Thiemo sat on the dry grass, the early afternoon sun shining down on him as he checked his supplies. It had only been half an hour ago that he suddenly found himself alone in the gigantic hedges which appeared to form a maze. It seemed that both Aura and Amaryllis were out of hearing range; he had come to that conclusion after he had almost screamed his head off calling their names, silence his only response so far. This wasn’t what he had expected at all. What he had planned on was for the three of them would go after the other ponies together, take their trinkets and then search for an exit.

Since he had more or less gotten lost in the attempt of finding his friend and daughter, he had decided to take a quick break to prepare himself for what was to come. Thiemo considered himself lucky for managing to hold onto his backpack in his hands right before Eris had teleported them here. If not, he was sure he wouldn’t have found it with him now. Besides his clothes and staff, he also had the gemstones with him. Unfortunately, they weren’t primed yet so he had to take care of that now. Doing so meant he had to be doubly cautious when charging them. Nothing was more dangerous than a half-finished gemstone that could blow up in your face.

While he could certainly wander around the labyrinth hoping to run into someone sooner or later, he didn’t have the supplies to last inside here for a long time, and neither did Aura or Amy. The last thing was what had been giving him a headache. Not only had Amaryllis been desperately trying to tell him something important the whole time, she also needed something different than food to survive. From time to time he had caught her in the act when she started to take a snack from his emotions. It would have been hard not to notice as it was similar to how one would feel drinking warm water through a straw out of a bathtub. Especially the slurping sound right at the end. At some points it went on to the extent that it felt like the water in the metaphorical bathtub was so low that he began to feel exposed and started freezing.

That had told Thiemo just how much she depended on him, as a source of food more than anything else. He figured the healing of her injured wings took a lot of energy. “Maybe some ambers,” he mumbled quietly to himself and put the finished lapis lazuli back to the other finished gems. Most of them were sapphires. After all, water and air were the two elements that he could control the best.

“Eris,” Rainbow Dash seethed silently to herself as she wandered beneath the well-known, large hedges of the maze. The mere thought of that name made her want to do some particularly violent things to a particular draconequus. Just like the last time, she had been separated her friends, in more ways than one. “We should have known better, we should have realized that this was just one of her stupid pranks.” Rainbow wanted to slap herself at that moment for being fooled so easily by that wretched being.

All it had taken for her to become aware of Eris’ treachery was Twilight’s angry scream, which surely had been heard all over Canterlot. That particular scream wasn’t the first the city had heard in the last couple of weeks, and so she had attempted to fly out of the maze. Unlike the last time they had tangled with Eris, she still had her wings. However, as soon as she reached the outskirts, she had simply found herself back on the inside again. When she then tried flying directly upwards, the world had started to spin around and before she even knew what happened, she was descending again. “Where the buck is the egghead when you need her? Twilight surely knows a way out of here,” she muttered foully. She had attempted to reach her friends by calling out for them, but despite her best efforts, nopony had replied to her.

Now she had to force herself to take a break. Rainbow Dash had been training all morning and she hadn’t gotten any chance to take any of her usual naps in order to recharge her energy reserves. She hated to admit it, but running seemed to be the better option than flying now. Something she learned in the last two years as a Wonderbolts trainee were ways to ration her energy, such as knowing which part of a stunt you had to put how much effort and so on. She had never thought she would end up being in a situation where it was almost as though she was back in school, learning how to fly.

And then Soarin had come in her life. Of all the places she had thought to meet the stallion, Sweet Apple Acres had never crossed her mind. Usually the trainees and the veterans would barely see each other; sometimes they never meet at all. Spitfire was something of an exception, but then again she also was their instructor. Soarin had apparently come to the farm to buy some apple pie and, of all the potential ponies he could choose, asked Applejack out on a date. Up to this day, Rainbow Dash didn’t hesitate to tease him about it from time to time. AJ had firmly and unequivocally rebuffed him, which led to Rainbow Dash trying to cheer up the depressed stallion again. That particular exercise had basically boiled down to her challenging him to a race and afterwards shovelling hay fries down each other’s throats until their stomachs had been ready to burst. Since that day they had hung out frequently, and after about one year he had asked her out on a date. She already was in the team at this point, so nopony could say she cheated or slept her way up the ranks. Also, he was a very pleasant company, so why not?

