The next day found Corvo in the training grounds waiting for the ponies that he would be showing how to use the Outsider's magic. He hadn't been told who he would be training, just that he was to be at the field. As he waited he adjusted the strap across his chest. It was something that he had requested Fine Point to make. The inside of it was hollow, so that he could slide his Bone Charms into them and no one had to see him wearing bones. Since yesterdays incident he was going to be sure that he was prepared for anything.

"I wonder who I'll be teaching my magic to?" he wondered aloud.

Hearing the doors open, Corvo looked over and froze. Leading four ponies over were Gleaming Shield and Spitfire. They soon reached him and he regained his voice, "You two!?"

"You that surprised?" the fiery-maned pegasus asked.

"Well yeah. I mean the two of you are the captains of your divisions. Should you really be part of another?" Corvo questioned.

"We aren't really becoming a part of it. The Princess just thought that as the Captains, it would be a good idea for us to be able to use the magic as well," Gleaming explained.

"I see. That does make sense," he said. He then looked at the other ponies. Two of them wore Wonderbolt outfits, so he couldn't see much except their manes, tails, and wings. The two pegasi's coats were similar in color, with the stallion's being paler than the mares. His mane was a dark blue, while her's was a light gray. Looking over to the guards he saw one was an earth pony and the other was a pegasus. Corvo was confused that the pegasus' coat color wasn't white or gray, but was instead a bright orange. "How come his coat isn't like the other guards?" he asked.

Looking at the guard he was talking about, Gleaming explained, "The reason his coat is still normal is because his build, as you probably noticed, is a good deal different than the other guards, so he has this unenchanted armor until we get some that fit his physique. He's a relatively new recruit, but he shows a great deal of promise and is able to pick up on things rather well, so I thought that it would be a good idea for him to join this guard."

"Right, well I think introductions are in order. As you may know, I am Corvo Attano, AKA Raven Armor. I will be teaching you to utilize my magic to their limits."

Spitfire first gestured to the mare, "This is Fleetfoot and that's Soarin."

Gleaming then spoke, "Crescent Slash and Flash Sentry. We also explained some things about you to them."

"It's good to meet all of you. That's probably for the best, so I don't have to be too careful about what I say. Now if you would step forward and place a hoof under my hand I will share with you my powers," Corvo said.

All of them, except Spitfire walked forward and placed their hooves on top of each others. Fleetfoot looked at the Wonderbolt Captain, "Why aren't you doing it, Spitfire?" As the mare spoke, Corvo noticed that she had a slight lisp.

"Because he already used it on me and I still have the powers," she told her.

"That's true, but we should do it again just in case. I'm still not sure if there's a time limit to this or not," he suggested.

She nodded and stepped forward, placing her hoof on everypony else's. Kneeling down, Corvo placed his left hand over their hooves and activated the Arcane Bond. His mark began to glow and he noticed all of them tense slightly. The glow soon faded and he stood up looking at them all.

"Right, you should now have some of my powers. You have Blink, Dark Vision, Windblast, and Pull. You also benefit from several enhancements that affect you physically rather than being a power. We'll start with teaching you about Blink. Don't focus on your destination with you eyes. That will only limit its power. You know the lay of the training grounds. Instead focus on where you wish to be standing. Now try it out." He watched as Gleaming Shield almost immediately vanished in a dull light and appeared a across the field. "I'm guessing that you can teleport Gleaming," he guessed.

"Yes, I can. Though this is much easier to do and it takes a lot less out of me," she said.

"Well since you basically know how to do it, will you show Crescent and Flash while I teach the Wonderbolts?" he suggested. She nodded and walked over to the guards. Corvo walked over to the pegasi and began to explain to them in better detail how to use the power. He observed them all, as they each made varying progress. Spitfire picked it up rather quickly, able to Blink almost as well as Gleaming Shield. Fleetfoot was able to travel a few feet away in any direction without having to use her eyes, while Soarin was only able to go wherever he was looking. Crescent was able to do slightly better than Soarin, but was still having trouble traveling without using his eyes. He turned his attention to new recruit and was shocked to see him Blinking with relative ease. He was moving several feet away from where he stood without making eye contact with his destination.

