Thiemo wouldn’t describe himself as someone who was law-abiding. In the Forgotten Realms, he would be “chaotic good”. He loved to bend the rules and form them as he pleased. However, he was not one to deliberately make people suffer. He would do the right thing, whatever it might be, if it was necessary. Unfortunately, he had passed the point where this was possible. He had a pissed sheriff, a freshly robbed banker and, probably in the near future, his customers who were waiting to get their hands on him. It was time to get to the train and get said train to move.

He opened the door to their room, threw Aura softly on his bed, and got his coat out of the closet. “Don’t worry, it’ll all end well,” he assured her while throwing his coat over his back and closing the leather buckle around his neck. “The train to Appleloosa is here, and we are leaving.” He heard her sobbing as he got another talisman out of his pocket and placed it around his neck. It was his last sapphire. He had used the other one in the fight against the gryphons.

“I’m sorry Dad. If I had known what would happen—” He interrupted her by gently placing a hand on her head and crouching down next to her so that he was at eye level.

“Hey, calm down. You did nothing wrong. You should know that.” She thought about it for second and nodded. “So stop crying about it, alright? I don’t like it when you cry.” She wiped the tears out of her eyes and managed a smirk. “That’s better.” He clapped his hands. “Okay, pack your stuff. We’re leaving!” he exclaimed and grabbed his backpack, placing it next to Aura on his bed.

He wanted to wait until her birthday to give it to her, but now was a good moment as well. He pulled out a small saddlebag, obviously made to be worn by a foal. It had an additional belt that went along the chest to keep the bag in place in any situation.

“What’s that?” he heard a curious voice asking right next to him. He opened the belt, threw the saddlebag over her back, and smiled.

“This, my dear, is your birthday present. When we were in Junk Town, I remembered you saying you wanted a backpack just like mine, and then I saw this one." She looked at her gift, and all sorrows were just blown away. As she tried to see more of the bag, she turned her head around, but her body kept automatically turning as well. She looked as if she was chasing her own tail. Thiemo couldn’t help it; he had to laugh.

“Why didn’t I see it when I looked into the backpack this morning?” she asked, still busy turning around. He, on the other hand, closed his backpack again and threw it on his back.

“Simple. I hid it under all the ‘junk’...” he made quotation marks with his hands “...as you call it.” Well, junk together with some reading material that wasn’t meant for foals her age. He was still a man and had his needs. Not that the illustrations were interesting for him, but the erotic stories had a sufficient effect, at least for someone with enough imagination. “Enough of this. We should see that we get some land between us and this town.” He picked up his staff and opened the door but stalled when he saw Aura still sitting on the bed. “What’s wrong?”

She hesitated and rubbed her hoof back and forth. “Umm... I have no stuff.” He was surprised. “Stuff I can pack.” He fought the urge to facepalm. Ponies didn’t wear any clothes like humans did, and all their washing equipment was in his backpack. Then he remembered the necklace and pulled it out of his pocket, went over to her, and put it in her bag.

She looked at him in surprise. “At our next stop, I’ll make you a talisman, okay? So watch out for the necklace in order to wear it.” He winked at her, and the result was instant. She jumped into his arms, and he caught her. Thiemo would have loved to play with her now, but time was running low. Slowly, he placed her on the floor. “Now for real, or the sheriff will cause us even more problems.” They left the room, closed the door, and hurried down the stairs. Old Bronze was still busy stashing a huge amount of bottles.

“I see you’re in a hurry. Bon voyage.” Thiemo saluted with two fingers while Aura preferred to wave with her hoof. They went out the door and down the road.

“Strange, where are all the ponies?” the foal asked just before they reached the crossroads. They stopped and looked around. There were no inhabitants around, and most of the doors were closed.

He sighed. “If I turn around and the sheriff is standing there, I’m gonna slap myself.” That would just be too cliché. And how could it be any different. Dusk Star was indeed standing behind him.

*SLAP*

Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone. Next to him stood, a bit over two meters tall, a minotaur with shoulders appropriate to his height. The creature, half human, half cow, had light brown fur, two thick hooves scraping the dust, and two mountains of flesh that might be called arms. Thiemo gulped heavily.

“You guys are going nowhere,” the sheriff said. “You will lay down your weapons and follow me into my office.” He wasn’t afraid of the sheriff, but minotaurs made him nervous. His staff was only useful against magic, not muscle power. Minotaurs were not magical by nature, and thus there were no passive abilities like pegasi and earth ponies possessed that he could block. They were just raw violence with the brain of a walnut.

