"Legion!"

"Yes, Master," replied the usual monotonous voice of the Artificial Intelligence Reena, Index’s copy. The staff, which had previously fallen into the ankle-high grass, shattered into hundreds of miniscule splinters and reappeared in the hand of the man who had called it. The latter managed to lift it in time to ward off the incoming sword of the griffon before him. He used all of the strength he could muster to divert the blow and released the right end of his staff, just as the sword glided down on it. The griffin lost his balance briefly, which Thiemo immediately used for a retreat. His totem glowed, and in a small leap backward, he gained a few meters between himself and his opponent.

Three months ago, he would have used the moment to attack, which would have been a mistake. The griffin balanced himself with his spread wings quicker than he thought possible.

"Legion, air." The staff confirmed the command, and the crystal in its crescent-shaped top, the lower half of which ended in a hook, was swallowed up by the individual splinters. Another crystal immediately took its place, a sapphire. The sapphire was littered with runes from all sides and immediately began to shine in the same blue as the totem around the man's neck. He whirled the staff around in his hand so that the tip pointed to the griffon. A lightning bolt, accompanied by a burst of thunder, shot out.

Although Thiemo had lifted his left arm in time to protect his eyes, he still saw stars for a moment. He blinked quickly, trying to pinpoint his opponent. He had not hit his target. The lack of odour from scorched flesh in the air and earth raining down upon him were a sure indication of this. "Ejecting," the staff dully intoned, and the now black sapphire fell to the ground and became dust. A new one took his place. "Ready." He had prepared four sapphires before the fight, which meant he had two more. Even if he did not need them anymore, they were a nice reinforcement to his totem, one that would not be possible without Legion. With both totem and talisman, it was simply too much for Thiemo to control, as he had learned in the fight against Mothma. However, a staff working as a lightning rod was just the right means.

"Ahhh!" Suddenly, the shrill cry of a mare reached Thiemo's ear and made him freeze. "How many times have I told you to be careful when you train in the garden?!" The mare, in this case a dark purple earth pony with a golden and curly mane he knew as Golden Grape, came into his field of vision. She wore an apron around her chest and did not look happy at all.

Before Thiemo could answer, the ground was pulled from under his feet. He landed gently on his right side and got a blade held to his neck. "Excuse me, love, I'll have to restrain my pupil a bit better," the voice of the griffon said. The sword inched closer to his mouth, not that it made a difference. The blade was dull, and he was aware of it.

"As if I don’t know that you’re using the poor colt like a whipping post. I can see his bruises from here!" protested the mare. "And now wash up, dinner is almost ready. If you carry dirt in the house I just cleaned the princess may have mercy on you..." Grape murmured as she disappeared through the open balcony door back into the medium-sized crystal house.

The sword at his neck disappeared and was replaced by the grasp of a talon. "You heard my wife. Up with you, boy." With a sigh, Thiemo took the offer and allowed himself to be lifted by his teacher. Leonidas was large, almost as tall as Thiemo was, at least when he took a bipedal stance. Something the old griffin seemed to have perfected, at least with the help of his wings. One of them gave him a slap on the back of his head. "What have I said about attacks that affect you too?"

"They are not worth it since they give my opponent a chance he didn’t have to work for," Thiemo repeated in his best monotonous impersonation of Legion. "I know, I know." Leonidas' claw landed on his shoulder and pushed him slightly forward. "But what shall I do, Leo?"

"Use your resources," he began as he fell next to Thiemo on all fours. "You exhausted your talisman with one shot, the same like before. It gives you four shots in a fight. Do you think you can beat me with just four attempts?" He received another cuff with a wing, this time against his calf. "Of course not. You've probably hit me two times in more than twenty attempts. You don’t need to be a genius to calculate that that’s a damn shitty rate.” Leo was one of the few beings he’d met that cursed like that, apart from Dragmire and the pirates. It was a very welcome change. "Less juice, more accuracy, and think. Think about what we discussed. "

"I am a lousy melee, not made for it, and should stay with what I can," he repeated another lesson in the same monotonous tone.

"False. You should not go into melee until you know you can defeat your opponent. What use are your talisman and totem when an opponent can read you and smash you in seconds? You're fast, but that's not all. Your movements are obvious, so a skilled fighter can guess what you’re doing and what you’re going to do. He doesn’t really need to see you. Bring your opponent out of balance, make him tired and sluggish. Then and only then, you should go into melee. And only if it is absolutely necessary." With these last words, Leonidas opened the door to the smithy, which was right next to the house. Outside, autumn might be slowly gripping the land, but it was warm in here. Anvil, Leonidas' son, could work in a sauna if he had to. The fire in the smelting furnace was almost always burning, so the room did not cool completely.

Tools of various kinds adorned the stone walls, in the middle of which stood a large anvil. Notches adorned the surface, paying tribute to many years of work done on it. Contrary to what Thiemo had thought, Leonidas was not a weaponsmith but a farrier. He produced horseshoes that the field workers of the Empire needed in their daily work. However, they were held in place with muskin on their hooves instead of with nails. Muskin was a leather-like substance, made from mushrooms that grew in the caves all over the country. It was the same fabric from which his boots were made, along most of the saddlebags and other things that ponies use in daily life.

