“How do I look?” Amaryllis strutted back out of the bath and grinned at Thiemo from her shorter position. All the confused human could do was raise a brow.

“Well… like a pony.” The princess had merely changed into her form of a normal mare: shiny white coat, a two-toned purple mane, and elegant wings tucked tightly at her body. Something seemed off about her appearance though, and upon further looking, he realized that her horn was missing. Confused, he extended the search for the ring that should be on it. With a grin, she noticed his querying looks and lifted her left forehoof. The ring was wrapped around it, functioning as a hoofband, even if not a very pretty one. The black metal was a sharp contrast against her white coat. “It’s not that I don’t like it, but why the disguise?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, Cadance said that she was going to officially introduce me during an event that’s coming soon.” He didn’t need to take a guess to know which event that would be. “Until then, I should keep a low profile.”

Thiemo shrugged and pointed with a hand towards the door. “Shall we?” Amy nodded eagerly and together they stepped into the hallway where Rupie was already waiting for them. Thiemo had completely forgotten about him over the drama. If he really wanted to have a nice evening, he would have to get rid of him, which was probably easier said than done. As expected, he stuck right to their heels as they slowly marched towards the teleporter. When he spotted it, an idea struck him on how he might get rid of his third wheel, even though it might be a bit drastic. Still, that was something he had to worry about later as usual.

They all entered the teleporter, and just as Thiemo had set the crystal on the first floor, he gave the backside of the soldier a little kick. Since his foot hit something that moved aside afterwards, he knew he hadn’t missed his target through the tail. The stallion immediately cried out in pain and took a couple of hasty steps forward to escape his attacker. In that moment, the teleporter went off. Now only the two of them found themselves in the entrance area of the castle. Amy looked at him questioningly while he pulled her out of the circle and took out a little sapphire from his chest pocket. He placed it next to the control crystal and into another indentation. It instantly caused a short circuit, and the control panel of the teleporter went out. “I don’t think it’ll hurt anypony to take the stairs.” Even though Twilight had told him otherwise a couple of times before.

“I think he’s going to be very mad at you.” If that was supposed to make him sound guilty, the princess wasn’t doing a good job. She giggled the whole time while they stepped outside. The guards didn’t pay them any real attention as usual and only briefly looked at Amy. For a moment, Thiemo thought they would recognize her, but then he saw that their eyes weren’t on her face. He turned his head and put a hand on the back of the white mare. While one of them seemed to be disappointed, the other threw a look at him that could kill. He stuck out his tongue at him before taking the last step and turning towards the next problem. “Where are we going?” Amaryllis spoke out what he thought.

Personally, he was never the guy for long trips, usually because he got lost during them. He stuck to the paths he knew, and that was it for him. As a result, he hadn’t gotten to know anything in the Empire aside from the castle, they just snuck out of and Twilight’s apartments, his own, and his work place. Going with his date there would be very counterproductive now, as it was flooded with soldiers around this time. On the other hand, Rupie would never come looking for them there. Still, for him, there was more to a date than going to a bar and knocking back a few drinks. That was something for later.

So he did what he had done since the first day of his journey. He put one foot in front of the other and went more or less where the wind decided to carry him, with his head held up high and a look on his face that looked like he knew what he was doing, even though that wasn’t the case. Amy next to him got moving as well, and together they walked down the wide, almost empty road. He was once again caught up in the phenomena of what this time of the year brought upon the ponies of the city. A whole city was more or less brought to a halt. There were a few single mares and stallions here and there, but they all seemed to actively avoid each other. Curiosity caught the better of him, but Amaryllis didn’t seem to know the answer, as she was looking around herself, just as confused as him.

“Where is everypony?”

“Well, if two ponies really like each other…” She looked at him with a face that was asking very clearly if he was being serious right now. “Let me finish. So, if they really like each other and it becomes spring, then cuddling and snuggling just isn’t enough. They decide to express all their… accrued frustrating during one week of wicked lustfulness and unholy debauchery.”

She seemed to need a few seconds, just like him this morning, but then she realized why the road was so empty. “That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard.”

“Not much different from the horses on Earth.”

“You have horses on Earth? What are they like?” And that was the reason he hated to talk about Earth.

“Stupid animals really. Not different than rabbits or anything. Not intelligent. They can’t speak either or anything, just like every animal on Earth.”

“Are there also… ponies?” Thiemo nodded, and she gasped. “Are you comparing us… me and everypony… with them? Is that the reason why…?”

