Mothma looked out the window of her suite and down at the gathered masses, fans of the show she had created, in the front of the hotel. She could not help but grin as she bathed in the emotions that reached her even so far up on the twentieth floor. A better breakfast simply did not exist.

A knock on the door, however, interrupted her early meal. "Come in, Megan, it's open." Mothma had felt her coming a while now. The fiery magical aura that was accompanied by the presence of her friend was a clear indication of who was at the door.

The door opened and in walked the Avatar of Fire in motorcycle gear that betrayed that she had probably just taken a spin around the city. She threw her helmet on the sofa and patted her hair into place before she stood beside the queen. "We have visitors. Can you feel it?"

Of course Mothma had felt it. She had the noticed the other queen the moment she had entered Manhattan. Additionally, she had not come alone. She was accompanied by at least two ponies: a powerful earth pony and a rather mediocre unicorn. There was a third presence, though she was not certain what it was. While the emotions of the clearly male individual were well-readable, as was usual for a pony, his signature was like a rather mixed language. It reminded her of her sister.

These were not the things that made her worried. Mothma had thought that the queen was Chrysalis, but as the aura had come closer, she had noticed the difference. While something of the other queen reminded her of one of her other sisters, there was also something else. Chrysalis had sent one of her children to Earth.

No, what worried the changeling queen, who at the moment was in the form of a red-haired woman in her middle years, was the last aura. It was weak, but it was one of the alicorns. She knew that there had to be one of them on this planet, but they had not revealed themselves so far, and Mothma could find no reason why that should have changed.

"Have you any idea what they might want?" she asked her friend and took the offered cup. It was nothing more than a cappuccino with a lot of chocolate.

Megan took the other coffee cup out of the holder that she had brought and treated herself to a sip of the scalding hot beverage without batting an eyelid. "If it’s Chrysalis’ brood, it’s no good. The only question I have is how they came to Earth, or who ever told them about the planet."

"Eris. She’s the only who I know besides myself that has the power to move between worlds like that." Mothma took another sip. "Still, Eris would never join forces with Chrysalis. That only leaves Father.”

Megan winced. "I had the dubious fortune of meeting him when I was a kid. He may be someone with whom you couldn’t endure twenty minutes in a room, but he also wasn’t interested in power-hungry megalomaniacs, except for Echidna. Also, I doubt very much that Chrysalis had anything to offer him in a trade. I bet she has an old rusty chest somewhere in her basement where she buries all her riches while she decorates her throne room with worthless trash." Both women grinned at the thought, but it only lasted for a few seconds. "I think it’s less likely that your father had anything to do with it."

"To say it in the words of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. In this case, it’s Eris. But why? Why would she help Chrysalis or her brood?"

"Maybe Celestia finally went into the great beyond?" Megan commented dryly. “I know that she didn’t have much time left. She must be on her last leg. Maybe your sister followed suit and abandoned the sinking ship?"

"It's quite possible, but Chrysalis was too young to know what had happened at that time. If she’s still the hothead I know her to be, she would not even notice even in direct combat that Celestia is only a walking corpse. She would defeat Celestia and be more engaged in rubbing her superiority in the princess’s nose than wonder why the alicorn that supposedly moved the sun and the moon for a thousand years on her own was weaker than her." Mothma brought the cup to her lips again, but before she could take a sip, ringing came from her pocket. She pointed a finger at Megan for her to wait a few seconds and pulled her cell phone out of his pocket. "Faust," she said and turned around. "Ah, good morning, Larry. No, everything’s good. The hotel is great. I just wanted to have breakfast before I go to the exhibition hall. Yes, we'll see you there. See you later."

"You're still on for this event?" Megan asked, pointing to the waiting fans below in front of the hotel. "Don’t you think that it's a little too dangerous?"

"If they want a fight, there will be a fight," Mothma, or Lauren Faust replied, taking her cup of cappuccino and emptying it in the sink. “I’ll send Craig and my youngest ahead. I don't want them to get involved in this. I'm going to pretend to have a headache and take a cab later.”

"Then I'll wait outside and see what happens. From the roof I should have a good view of the surroundings. If they approach, I’ll see it."

Mothma sighed. She knew what it meant when Megan looked like that. She had seen the girl grow up and was like another daughter to her. "Just promise me that you’ll be careful."

She had broken her promise, Megan knew, as the surge of flames crashed against the shield of Chrysalis’ hatchling. Excuses such as a gas leak already shot through her head, as did the complaining Mothma would give her about how many minds she would have to manipulate to make it believable.

Still, it had worked in Roswell, so she had no reason to believe that it would not work here. After all, people believed in this country that jet fuel could burn hot enough to melt steel beams. They had laughed when it had been reported in the news.

But she could complain about the stupidity of her fellow humans when Chrysalis’ hatchling was well-roasted and sat in a magical cage until they knew what to do with it.

