//------------------------------// // Project Erroria Arc Part 2: Assassin // Story: MLDC: SHAZAM, Equestria's Mightest Mare! // by Michael_Ravencroft //------------------------------// All of Ponyville was abuzz with excitement at having a delegation from Neighpon arriving. They had played host to the Saddle Arabians a while back, but this was the first time they were welcoming foreign dignitaries as a capital of a kingdom under the rule of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Many of the Ponyvillians were sprucing up their shops and homes, they knew that they wouldn’t be actually visiting their homes, but that was no excuse not make a good first impression. Twilight herself was standing at the foot of the stairs to Castle Concordia, along with her number one assistant, Spike. Her Dusk Guards were lined up and at attention for their arrival, keeping a constant lookout for anyone who would attempt an assassination on the visiting dignitaries or Twilight herself. A crowd had gathered – naturally – to see the foreign ponies. Amongst the crowd, Twilight spotted her lover, Cheerilee, along with Applejack and Apple Bloom, Rarity and Sweetie Belle, and Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo standing at the front of the crowd, practically having a front row seat to the event. “Uh, Twi, how exactly were they getting here? I don’t remember the Princesses saying anything about it.” Spike asked. “It’s very interesting, they’re not arriving by normal means. It’s actually via a complex teleportation magic!” Twilight squealed. “Seems a little excessive, couldn’t they just come by boat or airship?” “They could, but this was easier for them, and faster too.” Twilight snapped her head up to the sky, sensing a disturbance in the magical energies around Ponyville. Up above the town a golden light appeared, it made a circle and expanded till it was fifty miles wide and twenty miles high. The ponies down below watched as the center of the circle was emblazoned with a yin-yang symbol, along with a coiling dragon. The center rippled like the surface of water being disturbed. Suddenly a dragon flew out of the portal, its body was long as it undulated up and down, and giving a flick of its tail as its body exited the portal. It was white scaled, with a golden mane that bellowed in the crosswinds of portal’s power. Its underbelly scales were crimson red, and its eyes were a deep emerald green. The dragon had brown antler horns that glowed gold, the same as the energy ring of the portal. The portal rippled again, and from it flew out a palanquin, drawn by four pegasi, each one garbed in the traditional samurai armor of their native land. Two other objects exited the portal, long chariots that held a five unicorns in monk robes, and five more samurais. When all three exited the portal the dragon’s horns flashed, closing the gateway. The palanquin flew down to the road that was cleared for their arrival. The dragon, which was pretty much a head taller than city hall, and twice as long as the Friendship Express train, flew above the palanquin and chariots. Spike’s eyes were glued to the dragon, seeing a wingless, very long dragon flying in the sky and using magic was an incredible sight to see. Twilight was of a same mind, she could tell that the dragon was the one who conjured the portal, which fascinated her immensely, she knew dragons had an aptitude for magic, but she never saw one casting spells before. The crowd stepped back more and more, giving the visitors more room. The palanquin touched down, along with the two chariots. The palanquin had an awning on it that held a curtain, obscuring the dignitary from view. Once the pegasi had landed, they detached themselves from their harnesses and bowed down. The monks and the rest of the samurai ponies did the same, followed by the dragon who landed behind them. A single pink hoof parted the veil, when the veil was fully drawn a beautiful young pegasus mare stepped out. Her wings were a bit larger than other pegasi, almost as big as Princess Luna’s. Her coat was a soft pink color, with a black mane that was pinned up and held together by a headdress that acted as her crown. Her eyes were a shimmering goldenrod yellow, gentle, and yet held great authority. Her cutie mark was that of cherry blossom petals that wisped into fiery embers. The young mare stopped before Twilight, bowing her head to her. “Kon’nichiwa, I am Princess Konohana Sakuya. I am very honored to meet you, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” said Sakuya as she bowed. Twilight