• Published 4th Nov 2014
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He Who Wields The Lightning - Onomonopia

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Mercy

Luna hesitated by the door to her sister's room, her hoof hanging in the air as she wondered if she should bother her or not. 'A week may have passed since the...incident, but if I know my sister she'll stay strong. I need to talk to her,' Luna thought with a sigh, gathering her courage. She pushed against the door which slowly creaked open at her touch, allowing her to see the state her sister was in.

"Celestia?" Luna asked with a hint of hesitation as she looked around the room, which Celestia normally kept bright and sunny. Instead, the curtains were drawn shut and the sun barely created any light at all, leaving the room covered in darkness. The trays of uneaten food at the side of her sister's bed told Luna that Celestia was doing far worse than when Sunny had passed away. Celestia was hidden under the covers of her bed and didn't budge or acknowledge her sister at all when Luna sat beside her.

"Celestia? May we talk?" Luna asked, not surprised when Celestia failed to answer her. "I am so sorry, Celestia. I hope you know that. If I had been here...you have to know that what happened wasn't your fault. Our scientists are analyzing the suit and weaponry used by the humans, and they are far beyond anything we could think to create. You could not have known what they would have done." Silence was all Luna got in response, so with a small sigh she continued talking.

"I worry for you, Sister. Ever since Golden Mane, you have been less sure of yourself and question the choices that you sometimes make." Luna saw the slightest of stirs at the name, but nothing other than that. "Your nation grieves for your loss just as I do, but your nation will also need you soon. With the tension between the griffons and the dragons, Equestria will look to their leader. Please, stay strong." With no answer again, Luna steeled herself as she prepared the question she had been hesitant to ask.

"Sister...where is Black Adam? Nopony has seen him since the incident and there are...rumors floating about." Much to the surprise of Luna, Celestia slowly lifted her head and looked over at Luna, her eyes still a bloodshot red with none of their usual light in them.

"How should I know?" she replied in a hoarse voice, one that had not seen use in a week. "I do not watch him 'twenty-four seven'. I thought that's what you did." Luna could feel the hate in her voice but knew that she was not the one at whom Celestia was angry. But Luna did not like the idea that none of them knew where Adam was. That could only lead to trouble. "Leave me be, Sister, before you get killed while I am powerless to help." She lay back down after saying this, covering her head with her pillow.

"I will not die on you, Sister; I care about you far too much," Luna comforted, but the words fell on deaf ears.

"So did all the others who died because I couldn't save them." The bitterness in the voice caught Luna slightly off guard and she could see Celestia shaking slightly in her bed, which Luna assumed was Celestia trying to hide her tears. "Father, Mother, Golden Mane...and now my daughters. I am so weak."

"That is a lie, Sister," Luna tried to comfort, but the moment the words left her mouth the fury beneath the pain erupted.

"A LIE?! I failed to help mother and father when they battled with that alien! I failed Golden Mane when he battled with Sombra to save the Crystal Empire! And now I have failed to save both of my daughters when they needed me most!" she roared with a fury like nothing Luna had ever seen, her mane setting the bed ablaze and forcing Luna to leap off of it to avoid being roasted. But the wrath quickly gave way to sorrow and Celestia lay down once again, sobbing into her pillow.

"I am cursed," she whispered to herself. "Cursed to watch all those that I love die in front of me. Why do I bother trying to start a family again and again, when I know that it will only end in pain?" Luna knew the question was rhetorical and she knew better than to answer. But she still needed to talk to her sister about the state of the nation.

"Sister, the ponies will still need your guidance in these tough times," Luna said, Celestia's sobs stopping for a moment. "They need you to lead them." Celestia moved her head so she could look at Luna with eyes that had given up.

"You rule them now...by yourself," she whispered before turning back to her pillow. "How can I protect them when I cannot protect the ones I love? You will be a far better ruler then me. Now leave me be, let me be alone in my suffering." Luna wanted to say something to comfort her, but she knew that Celestia would not listen. Instead Luna turned and left the room, coming face to face with the advisor Willow, who had been waiting outside.