The only other thought that went through her ​​mind, as she felt her fire clash against the magical shield, was the unicorn on its side. What, in all that was sacred, was Lyra doing here? Not that she knew the unicorn, but Mothma certainly did. At least, she was one of the characters that she commonly used, even if only in the background. It was Mothma, after all, who came up with the ingenious idea to take what had happened in and around Ponyville and turn it into a show for humans in their eternal madness for entertainment.

Megan had been rather leery when Mothma had pulled her into the scheme. However, a good share from what they earned with the more than obvious (in her opinion) racket changed her mind. Her new bike was the best proof.

Her thoughts came to an abrupt end when her flame suddenly no longer battled against a magical shield. It did not take a genius to figure out what had happened. The stone roof had melted away, and the cockroach, as she had mentally called her opponent, had slipped away.

One could have already guessed what would happen next. Since she clearly could see from below where she was standing, based on the only spot that was not burnt or glowing, an attack from below was sure to follow soon. Megan would have stepped out of the way, but unlike herself, her clothes were not fireproof. She also liked her new boots.

Wings of fire erupted from her back, and with a few strokes she floated a few meters above the building. From here, she spotted Lyra. The unicorn had fled out of the reach of her flames and looked wide-eyed at her. Megan did not held a grudge against Lyra. After all, she was no doubt under the influence of the changeling. However, the cockroach had to be beaten. She had decided on it from the moment she had set eyes on her. She reminded Megan too much of Chrysalis, the changeling that had stuck down Echidna, her own mother, in pure lust for power. If only a slight strain of her mother’s deviance was in the one before her, Megan would be doing more than one world a favour.

Although Mothma always preached forgiveness, harmony, and how everything was fine and dandy, only in a world of fantasy was this possible. Reality was different. The cockroach began her assault against Megan in the form of a magic bullet that smashed through the roof of the building, followed by a very ragged-looking changeling queen. Her mane was singed and her short black fur had become even shorter.

The changeling released a battle cry as she joined Megan in the air, but it was short-lived. The Avatar of Fire wanted to get this over with and attend to the people who had apparently snuck into the hotel where Mothma waited. Not that she believed the two, whoever they were, could do anything. However, the changeling queen she fought against seemed to believe that they were good enough to beat Mothma.

Megan leaned a little to the side and dodged the bullet before she leaned forward and headed to the oncoming cockroach. Chrysalis’ brood seemed shocked as her horn was caught in Megan’s hand, and she was suddenly snapped in the opposite direction. Megan, in her anger, did not notice her mistake until she released the horn and her opponent soared through the air and smashed through a glass roof in a nearby shopping street. A dull thud sounded in her ears, followed by the screams of people as the changeling left a lasting impression in the concrete. "This won’t be easy to explain," Megan muttered and followed her opponents. Perhaps she should hold back a little more.

The heavy iron door slammed on concrete, and both a foal as well as a human grinned. "Told you, no problem." With two quick steps, Thiemo went over the door lying on the ground like a doormat and into the basement of the hotel. "Even with part of the wall, I'm impressed. Well done, Auralia,” he praised the filly as he looked at her handiwork.

The same foal lay on the ground outside the door, flat on her belly and ears pressed against her head. "That was... louder than I thought,” she complained. Thiemo had to agree with her. The bare basement walls and the narrow street would certainly make ​​sure that any employee of the hotel, who happened to be staying in the basement, would notice her little show of power. And if not, the now flashing alarm had certainly torn every member of the security personnel from their naps.

Danielle followed him into the basement, which split off in three directions from them. She also looked through the door and crossed his arms. "And now what?" his sister asked, somewhat annoyed. "We’ve already have our faces on three cameras." She nodded at one of the security cameras that hung in a corner of the room. "Next will be the security. I do not feel like getting warning shots in the back, or being tased."

"We need a distraction," muttered Thiemo and looked around. However, the path in front of them was empty, as was the left and right of them. At the end of the right path, he could see a door with a small sign next to it, which was probably a storage room for garbage and the like. Nothing that could help them in a hurry. "I have an idea, but you won’t like it." His sister remained silent, looking at him to continue with her arms crossed. "We’ll do like the cattle in the horror movies and split up."

Danielle muttered and thought for a moment. "That might work. How much security people can a hotel like this have? Five, maybe six. One sits in the security room with the monitors, the rest will be here. I take it you want to search for Lauren Faust?" Thiemo nodded. "I can probably keep them on their toes for five or ten minutes," she finally said. "But that will cost you."

The joy Thiemo had felt vanished as quickly as it had come. This game between them was as old as he had known her, or at least almost so. "Ever tried robbing a naked man?" He was, of course, more than aware that money was the last thing she wanted. This was just his way to ask her about her price.

