Still lost in thought, Twilight entered the large dining hall of the palace, followed by her two guards. With a smile, she remembered back when she had seen these rooms for the first time as a filly. They were exactly how she had always imagined a large school’s cafeteria would look like. In the back were multiple long tables with various pillows to offer places for larger crowds to sit. Further upfront were a few tables for the nobility and royalty, directed towards a small podium where musicians and such would perform. Between the tables and various large red cushions, huge marble pillars traversed the room, ending in an arched ceiling. She doubted they were of any practical use aside from their aesthetics.

The ceiling itself was made out of thick glass, momentarily covered by the last of the colorful autumn leaves - winter was fast approaching. A light rain created a smooth background noise that blended in with the conversation that was audible from one of the tables. Her friends - Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Applejack - were sitting there. Between them was the filly who, if she remembered correctly, was named Auralia, who was busy putting on a small magic show. She was letting one cinnamon roll after the other disappear into her mouth, never to be seen again. It was only interrupted by an occasional sip of milk or when she paused to answer a question.

“Wow, you were really hungry.” Rainbow Dash stared with a growing look of disbelief at the plate in front of the filly that was quickly becoming ever so desolate. Twilight roughly calculated how many cinnamon rolls there had once been. Factoring in the remaining number of rolls, the size of the plate and the surprised faces of her friends into her calculation, she came to the conclusion that there would most likely not be enough for all of them.

The filly swallowed once again. That she had managed to even chew at that speed was amazing in itself. “They are really yummy! What are they called?” She held one of the rolls in front of Applejack’s muzzle.

“What? You’ve never had cinnamon rolls?” Applejack asked, a little shocked by the revelation. “What did the human give you to eat?” Twilight used the moment and took a free seat at the head of the table. Her friends gave her a quick nod but didn’t say a word so as to avoid interrupting the conversation between the two orange ponies. Twilight herself was more interested in hearing how she had been treated by the human.

“Uhm…” Auralia bit in the roll again and swallowed. “Berries, fruits, hay, roots.” She shrugged. “Stuff we found on the way. From time to time we bought provisions in one of the towns, but they never lasted long.” Twilight highly doubted that it was hygienic eating wild fruits, but at least the filly had had something resembling a balanced diet.

However, there was one pressing question that needed to be asked. “And did the human eat the same things too?” For Twilight and some of the others, it was no mystery that humans, just like gryphons, ate meat.

“Mostly. When we still were in Dragmire, Thiemo used to buy meat from gryphons or diamond dogs from time to time. He always thought I wouldn’t notice.” While Rarity’s face turned green, Applejack and Rainbow only exchanged a short look. Rainbow was friends with a gryphon for a long time, and she knew that some gryphons worked for the Wonderbolts. “I asked him once why he’s eating it. He said that humans need meat from time to time, otherwise they get sick.” With that, she took a particularly savage bite out of the savoury roll.

“Excuse me, my dears, I…” Nothing more escaped Rarity’s mouth as she rose from the table and quickly made her exit.

“Well, with a cat like Opal, you would think that she’d be used to something eating meat next to them. I’ve seen that stupid cat catching a mouse or two every now and then,” Rainbow casually threw out. Then she realized the mistake of airing her comment out loud as she could hear Fluttershy giving a horrified gasp next to her. “Oh, I’m sorry, Fluttershy.” The yellow pegasus nodded weakly.

“That’s fascinating,” Twilight murmured, paying little attention to Fluttershy’s theatrics. She wished she had brought her notebook. Her books had so little knowledge about humans that she would have loved to add something to them. “Do you know more about humans?”

The filly knocked her hoof against her chest and a burp resounded from her maw. “Not really. Dad didn’t talk much about humans, more about things he did or when he tells me one of his stories.”

“Too bad, it would have been nice to have an expert on humans here.” Twilight tried not to look too disappointed.

Applejack harrumphed. “Ya know, Twilight, we do have an ‘expert’.” The way she said that, forming exaggerated quotation marks with her hooves, caused Twilight to think for a moment. A frown appeared on her face as she remained puzzled by what her friend had been trying to say. Then she realized what her friend was attempting to imply, causing her frown to deepen.

