Several weeks had passed since the incursion of the Descendants and the brave crusade of the Equestrians. Although the memories of these dark days were still lingering in the minds of the ponies, so were the memories of bravery and victory over the ponies that tried to take away the equestrian way of life. Reassured of the humans, the ponies of Equestria soon forgot their doubts about the Harmony Rangers and greeted them like before. During the winter, the damage caused by the Descendants was undone and repairs were made.

In Canterlot, Rachel Higgins and Tyler Jones made their report to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Memory snippets of several guards played in front of the two regal sisters. The bombardment of the citadels, the fights in the streets, the betrayal of so many once believed to be faithful and loyal to both of them. While Luna’s face remained calm and disapproving, Celestia shook her head, not understanding the sheer hatred,
“Why… why do this? We never harmed anyone to deserve this.”

Rachel sighed,
“If you ask me: It was a message… To all of Equis… ‘We do what we want to do. And not even your precious princesses can stop us!’”

Hearing this caused Celestia’s face to grow grim,
“Rachel… Tyler… I want your Ranger team assembled as quickly as possible. No one will harm our subjects like this unpunished! You will have access to the equestrian armory, treasury and research facilities. Do whatever is necessary to counter this threat!”

Tyler sighed as he heard this and slowly shook his head,
“It seems the ‘war on terror’ has followed man into this world…”

“Silence!” Celestia snapped back at him. “None of you has caused this. This isn’t the doing of mankind… This is the doing of some occultists worshipping an ancient alicorn king! And for killing so many of our beloved subjects Luna and I will punish them.”

Tyler rested a hand on Celestia’s shoulder,
“Harsh strictness doesn’t suit you, beloved… This is MY part…”

Celestia blushed a bit, but smiled at Tyler’s hint. Did he fear her heart to harden over this? That was sweet of him. Placing a short peck on his cheek, she winked at him shortly with a nod, assuring him that he hadn’t to worry about her before she returned to her strict face,
“As soon as it is late spring, I wish you Harmony Rangers to investigate in the lands around for hints about who these ‘Darkness Sisters’ are. Saddle Arabia, the Amasian Empire, the Crystal Empire… Even the Griffin Kingdom, Zebrica and Minauria. Meanwhile Luna and I shall send diplomats to all nations. This is a threat not only for ponykind, but every peace-loving being on Equis!”

Tyler took a look on the globe,
“Amasian Enclave, travel time three days, Zebrica would be two days... Minauria and the Griffin kingdom… Boy, these are far away… a week for each one of them? Quite a travel we have to do there… Even more so if we’re all in one group. We’re too small in numbers to do that within a week. And there could be another attack in our absence. Not again! I think either Rachel or me should stay in Equestria to support the Royal Guard. And some sort of headquarter wouldn’t be a bad idea…”

Rachel arched a brow with a wide smile,
"A Ranger Headquarter! I like that idea! We could recruit some loyal ponies into it. After the march of Equestria, patriotism is at its peak. And perhaps some recruits from the other countries might join as well.” Coming over to the globe, she glanced over it, standing on the opposite side as Tyler. "Even more eyes to look out for some sort of crossing..."

Tyler looked up from the globe and to Rachel, slowly nodding.
"Your search for the crossing home to Earth, yes." Looking over to Celestia, he then arched a brow. "I guess there are no cases of mass disappearing ponies, griffins or anything?"

But Celestia only shook her head.
"I am afraid not. If there is a crossing to the human world, Earth... It is beyond Luna's and my jurisdiction, beyond the borders of Equestria."

Looking back to Rachel, Tyler nodded once again.
"I'm aware that you want that crossing found in order to secure it. So do I. But for now, let's continue about some more pressing matters. We need to establish some sort of fighting force here and have to find out who these Darkness sisters are. As far as I'm concerned, they could be anything! From a pair of female dragons to some unicorns with too much ego and power. We need to know more about our enemy before we can ever hope to defeat them." Rachel agreed with a simple nod.

Luna then nodded,
“Very well then, I shall inform some of the loyal secret agents living in Ponyville. My guess is they would very much like to help thee in defending Equestrian borders, Tyler.”

Tyler arched a brow,
“I didn’t know Equestria had a secret service…”

Luna held her chin high,
“Tis a secret service after all, beloved. What good would it be if any knave and villain would know about it?”

“I guess that’s true…” Hearing his admittance prompted Luna to hold her head even higher in pride. Noticing this, Tyler smirked. “But they didn’t warn you two from the insurgents as well, right? So they don’t cover everything… “ Luna bowed her head, reluctantly admitting that the equestrian secret service was with flaws. But Tyler patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry… Would you be so kind and order the guard to clean up the CCF and empty it? I’d like to give that facility a new purpose.”

Luna then nodded, her mood getting better again,
“That I will, Tyler…” Tyler and the two sisters now hugged as the meeting was over and the Rangers left the throne room.

As soon as they were out, two other visitors now entered the room, only to be greeted by a now beaming Celestia,
“Ah! There you are… It’s so good to see you again. It’s been so long…”

Tyler recognized Derpy, who waved at him with her hoof while giving him a friendly smile, before following the stallion into the throne room, but Tyler didn’t recognize the brown stallion with an even darker brown mane. Both shared a glance at each other and there was something between these two. Both seemed to recognize that the other was more than what met the eye. And this made Tyler wary. Who was that? But then their glances parted from each other and the stallion now looked at Celestia and seemed to be smiling,
“You’ve had this place redecorated, haven’t you?” He looked around and shook his head. “I don’t like it.” Then the door closed and Tyler arched a brow, but let it go. Celestia had many connections, maybe Derpy and that stallion were another one.

* * * * *

Several days later the first snow fell in Ponyville. While Tyler and Twilight watched in awe, Grinko, who lived in the library to this point, arched a brow. As soon as he felt the icy cold and saw the white snow, he backed off,
“What is this trickery?” he growled with distrust. Grinko’s hair began to stand up on end as he went backwards into the library.

Tyler arched a brow,
“Oh this… Right, you’re a Masar. You probably never saw snow in your life, huh?”

Raising a brow, the hefty Masar leaned forward,
“Snow? Is that this white stuff coming from the sky?”

“It is.” Twilight started to explain. “Snow is frozen water falling from the sky like rain.”

With careful gesture he held out his big paw as several snowflakes landed on it,
“Frozen… It’s cold like the night… These lands hold numerous wonders…” With that he shivered. “I miss Moranji… There one could walk on warm sand all day…”

As they came back inside, Twilight nodded over to him,
“I’m curious about your country, Grinko… Tell me about Moranji, please.”

Grinko looked down to the pony and narrowed his eyes a bit,
“Where I come from… we eat meat or fish! We hunt for prey and fish in the ocean. On a good and festive day… we have zebra…” A cold chill ran down Twilight’s spine. Again the Masar reminded her that he was a pure predator. Sentient and pleasant-natured, but still a predator. When Zecora heard about his presence in Ponyville, she was furious, demanding his immediate departure. Twilight now understood why. But Grinko nodded as he continued. “I know you fear me to some extent, Twilight Sparkle… and for good reason. My kind hunts zebras for prey and zebras and ponies are alike…” He then looked at Tyler. “But I own this man a debt. If he wants me to overcome these daily temptations, I will have to do so.”

Twilight cocked her head and arched a brow,
“Well, you fought well for Equestria, but there are no guarantees you don’t give in for your lust for flesh.”

He grumbled, slightly frustrated by her mistrust,
“That is why I HAVE to go on a strict diet of fish! And once this… snow goes back in spring as you say, I and Tyler will go hunting for my lust for prey and flesh in this Everfree Forest of yours. While enduring these hard times I hope for you all to see that I am an honorable being.”

Tyler patted Twilight’s shoulder and nodded,
“When Zecora was new to Ponyville, everyone avoided her, fearing her for being different. When I was here, they were wary as well first. Give them some time to know you better and they will accept you as well.” Twilight looked up to Tyler and smiled.

Grinko, however, grumbled a bit,
“There is another thing… I want to have my own room.”

Arching a brow, Twilight shook her head,
“Why? Do you want more privacy? I told you I’m not mad at the hairballs as long as you clean them up afterwards.”

But he growled unhappy,
“Twilight Sparkle! I deem it improper to sleep in the same room as two… lair mates!”

“Lair mates…? But what-” As Tyler whispered something into her ear, her eyes widened and she blushed heavily. “Oh!”

The Masar now bowed before Twilight,
“You are one of the companions of the man who saved my life. I serve you as I serve him. These fangs shall never touch you or your friends.”

Twilight nodded at this, unsure what to say at this. Tyler, however, smiled at this,
“Why don’t we let Grinko pay the rent by telling you about the Masar ways, Twilight? All the things you could learn without putting yourself in danger of hungry Masar eyes…” With a grin he leaned down to Twilight and lowered his voice. “But we both know you like a little soft bite into your flank once in a while…”

Pushing Tyler back with her hoof, she looked back to Grinko,
“I would love to learn about your people, Grinko.”

Nodding again, the Masar bowed,
“My pleasure… Then it shall be so! My wisdom, although limited compared to the priestesses and shamans of my land, shall be yours in exchange for shelter.”

However, before Twilight could shoot her first question about his whereabouts and way of living, the sound of a carriage landing sounded from outside and while they turned their heads towards the windows, it knocked on the door.

While Spike went to answer the door, Tyler looked at Twilight,
“Are we expecting someone today?”

But the librarian only shook her head,
“Not that I know…”

Half a minute later, Spike came back in and looked at Grinko,
“G-Grinko? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are here. You better come; they want to… have a talk with you…”

As they entered the main library hall and living room, both princesses were standing inside while the guards waited outside. Celestia recognized their coming at once and approached them with a gentle smile,
“What a wonderful winter day it is, Twilight. I’m happy to see you again so soon, my faithful student.”

