The four men were approaching the cabin on the clearing at the edge of the Everfree. A fireplace was already burning and a large metal drum was standing there, obviously to collect rainwater and later cook it in one of the pots over the fireplace. So close to the edge there was still the threat of Timber Wolves, but the Rangers had assured the newcomer that they were able to fend off a larger sized pack of them if need be.

Sitting down inside behind a desktop, Tyler opened up a folder.
"So, Mr. Hopkins... I'm certain you are wondering yourself why we have you here today."

Sitting down on a chair while Flynn and Sam remained standing and watched outside the windows, Nick Hopkins took some glances around.
"The thought occurred to me, yes... A cabin in the woods... That's... certainly unusual for a simple talk among men."

Going through some notes, Tyler nodded in thought.
"I don't want to make it a bigger deal than it actually is. People gossip. And if we're not finding today what we're looking for, it only brings questions of why we were having a conversation in the first place. As much as it concerns the others, we are on a hunting trip." Tyler then went through his notes. "You're coming from the U.S., Virginia, right?"

Making himself comfortable, Nick now looked over to Tyler, paid more attention. That sort of question was obviously only one of many.
"That is correct, sir."

Leaning back, Tyler smiled over to Nick while let the folder rest on the desktop.
"So... How is Langley this part of the year?"

Right now Sam and Flynn looked over to them, only to look at each other.
"What?!? Is he serious?" Sam asked.

"Seems that way..." Flynn retorted

The smile on Nick Hopkin's face withered and his facial expression was completely sober, void of any emotion.
"That's a bold claim there, Prince Tyler..."

Giving a chuckle, Tyler closed his eyes and shook his head.
"Being bold becomes natural after a while in my kind of business here in Equestria. But with solid evidence there's only so much you can deny..." Looking Nick into the eyes, Tyler then got serious. "We've found the laptop. It is password secured, but in working order, while everything else on the airbus was fried. A shielded case secured this laptop. Not many individuals know how to aquire such an expensive or exclusive item... So... Can we cut the bullshit now?"

There was a certain moment of silence when Nick and Tyler were looking into each other's eyes before Nick jumped up and stormed in direction of the door. But only three steps outside, Flynn went after him and a kick sent Nick Hopkins flying to the forest floor. Getting up, he only witnessed black hands grabbing for his collar and belt before he was tossed back to the cabin and rolled over the floor before he was grabbed and held in place. "Let go off me!" he demanded as he struggled against the other two men. Meanwhile Tyler had placed the drum near the fireplace, causing Nick's hair to stand up on his neck. "Wait! What are you up to?"

"I will tell you what we will do... See this drum here?" Tyler answered. Pointing at an empty metal drum, Tyler nodded at Flynn and Sam, who took Nick by the shoulders and wrapped his arms around it, putting on handcuffs on his wrists and ankles, so he was bound tightly to the drum, forcing him to sit down right next to it.

Looking up to Tyler, Nick arched a brow in wonder. A smirk was growing on his face.
"And what is this supposed to do? An inconvenience, nothing more!"

"Oh, it will get far more inconvenient for you, Mr. Hopkins. The extent of the inconvenience depends on yourself and your cooperation, though..." Going to the fireplace, Tyler levitated a piece of hot glowing coal out of it.

And when he looked back to Nick, Nick's smirk withered away instantly.
"He-hey! Don't be too hasty there!"

Tyler shook his head, slowly coming to Nick and the drum.
"Hasty? No, no, no... We will do this slowly enough for you... Don't you worry, this is not here to burn you directly... But tell me, Mr. Hopkins: Are you familiar with thermodynamics in metalurgy?" The piece of coal was dropped into the drum now, causing Nick to twitch away. "How long will it need for this metal drum to heat up to an inconvenient degree for you to be injured?"

"You're crazy!" Nick shouted.

Levitating another piece of hot coal, Tyler looked back to Nick.
"No, I am sober and the master of my own mind. It would be in your best interest to cooperate with us. This will only go as far as you want it to go."

Looking over to Sam and Flynn, Nick got louder.
"You two there! Aren't you gonna do something?"

Sam leaned against the cabin wall, folding his arms.
"592 graves... We buried 592 men, women and children, so that some people could sneak into Equestria to spy around. Families, burned to a crisp. No, I'm with the Head Ranger here. You will stand answer to this!"

The hot coal was emitting enough light to bathe Tyler's face in a hellish red glow as he leaned in to Nick now. It was enough to overshine the weak red glow in his eyes.
"I will personally arrange your trip home to Earth, Mr. Hopkins. It is up to you to decide if you go there with your data or if you go there as a coal briquet."

Clenching his teeth, Nick shook his head slowly.
"You're bluffing! You wouldn't do that!" The hot glowing piece of coal dropped into the drum with a loud noise, prompting Nick to rattle his cuffs. "H-HEY!!!"

Leaning in at the upper end of the drum, Tyler looked down into his eyes.
"I hate to break it to you, Mr. Hopkins, but international law by Earth terms means shit over here! Here, you and I answer to Equestrian law. And they don't have laws for interrogations of secret agents from another world, yet. So... About those 592 dead people... How many did they die for? We got intelligence that agents from the U.S. NSA and AEGIS were among the passengers. You got firearms through airport security by some miracle and have the only piece of working electrical equipment of all survivors! You are one of these agents. There is no point in denial!" Watching Hopkins grit his teeth, Tyler shook his head and dropped another piece of coal. "Come on, buddy. Don't prolong this unneccessary. How many of you survived the crash? Or do you want me to speed things up a bit?" The heat emanating from the drum was rising, Nick could feel it already at his wrists. Soon it would become unbearable and begin to harm his skin until it would fry him alive.

It wasn't until Tyler levitated another ten pieces of coal at once before Nick spilled it in a panic.
"Just me!" His tone changed from panic to a frustrated, defeated one. "Only I survived..."

Arching a brow, Tyler rested the fingertip of his right index finger on Nick's forehead.
"You know I could scan your mind for you lying to us?"

Nick looked up, defiant.
"It wouldn't matter! I would still be the only one alive of the team. Carl Smithson was closer to the front of the airplane, the part which was almost obliterated in the crash and soon devoured by the flames. Marcus Pritchard was sitting somewhere behind me on the left side of the plane. He was impaled by some debris."

Tyler looked over to Sam and Flynn and Sam nodded in confirmation.
"After the flames were put out and the remaining fuel retrieved from the site, we were able to salvage several hundred corpses. One report truly states an impaled corpse among the dead. Mike Thorne was the one reporting this. He came to be after the crash right beside that poor guy."

"Alright. There's that. So, with this out of the way... Who gave the order?

"What?"

"You heard me! There's always a fatass sitting in a chair giving folks like you the order to start operations like this! So... How far does it go? The NSA Headquarter? The CIA Headquarter? The Oval Office?"

"The Eagle was not informed."

Tyler stared at Nick for a brief moment with wide eyes, not believing what he just heard. Then, almost in an instant, his expression darkened.
"You're shitting me! You want to tell me that this was done without his knowledge?"

"It is like I said... The American Administration of President Meyer is not authorized to hold AEGIS accountable like a state army. AEGIS is a multinational institution.

Grabbing Nick by the collar, Tyler gritted his teeth.
"Then who is to be held accountable?"

"I... I don't know."

The light sof the sun flickered and went dark for a moment and all of a sudden, Nick Hopkins was lying on concrete floor, unharmed except the mild pain he felt from falling off the chair. Looking around in confusion, he stood up and looked into the faces of the three men in front of him. He was inside, not out in the woods. There was no more heat of a metal drum, only the cold air of the room.
"What?!? This is no cabin of sorts?"

Shaking his head slowly, Tyler began to smirk.
"You've been had, buddy. Illusion magic, there was no hot coal nor drum... This is an official Equestrian interrogation room in the Ranger HQ. Did you really think my wives would let me do that stuff to a foreign agent?" Nick looked around, the concrete walls, floor and ceiling were confirming it and that mirror on the wall also gave the impression of an interrogation room.

In a reflection of a near mirrored window, Sage moved on his own and nodded over to Tyler.
"He seems honest about what he told us. But do you really trust him, Tyler?"

Upon recognizing that Tyler's reflection was able to move on its own, Nick's eyes widened.
"What is this?!?"

Tyler waved the comment of his reflection away.
"Oh, don't mind him... Just my personal baggage to carry around..."

But Sage narrowed his eyes in response to that with an annoyed look.
"I heard that!"

Still confused, Nick was looking back and forth between Tyler and Sage.
"What is the meaning of this?"

Undoing the handcuffs, Tyler grabbed Hopkins at the collar once more and pinned him at a nearby wall, his eyes glowing red.
"It means, Mr. Hopkins... That I am a man you don't fuck with. Or I will fuck your entire existence so hard you will curse the day you were born. You think hot coal is torture? Oh, I got worse things in my repertoir. Things you wouldn't believe possible! Believe me, you don't want me to get started... Nothing of it is abolished by Equestrian law yet." Letting go of him, Tyler then brought Nick's clothes back to order and patted Nick's chest. "Well, with your arrival, you have send a message to the inhabitants of this world, Mr. Hopkins... It seems only fair that you will go home unharmed to deliver a message from us."

* * * * *

One and a half hour later, Nick Hopkins was brought to Princess Celestia. The Royal Guard was in high alert due to the nature of this incident. Going through some reports, Celestia glanced up to Nick, her voice calm and collected.
"So you are an agent of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency?"

Nick sighed, but nodded.
"I am." He then pointed at Tyler. "And that man squeezed information out of me!"

