The Rat Assassin

Chapters

Arrival
The Heart
Caught
Ponies v. Assassin
Deja vu
The Great Escape (Part 1)
The Great Escape (Part 2)
The Great Escape (Final Part)
Deception (Part 2)
"Running" from the Law
Dreams, Chaos and Angry gods.
Deception (Part 1)

Arrival

Corvo stood on the roof, high above the unsuspecting soldiers.
It was time to take down his next targets, Morgan and Custus Pendleton. Supporters of the men that framed him of killing the Empress. Him, Corvo! He was the Empress’s personal bodyguard and everyone accused him of kidnapping Emily and killing his employer!

Holding on to his outrage, Corvo remembered the day of her death. He remembered her final moments, how she’d begged him to keep Emily safe, but he had failed before the task was even assigned. Emily had been captured at the scene of her mother’s death, and he was powerless to stop it.

Now he could only hate those he exacted his revenge upon.
Revenge, the one thing that kept him going. At this point he lived for it. They falsely accused him of being a murderer? Well, better make sure their false pretences weren't so false, right?

Harnessing his anger as fuel, he took a deep breath and flicked open his sword. When the huge clock tower struck twelve, that’s when he would begin.

5 minutes.
3 minutes.
1 minute.

30 seconds.

3
2
1...

Now!

With a mighty ring, the clock struck twelve. Jumping off the roof, Corvo targeted one of the Tallboys standing in the ruins of the city. Sending mana to his hand, Corvo focused on one of his wooden shields and released the energy. He felt a jerk behind his navel and a hard pulling sensation as he rocketed forward. Putting his feet out in front of him, Corvo landed on the oblivious Tallboy’s shield with a sharp THUNK.

The man on the stilts attempted to scream, but was cut off when Corvo slammed a sticky grenade to the Trans tank on his back, and delivered a quick strike to his throat with the hilt of his blade.

Using the guard's shield as a launching pad, Corvo jumped up into the air, loading his Wheelock as he fell.
BOOM! The grenade went off, spraying blood, wood splinters and fire, alerting the rest of the guards in the area.

Foot soldiers whirled around, drawing their weapons as they turned, the Tallboys turned, preparing their bows by notching arrows tipped with trans based explosives. They focused their attention to the falling stilts of their brother in arms, then down to the culprit of the crime, Corvo.

“KILL HIM!” The shout came from in the crowd, but the giver of the command was unknown.

With a mighty roar, they charged. Foot soldiers ran, Tallboys opened fire... But they found nothing. Corvo had already blinked behind the group of guards.
Rolling out of his quick getaway, Corvo got up, turned on his heel and fired his wheelock into the group of guards. With a screech of pain, one of the many men fell.

The others charged.

This time Corvo wasn’t so lucky. Dodging a sword strike, he quickly holstered his pistol and began dodging and parrying.

‘Time for plan B.’

Focusing energy into his arm, he continued to do his best to survive. As soon as he felt the pressure hit a maximum, he swung his arm and released the energy. The effect was devastating. Half of the men chasing him went flying backwards, many not getting up. The trans arrows were blown out of the air by the incredible wind blast and went sailing back to the men who had fired them.

One of the arrows hit home, slamming into a Tallboy’s chest. He reeled and tumbled backwards, exploding with a satisfying BANG.

Corvo, however, didn’t stay to admire his handy work. He ran. Fast. As he sprinted, he pulled out a spiritual elixir, moved his mask and downed it in one large gulp.

After all, throwing wind-blasts around isn’t exactly the easiest of activities.

______________________________________________________________________________

Continuing his wild dash, Corvo began to get into a steady rhythm.

Run. Shoot. Blink.
Run. Shoot. Blink.

The “fight” continued like this until there were only a few soldiers and one Tallboy left.
This was the point that Corvo decided to test his new power.

Possession.

It had taken a while to get the runes but, once he had them, learning the power had been a breeze. However, this was the moment of truth. The time to see if his new power truly worked.

Skidding to a halt Corvo readied his hand, focusing power on the mark on his hand rather than the palm like he usually did. He then clenched his whole body, made a throwing motion and fired an energy bolt that traveled so fast, mortal eyes couldn’t even see it.

Striking the Tallboy, the bolt of shadow dissipated.

Corvo felt as though he had been plunged into cold water. Just as suddenly as it had come, the cold feeling left, then, he saw everything, except, from a much higher up perspective.

Wait, higher perspective?

The Tallboy! He was possessing him! It had worked! Looking down he began listening to the conversation the soldiers were having.

“He just vanished!”

“You don’t say? No shit he vanished, I can SEE that. Now stop being an idiot and let’s go find him!”

“You got it ‘capt’n, but lemme check on ol’ Sammy, He seems a bit sickly.”

“You think he got the plague?”

“No, he’s tougher than that. Hey Sam, you all right up there? You don’t look so good!”

Realizing the question was directed at him, Corvo gave a quick nod, and a smile.

“Right... Whatever ya say, Sam.”

As the two men turned away, Corvo notched an arrow on the Tallboy’s bow, drew back and fired. The trans tipped arrow exploded, bathing the two men in flames. They screamed and screeched as they ran to a small puddle of water in the alley. They yelled about the pain, about how “Sam” was a traitor.
They were dead before they touched the water.

‘Just like the innocents you all shot. Eye for an eye.’

With a twisted smile Corvo took another trans arrow and aimed it high up, with an extremely short draw.
As soon as the arrow left the bow, he dropped the possession spell. As it fell through the air, the unsuspecting Tallboy shook his head, attempting to clear the dizziness of being possessed.

Then he heard the crack of the arrow hitting his trans tank. With an incredibly loud explosion, he was blown to nothing but small meaty chunks.

Wickedly smiling at yet another victory, Corvo scaled the nearest building and looked up at the clock tower.

12:30.

Perfect. The Pendletons would be arriving at the Golden Cat any moment now. And with “happy” thoughts in mind, he set off towards the pleasure establishment.

He had some vengeance to reap.
___________________________________________________________________________

Opening the door to the maintenance room, Corvo peeked in.

Empty. Perfect.

Sneaking in, he looked through the barred window of the maintenance room at Custus.

Scum. If I could get in there, I would make his death as painful as I could.

Looking around, Corvo thought of how to kill the oblivious man in front of him. Looking around, he saw a steam valve, with a turning mechanism. Giving an insane barking laugh, he got to work reversing the ventilation systems so they would ‘flood’ into Custus’s room, as it were.

‘Too easy. I just slaughtered the incompetent guards, possesed this fool’s brother and had him kill himself! Now I just have to turn one more knob and this idiot will be dead too.’

Twisting the final knob, Corvo watched as steam began pouring into Custus’ room with a loud hiss.
As Corvo stood there the Pendleton brother choked. Coughing, wheezing. Corvo continued watching as Pendleton looked around and saw him. He stumbled to the window and pointed to the valve.

Slowly, Corvo removed his mask.

As Custus watched him take off the mask, his face took on a look of horror. He knew this man, from the wanted posters!

He was being assassinated!

Corvo gave the man before him a stone cold look. One of disgust and disappointment. The assassin watched as the noble begged and pleaded to be spared.

Corvo laughed and watched as the man choked and fell. ‘Good riddance.’
______________________________________________________________________________

Replacing his mask, Corvo turned off the steam. Sighing inwardly he allowed himself a bit of pride, and time to rest.

Then, he heard clapping. A slow steady beat, as if someone had just watched a good show.

Clap.
Clap.
Clap.

Corvo whipped around, flipping open his blade as he turned. Fully expecting an enemy he prepared to hurtle his sword across the room, but stopped dead when he saw who was standing in front of him.

The Outsider.

He watched as the black cloud around him swirled and twisted. Slowly, he refolded his sword and attached it to his belt. Corvo looked around the room as though the man before him were a trick.
Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Corvo merely stared at the man, waiting for him to make the first move.

"Ah, Corvo. Coming back from the bloodshed? It seems like the rumors of your thirst for blood aren't rumors after all. Perhaps next you will use 'witchcraft' and curse the city with the plague?”

“I come here with purpose, Corvo. There, beyond the Void, is an enemy that threatens both you... and me." He paused, allowing the severity of the situation to hit the ex-Royal Protector.

“I know what you must be thinking: Why should I care? Know this. It is dangerous, Corvo. It will hunt you down from across dimensions until both of us are dead, just like your targets. Be wary. Now, go.”
“What? No, I’m going to have my revenge, powerful enemy or not!” The supernatural assassin almost roared.
“Don’t worry about that. End it, and you shall return home."

Before he could say anything to protest, the man disappeared and Corvo’s vision faded to black as he felt the sickening sensation of falling. ___________________________________________________________________________

Celestia was tired. She had just attempted to seal away a being almost as powerful as her, from 3 dimensions away last night.

It was high noon and she already felt like going back to her room and collapsing on her bed. But, she had to finish this paperwork or the rest of the court would bicker about it to her until she did.

That... thing. What was its plans? Did it want to trigger an interdimensional war? Was it in search of power? Or was it just being foalish? It seemed a lot like Discord and his magic... What was it?

As she thought this she levitated her quill and began writing the financial reports for the year.

That was when she felt it.
His magic.

“Discord!” she cursed.

Abandoning her work she opened her window and jumped out. Unfurling her wings, she gave them a mighty beat and propelled herself forward through the air. Sending out a magic pulse, the magical equivalent of a sonar, she felt everything. From the smallest of bugs to the mightiest of dragons. Anything with a magic spark at all, was in her vision.

As she felt the return pulse, a few things stood out. First, was Luna, goddess of the moon and, more importantly, her sister. One of the things that stood out also were the Elements of Harmony (Both the ponies and the objects). The last two, however, were the ones she was interested in at the moment. Two instances of Discord-like power. One shaped like a rift and the other in the shape of... a human?

They’re supposed to be extinct! This has to be Discord, he is the only one who would cause mischief like this!

Flying over to her balcony and to her room on the top floor of Canterlot Tower, she opened the doors, scrambled for a parchment and quill and began writing a letter.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

As you may have noticed, there was a magical disturbance emanating from the Everfree. I would like you to go take a look at it and report your findings back to me. Take what and whomever you need, but keep the group small.

I am sorry I have to ask you to do this, but it may be an emergency and if I don’t find out about it fast enough, Equestria may have a problem on its hooves.

I fear it may just be Discord’s return, but I have my doubts.
Please, be careful.

Your proud mentor,
Princess Celestia

Quickly rolling up the scroll, she magically sent it straight to her protegé.

_____________________________________________________________________

Coughing, Corvo awoke with a start. He opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings immediately. He could be in danger! He could be-
...In a forest?
Sitting up with a grunt he looked around. ‘Trees, trees, and, what’s this? More trees. Great. I’m stuck in the middle of this forest and I have no idea where I even am.’

Giving an annoyed groan he quickly pushed himself off the floor of the forest, giving the air a sniff. This place was nothing like the forests back on the isles. Back home, the forests were full of small ten to twenty foot trees. Here, however, the trees towered up above, going as high as fifty feet. The air smelled a lot more moist as well.

Corvo gave a smile at the old memories of playing and learning swordplay with his father in the woods. Sighing as the momentary peace left him, he looked around and set off in a semi-random direction, simply following the path he had landed on in an unknown direction.

‘Why did any of this have to happen? Why couldn’t the Empress have survived?’

The Heart

Spike watched intently as Rarity worked, stitching fabric together and bejeweling
everything in one smooth movement. He continued to watch, entranced by the graceful movement of the thread and needle. Suddenly, his trance was broken, “Spike! Will you be a dear and fetch that ribbon over there?”

Giving a stupefied smile, Spike stood up and walked over to the shelf of ribbons. Picking up the roll of thin fabric, he gave a content sigh as he remembered the last week. Twilight had just gotten a new book and, because of it, she’d been doing research into magical frequencies which gave Spike a lot of spare time, most of which he spent here. Some, however, was spent with Fluttershy helping her feed the animals.

‘Man, this has been great! With Twilight sitting around reading that HUGE book, I’ve had so much time to do what I want.’

As he continued to think of his friends, a warm feeling welled up in his chest. Everything was better with them. He felt the warm feeling expand into burning flame...
As he continued to explore his feelings, Spike quickly realized the flame wasn’t because of his friends, not entirely anyways. Much of the flame was due to the fact he was getting an incoming message from the Princess.
Quickly warning the mare next to him, he prepared for said message.

Before the tailor could reply, the sound of a loud belch filled the room and a burst of emerald green fire came from Spike’s mouth. She watched as the flames from the dragon’s gullet dissipated into smoke and then promptly transfigured into a scroll. Patting his chest with a fist to make the fluttering feeling of the letter go away, he waddled over to the scroll and unfurled it.

Quickly, his eyes scanned the page.

“Oh no... Rarity, I think you need to see this.”

A bit annoyed at having her work interrupted, she frowned. “Can it wait Spike? I am about to have a brilliant moment!”

The Dragon shook his head and turned the scroll toward the mare. He watched as she read, how her expression went from slightly annoyed to worried.

“We best go find Twilight, darling...”

_____________________________________________________________________________

Corvo walked along the path aimlessly, giving a frustrated sigh. This was horrible. He had no idea where he was going, or what this ‘enemy’ even was. The Outsider was so vague about it, he wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be a giant flaming rat!

To top it all off, there was nothing but trees in every direction so he had no sense of where he was going other than the path, which could just be leading him in circles.

‘Outsider, what were you thinking?’

Not only had he just randomly decided to drop Corvo in this dimension, he had given no indication as to what he was supposed to do other than ‘end it’ which could mean a million different things, coming from him anyway.

‘That wasn’t like him. He normally calculates every little detail. It’s like he’s making this up as he goes... or is that just what he wants me to think? Damn him...’
’
As Corvo continued attempting to make sense of his situation, he began thinking that maybe the Outsider wasn’t on his side this time... But, then again, when had he been? The whole fiasco back home didn’t have anything to do personally with himself. It had simply sparked his interest. That was the only reason he had paid any attention to the assassin. For all he knew, this was simply the Outsider attempting to have a little fun.

Following his thoughts, he arrived back at square one.

‘This ‘enemy‘... What is it? Why does the Outsider need me to take care of it? I thought he was a god, why can’t he handle this? Maybe he just doesn’t want to miss any of my ‘story’...’

Considering his options he sighed, there was nothing he could do to get a grip on this situation...

‘Except use... it.’

He hated using it. Whenever he did, thoughts hurtled through his mind, and it hurt. But, he couldn’t afford to be picky now. If he wanted to get back home any time soon, he had to do something. Slowly he reached into his pack and pulled “it” out. The Heart of a living thing, crafted by the Outsider himself.

‘Or so he says.’

Looking at the magical object, he shivered.

He poured the smallest amount of power he could into strange organ.

Nothing.

Keeping up the stream of power, he began walking further down the path, steadily increasing the amount of energy going into the object from a trickle to a steady stream until he suddenly felt very dizzy. There was a sharp pain in his mind and, quite suddenly, he was thrown back to the day the Empress had been killed.

She was lying in his arms, bleeding. So much blood. She coughed.

“Corvo, find Emily. Protect her. You’re the only one who knows what to do. Won’t you? Won’t you, Corvo?”

Her eyes slowly closed, they didn’t open again. Her chest stopped its rising and falling.

Corvo’s eyes sprung open and he screamed. He didn’t want the empress to die! His head felt as though it had been slammed into the side of a whaling trawler. His vision blurred. Stealing a glance at the Heart, he saw it was glowing and beating wildly. Giving an agonized moan, he dropped it, and fell to his knees.

As soon as the heart left his hand, the pain stopped. Breathing heavily, his vision soon faded. Once more, he was unconscious.
______________________________________________________________________________

The library was an utter wreck. Books littered the floor and table, a half eaten daisy sandwich rested on top of a volume of “History of Equestria” rather than its plate, which was currently sitting on the floor upside down.

Among the mess sat a frazzled looking Twilight Sparkle. Her mane was a mess, with flyaway hairs sticking up in every direction. Her coat was in a similar condition, dusty and matted in some places. She was frantically searching through a massive book titled “Magical Frequencies and Alternate Dimensions” as though her life depended on it.

As the purple mare reached the back of the book, she gave an angry groan.

‘What? That can’t be it! There has to be something explaining the magic from the forest. Magic in that frequency can’t be achieved by anypony. I mean, it was just like Discord’s magic, but he’s sealed away in stone!’’

She tossed the book she had been reading behind her, then promptly began sifting through one of the many piles of tomes on the floor for another book to research out of.

‘If only Spike were here, he’d know where else to look.’

Looking around, she sighed.

‘Speaking of him...he’s going to have a fit when he sees this mess.’

Slowly she walked up to her study table, abandoning her search for knowledge and began levitating the various books, trinkets and food scraps off it. As she lifted the garbage over with magic to the trash can, there was a sharp knocking and the door burst open to reveal a winded Spike and Rarity.

Rarity gracefully sauntered in. Then, after giving Twilight a warm hug, she looked around and gasped. “Twilight, dear, what happened in here? It looks as though a twister passed by here!”

Twilight laughed embarrassedly and scuffed at the floor. “Yeah, umm, heh, funny story. I was just working on a research project and made a little mess in the process. Sorry.” Looking up, she gave Rarity a sheepish smile.

Spike stumbled into the house still breathing heavily. Looking around, his jaw dropped. All his work had been undone, and it was barely past noon!

The flabbergasted dragon gave Twilight an angry stare. “A little mess? This... is a little mess? Dear Celestia! I’d hate to see what a big mess looks like.” Now breathing slightly easier, the dragon fell on his rump and attempted to catch his breath.

Blushing, Twilight quickly changed the subject to avoid more lectures from her winded baby dragon. A bit odd, since it was usually she that lectured him. “So, what are you two doing here? I thought you were working on a new dress?”

“Not anymore, I’m afraid. Princess Celestia sent a letter about matters of utmost importance in the Everfree Forest! You simply must read it! Equestria could be in danger!”

Hearing the words ‘Princess Celestia’, ‘letter’ and ‘Everfree Forest” had sent Twilight’s mind into a flurry of questions before Rarity had gotten a chance to finish.

“The Everfree! Did she say anything about the magic? Is there some sort of monster? Has Discord been freed again? Oh no, no, no this is horrible!”

Finally catching his breath, Spike stood up from his resting spot and stared critically at the mare. Quickly, he produced a scroll with Celestia’s royal seal printed on it. Waddling over, Spike handed the rolled up parchment to the paranoid unicorn, who began levitating it (and Spike) before he could let it go.

“Quick Spike, pack my bags! Rarity and I will get the rest of the girls. Then, we’re going to the Everfree!”

“Uh... Could you set me down first?”
______________________________________________________________________________

Corvo felt terrible. His body was aching all over from lying uncomfortably and unconsciously on the ground. The worst, however, was his head. It throbbed and ached, but the pain was manageable, especially compared to the psychological torture of having to re-live that day.

‘What happened?’

Slowly, he lifted himself up and clutched his head. As he took a deep breath, he felt just how dry his mouth was. Coughing, Corvo pulled out a health elixir. It wasn’t water but it would have to do for now. Pulling the top open, he moved his mask and took a sip.

‘It hasn’t even been a day and I’ve already fallen on my face! Twice! This... This is going great.’

Feeling the pain in his head numb, he let out a breath he didn’t know he was been holding. Looking around, he saw the Heart lying on the floor near his feet. Bending over, he picked it up gingerly, as though it were a bomb waiting to go off.

Stowing it away, Corvo took another sip of the elixir, and slumped against a tree.

‘This is just getting worse by the second. Now not only do I have no idea what to do, but I can’t use the heart to figure it out either.’

Looking around, Corvo attempted to get his bearings. That’s when he saw the smoke. A thin layer of the stuff, rising up from the east. There were only two things that could have meant. Either there was a big forest fire, or civilization.

‘Considering my luck these past few days, it’s probably the former... But, even if the chance that I’ll find people is small... I’ll take it.’

It was a start. Not a great one, but one all the same. He took another swig from the potion. Feeling the rest of the pain ebb away, he closed the now half full bottle and set off towards the smoke, mentally preparing for the worst.

Caught

Corvo looked up in amazement. The Castle was huge, with towering spires and large walls! Unfortunately, much of it was destroyed. It may not have been the source of the smoke but that was fine, after all, the day was nearing its end and he needed a place to stay for the night.

‘It could’ve probably passed for the Dunwall Tower back in its prime... If not better.’

He walked slowly around the building and, as he did, he remembered his day. He had been thrown into a unknown universe, landed in an unknown forest, knocked out twice, and now, after following a smoke trail, he was walking up the steps of a nice, but wrecked, roomy castle.

‘Not what I usually get up to..but a nice change of pace.’

As he continued his walk around the castle, inspecting the walls and making sure there was no structural damage to the building and that it would be safe to enter. Deeming it safe enough, he walked until he saw the doors to the castle.

