The last time Aura felt so lonely was in the dark chamber with the changelings. Still, even as time passed by, the little nymphs would get clingy, helping her feel a little better. In this maze, however, the only thing she had to look forward to were the large hedges and statues that could have come straight from her nightmares. They had open eyes, but the lack of pupils still made them see cold and empty as they loomed wickedly over her. The occasional screams she could here in the distant, together with the rustling of the leaves being blown over the dry ground at the most inconvenient times by the wind, were not helpful either.

Several times she had called for her father, her only friend. Now, however, her tiny throat was hoarse and the only sound she seemed to be able to make was her snivelling. “I have to… I have to be strong.” Her dad had promised her one thing: he would always find her. “I will not cry and Dad will be proud of me when he finds me.” These words made up the little mantra she kept on repeating as she pressed forward.

Here tiny hooves brought her to the next crossway, and she quickly marked the way she had come from, a little line in the dust at the edge of the hedge. Every time she did it, she felt as though her reserve of willpower had slowly eroded a bit more, as something inside her told that these plants were not natural and she should stay away from them. She could have even sworn that they were moving from time to time, like a pair of eyes that were constantly following her every move.

It didn’t matter to the little filly that the sun was shining brightly up in the sky; to her, it might have well been the darkest night she had ever lived through. No birds, no animals; only the wind, herself and the statues. The way too realistic statues with their empty eyes. They looked as though they had been captured in stone in mid-movement, and when they awake to life they would continue their reign of terror over whoever was in the vicinity, which meant her.

Sniffing again, she turned towards one of the three paths ahead of her. It didn’t matter which one she took, the whole purpose of a maze was to get lost in it. And that was exactly what she was - lost. This pathway was exactly like the others: green creeps overshadowing both sides, a blue sky acting as a roof above her and the statues spread out every few metres to the left and the right. And yet, despite being frightened by them, she still looked at them every time. Just to make sure they wouldn’t leap at her and devour her the moment she dared to look away.

What she didn’t expect, however, was talking. “Hi.” With a scream of pure terror and surprise, she turned around and sped off, only to stumble and bump into something, causing her to fall to the ground with a grunt. She closed her eyes tightly, trembling violently. If she couldn’t see it, it couldn’t see her either, right? “Hey, are you alright?” Slowly and carefully, she opened one eye, then the other. To her left was the hoof of a goat, to her right the clunky foot of a dragon adorned with sharp claws. Again she screamed and tried to run away, but something was holding her tail in a vicelike grip. She kept running in the same spot for a few seconds, unable to move forward despite how desperately she tried before she finally sank down to the ground, all limbs sprawled out, her chest heaving rapidly, trying to suck in as much oxygen as possible. Her eyes became blurry as tears welled up and a few streaked hotly down her face and soaking into her fur. The head of the creature that was responsible for taking her dad away slowly made its way into her field of view, its body upside down. The creature was bending over her and grinning at her, its fang gleaming wickedly in the sunshine.

Before she could scream again at the sight of its sharp tooth that brought horrifying images of being ripped apart to her young mind, a tendril quickly wound over her mouth to snap it shut. The creature’s grin slowly faded as it studied it. It’s probably thinking how best to eat you, her treacherous thoughts whispered in her mind. “Foals. They would be quite cute if not for their constant screaming and whining,” it commented dryly. The strange creature threw its arms in the air and let loose a strange box in its right paw. It sailed a few meters over the hedge, before it made a loud pop and confetti started raining down for a few seconds.

Aura forgot herself for a minute as she stared, amazed by the display before remembering where she was, and quickly wriggled free of the tendril as the draconequus was momentarily distracted. “What do you want? Where is my Dad?” she blurted out, trying to look intimidating. She hadn’t intended to scream at the creature; these were just the questions that had been on the tip of her tongue all the while.

