Broken Worlds: A Sea Of Tears

Four Years Ago...

“You know you don’t need to stand watch like this all the time, right?”

Drayke’s voice broke me from my daze. I had been standing on the balcony of Castle Canterlot, watching over the vast, wooded landscape that stretched out beneath us. It had been two weeks since we had returned from the Fissure; thanks to Drayke’s quick thinking, he was able to use the Elements of Harmony to destroy the spirit of an ancient warlord, Sanguis Cruciatus, that had taken control of my body and my powers. It cost us both our lives, but a spell from a forbidden spell book had brought us back from death.

I nodded stiffly. “I know,” I replied flatly, “but I’d feel better if I did.”

Drayke strode over by my side and looked over the balcony with me. “You feel bad about letting him take over, don’t you?” he asked quietly.

I gave my unlikely friend a serious look. “I have enough power inside to to rival Celestia,” I pointed out darkly. “That, combined with Twilight and the others, Discord, and all three princesses… I shouldn’t have let him get all that power.” I stared at my hooves. “I knew Sanguis was starting to gain control of my body… I shouldn’t have just hid in the Fissure; I should have left Equestria, travelled to some other country, or maybe just…” I shuddered.

Drayke sighed heavily. “Finish what brought you here in the first place?” He finished for me softly.

I nodded. “Everything that happened that week was my fault. I take full responsibility for it,” I said dutifully. “Now, I need to make sure I’m ready to defend Equestria from any new threats, before they find a way to overpower me, too.”

Drayke rolled his eyes. “Come on, Allen,” he said nonchalantly, “It wasn’t your fault. You were having your body and mind controlled by a long-dead warlord bent on killing everything in this world. That’s not you!” he cried. “You’re a heroic kid who has given his life to protect his friends, and don’t you ever forget that.” He smiled at me warmly, and I couldn’t help but grin back.

“Since when were you so cheerful?” I asked teasingly, “What happened to the asshole I stabbed through the chest?”

Drayke rolled his eyes. “Let’s be real here,” he said slowly, “We both know I would have won that fight if the Elements of Harmony didn’t show up at the last possible second. You got lucky,” he shot back.

I laughed, then turned my gaze back to the land beneath us. “You’re a good friend, Drayke,” I said after a long pause. “We may have met as enemies, but I think that just made the bond between us even stronger.”

Drayke rolled his eyes. “Don’t get all gay on me with the friendship bullshit,” he said in an annoyed tone. “But, for what it’s worth, you’re a pretty great friend, too,” he added with a slight grin.

~-~-~-~-~

“Allen! You have to wake up, now!”

I snapped my eyes open at the sound of Luna’s frantic voice. I snapped my eyes open and sat up in bed, seeing Luna wearing her royal armor; it was polished silver with black detail around the edges. “What’s going on?” I asked, already knowing what was happening; there was only one reason Luna would be wearing that armor.

Canterlot was under attack.

I stomped a forehoof on the ground as a white rune appeared around me, concealing me behind a wall of light for several moments as a suit of crystal armor formed around my body. My horn was covered in a sharped layer of crystal, allowing it to act as a broadsword. I followed my wife down the twisting hallway and out of the castle, where we saw the chaos ensuing in Canterlot Town. The streets were filled with guards fighting off humans wearing what looked similar to riot gear. They wielded machine guns and clubs, while the guards retaliated with spells and swords. The humans were clearly better-armed, but we were holding a decent resistance.

I knew we wouldn’t be able to hold them off for long, though. “Where is your personal detail?” I asked Luna with a glance over my shoulder.

“They’re holding a group of humans off at the western gate,” she reported quickly. “It may look like there’s a lot in the streets, but it’s nothing compared to how many are still trying to fight their way past the gates,” she added. “This is just what was able to get in before the alarm was sounded.”

I nodded. “You focus on keeping the rest of them out. Where’s Celestia?”

Just then, I heard a defiant battle cry, and turned to see the solar princess holding up a golden force field to protect a family and their foals from the humans’ gunfire. I swept my bladed horn downward, sending out a flurry of bladed crystals that struck the human soldiers down where they stood.

“Tia, are you okay?” I demanded just as a soldier dove at me with a knife, pinning me to the ground. I struggled against him, pushing him back as he tried to drive his blade between the plates of crystal that protected my neck. Just as I felt the very tip of the blade cut my skin, a beam of sunlight struck the soldier, knocking him away and disintegrating him as he flew through the air.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Celestia replied grimly, and then looked to Luna. “Do as Allen says; help your soldiers drive off the humans still outside the gates. Allen, the remaining guards, and I will focus on clearing the streets.”

Luna nodded as she took to the air, and Celestia and I turned to find ourselves face-to-face with a firing squad.

“Allen, have you been practicing your teleportation spells?” Celestia asked worriedly just before the soldiers opened fire.

