Some Redemption

by Cupzy


Endless Torment

Drip... Drip... Drip...

Water droplets. They always annoyed Storm, especially when somepony left the tap on when he went to bed. He would waltz into their room and beat them half to death for leaving the cursed tap still running. Making that ever-torturing noise.

Drip... Drip... Drip...

Except... It was different this time... Instead of small and harmless water droplets splashing against the sink, slowly starting a slow descent into insanity, a large gleaming piece of metal caught Storm's eye. His sword. All he could hear while staring at the object was the slow dripping of a liquid hitting the floor.

Drip... Drip... Drip...

Storm studied the blade carefully, but his eyes were affixed to one point of the sword. The tip. The tip held the source of his insanity, the source of the rage brewing within him. But he couldn't stop it... His whole body was stuck in one position, endlessly staring at the tip of his sword, slowly listening to the endless dripping.

Drip... Drip... Drip...

But... The liquid that stained the floor of the throne room wasn't water, far from it, in fact. The liquid was thicker... More important... And red... Storm continued to stare at the tip of his blade, where a small amount of the red liquid dropped from the tip every few seconds or so. As it was made for, his trusty blade had drew another slick of blood, endlessly dripping onto the floor as Storm held the sword in the air.

Drip... Drip... Drip...

But the blood that fell from the blade wasn't ordinary blood. Oh no. Storm had drawn the blood of something innocent... Something important... Something that was used to protect her. What Storm had just done contradicted everything he had stood for in these past few weeks. He had accomplished an evil task... A task that he himself gave up on. A task that he vowed would never be allowed to be fulfilled. But here he stood... He had accomplished what he originally wanted to. He had accomplished a task that he had grew to hate. But in one fell swoop, he had done it...

He had drawn the blood of a goddess.

Storm stood still, overcome by waves of anguish and guilt. Slowly, the real world began to reveal itself, Storm focused on everything around him, but in the end, his eyes fell on one thing. The figure of Princess Celestia, being restrained by an evil and sadistic captor. The Queen. The image that Storm had realized was the definition of hell-spawn itself. Celestia stood still, a small whimper managing to escape her lips as her newly acquired wound bled freely. The wound that Storm himself had caused. Storm still felt nothing however, there was only one emotion that brewed in his soul now: Anger. He felt like he had returned to his old self, all other emotions drained away from him and were replaced with raw anger. He once again drew his eyes towards the tip of the blade, watching slowly as the dreadful drips made their way to the floor yet again.

Drip... Drip... Dri-

"MAKE IT STOP!" Storm's voice erupted from his throat, his head facing the ceiling. He moved his hoof over to the long sword, wiping the royal blood off, stopping the madness-inducing dripping by his own hoof. He took in a large breath, realizing that he hadn't ever since he had stabbed... Celestia... He felt his lungs being filled with air, giving him a great deal of relaxation before finally letting out a large sigh. Storm felt revitalized, all of his previous emotions that he had completely forgotten about returned. He remembered Twilight, he remembered why he was here, and he realized what he had gotten himself into. The room was now filled with complete silence for a few seconds, before The Queen took the liberty of releasing a high-pitched laugh, her chuckles erupted throughout the throne room, sending a chill down Storm's spine. Celestia still stood there, a look of complete horror mixed with pain crossed her face.

"I thought you had left us for a minute or two, Shadow Storm." The Queen mocked. Storm's anger returned almost immediately, he desperately wanted to end The Queen's life right there, but the guilt combined with several injuries prevented him from moving an inch.

"But I digress. How does it feel, Shadow Storm? To land a blow upon your own Princess? To betray her? Betray her like you did me..." The Queen continued, her words becoming more twisted towards the end.

"...I betrayed you... Because I realized who you were... I realized that you use methods like this to get whatever you want... If you can't have me... Then no-one can... Isn't that right?" Storm said, an eerie silence being created whenever he spoke a sentence.

"...You are in no position to be toying with me, Shadow Storm..." The Queen replied. Wincing slightly at the pain in her side. Storm chuckled lightly before gesturing to her wound.

"You let your guard down... It hurts... Doesn't it?... You can send warriors to battle and watch them bleed to death painfully... But when the smallest cut grazes your body... Then it's a completely different story... Isn't it?" Storm continued. Letting another amused laugh escape his throat. The Queen tightened her grip on Celestia in a show of anger, causing another whimper to escape from the Sun Princess's mouth.

