Open mouthed, Thiemo watched as the human made himself comfortable at the table, putting down his backpack on the ground. As he got up, the barrier blocked his sight on the newly arrived guest. “Aura, you see that too, right?” he whispered urgently to his daughter, jabbing a hoof across to where the human was seated.

The foal looked across to where Thiemo had pointed and nodded, her eyes widening slightly as she instantly recognized the creature. “That was a human just like you, wasn’t it daddy? I have never seen another before, but he has so much more hair than you. It’s almost like he has fur.” And that was one of the main things that was troubling Thiemo; he had never met any other human in all his travelling. He knew that they existed in this world from the tales furtively whispered amongst the different races on this planet and occasionally from the sketches and carvings that depicted them that each race possessed. While he would definitely call them humans, there was something about them that seemed so foreign from himself; not just their physique or rumoured powers as the stories claimed, it was something he couldn’t put his finger (or in this case, his hoof) on yet.

“Do you want to talk with him?” Amaryllis asked, causing him to jump slightly as he was jerked out of his thoughts, nodding his head in silent confirmation while inwardly rolling his eyes. Of course he wanted to talk to the only human he had found since he arrived in this world. The only question for him was how he would do it. For one thing, he was currently in shape of a pony and he had no clue whether he should or even could turn it into an advantage. If did he end up revealing himself, there was a greater chance that he would be more willing to talk. On the other hand, doing so could make the other human try to glean information from him that he was rather reluctant to share so easily. After all, learning that he was a shaman could give the other human some rather unpleasant ideas. The question that played most on his mind was deciding what was more important to him: his secrets or the potential information he could gain.

For a few moments he remained silent, distractedly beating a small rhythm on the table with his hoof, mulling it over in his mind while remaining oblivious to the curious looks aimed at him by his companions. Finally, he decided that while it was a risk, it was almost necessary to take it. After all, it was impossible to say when or even if he would ever meet another human.

His mind made up, he turned to Amaryllis who was still patiently waiting for him to speak. “Is there any chance you can find out something about him? I mean, can you access his feelings or emotions?” he asked. She closed her eyes and concentrated for a few moments, her horn faintly glowing.

“No, he is protected, just like you are. If you wouldn’t let me in, I couldn’t access yours either,” she finally admitted, shaking her head. He sighed; he had hoped to gain more of an advantage by getting at least a small hint of the human’s current state of mind before approaching him but apparently that would not be happening.

“Okay, then don’t wait for me with the dinner. This may take a while.” Thiemo hopped off the bench and started to walk straight over to the human, who had apparently just finished giving his order to a nervous looking waitress. As Thiemo approached closer, he was able get to a clearer look of the man. Under his hood, which seemed to be disturbingly made of a diamond dog’s scalp, was long red hair that hanged limpidly out of the hood, looking dull and greasy. His beard, just as red and dirty looking as the hair on his head, grew thickly on his face, covering most of it. In contrast to his hair, his cloak was grey, reaching down to the ground, enveloping and hiding most of his body in all its worn and tattered glory. By his estimation, the man looked to be in his thirties or early forties, his face looking weathered and beaten and his eyes seemed to be constantly warning anyone from daring to approach. They seemed weary and tired, belonging to one who had seen and lived through much, but now they only seemed to want one thing - a break.

“Hi!” His excitement and nervousness made his voice crack as he called out to the human and now sounded way too high and pipsy, making Thiemo wince as he heard it himself.

The bearded man raised his head slightly, looking as though he was trying to filter out the voice of the dozens of guests, before he spotted Thiemo standing before him. From the way he sat at the table which was made for ponies, he looked like a giant. Even from an average human’s perspective he was well over two meters. For a moment, his eyes held Thiemo’s in his own, silently looking him over before snorting dismissively. “Be quiet and go back home, kid,” the man said, turning away from him.

