He Who Wields The Lightning

by Onomonopia

Protector of the Future

'There are certainly a lot of these annoyances,' Adam thought to himself, as hundreds of flashes went off from cameras that the press had brought to the event. Hundreds of ponies had shown up to see the two new foals that Celestia had taken on, but none of them had really believed the story about the human staying at the castle--until they had seen Teth walk out next to the throne with the rest of the royalty. 'And from their faces, it seems that they have never even conceived the thought of superior life in the cosmos. Simpletons.'

"Isn't this so cool, Teth?" Sunnysmiles asked, standing beside him, soaking in all the attention with a huge smile as she waved to all of the ponies in the main hall. Radiance was waving as well, but Teth did not need to glance at her to tell that she was not enjoying the attention as much as her little sister.

"At least try to smile, Radiance, this is a big day for the ponies of Equestria," Celestia whispered to the foal, who rolled her eyes before putting on the fakest smile that Teth had seen. "Attention ponies of Equestria! Today is truly a great day for our kind! I would like to introduce you all to my two daughters, Sunnysmiles and Radiance!" The crowd applauded as Sunnysmiles bowed with a laugh while Radiance barely moved her head, the attention making her uncomfortable. "Now, while they have not been with me long, they are already like family to me. I expect them to be treated as if they were blood related."

"Princess Celestia?" one of the ponies with a reporter's hat asked in the snooty accent that Teth was certain all reporters had, "We love seeing the future of Equestria, really we do, but right now everypony in this room is waiting for that very interesting specimen on your right there to say something to us." The crowd began to murmur as Teth felt all eyes rest on him, the ponies waiting with baited breath for him to say something or do anything.

"Very well, I suppose it is time you have all been introduced," Celestia said with a warm smile as she used one of her wings to push Adam forward a bit, turning back to the crowd before she could see his glare. "Ponies of Equestria, this is the human that I have told all of you about. This is Teth!" The ponies applauded, but most of the applause was half-hearted, telling Teth that they were waiting for him to speak to them. When he said nothing, Celestia cleared her throat and stepped forward. "Teth does not speak, as I have found out recently. So if you ask him any questions, do not expect much of an answer."

"Is that because he's too shy or too stupid?" the pony asked. The crowd all laughed at this statement and even Celestia let a thin smile cross her face, until she looked over at Teth and saw the murder that was flashing in his eyes. She followed his gaze, as he quickly looked over at the spear being held in a guard's hoof, and she realized what he was thinking.

"I believe that is enough for today about Teth, and he probably has better things that he wishes to be doing right now," Celestia said with a nervous laugh while she placed a wing behind him, right as he went for the spear, and hurriedly ushered him past all of the ponies and out of the room, where she closed the door behind her before looking up at Teth. "Teth, what were you thinking? Attacking the ponies that you've just met is not acceptable."

'I would kill to have my voice right now,' Teth thought as he glared at Celestia, before a small smirk crossed his face. 'Actually, I would kill all of the reporters in that room for free.' Celestia saw that he felt no guilt for his actions, so she sighed and looked at him with a more regal look.

"Teth, please return to your room and stay there until the meeting with the ponies is over. I do not need an incident with the first human--along with everything else that I'm going to have to deal with." Teth scowled at her ordering him around, but he fought back the desire to pulverize her as he coldly turned and headed towards his chambers. Celestia shook her head before turning to open the doors and return inside, where the cameras and the questions started up again.

"Princess, what about the changeling problem in the south? How are you going to deal with that?" Celestia sighed, knowing that those kinds of questions would have come up eventually. So, with a sigh she began to talk about how the battle with the changelings had been going and how many had been lost.

"...And currently, we do not have any solid leads on where the changelings might strike next, but know that our greatest warriors are out there right now looking for them," Celestia said to the crowd, not surprised by their less than stellar reaction to the news. A number of ponies cried out--some of them even going so far as to say that this would never happen under Luna's rule, but with a flash of light from her horn Celestia silenced them all.

"Radiance. Sunnysmiles. Mother is about to talk politics with these ponies and I do not believe that either of you would find it interesting," Celestia said in a very calm tone, but the two sisters smiled at each other because they knew that the reporters there were in trouble now. "Guards, please take them out of the room." The guards next to the princess nodded and ushered the two out of the room, where they began to talk to each other.

