The Redemption of Tempest Shadow

by twilightsparkle3562

Chapter 63: "Battle in Yakyakistan"

Tempest and three of the four alicorn princesses, along with a small army of soldier ponies left the safety of Canterlot and headed towards the north and the borders of Yakyakistan, where they hoped they would confront Instant Justice and his band of mercenary ponies once and for all.

But, once they got to the gates, they found something that they hadn't wanted to see.

"Sister, look!" Luna cried, directing Celestia and Twilight to look down at the scene of a battle that took place.

"Instant Justice, you pathetic coward!" Celestia seethed as she, Luna and Twilight landed on the ground.

"What happened?" Tempest asked. In her heart, she knew the answer. But part of her hoped she was wrong.

"There's been a fight here," Luna glumly answered. "We're going in to find out what happened. Stay on your guard, Fizzlepop! Instant Justice and his mercenaries could be lurking anywhere."

Tempest felt the pit of her stomach give way upon hearing that a fight had broken out inside the confines of Yakyakistan. True, she'd gotten used to seeing sights like this while serving the Storm King. But now, her feeling was of a different tune.

Walking up to the large gates of Yakyakistan, Celestia knocked on the door. "Prince Rutherford!" She called in her Royal Canterlot voice. "Open the gates! It's me! Princess Celestia!"

But, there was nothing on the other side and Celestia began to fear the worst. Desperately she called again. "Prince Rutherford! We've come to help! Please open the gates!"

Still there was no response.

"Princess Celestia, I think we have no choice but to force our way in," Twilight suggested. "Something must have happened in there that has incapacitated everycreature!"

"I agree with you, Twilight," Celestia glumly nodded, and then ordered. "Guards, bring a battering ram to break down the gates!"

Acting on their princess' command, several soldiers took a battering ram and after a few tries, forced the gates wide open! When they all managed to get inside, they came across a horrifying sight to behold: dead bodies of yaks and mercenary ponies littered the land. Then, came an even more shocking surprise: some yaks were turned to stone.

"Anypony out there?" Called a voice and emerging from a yak's hut, Shining Armor came out, his body bruised and bloodied.

"Shining Armor!" Twilight cried in a panicked voice as she and Tempest ran over to him. Twilight almost felt herself caught up with emotion upon seeing her brother in the condition he was in. "What…what happened?"

"We…we managed to track down Instant Justice," Shining panted while moaning and groaning in pain. "But…we got…into a fight with him. We were overwhelmed, and... the yaks... came to our defense."

"Somepony get a medic, quick!" Twilight barked to the soldier ponies. "You'll be alright, B.B.B.F.F."

A moment later, an entire medical unit arrived on the scene. Lying Shining Armor down on a blanket, the military doctors began to examine him, immediately getting right to work on healing his injuries.

While Twilight stood by her brother's side, Tempest joined Celestia and Luna in searching for any survivors. "This is a different feeling when you're on a different side," Tempest thought to herself as she looked at the carnage around her. "It makes me sick to my stomach. How could I have ever once thought that suffering was okay?"

---

Suddenly, a loud cry came out from a destroyed hut and emerging from the hut was Prince Rutherford himself, limping slowly.

"Prince Rutherford!" Celestia cried out, racing over to him along with Luna. "Are you alright?! What happened?!"

"Yaks fought evil ponies," The yak prince groaned, as he was helped by several soldier ponies towards the military doctors. "Evil ponies had strange green stones that turned yaks into statues. Yaks not prepared for that, yaks immobilized."

A pair of chills went down the spines of the royal sisters when they heard what was spoken to them. The very same weapon that Tempest used on them, was now being used by Instant Justice against other creatures.

"Evil Ponies also used spells to kill…yaks." Prince Rutherford glumly continued.

"Prince Rutherford, were you hiding any storm creatures by chance?" Celestia asked. "The ones who had attacked Canterlot?"