Although he knew the answer, he had to ask. “Or else?” If it was already raining cliché, why stop now?

The sheriff grinned. “Or else my wife and co-sheriff here will bring you back.” He stared at the unicorn, then at the minotaur, or minotauress as she would be called. It was hard to tell with all that muscle. Only now did he notice her wearing a way-too-small vest with a small silver star attached to it. He swallowed his answer about the sheriff’s taste in women.

“Is there any other way to handle this situation?” Both husband and wife shook their heads. “You’re sure? Because we have a train to catch.” He slowly pushed Aura behind him. Just like him, she kept her eyes on the minotauress.

The large cow-like creature reached out with one of her huge hands, which by itself was already bigger than Thiemo’s head, and pointed at him. “You come or else ouch!” The linguistic skills of Brunhilde, as he decided to call the graceful young lady, were something a gentleman would not speak of directly. That deep voice on the other hand...

“And you’re sure that that is your ‘wife’?” The moment the words left his mouth, he knew it was a more than moronic idea. Rage was written all over the unicorn’s face, and although the minotauress didn’t seem to get the insult, she knew from her husband’s face that she had to be angry. She stomped towards them and got ready to grab Thiemo. He managed to duck in time so that her fingers only grabbed thin air. He picked Aura up, pressed her against his chest, and started running head over heels.

“Get ‘em, Hildegard!” He almost fell when he heard her name and had to fight the urge to burst into laughter. This world knew how to surprise every day.

Suddenly, there was an explosion when they got around the corner. The roof above them was no longer supported and collapsed. Thiemo threw himself to the ground to avoid being smashed to death, raining sand and chunks of wood striking him. He would have used his hands, but his left hand was busy holding the staff while right hand was busy holding Aura, so there wasn’t much left to protect his face. “Damn it!”

Thiemo shook his head and looked back at the corner that Brunhilde and Dusk Star had just gotten around. The sheriff’s horn was still glowing, which meant that he was responsible for the falling roof. Thiemo got up again and looked around for the train station. Before he could spot it, another magical bullet flew over their heads and made one thing clear: Dusk Star was a horrible marksman. Thiemo stood with no cover on a front porch and hadn’t moved for a few seconds. Even he could have hit himself, even though he couldn’t even hit an open barn gate from one hundred meters away. But he didn’t want to push his luck which, of course, had nothing to do with the attacking mintauress. At least he knew now why the inhabitants had stayed in their houses.

“Dad, what are we gonna do now?” Aura asked nervously as Thiemo dodged another bullet which exploded in the sand in front of him. He quickly turned his back towards the explosion so his cloak caught the majority and protected Aura.

The explosion almost made him fall. “Run!” he answered and saw an open door. An older cow was standing on the porch and swiped over it with an old broom. Apparently, she hadn’t heard the news of a dangerous human roaming the streets. He would have to use this to his advantage. He went past the cow, closed the door with one foot, and barricaded it with the coat rack next to the door. “Quick, out the back!” They went through something one might describe as a living room, into the bedroom, and found what he hoped to find: a window. He hurried over the bed and tried to open it, but it was stuck.

“We know you’re in there! Come outside, or we’ll kick in the door. You’re not helping your situation.” So there was not much time. It was not his actual plan to destroy others’ property, but on the other hand, he was no saint. He rammed his staff through the glass and went over the frame to get rid of any sharp edges. Then he got a hold of Aura and threw her outside.

“Hey...” was all she could say before she landed head first in the sand. He quickly followed her and freed her from her miserable situation. “You could have warned me...” she grumped while spitting out sand. Suddenly, there was a deafening sound which only Brunhilde could have caused by relocating the door plus frame.

Panicked, he poked the small filly. “Quick, go on!” They ran along the back of the houses, still looking for the train station. Since they saw rails in front of them, they couldn’t be far away.

“There they are!” Thiemo looked back and saw sheriff’s cow-loving head poking out of the smashed window. His wife, on the other hand, seemed to have the opinion that it was easier to smash into the wall instead of walking around the house. Too bad her husband was still stuck in the window and now had to share the destiny of the wall. It looked really painful, especially when the minotauress stepped on the wall. Thiemo actually empathized with the sheriff for a few seconds. Really.

Brunhilde noticed her mistake when her husband’s whining reached her ears and stepped off the wall. “Sorry darling,” she said as she lifted the former wall with one hand to free him.

