A hoof shook Thiemo out of his slumber, the world around him slowly returning to focus. Green light filled his field of view, lights that were floating through the air and plants he had never seen before in his life. “Thiemo? Are you alright?” His head turned to his right where Amaryllis’ voice came from. Their eyes met, and she immediately pulled him into a hug. For a few seconds, his arms hung motionless down at his side, but then they closed around her. Her short black coat was soft, her wings bent slightly under the pressure of his arms.

“Thanks Amy… this is the second time now that you’ve saved my ass.” She didn’t reply, and why should she? She felt the love he had for her. Minutes passed, neither of them saying a word. Then Thiemo had an idea that he thought was brilliant. Carefully, he brought his hands in position and when she was least expecting it, he began to tickle her sides. The princess in his arms began to giggle and squirm from laughter as she pushed a hoof against his cheek to get away, but it was to no avail. As he noticed that she needed air, he let go of her. Heavily breathing and looking angry, she got in a glare before he kissed her. Not swiftly like she had done a few times. Their lips pressed against each other, a short tongue fight against the long and strong organ of a pony, with no chance of victory. Only as the air in their bodies began to run out did they break contact. He had wanted to do this since the day she had accepted him for who he was. The grin on his lips said that clearly. Because of that, and another thought, it had him smiling despite himself while they were kissing. “It’s funny somehow. I mean, my marefriend has more facial hair than I do.” A hoof made contact with his shoulder again and caused Thiemo to fall back onto his rear again. He saw Amaryllis sticking her tongue out.

The moment was beautiful for as long as it had lasted, but they were still lost deep inside a mountain and separated from the rest of the group. Only a nod from Thiemo was needed for both to avert their gazes. With a little groan, he stood up and looked carefully around the cave again. Behind them was the small waterfall, a lake beneath it from where they came from. The walls around them were mostly covered with the magical moss as with the ceiling and floor, which was now glowing slightly thanks to Thiemo. Various plants emerged out of it and gave the chamber a tropical flair. It was warm, and the humidity was very high. Passages like before could not be seen, unfortunately, at least not from their position. Many things were covered by plants that were meters high. “This is pure paradise.” Amaryllis trotted between the growths and took in deep breaths of the air. “I’ve heard of such places a few times. Grandmother Echidna mentioned them a few times in her diaries. They were referred to as the chambers of retention. Changelings bring everything here what is important to them. History, knowledge, everything.”

“Or plants.” Thiemo inspected a small nearby tree. If he didn’t know any better, he would say it was a bonsai. But how could it be here? “I haven’t seen any of these plants on Albion before.” Then again, he hadn’t exactly been everywhere on the planet. “The plants all seem to need the climate in here. But I haven’t seen it in the nature before, just…” his eyes widened “…in your brood chamber. That would mean that changelings were designed for completely different climate areas.” He saw that Amy wanted to interrupt him, but he didn’t let her. “Of course they can survive in other areas as well. Changelings mean more than just being able to shapeshift. But why are they here then? Why were the ponies here? Just for the food? I think not.” Thiemo stopped dead in his tracks. The plant behind Amaryllis moved slightly in the magical energies that it emitted. There was no wind down here, nothing of the sort. It reacted to them. “Amy, do me a favor and shapeshift.”

“Any preferences?” she asked with a grin.

“I don’t mean it like that. Turn into your pony version. I have a theory. If I’m right, we should have a clue for the mystery.” Amaryllis looked at him, then took a deep breath before her body was engulfed in flames. The magical waves that she emitted hit the plants, and a chain reaction immediately erupted. The tall plants changed with her as they shrunk, hid in the moss again, and gave way, revealing a passage. The moss at the place where Amy stood was glowing brighter than the rest. This brighter light followed the way out of the jungle of plants, making it even clearer.

Amaryllis, now in the form of a white alicorn with a bright purple mane, stepped at Thiemo’s side and watched the passage emerge further and further through the gigantic chamber. “How did you know that was going to happen?”

