We stand together

Bowdler felt an immense feeling of joy. They had done it. They had successfully repelled the wave of alien attackers.

However, their losses were great. Many ponies had fallen on the field of battle. Guards crouched beside their dead comrades and wept openly.

A thought suddenly came into Bowdler’s head, ‘wasn’t Pinkie pie here a second ago?’. He started searching among the survivors but he couldn’t pick out her bright pink mane. He turned to the battlefield again, where Rok’thalon and the other dragons were mourning Arth’alaki. But then he saw it. The distinctive mane of Pinkie pie. He cantered down the field, jumping over alien corpses, trying to get to her.

‘Pinkie pie!’ he yelled as he reached her.

‘Bowdler...’ she spluttered, ‘you left me, again...’. Their eyes both filled with tears.

‘Pinkie pie no!’ he cried.

‘I can’t carry on if you’re just going to abandon me, but do this last thing for me Bowdler, at my funeral, it will not be sad. There will be a party? Ok?’

‘Pinkie...’ he whimpered.

‘Bye then’ she closed her eyes.

‘No.’ he said sternly, ‘No more will die today, especially not you’.

He pointed his stump at her and willed with all of his might for her not to die, not just yet. A red haze began to grow around him and Pinkie, glowing and hilighting their features. He could feel his eyes and horn stump glowing with arcane power, then he heard an explosion.

‘Bowdler?’ he heard Pinkie pie say quietly. Then everything went white.

~

Bowdler awoke for the second time in his life on a bed surrounded by white curtains. He correctly assumed he was back in the Canterlot hospital wing. Nurse Redheart poked her head through the curtains and saw that he was awake.

‘Oh!’ she said quickly, ‘I’m dreaming’ and retreated suddenly away.

He thought that wasn’t a very good sign. Over by his side was a heart monitor, and this is what made him jump. The reading was on 0bpm. A straight line. He felt his chest. Nothing. Technically, he was dead.

‘So this is the afterlife huh?’ he thought aloud, ‘Neat’

‘No Bowdler, this is not the afterlife’ said a voice that he recognised and Princess Celestia walked in through the curtains, ‘however, I’m not sure how you’re not on your way there now’

She looked over to the heart monitor and watched the unmoving green line for a second. ‘Before you ask, Pinkie pie is fine.’ she said as he opened his mouth to ask that exact question, ‘She spent most of today here mourning over your “dead” body. The question is, how are you alive?’

‘I have no idea’ he replied, shrugging.

‘This is certainly unnatural, even for an alicorn, we are not undying’

‘Really? I thought that would be it’

‘Hmn, it appears you, however, are undying. Internal damage as bad as yours would kill even me or Luna’

‘I’ve got internal damage?’

‘Yes, extremely bad’

‘But the aliens didn’t as much touch me!’

‘This is indeed strange...’ Celestia began pacing up and down by the side of his bed, ‘Oh! Bowdler!’ she said suddenly, ‘I have good news, bad news and ugly news’

‘Oh?’

‘The good news is we’ve found where they’re holding Twilight,’ Bowdler immediately sat bolt upright, ‘The bad news is that the hive fleet has not been totally destroyed, in fact not even crippled’ she paused. ‘The ugly news is that Dark Specter and the Cult of Nightmare have all disappeared, along with Bek’kiliip.’

His eyes widened, ‘Oh shi-’

‘Swearing in front of a Princess is inappropriate, you fucktard’ she said, grinning.

‘What’s our priorities Princess?’ he asked, ignoring the fact that the Princess was once again oblivious to the danger at hand. ‘I’ve consulted my chief strategist and she’s called a meeting on the matter, you and the leaders of the Equestrian army have been invited, but I’m not sure if you will be able to make it.’

‘Relax Princess,’ he said smugly, ‘it’s not even a flesh wound’.

~

Bowdler and Princess Celestia made their way up to the very top of Canterlot castle, where the strategist had called the meeting.

‘Who is this strategist anyway, Princess?’ he asked.

‘Miss Hooves is her name, she’s been our strategist for quite a while now, seeing as she does such a good job at keeping her intellect hidden.’ she replied.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ but then the door opened into the top room and he saw ‘Miss Hooves’.

It was the grey pony who had smashed his light and window. She sat at the head of a long table and stared at him, with one eye, the other was apparently looking at the wall.

‘Ah, hello Princess. And hello Bowdler, it’s been a while since we last met.’ she said with a smile.

‘Good morning Derpy’ said the Princess as she took a seat at the other end of the table, ‘What have you got planned for us today?’

‘Well, since everypony is here, I’ll tell you. What we’re going to do is send out the dragons to scour Equestria and also send a small task force of ponies into the place they are holding Twilight.’