“No harm done, sssssweety,” he managed to say. “Just get ’em.” She nodded and released the wall which, of course, buried the sheriff again. If it hadn’t been for the minotauress on his heels, he would have had to stop for a minute to laugh his lungs out, but that had to wait. The minotauress started chasing them again and was remarkably faster than them.

“Dad, I’m scared.” Aura had even more problems running than he did and fought for every step. He mentally agreed with his daughter but would never say it out loud. He quickly picked her up and carried her on his shoulders.

Then he saw a small corridor between the houses on his right. “Hold on tight!” She grabbed his forehead. He held his breath, made himself as tall as possible by standing on his toes, and forced himself into it. With small, hasty steps, he reached the centre of the corridor just in time to be out of reach for the minotauress. She reached out for him. There were mere millimetres between his cloak and her fingers.

“Hulk, uh... Hildegard smash puny human!” She tried to force herself inside the gap. Thiemo, on the other hand, took a relieved breath. He needed a short break to focus his strength again. Unfortunately, he was only allowed a short break because the wood started to surrender to the force of the minotauress.

He instantly started to move again. “Motherf—!” With new motivation, he forced himself through the remaining corridor and came out to the main road. His pursuer was still trying to follow on his path and was now stuck between the houses. “Ha, a sandwich!” he said with a smirk when the oversized cow got stuck between two brown houses. She didn’t understand what he meant, but his tone didn’t leave any room for interpretation. She turned red and rammed her shoulders into the wood, which once more surrendered to her. She literally smashed in the houses to her sides and dashed towards the human who was still on the ground but not laughing anymore. “Motherf...!” he repeated but louder than the first time and crawled a few meters before he was on his feet again. Aura was still holding tight, and he felt her trying to get her legs on the backpack. “Hold on tight!” He didn’t have to look back to know that the minotauress was one arm’s length behind him. Her arm length, by the way. It was quickly becoming a futile endeavour: he was out of breath and a lot slower on sand. Moreover, they were on an open street with no chance to hide.

So the inevitable happened. Brunhilde managed to get a hold of his cloak and pulled, causing him to land on his rear end. As soon as he fell, she pulled again and threw Aura overboard, who landed in the sand. The enraged Brunhilde held the human in front of her face. “You lucky, Hildegard angry, very angry. You make Hildegard hurt husband. You lucky Hildegard not smashing puny human.” Thiemo hung in the air, held by his cloak, and in front of him was a furious cow. We will never know why he thought it was a good idea to hit her with his staff. Of course, it didn’t affect her at all, and even more hot air came out of her nostrils. “You want face smashed, small human?” In alarm, he looked first at the cow, who was about to help him with his teeth issues, then at his staff. The engravings were glowing.

“Yes, goddammit yes!” he yelled out of joy and looked again at the minotauress. She took that as an answer. She held him away a little more and lashed out with her left. The fist came closer, but at the same moment, Thiemo managed to yell, “Teleport!” The staff glowed for a second, and Hildegard disappeared. The only thing left were some sparks of magic falling on the floor.

A lonely vulture circled next to an oasis that was a day’s travel from Round Rock. It had been days since he last saw a dead animal, and he was frustrated. Hunger was even worse than thirst when prolonged for a few days. He was tired with every flap, and he soon had to land. A small burst startled him, and he looked up. There was a small dot above him, quickly growing. Curiously, he stared at it until he realized that it was right above him and quickly hurtling towards the ground.

Unluckily, he realized this too late, and a second later, his wings were pressed against the chest of a minotaur, and he saw the water beneath him quickly approaching. At least he would die in the water, and his rotting guts would bring death to a lot of animals. The feeling was a small compensation for the rapidly approaching end of his short life. The animals living around the waterhole would long remember the sudden end of their source of life, which rained down on them.

Thiemo fell on his rear end again. The pain from the landing that crawled up his back was still better than the damage the minotauress would have done to his face. His staff had three functions. First, it absorbed magic like a sponge. Small amounts, like levitation or similar, were negated. More powerful spells, like strong magical bullets, were at least weakened. The staff absorbed the magic and saved it inside. When it had absorbed enough, he was able to cast one of two spells corresponding to the engravings: teleportation and a magical shield. It wasn’t even necessary to absorb spells. In Albion, magic was everywhere, even in the air. However, this process took a considerable amount of time. Magical bullets were hard to catch, and it took even longer with smaller spells. The teleportation spell had the disadvantage that he could only visit places where he had already been or at least close to those spots.