"Ah, Princess Luna...how is Princess Celestia?" he asked with concern in his voice, but there was an urgency in it that was not lost on Luna. Willow looked shocked when Luna pointed this out before he began to stammer. "I-It's something very important the must be shared with her. Can you...take the message to her?"

"No. She is in no shape to be bothered," Luna said with her regal tone, the advisor bowing under her gaze. "Whatever it is, you may tell me. I am now...the ruler of Equestria, at least until Celestia is willing to take up the crown again." Willow looked stunned at the news, but then he bowed his head and looked into Luna's eyes. "Shadow Heart has returned in Stalliongrad." Luna's eyes widened in shock before she shot past Willow, who raced after her as best he could.

"Princess Luna! Given what happened with Shadow Heart over a thousand years ago, shouldn't you call Black Adam to aid you?" Luna came to a dead stop and turned towards the advisor with very cold eyes.

"No. The Elements of Harmony will go with me to defeat him, just as they did all those years ago," she said in a cold voice, making Willow fall to his knees in fear. "Black Adam will not be necessary. And if he comes back while we are still away, do not tell him where we are. Am I clear?" All Willow could do was nod as Luna shot off, not rising up off his knees until he knew she was gone.

S=H=A=Z=A=M

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I'm sorry that I did not give you adequate time to prepare for this," Luna apologized to the six ponies who sat on the Royal Express with her. Luna had gathered the Elements of Harmony as quickly as possible, despite their plans for the day, and had commissioned the Royal Express used by the princesses to take them as fast as it could to Stalliongrad. "But if Shadow Heart is back, then we must act now."

"If you don't mind me asking, Princess, who is Shadow Heart?" Twilight asked as she flipped through five books at once, all of them on ancient creatures and enemies of Equestria. "I can't find any information on him in any of my books."

"That is because most consider him to be a myth, and those who were there the day he attacked a thousand years ago did not remember what had happened," Luna explained while Twilight began to jot down notes, the other Elements paying close attention as Luna explained. "Shadow Heart was a would-be king, similar to Sombra, but he actually had the ponies best interests at heart. However, one day his nation was attacked by a sludge-like creature which could control minds, allowing it to take control of his nation. He battled as best he could, but it was far too strong for him. Even my sister and myself were unable to defeat it, even with the Elements."

"Eventually he found a way to defeat it, but that was by sealing the creature within his own body. The two souls within the body clashed for dominance and the sludge creature won the day," Luna said with a sad shake of his head. "However, it had been weakened by being forced into his body, and with Black Heart's own conscious holding the creature back, my sister and I managed to imprison the two of them within a sacred grove. We tried to separate the pair, yet we could not release Black Heart without freeing the monster as well."

"But now he's broken free," Dash muttered.

"Yes, but this time we might be able to defeat the creature for good and free Black Heart in the process," Luna said with a thin smile. "See, my sister and I could not banish evil from a being when we had the Elements. But the six of you can. I hope that with the combined power of the Elements you can free Black Heart from the sludge and then seal the sludge away for good."

"How many ancient evils did you princesses seal away?" Applejack asked, Luna hanging her head in response.

"More than I wish to admit," Luna responded with a shake of her head. "We will be there soon, so I wish to tell you what Black Heart will be capable of. His magic gives him the ability to control those who are weaker magically that he is. You six should be protected by your Elements, while I am a princess, so I should be safe. He can also change his shape and fire sludge bombs that are toxic to whatever they touch. Black Heart was also one of the best fighters in Equestria at the time, so there's that." The mane six looked at each other nervously as she said this before Twilight asked a question.

"Um, if this foe is as strong as you say he is, then why isn't Black Adam here?" All eyes in the train car turned to her with cold stares, and she hid behind her books with a whimper.

"Because we are trying to save Black Heart, not have him blasted into ash by a tyrant who thinks himself a god," Luna said with a scowl.

"Plus, do you think that he would care at all who gets caught in the crossfire, or that innocents might be put in danger?" Dash added with a look of rage. Luna looked at her with shock before Fluttershy spoke up.

"There wouldn't be an animal or piece of foliage left alive after he was done," she said with a rage so calm that Luna scooted herself away from the little Pegasus.