“Weeeeeeell, right now your father is hunting butterflies.” Both looked at each other, one warily and the other with an innocent look on her face. “Really! If you’re very quiet, you should be able to hear him.” Aura raised her ears and waited. “There!” Nothing could be heard. Annoyed, the creature pulled back its coat and a little watch around its arm came into sight. “Now!”

“Bambi! Come back Bambi!” It was quiet, very quiet, but it was clearly the voice of her father.

“He’s hunting a butterfly named Bambi?” The creature waved off her question.

“Actually her name is Fluttershy and it is very amusing to run after her. We keep running around the bed for hours.” The creature sighed at the puzzled look on her face. “Maybe when you’re older.”

“Who are you? What do you want?” The creature stepped over to her, working her arms in the air like she had a string between her claws, and automatically, Aura’s body was lifted into the air without even moving a single muscle.

Again the creature sighed and dropped its arms, causing her to fall onto the dirt floor once again. “I explained everything to you earlier. Foals… no attention span. Me Eris, this big playground. You get the amulets and the crown, you win. You get defeated, you lose.” Aura sniffled again. “Oh for the sake of the little sanity that is left in me, what is it now?”

“I-I was scared and didn’t listen.” The tears that had ceased momentarily came back even stronger as Aura began crying loudly while the agonized draconequus covered its ears.

“Thanks for reminding me why I always say no to Fluttershy!” Eris roared at Aura, but it did not have the desired effect; if anything, it caused the filly to start crying louder while cowering on the grass. “Alright, alright,” Eris sighed resignedly, pinching the bridge of her snout in frustration. Again a tendril emerged from the hedges to silence Aura. The poor filly didn’t have time to react before Eris was picking her up, and with one leap they flew over the wall of plants. Once on the other side, she placed Aura on the grass; the filly wobbled a bit, looking as though she would collapse upon the ground, before she steadied herself. “Now, keep going in this direction and then you’ll find the Bearer of one of the amulets.” She pushed Aura lightly in the right direction.

“Ow! Watch your claws!” she yelped. She rubbed her flank and slowly got moving again. After a few meters, she looked behind her, but the strange creature, this Eris, was gone. “A-Adults. So easy to manipulate.” Unfortunately, that had stopped working with her father a long time ago. She rubbed the tears out of her eyes. She would never tell anyone that they were real.

Lady Rarity, owner of two boutiques, one in Canterlot and one in Manehatten, calmly trotted, step by step, through the large hedge maze. Not that it was her first time here, or the second. She had been here quite often. Every time when she came to the capital to visit her store in the town, she almost always stopped by to take a short trip through the astonishing gardens of the castle, and that included a trip through the maze. The time where she had to craft her masterpieces by hoof, night after night, was long gone. These days she only designed, and if she did lend a hoof, it was merely for fun or when it was either for one of her friends or a very important customer. Once a design had been completed, she would send it to the boutiques and received a finished piece in return. With her approval, only then would it go on sale. Every single piece was still unique and of only the highest quality.

With the free time she had gained from her career development, she had used to spend more time with her friends and her sister. Or on a date every now and then. That was precisely why she came up here today as well. It was Twilight’s first term as an active princess, and she had asked for her help. It wasn’t matters of state or dealing with some of the more bold nobles that she had to with, however. No, instead she had to try to keep Eris’ claws and paws away from her friend. Rarity sighed, knowing she would have to put up with the erratic behavior from the draconequus. She was Fluttershy’s marefriend, and it was obvious that the shy pegasus seemed to attract the boldest and daring of partners. Just look at Angel. Honestly, she was surprised that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had never tried anything in the past. As far as she could tell, the two of them would have made a lovely couple.

