That night quickly became one Tyler had wished would pass by quickly. For when he dreamt, the memories would return. Nightmares of the colorful vortex and the evil that eyed him on his journey from his world to the world of Equestria. Memories, nightmares about shadows screeching and howling inside the vortex… He couldn’t tell the difference anymore.
Why did he dream of those terrors? At that time, Tyler couldn’t explain this, but why do dreams occur anyway? From that moment on something seemed to lure him… towards the orchards… Always towards the orchards…

After this most horrific night since his arrival, Tyler got out of bed, still tired. At the morning table Twilight looked at him with an arched brow.
"You don’t look very good…”

Giving a sleepy smile and a yawn, Tyler nodded.
“That’s because I haven’t slept very good, Twilight.”

“Headaches again?!"

He shook his head.
“Nightmares… I think something comes back to me… Of what happened during the travel from my world into yours. Something…” He stopped for a while. As Twilight leaned in, he just drank his coffee. “Meh, these were just nightmares… Don’t worry, Twilight.” As he looked to her again, he smirked. “So… Now that I have a job… How about we talk about the rent?”

This caught Twilight out of concept.
“Rent? I… ahehe… I don’t know… Learning from you is great for me. I like to have you around.”

This caused Tyler to lean forward, taking another sip of his coffee.
“You like me around you? Like a housemate or a guinea pig?”

“You remind me a bit of my brother. But it’s different.”

Tyler gave her reply a chuckle.
“What’s that? You never mentioned a brother. Is he a decent fellow?”

She gave him a nod.
“Oh, you would like Shining Armor… You share some character traits. Maturity, responsibility, charm… to name only a few. Until recently, he was Captain of the royal guard. He couldn’t do this anymore after marrying Princess Cadance. She now rules the Crystal Empire with him…”

Tyler whistled in awe.
“Number One student of the princess, sister to a prince… Twilight, you actually are a girl with many connections. Remind me never to mess with you! Even without your magic you’re one tough girl!”

Twilight blushed.
“Well, I never see it that way…”

After breakfast, Tyler got up.
“Well, it’s late, and I have to go to work.” He also got the potion with him, just in case of another migraine.

As he went towards the farm, all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders greeted him.
“Hi there, Tyler! Can you come visit us today at our club house?”

Waving at them with a smile, he watched them for a while.
“I’ll try!” They were scooting towards a big red house other young ponies went to as well. Aha…So this is Ponyville’s school… He smiled in amusement, but went on to Sweet Apple Acres.

Applejack greeted him with a big hug.
“Well howdy Pardner! Ah’m glad ya came back; after yer little incident at the farmhouse, ah was afraid ya would avoid working here.“

He waved the thought away.
“Don’t be ridiculous! I would never leave you hanging, even if I only come to tease you a bit more.” With a shared laugh, they went to work.

After his training, the carts were a lot easier to pull and Applejack corrected her Stetson.
“Whoa nelly, you improved haven’t ya? Ya pull the cart with that same ease as mah brother does. But unlike him yer looking way better.”

Giving a chuckle he went to the next tree.
“Still, you have to buckle them down for us both; my muscles have become stronger, but my bones are as fragile as before.”

“No problem there, sugarcube.” With swift kicks she got the apples from two trees. “We sure make a good team pardner, where have ya been all mah life?”

Tyler couldn’t but laugh.
“Earth?” Sharing a laugh now he got the buckets into the carts. Applejack gave his butt a short glimpse and bit her bottom lip for a while. He sure has a great flank… For a human… As the hard worker he was, he then wiped off the sweat from his forehead. “So much for that…” As he grabbed his cart, he turned to his partner. “Shall we?”

Shaking her head for a bit as if lost in her own little world, Applejack chuckled slightly blushing.
“Sure! Uh… Come on! We best be goin’.”

As she trotted onwards, Tyler arched a brow.
“Everything alright?”

She chuckled and responded with a brief "Eeeyup!”

After eight hours of long harvesting, Tyler’s arms and legs ached. The sun was already setting and the three crusaders scooted up the hill. Applejack nudged Tyler a bit.
“Hey! Look at who comes to Ponyville to see ya!” As he turned around, he saw another carriage, yet this one was black and came at the beginning of the night.