Corvo decided to move on, "Alright, you've all got it down more or less, so let's move on to the next one. This one is relatively easy. It's called Dark Vision." He proceeded to tell them what he had told Spitfire when she first tried it. A couple of them struggled slightly, but eventually they all got it down. "I knew that one wouldn't take long. You should be aware that it has a limited area of affect. It's probably increased being here, where magic is stronger, but you need to be careful to not think that you will be able to see everything. Now we are going to practice Pull. The name is self-explanitory. It allows you to pull someone toward you, so that you can deal with them. You are going to practice this spell on me," he said. "I don't think I have to explain this one, but imagine the pony your using this on being dragged to you. Focus on yanking them toward you, so that you can take them out."

Corvo stood a good distance away from them. All of them tried using spell on him with very little success. Only Gleaming and Crescent were able to get it down relatively well. They were able to pull him across the grounds to them, but had a hard time holding him. Soarin and Flash managed to make him stumble, but that was as far as they got. The Wonderbolt mares had a greater amount of difficulty using the spell.

"OK, the last one is Windblast. Now-" Before he could continue Spitfire stepped forward. "Yes?" he questioned.

"The Princess mentioned that you were part pegasus, correct?"

"That's what she said," he verified. "Why?"

"Well, if you are, you might be able to utilize that spell better," Fleetfoot said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Pegasi have weather magic, remember?" Spitfire reminded him.

"Oh right. Then maybe it would be better if you explained it to Gleaming and Crescent. I'm sure that your explanation would be close enough to transfer over," he suggested.

"We should probably try it out before that," Soarin chimed in. He walked over to the training dummies and flicked his hoof. They all watched as the right dummy was knocked off of the pole holding it up.

The guards seemed surprised at what had happened. Noticing this, Corvo asked, "What?"

"Those things had an enchantment on them that kept them from breaking too easily. The fact that they broke shows how powerful that magic is," Gleaming exclaimed.

"It really shouldn't be that powerful. It's only strong enough to knock people to the ground. That seems like it would be strong enough to knock someone out or even kill them if they hit a wall," he said.

"That's probably our magic increasing its strength," Spitfire told him. "If we control how much is put into it, we'll be able to lessen it's strength. Soarin, Fleetfoot, and Flash, why don't you three show Gleaming and Crescent while I explain our magic to Corvo." The three nodded and led the other two to the other side of the field.

"Alright, you have pegasi magic in you, but since you have earth pony magic as well, you need to focus on using weather magic. If you aren't focused, your earth pony magic will take over and there's no telling what that will result in. And, as I said before, if you don't focus on the amount of magic you put into it, you could end up seriously injuring somepony you don't want to hurt," the Wonderbolt Captain instructed.

He closed his eyes and focused on his magic. Tapping into his Equestrian magic, he concentrated on mixing his weather magic with his mana. Soon, he could feel his magic combining with each other and began to channel it to his hand. Flicking his wrist, Corvo sent out a blast of wind at one of the of the dummies. They were all taken aback when it was smashed into pieces.

Spitfire glanced at Corvo and, with a slight tremor in her voice, said, "Well, you have the concept down, but you focused way too much magic into that blast. You really need to focus on how much power you put into it."

"Right, I'll be sure to practice it before I even try using on anyone," he swore. He walked over to the others, "How'd you guys do? You get it down?"

"For the most part. We'll need to train some more, but we have the general idea down," Gleaming said.

"That's all for the spells. The next things I'll be showing you are the passive abilities you gained. First, is that you are resistant to my Bend Time spell. You will remain unfrozen when I activate it."

Fleetfoot spoke up, "You can stop time?"

"Yes, I can. I'm going to show you so if it happens you'll know that, most likely, something's going on," he said. He tossed his sword up and quickly stopped time. They all stared as it froze in midair. He glanced at them, noticing that they were indeed still moving.

Corvo was about to continue when suddenly there was a bright flash to their right. Looking over, they were surprised to see Celestia standing there. She quickly trotted over to them.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No, everything's fine. Why?" he asked in confusion.

"You stopped time, so I was rather worried that something had happened."