Now she and Applejack were the only two left from their illustrious group without a partner. Well, and Twilight too, but somehow that didn’t count for Rarity. At least her friend had an eternity to find out how much nicer time would be if not spend alone. That line of thought had her mind wandering into a different sort of direction. Surely the guards would come as soon as the maze was no longer under Eris’ spell, and perhaps there would be a handsome young stallion to come to her rescue. Maybe a strong pegasus to carry her off into the sunset on his strong wings. Yes, these were the kinds of thoughts that would keep her happy, allowing her to push the fact that the bumpy road was ruining her freshly manicured hooves to the back of her mind. Or that the direct glare of Celestia’s sun was bad for her mane. Eris seriously should have at least given her a hat early. But she was a lady and as such she would get this situation with all the necessary poise and grace.

At that moment, all thoughts of being sunburned were abruptly shaken from her mind as she felt her flanks make painful contact with the ground as something slammed her from the side. “Ow… this is going to bruise, I just know it.” As if the heavens had heard her statement and decided to mock her, there was now a clearly visible bump underneath her white coat. Poking it with even the gentlest of touches caused her to wince with pain. She turned on her stomach and started searching for what had caused the accident, but the dust was preventing her from seeing anything. Then there was the sound of a cough, and a filly stepped next to her.

Rarity was confused at first, eying the small foal hesitantly. Just what was a filly doing here? Then, remembering where she was and the position she was in, she quickly rose from the ground. “Are you alright, darling? You have to watch out where you are running.” She shook some loose dirt off her coat, causing more dust to cloud the air around her. “How did you even get here? It is not safe here at the moment.” Then she remembered what Eris had said, though it wasn’t like she had a hundred reasons to doubt her. The filly didn’t respond and just kept on looking at her. No, not at her, but the Element around her neck. “Ahem. My name is Rarity and I’m one of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, so you can trust me. Come with me, a human is on the loose somewhere around here,” she urged, trying to look as friendly as possibly. The poor thing was reminding her of Sweetie Belle when she was younger and not performing on the many stages all over Equestria. Her practiced eye caught onto the fact that her little friend must have been crying not too long ago. Her eyes were bloodshot and there were clear trails of tears left on her coat near her cheek.

“I’m scared!” she squeaked and instantly it clicked for Rarity. She couldn’t watch a foal cry. Her nature and years of being a sister simply didn’t allow it.

“Oh, come here to aunt Rarity. Then I’ll get you out of here,” she cooed softly. Slowly, she stepped closer to the little, orange filly, until she eventually reached out her hoof and pulled her close to her. She knew how the heartbeat of another pony could calm down a filly, as well as the actual physical contact. There was a simple reason why she remembered such things. Rarity wanted some foals of her own, her own little family. Giving life was the greatest gift, after all.

A few moments later, the two ponies separated from each other. “Thanks, I’m feeling much better now.” The eyes of the filly wandered past her, then widened in shock. “What’s that?!” Quickly, Rarity spun around and looked around, but she only found the empty path between her and the edges in front of her. She turned around again to the same sight.

The filly was gone. “Sweetie? Where are you? Come back!” she shouted, but got no response. As she was wont to do when she was worried, she grasped her hoof at her chest. She groped again. And again. Her Element was gone. It didn’t even take two seconds for her to realize what had happened. “Oh, that little brat,” she seethed to herself. She ran off and followed the only path the filly could have taken. “On no, not with Rarity,” she said to herself as she kicked up a cloud of dust behind her as she galloped onward. Meanwhile, an unwanted thought crossed her mind, whispering that she should have taken the fitness course from Aloe and Lotus.

Aura, carrying the Element on her stomach in the fashion of a belt, ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. Since she was an earth pony, her speed was pretty impressive. In her mind, she lectured herself for getting frightened again. Not even two minutes after Eris had left her again had the tears reappeared. But she had to be strong. Her father wanted to win this game and she wanted to help him.

And now she had gathered one of the Elements for him. Thiemo always said, especially lately, that stealing was bad, but this was a game so it didn’t count. Right?