Tyler gave Applejack a nod.
“Seems to me another princess wants to visit us, but before that I have to look after the little crusaders. I promised them I'd stop by their club house; where is that by the way?”

Pointing her hoof at the farm house, Applejack gave him a wink.
“Right behind the farmhouse, pardner. Ah have to get all yer bits ready, come back to the farm house once yer done, OK?” With that she went inside. However, once Tyler got around the farmhouse there it was again, this sharp pain in his mind. It first caused him to kneel down on one leg, but then he uncorked the potion. His eyes widened in an instant. This was the most disgusting stuff he ever drunk, but it served its purpose. As fast as they had come, his headaches vanished.

After knocking at the door he peeked inside.
“Hello, girls!”

As the three fillies looked up, they beamed up to him.
“Hi, Tyler! You managed to come!”

But as he entered, his smile immediately diminished to a dry look as he saw the Rainbow Gem.
“This…” He pointed his finger at the gemstone “This gem is what brought me here into this world!”

Sweetie Belle grabbed the collar and held it up.
“Yeah! Apple Bloom found it and we made a collar out of it!”

Tyler held his hands now in a calming manner.
“Child… Hand me the gem… Before you land in the human world!”

The little filly cocked her head.
“What?”

At this point the voice in the gem laughed.
“Quite an idea! Maybe I do this after this world! But now… how about this?”

Suddenly, the collar sprang out of Sweetie Belle’s hooves and went tightly around Tyler’s neck like a slave collar. There was a cruel laughter in the clubhouse and the Rainbow Gem shined bright. Then, like a hiccup, an evil force caused Tyler to throw his head back. Pain blackened his vision and he held his head, screaming loud, reaching inhuman tones. Tyler tried to fight the demons trying to take him over as fear struck him. A fight he was slowly losing. He tried to scream, but something withheld his voice as he arched forwards. Dark magic filled his eyes.

The three fillies galloped out of their club house in panic as Big Macintosh gave the clubhouse a grim look.
“What in tarnation?” As Tyler breached through the wall of the little club house with complete dark eyes and a sadistic evil grin, the strong stallion gasped for air, before spitting out the stalk in his mouth, giving Tyler an angry look. Something wasn’t right with the human, and the stallion knew that words were useless at this point. He only muttered a brief and disapproving “Nnnope!” before they both were now running at each other.

While Apple Bloom ran into the farm house, the other fillies ran down to Ponyville. Shortly after that Applejack’s voice was audible over the orchard.
“HE WHAT?” As she galloped out towards the clubhouse near the barn, yelling sounded from behind the farm building. As she arrived, she witnessed both her brother and Tyler fighting in a fierce brawl.

Although Big Mac landed several hits, hits that would send any stallion backwards to the ground, the kicks and punches, however hard they were, seemed to bounce off from Tyler as some dark force field protected him. The punches the human delivered however, hit unobstructed and pummeled down merciless upon the strong stallion. Applejack couldn’t believe her eyes. Her brother was the strongest there was, not the entire town of Ponyville could take him down for taking Twilight’s enchanted Smarty Pants.

Yet there he was, completely defenseless to Tyler’s mercy. With a final haymaker, Tyler sent the stallion to the ground and looked into the direction of Ponyville. Dark lightning danced over his body and he left the moaning red stallion alone, going for the town. This wasn’t the Tyler she used to know… Something grave and horrible must have happened.

As Tyler went out of sight, she galloped over to her brother. His bruises were bad, but would heal with time. Obviously Tyler wasn’t out to kill him.
“Big Mac! Ya alright big brother?”

With a painful shake of his head he muttered his short response.
“Nnnope! What has gotten into him?”

“Ah don’t know… But no one beats up a member of the Apple family without me having a word in that!” With these words she corrected her Stetson and galloped after Tyler, who was now running with a sadistic grin on his face. Somehow, the gem pinpointed him directly into town, towards the nearby Princess of the Night.

By now Rainbow Dash landed in front of the library and kicked the door open.
“Twilight, you have to come! Tyler seems to be out of his mind! He beats all those around him like crazy!!!”