“Oh, Applejack, you can’t be serious!” No laugh came from the farmer. “I can live with maniacs; we’re all friends with Pinkie Pie after all, but not that kind of crazy!”

“It’s not like we have an alternative, Twi.” Twilight knew that Applejack was right, even though she hated to admit it at that moment.

“Urgh…fine, I’ll send her a note. But talking about crazy… just where the hay is Pinkie Pie?”

There was only silence.

He had made it. He had finally left the dark dungeon behind him where he had spent the last few years of his life. Slowly, step by step, the dark figure climbed the stairs to freedom. He had long forgotten why he had landed in the dungeons of the caliph in the first place. Maybe he had stolen something or looked at one of his concubines the wrong way. Maybe the caliph just hadn’t liked his face.

Whatever it had been, now he was free. Free from the chains that had kept him in the dark corner of the moist dungeon, rendering it impossible to touch anything beside the cold hard stone. When he had finally gotten to touch his own skin for the first time in years, he couldn’t hold back his bladder. Considering the dirty rags on his body, it didn’t make much of difference.

Exhausted, he shakily climbed the last step and found himself at a crossway inside the palace. One way led to the exit, the other a harem of willing women. The two glowing signs in front of him made that very clear. He stopped shortly and started thinking. On one side was the exit, but what awaited him there? His friends surely had long forgotten him. No doubt they had moved on with their lives, even after he disappeared. Nothing would wait for him out there, aside from the wicked, wild, wide world.

On the other side were women. The most beautiful women in the kingdom. If he gotten this far, then he could take this risk. What did he have to lose, having lost everything already?

Supporting himself on the wall, he entered the hallway where the glowing sign for the willing women hung. It only took a few minutes, but the way down the bare hallway felt like an eternity, the overpowering silence only being broken by his shuffling and stumbling. He eventually came to a window as the hallway ended in a bridge, leading towards a tower. In the pale moonshine, he could see a lone guard.

To his surprise, it was busy pulling out his saber out of the body of some poor devil who had apparently tried to get pass him unauthorized. He quickly let go of the wall and ran directly towards the back of the guard. Before it could react to the clumsy steps of naked feet on stone ground, he threw himself with all his power against him. With a short yelp, the guard fell over the bridge, followed by a dull thud as he hit the sandy ground of the palace court. The way was free, if one didn’t count the beheaded as an impediment.

Taking one giant step, he walked over the body and over to the entrance behind him which was covered by a sheet of finest velvet, a sure sign that the harem was awaiting him. In happy excitement, he pulled it aside and entered. Once again he was in a hallway, but it was so short that he could already see the room at the other end. He slowly stepped forward and let everything soak into him.

The room at the end was circular and covered by a glassy dome. The walls seemed to be of pure gold and were illuminated by various small candles in holders, also wrought out of gold. The floor consisted of almost countless pillows, made out of a red, extremely soft fabric. It was something he had noticed as soon as his battered feet bad made first contact with them.

Yes, this was a room to have fun in, but unfortunately there didn’t seem to be any women present. “Not what you’ve expected?” Startled, he spun around to the entrance again. A dark figure stepped in the light of the candles. It had the form of a pony but had both wings and a horn. Specifically speaking, a crooked horn and the wings of a dragonfly. Within the mouth of the creature, sharp teeth sparkled as it spoke. Its form was finally accentuated by a long, purple mane.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know what I expected.” This was the truth. As if the concubines of the caliph would spend their time with a vagabond like himself. They probably would have just run away screaming in terror.

The creature wandered past him until it reached the middle of the room and sat down. “Welcome to my home.”

“Your home? Isn’t this the home of the caliph?” The creature chuckled.

“And who do you think you are?” He wanted to answer, but in the next moment, the world was bathed in a white light.

Thiemo shuddered as he slowly gained consciousness. It was a cold draft that blew around him that caused it, though to him, it felt like someone was sliding a block of ice across his back. Half asleep, he searched for his blanket but only found his own body and something that felt like straw.

