Thiemo stood in front of the large mirror in Amaryllis’ apartment that was located in the castle of the Crystal Empire. His attire didn’t consist of just his worn out blue jeans that was covered in more stains than the bed sheets of some teenagers, the tall pair of boots that Rarity had made for him, which could only be labelled as an air pollutant by now, the sleeveless white shirt (also a gift from Rarity), and his orange coat that was on the bed, having been brought to its limits during last night with his marefriend.

Instead, he now wore the new suit that Fine Cut had made for him. The dark red shirt felt like silk on his skin. The suit fitted perfectly – not too short and not too long, but was just right. The pants were wide so that his private parts couldn’t be seen through the soft cloth, but not so wide that they destroyed the concept. More importantly, however, they didn’t chafe him. To complete the outfit, Fine Cut had also given him a pair of shoes. They were simple black shoes, held together by laces and reaching up over his ankles, or rather just a sole with two rags at it which were then tied at his feet. They were almost like sandals, as his toes were exposed. Not that it would matter in the warm Empire.

Careful not to wrinkle it, he tucked the shirt into the pants and turned around one last time to make sure that his tail completely went through the opening and no single streaks were standing out. Finally, he reached for the black tie that was hanging over the bed post and began to tie a knot, something he used to do every morning when he still went to school. Even after all these years, the hand movements were still in his bones, and a few minutes later, the tie was hanging around his neck. “If I weren’t a xenophile, I’d do me,” he said to his mirror image. He put the hands in the pockets of the suit and began to spin in front of the mirror.

“Looks like someone is really fond of himself,” Amaryllis voice came from the next room. Just as Thiemo turned to the direction of her voice, she returned to the main room. “How do I look?” For the first few seconds, he fought the tears, and as cliché as it sounded, she truly took his breath away. She had already been in that room next door when he came here that morning after breakfast, which she had already enjoyed in bed. Therefore, Thiemo hadn’t seen what the mares in the royal saloon had done with her.

For a start, there was her mane which, instead of smoothly running down her body as usual, was now curly and sleek. With every slight movement of her head, the single streaks bounced like springs. Her usual sharp and crooked horn had met a file. Unnecessary horn had been abraded and left it looking simply elegant. Instead of a round base, as normal unicorns had it, it was rather oval and pointy. It quickly became thinner and more ornamental, but without looking fragile. Never had the human thought that a horn could do so much, but it gave her whole appearance a certain flair of danger. It was like he felt for the first time that she was the hunter and he, the prey, was trapped in her snare.

Around her neck, she wore one of those thick necklaces that Luna and Celestia had. Hers was made of a bright blue crystal, and instead of a gemstone, it had an engraving on it. A heart, the Crystal Heart as Thiemo noticed, with two insect-like wings going off from the side and the according horn on the top. The dress, which went over into the necklace, was of the same colour and laid tightly around her back and side, only interrupted by some holes for her wings. Fine, white strings were formed into twirls around her chest and stomach. The highlight was the long hem, again made of that bright blue crystal the necklace was made of, only that it was now made out of a myriad of tiny pieces. They were weaved together by invisible strings, making it look like magic made them conceal her flanks and hind legs.

With a wide grin on her face, Amaryllis slowly spun around to present the rest of her to him. To mask the hole for her tail, something Thiemo didn’t have to worry about since the suit was covering the base of his tail, she had coiled a simple, also blue to stay true to the design, silk braid. The single, curly streaks of her tail wound through it, which were also moving at every movement of her well accented flanks. To put it simple, she was a lightshow of violet, black, and bright blue.

“You look beautiful,” Thiemo managed to whisper with what little air that still remained in his lungs. He had completely forgotten to take a breath.

With a lustful look, Amaryllis slowly sashayed over to him and stroked with one of her will-trimmed hooves slowly over his suit, from the neck, across the shoulders, and down to his stomach. And a bit lower. “You don’t look too bad yourself.” They both leaned forward a bit so that their lips could better meet.

Just as Thiemo was playing with the thought of ruining the work of the entire morning by throwing his marefriend on the bad and satisfying his lust, the door to the apartment opened. “I hope I am not interrupting?” Cadance asked with a smile on her lips that said more than clearly that she knew what she would find in the room.

