The first sensation that came to her when she awoke was a sense of calm. A calm that told her she was in a place of safety, that she would not be hurt here. Yet even as that sensation passed, a wave of fear washed over her as she realized that she could not feel any part of her body. She tried to open her eyes only to realize that she had no eyes, nor any other part of her body.

'No, let me see!' As soon as the thought crossed her mind she could see, but unlike her eyes, she could see in all directions, yet all she saw was whiteness. 'I meant, let me see with my eyes! Give me back my body!' Again, the thought crossed her mind and the thought became reality. Her vision returned to what she remembered it being, and that allowed her to look at herself. Everything was silverish now, with strange markings covering her body.

'W-what happened to me?' she asked, only to realize that she had no mouth with which to do so. It was as if her very thoughts had become words. Shakily, she pushed herself to a standing position, fear starting to creep back in when she realized that she did not feel her body anymore. Her mane tumbled down to the side of her head and she saw that it too was silver. 'Why am I silver now? What am I now?' In a brief instance, she looked down at her legs, her eyes widening when she saw a quick vein of lightning flash through her arm.

'Where am I? What happened to me?' she asked no one again, panic flooding through her as she started to look around. 'Mom! Sister! Somepony?! I want to get out of here!' She roared with fear and threw her head back, unintentionally throwing out a sphere of magic that hung in the air, growing larger until it had formed a massive sphere. The silver pony looked not so much at the sphere with awe, but instead marveled at what was inside of it.

'That looks...so cool!' she yelled despite herself as she looked through the sphere. In the sphere was a number of floating cities, all of which had amazing blimps floating between them, but the blimps seemed to run on steam, instead of magic like the ones she knew did. 'Is that my world...no, it doesn't look like mine. Is this one of those other dimensions I was told about? Can I see more?' With no way to tell the time in her reality, the silver one did not know how long she took to activate another one of the spheres, but eventually she managed to create a second one.

'Ugh, that one kind of scares me,' she muttered as she looked upon a land where the undead shambled around cities that seemed to be in space. She was put off by how the undead looked like the species from which Teth came, yet she wasn't too certain if they were the same. 'Let's try another one that doesn't have to do with undead nightmares. Don't want them in my world.' she muttered, but the moment she did so the orb shot off into the silver and vanished, leaving her confused.

'Wait a moment, how am I doing all of this?' she asked herself, when it dawned on her that she should not be able to do all of these feats. 'I'm not a unicorn, so how can I cast magic? Is this even magic?' She looked around at herself to see if she could find the reason, but the answer was one that she had not expected. 'Whoa, why is there an orb in my chest? How long has that been there?' The orb was an even brighter silver in here, and she assumed it was what was giving her the powers that she now had. But as she looked around the emptiness, she began to wonder something.

'So, if I have this orb...does that mean I can use magic now?' she wondered as she looked around the room, thinking that the place could use some livening up. She thought hard about what she wanted and cast a wisp of silver that shot into the ground, creating a silver tree that shone like the stars in front of her. 'No way! This is so cool!' She began casting silver magic right and left, creating everything from couches and chairs to buildings the size of mountains.

'Ugh, what's happening?' she muttered as she cast a spell that almost recreated the city of Canterlot, looking down at her hoof to see her form flickering violently. 'Did I overdo it? I guess that would make sense, even unicorns have to rest after casting so much magic. But now I'm even more powerful than a unicorn! I might even be as strong as mo--'

She screamed as images began to flash through her mind, pain flooding through her even though she didn't know how she was feeling it. Her eyes opened and all she could see was a darkness falling over the land of the ponies, with a monstrous demon-like dragon creature with black wings and green eyes consuming everything in sight. If she had tears, she would have cried at all the destruction and death, but just when everything was about to be consumed by darkness, six lights shown with power that pushed the darkness back.

'The abandoned god that must learn the ultimate magic. Two who have been cast out who must learn to smile. The second coming of the knight who must face the truth. The misfit deemed a hero who must learn to care. The knight in rusted armor who must learn to be true. The human freed who must learn to let go of the past.' The silver mare had no idea what these words meant, but as she looked up at the dark characters who wielded the lights, they used their combined powers to push back against the darkness. An alicorn, a monstrous form, and a being with a cape and amazing powers battled against them, along with four other creatures, yet with the power of the six they were able to overcome the four, yet the real battle began then. The six and the darkness began to fight before the vision vanished, leaving the mare confused.

