MLDC: SHAZAM, Equestria's Mightest Mare!

by Michael_Ravencroft

First published 1st of November, 2014

Something stirs beneath Equestria, dark forces and evil organizations plan to usurp the peace of the world. Sensing the coming storm, the Wizard searches for one who will defend this world, and become Equestria's Mightest Mortal!

"My name is Scootaloo, I'm twelve years old and...as much as I don't like to admit it...I'm an orphan.

Anyway, something happened to me, I don't know...I got sucked into some weird dimension thingy and I got turned into an alicorn! But it only happens when I say a certain word. This old pony told me that this power should only be used to protect others, and stop something bad that would come back to hurt a lot of ponies. I don't know what's coming, but I won't let it hurt my friends, or anypony, and to those who dare try, I got one word for you..."

SHAZAM!!!

Cover art by: NeroScottKennedy
Shazam is the property of DC Comics.
Featured: 12/9/14
Edit: Now with it's own TV Tropes page by Darkness Rising!

Prologue: A Mystery

“Now, let’s start from the beginning, what is your name?”

“Silver Shill, your Highness…”

“And what is it you do?”

The stallion gulped, “I…well, for a time I was employed by the FlimFlam brothers. They were…not the best kind of ponies, your Highness. But thanks to a mare I met, Applejack, she helped me see that what I was doing was wrong. So, now, I do honest work, helping here and there with odd jobs and promotions.”

Celestia nodded to the stallion approvingly. “Now, my little pony, tell me what happened when you entered the building.”

Silver Shill scrunched his face up in contemplation, his mind working to recall the memory. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember much. What I do remember is going to a job interview. I got in the elevator and as it rose up it shook and rattled, which wasn’t unusual, since I heard those things tend to do that. But it really started to rattle and shake, and then the numbers on the panel started to light up one after the other and moved faster and faster. Electricity started to arc from the panel and along the railing, I thought I was going to be electrocuted!”

The light-gray stallion started to hyperventilate from remembering that much of the experience. Celestia reached over and placed a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder and smiled at him comfortingly. “It’s alright, you’re here and you’re safe. We can stop if you want to?”

Silver Shill felt a little better, he had never been in the presence of the Princess before, and was a little afraid, but seeing how much she cared for even a pony like him made Silver shill feel warm. “No, I can keep going Princess Celestia. A-Anyway, then the elevator stopped suddenly. The doors opened and there was a bright light shining out from it. I don’t know what happened after that, but the one thing I do remember is seeing this old pony, I think he was a unicorn…”

Celestia leaned in closer, bringing her hooves together in contemplation. “And did this pony give you a name?”

“He only said he was the Wizard…”

“Thank you Silver Shill, I know what you went through was confusing and that my having a private conversation with you is a little frightening.”

Silver Shill quickly shook his head back and forth. “Nonononono! Honestly I find this a more pleasant meeting than what happened…”

Celestia nodded sagely to the stallion. “Thank you for your kind words, and should you need to talk or if you remember anything else, please contact Canterlot Palace or drop by immediately.”

“‘The Wizard, Wizard, Wizard’! This is the one-hundred and fiftieth case Tia!”

Luna and Celestia were sitting in one of the private meeting rooms of Manehattan’s Celestial State building. There were a slew of papers all over the table, each one a file of a pony, mare and stallion all stating the same thing like the stallion Celestia had just spoken to.

“I know Lulu, I know, this isn’t good. Somepony is randomly foalnapping our ponies and erasing their memories just as quickly! We need to find out what this ‘Wizard’ wants from them,” said Celestia.

Luna used her telekinetic aura to float several files to her, eyes scanning over the contents to try and find something that could better identify what or why this mysterious old stallion was doing such things.

“From what these reports say, none of the abducted has anything wrong with them, physically or magically. Tia, did Star Swirl ever make mention of such a unicorn, I cannot recall if he did,” said Luna.

Celestia stared out into the vast metropolis that was Manehattan, as if trying to spot the elusive sorcerer from their vantage point. Storm clouds were gathering overhead as the pegasus ponies worked to bring in the scheduled thunderstorm. “No, he never made mention of ‘the Wizard’. However, you know as well as I do that we did not fully come to be until a little after the Sirens were banished from Equestria. There are some legends that are even older than we are sister.”

Luna raised an inquisitive eyebrow at that statement. “Are you saying that this unicorn is as strong as Sombra was? Because you know how powerful he was with dark magic. Whatever magic this unicorn wields is as fast as lightning, almost undetectable, seemingly more powerful.”

“That’s what disturbs me the most. I remember Tirek and Skorpan once hailed from a faraway land and of Skorpan speaking of how they were driven out by a powerful force, now I wish I had asked for more details…”

The Princess of the Night sidled next to her big sister, both now staring out into the city as the storm clouds started to rumble and quake. The younger sister looked to her elder, the Princess of the Day had a worried expression, and few problems could make her express this. Usually Celestia would keep her worry hidden by a stoic facade or a placating smile, but when it was just the two of them, she didn’t feel the need to hide such feelings, the same held true for Luna. Somewhere out there was a pony sorcerer with power unknown who was abducting ponies and throwing them back like a child not finding his favorite toy, which only made it worse when they thought about the day when this sorcerer, this wizard, would find the one they sought. Would it be for good or ill when that day arrived? As if answering to her worries, the storm let loose a series of lightning bolts that streaked through the cloud ridden sky as thunder crashed violently, shaking the windows before them.

“‘Wizard’…who are you?”

Author's Notes:

Act One: Lightning Strikes

Lightning Strikes Arc Part 1: Off to see the Wizard!

It was not a well-known place, but it was there, Ponyville’s local orphanage, the place known as “Wayward House”. It received ample funding from City Hall despite its outwardly homey look. It blended well into the rest of Ponyville that anypony passing by thought it was just a daycare or a normal house. But that was the point; the ponies who made the place figured that the foals who come to places like this were probably sick and tired of being in a facility like in the bigger cities and towns. So this was a happy change of pace, although these foals were brought in from off the streets, broken homes, and troubled pasts, that didn’t mean they had to be denied the comfort of a home.

That was probably one of many things that Scootaloo liked about it. When Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ran out to get her after she quit the Flag Team, she was worried what they would say, or how’d they look at her from then on. Thankfully, they were too focused on helping her to notice, and thankfully most of the staff and foals in the house were at the Crystal Empire to watch the tryouts. But I digress.

Today could have been better for Scootaloo, sure it started off alright. Waking up early in the morning (okay she didn’t like waking up early, but it was part of the daily routine), getting washed up and making her way to the breakfast table.

Scootaloo had found her usual spot at the table, sitting beside one her orphanage friends, Alula. Alula was a vanilla colored filly, with a purple mane and tail, and teal eyes; it was often hard to determine what she was from time to time. Sometimes Scootaloo would see her and she’d be a pegasus, other times she’d see her with a unicorn horn, and, for one brief occasion, both at once, or she wouldn’t have either. There were days when she thought about asking Alula why that was, but it didn’t matter to her, many of the foals here had secrets, and Scootaloo was no exception, if Alula wanted to tell her she’d listen, but neither would she pry into her personal business.

After eating, she broke out her scooter and hurried outside, after saying goodbye to the matron of the house, Scootaloo took off down the street, waving a goodbye to her orphanage friends with promises of seeing them at school.

When she did arrive at school it was business as usual. She met up with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle; they’d catch up on what happened yesterday, and start to formulate new plans for getting their cutie marks. But those plans were mostly in the planning stages, since today was scheduled Twilight Time. You’d think after spending most of the day being taught at school by Miss Cheerilee that the three fillies wouldn’t be interested in even more lessons. And, not to say that they didn’t like Miss Cheerilee’s lessons, but Princess Twilight helped them master different skills, whether or not it was their special talent was another story, but they did enjoy the lessons and seeing how far they could advance in their special skills.

But as it was said in the beginning, the day started out normally for Scootaloo, but that’s when things went bad. So bad, that Scootaloo was standing outside the school building close to the door. A…incident occurred, involving Diamond Tiara meeting Scootaloo’s hoof. Diamond Tiara’s father, Filthy Rich, had come down to the school with a look of outrage on his face and sneered at the pegasus filly before entering. All she could do for the time being was stand out there and listen to the stallion yell as Miss Cheerilee tried to get through to him.

“Miss Cheerilee, I will not allow that ruffian filly to continue to harm my Diamond Tiara in such a manner!” Filthy Rich yelled.

“Please Mr. Rich, calm down, there’s more to this than you are aware of –”

“No, there isn’t! What I am aware of is that this isn’t the first time that my daughter has been assaulted by that tomcolt of a filly! Last year she and her friend, Silver Spoon, were pushed in the mud!”

“To be fair, that didn’t happen at school, and neither was that done by Scootaloo either. From what I understand, it was somepony else from out of town. A cousin of one of my students, Apple Bloom, the other filly’s name is Babs Seed if I remember correctly. Although Scootaloo and her friends were present at the time, they weren’t directly involved, and I don’t believe they were ‘pushed’ from what I understand they backed up too far to the edge of the train platform and fell.”

Filthy Rich scoffed. “Oh please, are you saying my daughter is lying about that?!”

“Are you calling Applejack a liar? Because it was her who recounted the events to me, should it become an issue, you could always ask her. ”

Scootaloo heard silence for a moment and chuckled inwardly, even Filthy Rich wasn’t stupid enough to call Applejack – the Element of Honesty – a liar. Even with that FlimFlam fiasco, she still told the truth in the end.

“Fine, but there were others after that!” The stallion countered.

“And at every instance your daughter, Mr. Rich, has been the instigator. I don’t condone Scootaloo striking your daughter, I’m not saying she deserved it, but there is only so far you can poke a stick at a sleeping dragon before it decides to bite back. And, not to mention, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon have more complaints against them than any other pony in my class you might consider a ‘trouble student’.”

Scootaloo could hear the stallion splutter and huff at the accusation, which in fact was a true statement as she remembered Ms. Cheerilee writing down some of what she had told her during previous incidents.

“Tell me, Mr. Rich, what is it that you expected me to do when you came barging in here?”

“I expected you to do something! Expel her, or put her in a detention center! And if you won’t I’ll find somepony who will!”

Scootaloo’s stomach sank as a feeling of dread washed over her. Sure she was a little quick to fight sometimes, and sure, she often did reckless things, but it was thanks to her friends that most of her old tendencies and habits had been suppressed or even forgotten. But, in cases like this, Scootaloo’s old fight or flight instincts took over, and since she couldn’t fly, not currently anyway, she often had to resort to the former rather than the latter. That was, of course, before she was brought to Ponyville from another orphanage.

But now she was going to be punished, punished for fighting back against a bully, and defending the honor of her friends and herself. Scootaloo briefly contemplated running away into the forest, but stopped when she heard Ms. Cheerilee talk.

“If I did Mr. Rich, I’d have to expel Diamond Tiara as well. I’ve documented many of her discretions, and I have enough, if I so wished, to go to the Ponyville School Board to do the same to your daughter and make her actions public.”

“Y-You wouldn’t dare, or have you forgotten how much money I contribute to the School Board?!”

“Let me be clear that I don’t care. If I had to, I could petition Princess Twilight for aid in the School Board’s finances, and being the scholarly mare I know she is, the Princess would gladly do so to see that the education of the foals comes first, and would absolutely discourage the actions your daughter has taken.”

Scootaloo then heard a single hoof smack against wood, making the young filly jump. Something told her, judging from the edge in the school teacher’s voice, that it was Miss Cheerilee who did it.

“Mr. Rich I will see that punishment is dealt out equally to both students. But never – and I mean never – come storming into my classroom and demand that I expel or incarcerate a student of mine! Threaten my little ponies like that again, sir, and I will see to it that not only is Diamond Tiara expelled and her permanent record plastered with everything I have, I will make sure to report you to the Dusk Guard!”

“U-UNDER WHAT CHARGE?!”

“For threatening a foal, not something you want your business, Barnyard Bargains, labeled with do you?”

Scootaloo heard a few grunts and huffs, along with a growl of frustration. She then heard stamping hoofsteps approach the door and immediately jumped away from the door. Filthy Rich, the tan colored, black maned stallion, looked down at the filly with contempt as he opened the door. He said not a word as she continued storming down the road, not even sparing a second glance as his form vanished in the distance. Scootaloo sighed in relief, not sure how she would’ve reacted if the Diamond Tiara’s father said something to her. But her sigh was cut short when she heard Miss Cheerilee clear her throat.

“Are you okay Scootaloo?” She asked.

“Oh…um, yeah, I’m alright.”

Cheerilee sighed heavily. “I’m sorry Scootaloo; if I knew he was going to blow up like that I would’ve sent you off and talked to you after the weekend.”

“It’s alright, really…” Scootaloo’s wings fluttered nervously as she looked up at her teacher. “You’re not really going to expel me or…or put me in a detention center…are you?”

“Never.” It was only one word, but that one word held all of Cheerilee’s conviction, strength, and belief. “But, as I also said, I don’t like that you struck Diamond Tiara, you could’ve just walked away.”

Scootaloo lowered her gaze as her face scrunched in anger. “We always walk away, and it never makes her stop! If anything she just takes it as a challenge to try harder to make us feel bad! ‘Blank flank, flightless pegasus,’ I’m just sick of hearing it all! And that’s not including the things she says to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom too! Sweetie’s not a fighter, tough though, but she can be sensitive sometimes and get her feelings hurt easily.

Apple Bloom’s confident and strong, but even Diamond and Silver still manage to chip away at that, sometimes more! Apple Bloom won’t fight because of how she was raised by her family, and that’s cool, and Sweetie won’t fight because, well, she’s not much for it, she can get angry but as far as what I did, no. I’m the only one with nothing to lose! So why shouldn’t I use that to my advantage and fight back?!”

“SCOOTALOO!” The severity in Cheerilee’s voice made the filly jump with fright for a moment. “Don’t you ever think of yourself like that! Of course you have much to lose! Are you really saying you don’t care if you get put into a detention center, possibly never seeing your friends again?! That you won’t get to attend school with your friends and graduate? Or get to learn from Princess Twilight and Rainbow Dash, your idol?!

“………No, I would care.”

Cheerilee leaned down and nuzzled the young pegasus filly. “Please Scootaloo; don’t ever say things like that about yourself. You matter to a lot of ponies, me included. So don’t think that you’re not important or that you have nothing to lose, alright?”

Scootaloo nodded affirmatively. “Miss Cheerilee, I kinda need to get going. I need to go to the castle for Twilight Time and I don’t want to be late…”

The maroon earth mare smiled and nudged the filly with her hoof to go. Scootaloo ran down the steps and to her awaiting scooter. She then strapped on her helmet and buzzed away down the dirt road. Cheerilee smiled and waved goodbye, but once Scootaloo was out of eyesight, her smile turned into a frown of concern.

“I’ll have to talk to Twilight about this…”

Scootaloo found herself in a strange dream, not to say she hadn’t had a bad dream before, but she really didn’t know how to classify this one. She found herself before six large stone thrones. Each one carved with weird magicy symbols that would probably make sense to Princess Twilight. But that’s not the weirdest thing, no; the weirdest thing was who, or more accurately, what was sitting in them.

To Scootaloo’s far left she saw, what appeared to be a unicorn, with a body made up of shimmering stars and swirling galaxies. The second looked as if he were made of stone, or that a mountain was given pony form. It had no wings or horn so she assumed it was an earth pony. The third was a pegasus like herself, except his body radiated a shimmery aura of white, along with strands of other vibrant colors. The fourth was another unicorn, but this one’s body was clearly made of pure lightning. The fifth was another earth pony, but his body was made of a shimmering golden aura that radiated an unbreakable will. The sixth, and last, was a pegasus, his body was elemental like the unicorn and earth pony, being completely made of silver wind.

Scootaloo knew she had a good imagination, but she never thought she could think of ponies who looked like this. The scenery shifted slightly, and now she was in a room made of stone and lit by torches. Before the six otherworldly ponies were two pony foals, one was a unicorn colt, with a black mane and mauve coat, and the other was an earth pony filly, with a grass green coat and a sky blue mane. The unicorn colt was on the floor, his body battered, bruised, and littered with bleeding gashes all over. The earth pony filly next to him had some gashes too, but not as severe. Her eyes were watering as she held onto the colt, watching as his breathing became erratic.

“Please, help us!” she cried out.

“The power we offer can save him, but he is near death’s door. If you wish to save him, then you must share the power equally between you,” spoke the starry unicorn.

“But the one you wish to save must also agree. For in taking on this power, you take on all the hopes and dreams, the very safety of the world upon your shoulders. Now, do you accept this?” asked the lightning unicorn.

The filly nodded vigorously and waited for her friend to respond. The colt weakly looked to her and nodded a yes, smiling as he did so.

“It is decided,” said the golden earth pony.