Celestia shot Tyler a strict glare, but he simply nodded, not denying the accusation.
"Prince Tyler answers to Equestrian laws. I won't have it any other way. But, if he was a bit too harsh to you while questioning you, it means that these laws don't cover everything yet. Rest assured that I myself will see to it that these loop holes will be fixed." Looking back to Nick, her expression softened again. "You are a foreign agent. Was your intention to harm our subjects?"

"No, I... We were send to gather first information."

Celestia stood up from her throne and trotted down to Nick, leaving everyone in the room wondering what she was up to. Standing right in front of him, she gently shook her head.
"Did it never occur to you that you could have simply asked for that information? If only you would have approached me in private. How many lives could have been saved with this... You humans really are so very, very young. You behave like frightened children. Nick Hopkins, I will allow you safe passage home to Earth. Go to your superiors and tell them the following from me: Not everypony is as ill-intended as my half sisters Lamira and Asira. I can understand that you were frightened out of your mind when they appeared over one of your major cities with the remains of their armada, but that armada was destroyed, their followers were scattered. Now leaderless, the remains of their followers will never be the same threat again. Come and meet us on better terms. I am reaching out for you, but if you decline this offered friendship and come as conquerors, I am sad to inform you that you will face the full might of this planet upon arrival."

Nick listened closely and nodded in thought as the doors to the throne room swung open. Mike Thorne and five others from the survivors entered the throne room, prompting Tyler to open his arms with a smile.
"Mr. Thorne? I see you brought the ones who wish to leave this world."

Mike nodded, shrugging.
"Yeah, well... If they don't like it here... Can't force people."

Shaking his head, Tyler looked over to the ones who decided to return to Earth.
"No need to apologize. It is their choice and we respect that. The catastrophe shook up the one or another. And I take it not everything here is as some expected it to be. We can only offer you a portal into your world. Like before, it will send you back, hopefully into a place where you are close to one of your cities."

Looking over to Nick, Mike arched a brow.
"Nick? What's with you? You want to leave as well?"

Following Mike's glance over to Nick, Tyler shook his head.
"No, Mr. Hopkins is leaving us because he overstayed his welcome as a foreign agent. It turned out this airbus was just a ruse to get three of them into Equestria. Nick was the only survivor of the three."

Mike Thorne inspected Nick Hopkins from head to toe, before a punch was swiftly placed right into Nick's face, prompting him to sway back. The guards already readied their weapons when Celestia summoned a force field between Mike and Nick.
"Enough!!! No more violence!"

Shaking his aching hand, Mike looked up to Celestia, arching a brow.
"Violence? That's no violence... Just a little parting gift from our community. And don't you dare to tell me that's not deserved!"

While the portal link to Earth was established by Rarity, Twilight and Lyra, Tyler came over to Nick.
"Mr. Hopkins!"

Looking over to Tyler nervous, Nick took a step back.
"What is it?"

Raising his hands to calm Nick down, Tyler shook his head.
"Easy... You have nothing more to fear from me anymore. Besides... Even if I would think of trying something, my wife here would intervene, kicking my butt in ways you can not imagine."

Looking over to her husband and herd mate, Celestia gave Tyler a knowing smirk.
"I would kick you somewhere..."

Nick's stance now eased up and he calmed down. Tyler rested his hand on Nick's shoulder while giving him something. "I thought of a valuable information I can allow you to bring home to Earth. One that belongs to me personally."

Looking down into his hand, Nick frowned a bit. It was a medical vial filled with a red substance. Slightly sparkling in the light it was hard to identify this.
"What is this? Some glittering chemical?"

Patting Nick's shoulder, Tyler shook his head.
"A little something I prepared for you. The labcoats over there on Earth might go crazy. I myself had to check the results five times to actually believe it." Walking over to Mike, Tyler then said his goodbyes to the other humans.

It was then when Celestia addressed Nick for a last time.
"Nick Hopkins?"

"Yeah?"

Giving him a nod she levitated his briefcase to him.
"Please remember: Even though my husband was harsh to you... When you're returning as a friend and not a spy, you will always be welcome to me and all the peace loving ponies of Equestria." One by one the humans passed through the portal. Once everyone was through, the portal was closed and Mike left the throne room along with Twilight, Rarity and Lyra. Once alone, Celestia's eyes darted over to Tyler. "How harsh were you?"

He sighed and grimaced a bit.
"I barely started with some more extreme measures. No hitting, but an illusion about a metal drum barrel, some handcuffs, some burning coal to heat up the barrel."

Celestia closed her eyes and snorted in disapproval.
"I can understand your anger regarding this. Nearly 600 people died in that crash to get these men here for espionage. But would you add yet another casualty to the list to keep them from sending spies?"

"This first one we caught? No... He is far too valuable as a foreign spy to be killed. Alive and kicking he can do so much more for us."

"Like sending a warning to Earth?" she asked, "That's what you wanted him to do, I can see what you are trying to achieve with giving them that blood sample of yours."

Tyler sighed. He knew what she was playing at, but he had good reasons to do all this.
"In the halls of Paretoka and in its orbit I learned that the Doctor came to the rescue of Equestria and so many other worlds. But the Doctor is dead now. He won't come to our aid if someone from a foreign world, Earth in this case, will send aggressors our way. As of right now, we are on our own and I intend to fight anyone who wants to mess with us."

Celestia's eyes narrowed, revealing she was not convinced.
"The Doctor had a harsh way to go, Tyler... Are you sure you want to go down a similar path? I must say that if you intent to do so, I am worried for you. Your blood is different now. We know that since the incident in Dragon Mountain. Ever since then it changed more and more such as you have grown. Showing them this will make them so afraid."

Tyler closed his eyes and sighed once again. He knew what she was up to.
"If you would have asked me this a few years back, the answer would probably been different. But Equestria is my home now and I will fight to protect it. To protect the things I cherish and the ponies I learned to love." Gently taking her jaw into his grasp, he looked into her eyes. "Since I stand little to no chance to be respected by the leaders of Earth, fear will hold them back for now, giving us time to reach out to them. But I will stand against anyone who wants to harm you girls, our subjects or allies."

Now smirking a bit, Celestia glanced up into his eyes.
"Spoken like a real king. You do have some perks that would make you a great one, you know?"

Tyler let go of her chin and replied with a smirk on his own.
"I am no king. Kings tend to sit on their asses on the throne while others do the fighting."

Her smirk grew wider into a grin now.
"How flattering..."

With a grin Tyler now headed for the door, and was on his way to leave
"What? You know how much I love your butt, sugar lips. And you decimated the Descendant armada quite well on your own... Makes you better than any human king in human history in my eyes. But some day you and I should have a little talk about the spell you've used. I never expected you to utilize this sort of weaponry."

But stepping in front of him, Celestia made eye-contact with him once more.
"Let me be clear about this: The next time you interrogate someone from Earth, I will be present. No exceptions! If you truly went overboard, then this is nothing I will tolerate in Equestria! Do I make myself clear?" When he looked at her in mild confusion over her sudden determination, her eyes narrowed down. "Do I make myself clear, Prince Tyler Jones?!?"

Tyler began to smile and gently took her chin into his grasp again while he nodded once, placed a kiss on her nose and after this, his forehead on hers.
"You did, my love. But humans of that caliber don't need the velvet, but an iron glove to cooperate sometimes. They are trained to endure pain and agony. A certain degree of fear factor is needed to break their will to withstand. Like Sun Tzu, I have to tell you that there are things I have to do as Head Ranger in order to defend Equestria and its allies, that you may disagree with, maybe even straight find unforgiving or condemning. I will do that, my love. I will go down that path. Not you. You are the one to reel me back into the light. To keep me in check if I become too cruel."

Celestia nodded. He had put some thought into this. She was an Alicorn of Light. As such, she was not meant for doing cruel acts. It would be against her nature and would corrupt her once and for all. But he was able to be turned good and evil, a perk humans had. They were able to live on both sides of the same coin. And if he would do all these things, her powers would be a control mechanism in order for him to not get overboard and remain in the light. A decent plan she could agree to. Speaking up, her determination was audible.
"Oh believe me, I will..."

* * * * *

An hour later, Tyler walked through a corridor of Canterlot Castle, the last rays of the evening sun shining gently at him, making his reflection in the clear windows of the West wing of the castle good to see.
"That was too easy..." he mused.

Walking in the reflections of the windows at the right side of Tyler, Sage shook his head while keeping up with him. His coat had changed color once again, and had turned to a light grey, almost white. The harsh and unforgiving look in his eyes had vanished due to the therapy taking fruition.
"It may seem so to you, but you are used to normal infiltration work on Earth terms. Here, it is harder to be concealed all the time. When even your own dreams become weapons against you, things go up a notch."

Tyler's eyes narrowed. If not for the message they would have never suspected anyone. What exactly AEGIS plans were, he had no doubt they were not for the better.
"I still don't like it. If we take such advantages for granted, we grow complacent! We can't throw our trust blindly at humans it seems."

"When could you ever do that? Tribalism is at work here, boy! It's us against them. Well, mostly AEGIS and their spies for now. The citizen on the street seems to see us in a more neutral light. We should work on that. We both know there are worse things than a false feeling of security...

Tyler rolled his eyes in annoyance. Yet all of a sudden, he was hearing something. It was melodious, luring. There was a certain silhouette in the shadows, but he couldn't make out who or what that was. But that soft humming... It was slowly reeling him in, drawing him closer towards an uncertain final destination. Stepping away from the bright windows, he slowly walked into a poorly lit corridor as his eyes slowly went empty, his face void of expression. When Sage recognized this, he was looking after him, still glued to the window.
"Come on, it was just a joke. Tyler? Hey!" Then he heard humming turning into a singing tune.

Seeing a mare at the steps of some stairs, having wings and horn wearing a necklace of three brightly glowing ruby stones and her eyes glowing as well, all of Sage's inner alarm bells were ringing.
"Oh no, you don't..." In an instant he was disappearing to get help.

