We stand together

The creature stood in the doorway seemed to be a sort of giant armoured bug, bipedal, but with six arms and stooped so far forward, that it probably normally walked using its front claws. It was black as space but its carapace and claws were bright gold, they did not yet appear to have been used. Obviously that was about to change.

The creature opened its mouth and let out an ear splitting cry at Bowdler. Applejack and Rainbowdash covered their ears, screaming, but Bowdler just stood there, his mane ablaze.

‘You BASTARDS’ he yelled at the thing, ‘You ENORMOUS cock ends! You took her! You took Twilight! YOU WILL PAY!’ he lowered his head and began to charge at the thing, willing with all his might for him to fell it quickly. The beast recoiled in confusion, then charged towards him, its claws high above its head.

While he was running, Bowdler felt a strange sensation, it was as if something new was on him. He looked to his left and right. Beside him, were hovering two, long swords which glinted with the light of the room. But he didn’t stop to think about how they got there, he collided with the creature. It flailed and screeched and tried to slice him with its claws, but to no avail. He had used its own size against it and had got it pinned on the floor, levitating one sword by its neck and the other, pointed to what appeared to be its head.

‘You will pay’ he spluttered, ‘With your life.’ He plunged the sword into its mouth and up through the top of its skull, it screeched in pain, then slumped to the floor. Outside, there were similar screeches from other creatures and Bowdler could see them starting to run away from the library.

‘Get back here you cowardly shits!’ he tried to yell, but he could only splutter. He collapsed to the floor and the last thing he could remember seeing, was the light of the sun starting to appear from behind a vast, black cloud.

~

Bowdler woke up on top of a stack of hay in the barn, beside him lay his swords and what appeared to be a silver helmet, with a space for where his horn would have been in the top, but he still didn’t have time to ponder over these strange artifacts, there were more pressing issues to attend to. He sprang up and started to make towards the barn door, there was nopony else in the barn with him so he thought he’d just have to find them. He opened the door and jumped back. Standing at the other side of it, was Princess Celestia.

‘Princess’ he exclaimed, dropping to one hoof.

‘Stand up Bowdler,’ she said sternly, ‘We need to talk.’

He jumped up and stood at attention, ‘Yes ma’am!’ he replied enthusiastically, he had no idea why he was acting so militaristic about the whole ordeal, he had met the Princess before and it didn’t seem like such a big thing. She walked him back over to the haystack that he’d been sleeping on and told him to sit down.

‘Last night,’ she began, ‘You performed a brave and valiant deed, saving not just the two ponies who were with you in the library, but also, apparently, the whole town’

‘Unless I’ve been asleep for too long to know better, then it’s not the whole town.’ he replied, a tone of sharp bitterness in his voice.

The princess stood up, ‘and this is why I have called on you,’ she replied, sounding determined, yet understanding, ‘Equestria is going to war with the beetle-like invaders, we have called a council between the residents of the many lands and I’d like you to be there.’

Bowdler got down to one hoof again, ‘It would be an honor, Princess’ he replied.

‘Good, I will give you some time to prepare yourself, meet me in the ponyville town hall when you are ready for the meeting.’ she turned and walked away.

~

After Princess Celestia had left Bowdler started looking more closely at the weapons and armour by the side of his hay. He had no idea how he’d managed to wield them, bearing in mind he couldn’t levitate a book. He focused on one of the swords, it glowed purple and raised about an inch into the air, then spazzed out and landed on the floor with a clatter.

‘Damn it!’ he yelled, he’d been sure that he could use his magic properly on these, but evidently not. He picked the sword up in his mouth, it was surprisingly light. He waved it around a bit and accidentally took off a chunk of his hair.

‘Oh for Christ’s sake...’ he threw the sword down on the ground, ‘useless piece of shit’

He walked towards the barn door and out into the world. The sun shone down on him and he had to shield his eyes from its brightness. All of a sudden, a thought struck him.

‘What happened to Dallas?’ he said aloud for no particular reason.

‘Right here bro’ came a familiar voice from the side of the barn.

