The joyful giggle of Appleseed filled the library as Tyler smiled down to his daughter.
As Applejack and Twilight looked over his shoulders, resting their front hooves on the table, the two of them watched as Tyler had his first attempt of changing a diaper. While the foal seemed to have the time of her life, Tyler grimaced once or twice before he sighed,
“Done! Looks perfect to me…”

Giving the whole thing a chuckle, Applejack shook her head,
“Well, it would be perfect, if ya wouldn’t had wrapped the diaper the wrong way around, Sugarcube.

Twilight giggled,
“It’s a wonder the diaper didn’t land on her head…”

“You try that without book, checklist or magic yourself and we talk about it again. OK honey?”

Hearing the slightly aggressive tone in their voices caused the little foal to hum a bit sad, stretching her hooves up to her father, who shook his head with a smile,
“Oh… That bright little thing… It’s almost like she knows what we’re saying… Don’t listen to me and Aunt Twilight… We’re not fighting; we’re just teasing each other…” With a few moves he corrected the diaper, washed his hands and held Appleseed up. “You still love Daddy, eh?” The little foal stretched her tiny hooves around Tyler’s face and rubbed her head against his, giving him a nice nuzzle, what caused him to smile.

“Like she could ever hate ya, Sugarcube…” Applejack added with a smirk. “Yer voice is so calming for her, she’s always sound asleep in a matter of minutes when ya sing her a lullaby…"

“That’s because I talked to her while she was still in your womb. Human babies get accustomed to the sounds they hear in the womb. I guess that goes with foals as well…”

Of all things that happened in the last time Tyler considered this time with the family and herd the one thing he would never want to give up. It simply was paradise and his heart was at peace. Despite all the fighting he always went through, the times when battle made his blood boil, he always loved these times over fighting anytime. Although he always wondered about the frightened looks of the others after the fights, he always deemed them the looks of herbivores not used to the sight of a human fighting. Maybe he should spend some time meditating about this.

But right now, with Appleseed in his arms, drinking the bottle of milk while looking up to him with these big and beautiful eyes and Applejack and Twilight lying right next to him, all thoughts of fighting vanished as fast as they came. That’s when he started to smile,
“You know… As beautiful as it is to see her drinking, there was one sight I loved even more…”

Cocking her head, the earth pony didn’t understand,
“And what was that, Sugarcube?”

“Seeing you breastfeeding her. AJ”

There was a moment of silence in the library. Both mares began to blush and the earth pony looked down, her face as red as her big brother,
“Shoot! Tyler, ya always say such things… Do ya really think-”

“Yes!” He interrupted her and bent over to kiss her. “You looked beautiful with that swollen belly of yours and you looked absolutely gorgeous breastfeeding our child…” While he tickled her chin a bit, prompting her to giggle in love, he looked over to Twilight. “And I know somepony who would look just as gorgeous with such a swollen belly…”

Now Twilight blushed deeply. In fact, both Tyler and Applejack couldn’t remember seeing their herd mate with such a red hot face before. ”M-m-m-me?!?” the unicorn stammered.

Tyler nodded,
“I imagine you quite lovely with a belly that big. In fact, such a big belly would suit Celestia and Luna as well.”

Taking a few steps back, Twilight shook her head,
“B-but… but… But what about my advanced studies?”

Tyler grinned and put Appleseed down to the floor, before he approached the unicorn,
“I could have a little talk with Celestia if you want to… I’m sure she and Luna would just love to hear from your experiences with motherhood…” Grinning, he knelt down to Twilight and kissed her gently, causing her eyes to pop open wide and her heart to skip a beat.

During the kiss, Twilight only managed to mumble a short “I’ll think about it.” before she grew more demanding in her kisses. As their lips parted, he took a deep breath, inhaling her scent. During heat season, all mares emitted this scent, the musky odor that fired the imagination of stallions. And since it was the second week of heat season this spring, Twilight and Applejack both emitted it as well. Tyler spoke with Big Mac about it and the stallion said that the scent of heat could make a stallion run wild for a mare, if he’s not careful enough. Tyler could relate.

The thought of the meaning of this scent send his thoughts to the darkest pits of his mind. Actually, looking at it in perspective, it was nothing more than the mare’s signal to males that she was ready… But since they were in a herd, the signal was another. No longer was it ‘I’m ready for intercourse, gentlecolts!’… No, it was the clear signal for ‘Come and take me, stud!’ And boy, did it work wonders! And his reaction seemed to be visible for the two mares no matter how much clothes he was wearing. It was as if they could smell the erection in his pants.

Now, looking into Twilight’s eyes, he gently tickled her ear,
“Why don’t we… send Spike on a sleepover to Rarity tonight?”

While biting her bottom lip, Twilight looked around,
“Rarity is in heat as well… It would be a bad idea…”

Nodding, he bend over to her ear, whispering now,
“I see… Then what about you and I sneak into your laboratory once he’s asleep? You can measure all the data you want from my personal ‘level gauge’”

“Sugarcube!!!” Applejack now interfered. “Mind yer talk in front of our daughter!”

“What? The puns? Hmhmhm…” Coming over to her, he stood beside Applejack and waited until Appleseed was in her cradle, before he whispered something into the country mare’s ear. “Maybe you should come as well, so we could discuss my plowing technique…”

Gulping for a moment, Applejack blushed, but closed her eyes and went along,
“Ya know Ah would neigh this library and probably the houses across the street awake if Ah would let mahself go. Ah could try to restrain mahself though… So Ah’ll better pass. Although Ah must say it’s mighty nice of Rachel to look after Babs in mah absence… Thanks to her, Ah can spend more time with ya guys and Appleseed.”

* * * * *

In front of the farm house, Rachel’s eyes narrowed as Babs rolled on the ground,
“Have Ah told ya what Ah would do to him if he ever makes a move on me?”

Rolling her eyes, Rachel clenched her fists,
“Over and over again…”

“Hey, Miss Rachel? Why is it that of all females in Ponyville, ya are never seen with a stallion or man?”

Forcing a grin, Rachel tried her best to stay polite despite the topic. She really hated this one, but the young mare couldn’t know that and wasn’t to blame for this,
“Because I’m not into stallions and the human men on this world are idiots…”

“But not Tyler! He’s such a cool and wicked guy…”

Rolling her eyes, Rachel thought that the incident with the poison joke flower did far more damage than was revealed on first sight,
“Listen, Babs… I know you have the hots for him since you’re in heat and all that… But seriously… THAT GUY?!? OK, I concede that he has his moments and I have to give him credit that he isn’t into someone so young like you as well. But…”

“But it’s not illegal ya know. If a young mare is aware of the consequences and is consenting, she can have sex with a full grown stallion even if it’s her first heat. Ah wouldn’t mind him banging me, ya know… Ah actually dreamt about it…"

Hearing this prompted Rachel to face palm, followed by shaking her head. Here we go again…

“It was sooooo hot! His big and fat member stretching my tiny little hole, reaching in so deep, dumping his hot and sticky seed insi-“

In the next moment Rachel poured a bucket of water over the little filly,
“I thought Applejack told you to stay away from these thoughts! You heat yourself up!”

Blinking first in surprise, Babs looked up to Rachel with narrowed eyes,
“Oh yeah? At least Ah have some fire in mah little womb. Ah’m not so cold and dusty down there like you are.”

“Why you little…” As Rachel bend down to the young mare, Babs held her head up, booping Rachel’s nose with her own. “If I wanted to, I could have stallions on each finger of my hand! And they would probably nibble at my fingernails for the slight hope to mount me with their fat pony cocks. But I don’t want that! You know why? Because I have my female dignity! I would nev-”

In the next moment they both were splashed with icy cold water. Even the hard touch of ice cubes was noticeable. It was then when Granny Smith’s voice came from the window above them. The old mare looked down at them both, arching a brow,
“Now, silly goose! Quit yer gawkin' and move yer caboose! Ya only heat each other up!”

Shivering and shaking Rachel and Babs looked at each other,
“Brr…. You know? G-Granny’s right, all the talk about stallions isn’t good for you, Babs. Let’s forget about this for now, OK? Time for a bath in the barn!”

“A warm bath? In this hot weather?”

In the barn Rachel pulled out a large tube, too heavy to lift, but light enough to pull it into the center,
“You can have a cold one if you like… Come on, I’ll join you”

Undressing now, Rachel took off her top. The sight of her ample breasts prompted Babs to widen her eyes,
“Wow! Now those are huge teats…”

“Close, kid… We humans have different names for these babies… Tits, breasts, knockers… to name only a few…” She slowly massaged her breasts and looked at them. “Although I must say it is funny how stallions stare at them like dehydrated little boys, thirsty for some milk.” Now looking over to Babs who blushed heavily, Rachel laughed loud. “I guess you get the idea, kid.”

