We stand together

(Writer's note: DO NOT translate the elder prophecy unless you want the biggest spoiler in the history of ponykind)

They emerged from the portal just outside the Everfree forest. Dasher was waiting for them.

‘We’ve got to get a mission report back to the Princess A.S.A.P’

‘You go ahead Dasher, you’re the fastest flyer’ replied Bowdler, sounding exhausted.

He looked smug for a second then flew off towards Canterlot, getting tackle hugged by what appeared to be a small rainbow just before he became to small to see.

Bluewing chuckled.

‘That’ll be Rainbowdash’ he sighed, ‘Which reminds me, Bowdler, would you mind coming to see Pinkie Pie with me?’

‘I wouldn’t, but it might annoy Dasher a bit.’

‘I’m sure he’ll understand’

‘I don’t see why not then, let’s go!’

They began to walk down towards Ponyville.

~

‘Say, Bluewing?’ asked Bowdler, just as the two ponies got into Ponyville, ‘What exactly were you doing back there, in the cave?’

He choked back some tears and replied, ‘My mom, dad and brother were all murdered by that bitch of an alicorn. They live in the afterlife now... I... I promised I’d visit them, last time I saw them...’ a single tear ran down his cheek, ‘I just wish they were still here...’ He looked down at the ground.

‘Hey, don’t worry bro. You’ll be OK...’ said Bowdler, nudging his shoulder with his hoof and regretting bringing up the subject in the first place.

‘I s’pose I will... But they won’t... They’ll always be dead’

‘Not if you don’t let them die. They will always live in your heart.’

‘Luna, Bowdler, I didn’t know you were into that sort of mushy philosophy’

‘It helps’ he replied, shrugging. They both laughed as they arrived at sugar cube corner. Mrs Cake was standing at the counter.

‘How can I help you colts?’ she asked, politely.

‘Jubilee, it’s Bluewing. Do I have to tell you this every time I come here?’ he replied, sounding a little irked.

‘Oh yes, I do recognise your face now. Pinkie Pie is in her room.’ She waved a hoof over to the stairwell. ‘You three take care now won’t you?’

‘We’ll try’ they said as they walked up the stairs.

~

There were several loud crashes and generally random noises emanating from Pinkie Pie’s room, but Bluewing just ignored them and knocked on the door. It immediately swung open and Pinkie burst out, surrounded by streamers.

‘Hey! Bluey! Long time no see!’ she squealed with delight and threw her arms around him.

‘Hello Pinkie!’ he chuckled, ‘How’re you?’

‘I’m just fi-’ she began, but stopped and narrowed her eyes, ‘Bluey! You’ve been crying!’ she cried, burying her face into his neck, ‘What’s wrong? Oh please tell me nothing’s wrong!’

‘Oh, come here Pinkie!’ he said, smiling widely and hugging her tightly.

‘Oh, I’m so glad you’re alright Bluey. And Hey! You’ve brought my favourite Alicorn, Bowdler!’ she chirped, bouncing over to hug him too.

‘Hi Pinkie-!’ was all he managed to get out before she started squeezing the life out of him.

She giggled.

‘Oh, it’s so great to have you two here! I should throw a party! Yes! A party! To celebrate... What have you guys been doing over the past week?’

‘The usual,’ replied Bluewing causally, ‘Fighting evil’

‘An evil fighting party! Yay! Wait, you’ve been fighting evil without me? Aw... I really enjoyed it last time!’

‘Pinkie you went completely mad’

‘I know right!? So did you that one time and you didn’t seem to mind!’

‘Pinkie, we went to the afterlife.’

She gasped.

‘The afterlife?! I thought I’d told you never to go to that place again just in case you see that meanie Soul Feeder!’

‘Well, I did and we did. She won’t bother us any time soon’

‘You fought the meanie!?’ she gasped again, ‘Why didn’t you bring me!? You know I’d have loved it!’

‘Because, like you said, it’s dangerous. Bowdler nearly died!’

‘Bowdler nearly died!?’ she squealed, grabbing him all of a sudden and squeezing him until he could hardly breath.

‘Pinkie... Let... Go... Or you’ll... end up... killing me...’

She let go and giggled. ‘But seriously you guys! Take me with you next time! Please?’ She stared into Bluewing’s eyes, the size of hers seeming to grow tenfold.

‘I’ll try, Pinkie. But I can’t make any promises’

‘Oh thank you!’ she grabbed him again and squeezed him tightly. ‘But yeah! About that party!’

‘Sorry Pinkie, but we’ve got other things we need to do at the moment.’

‘Aw... Okay then...’ she said, looking devastated.

