Helen Juwel

by Kawat3ngusan

Rating: teen
Tags: Violence, Death, Drama, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Adventure
Length: 26194

In the Middle Ages, a family brings with them a little filly, who will be very special for her time.

This is a sequel to Kristall Sno, but you don't need to have read her story to appreciate it, however in order to empathize you need to have read the story of Stella the Anguana.
In this story which is part of my Chronicles of the Dragonheart Pegasi, we take a leap into the Middle Ages, where we will meet a filly who, as she grows older, will become fantastic for having lived in that era.
The language used is German.

Published 2023-04-23 15:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-05-06 20:54:22 UTC

Sie ist Helen

Stella finally returned to her pupils.

“How are you my little ones? After a couple of months it is nice to be able to return here to the lair "-, the little Anguanas asked Stella what she had done in all that time away from them,

"It's very simple, I wrote another story that I will now tell you, it tells of a dragon-hearted pegasus who lived in the Middle Ages, and she was a courageous, strong and self-confident pegasus and also very talented for combat and culture ”-, Stella made herself comfortable and so did her students and began to tell the story she had finished writing.

Place: Germaneighy, period: Middle Ages

HELEN JUWEL

Sie ist Helen

This is Helen

At the gates of a city in Germaneighy, a young couple of ponies stop in front of the entrance, undecided whether to enter or not.
The couple in question are a pony with a brown coat and mane and his mate is a dark yellow pegasus with a blonde mane, they had traveled a long way from their hometown and were very tired, the pony told to his partner.

-"What are we going to do? Are we going in or not? "-

"We have to try, we have come so far, we have left our old life behind, not counting the dangers we ran in coming up here" -

-Ja, then let's be brave and let's go "-

Let's do it especially for our little filly. The pegasus had between her wings a small sleeping filly, born a little over a month ago, she was a sweet little pegasus of light brown color, with freckles on her cheeks and her mane was half that of her father and half that of the mother, that is blond and brown.

The two ponies walked towards the city, it seemed a quiet place, there were fields of wheat and vegetables and small houses where farmers lived, and not far away you could see the city and you could hear the voices of the ponies going at the market, there were a bustle of houses, taverns and various shops, and in the distance a beautiful castle.

"It is a really beautiful city, I think we will have to look for a house right near the market" -

"First we need to see if somepony can give us a job otherwise how are we going to afford a house?" -

“Right, then let's go” -, but just at that moment the little pegasus started to cry.

"Ach, the baby is crying" -

“Oh no, what do we do? There is nothing left to eat "-

"Wait, maybe some farm nearby has some milk to give us and maybe some bread" -

-"Free?"-

“Do we have a choice?” -.

So the two ponies went to a nearby farm to look for food. The first farm they saw was a small two-story house on the edge of the city, it was surrounded by a fence and there was a large vegetable garden, and also a large stable for the animals. The two ponies saw that there was an old dark brown pony that was hoeing the ground, so they called him.

-"What do you want?"

"Please, we need a hoof, our filly is hungry" -

“Come closer, I don't hear very well-“.

The two ponies asked for some milk for their little filly, the old pony was a little hesitant, but since he lived alone he wouldn't mind parting with some of his milk.

So the old pony took them to his kitchen, took a pail of milk and put it in a cup, the pegasus sat down, took the cup and put it next to the little pegasus, the little one began to drink milk quietly cuddled by the wings of her mother, her companion sat down too, then the old pony started talking to him.

"Well, Willkommen, welcome to Kieselstein, a quiet and peaceful city, my name is Hunk, everyone here calls me the old Hunk, what brings you here in the city?" -,

the two ponies told their story, that they had left their town and had lost their parents, they also no longer had a job and did not know how to repay him for the milk he had offered them.

"We are looking for a new home, the road we traveled was hard and dangerous" -

"You took a good risk coming here, with all the Trolls, the Wechselbalg (Changelings), the orcs, the Mephits, and all the other beasts, luckily we are protected within these walls, well not so much by the Wechselbalg because they know how to fly, but I've never seen one inside the city, so we don't have to worry so much, and then there are the soldiers who protect us "-

"We found no soldiers outside the gates" -

"Evidently they have been recalled by the king, now what will you do?" -

"We absolutely have to find a place to live, where we can settle down, where we can raise our daughter, don't you know someone in town who can give us a hoof?"

-"I do not know"-,

the little pegasus had stopped drinking and started playing with her mother, the old Hunk could see the two beautiful red eyes that the little pegasus had, they looked like two bright rubies.

"She's beautiful" -, the pegasus was happy with the compliment for her filly,

"Danke, she is a little angel given to us by the Pony Heaven, Sie ist Helen (She is Helen)" -

“Helen? Is this her name? Really nice"

"Danke, I'm only sorry that my little Helen can't meet her grandparents, unfortunately they died in an accident, what I want is that she can grow up healthy and strong" -

“We thank you for the milk, at the moment we don't have much money but I promise we will pay you back sooner or later, now we will try to look for work in the city” -, the old pony stopped them before they left.

"Listen, if you have to work you will also have to think about your little Helen, right?"

-"Ja, but we will do our best not to make her feel alone "-,

the old pony had an idea,

"If you like, you can stay here, I have been living alone since my wife passed away a year ago, I have no problems, I have a guest room that belonged to my two children, you can sleep there, they haven’t coming to see me for years, also because they have now gone to live far away "-

"Ach nein, you are very kind but I don't know how ...." -

"Das ist kein Problem für mich (It's not a problem for me) I struggle alone to keep the farm, an extra hoof would be useful, I have to take care of the vegetable garden, take the cows and sheep for a walk around the fields, fetch water from the river, prepare bread, cook for myself and everything else, if you like you can live here, in exchange for giving me a hoof, I also have a stall at the market where I sell my vegetables, you could come with me while your wife looks after the house and your little Helen "-

"This is an excellent idea, I could help you with the farm and my wife will take care of the cooking and we will both take care of Helen" -

"I'm good at cooking, and modestly I was a seamstress in my city and I was very good" -

"My wife was a seamstress too, I'm glad, maybe it's Heaven that sends you here in Kieselstein, I hope you will be well, tell me your names I haven't asked you yet" -, the young pony replied

-Oh, I'm Braune Pflanze, and she is my wife Gelbes Mehl, you won't regret having hired us, we will do our best to be excellent roommates, and we will more than willingly help you with your work "-

"Thank your little Helen, I think I am already fond of her, in the sense that I also have grandchildren, but I have not seen them for more than ten years, unfortunately for a quarrel with one of my children, I am no longer allowed to see them, and now who knows how much they will have grown, I will tell you, I will be pleased to have someone in the house since now I live alone, and if it is not fate that brought us together I would not know what to say "-,

Gelbes was happy and thanked Hunk,

"Vielen Dank, Du bist ein Engel (thank you very much, you are an angel) Mr. Hunk, you are very generous "-

"I hope you can call me Hunk, maybe this is an excellent opportunity for me to have a family back, I won't mind that day little Helen sees me as a grandfather, you can stay as long as you want and I hope that the little one can grow well "-

"Don't worry, we will tell Helen that you are her grandfather, it will be great that she will grow up with such a generous pony as a grandfather" -

“You don't have to thank me, it's me who thank you for meeting you” -, then the old Hunk went back out to hoe, hiding a tear, he was really fond of that couple and their little Helen.

To be continued……

My little pony by Lauren Faust and Hasbro

Die Kindheit von Helen

Die Kindheit von Helen

Helen's childhood

It had now been three months since Braune Pflanze and Gelbes Mehl had moved into old Hunk's house.

The newlyweds did everything to repay Hunk for the hospitality, Braune helped him with the garden and the hay, and on some days he took the sheep to graze, and Hunk took him on the days he sold his products at the stall at the market, Braune didn't mind going to the market, and often met new ponies.

There were ponies of different breeds, as in all known cities, he saw ponies working in inns, ponies working in the market, high-ranking unicorns strolling the streets, pegasi flying through the skies to bring messages from afar or to deliver goods to various houses.

Then there were unicorn pony guards and pegasi patrolling the streets, and it wasn't uncommon to see some of them apprehending a thief, Braune understood that even the town of Kieselstein wasn't free from thieves and knaves, Hunk always told him to keep an eye on their goods as there was always some ponies who could steal them, especially if there were beggar ponies around.

While Hunk and Braune were at the market, Gelbes took care of the house, who was always on the go, milking the cows, sometimes she too picked vegetables, mended clothes, made bread thanks to a wood-burning oven, prepared to eat and of course looked after little Helen.

For the newlyweds that life was excellent, they had a home, food, a job, and their sweet little pegasus.

Gelbes above all was happy, whenever she felt tired she watched little Helen as she slept and if she cried she gave her milk, or she cradled her in her little wooden bed, and if she kept crying she sang her a lullaby.

-“Meine kleine Helen (My little Helen), you are my dearest treasure, I don't know how Braune and I would have done without you, indeed it was thanks to you that dear Hunk allowed us to live here, sometimes I can't believe you are so beautiful, you came out like a masterpiece, and you are bursting with energy, sometimes I wish you would just sleep, but I am so glad when you toss in your crib and cry, so I can take you between my hooves, cuddle you, and sing you a song"-,

Gelbes was very attached to her filly to such an extent that she wanted only her to look after Helen and Braune was a little jealous of that, but when he returned from a fine morning at the market Gelbes let him take his daughter in his hooves .

Gelbes settled little Helen back into her wooden cot and went back to the cauldron to prepare a good soup of hay and beans for Hunk and Braune, took some carrots from the garden and some parsnips, then, after cutting them with a knife, put everything in the saucepan and stirred.

At one point she heard the bell tower of the city tolling, it was now time for lunch which meant that Hunk and Braune would be back early for lunch, normally old Hunk was not used to lunch around noon, but as many ponies did in the Middle Ages he just ate in the morning and in the evening, sometimes if he was hungry he just ate some cheese and bread, or else he ate some vegetables, but since he had a family again and he wasn't alone anymore, it also came back to him the appetite.

Gelbes kept looking in the direction of the city to try to figure out when the two ponies would be back, and only after half an hour she saw them coming, Hunk was pulling a small wagon with his vegetables, and Braune stood behind him to make sure they didn't fell.

-"Welcome back, how was the market?", Hunk put his hat on a piece of furniture and sat down,

-" It didn't go very well today, we sold very little stuff, but at least since the crops are abundant we can afford it, and furthermore we won't die of hunger, but now I would be thirsty"-,

Gelbes took a jug with beer in it, poured it into a glass, and gave it to Hunk.

-“Aaah, dieses Bier ist köstlich, (Aaah, this beer is delicious) just what I needed”-, Braune went to Gelbes and kissed him on the mouth,

_"What did my sweet little wife prepare for lunch?"-

-“Oh, nothing special, a good soup of vegetables and hay, just to fill the stomach and go back to work”-

-“And how is our little Helen?”-

-“She's sleeping, but I think I'll give her some milk when she wakes up”-, Hunk got up and spoke

-"If you don't mind, I'd go outside for a moment, I'll go split the wood in the back, then I'll come and eat the soup, in the meantime start serving"-, Gelbes agreed

-“Ja, all right, we'll put the plate for you too, Hunk”-, so Hunk went outside, took an ax and went to the back of the farmhouse, and Gelbes started serving soup for her and Braune, then took some bread, and he sliced it, put a plate for Hunk too and then they sat down to eat.

