Bear the Grudge, Wrathful Outsider

Chapter 1: A stone by any other name

Dedication, A&W cream soda, and unnecessary ballet classes.

        That is the level of fucking dedication I have to pulling off this godforsaken look. This was on a dare mind you, My friend Danny pretty much bet that I couldn’t get in shape, get a tattoo, and gain balance.

        Now, Comic-Con was rolling around the corner, and that struck me with the actual want and need to do all this.

        I’m gonna go as Fuck-mothering Corvo Attano.

        So! A couple hundred bucks wasted on ballet got me to be so graceful, that I could stand on one leg on a balance beam. Then, I took fencing classes. Why? SWORD BITCH! I need to be able to use a sword for this! So, I had pretty much learned how to fence, with all them fancy ripostes and stuff.

        Then I asked my dad’s friend, who’s a medieval reenactment guy, to teach me how to fight with a longsword. So, I end up learning to combine fencing and longsword fighting into one fancy style that I like to call “Riposte n’ slash”. Counters, dodges, stabs, and slashes. It pretty much encased all of those, that, and combined with my family’s unnatural pain tolerance(seriously, saw my own dad take a bullet and beat the hell out of the guy that shot him, then he actually doubled over in pain. Fucking crazy man.), I was pretty much set.

        Then came the fun part. I was already in shape, I had finally got my sense of balance, I bought the actual costume and mask, all that was left, was the final piece. The finishing touch. And this took a lot of convincing for my dad on this part.

        I got The Outsiders symbol tattooed into the back of my hand.

        I will never, ever talk shit about people who get tattooed. Seriously, I was in pain for fucking weeks. I cried like a little bitch for a bit, but oh my god, all those weeks of that itchy ass ointment made this worth it.

        I had finally completed the look of Corvo Attano. I even let my hair grow out!

        Unfortunately, I am cursed with a lack of great stubble for a beard. It sucks, I know, but it is unavoidable.

"Seriously dude. I was fucking kidding when I told you to go through with this..." Danny muttered under his breath as we walked these fun halls of animu and mango noises."Honestly! You even went out to get a goddamned tattoo!"

I flipped him off, a smug grin on my face as I slipped on the mask, "Go fuck yourself man, I got to learn some fancy shit because of that dare. Not only that, but it actually motivated me to not be a fat motherfucker and exercise!" Yup, used to be a lardass before this dare. But a whole year of exercise and sword fighting really makes you lithe. So in my humble opinion, this was so totally worth it.

"Yeah, now you're just A muscly fat ass now." Oi!

I glare at my friend, who came cosplaying as the classic Dante from Devil May Cry. He actually had the hair to pull it off, too. “Fuck you, Danny…” I grunted, stretching my legs as I sat down on a bench. I watched the people go by with a blank stare behind my mask, some people coming up to me and saying that I look awesome, same to Danny, it was alright.

I turned to my best friend with a curious glance, “Have you seen Enrique? He said he’d meet us here.”

He shrugged, his dyed white hair hanging behind him out of his face as he leaned his neck back and seemed to be resting his eyes, “Fuck if I know Francisco, he said he got caught up with finishing his costume.” I groaned in response.

“Dammit, I want to explore the booths! This sucks…” I paused, and looked at him, “Speaking of…”  I trailed off, a shit eating grin could be implied with how I sounded.

Danny groaned, and rifled through his red coat, “Yeah yeah… here you go…” He pulled out a wad of money.

That’s right people, all that hard work for a thousand bucks. I am not a clever man.

Bad choices aside, I had managed to score more spending money for my own pleasure! Sweet!

“I’m here! Sorry I’m late!”

Both of us turned our heads to see our friend Enrique decked out in full on Gears Of War armor. Namely for the character Dom. I facepalmed, but laughed as I looked at the shortest one of us, “Jesus man, it’s like I should worry more about you kicking me in the shins rather than being chainsawed!” He had managed to score a Lancer replica, which I will admit, he did pull off the look pretty damn well.