“No!” he almost shouted, though the looks of the passer-by’s in his peripheral vision soon convinced him to lower his voice . “Sorry. No, I didn’t mean to compare anything from Earth to Albion. Yes, I did so at first when I got here, but I learned quickly that nothing here is like on Earth. If I’m talking about deer, I’m talking about the nation of Cervidas and not the stupid animals that crap in the same forest they eat from. The words in Equish and English aren’t even similar, and today I wouldn’t even think about comparing them. It would be like an insult.”

“So… why…?” Tears were in the corners of her eyes. “Is it because of me?” He hated the way that made him feel sometimes, as it made him think of dropping everything to comfort her and make her feel better.

Thiemo sighed. “Promise me that you won’t tell anyone,” he said to her with a stern look. She nodded weakly. “Humans on Earth grow up thinking that sex is a taboo subject. And well… I never had…”

“Sex?”

“Among other things.”

“A marefriend?” Thiemo said nothing. Mercifully, she looked like she begun to understand what he tried to say, sparing him from having to spell it out. “Why?”

“There isn’t really a why. I was just never what you would call a social guy. Spent most of the time indoors or at school. Never had the urge to spend my nights in smoky discos or buy overpriced drinks or try to move to strange bad music like everyone else. Not that I didn’t try. Also, I wasn’t in shape as I am now. Had gotten quite the gut over the years, but not as bad as some Americans have it.” They both remained silent for a while, while Thiemo thought about where they could eventually go tonight. He couldn’t walk into a random direction forever and expect that something would pop up. And then he saw his salvation. “Sorry!” he shouted at a passing-by crystal stallion who got startled a bit by his shout as he sped off.

Amaryllis used the absence of her companion to sort her own thoughts. She knew that the human she called her coltfriend was a bit reserved when it came to subjects like sex, but his revelation brought everything she thought she knew about him to another level. She had thought that the reason they hadn’t gotten close yet was due to them being different species. She would have never guessed that it all because he, the human who told a goddess to her face that she was a monstrosity, was shy. It was honestly hard to believe.

But what opinion should she have of him? He had raised a foal on his own, had travelled multiple continents, and had fought with opponents like her mother and Twilight Sparkle. It would be funny if she wasn’t the victim. On the other side, it was nice to learn more about him. Maybe she could get him to open himself more to her. With a grin and shaking her head, she followed Thiemo, who had rushed over to a stallion and was now bidding him goodbye. “Thanks again!” he shouted after him before he turned to her again. “Sorry. I knew that there was a theatre somewhere around here, but I just couldn’t remember where exactly.” His eyes wandered around a bit as he began to walk down the same way he had apparently just been directed. “Shall we?”

Amaryllis nodded. “Sure.” And so she began to follow Thiemo with a light trot, something else she had gotten used to during her time with the human. He was much slower than ponies, even when he ran. To be precise, what he called running would be a slow gallop for her. Maybe not even that. From the corners of her eyes, she saw that he was saying something, but she was too deep in her thoughts now. What else did she know about the human she called her coltfriend? It was very hard to get him angry. Plus he was smart as well. Not only could he speak multiple languages of his world, but he had also learned Equish. His ability to grasp concepts were good, even though not as good as Twilight Sparkle’s. For example, he always needed a short while to understand some cultural differences. His humour was strange at best. Not really funny because of the joke he tried to pull off, but because of how he acted while telling it. That led Amy’s thoughts to his clumsiness. For most people, it wasn’t immediately clear, but it sometimes seemed like he couldn’t control his own fingers correctly, almost like they had their own will. Also he had the sense of tact of an angry griffon. Last, but certainly not least, he had a habit of telling little lies ever so often when talking. For her it was no problem detecting them. His emotions spoke a very clear language.

Despite all that, she didn’t mind it. After all, they would not have reached so far together if he had been a paragon of honesty and virtue. She loved him even for his antics. It made him special, even more special than he already was. After all, there was no other human like him on Albion who had a tail and could use magic. How had he called them earlier? They were the best non-pony couple there was? For better or worse, she had to agree with him there. Amaryllis flinched as suddenly something appeared in front of her eyes.

She looked around and noticed that Thiemo stood in front of her, leaning down to her and waving with his hand in front of her face. “Everything alright?”

“Err, yes, I was just thinking.” Apparently they had gotten to the theatre already. Behind Thiemo stood a building that that had multiple neon signs attached to it that pronounced the name of the play: ‘Your Dove I Want to Be’. To be seen was a pretty mare on a balcony, below her a stallion reaching a hoof out to her. “That looks… interesting.”

