I wasn't quite sure what was going on anymore.

In that moment, down there at the bottom of the stairs in that dark and ancient dungeon, I felt my life was about to change irreversibly. It might sound a bit melodramatic, but as a filly, this was too much to take in all at once. Confusion, fear and dread were making my stomach turn and my head pound painfully.

Questions shot through my young mind at an impossible pace; what was happening to me? What was I thinking? What was wrong with me? What was wrong with Blueblood? How did Crimson Storm find me all the way down here? What happened to Blueblood's friends? What was Crimson going to do to the colt?

As I looked into the mare's cold golden yellow eyes, I wasn't so sure I wanted to know the answer to that last question. There was something dark in those eyes, and now that I'd come back to my own senses, I suddenly became very worried for Blueblood's safety. I fought back the urge to be sick right there, and tried desperately to push back the turmoil of my own thoughts as I pleaded with Crimson Storm.

"Crimson Storm, I don't know what's going on," I said, looking from her to Blueblood, "but can we please just leave? Everything hurts and I just want to go back to my room."

"I know it hurts, Twilight, and I'm sorry that I was too late to stop him from doing that to you," Crimson replied, giving me an apologetic look before turning back to Blueblood with an unpleasant grin, "but if this little demon is anything like his father—and I'm fairly sure he is after what I've seen—he'll know some healing magic."

With one quick, brutal movement, she slammed the colt down onto the cold ground and pressed her weight down on him, pinning his legs and trapping him underneath her. Blueblood gave a pained grunt as one of Crimson's hooves ground the side of his face into the floor.

"From the way your daddy tells it, the two of you learned quite a bit from your mother," Crimson continued, "so go on, make some use of that wonderful healing magic you were taught and fix the poor filly."

Her last words were punctuated with a vicious sneer and another grind of her hoof into Blueblood's face.

"A-Agh! Okay, okay! Please, just—ngh... s-stop!" Blueblood cried, "I'll do it!"

Blueblood's horn lit up and a bright blue aura washed over me. An instant later I could feel the various aches and pains all over my body gradually beginning to ebb. Despite the tumultuous mix of emotions I was feeling at the moment, I couldn't help but breathe a small sigh of relief as the dull throbbing pain in my back leg receded.

"There's a good colt," Crimson cooed, patting Blueblood's cheek. Blueblood let out a small whimper, but Crimson ignored him as she spoke, her tone eerily casual, "you know, I've been watching you for awhile now, Blueblood—ever since you arrived at the castle in fact."

The pain was almost completely gone now, and I finally managed to rise to my hooves. I shook my back leg slightly to rid myself of some of the numbness that had set in before looking back to Crimson Storm. It was like I was looking at a completely different mare than the one Celestia introduced me to, and I wasn't sure how to feel about it, but then again, I wasn't really sure about anything at that point.

"Crimson Storm," I tried, "it's alright... I'm okay now, see?" I wiggled my back leg around to show it didn't hurt anymore, "we can just go tell the Princess what happened and let her deal with it. Please, let's just get out of here, okay?"

The mare eyed me silently, not a trace of emotion to be found in her stare. It was different from when I'd talked with her before; the look she gave me was so cold and empty that for a second, I feared she'd set her sights on me next.

"It might be best if you leave without me, Twilight," she replied with an eerie calm, "I have work to do, and when it's done, you'll most likely never see me again. You can tell the Princess what happened here if you want, but you'll have to find your own way back."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, dreading the answer, "Crimson Storm... what are you gonna do? Why can't we just go together?"

"I have work to do," she repeated, her lips curling into a joyless, vacant smile, "there's a debt that needs to be paid, and if the Captain isn't going to pay it, then I'll take what I'm owed from his son instead, consequences be damned," she slowly shook her head and lowered her gaze to the colt below her. Her smile widened a fraction of an inch, "I don't plan on leaving this place, Twilight, so you might as well go without me."

I found I couldn't respond, nor did I move an inch from where I was.

I stood transfixed by the sight of her looming over Blueblood like a timberwolf getting ready to tear out the throat of its next meal. There was madness in her golden eyes; there was a sick sort of joy and eagerness there that most ponies probably would've found horrifying in these circumstances.

