Corvo awoke to unfamiliar surroundings. 'Where am-? Oh right. I stayed at the Sparkle's home.' He smiled, remembering the time he had just spent with them. He stood from the bed and noticed that he was in his normal form. Wondering why he had changed, he looked around the room. It seemed normal, but he couldn't shake off a familiar feeling. Walking to the door, he opened it and paused. "So, that's why it felt familiar. I've experienced something like this before," he said to himself.

Instead of the hallway, a vast field was in front of him. He stepped through the doorway and began walking through the field. As he walked, he looked around the area and thought it felt somewhat similar to the Void in his world, but was a great deal different. For one thing it was infinitely warmer and very lush compared to the cold and barren Void. It was also much brighter whereas the Void was dull.

After a minute of walking, there was a sudden flash. He looked where the flash had happened and was stunned at what he saw. Standing in front of him was an alicorn, however it wasn't Celestia or Cadance. She was snow white with a red mane, and arctic blue eyes. Her cutie mark was an ink bottle and quill.

"Welcome to Paradise," she said.

Her voice sounded vaguely familiar. It suddenly hit him, "Are you the one who warned me about Twilight being kidnapped?"

"Indeed I am, Corvo."

"You know who I am?"

She arched a brow at him, "All of Canterlot knows who you are, you think I wouldn't know who you are?"

"I suppose not, but, uh, who are you exactly?" he asked.

Her face fell slightly, "Right, not many ponies know about me anymore until they pass on, so nopony would even mention me." Corvo looked up in confusion. "My name is Faust. I created Equis."

Shock spread across his face, "You created..? Are you a goddess?"

"At one point I suppose you could have called me that, but not anymore."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Creating the sun, moon, Equis and all of the different species that inhabit it took a permanent toll on my magic. While I am still powerful, I have no where near the power I used to have," she explained. "You probably have some question's correct?"

"I do. Are you able to tell me anything about this new body the Outsider gave me?"

"Yes I can," she said. Her horn lit up in a light blue aura. "As you know you are mostly earth pony, but you have enough pegasus in you to utilize their magic. You also have a small bit of unicorn, however only enough to make you slightly resistant to magic. I mean slightly, so don't think you can take a full on magic blast. The age of your body is twenty-one years old."

"I've been wondering about that. You said this was called Paradise?"

"That's correct. It's where ponies go when they've passed on."

"So it is similar to the Void," Corvo muttered.

"In a sense, but only those who aren't completely corrupt are able to come here. Anyone who is, is sent to either the Underworld or Tartarus."

"There are two places they can end up?"

"Yes, you see, the Underworld is the polar opposite to this place, the corrupt who have died are sent there. Tartarus, however, is for those that are still alive, but are too evil of heart to let them wander Equis," Faust explained.

"Why did you bring me here?" he asked.

"Because I wanted to speak to you. I've been keeping an eye on you since you appeared here in Equestria. I watched you save that mare from an angry mob, those two musician mares from that group of thugs, and how you rescued my daughter's student," her hoof flew up to her mouth.

"Your daughter's..?" Corvo's eyes widened, "Are you Princess Celestia's mother?"

"Yes, I am."

"She never mentioned you before. Unless you're who she was talking about when she had that pained look on her face."

She shook her head, "I'm not who she was talking about. At least, not in those instances." He gave her a questioning look. "You'll find out soon. Anyway, she probably didn't mention me because I haven't even talked to her in over a thousand years."

Surprise appeared on his face, "Why?"

"I have no excuse, there is no excuse. A thousand years ago something terrible happened to Celestia. There had been signs of it happening, where I could have prevented it, but I did nothing. After that I just couldn't face her," Faust clenched her eyes shut as tears began to appear.

'Is that why nopony knows about you anymore? You've been gone for a thousand years?' he thought. "So you continued to do nothing?" Corvo questioned. She looked up in shock. "I understand that you regret that you didn't do anything to prevent whatever happened, but for her mother to vanish and not even speak to her for a thousand years, doesn't sound like it would help her. The fact that she was able to last this long is astonishing."

She lowered her head, her ears drooped down, "You're right, me vanishing along with what happened, no doubt hurt her beyond anything else." Worry appeared on her face, "I hope she doesn't think that I consider her at fault for what had happened that day."

"You should talk to her and tell her that you don't. She's already waited a thousand years," he said.