She almost drifted into the hedge as she ran around the next corner, and would have if she hadn’t caught herself at the last moment. “Hey! Where ya going so fast, missy?” Confused at unfamiliar voice, Aura aimed a look behind her. Behind her ran another pony, also with one of those amulets around her neck. Her coat was a similar orange to her own and her mane was blond. “Ya stop right there this instance! It’s dangerous here!” Aura could see that the other mare was well trained; she was almost flying over the ground and it didn’t even seem to physically faze her.

But she had to flee first. Surely this one wouldn’t be very keen on seeing her with one of the necklaces. She shifted her gaze to the front again, and just in time too. In front of her, the path diverted to the left and right and she was about to crash into the hedges ahead of her. She quickly braked and drifted to the left, before starting to sprint again.

“There you are!” The voice definitely belonged to the white unicorn she had met earlier.

“Rarity?” She could hear the other one shouting.

“Applejack? Quick, catch that little brat. She stole my Element.” Aura could hear the orange mare gaining speed. Her hooves were pounding on the ground even faster, and Aura knew that she had little chance of escape. The next crossroads looked so far away that there was no chance of reaching it before her followers gained vision of her again so they wouldn’t see which way she took.

“Rarity, I can’t stop her. She’ll get hurt at this speed.” She quickly threw a look behind her and saw that this Applejack was on the level of her tail already. But as long as she kept running, they wouldn’t do anything.

She grinned. “We will win! You’ll never catch me. Just wait until I find my father!” She gave everything her legs could and took another turn.

“Ah don’t wanna hurt her, Rares! Use ya fancy magic.” Her pursuers couldn’t be around the corner too, otherwise they would have known that she had a problem now, that being she had run into a dead end. She wondered why she hadn’t found one earlier. It was the same kind of luck her dad had; she was much like him in that area. Should she be happy now or scared because of her pursuers?

She chose panic and turned around on her heels, trying to take the other way. “Oh no you don’t!” Unfortunately, all the speed she had built up was lost in the turnaround, and Applejack had apparently deemed her slow enough now. She felt teeth enclosing her tail and for the second time today, she landed on the ground, limbs sprawled in the air.

The orange mare stepped closer with high lifted head, only her eyes looking down. They literally shun green in the shadow, her hat obscuring the rest of her face. “I want to my Dad,” Aura managed to sniffle and a single tear appeared. She had no problem producing tears now after this rough landing.

Her alabaster friend trotted up next to her, breathing heavily. “Careful, Applejack. She tried the same thing with me.”

Applejack nodded, the gesture barely noticeable. “Don’t ya worry, Rares, ah know she’s just acting.” She leaned down to Aura. “And ah also know that you were really frightened. So how ‘bout givin’ mah friend her property back?” Aura shook her head. “We caught ya, so act nice now. We’re gonna bring ya back to the castle and then we’ll get ya parents.”

“My father will win this game. It doesn’t matter if you catch me or not.” Tears, real tears, formed in the eyes of the filly, threatening to spill over.

Rarity leaned over to Applejack. “I think she’s had enough.” With that, she untied the Element from the downcast filly and placed it back around her neck. “That’s better.” She pushed Applejack aside, who was still staring at the filly with a flat look. “So, Darling, tell me about this game you are talking about.”

“Well, the game was that we were supposed to catch you and bring the amulets and a crown to this Eris.” Rarity and Applejack exchanged worried looks.

“Do ya think she turned evil again?” Rarity didn’t know what to make of the filly’s claims on such short notice.

“It certainly bears some of her trademarks.” She turned to the filly again. “So, what’s your name and are the others in ‘we’?”

Again she sniffled. Rarity could see how exhausted the poor thing was. The adrenalin must have been carrying her all the while, and now it seemed it had passed, leaving the filly looking drained. “I am…” she was interrupted by a hiccup. Her heavy, unsteady breathing also wasn’t doing her any favours when it came to forming a coherent sentence. “I… I am Aura.”

“And who is your father?” Applejack threw at her as soon as she had answered, still keeping a firm eye on their captive to prevent her from running away, though her voice had adopted a slight more friendly tone.

