If there was one thing that Thiemo hated, it was seeing his destination. It didn’t just tell that he didn’t seem to come any closer; it also told him that this was merely another step in his journey. They had been walking the entire day now, and the mountain chain still seemed almost as far away as it was in the morning. Luckily, Night Hawk had declared ten minutes ago that she would now start to keep an eye out for a campground. “I found something!” Finally, the salvation came from Heart. The mare had found a small group of trees that would offer them protection from the snow and providing them with a relatively soft ground of fallen leaves.

It didn’t take long until their tents were set up and a little fire was warming the group. The sun still stood in the sky, but that would change in the next few hours. Also, they were all tired and needed some rest. “I’m sick and tired of this stuff,” Thiemo said, annoyed, but still took another bite of the rations. “I mean…” he munched, “…this stuff is for you, not me.”

“Now don’t act like you’re something better. I don’t know what your problem is. They aren’t that bad,” Hawk lectured him and gulped down the rest of hers. “I was eating these things for a whole month once and look where I am. So stop complaining and eat what you have.” Lyra and Heart said nothing, just continued eating while Amaryllis lay in the cold foliage a bit offside of the others and seemed to concentrate on staring into the flames.

Thiemo stood up and dusted himself down. “You know what? No! We have a little forest here, and I bet all of my ten fingers that I can catch something. I’m going to hunt myself some real dinner.” It wouldn’t be the first time he did that. In Zebrica, he caught, gutted, and cooked bunnies. He did that with traps at the time, but hunting couldn’t be that much more difficult.

"If you get hurt, don’t bother coming to me,” Heart commented dryly. “You should lie down and rest.”

“And don’t come to me to get your ass dragged back here,” added Hawk.

“You will see! I’m going to catch something if it’s going to be the last thing I’m going to do.” Thiemo tapped against his chest and bent over his backpack.

“Where are you going, Lyra?” he heard Heart asking behind him.

“Watching a human hunt! Their species are hunters and gatherers. It’s surely going to be interesting to see him in his element.” She was right, Thiemo thought to himself. What his ancestors could do, he would surely be able to do too. He didn’t have a knife or another sharp weapon, but that wasn’t going to stop the mighty human-o-saurus. He would just borrow one.

He put the bag with the remaining four sapphires at his belt, checked if Protes was sitting correctly at his arm, and stepped at the fireside again. Lyra gulped down the rest of her rations in one bite and was about to get up. “Hawk, could I borrow a knife of yours?”

The thestral eyed him shortly and sighed. “I don’t give my knives to anyone. But I have something you could use.” One of her wings pulled her saddlebags over, and she quickly skimmed through it with a hoof. When it reappeared, it was holding something. “Catch!” she shouted at Thiemo and threw a blade in his direction. He managed to catch it just in time and examined the weapon. It was a combat knife, sharp blade out of a dark metal with teeth at the lower end and backside. The handle was clearly designed for humans and made out of plastic. “A trophy. It’s got a lock to it. And if I find a single drop of blood on it, I’m going to use yours to wipe it off.”

Thiemo meanwhile had other problems. First the circuits, now the knife. All this was pointing to some kind of civilization, but from what he knew about the humans here, they were still using bows and arrows and were living in almost medieval conditions. How did it come to this mix? “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful,” he assured her and secured the weapon in the sheath again. “Are you coming, Lyra?” The unicorn didn’t need to be asked twice. Equipped with a quill and notebook, she trotted next to him.

Auralia and Applejack were the last who arrived at the Woodworm. Rarity, Estoc, and Twilight already sat at one of the tables and drank out of mugs they had ordered. “There we are, guys. Sorry that we’re late.” Applejack sat down on one of the free chairs and moved another one with a hoof so that the foal could take a seat as well.

She excitedly bounced up and down on it. “You won’t believe it; my dad was here! And he fought against a Karst,” she explained eagerly and waved about with her forehooves. “I bet he gave that thing a clip round the ear with his staff and followed up with some kicks.”

“Easy there, sugarcube,” Applejack said and gently pushed Aura’s hooves below the table again. “We should listen to what the others have found out first. Then ya can tell yer story.”

Estoc put down his mug and slightly leaned over the table. “So, Rarity and I talked with some ponies. Most of the taverns and restaurant as well as almost every store in town complained about their supplies being rotten overnight. But food won’t just rot overnight.”

“And the foals are acting weird as well,” Rarity continued. “I tried talking with some and asked them what happened. None really wanted to look me in the eyes. I know that from Sweetie Belle. She had the same look when she came back home after one of her crusades and messed something up. They know something.”