* * * * *

The tranquil and peace of the Canterlot library was something Twilight was so used to, it felt like a second home to Ponyville. This peace, however, was suddenly interrupted as Sage popped out in a window right beside her.
"Twilight! Quickly! This is an emergency! Another alicorn has taken control of Tyler in the West Wing!"

Looking up in alarm due to his sudden appearance, Twilight stood up, completely forgetting her usual behavior of silencing the intruder for being in a library.
"Another alicorn? But who- Lamira or Asira?"

"No... I'm afraid it's far worse than that!"

"Worse than that?!? Explain this to me right this instant, buster!"

"Later! Please!!! She's taking advantage of him as we speak." And without further ado, he vanished.

A few minutes later, the other Element Bearers and human rangers were alarmed as well, running and galloping towards the West Wing while Twilight was already on her way. Applejack looked over to the windows, where Sage was running as a reflection.
"Sage, why can't ya turn her magic against her like ya could against Lamira and Asira?"

"Because it isn't alicorn or unicorn magic. Before I could even understand the situation, I was locked out of Tyler. I never saw such magic."

Once they'd reached the West Wing, the others spread out while Sage turned around. This caused Sam to arch a brow.
"Sage? Aren't you coming?"

"No, I'll have to alarm everyone. As of right now, Tyler is knocked out for good. I can't take control over his mind if he's unconcious. We need everyone on this!"

* * * * *

Tyler was gently pushed onto the bed, the melodious humming still clouding his mind.
"I've waited thousands of years to have this again. You have no idea..."

Licking over his neck, the mare indulged herself in his scent, her breath rising in pace as it sent chills down her spine. "Your chest is even more muscular in this form than the other." While sitting on the bed, Tyler was gently pushed to lie down. Undoing the button of his pants, the mare licked her lips. "Now... Let me have a taste of that sweet nectar again... This time your rod must be even bigger..."

But just as she unzipped his pants and wanted to lean down, the door detonated and Twilight stood in it, fuming in rage. There she stood over him, smirking, his eyes empty as under mind control, broken. For the first time Twilight had the wish to do harm upon somepony for the sake of simply hurting somepony.
"Get away from him, YOU BITCH!!!" A bright beam of energy was shot through the room. The beam passed over the mare without doing any harm as a force field blocked the incoming attack close to her body. Thus, the only effect the attack had was pushing the mare away from Tyler.

Behind her, hurried steps hasted up the stairs.
"That came from upstairs! Hurry!"

Noticing this as well, the mare raised a force field, dividing the room into two.
"So you weakling want to battle over him? In our time you may have the power to limit me... in THIS time I am the one in charge. We both know how weakened you are right now!"

Now recognizing who stood in front of her, Twilight's pupils shrinked to dots. This coat, this mane, this face so similar to herself. There was no mistake in it.
"N-Nova...? But how?!?"

When the others heard Twilight, Sam pointed at the alicorn mare in front of them all.
"Do I get this right? That's the adult version of the little foal that's kept inside the Ranger HQ?"

Flynn shook his head.
"How isn't she obliterating the entire castle with her sheer might like the little one would?"

Rachel pointed at her.
"That ring upon her horn..."

A dark chuckle escaped Nova's throat.
"Oh, aren't you a clever little one? Yes! This ring is a mobile containment ring. Or simply an inhibitor With it, my powers are limited to that of a normal alicorn. Well... Normal in the 2400^th century... Without it, I would end all life in Equestria."

Rachel's eyes narrowed down.
"Alright, we get it, bitch! You're powerful! What do you want?"

Looking up to the rangers, Twilight pointed at the adult version of her foal.
"She wants to have her way with Tyler! I tried to stop her, but to no avail. If only I wasn't so weakened by the birth right now..."

A diabolical grin formed on Nova's lips as her tongue licked over them.
"But you are. And this means you all can do is nothing more than to simply watch as I steal him from you. Normally I don't want audience, but it will add so much to it..."

Slamming his fist against the force field, Sam looked for some kind of weakness in it.
"Damn it! Where is Sage? He's an asshole, but he would know what to do!"

"He said he wanted to alert everyone." Flynn answered.

"Wait! Everyone?!?"

"Yes, that includes-" Suddenly it occured to him. "Oh shit!"

All of a sudden, a certain voice was audible in the distance, getting louder by the second, paired with several crushing sounds.
"Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!! Mine!!!..."

Hearing up, Rarity looked at the others, frowning.
"Does anypony else hear that?"

"Yeah and it's getting closer..."

A frightful realisation got to Twilight as her eyes widened. She took one step back and her wings gently pushed everyone behind her towards the door.
"And it sounds an awful lot like..."

In the very next moment, Luna broke through the brick wall on the other side of the force field and kicked the adult Nova away from Tyler, causing her to crush through the opposite wall. Towering in full battle armor over Tyler's still lying body, Luna's wings shielded him from harm and her eyes narrowed down while glaring into the direction the adult Nova was slammed into.
"Mine!"

On the other side of the hole, Nova had breached through three further walls. Standing up like merely slapped on the cheek, she then trotted back in a casual pace.
"Oh yes, I almost forgot... Aunt Luna. Protecting her first love from a mare who is now stronger than her."

Looking down to Tyler for a moment, Luna then looked up again, her eyes narrowing while she levitated Tyler into the safety of the group.
"What trickery is this? This is no pony magic working on him! He would have absorbed that! Who are thou?!?"

"Magic? No, I'm not stupid." Nova stated, "This is no targeted magic... I know he would simply absorb that. Just a little something I aquired from three troublemakers before they could mature and turn evil. Enchants my voice quite nicely, so no male can withstand it. Luring him in was easy as pie."

In the next moment, Lyra performed a spell and Flynn and Sam were frowning all of a sudden.
"He-hey! I can't hear anymore!"

"Folks? Why can't I hear shit?!?"

Applejack nodded over to the unicorn.
"Good thinkin', Lyra! Now she can't use the two of them against us."

Narrowing her eyes, Rachel noticed something peculiar about Nova
"These three shining rubies on her necklace... These aren't actual rubies, are they? These must be magical gemstones!"

Glaring at Nova, Luna snorted in anger.
"I don't know what theft thou commited to fetch these, but now this will-"

Coming to his senses, Tyler pulled his pants on and looked up. Seeing the future version of his daughter and the others attempting to fight her, he was compelled to stand up.
"No!"

Noticing Tyler getting up behind her and closing the buttons on his pants, Twilight looked at him as if he proclaimed madness.
"What?!? Tyler! That may be Nova, but she's not the Nova you know! She tried to take advantage of you!"

"That wasn't her!" he yelled while being held back by the others, "I refuse to believe that my daughter will be raised a rapist!" Facing his future daughter, Tyler gritted his teeth, pleading to her. "Nova! Nova Sparkle! I know you are in there somewhere, baby! Nova, you have to fight it! Do you hear me? You have to fight against these gems!"

Shaking her head with a smirk, Nova closed her eyes, stiffling a chuckle.
"I hate to break it to you, father... But you are sadly mistaken."

"What?"

A dark and taunting giggle escaped her throat. It was clear that she had to control herself not to burst out in cruel laughter.
"I am not controlled by these gems..." Opening her eyes again, she glared up to him."It's the other way around!"

Taking a step back, Tyler looked at her, shocked as the sadistic grin of his daughter's future version grew wider. Despair was in his voice now.
"No..."

By now Twilight's facial expression darkened.
"What poor creatures did you hurt to get those?

"That's none of your bucking business!" Nova then replied before leaning her head towards a mirror. "Event Surfer! Are you there? You were right..."

What stepped inside that mirror was a nightmarish version of this adult Nova. Pitchblack coat, black mane with only the eyes purple and not void of any coloration
"Mhmhmhmhmhm... Little Nova... I told you they would object to this. They wouldn't let you express your love in our time. What made you think they would do here in this time?"

Looking at the mirror, Rachel's eyes widened.
"She has her own version of Sage!"

Taking a step back, Tyler gulped.
"That reflection... Luna!"

Luna gritted her teeth, this was the same thing as before. She knew first hand what was going on here.
"Yes... I see it. Just my dark alter ego..."

Tyler's eyes narrowed down.
"If gushing out immense amount of magic energy like a supernova is Nova's usual special talent, then I have a very good and grim idea what this 'Event Surfer' will do..."

Gritting her teeth, Twilight went into fighting stance.
"A magic black hole... She would absorb all magic on this planet within a minute! But that might kill countless lifeforms! Not to talk of us ponies! Pegasi would plummet from the skies, unicorns would collapse and cease and even Earth ponies would die of starvation.

Taking stance against this adult version of Nova, Tyler clenched his fists.
"Yeah... Nothing I want to happen on my watch. So if you even dare to begin a transformation into that, I am going to pummel you through Canterlot mountain and back again!"

Infuriated, Nova herself now went into fighting stance.
"And do you think that this is what I want for happiness in life? A life in the midst of fragile mortal shells? None of them able to love me honestly? Always afraid of my immense powers? They didn't tried and failed to love me... They tried and died!!!" Not realizing how her voice got harder and unkinder by the second, Nova began to sob. "I won't wait another thousand millenium for a mortal to step forth, just to die when I open up completely to him! No! I will have my lover right here and now! The only one who can stand and live in my unleashed presence." A sadistic grin formed on her lips. "Now... If I remember your old campfire stories correctly: It was immense anger that unleashed the beasts?"