quickly snapped herself out of her awe. “Oh, yes, and I am honored as well! Welcome to Equestria, and to my kingdom. Um, might I ask who your dragon friend is Princess Konohana Sakuya?” The young pegasus giggled. “Sakuya is fine, and actually, that is my husband to be.” HUSBAND?! Thought Twilight and Spike at the same time. The dragon’s body was quickly engulfed by his magical energy, changing into a sphere and floating towards Sakuya. The sphere then took the form of a dragon, bursting apart and revealing the same dragon, although he had shrunken considerably, now the size of a stallion, but only a head taller than Sakuya. “Greetings Princess Twilight Sparkle, my name is Kagutsuchi. An honor to meet you,” said Kagutsuchi as he bowed to Twilight. “Oh well, it’s very nice to meet you as well! Shall we head inside then?” Sakuya and Kagutsuchi nodded and followed Twilight and Spike inside Castle Concordia. The monks and samurai followed close behind them, along with Twilight’s Dusk Guard. As they walked, Spike couldn’t help but keep looking up at the dragon who was once towering over the town earlier, and even more surprised to hear that the dragon was betrothed to a pony, a princess even! “And who might you be young one?” Kagutsuchi asked. Spike looked to the dragon. “Oh me?! I-I’m Spike!” “Princess Twilight, is this your betrothed as well?” Sakuya asked. Twilight looked to the young princess. “W-What?!” “I admit he is quite young, but given the longevity of an alicorn, it’s a minor oversight,” said Kagutsuchi. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! I am NOT Twilight’s ‘betrothed’! I’m her number one assistant! And she raised me since I was a hatchling!” Spike corrected. Sakuya looked genuinely surprised. “Oh my, forgive my assumptions! It’s just, dragons are very common around Neighpon, and are a part of our citizenry.” “It’s alright your highness. But dragons are also part of Neighpon’s pony citizens? So I assume marriages between them are also commonplace?” Twilight asked. Kagutsuchi nodded. “Yes indeed. Although it is understandable that dragons and ponies stay with their own, there are an amount of the Neighpon ponies and dragons who seek out romantic relationships.” Sakuya nuzzled Kagutsuchi’s neck, causing Spike and Twilight to blush from seeing how close they were. Soon royals, guards, and assistant arrived at the throne room. The round setting of the six thrones was perfect for their talks, allowing everypony and dragon to equally look at each other. Twilight took her usual seat in her throne as well as Spike. Sakuya took a seat in Rarity’s throne, making Twilight imagine how thrilled the fashionista would be knowing her throne had royalty sitting in it. Kagutsuchi took a seat in Pinkie’s throne, allowing him to be close to his love. The three royals began their talks, primarily discussing trade with Equestria proper as well as reaffirming their alliances. Once that was out of the way, they entered into less heavy topics, current events and all. Particularly the event a year ago about the fight in Manehattan. Twilight assured them that it was nothing to be worried about, and that the mysterious alicorn wasn’t a threat to anypony, especially not Neighpon or any other territory. “I am glad to hear that the appearance of this newest alicorn hasn’t disturbed the land too much. Kagutsuchi sensed the stirring of powerful magic all the way to Neighpon, when word reached us about the battle in Manehattan we were very shocked to hear it,” said Sakuya. “Yes, it was a very harrowing battle, but I’m happy to say that there were no fatalities, injuries, but no deaths thankfully,” said Twilight. “It’s good hear that. There was another matter that we wanted to bring to your attention Princess Twilight, something that concerns the royals of mainland Equestria and is connected the incident prior to the battle.” Kagutsuchi warned. Twilight and Spike sat up straighter in their thrones. The white dragon looked his love and nodded to her, to which she nodded back and began to address the issue. “It was the incident that involved the taking of hostages by a terrorist group of ponies, the ones whom called themselves the Kingdom.” “‘The Kingdom’, those same crazy, mask wearing ponies?!” Spike asked. Both the dragon and pegasus nodded. “This isn’t the first time we have heard of them. Kagutsuchi has friends in different corners of Equus, many are dragons and ponies that have heard things through the underground and word of mouth. We learned that the Kingdom isn’t just satisfied with the relinquishing