adventure Elements of Equestria 2: Chapter 18

[DivineMist1000 71,102]

Chapter 18: Light in the Storm

A few hours had passed by since Storm had brought her friend Lee to the hospital and she was pacing outside of his room as she waited for him to wake up. As Storm continued to think, her mind began to race about everything that Lee had said before he passed out.

"He said something about Tempest and Canterlot... Is everything okay there? And why isn't Tempest with him?"

Then Storm stopped as she repeated the other word that Lee mentioned: Malice. Storm thought about this word but couldn't quite place what this word meant to her.

"Malice... Malice... Where have I heard that before? I swear I've heard it somewhere..."

Just then, Storm's attention went immediately to Lee when she saw him bolt up and let out a large scream. The nurse ponies came in to calm Lee down, but he jumped back the second they touched him and Storm saw him fall onto the ground.

"W-Where am I?! Where is Storm?!"

Lee held his head as he tried to get his mind straight again, but all he could see was everything spinning and very blurry. The nurse ponies tried to approach Lee again, but Storm quickly came in and told them stand back.

"I got this. Let me handle this, okay?"

The nurse ponies did as she said and they both walked out of the room. Storm knelt down beside Lee and softly said his name, but Lee only gasped at this pony knowing his name.

"W-Who are you? I can't see anything... What is your name?" Lee asked these questions frantically, but Storm shushed him and asked him to calm down.

"Lee, it's okay I promise... This is Storm Breaker and you just need a few moments to get your bearings."

"S-Storm? You're really here?"

Lee felt around the room and Storm watched as he placed a hoof on her face and squished it a little, which made her laugh a little, but she grabbed his hoof and gently put it back down.

"Yes, I swear that I'm here my friend. Just take a deep breath, clear your head and collect your thoughts. I am right here for you..."

As Storm continued watching Lee, he closed his eyes and took that deep breath to make the head pain go away. After another deep breath, Lee's heart rate finally decreased a lot and he soon felt his breathing go back to normal.

"Good, that's good. Now... open your eyes."

Once he felt himself ready to do so, Lee slowly opened his eyes again and everything around him came into crystal clear focus. Lee looked around the hospital room for a moment before he looked ahead of him and indeed saw the face of his friend, Storm Breaker.

"S-Storm... It really is you! Thank goodness you are okay!"

"Worried about me? I could very well ask you the same thing, Lee."

Storm helped Lee to his feet and he stumbled around a bit before finally regaining his balance. Lee sat down on the bad as Storm looked at him with much concern, but she quickly poured him a glass of water and she handed it to him.

"Thank you."

Lee slowly drank the water and took another deep breath as he felt the cool water go down his throat. Storm sat down next to Lee and looked over his bandaged up body, noticing all the other bruises and burns he had sustained.

"Lee, I know that you just woke up, but you have to tell me what's been happening... How did you end up like this?"

At first, Lee found difficulty finding the words to describe the things he had been through and he slowly turned his head away in sorrow.

"I don't... I don't want to talk about it. It is just too painful for me to even think about."

Storm looked at Lee and tried to get him to talk to her, but she knew that what had happened really did trouble him.

“I know what to do… Lee, can you walk?”

“Y-yeah, I’m good to walk. Why?”

“Could you follow me? We’ll go somewhere a little more quiet so that we can talk about this.”

Lee did as Storm asked and slowly walked alongside her as they both exited the hospital. Lee was caught off guard at first by the blinding sun, but Storm looked towards him to make sure that he was okay.

“Lee, you know you can talk to me right? It’s better than bottling up everything…”

“I… can’t Storm. I just can’t. Thinking about it would just make the pain worse and… and I’ve been through enough.”

Storm sighed a little as she thought about Lee’s predicament, but she saw her house at the top of the hill and decided to talk with him more there.
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Once Lee got himself settled in Storm's house, he saw Storm walk into the kitchen as he sat down on the couch. Lee held his still aching sides as he saw down and could feel some more pain in his head.

"So much... pain. Tempest, I'm sorry that I was too weak..."

Storm peaked around the corner and listened to Lee mumble to himself and then saw him put his hooves over his face. Seeing Lee in such distress made Storm feel upset, but she knew that the only to help him was by getting him to talk to her about his situation.

"I have to do this... No matter how painful it is, he has to tell me!"