Shortly after the makeshift bathtub was ready in the barn, Babs hopped into the cold water,
“Ahhh… Now that’s refreshing!” Giving this a wide grin Rachel climbed into the tub as well and began cleaning herself. It wasn’t until now before both were playfully splashing water at each other.

But little did they know that through a small hole in the barn wall, a green eye peeked on them. Outside the barn sat Big Macintosh and enjoyed the show. The wet curvy bodies, the slippery foam that slid over said bodies… Yeah, this was a sight for every stallion. As he began to masturbate to the sight the two of them gave him, his grin widened. Distracted by this sight, however, he didn’t hear the sound of approaching hooves until one hoof tipped his shoulder. The sound of an all too well known voice became audible inches behind him,
“And what exactly do ya think yer doin’ here, mah boy?”

The red stallion opened his eyes wide and gulped before he looked at the old mare behind him. “Uh…”

In the next moment, a broom was slapped over his head,
“Ah thought so… Now be gone, mah boy… Before Ah let ya EAT this broom! Ah didn’t raise ya like this and ah promised yer Ma and Pa to make a decent young gentlecolt out of ya! So if ya interested in that woman, ya better have the decency to ask her out for a nice dinner or two before yer even thinkin’ about peeking on her naked body! And yer not supposed to be here anyway! Now shoo!” Big Macintosh bowed his head, but complied. Granny was of course right. His presence there would probably only cause more harm.

In the evening, Rachel went down to Ponyville again. As she reached the library, she saw a large crowd of ponies besieging it,
“You have to make him leave, Twilight!” Rose, Daisy and Lily stood together in the crowd and exchanged frightened glances. “I don’t want to live next door to him!”

“We’ve heard screams out of his place!”

“Screams that weren’t natural!”

But the librarian simply shook her head,
“I don’t understand. Who should leave?”

“That dreadful Draconequus!” was the answer that came from somewhere from the crowd.

Tyler leaned in the door frame,
“I didn’t know that Discord was in town again.”

Arching a brow, Twilight looked at all the mares,
“You know… if he behaves and doesn’t cause chaos, there’s little to no reason to toss him out of town. Who doesn’t actively bother others and doesn’t break the rules…”

The mares looked at the librarian, not understanding,
“But Twilight…”

Rolling her eyes in slight annoyance, Twilight shook her head with a smile,
“Alright, if it means so much to you guys, I think we could give it a look to make sure he doesn’t freak out.”

Not half an hour later, the Elements of Harmony and Harmony Rangers arrived at the scene. It was a nice and tidy green lawn, well watered and with a white fence on the edges. In the center of the lawn was a slim and white booth, no bigger than an outdoor house. Arching a brow, Tyler approached the little house,
“Well… Not exactly what I expected from a former Spirit of Chaos…” But just as he opened the door, a wide area was stretching out before him. Several floating islands of earth and rock were connected with each other with bridges, including the floating island the doorway was standing on.

His eyes widened and he leaned back outside, where the others looked at him,
"Is something the matter, Tyler?”

Blinking twice, Tyler shook his head in confusion,
“Well… uh… You better see for yourself!”

As Flynn entered the booth, he came running outside and walked around the booth three seconds later,
“This is incredibly odd!”

“Well what is with that thing?” Rachel asked in slight annoyance. “You two are making such a fuss!”

Flynn looked at her with wide eyes,
“It’s… It’s bigger on the inside!”

Tyler now stepped in again and looked around,
“I think this is similar to the thing he did with the Descendants during his ‘cleaning’ of Canterlot Castle, when they attacked us.”

As the Elements of Harmony went inside one after another, Sam turned around to Lyra and Grinko,
“Lyra? Grinko? I want you two to stay outside and make sure that no pony gets inside or causes damage to this thing while we’re in there.”

The aquamarine-coated unicorn nodded briefly and gave him a short peck,
“I’ll be on guard with the big guy here. We’ll make sure everything will be clear outside.” With that she gave Sam a short salute and he nodded with a smile.

Grinko growled dissatisfied,
“Let me come with you, Tyler…”

But Tyler only shook his head,
“Not this time, Grinko. Sam is right; we need you here, outside. If something happens we’ll need you and Lyra to get us some help.” Now the defenders of Equestria entered the booth and stood there on the first island in silent amazement.

Rachel shook her head as she looked around in the landscape,
“Beautiful and yet ugly…” In the distance a mansion was lying on the biggest floating islands. Or rather hanging on the biggest island since the island was upside down.

Walking over many bridges, the artificial sky was filled with the same cotton candy clouds. Pies were falling up and down and far below the bridges and floating islands the ground was all checkered. All what was missing was the chocolate rain. One of the bridges they crossed was distorted and the gravitational pull was in a mess as well. While the bridge started with the upper side pointing upwards, it pointed downwards at the end and yet one wouldn’t fall off the bridge. While Pinkie had the time of her life, Sam only shook his head in wild wonder while looking around,
“This guy is either a complete nutjob or a complete genius! But either way the thought of handing reality to a guy like that is frightening…”

While they approached the mansion violin music played silently. It actually was quite soothing to hear something normal in all this chaos and not a cacophony to annoy the ears as well. The music echoed through the garden and as they went up the stairs to the front door. The door knocker was in the shape of Discord’s head and Tyler hesitated for a moment before he knocked. But instead of knocking sounds the door knocker screamed in pain and prompted Tyler to jump away a bit,
“What the fuck?”

Twilight arched a brow as she stood beside Tyler and grinned,
“Pretty jumpy, aren’t you? With that her magic grasped the door knocker. The illusion to cause Discord pain was typical for the Draconequus and if that’s the way he wanted to play, Twilight was willed to teach him a lesson. She would make him scream so that the real Discord would recognize them. A few hard and quick knocks… That should do the trick. But as she knocked like this, the door knocker moaned in pleasure with Princess Celestia’s voice. “Oh! Oh, Twilight!” In an instant Twilight let go of the door knocker with a red hot head and Tyler turned around not to burst into wild laughter.

Behind Twilight, the others snickered and giggled as well,
“He got you good there, Twilight…” Fortunately for the unicorn, the door now opened and revealed the inhabitant. Floating in midair, Discord played a violin and sung while doing so.

“♫It gets so lonely being evil
What I'd do to see a smile
Even for a little while♫”

As the Draconequus performed a pirouette, the violin hovered in place and played by itself. Sliding to his knees, Discord held his heart.

“♫And no-one loves you when you're evil... ♫”

But just as he opened his eyes again, a big grin formed on his face as he saw the Element Bearers and Harmony Rangers.

“♫I'm lying through my teeth!
Your tears are all the company I need! ♫”

Arching a brow, Tyler looked around in the mansion. It was a chaotic mess as the landscape outside with moving pictures in picture frames and flying goldfishes,
“Discord… What in the world are you doing in a white booth in Ponyville that has this chaotic landscape all by yourself?"

Blinking in wonder, the Draconequus arched his brows and grinned,
“But who says I’m all alone in here?” Stretching his arms, he snapped his claws and the others were surrounded by frantic screaming groupies, duplicates of himself. Discord himself was on stage and performed with a blue jacket and a pair of shades.

“♫Eh~ Sexy Discord!!!
Op-op-op-op open Chaos Style! ♫”

Taking the microphone from him, Tyler gritted his teeth,
“Enough! Stop this nonsense at once! We didn’t come here to see this! We came here to check on you because the ponies outside don’t know what to make of you suddenly live among them in such a small place.”

But Discord stood his ground,
“Well it’s not MY fault they can’t adjust to such a small house on a fine green lawn… I really need so little space; does this really bother them so much? I must say I feel offended…” Now all of his groupies folded their arms and stretched out their tongues.

Twilight raised a hoof at the Discord on the stage,
“That’s because the last time you were around, you flooded Sweet Apple Acres and caused another winter season! And the incident before you tried to make Ponyville the Chaos capital of the world!”

Tyler folded his arms and shook his head,
“You can’t blame them for expecting anything but trouble when you come around, Discord. You have to admit that you left a bad impression…”

Bending down to Twilight, the Draconequus tipped her chest and held up a document,
“Good points indeed, Twilight Sparkle… But YOU Elements reformed me and it was confirmed by the Princess. Staying in Canterlot is boring once in a while, so I thought I’d get a second house in Ponyville.”

While Twilight, read the document, Rainbow arched a brow,
“Second house?”

Discord simply shrugged,
“But of course! I have a place like this here in my chamber in Canterlot Castle. Princess Celestia allowed me to use more of these bags of holding. They are just my style. I can fit all my entire chaos in a tiny room without bothering anypony else… Isn’t it a wonderful agreement? Outside my rooms and houses you can have all the order you want, but inside here I have this wonderful, wonderful chaos!”

Looking up from the document, Twilight nodded,
“The royal seal of approval isn’t a fake, girls… He is right.”

