Days came and passed but nothing was found anymore between the rubble and the royal guard stopped searching on the fourth day,
“I’m sorry, Ms. Sparkle… But by now he must have died of thirst…” Twilight bowed her head in frustration and nodded. The new Captain of the royal guard had a point there. Yet Shining Armor would have never stopped the search until he either moved the mountain away or presented Tyler’s corpse to her.

By now both the librarian and the farm girl were deeply broken-hearted. And while the Apple family did their best to cheer Applejack up, the rest of the Mane 6 tried to bring a smile back to Twilight. Pinkie Pie was struck by the fate of her two friends the most. No matter what she did, nothing was able to do something for the better, causing sadness to the pink energy bundle and her mane to flatten. There was the daily mountain of mail for them both. Everyone in Ponyville showed sympathy to the former members of what was once the most popular herd in town.

Then, on the fifth day, Twilight awakened in the middle of the night. It wasn’t because of a nightmare or someone waking her up physically. It was a voice.

Beads of sweat sparkled down her coat. This was Tyler’s voice. She would recognize his voice in the midst of thousands. His voice whispered her name again and again, echoed in her mind.

She stepped outside and looked north to the remains of Dragon Mountain. Something compelled the young unicorn to go to this very place, even in the dark of the night, her heart beating like crazy. By then, his voice whispered through the wind, calling her name. It was this silent voice that caused hope to rekindle in the unicorn’s heart,
“That voice…” Twilight didn’t recognize that another pony also arrived at the scene.

“He’s calling mah name…” Applejack arrived there, obviously coming from Sweet Apple Acres.

Twilight raised her head,
“What? You too?” The earth pony nodded, still listening to the voice in her head.

“Ah can’t explain it, but somehow deep within… Ah know he’s still alive… And he’s calling me. He’s waitin’ for us, Twilight. Ah cannot explain this, but that’s how it is…

The sound of hooves landing sounded off and as they turned around, Luna landed right beside them.
“He’s calling me as well, Twilight Sparkle… He’s calling for everypony he has deep bonds to… I… I feel flattered that he calls out for me like that.”

Applejack looked up to the alicorn,
“Luna, what do yer think we should do?”

The princess tipped her chin for a moment, before pointing north,
“Why, what a question! He’s calling us, so we have to come to the place from wherever he is calling us from.”

Twilight gulped. Anypony else would have called her mad, not those two… It couldn’t be madness if they as well could hear it. And in the midst of the night, they left Ponyville and went north. Passing Canterlot and Cloudsdale, they kept walking always into the north. When they were tired, they slept, when they were hungry, they ate.

By the time they reached the Crystal Mountain, they were on the outskirts of Equestria. Ascending the mountain was difficult for both the unicorn and earth pony, but Luna scouted the easiest way for them. Motivated by the always calling voice they went through icy caves and snow, hopeful to help him out. Since he was calling them, maybe he was hurt or lost. The sheer thought of Tyler lying in the dirt somewhere made Twilight fear for him, pushing to move faster, but Applejack and Luna held her back, forced her to pace herself.

As the journey went on for days, one night at the camp fire both the unicorn and earth pony asked the princess if she wouldn’t neglect her royal duties with leaving Equestria so easily. This prompted Luna to gasp,
“Neglect? Nay! Celestia would do the same in my position. And for every other subject in our realm! But her duties excel mine. And in all good honesty: She managed Equestria for a thousand years without me. What do a few days more of paperwork matter then? I can still raise the moon from here, can I not? Tyler not only is a subject to me, but also one that courts for me… I wish this to continue, so for this reason alone…” She blushed a bit, but the other two gave her warm smiles and came closer, sharing their body warmth with her. Luna gulped. She always feared that maybe the others would be intimidated or feared losing Tyler. But she was welcomed with trust, she was welcome in this little herd and this meant a big thing in her eyes.

