Dawn of the Storm

by Real Solaris

Manehattan Spark

Manehattan - the city that never sleeps. It is the cultural, financial, media, and entertainment capital of the Equestrian world and the heart of “the Big Apple.” The city sits on many islands, with multiple bridges dotting the sides and stretching across the rivers that separate it from the mainland. Every square inch is covered in concrete and asphalt, with many skyscrapers shooting up into the sky, seemingly scraping it, hence the name. One building stands out above the rest - the Liberty Mare. Placed on an island offset from the city, the oxidized copper monument is a symbol of freedom and justice, and a welcome sight to any creature that sails into the harbors from another land.

The city is alive with noise and sights, with sirens being heard all across it, indicating that paramedics are on the way to an accident scene, firefighters fighting raging fires, or law enforcers chasing a thief on the run. Even the streets themselves are bustling with activity, carriages, ponies, and Mobians going to and from their destinations, and shopkeepers selling produce to hungry customers on the sidewalks.

Railway tracks run all throughout Manehattan, whether they be on steel supports or deep underground. Trains run in between stations, picking up passengers to take to their next stop or out of the city. Plains and small rolling hills surround the city, roads and railway tracks cutting through them, with trains and carriages traveling along them, leading to the city and places beyond.

On one particular hill, just outside of the city perimeters, a golden flash of magic is seen, and with a loud *BAMF* leaves behind a group of pegasi guards and one human/hedgehog hybrid - which means that Celestia’s teleportation spell had successfully teleported Tionic and his group to their destination.

Shaking off the small amount of nausea that came with the teleport, Tionic looks around, getting his bearings as to where he and his group had landed, all while looking for the distinct purple hue of Storm clouds.

‘Doesn’t seem like there’s anything visible from the ground,’ Tionic thinks to himself, tapping his foot, thinking about what he could do at the moment. ‘Maybe if I get an aerial view of the city, we might spot something.’ He then turns to the pegasi guard.

“Okay, can one of you get a bird’s eye view of the area and see if there’s any sign of those Storm clouds?” asks Tionic, gesturing to the group of pegasi.

“Will do, sir!” salutes a male pegasus, flaring his wings and taking off up into the sky. Once he feels that he has reached a high enough altitude, the guard starts hovering, then scanning the city skyline from afar. Unfortunately, the skies across Manehattan are clear, and there are no signs of Storm activity to be seen.

“Any luck up there?”

“Nothing for miles, sir. Just clear blue skies from what I can see. There isn’t even a cloud in sight either! A little odd considering the thunderstorm that came through earlier.”

“Thanks for the report,” says Tionic, then motioning for the guard to come back. “You’re good to come down now.” As the pegasus floats back down to the ground, the hedgehog starts formulating a plan to find the Storm clouds.

“Alright soldiers, listen up!” shouts Tionic, the guard’s heads turning to the human/hedgehog. “We’re going to split up into five groups of ten. Each group will patrol a quadrant of the city and look for any signs of the Storm Clouds. If one group does, send the fastest in your group to find me. Just look for a blue streak and you’ll find me. Any questions?”

"Where will we meet up after patrolling the city?" asks a male guard in the middle of the group.

"We'll rendezvous back here in about ten minutes," answers Tionic, stretching out a bit. "If anything unexpected happens, head here. Alright soldiers, good luck out there."

And with that, Tionic takes off, leaving behind a streak of blue electricity behind him, his powers in full effect. The guards follow suit, splitting into their groups of ten before heading into the skies of Manehattan.

Unbeknownst to them, a smoky purple cloud was watching them, a pair of yellow eyes peering through the cloud. Then, the smoky veil zips off, heading to an undisclosed location somewhere in the city.

---

Tionic zips up and down the streets, leaving an electric blue streak behind as his powers propel him forward. The supersonic human/hedgehog hybrid looks for any signs of purple, racing up and down buildings and through alleyways. Heading for the Liberty Mare, he runs across the water fast enough to not break the surface tension. Reaching the island, he zips up the side of the statue before jumping, landing perfectly on the tip of the metal torch that housed the powerful lamp inside. Tionic takes a moment to take in the view from there, eyeing the skyline as his scarf dance around him.

“Man,” he says, smiling at the view. “One of these days I’ve got to take Twilight out on one of my early morning runs. She would absolutely love this! Maybe when this is all over I’ll ask her about it.”

