Amaryllis wanted only one thing: victory. Thiemo had done and sacrificed so much for her. Even his greatest desire, to find a way home, he had delayed to be with her. The least she could do was aid him to do so.

With a quick flash, she fired another magic bolt at her opponent, a stallion from Saddle Arabia who wielded a sabre in his mouth, who tried to evade it. Unfortunately, he had little luck as Amy had erected shields around him that restricted his movement. It was as though he was caught in a grip.

The bolt found its target. It was not strong but was enough to singe the fur of the stallion and inflict some damage. Every few seconds she would fire one and increase her points. In her struggle with Jewel Note, something had broken inside her, as if a veil had been lifted. Suddenly, she understood so much more of what was happening around her. It was as if the magic would tell her what to do, not the other way round. She merely acted as a medium. She could live with it; she didn’t care how she achieved her goal. Or at least she tried not to think too much about it.

A few of the bolts were deflected by the stallion’s sword and fizzled in the sand, raising it around them. For a moment, Amaryllis lost sight of her opponent as she had to struggle to keep away the dust from her eyes, but then she felt him, or rather his sabre, as it was dangerously close to her neck. The stallion, who was almost as tall as her, snorted something unintelligible with the weapon between his teeth and then pressed it tighter to her neck.

She couldn’t care less. Again magic provided her with the answer, and a shield dome erupted from her horn, which surrounded her and threw the stallion back jerkily. As quickly as it appeared, it vanished, and the changeling princess turned around and fired another bolt at her opponent.

He now sported several bruises under his beige fur, but he didn’t stay put. This was hardly surprising since the horses from the desert were known to be the best fighters amongst the equine breeds of Albion.

"I've had enough!" Amaryllis yelled. Her horn flared again in the color she had learned to see, and like a wall, a shield took shape next to the stallion. He couldn’t do more than blink before it encompassed him and pressed him at an incredible speed against the wall of the stadium.

Breathing heavily, Amaryllis fell to her knees, sudden exhaustion written on her face, and she immediately began to replenish her magical reserves from the love in the air.

"Please remain calm!" She suddenly heard Loudmouth shout vigorously in his microphone as Amaryllis became aware of the surrounding tumult. Ponies screamed and covered their eyes while others stared with horror at the arena.

Curiously, Amaryllis followed her gaze and froze. Her opponent was still stuck to the wall, his head at an impossible angle while blood dripped from his mouth. His eyes were lifeless, just like the rest of the body.

Thiemo awoke slowly as a cold breeze brushed against his legs. It took a few seconds until he realized where he was before he began searching with his feet for the blanket. Finally, he found the folded half and with his toes and pulled it back skilfully over his legs. Satisfied, he snuggled back into his warm pillow and allowed his thoughts to wander back into the realm of dreams. However, a thought just didn’t want to leave his waking body. Why was the blanket even folded?

And it didn’t stop, of course. That question only led to more, such as how he had ended up in the bed in the first place. The last thing he remembered was how Meena and a crystal pony had helped him out of the arena. With a groan, he turned around and reluctantly opened his eyes, only to be greeted by darkness. It had to be in the middle of the night, the only time when the lights of the homes were dimmed in the Empire. It took a few seconds until his eyes became accustomed to dimness, but then the outlines of Amaryllis’ well-known bedroom gradually became clearer.

Yawning, he sat up, stretched briefly, and started to look for his clothes. Usually he deposited them on a chair that he always carried from the living room to the bedroom. Ponies had, if any, fancy dresses and therefore were not fans of plain wardrobes. Finally, he found his pants folded over the end of the bed and put on the, as they always were these days, freshly washed garment. Cadance must have given some staff member the job to sneak at night into the chambers and take care of it. Not that he resented it, since he himself noticed the strong odour of his clothes at the breakfast table when it wasn’t done. But at least he sweated and fought on her behalf. That he still had enough strength to go back to the castle was surprising enough.

Wearing only a pair of trousers, he rose from the bed and looked around in the dark room, searching for the pony that was supposed to lie beside him. His gaze wandered over to the bathroom, but there was no light under the door, which meant that he would not be able to find her there. Sleepy and rubbing his eyes, he finally walked into the living room and checked the door to the apartment. "Where could she be?" he asked himself silently, as he realized that it was closed.

