//------------------------------// // The Masked Chaos // Story: Dishonored: The Outsider's Reach // by Bloodwing //------------------------------// Dishonored: The Outsider’s Reach Chapter 4: The Masked Chaos A/N: Another 13k words chapter, wooo! :D Took quite a while, so I hope you will enjoy! Inspiration came from an apple I ate and music by Accept (Stalingrad album) Credits go also to ProtheanBrony for proofreading! Thanks man, you're the best! :) Additional Notes: Italics is for thoughts and sometimes they might be very intense and violent... So don't jump into any conclusions. Warning: Contains violence, gore and vile language at some points. Fate... Such an interesting concept, many would dub non-existent. “I control my own fate.” They would say, so sure of themselves, so confident, believing that there cannot possibly be a being or a power that holds all the cards and planned their whole future ahead giving them no chance to do anything about it. Some believe, however, that fate and destiny touch all, that they control every aspect of their lives. Is it the easy way out? Is it the way of the weak and pathetic? Truth be told, fate is not universal, it’s not something that equally penetrates every ounce of life. It gives some better chances, while the others are thrown aside. Is destiny sentient? Is it a cosmic power to be reckoned with? Is it… God? No… Destiny and fate are tools. They are weapons or items that can be used to direct the flow of all things. Many will never be able to control them though, many will simply be affected by these tools, when their routes are carved and their path is set. There are those who have a rare ability to grasp this power. A power to decide, to control, to shape. They are unique in every aspect, as they stand high, holding millions of lives in their hands. With one simple move they can command fate to destroy all, or to forge something beautiful. These individuals are very rare and exist all across the multiverse. Some of them are given lesser fates to control, but some hold what seems to be a tremendous power. They are the true rulers, the ones that create the future and control the present. On their shoulders, a great burden lays, as with all the twists of the wheel of destiny they do, consequences arise and never will they be only positive. Every decision adds to this burden and sometimes the unique being cannot take it any longer as it is crushed by the collective amount of mass. But if the being is strong, this burden allows it to rise stronger, molds it allowing to carry even more. Sometimes however these true rulers have to be pushed slightly and reminded what their role is. Me? I just humbly offer the slight pushes. I put them in situations where fate can be used and molded, where the wheels are turned and then I observe; watch.  That is my role, to watch… But no one said that I cannot sometimes give my input, present myself and offer slight help as I like to call it. Those who set me in my role are long gone, so in fact the rules are very elastic now. Fun thing about the rules though; they are made to be bent and in time, broken... A slight smile spread over the cosmic trickster’s face, as he watched the events he himself started beginning to unfold. With delight he observed one of the true rulers about to spin the wheels of destiny. It was a true marvel to the eye, being able to witness how the Universe works, how this ancient machinery is propelled. The Outsider took great pleasure in this, the only greater thing he enjoyed was interaction. Neutrality does not exist. There is black and white and tones of grey but every being has its motives and he himself was no different. What was his motive? Well… He smiled wider, content that the paths were slowly connecting and approaching what he waited eons for… The Final Solution… The situation was tense to say the least. Having a blade pressed against your throat was somewhat disturbing, as Celestia was never in such situation. But it was not what made her this terrified. It was the fact that the second this creature appeared all her protective spells were simply shattered… She set them up after she heard about a possibility of a changeling attacking Canterlot. Whatever this creature’s blade was made of, it penetrated her personal shields with ease. And Luna… Her sister was also in peril and also had barriers, but constructed from slightly darker magic. Still this… Thing… Simply put a device against her head without care. How was this even possible?! Another thing that raced through Celestia’s troubled mind was, how the biped appeared near them in a blink of an eye, as if… It bent time… Not even she was able to bend time! It said something before this happened though. “Tractus”? What kind of magic based on words? It was unheard of! And for that matter, what was the creature? She never saw anything quite like it. Fully dressed in clothes that were made possibly of leather (which meant something had to be killed to make the clothes). It’s face… The metallic, mechanical face made shivers run down the Princess’s spine. It looked as if the thing had no emotions, no goodness, no soul… The last thing that caught the Sun Goddess's eye was the life aura this biped radiated. As the Goddess of Sun, Celestia was able to see more than an average pony. She was able to see some emotions and nature of living things just by looking at them. The aura of this creature was so alien… It was dark as night, but not evil. It was powerful and yet so very, very cold. Its emotions were not readable to the Princess though. She couldn’t tell what it was feeling, if anything, yet its aura was overwhelming. She felt something she shouldn’t… The cold grip of fear squeezing her. She took a glimpse at her sister. Luna had equally terrified expression on her face. The Goddess of the Night also knew that whatever this monster was it already made two seemingly absurd things happen. It bent time and passed through their barriers without breaking a sweat. The question still hanging in the air was, why did it want to end their lives? She had no time to ponder over this much as Twilight Sparkle let out a pitiful scream, full of sorrow and sadness. She felt the thing pressing on her head moving slightly. Luna couldn’t believe it! Was it… The end? She didn’t want to die! She… she just recently got back to Equestria, she had so much to learn, so many subjects to protect, moon to control! She couldn’t simply die, murdered by something she never heard of! No! Why?! A tear went down her cheek, not only she will die, but also her sister… And Equestria will be thrown into chaos that even Discord didn’t want. Maybe she could teleport, or… Or paralyze the creature! No… Any attempt to use magic would be visible, thanks to her horn lightning up. Resistance would make her and her sister meet their end sooner. So there was nothing that could be done… Celestia felt the same way. they both needed to live for Equestria, but it was as if a judgment was being passed on them. Any attempt to protest would only hurry it further. “Goodbye Luna...” Her sister said with tears in her eyes as she closed them shut waiting for the inevitable. “Tia… I love you…” Luna managed to say through slight sobs and also closed her eyes. Ready to embrace what was coming to her. Silence fell, as seconds were passing by and yet nothing was happening. The monster didn’t move an inch, still standing between them, arms spread. Twilight was frozen in her position, her extended hoof trembling from the stress, fear and sadness. She was still crying, not wanting to believe in anything that was happening in front of her eyes. That she was about to witness the death of her beloved rulers, of her mentor… She wanted to simply push the creature aside, teleport it from the spot, do ANYTHING… But… The current situation disallowed it, as any suspicious movement would make it all happen faster… She could only watch. Corvo was holding both his weapons firm. It was the end of the mission, his soul was about to be set free and Jessamine would be finally liberated from the wretched form she was forced into. Most importantly he will see Emily again… His beloved Emily. All he needed to do now was simply press down the trigger of the gun and move his other arm powerfully effectively ending the lives of these magical, possibly non-existent horses. Yet seconds were passing, his hands were clutching the blade and the pistol tight but were unable to do these simple movements. Just do it! He was telling himself, but something was stopping him. He felt the fear of the creatures around him. He could smell their cold sweat, desperation, sorrow and sadness. These responses could apply to real creatures only… No! The Outsider still could make such an illusion! Besides he had no time now. Jessamine was fading away and possibly he could end up similarly. It was time to end this! He moved the blade slightly feeling the soft tissue under it. He took a glance at his victim. The white mix of Unicorn and Pegasus opened its eyes slightly, as if not quite believing she’s still breathing. He looked directly into her eyes and