Lyra took a deep breath and looked at Estoc standing next to her. He gave her a confident nod as she tried to calm her rattling nerves. The door in front of Lyra opened, and slowly she entered, followed by a little tea trolley with the materials she would need. As a servant of the crown (or at least for the duration of her experiments), she had been assigned some guards and servants for her disposal. Additionally, she would be receiving a generous salary along with the covering of any expenses associated with her research. Everything she would need just had to be approved by a delegate of the princesses. The only thing that irked Lyra was that even though they had to deal with a supposedly savage being. Princess Twilight Sparkle had apparently thought that the shyest pegasus in the world would somehow be useful. Fluttershy sat in the room behind her and continued to observe everything through the magical mirror, just like Lyra did yesterday.

She looked at the human, who merely returned the gesture with a neutral look on his face. Various pieces of clothing were wrapped around his body instead of the pink bathrobe of the princess he were wearing yesterday. Much to Lyra’s pleasure, the exchange had worked. She took whatever gains they made gratefully; it was going to be no fun trying to communicate with a grumpy human. She stopped for a moment when she saw his feet. She used the spell Estoc had shown her to communicate through the mirror and turned to the assembled crew. It only contained Estoc, the four guards and two chambermaids, all taking notes. “Okay, very funny. Who gave the human naughty lingerie to wear?”

She didn’t get an answer immediately, most likely due to the fact that most of the inhabitants of the other room were laughing their heads off. She looked at the human, who was playing with the socks, pulling them even further up his legs. The awaited piece of parchment appeared. “He chose them himself,” she read off the note, shaking her head in exasperation.

To top it all off, the human appeared to have noticed that they were talking about the choice of his clothes and stood up to parade them. With a wide grin on his lips, he seemed to wait for her approval. She sighed and tried to put on her friendliest smile. “Hello, my name is Lyra,” she said slowly and clearly while holding her hoof against her chest. “Who are you?”

The human just sat back down on the large cushion and closed his eyes to the point where they were only small slits, looking as though he was examining her. Lyra took that as an invitation to sit down as well. The human opened his mouth. Excited to hear a human talking, she leaned forward. The only sound that he emitted, however, was one that came directly from his stomach as he let out a resounding belch. “Phew… what did they give you to eat?” She waved the stinky air aside. Meanwhile, the human was busy scratching himself in various places. Lyra hung her head. It would have been so nice if he could understand her.

She levitated a file over from the trolley and opened the report from the captain. She had, of course, already read it over; it had been her last night’s bedtime reading. This was more about the notes she had left in it. Estoc had written something about a tail in the section about his physical appearance. She tried looking past the various clothes he was wearing, and eventually she found what she was looking for. Something white was dangling behind him, peeking out from the cover of the clothes.

She had never heard of anything like that in any of her books or heard during her studies. To her knowledge, humans weren’t supposed to have tails. “I want to examine you. Could you take off your clothes?” Once again, she spoke as slowly and as clearly as she could. The human was looking at her but didn’t react. With a nervous flicker of her left eyelid, she saw that his finger was now in his nose.

This could be a welcoming distraction too. Carefully, she engulfed the first coat in her aura and cautiously tried to get it off the human. Just when she thought she had it, he grabbed it and held it tight to his body with both hands. Lyra pulled a bit stronger, but the human’s grip was too tight, and his angry face was saying more than clearly that he didn’t like it. Then she remembered what she told Estoc yesterday - how humans undressed for mating. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a female human to bait him. She pulled her notebook from the trolley. It was old, back from her school days. In there she had written everything she could remember about the village of Smiles. The human girl had taken her there once, but just like at her camp, they had stayed out of sight of the adults.

On the first page was the sketch of a male; on the second, one of a female. She had scribbled various theories in the margins next to the sketches, outlining the knowledge about mating rituals of different mammals she had garnered. Unlike ponies, the teats of the female humans were not between the hind legs but on the chest. This gave another reason why clothes were so important to humans. Lyra couldn’t imagine running around and showing her teats to the world as though she was in an erotic magazine. She found the note she was looking for on page three. It was more a speculation, but the best she had.

All four-legged mammals focused on the flanks while mating. The young mares nowadays bounced and swayed them like there was no tomorrow; you only had to take a trot in downtown Manehatten to get an eyeful. Since humans ran on two legs, their flanks were far less developed, but their udders seemed to make up for that when compared to a pony’s. They had to serve the same purpose then. She slammed the book shut and levitated it back together with the file onto the tea trolley. The human looked at her, curious about what she would be doing next. “For science,” she murmured to herself as she stood up.

Fluttershy sat on a cushion in front of the window, a box of juice between her hooves so she wouldn’t have to bother the chambermaids. She watched as Lyra went through one of her books and turned towards Estoc. “Was it really necessary to give the human socks?”