‘Dallas!’ Bowdler shouted as he ran up to him, ‘where were you last night?’

‘Oh? Didn’t I mention?’ he replied, sounding a little shocked, ‘I’m leaving for home.’

‘What!?’

‘I don’t live around here,’ he continued, ‘I just come down every other season to see Big Mac and the Doctor, I usually live down near Appaloosa and last night I’d already headed off home, I came back today though because I saw what was happening, I had to fight off dozens of those bug wankers on the way here.’ he laughed.

‘You don’t have to go you know, you could stay and help fight them’ Bowdler said hopefully.

‘Nope, that’s just it,’ he replied, ‘I’ve got to help defend Appaloosa, they can’t hold on without me’

‘I understand’ They looked at each other for a second, an awkward silence appearing.

‘Chicken sandwiches’ said Dallas, breaking the silence.

‘Lolwut?’ Bowdler laughed.

‘Just breaking the silence bro’ they bumped hooves. ‘I’ll be seeing you then!’ he said and turned to go. ‘See you!’

~

After Dallas went out of sight, Bowdler decided it was time to head off to the town hall. There was no time to bring the blades or helmet so he just walked down there. In the hall there were all sorts of ponies and other weird creatures. Princess Celestia noticed him and gestured for him to sit by her with Luna and blue pony wearing cool looking armour. He nodded at him but before they had time to talk, a pony on the stage in the hall called for attention.

‘Residents of Equestria!’ he yelled, ‘Dark times are upon us!’ there was a wave of mutters of agreement, ‘A threat like no other has descended upon the land! A swarm of ravenous creatures, who have no goal other than to strip our world of all life! But we shall not let them complete this goal! We, the men and women who live in this land shall stand together, to halt the oncoming fleet of horrors! We have with us today, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Canterlot!’

There were cheers from the crowd,

‘We have Chief Thunder-hoof of the Buffalo tribes!’ More cheers,

‘We have King Spicer of the Diamond dogs!’

This was followed by an awkward silence, which made the diamond dogs look annoyed,

‘and we have also decided to put our differences aside with the other kingdom of ponies, here with us today, we have Overlord Dark Specter of the cult of Nightmare’ he waved over towards a Black pony with glowing white eyes.

The crowd in the hall let out a gasp as they noticed the cult of Nightmare for the first time, these ponies were the supporters of what they called ‘The fallen Queen’ Nightmare moon, they left the main kingdom of ponies and set up a splinter faction on some of the outer colonies of Equestria, they were despised by all.

There was a shout from the crowd, ‘Why are those traitors here!?’, a ripple of unrest went through the gathered ponies, this could turn into an all out brawl at any moment.

The black pony stood and spoke with a voice which echoed with darkness, ‘We are here to pay off the debt we owe to the main kingdoms of ponies, perhaps if we do this with you, you will all forgive us and let us live apart from you in peace’. As he spoke a bluish fog leaked from his eyes and mouth, like a thing possessed, this made all of the ponies in the hall hesitate to talk back.

‘We choose to trust you Overlord, but only if you work by us completely’ said Celestia warmly.

‘Celestia, you speak as if you expect me not to’ he replied with a grin, the cultists chuckled. The blue pony stood next to Bowdler narrowed his eyes.

‘Calm down Dasher’ Luna whispered to him, ‘You’ll just make things worse’

‘Anyway!’ shouted the brown pony stood on the stage, ‘We’re all here for the same reason! To stop these things from destroying Equestria!’

The ponies in the crowd nodded excitedly.

‘To do this, we will have to gather an army, good enough to fend off invaders from another planet, this task will be overseen by the Celestian ponies. The buffalo will attempt to provide a diplomatic resolution, the Diamond dogs will provide resources and the Cult of Nightmare will begin the training of new recruits to the united Equestrian army. Does that sound like a plan?’

A shout of agreement came from the ponies, buffalo and dogs.

‘Well, let’s get this thing on track!’ he yelled, ‘For Equestria! Meeting adjourned!’ he stamped his hoof on the stage.