Her horn lit up, but instead of a magic beam a magic circle formed beneath Tyler, much to everyone's surprise.
"Well, that's new!" Tyler stated, before his body was emitting immense light. Screaming in pain while he was pulled out of the safety of the group, his body bend down as if to cope with the agony. But all of a sudden the pain ceased with a division. Right out of Tyler, Rage and Sage left his body, but not as spectres. Two different real bodies now stood beside Tyler

With a roar, Rage reared up and looked around, seeking his next mate or victim, while Sage stretched a bit.
"Woah, what a kick..."

Behind the friends, Shining and Cadance arrived on the scene.
"What the hay is going on here? Sage told us that Tyler... What?!?

Jumping away from Rage, Tyler returned to the safety of the group.
"Careful! Somehow she had set the two of them free! Each one of them has a body of his own! Brace yourselves!"

Just as Rage stormed against them, Shining raised a shield just in time, resulting in Rage slamming his fists against it with thundering noise. However, Twilight arched a brow.
"Odd... I remember him being much stronger. This unicorn shield should have been no match for him..."

Shining gave his little sister a short grumpy look.
"Well it's all I can contribute for now..."

Laughing in triumph, Nova pointed at the little group standing up to her before looking at Sage and Rage.
"Right you are! And now let's see how you'll fare against the might of Tilerions! You two! Get rid of these pests while I'm having some fun with-"

But Sage only turned back to Nova and shrugged before she could end her sentence.
"Yeah? How about no?"

Dumbfounded, Nova resiled, not understanding the resistance.
"What? But how?!? How can you withstand my order?"

"You are my daughter? Hard to believe my offspring would be such a pathetic moron!

"What?!?"

First tapping against his temple with the index and middle finger of his right hand, Sage then pointed over to Rage with the thumb of his left hand.

"Come on, stupid! This mind of mine is temper-proof! And his mind is too simple to be tempered! We three are one joint package. On his own, Tyler lacks my genius and Rage's might. But without his body, neither Rage nor myself could do any serious damage. Cut a force in three and you're losing valuable power. What a foolish amateur move for you to do... And it will cost you dearly now. Without us, he won't withstand within your presence for long! He would just overcharge and detonate."

Shining now lost his patience and pushed forward, despite Tyler trying to hold him back.
"Enough of this! I won't stand idly by while others risk their hides. Alicorn or not, this ends now!"

Upon recognizing Shining, Nova backed away, fear spreading all over her face.
"You... I don't have the right to do you any harm now. Temporal laws and all that. So despite I could splatter you all over the others, I won't. I'll need you later..."

"What?!? So you want to try your uncle next???"

Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Nova sighed and took flight in the room.
"Yeah, as if... But there's one thing I can do..." in the next moment, Shining was teleported away. "I can return you and all of your noise to your nosy wife's country."

Upon seeing her husband vanishing, Cadance snapped.
"Alright... If anything happened to Shining Armor, I will end you!!!"

But Tyler rolled up his sleeves.
"Shining was right about one thing: Enough! You're in for quite some spanking, young lady! Get down here right this instant! "

Getting into combat stance, Nova faced Tyler.
"No! I won't accept this! You will be mine!"

"On a cold day in hell, young lady!" And without hesitation, he took off and grabbed Nova, crashed out of the window with her for a fierce battle over Canterlot.

At this point, Sam tapped Lyra's flank, prompting her to look up.
"Yes?"

"Lyra, swetie?" he asked in a melodious tone.

"Yes?"

"I don't hear shit!"

This prompted her to grimace a bit.
"Uh... Right! I'm on it!"

Looking up to the two combatants in the sky, Sage shook his head.
"He's only buying time. Without Rage and myself, he can only stand so long against an alicorn mare out to get him."

Seeing the two of them fighting, Twilight shook her head in worry.
"Even if there's a timelimit... They are both powerful! With that kind of battle, they could level Equestria!"

A broad smirk came onto Sage's face.
"Oh, I doubt that..."

"What do you mean by that?" Twilight asked.

"It's easy, really." he said with a smirk. "Temporal law is at work here. Nova went out to change the past. But Tyler on the other hand is out to change the future."

Twilight couldn't follow completely.
"Which means?"

"I thought it was obvious... Come on, Twilight! Think! No matter how powerful she is or could become, his determination not to let her version of herself come to be is stronger. We are talking about our daughter here. And while Tyler would never allow her to become evil, I despise the idea of her being such a stupid little villain. Mind control for the selfish desire to sate incestuous wishes? How dare you to think that I would let my daughter fall that low..."

Arching a brow, Twilight cocked her head in wonder.
"You think she is your daughter?"It was hard for Twilight to see Sage as anything but a loner, since he never showed any signs of actual affection towards the mares in Tyler's herd, even after stating that he loved them as much as Tyler did. He was just going his own way, doing his own things and only intellectual conversations were able to find his interest. Then again, Rage and Sage were sharing the same body with Tyler, were parts of him. Only that these parts had, if one could say so, their own personalities.

"Nova has three fathers and one mother." Sage explained. "She's a very special alicorn due to the very special circumstance of her father's state upon the moment she was conceived. You as her mother should know that above everyone else. So if Tyler's truly determined to not let her become like this, she will fade away and in a few moments this whole ordeal will never happen in the first place."

"You're wrong! Look!" Pointing upward, Rachel showed them that Tyler more and more was inferior in fighting Nova. More and more punches left him gasping for air, holding his rips.

Sage grimaced at that.
"This means that she became that way without him having a say in this"

Slowly a very frightening realization came to Twilight's mind.
"You mean...?"

"Yes! Something that's out of our decision-making made her like that. Now we are in trouble."

Kicking Tyler down to the ground, Nova then spat to the ground in disgust.
"I've had enough! You are all in my way to get him? Fine! I can fix that..."

Seeing her reach for the ring on her horn, Celestia's eyes widened in an instant and she pointed her hoof at Nova as she shouted her command:
"Seize her!!! Don't let her take off that ring!"

When Nova noticed the Royal Guard approaching her from all sides, her horn lid up once more.
"Stand back, you fools!" Just when the first guards had reached her, a pressure wave swatted them away, leaving them groggy among the ones in the second row. Only seconds later the Wonderbolts jetted in, but swift and decisive kicks brought them out of formation, leaving them no other choice but to take evasive actions. Nova laughed maniacly. Mere inches stood between them all and total annihilation. But just as the ring was about to finally get off and all her destructive might was about to get unleashed, a hand suddenly grabbed it and held it tight in place around her horn. When looking up, Nova could see her father levitating right next to her with a determined expression.
"Wha-?"

Tyler uttered only two words:
"No more!" In the very next moment, the two of them vanished with a thundering boom.

"Where are they? Could anypony-?" Looking up to her herd mates, Twilight could see both Celestia and Luna looking up to the moon. Following their look, Twilight saw a large impact on the moon taking place. "Oh my goodness!" A bright detonation occured in the epicenter of said impact crater.

When the others noticed their glances high up into the sky, most of them were silent in amazement.
"All this raw might... Good thing he warped her right into the moon!" Sam flatly added.

Twilight's voice became hysterical at the sight of the silent spectacle.
"Tyler!" She was quite aware that he was without Rage and Sage and was much more vulnerable. But another glimpse sparkled in the sky, growing larger rapidly and seconds later, Tyler's force field crashed into the pavement, creating a moderate crater.

Once the others stormed over to him, they could see him gasping for air like he was out of it for minutes. His clothes were torn at the upper torso and his skin was partially burned.
"What the freaking hell happened up there?" Flynn asked.

While Luna shot a healing spell into Tyler, his breath more and more normalized.
"After the impact... She took it off. I... I managed to put it back on and reshaped it tight so she can't get it off without external help, but...

"But what?!?"

He shook his head.
"The inhibitor ring on her horn got damaged in the process. She's too strong now. If I would face her in another such stunt without Rage and Sage, I would overcharge and die. I barely made it back before the vacuum got the best of me."

Celestia turned over to to her fellow alicorns.
"Twilight and Tyler are out of the way. Luna! Cadance! Now it's up to us other alicorns to protect Equestria from her."

Tyler raised an arm to bring a shaky protest.
"I only need a minute!"

Twilight shook him to come to his senses
"No! You're at your limit! You can barely stand. Before you can go on, you need to heal! Rage and Sage must merge with you again. Only then can we hope to-"

She was cut of in midsentence as another object slammed down into a building not far away from them. Out of the ruins of the collapsing building, Nova's voice became audible.
"Stop it! STOP IT!! ALL OF YOU!!! YOU WON'T TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME AGAIN!!!" A sphere of might was projected by Nova as she flung herself into the air, her horn shining brightly. The ground shook as a shining light was emitting from beneath Canterlot.. Yelling down to them, Nova began to sneer in impending victory. "Here's something with best regards from the 2400th century!"

Flying over the buildings of Canterlot, Rainbow Dash pointed down into the valley.
"Look!" When the friends looked down into the valley between Canterlot and Ponyville from their positions, a magic circle of epic proportions activated beneath them and the light illuminated the entire valley. A summoning so powerful the very air was trembling took place as something huge ascended from the circle.

Noticing Sage right beside him, Tyler grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Sage! What are we to do?!?"

"Now that's more like our daughter. Eh, Tyler?"

Not believing his ears, Tyler shook his head.
"How can you be amazed in a moment like this?!?"

Sage laughed out loud.
"How could one not?!? Finally she's using her head for someone calling herself our daughter! Stay here, I'll go for the solution!"

When he ran off, Tyler looked after him.
"Sage!!! Where are you going? We need you here!" He was off in the direction of the Ranger HQ. But what he wanted there was beyond Tyler.

By now the being that was summoned was towering over the towers of Canterlot. Upon seeing it, Luna's ears dropped as she resiled in midair.
"A Titan of Metal... Celestia! I didn't expect to counter a Megaspell today..."

