He Who Wields The Lightning

by Onomonopia


Their Hero

Celestia looked out of the window at the crowd of ponies that had gathered. She was full of conflicting emotions that were battling it out in her heart. All of these ponies were here to see Black Adam, who, after the news spread like wildfire that he saved Canterlot from the changelings , was revered as a hero amongst all the ponies. But she had heard who he was...had heard it from his own mouth...how he had committed atrocities that made her sick to think about it.

"The crowd out there is getting restless." Celestia turned away from her thoughts and looked over at Adam, who floated beside her with arms folded on his chest. "Whatever announcement that you wish to tell them, you should do it soon." Celestia nodded as she stood up to walk to the balcony, but she stopped halfway and turned back to look at him.

"Teth...may I speak my mind?" Adam nodded in reply. "I need to ask you a number of questions. After what you have told me about...your life on Earth and...what you have done, I am not sure whether or not I can truly trust you anymore." Adam nodded as she said this, knowing that he wouldn't trust someone like himself either. "But since you have been here you have done nothing but help us...I am confused about you, Teth. Are you a villain who believes himself a hero? Or a hero that acts like a villain?"

"I am whatever my people need me to be, in order to keep them safe," he responded calmly, having answered this question before in the past to the other heroes, though they did not take his answer well. "Be it a ruler who is strong and kind, or a god that smites whomever is foolish enough to cross me. Right now, though, I am the protector of a queen and her child." Celestia let a thin smile cross her face at the blunt honesty in his answer.

"I have thought long and hard about my answer, and...so far, you have done nothing to warrant my distrust," she said with worry in her voice, but it was overshadowed by the strength in it. "And until you do something here that warrants said distrust, I will continue to treat you as if you are the hero that these ponies believe you to be...that I believe you can be. You may be a different person on your world, but here...you are a hero. Now come on, they want to meet you." Adam nodded and walked over with her to the balcony, hearing the deafening cheer as he walked out beside her.

'This...is a feeling that I never thought I would experience again,' he silently thought as the ponies all cheered his name, some of them holding up signs with his image on them. He raised a hand and the entire crowd fell silent, waiting with baited breath for what he would say to them. "I will make this brief. I am Black Adam, and I protect the princess and her daughter. That is all." The ponies all began to cheer wildly at his words as he nodded, but then they all started to bow to him. Celestia widened her eyes with slight surprise, but Adam scowled at the action.

"No," he said in a powerful voice that shook all of them. "You will not bow to me. You will never need to bow to me. I am not your king nor am I your ruler. I am a protector." With this he spun and walked back inside of the castle, leaving all of the ponies confused. Celestia looked at him with the same confusion that the ponies outside wore on their faces.

"I am confused," she said to him. "I thought that you were used to being worshipped as a king. Why did you change your mind?" Adam looked at her with cold eyes that masked pain beneath them.

"I was only the ruler of my people because there was no one else suitable to take the position," Adam explained before floating towards an open window. "Yet despite me being a king and a god, I still couldn't protect them. I still failed them. I do not deserve to be bowed to, not when I have failed so many times." He shot off into the sky, flying faster than any pony could dream until he rested in the silence of space.

'Why are you taking so long to avenge us?' Adam closed his eyes as he heard Isis' voice echoing in his mind. 'They took everything from you. Your wife, your family and your people, yet you still waste your time here, waste your time with these creatures that should be destroyed.'

'They have done nothing to warrant such action,' Adam responded as he did his best to bury the memories of what happened. 'I also do not know where I am in space or how long it would take me to get back to Earth. If it is another five thousand year flight, then all whom I seek to unleash my vengeance upon would be long gone before I arrived. No, for now, I will keep my promise to them. I will keep them safe.'

'No Adam, you will return to Earth eventually to exact your revenge. You always do.'

S=H=A=Z=A=M

Radiance threw one book to the side as she grabbed another with her magic and began to flip through the pages, ignoring both Spike and the meal that he placed next to her. The little dragon frowned a bit as she growled while tossing the book, picking up another one just as quickly. He sighed and shook his head as he headed for the exit, only to step back in shock as Black Adam floated down from the room above.