They were big. Very big. The doors or, rather, what was left of them, were open slightly, as though someone had left in a hurry. Above them was a seal, two winged unicorns flying in a circle. Between them were the sun and the moon, as if each unicorn represented one of them. Corvo quite honestly scoffed at that idea. Was it some kind of primitive cult? He wouldn’t be surprised if it was.
Well, at this point, he wouldn’t be surprised if this was some elaborate joke by the Outsider.
The seal, like the rest of the door, was cracked with vines growing out of it. Behind the castle’s entrance hall was an incredibly tall tower. It shot up into the air and had an uncountable number of steps lining the way to its entrance, leading into large doors.

He slowly walked into the ruined entrance hall, closing the door behind him. All that the hall contained was an incredibly strange stone structure. Atop, sat a large orb, also covered in vines. Was there anything in this damn castle NOT covered in plants? On the side, what looked to be stone fixtures jutted out from every side.

‘Odd... A fountain, maybe? Why build such a thing inside?’

Shaking his head, Corvo continued past the hall and made his way to the back door. Exiting, he saw the beginning of the innumerable steps leading up to the tower. As he carefully walked watching for any signs of danger, the sounds of the forest gave way to a tense silence. As he reached the top, the only thing standing between a possible safe haven and him was the smaller, but no less intimidating, door.

With a push that took considerably more force than he thought initially, the door creaked and opened, despite its groans of protest. Carefully, he stepped inside the dimly lit room.

‘Lucky me, the moon is out tonight.’

Continuing inside, he noticed, after looking to make sure the place was relatively free of potential threats, the astonishingly high ceiling. At the very top was a stain glass window that was shattered in places but, from what remained, he easily concluded that the window possessed the same seal that had been over the huge double doors at the entrance hall.

Turning around, he quickly stalked back to the tower door and slammed it shut. Opening his bags, he took a look at what he had with him. A heavily upgraded wheelock pistol, a crossbow, a small number of bolts, some bullets, elixirs, and his trusty sword.

‘Not much, but it’ll have to do...’

Slowly he took out his wheelock, sat down, and began cleaning it. It was an incredibly simple task that didn’t require a lot of concentration, but it helped him think.

‘So, my options so far... I could try to find a shrine to the Outsider and contact him. I doubt he would help me though. I swear, that man... thing would throw me under a railcar if it thought it would be something amusing to watch. I could continue with my smoke plan, but what’s that going to lead to? Either way, there are no guarantees on the table for me ...’

As he sat there, thinking, he finished polishing the barrel of the weapon. He slowly reassembled it, taking comfort in the weight of the gun. Deciding what to do next, Corvo put away his pistol.

He was going to stay here in the ruins and rest. If the smoke was from a fire, it will have stopped by next morning. if it was from a town, however, the smoke should continue rising. Content with his plan, he slowly took off his weapons. Walking over to a corner of the room, he arranged his weapons on the ground for easy access. Once he was satisfied with the arrangement, he laid down and drifted off to sleep as the fatigue of the day caught up with him.

______________________________________________________________________________

Twilight and the the girls continued their trek through the Everfree forest. Pinkie was practically carrying Rainbow Dash who had claimed to be tired on the basis that she had worked a long shift at the weather center.

Most of the girls were both frustrated and tired except for Twilight, who was determined to follow the magical trail they had picked up, and Pinkie, who was always a little bundle of energy.

As they walked down the path, Rarity let out a small moan. “Twilight? Can we stop? It’s gotten dark and I’m getting tired of looking at this forest’s horrid colors.”

Turning her head around, the purple unicorn fixed Rarity with an odd look. “You do know that this could be a threat to Equestria, right?”

“Yes, darling, I know that this could be a threat.. But that’s just it! It could be a threat! What if it’s nothing?”

Shaking her head, Twilight continued following the trail. “It’s not nothing, that’s for sure. Can you feel that? We’re at the end of the trail and there’s an incredibly intense magic here... Be alert, girls..”

Continuing, they started to realize they recognized the general area. They were near Everfree Castle!

‘Did it take refuge in the Everfree Castle? Only one way to find out...’

With that, she amplified the power of her detection spell. Her magical vision expanded until she saw it. The creature. It was in the far tower of the castle, bottom floor. By its movements, she could tell it was sleeping.

“Girls, it’s in there! It’s asleep!” The unicorn shouted with glee.

Fluttershy looked up from the ground and gave an almost inaudible cheer.

Like Fluttershy, Pinkie began celebrating too, raising her hooves in the air and cheering. “We found it! We found it! We found it! Oh, oh! Do we get a prize?!”

As Pinkie cheered, a snoring Rainbow Dash tumbled off her back. “Wha-oof. Hey! What’s the big idea?”

Bouncing up and down, “We found it Dashie! Twilight says it’s asleep!” The pink mare attempted to explain, “So now that i-” But was promptly cut off when Applejack shoved her hoof in the mare’s mouth.

Twilight gave the three mares an annoyed look. “Come on, your shouting is going to wake it up. Now, I’ve come up with a plan. Applejack, did you bring any rope?”

Applejack turned around and proudly pulled a length of rope out of her saddle bags. “Yup, never leave th’ farm without it.”

“Great. Let’s do this!”

_________________________________________________________________________

The six ponies slowly opened the door to the tower Corvo was sleeping in. Tiptoeing in, Twilight prepared her knock out spell to deepen the odd creature’s sleep. Scrunching up her face in concentration, she reached the perfect amount of power and launched the beam. It hit it square in the chest, ceasing its quiet snoring. Panicking, the creature shout in what seemed to be anger as it realized it was being assaulted. Scrambling, it grabbed an intriguing contraption that fired a bolt towards the group before quickly succumbing to the spell.

As it fell to the ground, the bolt slammed into the great stone wall next to Twilight and violently detonated. The mare was violently thrown forwards by the force of the explosion.
Getting back to her hooves, Twilight gazed at the creature in a mixture of awe and fear.

‘That thing just blew a hole through a stone wall with that gadget! The Princess was right, Equestria is in danger! What if there are more of these creatures?’

Turning around, Twilight attempted to walk to the door but promptly fell with a yelp of pain due to a burning feeling in her leg. Looking back at her leg, she gasped. Her fur and skin had been burned to the third degree! The burn went from her Cutie Mark down to her hoof on her right side.

Looking to the door, she called out for the others. “Hey! I knocked it out! I need help!”

Five mares rushed in. Applejack and Rarity ran straight up to the beast and promptly began tying it up, just as Twilight had instructed. As the two mares handled that, Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were looking at Twilight’s wounds. Dash was dumbstruck, switching from staring at Twilight’s injured foot to the attacker’s unconscious body. Pinkie looked like she had been slapped in the face but was doing her best to cheer up a pained looking Twilight Sparkle by telling jokes and offering encouraging words. Fluttershy was disinfecting and dressing the injury on her friend’s leg.

As the timid mare finished dressing her wounds she asked “What happened? We heard a loud noise and I got scared. Are you hurt anywhere else? Did it do this to you?”

Twilight slowly got up, taking care not to irritate her hoof. “When I shot the spell at him, he woke up for a moment and attacked me with some crazy contraption...Whatever he used missed and hit that wall...then it exploded.”

Rainbow Dash fell out of the air after hearing those words. Quickly she scrambled to her hooves and fixed Twilight with a fearful look “Exploded? It tried to blow you up?”

Twilight nodded. “It saw me use the spell, I think it got scared.”

Rainbow’s face morphed from one of caution to one of confusion. “It tried to kill you, and your OK with that?”

The lavender mare gave a soft sigh. “Lets just get back to the library, I have a spell that will fix my leg up and we can see about this creature. I think I have a book on it.”

Fluttershy looked at Corvo from behind Twilight, and slowly shook her head. “Umm..excuse me Twilight?

“Yes?

“I don’t think bringing the creature back to the library is such a good idea...”

The purple unicorn looked around at Fluttershy. “Come on Fluttershy, what could possibly go wrong? We tied it up right?”

Fluttershy gave a small squeak in response. Shaking her head the unicorn gingerly walked over to Rarity and Applejack. “Almost done?”

The two mares nodded.

Continuing past them she walked over to where Corvo had been sleeping. Looking around Twilight found what she wanted, his items. Gingerly she levitated up his crossbow, taking a careful look at is she saw it was already reloaded and was primed to fire. She slowly put it in her bag along with the wheelock.

‘Wonder how these work...’

Turning around she limped back to her friends, wincing at the sharp pain in her leg. “Let’s go!”

______________________________________________________________________________

Twilight her living room, her leg like new, she had fixed it as soon as she had gotten a hold of the healing spell book.

Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack had already fallen asleep. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight however were wide awake. Rainbow was keeping a careful eye on Corvo as Fluttershy attempted to take off his mask to get a better look at his anatomy and figure out just what he was. The task was proving difficult due to the unusual number of things on the mask. Buttons, lenses, latches, levers the only thing they couldn’t find was the release.

As Rainbow and Fluttershy attempted to work with Corvo, Twilight was happily fooling around with is unusual weapons. Though she had almost been killed by one of them after having to follow the winding and twisting trail he had left, she harboured no fear for the objects. In fact she was enjoying watching the crossbow reload itself each time she pulled the trigger.

‘If the royal guards had a few of these...’

***Corvo***

Slowly, Corvo came to, as his brain became aware of the ropes binding him he went into high alert. Taking care to remain still, he looked around by moving just his eyes. He didn’t see much but that didn’t matter what he had been wondering about had already been confirmed. Sitting in front of him, watching him like a hawk, was a sky blue pegasus with a rainbow mane.

‘So the encounter in the castle actually happened.’’

Taking care not to move his head, he looked around the room. Spotting Twilight he gave a mental groan.

‘She survived? I thought that I could at least bring one of them with me. But then again I’m not dead, so I suppose killing one of them wouldn’t do much.’’

Slowly as Corvo attempted to look forward again, he made the smallest of movements with his head. Hoping it had gone unnoticed, he waited.

“Twi! It moved!”

‘Damn. So close.’

The one called “Twi” levitated his crossbow over to the table, and galloped over. She quickly pulled a quill and paper out of...nowhere and began writing furiously with the strange levitation spell. Corvo continued to sit completely still, creating the illusion that he still asleep in a futile attempt to keep the ponies from bothering him.

The mare continued her feverish writing, then she transitioned into pulling books off the shelves and looking between Corvo and them. Suddenly she put her hooves on his shoulders and attempted to look him in the eye through the larger lense of his mask. Then in a quiet but excited voice she began firing questions. “Hello? Can you talk? Are you a human?”

Corvo let out a groan, he had been caught.

‘No use in pretending at this point.’

He turned his attention back to “Twi” who at this point looked like christmas had come early. She looked harder into his lens as if it would somehow allow her to see through the one-way glass.

“Oh wow, can you talk? You don’t speak Equestrian, do you?”

Corvo rolled his eyes, a gesture that went unnoticed due to his mask. Ignoring Twilight Sparkle. He looked around the room and turned his attention to the rainbow one, who was conversing with a diminutive butter yellow pegasus that looked at him through wide cautious eyes.

‘She must have been the one messing with my mask.’

His observations were interrupted by “Twi” who at this point had decided that she was better off attempting to physically observe him rather than converse. As the mare poked and prodded him he gritted his teeth.

‘This is getting old. Fast.’

As Twilight continued to observe (harass) Corvo, his annoyance reached a breaking point.
Giving a threatening growl he jerked his head toward the mare. As he did two things happened. First Twilight jumped backward and fell over. Second, the butter yellow mare across the room gave a squeak of fear and attempted to back away from him. Instead she ended up slamming into Dash and the both of them tumbled to the floor.

“Fluttershy! What are you doing?”

“Sorry, Rainbow Dash.”

‘How original...Rainbow Dash. Who'd have guessed.’

Finding the events somewhat funny he decided to tease the mares.

‘Maybe I’ll mess with them a bit.’

Giving a small chuckle at his idea, Corvo set his plan in motion. He cleared his throat and gave a mirthless laugh, looking straight at Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash as he did. What he didn’t know was that he seemed a lot more creepy than mocking. The way he laughed combined with his emotionless mask made him seem terrifying.

As insane cackling died down, he looked to see the effect it had had on the mares. It wasn’t what he was going for; it was better. Rainbow Dash was looking at him angrily, but the anger was just a mask to hide her fear. Twilight looked somewhat startled and Fluttershy was squeezed into a small ball across the room out of fear.

As his lenses made contact with her eyes, she attempted to squeeze into an even smaller ball against the bookshelf. Giving another quite hoarse chuckle, Corvo took care to make sure that his eyes were level and he was staring directly at her.

The he gave a shout “BOO!”

Rather than running away, as he expected, she burst into tears.

Surprised at her reaction Corvo’s jaw dropped. He had wanted to anger them maybe scare them a bit but, this was just unexpected. He watched as the mare quietly sobbed, sitting on her haunches.

Twilight rushed over to her friend and began comforting her. Rainbow got up and walked in between Corvo and the two ponies.

“First you hurt Twilight, now you make Fluttershy CRY? You’re a jerk!” and with that she assaulted Corvo. The so called fight was over pretty quickly with Corvo, holding down Rainbow Dash by putting a knee on her throat. He may have been bound but he had a lot more experience than her in fighting. Rainbow however didn't go down easily. She has delivered a hard buck to his stomach before getting pinned.

Crovo wheezed, attempting to regain his breath from the burst of movement and the buck. Rainbow continued the insults. “You’re a big meanie! I bet you just go around beating up ponies for no reason. We didn’t even do anything to you, and your being mean to Fluttershy. Now let me up and fight like a real pony!”

Corvo looked down at the pegasus, gave an insane laugh, and pressed down on the hollow of her throat. As he did so Rainbow Dash’s struggling became more feisty, until she began sucumbing to lack of oxygen.

Before he could finish the job something caught him off guard. The something was a bolt of magic that slammed into him and flung him backward into a book case. As he slammed into it many of the tomes came tumbling down on his head, and he could do little to stop it.

When the books stopped their assault, Corvo slowly got up to see an angry Twilight.

“It’s fine that you attacked me, in fact that was expected. But nopony, and I mean nopony hurts my friends!”

Sighing Corvo gave a sarcastic remark. “I’m not a pony. Have you noticed?”

Twilight’s glare intensified. “I don’t care what you are. I’m going to call the princess and she’s going to throw you in...in a dungeon!”

Corvo stared at her. "Didn't you try already try that? I mean you only knocked me out and dragged me here for no reason!"

Slowly Twilight’s eyes narrowed. In a mocking tone she attempted to anger him “I bet you're a you’re a bad person where you come from, I bet they banished you so you came here to make other ponies miserable. What did you do? Commit treason?”

Corvo’s eyes narrowed. This pony who knew nothing about him called him a traitor! He was the empress’s personal bodyguard. Not a traitor! This pony who knew nothing about him was accusing him of killing her! This had already happened at home, it wasn’t happening again.

In all actuality Twilight was just trying to get him to feel bad for what he had done, and provoke him.

Corvo stood up and took a step forward. In a quiet tone through clenched teeth he said “Take that back!”

Twilight gave a small smile. “Nope.”

Corvo shook his arms and took out the safety pin that was keeping a part of his ripped sleeve in place. He used it to cut away the ropes, then slowly brought his hands up, mark glowing with an almost blinding light. Fluttershy gave another squeak and jumped behind Rainbow Dash, who protectively wrapped her hooves around her.

Corvo gritted his teeth and began yelling at Twilight, his fear striking tone and words amplified by the ever expressionless mask. “How dare you! They murdered her and you think you have the right to blame me! I was the empress’ personal bodyguard. You have no grounds to judge me on little horse!”

Twilight’s face took on a look of confusion ‘What is he talking about?’ As she pondered this
Rainbow gave a yell. “We’re PONIES not horses!”

Corvo snapped his head toward her. “Ponies or horses you have no right to judge me! You have no idea what I’ve had to do!”

Corvo’s mind raged looking for someone or thing direct his rage at he choose the one who had sent him here. ‘Curse you Outsider! Of all the places you could have sent me you picked here. Insane pony land!’

Twilight ignored her confusion and lowered her horn. “After what you just did to Rainbow and Fluttershy I have every right to judge you!”

Rainbow Dash flew into the air and pounded her hooves together. “Yeah!”

Fluttershy cowered behind a table and whimpered “Please, just leave them alone! Please?” in an almost inaudible voice.

Corvo raised his hand and pointed the palm at them, the mark flaring up even brighter, to a point where steam was rising off it.

“You have no right, not in this matter!”

Twilight’s horn flared up “You have no right to hurt my friends!”

Sending power pulsing down his arm Corvo steeled himself.

‘I’m not going to stand here and be insulted!’

______Author's note__________

Hello readers, Hope you liked the chapter. Big thanks to this guy for editing the story! I want to thank you all for the support so far, also if you have any interesting ideas you think I should include...leave them in the comments, the more raw Ideas I have the more complex and interesting I cam make this fic.
Thanks again!

Ponies v. Assassin

Applejack tumbled out of bed giving a short yelp as she hit the floor.

“What in tarnation? Why’s everything shakin’!?”

She hastily scrambled to her hooves and ran over to her friends who were groggily looking around for the source of the shaking. The farmer tried to drag them one by one under Twilight’s writing desk, but her attempt to save them was cut short when the shaking stopped.

Rarity turned her head and gave Applejack a look. “Earthquake?”

Applejack dropped Pinkie’s tail and turned to return Rarity’s curious stare. “No...It can’t be. It was too fast. It felt more like somethin’ hit a wall.”

The two mares got out from underneath the table, dragging their still snoozing friend with them. Once they were on their hooves, Applejack hefted Pinkie onto the bed. Looking at Rarity she whispered “She’s had a long day, let her sleep.”

Rarity gave a silent nod and turned to begin walking down stairs. “Come on, Applejack. Let’s go make sure Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy are OK.”

Making sure to avoid Spike’s basket as to not awake the sleeping dragon, Applejack briskly walked over towards Rarity. The two mares proceeded down the stairs. As they approached the bottom, they heard Twilight yelling.

“After what you just did to Rainbow and Fluttershy, I have every right to judge you!”

They heard the clop of hooves hitting each other and a loud “Yeah!” from Rainbow Dash.

Then they heard a third voice, one they didn’t recognize. It was deeper than most ponies’ voices and a lot more forceful. “You have no right, not in this matter!”

They heard yet another shout from Twilight. “You have no right to hurt my friends!”

Applejack turned and looked wide eyed at Rarity. Both the ponies formed a silent agreement and proceeded down the stairs to assist their friend.

As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were dumbstruck by the sight in front of them.

The creature they had taken from the forest was standing on its hind legs, books strewn on the floor around it. The ropes used to bind it were cut. His hand, its back ablaze with energy, pointed at Twilight.

Twilight, however, looked just as scary, pointing her brightly glowing horn up at the creature with as much malice as a manticore with a splinter.

Applejack couldn't believe her eyes.

‘What is that thing on its hand? That strange mark? I thought that wasn’t important!’

Rarity shook her head and began getting her bearings back as AJ’s mind scrambled.
“Applejack, we must stop that beast before it tries to hurt Twilight again!”

Corvo sent more power pulsating down his arm. He felt an immense amount of energy. There was so much mana here! Just in the air, he could maintain this level of pressure for ages.

Corvo rapidly began shaping the energy, refining it in such a way that he could use multiple powers at once.

‘Hopefully I can pull it off with this much mana... I couldn’t even try this back home.’

With that he swung his arm, and felt the two ‘chambers’ of energy release. The first one went into the most basic form of energy, a kinetic wall, a ‘Windblast’.

The second was ‘Possession’, aimed at Rainbow Dash in the background. He felt the shadowy bolt hurl itself at the rainbow mare and find its mark. As it dissipated he felt the liquid coldness as his mind overwhelmed hers.

When his eyes reopened he was looking at the so called battlefield from Rainbow’s point of view. Unfortunately he hadn't accounted for his own wind blast hitting him, so as soon as he was in control he was thrown backward into the wall.

‘Goddamn that hurt! Lucky the winblast wasn’t very powerful. Could have killed myself.’

As he hit the ground, he assaulted the blue pegasus’ mind, slamming his conscience into hers and quickly stealing the information needed to work with her body. Once the intel was acquired, he got back to his (stolen) hooves and looked around.

He spotted two new arrivals, an orange ‘normal’ pony and a white unicorn.

As he saw the horn on Rarity’s head he began thinking

‘How many of them are there? That purple one, Twilight, is quite the nuisance alone. More like her could be... troublesome.’

He watched as the two mares helped Twilight to her hooves. Flapping his wings he shot toward the three ponies, who now were attempting to coax Fluttershy out from underneath the coffee table.

“Come on out sugarcube, the creature‘s gone now.”

As fast as he picked up speed, he lost it, slowing down and stopping next to Twilight. He looked at the pony and then to Fluttershy under the table. Sighing, he shook Rainbow’s head.

“Hey Rainbow, where do you think it went? I mean one second he was here with that crazy glowing arm thing and the next he was gone!”

Corvo looked up and went to answer with some silly made up statement when he heard the voice of Rainbow Dash in the back of his head. ‘I dunno Twi, you’re the egghead around here.’

He quickly sent a spike of annoyance at the other being. ‘What? How are you awake? You're supposed to be dormant!’