“I had no idea, but the plants reacted to your presence. Something was bound to happen when you released more energy.”

“This could have been dangerous too, right?”

He waved it off. “Nonsense. Let’s followed the golden path to Oz.” A few steps later, he disappeared between the first plants.

“What? Follow where?” he heard Amaryllis shouting behind him before she followed him.

With one hoof, Twilight tried to free her face from the dust. She had no choice but to do what Thiemo had said, blasting the passage. Applejack had managed just in time to hold back Auralia from jumping after her father. Instead, she was hammering against the stone that was separating them. “Dad! Can you hear me?! Dad!” Of course Twilight knew that he couldn’t. The stream wasn’t very strong, but strong enough to pull them deeper into the mountain. If he and Amaryllis were lucky, they were deep enough to get past all traps. If they managed to get out of the water again. In the worst case, the river went underground the rest of the way, which would mean no oxygen from them. She didn’t want to imagine that.

“Anypony hurt?” Heart’s voice came through the cloud of dust around them.

“Rarity and I are alright!” Estoc stepped out of the dust behind Twilight, followed by Rarity and Lyra. “Lyra is with us too.” The aquamarine mare was too busy coughing to be able to speak.

“Ah’m alright too!” That was clearly Applejack. Twilight would recognize her accent in the middle of a thousand ponies. Like Estoc, Applejack stepped out of the dust but didn’t walk towards her, instead going over to her daughter to calm her.

A strong gust of air carried the dust away. “I see you’re all fine.” Hawk landed in front of her, and Estoc shook the dust out of the folds of her cowl. “Onwards.”

“What do you mean?” Lyra, who had recovered from her coughing fit, stepped in Hawk’s way. “What is with Amaryllis and Thiemo? Are you just leaving them behind?”

Hawk rolled her eyes and pushed her aside. “Unlikely, for the river is going that way. If anything, they are ahead of us. If you don’t believe me, ask the princess. She will surely be happy to confirm that.” Twilight nodded at Lyra, who was looking at her worriedly. “And these things will surely soon find a way inside. Unlike us, they’ve been down here a lot longer.” Lyra let her head hang. “So, ponies, move out!”

Thiemo pushed another low-hanging plant aside. This time, it was a miniature version of a palm that even wore some coconuts. “Too bad that Hawk’s knife was in my backpack. I could list at least ten moments where we could have used it, but never was it so important as today.” Again he flinched and beat the low hanging branch of a willow tree aside that had found its way into his neck. “Where did all these plants come from?”

“I’ve never seen most of them before in my life. There were no notes in any of the books in our library for plants even similar to these.” Amy, still in alicorn form, pulled a tropical-looking plant closer to her, only so much that she didn’t uproot it. “But they smell nice.”

Because Amy was pushing the disturbing green aside, Thiemo caught a glimpse on something else. The ceiling above their heads stretched for good distance, yet he spotted something in the wall in front of them. “Amy, look.” She followed his hand and seemed to see it as well. “Want to see what we have there?” Together, they stepped through the jungle and finally came to a halt in front of the large wall. It reached almost up to the ceiling, but that wasn’t the most impressive thing. About every five meters in the almost thirty meters long structure, a statue was hewn in the stone. What surprised him the most was that they shared strong similarities with armor. Armors from the middle ages. Armors for humans. With an open mouth, Thiemo stepped closer and stroked over the foot of the closest statue. With the pedestal, they reached to his eye level. “Any idea?”

Like him, Amaryllis was inspecting all six statues in the wall before she then shook her head. She walked a few meters and stroked her wing over the stony surface. “I… No idea. That was definitely built by changelings. We use acid to bend to stone to our will. You can see it clearly in the wall. But the statues themselves. No idea; they wouldn’t even belong here.”