'What does all of this mean?' she asked the voice as the images vanished from her mind, looking around to see if she could find the source of the voice.

'Find the six champions. Help them re-forge what was lost. They are the only hope to save the worlds.' The silver mare looked around for a moment before she began to become afraid again. A few moments ago she wasn't even sure if she existed, yet here she was being told that she needed to gather...champions to save her world and maybe the others.

'But how do I do this?' she asked the voice, getting no verbal answer. Instead, a stream of silver left her and created a path to a sphere behind her, where she could see a small house overlooking the ocean, where an old lady with a number of odd needles and vials sat. 'That is where I need to go to start? Is that where I'll find answers about what happened to me?' There was no answer, so she inhaled (and then realized that she no longer needed to breathe) she walked into the sphere, her world going silver as the voice said one last time:

'And remember, a champion can be anyone. Even if it seems they cannot.'

S=H=A=Z=A=M

Black Adam groaned once before he slowly sat up, rubbing his head as he tried to remember what happened to him to place him in such a state. A quick glance of the room he now occupied told him that he was once again in the Canterlonian hospital, yet why he was here eluded him.

"Teth!" From the magical energy he sensed along with the white wings that now covered him, Adam assumed that it was Celestia who had brought him here. Now it was time to find out what had put him here. "Thank Faust, you're alright. I didn't now what to think when you suddenly collapsed in the middle of the meeting with the griffon ambassadors, so I called off the meeting and brought you here."

"Yeah, why did you collapse anyway?" Radiance asked as Adam turned his head to find her sitting on the other side of his bed. Adam gently pushed Celestia off of him as he closed his eyes, trying to think of what had happened. "I mean, you should have seen the smiles on the griffons' faces when you fell over. I bet now they think that you have a weakness or something."

"I'm just glad you're safe," Celestia whispered. Adam silenced them both by raising his hand before he began to think back to that moment. And then the images all came rushing back to him. There was darkness, more darkness than he ever believed he would see, yet in the darkness he could barely make out six warriors that seemed to oppose it. But what caught his attention in the images, was the alicorn and the warrior who strongly resembled him in a cape standing besides it.

'Can that be myself and Celestia?' he asked with confusion. The images continued to reveal that the warriors waged battle with the alicorn and what he believed to be himself, along with five other creatures that fought beside him. Despite fighting the hardest they could, the alicorn and its allies fell, before everything was swallowed in darkness. He snapped his eyes open and broke free of the image, breathing heavily as he tried to make sense of what he had just seen.

"A darkness is coming to this land," he muttered to Celestia when she asked what was wrong. "A darkness unlike anything that I have ever seen. And there are six...beings that each wield a silver light that I believe will oppose us, for I saw an alicorn and a being resembling myself that battled against them." He went quiet for a moment, giving Celestia and Radiance a moment to share a worried glance.

"And what happens next?" Radiance dared to ask.

"We lose," he scowled, throwing himself out of the bed. "But if this is a vision, it is one of the future. Meaning that there might still be time to change it! I will scour the land to see if I can find anything that might resemble these warriors and the threat they might mean to us." He cast himself into the air to fly away from the castle, but Celestia held him back with her magic.

"Teth, I am not sure what you saw, but are you certain that these images mean the end of us?" Celestia asked, worry gripping her heart when Adam nodded with a somber expression. "Well, is there anything else you can tell us about the images at least? So we have something to look for?"

"Yes. Each of our foes wears an item of silver light." He shot off after saying this, leaving the two ponies to look at each other, both wondering what would happen now. Adam came to a stop in the sky, where he could see almost all of Equestria below him. 'Yes, from here I will be able to sense for any odd magic,' he thought to himself as he prepared to enter a meditative state, but a column of flame slammed into him from behind and cast him into the forest below.

"I know not what you are," Adam snarled as he pulled himself out of the dirt and turned to face the creature that took him aback. "What sort of undead nightmare are you, dragon?" The dragon had bone wings and its ribs were clearly visible, yet a strange dark energy radiated from it. Adam narrowed his eyes as he threw himself at the creature, which howled with a voice that chilled his soul. The pair collided in the sky and their battle began.

