Amaryllis remained awake on the big empty bed in her room. The last time she had seen Thiemo was a few hours ago was when he had wanted to discuss something with Cadance. Now the sun had begun to set and he hadn't returned yet. Did something happen?

The princess turned her head away from the window and looked to the door that led into her chamber. With Thiemo, anything was possible. In addition, he had been beaten up pretty badly. She halted that line of thought and blinked in sudden puzzlement. When had she become so worried? It wasn't like he couldn't take care of himself. Surely he could remain missing for a few hours longer without her knowing where he was at that moment. She nodded to herself and smiled… for all of two seconds. She would look for him. After all, he was guilty for putting her in her current dilemma. The entire day he had snuggled with her amorously and got her in the mood, only to not walk the talk afterwards. Hadn’t she waited long enough already? What did a mare have to do to get laid?

Amaryllis had just placed her first hoof on the floor when the doors to her chamber burst open and hit the wall with loud bang. The vase on the dressing table fell on the ground and spread the water and flowers it had previously held on the red carpet. The painting of the Crystal Empire shifted slightly, and she believed she heard a piece of the wall itself fall off.

Far more important was the initiator of everything who now entered the room with a slight wobbly gait. "'Scuse me," Thiemo slurred and kicked the door closed with the same amount of force.

"You’re drunk!" Amaryllis stated the obvious. She didn't even need to smell his breath to know. The glazed eyes, the slurring in his speech, and the wonky attempt to reach the bed from the door were proof enough.

Suddenly the human stopped a meter before her and seemed to ponder. "May lightning hit me! I'm drunk! Ha!" As was usual when the human said something she didn't understand, she merely waited until the explanation. Today it took a bit longer as Thiemo was preoccupied with trying to remain upright. "I never managed that before on Albion. Either I had no money or it was just salt in the soup…"

Finally the human arrived at the bed and fell face-first into the soft mattress. A relieved groan escaped him as his muscles relaxed. Amaryllis could only roll her eyes. Noticeably lacking enthusiasm, she stood up and began to separate the human from his surplus of clothing, starting with his coat and his shirt. She levitated both items to her and caught the smell of the clothing. Alcohol, salt, sweat, and who knew what else blended into a disgusting cocktail of stenches.

Quickly, she levitated the clothing the rest of the way to a hamper sitting before her mirror cabinet. The boots were likewise removed with a quick tug and landed somewhere. Amaryllis looked down on the prone human, now only wearing his pants. His back was lightly marked by the adventures that he had experienced on Albion. There were numerous small scars and prominent bruises where he had been hit today. His back and chest might not be as muscular as a stallion’s, but all in all, it wasn’t too shabby.

It was of no use. Her magic closed around the human's pants and began to pull, but the weird material refused to release him. He slid along with his pants over the bed, which seemingly pulled him out of some drunken thoughts he was entertaining. Slightly confused, Thiemo turned around and sat up. "Oh, it's my pants you want, Princess?" Jerkily, the human stood up and grinned. "Then you shall have it!" he exclaimed with an outstretched hand, pointing with a finger at her.

For a second there was silence, then Thiemo began to hum an unknown song. His hips circled to the music while his hands moved below the pants' hems. Amaryllis, until now slightly confused about his intentions, had a gigantic grin on her lips and sat on the carpet.

The melody he was humming was awful, but with every sway, the pants slipped down further, so she didn't care about it. Finally, the clothing item hit the ground with a clang of his belt and the human stepped out of it. "Tada!" Amaryllis couldn't help but giggle. When she finally looked at Thiemo, she noticed that he stared at her. "I love you," he said somewhat absentmindedly. "Have I ever told you that you are the best that happened to me?" If her grin could still grow, it would be doing that by now. Instead, something else was gaining volume.

Cadance, also somewhat tipsy due to the evening she had spent with the human, decided to look for her sister-in-law before she herself would withdraw into her own family's chamber. Shining and Skyla would surely wait for her, as her little gem would seldom fall to sleep if she hadn't been told at least one story. Not that Shining had tried for himself, but Skyla called the stories of her father always "boring" with a long "o". She could understand her daughter’s feelings since stories from his time in the Royal Guard were surely not the best for a young foal.

"Once, there were we, standing guard at the castle's pond. The whole day!" she repeated with the same enthusiasm of her husband whenever he would tell a story. Unlike her, he didn't break out into laughter afterwards. "Oh Shining. Please never change." What many didn't know about Shining Armor, Prince of Equestria, Prince of the Crystal Empire, Alicorn of Devotion and Captain of the Royal Guard A.D., was that he could be one the biggest knuckleheads she knew. But he was her knucklehead, and she loved him for it.