"I want to go see Teth. He didn't look too happy after what those ponies said about him," Sunnysmiles said with a frown. "They were so mean."

"Well, Teth wasn't exactly going to be nice to them either," Radiance replied with a smirk. "Did you see the way he went for the spear? I think he would have gutted everypony in the room given the chance." The two continued to talk until they reached a hallway where the reporter with the hat was resting against the wall, smiling as he saw the girls and walked over to them.

"Hello there, future rulers of Equestria, do you have a moment for an interview?" he asked them with a friendly smile, but the three guards moved themselves between the reporter and the girls.

"Move along buddy, before this has to get rough," the bigger of the guards said to the pony, who simply smiled up at them.

"Aw, come on now, I really need to talk to one of them," he said.

"Move along. Now."

"Sorry, but I need to talk to them." Faster than any of the guards could react, a black blade slipped out from under the reporter's outfit and he slashed the biggest guard right across the throat, sending him to the floor immediately. The other two yelled as they tried to drive their spears into the reporter, but he flipped over them as two bug-like wings shot out of his back. He drove the blade down through another guard's shoulders before taking out the blade and throwing it through the heart of the last guard, who collapsed to the floor without a sound. "Well that was easy enough. Now to--"

His words were cut off as a blast of magic sent the reporter sprawling across the floor and into the wall, where he picked himself up to see an enraged Radiance with her horn aglow standing in front of her sister. The reporter smiled at the two before a flash of green fire went off and a black, insect-like creature stood where the reporter had once been.

"If you try to do anything to either of us, I swear I will--" With a speed Radiance didn't believe to be real, the changeling threw itself forward and tackled her to the floor, smacking her across the face to daze the unicorn, before turning to go after her sister.

"Sorry to be so rude, but Chrysalis really wants to meet the two of you," the changeling said as he grabbed Sunnysmiles and picked up his hat, holding the struggling filly while he walked over to her dazed sister. Before he could pick her up however, a spell with more power in it than anything he could muster screamed by him, blowing out a hole in the castle wall beside him. "Oh hell," he muttered as he turned to see Celestia barreling down the hallway towards him, sheer wrath in her eyes.

"Not good," the changeling muttered as he threw Sunnysmiles at the oncoming Alicorn, before picking up Radiance and putting the blade to her throat. "If you value her life Celestia, you will do nothing! Stand down!" The princess caught Sunny with her magic, but that was all she did as she glared with venom at the changeling, who began to slowly back away down the hall. He kicked open the first door he saw and backed into it, still holding the blade at the pony's throat. 'Things have really gone to hell,' he thought as he put the hat on his head. 'This was supposed to be a simple snatch and grab, but nopony told me that this brat could use magic like--'

Time came to a stop as he felt something cover his face, giving him enough time to move his eyes down to see what it was. It had five fingers and placed itself right over his muzzle, though the pinkish color confused him for a moment. He was also vaguely aware of something else on the back of his head before everything went dark.

SNAP!

Teth Adam smirked as he snapped the creature's neck and spun its head around to look at him, relishing the fear in its eyes before it died. It fell to the floor without another sound, and its hat fell off of its head and fell to the floor with its owner, allowing Adam to recognize whose neck he had just snapped.

'Today has been a good day,' he thought to himself as he picked up the corpse and the blade that the corpse had been carrying, feeling the weight of the sword in his hand and figuring that it would do for now. He walked past Radiance, who was starting to recover her senses, and opened the door to the room, where he saw pretty much every guard in the castle and Celestia standing outside the door, all weapons pointed at him.

"Teth?" Celestia asked in confusion, looking from him to the dead changeling in his hands. The pieces clicked into place for her just as Teth threw the body to the floor at her hooves, where he moved aside to let Celestia see Radiance getting back up to her hooves. "RADIANCE!" Celestia ran by Teth and wrapped her daughter in her wings, Teth looking at their embrace for a moment before he looked to the guards, noticing that the reporters were standing behind them with just as stunned faces.