"I had actually planned on speaking with her, but I encountered somepony eight years ago and what they told me distracted me from it. About four years after that encounter, I saw that a great amount of women were disappearing. Not just ponies, but griffons, diamond dogs, changelings, even a dragon, all of them vanished. No matter what I did I couldn't locate them, but when I saw them I noticed the strange magic they used. It was similar to yours, which is one reason why I was watching you."

"You mean, Twilight's foalnapping was part of a bigger thing?"

"Yes, but something keeps me from finding out what. They even managed to keep Celestia's other student hidden."

"They foalnapped one of her students?" he asked, shocked. He paused, then questioned, "She had other students?"

"Just the two, but yes, she had another student besides Twilight. Celestia sent out search parties to look for her, but they were unable to discover anything. She was heartbroken when it happened. She really liked Sunset Shimmer."

'I get the feeling that's not who the Princess was talking about either,' he thought. "What does she look like? I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to deal with them, so maybe I can keep an eye out for her."

"I don't know if you'll find anything, but I'll tell you. She was golden yellow with a scarlet and yellow mane and she had cyan eyes. Her cutie mark was a red and yellow shimmering sun. If you do find her, I hope that you'll be able to help her."

"I'll do what I can," he promised. "So why did you bring me here again?"

"Right I was explaining that wasn't I? Well after seeing you treat my ponies like you would anyone else, even though they looked like nothing more than an animal from your world." Noticing Corvo's shock she said, "Yes I know you're from another world. I can sense the magic from there inside of you. I also heard your talk with Celestia. I've also seen some of your memories."

He bristled slightly, "You looked at my memories?"

"I've gone into your mind twice now. As I entered, several of your memories entered my mind. I didn't see all of them just some." As he calmed down she continued, "You rescued ponies without the thought of being rewarded and you held yourself back when you encountered that griffon, even if you threatened her. You were even accepted into a family when you shared your past with them." She smiled warmly, "You've treated my ponies as if they were one of you and not just animals. I'm glad that I was right about you."

Corvo was confused what she meant by that, but asked, "So what now?"

"Well, there's something I want to do." She stepped toward him, "Will you remove the glove on your left hand and hold it up?"

Wondering what she was going to do, he took the glove off and slowly raised his arm up.

Faust lowered her horn and touched the Outsider mark. The magic aura brightened momentarily before dying down. Raising her head, she said, "Now I know the magical pattern of what makes up your magic."

"What are you going to do with that?"

"Like I said before, I'm still very powerful. I can copy what the Outsider did and give you my own version of the magic he gave you."

"Really?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes, I can. Now stand still," she said. Her horn began to glow again and her magic aura surrounded Corvo. The glow kept getting brighter and brighter, until finally it got too bright and he had to close his eyes. After a minute, he felt a familiar burn on the back of his right hand.

When the light started to dim, he slowly opened his eyes. When it had completely vanished, he took off his glove and looked at the back of his hand. Similar to his left, there was a mark there. Instead of the black mark of the Outsider, it was a white image of his cutie mark.

"I've now given you an Equestrian version of your magic. You'll be able to enhance your vision and see farther. You have telepathy, where you'll be able to talk to ponies with your mind. You are able to create illusions. Anything you can think of, you can create an image of it and project it. Only those you want to see the image, will," she explained to him.

"Those sound like they'll be very useful. I'm honored you'd do this for me," he said, bowing slightly.

"It wasn't any trouble Corvo, please don't bow like that. And I wasn't finished." He looked up in curiosity. "These last two things are not to be used lightly, as they are very powerful. Along with your time freeze, you'll be able to reverse time now." Corvo's eyes widened in surprise. "You will only be able to go back several minutes. This spell will affect the whole world, as well as the sun and moon."

"Why would you make the area it effects so big?" he asked.

"So that some ponies aren't left behind while the rest of the world moves forward. I'm sure you wouldn't want to mess up somepony's life by making them late for something." He shook his head at this. "I've also extended the area of your Freeze Time for the same reasons."

"Hang on, what about those strong enough to resist it?"

"The only ones who will not be affected by those spells will be dragons and alicorns." She paused for a minute, then said, "Twilight might be resistant with how much magic she possesses, but she's probably the only one. Very few have the amount of magic that she has. The final thing I've given you is the most powerful and the probably the most unpredictable. I've given you a piece of my magic."

Shock spread across his face, "A piece of your magic?"

