Two fake foals and a real one snuck around the apple trees of the farm. Not that it was necessary; Thiemo just wasn’t used to running on hooves. “The spell should help you a bit,” Amaryllis repeated for the tenth time as Thiemo cursed silently.

“I tripped for the third time. I am foal and tired! Oh yeah, and I’m naked by the way.” At least he didn’t have to carry all the stuff. His clothes and most of the gems were stored in Aura's small bag, while Amaryllis levitated the backpack and the staff. For this to work, the staff hung in the straps, so it wouldn’t absorb the spell. His remaining talisman, a sapphire and a lapis lazuli, were in his necklace around his throat. With his new stature, it looked almost comically large.

“But we’re always naked.” The two mares stopped and looked down at themselves. “I don’t see why you are so uncomfortable with that.” While Amaryllis probably now had a slight idea why Thiemo always wore clothes, Aura kept her childish innocence.

“So you are into ponies after all, huh?” the princess whispered into his ear with a bewitching undertone.

“Would you stop that? This whole thing is bad enough already.”

“I’m sorry.” Amaryllis backed off and walked behind the smaller ponies.

The city came into view of the small group. Different than the other cities in the desert, it was built of multiple wooden buildings. It was obvious that Appleloosa had been like them at one time, but it had evolved beyond that. The simple facades were supported with grey stones, and only occasionally was the presence of wood visible, the only exception being the rooftops. The city also seemed much more vivid. Carriages transported ponies in and out of the city. At the train station, a locomotive was being loaded with fresh wood. Dozens of pegasi flew around. “You immediately know when you’re in Equestria,” Thiemo remarked snappishly. A lot of the outer cities had not been given enough support by the pegasi, either through incompetence, laziness, or lack of staff, meaning that the inhabitants had had to rely on the ground water. Here, however, there were a lot of clouds that had probably been produced at a weather factory.

That was a fact he simply hadn’t been able to get into his head during his time at the University. The weather and the seasons were more or less artificial, created and distributed by ponies. None of the other races seemed to be bothered by this, but Thiemo couldn’t stand the idea. It was a very cheap way to make other nations dependent on them, meaning that they could exert dominance and influence over them. Furthermore, the unicorns had their magic and control over the sun and the moon that were moved by their princesses. Supposedly, they were some sort of living goddesses incarnated as ponies. Although he had not yet seen pictures of them, he imagined them as snobbish aristocrats who had assigned themselves those fantastical powers. Humans had done so over thousands of years. Not that he planned to cross their ways, but the biggest library on the whole planet was basically under their golden asses.

The royal archives of Canterlot were known even in other continents, overflowing with knowledge about magic and records of all that had happened on this world. His new form had a significant advantage of making things easier. Who would think a foal was secretly a human? He wouldn't have a better disguise without the changeling's interference and subsequent aid.

Silently, they trotted the last meters to the city and entered a narrow side street. Even here, it was extraordinarily clean. No trash lying around, and even the trash bins were sorted. At least these inhabitants cared for their city. He hoped they wouldn’t care for them as much. “So this is the plan," he told his companions. “We three are here with our parents on a vacation.” He hesitated. “Ponies do go on vacations, don’t they?” The two looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

“No idea, I never was in Equestria.” Thiemo recalled she had said something like that, only he had been too busy back then finding an exit.

“Me neither.” He didn’t expect any different from Aura. She had spent most of her short life on Dragmire with diamond dogs and dragons. It was likely that even he knew more about ponies than her.

“There exists a word for it in your language, so we just expect the best. So like I said, we are vacationing here with our parents and were playing outside of the city.” Amaryllis raised her hoof like in school. “Yes?”

“We don’t really look alike, do we?” Thiemo looked at them. A pony with horn and wings, white fur, and purple mane. An earth pony with white mane and orange fur, and finally himself with blue fur and white mane. She had a point.

“Okay, me and Aura are siblings; you are our cousin. Better?” The princess nodded approvingly.