understood. There were layers of good there, motherly love and warmth. There was no rage, no anger, but… Sad acceptance? It was a will to survive, dimmed by the situation, where nothing can be done. He couldn’t spot any cold darkness there, however. Right now her eyes were filled with sorrow and the fur under them was wet from tears. The usual motherly love however was still somewhat present and Attano could feel this warmth slightly rubbing off of him. It was a very strange feeling that made him flinch slightly. It was calming him down. He turned his head and looked at the other creature. Her dark coat was sometimes disturbed by a shiver. She felt more fear than the white one and even to Corvo she seemed to be younger. He deduced that from her smaller size. She also opened her eyes slightly, expecting everything to end, but confused when nothing happened. This one’s eyes presented vigor and energy, many could be jealous off. There was similar warmth there, but no sad acceptance. Her will to live was beyond anything Corvo saw earlier. It burned like a bright flame. He could tell she was torn from inside out though, wanting to stop all this was happening, wanting to survive, but unable to do so. Her will was much more powerful than that of the white alicorn in the current situation. Beyond this vigor and warmth Corvo spotted something familiar still. Darkness of someone who took life before. A layer of emptiness he was all too familiar with. Attano lowered his head in a threat. The black coated horse immediately closed its eyes as yet another quiet sob escaped it. This was not a reaction he would expect from someone similar to him. He expected her to end the pathetic spectacle and take up the challenge. In all honesty the Lord Protector couldn’t understand these creatures at all. They were so similar to humans in many aspects but rarely showed anything else than innocence and purity. Their actions seemed a direct reflection of that, with some exceptions he encountered. And the rulers? They weren’t as he figured they will be. All his gut instinct and his skills at reading people/other sentient creatures told him that they were innocent. They were rulers that only wanted good for their people. Even the black alicorn seemed to want only good. She was somewhat a mystery however, as if this darkness and emptiness were buried so deep, she herself forgot about them and showed only vigorous kindness. How can you forget taking a life? Nevertheless, Corvo understood that such depth, these horses were showing couldn’t be simply made up, it couldn’t be faked. You can cheat senses to believe in something but the gut instinct Corvo had couldn’t be simply forgotten and mislead, by a deplorable illusion. This world… It was real… He understood that he was about to cause a horrible tragedy! What would it mean for the subjects of these rulers? What would happen to this country if Corvo simply killed these two creatures off? It would end horribly and he was sure of it… His hands slightly trembled, showing his hesitation. The purple unicorn in front of him saw this… She lowered her hoof and looked at him through her tears, gaining some kind of courage, utterly unexpected in such situation. “Why are you doing this?!” Twilight shouted, surprising herself with the amount of authority she mustered. The faceless monster turned its head towards her. The second he did that, Twilight felt the overwhelming dread pressing at her. How was a simple look of this demon causing such state in everypony he looked at?! Even the Princesses were scared of it and Twilight never saw Celestia scared. The little unicorn that now trembled before him reminded Corvo of a very important thing - the lack of time. Yes this place was real, yes he would cause a horrible tragedy and possibly plunge a whole world to flames, but… Was it really his fault? He was being forced to do all of this, by a much more powerful being. He couldn’t afford to simply back down now and think this whole thing through, sipping a cup of tea and chatting with Jessamine about good old times. No, every minute counted, as he could tell that her presence in his mind was weakening. She will soon disappear forever and as much as he cared about the innocent horses, the love he felt for his Empress was much more powerful. There was also another thing… He was ordered to end their lives and Corvo couldn’t disobey. “For freedom…” He answered firmly after a short pause, his hesitation replaced by professionalism of an assassin. “Rest in peace…” He spoke quietly and started to press down the trigger of the gun. This was it… “STOP!” The lavender unicorn cried, but the Lord Protector was not about to listen. Time slowed down as the trigger was pressed down almost fully. All the Ponies present in the room were absolutely shocked, some of them crying, some of them shouting things. A guard started to gallop towards his rulers. Everypony knew however, that there was no time to do anything and even magic couldn't control the flow of time to stop the event from happening. “LUNA!!” Celestia cried out, her dimmed will to live and save her sister exploded, sad acceptance replaced by defiance and rebellion. It was one thing to think you accepted the terrible turn of events and another witnessing the end of somepony you loved deeply. Her wet eyes widened as she extended her hoof towards her sister, ignoring the fact that the blade cut slightly into her neck. Deep down however she also knew the time was up. A loud bang echoed through the halls of the Canterlot castle, ear piercing sound of an explosion. Then silence fell… Horrible, soul splitting silence. In the throne room a thud disturbed the moment of quiet. Luna’s body fell to the floor as a puddle blood started to form around her head. Her lifeless eyes locked with terror present in them. There was a hole in her temple, showing that a high velocity bullet pierced right through the soft tissue. The Goddess of the Night was no more. Soon after the thud her body turned into black ash, leaving no evidence that there was ever any Princess Luna. The human gave no time for anyone to even cry out their sorrow and rage as with powerful movement of his arm he sliced right through Celestia’s throat. A gush of blood immediately flew out, splattering on the ground. She tried to stop the flow with her hoof as she gurgled in pain and shock, yet life was escaping her quickly. She wanted to cast a healing spell, but her horn refused to even work. Quickly the blood loss made her pale as with a cracking thud she fell to the floor, taking a last horrified look at her beloved student, trying to say something. No words however came out from her mouth as her soul ventured to the afterlife. Her eyes became empty and any sign of life disappeared. Her flame was extinguished. Seconds after that the white alicorn also turned into ash as nothing was left behind. Well at least Corvo imagined that was how it should go down. Things took a slightly different turn as at the same moment he pressed down the trigger he heard Jessamine’s weak voice. “Stop!” She said with a startling amount of authority. In a split second he was able to move the gun up slightly only making the bullet travel above Luna’s head, grazing her skin. She twitched, terrified, but then simply stopped moving, shocked. A few of the guards managed to faint and honestly Twilight was not doing any better. Her vision was becoming blurry from all the adrenaline and stress her body was undergoing. The burning sensation near Luna’s ear and small trickle of blood reminded the Princess that she was still alive. The ringing in her ears also told her the same thing. The creature was about to end her existence but something made it send the deadly load of the miniature cannon above her head. Still nopony seemed to be able to move. She herself was not entirely able to move, as some shivers went through her body again. “Corvo… These rulers… They are some of the most compassionate and good creatures I ever come into contact with. And you’re right, this place seems off but its depth cannot be faked… We… Can’t do this…” She whispered weakly. She had the ability to look deeper into any creature she wanted and every single fiber of her soul was telling her, this can’t be a simple illusion. She knew Corvo also sensed this depth. Even though there was still something bothering her about this place, she was ready to admit it simply had to be real. They both had little time, but maybe… Just maybe, there was a different way around? “Jessamine, we have no time! You said it yourself! It’s now or never!” He shouted out, making the ponies jump in surprise slightly. It’s… Talking to itself. Luna thought and took a look at Celestia. The latter’s eyes were wide and seemed somewhat cut off from the situation. Her hoof was still extended. Celestia was locked in a deep state of shock. “I… Know… But we can’t do it before we know we at least tried something different… Neither of us wants to end it this way if we can help it! And we still have SOME time!” Corvo lowered his head thinking. “But anything more complicated and the time will be up… I don’t want to