of authority from the royals but what it really wants is –” “The death of the alicorn Princesses!” Twilight, Spike, Sakuya, and Kagutsuchi all snapped their gazes towards one of the samurai. He parted himself from the group as a red aura overtook his armor and blasted it apart! Underneath was, at first glance, an earth pony, but all in attendance saw a growing protrusion coming out of his forehead. After a couple of seconds it became a unicorn horn, glowing with blood red mana. The samurai to either side of the unicorn were about to reach for their swords, but a telekinetic burst from the unicorn’s horn threw some of them against the wall, the others that were further away managed to dodge the blast and link up with the Dusk Guard. Twilight immediately rose up onto her hooves, taking Spike into her protective aura and placing him behind her. Princess Sakuya and Kagutsuchi did the same, but the Princess of Neighpon flared her wings and the dragon bared his sharp fangs and talons. The unicorn had a mad look in his eye, his coat was sand colored, with a brown mane and tail, and his irises were just as red as the light of his magic, a maniacal look in them that radiated blood lust. “Who are you?!” Twilight demanded. “The Kingdom shall rise, and your time has come!” The unicorn proclaimed. The monk unicorns lit up their horns, channeling their mana to form a protective barrier around the royals. The Dusk Guard and Samurai placed themselves between the mad pony and their charges. Blades were drawn, and shields were braced. The unicorn only scanned them, eyeing each in turn before deciding to bum rush them all! “Did ya see how that dragon came through the gate and turned real small?! That was so cool!” Apple Bloom shouted.   “And did you see that Neighponese Princess?! She looked really pretty!” Sweetie Belle gushed. “Yeah, those wings of hers were big, I bet she’s an awesome flier!” Scootaloo added. Cheerilee, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all had the pleasure of watching their respective charges during the arrival of the Neighpon Delegation, and they had to admit, seeing the foreign ponies and the dragon that accompanied them was awe inspiring, it even made them feel like little fillies. “I’m sure Spike got a kick out of seeing the huge dragon open that magic portal thingy and then shrink down to the size of a stallion! I mean, how the hay does that guy fly without wings?!” Rainbow Dash asked. “I actually read that oriental dragons have an innate magical ability to fly, they don’t need wings like some of the dragons native to this part of Equestria, only the magic that freely floats in the air.” Cheerilee explained. “Hope Twi’s doin’ alright, this is her first talk with foreign diplomats that she’s in charge of since the Maretonia thing back in the Crystal Empire,” said Applejack. “Now Applejack you really must have more faith in our Twilight, why I’m sure she has them eating out of her hooves,” said Rarity. *BOOOOMM!!!* A massive explosion detonated from deep within the castle, followed by a second, a third, and a fourth. The crowd of ponies started to get worried from hearing the multitude of booming sounds rumbling from within Castle Concordia. Applejack decided to try and calm everypony down before they went into a panic. “Now just hold on y’all, don’t start gettin’ yerselves all worked up! It’s just most likely the Princess is showin’ ‘em some magic tricks!” *BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!* And stronger explosion went off and this time it blew a hole in the side of the castle, sending debris scattering out in all directions. Everypony ran for cover as chunks of crystal and stone struck against houses and came deathly close to flattening some ponies. From the hole emerged a dozen Dusk Guards and Samurai, all bleeding and wounded from some unknown assailant. Kagutsuchi, Princess Sakuya, and Twilight flew out of the hole and onto the grassy field a few feet away. A unicorn came flying out as well, wrapped in a blood red aura as he landed a few feet away from the three royals. The unicorn fired a powerful beam of crimson mana at Twilight! The Princess of Friendship summoned a barrier bubble to protect herself as the blast struck it, but after a few short seconds the beam cut through her shield and grazed her left cheek, causing her to cry out from the intense burning, stinging pain. Kagutsuchi glared angrily at the unicorn and erupted into shimmering magic. His size quickly became that of the behemoth dragon he was earlier, now towering over the unicorn. With