* * * * *

On the next day, they reached the outskirts of the Crystal Empire and were happy that the temperatures were becoming milder than the freezing ones in the mountains. They passed a few towns and villages, but Tyler was nowhere to be found. And still there was this voice calling them. As the royal guard of the empire showed up, all three of them were escorted and brought into the capital city, standing high with towers of crystal in a shimmering skyline. As the carriage stopped, they were welcomed by both Shining Armor and Princess Cadance,
“Twilight…” With that Cadance hugged both the unicorn and earth pony. “Shining Armor told me everything. What a dreadful event this must mean to you all… And when I’ve heard about what landed into a nearby town to the south I ordered to bring it here at once. I was about to send you a letter, but Aunt Celestia told me you both and Aunt Luna would come personally. Did you really cross the Crystal Mountains by hoof, aunt?”

Luna nodded,
“That we did. So Cadance… Child, your subjects found him?”

The Princess of love nodded with a sad smile while pointing towards the castle,
“Like I said before, this crystal slammed right into a marketplace in a southern town. Luckily no one was in that place at that time. We tried to get him out already, but this crystal seems virtually indestructible for crystal ponies. It sucks the very magic my magicians perform on it into itself. Shining Armor told me what happened in Equestria, so we immediately stopped. I won’t let this happen again. I thought of cutting him out myself, but I didn’t know how he reacts to alicorn magic, so I studied the crystal and his body.

With this she led them inside the castle and brought them into a large hall, guarded by several guards. The Crystal was large, at least four meters high and two meters in width. Tyler was enclosed in it like it was a crystal sarcophagus. Applejack approached the large crystal,
“So ya mean Tyler is alive? He’s alive and this thing needs to be opened? Well, what are ya waitin’ for? We have to get him out of there!”

But the Princess of Love shook her head,
“He’s in a deep slumber within this crystal, Applejack… We can’t get him out. The lock to open this prison is not on the outside, but on the inside of the crystal! It is his doing and only he can break free. While we can’t get him out, we might actually be able to get something or somepony in…” This caused the three of them to gasp.

Cadance continued,
“It will take the love of everypony to get inside his consciousness. Once there, you are on your own. You will have to listen to many things. It is likely that you will see some events from his point of view. And don’t expect to understand everything. A mind in this state can do many things, speaking in parallels and metaphors. If the mind speaks in terms you cannot understand, chances are it wasn’t meant this way. Remember! You are entering a mind of somepony, so don’t use any magic! Under no circumstance, do you understand? The magic you will have to do will be your love and care. Stay true to yourself and stay true to your beloved. Only then can you hope to free Tyler… and yourself out of his prison.” Cadance then approached the crystal, her horn beginning to glow.

Applejack was the first to step forth. She slowly nuzzled the crystal and caressed it with her hooves,
“Hey there, pardner… Ah’m worrying for you. I was thinkin’… Yer know we were talkin’ about it before and I think we should start tryin’ to get a foal, so don’t leave me hangin’, yer hear? Come back to me!”

Twilight was the second to come. The unicorn gave the crystal a hug and rubbed her face on it, her tears ran down the cheeks,
“I never doubted you were still alive. My friends showed me the magic of friendship… You on the other hand showed me the magic of love… Tyler… Please come back to me…”

Luna was the last one and gulped as she caressed the crystal above Tyler’s face,
“Thou became the beacon among my stars... I want to be with thee as long as I can, so come back to me! Thou wanted to court me, didn’t thee?” The magic on Cadance’s horn went to full power and the Princess of love performed the spell, causing a bright light on the three mares and the crystal.

In the next moment Twilight found herself in darkness. There was no ground to her hooves, she was floating,
“Everypony here?” She yelled into the darkness, shining bright with every syllable.

A few meters Applejack appeared, also shining with every syllable she spoke,
“Twilight! Keep talking , sugarcube! That way we can – whoa!!!” Applejack was grabbed by something and Princess Luna appeared, flying towards Twilight with Applejack hugged within as the earth pony kept talking. “Thanks, Luna! We should keep together, don’t ya think?”

As Luna hovered over Twilight and they were together, suddenly a floor appeared, causing Twilight to fall on her haunches and Applejack to hang from the princess. As they both landed on the floor, walls appeared as well and formed a hallway with different doors. One of them stood open and something came out.