Again a breeze swept along his legs, and he quickly found its source. One of the large windows was open and let in a gentle breeze that danced around with the curtains. It was not really cold but was still a significant difference to the temperature under the warm blanket that he had left behind.

Carefully, Thiemo put his head out of the window and looked down to the city. A few small lights shone from the high-rise buildings around the palace, but otherwise it was pretty quiet.

It was something Thiemo wasn’t used to from such a large city. Normally it was different, but after a whole day at a festival or in the stadium, it seemed the inhabitants of the Empire were ready to skip the nightlife. There was even only a bit of wind this high above, thanks to the magical dome.

"Amy?" he called out into the night and listened. "Amy, are you out here?" Thiemo tried to glance upwards to see if his girlfriend was sitting somewhere on the steep battlements, but it was just too dark. Finally, he came to the conclusion that she must have flown out and left the window slightly open so that she could come back later.

With slightly troubled thoughts, he laid back down under the covers again, this time on his right side. Normally, he would look Amy right in the face in this position, but today it was just the view from the window and the stars behind it. His answers would have to wait until tomorrow.

Amaryllis’ breathing normalised after she heard Thiemo lean by the window before he returned to the bedroom. She simply needed some time alone to think. The dream that had startled her was still fresh in her mind. She remembered today’s fight and her opponent. She hadn’t killed him, but she could have. Something had just clicked in her mind, and so much information at once had streamed into her head that she was able to process it. The biggest change was that she could see magic.

It had happened gradually during the fight against Jewel. Her idea of using her shields as platforms had been successful. She had jumped from one to the next, and before her opponent could anticipate it, Amaryllis’ hoof had made contact with her face. But it was not this alone that had forced her to the ground. She had formed one of her magic spheres around her hoof and fired several small projectiles at the same moment.

She could barely describe the feeling as she stood over her unconscious opponent. She felt so exhilarated, powerful, and superior. It was just incredible. Colours, as she had never seen them before, had suddenly danced before her eyes, and she realized it. For the first time, she had really used her magical potential. She was partly alicorn, a being able to move entire planets with her magic. What use was it having hundreds of spells in her head when they all could not defeat an opponent? But she did not need so many, only one and the right amount of power.

She had practically spent the remaining day thinking about what she could do now. How she would travel with Thiemo, side by side, as they covered each other’s backs. Nothing would stop them, and this idea pleased her immensely. Even her parents couldn’t deny her wishes. Surely she would come back here again. After all, this had become her home. But there was only the human's dream, whose vigour she wanted to renew.

With her head held high, she had faced her opponent in the arena today. Now that she was awake, not dreaming, she had an even clearer picture of the stallion in mind: a handsome stallion with a beige coat, a dark brown mane, and a small goatee. His ears had been decorated with many golden rings as well as his legs with golden amulets. The sword in his mouth had been a masterpiece of blacksmithing, probably more valuable than all the other jewellery on his body combined.

First she had tested him with some magic bullets that he had deflected with his weapon. Confidently, he had stormed towards her, only to run straight into the first of her shields. Faster than he had realized it, she had built four more magical walls and locked him in a chamber, together with one of her spheres. Without even thinking about it, she had then opened fire. The magic bullets had flown in all directions, bouncing off of the walls and hitting the sand. Because of the raised dust, she couldn’t see her enemy, so she had fired on and on. Only when one of the judges had physically stopped her had she noticed that the fight had been declared over. The stallion hadn’t been seriously injured, thanks to the magic field of the arena, but in normal circumstances, it wouldn’t have ended with a few simple contusions and bruises. In this way, it was only a warning for ignoring the instructions of the judge. Still, how easy it could have turned out different as reflected vividly in her dream.

"And you really think that you can hide from me?"

Startled, Amaryllis spread her wings as she almost fell off the steep roof. However, before she had to make use of them, a strong hand gripped her left front hoof and pulled her up again, where she peered directly into the grinning face of Thiemo.

