"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?'