lose you again my Empress.” He whispered. “You won’t! I… might have an idea… There is this deep darkness under all of the purity of the white ruler, but I can’t reach it… It’s so small and seems almost insignificant, forgotten… It might however be what we’re looking for, a different route… Just do what I ask you of, my Lord Protector…” She said firmly. “Very well, your Highness.” He responded, trusting in Jessamine’s judgment. “Petrify the black unicorn-pegasus hybrid so she doesn’t disturb us…” She stated, sure of herself. Corvo would protest but… It was better than shooting her in the head. He was pressing the gun at Luna’s temple still. “Saxificus…” The biped whispered and all in the room felt a dark presence. Some kind of wicked, void magic that was never used or seen before, able to do things that seemed impossible. It spread through the room. The Outsider’s Mark responded and quickly Luna felt all her body stiffening, becoming heavy and unmovable. “W-what is…” She was only able to stammer before the power enveloped her, disallowing her to move or speak whatsoever. Everypony witnessed what the creature just did. Without any effort it casted a spell, through a verbal command, making the Goddess of the Night paralyzed. It took out an alicorn with such ease, it was… Beyond comprehension. Twilight watched all that mouth agape. It seemed however that the creature changed its plans and was not about to kill their rulers. This made Twilight somewhat more relaxed… Maybe… She could talk to it. “Please! Just stop! Whatever it is, the way you want to gain freedom is not a good option! We can talk this through! We can help you!” She said hoping that she can convince it, as the monster placed the miniature cannon at his side. It clicked and seemed to be locked in place. He didn’t move the blade however, still holding Celestia hostage. The latter was constantly looking at Luna in a deep state of shock, her mind somewhat shut down. This definitely was not a good sign. Corvo looked at the bold lavender unicorn and shook his head in disagreement. “Only I can help me. You can’t possibly have anything that could satisfy me.” Some inner geek in Twilight was wondering how is this thing able to talk in perfect Equestrian, but she easily pushed it aside trying to come up with any argument that would maybe reason with the biped, she had to do something! Casting a spell was still not an option… This creature was too unpredictable and could execute Celestia. “You obviously don’t want to end anypony’s life! Just tell me what you need and I can help you!” The guards that not fainted and the one that was the closest to Corvo slowly started to understand that it had to be some kind of a distraction. Ever so slowly they were trying to move, while the monster was focused on talking. “Can you bring back the dead to life?” He asked bluntly. Twilight’s eyes went wide… “N-No… But that’s impossible!” He only chuckled slightly. “There is no such thing as ‘impossible’.” He responded immediately drawing the crossbow out with great speed and shooting sleeping bolts around him, with amazing precision. The guards that tried to circle him fall to the floor asleep. Their pathetic attempt was laughable. His enhanced senses couldn’t be simply distracted. “Not the best plan.” He retorted with a sigh. Twilight was now left alone with the black stallion guard that was wise enough to foresee that this monster can’t be taken by simple tactics like this. She didn’t know what the weapon, the faceless creature used was, but it made her only more scared of the thing. “Now that this is out of the way… What now Jessamine?” He holstered the crossbow, still holding the blade against Celestia’s throat. The latter seemed distant. “Cut the skin of the white horse. Take me out and let a drop of her blood fall on me… If I can’t dig deep enough through her, her blood will tell me everything. I’ll know every memory of hers and her ancestors… This should tell us enough…” Corvo shrugged slightly and pressed the blade a little more. A small cut appeared on the royal neck, as a trickle of blood slowly made its way down her skin. Celestia twitched, feeling the cold steel penetrating her skin. Attano took Jessamine out of his coat. Twilight saw that the biped actually was holding a heart implemented with many metal wires in his appendage. It made her disgusted but also terrified of what the purpose of such thing might be. The black stallion took a step back in fear. “What on all that’s sacred is this?!” He shouted out in terror. The Lord Protector ignored this and put the heart under the trickle of blood from Celestia’s neck. As the blood touched the heart it let out a heartbeat that everypony heard in their heads. It also let out an orange glow. Luna was petrified but could also see this. She wanted to break free and simply trample the creature as her rage was rising, but whatever power was holding her, she couldn’t do anything. What was this strange artifact the creature was holding? And why was she hearing a heartbeat in her head?! Corvo winced slightly waiting for Jessamine to say something. She on the other hand was absorbing all the memories from the drop of blood, able to see all the secrets and the history of this land. Soon she knew everything. The heart stopped beating. Twilight saw so many strange and impossible things today, that a heartbeat in her head wasn’t actually shocking much. This heart had to be some kind of artifact… But what was its purpose? “I see…” Jessamine whispered, slightly stronger than previously. “I was right…” Corvo raised an eyebrow to that. “What do you mean?” He asked, perplexed and not caring in the slightest that the Ponies were eyeing him for talking to himself. “The history of this place has its darkness, buried so deep it’s almost hard to believe… But I know of it now… And I think I know what we have to do. We have to hurry before the memories disappear, though.” Corvo only nodded, actually relieved that bloodshed might not be required. “Can we end this fast?” He asked however. “No…We… Will have to find a body for me to occupy if I’m not to fade away…” Jessamine replied somewhat sad. Corvo cursed under his breath. This meant still something or someone will suffer. Seemed it was unavoidable though. He hid the heart back in his coat. Occupied with talking to Jessamine, Corvo didn’t notice when the white ruler’s expression turned into that of pure anger. She came out of the state of shock, realized her sister almost died, her ponies were hurt, she had a cut on her neck and this thing was simply talking to itself, crazy but casual as if nothing happened. It threatened them, made them believe they will die and held them hostage! ENOUGH! A pathetic blade won’t stop her! Her horn lit up as she casted the simplest and fastest possible spell. Telekinetic force rammed into Corvo sending him to the wall with a crack. The stone managed to break under the sheer amount of force. Corvo felt his bones breaking, internal organs crushed. He fell to floor on all fours. Normally the battle would be already over as a normal human being would probably lose consciousness from the abrupt amount of trauma received. The pain would be unbearable and again an average human would scream his lungs out. Attano’s legs were broken in a few spots and his arm was flexed at a wrong angle. He let out a weak groan. Twilight couldn’t help but feel some amount of pity for the creature. Despite its appearance it didn’t strike her as evil to the bone. It had to be forced to do what it was doing. And the damage it received now… She grimaced sadly and turned her head from the terrible sight, nopony deserved to suffer so much. Celestia watched the being that almost took her and Luna’s life, plunged Equestria into chaos and penetrated her defenses, barely able to stand on its four appendages. She was enraged, but in the back of her mind she also felt pity, her good nature quickly taking over. Her anger slowly lessened as her expression turned from an evil snarl to firm authority. It’s over… She thought… The creature raised its faceless head, the mark on its left paw lit up dimly, as a wave of invisible void energy and power swept the throne room. Celestia raised her eyebrow feeling death intent radiating from the broken creature. Its dark aura grew even stronger. It growled menacingly and slowly started to rise from the ground. Void energy coursing through Corvo’s veins, instantly recovering every single wound he received. His arm popped back into place, organs recovered from the severe damage they received, broken bones repositioned themselves into proper places and healed in matter of seconds. Torn flesh regenerated, as wounds closed. Soon the creature stood straight with the blade still in its appendage. It cracked its neck and lowered its head threateningly. It was back in full health again, as if nothing happened. Twilight watched the spectacle and could only shake her head in disbelief. This… was an abomination, not a living being… Celestia had similarly shocked expression. Nothing could regenerate this fast! What exactly was this thing?! Luna’s eyes were almost goggled. The creature made another absurd thing happen. “W-what are you…?” Celestia asked with a shaky voice. “A human.” The creature replied in a deep, calm voice. The shock quickly past, as Celestia’s snarl returned. This thing was unfazed by her powerful telekinetic attack, so she still had to punish it for its insolence!  “You will pay for your crimes monster!” She shouted and was about to cast a ray of pure sun heat, to burn the intruder to crisp. Corvo observed her somewhat passively. Her horn was radiating blinding white light that intensified every second. Soon the spell was at its peak and she released it. A ray of pure sun energy lashed out at the human. “Illac…” The creature whispered teleporting to the side. The ray struck the wall, melting it in the process and creating a gaping hole. Twilight decided that it was a good time to do something! Princesses were no longer directly threatened and she had to help. She charged her horn and casted a concussion bolt that could take down a manticore. She shot at the creature with the bolt hitting the target. Twilight smiled widely, knowing she was successful. But… The creature simply took a step to the side instead of hitting the ground unconscious. It took a look at her, its glass eyes clicking and breathed in deeply as if shaking off mild tiredness. Her magic was somehow weakened before it hit the creature! How?! Was it because of this aura, the creature emanated? She had no idea! Twilight started to sweat. The black stallion guard on the other hoof came to a conclusion it was high time to stop staring in bewilderment and do his job. With a battle cry he rushed the human, about to simply ram him. “For Equestria!” He shouted. “Ventus…” The creature said instead. A blast of powerful wind hit the charging guard. The abrupt amount of force catapulting him backwards. The stallion flew past Twilight and hit the wall right next to her, blacking out in the process. The Element of Magic was overwhelmed by how this abomination was taking out everypony so easily. “Caligo…” Corvo whispered turning into mist as another ray of sun struck the place he was a second ago. It made another huge melted hole in the castle wall. He barely avoided the attack this time. Celestia was in a state of pure enragement again. She growled casting a detection spell, seeing that the thing took a different form. Luna was scared now… She never saw her usually calm sister like this… It was terrifying to see the Goddess of the Sun lose control over her rage. She wanted to calm her sister down, but couldn’t issue a word. Celestia spotted a blue residue in the air. This meant it was the creature. She used a dispelling ability, with a purple light shooting out of her horn and sweeping the area… Her ability did nothing… Didn’t affect the residue as it solidified calmly a few meters from her. She was too busy being in a berserker state to be shocked by the creature’s unnatural magic abilities. The Goddess of the Sun looked at the human with narrowed eyes. “How dare you attack my subjects and my sister in my presence?! How dare you think you have the right to harm us! I will destroy you!” She charged up a spell again. Twilight stopped thinking about the impossibilities and jumped into action again, grabbing the creature with her powerful telekinesis. Corvo tried to move but felt his body unable to. Celestia created a ball of black magic ready to strike the unmoving intruder. Twilight was now slightly unsure if it was a good idea to hold this creature like that… Her mentor is enraged and may do something she will later regret. She was however not given any more time to think about it as Corvo concentrated. “Oblittero!” He shouted out as the mark lightened up. Twilight's jaw opened wide when her telekinesis backfired, sending her outside of the throne room. She hit the wall on the other side hard, which knocked her out cold. Corvo was freed and was getting slightly tired and concerned about his health now. The amount of power the white ruler had was seemingly limitless and her berserker state was making the alicorn forget about safety rules. It was high time to escape then. “Corvo! Cut off her horn… We need to stop her and we’ll need it later!” Jessamine suddenly shouted out in his head… “W-what?” He asked perplexed. The black ball of energy was very dense now, creating gravitational anomalies. Celestia’s eyes were shining in a venomous, emerald color. Pieces of floor and wall were starting to fly around the ball, as Celestia was feeding it more and more power. The bodies of sleeping and unconscious guards were starting to be pulled towards the ball too. Luna saw her sister’s state and wanted to scream out to stop her, as Celestia was now simply reckless. She cursed in her mind at her inability to do anything. “Just do it!” Jessamine shouted desperately. Corvo said nothing, but understood that the spell Celestia was casting was dangerous not only to him, but also the Ponies he took out. His sense of morality allowed him to come to a decision quickly. He had to stop the raging alicorn. “Tractus…” He whispered and again the time itself obeyed, only slowing down however. Corvo had no juice to stop it again. He quickly ran to where the white alicorn was and stood right next to it, unaffected by the black hole. He raised his blade and concentrated feeling dark power rising within him, adrenaline building for a powerful swing. He saw red fog around his field of vision and with a powerful downswing, he brought the blade at the horn, slicing through it like it was made out of butter. The time returned to its normal flow as Celestia’s eyes went wide, she completely forgot about this creature’s ability. The black ball of energy dispersed with a loud bang that shook the foundations of the castle, as its source of energy was severed. Celestia’s horn fell down to the stone ground with a silent clank. She felt a horribly painful throb on her forehead and with a pained scream she fell to the ground, the pain turning into pure agony. She held her armored hoofs against a stub which was, what was left of her horn. She was unable to gather any thoughts as the suffering was unbearable even to her. Some blood was coming out of the stub, together with crackling of magical energy and some white sparks.  She was screaming laying in a fetal position, her voice echoing through the walls of Canterlot Castle. Luna was desperately trying to move, she could feel her sister’s pain, just by looking at her. Some tears run down her petrified cheeks. Celestia! What has it done to you?! Corvo on the other hand didn’t want to lose any more time as he crouched down and picked up the horn. It felt warm in touch… Yellow auras were now quickly entering the castle en masse, most likely reinforcements. He looked at the screaming white creature, feeling some pity for it. He didn’t know this would hurt her so much… He scowled, but knew it was no time to feel guilt. Quickly he ran through the throne room to the other side, opening a double door with a masterpiece stained-glass window in its frames. On the other side there was a balcony that had a beautiful view on the whole capital city of this land. Many yellow auras were quickly running through the streets. That is until Celestia screamed again. As if one organism, most of them stopped, intensely listening to the symphony of anguish. He took a look behind seeing that the lavender unicorn went inside the throne room swaying slightly and limping on one leg. It had to hit the wall on the other side hard. Twilight spotted her mentor severely mutilated and gasped, as the monster that did all this was about to escape through the balcony. Celestia stopped screaming by now and lost consciousness from the horrifying misery she was forced to undertake. “Caligo…” Corvo whispered, turning into white mist as he left the castle, traveling through the air. “Princess!” Twilight shouted out as she approached her mentor as quickly as possible, feeling some pain in her back leg. She sat in front of the white alicorn. Celestia was laying on the stone floor unconscious, losing blood. Twilight placed both of her hoofs on her mouth, some tears appearing in her eyes. “What do I do? What do I do?!” She was asking nopony in particular, panic starting to set in. She shook her head, she had no idea what to cast, what to do at all and started to sob again, feeling hopeless.  