"Oh, B-Black Adam!" Spike yelled as he threw himself to the floor with a bow, getting a snarl out of Adam as the human picked him up and put him back on his feet. "What are you doing here? I thought that there would be far more important things that you would be doing instead of--"

"Keeping my promise is important to me," Adam said as he walked by the dragon and over to Radiance, who never looked up at him as he stood beside her. "Radiance, we need to talk. You have been in here for nearly three days now and your mother is getting worried." He unfolded his arms when she continued to ignore him and he reached down to grab her by the back of her neck, lifting her up so that she was forced to look at him.

"Teth?! What are you doing, I'm trying to work!" She shut up as he narrowed his eyes and dropped her to the floor away from her books, placing himself between her and them when she tried to move back to them. "Come on, out of the way!" she yelled as she threw herself into his leg, but she was the only one who moved as she pushed against him. Instead of moving, Adam looked over at where she had been working and with super speed he read all of her books that were open. He then turned his gaze upon her, narrowing his eyes once again.

"Radiance...when I told you about how I returned to life, it was to tell you that death was not always the end, not to go and try to raise the dead." Radiance 'hmphed' and turned away from him, covering her ears with her hooves. "You have an obligation to your mother and to your people, yet you spend nearly every day in this chamber, trying to bring back your sister."

"And I'm close!" she yelled at him as she turned around, defiance written all over her face. "The silver sphere can bring her back, I'm just not sure how yet! Maybe I need to tap into its power or maybe merge with it, but I know that there has to be--"

"And what if you are wrong and playing with this power gets you killed?" he cut her off, the thunder in his voice silencing her. "If you were to die as well, it would break Celestia's heart, and then your land would be left in the hooves of that imbecile Luna. You are forgetting that you are next in line to be leader of your nation, yet you have no regard for your life nor for your responsibilities."

"And you are forgetting that it's none of your business!" she yelled at him with fire in her eyes equal to the one in Adam's. Spike was hiding in the darker part of the room as the two glared at each other, cold fury in Adam's eyes and a blazing fire in Radiance's. "My sister was my only family for years, and it's my fault that she died, because I lacked the magic to save her. I will bring her back!"

"Creatures die all the time; there was nothing you could do," Adam spat back. "Do you believe that I do not miss my family; wish that there was a way that I could bring them back? I feel the sting of losing them everyday, but I have accepted that I cannot return them to the land of the living. I have moved passed that."

"HA! You tell me to move on when every day I know you want to fly back to your planet and exact revenge for your people!" Radiance shot back with scorn in her voice. "You haven't moved on! Every action you take is so you can get back to Earth and kill those who took from you! That's worse then what I'm doing! I'm trying to save a life while all you care about is killing! But that's what you do best, isn't it Black Adam?!" Adam's eyes at that moment would have caused even Superman to be concerned, but all Radiance did was stare at him with the same fire in her eyes.

"You have no idea what I have suffered through," he said in the deadliest of whispers.

"No, I don't. But I know that unlike you, I'm trying to do something about my suffering," she spat before walking past him and back to her books. "I'm trying to save a life."

"I do that every single day. How many of YOUR subjects have I saved in battling the Titan or the changelings?" he asked her with cold fury. "I have stopped all those who are a threat to you and your nation."

"And how long until you turn that power against us?" Radiance snarled. "You've changed, Teth. Back when you were a plain human, I could see good in you, both me and my sister could. But now...there is only a darkness about you. And eventually, you will use it to do something you will regret." She said nothing else as she turned back to her books, causing Adam to spin on his heels and storm out of the room, shooting out of the castle and into the night sky.

'Impudent brat!' Adam roared in his mind as he let thunder and lightning flash around him, summoning thunderstorms to release his pent up frustrations. Streaks of electricity crashed into his body and shot off of him, but all of his attention was focused on what Radiance had said to him. 'She does not know what it is like to see everything you care about be destroyed in front of you, to have it taken away because you were powerless to stop it!'

"And she is wrong about me!" he roared, causing bolts to strike the ground below him. "I do not live only for vengeance! I also live for...for..." But as he tried to recall a time when he didn't fight for vengeance, all it did was bring back all of the battles that he had undergone in that name. When Shazam banished him from Earth, when Captain Marvel fought against him all those times, when Isis and Osiris had been killed...and even recently, with his nation and his desire to return to his planet.

A cold realization washed over Adam as he thought farther back to his life on Earth, trying to remember any good times that didn't end with a quest for vengeance. He could think of none. 'Is this truly what I have become?' he asked no one. 'A god whose only quest is vengeance? Could Radiance be right about me?' Adam looked up at the stars, waiting for a brief moment for someone to answer him, but with a shake of his head he brought his thoughts back to the planet below.