S=H=A=Z=A=M

"...And I want increased guards around the perimeter of the castle," Celestia instructed Shining Armor, who saluted with a nod before he ran off to go gather his troops. Celestia shook her head slightly as she removed herself from the throne and walked down the practically empty hallways to her sister's room, sadness starting to creep in. 'Luna has been gone for days now and it seems that every day I allow Teth to protect us is a day that her anger grows. Sister, I wish you could see the good in him like I do.'

"Need something, Mom?" Radiance answered when Celestia had knocked upon her door. Celestia motioned for her daughter to follow her, which Radiance did so without asking any questions. "Something up? You seem...off."

"I am just worrying about my sister," Celestia said with a sad sigh. "She was always the more reckless of the two of us and with the way things are now...I'm just afraid that she might do something soon that she regrets." Radiance bit her tongue a bit, the thought of Luna's secret army crossed her mind and how she had promised to keep it a secret.

'But she's my mother. She needs to know,' Radiance thought as she looked up at Celestia. "Mom, there's something that you need to know about Luna--" Both she and Celestia shivered as they both felt a magic that they never felt before, causing the pair to look at each other before racing to the nearest window.

"Did you feel that?" Radiance asked. "I've never felt a magic like that before." Celestia opened her mouth to answer when she heard the faint sound of ponies crying out for help, the sound coming from the center of the city. She turned to tell her daughter to stay there, but Radiance had already leapt onto her mother's back. "Let's go! Those ponies need help!"

"Alright, but be careful," Celestia cautioned as she spread her wings and took the two into the skies, where they were able to see the destruction first hoof. Ponies lay motionless in the streets, sickening the pair. But both of them opened their eyes in shock when they saw the creatures that they were up against. They wore completely black armor, yet the lines across where they eyes would be glowed with a blue light. Their spines also glowed blue and they held weapons that pointed three thin lights wherever they aimed them.

"Those look like humans," Radiance muttered as Celestia descended, creating a barrier around both of them, for she expected the worst.

"Halt creatures!" she said in her regal voice, getting the three armored humans to turn around to face the pair. "I am princess Celestia and I--"

"It's another one! Aim for the limbs!" the closest one to them yelled before it began to fire something at Celestia, who was shocked as the force of whatever was being shot at her pushed her back, despite the barrier. The other two began to fire upon her as well, and she could see cracks starting to form on her barrier. "Keep pushing them back! Don't let them--" The human screamed as Radiance fired a bolt of magic into its chest, sending it to the streets.

"Shit! The marker must have given them more powers! Guh!" one of them yelled as it put its hands to its head, screaming something about the markers.

"We have to stop them here, Mom, or Faust knows how many ponies they might hurt!" Radiance yelled out as she began firing at the two humans still standing. To both ponies' surprise, the humans pointed their arms at tables and wagons and whipped them in front of the ponies' spell. "They can use levitation spells?"

"That is not magic!" Celestia said as she blasted the shielding apart with her magic, causing the two humans to grab their friend as they hid behind some cover. In the brief instance they were moving, Celestia noticed that the glowing spine on the one that had been shot had gone from blue to yellow. 'That must be how they know when they are wounded. Does that mean that when they cease to glow they--?' She had been so focused on the creatures that she barely saw when one of them fired an odd item towards her, which exploded with an intense force when it landed at her hooves. Her barrier managed to absorb most of the force, but she was still flung from her hooves and hit the ground hard, stunning her.

"Kill the undead fuck!" one of the humans yelled out while the other put down suppressing fire on Radiance, whose barrier barely held against the gunfire. Two of the humans ran over to Celestia and opened fire upon her as she threw up another barrier to protect herself, yet she was a second too slow and a shot caught her in the leg. She howled with pain as the shot tore through her, causing her barrier to falter.

"NO!" Radiance yelled as she threw herself into one of the humans, pinning it to the ground as she unleashed her magic into its helmet. The other two tried to save their comrade, until Celestia picked one of them up with magic and threw him into the other. She then turned to help her daughter when all of sudden everything slowed down for her, like her body was molasses. At the speed she was going, she couldn't even pick herself off the ground, all she could do was watch as the humans aimed their guns at her while she was still struggling to start moving. Fear flashed in her eyes as six laser sights lined up on her.

Then, the next thing she saw was a shadow throw itself over her as the weapons fired upon her, hitting Celestia's protector and punching through her quickly erected barrier. Celestia returned to normal speed just in time to see her daughter collapse to the ground in front of her, blood seeping from her wounds.

