Lightning Strikes Arc Part 4: Discovery
Two days had passed since the incident, and Scootaloo hadn’t changed since then. As fun as wielding all that power was, she realized in the same day just how dangerous she could be if she didn’t learn how to control it. There weren’t that many places for Scootaloo to practice unfortunately, she had thought about going to Ghastly Gorge to practice, but then there was the matter of the Quarray eels, if she went around throwing lightning bolts in there she was sure to accidentally kill the creatures.
It was something that weighed on her mind since Saturday, and now it was Tuesday. She had been suspended from school for at least three days and today was the second day of her suspension. Cheerilee had made it clear that she was on her side, but as a teacher, she couldn’t condone what Scootaloo did to Diamond Tiara. Scootaloo thought that that was fair, it wasn’t so bad knowing that her teacher did believe her, some would just write her off Scootaloo as a violent troublemaker, but not Cheerilee.
The matron at Wayward House had Scootaloo help around the house and having Scootaloo go to the market when she wasn’t able. It was fine with her, she needed time to think. As she made her way into the market district, Scootaloo saw Fluttershy walking about with Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Even though she came close to death’s door, she was back on her hooves and just as happy as always.
After she was done at the market and getting the groceries back to Wayward House, Scootaloo decided to just hang out somewhere, not the clubhouse. She found herself at the park; her scooter leaned up against a tree and her helmet hanging off the handlebar. She stared up into the sky, watching the clouds roll by. There was just so much she didn’t know about magic she obtained, for one thing it didn’t seem to alter the state of her weak wings, nor did it give her a cutie mark. She was starting to wonder if the old pony was senile and just chose her because there was really nopony else he could find to do the job.
Scootaloo then closed her eyes and started to drift into a brief nap, taking after her big sister.
“Hi Scoots!”
“AAAH!”
“AAAH!”
Scootaloo’s eyes flew wide open as she hurriedly jumped to her hooves and almost spoke the word of power out of defense, but stopped when she saw the familiar purple and green scales.
“Spike?!”
“Y-Yeah.”
Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief. “Jeez Spike, you almost gave me a heart attack! And you know that’s a good way to get a black eye.”
Spike rubbed the back of his head nervously. “Sorry about that, but I’ve been looking for you.”
Scootaloo froze. “Looking, for me, why?”
“Don’t know, Twilight said she wanted to talk to you privately about something. But you weren’t where she sent me, so I went out looking for you. Well, now that I have, let’s head to the castle.”
This was a predicament. Scootaloo hadn’t yet figured out a way to properly explain where she had gone, who she spoke to, and why she could change between an alicorn mare and a pegasus filly. Scootaloo knew she’d have to explain this somehow, but she never imagined that time was now! There was a chance for her to run now, if she hopped on her scooter now she could be halfway out of town, and with a quick transformation she could be in Manehattan in less than a few seconds. But that wouldn’t be cool, besides, this was possibly the lesser of two evils. She wasn’t sure how Princess Celestia would take to all this, but she had a better chance if it was Twilight; even Princess Luna would have been fine too.
“Let’s go then…”
Scootaloo never felt such a sense of dread since, well, since she was before she arrived in Wayward House. The pegasus Dusk Guards stood on either side of Castle Concordia’s double doors. The two stallion’s followed Spike and Scootaloo with their eyes, unflinching, like statues. She gulped, believing that they knew who and what she was.
Spike led her through the halls of the castle, there were many ponies walking about, some were cleaning staff, most were guards and the ponies who helped run Ponyville. Spike kept walking till they were at the doors to the library; Spike opened the door and gestured with his claw for Scootaloo to go inside.
“Twilight’s waiting for you in the usual spot you have for your Twilight Time, I’ll be around if you guys need anything.”
Scootaloo gulped again. She entered the room, hearing the doors close behind her. Scootaloo looked around the large rotunda room. Bookshelves littered the walls on the first and second level, a round table was set in the middle of the room, it was where Apple Bloom would practice her potions and where Sweetie Belle read her spell books, and where Scootaloo read up on how different things worked, engineering books if she remembered correctly.