I found it horrifying to an extent, but for me, it was also like looking in a mirror somehow. The image of that giggling lavender filly covered in blood came back to me, suddenly vivid in my mind. I shivered at the thought—with what, I didn't know, but it might not have entirely been disgust or fear.

"Oh, Bluey, you try to act like a gentlecolt," Crimson suddenly began in a pitying sort of tone, "try to tell yourself that you're not like him, but I know better. What you did to this filly here only proves that deep down, no matter how much you want to deny it, no matter how you try to hide behind fancy words and manipulation, you're just as much of a brute as he is. Well... you know what, Blueblood?"

She leaned in close to Blueblood and smiled that same terrible smile that we'd both worn earlier. Crimson Storm's next words brought my thoughts screeching to a halt. They came out in a low hiss that made the skin beneath my fur crawl.

"...I can be a brute too."

I watched Crimson Storm lift her hoof from Blueblood's face and raise it into the air. It seemed to hang above his head for an age, and it was with a sickening mix of dread and anticipation that I realized what would happen next. I saw the look on her face, the unsettlingly wide smile, the mad glint in her eyes, the mounting horror in Blueblood's as he turned to see that hoof above him.

I saw the hoof come down and distantly felt a surge of mana rush into my horn at the same moment. I thought I could hear a faint desperate cry somewhere, but I couldn't figure out whose it was. My mind was far too preoccupied with the sight of Crimson Storm smashing Blueblood's face into a pulpy mess to pay those other things any heed.

I couldn't do anything but stand there, my mouth dry and my face frozen in shock as the red hoof turned an even darker shade of red. The fur around it grew wet and glistened oddly bright in the light of the wall mounted torches. My ears twitched at every cry from Blueblood, every dull thud as Crimson's hoof impacted his skull, the sickening squelch that soon followed, and each labored breath and vicious grunt the crazed mare made.

Flecks of blood spattered Crimson Storm's face, and I even felt a few drops hit me, but I barely noticed.

I could feel my heart beating in time with each blow Blueblood took, and as the gruesome display dragged on, agonized cries became pained grunts, which turned to muffled gurgles, and eventually a series of quiet sighs... then there was silence. Silence save for Crimson Storm's quiet, uneven chuckle and the squelch of her hoof pounding into a mess of bone, flesh, and brain matter.

As horrible as it was, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the sight. I didn't want to tear my eyes away from the sight. I wanted to see what happened next, I wanted to know what Crimson Storm would do next. Would she mutilate the body in her madness? Would she decide she hadn't had enough and come after me? Would she ask me to join her? What would I say?

Yes.

I could hear it now.

I could see it, feel it, taste it, smell it all around me. The world—my world was changing, expanding to include concepts previously unknown to me... or rather, hidden from me. It was here in this ancient dungeon that I finally bore witness to what my subconsciousness had been hiding from me. These thoughts, feelings and emotions were at the root of all my problems, and I didn't even know it.

The truth of who I was excited me as much as it terrified me, but back then, as a filly who couldn't properly sort out her own thoughts on what was happening, I simply let that truth and the hurricane of emotions that came with it wash over me in a tidal wave of fear, confusion and bewilderment.

"LIEUTENANT STORM!"

And just like that, my life changing revelation was shattered and reality immediately reasserted itself. I blinked and my confusion only mounted at the sight before me.

Blueblood was still there, as was Crimson Storm, but there was no blood, no mangled flesh, no caved in skull... none of what I'd seen. There was only a terrified colt trapped beneath a psychotic Royal Guard bent on ending his life with her own hooves. To my shock, one of those hooves was held fast in a magenta colored aura mere inches away from said colt's face.

It was only then that I realized I was using magic to hold back Crimson Storm's hoof. I became very much aware of the strain of the act and very nearly lost my magical grip. Panic was the only thing that kept me holding on at that point. A second later I registered the fact that somepony had called out Crimson Storm's name.

