Thiemo had met a lot of dangerous creatures on his journeys, some more dangerous than others. Compared to some of them, griffons and diamond dogs - creatures that many ponies would consider dangerous - were merely annoying. For instance, there was the time he had run into some sort of panther creature. He hadn’t thought about asking for its name since he had been running for his life at the time, so he had stuck with that title. From what he could recall, the creature had had a blue coat, three violet eyes and just as many tails. He hadn’t gotten the chance to observe it longer as it had charged at him, determined to include him in its next meal. Incidentally, it was the panicked scream of a human that had eventually brought Zarni along and saved him from his unpleasant fate.

Then there was the phoenix, a very volatile bird who had had fire to wield at his disposal. At least, if he wanted to, and Thiemo had managed to accomplish just that. It hadn’t been very difficult. Those birds were naturally attracted to two things: fire being the obvious first, with magic being the other one. A ruby, enchanted into a talisman to serve as a heat source, was just what he had been waiting for. He had not been very pleased with Thiemo, who had mistaken the thieving bird for a forest fire in his drowsy state and had poured a ration of water onto its head. Weeks after the incident, he still could smell the burnt odour emanating from his hair.

All of this went some way in explaining his reaction today as he came face to face with the angry unicorn-pegasus mixture. To be specific, he sought safety in flight. Without caring about Fluttershy or his opponent any longer, he turned around and ran. Nothing would bring him to stand against an unknown creature that could get these hedges from hell to bend against its will.

“Oh no! You’re staying right here!” Just as his opponent had finished her sentence, he was overtaken by a wave of purple energy. It reached out for a few more meters and then stopped in front of him. He wasn’t able to stop in time but managed to push his hands in front of him to cushion up the impact. A quick look behind him showed him that his opponent was coming closer, still with the maniacal grin on her face.

“Excuse me, whoever and whatever you are, but I have other things to do.” Quickly, he tapped his staff against the shield but nothing happened. Confused, he repeated the process, this time with more force, but the magical shield withstood. “Are you kidding me? Now you bail out on me?!” Of course, he got no response. Panicked, he fished the first gem he could fumble out of his pocket.

“So, are you surrendering, or do we have to do this the hard way?” Thiemo spun around and saw the purple unicorn with wings. A quick glance at his hand allowed him to take a small breath of relief.

“You know, I think the exit was in the other direction anyways.” The sapphire began to glow, and he soared over the pony in one leap. Apparently, she hadn’t expected him to do something like that and stood there for a few moments, a stunned look on her face. With the magical boost flowing in his veins, he ran past Fluttershy, who had managed to climb up the hedge by now, through the hole and to the next crossroad before the enhancement vanished. Opening his hand revealed that there was nothing left of the talisman but a small pile of ash. “Damn, why is the staff not working?” Thiemo hammered it a few times into his left hand but again nothing happened. It was as if the staff was refusing to serve him.

“It came from over there.” Oh great, just what I needed, he thought sourly. He looked around the corner and saw multiple ponies rushing down the path. What confused him was the big, black thing on the back of a pink mare. Amaryllis hooves dragged over the ground while she was being forcibly carried around, her body bouncing up and down in time with her captor’s movements.

Quickly, he jerked back his head and looked behind him. Through the hole, he could see that Miss Purple had apparently also noticed what had happened and took up pursuit. Up front was a dead end, so the only remaining pathway was to the right. However, that would mean the other ponies would spot him as well. “Twilight, he is over here!” He chanced another look behind him and saw Fluttershy, who was pointing at him from above, the little traitor.

Without hesitation, he took to his heels and dashed around the corner. He could hear some happy shouts behind him as the ponies reunited as a group, though it felt like the formation of a mob to him. Eris must have separated them as well. That particular thought brought his mind back to Aura for a moment. It was a small blessing that she wasn’t here right now, so he didn’t have to worry about her getting hurt. However, it changed nothing about the fact that he had to deal with five ponies at once now.