But there was only one book near the table, a book which bared Princess Celestia’s sun cutie mark, and it was being held by Twilight. She had seen that book on a stand in her throne room and on her desk in the study. She could hear a few giggles coming from behind the book, which made Scootaloo wonder what was so funny. Knowing that delaying the inevitable wasn’t going to make this any easier, Scootaloo walked up to the table and cleared her throat.
“Ahem, Princess Twilight?”
Twilight lowered the book and smiled when she saw Scootaloo. “Oh Scootaloo, sorry, I was just reading a message.” Twilight levitated the book to the stand and set it down before turning her attention to Scootaloo. “You know you can come sit by me, I won’t bite.”
“Yes Princess…”
Scootaloo walked over to where Twilight was and sat down next to her. The Princess of Friendship looked upon the filly with concern, all three of Crusaders never called her “princess” when they were alone and having Twilight Time. Twilight extended her right wing and gently placed it on Scootaloo’s back, she felt the filly flinch and tremble slightly, and she wasn’t even looking at her.
“Scootaloo, are you alright?”
“N-Never better…”
Still skeptical, Twilight decided to start. “Well, Scootaloo, there’s an important matter I wanted to talk to you about. Now I know –”
“IT WAS ME, I’M SHAZAM!”
Twilight stared at Scootaloo, blinked two or three times, and opened and closed her mouth a few times trying to get some words out.
“Pardon me –?”
Scootaloo quickly turned to face Twilight and inhaled deeply. “Just let me explain first! I was at the clubhouse when it happened, that’s where I got sucked into this weird dimension! I met an old pony there who called himself the Wizard and he said I was ‘chosen to become magic’s champion’, of course I didn’t believe him at first, but then he looked into my memories and saw my past and my present! After that he said I was worthy and I admit I wasn’t really confident about the whole thing, but then he showed me that Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Fluttershy were being attacked by a Chimera! I told him I accepted and then I said ‘SHAZAM’ and then I changed into some kind of super alicorn or something?! He sent me back and I fought the Chimera, I didn’t mean to kill it, but I lost control of a spell and ended up vaporizing the Chimera and almost everything else! I helped AB fix her potion and she used it to save Fluttershy! Then I went back to the clubhouse, said SHAZAM again, and turned back to normal! I haven’t transformed sense then! I’m sorry, I know I should’ve told somepony, especially you, but I was afraid of what you would say!”
Scootaloo stopped to take in some air before continuing.
“But now you found out…I should’ve known you would Twilight, you’re great at magic, of course you’d figure it out that that power was mine, probably used some kind of spell to link it to me. So…am I going to go to Canterlot to see Princess Celestia or are you going to do something me…?”
Twilight’s left eye was twitching as her brain worked to take in the flood of information that Scootaloo had just dumped on the young alicorn princess. After her mind finally caught up, Twilight looked at Scootaloo in confusion.
“What did you expect me to do to you?”
“I-I don’t know! Throw me in a dungeon, banish me to the moon! That’s why you called me here right, to tell me that you knew about me being Shazam and that I need to be locked up?!”
“Scootaloo…that’s not why I called you here.”
The world just ground to a halt at the moment, Scootaloo looked up at Twilight in disbelief, a nervous smile forming on her lips.
“You’re kidding, right?” asked Scootaloo in a worried tone.
“I honestly had no idea until you just said all that.”
“…………………Twilight, may I please request the Angry Dome spell please?”
Twilight lit up her horn and created a large bubble of solidified mana around Scootaloo. She then watched as Scootaloo shouted, screamed, and yelled at the top of her lungs. She then kicked the barrier repeatedly and just utterly had a freak out within the cone. Twilight was more than sure she lip read a few adult curse words while she was ranting and shouting inside, but that was the reason for the spell in the first place, to vent one’s frustrations. By the end, Scootaloo’s mane and tail were a mess as she panted in exhaustion from her little freak out. She then nodded to Twilight who brought down the barrier and used her magic to straighten the filly’s hair and tail.
“Thank you, Twilight.”
“Alright, now that you got that out of your system, I think a more detailed explanation is in order.”
Scootaloo sighed. “I know, so, where do you want me to start?”
“Let’s start at the beginning and we’ll go from there.”