his large claw Kagutsuchi slammed it down on their foe, but the unicorn teleported away at the last second, leaving the mighty dragon to strike the earth where he once was. Kagutsuchi saw the flash and prepared for another attack, he opened his maw as fire and mana gathered between his razor sharp fangs. The white dragon inhaled deeply and fired a roaring fireball magic bolt! The unicorn saw this and cast a spell. A barrier formed in front of the unicorn as the fireball struck with resounding force. The unicorn assassin held his ground, his hooves digging into the soil. His mad smile hadn’t faltered in the slightest as his spell activated in full, the barrier wrapped around the fireball, charging it with the red mana of his power, the assassin then took one step forward and rebounded the fireball right back at Kagutsuchi! The white dragon summoned a shield to defend himself, but the barrier was no match for the attack as it shattered the shield like cheap glass and hit Kagutsuchi, exploding and shrouding the great dragon in a haze of smoke. “CHI-KUN!!!” Sakuya cried. From the haze of smoke the white dragon descended, his form had shrunk back to that of a grown stallion’s as he hit the ground hard. His body was slightly singed and his head bleed, but the dragon was still breathing from the looks of it. Sakuya looked towards the assassin and glared at him with fire in her eyes. “Princess Sakuya…?” Twilight asked. “You hurt Chi-kun…how dare you…HOW DARE YOU!!!” The pink pegasus mare flared her wings and stormed off towards the assassin with great speed, leaving cherry blossom petals fluttering in her wake. The assassin fired a beam of crimson mana that bellowed forth from his horn, when the beam struck Sakuya her body disintegrated into a multitude of sakura petals, surprising both Twilight and the assassin. The sakura petals continued to multiply, turning into a whirlwind of pink petals that floated around them. The assassin suddenly felt someone kick him across the face, he blinked but for a moment and saw the petals had solidified into Princess Sakuya. After the kick the petals dispersed back into the whirlwind, the assassin fired another beam at where she was, but only managed to hit nothing. Another strike hit his right side, knocking the air out of him! Another came from above, an elbow drop right to the center of his back, making the assassin let out a painful cry as he bounced against the ground. In that split second that he was off the ground, the sakura petals kicked up into a tornado that completely surrounded him. The vortex spun at great speed, keeping him in it. Punches and kicks came at him from every direction and at ever increasing intervals of speed. Outside the tornado, Twilight could only stare in amazement at what was happening. She had rushed to Kagutsuchi’s side, making sure he was still alive. The dragon groaned painfully as he tried to get up with Twilight’s help. “I don’t understand, how is Princess Sakuya doing this?!” Twilight asked. “In Neighpon, the daughters and sons of the Emperor are taught to hone their personal magical abilities, in the west it is simply magic, but in the east it is called ‘chi’,” said Kagutsuchi. “‘Chi’?” “It is a more universal form of magic, it merely required discipline and physical skill, it can allow for the most unique of spells when used by monks and tao magicians, but in the case of Sakuya-hime, she can channel her chi into her pegasus magic, creating a storm of sakura petals that can hide her and allow her to reach great speeds in short controlled bursts to enact her taijustu skills. This is her Hijustu: Sakura no Arashi!” Princess Sakuya then reappeared outside of the sakura tornado, a small trail of petals followed her, leading right to the tip of her right wing. Kagutsuchi saw the look in her eyes and quickly brought up a barrier to protect Twilight. “Tsugi no dankai…” Sakuya gently brushed the tip of her right wing against the trail of petals, “…Honō no Kōru!” The trail of sakura petals lit up into embers, the embers caught on the petals, like a trail of oil leading back to a barrel. The final flaming petal hit the tornado, igniting the entirety of the tornado and transforming it into a blazing tower of flames that burned a bright pink and white. The tornado exploded upwards, sending a shockwave that practically threw everypony to their rears, along with the intense heat, it was a wonder that the flames didn’t reach the town itself. With a wave of her wing, Sakuya dismissed the remaining embers of the fire tornado. Sakuya took a calming