“Well, Milady, Miss Heartstrings said we should offer him a variety of clothes in exchange for…” He coughed. “For what he was wearing earlier. And as you can see, he seems very pleased with them.” Fluttershy obviously didn’t get around to notice how proudly the human had been presenting them a few moments ago.

“Uhm… sure. Excuse me for asking.” She made herself look smaller in her spot and turned back to the straw of her drink.

Estoc waved it off. “Don’t hesitate asking, Milady. We were assigned to this project by the princess to be on hoof with help and advice.”

“Then uhm...” Fluttershy still hesitated. “Why didn’t you just ask him if he wanted to change?”

“Well, how do you imagine will that work? The savage surely isn’t capable of our language.” Fluttershy blinked a few at times at his words. She was about to say something, but movement in her peripheral vision caused her to look back into the room. Lyra had just put the book back on the trolley and stood up. She stepped in front of the human and turned her back at him.

“What is she doing?” Worried, Fluttershy pointed at the scene, and immediately the attention of the guards was focused.

“Heh heh,” grinned one of the guards next to her and bumped his comrade. “Looks like she wants to dance for the human.” Fluttershy’s eyes went wide when she saw Lyra wiggling her tail and flank in front of the human’s nose.

“Captain!” she squeaked, her wings shooting out in surprise. He was too busy though watching the procedure with a grin on his face while the servants were snickering behind the notepads they were supposed to take notes on. She knew that she had to take things into her hooves now to spare her friend from being humiliated. Even though it might have already been too late for that.

She flew over to the door and rushed into the room. Lyra looked at her with wide open eyes, but the gaze of the pegasus was angrily fixated on the human. “What do you think you are doing, Mister?” The human, hands only centimeters away from Lyra’s flank, sighed in disappointment.

“Thanks a lot, Fluttershy,” he responded, annoyed at the interruption. “You really know how to kill a man’s fun. Am I right, guys?” he asked through the open door. Fluttershy could see how Lyra’s face turned pale, then red. Angry, she also looked at the door where an ashamed yet grinning Estoc was swallowing loudly. Oh, these stallions would get to hear something for doing that to the poor Lyra.

Amaryllis sat in the same room as last time. She had come to believe this to be the office of Princess Twilight Sparkle. It was a circular room with a large window behind the desk. One shelf after the other took up each wall, all filled with books about magic, physics and other sciences. Some of these books she had read herself but couldn’t really understand all of it. Most of it was higher magic, something maybe her mother would be able to cast. The few things she did understand were thanks to her nurse, who had taught her the way of the changelings that came about from both her grandmother’s and mother’s rule.

Her wandering thoughts were interrupted when the door opened. “Good morning, Amaryllis,” Twilight Sparkle said as she entered the room. Like yesterday, the orange mare that introduced herself as Applejack was following her. Twilight had quietly noted that her friend could smell a lie ten miles against the wind, which was the main reason she had chosen to remain silent. She would have loved to mislead them as their knowledge about changelings was ridiculously small. “Maybe you are ready to give us some answers today. We don’t want to hurt you, we just want some answers.” She thought of Thiemo’s words as both ponies took a seat behind the desk. If they had what they wanted, she would be back in the cold dungeons of the castle.

She noticed the frustration of the two as she stayed silent again. The alicorn, which was what Twilight had referred to her kind as, had cast a spell on herself that made it impossible to feel her emotions. Too bad it was an exercise in futility due to her constant facial expressions. Amaryllis just stared out of the window at the clouds behind them. She had tried yesterday to smash the window and fly away with no success. It must have been secured too. “So, where did you come from?”

It was the same question she had started with yesterday. Amaryllis didn’t even bother listening to the other ones. Twilight Sparkle read from the same scroll on her desks; the questions had to be the same. She continued her thoughts where she left off, more specifically to her grandmother. Her nurse had called her the mother of the changelings. Under her leadership, nopony had to suffer hunger, and nopony had to die. Search for ponies that were about to die and offer to care of their loved ones as long as you are capable to. Only feed from them so that they would not notice it. Disappear after an appropriate amount of time had passed. Three simple rules that had been more than successful. Her mother, on the other hoof, held and practiced the dogma that changelings were predators and therefore had to take their prey. A trait of her father, her nurse used to say. Dragons were more than just greedy and that had rubbed off on Chrysalis.

When Amaryllis eventually reined over her own hive, she wanted to be just like her grandmother. A queen that would be remembered. With princesses that would be raised like true daughters. Instead of killing their mothers, they would explore the world. She even imagined Thiemo at her side as he was the closest to what her grandmother had been. Cunning, smart, skilled in getting what he wanted, while avoiding hurting others as much as he could. It didn’t help that he was very charming and intelligent. But the most important thing was that he returned her feelings. She had tasted it for a while now. They were there, only for her. Legends had been told about this delicacy. Love directly for the changeling who ate them. The legends had come without an exact description of its irresistible flavor, something Amaryllis had noted to herself.