Both the librarian and her mentor hugged and Tyler caressed Luna’s cheek to greet her welcome,
“How are you, Luna?”

“Oh, tis quite bright outside, the ongoing reflection of sunlight in the snow makes my eyes hurt a little bit. After all, I had slept very little today…”

But Grinko was still quite confused about the situation at hand,
“The rulers of this realm want to talk with me all by themself? Don’t you worry that I as a Masar might attack you without the protection of the Guard?”

Celestia looked over to Luna and both grinned a bit,
“Oh, it would be a nice relief of stress. After handling the sun and moon for so many millennia… it would truly be nice for a change to handle an assassination attempt.”

All attendees looked at Celestia with big eyes. Tyler’s brows arched,
“Huh?”

But Celestia simply smiled,
“Of course, Tyler! The last one was approximately…” She thought for a bit. “7.854 years ago! Cute little feller tried to burn Luna and me with his dragon breath. But we made him learn his place.” Beaming at Grinko, the princesses nodded. “You are welcome to try your luck as well, Grinko! We promise we’ll try to go easy on you.”

Tyler leaned down to Twilight and lowered his voice,
“Is she kidding?”

But the unicorn simply shook her head,
“I don’t know…”

After some giggle, Celestia harrumphed a bit and got serious again,
“Now, why we’re here… Grinko derka Khass’ra , son of Tass’kra… Step forth!”

Luna now turned to Tyler and Twilight,
“This might take a while and we wish to have this conversation in private. Why don’t thou take Spike and go outside for a few minutes?”

Looking over to Celestia, Tyler received a reassuring nod and looked over to Grinko,
”Sure… Twilight? Come on, let’s go!”

Outside Spike began to bibber from the cold,
“H-hopefully this won’t t-take long…”

Leaning against the tree, Tyler closed his eyes while Twilight looked up to him,
“What do you think will they talk about?”

Looking down to her, Tyler smiled a bit,
“Probably stuff about staying here and under what conditions…”

Both princesses now sat down on their haunches in front of Grinko and he as well sat down with a gulp. There was something in the air, something he couldn’t point out, but it made him fully aware of his surroundings and alarmed about these two mares. He had killed ponies, even unicorns before, but these two were a fully different league. The feeling in his guts slowly became unbearable. They may look like prey, but they were unreachable. And deep within he slowly fought the urge to flee.
It was like he was the prey and they’re supreme predators. The sound of a simple spoon clinking in a cup of tea made him come back to reality, as Celestia spoke up,
“We have heard plenty of things about the Masar… Not many of them are good. Piracy, killing zebras and ponies for prey…Our list of reasons for allowing you to remain here is short… Yet you fought with Tyler against the Descendants when he returned. And you contained yourself from killing anyone in this battle…”

“Yes…” Looking down to his paws Grinko gulped.

Luna now arched a brow,
“But the lust for their blood was in thy mind?”

Flashbacks came to the mind of the Masar. How he had to force himself sometimes not to perform that final blow. His paws now clenched together in fear the claws might jump out,
“It was, indeed…”

“So why didn’t you kill?”

Looking out of the window to Tyler, Grinko took a deep breath,
“I vowed loyalty to Tyler Jones, the human who freed me from the Changeling hive. By my honor I must follow his command and path until the day my debt is repaid. If he wishes me not to kill, I shall not kill.”

With a gentle smile, the Princess of the Sun looked at him. Grinko didn’t like this. It was like she was looking into his very soul and could see right through him,
“I see… And if this debt is repaid, will you go on hunting ponies or zebras?”

Grinko knew what she was up to and looked into Celestia’s face,
“Not if I don’t have to…”

Celestia now arched a brow,
“If you don’t have to…? What’s this supposed to mean?”

“We talked about it before you two arrived. I will hunt the wild animals of the Everfree Forest or will go fishing. As long as I get my diet of meat or fish from these sources, I do not hunger. And if I don’t hunger, my honor will keep me holding my vows. So if you want me to pledge myself to give up hunting ponies, I can do this. Yet I will have to do something for winter seasons… I can’t fish with this much snow stuff around… But I could build some storage of smoked fish and meat, if you let me. If the humans want some meat, I could go hunting for them as well and hunt for a living.”

Luna nodded,
“An interesting proposal, my sister… They are omnivores, they long for the taste of meat as well once in a while. Having a hunter in the Everfree Forest might help them concentrate more on their missions at hand.”

Celestia now eyed the Masar for a long time and then approached him,
“It seems your proposal is not without reason. I will take your word on this, Grinko derka Khass’ra… It is now up to YOU to prove to us two what the word of a Masar is worth… If honor is such a high value among your race, I give to you this one chance to prove yourself.”

Bowing down, the Masar looked after them with a nervous gulp. Luna now clopped two times against the window and Twilight and Tyler came back in with Spike, who hastily ran to the fireplace to warm him up again.

After that little talk, Grinko now turned to Tyler in private while the princesses approached the door,
“These two mares are not natural… They possess an aura beyond this world… I can sense something like that!”

Tyler nodded with a smile,
“Of course they are something special… Why do you think I love both of them so much?”

As Grinko heard this, he leaned down to Twilight,
“He and the princesses…”

Twilight smiled proudly while she nodded,
“Lair mates as well…”

This only caused the Masar to shake his head,
“I don’t know if I should feel honored or afraid to owe this human a debt…”

The lavender unicorn now shook her head with an arched brow,
“Grinko… Don’t do either… He’s not that kind of guy.” Tyler now said goodbye to the princesses as they returned to their carriage before he returned into the warmth of the library.

For the rest of the winter, Grinko paid his rent with stories and facts about Moranji and Twilight slowly learned to lose her fear for the Masar, this honor-driven being. Often she caught herself fearing for Tyler, when he discussed things with Grinko and argued with him, for Grinko sometimes got out his claws. But his debt was held dear and he never harmed someone, although everypony was at least wary. Everypony except Pinkie that is. With a big grin she presented a cake of fish and cream to the Masar one day, who first arched his brows, but then bowed and accepted the gift as if it was a present of great importance.

Learning more about Grinko brought Twilight to write more letters to Princess Celestia, giving report on his progress. Masar history was a rather interesting topic and Twilight would love to converse a bit with a Masar scribe in order to hear more about their history under Queen Cleopawtra before the kingdom crumbled and devolved into several smaller tribes. Maybe this behavior in and strive for honor came from these ancient days under the queen’s reign.

However, there was a certain aversion to the cold of winter, making him stay indoors all the time. Him coming from a country with vast deserts, she categorized him as being only comfortable in warmer climate. Equestria's winter was obviously much colder than the one in a desert nation.

As Winter-Wrap up was there, Twilight was very excited,
“This is the first Winter Wrap Up when you’re not injured, Tyler! What teams do you and the others want to join?”

Tyler arched a brow,
“Oh yes… Um… Listen, Twilight… On Earth, we humans leave everything to nature and get the snow out from the roofs and streets, nothing more… We can do that if you want us to.”

Twilight nodded as she went through her many checklists and preparation notes,
“Ah yes, you already said that there are no weather patrols on Earth and that weather controls itself… Good! It’s nice to see we can get a bit of participation from you four as well; every bit of help to wrap up winter is quite welcome."

When Tyler informed the others about winter wrap up, the reactions varied. Sam on his part, simply nodded.
"I saw some Earth ponies pushing these snow plows. I could do that for the Ponyville main street. That is, I could do that even faster, if it would have an engine, but for now, raw muscle strength seems to be enough."

Flynn, when addressed with this, simply smirked.
"So they clean winter all by themselves by tomorrow? Well, I could help out. You know that I'm fast." In the next moment, he had massed all the snow around Tyler and had piled it up around him. "Maybe even faster!" Next, every icicle in the near neighborhood was missing from the roofs and decorated Tyler's snow-packed body. Flynn was now standing in front of him with a wide grin, holding up a carrot. "Hungry?"

With a dead-panned look on his face, Tyler melted the snow around himself with heat magic while levitating the icicles, pointing them at Flynn.
"Run!"

Rachel's reaction was the most expected one.
"I. Have. Only. Magic. At. My. Disposal! What do you want me to do? Shoot the snow down the roof? They said 'No magic'!"

Tyler wanted to protest, but had to agree with her.
"Damn, you're right. I haven't thought about that." Looking down, thinking for a moment, he then nodded. "Could you then at least help Rarity out?"

She nodded and arched a brow.
"I can do that. But what about you, Ponyfucker? We all know that Sam has superhuman strength and Flynn superhuman speed. You and I are using magic, me using weapons for it. You? What will you do?"

Lifting up a snow shovel, Tyler shrugged.
"Doing my part the old-fashioned way, I guess..."

* * * * *

Later that day in a dark room…

Rachel and Pinkie Pie looked at each other with determined glances,
“This is it, Pinkie Pie… I want to see!”

The pink mare nodded and grinned as she looked up,
“It will cost you 50 to see them!”

Rachel then nodded and put another chip onto the pot. Rachel now laid down her cards,
“A Full House!”

Derpy shook her head and laid down two pairs,
“I just don’t know what went wrong…”

Rainbow slammed her cards down, a pair,
“Darn it! I should have skipped this game!”

Lyra shrunk together, laying down three of a kind,
“I wasn’t lucky this time either…”

Applejack shook her head,
“Tarnation! Only a flush…”

Twilight looked over to her,
“You should learn when to quit, AJ… Tyler told me that there’s a feeling you must learn to develop for this game."

But the country mare grinned,
“Twilight, ya left in the third round! If Ah would play as cautious like ya, where would be mah fun?"

Rarity pouted,
“My! Only three of a kind! Fortune is not with me this time!”

Now the human looked over to Pinkie Pie,
“Well? What do you have?”

With a big grin, Pinkie presented four nines,
“Tee-hee! Four of a kind, seems like the pot is mine!” While Pinkie leaned over the table, Fluttershy spoke up.

