Despite the fog and the darkness, neither Hawk nor Thiemo had any trouble following the foals. From time to time, they lost visual, but thanks to the sharp ears of the thestral, they quickly got back on track. “How deep into the forest do these stupid brats want to go? Luna-knows-what could live out here.” Thiemo gave his companion a questioning look. “What?”

“Well, I’ve heard ponies using Celestia’s name quite often but never Luna’s.” Since they were both ‘gods’, it shouldn’t be very surprising though.

“Everypony chooses their own patroness. Now guess why I choose Luna.” Thiemo didn’t see that worthy of an answer. “Makes those stupid Celestia’s Witnesses even more pissed off,” Hawk added, more to herself than the human.

“As long as they don’t ring you out of your bed in the morning, you’re lucky.” Hawk suddenly stopped and pulled Thiemo by his coat with her teeth behind one of the trees. She peeked out of it again before hunkering down on the ground.

She sniffed a few times. “Predators… I smell meat, not cooked. And decay. They can’t be far.” Thiemo looked around. His magical sight should have enabled him to see everything, even through some near objects like thin walls or bushes. But he found nothing unusual. Just a few trees and bushes with little to no magical energy.

But then he noticed some movement. At first, it was in the form of the cracking of small branches, causing him to quickly look over at it. It seemed like the plants were moving, but they stopped as soon as he looked at them. “No, we’re really not alone…” Thiemo grabbed Protes in his hands and prepared himself for whatever was coming. A few second later, they saw the outlines of two well-known creatures. “Timberwolves,” he murmured and pointed in their direction. Hawk followed his hand and nodded, confirming that she saw the wolves as well. Now, without the disturbance of the Everfree, he could better understand what these things were. They had a magical core that used the surroundings, similar to his staff. The core was protected by a coat of wood. Magic itself couldn’t think, so there must also be something else in this core.

“I thought these things would only be in the Everfree around Ponyville. I’ve never heard of sighting so far away,” Hawk said without taking her eyes of the predators. They snuffled around, and it was only a matter of time until they detected them, so Thiemo decided to beat them to it. Quietly, he put down both bags and stepped past Hawk out of their hiding place. Immediately, the heads of the wooden creatures spun to his direction, and they bared their teeth.

The shaman could only grin. “Come to papa.” The wolves didn’t need to be told twice, and both jumped at him at the same time. Thiemo threw himself to the ground, so that they both missed their target and landed behind them with their backs turned towards him. In one quick move, he put his feet on the ground again and readied his staff. He spun around in the same moment as the creatures, but they immediately met the metal of Protes. The effect was instant, and the wood fell to the ground where it lay still. With his magical view, he saw the cores floating around and he quickly reached out for them. His hand made contact with something small, but he couldn’t see what it was. He closed his eyes shortly and shook his head. As he opened them again, he was engulfed by fog and darkness, but he could see what his fingers were holding. It was a small green creature with large, yellow, poisonous eyes that were without pupils. A hissing sound came out of its small mouth that was filled with fangs, and long baggy ears were on its oval, wrinkled head.

Another crack of branches got his attention, but it was just Hawk that stepped into his sight. “What is that thing?” she asked, a bit disgusted as she reached out her hoof. It snapped after her hoof, and she quickly pulled back.

Thiemo was glad that he blocked its little claws and wings with his hand. “That would be a gnome. I never have seen one before, but I think I’m right.” Gnomes were earth spirits, creatures of Gaia. According to the book he had read, they were created to protect the earth and everything that wandered on it. “Cunning little beasts that like to play nature’s protectors. Only thing is that they have found too much pleasure in it.” Thiemo couldn’t imagine that they were created this way. “But that confirms my assumption.” He repositioned the gnome in his hand, weighed it, and then threw it with all of his power into the fog. A few seconds later, he heard a satisfying thud. The second one should be long gone by now to regenerate.

“Why did you do that? Now he will come back and attack us again.” He shrugged.

“I don’t think that will happen. At least not today. Unlike the Everfree, this area is barely magical, so they need way more time to gather enough magic to create a lull. We should be done here by then.” Without further ado, he walked past Hawk, picked up their bags, and stored his weapon again.

“Done here?” she asked, now on his eye level and stopped him by pressing a hoof against his shoulder. "What is that supposed to mean? Do you know what’s going on here?”

“I had a speculation, but now I’m certain. You said it yourself: why are timberwolves here, or rather gnomes? Why so far from home? Also, why did they attack us and not the foals?” Thiemo saw the cluelessness in Hawk’s eyes and grinned, amused. “Come, we should hurry and catch up to the foals. Then you will see what I mean.”