The three mares looked around, the voice of a boy sprang to their minds and a tiny little sphere of light danced around them.

There was a slight childish giggle in the air as the light span around them. Twilight tried to follow the little light, but gave up soon,
“What is this light? Is this…?”

Luna tipped her chin and thought a moment, before she came to a conclusion,
“Pray tell! Can this be… An embodiment ofTyler’s innocent good side? Can you hear it as well?” Both Twilight and Applejack nodded and Luna raised a hoof to the light. “Little light! Please hold still and speak to us.” With this the little light halted and hovered in front of the three mares.

As they nodded, the light went through the door, leading to a giant meadow,
“What in tarnation? But we were in a hallway before! Now the only thing that remains is this door?” Both Twilight and Luna nodded and Applejack shrugged. “If ya don’t mind girls, but Ah don’t like this place. Too much weird thinkin’…” With this the light began.

While the girls listened patiently, Applejack shook her head,
“Jasper…? Tigers-eye? What in tarnation is he talkin’-”

Twilight held a hoof to the earth pony’s mouth,
“I think these are the metaphors Cadance talked about. Gemstones for certain ponies. So a jasper means Rainbow Dash and the Tiger’s eye is Fluttershy.” Applejack’s eyes widened in understanding and she took the hoof from her mouth with a nod. Luna remained silent and listened to the little light as it continued.

At this point Twilight blushed with a touched smile. He thought I was special that early? With a short loop around Twilight the light continued.

By now Applejack took off her Stetson to cover her own blush. Oh, sugarcube…

Luna gulped and fought the tears. He really did this for me…

Suddenly the young voice got interrupted as a storm comes out on the horizon. A loud thunderclap came from the coming storm. Startled, the little light backs away from the storm.

Twilight shook her head as the little light flies off,
“Wait! Who’s coming?” By that time the storm clouds thickened and two shadows slammed into the earth before them. The first looked like Tyler, only with a face of outrage. His hands and muscular arms were sprinkled with dark blood and with gritted teeth he grinned at the girls.

This was a voice full of hatred. Luna could sense it. As this shadow approached them, Luna went into fighting stance, what caused the being to laugh.

All three girls wrinkled their noses. His voice truly was unpleasant to hear, hoarse, distorted and enraged. As the other one stood up, he stared at Applejack and Twilight. A large split tongue licked his lips. With a hissing voice he approached them.

As the shadow approached the girls, they slowly backed away,
“Twilight? These fellers are just parts of Tyler, right? They won’t do us any harm, will they?” But by then the approaching shadow stretched his arms and was about to leap at them when someone spoke up.

Suddenly another voice of bronze, similar to Tyler’s was heard and bright shining whips tangled around the necks of the dark shadows. As the girls turned around, they saw a shining silhouette in armor pointing a bright sword to the two shadows.

With that the two shadows jumped to the bright shining silhouette, causing in a fight. The girls on the other hand galloped back to the door. As the door slammed behind them, they leaned against the walls of the hallway. Gasping for air, Twilight shook her head,
“He told me about humans tend to fight, but that his mind is fighting itself…?”

Luna recollected herself,
“Tis his mind that is in a shattered state, Twilight Sparkle. All these things are character traits. Innocence for the little one…” She tipped her chin. “…I don’t know about these dark ones… Rage and Lust maybe?”

Applejack nodded,
“These fellers sure aren't nice on their own. Ah thought this one guy was rapin’ me with his eyes already…” Shaking her head, the earth pony looked around. “That one shining feller on the other half… That’s more like Tyler. Protectin’ others, ya know. Seems to me he keeps check on the darker ones. For the sake of the small one I think.” It was then when something slammed against the wooden door.

In a panic, the girls went into the next door on the other side of the hallway and entered something like a library. As they looked around, Twilight beamed in joy,
“A library! YES! Yesyesyesyesyes!” As she bounced around in joy, her grin was wide and happy. “Maybe I can have a peek at all the achievements of humans!”

Another voice sounded off, clinical and businesslike. With a puzzled “Huh?” Twilight bounced into yet another Tyler. This one was wearing a suit and glasses.