Twilight turned her head to her friend and gasped for air as she conversed with Luna and Trixie.
“What? Oh no! Something must have happened to him then!” As they stormed out of the library, leaving a puzzled princess behind, the two guards of Luna already charged at Tyler while the citizens panicked and ran out of harm’s way.

“SEIZE HIM!!! HE WANTS TO ATTACK THE PRINCESS!” As Applejack saw her partner beating up the royal guards, she shook her head in terror. Why is he doing that? He’s not a bad guy! Yet there he fought with Luna’s guards, moving in a demonic speed and strength, tossing the two bat ponies in armor around like toys. But the more Tyler partook in this brawl, the more Applejack could see something in his eyes. His once so blue eyes, looking to her in a flattering manner, were as black as the moonless night. But something sparkled in them. Tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Tears! What in tarnation? He beats up ponies and cries?”

Out of the panicked pony crowd, Wheat Wacker approached the Mane Six, smirking.
"See? I told you he couldn't be trusted! Now what we need to do is-" He was unable to end the sentence as one of the Lunar guards was thrown directly at him, shutting him up. A fact that was causing several of the girls to chuckle. He truly wasn't a big help as of right now.

Twilight’s look, however, got more determined as she looked down to Scootaloo.
“This all began after that collar jumped at him, you say? I sense some sort of evil magic emitting from it!”

Rainbow Dash now looked to Tyler.
“You mean this collar with the Rainbow Gem on it makes him go berserk?”

Twilight nodded as more and more of the Mane 6 arrived on the scene.
“No fair!” Pinkie Pie yelled angrily. “No one invited me!”

Twilight gave the pink earth pony a stern look, before she looked at Tyler again.
“No time for jokes! Tyler is under mind control!”

Now Luna stepped outside.
“Pray tell! What is this commotion about, Twilight Sparkle?”

As Tyler spotted the princess with a quick turn of his head, he leaped forth and came from the side.
“LOOK OUT, LUNA!!! HE’S UNDER A SPELL!!!” But already did Tyler’s fist deliver the unprepared princess a punch to the face, sending her to the ground in a painful shriek.

Tyler now approached the princess and the Rainbow Gem began to chuckle.
“Oh, how the mighty have fallen… This feels rather good… To see those helpless who denied us our havoc so many eons ago… Come, human…” commanded the voice in the gem. “You will destroy the Princesses on my command, so that nothing can stop my troops from entering this world.”

As Tyler stood over Luna, raising his fists to smite her, he suddenly stopped in movement. He looked down to the princess, tears in his eyes as his face began to twitch, his body struggling to disobey.
“What is this?!? SMITE HER, YOU USELESS SUBCREATURE!!!”

Twilight raised her head in recognition.
“Tyler is fighting the spell that commands him! Quick! Applejack! Rainbow!” The earth pony and Pegasus nodded firmly and charged at Tyler. With a hard kick from both the earth pony’s hind legs to the stomach, Tyler was brought off balance so that Rainbow Dash could ram him to the ground.

With an emotion of hatred and rage the chaotic voice announced,
"ACCURSED PONIES!!! I WILL HAVE HIM DESTROY YOU!!!"

Luna, meanwhile on her hooves again, raised her wings and leaped of the ground. With a loud and clear Royal Canterlot Voice the alicorn spoke up high above the ground.
"NAY! YOU SHALL FEEL OUR WRAITH!"” With an ear deafening thunder strike, Luna pointed her horn at the sky above Tyler, who was now crawling on all fours, casting a powerful spell releasing a lightning that shot electricity through Tyler’s controlled body.

With a loud and raging roar, the human arched back, protected by the evil magic withstood the most part of the lightning, enraging the Princess of the Night even more. “THOU SHALT RELEASE THIS LAD!!” As the lightning grew stronger, Tyler’s clothes were ripped apart as he screamed in both agony and rage. As he suddenly fell on his back, the collar breached and the gem loosened itself from it.

The voice from inside the gem seemed to have lost some power from protecting and holding his puppet’s will at place, so the gem’s shine diminished a bit.
“Damn you ponies! You’re going to pay for that! Come, my minions! Rise for your master! Embody their worst fears!” With a loud bang a vortex of colors emitted from the gem as dozens of creatures emerged from it; they were all flying creatures, like dark monstrous bats, screeching and howling as they formed a gigantic swarm in the sky.