Thiemo looked at the poster as well for a few seconds. “Sure, I picked it especially for us.” Yes, there was another of his little lies. She could not find it in her to be angry at him since he was doing it to try and cheer her up. She shot him a smile and stepped through the door he held open for her. She couldn’t help but notice that the theatre, unlike the rest of the street, looked on the inside like a building she could find in Canterlot as well. For safety reasons, she threw a look back, out of the large window in the door, to make sure that they still were in the Crystal Empire. Tall, white marble pillars and a red carpet gave the impression that one had just stepped inside the castle of Equestria’s capitol. A tap on her shoulder caught her attention. Thiemo said nothing but pointed on a large golden badge that hung over the ticket counter.

“A home far from home. For honour of her Majesty, Princess Celestia,” Amaryllis read. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Either a generous royal donation for the interior of this theatre or the owner doesn’t sparkle in the sunlight.” As he chuckled, she noticed that he had made one of his strange jokes again that only he could understand. After he calmed down again, Thiemo noticed that he had laughed alone. “You know that crystal ponies sparkle in the sun, and if Celestia named her daughter Twilight…” He paused and shook his head.

“What’s with Twilight?”

“Nothing.” He waved it off. “I’d have to show you a movie first for you to understand.” Or explain to her what a movie was, but she didn’t want to nit-pick now. They went over to the counter where a young mare was busy wrapping a chewing gum from her mouth around her hoof. “Excuse me,” Thiemo tried to get her attention.

“Yes?” came a bored reply without her looking at them. Instead, she wrapped the gum further around her pink hoof.

“We’d like to have two tickets for the play?” While Thiemo tried to get them their tickets, Amaryllis risked a look into the teenager in front of them. She had to pull herself together to not spit. Boredom was a disgusting emotion, like trying to gulp down a mouth full of clay. Too bad that her new magical ring only hindered her from accidently absorbing the love of her surroundings. She hadn’t told Thiemo that, so he wasn’t expecting her to look inside his head. She only had to watch out to avoid being caught. Still, if she wasn’t going to get any soon, she could no longer guarantee anything.

“Sorry, but the play started ten minutes ago,” the young mare droned while blowing a bubble with her gum. “Come back to the evening play,” she finished her awe inspiring announcement and pointed at a sign next to the counter. Thiemo and Amaryllis read the times for the upcoming shows.

“Look, we’re tourists and new to town. Can you really blame us if we got a bit lost on the way here?” Thiemo began to spin one of his lies. “How about I put a couple of bits for you, and you can make an exception?”

Her hoof wandered further down. “No disturbances during play.” The teenaged mare rocked her chair back and forth and began to blow the next bubble, all that without looking at them even once. It was then that Amaryllis felt it, the happiness when Thiemo had an idea that could only mean trouble. He held a finger in front of his lips and motioned her to stay silent while he searched for something in his pocket with his other hand. “Well, I guess we can’t do anything then,” he said innocently. Slowly, he pulled a lapis lazuli out of his pocket, which began to glow and crumbled into ashes. Without batting an eye, he reached over the counter and pulled out two tickets from the roll behind it. This made the lethargic earth pony mare start back to life. Her chair landed back on all four legs as she tried to grab Thiemo’s hand, but thanks to the ice on the floor, she missed her target, and her head banged against the wood. The chair slid the remaining way to the floor before the pony followed.

“Don’t you think that was bit too harsh?” Amaryllis asked worriedly and leaned against the counter, peering at the unconscious mare as she lay motionless.

Thiemo shrugged. “She’ll be sleeping for a few hours. Earth ponies are very sturdy. Aura endured worse without a scratch. Plus, with the way she treats the customers, it doesn’t make a difference if she’s awake or not. You could call it an improvement. I should charge them for business optimization.” He placed the bits for the tickets on the counter and held out his right arm. “May I?” Amy caught herself giggling as she softly placed the tip of her wing through the loop and they stepped towards the large white double door leading to the demonstration room.

Ignoring the few confused looks of the scarce visitors, Thiemo opened the door for him and his company and led her through the dark room. A last look back at the mare who was still sleeping behind the counter made him grin. This was their first real date, and he didn’t want to have it ruined by some stupid teenager. After all, he wanted to rid Amaryllis from her depressing thoughts, even if was only for a short time.

He closed the door and motioned Amaryllis to take a seat on the sofa right next to the door. So that the ponies could sit comfortably during the long play, there were no single seats, but some kind of mixture of a couch and a chair. “After you,” she whispered to him. For a second he wanted to ask why, but then shrugged it off and did what his marefriend asked him to do. The question answered itself shortly after, as Amy lay down next to him so that her head could rest on his leg. Luckily, the podium was elevated so that she could still see it from her position.

