Thomas opened his eyes and sat up, rubbing his sore head. He groggily looked around, finding that he appeared to be in a snowy area. Mountains and an empty plain surrounded him, and all of it was covered in snow.
"This is definitely not the convention center, where am I?" Thomas said to himself as he looked around. He wiped the snow off his clothes and began to walk around to see if he could find anything.
'Wait,' he thought, 'Why am I wearing my normal clothes? I remember wearing my Captain Marvel costume while I was at the convention with Robert and mom.' He then stopped walking as that thought registered.
"Mom and Robert. Where's mom and Robert?!" he said to himself as he began shouting for his mother and older brother. "MOM! ROBERT! WHERE ARE YOU?! MOM!!!" Thomas heard no response, so he began to panic.
"Thomas?! Is that you honey? Where are you?" Thomas perked up when he heard the familiar voice of his mom: Angela.
"Mom? Is that you? I'm over here!" Thomas shouted, running in the direction of his mother's voice. It wasn't long before he could make out the form of someone running towards him. One second later, she had already arrived in front of him and scooped him up into a hug.
'Funny, I don't remember mom being that fast.' He thought, but didn't give it much thought as he returned his mother's hug.
"Thomas! Oh I was so scared when I woke up and didn't see you or your brother anywhere," She said as she squeezed him tighter, which was actually starting to hurt him a little bit.
"Mom, would you please not hold me so tightly? It's starting to hurt."
"Oh!" She said, setting him down on the ground. "I'm sorry for hurting you, but I was barely holding on to you. I was trying to be as gentle as possible."
He looked up at her to say something, but abruptly stopped once he saw her.
Her once blonde hair was now black, she looked younger and more in-shape, her costume looked more realistic than when she had first bought it, and the fake sword and shield on her back were now very real.
"Uh, mom?" Thomas asked uncertainly.
"Yes?" Angela said with a smile.
"You look...different. And your props don't look like props anymore."
Angela looked back at the sword and shield on her back. "So you noticed too? I realized that when I woke up, but I was more concerned with finding you and Robert. Speaking of which, where is Robert?"
Thomas looked over at Angela, "You haven't seen him?"
Angela gained a worried look on her face, "No, you don't know where he is?"
"N-no. I thought that he might be with you." Mother and son stared at each other for a few moments before they both turned and began to shout.
"Robert! Robert where are you!?" Angela and Thomas yelled as they looked around for him. They continued to walk and yell for awhile until their throats became dry.
"Where could he be? You think he might still be at the convention center?" Angela asked Thomas, but she didn't get a response. "Thomas?" She looked back to see that her son had fallen to his knees. "Are you okay sweetie?" she said as she ran over to him.
"I-I'm r-r-really cold," Thomas said. Angela scooped her shivering son into her arms and held him close, but trying her best not to hurt him with her newfound strength.
"Help!" Angela shouted. "If anyone is out there, please help!" Receiving no response, she began to run forward as fast as she could in an attempt to escape the frozen wasteland. Five minutes of running later and they still saw no end to the tundra in sight. Angela looked down at Thomas, panic starting to set in.
'This is bad! I can't find one of my sons, and the other is freezing to death. I've got to get Thomas out of here, I need to find help!' Angela thought to herself as she looked around desperately, trying to find any kind of shelter that would shield them from the cold. As she looked around, she noticed two figures a short distance away. It was difficult to make out who or what they were through the snow, but all that mattered to Angela was that someone was nearby, and they might be able to help her son.
"Don't worry Thomas, you'll be okay," Angela whispered to Thomas. She looked up at the figures and began shouting at them. "HEY! PLEASE HELP US! MY SON NEEDS HELP!" When she received no response she ran closer to them. "PLEASE! I NEED..." she trailed off and looked in horror at the two now-visible figures.
"Mom? W-Why d-d-did you s-stop?" Thomas followed his mother's gaze and found what had shocked his mom.
They were both alicorns. That much Thomas knew, due to him and his older brother being fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. But they weren't alicorns he recognized. One of them looked like a stallion, and the other appeared to be a mare. The stallion had a fire red mane and tail, and his coat was as white as the snow that surrounded them. The mare had a purple coat, and a black mane and tail that matched the night sky. And both of them were frozen solid. Neither of them had cutie marks, but Thomas could tell where they were just by looking at the two ponies' designs.
'Are we...in Equestria?' Thomas wondered in shock. Angela however, was having different thoughts.
'What are these things? Where are we? How am I going to protect Thomas from the cold?' She began to tremble as hopelessness set in. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know how she got here. She didn't know what those two frozen creatures were, she didn't know where one of her sons was, and the other was freezing. Her eyes began welling up and tears fell onto the snow-covered ground. 'There isn't anyone around here for miles that can help Thomas, and he's getting colder by the minute. What am I going to do?'
"M-mom! Y-Y-You're f-feet!" Thomas exclaimed through his shivering. Angela wiped away her tears and looked down at her feet. Her eyes widened when she realized that both of her feet were frozen, and that the ice was slowly making its way up her legs.
"Oh my goodness!" Angela exclaimed. She brought one of her fists down on the ice in an attempt to break it. Surprisingly, it worked. The ice around her right leg shattered like glass. Angela looked at her fist, surprised that she had been able to do that almost effortlessly, but then she shook off her surprise and broke the ice surrounding her left leg.
