“Take it easy, Lyra,” Thiemo said to the mint-green unicorn as he gave the luggage on her back a friendly pat. She wasn’t just wearing her own bags and Night Hawk’s but had his to add to her burden. Because of the wound in his right shoulder, Thiemo was unable to carry his backpack without pain, and Heart forbade him to do so anyways. He would only strain the wound, and their supply of antibiotics was low already. Now he was receiving a look that could kill. “Not funny?”

“If you weren’t hurt, I would show you where you could shove your—” She stumbled with her hoof against a stone on the way and managed to stabilize herself and her load just in time. “Even the stupid road is against me!”

“Not just the road,” Hawk commented. “If you didn’t come along in the first place, we wouldn’t have had to stop in Sunny Town to resupply. Our rations were supposed to be for just four ponies from the start.”

Thiemo stopped, causing the whole group to come to a halt as he turned towards Hawk. “Are you saying these rations were for ponies? What was in them?”

“They have all the vitamins a healthy pony needs. The main ingredient is hay of course. Why?” His face went pale as Heart said this.

“I ate pony food?” Everypony nodded. “And I didn’t throw up or something?”

“Is it that bad? Would you like to throw up?” Hawk looked worriedly over to Heart.

“Of course not! But I should have. Humans can’t stomach hay!”

“Well, the rations are designed to be easily digestible. Have you noticed any signs of poisoning? How many of them did you eat?” Thiemo considered. He had a few then, and a few more later. And then at night in the hotel. A clear number couldn’t be found in his head.

“No idea!” he finally said, slightly panicked. “I ate them like a woman with PMS would eat chocolate.” A few seconds of silence. “A lot, okay!?”

“Don’t worry,” Amaryllis sweetly assured him. “With so much hay in your head, a little more in your stomach doesn’t really make much of a difference.” Thiemo’s jaw dropped, and not just literally.

“Ouch.” Hawk shook a hoof. “That must burn.”

“What’s going on between you two?” Heart asked concernedly and looked at Amaryllis, who marched onwards without waiting for the others.

Thiemo shrugged, causing a slight pain. “We had a little disagreement.” Directly after Heart had assured him that he was going to be fine, Amaryllis had fallen back in her sulky mood.

Lyra trotted up to him and patted his side with her hoof a few times. “Take it easy.”

“Shut up, Lyra.”

The scenery around them had yet again changed. It had taken more than one day, but then the wide flatlands changed to soft hills, with a rock poking out of them here and there. Now the mountains they were planning to cross were clearly visible at the horizon. Luckily, there hadn’t been any snowfalls recently, and the few that was out here from the single lost clouds was mostly molten by now, leaving just a cold, slightly muddy ground for them to trudge through. Fortunately for him, Thiemo’s boots were enchanted, so he didn’t feel the cold of the ground, but the ponies weren’t that lucky. They preferred walking on the grass next to the path. Not that it made a huge difference, but Lyra was especially thankful for every bit of warmth. One reason why Thiemo walked directly at the corner was so that the mare could lean a bit against him.

Iron Heart and Night Hawk said everything would be alright as long as they were in the air. Pegasi and thestrals were much more resilient to cold temperatures, Thiemo knew. Amaryllis, who was still giving him the cold shoulder which he had felt clearly since they left Sunny Town, and not just because of the temperatures, changed between flight and walking. Even though she had wings, she was not a pegasus. She must have felt the cold just like his uncovered skin, and more than once, he saw her shivering. Despite his arguments to postpone their little war until later, she refused to be near him. She even stopped eating, which was worrying him. Hawk had said multiple times that crossing the pass would be exhausting, and she would also need her power.

If that wasn’t enough for him to worry about, Thiemo was thinking about what Luna had told him in his dream. At first he doubted that it was really more than just a weird dream. But Hawk confirmed, after he asked her, that Luna really had the power to appear in the dreams of the residents of this world. So he kept on mumbling the short oath to himself when he felt that all the others were distracted by something else. Lastly, there was the fact he had found out yesterday. He could stomach to pony’s food. Maybe it was just a coincidence; hay was not completely indigestible for humans. Sure, it could cause nausea in large amount, but the rations were mixed with some other things.

“Look and marvel!” Hawk suddenly declared and pointed northwards. Another thing about pegasi was that they had a built-in compass. No matter what cardinal direction Thiemo asked, she could answer within seconds. This came in handy to read the cards in her saddlebags. That you needed something like a compass for that never came to Thiemo’s mind. At least now he knew why he got lost so many times, or at least hoped this was the reason. “The second largest mountain chain of known Albion. The Chain, which is its name by the way, runs entirely through Equestria, connecting the Alps of Tramplevania with the mountains of the Griffon Kingdom.” Thiemo was flabbergasted. The mountains looked like a wall that separated the currently cold south from the much colder north. “Not like they would have anything besides mountains,” Hawk added.