He felt confusion and fear ‘What the heck? Are you in my head? Why can’t I move? What are you doing to me?’

Corvo applied mental pressure to Rainbow’s mind. ‘The body is mine. Be silent.’ As soon as he thought that he sent the disturbing image of city watch guards, dead, being eaten by rats.

Rainbow Dash’s conscience recoiled and disgust spiked through her mind. Giving her a feeling of amusement, he used her line.

“I dunno Twi, you’re the egghead around here.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned back to Fluttershy and the rest of the girls.

Giving a small smile, Corvo turned around and walked toward the study table in the corner, taking extra care to be quiet. Grabbing his weapons, Corvo began walking to the door.

Before he could reach it however he was stopped by an accented voice.“Hey Dash, where ya takin’ those?”

Corvo, turned around and eyed the orange mare. Then he assaulted Rainbow’s consciousness again, stealing the name of the farm pony in front of him. Acquiring the information he formulated a quick response. “Come on Applejack, you know what’ll happen if we don’t hide these.”

The mare’s eye narrowed in suspicion. “Riiight, Hey I got a question for ya.”

“Yes?”

“You feelin’ okay?”

Caught off guard Corvo shook Rainbow's head. Deciding to make a hasty getaway he replied with “Just dandy, old pal!” then Corvo gave the mare a fake smile, turned around and bolted out the door.

_________________________________________________________________________

Corvo flew at an amazing speed, mostly due to the fact that Rainbow’s body was so fit. As he continued the flight, he began feeling his mental powers break. The possession was exhausting his mana reserves at a rapid rate. As his mind lost its energy he hastily angled himself up, flying higher and higher. Once he reached a sufficient altitude, he threw his weapons into the air, and dropped the possession.

‘This’ll kill her.’ he thought with a smile.

Rainbow Dash, Corvo, and his weapons plummeted to the earth below. The pegasus, who had just recently been possessed, was extremely dizzy. Corvo, however, was focused and swooping through the air by directing it with his hands, occasionally propelling himself with a windblast.

As Dash fell, she rapidly regained her senses. Once she was oriented, she looked around and saw Corvo, weapons reattached to his belt. Hand glowing, he was prepared to blink to the ground to cushion his impact.

‘You’re not getting away with hurting my friends!’

Opening her wings, she flapped them hard, going into a dive. As she sped toward the free-falling human she shouted “This is for stealing my body!”

She slammed into Corvo, and sent him spinning through the air. As he spun, he wildly waved his arms attempting to grab something.

‘What the hell hit me!?’

Rainbow pulled out of her dive. She could feel the G forces multiplying as she turned, and started to fly straight up at the free falling creature.

‘You may have gotten me on the ground, but the sky is mine!’

Sticking out her hooves, she slammed into the falling assassin, catching his coat with her hooves and pulling him up as she flew. Rainbow’s muscles burned, her breath ragged, Corvo was extremely heavy, and all the weapons he was carrying didn’t help to lighten the load. Reaching a high altitude she leveled off, carrying Corvo with her. “Not so tough up here are ya?”

Corvo looked up at the mare and gave a groan of frustration. ‘She just had to re-orient before hitting the ground. She is so annoying.’

Grimacing Corvo looked up and angrily shouted “If you don’t shut up, you’re going to see just how tough I am.”

The mare looked down at Corvo as she flew. “What’s your problem?”

Corvo growled in response. “Quiet!”

Rainbow gave him a hard glare and stuck her tongue out at him, but was disappointed at his lack of reaction due to the fact that his mask blocked his face.

Giving him a raspberry, she shouted a response over the howling of the wind. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

Rainbow suddenly felt a sharp pain in her side, and all the energy left her.

Corvo gave the mare a death glare through his mask “I always get what I want... and now I want you to let go.”

Rainbow sleepily looked down, and saw Corvo’s arm connecting to her side. Following it up, she saw what looked to be a needle with an unusual greenish glowing liquid stabbing her. She rapidly began to lose consciousness.

As the mare fell asleep, Corvo used the hooves that had been grabbing him for leverage, and placed his feet on Rainbow’s chest. Using her as a launching pad, he pushed hard with his feet, head towards the ground. As he fell, he streamlined his body, going completely rigid as he plummeted towards the earth.

As he saw the ground approach he stuck out his hand, mark glowing, preparing a blink to brake his momentum.

‘A bit closer...’

‘Almost...’

‘Now!’

He released his energy, feeling a tug behind his navel. Soon, he felt the ground beneath his feet, quickly he placing his hand on the dirt and falling into a roll to drop the last of the energy from the drop.

Corvo slowly rose to his feet and looked around. He spotted much of the same scenery he did outside of Twilight’s library when he had flown away.

‘A tree? No, it’s that library! The pony must have turned us around when she grabbed me!’

Looking up he saw the pony in question free falling through the air, eyes closed. He gave a twisted smile.

‘ At least I get something for my trouble... Nighty night!’

Before Rainbow Dash hit the ground, a purple aura encompassed her body, and slowed her descent. Corvo shook his head in confusion. Looking around for the source of the witchcraft, he saw them. The ponies.

_____________________________________________________________________________

(Shortly after Rainbow’s departure)

Applejack turned around and looked at the other girls. Shaking her head she pointed at the door with a forehoof. “I ain’t the only one that thought that was fishy righ’?”

Twilight shook her head, “No...you’re not. I don’t know what happened, but I don’t like it.”

Rarity looked at Fluttershy who was hiding behind her mane, and whispered “You think she’s OK?”

“Umm.” Everypony’s attention snapped to Fluttershy. She didn’t speak often, but when she did it was almost always relevant. “I-I think we should go after her.”

The girls continued staring at the mare. “Why?”

The mare sat up straight and extended her wings to make herself look bigger. “I’ve known Rainbow Dash since flight school. She would never leave to do something like hide a few objects when something like this,” she gestured to the destroyed library. “just happened. Something was wrong and she needs our help. We should go.”

Looking at her friends shocked faces, Fluttershy slowly shrank back to her normal composition and gave a nervous smile. “If that’s okay with you, girls...”

(Present)

The girls stared at the scene before them. A dangerous creature had just stabbed their friend and almost killed her by dropping her from over seventy feet in the sky. Now it was on the ground, armed, and by the looks of it, threatening them.

Twilight was the first to react. Screwing her face in concentration, she quickly began lifting a large rock that had been buried in her yard. Using her magic she hurled it at the creature out of anger. What happened next was not so unexpected. He disappeared. Again.

The purple unicorn felt a pressure on her mind. The amount of energy there was overwhelmingly painful. She felt as though she had been bucked in the head multiple times. As her mental walls broke, she felt another pony invade her mind.

‘You tried to kill me with a rock? Seriously? I thought you were better than that!’

No it wasn't a pony... It was the creature! It was invading her mind!

Shocked by the revelation, she frantically began thinking of what to do. ‘The creature! It’s in my head! NO, get out!’

He continued to pry and chip away at her mental defences. As he did, Twilight, in vain, continued attempting to close her mind off to him. As their mental grapple continued, Rarity Fluttershy and Applejack watched as their friend’s face contorted in pain and she collapsed.

The shy pink-maned pegasus looked towards her friends, “What do we do? Something is hurting her!”

Applejack and Rarity shook their heads. What could they do? Twilight had just collapsed without warning! This had never happened before!

As her friends continued to try and make sense of the situation, Twilight woke up in blackness. There was no floor, no sky... the place was just empty dreamscape. As she looked around, she began panicking and did the only thing she could think of. She ran.

Finally tiring out after running for what seemed like forever she sat on her haunches and whispered “Where am I?” to herself.

A voice, booming and echoing in the emptiness, answered her “In your mind, of course. I’ve taken over your body.”

Twilight got to her hooves and frantically searched for the sound of the voice. Finding nothing, she began running in a random direction again.

The voice spoke again. “You ponies are quite resilient. You seem to stay awake when even when I possess you.”

Twilight looked up in horror. “You’re possessing me? Why?”

She heard a crackling laugh and a sarcastic reply. “You only tied me up, knocked me out and kidnapped me. Why would I ever want to run away? Especially when I have no idea what you were going to do with me. You’re just a tool I’m using to escape.”

Frantically Twilight tried to remember a spell, any spell that would expel the creature from her mind. Finding nothing, she stopped running and looked down in defeat.

____________________________________________________________________________

Slowly, Corvo got to Twilight’s hooves and looked around. Seeing the other ponies’ face she gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry girls, I used too much magic. Got a bit of a headache...”

The yellow pegasus stepped forward. “Are you sure you’re okay Twilight? Do you want to rest for a bit while we go get Rainbow and the creature?”

Corvo gave a small nod, and walked towards the library. As he opened the door, however, he was thrown back by a blast of air and confetti.

Out of the door stepped a hot-pink pony with a fuzzy mane and what looked to be an overgrown purple and green lizard. The pony pointed a hoof at Corvo.
“That’s not the real Twilight! My Pinkie sense say so! Get her!”

Corvo snapped Twilight’s head backwards and saw all three of the mares advancing on him.

‘Time to abandon ship!’ Immediately Corvo dropped the possession and reappeared in a flash of light. He hastily got to his feet and looked around.

From his point of view, things were bad. He was surrounded, and he was spiritually exhausted. To top things off, the pink one had a cannon. A cannon!

He did, however, have his equipment. Slowly he brought a hand to his pack and pulled out a sticky grenade.

‘One shot. If I miss, I’m dead.’

He turned and clicked the button, priming the grenade and then hurled it at the cannon. It flew through the air, whistling as it went. Then, with a clang, it attached to the inside of the barrel.

‘Five...’

The mares pounced on him.

‘Four...’

He was being tied up

‘Three,’

Twilight recovered.

‘Two,’

A hissing was heard from the cannon.

‘One.’

_____________________________________________________________________________

Spike scrambled to his feet. Looking around he shook his head. He needed help, his consciousness was already leaving him. That explosion had been a doozie. He needed the Princesses.

Grimacing he limped to Twilight’s knocked out form and began dragging her into the tree house, which had miraculously survived, the explosion of fire and confetti. Putting his friend on the sofa, Spike quickly scrawled out a letter to the Princess.

Princess Celestia,

The girls are hurt, something is tied up in the yard. There was an explosion, need help. Come quick. Bring guards.

- Spike

Spike groggily brought the letter up to his mouth and sent it in a burst of flame before going off into the dream world.

_________________________________

There was a mess up when I went to put the chapter on the site, I hit PUBLISH instead of EDIT when I opened the new chapter...sorry.

Deja vu

Déjà vu

Corvo gave a pained groan. His head felt like it was in a vice, and his feet fared no better. But worse than that was his side. The pain there was almost indescribable; he felt like he had been burned, shocked, and stabbed multiple times. In actuality, the grenade explosion had done just that, ripping up the muscle and embedding fragments of steel and iron within his hip.

Giving another groan, he gritted his teeth and attempted to ignored the searing pain in his side, choosing to concentrate on getting to his feet.

The process was slow going, but he was getting somewhere. Finally after what seemed like hours of work, but was only about two minutes Corvo found himself in a sitting position. As he sat he attempted to remember exactly what had happened to put him in such a sorry state. Not remembering a single thing he shook his head.

‘Something to dull the pain would be nice... ’

Sighing he looked down at himself. He was still bleeding from his side, and many of his clothes were ripped in places. The parts of his clothes that had survived the violent explosion were dirty and beginning to smell. To top it all off, Corvo was thirsty, extremely hungry and feeling pain all over.

‘Oh great, by the looks of it my feet are tied up.’

Shaking his head Corvo slowly brought up his hands, to apply pressure to his wounds, however before he did he caught sight of the Outsider’s mark on his hand.

‘What in the name of... How did I get this?’

As he continued to stare at the mark he didn’t notice the three fillies that were staring at him through one of the intact bushes.

Scootaloo turned toward her two accomplices “What do you think it is?”

Applebloom kept her eyes glued to the creature. “Ah don’ know, but I don’ like it.”

Sweetie Belle sighed. “We found it like two minutes ago.”

Applebloom continued looking at the creature, then slowly shook her head “Let’s wait for it to leave so we can go help AJ and the others.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at one another. Shrugging their shoulders, they continued to watch the creature as it got to its feet, clutching a hand over the bloody wound on its side.

Celestia flew over the lands at a breakneck pace, followed by multiple guards. She had just received the letter from Spike telling her of the events that had transpired in Ponyville. Just thinking of the letter made her worry even more. There wasn’t much written, but that wasn’t what disturbed her so much. The condition of the letter was what ailed her mind.

When it had arrived, Celestia had just finished raising the sun. She had watched the smoke excitedly as it flew toward her. Once it stopped, however, the smoke didn’t form a neat little scroll like it usually did; rather, the paper had been practically crumpled into a ball, and burnt at the edges. But out of all the things about the letter, the blood stains near the signature were the most worrying.

‘Hold on a little longer, Twilight! I’m coming!’

With another mighty beat of her wings, she sped off, the royal guards behind her struggling to keep up.

Ponyville soon came into view... And so did the smell of gunpowder and burning.

‘Whale oil? That hasn’t been used in- Unless the creature... No!’

Beating her wings harder than ever, Celestia flew in the direction of Twilight Sparkle’s library.

Arriving on the scene, the alicorn gasped at the destruction.

There was a small blackened crater in the yard. The door to the library had been blown off its hinges and there were blood splatters all about walkway. A large rock about the size of two ponies sat in between what looked to be Rainbow Dash and the rest of the wreckage. Out of the whole thing, the four limp bodies near the crater were what bothered Celestia the most. That, and the lack of any sign of Twilight outside.

The wreckage had unfortunately also been noticed by the residents of ponyville. Many ponies were standing just outside of the gate and fence of the library looking at the destruction that now dominated the area.

Biting her lip Celestia teleported to the ground and took a good look around. Spike and Twilight were inside the library and, although they were passed out, this brought much peace to the alicorn’s mind. At least her student was fine! The others seemed to be (mostly) fine, minus Pinkie Pie, who was a bloody mess. By the looks of it, she needed some serious medical attention or she’s going to die.

Galloping over to Pinkie, Celestia began concentrating energy in her horn. Bending over, she touched the party loving mare with the tip of the glowing appendage. There was a small flash of light and the blood flowing from the mare slowed.

Breathing a sigh of relief the princess turned and began walking toward the library, when she was stopped by a loud, deep voice.

“Wait!”

“Wait!” Corvo shouted “I need help! I don’t know what happened, I’ve been tied up, and I’m injured! Please!”

Slowly the white mare turned around, her eyes widened in shock. Then her face morphed into one of anger. The regal looking pony walked over, and stared down at Corvo.

“You. You did this.”

Corvo looked around at the destruction. “You think I caused this?”

The pony’s gare grew from angry to threatening. “I know you caused this. The energy around this place resembles yours to a point where denying it would be foalish.”

Corvo shook his head and looked around as he looked at the devastation. A part of him was disgusted that he had to see this. But another part of him, a darker, more spiteful part relished the pain he has supposedly caused. A small voice in his head urged him to say he caused the misery, and that he would make the pony in front of him suffer much worse than those that were unfortunate enough to be here.

Shunning that part of his mind Corvo looked up at Celestia. With a calm tone, he slowly, almost uncertainly said “I didn’t do it. I don’t remember doing it.”

The princess slammed a hoof into the ground, making it quake. Then with a voice louder than thunder she shouted “You mean to tell me, that you are not the one responsible for this?”

Taken aback by her shouting, Corvo steeled himself and slowly nodded.

“You lie. Your magic is painted all over this place.” she whispered.

With shaking hands, Corvo brought his feet close to his chest and untied the ropes binding his feet. Then, holding back a pained cry, he got to his now freed appendages.

“I. Did. Not. Do. This.” he said, gesturing to the wreckage, pausing at each word.

‘Why does everything here seem so familiar? It’s as if this happened before...'

The princess stared at him with growing malice. As she stood there, large pegasus ponies began dropping out of the air. They were clad in golden armour and were wielding short spears. All of them were pointing their weapons at Corvo.

‘I will not be accused of something I didn’t do!’

‘Kill them!’ said a small voice in his head. It was the same voice that encouraged him to threaten the pony.

‘Then they’ll have an actual reason to convict me though.’

‘They can’t convict you if they’re dead. Kill them.’

Corvo continued arguing with himself, should he kill them? What would he gain? By this point, the voice hadn’t given up, it was still encouraging him to murder the ponies, and in all honesty he was seriously considering it. Getting to his feet, he pulled out his sword, and twirled it around, flipping open the blade using his thumb.

‘This feels unusually natural.’

He looked up from his hands. The princess was glaring at him, teeth clenched, horn glowing.

‘No. I can’t kill them. What would Emily say if I did?’

Slowly Corvo held out his weapon, and dropped it in front of Celestia.

“I know when I can’t win. But I want you to know one thing; this isn’t over, I want a fair trial.”

The mare stared at the assassin in surprise. Quickly regaining her composure she responded. “I thank you for your cooperation.” then slowly she levitated Corvo’s sword into the air, and handed it off to one of her guards. “Please wait here, I must attend to my injured ponies.”

Corvo made a confused gesture. “...Injured ponies?”

When Celestia gestured toward the tree, crater, and the unconscious bodies, Corvo could only thing one thing. ‘How did I miss that?’

Corvo sat in a jail cell attempting to remember what had happened in the small town.

‘Everything is so fuzzy. I feel like I’ve forgotten something important.’

Thinking back, he tried to work with what he already remembered...

The princess, after thanking him, asked one of the guards to get a chariot from some place called Canterlot. After that, Corvo had been ‘escorted’ (shoved) inside it. Celestia had then gone to help “her little ponies” and had brought them to the medical wing of the castle for “advanced magical treatment.”, as she put it.

Then, they had him flown here and locked him in the jail cell where he sat now.

‘I’m starting to regret not listening to that insane voice in my head...’

______________

Happy Halloween all. Be safe. This is my 'treat' to all of you. Sorry about the title, FIMfiction doesn't like accent marks.

The Great Escape (Part 1)

The Great Escape

Pinkie smiled. “The doctor said I should be back in shape soon, they need to do one more surgery to pull out the last of the metal, and then we can go have doughnuts!”

Spike excitedly cheered “Yeah!” while Twilight and the girls giggled at the two’s antics.

Rarity looked from the pair of smiling friends to Twilight. “Those two are like foals sometimes, but it’s so cute to watch them talk like that. Don’t you think darling?” Rarity turned to look at her companion, who was detachedly looking at the ground. “Twilight? Dear, what’s wrong?”

The lavender unicorn snapped out of her trance. “Wha- Oh! It’s just I was thinking about...”

“About what?”

“The creature.”

Rarity’s smile slid off her face. The creature, the creature, the creature. That was all anypony could think of these days. If it wasn’t about the creature itself, it was about containing it and if it wasn’t about that it was about why it had done what it had.

“Twilight, I know this sounds odd coming from me, but I must say it. You shouldn’t focus on one thing too much. It’s... unhealthy.”

The unicorn turned to her friend with a sigh. “Can I tell you something?”

“Of course.”

“Rarity, I’m afraid. Look at what that... that thing did to Pinkie. Do you think that it’s a good idea letting it...you know, live?”

The white mare looked at Twilight, then to Pinkie and Spike, who were now arguing about frogs or toads. Turning her vision back to her friend she shook her head. “I told you it’s unhealthy to dwell on these things... I can’t say I know for sure, darling, but one thing is certain. If that brute wants to harm ponies, then the only place it belongs is in the Everfree Forest.”

Slowly, Twilight nodded. She wasn’t satisfied with that answer, but it was probably the most she would be getting right now.

‘But the princess said she talked to it... does she know anything?’

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Celestia slowly trotted down the crystal halls carrying with her a rucksack. She needed answers. Walking up to the cell, she looked around. The guards were gone. Turning her attention to the inside of the cell she saw that Corvo was also absent.

“Corvo? Hello?”

Then, she heard footsteps echoing throughout the caverns. Turning around, she saw her two guards knocked out on the floor. Leaning up against a wall, a guard’s helm in one hand and a short sword in the other, was Corvo.

“You forgot to lock the door, Princess... ” He said in a slightly amused tone of voice.

She looked from the guards to the assassin. “What have you done to them?”, she said, her voice hollow with a hint of anger.

“Nothing. I just gave them a light pat on the head.”

Corvo stood up straight and dropped the guard’s helmet. The metal clattered to the floor. He did the same with the short sword. The sharp noise made the princess of the sun flinch. “I thought we were on the same side?”

Corvo slowly nodded. “Yes... for now, I suppose we are.”

‘For now? In the name of Luna. Why did I keep that door unlocked?’

Corvo strode up to the princess, “I gained a considerable amount of memory back over the course of the night.”

Celestia nodded. She had regained her composure during Corvo’s little performance and, at this point, she felt it was necessary to be ready for anything. With that in mind, the princess slowly began charging her horn with energy. ‘Nothing fancy,’ she thought ‘Corvo steps an inch out of line, he gets frozen in a block of ice colder than Discord’s heart.’