"Yaks were holding hulking creatures and trying to convince them to surrender to ponies," Prince Rutherford answered. "Yaks knew they were creatures that attacked ponies. But evil ponies came and intended to kill creatures. Yaks not allow it," Rutherford then looked towards Tempest and a pained scowl came onto his face. "Evil pony said he was looking," He groaned as a military doctor tended to one of Rutherford's wounds. "For broken horned pony."

"That is me," Tempest bitterly sighed. "The ponies who attacked you are looking for me."

"Evil pony say that broken horned pony should surrender now if remaining hulking creatures are to remain alive." Rutherford went on.

"She isn't surrendering to a monster like that!" Twilight cried, firmly looking over towards Prince Ruther. "What Instant Justice is doing is not justice, but revenge! And now I know for a fact that he won't go down alive!"

Celestia and Luna felt shocked at what they had just heard from their youngest equal. "Are you saying that...?!" Celestia gasped, her voice filled with shock and disbelief.

"Yes," Twilight firmly nodded. "From what we've been through, Instant Justice will not be put through the humiliation of a trial. He's playing by his own rules, and if we are to put an end to his reign of terror, we need to find a way to counter those extreme methods he has at his disposal."

"But, we don't even know where he's going next," Luna commented, and turned to Shining Armor. "Captain Armor, did Instant Justice and his mercenaries say anything about where they were going next?"

"Not that I know of," The Prince of the Crystal Empire groaned. "But, he…did say something…about possibly returning to Canterlot to finish the job."

This caused the three alicorn princesses to look at each other with worried glances. "Which meant he could be coming back to kill you, Tempest!" Twilight exclaimed. "Instant Justice is trying to eliminate anyone who would be an obstacle to getting to you, Tempest, even possibly us."

"Then," Celestia declared. "We have to stop Instant Justice before he returns to Canterlot. If he returns to Canterlot, there's no limits as to what methods he will use to get to you Tempest. Its like what you went through to get to me. Except, in this case, it's him trying to get to you."

"And if he is using the same powers Tempest used to turn us to stone, Celestia," Luna remarked, looking at the obsidian statues of several yaks that had been petrified fighting the mercenary ponies. "Then, Instant Justice has gotten much more dangerous."

"How could did he get hold of those green stones?" Twilight wondered.

"The Storm King had us use them to defend ourselves. Instant Justice must've lifted them from some of the Storm Creatures," Tempest deduced, glancing over to Celestia and Luna with a worried expression. "From what I see, Instant Justice is using them to exact his revenge, to make his victims feel the same way that you and Princess Cadence felt when I turned you to stone."

"Then we've got to stop him!" Celestia cried. "There is no telling what Instant Justice is going to do next!"

From that moment on, the clock was ticking...

Comments

[Little_Draco]

Short..

[XFangHeartX]

It seems that war is approaching.

[Jade Dawn]

8863008
Oh, I think the war started a long time ago. It's just that some ponies are too foolish and hyper-emotional to let it finish.

[HolyCross9]

It sickens me that Instant Justice would sink so low as to petrify, much less kill, any who stand in his way, even the Yaks! On a positive note I'm glad that Prince Rutherford wanted to convince the Storm Creatures to surrender to Equestria instead of outright executing them.

[Veylon]

8863045
The funny thing is, Instant Justice didn't even need to rebel. All these storm creatures in all these different places were already going to be handed over to him as Minster of War. All he had to do was go collect them in Celestia's name and kill them out of sight. Nobody except the handful of people with him - the same people currently rebelling alongside him - would know what was really going on. And to get Tempest? All he would've had to do was ask that she join him to identify the storm creatures. He could have her killed the first night out from Canterlot. By the time it was clear what he was up to, he'd already be done. He might even have been able to break the news to Celestia and Twilight in person.

[HunterBrony101]

8863017
Fixed!

[HunterBrony101]

Keep going, we need more!

[SuperPinkBrony12]

I think the time has come to make Instant Justice's treachery public to Equestria, and let it be known that the penalty for assisting traitors is at the least years of imprisonment. Instant Justice cannot be allowed to recruit an army, or hurt unaware civillians.

[Jam5022]

But, once they got to the gates, they found something that they hadn't wanted to see.

Replace “hadn’t” with “didn’t”