HURRICANE TRINITY
An MLP Extended-Universe Story
Written by M.J. Hopper
CHAPTER ONE
Present Day.
Night in Equestria was always something interesting; whether it be the moon glowing faintly in the sky, the nightlife in the local towns, or just the general beauty it brought, there was always something to look upon and ponder. Tonight was not one of those nights for a certain hedgehog, as he had other things to worry about…big things.
“Why do I always get called to do these things?” The stubby gray creature stopped for a moment to rub at the side of his head before continuing to bound down an alleyway. “I mean, I’ve like, been in Canterlot…was that the name…? For like, months now and I still don’t know anything about it.” He paused for a second, sniffing the air, before looking in the direction of an open bakery. “Is…is that chocolate…? Wait.”
Grubber shook his head and attempted with every ounce of willpower he had to turn his attention away from the bakery and toward the back of the alley, where he saw something glinting faintly in the moonlight. Eyes flashing, he crawled in the direction of the source, all the time wondering, assuming…
When he reached the source of the glint, it appeared to be covered by several pieces of worn paper and rotted confetti pieces; brushing them aside, he could see a polished piece of stone, cracked in some places but otherwise perfectly intact. His eyes glimmering brighter than the moon in the sky, Grubber reached down and gently stroked the piece, as if it were something incredibly precious.
“Finally…after so much searching…”
He gently wrapped his tiny paws around the piece and lifted it off the ground; despite its weight he held it as gently as he possibly could and turned around, attempting to conceal it from the gaze of anyone who may have been watching. Turning his head both ways, he snuck out of the alley, still keeping the stone shard tight to his chest as he bounded along the side of the main street, making sure to stay in the shadows just in case.
“Oh man this is so exciting!” He declared aloud as he rushed in the direction of Canterlot palace, attempting to keep his voice down but not really doing a good job of it. “I’m pretty sure this is the LAST piece. They’re gonna be sooo—OOF!”
He was cut off by a hard blow to the face, although to be entirely fair he was the one who ran into it, rather than it was delivered. Startled and injured slightly, he fell backwards, almost sending the stone piece flying but thankfully keeping his grip upon it. Groaning a bit, he rubbed at the bruise-mark on his face and looked up at the figure whom had stopped him. “Gods…what was THAT about?!”
“Sorry.” The figure, a rather slim-looking unicorn in a cloak and hood, lowered his front hoof, grinning slightly despite what had just happened to his companion. “Wasn’t really my fault though. You weren’t exactly paying attention.”
“Well…yeah, but…” Grubber wrinkled his nose and huffed in irritation. “Stop being so, like, SMART, Haze. You weren’t even the one who found, uh—“ He fumbled for the piece and proudly held it aloft. “See? I did it!”
Haze’s cloudy gray eyes glinted as he saw the piece; lowering his hood, he eyed it in anticipation, almost. He felt his tongue running over his teeth, the feeling was so intense. “Is…is it really…” He lowered his horn toward the piece, touching the tip against the dark green surface. A crackle of purple energy radiated from the piece, sending shivers through his body; gasping, he whipped his head upward, though grinning like a madman.
“Y-yes…it’s him…I feel it.”
Grubber looked unamused. “Dude, I could have told you that.”
Haze attempted to brush off the sarcasm and took the piece in his front hooves, stroking it as if it were something soft and gentle. He looked toward Grubber in fascination. “This is legitimately another piece. If this is, indeed, the last one…then…”
“I know, right? It’s so cool!” Grubber declared, grinning in response and pressing his paws against his cheeks; Haze sighed and, levitating the piece gently with his magic, began to make his way down a path near Canterlot palace. He stopped for a moment to look behind him.
“I suggest you make haste,” he told the little gray hedgehog, who seemed a little taken aback by the unicorn’s lack of reaction. “We don’t have much time. The spell HAS to be done under a full moon, otherwise it won’t take full effect. The moon is only fully aligned for five minutes as of tonight; if we mess up—“
“Okay, okay!” Grubber sighed and scurried after the unicorn. “Just, enough with the ‘smart’ stuff already. It’s making my head spin.” He knocked the side of his skull, as if to clarify this. Haze only gave a light smile in response, and the two continued down the path.
Eventually the path led directly behind Canterlot palace, near the fountains; however rather than going straight towards them Haze took a side-turn near the one at the far right, entering what appeared to be some kind of underground tunnel. Grubber followed him and the two kept up their pace, heading further down the tunnel, which dipped into a slope that revealed a hidden cavern.
The cavern appeared to have been around for some time, worn by erosion, but massive in size and beautiful as a cave interior could get. Water gently dripped from the overhead stalactites, making echoing plipping sounds, and the entire interior seemed to have been fully furnished…but with some rather unusual décor, especially for Equestrian origin.