Corvo watched in amusement as Celestia stated at him. “Let’s take a walk. Shall we?”

‘A walk? This is absurd, friendly with him or not, he is still a prisoner!’

Although she thought this, Celestia made no move to stop Corvo as he slowly began walking down the hall.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

‘This is very bad! I wasn’t planning on being out of the cell when she came back! I overshot! Damn it!’

Corvo continued walking along the crystal hallway, taking care to seem calm. Thinking back, he wondered what went wrong.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It was time to set up the second half of his plan.

Slowly, Corvo stood up and walked to the door of his cell. Looking around, he saw the two guards watching over his cell.

‘No killing. Bodies are suspicious.’

Charging up a bit of power in his hand, he walked to the back of his cell. He then let loose the possession spell.

The bolt made contact with one of the guards, and with a feeling like being plunged through cold water, he saw everything from the guard's point of view.

‘Perfect.’

Turning, he walked towards the pony on the other side of the cell.

“What are yo-”

The colt was cut off as Corvo’s hooves pounded on his helm. With a sharp ring, the pony fell over. The guard was unconscious before he even hit the ground.

Corvo dropped the possession, and before his target could reorient himself, performed a blood choke.

As the pony fell limp, Corvo sighed out in relief. Then, getting back to work, he looked up and he saw the carved out support structures had what looked to be wooden cross beams supporting them.

His face took on a look of glee. Picking up both guard ponies, he charged up his blink spell. Looking up, he launched the teleport power and, after a short moment of looking at nothing, reappeared on the rafters. He set both ponies down, and looked towards the ground.

‘Empty? That can’t be it.’

Shaking his head, the assassin shrugged and dropped down, rolling out of the short drop. Getting to his feet, he sprinted down the hall; he needed to be quick, lest the guards wake up and notice his absence.

Corvo rounded a corner and looked down the hall. At the end there was an intersection. Stopping for a moment he caught his breath.

He began running down the hall full pelt and, as he reached the end of the intersection, he charged another teleport spell and jumped into the air towards a wall. As he sailed through the air, he leaned back and angled his feet with the wall.

They landed with a dull thunk. Turning his attention upwards, he pushed off hard. Much like the time he had flown through the air, he let loose the charged teleport spell and blinked up to the rafters.

Though the acrobatic display wasn’t necessary, and it actually pained his still recovering side to put on such a show, Corvo felt great satisfaction in performing it. The ex-protector hadn't done any physical activities lately and it felt good to be able to move, jump, and run again.

He looked down all four halls for a brief second.

‘Nothing.’

Corvo selected a random direction and jumped to the next rafter. He continued traveling like this, jumping from rafter to rafter, blinking on occasion.

He continued his high profile movement till he heard voices.

“What do you think it is?”

The first voice was rough, clearly masculine.

“No idea, they just said that they were guarding something dangerous.”

The second voice was slightly higher in pitch, but there was no question that it too belonged to a male.

Quietly, Corvo made his way over to the side of the beam and looked around the corner. There, just down the hall in their gleaming golden armour, were two royal guards.

Taking a deep breath, Corvo charged some energy in his hands.

‘No kills, no alerts.... No problem.’

Releasing the energy, he felt the familiar tug in his stomach when he blinked onto the truss supporting the ceiling.

He began building energy in his hand again, just as he had planned until...

“What’s that light?”

Corvo looked around, then remembered; his mark was glowing!

‘Damn!’

Corvo released the power, and it left his hand in a wave. Everything the wave hit slowed down, from the dust in the air to the guards themselves. Everything except for Corvo.

Jumping down behind the guards, the assassin ran up and delivered a solid kick to one of their heads. Then, grabbing the other guard's helmet, he smashed it down on his head. Whirling around, he spotted the second, helmless pony, charging him in slow motion.

Laughing, Corvo sprinted at the charging stallion and delivered a quick blow to his throat with the palm of his hand. Then, grabbing the pony’s mane, he brought his knee up, and his victim's face down. The two made contact with a sickening crunch.

Corvo counted down the time.

“Three seconds left!” he whispered to himself.

Turning on his heel again, he charged up his blink power and teleported to the first stallion.

‘One and a half.’

Picking up the unconscious body, he teleported back up to the cross beams of the crystal prison.

He quickly placed them on the beam as he felt the recoil wave of time speeding back up.

Looking down at his victims he chuckled as one of them stared in horror. Corvo could understand the terror he was feeling. A rumored creature, who from their point of view apparently had super speed, just attacked and beat them in the span of about twelve seconds.

“Sorry.” he muttered to the guard. “I didn’t want to have to hit you more than once. Seems like your skull is a bit thicker than I thought.”

He delivered a quick blow to the battered guard’s neck, and the pony fell unconscious.

Corvo turned down the hall and felt the wave of fatigue that came with using bend time. The power paused or slowed down everything except the ex-protector, meaning that rather than growing gradually tired when moving and fighting, he felt his energy leave him in large waves.

‘I need to hurry up.’

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Corvo peeked around the corner and spotted a door, he took a breath to see if he could prepare himself for what may to come.

‘Hopefully, there won’t be any unwanted surprises.’

Creeping down the hall, he finally reached it. Attempting to turn the knob, he groaned in frustration. The door was locked.

‘I can’t believe I didn’t plan for this! How could I have been so oblivious?’

Sighing, Corvo turned around and stalked down the hall. Charging up energy in his hand. “Fine.” he whispered. “I can’t walk out, I’ll blast my way out.”

He raised his hand, mark alight, and focused. Swinging his arm in a hard ark, he blasted away the door with just enough energy to leave the thing intact but knock it off its hinges. The assassin strolled back down the hall, and smirked at his handy work.

Picking up the broken door, he pushed it back into place and moved the hinges so they would jam together. Once the ex-protector had finished his handy work, the door looked good as new... if new was several thousand years old.

Corvo slowly turned around and took another breather. His side was burning horribly and his breathing was ragged. Moving and fighting had taken a lot out of him due to his injuries.

Sighing, the assassin began walking up the long stair case.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Celestia turned her attention to Corvo, horn still charged with the freezing spell.

‘He seems to know where he is going...’

“Corvo?”

The human turned to look at her, snapped out of the trance he had entered when thinking about who knows what.

“Yes?”

“Where are we going?”

Corvo looked around as he walked, then turned his attention back to Celestia.

“Down a hall, princess.”

The way the man said it was completely serious, as though he meant her to take that answer to heart. Celestia just shook her head at the human’s answer.

She turned her attention down the hall and sighed. “You know, this part of the Castle hasn’t been used by prisoners for a long time. Only guards stay around here.”

Corvo simply nodded.

The sun princess looked the man up and down. He was a mess, and was dressed in mismatched clothing. His feet were covered by what looked to be high end leather boots, but his shirt and pants had been replaced by prison rags, his face had begun growing a beard and his hair was messy. The prison rags were bloody; his wounds had reopened.

“You’re bleeding...”

Corvo turned to her, then looked down at himself. “I am.” He confirmed.

Celestia waited for him to ask for treatment, but he never did, rather he simply turned back around and walked towards an old door.

The princess shook her head, then continued walking down the hall.

When the ex-protector reached the door, rather than going for the knob, as the sun goddess had expected, he simply kicked down the door.

He proceeded up the stairs, harbouring no fear of what may lay above.

Celestia frowned and followed the assassin up the stairs.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The pair reached the top of the stairs, into an open air tower.

‘I remember this place! Luna and I used to raise the sun and moon from here before... ’

Corvo walked out onto the balcony, harbouring no fear of the broken ledge, or lack of guardrails.

The assassin sat down, his feet dangling over the edge of the platform. He gestured for Celestia to join him.
Walking up the princess places the rucksack down, and sat on her haunches.

Corvo sighed. “Where I’m from, the clouds always hang low over the cities. You never get to see the night like this.” He mumbled.

“Why did you bring me here?”

The ex-protector looked at the goddess.

“Why not?”

“You always speak in riddles. Everypony has to think about what you say to make any sense of it.”

“It isn’t worth saying if it isn’t worth thinking about.”

Celestia smiled. “You remind me so much of this one creature I used to know.”

“‘Used to know?’ It died?”

“No. I encased him in stone.”

Corvo turned and gave the mare a surprised look, but did nothing else. Though he had created a nice atmosphere, and even given her a small glimpse into his thoughts, the assassin still would not allow Celestia fully into his mind.

The pair sat in silence for a while more. Then the sun princess, deciding there had been enough formality and beating around the bush, broke the silence. She opened the small bag she had brought with her and pulled out a small locket. Placing it on the floor, she nudged Corvo, who was still staring into the stars.

“Hmm?”

“What is this?” She pointed to the small locket.

Corvo followed her hoof down and saw the small piece of jewelry.

The little color that was in his face drained and he clutched a hand to his chest, as he was looking for something. His eyes widened.

“Where did you get that?” The assassin’s voice was hoarse, as if he were afraid.

“I found it on your body, we needed to remove it to operate on you.”

The man picked up the necklace and clicked a small button on the side. The locket opened up, revealing a picture of what looked to be two human females.

One was tall, she looked to be a young adult, her hair done up in a tight bun, and a small smile on her face. She radiated kindness and seemed very motherly. The other girl seemed to be just a filly. Her hair was down and her mouth was open, as if she was saying something.

“Who are they?” asked Celestia.

Corvo’s attention snapped to her. His fist clamped closed around the locket and he suddenly stood up.

“That’s none of your business.” His voice was low and menacing, as though he were threatening her. “Give me back my things. All of them. I’m leaving.”

Celestia shook her head. “I can’t let you do that. Sorry, Corvo.”

His hand slowly began glowing, and the princess felt a sense of unnatural fear take root in her mind.

The assassin slowly stood up then walked toward her. Corvo his glowing hand on her throat. Squeezing down he whispered in her ear.

“You may have all the power in the world, but if you don’t do what I say, I will end you.”

The ex-protector pulled back, and let go of her neck. “I have killed more people than I can count. I wouldn't lose any sleep adding you to the list. Now, I will say this one more time...”

Celestia charged her freezing spell to full power.

“Give me back my things.”

“No.”

Celestia loosed the freezing bolt of energy at Corvo, but missed the assassin completely. By the looks of it, he had just sprinted across the room at an amazing speed. He began running at Celestia, at a break neck pace. So fast that it seemed impossible, even with magic.

He seized the small bag on Celestia’s side and delivered a blow to her nose with is foot.

The mare had no time to react, as fast as he had come at her, he was at the door.

“Consider this a warning.” he said.

Feeling betrayed and angry, Corvo raised his hand again, mark ablaze, and swung it.

Celestia felt the wall of energy hit her and she gave a shout of surprize, as the power threw her off the edge of the tower...

Note----------------

Yeah I was going to post this on Friday, but well...shit happens.

The Great Escape (Part 2)

The Great Escape

Corvo rushed down the stairs, panicking slightly. ‘This is bad, I can’t believe I lost control like that!’

He continued his sprint, clutching his aching side. His assault on the princess hadn’t left him unscathed. Though he had used slow time, the princess had still been able to cut him on the shin with that ice spell of hers and give him a bad case of hypothermia. The ex-protector shivered, literally and figuratively, at the thought of that freezing magic hitting him full on.

Finally reaching the end of the staircase, he looked around and, thankfully, the place was empty. Sighing in relief, the ex-protector continued his escape. Back home, as soon as something went wrong, City Watch would trigger the alarm in an instant, but that hadn't happened here, and though the assassin was happy he didn’t have to deal with groups of guards, he still felt uneasy at the lack of response he was experiencing now.

Rounding a corner, Corvo heard voices; but the assassin didn’t stop. Stopping now could mean death, it was imperative that he leave the area as soon as possible.

“My head...Ugh what was that thing?”

“You think it’s- CELESTIA’S FLANK! IT’S BACK!”

Corvo charged past the two ponies who, by the looks of it, had taken on a fighting stance as if expecting him to attack them. The colts’ faces changed from ‘determined’ to ‘surprised’ as he ran past them. The pair, realizing what was happening, turned around and started chasing the rogue human down the hall.

The ponies, slowly but surely, began closing the distance between Corvo and themselves. The two’s coordination was incredible. They were able to turn and move around each other in such a way that one would never crash into the other.

The guards, even in their heavy armour, finally got within a meter of the assassin. That was when the unexpected happened. Corvo, mark glowing, released the power that he had been holding.

The wave traveled out from his palm, bringing time to a complete halt. Once time had effectively been stopped, Corvo turned around and began laughing as he let loose a Windblast down the hall.

Turning on his heel again, he sprinted down the rest of the hall, counting the seconds as he ran.

‘Three, two... Now.’

There was a loud bang and the sound of metal slamming into rock as time sped back up.
Corvo frantically rounded another corner. He needed to get out of the crystal caverns and out to the palace so he could take back his things.

Skidding to a halt, Corvo looked around; he was back at the cell, the guards were still ‘sleeping’.

Slowly, the assassin walked up to one of the sleeping ponies and threw him in the cell. Slamming the door shut, he turned his attention to the other sleeping guard.

The ex-protector picked up the stallion and put him in a sitting position. Picking up a short sword from the ground, Corvo kicked the knocked out guard in the stomach. The pony coughed and slowly woke up, looking around wildly. Seeing his friend locked in a cell made his eyes widen slightly in a mixture of surprise and terror.

He spotted Corvo standing over him, sword in hand. “W-what are you doing out of your cell?”

Whether or not humans could smell fear, they could certainly hear it.

Corvo delivered another kick to his underside, sending the guard into a coughing fit.

“You are going to show me where my things are, you’re going to lead me there. If you don’t, I’ll kill you and your friend in the cell over there.”

The pony looked up and steeled his gaze. “No.”

Corvo brought the short sword up to the guard's chest, and put a foot on his neck.

Leaning down Corvo asked “Do you have kids?” His voice was sweet and calm, but falsely so.

The pony nodded.

“It’d be a shame it they would have to live the rest of their lives without a father...” The assassin said in the same fake voice.

The ex-protector removed his foot from the guard's neck.

“The princess will stop you!” he yelled.

Corvo gave a homicidal giggle “You know, I just finished pushing her off a cliff.”

“What?”

“She has a terrible habit of getting involved with things she should leave alone, so I taught her a lesson.” the man deadpanned.

“How dare you insult the princess!”

He sprung at the assassin, pummeling him with his hooves. The two soon fell on the floor, struggling to get the upper hoof on one another. The guard's high stamina and strength were easily able to overwhelm Corvo but the one thing he didn’t account for was the ex-protector’s magic.

As the guard beat him, Corvo prepared his possession and loosed the bolt at the pony.

The human soon felt the unusual feeling of being plunged into cold water. Opening his newly acquired eyes, he saw the floor he had been laying on.

Corvo prepared himself to penetrate the mind of the guard. Slamming into his conscience, the assassin gave a frustrated groan as mental defences thwarted his onslaught. The ex-protector then felt a heavy pressure being applied to his mind.

Looking around, the assassin spotted the sword he had dropped. Smiling deviously, he picked the blade up and pressed it down on the pony’s chest hard enough to draw blood but not enough to critically injure him. Corvo shouted in agony as he stabbed himself and, finally, the combined pressure from the pony’s mind and the painful wound ejected the ex-protector from the stallion’s mind.

As soon as Corvo realized he was outside the pony’s mind, he stood up and walked over to the guard. Rolling him over, the assassin pulled out the blade and slammed his foot down on the guard's chest.

“You. Will. Obey!” shouted the assassin, punctuating each word with a blow.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the pony gave in.

“Fine! Fine! Stop, I’ll listen! I swear!”

The assassin showed mercy, halting the relentless beating.

Corvo smiled. “That wasn't so hard, was it?” The pony whimpered. Bending down, the assassin, covered the cut he had made with a hand. Then, he removed the armour the stallion was wearing. Hoisting him up off the ground, the assassin began walking.

“Would you kindly lead me to the exit?” The guard pointed down a hall.

“That way.” He whispered.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The princess's vision blurred as she fell. Her chest felt tight and her breathing was laboured.

After falling for a moment, she quickly realized her predicament and unfurled her wings. Gritting her teeth at the pain, she began slowing down her descent and quickly, performing an aerial roll, she aligned herself with the stone of the castle wall.

Leaning into a dive, she began charging energy into her horn.

‘So tired... Need to tell Luna. Must teleport...’

Celestia released the energy, disappearing in a loud bang and a bright flash of light.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Pinkie awoke with a start as the loud bang dissipated.

“What the...”

Rolling out of bed, she walked to the window and opened it up. Suddenly, the smell of smoke and magic assaulted her.

‘Fire? No...this smells like when Twilight teleports! Ooo! Did she go somewhere? Why didn’t she tell me!? I wanna have a party!’

Pinkie Pie turned away from the window and began trotting towards the door. She walked out of the room, leaving the window and door open.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Celestia landed on Luna’s bed with a thud.

Spinning around at the sudden noise, the princess of the night took a look at her sister.

...And her singed mane and tail from magical teleportation heat.

“Luna!” her voice was hoarse.

“Sister, are you-” The younger mare rushed to her sisters side.

“I am fine, The creature I told you of, it assaulted me! I fear it will do the same to other ponies if we do not act now.” Celestia fell into a coughing fit.

Luna levitated a small glass of water from the bedside table over to the princess of the sun.

“Drink.”

She did as instructed then turned to look at Luna again.

“Go, stop it. Bring guards; mine are at your command if you feel it necessary.”

Luna nodded and trotted over to the door, pulling it open with her telekinesis, she began flying towards the guard barracks.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Corvo continued rummaging through the “Prisoner Belongings” chest.

He gave a groan. “Honestly,” he yelled to his hostage, “what don’t you throw in here?”

The pony shrugged and coughed. This had to be the most unusual and painful experience of his life. He had practically been tortured, threatened, and then used as a navigation system by a biped of an unknown species. Although the experience had been scary at first, some of his fears had died down.

Now that he had spoken with the biped for a bit, he had learned that he was actually not a bad conversationalist. His mindset was very similar to that of a royal guard, but not so much so that it was like talking to one of his other co-workers.

The assassin was retracted into a shell of anger and spite but had moments, like now, where he seemed completely open to talking.

Looking up from his hooves, the guardspony shouted back, “Do you know the last time we had a prisoner down here?”

The assassin pulled out of the trunk a fair amount of bright red liquid in canisters.

“Yeah, about ten minutes ago...” he mumbled, examining said canisters in his hands.

The pony rolled his eyes at the remark. “I meant before you.”

“No and I don’t really care.”

‘There he goes, back into his little shell.’

The colt watched as Corvo pulled open a half empty bottle of the liquid and took a long draft, drinking a quarter of the canister. The assassin sighed contently, then slowly turned his attention back to the guard.

“Let me examine your wound.” ordered Corvo.

The pony got to his hooves, wincing at the pain it caused but not uttering a phrase. He proceeded to stand on his hind hooves as the assassin stared at the deep cut he had inflicted.

“Hurts, doesn't it?” He mumbled.

The stallion nodded.

The human pulled back and stared at the ground for a moment, as though deep in thought. After an awkward silence, the man started and then looked the pony in the eye. “I don’t want to hurt you... too much.”

The stallion immediately began fearing for his life. Scrambling backwards, he fell off the desk he had been placed on, grunting in pain as he did so. Regardless of it, the pony continued scrambling backwards. “I- I thought you said I would live if I did what you said!”

Corvo shook his head and laughed. “Am I really that intimidating?”

“You stabbed me!”

Corvo wisely nodded, “Indeed I did. Now drink.” He gave the pony the canister.

“What is this, poison?”

The assassin stood up and ignored the question, choosing, rather, to go back to rummaging through the prisoner’s belongings chest. As Corvo searched for his things, the pony opened up the canister and looked inside cautiously. Was it really poison? The assassin did drink it...
A sip wouldn’t hurt, right?
Raising the bottle to his lips, he poured the contents down his throat, gagging a bit at the bitter taste.

He waited a minute and was suddenly caught off-guard when he felt a cool sensation spread through his body. “Wow...What is this stuff?” The assassin stopped rummaging through the papers for a moment to look back at the pony.

“A drink.” was his simple reply. Then he pointed at the guard's chest.

Following his finger down, the stallion saw the wound had closed up. Gasping in amazement, he turned back to Corvo only to yelp in surprise as he saw the assassin undressing.

“Erhm, you know, I’m not really into stallions...” He trailed off as he saw Corvo giving him a death glare.

The assassin soon finished his task of changing, now wearing his usual intimidating but smart getup. The only things missing were his mask and wheelock.

“Nice of you ponies to clean all this for me,” mumbled Corvo.

Walking toward the guard he pointed at the chest. “The rest of my things aren't there.”

The guards pony got to his hooves. “You’re not half bad, you know that?”

“Where are my things?”

“But you need to stop being such a stick in the mud. I mean really, all you ever do is threaten me and complain! If you-”

“Answer the question!” Roared the assassin.

“Right, sorry. The princess said she wanted to show some things to you. She took them from the chest and put them in a small bag.”

‘Small bag...Of course!’