"He's scum."

"He's evil."

Luna looked at the Elements of Harmony with surprise in her eyes as everyone of the except for Twilight each seemed to harbor a grudge against the anti-god. 'But I wonder, if I could get Twilight to see the true nature of Black Adam, then maybe I can get the Elements of Harmony to use their powers upon him...thus exposing him as the villain he truly is.' The train came to screeching halt and all eyes looked out the window, to see Stalliongrad covered in darkness with fires raging all along it.

"Sorry, Princess, but this is as close as I can get!" the conductor yelled from the front of the train. The seven all gave each other a nod before leaping off the train and rushing towards the city, not even making it within the city limits before being attacked by an army of mind-controlled ponies, all of whom were covered in a black sludge.

"Keep them away from me!" Rarity yelled as all of them went after her at once, reaching for her with contaminated hooves and mouths. She screeched and ran away from them as fast as she could, leaving them open to be sprayed down by Twilight and Luna's magic, washing the sludge off.

"Magical water will work the best against the sludge, but regular water can work too!" Luna cried out as she looked to Rainbow and Fluttershy. "Grab as many rain clouds as you can and douse the city! The rest of you will come with me to help any that have not already been claimed!" Working together as a group, the six did as they were instructed. Dash and Shy took off to find the clouds while the others kept those controlled in the streets at bay.

"YEEHAW!" A lasso twirled through the air and wrangled ten of the infected. With one good yank AJ pulled all ten of the infected into the range of Twilight and Luna, who doused them all with one well-aimed shot. "Take that, Dash, ah'd like to see ya get that--" A rainbow blur shot past her and a stack of at least twenty infected lay in front of Twilight and Luna, with Dash smirking at AJ. AJ pulled her hat close with a glare before she went back to lassoing the other infected. Dash flew back up to help. She moved the clouds into position and soon the infected were all covered in a rain that slowly washed off the sludge.

"Good work Elements, soon we will draw the attention of Black Heart!" Luna called out as she and Twilight cleaned off those Dash had gotten, the freed ponies promptly running for the exit of their city as soon as they could.

"I can't believe that Black Heart did all of this!" Rarity called out with disgust as Pinkie stuffed a number of the ponies into the cannon and fired them over to the group, Twilight creating a shield to catch them while Luna used the magical liquid to free them.

"Remember, it is the monster inside of Black Heart that is making him do this! He is not responsible for his own actions!" The group kept up the work until they had freed well over a hundred of the ponies, but Luna noticed that the group was beginning to tire from the labor.

"Hey, Princess? Not that I'm tired or anything, but for the sake of the others how much longer do we have to keep this up? Were not really making a dent!" Rainbow asked as she kicked one of the infected that had tried to grab her. Luna opened her mouth to answer when she looked up and saw a flying island of sludge, spotting a black pony with a crimson mane flying towards them.

"Not much longer. Once we defeat him, the rest of the ponies will be free. Stand with me now Elements and together we will defeat this foe!" Luna called out, with all six of the Elements taking their places behind her. The pony upon the cloud leapt off and slammed into the streets, splattering himself all over the buildings and the ponies.

"Oh...Faust..." Rarity squeaked out as she looked down at the goo on her before she passed out, but all of the other ponies' eyes were upon the stallion, who was already beginning to reforge as the slime drew itself back into his body.

"Luna. Has it been a thousand years already?" the stallion asked with a revolting voice that made the ponies gag to listen to it. "Thou hast not aged beyond a sun rise."

"Enough with the pleasantries, Monster, you know why I am here!" Luna roared as she charged up her magic, her eyes going white as the power coursed through her. "You have claimed the soul of a good stallion for far too long, but today is the day we get him back! Girls! Elements!" The mane six took up their positions to begin the storm of harmony, but Black Heart smirked and let out a roar, causing the sludge that had sprayed the ponies to yank them all apart and throw them across the streets.

"Was that the best strategy that you could conceive? Unleash the Elements and seal me away once again?" Black Heart asked as he began to fire purplish blobs of magic from his horn, forcing Luna to throw up a barrier to protect herself from the assault. To her shock and horror, she found that the blobs began to eat away through her shielding, forcing her to throw herself to the side as more of the magic blasted right through her protection.