The two bright blue slash-marks—the logo of the former Storm King—were plastered all over the interior of the cave; some were banners, others were posters, and some had even carved the insignia into the walls of the cave. They were everywhere and it was not an understatement at all to say EVERYWHERE. Black-and-gray banners were draped along the cavern walls, and a small shrine was set up in the back, lit by the glowing blue waters of a concentrated magic pool. Several figures, all draped in black cloaks and hoods, were hunched sitting around the shrine; one or two of them raised their heads when Haze and Grubber approached.
“Brother Haze…you have returned.” The tallest figure approached the two, tossing his head back to shift his hood down. His long beard trembled as his amber eyes fell upon the stone shard and his eyes widened. “No…that can’t be the last…is it…”
“It’s totally the last piece,” Grubber exclaimed, bouncing on his feet a bit. “And I was the one who found it. Like, in an alley. At night.” He waited a moment for a response from either stallion, but all he received was silence; he sighed again and threw his arms up. “FINE then, just ignore the fact that I did something for once.”
“We have ALL been working at this for months, to retrieve the pieces.” The old stallion with the amber eyes cast his gaze back toward the shrine, where the others were starting to come to attention. “They were very much scattered about after…the incident...occurred, but finally, at last…”
“It will not be long.” Haze’s eyes glinted as he levitated the piece in front of him, beginning to step towards the direction of the shrine. The others bowed their heads at first as the unicorn approached, but upon seeing the stone piece their gazes turned to surprise and shock, and they began chattering in low voices amongst themselves. Haze only looked at them for a tenth of a second before turning his full attention on what lay on an altar in the center of the shrine’s pool:
The once-shattered remains of the Storm King’s statue, scattered by carelessness and time, had been sought after and intricately, almost lovingly, pieced back together into a whole—only one part was missing, a part in his right side, and that in particular was the exact part Haze now possessed. He looked up toward the ceiling of the cave; the moon would only be aligned for so long, like had had stated to Grubber earlier. There was not much time left to draw out the spell.
“My liege…” Haze looked down upon the pieced-together remains, his irises seeming to waver as he fell upon the look of surprise and terror on the statue’s face; he couldn’t even imagine what could have gone through this beast’s mind as he fell to his seeming death. He shut his eyes for a brief moment before turning around and holding up the stone piece, throwing out his chest and booming loudly:
“My fellow Students of Nimbus!”
The others raised their heads, removing their hoods; most of them were surprisingly creatures of Equestrian origin if not all of them. They turned their full attention to Haze; Grubber plopped down in the back and pulled out a rather haggard-looking cupcake that he starting chewing on as he listened.
“Now that I have your full attention…” Haze took a deep breath and shut his eyes for a moment before continuing; his heart was pounding in his chest. He clenched his teeth. “It has been months…since the attack on Equestria. It has been months…since HER betrayal to our new leader.” He lifted the stone piece higher. “But we have toiled, and we have persevered. Now, the moment of the endless storm is nigh. We have the last piece—“
“Found by me!”
Haze wrinkled his muzzle a bit at Grubber’s abrupt interruption but continued onward: “We have the last piece, and, through the will of Starswirl, we SHALL make him whole again.” He turned toward the statue, beginning to lower the piece in place. “The time will only be right for so long, my fellow Students. Once I lower the piece…prepare to cast the spell.”
The others uttered a low chant in tongues and nodded in response. Haze, using his magic to guide the piece, gently lowered it into place as if putting the final piece into a puzzle; it crackled again with that same purple lightning slightly as it slid into its proper slot. They had done it; the statue was now whole.
There was only one thing left to do.
Raising his head, his horn glowing with bright green arcane energy, he began to chant a spell in old Ponish, as the others joined in, having memorized the spell to perfection. The entire room was filled with the murmuring voices of the ones who desired his return; Haze’s horn glowed ever brighter, his body trembling as the arcane glow spread to his sclera and tinted it neon.
All of their energy, all of their power…Haze felt it within him.
It was working.
One last thing…just one…
Haze took in a breath and, without hesitating for a second, brought his brightly-glowing horn down upon the statue’s chest, sending a shockwave of green energy into the center, which radiated out in cracks of purple energy along the statue’s surface. The cracks split and spread throughout the entire statue, rays of violet light starting to shine through them…until…finally...
“GUH—!”
Indeed, the spell worked; the stone surface began to crumble and disintegrate away to reveal the flesh-and-bone body of the Storm King, who immediately broke out of the pose he had been in and threw up his chest, gasping for air, his eyes still wide as saucers. The entire room broke out into cheers of rejoice as he continued to attempt to draw in breath, and Haze stepped back a few paces, his head lowered in respect.
