Amaryllis awoke with a small smile on her lips and stretched her limbs. She had spent half the night together with Thiemo, flying over the roofs of the buildings in this huge city. After some hours of sleep, she hardly felt it. Not that she would complain. She had carried her human through the air with pleasure for a simple reason: he was afraid of heights. Still, he trusted her. On her back, his fear had practically been non-existent last night. It was, at most, a barely detectable sour tinge at the end of the spectrum. It hardly spoiled the taste of his emotions during that time. The recollection was the reason for her smile as she woke.

With her hind legs, she kicked off the blanket and turned her gaze over to the place beside her where her human should have laid. However, the spot was empty and cold as she passed a hoof over it.

“Thiemo?” she called, but there was no response. He was nearby – she could feel him. A bit tiredly, the princess rose from the large bed and shook her body around so that her mane and fur would look somewhat decent. The wind last night had performed the preliminary work and now the bed had given her the final touches of her disheveled appearance, as she saw in the mirror that adorned the wardrobe.

Moreover, she urgently needed to drink something. Coffee, shower, and then breakfast was her mental list to herself. A bit slowly, she opened the door in the hall a little with her magic and stepped in the brightly lit area. Apparently nobody had seen it necessary to provide the ceiling windows with curtains, apart from the bedroom. That was probably due to the fact that Earth didn’t have any pegasi who could fly between and above the building and spy inside, she thought.

Amaryllis’ gaze landed on the cream sofa, for the mystery of where her coltfriend had disappeared had been solved. Thiemo was sleeping on it, his right leg dragging on the ground. He used his coat as a cover, while he himself served as a pillow for Auralia. The foal laid with her belly on his head and murmured something in her sleep. In her hooves, she held the Applejack plushie he had gotten for her a few days ago.

A sad thought pushed to the forefront of her mind. The last time she had seen them like this had been in the train ride to Canterlot. That was months ago, about half a year

Thiemo snorted as some of Auralia’s hair got inside his mouth. The human moved in his sleep and then tried to scratch his nose, but only got the nape of his daughter’s neck. The filly smiled and began to hum. This went on only for a moment before Thiemo's arm dropped from the couch, just like his leg, and came to rest on the rug. Auralia, seemingly less agreeable that she was no longer being petted, kicked briefly with a hind leg, caught her father’s stomach, and adjusted herself somewhat on his face. His hand wandered back up again to scratch his itching face and the game began anew. Amy couldn’t keep back her laughter.

Finally, however, she remembered that she wanted to drink something and that a shower waited for her. They had a long day before them.

In a good mood and with a full stomach, Thiemo sauntered through the streets of New York. He had his sister next to him, his daughter on his shoulders, and in the corner of his eyes, Amaryllis with Lyra on her back, flying through the air behind them. Of course, the looks of several passers-bys went in their direction, but nobody even said something. He was only another lunatic walking through the street. He had to be a little crazy with a small foal on his shoulders while he wore an orange coat, strange boots that seemed to have escaped from a medieval market, and a funny white tail that peeked out under his coat.

Auralia had disappeared half-inside the backpack on his back, while her forelegs rested over his shoulders. Her head was practically next to his, and he felt every light movement whenever she shifted to look at something new.

Danielle had, much to his displeasure, had decided to dress in a more revealing fashion than he would have liked. A violet-blue T-shirt exposed her stomach and a tattoo that he did not know she had, along with blue jeans. The tattoo, a black dragon's tail with barbs, wrapped itself around her belly button and went further down into her jeans. He would rather not think about whether the rest of the dragon was there.

“It’s unbelievable how oblivious some people can be,” she murmured. Thiemo did not have to say that the reason she was being ignored was that they were busy staring at him. “Usually, if I go anywhere, at least a hundred people would greet me.”

They went around a corner. “Eh, this is just New York. City of lunatics in the country of lunatics.” Thiemo stretched his shoulders. “What did you expect?” Thiemo as well as Danielle stopped directly behind the corner as they reached a queue on the sidewalk. A short look to the right showed that all these people were lined up to go in a book store. The crowd, mostly consisting of a parent and one or several children around them, had on black capes and had rather thick glasses without the handles on their noses. Thiemo’s look wandered to a poster that hung on the shop window. It seemed signed copies of a book of a certain magic apprentice was sold here today. However, you only got one of these limited issues if you appeared in a costume.

“~Your costume has a mistake!” A small girl had turned away from her mother and now stood before Thiemo. She had a wavy wig on her head and a magic wand in her hand. Not a cheap one made of plastic, but real wood that had surely cost a pretty penny. “~If you want to be the unicorn from book one, you need a horn!” she patiently explained and indicated to his forehead.

The mother, who had now noted the absence of her daughter, hurried to them. “~Evelyn, how many times have I told you to stay by my side?” She caught the hand of her daughter and brought it into her own. “~Please excuse my daughter. But you’re not here for the books, right?”