It took a while for Tyler to come back to his senses. And for the first time since a while, Tyler’s headaches stopped completely. His eyes shot wide open.
“I am sorry, everyone! I was conscious the whole time, but all I could do at that time was watch.”

As Luna’s look fixed on him, her eyes narrowed.
“Thou are not to blame for this, lad! Tis this gem! It controlled you!”

Tyler shook his head.
“Nevertheless! It was my fist that brought you folks pain, Princess Luna. I-" He suddenly stopped as he recalled her sentence. “What was that?”

The princess gritted her teeth while blasting one of the void creatures out of the skies.
“Tis this gem which controlled you!”

“You mean this cursed gem is responsible for all my terrible headaches? And it made me cause pain to others?” As the human heard all this he stood up tall in front of the seven mares and the alicorn princess, pointing his finger towards the glowing gem. “You jerk! Whoever you are in there, you’ve made me hurt my friends and your goons keep hurting them! For that, I’ll have your sorry ass!” With that he leaped forward and punched one of the attacking void bats. The punch was so hard the dark creature span around before it hit the ground.

This prompted Rainbow to cheer.
“ALRIGHT!!! HE’S BACK!!!”

As he was fighting the void creatures, Luna watched him. He ripped off a wing from the body of a void bat on the ground, prompting the creature to screech in agony as stripes of dark flesh and veins snapped.
“By the Tartarus’ cavernous deeps! This being! Tis blessed with enormous strength!” As more and more creatures befell the girls, they more and more got overwhelmed.

One of the dark creatures leaped onto Fluttershy, but Tyler ripped it off from her before it could do anything and smashed it into the ground before his fists pummeled the creature to its horrible demise.
“DON’T YOU DARE TO TOUCH MY FRIENDS!!!” Ripping out the lower jaw of the creature, blood shot out of the carcass. Sprinkled in black void blood, he turned away from the girls. “I AM YOUR OPPONENT! COME AT ME!!!”

More and more of the creatures came out of the gem and the horde began to attack not only Ponyville, but also Canterlot and Cloudsdale. The royal guard had their hands full to protect the citizens. A whole squad was protecting the still slumbering Princess of the Sun as a servant tried desperately to wake her up from her slumber. As the Princess of the Night stood over the seven little ponies as their protector, she shouted towards Tyler, summoning a sword right beside him.
“Tyler Jones! The gem! You have to head for this gem to stop this horde!”

Taking the sword into his grasp, Tyler slashed his way towards the gem and showed no mercy as the creatures befell him, biting, clawing and scratching as they could. The further he was, the more of them he had to kill. It was not until long that he had caused total carnage among the ranks of the void minions. Stripes of flesh fell left and right as Tyler raged without prejudice among the void creatures. As one of the beasts sunk its fangs into his shoulder, he slammed the sword into the eye sockets, ramming the blade through the beasts skull, causing the brain to ooze out.

While the Princess of the Night battled off most of the creatures befalling the girls, Twilight and Rarity gave several shots with her horns as well.
“Where is he? Ah can’t see him anymore in this swarm!” Applejack yelled to be audible among the screeching and howling. When a void creature landed in front of her, she gave it a strong buckle, sending it flying in a low altitude.

Rainbow crouched deep at the ground until she pointed into a direction.
“There he is! See?” Applejack crouched down as well, spotting Tyler in the distance beneath the swarm.
Wielding a dead void creature as a shield and striking out with the sword. Once in a while he had to use another corpse as the creatures didn’t hesitate to rip their fallen brethren to shreds. Dark flesh was torn to pieces, thrown away all around as giant claws released them.

When Tyler almost reached the gem, the voice of it was enraged in fury.
“NO!!! THIS CAN’T BE!!!” With a furious darting flame a dark projectile shot into the air, causing Tyler to resile. “Now shall you deal with MY champion, champions of Equestria! AND ALL THE POWERS OF THE VOID!” The dark projectile hit the ground with loud bang, causing the void creatures in Ponyville to fusion together, forming a huge dragon like form. A manic, evil laughter was in the air as Tyler’s unbelieving view rose up to the giant threat before him. The Rainbow Gem rested on the beast’s forehead.