“Fuck you man,” Enrique laughed, “I spent too much money on this not to wear it.” Danny and I rolled our eyes, but we both rose from the bench we were resting on.

“Alright chuckleheads, we got booths to visit! Lets do this!” I did a little fist pump, and thus our great trek into the unknown depths of comicon began.

The booths I found… they were amazing. There was a booth dedicated to Van Helsing, and I saw one thing that made me want to blast spaghetti everywhere. “Oh sweet baby jesus a working replica of his crossbow!” I wasn’t kidding either. It was a functioning replica of the machine gun/crossbow hybrid they had in the movie. The drum spun and everything! I turned to the salesman with an insane grin on my face(not that he could see).

“250 bucks my good man.” The salesman said. Hey now! That still leaves me with plenty of money! I pulled out the appropriate amount of cash and slammed it down.

“SOLD!” I paused, and looked at him with a sheepish smile. “You got any straps for this? I don’t want to hold this all day…” The man laughed, but nodded. He pulled out a black leather strap.

“Sure, you want me to do it, or do you got it?” I handed the crossbow to him.

“I think I’d prefer it that the genius who made it did the honors.” The man rolled his eyes but laughed goodnaturedly. With a quick nod, the salesman did a few adjustments, and the black strap hung from the crossbow, awaiting my grasp.

I nearly squealed I was that happy. I took it into my hands, and swung the strap onto my, making the crossbow hang from my back. I couldn’t help but feel elated, I had an amazing crossbow on my hands that functioned just like it should. Well, today was only going to get better.

(Equestria, Present)

Celestia trotted calmly through the statue gardens. Court had been turned over to her sister for the night, and she did not feel the need to retire to her chambers quite yet. She gazed up at the moon, and sighed as her mind wandered back to the times before her sister was banished.

She tore her gaze from the celestial mirror, and looked at the various statues that made up the garden. More than she cared to admit were from those who were imprisoned, either by choice, or by force. There was Victory, the three ponies who were doomed to die when she gave them the choice. Then there were cases like Discord, who had been threats to the very order of the kingdom.

But there was one, that tore at her heart more than others.

This was the statue she was traveling through the gardens to visit. It had been over a thousand years since she had cast the spell that bound him in time and stone. She made her way through the paths that lead to his spot, privately secluded from the rest of the statues.

What she saw, terrified her.

The iron gate that had been barring the path to the statue was warped and broken. Around the pedestal that held him, rubble was strewn around upon the ground. On the stone wall, that separated him from the rest of the gardens, was a message carved into the very rock.

I’m back.

Celestia stared at the wall in terror before fleeing from the site.

(Comic-Con, Present)

The next booth I encountered, I had another stroke of good luck. This time with an officers sword from Dishonored! And it was a legitimate sword, too! Real steel and everything! When I had asked the guy, he said some of the most magical words to ever be uttered to me.

“Normally, I’d sell this thing for about 389 due to the real metal and work put into this.” A beat of silence, “But seriously, that is the best Corvo costume I’ve seen in this entire convention… well, for the people who cosplay as Corvo. Most of the time they never bothered with all of the details, but that mask seems like it’s made from different pieces of metal. I have to give props to that, I’ll sell it for 230.”

ODE TO JOY! ODE TO JOY EVERYWHERE! I shakily placed down the money, and took the sword and sheath. I strapped it to my belt, and I felt so much empowerment from my current ensemble.

Slowly, but surely, I am coming to something resembling Corvo Attano. Just with… modifications to the weapons, is all. I needed one more piece to complete this, and that was a pistol.

And but a few moments later, after about 10 minutes of walking, I had found a Fable booth, pretty much dedicated to the series.

Then something caught my eye. A replica of the Dragonstomper. The Fable 3 version, anyway. No Fable 2 versions to be seen. Regardless, I had asked the guy just how much it was, and I kinda expected this.