“~Nah,” Danielle said. “~We’re here because of the convention in the town. My Little Pony.~”

“~I thought so,” the blond woman said and indicated at Auralia. “~That plushie really is made well. Is the blinking some sort of mechanical thing? I’m a seamstress, and I have to say that it’s pretty good.”

Thiemo was glad inside that his daughter couldn’t understand a word being spoken. If she had understood what the woman had asked, she would have undoubtedly answered, even though he had told her to remain silent. Those were kids for you. “~I bought it on the Internet.”

The woman’s daughter, now once more bored like younger children usually were, tugged on her mother’s arm. “~Mama, the line is moving without us!” Thiemo easily went to his knees and thus won the attention of little Evelyn.

“~Should I show you a magic trick?” The small girl nodded excitedly.

“~Can I borrow this?” he asked and indicated to the magic wand. She nodded once more and passed Thiemo the piece of wood. With his other hand, he got a small lapis lazuli from his coat pocket. He laid the stone level in his hand and held it in such a way that the girl could see it. “~Lumos,” he whispered, barely audible to those who were close enough to hear, and with a swish of the magic wand, the stone came to life.

“~Oh wow! You’re a real magician!” The young girl was ecstatic.

“~Just make sure and don’t tell anyone,” Thiemo added and handed the glowing stone and the magic wand to her.

“~Thank you for the present,” the mother said as Thiemo got up from his squatting position. He didn’t worry that someone would find out that real magic had been done. People did not believe in it; everything was science or tricks for them. Had the mother asked, he would have told her that it was simply a glowlight in a spherical form. Similarly, the glow would stop once the magic in it faded. The difference was that there would be no plastic garbage left behind, only ashes.

This time, it was the mother who took her daughter back to the queue in front of the store, as the little girl stared at the stone with large eyes. “You’re sure that was smart?” Danielle asked as they moved on.

“Probably not. Still funny though.” He had a look back over his shoulder when he noticed his daughter’s legs weren’t resting on his shoulders anymore. Auralia had turned in the backpack and waved to the small girl, who returned the gesture excitedly.

“Looks to me that we’re not the only one who found out that Lauren Faust was here.” His sister’s statement was valid judging by the amount of fans who had gathered at the main entrance of the hotel. And suddenly Thiemo was not the only person with a tail. Some had even worn the strange pony ears on their head and transformed their hair into manes. “What do we do now?”

Thiemo went over the scene in front of them. Some of these bronies, the name of the fans as he had learned, looked as though they had been here since the early morning hours. He even thought he saw one in a Rarity costume. Not just makeup and clothes – no, a suit like those to be found in fairs. By itself it wouldn't bother him, as he would be even less noticeable among such a colorful crowd. Unfortunately, this amount of rabble had brought out two persons in suits who stood before the entrance of the hotel and overlooked the situation. He felt his eye twitch.

“I think we should take the back entrance.” He indicated to Danielle to follow him and turned away from the main entrance.

“Dad, if all these people want to be ponies, why don’t you help them?” You could count on this filly to ask the most difficult questions at the worst possible times. That was certainly one of the orders of the universe.

“~Hey dude! Cool plushie!” A brown-haired fan with a Rainbow Dash T-shirt punched him in the arm and moved next to him. “~An OC? From which fanfic?”

Thiemo already wanted to shake off him, but he had spoken so loud that other fans had now also seen Aura. Fortunately, the filly decided to remain still again. “~Sorry, but I can’t seem to remember the name.”

“~Tell me something about how it went. I’m sure I’ve read it. I’ve read them all!” he explained proudly.

Thiemo looked briefly over to his sister, but she just seemed to enjoy him sweating. Or at least she had turned away and acted as though the ground was more interesting. “~Umm… A human goes to Equestria and finds a foal on the street and takes it in—” His opponent interrupted him with a groan.

“~Let me guess. He adopts her, takes her with him to Ponyville and raises her there. Sounds lame.” The… enthusiastic fan swung his backpack forward and brought out a plushie of his own. It was a dark blue foal with a dark violet mane. This was held back with a headband, and glasses had been stuck on the snout. “~You should read better fanfics, like Past Sins!” Thiemo did not have any desire to get into an argument over which foal was better. After all, he would win, if only for the reason that Aura was actually alive and real. “~A dark cult wants to revive Nightmare Moon, but the ritual fails and brings Nyx to life. Dusk Shine adopts and raises her. Completely without humans in Equestria.” Maybe he should go up to him and tell him just how many humans Equestria had and just how they were treated. It certainly would not have been any crazier than the dredges of humanity that had gathered here today.

Thiemo rolled his eyes. “~Yeah, whatever,” he answered and simply ran past the fan. He caught Danielle’s arm and pulled her away from the curious eyes of the bronies. “You could have saved me, you know. I can’t exactly publicly punch him in the face.”

“Sorry, I was a little… distracted.” He went in the side alley next to the hotel where some garbage containers stood, but was otherwise empty. On the left, further down in the alley, there were stairs that had to be connected to the hotel’s kitchen. “And how do you plan to get in there?” Danielle asked as they approached. “This is a massive steel door. Plus the staff will also be in there.”

