With a silent hissing, the train came to a halt, and the doors opened for the newcomers in the large capital of Canterlot. Ponies of all kinds and ages streamed out of the train and onto the large station. Amid all these ponies, one was particularly excited. With simple saddlebags on her back, she jumped out of the train, a wide grin on her face as she took a deep breath, which proved to be a mistake. The smoke of the train quickly found its way into her lungs, and she began spluttering and hacking violently.

With one hoof in front of her muzzle and still lightly coughing, she quickly searched for the exit, two large stairs leading down into the city. Her coughing eventually died, and for the first time in a long time, she looked over the city she grew up in. “Aah, it’s great to be back home again.” Lyra Heartstrings grinned from ear to ear and again tried taking a deep breath of the clear mountain air.

Well-known scents flooded through her nostrils. A mixture of various perfumes from the various small stores around the train station. A distant aroma of baked goods, which could only be Donut Joe’s store. His small oasis of sins with sprinkles, chocolate and everything a pony’s heart could desire was only a short way off from the main road. He didn’t need any advertisements - the scent itself attracted unprepared noses like flies to honey. The image was reinforced by the ambience of the picturesque city, perfecting it for Lyra.

She opened her eyes again and looked around. Some ponies had stopped and were looking at her strangely from the side. “Uhm…” As she couldn’t think of an adequate response to the awkward situation, she simply ran off, down the stairs, a strangled laugh on her lips, leaving the sneering onlookers behind her. It was only after she had placed enough distance between her and the train station, passing the first row of stores and numerous citizens, did she allowed herself to slow down.

For years she had had to endure the mocking laughter behind her back. Crazy, outsider, freak were just some of the nasty words some ponies had hurled at her, while the others had been kind enough to just loudly whisper it. But now the day had come where she would leave all of that behind. It would all be thanks to a pony she would have never expected to hear such news from - Princess Twilight Sparkle, or simply Twilight Sparkle. Before she became a princess, she had never endorsed her endeavours. Humans are savage beasts, Lyra, she would say and shake her head almost pitifully. They were the same words that came from her parents and even from her only friend. At least Bonbon had stuck with her, even though she thought Lyra’s studies would be a waste of time as well.

Hastily, she levitated the letter out of her bag and skimmed through it again.

Dear Lyra Heartstrings,

We haven’t spoken to each other in a while. I hope you are doing well and that your musical career is making progress. Unfortunately, it is your other passion which drives me to write to you today. I’m sure you have heard of our friend, Eris. A few days ago, apparently driven by boredom, she picked up something that she described as a ‘new toy’. That toy is now sitting in the dungeons after trying to steal the Elements of Harmony off me and my friends. We are talking about a human who got lost right here in our midst. As our knowledge about this race is very limited, and with other things demanding my attention in the near future, I am asking for your help to study him.

You will find a train ticket to Canterlot attached with this letter, first class of course. As of now, we are unable to say how long the research will last, so it would to your benefit if you would prepare yourself for a longer stay in one of the guest rooms of the castle if you accept this offer.

With kind regards,

In the name of her highness Princess Twilight Sparkle.

She had felt rather sad that her old classmate hadn’t found the time to write the letter herself, but at least the letter had also stated that she was busy.

Of course Lyra hadn’t needed more than ten seconds before getting her old saddlebags from the storeroom next to the kitchen, filling them with her notebooks and everything related to humans, before rushing towards the door. It was only when she had almost reached the front gate did she remember that it was late evening and there would not have been another train until the next morning. Fortunately, having to wait gave her the opportunity to properly say goodbye to her roommate and friend, Bonbon. Ever the responsible one, Bonbon had reminded her to also pack things like a toothbrush and money. Her enthusiasm about Lyra spending the next few weeks in the presence of a dangerous predator was limited. Of course she was happy for her friend, that she could study humans without traveling to the Forbidden Island, something Lyra tried for many years. However, so unlike Bonbon and most other ponies, she wasn’t afraid of this alleged predator.