“Sweet mother mercy…”

Twilight yelped in terror.
“A void dragon! But those were extinct since ancient times!”

Luna shared a grim look towards the situation.
“Indeed, Twilight Sparkle! I and my sister fought the last remains of their menace a long time ago. Stay close to me! My magic shall protect thee, young ponies!”

The void dragon now spotted Tyler and he spat his fire in one focused burst. Missing Tyler with only a few inches, Tyler saw in terror that the earth was scorched to ashes. The burst would instantly vaporize him if it would hit him. With a taunting laugh the gem spoke up again.
“What will you do now, hero of Ponykind? Come on… Amuse me a bit before my pet turns this world into a big nice barbecue!” Tyler gritted his teeth as the beast charged for a second burst. Again, he barely made it away. The dragon then snapped at the human, prompting him to strike on the beast’s snout, stifling the dragon. With that, the giant claw slammed forth, slashing through the solid rock before Tyler. His eyes widened as he saw the sheer might of this strike.

Not only did this beast best him in both size and sheer might, it also had the advantage of being able to spit fire at will. Also his sword seemed utterly useless against the diamond hard dragon scales. What would I give for a rocket launcher right now…

Gritting his teeth, Tyler began to grin. He seemed to like this challenge somehow.
“He’s suicidal!” Rarity muttered.

“Out of his mind!” Applejack added while Fluttershy cowered behind her. “Scary...”

By now sadism visibly grew in Tyler’s face.
“Come on, Scalie! I’ll make lots of boots out of your sorry ass!”

Twilight shook her head in shock.
“So the prophecy finally came true… He is Tilerions! The hero foretold in ancient times!”

Luna looked back to the human.
“Tilerions? But this is only the name he would have among alicorns!”

“You mean…”

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle. Tyler Jones is spoken Tilerions in alicorn tongue.” This prompted Twilight to widen her eyes. Yes, there was a certain resemblance between these two names, although not an obvious one.

“We have to help him! We can’t just watch in awe while he fights! We need to get to Canterlot to get the Elements of Harmony!”

Applejack looked around.
“How do ya suppose we should do that? With this monster around, I doubt it would let us fetch them for some fancy brawl.”

The princess turned her head to Applejack.
“The elements? My sister told me she would get them out of the Canterlot Tower. Something about this human she said… Which means… I could try to teleport them here!”

Twilight nodded hastily.
“Then do so! We don’t have much time!”

Striking the dragon again with the sword, the only harm done was one scratch on a dragon scale. Suddenly the dragon’s tail swept over the ground, what scored a powerful blow and brought Tyler to the ground with his sword several meters out of his reach. As Tyler rolled on his back he saw the dragon towering above him, charging for yet another burst.

But before the flames could leave the vile snout, a bright beam of rainbow gave the beast a heavy blow like a giant had punched it.
“You won’t harm him on our watch, you vile beast!” As Tyler turned his head to the girls, each of them had a necklace, except Luna, who magically levitated a case and Twilight, wearing some sort of tiara.

As the dragon rose up again, he simply turned his head to them and the voice from the gem raged again.
“YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!!!” With this, the dragon spat his fire towards their direction.

Tyler raised his arm towards the girls.
“NO!!!” Much to his relief, he recognized a magical barrier inside the flames. Obviously Luna protected the girls with a powerful spell to repel such heat. With this knowledge, he ran to his sword and took it with a slide, as the flames missed him again.

From the inside of the magic barrier the girls watched in terror how the dragon hunted after Tyler.
“Tarnation! It doesn’t look good for the feller!”

Rainbow turned to Twilight.
“Why can’t his sword pierce through the dragon’s scales?”

The lavender unicorn shook her head.
“More importantly, why do the Elements of Harmony have no effect on this beast?”

While keeping the green flames out of her magic barrier, the alicorn princess looked down to the girls.
“Neither the Elements of Harmony nor the strongest weapons can harm a void being that powerful by themself! It will corrupt each separated force into nothing. For you can’t bring harmony to nothing; and you can’t stab nothing. Only together they can hope to slay such a beast. That’s why my sister wielded the elements while I wielded the weapons. The void will be filled with harmony, thus destroying the being!”