Applejack arched a brow,
“Like what? Ya know Tyler never spoke of bad things from the human world…”

Holographic images of medicine, the Olympic Games, the United States’ constitution, terraforming domes and the landing on the moon appeared. Luna squealed in joy as she saw an astronaut walking on the moon. “Oh! Tis exciting! I want to know more about this thing there!” But as the images slowly vanished, the Tyler before them shook his head.

The pictures showed the three mares the same horrors Tyler showed Celestia before. Marching armies and all the nightmares mankind could muster. All three of them gasped at the mushroom cloud. Applejack took of her Stetson,
“So many lives… Thrown away… for what?”

Twilight looked at the pictures with a grim look,
“No! I refuse to believe that all humans are evil! We know Tyler long enough and he never harmed anypony! There are good humans! There have to be!” With this the librarian knelt down to Twilight and patted her head.

Other pictures showed many faces and their names in big letters beneath them. Luna cocked her head as she read the strange names. ‘George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Galileo Galilei, Mahatma Gandhi, Christopher Columbus, Mother Theresa, John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Neil Armstrong…’ The list went on and on.

Now Twilight’s face lightened up. She knew it. Humans couldn’t all be bad.

Twilight nodded. Not to interfere with a culture that wasn’t as technical advanced seemed a proper way of handling it. As someone knocked on the door, the Tyler in suit stood up.

As the door opened, the bright silhouette in armor stood in it. This caused the girls to smile,
“Hey there, big feller! Ya took care of those two?” As the shining silhouette came in, he gave a brief nod to Applejack.

Luna leaned to Twilight and began to whisper,
“Pray tell… Can you imagine what he represents? Courage? Bravery? Passion?” But the lavender unicorn simply shrugged.

Twilight raised her head,
“And what is this core? The center of this mind or yet another room with things to see?” The silhouette turned to Twilight and looked down to her before it knelt down to her.

With this Twilight nodded. He was right. They had come here to help Tyler get better and the faster they would do that, the better. As he led the way, the girls followed him. As the door to the library closed, the Tyler left behind closed his eyes and shook its head.

As they approached a black steel door, Twilight gulped. It didn’t look inviting since it had cracks and the wall it was embedded in had cracks in it as well.

As they entered the room, a heartbeat sounded as the crystal in the middle of the great hall pulsated and shed light to the otherwise dark room. Deep and wide cracks surrounded the crystal. As they surrounded the crystal, many memories of what seemed to be Tyler’s childhood appeared. Loud cracks were audible in the far reaches of the mind.

The pictures showed a human, looking similar like Tyler, yet seen from below as they see Tyler. He had black hair that went down to his shoulders and wore some glasses. Like Tyler and all the other humans they’ve seen here, he was wearing clothing.

Applejack looked up,
“So that’s Tyler’s Pa? Ah say, now Ah know where he has his good looks from…” The three mares floated around the crystal. This is our final hurdle to take. Twilight thought. Tyler… We’ll get you out of there!

More and more cracks came to be in the room and Luna looked to the others,
"Twilight Sparkle! We have to hurry! His mind cannot host us for much longer! If we don'T do something, this whole mind will shatter!"

"Then we shouldn't waste any more time!" With that the unicorn mare put her front hooves on the crystal. “Tyler! Together we can overcome anything! It will be our magic!”

Applejack nodded and put her hooves on the crystal,
“We stand together, Tyler! Through any kind of weather! We will always be with yer! Our love will be honest!”

Luna gave the pulsating crystal a determined look and put her hooves on it as well,
“Together we will find our course through the night! My moon shall shine us the way!” With that the crystal around Tyler began to shine bright as beams and rays of light emerged from it. Cracks appeared on and sounded off the crystal. The eyes of the three mares shined brightly as crystal magic was at work here. As the light from the crystal engulfed them and filled the farthest corners of his mind, every part of his mind was reassembled to place.

There was a loud thunderclap and they were outside of Tyler’s consciousness in the real world. Tyler was freed from the crystal, but fell to the ground, unconscious. As he came to his senses, one of the guards held him up,
“Relax! You suffer from crystallization for tinkering with too much magic. “

As Tyler opened his eyes, he opened them wide. Yet darkness still was around him,
“I can’t see!”