After a few moments of attempting to breathe again for the first time in months, the furred beast finally became aware of his surroundings, and he slowly sat up, rubbing at his back in the process. “Ugh, geez…” He shook his head. “Wh-where am I, even? I…I barely remember anything…like, I remember that stupid unicorn making me mess up the…OW, my back…”
“My liege, are you injured?” Haze reached out a hoof but the Storm King recoiled from it, looking both disgusted and shocked.
“Who are you?!” he demanded; looking around frantically he could tell he was in an entirely different place than he had recognized before, and could not quite fully wrap his mind around what was going on.
Fortunately, Grubber was there, in a sense. “Oh, right…you see, uh…how do I put this lightly…” He rubbed the back of his head and took another chew of the cupcake he had been eating. “You, uh…kinda DIED earlier, like, months ago.”
The Storm King blinked and eyed Grubber in stupor for a moment, before the memories finally began to float to the surface and everything came back in a tremendous surge of racing thoughts. The invasion, Tempest Shadow, him attempting to disable that purple alicorn, the numbness that shot through his body as he was slowly petrified…uttering a slight yelp of pain, he clutched at his head with both hands, recoiling slightly from the pressure of his mixed emotions. Grubber took another bite of the cupcake, unfazed.
“Yeah, I guess you DO remember.” He looked down at the cupcake before looking back up at his former master and grinning nervously. “S-sorry.”
“I…I failed…” There was a moment of silence before he slapped a hand to his forehead and growled angrily. “I actually FAILED an invasion! How do you even DO that?! If it weren’t for those friggin’ annoying—“
He then noticed that Haze was watching him and whipped his head to face the unicorn, glowering at him; Haze’s eyes flickered with hope and admiration and he bowed his upper body down before the goat-like beast, refusing to take his gaze off of the splendor.
“I…m-my liege…” The Storm King tilted his head slightly at this remark; Haze’s eyes continued to glimmer and waver with admiration as he spoke. “We…all of us…have waited so, so long for this moment. The moment we could speak to you in pony…the moment we could proudly say, that we want you as our ever-powerful Equestrian ruler…”
“I…wait, what?” The beast looked stupefied at this remark; he shifted himself into a sitting position against the altar. “You guys actually WANT me to take over this fluffball place? Uh…” He stopped for a moment and eyed Grubber. “Who are these guys, again…?”
“I think they’re some kinda cult,” Grubber replied; he looked down at his hand and saw that there were only a few crumbs left and his face fell slightly before he continued. “Aww…uh, anyway, they and I, we kinda worked for like, months to repair your body so you could be revived or whatever. It sorta shattered into pieces ‘n stuff when you fell off the balcony.”
Really doesn’t sound like you, Storm thought, but admittedly he was relieved to have his body alive and moving again, and even if they WERE Equestrians, he had them to thank for it. Figuring he should at least attempt proper communication, he cleared his throat, slipping off the altar and getting to his feet. “So, uh…your name…your, uh, cult thing…tell me about it?”
“We are the Students of Nimbus,” Haze replied proudly, puffing out his chest slightly. He smiled knowingly. “I, alongside Stratos—“ He gestured toward the elderly stallion with the amber eyes from earlier—“are believers of a never-ending storm…a storm, that brings not ruin, but change for the better. We believe, that YOU are the one who will ultimately change all of Equestria…make it a properly-run place to live and work.” The goat-beast raised an eyebrow at this statement but said nothing. “Your death was untimely and a foil in our plan; thus we toiled for months, as your friend said, to recover the pieces of your statue after it fell.”
“Huh…nice names, at least.” The Storm King pushed past Haze and pondered a bit at the crowd of admirers. “So, you all support me, huh? Nice. But…not enough for a new army, unfortunately.” He tapped his chin in thought. “Although we could do it as an…INSIDE job, of sorts. Tempest Shadow…” He uttered a low, guttural growl and clenched his fist, as if even saying the name made him irritable. “When I get my hands on her scrawny little neck—“
“I dunno if that’s a good idea, ‘cause, you know, Tempest is backed by the entire Royal Guard here now,” Grubber interrupted, searching around for any more snacks or at least edibles that may have been in the area. “And the Royal Guard, I mean, they kinda weren’t there the first time we invaded for some strange reason, but she kinda…stole the combat training you gave her and used it on them…” He grinned weakly and withdrew slightly when he saw Storm glowering at him. “J-just saying…”
“Great.” The goat-beast huffed in annoyance and folded his arms. “And what became of my other soldiers, then? Surely there must have been some that—“
“Aw no, they’re reformed last I checked. Saw some the other day, you know, when I was searching about for stuff…they were kinda making a dart-throwing game outta one of your images…”
“Are you just saying these things to annoy me, or are you just being too BLUNT?!”