Finally taking in the situation as a whole, I noticed neither Blueblood nor Crimson Storm were looking at me. Both their eyes were fixed on something at the top of the stairs. I turned to see what had distracted the two and gasped, all the fear and tension suddenly draining out of me.

Standing silhouetted just past the doorway, her wings flared and her eyes blazing, was Princess Celestia herself. It was somewhat difficult to make her out from where I stood, but there was no mistaking that height and mane.

"Princess," I breathed, letting the aura around my horn fade, "you... when did you—"

"P-Princess!" Blueblood shouted, fruitlessly trying to wriggle his way out from under Crimson Storm. Tears streamed from his wide hopeful eyes and snot ran down his face as he whined and pleaded, "please, help me! Get me away from this madmare! Please!"

Crimson Storm for her part simply stared back up at the Princess, one hoof in the air and her face a stone slab devoid of any emotion. For a long, tense moment, nopony spoke, and after a second, the red mare slowly straightened up and stepped away from Blueblood.

Not wasting even a second, the panicked colt clumsily scrambled to his hooves and scurried up the stairs, whimpering and moaning the whole way. Celestia tried to say something, probably some words of comfort or reassurance, but Blueblood galloped right past her without a word or second glance.

In a moment, he was gone, his frantic hoofsteps echoing loudly down the old corridor. Looking past Celestia, I could just make out the outline of Greedy Gut poking his head into the doorway from further back. I still couldn't see his expression, and before I could make sense of what he was doing there, he turned and hurried down the hall after Blueblood.

Celestia watched them go for a moment before returning her attention to me and Crimson Storm. Her horn flashed bright gold and in an instant I was at the top of the stairs, right next to the Princess. As I tried to shake myself free of the sudden disorientation of being teleported, Princess Celestia spoke again, her hard gaze fixed on the mare still at the bottom of the stone steps.

"You have much to explain, Crimson Storm," the Princess exclaimed, her voice as cold and grim as the grave, "I don't know what's transpired here, but its clear from what I've seen with my own eyes that you meant to harm that colt, and quite severely from the looks of it."

"Princess," I croaked through my dry throat. I swallowed and tried again, "Princess, wait. Crimson Storm... she—"

"With all due respect, Your Majesty," came Crimson's flat reply from below, "I meant to do much more than that."

The room grew very quiet as Celestia and I stared at Crimson Storm in open mouthed shock. She stared back up at both of us, her posture rigid and her face an emotionless mask. I had no idea how I was going to manage it, but I'd fully meant to try and defend her actions in some way or another.

All thoughts of trying to explain her situation to Celestia fled from my mind the moment I looked into her eyes. There was nothing in those golden yellow eyes; even I could see that she'd completely given up, and in a way, I understood. That strange connection I'd felt when I first met her was somehow stronger now than it had been before.

She'd lost her chance for revenge, and when Blueblood's father found out what she'd nearly done, there'd be Tartarus to pay on top of whatever punishment the Princess had planned for her. She was doomed either way, and I was beginning to think she'd known that all along; that no matter what happened, whether she succeeded in what she was trying to do or not, there was no going back for her.

I looked up at Celestia and could see, even through her snow white fur, that her face had gone deathly pale. I'd never seen her look so horrified, and the sight was enough to trigger my own fear.

"Y-You..." the Princess began in a shaky whisper, "surely you didn't intend to—"

"My intention was to kill the Captain's son, Your Majesty," Crimson Storm smoothly interjected. Her gaze flicked towards me and I felt my heart leap into my throat, "I might've succeeded if it weren't for the efforts of your protégé," she smiled a small, almost imperceptible smile, "...you should be proud of her."

She smiled hollowly, but I could only gape at her in bewilderment and disbelief. Time seemed to freeze for the two of us as we stared at each other, but the moment quickly passed and I nearly jumped as Celestia addressed me.

"Twilight, is this true?" Celestia asked, her tone clipped and her eyes still locked on Crimson Storm, "did she try to kill Blueblood?"

Like Crimson Storm, Celestia's face had become completely unreadable. Seeing the Princess like this somehow unnerved me more than Crimson's empty gaze. I might not have been able to see beyond her stony expression, but standing this close to her, I could see that she was shaking with some kind of emotion.