But the voice of the guard remained calm,
“You will see soon enough… Give it two days…”

Tyler’s head rose, his voice shivered slightly,
“How… Who got me out of there?”

By then Twilight leaped in with tears in her eyes and held him tight with both hooves,
“Somepony who loves you!”

His arms now held her as he gasped for air. “Twilight!” With weak grasp he let his hand go through her mane and her tears ran down her cheeks. He was alive and would be well soon.
Both Applejack and Luna came closer and greeted him as well although Luna held back some more.

Cadance nodded and looked to her servants,
“Bring the royal seamstress to me at once! We need some proper clothing for this man. I think he might want to dress up before walking the streets nude.”

This let Tyler’s eyes open wide and he blushed,
“Right… um… And fast!”

Applejack grinned and took off her Stetson and put it between his legs,
“Right, sugarcube…” We don’t want you to freeze, do we?” As the girls laughed, Applejack leaned in and kissed him. It was first to his surprise, due to his blindness, but then he replied to the kiss and pulled her in, caressed her mane.

Later that evening, the three of them were lying on the bed with Tyler’s eyes half closed. As he stared into the burning fireplace, he nodded,
“I think my eyes get better… instead of darkness I see lights dancing. That’s the fireplace, right?”

Twilight nodded,
“It sure is!” As she leaned in for another kiss, his hand caressed her back. “We were so worried for you. Never do that again to us, you hear?”

They both kissed and Tyler nodded,
“I had to do this, Twilight… I don’t know what happened, but it would be far worse if I were to be on the surface.”

While Twilight slightly shivered as he began caressing her cutie mark and flank, she continued,
“You leveled Dragon Mountain. The bright sphere of blue light destroyed the laboratory and everything in eeep!” She yelped out in surprise as he began to caress her in her most sensitive spot between the hind legs.

Applejack chuckled,
“Ya sure as hay go for it, Sugarcube. Twilight, stop talking about that day! It sure isn’t somethin’ we should remember.” With that, the earth pony kissed him passionately for several minutes while Twilight watched silently, gasping once or twice as she felt the fingers in her.

When their lips parted, Tyler’s eyes opened half way,
“Where’s Luna? She was around earlier…”

“Organizin’ the way home Ah guess…” Applejack replied before kissing down his neck and letting her kisses wander down his chest and belly. Twilight blushed even more as the earth pony’s head went under the blanket, making a noticeable bump.

As the bump began to go up and down, Tyler’s eyes widened instantly. “Ooooh shiiiiiit….” A wide grin came to his face before he reached for Twilight and pulled her closer to kiss her again. By now the fingers inside the unicorn stabbed in a fast pace, causing her to moan into the kiss.

While the moans began to emit from their chamber, a few rooms further Shining Armor took notice of it,
“That’s…”

But Cadance brought his head away from the door and back to her as she smiled to her husband,
“…none of your bucking business, honey… YOUR business is right here beside you…” He arched his brows and looked to his wife. She was quite assertive the last weeks. Not harmful, but noticeable. But that was not of his concern right now. He turned off the lights and turned over to Cadance, who already waited for him.

It was then when they heard Twilight moan extremely loud,
“It’s so big! Ahn!” Shining armor’s eyes widened with a blush. This was his little sister saying such things? Praising the size of her sexual partner’s member?

This caused Cadance to giggle,
“Your sister truly enjoys her herd stallion… Little Twily grows up it seems… Why don’t you show them how unimpressed we are about their amorous play? By making me praise you?” The stallion’s look turned from the door back to Cadance again, seeing her expecting glances as she bit her bottom lip. Shining Armor nodded. Yep... assertive all the way...