Furiously, she slightly jabbed at his shoulder. "Why did you do that?! And how did you find me, anyway?"

"Well," he grinned as he rubbed his shoulder, "imagine how surprised I was when I looked out the window in the bedroom and something lit up the night sky with her mere presence."

Immediately, she thought back to what he had told her when they travelled to Karst’s tree castle in the lost forest. "So, now it's my turn. What are you doing out here?"

"Thinking."

"About what?"

"A lot."

For a few seconds, there was silence.

"The same as yesterday?"

"Yes."

"You don’t really want to talk about it, right?"

Did she? Amaryllis didn’t know for sure. If she thought about it closely, her coltfriend was probably the one who would understand her best. There had been several moments in his past when he could have fought with magic, but he did not.

"How do you decide when to use magic?"

"What?" he asked, surprised by the question.

"How do you decide if it is justified to use magic to defeat someone or to get what you want?"

Carefully, Thiemo sat on the roof, stabilizing himself with his hands. Amaryllis joined him and sat down beside him. "For this, I should probably tell you a little more about my education. Zarni was a strict teacher. Mistakes resulted in a beating with a stick. Success that came about contrary to their ideas brought the same result. She taught me certain rules. For example, the spirits didn’t tolerate if one abused their gifts to his own advantage. This included everything from simple things, like making water into ice to using magic to end a life. Why did the warriors of the tribe still carry traditional weapons? Magic only existed to serve the majority of the tribe, to relieve sores and to help nature where it couldn’t help itself anymore."

Thiemo snorted and laughed. "I can’t count on my fingers how many times I've broken the rules. Rules are meant to be broken. So the question is rather when it is necessary to comply with them. Children, foals, chicks, young ones were always taboo to me. I would… I could never do anything to children. Not with magic or anyway else. Also, I would never turn against innocent bystanders, someone who isn’t responsible for the situation. But on the other hand, there are individuals who outright challenge it, and against those I rarely hesitate. It’s better to get off the first shot than allowing them to. Solo shot first and so on. In the end, there is no absolute rule for right or wrong. It is in the sole discretion of the user since everyone has different attitudes to morality.

“A good example is that both Celestia and Shining Armor see me as a murderer. It is true that I killed. But the gryphon held me prisoner and caught Aura and would have done unspeakable to her sooner or later before reselling her. For me, at the moment when I realized that, his right to live had been forfeited. The situation plays just as an important role as the person you stand against."

Amaryllis knew the story of Blakkur and the journey on the cruise ship. It had been a while since Thiemo had told her about it. But she was pretty sure he had not tried to exculpate himself back then. "How do you feel about it today?"

"Not a bit different. Blakkur deserved what he got. I could have made it short and painless. Remember, we were not his first victims. In my own opinion, I’ve made the world a safer place. But in the end, it remains murder. And while I do not believe in any God who will judge my life when it's over, I believe in karma. Eventually, it will bite me in the ass. Hopefully very far in the future. "Amaryllis rested her head on his shoulder. “Can you at least tell me what made you think of all this?"

"Tomorrow we will fight against each other," she clarified. "With Eris, who participates in the tournament, I have no doubt ... and I'm afraid to hurt you."

She couldn’t see it, but she felt his cheeks being lifted as Thiemo grinned. "And you think you could do that?"

Her head jerked up. "What's that supposed to mean now?"

"I have seen your fights. You forget, I can see your spheres and not only the physical manifestation but your magic missiles."

"Doesn’t matter, because no matter how fast you are, I have more than enough rounds to wrap the entire arena in dust."

"And I ..." He touched his empty arm. "Well, I have none. But I know more about applied magic than you, plus I have much more combat experience. "

“Oh yeah? Who was attacked by a small pony with a couple of knives and needed my help? Or was nearly caught by a skeleton?” She snorted.

"And who was almost slashed into halves by a robot?"

"Emphasis on almost, because someone else was!" They met in the middle. Hooves wandered over the man’s shoulders, while his hands grabbed the cheeks of the changeling princess. Roughly, they pressed her lips together until finally Amaryllis’ strong tongue managed to separate from her lover’s. Then she bit into his lower lip. "Bed, now!" was all she said and pulled him back into the apartment through the open window beneath them.