Scootaloo spent the latter part of the day explaining to Twilight how she obtained the Power of Shazam. Twilight listened intently as the young filly spoke, wanting every little detail, from the things she saw in the place she was in, the description of the Wizard, and even the sensations she felt while in his presence. Scootaloo then spoke of how she felt when the power transformed her, turning her into an alicorn mare of exceptional power, strength, and speed.
Twilight could hear the lament in her voice when Scootaloo spoke of killing the Chimera; she empathized with the young filly, remembering when she had to take on the power of the other Princesses. The rush it gave her, it made Twilight feel invincible and scary powerful. It showed when she fought against Tirek, unleashing all her anger and fury upon the centaur, not holding back anything as she blasted him with one powerful magic blast after the other. She wasn’t thinking of subduing him then, but stopping him by any means possible. The only thing that prevented her from killing him in her rage was the fact that they were equal in power and could not harm each other as easily as they would’ve thought.
But Scootaloo was vastly more powerful than the Chimera, she knew this, which is why she only wanted to beat the Chimera, not obliterate it. Twilight could scarcely imagine the burden she was carrying, a monster though it was; the Chimera was still sentient like they were. Twilight started to wonder how she’d react if she killed Tirek during their battle. But that was a thought for another day, right now Twilight had a more pressing concern.
“So, you transform whenever you say ‘shazam’? But you must’ve said it at least six or seven times already and you’re still you,” said Twilight.
“I know. I found that out when I first tried it. The Wizard said that saying the ‘word of power’ isn’t enough to make me transform. He said I have to concentrate on all the good inside, all the righteous fury, and pour it into the word as I say it.”
Twilight brought a hoof to her chin in contemplation. Twilight then used her magic to bring out a chalkboard and some chalk and started writing on it, while drawing a few diagrams and images.
“A physical transformation spell that only requires the caster to verbally speak one word, and they don’t have to be a unicorn to begin with. Such a drastic transformation between ones original tribal species to that of a form that incorporates all three isn’t easy. While the addition of special requirements for a spell to activate isn’t unusual, what is unusual is the amount of power required to pull it off. The spell that changed me was a powerful one that needed the Elements of Harmony, and with me the transformation is permanent.”
Twilight finished the first part of her notes, showing the power required for such a transformation, the three pony tribes, the amalgamation of those tribes which was an alicorn, and of course herself and the Elements of Harmony. Twilight then divided the board and began to write another set of notes.
“On the other hoof, we have a spell that seems to be able to be cast by either an earth pony or a pegasus pony, and we’ll say unicorn ponies as well for argument’s sake. Not only does it have special requirements in order to transform its caster, but it has enough power to change the pony’s biology – at least from what you’ve said – in a near instant.
Although, your power, strength, and speed appear to be equivalent to that four alicorns’ magic combined, there is a possibility that it could exceed that. On top of that, unlike myself, you can change between your original pegasus form and into your alicorn form. This power also appears to take the form of lightning, which makes sense since light travels at 186,000 miles per second and the amount of power a normal lightning bolt contains is fifteen million volts. It could be assumed that this was the most efficient way to have the transformation take place since our bodies are jumble of nerves that connect every part of our body, in order to facilitate the transformation quickly and with little resistance via other means.
But what’s interesting are the conditions, you must feel good and righteousness in your heart when you speak the word, otherwise you could say the word a hundred times and nothing will happen. Whereas mine was triggered when I finished the spell of Star Swirl the bearded, creating the Magic of Friendship and uniting it with my friends…”
Twilight stopped to examine her notes. The other half of the chalkboard had a line that splintered off from the first set, showing the divergent difference in Scootaloo’s magical transformation. The three tribes, a bubble that said “good and righteousness”, both of which had lines that led to another bubble that read “Spoken Word: SHAZAM” which led to the picture of a generic alicorn mare. Scootaloo, for her part, just stared at how Twilight was able to break down everything she told her, and putting it together in a scientific way on a chalkboard.
The Princess of Friendship then put down the chalk she had in her telekinetic aura and looked to the young filly. “Scootaloo, I hate to ask you, but could you show me?”
Scootaloo looked around the room, wondering if she should. “Do you really think it’s a good idea for me to do that here, in the library, with all your books?”