Faust nodded, "There's no telling the kinds of things you will face in this world. While it is mostly peaceful, there are those that wish to disrupt that peace. Some of them will be very powerful beings, so I've given you a portion of my magic that will cause miracles to happen. It could give you a boost in strength or it could heal all of your injuries. It could also affect your opponent in some way."

"That's... to have a raw piece of your magic."

"That's exactly right. It's not like the other spells that have a structure to them. As I said, anything could happen when you use it. It's also affected by your will. If you focus greatly on something then you will be able to affect the outcome of the miracle. Which is another reason that you need to be careful when you use it."

"Of course. I'll be sure to use it wisely." A thought occurred to him and he asked, "Will those I use the Arcane Bond on have access to this magic?"

"Only if you want them to. Otherwise, no they won't be able to use your new magic," she said. "There are few more things before we are done. Now this first thing, I need you to not get upset about."

Not sure what she meant, he nodded, "Okay."

"Someone else from your world, besides the person you met, is here on Equis. And it's someone you know." Shock spread across his face. Faust paused, then said, "It's Daud. The man who you probably hate the most is in this world." Corvo's eyes narrowed, as he grit his teeth. "Now Corvo, before you go off, I need you to listen to me."

He took a deep breath, "I'm listening."

"Just like with you I have been keeping an eye on him. He's been here for a few years now and hasn't done anything besides working with the minotaurs. He has harmed some inhabitants, but only when he had to. He has not killed anyone while here on Equis. But, I know that you won't trust him unless you these things for yourself, so I'm just going to ask you to give him a chance," she requested.

"Fine, I won't do anything when I meet him," Corvo said, somewhat begrudgingly. "He steps out of line, though and I'm going to take him down."

"Of course. I'd expect nothing less. Next is this thing," she said, lifting something up in her magic.

Corvo's eyes widened and he snatched the object out of her magic. Faust jumped back in surprise at the sudden action. "This is... Did Daud have it?"

She shook her head, "No, one of the foalnappers had it. What is it?"

"This is called a Bone Charm. They have enchantments placed on them that enhance the abilities of whoever's holding it." He focused on the charm, trying to figure out the effects of it. He was shocked at what he found out, "This was made on Equis."

"What makes you say that?" she asked.

"It increases the power of somepony's magic, specifically a unicorn's. If it was from my world it would just increase someone's magic, it wouldn't be specific on what magic it increased, mostly because there was only one kind, but still."

"I see. So they're making new charms to suit their needs."

"It would seem so," he said.

"I'll keep an eye out for them and send any I find to you. Now the last thing, if you hear anything odd involving the moon, don't automatically dismiss it."

"The moon?" he questioned.

"I'm sorry I can't explain, but you will find out soon," she said. "Also, keep me talking to you and your new magic a secret for now. I swear that I'm going to talk to Celestia. If everything goes how I think it will, then it'll be very soon."

Corvo was confused as to what she was talking about, but everything around him started fading.

Corvo slowly woke up. He could tell he was actually awake because he was Raven Armor instead of his actual form. As he got up, a somewhat unexpected visitor appeared.

"Isn't this interesting?" came the familiar voice. "Another being of astonishing power in this world. And she gave you some powers as well."

"*sigh* Are you here for a reason?" he asked, looking up at the Outsider.

"You're always so serious when I show up."

"You hardly show up to just say hi." He glared up at the unearthly being, "You brought Daud here?"

The Outsider smirked. This struck Corvo as odd. He had noticed it before, but it was so small that he didn't pay it any mind. This time, he was clearly smirking. He had always been impassive. He had expressed disappointment, but that was the extent of his expression. Was something about this world affecting him?

"Indeed, I did, and it has been rather interesting to see how much he has changed. His attitude is much the same, but his actions are very different." He paused to let Corvo absorb what he said before saying, "The events, near and far, that are going to unfold will be very entertaining. I'm very interested in what will transpire."

As he vanished, Corvo was confused yet again. Now, not only one, but two immensely powerful beings were talking about something happening soon. A call from downstairs pulled him from his thoughts.

"Corvo! I'm going out for some fresh air. You want to join me?" Twilight asked.

He thought about for a minute and figured it would be a good way to clear his mind. "Sure, I'll be down in a minute!" he called. He walked into the hallway and began to prepare to spend the day with Twilight.

Author's Notes:

I can't shake the feeling that this chapter jumps from one thing to another. I'm sorry if it does, but I'm not sure how else to fit all of this in any better.