It was something she had never told anyone, one of her darkest secrets if one wanted to call it that. The truth was that she used to be friends with a human once, a long time ago. Her parents, Canterlot nobility straight from the books, used to travel the world quite a lot, especially when Lyra was still a filly. The fact that she was still young hadn’t spared her from accompanying them. During a longer stay in Heliopolis, it had happened. She had been taking a tour through the wild at night, marvelling at plants and animals that couldn’t be found anywhere else in the world, when she had lost sight of her group and had gotten lost. She had spent hours inside the forest without knowing which way led to home or to her doom. It was then that she had met Smiles. She knew that it couldn’t be the human’s real name. Unfortunately, the two of them had had no way of verbally communicating with each other since they had both spoken different languages.

Despite this barrier, despite the initial fear they both had of each other, the little human mare had helped her home. She had lived in the forests and led her straight back to the camp.

For the next few weeks, they had secretly played in the forest around the tents, careful to not be seen by any other pony. Lyra knew the stories about humans; her mother had told them to her often enough, especially during Nightmare Night. But she had never wanted to believe them, for they sounded much too cruel to be true. Through Smiles, she had learned that her assumptions were true. Unfortunately, they had broken camp two months later and went back over the sea to Equestria. She hadn’t even gotten a chance to say goodbye to Smiles, the creature that had influenced her life so much.

Despite her talent being music, which she would never deny, she joined Celestia’s school and studied biology, furthering her studies to become an anthropologist. As soon as she had announced her area of study, the mockery had started. It had gotten so bad that she had had to spend the last three years of school alone. None of the other students wanted to study with her - the fear for humans was too great. The savage carnivores from the Forbidden Island or Ti, in the tongue of the humans, were only spoken about in hushed whispers.

After her degree, the first thing she did was return to Heliopolis and search for Smiles. However, the humans must have moved on, since she never caught sight of them again. Her plans on staying there for a while and to live with them were crushed. After her return, she had heard rumors about humans being sighted near the Everfree Forest. There was no time for panic. As soon as she had found her apartment, Nightmare Moon had returned. The humans were forgotten and the trace went cold. She had remained in Ponyville, for if the humans did return, she would be there. Ponyville was also was a nice place where she wasn’t considered a freak.

Only a few knew about her research beyond her gigs as a musician. The music earned the money for the rent. Bonbon, as a roommate and later as a friend, had found out, of course. Even after she had found out, Bonbon had no desire to share her interest in those horror stories, which was what she had called her research on humans. Still, at that point Lyra didn’t mind; at least Bonny hadn’t started calling her names. Twilight Sparkle had found it out because of the books she had lent her, not only from her library but also from her private collections. Who knew that those interactions she had had with the princess would have led her to getting this opportunity today. The first time to actually practice the job she had studied for. Yes, today was a good day for her.

A smile appeared on her face as she finished with reminiscing on the past. A guard at the entrance of the castle, which she had already reached, thought the smile was directed at him and returned the gesture. “What can I do for you, Miss?” his colleague asked, sharply dressed in golden armor and armed with a spear.

For a second she forgot what to do, but then she saw the parchment scroll, still unfolded, levitating next to her from the corners of her eyes. She let it fly over to the guard, who reached for it with his wing. His view wandered down its length immediately to see who had signed it and if the seal was there.

After a short look, he held it to the other pegasus. He only nodded. “Everything’s alright, Miss. Sir Estoc is awaiting you. I’m sorry that we have to run these checks, but since the human somehow entered the area, we have doubled security.” He then knocked his spear against the closed iron gate behind him exactly three times before it opened. It squeaked a bit, probably from being so rarely used. “You’ll find the Captain to the left after the entrance. That’s where his office is.”

Lyra politely thanked them and continued on her way. She had an idea how to find the bureaus of the different generals and military officers. Her mother was, before her retirement a few years ago, Supreme Commander of the town watch of Canterlot. As a filly, she was allowed to walk around with her on the grounds, see the castle gardens and occasionally the princess from afar. Lyra remembered how she had always talked about her, as though she was married more to her and her job than her herd.