“Rosemary, oh Rosemary!” shouted a stallion, who was wrapped in coloured rags and danced around in front of a scenery with a flower field on it. “Will your flowers be the only things that let me be with you?”

“What is this about?” Amaryllis asked quietly from her seat in his lap.

“I’d say the he is a beggar and fell in love with a rich mare named Rosemary, but the parents are of course against it, or he has no chance to speak with her. In the end, he will sneak underneath her balcony and sing a love song to her, and they will get together and love each other forever.”

“Have you seen the play before?”

“No, but aren’t they all more or less the same? Isn’t it more about how good the performance is?”

“You’re right, I think. What about the music?”

“Music?”

“I mean the orchestra that is playing in the background to the singing.”

“Where?” Confusedly, Thiemo looked down to Amaryllis, who just grinned widely and giggled.

“Over here.” He looked to his right, where on the opposite side of the gangway sat Lyra who sucked at a hay shake. “But in defence of the theatre, I have to say that they only have the replacements in house today. The really good actors are probably at home with their loved ones like everypony else.” Lyra pointed at the stage where the same stallion was now crawled over the floor and shouted out the name of his loved one over and over again. “He should have moved on a while ago. I think he forgot his lines.”

“Shhh!” hissed one of the ponies further up front.

“It’s okay!” Lyra replied as loudly as she could and fell back into her sofa. Thiemo turned back to Amaryllis, who was watching the conversation with a grin on her lips. He stroked through her mane softly. Again came a giggling from his lap as he stopped briefly at the point where her horn should have been.

They spent a few minutes in silence while the play on the stage in front of them continued. Not that it was very exciting. His expectations soon turned out to be correct, and he didn’t seem to be the only one who thought so. Amaryllis was moving a lot, positioning herself in a new spot or fluttering with her wings, clear signs for boredom. “Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to come here?” he whispered quietly into her ear. She could feel as he seemed to castigate himself internally at his poor choice.

“It’s not that.” She sat up a bit and rested her head on his shoulder. “It’s just that it all seemed so emotionless.” Thiemo could understand what she meant. Rosemary threw a bouquet of flowers from her balcony, which the stallion below was supposed to catch. They fell to the ground like a wet sack, and only when Rosemary coughed loudly did the stallion seem to notice the missed cue.

“You know what, you’re right!” Thiemo suddenly stood up, stepped onto the sofa, and put his hands around his mouth. “Boo!” His jeer resounded through the room. The ambient music stopped, the actors froze, and again all eyes in the room were on them. Unlike the first time when they came through the door, this time an elderly stallion in a red suit and with a name tag on his chest rushed over to them.

“Sir, I’ll have to ask you to stop that,” the stallion demanded.

“And I have to beg you to stop that down there! That’s torture! I mean, we’re all here because we want to have nice day with our loved ones. This isn’t helpful!” The mare on the stage grimaced in anger while the stallion awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “But the music was good.” A few instruments sounded in what seemed to be a ‘thank you’.

“Ah yes, a human wouldn’t recognize true art even it was right in front of him!” Rosemary shouted at him.

“Well, I have to agree when it comes to this one.” Confused, Thiemo looked to the left of the room, where Rarity was standing on of the sofas. “But I suppose even someone like him can recognize that this is something I can could only describe as, and pardon the expression, horse apples.” The angry look moved from Thiemo over to Rarity, who was grinning at the human.

“Madam!” shouted the usher indignantly but was drowned out by the cheering audience. The mare on the stage let out a frustrated groan before she stomped off. The stallion looked around blankly for a few seconds before he calmly followed Rosemary.

“Now bring on the music!” Thiemo shouted, and various ponies with instruments actually marched out between the scenery and onto the stage shortly after.

“Sir!” protested the usher again.

“It’s okay.” Both Thiemo and Rarity stepped down from their sofas again. She snuggled against the stallion next to her again, who had to be Estoc without a doubt, while he sat down next to Amaryllis again. Annoyed, the usher stomped off, and Thiemo and Amy took in their old position again, with the head of the princess on his lap.

The rest of the play came and went pleasantly. With closed eyes, they listened to the calm music that the ten ponies would have otherwise created behind the curtains. One of the orchestra members even gave a little speech at the end, thanking them sincerely and emphasizing that this was the biggest applause they had ever received as a reserve band. As they walked out, they saw that the young mare behind the counter had awoken again and searched for the offender with a grim face. Thiemo had to pull himself together to not laugh out loud as he saw her face. In front of the door, they briefly saw Rarity and Estoc, who were still cuddling each other. They quickly nodded at each other before leaving in different directions.

