the river that lead off into the falls. The river was still raging due to the weather and wouldn’t let up until later on.

“Sage, Rainbow Dash what happened?” Twilight asked them.

“I was flying through the storm searching all over the place and we couldn’t find a single clue until we came across an old set of ruins. Sage pointed out that’s where it would most likely be. We started to head there but that’s when the weather let up. We went in to check it out and found nothing.” Rainbow Dash answered her.

“Do you happen to know where these ruins are at?” Twilight asked.

“We still do. Follow us and we’ll lead you to them.” Sage said to them as they took off.

As they made their way there, they noticed that Fluttershy was flying better than before. Sage told them there are still electrical particles in the air so she would be feeling the effects and that the rest of shouldn’t feel anything. They traveled roughly 500 meters until they saw something that made them stop.

“What are those?” One of the girls asked.

Sage took a moment to see two different sparks flying at them.

“Wait a minute could it be….”

“SAGE!!!!!” Said the two sparks as they tackled him.

The girls then saw that it was Levia and Fefnir who tackled Sage.

“Sage we found you, finally we are all re-united at last!” Levia kept hold of her brother.

“Yeah it’s good to have you back bro. I’m really glad to see you’re okay.” Fefnir calmly said.

“Fefnir stop acting cool, you and I both know you were just as worried for Sage as much as I was.” Levia turned to him.

“I was not…Sure I missed him but I knew he was going to be fine the whole time.” Fefnir defended himself.

“So then what was with all the worrying and trying to get here quickly thing all about hmmm?” Levia smirked at her brother. Fefnir then turned away to hide his embarrassment, though it was pretty hard to tell in the first place since his coat was red.

“My siblings, it is great to see you two live and well.” Sage said calming the two. “But if you two are hear then that means…..”

“Been a while hasn’t it Sage.” An azure pony said as he approached the group.

The girls all were surprised to see the familiar azure pony approaching them. What had their interest was not that he was here, but mainly that he had the storm weather element. Furthermore, the element was tranquil.

“Re…Revenant what are you doing here?” Twilight asked him.

“I’m here to make things right.”

You can do it Revenant! Time to do what's right or lose all that you worked for.

Chapter 17: Choices to Make

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The mane six looked at Revenant with their own respective feelings towards him. A mix of love, hate, sorrow, and regret. The weather was calm but still had dangerous winds and the crashing of thunder could be heard. Levia and Fefnir hoped that things could finally be settled and that things can go back to the way they were. Sage was already foreseeing how this could play out and hoped that it went the right way. A cold small wind blew by signaling Sage that now everything has been set in motion.

“What do you mean by making things right?” Twilight asked him.

“Also why do you have the weather element and why is it all fine now? I thought only one of us could fix it?” Rainbow Dash asked as well.

“There is also the question of how did you even get here or know where to go?” Rarity asked.
Revenant pulled out a medallion with a faded gem in it.

“I got here with this, a long range teleportation medallion. I was able to track you girls by getting a hold of a couple friends I made through work and told me they saw you going on a train. I then went there to check the schedule of when you left and saw your destination. After that teleporting to the town by Neighagra Falls was easy.” He answered them. “To answer the next question I was able to make the element tranquil with the medallion.”

“But how…we were told that only an Element of Harmony could make it tranquil?” Twilight responded to his answer.

“Long-range teleportation requires large amounts of magic. Surprisingly, Spike’s dragon breath has potent magic in it to send Princess Celestia messages as well as receive them. Unfortunately the element absorbed all the charges left in the medallion rendering it useless but as well as drained some of my magic.”

“So you had Spike help you, gosh that little dragon of yours Twilight is so useful.” Rarity praised him.

“Then how did you find us exactly?” Applejack asked.

Revenant then tapped his horn with a smile.

“My magic…I can sense where ponies are at…especially with one who’ve I’ve split magic with.” He said looking at Twilight.

“Split magic? Isn’t that when you gave me some of yours back in the caves in order to escape?” Twilight asked.

“Yes it was. You see when unicorns split magic an eternal bond is created between the two. In a way it enhances senses and emotions, but always lets you know where the other one is at and if you know they are okay.”

Rainbow Dash then quickly tackled Revenant and pinned him down. She moved so fast that nopony didn’t have time to react.

“So that’s why she’s been caring for you so much! All because of your magic! I swear I should buck you so hard that you’ll get sent to Cloudsdale!” Rainbow Dash threatened him.

The girls quickly rushed over to pull her off him. She put up a little struggle wanting to kick his flank but Applejack was able to hold her back. Twilight went over to help him up.

“It’s alright I deserved that….” He quickly said to Twilight. “However though splitting magic doesn’t necessarily work that way.”

“Then how does it work?” Twilight asked him. Revenant turned to all of them to make sure he got his point across.

“It only works if Twilight was to do the same with me. Me offering my magic to her was simply opening the door and inviting her in. Only then when she would do it to me would the bond be formed. Once formed, nothing can break it.” Revenant explained.

“That’s so romantic…how come you get to be the lucky one Twilight?” Rarity asked her friend.

“Hold on before we all get mushy here, we still can’t trust you!” Rainbow Dash added.

“What in tarnation do you mean Dash? He comes all the way here to help us out and try and fix things. I know times got rough but…things just don’t feel right anymore.” Applejack told her friend.

“That’s right he’s one of our friends and we abandoned him when he needed us the most.” Fluttershy spoke up.

“Have you forgotten what he did in the mountains? What he did to Pinkie Pie? What he intended to do to all of us?” Rainbow Dash said going against her friend.

“I haven’t Dashie, because of that I now know that I should be a mummy for next Nightmare Night. Also I can never really be mad at another pony otherwise they wouldn’t smile.” Pinkie Pie jumped in. Revenant chuckled that Pinkie Pie always found a way to look on the bright side, even if she was oblivious to the situation.

“But he…” Rainbow Dash began but was cut-off by Fluttershy.

“We all make mistakes. Some worse than others but as long as we know that the pony is still them, then we can find a way to help them and learn to forgive.” Fluttershy finished up.

Everypony stared at the yellow pegasus with surprise of her newly acquired wisdom. She caught everyone’s gaze and began to cower under her wings. Whatever new found wisdom and confidence she had flew right out the window.

“Oh I’m sorry...I thought that it was best that I said something….that is okay of me isn’t it?” Fluttershy timidly asked.

Sage laughed and flew up to comfort her.

“My dear that is exactly what we needed to hear. When one has wise words to pass, speak of them whether your listeners choose to hear them. It is their undoing if they ignore them.” Sage assured Fluttershy.

He then turned to Revenant. Revenant knew the look that Sage gave him. It was time for him to settle things once and for all. No matter what the outcome he had to do it. What the others thought was up to them.

“Revenant it’s time you tell everypony how you plan on making things right” Sage told him.

“Simple. By doing this.” Revenant then handed the weather element to Twilight and bowed his head to all of them. “I only ask for forgiveness from all of you. If so then I will do everything I can to make it up to everypony, but if not then I will fade away from your lives and leave you all to yourselves. I wish for no ill intent, I just want to have things be right again or at least try to make them right. Whatever your decision is I will hold no nothing against you and I will understand.”

“Revenant…” Twilight began to motion to him.

Then everypony’s attention was directed behind them. They heard a series of hooves clapping as well as melodramatic cheering. The clapping stopped when a pegasus in a lab coat revealed himself. The girls were all confused while Revenant saw him and began to feel his dark feelings rise again. This time he let them flow slowly. He figured he knew he was going to need the extra energy because of the weather element, but how long would he need it for was the issue.

“Beautiful, simple beautiful…the drama, the hate, the love, all of it was beautiful. Good show my little ponies you should all have your very own show, I’m pretty sure it would be a big hit for all.” The pegasus in the lab coat congratulated them.

“I’m sorry who are you?” Rarity asked

“Also what do you want, we thought everypony was all held up in the town?” Applejack added to Rarity’s question.

“Oh where are my manners I am Professor Windston at your service, now how can I help you all?” The girls all stared at him with even more confusion than before. “Oops silly me, all of you asked me what I was here for. Hehehe….sorry force of habit.”

“Professor…” Revenant growled.

“Ah Revenant good to see you again, how’s it been so far?” Professor Windston asked.

“Professor…I thought I….” Revenant growled while his voice began to distort.

“Hmm…speak up I can’t hear you. Try and be more clear and precise with your words.”

“I thought I had you put away for good you twisted colt!” Revenant shouted in his distorted voice.

The most of the girls quickly backed off while Rainbow Dash got ready to attack him again. Twilight was the only one who ran up to him and was ready to defend him. He saw the look in all their eyes and quickly calmed himself down.

“Ah I see that is still an issue though it looks like it has gotten better.” Professor Windston continued.

“Professor why no….how did you get out of jail. I thought I had you put away for life for your crimes.” Revenant asked in his normal voice but his tone was still intense.

“I had a ‘friend’ get me out of there that wishes not be named; besides if I went on giving out his name it would spoil the show. Also that prison really had a poor book selection in there so I do wish for a little compensation for that.”
After finishing up his rambling, Professor Windston whistled. Then a couple armored dogs with Rover, Fido, and Spot appeared out of nowhere along with a couple other ponies. Revenant caught the tattoos the ponies had on them and became confused himself. Things were really turning ugly for them.

“No…Professor why….why are ponies from Animardia doing here?” Revenant asked him.

“Wouldn’t you like to know but tell you what I’ve got a deal for you. How about I don’t send this bunch after you and your friends and I’ll let you all go, no questions asked.” Professor offered.

“And what do you want in return.” Revenant continued to ask.

“Still dense as ever I see” Professor sighed. “All I want it is that weather element that your friend has over there.”

“No way this belongs to Princess Celestia not you creeps…” Twilight then had an epiphany. “It was you…you were the one who has wanted the weather elements all along and you used the dogs to help didn’t you?”

Professor Windston cackled at Twilight’s intellect. He slowly applauded her before speaking.

“You are a bright one aren’t you? I got to say Revie boy she is quite the keeper, I hope you don’t mind that we borrow her for a bit okay?” Professor said.

“What?” Twilight asked in shock.

“No…you won’t lay a hoof on her.” Revenant said now letting his darkness flow. He slowly released it like he did in his training so he could control it.

“Ah don’t worry I won’t be laying a hoof on her, though paws on the other hand…” Professor signaled the dogs to move as well as the Animardian ponies.

“Now this time we’ll win.” Rover said as he lashed out at Revenant.

The rest of the dogs and the Animardian ponies followed in with the assault. Revenant swatted off Rover with his dark power while Twilight followed up with her magic to send a couple dogs back that followed Rover. A couple of Animardian ponies tried to flank them but Applejack used some of the rope to lasso them back and let Rainbow Dash come in with a tackle. The dogs tried to gang up on Pinkie Pie but she kept dodging their every attack. Rarity saw the opportunity and got a couple hits on them. The dogs tried to retaliate back but Pinkie would jump on top of them keeping them at bay. Pinkie Pie and Rarity made an excellent team of keeping the dogs off them. Fefnir went to aid Fluttershy and let her know when she was going to be hit from a blind spot. With Fefnir by her side, Fluttershy felt empowered and was able to keep the Spot and Fido off her. Spot would try and get a hold of her but she would use her wings to throw him off. Fido saw an opportunity and tried to smash her. He was met with a cold crash on his face. Levia made sure that no pony was going to get hurt. Sage joined Revenant and Twilight and would read the opponents move and let the two know when to strike.

Despite the small amount of enemies this time, they were still able to pull their own weight. They were able to get their blows in and Applejack was even tossed into Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Rainbow Dash kept charging head in being relentless but would get hit in the process. She let the blows hit her and just kept going. The ponies knew that they couldn’t lose this one, not when they are so close to being done. Revenant began to feel the effects of his magic and was losing his strength. Rover was going to get him but Twilight took the blow for him. She staggered a little bit but shot a bolt of magic at Rover backing him off. Revenant felt as if he was going to lose control. It’s easy to fight and cut loose but when you have to defend somepony else, everything got harder.

The clash went on for a good ten minutes and everybody was getting fatigue. They slowly succumbed to their injuries and slowed down. Professor Windston the whole time was simply reading a book while they fought. He decided to see how they were doing and had an expression of disappointment on his face.

“Ah man, and here I thought we’d have it by now…oh well when you got to get something done its best to do it yourself as they say.” He said as he pulled a dark orb out of his lab coat.

He held up the orb and let the dark magic swirl in it and charge. After enough charging it attracted a lightning bolt into the orb and arced a dark lighting to everybody, including the dogs and the Animardian ponies. Everybody felt the pain and the agony. Professor Windston took pleasure in hearing their anguished screams. Twilight let go of the weather element and Revenant caught it before it could fall in the river next to them. It would’ve been bad since the current was still strong.

“Jeez…did you idiots forget the plan? We could’ve already been out of here now.” Professor said as he walked over to Twilight. “Allow me to remind what had to be done.”

He picked her up by her mane, pulled out a scalpel of his coat and held it to her throat. Everypony tried to get back up from the dark lighting but were still feeling its effects. Rainbow Dash was able to fight it due to her willpower while Revenant siphoned some of the dark magic from the attack to help him. Professor Windston backed up a little and pressed the scalpel to Twilight’s throat. Not enough pressure to break the skin, but enough to let her know how sharp it was.

“Okay then how about a new deal for all of you?” Professor Windston addressed everybody.

“No way I’ll….” Rainbow Dash began to speak.

“Hold on skittles, any closer and this purple one will have a little red color added to her coat.” Professor Windston reminded them.

Twilight tried to struggle free, but Professor Windston would use one of his free hooves to apply pressure to one of her pressure points. She felt the pain and it made Rainbow Dash and Revenant furious. The more rage they felt, the more they were able to fight off the effects and stand firm.

“What do you want this time Professor? Just let her go!” Revenant yelled as his voiced slowly distorted again.

“You might want to choose those words better…” He replied as he was about to throw Twilight into the river. He held her with his wing by her mane causing more pain. “Now here is what I have to offer. You give me the weather element and I’ll let you and your friends go. That way you could go home and let everypony know of your failure.”

Rainbow Dash wanted to hit him but she was worried what would happen to Twilight. She was fast but she’d be cutting it close if she was to try and get Twilight. If she happened to get caught into the current and tried to pull Twilight out, she might get sucked in as well. They really didn’t have any options. Sage began to look up and felt the wind go by him.

“Revenant….this is you moment now.” He spoke to himself. “Please make the right choice...”

Revenant looked around and saw his friends’ expressions to the situation. He didn’t want to fail after all he went through just to hand the element over but he didn’t want to lose Twilight either. The more he thought of it, the heavier the choices looked. Everything spiraled in his head until he heard a voice.

“What an interesting predicament we are in. I can help you Revenant….” The dark voice spoke to him.

His darkness was communicating to him again and he tried to fight against it.

“Easy there….I’m not all that bad…I only want to help.” The voice continued.

“And what benefit would you get out of this huh?” Revenant spoke to it.

“I wouldn’t worry about that right now. The more time you waste, the slimmer the chance becomes of saving her.” It grimly responded.

“Never…after what happened at the mountains…I will never let you take me again.”

“But this time the conditions are different. You said you were going to make things right but you won’t be able to unless you let me in.” It raged at him.

“No…I control you now. And I’ll find a way. There always is. I came here to make things right and that is what I’m going to do.” Revenant responded to the voice.

He looked at everypony one last time and then at Professor Windston. The expression on his face let the Professor know what he was going to do. He smiled at Revenant for the choice he was about to make.

“Fine….you can have it….it isn’t worth losing her.” Revenant said holding it out.

“Revenant no…” Twilight said.

“How sweet she doesn’t want you to. Sorry their girlie, he cares for you more than the element. How touching.” He then looked back at Revenant. “Now bring it here and remember no funny business or she goes for a rapid river ride.”

Revenant grimaced at the thought of that. He shook his head and walked over. The rest of the girls felt helpless watching Revenant hand over the element to Professor Windston. After handing him the element he backed up a little bit and put the element in his lab coat. The dogs and the Animardian ponies began to cheer but Sage knew better.

“Hehehe….I knew you’d make the right choice Rev…now Twilight yours will be coming up next…”Sage mumbled as he just laid there and smiled.

“There you have what you want now hold your end of the deal.” Revenant said to him.

“But of course I am a stallion of my word.”

After that he let go of Twilight into the river. Everypony was shocked to see what happened. Rainbow Dash quickly darted after Twilight. Revenant felt all his rage build up. He grabbed Professor Windston with his magic and held him up by his lab coat.

“What the hell! I thought you wouldn’t do that!” He screamed in his demon voice.

“Oh I said I would let you and your friends go and well…I let her go didn’t I?” He cackled.

“I’m going to kill…no I’m going to destroy you!” Revenant yelled as his voiced distorted.