“Or like someone else had placed them there?” She nodded and slowly came back to him. Both stared silently at what was laid in front of them. In the distance, the waterfall could still be heard quietly as well as the rustling of the plants. The armors held a sword in front of them that was rammed into the bottom of the pedestal. The helmets were completely closed, aside from small slits for the eyes. The rest of the metal suits were completely closed. No holes for movement or hinges, so it could be put on.

Thiemo took a run-up and then jumped up on the pedestal, holding one hand at the crossguard of the sword and the other one at the upper arm of the armor. “What are you doing?”

“I’m having a closer look.” A glance over the shoulder of the statue confirmed his expectations. Unlike the pedestals, their back didn’t go over into the wall. They were separate. “Yes, they were placed here afterwards.” He climbed a bit further up the two meter tall armor and saw the darkness of their non-existent eyes. “Looks like their inside is—” With a quiet buzzing, a red light came out of the eyes of the statue. Before Thiemo could react, the statue moved forward and threw him on the ground. “Hollow!?!” he finished sentence and scrambled back, trying to get away from the thing. The head of the now not-so-stiff statue looked around, sighted them, and pulled the sword out of the pedestal. Its knees bent a little as it prepared itself for a jump. “Oh shit!” It jumped, flew through the air, and was about to ram its sword into him. Thiemo immediately rolled towards Amaryllis, getting out of the way of destruction. With a very loud thud, the armor landed on the glowing moss. His eyes skimmed over the quickly standing knight, but no magic could be seen. Just like the skeletons.

The sword went up again, ready to cut down the human where he was. This time, it was Amy who reacted faster than him, firing some magic missiles that hit the knight’s shoulder, torso, and head. Every hit caused a small dust cloud, and for a moment, as he was tumbling backwards, it looked like it would have finished him. But as soon as the dust was gone, the statue just shook its head and lunged out again. Thiemo, back on his legs by now, jumped aside. “What is that?” Amaryllis shouted next to him, panic evident in her voice.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say a golem.” His right hand stroked over Protes at his wrist, and the staff formed in his hand. “But without magic, no clue.” The knight let his sword fall down on the human again, but this time Protes blocked the blow. With both hands, Thiemo held the staff above his head, even if it was driving it to his knees a bit he stood his ground. “Amy, fire at him from the distance.” The statue increased the pressure, and Thiemo began to feel the ground through the moss with his knee. Behind him, he could hear Amaryllis gaining some distance with a few wing beats.

“Head down!” was the only warning he got as a green flash of light whooshed over him and slammed into the statue’s chest. Relieved, Thiemo felt the knight being pushed pack. He hastily used the moment and the momentum from his legs. He jumped forward, his staff ready, and with all his force, struck the knight’s head. The two meters of wandering stone began to fall and finally went to the ground. “Was that it?”

The head of the statue, which was just lying on with its nose in the moss, sprung into Thiemo’s direction, and in the same moment, its hand as well. It wrapped around his left leg, and the knight lifted him with his own body into the air. Overhead, Thiemo tried to hit another blow, but the knight was holding him so firmly that he couldn’t help but scream in pain. Protes fell in the moss below him, turning the glowing green into a dry, brown mass. Panic rising, Thiemo saw the knight lunging out with his other hand. He desperately crossed his arms in front of his chest. Then the fist struck. His arms pressed against his body while the grasp of the knight around his leg loosened up. The next thing Thiemo felt was his back slamming against the wall. Lightning bolts appeared in front of his eyes, an intense pain surging through his entire body.

“Amy…” he coughed, a bit of blood dripping down out of his mouth onto his shirt. His head feebly moved to the side. Another of the knights stepped down from his pedestal next to him while the princess was busy evading the first one and his sword. She fired a few missiles at him, but like before, they showed only little effect. “Amy…” Tired, he reached out his right hand. Protes seemed so close, yet was it unreachable. A third statue stepped down from the pedestal. They circled Amaryllis. He had to help her. Protect her. But his legs couldn’t. He closed his eyes.