breath and ran to where Twilight and Kagutsuchi were, tears streamed down her eyes as she looked upon the beaten form of her beloved. Kagutsuchi smiled and placed a claw on her head, smiling as he stroked her mane. “You did well Sakuya-hime…I am sorry that I couldn’t stop him.” “Chi-kun don’t worry about it, I’m just glad you’re alright.” Twilight smiled endearingly at the mare and drake, but it was not to last. From the burning pile of pink flames rose up the assassin, his body still burning from the flames of Sakuya’s attack. His maddening gaze and smile were still plastered on his face, even with some of it burned away. The burned flesh was regenerating, muscle and tissue mending quickly to reform his body. The dragon, pegasus, and alicorn stared dumbfounded at this spectacle before them. “That is impossible!” Kagutsuchi exclaimed. “Nothing could’ve survived my attack, it burns too hot for anypony to withstand,” said Sakuya. “The Kingdom shall rise, and your time has come!” The assassin shouted. Some ponies had stuck behind to watch the fight between the unicorn, the delegates, and Twilight. But after seeing the assassin get back up after being roasted alive, those remaining ponies ran for the hills. Cheerilee, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash stayed a safe-ish distance away. Cheerilee was beside herself with worry for her marefriend as this fight continued, the others were wondering if they should try and find Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie to use their Rainbow Power, heck, even Discord might help! Scootaloo, however, gritted her teeth, she needed to get in there, she needed to help Twilight fight that assassin, but with the older ponies keeping an eye on them there wasn’t a chance for her to do so. The orange filly looked to her friends for help, giving them knowing looks as she pointed to herself then to the fight. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle understood the gestures, but they too were stumped on how to get Scootaloo away so she could become Shazam. No doubt one of their sisters would offer to escort them away from the action, but that would just make it harder to get Scootaloo away, they’d surely notice her absence. Maybe now’s a good time to spill the beans about me being Shazam?! No, now’s not a good time, definitely not! But I need to stop that unicorn, he’ll kill Twilight if this keeps up! “GUYS, OVER HERE!!!” The group turned and watched as Pinkie Pie came running along towards them, her eyes just as wide and panicked at the goings on. “Pinkie Pie?!” Rainbow exclaimed. “This is really getting loco, we need to get together and use our Rainbow Power on him,” said Pinkie. “Yeah, but we can’t just leave Twi here to face this alone!” “Okay, but Scootaloo, Sweetie, and Apple Bloom don’t need to be here to see this! I’ll take them to your farm AJ, it’s far enough away that hopefully the fighting doesn’t reach it!” “Good idea Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo I want you to go with Pinkie Pie, now!” Cheerilee ordered. “No, I have to be here for Twilight!” Scootaloo protested. “Scoots, you heard Cheerilee, and I agree, go with Pinks and get away from this mess! You almost got hurt by that Black Adam guy last year, we don’t need that to happen again! Now GO!” Rainbow demanded. Both her sister figure and guardian were adamant about this, the tone in their voices was enough indication of that. Reluctantly, Scootaloo agreed, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom offered their own protests, but their respective sisters were just as vehement about it. So with little else to say, the three fillies were escorted by Pinkie Pie away from the fighting. The four of them ran through the town as dozens of ponies screamed and fled as far from the battlefield as possible. After a few minutes of running they stopped, now halfway into the town. Pinkie Pie fell on her rump as she started to cradle left foreleg, rubbing the elbow as if it hurt her. The three fillies looked to Pinkie with worry as she did this, but she still held her smile nonetheless. Her blue eyes darted from one filly to the next as she continued to rub her ailing elbow, till eventually her face grew determined. “Scootaloo, I don’t quite know how to explain this…but I think you need to run somewhere other than where we’re going!” All three fillies stared at Pinkie Pie in confusion. “I can’t really put it into words, but for some reason my Pinkie Sense is telling me that somepony has something very important to do, at least that’s what an achy