“Um… Excuse me? What points do I receive?”

Rachel looked at Fluttershy,
“Well? What cards do you have?”

“Oh, um… it’s… only these…”

Her cards were a ten, a joker, a queen, a king and an ace… all of the same suit. Grinning wide, Rachel looked over to Pinkie,
“Well, I’ll be damned… A Royal Flush… Looks like Fluttershy beat you this time, Pinkie…”

Looking down, Pinkie Pie nodded and shrugged,
“Just a game… Here you go, Fluttershy!”

With that Pinkie pushed the pot towards the yellow Pegasus, who held her cheeks with a slight blush,
“Oh… My… “

Derpy whimpered a bit, as she saw the muffin on top of the pot going over to Fluttershy, but the yellow mare picked it up and gave it back to her, making the gray Pegasus smile happily again.

As the next game started, Rachel gave the cards,
“So Rainbow… How goes your dating with your boyfriend Flynn?”

Arching a brow as she took her cards, Rainbow looked over to Rachel,
“Flynn and I are not dating! We’re just… a mare and a stallion doing various activities together.”

“Which essentially means you’re dating…” With a grin Rachel raised her bet by twenty and looked over to Rainbow. “Also I can’t help but notice that you didn’t deny that he was your boyfriend…”

Meanwhile Tyler, Sam, Flynn, Grinko and Big Macintosh were playing a poker game of their own in the barn of Sweet Apple Acres as Flynn looked up from his cards,
“She’s not my girlfriend! She’s just a buddy to me.”

Tyler smirked and handed the cards out,
“If you say so… It’s not like you two were almost glued together in the recent weeks… Why don’t you ask her out?” Tyler now noticed the looks of Spike which was glued at Tyler’s chin the whole evening. “What’s up in your mind, champ? The gemstones I got you for the evening not tasty enough?”

“Why can’t I play with you guys?” the baby dragon asked with a frown.

“That’s because I promised Twilight to keep you from participating actively in gambling activity. You can hang out with some guys for a change. Is that nothing?”

Grinko grinned,
“For a young male it is best to have someone male to orient to, an example. Twilight told me you were raised only by a female… But it’s good for a boy to have some father figure…”

Arching a brow Spike now cocked his head,
“Yeah, like any of you guys could be my father without scales… Speaking of guy business… Why did you cut off that beard? I thought you looked awesome with it!”

Tyler looked to the other men at the table and felt his shaved chin,
“Best guess is it’s for the ladies. Care to feel it, Spike? Smooth as a baby dragon’s butt.”

Spike touched Tyler’s chin, felt the skin, but then briefly shook his head with a smirk, not agreeing with the human, prompting the one or another chuckle at the table. Sam nodded over to Flynn,
“Back to topic… What’s the big deal, Flynn? You hang out with Rainbow, why don’t you ask her out? It’s just two pals who enjoy a meal together. Or are you afraid she would see that as something more?”

Meanwhile Rainbow stood up and stared at Rachel, pointing her left hoof at the human,
“I’m not afraid of anything! I could ask him out on a date anytime! But I won’t. I don’t have to prove anything to you, Rachel.”

Twilight looked back and forth between those two and smirked,
“You like to provoke, Rachel… but what about you? Is there nopony on your mind who might be special to you?”

Rainbow now nodded,
“Yeah! You tell her, Twi! What about you, huh?”

Smirking widely, Rachel rolled her eyes in mischief while looking over to Rainbow,
“Hmmm… Tyler and Sam are already given away… Maybe I’ll go for Flynn.”

“NO!” Rainbow shouted, her wings erect and glaring at Rachel. “You stay away from him!”

Applejack now arched a brow and gave Rainbow a smirk,
“RD, what the hay are ya doing? Claiming someone maybe?”

Rainbow now looked over to Applejack, not noticing the way she responded to these provocations,
“What? Uh… No! I’m just… you know… angered because she says she wants to decide Flynn’s life like she owns him!”

“’Angered’ isn’t quite the word I would use…” Rachel said with a wide grin as she pointed at Rainbow’s wingboner.

The girls now giggled a bit while Rachel stood up and went into the kitchen,
“So you like Flynn… What about it?”

Rainbow arched a brow,
“This coming from the woman who always verbally attacked Tyler for being with us ponies?”

“That’s right… I have my issues with this, but that doesn’t mean I’m right with every relationship. Maybe some characters DO fit together nicely, even when they’re of different species…”

Applejack leaned back and looked into the kitchen,
“Ya know, Rachel… Yer always telling us that we’re good and decent ponyfolk in yer eyes, but yer against bonding between our two species… Especially sexual binding. Maybe ya should try it yerself?

Thinking about idea this made Rachel shudder,
“Well… Thanks but no thanks. I think I would throw up if a stallion would… You know… enter me with his…” She slightly gagged. “Oh you know what I mean…”

But the farm mare kept being persistent,
“Rachel… Trust me, Ah have had one stallion before Tyler and beside from a human’s endurance and some positions that drive a mare crazy, there’s almost no difference whatsoever in matters of how it feels.”

Twilight looked over to AJ with a big smirk,
“Besides the exotic feeling of course… But if that’s not her way, then there’s nothing we can do. We can’t force her.”

Lyra leaned over,
“Positions? You girls willing to share your knowledge with me?” Applejack grinned and winked over to the unicorn.

Rachel sat down again and took a sip of her lemonade and shook her head,
“Girls… As much as I appreciate the thought…. You shouldn’t do anything in the first place, OK? Not even thinking about what to do.”

Fluttershy looked over to Rachel,
“But… Uh… if you don’t mind me asking… Don’t you feel lonely all by yourself?”

Rachel Higgins now cocked her head in thought,
“Well… sometimes… I wouldn’t mind to have someone at my side for a little social interaction. But sex with a pony? No, definitely not going to happen!”

Rarity levitated a drink in front of her and took a small sip of it,
“Darling, you overthink this… I mean Princess Luna was able to transform Applejack into a human woman. If you prefer your partner to be human… why not find someone whose character you like and ask him if he would agree in having sex with you in human form?”

Rachel blinked as she looked at the white unicorn,
“That’s one idea I could pursuit… And yet… A bit shallow as well, don’t you think?”

Rainbow arched a brow,
“I don’t know… That wouldn’t be my thing. But if you love the guy for his personality, why should it matter what species he is?”

Applejack chuckled,
“Sometimes it takes time for the heart to accept the pardner in his or her whole entity. Maybe Rachel must find honest love in a character first before acceptin’ him having a different species. Ya know, RD: First comes honesty, then comes loyalty.”

The Pegasus mare glared into the farmmare’s grinning face, before she shrugged and shook her head with a smirk,
“Yeah… I guess that’s true in a way. One cannot be loyal to a guy who isn’t honest in his words.”

As the poker evening was over, the two groups split up again. While Tyler went back to the library with Spike and Grinko, Flynn and Sam went back to Bon Bon’s and Lyra’s house. On the way there they met Rainbow, Pinkie and Lyra. Flynn looked over to Rainbow and smiled,
“Hey! How was your evening, girls?”

Rainbow grimaced a bit,
“Well… Poker isn’t exactly my game… I have no solid poker face yet. And Pinkie is constantly smiling or grinning, you can’t make much of her reactions.”

Looking over to Pinkie, Flynn smiled,
“Yeah… I guess so…”

There was building up an awkward silence between the two of them that endured until Sam broke it and placed one poker chip on Pinkie’s nose,
"I bet 50 on him…”

Lyra looked up to Sam, grinned and levitated a chip of her own on his chip,
“I say 50 on her!”

Both Flynn and Rainbow arched a brow and looked at each other before they looked at the others,
“Ummm…”

“What are you guys doing?”

Lyra smiled widely,
“Actually we bet on who’s going to do something first!”

“Doing something first? Like what? Lyra, haven’t we talked about this before? I mean why are you folks so persistent that Flynn and I are dating?”

Flynn nodded,
“Yeah! We’re just… a guy and a girl, right?”

As they tried to defend themselves, Sam looked over to Pinkie,
“Well Pinkie? What do you think? “Who’s going to give in first?”

Pinkie giggled a bit, before her eyes popped open, she looked behind herself, then forward again and closed her eyes with a beaming smile,
“I think Derpy will be the one!”

Now everybody was stumped and a collective “Huh?” sounded off. But merely a second later, Derpy crash-landed into Flynn and Rainbow and the three of them rolled over the ground like a ball of meat. When Derpy opened her eyes again, her hoof reached for her head,
“Ooouuuch… Well, that was not so bad… At least I landed on something soft!”

When Sam, Pinkie and Lyra came to help the three of them, Lyra suddenly halted and giggled. Sam began to chuckle and that chuckle turned into laughter,
“Pinkie… How could you know that?”

Pinkie grinned widely and booped the two chips into her saddlebag,
“That’s my Pinkie sense! It never fails!”

Rainbow’s eyes were wide open as she stared into Flynn’s brown eyes. He was lying on the ground, Rainbow over him and Derpy on top of the two of them. Both their lips were pressed together and in an instant Rainbow’s wings erected. Jumping up she caused Derpy to fall down from her and made way for Flynn to stand up, her face deeply red,
“I… Uh… Ishouldgo!”

With that she dashed away and flew to her home, a large patch of clouds over some hills. Looking after her, Flynn touched his lips, his eyes looking shortly on his fingers before he looked after her again.

Sam patted his shoulder,
“Well… If she would be anything but a flying pony, I would say ‘run after her’… But it seems you have to wait before she comes down again.” Chuckling a bit, he patted Derpy’s head. “I don’t know if you did that on purpose, Derpy, but that really helped! I’ll get you a batch of muffins tomorrow.”

“Yay! Love angel Derpy to the rescue!” Sticking her tongue out in good fun, the blond Pegasus mare trotted away.

