When Tyler entered his chamber, he let his thoughts go through the events of the late evening, especially those two hours in the garden. These chambers were offered to him by the princesses and the Mane Six so he could stay the night in the castle. The room he was sleeping in was very large, indeed too large for one person alone; he might have preferred the company of his herd mates, but while in Canterlot, he deemed it unfit to bang the girls so the castle would be full of rumors about him to pretend feelings for Luna. Twilight and Applejack agreed to this logic and went into another room where they slept together.

As he opened the book ‘Mare in the Moon’, he recognized it had a layout like a children’s book. Why would Celestia give him that book? His eyes went over the first page and he began to read. “Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land…” He could not but chuckle as he knew that the both sisters were the two princesses. Yet as Tyler read on, he frowned more and more. “She did what?” By the time he ended the book, it was 3 o’clock in the morning. Locked away into the moon… Talk about being grounded… With that he put away the book and went to bed.

In the morning Twilight and Applejack came into Tyler’s chamber and silently crawled on his bed. By now, their dresses were with Rarity again, who took strict security measures to them so that nothing could befall the outfits. “♫Tyler…♫” Twilight chirped. “♫Wakey wakey…♫”

Applejack shook her head,
“Ya have to come with something better to wake him up, Twilight… Allow me…” With this she leaned in to Tyler’s head and smiled. “♫Tyler? ♫” He gave a sleepy “Mhm?” The orange mare now winked at Twilight with a big grin as she began to whisper. “Would ya kindly put yer human Willy in mah…” Parts from her whispering were too inaudible for Twilight so she leaned in a bit. “…ya would make me so happy if ya…*whisper* …the whole hand…*whisper* …and all of it in front of Twilight…”

His eyes shot open and he slowly got up and looked at Applejack with an arched brow,
“You have some strange fantasies there girl… That’s kind of scary…”

Applejack chuckled,
“It served its purpose! Come on, sugarcube! We have two early morning audiences in the throne room.”

* * * * *

One hour later, Tyler was standing before the princesses again and returned the ‘Mare in the Moon’ to Princess Celestia,
“It was informative, Princess. Thank you!”

This seemed to embarrass Luna,
“Thou… Thou read that book?”

“Yes… It gave me some insight about you two. Each of you made a mistake. So what? We all make mistakes sometimes, don’t we?”

Hearing those words made both sisters looked down in shame. Celestia saw to her side, where her sister sat next to her,
“I won’t lie… In the instance I used the Elements, I regretted it. It was in this moment when I realized I lost something dear and precious: My one and only sister. On that day, I felt like a part of me was ripped out of my body. Like I was dying, and this pain endured of a couple of hundred years. If only I would have been more watchful for her, I could have recognized her resentfulness…”

Luna shook her head,
“Now I can speak of it with rational hindsight. Thou did the right thing, Tia. Although, I can’t remember every detail; I remember my mind clouded in rage, hate and anger. It weakened over the 1000 years of banishment. I guess before all of this I felt… alone.”

Tyler nodded,
“No one should be alone. If you want some company, I can come over from Ponyville once in a while…”

This made Luna beam in joy,
“Thou would?!? For me? Oh, come here, lad!”

With this, she approached him and gave him another kiss on the cheek, which caught him unprepared. Celestia harrumphed after a while,
“Now, now, Luna… Not in front of the guards…”

The two parted and Luna recollected herself. In the next moment, Luna turned to the giggling guards and unleashed her Royal Canterlot Voice. “GUARDS! FOCUS!” With this the guards returned to proper stance and looked straight ahead.

Tyler caressed Luna’s chin,
“Luna, I bid you farewell now. I will miss the inspiring night time conversation we both had; however, you must teach me that voice thing of yours some night.” Luna looked up to him while bowing down a bit shy while she nodded. Tyler then nodded towards Celestia and went outside and waved at the Mane Six. “They’re all yours, girls! Go get them!”

After a short conversation about the Gala and the incident with Tyler, Princess Celestia apologized for Prince Blueblood’s behavior and ensured that next time he would be kept away from them. As they said their goodbyes, Celestia stood there for a bit longer with Twilight,
“Twilight, I’ve looked into the soul of Tyler. As far as I can tell, he is harmless, but he has hidden potentials. Without thorough research, he stays a mystery for Ponykind. This is not the worrying matter, though; without knowledge about magic, all he has is a sharp mind and amazing strength. What is concerning me is that Tyler, despite having willpower beyond the measures of ponies, showed me how easily the hearts of men can be corrupted. Visions of his home world showed me their corruption in greed, hate and disharmony. Corruption so great they wage wars all the time. While I won’t show you the horrors of these wars, I want you to do some harmless experiments with him. These are strictly voluntary, don’t force him!”

With one last hug, Twilight nodded,
“Thank you, Princess Celestia. I will send you the findings of these experiments.”

* * * * *

On the trip back home, Twilight talked about all the various topics she spoke about with her respected mentor during their short stay. Tyler nodded once in a while, listening to the unicorn as he turned the pages of the books the princess gave him. With a wide grin, Twilight narrowed her eyes,
“Well, Casanova? How did it go?”

Tyler closed his eyes with a smile, shut the book and looked to her in a look self-content,
“I past the point of no return, Twilight… Sweet romance was what Luna and I tasted last night, as I drowned in the ocean of her seductive eyes… Oh, I owe it all to you, you great little mare! Hmmm!” To Twilight’s and Applejack’s surprise, he kissed their lips each with a short peck.

“You two, Ms. Sparkle and Ms. Apple are the finest herd mates a guy like me ever could wish for! Woooohooo!” He opened the window, expressing his joy to some ponies on the fields.

Twilight and the other girls snorted into laughter,
“You’re freaking out, Casanova!” As she calmed herself, she took a look at the books Tyler was looking at. “Oh? I didn’t recognize these books when I was in the royal library… Where did you get them?”

“Hm? Oh, Princess Celestia gave them to me.” He closed the window and looked to Twilight. “Oh, Twilight… You have to help me with learning tips for these books! You can organize! Can you give me a hint for a learning schedule?”

Twilight levitated the books with her magic, giving them a wary look,
“Well, I can at least give it a look, right?” As she turned the pages of the first two books, she let out the one or another “Uh-huh…” followed by a simple “I think I could make you a checklist or two…” But as soon as she opened the third one, her eyes widened. With closed eyes and raised head as well as a deep blush she returned the book. “I won’t help you with learning adult stuff, Tyler… Handle THIS one carefully!”