Aura excitedly raised her hoof again, but Applejack pushed it down again and shook her head. “But that wasn’t all. Pri— I mean, Twilight, you know Night Hawk, right? Princess Luna’s Captain of the Nightguard?” Estoc asked.

“Sure. She got promoted to Captain shortly after Eris returned for the first time. We were even at her nomination party. I think that she got carried out of the room by some other soldiers at the end.” Estoc nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, from the looks of it, she was here. But that shouldn’t be. I was racking my brain the whole time, but I’m sure her last orders stationed her at the strait to Hoovegorod. Intercepting humans who try to use that place to enter the land. She shouldn’t even be near Sunny Town. Still, not just General Goods, the owner of a convenience store, but various other ponies were also describing her as well. That’s why I suspect her to be the mole that helped the human escape.” The group fell in a worried silence.

“Uh! Is it my turn now?” Auralia threw in, frustrated. Adults could be so stupid sometimes.

“Later, Auralia,” Applejack hissed, and the filly threw herself angrily back into the chair and crossed her forelegs.

“So, why would a prestigious Captain betray Equestria for a human and a changeling?” But nopony had an answer to Estoc’s question.

Twilight groaned. “This is making no sense. She swore an oath. This is an old magical spell. Aunt Luna is a bit archaic in that fashion for given reasons. It binds two creatures to loyalty. That is very old shadow magic.”

“Ah know nothin’ bout magic, but Ah do know a lil something ‘bout honesty. Could it be that ya mom and aunt didn’t tell us everything?” Everypony present looked confusedly at Applejack. “Ah mean, the princess never told us everything. Why did she know that we were gonna be the Bearers of the Elements, for example? Ah mean, she didn’t send Twilight to Ponyville just like that, right? That would be… well, mighty irresponsible, and Ah don’t believe that fits Princess Celestia.”

“What Miss Applejack says makes sense,” Estoc agreed, much to the surprise of the others. “I looked over the shoulder of the princess at various political affairs. They often play with hidden cards.”

“Why would my mother do something like this? Just as I do, she sure wants the human to…” Twilight stopped and her mouth stood open. “Right?”

Aura didn’t know what was going on, but everypony suddenly looked at each other, troubled, and she didn’t want to remain silent any longer. “A month ago, this Karst suddenly appeared here and befriended every foal. But they had to go to bed at night, and this made him angry. So he turned them all into trees and told the foals that someone else did it. They trusted him, and he played king for a week. He even let it be summer so that there would be longer light outside. But then my dad came with his new friends, and they found out what was going on here and overthrew him. Last night he defeated this Karst, and everything went back to normal, and none of the adults remembers what has happened,” she pushed out in one sentence. “And if that wouldn’t have been enough, that Amaryllis had the nerve to shapeshift into me.” She gasped for air heavily and fell back on her chair.

Now all eyes were finally on her. “How do you know all that, darling?”

She sighed. “Didn’t you listen? The foals remember. I asked them, and the rest I figured out myself. Just like one of the puzzle games I used to play with my dad when we were on the road for a longer time.”

“Hold on,” Twilight threw in. “He let it be summer?” Aura nodded. “That is impossible. Only my mother, my aunt, Cadance or, well, I could… unless… Karst was the name?” The filly nodded again. The princess drifted off, clearly caught in her thoughts. Aura could see that easily since she was staring at her hooves and humming quietly. Something her father did as well.

“Karst aside, if it really was Night Hawk, then I know which way they are going to take.” Estoc pulled their map out of his saddlebags. “Up there is Noveria, her hometown. Over here we have the tunnels for the trains towards the Crystal Empire.” He pointed with a hoof a bit to the right of the settlement. “Usually wanderers would take the pass above the tunnels. It was made during the construction. What most ponies don’t know, and even I just because she was telling it in the barracks, is that there is an old pass not far away from Noveria. So if they want to cross the mountains, then they will try it there.”

“What are you doing?” Lyra asked the human in front of her.

“I’m looking for tracks.”

“It looks like you’re just lying in the snow to me.” The human was lay flat on the ground, sniffled a few times like a dog, and then searched the white ground with his eyes. Even Lyra could see that there were no tracks without doing all those steps. Suddenly, Thiemo jumped up and beat the snow off his body.

“Something is over there,” he said and pointed at a small hill in the snow. Lyra levitated her notebook back in her saddlebags. Apparently, she had found the only exemplar that couldn’t identify a stone, let alone prey. Thiemo walked over to his target and cleaned the snow off the stone just like Lyra had expected. “I could have sworn this would be a rabbit den,” he mumbled towards her.