"Nope, just showing it to them," he said. Corvo glanced at the Princess, "You realize that you are moving even though I froze time, right?"

She seemed to just realize what he said was true. Celestia looked at herself, then around the grounds and saw his sword floating in the air. "But how's that possible? I thought you had to be in contact with someone for them to be able to move," she said.

"That's whats supposed to happen," he said. He pondered on what it could be, suddenly a thought occurred to him, "Princess, you move the sun and moon, correct?" She nodded. "Well, this is just a guess, but maybe it's because you have a huge amount of magic. I mean, I can only imagine how magic is needed to move the sun and moon. If only there was a way to be sure that's the reason."

"There might be," she murmured. Everypony turned their attention to her. "Twilight has a great deal of magic. I'll go check on her to see if she's unaffected. If she is, she's probably in a panic." She then teleported away to check on the lavender unicorn. Only a few minutes passed and the monarch quickly reappeared. "She was in fact unfrozen and was rather anxious that time had suddenly stopped. I think that your guess is probably right Corvo. If they have a sufficient quantity of magic, then they are immune to your Bend Time spell."

"That will make things difficult if we end up fighting against anyone with powerful magic," Corvo said.

"I wouldn't be too worried about that. Most species have only a certain amount of magic. There won't be that many out there that would be immune to this," she told him. She thought for a moment, then amended, "Well, except maybe fully grown dragons, but that's kind of obvioius. Now, I need to be heading back. I was speaking with somepony when you decided to do this." With that, she teleported away again.

He waited a few moments before ending his spell. "That's good to know. The next thing is Vitality which makes you tougher and helps you heal faster than normal. The last thing that you gain from me is Agility. Which lets you fall from heights relatively unscathed and also helps you run, climb and swim faster. It also helps you jump higher," he explained. "Watch." He then bent his knees and jumped into the air, but was very surprised when he did. He had jumped much higher than he meant too. Caught off guard from the unexpected height, Corvo crashed to the ground.

They all rushed over to him. "Are you OK, Corvo?" Gleaming asked.

"Yeah, I'm good. I suppose that's one way to show you about falling from great heights won't hurt that much. But what happened?" he wondered. "I was only trying to jump as high as I normally do before showing you how high I could do it with the enhancment. I also think that was actually higher than even that usually is."

Crescent Slash asked, "Well, how high are you normally able to jump?"

"Probably around a few feet," Corvo answered.

"Don't forget that you have the strength of an earth pony now, so your initial strength is greater than before," Crescent told him.

"I guess you have a point," he said. "That's everything. You all know what spells you now possess and, for the most part, are able to use them. Just keep practicing them and you'll be able to use them perfectly."

"Before you leave, Corvo." Gleaming said. He turned to her. "We saw how stealthily you were able to move through Dunwall and the Princess wants you to show us exactly how you do it."

"I suppose I could, though it's not that hard. I just move around as quietly as I can. I normally crouch down to reduce the amount of noise I make when moving," he told her. He glanced at the guards, "I also didn't really wear any armor, so that really reduced the amount of sound I caused by moving."

Gleaming glanced down at her armor and grimaced, "Yeah these don't exactly work for sneaking around. Is that really all?"

Corvo thought about it for a moment and then remembered, "Oh, right. I have Bone Charms. They didn't do much, but they did help out slightly."

"Yes I remember seeing those. Well if that's all, you can do whatever you want for the day. We are going to practice some more before we head back to our posts," she told him. They all headed back to where the training dummies were and practicing their newly acquired magic.

He left them to their training and thought of what he could do for that day. He recalled a promise he made. Deciding on what to do, he started to head out of the castle. As he walked, he passed by where Twilight was recovering.

Addressing the guards, he asked, "How are you two?"

They looked up in slight surprise, then answered simultaneously, "Fine."

"Do you know how Twilight's doing?"

"Well, she's talking to her friends right now," the unicorn mare told him.

That somewhat surprised him. As he had gotten to know the mare, he figured she didn't really have friends. Though he was very glad that he was wrong in that regard.

"Would you like to see them?" the pegasus stallion asked.

"If they don't mind," Corvo said. He walked forward and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" he heard her call out.

