We stand together

Bowdler sat in the throne room of Canterlot castle with Celestia, Luna and the armoured blue pony.

‘But Celestia!’ the blue pony was shouting, ‘We can’t trust the training of new recruits to the Cult of Nightmare! What if they’re corrupting them into some sort of thing like that Dark Specter?’

‘Dark Specter is not a thing!’ Celestia objected, ‘He is a good pony who I would have trusted my throne to!’

‘Sister, that was before the second coming of Nightmare!’ Luna put in, seeming to be all with the blue pony on this matter, ‘You don’t know what he’s become now, for all we know the spirit of Nightmare may have possessed him!’

‘Nightmare moon was completely destroyed by the elements of harmony Luna!’ Celestia said sternly, ‘Not even her spirit lives on to corrupt anypony else’

‘I’m not so sure, she survived 1000 years on the moon, she could probably survive a rainbow, who’s to say she’s not behind all this?’ she whispered, worriedly.

‘Luna,’ Celestia began, ‘I know Nightmare Moon is not behind this. I would have felt her presence.’

‘I’ve got a feeling we should probably trust Celestia on this one’ Bowdler said quickly, this actually being the first time he’d managed to get a word into the conversation.

‘And who are you to be the judge of that boy?’ the blue pony sneered at him, ‘I’ve never seen you before in my life, and I know everypony.’

‘Oh? I haven’t introduced you two?’ Celestia said suddenly, ‘Silly me, Bowdler this is Lieutenant Dasher, he’s the head of the Equestrian military, and Lieutenant, this is Bowdler, he’s a good friend of mine who was found...’ she hesitated, ‘in the Everfree forest, not knowing who he was.’ she finished quickly.

‘Nice to meet you’ Bowdler said and stuck out his hoof, Dasher shook it instinctively but not with much vigour.

‘Celestia!’ he yelled suddenly, Dasher cringed, ‘When are we rescuing Twilight?’

‘Sadly Bowdler, we do not know where she is,’ Celestia said, her face falling, ‘I have tried scrying all over Equestria, but to no avail. I think they may have taken her with them, if that is the case then we should be able to rescue her when we assault them.’

He held back a tear, he’d hoped that rescuing Twilight would be their top priority, evidently not.

‘I do however have a task for you and Dasher,’ she continued, ‘in a war against an unknown army, a great ally would be found in the Dragons who live in the land beyond Everfree’

‘What!?’ Dasher shouted, sounding appauled, ‘You expect us to be able to pull the Elder Dragonkin onto our side? That’s a near impossible job, I’ve had run ins with them before, it wasn’t pretty.’

‘I don’t expect you to be able to do it Dasher, I know you’ll be able to do it’ she reassured him, ‘You shall take with you the Dragon known as Spike to be your interpreter and help you communicate with the Elder Dragonkin, I have a friendship with the dragon known as Rok’thalon, who should be able to get you an audience with the court of Elders, go now and find this Dragon.’

Bowdler and Dasher stood to attention, ‘We will not fail Princesses’ Dasher said, not sounding completely confident, ‘or at least, I won’t’ he muttered under his breath.

‘I’ve got total faith in you two,’ said Luna, obviously trying to sound as regal as her older sister, ‘go get ‘em’.

~

‘You want me to help you talk with the Elder Dragons?’ Spike yelled, dumbfounded, ‘They’re bloody scary guys! C’mon! I hear say they’re cannibals!’

‘The princesses order it civilian’ stated Dasher, ‘you are to come with us’

‘Dasher, shut up’ said Bowdler, who was sick of him acting like he was better than everypony, ‘Spike, you don’t have to come with us, but if you do, it will really help in saving Twilight’

At the mention of Twilight’s name, Spike welled up slightly, but then shook his head and stood as tall as he could manage,

‘Alright Bowdler! I’ll go with you! For Twilight!’ he punched the air and jogged out of the door.

‘You just need to show a little kindness sometimes, it can really help’ he said to Dasher, who was looking shocked, he snorted and walked out of the library to follow Spike, Bowdler went after him. Before long they had reached the everfree forest.

‘How’re we going to get through there?’ asked Spike nervously, but, almost simultaneously, Bowdler and Dasher cleared their throats and opened up their wings.

‘Ah, right’ he spluttered, sounding relieved. He climbed up onto Bowdler’s back and they took off. Dasher had folded the goggles attached to his helmet over his eyes and Bowdler wished that he’d been sensible enough to do that too, his eyes were full of weird insects, and judging by the shouting coming from behind his head, so were Spike's.

‘Dasher!’ he yelled over the deafening sound of the slipstream, ‘We’re going to have to land somewhere!’

‘What!?’ he yelled back at them, ‘Why do we have to do that!?’

‘We don’t have goggles you moron!’

‘Gah!’ he swooped down towards a clearing and Bowdler followed. When they landed Dasher immediately presented them with two pairs of goggles.