"Doest thou truly think so little of me that this was your grand scheme to defeat me?" The slime upon the Elements began to eat away at them, causing all six of them to cry out with pain. Twilight was the first to splash herself with the magical water, causing Black Heart to raise an eyebrow as he watched her do the same to the other ponies, freeing them from his influence. "Perhaps I have misjudged you. It seems that thou hast gained a few new tricks since we last fought. But where is your far fairer sister? Will Celestia not be blessing us with her presence?"

"We are all that is needed to bring you down," Luna snarled as she and Twilight began to fire bursts of magic at Black Heart, who erected walls of sludge to protect himself from the assault. Dash grabbed Pinkie and flew her behind the sludge barrier, dropping Pinkie right behind the stallion so that she could unleash her party cannon upon him.

"You believe that your paltry cannon can harm me, you damned fool?" Black Heart asked.

"You shouldn't use bad words! Time to wash your mouth out!" Pinkie yelled as she fired the cannon, sending hundreds of bars of soap into Black Heart. Pinkie cheered into the sky as the soap bars began to eat away at Black Heart, who snarled as he turned to the pink pony with rage in his eyes. With a snort he charged at Pinkie, who hopped in place with a smile on her face. Right before he tackled her, Black Heart found himself looking into the eyes of Fluttershy.

"Gah! What sorcery be this?!" Black Heart yelled as he staggered back, trying to clear the image of those eyes from his mind. Since his eyes were closed, he never saw the rope that wrapped itself around his neck and pulled him to the ground. He struggled against it, but a pony far stronger than he was pulling on the other end.

"Sorry varmint, but yer not going anywhere," Applejack said with a smirk as she tightened the rope. Black Heart yelled with rage as he used his powers to burn through the rope and sprung back to his hooves, but none of the arrogance was in his eyes any more as he looked upon the seven with shock.

"What be this? How could such strong ponies have arisen in only a thousand years? Ponies were nothing like this back when we first came into being." Luna laughed at Black Heart as the mane six took up positions behind her, the magic of harmony beginning to connect the six of them with its power.

"This is the power of compassion, Black Heart, but you already knew of that power," Luna said as she held out a hoof. "And I know that you can find it again, but you have to fight! Do not let that sludge monster win!" A smile crossed Luna's face when she saw one of the purple eyes flicker for a moment, revealing the green eyes of the pony she knew all those years ago. "Twilight! Now is the time to use the Elements! We can--"

Her words died with her heart as a massive bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, followed by a rumbling thunder that could only signal the arrival of one being. Luna never even had time to cry out before Black Adam descended from the sky, blasting all away from him when he impacted the street. His eyes looked left and right to see the ponies covered in sludge before they looked forward to the black stallion with the now completely purple eyes.

"So, you are the one causing all this pain," Adam snarled as Black Heart backed away from him with surprise in his eyes. Faster than a bolt of lightning, Adam grabbed the stallion by the throat, watching with a hint of interest as the magic sludge tried to burn through his hand, but Adam never registered the sludge that had burned the Elements. "I will punish you for what you have done!" Adam threw Black Heart into the side of a building and began to stalk towards him as the stallion struggled to pull himself out of the wall, blood running down his face as the purple eyes looked at Black Adam with fear.

"Adam! No!" Luna yelled as she threw herself in front of him, Adam looking down at her with surprise on his face before that surprise turned to rage.

"Away with you, fool! I am trying to stop this evil!" he roared at her as he tried to get past, but Luna leapt in front of him again.

"We do not want to kill him, we are trying to free him!" Luna yelled, but Adam shook his head with a scowl before he picked Luna up and threw her far off into the distance. He turned back to the still stuck Black Heart, before both Dash and Twilight tackled his arms.

"I'm not going to let you endanger any more lives!" Dash yelled as she pulled on him with all of her might.

"Teth! Please stop!" Black Adam threw his arms to the side and cast the two ponies off of him before he shot towards Black Heart, grabbing him by the throat and pulling him out of the wall.