The six ponies rose from their thrones and raised one hoof above them. Their power gathered at the tips of their hooves and shot out into the air above. The six powers became one, transforming into lightning that struck both the filly and colt at the same time…

~~~

“AAAAAAHHHH!!!” Scootaloo screamed as she awoke with a start.

The orange pegasus filly was sitting up in her bed, covers thrown off her and half slumping to the floor. Her body was drenched in sweat as she felt her heart pound at her ribcage rapidly; Scootaloo quickly looked around, but noticed that she was in her room and not in the stony room with the strange six. From the bed across from her, a filly looked at her with concern. She was an earth pony, with a mulberry colored coat, aquamarine mane, and turquoise eyes that carried an odd shimmer in the night. Scootaloo’s roommate, and often time’s secret keeper, Aura.

“Scootaloo, you alright?!”

The pegasus filly took a moment to calm herself down, implementing the calming technique that Princess Twilight had taught her and her friends a while back. After going through the technique a couple of times, Scootaloo was finally able to get her breathing under control and slow her heart rate.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine Aura, thanks.”

“Really? ‘Cause you don’t look fine to me.”

The earth pony then plopped head first out of the bed and onto the floor. Scootaloo winced at the thud of the impact, but just as always, Aura sprang up and sat at Scootaloo’s bedside. She can be as random as Pinkie Pie sometimes, but at least she knows when to be serious.

“You had a nightmare didn’t you?” Aura asked.

“Well, tell me. It’s not like I haven’t heard a weird dream before…unless it’s one of those dreams that’s better kept private, in which case I totally understand if you don’t want to tell me! But, maybe it’s better if you do, talking about it might help! That doesn’t mean I’m trying be nosey or anything I just want to make sure you’re alright! Because, well, obviously you’re not and –!”

“AURA!” Scootaloo interrupted. She liked Aura, really she did, but sometimes the filly tended to ramble on and sometimes it ended up making things awkward, which is why she derailed it then and there.

“I did it again…Didn’t I?” Aura asked with a sheepish smile and a blush.

“Yep.”

“Sorry…”

“It’s okay, and the dream wasn’t weird that way it was just…weird and a little scary…”

Scootaloo began to tell Aura what she saw, the six ponies made of different things, the strange thrones they sat on, and the two foals who were in front of them.

“That’s when the six of them raised their hooves and shot these beams into the air. They combined together and became lightning that struck the colt and filly! I mean, how messed up is that?! They were bleeding and beaten and asking for help, and what do they do?! They zap them with a lightning bolt!” Scootaloo noticed Aura’s eyes were wide as saucer plates and her jaw hanging open slightly. “…Um, Aura, you alright?”

The earth pony filly quickly shook her head and put on her usual smile. “Oh yeah, just fine! But that dream, while intense, was something else! But I don’t think you should read too much into it.”

“Really…it felt real…like it happened, maybe not to me, but somepony…I don’t know.”

“Well, if nothing else, it makes for a good story – Oooh! Maybe you can try and get your cutie mark in story writing! ‘Cause that sounds like something I’d see in Power Ponies!”

Scootaloo thought about that for a moment, she never saw herself as the story writing type, she mostly enjoyed reading a comic then writing it. Then again, who knew what her special talent was, and if all else failed; maybe it would help her friends to discover their talents.

“Yeah, that sounds great! I’ll run it by the girls tomorrow and see what they think!”

“Cool, well, I don’t know about you, but I’m tired.”

As Aura made her way back to her bed, Scootaloo glanced at her blank flank. “Aura, y’know, we always have room for another Crusader. I mean I like what the girls and I have, but they definitely wouldn’t mind having another join. Apple Bloom’s cousin is part of the Crusaders and is starting our Manehattan branch, and with you we could probably come up with more ideas!”

Aura stopped mid climb and turned to glance at Scootaloo. “No, that’s alright. I know getting your cutie mark and discovering your special talent is something you three are doing together. It’s good that you want others to join, but at the same time, you might want to enjoy how close you guys are, every try brings you closer together, success or fail.” Aura flashed Scootaloo a cheery smile before getting back fully under the blankets.

Scootaloo, once again was thrown for a loop with Aura, as silly as she could be, ramble on and on, she could be oddly mature. The pegasus filly yawned and laid back down, hoping she could back to sleep after that dream she had.

That morning Scootaloo headed towards Sweet Apple Acres, the girls having promised to meet up at their HQ as soon as possible for crusading. No sooner did she arrive at the treehouse did she notice the lack of any sound coming from up top.

Guess AB is busy with chores or something. I’ll just –

At that moment a flash went off inside the treehouse. Scootaloo looked up curiously, wondering if she was mistaken about her friends not being there. Another flash of light went off, and again, and again. Scootaloo, now curious, walked up the ramp that led to the front door of the treehouse. The flickering light inside went off more rapidly, almost as if it were reacting to Scootaloo’s presence. When she finally reached the door, Scootaloo swallowed nervously as she tapped the door open. The result of which was a giant blinding light that bathed over her and turned her world into nothing but white.

When the light dimmed down Scootaloo ventured to open her eyes, and what she saw nearly made her want to swear.

Gone were the treehouse and the vast orchards that made up Sweet Apple Acres. What had been left in its stead was a room filled with ancient artifacts, some weird, some scary, and one that appeared to be a golden helmet on a stand that was placed away from the other items. Scootaloo meandered through till she spotted a hallway. She looked back to see if there was maybe a doorway she missed that would take her back home, there wasn’t one.

So, with a reluctant sigh, Scootaloo walked down the hall. She didn’t know where she was, but from what she could tell, it had to be a castle. The texture of the stones though made her think that it might’ve been an old castle, like the Castle of the Two Sisters. Granted she had never been there before, only going off of what Rainbow Dash and the others told them about it. But she imagined it would look like what she was seeing. Along the way, there were tapestries hanging from the walls, some depicting great battles and terrifying monsters.

Near the end of the hall, Scootaloo noticed the light changing, where it was lit with magical crystals imbedded into the wall, now it was transitioning into torches. They lined the walls, like a beacon leading her to her destination. As she neared, what she believed to be, the end of the hallway. Scootaloo noticed that the hall expanded as she passed through an archway. On either side of Scootaloo stood the statues of creatures that looked like something from a nightmare. Each of the statues had words carved onto them; she read them allowed as she passed each one.

“Pride…Gluttony…Greed…Envy…Sloth…Anger…Lust? What are these things?”

“They are the Seven Deadly Enemies of Mortals.”

Scootaloo jumped at the sound of the echoing voice, her head snapping to and fro as she looked for the source of the voice. “W-W-WHO’S THERE?!”

“Calm yourself young one, this way…”

Scootaloo saw a small orb of light poof into existence before her. The orb then flicked towards the other end of the hall and down another hall. Scootaloo didn’t like this, for all she knew the one who was calling to her had laid out a trap, planning to do unspeakable things to her, or a monster that only sounded normal just to lure you in before it tears you limb from limb. But, the prospect of venturing off into this strange place was equally dangerous, at least this way she knew that there might be someone or something waiting for her. So, reluctantly, she followed the orb.

The orb moved like a firefly, zipping around as it led the filly further into the depths of the mysterious castle. Then that’s when she saw something that nearly made her let out a very uncool girly gasp. The hall opened up into the same room she saw in her dream, albeit with more detail. But something was different, where there should be six thrones there was only one, and there was a pony sitting in it. He was wearing heavy white robe, his coat was grayish silver as his long beard stretched down till it nearly touched the floor, along with his equally long mane.

The old stallion was a unicorn, his single horn was long and sharp, and it almost reminded her of Princess Celestia’s horn. The old pony slowly opened his eyes and revealed them to be to pools of blue, glowing magical light.

“Come closer child…step forth.”

Scootaloo, not knowing why, obeyed the old pony and walked slowly, but cautiously, to him. She stopped about halfway, rooting herself to the spot and telling herself not to get any closer.

“Who are you…? What are you…?”

“I am he who has stood guard over the ancient magic! The last of Council of Magic, you may refer to me as the Wizard!”

At that moment the unicorn’s horn let loose bolts of arcing lightning that shot up and thundered loudly.

“Welcome young maiden, to the Rock of Eternity…”

Author's Notes:

Next time in
SHAZAM, Equestria's Mightiest Mare!:

Scootaloo has been brought forth before the all-powerful Wizard. But why has this mysterious unicorn called upon the young filly, and for what purpose?

Meanwhile, a trip to Fluttershy's cottage turns perilous for two fillies.

Lightning Strikes Arc Part 2: Her name means power!

Scootaloo watched as the powerful lightning energy arced from the ancient unicorn’s horn, flashing and roaring as the power lit up the inside of the room, making arcane runes appear as they reacted to the magic of the Wizard. Scootaloo ducted down, covering her head with her hooves, watching each of the lightning streaks to make sure that they weren’t going to hit her. When the lightning ended, Scootaloo cautiously rose back to a standing position.

“Hey, watch where you’re you letting off that magic lightning stuff, you can seriously hurt somepony! And what the hay is the ‘Rock of Eternity’?!”

The Wizard raised his right hoof and waved it, gesturing to, well, everything. “You are standing in it now young maiden, this place is the Rock of Eternity. In it is housed the greatest collection of magical artifacts, knowledge, and history, a fortress of magic, and the very source of the ancient Power. And it is the Power that I used to forge the spell that summoned you here before me. Now, tell me your name young maiden.”

Scootaloo didn’t know what to make of this old pony. He looked ancient, and even though she wasn’t a unicorn, she could still feel deep down that this pony had a lot of power, maybe even alicorn level power.

“S-Scootaloo…my name’s Scootaloo, and you can quit it with that ‘young maiden’ mess,” said Scootaloo.

“Hmmm, Scootaloo…hard to believe that my spell brought a child before me, given that it has been many millennia since the last time one had been summoned to this place. Still…let us see if you are worthy.”

“HOLD ON! Why am I here and what are you planning on doing with me?!” Scootaloo lowered herself into an attack position, flaring her wings and raking her left hoof against the stone floor as she glared at the Wizard. “Because I’m not just going to lie down and let you hurt me!”

The Wizard raised a bushy eyebrow as he gave the filly an inquisitive look. “You are quick to judge and prone to violence.” The old pony rose up from his stone throne and slowly walked down the steps leading down to Scootaloo. The Wizard stopped when he reached the bottom and looked at the filly with his eyes of power. “Show me now, are you worthy of this power?! Are you the one destined to become magic’s champion?!”

The Wizard let loose his magical lightning from his long horn. The lightning zipped through the air and struck Scootaloo, her eyes glowed blue with the same magical light. She could feel her memories unraveling before her, but she could also sense that the Wizard was seeing them as well.

Images of a filly loved by two parents appeared within the living lightning. The next set was of a somber scene, of a tragic death of the father, and the great sadness that followed suit. Feelings of hurt and betrayal by one who was said to love her, but twisted the love until it became hatred and lust, bearing it all down on the little filly. Anger and violence found their way into her heart, as well as mistrust. Her whole life, as far as the Wizard could tell, was nothing short of sorrow and strife. The Wizard waved his right hoof, ceasing the spell altogether. Scootaloo fell onto the floor in a heap, quiet whimpers and splashes of tears hitting the stone floor resounded within the chamber.

“You…you had no right to see that or to make me see it again!” Her expression was warring between wanting to break down into sobs or glare with anger and fury at the old stallion who made her relive those awful memories in an instant, memories she was happy to forget.

“How…why has my magic brought me another like him? This can only lead to disaster…” The Wizard tilted his head to the roof as if seeing into something. “Is my body so weak now that my spells are becoming distorted?” The Wizard looked back down to the filly. “I am sorry; it was not my intention to make you see that which you did not want to remember. But I had to be sure…”

A cloth appeared before Scootaloo, small and white like a handkerchief. The orange pegasus filly eyed the cloth suspiciously, but when she looked up into the eyes of the Wizard, somehow, she was able to feel his sincerity in the act. Scootaloo carefully reached out and grabbed the handkerchief and wiped her tear soaked eyes and face. When she was done, the cloth disappeared with a poof.

“T-Thank you…So, what exactly did you have to be sure of, and again, why did you even bring me here?”

The Wizard sighed heavily. “I am old little one, and I sense that there is a great stirring of power. Something that might threaten the world you now live in. For centuries I have held fast and kept the power that the Rock of Eternity possesses from falling into the wrong hooves. But unfortunately, it means that I could not leave it. I was searching for one who could do what I could not. An individual who could wield the great power of the ancient magic and defend the world as those before me did long ago. Someone who could become magic’s champion…”

Despite the scariness of the situation, she found the plight of the unicorn troubling. “So…you thought that I could be ‘magic’s champion’ or whatever? I’m not even a unicorn! I mean, I have magic, pegasus magic, but nothing like what unicorns like my friend’s sister can do, or you.”

The Wizard smirked at that. “Believe me, Scootaloo, that would not become an issue. But yes, that spell I cast was meant to find me one who was pure good.”

Scootaloo scratched her chin with her hoof, mulling over the Wizard’s words. “Well…I don’t know if it would help, but maybe Princess Twilight would be a good fit or maybe Rainbow Dash! Don’t get me wrong, Princess Twilight is the greatest, I like her a lot, but Rainbow Dash is practically my big sister! If there’s anypony you’d need to be a ‘champion’ then Rainbow Dash is your mare!”
The Wizard smiled at the young filly’s enthusiasm for this mare she spoke of. “Truly you think highly of these two, but it is the spell that choses who is worthy, or who has the potential to be. But…I am curious about something. May I ask to take another look into your memories?”

Scootaloo jumped back a few feet, taking on a defensive stance. “Look, living through that once was enough! I don’t want to have total recall all over again!”

“No, believe me young filly; I will not tread into that part of your mind. Merely, I wish to see what your life is now.”

Scootaloo shifted her eyes and fidgeted nervously. After a few tense seconds of silence, Scootaloo tentatively nodded her head. The unicorn’s horn lit up with the same magical lightning as before, his eyes glowing brightly as he looked down upon her.

“Show me, does this filly have hope?! Does she possess the sparks of good and righteousness?!”

The lightning shot straight for Scootaloo, but unlike last time she did not feel the sadness and pain of her past, this was closer to her present. Memories of the many endeavors Scootaloo and her friends made to discover their special talent flashed before the Wizard’s eyes, the struggles of not being able to fly and having been mocked because of it. The friendships she made with the two fillies, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. Her adoration and idolization of the pegasus mare who took the young filly under her wing and proclaimed her as her “little sister”, Rainbow Dash. The fun times she had learning from the two mares she respected as much as the rainbow maned pegasus, her school teacher, Cheerilee, and the Princess of the region who took the time out of the day to devote to developing and nurturing their unique skills, Twilight Sparkle.

The foals of at the orphanage, the caring matron, the sisters of her friends, and all the other ponies of her town, the Wizard saw it all. It all combined into one, yes the bad was there, and it was most likely it would never leave the filly, but all that she has now had changed her from what she once was. Scootaloo loved and cared about her friends and those closest to her and would do anything to protect them, even at her own risk. Violent prone, yes, but her heart held little malice and much righteous fury. The old stallion’s eyes softened as a content smile spread across his face, lifting the corners of his beard.

The Wizard ended the spell, and unlike the first time, Scootaloo did not feel the crippling sadness of her past memories. She looked up at the old pony and noticed his smile. “Are you okay?”

“Better than okay young one, my search is over. My spell was not wrong; you are different from the last. You can overcome the sadness and the pain of your past and bring forth a shining future. And with my power, you can protect it.”

Scootaloo quickly brought up her hooves and shook them as if stopping him. “Whoa-oh-oh, wait, what are you saying?! I’m the one you’ve been looking for after all?!” The Wizard nodded an affirmative. “I…I…I’m no hero, or protector?! Yes I want to keep my friends safe and all…and I do care about the ponies in my life, but…I don’t even have my cutie mark! I’m just a twelve-year-old, orphan, flightless, pegasus filly!”

“You think too less of yourself, Scootaloo. You –” Suddenly, the Wizard looked off into the distance, his face scrunching as if he saw something threatening.

“What, what is it?!” Scootaloo asked, looking in the same direction.

“It would seem there is something wrong. A danger looms over your two friends.”

Scootaloo’s eyes went wide with shock. “WHAT?! How, why, where?!”

The Wizard’s horn glowed and a portal of light appeared before them. The portal shimmered and wavered until it became still. The texture of the portal started to take on the form of glass, like a mirror. The opening then swirled bringing up the image of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Fluttershy for some reason, and…

“WHAT THE HAY IS THAT THING?!”

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were walking down the dirt road. The youngest Apple sibling had her saddle bags on, carrying within them precious cargo, well, precious to her anyway. The whole trip, Sweetie didn’t understand why her friend was so secretive about what was in them, and it only made her more suspicious when Apple Bloom told her to come with her to Fluttershy’s cottage of all places, and not tell Scootaloo. Finally, after not having had her question answered yet, and hoping that her friend would just come on out and say it, Sweetie Belle just had to ask.

“Okay, are you going to tell me why we’re heading to Fluttershy’s? And why we didn’t tell Scoots that we were? She’s going to get mad that we left her out of, whatever it is that we’re doing, and I don’t like that we are.”

Apple Bloom stopped in the middle of the dirt road. She cautiously scanned the area, making sure that there wasn’t anypony within earshot. Once satisfied that they were the only two there, Apple Bloom jimmied open her saddle bag and opened the flap, revealing a couple of vials filled with a strange, bubbling, sparkly liquid.

“This is why we’re headin’ to Fluttershy’s cottage.”

“Are those potions?” Sweetie asked.

“Eeyup…Ah, um, Ah made these specifically for Scootaloo…”

Sweetie cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “For Scootaloo, why? What do they do?”

“Well…Ah…” Apple Bloom started to draw circles in the dirt with her hoof, her mind working to find the right words to convey her intentions to Sweetie. “Ah made this to see if it will help Scootaloo to fly…”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened. “Really?! When did you make these?!”

“A couple a months ago…ever since the whole Flag Waving Tryouts for the Equestria games – no, even before that, Scoots always wanted to fly like Rainbow Dash. Heck, she’d be happy if she could just fly like the other pegasi in our class. So, when Twilight made Twilight Time for us and said she’d help us develop special skills. Of course, after we made fools of ourselves in front our classmates and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in the Princess’ home, Ah wanted to take it more seriously. Not just because Ah could get a cutie mark out of it, but maybe Ah could help Scoots get what she’s wanted more than a cutie mark.”

“So this stuff’s supposed to…make her fly or something?”

“Close.” Apple Bloom nodded in the direction of the road, telling Sweetie Belle that she wanted to continue the conversation while they walked. “Ya see, Ah found this potion in one of Princess Twilight’s books, it was a recipe for makin’ a potion that could cure mostly anythin’, but it was complicated, so Ah studied it hard, even went to Zecora a couple of times for help. It’s finally done, but Ah wanted to test it out on a one of Fluttershy’s animal friends before I did.”

“You’re going to use one of Fluttershy’s critters as a guinea pig…? You do realize this is Fluttershy we’re talking about,” said Sweetie Belle, warning her friend.

“Ah know, Ah told her about it. It’s a healin’ potion, so Ah wanted to test it on one of her injured animal friends. And there was another reason why Ah wanted you to come with me.”

“What…?”

Apple Bloom chuckled nervously. “Y’all did learn that Failsafe spell Twilight taught ya, right?”

“Yeeeeesssssss…she did, it takes a lot out of me, but yeah, I do know the spell. Why does that –?” Sweetie Belle’s expression then deadpanned as she gave her friend an incredulous look. “You wanted me to be there in case something bad happens so I can cast the spell, don’t you?”

Apple Bloom nodded a yes and Sweetie Belle let out exasperated sigh. But she did a little smile did show on her lips.

“Okay, okay, I’ll help. This is a really nice thing you’re doing for Scootaloo, and I know she’ll be really happy when it works.”

“Thanks Sweetie, but, don’t ya mean if it works?”

“Uh-uh, when, ‘cause I know you. If it’s for Scoots, you’ll put 110% into this potion. You don’t know it, but you can be like Princess Twilight when it comes to potions, and I know you like Scoots, so you won’t let anything bad happen to her.”

Apple Bloom smiled happily at that, but caught something in that sentence that made her give Sweetie an inquisitive glance. “Uh, of course Ah like Scoots, Ah like you too Sweetie, we’re friends.”

Sweetie Belle’s demeanor was slowly shifting to that of her sister’s, playing coy with her words. “Oh, I know that, I’m just saying you like Scootaloo, so that’s why you’re putting in the extra effort.”

“What are ya tal…kin’…about…” Apple Bloom noticed the knowing look that Sweetie Belle was giving her. She then averted her gaze, looking straight ahead as her cheeks tinted red. “Shut up…”

“My lips are sealed.” Sweetie said as she giggled.

Soon Fluttershy’s cottage was coming into view. The modest home of the shy pegasus mare, a place of healing and care for many of the woodland animals of the forest. Fluttershy maintained the property regularly, making sure every animal was fed and taken care of, and that any and all equipment she used was properly stored away, not wanting a small or large animal to trip or hurt themselves because of her negligence. So when the two fillies arrived at the cottage, they gasped in horror at the state of the property.

Chicken coops were demolished, various feed was strewn all around the yard, and the cottage’s front door was busted up along with long deep gashes running around it and everywhere else. The two fillies couldn’t believe what they were seeing; it looked like a monster went berserk on Fluttershy’s house and everything else. A deep concern for the mare crept into their hearts. They wanted to shout and call out to Fluttershy, but they didn’t know if what caused the damage was still there or not and they did not want to alert it to their presence. Carefully they walked through the damaged area, minding any protruding pointy things that were in their path. As they walked around the yard, Sweetie Belle gasped when she saw the pink tail of Fluttershy further behind the house.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle quickly ran to her. When they rounded the corner their jaws hung open. Fluttershy was lying on the ground; two large puncture wounds were on her right flank, blood trickling out of it in a small steady stream, indicating that the wound was deep. Her breathing was shallow and her body shook. Sweetie Belle gingerly touched the mare’s forehead and found that her fur was damp, apparently from sweating profusely. The unicorn filly gently shook Fluttershy, biting back the urge to cry and shout out to her.