“Well, I did manage to get the inner workings to work like an actual flintlock, and I managed to get enough steel to make this structurally sound. I would chalk it up at around… 465.” Oh holy fuck. I dropped down the money and thanked the guy for selling it to me.

Lets see… 465, 250, and 120. That makes 895 dollars that I spent on all of this extra stuff. Sweet jesus that is a lot.

But! Doing a count on all of the money I had…

I still have a healthy 602 dollars! Sweet! Paying the man, I earned myself a holster and the sweet looking pistol. I strapped it to my right hip, and I paused to look myself over.

        I had an awesome crossbow strapped to my back, a well detailed sword that felt light and balanced, and an awesome looking pistol that was also called the Dragonstomper.

        Sheesh, this is awesome. I made out like a bandit here! I had whistled a small tune to myself, walking past so many booths that carried items that didn’t quite catch my attention.

        Except just one final thing.

        I had passed another booth that once more caught my eye. It was a single ring. A single, solitary ring with an amber for its stone. At least… I thought it was an amber. I don’t know, but… It was just… it looked beautiful. It shined in the light strangely enough, as if it was… calling me.

        I weaved through the crowd, making a beeline towards this ring

        After a few minutes waiting in line I had finally reached it. It held this unearthly orange glow as I neared it, and everything else around me seemed to darken.

(Equestria, Present)

Luna sat in her throne stoically as she held the mask she had learned to wear centuries ago. Blueblood was giving her a pathetically put together set of reasons why he should have more power over certain sections of the city. Mainly “because I’m a prince” being the most prominent one. “Blueblood, for the last time. Just because you are a prince in title alone, it does not mean you can simply take power over sections of the city.”

“But Aunty! I at least deserve some sort of area of the city, I-”

Luna raised a hoof and stopped him mid sentence. “Just... no. Now please leave so the next petitioner can start.” Blueblood huffed indignantly and stormed out of the room. Luna looked at her guard after he had left. “Was he the last one?”

The guard nodded. “Yes your majesty. We purposely placed him the last in line. He was bothering a lot of the other petitioners and kept getting moved back.”

Luna slumped into her throne and let out a breath of relief. “Thank the stars... I don’t know how ponies got so ridiculous over the past thousand years.”

“LUUUUNA~!!!!!!!”

Luna and her guards jumped to attention and looked around the throne room. They all gasped and looked up as a skull made of flame shot down from the roof, and flew around the court. It lit the banners on fire, and the windows smashed from the heat.

“YOU FUCKING TRAITOR!”

  Luna shouted at her guards over the roar of the flames. “Everypony out!”

“NOT THIS TIME!” the flames barred the way to the door, “YOU WILL ALL BURN WITH YOUR DAMNED PRINCESS!”

The guards shouted as the flames danced around the room. One guard ran up to Luna and shouted over the roar. “Princess! You must leave the courtroom!”

Luna squinted through the heat of the blaze as the skull continued to fly around the room. Her horn lit up and in a flash, she and the guards were teleported out of the room. Celestia ran from down the hall and saw her sister and guards singed. “Luna!”

Luna looked back over to Celestia and met her sister halfway, embracing for a moment. “Sister, something has happened. There was a creature of fire attacking us when Night court had finished.”

Celestia looked Luna in the eye and they shared her fear and sadness for a brief moment. “Luna... He’s free.” Luna’s eyes widened as she turned back to the doorway to the throne room. the both of them burst in and saw the throne room in flames, but the flaming skull was gone.

In the middle of the room, the flames left a single item untouched. It was an audiograph. Celestia levitated the black disc off of the ground and looked at Luna for a brief moment before warping the both of them to her study. As soon as they were there, she sent the disc to a gramophone that sat in the corner. The needle settled on the record, and began to play the message.

        A voice they haven’t heard in centuries played from the speaker, “So. Guess who’s back in town?”