With a quiet groan he slowly opened his eyes. It was dark, yet the little light that filtered into the room felt like burning agony. He blinked multiple times before he finally shuffled upwards into a sitting position. With his thumb and forefinger, he rubbed his closed eyes, before trying to open them again, this time more successful. His vision was still a bit blurry, though.

“Where’s my shirt?” He looked around him a bit. With the few memories about yesterday returning to the forefront of his mind, it was no surprise he found himself in a cell. Dark, stony walls around him and thick bars behind him, the stereotypical enclosure for prisoners. This time the bars were close enough together that were no means for an easy escape.

His gaze wandered back as another cold draft hit his body, leading to him looking down himself for the first time. “Shit, where are my pants?” Thiemo looked to both sides and lifted his naked rear to look to see if he wasn’t sitting on it, but he only found a single white pillow.

“They took everything.” Thiemo spun around at the sound of the unexpected voice, only to see Amaryllis sitting in a pile of straw opposed to him.

Hastily, he covered himself a little bit with the straw. “Everything? They could have at least let me keep my pants.” Amaryllis didn’t say anything but only turned her head away and stared at the wall. “Something wrong?”

Thiemo jerked backwards quite a distance as she whipped her head towards him again so quickly her neck could have broken. Anger was the overwhelming emotion playing out on her face, and her sharp teeth were clearly visible, while something like a hissing sound came from her. “Something wrong?” she panted with rage. “Something WRONG!?” Fortunately, he knew when to answer an angry woman and when not to, which most of the time was never. Besides, answering rhetorical questions wasn’t his thing anyways. It was clear that there was something wrong, going by her own words.

“I became an outcast because of you! Yes, I wanted to see the world, but not this way! I wanted to meet my father, and you promised to help me with that. Even though you injured me during the escape, even though you were part of the reasons why I am an outcast now, I still trusted you! Why? Because I could feel that you meant it.” She gave a short, sharp, humourless laugh, one filled with loathing and bitterness. “Those weren’t just some empty words for me. We changelings talk more with our feelings than with words.” Thiemo didn’t know if they were tears of anger or despair that ran down her cheek. Probably both. “I don’t know what the short time we’ve spent together meant to you, but I was basically living off of you. It was like I’ve known you for years and still…you sold not only me but also Aura; you left us behind at the first chance to get what you wanted!” She took a deep breath. “Would you have simply left us behind if you had won? Would you just have gone back to your world without even thinking about us? Don’t you even know what Aura is feeling? Don’t you know what I…have…” she sobbed and looked back at the wall again.

Thiemo preferred staring at his hands again. Amy’s questions were valid. What would he have done if he had won? Eris had promised him knowledge which he would have used to find a way back home. “Amy, you don’t really think I would have just abandoned everything, do you?”

“That’s Princess Amaryllis for you! And I don’t know what I should think! You just pulled us into this stupid game. With a draconequus of all monsters. Even a fool would know that you can’t trust them. They lie and cheat everywhere and with anyone they can. They cause chaos and kill without batting an eyelid. And you handed us in to such a creature,” she spat, still glaring hatefully at the wall.

She was right, no matter how much he wanted to deny it. It was a surprisingly bitter pill to swallow. He hadn’t only brought himself, but also Aura and Amaryllis into an unknown danger. It was something he had always wanted to avoid. But this Eris knew Earth, and it had just been too promising.

Again, the words Amy just said shot through his head, the feelings of shame and guilt dancing gleefully across his conscience. Eris had baited and then outsmarted him. Why would such a powerful being risking losing its own game? Probably because she made sure she would never lose. He would have wanted to slap himself now, but the pillow was starting to get annoying. Throwing a pillow around in anger would at least hurt less.