-“Tell me Braune, how was your day today?”-

-“Oh the usual, I've met a lot of ponies, and the servants of noble ponies even come to Hunk's stall, even servants of the king, and since I go to the market I always seem to see a lot of guards, it seems that crime you can also find it here”-

-"It's a bad thing, if we were to meet a thief I don't know how I would behave"-

-"Luckily Hunk has some old daggers here in the house, so if a thief armed with a dagger were to enter, we shouldn't be very afraid"-

-"But you don't know how to fight, we two are just two humble peasants, your cutie mark is a plant in a pot, and mine is a yellow pile of flour, we never had experience of dueling"-

-"I know, but of necessity, we have to learn if we want to see our Helen grow up, I would never want some thief to kidnap her and take her away from us"-

-“What a bad situation you described, I hope it will never happen”-

-"Anyway, between us, in these months that I've been going to the city I've asked the people about Hunk, some blacksmiths, innkeepers, even guards"-

-"And what did they answer you?"-

-“It seems that dear old Hunk is not seen very well in this town, some said he is just an old pony who has lost his children and grandchildren as well as his wife, others say he has messed up in the past and that now he is left alone for his misdeeds”-

-“What will they mean?”-

-“I have no idea, however to me Hunk gives the impression of a lonely pony, I think he's just a little grumpy, but after all he's been alone for too long, and a servant was amazed when I told her that he gave us asylum, a guard instead told me to keep an eye on him, that in the past he was a bad guy"-

-"It's strange that he didn't tell us anything, maybe he wants to hide something from us, what do you think?"

-"I think we should ask him a couple of questions, but the problem is what would happen if he kicked us out of his farm?"-

-“ Du hast recht! (You're right), maybe if we spoke to him in a calm way he would tell us something”-.

Gelbes and Braune began to eat, but then little Helen's crying was heard from inside, the mare got up and she went to get the little pegasus who was sleeping in a wooden cradle and put her in her arms.

-“My little Helen, don't cry, don't cry”-, Gelbes took little Helen into the kitchen and brought her to her father.

-“She is beautiful even when she cries”-

-"Ja, but I can't make her stop, I have to give her some milk right away"-,

so the mare took a wooden bucket in which there was milk milked that morning, she took a wooden spoon and little by little she put it near the filly's mouth and the little filly slowly began to drink it. Braune turned to his wife,

-“Do you want me to relieve you? You've already worked hard all morning, better if you eat"-

-"But you too have struggled, and even more than me, let me take care of the little one, she can go on eating"-

-"Okay, but then let me keep it, so you can eat later"-.

Gelbes after giving milk to Helen put her on her shoulder and stroked her with a hoof to make her burp, after a while, she decided to go out for a moment to rock her while she flew around the farm for a bit. Then she saw old Hunk chopping wood, and suddenly she stopped and sat down on a stool.

Gelbes decided to approach Hunk, as she seemed to her that he was crying or that something was bothering him. She sat on her hind legs and moved next to him.

-"Is...is there something wrong, Hunk?"-

-“Nein, nothing is wrong, it's just that…..I've seen Braune talking to several ponies and it worries me”-

"Is that what worries you? That my husband talked to the other ponies?”-

-“Ja, and that makes me sad”-

-"How come?"-

-“Because now your husband must be having bad thoughts about me, that I'm an ugly pony, or that I can't be trusted or something else”-

-"But nein, what do you think?"-

-“Your husband didn't tell you anything? Be sincere"-,

Gelbes didn't know what to say, she didn't want to lie to Hunk after all he was still the pony that had allowed them to live there, and she certainly didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she had to say something to keep from shutting up.

-“Here…the fact is that….”-

-“Forget it, I understand, Braune talked to the people of the city and they will have told him everything about me I guess”-

-“Nein, listen, I don't want to tell lies, but they only said vague things”-.

So finally Gelbes said what people had recommended to Braune, which was that Hunk was no good, and that he had lost his children, and that it seemed strange that he sheltered anyone.

As nice as Gelbes had been in saying those things, Hunk was demoralized, but then he turned back to her.

-"And tell me, I... what do I look like after those gossips?"-

-“Hunk? I want to be honest with you, I don't care who or what are you, you gave us a place to stay, and all you asked for is a hoof in your work, and that's what we're doing, you give me the idea of just a pony that's been alone too long time, that's all, for me, nothing changes what I think of you, and I'm grateful for everything you've done for us"-

-“So….didn't they tell you anything in town about me?”-

-“Only those words I said to you”-

-"Well, they're right I'm really a bad pony, and it's better that I tell you now rather than waiting for the other ponies to tell you, you must know that Einmal war ich ein Dieb(Once I was a thief)" -

-“Was?(What?) Were you a thief?”-

-“Ja, a long time ago when I was younger I was a thief, I was part of a group of thieves, and I robbed knights, merchants, nobles, I even stole from alms boxes for the poor in churches, then one day I stopped, I got a job and met my wife in this village, we had two children, then time passed and my two children got married, unfortunately it happened that sometimes the money was not enough for me and so I robbed secretly, but one day the guards they caught me and I was taken to jail, and the past came back, an old merchant recognized me and then my identity came out”-

-"I am sorry"-

-“I'm more sorry, I just wanted to help my children, but then I ended up being seen as a stranger in their eyes, they left the city and never spoke to me again, they didn't want anything to do with a thief, and after all what I had done for them, they were ungrateful, but they were right, they only came back here to Kieselstein to introduce me to my grandchildren”-

-“And they never came back?”-

-“Unfortunately, my first son and his wife died in a fire and my first two grandchildren were never heard from again, while my second son and his grandson were eaten by a big troll while they were out for a picnic in the woods” -

-“Ach, I'm so sorry, Hunk, I had no idea….”-

-“I would have preferred to spend my life in prison rather than having this news, but then the king took pity on me, and so he offered me a deal, I would have to work for him on this farm, and he would have forgiven me what I would have done in the past, in fact, every two months I meet soldiers who are waiting for me to pay them a lot of coins to pay for the farm property, and thanks to your help I am now close to finishing paying, so I will have the farm all to myself”-

-"How much do you still have to pay?"-

-“I have only one year left and then the king will give me this farm as my property and will forgive all my misdeeds”-

-"But why didn't you tell us all these things before?"-

-"I was afraid that you would misjudge me, and after losing my wife too I didn't want any more pain, but then I saw your daughter and I thought that for me that could be a new opportunity for me to have a family now I'm left alone for so long that I didn't know what it meant to have one”-

-“Braune and I also lost our parents due to accidents, mine died of an illness, Braune's were attacked by timber wolves, and so we decided to leave our city to come and visit a better place, and here we are”-

-“More than anything you found me, now surely you would like to leave since you know my truth”-

-“But not at all, I don't care what people think of you, you must have been a thief too, so what? For me it doesn't change what I think of you, you are a good pony and you gave us a house to stay in, and then little Helen is fond of you, to me you are like a father, and to the little filly you are a new grandfather , I don't know what Braune will think, but I'm going to stay by your side to help you, because I'm glad I met you, and that's it”-,

Gelbes stared at little sleeping Helen and then handed her to Hunk.

-“Hunk? Do you want to hold her for a bit?”

-“Was? Are you sure?"-

-“I would really like you to hold her, after all you are her grandfather, you are her new grandfather”-,

Hunk took little Helen firmly and rocked her a little, seeing that little pegasus sleeping between his hooves gave him a sense of tenderness and warmth.

-“She's really beautiful, she looks like both you and Braune, I can't believe I can hold a filly in my arms again”-

-"I believe that Pony Heaven brought both you and us together, I believe that through Helen we met, and always thanks to her we are now a family, we have all been given a chance"-

-"By the way, is she baptized?"-

-"What? No, she is not baptized yet, we have not yet thought of talking to a church pony ”-

-“Ach, but then we absolutely have to prepare everything for her baptism, I'll talk to the pony who lives near the church, he's an old friend of mine, and he's also one of the few who doesn't judge me, then we'll have a party between us, I want the best for little Helen"-

-“You really are a fantastic pony, now I'm going to tell Braune immediately”-.

Gelbes left Helen in Hunk's hooves and went to Braune to talk to him.

He told him everything she and Hunk had talked about besides Helen's christening.

And he answered

-“I see, so this is the truth about him”-

-"But I know that it doesn't matter to me, he is a pony who suffered, and now he has a new chance to have a family, and we have one too, why not leave him alone?"-

-“You're right, it doesn't matter to me either that Hunk was a thief, he gave us a house and he's a kind pony who asked for nothing but a little work and company, to me he's a fine pony , so if it suits him we will stay here”-

-"It's fine with him, by now Helen too is fond of him"-

-"Ok, then this will be our home and now let's roll up our sleeves, we have to go back to work after lunch, and then we have to think about Helen's baptism"-.

Hunk came back with little Helen in his arms,

-"I'm feeling peckish, what can we eat?"-

-"Sit down Hunk, I talked to Braune and he agrees with me too"-

-"Great, now I can say again that I have a nephew, or rather a niece, and a beautiful niece"-, so all three ponies sat down at the table to eat lunch and then went back to their chores.

The days went well for the three ponies, now that things had cleared up, Hunk was happy to have a family again and a week later Braune and Gelbes together with the dear old pony took little Helen to be baptized by a priest in a church.

There were several ponies at church but none of them had come for the family, just to hear Mass, but the three ponies didn't care, the important thing was that their little filly received her baptism.

The pony priest took some blessed water from a bowl and wet little Helen's forehead and with a gesture of his hoof he blessed the filly.

-“Dear little Helen Pflanze, I now in the name of the Great Merciful Pony have washed you of your original sins and given you new life, may peace be upon you little daughter of Pony Heaven”-,

Helen did not cry once during the religious service, and Gelbes was happy that her baby was comfortable between her hooves even in a new place for her, both parents and Hunk were happy for that moment . That evening they celebrated the filly's christening with each other, Hunk getting the freshest beer in town he could find, while Gelbes cooked a hay and carrot cake and ate it among themselves.

Hunk wanted to propose a toast

-"I want to make a nice toast, to little Helen who is now truly a little angel in the eyes of the Great Merciful Pony, and to this family, which is a new way of seeing life for me, before it was lonely and melancholy and I didn't need no one, but then one day you came and I saw her, your filly, and I immediately fell in love with her, I didn't want her to leave, and so I let you live here with me"-, Braune answered happily

-"It really was heaven that brought us together, because it gave us all a chance, we all had a new family, and little Helen was able to have not only a home, but also a new grandfather"-,

-“So let this toast go to my new family, and to life, Auf die Gesundheit (Cheers)”-, Braune and Gelbes raised their glasses of beer and answered Hunk's toast

–“Auf die Gesundheit”-.

And so while the three ponies celebrated, night was falling on the town, and tomorrow everyone on that farm would go about their business again.

Several months later little Helen had grown a year and although she still didn't utter a word she seemed to show interest in everything around her, both when she watched her mother do her farm work and when her father took her around to show her the city, she was always curious.

One day while Hunk was tending the vegetables and Gelbes was milking the cow, Helen stood in the wooden cradle watching them both work, her mother watched her,

-“What is it, Helen? Do you want some milk? What's up? What do you want?"-

-“Sometimes I think she wants to tell us something, yet she still doesn't speak”-

-"My mother told me that I didn't speak until I was two, so it could be the same for Helen, but my mother also told me that even before I was one I wanted to get off the ground and start flying, but Helen doesn't seem like that want to fly"

-“But it seems that she wants to start walking all the same”-, Hunk pointed to Helen who was getting out of her cradle, Gelbes took her in his arms and stopped her,

-"Come here little princess, where do you think you're going? You need to take a nap”-, for the first time it seemed that Helen didn't want to be between the mother's hooves, on the contrary she was wriggling,

-“What is she doing? Doesn't she want to sit still?”