Giving a brief nod, Celestia then turned towards the Element Bearers.
"Hurry, girls! Go fetch the Elements of Harmony! Cadance, Luna and I will try to distract this titan."

While the ponies in Canterlot ran for their lives, the two sisters tried to fire their magic at the titan, yet the shiny metal simply bounced off their magic beams. Holding their fire, the three alicorns had to reconsider.
"Aunt Celestia! With firing at that being we'll only harm Canterlot."

Right when the Mane Six returned out of Canterlot Castle with the Elements, Tyler flew up to the titan.
"If magic won't work, then physical damage has to do it!"

But despite the gargantuan form, the metal titan seemed to be swift and agile as well. With only one move Tyler was captured by the large hand, engulfing his entire body as if it were an action figure. Looking down to him, Nova shook her head.
"Why don't you love me? It could be all over, if you simply give in..." It was at this point that Twilight looked over to the girls and shook her head. With Tyler being held by the titan, there was the threat of harming him as well. Thus, for now, they couldn't fire at the titan

Struggling in the titan's grasp, Tyler gritted his teeth.
"Hard to love anyone who's forcing herself on me!"

It was in this moment, when Sage's voice became audible again.
"You can't reason with her, Tyler... She needs help. And right now there is only one thing that can truly stop her.

High on the tallest towers of Canterlot, Celestia spotted him, wearing a silver protection suit similar like a coat.
"Sage! With that amount of power concentration, this must be..."

"Little Nova!!!" Cadance shouted, spotted the foal in her containment unit, which was half open. "How can he withstand her? He should be overcharging as well without Tyler and Rage!"

Looking closer, Celestia noticed his protection wear.
"No, that protective suit he's wearing. It's blocking enough of her magic so he can endure the magical stress."

Luna's eyes narrowed down
"That suit of his... Not only does it protect him from her... Somehow the knave slowly feeds from little Nova's endless supply of magic with it, enhancing his own powers through her!"

"Feeding off my child?!?" Twilight shouted in terror.

Celestia shook her head.
"Her powers are too vast to be exhausted by the small amount he seems to take. He's using her as a substitute to Tyler to sustain himself and contribute here."

Despite Celestia's reassurance, Twilight wasn't finding a liking to that at all. Flying up high, she confronted the now independent spectre.
"Sage! Explain yourself right this instant! What are you doing with my foal?!?

Looking at the adult Nova, Sage grinned sadistically, the blue glow in his eyes intensifying as his power grew.
"Battling fire with fire." A collected "What?!?" came from the others, causing his grin to grow even broader. "Have faith and witness true genius at work!" His silver coat grew a millionfold and formed itself like a liquid. Like a spear this mass impaled the metal titan by the chest under Sage's laughter, immobilising the gargantuan creature. The silver liquid wrapped around the Titan's chest and limbs, fixing the arms and legs in place. Vapor arose as if the liquid was eating at the metal titan like acid. At the neck of the titan Sage broke out of the liquid again, the crying foal still in his arms, facing future Nova as they both were unharmed. Pointing at her, he challenged her. "Even the mightiest mountains erode, given enough time! It's over! Hand over Tyler or face an opponent you can never hope to defeat!"

Roaring laughter was future Nova's reply as she looked over to Sage.
"My own younger self? I can't believe I was such a whiny little brat. And you could never kill your own child!"

Seeing little Nova carried in Sage's arms, Tyler feared for his little foal as well.
"Sage, what are you doing with my foal? I won't let you endaaangeeaaaAARGH!"

Squeezed by the mighty fingers of the titan, Tyler was shut up, the future Nova glaring down to him.
"Unless you are about to confess your love to me, you are to shut the buck up!"

Sage's eyes narrowed down, before he looked down to the crying foal in his arms
"Well then, young Nova... Someone is making your Papa suffer. What is your response to this?" Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Twilight glared angrily at Sage. To utilize a foal as a weapon was nothing they would ever approve of. But the outcome that followed to his gamble surprised even Sage.

The foal stopped crying and looked up to her future self, holding her father prison in the tight grasp of her metal titan. It didn't took long for her cute little face to darken into an angry one, her eyes and tiny horn glowing brightly. The next moment, the ground in the valley began to quake and shook before it teared and broke open. Six enormous worms leaped at the metal titan and entangled him, choked his throat so the sound of screeching and bending metal filled the air in Equestria. During the fight, several towers and buildings were damaged.

Cadance yelped up in surprise.
"Tatzlworms! But those beasts only live on the farthest borders of the equestrian wastelands! Why are they here all of a sudden?"

Celestia and Luna exchanged weary glances.
"No! By the stars, she summoned them to battle the titan!"

Twilight on the other end couldn't believe her ears.
"WHAT?!? At that age?!? Not even we can do that!"

Ducking into cover from falling debris and rubble, Sam looked over to Rachel, shaking his head.
"Well, one thing is certain: Alicorn foals seem to be totally overpowered. Please nerf!"

Shooting him a glare, Rachel grit her teeth.
"How delightful that you can joke about this in this kind of situation, idiot!" Looking back to Nova, she grimaced. "Well we have her past here. Killing young Nova would get rid of adult Nova. But there has to be another way..."

Sam nodded and looked up to Sage.
"Well, Sage is already using young Nova as a weapon against her future self. If any one of us has enough destructive power to harm her, it's that little power bundle."

Releasing Tyler from his grip, the titan struggled and fought against the Tatzlworms. Not losing any time, Rainbow and Flynn sped up and caught Tyler, jumped and caught him in midair before he could hit the ground.
"Gotcha!" Bringing Tyler to safety, they then looked over and nodded at Sage.

Now the adult Nova took flight and went after Flynn carrying Tyler, only to be blocked by Sage holding her younger self like a weapon already charged up for another blast. What followed was a fierce detonation wave as the two highly energetic magic beams collided. Looking down to her younger self and Sage, the Nova from the future roared in rage.
"Move it or I will go through you!"

This was the moment Sage was waiting for. With a smirk, he looked up to her and shook his head.
"Through me? Yes. Through her? I highly doubt that. She is your past. You kill her now, you seize to exist. Or create a time paradox that will destroy the entire universe including your father." Nova gasped in realization. The one flaw in her plan had been played against her. The thing she desired the most was beyond reach, both in the future and in the past. Tears began to glitter in her eyes. Closing her eyes, her horn ceased the magic, resulting in little Nova's magic to blast her future self, the Tatzlworms and the metal titan. In a fierce explosion the titan was destroyed at the edge of Dragon Mt. Crater. Silence returned and Sage flew with the containment unit back to the alicorns, handing Cadance the unit. "Here! Bring her back to safety!"

Sam looked up from behind cover.
"What? This still isn't over?"

Sage looked down to the others as he descended to Tyler.
"Over? No, this isn't over. Alicorns can take quite a beating. Equestria would perish a thousand times before alicorns would die from fighting like this."

This prompted Rachel to fold her arms.
"So she's not dead... Is she at least suffering? I mean she took quite a punch there. Looked like taking a bunkerbuster to the face."

However, Sage was only shaking his head.
"Suffering? Only from broken heart..."

Tyler looked down to the crater, where the massive destroyed body of the titan lied
"I'd had enough of this nonsense! Rage! Sage! To me!" While Sage happily obliged with a "Finally something reasonable today...", Rage growled unhappily. But Tyler wasn't in the mood for any more problems today, so he underlined his command with a stricter tone. "Rage! Come on! You know it has to be!" That was enough for the beast to join in as well and the three of them merged together into one person.

Sighs of relief overcame Twilight and the others.
"Thank goodness. They're one person again..."

Regenerating way faster than he was capable of without Sage and Rage, Tyler got back into shape quickly. Broken ribs and bones were healing and sore muscles became better almost in an instant. Taking flight high over Canterlot, he approached Dragon Mt. Crater before he spotted Nova's adult version.
"This ends here and now... I'm sick and tired of being messed with."

Coming to her senses, she raised her head, seemingly still groggy from the blast she had to endure.
"Tyler?"

"That's either Dad, Pa, father or Mr. Jones to you! You and I are going to have a serious talk about things now, young lady! I don't know from when you came from but I will-" Just when Tyler almost reached Nova while cracking his knuckles, a white orb of energy blasted into existence, followed by a strong wave of energy emitting from it.

Lowering her ears, Nova slowly shook her head once she noticed the time portal that manifested beside them both. That was when a strong and bronze male voice called out from the light, uttering a demand.
"Princess Nova! Show yourself!"

The order was enough for the adult Nova to stand up and step forth. But despite her stance depicting a mare of confidence, it was visible that she was shivering in fear.
"Here I am." Tyler glanced over to her before looking at the portal again. 'Her attitude flipped almost 180 degrees backwards...' Behind them, the others appeared either by landing there coming via flight or teleportation spell. The four princesses Cadance, Celestia Luna and Twilight kept their distance, mostly to keep the youngest alicorn, little Nova safe.

The other human Rangers stood a few meters away with the Element bearers. Sam folded his arms and shook his head.
"Typical! Once everything's over, the cavalry arrives..."

The voice in the time portal continued. It was calming, soothing, yet spoke with authority.
"Nova! I can't remember ordering you to travel into the past to disrupt it. None of us did. Explain to me why we find you here in this timeframe!"

Kicking the ground, Nova looked down as if ashamed.
"I... Umm..."

Stepping in front of Nova, Tyler looked into the bright light.
"As the father of this alicorn, I demand an explanation as well! But from you! How is it possible that you guys in the future have the ability to timetravel and don't have someone to police this? What the freaking FUCK happened in the future that my own daughter has the hots for me and wants to have more than just fatherly love from me? Attempting to rape me?!?"