They needed about half an hour until they finally found a track of the group. The two gnomes did good work in getting them an advantage. Thiemo’s view and even Hawk’s ears were no help in filtering anything out of the noises of the nightly forest. Eventually, however, they stumbled upon something: a candy wrapper. One of the foals must have been hungry and disposed of the waste in the forest. One wrapper alone wasn’t much of a help. But more wrappers gave them a rough direction, and the group was eventually back in sight, just in time to see them climbing up a footbridge.

Suddenly, Hawk jabbed Thiemo in his side and pointed with a hoof upwards. There, under the tree crowns, was something that could be described as a small palace. It was a structure made out of many small tree houses, all joining together to one. Small chain bridges served as a walkway for the numerous foals that were running around up there. Occasionally, a small pegasus was between them, who landed on the branches and kept watch. “What is that?” he heard the thestral murmuring.

“So that must be the residence of the fly king.” Again he was met with the same look he always got when someone didn’t get his references. “That is the home of our soul stealer.” She nodded and began to walk up same path, but this time it was Thiemo who held her back. “What are you doing?”

“What do you think? I’m going up there, drag the flank of this idiot who uses little foals as his servants out here, and then give him more than a clear bit of my mind.” To give utterance to her words, she slammed her forehooves together.

Thiemo laughed again. “So we’re beating up foals now?” Hawk just blinked. “Okay, slowly for the stupid. Who would have something to gain from disabling all the adults in town? Especially who would then hide with a bunch of foals in the forest and play king? Didn’t you ever want to do whatever you wanted when you were little?” She looked like she wanted to reply with something snappy, but Thiemo gave her no chance to speak. “Now imagine you’re a foal like Twilight Sparkle, born with enough power to make this happen.”

“What’s your point?” Hawk was seemingly impatient.

“Simple. We are dealing with a spoiled little descendant who wants to live his fantasies. A world with no adults, no rules. Thanks to the gnomes, I can safely say that we are dealing with a descendant of Gaia. They felt attracted to the familiar energy or something. And the foals must basically smell like him, so they were spared.” Amused, Thiemo saw how it clicked in the pony’s head.

“But what about the adults? Did he really kill them?” Thiemo knocked against one of the trees next to him.

“May I introduce you to one of the proud citizens of Sunny Town? I would really love for you to get to know each other, but souls trapped inside trees have this annoying trait of being very taciturn. Basically every soul is like that, but that’s not the point.” He pointed at the trees around them. “All of these trees contain souls. I noticed it like ten minutes ago, but hey, where would have been the fun in telling you?”

“Okay, so am I getting this right? We are dealing with an incredibly powerful foal?” Thiemo nodded. “How do we spank his flank and make this all okay then?”

Thiemo stopped. “Honestly, I haven’t thought that far.…” Hawk’s forehead met her hoof. “Come on, I can’t do everything on my own.”

Amaryllis had tried to stay out of the conversations of the foals the whole time, but now she was literally overwhelmed. In the town, she had told Swift Wing, the leader of the little group, only what Thiemo had told her. She was hiding until now and came out because she was hungry. They had immediately taken her into their little group. During the way through the forest, she had felt Thiemo: sometimes more, sometimes less, but he was always out of reach to read his emotions. Now they were at the first little hut of the tree palace as the others called it, where she was surrounded by many foals who all questioned her. Who she was, where she lived, and so on. She tried to answer them, but the questions came too quickly.

“Leave her alone.” It was Swift Wind’s voice. “She probably hasn’t eaten for days.” The foals dropped their heads and disappeared back where they came from. The little white pegasus with a golden mane walked over to her and led her down a corridor. “Sorry about that. Auralia, right?” She just nodded. “They are just excited to see a new face. Especially since we didn’t expected one. You’ll have to wait a bit longer until you can eat; I think Karst wants to meet you first.”

“Who?” Swift giggled and waved her off with a wing.

“Sorry. Karst is our leader. He saved us from what happened with the grown-ups and helped us to sit this out until help from Canterlot arrives.” They walked across one of the bridges, climbed up another path upstairs, and finally entered a big hall. It was in the biggest tree house, towering above all the others. On their way, she saw some foals sorting the stuff from the bags in piles. Amaryllis saw that they were barely furnished. No beds - just blankets and pillows. No furniture besides some few single desks, but nopony seemed to mind. Some foals were playing tag, some were sleeping. Everypony seemed to more or less be doing what they wanted. It was the complete opposite to her hive.