From a dark dungeon to one of the most luxurious suites that Thiemo had ever seen – he had really come a long way. Amaryllis sat opposite to him along with Cadance and Shining Armor. Next to them were Skyla and Auralia. When or how Cadance had found the time to let a dress be made for his daughter was a mystery to him. The filly was wearing an adorable purple assemble made out of ribbons, frills, and bows which held the cloth at her body. It was something that overprotective mothers would make for their five-year-olds when they brought their daughters to play in the park.

She hated it.

And Thiemo couldn’t hold it against her.

Her dismay was blatantly stamped on her face as she sullenly stared at the one who brought it onto her. In contrast, Skyla, who was wearing almost the same dress except it being the same shade of blue as Amaryllis’, loved the dress and the fact that it was the same as the one of her new friend, plus the fact that it had the same colour as that of her sister. The little alicorn had been jumping around them in joy for the first five minutes from the way from the castle to the chariot. Now she was looking out of the window and waving at the passers-bys who were surely also on the way to the stadium. Basically every citizen of the Empire wanted to be there for this event, and the ones who couldn’t buy a ticket would make themselves comfortable on blankets on the grass outside and watch the projections from the pillars with magical crystals that were placed around the stadium. They were the same that were used to place the protective spell over the arena to avoid serious injuries.

As Thiemo eyed his sullen daughter, he had to think about yesterday. He had inspected the earthen pillar and could not figure out how she had done it. There was just as much magic in them as in the rest of the ground around it. There was also no indication of any spell being used to manipulate the ground. How could it even be done? The barrier around the combat fields made it impossible for any outsider to intervene in the fight. Eventually, he had lowered it back into the ground with the help of an ember so that the remaining fights could go on without disturbance. No, much to his dismay, he didn’t have a clue. He had also decided to not tell her about the injury to the griffon. It wouldn’t change anything about her not making it into the finals.

“Why do I have to wear this piece of—?” Aura suddenly decided to complain as she again stepped on the hem of her dress, but stopped as she saw Shining Armor’s look, the prince knowing exactly what she wanted to say.

Cadance, who was playing innocent about the dismay of the filly, giggled. “Well, if you want to sit on the royal stands, you need to wear the proper attire.” This had been a surprise for Thiemo as well, as he had thought he would sit in the lower ranks with all the other spectators. Now, in some ways, he had been lifted onto a pedestal. Still, it wouldn’t be him who would be the one most nervous. Cadance would also announce the existence of Amaryllis today.

However, the princess in question was just calmly sitting there and staring out of the window as well. “Everything alright, Amy?” Thiemo broached carefully. She didn’t react. “Amy?” he tried again with a bit more emphasis. Slightly startled, she jerked her head into his direction. It was funny that both sisters were busy with the windows, each in their own way. But Thiemo could see much of Amaryllis in Skyla. He remembered when they had roamed the streets of Fillydelphia. Back then, his marefriend was similarly excited as the still-waving filly. “Everything okay?” The human noticed that Shining Armor had begun to follow their conversation. Ponies with their swivelling ears weren’t exactly subtle when it came to that.

“Yes, it’s just… I’m thinking about how the ponies will react. I don’t know if you noticed it yesterday, but after my last fight… I felt their disgust. I didn’t worry much about it – if anything, it just made me want to provoke them even more. But that was just diamond dogs and griffons, only a few ponies. Today is different. Half, if not all of the Empire, will see me today. What if they don’t like me too?”

Thiemo saw Cadance turning towards her, probably about to say something, but his mouth was quicker. “Then screw them.” Maybe not the best choice of word, as Shining Armor shot him a look that clearly said that he wanted to throw him out of the window of the chariot right then. Understandable – he didn’t want his foal to learn such words. But Skyla was with her head more on the outside than the inside anyway, still waving at the crowd.

“Who cares about what they think? You can’t please everyone, but if someone hates you just for what you are, then they’re wrong. I would know.” With that, he wasn’t even just talking about his time on Albion. “The history of mankind is basically full of that. We have killed, enslaved, and oppressed our own kind because of their skin colour or choice of religion. And I strongly doubt this has changed in the few years that I’ve been gone. There once was a man who managed to bring his wrong belief that it was right to treat others as lesser creatures because they are different onto a whole nation. Of course, not everyone was stupid enough to follow him, but many did so. So many that no one dared to stand against them, and the rest was so frightened that they didn’t do anything to not get into the focus of that group.” Horror, that was term that suited the expression on the faces of Cadance, Shining Armor, and Amaryllis the best. “So if anyone ever blames you for who you are, they should scram. Or else they will have to deal with me.” Thiemo had kept a straight face throughout his story, but now his face relaxed. “Like I said, I have experience in being treated differently because you are different. Things you couldn’t do anything about,” he added and looked over to Shining Armor. “And I will make sure that this will never happen to either you or Aura.

