Storm awoke, but not in the comfortable bed he shared with Twilight, but in pure darkness. He rubbed his eyes, not sure where he was or how he got here. He could barely see his own hoof in front of his face. He began to walk through the darkness, he attempted to summon his long sword, but to no avail. He continued walking until he heard a noise, the sound of hooves walking over an unknown surface. He heard the hooves beckon ever closer, he turned around, but nopony was there. The hooves suddenly stopped, an eerie silence followed soon after. Storm was about to say something when a bright light shone in front of him. He covered his face with his hoof until the light settled down. When he pulled his hoof away, he was in some sort of building. The hallway he stood in was humongous, it reminded him of the castle's interior. He heard the hooves start to walk again. He turned around to reveal a pony, but not just any pony, an Alicorn. But it was neither Celestia nor Luna, it had the same flowing mane as Celestia, but it was pure red instead of multicolored. Storm took a step back, the Alicorn wielded a humongous battleaxe, it resembled a halberd in some ways, but it was clearly meant for swinging instead of stabbing. Storm was defenseless without his sword.
He looked at the Alicorn for several minutes before it started walking towards him. Storm raised his hooves, awaiting his fate... It never came. Storm lowered his hooves to see that the Alicorn had completely ignored him and was now walking past him. Storm slowly started to walk after the Alicorn, being careful as to not alert it. Storm assumed they must have been inside Canterlot castle, the hallways were simply too big for a normal estate. The Alicorn stopped once he had reached a door, Storm recognized it, it was the same door that led to Celestia's bedroom that fateful night. The Alicorn was certainly making less noise than Storm did, he wondered if the Alicorn had a sound-proof spell on. The Alicorn slowly walked over to the door, opening it with the quietest creak that Storm had ever heard. Storm peered inside the bedroom, there she was, Celestia was inside the humongous double bed in her quarters, her bulk easily taking up a large majority of the bed. She was turned around, so only her flowing mane was showing. The Alicorn tightened his grip on the handle, slowly walking over to Celestia's sleeping form.
Once he was at the side of the bed, he slowly moved the blade of his axe to Celestia's throat. The entire process took about a minute. The Alicorn positioned himself to the point where he couldn't possibly mess up. Celestia shuffled a little in her bed, the blade brushed lightly against her throat. Storm looked at the Alicorn for a few moments, what did this actually mean? Nopony in Equestria had a grudge against Celestia... Apart from the Necromanecers. But Storm hadn't seen another Alicorn Necromanecer ever since his queen took power. The Alicorn looked over Celestia thoroughly. He took a few moments before Storm could make out a small tear drop from the Alicorn's eye. The tear reflected off his mane, resembling blood in a way. The tear dropped to the wooden floor, making a small *tap* as it hit the floor. The Alicorn slowly started to move the axe away from Celestia's throat. He sheathed the axe in a way much like Storm sheathed his sword. Several tears now made their way down the Alicorn's face, with each consecutive *tap* making a louder noise as they hit the floor.
Storm was still trying to put together the pieces. Who was this strange Alicorn? And why attempt to kill Celestia if you back out of it when you're moments away from completing the job? That's when it happened, it appeared that the last *tap* was a little TOO loud, Celestia's eyes shot open, she sat bolt upright in her bed, she took a look at the Alicorn, and, with speed resembling Rainbow Dash, pinned him to the ground. Her horn started glowing a multitude of colors. The Alicorn closed his eyes, waiting for his inevitable fate. Celestia took a good look at the Alicorn, her first reaction was surprise, realizing that the pony was actually an Alicorn, she quickly shook her head and prepared her spell. Just as she was about to shoot, however, her horn's glow dissipated, she spent the next few minuted looking right into the Alicorn's eyes. She got off the Alicorn's stomach, brushing herself off as she did so. Storm wasn't sure what happened at that very moment, but right before the world turned to complete darkness, he could see Celestia... Extending a hoof to the Alicorn?
Storm shot upright in his bed, he felt the immense pain of his brain making a quick collision with his skull and noted that that was probably a bad idea. He was breathing heavily and his body was boiling. He felt a sweat droplet fall off of his forehead and onto the bed sheets. Storm looked up and saw the same hotel room that he had slept in the previous night. He breathed a sigh of relief, although he made a quick mental note on the dream before he almost forgot it. In his haste, he had woken Twilight up in the same manner, who had her forelegs wrapped around him the entire time. Except she wasn't sweating.
"Storm?! Storm! Are you okay?" She said, worried about his condition.
"I-I am fine... J-Just a nightmare... Is all..." Storm said, sounded the most foal-like he had sounded since... Well, he was a foal.
"You don't get nightmares that often, Storm. You want to talk about it?" Twilight asked. Releasing her forelegs with a small blush.
"Twilight... Would you believe me if I said that Celestia was attacked again last night?" Storm asked. Twilight put a hoof to her mouth.
"W-What?! By who?!" Twilight exclaimed.
"A-An... Alicorn. I think he might have been one of my people... I'm sure it was a dream, but... It all looked so real..." Storm said, he brought a hoof to his head, trying to recollect his thoughts.
"Hmm... Maybe I should talk with Celestia today..." Twilight said.
"But... Twilight, the Alicorn... He..." Storm stuttered.