Well, if she was being honest with herself, she had actually been on the verge of fainting when he finally asked her and had almost burst from the ensuing happiness, but she would never let anyone know about that nugget of information. One thing led to another and they had been together for about a year now. Even after training this morning, when they had met each other in the hall, both still in their tight flight suits and soaking with sweat, the two of them had disappeared in a storeroom faster than she could shout ‘Sonic Rainboom’. All in all, she was very, very tired now.

“Hey, you… human thing! Come out so I can kick your flank and finally get some sleep!” If he didn’t hear her, then maybe one of her friends would. As a result, she kept on calling out during her trail through the maze, taking a turn to the left or right every now and then. The maze itself hadn’t changed; the hedges were so thick that it was sure to be virtually impossible to slip through them. They were still so green despite it being autumn already. Rainbow Dash had never bothered visiting the castle’s garden’s during the winter, but she was certain everything would be green there as well. Again, that was something Twilight could no doubt carry on a lecture about for hours on end. “This mare needs her sleep and I promise you that I’m going to make it quick and not too painful if you come out now!” she shouted, her agitation rising.

Bored, she trotted around the next corner where one of the numerous stone statues that littered the gardens stood. She had noticed them the last time as well, but was too busy to care about them back then. Missing wings and the world about to end in the form of pink cotton candy and chocolate milk had been a higher priority at that point in time. The statue in front of her was a weird creature. It reassembled an alicorn with six wings and three horns. Rainbow could just about understand why Celestia and Luna had dumped this thing here. She would not put something this hideous and wretched-looking in her garden as well. Surely it was a present she couldn’t get rid of easily, otherwise she would have been quick to dispose of it. “Human, human, human… come out little human.” Even she could tell by the pitch of her voice that she was starting to get desperate. She had even resorted to trying to speak and act like Fluttershy, but she didn’t even know the sounds humans made. She left the statue behind to its own gruesome fate and decided to turn left on the next crossway. “Come out, you stupid creature!”

“No, YOU come here!” Rainbow had to take a few seconds to process the fact that she had actually gotten a response. Confused, she stopped where she was and listened in case there were more words forthcoming, but nothing happened. The voice had sounded male, so it wasn’t any of her friends, which only left the human as an option. Rainbow Dash groaned; Twilight had never told her that they could talk.

Quickly, she leaned a bit into the hedge. “We’re gonna be making this simple, human. You’re gonna come over here, I get to slap you once or twice, drag you in the dungeons and then I’m gonna take my nap. Everyone gets what they deserve.” She wasn’t stupid. The human was surely trying to do what she was attempting to do - locating her position by her voice. Her advantage was that she had an additional avenue for locating and securing the human, and that was from above.

Thiemo didn’t quite know what to make of his new surroundings. Eris had taken the game to a new level by warning the damn ponies about him. Much to his frustration, this new development had rendered the silent, stealthy plan that he had scraped together about ten minutes ago while he was wandering around, to nought. That was until a voice that seemed to come from somewhere nearby impatiently called for a human. No name, just for a human. He had tried to eavesdrop on the voice to see if he could somehow acquire an advantage for himself, but then the voice got quieter. He couldn’t accurately pinpoint her location, so he had the pony to get talking again, which was what he did.

The biggest question now, while he quietly sneaked through the maze, was whether his opponent was a mare or a stallion. The voice was rough, in a tone that could more or less belong to either gender. Knowing what gender the pony belonged to would at least allow him to have a preliminary gauge on how strong his opponent would be. Stallions usually had more muscles, were more sturdily built and had larger hooves, which they could use to effectively stun an opponent. However, they seemed to generally lack the agility of their female counterparts. It was something he had learned from his observations in Fillydelphia and Canterlot, but especially from his own first-hand experience when he had been transformed into a pony. While there were obviously more differences, these were the most obvious ones. Additionally, the whole thing would be much easier if he could kick his opponent in the nuts. It would be an easy target to hit, seeing how revealing the ponies were, and could quickly end the combat. Sure, it would be a very cheap shot and would leave him feeling some phantom twinges of sympathy down below, but nobody said it would be against the rules.