Hunk came over and picked up little Helen,

-“Come in grandfather's arms, let's see if you stay still”-, and in fact Helen stopped still, and even started smiling, also thanks to Hunk who caressed her tummy with his hoof, Gelbes was amazed,

-"I don't understand, who knows what's wrong with her"-

-"Perhaps she wants to spend some time in her grandfather's arms, I have held her very few times"-

-"Ja, but she never did that with me"-

-“Maybe she just wants to stay a little with her grandfather that's all, now I'll put her back in her cradle”-, but Helen started to cry and moved her wings, it seemed that she didn't want to stay in her cradle .

-"Maybe she doesn't want to sleep, maybe that's what she wants to tell us"-

-“Or maybe she's just hungry, maybe I should give her some milk”-, then Helen, standing in her grandfather's arms, pointed to her vegetable garden,

-"How strange it seems that now she's started pointing to my garden"-

-"What will she ever want, then?"-

-"Maybe she wants to see my vegetables, now I'll satisfy her"-, and so Hunk started pointing out his vegetables, and the trees he had in his garden to the little pegasus, and the strange thing was that and Helen was interested in what he said.

-"You seem to be interested, maybe when you grow up you can help me with my garden, eh, if I'm still here"-

-“Don't say that, Hunk”-

-"Eh, but by now I'm in my age, I'm old, I've lived my life, now I can only hope to live enough to see the little girl grow enough"-, then Hunk placed little Helen on a tree in garden low enough to put her in, the filly began to look around.

-“You like the view huh? This is my walnut tree, it hasn't grown enough, but in the autumn it gives me a lot of good fruit, and so I can prepare the walnut cake that my wife used to prepare for me, and which luckily I learned to cook, now stay there while I finish hoeing.

Hunk went back to hoeing the garden while he occasionally glanced at Helen. After a while Gelbes finished milking the cow and carried the pail of milk into the house, then returned later to give Hunk a hoof.

-“Let me help you, Hunk”-

-“Nein, thanks, I'm pretty attached to my cabbages and turnips, and you know it”-

-“But a little rest is good for you too, and you know it, and….”-, Gelbes looked around and could not see her daughter.

-"But... Helen where is she?"-

-"How where is she? Up there in that tree” – but when Hunk turned around he didn't see Helen up in the tree, the two ponies went to take a closer look.

-"Ich verstehe nicht (I don't understand), I left her there for a while, and every now and then I looked at her, I looked away for a while"-

-“Ach nein, who knows where she might have ended up now, where will my little Helen be?”-, both of them started looking for her, she wasn't at the foot of the tree, or even in the garden, they searched among all the vegetables but Helen wasn't there, they searched near the cows, but there was no sign of her there either.

Gelbes was beginning to worry more,

-“And now where can she be? Where? Where?"-

-"Let's calm, she can't have gone far, she's just a filly, I don't think she's gone far"-,

-"So where can she be?", The two ponies searched well not only in the garden but also in the house, when then Hunk noticed something strange.

-“I thought I saw something flying”-

-“It's not the time to think about the birds, we have to find Helen, who knows what I'll have to say to Braune”-, but Hunk went outside to see, and he did well because he finally found Helen, the filly was flying around the farm,

-“Hey Gelbes, I found her, she's out here she's flying”-, Gelbes immediately ran out and was amazed by what she saw, she couldn't believe it, her daughter was really flying.

-“But…..it's amazing, wundebar(Awesome) Helen is really flying”-

-“Evidently she was getting bored staying in that tree and so she started flapping her wings and then started flying”-, Gelbes noticed that Helen was not only flying straight, but she was also starting to fly in a straight line circled and sometimes did loops in the garden, and also noticed that the little girl was chasing butterflies that fluttered here and there.

-"I understand, you evidently started looking at those butterflies and perhaps she wanted to chase them"-

-"Perhaps, but the fact is that your filly already knows how to fly, and if we haven't been able to see her maybe she can have climbed even higher"-

-“Perhaps she has more talent than me, I didn't do like her when I started either, but now it's time for her to go down”-, Gelbes flew towards Helen and took her in her arms,

-“Come on, little girl, you had too much fun, do you know that you made us worry about me and our grandfather? Now stop flying”-

-Come on, make her fly some more, maybe so she runs out of energy and she falls asleep ”-

-“Fine, but this time I'll put her on top of me and let her fly for a while, then I'll put her to sleep”-,

Gelbes positioned Helen above her, and started flying above the farm she circled around it for a while then went down and then went back up again, and Helen appreciated it a lot, she often started smiling, she really liked flying.

After quite a few flights and hopping around the farm, Helen fell asleep between the hooves of her mother, who promptly carried her back to her cradle to sleep.

-“I am touched, my sweet Helen is already able to fly”-

-"She has quite a talent, I really think she could be very good at flying, maybe she could also give us a hoof with our works when she is older"-

-"I sure hope so, so we'll have extra hooves"-

-"She can help us with the vegetables, with the cows, with the kitchen and who knows how many things with you"-

-"She could really be a promising genius, who knows what kind of education she will ever have"-

-“We can always teach her everything”-

-"But I can't read, and neither does Braune, that is, not completely, he knows a little bit of reading"-

-"Well, I won't be able to write, but I can read and I can also count, we will educate her in some other way, without needing to spend a lot, and then it's not that fillies nowadays are all educated"-

-"Right, but I want the best for my Helen"-.

When Braune got home he was delighted to hear from his wife that Helen had made her first flight. And it wasn't even the last of her, in the morning the little one always tended to fly a bit all over the house and in the garden, and she often flew close to her grandfather who always hugged her happy.

Over time Helen flew more and more often and her mother indulged her by teaching her to fly even higher, Gelbes was happy for this and often took her between her hoowes to fly through the streets in the city, sometimes Braune took her with himself to show her the market so the little one would have acclimatised already going to the city.

After a year Hunk finished paying his debt to the King of Kieselstein and so the farm finally belonged to him, but meanwhile Helen was already two years old and when her birthday always approached everyone in the house was excited for their sweet filly.

By now Helen was growing up well, over the years her mother read her stories before going to bed, the pegasus didn't know how to read so she limited herself to inventing words by looking at the drawn images, while instead Hunk taught her to count, she often took a lot of coins and taught them slowly, with astonishment the filly's first word was Großvater (Grandfather) and Hunk was delighted for this and there were not few times when he kept Helen all to himself and made her fly high up to then pick her up again arm.

Life flowed peacefully for the beautiful little family and when Helen was three years old she already knew a little about reading, she also counted well everything thanks to Hunk and a little to her father.

One of the many times Hunk taught her to count, he would place coins on the table and ask Helen to repeat.

-“So, little Helen, repeat with me, let's count to ten, Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier, Fünf, Sechs, Sieben, Acht, Neun, Zehn, now you repeat”-, Helen began to take the coins with her hooves one by one and counted,

-“ Eins…..Zwei…..Drei……Vier……Fünf…….Sechs….Sieben…..Acht…Neun….Zehn!”-

-“Good, Du bist sehr gut(You are very good), you have to count a little faster, but for this we will see if we practice a little more”-,

as the days went by Hunk taught Helen to count beyond the tens, going so far as to make her count even beyond the number 50, even going up to a hundred, and also taught her to subtract, multiply and divide, it was not difficult for him to teach her, having been a thief, and it seemed that Helen understood perfectly what he told her.

Time passed and now that she was quite grown up, Helen gladly gave a hoof in the house, helped her mother make bread and prepare soups, then went to the garden to milk the cows and fetch vegetables and when it came to taking care of the garden, she often went to get a cloud and trampled it to get the water out to water the whole farm, in fact her mother taught her not only to fly but also to handle the clouds, and there were times when Helen flew happy in sky with her mother, the little pegasus was always happy to be able to use her wings to soar in the sky, but always in the company of her mother, even if most of the time she didn't go far from the farm.

That little piece of land was much more to Helen, it was worth much more to her than an old farm, her family, a good meal, and the sky were enough for her to be happy, and of course also to be able to make herself useful.

Gelbes was always happy because she had managed together with her husband and Hunk to give a good fillyhood to her beautiful daughter.

After turning 5 Helen began to follow her father to the market to sell vegetables and she often wore little dresses ted as a peasant girl that her mother arranged for her on purpose to go to the city. Helen loved to see the ponies coming and going, all those shops and so many other things.

The little pegasus, however, also noticed unusual things for her, she saw ponies lying against the wall of a house asking the other ponies for money, and sometimes guards came to take them away. Curious, Helen asked her father what the guards did to those ponies.

-"You see Helen, the fact is that those ponies are beggars, they are ponies that don't have a home, or a job, some don't even have a family"-

-"And why are the guards taking them away?"-

-"They take them away because maybe they annoy the noble ponies, they put them in prison, or they take them away from the city, unfortunately in this one there are no ponies that can help them, unless they take them near the church if they are lucky"-

-"But what annoyance do beggars give?"-

-"the king is not always aware of what happens here in the city, so sometimes the decisions have to be taken by the guards, and if some noble pony says that they are annoying then..." -, Hunk intervened,

-“Helen, listen well unfortunately this world goes on with money, without money it doesn't go on, in this city there are many noble ponies and if they see a beggar they ask to be removed from the city or to go to prison, otherwise they will be sent to the church where the priest ponies take care of the poor, but they can't do much, but that's life"-

-“So….beggar ponies are bad people?”-

-“Nein, beggar ponies are ponies that have lost their jobs and have nowhere to go and therefore have to beg on the street, the soldiers are the real bad guys, but who is the baddest is the one who gives them orders, their captain, often does it by order of the king, but our king is not bad, but sometimes it can happen that bad nobles exist, and believe me they do, when I was a thief I robbed various evil nobles” -, Helen was a bit perplexed,

-“But… aren't thieves bad?”-

-“Not all thieves are bad Helen, sometimes thieves steal to make the ponies they care about happy, sometimes they steal to take away from those who deserve it, or at least I did most of the time”-, Braune interjected,

-"You can't tell her like that, she might think it's right to steal for a good reason"-, Hunk got angry,

-“Are you saying that I was wrong? I dealt with awful ponies who didn't deserve that much money, so what I stole I used for me and my friends who couldn't afford much, and a lot of that coin and jewelry I kept there I used to give a modest life to my wife and children, I didn't use everything I stole only for myself but also for others, and there were many times when I went to church to donate to the offerings of the poor , therefore I was not an evil thief”-, Braune tried to calm him down,

-“Calm down Hunk, I didn't say you're evil, it's just that I don't want my little Helen to grow up with the fact that it's right to steal, it's wrong I know, it's not my choice….”-, Hunk approached Helen and spoke to her,

-“Helen, listen well, sometimes thieves, or rather ponies have to do things they might regret but if they do it's because there are bad ponies and good ponies in the world, what I want to tell you is to follow your heart and not your head, do what you want, but know that it's not easy to recognize the bad guys and the good guys, but keep in mind what you're doing, steal only from those who have too much and only from the noble bad guys, understood?” -, Braune pulled Helen back and this time it was he who spoke to her, –“Helen? I know that it is wrong to steal, even the Great Merciful Pony says it is not necessary to steal, it is true that it is permissible to steal from those who steal, but you must not become a thief, understand? You must not steal other people's money, it is wrong ”-, Helen was no longer puzzled, and she spoke to her father about her,

-“Ok Vater (Father), I will never steal other ponies' money, I promise”-

-"That’s ok, and now give us a hoof to sell vegetables"- .