The first half an hour of the hunt he had spent searching for a thick branch and cut it off a tree. Afterwards, he sharpened one end with the knife that Night Hawk lent him and explained that it would be a mighty spear with bonus damage against beasts. Whatever that was supposed to mean. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” she asked him, concerned. “Not that you end up using this stick—” He glared angrily at her. “I mean ‘spear’ to poke out an eye.”

“Maybe I should explain to the others that your alchemy is nothing but boiling water?”

“Okay, carry on.”

“Thanks.” Thiemo continued his way through the snow, and Lyra stuck to his heels. Who knows, maybe they were going to catch something in the end. She surely could gain some experience from this and write a book about the hunting schemas of humans. Even if the ponies wouldn’t be less afraid of them, maybe they would start to understand the humans a little bit better. A small success is better than none. Lyra’s mood was rising significantly even though her hooves were freezing. “Over here!” Thiemo suddenly shouted and waved at her. Eagerly, she trotted towards him and looked at what he found.

“A hole?” Lyra looked into the little thing that was maybe big enough for a slightly larger field mouse. “Hold on. How did you find that under the snow?” She gave him a closer look and saw some snow a bit further up his pants. He had stepped into it.

“Doesn’t matter, it’s a den! Rabbits to be precise. What most don’t know is that rabbits are living in small holes while bunnies live above the ground in… whatever, I can’t remember. Anyways, down there is my dinner.” Lyra had a wide grin and sat down in the snow. She didn’t care that it was cold; this was going to be interesting. Her notepad and quill levitated at the ready in front of her while Thiemo was walking some circles around the hole.

Lyra put the tip of the quill into some ink and prepared herself ready to write. “So? How do you plan on getting the rabbit out of its den?”

The human looked up and grinned. “Easy, I’m going to knock.” He turned his improvised spear around, so that the blunt side was pointing down. Then he positioned both feet next to the hole and started to poke it. The first five to ten times nothing happened, but then he suddenly stopped. “I think it’s stuck.” Lyra recorded everything that happened as he was fighting with freeing his spear. He pulled and tugged, letting go of it briefly to scratch his head before jerkily pulling at it again and landed, together with the spear, in the snow. Lyra couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Now it is on!” Thiemo shouted as he stood up again, but stopped surprised. Lyra, who was slowly recovering from the pain in her side, followed his gaze and saw something white looking out of the hole. It had two long white ears and looked over at the human. A little paw was waving around in the air while it was making some squeaking noises.

The human ignored the protest of the rabbit and in the next second the wooden spear pierced through its neck. Lyra closed her eyes and turned away shortly. “Aha! Once again the human emerges victorious.” She slowly looked back and saw that Thiemo had put the spear over his shoulder, and the lifeless rabbit was dangling on the end like a trophy. Now she could get a closer look on it.

“Umm… not to talk down your achievement, but this is a snow rabbit.”

Thiemo shrugged. “So? For me, it could also be a sand rabbit. Isn’t going to stop me from enjoying it.” Suddenly, he grimaced as a little snowball hit his neck and started to wander down his body. Confused, the human slowly turned his head around and saw the rabbit, still hanging on the spear, sticking out its tongue while kicking the air. “What the heck?”

“Like I said, snow rabbit, emphasis on snow. They are made out of it.” Lyra giggled again.

“But where did he get the snowball…” He didn’t get any further as a second one hit his face.

“Well, they are made out of snow. So are their… excrements.” The rabbit laughed, which were some quick squeaking noises and threw another snowball at the human. This time, he used his hands to cover himself and dropped the spear. The rabbit landed on his hindlegs and freed himself with his paws from the spear. He continued to break the spear in two and threw both halves at the human.

“Hey!” He caught one of the sticks and responded by throwing it back at the rabbit. It was hit in one of his little black eyes which were nothing more than little pebbles. Baffled, the little thing shook itself before it started to growl.

“I think you made it angry,” Lyra noted and carefully stood up.

“So? I’ll tear this thing to pieces and bath my feet in its remains.” Both stared at each other for a few seconds, but before they could jump at each other, Lyra stepped between them.

“Snow rabbits are also called tricksters. They love to play pranks on wanderers in the mountains, and it’s best to leave them alone. Rumors say they are very vengeful.” With that, she turned away from Thiemo and down at the rabbit. “I’m sorry, little friend. You see, this human here is just hungry and looking for something to eat. Can you forgive him?” The rabbit leaned back a bit, tapped with his paw at his mouth, and then bit Lyra in the muzzle. “Ah! Burn it! Burn it with fire!” she yelled and tried to get rid of the little icicles that serves as teeth. She was kicking around and finally sent the thing flying out. Only for it to land directly on Thiemo’s head. She ignored his screams as the thing was now assaulting him and rubbed her muzzle. “Stupid thing. I’m bleeding!”