It took those on the other side some seconds of silent murmur and gasps before the response came, possibly to grasp the extent of things that had happened.
"What is this? Nova! This again? You endangered the entire past for your own selfish desires? And now you don't even have the courage to take responsibility?"

But before Nova could answer, Tyler cut her off.
"You haven't answered my question!"

Looking over to Celestia and Luna, Twilight arched a brow.
"Do you have any idea who's that on the other side?"

Narrowing their eyes, both mares had to shake their heads.
"I can't tell, Twilight... This level of magic power... It's so bright even we can't identify it just by a mere glimpse."

The voice on the other side of the portal continued to deny Tyler an appropriate answer.
"Your concerns for the security of the timeline are of no matter, mortal... This is our jurisdiction, not yours. Nova, your sister will come and escort you home. And for your own sake you will cooperate!"

Tyler was fuming. He was disregarded as someone not essential here despite Nova coming to the past was because of only him. But at the mention of the word 'sister' his anger was replaced with surprise. Appleseed was a mortal earth pony. She wouldn't live that long. The silhouette of the mare coming now was growing and soon the form was solid enough to recognize a shape. At the sight of this new alicorn mare, Luna couldn't but gasp. It was Crescent. She was the spitting image of Tyler's dream of his daughter with her. Once approaching Tyler and Nova, Tyler shook his head in disbelief, still not fully able to grasp this.
"Crescent... It's been a long time since I saw you and at that point it was only an illusion."

His hand carefully approached her, hesitated for a bit to touch her, but then felt the warmth and silk touch of her coat. She didn't object to this, but looked up to him with a gentle smile on her face.
"It was your wish for me to exist to make that illusion a reality. Let me undo some things she did..." The very next moment, Shining reappeared next to Cadance with two tickets Crystal Empire to Canterlot., resulting in Cadance embracing her husband.

Now trotting over to her older sister, Crescent looked down to her, a deep sigh escaping her. Nova, still weeping, looked up to her and shook her head.
"Why isn't it possible, Cescent? Why can't I win his heart?"

Sighing in frustration, Crescent shook her head.
"Because his heart was not meant for you to win. We went through this time and time again! When will you accept this simple fact? You two are father and daughter and no matter what was, it was a mistake. A cruel joke fate pulled on you two."

Pointing at Tyler, Nova's voice now rose up.
"So? I mean even Flurry had something with him!"

In the very next moment, Cadance and Shining Armor shot Tyler a glare, prompting him to raise his hands in defense.
"Now hold a second! You two know EXACTLY I would NEVER...!"

Crescent's voice now became louder itself.
"Flurry was on her fifth heat cycle without stallion and was about to get into a freaking frenzy! So Aunt Cadance decided it would be best to ease her urges that one time!"

In this moment, Cadance whirled around.
"WHAT?!?"

Behind her, Shining's voice was calm, yet audibly trying not to yell.
"Cadie...? Do you have something that you want to tell me?"

"Oh, come on, Shiny! You know I would NEVER...!!!"

Yet still Crescent went on.
"Nova, you know exactly that auntie legitimized it with that it would be less of a scandal since father is not blood related to her, she doesn't hunt down the Royal Guards that could impregnate her in this state and that she could only benefit from father's massive experience with mares at this time. You know, the ones that got hooked up to him by the Queen of Love." Several proverbial stabs into her back and several gloomey glances from Shining and Twilight as well as strict looks from Celestia and Luna had Cadance become silent.

Twilight however, arched a brow in curiosity.
"Wait a second... Who is Flurry?"

"Not now, Twily!" Shining Armor said, his voice filled to the brim with anger. In surprise, Twilight looked over to him. Obviously this Flurry was a mare Shining Armor and Cadance knew and expected Tyler to cheat on Twilight, what would explain them being mad at him. And it being the idea of Cadance made Shining Armor mad at her. That and the fact that Cadance hooked Tyler up with several mares made Shining mad that Cadance helped Tyler cheat several times. It had to be something like this."

Yet while the others almost shouted at one another, Luna remained calm and simply nodded.
"'Tis true, I can confirm that. A thousand years on the moon can take their toll, but 2500 years without any way to let off some steam... 'Tis torture to the mind of a mare.

Tyler turned over to Luna,
"Wait... An alicorn of 2500 years... I'm afraid to ask, but how old is that? A filly?"

"No... It would be a little younger and smaller than Cadance now. Maybe the size Twilight has. At that point, alicorn mares tend to age and grow a little slower. A young mare having her first cycles. If it's the case Crescent is describing, you did it with her in her young adult form."

A sigh of relief escaped Tyler.
"Good Lord... For a moment I was afraid that-"

"It is only I who will grant you this forbidden pleasure, Tyler." Luna replied with a strict face. "And we both know this is a transformation. If I ever catch you dreaming about such things with a young filly, you will never find a good night sleep ever again!"

Throwing a glance at Tyler, Crescent shook her head, seeing his alarm over all this.
"Father... Let me reassure you: You always loved her in the way a father should love his daughter. That is... Until the time you didn't know she was your daughter."

"What?!?" Tyler shouted in surprise, "Does that mean that at some point in time I was too drunk to recognize my own child?"

Looking at him surprised, Crescent briefly shook her head in surprise with a chuckle as if the mere thought was ridiculous.
"Drunk? By the stars, NO!!! You are a strict anti-alcoholic in the future I know. You didn't do anything to yourself to forget that she was your daughter. Something else did."

Leaning in, Tyler's voice now bebecame very threatening and intimidating. He was calm and collected.
"What? What or who made me do this? I want to snap its neck before this happens!"

Despite taking a step back in order to keep her distance, Crescent showed no sign of intimidation. Giving a smile she shook her head to dismiss Tyler.
"I'm sure you want to, but I already said enough for damage control. As of now... Spoilers..."

By now Tyler's voice became louder, more infuriated and he grabbed the young alicorn mare by the neck in order to get an answer.
"This is BULLSHIT! All of it! You can't just waltz in here, telling me that I'll have something with my daughter and then dance away! I-"

With a swift and decisive movement, Crescent's hoof was buried in Tyler's stomach, robbing him of his breath, forcing him to bend forward. In her next move she swept his feet away while getting hold of one of his arms, nailing him down to the ground. Bending over to him, her voice remained calm and collected.
"Father, I can understand your anger and confusion, but please: Ask no questions! The timeline was altered enough already. You can't be told any more." Reluctantly, Tyler let go, closed his eyes and wept in silence while shaking his head. Fighting against Nova was one thing for self-defense and the defense of Equestria. Yet Crescent simply denied him an answer. Maybe he would be able to stand against her, but he wouldn't risk the newly achieved peace and tranquil for yet another battle. Recognizing Luna's movement approaching the two of them, Crescent smiled and came over to her for a few seconds. "I bet you have oh so many questions now, mother."

"I... thou..." Giving a sigh, Luna shed a tear of joy. "By the stars... Crescent, thou are so beautiful."

Letting go of Tyler after making sure he remained pacified, the daughter came over to Luna and nuzzled her mother's chest.
"Not so much as the serene and caring mother I always had." The statement caused Luna to choke a bit until the mare looked up to her again. "I know you want to get so many answers out of me in order to ease his confusion, but we have to go now. The years of happiness are not to be told by me, but to be experienced by all of you. I only want to say this: Thank you! For all these years of being there for us, protecting us. And sorry we didn't notice this incident today before it escalated. Even in our time the world has still some flaws. But you will see that once the time comes."

Standing up now, Tyler shook his head in disapproval.
"Total bullshit..." he whispered. It was clear that he still demanded an explanation to all of this, but wouldn't press for it.

Crescent looked over to him in sympathy.
"He's still angered by all of this. I won't blame him for feeling like that. Frankly, it's a whole new kind of mess we're dealing with here. Even for us in the future The responsible individuals will be held accountable. That's the only promise we can make to you." Trotting over to her big sister, Crescent then looked down to her. "It is time we head back home into our own time. Nova? Let's go..."

"No! I can't go on like this! I can't endure this anymore!" With terror in her eyes, Nova looked around to each individual present. "You don't know how that feels! To be so powerful that no one dares to approach you for fearing you could burn them to a crisp!" Crawling over to Tyler, she looked up to him, her eyes and voice pleading to have her will. "You... You don't have to be the submissive one! I could be your slut! I coul-"

She was unable to end her sentence as a loud, almost thundering slap to the face with the full combined power of his Trinity with Sage and Rage forced her to move her head to the side. This unexpected move caused all alicorn mares except Crescent to gasp in surprise. Now at full power, Tyler meant business again. Nova's eyes wide, she was shocked. Tyler was shivering in anger, his left eye shining blue, the other one fiercely red.
"Never! And don't you ever dare to ask me that again!"

Nova looked up to Tyler, her eyes still wide, yet for the first time, with signs of fear and respect for him. Her hoof shook as she lifted it to her hurting cheek where he slapped her hard enough to hurt, even for an alicorn. In a moment of clarity, her lower lip began to tremble and tears welled in her eyes.
"D-... Dad? Daddy? Dad, I- I'm so sorry!" Lowering her head into his chest, she began to wail and a dam broke loose. "Dad, I'm so sorry! I almost raped you, was so mean and you hit me and... and..."

As she broke into uncontrollable sobbing, Tyler rested a hand on her back, kneeling down to comfort her. Finally it seemed she woke out of this craze of hers. Recognizing this only meant one thing to him: She was denied the love of a lover, but he would not deny her the love of a father.
"Shhh it's okay now. You didn't succeed in that."

"But that one time with you was so wonderful that I wanted it again after so long and nobody else was able to withstand me. Everypony was either afraid of or cold to me."

Getting hold of her cheeks, Tyler looked into her face.
"OK, now... Nova? Look at me! You hear me?"

"Yeah..."

