Broken Worlds: A Sea Of Tears

Four Years Ago...

“I’m pinned down over here!” I shouted, peering over a boulder at the advancing human soldiers. The fired a spray of bullets that ricocheted off of my stony cover, and I quickly ducked back into safety. “Damn it… I’d prefer to not use very many of these,” I said grimly, pulling a handful of crystals out of my pocket and inspecting them carefully. Shortly after my transformation into a human, I had Celestia channel some of my dormant alicorn powers into a set of Spirit Crystals so that I could still fight and use some of my powers in my human form while my dormant powers receded to levels that my alicorn body could handle. However, since my spells were still immensely powerful after the whole Sanguis ordeal, using each one would expend the crystal’s charge, turning it to dust and rendering it useless.

On top of this, around my neck I also wore a Spirit Crystal pendant that suppressed the magical energy that still contaminated my body, keeping it from killing me. I was pretty limited on how well I could fight, but at least I wasn't useless or a liability to my friends.

I tossed one of the crystals at the humans, and in a flash of light they were frozen inside a jagged mass of crystal. I grinned darkly, but quickly ducked when another squad of soldiers set their sights on me. I crouched back behind the boulder once again, preparing another crystal.

“I'd really rather not use this one so soon,” I growled, clutching the crystal tightly as it's energy flowed out of it and surrounded me. In moments, I was equipped with a wingless variant of my Crystal Paladin armor and a smooth crystal greatsword. I sprinted out from behind the rock and charged forward as the soldiers opened fire, their bullets bouncing off of my impenetrable armor harmlessly as I attacked. With a mighty sweep of my blade, I carved the earth beneath my enemies and sent them flying backward several feet. With the squad disarmed, I quickly destroyed each of their weapons before they could stand again.

“I didn't sign up for this shit,” I heard one of them mutter as I pointed my blade at their leader’s throat.

“Why are you attacking our city?” I demanded.

The soldier narrowed his eyes. “You should learn whose side you're on, kid,” he growled angrily. “Don't you know what's happened back on Earth?”

I raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?” I asked, confused.

The soldier laughed derisively. “I thought as much,” he replied, amused. “Earth is a wasteland now. When those portals opened, it overloaded pretty much any electronic devices near the epicenters. The energy they released had a massively destructive reaction with nuclear weapons and reactors, and now half of the US is gone. I dont know how badly the rest of the world is doing, but I'd assume it isnt much better.”

I stared blankly, the impact of this statement hitting me like a train. So many people, so many cities, destroyed in the blink of an eye.

And I made it happen.

Just then, my armor and sword faded away as I continued to stare ahead at the soldiers. “You have to listen to me,” I said calmly. “The Equestrians don’t mean you any harm. Come with me, and you’ll see for yourself.” I held out an empty hand for the squad leader to take.

The soldier scoffed. “Like hell!” he said, and pulled a combat knife from his belt. “Any last words, traitor?”

I nodded. “Flash!” I cried, and an orange pegasus swooped past, knocking the soldier to the ground. He quickly turned and shot back, sliding to a halt by my side.

“You should probably wear some Royal Guard armor instead of relying on your crystal armor all the time,” Flash Sentry said dryly. “Metal is a little more permanent than magic.”

I shrugged. “Yes, but my armor is a little more bulletproof,” I pointed out. “That, and crystal is kinda my thing.”

Flash rolled his eyes. “Stubborn as always,” he said with a laugh as the rest of his squadron approached. “What do you want us to do with these guys, your highness?”

I glanced at the group of human soldiers. “Escort them to Canterlot, and keep them under close watch,” I ordered. “They are to be treated as guests, not prisoners.”

The lead soldier gritted his teeth angrily. “We aren’t going anywhere with you horses,” he spat.

Flash gave the soldier a smug look. “What choice do you have?” he asked rhetorically.

The soldier grinned and held his wrist near his mouth, and began to speak into his wristwatch. “Sentinels, now!” he cried, and several of the large, mechanical behemoths that attacked Canterlot several days prior emerged from the nearby treeline. Rather than equipped with drills, however, these ones carried missile launchers and gatling guns.