Lee looked up suddenly when he saw Storm peaking at him and this made him face away from her and hold his head down. Storm approached Lee as he did this and she said his name aloud.

"Lee, you have to tell me what has happened to you... please!"

"No... no, I can't! I don't want to relive all of that pain!"

"And the only way to be rid of that pain is for you to tell me! Please, all I want to do is help you and I can't help unless you tell me the truth!"

As Storm continued pressing Lee, he felt more pain in his head and he stood up to get away from Storm. Lee felt as everything that had happened race into his mind and the pain only increased.

"S-Stop... Stop please!"

"I know that it hurts, but you have to tell me! Lee, please just tell me the truth!"

"I FAILED OKAY?!!!"

Storm was taken by surprise with this response and she saw as Lee fell to the ground and started shaking with the overwhelming sadness inside of him.

"What? Lee, what are you talking about? Failed who?"

"Everypony... I failed all of them! Tempest is gone, Celestia and Luna are gone and everypony in Ponyville and Canterlot are gone too."

"Gone? How is that possible?" Storm asked.

"It was that creature, that Malice! He took over my body and used me to get a hold of this ‘Soul Scepter’…”

“That can’t be!”

“You weren’t there, Storm. You didn’t see what he did to all of my friends… He forced me to fight them and then he corrupted him with that scepter.”

As Lee continued with his story, his anger at his own weakness increased, but Storm remained by his side to help calm him down.

“Lee, you don’t need to beat yourself up over this. What happened isn’t your fault…”

Lee laughed at those words and stood up to face Storm.

“But it was! It was my fault! I could have stopped him if I was stronger, but all I could do was watch as he turned everypony against me!”

“If that’s true, then there was nothing you could do for them. At least you escaped to fight another day, right?”

“You don’t get it, Storm! It was my responsibility to protect them and I failed them all! I failed them and now all of Equestria is doomed because of me!”

Storm remained silent as Lee only looked up and sighed in defeat.

“Because of me…”
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After telling the whole story, Lee slammed his hoof against the wall in a fit of rage, but he accidentally made a couple of pictures fall off of the wall as a result.

The pictures fell to the ground and one of them shattered loudly, making Storm gasp and hurry to pick up the broken pieces. Lee realized what he did and quickly apologized to Storm.

“It’s okay. It’s an old picture anyway…”

As Storm picked up the picture, Lee was surprised when he recognized the group of four ponies in the picture and stopped Storm.

“Wait a second… That picture, where did you get that?” Lee asked.

“This? Oh, it’s just an old picture of my family. My mom and dad up top and me and my little brother on the bottom. Why do you ask?”

“Because I have the same picture at my house. Somepony sent me that picture and the note said that it was of me and my family… but I didn’t recognize anypony else in that picture.

“Really? You have the same picture? How is that possible?”

Lee thought about this and decided to ask Storm about it, but Storm remained confused about Lee having the same picture.

“Tell me something: Your little brother, what do you remember about him?”

“Not much unfortunately… because he had to be sent away when we were both very young. My parents told me they sent him away to protect him and make sure he would “survive””

Lee looked closer at the picture and glanced at the two fillies hugging each other.

“I don’t remember much about my mom and dad, but all I can remember is a name that a relative of mine told me when I was young… What was that name again?"

As he tried to remember the name, Lee continued mumbling random words in his head, but soon came to a word that he was stuck on.

“Light… Light. All I can remember is the name Light.”

Storm gasped when she heard this name and looked back at the picture to point at the brown Pegasus filly.

“Light? That’s the name of my brother there. Light Bringer…”

Both Lee and Storm then looked at the picture together and looked at the two young fillies. Lee recognized the blue Pegasus pony and he looked back at Storm with a huge look of confusion, wondering if this was who he thought it was.

Just then, Storm realized the same thing as she looked at the brown Pegasus pony in the picture and both Lee and Storm looked at each other in surprise.

“L-Light Bringer… Brown Pegasus pony… black-red mane… M-My brother…”

“M-My sister… dark blue mane… Blue Pegasus pony…”

Lee and Storm finally realized the truth of this matter and spoke to each other at the same time, completely taken in shock by the revelation.

“We’re… family?”

A/N: A new chapter is done and some new information is revealed about Lee and Storm! We are getting close to the climax of the story so stay tuned everyone!

[Misty Shadow 7,084]

I can't believe that Lee and Storm are family!  I'm glad the next chapter's already done, sure it will be great!