“Are you sure you should be wasting your time with me when your lavender princess his heading to the falls now?” Professor wickedly grinned.

Revenant cursed under his breath and took off after Twilight. He was pretty behind but pushed all his magic through his body to keep him going. He felt his speed pick up but he knew that he wouldn’t maintain it for long. His body would begin to breakdown.

Rainbow Dash was speeding fast and water flew around her. She neared Twilight and reached out a hoof for her. Twilight was about to grasp it when a wave broke off from the current and slammed Rainbow Dash into the bank and carried Twilight underwater. Seconds later she emerged trying to gasp for air and saw that Rainbow Dash lost her distance. Rainbow Dash got up and took off as she saw Revenant pass her by. Revenant saw they were nearing the end of the river and would break off into the falls.

“No…not now. I need to save her…” Revenant cursed to himself.

“Then allow me to aid you.” The dark voice returned.

“Shut up, you’ll only do more harm than good!” Revenant replied.

“Then how about I tell you what you can do…” Revenant hated it but he had to listen to it. “Remember, you made a contract with us and those who make the contract are given a special ability. You have it in you but you renounced it. If you want to save her, then you need to use it once more.”

Revenant remembered what that ability was. It what was truly that defined the definition of control and allowed the user true freedom. But Revenant knew that every time it was used their came a price and it would slowly build until the user couldn’t pay the fine.

“Well you say that you have control, now prove it….show the abyss that you have control.” The voice told him.
It didn’t take long for Revenant to realize that he had no choice.

“Fine….I’ll do it…but not to prove a point to the abyss...but to save Twilight. To save the mare that I love.” Revenant responded to it.

Revenant then looked into his soul and saw the ability. He released the restraints he put on it and let it flow through him. It felt different then his darkness. He didn’t feel power, but freedom, he felt limitless. The magic flowed to his horn and quickly opened a rift that Revenant ran into. Within the rift everything was dark but he could see within it. He saw the shades of other who made contracts and failed. The world around him was surrounded by the shadows and he moved freely through it. The voice manifested within in him to show his reflection but a more demonic form of him.

“Welcome back to the abyss Revenant…or should I say Abysswalker…”

Revenant then felt a magical sensation brand itself on him. He quickly looked back to see a dark sword with a shining light behind it being surrounded by a dark light had appeared on his flank. His cutie mark had reappeared. As the manifestation faded so did the darkness around him and Revenant fell into the river next to Twilight. He quickly grabbed her and held her above the water. She was struggling but then saw that she was in Revenant’s hooves.

“Revenant…how did you….” She began to ask.

“Hang on! We’re about to hit the falls!” He told her.

They neared the falls and felt the current build. Rainbow Dash saw and picked up her speed. A cone began to form around her. She was still far behind and didn’t know if she would catch them in time even with a sonic rainboom. Both Twilight and Revenant fell off the falls and began the plummet to the rocks below.

“Twilight hold on!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she saw them go over the ledge.

A few seconds later she broke the sound barrier and sped towards them leaving behind a rainbow trail. As she went off the edge she saw the both of them were nearing the rocks. She would be cutting it close and didn’t know if she would save them, but she had to try. Revenant couldn’t take the chance and let his ability flow again. Seconds later the couple was only a foot away from the rocks when the rift opened up and engulfed them both. A second later it disappeared and Rainbow Dash flew by where she thought she would’ve caught them.

“Twilight….TWILIGHT!?!?” Rainbow Dash called frantically as she looked for her friend. “TWILIGHT….TWILIGHT….WHERE ARE YOU………..TWIIIIIIIIILLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!”

Rainbow Dash cried as she frantically looked for her friend. Moments later the storm cleared up but the storm in Rainbow Dash’s heart was still raging. She failed to save her friend and now she was nowhere to be found. She dropped by bank next to the river and sobbed uncontrollably. Nopony would be able to hear her cries over the sounds of the falls crashing against the rocks.

Chapter 18: No More Secrets

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The river flowed calmly through the forest at the base of the falls. The sky was gray but slowly cleared up. Everything slowly began to come to life as though now it was safe to come. A deep silence surrounded the forest but was broken when an azure pony rose from the water gasping for air. He grabbed the bank and dragged himself out carrying an unconscious lavender pony. He coughed attempting to get his breath back but was slowly coming to. He looked over to the pony he carried out and quickly went to her.

“Twilight…Twilight are you alright…answer me?” Revenant asked her through his coughs.

He put his head to her chest and felt murmurs within her breathing. Seconds later she coughed out water over him and stabilized her breathing. Revenant felt joy and laid out next to her. He looked up to the sky clearing up and felt the sun slowly beginning to shine.

“Damn…I lost the element,” He then turned his gaze to Twilight. “But it wasn’t worth losing you…nothing is.”

He then noticed that she wasn’t looking to well. He quickly got up and tried to figure out what was wrong with her. He put his hoof up to her forehead and felt an immense heat building up.

“What the…her temperature is rising. Could it be a fever?” He then saw her chest rise up and down frequently. “And she’s breathing hard…no…no…no no no no!”

He began to lose his cool and realized that he couldn’t. If he lost it then everything he did would be in vain. Revenant began to gather his thoughts and pondered on different solutions. He thought of using his bonfire technique to heal her but he’d probably only have enough magic in him to only keep her stabilized until medical attention was brought to her. Also the heat of the flame could send her body temperature high and make things worse. He knew some first aid but only for combat. Different ideas kept swirling through Revenant’s mind of what to do.

“This is bad…hopefully all the predators are still hiding from the storm, but the dogs….I can’t take any chances.” Revenant said to himself.

He struggled to stand and tried to carry Twilight. He couldn’t and finally succumbed to his injuries and fatigue. He even tried to drag her with his magic but couldn’t. All his strength left him.

“Damn…I’ve got nothing left in me. The fighting, the chasing, and the swimming…I can barely move.” He grunted.

He searched for any sign of cover and saw an opening under a tree. It would be the perfect spot and if any predator tried to come by, they wouldn’t be able to reach them with all the tangled roots. Revenant thought to himself if he could do it one more time, just to that location. He concentrated and felt it still within him. It was the only thing now that felt as though he could do. Revenant sighed and did it once more. He grabbed Twilight’s hoof and let the rift open and suck them in. Seconds later he saw that both of them were under the tree.

“What the….” Revenant said as he noticed that he felt a little stamina come back to him.

He struggled but was able to get up. Shortly afterwards he felt weak and sat down. He also felt some his magic flowing back into him. A chill then ran through his spine.

“I knew you’d be seduced by its capabilities.” The dark voice came back to him.

“What do you mean by that?” Revenant asked it.

Then it manifested into Revenant once more. It walked over to him and then looked at Twilight.

“Amazing what it can do. oh and congratulations on the cutie mark coming back. I don’t even know why you got rid of it in the first place?” The manifestation spoke to Revenant.

“Enough riddles…just tell me….why is it after I abyss walked…I feel some energy back?” Revenant asked.

“Heh…’abyss walking’. It was what the abyss bestows upon those who make a contract, but only those who can pay the fine can use it. You have a strong soul, it is what it likes.” The manifestation chuckled. “Abyss walking allows you the freedom to tread wherever you wish and the further the distance or the frequent the use, the more energy that comes back to you. So abyss walking from the river to Twilight, then both of you from the falls somewhere at the river gave you enough energy to swim and pull her out. Though you’ve already gone over your limits but the short distance to here did give you a small piece back, but only to help ease the recovery. Though your little girlfriend here doesn’t seem to be taking it well.”

“What do you mean by that?” Revenant asked.

“Because she hasn’t had any contact with the abyss like you.” The manifestation could see the puzzled look on Revenant’s face. “The reason it’s called ‘abyss walking’ is because you open a tunnel to your destination but to get there you travel through the abyss. You’re used to it, she isn’t….but don’t worry she’ll be fine with a little rest.” The manifestation finished.

“Why….why are you being so…cooperative with me? In the past you tried to manipulate me and now you are submitting to my will. What is it that you are planning?” Revenant asked the manifestation.

“Dense and intelligent…I’m glad the intelligence is showing right now. You see, you do the abyss no good if you go off dying. You’ve become too valuable now especially with you being able to abyss walk once more. The abyss does not want to lose itself a prime candidate, so it will do whatever it can to keep you well.”

“But what of then when I’m no longer of use?”

“Smart thinking there...normally it would just consume you and gain more power but you….I think it likes you. I foresee that the abyss has big plans for you…for us…do take care until then. We will speak another time so enjoy your victories for now but remember like all contracts there will be a time to collect and I hope you are ready to pay up front in full.” The manifestation finished and faded.

Its words were spears that pierced Revenant’s mind and soul. None of that mattered to him now. He had Twilight safe and that was all that mattered. Not knowing when they’ll be found he prepared small incense from some of the dead roots with his bonfire technique. No heat would affect Twilight but would provide an aromatherapy for the both of them. Revenant went into a light sleep that would give him enough rest and awaken with some energy if danger came by.

A few hours passed by as Revenant slept and Twilight rested. Within Revenant’s mind he didn’t feel despair, fear, or darkness. He felt tranquil as he slept. It has been too long for him to have his mind at peace. Usually sleeping would always be torture but now he welcomed it. He didn’t fear his own thoughts anymore. Within his mind that moment played out over again where he was under the moon, deep in the Everfree forest, where he lost all hope but was re-kindled again. Revenant felt that he finally had a chance to win the battle within.

His dream was broken when he heard voices coming from the forest. Revenant got up and quickly observed his surroundings. For moment he lost where he was but quickly got everything back together. He was under the tree protecting Twilight. Revenant looked over to see that she was still unconscious and looked out from the roots to see if anything was coming. The voices started to become clearer and were nearing them. He couldn’t make out who they belonged to and decided to play it safe and used some illusion magic over the roots concealing them. Moments later he the voices sounded near and was able to make out who they belonged to.

“Twilight….TWILIGHT!!! Where are you….answer me…” Rainbow Dash called.

“Twi…Rev…where are you two? Come on out!” Applejack cried.

“Twilight, Revenant, I’ve got some snacks for you two if you come out!” Pinkie Pie yelled.

“Pinkie I don’t think that’s helping!” Rarity scolded her.

“I do hope they are okay…I can’t imagine what we’d do without Twilight?” Fluttershy feared.

“Revenant come on out…please…. We’re all okay!” Levia shouted.

Revenant couldn’t believe it. When he left they were all injured nearly down and out, but they were still kicking. Filled with joy, he took down the illusion and called out to them. They all turned around and quickly rushed to them. Applejack and Rainbow Dash broke apart the roots to create an opening for them.

“REVENANT YOUR’E OKAY!!!” Levia embraced him. He could feel her icy tears of joy on his face.

“Where’s Twilight?!” Rainbow Dash asked frantically.

Revenant directed to where she was and all the girls rushed to her. They checked up on Twilight, who was now coming back to the world. They all hugged her and she was surprised at first but then realized all her friends were there now. Revenant went out from the tree and went to the river. There he washed up his face and stared at the reflection in the water. He didn’t know why but he felt like things were finally coming to an end. He looked at his cutie mark with concern. Before it made him grief but now he wondered what it truly meant.

“Revie….you got your cutie mark.” Pinkie Pie interrupted his solitude. “That’s one cool looking one. What does it mean? Is it something with your knighthood…oh are you becoming a knight again?”

“No Pinkie….that’s not it. Besides what happened up there, last I remember all of you were down on the ground?” Revenant asked her.

“Well the pegasus in the lab coat kept his word. After he got the element he got his buddies and left. I’m kind of sad though, for such a bad guy he kept his word so he couldn’t be that bad.” Pinkie recalled.

“He wasn’t….but that was a different time though…” Revenant trailed off remembering the past. He grimaced at the fact that they failed to retrieve the weather element. Knowing Professor Windston, he had an idea of what his goal was.

“Revenant now it’s time.” Rainbow Dash went up to him. Revenant had a look of concern on his face. “Don’t give me that look. It’s time for you to tell us everything…no more secrets.”

“Aye reckon she’s right.” Applejack added. “Twi said that yesterday you were going to tell us but now all this happened. So now that things are all calm it’s your turn to talk.”

“Yes…I’ll talk…but let’s get a move on back to the town. I’m sure down there they want to know if we’re okay.” Revenant said to them.

“You promise that you’re going to tell us the way there?” Rainbow Dash asked him up close.

“I promise.”

“How about Pinkie Promise?” Pinkie Pie asked jumping in between the two.

“*Sigh* Cross my heart hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye.” Revenant promised as he did the motion. The girls looked at him with surprise, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were holding back there laughs. “Oh give me a break…Sweetie Belle had me do it to promise her something back at the school. Let’s get a move on so I can tell you girls.”

Revenant took the lead of the mane six but he could hear a couple snickers at him still. As they walked back to the town he informed them of the origins of the abyss. No pony knew of where it came from or what its purpose is but the ponies in Animardia speculated as a form of true evil that wished to control everything. It reminded the girls of Discord, but he assured them that the abyss was worse. Not because of its power, but of how it brings out your dark thoughts, nightmares, phobias, and weaknesses. Also the contract made one power hungry and increased their dark desires. It broke you down and when you were weak, it would devour you. He then explained that in his past, during the time his father was gone he made a contract with the abyss. Revenant told them that he isn’t sure when he did it but he noticed that when his father disappeared he began to hear the darkness. Since he made a contract with them, his soul was blackened and could always be tracked by the abyss whenever it decided to collect. The weak ones were instantly devoured but those who could handle it like Revenant would gain power, but would have the chance of losing control and succumbing to dark emotions. Even though it was an immense of power, he explained that it was a sin for what he did and hopes that he can be redeemed one day.

“So that thing you did back there….when you appeared right next to me in the river…what was that?” Twilight asked him as they neared the edge of the woods. The town was coming into view.

“Yeah…when I went to catch you and Twilight, you both disappeared into….I don’t know some sort of black hole?” Rainbow Dash asked to the best of her ability.

“That is called ‘abyss walking’. Since I really couldn’t do teleportation magic that was my substitute. What I do is tear a hole in the fabric of space and time and jump into the abyss.” Revenant explained.

“Hold on there, so all that talk earlier of how bad it is to go in there and what not and you still do it so carelessly?” Applejack asked with great concern.

“Not entirely, you only enter the abyss for a short period of time but only few can abyss walk whoever makes a contract. Personally I think I may be the only one who can do it now.” He continued.

“So why was I unconscious for a while after you saved me?” Twilight asked.

“Because I brought you with me in the abyss.” He replied. The girls then looked at him with great concern for Twilight. “Don’t worry; nothing could’ve happened to her as long as I was there. Her body couldn’t handle it so she passed out. She’ll be fine.”

“Then why do you have your cutie mark now….that is if you don’t mind me asking?” Fluttershy asked changing the subject.

Before he could answer, they realized they were at the town hall near Neighagra Falls. They didn’t notice it at first but saw that the town was still in good shape. Some places had things tossed about but everything was okay. The local town folks were beginning to move out and about to see if everything was truly safe. A crowd was slowly forming near town hall.

“Well guess I should answer this before the whole town is here.” Revenant mumbled to himself. “You see girls I’m still trying to figure it out myself. Before I thought my cutie mark meant that the light was me and the darkness around it was always coming for me, and that the dark sword was a reminder that I used darkness easily but could corrupt me at any time…”

“That’s awful…how could someone bear something like that.” Rarity sympathized for him.

“But a cutie mark represents your special talent….unless….was the abyss your special talent?” Twilight asked with a heavy heart. Revenant was silent for a moment before he answered.

“I believe so…it would make sense now that it appeared after I used a special ability from the abyss to save my mother when we were getting mugged.” He then looked at it with grief. “Normally anypony would be excited, but this….this thing….only brings me grief.”

“Why should it? If that is your special talent then you must be good at controlling it.” Rarity assured him. He was caught off guard and never thought of it that way.

“That may be true….but still I would rather have it gone then to see it again.” Revenant said as he looked at it with hate.

“Speaking of, no pony has ever heard of a cutie mark that disappeared and then re-appeared. What happened to it that made it go away?” Twilight asked.

Little did she know that the mane six were going to regret what they were about to hear. The three ponysprites looked at Revenant as if he shouldn’t speak of it. He nodded to them that he had to. They readied themselves to hear it for it brought up a painful memory for all of them.

“Are you sure you want to know?” Revenant asked.

“Yeah we want no more secrets from you. So we want to hear everything.” Rainbow Dash said as she stomped her hoof.

“Very well…up to now I’ve truly told you everything except for this.” Revenant took a deep breath. He still felt the pain of this portion of his past and had to brace himself for it. “When I first got it, I was overjoyed but when I was in the knights I noticed my…dark tendencies on missions. Soon I became aware of what was inside of me and the danger I was to everypony. My mark practically let everypony know what I was capable of and was even feared by my own comrades. So in order to renounce myself….I removed my cutie mark in front of everypony.”