Twilight’s eye twitched again. She quickly lit her horn and cast a spell, a wave of rose colored light swept over the books and doorway, layering over it like a protective shell. She then made brick walls of magical energy and surrounded all the bookshelves in a second layer of protection. Scootaloo chuckled at the sight of Twilight doing all she could to make sure her books weren’t destroyed.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Heh, heh…” Twilight chuckled embarrassedly as she blushed at the extensive measures.
Seeing that everything was well protected, Scootaloo put some distance between herself and Twilight. She didn’t know what would happen when she called upon the power, if the lightning would even reach her through the castle or if it would just crash through the roof altogether.
Worst case, Twilight can explain it as an experiment.
Scootaloo concentrated on the feelings, she was aware of Twilight watching her intently, and she hoped that nothing would happen to her, with that in mind, Scootaloo proclaimed in a loud voice.
“SHAZAM!!! ”
Twilight looked up at that moment and watched as a bolt of lightning shot down from the ceiling, completely out of nowhere. Her first instinct was to protect Scootaloo, but the lightning was faster than her reflexes and struck Scootaloo. The room flashed with blue light and the sounds of electricity crackling, along with the smell of ozone from the ionized air. White smoke appeared around were Scootaloo was and Twilight felt a great dread grip at her heart, but that was quickly forgotten when a large orange wing appeared out of the smoke and flapped once.
The flap generated a small gust of wind that blew away the smoke and nearly lifted Twilight off the floor. After righting herself, Twilight stared in awe at the transformed filly.
“Sorry about that Twilight, I still don’t know my own strength, literally.”
“This…is…amazing!”
“Uh-oh…”
Twilight quickly ran up to Scootaloo, a pencil and notepad somehow appearing within her telekinetic aura, and started to examine Scootaloo’s form. Scootaloo tried to remain calm and as pliable as possible as Twilight lifted one leg, looked at it, wrote something on her notes, and then moved on till all four legs were examined. She then pulled out a measuring tape and had Scootaloo flare out her wings, notating the increased wingspan. She then ran her hooves along the muscles and bone of the wings, an act that made Scootaloo let out an embarrassed gasp.
Twilight quickly took her away and blushed. “Sorry, sorry, I-I didn’t mean to – I mean – I wasn't trying –!”
“I-It’s fine, Twilight, just, be more careful,” said Scootaloo blushing.
Twilight continued her examination, noting all the curves her lithe body had developed, and no doubt her muscles were lean to ensure no increased weight. The final part of her examination was Scootaloo’s chest. She stared into the lightning bolt insignia, watching as the living lightning inside it ebbed and flowed. It was almost as if Twilight was staring directly into the heart of magic itself, feeling a strange with the energy. Twilight stepped back and looked over her notes to make sure that nothing was missed in her examination.
“Well, looks like that’s it, but still, this is truly amazing. Does it hurt when you change Scootaloo?”
The orange alicorn mare thought the question over. “It feels…tingly, I guess, at first. But afterwards I feel strong, powerful. Like nothing could stop me from picking up a mountain and hurling it into space!”
“Wow…”
“Well, since I’m like this. I was wondering, could you teach me how to use magic Twilight? I don’t want something like that to ever happen again!”
“Scootaloo,” spoke Twilight softly, “I don’t want you going out and putting yourself in dangerous situations like that. I’m not going to teach you so you can go out and fight monsters.”
The alicorn mare shook her head vigorously. “No, I just want to know how to control it! I’m sure I can figure out the speed and strength thing on my own, but magic, I don’t know the first thing about it! I only cast that spell by remembering all the times you, Sweetie, and Rarity used your magic, and look how well that turned out!”
Scootaloo got closer to Twilight, even though there was desperate and pleading look in her eyes, the height difference made Scootaloo just a bit intimidating.
“Please Twilight; you’re the only one who can help me with this…!”
Twilight looked from Scootaloo’s eyes then to the living lightning within her chest. The great power she possessed was dangerous, how dangerous was up for debate, but that was the point. Scootaloo knew how dangerous her power was and did not want to hurt or kill anypony with it accidentally. As a Princess of Equestria, Twilight knew she should forbid her from ever using this power for her own safety and find a way to seal it. But then again, the part of her that was a teacher and the part of her that cared about Scootaloo warred with her emotions. After a few short minutes of tension filled silence, Twilight gave her an answer.