After a good morning selling their produce at the market, it was finally time for lunch and Braune, Hunk and d Helen immediately drove their cart to the farm outside the city, where Gelbes had already packed lunch. The pegasus welcomed them joyfully,

-“Ah, welcome back, I hope you're hungry with what I've done we can eat until tomorrow”-, but Hunk didn't seem to want to eat, and in fact said he could do without it and went upstairs to sleep until he would not hear the bells ringing in the city. Gelbes asked what had happened, and Braune told him of the dialogue they had had in the market, her wife began to reflect, then she spoke to her husband,

-"I think you offended him, you shouldn't have told him those things"-

-“But he was telling Helen that stealing is not wrong”-

-“Honey, Helen is still small but we have already taught her what is right and what is wrong, in short, we even go to church on Sunday"-

-“And what if Helen were to steal one day?”-

-“But steal what? We have no problems here, and then don't forget Hunk took us in his house, and then who knows what pains he's had to endure in his life, Hunk maybe didn't want to say those things to Helen, maybe he was just venting, you shouldn't have treated him in that way"-

-"Maybe…... you're right, I shouldn't have made him feel inferior, I just wanted to protect our little girl, she's so innocent"-

-“But she knows that stealing is a bad sin as well as a bad thing, we taught her ourselves, and she knows that Hunk is not bad”-

-"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have behaved like that"-, while the two parents argued, Helen's gaze passed from one to the other and in the meantime she devoured a good loaf of bread with a good piece of cheese of which she was greedy.

Gelbes got up from the table and made her way upstairs to Hunk's room, she found him staring out at the city from his small window from the bed.

-“Hunk? My husband is sorry for what he said, he didn't mean to offend you, he just wanted to protect our daughter, try to understand him, he can't understand your point of view, try to forgive him”-, Hunk turned to di Gelbes and after sighing spoke to her,

-“Gelbes? I was actually wrong."

-“Was?(What?)”-

-“In the past I was part of an organization of benevolent thieves”-

-“Benevolent thieves? What is it about?”

“We were a group of young thieves who wanted to do good and therefore we stole from those who had too much or from those who didn't deserve it, such as unpleasant nobles or bad guards or other thieves and we gave what we stole to poor families or beggars and then we kept the rest for us, but then I took a liking to it and left the group and started stealing on my own, I stole paintings, weapons, jewels and then sold them to the various bidders, but if I could go back I'd go back with my friends"-

-"So you were a thief who stole for good?"-

-"Exactly, but I often confessed my sins in church in the presence of a priest, now I don't know if I will be able to go to Pony Heaven, but one thing is certain, since you entered my life I have stopped feeling alone and therefore I no longer want to think about my past, even if sometimes I think about it"-

-"Have your friends ever visited you again?"-

-“No, after I left they decided to give up stealing, at least that's what they told me, but then we split up for the kingdom of Germaneighia, the only one I kept in touch with was Arthur, but the 'only thing I know about him is that he became the abbot of a monastery in the south, he decided to let go of the past better than me and devote his life to prayer, now I think he calls himself Father Arthur, maybe I should have do like him, but I'm happy with the life I'm leading here, especially now that I have a granddaughter again”-

-"And we are happy that you are part of our lives, but now come down while the soup is hot"-

-“I'm coming, I'm coming”-, Hunk got up from the bed, and Gelbes opened the door, but to his surprise he found Helen leaning against the wood of the wall,

-“Look, look, and what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be down eating your soup and your bread?”

-"Is grandpa sick?"-

-“No, Helen, he’s not sick, it's just that she wanted to tell you that sometimes some ponies make bad choices, but sometimes they do it for the good, but you have to do as we teach you, because what Hunk went through is been tough compared to what we go through” -, Hunk turned to Helen,

-“Listen Helen, actually I was just venting to you, you don't have to become a thief, you don't have to deal with thieves, I used to deal with good thieves, but now I don't know if there are any again”-, Gelbes told them both to go downstairs to eat, then Hunk spoke in Helen's ear so that her mother wouldn't hear,

-“But listen, if by chance you should ever meet a thief who has a spotted woodpecker embroidered inside his robe you can trust him, but still be careful because it's good to be smart and intelligent in this world and if you're a filly often they won't let you to be, because for fillies there isn't much room in this world, since they take a back seat, understand?”-

-“Understood, grandpa”-

-"Please, don't tell your parents these things, it will remain a secret between you and me, understand?"-

-“Clear, grandpa”-

-“Now let's go down to eat”-. So the little family settled down to eat their lunch, no one spoke to each other and the only thing Hunk said was that he needed Helen to plow the field and he asked Braune to fix the scarecrow he had, the pony agreed, then said something ,

-"I have to apologize Hunk, I didn't mean to offend you, I can't know what you went through, so I'm sorry if I offended you in any way"-

-“No, you don't have to apologize, that's fine, you just wanted to protect ere Helen, and I can understand it, you don't have to apologize, now let's think about eating and then we must all think about working"-, Gelbes spoke,

-"I also think that in addition to thinking about our clothes I will have to think about making more cheese, Helen is greedy for it, she is like a little mouse"-

-“Such a cute little mouse”- added Hunk, and everyone started laughing, except Helen who cut herself another slice of cheese.

To be continued……

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust and Hasbro

Ein guter Vater

Ein guter Vater

A good father

And so a year went by and Helen was already 6 years old, the little pegasus certainly didn't live a busy life, she spent her days helping her parents on the farm, and occasionally she went with them to the city, both to work at Hunk's stall than to have some fun.

She didn't tend to make friends, because in the morning there were no foals around as they were all studying, unfortunately her parents couldn't afford to give her an education, only her father and Hunk could teach her anything, because they had studied at least a little, unlike the mother who was illiterate.

Helen still couldn't read, but Hunk had promised to teach her now that she was growing up, even if she could read some letters by looking at the wooden signs of the various shops around town, she had no problem with math, since always thanks for Hunk she was able to count, the first few times she counted money, then she started counting other things, like the eggs from the chickens, the apples she picked, the vegetables from the garden and so Hunk taught her not only to count but also the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and Helen never had a problem with these operations.

Her mother also taught her to sew, so Helen was also able to repair her own clothes, she always wore a long white dress with a green part on the chest and was always careful not to get dirty, but it was inevitable that on a farm she would get dirty, so her parents didn't tell her anything, they would get dirty too, for the old hunk it was a routine too.

After a month, Hunk and Braune both started teaching Helen to read, at first it was not easy for Helen, but German is not an easy language, also the first word Helen said as a child was Großvater (Grandpa), because Hunk was with her, that day the old pony was so glad he could be a grandpa again, though not by blood, but he didn't care, he'd been alone so too long that he'd forgotten certain joys, like that to have a family, and above all a beautiful granddaughter.

Helen did not seem to have learning problems, on the contrary she was able to perfectly remember what she was taught even if she liked to practice, she also started reading in a short time, as far as grammar was concerned that was a slightly more complicated subject, and therefore both Hunk and Braune couldn't teach her much, but in town Helen found a German grammar book that friars were selling along with other books, so her father bought her various books, and Helen seemed interested in books, at first she only had learning books , then her father also bought her books on other topics, such as ancient history, various legends, and even fairy tales, her father didn't mind the prices, because Helen always appreciated being given a book as a gift, it was necessary to remember that in the Middle Ages she had not been printing was still invented, so the friars copied the original books several times and then sold them, the friars also had the task of teaching various foals, especially the noble ones, but they needed a lot of money all the same and the fillies didn't have a complete education, given that in the Middle Ages they did not have much power, another problem was that in Kieselstein there were neither convents nor monasteries, at most a church, it was a big city but not that big, the friars came from outside to perform services religions and to sell books copied from them.

Gelbes wished that Helen had had a good education that she could not have, for the moment she Helen was happy with what she was able to learn thanks to her family and the books they bought.

One day when Helen was with Hunk in the city to sell fruit and vegetables, she began to see in the middle of the square three fillies who were playing with a ball, curious, the pegasus approached them.

They were three unicorns of different colors in nice long dresses and all three of them were using magic to pass the ball to each other, they seemed to be having a lot of fun, then one of them made a bad shot and the ball rolled next to Helen.

The pegasus took the ball and turned to the unicorns.

-“ Kann ich mit euch drei spielen?(Can I play with you three?)”-,

the three unicorns were amazed by that request, but they didn't say anything, on the contrary they looked at each other,

Helen tried to ask them the question again, but this time, one of them, a purple unicorn approached her to talk to her,

-“ Hör mal zu! (Listen) not to offend you, but we can't play with someone like you”-

-“ Warum? (Why?)"-

-"Why? But look at you, with those clothes, the dirty ones, it's obvious that you're just a low-ranking pony, surely you're poor, you won't be a beggar, but you won't have an easy life, I bet that instead of studying you're forced to work"-

-“Ja, I work, I help my grandfather and my parents on a farm outside the city”-

-"A farm? Listen to yourself, so you are a peasant girl, and we certainly cannot play with a peasant girl, we are high-placed fillies, we are noble, our parents have noble titles, we have money, we can afford nice clothes, we can afford everything, you instead no, you're just a poor thing, you're nothing, I bet you also have poor friends"-

Helen was beginning to feel melancholy,

-“I…I…have no friends”-

-"Really? You don't even have any friends? And yet I believed that the poor were with the poor, just as we rich are with the rich" -,

the purple unicorn took the ball back with magic,

-"Let's go girls, let's go play somewhere else, away from the rabble"-,

all three of them went off leaving Helen alone, the poor pegasus was very upset by that horrible speech, and she went back to Hunk to continue working.

Hunk noticed right away that Helen didn't seem in the mood for her,

-"What's going on, Helen?"-

-"Nothing, nothing"-

-“Come on, what's going on? Who made my little mouse cry?”

Helen decided to tell Hunk the truth, so she told him about her bad experience with those fillies.

-"I understand, I know those three well, their parents are noble, and unfortunately it was their parents who taught them to hate non-noble ponies, they don't even give money to beggars, they pay their servants, but still they treat badly the other ponies, and once they insulted me, but you must not listen to them, they are not better than us, it is not fair that the wrong ponies have money, if I were noble, I would have helped who was poor, in fact that's what I did when I was a thief, I stole from the nobles to help the needy, of course I kept something, but I always gave to the poor”- .

Hunk's words made Helen think, but still she went back to helping him sell his stuff.

The filly might not have made friends easily, but at the moment she didn't feel the need to, because she always had her family to support and comfort her.

However, every time Helen went to town she often looked at the artists she found around, there were unicorns doing magic, ponies playing the flute, guitars, drums and violins, and puppet shows, it was nice for her to watch and hear those interpretations, she seemed to enjoy art in various forms.

After a morning's work Hunk made a lot of money selling his vegetables, and so he pulled the cart and Helen got on top of it, it didn't take them long to get back to the farm, just fifteen minutes to go through the different fields that surrounded the city.

Mechanical clocks had been invented, but the farm didn't have any, so the family had two ways of keeping time, cockcrow in the morning, and the ringing of bells from the town, and Hunk taught Helen that too, so the filly already knew when to wake up, when to have breakfast, lunch and even when to go home, as well as the time spent on tasks in the fields.