Twilight’s mind was thinking in overdrive as she thought of a solution.
“The prophecy says: ‘He will come and rise to the aid of ponykind’s mightiest heroes.’ This means us! So we don’t have to point the Elements of Harmony at the dragon… We have to point them at the sword so Tyler can slay the beast! Come on, girls! One more time!”

By now Tyler was cornered by the void dragon who snapped at him with razor-sharp fangs. But Tyler drove the sword into the dragon’s snout, causing the ferocious beast to recede once or twice. Then the giant claw slammed Tyler’s torso into the mountain wall, nailing him down. A cruel and sadistic laughter emitted from the gem as the dragon prepared his final blow. It was in this moment, when all hope had faded in Tyler’s mind, that the bright rainbow beam of Harmony enchanted the human’s sword, causing it to shine bright. Reacting quickly, Tyler rammed the enchanted sword into the beast’s claw with a fierce roar. Unlike his former strikes that didn’t even penetrate the black scales of the dragon at all, this slash chopped the claw right off like cutting through butter.

With a painful shriek the void dragon arched back, spitting fire into the air while doing so. Tyler leaped forth on the ground and dived deep through the defenses of the dragon, piercing its heart with the enchanted blade. The beast gave out another shriek as it fell with its back to the ground. The bright light of the magic of the elements glowed from within the body as the void being ceased to exist.

As the heavy breath of the dragon ceased, the girls looked down. Twilight fought against her tears.
“I… I never thought the Elements of Harmony could be used to end a life like this…”

The dark blue feathers of Luna’s wings rested on her and the Princess of the Night looked down to the unicorn.
“You used the Elements in that way because you had to, Twilight Sparkle… For the sake of harmony, this hostile beast had to leave this world.”

In the center of this carcass Tyler managed to take the gem into his grasp.
“Time to put you down for good! I told you I’ll have your ass!”

The voice suddenly spoke up, spitting threats even now.
“Wait! Without this gem, you are stranded here, human! You will NEVER return to your normal life back on Earth! Destroy it and all of this IS GONE FOREVER!!!” Tyler hesitated for a second and looked to the six friends in front of him. Each of them was giving him a warm smile. There he stood on the decision of his life. Should he return to a life back on earth or should he stay here, meaning that he could never return to earth again.

But if he would return, it would mean leaving this mess, the invasion in this state as well. The lives at stake were not of his concern, not even human. But could he, in good consciousness abandon them after befriending them, abandon those who needed him the most in this very moment? Or would he be the one ending the threat and become accustomed to their ways? They were expecting him to be their hero, and surely they would make it up to him. His eyes closed as he made his decision as only one thought filled his mind.

Be that hero.

And with this, he hardened his grasp on both the gem and the sword grip.
“If I leave, you and your bunch of void creatures will stay in Equestria. I couldn’t take another look into the mirror without spitting into it should I leave them now! But there’s one thing you bastard overlooked about us humans…”

There was a brief moment of silence before the gem replied.
“What… What is that?”

Tyler grinned widely.
“We humans can adapt to any environment!” With a loud boom he smashed the sword grip onto the gem three times, each hit causing a bright, colorful detonation. Finally the gem detonated in a screaming blast of energy. As the bright light vanished the girls looked up again. All the void creatures had instantly turned to ashes. Without their master’s power they couldn’t hope to sustain their existence in this world.

Finally the night became silent again and from all around the ponies cheered that the nightmare was over. Tyler stood there on the very place he destroyed the gem. His upper body was free of clothing now as the T-shirt was ripped apart by the void creatures and the blast wave. Stains of dark blood of all the creatures he killed covered him. Painful looking scratches and bite marks covered his body. Before his feet lied the shards of the once intact Rainbow gem and all his hopes of ever returning back to Earth. The sword, now colored in different shades of the rainbow, fell to the ground; Tyler had no intention carrying it any further.
“I… need a vacation…” he muttered as he turned to the others, smiling one last time before he fell down unconscious.

As they approached Tyler, Twilight looked over to Trixie.
“You called him weak for wielding no magic, Trixie… But even without magic this human showed more courage and self-sacrifice than most ponies possess in times of crisis.”