“Karst! We have a new one!” Swift shouted and swooshed past her. On a throne of cushions and blankets, with a few grapes lying around it, was not another foal but a small diamond dog. His coat was light brown with a many white dots. In one of his extremely large paw, at least for the age Amy expected him to be, he held a stick like a sceptre.

His gaze met hers and Swift’s, and his bored expression changed to a happy one. “Swift, pal!” His paw formed a fist and was met by the hoof of the little pegasus. Then he looked at Amaryllis and his eyes went as big as plates. “Hey, beautiful lady, come around here often?” She could only roll her eyes at his stupid pick-up line. Hold on, was that how Thiemo felt when they met? At the thought, she wished the ground would open and swallow her up if it wasn’t ten meters below her now.

“Uhm…” She didn’t get to say more as the young diamond dog jumped up from his throne and came over to her. A foul smell came from him as though he hadn’t showered in weeks. To make it worse, he put an arm around her neck.

“Don’t worry, I’ll look after you. So, welcome in my little kingdom.” He grinned at her, his teeth as yellow as gold and with the remains of caramel stuck between them. “Can you offer you something? Flowers?” He tipped his stick on the wooden floor of the tree house, and a bouquet of tulips appeared. “Or maybe some good old grass? I heard that rustic is back in fashion in Canterlot.” Again he tipped on the ground, and the whole wooden ground was a little meadow seconds later.

What Thiemo had told her made sense in that moment. Now she understood what he meant when he said that Celestia was not the only one with an offspring. Were all this - Sunny Town and the foals out here - his work?

“What? No grass, no tulips?” With a wave of his stick, everything disappeared again. “Tell me, beautiful, what can good old Karst do for you?”

Take a shower first, she thought. And she thought the human smelled bad during their time in the dungeon. “I’m not hungry anymore.” The other two looked at each other, and then Karst shrugged and went back to his cushions.

“Then tell me,” he began as he threw himself on his throne again, “what’s your name? I don’t think I ever saw you in Sunny Town.” Swift gave her a closer look.

“Now that you mention it, neither have I. Does your family live far out in the forest? I think we have two schools. Somepony should know you.” And now she had a problem. She was no fighter, and Karst seemed to be powerful. She could lie and tell them that she came into town with her parents, and then they turned like the others. But this would only postpone her problem. She needed a distraction, she needed time, she needed—

“Alright, everypony, stand still; the Supernanny is in the house. You don’t want to go on the naughty corner, do you?” Thiemo! She looked at the human who calmly walked into the room. His well-known grin on his lips as he gave her a wink. She hadn’t even noticed that he was nearby.

Swift immediately went into an attack position while Karst jumped up and pointed the stick on him. “Creature, you dare enter my kingdom? Be gone or I show you the power of Karst!”

Thiemo reached into his backpack and pulled out his canteen. He poured a bit of it on his hands and splayed out his fingers quickly for a few times so that Karst face was met with a few drops. He flinched for a moment and wiped his paw over his short muzzle. “Bad dog. Heel!” Thiemo ordered and repeated the procedure.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Karst still tried to fend off the attack. “Do something, Swift.” The foal looked alternately at the diamond dog and the human, unsure what to do.

“W-What is that thing, Karst?” he stammered and took a step backwards. He was clearly afraid of Thiemo.

“Do something!” Karst shouted again as the water squirted into his face. “Save your king!”

“King? Karst, stop playing around! What is that monster?”

“Do as I command you!” Amaryllis watched Swift Wind beat a hasty retreat and tried to pull her with him. But she just stayed there and surveyed the action.

Thiemo noticed the movements of the pegasus in the corner of his eye and turned his head to him. “Go. Outside awaits you Night Hawk, Captain of Princess Luna’s Night Guard.” Without giving a sign of understanding, he ran out of the the room.

“Traitor!” Karst shouted behind him while protecting himself with a pillow. Thiemo, meanwhile, poured the last drops of water in his hand and flicked them in the face of the little dog.

Finally, he put his canteen back into his backpack and wiped his hands dry on his pants. “Well, now that we are alone, I think it’s time for a little talk, don’t you think?”