He took a relieved breath. “That was close, too close.” Aura, recovered from her fall, ran over to him.

“Dad, are you alright? She didn’t hurt you, did she?” Thiemo let himself fall back into the sand and held on to his staff. His hands were still shaking a little.

“Yeah, I’m alright. You know me, not a problem.” He forced himself to smile and took a deep breath. He was more than aware that he had more luck than brains, and he didn’t like to rely on them. His mother had always told him that God was with the stupid and helped the really stupid. As an atheist, he had his problems in believing this. “We have to catch a train, don’t we?” The whistle of the train sounded in the background. With the thought in the back of his head that he was getting too old for this shit, he lifted his injured body and continued his way. After a minute of following the rails, they saw the train station. It consisted of a small house for the attendant and a crane for setting and removal. With their last bit of energy, they took it up a notch, and Thiemo knocked at the small barrack. It slowly opened.

A stallion, about a thousand years old, opened the door. “Yes?” There was an ear-trumpet, apparently only held by crusty earwax since he didn’t use a hoof to hold it up. On his snout was a pair of glasses thick enough to stop a bullet. His fur was of a light, washed-up green, and his mane was almost completely gone. Several single white hairs were the last hint that he once might have had hair.

“Umm, we would like to buy tickets for the train.” Thiemo was too tired for any conversation and just wanted to leave this place behind. In the desert, he had slept more and far better than here. And he had to watch out for scorpions, spiders, and snakes there. Which he actually preferred over gryphons.

“Huh?” The old-timer leaned further outside.

“We would like to purchase two tickets to Appleloosa!” he shouted directly into the trumpet. The old stallion blinked once. Slowly, very slowly.

“What?” That was the end for Thiemo’s nerves. First the gryphons, then the sheriff, then the gryphons again, then the sheriff again with his wife, a fucking minotaur which chased them through the whole town. He pushed the attendant aside, looked inside the barrack, and found what he was looking for. Thiemo ripped two tickets from a small role. “Hey, you can’t just...” He ignored him and checked a board with prices. He threw five bits on the table, three for him and two for Aura. “You could have just said that you wanted tickets.” He pushed him back inside and closed the door.

He looked down to Aura. “Don’t take me as a role model.” She nodded. The door opened again.

“If you want to catch the train, you should hurry.” Surprised, he turned around and saw... nothing. His eyes followed the rails and saw that the train had already started moving.

Immediately, he started running. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” His legs flared up in pain from all the running. Aura was just a few meters behind him. She had no problem keeping up with him on proper ground. She was a pony, a creature made for running.

“Stop!” Of course it was him. Thiemo looked back over his shoulder and saw the sheriff chasing them. “What have you done to my wife?” Thiemo didn’t answer and focused his energy on keeping up with the train. Said train steamed down the rails and kept gaining speed. He had wanted to save this talisman, but this wasn’t the time to be cheap, otherwise he would have to deal with the sheriff until the next train arrived. Or they could walk through the desert for a few weeks longer. He didn’t like any of those thoughts. He slowly ended his run and stopped. Aura followed his example. “Finally found reason again?”

Thiemo picked up Aura, placed her on his shoulders, and turned around to Dusk Star. Said unicorn stood there in a crouched position, his glowing horn pointed at him. “Nope, just wanted to say goodbye.” With a quick move, he touched the horn with his staff and turned it off. Another quick movement later, he took the sheriff’s black Stetson. Then he used the sapphire in his hand. The stone contained the element of wind and would accelerate him for a short period of time.

Thus, it was no problem for them to reach the train, and the next thing Dusk Star could see was Thiemo standing on the end of the last wagon. Sadly, this was his last talisman, and he would now be forced to make new ones. He hated to continue his way without any security, but the sheriff didn’t need to know that. With a huge smile on his face and his daughter on his shoulder, he put on his hat, reached out his arms, and yelled:

Author's Notes:

And thats it for act 1. Yes, the first act of this story is finished. It introduced two of the main characters, a third will follow shortly, all OC. Some of you may ask if the mane 6 or any other character of the show will show up. Yes, they will. but I don't tell you who or when. I will add them to the description when we reach that point.

Special thanks to faktopus for proofreading.

Next chapter will be a intermission who will tell you a bit of past events regarding Thiemo.
Till next time folks!

A second time edited by JBL. Thanks buddy!