If the human wanted to be left alone then that was too bad, since Thiemo could be stubborn and persistent when needed. “I want to ask you a few questions,” he shot back, while sighing to himself. Since he started this whole young pony farce, he might as well see it through. He leaned his front hooves against the table to get closer to the human’s face, peering up at him. “You are a human, right? Am I right?” That certainly got his attention as his eyes shot wide open and he quickly pulled Thiemo to the other side of the bench.

“Watch what you say, alright kid? Not everybody needs to know that.” His voice was deep and rough, rumbling on as though he hadn’t tasted water in weeks. “So what do you want to know? No, we cannot run through walls and no, we can’t read your minds to make your nightmares come true either,” he grumbled, sounding both exasperated and irritated. It seemed as though this human had heard the horror stories constantly repeated about humans and didn’t take too kindly to them.

Thiemo shook his head. “I know that, but I have a couple of different questions. Are there more humans? How did you come to Albion, and what is your name?” he fired off. This time he didn’t even have to fake his childish way, the questions just flooded his mind as he blurted them out.

The human leaned back, drumming his fingers on the table as he considered how best to answer him. “Names can be a very powerful thing to know, boy,” he said, a hint of maliciousness riding the tone of his voice. “However, you may call me… Aschlant. With whom do I have the pleasure?” he asked almost mockingly.

“I’m Blue,” was the first name that came to his mind again and for the moment it had to be enough.

“Ponies and their names,” the man, now known as Aschlant, mumbled in English, causing Thiemo to smile despite himself, feeling a brief surge of joy at hearing those words. Not because of its contents but because it wasn’t Equestrian like they spoke before but real, good ol’ English. “So then Blue, of course I’m not the only human. Otherwise we hadn’t survived the last thousand years.” Those words certainly grabbed Thiemo by surprise. The last thousand years? That answered the question how he came here; he must have been born here, but then… where did he learn English then? Sighing, Thiemo rubbed his head with his hoof; without revealing himself, he couldn’t go further into this matter.

Amaryllis sat at her table and watched how Aura slowly devoured, bit by bit, every of her entire sandwich, relishing each bite. She didn’t feel any hunger since one of her new friends had supplied her with what she needed. Friends. The word sounded and felt so strange and exotic every time she thought about it, it seemed to roll so smoothly in her mind. It was only a few days ago that she knew this human and his young foal and now she was already called them her friends.

On the other hand, she had talked a lot with Thiemo the last two days they had spent in the wagon, both of them exchanging stories about themselves and their experiences. Well, his experiences mostly; she didn’t have any of note to speak of until recently. He had told her of all the places he had been to on Albion and what he did before he came to this planet. His voice had sounded so melancholic and yet there had been some warmth under the sadness as he told stories about his family and his friends before moving on to Aura, recounting the manner in which he had found her and why exactly he took care of her. In return, she had shared what knowledge she had of magic with him, stories about the everyday operations in the hive and even some of the history with the changelings, although she was careful to omit certain details. They had laughed, philosophized and simply exchanged views on the most trivial of things. While she didn’t know how Thiemo felt about it all, for her it felt so…. invigorating, so refreshing, to speak with someone so openly. The only person she had ever spoken with before this was her wet nurse, and that was a rarity.

“What do you want to do in Canterlot?” Aura has just eaten the last few bites of her meal, which drew her attention from the plate to Amaryllis, who was jerked out of her thoughts.

She blinked a few times, trying to recall what the filly had just said. “Uhm, Thiemo wants to help me search for my father.”

“Do you know your father?” Amaryllis wanted to answer but no words left her mouth. No, she didn’t know her father and she knew only the barest of details about him. All she knew was that he was at the castle at the time of the invasion and he had something to do with the bride. That brought up another depressing thought: there was a good chance he could be married now, he might have even had other foals and would not want her around. That possibility seemed even more likely when she threw in the fact that she was a changeling. She wondered if a pony could truly love and accept a changeling, even if that pony was her own father. While Thiemo had assured her on more than one occasion that everything would be all right, she doubted that it would be so easy, so simple.

