The first sun rays fell through the window into the chamber where the young couple, consisting of Amaryllis and Thiemo, were resting. The latter was sprawled out on the couch since their small dispute was still open, and they still were opponents while the tournament was going on. Said tournament would go into the first round today. Thiemo had not spent the past four days going to the fair in the town with his daughter, eating crystal corn with butter, getting a strange trumpet to annoy the rest of the world, and visiting the various stands. Nope, he had to do stupid training. One would think that that would exhaust you enough, that even if you had an active train of thought like Thiemo, you would instantly fall to sleep. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The whole night he had spent thinking about the information from the data crystal. It was almost strange that he now agreed that the information needed to be locked away.

Getting access to one of the crystal computers had been easier than the human had thought at first. During breakfast on the next day, he had simply gone up to Cadance and asked her. During his lunch break, one of the guards had informed him that a computer had been brought into the quarters of the royal family. Most of the machines were only used in certain areas such as hospitals, archives, libraries, and much to Thiemo’s surprise, also in theatres. It had taken them some years, but the ponies here in the Empire seemed to be able to create holographic plays for entertainment. It was a good way to skip the good old cinema. These plays were then simply projected onto the stage. Their usage in the hospitals was similar, only that the images were of the patients to then dissect them as holograms in order to practice surgery. The computer, which now stood in the study room of Cadance, was a loan from the castle’s archive. Said princess simply never had the need for a private machine.

Unfortunately, magic technology had a big catch – it was all connected to the Empire. These computers used so much magical energy that probably only Twilight would be able to keep on of them running outside of their shield. Well, either her or her mother and aunt. Thiemo was flabbergasted when he found out that all the energy for these machines came from a single magical crystal. The Crystal Heart wasn’t unknown to him, but until yesterday he didn’t believe that all that energy really came from just one source.

But that wasn’t what kept him awake. It was what he had found on the data crystal. Many of the diagrams and data didn’t make any sense, at least to him. But what he did understand was enough to conclude the rest. He had waited so far to talk with Cadance, but now a point had been reached where he just had to. This data seemed to overthrow everything he thought to know about Albion, but in its own strange way, it made sense.

Breakfast was a smaller affair that day. Rarity and Estoc were of course there, simply because the latter was almost stuck to Twilight. Aura sat to her father’s left and munched on her breakfast, looking like she hardly had a care in the world. To his right sat Amaryllis who was also working away at a snack. She really only just had to open her mouth in the Empire and the roasted pigeons would fly into her mouth. The last guest was Applejack, who didn’t leave the side of the foal she was taking care of. At the end of the table sat the royal family consisting of Cadance, Shining Armor, and their younger daughter, Skyla. “So, are you two excited?” Cadance started the conversation as the last butler left the room.

Thiemo and Amaryllis exchanged some quick glances before he wordlessly let her go first. “You bet! I can’t wait to see the arena. Dad…” She looked a bit worriedly over to Shiny, who just quickly nodded. “Dad has told me so much about it. It must be a masterpiece of the magical arts.”

“Indeed it is!” Twilight joined the conversation. “Just look at the complex works at the pillars that created the protective shields and the enchantments that have been built into the walls. It would take decades to study it all and replicate it with today’s methods. If only I had the time—”

“You would be living in a tent in the middle of the arena and we’d have to remove you by force for various events,” Shining Armor ended the sentence with a grin. Twilight glared angrily at her brother while Skyla and Cadance giggled. “I think I remember you trying something like that when we hosted the Equestrian Games.” This time, Rarity and Applejack giggled as well.

“Anyway, I’m really excited. Dad and I have trained hard for the last few days and he said I have a good chance to make it through the preliminaries. I hope that I’m going to make it. I’d love to enter the arena. That must be a great feeling.” Thiemo could only grin. He could very well imagine how it would be to run onto the field while being cheered at by thousands of spectators. Then again, with him being a human, he wasn’t too sure he would garner a positive reaction.

“And what about you, sugarcube?” Applejack asked over Aura’s head. “What do ya think yer chances are?”

“Flash showed me one or two things, but I won’t go into detail here. Not with the opposition at the table.” He turned around to Amy, who stared at him angrily but also with a grin. None of the two wanted to blink first. Thiemo lost as Amy tickled his nose with her long tongue. The two foals at the table rolled their eyes while the rest fell into light laughter. “Well, I think it’ll be okay.” A quick glance over to Cadance, with a slightly quizzical look, was all it took to get the talk that he needed.

“So, what do you want to talk about?” After breakfast, Thiemo followed Cadance through the hallway and into the room where they had first met. They both sat down at the table. “Is it about the tournament?” The princess tilted her head slightly to the side and inspected him quickly. “You aren’t sick, are you?”