“Thiemo.” Both adults were confused.

“Just Thiemo?” Aura nodded. “Where are you two from? I have never heard of names like Aura or Thiemo.” The filly mumbled something. “Come again?”

“I don’t know.” Rarity adopted a baffled look and Aura continued. “I was found somewhere in Dragmire. My father is from Cervi… Cervis…. Cervisomething.”

“So he is a deer? A scholar from far away? Isn’t that exciting, Applejack? Just imagine Twilight’s reaction.” Her friend could only roll her eyes at the thought.

“He is not a deer. What is a deer? He is a human.” The color faded from the faces of the two ponies. “And Aura is just my nickname. Dad said my full name is too long and Aura is easier to shout or something.”

“And what is your full name, darling?” Rarity didn’t know what to make of this. The father of this foal was supposed to be a human? No, not her biological father. She said she was found on Dragmire. Did he foalnap her like Eris said?

“Auralia.” A muffled bump was heard as Applejack's flanks hit the ground.

“C-Can ya repeat that, Sugarcube?” Rarity could see the complete bewilderment that grew in Applejack’s face.

“Auralia.” What followed next surprised Rarity. Applejack grabbed the startled filly and pulled her into a full embrace, her forehooves fiercely enveloping the tiny body. It was a hug that didn’t seem as though it would come to an end in the near future.

Well, it had been funny for the first ten or twenty rounds, but now it was getting boring. Thiemo had run a quarter of an hour after the surprisingly quick pegasus until he took the time to look at their surroundings. They always turned right and therefore had kept running in a circle. Without further ado, he pushed, with a little help from the earth element, two of the numerous statues in front of the only two paths leading away from here. The other ones were dead ends or were leading back to the center of the maze. Or at least he suspected this to be the center. After all, he doubted these statues had been placed here for simple decoration.

“Eeeep!” And she started to run the thirty-first lap. Thiemo just stood on one point in the way and simply turned as soon as he heard her shrieking.

At some point he had started to feel some sympathy for the poor thing. She seemed to be scared to death of him, though most of that could be attributed to his actions. She didn’t even notice that she had been running in a circle, her entire focus being on escaping from him. He tried calling to her and catching her, but she was too fast. Most of her speed seemed to come from her flapping her wings in order to give her a boost, reminding him faintly of a chicken that could not achieve full flight. Thiemo, however, was sure she was able to fly. Physically, she was quite similar to the other pegasus, the notable differences being her fur colour, mane style and the slight softness of her body that seemed so strange on a species that typically prided themselves on their athletic build. He bit his lip lightly. If such a body could be transformed into a human blonde, then his hands would have surely found a way to latch onto her. Only reluctantly was he able to admit that he found her attractive, even if she was a pony. “And I’m her beast,” he murmured to himself.

With one foot tapping on the ground, he waited for her to come around the corner. This time she was significantly slower. “The poor thing is going to fall over from exhaustion.” Yes, he had had his fun at her expense, but now it was enough. “After all, I need to win.” With a sigh, he threw his staff into his left hand and reached into the pocket of his coat. He felt some gems which he had unfortunately dumped into the same pocket in his hurry. At some point he felt an ember between his middle and forefinger and he pulled it out.

With a quick turn on his heels, he turned around and walked over the edge where his prey would come stumbling along. He kneeled down and leaned against the hedge. The branches and tendrils immediately sprang to life and pushed against him. Then he heard her steps as she came closer. Pony steps were not only much louder than their human equivalent, they also sounded like there were a bunch of people coming. It was something which often caused him to ask Deerling if she had brought company.

The pegasus came around the corner without noticing Thiemo, and his hand moved quickly to the ground. Energy flew through the stone into the earth, and at that next moment, a clay wall shot out of the ground and blocked her way. She screeched to a momentary halt in front of the wall blocking her path. Catching sight of the human kneeling next to it, her eyes widened as she began running again. This time she was running straight past him. Thiemo, however, was still connected to the stone, and he reacted before she could escape.