"Radiance!" she cried out as she raced to her daughter's side, rolling her over with magic to see if she was alright. But all it took was a glance to tell Celestia that it was too late. Radiance's eyes were dull and her chest remained motionless as no air entered it. And in that moment, Celestia's eyes turned as dull as the lifeless body in her hooves and she felt her heart die away, her very soul laying dead in her hooves.

S=H=A=Z=A=M

With a backhand that could destroy mountains, Black Adam slapped the undead dragon into the ground, snarling when he saw it begin to repair itself just like before. He raised his hands over his head while summoning a torrent of lightning when a chill rushed over him, a chill that told him something was very, very wrong.

"That came from...Canterlot," he growled to himself as he fired a bolt of lightning into the dragon again, sending it crashing back into the dirt. With a burst of speed he shot off towards Canterlot, horrified by all the negative magic and emotions he was feeling. He came to a stop above the center of the city with horror, as he saw all the slain lying in the streets. Yet none of that mattered to him when he looked down to see Celestia resting over a body, a body of a pony he knew well.

"No..." he whispered once before hurling himself towards the ground in front of three armored humans, exploding the area before them with the force of his impact.

"What the hell is that? Is that...a human?" he heard one of them say. Black Adam looked over at where Celestia lay before looking down at Radiance's body with horror and sorrow in his eyes. Then he turned his gaze back upon the humans, and when they looked into his eyes they knew what true fear was. "Shoot I--" The first human's head was gone before he could finish his sentence and the second one was made powder by the force of Adam's second punch.

"Holy shit! Holy-" Adam's hand shot out and wrapped around the armored human's throat, lifting him into the air with one hand as thunder that would terrify the gods flashed in his eyes. Adam then let his power course into the human, who screamed for only a moment before he went silent. His body went limp and blood began to seep from the helmet until he was blasted into ash by Adam's power. The ashes had barely begun to fall before Adam was at Celestia's side.

"No..." Adam whispered as he looked down at the unmoving body of Radiance. He snarled and looked away, tears forming in is eyes as he avoided his gaze, realizing that once again he had failed...failed to protect another whom he had come to care about. He turned his gaze to Celestia, who just now seemed to realize that Adam was besides her.

"Why, Teth?" she asked in a voice that was far more broken than the streets where Adam had landed, or what was left of the bodies that lay in said streets. "Why couldn't I keep them safe?"

Adam had no answers as Celestia broke down and began to weep, the ponies who had fled from the battle starting to return to the area. They looked at Radiance as well and began to cry themselves, all crying except for Adam, who was far more devastated than he let on.

'Again. Again and again this happens. I fail to protect those closest to me, those I swore to protect!' he roared in the confines of his mind, tightening his hands with enough force to shatter the planet. 'Why? Why do I always fail?! Why can I not protect them like I should?!' He opened his eyes and looked down at Radiance, reaching out with his hand to close her eyes. 'Farewell child. I am so sorry.' His sorrow gave way to hate and he turned his head towards the decapitated body, grabbing it and preparing to destroy it completely, when his eyes caught the faintest of magic on it.

'Silver magic.' The rage was extinguished the moment he saw the strands of silver magic upon the corpse, and it gave way to an emotion that had driven him to cause the deaths of over two millions souls: Absolute wrath. 'The one who uses this silver magic tried to kill them while I was battling that creature! It planned for us to be apart when it attacked. Yet instead of claiming Celestia...!' He dragged the corpse back over to Celestia, who still hadn't moved, so that he could show her the magic, but his attention was grabbed by the shadow that was cast over them.

"You again!" Adam roared to the sky when his gaze rested upon the undead dragon creature, which was unleashing torrents of black fire upon the land. He dropped the body as he looked to Celestia, who was still grieving over Radiance's death. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder, before with a yell that would cower the king of the underworld, he threw himself at the undead beast, driving himself into it with enough force until it was blasted apart. The dark energy that created it reconstructed it, but the moment it was repaired Black Adam unleashed his whole fury into the creature. The sky was split apart by the lightning and the earth shook as if it were being torn in half, yet the agony the dragon suffered was nothing compared to what Adam felt.

"SHAZAM!"

When he finally ceased the assault, there was nothing left of the creature or his rage. With defeated eyes, he floated down next to Celestia, who rested her head on his shoulder as she began to weep, along with all of the other ponies in Canterlot. And all Adam could do was look down at the body of the young unicorn, hating himself for failing again.