As more and more moans filled the night, Luna raised the moon on her way back to Equestria. Being an alicorn, she was able to travel fast and reached Canterlot in a matter of hours. Organizing a big carriage, she went to the higher chambers to her big sister. Celestia exchanged a few words and a big hug with her, before each reported the things happening in the meanwhile. Celestia was quite surprised that the human mind was fighting itself to do the right thing sometimes. But meanwhile she hadn’t been lazy and went out for a hunt for the culprits who tried to destroy Canterlot. It seemed to be the doing of an organization called ‘Descendants of Tacitus’ Celestia said that she didn’t know where this organization comes from, but this name, Tacitus, reminded her of a name she heard in her childhood. Luna shook her head in disbelief. She for herself never heard of such a thing.

* * * * *

In the early hours, the three herd mates laid together, both Applejack and Twilight cuddled closely to Tyler, his arms around their shoulders and his hands resting on their chests. As he opened his eyes, his view was almost back to normal, only slightly blurry. But as he awoke more and more, even this vanished. Slowly he caressed the girls’ chests before he carefully got up. He dressed up and watched the window. This wasn’t Canterlot Castle, nor was this Equestria… The girls must have searched far and wide for him.

Now Luna returned, Celestia had accompanied her. As Tyler was brought to them he held his wrists high,
“Ready to go into the dungeon, girls. I am a walking weapon of mass destruction!”

But the princesses simply laughed.
“Now, now… Just ease down, Defender… You are a free man!”

Luna nodded,
“As we speak, the royal guard escorts some of the culprits that fled the mountain into the Canterlot dungeon where they will remain until their trial.”

Celestia smiled,
“I underestimated your wisdom, young Tyler. Surely these devices Twilight told me about could have brought great misery over Equestria. It was a good choice to destroy them along with their research data. Now nopony will ever again get the chance to reconstruct these horrible devices.”

* * * * *

Back in Equestria and in Ponyville, Tyler was greeted with happy faces. It was this warm welcome that showed him that nopony held a grudge to him for leveling that mountain. Seeing the faces of her friends happy again brought back Pinkie’s curly mane as well, a fact that disappointed Tyler a bit, since he stated that Pinkie’s new haircut had something sexy about it. More and more of Ponyville normalized and Tyler took great care to greet everyone. But there was a certain someone he couldn’t spot.

He could sense the others somehow evaded to answer, so his tone got more stricter,
“Alright, alright… Where is she?” As they pointed to Rainbow’s cloud home, he nodded.

Yelling up to her home he called for her. But only the voice of the mare was audible,
“Buck off! You’ve abandoned us!”

With this he opened his arms.
“Rainbow… Come on! I didn’t mean to go all crystal! I’m sorry! Now please get down! I want to make up for it!”

As the Pegasus mare raised her head over the edge of her clouds, she turned her angered face to the human. Tyler gasped as he saw tears. Angered tears, but still tears. In the next moment she tackled him and he slithered on the ground and caught her. Her hooves hugged him tightly,
“You moron! I was worried sick for you! Everypony thought you were a goner!”

Tyler looked down to her, perplexed. But as he heard silent sobbing, his face turned into a warm smile and he laid a hand on her head, caressing her wild mane,
“Don’t you worry, kid… I’ll never pull out such a stunt again… I promise…”

Both Applejack and Twilight watched this,
“Ya think she wants to join in, too? They spend a lot of time together, ya know. And lately she had no male visitors in her home…”

But Twilight shook her head,
“As far as I see it, Rainbow is happy with this buddy-like-friendship. And anyway… You know Tyler… If this goes too much into a full harem, he would get uncomfortable with it.” The Earth pony nodded and both chuckled to it.

* * * * *

As the days passed, more and more fruits came to surface as the royal investigation continued. It came to the point that some of the culprits involved in what was by now known in all of Equestria as ‘The Dragon Mountain incident’ were arrested and brought into custody. A royal trial took place with the princesses of two countries. As the three princesses took their seats, Celestia slammed the hammer to order three times. Now, Celestia, Luna and Cadence watched over the courtroom. “This tribunal is now in session” With this the court procedure went on; Areku only witnessed snippets of it. The only culprit behind the scenes of the conspiracy was only present with his body, his mind seemed absent.