“Ha! You see? And you thought I was-“ Before he could end his sentence, Tyler patted his shoulder and shook his head, shaking his head to remind him not to overdo it, what prompted the former Spirit of Chaos to arch a brow with a smirk.

Looking around Flynn shook his head,
“I don’t get it… Not only can you duplicate yourself, you can be both male AND female as well?”

“Oh please, Flynn Marshall…” Discord said while waving the thought away. “Only mortals like to stay in one gender for their entire life. This is so boring… Not only can I change my gender and age, but species as well.” After a short flash, Discord disappeared and reappeared behind Tyler as a female anthropomorphic Draconequus with some breasts and pressed the cleavage into the human’s neck with a lascivious grin. Tyler looked down to Twilight with a sober expression, but his right eye was twitching. The lavender mare nodded in silence and Tyler’s hand reached out for one of Discord’s horns and grabbed it. Pulling the Draconequus from him, Tyler tossed the former Spirit of Chaos away. But disappearing in one flash and reappearing in yet another, Discord now had perfect human form and leaned against Rachel as a man in brown suit. “He doesn’t like humanoid women, does he?”

Sam arched a brow and looked over to Discord,
“You seem to like to perform imitations of other species just for the heck of it… But it is hard taking you seriously if you behave like a joker. Would you mind staying in the one form we know you in?”

Discord’s mood visibly grew better by this response,
“Ah! The intriguing Sam O’Donnell and Flynn Marshall! The two humans who DIDN’T get their cutie marks through direct magical contact… I know why you humans got them. Do you?”

Sam’s eyes now grew grim,
“Not exactly… But it doesn’t matter anyway. We have them and won’t lose them, so we don’t have to know how to regain them.”

Now Discord’s fingers slowly rose up,
“Oh, I can arrange that… All it takes is the snap of my-” Just as the Elements were up to interfere, Fluttershy hovered before Discord. Arching a brow, the now human Draconequus shrugged. “What?”

The yellow Pegasus looked at Discord’s hand and then back to his face,
“You gave me your promise, Discord…”

Grumbling a bit, the Draconequus snapped his fingers and returned back to normal. Another snap further, his groupies and the loud music were all gone as well,
“Fine… And here I was hoping that I could get at least a bit of fun out of them…”

“There’s no fun in being threatened, Discord! Now apologize to them!

Narrowing his eyes, Discord shrugged,
“Fine, fine… I’m sorry! Let me greet you welcome instead.” After another snap of his paw, they all were in a living room where a doorway and a pedestal were put in place. On the pedestal rested a glass orb of the size of a honeydew melon and another green orb floating inside of it. Pinkie Pie inspected the little orb of glass thoroughly. “Well then… Why don’t you step into the doorway and we can have a little picnic?” Discord said with a smile, opening a doorway to a leading to a vast meadow.

Rachel arched her brows,
“A picnic? That actually sounds quite good!” As she went through the doorway, the others could hear her scream all of a sudden. Tyler and Flynn stormed right into the doorway as they saw it. Two gigantic eyes, blue and embedded into a body covered in pink hair.

As the eyes took their distance in the sky, they could hear Pinkie in the other room,
“Hey! Discord has tiny versions of you guys in that orb! Did you allow him that?” Coming back into the living room, Tyler looked at the orb and saw them there. Rachel and Flynn were waving up to him, not bigger than an inch.

This caused Tyler to gulp,
“Twilight? Have a look at this!”

When Twilight saw the mini versions of Rachel and Flynn, she looked up to Discord, then to Tyler, before her eyes turned back to Discord,
“At least the effect is only temporal… Alright, you have my interest… How does it work?”

“How?” The Draconequus asked, before he laughed heartily. “Oh, Twilight! Did you really think I would take note of how things work? I’m the Spirit of Chaos! Chaos simply works anytime I will it to work. And trans-dimensional chaos is something quite lovely…”

Now Rachel and Flynn returned back as well,
“Well… There’s a meadow in that orb as far as I can see. And if I look at it from the outside, it’s like a mini planetoid. Complete with gravity and atmosphere.”

Rainbow and Applejack looked at each other before both shook their heads,
“Come again, Flynn? Maybe ya shouldn’t talk so fancy…”

Sam looked at the orb,
“It’s a Mini-Equis, if you will…”

Looking to Discord, Tyler arched a brow,
“Is it stable? I mean… We don’t have to fear something happening to the inhabitants once the orb shatters, do we?”

Thinking for a moment, the Draconequus tipped his chin,
“Hmmm…. I think the dimension inside would expand back to its former size and mass…”

In the next moment everyone in the room stepped far away from the orb. Sam shook his head slowly as he ended the thought loud,
“…thus crushing everything and everyone in its way…”

Tyler grinned a bit nervous as he looked around,
“I vote for going to the next room leaving the orb at peace.” With a united “Agreed”, the group went to the next room and Discord snapped a group of chairs and sofas into existence. Even though the furniture was floating, it was quite comfortable to sit on it.

As they sat down, pieces of cake appeared in front of everyone. But as soon as Rachel took a bit from her piece of cake and chew on it, it regenerated. Arching a brow, the Draconequus giggled,
“What’s the matter, Rachel Higgins? Eat up! Or aren’t you hungry?” Looking down to her piece of cake, she chew a bit more on the bite in her mouth. She definitely took a bite, otherwise there wouldn’t be any cake in her mouth.

When she looked up to Discord, she gulped the bite down and shook her head,
“I think you just want more fun in seeing me hastily eat a cake that can never be finished. That’s not about to happen…”

After eating a few bites from the never-ending cake, Tyler now rested his plate down on his lap,
“When I first saw you in the castle, I thought you were nothing more than trouble. But, in fairness, you took care of these Descendants in the castle quite good, what allowed us to advance without greater casualties. I give you that. So, you have proven that you can be of use, IF you behave. The question is: Why do you slightly misbehave like this again? You can just simply ask, if you want to know something. Or you could have told every pony outside that you want to behave from now on, what would have made this visit here not necessary in the first place.”

But the Draconequus shook his head,
“Tyler Jones, this ‘simply asking’ is but a mere asking for access to a recitation of information, hollow and emotionless… A reaction shows so much more from the character. It is so much richer in detail. So if I ask you about the human nature, you can only give me a definition, some words or a little speech… But if I get a reaction out of you…”

Tyler nodded,
“I see your point there, Discord If that’s the way you want to learn about the human nature, I’ll play along… Just promise one thing!”

“And what is that?” Discord asked with an arched brow.

“Promise me that you will never bring someone into danger!” The Draconequus arched a brow and looked at Tyler in thought, causing Tyler to arch a brow on his own. “What? Having doubts that you could keep that promise? You want to learn about humans, I guess. And you want to earn some trust with the others… Then promise us you won’t overdo it and we’ll see where this goes…”

Rachel shook her head,
“Jones, are you sure this is a wise idea?”

“Sure! He wants to show that he is something better? I gladly give him the chance to prove himself if he can guarantee me that he won’t overdo it.”

With a look at all of the elements of Harmony and Harmony Rangers, Discord lowered his plate and raised his lion paw,
“I’ll promise I will not bring anyone into danger!”

Half an hour later, after a nice farewell, the friends conversed a bit while on their way out again. Fluttershy smiled while flying alongside Tyler and Twilight,
“I must say that he developed pretty well since the last time. I’m happy that he doesn’t suffer any backslide back into complete chaos.”

Twilight nodded and looked around,
“Quite an interesting idea he had canalizing his chaos into a confined space. In here, he can express himself while living among us in peace. I’m sure the others will appreciate it. If we leave his home unharmed, his chaos won’t interfere with our order.”

Patting her shoulders, Tyler looked down to Twilight,
“You were very strict with him, Twilight. I noticed that. Is there still a little grudge in you?”

Twilight smirked,
“He’s like a little misbehaving boy most of the time. Someone has to be strict with him.”

But this only made Tyler grin,
“Or maybe he just wants you to get mad.”

This made the unicorn blink in surprise,
“You mean…?”

“Yes!” Tyler responded with a chuckle. “He’s pushing a button and you anger a bit for his amusement.”

Growling a bit, Twilight shook her head,
“I will have to work on that then…” Shortly after that, they arrived outside and reported to the waiting crowd their findings. While still a bit wary about the chaos inside the little white booth, the ponies of Ponyville accepted their latest neighbor since this chaos was confined and thus out of sight in a faraway place.

* * * * *

On the next day Flynn strolled around the streets of Ponyville. Unlike before, the flood of mares that chased Sam and him seized to exist all of a sudden. Maybe it was because he and Sam were now in upcoming herds. It seemed to be a social norm that mares courted like hell out of singles and couples, but three herd mates made a crowd and required more proper courting. Either that or the fact that these new herd mates were Bearers of the elements of Harmony intimidated the mares. As he came across the flower shops, he stopped and looked at them. It was early morning, Rainbow would probably be sleeping or working somewhere, he could surprise her with a snack or two. With a smile he thought of the fun fact that the ponies ate the flowers instead of watching their beautiful blossoms.