And so the inevitable happened, and although she had mentally prepared herself for this moment, Amaryllis felt her heart began to ache. Thiemo was already in the arena and looked with a blank face to the entrance from which she came. Not at her, but through her. She reached out mentally to him, wanting to read his emotions, only to be struck by the first blow before the battle had actually started. He had locked her out. Like an insurmountable wall, it made him inaccessible. For Amaryllis, it was almost like a bad dream, too accustomed to bathing in the love that was meant just for her. And it hurt him, or at least she could not imagine why he couldn’t look into her eyes.

Another realization had already sunk in. This was what Eris wanted. This was the reason why she had even proposed the bet to her. Eris didn’t choose her own opponent; she wanted to choose their opponents. And it probably not only affected this fight. This was only the climax. How did two inexperienced fighters as the both of them even come so far? Amaryllis was sure that Eris had manipulated the whole tournament, had given them opponents she knew both could defeat. They wouldn’t have come so far for any other reason. And Thiemo wasn’t stupid either – she was sure he had noticed something. The problem was that he could not find out. Eris would assume that they had talked. This fight had to take place, and it had to be a real fight. She would have to hurt Thiemo, but it was for his own good. Plus, she had made it up to him in advance last night. At least she liked to think so.

Her ears twitched as Loudmouth’s voice echoed over the heads of the thousands of spectators and excited them. Eris had fought before them today, and the whole thing only took a few minutes again. Naturally, the audience was disappointed. But so it was in the final. "Today we have something very special! Princess Amaryllis meets her feared opponent: her own lover, the human known as Thiemo!" The audience roared loudly.

Amy snorted. Not that she needed a reminder. "Thiemo, I'll try to make it quick!" she shouted at him across the square, against the roar of the masses.

For the first time, his gaze was on her. "I don’t want to fight you. I don’t want to hurt you! I thought at first that I could ... but I can’t." The signal to start had already been given. Officially, the battle had started long ago.

"I want to fight you!" Astonishment was clearly written on his face. "I don’t want to hurt you, but I want to fight and not just to prove it to myself, but also to prove myself to you. You still see me as the frightened nymph when we met for the first time. But we changelings grow quickly and adapt. It is in our nature. Even if I'm more pony than changeling, it’s still a part of me. I have grown, even if you do not like to see it. I'll show you.” She grinned. “Besides, we've still got our little bet running. I would like to see you again in the lingerie one day. I've saved it, you know?"

Thiemo shook his head and chuckled. "And I was beginning to wonder where it had gone. I think maybe I should get you some. No, definitely. But maybe one of those maids dresses. You'll need it if you are to follow every wish from my lips for one day. "

"I bet it would look great on you." They both looked at each other. Then everything happened at once. Amaryllis created a sphere while hundreds of small fragments from Thiemo’s bag formed to two swords in his hands. Amaryllis knew that he could see it, though. Therefore, in the same moment, she formed a second one behind him, where even he couldn’t detect it with his magical sight. He also didn't know that she had mastered it.

Thiemo sprinted towards her, but she had expected that. After all, swords were melee weapons. She shot the first sphere from her horn and opened fire. Of course, the human could already see the arcane bolts appear from the source and evaded them without problem. "You're going to need more than that," he told her as he reached her. Without hesitation, she spun around and swiped his face with her tail while she created a third sphere at its end. He didn’t have the time to block, let alone to even look surprised, as the sphere hit his body and a volley of at least ten missiles hurled at the human and flung him to the ground. She had defeated Jewel Note like that, and it again had its intended effect.

At least it first appeared so, but the human then straightened up. Except for a little dust on his clothing, he seemed to have taken no further damage. He shook a little and then shortly patted his clothes. "Okay, that was no understatement," he admitted. He rammed one of his swords into the ground and grabbed with his hand into his pocket. She didn’t leave him enough time to get his gems and fired from the sphere she had positioned behind him. But the bolts struck no more than the bare ground where the man had stood seconds before.