‘We just thought we’d pass by and say hello, that’s all’ She leant forwards and planted a kiss on Bluewing’s forehead. ‘I love you Bluey. Never forget that, ok?’

He went bright red.

‘O-Okay...’

‘Okay then! Bye! Thanks for coming over!’

‘ Any time Pinkie!’

The two ponies walked back down the stairs.

‘Heh, you learn something new every day’ chuckled Bowdler.

‘What?’

‘Nothing’

~

When Bowdler and Bluewing reached the castle it had become dark. They assumed it was ok because nopony was panicking, even though there were no clocks around. Even so, it made them feel a little nervous.

When they arrived at the throne room, it appeared to be a lot busier than usual. There were pony generals all over the place arguing for a reason that could not be distinguished through the babble. Dasher was nowhere to be seen. Princess Celestia saw them enter and beckoned them over to her throne, where she sat with Luna and a brown pony wearing a beret.

‘Bowdler, Bluewing! Lovely to see you,’ she called cheerfully, seeming oblivious to the militaristic planning all around her, ‘Dasher’s already been here, I’ve sent him off to your next assignment. Good job fighting Soul Feeder, Bowdler, now you’re the third pony to have killed her.’

‘Wait, she’d died before I killed her?’ interrupted Bluewing, sounding disappointed.

‘Why did you think she was in the Afterlife you silly filly? She was originally the ruler of Equestria, called it ‘the second Afterlife’, before myself and Luna’s parents overthrew her...’ she stopped suddenly, remembering her parents.

The brown pony coughed to attract attention to himself.

‘Greetings lads!’ he shouted, in a way which seemed like a slightly more casual Dasher, ‘I’m Sergeant Jameson, newest officer of the Equestrian Military. Which is why you don’t know me, captain’ he continued, nodding to Bluewing, ‘Her royal highness the Princess has brought me up here to have the honour of sitting with her and her sister to discuss tactics for the fight in Appaloosa-’

‘THERE’S A FIGHT IN APPALOOSA!?’ yelled Bowdler, knowing who would be participating in it.

‘Yes... How long have you been away?’

‘Not more than half a day!’

‘The fight there started a week ago, it’s been stalemate for all this time. Most of the dragons are refusing to leave Ponyville to help, they say it has some sort of value in the ‘elder prophecy’. It’s all a load of bull I tell you! Nothing more than an old Dragon’s tale!’

‘Wait... What?’

‘Time passes a lot faster in the Afterlife, Bowdler’ said Princess Celestia, ‘That’s why so much has happened since you’ve been gone.’

‘And what’s this Prophecy?’ he asked, trying his hardest not to sound completely clueless.

A deep voice rang around the room, ‘persvek wer darkest tairais mobi rinov geou qe, vi seian geou lleisgar, wux shio nishka ocuir. ihk jaci geou ti qe ir di wux, shar vi mablik mrith vi kornari batobot ui vis. jacida boja geou qe unknown ekess wer treskri, shar vucot batobot jacida ominak ui ir batobot geou agantal qe nymuera. wer papref geou qe naktada untouched ini malsvir sjek wux nakta jacion takh korja mrith wer town batobot jaci naktaic persvek. wer mablik kitril di malsvir geou shartleg ekess qe wer jennuilti irlym di wer iri svaust vehafora jacida undying adon. wer darastrixi geou lleisgar vur throden geou loreat, shar agantal clax kornari persvek wer ir svaust gethrisjic ini wer ominak di vaex dler.’

‘Hello Rok’thalon!’ said Luna, waving at the golden pony stood in the doorway.

‘A very interesting prophecy indeed.’ muttered Celestia, nodding, ‘But even I cannot understand such advanced Draconic. Would you mind translating?’

‘The elder prophecy must never be translated into a mortal tongue!’ he shouted defiantly, ‘It would be an insult to the Dragonkin of old!’

‘Alright then, settle down. I think we got the jist of it, didn’t we?’ she replied, turning to look at Bowdler and Bluewing, who nodded uncertainly.

‘But yes... Your new mission is to escort Rok’Thalon to Appaloosa to help with the fighting. Dasher will be waiting for you.’

‘hefoc si nafl rigluin vin escort, wanotreyxkaiv...’

‘Of course you do. Run along you three! Wouldn’t want to lose a town now, would we?’

The three ‘ponies’ nodded and left the room.

~

Rok’thalon had transformed back into as soon as he had enough room. ‘Do you wish for me to communicate with you in the mortal language? Or may I speak in my own tongue?’

‘If you want us to understand you, you’d be better off speaking Equestrian. But feel free to speak Draconic if you want.’ replied Bluewing, who was getting a little tired of not being able to understand his dragon companions, ‘but honestly, I don’t recommend travelling as a dragon. You’ll be a little...’ he searched for a way to put his size lightly, ‘Noticeable?’