‘Luckily, I keep a few spare. Don’t lose them or I swear I’ll kill you.’ He took off again with blinding speed. Bowdler and Spike put on their goggles and flew after him.

~

They flew fast and hard for hours, but the forest still seemed to stretch out in all directions as far as the eye could see. It was starting to get dark, and Bowdler was getting tired. Suddenly, Dasher let out a red flare, which soared into the night sky and exploded. He then turned at an almost 90 degree angle and flew straight down into a clearing. Bowdler practically fell after him, but unfolded his wings and glided to safety at the last second.

‘We make camp here for the night,’ said Dasher ‘any other time I’d just fly through it but it seems that our interpreter needs some rest’

Bowdler turned his head around just enough to see Spike curled up on his back, but with one clear thing. He’d dropped his goggles.

‘Shit’ he muttered quietly, hoping Dasher hadn’t noticed.

‘There is a cave nearby which we can use.’ Dasher continued, ‘follow me’ he turned and trotted away.

The Everfree forest glittered with luminescent insects at night, looking like some sort of giant Christmas tree grove, full of sparkling fairy lights. But it was also full of danger, they were at risk of attack from Manticores, or worse, out in the open. This was why they needed shelter. But even a cave may not be Ideal, it might give host to Ursas or Lupises, bear and wolf spirits of the stars, who would rip them to shreds in an instant.

When they finally reached the cave, he let out a sigh of relief, there wasn’t a monster in sight. He slumped down onto the cave floor, but Spike rolled off of his back.

‘Ow! Hey!’ he yelled, ‘What did you do that for?’

‘Sorry Spike,’ he apologised, ‘my bad’.

Spike huffed incontently, ‘I was having a great dream too, now I’ve got to think of Rarity for a couple of hours again’ Bowdler heard him mutter. He rolled over and closed his eyes.

‘Don’t feel too safe just yet Civilians’ Dasher said quietly, ‘This cave could be home to anything.’

‘Hey relax bro!’ said Spike tiredly, ‘it’s great in here, I even found a little fur mattress!’

‘What!?’ Bowdler and Dasher both said at the same time. A low growl came from the same direction as Spike’s voice.

‘Oh, I see,’ Spike spluttered, his voice cracking, ‘Nice doggie!’ The Lupis minor, which had now began to glow in the way that all star spirits do, barked loudly at him. ‘Gah!’ he practically squealed and dived away.

‘Stand back citizens!’ bellowed Dasher, producing a long knife from seemingly nowhere, ‘I’ve got this!’ he charged towards the Lupis on his hind legs, somehow holding the knife in his hooves. This caught it by surprise, a pony on its back legs? how could it be? This gave Dasher enough time to deliver the first blow, he didn’t quite hit his target of the head, but left a long slice mark down the side of the beast. It roared in pain and leaped at him, trying to bite at his legs, but to no avail, Dasher took the opportunity of the open mouth to plunge his knife deep into the Lupis’s throat, slashing its windpipe. It gasped for breath and staggered around for a second, before collapsing onto the floor. Dasher threw the blade into the air and the blood on it splattered onto the ceiling, he caught it, sheathed it and said to Spike, ‘Now you’ve got your mattress’. He walked to the other side of the cave and sat down, not a scratch on him.

‘Uh... Bowdler?’ Spike asked, ‘Am I actually awake?’. Bowdler let out a long sigh at his and lay down at the opposite side of the cave from Dasher. The last thing he could hear before he drifted off was Spike ranting about how bloody his mattress was, then silence.

~

Bowdler woke with a start, Dasher had kicked him.

‘Wake up Civilian’ he said, ‘we’re moving out.’

He got up ‘Why is it always ‘Civilian this’ or ‘Civilian that’ with you Dasher?’ he asked.

‘Remember your place, I’m head of the guard, you are a lowly, brain-dead, amnesiac Civilian fool’ He snorted.

‘Woah!’ Bowdler yelled, ‘That was uncalled for!’

‘For Celestia’s sake, you’re an idiot!’ he yelled, but then smiled, ‘It’d be a real shame if that lupis were to have got you last night.’ Bowdler saw him stroking the hilt of his knife and backed off slightly. ‘What are you? Scared? Is widdle Dasher gunna hurt woo?’ he sneered.

‘Dasher, stop this. Why are you doing this?’ he began, stunned by his aggression.

‘C’mon guys!’ came Spike’s voice from outside the cave, ‘we’ve got to get going!’

‘On my way Spike!’ he spluttered quickly and cantered towards the cave mouth. When he got outside, Spike jumped onto his back, he snapped his goggles on.

‘Hey, where’s my g-’ Spike began, but Bowdler quickly did a back-flip. ‘What was that for?’ he asked. He raised his eyebrows and looked over to Dasher. ‘Oh, right’. Dasher was just emerging from the cave, his goggles already on when suddenly, a deep booming voice filled the clearing outside the cave.