“Fluttershy…? Fluttershy please wake up, what happened here?! Fluttershy please you’re really scaring me!”
“Girls……?”

Fluttershy’s voice was weak and raspy, as if just the one word was a struggle.

“We’re here Fluttershy! What happened, can ya move?!” asked Apple Bloom.

Fluttershy breathed in and out, trying to speak, but her throat felt like sandpaper and she was very weak. “R-Run……Get……Away………!”

“Run? Run from what?!”

“I thought I smelled apple filly!”

Apple Bloom felt a chill run down her spine. She recognized that voice. It can’t be…! There’s no way they can be here!

They quickly turned around and saw a large creature stalking towards them. Its upper body was that of a tiger, but the rear was like that of a goat. The creature also had two heads, one was a tiger, and other was a goat with razor sharp teeth to match the tiger heads’. The tail arched up, revealing a third head, a snake which acted as its amalgam’s tail. Apple Bloom knew what this creature was, she had hoped to never see this thing again, but here it was, standing right before Sweetie Belle and her, the Chimera from the Fire Geyser Swamp.

“Well, looks like that mare wasn’t lying when she said she was coming here,” said the goat head.

“Good thing my venom killsss slowly, elssse they might’ve ran away at the sssight of dead pony,” said the snake head.

“Yeah, yeah, we’re all so happy to have you sister, quit milking it!” The tiger growled in annoyance.

Apple Bloom shook her head in disbelief at the sight of the creature her big sister had beaten when she went on the delivery trip on her own. But why was it here and not in the swamp?!

“H-How did you find this place?! Ah thought ya couldn’t leave that darn swamp?!”

The goat head chuckled, sounding like a “baaaah” when she did so. “It took us awhile to get out of there, but all we had to do was figure out the route where you and that sister of yours used to get in and out!”

“Your sister has made a fool of us for the last time! Every time she or the big red one go through our swamp they end up getting the better of us! Well no more! We’ll go to them, while their unprepared, and unknowing of our presence! And we will finally have our fill of pony meat, and one filly fillet!” The tiger head growled.

“B-But why did you hurt Fluttershy?! What did she do to you?!” Sweetie Belle cried.

“Oh, her, she tried to stop us, gave us this weird stare that…well…”

The snake head tail slipped between the two heads and smirked smugly. “Ssshe had you two frozen ssstiff, but luckily I was able to ssslip around and give her a quick bite on her juicy flank. And now she’s filled with my venom and dying oh so slowly, painfully, but slow all the same.”

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked to each other, and then to Fluttershy. The poisoned mare gave them a desperate look, pleading with them to run now. Reluctantly, the two fillies readied themselves to run as fast as they could, but were cut off when two blazing streams of fire shot out on either side, cutting off their escape. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle huddled closer to Fluttershy, utterly frightened at what they saw. The Chimera’s tiger and goat heads had flames dripping from their maws, the glow of the fire making the already fearsome look in their eyes even more sinister.

“SINCE WHEN IN THE HAY COULD YOU DO THAT?!” Apple Bloom shouted.

“You weren’t worth the effort before,” said the goat head.

“But now you are. You should feel honored,” said the tiger head.

“Now letsss feassst!”

“Oh no…Nonononononono! You have to help them!” Scootaloo pleaded as she turned to the Wizard.

“I cannot, much of my power is weak and I cannot affect the beast from here. And as I said earlier, I cannot leave the Rock of Eternity.”

Scootaloo looked from the portal to the Wizard, back and forth as she desperately thought about how to save her friends. In the end she couldn’t think of anything better, with that thing’s two fire-breathing heads and the snake head tail, it almost had no blind spots. She then looked directly at the Wizard, her expression serious as determination burned within her eyes.

“The power you were talking about, can it save my friends?!”

“Yes, but realize that by me bestowing this power upon you, you carry with it all the power, knowledge, and skill of the ancients. A power that can nary be matched by others and will call upon you to fight against the vilest evils of your world, knowing this, will you accept it?”

Scootaloo nodded vigorously. “I will, just tell me what I have to do!”

The Wizard’s cloak and beard parted down the middle, showing the symbol of a blue glowing lightning bolt on his chest. “You must speak the magic word Scootaloo, say ‘Shazam’.”

Scootaloo gave the Wizard a confused look, but complied with his instruction. “Shazam…?”

“No, you must speak it with your good intentions and righteous fury poured into it. Feel it in your heart and speak the word of power!”

Scootaloo closed her eyes and concentrated, letting the good memories and feelings fill her heart and the righteous fury burn inside her and give her strength. She then opened them and spoke the magic word of power.

“SHAZAM!!! ”

A powerful and massive bolt of lightning shot down from high above Scootaloo. The bolt struck her and empowered every cell, every atom in her body. When the lightning bolt ended Scootaloo was completely transformed. Her height was equal to Princess Celestia, with large majestic wings, and a long horn protruding from her forehead. She was donned in a red suit, her hooves in golden ornate horseshoes. Her chest plate was golden as well, with a lightning bolt symbol engraved in it. Within the engraving, it appeared as if the very lightning that transformed her was living within it, almost like a glimpse into the magic that now resided in her soul. Scootaloo’s tail was longer, along with her mane, which was now a tad bit spikier and long enough to partially cover her right eye. The lightning from her chest arced to her horn, and then to her hooves, traveling along her graceful form as if recognizing its knew wielder.

Scootaloo, after getting over the shock of being struck with lightning and still being able to breathe, lifted one of her forelegs and gasped at how tall she had gotten.

“What the…What the heck, I’m an alicorn! Eep!” Scootaloo put her hoof over her mouth after hearing that her voice had changed. It was smooth as silk, but strong like a waiting storm. “My voice changed too! And…I-I feel stronger actually. Really strong, like I could split a mountain in half and not even break a sweat! Is this the power you were talking about…hey, Mr. Wizard, are you alright?”

The Wizard was sitting on his haunches, and the power in his eyes had dimmed considerably till they became just plain white. He even seemed tired; the strength that radiated from this old pony had somehow gone all at once. Scootaloo feared that she might’ve just hurt the old pony by speaking the word of power. But the Wizard looked up at the newly christened magical warrior and smiled contently.

“Do not worry about me child, I am most happy…Happy to see that the power of the ancient magic has found one with as good a heart as yours.”

“You don’t look so good…”

“I am simply tired young one, and it is time for this old stallion to rest. Go now and save your friends…farewell, Scootaloo…truly you are a remarkable filly, I am glad to have met you…”

The Wizard’s horn lit up with magical lightning and before Scootaloo could inquire further, she was struck by his spell, sending her through the portal in the form of pure lightning. The old stallion’s body shimmered; particles of golden light began to rise up from him as his form began disintegrating with each passing second. But there was no fear in the Wizard’s eyes nor was there regret, there was simply peace. He had fulfilled his last duty as a member of the Council of Magic, and protector of the Rock of Eternity. The Wizard then closed his eyes and let go, and with that the rest of his body turned into particles of light that rose into the air and disappeared completely.

At that moment a new tapestry was created in the hall from the entrance to the throne room. It unrolled and revealed a young alicorn stallion, his coat was a gleaming silver color, and his mane white as snow. His eyes were glowing with the power of his magic as the lightning bolt symbol glimmered and sheened from catching the light from the crystals. He wore a white cloak around his body that flapped in the wind as he stood before two creatures, one was a black and red centaur with two long horns on his head, and the other was a beast with a lion’s mane, spiked whip-like tail, and large bat wings on his back.

Near the bottom of the tapestry was golden lettering that read “The 51st Champion, Quiksilver of the Unicorn Kingdoms. The Liberator. Banisher of Lord Tirek and Skorpan the Beast. ”

Author's Notes:

Next time in
SHAZAM, Equestria's Mightiest Mare!:

Scootaloo is sent back to Equestria, but can she figure out how to use her newfound powers to save her friends from the Chimera?

And Cheerilee pays Princess Twilight a visit, the topic, Scootaloo. Will their talk affect Scootaloo's life as much as her powers?

Lightning Strikes Arc Part 3: The Beginning of Everything, Good and Bad

High above a bolt of lightning zipped through the sky. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and even the Chimera looked up, hearing the sound of thunder in the distance, but not seeing a cloud in the sky.

“Thunder, but there are no ssstorm cloudsss,” said the snake head.

“It’s probably just some random storm from the Everfree Forest. That place is freaky like that,” chided the goat head.

“Sisters, can we please get back to eating these three?! I want to go and maul that blonde earth pony and the big red one before the day is done!”

After refocusing the other two, the Chimera was about ready to pounce on their prey. Apple Bloom and Sweetie held each close, eyes shut tight as tears ran down their cheeks in preparation for their death. Fluttershy continuously tried to focus her Stare ability to the Chimera, but her vision had blurred and she was only able to make out blotchy colors of where the two fillies and the monster were. Plus, the poison had nearly paralyzed her entire body, and soon, she figured, the venom would reach her vital organs and shut them down completely. Even the sounds were becoming muffled; she could barely hear Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom or the Chimera.

Just as the two fillies believed their end was here they heard the great roar of thunder, stronger than the last, rocking the entire area. They blinked once and in that instant a giant lightning bolt crashed down before them with resounding force. The entire area was bathed in light-blue as the crackling of electrical energy filled their ears. The Chimera jumped back in surprise, crouching low and preparing to run the other way. When the lightning bolt dispersed, all eyes were on the alicorn mare who now stood before them. Her wings were flared out, tail and mane waving in the cross breeze of the ionized air. Lightning arced from her horn to the rest of her body as she glared with anger at the beast before her.

Scootaloo didn’t have the time to question what happened to the Wizard, or how she got here. All that mattered now is that she was there, and she had the power (hopefully) to protect the three ponies behind her. The three heads of the Chimera didn’t know what to make of her, they were obviously threatened by her, and an alicorn suddenly descending from the sky in a flash of lightning is enough to put the fear of the divine in any creature. Normally, Scootaloo would’ve just lashed out at the beast, but her mind was thinking more clearly for some reason, more tactical. She had made the Chimera afraid of her, so she used this to her advantage.

“You don’t belong here, return from where you came and you may leave with your dignity, and limbs, intact.” Scootaloo threatened. She liked the sound of her voice, strong, but smooth.

The three Chimera heads each glanced at each other, wondering if it really was in their best interest to fight an alicorn. The started to assess their enemy, she seemed young despite her physique and height, obviously she had great power, but they sensed a hesitation to use it, otherwise she’d have already vaporized them with a spell by now. Feeling bold, the Chimera stood her ground and began to advance a little on the alicorn mare.

Scootaloo instinctively took a step back, which unfortunately was all the Chimera needed to verify their next course of action, attack. The Chimera quickly lunged for the alicorn mare, both heads baring their fangs and extending their claws to kill the mare. Scootaloo felt fear for a moment, uncertainty even, but the whimpers coming from behind her, and the fear she could feel radiating from her friends spurred her on. A wellspring of courage she never knew of before rose up from within her and, without even thinking, Scootaloo dashed forward with blinding speed, becoming a literal blur of red, gold, orange, and purple.

The result was her forelegs wrapping around the Chimera’s barrel, creating a slight concussive force that resonated within the air, and stopped the Chimera mid lunge and simultaneously knocking the air out of its lungs. Scootaloo’s eyes widened at the fact that she just stopped a beast of this size and strength, and wasn’t even feeling any strain at all. However, the Chimera was feeling strain, trying to push against the mare blocking them from their prize. They tried to wrench themselves free, but the iron grip of Scootaloo was keeping them rooted to where they were.

The snake head tail maneuvered herself so that she was in a good striking position, opening her large mouth to reveal her four, long dripping fangs. Scootaloo knew from that this head had venom in those fangs and was not about to let it bite her. With a flap of her large wings, Scootaloo propelled herself forward, but she was not prepared for the great acceleration that followed. That one flap propelled her and the Chimera like a rocket, sending them into the woods as the Chimera and Scootaloo smashed through one tree after the other.

Scootaloo angled herself down and let go of the Chimera. The beast landed hard against the ground, but Scootaloo was able to correct herself, turning around and slamming her hooves into the dirt and leaving a large trail of disturbed earth till she stopped completely. Scootaloo panted, not from exhaustion, but from the rush of going so fast, it was exhilarating.

I just…I just flew! I flew as fast as Rainbow Dash and I only flapped my wings once! Oh my Celestia! That was epic! Scootaloo thought.

The Chimera also thought it was epic, epically painful. The beast slowly rose from the small crater it created on impact, shaking off the loose dirt from its body as the three heads glared at Scootaloo with bloodlust. The alicorn mare had a cocky smile on her face, knowing that she was in dense forest made flying hard, so she opted to test her speed in running. Scootaloo got into a running stance, and the Chimera readied to charge for her. The Chimera moved first, running at Scootaloo as it roared with fury.

Scootaloo flinched like she was about to take off, but something was odd about her surroundings in that moment. The leaves from the branches seemed to be falling in slow motion, even the dust from the dirt she kicked up was lingering longer than usual. She then looked towards the charging Chimera and saw that it was moving as slow as molasses.

Okay…either I can manipulate time or I’m moving super-fast and everything else around me is moving slow compared to me.

Scootaloo decided to test her theory and ran to the Chimera; it only took her a few short steps before she was right in front of the beast. The creature had no idea she was there, or if it did, it was too slow to do anything about it. Scootaloo felt the fury in her rise at this moment, she then drew back her right hoof as electrical energy began to arc off of her limb. The energy then coalesced around her right hoof as she thrust it forward, making contact with the left cheek of the goat head. The strength of the punch knocked the Chimera right through five trees before slamming against a sixth, and the lightning that was around Scootaloo’s hoof had added an extra kick to the attack, giving it a slight paralyzing effect.

Everything went back to moving at normal speed after that. Scootaloo looked behind her and saw that a dust trail had kicked from where she ran to where she was now.

Super speed, definitely super speed! I wonder if I could do a Sonic Rainboom…?

“RAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGH!!!!”

Oh right, Chimera, deadly, need to beat it.

The Chimera simply did not want to stay down. After challenging the alicorn, it was a matter of pride for them, they weren’t about to back down from her. The tiger and goat head inhaled deeply and bellowed forth a large flaming inferno. The flames jetted through trees, incinerating everything the flames touched into molten slag. Scootaloo instinctively shut her eyes and raised her forelegs up, protecting her front from the searing hellfire of the Chimera. She felt the flames hit her, but that was all. There was no heat, no pain, she was aware of something smothering her, but Scootaloo found that she could breathe and move just fine.

Either my nerves just got burned so bad that I don’t feel that I’m being burned alive or…

Scootaloo opened her eyes wide, watching as everything, including herself, was engulfed in a stream of fire. She reached out and touched the burning plasma, not feeling any heat from it. She even stuck out her tongue and caught a small ember of it like a snowflake, and still she felt nothing.

Yep, fireproof too! This just keeps getting better!

Scootaloo then focused her eyes, her vision piercing the veil of fire as she watched the Chimera advance on her while still breathing fire. Scootaloo decided to try something she’d never done before, use magic. She concentrated on the power within her, she had seen Sweetie Belle, Rarity, and even Twilight Sparkle cast numerous spells with such an appendage. Remembering some of the lessons that Twilight taught Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo channeled the great magic within her to her new horn. The lightning energy crackled as it built up quickly, encasing her horn in its brilliant, shimmering power. More and more energy built up on her horn, so much so that it was starting to get a little too big.

Whoa wait I don’t want that much magic! Stop, STOP!

Too late, the magic discharged in the form of a powerful bolt of lightning. The force generated by the attack completely destroyed the fire of the Chimera as it stared down the giant bolt with growing dread. Scootaloo angled her head up as quickly as she could and made the lightning shoot straight into the sky. Thunder roared with a powerful boom through air and in the ground when the attack ceased. Scootaloo looked upon the devastation of her spell and gasped. The bolt had turned everything in its path into charred, smoldering remains. Scootaloo then looked at the canopy of trees and saw a large hole burned right through.

Scootaloo immediately went to where the Chimera was standing, but gasped in horror at what she had done. The Chimera was gone, the only thing that managed to remain was the snake head tail, but she was dead, only half of her was left, and the slit eyes of the snake had rolled up as its mouth hung open loosely.

“I…I didn’t mean to kill it! I just wanted to give a nasty burn, at the very least singe it or electrocute it! I didn’t…” Scootaloo tried to calm down, she had never taken a life, even if it was a monster’s life it was still a living, sentient creature like her and other ponies. The alicorn mare shook her head, trying to focus on something else. “I-I need to go back to the girls! Fluttershy’s still hurt!”

Scootaloo opted to run instead of fly, afraid that she may overshoot her destination or crash through Fluttershy’s property and cause further damage to it. The run was not a long one; with her incredible speed she was able to make it to the edge of the forest in only a few short seconds. Scootaloo was about to leave the forest but stopped for a moment.

What if they’re afraid of me? What if they don’t believe it’s me? I need to hide myself, just until I can figure things out.

As if to answer her request, the living lightning from her chest arced out, forming an outline of something. The energy flashed and the light materialized into a white hooded cloak with gold trimming around the edges, and a golden clasp that kept the cloak held fast around her neck.

Guess this’ll do, hope it’s enchanted or something…

Scootaloo then used her hoof to raise the hood up, covering most of her face before she went to see her friends.

Apple Bloom had been keeping an eye out for any sign of the Chimera’s return or the mysterious alicorn mare that fought it. Sweetie Belle had stayed by Fluttershy’s side, nuzzling the side of the mare’s cheek to keep her awake and with them. Fluttershy smiled, wanting to reassure them that everything was alright, but truthfully, she knew that this was not the case, for herself at least.

The earth pony filly had been watching and listening, eyes glued to the forest as she heard multiple crashes and the saw a few trees fall in the distance. A giant bolt of lightning then roared into the sky, shooting off higher and higher into the sky until Apple Bloom was sure that it left the stratosphere and went into the deep recesses of space.

“What was that?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“Magic, really, really, really powerful magic!” Sweetie explained.

Apple Bloom was about to ask how she knew that, but saw that Sweetie Belle’s horn was glowing with her emerald green aura, possibly reacting to said powerful magic. The apple filly gulped, she didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that Sweetie’s horn did that. Stuff like that didn’t happen when her sister and her friends used the Elements of Harmony, or their newly acquired and named “Rainbow Power”. Although this mare did save them from the Chimera, there was a strong possibility that she just fought the thing because it threatened her. For all she knew, this new alicorn mare was as evil as Nightmare Moon.

“Ah don’t like this. It’s way too quiet now. And who was that mare anyway, the Princess of Lightnin’ or somethin’?!”

“I don’t know, but Fluttershy needs help now! We need to get her to a hospital!”

“Ah don’t think a hospital carries stuff for curin’ Chimera venom, it may’ve been a snake, but it could be completely different! Ah remember the doctor sayin’ this one time that Big Mac got bit by one, he said ‘If you don’t know the kind of snake that bit ya, givin’ somepony the wrong anti-venom can kill’em faster’!”

“Well…What about Princess Twilight?!”

“That’s too far; even Ah can’t run that fast!”

“I could teleport!”

“The last time ya tried that you ended up with your front half on one side of the door, and your rear on the other!”

Sweetie Belle was starting to get frustrated that Apple Bloom was shooting down all her ideas. “Well then what do you think we should do! Because I’m not going to sit here and watch Fluttershy die!”

Apple Bloom didn’t mean to be negative, but she was just being practical and as level headed as she could given their situation. There was something that could save Fluttershy, and it was in her saddle bag. She was hesitant though, Apple Bloom didn’t know if the potion would cure Fluttershy, kill her, or change her into something unrecognizable. Helplessness crept into Apple Bloom’s heart, she was the leader of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and when her friend and their favorite foalsitter were in real trouble, she couldn’t do anything.

“Hello…?”

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked in the direction of the voice. The alicorn mare from earlier was walking towards them. Her face obscured by the shadows of her hood as her cloak flapped with each step. Apple Bloom quickly put herself between Sweetie and Fluttershy, adopting an attack position and putting on the fiercest expression she could muster. The alicorn mare stopped, she almost looked hurt by the action.

“Don’t come any closer, who are ya, and what do you want?!” Apple Bloom demanded.

The alicorn mare paused, her wings fidgeted under her cloak as if thinking about the question. “My name…? My name is…is…Shazam.”

Apple Bloom looked at the mare with confusion. “‘Shazam’, that’s yer name, really?”

“Y-Yeah, it’s my name, I’m Shazam! And I just want to help, I don’t want to hurt you,” said the mare.

Apple Bloom didn’t know why, but she felt a strange familiarity with the alicorn mare, as if she knew her.

“APPLE BLOOM!”

The earth filly’s attention was drawn elsewhere as she turned her head to look at Sweetie Belle, her face filled with worry and panic. Apple Bloom, forgetting the alicorn mare, rushed back to her friend and skidded to halt.

“What’s wrong?!”

“Her breathing is getting worse, look!”

Indeed Fluttershy’s raspy breaths were becoming strained gasps for her, as if she were submerged underwater and was being held there against her will. She could not thrash around in a panic; her body was almost completely paralyzed now. Neither of them noticed till the last moment when the alicorn, Shazam, stood right beside them. They let out a surprised “eep” and jumped a bit from her sudden appearance. Shazam looked over her Fluttershy’s body, noting the puncture wound and the condition she was in.

“Can you help her?! Please help her she’s dying!” Sweetie begged.

“I…I don’t know if I can…”

“Wha’dya mean ya don’t know?! You’re an alicorn and you just fought a Chimera and came back with not a scratch on ya! You have to have some sort of spell to heal her!”

