Author’s Note: Prepare yourselves! The final chapter of Act I is here, and I hope you enjoy it! Read on:

We made our way to the library, I watched as the sun began its descent into twilight time. How ironic that I would be meeting a mare named Twilight at the time of day she was named after. The sky had few clouds left, and the suns final rays were casting beautiful colours upon them. Among the hues of orange and purple was an eerie blood red. I stopped to look at the sky, and when Fluttershy questioned my action, I simply pointed up. The two of us stared at the sky for several minutes before I looked at her again. The way the light played across her features was magical, making her aqua eyes even more brilliant and her face heavenly. I lost my focus in the sky and gazed dreamily upon her, until she noticed that my attention was no longer on the clouds. She looked at me, and I looked away, blushing. Luckily, the reddening of my cheeks was unnoticeable through the reddish light and my black coat. I started walking again, and Fluttershy followed suit; but we continued to look upwards as we walked. After a while, she said:

“It’s simply beautiful.” I looked at her, and with a dreamy smile I said:

“Perhaps. But its beauty pales in that of which is yours.” Upon saying this, my heart stopped. ‘What did I just say? Did I just call her beautiful? What is happening to me? Am I becoming a soppy romantic? Nay… this must stop’

“Oh, why thank you, Red Storm. That’s very sweet of you.” Her comment caught me off-guard. When I came out of my mind again, I looked around, noticing that the streets were oddly empty. ‘It’s not even that late yet… After all, it is early autumn.’ I also noticed that all of the damage was repaired around the town. So much for helping out. I looked at Fluttershy, who had an odd smile on her face displaying… hope? We stood, looking at each other. I then turned around and continued walking, and Fluttershy soon followed once more. The rest of the walk was in silence.

We arrived at the library quickly, and once we arrived, Fluttershy immediately stepped up to the door and knocked three times Knock-knock, “Twilight?” knock-knock, “Twilight?” knock-knock, “Twilight?” The butterscotch mare then moved away from the door and waited. Inside, I heard a mare’s voice, then another one. The odd thing was, the second voice didn’t sound like any pony I had ever heard.

The door was opened to reveal a small purple dragon, likely a baby. He looked at me, and I looked at him. Finally, he broke the stare by looking to the mare beside me and saying:

“Hiya Fluttershy! Who’s this creepy-looking’ colt you got with you?” Creepy I can understand, but upon hearing the word “colt” I snorted, standing up to my full height. The baby dragon immediately recoiled, saying:

“Whoa, sorry there buddy. I’m Spike. What’s your name?” I cracked my neck (much to Fluttershy’s anguish), relaxing my body before calmly saying to him:

“My name is Red Storm. It’s nice to meet you Spike. Would you be so kind as to let Fluttershy and I enter?” The baby dragon then stepped aside, allowing me access. I, however, allowed Fluttershy to enter before going in myself, as usual.

Upon entering, I saw hundreds, if not thousands of books adorning the walls of the library. In the center of the room, sat a purple unicorn mare. The mare (whom I guessed to be Twilight Sparkle) had a rather short dark-blue mane with streaks of purple and magenta in it. She bore a Cutie Mark of a six point star surrounded by five, smaller, six-point stars. She also had deep purple eyes, and a bright magenta magic aura as demonstrated when she used telekinesis to re-place a book she had been reading when we walked in. She looked over to Fluttershy and said:

“Oh! Hello Fluttershy! What brings you to the library?” Then she saw me. Turning towards me she asked: “And who are you? A friend of Fluttershy's? What’s your name?” I straightened up and smiled, introducing myself.

“Red Storm. And you must be Twilight Sparkle. It’s nice to finally meet you.” I extended a hoof, but she just stood there, staring. She appeared to be scanning me up and down, and it took only half a second for me to realize why.

‘MY CUTIE MARK!’ I tried to cover my flank with my tail, but it was too late. I was lifted in the air by her magic, before being thrown against the nearest wall. Fluttershy made her way over to Twilight as I regained my footing.

“Twilight! Why did you do that?” The quiet mare squeaked, surprised by her furious friend's reaction. Right as I got to my hooves and was about to explain myself, I was picked up again before being smashed into another wall, scattering books everywhere.

“Why are you here?!?” The purple unicorn shouted accusationally as I spotted Spike standing at the door, terrified. In another corner across the room I saw Fluttershy hovering, shocked into silence.

I got up again, but this time Twilight Sparkle shot a concussion blast at me. ‘Ah, just like home.’ I evaded the blast easily, dodging to my right as it hit the wall behind me. She was clearly too angry to think clearly as she could have just grabbed me again. More books scattered, some singed as I made my across the room, evading every spell she fired. Soon, I was but a few feet in front of her. Just as I was about to tackle her, she picked me up again. This time however, she wasn’t letting go. Quite the contrary really, as she began to squeeze.