Luna nodded.
“I agree with thee, Twilight Sparkle…“ With this Luna’s guards arrived at the scene. They were bruised from their brawl with Tyler and were obviously doing their part to repel the attacking void hordes. While they were busy lifting the now unconscious Tyler into Luna’s carriage, Luna turned to the others. ”I shall take personal care and assurance that his wounds are treated in Canterlot hospital. This ‘human’ is too dangerous to keep unguarded and too valuable to lose as an ally… This fine and loyal lad shall stay in Ponyville… Among friends…”

Hearing these words brought a smile to everypony’s face. All except for one. Trixie spat out in disgust.
“Enough of this nonsense! To think that I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, should be responsible for the unfolding chaos which almost befell Equestria…?”

As she attempted to trot away, Rainbow Dash flew right before her.
“Not so fast! You still have things to explain!”

“Indeed… Thou both do!“ announced the Princess of the Night, glaring at both Rainbow Dash and Trixie with gloomy eyes. “For twas thy magic and Sonic Rainboom that this lad had come to Equestria and lost his home. On his behalf I demand a new one in exchange! I shall discuss this matter with my sister…”

Trotting over to Luna, Wheat Wacker shook his head in disbelief
"Your highness! I don't believe you're seriously considering letting this vile and aggressive creature roaming loose in Equestria!?! Especially after he attacked you!"

Luna arched a brow and looked down to Wheat Wacker, before nodding over to Tyler.
"If with vile and aggressive thou meanest fighting for us and sacrificing his only way back to the world he knew, then yes. Then we are talking about the same individual here. Thy doubts in all honor, dear Wheat Wacker, but none of us is without fail."

"B-but-" he stammered.

Yet Luna was not in the mood for his objections and trotted past him.
"I'd rather see this one as an ally and not as a prisoner turning against us. He attacked me under the influence of mind control. Thus he is not to blame for this attack." Turning around towards the others, Luna nodded one last time before lifting off.

Wheat Wacker simply shook his head, shooting the Element Bearers an angry glance.
"It's a mistake... You'll see..."

Once he galloped away, the girls looked at each other.
"Waddya think he's up to?

"Nothing..." Rainbow stated flatly. "He's just bitter."

Twilight sighed while looking after him.
"Some are sceptics, but that doesn't make him a bad guy. He'll come around eventually. We just have to help Tyler show him that he means well."

* * * * *

Then, in the early hours of dawn, Luna approached her older sister in her chambers. Celestia opened her eyes, looking up to her younger sister with a warm smile while she rose.
“Thus the sun can set anew, Luna! What was the entire ruckus outside about?” Luna harrumphed and reported to her sister the whereabouts of the incident this night, prompting Celestia to open her eyes wide.

One day later, the royal guard gathered in the throne room as the Mane Six bowed before the Princesses. With a warm smile and a prim stance both princesses stood near the throne.
“Equestria is safe once again, defended to the end by its champions. We honor those brave souls who fought to protect us, those who are no longer among us…”

The guards lowered their heads in sorrow, but Luna, her voice filled with determination, raised her head to continue.
“And we defy those who want to see Equestria brought to ruin!” This brought back proud smiles to the guards as their beloved princesses esteemed their efforts. Celestia smiled to her younger sister, nodding at her encouraging words towards the guards as she continued.

“And while the deeds of heroic ponies are carved into the stone tablets of history, this day we honor a hero who is not a pony, but an ally who sacrificed everything for a land not his own. This day, a human outsider showed Equestria what heroes are made of.” Now her eyes wandered to Tyler who was entering the throne room. His upper torso was in bandages as the wounds were healed in a conventional way.

The doctors were uncertain of how much healing magic it would take to heal the wounds in a human anatomy, so they decided to let him heal up for himself. With a prim “A-ten-hoof!” the royal guard sprang into a respectful stance to greet him.
Celestia nodded towards Tyler with a strict face.
“Tyler Jones, from the world known as Earth… Step forth!”

Tyler took a gulp and went towards the throne, slowly kneeling once he was before the princesses. He looked up to Celestia with honor,
“Your Highness?”