Shazam hesitated, her own inexperience with her newfound power could accidentally kill Fluttershy, the same way she obliterated the Chimera. Apple Bloom grunted in frustration and decided enough was enough.

“Buck it! We ain’t got a choice no more!” Apple Bloom knew she’d get scolded for using such language if her sister, brother, or Granny Smith found out, but this wasn’t the time to worry about that. The filly reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a vial of the potion she was going to use to help Scootaloo, now she was instead going to use it to save Fluttershy’s life, hopefully.

“Wait, you said you still needed to test it first!” Sweetie exclaimed.

“We ain’t got time for second guessin’ here! Either Ah do this and she lives, or I buck up and she dies either way!”

Apple Bloom started to think of how she was going to get the potion in Fluttershy. She couldn’t swallow with the way she was breathing. The only other way was to pour the concoction into the wound directly. Apple Bloom held the vial in the crook of her hoof as she popped the cork off of it with her teeth. She was about to pour it into the wound when the mare stopped her by putting her hoof over the opening.

“No wait minute, something’s…not right with that.”

“What, what’s wrong with it?!” Apple Bloom asked.

Shazam stared at the vial intensely, almost like she was trying to unravel the makings of the potion just by sight alone. After a few tense seconds Shazam shook her head.

“Don’t give it to her, it’s not ready,” said Shazam.

“How can you tell?” asked Sweetie Belle with suspicion.

“I can’t explain it, but…I can just tell that it isn’t. It needs something, something that will bring it together.”

Apple Bloom let out another frustrated grunt. “What else does it need?! An herb, a flower, some rock shavins’, what?!”

“It needs…” Shazam then looked down to the lightning bolt insignia on her chest, the very one that housed the living lightning. “Let me try something, and hopefully I won’t blow us all up.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing! Just hold that potion still.”

Shazam reached out and gingerly touched the vial with the tip of her hoof. The lightning in her chest streamed from the insignia and through her foreleg. When it reached the tip of her hoof a tiny bolt zapped the vial. The magical energy caused a chain reaction within the vial, energizing it and changing the color to that of a bright pink. Apple Bloom stared at the new concoction and then at Shazam. The mare nodded her okay, although weary, and with little options left open, Apple Bloom carefully administered the potion. Pouring the liquid into the open wound and making Fluttershy hiss with pain. When the vial was empty Apple Bloom tossed it to the ground, now all that was left was to wait and see.

At first nothing happened, Fluttershy’s breathing was still irregular, but that slowly changed as her strained breathing began to slowly become less labored. One of her front hooves twitched and then one of her back hooves. Steadily Fluttershy was regaining feeling in her limbs, and most importantly, in her chest. Fluttershy’s eyes slowly opened, her vision became less blurry as the world came back into focus. The first thing she did was smile at the two fillies, letting them know that she was still here with them.

“I…I’m starting to feel better girls…” Fluttershy then looked to the hooded alicorn who stood next to them. Her first instinct would be to worry and panic about a strange hooded pony, but the smile she saw on the face of this mare made her feel safe. “Were…Were you the one who helped us…?”

“Um, y-yeah, I did…”

“Thank you.”

Apple Bloom didn’t know if she saw it or not, but she could’ve sworn she saw a tear fall from under Shazam’s hood.

“One of you might want to go and find some help.”

Shazam then began to walk away, before either Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom could say anything the alicorn mare sped away, leaving behind only a dust trail in her wake.

Scootaloo was right back where she started by the time she had ended her super speed run. The cloak vanished, sensing that she was alone. Scootaloo then leaned up against the tree that supported the CMC HQ, she wasn’t tired, but she needed to get things in order.

“Okay…Fluttershy will be alright, AB and Sweetie will be too. I…I killed the Chimera…so now…now…Oh no.”

It just now dawned on Scootaloo that she never asked the Wizard if this was a permanent transformation.

“Oh crap, no! Am I going to be an alicorn for the rest of my life?! Granted that’s not a bad thing, but how am I going to explain this to everypony?! Will the Princesses be mad that I am an alicorn?! Damn it why didn’t I think to ask?!”

Scootaloo began pacing back and forth, trying to think of how she could explain this or change back. It took a while, and she knew that she would not have enough time before somepony was out looking for her. It was then that a crazy idea entered her head.

“Well, it worked to change me into this; it should turn me back right?”

Scootaloo stood away from the treehouse, not wanting the lightning bolt to come crashing down on their clubhouse. Once she was a safe distance from it, Scootaloo concentrated on the feelings she used to initiate the transformation, and when she felt it the alicorn mare spoke aloud the word.

“SHAZAM!!! ”

A lightning bolt suddenly shot down from the sky out of nowhere and struck Scootaloo. A cloud of white smoke appeared around her, obscuring the form of the super heroine. Scootaloo walked forward out of the cloud of smoke and opened her eyes. She was no longer a tall and slender alicorn mare, but merely a small, pegasus filly. Scootaloo inspected her form, checking to see if anything was amiss or permanently altered.

“Okay, it looks like everything’s back to normal. But still…”

Scootaloo’s mind briefly flashed back to the fight with the Chimera, and how she lost control of the spell and vaporized the beast and almost a good portion of the forest. Even knowing that the creature was going to kill her friends, it filled her with regret, killing wasn’t her intention, but it happened, because she had lost control of her power.

I really need to find somepony to help me out with this magic stuff.

Deciding that that was enough adventure and excitement for today, Scootaloo strapped on her helmet and made her way back to town. She’d pretend like she didn’t know what was happening, and she would also play dumb. Scootaloo needed time to break this news to those closest to her, but for now, she would pretend like it was any other day.

On the outskirts of town lied the newest tourist attraction for Ponyville, Castle Concordia. The name was chosen by Twilight herself, having come across the word and learning that it meant “harmony”, “unity”, and “togetherness”. Even though she still missed the modest Golden Oaks Library, which had served as both Ponyville’s library and her home ever since she came to reside in this town, she couldn’t deny that the castle did have some benefits. The first, and most important thing as far as Twilight was concerned, was the library. Unlike Golden Oaks the library within Concordia could house thousands of books more than the old one.

Although it wasn’t as enormous as the Canterlot Royal Library, it was still big. The second was the extra guest rooms. Twilight liked the closeness of her old home, but with Spike growing up, she knew she’d have to move him out of his basket and into his own room. The young drake was elated when she presented him with his very own room, it was only a couple of doors down from Twilight’s chambers, being in the same room and sleeping just a foot away from each other didn’t really offer much in the way of privacy. This way, Twilight had her privacy and Spike had his, but both were still close enough to be reached.

The third was the finding of her personal study. A sense of nostalgia washed over Twilight when she first entered the room, remembering the days and nights when she was a filly, and she would go to Princess Celestia’s study to ask a question or to just spend time with her mentor. And, along with the study, she found ample room to have her own personal laboratory, which was housed in a sub-basement some feet below the castle, so if anything went wrong it wouldn’t affect the citizens up top.

But, with the joys of a new castle, also came the woes. Mountains of paperwork had to be signed and sent to Canterlot, classifying Ponyville as a region under Princess Twilight’s rule, officially making it a kingdom, with the small town as its capital. Nobles were in an uproar about the town becoming a kingdom, believing that there was no nobility amongst the Ponyville citizens and that they were unworthy of such an honor. Then there was the flood of construction propositions. Since Ponyville was now the Capital of Friendship, there were many ponies who arrived from different parts of Equestria, propositioning Twilight for Ponyville to expand and grow into a city.

Serene Script, also known as Mayor Mare, was given the role of Minister of Internal affairs. Which was basically a glorified title, but it allowed the earth pony mare to keep her station as the mayor of Ponyville. Twilight had no intentions of putting the ponies who ran the town out of work. So with some creative loopholes, Twilight was able to keep everypony who aided Serene Script in maintaining Ponyville’s welfare. Twilight’s friends were very helpful as well, especially during meetings that some had come to call the “Council of Friendship”. Silly little titles, but Twilight didn’t mind, she actually liked them.

Today however was not a fun day for the purple alicorn. She had been moving about the town and her castle frantically answering questions and making investigative plans. Apparently Fluttershy was attacked by a Chimera that had come to kill the Apple family. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were there, and the two almost became lunch. But according to them, a mysterious alicorn mare appeared and fought the Chimera. Subsequently, this coincided with the reports of citizens witnessing strange phenomenon in the sky.

Loud roars of thunder and lightning flashing in the sky when there wasn’t a cloud to be seen, Everfree or otherwise, and then there was the oddity of many unicorns’ horns reacting to a powerful magic that was in the area, Twilight’s included. They weren’t able to find this “Shazam” anywhere despite a wide search. Twilight had ordered the Dusk Guard to keep a close watch on the borders of the Everfree Forest, as well as set up a sentry post to monitor if any other such beasts would try and come seeking revenge.

At this moment, Twilight was lying on her queen sized bed, splayed out in exhaustion. All of today’s and yesterday’s events had taken their toll on her and she needed some rest. As Twilight’s eyelids began to lower she was roused back from the edge of sleep by a knock at her door. With an annoyed sigh, she answered.

“Come in,” she said with a slight amount of annoyance.

When the door opened Twilight craned her neck in the direction of the door, her expression softened when she saw the familiar maroon colored earth pony mare. Cheerilee entered the bedchambers and looked a bit nervous about entering.

“Sorry Princess, Spike said you’d be here and I know you’ve been busy lately but…”

“Cheery,” said Twilight, “you know my rule about my friends…and marefriends calling me ‘princess’ when it’s just us.”

Cheerilee blushed, both for forgetting the rule and because Twilight called her, her marefriend. “Sorry Twi, it’s just a habit when around royalty. And to be fair, we started dating what, like, three months before you ascended?”

“More or less, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not the same Twilight as I was when I was a unicorn. Remember that winter when I had Spike stay over at Rarity’s and we cuddled near the fireplace?”

Cheerilee started to get a dreamy look in her eyes, remembering that cold winter when she and Twilight were in her old home, the roaring of the fire, the loving nuzzles each would give, and sharing in their knowledge. There’s was a relationship of the mind as well as the heart. But as much as Cheerilee wanted to indulge in her fantasies she had to get back to the matter at hoof.

“Twilight, there was something that I wanted to talk to you about, and it is rather serious.”

The Princess of Friendship’s expression fell, worry now clouding her face. Twilight repositioned herself so that she was lying down on the bed with her legs tucked under her. She then motioned for Cheerilee to come and sit by her, an offer that the maroon mare accepted quickly. Cheerilee then began her talk, she hated burdening her marefriend with her work problems, but she knew that Twilight cared about Scootaloo and her friends, so she was the only other one (well other than Rainbow Dash, but that mare was hard to track down as fast as she was) who would understand.

She began with the incident, following into the parent-teacher conference with Filthy Rich. Cheerilee noticed Twilight furrow her brow upon mentioning how he acted and spoke about the little filly, and lastly, she expressed her concerns about how Scootaloo apparently saw herself. The words she spoke worried Twilight.

“I had no idea she thought of herself like that…”

“Don’t beat yourself up Twilight; it’s the same for me.” Cheerilee then sighed. “As great as it is that she’s willing to stick up and protect her friends, it really sounds like she doesn’t care too much about what happens to her in the process of doing so.”

Silence reigned within the room for a while, neither mare saying a word as they contemplated what to do for the young pegasus filly.

“Yes Cheery?”

“What would you say to me…adopting Scootaloo?”

Twilight’s eyes went wide as she stared at her marefriend with a gaping mouth. The alicorn princess had to shake her head and gather her thoughts before she spoke again.

“Cheery…you….you want to adopt Scootaloo!”

“Well, she is an orphan at that Wayward House, and, I am a school teacher. Plus I’m not really splurging on needless things, I mean, you’ve seen my place. I have more than enough room for Scootaloo.”

“But…are you sure about this? I mean, I have no doubts about you being a good parent or guardian for Scootaloo, but…this is a big decision.”

Cheerilee reached out her hoof and placed it over Twilight’s as she smiled at the alicorn mare. “That’s why I came here to talk to you about it. I want to, but since you’re just as much a part of my life as you are in Scootaloo’s, I wanted your opinion first. Because, let’s face it, when she finds out her teacher is dating her other teacher, it’s going to be awkward.”

The thought of being a parent sound really nice. Spike was technically a child she raised, but the young drake could more or less take care of himself most the time. Plus she saw him as more of a kid brother than her actual child, even if she was the one to hatch him. Spike hadn’t showed that much difference between treating her as his mother or like a big sister, since she did pretty much switch between roles from time to time. So she did have experience.

“Well, I’m not against it. In fact, if you’d let me, I’d like to help.”

Cheerilee leaned over and kissed Twilight softly on the lips. Twilight melted into the tender lips of the mare before her, closing her eyes to savor the moment. When they parted, Twilight and Cheerilee both had adorkable looks on their faces.

“I would love for you to, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a Princess’ recommendation to ‘speed things along’.” Cheerilee added with a sultry smirk.

“Oh, so you date me for favors? And who said you could use me as a threat anyway, granted Filthy Rich is an exception for being a total plot-head, but still?!”

“Yeah, I used you as a threat, so what are you,” Cheerilee booped Twilight on her snout, making the purple alicorn wrinkle her nose, “going to do about, Princess Twilight?”

There was another minute of silence as the two mares locked eyes with each other.

“I’ll get the skirt, shirt, and stockings,” called Cheerilee.

“And I’ll get the ruler,” said Twilight.

Did I mention privacy before? I’m pretty sure that I did.

The desert winds blustered and howled, kicking up sand and sediment into the air and creating sand twisters here and there. In the distance, within this almost vast ocean of sand, was a large fence that cordoned off a good section of the desert. There were two unicorns standing sentry at the entrance, both wore uniforms with no markings, but strapped to their sides was a long scimitar.

Within the fence, hundreds of ponies and zebras were hard at work digging into the ground. Remnants of old structures stood in a dilapidated state. Pictograph carvings were littered around different pillars and walls, each one telling a story of the history of the ancient civilization that once occupied this region. Near the center of the dig site was a large white tent, and inside was an earth pony with a five o’clock shadow, a light-brown coat, teal eyes, and a black mane with a gray streak in it. His cutie mark, a golden skull with an empty right eye and a ruby in the other, was a testament to his work and his intentions in getting at what laid beneath the ground.

Dr. Caballeron was a business stallion, and an archeologist. Of course, a certain mare by the name of Daring Do might say he disgraced the noble profession, simply calling him a lowly tomb raider. But really, was she any different? What are archeologists if not tomb raiders, off in search of ancient artifacts and treasures hidden in the earth and lost by the ravages of time. The only real difference was who got paid at the end of the day. Archeologists often got meager grants that paid for equipment that was sometimes dated or inefficient, and how many times was a project derailed because some nobles wouldn’t foot the bill just as they were on the verge of a major discovery?!

Well, the good doctor had had it with that. So he went into business for himself. Now not only was he being paid to go after and dig up ancient artifacts, but depending on what he found, he could make a good amount of money by selling them on the Black Market.

Now, Dr. Caballeron was commissioned by a new client. They apparently knew of his shady dealings, but they knew his work was thorough and excellent. That was why he was now in this Celestia forsaken desert. They wanted something that was buried underneath this sandbox, and hired him to find this certain something and in exchange he could take as much of whatever treasure he found as he and his cohorts could carry.

Currently, the good doctor was scrutinizing over an ancient map that detailed the structure that was still yet to be unearthed. Dr. Caballeron had his “assistants” go in search of somepony who knew the area. There were many nomadic tribes moving in and out of the area, and given that most of their history and legends are passed verbally, though they may be tales and legends, there was always a hint of truth to them, and some had hidden messages that could help in finding what he sought. Luna knows he had gone through quite a few “informants” before getting those other golden rings for Ahuizotl.

Caballeron heard the flapping of the tent doors opening and turned to see his thug cohorts throw in a cloaked stranger. The two stallion marehandled the stranger up roughly and drew back his hood, showing that the stranger was an elderly zebra stallion, he may’ve been old, but his long years of being a nomad had made him fit and strong. He had a black and blue bruise over his right eye, and some blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he huffed and panted in pain.

“The workers tell me that you my friend are the holder of legends amongst your tribe, a ‘shaman’, correct?”

“…………”

“Oh come now, don’t you want to tell me a little story? Perhaps about what once used to stand here?”

The old zebra remained silent.

Caballeron could see that this zebra was going to stay quiet, and it seemed that he had made his peace with whatever spirit or deity he worshipped.

“Fine then, the hard way then.” Dr. Caballeron then looked to the stallion on his left. “Did you remember to collect the members of this zebra’s tribe?”

“Yes doctor.”

“Very well, start killing them, one at time, and start with the foals. Don’t want any those little snot nosed brats coming back for revenge now do we?”

The shaman looked at Caballeron with shock; he couldn’t believe the earth pony could so easily order the murder of a foal. Caballeron noticed the expression on the shaman’s face and smirked.

“Once you’ve gone through them, start on the adults next.” Caballeron then walked up to the zebra shaman and stared him directly in the eyes. “I wonder, can you bear the burden of being responsible for the deaths of so many? How many foals will you let die before I reach somepony you actually care about? Make no mistake my friend; they will die unless you say something now that saves them.”

The shaman could see it, this stallion meant it, and he wasn’t bluffing. The shaman sighed in defeat and glared at the earth pony.

“Listen well, though your black heart I do condemn, I shall tell you the tale of Teth Adam…”

Author's Notes:

I decided to switch out Rainbow with Cheerilee, mostly because now that I've gone over the whole thing in my head, and we'll mostly see Rainbow in doses here and there.

---

Next time in
SHAZAM, Equestria's Mightiest Mare!:

Scootaloo struggles to understand the power she has been given by the Wizard, and her worries are only doubled when she is called to meet with Twilight. Does this bode well or ill for our young hero? Find out next time!

Lightning Strikes Arc Part 4: Discovery

Two days had passed since the incident, and Scootaloo hadn’t changed since then. As fun as wielding all that power was, she realized in the same day just how dangerous she could be if she didn’t learn how to control it. There weren’t that many places for Scootaloo to practice unfortunately, she had thought about going to Ghastly Gorge to practice, but then there was the matter of the Quarray eels, if she went around throwing lightning bolts in there she was sure to accidentally kill the creatures.

It was something that weighed on her mind since Saturday, and now it was Tuesday. She had been suspended from school for at least three days and today was the second day of her suspension. Cheerilee had made it clear that she was on her side, but as a teacher, she couldn’t condone what Scootaloo did to Diamond Tiara. Scootaloo thought that that was fair, it wasn’t so bad knowing that her teacher did believe her, some would just write her off Scootaloo as a violent troublemaker, but not Cheerilee.

The matron at Wayward House had Scootaloo help around the house and having Scootaloo go to the market when she wasn’t able. It was fine with her, she needed time to think. As she made her way into the market district, Scootaloo saw Fluttershy walking about with Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Even though she came close to death’s door, she was back on her hooves and just as happy as always.

After she was done at the market and getting the groceries back to Wayward House, Scootaloo decided to just hang out somewhere, not the clubhouse. She found herself at the park; her scooter leaned up against a tree and her helmet hanging off the handlebar. She stared up into the sky, watching the clouds roll by. There was just so much she didn’t know about magic she obtained, for one thing it didn’t seem to alter the state of her weak wings, nor did it give her a cutie mark. She was starting to wonder if the old pony was senile and just chose her because there was really nopony else he could find to do the job.

Scootaloo then closed her eyes and started to drift into a brief nap, taking after her big sister.

“Hi Scoots!”

“AAAH!”

“AAAH!”

Scootaloo’s eyes flew wide open as she hurriedly jumped to her hooves and almost spoke the word of power out of defense, but stopped when she saw the familiar purple and green scales.

“Spike?!”

“Y-Yeah.”

Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief. “Jeez Spike, you almost gave me a heart attack! And you know that’s a good way to get a black eye.”

Spike rubbed the back of his head nervously. “Sorry about that, but I’ve been looking for you.”

Scootaloo froze. “Looking, for me, why?”

“Don’t know, Twilight said she wanted to talk to you privately about something. But you weren’t where she sent me, so I went out looking for you. Well, now that I have, let’s head to the castle.”

This was a predicament. Scootaloo hadn’t yet figured out a way to properly explain where she had gone, who she spoke to, and why she could change between an alicorn mare and a pegasus filly. Scootaloo knew she’d have to explain this somehow, but she never imagined that time was now! There was a chance for her to run now, if she hopped on her scooter now she could be halfway out of town, and with a quick transformation she could be in Manehattan in less than a few seconds. But that wouldn’t be cool, besides, this was possibly the lesser of two evils. She wasn’t sure how Princess Celestia would take to all this, but she had a better chance if it was Twilight; even Princess Luna would have been fine too.

“Let’s go then…”

Scootaloo never felt such a sense of dread since, well, since she was before she arrived in Wayward House. The pegasus Dusk Guards stood on either side of Castle Concordia’s double doors. The two stallion’s followed Spike and Scootaloo with their eyes, unflinching, like statues. She gulped, believing that they knew who and what she was.

Spike led her through the halls of the castle, there were many ponies walking about, some were cleaning staff, most were guards and the ponies who helped run Ponyville. Spike kept walking till they were at the doors to the library; Spike opened the door and gestured with his claw for Scootaloo to go inside.

“Twilight’s waiting for you in the usual spot you have for your Twilight Time, I’ll be around if you guys need anything.”

