Following the tracks, Corvo soon came to an abandoned looking building. Looking inside with his vision he was confused and shocked to see what looked like wolfhound skulls all through out the building. 'What in the Void are those doing here?' Disregarding them for the moment, he continued to look through the building. He soon saw two figures on the top floor, one of which seemed restrained. He entered the building and started to quickly climb to the top. As he passed one of the skulls he was astonished to see it rise up and take on the form of an undead looking wolfhound. Acting quickly he slashed it with his sword. The hound's body disappeared, but the skulls remained. To be sure that it wouldn't return, Corvo quickly stomped on the skull. As he continued to move through the building, he shot the remaining skulls from a distance with his fetlockbow.

He eventually reached the top floor and found the room in which the two figures stood. Being closer he could clearly see that the one tied up was a unicorn, while the other appeared to be a griffon. He should have known from the tracks what had taken Twilight. Slowly approaching the door, Corvo peered through the keyhole. He first saw the griffon and was stunned at what he saw. If he was right it was a female griffon, but that wasn't what shocked him. She appeared to have vines wrapped around her body, with thorns sticking out of her fur, and had roses sprouting from her chest. Looking over to the tied up pony, he immediately recognized Twilight.

Relief flowed through Corvo as he realized that she was OK. However, he froze as she raised her head. He let out a silent snarl as he saw that Twilight had a cut across her left eye. Looking down he saw that she also had a cut on both of her forelegs. He felt cold anger begin to rise as he gazed at her injuries. Spinning around he bucked the door with as much strength as he could muster. It was sent flying across the room, barely missing the griffon. The griffon immediately turned around in astonishment. Corvo began to stride toward her. After recovering, she fired several strange bolts at him. Feeling adrenaline pumping through him, he deftly dodged them and continued his advance.

The griffon then cast a spell and suddenly a vine appeared in front of him. He paused at the sudden use of magic, but quickly resumed striding forward. He was taken by surprise when the vine suddenly started to pull him toward it. Quickly drawing his sword, Corvo slashed the vine. As it disappeared, she drew the sword on her belt and prepared to defend herself. Corvo lifted his sword and, with relative ease, smacked her's out of her grip.

He quickly raised his blade to her throat. "It would be so easy to end your life. I wouldn't even get sent to prison for it. You foalnapped somepony, you injured her, and you attacked me. I could just say that I killed you in self-defense," he threatened. He glanced at Twilight, who was looking at him in fear. His expression softened and he raised his sword. Bringing it down, he struck the griffon with the hilt of his blade. She fell to the ground unconscious.

Walking over to Twilight, he cut the ropes binding her. She immediately threw her forelegs around him. Feeling his clothes getting wet, he knew that she was crying. He began to stroke her mane comfortingly. "I was so scared, Corvo. She told me I would never see my friends, family, or the Princess ever again. I tried to use my magic to free myself, but she caught me every time and she would hurt me," she cried. "I was afraid that I would never again see Spike, Gleaming Shield, my parents, Princess Celestia..." she paused, and then whispered, "or you. I was so frightened that I wouldn't see you anymore. You've become such an important part of my life and when you suddenly said that stuff to that griffon and that look in your eyes, it terrified me."

He paused at this revelation, he felt horrible that he let his anger get so out of control and she saw him like that. He began to think about how he felt for the mare in his forelegs again. The feelings he felt for her seemed familiar, but immensely different. It felt somewhat similar to... his eyes widened in realization. 'Is that how I feel about her? I have no experiences to draw information from, but it's a familiar feeling I've felt before, except on a different level.' A gasp pulled him from his thoughts.

"Corvo, you're hurt!" Twilight said, looking at his shoulder.

As the adrenaline drained from his system, he started to feel pain coming from one of his shoulders. Looking to his right, he saw that he hadn't dodged all of the bolts. Grunting, he quickly reached into one of his pouches and pulled out two short, wide bottles with a red liquid inside of them. Opening the top of one he held out to Twilight, who took it in her magic, but, not knowing what to do with it, just levitated it in front of herself. Before she could ask what to do with it, she watched as Corvo quickly downed the contents. Her eyes widened as she saw the blood flowing from his wound begin to slow.

"Drink it Twilight. It's an elixir from my world. It won't completely heal your wounds, but it will help them," he explained.

She hesitated, but, trusting Corvo, quickly drank the concoction. Almost immediately she felt her pain start to ebb away.