Pulling out the rucksack, Corvo dumped its contents out on the table. Just as the pony had said, there were all his things.

Putting on his mask and attaching the weapons to his belt, Corvo began walking towards the door.

“Come, pony. We have work to do.”

Cringing at the way he spoke, the stallion reluctantly followed his captor.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Twilight felt all the air leave her chest as something heavy landed on her. Lifting herself up, she looked around and saw Pinkie Pie sitting on the bed.

“Pinkie! It’s like 2 A.M! What are you doing here?”

“Oh Twilight! Ithoughtyouleftbecausesomeponywasteleportingoutsideandso-”

“Slow down, now, what were you saying?”

“Somepony teleported outside, and I thought it was you! I came to check up on you to see if you were OK. And you are! Isn’t it great?”

Twilight slowly nodded. “Yeah... great. Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know who teleported, would you?”

The pink pony shook her head. “I have no idea!” she happily announced.

The unicorn hummed, thinking. “Can you tell me what it looked like?” she said.

She nodded her head. Twilight waited for the description, but it never came. The party pony was silent, sitting patiently on the bed staring back at the unicorn.

“Can you tell me now?”

“Weeeell... I was just asleep minding my own buisness when somepony made a bright flash of light and a big BOOM! All the noise woke me up and so I went to the window to see what had happened and it smelled like someone had teleported!”

Twilight sat for a moment, pondering. A loud boom followed by a light? Explosive teleportation was a very high level spell. It was meant for covering large distances, and if done wrong, could result in a huge fire. Everything would have to be perfect, even one slip up and you are sure to end up with a burnt mane and fur.

There have only been so many unicorns that could perform the feat. The creator, Starswirl the bearded, Clover the clever, the princesses, and herself, but even that was by accident. Twilight giggled at the memory. Being chased by a mob asking to do you favours can really make a mare do things that seem impossible.

Focusing on the problem at hoof, she finally arrived at the conclusion that a princess had pulled the spell off. After all, Starswirl and Clover had been dead for ages, and she was sitting right here.

Slowly, Twilight got to her hooves and instructed Pinkie to find her friends; The princess wouldn’t perform a spell that could destroy the castle for no reason.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Corvo sunk his blade into another guard as he walked down the hall. The human and guardspony were slowly making their way up towards a staircase and library due to the fact that the assassin had some “information he needed to fetch”.

The pair continued slowly making their way to the archives, Corvo singing a questionable song under his breath as he walked.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Applebloom poked at her food, not saying a word. As she did so, Big Macintosh watched with interest.

‘Somethin’s wrong... not normal for her to be so quiet. Ever since the Royal guard came by to tell us about AJ being in Canterlot for some time she’s been moping about. Best go talk to her.’

Trotting over to the table, Big Mac stared at his sister and waited intently for her to start talking.

Applebloom looked up from her food. “You wanna talk to me, don’t ya?”

The farmer nodded.

“Applejack’s gone, and I don’t like it.”

Big Mac reached across the table and patted her on the head.

Applebloom stared at her plate again. “Yeah. I know you and granny love me and that Applejack’ll come back, but that’s not why I’m worried.”

The red stallion’s eyes widened, “Nope?”

“Yeah, I saw the reason AJ went to Canterlot, it’s ‘cus of some creature that was in Twilight’s yard.”

The farmer’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. The guard had mentioned nothing about this!

He pressed for more information like he usually did. By staring intently.

Applebloom sighed. “Well, if ya really wanna know, it was big. Like, real big. It had claws like Spike’s, but five of em’ and they weren’t sharp. And its face was made from metal! The thing was scary, Mac. I think it hurt AJ.”

Big Macintosh stood up.

Applebloom recognized the expression on his face. It was the ‘I’m going to fix this no matter what’ look. She shook her head, smiling. “Canterlot?”

“Eeyup.”

Big Mac grabbed a length of rope from a cabinet and walked to the door. Before opening it. he looked back at Applebloom.

“Ah know. Take care of granny, call if something goes wrong and don’t leave the house.”

The stallion nodded, and left, galloping at full pelt towards the train station.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Twilight and the rest of the girls rushed towards Luna’s quarters. They had been desperately attempting to find the princesses due to the fact that somepony, most likely one of them, had just performed an extremely dangerous spell.

As they ran, Twilight shouted back to the group, “Come on girls, just around this corner!”

As the group rounded the corner, they slammed into one of the mares they were looking for.

“Princess Luna!” They all exclaimed.

“I’d love to stay and chat girls, but I’m in a rush...”

Twilight quickly scrambled to her hooves. “Wait! Princess, we want to help!”

Luna shook her head, “No. You all have done enough. You need your rest, go back to sleep.”

The girls looked from the princess to Twilight. Luna knew Twilight was going to refuse, and Twilight knew that Luna would insist that she go back to her room again. The stalemate continued turning into something of a staring contest.

Luna was the first to break. Between the rush she was in, and the fact that she was about to go on a wild goose chase looking for a creature that could potentially injure her subjects, she had no choice but to give the unicorn what she wanted. “Very well Twilight Sparkle. Whoever is the fastest pony within your group, I have a task that needs to be completed as quickly as possible.”

All the girls all turned to look at Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus swelled her chest out with pride. “Yep. Fastest flyer in all of Equestria!”

Luna nodded. “Wonderful. Rainbow Dash, I need you to warn the royal guards that the creature has escaped.”

All the girls whipped their heads around and stared at the princess of the night. Then they all shouted in unison “The creature escaped!?”

Fluttershy promptly fainted, Rarity shook her head and muttered under her breath, Rainbow flew off faster than a shot down the hall and Applejack and Twilight began formulating a plan with Luna.

But out of all their reactions, the most unusual was Pinkie Pie’s. The pink mare looked from her stomach to around the castle, with a look of terror on her face. For the first time in a long while, Pinkie felt fear. Normally she would have laughed it off, but this time she couldn’t. It wasn’t the fact that Corvo could hurt her that scared her, it was the fact that he already had.

The earth pony looked to her friends, who seemed to he handling the situation quite well. Then she screamed.

Everypony dropped what they were doing to shield their ears from the blood curdling shriek that the party pony had released. The only good thing the racket had caused was Fluttershy’s awakening.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Corvo dropped the book he had been looking through as the scream filled his ears. Clutching his hands over his ears, he waited for the sound to die down.

When it was over, he slowly removed his hands from his ears and looked down at his hostage, who was at the moment restrained by a multitude of makeshift ropes, as he had just recently attempted an escape.

“The hell was that?” He asked the pony.

The guard made an attempt to shrug, but failed miserably due to his binds.

“I’m going to take a look around, stay here.”

The stallion glared at the assassin. Chuckling at his little joke, Corvo walked out of the library, flipping open his sword.

Walking down the hall, the ex-protector heard someone talking in a hushed voice.

“It’s okay Pinke. Shhh come on now, the creature ain’t ‘round here right now.”

Crouching down, the human leaned around the turn in the hall.

‘The ponies from before!’

He watched as the pink ‘normal’ pony was pulled up by the orange one.
Corvo smiled deviously

‘Best go... ‘introduce’ myself.’

Taking care to be extra quiet, Corvo made his way down the hall.

Once within a meter of them, he stood up and tapped the closest one, a white unicorn, on the butt.

Rarity slowly turned around. Seeing Corvo her eyes widened.

“Boo.” whispered the assassin.

Rarity’s mouth fell open, and she attempted to say something, but all that came out was babbling.

“But- you and- Pinkie Pie-how-I”
Corvo stood for a moment, then nodded. “Allow me.” he whispered.

In his best high pitched voice, he shouted. “Oh no! Look, it’s the creature!”

The white unicorn stared wide eyed at the assassin. All the ponies in the room turned and looked in the direction of the shout. Their reactions were similar to Rarity’s.

Getting sick of waiting for them to make the first move, Corvo slowly began walking towards Pinkie Pie.

“Judging by what I heard, you don’t really enjoy my company, do you?”

The earth pony quickly shook her head.

“Well, that’s quite unfortunate.” He said in a mocking tone.

The assassin sank down to his knees, then sat cross legged on the floor across from Pinkie.

“Would you like to talk about it?”

The earth pony looked to her friends who were nodding violently.

“Yes.”

Taken aback by the answer, Corvo looked around, moving nothing but his eyes, examining the area for traps. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, other than the fact that talking ponies existed, the assassin slowly clicked shut his sword, and attached it to his belt.

“Ok... What don’t you like about me?”

“You’re a meanie-pants.” she responded simply.

The ex-protector raised an eyebrow and stared at her for a moment, then shook his head.

“Mean?” he asked. “Well, I think all of you are mean too.”

Pinkie Pie’s face took on a questioning look. “Why? We didn’t do anything to you, you just blew up my party cannon and hurt my friends!”

Corvo pointed at Twilight. “She kidnapped me, and then all of you hurt me when I tried to leave.” fake pouted the assassin.

‘It’s like talking to Emily... I like her.’

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes. “Well, what did you expect? You were throwing chaos magic around!”

‘Chaos magic? That's must be why their chasing me! But what in the Outsider’s name is it?’

Corvo smiled behind his mask. Finally after all the pointless conversations with the sun princess, he was getting some answers.

“Look, horse-”

“Pony, and my name is Pinkie Pie.”

“Fine, Pinkie Pie, I don’t want to be here and I know for a fact you all don’t want me here, so how about I just go and do what I came here to do and you all,” he gestured to the ponies, “just leave me alone?”

Pinkie looked up at the ex-protector for a minute, then slowly shook her head.

“No.”

Corvo got to his feet and looked around the room. ‘What?’

“Why?” he deadpanned.

This time it was Luna who spoke. “You have resisted arrest and attempted a jailbreak. You are wanted for crimes against Equestria and her ponies.”

Corvo shook his head and looked down both sides of the hall then slapped a palm to his forehead.

“Of all the things I have ever heard, this is the most ridiculous. I refuse to stay. I’m leaving now!” Shouted the assassin.

The mares could do nothing but stare as Corvo sprung at Pinkie Pie and scooped her up. The pink pony screamed and kicked as Corvo sprinted at full pelt down the hall carrying her with him.

Applejack was the first to regain her senses. “After ‘em!” she yelled.

The mares galloped down the hall as hard as they could, but, alas, it was in vain. They knew they had lost their friend as soon as the darkness had swallowed the two up.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Rainbow’s breathing was ragged, her wings burned and her chest felt tight, but the pony ignored the discomfort. Over the years, the pain had taken a backseat to the exhilaration and happiness she felt when she performed her stunts and glided through the air.

But for all that, at the moment, she felt no happiness or exhilaration, just a burning desire to complete her mission. To warn the guards.

The pony streamlined herself and spread out her wings, beating them to increase her speed.

Diving towards the guard's building, Rainbow Dash landed on the cobble ground. Galloping towards the door, she slammed it open without bothering to knock.

“Somepony help!”

The nearest guard, who had been sleeping peacefully in his bed, yelped in surprise as he tumbled out of his bed. Groggily getting to his hooves, the pony looked around.

“What the hay? Calm down, mare! What’s wrong?!”

Dash shook her head. “I need your help! That thing that was in the crystal caverns, it escaped! The princess told me to get help, and then it just showed up out of nowhere!”

The guard stared dumbstruck as his mind processed what had been said.

“Who- nevermind, we’ll work that out later. Let me wake the others.”

The stallion galloped towards the back of the room and into a door.

Slowly, Rainbow Dash slumped down and sat to catch her breath for a minute. She had just flown at least a few thousand meters at top speed. Rest was one of her top priorities.

As she rested, she thought of the horrors that the creature may be inflicting on her friends.

‘Should I have stayed? I went to get help, I didn’t leave them hanging... right?’

Rainbow gritted her teeth. She had followed instructions, but it didn’t feel right. Why hadn’t she stayed with her friends? Was what she was doing really loyal?

‘No...I’m-I’m scared of it. I don’t want to be near that thing. That’s why I left. Not because I was following orders...I’m a horrible pony...’

The pegasus smacked a hoof into her face. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” she muttered.

We are about to break the 100 comment barrier! Plus this is the longest chapter yet! YES!

Thank you all for reading! More to come!

This guy helped a lot.

Hope I improved your Friday a bit.

The Great Escape (Final Part)

The Great Escape

Fluttershy’s wings burned and her chest felt tight as she pursued her friends. The group had been running after Corvo and Pinkie for what seemed like hours, but their efforts were fruitless, the group hadn’t found a single hint to the whereabouts of their escaped convict or pink maned friend.

The yellow mare, being as timid and easily frightened as she was, had no interest in learning about the creature. In all honesty, she had been against the pursuit of the assassin from the get go. The only reason she followed now was because her friend’s life was in jeopardy.

As she galloped, her breath came in short gasps and her legs felt as if they were on fire. She and then flapped her wings hard, flying close to the ground to give her overworked hooves a break. She sped up until she was flying next to Twilight.

“Twilight? Do we even know where they are?”

The unicorn shook her head; she was too winded to give an actual response.

The small group turned a corner and continued down the hall to the main entrance hall. As they ran, Luna blew the doors open with a blast of bright blue magic. The ponies sprinted outside to the castle courtyard. Suddenly, Luna stopped. Turning around, she yelled at the guards.

“Close the gates! The castle must be secure!”

The stallions gave quick salutes and then began closing the gates by pulling on huge chains that hung over pulleys.

Luna turned back to the small group of ponies. “If he wishes to leave, we will stop him! He cannot escape!”

Twilight shook her head, “Wha- What if he...Just jumps out a window or something?”

Luna looked at her and smiled in an effort to comfort the purple pony. “He will not. He has a hostage, and the castle is built on a mountain. Jumping from this height would kill him.”

Twilight nodded and put blind faith into the princess’s words, praying to Celestia that what she was saying would hold true.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Corvo sprinted toward what he believed to be a balcony. Getting out into open air was his first priority. That, and getting Pinkie to shut up. The mare had been attempting to scream ever since Corvo had kidnapped her. In an attempt to silence her, Corvo had cut a small section out of a nearby curtain with his sword and shoved the cloth into her mouth.

Pulling open the door, he put Pinkie, who was immobilized by large amounts of cloth, similar to the way he had stopped the guard, on the floor and walked out onto the large balcony.

‘I love it when my hunches are right.’

Walking outside, he was immediately struck by an interesting sight. The vantage point allowed him to see the entire city. He thought of how interestingly Canterlot contrasted with his own city, Dunwall. Even the bright lights that illuminated the streets of Canterlot were much different from the harsh, trans powered street lights of Dunwall.

He took a deep breath, then looked down towards the main gates. The sheer amount of guards and ponies was intimidating. To add to his discomfort, he could see Luna standing with her horn pointed at the door.

‘There has to be a reason they’re concentrating their forces there. They should have considered all my avenues...’

Turning around he grabbed Pinkie Pie and the curtains hanging from the door. He quickly tied the curtain around her neck, then pulled it taut. Pinkie began squirming in fear as the cloth was wrapped around her neck. The constriction and lack of breath was extremely uncomfortable.

Walking back onto the balcony, he put Pinkie under his arm and prepared to blink.

Sprinting forward, he put a foot up on the rail and used it as leverage to propel himself into the air. As he lost momentum, he focused mana in his feet and kicked again. The energy produced a small, invisible platform for him to jump on.

Corvo’s momentum carried him to the trim of the wall, where he landed. Getting to his feet, he carefully balanced his way towards the trim on the tower over the courtyard where the ponies were.

When he was finally over the area, he took the other end of Pinkie’s improvised noose and tied it to a small, decorative hole in the trim. Then he held her over the edge. The pink pony looked down at the drop and remembered the fabric around her neck.

‘He’s going to hang me?!’

The mare’s eyes widened and she looked back at Corvo. “Wait...please- do- don’t.” Corvo could no longer comprehend her words, the mare had burst into tears and was squirming, a futile attempt to escape.

Ignoring the lump in his throat he pulled out his crossbow and loaded an explosive bolt. Taking aim at the nearest group of guards. he fired.

The arrow whizzed through the air before slamming into the ground and detonating, the resulting explosion causing panic and confusion throughout the courtyard.

Form the ponies’ point of view, explosions were raining out of the sky and arrows were flying everywhere. It was about five seconds of utter terror before they spotted the assassin who was attacking them.

Shining Armour was the one who spotted the perpetrator.

“Up there, on the ledge! Celestia, it’s going to hang somepony!”

As the guards scrambled for a way to get the pink maned pony down safely, Corvo began his escape. Letting go of Pinkie, he jumped off the ledge alongside her and sent energy down his arm.

As he fell, he targeted the nearest guard. Just before he impacted the ground, he loosed the possession. The bolt impacted the stallion, and Corvo’s mind slammed into the pony’s.

Once he’d secured the body, he turned and began galloping towards the gates. On the way, he had to jump over small craters left by his arrows and avoid ponies that were attempting to help Pinkie.

Once he arrived at the gate, he released the possession and got to his feet. The dizzy guard stumbled around for a moment before collapsing. Corvo looked around, placing a hand on his aching head. Suddenly, he stopped when he saw Rainbow Dash setting Pinkie on the ground.

He sighed in relief. After a brief pause, he stuck his hand through the slots in the gate and, steeling himself, he teleported out of the courtyard and sprinted towards the drawbridge.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Big Macintosh stood patiently outside the castle. He had just recently arrived and learned that the place was in lockdown until further notice, and so the farmer had been denied entrance.

Though the red stallion could easily force his way in, he knew that would cause trouble for the princess, and worst case scenario, have him banished or imprisoned. Maybe even imprisoned in the place he was banished to...

Mac looked up at the stars for a moment. As he stared up, he heard hoofsteps.

‘Wait. The pace is wrong. One. Two. One. Two. They seem too soft to be hoofsteps...’

Looking down again, he saw a hulking biped running towards the bridge. Mac looked up at the guards. They all seemed to be watching something in the courtyard. Looking back at the biped, his eyes widened.

‘Big, eeyup. Metal face, eeyup. Great. He’s the one that knows where AJ is.’

Getting to his hooves, Big Mac pulled out the rope he brought with him, and began swinging the lasso above his head. As Corvo sprinted towards him, he threw the rope.

The assassin had seen it coming from a mile away. Corvo had concealed his glowing hand in his overcoat, waiting for the right moment.

The rope, which had been flying at Corvo, was knocked aside by a blast of kinetic energy, which proceeded to slam into the heavy stallion. Big Mac, being as heavy as he was, only stumbled slightly from the impact.

Corvo skidded to a halt and turned around, staring at Big Mac, his expression of disbelief hidden by his mask. Though his ‘face’ remained expressionless, the farmer knew something had gone wrong, and that this was his chance.

Leaning forward, the stallion charged the surprised assassin.

Corvo stumbled backwards, and attempted to perform another Windblast. Unfortunately for him, he was completely out of mana, meaning his attempt was unsuccessful.

Big Mac increased his speed and slammed into his target. Standing above the fallen assassin, the farmer put a heavy hoof on Corvo, immobilizing him.

“Where’s Applejack?”

Corvo remained silent.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Author's Note

Yea it's short. But it was written (and edited) in a day. Thanks Urdreth for getting to this ASAP.

Next chapter will be longer.

Deception (Part 2)

Deception

The Outsider sat in his throne, staring out over his void. He watched as the floating platforms rearranged themselves to reflect the ongoings of the mortal world. Slowly he shook his head and frowned.

‘Something is wrong.’

He felt Corvo’s presence in the mortal world flicker, and his frown deepened. Due to the assassin having his mark, the Outsider had a constant lock on him. He could monitor the ex-protector’s every move. As of late however, he had begun having difficulty doing even that.

The Outsider thought back to the assassin’s actions. As of late, they had changed. His fighting style had gone from brutal, merciless, and loud to pacifist, silent, and forgiving. In most cases, he wouldn't be worried, but the change had been abrupt as opposed to gradual, like his other victims.

Sighing, the god got to his feet.

‘Now that you’ve changed, what do you dream of, Corvo?’

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Corvo’s static expression confused Big Mac. He was a huge stallion, and was prepared to crush this spindly little creature underhoof if it didn’t tell him where his sister was, but from its expression it didn’t actually care.

In reality, it was the complete opposite. Corvo was terrified. He was completely out of options until he had enough energy to Blink again and with Big Mac positioning his hoof the way he had, just beneath his rib cage, he could seriously injure the human and not even know.

Gritting his teeth, Corvo decided to stall. “So, your sister?”

Once the words had left his mouth, the farmer’s attention had snapped back to the immobilized human.

“Eeyup. Where’s she?”

“I’m not sure I know- What does she look like?”

“Orange coat, ties her mane up.”

Corvo nodded. Taking a deep breath, the assassin smiled as he felt some mana return to his system. Turning his head, he looked to the left and clenched his hand.

Feeling a familiar tug behind his navel, the assassin vanished.

Appearing about a yard away from the stallion, Corvo got to his feet, crouched, then dove for his sword. Snatching it off the floor, Corvo turned using his hands, and hurled the weapon at Big Mac.