“Take cover!” I cried, tossing down a crystal that exploded in a flash of blinding light, freezing me inside a protective shell of crystal. I wasn’t much use in battle without my armor, and without a crystal that could cast such a spell, my only option was to remove myself from the fight.

I watched grimly as the Equestrian soldiers battled against the humans’ mechs valiantly. The unicorns attacked from afar with their magic while the earth ponies held them at bay with their incredible strength, and the pegasi drew their fire with their swooping dive bombs and distracting aerial maneuvers. Although numbers were on our side, however, it seemed obvious that we would not win this fight.

“Allen, we need to retreat!” I heard Flash cry. I shifted my eyes to see him battling the soldier that lead the squadron we nearly captured, frantically blocking the human’s knife strikes with his armored hoof-guards. It looked as though Flash had the upper hand for a moment, but a wave of dread washed over me when I saw another soldier circling around behind the orange pegasus. I wanted to cry out to warn him, but I still needed to wait for my safety shell to fade away before I could act. I watched in horror as the other soldier wrapped his arms around Flash Sentry and lifted him over his shoulder and slammed him on the ground like a professional wrestler.

I screwed my eyes shut when I saw the other soldier draw near with his knife, his eyes wide with anticipation at the sight of Flash’s exposed stomach. I couldn’t watch this; I had already seen so many others I cared about, killed or tormented right before my own eyes.

I can’t protect anyone… I thought sadly, anyone I try to save ends up getting hurt; anyone who tries to save me ends up no better. I could feel the crystal shell around me beginning to disintegrate, and the Spirit Crystal around my neck began to burn like a hot ember against my chest. Very well, I thought as my anger began to blur my thoughts, and I began to regress into a state of mind not entirely unlike the one I was trapped in when Sanguis was in control of my body. If I’m not meant to save my friends… then maybe I’ll be better at destroying my enemies...

When I was freed, I wrapped my fingers around my Spirit Crystal and channeled its magic, as well as the magic from the other crystals I carried, and channeled it straight into my body. My whole body felt as though my veins were pumping liquid fire through them rather than blood, and the tears streaming down my cheeks froze like ice.

“Hey, the kid finally came out of the shield!” the human who had just butchered Flash was rushing at me now, obviously bloodthirsty after his recent kill. He thrust his knife at my chest, but the steel blade turned to dust as soon as it touched me.

I grinned psychotically as I grabbed the soldier by the neck and lifted him in the air. “You thought you needed to fear the Equestrians,” I said ominously, my voice vibrating with raw energy as the man’s body began to spasm as I channeled some of my energy into him, the foreign magical energies wreaking havoc on his systems. “I am the one you should be afraid of.”

When the man finally stopped moving, I let his body fall to the ground and turned to the mechs that my allies were still distracting. I waved a hand at the ground beneath one of them, turning the grassy soil into a mass of liquid crystal that quickly enveloped the mech, and then solidified once it was beneath the surface. I then stalked over to the other, which had noticed me at this point, and concentrated its fire on me.

I held out my arm as a jagged, crystalline greatsword materialized in my hand. I held the blade vertically so the flat side blocked the storm of bullets and continued to march forward as the mech actually began to step backwards. I grinned savagely and hurled the sword forward, and it's trajectory sent it flying into my robotic enemy’s torso, ripping it in two.

I stood there, alone in the field. My allies had fled, either because I had distracted the soldiers, or out of fear of me and my rage. They had nothing to fear from me, but the humans…

I'll kill them all, I thought hazily.

“Allen!” I heard a fearful voice cry out, and I turned to see Twilight Sparkle descending from the air, coming to a halt a few yards away.

I smiled and held out my arms warmly. “Twilight, it's so good to see you!” I said happily. “I'm… I'm a little tired, but I just need to sit down a moment.” I gasped as I fell to my knees, my breath suddenly coming in short gasps.

“You need to surrender your magic, Allen,” Twilight said carefully. “Celestia gave you that crystal to suppress your powers, not as a conduit to make it usable in your human form. You know what happens when humans use magic,” she added worriedly.

I nodded slowly. “I know, but…” I was breathing hard, and my muscles felt as though they were strained to the greatest extreme. “They killed Flash, Twilight,” I said sadly. “So much death, so much destruction, all because of these damn humans!”