Tyler nodded and watched over her shoulders,
“So… Twilight… you don’t know these books. Do you think it will take long for you to get an overview?”

“No… I might be done with this in a day or two. But remember I’m doing this for you. I won’t teach the content to you; I’ll help you with your study of these books by helping you learn. I have my own studies to perform.”

With a brief nod he patted her shoulder,
“I wouldn’t dare to ask for more anyway, Twilight. Oh, I forgot. I have to talk with Spike. I’d like to ask him about this scroll thing of his. Luna and I agreed upon staying in scroll contact, so the little guy might have 2 scrolls to deliver each night. You think he’ll do it?”

With a giggle, Twilight explained to her human friend that he only had to wave some gems under the baby dragon’s nose, or to promise to help him with his crush on Rarity in order to get him into a willing mood,
“So, Casanova… You’re taking this to the next level then I guess?”

“Oh yes, indeed. She seems to be excited about being courted. I said I wanted to do it slow, since I’m new to this, and because she deserves proper courting; plus, Princess Celestia gave me these books.”

The lavender unicorn opened her eyes wide and levitated the hitchhikers guide up to him,
“Princess Celestia… gave you THIS?”

As she opened the book, she had to restrain herself a bit as the Mane Six looked to them. Rainbow Dash waved it away,
“Pfft… More egghead stuff…”

Twilight lowered her voice now, her tone was very strict,
“I mean look at it, Tyler! This is a text book about anatomy! Pleasure points among the pony body! Especially Alicorns like the princesses! Just the content gives me the creeps! I mean… chapters like ‘Horns and how to please them during magic’, ‘Instant wingboner’ and ‘Molesting for moderates – Orgasm in 10 seconds’? That’s not a book Princess Celestia would simply give away… There must be a purpose or mistake.”

Tyler shook his head,
“What the hell is a wingboner?”

This sentence caused Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to look up,
“You want to know what a wingboner is? That’s easy…If a Pegasus is excited about something… And I think this can be by finding somepony highly attractive or being caught in surprise as well. Sometimes it can be caused by sexual arousal.”

Tyler’s eyes widened,
“Rainbow, I had no idea pegasi’ bodies were so sensitive to emotional condition! This, of course, explains your wide spread wings when we two first met…”

This prompted Rainbow’s wings to rise up almost instantly as her eyes opened wide,
“Say what?”

Fluttershy giggled,
“See, Tyler? THIS is a wingboner!” Now the train wagon was filled with laughter.

As the train arrived back in Ponyville, the friends spread out. Rarity took the dresses and went back to her boutique while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had other things to do. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Twilight and Tyler, on the other hand, went to Sugarcube Corner. Twilight turned to Spike,
“Spike? Why don’t you go ahead into the library and open up while we come back a bit later? I’ll make sure to get you a nice batch of sapphire cupcakes.”

The baby dragon’s eyes went big as he heard that,
“Sure! I’m on my way!”

While he strolled towards the library, Twilight looked up to Tyler,
“You made this Gala the best Gala we’ve been to yet. How was it for you? I mean the Gala in itself?”

Tyler nodded,
“I’ve met your brother and Princess Cadance as well, I can’t complain. Your brother sure is a decent, good guy; I like him, and you?”

Twilight beamed happily,
“Since the princesses’ assistants were present, I had time to spend with Princess Celestia. It really was better than last year.”

They then looked to AJ, but the orange earth pony shook her head,
“Didn’t have somethin’ to sell with me this time, but Ah kept an eye out for contractors who might be interested into first class apples.”

This brought a smile on Tyler’s face,
“I take it you’ve learned from last year, and didn’t sell apples but advertised the farm. That’s a way to make good money, too!”

As they entered Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie bounced in.
“For me, this was another lame party! But I could spend time with the others, which makes up for it.”

After they’ve spent some time in the confectionery, Applejack gave Tyler and Twilight a hug,
“Later, ya two… Ah have to tell the family Ah’m home. Ah promised Apple Bloom to bring her somethin’ from Canterlot.”

“You do that, AJ,” Tyler smiled.

Meanwhile Pinkie brought some blue cupcakes on the counter,
“Here you are! Twelve sapphire cupcakes for good old Spikey-Wikey!”

With an arched brow Tyler inspected the cupcakes,
“Are those real…?”

“Uh-huh! Real sapphires! Spike will love them right out from the oven!” Twilight paid for the batch and trotted outside while Tyler carried the box.

But as they approached the library, Tyler cocked his head,
“You told him to open up, right? Not to rip the door right out?” The fact that the door really was ripped off its hinges startled the lavender unicorn.

As Twilight entered the library, her eyes widened,
“My library!” With terror Twilight saw her beloved library ransacked and in disarrangement. But then another fear towered above her worries for the library. “Spike!”

While she searched for the baby dragon, Tyler entered the mess,
“What in the world?”

Twilight slowly became hysterical,
“SPIKE!!! Answer me already!!!”

As she approached a chest, it was moving and jumping a few inches,
“…light! Twilight! In here!”

While her magic tried to open the chest to free the baby dragon, Tyler stepped outside, inspecting the area. But as much as he searched, he couldn’t find any clues for burglary. Whoever broke in, he sure had to use magic to rip the door out without claw marks. But little did Tyler know that he was being watched. In a dark alleyway, three shadows stood and watched the human going back inside again. The shimmering light of a dark unicorn stallion's horn shed light to his face. It was the same unicorn that was present in the castle mere hours ago,
“Argesio, contact Doctor Ubermane! Tell him that thanks to our new recruit I have obtained the blood sample he was curious about. I’m sure he will find it most interesting…”

“Yes, sir!” With this brief response the other unicorn stallion behind the one with the vial of blood nodded and galloped away. Within the magic grasp of the unicorn the blood in the vial began to shimmer and sparkle.

WhenTyler entered the library again, the chest opened and Spike gasped for air, before Twilight nuzzled him,
“What in the world happened, Twilight? First I was in the library minding my own business and then everything went dark and I found myself in that chest, and then there were voices. Some guy was called Arisu or something and talked about some Ubermane guy.”

