We stand together

Over the next few days, he spent most of his time in bed. Nurse Redheart sometimes came and checked up on him, to see if he was OK. He’d asked about the stump on his head once or twice but the nurse had just shied away or changed the subject, leaving him confused about the whole thing. Princess Celestia had not yet returned but Nurse Redheart said that when she did, she would be bringing news of his new life. He still wondered why this was a new life and if he even had an old one, but felt grateful that he was being offered one. One day he was sitting quietly in his bed, contemplating himself, when a purple pony burst in.

‘What do you think you’re doing!?’ she yelled, ‘You scared the hay out of me and my friends! You hurt us! You could have killed us!’

‘What!?’ He replied with a start, he was never told that he’d nearly killed anypony.

‘Don’t act like you had nothing to do with it!’ she carried on shouting, her hair was now starting to set ablaze, ‘You know what you did!’

‘I, I,’ he started.

‘SHUT UP!’ She screamed, there were tears in her eyes now, ‘Just SHUT UP! You tried to kill us!’

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about!’ he cried, hurt by the pony’s allegations.

‘TWILIGHT SPARKLE!’ shouted a familiar voice from outside the curtain, ‘Just what do you think you’re doing?’ Princess Celestia walked through the curtain and the purple pony broke down in a flood of tears.

‘Princess!’ she wailed, ‘Why do you keep him here? Why do you help the pony who tried to kill me and my friends?’

‘Because this pony has at no point in his life tried to kill anypony’ she stated sternly, ‘he has no memory of anything before he arrived here’

‘So he probably did try to kill us!’ the purple pony wailed, ‘He either doesn’t remember it or is just lying.’

‘Even if he did try to kill you, that wasn’t this pony,’ the Princess argued, ‘This pony is completely different to what he may have been before the crash, and if you think he’s lying, you’ll have to convince me and that will be no easy task’

‘But...’ the purple pony whimpered, her eyes filling with tears.

‘No buts Twilight. Leave the poor pony alone’

At this, the purple pony stormed off, enraged.

The Princess turned to Bowdler, ‘I am sorry for the outburst from my student, she is still in shock about the whole thing’

‘It’s fine’ he assured her, ‘But what did you mean by “the crash”?’

‘Oh, I still haven’t told you?’ the Princess asked sheepishly, ‘it must have slipped my mind, I thought I did’

‘What happened the night I arrived here?’

The Princess sighed and began, ‘On the night you got here, there was a huge explosion in the sky...’

~

Bowdler was confused. ‘So,’ he asked, ‘I came from space?’

‘We’re still not quite sure about that Bowdler, it’s complicated’ the Princess replied.

He thought this over for a second and decided to change the subject as it was obviously making her uncomfortable.

‘How are the plans doing for my new life in town?’ he asked.

‘I haven’t told you that either?’ she said, ‘dear me, I’m being really forgetful this week... I’ve got you a house in ponyville and Nurse Redheart says you should be ready to leave here in top condition next week!’

‘Really?’ he piped up excitedly, ‘That’s great!’

The Princess beamed at him, ‘I’m glad you’re happy with it, I’m sure you’ll find some good friends down in ponyville’

A thought struck him all of a sudden, ‘Princess?’ he asked. The Princess turned to look at him just as he began to ruffle his hair off of his forehead.

‘Wha- oh my...’ she said, stunned.

‘What?’ he asked, assuming the worst, ‘what’s wrong? Is this a bad thing?’

‘Bowdler...’ the Princess nuzzled him, as she did this he felt more comfortable than he could ever remember being, ‘I think you are, or at least were, an Alicorn’

He poked the stump on his head, ‘so this used to be a horn?’

‘I do believe so, why didn’t you tell me when we first met?’ she asked, that being a very valid point.

‘I sort of didn’t know’ he replied, stirring in the bed as if he’d forgotten something extremely obvious.

‘That’s fine dear, you didn’t remember anything’ the Princess said reassuringly as she nuzzled him again, ‘although I’ll have to have to keep a closer eye on you than I once thought, when you get to ponyville try not to tell anypony about that stump OK?’

‘OK’ he said, not wanting to ever do anything to disappoint her. ‘When you get to ponyville next week I’ll have my personal student give you a tour, she-’

‘What?’ he butted in suddenly, ‘that purple pony? She’d kill me!’

‘She would never do such a thing’ the Princess stated firmly, suddenly looking quite offended, ‘Twilight Sparkle is one of the best ponies I know’

‘Alright...’ he muttered uncomfortably.

Princess Celestia looked up at the wall behind him, ‘Oh dear, look at the time! I must be going Bowdler, I will see you again’

Then she was gone.