'And that makes it a perfect day,' Adam thought as he used the sword to point to the body of the changeling and then to them, a wicked smile crossing his face before he turned and headed back into his room, letting Sunnysmiles pass him as she ran into the room and tackled her sister. Teth then turned to face the ponies one last time before slamming the door in their faces.

====S=H=A=Z=A=M====

"Princess Celestia, not that I'd doubt your infinite wisdom considering how long you have been alive, but are you sure this is the wisest idea?" Pageturner asked the princess from across her desk, looking at the papers she had given him with shock. "I mean, there are hundreds of ponies that are far more qualified to be bodyguards than a human who cannot even speak. Please, just give me the word and I will--"

"Yet out of all the hundreds of "qualified guards," Teth was the only one who managed to stop the changeling that somehow managed to sneak into my castle and take my daughter hostage," Celestia said in a cold tone, that told her advisor that there was a raging fire beneath that calm. "Teth, in the few days that he has been here, has already saved the lives of both of my daughters. I trust him as much as any guard."

"But Princess--"

"Enough. My mind is made up," Celestia said in a tone that told her advisor that this discussion was over. "Now then, on to the next topic. As much as I enjoy teaching Radiance alone, I think the time has come that I take on an apprentice from Canterlot to train alongside her. Radiance spends all of her time by herself, reading or practicing, and she could use a friend. Send these fliers across town and let the ponies know that I will be choosing a second disciple." Pageturner bowed before leaving the room with a shake of his head, so lost in thought that he never even noticed Teth walk by him into the room.

"Ah Teth, thank you for coming on such short notice," Celestia said with a friendly smile as she floated a chair over for Adam in which to sit, though he remained standing. "With everything that has transpired recently, I haven't had time to talk to you about what happened the other day...or to thank you for once again saving my daughter's life."

'It seems that I'm the only one around here who can get anything done,' Teth thought to himself with a bit of heat, but his face remained calm and emotionless.

"You may not know this, but the ponies that were killed by the changeling were the royal guards for both me and my daughters." Celestia could have sworn that Teth had to resist the urge to laugh at her calling them the royal guard. "While I do not need protecting due to my power and mostly immortal nature, my daughters are in constant danger, if these past days have shown me anything." Celestia stood up and walked over to a cabinet, which she opened, and she pulled something out of it. "That is why I have decided to make you the royal bodyguard for my daughters," she said as she turned around, holding a white cape with gold trimming in her magic.

'And now I regret snapping that fool's neck...a little,' Teth thought to himself with a scowl. 'I do not wish to watch over those two imbeciles, for I will never get any rest. They will kill themselves by the end of the month no matter how many guards you station around them.' She floated the cape over to him and he looked at it for a good minute, knowing that if he took it he would be dooming himself to watching over those idiots. 'But that would allow me to see more of their magic and allow me to go wherever I want without being questioned.' He took the cape with a snarl and draped it over his back, amazed at how well it seemed to fit him. He turned to leave before Celestia stopped him with a cough.

"Teth...I know that you don't like us. I know that something happened on your home to make you this way, and whatever it is must have been terrible. But know that I speak the truth when I say this: that I truly appreciate what you have done for us in the short time you've been here," Celestia said with tears starting to form in her eyes. "I lost my parents when I was young, lost the love of my life in a horrible battle thousand of years ago, and had to banish my sister to the moon to save my nation. So if I were to lose my daughters as well...I do not know if I could go on. So thank you, truly, for saving them."

Teth turned and left the room as she said this, walking down the darkened hallway by himself as the moon shone through the windows. He felt the cape rippling behind him as he walked, and he was reminded of just how much he had missed his godly form, from the lightning bolt on the front to his own cape which he often wore.

'This is getting me nowhere,' Teth thought as he walked, noticing that the cape he wore apparently caused any guards he walked by to salute him as he passed. An improvement. 'I still cannot speak and there is still vengeance that needs to be wrought upon those who have destroyed my home and taken everything from me.' He walked past Sunnysmiles' and Radiance's room as he thought this, and he stopped when he heard the two playing around, despite it being past 'lights out'. He looked through the crack in the door to see Sunnysmiles resting against her sister as Radiance read to her by the light cast from her horn.