“Go away! I warn you.” Thiemo made a step forward. “I said go away. I’ll imprison you in a tree!” Thiemo took another step and Karst delivered on the threat. Something shot out of his stick and hit Thiemo right in his chest. Horrified, Amy watched how he stopped and stood completely still. “Ah! I told you so, you stupid thing!” The diamond dog jumped off his throne and rushed over to Thiemo. He reached him to his hip as came a halt in front of him and watched him shortly. Then he kicked him on the shin. “Take this!” He repeated the action. “And that. No one messes with Karst!”

Then the human blinked. “That’s what I call a trip,” he mumbled and fell down on his buttocks. Meanwhile, Karst stared at him, terrified, and scrambled back.

“Y-You should b-be a tree like all the o-others,” he stammered.

“And you shouldn’t play with magic you don’t understand. What is an adult? Nothing more than an older child with more experience. Besides, that there is not much of a difference. So, my little friend, how does your spell detect adults?” The little diamond dog seemed clueless.

Amaryllis, however, knew the answer. “Cutie marks. Ponies see them as a sign of growing up.” Thiemo imitated the sound of a bell.

“Bingo, the candidate has a hundred points. Now, my little friend, do I have a cutie mark?” Thiemo’s grin widened as the color drained out of the face of the little diamond dog. “I bet you didn’t even want to cast the adults into trees; you just wanted to bring out their inner child and remove the adult part. But you can’t remove something that belongs to the whole. That’s why they lost their whole selves. Their souls.”

“Shut up! You’re an adult too!” He pointed his stick at Thiemo, but this time no multi colored magic came out of it; instead, some splinters shot out of the wall. The human managed to raise one arm in time to protect his face as the small wooden projectiles went past Protes and cut into his arm.

He rolled to the aside to evade more projectiles. “Fuck, damnit!” he snarled and pulled out his staff. Blood ran down his arm as he held the weapon against the one of the little diamond dog. “I’ll say it one last time, kid. Cut the crap and come with me. Then we’re going to sort out the big pile of crap that you made.” Amaryllis, meanwhile, thought what she could do to help. She knew a few spells, but Thiemo held himself back, otherwise Karst would be on the ground for a long time already.

Thiemo had hoped that he could irritate the pup enough that it wouldn’t come down to a fight, but he was very wrong there. Hawk was evacuating the foals in case things spiraled out of control. When they entered the building together, there was panic at first, but Hawk caught their attention quickly and introduced herself to the foals. After that they happily obliged to follow her even if some still threw frightened looks at him.

“Leave. Me. Alone. All of you!” This time the magic didn’t came out of his stick, but his entire coat stood on end and engulfed the whole room in all colors of the rainbow.

Suffice to say, the display did not leave him with any positive vibrations. “Amy!” He jumped over to her and grabbed her. Blood from his arm mixed with her orange coat as splinters rained down on him once again. Thiemo didn’t get around to use another of the remaining sapphires and quickly reached the exit without being hit. “Quick, go. This is too dangerous. The kid is unstable.”

Amy, who seemed to have caught herself in the meantime, refused to budge as he put her down again. “What? No, I will stay and help!”

“Go, you’re just in the way—” He didn’t get any further as he was hit in the shoulder. “Ahhh! Crap! Go!” he snapped at her and turned around to the angry little diamond dog. The splinters were not deep, but it was enough to make every move hurt, and he was losing blood from his many little wounds. “Okay, kiddo, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Thiemo grabbed into his bag again and pulled out another sapphire. The pup yelled again in rage, and the room turned against Thiemo again. This time, Thiemo didn’t try to run away but headed directly towards him. He was in reach almost instantly and rammed the end of Protes into the stomach of the diamond dog. The pup gasped for air and held his stomach while Thiemo was thrown back like a rubber ball. The rolling over on the ground did not help his already hurt shoulder, but he gritted his teeth and got up on his knees. Protes runes were glowing. One touch was enough to absorb this amount of magic, and it was just a child. What kind of kickback would he have gotten if it had worked with Twilight? He didn’t want to think about that know. “Give up and come with me, peacefully. I don’t like to beat children or dogs. Or a combination of those two.”

It worried him now that his opponent was no longer moving as he got up completely again. He carefully took a few steps in his direction. Unexpectedly, the head of the creature jolted up and looked at him with completely white eyes. Thiemo didn’t need his magical view to know what was happening. The dog had lost control. A child of his age couldn’t handle the massive amount of magic that was available to him. And after all he had experienced, there was only one thing that happened with an overcharged medium. “It’s gonna blow!” He fell back into his mother tongue. “Shit!”

Author's Notes:

So, then this happens. And now its Thiemo against a little magical Diamond Dog.

My little doggy
my little doggy
Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh...

Thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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