Thiemo sat together with Amaryllis on one of the many benches that were littered around the entirety of Fillydelphia’s city park. The promised ice cream had been devoured long ago and while they sat there chatting amicably about a variety of topics (although they always strayed back towards something related to magic), Aura was busy running around and playing with some fillies and colts, making full use of the playing equipment that the park had to offer with an exuberance and energy that Thiemo was envious of. There were a few swings, a climbing castle with slide and the staple of any playground, a sandbox. He had allowed her to play relatively unhindered except for the sandbox, fearing that cats had left some nasty surprises in the sandbox, so he had told Aura to avoid it. She had agreed quickly, impatient to be playing with ponies her own age.

He turned from watching his daughter playing, trying to focus on what Amaryllis was saying yet unable to stop a feeling of sadness crawl upon him. It seemed as though the chance to be able to see Aura act like a little filly her age happened more and more rarely and he knew it was partly his fault. She had been forced to mature at an early age; the cynicism that sometimes shone through should have had no place on the face of a young pony like her. He hadn’t helped the problem either, travelling from place to place so regularly could not beneficial to a child’s social upbringing. Throw in the fact that he had allowed her to continue stealing and Thiemo found himself with guilt and worry gnawing at him hungrily. The least he could do now was to search for her relatives and hopefully secure a safe, secure home for her.

Sighing, he turned back to Amaryllis, who had not noticed his wavering attention and had kept on speaking. “…So the mana flow in that part of the planet ended up a little bit weird. That’s why it’s called the Broken Leylands,” she said, pausing to take a breath. Thiemo nodded a bit absentmindedly; now that he had gotten some rest, he had been able to tell that the magical energy in Equestria had somehow felt different. “As a result of this disturbance, the weather also behaves differently over there."

“So, because the Broken Leylands are a desert, the weather depends on raw, natural magic?” he tentatively ventured, hoping his guess from the snippets he had picked up from their conversation was correct. If there was one thing Thiemo knew, it was to never let a woman even think that you weren’t paying to her, human or pony, it didn’t make a difference. Thankfully, Amaryllis nodded and smiled at his answer while he simply sighed in relief.

“We used that disturbance in order to, among others things, disguise our hive and keep it safe from potential invaders. Otherwise, such a large group of magical beings would have easily been found by any unicorn,” she said, sounding despondent. Her explanation made sense to Thiemo; well, as much sense as most things in this world. While he could feel and see the magical energy around him, he was far from being anything resembling an expert. To locate something specific with his abilities (or lack thereof) was simply out of the question, something he had rued on more than one occasion.

Restless, he twisted around on the bench to try and make ​​himself more comfortable, only being partially successful. He would be so happy to finally be back in his own body soon, but that was currently still not an option. “Alright, but I have one more thing I’d like to ask you abo-“ was what he managed to get out before he stopped as someone cleared their throat right next to him.

They both turned their heads to the source of the noise. “Is this your foal?” A grey mare, who looked as though she was in her middle ages (Thiemo still had trouble telling how old ponies were and he wasn’t going to ask a mare her age) was glaring at him, wrinkling her nose in poorly concealed disgust. On one side of her stood Aura, on the other was a young colt, both of them glaring murderously at each other. “She tried to steal my sweet little baby toys,” she spat, turning her withering glare to the filly instead.

“That's not true! He was harassing me and I only took his toys away so he would stop!” Aura protested loudly, scowling back at the mare. Unfortunately, Thiemo knew that complaints would be useless in this case.

“First off, don’t yell, Aura. Yelling doesn’t mean you’re right.” Thiemo looked more closely at the little colt. He had a wide and satisfied smirk on his face. His whole attitude screamed that he was a little spoiled brat. “Secondly, it is wrong to take something that isn’t yours to begin with,” he continued pointedly, his thoughts that had plagued him for continuing to allow her to steal coming back full force. The grin on the little colt widened even more while Aura hung her head further, her ears flat against her skull, avoiding looking at Thiemo. The sight made his heart break a little more. “On the other hand,” he added and looked the colt dead in the eyes, causing his shit-eating grin to vanish quickly, “you don’t make fun of others.”

“But I didn’t!” the colt spoke up loudly, though his bravado was quickly failing his as his voice cracked at the end while he took a step back in nervousness.

“How DARE you even think that my little Fine Cut would do something horrible like that!” she snapped at Thiemo, causing him to shake his head in bemusement. The tempers of mother and colt were rising higher and if he didn’t stop this from escalating too far, they might end up doing something stupid and draw attention to his group. And these two seemed like the type to do something stupid.

“You mean how could I claim that a fine little pudge like yours would ever do something like that?” If he was just a little bit more sarcastic, someone would think he really believed what he just said.

“Watch out, you stupid blank flank! Mum says I only have heavy bones,” the little (age wise, not belly wise) colt shrieked. Thiemo only grinned and pointed at the colt. Only then did the colt notice that the mistake he had made and slowly looked up, horrified, at his mother.