Scootaloo gulped again. She entered the room, hearing the doors close behind her. Scootaloo looked around the large rotunda room. Bookshelves littered the walls on the first and second level, a round table was set in the middle of the room, it was where Apple Bloom would practice her potions and where Sweetie Belle read her spell books, and where Scootaloo read up on how different things worked, engineering books if she remembered correctly.

But there was only one book near the table, a book which bared Princess Celestia’s sun cutie mark, and it was being held by Twilight. She had seen that book on a stand in her throne room and on her desk in the study. She could hear a few giggles coming from behind the book, which made Scootaloo wonder what was so funny. Knowing that delaying the inevitable wasn’t going to make this any easier, Scootaloo walked up to the table and cleared her throat.

“Ahem, Princess Twilight?”

Twilight lowered the book and smiled when she saw Scootaloo. “Oh Scootaloo, sorry, I was just reading a message.” Twilight levitated the book to the stand and set it down before turning her attention to Scootaloo. “You know you can come sit by me, I won’t bite.”

“Yes Princess…”

Scootaloo walked over to where Twilight was and sat down next to her. The Princess of Friendship looked upon the filly with concern, all three of Crusaders never called her “princess” when they were alone and having Twilight Time. Twilight extended her right wing and gently placed it on Scootaloo’s back, she felt the filly flinch and tremble slightly, and she wasn’t even looking at her.

“Scootaloo, are you alright?”

“N-Never better…”

Still skeptical, Twilight decided to start. “Well, Scootaloo, there’s an important matter I wanted to talk to you about. Now I know –”

“IT WAS ME, I’M SHAZAM!”

Twilight stared at Scootaloo, blinked two or three times, and opened and closed her mouth a few times trying to get some words out.

“Pardon me –?”

Scootaloo quickly turned to face Twilight and inhaled deeply. “Just let me explain first! I was at the clubhouse when it happened, that’s where I got sucked into this weird dimension! I met an old pony there who called himself the Wizard and he said I was ‘chosen to become magic’s champion’, of course I didn’t believe him at first, but then he looked into my memories and saw my past and my present! After that he said I was worthy and I admit I wasn’t really confident about the whole thing, but then he showed me that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Fluttershy were being attacked by a Chimera! I told him I accepted and then I said ‘SHAZAM’ and then I changed into some kind of super alicorn or something?! He sent me back and I fought the Chimera, I didn’t mean to kill it, but I lost control of a spell and ended up vaporizing the Chimera and almost everything else! I helped AB fix her potion and she used it to save Fluttershy! Then I went back to the clubhouse, said SHAZAM again, and turned back to normal! I haven’t transformed sense then! I’m sorry, I know I should’ve told somepony, especially you, but I was afraid of what you would say!”

Scootaloo stopped to take in some air before continuing.

“But now you found out…I should’ve known you would Twilight, you’re great at magic, of course you’d figure it out that that power was mine, probably used some kind of spell to link it to me. So…am I going to go to Canterlot to see Princess Celestia or are you going to do something me…?”

Twilight’s left eye was twitching as her brain worked to take in the flood of information that Scootaloo had just dumped on the young alicorn princess. After her mind finally caught up, Twilight looked at Scootaloo in confusion.

“What did you expect me to do to you?”

“I-I don’t know! Throw me in a dungeon, banish me to the moon! That’s why you called me here right, to tell me that you knew about me being Shazam and that I need to be locked up?!”

“Scootaloo…that’s not why I called you here.”

The world just ground to a halt at the moment, Scootaloo looked up at Twilight in disbelief, a nervous smile forming on her lips.

“You’re kidding, right?” asked Scootaloo in a worried tone.

“I honestly had no idea until you just said all that.”

“…………………Twilight, may I please request the Angry Dome spell please?”

Twilight lit up her horn and created a large bubble of solidified mana around Scootaloo. She then watched as Scootaloo shouted, screamed, and yelled at the top of her lungs. She then kicked the barrier repeatedly and just utterly had a freak out within the cone. Twilight was more than sure she lip read a few adult curse words while she was ranting and shouting inside, but that was the reason for the spell in the first place, to vent one’s frustrations. By the end, Scootaloo’s mane and tail were a mess as she panted in exhaustion from her little freak out. She then nodded to Twilight who brought down the barrier and used her magic to straighten the filly’s hair and tail.

“Thank you, Twilight.”

“Alright, now that you got that out of your system, I think a more detailed explanation is in order.”

Scootaloo sighed. “I know, so, where do you want me to start?”

“Let’s start at the beginning and we’ll go from there.”

Scootaloo spent the latter part of the day explaining to Twilight how she obtained the Power of Shazam. Twilight listened intently as the young filly spoke, wanting every little detail, from the things she saw in the place she was in, the description of the Wizard, and even the sensations she felt while in his presence. Scootaloo then spoke of how she felt when the power transformed her, turning her into an alicorn mare of exceptional power, strength, and speed.

Twilight could hear the lament in her voice when Scootaloo spoke of killing the Chimera; she empathized with the young filly, remembering when she had to take on the power of the other Princesses. The rush it gave her, it made Twilight feel invincible and scary powerful. It showed when she fought against Tirek, unleashing all her anger and fury upon the centaur, not holding back anything as she blasted him with one powerful magic blast after the other. She wasn’t thinking of subduing him then, but stopping him by any means possible. The only thing that prevented her from killing him in her rage was the fact that they were equal in power and could not harm each other as easily as they would’ve thought.

But Scootaloo was vastly more powerful than the Chimera, she knew this, which is why she only wanted to beat the Chimera, not obliterate it. Twilight could scarcely imagine the burden she was carrying, a monster though it was; the Chimera was still sentient like they were. Twilight started to wonder how she’d react if she killed Tirek during their battle. But that was a thought for another day, right now Twilight had a more pressing concern.

“So, you transform whenever you say ‘shazam’? But you must’ve said it at least six or seven times already and you’re still you,” said Twilight.

“I know. I found that out when I first tried it. The Wizard said that saying the ‘word of power’ isn’t enough to make me transform. He said I have to concentrate on all the good inside, all the righteous fury, and pour it into the word as I say it.”

Twilight brought a hoof to her chin in contemplation. Twilight then used her magic to bring out a chalkboard and some chalk and started writing on it, while drawing a few diagrams and images.

“A physical transformation spell that only requires the caster to verbally speak one word, and they don’t have to be a unicorn to begin with. Such a drastic transformation between ones original tribal species to that of a form that incorporates all three isn’t easy. While the addition of special requirements for a spell to activate isn’t unusual, what is unusual is the amount of power required to pull it off. The spell that changed me was a powerful one that needed the Elements of Harmony, and with me the transformation is permanent.”

Twilight finished the first part of her notes, showing the power required for such a transformation, the three pony tribes, the amalgamation of those tribes which was an alicorn, and of course herself and the Elements of Harmony. Twilight then divided the board and began to write another set of notes.

“On the other hoof, we have a spell that seems to be able to be cast by either an earth pony or a pegasus pony, and we’ll say unicorn ponies as well for argument’s sake. Not only does it have special requirements in order to transform its caster, but it has enough power to change the pony’s biology – at least from what you’ve said – in a near instant.

Although, your power, strength, and speed appear to be equivalent to that four alicorns’ magic combined, there is a possibility that it could exceed that. On top of that, unlike myself, you can change between your original pegasus form and into your alicorn form. This power also appears to take the form of lightning, which makes sense since light travels at 186,000 miles per second and the amount of power a normal lightning bolt contains is fifteen million volts. It could be assumed that this was the most efficient way to have the transformation take place since our bodies are jumble of nerves that connect every part of our body, in order to facilitate the transformation quickly and with little resistance via other means.

But what’s interesting are the conditions, you must feel good and righteousness in your heart when you speak the word, otherwise you could say the word a hundred times and nothing will happen. Whereas mine was triggered when I finished the spell of Star Swirl the bearded, creating the Magic of Friendship and uniting it with my friends…”

Twilight stopped to examine her notes. The other half of the chalkboard had a line that splintered off from the first set, showing the divergent difference in Scootaloo’s magical transformation. The three tribes, a bubble that said “good and righteousness”, both of which had lines that led to another bubble that read “Spoken Word: SHAZAM” which led to the picture of a generic alicorn mare. Scootaloo, for her part, just stared at how Twilight was able to break down everything she told her, and putting it together in a scientific way on a chalkboard.

The Princess of Friendship then put down the chalk she had in her telekinetic aura and looked to the young filly. “Scootaloo, I hate to ask you, but could you show me?”

Scootaloo looked around the room, wondering if she should. “Do you really think it’s a good idea for me to do that here, in the library, with all your books?”

Twilight’s eye twitched again. She quickly lit her horn and cast a spell, a wave of rose colored light swept over the books and doorway, layering over it like a protective shell. She then made brick walls of magical energy and surrounded all the bookshelves in a second layer of protection. Scootaloo chuckled at the sight of Twilight doing all she could to make sure her books weren’t destroyed.

“That’s what I thought.”

“Heh, heh…” Twilight chuckled embarrassedly as she blushed at the extensive measures.

Seeing that everything was well protected, Scootaloo put some distance between herself and Twilight. She didn’t know what would happen when she called upon the power, if the lightning would even reach her through the castle or if it would just crash through the roof altogether.

Worst case, Twilight can explain it as an experiment.

Scootaloo concentrated on the feelings, she was aware of Twilight watching her intently, and she hoped that nothing would happen to her, with that in mind, Scootaloo proclaimed in a loud voice.

“SHAZAM!!! ”

Twilight looked up at that moment and watched as a bolt of lightning shot down from the ceiling, completely out of nowhere. Her first instinct was to protect Scootaloo, but the lightning was faster than her reflexes and struck Scootaloo. The room flashed with blue light and the sounds of electricity crackling, along with the smell of ozone from the ionized air. White smoke appeared around were Scootaloo was and Twilight felt a great dread grip at her heart, but that was quickly forgotten when a large orange wing appeared out of the smoke and flapped once.

The flap generated a small gust of wind that blew away the smoke and nearly lifted Twilight off the floor. After righting herself, Twilight stared in awe at the transformed filly.

“Sorry about that Twilight, I still don’t know my own strength, literally.”

“This…is…amazing!”

“Uh-oh…”

Twilight quickly ran up to Scootaloo, a pencil and notepad somehow appearing within her telekinetic aura, and started to examine Scootaloo’s form. Scootaloo tried to remain calm and as pliable as possible as Twilight lifted one leg, looked at it, wrote something on her notes, and then moved on till all four legs were examined. She then pulled out a measuring tape and had Scootaloo flare out her wings, notating the increased wingspan. She then ran her hooves along the muscles and bone of the wings, an act that made Scootaloo let out an embarrassed gasp.

Twilight quickly took her away and blushed. “Sorry, sorry, I-I didn’t mean to – I mean – I wasn't trying –!”

“I-It’s fine, Twilight, just, be more careful,” said Scootaloo blushing.

Twilight continued her examination, noting all the curves her lithe body had developed, and no doubt her muscles were lean to ensure no increased weight. The final part of her examination was Scootaloo’s chest. She stared into the lightning bolt insignia, watching as the living lightning inside it ebbed and flowed. It was almost as if Twilight was staring directly into the heart of magic itself, feeling a strange with the energy. Twilight stepped back and looked over her notes to make sure that nothing was missed in her examination.

“Well, looks like that’s it, but still, this is truly amazing. Does it hurt when you change Scootaloo?”

The orange alicorn mare thought the question over. “It feels…tingly, I guess, at first. But afterwards I feel strong, powerful. Like nothing could stop me from picking up a mountain and hurling it into space!”

“Wow…”

“Well, since I’m like this. I was wondering, could you teach me how to use magic Twilight? I don’t want something like that to ever happen again!”

“Scootaloo,” spoke Twilight softly, “I don’t want you going out and putting yourself in dangerous situations like that. I’m not going to teach you so you can go out and fight monsters.”

The alicorn mare shook her head vigorously. “No, I just want to know how to control it! I’m sure I can figure out the speed and strength thing on my own, but magic, I don’t know the first thing about it! I only cast that spell by remembering all the times you, Sweetie, and Rarity used your magic, and look how well that turned out!”

Scootaloo got closer to Twilight, even though there was desperate and pleading look in her eyes, the height difference made Scootaloo just a bit intimidating.

“Please Twilight; you’re the only one who can help me with this…!”

Twilight looked from Scootaloo’s eyes then to the living lightning within her chest. The great power she possessed was dangerous, how dangerous was up for debate, but that was the point. Scootaloo knew how dangerous her power was and did not want to hurt or kill anypony with it accidentally. As a Princess of Equestria, Twilight knew she should forbid her from ever using this power for her own safety and find a way to seal it. But then again, the part of her that was a teacher and the part of her that cared about Scootaloo warred with her emotions. After a few short minutes of tension filled silence, Twilight gave her an answer.

“Okay Scootaloo, I’ll help you the best I can. But you have to do as I say, that means when I say to stop you stop, if I say don’t change at all, don’t. We’re going to do this carefully and safely the whole time. Do you understand?” Twilight asked with her best authoritative voice.

A grateful smile split Scootaloo’s face as she reached out and hugged Twilight close to her. “Thank you Twilight! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Twilight had felt bone crushing hugs before, mostly from Pinkie Pie, but right now, she felt as if Scootaloo was about to snap her in two like a dried out twig.

“Bones…crushing…lungs…collapsing…” Twilight croaked.

“Oh my gosh!” Scootaloo immediately released Twilight, letting the princess drop onto the floor in a heap. “I’m so sorry Twilight! Are you alright?!”

This…This is going to be rough…Ugh, I wonder if I should tell Cheery about this…? Twilight glanced up at the worried Scootaloo. No, she’d freak out, definitely a no for now…

While this was going on, neither mares took notice of a small, pink shimmering butterfly fluttering overhead. The butterfly then flew up to the ceiling and disappeared into particles of pink light.

Author's Notes:

Next time in
SHAZAM, Equestria's Mightiest Mare!:

Twilight begins teaching Scootaloo how to use magic, but there is still so much that neither of them know. Well, a trip to the Rock of Eternity might change that, and reveal secrets about Equus that have been forgotten.

Lightning Strikes Arc Part 5: The Rock of Eternity

“That’s it Scootaloo, breathe in, breathe out,” instructed Twilight.

Scootaloo, in her alicorn alter ego form, Shazam, was sitting in the lowest level of Castle Concordia, Twilight’s personal laboratory. The Dusk Guard and many of the other ponies who worked in the castle knew never to go down into her laboratory unless otherwise told it was safe to do so. About the only one allowed to stroll in was Spike, but even he knew not to go opening the door to the lab without first knowing if Twilight was experimenting with a spell or concoction that was volatile.

The walls were reinforced with stone, a diamond shell, and spelled with many protective wards to prevent anything harmful or hazardous from getting out. Twilight had magically moved the majority of her equipment to a storage area and left the room mostly empty, barring a table with some books that read “A Young Unicorn’s Guide to Basic Magic”, “Magic 101”, and “Dimwit’s Guide to Practicing Magic.”

For the past two weeks Twilight had thought it best to teach Scootaloo the most basic of magic techniques, taking into account what she saw at the forest near Fluttershy’s home, she knew that Scootaloo had a ridiculous amount of magical power, and that it could cause massive damage if not properly controlled. It made the young alicorn shudder when she thought about what would’ve happened if one of her magic energy blasts had hit Ponyville during her battle with Tirek.

There would be no Ponyville, nothing and no one left…

Shaking the grim thought from her mind, Twilight went back to the task at hoof. A red rubber ball was in the middle of the room, set right between Twilight and Scootaloo. The transformed mare was currently trying to use telekinesis, a simple and basic magic ability that many unicorns master early on in their foal years. Teaching Sweetie Belle was not too hard, being a unicorn she already had a connection to her inner magical power, but Scootaloo on the other hoof was the opposite. She had too much power, and even though she seemed to master the spell, it had some…complications.

Scootaloo’s magical aura was bright blue, mimicking the color of the lightning within her chest plate. It wrapped around the ball and began to raise it five inches off the ground. The orange alicorn’s brow furrowed as she concentrated on the task, breathing in and out as she slowly gave the mental command to move the rubber sphere higher into the air and at a steady pace. The ball then rose to Twilight’s eye level, staying in that position.

“How are you doing Scootaloo?” Twilight asked.

“Just…fine, it’s getting a little easier,” said Scootaloo.

“That’s good. Now I want you to slowly lower the ball back down to the ground and we’ll take a break.”

Twilight watched as the rubber ball floated back down to the ground, she smiled proudly as she watched Scootaloo work. Although she was teaching Sweetie Belle magic, Twilight hadn’t taken on an official apprentice, but Scootaloo and Sweetie were as close to that as she was going to get. Her smile however started to fade when she noticed that the aura around the ball started to spark with electrical currents. Twilight quickly looked to Scootaloo’s horn and saw that it was also arcing lightning. The ball began to shake up and down, trembling as the lightning energy built up around it.

“Duck?” Twilight asked.

“DUCK!”

The ball bounced against the floor and shot up to the ceiling. It then ricocheted off the ceiling at an angle and flew towards the other side of the room. The dome like structure of the room, along with the emptied contents allowed the ball to continuously bounce around the room uninterrupted. Twilight hit the deck and covered her head with her hooves; Scootaloo was busy trying to tract the ball’s movements in order to get a handle on the super charged orb.

Twilight, after seeing one of the walls that the ball hit had a two inch impact crater, quickly created a shield around herself. Unfortunately she was not fast enough as the ball ricocheted again off the wall behind her and sailed right for rear, the strike resonating within the room with a loud “SMACK” as it did so, making the purple alicorn yell in pain from the hit.

Scootaloo had had enough and focused more on the ball. Her horn glowed as lightning sparked off it. Her eyes tracked the movement of the ball as it zipped around the room, remembering her moves from the Chimera fight, Scootaloo dashed forth. She felt as the world around her slowed almost to a grinding halt, her incredible speed putting her in a different speed zone that few, if any, could enter. Within this heightened speed state, she saw the ball move around. It was moving at a medium speed, but not faster than her. Scootaloo noticed that the ball was starting to make another pass for Twilight, but she wasn’t going to let that happen.

The demi-god mare intercepted the ball before it reached Twilight, striking it with her right hoof and exploding the rubber ball into shreds. Scootaloo stopped and everything returned to its normal speed. She quickly turned around and looked at Twilight with worry.

“Twilight are you alright?!”

Twilight, after making sure that the ball was gone, slowly stood up but winced from the pain that radiated from her now reddening rear.

“Well…I think I’m not going to be sitting comfortably for a bit, but otherwise alright.”

Scootaloo hung her head low with shame. “I’m sorry Twilight, I thought I had it! Ugh, this is so frustrating!”

“It’s alright. Most unicorns when using levitation can’t do it right because they don’t have a good enough grasp on their magical energy, but with you it’s the opposite. You have so much magical energy that it sometimes overflows and causes…well, stuff like this. We just need to help you figure out how to better focus your magic.”

Scootaloo sighed sadly. “I wish I had asked the Wizard some questions, but all I could think about was saving Apple Bloom, Sweetie, and Fluttershy…”

Twilight walked up to the taller mare and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Scootaloo, you shouldn’t feel angry or upset because you chose putting your friends’ safety before everything else. Despite how it ended, you saved them, and they’re alive because of you.”

Scootaloo looked to Twilight and gave a small smile at her kind words.

“C’mon, let’s head up stairs. I’m sure you’re hungry, we’ve been here for hours now.”

The dining hall was large and long, just something you’d expect from a royal palace. Scootaloo and Twilight sat at the end of the long table and eating an assortment of prepared foods by the chefs of her castle, with Spike being the Head Chef and allocating his position to the Sous-Chef when he was busy with other duties around the castle or with Twilight in general.

“Hey, Twilight?”

“Hmm-hmm?”

“Do you think we should tell Spike at least about my whole…you know, alicorn transformation thing?” Scootaloo asked.

The filly pegasus watched as Twilight’s face scrunched in contemplation. She knew the importance of keeping her powers a secret, mostly because she didn’t know how Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would react to her presence. Although the two sisters were benevolent and kind, they were not above fighting something that could potentially threaten other ponies. And right now, Scootaloo knew that she was a danger to others, at least while in her alicorn form.

“Honestly…I’d rather keep this between you and me. We just got over dealing with Tirek and then there were those Sirens in the other world, I’m sure Rainbow told you about when I went there, right?”

Scootaloo nodded.

“Right now Equestria’s in a delicate state, plus…”

“Plus what?”

“There are a few ponies within the nobility as well as some foreign powers that didn’t exactly take too kindly to the Princesses bestowing all their power to me.”

Scootaloo gave Twilight a confused look. “What are you talking about? They did that to make sure that that Tirek guy didn’t get all the alicorn magic. You said it made you super powerful, like me right?”

Twilight took a bite of her daisy and daffodil sandwich before answering. “Yes, but that’s why they didn’t like it. I was equal in power to Tirek during our fight, some were speculating that even if I did defeat Tirek with the power I had, they didn’t think I would so willing give up that power. That I’d take control of Equestria for myself since the Princesses were without power.”

The young filly’s eyes narrowed with anger and indignation. “That makes no sense! You protected everypony! Why would they think that?!”

“Scootaloo, have you ever heard the old saying ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’?” Twilight noticed the slightly confused look that the filly had on her face and decided to explain. “It means that if a pony has absolute power, sooner or later, that pony will become drunk on their power, and become something evil and bad. Tirek consumed magic, and the power he consumed the stronger he became, he was already evil, but the more power he gained the more he was able to delve himself deeper into that evil.”

Scootaloo thought about what Twilight said for a moment, pushing her sandwich around with her hoof as she did so.