"You're going to answer the phone when it rings the next time." One could argue that this was perhaps the worst moment to negotiate such a thing, but that was neither here nor there. His sister wanted something and he wanted something from her, only his had an urgency factor that created a certain imbalance between the two demands.

It did not stop Thiemo from an attempt to negotiate. "I will let the phone ring ten seconds longer."

"And you talk to whoever it is from our family," said Danielle. "One minute," she said with a raised finger before he could say anything.

He did not know why he struggled. He wanted to talk to his family, just not now. Perhaps because this was about a principle: the principle of fraternal love, if one could call it that. He could speculate about it when he was not about to have his hand bitten. "Ten seconds," he offered.

Danielle shook her head slightly and hummed briefly. "I think… thats how long it takes until the security is here. One minute." Thiemo stomped his foot, snorted, and then nodded. One could tell that he had lived for a while with ponies.

Meanwhile, the orange filly could only moan as the adults fooled around. Even she knew that this was not the right time for it. As she rolled her eyes, the hands of her aunt scooped under her front legs and lifted her into her arms. "I’ll take Auralia. If they think I'm a fan who snuck in, they should just throw me out where Amaryllis should be waiting for us."

"Agreed. So, what are you going to do?" Danielle, with Auralia over her chest, looked around and nodded down the hall.

"There should be two or more elevators in that direction. Even though they are for the guests, they could reach the basement with a key, though normally you shouldn't need one to get out." Thiemo couldn’t argue with her logic, and so they went with a slightly faster pace past storage rooms, restrooms, and the kitchen. However, something was not quite right. "Where’s the staff?"

Thiemo looked around, but he could not see anyone. He strained his ears, Auralia doing the same. "I'm so accustomed to hearing the clopping of hooves," he murmured and turned to his sister. "You're right. There's nobody here. A star is in the building, hundreds of fans sitting in front of the door, and where there should be bustling activity, there is absolutely no one." Thiemo mulled over this. On Albion, he had been constantly attentive, always being careful of what was happening around him. However, this was the Earth. Not the safest place, but still safer than a planet where Cthulhu's little brother could erupt from the ground in search of a new snack at virtually any time. He should not have to worry here unless he wanted to cross a street. Left, right and left again, as he had learned from his nanny. "The intensity of the magic around us has increased a lot," he muttered when he changed his view and looked around.

It was not enough that he could use it as a sort of night vision like on Albion, but it already shone much more than before… and it was came not only from Danielle. "At least we’re guaranteed that she can answer questions." They reached the elevators, and as his sister had said, they were accessible from the basement. "Do you think someone told her about Albion? I mean, if she was there, someone must have seen things, especially when she knows the events around Ponyville so accurately, or at least generally knows what’s going on in that world."

Another question came to him. How was Lauren Faust able to travel in a region of that world where humans stood out like colourful dogs? Not even he had managed to remain unnoticed. He hadn’t even gotten out of Cervidas without Celestia knowing about it. How was a woman, who looked neither particularly strong nor magically inclined in the pictures he had seen of her, able to travel around undetected? Then again, what had he expected? A magician with the moon and stars designed on a cape? Well, perhaps a little. However, magic was firmly involved with her. "I should make a list of questions."

With a soft whirring, the door opened to the elevator that Danielle had summoned. "Well," she began as she stepped back and pressed the button for the ground floor. "As I said, I do not know how long I can distract them, so you’d better hurry." The door of the elevator began to close, and then Thiemo was left on his own.

As soon the door was closed, Danielle pulled the seat, intended for elders and the infirm, from the wall and basically threw herself on the cushion. A muffled moan escaped her lips as she exhaled the air from her lungs that she had unconsciously held to prevent from collapsing in front of her brother. "Are you okay, Aunt Danielle?"

Auralia was at a loss as to what she should do, as all that came from her aunt were unintelligible grunts. Slightly panicking, she turned around, but the door through which she had walked into the small moving room was closed. She was sure that she could also kick this door down, but she knew behind it was nothing but stone. The decision was made for the foal as the door on the other side of the chamber opened and the inside of the hotel became visible. Aura had already seen it from the outside, but from the inside, the view was very different. From the outside, the seemingly cold building made of stone, so big and impressive as it might be, didn't look much. However, the hall, with the glass front through which Auralia could see hundreds of humans waiting, had refined marble columns and hundreds of small lights under the ceiling and made it look nearly like a small palace. Aura was the right filly to judge that, seeing as she had already been in two.

Another moan came from the woman, who held her sides with both arms. Aura shook her head to regain her concentration. Her aunt needed help. Unfortunately, she had not received one of the small boxes with glass that allowed others to talk with her. A stuffed animal of her mother was nice, and in any other situation a hundred times better than a stupid small glass box, but if she had one right now, she had one problem less. Then she remembered something.