“But how, through magic?” Twilight asked.

“No….I cut it off.” Revenant somberly responded.

The girls had an expression of horror on their faces. To think that somepony would go through self-mutilation in front of their peers made them cringe with fear. They now knew Revenant hated himself for what he had; even though he did everything he could to prove he was good. All of them felt the mood drop and all the excitement that would be held for a safe return faded. It didn’t last long when they heard the doors of town hall open and four fillies came rushing out and tackled Revenant with joy.

“Revenant you made it back! Did everything go well? Did you kick some flank? Is everything now okay with you and the girls?” The cutie mark crusaders and Pip asked as they were on top of him.

“Little ones, what are you doing here?” The mane six asked breaking the somber mood.

“Revenant needed our help so we came with him.” Spike said as he joined the group. “Sorry about not letting you know but it was kind of urgent.”

“Spike…you’re here too?! Revenant explain yourself.” Twilight demanded.

“Sorry girls, I need the little ones to help gather supplies for the teleportation amulet and Spike’s dragon breath help gave it charges. I figured since it sends message to Princess Celestia and he receives them, there had to be some sort of teleportation involved with it.” Revenant defended himself as the fillies got off him.

“So our heroes return!” Steadfast exclaimed as he appeared with his wife. “Citizens of Neighagra Falls, we have been saved thanks to this band of heroes here! To honor their efforts, we shall hold a feast in the grand dining hall within my establishment!”

The ponies cheered for the mane six and Revenant for their efforts. The mayor then dragged them inside his study while his wife guided the town folks to help set-up the feast. Once in his office Steadfast turned to them and began to ask for answers.

“I really must thank you ponies for all that you’ve done. If it wasn’t for you I don’t know what would’ve happened.” Steadfast thanked them.

“You would’ve taken care of your people like you did earlier.” Sage answered him. “You are a good stallion, don’t ever forget your will to help your people and you’ll never let them down.”

“Ah Sage, your infinite wisdom is a blessing…now tell me how things went.” Steadfast turned to the ponies.

“Unfortunately we failed in retrieving the weather element…” Revenant began.

“But we did stop the weather and kick some bad guy flank.” Pinkie Pie cut him off. “So I say we did alright and we should still have the party. Which reminds me I hope I can help set-up some of my own things. I’ll get my party cannon and see what I can do.” With a flash the pink mare was gone from the office.

“Awkward….still you saved this town and we owe you so please enjoy the feast and stay one more night so you may return home fully refreshed.” Steadfast told them. A couple of them were having second thoughts on his offer but they decided to stay. “Thank all of you for this and Revenant you look different…”

Revenant then showed him that he got his cutie mark.

“Magnificent….even more reason to celebrate. I have never seen anything of its sort. It’s ominous, mystifying, and powerful…I like it. Now come on, the celebrations should begin soon.” Steadfast up as he pushed them out of his office into the grand dining hall for the ponies to enjoy their victory.

Chapter 19: Two become One

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Everypony began to gather in the grand dining hall in city hall. Within a short time frame everything was set-up. The finest of plates and silverware were brought out on the tables. The old drapes were replaced with new regal looking ones. Everything looked as though it was designed for aristocrats, despite the town being around the size of Ponyville, if not smaller. Soon the town folks found their places around the tables. Steadfast shortly appeared in front of the crowd.

“Ponies of Neighagra falls…We have endured what could’ve been a disastrous situation. Though it was short notice, all of you did well so please give yourselves a round of applause.” The mayor addressed the town.

Many of the ponies were cheering for their success. Families were hugging and some were crying out of joy that they still had everything they loved. The mayor shortly raised his hooves to subtly silence them.

“Tonight we celebrate, but not only cause of our survival. No, we celebrate the success of a band of heroes that came here from Ponyville, a town similar to ours. These ponies traveled far for us and journeyed into the storm to stop it. They successfully prevented the storm and made us all feel safe once again. Now I present to you our heroes!” Steadfast beckoned for them.

The mane six, Revenant, the ponysprites, Spike, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Pip appeared. Not a second later, the town roared for their success. Steadfast and his wife escorted them to a special table where they would dine. As they were being escorted to their table, they were rushed by the town folks. Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Levia definitely enjoyed some of the spot light. Applejack and Fluttershy made sure their friends didn’t let this get to their heads. Fluttershy was timid at first but Fefnir assured her that it was okay to enjoy some praise every now and then. The Cutie Mark Crusaders and Pip along with Pinkie Pie happily accepted the gratitude. Spike quickly rushed to hug Twilight and both of them were glad that they were safe. Sage calmly accepted gratitude and let the town folks know that they too deserve credit. Revenant would smile and nod to others thanking him, still feeling failure that the weather element wasn’t retrieved. A few moments later they were seated with Steadfast and his wife.

After being seated, ponies with entrées of food came out. They began to set them in place and brought drinks as well. Pinkie Pie was enraptured by the sight of all the food she was drooling and was ready to jump into the feast. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had to hold back the excited pink mare lest she cause havoc that she’d be oblivious to.

“Hahahaha….I see you’re pink friend there is dying to eat.” Steadfast laughed.

“I’m sorry sir…it’s just….” Applejack said as she held back Pinkie Pie. “It’s just that with all this food and drinks we aren’t entirely sure how crazy things will get.”

“Hahahaha….please this is a time to celebrate so please follow your friend’s excitement and dive right in.” The mayor laughed once more.

“Really?!?!?!” Pinkie Pie said with shock.

She stopped struggling and was completely still. The girls were worried now. Steadfast may not have known, Revenant didn’t even know, but the girls knew that if Pinkie Pie stopped then that means she is taking in what she heard before…

“What are you waiting for?! Let’s get this party started!!!!!!” The pink mare exclaimed getting the whole dining hall excited.

Pinkie Pie broke free of her friends and dived right into the crowd kicking off the celebration. Steadfast and Revenant looked at Pinkie getting lost in the celebration and looked back at her friends. They all had a look on their faces that said ‘we warned you’. It didn’t matter; everypony was having a good time. Music was playing, drinks were being poured, and every pony was celebrating. Pinkie Pie was in the center of the crowd and keeping everypony in motion. Rarity was enjoying the attention from the town. Several colts would try to hit on her but Spike would find a way to cease their efforts. The Cutie Mark Crusaders and Pip were talking with other fillies their age. The Cutie Mark Crusaders would tell them of some of the adventures they’ve been on but slightly exaggerated some of the details. Fluttershy was avoiding the mingling but Applejack helped her out to enjoy the party with her. Rainbow Dash did meet a couple of pegasi that knew the Wonderbolts and she conversed with them hoping to know more about her heroes and how to be with them. The ponysprites took this chance to celebrate that they were together once more and explain to Sage what they’ve been up to up till now. Twilight got caught with a couple unicorns who heard of her studying under Princess Celestia. As she explained to them she caught Revenant trying to get some breathing room from the crowd. Many were simply thanking him and were more compelled about him since they could tell he wasn’t from Equestria. Some of the local mares did take an interest in him, but Twilight cut in and dragged him away from the crowd. The two then spent most of the time with each other and even danced a couple of times. The celebration went on and everypony kept it going.

Hours later, everything came to a close. It was late now and there were ponies still leaving to make it back to their homes. Despite it being a huge celebration, the clean-up wasn’t that bad. After about an hour of clean-up, it was time for the rest of them to sleep. The mane six went off into the rooms they slept in the night before, the Cutie Mark Crusaders shared a room similar to the one Pip and Spike shared. Revenant had his room with the ponysprites although only Levia was with him. Fefnir ended up passing out somewhere in the dining hall and Sage went to go to the map in the mayor’s study but went to sleep right by it.

Twilight tried to sleep but couldn’t. Her mind was uneasy right now. When everything was over, Revenant wished her goodnight, gave her a kiss and left. She knew him enough that he wanted to be alone to reconcile everything that has happened. There was always something eating away at his mind and Twilight was worried of how bad it was for him. A few minutes later she carefully got up and left the room not waking up her friends. She illuminated the dark hallway with her horn and made her way to Revenant’s room. She had déjà vu of when she checked up on him in Ponyville. At the door she thought how the situation could play out. What if she said the wrong things and made it worse, or what if things actually went well from there? What would she do? She was conflicted with the situation wondering how it could all play out and….

“No Twilight….you’ve done this before. You can definitely do it again.” Twilight said to herself. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door. “Revenant…its Twilight can I come in?”

A few minutes later the door was being opened. Twilight was greeted with a drowsy eyed Levia. It took Levia a moment to realize who was in front of her.

“Twilight….what brings you in at this hour?” She asked.

“I can’t really sleep right now…is Revenant here?” Twilight replied.

“Yeah he’s out on the balcony thinking away again.” Levia groaned. “I honestly don’t know what is with that stallion? When things turn out well, he’s always the one to look at the dark side.”

“I think he does that so no pony else has to worry about it.” Twilight speculated.

“Well look who has the answers now. You didn’t happen to pass by Sage before this did you?” Levia asked.

“I saw him passed out by the map in the mayor’s office.”

“That’s typical Sage for you.” Both the girls shared a small laugh. “Well Twilight come on in and….”

That’s when everything clicked in Levia’s head. She knew why Twilight was here even if she didn’t know it herself.

“So Twilight….”

“What is it Levia? I’ve seen that look on your face before. What are you up to?” Twilight asked in a concerned tone.

“Oh nothing really more of what are you up to?” Levia replied.

“I’m just here to make sure Revenant’s okay that’s all.”

“Right…kind of like before huh…” Levia implied. Twilight was confused with Levia’s answer. Levia rolled her eyes at Twilight’s cluelessness. “Well then guess I’ll go out for a midnight stroll, meanwhile I’ll give you two some…alone time.” Levia finished up as she left the room.

“Like before….alone time….” Then Twilight realized what Levia implied. “Wait Levia! It’s nothing like that at all…I mean I’m here only to…”

Twilight tried calling out to the ponysprite but lost sight of her. Levia was already gone. Twilight was even more nervous now. Before she just wanted to talk but didn’t really consider that could happen as well. She knew she wasn’t getting out of this so she went in closed the door behind her. Shortly afterwards, Twilight heard the sound of the door locking.

“Wait I didn’t….”

“Just thought I’d make sure no pony disturbs you two.” Levia whispered through the door.

“Levia wait, unlock this door right now! LEVIA!” Twilight called through the door.

“Twilight….what are you doing here?” Revenant asked walking back from the balcony.

“Oh hi Revenant…how’s it going?” Twilight nervously responded.

“Well I should be asking you that considering you shouting for Levia. What did she do now?”

“Oh well she locked me in here that’s all.”

Revenant raised an eyebrow at her answer.

“So why not teleport out of here or unlock the door with your magic?” He asked her.

“I could do that but….I um….” Twilight began but couldn’t finish.

“Hold on….did Levia put you up to this?”

“Sort of….” Twilight quietly answered. Revenant shook his head at the ponysprites actions.

“I guess she noticed that I couldn’t sleep and figured you’d be the one to help. Curse that ponysprite.” Revenant sighed. “I’m sorry that she had to wake you up for my sake.”

“Oh no it’s okay besides I was having a hard time sleeping as well.” Twilight quickly responded.

Both the unicorns stood there at the awkward moment that had built up from Levia’s actions.

“So….what’s bugging you this time?” Twilight asked breaking the silence. Revenant sighed and then looked at his cutie mark.

“My cutie mark….before I used to hate it and what it meant. I even went to the extent of removing it but now it’s back and I’m not sure why.” Revenant explained as he went to take a seat on the bed.

Twilight thought about it for a moment and decided to take a seat next to him hoping to have the answer he was looking for.

“I was thinking…that back at the falls when you jumped in the river…” Twilight began.

“Right….”

“Well before that you didn’t have it but after you jumped or…’abyss walked’ in the river….you did it again as we fell off the falls saving me.” Twilight felt her nerves building up but she had to press on. “After all that then it appeared.”

“Are you saying that it came back….because of you?” Revenant asked. “But if so then how does that connect it to the first time it appeared when I didn’t know you?”

“I think…” Twilight speculated for a moment and decided to take shot in the dark. “I think that it appeared because you used what you call a curse for the sake of another.”

“Now that you say it…it would make sense that it appeared the first time when I saved my mother…” Revenant thought on her words.

“Also I think what you said what it means is wrong.” Twilight said gaining Revenant’s attention

“What could you possibly mean? It’s related to the darkness within me and that even though we are all born of the light, the darkness is continuously after me. What else could it mean?” Revenant asked with pain in his words.

“Weill…” Twilight began as she got closer to Revenant, “I believe that the dark sword is you always ready to fight for those you care for and that you’ll endure what others could not. Also the light and the darkness around it…there’s something more to that. I agree that the light is you but the darkness around you isn’t trying to engulf you, but fading away from you.” Twilight explained.

“I still don’t understand entirely what you mean. Are you saying that I use my darkness to fight for others and not for myself? If so then how is it that I’m so easily corruptible by it?” Revenant asked.

“That’s just it….you aren’t easily corruptible by it. You’ve had this with you for as long as you could remember and you’ve still fought for what was right. It’s something that can only be admired.” She assured him getting closer to him.

“No pony could admire me for that….”

“But I do…” She said grabbing his hoof. “Revenant, your ability to handle this burden is beautiful and shines brightly within you. That’s what it means…that’s who you are. Your cutie mark let’s ponies know that in the darkest of times, you shine the brightest and they look up to you. Ponies can look to you in their worst times and depend on you to offer them safety. You endure what you have to so others don’t have to. Revenant…you are a light in a darkened world.” Twilight finished explaining to him.

“Twilight…” Revenant softly said to her as he grabbed her hooves as well.

He felt his heart racing now. It longed for her much like how it did when he was with Terra. His mind began to get in the way and remind him of how things could go wrong. Revenant didn’t care. He was ready to take the leap with his heart and take on whatever came at him and Twilight. He wouldn’t let anything take her away this time.

“You believe in me so much and always care for me. Here I am causing you grief and giving you a reason to worry about me.” Revenant continued.

“That’s because I know there is a stallion in there that wants to protect those he cares for and not let anything do harm to them.” She assured him.

“I know…which is why….” His heart was pounding heavy now. It was time to lead with his heart once more. “Which is why…Twilight…I love you. Your kind spirit, your beautiful heart…everything about you I love. You constantly looked out for me even when I wanted to be gone from everypony…you were there looking for me.”

He then pulled her in closely. As he embraced her, she put her hooves around his head.

“This is why I want to be with you. When I’m with you I feel at peace and joy. All my troubles fade when I’m around you. This is why I promise that I won’t let anything happen to you. I will not let anything do harm upon you and I promise to be there for you. Even if I’m far away…I will return to you to be with the mare I love.”

“….I know you will.”

They both passionately kissed each other. Shortly afterwards, they rolled onto each other. As they continued they felt each other’s hearts connect and fell into a lovers embrace. Both the unicorns let their hearts melt into each other and have their bodies become one.

Monday Breakfast in the Dining Hall

Mostly everypony was in the dining hall starting to eat their breakfast. Despite the mission not being a total success, they all felt a great victory from it. As the ponies were enjoying their breakfast they had small discussions of the party last night. They all had a great time and would have more great memories of it.

“Speaking of good times, did you see Twilight’s face when she saw other mares talking to Revenant? I saw a little jealousy in her.” Pinkie Pie giggled.

“Ah let the girl be…so she likes him and all. He’s not too bad of a fellow. He definitely proved himself jumping off a waterfall to save her.” Applejack defended her friend.

“Hey I flew off there too you know.” Rainbow Dash added feeling left out. “And I would’ve caught them too if he didn’t go on doing that thing he does.”

“But they’re both safe and isn’t that what matters?” Fluttershy asked Rainbow Dash.

“But of course it is Fluttershy, also Rainbow Dash after all he’s done trying to make things right you think you would at least try and trust him.” Rarity spoke up.

“Well I guess he’s alright now…Not full trustworthy but alright.” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Eh it’s a start speaking of….where is Twilight and Rev? You think they be the early birds out of us.” Applejack asked. Levia hid a grin well knowing at where the two were.

“I’m right here AJ…just went out to see how the town was doing this morning.” Twilight happily answered as she walked in.

She took her seat near Spike and began to eat her breakfast. Everyone was looking at her with interest. They all could see something was different about her. She had a little skip in her walk and she looked more lively than usual and they could’ve sworn they heard her humming too. Twilight looked up at them all and felt like Fluttershy for a moment.

“What are you all staring at me for?” Twilight asked her friends.

“Well don’t you look, all lively this morning....what’s with the humming as well sugarcube?” Applejack asked her.