"Who are you to ask such questions?! You have killed more living creatures than any of my warriors! You're nothing but a hypocrite!" The Queen shouted in retaliation.

"But I never took a hostage... Did I? Call me a hypocrite all you want... But in all honesty... It's you... Who is the coward..." Storm said, pointing his hoof at The Queen.

"Don't you understand, Shadow Storm?! I've waited over a thousand years for this to happen! This is finally my chance to redeem my place as the true Queen of Equestria! I will die before I release Celestia from this castle!" The Queen shouted.

"Then let her go... Let's not get somepony like Celestia caught up in this... If you're willing to die to become the Queen of Equestria... Then show me your determination... Show me if all of those personal training lessons were put to good use... Show me that you're still as powerful as the Queen that I used to know..." Storm said.

"If you think that you can beat me in combat, Shadow Storm, then you're sadly mistaken. You only landed that blow on me through sheer luck..." The Queen said. Storm let out another dry chuckle before pointing his long sword at The Queen.

"Then let's hope that Lady Luck is on my side throughout this..." Storm replied. The Queen let out a challenging smile, she slowly released Celestia from her hooves, pushing her to the side.

"Heal her." Storm said.

"Excuse me?" The Queen replied.

"If you leave her like that, then there's not going to be a Celestia by the end of this fight. Rather, the dead carcass of an Alicorn." Storm said.

"And why should I take an order from you?" The Queen asked.

"I'm giving you the chance to fight me honorably. It's only fair that you do something for me." Storm replied. The Queen let out a scowl before slowly turning to Celestia, her horn glowing a black that seemed even darker than darkness itself. She walked up to Celestia and placed the tip of her horn onto Celestia's wound. After a few seconds, the tissue around Celestia's cut had regenerated, and was no longer bleeding. The Queen reared her head back up, giving a short snarl to Celestia before turning back to Storm.

"Pleased, Shadow Storm?" The Queen asked sarcastically.

"I half-expected you to outright kill her. At least some honor still resides in that heartless chest of yours." Storm replied. The Queen smirked a little at this, seeming entertained by Storm's insults.

"Shall we begin?" The Queen asked.

"Whenever you're ready." Storm replied. The Queen nodded solemnly. She took a few steps back, and after a few seconds, charged at Storm. He felt the familiar rush of battle that he had so dearly missed return, and charged as well.

"You have dug your own grave, Shadow Storm!" The Queen shouted mid-charge.

"I always assumed that if I ever died, it would be by your hoof!" Storm replied. Storm raised his sword, preparing to bring it down upon The Queen's neck, while The Queen had her head down, with her horn charging up a dangerously powerful spell.

"Is this it?" Asked Twilight, noticing some sort of structure in the distance. Redblade squinted his eyes slightly, trying to perceive what Twilight had just noticed, when he finally noticed the familiar building in the distance, he grew a large grin on his face.

"Yes! That's it! Good eye Twil-" Redblade was about to congratulate Twilight when a loud noise caught his attention. It sounded like a large explosion had just been caused inside the mansion, and a few seconds later, a shock wave traveled through the forest, shaking the natural swaying of the grass and fauna, Redblade and Twilight both took a step back when the shock wave hit them, surprised at the force they had just witnessed.

"That doesn't bode well..." Redblade muttered.

"I'll say! That shock wave was the product of an incredibly large amount of magic! You felt it too, didn't you?" Twilight asked. Redblade nodded slowly, before turning back to the small army of guards, most of them muttering to each other about the previous shock wave.

"We have managed to come across the mansion where The Queen resides! As you can probably tell, something strange is occurring in the mansion! Keep your guard up!" Redblade shouted into the crowd. The guard ponies nodded.

"Follow me!" Redblade continued as he started to trot towards the mansion.

"What do you suppose that was?" Asked Twilight.

"I'm not sure. But it must have come from The Queen, she must be agitated about something." Redblade replied.

"Storm... I hope he's okay." Twilight pondered.

"I know Twilight. I wish the same for Celestia." Redblade replied. The small army continued to walk towards the mansion, it wasn't long before one of the Banished had spotted the small army advancing towards the mansion, he hastily started running around the mansion, shouting for all of the warriors in the general area.