A second wall shot out of the ground so quickly that she now had no chance of reacting, causing her to crash into it. She didn’t get knocked out though; she didn’t have anything even resembling the speed of her friend. She tumbled backwards a bit and huddled into a cowering ball of fur, her fearfully eyes staring at him. Slowly, and with both hands stretched out, Thiemo stood up again. “No worries, we can solve this peacefully.”

If she had been frightened earlier, she was now far beyond that, as she simply feigned death. With a swoon that reminded him of a dying swan, she fell on her back, legs raised high into the air, eyes closed and her tongue lolled out of her mouth. It was so long it even reached the ground. Heh, imagine what she could- nope, not going there. Thiemo rolled his eyes at her theatrics and kneeled down next to her. “You know, in the three years I played World of Warcraft not a single hunter managed to trick me with that, and neither will you.” Still no reaction, no breathing. Thiemo wondered to himself if she was the world champion in holding her breath and considered putting it to the test. Well, since her heart was clearly pounding in the silence, he decided not to. So he poked her carefully with his finger in her side. “Come on. I just want to talk.” He poked her again, and the corner of her mouth turned upward slightly. “Ticklish eh?” He reached out with an outstretched hand and laid into her sides, watching as her legs began kicking and twitching in the air while she began laughing, though it sounded more like a giggle, a cute giggle.

When he abruptly stopped she seemed to notice her mistake, and like a lightning bolt she shot behind a statue to her right. Then she murmured something. “What was that?” Again a murmur. “Excuse me?” Again, only a whisper that vanished in the few meters between them. “Speak girl! Speak!”

“Please don’t hurt me!” From the way she clenched her eyes and opened her jaws, Thiemo would have expected her to be bellowing her words. Instead, they came out at a normal volume.

“See! That wasn’t so hard.” Thiemo clapped his hands, to which she only winced again. “Sorry. Look, I’m not really after you.” She pointed at herself with one hoof. Her eyes, a mixture from cyan blue and grass green, were aimed at the ground. “Exactly. I’m not after you, but I do want the thing around your neck. I want to win.”

“Uhm… win what?” She noticed that she had talked again before she could catch herself and cringed again. She was quite cute, but if she was always like this, Thiemo didn’t know if he could stand to hold a conversation with her for ten minutes. “If you don’t mind tell me, that is.”

“Well, the game obviously! The game of this Eris. She said she would teach me if I bring her these trinkets.” Thiemo could only watch as her hoof wrapped around the leg of a statue and started to squeeze with so much force that cracks began to appear on its exterior. As he looked back at this strange yellow pegasus with the butterflies on her flank, it was his turn to wince.

Her eyes were wide, and she stared at him. “This is no game! You are going to stop this right now, Mister. Then I’m going to have a word with Eris.” They both looked at each other for a few seconds with neither of them blinking.

“Errr… that’s definitely not going to happen. So, you’re giving me your necklace now?” Her eyes shrunk back down to normal size.

“Uhm… okay.” She used both her forehooves to untie the necklace. It fell on the ground and she pushed it with her snout into his direction.

“Thanks, that was everything I needed.” Thiemo stood up, cleaned his coat and stepped next to his created wall. “Have a good day.” With a tip of his staff against the wall, it decomposed into dust and he marched away. After a few steps, he stopped and looked back. The pegasus was trotting behind him, her head hanging low.

“Uhh… Well… the necklace is very important to me and… I… uh… kind of want it back after the game,” she answered his unasked question. He shrugged and continued walking, now with the pegasus on his heels.

Author's Notes:

I think my little helpers are so in the story that they can't stop, seeing how fast they finish one chapter after another. Well, I won't complain and nether will any of you I guess. So, this time I have a little blog entry for you. Maybe you want to check it out, because picture: http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/248270/journey-cover-in-progress

Sincere thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
And as always, special thanks to JBL for proofreading, editing, etc.