“Oh I guess I just had a really goodnights rest that’s all.” Twilight answered with a smile.

“Yeah…probably the best you’ve ever had.” Levia snickered under her breath

“What was that Levia?” Rarity asked her.

“I was about to say that she must’ve had a really good dream as well.” Levia replied.

Rarity looked at the ponysprites facial expression and then turned to Twilight. Rarity began to notice some of the signs but wasn’t sure of what she was thinking happened. Rarity did hear Twilight leave the room last night, but didn’t want to bring that up.

“Tell me Twilight, this morning when we all woke up…you weren’t in your bed but Levia was. Why is that?” Rarity questioned Twilight.

“Like I said I woke up early this morning and went out for a stroll in town.” She answered.

“I see and you said you had a great nights rest as well…care to share exactly what dreams that could’ve cause such a great sleep?” Rarity continued

“Um sure…but Revenant says it’s bad luck to talk about dreams before breakfast.” Twilight answered.

“Uh Twilight….we are eating breakfast right now….” Spike answered confused that she was unawareness.

“Oh so we are…well….”

“Good morning everypony!” Revenant said as he entered with Sage.

He found himself an open seat next to Twilight and Sage. Now everypony was even more interested. Usually they could see that Revenant was haunted by his own mind despite him hiding it well. This time though they didn’t see that at all. It looked as though he didn’t have anything plaguing him anymore.

“Celestia, I slept great last night. It’s been too long since I’ve had a goodnight’s rest. Maybe I should jump off waterfalls more often.” Revenant happily said.

“Oh and I assume I’ll have to be the on falling off the waterfall.” Twilight joked with him.

“You could jump off with me and I catch you or you catch me…it’s your call.” He replied

“Guess the next time I’ll catch you then.” Twilight replied

Everypony then noticed of how well the two were connecting. Rarity noticed something within the two and how they interacted with each other. Her eyes went to Twilight and then Revenant. Rarity thought of the things they said and what Levia may imply and then narrowed it down to a conclusion of what happened last night. Fefnir then lazily flew in still tired from last night.

“Ugh…man did I go overboard last night.” He groaned as he joined his siblings.

“Guess somepony had their spirit burnt out last night, and here I thought it would take a lot more to do that.” Revenant joked with his friend.

“What’s got you all giddy this morning…what you get laid last night?” Fefnir asked him.

Everypony stopped eating and was silenced from Fefnir’s comment. Revenant slammed his face on the table, Twilight sat there like a deer in headlights, nearly all of her friends looked at the two, Sage simply shook his head and smiled, Levia had the most devious smile on her face, and the little ones were more confused of the sudden silence.

“Spike would you be a dear and take the fillies out to have their breakfast somewhere else?” Rarity asked him.

“Uh…sure…but why would we….”Spike began

“NOW SPIKE!!” Rarity said changing her tone.

“Okay…okay. C’mon guys let’s go.” Spike led the fillies.

Little ones groaned as they had to leave wanting to hear what was going on. Sweetie Belle asked Spike what getting laid meant and he told that it’s something to know when you’re older. After Spike and the fillies left, chaos erupted.

“I KNEW IT!!!” Rarity exclaimed. “It was so obvious! Why didn’t I see the signs!? First the Rev coming all the way here, then jumping off the waterfall, the jealousy of Twilight, the dancing, the interaction between you two!

“WHAT THE BUCK REVENANT?!?!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “After all that talk of making things right and everything going well, you think you could just move in on her like that?!”

“Now hold on their everypony…”Revenant said as he lifted up his head. “I know this may seem… extremely uncomfortable for all of us right now…”

“Uh ya think?!” Applejack interrupted.

As the chaos emerged, Pinkie Pie and Levia were having one of the greatest laughs ever.

“What are you two all laughing about?” Applejack asked them

“It’s funny to see how we all reacted to this.” Pinkie Pie continued to laugh.

“And now we get to hear an explanation from the two lovers here.” Levia laughed even harder than before.

“Oh yeah this should be good…” Rainbow Dash said before turning to the two unicorns. “Well explain yourselves and don’t go on disappearing on us Revenant.”

“Alright…alright…although I’m considering abyss walking out of here right now…” Revenant replied.

“Oh no…don’t you go leaving me alone to explain all this.” Twilight threatened him. “You’re part of this too you know.”

“Well it does take two to tango” Levia added.

“You’re not helping Levia.” Sage calmly said to her

“I know, just making it more fun for us all.” Levia answered her older brother.

“Hold on their Levia, you helped caused this and if I’m going down you’re going with me.” Revenant assured her.

“Enough fooling around…time to talk, now.” Rainbow Dash aggressively interrupted.

Twilight and Revenant then looked at each other with confusion of how to explain themselves.

“I have an idea Rev.” Twilight said to him.

“Please do it because I’ve got nothing.” He replied

Twilight then quickly teleported out of there leaving Revenant to fend for himself. Levia fell on the floor laughing at the expression of Revenant’s face. Revenant sat there looking at the empty seat where Twilight was once seated hoping that this wasn’t happening. He then looked at all the ponies who were waiting for an explanation. Revenant knew he couldn’t handle this and decided it would be best to follow Twilight’s actions.

“Oh don’t you dare do it Revenant!” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

His silent expression told everypony that he was going to do it. A small rift opened behind him and he leaned back into it. Rainbow Dash flew out of her seat and went straight for him. Revenant barely made it out of there in time and Rainbow Dash crashed right into the wall.

“BUCK!!!” Rainbow Dash cursed looking around to see both the unicorns were gone.

Minutes later Revenant and Twilight appeared and gave a proper explanation of how they both really cared for each other. After a few arguments and a couple threats thrown at Revenant, the girls approved of their relationship and continued to finish breakfast.

It was time for all of them to head home. They gathered the fillies and said their goodbyes to Neighagra Falls and boarded the train. They began to discuss amongst each other how to report what happened to Princess Celestia. Hopefully, things would turn out for the best since Twilight’s life was preserved then the weather element. Revenant sat with Twilight and she noticed that he was nervous.

“What’s the matter, you’ll jump into pack of dogs and jump off a waterfall but you can’t talk to Princess Celestia?” Twilight tried calming him down.

“Kind of…I can only hope things go well since we’re showing up empty handed.” Revenant answered her.

“Well I think I know what could help out with that.” She assured him.

“And what’s that?”

“A letter to her, you are overdue. Surely after all this you’ve learned something.”

“Hmm…you’re right I have, Spike can you come here? I’ve got a letter for the princess.” He called to Spike.

The small dragon then appeared with a scroll and quill. It always perplexed Revenant that he always had them on him but knowing what it’s like working with Twilight, it’s best to be prepared.

“Dear Princess Celestia, I have learned a very important lesson of friendship. We all meet new faces and sometimes bridge the gap to make friends. But when you make those friends it is absolutely important to believe in them. There will be times that things will get rough, and you may even make some mistakes. However, as long as you try to mend the mistakes you’ve made and keep strong faith in your friends, they can forgive you and believe in you. There is nothing like a pony out there who will still believe in you even when you don’t believe in yourself. Sincerely, Revenant Soul.” Revenant finished up. “How was that?”

“That was perfect.” Twilight said giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Spike opened the window and sent off the letter. Revenant watched it fade off into the wind and felt that his trouble had gone off into the wind as well. He looked forward to his life now in Ponyville with Twilight.

We are almost done with the story readers. There are only two chapters and an epilogue after this. For those who've kept with the story up to this point you guys/girls are awesome. I wouldn't have been able to go this far without you readers.

Chapter 20: Back to Normal...Right?

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Six months have passed after the mission at Neighagra Falls. The mane six and Revenant were ordered by the Princess to not retrieve the weather elements. She told them this because for their safety, not because they didn’t retrieve the storm element. When they reported to what had happened and the danger that was directed towards Twilight, Princess Celestia said they have done enough for her. She properly rewarded them and assured them that she would take care of the weather elements from there. The ponies went back to enjoying their daily lives in Ponyville. They also would meet up and make sure to have fun when they could. Whether it was simply having a meal together, to having random parties, to handling crazy shenanigans…they all felt joy. Revenant and Twilight made sure to spend quality time with each other and build on their relationship. Sometimes they were insufferable which bothered the others sometimes but they got a good laugh out of it. Fall came around meaning the Running of the Leaves was upon them.

“So tell me again what this run is about?” Revenant asked as he walked with Twilight.

“It’s to help promote fall season and have the leaves fall from the trees.” Twilight answered him.

The couple decided to meet up for lunch. Unfortunately for Revenant, he didn’t have much time since he had to catch a train to Canterlot for business. After The Mayor made a successful investment, word of his business began to spread. He would have to start looking into to hiring and managing workers if it kept growing at the rate it did.

“Huh back in Animardia fall would just happen. I mean sure we’d have a fall festival but we never did something like that.” He responded.

“Well it’s how we do it here in Ponyville, this would be my second time racing hopefully I do better than last year.”

“Oh and how did you do last year?”

“I got fifth place.”

“Really…didn’t really take you to be the athletic type since you’re always researching and studying.”

“Hey all that research and studying is what got me fifth place. Besides, due to all the things we had to do for Princess Celestia I think I can do better this year.” Twilight defended herself.

“Hmmm….challenge accepted.” Revenant responded.

“I’m sorry but what challenge did you accept?”

“Yours”

“Mine…I didn’t challenge you to anything.” Twilight confusingly responded.

“Oh but you did. You see I can’t have my girlfriend proving that she’s more athletic than me so I too will be entering the race.” Revenant explained.

“And here I thought you were above such ways of thinking.”

“I am. I just like to have a challenge every now and then.”

“Well guess we’ll see then in a couple days.” Twilight finished as they arrived at the train station. “Well guess your off to work…do take care.” She said as she kissed him goodbye.

He boarded the train and popped his head out the window.

“I’ll see you in a couple of days and bring you’re a-game for the race.” He said as the train left.

She waved goodbye as he left and walked back thinking what he means by ‘a-game’.

The Running of the Leaves Starting Point

All the ponies lined up for this years’ ‘Running of the Leaves’. Many on goers were eagerly waiting for the race to begin. Rainbow Dash and Applejack decided to end their grudge match from last year’s humiliating defeat. It wasn’t bad enough for them that they tied for last but worst of all they lost to Twilight. Pinkie Pie and Spike were back in the sky to provide commentary. The race was about to start soon and everypony was lined up. The ponysprites were excited to see this festivity since this is also their first one. Everypony except for one.

“Hey girls have any of you seen Revenant?” Twilight asked Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

“What do you need your boyfriend here to cheer you on?” Rainbow Dash said beginning her smack talk.

“No I don’t he was actually participating in the race today. He was supposed to show up about five minutes ago.”

“Maybe he still got caught up at work. He has been getting busy lately with the word of his business. Hopefully he shows up otherwise he’ll miss his first race in Ponyville.” Applejack assured Twilight.

“Or maybe he just doesn’t want to get shown up by us mares.” Rainbow Dash boasted.

“Welcome everypony to this year’s 'Running of the Leaves'. I’m Pinkie Pie.” She announced from the hot air balloon.

“And I’m Spike and we’ll be providing this year’s commentary over the race. This year we’ve got good selection of runners so let’s cheer them on shall we?” Spike announced as everypony cheered.

“Get ready now my little ponies…the race is about to begin.” Pinkie Pie announced to the runners.

The ponies lined up and got themselves all stretched out and ready to go. It looked as though Revenant wasn’t going to show up.

“On your marks…get set….GO!!!!” Pinkie Pie and Spike announced.

The ponies were off. Seconds later an azure pony was spotted running to catch up with the runners.

“Well lookie her folks, we’ve got ourselves a late entree.” Pinkie Pie commented.

“We sure do Pinkie Pie. I would say that would have to be Revenant joining the race. Unfortunately for him, those few seconds behind will cost him.” Spike replied.

“True but we’ve seen how fast he can go so let’s see if our little warhorse can stack up with our little ponies.” Pinkie finished.

Revenant knew he had a lot to ground to cover but as long as he got a good pace, he’ll be able to make a shocking turnaround. He easily caught up to Twilight who was reluctant to see him.

“You’re late; I thought you weren’t going to make it.” Twilight thought to him.

“What and miss my first ‘Running of the Leaves’…never. Sorry to keep you waiting but the client wanted to go on about things and I had to force my way out.” He replied.

He ran with Twilight to gain back his energy from dashing earlier just to get with the crowd. Further into the race, he felt his energy returning to him.

“Well guess this is where I start getting my pace back. Hope you can keep up Twilight.” He thought to her.

“We’ll see about that.”

Both of them picked up their pace and were right behind the bulk of the crowd.

“Guess all the adventuring has paid off huh.” Revenant complimented her.

“Sure has. I intend to beat you just letting you know.” She responded.

Revenant grinned at the challenge as they pressed forward. The race continued through the forest and Revenant was captivated by the sight. He was lost in the scenery that he started to fall behind. Realizing this, he picked up the pace to catch up with Twilight.

“Don’t get lost in the view now otherwise you’ll lose.” She joked with him.

“It’s okay I’m already loving the view right now.” He responded looking right at her.

Revenant picked up his pace to now be in the crowd while Twilight was slowly gaining speed. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were contesting for the lead this time trying not to mess each other up. However, they would try in more subtle ways than last time which put them in last. The race continued and they were nearing the home stretch. Revenant sped up and broke out of the crowd and had Rainbow Dash and Applejack in his sights. Seconds later Twilight came out of the crowd and was hot on their trail. After they made a turn, the ponies were now on the home stretch. The four broke out into a sprint and sped towards the finish line.

They were nearing it when a gray blur quickly zipped by them. Twilight and Revenant saw the blur in the nick of time and dodged it unfortunately for Rainbow Dash and Applejack were too concentrated on their grudge match they didn’t see it and got knocked out of the way. Twilight and Revenant took the moment to pass the tumbling Applejack and Rainbow Dash to the finish line. It looked as though whatever passed them made it to the finish line so it was down to the Revenant and Twilight for second place. It was close but Twilight took the initiative early on and passed the finish line by a nose, as Pinkie Pie would say. Shortly afterwards Rainbow Dash and Applejack crossed the line once again to where no pony could tell who passed it first and finally the rest of the runners.

“I…I got second place…I nearly won a race….Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!” Twilight bounced with joy.

“What do you know; looks like the socially awkward genius beat the warhorse…” Revenant said to her.

“Who are you calling ‘socially awkward’? Besides I beat you in a physical event to where you were confident that you would’ve won.” Twilight replied.

“Yeah alright then, if it wasn’t for me running late and holding back I could’ve won.” Revenant defended himself.

“Oh really…” Twilight said walking up to him “Then I guess we’ll have to see how much energy you still got left in you later on hmm.”

“Whoa hold on there you two. Don’t go all talking like that now.” Applejack quickly butted in.

“Sorry AJ, can’t you let us have just a little fun…” Revenant sheepishly smiled.

“Not when ya’ll out here with us. Why don’t you two save that kind of ‘fun’ when ya’ll alone.” Applejack silencing them after the two lovers shared a laugh.

The everypony gathered around to see who the victors are for this year’s race.

“What an amazing race it was everypony and you all did well. But now we need to pass out the medals and announce our winners.” Pinkie Pie addressed the crowd.

“First off, once again this year we have another tie but this time for fourth place. Applejack and Rainbow Dash!” Spike announced them. Both of them were shocked to hear that they tied again and still lost not only to Twilight but to Revenant as well.

“Next running his first year in the race and doing exceptionally well…third place goes to Revenant Soul!” Pinkie Pie cheered. He walked up and received his medal. The ponysprites excitedly cheered for him.

“Now second place goes off to a mares second time running in this race. Let’s put it together for Twilight Sparkle!” Spike cheered as she walked up and received her medal.

“Finally the moment we’ve all been waiting for. This year’s first place runner for the ‘Running of the Leaves’ goes to….Ditzy Derpy Doo!” Pinkie Pie announced as everypony cheered. The gray cross-eyed pegasus walked up and happily accepted her medal. “Tell us what exactly had you dashing through everypony out of nowhere like that.”

“While running I remembered that I had to make a delivery so I had to hurry up and finish the race…which reminds me I need to go right now so thanks everypony bye.” Ditzy quickly finished up and took off. Completely unaware of her surroundings she bumped or went right through a couple of poles and stands and collapsing them.

“I can’t believe it…not only did I tie and lose to Twilight, again! But I lost to…to…to Ditzy!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Bwahahaha oh man what a way to lose! I’ve seen that mare a couple of times while working and never imagined that we’d lose to her. Oh this is rich.” Revenant laughed to the point of tears.

Shortly the rest of the ponies joined in on the laughter at their comidical defeat. The mane six, the ponysprites, and Revenant were about to head off to celebrate when a regal alicorn approached them. Many on lookers saw and bowed.