When Sam looked after her, he saw she was trotting towards something like a blue booth. Since when do they have chemical toilets in Equestria? However, he disregarded that booth for now and turned to Pinkie,
“A Pinkie sense? Is that some sort of sense alarming you about danger?”

“Uh-huh… but not only that. My body has many combinations of reactions and they all mean something. By listening to these signals, I can avoid many dangers.” Tipping her chin with her hoof, she thought for a minute. “Come to think of it, my Pinkie sense never said something about you humans… Either it doesn’t work on you, or you aren’t dangerous…”

But Sam only chuckled,
“Oh, that’s not right. We humans can be real assholes. But that’s not a given.” Taking out a pack of cards, he smiled. “Hey, Pinkie? Have you played a lot of card games before?”

Looking up to him, she smiled,
“Of course, silly! Card games are fun!”

“Well, I know some things about the magic of cards. For today, I’ll show you one little piece of magic, OK?” As they both nodded, he continued and opened the pack. “Alright… You see, I have this pack of cards here… Lyra, could you mix them for me? Everything should be decent here…”

Rolling her eyes, the unicorn levitated the cards outside of the pack and mixed them good,
“Sam, you know, humans can do no magic on their own?”

Putting his index finger on her lips, he grinned,
“Hush, sweetie… You are my wonderful and beautiful assistant today.” Rolling her eyes again, she then handed Sam the cards with a smile. "OK, I can’t see them, but you can see they’re all different?

“Yes, they are…” Pinkie confirmed. “A complete set of cards.”

Sam then continued to explain,
“Alright, here’s what I want you to do: I want you to pick one of the cards, but I also want you to do something special to it, OK? So I want you to pick one, don’t show me and then I want you to kiss the back of the card and put it back to the other cards.” With that he turned away and Pinkie took one of the cards and showed it Lyra. It was the Spades King. The unicorn nodded and Pinkie now gave the back of the card a kiss and put it back into the others. Sam now turned back to both of them. “OK… You kissed one of the cards, right? It’s all different from the others. It feels a bit special right now.”

Both mares looked at each other, but nodded with a smile.

“So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to go through each of the cards and I’m going to feel for the kiss, but I don’t know what your kiss feels like. Could I have one on the cheek?” Grinning a bit, the earth pony pulled him in and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. Sam looked over to Lyra with a smile. “Gosh, that kiss can make one smile…” A little embarrassed, Pinkie giggled. Lyra, however, arched a brow now, seemed determined to see that magic trick for herself.

Closing his eyes, Sam went through the cards, rubbing them once in a while, until he held up the Heart Ace,
“Was it this one?”

Shaking her head with a grin, Pinkie chuckled a bit,
“Nope! Wrong card!”

Sam now smirked a bit,
“Oh, OK… Doesn’t matter, you just hold on to it. I will get your card…” With this he placed the card he showed to them on Pinkie’s hoof and searched for Pinkie’s card again.

Shaking her head, Lyra grinned,
“You’re just guessing, right? There is no such magic that can let you do that.”

Sam looked over to the unicorn and grinned,
“You dare to doubt me? Oh, Lyra…” After a few seconds, he looked up from the cards again. “Uh… What was your card again?”

Chuckling now over his defeat, both mares looked at each other and Pinkie shook her head,
“Give it up already, Sam. It was the Spades King.”

Now Sam frowned for a second and looked at the card on her hoof,
“Are you sure it wasn’t this card? I’m pretty sure that this was the card.”

“No, silly! This is the-” But just as Pinkie looked at the card in her hoof again, she gasped. This wasn’t the Heart Ace, it was the Spades King! “Holy lackomoley! How did you do that? That’s amazing!” Looking over to Lyra, Pinkie grinned. “That’s amazing!!! I was holding it in my hoof! How did he do that?”

Lyra now began to smile surprised,
“Seems to me some humans know a bit of magic on their own after all… Alright, how did you do it?”

But Sam simply shook his head,
“Like I’m going to tell you… If you want to see it again, the price is one kiss on one of the cards and one kiss on the cheek.” Chuckling along, Lyra followed at his side while they went home, saying goodbye to Pinkie. Pinkie, however, touched her lips with her hoof and looked after Sam, only to smile a bit. That rascal had tricked her into kissing him. Quite a prank…

* * * * *

On the next day Grinko, Tyler and Rachel went into the Everfree Forest. At noon, the light conditions of the woods were the best. It was for about an hour of persistent looking for tracks, when Rachel looked up and gasped. Before her a large field of flowers bloomed. As she separated from the other two, she wandered through the large field of blue flowers, she picked up a few and smelled one of them,
“This flower… It’s beautiful… Hmmmm… And this scent…”

While she was lost in her little world of flowers, Grinko and Tyler went ahead. While Grinko sniffed around and tried to get some scent of prey into his nose, he looked over to Tyler,
“So you and Rachel aren’t the best of friends despite being comrades, eh?”

Tyler tried not to grimace too much,
“Well, she has her point of view, I have mine. But despite all the arguments we both know we could rely on each other if it counts.”

“Does she have experience in hunting? And I don’t mean these little maneuvers of war you humans call tactics.”

“I don’t think so, Grinko… Why?”

“Well you should tell her that hunting isn’t the same as fetching flowers.”

As Tyler now looked at the Masar with a puzzled expression, Grinko pointed behind them and Rachel knelt down in the field of flowers quite obvious in the open. He then sighed and went back,
“I’ll talk to her…”

Approaching her, Tyler went into the field of flowers as well,
“Rachel, come on! Grinko is right; we didn’t come here to fetch flowers! If you want some tasty meat on your plate, you have to hunt it down first! They don’t have McDonald’s here!”

“Yes, yes… I just want a hand full of these to decorate my room a bit.”

Rolling his eyes, Tyler shook his head,
“Rachel, we came here to get something to eat. So unless you intend to make a soup out of these flowers, this is nothing but a waste of time right now!”

Looking over her shoulder, she gave him a cold look,
“Oh yeah? Well then, Mr. ‘I’m the man!’ Jones! It wouldn’t harm you to fetch some for your mares once in a while. You have sex with them, so you should do something for them as well!”

Folding his arms, Tyler looked down to Rachel,
“It’s not my problem you don’t want to have a relationship with a stallion. But maybe you should have one. Getting laid might help you loosen up a bit!”

Enraged, Rachel stood up,
“I dare you to repeat that! I would never EVER touch a horsecock! Even if they can talk and think like we do!”

Both were interrupted as Grinko harrumphed outside of the field of flowers,
“Are you two done yet? I want to continue hunting. So if you’re not silent, all you are going to be are my bait for a large predator hungry for meat. I’ll eat that meat as well!”

Tyler sighed and nodded to Grinko,
“We’re coming…” Trying to find some tracks again, the three of them searched the woods, but other than a timber wolf they weren’t able to slay something with meat on its ribs. Tyler looked over to Grinko. “I’m sorry our first hunting trip wasn’t that successful…”

Grinko nodded,
“Well it seems we weren’t deep enough yet. I think we should try that bog the next time around. A hydra can’t hide herself that easily.” Looking over to Rachel, who sniffed at the scent of the flower, Grinko arched a brow. “At least one of us got something out of the forest today…”

* * * * *

It was morning when Tyler woke up. The bed was cozy and warm as always. But something was odd. As he turned around to Twilight, the unicorns face looked enormous. It wasn’t because of the intimate closeness they both shared, her head seemed huge now,
“What in the world?!?” As he opened his mouth, it didn’t need long for Tyler to realize that his voice wasn’t actually his voice anymore. It was more of that of a young boy, maybe eight to twelve years. Holding his mouth he hastily looked around in the bed. The mirror! Jumping out of the bed, he looked into the mirror and gulped as his hands touched his face while he stared at the reflection. “No, no, no! No! No!! NO!!! This can’t be fucking happening!”

Waking up from the ruckus, Twilight looked up,
“Tyler…?” When she saw the young boy in front of the mirror, her eyes slowly widened. In the next moment, her scream went through the entire library, causing Owlowiscious to fly away with a distressed “Whoo!” Hiding her face beneath her hooves, Twilight shook her head. “Now I’ve done it! I performed an age spell while asleep and transformed you into a boy!”

Tyler narrowed his eyes,
“Would you snap out of it? I’m a human; I would have simply absorbed such a spell.”

This made Twilight snap out of it,
“Oh by Celestia’s beard, you’re right!” in the next moment she pushed Tyler down the stairs and wired him up to many instruments of the laboratory. “I have to see if this is some sort of allergy or sickness!”

One hour later the Elements of Harmony came together in the library as Spike called all of them. Coming down the stairs, they entered the laboratory, where Twilight was in front of three chalk boards and was writing on several formulas. Applejack approached her, slightly worried. Among the floor were various cables, measuring instruments and machines and plenty of books,
“Twilight? Spike said something’s wrong with Tyler?”

Looking over to the others with a worried face, Twilight sighed and pointed at some curtains where Tyler was already dressing up in some clothes more fitting for his new body. The shadow he casted was small, maybe he was transformed into a baby dragon? When Fluttershy pulled the curtain away, Tyler grumbled a bit as he put on a jacket fitting to the trousers. Everything was stitched together roughly and lacked Rarity’s skill. A boy around twelve or fourteen years age. The girls couldn’t say it exactly due to the lack of experience with human children. Maybe Tyler was at the age of six as well. Fluttershy wasn’t sure if to speak to him like an adult or if to talk to him like a child,
“Oh… my…”

Rainbow snickered heavily, fighting the urge to burst in laughter until she finally gave in,
“You’re not T-Man… You’re T-Boy! Pffffft Bwahahaha!”

Growling a bit, Tyler looked on the ground where Rainbow now lied on her back, cracking up and pedaled her hooves,
“This isn’t funny! I can’t stay in this form!” At least now the girls knew that Tyler’s mental state hadn’t changed.