'Like my family, my children,' Teth thought to himself as he left the two alone, figuring that Celestia could deal with them. He silently walked around the hallways, not sure himself where he was going. But he could hear the laughter in his ears, the laughter of his wife and of his children...and the sounds of his once great nation as they all lived. 'I will find a way to avenge you all. That is my promise. That I will get back at you, Shazam, exact my revenge on you in such a way that you will never be able to recover from it. Mark my words.'

He entered his room as he said this and looked at the blade that was resting against the side of the wall, taking it in his hands and balancing it. Then he walked through the halls until he reached the empty garden, where nopony was there to watch him. 'But I have gotten too used to my powers, and now in this land I must learn to fight without them. It is time to see if I still remember what I was taught five thousand years ago.' With blade in hand, he began to train, and the longer he did so, the more the memories of days past returned to him...when he was a young warrior who wanted to protect his nation; when he trained day and night to battle the foes of his people to keep them safe. Of the days before he had spoken that word...

If any of the guards had been there to witness his skill, they would have been amazed that a human could move with such fluidity and grace; that a blade could slice as silently through the air as his did. But as he fought the mentally-created heroes that he had battled on Earth, Adam also began to nurture a thought that he had not wanted to consider.

'What happens if my voice never returns?' he thought to himself as he battled the air, striking it with just as much intensity as if Superman or Shazam was right in front of him. 'Do I subject myself and the rest of my days as servants to these two foals, having to watch over them day and night? It is an insult, a disgrace, to the name Adam!' After what felt like hours he finally allowed himself to rest, allowed himself to feel tired at his mortal body's weakness.

'But is this not almost the same task as the one you had back on Earth? Protecting the weak with your might, being a champion that would slay any that tried to strike down the innocent, like those who had struck down your family all those years ago when you first became the Mighty Adam?' The thought came out of nowhere, but it was treacherous--distracting Teth from his loyalty to his family and country.

'It is not the same!' Adam roared inside of his own mind as he doubled his efforts, attacking with a renewed ferocity. 'Those were my own people! People who looked up to me and saw me as a hero that would keep them safe! These ponies know nothing of the hardships that I have gone through or the foes that I have battled to keep my home safe. I flew for five thousand years to return home to save them! These ponies do not deserve my protection!'

'Then why save them?'

'That is enough,' Adam thought when he couldn't think of an answer. 'I know who I am and I know what my mission is. To restore my powers and to return to Earth to enact my revenge upon all those who had wronged me and my people. I do not care what you try to tell me, whatever you are, but I remain loyal to those who earned it...to protect those that I call 'family'. Now leave me to my work.' The voice never returned as Teth resumed practicing, but no matter how hard he trained, the spoken words would not leave his mind.

====S=H=A=Z=A=M====

Deep beneath the castle, farther down than even Celestia knew existed, sat a single pony who listened to every word that was being said in the palace, every idea or plan that was passed back and forth from the princess to her guards--and it sickened him. That Celestia, the supposed ruler of Equestria, was so weak that she had to rely on a human, a petty human, to protect her own children despite her being able to lift the sun and the moon with no effort.

"But that will not last for long," the pony said to himself as he opened a tome and placed it on the dusty table that lay in front of him, slipping through the pages as he searched for what would bring him his dream, a dream that only he had. "Without her sister, Celestia is weak and will be easy to crush. The human poses as much of a threat as her guards. But until she reveals the location of the items, the items that I require to complete my vision, then I must settle for being the humble servant." The pony then moved to another area, where a large number of scrolls lay on a shelf labeled, "the multiverse."

"But just like all great leaders, I must remain patient if I am to complete this plan--no matter how many years it may take."

Comments

[JakeAndDollars]

Twenty eight views and i get first comment? Huh, dem people are slacking.

~Dollars.

[Tangent]

Well, if this is Black Adam's redemption story, he is certainly taking his sweat time letting go of his grief and anger. Which, considering what happened to his family, is perfectly natural, I suppose...

[Scarheart]

So...I don't read comics anymore...is Adam immortal?

[Grahf]

5252581 while he is in his Black Adam form yes he is, but some story arcs made it so he rapidly aged when he left it, this is not one of them.