The blade tumbled through the air, rotating as it flew. It missed the farmer completely, rather, landing tip first in the ground and sticking there. Though the sword hadn’t injured Mac, it had bought Corvo just enough time to pull out his pistol. Now, the assassin stood aiming his Flintlock at Big Mac who was still attempting to figure out just how the man escaped.

The farmer bit his lip as he stared down the barrel of Corvo’s gun.

Putting on a cheery voice, the ex-protector said, “You’re in a very bad position. Not only do you have an angry assassin standing in front of you, but he’s armed to the teeth.”

Big Mac smiled, then looked to the gate. The voices behind it were increasing in volume.

Corvo took a second to analyze the situation, but in the second he took, the gate opened up to reveal his old foes.

‘Just great. Now I’m outnumbered and have been compromised.’

Surprisingly enough, all the ponies but the guards were present, including Pinkie Pie, whom he had recently dangled off a ledge.

The six friends, Luna, and Shining Armor made their way to Big Mac’s side, and before anyone could react, the farmer found himself being pulled into a hug by his sister.

The assassin groaned. He was physically exhausted and he knew that any attempt at a run-and-gun would fail due to the ponies’ ability to fly. Coupled with the fact that he was susceptible to assault at the moment and the fact that Pinkie could be hurt in the crossfire, the ex-protector was reluctant to attack. That left him with only one safe option: To walk away.

Nodding to himself, Corvo put away his weapon and made his way past the siblings to pick up his sword. Once he had acquired his blade, he folded it up and pushed the hilt into his sleeve, concealing it.

Once he was done, he turned his attention to the ponies. Big Mac and Applejack had broken off their reunion and were watching the assassin with rapt attention. Luna had taken a fighting stance, her horn glowing and pointed at Corvo. Twilight and Shining Armour had followed suit. Rainbow was in the process of placing herself between Fluttershy and the assassin. Pinkie was standing next to AJ and Big Mac, sticking her tongue out at Corvo.

Sighing, Corvo raised his hand and pointed at Pinkie Pie.

“Give her medical treatment.”

Having said that, he turned around and simply began walking away.

Everypony took a few minutes to process what was happening. The assassin did the exact opposite of what they had expected. Rather than pull out alien weaponry or use chaos magic to attack them, he had ordered them to give medical treatment to Pinkie and had just walked away.

Twilight Sparkle let out a frustrated growl. Then it dawned on her.

‘I know how to make him stop!’

“Wait!” she shouted.

Corvo refused.

Galloping towards him, Twilight focused energy and appeared in front of the human in a flash of light.

“You can’t go, I figured it out! Please! Please listen to me.”

Corvo stopped and sighed, “Why don’t you all leave me alone? I just want to go home.”

The purple mare was not deterred. “Pretty please?”

“Talk.”

“You’re not from here, as in, from this dimension. I know that because you fell from a chaos magic field and we, well, kind of kidnapped you bu-”

“Kind of?”

She flashed him a sheepish grin. “Umm...sorry? Anyway, you say you want to go home, right? Well, the thing is, you can’t, not until you finish some kind of task! It’s a basic rule of magic.”

Corvo was taken aback. The Outsider’s exact words came to his head.

“There beyond the void lies a powerful enemy. One that threatens you and me.”
‘Does she know something?’

Corvo looked toward the purple mare. She was staring up at him, as if waiting for him to say something.

“Am I right?”

The assassin sighed.

‘No. False hopes.’

Shrugging, the assassin began walking around the unicorn. Panicking Twilight began shouting at the assassin, “Don’t go! Stay, you-”

Twilight was cut off when Luna began using the Royal Caterlot Voice. “Thou shalt not escape without penalty!”

Luna fired an energy bolt at the hooded human before he could react. However, at the rate the bolt was moving, Corvo was easily able to jerk his arm, pull out his sword, and fall to his knees before the spell hit him. The bolt went sailing over Corvo, who turned around and pointed his blade at Luna.

Then, he shouted. “Stop!”

The princess stopped, but she didn’t back down. Rather, she stood, horn glowing, ready to spring into action.

Lowering his blade, Corvo looked around. “Look at me.” he said to noone in particular. “I’m standing in an insane mask, armed to the teeth ready to fight against pastel colored ponies. I don’t want to do this any more, what don’t you understand? I’m done.”

He turned to Twilight. “You want to help? Fine, come with me. Or stay here, I don’t care. I just want to see Emily.”

Turning away, Corvo began walking down the street away from the castle.

This time, Luna didn’t stop him. She was too busy thinking about his last statement.

‘I just want to see Emily? Who is that? Where will he even go?’

By the time she had finished thinking, both Corvo and Twilight were gone.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“So you really don’t mind me coming with you?” asked a suspicious Twilight.

Corvo ignored her and kept walking. They were already through the middle of town. With how late it was, everypony was inside, and the streets were silent.

“Are you even listening to me?”

Corvo stopped.

“Go home.” He said.

“Go back to the peo- Err, ponies that will actually take care of you.”

“You said I could come!”

“I lied. I lie a lot.”

“Was that statement about your daughter a lie?”

Corvo turned and looked at Twilight for a moment before he chuckled. Emily as his daughter? Insane. He thought back to his days as Lord Protector and then...

The smile slid off his face. He was like a father to he. She was probably sitting in a cell, crying and waiting for him to come get her.

“Go home “ he said again.

“No. I’m staying.”

‘I have to stay! I can’t mess this up!’ The unicorn gritted her teeth. She knew she had to stay with the assassin. This was due to the fact that, at this very moment, she was sending information back to her brother through a mental bond. The purple unicorn had thought of the plan in a split second. Go with the creature and pretend to be its friend, while actually sending information to the Royal Guard at all times on his location. That way, if Corvo does anything wrong, the Guard can be there within the hour.

Twilight looked towards the assassin. He quickly pulled his hand out of a small rucksack he had on his hip.

‘What could be in there?’

Shrugging, the assassin began walking again.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Move! We have to get this cleaned up ASAP!” shouted Shining as he helped telekinetically push a rock towards the wall.

The guardsponies had been told to begin cleaning up after the explosion. With the assault still fresh in their minds, the ponies had gotten to work, shifting broken up rubble and moving knocked out or dead bodies to a makeshift medical clinic.

As they moved about the wreckage, from high up on a balcony, Celestia watched.

‘What in Equestria’s name triggered this? What’s so important to him that he disregards other living things?’

When Celestia had first gotten word of the assassin’s assault on the Canterlot Courtyards, she had been furious. She had almost stormed to the armory to collect her battle armor and pursue the assassin. However, once she had been debriefed by Shining Armor, her anger had evaporated.

She remembered staring in disbelief as the Captain had explained their improvised plan. Though she didn’t exactly like the fact that Twilight had been put in danger, her fears had been put to rest when Shining pointed out the fact that she had saved Equestria more than once.

‘Stay safe, my student.‘

The one thing Celestia was still confused about, however, was the fact that Corvo told everypony to give Pinkie medical treatment. Well, that and the fact that the assassin didn’t just pull out his weapons and start shooting at Luna and the other ponies.

Shaking her head, Celestia turned around and walked to her bed, wincing as she sat down on it. Turning her attention to the bookshelf, she levitated a large, heavy book off the shelf. It was titled “A Guide to Everything.” and was written by her mother. With only one copy in existence, she referred to it only in emergencies.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Hey! Listen!”

“Look, with all due respect, shut up.”

“That’s rude!”

Corvo brought a hand to his head and nursed the headache he had developed. Ever since the two had walked out of the city, Twilight had done nothing but pester him, from attempting to make small talk to getting information out of him. She had just recently begun offering suggestions as to what he should do to advance towards his goal.

The assassin looked towards the unicorn. “Yes? Well, you’re obnoxious. You have no idea what kind of headache I’m sporting right now!”

“Are you mean naturally or do you have to work at it?”

“I’m not being mean.”

Twilight threw him a skeptical look. “You aren’t?”

“Have I slit your throat yet?”

The unicorn shivered at the cold statement. Then looked toward him "You wouldn't... actually do that now that we're working together... right?"

The assassin responded “No, of course not.” in a sickeningly sweet voice.

The pair walked silent for a while, Twilight nervously glancing at his sword every now and again. As they walked, the two observed the scenery, Corvo with some skepticism. The place was so clean compared to his home, it was almost unnatural, as though everything was being monitored.

Sighing, the human and pony duo finally settled in for the night. At this point, they were well away from the city and Corvo felt he had placed sufficient distance between him and Luna.

Remembering her angry face sent chills down his spine.

Plopping down, the assassin closed his eyes and leaned up against a tree near the path that led further down the mountain. He was about to fall asleep when a loud voice brought him out of his almost trance-like state.

“Are we stopping here?”

‘Her! Shit! What will she do to me if I fall asleep!? I should have made her stay in the city!’

Corvo grunted in response.

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”

The mare made her way across from the assassin and sat down on her haunches. Corvo enjoyed watching her watch him. It was entertaining to see her facial expressions for when he did the simplest things.

Deciding to entertain his viewer, he pulled out his gun and cleaning rags. Twilight shied away from the weapon remembering the condition it had put her in.

“What is that?”

Corvo didn’t respond. Rather he just sat and cleaned his weapon.

“Why won’t you talk to me? Is it because you miss your daughter?”

Corvo looked up from his work for a moment. Then, again ignoring her statement, he reassembled his gun and holstered it. Leaning back against the tree, he watched her through the lens of his mask, creating the illusion he had fallen asleep.

Twilight sat awkwardly across from him.

Then she stood up and walked toward his body. He felt his blood run cold when he heard her whisper under her breath.

“Fine, if you won’t talk to me, I’ll just take the information. A little snooping never hurt anypony.”

Author's Note

Though it's somewhat short, a lot happened. After this part things are going to get really crazy.

Thanks to Urdreth for his awesome editing skills!

SPOILER:

The Twilight and Corvo thing isn't permanent. (That would ruin half the novelty of the story) They are going to be pretty silly when together though.

"Running" from the Law

Twilight’s horn began glowing. Corvo, unsure of what to do, remained shock still. Slowly, the unicorn’s horn connected with the human’s mask and the world vanished to the duo.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Twilight Sparkle stood and watched as an unmasked Corvo slowly walked off a boat and onto the cobblestone streets leading to Dunwall Tower. The mighty castle was epic in its glory. It was just as, if not more spacious than Canterlot Castle.

The spires and flags, however, took on a more hardened and functional look than Canterlot’s white spires.

The backdrop of a smog covered sky gave the place an eerie beauty. The atmosphere was different when compared to Canterlot’s hustle and bustle.

Turning her attention back to Corvo, she watched as a young human girl ran up to and embraced the man.

“Corvo! You’re back!” She shouted excitedly.

Corvo leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

“Will you tell me about your trip? Please? Were there any whales?”

Corvo just smiled and shook his head. He picked Emily up for a brief moment, then placed her back on the ground. The protector stood up for a moment and began walking before the young girl yelled. “Wait! Let’s play hide and seek.”

Corvo shook his head, “Not now, Emily, I must speak with your mother.”

“But Corvo, you have time! Mother is busy talking to that nasty old spy master.”

The assassin rolled his eyes and nodded. “Alright, I suppose we could play a quick game.”

Twilight stared at Corvo for a moment. This was the first time she had actually seen the assassin’s face. In all honesty, when he was standing and smiling the way he was, with genuine happiness, he didn’t look like the terrifying creature that had assaulted and almost killed her friends.

Twilight would go as far as saying he looked... friendly.

Corvo then sighed and, with a grin, said “Race you to the base of the tower!”

Then he rocketed past the young girl.

Emily giggled, then turning on her heels, she chased after the lord.

Twilight stared open mouthed at the scene. This girl harbored no fear of Corvo. She didn’t care in the slightest that he was a deadly killer. But from what Twilight heard, the two were family.

The mare blinked and suddenly found herself looking at the two figures again. This time however, Corvo was standing behind what seemed to be a hay bail, and the young girl was pressed up against the wall counting to ten. Twilight was reminded of how she would always play hide and seek with her BBBFF, Shining Armor, before she had gone into her studying rut.

She watched as Emily turned around and in a low voice said “Where are you, Corvo?”

The assassin brought a hand up to his mouth and stifled a giggle. But it wasn’t enough, Emily heard the Protector and rushed up to the bail. Jumping over it, she yelled “Found you!”

Twilight watched wide eyed. She couldn’t believe that the spiteful, angry human back in Equestria was the same laughing father that stood before her now, clutching his daughter.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Outsider stood within the empty dream scape that was Corvo’s mind.

As he stood there, he felt a presence behind him. Then there was a probing in his mind. With the discipline the Outsider had learned however, his mind easily stamped out the invading force.

“Interesting. You’ve never attacked me, Corvo.”

He pushed his mind into the assassin’s for a moment and felt a foreign presence. “I see.” The Outsider laughed. Then taking his mind he fell back into the void.

He pondered the things he saw. Out of them all he could only determine one thing. This mind was not Corvo’s.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Twilight stared as Corvo handed the Empress a letter. The young pony couldn’t believe the fact that a woman who seemed this young headed an entire country. The unicorn’s unease increased as she heard of the plague.

‘Plague?! Is it contagious? Did he bring it to Equestria!?’

She watched as the scene played out. The atmosphere rapidly shifted from slightly uneasy to ill. Something was going to go wrong and the unicorn knew it.

“What are those men doing up on the roofs?”

“Emily, get behind me! Corvo!”

The assassin pulled out his alien weapons.

Then the unicorn felt a tug on her mane. Looking back, she saw the assassin she knew. His make was gone, rather, she saw his face contorted with rage. She felt a stab of fear and wished the mask was hiding his face.

“I - I’m sorry! I just wanted-”

His voice was loud. The ear piercing shout sent shivers down the unicorn’s spine. “Get out!”

Her grip on the spell broke and she felt herself being hurtled out of Corvo’s consciousness.

When she opened her eyes she was again staring at his expressionless mask. ‘He’s just insecure. He won’t hurt you if you show understanding!’

She felt a hand clasp around her neck. Then, the assassin stood up, still holding Twilight’s neck. She felt her breath being cut off. She gasped, attempting to breathe.

The assassin brought her face-to-face with him. Drawing back his fist, he punched the pony in his grip. The blow was heavy and caused a sickening crunch to come from Twilight’s muzzle. Corvo turned around and slammed her into the tree he had been resting against. He then let go of her neck, causing her to slide down the trunk of the tree.

Twilight looked up, her vision blurry, and saw Corvo pulling out his sword. Though his mask was covering his face, it was pretty clear to Twilight: The assassin was angry. Somehow, knowing that fact made the mask’s features appear twisted and grotesque.

The air was thick and still as the human stood over his prey. Corvo was prepared to kill. With burning eyes, he brought up his blade to deliver a strike and end the unicorn’s life. But before he could, he felt her wrap her hooves around his legs.

He waited a second to see what last ditch attempt she was going to use to save herself. But she did nothing. Rather, she sat at his feet, hugging them and sniffling.

Growing tired of the display, he kicked the pony off his legs and pinned her up against the tree.

Getting down on one knee, he brought the sword up to her throat, preparing to make a cut. He stopped when she wrapped her hooves around his neck. Not in a threatening way, more like a hug.
“Y-you’re a very nice f-father.”

The assassin’s eyes widened at the words.

“You’re not mean. Just... sad.” she said

Corvo attempted to pull away, but the unicorn held on, not letting him budge. “Stop!” she yelled “Please, just... talk to me? Why won’t you just sit and talk?”

Corvo finally wrestled out of Twilight’s grip. Getting to his feet he looked down at her. “I don’t want to.” he flatly replied.

“You miss her, right?”

The assassin looked down at her and asked a question. “Do you have someone you care about? Someone who looks up to you?”

“There’s Spike, my assistant...”

Corvo nodded. “Now, name one person you trust. Someone you expect to help you. A colleague.”

“You.” she murmured.

“Don’t lie. You’d be stupid to trust me.” Corvo flatly said.

“I trust my friends. And Shining Armor.”

Corvo nodded. Now to construct his situation in her mind.

“Imagine this; You go with Spike to see your princess. Shining Armor is there, watching everything. Then, when you are finally catching up with her, Shining shows up, kidnaps Spike, and murders the princess.”

Twilight stared open-mouthed at him. Shining Armor, the one pony she would do anything for, suddenly just turning against the kingdom and his own sister? That was absurd. But looking at Corvo, the fact that something like that was possible, and that it probably had happened to the man standing in front of her was scary.

The assassin smiled behind his mask. She finally seemed to get it. Now for the sucker punch.

“Wait, I left a part out.”

“There’s more?”

“They proceed to accuse you of the crime and you’re sentenced to death.”

Twilight shivered. Sentenced to death? They had a penalty that horrible?

The unicorn coughed and then got to her hooves. “That’s what happened to you.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. Twilight knew it was true, the ominous feeling she had experienced in Dunwall had been because the horrendous act that Corvo had just described...

...Was about to happen.

Corvo gave no visible response to her statement. The assassin simply snorted and turned to walk away.

“What did you do!?” shouted Twilight. “I mean, you said you were going to be put to death. What did you do and why would anypony do something like that?”

“Why? Because they were horrible. Disgusting. They’re greedy men who fed on lies and the suffering of others!” shouted Corvo.

Though the anger wasn’t directed at her anymore, Twilight definitely felt fear and sorrow for the ones it was directed at.

When the assassin finished shouting, he grew quiet. After a moment, he spoke again, much quieter this time. “I killed them.” he sighed. “But it didn’t help. I still feel like I hate everything. Then, there’s still Emily. I miss her. They took her from me!”

Twilight took note of the fact that he said me rather than us. “I just don’t know what to say...”

She tried to imagine her life taking a turn like that, but she couldn't. Not clearly, anyway. She couldn’t picture Shining ever doing anything like what Corvo had described, yet in the same sense, Corvo must have trusted his victimizer as well.

“I think you need calm down. Just take a deep breath.”

Corvo turned around. “Taking a deep breath doesn’t ‘make it all better’, Twilight.” He said tiredly.

‘He said my name!’

“Being calm can still help.” she cautiously said. “What you need to do is calm down and talk to a friend.I know you’ll start feeling better afterward.”

Then she held out her hooves

“All of my friends betrayed and tried to kill me.” He said in a low voice.

The mare’s hooves fell to her side and she slowly looked towards the ground. “I didn’t betray and try to kill you.”

“No. You clubbed, kidnapped, and jailed me.”

There was an awkward silence, in which Corvo turned around and began to walk away. Twilight fidgeted for a moment and looked toward the ground. As Corvo walked away, he sighed again. He was still extremely tired and the mental assault he had just endured really didn’t help.

He had used up so much mana simply breaking out of the unicorn’s mental prison. The amount of magic and other defences she had conjured up had been amazing. In all honestly, Corvo was beginning to question the decision of bringing her along. If she got angry, there was no doubt in his mind that she could hurt him to an incredible degree.

The assassin also knew that he needed her help. As much as he hated to admit it, she knew a lot more about magic than he did. Hopefully, her stupid antics wouldn’t end up getting them captured again... or worse.

Noticing the purple pony wasn’t following him he turned his head and shouted back, “Are you coming?”

Twilight nervously looked around, then reluctantly followed. Once she had caught up, Corvo did one of the most unexpected things she could think of. He apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

“W-what?”

“I apologize for hitting you.”

“Why?”

‘Because you're the only useful thing in this crazy world.’

“Because what I did was out of line, and I think I overreacted...” ‘All you did was break into my most personal memories, it’s completely fine.’

Twilight looked him over for a moment then in a low voice said “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have tried to get into your head like that...”

‘I’ll say.’

“...and I hope there are no hard feelings.”

The human shook his head.

Continuing down the path, Corvo began breathing heavily. He was still completely exhausted and at this point he didn’t even know how he was still moving. His legs burned, and his chest ached. His head was throbbing and his mouth felt completely dry. Deciding to numb some of the pain and maybe get backs some more mana, Corvo took out a spirit and health elixir.

As they walked, he downed both the bottles, Twilight taking an unusual amount of interest in the spirit elixir.

“What’s that?” Her voice was akin to an angry mother’s tone who was scolding her child.

Corvo simply ignored the question and kept walking.

“Corvo! Will you please tell me what did you just drink? There was an incredible amount of chaos magic emitting from it! It could be dangerous!”

The assassin chuckled and placed the empty bottle back into his rucksack. “It’s not. For me anyway.”

Twilight looked uncertainly at the rucksack, and shook her head.

The two continued walking in silence. After about fifteen minutes of walking, the unicorn asked another question. “Sooo, where are we going exactly?”

“Away from there.” Corvo said, jerking a thumb up the path.

The pony’s ears swiveled back on her head and her face took on a sarcastic expression. “No...really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Please, can you just stop kidding around and tell me?”

Corvo cast his gaze toward her. “I need some things. I just don’t know where to find them.”

“Well what do you need?”

“Do you have any whale bones?” asked the assassin, as though it were a completely common question.

Twilight stared at him for a moment before slowly saying “No...Do you need some?”

“They could help.” said the assassin.

Twilight shuddered to think what he might use them for.