Applejack, however, shook her head while arching a brow,
“Tyler… Sugarcube, this is extremely odd…”

Rolling his eyes, Tyler simply shook his head,
“You don’t say…”

“Ah mean… We’re still herd mates and Ah love ya, but… Ah can’t have sex with ya in that form… Ah mean… Yer a colt! Ah may have a strong urge, but Ah won’t misuse a young colt.”

Arching a brow now, the young Tyler looked over to Applejack,
“Misuse? AJ, I’m still the same Tyler inside this body. All what was transformed was my body, not my mental state!”

“Yeah, Ah know that. But… ya know… It wouldn’t FEEL right, now that yer in this state…” Looking over to Twilight, AJ smirked and bumped her flank into Twilight’s. “Celestia knows when this transformation occurred this night. Yer sure ya and Tyler weren’t at it while it happened? Maybe ya had sex with a colt, ya know that?”

With a slight blush Twilight raised her chin,
“I would notice this! We both were fully awake last night and nothing like this happened while we were…” Noticing her confession, Twilight now blushed even deeper. “Listen, this isn’t helping! We need to find out what caused this!”

Tyler thought for a minute,
“Well there wasn’t much that could have caused it… No potions, no strange spells… just hunting in the Everfree Forest. All what stood out yesterday was my usual argument with Rachel in these flowers…”

Twilight’s ears twitched,
“Flowers? What kind of flowers? Were they, by any chance… blue in color?”

“Yeah they actually were blue… a whole field of them. Rachel and I stood right in the middle of it. Why?”

While the girls grumbled, Twilight face hoofed,
“Tyler, you stepped right into a field of Poison Joke!”

He grimaced at the name,
“I don’t like the poison in that name… So, what do they do? Are they toxic?”

Twilight fetched out a green book out of the shelf and shook her head,
“No… Fortunately for you they are not. But their magic can be quite potent. But Zecora, who brew the remedy for us when we had issues with this plant, is on a field trip through the Everfree Forest. It would take days to find her in there and that’s not a good plan. She’s used of being in this Forest. We on the other hoof are not! And I don’t know how to find the necessary herbs and ingredients to mix up the remedy. Some are growing here in Ponyville, but others grow in the Everfree Forest. I’m a librarian, not an herbalist…”

Tyler nodded,
“Alright… What are we going to do about it? Do I have to stay in this form until she returns? Maybe she’s gone for weeks!”

Rarity whirled her mane around and looked at Tyler,
“Well! It’s obvious you can’t stay in this form, Darling… Although I must say you now are as cute as Spike is.”

With narrowed eyes Tyler looked at the white unicorn,
“Rarity? Focus, please…”

“Oh! Yes, of course, dear… I will ask later in the spa. Zecora delivered them some of the herbal mixture that cured us the last time we had this little flower causing so much trouble. I’ll get it to you later this afternoon, alright?”

While Tyler was grumbling a bit, Applejack chuckled,
“Come on, Tyler… One measly little day as a boy surely isn’t THAT bad, eh? Which reminds me… All colts and fillies have to go to school.”

Looking at her aghast, Tyler turned around,
“WHAT?!? You can’t be serious! I’m actually way too old for these grades of school!!!”

* * * * *

Half an hour later Tyler was sitting on Applejack’s back and narrowed his eyes,
“I can’t believe you’re making me do this…”

But the country mare simply smiled,
“Well, it’s not that we could do the usual stuff with this body of yers now, pardner. Yer in no condition to work on the fields right now. Or on me…” She gave him a seductive look now. “Trust me, Ah want ya to return to normal as well… for the upcoming heat season… Just humor the kids a bit for now. Ya could spend some time with the crusaders as well. After all… We’re having a foal at home and spending time with children will come to ya whether ya like it or not. See it as an unusual training session in being a parent.”

Nodding thoughtful, Tyler then looked up,
“You DO have a point there, honey…” Climbing down from her, he nodded at her and smirked. “OK… I’ll do it. If it’s for getting a better understanding of colts and fillies… Only the best Dad for Appleseed, hm?”

“That’s the spirit, Sugarcube!”

“Right… But you come and explain to Cheerilee why I’m so young right now! I think it would take two to make this believable…”

Within the next few minutes, both Applejack and Tyler explained to Cheerilee the whereabouts about his current condition. The school teacher visibly tried to resist the urge to snicker at this and Tyler grumbled, but she patted his shoulder,
“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just that you look very cute as a boy!”

Tyler narrowed his eyes,
“Yeah… Heard that before…”

A few minutes later, both Cheerilee and Tyler entered the classroom,
“Class? Today we have a guest here with us. I think you all still know Tyler Jones?”

As Tyler stepped inside, the young ponies gasped a bit. A slim colt raised his hoof and lowered it when Cheerilee nodded at him,
“But… Why is he so young? I mean Tyler Jones is an adult human…”

The mare nodded and went to the board, drawing a short scribble of the Poison Joke flower with chalk,
“That’s a good question, Snails. Tyler went hunting into the Everfree Forest and by mistake came too close to this flower: Poison Joke. You’ve all heard Apple Bloom’s report on the events when this flower came in contact with some of us ponies and what effect it had on them. It even shrunk Applejack to the size of a mouse! That’s why I again emphasize to you all never to go inside the Everfree Forest without a parent or an adult!”

Apple Bloom now raised her hoof,
“Miss Cheerilee? Since Tyler’s now a human boy, don’t ya think it would be a nice demonstration for him to witness our lesson for today?”

Cheerilee arched a brow and looked at Tyler,
“Would you agree with this?”

Tyler smirked and looked into the many eyes of thrilled colts and fillies,
“Sure, why not? I can’t do my usual work in this state at the moment anyway…”

Scootaloo jumped up in excitement,
“Awesome! Tyler, here! Take a seat beside me!”

After a short nod from Cheerilee, Tyler sat down on Scootaloo’s left side.

From behind, Tyler heard a voice he hadn’t heard in a while. It was Diamond Tiara, giggling over to Silver Spoon,
“I wonder… What about your cutie mark? Maybe you developed back and it’s gone as well?”

Rolling his eyes, he shook his head,
“Sorry, Diamond Tiara… I checked right away and it’s still there! Are you still so fixated over the flanks of others? You should stop doing that, you know? It’s bad manners…”

The one or another giggle went through the class before Cherilee raised her hoof,
“Now, now, class… Stop it. Get your focus back to the lesson.”

Scootaloo looked over to Tyler and smiled,
“Last lesson, we had some simple math exercises. But geometry is quite hard…”

Tyler smirked,
“It’s important for Pegasi, I suppose…” The young Pegasus nodded. From what she had heard, the weather patrol hat to be very good at geometry to water some parts of Equestria while others didn’t need to be watered. With the view from above, the fields and plains were laid out almost like in these simple geometry exercises.

Sweetie Belle now nudged Tyler from the side,
“After school, we’re going to the clubhouse! You want to join?”

“Well, actually…” But then he remembered Applejack’s words.

He then nodded,
“Actually that sounds pretty good!”

* * * * *

Meanwhile, far in the lands of the east…

A little mouse was crawling over the mountain stones as a shadow flew over it. Squeaking a bit, the mouse looked up, until it was in the iron grasp of an eagle claw. The mighty paws of lion hind legs landed with a thump only a fraction of a second later and the strong beak ripped a good chunk out of the mouse. Galrasian mountain mice… a delicacy for every self-respecting Griffin of the kingdom. Rare and bred by the kingdom in order to have a steady supply ready for the hunt. A heavy chain harness rattled as the highly decorated Griffin approached the doors of the fortress. The guards nodded and bowed before they opened the doors for the Griffin. From inside, a slim looking Griffin approached the highly decorated one and began his report,
“Memret Marek! Lak Istaramnir erek Ekirandanir kadi’sh kruj elembor Pakrah! [General Marek! Traders from Equestria speak of four mighty warriors…]”

This awakened the General’s immediate attention and he arched a brow. His advisor, a weak looking Griffin with the name of Boret wasn’t easily unnerved. He wasn’t a fighter, but he also wasn’t a coward,
“Ij pa ru mai t era Pakrah? [Who are these warriors you talk about?]”

“Rihorim paj da brok nerem shin do Nefelok! Rihorim paj da fira no Ekirandanir barani milji akros. Akros bim shaltonik sundrera koron zapari. [Rumor has it they are big and bipedal warriors! They say they freed Equestria from a mighty enemy; an enemy that came from the south with fortresses that roamed the skies.]”

This was making even less sense now in the mind of the General. Equestria was rumored to be a land of magic, not of warriors. Were these warriors ponies? No, that was out of the question. Boret described them as bipedal. It had to be another species forming an alliance with Equestria. An Alliance he wasn’t informed about by the Griffin bureau of Secrecy. If they didn’t know about it either, where did these creatures came from? Analyzing the report a bit more, he thought of what was lying in the south,
“Tik shaltonik Amaska pori saduun… Mifo da suk elembor Pakrah jasim… Loksar to niforim u kandra mihorim! [In the south there are the Amasian ponies of shadows… I shall see these mighty warriors for myself… Prepare my entourage and inform the king!]”

* * * * *

At noon, Sam came home for a short snack. His break at the spa would last an hour and Aloe and Lotus allowed that he left for getting himself something to eat. On the way home, he met Flynn who grumbled a bit,
“What’s the matter, Flynn? No luck in finding a decent job?”

"Only temporarily ones for now… I’m helping out a bit here and there for the one or another bit, but it’s nothing I want to do on a regular basis… I’m actually on my way to my next job.”

“Good luck with that!” Both men now went separate ways and while Flynn went on a few streets, Sam went home. But just as he was coming near the house, he started to hear frantic screaming. That’s when he knew something was wrong.

As he ran upstairs, he could already hear Rachel’s voice in a frenzy,
“I’m not a pony… I’M NOT A PONY!!! I AM A HUMAN WOMAN!!!” When he stormed into her room, a dark blue earth pony mare stumbled through the furniture, the hooves flailing around uncontrollable.