“I’m glad to see all of you are having a great time.” Princess Celestia approached them.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed while bowing with the rest of the ponies. Princess Celestia dismissed them from bowing so they could continue to talk.

“Congratulations on your victories. You all did an amazing job.” Princess Celestia congratulated them.

“Thanks I do hope you enjoyed the race.” Twilight began to talk with her tutor.

Revenant was confused of why Princess Celestia was here. One of the mane six explained to him that fall is her favorite time of the year and loves to attend the ‘Running of the Leaves’. Satisfied with the answer, he watched the two converse but noticed an expression on Princess Celestia’s face. He’s seen that expression before when he was a knight and was worried about the answer he may get from what he was about to ask her. Once he saw a moment when the two stopped talking he went in there.

“Excuse me your highness…” Revenant kindly requested her attention.

“Ah Revenant how has Ponyville been for you so far? I received your letter and I must say I’m impressed of what you’ve learned.” She praised him.

“You are too kind and things have gone well for me. Although I must ask…you seem to have something on your mind that you wish to discuss with us no?” Revenant asked her.

Princess Celestia was surprised to see how he read her easily and sighed that she had to request something of them. The girls were now worried of what they were about to hear.

Hours later the mane six, the ponysprites, and Revenant found themselves with their saddlebags on the airship once more heading off into the Badlands this time. They reflected on the request that was given to them by Princess Celestia. She had informed them that the weather elements they had in their possession were stolen and were traced to be in the Badlands. Also they were informed that is where the Diamond Dogs hideout was and that they now had them in their possession. It was unconfirmed that they had the fourth one, but that was enough for them to know they had one last job to fulfill.

“Alright listen up my little ponies…hopefully this is the last brief I’ll be giving you.” Nightingale informed them. “It’s not because I don’t like you all it’s just that we can’t constantly go to you citizens for these types of requests unless you become officials of Canterlot.”

“You know you could always hire me for such duties. I’ve dealt with these types of issues in the past.” Revenant suggested to him.

“Right but I don’t think you can take on a whole hideout of dogs all by yourself so we had to get the whole crew together. Now I shall begin.” Nightingale started.

“It has been confirmed that the Diamond Dogs do have the weather elements and that they seem to have a band of ‘mercenary’ ponies with them that have provided aid. So this one is definitely an important task. The place is heavily guarded however there are infiltration points that will allow you time to maneuver through their hideout undetected to recover the weather elements.” Nightingale then reached into a bag and pulled out a necklace.

“What I hold here is a magic augmentation necklace. Twilight you will be responsible for this due to your vast capabilities of magic. What this necklace does is it allows you to do long range teleportation. So when it comes to an entry point, use it to get the group in and then out once you get the elements. These are very hard to come by so please do take care of it Twilight.” He said handing it to her.

“Don’t worry Nightingale I will.” Twilight assured him.

“Thank you and now Princess Luna figured you were going to need these for this task.” He said as he pulled out another box.

He opened it to reveal the Elements of Harmony. He then handed each of the ponies their respective element.

“Princess Luna said we would need these…is it going to be that bad?” Fluttershy feared.

“Possibly, since you’ll be in the heart of the enemy. I’m sorry girls that you have to endure this but I assure you this should be the last time we ask of you for such a dangerous job.” Nightingale apologized to the girls.

“Although you Revenant…I’m not sorry at all for what happens to you on this mission.” Nightingale said to him telepathically

“Heh…I expect nothing less from you.” He replied.

“Just don’t go on dying on me here. Princess Celestia knows of your relationship with Twilight and it will make my job hell if she heard of her faithful student’s boy toy getting broken.” Nightingale assured him.

"Strange, normally you try and fill me with doubt. What ails Nightingale?" Revenant scoffed at the alicorn.

"Nothing, I just feel as though you'r fulfilling your...purpose after this." Nightingale calmly responded.

Revenant didn't trust Nightingale, even though he was Princess Luna's personal assisstant. There was something about him that he didn't seem right but he blew it off and Nightingale informed them that they would be arriving in a few minutes and best ready themselves. As the girls prepared themselves, Revenant went off into the room he recovered in the first time he was on the airship. He didn’t have to do much to prepare himself for this. Years as a knight always had him ready, but this time he felt an old feeling that made him worry. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knocking on the door.

“Rev it's Sage…mind if I come in?” The green ponysprite asked.

“Sure” Revenant replied opening the door with his magic.

“You seem troubled Revenant…is something wrong?” Sage read him.

“This feeling right now…it’s very unsettling and similar to the one I felt back in Animardia.” Revenant looked at Sage. “You know the last mission we did before we left our home.”

“Interesting…” Sage said.

He had been around enough warriors to know that they had an instinct to battle. They already knew how it was going to turn out before it even began. It was completely unexplainable but you just had to trust them on it.

“It’s strange that you should be feeling something like this now. I do not see doubt or regret in you but…fear. What is it that has you worried Revenant?” Sage asked him.

“I’m afraid that what happens on this mission…I will cause suffering to my friends…to Twilight. I just don’t know what it is this time.” Revenant responded.

“Hmmm…..it is natural for us to fear the unknown, we face it every day of our lives. What matters is when you face it, you stand tall and firm in front of it.” Sage assured him.

“Even if it involves the ones you care for?” Revenant asked.

“Well why don’t we see what she has to say about it?” Sage said as he opened the door. An eavesdropping Twilight nearly fell from the door opening. “It appears you have a visitor Rev, shall I let her in?”

Revenant motioned to Sage to let Twilight in. He let her in and was about to leave, but stopped and decided to pass some key wisdom before leaving.

“Before I leave you two alone, understand this wisdom I have to pass on to you. Do take this to heart because these words aren’t mine…but your father’s.” Sage began.

“My….father’s….” Revenant shockingly asked. Revenant had small knowledge of his father but knew he was a strong and wise individual. He anxiously waited to hear what Sage had to pass to him from his father.

“He wanted me to tell you this when the time was right. At the time I didn’t know but I see now this is the time for it.” Sage said. “Your father wanted me to tell you to always endure…to always fight for those you love and care for. Never lose sight of what drives you forward. No matter what you do never forget what you are fighting for. Always remember what you’re fighting for and keep it close to your heart. If so, then you will always be just in what you do.” Sage finished as he shut the door behind him leaving the two to have time together.

“How much did you hear?” Revenant asked Twilight.

“Most of it….” She answered. “Revenant what happened on that last mission you did before you left?”

“Oh dear…bringing up old memories.” Revenant sighed. “Remember when I told you girls that I had to infiltrate the enemy ranks and it marked me as a traitor?”

“Yeah.”

“Well the Knights of the Blue Flame were on their way to finish the job; however they were heading into a trap. I defused the trap and caused havoc amongst the enemy. The knights arrived and did their assault. After I did a crippling blow to the enemy, I had to escape…sadly I was spotted by the knights. I planned on leaving the country but not with the knights seeing me the way I was. When they saw me I could see the pain in their eyes. They saw me as a traitor, deceiver, sinner, the list goes on. And now that feeling I had before that mission…I feel it again once more.” Revenant explained.

“Revenant…do you plan on leaving us after this?” Twilight dreaded to ask.

“That’s just it…I don’t want to. I intend to stay in Ponyville and build on my life with you. And yet, I’m scared that this mission will hinder me from my dreams.” Revenant somberly answered her. Twilight then embraced him and held him tight.

“Revenant you have to stay strong much like how your dad wanted you too. I know I don’t understand what you’re feeling but I know that if you stay true to what was passed to you…everything will be alright.” She comforted him.

“And what if things go wrong?”

“They won’t…you promised me remember six months ago?”

“That’s right…I did make a promise. I intend to keep it.” Revenant replied sounding better.

They both kissed each other and sat there holding each other tight hoping that this wouldn’t be the last time they hold each other. Twilight then felt some of his fear and was worried herself now of the outcome of the mission. A few minutes later a knocking was heard at the door.

“Revenant…Twilight…It’s me Rarity and…” Rarity said as she opened the door. “Oh good it’s safe to walk in.”

“Rarity!” Twilight exclaimed blushing.

“Sorry dearie just joking.” She then could see that the two were having a moment and hated to interrupt them. “I’m sorry about this but we’re about to arrive at our destination.”

“Are you ready Rev?” Twilight asked him.

“Yeah…let’s do this.” Revenant responded.

They got up and met with the rest of the group. Once the airship landed, the group stepped off heading to their goal. Revenant hoped that this would be the last mission he does, but hopefully not ‘the last mission’ he has. He looked towards his destination walking into his unknown fate.

Chapter 21: Final Mission

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The Badlands

Revenant led the mane six this time on the mission. It had been a while since he led a mission but his years of being a knight trained him well. There weren’t any obstacles for them to traverse, just a long trek to their destination. As they continued to the Diamond Dogs hideout, the private discussion he had with Princess Celestia before getting on the airship played back through his mind.

“Revenant, I need you to do something for me on this mission.” Princess Celestia asked him.

“Anything you’re majesty.” Revenant replied. He felt obligated to say that now that he felt he was a citizen of Equestria.

“I know how much Twilight cares for you. She’ll go out of her way to look out for your safety. This is why I need you to not only take care of yourself, but most importantly take care of Twilight. I know this may seem a lot of me to ask of you but Twilight is practically a daughter to me…do you understand?”

“Princess Celestia…it will always be my honor to protect Twilight. She means everything to me and I’ll defend her from anything, even if it means my own life.” Revenant promised Princess Celestia.

“Hopefully it won’t have to come down to that…” Revenant muttered to himself.

They traveled for nearly half an hour before reaching a ledge that overlooked the Diamond Dogs hideout. The mining cave they used was guarded by several dogs and more were seen continuously coming in and out of the caves with carts full of mining equipment and gems. They could see multiple tunnels that went into the mine. They all knew that there were going to be complicated pathways and that this one could take a while.

“Listen up, since we’ll be in enemy territory and avoiding detection all communication will be through telepathy until otherwise. So if you feel as though you need to say anything now would be the time to speak up.” Revenant addressed the girls.

Revenant could Pinkie Pie wanted to say something.

“Pinkie say it now…”

“Pickle-barrel cumquat.”

“……………what?” Revenant asked with confusion.

“You’ll never figure her out Rev…I’ve tried.” Twilight said to him remembering her failure of studying Pinkie Pie.
Revenant shook his head and had Twilight give her friends telepathy once more. Revenant then had Levia create illusions
of herself and sneak into the carts to give them a view of the hideout. Levia made three clones and then infiltrated the hideout. They waited ten minutes before Levia sent a message to them. She informed them of her location and that it was clear of any dogs.

“Thanks Levia, we’ll be there soon.” Revenant responded. “Alright Twilight ready?”

She nodded and put on the necklace. She used her teleportation spell and in a few seconds they were in the Diamond Dogs hideout. Twilight felt as though she barely had used her magic at all, the effects of the necklace already took into effect.

“So do you know where to look for the weather elements?” One of the girls asked Revenant.

“Possibly…if I’m correct the first one may still have a small trace of my magic in it. If that’s so then I should be able to locate it.” Revenant replied.

Revenant then concentrated and tried to search for the elements with his magic. It took him a couple minutes before he got a fix on it.

“Got it…follow me.” Revenant addressed the group.

They began their descent into the mine. They had to be careful not to be spotted by any dogs patrolling the area. Revenant led them down the route that would have the least amount of guards; unfortunately it would take longer to get to the weather elements. He would rather take a longer route to elements then to be spotted and have all the dogs chase after them. Pinkie Pie spotted a mine cart that they could use to ride further down into the mine. Revenant considered the idea but Rarity argued against it since she knew it would mess her mane up. Her friends let her know that she was going to get dirty no matter what, and with a whimper Rarity agreed with everypony. They hopped in the cart and went further in the mine cutting a good fifteen minutes of searching. Revenant used his magic to see if any dogs were around.

“Alright…it doesn’t seem there are any dogs around.” Revenant thought to them all.

“Then can we talk now…this telepathy thing is really getting tough.” Applejack informed him.

“Yeah we should be good to talk now.” Revenant broke the silence.

“Phew I thought I’d never get the chance to talk. This was just like the one time when we first met Zecora and we all thought she put a curse on us. Funny thing too cause I had a song about it and what happened…..” Pinkie Pie rambled.

“I think you may have made a bad call there Rev.” Fefnir whispered to him.

“Eh let her be. We should be fine now that we’re….” Revenant stopped feeling a pulse of magic flow through him.

He stopped in place and began to look around frantically.

“No…no that can’t be…there’s no way…” He spoke out loud to himself.

“What…what is it? Are there dogs on the way?” Twilight asked him.

“No....none of you feel this pressure right now?” Revenant asked the girls. They all shook their heads as well as the ponysprites. “Uh oh…then this is it.”

“What is it Rev? What’s got you all worried?” Levia tried getting through to him.

“We….we’re right by their supply of abyssal magic.” Revenant replied while searching for it with his magic.

“Wait it’s here?! How can you tell?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

“Remember girls, Revenant has a connection with the abyss, he is one of the few if not now the only one who can sense it.” Sage explained.

“Then what do you propose we do about it?” Rarity asked him.

“Not ‘we’ but ‘I’.” Revenant answered her.

“You aren’t planning on doing this by yourself?” Twilight asked full of worry.

“I need to destroy their supply now while I can.” He answered her. Revenant then turned to Sage. “Sage, we aren’t too far from the weather elements either. Go down the south tunnel until it splits up into a three way intersection. After that go west and you should be able to get to where they are storing the elements at.”

Sage didn’t really like where Revenant was going with this. Sage felt a small tear form in his eye to see how Revenant was turning out to be like his dad.

“No, I’m going with you. We didn’t come this far just to separate. We'll do this together and return home together.” Twilight told him.

“If Twilight is going, then I’m coming too .” Rainbow Dash added.

“Me too…” Fluttershy threw in with a bit of bravado.

“No…I can’t have you girls come with me this time. I don’t want any of you getting near any abyssal magic.” Revenant answered them.

“We’ll be fine. We have the Elements of Harmony remember?” Twilight said pulling out hers.

“I…I can’t take that chance. Sure the Elements of Harmony may be powerful and pure but the abyss is a whole different thing on its own. No pony truly knows how it works and I can’t take the risk of having any of you being corrupted.”

“What about the time you saved Twilight? You said you brought her in with you so shouldn’t we be fine if you’re with us?” Applejack asked.

“This time is different. There is a high concentration of it and I can only protect a pony from a small amount. I should be fine if I go alone…but if you girls come with me….you could all be exposed and then….” Revenant grimaced at the thought and turned away from them. “Sorry, it has to be this way.”

The girls looked at each other trying to think of a different solution. They turned to the ponysprites for anything but Levia and Fefnir had nothing. Their only hope was Sage. They figured he would have something that could change Revenant’s mind.

“*sigh* He’s right.” Sage said with a heavy heart. “We’ll take care of the weather elements and then….”

“I know…you’ll come back for me.” Revenant said. “But know this…if things go wrong and you have the weather elements. I need all of you to get out and save yourselves.”

“What about you?” Twilight fearfully asked.

Revenant looked at her sadly and she knew what he was going to say.

“No…I….I won’t allow it! Not after everything we’ve been through!” Twilight began to cry.

Revenant walked over and embraced her to help ease her fears.

“Then how about this…promise me that you girls get out of here safely with the weather elements…and I’ll promise to meet up with you girls so we can all go home?” Revenant asked her.

“You…you promise?” Twilight asked through her tears.

He lifted up her face to look into her eyes. He dried off her tears and kissed her.

“I promise…”

“Alright then…” Twilight said rubbing her eyes. “C’mon girls let’s go. Sage lead the way.”

Sage nodded and led the girls down the tunnels. Twilight looked back hoping that Revenant would keep his end of the promise. Revenant waited until he saw they were out of view. He sighed and used his magic to locate the abyssal storage. Once he found it, he abyss walked to its location.

The tunnel he entered was already lit as though it was used frequently. He then ran down the tunnel for five minutes before coming to a door. As he went to open the door he could feel the abyssal magic on the other side.

“This is it…I can feel it. But how am I going to…” Revenant thought but then saw something by the door. He went over to see a box of dynamite in a cart ready to leave. “How reluctant…guess some dog forgot about to deliver it. Guess that small mistake will be their demise.”

Revenant found some rope and wrapped it around the box. Afterwards he grabbed the rope and began to drag the box up to the door. He took a deep breath and opened the door. He entered a large chamber that was well lit and looked like someone’s workspace. As he dragged the box, Revenant saw a bunch of notes on the table scribbled with information. It didn’t bother him and he continued across the chamber to find another door. He opened it and saw stacked upon each other various abyssal artifacts.

“Jackpot.” Revenant said with a smile.