“So…what you’re saying is some ponies might think I’m the next Tirek or Nightmare Moon and probably make me out to be a badpony?”

Twilight nodded solemnly.

“I know you’re not like that Scootaloo, but there are those ponies who will jump to that conclusion. That’s why we’re working to help you control your magic, so that ponies would have a reason to be afraid of you…but, it would help if we had more information.”

Scootaloo knew what Twilight meant. Since that day she revealed herself to be Shazam, and after telling Twilight how she obtained the powers, the alicorn mare had been doing a crazy amount of research on alicorns, ancient magical civilizations, and this so called “Rock of Eternity”. But so far every book and archive Twilight looked into turned up nothing.

“If it is information you want, all you need do is ask.”

“Did you say something Scootaloo?”

“Uh-uh.”

“It was I.”

Scootaloo and Twilight looked around the room, heads swiveling to and fro in search of the strange voice.

“On the table my dear Champion.”

The two ponies’ eyes went straight for the table and saw a strange sight. A pink, shimmering butterfly was perched right before them. Its wings moved back and forth in small movements, making sparkles of pink light fall from them.

“Um…Twilight…is it me or did I just hear this butterfly talk?”

“If you did then I’m not going crazy, or it means we’re sharing in a delusion or suffering from some food poisoning…”

“I assure you that you are both in perfect health.” The butterfly spoke.

There was silence in the room, and then a fluttering of wings as Scootaloo and Twilight jumped back from the table. Twilight’s horn flared as she prepared to cast a magic bolt at the unknown light creature, and Scootaloo prepared to use the Word of Power to transform.

“W-Who are you, and what are you doing here?!” Twilight demanded.

“I feel that introductions are best done face-to-face. Speaking through astral projections is good for communication purposes, but being the Princess of Friendship, I would assume you value interactions of a more personal nature. Also…” The butterfly lifted off the table and fluttered towards Scootaloo, hovering in front of her. “I’ve wanted to meet the new Champion for a while now, and I would very much like to show you around the Rock of Eternity.”

Scootaloo and Twilight’s ears perked up at the mention of the Rock of Eternity.

“You…You’re from the Rock of Eternity?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yes.”

“And…you can take us there?!” Twilight asked.

“Well…only the Champion can enter, outsiders aren’t allowed within it.”

Twilight looked flabbergasted at what the butterfly had said, and so too did Scootaloo.

“B-But I need Twilight, I want her to come with me!” Scootaloo quickly dashed for Twilight and held onto her right foreleg and shot the butterfly a defiant look. “Either she comes with me, or I won’t go at all!”

The butterfly was silent, but after a minute of silence, the pink butterfly nodded its little head. “Very well, I will permit her to enter. If you two are ready, we can leave at any time?”

The butterfly watched as the two ponies nodded and proceeded to exit the dining room. Twilight and Scootaloo gave chase; passing by several other castle personnel as they did, but when the butterfly passed by a Dusk Guard or an official, none of them reacted to its presence. The butterfly continued onward, coming to a stop before the door to Twilight’s basement laboratory. The mare and filly looked to each other in confusion as to why the butterfly would be leading them there. The butterfly then passed right through the door as if it were a ghost, and so, with a slight bit of worry, Scootaloo and Twilight opened the door to the hall that led down to laboratory.

For some reason the jaunt down felt…worrying. Scootaloo felt as Twilight placed her wing over her in a protective manner, she didn’t mind it, she actually liked it. Reminds me of Mom before…No! Don’t remember that stuff; focus on the glowing butterfly in front of you!

The three of them reached the entrance to the laboratory and Twilight magicked the door open slowly, expecting to find some sort of interdimensional portal awaiting them on the other side. Luckily it was just her regular lab. The butterfly flew till it was at the center of the room, prompting the two ponies to meet her.

“Alright, for now, since you are new to entering the Rock of Eternity, I will serve as your way in and out. Simply ask me to take you there and I will Champion.”

Scootaloo looked to Twilight, wondering if it was okay to do so. The purple alicorn nodded tentatively as she still eyed the butterfly with suspicion.

“Okay, um, take us to the Rock of Eternity, please.”

“Very well, here we go.”

The room started to rumble and moan as the light within it was sucked away. Little by little the shadows crept over everything, slowly making their way towards Twilight and Scootaloo. Twilight quickly hoisted Scootaloo onto her back, her protective maternal instincts kicking in. The butterfly was starting to become the only light source in the room as the room became pitch black. The was a sudden shift, almost faint, but it happened; almost as if the world was being pulled out from under them.

In the distance, a white outline of a door appeared. The butterfly made its way to the door and upon its proximity, the door opened to near blinding white light. Twilight and Scootaloo both gulped, wondering if they were somehow spirited away to Elysium before their time. But with remaining in darkness being their only other option, they moved towards the light, squinting as their eyes adjusted to the brightness.

When the two ponies passed through the other side, audible gasps rang out from both of them.

“Welcome Champion, and esteemed guest, to the Rock of Eternity.”

Cheerilee was a happy mare; for today was the day she was going to Wayward House to apply for Scootaloo’s adoption. She wasn’t going to lie, it scared her. This wasn’t an easy decision for her to make, especially with what others could say about her doing so. It wasn’t uncommon for a single mare to adopt a child, some older mares did so when they decided that they wanted to give more of themselves, wanting to fulfill that maternal instinct and give a foal a good home. Plus, she imagined adopting Scootaloo wouldn’t be too hard a task. It was an often known fact that older children were harder to adopt.

She knew why of course, a younger child would still be open to change and not as difficult. Whereas an older foal might have some problems and issues that they are working through from where they were brought from, a bad home, off the streets, it made them who they were and it was often a daunting task to penetrate the protective shell they had placed around themselves, and they were less likely to comply with their adoptee.

But that didn’t bother Cheerilee in the slightest, she’d seen Scootaloo grow into a fine young filly, and her friends have been a great influence on her, and Scootaloo seemed to like her well enough. Although, liking a pony as a teacher was a stark contrast to liking somepony as a guardian/parent. Suddenly she stopped mid-stride. Butterflies started to flutter within the maroon mare’s stomach, worry creeping into her heart.

Was this a mistake…? I can’t really expect Scootaloo to just accept me just like that…! Cheerilee you featherbrain did you even think about asking if she even wants you as a guardian?!

Well technically even if you asked and if she said yes, there’s no real guarantee that they’ll even allow the adoption in the first place. They do typically like to have a foal adopted to a two parent home instead of a single…

Cheerilee started to doubt that this was a good idea, and she was only just twenty feet from Wayward House. She gulped, suddenly slightly afraid of the homey orphanage before her.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea…”

“Yep, knew ya get cold hooves.”

“EEEP!”

Cheerilee jumped back and stared at the pony who had surprised her. Her surprise quickly turned to irritation when she noticed who it was. A purple grape colored earth pony mare stood before her, eyes a soft shade of magenta, a mane and tail that were a tad darker than her coat, and a cutie mark of grapefruit on her flank.

“S’up Cheers?”

“Hi Berry…What are you doing here?” Cheerilee asked.

“What, I can’t come and support my sister when she’s about to make a big, life altering decision? Especially when she doesn’t even bother to tell her beloved little sister?! I’m hurt!” Berry moved her hoof to her forehead to feign said hurt, but then winked and stuck out her tongue playfully.

“Yes, well…I didn’t need to burden you with my problems, you already have your hooves full with Berry Pinch and –”

“Oh, you mean our secret love child?! You remember her name! ”

“BERRY! I don’t have time for your dirty, inappropriate humor, so save it for your bar patrons!”

Berry Punch was slightly taken aback by the anger level in Cheerilee’s voice. Usually her big sister would brush off her humor, chuckle, smile and say “Sure, sure”, sometimes she would even shoot back with one of her own and the two would laugh out loud. But that wasn’t the case right now.

“Jeez Cheers, what crawled up your plothole and died? I was just trying to lighten the mood,” said Berry.

“Yeah, well…it’s just…I’m……” Cheerilee then released a frustrated sigh. “I’m sorry Berry, I’m just a little stressed out is all.”

“Because you want to adopt a foal, and not just any foal, one of your students at that.”

Cheerilee looked at her with utter confusion. “How did you know…?”

Berry walked over to her big sister and threw a foreleg across her withers. “Let’s see, you talk about this one filly and her friends a lot about how they make your day both fun and exciting, and yet stressful. Among them you mention a pegasus filly that lives at a place called ‘Wayward House’, which is where we’re at, that’s gone through a lot and how you find it sad.”

Cheerilee blushed as her little sister recounted this conversation. “When exactly did I tell you this?”

“Hmmm, about three and a half months ago. You stopped by my bar one weekend and we shot the breeze while tossing back a few, you got hammered and started spilling about all kinds of stuff.”

The school teacher’s blush intensified as her mouth hung open, completely mortified by her behavior. “W-W-What?! I don’t…I barely remember that happening!”

“Well how else do you think you ended up in your marefriend’s place?” Berry asked with a smirk.

Cheerilee could’ve been mistaken for Big Mac at that moment. Berry Punch chuckled at her sister’s flustered state and decided to take pity on her.

“C’mon, let’s head to my place.”

“B-But I-I have to – I mean, I have to go and –!”

“Cheers, not to sound negative, but with how nervous and flustered you are you’d probably give them the wrong idea. You want to make a good first impression, right?”

Cheerilee looked from the compassionate eyes of her little sister and back to the orphanage. With a reluctant sigh, Cheerilee nodded a “yes” to Berry Punch.

“Alright, Pinchy’s going to love seeing her favorite aunt.”

“I’m her only aunt,” said Cheerilee.

“Huh, guess that’s it, chosen by default.”

Cheerilee elbowed her sister in the side, it was a light jab, enough to tell her to stop, but at the same time playful enough that it brought a smile to Berry’s face.

Twilight was officially having a “nerdgasm”. When the two ponies exited the door they walked right into the largest, most expansive library that either of them had ever seen. Books were automatically re-shelving themselves as they floated from one end of the bookshelf to another across the way. Bookshelf upon bookshelf was filled with ancient and forgotten tomes and texts of all kinds, a large rotunda of knowledge that seemed to stretch all the way to a never ending ceiling. Warm, golden light bathed over the area, making it just bright enough to read the books without being too dim to hurt your eyes.

Scootaloo playfully rolled her eyes as she watched Twilight zip from one bookshelf to the other, like that Zipporwill filly she saw at the Pony Tones’ concert. The butterfly landed softly on the bang of Scootaloo’s mane as it watched Twilight’s peculiar movements.

“Champion, is your friend…well? Or does she have a bit of the madness?”

“If loving books counts as madness, then yeah, she’s nuttier than a fruitcake.” Scootaloo chuckled at her joke before crossing her eyes to look at the butterfly. “Okay, so, are you going to tell us who you are or what?”

“Oh yes! Pardon me, just a moment.”

The butterfly floated up into the air and dissolved into particles of pink light. Scootaloo felt a sense of panic, wondering if she had demanded the impossible and the butterfly perished as a result of her demand. However, her fears were quickly put to rest when the particles multiplied and recollected on the floor a few feet away. The sparkling dust started to take on the form of a pony; Twilight saw what was happening and quickly made her way back down to the floor, standing right beside Scootaloo.

The sparkling dust then combined and formed a solid body with a flash of pink light. When the flash subsided, what stood before them was not a butterfly, although this equine being did have beautiful, translucent butterfly wings that shimmered as they made the slightest move. She was taller than Scootaloo, but only came to Twilight’s chest. Her coat was a soft pink, eyes like sapphires, and a long aquamarine mane that flowed down her shoulders. This mare before them also had a horn in the middle of her forehead, but it wasn’t the natural spiral of a normal unicorn horn, it was slightly curved, almost like a blade.

“My name is Murmur, and it’s a pleasure to meet you Champion.” Murmur then bowed before Scootaloo.

The orange filly, while feeling a bit of pride from the display, was feeling uncomfortable with the bowing of this mysterious mare, butterfly, thing.

“O-Okay, you don’t have to bow. So you’re name’s Murmur, uh, what are you?”

Murmur rose up from her bow and happily answered Scootaloo’s question. “I am a flutterpony, although, you may know my kind more infamously as changelings.”

Twilight’s and Scootaloo’s left eyes began to twitch in sync with each other at the mention of changelings.

“YOU’RE A CHANGELING?!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“Well, technically yes, but we differ greatly by a few hundred-thousand years or so.”

Twilight had to stop and think about that number for a moment. “Wait…you said a few hundred-thousand years, how old are you?”

Murmur put a hoof to her chin in contemplation. “Hmmm, I kinda lost count around 255, 086. But with the way I am, age and time don’t really hold sway over me in the Rock of Eternity.”

Scootaloo was starting to get a headache with all this magic stuff, even Twilight was starting to get one and she was the expert on it.

“Okay, what is the ‘Rock of Eternity’ exactly, what is with this power I have, where are we exactly?!” Scootaloo asked.

Murmur chuckled lightly and turned around. “Perhaps an explanation along with visual aids would help. Please follow me.”

Twilight and Scootaloo shrugged and followed Murmur. Scootaloo noted that as they walked through the halls of this castle like place that the atmosphere was a lot brighter. The last she was here it was darker and felt old. Although that could’ve been due to where she was inside the structure and now she was in a place that had more light than where she was at before.

The three ponies continued down the long hallway till they arrived at their destination. When they exited the hall, they were surprised to see a large flat surface, like a platform. Above them was the bright blue sky with just a few strands of clouds hanging around. Twilight and Scootaloo walked further out onto the stone platform, trying to see what exactly Murmur wanted to show them. When Twilight looked back to Murmur her eyes were drawn to the large pyramid structure that was behind the flutterpony. Scootaloo soon followed Twilight’s gaze and stared in awe at it, the pyramid had to be twice the size of Canterlot Mountain, if not three or four at the very least. The stone was stacked like stones, one on top of the other. At the very tip there were spires that resembled castle turrets and towers.

“This…This is the Rock of Eternity?!” Scootaloo asked.

Murmur flittered over to Scootaloo’s side as she shook her head. “No, no, no, the rest of it is down below.”

Twilight and Scootaloo made their way, carefully, to the edge of the platform. Only to find that the platform was just a small segment of the giant structure. The edge sloped and kept going further down. The two ponies made their way to other side to find a better angle. When they did, Twilight and Scootaloo found that the giant structure continued downward, matching the height of the tip. The width and circumference of the Rock of Eternity was beyond Twilight’s ability to calculate without the proper equipment.

“This thing…is massive…” Twilight spoke in astonishment. “How…How was this created?”

“The Rock of Eternity was forged from the most ancient of magics; it is the source and the container. The structure itself was formed from two opposing, yet equally powerful land masses. The top half of was created from a portion of land from Elysium. While the bottom half was created from a portion of the land that comprises Tartarus. Both halves held together by a magic that brings harmony to both warring sides and subdues their rage towards the other, in order to create the ultimate fortress of magic and storehouse of knowledge, the Rock of Eternity.”

Scootaloo tried to comprehend what Murmur had just said. The thing that they were standing and were inside of earlier, was in fact made of one part Elysium, the place where all good ponies and heroes of the past go to rest after they die, and the other part Tartarus, the place where evil ponies, criminals, and creatures like Tirek were sent to spend the rest of eternity in fire and darkness. For a while now, Scootaloo, as well as other ponies, knew that Tartarus existed, Tirek and Cerberus were clear indications that it did exist. So by that logic, Elysium existed too. But everypony believed it was place that could only be entered by the spirits of the departed.

Twilight went to Tartarus, but she only got as far as the gates and never went into Tartarus herself. Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadance were banished to Tartarus by Tirek, but they were alicorns, and Tirek was…different, as strong as an alicorn. But now, here she was, standing atop an amalgamation of both.

“Murmur…how did this – how was this all built, and how is it connected to my powers?” Scootaloo asked.

“That my Champion is an excellent question.”

Murmur took them into a room that held a single book. The flutterpony used her magic to open the tome and immediately light flooded the room, taking shape and form, becoming holographic images of civilizations that existed long ago. Scootaloo and Twilight stuck close by, watching as Murmur’s magic resonated with the book’s and allowed her to begin the story.

Eons ago, before the founding of Equestria, before the rulers of Night and Day, and even before the rule of the Lord of Chaos, there was the Council of Magic. They were made up of six unique ponies, each possessing incredible magical power that equaled that of a god. These ponies saw that the world of Equus was a harsh land, governed by the strong who swallowed the weak, and corrupted the innocence of all things good. The Council of Magic could no longer stand and watch as this injustice went on and decided to act. They used their magic to forge the Rock of Eternity, uniting it to call upon the ancient magic. Together, with their newly created fortress, the six gods fought against the corruption at its root, The Seven Deadly Enemies of Mortals.

Each one was a demonic entity that represented a mortal sin of ponykind. The first was Lust, the sin who used her power to make many fall prey to their depraved desires and to defile and ravage. Mare, stallion, and foal, all were equal in her eyes, and all could succumb to debauchery. The second was Gluttony, the demon which consumes and consumes but is never satisfied, eventually bringing ruin to everything, even oneself. The third was Sloth, his brought about apathy and laziness, sapping the will of others to walk, talk, or even care about others.

The others were Anger or Wrath as he liked to be called. He steeped himself in violence, murder, and bloodshed, be it friend, foe, lover, brother or sister, mother or father, child and parent, all would kill and spill the blood of their fellow pony without reason or mercy. The fifth was Envy, his power caused mortals to covet that which they believed to be rightfully theirs, so much so, that they would indeed kill to have it. Whether it was beauty, wealth, power, nothing was too simple or too grand. The sixth was Greed, although not the strongest, his power does bring great woe and destruction, making other ponies take and take until there is nothing left for anypony. Food would be scarce and they would hoard, the poor would die and be sold into slavery for they were taken for all their money.

And the lastly, but not at all least, was Pride, the most powerful and destructive of all the seven. Her power was the cause of many wars and deaths across the planet, and it is she who leads the Seven Enemies. The six gods fought against these seven demons in a titanic duel that ravaged the planet and nearly tore it in twain. In the end, the Council was able to seal the Seven Enemies within the depths of Tartarus, and it is there that they will remain until the end of time.

“What happened after the battle? To the ponies who were left after they endured such devastation?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, so much devastation. But unfortunately, all was not well…”

The Council of Magic saw the destruction caused by their war with the seven and decided that they should never set hoof on the mortal world again. They retreated to the Rock of Eternity; from there they watched as the remnants of the ponies left picked up the pieces and forged new kingdoms and territories. And, although not as severe as when the seven were more present on Equus, their influence had not diminished. It was clear to the council that order and harmony needed to be restored, but they could not be this symbol for they had a hoof in the destruction.

So, they decided to pool their magic together and grant it to a chosen individual, one who would wield their collective powers in one body and become a symbol for the weak and defenseless to rally behind and give them hope. They created the Word of Power, a magic incantation that would combine their powers, and so they used the first initial of each of their names in order to create this word.

S, for the Wisdom of Star Swirl.

H, for the Strength of Herakles.

A, for the Stamina of Atlas Shrug.

Z, for the Power of Zeus Thunderer.

A, for the Courage of Achilles Heel.

M, for the Speed of Mercurius Zephyr.

So was born the Word of Power, the word that means power incarnate and would be the battle cry of the Mightiest Mortal and Champion of Magic…SHAZAM.

Before each of the letters stood the image of the one of the six gods, Scootaloo had to bite her lower lip to stifle a gasp. The six pony gods looked exactly like the strange ponies that were in her dream not too long ago. And now that she saw this, saw them and what they were, Scootaloo began to wonder if that dream wasn’t a dream, but a vision. And if it was, they weren’t hurting those two ponies, they were giving them power like the Wizard did for her.

“Murmur, who was it that they picked to be the first Champion?”

“They, Scootaloo. The first champion was made up of two ponies sharing the power equally in one body.” Murmur lit her horn shifted the scenery around, before them stood the two foals that Scootaloo saw in her dream long ago. “The colt was named Adamant Resolve and the filly was Alchemy. They were brother and sister, sold into slavery after their father had laid with an earth pony mare, which most were slaves under the rule of the privileged, be it pegasus or unicorn. They were beaten, tortured, and defiled, suffering their whole lives.”

“The Council saw something within them, the potential to bring about great change. They had suffered hardships and still fought to stay alive and keep each other safe. It was because of these traits that they were summoned to the Rock of Eternity. But unfortunately, it was after the older brother had suffered mortal wounds in protection of his sister. Alchemy begged the Council to save him, and the only way was for the two of them to share the power and become a single being. And so they agreed and the word was spoken.”

“SHAZAM!!!”

The image of the two ponies was then struck by lightning and what emerged from the smoke was a male alicorn. His suit was black, with golden gauntlets and greaves similar to Scootaloo’s. Upon the alicorn’s chest was a golden thunderbolt insignia, and just like her own, it too held the magical lightning. His mane was black, but his coat was dark violet, giving him an intense visage, but his eyes were gentle and soft, but they did not hide the great power that lay behind them.

“Their united form’s name was combined from both their names. Teth, meaning black, and Adam, from Adamant, thus was born Teth Adam.”

“‘Black Adam…’ sounds like a dark name for hero,” said Scootaloo.

“Actually Scootaloo, in Neighgyptian times, black was generally associated with good, mostly because it was the color of fertile soil. And, if I’m right, Alchemy is a name that means ‘black earth’.”

Murmur nodded her head. “You are correct Ms. Sparkle. So it was that Black Adam would come to be known as the great hero, using their power to bring down the tyrannical society that made many suffer, freeing many pony slaves and other subservient sentient beings, such as minotaurs, griffons, and many more.”

“What happened to them next?!” Scootaloo asked excitedly.