But Lyra wrestled the mare down,
“Rachel! Rachel calm down! You’ll hurt yourself if you don’t calm down!”

With wide eyes, Sam looked at the entire wrestling,
“What the hell is going on here?”

Bon Bon came to his side, visibly afraid Lyra or the blue earth pony mare could injure each other in a way,
“Well, we came back home to have a little lunch break here… That’s usually the time Rachel stands up. When we came home, there was loud screaming and shouting. So we galloped upstairs and found Rachel in this state. Not that we know what caused it. She demolished half of her room before you came.”

Now Lyra pinned down the earth pony,
“STOP!!!” she barked at her. “JUST HOLD STILL AND COME TO YOUR BUCKING SENSES!!!”

Halting in her motion, Rachel now looked up and began to sob. Lyra eased down a bit and stepped aside as Sam came to their side. Rachel bent over Sam’s shoulder and cried bitter tears,
“I’m not a pony… What have I done to deserve this, Sam?”

“Hey! You make it sound like the worst thing to be a pony!” Bon Bon snapped at her, visibly angered.

Sam looked over to Bon Bon and gave her a harsh look,
“She’s never been a pony! Someone transformed her into this against her will! Of course this is a bad thing! Or would you like being turned into a human against your will, Bon Bon?”

Looking to the ground, the earth pony mare shook her head,
“N-No… Of course not… I’m sorry.”

Lyra looked around in the room and saw the broken vase on the ground. Near it was a blue flower and Lyra knew from Twilight and her friends about this precise flower,
“Poison joke…” Coming back to Rachel, who still whimpered in Sam’s arms, Lyra nuzzled the blue coated earth pony mare for a bit. “The good news is: there’s a ‘cure’ for this state.”

Hearing this prompted Rachel to stop crying,
“There is?”

Giving a nod, Lyra smiled gently,
“Yes, there is. From what I’ve heard from Twilight and the others, Zecora has one herbal potion that can reverse any effect caused by this flower. “I’ll go and tell Twilight…”

As Lyra was gone, Rachel looked around in mild panic,
“Sam? I know you and Tyler fuck ponies, but don’t get any wild ideas, OK?”

Rolling his eyes, Sam chuckled a bit,
"Yeah, yeah… Shut up and come into the living room. You got yourself some bruises and I want to put some band aids on them.”

Rachel now looked down in shame,
“I… I don’t know how to walk as a pony…”

Bon Bon sighed heavily at this and approached the blue mare in front of her,
“First things first, get up!” Rachel looked at the others and tried to stem herself up. Her legs seemed a bit shaky, but her balance was quite there. Bon Bon arched a brow. “Hmph! Seems to me getting used to walking on two legs is harder than walking on four… Lyra had spent years of training standing on two legs.”

Sam nodded,
“That might be because we humans begin to crawl on all four limbs before our legs grow strong enough to walk upright. And we are able to walk on all fours if we really have to.”

Rachel looked at him and rolled her eyes,
“Well I’m only standing right now… walking is something different.” Trying to take a step, her legs wobbled and she fell down. “Ow!” Standing up again, she tried again, only to fall down once more. “Damn it!”

One hour later, Rachel sat on the couch in the living room with the others and sighed deeply as Sam placed a band aid on her nose,
“I can’t walk right, I can’t grab things and I’m…” Now Rachel blushed. “I’m beginning to get horny for some reason…”

Bon Bon harrumphed a bit,
“Well it IS getting heat season? Everypony gets horny around this time. But it’s OK, if a mare has… certain equipment. You should ask Lyra about this. Maybe you can have her stuff, I doubt she’ll need that anymore after becoming Sam’s special somepony. Otherwise you could also get a little friendly with a stallion? But at this time of the year this almost guarantees pregnancy. So we better scratch that.”

Rachel gulped,
“What a terrifying concept… How do you mares endure this every year? It’s so degrading!”

But Bon Bon simply shrugged,
“I don’t know… How do you human women endure bleeding for three days each month?”

Sam now fought against his urge to laugh,
“Touché, Rachel!”

* * * * *

Once school was over, the three crusaders went back to their clubhouse with Tyler. Not long after that, Applejack called for her little sister,
“Apple Bloom! Come here for a minute! I have someone here for ya!” Apple Bloom arched a brow. “Odd… We’re not supposed to have any visitors today… Please excuse us, Tyler.”

“But of course, Apple Bloom…” Tyler said with a nod.

As the three fillies trotted over to the farmhouse, they couldn’t but wonder of the reason,
“Who might that be?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Maybe your sister found a new recruit for us crusaders?” Scootaloo said. “You know… Someone new with no friends who need a kick-start by some fillies showing him or her around…”

“No… Some ponies just come over to visit the family. Got any problem with that?” Out from the shadow of the barn a brown coated filly with short pink mane and tail stepped outside. An early mature grin was on her face.

When Apple Bloom recognized the filly, she beamed,
“Babs!”

“Cous!” Embracing each other, both fillies smiled. “It’s good to be here again! Ah have so many things to tell ya guys! Manehattan Crusaders now has five members!”

“Really?”

“Awesome!”

Apple Bloom nodded as they trotted back to the clubhouse,
“Ah guess living in a major city has its perks… There are so many colts and fillies. Of course yer Manehattan branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders would grow faster than our Ponyville branch, Babs.”

Scootaloo grinned,
“Anyway, we have gotten ourselves an honorary member! He’s… Well, not in top condition right now due to an accident, but he’s totally cool!”

Sweetie Belle nodded with a big smile,
“Mhm! He’s always eager to help us getting motivated again when we’re down!”

When the four fillies entered the clubhouse again, Apple Bloom beamed proudly at Tyler,
“Tyler? May Ah introduce to ya my favorite cousin Babs Seed? She’s from Manehattan!” Seeing Tyler, Babs gasped for a bit, but smiled shyly. Her tail quickly covered her blank flank while she blushed a bit.

Tyler approached the young filly,
“Nice to see another member of the Apple family. Apple Bloom always is excited when she speaks about you. You know, where I’m from, a city girl like you is a very common thing.”

But Apple Bloom waved the thought away,
“Ahhh, Babs hasn’t this uptight attitude of the city. She’s one of us, just bein’ herself. Right, cousin?”

Babs didn’t really listen, but stared into Tyler’s face, blushing a bit like under a spell,
“Uh-huh…”

Tyler smiled at the young filly,
“Well, you seem a bit nervous to strangers, why don’t we-”

He was interrupted as Applejack called in the distance,
“Apple Bloom! I need ya here for a minute! And bring Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle with ya!”

Apple Bloom grimaced a bit,
“Darn! Ya two start thinking about crusadin’ while we’re away for a bit, okay?”

Tyler nodded and rested a hand on Babs’ shoulder,
“Don’t worry… When you’re back, we will have enough ideas for you to pursuit.”

As the three fillies ran down the stairs of their clubhouse, passed the barn and galloped over to the farmhouse, Applejack nodded at the three of them,
“There ya three are… Come on! We best be goin’.”

While doing some errands in the city, Apple Bloom looked at the list her big sister handed her,
“Milk from Trottingham, bags of ice, sugar, spice, something nice… What are ya planning?”

“The bags of ice are to cool her down a bit. Or rather her mood… Ah’m gonna tell you this once, Apple Bloom. It’s important, so listen up! This is an important year for yer cousin! Ya crusaders might go and keep her mind busy during her visit this time.”

Scootaloo cocked her head,
“Why’s that?”

“Oh, ya know… Babs comes into the age where she’s getting’ her first heat season. We must do everythin’ we can to support her. First heat is always hard, ya know… That’s the reason our relatives had sent Babs to us this year, because there are much lesser colts in Ponyville than in Manehattan. It’s just for two weeks until heat season is over. Whoa nelly… Ah think if it weren’t for Granny I would have jumped at Big Mac when Ah was that age… Luckily Ah didn’t.” Giving a short laugh, Applejack shook her head. “And cousin Braeburn? He was about to hump a cac-”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders didn’t listen anymore. All three of them were looking at each other,
“Y’all thinkin’ what Ah’m thinkin’?”

Scootaloo nodded hastily,
“Tyler and Babs are totally alone now! If she gets into heat right now…”

Sweetie Belle giggle interrupted the little Pegasus now,
“Oooh! OH!!! They will kiss each other!”

Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at her with shaking heads,
“Worse, Sweetie Belle! She will… ya know… raise her tail for him!” Now the little unicorn understood and blushed deeply as she gasped. Frowning a bit, Apple Bloom now shook her head furiously. “But Tyler’s mah sister’s herd mate! Babs can’t do that kind of stuff with him! He’s an adult, even if he looks like a boy.”

Scootaloo smirked,
“I guess that leaves us with only one choice, huh?” With that, the three fillies galloped along the street.

Meanwhile Babs looked over to Tyler like a filly in love while Tyler looked out of the window. Being a kid again was every man’s dream. Then again, the things one can’t do all of a sudden… Who came up with the idea that eternal youth at this age would be great? No beverage, no horror movies, no sex! No, being a child was boring for an adult in the long run.

Babs’ heart pounded heavily and fast. He seemed to take things easy, like nothing in the world could get to him. While he now started to write down ideas, she sat down beside him and watched him thoroughly. His hands held the paper gently while the pencil was held tight. And his eyes… Yes, these amazing blue eyes. There was even a scar on his right eye, like something almost cut the eye in half. Had he been injured in the past? That was so exciting,
“So… Have ya… kissed before?”

Without taking his eyes from the paper, he nodded with a smile,
“Sure… Kissing someone is absolutely great!”

This answer brought up Babs’ hopes,
“Ya know… For a human ya sure look cute… Want to kiss me?”