"It's me Twilight," he called through the door.

"Oh, Corvo! Come in and meet my friends," she answered.

Opening the door, he walked into the room. As he entered he saw three unicorn mares standing next to Twilight's bed. One was light blue with a dark blue and white mane. She had blue eyes and her cutie mark was an hourglass. One was yellow with a cerulean mane and had a light blue streak in her tail. She had dark red eyes and her cutie mark were three hearts, two of which were light blue, while the other was light green. The last mare was white with a pink mane. Her eyes were arctic blue and her cutie mark was three blue stars.

As he approached the bed, Twilight said, "This is who I was telling you girls about. I'm sure you've heard about and/or saw him yesterday. He's sort of been the reason I haven't been hanging out with you all lately."

"I'm sorry that I've taken up so much your friends time," he apologized. "Not to be rude Twilight, but I'm somewhat surprised you have friends."

She turned to him, looking slightly offended, "Why's that?"

"Because you were pretty closed off when I met you. I thought you had closed yourself off from others," he told her.

She blushed, "Well, you weren't too far off. I wasn't particularly close to any of them, but after getting to know you, I wanted to get closer."

The mares all turned their attention to him. The blue mare, happily said, "So your the pony we have to thank for Twilight opening up. She's been so distant up until now. Oh, I'm Minuette, but my friends call me Colgate. This," she pointed at the yellow mare, who waved at him, "is Lemon Hearts, and that's Twinkleshine. We have two more friends, but Lyra lives in Ponyville and Moon Dancer was pretty busy today."

"It's nice to meet you ladies and I hope to meet the other two sometime. As I'm sure you know, my name is Corvo, or if you see me in my pony form, Raven Armor," he said.

"You have a pony form?" Minuette asked excitedly.

"Yes, thanks to this bracelet that the Princess gave me, I'm able to change between my normal form and an earth pony. Here I'll show you," he said. They all watched as Corvo began to shrink down and his hands becoming hooves. Soon he looked like normal earth pony. "This is what I look like as a pony, so if you see me out and about you'll know who it is."

"That's amazing," Lemon Hearts said.

"Yeah, it really is too bad Moon Dancer isn't here. She'd love to see this kind of magic," Twinkleshine said.

"She a bit like Twilight?" he asked.

"A bit!?" Minuette exclaimed. "Those two are alike in so many of the same things. They both like studying magic, both of them are rather antisocial."

"Hey!!" Twilight yelled.

"And neither of them have very good senses of humor."

Corvo chuckled as the three mares began to giggle, while Twilight's blush deepened. "Well, I think I've intruded on your time together long enough. I'll see you girls later," he turned to leave.

"Oh you don't have to leave," Lemon Hearts said.

"Yeah you just got here," Minuette said cheerfully.

"Sorry, but I promised somepony I would visit them today and she's in a pretty delicate state," he told them.

Twilight smiled, "Go ahead Corvo. I know who you're talking about. I'm sure she's waiting for you." She looked at him almost pleadingly, "I'll see you later right?"

"Of course you will. I hope to see you ladies again sometime," he said, leaving the room. As he left, he turned to the guards, "Have a good day you two." He resumed heading out of the castle.

As the door closed, Colgate immediately turned to Twilight, "He seems so nice. What's your relationship with him?"

"He's very nice. I'm not really sure." They looked at her in confusion. "He's already said that he isn't in love with me," she said, casually. All three of them gasped. She rolled her eyes, "Relax girls, I really don't mind. Anyway, I had asked him about it yesterday before the incident, but before he could say anything the mare he is visiting was being chased by an angry mob and he followed them to save her."

"Did he ever answer you?" Twinkleshine asked.

"No, I think with everything that happened that day he probably forgot," Twilight said, slightly disheartened.

"That's not right! Next time you see him you should demand that he answer you!" Lemon Hearts said in indignation.

"I don't really think that I need to."

"Why not?" Colgate asked.

Twilight smiled somewhat mischievously, "I'm sure that my parents are going to ask him the first chance they get."

They all grinned at this. Twinkleshine said, "That's a really good idea."

"Yes, it is. So we don't know about him yet, but what about you?" Lemon Hearts asked. "How do you feel toward him?"