Thiemo reached behind him and pulled at the white pillow. Immediately, a pain went through his entire back. “Ouch… what the hell?” He glanced over to Amaryllis, who was still staring at the wall. With an uneasy feeling, he stood up and knocked the loose straw off his body. That stuff was quite itchy. He then arched his neck and tried to look behind him. The sight that graced his bewildered eyes almost made him fall. That wasn’t a pillow stuck to him, but something he had learned to become aware of the past two days as a pony. A tail. It emerged from his body where his back ended and covered a good part of his rear and his legs. It was long, white and a bit tousled as though it needed a good brush. He pulled at it again to confirm his suspicion. “Ouch…” Yes, the thing was definitely connected to him. “Hey, I know I goofed up but this is going a bit too far.”

Amaryllis looked at him with an emotionless expression, and immediately his hand went down his body to cover himself. She looked at his tail for a short moment. “That wasn’t me,” she declared and laid down again, face turned away from him.

Thiemo sat down again, directly on the tail, which made for an unpleasant traction. He quickly adjusted himself to avoid the uncomfortable feeling. In his mind, he went through a few ideas about how he could have possibly gotten his new appendage. Maybe it was some of remaining energy from the transformation that Eris had simply ended. Or Eris had cast it on him because he lost. Then there was that rainbow that had knocked him out. It had been strong enough to also completely negate his staff, so it could have something to with that as well. There was one thing he was sure of - it would cost time to get used to something like a tail. If it had been a temporary effect then he was sure it would have vanished already.

“And here we have our loser!” Thiemo gazed towards the bars where a familiar creature was hovering in the air. “I see you already discovered what the Elements gave you as a punishment.” She pointed at the tail next to his leg.

“What do you want Eris? To laugh at me for being tricked by you? Please, go ahead.” Thiemo looked over to his inmate, but she was still lying there, motionless.

“I’ve laughed enough already.” He saw her slipping through the bars from the corners of his eye and hovering towards Amaryllis with a grin. She landed next to her and leaned against her head. “I stopped time,” she remarked casually, as though it was a common occurrence. Maybe it was. “Now we can talk. Maybe we can start with what’s hanging between your legs?”

“I hope we’re both talking about the tail?” Eris rolled her eyes.

“Men. Always thinking their dick would be only thing we’re interested in.” Thiemo, more or less raised in the home of his grandparents, wasn’t a fool. His grandmother, mother and older sister had prepared him well for a life with female authority figures.

“You raised the topic.” Eris smirked and let, with a snap of her fingers, a pink bathrobe with plush on the sleeves and seam appeared. She threw it over to Thiemo who, without minding too much about the color, quickly put it on.

Immediately, some warmth returned to his body. “I can see your mind hasn’t suffered from the Elements.”

“Elements. That’s what the ponies called the amulets as well. How about some intel?” Eris sat down cross-legged in the air, then motioned for Thiemo to take a seat on the straw.

“The Elements of Harmony or Celestia’s ultimate weapon as I like to call them. Their Bearers are the six ponies you’ve met in the maze. Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty and Magic. You could call also call it the representation of the moral and values of the ponies.” Thiemo blinked, incredulous.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. That’s a lot of nice words and stuff but… it just sounds stupid.” Eris nodded approvingly.

“I know. The stupid thing about it is that they work. These amulets react when the creatures they harmonize with share these values with the others. The stronger the bond between the Bearers, the stronger the magical rainbow of doom. The same thing that gave you that thing, by the way.” She pointed between his legs to the white tail.

“Why would powerful magical artefacts do something like that?”

She only shrugged. "I’m powerful but not omniscient. But hey, they casted me into stone for a thousand years. You can be glad that that’s all they did. But if I know these things, it has some moral background and shall teach you a lesson.”

Thiemo reached for his tail and hold it in his hand. Carefully, he stroked the fine hairs with his thumb. It created a pleasant feeling of comfort, as strange as that sounded. “You didn’t just come down here to give me this bathrobe and talk about my tail. What do you want?”

She leaned back in the air and folded her hands behind her head. “Oh, nothing specific. Just to warn you.”

Thiemo didn’t trust her one bit, as again Amaryllis words about draconequii resounded through his head again, as well as what he himself had experienced first-hand from her actions. “Mmmhmm,” he murmured noncommittally.