“What?” As Tyler looked at her, he saw that the young filly had pursed her lips, readying herself to be kissed. A slight blush had formed on her face, she was nervous about this. Resting an index finger on her lips, he shook his head. “I think I shouldn’t kiss such a beautiful young filly…”

Hearing this compliment, Babs’ mind checked a few points on her mental checklist,
“Oh…? So do ya want to do something naughty instead?”

Tyler’s brow instantly arched up as he looked to her at the corner of his eye,
“N-naughty?”

“If I show you mine… will you show me yours?”

Now all alarm signals rang in Tyler’s mind. The young filly was in heat and wanted some ‘attention’ from him,
“Babs… You know, right now isn’t the right time…

“It’s the perfect time for you to get naked… All these unnecessary clothes…” Licking her lips she slowly approached him. “I want to experience it with you… Why shouldn’t my special somepony be someone so especially cute?” While her short tail twitched a bit, she grinned. From his herd mates Tyler knew that a twitching tail could only mean that Babs was expecting to be mounted.

Slipping by her he evaded her approach,
“OK! OK… Timeout! Let’s not rush things, shall we?”

Looking over her shoulder, she first frowned, and then smirked with a seductive look,
“Oh… Ya want to do it slowly and inspect your little mare, huh? That’s so kinky…” Just as she had said this, her tail slowly rose up, giving Tyler a clear view of her young filly vagina. “Juicy and tight… What ya say, big boy?”

Harrumphing with a blush, he looked away,
”T-tempting, but I already have a-“

“A marefriend? Really? Maybe Ah should talk to her as well and we could open our own little herd. Think of it… Two mares at your disposal. And Ah let ya cum in me all day long…”

Tyler rolled his eyes. Seriously, why does this little filly have to have the hots for me now? If I fuck her, I’m in more trouble than ever. Celestia wouldn’t send me to the moon... She would take my sorry filly-fucking ass for a Barbecue on the sun! But Babs is so much in heat she doesn’t seem to response to common sense.
“That’s… That’s actually a great idea! You stay here and wait, I’ll go and ask her.”

Nodding with a wide smile, Babs suddenly frowned as Tyler ran out of the clubhouse, slamming the door behind him. Looking over to the door with a smirk, she slowly went to the door,
“Ya want to play 'catch me if ya can', eh? Now THAT’S kinky…”

Just as the crusaders were halfway on the farm, they recognized someone running towards them. It was Tyler. Apple Bloom smiled and raised her hoof to greet him,
“Tyler! There ya are! We-”

But Tyler simply ran pass them and didn’t stop for a moment,
“Talk later, run now!!!”

As he ran down the street to Ponyville, Babs passed them, a lustful grin on her face and her eyes locked on target as she galloped after Tyler,
“Come back here!”

The three fillies blinked for a moment, before Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes,
“Time to inform mah big sis about this mess…”

* * * * *

Meanwhile Bon Bon and Fluttershy accompanied Rachel a bit around in the village,
“Thank you for taking time for us, Fluttershy… Rachel really needs some help getting accustomed with being a pony.”

But the yellow Pegasus mare shook her head,
“No problem at all. I think this is a lovely way for Rachel to see things our way for a change… Like… what was that saying? Walk a mile in somepony’s horseshoes…” She then shook her head. “Anyway, it’s good to see you getting better at walking without falling down immediately.”

Stumbling a bit once in a while, Rachel concentrated on walking,
“Shit! What’s taking Lyra so long getting that herbal mixture?” looking up to the hovering Pegasus, Rachel forced a smile. “Thanks… I really appreciate your help, Fluttershy. It’s just… I want to be human again as soon as possible.”

The Pegasus simply shook her head,
“It’s fine… The whole thing must be so very scary for you… I don’t know how I would react of having only two legs and these giant lumps of fat hanging from my chest.”

Grimacing a bit in forcing a smile, Rachel’s eyebrow twitched a bit,
“Is… Is that so?” Maybe her own body and behavior was strange to them as well.

Three streets further, four young stallions trotted along,
“You think this is the right place, Silver Bolt?”

But Silver bolt, a gray stallion with white mane, simply shook his head,
“Hey… Folks, trust me! Ponyville is so filled with mares, a little wooing, a drink or two and during heat season they all get willingly enough. When it’s not heat season, I usually try my luck with Berry Punch, she’s almost always drunk enough.”

It was then when they noticed Rachel. Right now she was all by herself. She had lost the others while inspecting the stand of a street vendor for too long and now searched for them. Seeing Fluttershy one street further, she decided to make a shortcut through a narrow alley. For the average pony, her swaying and clumsy walking was similar of that of a drunken pony. It was this misunderstanding that made her all too easy prey in Silver Bolt’s eyes.

Halfway through the alley, Rachel suddenly heard the male voice behind her,
“Hey, sweetheart… Having trouble to walk normally?”

Rachel looked up,
“Huh? Oh, uh… Yeah…”

While the stallions grinned at each other, Silver rested a hoof over Rachel’s shoulder,
“A beauty like you drunk at such an early hour? You must have had a great time and an even better reason to party that hard…”

This made Rachel only arch a brow. She had quite the idea what these stallions were up to, but it wasn’t going to happen,
“What? I’m not drunk! I’m as sober as you!” But not watching where she was going made her fall down once more, her rump up high.

This prompted the four stallions to laugh,
“Look at that, boys… She’s not drunk, hm? And yet she exposes herself to us in such a way… The tail high up, the plot round and ample, the labia clearly visible…"

As Rachel saw the unsheathing members of the young stallions erecting, she gulped. Standing up again, she shook her head,
“I will not have sex with anyone of you lousy bastards! Who do you think you are?”

“We? We are the stallions that will give this mare the rutting of her life.”

Rachel gulped again. In her normal human body, she would have wiped the floor with these guys, but in this pony body of hers… That’s when it occurred to her. I’ll simply kick these jackasses into the face!
“You scum… I swear I hate your kind more than anything!” With a sudden move she turned around and kicked, but failed to hit anything.

“Whoa! Quite a kick, sweetie! That wasn’t very nice! If that would have hit, you would have injured one of us.” With that, one of them slapped her, causing her nose to bleed.

Trying to crawl away, Rachel tried to get out of the alley and back to the main street. They wouldn’t dare to do that right in the open,
“N-No! Stay the fuck away from me!”

With that, Silver Bolt grabbed Rachel’s flank and got her into position,
“Such a lovely rump… Don’t worry. In a few seconds, everything will be much clearer…”

Only one thought filled Rachel’s mind as she could slowly feel how the stallion pulled her in, the tip of his pole poking at her butt, obviously to finally mount her.

It was in this moment when a hoof behind them slammed to the ground behind them. The paving stones already gave in under the mighty hoof and a blade of grass was spat on the ground,
“Folks… Ya know if a mare says Nnnnope…. It actually means NNNNOPE!!!“

With that Big Macintosh ran at the stallions and jumped at the one trying to mount the mare. The sound of punching hooves and slams on the ground was audible before Rachel, who still clenched her eyes shut and cowered on the ground rolled together. Then the sounds suddenly stopped and only the hooves of one stallion were audible. As she opened her eyes again, the four stallions who tried to mount her were lying on the ground, beaten up quite badly. Before them sat Big Mac and watched them with a grim look on his face.

He looked to his side, over to Rachel and nodded,
“Ya alright?” Rachel simply nodded, prompting him to give another nod. “Good. Some ponies tend to go nuts during heat season. Thinkin’ ‘Nope’ means ‘Eeyup’ and ‘Get lost’ means ‘Ah love ya’… Don’t worry… Ah’ll stay here until the Guard arrives. Yer really alright? Ya seem quite wobbly on these legs.”

Slowly, Rachel stood up and looked over to the others,
“Will they…?”

“Stand up again? Nnnope! When I beat up somepony, he lays still for the rest of the day! Don’t actually do that often or happily, but these fellers asked for it!”

At this moment, Bon Bon and Fluttershy came around the corner,
“Rachel! Oh Celestia! What happened here?”

Rachel stammered a bit, but Big Macintosh shook his head,
“Ya two go easy on that filly, will ya? She was through a lot for today already!” Looking down to the four stallions, bloody and with half erected members, both mares looked at Rachel with a horrified gasp.

Fluttershy took immediate care of her,
“Oh, Rachel! I’m so sorry! We should have stayed at your side! Come, I’ll bring you back to my cottage and make you some tea.”

As Bon Bon wanted to follow, Big Mac held her back for a second,
“Rachel? Like… That human woman?”

Bon Bon looked down,
“That’s a longer story, Big Mac… But thanks for stepping in. Will you get into trouble for beating them up?”

Big Mac looked down at them and shook his head,
“Nnope! Not for rescuing a mare from attempted rape during heat season…”

A few streets further, Applejack and Rarity conversed a bit in front of the Carousel Boutique as Applejack carried a bag in her mouth and placed it on the dry ground,
“Thank ya, Rarity… Tyler is so busy now with his Ranger duties, he sure lacks the time to get his stuff fixed once he damages it. And Ah know how much he just loves that jacket of yers.”

The elegant unicorn smiled proudly,
“Well… The best praise for a present is to hold it dear, is it not? A shame he lacks the time to bring it to me in person. It would be a chance to get new measures… But it’s a wonder that he lets you bring this to me. I know how reluctantly he parts from this piece of mine. It’s like his lucky charm, this leather jacket. And a pity it won’t fit him in his current form. But: Aloe said I was lucky! I got the last bottle of the herbal mixture. She said Lyra Heartstrings was there before me and took the next to last one.”

Applejack smirked,
“Now that’s good news! For him as well as for us, his herd mates.”

Rolling her eyes a bit, Rarity smiled,
“Don’t go into details Darling… I can imagine what Tyler can do to my ears with his words he can do tenfold with his body to you and Twilight.”

But the country mare simply chuckled,
“Tenfold? Ah wouldn’t be so happy about heat season, if it would be only tenfold…” With that she turned around and lowered her voice. “A human male can satisfy a mare not just for 20 minutes, Rarity… We are talkin’ about two to three hours, if he gets into the mood.”