“Sorry that I asked,” she heard Aura say quietly, drawing her away from her thoughts. “If you don’t know him, it’s not so bad. I don’t know my real parents either.” For a few moments it was quiet, before the filly continued, her voice, sounding older to Amaryllis’ ears. “I never got to meet them, you know. All I knew were the other foals and the Diamond Dogs, who were really mean. Actually, they all were mean,” she amended, laying her hooves on the table as she stared at them contemplatively before continuing. “Then one day, just like that, Thiemo came to us. The dogs were afraid of him and so were we. I mean, anything that scared them would have to be really scary.” Amaryllis thought back to Thiemo’s appearance when she had first seen him. He was tall, even a bit taller than her. His form was strange and he didn’t seem to have any natural weapons to attack or defend himself; no claws or paws, just those squishy little things he called hands. He had no mane or fur, he called it hair and even then he only had it on his head and a bit in his face. Well, there was some in another place but she quickly tried to shove those thoughts out of her mind, hoping the filly across from her didn’t notice the faint blush that appeared on her face.

Yes, he was certainly not someone who would be called ordinary, but she couldn’t see herself being so afraid of him. Even when she was hurt and was lying on the ground, completely exposed to whatever he had in mind for her and at his mercy, he had cared for her even though her swarm had kept him captive. “I think every species has individuals you should be afraid of,” she stated carefully, turning her head slightly so Aura could not see her face. “Thiemo isn’t one of them, I think. Did he ever start a fight?”

The foal thought for a moment but shook her head. “Not that I know of. He may use his stones to light fires and things like that, but in fights he only fights back when they attack first. But often he helps to get them angry when he’s trying to be funny.” They both giggled for a while before it petered out.

Amaryllis used the silence to respond to her. “To answer your question, I don’t know my father, no. But that is exactly what I want to change. Even if he can’t help me or doesn’t want to see me, I would like at least to know where I’m from.” She raised her glass and took a sip.

“Dad always said that he wants to look into whether I have relatives in Equestria, but ever since a couple of weeks ago he doesn’t even mention it anymore.” Amaryllis knew what she meant, she had felt it herself. What Thiemo wanted was for Aura to be happy and to grow up in peace and safety with her relatives. At the time he told her about it, sadness had seemed to settle onto his features prominently. He didn’t want to leave her or Aura either, but he would if he knew they would be better off. Yes, she had felt it more than clearly. Now, the question for her was whether she had the right to stick her nose in.

Thiemo couldn’t seem to draw any conclusions from the information he had gained at all. While Aschlant had revealed a lot about the humans here, he didn’t mention how they got here. He couldn’t be the only one who had appeared here simply out of the blue, that possibility was simply too small. What would teleport a single individual from one planet to another? The humans on earth didn’t have the technology. The ponies quite possibly had the magic to do so, but no one knew him here, so why him?

Aschlant had spoken at length with him about the village of humans on a small island named Ti. Where this name originated from was unknown, only that they had lived there ever since they began to record history. From what he had told him after, they were roughly on the same level of technological development as every other species, aside from the fact that they did not possess any magic. Thus, much of what they had invented was driven by steam power. He personally never was a fan of steampunk, but here this had become reality.

“And that was the moment the fire nation... I mean Equestria attacked?” Aschlant had just told of the war which had happened a thousand years ago on Albion. Why exactly it had happened he didn’t know, but the outcome was that the humans were banned and restricted to their island, not allowed to leave for the mainland.

“Exactly, all we know is what the recordings of that time say. Humans used to be elsewhere. Something must then have happened and in the next moment Equestria was at our doorstep and threatened us with war.” From the way he made it sound, one would think that the humans were completely innocent, something that Thiemo sincerely doubted. If they were similar to humans on Earth then it was probably the opposite, but he didn’t want to anger his source of information. “Since I’ve answered your questions, could you go away? I want my rest,” he growled, folding his arms in annoyance.

“Before I do that, I’d like to show you something.” Thiemo stood up and went back to his table. Aura and Amaryllis were talking to themselves in low voices and paid him a cursory glance as he pulled out one of his findings out of his bag. With it in his teeth, he went back and laid it on the table. And then came the silence. Thiemo was silent because he wanted the opinion of the human and Aschlant because he was shocked. Or at least that was the impression he gave, judging by his wide open eyes and his slackened jaw as he gave a decent impression of a fish out of water. To say that Thiemo was rather pleased at catching the human so off guard would be an understatement.