“So where was I?” He looked at Amaryllis.

“Oh right, you fell out of the tree whilst we played.”

“Wouldn’t I simply fly?”

“It was too quick.”

“But I can fly very well.” Thiemo had to fight the urge to slam his hoof against his head. He knew that hooves were harder than hands.

“We only pretend it happened.” Amaryllis shrunk visibly and nodded. “Good. We are on our way to the train station, and from there we can take the next train. Our parents is waiting for us at the train already. Just in case someone asks.” He stopped.

“Yes Amy?”

“Amy?”

“It’s shorter.”

“All right. Umm, where is the train going?” Luckily, Thiemo read the sign.

“Fillydelphia. From there, we can travel further towards Canterlot. But don’t get your hopes up for a comfortable journey. We have to hide in one of the cargo wagons. We have no more bits.” Actually, they had the bits Billy had given them, but they would never cut it for three tickets. Furthermore, it was doubtful that they could go straight to Canterlot from there, but they had to get away from the border. The changelings surely wouldn’t just give up so easily. It could very well be that they had settled here in the past and were hidden amongst the population. “Err… Amy, can changelings see each other even if they are transformed?”

“Yes, we can feel another’s energy.” So they could tell when one was near but not who. At least that was something.

“Okay then, we should make sure that you have as little contact with other ponies as possible.” Finally, the princess seemed to understand and nodded. They stepped out on the lively street and were instantly eyed by ponies. However, as they saw that they were only foals, they quickly lost interest. Thiemo signalled the others to follow him, and they snuck around the corner, pressing themselves against the wall. The last thing they needed was losing each other in the crowd. They didn't get very far before Thiemo spotted something in a window and stopped abruptly.

He felt that the others didn’t expect this as they bumped into his back. Right now, however, he had more important things to care about than how close that was to his private parts. The shop they stood in front of sold sweets of all kinds, only it wasn’t these that drew his attention. In the window was a wreath, but not just any wreath. It was a Christmas wreath. With candy canes galore and other decorations, the shop was decorated for Christmas.

“You see this too, right?” Thiemo didn’t turn around, afraid this would all vanish. By doing so, he couldn’t see the querying looks of his companions.

“What do you mean?” Amaryllis asked and put down the bag together with the staff. She walked up to him and viewed the shop window for herself.

“Can we buy something?” Aura was now at his right. The tongue hung out of her mouth. Just an inch closer to the window and she’d be licking it.

“The Christmas decoration. I didn’t know ponies celebrated it.” Thiemo leaned with his front hooves against the window to see better. Like the shop window, the whole store was decorated appropriately. Even a small Christmas tree stood on the counter, full of ornaments. “It’s a human holiday.”

“Christmas? Never heard of that, but I recognize the decoration.” Thiemo, as well as Aura, stared at Amy. “From the library. According to our texts, it’s part of Hearth’s Warming. It celebrates the founding of Equestria.”

“On which day?”

“It’s the twenty-fifth of the Hearth’s Warming month. The twenty-fourth is called Hearth’s Warming Eve.” Thiemo's eye twitched.

“Wait, the ponies call this month Hearth’s Warming?” Amaryllis nodded.

“They created the calendar. Most races just changed the names of the months.” Thiemo had long wondered about the concept of four seasons that existed here, even if it was more or less artificial. Albion was much larger than Earth, at least according to the academics. No one had ever measured the planet, and everything was just estimates, but all in all, Albion was roughly three times larger than Earth. It also orbited around the sun differently, or the sun around Albion for that matter, depending on whether it was true that ponies controlled them. Thus there were twelve months. The deer had a simple system. The third of March was, for them, simply the third day of the third month in the year one thousand and fourteen ALB. The abbreviation was still a mystery to him. Allegedly, the ponies had started a new calendar thousands of years ago, though not even the professors knew why. Hearth’s Warming was the second to last month in the calendar.