“And what are going to do now?” Amaryllis asked cheerfully while she wandered in a slow trot in front of him over the crystal road.

Thiemo was one step ahead of her – he had asked himself that question five minutes ago. After all, he knew that, after the activity, there was supposed to be dinner, where they were supposed to talk about what had happened during said activity, at least if there was no other subject. There only was the problem that his marefriend didn’t need food, or rather was on a special diet. But it had worked before to lure her with something unknown. “How about something to eat? I was thinking about something exotic, maybe some crystal berry soup?” He had heard a few guests in the pub talking about how the fruits grown in the gardens had their own charm. “Or crystal corn with some butter?” Which he personally preferred.

“Sure, why not.” A wide grin went over his face, though just as Amy had turned up-front again, it was gone. He remembered that he had no idea where any restaurant was located. It was moments like these that he missed the times where he could have just pulled out his phone and asked a well-known major cooperation for the way. For now, Amy was leading him through the town, but at one point she was going to ask him for the way. Stretching his neck a bit, he began to look for a suitable restaurant but with no success. As far as he could see, there were only various stores. A gallery here, a music store there, everything on this street had something to do with art. There was another thing they also had in common: the word ‘closed’ that shimmered in the crystals above the doors. Instead, the lights in some windows above the stores were on, which probably belonged to apartments. As he was looking up, he saw a shadow dash past one window before a second one was jumped after it. He blinked and looked up front, where Amy had arrived at the crossway. She was obviously waiting for him to show the direction

Thiemo sighed and let his shoulders hang. “Did I forget to mention that I have no idea where to find such a restaurant?” Maybe he shouldn’t have acted like he had planned this all. Amy wasn’t stupid and surely had noticed already.

“Why didn’t you just say so?” She rolled her eyes and flapped her wings a few times. Baffled, Thiemo stayed on the ground.

“Oh yeah, they are good for something. Almost forgot that after all the crash landings,” he mumbled to himself.

“I heard that!” came her response from above. Damn ponies with their good hearing. “I see something that looks like a restaurant just down the road.” Amy flew a bit ahead before landing again. After a minute of quietly following the road, Thiemo saw what Amaryllis had labelled as restaurant.

“Are you sure you want to go in there?” Thiemo inspected the crystal that served as a sign: a winking stallion followed by a mare throwing kisses at passersbys. Not that Thiemo had something against going into a singles bar with his marefriend to rub the other visitors’ nose in his luck, but with everything going on these days, this was probably a bad idea. Every visitor in there was probably of the desperate sort. Mares that didn’t care who served as a cork and stallions who would probably mount a porcupine in a heartbeat. Maybe that example was a bit exaggerated, but only this morning was he invited by a random mare.

Amy instead seemed excited. “Sure! Why not? Looks interesting.” Since he knew better than to try and argue the point, Thiemo motioned her to enter while he looked around the exterior. An old poster, a bit to the side, caught his attention. He had to look twice to make sure that he was not misunderstanding it, but yes. These were clearly the silhouettes of two ponies following their most natural instincts. In that moment, his brain was working at double speed. They stood in front of an establishment that was open during a time where everywhere else was closed and because of a more intimate reason. One that was openly advertised here.

Thiemo was so fast that he didn’t remember going through the door. The next thing he noticed after the poster was that he slammed open the door and smashed it so hard against the wall that he squeezed in the bouncer. Amaryllis stood at the bar, in front of her were various drinks, and next to her was just about anything that had a cock. Even a few mares. For Thiemo, it was obvious what they all wanted to do with his marefriend. Some stallions didn’t even seem to be ashamed to just leave it hanging. Amaryllis either didn’t seem to notice, or ignored it while she absorbed the attention. Then Thiemo realized what was going on. He wanted to eat and Amaryllis as well. What he didn’t like was that some stallions were focused on her tail rather than her face. Quickly, he wormed his way through the dark club over to Amaryllis. “Hey! Search something for yourself, ape!” snapped one of the three mares who tried their luck, but he just ignored her.

“Amy, you know what kind of bar that is?” he hissed at her. The others didn’t seem to like that her attention went towards him. Her coy grin was answer enough.

“I uhm… was hungry.” His eyes wandered to her foreleg, where the ring was still placed. “It’s new,” Amy added as she noticed his look.

Thiemo had to suppress the urge to rub his temple. “Why didn’t you just—” A hoof painfully hit him at the shoulder.

“Hey, human, search something for yourself.” A red crystal pony with a yellow mane was the transgressor. “Get lost, I was here first.” The remaining ponies took a step back.