Revenant brought the box in the room and unloaded the dynamite. He strung them together and had them all primed. Afterwards he pulled out the detonator and carried it out of the room. Revenant stopped by one of the tables and was ready to push it when something or someone caught his attention.

“Now we can’t have you blowing all of that up. Do you have any idea what will happen if you do that?” A pegasus in a lab coat approached him from the shadows.

“Professor Windston…I figured this was going too smooth.” Revenant glared at him.

“The one and only. So, mind telling me why you plan on blowing up everything?” Professor Windston asked Revenant.

“Isn’t it obvious…?”

“Well yeah…I just want to hear what your thought was on all this.”

“Since you want to know…I’m going to destroy your supply thus destroying the dogs’ hideout.”

“So you plan on killing all these dogs here hmm? I got to say that’s pretty dark even by my standards.”

“Don’t worry…the mutts will have their time to escape…as well as my friends.” Revenant explained. “They should be getting the weather elements about now and leaving shortly.”

“Oh you mean…” Professor Windston began to speak while reaching into his lab coat. He then pulled out three artifacts. “These weather elements?”

“What the….that’s impossible I sensed them in a different area.”

“Hehehehe….what? You think I didn’t anticipate that? I’ve dealt with you in the past Revie boy so I kind of learned a thing or two.” Professor Windston cackled. “What you sensed was a decoy…your precious friends and your lavender princess are heading right into a trap.”

“No…you vile creature…” Revenant glared. He began to feel the darkness rise up within him. “I’m going to make you pay for the crimes you’ve committed.”

“And here comes the knight talk…look pal cut the whole justice thing okay? I heard it the first time and I don’t want to hear it again. Besides, I’m sure you’d like to hear what’s in store for your friends huh?”

Revenant glared at him with ravenous eyes. Professor Windston saw the look in his eyes and smiled.

“Oh come now, enough with that look. I know the fallen knight wishes to save his pretty lavender princess but you need to stop the villain first, at least, that’s how it goes in my stories.” Professor Windston taunted.

“Enough talk, have at you!” Revenant shouted before charging Professor Windston.

The mane six and the ponysprites entered what looked like a throne room. It was lit by several torches and the throne was decorated with gems that sparkled with the light. They searched around for the weather elements and found that there was nothing.

“They’re…They’re not here!” Fluttershy feared.

“That’s impossible; Revenant said that they would be here.” Rainbow Dash argued with her.

“Unless…”Sage thought out loud.

They heard the door slam behind them and lock. They turned around to see three dogs and a hulking
Rottweiler behind them. Sage’s fear just came true.

“So I guess the pegasus was more useful than we thought.” The Rottweiler said.

“Who…who are you and where are the weather elements!?” Twilight demanded.

“The crack-potted professor has them. If things are going as we planned, then that azure pony should be fighting him about now.” The Rottweiler laughed.

They all were shocked to find that they had walked into a trap. No weather elements and they were separated. The mane six weren’t afraid though, they knew as long as all of them worked together then nothing could stand up to them. The Rottweiler saw them getting ready to fight and got excited.

“Yes…this should be fun…” He said as he pulled a mace off his back. “I am Shinook and welcome ponies to your defeat! Now go and beat these ponies!”

“With pleasure…Spot, Fido…let’s settle the score!” Rover addressed his comrades.

They gave him a smile as a reply and faced their opponents. The Diamond Dogs and their boss then charged the mane six. The mane six and the ponysprites moved out of the way of the initial attack. Shinook led the charge and swung his heavy mace with ease. The girls knew that getting hit with that could possibly mean the end for them. Fido and Spot coordinated their attacks to target a single pony and then quickly back off. Rover would find blind spots and strike them and switch to his next target. The mane six were having trouble holding out. The Diamond Dogs were fighting with a lot of coordination this time. As their leader would use his heavy strikes to disperse them and keep them separated, the other dogs would move in and attack those who were alone. The girls found their moment to break away from the dogs and regroup.

“Dang…they’ve gotten really strong since the last time…” Applejack said.

“Not that strong though…there’s no way we’ll lose to them.” Rainbow Dash argued.

“It’s not that the dogs are strong, but they have something we have to worry about.” Sage addressed them. Twilight assessed the situation and knew what had to be done.

“Girls we have to target Shinook.” Twilight told them.

“Are you crazy Twilight? With that big thing he’s swinging around, we’d be sent across the room.” Pinkie Pie asked her friend.

“I’d have to agree with her on this…if he gets us it’s all over.” Rarity agreed.

“That’s just it though…if not for him, what chance do the other dogs have?” Twilight asked her friends.

“I see now…take out the one who is carrying the team and the rest don’t know what to do…I like it.” Fefnir praised Twilight.

“Then what are we waiting for, let’s do this!” Levia pounded her hooves together. She quickly sent a message to Twilight of what she was going to do and how she should follow up. Levia then had some ice magic form around her and create multiple illusions of her.

“LEEEEVIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA FFFRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSTT!!!!” She screamed as she charged with her illusion.

The dogs were confused of which one to hit and tried getting them all. Each one disappeared with a small frost explosion until one was left. Levia charged full speed covered in ice and made direct contact with Shinook’s head. As she bounced off, Twilight teleported in and shot a strong magic bolt knocking him down. The dogs stood there confused that there leader had been knocked down.

“What are you standing around for…get her!” Shinook barked.

The dogs quickly jumped at Twilight but she teleported back to her friends. The dogs collided with each other and tried to gain back their balance as they stood up. Twilight’s friends stood there with their jaws dropped at what their friend did.

“You see girls…we can do this. We just have to work together.” Twilight said to her friends.

The rest of the girls then looked upon their opponents with determination and began to turn the tide. Fefnir went with Fluttershy and they both charged head on into the dogs. As Fido and Spot tried to stop her, she quickly swerved out of the way and jumped off Rover’s head and went for Shinook. He swung his mace at her but thanks to her wings she flew out of the way. Rainbow Dash saw the gap and dashed into him getting several strikes. Shinook backed off and allowed his dogs to have a chance. As they charged, Pinkie Pie and Rarity kept them at bay long enough for Applejack to buck one of them and have the rest collide into each other. Shinook was by himself now. The girls attacked him and would dodge every time he swung his weapon. They understood now that his weapon was powerful but heavy which made him slow. As they fought the other dogs would try and interfere but Levia would pull up illusion to distract them and Rainbow Dash with Sage by her side would fly by and create a gust of wind to push them back into the wall. Shinook was able to take their attacks well due to his size but he eventually fell and was bested by the ponies.

“Im…possible…” He muttered as he dropped his weapon and fell to the ground.

“Boss!” The Diamond Dogs shouted.

“It’s over Diamond Dogs. We’ve beaten you and now we’re going to save Revenant and get out of here.” Twilight said to them.

“We’ll see about that.” Rover said.

Rover, Fido, and Spot pulled out abyssal pendants from their coats. As they put them on, the abyssal magic circulated around them and transformed them into feral beasts. The surge of power sparked dark magic to fly in multiple directions. As the dark magic was controlled by the dogs, they began to charge to the mane six. Their charge was ceased when an arc of dark lighting hit the dogs. The girls looked to where the source was coming from to see Shinook holding out a crest. The crest drained the Diamond Dogs of their dark power and returned them to normal.

“Boss…why…” They asked as they fell.

“Whoa what just happened?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“It looks like their boss doesn’t care much for his own troops, only his own safety.” Applejack said feeling disgusted by Shinook’s actions.

“No more…no more playing around.” Shinook said as the dark magic began to flow through him. “I will not lose to a bunch of ponies!”

Shinook stood up and felt the power surge through him. One abyssal artifact could make any creature go feral but the crest took in three of them. Shinook pressed the crest to his chest and it attached itself to him. The power of the abyss flowed through him and he grew with power. Not much as in size but in ferocity. He lost all form of looking like a dog, but now transformed into a monster. Shinook let out a dark roar that sent the ponies back creating a gap. He saw his mace and snapped it with his paws and charged at the ponies. He was faster this time and more dangerous. The girls would barely dodge a claw from Shinook but would feel the after-effects of the abyss magic lingering by. The magic alone hurt them but if they go hit by Shinook, it was going to be a lot worse. As Shinook swung madly, he began to create breaks in the walls and the floors. Fluttershy and Fefnir tried assaulting him but he simply brushed off their attacks and got a good strike on them. He sent both of them flying into a wall.

“Fluttershy! Fefnir! Are you alright?!” Twilight called out to them.

“We’re…fine….Twilight…” Fluttershy strained to get up.

“Twilight watch out!” Fefnir shouted to her.

Twilight turned to see Shinook hulking over her. She tried to flee but was too late. She got hit a couple of times and then thrown across the room. Rainbow Dash quickly flew to her friend and caught her.

“Ow…that one really hurt…” Twilight groaned.

“Hang on Twilight, we’ll get him.” Rainbow Dash assured her friend.

Rainbow Dash nodded at Sage and Applejack for the next attack. Rainbow Dash led the charge with Sage and Applejack in her tailwind. Shinook readied himself and tried to attack Rainbow Dash. She knew it was coming and did a somersault to dodge it. Sage flew past the monstrous dog’s head with the speed setting Shinook off balance. Applejack charged in and rammed the dog sending him back onto the ground. Rainbow Dash flew in to finish the assault. Shinook reached out and stopped Rainbow Dash.

“No way…” Applejack muttered.

Shinook then used Rainbow Dash as a club and smacked Applejack sending both the girls back. Sage saw and did what he could to keep the dog busy. Shinook tried to stop him and failed and resorted to his dark magic. He would shoot them from his mouth like fireballs, but Sage knew how to deal with this from experience. Levia saw her chance and had Rarity and Pinkie Pie follow her. Levia used her illusion magic to create multiple illusion of Pinkie Pie to bounce around Shinook confusing him. Sage broke off and joined Rarity with an attack. Rarity got her blows in but Shinook retaliated with a massive roar that sent her and Sage away.

“No…Rarity…Sage!” Levia called to them.

Shinook targeted a distracted Levia but Pinkie Pie would hit him and keep bouncing with her illusions. As she bounced she would get in an attack but Shinook had enough. He filled his paws with dark magic and pounded the ground creating a shockwave that sent Levia and Pinkie Pie back and breaking the illusions. Shinook looked around for any new targets and targeted Fluttershy. He got on all four and charged at the pegasus who was frozen with fear.

“Fluttershy No!!!!” The girls screamed.

Shinook unsheathed his claws and pounced. To his surprise he felt something blocking his path and was sent back. The girls then saw that Fluttershy’s element was on her and a magical shield protected her. They then saw that they all had their elements.

“Let’s wrap this up.” Twilight told her friends.

With the Elements of Harmony, the mane six fought back. They felt revitalized and stood a chance against Shinook. As he hit the girls, a magical shield would protect them. However it did not give them absolute protection. They would still feel the brute force of the attack and the pressure on their bodies but it gave them the chance they needed to fight back. After doing a series of consecutive attacks, Twilight teleported the girls away from Shinook giving them a good distance from him.

Twilight’s eyes began to glow with magic and the girls felt the power of the Elements of Harmony. Magic began to build up around them. They intended to end the fight. Shinook didn’t want to take any chances and roared at the girls with abyssal magic. The magic lashed out at the mane six but the Elements of Harmony protected them. The mane six then shot out a beam of pure magic at Shinook. The bright light engulfed the dark being and burned away the abyssal magic from him. After the light faded, the towering beast fell and the girls stood victorious over the Shinook and the Diamond Dogs.

“We…we did it…” Fluttershy muttered.

“Yeah…we did…see I told you girls…we’d win…” Rainbow Dash panted.

“That was amazing!” Levia flew up to the mane six. “Is that the power you girls have all!? That was so awesome! Everything looked bad for you girls but then you started to fight back against Shinook and then you…”

“What my little sister is trying to say is that what you girls were great and that we’d never seen anything like it.” Fefnir said silencing Levia.

“I must say that magic…what were those elements called again?” Sage asked the mane six.

“They’re called the Elements of Harmony. It’s known to be the most powerful magic in Equestria that brings peace to everypony. Each of us represents an element through our friendship.” Twilight explained to Sage.

“I see…I never thought that it would be able to do that to abyssal magic though…” Sage then felt an epiphany. “Could it be…that we may now have something to fight against the abyss?”

Before anypony could consider his thought they felt an explosion of magic. The girls looked around to see if everypony was alright. Twilight felt the magic and knew what was going on.

“Girls we need to go to Revenant now.” She said to them.

“Wait that was him that did that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes…that was his magic. I felt it…I think he may be in trouble let’s go.” Twilight said to her friends.

The mane six and ponysprites then followed Twilight. Twilight wanted to get to where Revenant was last so she could teleport to him without wasting much of her magic. As she ran, she hoped that everything was going to be all right and that they could all go home together.

I wonder how Revenant is doing? Well let's find out shall we...to the next chapter

Chapter 22: A Reason to Fight

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Revenant stabilized himself after using his soul burst. It took him a moment to recover from the amount of power he put in it but saw Professor Windston on the ground. He shook of the dark aura that formed around him. He didn’t expect Professor Windston to be this good at fighting. Before when he fought him he had schemes but this time Professor Windston fought. It perplexed Revenant that the pegasus knew how to fight well. Then again it had been a couple of years since he last saw him plus he broke out of Animardian jail which is something that is very difficult to do. Revenant walked over to the fallen professor and pressed his hoof on his chest pinning him down.

“It’s over Professor…hand over the elements now.”

“*cough* Wow…didn’t think I’d force you to tap into your dark power like that? Am I that good now hmm?” Professor Windston coughed.

“I’ll admit you have improved and I underestimated you. However you still wouldn’t have won…I could’ve taken you without out my darkness.” Revenant told him

“I see…so you use it as an amplifier instead of letting it control you…impressive but I’m not done just yet…” Professor Windston replied.

Before Revenant could speak a light blinded him and he felt a magical force push him back. When Revenant could open his eyes he saw Professor Windston floating in the air with the weather elements.

“What the…where did this come from?” Revenant asked.

“Ah yes allow me to explain…you see my ‘friend’ that helped me break out of jail also gave me some power. As you can see, it was enough power that would be your downfall. Now with this power I can finally achieve my goal.” Professor Windston rambled.

“No…the weather is not meant to be a weapon! It is a sin for one to seek such terrible means of destruction!” Revenant yelled.

“Oh and why not? To think that whoever could control the weather to their will, all would have to obey them. Why…with this I might even be able to be better than Princess Celestia.” Professor Windston speculated. “Besides who are you to go on about committing sins when you yourself have committed one of the worst ones of them all.”

“Shut up…times have changed now….besides the weather elements are no use to you anymore now that they’ve been made tranquil.” Revenant cringed.

“Ah true…but as long as I have the fourth one I can use their power.”

“Wait…you have the fourth weather element?!” Revenant asked in horror.

“Well duh….I mean why in the hell would I go out of my way to steal these in the first place if they were useless. Guess Twilight doesn’t really see you for your smarts huh.” Professor Windston taunted.

“SHUT UP!” Revenant yelled as he used a soul divide on him but missed.

“Now allow me to show you what the fourth weather element is…the one that will give me everything.”

The three weather elements begun to spin furiously and create sparks. A bright flash appeared and out of the light a fourth weather element with rays of light appeared.

“Gyahahahaha….behold the weather element of divinity! This is the one that will allow me to rain fire from the heavens, allow me to flood cities across the land, and allow me to part the very ocean at my will!” Professor Windston maniacally laughed as the four weather elements flowed around him.

“No…that’s the fourth one…but that kind of power is…” Revenant muttered in fear.

“Divine…I know right! Now the weather is my sword and I will use it to prove to all what capabilities I can bring to the world!” Professor Windston boasted.

“Not if…not if I stop you here!” Revenant shouted.

“That’s if you can….” Professor Windston replied.

Revenant summoned his dark powers around him once more. Professor Windston threw his lab coat off and had formed a golden aura around him. The two then clashed. Revenant shot at him with his dark power, but Windston zipped by the attack like the wind. With the weather elements he formed spikes of ice and shot them at Revenant. Revenant dodged but the spikes exploded with fire in them. Revenant knew now this wasn’t going to turn out well. He used his magic to attack several times and cause delayed hits at Windston. A few hit Windston but he dodged and use the cold element to form a shield of ice protecting him. Windston used the storm element to augment his wing power and flew by slashed the air with lighting, shocking Revenant to his core. Windston used the elements to fire a barrage of hail, fire, and lighting but Revenant used his soul charge to deflect the attacks. When he got close enough, he landed several blows charged with his magic pushing back Windston. He didn’t like the beating he was taking, so Windston used the storm element to let out a static discharge that stunned Revenant.

