Shattered Dimensions: Forgotten Shards

Twilight Sparkle awoke suddenly, her dreams being interrupted by a strange disturbance. She had cried herself to sleep, having found out that Shining Armor, her beloved big brother, had been sain by Sanguis Cruciatus. She was dreaming he was still alive, and they were many years younger, when her brother was still thinking about joining the Royal Guard, and Cadence was foalsitting her. It had been more than a dream, though; it was a memory.

-_-_-_-_-

“But Shiny, what if you get hurt?” Twilight asked her brother worriedly as she trotted down the Canterlot sidewalk with Shining Armor, who had just mentioned he was considering signing up for Celestia’s Royal Guard.

Shining laughed, amused. “You don’t need to worry, Twily,” he said assuringly. “Nothing will happen to me! Besides, even if I did get hurt, it would be for a good cause,” he added cheerfully.

Twilight pouted. “But I need you more than the princess does!” she exclaimed sadly. “What if one day you’re gone, and then I won’t have my B.B.B.F.F to look out for me!”

Shining Armor stopped and sat his sister down. “Twilight,” he said, looking down into his sister’s eyes, “Even if I didn’t join the Guard, there would still come a day when I wouldn’t be around to keep an eye on you. It could be tomorrow, next week, or even many years from now!” Seeing this didn’t help cheer up the filly, Shining cleared his throat. “What I’m trying to say is, even if I’m gone, I will always be with you, right here,” he said, pointing to her head, “and right here,” he added, also pointing to her heart. “You keep all of your knowledge in your brain, and all of your feelings in your heart, but the ones you love will always stay in both, so even when they are gone, they’ll always be with you.”

-_-_-_-_-

Now, Twilight sat up in bed at Castle Canterlot, remembering her brother’s words from so long ago, when she suddenly remembered why she had awoken in the first place.

“Girls, I think we have to go,” she said aloud, and her friends stirred into consciousness.

Applejack was the first to speak. “So I’m not the only one who felt it,” she yawned, shaking her head to hasten her waking, “something’s calling for us.”

Twilight nodded. She hadn’t actually heard anypony call her or her friends’ names, but she still had that feeling that something out there was summoning them.

Something near the human camp they had met Allen’s father.

“I knew that kid shouldn’t have left without us!” Rainbow Dash cried as she flew alongside her friends as they rushed out of Castle Canterlot.

“Allen didn’t want us to get hurt,” Fluttershy pointed out as she, too, zipped through the air next to the group. “Sanguis is the strongest enemy he’s ever fought, so he was worried that he might not be able to protect us.”

Twilight skidded to a halt. “Alright, everypony hold still,” she said as her friends gathered around her. “I’ve never tried a teleport spell of this magnitude, so who knows how close we’re gonna end up!” Her horn took on a vibrant, lavender aura, and her eyes glowed a bright white as a similar energy surrounded her friends. There was a flash, and the six ponies had vanished from where they had just been standing.

-_-_-_-_-

Sanguis snarled as he blocked a strike from my weapon. “You have so much power, boy,” he said thoughtfully. “Imagine how powerful I will become when I’ve killed you!”

I continued to slash and parry, my blade constantly in motion as I whirled it around like a baton. “That’s the problem, Sanguis,” I said as I jumped back, my blade taking on a bright glow, “I’m not going to die!”

The warlord’s eyes widened as I aimed the tip of my blade at him, and a ball of white energy flew at him, exploding on contact and obscuring the warlord from view. I scanned the hazy landscape carefully as I waited for a counterattack, but after a few moments I realized I had won the fight.

“Allen!” A voice called from behind me, and I turned to see Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy all racing to greet me. I dropped my swordstaff as it vanished in a whisp of smoke, and my armor faded from my body as I opened my arms to embrace my friends. At first, I was worried my injuries would return again, just as they had after I defeated Drayke, but it became obvious that the crystal had permanently healed me.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked with a laugh as the six ponies practically tackled me to the ground, all of them giggling happily.

“We all got this feeling that you needed help,” Twilight explained, “like a wordless voice crying our names.”

Pinkie nodded. “But, it looks like you beat that meanie without us!”