Now Rarity’s jaw dropped. “H…. Hours?!?”

“Yeah… Oh, OK… with pauses of course!”

Biting her bottom lip, Rarity shook her head, a slight blush over her nose,
“Now I’ve done it! I caused myself to think unladylike!”

Applejack only rolled her eyes,
“Well… Even a lady is a mare.”

Harrumphing a bit, the unicorn recollected herself,
“True… But I should be above-”

Rarity was interrupted as the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran to the both of them, out of breath,
“Applejack! Ya have to come! Tyler is getting chased by Babs!”

The mare chuckled first, but that chuckle died in an instant. With Tyler being a boy and Babs in this delicate age, all sorts of things could happen. And the crusaders didn’t seem to joke around about this issue,
“Seriously now… He WHAT?”

“Yeah! Like ya already said, Babs is in her first heat and thinks Tyler is the right one to be her special somepony.”

Sweetie Belle pointed at the streets behind them,
“We saw her chasing him down the street to Ponyville!”

Stomping her hoof on the ground, Applejack looked around in haste,
“Well Ah be damned! What was he doin’ around her in the first place? First heat support is supposed to get rid of all male objects around the young mare!”

Scootaloo grinned a bit,
“Well… We introduced them to each other before you told us…”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed,
“Apple Bloom? Get my rope… If things go for the worse, Ah’ll have to lasso that young mare in before she-” It was in this moment when Tyler ran around the corner, hastily towards her and Babs on his tails.

With a jump, Tyler grabbed Applejack’s front hoof and looked up to her,
“AJ… Honey! Please help me! Talk some sense into that filly!” In the next moment Babs jumped at him and embraced the young boy, nuzzled him furiously.

Looking over to Rarity with a smirk, both adult mares giggled a bit as AJ shook her head as she looked down to Tyler while Rarity got inside,
“Well, Ah don’t know, Sugarcube… Ya seem to enjoy yerself with yer new marefriend! And how young she is…”

Tyler’s voice now grew in panic as Babs placed a big smooch on his cheek and nuzzled him further,
“Come on! You know I would never-” Applejack chuckled and when Rarity came out with a small bottle levitating in front of her, Applejack grabbed the bottle with her mouth and poured some of the mixture over Tyler, causing him to grow back to his former adult form. Although his shirt was ripped to shreds, his trousers, much to his relief, became shorts. With a sigh of relief, he then patted Babs on the head. “Now… Now that I’m to my normal state… Let’s start this discussion anew, shall we?”

Looking up to the adult Tyler, Babs was confused now. The cute human boy she nuzzled a few moments ago was suddenly a grown adult? She took a deep gulp. The thought of how an adult penis would feel in her petite womb made her blush. It would go into her deepest places, maybe even her uterus. The sheer thought of the tip of a huge adult penis reaching into her uterus and dumping all the sticky sperm inside of her made her all moist.

As Tyler now stood up, he shook his head,
“Sorry, Babs… But me having such a deep relationship with such a young mare, sexual or not, is out of the question. You are too young for my taste. I would feel bad while doing so. Can you understand that?”

Babs now snapped out of her daydreams. She then saw Applejack standing next to Tyler and leaning against him. That’s when she knew that she wasn’t ready for this league yet and looked down in defeat,
“Ah… Ah understand…”

Seeing Babs’ frustration, Tyler thought of something,
“Listen, kid… One day… and that day will come sooner as you might think, you will be one hell of a mare and stallions all over Equestria will whistle after your flank. But… until that day comes I’ll give you something else to brag with." With this Tyler took his leather jacket from Rarity’s bag on the ground and reached it to Babs.

The young mare looked at it with big eyes,
“For me? Wow!”

Tyler smirked down,
“This jacket will bring far better memories than a short orgasm, don’t you think? You go and wear that with pride, girl. You look like the type of girl it would suit.”

Applejack and Rarity both gasped,
“Sugarcube!”

“Darling, this jacket means everything to you!”

But Tyler simply shrugged,
“It is mine so I give it to whomever I see fit…” With a smirk, he pulled in Applejack. “Just like my heart…”

It smells like him… Babs took a deep sniff at the leather jacket before she took it on and looked up to Tyler, when he suddenly grabbed the young mare’s cheeks and knelt down to her, gently kissing her lips,
“Maybe you’ll find the right mate when you’re older, kid… And it’s only a maybe…” With that he turned around and went back to Applejack, went down the streets with her towards the library.

Babs looked after him with a deep blush on her face and touched her lips with her left hoof. My first kiss… She then looked up again and watched Tyler wave her goodbye. That’s when she gulped,
“Hey, Cous…?”

Coming to her side, Apple Bloom arched a brow,
“What is it, Babs?”

“Yer sister’s got herself one cool stallion.”

“Eeyup! Sooo… Can I wear the jacket as well?”

“What? No way! He gave it to me!”

Scootaloo smirked behind them,
“Maybe your special talent has to do with stallions and wooing around with them?”

Chuckling, Babs shook her head,
"Ah sure hope not! Ah want a special somepony as well someday.” Looking back to Tyler and AJ, the young mare smiled. “One day I’ll find somepony like him…”

Meanwhile in the library, Lyra poured the herbal mixture over Rachel, causing her to go back into her human form while Twilight took note of this,
“I didn’t know Poison Joke could change the complete species to play its cruel joke.”

Winding herself up with a towel, Rachel nodded and went to the bathroom, took a quick shower and came back dressed in some clothes,
“I can’t underline enough how happy I am to be a human again… Being a pony sure was weird…”

Twilight grinned,
“Not only that, but it is heat season right now… If Big Macintosh wouldn’t have stepped in…”

Rachel grumbled and looked over to the lavender unicorn as she went over to Big Mac,
“Shut up, Twilight! I know that!” Clearing her throat she stood in front of the hefty stallion. “Well… you deserve a reward, don’t you think?”

Shaking his head with a brief motion, the stallion looked at Rachel,
“Nnnope! Any stallion with backbone should have done that!” Big Macintosh looked up to her with a gentle smile.

Arching her brow now, she inspected him,
“Quite an attitude, but I’m not going to remain in your debt, so here you go!” Once she had said that, she grabbed Big Mac at the cheeks and pulled him in for a deep and long kiss.

It was in this moment when Rachel heard the door opening and Tyler’s voice behind Big Macintosh,
“Well, well, well… Rachel? Getting a bit friendly with Big Macintosh?” In an instant, Rachel thought her heart was going to stop. But Tyler passed her and Big Mac with a wide grin. “Oh, don’t mind me… You two just go on with what you’re doing, as long as you’re not starting indecent behavior.”

“IDIOT!!! I JUST REWARDED HIM BECAUSE HE SAVED ME FROM BEING RAPED AS A PONY!!!!”

“There’s no reason to yell, Rachel… Just stay calm, OK?”

“I AM CALM!!! YOU’RE JUST MISUNDERSTANDING THE WHOLE THING!!!”

While the yelling echoed a bit through Ponyville, Derpy Hooves and her special somepony Doctor Whooves stood on top of a hill on the outskirts of Ponyville,
“I must say these humans really are something… ” He then suddenly frowned. “Well! I must look into that more in detail. There are no records about these humans in the TARDIS… But there should be, especially if one of them has a relationship with the princesses. Odd…”

Derpy arched a brow. Unsure, she raised a hoof,
“M-maybe it’s because they’re from a different universe?”

Tipping his chin in thought, the Doctor looked into the sky,
“You mean that they are not part of this continuum in origin? Nah, too easy… They are here now and part of this universe’s timeline. The TARDIS should know at least something about them… Especially this young man, Tyler… This human was chosen by the alicorns. He’s at the crossroad between light and darkness and he’s in the epicenter of a universal fight of superpowers… I wouldn’t be surprised to find more hints to this prophecy of his in other time periods of Equis. We shouldn’t have any difficulties with finding something about him.”

“But he’s only a human? How can he be that important?”

“You know we had this talk once in the dark ages? Yeah… that was a close one… I almost met my former self from the past helping the royal sisters. Meh! I should keep track when I was around and when not. Anyway: Some fates are fixed and some are in flux, meaning that they can change.”

“Hmmm… So that means it was destined for him to come here? But how do you know he’s a fixed fate?”

Turning around, the Doctor looked into Derpy’s eyes,
“He’s a fixed fate because of the way even the ancient alicorns reacted on his name. There must be some sort of connection. They feared the ‘eternal fighter’ from the very beginning, a being that will never stop to fight in order to achieve its goal. If he would become immortal, this would mean a never ending struggle. To protect, to fight, forevermore until the end of time. It’s the burden of the First Human, Derpy.”

The First Human… Derpy didn’t understand all of this, but she understood that Tyler was a very important human being for Equis. The Doctor once told her that he as a time pony could see the universe with different eyes. That the Doctor knew of a yet unknown title for Tyler could only mean that this importance went far beyond her measures. Now Tyler being her friend made her almost as proud as being the Doctor’s special somepony. And it made her eager to find out the importance of this human,
“That means that in a way he’s like you!”

For a moment, the Doctor looked at her before he nodded,
“Well… I guess one could say so… Anyway, have you ever been on Marfa three? That’s the first planet ponies found and colonized after reaching for the stars. The woods there have transparent fruits that are rumored to show the dreams of everyone on the planet. They say if you find your very own dream and eat that fruit, your dream comes true.”

Derpy arched a brow,
“The Stars? But they are only these tiny dots in the night sky!”

“Yes… Until Ponies learn that they are actually quite more than that! That’s why space travel is such a highly policed thing in the future.” Walking up to the blue box of his, the Doctor now turned around. “Well! Why don’t I show you the first colony on Marfa Three?”

“Oh… OK!” Derpy entered the TARDIS now with careful steps. Until now she and the Doctor mostly had journeys in other time periods, but never on another planet.