A smile slowly found its way on his marefriend’s face, but it was Cadance who softly laid a hoof on his knee. “Thank you for keeping your promise.” He didn’t know what she was talking about at first, but then Thiemo remembered the conversation they had during his first day here in the Empire. She had asked him to be there for Amy. Not that he had needed to make a promise. Now his thoughts circled around the offer Eris had made to him and let the words he had just said sound so much hollower, so hypocritical.

“We ponies have had such a time as well.” Apparently Shining Armor had found his voice. “Surely you have heard the story behind Hearth Warming, right?” Thiemo nodded. “Maybe… Maybe we are not so different after all.”

Something else Thiemo had never thought he would be doing in his life was to walk down a red carpet. Well, that was exactly what he had just done. From all sides, phosphor flashed, questions were shouted in his general direction, and various ponies tried to get autographs from Cadance and Shining Armor.

Of course, there also were questions as to why there was a changeling princess in the royal attire of the Empire and who exactly was that human at her side. Luckily, the foals were spared from most of it. Auralia had hidden between the legs of her mother during all this fuss, just like Skyla.

Of course, the reporters didn’t get an answer, not that Thiemo had any idea on how to even answer one of the questions. He was more than happy when they entered the stadium, using the swath that the crystal guard had made for them, and went up the stairs to the private area. “Oof, that took a lot out of me.” And with that, Thiemo dropped down on the seat where a card with his name on it was placed. “I’ve ran across two continents, but even marching for days wasn’t as exhausting as this.”

Only Cadance, who was elegantly lying down on the largest chair, responded with a giggle. Shining Armor and Skyla took seats to her left and right that were just as elegant as hers. “You are here in the public in the presence of a princess,” Rarity hissed into his ear.

He had almost forgotten the rest of their little group during the paparazzi ordeal. Twilight and her friends had taken an extra chariot and were behind them all the time. Now they sat down like him in the row in front of Cadance. Of course, the designer had made sure that they were also dressed in the finest gowns, but in Thiemo’s honest and totally not subjective opinion, none of them could hope to match Amaryllis. Not even by a landslide.

His marefriend sat to his right and looked from one stand to the next where thousands of ponies, diamond dogs, griffons, and many other species sat to watch the ceremony. Without saying a word, he took her hoof into his hand and just held it. A gasp went through the crowd, and for a moment, Thiemo thought that the event was starting, but that wasn’t the case. Ponies from the crowd were pointing towards the sky, and he quickly followed their hooves. Two gigantic dragons were quickly approaching the stadium. They flew around in a few circles and spat out green and red flames before they started to descend.

With a thud, they landed in the dusty arena, with their heads at eye level with the tribune where Thiemo and Amaryllis were sitting. The dragons bowed slightly. “My princess,” Spike said in a quiet, formal tone. That meant for his size that he could be heard clearly in the whole stadium. “We ask to be allowed to spectate the games again this year.”

Thiemo looked back to Cadance, who was still lying on her chair. The Empress of the Crystal Empire just nodded, whereupon Spike and Ruby bowed again before lifting themselves and plenty of dust into the air. The two dragons flew a few more circles over the stadium before they eventually settled down on the outer walls like two oversized birds. Thiemo had noticed during that scene that not a single crystal pony had batted an eye. The ones he had seen had rather been smiling when they saw the dragons approaching. “If they aren’t afraid of gigantic lizards that feast of gemstones and could eat their houses in a single bite, I doubt they will be afraid of you,” Thiemo whispered into Amaryllis’ ear.

After what felt like an eternity, the time had come. A single crystal pony in a very dapper suit entered the stage and went to the middle. He pulled something out of his pocket, whereupon the sky darkened. Her mouth slightly ajar, Amaryllis watched as the magical field around the stadium became visible and the sun be blocked out. At the same moment, the crystals that created the field also began to project what was happening to the outside for the spectators on the grass.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, friends from all around the world, let me welcome you to this years’ Hearts and Hooves tournament!” the voice of the stallion sounded through the arena. Immediate cheers were the response. The announcer waited until the crowd calmed down a bit. “But before we start with the opening ceremony, her Highness, Princess Cadance, has asked me to allow her to say a few words.” Amaryllis saw the flash of light in the corners of his eyes and another appearing in the same moment next to the stallion. Her mother had teleported down to him. Unlike her, she had decided to only wear her necklace to this event. However, that didn’t take away from her elegance as she quietly thanked the stallion and took over what had to be a communication crystal to transmit her voice.