'Perhaps my life has become an endless cycle of vengeance, but it is all I have left of my old life,' he thought with strength as he shot back down to the planet, landing quickly in front of one of the castle entrances and heading inside. 'But must I continue this endless cycle? Must I be...a god of vengeance?' This thought had barely crossed his mind before he looked at a window, making out the images of his wife and children, along with Isis and Osiris looking at him with expectation in their eyes.

'But this quest is not vengeance, it is about punishing the guilty,' he thought as he slammed his fist into the wall besides him, shattering the windows around him. 'I am just...my actions have always been just! My people were innocent and the world decided to take them away, because of me. Because they were afraid of me! But even if they had no reason to fear me before, they do now. I will deliver divine justice upon them!'

"That is right," he reminded himself as he stood up tall, walking past the shattered window and the broken wall as he headed towards the throne room. "I will keep my promise to Celestia, but I must also keep my promise to the wizard and those fools! And Black Adam always keeps his promises."

S=H=A=Z=A=M

Adam floated above the city outside of the castle, wondering silently where both of the princesses had gotten to. It was unusual for both of them to be out of the castle at the same time, so something important must be happening somewhere. Ponies gawked up at his him as he sat on thin air, ignoring them as he looked into the distance at the beautiful land.

"Help! Somepony!" Adam cracked his eyes open at the plea and he looked down to see a pony running off with what looked like a purse, the mare who was robbed chasing after him as best she could.

'Petty crime at best. Hardly worth my time,' he thought as he closed his eyes again, hearing the shouts of the guard and he assumed that the criminal was caught, but then a child's cries could be heard and he opened his eyes again to see the criminal had taken a foal hostage. The guards had surrounded him, but none of them dared to move as the criminal placed a knife to the kid's throat.

"Do you really think you'll get away with this?!" one of the guards snarled. "Put the kid down and hoof yourself over!"

"We're all dead anyway, it's just a matter of time!" the criminal roared back. "If it's not the griffons, then the dragons will kill us all! I'm taking as much as I can while I can!"

"Is that how you're pathetic brain thinks? That you can take anything you wish as long as your going to die?" All of the ponies turned to see Black Adam land in front of the criminal, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. "You are going to die, but it won't be from a dragon or griffon." The criminal moved the blade closer to the foal's throat, but Adam flickered and the foal was suddenly in his hands.

"Run," he said to the foal as he placed him on the ground, cracking his knuckles while he walked deliberately towards the criminal, who backed away with fear in his eyes. Adam grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him off of the ground, watching with a smirk as the pony struggled to escape. "Despite your crimes, I am feeling generous right now. I will allow you to pick how I kill you."

"Uh, Mr. Adam?" Adam turned his head to see both the guards and the ponies looking at him with uncertainty, and some with fear, at his words. "We, uh, we don't kill criminals here without a trial. I don't know how it worked on...your world, but here we have a way we do things."

"On my world if you do not kill the criminal where he stands, then he will come back at a later date to destroy everything you hold dear," Adam whispered as he tightened his grip, causing the criminal to begin to gag. To his moderate surprise, the guard did not give up so easily.

"I'm sorry Black Adam, but until he is tried and convicted, I cannot allow you to kill him," the guard shakily said, swallowing hard when Adam turned his cold gaze upon him. "It's how we do things." Black Adam looked at him for a very long minute before with a scowl he tossed the pony into the guard's hooves, ascending into the air as they bound him.

"If that is how you wish to treat your criminals, then you will learn your lesson in time," Adam said with disappointment. "And when that day comes, you will wish that you would have listened to me." He took off into the sky as he said this, but came down a few moments later at the edge of the Equestria border, where he had sensed Celestia's magic. He landed twenty feet from her and a number of griffons, most of whom looked as though they were shocked to see him, except for the oldest one who smirked at his arrival.

"I knew that you wouldn't be able to keep your almighty pet away from here, Celestia," he spat with venom in his voice.

"Be careful worm, I have killed for less than that," Adam snarled back as he advanced towards the griffon, a king by the look of his attire, but Celestia placed herself between the two.

"I assure you I did everything I could to make sure he did not know of this," she calmly said to the king before turning towards the amused Adam. "How did you find us?"