Thiemo heard Lyra swallowing next to him. “I have to carry all this luggage across there?” Slowly, he started to pity her, even though he still was angry at her for her stupid remark from yesterday. “I’m struggling with that already.”

“Don’t worry, Lyra. The winds in the mountains are too strong for even pegasi. We can’t fly very high there. Hawk will take her backpack again as soon as we get there. Right, Hawk?” Heart jabbed her comrade slightly, who nodded reluctantly. “See? No need to worry.”

“You seem to know the mountains, Hawk. Ever been over the pass?” Thiemo didn’t get around seeing the proudness in her face as she described the sight in front of them.

The thestral grinned from ear to ear. “Born and raised in Noveria, the northernmost thing Equestria has to offer. The pass begins one day’s march away from my home. We should reach it by tomorrow. Unfortunate that we can’t make a stop at my people. What wouldn’t I give for a good binge, a little brawl, and a stallion who knows how to make the walls tremble and drive the neighbours to despair. You, Heart, and Lyra should really try that out. Our stallions are cut from a different cloth than those pansies in Canterlot. I tell you, you can’t walk properly for days after that.”

“Hawk!” Heart almost screeched as she turned red. “We’re in presence of a princess. Keep it together. It’s enough that you used to tell us those stories in the dining room.”

“Of course! The offer stands for you too, Your Majesty, Princess Amaryllis. Should you be fed up with this human, which looks like you are, I cordially invite you to a round. Maybe even two.” She leered into Heart’s face. “What? She’s a changeling! Isn’t that their thing? I thought they suck out the ‘love’.” Thiemo, Lyra, and Heart buried their faces in their hands and hooves, causing the green unicorn to almost trip over thanks to her cargo.

“Hawk, it doesn’t work this way. They feed off the energy that is created by emotions.” The Captain of the Nightguard seemed to a have a little epiphany moment.

“Uhm…” She smiled sheepishly. “I can’t know everything. I spent the last three years kicking the asses of humans, not changelings. We have a unit of unicorns who mastered exposure spells for that.” Amaryllis just rolled her eyes and still refused to communicate with the group. “At least we don’t have to worry that much about our provisions.”

“What do you mean?” Thiemo asked, curious. No matter how much they could store in their backpacks, the crossing would take at least a week in which they would not see anything besides snow and ice. They weren’t able to simply take much food with them.

Hawk waved her hoof in direction of Amaryllis. “Well, if Her Majesty is feeding of the human, which is finally a good use of him,” Thiemo laughed dryly, “then we just have a little water problem. We just keep on feeding the biped our rations. Didn’t harm him so far.” He hadn’t seen it quite like that so far.

Heart shook her head. “And what is with the drinking water? Shall we drink snow?” Hawk looked at her like it was the most stupid thing anyone in the whole world could say. “You can’t be serious, Hawk. The snow is dirty, and Celestia knows what diseases we might catch from it. Have you never thought about that?”

“Have you?”

“What? I’m responsible for the medical equipment. Princess Celestia made you, as captain, responsible for the rest. I’m just a cadet!” Both looked grimly at each other for a few seconds, and then Night Hawk turned to Thiemo.

“So… ummm… You don’t have an idea by any chance?” Thiemo, just as clueless as the others, shook his head. The tundra he had crossed with some boars who had dog sleds had been filled with supplies. “Oh, come on. I always used to eat snow when I was a filly. What’s wrong with it?”

A cough came from the side. “I think I have the solution to our problems.” Lyra grinned. “As fate would have it, I took two courses in alchemy and could help transform the snow into drinking water.” She tapped with a hoof against her horn, and Thiemo came just in time to hold her so she didn’t land in the dirt. “Of course, I have to be in top condition for that. Magic isn’t very easy, you know?” Thiemo knew better but let her have the moment. “Therefore, it would be nice if my load was a bit lighter.”

“Here we are, Sunny Town,” their guide explained. Twilight looked surprised at the sparse winter scenery and the small town in between. “That will be twenty bits.”

Now she was pushed aside by Applejack. “Wait a minute. We paid you to lead us through the fog, but there was none. We could have just followed the path as well.” Rarity just rolled her eyes and stepped past her friend. The purse from her saddlebags appeared, and she gave the young stallion the promised fee. After counting the money and proved their genuineness, Path Finder bid them goodbye and walked back the path they came from. “What was that, Rarity? This bugger ripped us off.”

“Even if so, we are here in the name of the crown,” Rarity said and stored her money away. “What light would it put on Twilight if we refused to pay somepony for a given service? At least he has guided us.” Twilight could see that Applejack wasn’t content with the answer at all. The farm pony did as she always would do in such a situation and grumbled her words to herself, which was most likely better this way since the filly on her back didn’t need to learn new words.