"M-Mom?" Angela looked down at the surprised face of Thomas. "H-How did y-you-"
His words were cut off by a loud whinnying sound that filled the air. Thomas and Angela looked to where the loud noise had come from. Needless to say, they were both shocked by what they saw.
A group of about ten spirits that resembled horses were quickly making their way towards them.
'Are those...?' Thomas was snapped out of his thoughts when one of the spirit- like creatures went out ahead of the group and charged at the two humans. Reacting on instinct, Angela brought one of her fists back and slammed it into the creature's face when it was close enough. The creature was thrown far out of sight by the punch, a loud thud being heard a small distance away.
Both Angela and Thomas marveled at the power behind her punch, but both were snapped out of their stupor when another one of the creatures flew right in front of the two and seemingly summoned a powerful gust of cold wind that tore Thomas out of his mother's grip.
'Windigos? Why are they...here?' Thomas thought before hitting the ground.
"THOMAS!" Angela screamed. She tried to run over to him, but several of the windigos surrounded her and began attempting to use their magic on her. Angela let out her best battle cry as she shattered the ice and began to fight the windigos with all of her strength.
Meanwhile, the remaining four windigos began feeding on Thomas's negative emotions, slowly freezing him in ice. While the ice made its way up his body, Thomas put the pieces together in his mind.
'Windigos, alicorns, mom's newfound strength and resemblance to Wonder Woman? None of this can be natural, I'm not on Earth anymore.' The ice reached his waist when he realized something else. 'Mom looks like Wonder Woman now, and has her strength and costume. But my costume is gone, I'm wearing normal clothes, even though I was wearing my Captain Marvel costume when I fell unconscious at Comicon. Billy Batson also wears normal clothes, he...doesn't put his costume on...until he calls out...the word.'
The ice had reached his shoulders, and his arms began to freeze when he realized what he had to do. Over where Angela was, she had disposed of three of the windigos, and was facing the last two. She grabbed her sword off her back and flew over to one of them, slashing it across the chest. She wasn't doing this on her own, she was now fighting on pure instinct in an attempt to get to her son.
'I need...to say the word. I need...to say it before I freeze. It...might not...work. But it's...my last option.' The ice had fully enveloped his arms and had reached his neck when he opened his mouth and yelled the magic word to the heavens.
"SHAZAM!" A lightning bolt descended from the sky and struck Thomas directly on his chest. The ice shattered, and the windigos surrounding him were blown back. Angela looked over to where her son had been, stepping away from the final windigo, that she had knocked unconscious.
"Thomas? Honey, are you alright?"
The snow cleared, and she saw what her son had become. The previously twelve year old boy now had the build of a man in his late twenties. He wore a red costume that had a yellow lightning bolt on the center, white boots, and a white cape. He had become Shazam, Earth's mightiest mortal.
Thomas looked over at his startled mother and smiled. "Don't worry mom, I'm fine."
The windigos that were still conscious got up and snarled at the transformed human. Thomas merely smirked at the creatures. "Alright, which one of you would like to be beaten up first?"
They all whinnied and charged him all at once. Angela panicked, and began to run over to him, but stopped when she saw Thomas punch all of them repeatedly at blinding speed. All of them were sent flying out of sight, their ethereal looking bodies no longer visible through the snowstorm.
"T-Thomas?" Thomas looked over at his mom. "How did you do that?"
"Well," he began. "After realizing that we are probably in Equestria, and that you somehow have the powers of the person you dressed as, I thought that I might be able to do the same. So after shouting the word that summons the magical lightning bolt, I found out that I had been right."
Angela scrunched her face up in confusion, "Equestria? What's Equestria?"
"Well you know how Robert and I watched My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? You know, the show with Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash?" Thomas asked.
"Vaguely." Angela responded.
"Well, Equestria is the country where the show takes place. I realized that we are in Equestria when I saw the windigos and alicorns."
"Windigos and Alicorns?"
Sensing his mother's confusion, he explained. "Windigos were those spirit horses that attacked us, and those two ponies that were frozen in ice are alicorns. Both alicorns and windigos are creatures that exist in the show's lore, but I don't recognize the two alicorns we saw."
"What do you mean?"
Before Thomas could explain, a loud crack was heard. The looked over at the two frozen ponies, seeing that the ice surrounding them was beginning to crack. After only a few more seconds, the ice had shattered, and the two alicorns fell to the ground.
"They're free! Mom, we have to help them!" Thomas ran over to the two and examined them for any injuries. Luckily, they appeared to be perfectly fine, just unconscious.
"Help them?" Angela questioned, looking at the two ponies over his shoulder.
"Yes, do you remember how to fly?"
"N-No, I was reacting to instinct when I did it."
"Well pick the purple one and try to fly. I'm sure we can figure it out, I have the wisdom of Solomon now after all." Thomas said with a smirk as he picked the stallion up.
"Alright." Angela said hesitantly. She picked the mare up.
After a few tries, both of them were able to float in the air.
"Alright Thomas, If we are looking for shelter, then we should probably head over to that mountain. There might be a cave somewhere in it."
"Okay mom."
"And try not to drop it, dear!"
"Okay mom," he said with a laugh. Both of them took off at high speeds towards the mountain.
'These aren't alicorns I recognize. There are only supposed to be four of them: Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Twilight. I suppose I can ask both of them when they wake up,' Thomas thought with a frown as the mountain grew ever closer. 'Robert, I hope you're alright.'