Both princesses exchanged a few looks until the strict views were simply nodded away to warm smiles.
“Because you are an outsider not of ponykind, we have no power over you. Also, you come from a world where monarchy, as ponies know it, is history. But since you wish to live here, we will bestow labors and laws upon you to follow. I entrust you with the wellbeing of Ponyville, to guard it and to hold it dear. Treat Equestrians with the dignity and honor they deserve. Use your newfound strength to protect our beloved subjects; to fight any threat scheming against the harmony of this land, foreign and domestic. Learn the ways of Equestria so that every citizen shall see you as a shining example. And finally… Find a certain someone dear to you. Can you accept these six terms? ”

He looked up baffled on these last few sentences, but she just nodded kindly. Although he didn’t fully understand the last part, he nodded in approval.
“Six labors… Like the six Elements of Harmony… I will hold these labors bestowed upon me today dear, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. May I succeed in harmonizing with Equestria.”

With an almost motherly warm smile Celestia looked up.
“Then I and my sister hereby decree that from now on this human is a citizen of Equestria with all duties and privileges that come with this status. The citizens of Ponyville shall help him to find a place among us as he will guard them from harm in our absence!”

As the royal guard cheered for Tyler, Twilight approached both the Princesses and Tyler.
”I’m glad he can stay with us, Princess Celestia. And I think I’ve learned another thing.”

With a proud smile Celestia looked down to her.
“And what is that, my faithful student?”

Twilight watched Tyler befriending some of the guards as she began to smile.
“Sacrificing something or everything for the sake of others will never be in vain, for others will sooner or later recognize the good deed and the good will behind it. And then your outcome may be that others might want to share their good will with you as well.”

Celestia leaned down to Twilight as they both looked to Tyler.
“A great and good lesson your new friend learned as well…"

* * * * *

The girls waved goodbye to the princesses; however, Twilight and Tyler stayed the longest, as Twilight took a very intimate goodbye to Celestia, Tyler recognized that both student and mentor seemed to be connected by a very deep bond, almost like family bond. But he had other things to say now as he turned towards Luna.
“I forgot to ask, but how is the cheek?”

Luna cocked her head a bit, not sure at the moment what he meant.
“Cheek? Oh! Thou speakest of that hard slap thou gave me while under mind control? No hard feelings.”

Tyler sighed deeply.
“That’s a relief. I would never harm such beautiful creatures on purpose… I mean… Not creatures! Pegacorn? Unisus? What do I call your subspecies of ponies?”

Both princesses looked at each other and laughed wholeheartedly.
“We are alicorns, but we don’t mind you not knowing until now. “

Tyler looked up to the two regal sisters.
“Alicorns…” he repeated amazed. “It sounds beautiful. Truly a name fit for the two most gorgeous sisters the land has to offer.”

Twilight was shocked in awe.
“Tyler! You don’t talk like this to the princesses!”

Again the princesses laughed.
“Oh we don’t mind, Twilight Sparkle. Tia, when was the last time we were flattered that honestly?”

Celestia chuckled in her own regal way and looked to Tyler.
“That was long ago by another outsider. Not a human, but not a pony as well. That was long before the founding of Equestria though.” She then came very close to Tyler. “Now then, Tyler Jones. I have one final question for you on this occasion.”

Tyler nodded and remained eye contact with the princess of the sun.
“What can I do for you?”

The princess was now very quiet, closed her eyes and both her student and sister looked upon her.
“Twilight and Luna both mentioned that you fought fierce and relentless. Like it was a part of you. So tell me: Why do humans fight?”

Tyler was puzzled at this question.
“I… Well, since I’m the only human in Equestria, I can only speak for myself. Will you grant me time to meditate upon the answer? I want to look into myself for this.”

With this, Celestia nodded.
“I will await your answer in patience. Twilight? When is the next time you girls will visit Luna and I here in Canterlot?”

The lavender unicorn thought for a second before she beamed at her teacher.
“Oh, the Grand Galloping Gala, Princess Celestia! That is, if no other statues return to life and bring Chaos to Equestria.”

Both princesses smiled at each other and shook their heads.
“Nay, Tia… Not going to happen this time! I have my eye on that lad.”

Celestia smiled.
“Me as well, Lulu, that bad boy is guarded well, Twilight; don’t fear. Until the Gala it is then. I will send the tickets to you all via Dragonmail as usual."

Proofread by Rythmns