He quickly sped around the next corner, spotting a small pile of dirt that looked familiar to him. Well, as familiar as a pile of dirt could be. Finally, he realized why, as he found himself in the center of the maze again, surrounded by statues. Just as he was about to run to the other exit, a white unicorn appeared, its sides heaving heavily as it tried to catch its breath. He turned aside, but there already was another pony, this time an orange earth pony with an orange mane buried underneath a Stetson. For the first time, he looked closer at her and could now strike Aura from his list of missing companions. Similar to Amaryllis, she was snuggled up on the mare’s back, sound asleep. If she wasn’t with the enemy now, he would have gazed upon her, chuckling at how adorable she looked. Storing that thought for a time when his life wasn’t in danger, he spun around completely, only to see that every exit was blocked. Behind the pink pony, who was pointing a cannon of all things at him, stood Fluttershy, and in the exit behind him, which had just served his entrance, stood Miss Purple.

“Fine then, you said something about doing this the hard way? Why don’t you show me what you’ve got,” he shot at her. Even if running had been his first option, he would never go down without a fight. Quickly, he went through his options. His staff didn’t work on the shield for reasons unknown to him. She had wings, so that meant she could fly. It was more than passing strange that she hadn’t attempted to do so previously. Maybe her wings were just magically attached or something, and she wasn’t used to them. He had a niggling suspicion that she primarily relied on her magic. That meant he would be evading instead of directly blocking, and returning the fire with the few resources he had at the right moment.

“Go get ‘im, Sugarcube!” the orange mare encouraged her friend. At the sound of her voice, Thiemo had to hold back a laugh at the stereotypical accent, despite the gravity of the situation. Did Equestria even have something like the Southern States?

“Don’t worry, Applejack, this is going to be fast and painless. At least for me.” At least she was self-assured. Thiemo checked one more time he couldn’t get past any of the other ponies, but Purple seemed to notice that. Her horn glowed, and before Thiemo could react, a kind of bubble formed over the entire square with the two of them as its only inmates. It looked very similar to the shield from before; this must have been a modification to prevent his escape. “Last chance,” she warned.

“Try me,” he retorted. She grinned and so did Thiemo. Without the need of anyone giving them a starting signal, she shot off a magic missile towards him, but he expected it and quickly stepped aside. More shots immediately followed the first, and Thiemo took cover behind a statue of somepony called, rather fittingly, Spell Shield. Without looking, he grabbed inside the Pandora’s Box which was his pocket and pulled out another stone. This time it was a lapis lazuli.

He engulfed it with his hand and stuck his head out of his cover, only to immediately pull it back to safety as she swiftly sent more magical missiles his way. His opponent was slowly but steadily, step by step, coming closer to his position. He rapidly ran through several possible ideas in his mind before he settled on one. Trying to be as unnoticeable as possible, he placed his hand on the stone around the corner and aimed for the ground in front of the pony. Within seconds, ice was forming on the ground, and he could hear her confused yelp as she slipped. Thiemo used the moment to emerge from behind the statue, which was greatly damaged by now, and fired an ice ball at Purple, who was lying on the ground.

Unfortunately, she had noticed what was coming towards her, and with a bright flash, she disappeared, only to reappear half a second later with another flash. No, this time he wasn’t dealing with a show off like Trixie.

Purple was quick to open fire repeatedly, forcing Thiemo to take cover behind another statue again. While he was reaching for the next stone, he waited for the impact, but there was none. “How dare you using Starswirl the Bearded as a shield!” His opponent’s voice resounded throughout their makeshift arena, outrage mixed into her words. Surprised, he turned around and saw the missiles hurtling into the sky. For a second he was relieved, before realizing that the old saying that went along the lines of what goes up must come down was about to kick in harshly. He was able to crawl away just in time, as the two magic projectiles, each one of the size of his head, slammed into the ground where he had just been crouching.

With both missiles out of the way, it was his turn again. While he was dashing over to the next statue, he aimed at Purple, who stood between the statues of Nightmare Moon and Blue Light. It was only through the brown glow in his hand and the ensuing sensation that he realized he had taken hold of an amber. A pillar shot out of the ground underneath Purple and threw her a few meters in the air. Without wasting a second, he pulled out the next talisman and got lucky. A sapphire. His hand went on the ground, and he banged his staff against a large stone that had fallen out of Spell Shield’s statue. Squinting his eyes to concentrate, he aimed at the pony in the air, who was quickly losing the momentum from his last attack, and threw the stone. Not without magically accelerating his hand, of course.