For these reasons, Leonidas’ house and business were situated on the outskirts of the commercial area. Just at the edge since the open garden of the house bordered the first fields of the surrounding farms. Here he had met his wife and founded his family. The griffon had served time in his country's military and had also seen some battles, but he had never made weapons in his profession. Since he came here, they were just a hobby.

"Don’t just stand there, come on." Leonidas’ voice broke Thiemo out of his thoughts and closed the door behind them. In the right corner next to the actual main entrance, not the back door they had just used, stood a large trough with water to cool hot metal. The area around the trough was slightly lowered and had a grid in the middle, causing the water to float in the ground. Under the ceiling was a pipe that led into a tank. There, the rainwater was collected and filtered through several layers of gravel. After all, no impurities could be allowed in their trade.

Leonidas pushed aside the empty trough and stood in its place before pulling on a rope. The pipe above his head opened and released water in a steady flow. No more than five seconds later, Leonidas released the rope, the water ebbed, and the rest disappeared into the grate. The griffon shook himself briefly, freeing his short pelt from the remaining water, and made room for Thiemo. He sighed, took off his cloak, then trousers, his shirt, and his boots until he finally stood naked in the smithy. He also reached for the rope and icy water washed over his skin. His muscles tightened and his heart beat quickly. If he hadn’t been awake before, he was now, in any case.

"I have towels for you," Grape said. She had used the third entrance, the door from the smithy that led directly into the house. "And hurry, the food will get cold."

As he opened his eyes under the cold water, the mare had disappeared again, but he watched Leo dry his short mane. Satisfied with his degree of cleanliness, he also released the rope and went to his teacher and snatched the second towel that his wife had brought. Quickly, Thiemo rubbed the towel roughly over his skin to get the rest of the cold water away.

Such an action as undressing and standing in the nude with others would have been an unthinkable deed three months ago too. However, if a pony helped you to wash yourself and go to the toilet for almost a month, some things changed quickly. In addition, the beings of Albion understood nudity differently than he did. Why should they be ashamed about the way they were born into this world? Of course, he understood the point that Rarity had wanted to make with the statement, but that did not mean that he would now disavow clothing. It simply meant that his margin of tolerance was much higher.

Thiemo threw the towel around his neck after he had also dried his feet, slipped back into his pants, and went over to where Legion waited for him. "Come on." Leo waved him with a claw into the house. He had put his towel over his back. "I can smell the trout from here." Grape, who married a griffon and had a preyton, a reverse hippogriff, as a son, had long since overcome whatever objections she may have had for preparing meat for her family. These days, that included Thiemo as well. He still did not like fish, but it was a necessary evil that came with being human. What would he not give for a good old burger.

Thiemo reached for Legion and, together with Leo, went to the family's moderate home. From the smithy, they came to a small storage room for laundry, cleaning supplies, and other things that were generally wet. Even here, the warmth of the smithy was clearly felt. Behind it lay the downstairs area of the house, which led straight into the living room. In the kitchen, one could either get to the house floor, which led to the left, and took the first door on the right, or simply walked through the living room. The two formed a large room. If one followed the hallway, one would come to the entrance of the house. The stairs led to the upper storey of the house where the bedrooms and bathroom of the family were located.

In the kitchen, there was not only Grape waiting for them with the food, but also Anvil and Auralia.

Anvil gave honour to his name. His coat was dark grey, with a short golden mane that, at the end of his neck, began to grow down on his chest, prominent muscles on display along the way. The front ended in the typical talons that his father possessed. His hind legs were like a normal pony, just like his face. "Took you long enough. There are others here who are also hungry,” he commented, staring with his silver eyes at Thiemo.

"Would have gone much faster if you had done your job right. Legion can still only turn into a staff and a sword.” Not only was Anvil a master blacksmith, he was also a shaman. There was amber embedded in roots amidst the fur of his neck, the sign of his connection with Gaia. Metal bent in his talons like cardboard, and he knew how to make talismans and other magical jewellery. Cadance, who Thiemo had given Legion before his departure, along with his other talismans, had commissioned him to repair the rhodolith. Unfortunately he made a small mistake, and had thought the talismans were resources for the repair work. Amongst the talismans had been Reena.

Anvil banged both talons on the table. "I was not the idiot who tried to turn such a sensitive magical artefact into a talisman. How dumb do you have to be? You should be glad that only the memory was deleted and not the whole castle blown up around your head." And that was the reason why Thiemo liked to stay away from other shamans. They always knew everything and how do everything better. As far he was concerned, in experiments, things can sometimes break.

“I reject acknowledging any form of guilt on my part," interrupted Legion. Reena was a being a of logic, and now that she was part of Legion, she preferred to carry that name now. "The tool is not to blame for when it's wielded wrong. Furthermore, many beings have succeeded in defeating another being with either a staff or a sword."