“Rarity is right, Miss Applejack. This is an official undertaking. But I know what you mean. But the question is why is the town that is famous for being the light of the forest so open? Where is the fog?” Estoc, in his golden armor, stood between Rarity and Twilight and tried to guide the attention back on their mission. Something the princess welcomed.

“Estoc is right, girls. We have to find out what happened here. I feel there is still the residue of powerful magic in the air. Something big must have happened here, and we have to find out what it was. After all, the human could have something to do with it.” The rest of the group nodded their agreement. “It would be the best if we split up… just somepony has to go alone.” Twilight wasn’t used to lead a group smaller than six. Usually, she and her friends grouped up in pairs, but this wouldn’t work today.

With a wide grin on her lips, Rarity stepped forward. “Well, I just happen to be an expert for rumors.”

“Ya mean gossip, Rar,” Applejack commented, and Auralia giggled.

“Well, call it what you like. I just happen to know that ponies don’t like talking with the authorities. I am sorry, darling,” she turned to the captain. “Or princess. At least about rumours. So I would suggest Estoc take off his armor. Not only will we find out more, but if the human is still here, he will not immediately be alarmed. Then we two can look around in the establishments. Applejack and Auralia could ask around on the streets. Nothing is more unsuspicious than a mother and her foal.” The two looked at each other and grinned. “And you, Twilight…” Rarity stopped and looked at her. “You don’t happen to have a dress with you that can hide your wings or know a spell that does that?”

Twilight knew such magic. “I have a spell, but you aren’t going to like it.” She closed her eyes and focused. In her head, she went through all the magic she had ever learned until she had the pieces she needed. Twilight felt the magic gathering in her horn. “Everypony, take a step back.” She waited for a second and then released the spell. Green flames engulfed her body within seconds. Her scapulae moved higher up and her whole body shrunk by a good amount. As she opened her eyes again, she met the horrified faces of her companions. “I said you weren’t going to like it.”

“Twilight darling, what was that? For a second, I thought we had changeling between us.” Rarity seemed clearly shocked, and Estoc still remained in combat position, ready to jump at her.

Twilight tapped with her hooves on the ground a bit. “Well, you know that my talent is magic. And the changelings use just that to change their form. It is a spell like any other. You can imagine the rest.” Her friends still seemed shocked but nodded. “Well? How do I look?” She had never tried the spell to change her whole body, just a few single aspects.

“Like a unicorn, sugarcube. No wings, a bit smaller but with a horn. But still like you, somehow.” Auralia on her back nodded.

“We should save that for later,” Estoc suddenly spoke up. “The clouds look like they want to pay the town a long overdue visit.” He pointed at a thick grey cloud bank that was headed towards Sunny Town and the surrounding forest.

"Well, we are going to meet in two hours in the Old Woodworm. That is a tavern in the town.” Everypony looked at Rarity. “What? Do you think I sit on my flank all the time?”

While the rest of the group continued their little detour, Twilight marched straight into the village. She didn’t want to be spotted immediately, and Applejack and Rarity were very apparently well-known already. Everypony who saw her with them could take a guess at who she really was. Her disguise was not perfect, but it had to be enough for the moment.

While she trotted the last few meters to the town, she thought about what she knew about it. There was, of course, what Rarity had told her. Most of the furniture and other wooden products were manufactured here. The sawmill was a bit further into the forest so as to not disturb the peace of the residents. The forest itself had been engulfed in a constant fog for over a thousand years with no pegasi ever being able to remove it. And finally there was the architecture. The ponies who founded Sunny Town loved the wood so much that they were literally praising it. It made them slightly follow the model of Cervidas. But besides that, she could remember nothing else. What a great princess she was. “Hey!” An unfamiliar voice interrupted her train of thoughts. Confused, she looked around since neither in front of her or behind her was there anypony was in sight. The sky above her was still just promising fresh snow in the next few hours. “Over here!”

Carefully, Twilight took a few steps backwards and threw a closer look at the sign near the entrance. She was so caught up in her mind that she hadn’t noticed that a stallion was tied to it. The poor stallion hung upside down, held in place by some ropes and kicked the air. “By Celestia, one moment!” Twilight concentrated quickly and began to untie the knots that held the stallion in their grip. A short moment later, he fell to the ground and breathed out, relieved.

“Thank you, Miss. I was hanging up there since yesterday!” he explained and kissed the snow-covered grass.

“What happened? Why are you hanging up there, Mister…?”

“Chop, and I have no idea! The last thing I remember was that I went to bed, and when I woke up, I was hanging at the sign. And some joker sheared something into my coat.” Chop stood up from the ground and showed Twilight his other side. Immediately, she groaned and rubbed her temple with a hoof. At least they were in the right direction.