Only to open them again immediately. But there was no longer the encircled Amaryllis. No, in front of him was a blue mist in infinite black. Thiemo stood up, his injuries were forgotten. “What the hell is going on here?” He wanted to dust off his coat as he realized something. “And why am I naked?” It wasn’t cold, but neither was it warm. His hand went through the blue fog. It didn’t get wet.

Warily, he took a step forward. He didn’t know what he was standing on, but it seemed to be solid enough. With one foot, he felt around and realized that despite the appearance, there was no infinite black nothingness below him. “Do you want me to give you a stone?” Startled, Thiemo spun around to the voice, but nothing was to be seen. “Then you can test it yourself how far it is going down there.”

He shrugged and looked around. “Uhm, no thanks? But I would take something to cover myself. If it’s no trouble to you.” A peal of laughter was the answer, which probably meant he was getting nothing. The voice sounded manly, a bit deeper than his own. It also seemed to come out of every direction at once. “Alright, we had a good laugh. What are you, and where am I here?”

“Here is such an impractical concept.” Thiemo just groaned. “Let’s leave it with that.” A small light came out of the fog and levitated over to him, only to stop directly in front of his nose. “What I am to one thing, I am something completely different to another.”

“What do the folks here have it with their enigmas?”

The small blue ball laughed again. “Yes, something like that can get really annoying, right? Believe me, I’ve had my experience with that as well.”

“So, is there a reason for all this?” Thiemo stretched out his arms and spun around in circle once. “Or is this just a joke? I’m trained well enough to know that this is some astral level.” He shook his head. “Or something very close to it. At least it’s not a dream. I know that I’m still lying bleeding on the ground while my marefriend is being threatened by these non-magical golems.

“You are right; you know a lot, but actually not enough. In respect to your current situation, however, I thought it would be a good idea to forward our meeting. Meaning, I will help you.”

Sceptically, Thiemo crossed his arms. “And how are you planning to do that?”

“I’m going to lend you a part of my power even though you are not ready for it yet.”

“What’s the catch? What do you want me to do for you?” The light laughed again.

“No, no catch. You just have to touch me.” Thiemo reached out his hands, but the light jumped back. “Not so fast, my young friend. One last piece of advice since I don’t know when we will be seeing us again. Find the stone tablets at the end of the chamber you are in. They will help you.”

“To find more of these knights? No way.”

“If more of them are there, they won’t post any troubles to you.” The blue ball circled around him, increasing their velocity until he was unable to see it before it struck his chest.

Thiemo opened his eyes again. He still stood with his arms crossed at the place where he went down. Slowly, he lowered them again. His head turned slowly into the direction of Amaryllis. It seemed like the time was frozen. The knights and Amy moved so slowly that he could have walked to the waterfall and back again before one of them hit her. Then his eyes fell on his shoulder. Something was glowing through his orange coat. He freed himself of the piece of clothing so that he was only standing there in his armless, not as white as it used to be, shirt.

What he saw on his skin alarmed him for a few seconds, but then he took a deep breath. Two crescents, diagonally opposing each other so they formed a circle. The same was on his other shoulder, both glowing in the same bright blue like the ball he had seen. Then he felt it. Something familiar he had only felt in connection with pain before. Magic. His view changed, and he slowly brought a hand in front of his eyes. It ran through his body, causing no pain. Magic. His eyes wandered up to knights around Amaryllis. His heart was pounding, his lips forming into a grin. “Yippee ka-yay, motherfuckers!”

Author's Notes:

JBL:

Ho ho ho, things are going to get very... interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7edeOEuXdMU

Just watched the season 4 finale and I was like: Wow! That a new level of epic. To celebrate that, I forced JBL to rush the next chapter.
I would love to discuss the two episodes with you guys but I don't want to spoiler anything. I have a friend who is moving right now and can't watch anything for a week. Just tell me how you liked the finale and this chapter of course. Feed the author with comments, thats an order.

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

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