Professor Windston saw his chance and with the wind behind him, unleashed a flurry of blows. Revenant tried to keep up but couldn’t. Revenant knew at this rate he wouldn’t be able to win. He decided to allow more darkness to flow through him and would abyss walk and attack. The guerilla tactics were effective against Windston who now was on the defense. Revenant kept up the onslaught and was starting to turn the battle to his favor. Windston used the weather elements to a dangerous potential and finally broke out of the Revenant’s onslaught with a combined pulse of the weather elements. Windston saw that Revenant was stunned from the attack and decided to end it. He flew by, with his wings charged magic from the weather elements, changing the area around Revenant into a tornado of chaotic weather. When the tornado faded, Revenant laid on the ground beaten.

“Yes! This is what real power is! You see the weather is truly a powerful thing, it can even defeat the abyss itself….Gyahahahaha!” Professor Windston laughed.

“No…it can’t….end like this…” Revenant grunted.

He knew that if he tapped more into the darkness, he would lose control. His body ached and felt his strength fade him.

“I haven’t felt this tired since…” Revenant muttered.

Revenant’s mind then began to flash memories of him when he was a knight. He was confused but he believed his mind was trying to show him something important. Revenant looked further into his memories and found the moment when he was like this.

A young Revenant laid on the ground completely out of strength. His mind felt weak, his body was in pain, and he couldn’t feel anything anymore. As he laid on the ground, a battered Lord Sif limped over to him.

“I must say you really impressed me today. To think that I had to fight seriously with you.” Lord Sif praised his student.

“I’m….sorry master….for doing that spell…..” Revenant apologized.

“Hmmm….normally I would punish you for it but as I can see the recovery alone is punishment enough. It’s impressive that you’ve learned such an advanced level spell so quickly.” Lord Sif continued. “However you must consider the time when to use it.”

“What….do you mean….” Revenant asked through his pain. He knew he was going to regret doing that spell.

“Let’s see…for starters that spell does give you an immense amount of power that could rival those of legends. Sadly it only gives you a ten second burst of power.”

“Not to mention that the way I feel right now is horrible…”

“True…this spell pushes your body way over its limit. Unfortunately you have to defeat your opponent in a short time frame because if you don’t then you will surely die. This is a great step for you in your training, but don’t ever gamble with this power. The stakes are too high and you’ll only end up losing in the end.” Lord Sif finished helping his student up.

“Sorry Lord Sif…but the stakes are high enough as it is and I have to gamble.” Revenant said as he slowly got up.

“Oh just stay down, it’ll be easier for the both of us.” Professor Windston told him.

“No…I said I will defeat you, and that you would pay for your sins. Now is the time for me to back my words!” Revenant bellowed as he began the spell.

“Hey now what are you trying to do now?” Professor Windston asked with concern.

Revenant felt the spell activating and began to feel his soul burst with power. It began to burst with more power until he felt as though it was going to burst out of his body. His muscles tightened, his veins opened, his heart was pumping furiously, and his mind became clear.

“Soul Overcharge!” Revenant shouted as he completed the spell. Professor Windston felt the pulse of magic and got worried.

“I’ve only got ten seconds to win this…” Revenant thought to himself.

Ten

“So I’ll make them count!” He shouted as he warped behind Professor Windston.

“What the…”Professor Windston was cut-off when he felt Revenant’s hoof hook him.

Nine.

Revenant’s body was flowing with soul magic and everything was amplified. He began his relentless assault on Professor Windston.

Eight.

Professor Windston tried backing him off with the weather elements, but Revenant charged right through them and got a strong slash with his magic.

Seven

“No...I will not lose here… not after everything I've been through!" Professor Windston said as he flew high up.

Six.

Professor Windston used the elements to unleash a rain of fire, but Revenant met it with continues shot of his soul magic.

Five.

Both the ponies charged at each other and both got a hook across the face. Revenant fought against the hook and followed through with magic behind his blow.

Four.

Professor Windston was sent across the room into his workstation. He got up and used the weather elements to fire off a beam of mixed weather.

Three.

Revenant met the attack with a charged soul shot that pierced Windston’s attack and hit the ground in front of him sending upward with the explosion.

Professor Windston landed with a grunt and could barely get up.

“Professor Windston, you are guilty of the sins you have commited.”

Two.

”As a beholder of justice, defender of the weak, and as a knight of Equestria…” Revenant began while quickly charging his horn with soul magic.

One.

“I will make you pay for the sins!” Revenant shouted as he charged.

He quickly rushed to a dazed Professor Windston and raised his horn to deal the finishing blow. By the time Professor Windston would rise and comprehend the situation, it would be too late.

Zero.

Revenant collapsed as he brought down his finishing blow. All his strength faded him and missed his target. He couldn’t control the momentum of his actions and rolled across the room crashing into several workstations. Revenant struggled to get up with what was left in him but failed. Revenant felt everything slowly shutting down in his body.
Professor Windston stood there frozen in fear. Everything had flashed before him and his eyes were sunken into his head. He slowly turned to Revenant with a cold sweat to see that he was still alive. Professor Windston began to return to his body and was shaking violently from the fear.

“No way…He could’ve….but I’m still….” Professor Windston muttered as he began to comprehend his situation.

Revenant was trying to get up but then Professor Windston lifted him up by his neck. Revenant could see Professor Windston had an insane evil expression across his face. Within his eyes was a deep malice and insanity that was ready to destroy Revenant.

“Bwahahaha….Good show Revenant…simply phenomenal! You actually had me there! I thought I wasn’t going to make it but then you simply couldn’t handle it! Allow me to show you how to handle such power!” Professor Windston insanely cackled at Revenant.

Revenant tried to fight back. His mind screamed at his body to do something but it wouldn’t obey. Revenant feared that this was going to be the end and could only endure long enough for the mane six to escape.

The mane six and the ponysprites appeared in the hallway that Revenant last abyss walked. They wondered which direction to take but Twilight felt a tug at her heart pulling her in a direction. The girls didn’t know what to expect but they followed their friend. Within minutes they arrived at a sealed door.

“This is it…” Twilight said.

“What…what is it?” Applejack asked.

“This is where Revenant is…something is wrong. I just know it.” Twilight addressed her friends.

“Then let’s get in there and help him out. I hope all of you are ready for what may be on the other side.” Fefnir told the group.

All of them were ready and quickly knocked down the door. As they rushed into the room they saw the carnage that was created. Within the midst of the carnage they saw a fallen azure pony completely battered.

“REVENANT!!!” Twilight screamed as she ran up to him. “REVENANT, oh Celestia you’re hurt we need to get you to some help now!”

Twilight tried helping him up but he laid there unresponsive.

“Revenant it’s okay now I’m here…” Twilight said with tears in her eyes. “It’s alright we’re here now…you can get up…Revenant…”

Her cries didn’t get through to his motionless body.

“Revenant….no this can’t be happening…Revenant get up…get up…get up!” Twilight cried.

The rest of her friends couldn’t do anything and only watched in silence. They feared for the worst and watched her friend still trying to wake him up. Twilight saw that he wasn’t responding and wept. As she wept she held him close and asked herself why did she let him go on his own.

“Now isn’t this a touching moment….” Professor Windston emerged. “So his pretty lavender princess has finally arrived. Unfortunately for you it seems your knight has fallen. Such a shame…this isn’t how it was supposed to happen…at least not by my stories.”

“Professor Windston! What did you do to Revenant!?” Levia yelled at him.

“Isn’t it obvious? I kicked his flank all around the place until he couldn’t fight any more!” Professor Windston boasted.

“That’s a lie! Revenant would never give up. He’s always willing to fight!” Fefnir replied with anger.

“Oh believe me he did have the will to fight. Sadly though, it seems he couldn’t take it anymore and he just dropped.” Windston calmly replied.

“Why you…” Fefnir said as he was about to attack but was stopped by Sage. “What the hell Sage?! We need to destroy this guy after what he did to Revenant!”

“Are you blind? Can you not see the power he is using?” Sage pointed out to the weather elements circulating around Professor Windston.

“Twilight….” Revenant slowly said.

“Revenant…you see girls he’ll be fine…” Twilight addressed her friends.

“Still alive huh…guess you are tougher than you look. Oh well, guess I get the pleasure of killing your friends in front of you as you helplessly lay there.” Professor Windston casually said.

The girls were a little worried of how casually he said it. He made it sound like it was easy for him. Then everypony noticed why he was so confident in his power.

“Uh no…he had them all along?” Rarity asked.

“That’s right and boy is it awesome having this kind of power.” Windston laughed.

“That’s impossible…we made the others tranquil and….” Twilight started.

“Yeah I’m gonna stop you there. You see your little boyfriend here said the same stuff. So in order to avoid a series of pointless conversations, I’ll explain it to you. Normally that would be the case but with the fourth weather element, which I also have because I had all of the other ones, I can use its power to use them all and make the weather a weapon.” Professor Windston explains. “*sigh* See how much easier that is…so I assume all of you are here to fight me now right?”

“Of course we are! No pony is going to hurt one of our friends and get away with it!” Applejack said getting ready.

“Heh…friends huh…” Revenant smiled through his pain.

“Yeah…if anypony is going to put a beat down on him it’s going to be me.” Rainbow Dash said as she joined Applejack. Revenant shook his head at Rainbow Dash’s expression of her emotions.

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Fefnir, Sage, and Levia joined Applejack and Rainbow Dash getting ready to fight. Twilight was about to ease Revenant gently down when Sage stopped her.

“Sage I need to fight too…” She started.

“I understand but we need somepony to protect Revenant. I know that you strongly want to get payback but Revenant needs you right now. It’s your turn to protect him.” Sage interrupted Twilight.

She looked at the ponysprite with confusion in her eyes and then looked down at Revenant. It broke her heart to see him in such a battered state. She agreed with Sage and would protect Revenant.

“Now girls, we have to be careful with this fight. He’s got dangerous powers with him but with your Elements of Harmony you should be able to win.” Sage addressed the rest of the girls.

“Things are getting better now. First I defeat the powers of the abyss and now I’ll get to defeat the Elements of Harmony. Bring it on ponies…bring it on!” Professor Windston welcomed their challenge.

The rest of the girls and the ponysprites then charged into the fight. Twilight watched as her friends fought hard against the weather elements. Despite the Elements of Harmony’s capabilities, it looked as though the weather elements were able to match it. Twilight figured that if she was in the fight, they would win but she had to have faith in her friends and protect Revenant.

“I’m sorry Twilight…” Revenant apologized.

“It’s okay. I’m here now. Everything is going to be alright.” Twilight assured him.

“No it’s not. I’ve caused you and your friends more harm than anything in this world.” Revenant continued.

“You haven’t Revenant. You’ve been a blessing to us….to me.” Twilight replied.

“But just look at what’s happened. If not for me all of you would’ve never been involved in this. Everything would’ve been normal with you girls, but now look. You’re continuously fighting and endangering your lives all because of me. I knew such actions would develop and I thought I could prevent them from happening…but I failed in that…I should’ve never woken up from that cave…” Revenant lamented.

“That’s not true. Ever since you arrived you have brought new joys for us all. We’ve been involved in such incidents like this and we’ve always come out on top because of our bonds. Do you remember the day we first met?” Twilight asked him.

“Of course I do…I fought for your sake that day…I vowed to myself to never let anything bad happen to you…” Revenant recalled.

“And you’ve been doing it ever since. After that day I’ve wanted to know you more, be with you more, but then I saw you were in great pain. When you told us your past, I knew that you were still going to struggle and I wanted to be there for you. That’s why I came back and talked to you.” Twilight told him.

“Twilight….”

“And then I’ve only cared for you after that. I knew it was going to tough, that there was going to be danger, but it would all be worth it as long as I could be with you and make you happy.” Twilight finished.

Revenant felt tears stinging in his eyes. Her words spoke the truth that he was blind to. Twilight wiped away his tears and kissed him to let him know that she would care for him no matter what. Then she felt a spark form from her horn. She looked up to see her magic forming a small spark near Revenant’s horn. Twilight realized what she could do to help Revenant.

“Revenant…I’m going to return the favor now for all that you’ve done for me.” Twilight comforted him.

She placed her horn on his and let her magic flow into his horn. Revenant felt her magic flow into her. It was warm, pure, and beautiful. He felt its beauty enrapture him, and the purity and warmth relieving him of his pains. Revenant smiled that Twilight had split magic with him and formed the eternal bond.

“Now go, your friends need you…” Revenant muttered.

“…Alright.” Twilight agreed as she laid him softly on the ground. “I’ll be back.”

The girls broke off from Professor Windston in order to recuperate. They were panting heavily from the fight. None of them felt their injuries but knew that the pain would eventually settle in. The girls still were ready to continue fighting until they defeated their opponent.

“C’mon now this can’t be the extent of the Elements of Harmony? I know I’m all powered up like you girls but…this should be a better spectacle for us all. Maybe my expectations were too high. Still…this is as entertaining as Revenant was…maybe a little bit more.” Professor Windston panted.

Professor Windston then caught from the corner of his eyes something flying at him. He quickly moved out of its way and saw a bolt of magic zip right by him. It made contact with the wall with a potent explosion. Professor Windston stood there compelled at what happened and looked in the direction where it came from. To his surprise he saw Twilight joining the fray

“Now this is interesting…hehehehe…alright then. Let’s see what you six truly have!” Professor Windston cackled.

Twilight joined her friends and continued the fight. With Twilight’s help they were able to keep Professor Windston on the edge. As he would use the weather elements to attack, one of the girls would use their element to form a magical barrier. Then Twilight, Applejack, or Rainbow Dash would seize the moment and go for Windston. He would use the cold element to protect himself but he still felt the force of their attacks. As the girls continued the assault, Professor Windston realized he was going to lose at this rate. When Rainbow Dash flew to him, he used the cold element to slow her down and give himself time to escape. Twilight tried to stop him but he countered with the heat elements fire, forcing her to back down. Professor Windston flew above them and used the divine element rain down divine fire upon the mane six. They used the Elements of Harmony to protect them but at the end of the attack, their fatigue settled in. Professor Windston saw the condition they were in and continued his assault and kept the girls on the defense.

Sadly, the whole time Revenant laid there watching his friends fight endlessly despite their injuries from the last fight. Revenant cursed himself for not being strong enough to help them out. He struggled to get up but collapsed to his weakness. Tears began to form in his eyes from his weakness.

“No…not like this…” Revenant muttered. “I have to fight…I have to…”

Always endure…to always fight

“Wait is that?”

Never lose sight of what drives you

Revenant then heard the voice in his head speaking to him. This voice wasn’t his darkness though. It was calm, warm, comforting, and strong.

“Father…”

Always remember what you’re fighting for and keep it close to your heart

“What…what I’m fighting for…” Revenant muttered to himself.

He looked at the mane six fighting against Professor Windston. He saw how tired they were but they still continued to press on. Professor Windston broke their barrier and blew all the girls away except for Twilight. She stood ready to fight him and he wickedly grinned at her. Twilight charged at him, but Windston used the storm element to form lighting around his hooves and shock Twilight. She screamed from the agonizing pain and fell to the ground.

“That scream…” Revenant recalled. Memories of Revenant fighting against the Diamond Dogs flashed back into his mind. He remembered of how hard they fought, the pain they caused Twilight, but most of all the scream she let out from all the pain.

“That’s right…I vowed to never…never let anything harm her that badly…not ever again…” Revenant growled.

Revenant felt a burning feeling rise from within his heart. Magic began to form around Revenant once more but this time was different. Soul magic formed but it had a pure look to it. It looked similar to the magic from the Elements of Harmony. Revenant felt the pure magic flowing through him and healing his wounds. He also felt Twilight’s magic in their as if she was helping him herself.

Windston stood over a Twilight ready to deal the finishing blow. He lifted the elements above her and was about to unleash their power on her when a soul shot hit him. The piercing shot sent him back against the wall with a powerful explosion and ceased his attack. Twilight looked to where the attack came from and smiled.

“Aw man…What in the hell was that?” Professor Windston groaned.

He got up to see Revenant standing in front of Twilight with magic flowing around him. Windston shook his head thinking what he saw was just an illusion but then realized that Revenant was standing strong. The look in Revenant's eyes pierced into Windston's soul. Professor Windston looked to see his knees were shaking. He couldn't believe that he began to feel insignificant, weak, and fear.

“Wait hold on…you should be dead by now! How…how are you still standing?” Professor Windston asked with shock.

“Windston….I’m going to make you pay for everything that you’ve done to my friends…to Twilight!” Revenant said as he stomped the ground.

The magic from his horn drew power from the Elements of Harmony. As he drew in the power to heal himself, the girls were feeling revitalized from his burning soul. His soul burned with great passion that fueled his body. Revenant recalled what drove him the first time he fought for the mane six.

Always fight for those you love, for…

“FOR TWILIGHT!” Revenant bellowed as his magic finished building up.