Waiting for Hunk and Helen there was an excellent lunch, excellent vegetable and hay soup with homemade bread and cheese, and Gelbes Mehl had also cooked a good carrot and walnut cake.

Gelbes, Hunk, and Helen sat down to eat, as Braune Pflanze wasn't arriving anytime soon.

The pony had gone to town to look for work, as she wanted to earn more, so he would have lunch later.

All three began to pray and then to eat,

Gelbes and Hunk talked to each other while Helen was eating a nice slice of bread,

-“How was your day, did people buy our vegetables?”-

-"It went well, they bought, luckily no matter the social status, everyone buys our fruit and vegetables"-

-"And Helen was good today too?"-

-"Ja, it's a pity that she met some nasty noble fillies"-

-“Was? (What?) What are you talking about?”-.

Hunk told of the bad experience that Helen had with those fillies, and Gelbes as she sipped her soup began to think, then she turned to her daughter,

-"Helen, don't think about these things, there will always be someone who will look down on you, those fillies don't know what they are missing, you are a good filly, no one knows you like we do in this house, if you can't have noble friends, you can always have others" -,

but Hunk got in the way

-"He doesn't necessarily have to have friends, we are enough for him, her family"-

-"But Hunk, I don't want Helen to grow up antisocial, she has to have friends her age"-

-“If she could go to school maybe she would have friends, but we can't afford that”-

-"I know, I wish she had the education that I never had, even my parents couldn't afford it, but sooner or later she will be able to study"-

-"If only we lived in Eichel it would be easier for her”-,

Gelbes was amazed, it was the first time that Hunk mentioned that city which was located south of Kieselstein,

-"Why? What is there in Eichel?”-,

Hunk sighed and then spoke,

-“So….in Eichel there is a big monastery where my old friend Father Arthur lives, if I could talk to him maybe he could take Helen and give her an education, maybe at a low cost, or if it was free, there she would learn to read and write better than we have taught her so far”-

-“But the problem is that it's in Eichel, and this city is to the south and who knows how many days by cart from here”-

-"Exactly, that's the problem, and I can't give up my farm right now that I'm about to finish my payment with the king of Kieselstein"-

-“But we could leave the city”-

-"We can't get a new house, I don't even know if we could be hosted at the monastery, of course it would be nice for Helen to have an excellent education, but we would have to start all over again and I'm old"-

-"Of course it's a big problem"-, at that moment Helen wanted to speak to her mother and grandfather,

-"You don't have to worry, you don't have to have so many problems because of me, if giving me an education gives you so many problems then I prefer to study what you three know, I know how to count, I'm reading the books I have, and I'm learning to write, you don't have to work hard because of me, I just want you all to be well, I don't want gifts, just my family, that's all I ask"-,

Helen sat up again, and ate again,

Gelbes and Hunk looked at each other and then at Helen, Gelbes replied,

-“My darling, you don't have to worry, we wanted to give you what I couldn't have, so we do everything to give you the best, in fact it would be a problem to leave Kieselstein and move to Eichel, but if there was the possibility to give you a We will do our best to give you the best education”-

Hunk spoke,

-“And then fillies don't have much power or little, so what could our little Helen do?”-

-"It's actually true, for the moment it's better to plan things slowly, then we'll see"-

-“For the moment I'm happy with the work Helen does here on the farm, in fact I'm almost going to leave it to her as an inheritance”-

-“Don't say certain things Hunk, not in front of Helen, rather eat”-.

After a while, Braune came through the door and greeted everyone,

-“Guten Tag(Good morning), how are you?”-

Gelbes welcomed him at once,

-“Oh, hi Braune, how was she in town?”-

-"It wasn't easy, but in the end I managed to find something, I found work in an inn, the pay isn't much, but there is the possibility of rounding up with tips"-

-“Well, always better than nothing”-

-"I'm sorry to have to leave you here, with you having to take care of the farm, and Hunk having to go to the market"-

-"Sometimes there's also Helen helping here at the farm, so we can do it, especially during the day, luckily our filly has a lot of energy"-

-“She takes after you, she doesn't know how to fly well at all”-,

Helen ran to embrace her father,

-"Hi Dad"-

-"Hello my little mouse, it's always a pleasure to see you, what a nice hug you give me"-, Hunk got up from his chair to talk to Braune,

-“Listen Braune, next week I need you to go to the king, I have to bring the last money to pay for the farm, after all these years it will finally be mine, in fact I'm thinking of leaving it to you, so you'll have a place to stay even when I will not be there"-,

Gelbes replied,

-"Hunk, please, don't say that, that's not talk"-

-"But I'm getting older and older, and I have nothing to give you, except my farm, and my house is yours, and then where would Helen grow up?"-,

Braune nodded,

-“It's a nice thought, Hunk, but we'll have to talk about it at another time, not in front of the little one, anyway it will be a pleasure to have this farm for us, even if we still pray for your health, I'll gladly bring the last money you owe to the king"-

-"Be careful though, you never know who you might meet, I've already had to deal with thieves when I was travelling"-

-“Are you talking about the Schwarze Feder(Black Feather)?”-,

Gelbes was amazed,

-“What is Schwarze Feder?”-

-"It's a band of thieves who appear on the streets or in some cities, they all wear a cloak with a hood, and their symbol is a black feather, they are very strong thieves and they steal from anyone who comes within range, in this city they don't there were more, when i was younger i fought many, i killed others, fact is no guard ever managed to stop them, i met them once in town, but luckily i had my dagger with me, and also if old I managed to stop and scare them”-

-“After all, you were part of….of…..what was the name of your gang?”-

“Our name was Roter Specht (Red Woodpecker), and we stole above all from thieves like them, as I told you some time ago we were doing good actions, and what I stole from them I gave to poor families, sometimes I even managed to catch them when they stole from beggars, they are thieves without a shred of honour, just scoundrels, if you see them, you have to stay away from them, they are dangerous and you don't know how to fight, so run as fast as you can"-

-"It's terrible, luckily I can fly, but what if one of those thieves were a pegasus?"-

-“As far as I remember they were ponies and unicorns, few pegasi, but I didn't find many fast ones, I've always managed to beat them, so if you go around with a lot of money you better bring a weapon, luckily I still have my daggers here at home”-,

Braune didn't seem very enthusiastic,

-"But I don't want to kill anyone, you know we are very religious"-

-"I know you are, I have become one too, but this is about your life, it is better to hurt those thieves than to be injured or worse killed"-

-"These are things I'd rather not say in front of Helen, she's small for these things, she shouldn't know"-

-"It's good that you know who to run away from, and who to take refuge from, that is, the three of us, I don't trust the royal guards, I've always thought they were incompetent, they never managed to catch those thieves, and if they ever did those caught have always managed to escape from prison, trust me”-.

Braune looked at Helen, who didn't seem frightened, in fact she simply returned to her chair to eat, Braune then thought it was better to be proactive as Hunk said, since Helen's safety was also at stake,

-"Okay Hunk, I'll do as you say, when I take your money I'll equip myself with a dagger"-

-"But if you find too many, you run away anyway"-.

The family had a lot of help since Braune worked in the inns in the city, on the farm instead Gelbes remained, in the afternoon Helen helped them since in the morning she was together with Hunk, so they were able to put some money aside already, with which they bought not only clothes and food, but other books for Helen, furthermore Hunk wanted to go to the city to ask for a document or rather a kind of will, in which he wrote that he was leaving the farm to the family, in this way even after his after the death, the spouses Braune and Gelbes could live on that farm together with little Helen.

Gelbes however hoped to be able to take little Helen one day to Eichel where she could study, but for the moment it was not possible, but perhaps when they would have more money everything would be better.

Though little Helen didn't mind being taught by her father and grandfather, and was also making progress with reading, and they even gave her scrolls and quills with ink to write with, so both Hunk and Braune could teach her better to write, which was not easy given that German is a difficult language, in fact Helen slowly began to write the alphabet, even if it was quite easy for her, being already able to read, even if not yet good at writing.

The days went by and little Helen learned immediately, one day some soldiers also came to visit the family, but they didn't have to worry since Hunk knew them.

The day also arrived when Braune had to go to the castle, Hunk gave him the bag with the coins to give to the king, and also a dagger, he asked him to be careful, and to be as careful as possible, so as not to get noticed too.

Braune had almost reached the castle, but at one point five ponies appeared with black cloaks and a hood covering their faces.

He looked at them, being careful not to get too close to them,

-"Who are you? What do you want from me?” -, one of the ponies taller than the others approached, a blue horn came out of the hood, so Braune understood that it was a unicorn.

-“Don't be scared, we won't hurt you, Wir wollen nur dein Geld (We just want your money) and then we'll let you go”-.

Braune noticed that on their cloaks there was a black feather symbol, he immediately understood that they were those bandits that Hunk often spoke of.

-“ Sie .... Sie sind die Schwarze Feder(You….you are the Black Feather)”-

-"You guessed right, and now give us your money right away otherwise you'll be in trouble"-, the unicorn magically pulled out a dagger that had a handle in the shape of a snake.

But Braune took the dagger that Hunk gave him,

-“Nein (No), you wouldn't have this money, it belongs to my family, it is used to pay a debt to the king”-

-"Then you're looking for trouble, take him"-.

The five delinquents attacked Braune, but he tried to defend himself with the dagger, but despite how much he trained he wasn't that good, then he attacked the unicorn, but the latter used magic to try to stop his hooves, so Braune with the His dagger tore off a piece of his cloak, that's when he managed to see the cutie mark of the unicorn, but just when the villain noticed that the pony saw the cutie mark he hit him in the chest with a sharp stab, Braune let out a loud scream.

Meanwhile at the farm Gelbes and Helen were harvesting the wheat, it seemed like a perfect day, old Hunk was taking care of the cows.

Gelbes asked Helen a question,

-"So Helen, my baby, let's repeat a bit, can you conjugate the verb to be for me?"-

-“Ja….. Ich bin ... du bist, er ist ... sie ist .... wir sind ... Sie sind ... sie sind ...”-

-"Very well, now, let's listen, what about the verb to have?"-

-“ Ich habe .... Sie haben .... er hat ..... sie hat .... wir haben .... Sie haben ... sie haben ...”-

-"Great, and now you can count from twenty to thirty?"-

-“Ja….. zwanzig ...... einundzwanzig ..... zweiundzwanzig .... dreiundzwanzig ....... vierundzwanzig ..... fünfundzwanzig ....”-,

But before Helen could finish, in the distance was Braune running towards the farmhouse.

Arrived nearby he leaned against the fence, Gelbes went to him and noticed that there was something wrong and in fact she hadn't been mistaken Braune was bleeding from his chest, Gelbes immediately called Hunk, who ran immediately, they took Braune to the kitchen and they sat down, the pony said he met the Black Feather and fought them, luckily he was able to bring back Hunk's bag of money.

But now the problem was Braune's wounds, so Hunk immediately went into town to call his doctor and asked Gelbes to put her husband to bed and stop the bleeding as much as possible.

Helen didn't know what was happening, she didn't know what to do, she wanted to enter the house, but at one point her mother came out of a window and spoke to her.

-“Bitte (Please) Helen, don't come in, now wait for your grandfather to come back”-,

-"But what's going on mom?"-

-“Nothing…..your father hurt his hoof, so we had to call the doctor, you stay in the cornfield to work, and let me know when Hunk arrives with the doctor”-,

Gelbes didn't want to alarm Helen, so she said those words to calm her down.