The guards stormed into the throne room and as one stopped in their tracks letting out shocked gasps. Their Princess was severely hurt, the Goddess of the Night on the other hoof was paralyzed. There were guards laying about the room, unconscious. “Medic!” One of them shouted. Quickly two unicorns galloped into the room. Without as much as uttering a word they approached Celestia and begun channeling magic to stop the bleeding. Some guards ran out of the room to inform the castle infirmary of new arrivals. Twilight was completely shaken up as another medical pony approached her. “Twilight Sparkle, are you alright?” The crimson mare asked. Twilight was sobbing, her leg was hurting badly now. It was probably broken, but she wasn’t paying attention to that. Her gaze was locked on her hurt mentor. The medical pony quickly looked her over, noticing her bruises and her hurt leg. She shook her head disapprovingly, concentrating. “Wait! We can’t leave the Princess like that!” The medical unicorn however ignored her as they were both teleported to the infirmary. Much more medical ponies arrived, together with doctors and equipment. The unconscious guards were being teleported to the infirmary, the ones that were hurt were getting immediate attention, just to be teleported out later on. Princess Celestia got first aid and was also brought to the medical wing, together with her paralyzed sister, by a group of medics. The throne room was amazingly quickly cleaned up, however all the ponies felt fear building up in their hearts. Whatever did this, had to be a truly terrifying force. Corvo couldn’t travel far in his mist form, as he felt weak, his energy reserves almost depleted thanks to all the stunts he did just recently. He will have to stop soon, if he doesn’t want to damage himself. Just as he thought this, he felt weakness taking over him. He had to stop NOW. Fortunately, taking precautions he didn’t fly over the city itself, but rather around. Right now he was above some kind of garden with many statues present in it. It was empty, save for some animals. Quickly he lowered himself down and solidified into flesh form. He canceled night vision and as he did that a coughing fit attacked him. It wasn’t a kind of soft and painless cough, but rather it felt as if his stomach contorted and wanted to escape his body. It was painful and felt as if he swallowed a handful of razors. He fell on all fours coughing sickly, feeling his lungs burning-up. He grabbed his mask and pulled it off, shoving it to the side as the cough continued. Soon he started spitting blood, that accompanied the coughing symphony. The pain started to spread all over his body, burning like flame, making his muscles and tendons tense to their limits. His vision became blurry as he deduced that it was an extensive overuse of his abilities. His body suffered an irreversible amount of damage and the consequences can be fatal. He felt bile building inside his stomach and quickly released it. It was a mess of blood and parts of flesh.   Well, this didn’t look good at all… “F-fuck…” He barely uttered, releasing another bloody vomit. The pain all over his body was not going away, only intensifying, spreading to his bones. It felt as if something was eating him from inside out. He could feel his veins burning, seemingly ready to burst. Black mist of energy started to erupt from his body, as if some kind of power was leaving him... Or consuming him. The mark on his hand warmed up. As he looked at it, he understood it became dimmer and weaker. “W-what the hell is going on…?” He asked, feeling as if something was trying to pull his insides from his body now. He moaned in pain as his arms were trembling from the strain, barely able to maintain his pitiful “all fours” position. Jessamine gasped sadly, as she understood that Corvo didn’t have a lot of time left. The power of the void that healed him from the telekinetic attack, now turned against him literally consuming the Lord Protector... And his soul... “Corvo… You’re dying... The Void is trying to consume you.” He looked up, again coughing. “W-well… S-shit…” Was it the end? He couldn’t simply fail now! FUCK! He won’t give up now! He should have ended it back there! Damn him and his stupid sense of morality! He felt cold sweat making its way down his body… The mark of The Outsider was dimming further… “This is bad!” Jessamine stated, slightly panicky. “T-thanks for the information… T-the fuck can I do about it?” Jessamine had no idea. Until it struck her, that is. She knew that she was not anchored to the body, so the Void was slowly consuming her soul, because of the constant connection she had to it. Corvo’s soul is being consumed now, but not primarily. Seems that The Void is consuming it additionally to the fact its eating away his body, as he absorbed too much of it’s power. The solution to both problems was… Finding a host for her and switching a body for Corvo… “There is a solution. You have to take over another body!” She stated. Corvo vomited again, this time feeling as if his lungs moved inside of him… “D-dominate?” He asked, slight confusion in his weak voice. “No, permanently transfer your soul.” He chuckled somewhat. “H-how the f-fuck… Am I s-supposed to do t-that?” He asked breathing sharply. It was harder to do with each passing second… “I’ll help you… I’ll open the void flow and you’ll just have to use a binding ability.” He raised an eyebrow to that. “You… W-will do what?” He asked. “Never mind Corvo! We have no time for explanations!” She retorted angrily. Well, she was right about that, as he was about to die any second now. “G-great… W-where am I s-supposed to f-f… find… “ A crack echoed through the garden. A sick sound of breaking bone. He couldn’t finish the sentence as his jaw broke in half. He was simply falling apart as if decomposing. Jessamine quickly localized the only body that was able to contain Corvo’s soul in vicinity and in all honesty it wasn’t the best choice, from what she could remember. “Quickly! Approach the statue in front of you!” He would obviously retort cynically about transferring his soul to a statue, but had no time, nor life-span to do that. Oh and a broken jaw. Feeling like a dead body already he stood up, swaying to the sides. His bones cracked disgustingly, ready to break under his weight. With sheer willpower he made his feet move, wounds starting to open over his skin, as it was slowly exposing his muscles. The pain was excruciating. After a few steps he arrived at the base of a weird serpent-like statue and leaned against it, barely breathing, leaving a bloody smear. He left a trail of blood drops behind him and was losing his sight now also. “Place your hand on it…” Jessamine was afraid that this creature might resist the transfer somehow, but they simply had no choice. It was this body or death for both of them. Corvo raised his bloodied hand, where the outline of the Outsider’s Mark was still present. He touched the stone, feeling a weird vibration of power coming from it. Two of his fingers broke from this simple touch. The bone penetrating the skin. He would scream, he wanted to scream and let the world know of his agony, but he couldn’t. Jessamine opened the connection to the void as the heart let out an orange glow and started to beat in Corvo’s coat. She immediately felt weak, feeling the tendrils of The Void trying to pull her in. Corvo felt the twisted energy enveloping the statue and him. It was familiar, but it wasn’t empowering him as actually it did nothing to him. “Use the ability Corvo! Now!” She whispered desperately. Corvo’s thoughts couldn’t really be very vivid anymore… Ability? What ability...? He wasn’t sure much… Where was he? “Corvo! Say it! Say ‘Necto’!” She screamed in his head, waking thoughts of his dying brain a little. “Necto…?” His jaw was broken, but his lips formed the word. Almost soundlessly he mulled it over slowly. The Outsider’s Mark suddenly burst into green flames. Corvo’s body changed into pure energy as the pain left him and his thoughts became vivid again. This energy then connected with the void and all of it rushed into the statue. The latter vibrated slightly… Discord was asleep… He was asleep for quite a while honestly. Stupid ponies changed him into a statue, AGAIN! And there was absolutely nothing to do, but sleep and observe, hope for some chaos to happen, that he could draw a little power from. The waiting for any event chaotic and significant enough became really boring to the Spirit of Chaos, so he took a nap. He didn’t know how long it lasted, but what woke him up was violent shock of his whole form. He opened his eyes in his mindspace just to see some kind of weird creature standing in front of him. The world of his mind was normally filled with different blend of bright colors and upside down walking ponies, levitating rocks, clouds raining chocolate and so on. The thing in front of him had no face, just a metallic, lifeless crust and didn’t fit the environment at all. “Oh? And who would you be?” Discord asked somewhat perplexed. He then realized that this creature was alien and possibly invading his mind. “Hey! What are you doing here?! It’s my personal space you’re invading!” He screamed at the creature, which didn’t move. Then he felt something weird. A sense of… Lightness... He was losing his grasp on something but couldn’t put his finger on it. Was he becoming old? The creature started to move towards him and behind it a looming darkness was extending its tentacles, slowly filling Discord’s mind space. “Uh-oh… This doesn’t look good…” Discord could feel the power of this darkness. It was overwhelming. Still it shouldn’t be able to do much to him in his own private space and he was pretty darn sure about it! “Hey! That’s enough! Get out of here and take ‘Blacky’ with you! Shoo!” He made a shooing gesture at the creature, which was approaching him further, the darkness spreading over his mind space further. “I’m warning you pal!” He said with a grimace. What was this thing? Next to the creature another appeared, forming itself out of the tentacles. It looked much more dignified, dressed richly and had a face, which showed worry and slight pity. It was a her, Discord deduced. “You have to defeat him in this place Corvo. He will however never disappear fully, as a part of him will always be here even if you win the battle.” The female said quietly. Discord didn’t quite catch what was being said, but deemed it as not really important. The faceless one looked at the dignified female and nodded, slightly surprised by the female’s knowledge.   “Illac…” It said and appeared directly in front of Discord. The latter was startled and fell backwards. Discord quickly stood up again though, with an annoyed expression on his face. “Don’t do THAT!” He shouted at the thing. Now Discord was starting to feel just a teeny-weeny bit scared. The situation was very unusual. It definitely wasn’t a dream and he could feel this darkness eating his memories. Something was invading his mind, but how? It was almost impossible to do! Ah, he will just have to expel them. Discord looked down at the rather small creature and smiled slightly. “Bye bye!” He said joyfully, snapping his fingers and… Nothing happened. His eyes widened as he looked at his hand and snapped his fingers again… And again… “What on chaos?!” Now this was… unexpected… Corvo was not about to wait any longer. He had no moral brakes now, knowing full well that this was a battle for his own existence. And a creature as dangerous as human, while fighting for his and his beloved survival was able to do things that are beyond unspeakable. He unsheathed his blade and with lightning speed rammed it directly into the weird creature’s chest, before it could do anything other than pointlessly snap it’s fingers. Discord’s sense of superiority, safety and calm immediately disappeared, replaced with shock, disbelief and true fear. He couldn’t die in his own mind! He shouldn’t be even able to be touched! W-what…? He let out a bloodied cough, as the creature twisted the blade in his chest, taking some kind of sick pleasure in the act. The wound was fatal as this faceless horror stabbed his heart. Blood erupted from the wound as the creature took the blade out with ease. It splattered across the mindspace as if everything was happening in reality. “H-how…?” Discord asked as life was quickly leaving him. He then understood. It was not a simple mind invasion and this creature was taking over his body… And he just lost… Red flames enveloped the Draconequus as with final scream of terror he disappeared, vacating the space. Corvo blinked under his mask, surprised by how easy this battle was won and content to some extent, not even really wanting to know what was the abomination he just defeated. “Now what…?” He asked taking a look at Jessamine and sheathing his blade. “I’m not quite sure…” She said furrowing her brows. The darkness quickly ate away all the colors of this place and they both were left in the middle of it. Empty dark space… Corvo blinked again, but when he opened his eyes he could see Jessamine looking at him with utter disbelief. He felt off too, as if higher… He looked down and noticed he no longer has a proper human body, but rather a fairly tall one. It was mismatched, made out of parts of different animals. His hands reminded that of a lion and a bird yet somehow were well-coordinated and more flexible. He felt he had additional parts of body too. A… tail… and wings… For a while he was calm, but then his eyes went wide as he started to simply shiver, fight-or-flight reaction kicking in as the absurd he was going through now created a vast amount of stress. “W-what… the hell?” The clothes he was wearing simply adjusted to his new appearance, with the exception of shoes he no longer had. His mask also adjusted. “Calm down Corvo!” Jessamine shouted out, seeing the serpent in front of her entering panic mode. He started to breathe in and out sharply looking himself over and touching his masked face, which was elongated now. This was a good moment to panic… “C-calm down? What the fuck happened to me?!” He shouted out in the empty, black space. “You took over the body of this creature!” She shouted back. “I know! But I’m in my mind! I’m not supposed to look like this in my mind!” He retorted observing his new tail in shock. “You are in its mind! It is just becoming yours, now!” Corvo took a deep breath. It was no way to behave for a Lord Protector. He blinked yet another time and as he opened his eyes, he was human again. The darkness disappeared as the space was filled with the murkiness and greyness of Dunwall he was all too familiar with. The mindspace transformed into the streets of Dunwall. This was Corvo’s mind now. “See?” Jessamine said with a slight smile. He simply shrugged as he looked around seeing many streets of Dunwall, he was way too familiar with. When he turned back to look at Jessamine, she was no longer there. Corvo was about to question the situation when an explosion of blinding light made him cover his eyes. When he opened them, he was no longer in his mind. He saw the garden, though weakly and blurrily. He couldn’t move any part of his body nor could he move his eyes even. Right. He is a statue now. Well, this might be a problem… He thought feeling a burning sensation in his left hand. He couldn’t look there, but the sensation made a pattern he knew all too well. Then a cracking sound echoed through the garden as he felt his hand gaining the ability to move. He used his freed muscles to make a sharp pull. Another crack… His arm was free… He punched the stone shell in a few places making it crack more and after a few rounds it simply fell off freeing him fully. He fell down to the ground not entirely gracefully, feeling his body being completely different than he was used to. He felt as if he was in his mind again. There were additional body parts, weird sensation of being taller, body made out of mismatched animal parts… The whole affair felt different than a possession though. He felt he was this creature fully, when during possession he had a sense of his original self. He didn’t like that. In fact it disgusted him. He stood up from the ground getting a feel of this repulsive body. It was a truly horrifying thing. It simply looked like an abomination and Corvo had no idea what kind of sick God could create a thing such as this. The fact that he was now trapped in it for Universe knows how long made his mood go from bad to worse. He looked at his animal like hands and spent a few minutes simply watching himself over with a abhorred expression that made its way to his face involuntarily. Every movement of his knew muscles was so alien, that he was starting to fall into a vicious circle, something inside his mind telling him to rip his skin open and escape this unholy thing, he was trapped in. “Couldn’t be any worse…” He stated in a voice that made him recoil slightly. It definitely wasn’t his, but there was this depth to it that he knew very well. It didn’t however fit this voice as it was a feat of his former body. This was a nice discovery anyway, seeing one of his characteristics was also transferred. Hopefully when all of this is over he won’t be resurrected as this thing… The thought itself made him shudder. He stopped watching himself over deciding there was little he could do about and also there was no time for such unimportant activities. All the dark thoughts and self-loathing he had were pushed deeper in his mind, a sense of duty taking over. He looked around and spotted blood splatters on the grass, deducing that it definitely was his own blood. Near the pedestal the statue was on he noticed all of his material possessions laying with the heart was also there. It wasn’t shocking to see all his equipment spread around as he wasn’t possessing the creature but became it… A shiver went down his long spine at the thought, his mood yet again worsening. He turned around almost losing his balance. He avoided that thanks to some wild movements of his arms. This was becoming really maddening. It was as if learning to walk anew. Slowly he crouched, being careful as not to fall backwards. He picked up his coat. Well it wasn’t usable much any longer... To his surprise the mark on his hand lightened up, feeling warm. Black energy enveloped the coat and changed its shape to match his body. The energy then traveled further doing the same with the rest of his equipment that normally would not match his new looks anymore. He watched all of it agape in quite a surprise. The latter quickly changed into anger as he understood an important detail. “The Outsider had to foresee this coming... Damn bastard!” He shouted out, feeling like choking life out of something. He struck the ground with his eagle arm, that was clenched into a fist. A slight amount of pain traveled up it from the force used. He cursed profoundly a few times and it somewhat made him calm down. Then as quickly as possible, but