Twilight’s ears rose up in notice,
“Ubermane? I’ve heard that name before! Yes, he was in the Canterlot newspapers a few years ago! I still have the article archived.” As she searched for it, several books levitated in the air until she found an album with lots of newspaper articles. “Good thing I archive some newspaper articles about science and archaeology… There!” With this she pointed her hoof at an article.

‘Mad scientist pony banished for inequane experiments for the research of the connection between genetic structure and magic.’

Tyler gulped,
“So a mad scientist sent a goon squad to ransack this place, but what for? Twilight! Check and see what’s missing! Books, equipment, inventory, anything!”

Arming herself with quill and scroll, the unicorn squee’d,
“Great thing I made a listing of all the stuff in the library just before the Gala evening!”

Tyler then turned to Spike,
“Take a note, Spike. Tell Princess Celestia, we need the royal guard here. Tell her why! As of this moment, Ponyville library is a crime scene!”

Both the baby dragon and unicorn gasped,
“Crime scene? But nopony breaks the law! Why would they?” Spike asked, pointing the quill at Tyler.

The human shrugged his shoulders,
“I don’t know, Spike. But someone got in here for a reason. Until I’m sure what that reason is, I want everyone to stay alert.

* * * * *

Half an hour later, several members of the royal guard inspected the scene. Twilight looked up to Tyler,
“All what’s missing is that test glass of your blood sample. You know the one I wanted to study your genetics.”

Wondering about this fact, Tyler rubbed his chin with narrowed eyes,
“Why the hell would someone search the entire library and laboratory for human blood only?” As he looked up to the guards investigating the crime scene in the upper floor it shot into his mind. “Because whoever did this knows how thorough royal guards work!” He looked around to the emptied bookshelves. “Yeah… he knew they would search the whole place for pony trails like coat hair… he knew this would take time! But why make them work so long? Why build up the time advancement?” As he looked to Twilight again, his eyes widened again. “He didn’t know who he’s dealing with! He would have taken more! If he knew who you were, Twilight, he wouldn’t have been so careless to take only one item! He would take several things to puzzle us!” Giving her a big friendly kiss he went into her laboratory in the cellar, taking a scalpel and an empty test glass.

One of the guards intervened,
“Hey! We haven’t searched that place, yet! You are obstructing royal investigations!”

But Twilight raised a hoof,
“I approve of it, sir. He has my full trust.”

When the human pricked his finger and filled some blood into a test tube, the little unicorn came closer to him,
“Got anything?”

“Well it’s human blood, Twilight… It’s nothing special.” As he handed her the uncorked test tube, she levitated it with her magic.

Slowly the blood began to sparkle in her magic grasp. This prompted her to arch a brow, so she inspected this under the microscope,
“Tell me, Tyler… Why is your blood all shimmering and shining?”

“It is what?” As he looked into the microscope, his blood cells were shimmering in slight shades of lavender. It was a low shimmer though. “That’s odd… Human blood isn’t supposed to do that!”

As he looked over to Twilight, the unicorn took note,
“It has to do something with magic, I suppose. Your Journey into our world must have altered your body. Not in a harmful matter, though, but I have a theory. Maybe your genetic structure was able to contain magic like we unicorns do to begin with, but in your world there is no magic. Or maybe your travel altered your genetic structure to be able to survive in our environment. This might explain why your body reacted like this on the Gala, prompting a reaction with the environment.” Excited, she clopped her hooves together with a cheerful squeal. “This will need further studies! Oh, how exciting! I’ll need all kinds of samples from you, Tyler. Hair, tissue, blood, saliva…” With a dark blush, the young unicorn smiled shyly. “…sperm…”

Tyler cocked his head to give her a warning smile while raising his finger,
“Don’t push your luck now, Twilight…” He then took another look into the microscope. “You don’t think this could be harmful, do you? I mean, Equestria is a place where lots of magic is used in our daily life. I don’t want to be a shining example in that kind of way… What happened at the Gala was enough.”

“No… Don’t worry… I suggest this only has effect on you if a unicorn uses magic specifically on your body, like I was levitating the uncorked test tube with your blood. My magic came in direct contact with it; although, I can only speculate if Alicorn magic has the normal effect on you. It would be fitting since it is a whole lot more powerful than unicorn magic. We should have some tests with you…”

* * * * *

Meanwhile, in a dark underground laboratory…

A door opened and the dark unicorn who collected both skin and blood sample from Tyler entered a big laboratory. Chemical instruments and test tubes filled the tables,
“Doctor Ubermane! I bring fantastic news!”

A gray unicorn stallion with glasses and white lab coat looked up to the dark unicorn coming down the stairs,
“Commander Areku! At last!”

With an evil smirk the black unicorn presented a small corked test glass with some shimmering blood in it,
“See what a certain human has kindly provided…”

With widened eyes, the scientist looked first in surprise, then in anger,
“You fool! You’re wasting my time to bring me this, this… test glass of blood from a primate?”

With an annoyed look the commander glared at the gray unicorn in lab coat,
“Herr Doctor, I assure you that this ‘primate blood’ as you call it, is mixed with unicorn magic which alone makes its existence something of the utmost interest! My boys have put some attack spells on it and the blood simply absorbed them!”

Inspecting the glass carefully without magic on the table, holding a light close to it, the doctor scrutinized the content,
“I see! And it also shimmers like magic! This really is magically energized human blood!”

Being content to be confirmed, the Commander raised his head,
“I assume we finally have found ourselves a new way to store magic…”

With a reminding glare the scientific unicorn looked up,
“I don’t give a hay for assumptions! We must TEST!!!” With this, the doctor placed a single drop on a tablet and held some sort of sensor into the shimmering blood. Magical energy jumped directly into the apparatus, making the indicators go far off scale before the Apparatus exploded. “Sweet Celestia!!!” Jumping back into cover, both unicorns watched as the energy slipped to three further types of connected apparatuses which exploded likewise before the magic energy ceased to exist. Ubermane jumped up in excitement stretching his hooves into the air.

"EUREKA!!! The genetic structure seems to be able to store vast amounts of magic! And those fools in the royal labs know nothing!”