Just as we had all settled down, however, I felt something grab the back of my shirt and throw me aside. I rolled across the ground and scrambled to my feet, looking up to see Sanguis standing over my friends and smiling wickedly with a torn mouth. He now looked like he did when we first fought; a barely-alive corpse with two points of blue light for eyes.

“Surrender, and I may let your friends live,” he snarled, his voice as cold as the grave as he aimed an aura-enveloped finger at my friends, who all shrank back in fear.

I widened my eyes, desperately trying to think of some way I could save them. I already lost Luna, I thought grimly, I’m not losing them too!

Just then, I felt a strange force blow past me, almost like an icy wind, and I shifted my gaze behind Sanguis to see Project G.E.M.’s portal standing just a few feet behind him. I remembered what General Warrens had told me about the portal; that it was unstable, releasing bursts of energy every so often, and was constantly needing new parts.

“This is the worst plan I’ve ever had,” I mumbled, and sprinted at the warlord, whose glowing eyes widened for the briefest of moments as I tackled him, knocking him into the portal’s frame. Sanguis cried out in agony as we slammed into the metal structure, the bulk of his armor causing the supports to buckle, and the portal was practically torn apart by our impact. A blast of energy lashed out from the portal itself as it collapsed, incinerating Sanguis’s decaying form almost instantly. I felt an electric shock tear through my entire body as I skidded across the ground, unconsciousness leaving me as my momentum ceased.

-_-_-_-_-

“Allen! NO!” Twilight called as her human friend rolled across the ground. She and the others ran to his side, all of them checking his body for any signs of life.

“He isn’t breathing!” Fluttershy wailed.

Twilight nodded sadly. “He doesn’t have a pulse, either,” she murmured. “The blast stopped his heart.”

The six ponies all sat around the dead boy, struggling to hold back their tears. “I wouldn’t be so quick to cry, ladies,” a laughing voice said behind them. They turned to see Drayke Blackwood, the former Obsidian King, strolling up to them. “Man, that kid really knows how to throw a party, huh?” he inquired as he studied the battle-ravaged camp.

“What do you mean? Allen’s dead,” Twilight said sadly. “You expect us to just not cry?”

Drayke shrugged. “Give it a couple of seconds; you’ll see what I mean,” he replied nonchalantly. The six ponies all turned back to their friend, and they noticed something in his pocket was glowing. Using her magic, Twilight levitated the object out of his jeans, and found it was Drayke’s black crystal. It was glowing with a faint, pulsing light as she placed it on the ground next to Allen.

Drayke crossed his arms and smirked. “And… now!”

Just as the words left his mouth, Allen suddenly snapped open his eyes and gasped as the crystal shined like a star, the glow enveloping his entire body. Twilight, Drayke, and the other ponies all watched as the boy’s body changed shape inside the glowing sphere, until the light finally faded, revealing his newly-healed form.

-_-_-_-_-

“Well, I wasn’t expecting this,” Drayke said slowly as I blinked a few times to clear my swimming head.

“What happened?” I groaned , rolling over off of my back. Something felt… wrong. My limbs weren’t responding like they once did, and I felt like my organs had shifted their position inside my body.

“Well, I was thinking it would just bring you back to life, but I think the crystal went ahead and took care of your little identity crisis,” Drayke explained, still not entirely explaining what was happening.

I rolled my eyes. “What do you mean, ‘Identity-’... what the hell?”

I now saw that both of my arms ended in hooves.

“Allen… you’re a prince,” Twilight said, awestruck. “An alicorn prince.”

I gave her a confused look, and ran into a nearby tent. There was broken mirror in there, no doubt shattered by my fight with Sanguis, but I could see my reflection well enough; I now stood on four hooved legs, with a dull-grey pelt and a magnificent, brown mane that looked like my human hair, but stretched down a bit further in back. A horn spiraled from my head, and a pair of feathery wings sat on either side of my body, just behind my forelegs.

“Huh. Would you look at that,” I said slowly, turning as I continued to inspect my appearance. On my flank, I saw an image of a white sword, pointed downward and made of crystal. I laughed at this sight emptily, and sighed sadly.

“What’s wrong, darling?” Rarity asked as my friends entered the tent.

I looked off in the direction of the Crystal Empire sadly. “This isn’t the way I was supposed to become a prince,” I said sadly, and sprinted out of the tent, taking to the sky as I began to weep pitifully.