Twilight watched as Murmur’s normally happy expression turned to a frown. “They fell, neither member of the Council of Magic understood how or why, but Black Adam changed. He became obsessed with the power, conquering one kingdom after another and bringing them under his rule of power and might. The Council could not take away his power; so instead, they sealed him away, locked inside of a sarcophagus for all time.”

Murmur transported them with fluid use of her magic to the hallway that Scootaloo recognized. It was the hall that led to the throne room, the one that had the tapestries.

“From Black Adam rose better heroes, true Champions of Magic that upheld the ideals of justice, harmony, and peace.”

Scootaloo and Twilight stared at one tapestry after the other, reading the names of the various heroes who held the title of Champion and the power of SHAZAM for countless millennia. It felled Scootaloo with a sense of pride to be included in this pantheon of heroes who changed the world and made a difference. Granted it was a shame that nopony knew of their sacrifices and struggles, nor of their heroic deeds, but, Scootaloo thought, maybe she could bring back the legacy.

Twilight felt the need to ask upon hearing whose name the S stood for. “Wait a minute, Star Swirl, as in Star Swirl the Bearded?! He was on this council?! B-B-But that pony didn’t look a thing like him!”

Murmur seemed confused but it quickly dawned on her what she was talking about. “Oh, you mean Star Swirl the second.”
“The ‘second’?”

“After a worthy champion was decided, the six relinquished the remainder of their powers to Rock of Eternity and entered the mortal world. Star Swirl became a great scholar of the magical arts, and down the line, through his lineage, was born the stallion you know as Star Swirl the Bearded, but in actuality, he is really Star Swirl II.”

“Bubba – he – amiomorphic – greatest sorcerer – the second – related to a –” Twilight then fell onto the floor, babbling like a madmare as her brain struggled to comprehend the fact the unicorn she most idolized was in fact the descendant of an ancient pony god, and that there were two Star Swirls and not one.

“I think you broke Twilight’s brain Murmur,” said Scootaloo.

“Oh dear, I did not wish to do such a thing! Does she require a healing spell, I know several?!” Murmur asked in a panic.

“No, she’s fine; her worldview has just been rocked is all. She’ll get over it, hopefully. Still trying to understand all of it myself really,” said Scootaloo.

It was then that they got to the end of the hallway and Scootaloo’s eyes found themselves drawn to a tapestry that read “Quicksilver”.

“Why do I feel like I know this pony?”

“Because you do, that is the Wizard that granted you your powers, although he was much younger back then. He saved my life, gave me purpose.”

Twilight, after getting over her little freak out, noticed that Murmur’s voice held a tone of sadness, and for some reason, she was talking about him in past tense. Scootaloo turned to Murmur with large eyes full of wonder and excitement.

“So that’s what his name is! Where is he, I wanted to ask him some questions about how to control this power?”

“Scootaloo…Champion, Master Quicksilver is no longer with us…”

And there it was, exactly what Twilight feared. “He’s dead, isn’t he Murmur?”

The flutterpony nodded.

Scootaloo shook her head in disbelief, it wasn’t possible. “N-No way, are you telling me that a pony as powerful as him died! He was alive when I left, how did die, why?!”

“It is…inevitable. When a Champion grows too old his powers suffer as a result, they weaken. So, in order to make sure that there would always be someone to fight against evil, the power seeks out a worthy successor or a potential worthy successor. And once one is chosen, the previous holder is allowed to go in peace to Elysium.” Murmur then gestured to all fifty tapestries. “Each of these is of a fallen Champion. That is what this hall is for, a memorial for the past heroes.”

Twilight and Scootaloo looked upon the tapestries, images of mares and stallions from ancient times each of whom fought to protect this world and did so till they grew too old and passed on the mantle to a new warrior.

Cheerilee was standing at Berry Pinch’s beside, the little unicorn filly, having been playing with her aunt for a while, had tired herself out while showing off how her magic studies have progressed. So Cheerilee volunteered to take her to her room for a nap. She gently lowered the young filly off her back and maneuvered her till her head rested on the pillow. A happy smile was still prominent on Pinch’s face, making Cheerilee smile back. She gently stroked her niece’s mane, making the filly nuzzle against the hoof of her aunt. Cheerilee released a sigh of content at watching the filly sleep peacefully.

“She’s got your eyes,” said Berry as she sidled next to Cheerilee.

The maroon mare knew what she was getting at and smirked at her little sister. “Yes, she does, and your horn too.”

“I don’t have a horn.”

“No? Then it must be for your horniness.”

“Ha, ha, ha, hilarious sis.”

“Thank you, I try.”

The two sisters shared a quiet giggle at the lame joke. Berry then looked down at her daughter and smiled the same smile as her sister.

“I don’t see why you don’t think you’ll be a good mother, guardian, whatever, to that filly you talk about. Look how well you do with Pinchy.”

“My niece, who loves me unconditionally, is different from a filly I have taught and sees me as a teacher. A shift like that can be a little hard for somepony like Scootaloo to accept. And…”

“And what?”

Cheerilee removed her hoof from Berry Pinch, who was now fully asleep. “I don’t know what she’s been through Berry, abusive parents, a runaway, what if I say or do something that makes her think I’m like somepony she’s afraid of? What if I drive her away? Or what if I undo all the good progress she’s made since being in Ponyville?! There’s so much that could go wrong, and that’s even considering I can adopt her! And –!”

Berry quickly put her hoof onto Cheerilee’s lips, silencing her big sister. She then gestured for the two of them to step outside. Once the door to Berry Pinch’s room was closed, the younger sister gave the elder a serious stare.

“What does your cutie mark mean Cheers?” Berry asked.

“What does that have to –?”

“I said, what does your cutie mark mean?!” Berry asked again in a firmer voice.

It was Cheerilee’s turn to be taken aback by the tone of her little sister. “It-It represents my love of teaching. To put smiles on the faces of the foals I teach, and to help them bloom into the ponies I know they can one day become.”

“Exactly, so how can you say you’ll be bad at taking care of that filly?! Sure, I’m not going to lie, raising a foal is different from being a teacher, but it’s not like you’re going through this alone! You have me, I may not be the best example, y’know, having Pinchy after a drunken escapade, but I’m still a mother! And then there’s Princess Twilight, I know she helped raise that little dragon of hers, and yes I know dragons are different from pony foals but that’s another matter, point is she has experience. Hay, you can even ask Derpy for help too!”

Berry then placed her hooves on Cheerilee’s shoulders. “Point is Sis, you care. You care enough to want to give her a good home and help her heal from whatever emotional scars she may or may not have.” The grape colored mare then brought Cheerilee into a hug. “You’re the best big sister ever, and you’ll be just as good a whatever to that filly.”

Cheerilee felt all the worry and doubt leave her body, the warm hug of her little sister somehow restored the confidence she had lost on her trip to Wayward House. The maroon mare then returned the hug, giving a sisterly nuzzle to Berry’s cheek.

“Thank you Berry,” said Cheerilee.

“Any time Sis.”

“Can I ask you a favor?”

Berry separated herself from Cheerilee looked at her sister.

“Will you go with me tomorrow? I want to try again and I…”

“Sure, I got nothing to do tomorrow. Pinchy’s going to be on a playdate with Dinky and Twist, so I’ll be free.”

“Thanks, again.”

The tour was ended with Scootaloo returning to the throne room where she met the Wizard, now known as Quicksilver. The room wasn’t as dark as before, it was lighter, as if signifying a renewed vigor and power. The room itself was expansive, with a crystal orb sitting near the throne, held up by three ornate, iron posts. The throne itself was polished marble; the symbol of a thunderbolt was carved at the top, a symbol showing the rightful guardian of Rock of Eternity.

Scootaloo tentatively walked up the steps. When she reached the top, she gently touched the armrest, dragging her hoof over its smooth surface. The throne thrummed as it resonated with the power within her.

Twilight watched all this from below; she could only imagine how strange this was for Scootaloo. A filly, who lived in an orphanage, had no cutie mark and was barely able to fly, was now the sole protector of this gigantic floating fortress of magic and knowledge, gifted with the power of six god-like ponies culminated in one body, and hefted with the responsibility to uphold a legacy of heroes spanning ages forgotten to the sands of time. Twilight could barely fathom this.

I was worried about my role as a Princess of Equestria, whether or not I’d be a good ruler or if I was even really worthy of becoming an alicorn. Now, compared to all this, it seems like nothing.

Scootaloo looked to Murmur as she walked down the steps. “So…I’m really in charge of protecting all of this. And keeping the world safe from evil?”

“Indeed, a great responsibility, but one I know you can shoulder. The Living Lightning and Master Quicksilver would not have chosen lightly.”

“At least now I know what the Wizard meant when he said ‘another like him’. He meant Black Adam, didn’t he?”

Murmur shook her head. “I was not present during the choosing. I know not what Master Quicksilver saw in your memories. But keep in mind; it is not our past that defines us, but what we do here and now.”

Scootaloo thought about Murmur’s words, she wasn’t sure how true that was, but it did make her feel better at least. “Now if only I can control this power…”

“Don’t worry Scootaloo, some more practice and you’ll get,” said Twilight.

“Well, for the time being, there is a way for you do better access each power, at least until you can learn how to focus them all at once.” Twilight and Scootaloo looked to the flutterpony with wide eyes. “First change and I’ll show you.”

Scootaloo didn’t wait for Twilight’s okay; she quickly put some distance between them and spoke the Word of Power.

“SHAZAM!!! ”

The lightning bolt struck Scootaloo and in an instant she was once again in the form of her alicorn alter.

“Okay, so how do I do it?”

“Do you remember when I was telling you what each of the letters stood for?” Murmur saw Scootaloo nod. “Call upon one of the gods’ powers. Repeat after me: Power of Zeus Thunderer, but concentrate as you do so.”

“Okay…Power of Zeus Thunderer! ”

Scootaloo suddenly felt the power of the magical lightning surge through her body, arching off of her horn, wings, mane, and tail in random intervals. But there was something different in this, she felt a stronger connection, more in tune with it than she did when she first called upon it. Scootaloo was starting to get the idea of how this worked.

“Speed of Mercurius Zephyr! ”

The lightning stopped and Scootaloo felt the familiar sense of the world slowing down around her. To Twilight and Murmur, Scootaloo had disappeared and was moving around in a near invisible blur of red, orange, purple, and gold.

“This is so awesome!”

“EEEK!”

Scootaloo had reappeared behind Twilight and accidentally scared the mare enough to jump into the air.

“Oops! Uh, uh, Strength of Herakles! ”

The magic turned inward, infusing every fiber of the mare’s muscles with a strength that could move the very continents if she so wished. She reached up with a single hoof and caught Twilight before she landed on the floor. Twilight was expecting to hit the stone floor, but instead felt the cool metal hoof of Scootaloo. She opened her eyes and gaped at how she was being held in one hoof as if she weighed less than a small pebble.

“No more worrying about control, huh Twilight?”

“N-Nope, um, you can let me down now.”

Scootaloo did so gently, knowing that her increased strength was still in use. Murmur chuckled at the flustered purple alicorn, making Twilight blush.

“While this will give you better access and control, it is a crutch. When you can learn to control all six at once without speaking their names will be the day you have full control.”

“Well,” spoke Twilight, “it’s a starting point. At least now we can work on your control and where to train you in what. I think we should get back, I’m not sure how time works in here, but we’ve probably been here more than an hour. If the guards find out I’ve disappeared they go crazy and form search parties, ugh.”

Scootaloo nodded vigorously, almost bouncing with anticipation at how they were going to train. “Thank you Murmur, I promise I’ll come back and see you.”

Murmur bowed her head in gratitude. “Thank you Champion, and since you have shown a deep caring for my Champion, I shall grant you a boon Princess Twilight.”

The flutterpony’s horn glowed as a magic rune symbol appeared over it. The rune symbol then shot towards Twilight, landing on her chest and vanishing as quickly as it was placed.

“Now you may enter the Rock of Eternity whenever you wish. However, I’ve restricted your accessibility to mainly the library unless I’m around to escort you. You don’t mind do you?”

Twilight shook her head. “Oh no, that’s no trouble at all! I can’t wait to see what sort of books you have! But, how exactly do we get here? Do we call upon you?”

“You need to be either underground, or in a closed, but moderately sized room. For you Champion, merely will it and you will appear here, and Twilight, with the rune, simply channel your magic while meeting the first criteria and you will appear here again.”

“Cool, hey Twilight, I’ll get us back home!”

“Wait, what – AAH!”

Scootaloo used her large wing to drag Twilight towards her and held the alicorn princess close in a wing embrace. The Princess of Friendship blushed at the awkwardness of the situation.

“Let’s try two at once! Wisdom of Star Swirl , Power of Zeus Thunderer! ”

Lightning quickly enveloped both of them, Twilight thought that she was going to be electrocuted by the magical lightning, but miraculously she was unharmed, thinking that it was by Scootaloo’s will that the energy didn’t harm her. Scootaloo’s normally purple eyes were now colored light-blue, the same color as her magical power.

“Wow, never knew teleportation was that simple.”

Before Twilight could make any objections a thunderbolt shot down and struck them and in a flash they were gone.

All was peaceful in the laboratory, until two alicorns appeared in the middle of the room in flash of lightning. Scootaloo released Twilight from her wing embrace and let the older alicorn wobble around in a daze.

“Okay, traveling via lightning bolt is way more disorienting than teleportation…”

“Heh, sorry Twilight, I just got excited to try it out. But on the bright side, you could take me on as your personal student, like Princess Celestia did with you.”

Twilight stopped her wobbling around and went stark still. The idea of being a personal teacher like Celestia was to her had always been a secret dream of hers; wanting to pass on her knowledge of magic and the things she had learned as the Princess Friendship to a young pony so that they may carry them on to others. It was enticing, although she wasn’t sure just how much she could teach Scootaloo, she already outclassed Twilight in raw power. But that was minor, Scootaloo was seeking guidance and help in controlling her powers, and that’s what Twilight was going to do.

“If you want to Scootaloo, I’d be more than happy to take you on as my student.”

“YES! Let’s go to Sugar Cube Corner and celebrate!” Scootaloo proclaimed while unconsciously hovering in the air.

“Wait a minute, Scootaloo, there’s something I wanted to ask you before we did anything else.”

Scootaloo’s celebration was cut short; she floated back down to the ground. “Sure, what is it?”

“You said that the Wizard compared you to Black Adam…Scootaloo, in what way did you think he meant you were similar?”

The demi-god mare’s eyes went wide for a moment but then narrowed as her gaze turned downcast, her bangs covering her eyes.

“It’s nothing…”

“Well obviously it isn’t if it was a factor in choosing you.”

“Just forget it Twilight…!”

“Scootaloo I’m just trying to understand –”

“I SAID IT’S NOTHING SO LEAVE IT ALONE!”

Scootaloo’s eyes flashed with magical energy as the roar of thunder echoed within the room, making everything rattle and shake. Even her body was flaring with lightning, lapping off her body as her spread wings made her look even more intimidating than she already was. Twilight felt a surge of fear and out of instinct hit the deck and covered herself with her hooves. Scootaloo, after the anger subsided, looked upon the now cowering form of Twilight, and her heart sank.

“No…Twilight…I-I didn’t mean to scare you – I…I’m sorry I…”

Scootaloo felt her legs give out from under her as she slumped to the floor, tears stinging her eyes as she cried at what she had done. Twilight heard Scootaloo’s weeping and slowly raised her head up from under her hooves. Guilt and shame gripped at Twilight’s heart as she saw the filly turned mare cry on the floor. Twilight rose up onto her hooves and slowly walked over to Scootaloo. The purple alicorn then placed her left hoof on Scootaloo’s head and gently stroked her mane, while making soft shushing noise.

“It’s alright Scootaloo, you surprised me is all. I’m fine.”

Scootaloo looked up to Twilight; she then buried her face in Princess’ chest, crying more. Twilight held her close, almost forgetting that even though she may appear to be a grown mare, Scootaloo was still a filly underneath. But the reaction the young filly had to Twilight’s questioning made her worry.

There are only two things that the Wizard could’ve meant. Either he was comparing Scootaloo in the sense that she would become drunk on her power like Black Adam, which seems highly unlikely, there’d be no point in choosing somepony like that. Which leaves the only other one, which is…that you suffered like Adamant Resolve and Alchemy did…I hope to Faust that it’s neither.

Author's Notes:

Next time in
SHAZAM, Equestria's Mightiest Mare!:

Scootaloo goes missing, and everypony starts looking for her! What could've happened to make the young filly disappear?! Find out next time!

Lightning Strikes Arc Part 6: Runaway

A month and a half had past, summer was right around the corner in Equestria, and Dr. Caballeron was now fifty feet underground, searching through an old dusty tomb for Celestia knows what. The zebra shaman had been very helpful to his search, Caballeron had to admit, he never heard of such a tale in all his years as an archeologist, not even when he briefly worked together with Daring Do. The good doctor chuckled inwardly as he thought about the look on Daring Do’s face when he made the greatest archaeological discovery in the world, not only would he be richer than he could ever imagine, but he’d be famous the world over.

The shaman had spoken of a warrior who became king, an alicorn stallion who wielded lightning and the strength of the gods. Caballeron thought that last part about “gods” was probably exaggerated, many civilizations worshipped deities, some were made up without any bases for the actual existence of these “gods”, and others were just different forms of the sun and moon, giving them personified forms like “Amaterasu” and “Tsukuyomi” from Neighpon, “Brigid” and “Arianrhod” from Norhay, and of course the Neighgyptian versions known as “Sekmet” and “Bast”.

But many scholars believed those were just the names given to Celestia and Luna, thinking those civilizations didn’t know their names, but knew they existed, so to understand and worship them they created names for them and various myths about them. Caballeron knew that the two alicorn sisters were on another level of power, possibly demi-goddesses, but if what he found out was true, then it could rewrite Equestrian history – no – world history, forever! Of course he didn’t forget his clients, they would have whatever it was they wanted from these ruins, but the fame and wealth would be all his.

Dr. Caballeron was with a team of excavators down in one of the tunnels, overseeing their progress and making sure that they didn’t destroy something significant that could help them find what it was they were looking for. Along the way, from the light of his head lamp, Caballeron looked upon the ancient hieroglyphics, telling the story of a powerful alicorn who tore down the tyrannical system of oppression and brought about a free world under his wisdom and power, a hero.

“This ‘Teth Adam’ appears to be quite the inspirer and conqueror, I can’t wait to see the amount of wealth he had accumulated over the course of his reign,” said Caballeron with greedy glee.

Suddenly he heard one of the workers further down exclaim along with the sound of metal striking metal. Caballeron grunted with irritation as he walked down the hall to where the digging had stopped, one of his cohorts was standing by the team that had stopped digging as they stared at something.

“What is the meaning of this, why have you stopped digging?!”

“Um, doctor, sir, we can’t go any further,” said the stallion.

“And why’s that?!”

“There’s some kind of metal rock blocking the way?”

Caballeron mouthed the words “metal rock” in confusion. He then shoved his way through the workers and stopped when he saw what it was that had put a halt in their operation, and that’s when he saw it. It was not a metal rock, but rather a section of wall made of some kind of metallic ore. Caballeron wrenched a pickax from one of the workers and gave the wall a few taps with it, and sure enough the sound of metal striking metal rang out within the hall. The middle-aged stallion then inspected the spot where he struck with the tool but found no sign of denting or scratches.

“The fact that not even a pickax can make a dent must mean the ore of this rock is stronger, possibly iron.”

“I’ll reorganize the workers; we’ll find another hall and dig that way. Maybe we can get around it?” The stallion suggested.

The doctor shot his cohort a glare at that suggestion. “No, the signs all point down this passage and that old zebra’s tale matches that of the hieroglyphics. The thing we seek is down this here, we cannot deviate or we waste time trying to find a way around through a maze of tunnels.”

“So…what do you suggest doctor?”

“What do you think?” Caballeron walked over to a wooden crate, he then used a nearby crowbar to break it open and took out a foot long red cylindrical object that had the letters “TNT” stamped on it. “We blow it the hay up!”

Twilight was in Elysium, there was just no other way to describe it. The well-read mare wasted no time in using her all-access pass to the Rock of Eternity’s library. A mare well into her early twenties was reduced to a giggling schoolfilly as she darted from one bookshelf to the other, taking down one book after the other, creating mountainous peaks of books that reached up twenty, sometimes thirty feet tall. The library knew no concept of night or day, stuck in a dimension between one plain of existence and another; it was perpetual daylight outside, which also meant that the room was constantly bathed in perfect reading light. The temperature was comfortable, not too cold and not too hot, only adding to the perfectness of this wondrous place. She also noticed that the books and scrolls must’ve had an enchantment placed upon them, keeping each ancient tome in perfect pristine condition.

Unfortunately, Twilight’s love of books and knowledge slightly frightened the steward of the magical fortress. Murmur had nothing against a pony’s, or any creatures, thirst and love for knowledge; she was a bit of a bookworm herself. But this…this troubled her. The first day was fun, the second just as much, tenth and fifteenth, just a bit worrying, and the twenty-first and twenty-fifth days, well…it was time to call the Champion.

Murmur stood by near a clear area, a place designed for entering and exiting the Rock of Eternity’s library from another location. The flutterpony then heard the sound of rolling thunder, and in the fraction of a second a lightning bolt struck the ground, revealing Scootaloo in her alicorn form.

“I got your message Murmur, what’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked.

“Oh, well, it’s a little hard to describe sanely. Better to show than tell.”

The flutterpony quickly led Scootaloo through the rows of bookshelves, and as they rounded the corner Murmur stopped dead in her tracks, prompting the transformed filly to do the same. Scootaloo then beheld the towers of books that littered the area, as well as stacks of scrolls. Scootaloo deadpanned at the state the area was in, she then sighed heavily.

“Wait here Murmur.”

Scootaloo walked into the area of towering books, looking for a certain purple alicorn amidst the contents. She then arrived at a huge pile of books at the center; Scootaloo then looked around but couldn’t see neither hide nor hair of Twilight.

“Twilight, Twilight where the hay are you?!” Scootaloo called.

Just then there was movement from within the pile of books, within a matter of seconds Twilight burst out from the top like a dolphin surfacing for air. Her mane was unkempt, pupils reduced to pinpricks, right eye twitching erratically, and a disturbing smile that would make the Mane-iac crap her spandex suit. To Scootaloo it was an all too familiar sight, only the cause back then was completely different.

“Hi Scootaloo~”

“Hi Twilight, how are you doing?”

“Oh great, just GREAT! There are books here I never knew existed! Magic, history, fiction, everything, everything under one impossibly large magical dimension and I have unfettered access to it ALL! HA! HA!”