“That too,” he said and leaned slightly backwards against his arms. “But I noticed that we have a little problems with the rules.” Cadance motioned at him with a hoof to continue. “As you probably know, I use talismans to cast magic. Flash said that the judges would have to decide whether they count as auxiliaries or not. The second would be my weapon. Auralia still has my staff since I unfortunately can no longer use it without it absorbing my own energy, so that’s why we trained with swords instead. Flash is getting me some for the tournament, but I can only take one. That’s another disadvantage since I’m used to wielding two.” Cadance nodded and thoughtfully stroked her chin before her face suddenly brightened up.

“Well then we’ll have to use some tricks.” That was a sentence he never thought the princess would say. “Don’t look so surprised – every contestant tries to get an advantage where possible. And what kind of sponsor would I be if I didn’t equip my champion with the necessary tools.” She stood up and motioned him to follow her. At first he wanted to protest, as there was a lot more to talk about. Unfortunately, that would have to wait until the fighting was done. Which was probably for the best. “Follow me.” Thiemo did as she said and followed. Just as they entered the hallway, he saw Flash Sentry coming towards him, carrying two swords, this time not wooden ones, on his back. Before he could say anything even touch the weapons, Cadance levitated them aside. “I’ve got something better,” she just commented.

The princess led them two floors down the staircases and through a long hallway before they finally came to a halt in front of a thick steel door. “The old weapon’s chamber?” Flash asked curiously. “I thought we were storing everything in the basement now.”

“Oh, we do. At least almost everything.” Again the princess grinned in her special way. At first Thiemo thought it was because something was going as she intended, but by now he just thought of it as what was the most likely case: a grin that just said that the cheeky voice in the back of her head had won. Thiemo knew that very well, for it was the same voice that often made his tongue go faster than his brain. With a quick flash of her horn, a panel in the iron door opened, behind which was a pad with various crystals. Cadance placed her hoof on it before slightly moving it in different directions. It was similar to when a human unlocked his phone with a finger, or at least that was the only comparison that came to Thiemo’s mind. With a hiss, a hidden lock in the walls opened, and the heavy door swung open inwards. “After you,” invited the princess.

Flash was the first to set a hoof in the darkness of the room in front of them, followed closely by Thiemo. “Too bad that your name doesn’t end in Light, then we could at least see something in here.” While the pegasus remained silent, Thiemo could hear Cadance behind him trying not to burst out into laughter. “Okaaay? It wasn’t that funny.”

His words didn’t seem to stop Cadance’s small laughing fit. At least she showed some mercy, and with a quick push against something on the wall, the crystals underneath the ceiling came to life and bathed the room in light. Various vitrines stood around, each containing something different. To his left, Thiemo saw something that could be a red, splintered crystal that had a sharp point and looked like a crooked triangle. Even through the shield of the vitrine, maintained by multiple crystals, he felt the magical energy it emitted. He had never felt anything like that, and it almost turned his stomach. Taking a step back, he looked over to Flash, whose eyes were stuck on a certain object. It was a picture, a large picture that looked like it had been drawn with simple oil paint. That couldn’t be since the picture had a three-dimensional effect. Thiemo stepped closer to the painting. As his position changed, so did what he could see. It was as if it weren’t a flat painting, but a room he could look into. To be see was the Crystal Empire, or something that looked a lot like it. After all, he hadn’t seen it from above. The snow around it was missing, and the flora around the shield that protected the city seemed so alien. “A friend made that a long time ago,” Cadance explained, still giggling a bit. “It is beautiful, isn’t it?”

Both Flash and Thiemo nodded as they continued to inspect the picture. “Why is it locked in here?” asked the human curiously as he checked to see if the painting really was flat.

“It doesn’t belong to us. It is property of Princess Luna. She gave it to us and wished it to be locked away. And I have to agree in that regard.” Thiemo wanted to ask why, but Cadance had already moved on. “Come over here.” She nodded at the two. She led them further into the middle of the round room where three vitrines marked the middle point. However, all except one were empty. This last one Cadance opened with a bit of magic, took out the small gem stone in it, and placed it in Thiemo’s hand. “I think this should be the solution to your problems.”

He inspected the stone closely. It was a rhodolite, something he hadn’t seen on Albion so far. The bright pink colour was typical for this sort of gems. It also emitted a strong magical presence, like it was overloaded. At the same time, it was different – he just couldn’t say how. “A charged gemstone? Should I make an amulet out of it?”

The princess shook her head while Flash stepped closer to inspect the stone as well. His nose was so close that he almost touched it. “This is not a simple gem. It is a masterpiece of arcane blacksmithing. And it is a gift from me to you.” Thiemo turned the stone in his fingers. “Just direct a bit of magic into it and you will see what it can do.” He eyed the princess. The only thing that would probably happen if he were to fuel more magic in this stone was that the magic that already resided in it would explode.