It was then when Rose came out of her backyard garden and looked at Flynn. Giggling a bit, she confronted him and stood beside her prized flowers,
“See anything you’d like to have?”

Noticing her constant subtle wiggling of her plot and the twitching tail, Flynn arched a brow and grinned a bit,
“Rose… Are you flirting with me?”

“Maybe…?” As he folded his arms, she whirled her mane and wiggled her rump a bit more. “You can’t blame a mare to look her best for the handsome males of town, can you? I am but a humble rose in full bloom just waiting for the bee to plunge deep into her to collect her honey…”

Trying his best to fight the urge to laugh, Flynn shook his head,
“That’s one nice allegory… OK, how much?”

Opening her eyes wide, Rose gasped and looked at him aghast,
“Flynn!!! I’m not that kind of mare!” But after a strict harrumph of his, Rose recognized his finger pointing towards her prized roses. A dark shade of red appeared now on her face. “Oh…That would be two bits…”

After paying her, he got his rose and nodded,
“You know, Rose… Like this flower here you are beautiful and quite a sight… But if I would pick you up, certain thorns would injure me.”

Then, after a short giggle, Rose began to give him her best bedroom eyes,
“You flatter me, Flynn… It’s a pity that a man such as you is chained to only one mare, when he can speak in such a figurative language… I know at least two other mares besides me that would love to hear more about that…”

Flynn took a gentle sniff on the rose blossom and smiled,
“Careful, Rose… You’re trying to tempt the man who’s with Loyalty herself. Don’t burn your hoof…”

“Oh, but it is fun flirting with you humans… You guys are so good in that.”

Chuckling a bit, Flynn nodded,
“I’m glad you enjoy it, but I’m afraid the end result will be that you’re a more frustrated mare than before. So please let us stop right here, OK?”

Giving a sigh, Rose nodded,
“Oh alright… Have a good day, Flynn!”

“You too, Rose!” As Flynn went along the street, he heard a bell ringing in the distance. As he recognized the direction, he noticed that this was the school bell. It seemed that school was over for today and already several young ponies ran outside.

Leaning against the white fence, he saw the cutie mark crusaders coming along,
“Hey there, Ranger Flynn!”

Smiling at their happy faces, he got moving and went along with them,
“Hey there, girls… Had a great day at school?”

“Yeah… Today we’ve had home economics… Don’t ask! I bet Miss Cheerilee will spend an hour or two cleaning up our mess. And we didn’t earn any cutie marks from that either…” All three of them gave a disappointed sigh now.

When the three fillies split up on the town center after saying goodbye to each other, Sweetie Belle went towards the Carousel Boutique while Apple Bloom went up the street to Sweet Apple Acres. Flynn looked down to Scootaloo,
“No crusading today?”

The little Pegasus grinned,
“Yeah we will crusade, but later. First each of us has homework to do.”

Flynn smiled,
“I see. Well, I’m sure your parents will help you with that. By the way, why don’t you introduce me to them?”

There was a short time of a few seconds when Scootaloo halted completely, before she found her composure again and went on,
“Yeah… They’ll be glad to see you...” As they came across a market stall for ice cream, she looked up to him. “Hey… Could you buy me an ice cream? I love it, but my parents won’t allow me one until I made my homework…”

Flynn shook his head and smirked before he turned to the unicorn stallion,
“Undermining your parents’ authority for an ice cream? Not a very nice thing to do, Scoots…” With that he paid a bit to the unicorn stallion who arched a brow and looked behind him. “Now, Scoots? What sorts of ice cream do you-” But as he turned around, the little filly galloped away. “What the…?” As he began to run after her, the stallion stretched a hoof after him. “H-hey! Your money!!!”

Within a few seconds, Flynn almost caught up with Scootaloo, but a group of ponies came into his way and he had to slow down, not to run them over. Following Scootaloo with the eyes he saw that the filly ran into another alley. As he passed the group, he ran after her, but after running through the alley he reached another street with no Scootaloo whatsoever in sight,
“Now where the hell did she go?”

Whatever the reason was, the young filly sure made her escape. She couldn’t outrun him; surely she had to hide somewhere. But where was she hiding? Once losing track of someone in Ponyville on a busy street, one has plenty of possible places to hide in. But Scootaloo had no reason to run away from him. In fact, he was sure that being the one in relationship with Rainbow Dash would mean the filly would be more interested to hang out with him. And this only made Flynn grew more determined to catch the little filly next time around.

As the next day came, he already waited for the three crusaders to go home. All three of them went to Sweet Apple Acres, probably to their clubhouse. After several hours had passed, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle returned to Ponyville and split up, once they reached the Carousel Boutique. What became noticeable was that, once alone, Scootaloo let her head sink a bit. She was looking a bit around before she slowly trotted away. In one of the many alleys, Flynn harrumphed behind her and immediately got her attention,
“You can’t run away from me forever, you know…”

Just as she tried to gallop away once more, he immediately ran in high speed after her, catching her this time and held her up so that her front hooves were over his shoulders and her hind legs were kicking against his chest,
“Let me go!!!” she demanded while kicking wildly.

“Not until you calm down!” he snapped back. Slowly but surely, the little filly ceased to kick around and huffed a bit. Flynn then nodded. “Easy… easy… I don’t want to harm you. I only want to talk, OK?” Scootaloo nodded and calmed down. It was then when Flynn’s hands, just as promised, slowly let go off her and he placed her on the ground.

Tousling her wild mane, he nodded,
“Come on, Scoots! That’s not like you. Why did you run away? It’s not like you did something wrong on the way home, did you?” Rubbing his chin, he thought a bit. “Come to think of it… I know where Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom live… Yet I’ve never seen YOUR place. Where do you live?”

“That’s none of your bucking business!” she snapped at him. “Just leave me alone, OK? Please…”

But this unnecessary rude tone only made him frown a bit,
“Listen… Please don’t get this the wrong way… I’ve got to ask you this, Scootaloo. I’m trying to be very careful, because I think you are in trouble… Are you an orphan?”

In an instant, Flynn could see that this question alarmed the little Pegasus filly in the worst way as she looked at him with wide and frightened eyes,
“I… I don’t want to talk about that!”

He tried to lay a hand on her, but she jumped up, alarmed by his touch. Slowly, an even worse suspicion grew in him. “Scoots… I’m… I’m not going to hurt you… I just want to talk. I mean… you never mentioned your parents or the place where you live. So maybe you’ll tell me so I can at least understand it. That’s all I want to do right now. I want to understand you!”

“But I don’t want to talk about it, OK? Please! I…” Looking down now, the little eyes of hers glittered with tears. “I don’t want to remember it!”

Flynn looked down to her,
“OK… But what am I going to say to Rainbow Dash? Should I say: ‘Man, I met your number one fan today, but she has a problem and I can’t help her with it because she doesn’t want to talk about it.’? What is on your mind that you can’t even tell me, a Harmony Ranger? What could be so terrible?”

Now Scootaloo looked down. She knew that Flynn was a Ranger and protector just like Tyler and that he had to ask her these uncomfortable questions,
“I… If I tell you, will you keep it a secret?”

Flynn looked around to see if anybody was around. As he saw that no one was near, he pulled the little filly in closer,
“Everything you tell me will be kept secret from everyone else in Ponyville. No one will make me spill it. But then of course… if I can help you by telling somepony like Princess Celestia…”

With a timid nod, the little filly gulped and closed her eyes. This was it. This was her time to be brave on her own,
“I’m… I’m not an orphan, but my parents are both dead to me… It was three years ago, when mother passed away. I didn’t understand why she was gone, but it didn’t matter… What mattered was my still living father. He…” The filly gulped as tears welled in her eyes. As she looked up to Flynn, these tears ran down her cheeks as she looked up in anger. “Listen… I may be a kid, but this I know: A father shouldn’t… shouldn’t do this… to his own daughter. I didn’t mention to anypony that I live all by myself so I don’t have to go back there! I-”

Flynn noticed how her terrified voice pulled on his feelings. His index- middle- and ring finger now rested her lips,
“Stop it… That’s enough, Scoots… That’s all I need to know right now…” As he pulled her in and embraced her, a dam was breaking in her and her silent whimper and crying made him close his eyes. “You’re such a brave little filly carrying that burden all on yourself for so long now… I promise you: Whatever happens, you won’t have to go back there… Does somebody else know? The mayor mare perhaps? Miss Cheerilee?”

Scootaloo only shook her head,
“Nopony knows. And I couldn’t face Rainbow Dash like this.”