He could tell Skyla, for example, how he as a student at Canterlot High found the courage in front of the entire school to ask, singing, an assistant professor for a date. Namely her. Of course a conversation with the dean followed, together with his mother, where it was explained that such a relationship would not be tolerated at the school. And what did Celestia do? She only deliberated loudly where she could make cutbacks to save some money in her budget. Not that she would cut the school’s funding, but instead the money she donated privately. In other words, what kept several public institutions running.

When her younger self had posed the question as to where Celestia got her money from, the elder alicorn had grinned before replying, "I opened an account a few thousand years ago. For nearly a thousand years or so, I’ve only been able to withdraw the interest as there aren't enough bits in Equestria for me to cash." Cadance shook her head and smirked as she finally came to a stop in front of Twilight's room. She had left her sister-in-law the same room as when she and her friends had helped free the rediscovered Empire from the sealing spell. Of course, they hadn’t been able to enjoy it much at first, what with the demon who had been attracted to the high concentrate of magic deciding to attack them.

Cadance knocked cautiously and waited a few seconds. "It’s open," called Twilight's voice quietly. The princess opened the door and found the younger alicorn sitting in front of her desk. A roll of parchment and an ink pot were lying on it. The corresponding quill was floating a few centimeters above the desk but didn't move.

How are you, Twilight?" Twilight groaned and placed the quill in the pot.

"I… don’t know. I'm so confused."

Cadance quickly glanced around and spied what she was looking for. A cushion flitted over the ground to her and landed next to Twilight at the desk. "Come on, tell me what’s going on in your head. Maybe I can help you."

Twilight fiddled with her front hooves. Either she was nervous or she needed to go to the bathroom but didn't want to interrupt the lesson. Cadance knew Twilight well, which might have been because of her being Twilight’s foalsitter. "I feel… betrayed?" she finally said. "Deceived? Lied to? I don't know. Why doesn't my mother trust me? Why didn't she explain the history of our race? Don't I have the right to know this? She… She didn’t even tell me about my own brother! Why? Didn’t she care? Doesn't she trust me?"

Cadance gently put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Of course she trusts you. She trusts you even with her own life." Twilight blinked. "When Nightmare Moon returned, where was your mother?"

"Aunt Luna told me that she had banished my mother in the moon."

"And what would have happened if you had not found the Elements together with your friends?" Once more, the younger alicorn blinked.

"All of Albion would have been cast into eternal darkness and she would have been trapped forever in the moon."

"You see, she puts a lot of trust in you, Twilight. She didn't trust you only with her life, but also with everypony else on Albion."

"Why can’t she tell me these things then?"

In fact, Cadance herself had to think about this one. "Well, I am not Celestia, so I can only guess. If I had to say, it was probably to protect you. What use has this knowledge been to you, Twilight? What would it bring aside to mourn for somepony lost whom you’ve never known? She simply didn't want you to suffer the same pain as she does." This Twilight seemed to accept. She slightly lowered her head and murmured something. "I'm sorry, Twilight, you have to speak louder."

"Can I ask you something else?" Cadance nodded and smiled. "Why do you trust Thiemo? Why did Blue Light trust him? I mean, he seems to have given the human a piece of his power. A piece of himself." The monarch bit her lip for a moment. She had just spoken about how Twilight's mother had entrusted the entire world to her daughter, but this was something not intended for the young alicorn.

Quickly, she thought of something. "I trust him because Blue Light did it himself. I knew your brother, Twilight. We were both nearly the same age. We practically grew up together in the castle of Canterlot. We were both inseparable as foals. We horsed around so much that your mother still reminds me of it at times whenever I visit her. But to make it short, I trust Thiemo because Blue Light trusts him."

"Is that all?"

Then something came to Cadance's mind. Her eyes moved around, looking for something special in the sparsely decorated room. Twilight had moved most of her possessions into her own apartment, but she had left something here. Finally, her eyes found what she was looking for, and a solitary framed photo flew slowly to her. "Do you remember this?" Cadance asked and showed Twilight the image.

It showed Spike, a young Spike shortly after he had helped drive off the demon and had been appointed as Sir Spike of the Crystal Empire. Next to Spike stood Ruby, the young dragoness who had awoken through the turmoil in her territory. Back then, they had barely known Ruby, but she had assured Twilight that Spike's first growth stage would be imminent. Of course she hadn’t believed the strange dragon, but in the following weeks, Spike's hunger had grown. He had devoured tons of gems and anything else he could find. Unlike his greed attack, he hadn’t grown vertically but horizontally. Eventually, Twilight had brought him back to the Crystal Empire. "Why did you place Spike into Ruby's care?"

"Well, he liked her and she was also a dragon? Who else would know more about dragons than a dragon herself." Cadance replaced the photo on the table and shook her head.

"No mother entrusts their child to a foreigner."

"I—" Cadance put a hoof on Twilight's mouth, silencing her.

"Who hatched Spike from his egg?"