The hybrid stays another moment longer before backflipping off the torch, angling himself close enough to the statue for him to start running again. Before hitting the ground he pushes off, letting him run off the island and onto the water in a fraction of a second. He uses the waterways to navigate farther down into the city, splashing water on unsuspecting ponies. After searching as well as he can, Tionic makes a U-turn on the water, using his hand to balance himself as he makes the tricky maneuver. With a burst of speed, the hybrid heads back to the rendezvous point, hoping that the guards had a little more luck in their search. Reaching the hill, he spots everypony just arriving at the same time, their military training showing.

“Any luck?” Tionic asks, looking around. They all shake their heads, confirming his worst fear. Rubbing his temples, the speedster sighs. “Great. You’d think a mass of clouds would be easy to find, but nooo, it’s gonna be harder than trying to find a needle in a haystack!”

“Actually, sir,” says one of the guards, the tone of their voice indicating they were female. She pulls out a small crystal from her pouch and presents it to their leader. “There was something we found, but it probably doesn’t have anything to do with this storm we’re trying to find.”

“Where’d you find it?” asks Tionic, taking the gem from her and looking it over. The crystal looked like it was drained of its color, as the center was jet black, with no light able to penetrate it. The only indication that it used to be any other color was the faint traces of purple along the edges.

“While we were flying over the south end of Central Park, one of my spotters saw it lying on the grass,” she explains, gesturing to one of the ponies in her team. “It didn’t look like much, but the look of it was too uncanny. It reminds me of tales of King Sombra, who used crystals that looked eerily similar to this.

“Were there any others?” ponders Tionic, handing the crystal back. “Or was it just the one?”

“That was the only one we saw,” answers the guard. “We did search the area, but we didn’t find anything.”

“Maybe that’s because you didn’t have the time to do a full sweep of the area,” muses the hybrid, before turning to his troops. “Alright, we’re going to diverge our attention to Central Park. We need to see if there are any traces of that crystal that were left behind. Two teams will search up north, while the rest of you will join me on the south end. Scour the place for tracks, clues, anything really. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll find out where the Storm is. Report back to me if you do find something. Alright, let’s move out!”

With a blast of wind and electricity, Tionic takes off toward the city once again, this time with an entire platoon of pegasi Royal Guards in tow. Once they reach the park, they split up as planned and begin searching. Tionic heads to the spot where the guard found the crystal and starts there. A few minutes later, he spots another crystal nearby, this one in the roots of a tree. Picking it up, he notices something.

“Ash?” he mutters, wiping the spot where the crystal was. He finds his fingers covered in soot, noticing something odd about the powdery substance. “It looks like there’s a tinge of purple to it, just like the gems.”

“Something’s going on here…” Tionic says, narrowing his eyes as he wipes the soot off his fingers in the grass. He then notices one of the guards flying his way.

“Sir! We’ve found another crystal!” the guard exclaims, holding out the gem.

“Same here,” says Tionic, holding up his own crystal. “I’m starting to think there’s a lot more where these things came from.”

“Sir, where are we going to put them?” the guard asks. “It’s not like we can carry them all if we keep finding more.”

“I’ll think of something,” answers the hybrid. “Toss me that gem and head back to your squadron. I’ll handle it from here.”

“Yes, sir!” salutes the guard, before handing the gem over. He then takes off, heading back to where his team was. Tionic then begins to think, wondering where to put all of the crystals if they continue finding them at this pace.

“He did raise a good question,” says Tionic, scratching his chin. “We can’t just leave these lying around. Someone might come across ‘em and take one! We’ll need something to put these in as we find them. Maybe some of Applejack’s apple bags will do the trick?”

With a loud *BOOM* Tionic rockets off, and before the shockwave dissipates, he’s back, six bags in hand. “There we go, six bags to go! Hopefully, she doesn't mind me taking them.”

Putting the two gems he has into one of the bags, he spots another guard heading his way. Explaining the idea he has, the guard nods, understanding the plan. He takes one of the bags and heads off to his team. “Now to get the rest of these bags to the others,” Tionic says, before zipping off through the park. Distributing the bags out, the teams begin searching for more crystals, all while looking for any trace of the Storm clouds. Unbeknownst to them, they are being watched by the same eyes from before, every move they make is seen by the piercing yellow dots.