“First, because I have a lock pick,” he said and indicated with the thumb at Auralia. “And secondly, we are not in public anymore.” His sister looked doubtfully at Auralia, who returned her look.

“I don’t want to be a spoilsport, but she is only one foal…”

“And an earth pony. You’ve seen in the show where Big Mac pulled the house. That’s no exaggeration, I can tell you. I have never met the stallion though.”

“I did! He’s my uncle!” Aura threw in.

“But he really is large and athletic when compared to other ponies, so much so that you could still have strapped a second house behind him. Would have made no difference. When they talk about earth pony strength, they mean it.” Thiemo went down a few steps before he set down his backpack from which his daughter immediately crept out. "And if she should fail, I'll simply freeze the lock off." He got his mobile phone from his pocket and pressed some keys.

Amaryllis landed softly on another high rise to the south of the hotel. From here, they had a good view of the events below it and what was going on in front of the hotel. “How did you actually find out where this Lauren Faust is? I would find it hard to believe there were signs pointing to her,” Lyra asked, who had jumped just from her back. Where they were now was not so high any more, and they could also speak again without having to shout.

“Thiemo had a theory that she must still have some magical residue within her. The hotel practically shines in comparison to the rest of the town.” Lyra moved closer to the edge of the roof and looked down to the streets. They were not too high. Thiemo and her had explored the area, and this building was maybe only twenty floors high. The hotel had at least twice as many floors. It didn’t actually matter where they waited. They were getting closer. Amaryllis could feel Thiemo clearly, and if his feelings should change, she would intervene. This position was mainly for Lyra’s benefit. Should something really happen, she would have to use her magic and create the best way for them to escape. The mare had rested well for the last few days, and her magic had more than recovered.

A loud ring steered Amaryllis’ attention on Lyra’s saddlebag. The unicorn opened it with her magic, and the mobile phone that Thiemo had given them was levitated out. “Umm, hello?” Lyra spoke carefully. “It is Thiemo!” she shouted to her. Amaryllis could feel Thiemo’s pain from here, as Lyra had practically roared directly into his ear. “Yes, we are on the roof. Loudspeaker? Hold on…” Lyra levitated the mobile phone away from her ear and looked at the display, then she tapped carefully with her hoof on one of the symbols.

“Do you have it?” Amaryllis heard Thiemo asking. Lyra nodded.

“Yes, we can hear you,” Amaryllis said.

“Good. I am with Danielle and Aura in the back entrance. The people at the front entrance, can you see them?” They both looked down.

"Yes,” Lyra spoke this time.

“Those are bronies, fans of the show. If push comes to shove, give Lyra a slap and lets her run past them. Then we can use the chaos for the retreat.”

“What?!”

“Understood.”

“Alright, I’m going now. See you later.” One click and the telephone call was terminated.

“A good plan, but he made a mistake.” Lyra and Amaryllis whirled around. Behind them was a human, a female. She could not be much younger than Danielle. She had darker skin, red hair with yellow highlights, or the other way round. Amaryllis was not quite sure. She had a leather jacket and blue jeans on, from where a chain hung. Her feet were adorned with long black boots that also had to be made of leather. Humans seemed to love to use the skin of dead animals, as the princess had found out. Not that she particularly cared – dead animals did not need their skins any more.

Immediately, she tried to see if she could read the emotions of the human. As usual, she didn't receive any access, but it wasn't like the other times, like a wall she couldn't pass. It was more like as if someone had given her a smack with a hoof. "I’m not going to make it that easy for you."

Even the otherwise so excited Lyra, happy about each human she met, took a step back. This woman radiated an aggressive aura that made people think twice just about merely talking with her.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Amaryllis asked, her horn lighting up.

“I’ve had some names in my long life. These days, Sunset Shimmer seems to be popular. Phoenix, Dragon, The Morning Sun – all names that I’ve carried. The name my mother had given me was much simpler: Megan. And what I want is for you to leave my friend alone.” Where there had been no magic, this Megan simply radiated an unbelievable aura. Like flames, the magic wafted from her body, and Amaryllis felt as her fur started to get lightly singed, only through the magic aura emanating from her body. "But it was probably only a matter of time until Chrysalis' brood appeared here."

Author's Notes:

Well, that was the last of the pre-written chapter. You are now on one level with the German version of the story. What does that mean? No more weekly update. These were only possible at all because the German version was so far ahead in the first place. So, now you will have to wait. 18.4 is at 75% right now, at least the German chapter, so it could be possible that a update is coming next week, or maybe not.

But, and there is a big butt, instead The Precious Life - Nightmare, you know, one of these other stories I wrote and you can read, will get weekly updates. It's a long finished story, is now to 99% translated and will hit FimFiction now every week instead of Journey until it done. Maybe even twice a week, but that's up to JBL.

So, lets talk about this chapter. Ähm... I actually have to say only one thing: "We found the Avatar of fire ^^"

Special thanks to JBL for translating my mess.