“And what is next month called?” Now Thiemo was curious, and the especially literate Amaryllis was quite useful even if she had spent her life in a basement... of sorts

“Year’s end.” Fitting. At least the ponies had that going for them.

“I think I’ll stick to my system.” Thiemo didn’t want to learn the months again in every country. Until now, everyone had understood the system of the deer if necessary. “Then let’s continue.”

“But Dad, I want some cookies.” That stopped not only Thiemo in his tracks, but the ponies that surrounded them.

“Just because Dad said that you should listen to me as if I was him doesn’t mean you have to call me Dad.” He scratched his head and smiled embarrassedly at the sudden audience. They seemed satisfied with the answer at first but kept staring. He checked to see if their cover was blown, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Apparently the ponies thought differently as they continued to stare at them, scrutinising them intensely.

“Are those wings?”

“Do you think?”

“It’s been years that a new alicorn appeared.”

Thiemo didn’t like the mumbling. Amy’s form seemed to represent something called an “alicorn”, and thanks to his bad luck, it appeared to be something very rare. Furthermore, a crowd like the one building up around them right now would soon attract the attention of authorities.

“What’s going on here?” As if he had summoned them, three stallions armed with sword and leather armor forced themselves through the gazing crowd. All around them were ponies; behind them, the shop window.

“The guards!”

“Shouldn’t they be looking for changelings?”

“Do you think these three foals are changelings?”

“Which changeling would be stupid enough to disguise as an alicorn?”

Obviously Thiemo had a real winner on his side. He pushed himself against the wall with all the force he could summon in his tiny form. Aura backed up too. The two of them were often in dangerous situations, and Thiemo knew that Aura had grown accustomed to it. Admittedly, he was scared too. He had to concentrate to transform back, and in this form, he could barely move. A fight was out of the question, especially against three armed unicorns. Thiemo was way too exhausted to get anything significant done. Into the city, in the train, and sleep – that had been his plan. The only thing they were supposed to watch out for was being spotted, which they failed after only a couple of meters.

“So what do we have here?” A guard, a star on his armor, stepped up to them and looked down at them. “Hm?” He lifted an eyebrow, obviously expecting an answer.

“Uhm... we are on our way to the train station...” Thiemo saw no reaction in his mimic “… to meet up with our parents.” Still nothing. "My sister and I,” he pulled Aura to him, “and our cousin.” It was dead silent. Even the whispering stopped so the audience could hear what he said.

“And what are your names?” He cursed internally. He couldn’t introduce himself as Thiemo or something else that didn’t sound like pony. It would only create more attention.

“My sister’s name is Aura.” She waved nervously. “And my cousin is Amaryllis.” She only nodded while still pushing herself against the wall. “And I am...” He needed a name, fast. “Blue...”

“Commander Iron!” The crowd to their left parted, and another armed guard galloped through. “Commander Iron, we have confirmed the sightings.” Thiemo twitched. Had they seen someone in the fields?

Iron turned around to the soldier. “Report," he demanded with an authoritarian voice. It was a wholly different tone from what he just heard during the questioning.

The soldier stopped in front of the commander, clicked his hooves, and saluted. “Sir, we have found a changeling's sword in the orchards and a sighting just outside of the city afterwards. They are probably waiting behind the hills.” At first he didn’t react but then finally nodded.

“You heard him, comrades, get ready.” His companions ran back through the breach, followed by the messenger, and then he turned back to the three foals. “And you three, if you make trouble, I’ll find out.” With that said, he followed his soldiers and disappeared. For a couple of seconds, no one did anything, neither the viewers nor the accused. Then, as if someone gave an invisible signal, everyone began moving again. Thiemo exhaled air he didn’t even know he had been holding in. At least he now knew where the sword went and that the changelings were really on their heels.

“Changelings, disgusting creatures.”

“Monsters. I hope none of them makes it past the soldiers.”

“They’ll teach them a lesson.”