He also wanted this whole fiasco to be over with as quickly as possible. Ever since he had realized that their opponents already knew they were here, the worry and concern gnawing at his insides had only increased as he thought about Aura. Amaryllis would surely be able to handle to handle a pony or two; she was a changeling princess after all and had magic and wings to aid her. “We’re gonna be making this simple, human. You’re gonna come over here, I get to slap you once or twice, drag you in the dungeons and then I’m gonna take my nap. Everyone gets what they deserve,” he heard the voice shout again. At least his opponent seemed to have a sense of humor, he had to admit.

Thanks to her opponent’s frustrated rant, however, he now had a slight clue where he or she was and so he began to concentrate. If it was a unicorn then he should be able to feel their magic aura, but after a few moments, none of the tell-tale signs of a magic user could be felt. That meant it was either an earth pony or a pegasus. “Got ya!” he heard a voice shout triumphantly. His head whirled around and instinctively he made leapt aside. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blurry blue figure, followed by a rainbow, whooshing past him and breaking through the hedge. The wind itself that hit him was almost enough to knock him off his feet. If the pegasus (for it was unlikely it could be anything else) had hit him, then things would definitely not be looking up for him right now. Lucky for him, his opponent had idiotically announced itself before trying to pounce on him. “Owww…” And apparently it had crashed on the other side.

With the staff in one hand and his chain with a few gems in the other, Thiemo started sprinting, his feet beating down on the ground below him. If he was fast enough, he could reach the pegasus before it would be able to recover and it would be an easy game. The problem was that there appeared to be no direct way to it in sight. “Well, if it doesn’t fit, use a bigger hammer… or staff.” With these words, Thiemo tried to make his way through the hedge as well. Using his staff, he started breaking the branches ahead of him, while his other hand was busy widening the hole. It seemed, however, that something didn’t want to let him pass, for suddenly he felt something grabbing his backpack and roughly pulling him out of the hedge again. He landed roughly on his coccyx and looked around to try and see what had grabbed him, while gently rubbing his posterior. In front of his face was a long branch that seemed to have come out of the undergrowth, whipping at him from its end, its agitated movements reminding him of someone scolding a small child. The angry foliage then pointed directly at him and then to the ground before it turned back to the hedge to merge with its comrades, but not before giving him a quick whip on his face. “Oooo…kay… then,” was all Thiemo was able to stammer, flabbergasted at the sight.

“This time you won’t escape me!” He looked above him and for the first time, he made visual contact with his opponent, a cerulean pegasus.

To him, it was a pegasus with a rainbow mane, tail and doubtful sexuality. “Please don’t tell me your name is Gay Pride or something like that.” Maybe he should have stood up before taunting his more-than-just-fast enemy. The blue fur of the pegasus turned into a deep crimson, and again he or she aimed at him with breath-taking speed. His eyes widened and he was only just able to throw himself flat on the ground to avoid her attack. His backpack was not so lucky. The once durable and expensive fabric was literally torn apart and its contents - old boards, bathroom accessories and all his other stuff – were scattered around him. His lamp splintered as it crashed on the ground, causing several shards to gleam brightly on the ground around the area of impact. His small collection of adult books was caught by the violent wind that followed his attacker and was pressed flat against the hedge before they fell on the ground with a dull thud, now damaged and with a few missing pages. As soon as Thiemo noticed the wind was fading, he quickly got up and monitored the sky for the next attack, but found nothing. There was no pegasus of a sexually ambiguous nature up in the sky swooping down to try and kill him, and it was deadly silent as well. A few minutes ago he could hear the rush of the wind and the sounds of some animals in the distant, but now it was like he was in the eye of a storm.