The two continued walking for a brief period more before Twilight suggested resting. Though Corvo didn’t know it, the mare had done it for his sake. She had watched as he basically dragged himself down the path they had been walking on. Anypony could tell the man was tired from a mile away.

The assassin agreed to rest, however Twilight could see the fact that he was now closely monitoring her every move. After her actions a few hours ago, she wasn’t surprised, but with him watching her the way he was, there was no way for her to send information to Shining Armour.

Quickly she thought up a plan.

“Ummm. Excuse me...”

Corvo looked up from his work, the assassin seemed to be taking an inventory of his supplies. “Where are you going?”

“I have to...you know...”

The man shrugged and gestured toward a bush.

Once out of sight, Twilight charged up her horn, preparing to cast her conveyance spell. Throwing her mind out toward her sibling, she felt the faint connection in the back of her head advance to the forefront of her thoughts. Quickly conveying all her memories and findings, she cut off the connection, dulling her senses and returning to reality.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Feeling her sister’s mind probing at his, Shining Armor quickly turned around and began walking toward Celestia’s chambers, opening his mind as he walked.

Once he had collected all the information from Twilight, he closed off his mind and sped his trot up to a gallop. The fact that that thing had hurt his sister again angered him. But more than that, it made him fear for Twilight’s safety.

He loved his sister more than anything in the world. Losing her would be devastating. The only thing keeping him and from going after the assassin with an assault force was Celestia’s orders.

Arriving at his destination he knocked three times, in a rhythmic fashion, and waited. Celestia shouted “Come in.” from behind the door.

Complying, Shining walked inside and took a deep breath.

“Ma’am I just received word from Twilight. Would you like an update now?”

‘That was quick...’

“Yes gaurd. Please tell me everything.” Celestia said, taking care to remain formal.

Shining Armor launched into a synopses of the events that Corvo and Twilight underwent after fleeing the castle. Throughout his speech, Celestia’s face remained static, but this didn’t unnerve the Captain. He knew Celestia well enough to know when there was a problem.

Once he had finished, a crushing silence filled the room. Any inside the room would hear nothing but the muffled sounds of the more public areas of the castle.

After what seemed like an eternity, Celestia spoke. “I find Corvo’s actions justified...” she said slowly. “Harsh, but justified.”

Shining Armor’s face took on a quick look of surprise before quickly returning to it’s previous, sotic expression.

“I know what you’re thinking. All I have to say on the matter, is that we must do whatever we can to get him home.”

Celestia’s piercing eyes bored into Shining’s consciousness.

“Shining Armor, I know you care for your sister. I do too. But seeing Corvo has opened my eyes. I feel there is a greater threat than just Corvo that lurks over the horizon.” she said, gravely.

The stallion, now thoroughly confused, simply nodded.

“Dismissed.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Outsider sneezed.

“Interesting.” he said “Rumor has it, you sneeze when someone talks about you...”

Ignoring the odd occurrence of the bodily function, the Outsider turned his gaze back to the floating platform he was observing.

It depicted Corvo choking a guard out. The god frowned at the statues, this was all wrong. Corvo should have been stabbing the guard. Or shooting him. Maybe blowing him up?

Sighing in frustration the Outsider made his way around the statues. “I don’t understand. The wound should be fatal. Why is he just choking him?”

The god turned around and began walking back toward his throne. Ignoring the laws of physics, he simply walked over the air like it was cobblestone and arrived at the sole pillar where his chair stood. Sitting down, the Outsider began reaching out toward his shrines, and looking through them at the world in real time.

The event that the platform he had been looking at hadn't quite come to pass yet. It was supposed to take place in the course of about a week. However, looking around at the world in real time made him realize that his prediction of that event may be wrong.

By the looks of it, the event may not come to pass at all. On all his shrine stood Corvo. But each one was different, with variations, mutations on each of the assassin’s duplicates. Some lacked things such as a wire or two on their masks, others lacked entire limbs.

‘Someone has been meddling in my affairs.’

Retreating from the shrine, the Outsider opened his eyes and looked over the platforms.

“I have a lot of rearranging to do...”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Spike sat on his bed, staring at the hospital ground. He felt a pit in his stomach and his claws were clenched in rage. The baby dragon had just learned of the events of the previous night, and was furious that Twilight had just upped and left him without warning.

That coupled with the fact that Pinkie had nearly been killed at the hands of Corvo again made Spike’s blood boil.

He took a steadying breath and looked around the room. Everypony in the room was staring at him. They all held varying of concern for him. The one showing the most was Fluttershy. She had a look of pity for the dragon. She sighed and turned her gaze out the window.

Spike turned his gaze towards the door and considered attempting to run again. But that would be stupid considering his last attempt...

*30 mins ago.*

Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack made their way into Twilight’s room. Sleeping on the bed, curled up into a little ball, was Spike. The young dragon was snoring softly, and a very thin stream of smoke was coming out from his nostrils.

Slowly, Shining Armor walked into the room. Sighing, the stallion took a seat across the room. Then, he whispered “Wake Spike up. We need to tell him about Twilight.”

Fluttershy gave a quick nod and flew up toward him. Nudging Spike in the back, she woke him him up, taking care to keep him calm. Once he was up, she slowly slid the dragon to the end of the bed.

Fluttershy then, in the gentlest voice she could muster, said, “Spike, we have something to tell you.”

He groggily nodded and asked “Can it wait ‘till morning?”

The timid pegasus slowly shook her head. “No, Spike, it’s very important. Do you remember that creature that blew up the library? The one the princess locked in jail?”

“Yeah.”

“It escaped...We had to stop it.”

Spike had finally began paying attention and was completely focused on Fluttershy. When the mare said nothing, he excitedly asked “Well, did ya?”

Fluttershy shook her head.

“It attacked us. Not everypony was lucky.”

Spike took a few moments to process what she was saying. Then he slowly looked around the room. His eyes went wide and he took another desperate look around the room. Everypony stared at him with rapt attention.

Spike, his voice high with fear asked, “Where’s Twilight?”

No pony said anything.

Tears began welling up in his eyes.

“She’s safe right? Right!?”

Shining slowly got to his hooves and said “She went after the human.”

Spike’s mouth dropped open. “She what?! I have to go after her! Oh no, what’ll she do without me?!”

The dragon hopped off the bed and began running toward the door as fast as his little legs would carry him. Before he reached the door, he was tackled by both Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

“Can’t let ya do that partner!”

Spike struggled and shouted “Hey! What do you think you’re doing? Let me go, I have to help Twilight!”

Rainbow looked at the purple dragon pinned under her. “Sorry buddy, but we can’t let you go. You getting hurt too is the last thing we need.”

Spike’s struggling increased, and he began flailing his arms in a futile attempt to escape.

“Let me go! or- or I’ll- I’ll-”

Rainbow glared at him. “Spike, sto-”

“Or I’ll breathe fire on you!” he snapped.

Spike inhaled and blew out a small plume of flames. It was nowhere near enough to harm Dash, but it was more than enough to get her off him. Once she had stumbled off of him, he quickly stood up, and ran toward the door. He was stopped by a purple force field.

Looking around the room, the young dragon spotted Shining Armor, his horn glowing.

“No, not you too. Come on, Shining! You have to let me go!”

“I promised Twilight I’d keep you safe. Sorry, but the girls are right.”

Shining switched to a levitation spell and flew the baby dragon over to Fluttershy, who caught him in her forehooves. He struggled for a moment, shouting bloody murder, but Fluttershy held him tight against her chest. Slowly, the dragon calmed down and Fluttershy finally set him on the bed.

Looking up again, Spike stared venomously at all the mares in the room.

The dragon then said, “I’m going to get some water.”

Applejack looked at him, distrust in her eyes. “Pinkie, go with him. I don’ want any funny business.”

Spike rolled his eyes and got to his feet. “Fine! Let’s go.”

After about fifteen minutes, the pair returned, and everypony proceeded to go to bed.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Corvo slowly awoke, shaking his head. Slowly, he looked around and took in the scene. Suddenly, last night’s events rushed back into his mind. The assassin took another look around and spotted Twilight sleeping not very far from him.

‘Perfect.’

Getting to his feet, Corvo quickly stretched and began walking away. He took care to not to wake the slumbering unicorn, after all, he knew she would scramble to catch up as soon as she figured out Corvo was ditching her.

Once out of earshot, Corvo broke into a run. The assassin had finally regained his energy and his head had finally cleared. His body was sore from sleeping on the hard ground, but that didn’t matter. Corvo was well rested. Hungry, thirsty, sore, but well rested.

The assassin quickly began going over his plans.

‘I need a shrine. The Outsider wasn’t specific in what I had to do, all he said is there’s a danger. If I make a shrine, and get him to appear, then I’ll be able to see exactly what to do.’

Corvo slowed his sprint to a walk, deciding that he had put enough distance between him and that insane purple unicorn.

‘Now... what if I use one of my runes as a shrine...can I do that? Build around a rune?’

He shook his head and continued walking. His stomach, then, decided to make its condition known by growling. Corvo looked down at himself.

“Health elixirs aren't enough, are they?” he mumbled.
The assassin continued walking, and thinking on the Outsider’s words.

‘Something dangerous? What if I just go and slaughter random creatures? Would that work? I might just kill the threat without knowing it.’

He thought about it for a moment.

‘No. That’s foolish.’

Corvo continued on his way, finally deciding to make his way to the little town he had started in originally. Though it wasn’t the best plan in the world, it would be a good place to start looking for resources. From the view he had gotten when being taken in, he had seen that the town was relatively small, which meant less guards to worry about.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Big Mac stared, appalled at the destruction the human had caused. The courtyard was a bloody mess. Bodies, both knocked out and dead, were strewn about the area, and there were small craters and chunks of stone littering the ground.

With the light finally coming in from the sun, they could begin cleaning up the mess Corvo had made. Before, they had simply been moving the larger pieces of rocks, the ones that took more than one pony to move. They weren’t fully aware of the mess that had been made.

Big Macintosh regretfully swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat.

‘Maybe volunteering to clean up was a bad idea...’

The stallion slowly made his way to a body with an arrow sticking out of its eye socket and dried blood on its cheeks. Mac went to pick it up, but recoiled when he felt the cooled skin of the corpse.

Biting his lips, he picked the corpse up, throwing it over his back. The farmer began walking towards the doctors that were on site.

Finally depositing the body, the stallion turned around and looked at the rest of the courtyard.

‘This is going to be a long day, isn’t it?'

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took so long. There was some trouble, in making it.

There may be a delay in the next chapter due to some things that have come up. They should be resolved by the next Friday latest.

Thanks for reading,

Thanks to Urdreth for his editing skills!

And what should Corvo do next?

Dreams, Chaos and Angry gods.

Twilight awoke slowly, a sense of dread overtaking her as soon as she gained consciousness. It felt like it was going to be ‘one of those days’. The kind of day where nothing seems to go right. Like that one Tuesday, when she had almost been tardy for one of her friendship reports. Shaking her head, she groggily got to her hooves and took a look around.

“Oh.” Muttered the unicorn. “He’s gone... no wonder this was going to be a bad day.”

Sighing, Twilight thought back to their trip here. Every time she had asked where they were headed, Corvo had floated around the question, never outright answering it. But then again, he only knew about two locations in Equestria, Canterlot and Ponyville. With one option already locked away, the mare decided to head to the only location left.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Corvo stood shrouded in the darkness of an alley. The assassin had, for sometime now, been patiently watching the hustle and bustle of the Ponyville marketplace. Sneaking in had been quite easy. His ability to climb coupled with his supernatural powers ensured his safe passage into the town. He did end up killing a guard that saw him though, but it did little to unnerve the assassin. At this point, he would do anything to be able to save Emily.

‘Damn spy master.’

As he cursed his nemesis’ name he became aware of the empty feeling in his stomach. Sighing, Corvo clutched his tummy.

‘Need food...If only I could stop time and...Wait I can!’

Finally finding a solution to his food conundrum, Corvo quietly made a cheer of triumph. Though it was slightly unlawful, it would be effective.

Raising his hand, Corvo sent energy rippling toward his mark. He then began compressing the energy, preparing to release it. As he charged the spell, he took one last sweep over the stalls, excitement and nervousness ballooning up in his chest.

Deciding on what to eat, the assassin released the spell, and time ground to a halt. Licking his lips behind his expressionless mask, Corvo sprinted up to a stall full of carrots and quickly grabbed one of the large baskets. Turning on his heel, he sprinted towards another vendor’s wares, in order to acquire lettuce. Once he had gotten the plant, he continued down the line, looting stands and grabbing random foodstuffs of their shelves.

‘Seven seconds!’

As time began to pick up, Corvo slipped back into the alleyway, unnoticed by the passer-bys.

Letting out a quiet sigh of relief, Corvo looked down at his stolen salad. Leaning against a wall, Corvo slid down to a sitting position, and slowly began digging his way through the huge basket of food he had ‘borrowed’ from the vendors.

Taking an apple, the assassin removed his mask, and bit into it, savoring the taste. The last time he had eaten anything had been over twenty four hours ago. For most people (or ponies), they would have survived. However, Corvo was a human who could use magic. His body, not being built to handle magic, was worn out a lot more easily than, say, a unicorn.

Ever since the human had gotten his mark, the amount he ate had almost doubled.

After about twenty minutes of doing nothing but gorging himself, Corvo finally sighed and closed his eyes, content and ready to sleep. But before he did, Corvo pulled out the heart, and began examining it. He was still quite curious about what had happened in the Everfree forest. Using it again couldn’t hurt.

‘Well, not too badly anyway...’

Flowing a bit of magic into the heart, he waited for something to happen. When nothing did, the assassin put it away, slightly disappointed at the outcome.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Shining Armor yelped, then tumbled out of bed as his sister’s mind slammed into his. Acting quickly, he lowered his defences to allow her into his thoughts, but not before giving her a bit of scolding for her “unnecessary roughness”.

After exchanging pleasantries at an astonishingly fast rate, Twilight began explaining her situation.

“I woke up and he was just gone! I didn’t expect him to run away, I tried to earn his trust, just like you said but...”

“Twilight, it’s fine. I’ll send a battalion of guards to take a look around. Just stay where you are.”

“All right.”

Shining Armor lessened the intensity of his thoughts, in an attempt to creating an effect similar to lowering his voice. Then he sent a final message. “I’m glad you’re safe...”

Breaking off the connection, the young captain made his way towards Celestia’s chambers.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Outsider stood in an open field. There was nothing but grasslands, the most basic of life starting platforms. He felt the gravity of the world and scanned for other life.

He had been chasing the entity that had been blocking his shrines for what seemed like years. In all honesty though, the Outsider had lost track of time a few days ago. But it was worth it. He had finally cornered the thing that had been causing him so much trouble.

He had chased it to the corner of this mental universe. A place with no escape, where creativity became power. The Outsider had finally been able to seal away himself and this entity, and this was the place where they would resolve the conflict.

Patiently, the god waited for the trapped entity to realize its fate.

Then, finally, it happened.

There was a bright flash, and a sound like thunder as a creature of chaos manifested itself in front of the outsider.

“OH FINE! You’ve got me! Are you happy now?”

The Outsider stared at the beast. A horrid thing of mismatched parts. A pony’s head, a lion’s paw, an eagle’s claw... Had a five year old been appointed to create this creature?

“Hellooo? Anyone home?” The creature clapped its mismatched “hands” to get the Outsider’s attention

The Outsider’s stare intensified, turning into an annoyed glare.

“Your existence saddens me. You are not interesting, nor are you worth my time. Yet, by ruining my entertainment, you have managed to grab my attention.” asked the Outsider. His voice held no menace or threat. Rather, it was calm and collected as though everything were expected.

Discord (literally) put on his best puppy face. “Ruining? Who, me? I’d never!” Shouted the monster shouted the monster mockingly.

The Outsider was not amused.

Discord snapped his fingers, causing a cotton candy cloud to appear over the Outsider. There was a strike of lightning, and the lord of chaos was standing mere inches from the leviathan.

“After all? What’s a entertainment without excitement? Weren’t you bored watching him just kill those guards over and over?”

The man shook his head. “There are some things you do not understand. ”

“You just want your little pet back, don’t you?” chuckled Discord.

In order to put a bit of distance between himself and his enemy, the Outsider utilized his cloud of darkness, and teleported a short ways away from Discord.

Growing angry with the creature, the Outsider decided to drop the pleasantries. With him not being there to protect it, the void could become inhabited by lord knows what. Then he would have two problems on his hands.

The creature in front of him obviously did not want to cooperate, and so, armed with that knowledge, the young man simply decided to take back his shrines, and worry about Corvo later.

“Give to me my shrines.” ordered the Outsider

Discord, stunned by the sudden change in subject shrugged his shoulders. Then after a moment of consideration, shook his head and said “No.”

“So be it,” replied the god. “I shall take them by force.”

The darkness around the Outsider began rotating at a rate greater than normal. As it sped up it began whistling, and crackling with unnatural energy.

Discord however was completely unimpressed. He was relaxed to the point where he felt safe enough to be leisurely drinking a glass of orange juice, that, for some odd reason, never seemed to run out of liquid.

After deciding he was done drinking, Discord licked his lips, then threw the glass, still full of juice, at the Outsider. Rather than shattering though, the glass exploded violently against the inky blackness surrounding him, spraying a mixture of fire, juice, and glass shards in every direction.

But the young man was unharmed; The blackness had protected his bodily form, and rendered the explosion useless.

Once the Outsider realized he had been attacked, he decided to retaliate.

Slowly, he raised a hand, then brought it down.

A second after the Outsider’s hand dropped, lightning struck. There was a loud bang as electricity caused gas to expand, and rain began violently falling. The rain around the Outsider seemed to mingle and blend with the darkness that surrounded him, freezing and creating scale-like shards of ice.

Sitting in a lawn chair and on the ash left by the lightning strike was Discord, who was absent-mindedly attempting to clean his now matted, blackened fur.

“Do you know how hard it is to get soot out of fur?” asked the beast.

The Outsider didn’t respond, choosing to he raise his hand again.

Discord, simply rolled his eyes and conjured another glass of orange juice.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Wind whistled, thunder cracked, and rain hammered down on the platform just outside the door. In the mouth of the door stood Corvo, winded, out of magic power and ammunition. At the end of the platform stood the lord regent, who, at the moment, was holding a squirming Emily.

The assassin, overcome by the sight of Emily, began walking onto the platform, ignoring the shouts of the former spymaster.

“Stop right there Corvo! You had your chance to be a hero!”

The ex-protector, oblivious to the shouting, kept walking.

“In a minute, this will be just another bloody mess you’ve left behind!”

Corvo’s pace increased.

“You want your honor back? To save the lady in distress?! Oh no, Corvo, that’s not you!”

Just as Corvo passed the halfway point on the platform, the spymaster, drunk on power, jumped off the platform.

Corvo broke out into a run, charging towards the end of the platform, and diving at the last second. He threw his hand over the ledge, but caught nothing but air. Emily and the Lord were already well on their way down the “cliff”. Though Corvo could no longer hear their screams, he knew what Emily was shouting.

He had failed her. The man she trusted, looked up to, and held dear to her heart, had just let her die.

The assassin watched as their bodies hit the water, and slammed his fist down on the platform in frustration. He didn’t feel sad, or sorry. He just felt angry. So very angry and alone.

Taking a deep breath, Corvo closed his eyes.

Then woke with a start.

‘A dream...’

The assassin looked around. He was still leaned up against the wall in the alley, the empty basket laying on its side next to him.

Slowly, Corvo got to his feet.

Though it hadn't happened, the dream had definitely felt real. Stumbling out of the ally, Corvo fell out into the street.

He didn’t even get a chance to recover before he heard a shout. “There he is!”

The assassin looked up. He was surrounded by maybe ten, or more guards.

“What happened to its face? It’s not all metal-ly like before...” Muttered one guard

Corvo spawned a look of confusion, which was then replaced with realization. He’d left his mask in the alley!

Scrambling to his feet, the assassin dived back into the crevice between the two buildings.

“He’s escaping!”

Corvo, grabbing his mask off the floor quickly put it on and looked around.

‘Surrounded. Again. In an alley. Just great.’

“Surrender!” Shouted the armored ponies in unison.

“Wait! How about we strike a deal?”

There was a murmuring through out the crowd. They talked amongst themselves for a few seconds before one stallion, identical to all the others, muscled his way to the front of the rabble.

Everypony he had shoved watched him as he angrily stomped up to Corvo, then drew his sword.

“You monster! You’re the...the THING that killed my brother!” screamed the pony.

Corvo reflexively took a step back. The volume of the stallion’s shouting had been nothing to laugh at.

“What did he ever do to you?!” the stallion shouted.

Corvo, still in shock from the fact that he was being yelled at by a, what he considered, docile race, was unable to respond.

“I hate you!”

The crowd around him did nothing, they simply stared in shock.

Corvo, coming to his senses, slowly knelt down, and took a closer look at the pony.

“There are lots of people, and now ponies, that hate me, you know.” Muttered the assassin to the guard. “Adding another is no skin off my back.”