Auralia jumped off Applejack’s back. “Remember, Missy. Don’t make any trouble. We just want to find out what is going on here.” She nodded and saluted. “I’m going to ask some of the adults; yer gonna ask the foals.” Now that the orders were clear, they went separate ways, and Aura went to the first foal she found.

“There you are!” the pegasus called at her. “We’ve been looking all day for you.” His golden mane was wet by sweat and clung dimly at his neck.

“Do I know you?”

“What? Aura, it’s me, Swift Wind. I took you to Karst’s palace, the traitor.” To say that Aura was confused would be an understatement. Why was he talking about a palace and a Karst? “Did the monster hurt you?”

“What monster?”

“This big thing on two legs. Why, he was nearly as tall as two grown-ups, and it squirted water at Karst. He was so mad. But the strange thing was that it ran on two legs. Do you remember?” A tall, bipedal monster that infuriated others? Yes, that sounds like him, only she wasn’t at said event.

“An orange coat, legs in blue clothes, and a short brown mane on his head?” Swift Wind nodded repeatedly. “Never saw him.” At least now she had a clue of what happened here. Her dad was messing with some Karst, whoever that was and most likely did something to the town that had caused Twilight and Rarity to freak out in the train last night.

Estoc was about to enter one of the restaurants with Rarity as his gaze went through on of the shop windows. In a convenience store, many ponies were gathered around the few goods that were still left. An elderly stallion in a green apron tried to calm the crowd but to no avail. “Rarity, I think we should take care of this.” He had left his armor in a hollow tree outside of town but not his conscientiousness.

“Umm… do that, darling.” His marefriend patted his back as an unidentifiable fruit splattered against the inside of the window. “I will wait out here, all right?” He nodded. In the end, it would probably be better this way. It would be tight enough as it was in there, and the last thing he wanted was to put Rarity in any danger. Estoc took a deep breath and opened the door to the store. The bell rang but got lost unnoticed in the noise. Mares pulled at each other’s mane, two stallions were hoof wrestling over a can of cat food while others were quickly leaving with what they had gotten a hold on. Estoc began to make his way through the crowd and finally reached, with a few bruises, the desperate stallion behind the counter. “What is going on here?”

“What is going on here?!” the old stallion with grey moustache yelled. “Half of my goods were rotted when I woke up this morning, and then this strange mare was telling us it might take a while until help from Canterlot arrive.” A can flew past his head which he picked up and then threw back into the crowd. “What am I going to tell the ponies? We have to ration and see what happens. But is anypony listening to the old general? No, of course not. Nopony ever listens to General Good; why should they? It was just his ancestors who helped found this town!” The last bit seemed to be directed at the fighting mob.

Estoc noticed that he had picked a bad time, but he had to ask. “What strange mare?”

“What? The mare? Was some strange mixed-blood from the north. What are they called again? Thestral? Wore some dark armor and babbled something about Captain and Canterlot. And where are they? Nowhere! And now the cockroaches empty my store.” The old earth pony reached for a broom and threw it after a young stallion who was about to leave through the door. “Don’t think I didn’t see you! I know your parents, Wood Cut!” He calmed himself a little. “But who is going to blame him? Everypony woke up somewhere in the town yesterday, and everything was battered or plundered.” Estoc’s head was working overtime. The old stallion had, unless his eyes were failing him, described Night Hawk, the Captain of the Nightguard. But what was she doing out here? Wasn’t she stationed at the coast to look for humans? He would surely have been informed if she had returned.

Then he realized it. That was why the human knew about the movements of the Royal Guard. Somepony who was very familiar with them was guiding him. Night Hawk had to be the mole. But why? She was Luna’s most loyal soldier. Why would she betray Equestria? No, this wasn’t her way. What was going on here?

Author's Notes:

You expected answers? Hahahahaha.... No.

You will get them eventually. But I will not write down every single answer to every question. For some you have to piece the puzzle together yourself. Reading between the lines and so on.

On a totally different note: Holy buck! 400 thumbs! Guys, you don't know what that means to me. You're great. I know there also 22 down too, but I don't really care. Why? Because there is not one comment backing these up. I think if you leave a thumb down you should tell the author at least why. How can he improve if you don't tell where he did wrong in your opinion? So these 22 are like "meh, I don't like your face, have a thumb down" thumbs to me. Things I ignore like 12 year old kids with gold chains and pants down to their knees who think they own the street they are spitting on. (Bunch of those tried to rob me a few years back with a little pocket knife. Cute little thing. The situation solved itself. Mine was bigger ^^)

Also, wrote a little blog entry: Press me like the bitch I am!

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

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