"Aunt Danielle, your expensive brick!" She hurried back to her aunt and felt for the device in her pocket, but unfortunately could not get it out. Also, she remembered that she had no idea how it worked.

"I’ll be alright in a minute, Aura," her aunt said and began to sit up. The whole thing was a very shaky affair for the foal. "Give me a moment."

Slowly but steadily, with sweat on her forehead, her aunt wobbled past her out of the moving chamber and into the entrance hall. She dragged herself over to the counter where, as Auralia could see as she also stuck her head out, a man in a black suit stood. The man had previously looked at his computer, but jerked up as he noticed Danielle. “Ma’am, is everything—” Before he could say more, the slippery floor caused the feet of the woman to slip, and she went to the ground. Without hesitation, the man’s hand wandered to another device that he seemed to hold against his head. “Peter? I have one of the intruders here with me. She doesn’t look good. Please call an ambulance,” he said hurriedly and put the device aside. He then ran around the counter and kneeled next to Danielle.

Auralia had meanwhile moved back into the elevator. The man was busy and had called someone for help. Was her aunt pretending to be sick? Was that her plan to distract the security? She hadn’t thought about something like that until now, because playing sick sounded boring. Who even liked to be sick? But what should she do now? Should she go outside to Amaryllis?

Her gaze wandered back to the glass front, but as she looked outside, all the humans were gone. Blinking in confusion, she also saw that none of the automated carriages were on the street. ‘Where had they gone?’ she asked herself. As luck would have it, the question answered itself as a very large stone landed in front of the hotel and smashed down on the driveway. Auralia saw reason to disappear if large boulders fell from the sky. But where did they come from?

Following the logic of his sister, there had to be further elevators in the centre of the hotel that were used by the personnel to bring food and other things to the rooms. That made him realize again how empty the hotel really was.

He had actually been joking when he had earlier dubbed their little group as horror movie cattle. However, right now he felt the urgent desire to invent the rear-view mirror for pedestrians so that he didn’t have to turn around every few steps to make sure that it was only his own footsteps he was hearing. Now that he had no one around to talk to, the only sounds accompanying him were the hiss of various utility vents that ran under the ceiling of the basement and his own breathing. If the light over his head would now turned off and the vents released their steam into the halls, this would be the perfect set for a new horror movie.

It is an understatement to say that he was not a fan of horror. As if the thought of what a small insignificant spot in the infinite universe you actually are was not enough. No, in that direction he didn’t need further stimulation.

With a shudder, he turned the corner and immediately took a step back when he saw the elevators. The digital display above the doors just switched to ‘Basement’, and the doors opened. “~Mom said that the alarm was triggered down here,” he heard a voice say.

“~She spoke about two or three ponies. She wasn’t sure,” said another voice. “~We should be careful and keep our eyes and ears open.”

Thiemo, pressed against the wall and quietly breathing through his nose, risked a look around the corner. He didn’t quite believe his eyes. The voices, whom he thought belonged to a group of teenagers, had come out of the mouths of three mountains made of muscles, half-giants who he nearly mistook for minotaurs if it weren’t for their bald heads and very human ears. Then there was also the fact that they were wearing black suits and had little white buttons in said ears. “~Come on, Kev, a few ponies shouldn’t be a real problem.” Thiemo saw all three of them jerk for a second. “~ Peter already has one of the intruders with him like you just heard.”

Thiemo wasn’t quite sure what to make of the situation. He needed a silent moment to bring what had been said in context with what he knew. Of course, the universe heard his wish and decided to promptly tell him to fuck right off. His expensive brick chose to ring.

The eyes of the three giants in suits wandered towards him and looked at him with surprise. Discovered, he did the only thing he could do. Self-assured, he stepped around the corner, positioned himself in front of his new enemies, and casually reached with one hand in his pocket. “Yes?” he spoke and pressed the button for the speaker at the same time.

“Thiemo!” he heard Lyra’s panicked voice, followed by an explosion, the honking of horns, and screams. “Amaryllis needs help! There’s a human here who’s throwing around flames and Amaryllis like a doll. She—” Lyra shrieked before he heard the phone drop to the ground and then the call ended.

“~Now, dear sirs,” Thiemo said to the three security guys, “you heard the lady. I’m needed elsewhere. Let’s get over this.”

Not even two minutes later, Thiemo had a sack over his head, every bone in his body hurt, and the three half-giants were busy tying him to a chair. He should have brought his talismans with him.

Author's Notes:

It took a week longer than planned, but that was my fault. Writers block and so on. Not that I don't know how to continue. The problem is to actually sit down an write. Thanks to Windows 10 (I was in the beta) GTA5 is finally running on my notebook and then there is Witcher 3 with his DLCs and.... You get the idea.

So here it is, the next chapter. There is a lot to find between the lines.

Special thanks to JBL for translating my mess.