"You took longer than I thought," were the first words Mothma uttered as Megan opened the cell door. Unlike all other doors they had seen so far, these here were not only reinforced with lead, but were more like a vault than anything else. It provided scant protection against the Avatar of Fire as she swept aside several tons of steel as though it were paper. "And I see you've brought a guest."

Mothma was back in her human form as Lauren Faust. Her red, shoulder-length hair had seen better days, and the wound on her neck still looked fresh. "We made a mistake. Eris was the one who sent them, not Chrysalis." Mothma glanced past Megan over to Thiemo, who was standing quietly in the doorway. "I thought you would be in more trouble. A cell like this shouldn't be able to hold you.”

"That's because I want to be here." She rose from the bed on which she had been sitting and walked past Megan and over to Thiemo. "If my sister is really behind you being here, you probably have proof. Experience has taught me to believe nothing from someone who reeks of Chrysalis.”

For a moment, Thiemo was at a loss before he reached into his pocket and pulled out the watch. Mothma's eyes widened, and was so quick that Thiemo hardly noticed her movement as she grabbed his watch and opened it.

"Eris' Travellers Watch," she murmured, looking at the watch's face and gently stroking her hand over it. "My sister gave you that?"

Thiemo nodded tightly. "I've got questions that need answers." He snatched the watch from her hands and put it back in his pocket. "Megan told me that there are only two beings on the planet that would have the strength to send someone from here to Albion. She already said that she wasn't one, so why? Why did you send me to Albion?" Mothma stared in disbelief for a moment, then looked at Thiemo more closely before she began to laugh. Uproarious laughter escaped the chaos being, so much so that she supported herself on Thiemo's shoulder as she gasped for breath.

"YOU are one of them!" she cried suddenly and poked his forehead. "I didn't realize it earlier. Then again, you've changed so much that it's not that surprising!”

"Why?" Thiemo repeated emphatically. His whole body was shaking. He had pursued this answer for four years, and she stood there, just drawing it out. He just had to know.

"You'll have to ask Eris." That was not what he had hoped for. "It was the price I had to pay to Eris to send me here to Earth. She just wanted me to send a few people to Albion every few months. It didn't matter who they were or where they came from; said that the ‘right one’ would be one of them eventually. To be honest, I didn't care at that time. I just wanted to get away. I chose hermits, people who had no future, the homeless, or simply losers without perspective. Hardly anyone would have missed these people." She giggled a few more times. "I never believed that one would have actually come back.”

“Well I'm here and I want answers!” He shoved her away from him. "Because I think that this is no laughing matter! You've kidnapped me from my home, separated me from my family, and took away my life!" As he went after her again, his intent clear by the murderous scowl he wore and his clenched fists, Mothma struck. Her fist slammed into his stomach and the second blow glanced his right cheek. Once again, he lay at her feet.

"The first was for my children and the other for shoving me." Mothma straightened and smoothed over her blouse. "I don't know of what life you're talking about. Did you mean where you spent every evening in front of your computer with all the other losers? Where you were in that large mansion, leeching whatever money you got from your family to spend on new games and pizza? Did you want to remain forever in the care of your grandparents, or did you even plan to actually use your talent as a programmer? No, you were too comfortable living the life of a couch potato. The only thing I've taken from you were more years that you would've spent doing nothing and your family having to bear the burden. Now look at you. I don't know what you've done in the time since you've left, but apparently it has been good for you."

It was Megan who now gave Thiemo a hand and helped him to his feet. He was still too shocked to say anything or react. "Mothma's right. I've gone through the same experience myself, and without that journey, I would never have become who I am today. It's all the more important that you finish yours." For the first time he remembered, Megan smiled at him. "Do what your heart says—it's rarely let you down. Right, Light?" Again he could not respond as Megan grabbed his head and gave him a kiss. In addition to her lips, Thiemo felt something else: tears. They trembled out of the Avatar's eyes and dripped down his cheeks. Once again, he could feel Light rumbling inside his body. "Please be careful."

And in a flash, he was gone, leaving Megan and Mothma alone in the cell.