Shining Armor was the first to make his testimony. He stabbed his hoof towards Areku while pointing at him,
“That warmonger has undermined everything! Plotting to use the human Tyler Jones as a super weapon against Canterlot and all of Equestria in a coup d’état!” Shining Armor looked at the culprit in despise, condemning the deeds of a once honored member of the royal guard as he reported to the court of the findings beneath the rubble of Dragon Mountain “All found evidence points to the ‘honorable’ Commander Areku…”

* * * * *

On behalf of the critters tortured to death in the underground laboratory, Fluttershy stood up for her testimony,“Justice! So much misery for so many innocent lives must be punished!” Unusually aggressive for the timid yellow Pegasus, she shouted at the culprit for bringing so much misery to her little innocent friends. “All of this is your fault!”

* * * * *

As Twilight gave her testimony with a vial of human blood, the crowd gasped on the extent of cruelty,
“…You saw the results on Dragon Mountain, even more the evidence I have presented… Would you qualify a magical bio bomb from human blood as ethical correct, Commander? This vial alone could hold enough magical power to kill hundreds!”

* * * * *

One of the co-perpetrators, a unicorn mare, confessed as she made her testimony in tears,
“…AND I COULDN’T GO ON!!! I WON’T LIE FOR YOU ANYMORE!!!”

* * * * *

At the end of the session, Celestia slammed the hammer to order,
“This tribunal finds you guilty of crimes against ponykind and humanity alike… You are further guilty of high treason!”

* * * * *

As the little radio of the dungeon sounded off, the moon shined into the hallway before the cells,
“…Ex-commander Areku’s appeal was denied today. Areku is now slated for execution by firing squad tomorrow…“ A few hours later Areku was found hanged from the ceiling of his cell.

* * * * *

One day passed before Tyler and Luna stood together inspecting the soldiers in Canterlot Castle. It was one of Luna’s duties she had to perform in the late evening and she was happy, Tyler accompanied her in that boring stuff too,
“So here thou are… a strategic advisor for Canterlot and the royal guard… Not a general or a statesman… And thou know thou could have had everything from Celestia and me.”

Tyler smiled gently while inspecting a certain soldier and patting the soldier approvingly on the shoulder afterward,
“Everything means I stay among my friends in Ponyville. And now that I can make a short trip to Canterlot to see you both… if you ask me, I have everything.”

Luna nodded with a smile and bumped her flank against him,
“I envy thee, Tyler. There are times I wish I could have this freedom.” With a big grin she continued. “So, how’s the farm?”

This caused him to laugh easygoing,
“She sure is stubborn with her wish for a foal. Sometimes I think she only uses that as a cover for her strong need. You know… since I’m out of that crystal, I think my life got even better. Twilight has more stuff she can explain to me and I can do more for the town and the Apples… And now I can do something more for the safety of Equestria…”

Later in Celestia’s own chambers, she sat down and bowed her head to Tyler, who was sitting beside her as they had tea together,
“Tyler… As the co-ruler of Equestria I want to say how sorry I am this happened to you. Can you forgive my-”

But he simply raised a hand,
“No… I don’t have to forgive your subjects! There is nothing to forgive. This wasn’t the doing of your beloved subjects… It was the doing of some thugs disobeying both law and morale.”

This visibly eased Celestia,
“I’m happy to hear that you hold no grudge. So… I’ve heard you and Applejack want to try to beget a foal? You need some help with that?”

By now Tyler’s eyes widened,
“Is… Is that even possible? Can you help us out with that?” With a seductive grin she smacked her flank with her wing again and giggled.

“If you can put the right… thrust into it?” Now her flank shook a bit.

This prompted him to bow his head and facepalm himself,
“Ugh… Here we go again…”

Her mischievous giggle filled the chamber as she continued,
“Alright… Let’s change the topic. Why don’t you explain mankind’s big bang theory to me then?” As one pun followed the other, anger rose in Tyler until he raised his voice.

“Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfuckin’ puns from your motherfuckin’ mouth!!” With that a slap sounded in the chamber and he held his index finger up to her in dispraise. Celestia’s eyes were wide open, looking at Tyler, her mouth agape, her flank burning from the bouncing spank. Then her eyes closed halfway and she bit her bottom lip while eying him with lustful glances. Somehow Tyler got the impression that he just stepped onto a nonnegotiable big ass fuckin’ landmine.