“Keep your hooves to yourself if you don’t want your snout to kiss the back of your head,” Thiemo threatened him with a pointed finger and turned back to Amy. “Come, let’s go.” The next thing that flooded his consciousness was pain as two hooves made contact with his lower back. Thiemo flew a few metres and banged his head against an unused billiard table. The half empty drinks that had stood on the edge spilled over him and then fell to the ground.

“Thiemo!” He heard Amaryllis as she jumped up and was about to rush over to him.

“Forget the ape!” shouted another mare while the stallions growled and howled.

“Okay,” Thiemo moaned as he rubbed his head. He reached for the edge of the billiard table and slowly got back on his legs. A bit of blood dripped from his temple down on the ground, mixed with the remains of the drinks. Amaryllis was being held back by the three mares now.

“Easy there, sweetie. Never interrupt a fight between stallions.” One of them grinned and stroked a hoof over Amaryllis’ chest. She looked over to Thiemo, but he just lightly shook his head.

“Stallions act like school girls and hormone-controlled mares that are eager to see the other gender fight.” Thiemo freed himself from his coat and threw it on the billiard table behind him. Afterwards, he wiped a bit of blood from his forehead. “Almost feels like home.” Three more joined the red crystal pony, everyone with a grim face and slightly shocked. They had probably never seen a human with cutie mark or tail before. The latter had mostly been covered by the coat so far. Without any of them noticing, Thiemo’s hand wandered down and wrapped itself around one of the billiard balls. Then the stallions finally charged at him.

With all the force he could muster, Thiemo threw the ball right into the face of one of the stallions, and even without the speedup of the sapphire, it was enough to bring his attack to a halt. The other three lowered their head to ram them into his stomach, but the human just let himself fall back so that he was lying on the table. The first one had no chance to stop his momentum and slammed into the hardwood just like Thiemo, only without taking the same visible damage. The second one managed to slow down, while the third one jumped on the table. He stood up straight in front of Thiemo, forelegs lifted into the air and ready to go at him again. This would have happened if not for a mare who was thrown against the stallion, slamming him against the wall where he went down to the ground.

A quick look told Thiemo that Amy freed herself out of the grip of the mares. One of her hindlegs was still cocked from the kick she had just delivered. Out of reflex, Thiemo reached for his coat. “We should go.” As much as he would like a brawl, he had already used his only talisman. Plus, he really wanted to go on a date with Amy and didn't spent most of his money on new gemstones like usual. He also hadn’t expected to have to fight here tonight. Perhaps that was his big mistake. Now that he was at it, though, he realized how much he had missed it. At least a bit. Maybe it was just the adrenalin. Still, taking on a whole bar was off the cards.

One of the other mares tried to hold Amaryllis by holding her tail in her mouth, but another kick of his marefriend got rid of this problem as well. “Maybe that’s better.” They turned around and towards the door, where the bouncer was still lying on the ground, busy counting stars.

“Get them!” shouted someone from the small mob behind them as they began to flee.

“Why did you get us into this?” Thiemo asked as he began to run.

“I thought it’d be better than something boring.”

“I wanted you to have a nice evening!”

“What good is a nice evening if you don’t have one?”

“What are you talking about?! You were feeling down, not me. I wanted to see you happy!”

“That won’t happen with these emotions of yours.”

“You could have told me!” Something snapped at Thiemo’s tail and ripped out a few hairs. “Ah!” Directly at his heel were three stallions and a mare, who was giving him a wink now that he looked back. But what was important now was that they soon enough would catch up to him. Amaryllis, who noticed the situation he was in, stepped it up a notch and moved in front of him.

“Mount up!” For a moment he even wanted to do so.

“No can do – you’re too small in this form.” In the same moment, that changed as a green flame engulfed her and her natural form came out again. Without further ado, Thiemo put both hands on her back and let the rest of his body follow. Immediately, she unfolded her wings and flew away from their pursuers. “That was close…”

“But fun.”

“But fun,” she agreed.

The flight itself shouldn’t take long. Amaryllis headed straight for one of the skywalks, which connected the upper floors of two nearby buildings. As her hooves touched the ground, Thiemo carefully stepped off her back and dropped on his rear. “Everything alright?” Amaryllis asked carefully and moved aside some hairs from his face with her snout. “I didn’t fly too fast, did I?”

“No, I’m just feeling a bit dizzy. Maybe a slight concussion.” Instead of a reply, a tongue softly stroked the wound on his forehead. “What…?” His question was interrupted by a hoof that was put on his mouth while Amaryllis continued licking the blood of his forehead.