Without saying a word, Megan went over to the bed, grabbed the pillow, and snuggled in the sheets, hugging the pillow to herself.

"I told you that that's not healthy," she heard Mothma say before the older being sat down beside her and stroked her head.

Amaryllis walked into Danielle's room where Lyra sat, reading a book. "What's that?" the princess asked curiously.

Lyra jumped at the sound of Amy's voice and almost allowed the book to fall from her magical grasp. "Erm... nothing?" She tried to hide the book under the pillow that she sat on beside Danielle's bed, but the princess was faster. She wrapped the book in her own magical aura and pulled it over to her.

"~Kama Sutra?~" she read out loud. "What's this about?" The word was foreign to her, as if it had no meaning. It seemed to have to equivalent in Equish. It had to be a language she had never heard. Thiemo would surely know. "Damn it."

"Uh, what?" Lyra scrunched her muzzle in confusion.

"I'm just trying to distract myself. Not very successfully." She gave Lyra back the book that immediately disappeared under the pillow. "How is Danielle?"

The turquoise mare turned slightly red. "I was only able to give her some water," Amy felt how anxious as the mare was, "but the fever isn't going down. I don't know what'll happen if—" Lyra cut herself off as Amaryllis held her hoof out in front of her.

Several new emotions were approaching the property. Tension and unrest were the clearest, buried beneath some nervousness and others. There were many, at least ten or more, and they were approaching fast. "We have visitors."

"What?" The poor mare looked even more frazzled than ever.

"This must be the people she warned us about." Amaryllis left the room and went to the grand staircase in the hallway. "Auralia!" For a few seconds, there was silence.

"Yes?" She heard the foal call back and saw her leave the living room. "What is it?"

"We have visitors, and they aren't friends. Hide yourself somewhere." Thiemo would never forgive her should something happen to Aura. He wasn't the only one who adored the filly. She wouldn't forgive herself either.

She could see Aura rolling her eyes even from a floor higher. "Then I'll go under the couch in the living room and keep looking at this comic series that I can't understand anyway. Stupid sponge and starfish."

Satisfied with the answer, she turned to Lyra, who stood in the doorway to Danielle's room. "And you stay here with Thiemo's sister. If someone comes in except me or Auralia, throw them to the ground floor or something. Do not let anyone in." Lyra saluted and closed the door, followed by a click of the lock.

Thiemo had entrusted to her the safety of his sister and his daughter, something she only realized at that moment. She would ensure that that trust was justified, not that Thiemo had had any reason to doubt it in the past.

Flames enveloped her body briefly on the way down the stairs as Amaryllis assumed her human form, this time with a matching outfit to move in. There was loose-fitting black pants as Thiemo had worn one day. If she remembered correctly, it was suitable for training and sport. It went along with a loose-fitting white T-shirt that guaranteed the freedom to move her upper limbs. The heavy boots on her feet she had exchanged for lighter sneakers, providing her with better flexibility.

She wouldn't be able to fly, not without her wings, but she could pass as a human. All she needed was the element of surprise.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she could hear the cars. More of those automatic carriages, whose tires loudly squealed, broke through the automatic gate and drove up the driveway. Amy opened the door and stepped out as one human after the other poured out of the four vehicles that had entered. They had shields made of a transparent material, masks over their faces, and helmets on their heads. Weapons that were no doubt lethal and ready to use were pointed at her.

"~Put your hands over your head, step away from the door, and lie down on the ground!~" Eighteen was the number of humans Amaryllis counted in front of her, with at least twice as many weapons. They were all nervous; some were even afraid. Arms trembled as their hands gripped their weapons, and Amaryllis knew they only needed the slightest provocation to escalate the situation.

Well, she needed only one. She had seen Thiemo do it a thousand and one times and had even felt it first-hand herself. Amaryllis used her magic to catapult forward and came to stand in front of the police officer who had just spoken. She knew exactly what she had to do, and with a fluid motion, she ducked and swept her feet against his, bringing him down. At the same time, she collected ball of magic in her right hand and slammed it into his stomach the second his back touched the ground. Hundreds of magic bullets bored into his stomach and forced what had probably been his breakfast back out before he collapsed into an unconscious heap.

