Saying that Thiemo was caught by surprise would have been the understatement of the century. Amaryllis clung to him, her lips on his. While he looked at her with wide open eyes, she noticeably tried to keep hers shut. He then did what he would later on regard as one of the greatest mistake in his life. He pushed her away.

She yelped in surprise as she fell off the low pile of straw and hit the cold floor. Immediately, Thiemo could see from the look in her eyes that he had made a mistake.

“Amy…” She shook her head furiously, cutting off his sentence. With a leap, she was in her own spot, burying her head between her forelegs, trying to shut off the world around her. “Amaryllis, I…”

“Leave me alone!” Now they were back to the point they had been when they had been captured, maybe even below that. What was the matter with him? He liked her; why did he push her away? His mind strayed to the question he had often asked himself after the first few months on this planet had started to wear on him with no return in sight. Would he ever find a partner here? Nobody, not even he, truly wanted to spend his life alone. Everyone craved for a companion.

Amaryllis was smart, cunning and funny (if she wanted to be), plus she wanted to see the world just as much as he did. He was sure she would continue to travel with him if he asked her, something Deerling had refused to consider. Deerling! Thiemo hadn’t thought about her for a while now. Was it because of her? Did he still have feelings for her? No, she had made it very clear that their ways could not coexist and he had accepted that.

What was it then? Because she was a changeling, something resembling a pony? For the time he had spent on this planet, he had been treated differently because he was a human, because of how he looked like on the outside. Despite knowing all that, here he was treating Amaryllis, someone he liked very much, the same way. He wanted to slap himself right now, something he found himself wanting to do quite a lot recently.

He had to be clear about what he really wanted. Did he like— no, did he love her? And if the answer was yes, then he had to fix this right now. Thiemo got up from his half-lying position and walked over to her. “Amy, look at me.” He tried to carefully lift her head out from between her forelegs with his hand, but she wouldn’t move. “Please, we have to talk.”

She slowly raised her head and looked at him. Her eyes were red, the remnants of tears still glistening. She had been crying quietly. Quiet was the worst. Thiemo put his hands on her cheeks and held her head up gently. “I was… an idiot. A giant idiot. In all this time, I have been mistreated for what I was. And now I’m doing the same thing to you. On Earth, there are only humans, no other species who can talk, think. We…I’m not used to getting…intimate with other species. What can I say? Humans tend to reacted badly towards changes and new things. It is like you would try to disable our brain, following our basic instincts, running, trying…” His fumbling ramblings were interrupted by a faint laugh of Amaryllis.

“You got off the track, idiot,” she grinned weakly, hiccupping slightly as Thiemo wiped a tear out of her eyes with his thumb. For a second, Thiemo thought about what would be best thing to say, but he decided that for now the best thing would be to keep his mouth shut, verbally at least. This time he closed his eyes as his lips met hers. It was unfamiliar, thanks to the different anatomy of their jaws, but not unpleasant at all. Something he hadn’t even noticed the first time.

Something else he hadn’t noticed was how she tasted. For him, it was usually lost in the passion and desire for another, but this time it was too dominant to ignore. Strangely, she tasted of raspberries with whipped cream or something like that. It didn’t matter to him now, he wanted more of it. This time, however, it was Amy who broke it off first, much more gently than he did. “You taste good,” Thiemo whispered, grinning from ear to ear.

“That goes double for you.” They simply sat there, he with an arm around her and pressed her body closer to his. She certainly didn’t mind, almost seeming to melt against him. Thiemo had no idea what they should do now. Usually he would have proposed going on a date, maybe a carnival or an ice-cream parlor. That wouldn’t happen anytime soon.

He did notice something else, now that he was forced to breathe through his nose. “I think we could both need a shower.”

Amaryllis also took a breath of air from their little cell. “Huh... If I could transform myself that would be no problem. The fire would purge any kind of dirt.”

Thiemo leaned forward and looked at the ceiling outside the bars. A crystal, a few runes around it, formed the anti-magic seal. At least he thought so; he could see no other purpose for it. Once again, he felt like kicking himself in the ass for not completing his training. However, since the crystals on the walls were throwing off light, there were not many possibilities left. “Amy, if you could use your magic, would you have a chance against a few guards?”

She followed his look. “Pegasi and earth ponies, probably. Unicorns are surely trained in magical combat. I don’t think I would stand against them. Why?” Thiemo stood up and walked over to the corner where he had thrown his book.

“Because we may have gotten a chance.” Amy’s eyes widened as she realized what he had in mind. If he could damage the crystal with the book, they could get out of here. The lock wouldn’t withstand Amy’s magic. There would only be the guards left.

“What about Aura? Do we want to leave her here?” Thiemo stopped. He hadn’t thought about that. But she would be safe here, the ponies wouldn’t harm her.