"Well, I'm not really sure how I feel myself. He feels closer than a friend, but I'm not in love with him," Twilight said.

"So like an older brother?" Colgate offered.

Twilight thought about it, "I suppose. It does feel similar to how I feel for Spike, except somewhat different. When he saved me from that griffon and carried me in his arms, I felt so safe. Like he would protect me from anything."

The three mares smiled, as they continued to talk and just hang out with each other.

Corvo soon reached the castle's entrance. Just as he exited, he nearly ran into somepony. The unicorn looked at him and smiled slightly.

"Ah, perfect, just the 'stallion' I was looking for," he said, putting an unneeded emphasis on stallion. "Miss Melody asked me to give you this message. Why she did I'll never know, but that's not really my business." He levitated an envelope into Corvo's hoof. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm needed elsewhere."

Corvo watched him leave, glaring slightly. He opened the envelope and took the letter out. Unfolding it he saw a ticket and what looked like some kind of pass. He then began to read the message.

Dear Raven Armor (or should I call you Corvo),

In this envelope, I've enclosed a ticket and a backstage pass to my recital as I promised. It has been moved to tomorrow at eleven. I hope that you enjoy the show and to see you afterwards.

Sincerely,

Octavia Melody

'I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow,' he thought. He continued on his way toward his destination. He quickly found the building he was looking for. Entering, he approached the desk where the receptionist was.

When he reached it, the stallion asked, "Name?"

'Is that always the first thing he asks?' Corvo wondered. "Raven Armor, I'm here to see Miss Screw Loose," he said.

"What is your relation to the patient?" he asked, not even bothering to look up.

Corvo arched a brow at the pegasus. "I'm the stallion that saved her," he said.

"Only friends and family may visit her at the moment," he said, indifferently.

He didn't like how dismissive this pony was being. "You listen here, I made a promise that I would visit her today and I plan on keeping it," he told the stallion.

Finally the receptionist looked up. "You promised her? She's completely insane, doing nothing, but bark at doctors," he said derisively. "She isn't going to realize if you visit or not. Now leave before I get security to escort you out."

Corvo was getting fed up with this stallion. Slamming his hooves on the desk, causing everypony in the room to jump, he yelled, "How dare you speak about a patient in such a way! She's here to be helped not ridiculed for something that she can't control!"

Before he could do or say anything else, a familiar voice spoke out. "What's going on out here?" Looking over he saw that it was Doctor Stable.

The receptionist shouted, "This madpony won't leave! He was about ready to assault me!"

Corvo glared at the stallion, "He won't allow me to see Miss Screw Loose. I'm just trying to keep the promise I made."

The doctor scowled at the stallion behind the desk, "I believe I told you that this stallion had special permission to see Miss Screw Loose." He then turned his attention to Corvo, "And I would have figured that you would know better than to cause a scene at a hospital."

Corvo hung his head slightly, while the receptionist turned his head in resentment. Doctor Stable sighed, "Come with me Corvo." He looked up in surprise. The unicorn smirked, "I heard the announcement yesterday." He then turned around and headed down the hall.

Before the stallion behind the desk could protest, Corvo quickly followed the doctor.

"I'm sorry about that doctor," he apologized.

"You really shouldn't cause a scene in a hospital," Doctor Stable reprimanded.

"I really wish I hadn't caused such a commotion, but he went too far," he said, his anger resurfacing. The doctor glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "He blatantly said that Screw Loose was insane. That she couldn't be helped and that it was pretty much a waste of time to try and help her. She's only been here a day. She isn't going to get better that quickly."

The unicorn scowled deeply, "He's only been working here a couple months and a lot of ponies have been complaining about his behavior. We've been giving him some time to adjust in case he needed to get used to his work environment, but if his attitude doesn't change soon he's going to be losing his job."

"*sigh* He did bring up an important point, that I'm now curious about," Corvo said.

"And that would be?" the doctor asked.

"Has she had any family or even friends visit her?"