Helen did so, she took care of the grain, and put it on a wagon, until one point when she saw Hunk arrive with another pony, so she warned her mother, and everyone went into the house except Helen.

The little pegasus stayed in the cornfields as her mother commanded before her.

The whole afternoon passed and it was evening, Helen had collected a lot of wheat but now she was beginning to be worried about her father, so she too entered the house, where she found her mother who was praying in front of a wooden cross.

-“Oh great Merciful Pony, please save my husband, you who are the highest in Pony Heaven, and whose kingdom is infinite, please save my husband”-,

Helen hearing those words she began to feel worried, Gelbes noticed Helen and got scared,

-“Helen? What are you doing here?”

-“I was worried, I've been out all this time, what happened to dad?”-,

Gelbes certainly couldn't keep lying to Helen so she told her the truth.

Helen felt a fear come over her whole body,

-“Nein, nein, I want to see papa, my papa”-, but her mother stopped her,

-"You can't, Dr. Hans is doing everything possible to save him, you mustn't disturb him, Hunk is with him to help him, maybe you don't remember this doctor but he's the same one who healed you when you were little"-

Helen began to cry, and hugged her mother,

-“But what will happen to dad? He's not bad, he didn't do anything ”-

-"It wasn't his fault, he was a victim of the Black Feather, that group of bandits who steal from people, your father fought, but he's not very strong, but he managed to bring the money they wanted to steal from us" -

-“Das Geld ist mir egal(I don't care about the money) I want my father, my father must be well”-,

Gelbes embraced her daughter,

-"Don't worry, dad will be fine, he needs us to have faith, if you have faith in the Merciful Pony then he will be fine"-.

After another half hour, Hunk and the doctor Hans came down the stairs, Gelbes got up from her chair,

-"How is my husband?"-, the doctor was clear right away,

-"Unfortunately I did everything possible, the wounds were very deep, he should have died sooner, but I can't do more than that"-

-“What do you mean?”-

-“That unfortunately your husband won't spend the night, I'm sorry, I did everything possible”, Gelbes started to cry, Helen instead ran to her father, who was lying on the bed.

-"Dad dad"-

-“Oh Helen, my baby, mein kleines Stutfohlen (my little filly) come here”-

-“Nein papa, you mustn't die, you must stay with us”-, Helen approached her father, and he grabbed her head with a hoof,

-"You don't have to be sad my baby, your father wasn't strong, but if you don't make it I want you to take care of your mother, I want you to become strong, even if you are just a filly, you must become strong, whatever obstacle you will find on your way, you shall overcome it, you must learn to defend yourself, but you must not cry, because I will always be with you, my little filly, I will defend you as an angel from above”-

-"Don't say that dad, I want you here next to me, dad"-.

Braune kissed Helen on the forehead, Gelbes came and took their daughter away, they went down to the kitchen, and thanked Doctor Hans, Hunk felt guilty about what had happened and pounded his hoof on the table,

-"Damn it, I shouldn't have sent him alone,why right now the Black Feather had to go back to stealing from us poor people?"-

-“Don't beat yourself up Hunk, it's not your fault”-

-“Instead it's my fault, Gelbes, I had to go with him, not just give him a dagger, he wasn't a thief, but I was, despite my age I could have done it against five stupid thieves, the nice thing is that when they steal from rich people a thief is always caught, but when they steal from poor people none of them are found, in my opinion it's all a plan to rob us poor people”-

-"Don't say that Hunk, now we have to be strong, my husband will be gone, but you're still there, and then there's me, we have to go on for Helen think what a bad trauma she's going through now, I didn't want to tell her everything right away"-

-“Sooner or later I too will die, but at least I will leave you the farm, so you can live here for the rest of your life”-

-“Don't say these things in front of Helen, please, she's already upset”-.

Hunk calmed down because he saw little Helen with corn in her hooves staring the floor, and he knew he had to comfort her.

Hunk walked up to Helen and spoke to her,

-“Helen? Listen"-

-“I don't feel like talking so much”-

-"I understand how you feel, now you think that the whole world has turned gloomy, and that everything that has happened is unfair, I myself saw my wife die, only that it was an illness that took her away from me, that was a fatality"-,

Helen hugged Hunk tight and cried,

-“Why did it have to happen? I thought the Merciful Pony was protecting us, why did this have to happen to dad?”

Hunk embraced Helen,

-“It wasn't the Merciful Pony's fault, it was a coincidence, he protects us it's true, but there are still bad people around who choose to be bad, and the Black Feather is people to avoid, unfortunately we can't help it, you must be strong”-

-"Ja... even my dad told me"-

-“Indeed Helen, when your father will be gone you have to be strong, in life you have to be strong, otherwise you get overwhelmed by bad ponies, you have to become stronger, I'll take care of that, as long as I'm here I'll teach you how to survive or rather be stronger, I will protect you and teach you to be as strong and fast as I was when I was younger, but from now on you and your mother must be careful, you never know when the Black Feather will could present”-

-“Danke….grandfather, danke”-

-"Do you promise me that you will be strong, both for me and for your mother and for your father?"-

-“Ja…I will”-,

Hunk kissed Helen's forehead and then returned to Gelbes who had returned to her husband, but sadly with bad news,

-“What happened, Gelbes?”-

-“I think… ..sniff… ..Braune is no longer breathing, I tried to touch him and wake him up, but he doesn't speak, no longer gives signs of life, and isn't breathing”-

-"The wound was more serious than the doctor believed, so it really ended like this, if only I weren't so old I would go looking for the one who killed him"-

-"Nein, please, we just need to teach Helen revenge, and then how are you going to find him?"-

-“Listen, Braune told me that he managed to rip off a piece of her killer's cloak, from what he could see it must have been a blue unicorn, and as a cutie mark he had a dagger and a snake, and his weapon was a dagger with coiled snake, if I were to find it then I would match him with my skills”-

-“Nein, please don't do it, if they found out the other members would kill you, and we need you, please, don't avenge Braune, stay here with us”-

-"Okay I won't do it, but I'll make sure to protect you both, I'll see even now to go and talk to the priest of the city to think about Braune's funeral, he deserves a worthy burial"-

-“Danke Hunk”-

-"You don't have to thank me, you are my family, the only people I have left, and for this I have to thank you".

That night, it was difficult for all three to sleep, Helen slept with her mother, but could not sleep, due to the loss of her father, moreover, Gelbes and Hunk had not noticed it but Helen had managed to eavesdrop on what they had I said, so she was going to look for this blue unicorn with the dagger and snake cutie mark, then she tried to fall asleep because they had to go to the funeral the next day.

The priest had everything prepared there were four ponies with him who put Braune's body in a box, then carried it to the town cemetery.

The priest began to pray,

-“Dear Ponies, we are gathered here to say hello to a good soul, Braune Pflanze I knew him little, but he was a good believer, he always found time to come to church with his family, he was able to give a new life to the old Hunk, who had a new family and a granddaughter, now Braune will be welcomed by the gates of Pony Heaven and the angels and saints will welcome him into his new life, because he has now become immortal, the Great Merciful Pony will take him to his celestial kingdom, and there he will meet people who he has known as his parents we are here now with his body but his soul is already on its way to the kingdom of Pony Heaven, evil ponies took him away from us but he was good and he will be welcomed for his goodness ….”-,

as the priest read, Hunk saw that Helen was looking at the coffin down in the ditch, so he walked over to her,

-“You see Helen, the Big Merciful Pony has a plan for each of us, he just took your father in, it wasn't his fault he died, but as my friend Father Arthur said, the Merciful Big Pony gave us the free will, that is choosing good or evil, your father has always chosen good, but the Black Feather has chosen evil, you don't have to be sad because your mother and I will think of you”-

-"Okay, Danke, grandpa"-,

Helen threw a flower into the grave then hugged Hunk and started crying again.

To be continued…..

My Little Pony By Lauren Faust and Hasbro

Ein guter Großvater

Ein guter Großvater

A good grandfather

It had already been a year since the death of Braune Pflanze, and Helen was already seven years old, but Helen missed her father, but her mother always told her that her father was watching her from Pony Paradise and that he always loved her, her grandfather Hunk consoled her too, however Helen was always busy, she helped her mother with both the housework and the cooking, and then sometimes she helped her grandfather with the garden, the cows, and the stall in the village, and despite these commitments she always managed to read something, sometimes there were friars who came to the village to sell books, and Hunk bought them especially for his niece.

One day Hunk was talking to Gelbes while Helen was tending the garden.

-"I still think about Braune's words, when he described to me his killer"-

-“Bitte, denk nicht wieder an diesen Schlingel (Please don't think about that scoundrel again), I don't want Helen to hear us again about that unicorn that killed her father“-

-“But if I find him, I will kill him, and then in this way I would eliminate a member of the Black Feather“-

-“Please, Hunk, don't do it, we need you, and then if you kill one, the others will come to kill you“-

-“But I have to find him, he killed your husband, and my new son“-

-“But what happens if a group of those thieves surround you and kill you? What are Helen and I going to do without you?”-

-“What did you think? Could I live forever? Sooner or later I would have died of old age“-

-“When that day comes, Helen and I will see what to do, but you're here now, and that's what's important“-

-“The biggest problem is that I wouldn't want to leave you alone, and you will also be defenceless“-

-“That's true, we can't fight, but if something should happen, we can always turn to the royal guards“-

-“They are all corrupted ponies or unicorns, they don't help poor people, unless they have friendships among the poor, and unfortunately I don't have any, since there is still someone who judges me for my past as a thief”-

-“They're just idiots, they don't know your heart, anyway I'm going back inside to cook some more“-

-“Ich stimme zu (I agree) I think I will help Helen with the cows“-

-"Sometimes I wish you didn't go so far from home, I'd rather be able to see my Helen, but the thought of you protecting her makes me feel good"-

-“Good, see you later then“-.

Hunk took his three cows and brought Helen with him, as was her custom, they drove the cows into the fields around the city to graze them, they did it in the morning or in the afternoon.

But what Gelbes Mehl didn't know is that Hunk had been teaching Helen for a few months how to use the dagger, they kept it hidden from Gelbes, because she didn't want Helen to use weapons, however, Hunk didn't teach Helen to use the dagger to avenge her father's death, he trained her to defend herself against the dangers outside the walls.

The two of them always went to a field with various trees, where Helen learned fighting stances, just like Hunk did in his youth, at first Helen was not happy either learning to fight or lying to her mother, but one day when she and Hunk were taking the cows to pasture, Helen saw a huge spider in a tree, she took Hunk's dagger and killed him, first she stabbed him in the abdomen, then with a quick movement she managed to cut him in two.

From that moment Hunk understood that Helen had talent in using the dagger, but she had to train her secretly, as her mother would not accept such a thing, but Hunk absolutely wanted to train Helen to fight in case of danger.

He also noticed that Helen was quick to run and fly so he would train her to run around the fields, sometimes Hunk would ask the other farmers to release their pigs, calves and chickens so Helen would train grabbing fast animals, and by doing so she would increase her strength and speed, because this was how Hunk trained as a young pony, and with this method she could fight smart and fast thieves and he could also fight Wechselbalg (Changelings) and other creatures whom he killed together with his companions.

Hunk sat by his cows carving wood while Helen practiced hitting trees with the dagger.

-“That's fine Helen, a little faster“-

-“Ja, it's okay, grandpa“-,

After the first few times Helen didn't mind that training, because in this way she would have protected her mother and grandfather, also because thanks to him and the books she read she was educated about the monsters that roamed Germaneighy, the mountains, the woods, in the plains and sometimes even at night in the cities.