‘Where would that be?’ asked Captain Bluewing.

‘It would be the Old Palace, in Everfree. Except it’s not quite how it used to be. The aliens have... redecorated’. There was an awkward silence. ‘Anyway, the task force of ponies will consist of Bowdler, Dasher, Bluewing and any other ponies they wish to bring along, as long as they are willing’.

Dasher and Bluewing both stood up and saluted, then made for the door. Bowdler followed closely after.

‘Good luck you three’ said Luna, ‘you’ll need it’.

~

Bowdler didn’t know what to do. Surely Dasher and Bluewing would arrive with loads of companions, but he couldn’t think of one pony who would want to come with him.

Dallas was busy defending Appaloosa, Big Mac was working the farm to provide the supplies for the guard and The Doctor... The Doctor... Would The Doctor want to come with him?

Hadn't he been really worried about what might happen to him in the future? He decided that he would ask him.

But wait... Where did he live? He actually had no idea. And who else would know? He’d leave it, it wasn’t worth the trouble.

~

Bowdler, Dasher and Bluewing met up at the edge of Ponyville, they were unaccompanied.

‘I thought you’d have brought some friends’ said Bowdler.

‘Who needs friends when you’ve got allies like you guys, we’ll easily solo this’ replied Bluewing, sounding completely confident. They took off into the forest, which was unnaturally safe because the residents of Everfree had joined with the Equestrians for the war.

They caught glimpses of the aliens between the trees but ignored them to speed up the task ahead.

‘The Princess has got hold of some experimental stealth technology for us’ said Dasher, handing them what appeared to be necklaces, ‘put these on and will yourself to be invisible’. They did and they became translucent.

‘Get ready to move out’ said Bluewing under his voice, instinctively going into stealth mode. They crouched close to the ground and crept up to the site of the old palace.

‘Woah’ Bowdler breathed as it came into view. The stone ruins were covered in a chitinous structure, rising high up into the sky. How nopony had seen this, he would never understand.

Dasher raised his hoof, then made a gesture over his mouth for Bowdler to be quiet. They slowly walked up to the sides of the building and started to move around it, pressing themselves up against the wall, looking for an entrance. There wasn’t one.

‘I remember where the original entrance was’ whispered Dasher, ‘Stand back’

Bowdler and Bluewing melted back into the forest and left Dasher to do his work. He stood and inspected the structure and drew his shortsword. He smashed it against the wall as hard as he could, but to no avail. There was barely a crack in the surface. Bluewing held up his battleaxe and waved it around for a bit. Dasher saw, ran over and grabbed it. He held it aloft and charged at the wall. The axe swung around so fast that it left a silver trail in the air. It hit the wall and shattered. Bluewing let out a wail of agony.

‘That was my first ever axe!’ he cried disdainfully. The wall however, was no worse for the wear. Dasher threw Bluewing his shortsword to use instead of the lost axe. He gathered up the pieces of the axe and put them in his bag though, just in case they could be reforged.

‘Bowdler,’ Dasher muttered, ‘Use your magic sword things’. He concentrated and summoned his swords. They floated beside him, glowing faintly, then flew up towards the wall. They left two perfect slices down the front of it. He hacked at it again until it fell apart, revealing the old entrance to the palace. Inside, it was abandoned. There were no signs of life anywhere. They stepped inside and began to explore. Most of the corridors and halls of the palace seemed to be completely untouched, even though the outside was encrusted with alien walls.

‘This is odd...’ said Bluewing quietly, ‘It’s a little too easy...’ There was complete silence. Then suddenly, they heard something. An all too familiar squeal came from deep within the bowels of the ruins and Bowdler’s heart raced. Twilight. He let out a roar of vigour and charged into the darkness towards where he had heard the voice.

‘Bowdler no!’ yelled Dasher after him, ‘Stick together! It could be a trap!’ but he just ignored him. He had heard the voice of his one true love and she had sounded to be in pain. He had to find her.

~

Twilight sat alone in her cell. She was barely conscious. How long had she been here? She didn’t know. All she knew is that she’d been taken by the alien creatures.

They fed her on some sort of green goop that she’d downright refused until she was literally starving to death. She looked at the small chink in the wall which she used as a window.

Would Bowdler ever come for her? A tear rolled down her cheek. She knew she could never give up hope, because if she gave up hope... what would living be worth? She knew the answer to that. Even if all hope was lost, she’d never let herself go. For one reason. One pony. For Bowdler.

~

Bowdler could hear things stirring in the hall around him. It appeared that his battle cry was a little too loud. He ignored them. Nothing would stop him from getting to Twilight now. Not even an entire army of those tank aliens. He heard Twilight’s sobbing again, growing ever louder, echoing off of the walls. A pang of sadness went through him. Was she hurt?