Yep, Twilight has definitely gone cuckoo, thought Scootaloo.

Scootaloo slowly made her way to Twilight, putting on a placating smile as she did so. “Okay Twilight, I’m happy you’re happy about all this…knowledge, but I think you’ve had enough. Maybe you should take a break from here for a bit?”

“NO! I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough! And I haven’t!”

“Twilight, c’mon, you’re acting like a spoiled filly, let’s just go back to Ponyville,” said Scootaloo.

“NO! You can’t make me!”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at that statement. “The hay I can’t. Strength of Herakles! ” The magical lightning surged through Scootaloo’s muscles, granting them the strength of a god. “Now we’re going back to Ponyville, together, even if that means I have to drag you back kicking and screaming!”

Twilight glared at Scootaloo, who returned the glare with equal intensity. The purple alicorn then lit up her horn and wrapped the numerous books in her rosy-purple aura. The books then swirled around Twilight like a tornado, making Scootaloo back up a bit in surprise. The tornado of books (booknado) stopped spinning entirely, the books then began to stack themselves like bricks. After about a few seconds Twilight had created a literal book fort around herself. It reached up till it stood fifty feet tall and was twenty feet wide, it even had a visor at the top so Twilight could look down at Scootaloo.

“Oh for Luna’s sake Twilight, really, a book fort?! Really?!” Scootaloo walked right up to the fort and knocked on the front. “Twilight come out or I’m breaking in!”

“NO!”

You asked for it.

Scootaloo cocked back her right hoof and struck the book fort, but when she did the strike reverberated through the fort, absorbing the impact of the blow and completely nullifying it. The demi-god mare stepped back a bit and launched a flurry of punches at the fort, but it was no use, the fort absorbed the kinetic energy of each blow and cancelled it out.

“Did she cast a spell on those books or what?!” Scootaloo asked.

“The books in the library are enchanted with a spell that makes them indestructible, in order to preserve them under any extreme conditions.” Murmur explained.

“Great, is there any other way to get through it?”

Murmur hesitated to answer, but as the steward of the Rock of Eternity she was duty bound to help the Champion.

“Yes…you could hit it with a powerful lightning blast; the enchantment isn’t able to withstand the power of the Living Lightning…but, if you could, please don’t. Some of my favorites are among Miss Twilight’s.”

Scootaloo sighed in frustration. “No, I won’t. I may not read that much, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go and blow up all those books. Just gotta find another way…Aha, I got it!”

Twilight was lying down within her fort, with her nose firmly planted in the book before her. She hadn’t heard a peep from Scootaloo since she stopped trying to break through the fort’s walls. Twilight smiled triumphantly, thinking she had just bested the heroine.

“Twilight…?”

The Princess of Friendship poked her head up from the book and looked towards the front of the fort. She then went up the staircase and looked out through the visor. When Twilight looked downwards she saw that Scootaloo had reverted back to her filly self.

“Yes…?” Twilight asked cautiously.

“Um…could…could I come inside your fort? It just looks so cool! Please Twilight, please?!”

Twilight eyed the filly with scrutiny. But then she saw Scootaloo look up at her with large watery eyes and a frown upon her face. It reminded the mare about the times when other foals wouldn’t let her into their own forts, thinking her weird for liking books more than other ponies. It was Shining Armor who got her into making book forts and the two of them playing in them together chased away the sadness of those times. Now she was repeating the same mistake those foals did to her to Scootaloo. Twilight’s heart hurt.

“Of course you can sweetie.”

Twilight’s horn glowed as she willed the books to move and form a door big enough for Scootaloo to enter. The alicorn mare walked down the stairs and met with the filly, nuzzling her cheek in a comforting way.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you out,” said Twilight.

“It’s okay.”

The young princess smiled. “Okay, so what do you want to do first? Should we reenact the battle of Fort Whinny? Ooh-Ooh or maybe we could read a book together?!”

“YAY! Which one do you want to read?”

“I want to read…SHAZAM! ”

Outside, Murmur watched with anxious worry at what was going on inside the book fort, even more so when she heard the sound of thunder from within. To her surprise, the fort began to crumble and fall, and from the former fortress walked out Scootaloo back in her alicorn form, carrying Twilight in a bubble of light-blue mana energy. Murmur flittered over to the Champion and looked at the bubble that contained the pouting mare.

“Is Miss Twilight alright?” Murmur asked.

“Yeah, it’s just embarrassing that I have to be the mature one in this situation.”

“Humph, I didn’t even get to read the Ponynomicon…”

“You can read it next time!”

Twilight was still pouting as she walked Scootaloo back to Wayward House. Scootaloo, despite knowing it was the right thing to do, still felt bad about prying the Princess of Friendship from such a vast collection of knowledge.

“Are you still mad at me, Twilight?” Scootaloo asked.

The purple alicorn glanced down at the young filly, sighed, and then shook her head. “No Scootaloo, I’m not mad at you. I just get carried away when it comes to books, especially those books. Such wondrous, wondrous books filled with wisdom and knowledge of ancient times and…” Twilight caught herself before she went into a rant. “Ahem, anyway, thank you.”

“No problem. So, did you find anything else out, about the Rock of Eternity and the other champions?”

“A lot actually, I’ll have to compare it to the books I have as well as those in the Royal Canterlot Archives. It’s just so hard to believe that there have been these great heroes from ages past who have sacrificed so much to protect us, and yet we know nothing about them. They’re even older than Luna and Celestia!”

Scootaloo was still trying to grasp it all. To think a little orphan filly like her was chosen to become a hero, a Champion of Magic, defender of the weak, and the bane of evil. Actually, thinking about it sent a shiver of excitement up her spine. As they approached the orphanage Scootaloo became a little sad that they’re time was done, she had been enjoying her private tutelage under Twilight, secret from her friends and others. But she did live here, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it…unless.

“Um, Twilight…?”

“Yes Scootaloo?”

“Did…um…have you ever considered…having a foal?”

Twilight froze mid-stride upon hearing that. Her left eye twitched as her brain struggled to reboot after hearing that question.

“Well…ahem, Scootaloo, that’s certainly a question out of the blue. W-Why the sudden interest?” Twilight asked.

“I was just wondering, since you took care of Spike and you seem to like Sweetie, Apple Bloom, and me. I mean, you take the time to teach us things that we didn’t know we were good at. I was just wondering if you, maybe –?”

“Scootaloo?!”

Both the filly and mare looked to the orphanage and watched as the matron of Wayward House walked towards them. She was an earth pony mare, with a manila colored coat, chestnut brown mane and tail with red hairbands tied at both ends, and crystal blue eyes. Her cutie mark was that of a heart with baby bottle next to it. The matron saw Scootaloo with Princess Twilight and politely bowed to her.

“Oh your highness, I didn’t know you’d be coming here! Had I known I would’ve cleaned up a bit more and –!”

“No need to worry Miss…?”

“Milano, Mrs. Milano” answered the mare.

Scootaloo nudged Twilight’s foreleg, making her look down at the filly. “She’s Button Mash’s mom, you know, that colt I told you Sweetie has a crush on.”

Twilight made an “O” with her lips and then smiled. “Milano, no need to bow, really. I’m just here to drop off Scootaloo.”

Milano rose up and smiled graciously at Twilight. “Thank you again for taking the time to tutor Scootaloo, I know you must have a busy schedule, but I’m happy you can make time to help her.”

Scootaloo chuckled knowingly; their “tutoring sessions” were a cover story for Twilight to help the young filly master her powers and explore the Rock of Eternity. That’ added on top of their Twilight Time with Sweetie and Apple Bloom, and whatever lessons Miss Cheerilee had for that day as well. If it wasn’t for the Wisdom of Star Swirl, Scootaloo’s brain would’ve burned itself out just trying to keep up.

“Oh, that reminds me Scootaloo, I have great news for you!” Milano spoke excitedly.

“Really what great news?” Scootaloo asked.

“Somepony walked in a couple of weeks ago while you were out and asked if they could adopt you!”

Scootaloo’s wings fluttered with joy as her eyes grew wide. “R-Really?! Somepony’s going to adopt me! Who is it?! Do I know them?! I bet it’s Rainbow Dash!”

“Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash is in Manehattan filling in for a Wonderbolts show.”

“Oh yeah…I forgot. So who is adopting me?!”

Milano smiled at Scootaloo’s eagerness. “Well, all I can say is that it is a mare and she knows you quite well, and she has been looking forward to this happening for a long time.”

Suddenly Scootaloo felt less confident about her adopter. Old memories were resurfacing, and hidden fears along with them.

“Oh…alright…Uh, Mrs. Milano, I’m going to my room now. Bye Twilight.”

Scootaloo didn’t wait for a reply, but simply trotted past Milano and into Wayward House. Twilight had a look of concern at the odd change in Scootaloo’s reaction to the news, so too did Milano.

“Will Scootaloo be alright?” Twilight asked.

“I think she just needs to let it sink in. You have to understand, Princess, that not many foals her age get adopted, even more so when she turns thirteen. Some couples or ponies in general don’t always pick older foals, but I really want this one to work for Scootaloo,” said Milano.

“Well, if there’s anything I can do to help you, Scootaloo, or the orphanage, don’t hesitate to come to the castle and ask.”

“Thank you Princess,” said Milano with a bow.

With that, Twilight opened her wings and flew off in the other direction. From the second floor window however, one filly watched as the pony she called mentor and had hoped guardian fly away, leaving her with a growing sense of anxiety and dread at who it was that had come to adopt her.

Scootaloo tossed and turned in her bed, the news she had received, though good, still stirred up memories best left forgotten. Memories that she had been buried until the Wizard used his magic to see into her life. She then awoke with a start, clasping her hooves over her mouth to keep from disturbing Aura. Scootaloo quietly made her way out of the bedroom and headed down the hallway and to the bathroom. She flipped the light switch on and closed the door behind her. Scootaloo then ran the faucet, watching the water flow down and pool a little before it went down the drain.

The pegasus filly stood on the hoofstool and placed her forehooves in the flowing water. She then took in a breath and splashed her face. She did this multiple times, splashing her face with cold water, trying to shake away the memory induced nightmares. But it did little to alleviate the growing fear inside her.

Calm down Scootaloo, Mrs. Milano said that it was only a mare. She did say if it was a pegasus. But she also said this mare knew me well…But there’s just no way she could’ve found me here! I did every damn thing I could to make sure she’d never find me and that I’d never have to see her face again!

“You’re a bad filly Scootaloo, and you know what I do to bad fillies.”

“Shut up!” Scootaloo quietly shouted while scrunching her eyes shut.

“Don’t make me have to punish you Scootaloo, Mommy doesn’t like that.”

“Then why did you…did you–!”

“Now let me show you how to be a good filly for Mommy, and maybe others…”

“RAAAGH!”

Scootaloo suddenly punched the mirror, fracturing its surface and sending many cracks spider webbing from the point of contact. Scootaloo retracted her forehoof, cupping it with the other and wincing at the pain. Just then she saw the door open and for a moment wondered if one of the older foals heard her. The orphanage was different at night, since Mrs. Milano had a home and family to take care of, she had some of the older, more responsible and mature foals, watch over Wayward House at night. And since Mrs. Milano was only a block away it wasn’t hard to go and get her should something bad happen. Of course, explaining why she broke a mirror wasn’t on her top things to explain. The young filly closed her eyes and waited for colt or filly to ask with a stern voice.

“Scootaloo are you alright?”

That wasn’t the voice I was expecting to hear…?

Scootaloo dared to open her eyes and saw that Alula was standing in the doorway, looking worriedly from the mirror to Scootaloo’s slightly bloody hoof. The, at present, unicorn filly quickly went inside and closed the door silently behind her.

“Scootaloo what happened, you’re bleeding?!”

The pegasus filly looked to her right hoof and noticed that she had been scratched by the glass from the mirror she had just punched in. Now that she was aware of it, the scratches were starting to sting.

“Ow! I uh…I…”

“Later, first let me have a look at your hoof.”

Alula used her telekinetic magic to bring another hoofstool next to Scootaloo. She climbed on top of it and stood on her hind legs, she then used her magic to gently pry Scootaloo’s hoof out so that she could have a better look at it. After a tense moment, Alula let out a sigh of relief.

“Okay, they aren’t deep, and I don’t see any glass in the cuts. Let me take care of this.”

“‘Take care of this’? What are you talking aboooooooo – OW!”

Alula wrapped her purple aura around Scootaloo’s injured hoof; she then placed both of her hooves over it as she held onto it gingerly. The stinging pain was soon replaced by soothing warmth, after a few seconds the magical aura around the three hooves flashed. When Alula removed her hooves Scootaloo gasped at seeing her hoof completely healed.

“Alula, you…you know healing spells?”

Scootaloo raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you know how to ‘heal’ mirrors?”

Alula playfully rolled her eyes. “If by ‘heal’ you mean ‘fix’ then yes I do.”

Alula’s horn glowed once again, concentrating on the broken mirror. The pieces of glass that had broken off from the mirror were suddenly lifted into the air and began floating towards the mirror. One by one the shards melded together until they had become whole again, any evidence that Scootaloo punched the mirror had completely vanished, except for the small droplets of blood in the sink, but a quick rinse would take care of that.

“Thanks Alula.”

The unicorn filly blushed. “Heh, heh, n-no problem Scootaloo. But, why did you break the mirror in the first place, and hit it hard enough to hurt yourself?”

Scootaloo hopped down from the hoofstool and kept her gaze downcast as she spoke. “It’s no big deal…”

“Yes it is a big deal! Y-You could’ve really hurt yourself! What if I hadn’t heard that noise and the cuts were deeper?!”

I’d just say “SHAZAM” and turn into an invincible alicorn. Instant healing.

“That didn’t happen, so I’m fine.”

Alula hopped down from the hoofstool and stood in front of Scootaloo with a determined expression.

“I don’t want you hurting yourself for no reason Scootaloo! You’re better than that!”

Scootaloo groaned in annoyance at what Alula was implying. “Look I’m not suicidal or anything! I just got really angry and punched something, I wasn’t really looking or caring what I hit, alright?!”

Alula was now less worried about Scootaloo doing something stupid like suicide, but now was more concerned as to what provoked her fury enough to just randomly hit something with such force. Silence reigned within the bathroom for what felt like minutes. After a bit longer, Alula decided to lighten the mood by talking about something positive.

“So…I heard you’re getting adopted soon!”

“…………”

“Um, I wanted to say congratulations, and I’m glad somepony has opened their heart to let you into their lives,” said Alula happily.

“You don’t know who that pony is…for all you know it’s some cover to foalnap and sell foals.”

Alula deadpanned. “I think Mrs. Milano and the ponies at the castle would know if the pony coming to adopt you was like that or not. Besides, there’s that three month trial period, so they have to double and triple check the pony who’s adopting you.”

Scootaloo scoffed. “Yeah, well how do you know they’re not a timberwolf in sheep’s clothing?!” Her worry and fear was starting to rise again, flashes of her mother, the pain, the humiliation, all of it rising up from a deep pit that she thought had been forgotten under years of new and happier memories.

No! I won’t be put through that again! No matter what!

Scootaloo started walking but was blocked by Alula.

“Where are you going Scootaloo?”

“Get out of my way Alula!”

“No, Scootaloo you’re acting weird and it’s scaring me, I think we need to go see Mrs. Milano.”

“Not going to happen!”

Alula’s horn ignited with magic, wrapping around Scootaloo and holding her in place. The pegasus filly struggled against the magical grasp, trying with everything – short of transformation – to get free.

“Let me go Alula! Now!”

“No way, not until you calmed down and we talk this…Oh no, not now!”

Scootaloo watched as the magic around Alula’s horn began to flicker, like a candle desperately trying to stay lit against the wind. After a few short moments Alula’s horn fizzled out, releasing Scootaloo. She then watched as Alula’s horn shrunk down until there was nothing left. The hornless filly panicked as she looked to her sides expectantly, but when nothing happened she panicked.

“No not earthy pony, not now!”

Scootaloo would’ve stuck around to question why Alula lost her horn and was now an earth pony filly. But that wasn’t her concern, all this meant was now Alula couldn’t use magic to stop her. The pegasus filly dashed away, leaving Alula in the dust. It took a few seconds for Alula to realize that Scootaloo had run faster than she had expected.

She chased after Scootaloo, who already had a good head start. The vanilla colored filly made one sharp turn after the other, listening closely for the sounds of hooves against floorboards. Scootaloo couldn’t fly, so she was restricted to just running, but if she got to her scooter than Alula could kiss any chance of catching her goodbye. Alula then heard the sound of the back door closing; she rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen. When she arrived there Alula was about to fling the door open, but a flash of light and the roar of thunder stopped her dead in her tracks.

There’s no storms scheduled for tonight, at least not according to what Mrs. Milano told us!

Alula, getting over the fear of the possible lightning strike, flung the door open. But there was nopony there, just some wisps of white smoke that were slowly dissipating into the air. She also noted the unusual odor of ozone in the air and tingling sensation where her horn once was. Unfortunately she didn’t have time to ponder this.

“Scootaloo?! Scootaloo?!” Alula cried.

There was no reply, Alula ran through the house and straight to the front door. She flipped on the light switch and searched frantically about the front closet. The filly gasped when she saw that Scootaloo’s scooter was still there, in the same position she left it, even her helmet was hanging off it.

Alula automatically assumed the worst, Scootaloo never went anywhere without her scooter, it was the one thing that gave her the thrill of being able to fly fast like her idol, Rainbow Dash. The vanilla filly ran up the stairs and burst into Scootaloo’s and Aura’s room. She then jumped right onto Aura’s bed and startled the filly awake.

“Aura, Scootaloo ran away or got foalnapped, I don’t know! I’m going to go tell Mrs. Milano, you go and wake the older kids up, hurry!”

Alula once again dashed away, leaving Aura sitting up in her bed. It took a moment before her mind finally got up with Alula’s words.

“SCOOTALOO’S WHAT!!?”

“Doctor, do you really think this is safe?”

Caballeron and his crew were standing outside the entrance to the tunnel, he then lit the match held by his teeth and let it fall onto the fuse. “‘Safe’?! We’re just a few feet away from the greatest discovery and payday of our careers and you ask if it’s ‘safe’?! The time for safe is done, now we pull out all the stops!”

The fuse continued to dwindle as it got closer and closer to the piles of dynamite that were set before the iron wall. The ponies outside all waited for the inevitable explosion, covering their ears and clenching their jaws in preparation for the giant boom that was to follow. After a few seconds more, the fuse hit the pile of dynamite and set it off. The result was a mighty and thunderous explosion that rattled the ground and reverberated through their dig crews’ bodies. A cloud of dust and debris shot out of the entrance and hit everypony in its way.

Caballeron and several others were covered in dust, coughing and spluttering to get the tiny dirt particles out of their mouths. They waited many minutes for the dust cloud to settle, letting some of the pegasus ponies work their magic to clear the cloud away faster. Once it was gone, Caballeron and his crew went back into the corridor, so far, nothing seemed damaged, which was odd considering the strength of the blast would’ve been magnified due to the enclosed space. After a while they eventually found their way back to the iron wall which blocked them from advancing further. The good doctor however was severely disappointed to find that the wall still stood, not even a dent was made.

“You’ve got to be kidding me?! It should’ve at least put a hole in it with that much explosive force!” Caballeron shouted.

“Maybe we can try a diamond tipped drill or something,” said one his henchponies.

“A DIAMOND TIPPED – Are you kidding me?! Need I remind you that we aren’t even supposed to be here, and that no one is to know this place exists until we have found what our clients want! A drill that expensive is bound to draw attention; it isn’t an easy piece of equipment to come by!”

Dr. Caballeron walked up to the iron wall and scowled at it as if it were an enemy. He then turned around and kicked the wall with his hind leg in anger, venting his frustration. But at that moment something happened. The wall started to hum and emit a strange azure light. Caballeron stepped back and watched the spectacle while the henchponies and diggers stood way back.

Then the wall started firing off bolts of lightning, some striking the ground and leaving craters, others hit the walls and somehow energized the hieroglyphics. The wall then let loose one final bolt, striking Caballeron’s right eye and making him scream in pain. The wall stopped glowing and all was silent. Dr. Caballeron’s breathing was ragged from his screams of agony at having his eye blasted with lightning. One of his henchponies dared to break away from the group to see if the doctor was alright, after all, if he died, none of them would be getting paid.

“Doc, you alright?! Can ya hear me?!”

“I’m…I’m fine…in fact…!”

Caballeron stood on all four hooves again. He glanced over his shoulder to the henchpony, showing him what the bolt had done to him. A scar had appeared over his right eye in the shape of a lightning bolt, the eye itself was gone, but in its place was pure magical lightning energy.

“I can see magic!” Caballeron exclaimed.

“Um…Doc, we see magic a lot, unicorns use it all the time.”

“Not that kind of magic you imbecile! No, this is something greater; a higher form of magic that I dare say could rival that of the Two Sisters! And not only that, but I can see the ancient writing!”

It was true, the hieroglyphics had changed. They were only surface writing, made to hide the true words that lay hidden beneath them. The words danced in the air as wisps of sky-blue light, each one speaking to him. He then turned his attention back to the iron wall, and just like he thought, the wall was covered in magically hidden carvings and glyphs. An image of an alicorn stallion was at the center, the carvings and glyphs depicting this stallion as some kind of ancient hero king. Though he ruled with an iron hoof, prosperity reigned.

“Yes, yes I see now, this is the story of Teth Adam! The old zebra was right! And he lies just beyond this wall!”

“Doc I don’t think we should be messing with –”

“It’s here, the way to enter the sacred chambers, the way to the hero. It is so simple, a single word! Sha…zam!”

At that moment a lightning bolt insignia flashed before the iron wall, splitting it in half and opening it like a pair of large double doors. Dr. Caballeron wasted no time running through, prompting his crew to follow. Deeper and deeper they ran through the corridor, till at last they found it. A vast room filled with treasures the likes of which Caballeron and his henchponies had never seen, compared to the golden rings he stole for Ahuizotl, those were pocket change compared to this.

Dr. Caballeron’s new ocular abilities showed him the way, to a source of great ancient magic. The earth pony stallion trotted further into the room while his cohorts went crazy and started collecting as much of the treasure as they could. Of course the doctor knew better, the mountains of gold and priceless gemstones were all but a distraction, and one that he was more than willing to indulge in, but business before pleasure. The stallion passed by another hill sized gold pile and found it at last. It was a sarcophagus, made of gold, with several carvings that told the story of the one locked inside.

“Hello, Teth Adam.”

Author's Notes:

Next time in
SHAZAM, Equestria's Mightiest Mare!:

The hunt is on for Scootaloo, and a certain rainbow maned mare meets a hero.