"You are coming with me," he snarled before he shot up into the sky, coming to a stop far above the town. "Now then, what say you creature...wait a moment, I am sensing another mind beneath this one. Reveal yourself!" He grabbed Black Heart's head with his free hand and coursed electricity through it, causing the stallion to scream until Adam noticed the purple eyes retract and twin green eyes appear.

"Please...stop this..." he begged, Adam looking at him with shock. Adam's first thought was that this was just a trick and that he should kill the pony now, but then the image of Radiance flashed across his mind, and he found that he could not bring himself to deliver the final blow without knowing more.

"What has become of you?" Adam asked. "How do I free you from this curse that afflicts you?"

"You...can't..." the pony gasped as one of his eyes began to turn purple again. "Please...I cannot...hold it back much longer! I...don't wish to hurt...any more ponies. Please...kill me...don't let it...make me..." Adam closed his eyes as the pony's eyes turned purple again, with only a hint of green left. He knew not what this affliction was nor how to cure it, but he knew what had to be done so others would be safe.

"I know not if you can hear me, but know that you die a hero," Adam said before his eyes flashed with power. "And whatever you are afflicting him, you die in pain!" The stallion howled as power coursed through him, Adam closing his eyes until the stallion stopped moving. When he opened his eyes again, he found that the sludge had been burned off and the eyes now held no life in them. Looking around at the ponies of the city, he could see that the sludge was washing off of them in the drizzle and they would soon be free. Adam shook his head once before he floated down to the ground, where he laid the body on the ground while the ponies looked at him with absolute horror.

"You...killed him!" Fluttershy roared. "You killed him, you monster!"

"Why, Teth? We could have saved him!" Twilight yelled at him. The other Elements began to shout at him, but all were silenced by the glare he gave them.

"The one you wished to save was far too gone! I did this to protect you all!" he snarled before sighing and holding a hand to his face. "It matters not. Think of me what you will, but I put down those who seek to harm others. He attacked the ponies of the city and I saved you. That is what happened."

"Don't try to make it sound like you are a hero! You murdered him!" Fluttershy yelled at him with tears in her eyes. Adam shook his head at her and turned to take off. Fluttershy added, "He was under the control of a monster! He couldn't speak for himself or tell you otherwise! You murdered him!"

"That is where you are wrong. What I did was a mercy."

The girls all looked at him with horror and loathing as he took off, their eyes resting on the charred corpse of Black Heart. None of them heard Luna land, but when she saw what had happened, her eyes narrowed with a cold confirmation of the truth.

"Do you see now?" she asked them, all six of the ponies turning to look at her. "This is what Adam does to whoever crosses him. He does not care who they are. He killed Discord, whom Celestia believed could be turned. He killed Chyrsalis, whom I found out was a mother to a whole colony. And now he's killed Black Heart, who still had a chance to be saved. He is not the hero you believed he was. He is...worse than a criminal. He is a monster. A monster that must be stopped.

Twilight looked down at the body one more time before looking at Luna with tears in her eyes. "What are you saying, Luna?"

"I'm asking you to help me, help me show the world the true monster that he is," Luna said. "The Elements will only work on a foe that is evil and despite us knowing the truth, the ponies of the world do not. That is why I want you to use the Elements on him in public, in the center of Canterlot...to show them the truth. Will you help me?"

"I'm in," Shy said without hesitation.

"Me too," Dash growled.

"Me three!"

"Of course I'll help to bring down this abomination."

"Ah'm in." All of the ponies then looked to Twilight, who was staring at her hooves with no idea what to do.

"Twilight, please. We can't stop him without you." Twilight shook her head as she thought back to when Radiance and she would play a prank on Teth, and how nice he was back then...how he had protected Radiance and Sunnysmiles. But then she thought of all the death, all those who had been killed by Black Adam. All the pain that he had caused.

"I could never help you hurt Teth," she said to her stunned friends, before looking up at them with fire. "But I will help you bring him down. Because you forgot one more accusation to add to the list, Princess."

"And what is that?" Luna asked.

"You forgot that Teth was murdered by Black Adam."