It didn’t take her long, after passing through the castle entrance, to reach in front of the door to Captain Estoc’s office. Like the guard had told her, the offices were just left after the entrance. She knocked and got a gruff response telling her to enter. “Good day. Lyra Heartstrings is my name and I am here to report to Captain Estoc,” she said as the entered the door.

The room was different than expected. Then again, she didn’t know precisely what she had expected. It was a large fine office, the most notable feature being the hundreds of pictures adorning the walls. Were they of comrades and allies? She had only one way of knowing, not that she was going to be so bold as to ask. Aside from that, the room consisted of a simple desk, seat cushion and the bright white walls of the castle. There were also two swords that hung near the unused chimney. Lyra briefly wondered if the captain had ever had cause to use it on someone.

The main point of interest in the room, of course, was the captain. “Ah, Miss Heartstrings. Come on in, the princess had already informed me of your coming arrival,” he greeted her with a smile. He was a grey unicorn, his dark blue mane was pressed against his head by his helmet, which also served as more of a uniform than a real defensive piece. His cutie mark was hidden underneath his armor just like everypony else’s in the Royal Guard. “I hope you had a pleasant trip.”

“Yes, Captain, but I would rather just come down to business. The human.” A smug grin appeared on his lips as he smiled and nodded.

“Of course. Please follow me. I will instruct you on the way.” Both stepped out of the bureau and closed the door behind them. Estoc led the way and Lyra followed. “A few days ago, a friend of the crown played a small prank, if that’s what you want to call it.”

“Eris. Princess Twilight Sparkle mentioned it in her letter,” Lyra said to save Estoc the dilemma to repeating the story of his failure. She could hear it in his voice how much he didn’t like what had transpired. This would also speed up things, and she could barely wait any longer to get started.

“Ah,” he said, relieved. “We have arrested the human now. After the Elements were used against him, he fell into a deep sleep, enabling us to bring him into a cell without much effort. After about one day of rest, he has woken again, which spared us from calling a doctor. The guards had noticed afterwards that he had talked with his inmate, but what was said couldn’t be heard.” That made Lyra hesitate.

“Why?” she couldn’t imagine why the prisoners weren’t being watched.

“The dungeons are equipped with anti-magical seals. We can’t use magic down there, but so can’t the prisoners. Not all dungeons have this extra security, but we didn’t want to take any risks with the prisoners.” Lyra raised a brow.

“Prisoners? Are there more than one human? And why should a human go in the anti-magical tier? According to my studies, humans can’t use magic. They lack a natural conduit.” They turned around a corner and took a stair to the basement. The light of sun was aimed against the smooth light of crystals in the wall, providing enough illumination to see around them adequately. Back when she was a filly, all they had to use were torches. Magic had greatly progressed in the last couple of years, presumably thanks to the newest princess of Equestria.

“Well, the princess demanded it. According to her statement and the other Bearers who got into contact with the human, he used some kind of magic. That we locked down a changeling here shouldn’t be much of a surprise.” She almost fell over her own hooves when she heard that.

“You put him into a cell with a changeling?” she hissed at the captain. “I thought they would be separated from the other prisoners. Do you want to kill him?”

They reached the end of the stairway and turned to the right. “Well, one would think so. Especially if you believe my guards, who witnessed the first minutes after he woke up. To our surprise, it was the changeling that roared. They were also captured together, so we expected the two are some kind of accomplices.”

Lyra couldn’t believe her ears for what they had just heard. A human and a changeling who could be friends? That was, besides both being enemies of Equestria, unbelievable. No history book had ever mentioned an alliance between humans and different species of Albion, only that they destroyed everything that came in their way. On the other hand, Lyra was well aware that history was written by the winners. While Equestria was blooming, the humans were going stagnant on some island, so it was not hard to guess who had won. It was a thought that would only cause her more trouble, especially since she already was considered a crazy outsider.