Thiemo started running to change his position and grabbed onto one of the broken shards from his lamp from the ground. The beginnings of an idea had started forming in his mind, but he needed to find something more solid than these hedges for that. Apparently, they seemed to only dislike him, since they had left his opponent untouched so far. He rushed around the next corner and came to a halt in front of something that looked like a memorial, the only thing marring that image was the fact that it looked as though someone had dug something here. Whatever markings that used to be on the stone wall were now unreadable, but that was just what he needed. “Dead end, fella!” Perfect timing. Thiemo spun around at the now familiar voice and saw the pegasus approaching again.

It appeared to have built up a head of steam and was dashing straight towards him. Thiemo took the shard in his hand and raised it high in the air, holding it at such an angle that it got hit by the sun and started aiming it towards his oncoming attacker. The pegasus didn’t seem to have noticed what he was doing, smirking to itself as it saw its prey had come to a halt.

“Come on… YES!” the reflecting light hit pegasus directly in its face. It yelped in surprise, its smirk disappearing as white blotches appeared in its vision, causing it to instinctively put both forehooves in front of its eyes to protect them. Unfortunately, it had forgotten to brake or even aim this time in its panic. Thiemo took a single step to the side and watched as his opponent met the memorial by crashing headfirst into it, a loud crack resounding through the immediate vicinity. Rather bizarrely, it remained glued to the wall for a few moments before it fell on the ground, together with a few pieces of debris that had gotten loose by the force of the impact.

Thiemo waited for a few seconds before he poked his defeated opponent with his staff. It remained motionless, but at least it was still breathing. He brushed across the wings of the pegasus quickly, disabling its magic and rendering it unable to fly for at least the next ten minutes. Only then did he dare to allow himself to step closer. Though the ponies were small, their kicks could be especially brutal. He knew that from Aura, who did this from time to time with a bit too much enthusiasm. The changelings hadn’t held back either, so he had learnt to respect just what they could do with their hard hooves. “First things first.” He stopped next to the pegasus and bent down to answer the question that had bothered him since he had run into her. He placed his hand on its tail and lifted it up, baring all to his eyes. “Mare. Huh. With that voice she’d make an excellent Marge Simpson.” The colorful appendage fell back on the ground again and he stepped over to her head. “So… where did you hide your crown or amulet?” He turned the mare on her back and quickly found what he was looking for. Around her neck hung a thick golden chain, in which a large red ruby in the form of a lightning bolt was set. Thiemo’s gaze shifted towards her flank where a rainbow-colored lightning bolt striking out of a cloud indicated her cutie mark. The two were identical. “I’m sorry about your amulet, sweetie, but you lost.” With one strong yank, he separated pony and amulet. He was surprised that it was even heavier than it looked. “This must be pure gold. Worth a small fortune, for sure.” Quickly, he put it in his coat’s pocket and got up from his kneeling position before he knocked off the dirt of his clothes.

Slowly, he went back to where his belongings were scattered around the ground. Meanwhile, he thought about the just recently concluded fight. It had been more than obvious from her fighting style that she was not a soldier. Her attacks had been hasty and seemed to lack thought, but were strong nevertheless. If she had gotten even once strike in, it would have been more than enough to smash his thorax. Even if he was dealing with amateurs here, he still had to be careful. Looking at the prone pony on the ground, another thought struck him. If the other ponies Eris had sent were pegasi, then why didn’t they come to her aid? That could only mean that none of her friends were nearby and they did not have wings, or at least most them did not. It also meant that he not only had to contend with pegasi, but also the possibility of unicorns and earth ponies. If there were six of them as Eris had claimed, then it would be likely that there were two of each kind as well.

Well, at least now he had one of the more dangerous pony races out of the way. Pegasi could fly and therefore could move like a knight across a checkerboard, unhindered by any obstacle. This could be especially lethal inside the confines of a maze. Not only could they look at everything from above and find the right place to ambush their prey, they could also attack from any other direction they wished. He rubbed his eyes, feeling a headache coming on. He knew he had to be careful, for if the second pegasus showed a bit of savviness and didn’t not announce its attack like a bad villain from the 80’s, then he would have a problem. As long as his gaze stayed inside the maze, he could theoretically cover three sides, yet his back would be open to attack. If he concentrated on keeping his eyes on the skies, then he would only be able to plug one possible route of attack and would be vulnerable to an ambush on the ground. In the end, it was only one pegasus and four ponies on the ground, therefore it was clear where his focus had to be.