“For now, yes. We will come back later and take care of her.” He made sure to word it specifically like that. Thiemo wanted to give her the choice of staying here or not. If she really had family here, he would insist on her staying here, no matter how much it was going to hurt. It would be the best for her. And hopefully he would believe those words himself one day.

“Ready?” Thiemo moved into position and stretched out a hand with the book between the bars. Amaryllis nodded, and he started bending and stretching his arm a few times without throwing, just to aim. He then let it fly. The book flew for a few centimeters, but then it opened and fell down onto the ground with a dull thud. The counter pressure had apparently been too large, as it provided too much windage as it opened.

“Damn.” Thiemo sank down on the cold stone and tried to reach out with his arm as far as possible, but the book was out of his reach.

“It was worth a try,” Amaryllis reassured him, patting him on the back. “You should come back on the straw again.” That was exactly what he did, since the floor felt like ice on his naked legs. The ponies had given him some clothes, but pants were not included. No wonder, since they weren’t wearing any themselves.

Carefully, he wiggled his tail around his right leg so that at least a little bit of his nether regions were protected. Despite that, today had been significantly colder than the past few days. He inevitably started shivering again even when he threw the coat he tried to use as a sheet earlier around him again.

“We should sleep now and see to it that we get something to destroy the seal.” Amaryllis didn’t reply. Instead, she snuggled next to him and threw her tail over him. She was warm, and his shivers died a little. Sleep didn’t take long until it snatched him in its sweet embrace.

Auralia sat together with Applejack and Rarity in one of the numerous rooms of the castle. She had more or less spent the past few days with these two, occasionally being asked a question. She didn’t mind though. She liked to talk about her father and what they had done together.

Just like him, however, she got a bit uneasy when they asked her how they got their money. Like Thiemo, she quickly found out that Applejack believed that stealing was bad, and money should be earned through an honest day’s work. It wasn’t like they had never tried. The hard truth was that the stories had brought in less money in an entire evening than a little tour through the streets that only took an hour.

The current subject seemed to be the favorite of the two grown-ups. Family, hers, to be more precise. “I have my father, even though he’s not my real one,” she gave the exact same response like the last times they had asked. She didn’t get what they were aiming at.

Aura could see in their faces that there was something behind the question. “Sugarcube… we think we have found your family.”

She said nothing. In little mind, she always knew the possibility was there. Thiemo had always reminded her about that. That maybe somewhere two ponies who wanted her, who desperately wished for her presence. But she didn’t know those ponies. They weren’t her family.

She curled up a bit further on the sofa. She hadn’t gotten over the sheer softness of the furniture; their group had to sleep on rocky beds for far too long. “What my friend is trying to say is that we want you to look at some pictures. Maybe you might recognize someone, even though you don’t exactly remember them. Is that alright?” The white mare always tried to sound important, but she wasn’t so intrusive like Applejack. But yes, that sounded good, so she nodded. “Very good. Would you call in your brother, darling?”

Aura raised her head in curiosity and saw Applejack place the tip of her hooves in her mouth. A moment later, a loud whistle pierced through the air, and the door opened. They all looked at the massive red stallion with a wild orange mane carrying a large book on his back into the room. His face was emotionless and focused on Aura for a few seconds before he nodded shortly as a greeting, placing the book on the table between them.

“That’s Macintosh, mah brother, but everypony’s just calls him Big Mac.” Auralia nodded absently. The pony was a pile of muscles, at least three or four times as large as she was. Surely he was even stronger than the minotaur they had met. For some reason, he didn’t frighten her even when he loomed over her.

“Eeyup,” the stallion said while a barely noticeable smile formed on his lips. Then, without saying another word, he turned around and left the room. The door softly fell shut behind him.

Aura’s eyes wandered back towards the adults whose attention was focused on the book. Applejack opened it and flipped through the first pages. “Oh! Is that little Applebloom?” Rarity pointed at one of the pictures. Aura couldn’t see much. The light that fell through the window reflected on the photos, and they were also upside down.

“Yep! She was exactly one month old then.” Applejack sound proud and turned over more pages as though she was searching for something. Every now and then a grin would appear on Rarity’s face or she giggled, but they didn’t stop at any one photo. Aura was slowly getting impatient and decided the change her seat.

Applejack seemed a bit surprised when she sat down next to them on the other sofa but didn’t say anything. “Aha! There it is.” Her hoof pointed at one photo. Both Aura and Rarity leaned forward a bit and looked at it. The first thing that caught her eye was the sheer number of ponies in the picture. That had to be like what? Over a hundred? Maybe even a thousand! Well, not a thousand. But still, that was a large number of ponies. They all stood in front of what had to be a newly built barn. A sign was attached to it.

