With the afternoon came fatigue. Wearied, Bucky retired to their room and settled into bed, exhausted but happy, the morning had been productive and the gasbag was nearly complete. Bucky would need to give it a good once over, but he felt that it might be finished by tomorrow. The smoked glass goggles had done much to protect his eye, and allowed him to see in the daylight quite well.
Moments after settling into bed, Bucky drifted into slumber as he felt Sentinel press up against him. He could hear Berry Punch talking in a low voice to Harper. He loved the sound of Berry’s voice when she was talking to little foals, a voice so smooth and sweet. As he slipped away, he wished that she would talk to him like that.
The hinterlands. The land around him was dead. There was life to be found in the hinterlands, but Bucky had no interest in that. He struggled with two sets of memories. He was in his body, but it was not his body. This body was free of pain. This body no longer had to suffer. This body was taller, more powerful, and had wings.
Bucky realised that he was an alicorn.
The alicorn of war.
He drew strength from violence and conflict. All around him was sand, sand to create the perfect army of spell jar golems, massive animated golems made of glass and death. Killing them, shattering them, engaging them in combat, it would break them and release the horrific spells they had contained inside. His army awaited.
His fine tuned senses felt the approaching presence of conflict. Hatred approached. Something came for him that intended violence, and as Bucky waited, he could feel his muscles swell as he drew more strength.
Ascension. Bucky had done so twice. The first was the change from being a pathetic unicorn, the second was from his worthless minor alicorn body. He had bound himself to warfare and all that goes with it, becoming immortal in the process. Much like Celestia and Luna, who had bound themselves to celestial bodies, and as long as those bodies existed, they would continue to endure. And so it was with Bucky. He drew strength from war and conflict, and this world was full of war and conflict.
There were two alicorns left… Twilight Sparkle and Cadance, both minor alicorns. Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn of magic, approached rapidly, her need for violence giving him strength. Cadance had chosen to hide, knowing all too well that Bucky was nigh unstoppable as long as there was war in the world.
Celestia and Luna were now gone, banished into their celestial spheres. One of the many privileges of being the alicorn of war was intrinsically knowing the weaknesses of your enemies. Bucky had no such weakness. There would always be war in the world. There would always be violence, hatred, and strife. And once he was done here in this world, he would move on to other worlds, sowing war, death, and destruction everywhere he went.
Trapped inside this body, inside of this mind, Bucky realised that he was merely a passenger, trapped inside of a being that he feared becoming. This body was perfect, free of scars, unmarked by suffering and pain. His horn was long and straight, but more importantly, natural.
In the distance, there was a thunderous boom as something approached, moving past the sound barrier, which meant that she was already here. Bucky flicked his magic and was shielded. He waited.
And did not have to wait long.
“YOU TOOK THEM AWAY FROM ME!” Twilight shrieked as she approached.
Bucky felt himself seized in magic, lifted, and then slammed into the sides of ravine, shattering stone and sundering the earth from the impact. Several hundred thousand pounds of force had slammed into him, Twilight’s rage giving her power. Too bad Twilight’s rage gave him power as well.
He laughed.
The violence made him strong.
He rose up from the shattered earth, his wings unfurled, and faced his opponent. She was little, she was fragile, and she did not understand. He could see it in her eyes. She truly believed that she could defeat him.
Bucky, the real Bucky, trapped inside, felt pity and wanted Twilight to flee. He existed solely as a passenger, along for the ride, forced to watch as these terrible events unfolded. He watched through eyes his own yet not his own as Twilight was slapped with a raw blast of pure telekinetic energy. She was sent flying, hurled at the earth, her impact dug a long furrow into the sand and stone. She emerged from the trench several moments later, smiling a bloody smile, her feathers now ruffled and her horn glowed menacingly. She was mad with grief and Bucky wanted nothing more to try and comfort her.
Except the body that Bucky found himself in had no such plans.