Excited, the commander took another drop out of the glass,
“That gives me an idea… Suppose I take this very drop of this highly energized human blood and cast a minor release spell on it…” With a glow of his horn, a glistening bright pressure wave from the drop smashed a hole of two times two meters right out of the wall. Both unicorns shrieked back for a second, but the Commander recollected himself first. Amazement and vandalism sparkled in his eyes. "Did you see that?!? Think of carriages powered by drops of human blood! Think of trains! Think of airships!”

Giving Commander Areku a sneer, Doctor Ubermane looked at the hole, inspecting the destruction this one drop had caused,
“Use your imagination, my boy… Think big as they do in Canterlot! You see what destructive force one single drop can muster? Imagine a gallon! Think of artillery rounds!

* * * * *

Meanwhile Tyler and Applejack went to the fields,
“Tyler, why exactly do ya think Twilight wanted to do some stuff with ya out here?”

The human arched his brows and shrugged,
“I guess she’s not sure whether or not it’s safe to be around me when I come in contact with magic.”

It was then when Twilight’s voice was heard,
“Look out! Here comes Tom!” With that Twilight hurled over a large boulder with her levitation.

“What’s with the giant boulder, Twilight?” Tyler asked.

As Twilight stood before them, she harrumphed briefly,
“I take it levitation is the least dangerous kind of magic for now. As you can see, I levitated this boulder with levitation. Now, let me try to levitate you…”

Twilight tried to levitate Tyler, but her horn glowed alone. After a few seconds, she gave up,
“Ugh! Why can’t I levitate you? The magic flows, my concentration is there… And yet you don’t move an inch…”

Tyler nodded and cocked his head,
“You can’t levitate me, but you can levitate a humongous boulder?”

Twilight shook her head,
“It has to do something with you, around you or within you, big guy. But for now, we can definitely say that you don’t have any more violent reactions to magic. Do you feel anything inside you? Any change at all? I used that magic on you, what happened to it?”

Tyler looked on his hands,
“Yes, my body feels… tingly… There’s something in me. Can’t describe it…”

Twilight nodded and raised her hoof,
“Good! Quite good! Seems to me, your body absorbed my magic. I’m sorry, but you have to start from scratch with using magic… But don’t worry; you’ll be out of magic kindergarten in an hour! Try to concentrate the magic somewhere, your fingers or hands for example. And point them at the boulder.”

Tyler did as he was instructed and raised his hands towards the boulder,
“As long as this magic stuff doesn’t rip off my fingers… Hey… Why did you name that thing Tom before?”

Applejack chuckled,
“Rarity came up with that, long story…”

Twilight stood next to Tyler,
“OK… Now… Try to levitate that thing… Concentrate… “

Tyler focused on the boulder before him,
“You mean I simply have to ‘will’ it up?”

Twilight beamed,
“Yeah! That’s about it! Try it!” As Tyler focused more and more on the boulder, the giant rock slightly shivered.

Applejack began to smile,
“Almost, sugarcube!” As Tyler’s eyes opened wide, there was a burst of magic and ‘Tom’ was tossed against an old apple tree, toppling it.

Tyler blinked at the boulder before him and eyed between Tom and his hands,
“I’m Tyler Jones… Jedi knight!”

Twilight chuckled nervously,
“Not so much force… I think you will learn it with time…”

As she levitated the boulder back to starting position, Tyler looked at the chopped down tree,
“Sorry, AJ… I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s OK, sugarcube! That feller had to be chopped down anyway…”

Twilight gave him a nudge,
“Come on, once more!”

But while he raised his hands again for another try to redo, he failed,
“Uh… Twilight? I think my batteries are empty…”

“Huh?”

“I mean I don’t have any magic left in me!”

The unicorn cocked her head,
“Can’t you generate magic on your own?”

He simply rolled his eyes,
“Duh! I don’t have a horn like you do, honey!”

This caused Twilight to tip her chin,
“Interesting… You need to be charged with spells… I’d like to perform several more tests on you then, Tyler!”

An hour later Tyler performed a whole lot of spells, including magic arrows and other aggressive spells. This was much to his relief, since he wasn’t out to get another painful experience. Twilight seemed very pleased that he could perform the spells, even when they needed time to come out. However, once he was charged with more than one spell, the spell he let out was rather random than controlled,
“Tyler, I have a theory. You, as a human, can wield magic like we unicorns do. Now, while each unicorn is limited to use magic helping him or her out to do the daily work for the special talent, you have no such limitation. I think you could learn any spell up to class 5…”

Tyler cocked his head,
“Class 5?”

Twilight nodded,
“Unicorns commonly can wield magic spells from class 0 to 10. The magic arrow from Prince Blueblood was a class 1 attack spell. It gives a most unpleasant sting for three days normally. Class 10 is what famous unicorns like Starswirl the Bearded used. Lightning strikes as attack spells and stuff like that. I prefer Class 6 with magic bolts. They are precise as the arrows, but give more punch to it. One bolt can knock out a Changeling drone.”

This caused Tyler to cock his head,
“What’s a Changeling?”

Applejack interfered,
“Believe me, ya don’t wanna know! They are gone anyway, so let Twilight explain first before we change the topic.”

Twilight nodded with a smile,
“Thank you, AJ… You see, Tyler… Alicorns on the other hand use Class 0 to 10 as well, but go beyond that. During the last Nightmare Night, Princess Luna used a class 11 spell on toy spiders, turning them into real ones. I don’t know what class the princesses use to move both sun and moon, but I think this goes far beyond Class 30… That is of course only speculation. Nopony knows…”

Tyler folded his arms,
“So… You mean a unicorn who attacks me will only charge me up?”

Twilight nodded vigorously,
“Yeah! In a way, you are magic-proof! No magic unicorns use on you can harm you.”

He rubbed his chin,
“Is there a limit to that charging? I mean if I get too much… Could this fry my brain?”

Twilight blinked at him with wide eyes, before she chuckled and shook her head,
“Well, we won’t do that, Tyler… But just to be sure…” She then touched his chest with her glowing horn. “There… I injected you with a release spell. It will discharge any magic in you in an instant. You can use that if someone charges you with something you don’t want to have in you.”

Applejack gave this a sly grin,
“Like the 'Want it; need it' spell?”