"He did what, Storm?" Twilight asked. Storm spent the next five minutes reciting everything he had saw in the dream, albeit the part where he was cowering in fear, eliciting a few gasps from Twilight.
"I... I see, I have to talk to Celestia about this..." Twilight said, her brain still struggling to comprehend Storm's words.
"I-It would probably be better if I didn't come along. I believe that would cause more problems than solve." Storm said. Twilight nodded and let out a large yawn.
"Since Spike isn't here, I'm probably going to have to go to the castle and see the Princess directly." Twilight said. She walked outside and stopped just before she closed the door.
"Oh, and Storm?" Twilight asked. Storm let out a small grunt to show he was listening.
"I love you." Twilight said as she shut the door, a large blush kissing her cheeks. Storm let out a dry chuckle as she left.
Twilight's POV
Twilight was still blushing as she walked down the stairs.
"Stupid stupid stupid, how could you have said something so stupid Twilight? You silly filly..." She thought as she descended the pushed open the front door to reveal the streets of Canterlot, Twilight smiled as she remembered what her life was like before she moved to Ponyville. The bustling streets certainly weren't anything new to her, but she was still surprised at the amount of ponies wandering about so early on in the day. She set out for Canterlot castle, it had been so long since she last saw the princess in person. She was looking forward to seeing her again and telling her all about her... And... Storm... She stopped for a moment, remembering that she still had the business with Storm to deal with. On second thought, seeing the princess may not be as invigorating as she had previously thought.
She continued along the familiar path to Canterlot castle. When she had reached the doors, the guards bowed to her and allowed her entry. The hallways of the castle reminded her of all the times she and her friends had saved Equestria from certain destruction. She suddenly felt her head fall down in shame, her friends were probably still wondering about her... They had probably sent an emergency letter to Celestia. Twilight's thoughts were put to rest when she saw a familiar blue Alicorn of the night walk through the castle. The sight of the young mare startled Luna at first.
"Twilight Sparkle?! Where in Equestria have you been? Your friends are worried sick about you. They had wondered what that... That brute did to you!" Luna said, rushing up and hugging Twilight tightly.
"Luna... C-Can't breath... Air..." Twilight choked out as Luna released her hold.
"Oh, I'm sorry Twilight. You must go and see Tia, she had been worried sick about you!" Luna said to a gasping Twilight.
"I... I know, I need to tell her something important." Twilight said. Luna nodded and led Twilight to the throne room, where Celestia instantly gave Twilight another bone-brushing hug.
"Twilight! I was so worried about you! I was worried what that stallion did to you! Don't worry Twilight. We'll have this stallion captured within the week." Celestia said, she released the hug, to which Twilight promptly fell down onto the floor and started gasping for air.
"P-Princess... There's something I have to ask you..." Twilight said. Celestia gave a confused look.
"This question may strike you as odd but... Have you been... Attacked again recently?" Twilight said. Celestia was taken aback by her question. How could she have possibly known about Redblade? Twilight could see her awkwardly dragging her hoof along the ground.
"Twilight... What exactly empowered you to ask me this question?" Celestia asked.
"T-That's something else I wanted to talk to you about..." Twilight said.
"Here we go..." Twilight thought.
"Hm? What did you want to tell me Twilight?" Celestia asked. Twilight gulped, this wasn't going to be easy.
"Um... I-It's about the stallion who captured me... His name was Shadow Storm..." Twilight said.
"Yes, Twilight. You told me about him in that letter you sent me... I was so worried when he kidnapped you..." Celestia responded.
"Well... I-I wasn't kidnapped... I w-went by my own choice..." Twilight said.
"Whatever do you mean Twilight?" Celestia asked.
"H-He talked with me on the train ride here... H-He's from some kind of cult. He's a Pegasus who can use magic! H-He was born to... To hate you..." Twilight continued.
"This is exactly what Redblade said to me..." Celestia said quietly to herself, not loud enough for Twilight to hear.
"A-And... He doesn't want to do it anymore... I m-managed to talk him out of it..." Twilight continued.
"What exactly is your point, Twilight?" Celestia asked.
"P-Promise you won't get mad...?" Twilight asked. Celestia knelt down to Twilight's level.
"Twilight. I would never be mad at you, I know that whatever decision you make, it will be for a good cause." Celestia said, this reassured Twilight a little.
"Princess... I... I love Shadow Storm." Twilight admitted. She shut her eyes tightly, expecting to open them and be on the moon, or in magic kindergarten all over again. Instead, however, she felt a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. She opened her eyes gently to reveal a smiling Celestia.
"Twilight... I think that I want you to meet someone..." Celestia said. Twilight feared the worse, maybe a kindergarten teacher or something.
"Someone? Tia, you haven't told me about any visitor..." Luna said. Celestia let out a small giggle.
"Well... He certainly had some... Unorthodox... Ways of entering the castle." Celestia replied. She walked off in the direction of her room. Twilight was still fearing the worst for her poor sake. Luna gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. They heard the sounds of several hooves on the floor of the castle. Celestia walked through first, and what followed made Twilight's jaw drop. Another Alicorn was following Celestia. The fur, the mane, the cutie mark, everything that this Alicorn had was reminiscent of Storm's dream.
"Twilight Sparkle. I would like you to meet Redblade." Celestia said, a smile adorning her lips.