still clumsily and falling over a few times, accompanied by unholy curses Corvo dressed back in his reshaped clothes. It felt weird and unnatural, but he wasn’t about to walk naked. He was not some kind of an animal. The wings he had, he couldn’t possibly control so dressing in the coat and shirt was a real challenge that took a good portion of time. Similarly he had problems dressing into his pants as the tail had a mind of its own. This thing he was in now was obviously not born to wear clothes, but he will defy nature, with the exception of the boots, that didn’t change shape. He was meant to walk barefooted then. It didn’t sit quite right with the Lord Protector. Last thing that was left was his mask, which also changed to match his new face… or snout… or whatever… The way it looked made him snicker somewhat, not joyfully, but rather pitifully. The masterpiece of technology made for him by Piero was simply ruined. It was very elongated, some parts of it changed shapes, some more were added and a normal person would think that Piero wanted to make an assassin out of a horse. After a pause of contemplation and a sorrowful moan he placed it over his face as it matched perfectly, surprisingly. He then brought down the very unusual hood over his head, carefully aiming his new horns and elongated ears through the holes. He felt at least partially ready and like his former self now, still internally pretty darn angry. “How are you feeling Corvo?” He heard Jessamine in his head. “Like shit… And you?” He said angrily, his answer on a level of 13 year old. “Corvo, you had no choice. There was no other body in vicinity!” She tried to reason with the human made Draconequus, who was visibly angered and had his pride hurt very much. “Look at me! I’m some kind of a monster now! What if I return to Dunwall like this? Sokolov’s son will gladly cut me up to see how I tick! I don’t even know how I tick!” He shouted out, forgetting about his mission for a while he sat on the grass waived, filling some kind of pity over himself. He never behaved like that, but all in all neither was he in such a situation too. “We had to do this, or you would die and become a part of The Void!” She again tried to reason. Corvo lowered his head in thought, trying to calm down somewhat and let his usual professionalism kick in. “Yes… I was on the verge.” He sighed and stood up again, almost falling over, forgetting that this body had different center of gravity. It will take time but he can get used to this. As long as it is only for the duration of the mission, he could live with it. “Canis Aspectus…” He whispered as the mark lightened up. His senses enhanced Corvo looked around and spotted a rather unpleasant sight. A few yellow auras were approaching his direction. “Enough wasting time… We have to get out of here and find you a proper body Jessamine.” He said as he turned around and started advancing through the garden, first slowly still trying to get used to the movement of new muscles, but then picking up pace. This body was better anyway. Taking over one of the horses, would result in having no hands or paws again, and that could prove inconvenient. “That we do. I’m starting to forget this county’s history…” She said as they ran to the other side of the garden, stopping near a wall. Corvo looked up measuring the wall’s height. It was an easy jump. He crouched down slightly and jumped in the air catching the edge of the stone wall with his mismatched hands. It was hard to hold on as his body was much heavier and very elongated. With some effort however he pulled himself up, amazed at his new spine’s flexibility. He stood up on the wall looking over it. There was a gaping abyss on the other side, all the way down from the mountain this city was positioned on. Seeing that he had all his energy reserves restored, there was no reason for him not to use his other abilities. “Caligo…” He whispered as his new body turned into mist and slowly traveled down the mountain into the forest below. As Disc-… Corvo reached the bottom he solidified into flesh and let out a tired sigh. “What do we do now?” He asked Jessamine, not really sure where to go from here. “We need to reach a place called The Crystal Desert, there we will find a certain creature that might be a solution to our problem…” Corvo raised his bushy, white eyebrow. “What are we supposed to do with the creature?” He asked, not really knowing what Jessamine’s plan is. “I’ll take her as my host.” Corvo shook his head slightly. “How is that different from taking over a random body?” He asked, uncertainty in his voice. “Thanks to her we will be able to politically finish all of this.” He pondered this over. He would ask Jessamine for details, but prefered to do it after they find her this body. He had a nagging feeling that every time she talked or actually did anything, her strength was faltering. Opening this void for him made her voice even weaker. He would also ask her about this body, but for the same reasons he decided not to. Flexing his mismatched, eagle-lion arms he started his advance through the forest, back towards the village he came through. To get to this Crystal Desert he will need a map. This was his mistake in the first place. He had no map of this place and no idea how big it is. Navigating purely relying on his instinct the Draconequus was moving around the base of the mountain. He was sure that the town from before was near this mountain, so hopefully he’ll spot the yellow auras. Time was passing by as Corvo was cursing under his breath once in awhile, as he tripped on his non-matching legs. One had a hoof and the other sharp claws so it was pretty confusing most of the time. The night didn’t bother him though, nor did the many different animals of the forest. He usually simply avoided them. After good few hours of walking he finally spotted the yellow auras, most asleep. There was however a detachment of guards walking through the small town. They were probably searching for the one that attacked their Princesses. He started to crouch, which wasn’t easy in this ugly body. It was serpent-like so crouching didn’t really lower Corvo much. Another juicy set of curses left his forked tongue. He was on the edge of the thick foliage. Now simply running into the town and randomly opening the stores in search for a map wasn’t the best of ideas and definitely the thing he was now, wasn’t seen often. He might be considered something to be killed instantly, so disguise was out of the way. The best thing to do was to dominate something and then enter the city… He however didn’t want to do it much, changing a body so quickly after another was on the list of things to avoid. “Fuck this…” He said to himself, feeling anger building up inside of him. He had enough of this place in all honesty. He drew out the crossbow from his side and the pistol from the other. Strangely both weapons matched his thicker hands. He had about 12 sleeping bolts left. Determination and fire of rage lit up within him as he left the foliage and started walking towards the town with his crossbow and pistol high in the air. He approached the first building, behind which 3 guards stood. It had a bell inside of a small tower on top that reminded Corvo of a school. Not paying any more attention he circled the building and walked straight in front of the guards aiming his weapons at them. The latter were chatting about something when he came out. As they saw him, their jaws literally dropped to the ground, both fear and shock apparent in them. “D.. D-discord?!” A blue unicorn asked, shaking from fear. The other guards took a few steps back. The blue unicorn was sure! The shape of the body and the mismatched parts were definitely that of the Spirit of Chaos. But he was supposed to be trapped in stone! Discord however was free and... fully dressed in a long black coat with a mask covering his face. How did he get out?! This mask... He knew it as it was issued in the report they received when sent to Ponyville. “It… It was you all along… You hurt the Princesses!” The unicorn shouted out in sudden anger. Discord didn’t make a move tilting his head to the side, as if not entirely sure what the guard was talking about. He then aimed the pistol at the guard’s leg and fired with a loud bang that reverbed through the town alarming the other guards and waking up the citizens. The blue unicorn fell to the ground screaming as his flesh and bone were directly pierced by the iron bullet, creating a hole. Blood was quickly coming out of it, creating a small puddle on the dirt. The other guards witnessed the scene in pure horror. One of them managed to faint while the other was shivering, unable to move whatsoever. “D-discord… Y… You are…U-under a-ar..”   