This caused the unicorn mare to chuckle in embarrassment,
“Like that, yeah…”

* * * * *

Later at the evening, nearing dusk, everypony was enjoying his or her supper when suddenly, a soft melody filled the air, paired with a soft voice. This melody also reached for the meanwhile cleaned library. As Spike opened the window of the Library, he frowned a bit. “Uh… Twilight, are we expecting Princess Luna in Ponyville this evening?”

Turning her head, Twilight turned from the table she, Applejack, Spike and Tyler were eating on until just now as she noticed the melody from outside,
“No? Why? Is she there? That’s her voice, alright.” Trotting outside the library, Twilight noticed that the air was filled with Princess Luna’s voice and calm music.

It filled the air just enough to be heard, a soft calm music to emphasize her voice. Already the stars were out and the one or other shooting star occurred. Many ponies in Ponyville stepped outside and watched the sky in awe. It was then when a Pegasus looped around the city,
“Wow… But where’s the princess?” Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight and Tyler. “I looked all around in Ponyville, but no Princess!”

Fluttershy trotted near, watching around,
“Oh… um… hello, everypony… You know something? The animals love it. The music I mean. They are calmer than ever. Angel’s already asleep. It’s like a soothing lullaby. So, um… Is this Princess Luna’s doing? I’d like to thank her.”

After a loud burp from inside the library, Spike strolled outside,
“Twilight, scroll from the Princess!”

“A scroll? Let’s see. Maybe she knows something about this music. Not that it’s a big threat or something…” As she read the scroll, her eyes widened. “This is happening in Canterlot as well. Princess Celestia says it’s probably…” Her eyes suddenly widened. “WHAT?”

* * * * *
Meanwhile, in Canterlot

Stepping into the chambers of her younger sister, Princess Celestia couldn’t resist but to smile,
“Lulu… The Royal Canterlot Canto? You didn’t perform this in over 1500 years. What happened, little sister?”

Stopping her singing for a moment, while brushing her ethereal mane in front of the mirror,
“Oh I just thought about HIM, Tia… He praised my night and moon so devotedly… I need my night and myself to look good for him… Especially when I’m attending Nightmare Night in two weeks…” As her singing began anew, Celestia smiled upon her sister who magically hovered in the air like a Pegasus filly in her first love.

* * * * *

Back in Ponyville, Twilight looked up from the letter,
“The… The Royal Canterlot Canto…?”

Pinkie Pie bounced around,
“Oh! Oh! Is it something like the Pony pokey? Huh? Huh? Huhh?”

Rarity shook her head,
“Why, no, Pinkie; A canto is a sort of royal singing. So, Twilight… darling, what is this all about?”

Twilight bumped her flank at Tyler,
“It seems Casanova here impressed the young princess during the Grand Galloping Gala and she wants her night to look the best for him.”

This answer prompted Rarity to gasp,
“What? When a mare wants something of her to look better for a stallion, it is obvious she enjoys his company…”

Tossing Pinkie Pie aside, the elegant mare stared up to Tyler,
“You must have treated her like a queen to impress her that much!” Leaning against him, she closed her eyes while even nuzzling him a bit. “Oh, to think I’ve befriended such a gentlecolt…“

Tyler chuckled while caressing her wonderful mane,
“Rarity, my manners aren’t as nearly as refined as yours.”

His response prompted her to gasp again,
“Oh yes they are! And don’t let anypony tell you otherwise! If you want to, you can say such wonderful words! Do such wonderful actions! I’ll never forget how you dueled yourself with this… this… CRETIN on my behalf, even if you had no reason to do so! I’m happy to be one of your friends, Tyler! Any mare would be happy to have you as a friend protecting her.”

“Right!” Rainbow added, “You sure are awesome; like killing all those void creatures with bare hands and a sword… Or to punch that Blueblood jerk once he loses his manners. Man, you are as loyal as me! I respect that, T-man!”

Tyler laughed and gave Rainbow a friendly glare until they rammed their heads together, shouting “FRIENDS!” in unison.

“Oh my… come to think of it. If you touched Princess Luna’s heart that much, you sure must be kind, too.” Fluttershy smiled shyly in a bit of a distance, until Tyler grabbed her and pulled her more into the group.

“Come here, you!” With a surprised yelp Fluttershy resisted first, but let it happen. Tyler looked around to his friends. “You know, girls? You are the best thing that could happen to me. Twilight? Why don’t we answer Princess Luna for her song?”

Twilight arched a brow,
“And how?” As he whispered into her ear, her face brightened up. “That’s a great idea!” Shortly after Luna saw out of the window as one magic bolt exploded and the firework showed the face of the princess. Another bolt shot into the sky and formed a heart around her image. This caused the Princess of the Night to gasp. After recollecting herself, she went to bed and hugged a pillow. Slowly, silence returned to the night as she spotted quill and paper. Shortly after that, Spike burped again in his basket and Tyler opened the black scroll, sitting on the bed with AJ and Twilight.

Dear Tyler,

I saw the firework thou got into Ponyville’s night sky. I like to thank thee for appreciating my canto in such a manner. I wish I could be with thee tonight. Right now, my thoughts circle around you.
In love,
Luna

Tyler smiled and took a quill from the desk. While Applejack and Twilight sat next to him, watching over his shoulders, he began to write.

Dear Luna,

Your Royal Canterlot Canto truly surprised us a bit. While your Royal Canterlot Voice is a very loud thing, everypony in Ponyville was pleased with your Canto. Ponies came outside the night to listen to it. I saw several couples in the night sitting together as your soothing voice calmed them. Fluttershy bids you a nice thank you; your voice calmed her animals so much that they slept peacefully. Twilight and Applejack are sitting here with me as I write these lines. We would like to have you here as well. Guard our dreams well tonight, my maiden of the night. I will go to bed now, hopefully to dream about your beautiful Canto.
In love,
Tyler

As Luna read those lines, she held the letter affectionately on her chest with a deep sigh,
“That I will, my Defender… That I will…”

Meanwhile Applejack and Twilight cuddled with Tyler as all three slept in one bed.Twilight looked up to him,
“Those were sweet words you wrote to her, Casanova… You really want her in our herd, hm?”

Tyler nodded,
“Indeed. She needs to be accompanied to be happy. And she definitely deserves someone who lets her experience love. I just hope I can perform this task…”

Applejack chuckled while caressing his chest with her hoof and nuzzling his neck,
“Yer doing fine there, pardner… Yer making us two happy… Why would ya fail to make her happy as well?”