One hour later…

“… and that’s the last one!” grunts Tionic, hoisting the bulging bag off his shoulder and next to the others. Everypony had searched the entire park from top to bottom, making sure not to leave any stone unturned. Every bag that Tionic had brought was bulging, barely able to contain the number of crystals that they had found.

“If Spike saw how many gems we got from this little hunt, I know he’d be drooling buckets.” chuckles Tionic, imagining how his little brother would react to this sight to a T. “Now we just need to figure out where these things come from. What we know is that these things suddenly appeared all over Central Park less than three hours ago, and they all have scorch marks underneath them, even the ones in the water. Any ideas?”

“They do seem to correspond with the first sighting of the Storm clouds,” offers a guard. “Do you think they’re linked in some way?

“At this point, it seems likely,” agrees the hybrid. “Plus, the timing and the scorch marks underneath them pretty much scream Storm Lightning. But what I don’t get is why they look like they’ve been drained. What happened to them for that to happen?”

“That is because I took their power,” a voice from above suddenly says. Everyone present looks up to see the source of the voice - a purple cloud, hovering over the bags. Two beady yellow dots peer out from the haze, eyeing the group before it. Every guard whips out a spear from their pouch before getting into a defensive position, ready to attack at any moment. Tionic stands there calmly, eying the cloud as it continues to speak.

“Thank you for gathering the crystals for me,” says the cloud. “It is quite impressive that you managed to collect them all within the hour of arriving here. I’ve never seen such teamwork in play before.”

“Whom do we owe the pleasure to..?” asks the speedster, hoping to get a name from their cloudy little ‘friend’.

“You will know who I am soon enough,” chuckles the cloud, sparking slightly.

“Uh-huh, sure,” says the hybrid. “Anyway, why do you want these gems? They seem pretty useless to me.”

“These crystals are more than just simple batteries,” the cloud answers. “They are also used to construct my body.”

“Hold up. If you needed them to make your body,” states Tionic, folding his arms across his chest. “Then why did you leave them where they were? Couldn’t you have done it yourself?”

“I cannot interact with physical objects,” explains the cloud, the sparking getting faster. “Hence why I left the gems themselves behind but took their power.”

“What about the scorch marks left behind?” wonders Tionic, gesturing to a nearby spot where a crystal was found. “Was that you?”

“No, those were there before,” answers the cloud. “Tell me, were there any thunderstorms in the recent hours?”

“Not sure what that has anything to do with it,” Tionic says, a little confused. “But I think there might’ve been one before we came here.”

“Then you have your answer,” says the cloud, sparking even more now.

The pieces suddenly click inside Tionic’s head. “…the Storm was already here. The timing, the scorch marks, the coloration of the gems, it all makes sense now!”

“I see you’ve finally caught on, blue one,” the cloud chuckles darkly, sparking even more. “Care to elaborate?”

“When the Storm hit Manehattan earlier,” begins Tionic. “The Lightning struck in various places in Central Park, The scorch marks are from the bolts of lightning striking the ground before condensing into the gems in the bags. After that, you came along and started taking the power from inside, slowly growing in power until you were strong enough.”

“Strong enough for what?” humors the cloud, now violently sparking.

“You couldn’t do it all at once,” explains the hybrid. “If you took it all in at once, your body wouldn’t have been able to handle the stress from the power overload. That’s why you dispersed the gems and came down the way you are now.”

“Bingo,” says the cloud, before the lightning accumulating beneath it strikes the bags of crystals, vaporizing the bags in an instant. They all flash a hot pink before swirling around the cloud, which dissipates into a mass of crystals. The gems begin to form the shape of a being that Tionic recognized all too well…

“Tirek.” growls the hybrid, clenching his fists. “At least, you look like him.”

The centaur applauds, lightning sparking every time his gem-incrusted hands touch. “Correct, and I do go by another name. My name is Stormrek, Conqueror of the Storm. I will admit though, your deduction skills are a sight to behold.”

“I’m flattered,” teases the sparking hybrid. “But you’re out of luck… I’m already taken.”

Stormrek chuckles at this. “A comedian as well? Quite impressive, hedgehog. I never thought you were that talented!”

“First off,” Tionic says, holding a finger up. “If you’re gonna call me something, I’m a hybrid, not a hedgehog. That’s Sonic’s thing. Second, I like to keep ‘em guessing. They can’t expect what they don’t know, right?”

“A tactician as well?” muses the centaur. “You are a man of many talents.”

