Broken Worlds: A Sea Of Tears

I ran through the forest like a bat out of hell, leaping over fallen logs and pushing stray branches out of my path. I could hardly believe it; I was out! I knew that BlackTech wouldn’t be able to hold me for long, but I hadn’t expected to break out as quickly as I had. There was little time for celebration, though; more soldiers would be showing up soon to clean up the mess, and I had to be as far away from the labor factory as possible when they arrived.

“Hey! Wait up!” a familiar voice broke my brief moment of joy, and I looked over my shoulder to see Gentle Blade chasing after me, her four-legged gallop allowing her to quickly catch up, seemingly unbothered by the sword she carried in a holster at her side. “Where are you headed?” she asked cheerfully as we sprinted through the brush.

I glanced over at her through my tinted lenses. “You know exactly where I’m going,” I huffed between breaths, “Where are you going?”

She shrugged as she kept up her unfaltering pace. “Following you, I guess,” she said nonchalantly. “What, you thought I was going to just up and leave you on your own just like that?”

I slowed my pace and came to a stop next to an old oak. “I told you, I prefer to travel alone,” I said angrily. “Besides, what about Joseph and Tess? I’m sure they’d be happy to have you with them.”

Gentle Blade kicked her forehoof shyly. “I know they would, but…” she trailed off. “I just want to stay with you.”

This made me flinch. After all, I was a cold, distant asshole; who in the world would be so eager to stay by my side?

No, I thought suddenly as I actually started to consider letting her stay, she’s just going to get hurt. I pulled one of my machetes from my belt and pointed it in the opposite direction I had been running. “You need to go with the others,” I insisted. “You’ll be way safer with them  than you will with me. Stick to the trees, and keep your distance from the factory.”

The tan earth pony rolled her eyes and pulled her sword from its sheath with her teeth. “You really think a blade is going to scare me?” she challenged, striking my machete and causing me to jump back in surprise.

I lowered my head and stared up at her, holding the massive knife at my side loose and ready. “You don’t want to do this,” I said in a deathly flat voice. “I am a danger to everyone around me, and others just hold me back.”

Gentle Blade took a ready stance as she stared me down. “My cutie mark means more than just being good at swordfighting, you know,” she said boldly. “No matter how much you deny it, you do have emotions, Wayne, and you do want to have friends. I can tell,” she charged at me, and our weapons let out a metallic clang as they met between us. “You’ve surrounded yourself in a shell of solitude and coldness, convincing yourself that you’re a danger and that  you can survive by yourself!” she swung at my legs, and I jumped over her strike. “Well, you’re wrong; you can have friends, and you will never be able to survive in this world without friends by your side!”

I felt my eye twitch as a wave of anger washed over me. “LIAR!” I roared, and without thinking, I brought my machete down with all my strength.

There was no metallic ringing when my blade met its target.

~-~-~-~-~

“Wayne…?”

Gentle Blade stared at me with tearful, pain-filled eyes as blood poured from a deep gash in her left foreleg. I glanced down and saw that my machete was dripping with crimson liquid; the same blood that stained the earth pony’s tan pelt. I looked up as she began to waver, and collapsed on the ground.

“Oh, God,” I dropped to my knees at her side and quickly did a diagnostic check. I didn’t know much about Equestrian anatomy, but I was able to feel a pulse in her neck. I tore off my jacket and cut a wide strip of fabric from the back and carefully wrapped it around Gentle Blade’s wound, taking care not to press it against the cut. My heart pounded in my chest as I placed both of my arms underneath her and lifted her up. I was surprised to find that she weighed about as much as an average-sized human; no more than 180 pounds, but even that might have been generous.

“I told you to stay behind,” I scolded the unconscious pony as I hefted her through the forest. I wasn’t yelling at her, though; my voice was full of anxiety and regret. “I told you I was dangerous. Why didn’t you listen?”

I continued to talk to her for several moments, as if trying to reassure myself that she was still alive, when I heard rustling in the branches nearby. I whirled around to see a group of soldiers in black armor stalking towards me, rifles held at the ready; BlackTech scouts.

I quickly lowered G.B. to the ground and drew a pair of pistols from my belt, stepping between her and the approaching troops.

“Give us the horse, kid, and we’ll let you go free without any trouble,” one of them said in a calming tone. “We don’t like to shoot humans, but we’ll do what we have to in order to ensure their kind is dealt with properly.”

I raised the pistols and planted my feet firmly in the ground. “I am not leaving her,” I growled, my fingers twitching as I took careful aim.

The lead soldier glanced back at his companions, who all shrugged. “If you say so,” he sighed. “Don’t expect us to haul your bodies back to civilization, though; we’re leaving you for the timberwolves.” He raised his rifle as if to fire on me, but he suddenly dropped his gun and clutched his throat. He fell to the ground, choking and spasming, and his allies rushed to see what was wrong. I slowly lowered my guns as I saw blood dripping from between his fingers, and realized that someone - or something - had slashed the man’s throat.

“What in the-” one of them started to speak, but his confusion was interrupted when a shard of glass buried itself in his spine, causing him to scream in agony and drop to the ground as well. The remaining soldiers all stood in a circular formation, ready to fire at the unseen threat. “Forget the kid and the horse!” one of them cried, “Crystal Midnight is here!”

I hardly believed what happened next. This… thing, a human-shaped mass of what looked like frosted glass,emerged from the very air, as if it had stepped out from a higher dimension, and walked right through the squad, waving a pair of crystal swords in a flurry as he decimated them all in mere moments. He turned to me, his body and blades stained scarlet by the blood of his fallen enemies, and spoke in a voice filled with raw hate.

“Die, human.”

He began to chase me, waving his swords around just as he had when he appeared, and I quickly fled. Although getting out of this alive was my primary goal at this point, I couldn’t help but focus on getting this thing as far away from G.B. as possible; hopefully it would lose her location, or forget about her altogether.

I turned and fired a round at the creature, my bullet grazing the jagged spikes on its shoulder. I heard it let out a cry of pain, and I realized triumphantly that I was actually able to hurt this thing.

“Alright, you bastard,” I growled as I took aim for the creature’s head, “Let’s see how well you handle a headache!”

Just as my sights lined up with their target, I tripped over a root that interrupted my shot, and the bullet buried itself in a nearby tree. I fell forward, rolling down a rocky hill and into a rushing river. The ice-cold water soaked my clothing as I thrashed to stay above the surface, the rapids throwing me against boulders and forcing me under. I was never a very strong swimmer, but I don’t think even a professional could have been able to keep their head above water in this mess.

In a stroke of luck, I felt my fingers grasp a thick, sturdy piece of timber, buoyant enough to be used to keep from drowning, and I climbed on top of it and held on for dear life.

~-~-~-~-~

Crystal Midnight did, indeed leave Gentle Blade alone after he took pursuit of Wayne Douglas; after all, Twilight Sparkle had told him that ponies did not mean him any harm.

As she lay there, unconscious, an Equestrian figure approached her; slender, with both a pair of wings and a horn, and dressed in a suit of black armor. The visor folded away, and Princess Cadance’s violet eyes stared at Gentle Blade’s still form with relief.

“At least some of us got away,” she said grimly as she levitated the slumbering earth pony onto her back. “Let’s get you somewhere safe,” she murmured, and took off into the night sky, making sure to keep her body steady so her passenger would have a comfortable flight.