As quick as lightning, her wings unfolded mid-air, and the stone collided against another purple barrier in front of her. “Twilight,” a familiar voice shouted, and Thiemo looked past the flying unicorn, seeking the source of the distraction. Behind her, outside of the barrier, hovered the pegasus he had met before and knocked unconscious. Well, she had technically knocked herself out due to her own rashness and stupidity, but that was merely nit-picking. “He got mine and Fluttershy’s Element in his weird pockets!”

“Understood, Rainbow Dash. It’s no problem. I got this.” Thiemo used the distraction the newcomer has caused and positioned himself underneath Purple, or Twilight, as the featherbrain had referred to her. Another stone soared from his hand directly at his opponent, shooting directly up at her. She reacted at the last moment to the projectile, shooting it with a blast from her horn. The stone disintegrated entirely into dust, which fortunately still found its target, so she had to cover her eyes with her hooves to avoid being blinded. He was prepared for that and pulled out another lapis lazuli. Another ice ball formed in his hand above the talisman and as soon as it was large enough, Thiemo opened fire.

“Watch out, darling!” Another voice shouted, and again Twilight’s horn flashed with the same result as before. She disappeared, but this time he wasn’t able to see or hear where she had reappeared.

The next thing he felt was something making violent contact with his back as it catapulted him a few meters in the air before smashing him harshly onto the ground. Bumping around on the dirt, it was only the edge of the barrier that halted his advancement. “Flies and still gets a heads up. Pretty unfair, isn’t it?” Thiemo said as loudly as he could over the pain he felt in every limb. He rose from the ground again, this time more shakily. Wiping away the dirt that coated his face caused him to grimace, as there were a few flecks of blood mingled in with it.

“Then you shouldn’t have messed with Rainbow Dash!” the mare from outside the barrier replied with a wide grin.

“Aw, who’s talking ‘bout you? Sore loser and an obnoxious cunt all wrapped up in one clam jousting package, eh?” Turning his back to her so he could focus on his fight, he could hear the gnashing teeth of the blue mare in the background. Then she was hitting the barrier a few times and yelling at him. He didn’t have time to enjoy the sweet sounds of her insults as more missiles were flying towards him, and he was too busy evading them. He noticed Twilight standing right next to his staff now. Working or not, a knock upside the head is a knock upside the head.

Thiemo reached against into his pocket and was startled as he got a more accurate reminder of how little of his resources were left. He found what he was looking for and engulfed his hand with the power from the stone. With a dive, he landed behind the stony image of Nightmare Moon and waited for a few seconds to catch his breath. How the hell did this pony manage to not be downright exhausted from her constant use of magic? Even the comparatively little energy he had used to activate the stone had been enough to tire him enough to be able to sleep for a few days on the trot.

With one last deep breath, he decided on his plan of action. He rushed out of cover and aimed directly at the surprised Twilight. Before she could react, a wall of dirt shot up in front of her, blocking her view, just like with Fluttershy. It didn’t take long before it was destroy by some missiles, but then it was too late already. He was directly beside her and his hand tightened around his staff. With the momentum of the charge, he turned around one hundred eighty degrees and let the staff slam into its target.

This time it was the pony that went flying through the remains of the dirt wall, as she crashed against the statue of Blue Light before hitting the ground with a sickening, if not satisfying thud. A scream came from the spectators as she didn’t move and remained motionless on the grass.

Breathing heavily, Thiemo stood up again and watched his opponent up close. Her crown had fallen of her head and was lying next to her in the grass. With a relieved grin, he slowly stepped towards her while her friends kept on calling for her. From outside the barrier. A barrier that she had created and should have dissipated now that she had been rendered unconscious. Unfortunately for him, he noticed his mistake too late.