“Okay Scootaloo, I’ll help you the best I can. But you have to do as I say, that means when I say to stop you stop, if I say don’t change at all, don’t. We’re going to do this carefully and safely the whole time. Do you understand?” Twilight asked with her best authoritative voice.
A grateful smile split Scootaloo’s face as she reached out and hugged Twilight close to her. “Thank you Twilight! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Twilight had felt bone crushing hugs before, mostly from Pinkie Pie, but right now, she felt as if Scootaloo was about to snap her in two like a dried out twig.
“Bones…crushing…lungs…collapsing…” Twilight croaked.
“Oh my gosh!” Scootaloo immediately released Twilight, letting the princess drop onto the floor in a heap. “I’m so sorry Twilight! Are you alright?!”
This…This is going to be rough…Ugh, I wonder if I should tell Cheery about this…? Twilight glanced up at the worried Scootaloo. No, she’d freak out, definitely a no for now…
While this was going on, neither mares took notice of a small, pink shimmering butterfly fluttering overhead. The butterfly then flew up to the ceiling and disappeared into particles of pink light.
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Shazam!
I'm honestly wondering just how long the secret will hold out in Ponyville. I doubt for long, at some point Scootaloo will be forced to transform in public to save the town. But I'm glad she wants Twilight to train her in controlling her magic, smart girl. I love the Angry Dome Spell, plus Twilight's defenses of her books.
Does 15 million volts beat 1.21 gigawatts???
*ponders*
Since she turns into an Alicorn, could she theoretically 'turn back' into an earth pony or unicorn?
So, Shazam > Twilight "OP" Sparkle when she was fighting Tirek? That is some serious superhero mojo Scootaloo has, now. At least Twilight should be a great teacher for helping her get control, even if Scootaloo now outclasses her in power. Heh, kind of like Wildcat teaching other DC heroes with powers his fighting techniques.
This is great, a few grammatical errors here and there but im really enjoying this.
Nice update and yet interesting meta-reference in this chapter, given who the voice of Twilight Sparkle on the show is. Please do keep up the good work.
5225348 there's no way to know that without knowing the amps first
5226004
Yes! You earn a thunderbolt!
5222495
I have one, but I find it better that everyone imagines their own voice, that way everybody's happy.
5225309 5225365
My other two references have been found!
5225348
Remember she said "normal" lightning, but we all know that the Living Lightning that empowers Shazam is anything but normal, so it could exceed 1.21 gigawatts.
5225569
There will be no Superman, or pony version thereof, in this story. Sorry, but it's Shazam's time to shine.
5228433 LOL, thanks! So normal lighting will power the DeLorean, but Shazam will overcharge it??? Kind of like the scene below???
5228522 Me too. In fact, isn't "SHAZAM" the name of the WIZARD who gives Billy Batson his powers?
5240399 And yet, DC thought that they needed to change Cap's name to "Shazam".
5265194 This is in its own little DC crossover universe. Kind of like how there are multiple worlds with varying forms of the DC heroes.
I got to say, this is an good story. I don't know much about Shazam, but this story earn a fave and follower! ME!
And this is where I stop reading. Pointless, shoehorned in shipping and Scootaloo rambling off the secret so easily just killed it for me. Its a shame, I really liked the concept of this story.
... that was the most anti-climatic way to reveal ones secret identity I have ever seen...
5950376
wouldnt be the first time twilights been told sumthin lke that and didnt c it coming
I haven’t transformed sense then
feeling a strange with the energy
1. Since.
2. Umm... What? Feeling a strange sensation with the energy, maybe?
Oh Scootaloo, you NEVER blab secrets out as easy as that. That's an easy, nasty way to leak your secret identity. Now you just have to make Twilight and Spike your Alfreds
I see Shazam!Scootaloo is stronger than super Alicorn Twilight, too.
6624556 but smart because twilight is the pony that scoots can learn how to use her magic with out the hole killing every one thing
Pure awesomeness
At the part about forbidding scoots from using her power it says twi is a princess of equestria despite saying that ponyville is it's own kingdom now.
So twi can do what ever she wants in this case.
BD out
I facepalm hard at Scootaloo overreacting at Twilight by revealing her secret that fast.
anyone else see that coming? no, seriously, i saw this coming before it happened.
9164502
It's become a trope for stories with superstrength.