The pony had tears welling up in his eyes. In all honesty, Corvo did feel a bit of guilt in the pit of his stomach; the assassin sympathised with the pony’s feelings, after all, Corvo had been placed in a similar boat. But even with these feelings nagging him to apologize and try to make things right, the ex-protector did nothing.

“If it helps, I can kill you too. That way, the two of you can frolic through fields of flowers, or whatever it is that you all do when you die.”

The pony let out a scream of rage, and swung his blade. Corvo, with a practiced hand, drew his sword, and deflected the strike.

The pony, quickly responded, by rearing up on his hind legs, and jerking his head to the side in order to slice at the assassin’s neck. But the pony hadn’t expected Corvo’s random fighting style.

Rather than block, or dodge, Corvo dropped just under the blade of the stallion’s sword, and punched the poor thing in the stomach.

The stallion fell onto his back, and Corvo stood up. Looking around, Corvo realized that the other guards were preparing for a fight, drawing swords, charging magic, and taking stances.

“I don’t have time for this!” shouted the assassin.

Looking towards a wall on his left side, Corvo sprinted at then up it. Once he had lost momentum, about halfway up the wall, he quickly extended his hand and applied pressure to the wall opposite to the one he climbed.

For a moment, everypony stared at the assassin suspended up in the air. Before someone shouted “Get him down!”

Corvo, using his feet in place of his arms to suspend himself, charged magic, then teleported up, out of the alley, and onto the roof of the building on his left. Pulling out a grenade, Corvo, laughed homicidally as he dropped it into the alleyway. A second later, the building shook, and a resounding boom could be heard from below.

Running along the roof of the now flaming building, Corvo jumped off and prepared to blink to the ground.

Before he could make use of his spell, a wave of force hit him like a pile of bricks, sending him rocketing into a nearby wall.

Holding his head, the ex-protector searched for the caster of the force spell.

When he found her, his jaw dropped.

It was Celestia, in highly polished bronze armor. Her wings were spread, and her horn was still smoking. The now setting sun reflected off her armor in such a way where the ground was peppered with specks of light.

To her left were groups of guards, and to her right were Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor, horns ablaze.

Corvo got to his feet, and prepared a possession bolt.

‘Here we go again...’ thought the assassin.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Spike sat completely still, staring out the window. This day had been extremely frustrating for the baby dragon. Spike was still unaware of the events that had transpired throughout the day, and so he was still itching for information on how Twilight was doing.

Unfortunately for him, his wishes were but a pipe dream. There was no doubt about it, nopony was going to tell Spike that Corvo not only assaulted Twilight, but then abandoned her the first chance he got. After all, him throwing a fit when nopony was around to calm him down would be... bad to say the least.

He may be a baby, but he still had the temper of a full grown dragon.
‘Why won’t they let me go to Twilight? I’m her assistant, I’m supposed to help her with everything!’

Letting out a frustrated groan, Spike looked around for something to take his mind off his conundrum. Rainbow Dash, quite uncharacteristically, was sitting quietly in a corner. Pinkie Pie, bubbly as always, was bouncing around telling jokes to anypony that would lend an ear. Rarity was scribbling away in a notebook. Applejack was sitting talking quietly to Big Mac. And Fluttershy was staring directly at Spike, a sad look in her eye.

Spike, noticing the pegasus’s gaze, stared back. After a second, the mare averted her eyes, and bashfully hid behind her mane.

A few minutes after the awkward moment, Fluttershy made her way over to Spike, and sat down next to him.

Nudging him, she asked “A-are you alright?”

The dragon simply nodded, but the look in his eye told another story.

“You know, if you have a problem, it helps to tell a friend. I learned that from Rarity.”

Spike, who was holding his head in his claws, looked down at the floor. “I miss Twi.”

“It’s only been a day,” she gently responded.

“But she’s with the creepy metal face guy, and I don’t want her to get hurt.” mumbled the baby dragon, still staring at the ground.

“Would you like to know a secret?”

Across the room, Pinkie’s ears perked up and she shouted “YES! What is it! Ooo, I’m so excited! Telllmetellmetellme!”

Rolling her eyes, Fluttershy leaned in and whispered something into Spike’s ear.

Once she had finished, a grin had broken out over the baby dragon’s face. Hopping off the bed, he ran towards Big Mac. If what Fluttershy said was true, then he had a chance to save Twilight, and maybe stop that evil biped in the process.

Author's Note

The reason this took so long is because of this;

http://www.fimfiction.net/story/82044/why-cant-you

Edited by: Urdreth

Tell me your opinions and suggestions below.

Deception (Part 1)

Deception

Twilight Sparkle limped into the medical wing of Canterlot castle. Looking back she saw her in commision friends walking after her, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and Spike. The only one missing was Pinkie. The mare they were going to visit. She continued dragging herself down the hall.

Rounding a corner, Twilight turned into a new corridor. ‘Room 238... here’s 232.’

She limped her way down the hall, counting all the numbers on the right wall ‘234, 236... 238.’

Twilight stared up fearfully at the door frame. The door wasn’t particularly intimidating, it was exactly the same as the rest of the doors within the castle; wooden, large and heavy. Nothing special,( for Canterlot anyway). The unicorn’s real fear came from what lay inside.

Pinkie Pie.

One of her closest friends, and bravest ponies Twilight had ever known. Her and Spike’s random appearance had saved the small group of friends, but not without cost.

Twilight Sparkle took a steadying breath, and glanced behind her. Seeing her friends gave her a small amount of comfort, but not enough to thaw the lump of ice that had formed in the pit of her stomach. She gulped, then shakily, Twilight raised a hoof and pushed open the door.

The mare hobbled into the dimly lit room. The curtains were drawn, and the place smelled of rubbing alcohol. Pushed up against the far wall was a large princess sized bed. In the middle, under sheets upon sheets of fabric lay Pinkie Pie, soundly asleep.

The mares and dragon made their way across the room, taking extra care to be quiet. Twilight stared down at Pinkie, covered in bandages, and gauze. Watching the injured mare sleep was saddening.

‘Why would that creature do something like this?’

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The creature in question was, at the moment, sitting in his jail cell, thinking hard.

‘What is it?! Why can’t I remember? I know I’m supposed to do something but, what?’

So far, Corvo had spent the majority of his two days of imprisonment thinking and remembering what had happened before he had come here. He had had limited success. Out of all the things that had happened, he remembered how he got the mark and what it did. He also had remembered who had given him the mark, but Corvo couldn’t remember the most important thing. The “why”, the reason he had been given the mark nor could he remember what he had been doing the whole time he was here, or back home.

He continued staring at his hand, attempting to remember what he had been done with such terrible power. More importantly, he wondered. What should he do now? His mind raged, warring with itself. One voice told him to abide by the rules and play along, the other was telling him to escape by using his powers.

Sighing Corvo decided to take a break from his mental self torture. He looked up out of the bars of his cage.

‘Same boring wall, same boring guards. It’s all the same.’

Getting up, Corvo walked to the cell door. Picking up a small chunk of wall that had broken off, Corvo lightly threw it at one of the guards to get his attention. The rock found its mark, bouncing of the back of the pony’s helm.

Without turning around the gold clad soldier shouted a command. “Stop that.”

Corvo grew somewhat excited at the reaction. The last time he had attempted to get the guard's attention had gone horribly. He had shouted, teased, and pestered the pony, but had received no response the entire time.

Corvo picked up another pebble.

Clang.

“Stop that.”

Clang.

“Stop that!”

Corvo picked up another pebble, but didn’t throw it. “When do I get out of here?”

He received no response. “Hey. Can I get an answer?”

Silence.

Corvo whipped the rock, this time with as much force as he could muster. It hit the pony’s armour, with a considerable amount of power, enough to make a small dent in the soft metal. The guard turned around and glared at Corvo.

“Return to the back of your cell! Now!”

Corvo picked up another pebble and prepared to hurl it at the guard. Before he could, a liquid like voice interrupted them.

“Excuse me, what’s going on here?”

Corvo turned his attention down the hall. It was the mare that had showed up at the library after the explosion. The political leader, Princess Celestia, as he had been told. The Princess walked down the hall, her hoof steps echoing off the hard crystal of the caverns.

Stopping outside Corvo’s cell, she looked expectantly at the guard, who bowed his head in shame. “The prisoner was throwing rocks at me, your majesty...I apologize for my outburst.”
Celestia smiled. “I understand, but please, next time try to ask him nicely. He may be a prisoner but that doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t be treated with respect.”

‘Even if he hurt my student and her friends...'

The guard gave a nod. “Of course. A thousand pardons, Princess.”

“It’s fine. Now, I have things to discuss with the prisoner. Please, leave us.”

Both guards looked to each other, then to Celestia. They thought about protesting, but realized it would be a mistake. They could hear the masked frustration in her voice, and they both knew that disobeying an irritated princess was a bad idea.

Both ponies bowed and departed.

The princess turned to Corvo and opened her mouth to speak. Before she could she felt a sharp pain on her forehead.

Corvo had thrown the rock at her.

"Ouch... What was that for? She said, restraining he anger.

“I don’t like you.”

The sun goddess’s eyes widened. Then shook her head. “You assaulted my student and her friends, blew up part of a library, and almost caused mass panic in the rest of the town. The feeling is mutual,” She deadpanned.

Corvo examined the ground. Then he looked up suddenly. “Where are my things?”

Celestia gave a sigh. “We’ll talk about that later.”

“Fine.”

Celestia was taken aback by his sudden cooperation, but she didn’t let any of her surprise show though her mask. Giving him emotions or feelings to work with would have broken the ‘All-Powerful Goddess’ illusion. Sighing, Celestia sat down her haunches. “Sit.” She said, pointing a hoof at the ground.

Corvo remained standing, and giving her a steady glare, he replied. “Where are my things?”

‘This is going to be a long talk, isn’t it?’

Before she resigned to her fate of an uncooperative conversion mate, she remembered a compromise she had always made with her sister during arguments, and decided to test out the little trick.

“How about this? Let’s take turns. I’ll ask a question and then you ask a question. Deal?”

Corvo stood still, and after an awkward silence, slowly nodded.

Thinking back, Celestia thought of what to ask first. She couldn’t ask anything too intrusive yet, it would break his trust, if he had any at all, and make him even less inclined to cooperate. She quickly had yet another brilliant idea.

“How are you healing?”

Corov blinked in surprise. ‘Is she asking about my injury? Is this a trick?’

Deciding it wasn’t Corvo slowly answered attempting to divulge the minimum amount of information possible.

“Fine.”

Celestia smiled. It wasn’t a great answer but it was more than she expected.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Twilight held on tightly to Pinkie’s hoof, and gave a quiet sigh. The pink mare was still asleep on the large bed, wrapped in blankets and bandages. So far, she hadn't made a single move, except for the steady rise and fall of her chest.

Twilight picked her head up and looked to her friends. Most of them seemed sad, but out of them all Rainbow Dash was taking it the worst. The two mares had become very close in recent months due to the excessive amounts of time they spent pranking the entirety of Ponyville.

Twilight looked from Pinkie to Rainbow. She wasn't openly weeping, like Rarity, or tearing up, like Applejack and Fluttershy, rather she was standing at the foot of the bed just staring at Pinkie’s banged up form. The blue pegasus’ face was void of emotion.

Slowly she looked up at Twilight. “You think she’s gonna be OK?”

The purple mare turned her gaze down to the mattress.

“She’s going to be fine.” Replied a tired voice.

Everypony turned their attention to the door. Standing in the frame was a heavily built unicorn stallion with a magnifying glass cutie mark. He had bags under his eyes and
looked as if he hadn’t slept in days.

“Hello,” He sighed as he walked in. “I’m captain of the investigation division of the royal guard.”

The stallion put on a small smile, “As I said, your friend is going to be just fine. Most of the shrapnel that would have hit her was deflected.”

The girls looked back to Pinkie sleeping in the bed. They could hear her softly snoring. Twilight turned her attention to the bandages. ‘What would have happened if the shrapnel hadn't been deflected? What deflected it, anyway?’

The stallion walked up to a small cushion on the floor. Pulling it up next to the bed he sat down. “We found the shrapnel that would have hit her next to a few purple dragon scales.” Everypony slowly turned and looked at Spike. The dragon shrugged.

“I did lose a few scales in the explosion. Kinda hurt, but the doc said I’d be fine.”

Twilight looked from Pinkie to Spike. Grabbing the small dragon she pulled him into a hug.

“Gha-Hey! Twilight, cut it out!”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Corvo stared at Celestia. The silence was crushing. They had been playing their question game for a good half hour now, and the assassin hadn’t given a single straight answer to Celestia. Other than what he was and where he came from, the princess knew nothing.

At the moment, it was Corvo’s turn, but the assassin wasn’t asking a question. Rather, he simply stared at the princess across the hall and stood in the shadows of his cell, unmoving.

Celestia returned his glare, calmly, waiting for the question that, by the looks of it, wouldn’t come anytime soon.

The princess narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she tried to extract any useful information from Corvo’s “statements”. She still could piece nothing together from his circular answers and pointless ramblings.

‘Does he really think he can pull this off? I know what he’s doing. I do the same thing to get the nobles to shut their traps. What is he playing at?’

Corvo coughed and Celestia snapped her attention to him. “Yes?”

“When will I get food?”

Celestia shook her head in confusion. “Food? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Food,” he repeated. “I haven’t eaten in awhile.”

The princess rolled her eyes “Once we’re done here.” She deadpanned.

Corvo nodded. “Your turn.”

‘That was nothing like his usual questions. But food is important... ’

Celestia thought back to what he had been asking ‘He has been asking about magic. He has also been talking about gods and shrines and about his weapons and other items. He’s planning something. I don’t like it.’

“What are you planning?” she whispered to herself.

Across the room Corvo chuckled, but gave no other indication he had heard anything.

Celestia looked up confused, then she slowly raised a forehoof and pointed at Corvo’s hand. “The mark. What is it?”

Corvo walked to the cell door and gripped the bars. “Not important.” He sniffed the air “Have you been touching my things?”

The princess cocked her head to the side. “Not really, judging by what happened at my student’s library, I’d rather leave whatever you had with you alone... Why do you ask?”

“You smell like trans.” the assassin replied.

Celestia cocked her head. “What’s that?”

“One of my tools. What are you?”

Celestia stood up. She was thoroughly frustrated. Another, vague answer.

“An alicorn. You didn’t answer my question. In fact, you’ve yet to answer any of them!”

Corvo stared at the princess, but made no move to deny her statement. Slowly he nodded. “You are correct.”

Walking to the cell, she magicked it open, and looked at Corvo, observing the man top to bottom. It was time to take a more direct approach.

Corvo took a step back. “Excuse me. Personal space.”

Celestia looked up. “Why won’t you cooperate?” she asked herself.

The man laughed again.

She met his eyes, and he stared back. The princess could tell something was troubling his mind, she could also tell he was hiding it away from her. From his point of view, the creature was just defending himself. He was doing what he thought was right.

‘His moral compass isn’t broken, rather, his definition of wrong and right were skewed.’ Reasoned the goddess.

Backing up Celestia, sat back down. She didn’t even bother closing the door, rather choosing to stay inside the cell with the assassin.

Taking a deep breath she spoke in a tone of forced calm. “Please, sit.”

Corvo did so without complaint, but all the while, he kept a wary eye on the sun goddess.

Celestia sighed “I know you assaulted the library. I have witnesses, a magic detection team and a playback spell all working on the library. I know exactly what happened.”

Corvo ground his teeth in frustration, but held his tongue. The ex-protector knew that arguing would get him nowhere. In all honesty, he was beginning to doubt his own story. Originally Corvo had been adamant about his innocence, but after his talk with the princess about magic, he was beginning to have his doubts.

‘I didn’t do it. I know I didn’t... and magic doesn’t exist. But, she showed me magic, she said I can do it too. Not to mention she is a talking horse...I just don’t know what to believe anymore.’

The assassin was beginning to get nervous. “What happened?”

“After my student captured and her friends captured you, you attacked them. The fight went on for about ten seconds, and then you disappeared. When you had come back, Rainbow Dash, the blue pegasus, had been knocked out. You fought for a few more minutes and then, you threw something at Pinkie’s party cannon, as a result, the thing exploded.”

Corvo tried hard to remember, again he had limited success. He could only get hazy flashes at the memories. Slowly the assassin looked up. “I think... I can remember...”

Celestia perked up and stared intently. “Yes? Please, tell me.”

“I felt like I was falling at one point...”

Celestia put on a small smile. Everything was going well. Removing the bars between them, creating a friendly atmosphere, and generally making things more easy going had worked wonders. The creature was finally leaving his shell, and now he was beginning to remember parts of the fight at the library.

“Can you remember anything else?” She whispered

The princess watched him concentrate, remaining silent and waiting intently. She took extra care not to move or make noise, as if doing so would scare off the memories.

“I was really angry.” his face darkened. “I felt... ” Celestia watched as he struggled for words. “bad.”

Celestia, taken aback by his forwardness, in a whisper she asked “Why?”

The man shook his head. “False accusations... ” He trailed off, deep in thought.

The sun princess felt like prying, she needed answers, but she understood his feeling and thoughts now, and that was enough to work with. Celestia knew that calming atmospheres and friendly conversation was the best way to get into his mind.

She also understood that all his statements of “Not important” were really a defence mechanism. In actuality, he couldn't remember what the answer was.

Deciding to lighten the atmosphere again, and hopefully bring him out of his trance, she gave a smile. “You were hungry, right?”

The man looked up and slowly nodded.

“Alright. I’ll send something down.”

Princess Celestia stood up and opened her wings. “Thank you for your cooperation...”

“Corvo,” he said absent-mindedly.

“Corvo.” she said with a smile.

The man grunted in response; he was still deep in thought.

As Celestia walked out the door, she closed it, but didn’t bother engaging the lock. She did feel slightly unsafe leaving the door open, but an explanation for chaos magic bursts was a lot more important than an unlocked door.

‘If this was what is necessary for his cooperation then so be it.’

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Twilight continued squeezing a protesting Spike. “Come on, put me dow- OW, my back!” She finally released the irate dragon. “Geez, what was that all about?”

Twilight gave a small smile. “You saved her. I can’t believe you’d do something like that for her! Aww Spike!”

Spike gave a sheepish smile, normally he would have encouraged more praise and thanks, but between Pinkie being injured, his fatigue and fear of Twilight’s bone crushing hugs, he choose to cut his losses and took what he could get. “It was nothing.”

Everypony gave a sigh of relief as the tension in the room was cut. They basked in the moment. Pinkie was going to be fine, the creature had been captured, and everything was going to be OK.

They spent a few more minutes in silence. In that time, the captain had moved himself over to the far wall for a smoke. Suddenly there was a cough from the bed, and the tension snapped to the breaking point again. Everypony rushed to the large cot and huddled close, to stare at its occupant. Pinkie Pie slowly opened one eye, then the other. The party pony blinked and slowly smiled as she saw her friends crowding around her.

Fluttershy gave a whisper. “Hi Pinkie... How are you feeling?”

The pink pony frowned at Fluttershy. “My tummy hurts.” The tension increased, then she gasped incredibly loudly, breaking out into a huge grin. “...Is this a get-well-soon party?!”

The tension suddenly snapped. The girls burst out in relieved laughter, and fell over, even the sleepy guard's captain chuckled a bit. Rarity, being the first to recover, giggled out an answer, “Of course darling, this can be a get-well-soon party if you want,”

Pinkie’s grin widened to an impossible size, “Really? Great! So, what’d I miss?”

Twilight and the girls got back to their hooves. “We got the creature, and now we’re in Canterlot for medical attention.”

“Canterlot?” the pink pony looked at Spike, “We could go to that Doughnut Joe’s again!”

Spike gave her a grin, “Yeah!”

The rest of the afternoon was full of giggling, and catching up. The captain left about halfway through the festivities, claiming he had work to get back to. About an hour after his departure, the nurse ended up kicking Twilight and her friends out, claiming that Pinkie needed her rest.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Corvo slowly chewed the bread, and stared at the crystal walls of his cell. He gave a twisted smile at his reflection. Swallowing hard, he picked up the small bowl of stew and drank a sip. As he ate, he began remembering what he could.

Over the course of the few hours that had passed, he had concluded why he had been angry and, working with that one piece of information, had gotten a solid chunk of his memories back.

Out of all things that he remembered, Empress’ death was the most prominent in his mind. When he had remembered the way she had been brutally murdered in front of him, he had felt so much rage and pain that he considered simply killing himself. The only reason he didn’t was little Emily, and the fact that he needed to save her.

But to do that, he needed to get home. Unfortunately the only way home was by completing the Outsider’s task... He needed a shrine, he needed more information.

Corvo carefully began formulating a plan. This one was a cut above his usual plans, which normally ended up being “murder all targets and hope for the best.” This plan involved deception, and trust.

It was horribly brilliant.

___________Note_______

Next chapter, things are going to pick up. Also, it may not be posted for a bit due to a whole bunch of stuff that has started to happen in my life... Yes. Corvo has most of his memories back...but the ponies don't know that. *Insert evil laugh here*. As always thanks for reading. Shout out to this guy for editing.