Hastily, Amaryllis turned her head around. Since he had magic, Thiemo could move very quickly, even without a sapphire. With one of the stones, it was like trying to follow a flash. Only the trail of magic that he left behind was an indication of where he might be now. But the princess was not fast enough. Suddenly her hind legs no longer touched the ground, and before she could even scream, she was lying on her side. Thiemo stood over her, his sword in his hand and ready to strike. He hesitated.

Amaryllis’ horn flickered for a fraction of a second and a bullet struck the man at point blank range and threw him again a few yards back. This time he seemed prepared, and Thiemo managed to land in a crouch, his sword by his side. Amy saw, as she straightened up, that the man again dug into his pocket. This time she opted for the defensive and built a shield around her.

It only took a few seconds for two ice balls to make contact with the surface of her purple dome, directly behind her back. Immediately, she spun around, removed the shield, and returned fire, but too late did she realize that Thiemo wasn’t there anymore. She created a shield again, but then more ice balls impacted with her ribs. Thiemo was under her shield!

It couldn’t have been better. Amaryllis gathered as much magic as she could. "Sorry, but this is going to hurt," she told the human she could barely see from the corners of her eyes. Then she fired a shock wave. This was what she had worked on with her father to fight against Thiemo. At that time, they had planned on the possibility that this battle could happen, and now that it was here, she was glad that they had planned out something in advance.

The magic engulfed the human, pressing him against the inside of her shield until it shattered before she threw him against the inner wall of the stadium, whereupon he went down. Amaryllis, panting from exhaustion, quickly began to refill her reserves from the love in the air. As long as she was in the Crystal Empire, she would never run out of magic. An almost infinite amount of love waited in the air to be consumed. Thiemo might have shut her out, but that didn’t mean that she would starve to death, at least not here.

The idea for the shock wave magic had come to Shining Armor after she had blown up the training room. How to hit an opponent who was faster than magic bullets? By using an area effect!

Groaning, the man supported himself, first on his trembling hands, then on his legs. "Did anyone take the license number of that truck?" he asked the audience that couldn’t hear him. Amaryllis eyes widened. His clothes were ragged and needed to be repaired, but he himself seemed to have taken little damage, except his disorientation.

Thiemo was a little loopy. His face ached and so did his chest. He was also sure that he had left a lasting impression in the crystal of the stadium wall. His arms and legs were still shaking from the blast that his girlfriend had shot across the arena. Surprisingly, it was mainly the impact that caused the pain, not the blast itself. A little unsteadily, almost falling again, a thought struck him. Twilight said that magic behaved in his body like water in a bowl. Wouldn’t this absorb the shock? If a man jumped from a diving tower into a swimming pool, it hurt but not nearly as much as it would if no water was in the pool. Well, that probably wouldn’t even hurt, because the man would not survive it, but that was not the point. His own magic formed a kind of airbag against magic attacks, decreasing its momentum.

He wanted to touch his forehead with his hand, but he missed and landed on all fours. The world was still spinning around him, but he finally managed to stay on his feet and focused on Amaryllis.

She seemed surprised that he had pulled it off. He himself was a little too, but this was his chance. With both of his hands, he reached out and magically grabbed at Legion. One sword was right next to Amaryllis, the second behind her, and both responded to his call. They dissolved into small fragments and raced through the air towards him, not missing his girlfriend. One hit her at the side and the other directly over her tail on the rump.

Startled, Amaryllis leaped forward, and Thiemo rushed to his weapon. He grabbed the shards out of the air, quickly regaining their shape as swords, and struck. However, a long, crooked horn blocked both swords before Amaryllis stretched out her wings and leaped back.

Quickly, she recovered from the hit and ascended into the air above him. Thiemo couldn’t do anything but stand there, breathing heavily, and watch as she once again gathered magic and turned her horn in a little sun by sheer power. Inwardly, he prepared for what might come, but there was no other option than dodging it.