Every citizen of Equestria had, of course, the right to freely express themselves, and while no princess had ever punished anypony for criticism, ponies seemed to love taking their liberties to new lows. Exclusion, mockery and taunting were their favourite pastimes, or so it seemed to Lyra.

“Here we are.” Lyra’s thoughts came to a rapid end as she saw Captain Estoc open a heavy wooden door to a dark hallway. They arrived in a small, dimly lit room with nothing in it besides a large mirror. Lyra looked at her reflection, her golden eyes staring right back at her. Her mint coat shimmered in the yellow light of the crystals, just like her white, slightly ruffled mane. She then saw Captain Estoc’s horn light up, and her reflection disappeared shortly after. The mirror had turned into a window. Lyra grinned over both ears like she had done quite often today as she saw what was in front of her.

In the room on the other side was the human. He was in the middle of the room, sitting on a cushion. Long brown hair fell over his shoulders and the pink bathrobe he wore. His eyes were smaller than that of a pony, but that didn’t surprise her much. After all, he was not the first human she had seen. His eyes were a deep blue but were somehow not focused on her, even though he was directly looking at the window. “We can see him, but he can’t see us,” the captain explained from the side.

Meanwhile, Lyra stepped closer to the window. At each corner of the room stood a guard, tensely focusing on the human. There were two pegasi and two unicorns, the latter ready to immediately cast a spell on the prisoner if he tried to escape. One of the guards was moving his mouth, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. It was obvious that the human didn’t reply. “What’s going on?”

Estoc harrumphed awkwardly and stepped closer as well. “When we were bringing him something to eat this morning, the guard noticed that he was wearing this bathrobe. Nopony knows how he got it since we took all of his belongings. He didn’t have anything with him. No bags and surely not this bathrobe.”

Lyra suppressed the strong desire of making a scene. She knew that the soldiers had no clue. “Humans have no coat; they need clothes to protect themselves. Whoever gave it to him saved him from some frostbite. You should commend the guard.”

Estoc kept a straight face. “Good to know that we now have somepony here who knows something about humans. Problem is, that’s not his bathrobe. It belongs to Princess Celestia, and it’s from her private quarters. Nopony with their mind in the right place would dare enter them during her absence, let alone take something from there. We tried for hours to make him give it back so it doesn’t get damaged. Unfortunately, we have been without success so far. The room is also significantly warmer than the dungeons. We’re not that stupid, Miss Heartstrings.”

“And how many hours did it take for you and your men to come to this conclusion?” The light grin on the face of the captain died again. “And did it ever occur to you that, without a coat, a human would basically be exposing himself?” Estoc said nothing. “According to my theories, clothes also have a cultural meaning to them. Without them, they feel vulnerable. Something akin to being in the bedroom with a special somepony. An act of intimacy, if you want to call it that. Long story short, I’m betting that right now he’s thinking that multiple stallions would try to jump his bones as soon as he lets go of the bathrobe.”

The captain nodded slowly. “And what would you recommend, Miss Heartstrings?”

Lyra didn’t take long to think about that. “Give him his clothes back. Surely that shouldn’t be a problem, unless you consider someone blocking his genitals from your sight a high risk of security.” The sarcasm in Lyra’s voice was probably thick enough to shatter the mirror in front of them into a million splinters.

Estoc, for his part, merely sighed and shook his head. “That’s not possible, I’m afraid. The power of the Elements rendered most of his clothes useless. Remember, they had even managed to shatter the armor of Nightmare Moon.” Lyra nodded, and her thoughts drifted off to a newspaper article she had read some time ago. The armor had been restored as flawless as possible and was put in a museum in Detrot, high up in the north, far away from Canterlot. Princess Luna had wanted that wicked antiquity as far away from her as possible.

Since the human didn’t seem to care much about what he was wearing, she came up another idea. “Then just exchange the bathrobe with something else. I doubt he cares much about the color.” She saw that now the captain was getting it and seemed to be angry with himself for not coming to that idea himself. She idly wondered if he had been promoted to Captain for his intellect; if he was, then perhaps the Royal Guards needed to re-evaluate their promotion policies.