“That is bullshit!” Flynn said narrowing his eyes. “If any pony will stay with you, it’s her! She’s the Element of Loyalty, remember? She wouldn’t blame a young filly for having an abusive father.” After she looked down, he held her chin up. “Will you show me where you live right now?” She nodded and stood up, her young wings buzzing nervous. When Flynn got her on his shoulder and carried her away, he suddenly felt a water drop on his forehead. With a frown he looked up. “Odd… No rainclouds in the sky…”

But right above him was a tiny cloud just big enough for Rainbow Dash. Overhearing the story, she gritted her teeth. Tears of anger ran down her cheeks. How could she not notice? And how could anyone do something like that? Looking over to Cloudsdale, she was tempted to fly over there, ask around which Pegasus stallion was missing a daughter and beat the living shit out of him. But this would mean more attention for Scootaloo, who just wanted to forget about all this. She promised to take the young filly under her wing, but that Scootaloo was afraid to express her distress to the mare only meant that she was ashamed of herself. Being all by herself would be bad enough, but being abused and to blame oneself for it… Giving another glance down, she looked after them. For now, Rainbow had to trust in Flynn doing the right thing.

A few minutes later both Scootaloo and Flynn arrived in a dark alley with only one thing standing next to the wall. It was a small wooden box with a lid. Inside was a small door leading inside a tunnel deep within. Crouching along the narrow tunnel, he followed the little filly until they came to a small cavern, where several blankets lied on one place. Although it was quite dark, Flynn saw that the cavern was almost five to five meters and two meters high, with several wooden planks were put together as walls, ceiling and floor. There even was a makeshift bed. It was nothing great, but still was impressive for such a small young filly,
“Seriously, Scoots… Did you build that all on your own?”

Giving a shrug, the little filly smirked,
“It got better since I’m a crusader… Building so much gives you some ideas what to do with wood. This here is a room of the old warehouse above. Nopony ever comes down here. It’s so much better than the barren ground… So, what do you say? It’s quite an achievement, huh?” Looking around, Flynn gulped. Here she lived in such a place and smiled like it was some sort of adventure. He wasn’t sure whether to commend or pity her for that.

That’s when the determination grew in his eyes,
“Scootaloo!” As the Pegasus filly looked up to him, he simply shook his head, still looking around in the makeshift home. “While this might look awesome to you… this is a miserable place for a young filly to be.” Taking the lamp into his grip, he knelt down to her and gently stroked her mane. “You’ll come with me and live in a good and decent home from now on, OK?”

“But what about…”

“Don’t think about the others… I will send a letter to the highest authority of Equestria and ask for permission to become your caretaker until you’ve become of age and can live your own life.” With that he smiled into her face. “OK?”

The little Pegasus didn’t notice how the tears ran down her cheeks. Why were these humans all so nice to her and the others? Shaking her head, Scootaloo jumped up to him, rubbed her face in his chest as she silently sobbed. Patting her little head, he nodded and carried her home. By now it was late evening and Bon Bon arched a brow as Flynn carried the little filly up to his room. Scootaloo was already asleep in his arms; she didn’t notice that she was lying on his bed. That Flynn was having a discussion with Bon Bon went unnoticed as well.

But Flynn assured the earth pony that he had very good reasons why there was a little filly in his bed and everything would clear up in the next few days. Bon Bon didn’t like it very much, but Sam assured her that Flynn wasn’t that kind of man and that he would take Flynn down himself if he dared to try something funny.

Just as the sun had set, Flynn knocked at the front door of the library. Spike opened, already with a blanket over his shoulder,
“Evening, Flynn… What is it?”

“I have a very and I mean very important letter to the princesses… I need you to send it immediately to them.”

“What’s in it?” But just when Spike was about to unroll the scroll, Flynn held it tight so that the dragon looked up to his shaking face. “Uh… That letter is confidential, huh? Alright…” Spitting fire at it, he sent the letter on its way. “There you go. Must be some important stuff, huh?”

Flynn nodded,
“Very… Thank you, Spike. I owe you one!”

By the time Flynn came back into the house, Scootaloo woke up with a gasp. A warm and cozy bed… The only times she had the privilege to have this was in sleepovers with the other crusaders. It was then when she realized that Flynn had carried her here. And now she was lying in his bed. Her pupils became tiny dots as the door opened behind her. Gulping down a heavy lump, she closed her eyes shut. Steps came closer. It was the past all over again. The silent coming into the bedroom, the abuse… Was he about to do the same terrible things to her that her father did? Her body stiffened in fear. He could just lift the blanket and do all those nasty things… The tension was so horrible. She had to shut down all emotions again to endure yet another abuse, right? Just not by her father this time.

But only a warm and soft voice came to her ear,
“Good night, Scootaloo…” With that a kiss was placed on her forehead and somewhere in the room was a strange noise like someone… Her eyes popped open. There was nothing touching her in spots she didn’t want to be touched. There was no awful smell of sweat over her as she was abused. It was only kindness. Confusion raged in her mind. As she turned around, she saw Flynn lying on the hard floor. That actually touched the little filly. Thinking that he was the same as her father was pretty stupid. Good thing she didn’t told this to anypony.

Two hours later Lyra and Bon Bon came up to the bedrooms and whispered to each other,
“Lyra, do you really think that we should tolerate this as well? I mean she’s an orphan from what I understood. She should be in an orphanage, not in our busy household. We’re not fit to foster a filly…”

But the unicorn simply smirked,
“Speak for yourself, Bonnie… Sam and I already have plans regarding this. I don’t know about Pinkie, but I’m certain it will be a big thing for our herd if we have several foals. As for Scootaloo, I think we should wait how things develop…” With that they silently opened the door to Flynn’s room and gasped.

“Oh, just look at this…” While Flynn was lying on the ground, Scootaloo was lying beside him, the head rested on his chest. Lyra’s magic closed the door and she looked at Bon Bon. “Bonnie… Whatever is going on, I’m telling you that this filly trusts this Ranger. And whether or not she’s an orphan, it is important for her that she has someone to trust.”

Bon Bon rolled her eyes,
“But she already has Rainbow Dash! Why doesn’t she-“

But Lyra interrupted the earth pony,
“Bonnie, he’s together with Rainbow. Think about it! Scootaloo together with the Pegasus mare being the closest thing to family for her and the one who’s having a relationship with Rainbow Dash wants to help as well! They’re perfect for each other! I think the best we can do for now is to step aside and let things handle themselves.”

When they stepped away from the door, they noticed a sudden flash coming out of Rachel’s room and soon after that, there was music coming from downstairs. It was a tango, known by most ponies in Canterlot as “The scent of a mare”, a piece of great passion and romance and quite popular among the young sophisticated couples. Yet Rachel didn’t seem to be anywhere as interested or touched by the music as she was standing in the room in slip and tank top,
“Get out!”

Stretching his arms out, the former Spirit of Chaos grinned wide,
“Oh, come on, Rachel Higgins! You have to brighten up a bit and get into the spirit of things!”

One snap of his paw later, Rachel stood there in a black and backless evening dress,
“Well I appreciate the effort and this is truly a lovely dress…”

“Only to underline certain beauty…”

“Aw, you shouldn’t have…” After performing a pirouette, Rachel looked over her shoulder with a smirk and alluring eyes. “Hmm… Discord?”

“Yes?” Resting his paw and claw on her hips, he gave her his best smile.

In an instant her tone became sober again,
“Leave!”

Leaning her wide backwards, he looked deep into her eyes and wiggled his eyebrows,
“Oh… Can’t it wait until after the dance?”

In the next moment her Beretta pushed up his chin and she grinned while arching a brow,
“Right now, buster!”

His eyes widened all of a sudden,
“Now where did you hide that thing?”

“You would never guess in a million years… Now leave, before I hide a magic bullet in you where neither the Princesses nor Equestria’s best proctologist would ever find it…”

“Well if you insist…” Another snap later he stood with her in the middle of the room. “A promise is a promise…” With that he bowed down before her holding up a paw. Rolling her eyes she smirked and rested her hand on his paw in order to receive a hand kiss. But little did she know that in his paw was a handshake buzzer.

The shocking sensation made her shriek in surprise, before she pulled the hand away,
“Why you little…” Just as she pulled the trigger on the Beretta, chocolate milk came out instead of destructive magic. “What the…?” As she looked down at her gun, Discord disappeared in wild laughter. While Rachel growled, Lyra and Bon Bon giggled behind her. “Folks… Whatever happens… This never happened, you got that?”

* * * * *

During the next morning, Flynn woke up after a rather unpleasant night on the hard floor. What came into immediate attention was the weight on his chest. As he looked up, Scootaloo’s head rested there and she was still sound asleep. How beautiful she was right now. Innocent like an angel was she lying there. His hand stroked through her mane and over her neck. It wasn’t long after that that she woke up. When she realized that he was touching her, her head rose up and she looked into his eyes. Giving her a gentle smile he continued to stroke her mane,
“Good morning, Scoots. But you should have stayed in the warm and cozy bed…”

“I… must have fallen out of the bed, I guess…” she lied. Trying her best to hide that she actually liked the way he treated her, she stood up. The way he touched her was different than the way she knew the touch of her father. His wasn’t that invasive, not so demanding. It was only giving. And it felt good.