Sometimes Hunk also told her that he had fought against ferocious creatures such as Trolls and Wechselbalg, and if she would one day be alone he advised her to use not only strength but also brain, while he might have been able to hold his own against a Wechselbalg, he sure as Pony hell couldn't fight a big Troll.

-“If you had to run don't think you're a coward, but smart, because the Trolls are big and you wouldn't make it alone, you're still a filly“-

-“Ich bin kein kleines Stutfohlen mehr, jetzt bin ich 7 Jahre alt, (I am no longer a filly, now I am 7 years old)“-

-"You mustn't think you are already strong, first you must be strong in your brain, then in your muscles, your advantage is being a pegasus and therefore you are very fast, moreover you can fly, use your brain often, because you are an intelligent filly and I am sure you will use your brain well in your life“-

-“And how could I use my brain in combat?”-

-"Simple, first you study your enemy, sometimes you have to be quick in making decisions and check the enemy's weak points, then you work out a strategy, I did it too when I was young, for example the Trolls are big and slow, so they can't run fast, so you who are fast have the advantage“-

-“So I should use my brain more than my muscles?”-

-"You have to decide when to use your brain and when your muscles, because to win you have to use both, and not just one of the two"-

-“Okay, then I have to use both“-.

At one point a farmer pony called Hunk to tell him there was a problem, there was an invasion of wolpertingers in the field, Helen asked Hunk what was going on.

-“There are wolpertingers around here, Helen, do you know what they are?”-

-“Ja, they are carnivorous rodent species and they attack ponies as well as cows and chickens“-

-“Then stay here they are dangerous“-

-“But I also want to help, they are just animals, now I'm ready to fight“-

-"I trained you, and I decide when you are ready, you killed two dangerous spiders, but wolpertingers are fast, they scratch and bite, they are not poisonous but you could get some bad wounds, especially if they attack you in group"-

-“But I also want to give a hoof“-,

Hunk tried to explain to Helen that she could be in bad danger, but the pegasus didn't want to hear the reason, so he took the dagger back and left her where she was.

But Helen was stubborn so she followed her grandfather, and saw him and the other farmer pony using daggers and an old sword in the middle of the fields, Helen got closer, but as she got closer to the two ponies something caught her attention , there was a sound of footsteps in the tall grass, Helen turned slowly towards the noise and saw that it was a wolpertinger, just like she had seen in the books, it was a large hybrid animal of various animals, the head was that of a rabbit, the body was that of a squirrel, the legs and wings those of a pheasant, and it also had small deer antlers on its head.

Helen was scared and ran away, but the animal followed her, Helen ran, but then she found herself in front of two other wolpertingers, so she decided to fly, but those beasts also flew, and one of them clawed Helen's hind leg, so she lost her balance and fell on the grass, after that splash, other wolpertingers rushed at her, Hunk realized what was happening and went to help his granddaughter, but Helen got up, pulled another dagger from her pocket and kicked and stabbed around her to hit those beasts, and she succeeded, she hit each of those creatures very fast, first with the dagger then with the kicks, after a while around her there were the bodies of seven wolpertingers .

Hunk was amazed at how fast Helen had moved, and also how strong she was to take down those wolpertingers they were fast and biting, no doubt, she had taught her niece well how to use the dagger, but one question had to do to her.

-“Helen? Where did you get this dagger? What I gave you I took back” – the pegasus was a little hesitant, but she didn't want to lie to her grandfather,

-"I have, I took it from your pocket"-,

Hunk checked his pockets and besides the dagger he had in his hoof he had two in his right pocket, but after Helen's words he saw that there was only one dagger, just the one Helen had in her hoof,

-“And when did you get it?”-

-"Before you left, I saw your pocket and took it"-

-"And how come I didn't notice it?"-

-“You said that I'm fast“-,

Hunk couldn't believe it, as had Helen, a filly so young to have taken his dagger without him noticing? To him, an old pony but still an expert thief.

-“Where did you learn to make such quick gestures? Who taught you?"-

-“Nobody, I taught myself collecting the eggs from the chickens, and the fruit from the trees“-

-“Did you teach yourself just with eggs and fruit?”-

-“The hens always pecked at my hoof when I was collecting eggs, so I always tried to be faster with both hooves, they don't peck me anymore I'm so fast that I take the eggs while they sleep“-

-"I understand, usually I collect the eggs, the hens know me, your mother instead puts the food outside to let them out and your father did it too, instead you used your own method"-

-"I was wrong?"-

-“Listen to me Helen, have you ever taken something that doesn't belong to you without asking someone's permission? Let's say, as if I wanted to steal it“-

-"Nein, I only did it with fruit, eggs, and now with your dagger"-

-"Because you were so fast that I didn't notice, I may be old, but I'm still an experienced thief, instead you took my dagger so fast that if you didn't tell me I wouldn't have known, you must promise me that you will not use this technique to steal"-

-“I know that stealing is wrong, so I won't do it, so I promise you“-

-"I did it to do good, maybe if I still knew someone from the Roter Specht(Red Woodpecker) you would have been an excellent thief, but I don't want your mother to know it"-

-"Seriously? Would I have been a good thief?”

-"Ja, but you needed a little more training, but you would have stolen from the Black Feather and the bad ponies, to donate to the poor ponies, but that's between you and me"-

-"All right"-

-“Now let's go home, take the cows and see if we can put some herbal cream on your wound“-.

So grandpa and grandaughter went home with the cows, Gelbes was glad they were okay, then she saw Hunk putting medicinal cream on Helen's leg.

-“Oh mein Gott (Oh my God) But what happened to Helen?“-, Helen wanted to tell her mother the truth, but Hunk motioned her to shut up and so he spoke,

-"Nothing serious, Helen just fell into a bramble bush and she cut herself, now I'm treating her with this cream that Dr. Hans gave me, you don't have to worry"-

-"Thank goodness, I thought it was worse, it looked like a scratch"-

-“Nein, it's a scratch, but caused by brambles, you don't have to be scared“-.

Gelbes then set the table and food for everyone, but Helen thought about the fact that she was lying to her mother, and she didn't like it, but if she told the truth, her mother would have taken it out on Hunk, and Helen didn't want that, so she preferred to keep quiet.

She only thought about eating the soup, also because they would have eaten cheese afterwards and she liked cheese very much.

The next day, Helen took the cows alone for a walk, but this time she had a dagger, which Hunk had given her, Helen was getting faster with training, she just had to get stronger, she knew that one day her mother would have asked her how she got stronger, but that day wasn't today, she still used that dagger to do other things like pruning branches and carving wood, in fact one of the things she had learned by herself was to look at Hunk like he was carving wood, it was enough for her to look and she memorized and learned, it seemed that her intelligence increased with everything she learned, at that moment she was carving a cow from a branch.

At the end of the work Helen created a small wooden cow, sometimes she thought how nice it would be to get out of the city and walk around, but her mother told her it wasn't worth it, because there were dangers both in the forests and in the plains , and you had to be well armed to survive, but Helen wanted to see what the world was like outside the city, the only way to learn new things was to read the books she had, she read them and reread them, and then she bought some new ones.

Then from a distance she saw some hooded ponies that were going to one of the farms near theirs, Helen thought they were thieves, but she wasn't ready to face bigger ponies than her, so she stayed there, because she didn't want to get in trouble, she thought that it was better to stay there and look after the cows.

So she just watched the cows and continued to carve wood.

Some time passed and Helen saw her grandfather calling her from afar, called the cows together and returned to the farm.

When she got home she saw that Hunk was upset, she wanted to know what happened,

-“What's going on, grandpa?”-

-"I saw it Helen, I saw it"-

-"Who?"-

-“The blue unicorn, with the cutie mark of the dagger and the snake, the one who killed your father“-

-"Seriously? Was it one of the hooded ponies?”

-"Ja, it was really him, I tried to kill him, but he was faster, and he went away, I'm sure he will come back, it's a matter of time, I'm sure he will come back now that I know who he is"-

-“Oh nein, what should we do?”-

-"We have to close the doors and windows properly, that unicorn will come back, and I'll be ready, don't do anything hasty, I'll be the one to kill him"-

-"But it's dangerous, grandpa"-

-“Ja, I know, but I still have to make him pay for what he did to your father, and then I'll eliminate a member of the Black Feather“-.

Gelbes Mehl was not happy with the speech that Hunk did to Helen, she didn't want revenge, and she was worried about what happened, so she sent Helen into the bedroom and talked to Hunk.

-“You can't be crazy Hunk, what kind of example do you want to give to Helen?“-

-"I just wanted to avenge her father, make the Black Feather pay, I've always fought against them, and now that I'm old I have the chance to fight again"-

-"You can't make this gesture of pride, what would happen to you if you lost?"-

-"The document for the ownership of the house is in my room anyway, if something happened to me the house would belong to you"-

-"But I don't want you to die"-

-"You have to go on even without me, but you'll see that no one will hurt my family, I won't lose you two too"-

Gelbes Mehl was even more worried, so she closed the doors and windows tightly to prevent anyone from entering, it would have been worse if there had been more thieves, she wanted no one to get hurt so she started praying.

-“Oh Mighty Merciful Pony, don't let anything happen to this family, I can't lose Hunk, after my husband's death I already wouldn't know what to do, and also protect my sweet Helen“-.

It was getting late, and so while Hunk was on watch in her room, Gelbes and Helen went to sleep, but the big pegasus couldn't sleep with the thought that some ponies would come into the house during the night.

Suddenly while she was trying to sleep she felt a bad smell, she went downstairs and went to check, she heard the cows mooing in fear, and Gelbes saw a bad thing, the house was on fire.

She ran to quickly wake Helen up to tell her to run out of her room and then she called Hunk.

-“Hunk? Komm schon, das Haus brennt (Hunk? Hurry, the house is on fire)“-

-“Was? How can it be? “-

-“Don't think and let's run outside, Helen has already run out“-,

So Gelbes and Hunk ran outside,

Gelbes ran to hug Helen and all three saw their poor house on fire,

-“How could this have happened?”- asked Gelbes,

but Hunk already knew the answer

-"I know, it was that blue unicorn of the Black Feather, to get us out of the way he set fire to our house"-

-“ We could have died, thank goodness I couldn't sleep and I smelled the smoke“-

-“One moment“-, Hunk remembered one thing,

-“What's up, Hunk?”-

-"My document where I leave the farm, I left it next to my bed, without that document the farm could be sold, I have to go and get it back"-

-"You're crazy? You will burn yourself“-

-"It will mean that I will throw myself into the well as soon as I run out, but that document is needed, I have to go immediately"-

-“HUNK, NEIN“-, but Hunk ran inside the house to his room he had to retrieve that document, Gelbes and Helen were worried, so the mother took a bucket of water from the well as soon as she would see Hunk come out.

But after almost a minute Hunk still hadn't come out, but then a scream was heard inside the house, it was Hunk's voice,

Helen got scared,

-“Grandpa? Grandpa where are you? "-, The filly wanted to enter the house, but her mother stopped her,

-“Don't move Helen, it's dangerous“-

-“Aber Großvater ist in Gefahr, ich muss ihm helfen (But grandfather is in danger, I have to help him“-

-“HELEN“-,

Helen managed to escape her mother's grasp and ran inside the house, she saw that Hunk was not in the kitchen, nor on the stairs, then she ran into the room where he had gone and what she saw shocked her.

Hunk was lying on the floor with blood, and next to him was a blue unicorn with a cape, he had Hunk's document in his hoof and burned it with the flames of the bed.