(Comic-Con: Present)

        “Excuse me?” I froze, and looked up to see a saleswoman. I shook my head.

        Weird… “Uh… yeah, um, how much for this ring?” I asked her. Seriously, now that I get a close look at it, I see a sort of sun symbol in the epicenter of the jewel, a sort of tribal look to it.

        Bitchin’.

        “Oh this?” The saleswoman pointed to the very ring that had grabbed my attention so much. “Oh, I found this in my attic. When I tried to get it appraised, the jeweler couldn’t really set a value on it, so he left it up to me for it.” She shrugged, “It looks pretty damn expensive, I think 250 is pretty good. Never really heard of Amber being too expensive, so I figure something fair will be fine.”

        Wham, bam, thank you ma’am. After laying down the money and taking the ring, I immediately put it on, and felt… strange. Whatever, it looks awesome.

        A silver band with an awesome amber stone, a tribal sun pattern inside of it, and it fit perfectly.

        And then that urge to take a piss as bad as a russian racehorse on a coffee run came upon me like a soviet missile.

Couple minutes later, I had leaned back as I sighed in relief.

And then I felt my body get flung into the air. All around me, lights filled my vision. In midst of screaming like a little girl, I zipped my pants up as quickly as I could.

What? I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t want to be caught with my fly down!

After a few seconds though, I had passed out.

(Equestria, 1298 years ago)

Celestia yawned as she trotted into her chambers. “Thank you Sister, Thy night always brings a beautiful image to the skies.” Another yawn interrupted her and she blushed. “It seems that the night also wants me to sleep. We shall see thee in the morning dear sister.”

Luna smiled softly as she turned down the hall. “Indeed we will, Sleep well sister.” The door to Celestia’s chambers closed and she let out a relaxed sigh. With a flick of her horn, the regal dress, crown, and slippers of her regala levitated off of her body and moved to a large mannequin that stood in a small closet. She climbed into her bed and snuggled into the covers, closing her eyes to enjoy a night of peaceful dreams.

Yeah not fucking likely.

A body landed right next to her as she layed in bed, causing the alabaster princess to jump in shock. She stared at the creature that had intruded into her chambers and moved off of the bed in surprise. It’s face looked like nothing she had ever seen before as it stared back at her. Her surprise wore off and she glared slightly at the creature before speaking in the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Who art thou and why art thou in our chambers!?”

“Jesus fucking christ!” The creature jumped up in surprise, it’s claw-like limb moving towards it’s… ah, it was a mask. “Is that really necessary!?” It shouted back as it rubbed what she guessed was its eyes, “It’s like a damn Motorhead concert!”

She snorted and looked at the creature. “Thou shall watch thy tongue! Now answer me creature, Who art thou?”

“And what’s with all the damn archaic speech? What are you, some…” The creature trailed off as he stared at her, “Well. This is different. Am I in Iowa, by any chance?”

Celestia blinked in confusion as she leaned back. “Where is this, Iowa, you speak of?”

“Well there goes that hope.” It sighed, “Never mind… just… just realizing that I got shat on by fate. Again.”

Celestia’s face softened as she gazed upon the creature. “You never answered our question, creature.” She trotted over to where it sat and stood next to it. “Who, and what art thou? We have never seen a creature such as yourself.”

The creature froze for a second, and was silent. “I… I am Corvo. Corvo Attano. I am what’s known as a human. Male, to be exact.”

Celestia frowned slightly as she spoke his name a few times. “Corvo. Corvo. An intriguing name to be sure.” She moved over to the doorway and looked back at Corvo. “If thou would give us a moment.”

Corvo tilted his head, “Implying I have a handle on time. What, you expect me to grasp the physical aspect of time itself? I got no moments, nothing like that. But I have plenty of patience to wait.”

(The Inner Workings of the Great Corvo)

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKOHGODWHEREAMI!?!?!?!?