Thiemo finally reached the spot where the remains of his belongings had been scattered, surveying the damage with a shake of his head. Right next to him, on the hedge itself, were the shreds of fabric that had once made up his backpack. He picked most of them free from the hedge and tied the loose ends together in such a way that he ended up with a small yet crude bag he could use to store his stuff until everything here was over. He first put his small purse in, then the bathroom accessories, then his tools for creating gemstones and the ones he had not primed yet. With these items his bag was full, and putting anything more in it could make it burst, a risk he didn’t want to take.

He looked at the place for a final time before leaving. The other shards of his lamp were reflecting the sunlight well and could be easily spotted from any observing eyes up in the sky and give away where he was if he remained much longer. His way led him in the opposite direction of where he had left the unconscious pegasus. Just like him, she had been shouting for her friends. Seeing as she had come from the direction he was now headed, her friends must be in the other.

Quickly, he went around a few corners and curves before his steps slowed down again. With enough distance between him and the fighting ground, he had to try and use his powers as carefully as possible. Breathing a bit easier, he continued on his journey, playing with the amulet in his pocket until he noticed a statue. It was a pegasus with a horn. No, that wasn’t right; upon closer inspection, it had three horns, overshadowing him the way how tall it was. Even if Thiemo had stepped next to the statue on the pedestal, it would still be a head taller than him. And then there were the wings. The creature didn’t have two but six. With one hand, he dusted the plate on the pedestal of the statue, clearing the dirt that had obscured the writing. Though dulled with age, he could still manage to make out the number nine thousand engraved on it. He shrugged and continued walking on the arc that led to a larger, round, open field of the maze. In this area there were a more statues as well. Curious, he went over to the first one. Once again, it was a pegasus with a horn, this time about his size. The mane of the statue was split at the horn, so that a few loose hairs seemed to be forever falling into the face of the frozen stallion. The fur on his back was ruffled, almost as though it was disturbed by a non-existent wind. The strangest thing, however, was that the stallion was somehow holding a scythe in his hoof. His right foreleg was wound around the handle, clutching it in an everlasting grip. Like the last one, this statue’s words were written on the plate near the pedestal. Blue Light. He couldn’t draw any connection to the name, so he moved on to the next.

Once again, it was pegasus with a horn. “Looks like a trend,” he muttered to himself as he inspected the armor this one was wearing. The most noticeable feature of this statue was the wicked-looking fangs that protruded from the statue’s mouth. Nightmare Moon, the plate read, another name that meant nothing to him. He could only shrug and move to the next pedestal in the circle of statues. His eyes still locked on the base, he read the plate first. Faust.

His interest piqued, his gaze wandered upwards but he didn’t find what he was looking for. The statue was missing and so he only found one of the four exits of the place. It was what was there instead that surprised him. With wide eyes, a yellow pony stood there and hadn’t moved a muscle. For a few seconds, neither did Thiemo, but as soon as he did the pegasus seemed to shake itself out of its frozen state. “Mieeep!” was all he heard as her wings unfolded and she ran off.
Thiemo had expected a lot of things; the mare trying to tackle, screaming for help, or something completely different. Her running away, with run being the operative word, was not one these things.

There were no doubts that this was a mare as well. Those shapely flanks that he fixated on as she was running off spoke a clear language. Now, the hunt was on. “Bambi! Come back Bambi!” he shouted after her and started gaining speed, trying to follow the pegasus into the maze. “I’m sorry I hurt your friend, Bambi.” Sometimes, only sometimes, he really liked being an asshole.

Author's Notes:

There is a song in Germany:" It's cool the be an asshole." I had to play that while I wrote the chapter again and again. Its a stupid song, but it fits so well xD

Special thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
And as you know it, also thanks to JBL for proofreading, editing, etc.