A moment later his horn flickered and a piece of paper and quill appeared; Estoc quickly scribbling quick message. With another spell, both disappeared again and the note appeared in the other room, in front of the guard who was talking insistently to the human. The image in front of Lyra disappeared, and she was suddenly looking back at her reflection. “That would be all for now, Miss Heartstrings. We have to prepare a few things before you can start your research, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. I will now show you your room. Afterwards, Princess Twilight and her friends will be awaiting you at dinner.” Lyra nodded and threw a last look at the mirror. Behind it was her future.

Thiemo thought the day would be boring at first. But when the guard came with his breakfast - a slice of bread and some greens - into his cell and saw the bathrobe, he knew better. The pegasus disappeared with a panicked expression and dropped the tray on the ground in the process. Relaxed, Thiemo pulled it through the bars and was finished eating before the guard returned with some of his colleagues.

Apparently, Amaryllis had been moved somewhere else earlier, as she wasn’t there when he woke up. If that hadn’t been the case, she would have woken up as well. Twenty or thirty armed stallions in golden armour stood in front of his cell and were roaring in confusion and pointing at him. Or more precisely the bathrobe he was wearing. He couldn’t understand much of the commotion. Shortly after, a captain or something appeared, a grey unicorn with a toothbrush as decoration for his helmet.

This one led him into another room that was at least a bit warmer than the dungeon, a pleasure for Thiemo’s ice cold feet. They placed him onto a cushion in the middle of the room and proceeded to question him for hours. They wanted to know where he had gotten the robe and wanted it back, but nobody tried to just take it. He didn’t know why, but it at least provided him with some entertainment. He pulled at some strings here and there, which caused the guards to gasp for air every time.

If he pulled fluffs out of the plushy seam, they reacted with a look of absolute horror. Whatever that bathrobe was, it was fun. But the fun had to end sooner or later. In this case it came shortly after a note appeared out of the thin air, before another soldier with a load of clothes on his back came into the room. All coats, cloaks or similar bathrobes. All made for a pony not a human, which didn’t hinder Thiemo in his selection.

Without saying a word, he signalled them to turn around and changed his clothes. When they turned around again, they started laughing and pointed at his feet. He had found something like socks between the other clothes, and of course put them on, despite them being black and purple stripes. His feet would thank him after. He didn’t know why exactly they were laughing, and he didn’t care much. He hadn’t said a word for the whole time and wouldn’t start now. If he could play his cards right, he might even be able to get his hands onto a book, something to pass the time with. Unfortunately, the pink bathrobe was gone now and he was back on his way to his cell.

As soon as he and the guards behind him got back into a familiar looking set of bars in the wall, he felt a familiar feeling. Amaryllis must be in her cell and tried to establish a connection. His presumptions were confirmed as the bars were opened and he was thrown inside. Amaryllis was lying on her pile of straw, no emotion on her face as she looked at him.

Thiemo waited until the guards were out of audible range. “How have you been?” She didn’t reply. “You can’t tell them anything. If they get what they want, there is no reason for them to ever let us out of here and that’s our only chance.”

“Do you think I wouldn’t know that?!” Thiemo didn’t respond to the question and went to his own pile of straw. Despite the many rags he was wearing, it was still very cold. Winter was coming.

The silence was interrupted by the grumbling from the stomach of the changeling. “You have to eat,” Thiemo declared.

“As if I want to eat from you.” He sighed and sat down, legs crossed.

“It doesn’t matter if you hate me right now; it’s not worth starving yourself over. I know I fucked up, but you’re only punishing yourself if you continue.” She blinked and seemed to consider her options. Then he felt the familiar feeling she usually caused when she was feeding. Relieved, he leaned back at the wall and took a deep breath. His thoughts ranged from how he could ask Amaryllis for forgiveness to his daughter. How he wished he could ask her the same and at least be content that she was alright. At this point, however, comfort had decided to be a cold mistress to him.

Author's Notes:

Here we are again! Both JBL and Gron are both still working hard. (At least since I got that whip...)

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