Grubber’s head almost sank into his shoulders, he was so taken aback by the shouting of the last word. His ears flattened a bit as the goat-beast snarled at him. “Geez, don’t take my head off…I’m just trying to fill you in on what happened…”
“Ugh.” The Storm King rubbed at his temples before speaking again. “So, basically, lemme get this entirely straight…you guys revived me, and plan to have me take over again…with no allies, no resources, and NO ARMY?!” He practically screamed the last two words, causing a loud echo to resonate through the cavern and causing the Students to cower in fear. Furiously, he looked over at Haze and Stratos, who already appeared quite distraught. “REALLY don’t bother to think things through, do you!”
“I…but…I worked so hard…to revive you…”
“What is the POINT if I don’t have anything in my power?! You Ponies are useless! I swear, this place isn’t even WORTH taking over at this point…”
“I…”
Haze’s mouth trembled slightly, and he hung his head; though it was in the shadows a few tears were visible dripping from his muzzle and onto the ground. Stratos placed a hoof next to his, before glaring up at the furred beast angrily.
“So this…” His voice trembled as he spoke the words. “THIS is the amount of gratitude we get for sparing your soul from eternal Hell. I now know…” Haze pressed his muzzle against Stratos’s side, still trembling with sorrow, and Stratos looked the Storm King dead in the eye. “I know…what Tempest saw.”
Storm’s eyes widened and he backed up a step; something very faint flashed in his memory but it was gone as quickly as it had surfaced. Whatever it was, however, stirred something within him, and his anger dissipated, to be replaced by the faintest hint of regret. The Students around him had begun talking amongst themselves; though they were whispering he could catch bits and pieces of what they were saying:
“Moronic beast…”
“Can’t believe…”
“Such arrogance…”
The goat-beast’s heart rate began to speed up for some reason, and for a brief moment he felt the urge to collapse, but again, it was only for a short period of time, and he couldn’t quite place a finger on why. He shut his eyes so all that he could do was hear…hear the whispers of hatred, hear the muffled sobs of the one whom he had screamed at. It was all too familiar to him, but this time…it wasn’t right. It wasn’t proper.
Stratos’s gaze turned cold as he pointed a hoof toward the sloping entrance—or in this case, exit—of the cavern. “I suggest that you leave,” he said, his voice emotionless as his stare. “The Students of Nimbus…were wrong, it seems, about you.”
I’m sorry…
Storm heard the voice then; it sounded faint and like it was coming from someone underwater, but it was there. He looked around, attempting to find the source of the strange, childlike anomaly, but it was to no avail. Stratos’s eyes narrowed further.
“I said LEAVE!” he shouted, stomping one hoof into the dirt. “Or are you as dense as you are arrogant?!”
The beast whipped his head in Stratos’s direction angrily, pointing a clawed finger at his muzzle. “You WATCH what you say to me, you old, rotting—“
Forgive me…
The voice echoed again within his consciousness; he winced slightly and stopped mid-sentence, lowering his hand in the process. Seeping in a breath through his teeth, he stepped past Stratos, his head held high and his tail curled upward as he approached the exit.
“Let’s go, Grubber.” He turned back to look at the gray hedgehog, who eyed him with a mixture of curiosity and surprise. “I don’t need a group of…Ponies…to help me regain my hold on what was once mine.”
“But…” Grubber chewed on his lower lip as he eyed the distraught Equestrians, before looking into his former master’s eyes and sensing something within them…something that both made him cower with fear and light up with hope. Whatever the case was, something in the subconscious implied that he follow, and he did so, scrambling to his feet and bounding after him as they left the tunnel, arriving on the surface.
The Storm King immediately looked upward toward the night sky when they stepped upon the grassy terrain; it had been awhile since he had remembered seeing a moonlit sky this bright before…but then again he had been in darkness for months. There was no pain, no noise, and no emotion…just the endless feeling of emptiness that had reflected so much on his own mind.
“It’s something else, isn’t it?”
The goat-beast snapped out of his reverie and looked down at Grubber, who was eyeing him with a bit of suspicion; he forced a cracked smile. “N-no…it’s nothing like that. I, uh…” He crossed his arms and looked upward again, toward the moon. “We need to get out of this sparkle-happy place before anyone spots us, is all I was thinking. We should probably find a proper hiding place tonight…we’ll set out toward the south in the morning---“
“Why the south?”
There was no answer from Storm for quite awhile; he finally sighed and started pacing across the grass, away from the palace. “I rule the lands…well, USED to rule the lands…south of here, remember? Besides…” He briefly clutched a fist to his chest, although Grubber could not see it.
“There’s something there…I need to do…”