Cadance prompted him again with a nod and he gave in. After all, she seemed to want him to win the tournament, just as he did. “It’ll be on your head.” Thiemo closed his eyes and concentrated, taking a deep breath. Now that it no longer hurt to direct magic through his body, he could almost get used to it. It felt like the first warm beams of water from the shower that ran over your skin, only that it was inside the body. Internally, he reached out with this feeling out for the gem in his hand and opened his eyes as the stone suddenly began to move.

The rhodolite glowed and shook as it changed its colour to a bright blue. Then, basically out of the thin air, it slightly changed form and more gem splinters that also appeared out of nothing and appended to the gem in his hand. In there was no longer an ordinary stone, but the hilt of a sword, ornamented with a knuckle bow to protect his hand from blows. There was no real guard, and only a bit of ornaments offered protection at the fork. The fork was the point where the sword split in two blades so that there was no fuller.

Furthermore, the single splinters that formed seemed to be held together by pure magic. With his magic, he realized. Still, it had a tremendous advantage, as it basically weighed nothing. “Every Crystal Guard used to carry such weapons, but today they are reserved for the higher officers. The special thing about them is that they remember the magical aura of their owner so that only he can use it. Furthermore, they use your passive magical reserves once activated. That means that even an earth pony can use them,” Cadance explained. And she was right; Thiemo wasn’t that much different than in earth pony in that regard.

“It is a beautiful weapon, but how is it going to solve the two weapon problem?” As he spoke, some splinters detached from the magical swords and reformed in his other hand. It was like they were separated at the fork. Both blades were now shorter, but he was holding two swords in his hand. “Okay, this is officially the coolest thing I’ve seen on Albion so far. And I really get to keep it?”

“Sure. To finish the imprint, you just have to give the weapon a name.” The single splinters gathered again and the rhodolite returned into its former state, the blue glow dying as well. Thiemo held the stone against the light from one of the crystals underneath the ceiling and grinned.

“Legion,” he simply said. An idea shot through his mind as to what he could do with this little wonder in his hand, especially as to when to use it. It was too good of a secret weapon to just go into the field with it right away. “Flash, I’ll also take your swords. I’m about to be brilliant!” And with that call, he ran out of the room.

Applejack still had moments where she still couldn’t believe it. How could the little filly, who excitedly ran around the legs of the human in front of her, be her daughter? A look to her side, past Rainbow and over to Twilight, was the most natural reaction of the farmer. Her friend could always explain things so well. Said friend was busy spewing words at her brother, who in return was watching his daughter next to the human.

She had thought about this question since she began her journey, and she hated herself for it. What was her role? In the end, they were a family no matter what, and she would care for the filly. Did it really matter if she was an aunt or mother? She and Big Mac had raised Apple Bloom after all, and they were still just her older siblings. Twilight had raised Spike, who she wasn’t even related to, and the two saw each other as family nevertheless. Who was she to doubt what this innocent filly saw in her. She was family, and that was all Applejack needed to know. Unfortunately, there was still that nagging voice in her head that whispered something differently. Why did Twilight’s spell say that the human was her father? Why was she the mother? It just didn’t make any sense!

“Now this is what I call a stage!” The surprised exclamation of the human in front of her broke Applejack out of her thoughts. In front of them was the enormous arena of the Crystal Empire. For her and the others, it wasn’t the first time that they was seeing this tremendous construct out of crystals. After all, this was where the Equestrian Games had been played. It was also the place where, during their first visit, Rainbow and Fluttershy had put on a staged fight. “You don’t have anything comparable to ancient Rome by any chance, do you? This thing could almost be an exact copy. Well, aside from the large pillars with the floating crystals above the stands.” Quizzically, Thiemo looked around, but no one seemed to have an answer. “Forget it, this way I can save me the Italy trip. Come on! Allons-y!” Applejack looked down to Auralia, who was looking at her as well, and rolled her eyes as she shook her head. The human had meanwhile disappeared in the entrance to the arena.

“Is he often like that?” Shining Armor asked his daughter, who of course just nodded.

“In his defence, he isn’t really from around here,” she added. “But sometimes it can be really funny, at least if you try a bit to understand it.” Applejack raised a brow. “What? We spent some time together. At some point, a lot of it made sense.”

“Then you wouldn’t mind translating, right?” Amaryllis thought about it for a while as Rainbow tapped with a hoof on the ground while she waited for her answer.

“No clue,” she answered after a few seconds. “I mean, I don’t understand the language perfectly yet.” With a groan, the group began moving again. Since the preliminaries excluded the public, it wasn’t very crowded. Applejack risked a glance or two at the possible opponents for her companions, something that Amaryllis should probably do as well, because just like her coltfriend, her eyes were focused rather on the architecture. Shining Armor instead was even more on lookout.