Celestia giggled mischievously again,
“Oh… Ohohoh… You like to spank this bad girl, hm? I must say this boldness does impress me…” Licking her lips, she now eyed him with a look he remembered from the day Twilight was in… Then it struck him like a lightning.
Is the princess… in heat?

The thought alone made him shiver in fear and he slowly went backwards to the door,
“I-I should go now…Ahehe… Thanks for the tea!” Fearing to be caught with her and give a scandal to the press, he grabbed for the doorknob until it was in his grasp. With a swift move he opened the door and got out. His heart was beating so hard he could feel it in his throat. It would explain all her weird behavior during the last months. Please… Don’t tell me we are approaching alicorn heat season… Or I’ll build a rocket and leave the freaking planet!

Meanwhile in the southern region of Equestria, on the outskirts of Fillydelphia, another Princess Celestia entered Hoofham Asylum, a place where poor souls were brought that clearly lost their mind. The guard awaiting her arched a brow. The princess was rumored to be rather playfully during the last months. Nothing to get out of hand, but even when slightly serious matters occurred, they were faced with a bit of playfulness. The only really thing she was recollected was when the trial with Commander Areku took place. After that she was rumored to be playfully again. Was this something similar? Why wasn’t she playfully this time? As he wondered, they reached the cell, she turned to him,
“Right… Leave us! I can handle this pony on my own.”

The guard bowed before her,
“As you wish, your highness…” With this he went on to the other cells. As Celestia entered the cell, the door closed behind her and she stood before the gray unicorn.

“So you’re still alive… Ubermane… At last we meet again…” Before her the old unicorn looked up, he looked terrible, the mane twisted more than usual, the coat dirty and drool was dried around his mouth as he looked up to her from his little corner. “I was looking for you, Ubermane… I must say I didn’t expect you would be able to get out of this detonation in time… But you always seem to be a surprise… A misguided yet useful surprise…”

The unicorn nodded with an insane laugh,
“This human was a very potent proof of my theory that genetics hold a key element to magic. And yet I failed… How could I imagine that one being alone not born an alicorn could storage so much magic in it? This detonation… This surely was visible miles and miles away beyond the border… So much destruction and I found the key to it all! ” He then began to sob. “So many lives wasted… for the sake of science… And now the co-ruler of Equestria had come to punish me for it…” His sobbing became louder. “Forgive me, Princess… Forgive me…”

Celestia stood up and nuzzled the insane scientist unicorn a bit,
“Fear not, your curiosity always brought you into trouble… Hand over the vial you’ve saved and swear you will never ever enter a laboratory. Then everything will be forgiven…” He looked up to her in surprise, but with a warm and gentle smile she gave him a wink. “I am Princess Celestia. Nothing is hidden from me! Now come… This was a burden for you long enough…”

With that the unicorn got a little vial out of his mane and waved it around fiercely,
“Here! Take it! I brought so much misery with it! I won’t give a hay for the ‘Descendants of Tacitus’! For once, I will do the right thing!”

After his hoof presented the vial, a green aura engulfed the vial and levitated it,
“You haven’t failed, old pony… Today you have given us a very interesting thing to think about… However… I am not the princess of the sun…”

Ubermane looked up in surprise again, sheer horror got him as green fire engulfed Celestia, revealing what seemed to be a younger version of Queen Chrysalis,
“Changeling… no… No! NO! What have I done?”

As he crouched backwards in fear of losing the last bits of sanity, she giggled victoriously,
“My mother will find this ‘human’ very interesting… As for you, you shall receive your pardon now…”

While bare fangs came near him, tears welled in his eyes,
“Celestia help us…” Then darkness engulfed him. With a dark smirk, Celestia came out of the cell and went slowly down the hall as green flames sprang out of Ubermane’s cell, slowly consuming the other cells and the guards fighting them. Her eyes were filled with a cruel green glow as the screams of agony behind her united in a cacophony of death.

Next Chapter: 9 - Interlude - The Alicorn War * Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 9 Minutes