He changed back to his normal form, but before he could do anything a letter suddenly appeared before him. Opening it he saw it was a message from Princess Celestia and began to read it aloud.

Dear Corvo,

Crescent Slash has informed me of your findings and your suggestion. I did as you asked and sent a letter to Spike asking if he knew where Twilight was and unfortunately he does not. He and the rest of their family are now, understandably, very concerned. I have informed them that you are currently searching for her. Hopefully, you've already found her and, if you were correct, have saved her. Please write on this scroll where you are currently located. I put a spell on it, so that it will return after a few minutes. I will arrive there as soon as I receive it.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

"Twilight, do you have-" he was interrupted as a quill was levitated to him. "Thank you." He quickly wrote down where they were located and, after several minutes, the scroll vanished. He then flung the griffon on to his shoulder and gently picked Twilight up. He left the room and started toward the roof, where he told the Princess he would be.

They soon reached the top of the building and, after setting the griffon on the ground, began to wait for the Princess. After a short while, he heard soft snores. He looked down and saw that Twilight had fallen asleep. Smiling softly he laid her down on the floor as gently as he could. As he waited, there was suddenly a sinister chuckle. Looking around Corvo saw a strange statue depicting a pony that had a similar appearance to the griffon.

"Well, well, a being I've never seen before? This is getting very interesting," it said with a feminine voice.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "Are you from a another world?"

"And you're sharp. Indeed I am," she said. "But you will keep that little tidbit to yourself."

"And why would I do that?" he questioned.

"Because if you don't, I'll keep coming after that mare you care so deeply about," she threatened.

'Does she not know who Twilight is? Probably best not to tell her then.' Corvo snorted, "Fine, I won't tell anypony." He walked up to the statue and, clenching a fist, said, "You won't be needing this anymore." He then slammed his fist into the statue, smashing it into pieces. He winced as he realized that he had used his right arm. 'That wasn't very smart,' he berated himself.

Just as the pieces hit the ground there was a bright flash of light. Princess Celestia, Gleaming Shield, and several guards appeared on the roof.

Gleaming rushed forward shouting, "Twilight! Are you OK!?"

Taking a deep calming breath, Corvo walked over to them. "Not so loud, she fell asleep and I really think she needs it," he said.

The Guard Captain frantically looked her sister over. Tears appearing in her eyes, "Oh, sis. I hope you'll be OK."

"She is hurt, but I managed to slow the bleeding and ease the pain she was feeling by giving her one of my elixirs. It's probably why she was able to fall sleep. She should be alright until we get her medical help," he comforted.

Celestia walked up and asked, "You have elixirs?"

"Yes, two kinds. They both have different effects." Glancing back at the griffon, he said, "She is the one responsible for Twilight's foalnapping. Also, I think that there might be some dark magic involved."

The Princess looked up in surprise, "What makes you say that?"

Gesturing to the door, Corvo said, "There were several skulls inside there that would reanimate themselves into undead dogs. I left one intact for you to look at, but I would put it in a shield."

She nodded, "Captain Shield, I know that you are worried about your sister, and I promise you that she will be fine, but I need you to find the skull that Corvo mentioned."

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she saluted and headed inside.

"It's on the floor just below us," he shouted to her. He returned his attention to the monarch, "So are we going to the hospital or the castle?"

"We'll head to the castle. I have personal physicians that can take care of her," she told him.

"Are you going to teleport us?" he asked.

Celestia shook her head, "It wouldn't be a good idea with Twilight being hurt. I don't know how the transport would affect her wounds."

"So we are going to have to walk. Alright," he knelt down and gently picked Twilight up.

"I can carry her Corvo," she offered, lifting the griffon in her magic.

"It's fine. I... I would rather carry her if that's alright," he said, anxiously.

Celestia arched a brow, but shrugged and began to descend through the building. As they descended, Gleaming rejoined them with a skull inside of a rose bubble. When they reached the bottom floor, Corvo was the first to exit. As he stepped into the street, all of the ponies there froze at the sight of him. Before they could react, Celestia walked out of the building and stopped next to him. All of the ponies stared in shock as they began walking through Canterlot with a skull inside a shield, an unconscious griffon and unicorn.

"You realize that we are going to have to address this now, right?" Celestia whispered.

Corvo winced, "Sorry for wasting your efforts."

"It's not a problem. In fact, this works out rather well," she said. He looked at her in confusion. "You'll find out."