Twilight let go with all of the magic she had at her disposal, and Bucky felt the blast connect with him. He winced inwardly, expecting pain. He felt nothing. Nothing at all. There was no pain. Just as there had been no pain during his own collision with the earth. The force of the blast flung him backwards, pushing him, and he was driven several hundred feet into the solid stone of the mountain behind him.
Grinning in the dark, he ripped the mountain from its foundations and hurled it at Twilight Sparkle, feeling ever stronger due to her hatred.
Twilight Sparkle, seeing the mountain coming right at her, spread her wings and flew for her life, knowing that such an impact would be fatal. She failed to understand that her foe was immortal, she assumed that there was some weakness, some means to defeat him and as it had always done for her, a means for victory would present itself if she endured long enough.
“You do know that there will be no further ascension for you, right?” Bucky boomed. “You are not giving your body for some glorious cause or some magnificent end, you are here for revenge plain and simple. When you die, it will be due to your own selfishness and stupidity,” he explained as his horn charged. He knew what needed to be done to break Twilight, how fragile her mind was, he knew her weakness. Fear of failure.
A part of Twilight that still held a spark of reason knew that Bucky spoke the truth. At his words, that last remaining vestige of sanity died and Twilight slipped into despair as she felt the crushing grip of failure close around her. She charged as the mountain struck the earth and shattered into boulders. She bellowed a wordless equine cry of murderous rage.
The two beings battled, but for different reasons. Twilight sought vengeance, wanted revenge, while Bucky allowed the battle to continue, drawing strength from the conflict. He fed from Twilight’s hatred, from her violence, becoming stronger with each passing moment. Spells were hurled. The landscape was forever altered. Canyons that would have taken eons to form sprang into existence in seconds. The sky became black and sooty.
And Bucky watched all of this in horror, knowing that the monster he had become was merely playing with her. He tried everything that he could to assert some control, to extend his will, to reign in the rough beast he had become.
There was nothing he could do.
As he watched, Twilight was hurled several miles straight down into the earth. Even with her protection spells and considerable magic, the impact was terrible. He could see her from his high vantage point, struggling to rise from the ground, one wing now broken. The battle for control of the skies was now over.
Tired of this game, Bucky drew together several hydrogen atoms and began the process to fuse them in the ultimate reaction. It was a casual dismissive act of magic, not even the worst of what he could do. Even as he and Twilight battled, his influence was spreading all over the world as all of the major species began to go to war. It was time to begin the purge. An alicorn of war only has one purpose, and his battle with Twilight had given him the last bit of strength he needed to begin the end of all things.
Twilight, sensing what was going on, knowing of the dreadful atomic chain reaction taking place, wrapped herself in a protective cocoon of magic, bringing everything she had to bear for her own protection.
There was a massive explosion and a monstrous mushroom shaped cloud rose up from the earth. Bucky waited, knowing that his prey would survive, but would be broken into submission. He circled overhead for a long time, feeling the world going to war all around him. The griffons were his most devoted minions, finally free to wreak havoc. Now under his influence, the gates of Tartarus opened and all of the horror imprisoned inside spilled out. The world went mad with the need for war, and far away in isolation, Cadance felt what little power she had left begin to fade and die.
And Bucky, little scrawny Bucky, who wanted no part of any of this, thought that he might go mad. He wanted this to end. His own hold on sanity became a little more fragile with each passing second.
Alicorn Bucky dove down into the fiery horror of the nuclear blast, circling low over the scorched black earth and it did not take long to find Twilight Sparkle. Her defenses had not been enough. She was burnt and blackened, somehow still alive, one eye and most of the side of her face burned away. She writhed on the scorched ground and panted in the gritty radioactive air. Her wings were stumps, the feathers burned away, and she was a leathery withered looking imitation of her former self.
Bucky landed and approached. She was helpless, broken now, and he stood with one hoof pressed down upon her skull. “You could still live if you wanted… beg Twilight Sparkle. Beg me for your existence and I will give you a new body… become my broodmare and birth my foals of war for me,” Bucky demanded.