There was a flash of light, and the two of us were standing behind the attacking soldiers as they shot at the empty space we occupied moments before. I acted quickly as my horn glowed white, and a massive spike of crystal exploded from the ground, completely leveling the firing squad.

“I may not have been very enthusiastic about Earth school, but you know I would never slack off on your lessons, Celestia,” I said as we ran through the streets, blasting any attacking humans who were unfortunate enough to cross our path.

~-~-~-~-~

It was a long and bloody battle, but we eventually heard the humans call for a retreat.

“We did it!” I heard a guard cry out victoriously, and a resounding cheer flooded the city streets. Just then, a blaring horn drowned out the cheering, and I stared in horror as several areas of the street began to crumble. From these holes emerged large, mechanized digging suits, armed with drills and cannons.

“Back on the defensive!” I cried as one stabbed a massive drill into the ground, just grazing my armor. “Keep your distance; unicorns, fire your bolts as fast as you can! Brute force is the only way to take these things down!” As I said this, I ran straight at the mech that had tried to skewer me and drove my horn into its center. The machine froze for a moment, and several crystal spikes exploded out of the back, stained black by the oil and grease inside.

It became quickly obvious, as the mechs focused their attacks on the city itself rather than the soldiers or civilians, that their main goal was to cause as much collateral damage as possible. They seemed to hardly defend themselves when attacked; one guard threw himself on top of one of the mechs in an attempt to slow its assault, but it simply pressed on as the poor soldier struggled to hang on.

“Allen, we need to stop them!” Celestia cried as she fired a beam of solar energy at one of the droids.

I nodded. “Get ready for the Refraction Protocol,” I said grimly, and leaped into the air as my wings carried me up just beneath the clouds. I could see all of Canterlot beneath me, many of its buildings already destroyed by the human assault.

“Let’s hope this works,” I said as my horn became bathed in a white light. As it did, I could begin to feel the growths of natural crystal that lay just beneath the city; I remembered seeing the episode of Friendship is Magic where Queen Chrysalis had disguised herself as Cadence and trapped Twilight within the crystal caves beneath the palace. I could feel every inch of the sparkling rock that waited for my command, and I used my magic to slowly push it to the surface. As I concentrated, several spires of crystal began to rise from the streets, breaking through the concrete and towering over the ponies who watched in awe.

“CELESTIA, NOW!” I screamed, my Royal Canterlot Voice fueled by the strain the spell was putting on me. As I watched from above, I saw a beam of light hit a spire in the center of the city, lancing out in all directions to the other spires. In just a second, the city was covered in a web of golden light that reduced any non-pony beings or constructs to ash.

I let out a relieved sigh as I released my focus, allowing the crystal spires to return into the earth. “That worked better than I thought it would,” I thought aloud, but a wave of nauseousness swept over me. I groaned as my wings locked up, and I began to fall to the streets below, my vision blurring and my thoughts swimming.

I was already unconscious by the time I slammed into the street below.

~-~-~-~-~

“...Why did you let him do something so dangerous?” I heard muffled voices as I slowly returned to consciousness. I was lying in my bed at the castle, and all my friends sat worriedly at my bedside. Luna’s angered voice had stirred my slumber, and I blinked my heavy eyelids.

“We needed to destroy those creatures!” Celestia shot back matter-of-factly. “How could I have known he was suffering from withdrawals?”

Luna snorted in annoyance. “Use your head, Tia; did you really think having all that power inside him wouldn’t have any side effects?”

I groaned as I sat up in bed, and Twilight and the others rushed to my side. “Don’t rush yourself, Allen,” Twilight said worriedly as she eased me back down. “We don’t know what the extent of your injuries are!”

I shook my head slightly, still disoriented. “Injuries…?” I asked, looking at my body. I didn’t look hurt; what was I not seeing? I looked up at Celestia. “You said something about ‘withdrawals’,” I said slowly. “What do you mean?”

Celestia sighed heavily; she had learned in the past that it was not wise to pull the wool over my eyes. “Magic is like an essence,” she began. “It fills magical creatures and gives them their powers. Non-magical creatures can be exposed to magical items or have spells cast on them with no ill effects, but pure magical energy is very volatile and dangerous.

“Sanguis Cruciatus was able to channel magic using the Element of Loyalty while he was alive, and was able to do so freely after his revival as a reanimated corpse. Drayke was able to channel his magic through his black crystal. You were able to survive exposure to the magic that returned you to us when you were partially transformed into a pony, but had you not been transformed, you would have died.”

I shrugged. “What does any of this have to do with me? I’m already an alicorn, so I shouldn’t have to worry about that.” I saw Luna and Celestia giving each other uncertain looks as I said this. “Right?” I asked worriedly.