“Thank you, Loudmouth,” she said into the crystal. “I also want to welcome every single one of you today,” she spoke in her typical warm voice. She had to wait as well for the cheering to die down. “I am here today to tell you a story. The story of a mare who thought she had everything in life. She was relatively young, a bit naïve, and engaged to the sweetest stallion she could have ever wished for. And as the day of her wedding came closer, she thought nothing in this world could do her anything.” With growing apprehension, Amaryllis recognized the story that Cadance was telling: her own.

“Never in her life could she have been more wrong.” The stadium went almost unnaturally quiet. “A week before her wedding, she found herself in a cave she had never seen before, trapped in the darkness without knowing how she got there. Minutes, hours, days past without knowing why she had deserved that fate. Sleep was not granted to her, fear dominated her thoughts to the point of desperation.” Cadance took a deep breath. “Only then did the face that stood behind her imprisonment showed itself: her own. Quickly she recognized that it was hers, but at the same time not. What stood opposed to her was so full of hate, hate and hunger, it could not be her. It began to tell her what it had taken from her, what she was going to take from her, and how nopony would ever miss her. That she would stay alone down there for the rest of her life.”

“The mare did not want to believe. She did not believe that something could be so cruel.” Tears ran down Amaryllis’ cheeks. She knew what her mother had done to Cadance but never had she heard her side of the story, how it had been for her deep down in the caves underneath Canterlot. “With her remaining power, she tried to fight, but she was too weak. She collapsed in endless desperation and grief as the monster left with a laugh, her laugh.” Cadance paused. “I do not think that I need to tell you the name of that mare, as she is standing in front of you today! With her head held high!” Cheering. “With pride!” The cheering got louder. “And stronger than ever before!” Not just ponies but also griffons and diamond dogs joined in the thunderous applause for the princess.

“The mare realized that she had to learn how to fight, not for her own sake, but to protect her loved ones so that this could never happen again.” Cadance turned towards the tribune where the fighters were sitting in the first row. “So remember, you brave champions! When you go into combat, you are not fighting for yourself, but for those that you want to protect!” The fourteen contestants stood and joined the cheering of the crowd.

“But this is not the end of my story,” Cadance continued, her voice steady. “That monster named so many things that she would take from her. Her loved ones. Her family, her subjects, her kingdom. Every of those things were like a dagger in the heart of that mare. Every one hurt more than the last. But the worst thing she threatened to take were her children.” Every muscle in Amaryllis’ body tensed. “That was the only thing that kept the mare awake during the long nights, not knowing if the monster had taken something that would have been hers. That was until one day when she received a letter that made her nightmare come true, but at the same time filled her with the greatest joy she had ever felt in her life. Yes, that monster had taken one of her daughters, but this young creature was on a quest for her origin, for her father, and for the place she belonged to.” The horn of Cadance glowed, and Amaryllis felt the magic of her mother engulfing her. In the next moment, she no longer felt Thiemo’s hand holding her hoof, instead standing in the middle of the stadium next to Cadance. Every muscle turned to stone, and she had to fight the urge to try shifting into a grain of sand.

“I, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of Love, proudly presents to you my long-lost daughter. May I present to you Princess Amaryllis, Princess of Emotions!” She could not think, much less muster a breath. She almost felt every single eye that was on her. Thousands, thousands upon thousands of eyes. She wanted to do like Skyla and crawl underneath Cadance’s legs. Then it began. A few at first, then quickly spreading out like a wildfire. Applause and cheers. Everywhere around her. Everywhere she looked, she saw respect that was shown to her.

Softly, a wing of her mother lay over her back and turned her attention towards her. In front of her floated the crystal that she had just spoke through and slowly it came over to her. She wanted her to say something, but by no stretch of imagination did she know what. “Thank you…” It was barely anything more than a forced whisper that left her lips. “Thank you,” she tried again, but it wasn’t meant to be. Her mother hugged her.