On their way to the castle, a few complications arose. The griffon had awoken and immediately tried to escape from Celestia's magic. Before she could do anything, Corvo quickly moved Twilight to his right arm and shot the griffon with a sleep dart. She instantly went limp in the Princess' magical hold. Then a particularly adventurous colt snuck close to the skull and as soon as he got too close, the wolfhound reanimated itself and started to thrash around in the shield. Corvo shouted for Gleaming to open a hole in the shield. She quickly complied and, as soon as it was open, one of the guards thrust his spear into the hound. It rapidly vaporized and the skull fell to the bottom of the shield. The Guard Captain then restricted the bubble so that it was the same size as the skull. The colts parents rushed forward and began scolding him about approaching something so carelessly.

Once they finally reached the castle, Corvo saw four ponies standing in front of it. Two of them had a stretcher, while the two guards had several cuffs. Corvo softly placed Twilight on the stretcher. The two ponies then lifted it up, and rushed into the castle. Celestia lowered the griffon to the ground and the guards quickly put the cuffs around her wings and foreclaws. They took her away to put her in the dungeons until they could question her. Gleaming left to take the gravehound, as Celestia had been referring to it as, to wherever the Princess had instructed her to take it.

"Come with me Corvo. In a few hours we are going to have to address the ponies of Canterlot about you, so we need to prepare for it," she said, heading toward the throne room.

After several hours, Celestia walked out on the balcony to address her citizens. "Hello, my little ponies, as many of you know there is a new being in Canterlot. I don't want any of you to worry, as he is a very good stallion. In fact I have learned from several ponies that he has saved a few citizens. From a doctor, how he helped a mare with psychological problems to get the help she needs. From my guards, they told me how he rescued two mares from five stallions that were ganging up on them. And not long ago he save somepony from being foalnapped."

Celestia frowned, as a gasp ran through the crowd below. She could tell that they weren't genuine, but feigned in the hope that whatever underhoofed deeds they were doing hadn't been discovered. She knew of the kinds of things the Canterlot nobility tried to get away with. She wished she could do something about it, but couldn't always get the evidence she needed to convict them. 'How many of you aren't plotting something against the other? Who doesn't want to ruin somepony else's life?'

Continuing, she said, "Yes, a pony was nearly foalnapped only hours ago, but was stopped by the stallion many of you saw. He's here now for those of you who haven't seen him. Allow me to introduce Corvo Attano." She gestured to the door, and a being as tall as her walked through the doorway. He stopped next to her and looked at the crowd. "As you can see he looks a good deal different than us, but I assure that he is a pony. I will not hear any of you trying to run him out only for how he looks." She gazed down at her subjects with a rather stern expression. "Now, because of recent events I've come to a decision. As of now a new guard is being established and Corvo here is being put in charge of it." He looked up in surprise at this. She smirked slightly, "They will be called the Crow Guard." Looking at him, she said, "Care to say something?"

Corvo glanced at the monarch, then stepped forward, "Hello everypony, as the Princess said my name is Corvo Attano, or you can call me Raven Armor. I swear to you all that I will do everything in my power to protect all of you. This guard will defend the innocent and bring the corrupt to justice. We will not let those who do wrong to roam free and do what they please."

As several cheers went through the crowd, the two turned and walked back into the castle. "That was a very nice little speech. Did you just come up with that?" she asked.

"Of course I did!" he said, raising his voice slightly. "That came completely out of nowhere. You didn't even give me a warning about any of that."

"Well it was very good for being improvised," she complimented. "It's not completely out of nowhere. Ever since I saw you use those powers I've been trying to think of a way that we might be able to implement them into the guard." She frowned, "These three incidents, especially the last one, were a perfect reason to create it."

"I understand. You must have been really frightened that Twilight had been taken away from you," he sympathized.

"Yes, I was very worried for Twilight's safety. I had a feeling that she would be in good hooves with you going after her, though," she said.

"How is she by the way?" Corvo asked, worriedly.

"Thanks to you, she is doing very well. Luckily the cut over her eye was very shallow, so it wasn't damaged. The doctors also informed me that the wounds were surprisingly clean, very little blood in her fur that got in the way and the wounds were even healed slightly," she said.

"Yes, that's what the elixir I gave her does. It doesn't completely heal one's body, but it helps it to where your body can heal on it's own."

"You said that you had another elixir? Do you mind explaining what it does?" she asked.

"The other one helps the other side of a pony. Where that one helps the body, the other helps the mind and spirit, or at least for others it did." The Princess looked at him in confusion. "It always replenished my mana instead. It'll probably do the same for you ponies if you drink it. The other one actually might even replenish a ponies stamina."