It was smooth and mixed in with the worry he had for Aura and other emotions, but it was there. It had made his treason so much worse for her. How could he do something like this, to someone he had such feelings for? But even now, after she yelled at him, pushed him away, the taste was still there. In fact, it was even stronger than before.

“Hey!” Amaryllis looked around, startled at the outburst. Applejack stood in front of her and had just yelled in her face. “Twilight asked you something.”

“Easy, Applejack, you are scaring her.” Amaryllis looked at her hooves when Twilight Sparkle said this. She was actually trembling. But in her defense, she had to point out that the orange mare had a pretty large set of lungs.

Unfortunately, her words were of no use. “No way, Twilight! This changeling was weeks together with my niece, and Celestia knows how long she fed off her! Ah will bash her teeth in if she won’t start talking soon, and we can leave her to rot in a cell forever.” Amaryllis wasn’t surprised that Thiemo’s words had turned out to be true.

“Applejack, I brought you here under than condition, and that was if you could control yourself. If you can’t do that, I’m going to have to ask Pinkie Pie if she would be willing to help me.” Both, Applejack and Amaryllis looked at Twilight.

“Anything but her.” They both shifted their gazes over to the changeling. “Please, not the pink maniac.” Both ponies grinned, and Amy knew she had just made a mistake. “You tricked me!”

Applejack clapped on her back, cheerful and sturdy. “Don’t think about it, sugarcube. Happens to the best of us.” She sighed and looked at Twilight.

“So, Amaryllis. We know your name thanks to Aura. Please tell us where exactly you came from.” Twilight dipped the quill in ink and held some parchment ready, not wanting to miss anything that would leave her mouth.

“From our hive.” No, she wasn’t going to make it that easy for the ponies.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me he could speak our language!” Lyra stood angrily in front of the crew and continued her diatribe. “I totally embarrassed myself!”

At that moment, the door to the room swung open, and a young stallion, probably a Royal Guard recruit, entered with a large pile of documents on his back. “I-I have found the report of Princess Sparkle, sir. It was still in the post office and on its way to the archives,” he stammered, trying to retain his composure even though the stack was weighing him down.

Estoc nodded and levitated the load off his back. With a thud, the pile landed on the ground next to Lyra. She stared at the monstrosity, her jaw slightly agape. The thing was at least the same size as her. “Soooo, is this all the remaining reports about the incident? From the princess and all the Bearers?”

The adjutant shook his head. “No, miss, this is just from the princess.” She looked at the pile again and swallowed. That did have Twilight Sparkle written all over it.

“As you can see, Miss Heartstrings,” Estoc began, “we didn’t even know that he was capable of speech. It was lost somewhere in all these documents.” That was the understatement of the year. It hadn’t just been lost; it had been drowned and crushed by the weight of thousands of other papers. Carefully, Lyra levitated the file on top to eye level and opened it. It was a quick profile with all the important information and a myriad of links to other files, including what could be found in them. On the first page stood the information she could have used a few moments ago.

She looked back through the mirror where Fluttershy was scolding the human. He only seemed to listen to her with one ear, if his hand that was imitating a mouth and his bored expression were any hints to that theory. That fact seemed to fly past the yellow pegasus, however. Somehow he noticed that he was watched and waved at her. Her rage immediately returned, and Lyra turned back to the attendants.

“It seems like we are dealing with a cunning specimen here,” Lyra tartly declared. “It would also seem as though he isn’t taking us serious either.” Her mind whirled through several possibilities as to how she could get him to cooperate with her. However, the human had just outsmarted them and brought Fluttershy to turn two of the guards into whimpering foals who kept on apologizing over and over again for something they didn’t even do. “Maybe we should budge an inch.”

Estoc seemed confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we want to learn from him. Thing is, he’s an intelligent being.” Smarter than Lyra thought humans would be. “If we treat him like a lab rat, he is just going to keep evading. Maybe if we give him some privileges…”

“Pardon me, Miss Heartstrings,” the captain interrupted her, “but that’s surely just what he wants. We can’t forget that he attacked Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Bearers with the intention to steal their Elements. Even worse, he managed to gain two. As we all know, they can only work if they are all together. No, it would be too much of a risk to if we only budge an inch towards him.”

She bit her lip and thought for a moment, feeling irked at the captain’s stubbornness. “Don’t forget that Eris was also involved. Did anyone bother to question where he was before that and why he helped her in the first place? And why did Eris not get questioned?”