Luna looked at me sadly. “When Sanguis possessed your body, he added his own magical essence to yours,” she started. “Then, through you, he stole mine, Celestia’s, Cadence’s Discord’s, and Twilight’s and her friend’s powers. As you absorbed all that power, your powers began to grow stronger as well, as you had a much larger amount of magic to draw power from.”

Celestia nodded. “However, when Drayke killed you, all of the stolen magic was released and returned to its original owners, so you’re essence was brought down to what it was before… but your strength did not.”

I nodded slowly. “So you’re saying that I am still just as powerful as when Sanguis was controlling me, but my body just doesn’t have the ability to channel all that power anymore?” I asked.

The two princesses looked at each other, then back to me. “Yes,” Celestia responded. “It will take some time for your powers to recede, but you will eventually be able to use magic like you were before,” she said with forced cheerfulness.

I narrowed my eyes. “How long will that be?” I asked suspiciously.

Celestia sighed. “Well, with the power of Sanguis, myself, my sister, my niece, a god of chaos, and the Elements of Harmony…” she trailed off nervously.

I clenched my teeth angrily. “Celestia. How. Long?” I demanded.

The princess of the sun sighed. “It would take about one thousand years for your magical essence and magical strength to balance out,” she said in a low voice. “Until then, you would have to be incredibly careful with how much magic you use.”

I stared in shock. “A thousand years?! What’s going to happen if I use my magic before then?” I asked, bewildered.

Twilight spoke up. “Side effects of overuse of magic can lead to sudden unconsciousness, like you experienced above Canterlot,” she explained. “It can also lead to all sorts of other conditions, many of which aren’t even confirmed,” she added hastily.

I nodded. “Such as?” I said expectantly.

Twilight kicked her hoof nervously. “Well, there are only two constant side effects; the others are all based on what the magic-user’s powers were,” she explained. “First was insanity, and later was death.” She was able to give me the symptoms rather matter-of-factly, almost like she was giving a lecture, but her voice broke when she said death.

I blinked. “Death?” I asked slowly, and laughed. “Come on, I’ve already died twice. You can just bring me back with the forbidden resurrection spell, like you used on me and Drayke! Right?” I looked around cheerfully, seeing everyone did not look as optimistic as me.

“Allen… that spell only works on somepony once,” Rainbow Dash said gently. “If we were to try and bring you back again, nothing would happen.”

I was starting to get shaky. “Alright, what about when I fought Drayke?” I pointed out. “I was brought back by going through the portal to Earth. Just toss me in one of those, and I’ll come back just fine!”

It was Applejack’s turn to shoot down my plan. “Allen, you weren’t really dead when you went through the portal, just dying,” she explained. “Besides, now that it’s obvious the humans aren’t too fond of us ponies, going to Earth isn’t the smartest idea right now, even if it could save your life.”

I looked down sadly. “So I’m useless,” I said sadly. “Our kingdom is at war, and there’s nothing I can do to help.”

Celestia shook her head. “Perhaps not,” she said hopefully. “There is one thing we could do, something that was never even possible until you arrived in Equestria, Allen.”

I gave her a hopeful look. “What is it?” I asked eagerly.

Celestia frowned. “It may be dangerous, but… I could make you human again, Allen,” she explained. “You would still have your alicorn energies, but you wouldn’t be able to access them, eliminating the risk of overspending yourself. I could also place a protective spell on you that would prevent the stored energy from affecting your human body.”

I nodded quickly. “Yes,” I said immediately, “Do it. If it will keep my powers in check and still allow me to protect Equestria, then it’s worth the risk.”

Celestia turned to Luna with a questioning look; she obviously thought my wife would have some argument about this.

Luna sighed. “We all know there’s no point in me arguing with him,” she pointed out. “Even if I say I don’t want you to do this, he’ll find a way to convince me it’s for the best.” She smiled at me slightly. “If you think this is what has to be done, then so be it. Besides,” she added with a flirty wink, “I always thought you looked cute as a human.”

I grinned. “Oh, am I not cute enough for you as a pony?” I asked teasingly, and turned back to Celestia. “I’m ready when you are, Tia,” I said confidently.

The white alicorn nodded. “Okay. Everypony else, stand back and be still; I must have complete concentration for this to work.” As she spoke, the others all retreated to the edge of the room, and Celestia held her horn high in the air as it took on a golden glow.

“Allen,” Celestia murmured, “I must confess… I’m not entirely sure how well this will turn out. I’ve never cast this kind of spell before.”

I nodded understandingly. “When has anything we’ve ever done not carried some great risk?” I asked rhetorically. “I trust you, Celestia. You can do this.”

She nodded and closed her eyes as the golden light brightened, and my body took on a similar aura. I felt a hazy feeling throughout my body, almost like when your foot falls asleep and you get that pins and needles feeling, and suddenly the world dropped away into a sea of endless darkness.