"We've been spotted..." Redblade muttered.

"What do we do now?" Twilight asked.

"I and the rest of the royal guard will engage the Banished. You should be able to enter the castle when all of them are occupied with us." Redblade explained.

"What happens to you?" Twilight asked.

"...I'll be there when the time comes." Redblade said slowly. The Banished had already assembled outside of the mansion and were currently charging at the royal guard.

"Go! Now!" Redblade said, pushing Twilight away before leading the royal guard into a similar charge. Twilight hurried back to her friends and promptly explained the plan to them. Albeit Fluttershy and Rarity, her friends seemed eager to go.

"Come on! Let's go give that Queen a piece of our minds!" Rainbow shouted. Twilight smiled at Rainbow's enthusiasm and gestured for her friends to follow her. The Elements proceeded to walk through the outskirts of the battle, Fluttershy had one hoof covering her eyes at all times, with Applejack making sure that she wasn't colliding with anything. Redblade's plan seemed to be working well, all of the guard in and out of the mansion had joined the battle, and the front door to the mansion was wide open. Once they had finally reached the doorway, Twilight was about to use her magic to open the door when a loud explosion similar to the one earlier once again rang through Twilight's ears, shortly followed by a shock wave identical to last time. Twilight looked at all of her friends with a determined look on her face.

"Are you all ready? We have to save Storm and Princess Celestia one way or another!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yer darn tootin' that we're ready, Twi!" Applejack announced, receiving several nods from the rest of her friends. Twilight smiled warmly to all of them before using her magic to open the door. It wasn't long after the door was opened that several noises could be heard, one noise sounded like somepony noisily galloping along the ground, while another noise sounded like a spell being cast. Twilight took initiative and started to gallop towards the source of the noise, with the Elements following shortly after.

"What's happening, Twilight? What're those noises all about?" Rainbow asked while flying close to Twilight.

"I'm not sure, Rainbow. But it doesn't sound good." Twilight responded. The noises proceeded to become louder and louder to the point where nothing else could be heard apart from them. At the end of a large hallway that Twilight and her friends had wandered into stood two large doors that seemed to be the source of the noise.

"Could the Princess be fighting The Queen? No, she couldn't. She could barely use a simple levitation spell in her state. I had imagined that we would have run into Storm at this point... Please Storm... Please be okay..." Twilight thought drastically. She nodded to her friends before her horn glowed a familiar magenta color, shortly afterwards, the large double doors slowly began to open. The sounds suddenly stopped, probably wondering who would waltz into whatever situation was going on in there. The double doors where eventually opened, and Twilight looked back at her friends with a reassuring smile, only to realize one thing. Her friends weren't smiling back, but looks of horror and devastation plagued their faces. Twilight's inner conscious screamed at her not to turn around, but in a moment of desperation, she quickly turned around to reveal what her friends were looking at.

Around half a minute ago

"Another hit." Storm thought to himself as he landed another lucky blow on The Queen. He had started to follow an attack pattern, after a few minutes of casting, The Queen would tire herself out for a few seconds, which was just enough time for him to land a small graze on her. Everything seemed to be going alright, and he hadn't been hit by many spells, well, he hoped he hadn't been hit by many. What really gave him a handicap in the battle was his broken hoof, which prevented him from doing much. He was never given more than a second after every spell to examine himself. The battle had been raging for a good half hour now, and Storm still hadn't gotten a good look at what damage The Queen might have caused. The Queen herself was about to be worn out again, and Storm only needed a few more hits to make her bleed on a lethal level. He was about to charge at her to land another hit when the sound of doors opening made him stop. He halted his charge to look in the direction of the noise, the throne room doors were being opened slowly. The Queen had also stopped her relentless onslaught to investigate the disturbance. When the doors were fully opened, Storm had to rub his eyes with his hooves to make sure that what he was seeing was actually real. Standing right there, in the flesh, was Twilight and her friends, wearing what Storm was left to assume were the Elements of harmony. The room was filled with an eerie silence, a welcome change to the constant battle noises that Storm had recently had to deal with. It wasn't long until it started again, until Storm had remembered what he had done prior to entering the throne room.

Drip... Drip... Drip...