Now it was the captain’s turn to look embarrassed. “Well, you know that Miss Eris is protected by the crown as long as she… behaves. Her actions were extreme, but Lady Fluttershy assured us that it was her personal duty to bring her to justice.” And Lyra had him where she wanted him.

“And just as chance would have it, the human is also protected by the princess, or am I wrong?” Estoc’s opened his mouth but no words came out. “She took him in as a subject to study and is therefore in her custody. I’m not saying that we should give him new quarters, maybe that we could exchange a favor. His only crime is, as far as I can see, entering Equestria. If Miss Eris can’t be held responsible for her hoax, why should he?” Lyra could see the resistance of the captain break. Satisfied, she turned to the door through which Fluttershy had just entered the room again. She grinned sheepishly at Lyra when she walked past her and closed the door.

“So, let’s start over again. My name is Lyra Heartstrings.”

Thiemo stumbled back into his cell, a book in his hands. He had exchanged it for the name and knowledge about the great god of the humans, Bananarama. That strange green unicorn with the white stripe in her mane seemed to be fascinated by this. According to her theories, humans were a subspecies of apes and having a god of bananas just seemed to confirm that. Thiemo didn’t have the heart to tell her that everything was just a joke when she was happily jumping through the room even though she had asked something completely different. She would show him a yellow card and he would say it was blue, just to see how long he could play this game. At some point, someone would notice what he was doing. But now he had a book.

Back in his cell, he now had the chance to view the title of the book for the first time. They had pushed it in his hands, and immediately after, he had gotten escorted back to the cell, finally finished with him.

“Daring Do and the Search for the Lost Kingdom?” He read the title and turned the book around. “An exciting adventure for young and old,” he read the first sentence on the back and threw it in the corner, frustration roaring to the forefront of his mind. “Apparently, she knows how to play this game too,” he admitted grimly. A book was better than no book, but this was just better toilet paper.

Thiemo slumped down on his pile of straw and tried to get comfortable. He wasn’t tired, but it had to be late in the afternoon already. The time was hard to tell without seeing the sun. The meals, while all the same, were the only hint on how much time has passed. He doubted that they were coming regularly, or at the right time at all.

Again, he heard the door to this part of the dungeons open and hoofsteps on cold stone. Almost immediately, a well-known feeling spread throughout his body, and he knew that it had to be Amaryllis. A few moments later, she stood in the entrance as the bars shut behind her. “How have you been?”

He worried about her. She was young, and even though not as inexperienced as when they had first met, she still wasn’t experienced in some ways as he was. He was used to places like this. What was this now? His fourth or fifth stay in a cell? He did have to admit that this one was probably the most comfortable one, relatively speaking of course. Most likely that was because no one was here with a whip to use on him right away.

“I have talked.” She didn’t lie down on the straw but instead slid onto the cold floor. Thiemo sighed and pulled her towards him. She resisted, trying to push him away with her hooves, but he persisted. Eventually, she sat next to him on the straw.

“Me too. But you know what? Didn’t tell them anything. There is a difference between talking and telling.”

She looked at him angrily. “You think I told them the truth?”

Thiemo grinned and leaned back. “Definitely not. Just wanted to make sure we’re on the same level. That is going to cause us an additional problem though. We have to get out of her before they find out we’re lying.” Amaryllis didn’t reply. “I don’t know how, but I’m going to get us out of here.”

“We’ve all seen how much we can trust in your promises.”

“Hey! I brought you and Aura to Canterlot, right? I never said we would come in with drums beating and trumpets sounding or in a fine chariot. Also, what could I have done against Eris? Please tell me. What could I have done against a terrifying drag… dragqueen thing?” Thiemo saw that he was right, and she was realizing it. “To play her game was maybe not the best way to go, but we’re still alive. And I didn’t pull us out of one pit to end in the next one.”

“I’m scared…” That was most likely the most open thing Amaryllis had ever said in their time together. She had always been Princess Amaryllis, playing the proud and sublime. Or at least tried to.

“Do you think I’m not? Only fools and people with nothing left to lose aren’t scared of death. And I don’t want to spend the rest of my life down here. I have Aura, I have my sister back home, my parents.” Thiemo laughed. “To hell with it, even my stupid grandparents.”

“You have me…if you still want to be my friend.” Thiemo smirked threw one of his coats around them both.

“You aren’t going to get rid of me that easily, Princess Amaryllis.” He said in a teasing voice. Satisfied he turned around and closed his eyes. It relaxed him to know that he hadn’t lost a friend. Tomorrow he would start working on a plan. Somehow he had to gain an advantage from the scientist. His thoughts slowed down, but then suddenly he was flipped around and something pressed against his lips.

Author's Notes:

Wazup!!!

I could now hold a small speech how awesome JBL and Gron are, but I think you know that. I mean, 3 chapters in 6 days? You know it guys!

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