"I love you, sweetie. But as a daughter. I can't give you any other form of love. I won't hold it against you that you attempted what you did. I don't understand the situation as of right now, but I forgive you. Now you have to go with Crescent and get some professional help, sweetie." Nova nodded, stood up and turned to Crescent, only for Tyler to harrumph. "Didn't you forget something?!?"

"Huh?"

"The gemstones..." he insisted, "Hand them over, young lady! You took them from someone by force as you tried to take me by force. With you returning to your time, I will clean up after you this one time." Nova looked down to the amulet on her neck, then took it off. After levitating it to Tyler, she looked up to him and he smiled in return. "Feels good to do the right things, hm?"

"A little..."

"Maybe it will become better if you continue to do the right things... See you in the future..." As the time portal closed behind the future versions of his daughters, Tyler's shoulders were hanging down and he looked to the ground. Going through his hair with both hands, he levitated himself up and flew away, heading towards Canterlot Castle.

Twilight wanted to fly after him, but a pink wall of feathers stopped her from doing that. Looking down to her, Cadance shook her head.
"No! Give him some time... All of you. And for what it's worth: Let me have a talk with him first."

* * * * *

The late evening hours...

Cadance stood in the door, silently closing it with her magic and locking the door as she trotted over to Tyler, hearing him weep in heartache at the table, sitting on a chair. Standing beside him, she let him weep for some before she rested a wing on his back.
"Tyler? Is there anything I can do to help?"

Calming down for a bit, he sat upright in his chair. When he looked up to her, his eyes were fiercely glowing in their red and blue coloration. It appeared that not only Tyler was affected by this, but Rage and Sage as well.
"Oh, Cadance... What am I to do? As of this morning, she, like Appleseed, was the joy in my life, a bundle of love I never wanted to let go. Sure, she's powerful and I have to take care with handling her, but she's my daughter and I wouldn't have it any other way. But now... how can I even be near her again?"

The Princess of Love lowered her ears, seeing his consternation. A loving and caring father was told that one day in the future, he would cross a line no father should ever cross. Now doubting his own love, he desperately looked for any straw of guidance. And that nearly broke her heart. Pulling him in ever so gently, she rested her head on his, patting his back.
"Love her day by day, Tyler. I will have a watchful eye on you two. And if your love should ever go astray, I will be there for you..."

"Promise me one thing, Cadance..." he began his demand, "Promise me to show no mercy in hindering me from touching her like this."

Getting hold of his head with her hooves, she looked into his face with a determined look.
"I swear to you, by the stars: If I ever catch you looking at your daughter with the fire of lust in your eyes, I will ram you to the ground with a piledriver of apocalyptic proportions! No warning, no hesitation."

"A piledriver?" he asked, seemingly surprised by that.

"I may not look like it, but you can ask Shining that I can make it clear in close quarter combat."

Slowly shaking his head, he took a step back.
"What in the world is happening in your bedroom?" Realizing his question, Tyler immediately raised his hand. "On second thought: DON'T tell me!"

* * * * *

Half an hour later Cadance was meeting with the other members of Tyler's herd and Twilight shot the first question on her mind.
"How is he?

Sighing, Cadance closed her eyes.
"Well... he wept. And that he did a lot. It comes to no surprise at this amount of heartache. So I let him. He's uncertain in his capabilities as a father. But who wouldn't be if someone from the future would come and tell you that you'll cross the one line no family member should ever cross."

"And what did you tell him?" Celestia asked next.

Giving another sigh, the Princess of Love elaborated her advice given to Tyler.
"I told him to just be a father. If he holds her in his arms, he shouldn't doubt himself as a father. But, uh... There's another thing."

"What is it?" the others asked.

"He cried, yes..." Cadance continues, "...but only because the alternative would be running amok. I didn't cast any mind spells on him, since he would recognize that, but the tension around him is palpable. He's venting it through crying because I'm afraid, if he wouldn't do, he could level Canterlot in his rage."

Celestia nodded in silence before responding.
"Yes... Tyler is a force to be reckoned with. If he loses control, there are casualties. I'm just hoping it doesn't come to that while he's in Equestria..."

"As long as nobody fucks with my head I'm fine." Standing in he door, Tyler looked at the mares assembled in front of him, his eyes narrowed down in anger in their red and blue glow, his cheeks still wet from the emotional outburst he had. His glowing eyes only meant that Rage and Sage were still active within him. "Somebody or somepony is trying to fuck with my mind... I don't know why... I don't know how. But if I'll ever find out, I'm going to find that individual and break its fucking will, spine and horn if present. No fucking nobody weaponizes my children in order to bring me down."

While Celestia's eyes narrowed down in silent disapproval, Luna trotted over to him, her head held high.
"Tyler!"

Looking over to her, Tyler arched a brow, the expression on his face softening again.
"Yes?"

"Thou will not fail! Thou will be a great father to our children. I am certain of that!"

This took him by surprise and the grim expression on his face was blown away, replaced with a dumbfounded look.
"I..."

Celestia approached him, a spark of strictness in her voice. He was off balance now, time to go for the harmony blow and put his anger down for good.
"You showed that you would oppose your very own daughter in order to avoid further damage. For a loving father, this is the hardest thing to do. I don't know what will happen in the future, why or when it will happen. But for now, this day is far away and don't you dare to become cold to your daughter just because you are afraid of that day. You can't be judged for something that you didn't did yet. And even then the whereabouts of this are so blurry, you could as well be under mind control." Resting a hoof on his chest, she looked up to him, her head shaking. "You are the man that will sire our children..." A slight shiver went over her as she slightly blushed and continued. "...my children, too. And I know that until that dreadful day, you will be a wonderful father."

"Thanks, I guess..."

Seeing the glow in his eyes fading, a smile slowly grew on Celestia's lips. Once more, with their combined efforts, they were able to undo most of the damage and preserve Tyler's kind spirit, even if his anger was justified. Placing a short peck on his cheek, Celestia then turned over to Twilight.
"Twilight?"

"Yes?"

Nodding over to Tyler, Celestia now addressed her former student with a more advising tone.
"You are our herd's Alpha. But I'm telling you: Don't let this change anything. Someone aided Nova in order to change the past. And we shouldn't give them that victory that this incident disturbs our love as a herd."

Twilight looked down. It was obvious that something was on her mind and not wasting any time, her head rose again and she looked up to her former mentor.
"But what about the many mares the Crescent from the future mentioned?"

Celestia's eyebrows arched a bit, and taking a glance over to Tyler was enough for him to raise his arms in defense and shaking his head as to signal that he would never do that. Celestia's eyes narrowed down as if to search Tyler for any signs of adultery, but couldn't find any. That's when her glance normalized and a wide smirk crept on her face.
"Well, I can imagine them to be a treat for Tyler."

This caught both Tyler and Twilight off guard.
"Wait! What?"

"You mean...?"

Bumping her back into Tyler, Celestia couldn't but giggle.
"Sure! If Tyler becomes our equal and not every one of us is available... I can imagine handing him a concubine in my stead."

"Are you serious?!?"

"Tis a proper exception to the rule, Twilight Sparkle." Luna intervened, "Even if the practice is a bit archaic. We don't know how far our influence as rulers of Equestria will grow. A concubine loyal to a female herd member would serve as a viceroy for said princess or queen. There are even spells to witness the act of intercourse from the mare's point of view, so she could become a vessel of long range intercourse between the male and female herd mates. Nowadays ponies have not so much royalty anymore, so the practice was forgotten.

"There are spells for that?!?"

Celestia and Luna exchanged some glances and now both began to smirk.
"Not officially..."

Tyler harrumphed loud now and shook his head.
"Let's make this a conversation topic for the future... The far, far future..."

Giving it a chuckle, Twilight looked up to him.
"Speaking of the future, I thought about some of the things happening: They confirms Sage's theory. At some point something happened to you that left you open for this thing with Nova. This has to be big! Something that's even beyond his capabilities of mental defense..."

Tyler listened closely, before suddenly looked up in shock.
"Well shit!"

"What is it, Sugarcube?" Applejack then asked with an arched brow, "Ya just got confirmation that the incestous relationship ya'll have will not be because yer a depraved pervert lechering for his own flesh and blood. What could possibly upset ya now?"

Nodding in confirmation, Tyler patted her back.
"Yes, that's comforting. Sure. Yet Crescent said I'd be a strict anti-alcoholic! But I love my Foster beer!"

"You can't possibly call such piss beer..."

Noticing her leaning in the door, the others looked over to the voice of the newcomer.
"Rachel!"

"Yeah, I'm here again. Someone had to come back to you guys and report that Nova is in the Ranger HQ. Well, baby Nova... Geez, what a day... If Romeo here is occupied I need one of you ladies to come with me and get her out of the containment unit back to her containment room. None of us lowly mortals would survive this."

Cadance nodded, not hiding a slight snicker
"On my way!" Turning over to Tyler one last time, she smiled. "You stay strong there, you hear?"

As they went out of the room, Rachel shot Tyler a last shot.
"Don't worry. He just single handedly warped to the moon and back. If any guy has the will to go on, it's that stubborn asshole." Once the door was closed behind them, her voice was still audible. "Hey... was that guy so angry he cried? Guess he's mighty pissed..."

Twilight shook her head at hearing this with a gentle smile. Even if she denied it, Rachel cared. But then her focus shifted back to Tyler.
"Is she right? You're still mad?"

A brief nod was the beginning of his reply.
"I am. But thanks to you girls I can finally think straight. If what we heard today is correct... If someone is messing with us on purpose, then I want to know more."

A voice from the other side of the room became audule now. In a mirror, Tyler's reflection began moving on its own.
"Oh... Would something like memory loss resulting in a memory gap qualify as such?"