elbow means. And usually, the more it aches, the more important the thing the pony it’s about has to do it! I don’t want to leave you alone Scootaloo, but you have to go!” “Uh…yeah, okay, sure!” Scootaloo flapped her wings and took the air. “I’ll be okay, just get as far from this thing as possible!” Scootaloo flew away, she didn’t know what that was about, but if life had taught her anything it was don’t doubt Pinkie Sense, and right now it gave her a way to get to the fight. Scootaloo aimed for the nearby tree line, diving into its depths and weaving in and out of the gaps as she headed for the site of the battle. The sounds of explosions grew louder and louder the closer she got, the beating of her heart thumped in her eardrums. The combined fear and excitement of venturing into danger was a rush, but one that Scootaloo had learned to manage, it often made her wonder if this was how Rainbow Dash felt whenever she performed her aerial stunts, doing a dangerous maneuver even knowing that a mistake could me a trip to the hospital.   In that case she had even greater respect for Rainbow Dash, the Princesses, and Twilight. At last Scootaloo made it to the site of the battle. The Neighponese delegates and Twilight were bleeding from cuts, dark blotches were showing underneath their fur, no doubt the bruises suffered from fighting the assassin. It all only served to strengthen Scootaloo’s resolve, she took a couple of steps back and focused on her righteous fury, the good within her, bringing it all to the forefront of her mind and gathering it into her heart. The power swelled within her as her eyes opened and lit with the azure color of her magical might, yelling forth the Word of Power! “SHAZAM!!!” A bolt of lightning shot down from out of nowhere near the tree line, causing all four to look towards the light and sound of thunder. Twilight had a knowing smile on her face, but at the same time was worried, this assassin was throwing back and withstanding many of their attacks, not to mention his magic was piercing through their barriers and nearly came close to killing them. The unicorn took advantage of Twilight’s momentary lapse in concentration, teleporting away from Sakuya and Kagutsuchi and appearing right behind her. The assassin channeled a large amount of the crimson mana and fired a large magical beam. Twilight turned around as her vision filled with red, a barrier wasn’t going to stop this, and he was dead set on this shot. Fast as lightning, another alicorn stood in the front of Twilight, her white cape bellowed from the whirlwind generated by the incoming blast. Crackling lightning surged all over her body and coalesced to the tip of her horn, with a roar of thunder the alicorn mare fired a giant lightning bolt that struck the crimson beam, the two attacks detonated upon impact, throwing up dirt and dust into the air. With a wave of large orange wing, Twilight’s savoir was revealed as none other than Shazam! Twilight smiled at seeing the heroine, or rather, she smiled at Scootaloo. “Sorry I’m late Twilight, had a hard time getting away,” said Shazam. “No problem, although, this guy’s been tough to keep down, he regenerates every time we attack him, and when he’s not breaking through our barriers he’s tossing back mine and Kagutsuchi’s magic like it was nothing!” Scootaloo glared at the assassin, his mad hatter smile lessening upon seeing Equestria’s Mightiest Mare. “I’ll take care of him, I’ll try and take him alive so we can find out what’s up.” As Scootaloo was about to take a step forward she felt a tug at her cape. “Shazam!” The Champion of Magic turned around and looked at Twilight, who was holding the edge of her cape in her telekinetic grip. “Please be careful.” “Who the hay do you think I am, Twilight? I’m always careful!” Scootaloo proclaimed. Shazam started walking towards the unicorn, sizing him up. He wasn’t muscular, but he did have a lot of magical power for a single unicorn. She didn’t sense dark magic, that stuff gave off a very distinct vibe, and yet, neither did this feel like the usual unicorn or alicorn magic, but Shazam did sense something else, a killing intent, a thirst for destruction. But there was one thing that stood out just as much as this unique magic, it was the fact that the stallion had no cutie mark, he was a blank flank! That’s not right, he looks like he’s just a bit older than Cheerilee, and she has her cutie mark! What is going on here?! The assassin attacked, lobbing crimson magic bolts at Shazam. Scootaloo’s speed proved more than sufficient for dodging