* * * * *

On the next morning, Tyler went to the Carousel Boutique. Rarity seemed broken-hearted because of the demise of his suit. Tyler, on the other hand, rolled his eyes,
“It’s only a suit Rarity. I’m happy only a suit was ruined and not somepony I love and care for.”

Rarity gasped,
“Yes, this is true… I can create a new suit, but I can’t give life to someone. Still… That brute! How could he attack you from behind…”

One moment later, Sweetie Belle stormed into the boutique,
“Rarity! Is he here?”

After clearing her throat briefly, Rarity looked down to her little sister,
“Now, Sweetie Belle… Show your manners in front of Tyler! He protected me at the Gala!”

“I know! And you told me that earned him his cutie mark! So I wanted to ask him about it!”

Tyler chuckled and sat down before he undressed his upper body, showing his cutie mark to the little filly,
“There you go. But it was a painful thing to earn.”

The little filly cocked her head,
“Why’s that?”

Rarity stepped in,
“Sweetie Belle… He is a human. Humans don’t earn their cutie marks as we ponies do. As he earned his cutie mark, he leaped in front of me to protect me from a magic spell. It was very painful as he got through it.”

The little filly touched the cutie mark now,
“I see… So he’s a protector…” Sweetie Belle then bowed her head in frustration. “Maybe we crusaders are just too little to get our cutie mark…”

As a lone tear dropped from her cheek, Tyler now sat beside the little unicorn filly,
“Size doesn’t matter… Look at me. Do you judge me for my size alone? Hmm?” Looking up to his gentle smiling face, she shook her little head. Nodding to her response, he continued with tipping his right index finger at his head right before the ears. “And you are wise not to do so. For my strongest weapon is my intelligence. And a powerful weapon that is. It explains life; makes us understand. Here, in Equestria, the powers of magic flows through the bodies of you unicorns. Its energy fills the air in every facet of life. A power my intelligence cannot fully grasp, but this I know: You girls are more than blank flanks. We all are enlightened beings, each in our own special way, not the sum of our body organs. Being a filly, you must learn to see the very essence within you.”

He looked up to Rarity, who remained silent. “Here, in front of me, your friends and your beloved family… Everywhere! Yes… even before those who doubt you.” He then embraced the little filly. “When a human being, a being who never was fit to have a cutie mark, can earn one, then you, my little pony, can do so as well.”

This brought back a smile on Sweetie Belle’s face,
“You are right… I shouldn’t give up that easy. Thank you, Mr. Tyler! You are very nice!” Giving him a short peck on the cheek, the little filly ran outside, probably to get to the other crusaders.

Rarity watched her ran outside before she smiled up to Tyler,
“Thank you for building her up again, Tyler. You inspire her so much.”

Tyler stood up and shook his head,
“Don’t thank me, Rarity. She’s a good little filly. She will go her way.”

As Tyler returned to the library, he was intercepted by a bunch of reporters,
“There he is!”

“Tyler Jones! Is it true that you and Princess Luna have a liaison?”

Tyler noticed the reporter ponies now and went on, ignoring them,
“No comment!”

“Is your new, darker toned clothing a homage to the princess?”

“Let’s not speculate about my clothing, OK?”

“Is it true that your visit at the Grand Galloping Gala was to accompany the Princess of the Night?”

Annoyed, Tyler rolled his eyes,
“No comment on that either! But here are some questions to you folks out there! As far as I can see it, the princess not only is co-ruler to the land, but also a lady. Why should a lady always stick to her royal duties? She can have friends, can’t she? Now, ladies and gentlecolts… You’ll have to excuse me. I have appointments I have to attend to.”

As he went over the street to go back to the library, there was a large container where a dark unicorn stallion struggled to open up a crate,
“H-hey! Could you help me, sir?”

Tyler looked inside the container and nodded,
“Sure thing! Are you new in town? Can’t say I ever saw you before…”

“That I am. Name’s Areku! Could you open the crate for me? I’d like to open it without magic, since the content is very sensitive.”

"OK..." As Tyler opened the crate, he found nothing in it. "What? But there's nothing in it! Why didn't you simply-"

He was cut off by Areku,
"Doctor Ubermane wants to see you, Mr. Jones..."

“Ubermane…” Now Tyler’s face darkened. “Now I know… YOU were the one who brook into the library!”

Areku smirked and watched Tyler,
“Is that so…?” Tyler was about to say something, as something hard hit his head from behind and knocked him out. Standing above him, Areku sneered. “You will make a fine addition to the arms race! Now we can mass-produce…”

During the late evening, the girls tried to look for Tyler, yet there was no success to the search. Rarity raised her hooves in expression,
“No sign of Tyler ANYWHERE! Where can he be?”

“It’s not like him to go anywhere without telling us.” Twilight muttered slightly worried. Something must have happened to him… Maybe the guys with the blood took him? Come on, Twilight! Think! Thinkthinkthinkthinkthink!

“I know how to find the T-man!” Rainbow claimed, prompting the girls to look at her.

“Really? How?”

“Pinkie Pie! Here!” With this the Pegasus mare grabbed one of Tyler’s shirts and rubbed it into the face of the pink earth pony. “Now go, girl! Find him and throw a party!” Pinkie Pie wrinkled her nose once or twice, but then seemed to have scent something. As she ran northwest, the girls galloped after her.

* * * * *

As Tyler awoke, his mind span around and a loud bang got him to get the grip,
“Hey! You there! Hairless ape! Get yourself up before we get you!”

Tyler found he was in some sort of cage like a kennel. And a guard had kicked against it. What the serious fuck? “A kennel? You treat me like an animal? Maybe I should get you a stable then as well! Some carrots, some oat, for our good horsey here… Yes you are…”

The guard in front of the cage gritted his teeth, and now Tyler could recognize him as Wheat Wacker.
“Enough!!! This guy doesn’t even know the position he’s in!”

Tyler smirked as he saw how easy it was to get this stallion pissed off,
“Sure I know… You sick fuckers put me into a cage so I don’t kick your sorry sissy ass! Not even surprised to see your sorry ass here. What you say, big boy? Open the cage and we dance a bit! You always had a beef with me, so let's settle this!”