Her short mane swirled as she accumulated so much magic that Thiemo had to stop his magical sight. What he saw sent a little shiver down his spine. Amaryllis pupils had disappeared and pure magic flowed from the whites of her eyes. Then her head turned down, her horn pointed directly at him, and she fired. Thiemo jumped back as the missile hit the floor. Instantly, Thiemo realized that he wasn’t out of danger. The bullet exploded and threatened to consume the entire arena. He quickly stepped back further and further until he finally reached the wall. From the approaching explosion, he retreated in the only direction that was left.

Slowly, the world came back into focus as the magic ebbed and left behind an exhausted Amaryllis in the air. Immediately, she again began to devour the love from the air, to replace the magic she had just burned, but this time it would take longer than before.

The dust beneath her settled down, and she looked for the human. The first thing she noticed was that not only that Thiemo was not there but also that the sand of the arena was merged into a single surface, with a small indentation in the centre where her magic had smashed it.

Suddenly, something grabbed her neck, and she tried to stay in the air, but it was impossible. Feeling like a stone, she began to steer to the ground. At the last moment, she managed to turn herself on the side and to fold her wings, but then she hit the crystalline ground. She also felt the knee that rammed into her back and took her breath away. She had certainly found the man.

He then rolled down from her and tried to sit up but fell back to the slippery floor. Amaryllis stifled a laugh as Thiemo muttered something that sounded like a mix of various insults. He tried again, but this time his hands skipped and his chin hit the hard ground.

"Fucking shit!" He didn’t hold back his anger, turning on his back as he held his chin.

The princess remembered, after laughing again, that the fight was not over yet, and she was not necessarily in a better position. Now she tried to stand up too, but unlike the man, she had wings she could use to support herself. She lifted her body slightly in the air and then, at the same time, carefully placed all four feet on the floor. She stumbled briefly, but remained steadfast, having the advantage of four legs. Then, with a slight grin on her lips, she began to imitate Jewel Note and used the crystal surface to slide with her hooves like on a frozen lake, again and again around the human. "Well? Do you give up now?" she asked and stuck out her tongue.

"Never!” he shouted at her and stood up, this time with more success, spreading his both feet very wide. Amaryllis didn’t need to see to open fire again, not while he hadn’t yet fully recovered from his last attack. She aimed at his feet and again brought him to his knees. The fall probably affected the man more than the bullets themselves. She didn’t know how, but somehow Thiemo had managed to dampen her magic attacks. If she didn’t need all her legs to stand, she could end the fight with a single kick of her hind legs.

Startled, she pulled herself out of her thoughts as she noticed that Thiemo had pulled a crystal from his pocket. She prepared to repel any projectiles, but he did not target her but his own feet. No ice ball shot out, but a thin layer of ice slowly surrounded the sole of his boots, which expanded and then formed something like an ice-skate. Then he suddenly rammed both of his hands in the crystal, shattering the surface and pushing himself off with his feet. The man landed in a crouch, and with the icy skids under the boots, he slid away from her. Finally, with some distance between them, he turned around sharply and came to a halt, his skids flinging some ice in the air.

"Two can play at that game," he said and then he held out his hands. Unlike the first time, however, Amaryllis now knew what to expect, as the ground in some places suddenly divided and hundreds of small crystal shards flew to the human. Even so, they missed her barely.

The swords reformed in the hands of the human, and Amaryllis noticed something. From what she knew, the weapon could transform in any shape he wanted, but he seemed to make no use of it. Or maybe he couldn’t.

Either way, she prepared for his next attack. Unlike what she had anticipated, he didn’t use the swords, at least not the way she had thought. He turned around both weapons and rammed their tops in the crystal to push himself forward. Now and then, he would adjust his course by only using one of the both. Then, he began to extract gems from his pocket and attack her with shards of ice. Her shield spell blocked them, though, but it was kind of funny to see the human as he slid over the ground, wiggling with his flanks. And a little distracting.

The mobile shield followed the man and blocked further attacks, so he stopped it as the first of his lapis lazuli crumbled to dust. Amy knew that he couldn’t have that many, anymore, so it was all just a matter of time.

Amaryllis put her wings in motion and again rose in the air. Thiemo was now bound to the soil, without the ability to push himself off the ground and not agile enough to dodge her magic anymore. She would end it now. She summoned as much magic as she had at command and began to fire from the air at the human.