Twilight did not reply, but spat.
Alicorn Bucky sighed. He applied pressure with his hoof.
Bucky, good Bucky, cringed at the sound of Twilight’s skull being crushed. He wanted this to end, for it to be over, for this nightmare to stop. He knew what came next. Cadance. He knew this future, this when and where.
Alicorn Bucky spread his wings, his work only beginning. If you killed one being, you were a murderer. If you killed many, you became a conqueror. If you killed them all…
You became a god.
Bucky awoke, pinned under Bon Bon’s weight. She was shaking him, slamming him down into the mattress repeatedly, and as his eye opened she ceased her frantic attempts to wake him.
“I was about to send Sentinel in there after you, but I wasn’t sure if it would be dark enough for him to do anything,” Bon Bon said in a loud jarring voice.
Bucky grabbed Bon Bon and pulled her down on top of him, crushing her body to his. She squeaked in alarm, squirmed, and finally gave into his embrace. He held her close and clutched her tightly. He could feel Lyra stroking him softly, and Sentinel was beside him. Berry’s cool touch was applied to his forehead, and he felt himself calming down.
Eventually, he relaxed his grasp on Bon Bon, but she did nothing to wiggle free. She remained, her head resting on his barrel, stroking his ribs with her hoof in a slow moving circle.
“It was awful,” Bucky whispered.
“Shush Bucky, not now,” Berry said gently.
“Death, it all ended in death,” Bucky murmured.
“No,” Bon Bon said soothingly. “There is all life all around you. Think of Berry, of Derpy, or Thistle. Think of the lives in their bellies. Think of Harper. Try to think like an earth pony and focus on life.”
“Whatever it was, it was just a dream. I have this place well warded from outside influences,” Lyra said reassuringly.
“Nopony can protect me from myself,” Bucky said bitterly. He could feel Bon Bon’s weight bearing down upon him. She was steady and sturdy, just as Berry was. Suddenly, he understood why one of his distant ancestors married an earth pony. It wasn’t a feeling he could put into words, or ever even hope to express, but he was grateful for Bon Bon and Berry Punch in this moment. The only words would come close to expressing his feelings, the only notion that expressed his thoughts, was that earth ponies were indeed the ultimate affirmation of life.
“If it will make you feel better, you can milk me again,” Berry offered. Her tone was serious, her demeanour comforting. She would do anything to distract Bucky from his suffering.
“Maybe a bit of time spent with Harper?” Lyra suggested. “She’s snoozing in the straw, but I know she wouldn’t mind a bit of time with her daddy,” the unicorn said softly.
“I’m okay, just like this... for now anyway,” Bucky said. He could feel the sweat dribbling from his sides. For a moment, he felt awkward and embarrassed for having Bon Bon pressed up against him in this condition, he could feel his sweaty scrotum pressing up against her navel, but then he reminded himself that she obviously didn’t care. He felt his mane being brushed from his eyes and Berry’s cool touch made him shiver.
“I still have bad dreams too… after what happened when I came to you in your dream,” Sentinel said in a low voice. “My dreams serve as a warning that I cannot stand alone and remind me just how much I need all of you,” he admitted. “I don’t know much about dreams, but I do have a few… instincts I guess you could say. Dreams keep us moral, to serve as a warning,” he explained.
Now calming down, Bucky considered Sentinel’s words. He thought of the imp’s words as well, at how much he was like them. His mind filled with words he wanted to say, but no words seemed forthcoming. He felt a strange gratitude for the pain in his hind legs, recalling all to well the sensation of being completely pain free as an alicorn. More of the imp’s words lingered in his mind.
All of his thoughts were scattered to the four winds when Berry’s muzzle clamped down upon his and she kissed him. Berry was aggressive, applying heavy suction and invading with her tongue, obliterating his ability to ponder and think deep thoughts.
Finally, Berry pulled away and Bucky was left breathless.
The Alicorn of War was forgotten, Bucky wanted to be the Unicorn of Drunken Sex.