Cadance removed her hoof for a moment. "Me, but—" And then it returned to its resting place.

"Who took care of him day and night when he was baby?"

"Me, but—" The game was repeated.

"Who was responsible for nearly one hundred percent of his upbringing and education?"

Cautiously, Cadance raised her hoof again. "I'm his mother, aren't I?" Satisfied, Cadance nodded.

"So, why did you entrust Spike to Ruby?"

"I saw in her eyes that she would take care of him."

"And now think about what I observe when I see Thiemo looking at Amaryllis. Or at Auralia. It may seem that no one else is of interest to Thiemo. Maybe it is true, but what I know is that he is willing to fight hard to ensure that nopony would dare to lay a hoof on them. That's why I trust him to do the right thing."

Twilight threw another glance at the photo. Cadence's eyes were also drawn to it and to the other figures in it as well. Behind Spike was Ruby. The slender dragoness had straightened her long neck and peered from the group in the foreground while she lay on all fours in the background. Next to the dragon were for Twilight and Rarity. The rest of her friends were there, as was Cadance with Shining Armor.

"Thanks, Cadance. I needed that."

"Always a pleasure, Twilight. After all, we’re family." With those words, Cadance slowly trotted slowly back to the door leading to the hallway. She turned around a last time and saw that the quill flew over the parchment while Twilight quietly dictated to herself.

Hello Mother,

It’s been a while since I wrote to you. I'm sure you already know that I had set out some friends to capture the human. Unfortunately, I didn't quite succeed in what was probably your goal all along. I wish you would let me in on such things. And not just me, but Shining too. On our short but eventful trip, we made a few discoveries. Why didn’t you ever tell me that I had another brother?”

Closing the door, Cadance ceased her eavesdropping and sighed. The smell of her own breath, full of alcohol and salt, wafted up to her nostrils. It was a wonder that Twilight hadn’t noticed, but it also showed how deeply her sister-in-law fought with her own problems.

"I hope you know what you are doing, Celestia," Cadance murmured and headed for her own chambers where her family awaited her.

Thiemo woke late in the night and needed a few seconds to orient himself. Amaryllis was lying with her back to him, pushing into him. With a hammering headache, he remembered what had happened earlier and grinned. Now, though, he urgently needed a glass of water. Not to merely soothe his dry throat but also to kill the aftertaste of the whiskey. He could definitely taste other things on his tongue as well, but after yesterday's evening, he had no right to complain.

Cautiously, he freed himself from his slumbering marefriend and tiptoed through the room in the direction of the bathroom. On the way, he paused next to his backpack and rummaged through it. "Where is the stupid thing? Ah, there." He pulled an old book from it and continued his way. The light in the bathroom awakened by itself when he entered it and closed the door behind him. Quickly, he grabbed a cup and filled it with the desired fluid. "I needed that," he sighed after emptying the cup in a single gulp. Then he placed the book "How to please your mare" on the edge of the basin and opened it at the place where he had left the bookmark.

He had learned a lot from this book about the mating behaviour of the ponies, even if it was somewhat outdated due to its age of over a thousand years. According to this book, one of the greatest proof of love which a stallion could give to a mare was to provide his seed even if she wasn't in heat. It was supposed to signal to her how much he meant her to him and that it wasn't just a way to sire heirs. Not that Thiemo could make sense out of it, but it had the desired effect. Again, nothing he could complain about.

The opened chapter spoke about foreplay, only that ponies didn’t refer to it as that. They didn't even seem to know the concept. It was only mentioned as the average stallion only could keep up for a few minutes, and this seldom sufficed for the mare to achieve the longed-for climax. It was a little sad when he thought about it.

He browsed through the book until he found the next chapter. Showing Affection So Nopony in Your Herd Feels Excluded was the title. "Nope," Thiemo simply said to himself and skimmed again.

Suddenly the door rattled. "Thiemo? What are you doing in there so long? Come back to bed," Amaryllis voice sounded through the door.

"I just to get a drink. My throat was dry." Quickly, he closed the book and looked for a hiding place. It would probably be very embarrassing to get caught with it.

“I think it’s a miracle you even have any saliva remaining.”

"I think it was worth it, twice." He heard his marefriend giggle as he finally buried the book below some towels. He hurried to the door and opened it. In front of him, the drowsy Amaryllis squinted her eyes when the light of the bathroom hit her. He quickly closed the door once more.

"Get back to bed…" Amaryllis yawned. Leading the way, she crawled below the sheets that urgently needed washing. That could wait until morning. He laid down next to Amy and was about to snuggle against her back when she turned around and returned the favour.

Author's Notes:

I don't know why people seem to hate Nickelback. I happen to like their music. Anyway. Remember that there will be no chapter next week. Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to your comments. (Maybe we even hit 900 likes till next time. A man should be allowed to dream ^^)

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

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