his attacks, though she admitted the rate of casting was high. Scootaloo decided to end this in one strike, she dashed for the assassin and feinted to the left, and cocking back her left hoof she channeled her magical lightning all around it. She then delivered a thunderous punch to the stallion’s face, sending him flying and skipping on the hard ground like a stone in a pond. Scootaloo sped away and reappeared where she estimated the assassin was going to be. She then brought up both hooves, electrifying them with her power. When the assassin was in range, Scootaloo brought down both in a joint hammer strike, slamming the assassin right into the dirt and creating a crater twenty feet wide. The magical hero stood at the edge of the crater, looking upon the still body of the assassin, she worried that she may’ve used too much power in those attacks, perhaps overestimating the assassin’s skills and abilities. Just then the assassin’s head snapped in her direction, his horn lit up and fired a beam of crimson light at her. Scootaloo jumped back, narrowly missing the beam as it passed over her left shoulder. When she landed, Scootaloo winced at the slight pain that radiated from where the beam grazed her. I actually felt that?! Okay, this guy is way more dangerous than I thought! The stallion teleported out of the crater, his left hind leg and right foreleg were twisted out of place, but within a few seconds the bones cracked and popped back into their original positions and the assassin was back to standing on all fours again. “Ugh, that’s gross,” said Scootaloo in disgust of the regeneration. The assassin summoned orbs of condensed mana energy and fired them in rapid succession. Scootaloo took flight and zoomed into the air, performing all manner of aerial tricks to avoid the blasts, the beam from earlier gave her a hint of the damage the red mana could do to her if it hit. Scootaloo found an opening and dove down, cocking back her right hoof in preparation to plow him into the ground for a second time. But the assassin teleported away at the last second, causing Scootaloo to make a sudden stop, kicking up a concussive whirlwind in the process, she looked to and fro for the assassin, finally spotting him heading right back for Twilight and the others. “The hay you’re getting away from me!” With a sonic boom Scootaloo took off after him. The assassin looked as if he was preparing to cast another attack spell. Scootaloo had planned to refrain from using attack spells, heeding Twilight’s warning about him throwing them back at her. But right now the only way to stop him was with a long-range attack spell. Scootaloo’s horn surged with magical lightning, building into a sphere that she launched right for the assassin. The stallion sensed it coming and quickly turned around to intercept. His barrier, the same one that repelled and rebounded the attacks from earlier was up again, ready to throw Shazam’s lightning sphere right back in her face. The crackling orb struck his field with resounding force, pushing him back like Kagutsuchi’s fireball from before but when the assassin went to infuse his power into it to throw it back the lightning reacted, striking back at his attempts to take it over. The assassin’s mad grin was faltering as he tried to throw it back, but the sphere just kept pushing at the barrier, and now there were signs of breakage. In a panic, the assassin redirected the attack upwards, letting the lightning sphere explode high above them. Scootaloo landed a few feet away from them, the Wisdom of Star Swirl allowing her to see that action for what it really was. “You can’t handle my power, can’t you big boy?” The assassin said nothing, he merely growled and glared back at her. With this new knowledge Scootaloo went back into the air, once up she flared her wings out, calling to her magical power. Around her formed thunderbolt spears, each one crackling and sparking, Scootaloo lit up her horn and tossed a few right at the assassin. The stallion used his own magical blasts to intercept them in midair, hitting a couple but missing one or two, but returning with his own energy bolts. The two of them exchanged fire from the air and ground, with Scootaloo gracefully dodging the energy bolts, while simultaneously throwing more thunderbolts. Scootaloo made one last throw before landing a few feet away next to Twilight. “You’re done.” The assassin noticed too late, the thunderbolt spears that he had missed had formed a circle around him. The thunderbolts united their electrical energy and shot it below