Thiemo, now with multiple small wounds at his head, also managed to get rid of the rabbit and held it at both ears away from his body. “You’ve asked for it.” He pulled out the knife that Hawk gave him. “Good thing that snow can’t bleed.” With one quick move he cut of the head from the body, with the latter falling to the ground. Satisfied that the rabbit was no longer moving, he dropped the head.

“What are you doing? I said kill it with fire!” Panicked, Lyra pointed at the bundle of snow that calmly put its head back on.

“Oh no, you don’t!” the human shouted and swiped his right hand over the silver bracer on his left wrist. A silvery mist followed the fingers and manifested in a staff. Thiemo built up some momentum, and just as the rabbit finished reconstructing its body, the staff made contact with it. With a long squeal, it flew through the air again. “And Thiemo hits the ball. It flies and flies! Oh! I think it’s out, James. Well, too bad for the ball; we won’t see it again, Ralf,” he commented the flight like two sportscasters.

As there was nothing to be seen of the rabbit and the squeaking had also died, Lyra slumped down, exhausted, and Thiemo followed her a few seconds later. “Remind me to never go hunting with you again. You are absolutely insane!”

“Yeah, yeah, just keep on laughing,” Thiemo said to Hawk as Lyra and he joined the rest of the group again. She had already started laughing as she saw the two coming and was stomping her leathery wings and hooves forcefully on the ground to give utterance to her feelings. “Be my guest; it’s just us two who suffer.”

Against her promise to not help them, Iron Heart had stood up as she saw them coming and was now returning with a small medical kit. “Stay still, Lyra,” she said to the mare and tried to clean the wound at her snout with a pad.

“Oh, by Luna!” Hawk gasped. “What happened with you two? Did you fight a manticore?”

“Worse,” Lyra whimpered as she got a plaster. “Thiemo found a snow rabbit.” For a second it was completely silent before Hawk was lying on the ground again and laughing loudly.

Meanwhile, Heart walked over to him and sat down to him. “Let me see.” Thiemo did as she said and bowed his head forwards. “I will have to clean that. It should be fine then.” She took out a clean pad and dipped it in alcohol. Then the pliers with the pad caught in its grip went back into her mouth as she started to clean the wound. “I’ll take a look at your shoulder as well,” she said after she finished with his head. Thiemo took of his coat and opened his shirt. “A stitch is loose; I’ll have to fix that real quick.”

Thiemo just nodded and made himself more comfortable in his spot in the leaves. “Tell me, Heart, how come that you’re with the Royal Guard? From what I could see, your cutie mark seems to be more of a medical nature.”

She held a needle in one wing and inserted the stitch with the other one. “My mother is a nurse in Ponyville. You could say that I got that part from her. My father was in the Guard. I think I just got the best from the two. I like the Guard as much as I like helping ponies.”

“Yes, Iron Heart’s heart is not as cold as her name might suggest,” Hawk agreed as she recovered from the laugh. “Au contraire, she’s as soft as a lapdog.”

“You seem to know each other well,” Lyra said as she skimmed over her notes.

“I met Hawk when I came to the Guard. At the time she was a cadet herself and helped me through basic training. The medics had to do them as well, and I wasn’t the physically fittest. She saw it fitting that in the morning before the actual training, and one hour after it, we would do extra training.” Hawk grinned contently. “Today, I know that she just wants to torment the newcomers.” Heart bit off the stitch with her teeth. “Done.”

“So, since the foals have played enough for today, everyone back into their tents and sleep. We will reach the pass tomorrow.” On Hawk’s orders, Amaryllis, who had watched the scene silently the entire time, marched past them into her tent. “I like it that she obeys, but I’m starting to get worried.”

“Not just you,” Thiemo added. He knew that she hadn’t eaten anything in the last two days.

Author's Notes:

And thats it for today folks.

No it's not!

It is! Oh, wait. No it isn't. You see, there is this guy, called Gron (His mother must have a weird taste for names). This Gron was bored to death I tell you. So what did the bored to death guy called Gron? He started translating another story of little old me. Yes, your hearing right. Gron started, or rather, picked up the first story I have written. Named "The Precious Life - Nightmare". I wrote it back in 2011 and it was my attempt at a "good" human in Equestria story. Well, if I read it now I must admit it starts horrible cliché, but I can say to things about it. It was the most read German story in one of the biggest German message boards at the time. It is a self insert and some of you will find some similarities to Journey. And there is a little connection even. All I want to say is that it would be nice to check it out. You don't have to of course (thanks Fluttershy). But I have to warn you. It's getting really dark and has no happy ending. And because I had a lot of time back then it has 85 chapters total.

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

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