“Well, it’s only fair to let you know that our lovely Princess Twilight Sparkle hired a ‘scientist’ to examine you,” Eris marked the word scientist with exaggerated quotation marks using her paw and claw, “while she is going to tend to your little friend personally.”

“Hold on! That Twilight was a princess? I thought there were only two and they were abroad. And what’s the deal about these ponies with both wings and horn?” Thiemo needed the answers to fill the gaps in his knowledge. That he or Amaryllis would get special treatment was of no surprise to him.

“Ah yes. Princess Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic. Princess Celestia of the Sun and Princess Luna of the Moon. Then there is also Princess Cadence of Love and…”

Thiemo waved her off. “Okay, I get it. There are more.”

“They belong to a race known as alicorns. They share the attributes of all three species and have the annoying feature of being immortal. Things would have been so much easier in the past.” Thiemo swallowed and asked himself what he had gotten into. That the deer thought of him to be some kind of god was one thing, but he never expected to be meeting real gods before. This was a game that rendered him totally out of his league. And even worse, he had fought against one of these god-princesses. Until now, he thought it would just a title, like the pope on earth. And Eris seemed to belong in the same league, maybe even a bit higher.

“Anything else I should know?” He noticed that his hands started to tense up and his tail started to hurt. He still held it firmly and unintentionally pulled at it.

Eris tapped her chin and thought. “Well, it will take another month or two until Celestia and Luna return. Before that, no one’s going to convince little Sparkle to let you out of here. She thinks you two are a danger to public safety.”

“What’s with Aura?”

“The filly? She’s fine. They care very much about her since she’s a pony, but you expected that, right?” Thiemo nodded shortly.

“They trust you, right? Maybe you could get us out of here? We would leave this country without hesitation.” Immediately, loud laughter broke out. Thiemo waited until she finished, but she looked at him and laughed again.

“I think they see me more as a plague right now. I also don’t want you to leave just now.” She hovered over to Thiemo and spun around him a few times before her claw wandered up on his shoulder. “I have a lot of things planned out,” she whispered into his ear. Instinctively, Thiemo slapped after her but only hit the air. “Look at it from the bright side. I guarantee that you’re not going to be disappointed.”

“Oh, disappointed? It all just went according to plan. A simple game and I’m already back home.” He stretched out his arms turned around in a circle. “Isn’t my apartment nice? Look, over there is the toilet and my large bed, everything’s in the same room!” His arms fell against his thighs. “Yes, all my expectations were met.”

Eris grin died and her tone got serious for once. “If you want to be this way, then I’m going to stop giving you advice.” She turned around to the bars and flew through them. “Maybe one more thing. Whatever Celestia asks, just say yes.”

With that, she disappeared, and immediately the noises returned; he didn’t even realize they had been silent. Amaryllis’ breathing, water dripping on stones, and the murmuring of what presumably were the guards in the background. Time was flowing again.

Exhausted, even though he had just slept, Thiemo fell back down onto the straw. Eris’ last words of advice were about Celestia, meaning she wouldn’t disturb him until she came here. That would come in handy. Honestly, he was fed up with her games for now. The only thing he had gained from them was being separated from his daughter, and now his only friend was mad at him.

Author's Notes:

Surprise! Another chapter out of freaking nowhere. No but seriously, that has a reason. A good reason. Well intermission 6 is actually a chapter that has Christmas and Hearths Warming as a topic. So I talked to Mr. Translator Guy (Gron) and to Mr. Proofreader (JBL) how nice it would be to release that chapter on Christmas Eve. To make it short, they said something like: "Let's do this shit!"

Well, here we are. So expect some serious increase of new chapter over the next couple of days. If you want to thank someone for this small Christmas gift, I don't think Gron nor JBL would mind if you schmooze them a bit.

Also I just wanted to mention I wrote a blog post about human in Equestria stories. It might interest some of you:
http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/258097/a-few-thoughts-about-hie

Hope you had fun reading and if you want to feed the troll author, leave some tasty comments. *om nom nom*