“Fifth Ponyville Apple Family reunion,” Aura read slowly. She was not very good at reading or writing, but she knew how to help herself. Thiemo had at least tried to teach it to her as best as he could, given their circumstances. “That’s a large family.”

“That it is,” Applejack agreed. “And do you see these two ponies there?” She pointed more precisely at a stallion and a mare at the corner of the large group. They had weird glasses on their head and stood next to the top of some wooden machinery. “Have you ever seen them, Sugarcube?”

Aura looked more carefully at the two ponies. The stallion had a similar red coat like the one who had just left the room, but his mane was short, tousled and green. The mare next to him had a bright orange, almost yellow coat. Her mane consisted out of large pink curls that looked almost white in the sunlight. However, she couldn’t say that she had ever seen them before. “No, I don’t know them. Should I?”

The two adults looked at each other briefly. Applejack seemed to be disappointed, her ears flattening against her head almost reflexively, while Rarity gave her a soft smile. “Don’t lose hope, darling. I’m sure Twilight will find the spell and then this whole situation will be resolved.” Aura hated it when she didn’t know what was being discussed.

“You’re right. We don’t know what exactly happened.” Now both looked at her and smiled lightly. Aura stared back at them. Why didn’t anyone tell her what was going on?

Thiemo once again sat in the small room with the large, lengthy mirror that almost took up the entire wall. The ponies hopefully still hadn’t figured out that he was aware that they were observing him from another room. At least he could talk privately with the pony that was here with him so long as the door was shut. That the room was soundproof was only a speculation, but the notes that were being exchanged were a good indication of that theory.

Last night had demanded its tribute, even though Amaryllis had lain at his side. His nose was stuffy and in his bones he already knew that he was going to get a cold, something that had never happened to him here on Albion. He hadn’t fallen ill ever since he had arrived on this planet; consciously thinking about it now, it struck him as odd for the first time. This was as alien planet with alien substances, germs, bacteria, viruses, and what not, yet the first thing he caught was a cold. And not even two days after he got the tail. Maybe a side effect of the rainbow? Did it take the supposed immunity he had previously enjoyed? On the other hand, he had always been tough, going without any major sicknesses through every school year, just to end up staying in bed during the holidays. His usual luck.

The door next to the mirror opened, and again Minty and her tea trolley of one thousand things entered the room. Like yesterday, various books were on it; there was also a plate with different fruits and some other objects he couldn’t determine. “Morning, Thiemo.”

It bothered him that she knew his real name. He supposed that since they were all questioned separately, it was only a matter of time until they found out. “Morning, Minty.”

“Lyra,” she replied, a bit annoyed.

“That’s what I said.” She sat down on the cushion opposed to him and levitated a file from the trolley in front of her.

“You sound a bit different. Hard to tell with the accent.” Thiemo conveniently sneezed into the crook of his arm, something he had gotten used to in order to keep his hands clean. It was more hygienic, something he had very little of while traveling. Then again, he was sleeping in a prison cell.

“Well, I have a cold, and unfortunately my room doesn’t have a chimney.” Lyra put the file down and peered at him.

“I thought that’s what the clothes were for.” Thiemo needed a few seconds before he noticed that she was serious.

“First of all, I’m only wearing clothes on half of my body, making the whole thing a bit ineffective. Secondly, it’s a few degrees below zero down there. The water starts freezing if I leave it still for too long.” The green unicorn just blinked. “For humans, that’s too cold without the right protection. We can die with such temperatures.” It was hard not to snap after having to think about last night.

“Oh…” He couldn’t have made it any more obvious. “I thought humans had some layer of fat underneath their skin that would protect them from the cold just like our coats. For ponies, it would have to get way colder to feel uncomfortable. For pegasi, even colder.” That would explain why nobody ever complained about that before. These fine ponies had their stupid fur.

“Well, would there be the possibility for me to be moved into a warmer quarter? I’m sure there could be something arranged.” He hadn’t plan on negotiating, but he had no other choice. “Maybe I’ll tell you something that is actually true.” He couldn’t help himself but grin as her jaw dropped.

“You mean there is no Bananarama?” She sounded really disappointed even though Thiemo thought the name sounded ridiculous. Since he had worn it for a while, he wouldn’t admit it.

“I am Bananarama. It was a nickname of mine.” She sighed and levitated another file over, looked at it for a few seconds before it burst into flames with a small flicker of her horn.

The pile of burning paper fell on the ground between them, and Thiemo didn’t let the opportunity of warming his fingers pass by. “Let’s say I accept your deal. What guarantee do I have that you won’t lie to me again?”

“Your sane mind when all makes sense?” Apparently she was not convinced. “Give me the leather book over there.” He pointed at an old leather-bound book that was held together by some strings. It was significantly different from all the other books on the trolley and literally screamed that it was made by humans. The leather alone said that.