where the assassin was standing. In no time the circle erupted into a giant column of pure magical lightning, with the assassin at its center. Whatever cries he let out were muffled by the thunder that roared from the attack. Scootaloo willed the attack to end, watching as the column dispersed into particles of ionized mana. Scootaloo cautiously made her way towards the charred ring, along with Twilight, to assess the condition of the assassin. When they arrived they saw that the stallion’s body was badly burnt, although he was alive, his regeneration was very, very slow, not like it was when he survived Sakuya’s inferno. “I saw that he couldn’t deflect my attack, so I assumed he couldn’t take my power head on,” said Scootaloo. “Looks like you assumed right Shazam, we’ll get some medics to tend to him and then we’ll find out who put him up to this,” said Twilight. “The…” Both alicorn mares glanced at the assassin. “Kingdom…” At the center of his body a red light began to glow, the light grew brighter and brighter with each passing second. “...shall rise…” “He’s not doing what I think he’s doing?!” Shazam asked. “He is!” “...and your time…” Thinking quickly, Scootaloo used her telekinetic aura and wrapped it around the stallion, she stepped back, lifting him off the ground. “...has…” Scootaloo then reared back and tossed the stallion as high into the air as her magic would go. “...come…!” High above the town a red light exploded forth, everypony looked up and watched as the explosion slowly died out and fizzled away into nothingness. Twilight fell to her haunches and Scootaloo let out a relieved sigh. “I can’t believe it, he…he self-destructed!” Twilight couldn’t say anything, her mind was busy trying to understand how anypony knew of such a spell, such spells like that were forbidden and locked away from all ponies, not even Twilight herself was allowed to see such spells. “Twilight, you okay?” Scootaloo asked. The purple alicorn shook her head. “Sorry, yes, I’m okay. You should leave now, we’ll meet later at the Rock of Eternity and compare notes about this whole thing.” “Got it.” Before Scootaloo spread her wings she saw a crowd of ponies gathering in the distance, the ponies cheered loudly for their hero, whooping and whistling in gratitude for her heroic deeds. Scootaloo spotted one pony at the head of the crowd, Rainbow Dash, looking upon her with awe and adoration, it was weird seeing that from her idol and sister figure, seeing as how she was the one who was usually giving those looks to her. She smiled at Rainbow, and she could’ve sworn she saw the pegasus mare blush. With that, Scootaloo vanished in flash of lightning, using her speed to get around the crowd and head to Sweet Apple Acres. SWEET APPLE ACRES…   It didn’t take long for Scootlaoo to make it to the farm, she landed some yards away from the barn and household, not wanting to be seen by Pinkie Pie, Big Mac, or Granny Smith. Scootaloo had done a lot in the year she since she had become Shazam, going around Equestria and helping out with disasters, stopped some rampaging dragons, and she managed to help out Daring Do with a little adventure of hers, now that was a fun month. But what happened today, this fight, had come close to being as dangerous as the battle with Black Adam. The pony she fought just up and blew himself up without a second thought. He may’ve been an assassin, but was that was really extreme. And then there was the issue with him not having a cutie mark. Everypony had a cutie mark, even an assassin would have one! “Unless he was using some kind of magic to hide it, cutie marks are unique to the pony who has it, so that might be the case…” Scootaloo sighed heavily. “A year without nothing major – well super deadly major – happening and now this? Well, there goes my summer vacation.” Scootaloo saw the house of the Apple Family come into view and decided to change now while there wasn’t anypony around.       “SHAZAM!” A bolt of lightning shot down from out of nowhere and struck Scootaloo, shrouding her in white smoke for a couple of seconds before revealing her back in the form of a pegasus filly. “Oh my Celestia!” Scootaloo’s heart stopped as her body completely froze up. Her right ear twitched to where the voice came from. She dreaded this. That voice sounded familiar, but it didn’t carry the southern twang of Apple Bloom nor the usual crack of Sweetie Belle’s. Slowly Scootaloo turned her head to the right and gasped. Standing five feet away, with her hooves over her mouth and her eyes as big as saucer plates, was Alula.