"My power far exceeds any pony's and I can easily sense magic. Tracking you was like following the sun." Celestia sighed at his explanation and she tried to stop him from walking towards the griffons, but he brushed by her as he stalked up to the king. "So you are the infernal fool who threatened this land with war over a small piece of land." The griffons unsheathed their claws and surrounded him, but Adam smirked as he looked at them. "A fool leading a nation of fools. How perfect."

"Stay your claws, this was promised to be a peaceful meeting," Celestia growled as she let her horn glow and the king motioned for the griffons to wait, which they did with nasty looks. When the two parties had more or less calmed down, Celestia cleared her throat and looked at the king. "To return to where we were before Teth arrived, no Garda, I will not return this part of the land to your nation. Your father signed it to us and in return your nation received the floating mountain range. It is a fair trade."

"No, my father was just a fool who had just as good an idea of how to rule a nation as he did to raise a family," the king snarled, but then he took up a more regal position when he smirked at Celestia. "Though, he did manage to protect me from dying from disease. How are you doing on that front Celestia? Have you lost the other one y--" Garda tasted blood in his mouth before he knew what had hit him and when he blinked he found himself lying on the ground.

"Hard to insult a grieving mother with a broken jaw, is it not?" Adam snarled with vengeance as he marched towards the king, while Celestia tried to hold him back. The griffon guards wasted no time in attacking, but Garda blinked once and all of his soldiers lay broken at his feet. He looked up towards Adam with fear in his eyes for the first time, while the dark champion smirked as he looked down at him. "Amazing how confidence seems to melt away when you are facing an unstoppable foe."

"TETH!" Celestia roared with such a fury that Black Adam turned to look at her. "Do you have any idea what you have just done?!"

"Knocked a fool off of his high horse," Adam bluntly replied. Celestia glared at him before turning her gaze to the king.

"The land is yours. I apologize profusely for anything that Teth has said and done, and I will find a way to make it up to you. Come." She turned and took to the skies as she said this, Adam following her with interest. "You may have just caused a war with them. Do you not see that striking him was what he was trying to goad you into?"

"It matters not to me. The fool deserved it," Adam replied with a shrug. "And I will defend your people from an attack by them. You have my word." Celestia stopped flying and hovered in the air as she glared at Black Adam, who crossed his arms as he looked back at her.

"Do you not understand? The griffons are one of the strongest nations out there!" she yelled at him, seeing no other way to get through to him. "Their armies are both earth-based and aerial, making them superior to our own. And with their newest armor that can severely weaken magic, my armies would be at a severe disadvantage."

"Your armies would not be fighting them. I would," Black Adam calmly replied. "And I will destroy all of their forces, armor or not, and show the king what happens when a worm tries to meddle with a god." Celestia looked at him like he was crazy before shaking her head.

"You truly do not know how griffons work. If you slay their king, it will only make them hate ponies all the more!" she half begged with him, trying to get him to see reason. "If you destroy their armies and kill their king, then they will hold onto that grudge for all eternity! That is what kind of beings they are!" Her heart sank to the coldest depths when she saw the smile that Adam gave her, a smile that almost looked like a demon.

"Then the answer is simple. If they try to do that after I have defeated their forces, then I will simply wipe out their race as well." He turned and flew away as he said this, leaving a horrified Celestia to watch him go. And in that moment, Celestia realized what her sister had been trying to tell her. Black Adam was evil. Adam had almost made it out of the area when a blast of magic struck him in the back. He turned with a snarl to see who would dare do that, but confusion crossed his face when he found himself facing Celestia.

"You are the last one I would expect to attack me from behind," he calmly said, though he was ready for another attack. "Care to tell me why before I get aggressive?"

"I can forgive you for destroying Discord. I can look past you slapping that ass of a king," Celestia said with a cold fury. "But where I draw the line is when you threaten the innocent, like you did a moment ago. If you truly plan to carry out your threat against them...then I shall be the one who opposes you here and now."

Adam raised an eyebrow at her response. Celestia knew that she stood no chance against him, especially after what he had done to Discord. And not only did she not have jurisdiction over the griffons, but they were also an enemy to her and her ponies. But here she was, willing to fight Black Adam to the bitter end to protect them, despite them not deserving it. And despite himself, Black Adam let a smile cross his face as he looked at Celestia with a new found respect. She was stronger than he had believed.

"Very well Celestia, I will stay my hand," he said with a thin smile, Celestia looking at him in confusion. "But only because of you." He took off as he said this, leaving a very confused princess who was trying to figure out what Adam had meant.