“As much as I’m enjoying the lovely chat,” says the hybrid, folding his arms across his chest. “I can feel bloodlust coming off of you in waves. You really want to fight me, don’t you?”

“Yes, I am itching to fight,” agrees Stormrek. “Me versus you. No bars held. Your guards can go help evacuate the area of any civilians before we duke it out.”

“Wait, you care about the civilians?” Tionic asks, bewildered by this. “I thought you wouldn’t care less about what happens to them.”

“Oh, I don’t,” says the centaur. ”I just want you to fight at your fullest without worrying about hurting an innocent pony or Mobian.”

“There it is,” groans Tionic, slapping his forehead. “For a second there, I thought I had just come across a villain that actually cares about others.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” laughs Stormrek, the crystals on his body glowing. “I will wait for as long as it takes for you to prepare.”

“Yeah… will do,” says the hybrid, narrowing his eyes. He then turns to the guards he came with. “He’s right. You guys need to help evacuate the area before things get messy. If past experience says anything, this is going to be big. You know what to do - get the civilians out of the park and create a perimeter. Get the police’s help and, if needed, clear a three-block area around the park. That should give us enough of a cushion in case things get hairy. Split your teams and move out. Good luck.”

Nodding in silent agreement, they had off to do their duty. Turning back to the centaur, Tionic’s eyes spark blue. His power then fully shows, select quills glowing the same lightning blue as his eyes, electricity dancing across his body. He gets down into a starting position, sparking even more. “Alright, Stormrek. You want a fight? Then let’s fight.”

“Gladly, hybrid,” chuckles the centaur. “I’ll let you throw the first punch.”

“Your loss!” shrugs Tionic, charging his power up before blitzing at the centaur’s face, curling into a ball. Said centaur manages to cross his arms in front of his face, shielding it. But it doesn’t stop the blue ball of lightning. The impact alone knocks Stormrek back about a hundred meters, dragging his feet in the ground to slow himself down. “Oof! You really do pack a punch!”

Before he can even react, Tionic has closed the gap, his right leg raised as he gets ready to kick the centaur in the face. Stormrek barely manages to dodge the attack and reciprocates with an attack of his own. Charging his mana and the Storm up, he fires a beam from in between his now yellow horns, engulfing the hybrid entirely. Tionic recovers, skidding to a halt before shaking off the soot from the attack, his body sparking even more. “Heh! So do you!”

They both charge at the same time, the electricity coming off their bodies connecting, each fighting for supremacy as the two clash over and over, punches dodged, and Spindashes caught. Each clash shatters more of the landscape around them, slowly reducing the green grass with earthen dirt. The two titans then separate after a particularly long bout, skidding back from the force of the last attack. Stormrek recovers first, allowing him to fire a beam of energy at the hybrid. Luckily, he manages to dodge the attack, but he doesn’t get to rest for long. The beam then follows him, forcing Tionic the blitz off. Stormrek manages to keep up with the speedster as he zips around the park, parkouring over fallen trees and mounds of rubble.

“How much mana do you have?!” shouts Tionic. “With the amount of mana you’re putting into that, surely you’re gonna run out sooner or later, right?!”

“Even I don’t know the upper limits of my strength!” laughs the centaur, still casting the spell. ‘’Would you like to find out?”

“No thanks!” declines Tionic. “I’d rather live!” He blasts off once more, hoping to lose the beam that was hot on his tail. He then rushes towards the centaur, taking him off guard. Using the opening he created, the hybrid cranks his awareness up to the max, effectively slowing down time to a standstill. Taking advantage of this, Tionic slams his body into Stormrek’s left horn, shattering it to pieces. He then hits the centaur’s face with multiple well-placed haymakers, before landing a nasty uppercut to his chin before letting time flow normally again.

Combined with the amount of damage that Stormrek had received, and the number of punches in such a short amount of time, the inertia sent him flying skyward. Seeing this, Tionic jumps up, leveling out with his opponent in a fraction of a second. He then begins to pummel the centaur with Spindashes, a flash of bright blue light sounding off each attack. The hybrid moves so fast that he manages to hit Stormrek twice at the same time, which stopped his ascent to the clouds. With a grunt, Tionic slams an electrically laced left leg into the centaur's face, rocketing him down to the ground. The speedster then boosts downwards, intent on landing the final blow.