“Please stay in your disguise for now,” he whispered to her, and the changeling nodded absently. “Twilight, you should go over to the tribunes. I’m going to the registration table with Amaryllis.”

“Sure, come on, Rainbow.” The two parted from the small group so that only Applejack stayed behind with Auralia. “Applejack?”

“One moment!” She looked around. “Auralia? Sugarcube?” Or maybe just her. “Darn. Slippery as a snake.”

Thiemo was gasping for air as he reached the counter. “O-One moment,” he said to the pony who gave him a confused look. “Good, now I’ve got some air in my lungs again.”

“Morning, sir, are you here to register?” the stallion asked and inspected him briefly. “Excuse me, but you don’t really look like a fighter.”

“Yes, yes, everything’s fine, my dear chap.” The red crystal pony seemed slightly puzzled about his informal behaviour and took a step back. “One registration form please.” The stallion nodded slowly and reached with his mouth for a form over the counter.

“Fill that out please and then give it back here.” With a grin, Thiemo grabbed the paper, the quills, and the ink jar before he went over to one of the low bar tables nearby. Now that he had a form in his hands, the others around him began to look at him. Griffons, diamond dogs, ponies of every kind, something that could only be a hippogriff, and even a few humans. A rather mixed bunch, but there was no sign of Zarni and Zende, or Deerling and her fiancé, Entlas.

Thiemo was about to write, but something at his right leg demanded his attention. “Dad, can I compete as well?” Thiemo blinked for a few times, but before he could answer, Applejack came through the crowd of contestants.

“There you are! Come on, the others are already waitin’ in the stands.”

“But mom, I want to compete as well!” Thiemo again had to blink a few times. Mom? Since when did she start calling Applejack ‘mom’? “If dad can compete, I want to do it too. After all, I’m stronger than him and I even have his weapon.” Proudly, she raised her right hoof where Protes was still wrapped around.

“No can do! A tournament is no place for a filly. We can watch it all from the stands.” Aura caved in and let her head hang.

“And why not?” Thiemo asked. Immediately, the ears of his daughter perked up again, causing him to grin. “I mean, she is stronger than me.” Applejack looked at him as though he was joking with her. “And everything’s dulled for safety as well. She can’t really get hurt.” Applejack’s look grew darker.

“We’re her parents and shouldn’t encourage her to fight.”

“It’s rather a sport than a fight with all the frills, don’t you think? Nothing other than fencing, relay racing, or maybe… a rodeo?” It was a shot in the dark with the last example, but for Thiemo it was worth a shot. And it seemed that it was a bull’s eye, at least judging by how Applejack slightly averted her eyes. “But I have an idea. How about if she beat me in hoof wrestling? Would that be proof enough?”

The farmer seemed to consider it before a bright grin appeared on her lips. “Deal, but Ah’m choosing the opponent.” Thiemo nodded while Aura jumped around happily. “Wait here a sec.” She disappeared into the crowd. Thiemo saw that Shining Armor and Amaryllis stood at the table next to him. Both were leaning over the paper while the crowd was whispering behind their backs. Amaryllis suddenly looked up, smiled, waved, reconsidered, and then threw an angry look at him before her father said something to her. Yes, he was looking forward to the tournament.

“Thiemo,” he heard Applejack saying behind him, “this is Snowflake.” He turned around, only to wipe spit out of his face as the most ripped pegasus he had ever seen shouted at him. “If Auralia beats him, she may compete.” That she was already seeing herself as winner was obvious.

“Really?! I only have to beat him?” Snowflake looked down at Auralia, then whispered something in Applejack’s ear. She just nodded a few times before the large white stallion snorted and quickly flapped his short wings while he stared at the filly in front of him.

“Well then, let’s get this over with.” Thiemo pulled the bar table between them and lifted Aura into the air so that she could put a hoof on it. Snowflake did the same, and the arms of the two ponies crossed. “Well then, only one hoof allowed, one round. On three.” Both opponents tensed up. “Three!”

It only lasted for a split second. Auralia put as much force as she could in her first push that she didn’t just turn Snowflake’s foreleg but his entire body as well. The pegasus landed with a thud on the crystal floor of the arena’s entrance area. Multiple spectators, who had stopped to watch the show, were flabbergasted, just like Applejack.

“So, I can compete now or what?”

Author's Notes:

Never mess with Auralia. Seriously.
I know his official name is "Bulk Biceps" but I like "Snowflake" more. It somehow suits him. He left to train after that, just that you know. I mean, a filly just beat him. But I think you know that there is more to Auralia than the naked eye can see.

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

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