Jumping up to the bed, she looked outside the window as Flynn rested his chin on the mattress and looked at her,
“Feeling better? You know you’re about to get a new family now… I hope you didn’t get used to this kind of life…”

The little filly turned around and smiled,
“Yeah, I guess it feels great not to be alone.”

Responding with his own smile, Flynn nodded. While she didn’t recognize it, Scootaloo was in a way like Rainbow, who also hated to be alone,
“There you go, kid. You are so much prettier when you smile.”

Downstairs Rarity arrived in the house delivering a dress,
“Here you go, Lyra. Your gala dress is… What is Discord doing here?” Lying on the couch, the Draconequus held a black orb in his paws.

Lyra shook her head,
“My guess is that he is here for Rachel or the other Rangers…”

When Rachel came downstairs, she got a tad grumpier when she spotted Discord,
“That nerve!”

It was then when Sweetie Belle wormed herself in and pushed Rarity a bit away as she entered,
“Rarity? I thought you said we’re going to spend some time after you delivered that dre-“ Now noticing the Draconequus, her big eyes became even bigger. “It’s Mr. Discord!”

When Discord took notice of the little filly, he looked up to Rarity and Rachel. Both were glaring at him for their own reasons, but he simply grinned and made room on the couch, caressing the orb as Sweetie Belle sat down on the couch,
"What is it you have there, Mr. Discord?”

Looking over to Rachel once more for a short time, Discord grinned and looked down to Sweetie Belle once more,
“Want to know?” The unicorn filly nodded with a beaming face. “It was laid this morning… isn’t it adorable?”

Now Sweetie Belle gasped in pleasant surprise,
“Is that your…?”

Rarity raised her chin a bit,
“Now Sweetie Belle! Touching an unborn being certainly is not proper for a girl! Especially if it is a fragile egg! Now come! A lady shouldn’t touch everything!”

But nevertheless Sweetie Belle caressed the black orb with her white hoof,
“But Discord’s egg is about to hatch and I don’t want to miss it! Are you with someone, Discord? Who’s the mommy?”

“Well now…” With this Discord bend down to the little unicorn filly and whispered the answer into her ear with a grin. “You see…?”

Hearing this prompted Sweetie Belle’s eyes to widen and her voice cracked,
“RACHEL’S THE MOMMY?”

Rarity arched back, aghast,
“WHAT?!?” Now she and Lyra looked at Rachel, who was standing there dumbfounded.

With a beaming face, Discord appeared beside her and leaned against her while his tail was wrapped around the black orb,
“Oh, I’m so happy! So happy to receive a child from the woman I love!”

Rachel’s eyes went wide open and she gritted her teeth in surprise,
“A CHILD?!?”

While leaning against Rachel, Discord now placed the orb into her hands and grinned,
“Go ahead… Feel it! It won’t be long now…”

Looking around in complete confusion, Rachel looked for explanation in the faces of the others. She didn’t do anything and certainly didn’t lay an egg like this,
“I- I don’t understand!” As the orb began shaking in her hands, she gritted her teeth. But when a spider leg broke through the shell, she let go of the orb and jumped back, screaming.

Sweetie Belle gasped as the orb fell to the ground and some of the egg shell broke loose as well, but giggled as she saw that the content seemingly was well and healthy. Out of the black orb, the fur of a small creature popped out. The little head looked up and the white mane revealed a face similar to Discord’s. But that was the only similarity the little Draconequus shared with her father. Having a human and a dragon arm, the leg of a spider and a bear, the body of a lion and the tail of a cheetah she was nothing like her father as she climbed out of the egg shell with clumsy steps. With a smile, Discord held the little Draconequus up,
“Hmhmhmhm… Oh, come here… There’s a good little Dissonance…”

Rachel arched a brow as she looked at Discord,
“‘Dissonance’? A Draconequus name? So this is simply…” Now Discord started to break out in wild laughter, causing Rachel to grit her teeth in anger. “I can’t believe your nerve, buster…”

Sweetie Belle cocked her head and looked up to the adult Draconequus,
“Can a Draconequus have a baby just like that?”

Stroking the mane of his daughter, Discord nodded and cleaned her a bit,
“Sure! I wanted to have someone like myself around without duplicating myself, so I created Dissonance. You must be crazy to think that I would have a child with a mortal…”

While Rachel wanted to leave the room in anger, she bumped into Tyler, who entered the room and gave Discord an admonishing glare, before he spotted the little newborn Draconequus,
“Now then… So this is Rachel’s baby, eh?”

Rachel still grumbled at this joke on her, Sweetie Belle shook her head with a smile,
“Oh no, Tyler! That’s Dissonance! And she just hatched from her egg.”

Patting the head of the newborn Draconequus, Tyler began to smile,
“I see, I see… Discord! Now that you are the father of a child, you’ll have to become responsible. Yeah… you got a bumpy road ahead of you… Because if you let that child down, you will find that you were on thin ice.” Grabbing the Draconequus at the Goatee, Tyler slowly pulled him in and lowered his volume to a more threatening tone. “And when this happens, you will learn that the Princesses and I are below it…” With that he let go of Discord and left the room without any further word.

“Those were some harsh words…” The Draconequus muttered.

But Lyra shook her head after taking a sip of coffee,
“Not at all… He can relate. After all, he’s already a father himself. So yeah… You better take good care of the little one.”

In the kitchen Tyler thought of the extent another Draconequus could have. This day was beginning simply weird. It only was meant to be a normal visit to Bon Bon, Lyra and the other rangers. Who would have thought that Discord would prank the living hell out of them? Well, since I’m in the kitchen now, I could at least make myself useful. With that he looked for sugar, lemons and…

With a white flash, a carafe of light yellow liquid appeared in front of him together with a glass. As he turned around, Discord was sitting at the kitchen table together with his newborn daughter and lifted a glass of it by himself. Taking the glass and the carafe, Tyler sat down at the table as well. As he took the first sip, he arched both brows. That was quite good!
“Fascinating… I really thought of lemonade!”

The Draconequus arched a brow with a smile and raised his glass before drinking it, tossing the solid fluid behind him through the open window, so it detonated in the backyard. This caused Tyler to arch a brow for himself as Bon Bon cursed outside over her ruined laundry,
“A strange form of hospitality, that much is certain… But it still is hospitality. I give you that, Discord.”

Nodding humbly, the Draconequus smiled,
“Why, thank you!”

Arching a brow with a smirk, Tyler nodded over to the Draconequus,
“Alright, pal… What do you want?”

“Pardon?”

Pointing a finger at Discord Tyler took another sip of lemonade,
“You want something from me and the Rangers, Discord! Otherwise you wouldn’t be bothering us that much. Otherwise you wouldn’t make promises that restrain your pranks. There’s curiosity about something in you and it has to do with us!”

Rolling his eyes Discord clenched his paws,
“Ugh! You humans! You always take yourself so important… As a species on your own planet, you are nothing more than a nuisance to the environment. Just my style! However… after you and the Rangers threw the Descendants out of Equestria and restored peace in Canterlot, I just deemed you playthings. Another species to toy with… But all the information Celestia showed me about you shed new light on you. You are a species that deems stagnancy unbearable.”

After blinking a bit, Tyler reconstructed the way Discord thought and nodded,
“Yes, that’s true. Research and curiosity are the main aspects of humans. We want to learn, become something more…”

With a nod the former Spirit of Chaos sneered,
“Right… This is the motivation of the human species. To look at things you can’t explain and make sense out of it. Fortunately there are natural limitations to that…” His sneer withered and he looked sober at Tyler. “But unfortunately this motivation is getting bigger and bigger. From century to century, from millennium to millennium! Soon these natural limitations of yours will crumble and your potential will be ready to be fully used, not just the 30 % you’re currently using…”

There was a certain pause of silence between those two and Tyler tried to study Discord’s face for any signs of intentions. Yet the Draconequus continued. “But where does this lead you? Even Celestia in her…” Grimacing, the Draconequus gestured quotation marks. “…’all-knowing wisdom’ can’t predict what you humans might become. Maybe something unimaginable…” He then started to grin again. “But I know you can be quite a bunch, you silly fools!”

Arching a brow Tyler looked at him. “You say that because we wage wars?”

“I say that because you are such interesting beings. I would have a blast in a world with so many beings that fight each other over the tiniest of things. Who cares about a bomb that can level a city? That’s no fun at all… I hope you never use these babies! You’re too much fun to be extinct.”

Tyler now arched both brows,
“Fun?”