This really enraged the stallion,
“I’M TIRED OF YOUR BULLSHIT, YOU FILTHY XENO!!! WE HAVE 75 STALLIONS OUT HERE TO PUNCH YOUR FACE IN! WHAT DO YOU GOT?” As he tried to reach Tyler with his hoof between the bars of the cage, obviously to punch Tyler with it, Tyler grabbed the hoof of the stallion and broke the bones in it with several targeted punches, prompting the stallion to scream in pain.

Tyler’s eyes were filled with satisfaction as he committed this act of revenge for himself,
“Your hoof… And my pleasure!” Several more punches and painful shrieks later the limb was broken beyond help. Tyler then got away from the bars and the stallion reeled back.

Areku now approached the scene,
“There is a being inside this cage, which is something far worse than Ponykind could ever imagine… Should you risk bodily contact with him, you all will regret it. Your magic won’t help you.” With this the unicorns became more cautious about Tyler. They knew that magic wouldn’t harm him and that his strength matched theirs. He was a hazardous being to them. This gave Tyler enough time to explore the laboratory with his eyes. There were many animals there in cages. They were put through the most inhumane and unspeakable tortures. Only to satisfy Ubermane’s sadistic thirst for knowledge and Areku’s military curiosity, who both inspected the results of the cruel animal testing.

Often, in the darkness, Tyler could hear the little critters whimper in fear and agony. Once in a while, several unicorn stallions injected destructive magic into Tyler and some of the animals. Was it every hour? Every half an hour? Slowly Tyler’s world began changing, as more and more agony took grasp of him. His only hope was to endure and he tried his best to keep his sanity. At some point either the girls or the princesses would find him. His feeling for time began to change as well. He couldn’t tell if it was imagination but somehow he could tell how many seconds had passed. Maybe this was a syndrome he developed. He could have been in there for days, weeks, even months. Or maybe it was just for hours. This underground facility had no clock, no calendar; nothing to keep track. And the sleep phases were simply putting out the lights; depriving every sense from him. Yet after a while, his body began to shimmer. He knew this had to mean signs of overcharge and fear grew in him.

After a while, they took some of his blood to experiment with it. Tyler could see what one drop of blood could muster to a concrete wall. The wall of 10meters length and height and 2 meters width was blown to pieces by this very drop of blood. A nightmare was born in this laboratory as they filled his blood into small glass capsules.

Then, during one sleeping phase, Tyler was awake in the darkness, thinking about the magic injected to him earlier this day or night… and he understood what had been injected into him. He had become magically sentient. He could identify the very spells that were within him. This miracle was kept secret from the scientists. And patiently, Tyler waited for the right moment while remembering what Twilight did to him before. Just like on a hunt. Just like his father once taught him during his childhood. Wait, and be ready…

Meanwhile the Mane Six strolled around Dragon Mountain as they followed Pinkie Pie. Rarity rolled her eyes,
“Pinkie! You’ve been searching for three days now! And all we did was go a full circle around Dragon Mountain!”

The pink earth pony looked up,
“Yeah! I know! But I smell Tyler here!”

As Twilight looked up to Rainbow Dash, the Pegasus shrugged,
“Hey! She usually finds ponies that way!” It was then when Fluttershy pointed towards an entrance guarded by two unicorns.

The girls looked at each other and nodded,
“This must be it, girls! We have a clue! Now… Someone has to lure these guards away…”

All eyes turned to Rarity. The elegant unicorn gasped before she shook her head,
“No! You can’t expect me to act that low!”

“Come on, Rarity! For Tyler? The one who was so chivalrous to you?” Twilight smiled wide and winked vigorously with her eyes.

Sighing in defeat, the unicorn nodded,
“For the rescue of a gentlecolt, a lady has to do what a lady has to do! But don’t you dare spread that around!”

“We won’t! Pinkie promise!” A united “Pinkie promise” sounded off. Mere moments later, the two stallions looked up as a whistle got their attention.

Rarity strolled from one bush to another winking over to them in a lascivious manner, shaking her flank for them,
“My… such handsome studs… Surely you could give a fine mare the time of her life…” I hope this turns out well, otherwise I have to throw up at these words…So uncouth! As she disappeared into another bush, both stallions grinned at each other and followed her. Some punches and kicks later, the girls had them tied up and AJ made sure they couldn’t escape or shout for help.

When they entered the facility, it was quite dark and moody. It wasn’t until long they found the main laboratory, not noticing the shadows in the dark. But by now, all the animals in them were dead by over dosage of magic injection. As Fluttershy passed the cages, tears ran down her cheeks,
“No… Celestia no… They’re all… They’re all dead…”

Rainbow Dash tried to cheer the weeping timid Pegasus up while Twilight shook her head in disgust,
“Who could ever perform such cruel studies that the test objects die?”

Applejack now came to her side,
“We need to find Tyler, sugarcube… if they let all these lil’ critters die, Celestia knows what they’ve done to him!”

As they went further into the laboratory, they saw Tyler hanging from the ceiling. His body was shining bright by now. Twilight concluded that this was due to overcharge of magic inside his body, but she couldn’t tell what he was charged with. His arms were wrapped up in chains and his head hung down. “Tyler!” As she shot a magic bolt at the chains, he fell to the ground and collapsed. As the girls stormed to him, his two herd mates were the ones getting him into a sitting position. “Tyler! Come on! Snap out of it!” Rainbow eyed the surrounding darkness with wary glances. “Folks… Anypony else thinks coming in here was way too easy?”

WhenTyler came to his senses, he shook his head, still groggy,
“Twilight… No, you’re all not safe here… Please! You must leave!”

The lavender unicorn shook her head,
“I won’t leave you behind!” By now she noticed that his eyes were shut tight. “What have they done to you? Why don’t you open your eyes?”

He shook his head,
“You… You have to go…” As Pinkie Pie pushed a lever while walking backwards and the whole laboratory began to rumble and big and heavy steam machines came to life.

Applejack looked around with wary looks,
“What in Tarnation? Is this the Flim Flam Brother’s home or somethin’?”

As the lights turned on again, the girls found themselves surrounded by over 70 unicorns who now charged their horns with magic. Areku and Ubermane entered the main laboratory now, sneering down to them,
“See there, Doctor Ubermane? I told you the little herd would come together… The bearers of the Elements of Harmony… Celestia’s little lap dogs… I can already smell their fear… Nopony moves!”