‘si shilta fend ihk sio, mablik. riluoh, si ocuir dout logic.’ he replied and slowly transformed back into a pony, seeming somehow reluctant to lose his magnificent horns. ‘tikil desta?’

‘Okay then, no idea what you’ve just said, but let’s go!’

The three of them took off and began to fly towards the desert. The Equestrian night is a hard time to fly, especially with the amount of cloud cover that had gathered when most of the pegasi were drafted into the military, so their travel was going to be extremely dangerous.

‘Bowdler!’ shouted Bluewing, ‘Make sure to keep an eye out for Desert Mortrexi! They’re a bit aggressive at this time of night!’

As if to punctuate this comment, a high pitched screeched caused the sand below them to ripple as they flew overhead.

‘kwi petranas. dronilnr astahi shafaer.’ snorted Rok’thalon, spitting a few embers towards the ground. An enormous, worm-like creature with a mouth brimming with teeth burst from the ground and let out a bone chilling screech.

‘batobot ui throdenilt hefoc coi!’ he yelled as he dived towards the thing, trying to engage it in hoof to claw combat.

‘Rok’thalon! What’re you doing!?’

‘ultrinninanir!’ He plowed into the side of the beast and ripped right through it, causing it to spurt orange body fluids into the air. It flailed around and snapped at him, but it was too slow to catch the king of the dragons.

‘kruth, si oontanx zaja di nomeno vargach’ He opened his mouth and breathed bright green fire onto the head of the beast, which screamed in agony and fell to the floor, the top half of it’s skeleton showing and blackened.

‘Rok’thalon! There was no need for that!’ Bluewing scolded as the Dragon king flew up beside them again.

‘There is always a need to kill Mortrexi scum, they think they’re so great with their big worm faces. But they’re not, they just dig around in the desert giving no contribution to any form of society-’ Rok’thalon began to rant in better Equestrian than he’d ever been able to manage before. However, the other two ponies got bored before he’d even started and began to fly towards Appaloosa again.

~

They heard the sounds of fighting from Appaloosa before it even came into sight. The screams of ponies, aliens and the occasional Dragon echoed through the eerie silence of the night.

‘yth tepohada desta qe temep,’ said Rok’thalon, ‘yth tir ti tuor ekess itrewic mobi vur tepoha ehis ekess svent, tir yth?’

‘Rok’thalon, I have no idea what you’re talking about!’ replied Bowdler, who had finally lost his temper with the babbling dragon.

‘GO FASTER. NEED TO KILL THINGS!’ he shouted at him in a brutish manner. They sped over the sand dunes until the valley where the town was situated came into view.

It was chaos. Towering aliens, as big as some of the dragons, were locked in intensive combat with the dragons themselves whilst ponies wrestled and hacked at the smaller creatures.

The tank aliens were tearing through the pony lines, annihilating anything which got in their way. Buffalo smashed into these tanks and tried to stop them, failing the majority of the time.

The ground was littered with corpses.

They did their best to ignore the fighting and dived down to Appaloosa town hall, where they could clearly see Sheriff Silver Star, his assistant Braeburn and Amelinda the Bronze dragon.

‘Rok’thalon, Bluewing, Bowdler!’ she almost cheered, ‘you could not have arrived at a better time!’

‘renthisj Vs'shtak, geou wux myvish?’

‘No Rok, those times have passed. I must speak as the residents of the land where I live speak’

‘suit doutan’

The two “ponies” embraced each other.

‘Bowdler, Bluewing,’ said Silver Star, ‘I need the two of you to help me with something’

‘Yes? What is it?’

‘Well... Just come in here’ he gestured for them to leave Amelinda, Rok’thalon and Braeburn to walk into the town hall. Inside were a group of ponies, looking off colour and shaking madly. Dasher was sat beside them.

‘Bluewing! Bowdler! Am I glad to see you!’ he said, sounding worried, ‘I need some help with these guys.’

‘Dasher found these ponies on the furthest south point of the gorge,’ said the Sheriff, ‘They were surrounded by aliens and had laid down their weapons, prepared to die. He saved them and now they’re nervous wrecks.’

‘It stared... Right into my soul...’ spluttered a yellow one with strange looking armour on his wings, which seemed to flash in and out of existence. He noticed that Bowdler had seen this and twitched his eye. ‘They’re not really there, it’s the drink bro. It gives you wings.’

He grinned maniacally and began to hit one of his legs, which had begun to spasm.

‘What have these guys been through?’ he asked.

Dasher shrugged, ‘I’d hate to know.’