Resting a paw at his chest, Discord arched back,
“Well, I AM Discord, Spirit of Disharmony? Hello? Just because I don’t manipulate that much anymore doesn’t mean I stop enjoying these kinds of things… And in a way, Celestia is right, if I dare to say so… It’s no fun if something ends to exist that could as well amuse me.”

Tyler chuckled before he face palmed,
“How noble of you to ‘preserve’ your little entertainment… Ugh…”

“However… What bothers me is what’s lying up ahead…”

“What do you mean?” Tyler asked with a frown.

“Did you really think a couple of ponies in war citadels would be everything these ‘Darkness Sisters’ would throw at us?”

“Of course not…” He then eyed the Draconequus. “Alright… I think you have a hunch…”

“A hunch? Me? Nooo… Only a gut feeling… I can sense discord and these kinds of things, you know? Even if they are miles and miles away…” Unlikely to his usual behavior, the Draconequus now stopped floating and rested both his lion paw and eagle claw on Tyler’s shoulders. “You better be ready when the time is there, Tyler Jones… The forces that band together far behind the horizon feel very much like my former self. None of us can stop this on his or her own. I wish I could tell you more, but there are things in this world far older than me… I can just sense it… Darkness is coming.”

Tyler blinked in surprise at the Draconequus and nodded, patted his arms. Apparently, his connection to the dark side of things caused him to feel the growing threat even before it was near.

And his reformation took at least that much fruit to change his mind, so that he cooperated to preserve what he held dear. Maybe the things he held dear weren’t so noble on first sight… Who with a sane mind would love to see others fight? Then again, if he wanted to preserve even this, maybe he feared that it could end as well. However, Tyler was interrupted in his thoughts, when a sudden commotion came to his attention. As he left the Draconequus be, he saw that Celestia’s carriage had arrived in Ponyville.

Standing in an alleyway, Celestia looked down to the box which covered the entrance to Scootaloo’s former makeshift home. One of the guards came out of the warehouse and nodded up to the princess. Closing her eyes for a shake of her head, the Princess of the Sun stepped onto the street once more, only to recognize Tyler,
“Celestia…? What brings you here today?”

While giving him a brief warm smile, Celestia quickly returned to her formal expression and looked around,
“I’ve come here to speak with one of my subjects… Now where is Scootaloo?”

Tyler arched a brow,
“Why? Does she have a problem?”

“Not anymore… Thanks to a good Ranger and friend.” Celestia answered with another faint smile on her lips. It was then when Flynn and Rainbow arrived on the scene.

Five minutes later, a guards pony escorted the little Pegasus filly to the princess, who rested a wing over Scootaloo and nodded,
“Come with me, my little pony. You and I will have to have a little talk from mare to filly…” With these words she brought Scootaloo to her carriage and had a talk with her under four eyes and under the protection of a magical force field that was seemingly sound-proof.

Rubbing his neck, Flynn looked over to Rainbow,
“Did you think I made a mistake?”

“No, Flynn! What you did was getting her out of this situation. There’s no mistake in that. If anyone is to blame, we others are. Especially me…”

This last part prompted Flynn to cock his head,
“What do you mean by that?”

Rainbow landed beside him and sighed,
“I promised her to take her under my wing, you know? To be some sort of her big sister… I knew it meant almost everything for her. But it wasn’t enough for her to tell me this… Or enough for me to recognize something’s amiss. Hearing that she was abused is… I feel guilty for not noticing!”

Embracing the cerulean Pegasus, Flynn shook his head,
“Come on, RD… No one can take the blame here. Scootaloo is so much stronger than every one of us would have believed.”

“What do you mean with that?”

“For once, smiling while having such a horrible past… I guess seeing other colts and fillies with their parents must have reminded her every time of the things she didn’t have. There’s so much more strength in this filly than we all imagined. But we can make it better for her by giving her a stable environment from now on. You know… maybe you and I should step up a bit.”

Now she looked up to him in confusion,
“Step up?”

Flynn gave her a smirk and nodded, came a little closer,
“Why don’t we move a little closer? A house under your cloud home in that neat little valley…” Rainbow’s eyes grew wide as he continued, “…to have a decent home for the little one? You know… Being a mother might be just your thing. She already adores you and a foster child won’t interfere with your plans of becoming a Wonderbolt Captain… And I think you would make a great Mom.”

“My, that’s a wonderful proposition, Flynn!” The voice of Princess Celestia became audible behind him and as they turned towards Princess Celestia, she nodded. “Actually Scootaloo also doesn’t want to leave Ponyville, even though I promise to give her into the best care of Canterlot’s orphanage and that she could see her friends every day. Well, Scootaloo? Would you like to be with these two?”

“Like?” Jumping up, the little filly buzzed her wings franticly. “I would LOVE to!” Landing on her hooves now, she ducked a bit. “But is it really OK though?”

After sharing a glance at each other, both Flynn and Rainbow smirked and nodded at the filly,
“Of course squirt! I told you that you’re under my wing, didn’t I?”

Flynn rested his hand on Rainbow’s shoulders,
“And I promised you a good and decent home, right? We are both eager to give you our best shot.”

Celestia smiled and stepped to the side of the Mayor Mare,
“Mayor? I want you to take note of this: From this day forward, the Pegasus filly Scootaloo shall live under the care of Flynn Marshall and Rainbow Dash. I’m sure that with the love and care of her new foster parents, she will grow stronger in both body and heart.”

Scootaloo jumped up and her wings buzzed franticly,
“Thank you, Princess Celestia!” With that she came closer to Rainbow Dash, who nuzzled her a bit. As the filly went along with her new parents, Tyler went along as well, nodding at Celestia before he left. He also received a nod from her and in silent agreement both knew that everything ended well.

Arching a brow, the Princess of the Sun then looked up to a tree as the ponies scattered,
“And how long do you intend to eavesdrop, Discord?”

Sitting there on a branch, the Draconequus looked down to her, his tail holding Dissonance tightly,
“Ugh… Gag! I thought this pure unadulterated kitsch would never end! You really give them too much credit, Celestia…”

“Maybe you give them too little… I thought you wanted to see their reactions about certain situations…”

“Maybe… They never fail to surprise with their ways to think of something, but they would have a very hard time if they would go against me.”

Shaking her head like an understanding mother, Celestia gave the Draconequus a smile,
“Discord… You are a curious character on your own. You have so much potential… and lack so many ideas what to do with it. Remember our conversations in the Valley of Snow? Before you became of age and turned vile and chaotic? You were such an innocent little boy.”

Discord looked down, a bit of sorrow in his closed eyes,
“That was a long time ago, Celestia… We both aren’t the same anymore…”

“No… We are not. But I still see much of the playful little Draconequus in you Luna and I once knew. Who knows how our paths might have changed if you didn’t had become so vile in the past, my old friend…”

Harrumphing a bit, he leaned against the tree,
“Now you give me too much credit! I’m not like they are!”

“No… But that doesn’t make you less special in my eyes. And that little Draconequus girl you have as a daughter now only shows me that you actually DO want someone to care about.”

Stretching out his tongue in disgust, Discord floated around once more,
“Ugh… Gag! Would you stop it? Save that sweet talk for your herd mate! I sure don’t need that crap!”

Giving his reaction a giggle, Celestia shook her head. He behaved like a little boy thinking that girls would have cooties.
Seeing the alicorn giggle caused the Draconequus to fold his arms,
“Celestia? You know as well as I do that I am not the last of my kind… and I don’t mean Dissonance! If the others ever find the mood to come here…”

“I know… Do you think he will be ready by then?”

Discord rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes,
“While they all show some potential, he will advance the fastest. I can’t say if his mind will be ready when it comes to it, but I’m certain his will already is. He doesn’t know it yet, though. But… What about your plan, my old friend? Are you truly certain you’ll be fine with this choice of yours? You know… Once this is done, it’s final… There’s no turning back after that…”

The alicorn’s smile withered now and made place for a more serious expression,
“Your concern is sweet, Discord… But yes! Luna and I are more than sure. The book will be sent to her soon.”

Nudging her with an elbow, the Draconequus grinned,
“That isn’t what I’m asking…”

“Oh!” Giggling once more, the Princess of the Sun nodded. “Well… Yes, we’re sure in that matter as well.”

* * * * *

Meanwhile inside the time vortex, the TARDIS’ alarm rang as the spaceship was shaking. Derpy flew inside the control room while the Doctor hastily pushed and pulled on several of the controls,
“DOCTOR!!!”

“I’m on it, I’m on it! Just some sort of weaker time lock… Possibly to deflect the TARDIS long enough to identify us.” As the shaking got harder and harder, several lights popped out and the Doctor gritted his teeth. It was like the vessel was flying through syrup instead of the time vortex. Then the TARDIS suddenly came to a hold and the shaking stopped completely. For a moment, both the Doctor and Derpy stared at each other, not saying a word. It was smooth as glass.