The two amulets in his pocket were engulfed by a purple aura, and faster than he could react, the barrier vanished around them. Their rightful owners happily back their property. “Surrender…” Hit and weakened, Twilight stood up on her hooves again, glaring at him. “Alone I may have lost, but together you stand no chance.” She levitated the crown back onto her head, and just moment later, five ponies were at her side.

“Exactly, you’re never going to beat all of us!” the blue pegasus yelled at him, her obnoxious smirk back on her face as she pressed her snout directly to his nose.

Thiemo roughly pushed her to the ground, directly into the other ponies and took a step back. Unfortunately, he had to admit that Rainbow was right. He stood no chance against all of them. Her friends caught the pegasus, and they all glared at him in anger. “Girls, shall we use the Elements?” Twilight asked the ponies.

“Oh yeah, about time we get really get serious!” Rainbow replied.

“I think he more than deserved that, Sugarcube,” the orange mare agreed. “Open fire then.” All ponies took a step towards him with more or less a grin on their face. Except Fluttershy, who looked at him apologetically.

Meanwhile, Thiemo desperately reached into his pocket and pulled out the last two stones, an amber and a ruby. Before he could do anything with them, a bright light caught his attention. All six ponies shone in a white light and hovered a few inches above the ground. Whatever was coming for him, it was big. He could feel the energy they emitted without even having to make an effort to concentrate. For a moment, he considered trying to run, but then something started hurtling towards him. He could only describe it as a rainbow beam, coming directly from the ponies. It was too late to run or evade, so he did the only thing he could now - trying to block it with his staff.

The runes on it began glowing immediately as he tried forming a shield. Then he tried teleporting, but nothing worked. The beam was forcing him onto his knees, mercilessly pushing against him. Thiemo wouldn’t last much longer and he knew it. So he did the only thing he could do and grit his teeth, trying to mentally prepare him for what was to come next. Whatever it was, he knew it would mean only pain.

Twilight watched as the beam that had been shot from the Elements crashed down onto the human like a spring storm over a flower field. Merciless and quick. The whole spectacle was over after a few seconds as expected when she and her friends used the Elements, but it was tiring all the more. So tiring that she was began to stumble a bit when her hooves touched the ground again, until Rarity hastened to support her. “Are you alright, Darling?”

“Yes, just a bit tired.” Meanwhile, the human remained trapped inside the sphere of light.

“What do you think the Elements will do to him?” Twilight could hear Fluttershy turning towards her.

“I…. honestly have no idea. They banished Nightmare Moon as they didn’t see any other way. The most likely thing might be what happened to Eris. If I didn’t know any better, I would say they’ll cleanse him just like Luna, when we met her for the first time.” The others exchanged some looks.

“You mean we could have a nice human?” Pinkie asked, excited as usual. “One to throw parties for? Who will be our friend and… what else do humans do?”

“Pinkie, I don’t think that’s the point. Humans are…” A small flash interrupted Twilight mid-sentence, and in the air in front of them floated Eris. A bag of popcorn was in her paw, and in her claw was a glass of lemonade, including the straw.

She took a sip with a loud slurp and threw the empty cup behind her. “Ahhhh. That was a great show, bravo!” Her paw was still occupied, so two white gloves appeared out of thin air to applaud on behalf of her. “Especially you, Twilight, you were very entertaining.”

“Eris!” Twilight grumbled as Fluttershy shouted happily, rushing past her and hugged her marefriend, who dropped the popcorn. The two exchanged some endearments until Rarity coughed and mumbled something snarky. Fluttershy pulled back her head, and Eris put her back on the ground again. “Eris, why did you that? We were all scared.”

“Hey! I wasn’t scared,” Rainbow Dash loudly protested but was ignored.

“Ohh, you know me Fluttershy. I would never do anything that would put someone in danger.” She snapped her fingers, and Twilight could feel some kind of spell being released. “Over the entire playground was a spell that prevented anyone inside from getting hurt too badly. Even if you tried bashing in your skulls against the statues, nothing would have happened. They would have simply turned into rubber. The statues I mean, not your skulls.”