Twilight nodded sadly. “I've lost loved ones because of all this, too,” she said, drawing closer now. “Flash was my friend, too, you know. Shining Armor is gone… Did I tell you my father was killed in the initial attack on Canterlot?” she asked, keeping her tone as calm as possible.

I shook my head. “You never told me that,” I whispered. So tired…

Twilight nodded. “He was protecting my mother from a soldier… I got there in time to save her, but it was too late for him.” She looked me right in the eyes. “I didn't want to burden you or any of the other princesses with my problems; least of all you, Allen.”

I looked up at her worriedly. “Why would you keep something like that from us?” I asked quietly. “Why wouldn't you tell me?”

Twilight sighed and sat down next to me. “Because you already blame yourself for so much that has happened, Allen, and I didn't want you to hold yoursef responsible for this, too,” she replied softly. “You keep trying to blame yourself for what happened with Sanguis, but there's nothing you could have done; you're strong, Allen, but not even Celestia could defeat him.

“Do you remember when we first met?” she asked fondly.

I nodded, the screaming feeling in my muscles beginning to fade. “You tied me to your bed and dropped books on me… and then you tried to turn me into a zombie,” I said with a weak laugh. “We've come a long way since then, huh?”

Twilight nodded, and I could now see that she was crying. “Those were the days,” she said softly.

I reached out weakly and rested my hand on her back. “We can… we can fix this,” I said calmly. “We can drive the humans back to Earth, and make everything the way it before.”

Twilight looked at me sadly. “How can anything go back to the way it was before?” she asked hopelessly.

I shrugged. “I have no idea,” I admitted sleepily, “but if there's anyone who can figure out how, it's you. You’re the smartest friend I've ever had...”

Twilight stared at me for a long time, and before I could react, she darted forward and kissed me. I widened my eyes for a moment and tried to struggle, but the sudden rush of energy that I no longer had caused me to fall into blissful unconsciousness.

~-~-~-~-~

“We need to talk, Allen.”

I felt my heart jump into my throat at the sound of Luna’s disappointed voice. Oh, crap, I thought as I stood up. “Hey, Luna,” I said nervously as I looked around at our surroundings, “what’s up?”. We were on the moon, Luna’s nightmare landscape. Needless to say, I was in trouble.

My wife materialized in front of me, an angry scowl on her face. “You know exactly ‘what’s up’!” she snapped, “How could you let something like this happen?!”

I shrugged sheepishly. “Look, it meant absolutely nothing,” I assured her. “I was out of it because of my outburst, and Twilight was feeling kinda emotional, and it just happened!”

Luna narrowed her eyes. “It is not out of the ordinary for Equestrian males to have more than one spouse, so I’m not incredibly bothered by your kiss with Twilight,” she explained in a low voice, “what’s bothering me is you intentionally put yourself in harm’s way by absorbing magic directly into your body!”

I looked at the ground. “I’m sorry, Luna,” I said softly. “It was reckless, but… I’m tired of people - and ponies - dying because of me.” I sat down on the white, rocky ground. “I’m supposed to keep the citizens of Equestria safe, but doing that means I can’t protect the ones who mean the most to me. When I try to protect my loved ones, everyone else suffers.” I sighed heavily. “I just lost control. We all have a breaking point, and I finally reached mine.”

Luna stepped over and sat next to me. “I know, Allen,” she said softly. “I broke once, long ago, and even with your help, I still haven’t picked up all my pieces. Even if we do make it that far, the fractures of our internal struggles will never fade.” She looked deep into my eyes. “You know that, right?”

I nodded. “I can still feel him,” I said openly. “Even though he left after Drayke defeated me, I can still feel his presence.”

Luna nodded. “And I can feel hers,” she replied. “We will never be rid of our demons, but perhaps that is a good thing.” She was smiling now. “They can be discouraging at times, but they can also serve as a reminder of how much we’ve accomplished; the effort we’ve made to move past our mistakes.”

I nodded as I grinned and wrapped my arms around the midnight-blue alicorn. “I love you so much,” I said happily as Luna nuzzled my neck.

“Hey, Luna?”

“Yes?”

“What was that you said about Equestrian males taking multiple wives?”

“Don’t push your luck, Allen. I’m not sharing you with anyone.”

“Sorry.”