"Ah, she even she agrees with me." Anvil grinned. "Also, you only need to scan new weapons." As far as Thiemo was concerned, they understood each other splendidly. As splendid as cats and dogs.

"Then give me some. I know you have a whole arsenal in the shed behind the smithy. "

"Can you pay? Oh right, no you can’t. You can’t even pay my father for his lessons." Thiemo remembered the time Shining had mentioned how no one knew why Leonidas took part in the tournament every year. Advertising was the Occam's razor, meaning the simplest answers were the accurate ones. "You come here every day and then have my mother cook for you. So what right—"

"Anvil!" Golden Grape shrieked. She had laid her hooves over Auralia's ears. The foal, meanwhile, watched on with a small smile on her lips. "Thiemo is our guest! In addition, your father was the one who offered to train him. He fought for the Empire and defended our country. You can’t—"

"I've also fought, just like father! Where are our free meals? Where is—"

"The Empire is our homeland," Leonidas interrupted, his voice steady yet carried the undertones of one whose authority was to be respected. "It is part of our damn duty to help our country when it is needed. Thiemo here is neither a citizen nor a soldier or a mercenary. He may be a shaman, but that does not obligate him to fight.” Anvil looked from his mother to his father. For a moment, he opened his mouth, then closed it again and slumped down in his place. Leonidas sighed. "I don’t understand why you two boys can’t get along." He pulled out a chair and sat down at the table's head.

Thiemo walked past him to Auralia. Grape was shaking her head as she distributed plates, so Auralia's ears were free again. He bent down to her and pressed a short kiss on her forehead. "How have you been?" Thiemo finally asked as he sat down next to her at the table. Auralia had changed in recent months. Not only did she have a new female model beside her mother in Danielle, clear to see in how she had grown her mane which was plaited in a small braid on her left, but she had generally become quieter. Applejack said it was due to the fact that she was going through her second growth spurt and was burning through her energy faster than a fat kid chasing after the ice cream van.

"Great! Aunt Rarity gave me a new scrunchie!" She turned her head to the side and showed Thiemo the new band that held the little braid together. It was an orange band, in the same colour of her fur, embroidered with white ornamentations. "And? How do you like it?"

"It’s wonderful," he replied honestly, ruffling through her mane with one hand, causing a brief protest and making sure that she slid back into place.

“Still can't believe that a mare let him on top of her,” Anvil murmured as he took a trout with a fork from the plate his mother had just placed on the table, quiet enough that only Thiemo heard it. Thiemo could have answered, but for today he had had enough of the preyton. He also grabbed one of the trouts, as he did with the potatoes. He also made Aura pass him the corn. Corn didn’t really do anything for him, especially the rock-hard crystal corn, which they loved up here. It always felt as if he were chewing on small rocks. Still, it was very sweet.

"Thiemo, have you heard anything new from Princess Amaryllis?" Grape finally asked cautiously. She knew it was a sensitive issue for him. After the small improvised war council in Twilight’s apartment, they had had a fight. It was nothing special, or so he had thought, only this one had endured. It stretched from a few days to almost two weeks. Things had been said that no one really meant, at least for Thiemo. Then Amaryllis decided that it would be best for them both if they did not see each other for a while. That was almost three months ago. He had tried to go to the palace a few days after that, but entrance was denied to him. Two more times he had tried with the same result. The worst thing was that he could not feel her through their connection, not the way it had been before. It was not gone, not like when Megan had forcibly separated them. It was akin to a telephone line, where one person shouted on one end while there was silence at the other.

And although Grape had asked carefully, the piece of fish in his mouth nearly went down the wrong way. "No, nothing. Not that I haven’t tried.”

Grape smiled slightly. "She'll catch herself again. The first dispute in a relationship is always the worst. It hurts the most because one does not know how the other person reacts. One is uncertain on what to do and becomes frightened. Believe me, all the couples go through it sooner or later. They spend some time apart, but when they get together again, it's all the more beautiful." Thiemo could not do more than nod. She meant well, but that did not change the fact that Amaryllis’ absence caused an inner emptiness.

It also was not that simple. He had disappointed her, had wounded her to the core. To her, he had deserted her, had disbanded their hive. There was nothing worse for a changeling, the same crime as treason. With his refusal to help the Empire against Ti, he had also declined Cadance’s appeal for help. Strangely, she hadn’t been angry, nor were Twilight or Rarity. They all had accepted it and spoke not a word of it afterwards.

That was probably for the best. It made things easier.

Author's Notes:

Here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again.
This was actually the last time jump in this story. We're now at chapter 6 of 9, with 9 being the epilogue. I'm grateful for so many people sticking with me and this story. I'm grateful for every thumb up or down and for every comment. A lot will happen soon and fast. Think of this as the little moment when the roller coaster finally reaching the top and slowly start to make his descent.

Special thanks to JBL for translating & editing.