"That's very impressive. Do you think we would be able to replicate it?" Celestia asked.

"You might, but I'm not sure you should," he said.

"Is there a reason you think that?"

"Well, people in my world got rather dependent on these things. It makes sense because they were trying to prevent getting the plague, but they got really hooked on them. If we introduce them to the ponies, where the effects are greater and more apparent, then I'm not confident that a lot of them won't get addicted to them."

Celestia thought about it, "I suppose I can see what you mean. If those do what you said they do, then the ponies might get reliant on them and would use them to work themselves ragged."

"Exactly," he affirmed. They continued walking until Corvo seemed to remember something. "Princess, I just remembered something I wanted to ask you."

"And that is?" she asked.

"When I was running through Canterlot after that mob, I used my Dark Vision when I would lose them behind corners. When I did some of the ponies I saw were pink instead of yellow," he said. He then activated it and looked down the hall. Slightly ahead of him, he saw a guard was pink. "In fact that guard there isn't yellow like the others," he said, pointing at him.

The guard stiffened at the sudden attention. Celestia suddenly froze and stared at Corvo. "You can see through it?" she asked, disbelief apparent in her voice. 'Is his power really so strong that it can even see through their magic?' she wondered.

"See through what?" he questioned, deactivating the spell.

Sighing, Celestia gestured for the guard to approach. He walked over and stopped in front of them. "Now what I'm about to tell you is a secret. Very few ponies outside of the guard knows about this. Not even Twilight knows about it. Do you understand?" she stated.

"Of course, Princess."

"It seems that your vision is able to see through all kinds of magic. This guard isn't actually a pony." She turned her attention to him, "Will you show him? I promise to you he can be trusted."

He nodded and strolled a short distance from them. Corvo jumped as the guard was suddenly engulfed in a green flame. As they died down, he was shocked by what stood in his place. The guard still looked like a pony, except that he was insectile. His horn was curved, had insect-like wings, and had a carapace. Only his eyes looked similar to his other form, except that they were now green.

"You see Corvo, they are what's called changelings," she told him.

"Changelings? Twilight never mentioned such a species," he said.

"You may return to your post," she told the guard. As he walked back, he changed back into what he looked like before. "As you can tell they are able change their appearance. Because of this and their diets, they tend to keep to themselves and stay hidden. As a result not many ponies know they even exist, Twilight included."

Corvo was shocked that such beings existed. Able to change their appearance so easily. However, something caught his attention, "What is their diet?"

"You may find it hard to believe, but they feed off of emotions. From sadness to happiness, from anger to love, any emotion that we can feel, they are able to turn into sustenance," she explained.

He felt somewhat uncomfortable knowing that this species could pretty much eat and instantly know what he was feeling. Taking a steadying breath, he said, "Thank you for telling me about this." Turning to the guard, he bowed slightly, "I swear to you that I won't tell anyone of this. This will remain a secret."

The guard returned the gesture.

He turned his attention back to the Princess. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to check on Twilight," he said, straightening. He quickly hurrying down the hall.

The Princess watched as the stallion practically ran off. 'He seems to care deeply for my faithful student. I noticed before when he was insistent on carrying Twilight himself, but what just happened makes it all the more obvious. What are his feeling for her, I wonder. It didn't seem like he was in love with her. I may not be my niece, but I have seen plenty of love struck faces to know that he doesn't feel that way toward her.' She continued to ponder on this as she went back to the throne room.

Corvo soon reached where Twilight was being cared for. He saw the two guards standing on either side of the door. "Can I see Twilight?" he asked the guards.

"Not just yet Corvo," Crescent said. "Her family was just visiting not long ago. They left earlier, but Captain Shield is still in there. She asked to not be disturbed."

He nodded in understanding, "Of course. I'll just wait here." He sat next to Crescent and rested until Gleaming was finished spending time with her sister. After a while, he heard the door opening and Gleaming walked out. She noticed Corvo and walked over to him. Before he could move she threw her hooves around him. He froze, unsure of what to do. He glanced at the guards, but they seemed just as dumbfounded as he was.

"I never got to thank you for saving my sister. If it wasn't for you there's no telling where she might be," she said as tears began to fall. "Thank you Corvo. Thank you for rescuing my little sister."

Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around the crying mare. "It was nothing Captain Shield I-"

"Just call me Gleaming Shield, please," she requested.