“Welcome home,” she whispered into her ear again.

Amaryllis was still in complete turmoil when she teleported back onto the tribune with Cadance. Thiemo immediately rushed over to her so that she could lean against him.

The announcer had meanwhile taken over his job again, but the human ignored him. He softly reached with an arm underneath Amaryllis’ foreleg. Just as they went to return to their seat, she stopped. Without saying a word, she turned to Cadance and embraced her again. “I am so sorry,” Thiemo heard his marefriend say over and over again.

“Hey,” Cadance interrupted the sad tirade. “I’ve already told you that none of that was or is your fault.” Cadance buried her face in Amy’s mane and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “And now sit back down; the show is about to start.” Amaryllis nodded and staggered back towards Thiemo, who led her to her seat.

Twilight and the others looked at each other, slightly worried as well, but smiled when the young princess looked into their direction. Carefully, Thiemo helped Amaryllis to sit down before he sat next to her. “Everything alright? Do you need anything?” he asked, whereupon she leaned against his shoulder.

“I have never felt anything like that. All these ponies. So much positive emotions.” She looked into his eyes. “And all for me…”

Thiemo smiled at her. “I told you that everything would be fine.”

“But do you know what the most remarkable thing of all was?” He softly shook his head. “I could feel you out of all of them.” Cheering interrupted them and they looked back to the stage. The announcer was on his way out, and something that was coming from the borders began to coat the sand of the arena. Amazed, they watched how the thick liquid covered the ground over the arena and began to sparkle.

That’s… liquid crystals,” Thiemo eventually stated, but then the next wonder happened. It began to rain. Fine drops, coming out of the dark force field, fell down onto congealed crystal liquid. Every drop created a quiet tone, which he shouldn’t have been able to hear up here, but that was overcome by their sheer amount. And not a single drop fell on a spectator.

As quickly as the rain came, it died down again and only allowed a thin water film on the ground. “I present to you, Jewel Note,” the voice of the announcer said again.

A single flash of light illuminated a spot in the arena. In it stood an orchid-coloured crystal pony with pink mane and wore a tight leotard. She waved at the crowd before she pushed herself off the ground with her right hoof. Just as though she was wearing ice skates, she basically flew over the ground until she reached the middle, a continuous note being played all the while.

Then she began to move in small skips across the field. At every jump, a note was played, different than the last, but every one was recognisable as something akin to a water drop that hit a crystal. Every time she landed, a wave of light pulsed from the ground.

She spun on the spot with a grace that Thiemo had never seen in a pony before. One colour shot out after the other and traversed the ground, bathing the stadium in a prismatic sea of light.

A choir then kicked in as Jewel Node slid over the whole area of the arena. Her hooves left behind colourful trails in the crystal. She began to spin, bracing herself with a forehoof, just to spin again before going to all fours. From above, where Thiemo and Amaryllis sat, it looked like she was dragging the colours into the air with her hooves, colouring the air while creating sounds.

Eventually, the performance reached its climax. The voice of the choir grew louder. Accompanied by the rhythm of trampling hooves, Jewel began to spin even faster than before, building up a spiral of colour. At first they both thought it was an illusion, but then the spiral began to bend outwards and touch the tribunes, along with Thiemo and Amaryllis. Like silk, the colour wrapped around them.

Jewel decreased her momentum and made a few small jumps. The long lines of colour began to dissolve into bright sparks that headed towards the darkened sky and remained there for a moment, like millions of stars, before they went out. At that point, no one was looking at the stage when the dancer left it.

Author's Notes:

Another day, another time. Another flame that burns divine. Another word, another thought. Another sin, another hope, another reason to awake and live this life...

I freaking love music. Can't say that often enough. I think this is the first time ever I linked to a video. Thats only the song that I imagined to play to her dance. I first wanted this chapter to be much, much longer, but I decided against it. I can't torture my poor translators that much. We only saw the performance for the Crystal Empire, but as you know, there are many nations involved in this tournament. So originally I wanted to write them all out...

So... the next act, 15.5 was so long, that JBL decided it would be to much to release as one chapter. So we will have 15.5.1 and 15.5.2.

Yeah, I don't like it either. So tell the lazy dog what you think about that. I mean, in German it were only ~8k words.
Thats isn't to much, isn't it? See you guys next week and if you like, leave a comment

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

And give this story a try too:
Judge Luna