Landing on the floor now, the gray mare looked around,
“It’s quiet like we’re in the eye of a hurricane… What happened? A sudden malfunction of the TARDIS? Where in time are we?”

Checking the monitors of the TARDIS, the Doctor rubbed his chin,
“Hmmm… I don’t know… The time scale is jammed… We could be anytime around 5000 years away from your time or one billion years… I just don’t know.”

This response prompted Derpy to cock her head in confusion,
“But I thought the TARDIS was time pony technology?”

“It is… But THIS TARDIS here is my second one… I got it from an alicorn after my old one crash-landed in your past during this war… Anyway, let’s take a look outside, shall we?”

Stepping outside, the two time travelers recognized a certain amount of canyons of white rock around There was air to breathe and meadows on the ground. Arching a brow, the Doctor looked up,
“That planet in the sky is Equis. I would recognize it anywhere in time. Well, I must say this is quite an unfamiliar look for the moon… Meadows and flowers and-”

Shaking her head in disbelief, Derpy looked around,
“We are on the moon? But I thought you said the moon of Equis is a barren rock without an atmosphere and unable to sustain life?”

“It is! And as far as I know the moon shouldn’t be colonized until the year of 2478… And yet there’s air to breathe, even if I don’t recognize any technology here. I don’t think this is a lunar outpost; this was crafted with some sort of magic. And the only species able to perform spells of that magnitude…” The doctor slowly halted in mid-sentence as a mild breeze turned into a moderate wind for a second. That was when they could hear it.

It was nothing more than a whisper in the air, soft and gentle like a breeze.

But just as the Doctor stepped closer to the center of the garden, the whispering voice called out his nickname over and over again. Gentle, like a welcoming greeting for a long forgotten friend. Turning around, the Doctor stomped one hoof at the ground and looked for the origin of the voice,
“Here I am!”

Approaching the two time travelers a white and bright light now appeared in the gardens. A voice, gentle and bronze in its tone began to speak,
“Let me greet you welcome, friends… Fear no danger… For the time you entered is sacred ground…”

As Derpy looked to the ground, little pebbles rolled away from the light, the Doctor kept staring into the light. Although it was bright, it didn’t hurt the eyes. Quite the contrary, it was calming and eased the eyes,
“Who are you?”

Now pulsating with every syllable, the light began to speak,
“I am… the Twelve Eyes of Monarchy.”

This left the Doctor stumped. He never heard of that name before,
“I don’t understand…”

Continuing to speak in a gentle tone, the voice of bronze continued,
“In this point of time, I am the King of Equis and Golden Millennia, the united planet and moon.”

Taking a deep gasp, Derpy bowed her head to royalty, but the Doctor arched a brow,
“Were you responsible for the altering of the history books? We went so far into the future, but no book or crystal could give us answers.”

“Why do you ask, my old friend? When deep within you, you already know you are a difficult individual to call? So I unintentionally carved a path of breadcrumbs for you to follow… And only a time traveler searching wisdom and truth would follow this lead. Not somepony yearning for riches…”

Shaking his head, the Doctor simply stared into the light with wide eyes,
“You call me old friend?” That’s when the time pony’s mind gave birth to an idea. “No…. No, this can’t be!”

“The stallion who often does the impossible suddenly doubts the impossible?”

Raising a hoof against the light, the Doctor yet again arched a brow, trying to deduce something,
“If you are who I think you are, then you should be dead by now!”

“Yes… I guess from your current point of view I should be… But so should you… That’s the problem with time travel…"

Derpy looked between the Doctor and the bright light, not sure what to think of it,
“Doctor? Who is that? Is that Tyler?”

But the Doctor only shook his head,
“No… No, this isn’t Tyler Jones. But I will find out who that is!”

“And you will find out who he is, Doctor…” a female voice said. Suddenly, stepping out of the light came an Alicorn of Light, a mare of pale pink coat with deep purple mane. Inside her mane was a golden strand of hair. With slender features like Fleur de Lis or Princess Cadance. Derpy deemed her as one of the princesses of the future and bowed to her as well. Answering with a bow of her own, she helped Derpy up, assuring her that she didn’t need to bow before her. “And believe me… You both will have some wondrous adventures… These will be the stories of old for us now… some of them are wonderful, some are to scare children.”

Memories of old now echoed from the light.

“Damn! This is one giant spider!”

“DOCTOR!!!”

“Whatever you do… DON’T BLINK!!!”

“EXTERMINATE!!!”

This prompted the time pony to grit his teeth in anger. Although they, whoever they were, didn’t tell him in detail about his future, they gave him a peek. And that was enough to make him determined enough to find out more about their whereabouts. Holding up his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor read the measures the light emitted. It had the magic wavelength of alicorn magic, but it was five times denser than usual. Who was standing in this light?

From witnessing Tyler’s potential, he was absolutely certain that the human he knew could never hope to ascend to a level five times stronger than an alicorn. A mortal human like he could not even hope to become as strong as strong as one alicorn. And the uncertainty of who was standing in the light instead made the Doctor distrustful,
“Alright… Who are you?”

A short chuckle emerged from the light,
“Like you always say, Doctor… Spoilers…”

Derpy now raised her head again and looked into the light,
“Excuse me? Do you… Do you by any chance know something about the whereabouts of Tyler Jones in this time?”

There was a short moment of pause before the voice answered,
“I am sorry that I have to crush your hopes like that, little Pegasus… But the human you knew as Tyler Jones is long gone. I remember him well. He was a good and honest friend to lots of ponies in his time. A heavy personal loss for me…”

Derpy lowered her head in sadness,
“Oh… I-I’m sorry… I didn’t want to burden you with this… Where is Princess Celestia?”

This caught the voice in the light by surprise,
“Princess Celes… Oh! Oh, I think she’s talking about you, dear…”

It was then that another bright silhouette approached the two time travelers and a female voice began to speak, a very familiar one this time,
“Hello, Derpy… From our point of view, it has been a long time once more… Meanwhile Luna and I have become queens. How are you, my brave little pony?”

Derpy gulped and bowed once more,
“We’re… We’re at the beginning of our search, Prin… I mean Queen Celestia… What is this all here? Why is there air on the moon when there shouldn’t be any?”

In the light the Doctor thought he could determine an equine head looking around, but it was just too bright to say it clearly,
“This, Derpy, is the Golden Millennia of Harmony. We have defeated all threats for Equestria and Equis and we alicorns have decided to watch Equis from above, only interfering if the ponies face another dire threat. But the way until there was hard and dire. Luna and I have lost so many good friends on the way here. And of course, the heroes of the ancient times are no more.”

The Doctor now arched a brow,
“It seems plausible… Every higher race guiding a lesser one through the times sooner or later has to step aside for the majority to gain momentum in their advance… But who’s governing the ponies down there?”

“We, the royal herd, of course...The ponies begin to form their first governments on their own, but it’s still a way to go before they are independent from us… Sometimes our daughters travel down to Equis to see the world or to advice a country or two.”

“Your daughters?” Derpy now blushed heavily.

“Yes, of course! Golden Millennia is governed by the Six Monarchs that united ponykind. Our daughters, the princesses take great pleasure from visiting Equis, may it be in their free time or their missions to monitor problems… The other species govern themselves and there are no wars anymore. If there is a dispute, one of us descends to monitor both parties in their joint dispute resolutions. No one ever gets forced by us but to partake on these resolutions peacefully.”

Again the bronze voice became audible,
“You yourself advised us never to tell you any detail about this time, Doctor. Right now ponykind is on its apex of advancement, any disturbance in the timeline might cause a disaster. Thus the moderate time lock was set in place in order to identify certain threats and to prevent this time to be altered. As a side effect the history books were brought out of order.”

“And what exactly does this mean? Darkness is coming? I mean-”

In the next moment, the stars in the night sky fluctuated as well as the lights of the king and Celestia. As the lights were subdued to a certain level, it was obvious that a humanoid and an equine silhouette were brought to their knees,
“D… Doctor! You must leave! Something is terribly wrong…”

In an instant, the Doctor understood and turned around on the spot,
“DERPY!!!”

Nodding, the gray Pegasus mare galloped after him as they hasted back into the TARDIS.
“What happened back there, Doctor?”

Jumping to the controls, the Doctor made haste to get the TARDIS back into the past,
“This future here is interwoven with our own, Derpy! What we saw in these gardens was a result of our doing!”

“But… if that’s what we’re doing, the result of a world without war is a good thing, right?”

Pushing and pulling several controls of the TARDIS, the Doctor cocked his head,
“Yeah, maybe… But we spent too much time in there! Somewhere in the past someone is interfering with this future and our presence is needed! To put it in simple words… we’re late somewhere and sometime!” Without further delay, the TARDIS fell through the time vortex towards her yet unknown target location.