Before any of the others could react, she accelerated again. This time she used the momentum and pressed the next policeman, who was farthest from the last, with her left knee to the ground. At least this one didn't vomit, but it was enough to incapacitate him. The first shot was heard, but Amaryllis was gone again before the bullet could come close to where she had been.
She grabbed the arm of the shooter, and with a firm grip around his wrist, she threw him with ease over her shoulder at another police officer. With an outstretched hand, she shot some magic bullets against an officer who had raised his shield. These popped with such force against his shield that it threw him back a few meters. More shots were fired, this time directly at Amaryllis. She simply built another shield, but now she was trapped in her current position. More bullets hammered away at her shield, and Amy saw the first officers headed past her for the entrance of the house.

A flash of light in the middle of the driveway gave her the break she needed. She protected her eyes briefly with her left arm as she accelerated towards the group of five officers, who had the same idea as they had their eyes protected with her arms. She rammed the first police officer with her entire body and hurled him against the wall beside the front door. She grabbed the leg of the second officer and hurled him against the third and fourth.

Something clicked near her. "~Don't Move!~" Cold steel pressed against Amaryllis' temple.

Lightning struck the officer, causing his to spasm and fall to the ground. "You better watch your back!" she heard Thiemo call. Her coltfriend stood where the flash of light had come and fired more lightning at the officers. Unlike her, however, he could not build a shield and was forced to roll out of the way of their counter-attack.

Amaryllis' head whipped around when an officer abruptly came flying out of the living room window. He was followed by another, who landed on the first, then another. These were likely the ones who had made it inside the house.

"There are even more on the other side of the house!" Lyra's voice suddenly came from the hallway. The mare rushed down the stairs, Danielle floating in her magical aura.

Auralia came also from the living room, some blood on her hooves. "I was under the couch, I swear! But they checked there first."

Thiemo kicked the last officer to the ground, who he had previously paralyzed with lightning. He took the officer's weapon and threw it a few meters away over the lawn. “I have the watch! We need to go, now!”

Those seemed to be the magic words, as more and more police officers suddenly poured from across the lawn and from the basement pool. With a targeted magic beam, Amaryllis threw the first three back as Lyra, Danielle, and Auralia raced past her.

"Amy!" She sprinted as Thiemo cried again. His left arm was stretched out to her while he held the watch in his right hand. Danielle was at his side, Auralia clutched one of his legs, and Lyra virtually rode on his back.
A burning pain ripped into Amaryllis' left shoulder before she was able to grab onto Thiemo, and the world around them turned black.

The surprised faces of a dozen crystal guards were the first things Thiemo made out as he came to, then the spears which they directed at him.

"Human!" one of them called, and more guards came sprinting towards them.

"Hey, guys, it's me. Alfred Molina!" he shouted, raising his hands. The only thing that happened was that the spears came closer to his face. Thiemo allowed himself to take a look around. He was obviously in the entrance area of the castle of the Crystal Empire. The guards and the architecture were a very clear indication.

Oh, and here was Shining Armor coming from the teleporter and marching up to them. Thiemo had expected a much warmer reception, but that died when he saw the look on the alicorn's face.

"I'll ask only once: which side are you on?" Thiemo had enough questions himself. Firstly, why were the guards holding him prisoner right now, or why were there so many guards to begin with. After all, there were significantly more than the usual two at the entrance and one at the teleporter.

“What? What’s going on here?” Thiemo asked in surprise. The large entrance door made of adorned wood emitted a dull noise, followed by a creaking, as it was pushed into the interior space for a moment.

"The Empire is under attack. Ti has declared war on us."

Author's Notes:

Sometimes, life is stupid. In the description I wrote that Thiemo isn't a chosen one. Well, he was chosen, but not for being heroic or something like that. He was just a victim of two very powerful beings and not the only one.

Special thanks to JBL for translating & editing.