Calmly, he waited for Amaryllis to finish, and in the corners of his eyes, he watched the skyline of the city. They had spent the entire afternoon in the theatre, so now the sun was quickly approaching the horizon. At least he had learned that this was the case because the sun and the moon were being controlled by living goddesses. Changing his viewing direction confirmed his thought, as the moon was already rising on the other side.

“Done.” Thiemo slowly rose again and put on his coat. Even though there was eternal summer underneath the magical shield, it was still a bit chilly up here. Luckily, there hadn’t been enough fluids to completely wet his coat.

“Thanks Amy, I really appreciate that.” He leaned down to her and gave her a quick kiss. For a moment, he considered. “Maybe I should eat more sugar.” That made Amy smile again. This time, she leaned forward to bring their lips together.

“You smell funny,” she said as they parted again.

“Sweat, blood, and alcohol are like siblings – very hard to get apart.” White light fell into his eyes. The moon had reached its zenith and was about to spend the rest of the night there. “Want to dance?”

“What? Here? Now?” Before she could ask any more questions, Thiemo grabbed her forehooves and put them on his shoulder.

“This is still a date, isn’t it?” For first time in his life, he saw the advantage of having gone to boarding school. He knew the tact of a waltz by heart, as well as the dance steps. He took one of Amaryllis hooves in his hand, put the other one on her back, where the back of her neck transitioned into her back. “Just follow my steps.” And with that, he began to whistle his melody. As often as he had heard the Viennese Waltz, he never thought he’d be having a nice time with it once. But now, with Amy in his arms, while she was slowly moving in the pale moonlight, he noticed how beautiful it could be. Amy was clumsy a bit in the first few minutes, as she wasn’t used to using only two hooves to stand on, but in the end she had figured out the movements.

“A strange dance. From Earth, I presume?” Thiemo just nodded since he was still busy whistling the melody. They continued making their turns and enjoyed their moment in intimate togetherness. It was the opening of window, and the following vase that was thrown out, and the shout of ‘Damn cats, shut up!’ that put their dance to an end.

“That was nice,” Amy whispered.

Thiemo, who held both of her forehooves, now just nodded. They leaned forward and kissed each other again, but this time it didn’t stay as a brief contact of their lips. None of them could say who opened their mouth first as their tongues met and fought about supremacy.

“Get a room, you two, like everypony else!” again shouted an unknown voice.

They slowly parted, both with bright red faces, and sheepishly grinned at each other. “I think we should head back now,” Amaryllis agreed with the stranger.

“Yes, I could use a bath.” By now, even he could smell how bad he stank.

“We have gigantic baths in the castle. We could use them.”

“We, eh?” Oh, that grin on her lips.

The way back to the castle went by mostly quiet. Both Thiemo and Amaryllis rather let their body speak. An inconspicuous touch here, a nudge on her flank there. They both only had eyes for each other. Luckily, the castle could be seen from almost everywhere in the Empire, so Thiemo actually had an idea in which direction he was leading her.

So for them it seemed like no time had been passing by, while they slowly entered the place in front of the castle. The two guards didn’t deign to look at them as they stepped past them and into the hall with the teleporter. They had apparently repaired it by now. The crystal had been removed, and the panel was glowing again. Carefully, Thiemo looked around. “What’s wrong?” Amaryllis asked.

“Well, I had expected Rupie to find us by now.” Actually he had only remembered the stallion now that they entered, but his statement still stood.

This time it was Amy who placed the crystal in the socket which brought them into the private floor of the royal family. “Don’t worry. Cadance likes you for some reason. At least she’s always asking me about you.” Thiemo laughed internally at how Amy had misunderstood the interest. “And my father as well.” Yes, he and her father obviously were peas in a pod. She led him through the hallways and eventually stopped in front of a large, wooden double door. “This is the bath. Feel free to use it.” Thiemo nodded confusedly. He had thought that her invitation to the bath was something like the invitation for ‘coffee’ on Earth. After all, she hadn’t been too subtle with her innuendoes. What he saw in the room, however, washed away his slight disappointment. The bath was gigantic, even bigger than the one they had fled out off in Canterlot. Well, it was not the same size, but aside from that, it was still ahead of anything Thiemo knew. The well-placed crystals under the ceiling aided in giving the room the right ambience. Dim blue light washed over everything in the room, bathing them in an ethereal glow. Water ran down the walls in a seemingly never-ending glow, creating a relaxing atmosphere. The tub itself was more like a small swimming pool. It didn’t quite reach the length of three swimming pools, but either way, it would not be difficult to take a few laps around it. The shampoos and other sanitary products hung in baskets from the ceiling so that a unicorn would have no problem reaching them.