“By the gods and everything that is sacred,” he mumbled once more in English. Slowly he reached his hand out to the grip and held it in his hand. It seemed as though he knew more about the knife without blade. “Where did you get this trash?” he asked in Equestrian.

“Let’s both act for a moment as if you were not talking to a stupid little pony but instead a conversation between two adults,” Thiemo responded in English, which once again made his opponent drop his jaw. He decided it was a much better look for the other human to have. “I may have objects which could interest you but I have few clues as to what they are or can do. How about you change that?”

Aschlant leaned forward and held the grip between their faces, his eyes gleaming fiercely. “This, my little friend, is a relic of the ancients. A leftover from the times before the war. I have no idea what it is good for or what it can do, but the educated ones on Ti would make you a done man if you show them something like this.” So maybe it was an antique human weapon without a blade, but maybe that simply wasn’t all there was to it. But then again, there would have still been a place for the blade. He sighed; he couldn’t sell it and it wasn’t as though he could simply waltz into Ti.

Sighing again, he nodded to the weapon. “I have a proposition for you,” he began, watching as Aschlant nodded his interest. “I give you this relic and you give it to your educated ones. If they find something, you send me the results to the university in Concordia. Does that sound fair?” The way Thiemo saw it, what use would an object be if he didn’t know how to use it or even whether it still worked at all. No, knowledge would be a more realistic approach and this way he could get it. Sooner or later he would surely return to Cervidas and visit the deer again and then he would get the information he wanted. For now, it was simply a matter of patience.

“You know I would’ve taken that thing either way?” As the human said that, he realized that his left hand went under the table. Before he could do anything further, Thiemo saw the knife that was just inches away from his stomach. Yep, he had hugely miscalculated this. “Tell me, what else is in your little backpack? I’ve been travelling on this damned continent for a year and never found anything nearly as worth as this.”

If Thiemo had dared to make any sudden movements, he would have slapped the back of his own head in annoyance for his own stupidity. This man was a damned treasure hunter, albeit not a very successful one. “To quote an important person on this matter, trash,” he replied, his attempted bravely undermined by how much he was sweating.

The knife touched his belly briefly, causing him to hold his breath. “Would you mind showing me this trash? I’m just very curious.” Thiemo had a small look around in the tavern. No one seemed to notice what was happening, but then he saw Amaryllis’ look. She was staring at him questioningly, as if she only awaited a sign. Maybe it isn’t that bad having a changeling reading your emotions, Thiemo thought.

“What would stop me, as soon as I stood up, from simply not coming back? The moment I’m out of your knives reach, you would lose your position. Sure, you might get to me but I doubt you would make it out of this place so easily. I’ve got what I want, but I still got stuff you want.” Aschlant seemed to think over what he just said and looked around, spotting how Amaryllis and now Aura was staring at their tense exchange. Slowly, he pulled back the knife, causing Thiemo to breathe easier.

“I have met many ponies, but none ever showed so little fear of me.” Thiemo saw how the human put the knife into his belt as he shook his head, smiling ruefully.

“Did I ever claim to be one?” He couldn’t help himself but grin. Being mysterious and speaking in riddles just to see the clueless faces of others was priceless. “I think we are done here.” The treasure hunter remained calm as Thiemo stood up and walked back to his table. As he sat down where the salad was still awaiting him, he met the expecting looks of the others.

“And?” asked Aura.

“We visit the Canterlot castle first,” Thiemo answered in between chews. “Seems like it is without its two regents at the moment.” Yes, Aschlant had told him useful information. Too bad that now he would never know what the relic really was. Something told him ever since Aschlant had pulled the knife on him that the human would probably not keep his end of the bargain.

Author's Notes:

Edited by Darkrainb0wdash & JBL
Thank you very much for helping me out!