“What do you want with us? Are you planning to invade? WHY ARE YOU HERE?” With every sentence, her grip on me tightened, and soon I began to feel my joints pop. Next would be my bones. I wailed in agony as I began to feel my bones audibly creak and crack from the force. I looked down at the mare who was killing me. She stared at me with utter hate. What I saw next really surprised me. I saw Fluttershy jump in front of her friend, before slapping her across the face. The unicorn’s concentration shattered like glass, dropping me onto the ground as the Pegasus mare confronted her friend.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HIM! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?” The mare’s shouting quieted the room, including Spike who had been weeping in his corner. Twilight got up slowly and looked Fluttershy in the eyes before saying:

“I’m trying to protect you, and everypony else in Ponyville!” The purple unicorn then turned back to me, pointing a hoof. “He’s part of the Sanguine Nobility! An evil family who worshiped Nightmare Moon as a god, and had allied with her during the Great Nightmare Moon Cataclysm. He’s likely even more dangerous than Queen Chrysalis, Discord, and King Sombra COMBINED.” Fluttershy looked at me sideways, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Red Storm… is… is this true?” I looked away from her, closing my eyes.

“Yes,” was all that I could say. After a long moment of silence, I looked at her again. She now had tears streaming down her cheeks, and Twilight Sparkle glared at me, brimming with hate.

“When were you going to tell me this, *sniff* if ever?”

“I was going to tell you once I thought you could handle it.” I closed my eyes again as Fluttershy began to bawl. Then, I opened them again, my will renewed.

“However, Twilight Sparkle, there is one thing you are wrong about.” I said as I began to walk towards Twilight, pain shooting through my broken body. I stood up tall, facing the unicorn who was stunned. Honestly, I was trying my best not to scream in agony. I swallowed my pain as I raised my voice:

“I am indeed a Sanguine Noble. Their blood runs in my veins. But you are wrong about one thing; because even though I am the Sanguine Prince, I am NOT part of that sick and twisted family.” Fluttershy quieted her crying to look at me, but all of my attention was focused on Twilight Sparkle.

“When I found out… What they had been doing… FOR ALL THOSE YEARS… I left them. I left my kingdom. I left my subjects. I left that excuse of a family to find a new life. I can understand if you don’t want me here. I know the infamy that my name carries. But do not, I repeat; DO NOT say that I am part of that FAMILY!” I stood there, out of breath from yelling. Twilight Sparkle just stared at me, but suddenly Fluttershy ran across the room and hugged me.

A hug was the last thing I expected right now. I stood motionless, not knowing what to do. But after a few moments, I slowly wrapped my forelegs around the mare, meeting her hug with a hug of my own. For the first time in my life, I shed a tear; not from pain, but from joy. The joy of being accepted. Eventually, Fluttershy broke from the hug, and looked into my eyes. Tears were still apparent on her cheeks, but no longer from sadness.

“Promise me you won’t ever be like them,” she whispered feebly.

“I promise, Fluttershy. On my soul and the River Styx.” I whispered back.

‘Wow. What a corny thing to say,’ said the voice in my head. I thought back:

‘How about you shut the hell up for a change?’ There was no response. Twilight Sparkle then began to move towards us. I growled at her, but then she said:

“I... I'm sorry for my overreaction, Red Storm. I realize that I was completely out of line. I don't even know what really came over me; I'm never like that.” My snarl became frown. "Just from the fact that you clearly could have killed me now and didn't should be a sign that I misjudged you. And if Fluttershy can trust you, then so can I. A friend of my friend is my friend too." She clearly wore an expression of regret, and my frown quickly evaporated as well.

“I understand why you would do as you did. I am not saying that you were wrong in your actions. In your shoes, I would likely have done the same. I forgive you, Twilight Sparkle.” I removed a foreleg from Fluttershy and extended it towards purple unicorn who had nearly killed me mere minutes ago. Twilight took a few hesitant steps forward before taking my hoof. I gave hers a firm shake before returning my attention to Fluttershy. We all stood silent for several minutes before Twilight began to ask her questions. Apparently, it was hard to obtain pieces of Sanguinary literature outside of the Kingdom itself, at least through legal means. I decided to stay for a while and answer her questions. Hopefully if she knew me better, we could avoid another confrontation such as this one.

By the end of the night, the tensions had melted and we were being civil again. I would even go as far as to say friendly. Things will be akward for some time after this, but uneasiness is better than hate. However, it began to get late, so Fluttershy and I waved as we exited to library, with Spike and Twilight waving back. The last thing I saw before the door closed was Spike starting to clean up the debris from the fight. Poor guy. I will have to send him some nice gems to snack on as my way of an apology.

After a while of walking together under the moonlight, we reached Fluttershy’s cottage. She invited me over for the night, but I refused. However, she wouldn’t hear me out, forcing me to say yes, so it appears that I will be staying a while.