"Um, OK. Well Gleaming, I was just doing the right thing." He paused, then said, "I didn't want to lose her either."

The Captain pulled back and looked at Corvo. Her gaze hardened slightly as she asked, "What exactly are you feelings for Twilight?"

He fidgeted slightly under her stare, "I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think it's-" He leaned forward and whispered into her ear what he thought it was that he felt.

A smile spread across Gleaming's muzzle, "I see, well have you said anything?"

He shook his head, "Of course not, I only just figured it out and I'm not even sure if that's right. I've never had anyone like that before, so it's a foreign concept for me."

"You care for her deeply right?" Corvo nodded. "You'd do anything to protect her? You'd help her no matter what?" Again he nodded. Smiling warmly, she said, "Well, then I think that it's rather obvious. I'm sure your feelings would be stronger or weaker if it was something else."

"Thanks Gleaming Shield," he said.

"It's not a problem. Now, she's awake and she asked about you, so no need to keep her waiting," she told him.

Standing, he walked to the door and entered the room. Looking over to the bed he saw her laying in the bed. Hearing the door open, Twilight turned in it's direction. Upon seeing Corvo, she smiled and sat up.

Smiling himself, he walked over to her. As he neared he saw that she had a bandage covering her left eye and wrapped around her forelegs. He felt his anger spark up again. Taking a calming breath, and, doing the best to keep his smile, he sat at the edge of her bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"The pain's practically gone and the doctors said that my wounds should be healed in a couple days," she told him.

"I'm glad that you're feeling better," he said, placing a hand on her head. He instinctively started to scratch behind her ear. After a moment, he realized what he was doing and quickly stopped. "Sorry about that Twilight. I don't really know why I started to do that."

A slight blush crossed her cheeks, "It's fine. In fact will you do it again? It felt nice." He hesitated, but resumed scratching her ear. She leaned into his touch, humming happily. "You just missed my parents. They were here not that long ago."

"Yeah, sorry for not visiting earlier, but the Princess and I had to address, well me. I had exposed myself to the ponies when we headed back to the castle," he explained.

"You revealed yourself? Why?" she asked, moving away from his hand to look up at him.

"I carried you here," he said.

Her blush grew at this, "Why did you stay in this form just for that? Why didn't you just carry me on your back?"

"I didn't want you falling off. It's a good thing too, because we had a couple situations that had me moving quickly. If you had just been draped over my back, you probably would have been thrown off."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry that you revealed yourself because of me," she apologized, her ears splaying back.

Corvo reached out and began to pet her head, "Hey, it's fine. It wasn't your fault. In fact this whole thing is my fault."

She gazed at him in bewilderment, "What do you mean?"

"Twilight if I hadn't insisted on visiting your parents none of this would have happened. Because I had to change your schedule, you ended up getting hurt," he said, guiltily.

A small smile spread across her face, "And if you hadn't, three mares would have been in a great deal of trouble." Corvo's head shot up and stared at her in shock, "Gleaming Shield told me about the five stallions you took out that were surrounding two mares and don't think I forgot that you went to save that mare being chased by an angry mob. If we hadn't left the castle there's no telling what would have happened to them." A smile appeared on his face. "Oh, and my parents want to meet you," she said casually.

"They do?" he asked in surprise.

Twilight smirked slightly, "Of course they do! You saved their daughter. You think they aren't going to want to meet you?"

"No, it just caught me off guard is all," he said. After a moment, he asked, "Did they find out about me, yet?"

"Yes they know. Gleaming thought that they should know exactly who it was that they were going to meet. I told her that she should at least ask you before doing it, but she figured it would be fine, since apparently the Princess was revealing it. I didn't know what she meant before, but now I do," she explained. She thought for a second, then asked, "What exactly was her announcement? Was it just explaining about you or was there more?"

"There was some more. She's put me in charge of a new branch of the guard. She's calling it the Crow Guard," he told her.

"So will I be seeing less of you?" she asked, sadly.

"A little yes, but I'm not going to stop spending time with you. I'll stop by as often as I can," he promised. "I'm going to let you get some rest Twilight. You've been through a lot today."

He turned to leave, before she called out, "Corvo!" He glanced back. "I never got to say it, but thank you. Thank you for everything."

He was slightly confused by what she meant at the end, but he grinned nonetheless, "It wasn't a problem Twilight. I'm glad I could help." He then exited the room. Glancing out the window, he noticed that it was pretty late. Deciding that he would need rest for next few days, Corvo headed back to his room to get some sleep himself.