“But what for? Is this just another one of your pranks?” Twilight was increasingly becoming angrier, judging by how red her face was and the way her mane was beginning to spring up at awkward angles. The problem was that she had no idea what she could realistically do against Eris. If worse came to worse, they had the Elements here already, even if Fluttershy would protest heavily against it.

Eris, for her part, simply began laughing uproariously, slapping her knee with a paw. “Of course. Well, that and proving something to Celestia. Oh, and a bet. But don’t hurt your tiny, feeble mind thinking about it.” She flew over to Twilight, slowly circling the crown on her head with one claw of her talon. “Even if the human had brought me the Elements as we agreed, I wouldn’t have been able to touch them. Forgot that already? Celestia and Luna had them enchanted.” She flew higher into the air again and looked at all of them. “Just take all this as a pretty fun afternoon. With a surprise.” She pointed at the changeling Pinkie Pie had dragged along. “And with a reunion.” This time she pointed at Applejack, who was carrying a filly on her back. Confused, Twilight wondered where they had come from all of the sudden, now noticing them. “So long, I’ll see you later, Fluttershy.” She waved as her body began to dematerialize.

“You stay here! I’m not done with you yet!” Twilight snarled at her.

“Maybe you should solve one problem first before worrying about the next.” With these last words, she completely vanished, and Twilight could see what she meant. The cone of light had disappeared and all that it left behind was the human, still alive and looking as non-petrified as possible. He stood upright, just like that. She noticed her friends getting tense and looked on, various scenarios running through her head for what could happen next.

First he slowly bent down and picked up his hat that had fallen from his head. Without looking up, he moved silently towards them. Step by step. Without saying a word, just past his staff, still headed towards them. Twilight lowered her horn, aiming it towards him as it began to glow. Meanwhile, Fluttershy took cover behind Rarity, leaving Applejack and Rainbow in front row. The latter one tried blocking his way, but he simply ignored her and walked straight towards her orange friend.

Applejack was slightly crouching down, ready to jump if the human made it necessary. But then something happened that nopony expected. He fell onto his knees in front of her and put his arms around her neck. “Good horsey,” he murmured, his voice sounding as though it was coming from a distance. Applejack blinked, totally and utterly confused, as the human kept rubbing his cheek against her neck.

“Twilight.”

“Yes?”

“Is that a human hugging me right now?”

Suddenly, he patted her head. “Thaaaat’s a good girl. Do you want a sugar cube?” His empty hands wandered in front of her muzzle. Hastily, Applejack tried to get out of his grip, with no success.

“Twilight, help!” she yelped, now slightly panicked as the alicorn started moving towards them. Two steps before she could reach the strange intertwined pair, the human collapsed in a heap. They all stepped closer and could hear a quiet snoring.

“Did he just… fall asleep?” Twilight asked, confusion the main emotion in her voice. Before anypony could add something to her assumption, they could hear multiple hoofsteps quickly approaching.

“Princess!” All heads rose up and turned towards the approaching group of Royal Guards, all in golden armor and sweating heavily. Rarity smiled to herself, eyeing them hungrily. “There you are! We were searching for you for hours.” The six guards came to a halt as they spied the human on the ground. “What happened here, Your Highness?”

Twilight sighed. “Eris happened. Furthermore, we have two subjects that need to be taken to the dungeons. This human here and over there you’ll find a changeling. Afterwards, I want this maze to be thoroughly searched. Not that I believe anypony else is hiding in here.” The captain saluted and nodded his men over to where the changeling was. Soon enough, two Royal Guards were helping a third one place her on his back. The same thing happened to the human.

Exhausted, Twilight sat down on the grass and looked back at the maze. She never did understand why her mother had never had it torn down. She had previously made it abundantly clear that she couldn’t stand it.

“Twilight?” she could hear Pinkie calling out to her. “Do humans have a tail as well?”

“Not that I know of. Why do you want to know that?”

“No reason.”

Author's Notes:

From today on it shall be known that a chapter awaits you every Tuesday!

Thanks to Gron for translating this chapter,
and also thanks to JBL for proofreading, editing, etc.