"Um... w-well yes," I admitted after a moment, "but Blueblood—"

"I see," the Princess interrupted. She looked down at me, her mask broken and a half grateful, half apologetic smile dawn on her face, "this must've been a horrible experience for you, Twilight, and I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to protect you from it. Rest assured, I won't let such a thing happen ever again."

I 'eep'd' in surprise as I was pulled into a warm, tight hug by the Princess. I may not have been expecting it, but in that moment, it was the one thing I wanted above all else. Even through her warm embrace I could still feel Princess Celestia shaking, and looking up, I could see the tears that had begun streaming down her face.

"I'm so sorry, Twilight," she repeated in a soft choked whisper, "I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner."

Each and every apology stabbed at me like a knife, and it wasn't long before I started crying into her chest. I cried because of how heartbroken and scared she sounded, I cried for Crimson Storm and what she'd had to suffer through, I cried for what she might have to endure in the near future, I cried because I was scared and confused and didn't know what was happening to me.

All the while, Crimson Storm didn't make a sound, nor did she move an inch. She simply sat there like a statue, watching us without guilt or remorse, or sadness, or... anything. Eventually my crying died down to the occasional sniffle or hiccup, and Celestia released me. I wiped my tears away and looked back down at Crimson Storm.

"What's gonna happen to her?" I asked, knowing it was nothing good, "what are you gonna do, Princess?"

"Don't you worry about that," Celestia replied warmly, "I'll take care of everything from here, so you don't need to be afraid anymore," her horn began to glow, "I'm sending you back to your room so you can get some rest. I'm sure you'd like nothing more than to be as far away from here as possible."

She wasn't wrong, but still...

"Princess, before you send me back, there's something you should know about—"

"Now, Twilight," she cut in, "there will be plenty of time for explanations tomorrow morning, after you've gotten some sleep. I'll be up to check on you once I'm done here, alright?"

"But—"

"Twilight."

I winced and grimaced at the admonishing tone in Celestia's voice. There was nothing I could do about it now, and it was with dismay and a feeling of defeat that I turned to Crimson Storm one last time. To my surprise she smiled back up at me, and it wasn't an empty, hopeless smile.

It was a smile full of sadness, but more than that, it was genuine.

"...Alright, Princess," I muttered, reluctantly turning away from the red mare, "I'm ready."

Celestia nodded and with a golden flash, I was back in my own chambers beside the bed. I'd had some time to prepare, so the disorientation wasn't nearly as strong this time around. I was finally alone with my own thoughts, and that was far from a good thing given the vast amount of morbid subject matter I had to think about.

In one night my entire world had flipped upside down, and I had no idea how i was going to sort all this out. I crawled into bed and pulled the covers over me, I rested my head back on the pillows, I closed my eyes, and I thought.

My mind galloped a mile a minute as I tried to make sense of what I'd seen and what I thought I'd seen. I played the image of Blueblood's brutal murder over and over in my mind, unable to completely move past it. I analyzed every facet of it, marveling at just how vivid the scene had been. I still had trouble differentiating it from what actually happened.

I wasn't sure how long I laid there thinking about it, but it never got any less fascinating; if anything, it seemed to bring me some odd measure of peace the more I reminisced about it, like counting sheep. Add to that the thought of what Blueblood had done to me, what his father had done to Crimson Storm, and whatever punishment was in store for the mare, and the memory of Blueblood's gruesome death brought to the surface a sort of vindictive satisfaction.

As much as I had to mull over, and as worried as I was about Crimson Storm, Celestia had been right. I was long overdue for some sleep after what I'd been through. My consciousness began to fade and a few minutes later, I was gone, lost to the dreams I could never remember.

Only this time I did remember, and I continued to remember every single gruesome dream since that horrible night.

Author's Notes:

And aside from some additional exposition in the next chapter, that's the end of Act I, and while I'll be skipping ahead a bit in the timeline, we're not quite done in Canterlot yet. The second Act will probably be longer than the first, as a lot of stuff is gonna be happening.