The first bolt missed by far, the second hit the ground before his feet and forced him to turn, and the third collided with his shoulder and cost him one of his swords. She fired on, but suddenly he turned around and headed straight for the wall of the stadium. Because of the sharp curve he was taking, he lost momentum, which made him an easier target. However, he managed to fend off the next two bolts with the remaining sword. Then he reached the wall, steadied himself against it, and then pushed himself with all his might towards the centre of the arena again.

At first she had no idea what he planned to do, but then she realized a second too late. Thiemo reached the small crater, slid in and shot in the air on the other side. Amaryllis didn’t fly very high for the sole reason that there was a ceiling on the arena. Now she regretted that she didn’t dare to ascend higher as Thiemo shot vertically into the sky and grabbed her front legs. She struggled against the sudden extra weight again, but this time she was more exhausted than last time. There was no chance that she could keep the both of them up. Slowly, she descended as the man, with a jerk, clung to her neck and clambered on her back. Then he angled his legs and tucked Amaryllis wings to her body. They impacted with the ground.

For a moment the princess’ vision turned black, but then she forced her eyes open again. Her body ached and she was tired. She saw Thiemo then, buried between her hooves, unmoving. On his forehead was an imprint of her hoof. He was breathing heavily, but made no effort to move. What had happened? Wasn’t she supposed to hit the ground first? Why was he suddenly under her?

"And we have a winner!" She heard Loudmouth’s voice suddenly, together with thousands of whistles and shouts. "And what a fight that was! I daresay one of the most exciting of this year's tournament! We'll watch the highlights soon again. For those who don’t want to stay, you will hear us tomorrow in the final! See you soon, Crystal Empire!"

Amaryllis kept lying where she was, still listening to the cheering crowd and only looking out of the corners of her eyes as officials came to the field, equipped with first aid kits and litters.

Thiemo woke up with a headache, dry mouth, and not alone. "How are you?" he heard the familiar voice of Princess Cadance. "Amaryllis really kept you hard at it."

"No, she did that last night. That was just ..." He stopped as he now realized exactly with whom he was speaking. "Um, yeah. You could say that. "

"She surprised you."

"Yes."

"Water?" She levitated the glass from the bedside table over to him. Now he also realized where he was. It was one of the guest rooms in the castle. Gratefully, he took the glass and carefully drank a sip as he sat up a little. "I'm mad at you, you know." Thiemo said nothing because Cadance had a huge smile on her lips. "Now I have to squeeze myself into clothing I last fit in before Skyla was born. And a mare who realizes she no longer has the physique she once had is not a happy mare. For this I blame you, you understand?" Thiemo nodded. He had no idea what she was talking about. "But we'll worry about that when you're feeling better. Today, I only have something for you." A little box appeared from behind her back and landed on the sheets in Thiemo's lap." That's what you wanted, right?" Carefully, Thiemo opened the box and looked inside. It was a polished gem, and he realized immediately what it was. A sea breeze crystal, the same rare material the throne was made of. "You know that even if you won, I couldn’t have given you my throne, right? What should I sit on?” She giggled. “But I think this should be more than enough. Look at it as a little reward for the outstanding fights you fought in my name. "

"Thanks," he croaked out and gently stroked the precious jewel with a finger.

"You're welcome." She was just about to take her leave, but then she stopped. "Oh, before I forget." Her horn glowed briefly, and there was a flash of light in the room. When Thiemo could see again, he saw the horror that Cadance had conjured. "Amy wants you to wear it tomorrow for breakfast." And with that, she walked out of the room.

"So we meet again, old enemy,” Thiemo said after he had fought a several-minute-long staring contest with the two-piece minotaur lingerie. Then, with a sigh, he fell back to bed and smiled weakly. All in all, it had turned out better than expected.

Author's Notes:

I think this fight will confuse some of you. To make some things clear, Thiemo planned to lose. He forgot in the middle of the fight, in the heat of the moment. When they both were crashing down again, he took the blow and her hoof to the head. Headache from hell, I tell you.

Thanks to DeepThought for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.