The shivering guard was trying to speak, unsuccessfully. Discord threw the pistol up in the air and skilfully caught it by the barrel. He then approached the shivering guard in two quick steps and smacked him in the side of the head with the butt, knocking out the poor pony instantly. The excess amount of force the serpent used made the guard’s skull let out a crack. He then holstered his crossbow, reloaded the pistol and picked up the unconscious guard locking his head in a choke with the eagle arm. The lion arm on the other hand pointed the pistol at the Pony’s head when Discord left the place and moved towards the quickly approaching guards that heard the whole commotion. The blue unicorn was still screaming in possibly the worst agony in his life, not registering what was happening around him. White light appeared in the middle of the town, created magically by one of the unicorns as a part of the procedure when catching a dangerous criminal. The darkness was dispersed as the guards came to meet the intruder. Discord stopped in the middle of the town holding the pony tightly in his arm, standing calmly and waiting the guards to gather. As they gathered, most of them issued a long terrified gasp at the scene in front of them. All of them had only one thing in mind. Discord has returned... Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack were all in Fluttershy’s cottage, trying to help poor, paralyzed Pinkie. They tried everything as far as all of them were concerned… There was canceling magic, trying another magic on top of this magic, trying to move Pinkie, trying to use water to melt the paralyzing thingy that was trapping her, trying orange juice, trying sitting on her, trying jumping on her, trying candy to make her move, trying to play music to make her dance, trying to sing a song, trying a lasso, trying apples and trying flying around her to make time flow backwards… And all of the attempts failed… The elements now simply decided to cheer her up and wait for Twilight to come back. “And I saw this simply horrifying dress this mare was wearing! Honestly! Who made the poor girl wear such dreadful clothes?! It had to be a punishment!” Rarity was expressing her disgust in yet another story she was telling, while RD and AJ were pretending to be at least mildly interested. Pinkie on the other hoof was listening intently, happy that something is happening at least. The elements had no idea that the guards arrived in Ponyville as Fluttershy’s Cottage was simply not on the route of the messenger that was trying to inform everypony as quickly as possible, what threat is roaming through Equestria. He simply forgot about the place. “Oh, oh! Did I ever tell you how awesome flight through Everfree I made the other day?” RD suddenly spoke out, fire in her eyes. She realized that sharing her awesome adventures will be much more interesting than listening to the drama queen. At least 90% more interesting… “Yes ye to-” AJ was interrupted by the loud bang that echoed through the town. They all jumped in surprise, of course excluding Pinkie who couldn’t jump and just let out a moan. “What in tarnation was that?!” They heard a sound of rushed hoofs galloping through the town as a bright light appeared in the middle of it. “The hell is happening there?” RD exclaimed very interested. “Trouble I assume!” Rarity added her two bits. They all looked at each other and then at Pinkie. Their interest somewhat raising after spending so many hours here, doing practically nothing. “Pinkie Pie, darling… You won’t mind us checking the commotion outside…?” Rarity asked with a sincere smile on her face. The other elements nodded vigorously. Pinkie only rolled her eyes, which was an obvious ‘Yes I would mind’. Her attempt was wrongly interpreted as the mares rushed out of the cottage heading for the middle of the town. “You’re the best Pinkie!” RD shouted as they left. Pinkie only moaned again… The elements quickly came to the middle of the town wondering about what was happening. Their excitement rose as if they were three fillies again. As they entered the area their excitement transformed into dread and distress. They saw something that shouldn’t be happening that they shouldn’t ever see again. There in the middle of the town surrounded by at least 17 guards was standing a familiar figure. Enveloped in light, his mismatched arms were holding a pony and pressing a weird device against the guard’s head. His face was covered by a scary metal mask, but the mares didn’t need to see his face to know that it was… Discord… Silence fell as everypony was simply staring at the Spirit of Chaos that held another pony hostage. He then took a look around, his mask issuing weird clicks as he focused his sight on something. His tail moved slightly from left to right as he pressed down the hammer of the pistol with an audible click. “Discord…” Rarity whispered, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. “Discord!” RD shouted out in anger, ready for a battle. He turned his head slightly in her direction as his mask issued another weird series of clicks. “How did you escape the stone prison?!” RD demanded. No response. “We defeated you once and we will do it again! Don’t think you will bring chaos on Equestria while the Elements of Harmony are together!” She shouted again, full of confidence. Discord however seemed to ignore her as he looked at the guards again and tightened his grip around his hostage. “Don’t you ignore me!” She screamed with acrimony. Just then she realized that he had a hostage… This was new… Her temper slightly lessened. One of the guards finally broke the moment of silence. “What do you want monster?!” He screamed out bravely… Again silence fell for a while. “I want a map of this land. You have 5 minutes to bring it to me or this pony… Dies…” All eyes went wide… Die? Discord loved chaos, but he never killed anypony! His voice was so much different too, deep and cold… There was no mischief everypony knew the Spirit of Chaos for, no joyfulness and cockiness in his tone, just this seriousness that simply didn’t fit Discord’s profile. The ponies looked at themselves unsure of how to react now. One of them however finally matched the reshaped mask with the report. “BY CELESTIA! It’s him! Discord was the masked creature! He attacked the Princesses and seriously hurt them!” The elements gasped in shock, not knowing entirely what that was about! The Princesses are hurt? A masked creature... Oh no… They connected the facts, this had to be the creature sent by ‘The Outsider’. It was Discord all along? It made no sense! This also meant that Twilight failed! “Oh no...” Rarity said with a hoof on her mouth. Her eyes glassy. “We have to stop him now!” RD was about to fly when, Applejack stopped her, grabbing the self-confident and hot-headed mare by the tail, which she quickly let go of. “Are ye mad RD? He defeated tah Princesses! We can’t do anything!” She screamed at her friend. “4 minutes…” Discord said in a deep, harsh tone. “We can’t just sit here and watch! We have to do something!” RD yelled madly. “What about Twilight?” Rarity said with a sad tone, quietly. “Discord! What have you done with Twilight Sparkle?!” She suddenly screamed out, concern for her friend winning with the fear. The Draconequus turned his head slowly towards her. “I know nothing about this Discord. My name is Corvo Attano! The Lord Protector of Empress Emily Kaldwin, savior of Dunwall, ‘the last honest man’, as they dubbed me! I’m not this Discord! I’m not the monster you see in front of you! I’m human!” He shouted out at Rarity with such venom and strength she stumbled falling backwards. All the ponies managed to take a step back even, as they felt the dark tendrils of Corvo’s aura, void energy and death intent touching their souls. All were frozen in spot for a while. “W-what… was this feeling…” AJ asked nopony in particular. Rarity was shaking from fear as some tears appeared in her eyes. RD shook her head, getting rid of the feeling quickly, as she approached her friend. “Rarity… Are you alright...?” Rarity was shivering as she shook her head, indicating a clear “no”. Rainbow simply leaned down and hugged her friend tight. The latter’s shivering slightly ceased, but she was still shaken up. AJ on the other hoof was observing Discord who wasn’t Discord anymore. The feeling she that swept through her… It was so powerful! Was this magic? Was this what Unicorns could do? It was so dark, yet the strength behind it… It felt... Good... “3 minutes…” Corvo stated, getting the attention of the Ponies, who decided not to wait any longer and simply give the masked Draconequus what he wanted. Quickly a guard ran through the city and in a few seconds came back with a good quality map of Equestria. “Put it in front of me…” Corvo demanded observing the guard pony who approached him shakily. The young stallion put the map on the ground, letting it fall from his mouth. Corvo simply released the unconscious pony as he picked up the map and took a last look around. None dared to make any move. The three civilian horses he shouted at also weren’t making any suspicious attempts. Two of them were hugging and the orange one was observing him, but not with fear… It was… Curiosity and amazement. This was a new reaction. Corvo raised an eyebrow to that, but quickly shrugged it off as he turned around and simply walked out of the town, completely undisturbed, leaving the elements and the guards in a state of mixed shock, fear and… Amazement.