Celestia giggled a little as a smile grew a little on her face. “Thou certainly likes to talk.” She opened the door and looked to one of the guards stationed there. “Sir Sentry, We needeth one of the guest rooms prepared.” The guard turned to her and saluted.

“Oh believe me, I like to talk. I even like to let people who like to talk, talk. Makes it easy for me to find just how full of shit they are. But what about you, any notion of talking besides laughing at my nervous tick? Like telling me why all of the sudden you’re friendly and giving me a guest room when you have no idea on who exactly I am and oh my god I’m rambling...” Corvo placed his face in his hands and sighed.

Celestia stopped and looked at Corvo for a moment before closing her eyes and sighing. “We are sorry for our mirth, it is just that we rarely have any who art willing to speak freely with us.”

“Maybe it’s the increased volume of your voice when you get angry? Just a guess.” He said with what she assumed was a pointed glare.

Celestia blinked and looked down at her throat as she put a hoof towards it. “Does the Royal Canterlot Voice truly discourage speaking with us?”

“Lady, I felt like your voice was using my ear drums for a soccer game.” he deadpanned, “Or, if you want a better comparison, it felt like a cannon going off right next to my ear.”

Celestia winced a little and tapped her chin. “We are sorry... perhaps we should run this by our sister? She does use the Royal Voice quite often.”

“Probably a good idea. Due to the name, I’m guessing you’re either nobility, or…” he shuddered, “royalty. If so… well, just don’t shackle me. I had no idea I’d end up in your bed.”

Celestia nodded with a slightly amused smile. “There is no need for thy worry. While your assumptions of our royal position are correct, if thou were to be imprisoned, We would not have requested for a guest room to be cleared.”

He snorted, “Yeah, you say that now. And then bam! Cuffs!”

Celestia frowned as she looked at Corvo. “It seems that thou do not trust us quite yet.” She paused before a small smile grew on her face again. “Then perhaps this will help alleviate thine doubt. As princess, I hereby decree that thou art allowed to roam the Royal Castle freely for the duration of thy stay.”

Corvo stared at her, and to her surprise, tore his mask off, and held a serious look on his face. “You…. Just… you.” He threw his hands in the air and stood up, “Well what the hell, I’m bored sitting here anyway.” He began to make his way to the door, and paused as his hand hovered above the handle. He then turned to Celestia, “I have no idea where I’m going.”

She giggled as she stood and lead Corvo down one of the many halls. “Then we shall personally show thee to thy quarters.” She gave a nod to her guards as they stared at her in shock, before shaking their heads and resuming being statues.

Corvo was silent for a moment as he followed her, then looked at her with a raised eyebrow, “Again… you’re trusting me rather quickly. Sorry, but my experience tells me that isn’t… normal. Well, not to me, anyway.” He shrugged.

Celestia looked at Corvo calmly. “Thou said yourself, that you have no knowledge of how you arrived. We see no reason for you to be considered a threat.” They walked in silence for a while, and headed up a set of stairs. “Thy sleeping quarters are in this tower. If thy need any assistance, feel free to ask the castle servants for what is needed.”

“Uh…” Corvo held a surprised look on his face, “Oh, uh, thanks.” He shook his head as he opened the door. “Right… so… thanks, again.” He scratched the back of his head, “For the place and all. I’ll… see you in the morning, I suppose.”

Celestia nodded with a smile as she turned to head back down the hall. “We shall see thee at breakfast.” She looked at a guard that was passing by and stopped him. “Lieutenant, If our sister has any rash decisions regarding our guest, please explain to her that we are allowing his stay.” The guard nodded and stood at the bottom of the stairwell.

Corvo pursed his lips and nodded, “Hm. So… goodnight.”

She began to trot away and looked behind her for a quick moment. “Goodnight, young Corvo.” She rounded the corner and was gone from Corvo’s sight.

Corvo was silent, and then shrugged. “I’ll freak out in the morning. Right now, I want to sleep off potential insanity.”

What a way to visit a new world...