She only stared back with an angry look. “This isn’t how I raised you, young colt!” she barked at him as she began to pull him away, clamping her teeth on his ears, ignoring his loud shrieks and protestations. “You just wait until we reach home and I find the soap!” Thiemo wasn’t able to hear anything further of her lectures since Aura drowned it out with her giggles.

“That was awesome, daddy!” She hopped up next to them on the bench and lay down beside him. “Did you see the look on his face?!”

“So, why did he make fun of you?” he asked. Aura snuggled up to him, which was a bit unusual since he was without clothes, even with his new fur. Somehow it felt wrong in his head, though he wisely didn’t voice those thoughts.

She sighed. “He was laughing at me because I didn’t have my cutie mark,” she pouted. Thiemo pondered a few seconds, wondering what she meant. “You know, the things you call tramp stamps,” she elaborated.

Thiemo coughed loudly. “Oh, yes. Those. Umm, please don’t use my wording,” he asked, turning slightly red in the face. To be blunt, he did not have the slightest idea about these cutie marks and their usage. He only knew that for ponies, these marks were important and that every mark was supposed to be unique. “You know, if it’s so important to you, we can go look around to see where you could get one. It can’t be that expensive,” he offered.

“You can’t buy cutie marks,” Amaryllis said without looking at them. Thiemo turned to her in surprise. She had remained silent since the mare and her dumpling of a son had confronted them. “They appear if and when you find your special talent, the thing that you especially excel and love doing.” Her voice sounded a little sad when she said this.

“Changelings get these cutie marks too?” Thiemo asked curiously.

Amaryllis sighed before she answered. “No, but that did not stop me from trying it when I was younger. I read about them in our library and tried for months. My wet nurse encouraged me again and again, until my mother told me truth,” she said, the bitterness from old wounds rising up from where she had kept them buried.

A fascinating thing about children was that they could and would keep surprising you, and sometimes those surprises were actually for the good. Fortunately, Aura seemed to have noticed the bad mood Amaryllis was in and changed the subject. “Dad, why don’t you want to stay a pony?”

Thiemo was a little surprised and took a few seconds to catch himself. “Well…” He pondered the question for a few moments, looking around as if some tree or the hedge could give him an answer, which they couldn’t. If they could, then maybe he wouldn’t have gotten lost on more than one occasion. “I don’t know exactly what to say except that this isn’t my real body. It feels alien, wrong, unnatural. I’m used to a life on two legs, not four. This isn’t me, you know. Not that it is bad to be a pony of course. You rarely need clothing.” Although this was rather unpleasant to him, he kept to himself. “You can hear and smell better and most importantly, you fit in every bed.” With a hoof, he poked Aura between the ribs, which caused some giggles. “But in the end, it wouldn’t be me, you know?”

Aura recovered from the attack on her ticklish stomach and nodded. “I only thought, if you would stay a pony, you could be my real dad. So we don’t have to search anymore,” she said quietly. It was like being punched in the stomach, that statement. He loved Aura so much, but she belonged in a good home where she could grow up peacefully. He would move on when everything was done in Canterlot and for the first time the realization truly dawned upon him that he would be alone from then. Not only Aura would be staying here, but Amaryllis too. He was so used to their company that everything that had happened before them was in a grey fog. Walking for days through the savannah alone, talking to nobody. Nights spend alone, sitting by the fire and to hear nothing besides the crackle of the wood and the animals around him. Thiemo was not afraid in the dark, he was afraid to be alone in the dark.

The last remnants of the day were slowly coming to an end as the train started to move. Thanks to their enhanced income, they could afford tickets and now sat in one of the cabins of the night express to Canterlot. They had made it just in time too; as soon as they were out of the station, Thiemo’s spell had stopped working. Now, once again, a human sat again next to the filly.

“Well, this is my last piece of chitin. Only one transformation left and I’ll have to use it tomorrow.” He held it between his fingers and looked at it. “The size of it should be enough for a few hours. So, one of the first things we need to do is looking for a hideout or a hotel that doesn’t care much about his guests. Humans are not allowed in Equestria after all. Aschlant told me they would be imprisoned immediately and then banished back to Ti.”

“Wouldn’t it be wiser to look for something outside the city?” Amaryllis asked while she closed the bag again, after Thiemo had retrieved his clothes.

“Not necessarily. The gates to the city are surely guarded. It would be a pain in the ass to sneak in the city every time.” He looked at Aura, who mumbled something in her sleep. “Plus it can’t be avoided that you two will have to help me out for a while. After the first visit in the archives, I can’t just begin wandering around in broad daylight.

“So, the first thing is the archives after all?” she asked. Thiemo nodded in response, running his hand on Aura’s soft fur, causing her to snuggle up closer to him.