“Whoa wait hold on that’s not possible!” Professor Windston said as he backed up.

“No more from you! It’s time you paid for your sins!” Revenant said as he charged.

Windston tried using ice and fire to stop Revenant but his soul charge plowed through the attack and into Windston. As Windston grunted from the pain, he lost the ability to use the cold weather element. The element fell to the ground and rolled over to one of the mane six who picked it up. Revenant unleashes a flurry of magical slices with his horn and caused Windston to lose the heat weather element. With only two left, he flew to the top of the room.

“I will not lose to the likes of you!” Windston shouted using the storm weather element to fire a lighting storm.

The mane six used their elements to form a barrier and protect everypony. Revenant took the time to charge up a soul shot. Windston saw and had lighting flow around his wings and went in to dive him. The girls used their elements to fire off magic and redirect Windston’s path. He got clipped on one of his wings and crashed into a workstation. As he groaned to get up he saw a soul shot heading for him. It was too late for him to react and got pierced by the attack. The storm weather element flew off him and now the mane six had three of the four weather elements. Revenant walked over to the beaten Professor Windston. Professor Windston got up and used the divine weather element to use a mix of all the weather but he was too weak to generate enough power. Revenant easily knocked out of his way and kept walking to a cowering Professor Windston.

“Wait…wait…it doesn’t have to be like this. We could work together with our power and show everypony what we could achieve.” Windston offered.

“Not happening after everything you’ve done…you’ll be wishing I threw you in jail again.” Revenant responded as he approached the Professor.

“Alright fine…fine we could help out Equestria then. Huh show this power to Princess Celestia.” Windston tried talking his way out of it.

“No…” Revenant then let magic form around his right front hoof. “Windston, the sins you have committed are unforgivable. Lust for power, extortion, violence towards others, experimenting with nature, using abyssal artifacts, all of these are sins that staunch your soul.”

“No please don’t. Don’t you see what you are throwing away here? We could lead everypony into a new era of power and control. We could reinforce Equestria and Animardia and build one sovereign nation to achieve peace. Why would you throw away the chance for total unity and peace?” Windston stuttered as he backed up to a wall.

“Peace can never be achieved through force and power. It can only be achieved when an unbreakable bond is formed. Your ways of peace are others suffering. This is why…” Revenant said as his hoof was done with the magic build up. “This is why you need to pay for all your sins right here and now!”

Revenant then charged at Windston who stood in fear up against the wall with nothing to protect him.

“But most important of all….you need to pay for all the suffering, the pain, and tears...THAT TWILIGHT HAD TO FEEL BECAUSE OF YOU!” Revenant screamed as he punched Windston with his charged hoof.

Professor Windston felt the hit to the core of his soul. The shock of the blow shook his whole body and had the air from his lungs leave him. The final weather element flew off him and Twilight used her element to catch it and make it tranquil. Windston backed up holding his gullet and looked up like he was going to say something. His mouth moved but no words came out of it and he collapsed. Revenant stood over his defeated opponent and felt the aura of his power return into his body. When he cooled off he was about to collapse but felt a warm shoulder holding him up.

“Like I said…with the bonds we have, we’ll never lose.” Twilight said with a smile to him.

“So it is. At last we have them all…we did it.” Revenant sighed. “But before we leave grab that box with the lever on it.”
Pinkie Pie quickly got it and held it up.

“You mean this thing with the wires leading to the other room? I wonder what it does when I…” Pinkie Pie said as she was about to push on the detonator.

“Whoa not yet!” Revenant shouted stopping Pinkie Pie. “Let’s get in the hallway where it’s safe then you can find out what it does.”

Twilight teleported all of them into the hallways outside of the room. They sealed the door shut with Levia’s ice magic and Pinkie Pie pushed the detonator. An explosion was heard along with the mine shaking from the blast.

“What was that?” Applejack asked.

“A bunch of dynamite destroying all the abyssal artifacts. The explosion should render this level of the hideout useless so nothing should be able to get to the artifacts if they all weren’t destroyed.” Revenant explained.

Everypony cheered that they had all the weather elements and destroyed the abyssal artifacts. Their cheering was cut short when the mine began to collapse on them.

“I told you I’d keep my promise.” Revenant softly said to Twilight.

“And I knew you would. Now let’s go home and be together Revenant.” Twilight responded.

Twilight began her teleportation spell. She imagined the airship where it last was and saw that it was still there. Once she had the location her horn glowed and enveloped the mane six, the ponysprites, and Revenant with magic and would teleport them to safety. Revenant felt relieved that he would finally be able to relax and settle down. As the spell was being casted, he thought that maybe he should decide to start a family with his new found love. His train of thought was cut-off when he felt a cold chill run down his spine. From the room where they destroyed the artifacts, tentacles of abyssal magic burst out of the chamber and extended far enough to grasp Revenant. It came at him too fast and he didn’t have enough time to react. Twilight noticed and reached out for him.

“Twilight….” Revenant said as he got pulled away from the girls into the darkness that was pouring from the room.

Twilight tried to save him but was too late because her spell finished. The spell teleported the mane six and the ponysprites back to the airship in a split-second and Twilight still reached out for Revenant.

“Revenant!!!” Twilight cried.

“What the hay was that?” Applejack asked.

“We need to go save him now while there’s still time!” Twilight addressed everypony.

“But that’s too far of a journey; we wouldn’t make it in time if we hoofed it.” Rarity said.

“Then let’s take the airship there.” Pinkie Pie suggested.

The ponysprites quickly flew in the airship and informed the pilots that they had to go to the dogs’ hideout immediately. The mane six boarded the airship and took off to go to the mines. Five minutes later the airship arrived at its destination. Twilight quickly teleported out of the ship and went to search for him. Sadly the entrances had caved in. Twilight was about to teleport in their when Rainbow Dash stopped her.

“What are you doing we need to get in there and…” Twilight began.

“There’s no way we’d be able to get in there! You saw all what happened to him. What if the same thing happened to you as well, besides look?” Rainbow Dash pointed as guards from the airship came out and began to try and make their way into the mine.

“We need to standby now Twilight.” Sage told her.

“How could we?! Revenant is still in there and he wouldn’t leave anyone of us if we were in his situation!” Twilight cried.

The mane six saw the guards were trying but there was no way to get in without excavation equipment. The guards tried for half an hour but knew that their efforts were pointless. They quickly got back on the airship and got the rest of the mane six back on. Twilight refused to leave but Sage had to calm her down.

“Calm down Twilight! If we keep up these pointless efforts we’ll get nowhere. Even if a cave-in with no flow of air happened, Revenant still has time. We’ll be able to get equipment and get to him in time. You just need to believe in him.” Sage assured her.

“Wait a minute…Twilight you split magic with him right?” Levia asked her.

“I had to so I could help him.” Twilight answered.

“Then you should be able to find him and let him know what we’re going to do.” Levia replied.

“You’re right. I’ll let him know that we’re going to get him out and then everything will be fine.”

Twilight then concentrated on the bond that was created and searched for him. She felt his connection still with her, but couldn’t find him in the mine. In fact, she couldn’t find him anywhere. She thought that he may have abyss walked out of there but she couldn’t find him. It was as if that he had disappeared but she still felt the bond.

“No…no….this can’t be right…” Twilight fell to her knees crying.

“Twilight what is it? What’s wrong?” Rarity asked her crying friend.

“I can’t find him….I can still feel him…but I can’t find him….” Twilight cried. “He’s gone girls….he’s actually gone….”

Rarity held her friend as she wept. The girls looked at each other for a sign of hope but found only sad expression. They looked to the ponysprites and Levia was already weeping with Fefnir. Sage looked up as if he was trying to find a solution but couldn’t think of anything. He let his tears silently fall from his eyes. Everypony was sad now that after everything that they went through, now that everything was going to be right, the one thing that they dreaded would happen had come true. Revenant Soul was gone.

Epilogue

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Canterlot Castle

“And that’s what happened your majesty.” Applejack finished explaining to Princess Celestia.

“I see…thank you girls for everything you have done.” Princess Celestia looked at her student. “I’m sorry what happened but we will stop at nothing to find him. If what you said is true…then he is bound to be there.”

Princess Celestia’s heart was breaking seeing her student so down. All the girls felt the effects of the last mission but Twilight was hurting the most out of all of them. None of them could fathom what she was going through. Princess Celestia went up to Twilight and put her hoof on her shoulder.

“Twilight…we will find him. You need to have faith in him.” She assured her student.

Twilight was silent for a moment before looking up at her tutor.

“It’s…its okay Princess Celestia…I know everything will be alright…” Twilight calmly responded.

Everypony was confused at Twilight’s response. They looked at each other and then at Twilight trying to understand her.

“Yes everything will be alright my faithful student. Your faith in him is unwavering.” Princess Celestia said to Twilight.

“But Twilight how could you be so sure of…” Pinkie Pie began but Rainbow Dash and Applejack silenced the mare.

“Its okay girls I know everything will be fine.” Twilight said to them.

“But how do you know?” Fluttershy asked.

“That’s easy…Revenant promised he would come back. He always keeps his promises. Just watch he’ll be back in Ponyville in no time and everything will be okay again.” Twilight said with a smile.

Twilight then made her way out of the throne room. The rest of her friends and the ponysprites looked at each other and knew that she was only lying to herself. She only did that to show that she’d be fine but they all knew that she was going to be suffering the most. They all agreed that they would have to be there for Twilight until Revenant’s return. They followed their friend out of the throne room leaving Princess Celestia to herself.

“Unfortunately I was right about him…” Princess Luna appeared with a frown on her face. “I’m sorry…I didn’t think this would happen.”

“It’s alright my sister…” Princess Celestia started.

“It’s not. I predicted that Revenant would bring trouble and he did. Now look, Twilight is in pain because she finally met the love of her life and now he is gone.” Princess Luna explained.

“I know which is why we have to find him.” Princess Celestia turned to her sister. “Tragedies happen but what matters is what we do to fix them. Revenant did everything he could to fix things when he messed up and he did…and I forgive him for that.”

“Wait…you knew what happened in the mountains?” Princess Luna asked

“But of course…I’m you’re older sister and I know what my little sister is up to.” Princess Celestia said with a smile.

“I see…guess I can’t hide anything from you huh.” Princess Luna sheepishly replied.

“Well you did a good job hiding that assistant of yours, but he kind of made himself obvious later on.”

“So you know of Nightingale also.”

“Yes I do…Luna can I ask you a favor?”

“But of course.”

“Thank you…I want you to have that assistant of yours lead the search and rescue of Revenant Soul. That will be his task and will not be relieved of it until he is found. I know it may seem harsh but we’ve still got our duties to fulfill. Having someone like him handling this would greatly aid us.” Princess Celestia explained.

“I see…I will find Nightingale and inform him of his mission and sister…”

“Yes Luna?”

“Thank you…”

“For what?”

“I don’t really know…I guess calming my nerves down after I said I was right. You quickly thought of a solution to an answer where I would’ve broken down. I wish I could be as strong as you…”

“You are. You fought against the battle within yourself for a thousand years. You made the corruption in you weak enough for the Elements of Harmony to return you back to me. So please continue to do well my sister.” Princess Celestia embraced her younger sibling.

After the regal sisters had their moment, Princess Luna flew off to find Nightingale. Princess Celestia sat in her throne thinking of all the events that had happened. Everything that had occurred didn’t seem to add up. The weather elements being disrupted by Discord was coincidence but then other things didn’t make sense. The dogs interest in the elements, a mad professor wanting to control the weather, and the rise of abyssal magic. All these things connected to Revenant, but Princess Celestia knew that it wasn’t him. She knew that Revenant was innocent to all these things and only wanted a new life.

“Hmm…Nightingale…” Princess Celestia thought out loud. “Just where did you even come from?”

There was something about Nightingale that bothered her. She did know of him, but she questioned exactly where he got his information. More importantly how knowledgeable he was on the situations. His mere presence alone was unsettling. There was something about Nightingale that made Princess Celestia…uncertain. Princess Celestia didn’t like uncertainty because she knew with uncertainty there would be trouble in the horizon.

Revenant woke up to find himself in the darkness once more. He searched around for where he might be and thought that he might be in a dream. As he searched he found a bonfire once more. He went up to it and lit it. The flame grew and a spark of light flew out of the fire. It then illuminated where he was.

“Wait a minute…I’m in the mine? Something isn’t right though…it as if this place was….” Revenant stopped as he felt a familiar presence appear.

“Welcome back Revenant. I told you we’d talk again and here we are.” The dark manifestation appeared to him once more.

“You again!? No I can control you now so why are you here!?” Revenant demanded.

Revenant noticed something odd in his body. He didn’t feel any of his wounds at all. He didn’t feel fatigue and felt all his strength back with him.

“What the…why do I feel good all of a sudden?” Revenant muttered.

“Ah so you’ve noticed. Allow me to explain.” The manifestation cleared his throat. “Welcome Revenant Soul…to the abyss!”

“Wha….the abyss?” Revenant responded with wide eyes.

“That’s right…you are once again back within the abyss. The last time you didn’t really enjoy your stay so please allow me to welcome you properly this time.” The manifestation said.

When he finished dark shades appeared from the darkness. Revenant could see they were the souls of those who were consumed by the abyss. They slowly moved in to him.

“No…this isn’t right…I destroyed the abyssal artifacts. There’s no way I should be in here.” Revenant said.

“That’s where you are wrong. There is a proper way to dispose of abyssal artifacts and what you did just released the abyss into Equestria. “

“No…you mean I…I brought the abyss into Equestria?” Revenant lamented.

“Correct although with the cave in we’re trapped here but no matter…we’ll get out soon enough. We just need to…gain some more power that’s all.” The manifestation turned to Revenant.

Revenant felt an unsettling nerve through his body. The shades sent it and began to get excited.

“What….what do you plan on doing?” Revenant asked.

“Easy…we are going to collect our dues from you Revenant. We do hope that you are ready to pay up front because if not…” The manifestation looked at the shades with a smile. “Well…I don’t think I need to answer this from here.”

“Then why do I feel so refreshed all of a sudden?”

“The abyss doesn’t really like it’s….merchandise being damaged. It truly does like you so being all beaten up like that would only make things bad for it. So it wanted to make sure you’d be in tip-top condition before it decided to collect.” The manifestation answered.

“Big mistake…I’ll just fight my way out of here.” Revenant said letting soul magic flow through his horn.

“Good…the abyss likes that. Do fight well Revenant; we would be disappointed to consume such a tasty meal in a matter of seconds. We love to savor the flavor so please do well. Oh and welcome home, please over stay your welcome.” The manifestation finished and disappeared. The shades then began to move in on Revenant. The light quickly flashed blinding the shades and flew deep into the dark. Some of the shades went after it while the rest turned to Revenant.

Always endure…

“*sigh* Guess I got to follow that light huh? Oh well. I’m sorry Twilight, guess you’re gonna have to wait awhile before I come back home. But don’t worry…I’ll make it out of here and when I do we can be together again.” Revenant sighed. He then looked upon his enemies with determination in his eyes. “Because I feel our bond, our love, and nothing will keep me away from being with you. I’ll cut down any obstacle that stands in my way!” Revenant shouted.

A shade lunged at him but he quickly sliced it in half with a soul divide. After that he charged head on into the darkness, fighting for his light, his love…for Twilight.

And we're done! Man, I did not expect myself to be writing this long on this story. To think I started this just to see how it would go but it became a habit for me after work to continue writing this story. I'm really glad I got to finish it off. There were a couple moments I thought I was going to drop the project and let it die but you readers kept me going. That's right, you readers kept me going even when it felt as though it didn't matter. I do have to thank Big_Macintosh_1992 and WX204. These guys were with me from the very beginning and are awesome pre-readers for me. I do hope to see something from them so I can help them out as much as they've helped me. I would love to hear any feedback of the story, and I mean anything. Now I take a break and work on a couple of other projects and read on ponies, because I wll return with more to come.

Revenant Soul: Genesis and The Weather Elements

by cyber_pony13

Prologue

Chapter 1: Levia's Confession

Chapter 2: Revenant's Awakening

Chapter 3: Escape

Chapter 4: The Flight Back

Chapter 5: Meeting the Princesses

Chapter 6: Welcome to Ponyville

Chapter 7 Hello Crusaders

Chapter 8: Digging Up the Past

Chapter 9: Sparks in the Heart

Chapter 10: The Next Weather Element

Chapter 11: Ambushed

Chapter 12: Outrage

Chapter 13: Fading Light

Chapter 14: Turning Point

Chapter 15: The Big Event

Chapter 16: Wisdom of the Wind

Chapter 17: Choices to Make

Chapter 18: No More Secrets

Chapter 19: Two become One

Chapter 20: Back to Normal...Right?

Chapter 21: Final Mission

Chapter 22: A Reason to Fight

Epilogue