Doctor Stable sighed sadly, "Unfortunately not. She's not actually from Canterlot, so we don't know anything about her. That means that at the moment, you are the only pony that she has any connection with." They soon reached a room with a plaque that said Screw Loose. "This is her room. The doors are always locked because she kept getting out and causing problems for the doctors, nurses, and other patients, so I'm going to lock the doors behind you. There's an intercom in there for when you want to leave."

Inserting the key into the lock, he unlocked the door and let Corvo inside. As soon as he entered, he was practically tackled to the floor by a blue blur. Looking up he saw Screw Loose standing above him. She began to lick his face.

Chuckling, Doctor Stable said, "Let me know when you're ready to go." He closed the door and locked it.

Pushing the mare off of him, Corvo said, "Alright, alright, It's good to see you too, Screw Loose." Sitting up, he changed into his normal form. She jumped back in surprise and began growling. "It's okay girl. It's still me, I just look different. Come on," he beckoned her to come to him. She started to slowly approach him. "That's it, I'm still the same stallion," he said. When she got near him, Corvo reached out and scratched behind her ear. She immediately leaned into his touch and began kicking her hind leg. "There's a good girl." He stared at the mare in front of him, feeling sadness well up in him, he lowered his head. "I really hope you get better. I hate talking to you like your just an animal."

She looked up at him, a confused look on her face. Moving forward, Screw Loose gently licked his cheek. Raising his head, he looked at the mare as a smile spread across her muzzle. Corvo's eyes widened in surprise. Slowly, he smiled back and began petting her head. He spent several hours playing with and just talking to her. After saying goodbye to the mare he headed back to the castle and to practice getting his more powerful Windblast under control.

However, before he could reach the training grounds, Gleaming Shield ran up to him. "Corvo! Where have you been?" she questioned.

"I was visiting the mare that I helped to the hospital," he answered. Worry began to rise in him, "Why did something happen?"

"Yes, but before you panic, Twilight's fine," she said.

Corvo let out a relieved sigh, "So what happened?"

She glanced back anxiously, "You have to see it. Come on." She turned around started to lead him to where something had happened.

They walked down deep into the castle's basement. Soon, they came to a door that had black markings surrounding it. He looked at the Guard Captain, as she walked forward and enveloped the door in her magic.

Gleaming glanced back at Corvo, "I should warn you, it's like nothing I've ever seen. Even after seeing your memories."

That sentence alone put him on edge. That even after seeing the horrors of his world, this was something that could be even worse. She opened the door and he entered the room. He immediately froze when he saw the inside. Roots ran through the entire room, ripping the floor up and were even climbing the walls. In the epicenter of it all was the scorched corpse of what looked like a griffon. He approached the dead body and took a closer look at it. Surrounding the body was a strange black mist. As he stood there he heard low voices and strange sounds that reminded him of the sound that runes would make.

'Did she explode or something? And these roots. What the hay kind of magic could cause something like this?' he wondered. 'I'm pretty sure this is magic from my world. Which means that the pony controlling that statue most likely either isn't a pony and/or is like me. Damn it!' he swore. 'I can't tell anypony because if I do then that woman will come after Twilight again.' He thought about his options, 'I could probably tell them that so, hopefully they won't question me about it.' He was pulled from his thoughts by Gleaming Shield clearing her throat.

"So do you know anything about this?" she asked.

"*sigh* Yes I do."

Confusion appeared on her face, "Is something wrong?"

"Unfortunately I can't tell what I know," he said, regretfully.

"What!? Why!?" the unicorn shouted.

"Because if I do then Twilight will be put in danger," he told her. Her eyes widened and she immediately went silent. "I was able to speak to her leader and they said if I told you anything about them then they would keep coming after Twilight."

Gleaming Shield looked very conflicted on what she was to do. Sighing, she said, "Fine, I'll let the Princess know what's happened. Hopefully nothing else will come of this, but I kind of doubt it."

"She doesn't know about this?" Corvo asked.

"Not yet. The magic that was used seemed somewhat similar to yours, so we wanted to ask you about it first and then report to the Princess," she explained.

"Alright, I'll see you later," he said. The Guard Captain turned around and left the room. Turning around he stared back at the corpse and prayed that he wasn't making a mistake in not telling them about the mysterious leader of these unknown foalnappers.