“You got it. If these princesses are not in their castle, hopefully the guards will take the opportunity to relax. So, if we don’t strike now, we will miss our chance. No better time than here and now and we don’t know when next we’ll get as good an opportunity as this.” Amaryllis let the bag float in the space above the seats and lay down on her side of the cabin. As in any other train, the soft pillows were also suitable as a comfy bed. For Thiemo, the other side the bench wasn’t long enough. He had to sit cross legged or had to put his feet on the other bench where Amy was. As his hand moved slowly through Aura’s mane, he thought about the near future. Would the Canterlot archives have a spell to bring him home, or at least an answer why he was here? He would still need a unicorn that would cast the spell for him even if he did find one. That, however, was a problem he would have to worry about later.

He looked out of the big window, watching the landscape passed by as the train picked up speed. It reminded him about taking similar train rides back on Earth. Wide fields, the last rays of the sun splayed across the land and the quiet breathing in the background, except back then it was from his cat instead a small filly.

“Far over the misty mountains cold.” He didn’t know why this old poem came to his mind now or why he sang quietly instead of reciting it. “To dungeons deep and caverns old. We must away ere break of day, to seek the pale enchanted gold.” He continued quietly, singing some parts and humming the rest.

"What language is that?" Amaryllis looked at him curiously when he paused to take a breath.

“A language from Earth,” he answered quietly, succumbing to silence until Amaryllis nudged him, motioning for him to continue. “The pines were roaring on the height.” Funny how, at that moment, they begun to zip pass a small forest. “The winds were moaning in the night.” He looked out of the window once again; the sun was touching the horizon, setting the sky aflame. “The fire was red, it flaming spread, the trees like torches blazed with light.”

“That sounds rather…. eerie. What is the song about?” Thiemo could not help but give her a small smile, the nostalgia making him more relaxed than he had been in a few days.

“It comes from a very famous book from my world. A mighty dragon attacked a big kingdom and claimed their land, their castle and all their treasures for himself. The people of the kingdom didn’t like that of course, but they were too weak. They fled to live and fight another time. But as time passed, they started to forget. Forget about all their land, kingdom and treasures. This was the song they made to remember and pass down to each coming generation. They taught it to their children and their children taught it again their own children.” Thiemo gave a soft laugh. “Shortly before I was taken from Earth, they were talking about making a movie out of the book,” he said, more to himself then Amaryllis. The movie must be old by now anyway.

“If a dragon succumbs to the greed, they tend to get very unpleasant. At least, that what mother told me. I have never met a dragon myself.” Amaryllis followed his gaze out the window. “Mother, however, has seen so much.”

“On silver necklaces they strung.” He touched the chain around his neck. “The flowering stars, on crowns they hung the dragon-fire, in twisted wire. They meshed the light of moon and sun.” Thiemo didn’t know the whole poem by heart, but he did know a few verses. “Far over the misty mountains grim, to dungeons deep and caverns dim. We must away, ere break of day, to win our harps and gold from him!”

"What made you bring up that story?" she asked. Thiemo again could only laugh.

“Well, I noticed that we will do the same thing as the leader of the kingdom did. We’ll travel to the lion’s cave and steal his treasure from under his nose, only that in this case, the lion are the princesses and the treasure is wisdom. I’m betting that they would share their wisdom with me as involuntarily as a dragon his hoard too.” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Also, the poem is the start of a long journey, not the end.” The trees outside the window thinned out and the view of the countryside came into view again. However, if he strained, he could make out a mountain in the distance and…. there seemed to be an entire city atop it. No, that couldn’t be right. Thiemo didn’t quite realize what he saw at first, but then he let it sink in and he was flabbergasted. “Is Canterlot the former city of Gondor?” Of course, Amaryllis didn’t understand his reference about the city on top of the mountain. Her gaze was fixed to the mountain, it seemed as though she didn’t even hear him. “Only thing missing is a big cave of gems under the city. They should be happy that the dragons live so far in the south.” Dragons and gems were like Americans and oil. If you found one, the other wasn’t very far away.

“The city is… beautiful,” Amaryllis said, her voice filled with wonder and awe, her muzzle practically stuck to the window.

As much Thiemo tried, he couldn’t make another joke. The city was truly a sight to behold. He had thought that it was merely an illusion, that the distance from the city had distorted his view and so he thought the city was next to the mountain, not really atop of it, yet it was no distortion as they came closer to it. The towers of what he guessed to be Canterlot Castle seemed to almost be touching the evening clouds. The white walls of the city sparkled, almost like the soft light of a candle especially as the evening slowly turned to night. It was like Amaryllis said: beautiful. They stared on in silent admiration for so long in quiet companionship that Thiemo didn’t notice as his eyelids slowly closed.

Author's Notes:

We are only one act away from the end of chapter 1. I hope that I can translate intermission 4 in the next couple of days. With the start of chapter 2 we will have not only a new cover, but finally will meet some familiar faces. Just that you know, every chapter has his own cover, drawn by my friend Tango Sierra. Don't worry, I will arrange everything so that every cover will be displayed.

And again, edited by JBL! Thanks buddy!