But before he can do anything, Stormrek manages to fire off a beam of energy that, once it engulfs Tionic, explodes violently. The two combatants slam into the ground at the same time, the force of their landing creating craters. After the dust begins to settle, the two fighters manage to climb out of the holes they made, albeit slowly. Both are bruised, battered, and scratched up, and they know it.

“It seems that we are both at our limits,” laughs Stormrek. “Whoever lands their attack first will be the deciding winner.”

Tionic shakes his head free of the dust and dirt that had found its way into his quills, before reaching into them and pulling out three Power Rings, making a slight *dling* as they rub together. “You got that right, Stormrek. Last one standing takes it all!”

“Don't hold back on me, hybrid!” shouts the centaur, before channeling all of his remaining mana and energy into a ball that floated just above his head. His body sparks with electricity, the plasma dancing across his body as it converged on the ball of power.

“Oh, I won’t!” Tionic shouts back. A loud clap of thunder echoes across the park as the speedster taps fully into his power. He then gets into a starting position before clenching the Power Rings, absorbing them with a *D-D-DLING*, letting the Chaos energies flow through his body. The sparks of electricity dancing on his body turn into bolts of lightning, shattering the ground each time they came in contact.

And without warning, both release their attacks. Tionic breaks the sound barrier five times over, the massive shockwave blasting anything not rooted into the ground. Even so, not even the nearby trees that had managed to survive the onslaught were ripped from the earth. Stormrek’s own attack was super-massive, nearly five meters wide and crackling with Storm Lightning. The two collide head-on, the hybrid’s body generating massive amounts of sparks while grinding against the centaur attack. A sudden flash of white erupts from the clash, blinding anyone unfortunate enough to be in range before a massive explosion rips through the streets of the city. Gusts of wind blast through the streets, knocking every light post down for blocks, and causing any Pegasi unfortunate enough to be in the air at the time to make a crash landing. Hats flew off heads, and whoever wasn’t holding onto their stuff found themselves empty-handed/hooved in a blink of an eye.

As the wind and dust from the explosion settle, Tionic and Stormrek are seen standing off against each other. With a loud grunt, the massive centaur falls over, meaning that Tionic had won the fight. Said speedster walks over to the fallen combatant, before folding his arms across his chest. “You put up a pretty good fight,” compliments the hybrid. “For a second out there, I thought that I might’ve lost.”

“You certainly know how to put a villain in their place,” chuckles Stormrek, his body suddenly beginning to crack. “I feel fulfilled in my quest for a good fight, hybrid. Thank you.”

“I help everyone, not just my friends,” elaborates Tionic, before the cracks on the centaur’s body catch his eye. “You good?”

“My body can no longer handle the strength of the Storm,” reveals Stormrek, the cracks now up to his midsection. “After taking so much damage from you, it was only a matter of time before it gave out.”

“One more thing before I go, hybrid,” grunts Stormrek as the cracks reach his neck. “If you want to go after the Storm King himself, you’ll need some advice. Aim for the yellow…”

He never finishes. With a loud *KSSH*, the centaur’s body shatters into the crystals from earlier, piling on each other. But before Tionic can react, the crystals turn to smoke, rising up into the atmosphere of the planet before a glimmer of light from the ground catches the hybrid’s eye. Looking down, he notices a purple and pink gem lying in the grass. Picking it up, Tionic instantly recognizes it as one of the crystals that constructed Stormrek’s body. Chuckling to himself, the hybrid looks at it for a moment longer before pocketing the gem.

“You put up one heck of a fight,” states Tionic, gazing up at the blue sky. “I’ll be sure to not forget about you for a while.” He then notices the absolute devastation of Central Park. Trees were uprooted, craters dotted all around, upturned dirt and grass, and smoldering holes.

“Well, you definitely left a mess for me to clean up though,” groans the speedster. “I’ll just have to leave that to the authorities and the gardeners here. I gotta round up my troops and head back to Canterlot.” With a *BOOM*, he takes off running, his electricity trailing behind him as he heads out of the park.

Author's Note:

Back to back chapter release?! Whaaaat?!

Okay, in all seriousness though. I took the effort to get this chapter out sooner than I thought since school started back up. So, I wanted to get on this as soon as possible before things got out of hand.

Hope you enjoy this new installment of The Dawn of the Storm. I know I did! WOO

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

What is that thing in the cover art?

[Real Solaris]

11340760
That’s what’s known as the Storm King. That walking (or floating in his case) nightmare is from Fornite: Save the World. If you read the fourth chapter Real explains it a little more.