Carefully, she let it glide over to him. Minty was obviously concentrating so as to not touch it and was flabbergasted when he just took it in his hands. “Doesn’t that gross you out? That was a deer once, or a diamond dog maybe…or even a pony.”

“Humans have even used the skin of other humans as leather for books. The dead won’t really miss it.” And that was the reason he so rarely talked with ponies, especially Aura, about his race. Most of the things would simply be disgusting in the eyes of a pony. “You just take what you can get.”

Lyra didn’t say anything else as he opened the book. Just from the first words he could see it was a logbook; the presence of a date, description of the area and a name were good indications of that. The parchment was yellowed and had soaked in a lot of ink. Beyond that, it was also dirty, and someone had tried to restore it at some points. However, repairing single words without knowing the letters could only go wrong. More than the first sentence could not be saved.

“This is the logbook of a captain. Captain Hammond, if I can read that correctly.” A surprisingly normal name compared to Aschlant. But this thing was at least a couple of hundred years old, if not more. In that time a lot could happen with names.

Suddenly, the book flew out of his hand, and Lyra skimmed over the first line. “According to our experts, that’s nearly a thousand years old. How can you read that?” For a split second he thought about telling her that it was just common English. Nah, he would keep on to his trump card for a while longer. “We have a translation of it here.” Another file found its way towards Lyra, and she checked what he just said. “Hammond, sure it’s Hammond?” Thiemo nodded and rubbed warmth into his hand for a last time above the dying fire. “We translated it with ‘Hammel’”

“I’d give you five out of ten points for trying. But you should really keep your hooves away from restoring it. You really suck at it.” She closed the file and let both fly onto the trolley again.

“Uhm… yes. Thanks for the heads up.” She then stood up and went towards the door. She seemed to be trying very hard not to look as though she was in a rush. Thiemo knew he had gotten her now. She had dedicated her life to science, and the incentive of being able to read the text of humans was just too appealing. Now she just had to convince this captain of the guards behind the glass.

Out of pure boredom that came in after a few minutes, he waved at them. Of course, he couldn’t see them, but the thought alone they might think he could was fun enough. “Achoo!” If only he didn’t have this wretched cold. He snuffled what was in nose since didn’t have a tissue. “Wait… a thousand years?”

Lyra carefully closed the door behind her and looked at the questioning faces of Captain Estoc and one of the chambermaids who had put everything that happened on record. Fluttershy was not present today, and only two of the usual four guards were on duty. It was weekend after all, and even in the castle everything had become more relaxed. “We are giving him a guest room in the lower floors.” That was no question, she demanded it.

“Come again?” The captain was clearly surprised. “I thought we had this discussion already, Miss Heartstrings. The human stays in his cell.”

“This human just translated a text that is older than most of our findings. And if he can do that, newer texts shouldn’t be any problem. We could study their history, the changes of their kind over time and much more.”

Estoc scratched his chin with his hoof and considered it. “And could we read their messages?”

Lyra hesitated. “What messages?”

“Well, these days more and more human stumble upon our continent and beyond. Recently, two humans were caught on Tapirus when they tried to plunder a medicine camp. Several writs were found in their belongings. Unfortunately, they didn’t speak our language and were much…wilder than this one. The messages were brought here and handed to the intelligence agency to translate them. According to what we know, they could be orders or lists with further targets.” Lyra had to resist not going for the captain’s throat.

“Does that mean that’s not the first human who got caught?”

He nodded. “Not by a long shot. These were only the first who managed to get to Canterlot and even on the grounds of the castle.” They both turned around and again saw the human waving at them. It was scary. “You see the cause for concern. But in one thing I have to agree with you. The possibility of gaining intel is very tempting.” Lyra gnashed her teeth. These mules from the Royal Guard would withhold such important information because of military reasons? She would have loved to go directly to Twilight and give it to her straight, but it was probably not her fault. “I will submit this suggestion to the princess on the next chance.”

“I’m afraid it can’t wait. The human can’t withstand the temperatures like we do. It is way too cold in the dungeons. He needs significantly thicker blankets and more clothes.” Estoc nodded at the chambermaid. She put down her notebook and disappeared in the hallway.

“I’ll let Quick Note get a few. But we can’t do much with the approval of one of the princesses. And since neither Princess Celestia nor Princess Luna is here, we have to wait for Princess Twilight Sparkle. She took the weekend off though, and she doesn’t want to be disturbed under any circumstances. It is an important project for Lady Applejack, her friend.” Lyra gave up and agreed. Now she had to tell the human that he had to live down here for a few more days. Maybe she could let him translate some more texts in the meantime, just to make sure. If the deal went through, she would have some solid starts on learning the language herself.

Author's Notes:

You know how this works: Just worship their plots:

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

And don't forget to feed the author.