Twilight glared up to Areku,
“What have you done with Tyler?”

“What we have done to him?” Ubermane laughed. “Oh we only made use of his full potential. This human truly is proof to my theories! We Weaponized him! And now we’ve charged him with oh so many attack spells that one drop of his blood can level a house! With his help, we might even overcome the Princesses! All this weaponry you witness here is able to storage vast amounts of magic! Once charged, one hundred unicorns can wield the magic of ten thousand! Enough to level Canterlot in a day!”

Areku grinned proudly,
“As from this point, Dragon Mt. will be the new Power center of Equestria!”

Twilight’s horn began to glow,
“It takes more than a few human blood bombs to bring Equestria down!”

The Mane Six gritted their teeth as suddenly Tyler’s voice rose,
“No! I won’t let you do this! I won’t allow this madness come to be!”

As he opened his eyes, they were filled with magic, shining brightly,
“Twilight Sparkle… In mere moments a magic detonation of unprecedented proportions will unleash all the magic accumulated in me destroying anything in this laboratory, vaporizing the base of the mountain in the process, causing it to crumble and bury all the evil in it. Tell Princess Celestia I had no other choice!”

Twilight shook her head,
“I won’t abandon you!!!”

By now Tyler yelled at her and his expression was that of anger. “Fool! I have to stay behind to ensure the safety of this land! You will soon begin to imagine what they set in motion this day! Lead our friends out of this mountain and at least 30 miles away! There you should be safe. You must find the courage to leave me to meet me another day, beloved! Take your love for me and hold on to it! Now run! LEAD OUR FRIENDS AND RUN!!!”

Magic focused in Tyler as particles of light appeared out of nowhere and shot towards him. There was a smell of static in the air, prompting Rarity to gasp,
“Twilight! If they charged him that much that one could smell magic in the air, we HAVE to get out of here!” Twilight looked up to Tyler with tears in her eyes, before she nodded and a purple flash teleported them away.

By then Ubermane ran across the hall,
“A release spell! By all means, someone charged him with a release spell before we caught him!”

Areku gritted his teeth,
“WHAT? NO, YOU IDIOTS! DIDN’T YOU CHECK HIM IF HE WAS ALREADY CHARGED WITH SPELLS?”

Tyler looked down to them both as his voice became calm. He seemed to have made his peace with God already,
“You brought this misery upon yourself… Everything in this mountain will be destroyed! I will bury you and all of your cruelty beneath tons of rock! Not one of your war devices will ever reach the surface to harm Equestria!”

Areku looked up to Tyler,
“This isn’t over yet!” That said, both of them teleported away as well.

One moment later the Mane Six appeared outside of Dragon Mountain, not far away from the already searching guards. Princess Celestia seemed determined to find and rescue the only human in her realm. As Twilight saw one nearby stallion, she immediately recognized him,
“Shining Armor!”

As the unicorn stallion looked up, he saw his little sister and her friends running towards him,
“Twily! What are you doing here? Cadence said the princesses need my help with searching for Tyler, so she teleported me here. What is-”

He was cut off by Twilight who pointed her hoof towards the mountain,
“You have to order everypony away from Dragon Mountain! They did something horrible with him!”

He shook his head not understanding,
“Hold it there, what did they do to him?”

Tears ran down Twilight’s face now,
“He can storage magic, so they charged him up to use his blood for war devices! And now he wants to release all that magic to destroy the facility!”

The eyes of the stallion grew large,
“Ok, listen, first thing we do is to-”

Then they were interrupted by a horrible quake, followed by a bone shaking thunder, compelling each and every pony to hold his or her ears. As the detonation blast reached them, the girls and guards had problems to stay on their hooves. Shining Armor held his sister tightly as gushing winds passed them. He was the first to look at what caused all this.
And what he saw literally stunned him. A giant bright sphere of blue light breached out of the mountain, pushing the rest of the mountain away with loud cracking sounds. It was so bright it hurt to look at it. The amount of magical energy to form such a thing… It also pushed away the clouds. Shining Armor couldn’t even begin to imagine the extent of this. If Twilight was right, the human had been so highly charged with destructive spells… No, nopony could have survived such an ordeal! But that was just the point. The human was neither a pony or from this world.

He was interrupted in his thoughts as Twilight struggled in his grip. As she saw what happened, her eyes went as big as plates and her pupils turned to tiny dots,
“ Let go of me! I have to get him out of there! He’s in the epicenter! I can’t just stand here!” Twilight didn’t recognize how her tone was instantly hysterical.

But this only caused Shining Armor to tighten his grip on her,
“TWILY!!! There’s nothing you can do for him!”

Looking desperately towards her friends, she saw that Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow had to do the same with Applejack who was equally out to help Tyler,
“Out of mah way, y’all!!! Mah pardner out there needs mah help!”

They all didn’t noticed how their hooves scratched the earth beneath them, leaving little trenches as they held the strong earth pony back,
“Rainbow Dash! Ya above all! Let go of me!”

As Applejack gave her a stern look, that look suddenly vanished as she saw tears in the Pegasus face,
“Believe me! If I knew I could survive this, I would be the first to go!”

It was then when Applejack’s legs gave in and she began to cry bitter tears,
“What are we goin’ to do, y’all?” Right now the quakes went into stronger force as the mountain top began to crumble. More and more of the mountain fell apart directly into the sphere, surely to vaporize as well. Tears ran down Twilight’s face as she lied in the dust, reaching out to the mountain and called out for Tyler.

Awakening from all the ruckus, Luna stepped outside to her balcony to see what happened. As she saw the giant detonation, a bad feeling took place in her in an instant. As she galloped towards the door of her chambers, said doors suddenly opened and her sister stood in there,
“Did you see that, Tia? It’s him! Something most horrible must have happened to him!”

Celestia nodded,
“Twilight already sent me a letter. Somepony ponynapped him. That detonation surely is connected to this. But we cannot enter this area until the sphere is gone.” As they stepped outside, Celestia seemed very disturbed about this sphere. “Such destructive force… “

Luna muttered as she shook her head in shock,
“Someone must have done terrible things to him to make this!” By now many red hot objects blasted out of the sphere. Several crashed down on Equestria, others smashed right into the nearby mountains, one shot directly into the northern regions towards the Crystal Empire.

Proofread by OpalBerries