The thought of that replaced his sadness with rage. He could feel magic coursing through him. The aliens were starting to erupt from the walls, only to immediately be struck down with arcane lightning. Electricity and fire washed over his body. It felt good. The creatures that tried to get near him, the ones who had hurt Twilight, were burnt to ash.

The corridor in front of him began to light up with the flames that were pouring off of his body. He could see a door, one that was locked and barred. He flung his swords at it and it buckled. It collapsed in on itself and he heard Twilight gasp from inside.

‘I’ve done it’ he thought, tears welling in his eyes, ‘I’ve saved her.’

~

Twilight heard the aliens who were outside her cell gibbering unintelligibly to each other. They had obviously adopted a broken form of Equestrian. All she could make out was. ‘News’ ‘Warrior’ ‘Forward base’ and ‘Fooled’. Her pupils dilated. Bowdler was coming for her?

~

‘Twilight!’ he exclaimed as he ran into the dark room and saw the purple pony sat on the ground, facing away from him, ‘I’m here! It’s going to be alright.’ He threw his arms around her neck.

‘Get off of me’ she said sternly.

‘What?’ he replied in surprise, obeying her, ‘Why?’

‘You’re a bastard, you know that?’ she muttered, her face still staring at the ground, ‘You abandoned me to the aliens! I thought I was wrong about you trying to kill us, but NO! Obviously you let them take me! You’re still in league with them!’

‘Twilight?’ he whispered, tears in his eyes. Was this really the pony who he knew and loved? How could it be? ‘Twilight look at me’ he said softly, ‘let me see you.’

‘No!’ she cried, ‘You don’t deserve me! You don’t deserve anypony!’ She backed off into the corner, still facing away from him.

‘Twilight, please.’ he begged, ‘I’ll leave you alone, I’ll do anything. Just let me see your face one more time.’ She snapped him a quick look, but her eyes seemed to be obscured.

‘Go away now.’ she yelled at him, ‘Leave me be!’. This was the moment Dasher and Bluewing decided to run in.

‘Twilight!’ said Dasher, sounding unendingly relived, ‘Thank Celestia you’re all right!’ She snorted.

‘Thank her alright, don’t thank that sorry excuse of a pony’ she gestured over to Bowdler, who broke down into tears.

‘Twilight I’m so sorry!’ he cried.

‘Fuck off!’ she yelled at him.

‘Twilight, turn around.’ said Bluewing suspiciously.

‘Why should I?’ she retorted.

‘Let me see your eyes Twilight.’ he said, reassuringly. She flicked him a quick look and he jumped back.

‘Dasher! Grab her!’. He obeyed quickly.

‘What the fuck are you doing?’ Bowdler and Twilight both yelled simultaneously.

‘Let’s get a closer look at those eyes shall we?’ Bluewing asked as he walked up to her. She’d clamped them shut.

‘Never!’ she shouted, but this was not the voice of Twilight any more.

‘Twilight Sparkle!’ he shouted, ‘I, Captain Bluewing of the Equestrian army, order you to open your eyes!’. She smirked.

‘Fine.’ she opened her eyes. They were not the beautiful, purple eyes of Twilight Sparkle. They were a deep blue and the pupil was especially strange. They were slits, like those of a cat. Bowdler jumped back.

‘Twilight!? What have they done to you!?’ he practically screamed.

‘Oh quiet you dimwitted mortal’ she snapped, ‘Quit calling me that anyway! Address me as who I really am.’

‘Who?’

‘Bowdler...’ Bluewing began, ‘It’s Nightmare Moon.’

‘Took you a while, didn’t it?’ she chuckled, ‘Now, release me mortal, or I shall have to smite you’

‘Oh but you can’t do that, can you Nightmare?’ Bluewing said, smugly, ‘You’re not at full power yet, you’re still recovering from the attack by the elements aren’t you?’

‘I could still make a mess of all three of you foals!’

‘Not if I could help it’ Bowdler said sternly. The others looked at him. He was billowing with arcane magic once more, his mane had set alight and lightning was pouring out of his eyes. He flicked his flaming mane to the side, revealing his horn.

‘Impossible!’ she yelled, ‘There are no other Alicorns!’

‘You’re mistaken, bitch’ he said firmly and grinned, ‘Let her go Dasher, but only if she wants to duel me.’

‘Bowdler, are you insane? Alicorn or not, this is Nightmare Moon we’re talking about!’

‘I accept your terms!’ she butted in, ‘I win, you let me go, you win, you take me in. Deal?’ Bowdler nodded and looked at Dasher.

‘Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.’ He released her and jumped back, along with Bluewing. Nightmare Moon, still looking like Twilight turned to stare at Bowdler.

‘You’ve just made a huge mistake, you foal’.