‘pok mobi mabliki!’ it roared bestially, ‘wux re ti shalada tenpiswo!’

‘Uh, oh!’ yelled Spike, ‘I know that language’

An enourmous silver dragon stepped out into the clearing in front of the cave and stared them down. Its horns were massive, but not quite as scary as its serrated teeth, which were showing through its low growl.

‘confn mrith ve mabliki vur pothoc darastrix’ it said. Bowdler and Dasher looked at Spike,

‘He wants us to come with him,’ he gulped, ‘and he called me pothoc!’

Bowdler gathered that pothoc was probably some sort of dragon insult.

‘Why should we go with you?’ Dasher yelled at it, seemingly unfazed by its massive size. It looked confused, then turned to Spike,

‘Darastrix?’ it asked. Spike looked at the floor. ‘svabol tira wer mablik yenta hofibavi darastrix!?’ it roared.

‘jaci tora kii yth jalla confn mrith wux!’ Spike squealed.

The dragon snorted in disgust, ‘tagoa sjek wux tir ti, si geou sone wux!’ it yelled at Dasher, who backed off slightly.

‘You should probably follow him’ said Spike quietly, ‘he just threatened to eat you if you didn’t.’

‘That’s a good point.’

The dragon took off, making sure to keep an eye on them to follow, which they did without question. Even Dasher seemed to have lost a large chunk of his bravado.

‘sia ominak ui arth'alaki vur si nishka qe claxir wux ekess rok'thalon, wer darastrix di wer siksta’ boomed the silver dragon, Spike suddenly seemed immensely relived,

‘He says his name is Arth’alaki and that he’s going to be taking us to Rok’thalon!’ he translated quickly, ‘I’ve heard Celestia talk about Rok’thalon before! He’s the Elder Sun Dragon, she saved him when he was just a whelp from a swarm of Daemons in outer Equestria! We’re going to be ok!’

‘What?’ asked Dasher, ‘The story of the dragon and the daemons was an old pony tale that the elder ponies of the outer colonies would tell to the foals to stop them from going into Everfree, I didn’t know it was true!’

‘Exactly!’ Spike squealed, ‘and if this is Arth’alaki, he’s the Elder Moon Dragon, and he won’t hurt us! Everything’s gone better than expected!’

This, was asking for trouble. Suddenly, a massive green shape, not quite as big as Arth’alaki but still pretty huge, burst out from the treetops of Everfree.

‘ihk wer vis darastrix daariv!’ it screeched and dived towards Arth’alaki,

‘gethrisj mojka hofiba’ he said, sounding extremely bored and shot out a jet of flame, which burnt the green dragon to a crisp. Spike loosened his grip on Bowdler’s mane, which had suddenly become very tight,

‘That went well’ he said. Another five dragons flew up behind them and formed a V.

‘Spike?’ said Bowdler, ‘Next time we kill one, shut the fuck up’. He and Dasher dived to avoid the dragons which were soaring towards them, Dasher very narrowly missing getting his tail bitten off.

‘I’m no good at airborne fighting!’ Dasher yelled.

‘What!?’ asked Bowdler over the wails of another dragon which Arth’alaki had just torched, ‘I thought you were a Pegasus!’

‘That doesn’t mean I’m good at air to air combat though does it?’

‘I guess not’

‘Here, see if we can team on that one there!’

‘Alright, get your knife!’

‘What do you have?’

‘Jack shit!’

‘Oh crap!’ they smashed into the dragon furthest away from Arth’alaki and began to try to kill it, Dasher slicing at its wings with his knife and Bowdler grappling its throat and trying desperately to summon his swords again. He imagined that Twilight was there, egging him on. He heard her voice,

‘You can do it Bowdler, I believe in you’. He felt a surge of power run through his body and he willed for the dragons neck to be slit. Sure enough, one of his twin blades flew from nowhere and almost cleaved its head right off. He caught it in his hooves as he took off from the back of the falling dragon and gave the other one to Spike, who was still on his back.

‘Hey Bowdler? Will you do something for me?’ Spike asked as Arth’alaki cleaved a dragon in two, leaving only two left.

‘What?’

‘Can you charge right at that one on the left?’

‘Okay...’ He swerved around and started flying at full speed towards the dragon

‘ALRIGHT LEZ’ DO DIS! LEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY JENKINS!!!!!’ Spike yelled at the top of his voice as they soared towards it. Just as they got to it, he swung the sword as hard as he could at its face, and the bottom half of its jaw came clean off. It let out a screech of agony and plunged back into the treetops, just as Arth’alaki caught the last one in his mouth and began to devour it.

‘vi kobtish algbo authot’ he muttered contently after he had swallowed it.

‘si jiilral batobot’ said Spike. Bowdler didn’t give a damn what they were saying, they’d done it. They’d survived an attack from the forest Dragons.