Looking over to the mirror, he saw Sage stepping out of the mirror again, becoming a holographic image once again.
"Sage... But there IS no memory gap in my mind."

Cocking his head, Sage shook his head with a mild chuckle.
"Oh yes, there is! Remember on Paretoka? You... or rather we fell unconcious for a while and you didn't know what happened..."

Tyler's eyes widened in realization.
"Holy shit, you're right!"

Her head turning over to Tyler, Twilight glanced at him in worry.
"You were unconscious on Paretoka?"

"That wasn't in thy report, beloved..." Luna stated with an arched brow.

Inhaling a breath through his teeth grimaced a bit.
"I... may not be THAT precise in my reports when it comes to timetravel. Nothing major since nothing happened. At some point I was standing in one moment and waking up on the ground in the next with no knowledge of what happened in the meantime."

Folding his arms, Sage leaned against the air, a feat maybe only possible because he had no body of his own.
"Yeah, the event that took place in the missing meantime resulted in me coming to be. But there is one thing I have to correct you about. Something did happen."

Now all eyes turned to the hologram.
"Sage?"

"What are you saying?"

Tipping at his left temple with his left index finger three times, Sage began to smirk over to Celestia.
"Emotion dumpster, remember? Our boy here was unable to withstand all that magic prowess unlocked inside of him, so he instinctively stowed it away in the back of his head. Inside me. Creating me in the process."

"So you know what happened in this timespan?"

"I sure do."

Narrowing her eyes, Twilight stomped on the ground with her left front hoof.
"Well then, go ahead and show it! Tell us!"

"Ah-ah-ah! What's with the ordering tone there, Starbutt? Do I look like I'm a pushover taking orders?"

"S-Starbutt?!?" The comment caused Twilight to resile a bit in surprise and Tyler to fight against the urge to laugh, before harrumphing a bit. Seeing Twilight brought out of context was funny, but now they really had to go after this. She was right.

Celestia, however, approached Sage and shared a genuine smile.
"How does Goldenrod Tea, lemon cake and an enlightening conversation about Equian solar physics sound to you in exchange for your willingness to share this with us?"

His eyes darting over to Celestia, Sage's then narrowed his eyes down, emitting a soft blue glow.
"I prefer Earl Grey... But otherwise it sounds acceptible. Deal. Please make some room, so I can show it with a hologram."

While Twilight was still fuming a bit, her mood ceased to be so sour once Celestia rested a wing on her back.
"It's not always demanding, Twilight. Even a princess has to give something to get something at some times. That's politics. If done correctly, it's a constant give and take. If done wrong, it's only taking, never giving. Tyrants do that and that isn't our way. Now come. Let's help out a bit." More and more tha area was widely free of any furniture

Once everything was out of the way, Sage nodded and the illusion around them was starting. The very corridors of Paretoka , destroyed and old with only one room on the entire planet preserved to be found exactly like it was left. And the busts standing there were still waiting. Tyler's eyes widened.
"I remember this place... These busts were intact at one time and burnt in the next." In the next moment, Tyler was surprised that another version of himself stepped right through him, followed by a version of Derpy. Tyler remembered this part. It was when they were chased by the weeping Pegasi and they were on the run while he found this perfectly preserved part of an otherwise ransacked and ruined, planetary library. The memory version of Tyler stepped forward and unrolled a scroll, reading it out loud. "Malice will fall once Willpower awakens." Tyler remembered only experiencing a white flash at this point, but now the gap was closed.

For now the room came to life as if Tyler would have said an activation password. Upon him speaking these words, the busts opened their eyes and became alive as the lights began to work.
"Welcome, Tyler Jones."

Tyler's memory stepped back in surprise.
"You know me?"

Giving a smile and a nod, one of the busts replied, shortly followed by the others.
"Of course we know you."

"You are the man who first installed us here."

"Although from your point of view..."

"...this happened in a long, long, distant future."

"And what a colorful future that is."

Narrowing his eyes, Tyler looked at them, distrustful. They spoke almost seamlessly one after another as if lead by one mind, completed one another. But at the same time, their voices were all different, their faces and even their tones differed from one another.
"What do you mean with that? More time travel with the Doctor in the future?"

"You are a man with a long and dangerous past..."

"But your future is infinitely more terrifying."

"Yet the Descendants of Tacitus want one aspect of it to happen at all costs."

Arching a brow, Tyler's memory slowly shook his head, not fully understanding.
"What's so dangerous about my future that these bozos want to make something from it to happen?"

One of the busts, a female one, spoke up with a gentle tone.
"On the Fields of Golden Shadow, at the return of the royal seeds to the royal family, when the shadows descent from the stars, a spell will be requested from you. A spell that must never ever be repeated or undone. You can't run away from this."

In the memory, Tyler's eyes narrowed down.
"I never ran away, so why do you think I would start now?"

"Because the entire universe may be at stake. The Descendants are determined to undo the one spell that banished their master so many countless eons ago. For that the Prince of Willpower must bow to their will."

Now the depicted Tyler was stumped.
"I don't understand. Prince of Willpower? What does this have to do with me?"

"The mightiest alicorn spell in existence!" the busts continued, "The spell that must never be known again! The greatest atrocity and miracle at the same time hidden in plain sight at night. The secret you will defend all your life."

Shaking his head, Tyler was looking like his patience was tried.
"Yes, but what is the spell?"

"It's the spell that was named after the name of your home world in alicorn tongue."

"What goddamn name? Equis?" Tyler's memory yelled at the busts, resulting in their eyes to shine brightly, as if charging up something big.

"Abarasion!"

"Abarasion!"

"Abarasion!"

"Abarasion!"

More and more energy accumulated in the busts while Tyler held his temple in agony, trying to withstand whatever powers were trying to overcome him. Derpy, looking up to him in worry, tried to help him keep his balance.
"What is happening, Mr. Jones?" All of a sudden, the entire energy from the busts was transferred to Tyler in one single flash. The energy burst caused the busts to fry and first Derpy collapsed and shortly after that, Tyler himself. That was when the memory ended and Tyler, Sage, AJ and the alicorns were left in the room.

Applejack corrected her Stetson, shaking her head in wild wonder.
"Oohhh boy! That sure was somethin'!"

Tyler, who had stood still up to this point, arched a brow and tried to make sense of it.
"So Sage... You mean to tell me that these busts unlocked my potential?"

"It appears so..." the holographic figure answered, "A revelation too powerful at this point for you. I don't know how or why, but I think we are part of some sort of time loop. We were part of this time window, so it is possible that someone placed the busts there in order to find them and complete the cycle. But only after the Elements of Harmony brought your mind closer to harmony with this potential of yours, Rage and I could be unleashed."

Contemplating in deep thought, Tyler hummed for a few seconds.
"Come to think of it... I wonder what would have happened if I didn't have both you and Rage... Maybe Nagohod would have been an early grave to at least some of us." His head shot up again. "No matter! Things happened the way they did and you tried to make me hard and unkind before I was in the Heart of Darkness. So that makes your story about being the tainted wise guy a bit thin..."

"Hey! Celestia was kidnapped and you were mad as hell." Sage countered, "Rage was triggered by that and I was just waking up, hearing that she was taken! I told you we three feel the same things. I wasn't tainted, I admit that. But I wasn't as balanced as I am now burdened with all that power clouding my mind."

Taking a step back each, Luna and Celestia looked at each other, shocked.
"Abarasion... Celestia!" the older alicorn nodded in confirmation, thought the same.

Tyler on the other hand looked at each mare present.
"If you ask me, I only get so much out of it. Before he died, the Doctor also mentioned the Abarasion spell and that the Daleks would see it as the ultimate prize. Seems like a very important spell if a time traveller looks all over the universe for it to keep it away from the bad guys. What does Abarasion actually means? Earth?"

"It actually means foundation in ancient alicorn tongue." Luna answered on the spot. "Another meaning is earth, ground. Something to build on. Or to build with. If it is like we fear, mother committed the greatest theft in recorded history. Ever."

"Come again? I can't follow you there. Theft?" Tyler stated with a frown.

"No single alicorn,..." Celestia continued, "...no matter how powerful has the magical prowess to create an entire universe all by him- or herself. Mother didn't create the universe, but seemingly started the process, resulting in all alicorns to turn into stars. But even that would be too much for one single alicorn. Not so much the transformation, but the transmission. These stars had to be send away trough the void over astronomous distances. For that she had to take magic from somewhere else. If I'm correct, mother took the magic to create this entire universe of ours... from Earth. Or maybe even from your entire universe."

Tyler's eyes widened in realization.
"That would BE the greatest theft ever. And it explains the human capacity for cutie marks to some extent. Our basic elements are reacting to the energy that is rightfully ours or something like that. Come to think of it, it never made sense until now. The magic of friendship was only one kind of magic. Then there are so many forms of magic in Equestria. Pegasi flying in spite of the laws of physics, earth ponies having a strong connection to the ground in several different ways, unicorns utilizing any sort of magic and still finding new ones... Heck, even Discord's chaos magic and Changeling magic are present."

"Royal seeds..."

Noticing her outspoken thought, Tyler looked over to her.
"Celestia? Does that ring a bell to you?"

Looking up again, Celestia shook her head in uncertainty.
"I don't know. I was very young myself when the Alicorn war raged. I don't know about each and every project back in these days... But the term 'royal seeds'... It sounds so familiar to me. I will need to look into my own memory a bit closer. That will take some time."

Tyler nodded, tired of the events of the day.
"You do that... In the meantime, I'm having a nap. Today was a day that felt like a week." And without further ado, he headed over to his chambers.

Author's Notes:

Not proofread yet, any notification about typos or mistakes are welcome.

Also, the new posting system is weird. I had to remove about 300 paragraphs by hand.