All in all, the ambience more than made up for the lack of a view outside. With a grin on his lips, Thiemo stripped off one piece of clothing after another and placed them into a wicker basket next to the entrance. Just as he stood there in his birthday suit, he quickly tiptoed over the wet floor and carefully lowered a foot into the water. A deep moan escaped his mouth. The water was just right, not too hot, not too cold. Quickly, he crouched down and supported himself against the edge before letting himself sink into the water up to his shoulders. His eyes closed almost on their own as his body loosened up, the tension that he always carried with him drifting aside at least temporarily at this rare treat he was indulging in. He automatically took a few deep breaths and allowed his thoughts to drift. Never had he missed luxury during all his years on Albion up until now. If he was ever going to have his own house, then the bathroom was going to be the most important room, that was for sure.

A quiet splash brought him back into reality. He opened his eyes again and looked around but saw that he was still alone. “Amy?” He turned around at the pool’s edge. Then he let himself sink into the water with a shrug. Just as he had closed his eyes again, lips were pressing against his. So he hadn’t misunderstood the invitation after all.

“Did you miss me?”

“Nah, I’m fine.” A bit of water splashed in his face, and Thiemo began to laugh. “Well, maybe a little.” He softly pulled her head towards him and they continued where they had left off on the skywalk. At the same time, they let themselves sink deeper into the water, step by step.
After minutes of tongue wrestling, it was Amaryllis who pulled him back with a grin, her face flushed and panting slightly. With a wide smile, she turned her back towards him and moved her tail to the side below water. For the human, this was the moment he realized that the warmth between his legs didn’t just come from the water. To add to that, he had poked his marefriend’s chest with it during the past few minutes.

As he was sheepishly taking a few steps into her direction, he noticed a different problem. “I don’t want to kill the mood, but I don’t think this’ll work this way.” Her hips were not at the same height. Amaryllis would have to shrink a few centimetres for it to work.

She seemed to have the same thought, and with a quick spell, she was the white pegasus mare that had accompanied him on his date tonight. However, that wasn’t what he wanted. “No, Amy. Please don’t. Please, no shape shifting.”

She nodded softly and changed back into her original form. “So you want…” He turned her head into his direction and kissed her.

“Oh, you know exactly what I want. And where there’s a will…” Thiemo dived under the water, grabbed his mare with both hands, one at each thigh, and lifted her. By instinct, she put her forelegs around his shoulders like they were dancing as she was now, stomach at stomach, standing on Thiemo’s legs. The glowing of his cutie mark illuminated the dark water as they moved back to the edge. As Amy’s back made contact with it, pushing the both of them even closer together. He felt her black, short coat rubbing on his skin, and he hungrily took in the sultry smile on her face, the quickened breaths that filled his head, and her large eyes staring in his, trusting, anticipating. Again their lips met, even if just briefly.

Amaryllis loosened the grip around his shoulders without warning and slid down on him. Thiemo’s eyes widened as she welcomed him into her body. Sex had been described as the greatest thing, but nothing could describe this feeling. For a moment, he pitied the loser he once was, but then concentrated on the pony in front of him. Just like him, she seemed to be floating on cloud nine as she enjoyed the feeling of their union.

As the shock was over, the heads of the two met again. Carefully, Thiemo began to move his hips while his arms slowly moved Amaryllis up and down. “Oh Amy,” was the only thing that passed through his lips. She instead could only quietly moan at that point. Kissing was no longer really possible with their quicker growing movements, so they rested their heads on the shoulders of each other to be closer. Her breath in his neck only spurred him on faster. It didn’t take long for them, first Amy and Thiemo shortly after, to reach their climaxes. Luckily, every private room of the Alicorn of Love was completely soundproof by a spell.

Out of breath, Thiemo slowly let Amaryllis back to ground after the euphoria was gone from their bodies. “And ponies go without that for almost a year?” she asked him with a satisfied smile.

“No idea…” Thiemo was too tired to think clearly right then. He was completely relaxed and floated motionlessly with his back on the water. Amaryllis was right next to him, her legs quivering ever so often.

“Their loss. But that wasn’t thirty minutes.”

“I never said I was a professional.”

“Then I think we have to practice a bit.”

“I think I’ve fallen in love.” They both laughed.

Author's Notes:

Talking about longer chapters: They're a pain in the ass.
I hope you liked how I wrote out their first time. I maybe will sometimes write out special "get together's" again. Depends if I get away with this one :P

Anyway. I'm hungry for feedback & comments. I would place a tip jar, but... So just write comments and leave a fav and thumb up if you like the story. If you don't for a reason, let me know so I can improve.

Picture done by my friend Tango Sierra
Thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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