And they were not topic number one anymore. The luck was surprisingly often on their side in the last few days. Thiemo turned around, visibly relieved. Amaryllis still stood against the wall, her view straight down. ”We are no monsters...” she whispered. Somehow he felt even worse for her now. For her, it must be bad to be able to physically feel the disgust. “We are no monsters...” If he had been a human right there, he would have just taken her under his arm, but in the form he was in now, he had to find different ways.

“Amy, they don’t know any better.”

“You don’t understand!” She started getting louder. “What do you think my father will see in me?” He had never considered that point of view. However, if there was one thing he was sure of, it was this.

“Every father has affection to his daughter, no matter what the problem is. Look at me and Aura. I am a human,” he made sure that no one overheard him, “and she is a pony. I don’t care, and neither does she, and I’m also viewed as a monster.” Well until now, he had mostly made an advantage out of it even if it was annoying sometimes. But here in Equestria, it was smarter to not pull that card. A unicorn was no problem, maybe even two, but at three was where it got complicated. That he now was travelling to their capital would not make it any better.

“You really don’t care?” she asked Aura, still a bit hysterical. The filly had her attention more focused on the sweets than the conversation.

“Uh? Not really. Dad likes me and cares for me.” And immediately she had her face pressed against the window again.

“And I’m not bothered by what you are either. Okay?” She nodded as she levitated the backpack into the air again. “Aura, come. We gotta catch a train.”

The city was bigger than it seemed at first. They had to ask for directions multiple times, but finally the train station was ahead. The train was already heavily loaded with wood and seemed ready to start off. But instead of searching an empty cargo wagon, he walked towards a panel with a timetable and a map. It seemed as though a unicorn had tried his hoof at calligraphy. The timetable was so squiggled that it was barely readable, but the map was all he needed. The train went from here to Fillydelphia, the sign said. From there on, the rail parted. One track made a small detour.

“Ponyville?” Amaryllis asked, following his view.

“That’s a town?” Thiemo squinted his eyes, but he was too low to see it clearly. “I thought a fly shit there.”

“I think the place sounds nice,” Aura joined in. Thiemo followed the other track. It was a night's travel and went around the mountain the city was on.

“Yes, very creative.” If another city had been on the way like Las Pegasus, he would have considered a pause. He had heard good things of the city in terms of entertainment and opportunities to make money. The latter was something they sorely needed, and the first was never bad. But a village in the middle of nowhere would not be worth a pause. They probably didn’t even have a library where he could search for spells. “We take the night train from Fillydelphia to Canterlot. Means we have one day in the city.” The two nodded and followed him as he walked to the back of the train. It didn’t take very long, and they reached the first cargo wagon. Sadly, his new form wasn’t tall enough. “If you would be so kind?”

Amaryllis walked past him and covered the grip in her purple aura, but nothing happened. “The door is locked.”

Thiemo sighed, already wanting to go to the next one when he got an idea. Again he went up to the wagon, and this time he knocked the door. “We are no conductors; we simply want to get to Fillydelphia.” A clack was audible as the door opened a bit.

“Huh? Foals?” An old stallion with a scraggly beard stuck his head out, looking from left to right. “Are you alone?”

“Yes, and we need to get to Fillydelphia.” The homeless stallion seemed to think, looked around one more time, and finally made way. Thiemo jumped in, followed quickly by Aura and Amy.

“Who’s there, Mender?” the voice of a mare asked from a dark corner. She was covered in sheets and looked sleepily with a leg before her face.

“No one, Glitter, only some foals that want to get to Filly,” Mender responded. Both were obviously living on the street. Mender’s fur color could only be speculated, an old cap hiding his greasy brown-grey mane. Of Glitter, he only saw that she was a unicorn.

“Then close the door! Some of us are trying to sleep,” she said and turned around again.

“You heard the lady. Make yourself comfortable in a corner.” Thiemo didn’t need to be told twice and grabbed his backpack, threw it in a corner, and placed himself on top of it. A second later, Aura joined him. He was way too tired to make up his mind about anything. Over the next two days, he’d sleep wonderfully.

Author's Notes:

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

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