-“Du ... du ... du hast meinen Großvater getötet, MÖRDER (You....you...you killed my grandfather, MURDERER)“-

Helen went at him with the dagger that Hunk gave him, but the unicorn dodged her, however, Helen hit him hard on the hoof making a wound, then she tried to rip off his long cloak and saw his cutie mark, a dagger and a snake, it was he who killed her father, the unicorn spoke to her,

-“You saw me, and you saw my cutie mark, I just killed Hunk, but I'll come back to kill you“-, having said that, the unicorn ran away from the window.

Helen was trying to bring Hunk to life, but he didn't say a word, he wasn't even breathing and it was too heavy for her to carry him down, so she ran out of the room and back to her mom.

Poor Helen cried as she explained what had happened upstairs, and Gelbes hugged her tightly to keep her calm.

Later some pegasi guards arrived who used a cloud to put out the fire, the animals were fine, but unfortunately Hunk was already dead, even if Gelbes called Doctor Hans, he said there was nothing to do, Hunk had been hit in a vital spot, and the worst of it was that the killer wanted to kill Helen.

Gelbes didn't know if it was wise to stay there, even though the farmhouse was damaged by the fire, and sadly some guards said they could not stay there, as Hunk had died and the papers to inherit the farm had been burned they could no longer live there, Gelbes considered going to the notary to get a copy of the papers, but sadly discovered that the office of the notary had burned down and that many documents had been lost.

Gelbes didn't know what to do, they had lost everything, the only thing left to do was bury poor Hunk, Doctor Hans was also present at the funeral, Helen cried a lot.

-“Weine nicht Helen, Großvater ist jetzt im PonyHimmel (Don't cry Helen, now grandpa is in Ponyparadise)“-

-“Und was machen wir jetzt, Mama? Wo werden wir wohnen?(And now what do we do mom? Where will we live?)“-

-“I don't know, Helen, we'll think of something“-.

To be Continued….

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust & Hasbro

Das kloster

Das kloster

The monastery

During the journey there were dangers, but fortunately Axel knew how to avoid them, in the case of the Wechselbalg however, Axel had no difficulty in defeating them all.

One evening they camped under an oak tree, Axel and Helen ate, while Stachel instead set about looking for stones which he ate.

-“Stachel, don't eat stones they hurt you“-

-“Actually, rock dragons have no problem eating stones, they are like gems to them“-

-“Are you sure Axel?”-

-"Trust me, in the monastery we have many rock dragons who live with us and sometimes help us, there are many of them, we offer them hospitality, and they in return defend us from intruders and help us, there are many of medium size, and a big one, but he's lazy, but he throws certain flare-ups"-

-“So then you know rock dragons well?”-

-“Ja, I lived there for a long time, I think Stachel will like being with them, so you can keep him“-

-"But I don't understand how he fired that flame at that assassin, he's still small"-

-"He did it when you hugged him, he evidently saw you in danger and he wanted to save you"-

-"In fact, I can't get him to do it again"-

-“You have to wait for the right moment, rather can you defend yourself? You didn't seem very prepared against that unicorn, compared to when you faced the Wechselbalg“-

-"I…never fought stronger enemies, Grandpa Hunk once told me that if I had the chance I could become a good member of the Red Woodpecker, but I still don't know how to fight well"-

-“So Hunk said this?“-.

Axel stopped for a moment to think, Helen didn't understand why that silence, but she didn't have to wait long because Axel asked her

-“Helen? Would you like to be part of the Red Woodpecker?” –

-"Why? Do you think me capable enough? Besides, I don't think my mother would approve of me becoming a thief."

-"but you will be a thief who will do good, we fight the Black Feather and steal from the selfish and the undeserving, and give everything to the needy poor, Hunk and Father Arthur were among the best, and now…now I'm here together to many other unicorns and pegasi, in the monastery occasionally members of the Red Woodpecker from various parts of Germaneighy come to visit us, but for the moment there are only three of us in the monastery, and that is me and two of my friends, a unicorn and a Pegasus, I'll teach you everything, you told me you've already dealt with your fast hoof“-

-“Ja, I took Grandpa Hunk's dagger without him noticing“-

-“Although old he still had good reflexes, so this is already a plus point for you, when we get to Eichel monastery, I'll try to teach you how to use daggers, and improve your thieving techniques, and maybe they'll teach you, also Tom and Astrid“-

-"Who are they?"-

-"They are a brother and a sister, they are my friends thieves, he is good with the sword, she is good with the bow, currently...it's true I didn't tell you, now I am the boss of the Red Woodpecker"-

-"It's you?"-

-"It was Father Arthur himself who made me boss, and my motto is don't leave any of my companions behind, if you are in danger I will save you, after all your mother wanted you to be strong"-

-“I wish I could be strong, so I would stand up for myself, and one day I will kill that assassin“-

-“The first part is good, but the second part is bad, you don't have to train for revenge, it may happen that a bad guy deserves to die if he's going to kill you, but it's worth killing monsters more than ponies, believe me, I'm not telling you , but Father Rufus would tell you, and I know him well, after all he has been my father all these years, you have to trust him“-

-“ When will we get to the monastery?“-

-“Tomorrow, we just have to cross a couple of lands and we arrived at Eichel, and then straight to the monastery, now try to sleep, I will keep watch“-.

Helen fell asleep on the wagon, and Stachel sat next to her, who knows what it would have been like for her to go and live in the monastery.

When dawn came, Axel resumed his journey with Helen still asleep, and he too was eager to get a good night's sleep once he returned to the monastery.

Here they came to Eichel, it was a pretty big town, much bigger than Kieselstein, with a big castle, and taverns and lots of nice houses, and on the right side a big monastery surrounded by walls, you could see the building as it was large and nearby was a beautiful church, Axel thought of waking Helen to show her the monastery, and she was immediately surprised at how big it was.

Axel tried to get to the monastery immediately to see what he called his family, and when he reached the door he opened it with magic, entered, then rang a bell near the door, then turned to Helen.

-“ Wait for me here, I'll go talk to them, so I'll prepare them for the surprise“-

-"All right"-.

Axel approached the building

-“Hey people, it's me, Axel Jewel, I'm back“-.

The door to the building opened and three ponies came out and were happy to see Axel.

The first was a big dark brown pony, without a mane, he was a friar and wore a brown habit, he approached Axel and hugged him,

-“ oooh Axel, finally, praise the Merciful One, my prayers have been heard, my son, how long I have waited for you“-

-“Father Rufus, I will never be old to refuse his big hugs“-, then a dark blue unicorn arrived, with a light green mane, he had a goatee and was wearing a shirt with a brown cape, and he too hugged Axel,

-“Willkommen zurück Axel(Welcome back Axel), it's good to see you again“-

-“It's good to see you too, Tom“-, the third pony was a light green pegasus, with a dark blue mane, her tail was partly green and partly blue, she had freckles on her forehead, and she wore a shirt with yellow maths.

-“How was the trip Axel? “-

-"It went well Astrid, actually I should tell you about something, first of all now we have a cart"-,

The friar saw the cart,

-“Axel? Who did you steal that cart from?”

-"I didn't steal it, it belonged to Hunk"-

-“Ah, and how is your grandfather?“-,

Helen managed to hear that sentence and was surprised, then the friar saw it and asked Axel,

-"but sorry Axel, who is that filly? Don't tell me you kidnapped a filly?”

-“Was? Nein, I haven't kidnapped anyone, she is….well, it's a very long story, and I wanted to ask dear father if it is possible to keep her with us“-

-“Was? Do you want to keep a filly here?”-

-"Why not? Don't we host poor families here?”-

-"Ja, but…. She is alone, where are her parents?"-

-“They died, as did her grandfather, who was also my grandfather, Hunk took care of her, but he was killed by the Black Feather in a fire“-

-“Oh poor Hunk, just when you decided to visit him, he died“-

-"Father Rufus, if you are really pure of heart, you cannot deny hospitality to that filly, if you knew her story as I do"-, Astrid intervened,

-“Nein, Axel, a monastery is not a suitable place for a filly, and I don't want any foals around here“-

-“Come on Astrid, don't be like that, I'm sure if you met Helen you'd like her, she's so sweet“-

-“In my opinion you should take her to an orphanage, so she will be adopted“-

-"I can't… .the poor thing is in danger, the Black Feather is looking for her, she saw the cutie mark of one of the members who killed her father, Hunk, and Dr. Hans"-,

Father Rufus was frightened,

-“Dr. Hans was killed?“-

-"Believe me Father Rufus, I did everything possible, but I didn't make it, poor Helen's mother was also poisoned"-

-“Oh poor baby“-, then spoke Tom,

-"Poor thing, if she saw her family die then we should keep her with us, and protect her from the Black Feather, it never entered here anyway"-,

But Astrid was against it,

-“not at all, I don't want colts or fillies in here“-

Axel interrupted her,

-“Stop it Astrid, we know very well that you hate foals“-

-"ja, and in fact I don't want her here"-

-“I can't take her anywhere else, if the Black Feather finds her, she's dead, you want to have her on your conscience, and then… .I promised her to become a member of the Red Woodpecker“-,

all three ponies were surprised especially Astrid who replied,

"Are you crazy? Did you promise her to become our member?”-

-"And she' managed to steal or rather sneak a dagger from Hunk, and only I could do it to such a degree"-

-“Father Rufus? Don’t you say anything?”

-“We cannot say no to a poor little sheep who is desperately looking for a flock, the Merciful says: Knock and it will be opened to you“-

-“But are you sincere? Do you really want that filly to become a thief like us?”

-"I don't want it, but it will be up to her to choose, and then I remind you dear Astrid, that I welcomed three little foals here at the monastery who needed help, and what did I do?"-

-“Umpf, you took them in and raised them as your own children“-

-“And who are these lucky ponies?”-

-“It's me, Tom and Axel“-,

Father Rufus turned to Axel

-“Go and get that filly, she must be hungry after such a journey“-.

Axel approached the cart,

-“Hey, Helen, I convinced Father Rufus……“-

-"Why didn’t you tell me? “-

-“Was?”-

-“Why didn't you tell me that Hunk was your grandfather? He said he hadn't seen his grandchildren for a long time, so you abandoned him?”

-“nein, I hadn't abandoned him, but every now and then I visited him, but without him seeing me, and now that he's dead…listen, I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you that he was my grandfather, I know, I'm a terrible nephew, say what you want, but now come with me and I'll introduce you to my family“-.

Helen looked around and saw two rock dragons as described by Axel, it was medium sized, there was also a female and a large one that looked like a giant tortoise with a shell made of rocks, Helen told Stachel to go and see the dragons, then she followed Axel.

Axel brought her close to Father Rufus, who looked at her,

-"Hello baby, what's your name?"-

-“He….Helen Pflanze“-

-“Helen? A really nice name, come with me, you will surely be hungry“-,

Father Rufus accompanied Helen to the dining hall, while Astrid instead spoke to Axel,

-"Look, I understand why you're doing it, it's because of your sister"-

-"Don't mention my sister"-

-“But it's the truth, right? It's to stop feeling guilty about what you've done in the past."

-"Well, maybe yes, but that little filly needs help, and I want to help her, come inside and I'll tell you her story, come you too, Tom"-

-"I’m here"-.

So all five found themselves in the monastery canteen, Father Rufus gave some good bread, cheese and a cup of milk to Helen, who, being very hungry, immediately drank from her cup.

And while she was eating Axel told them clearly everything that Helen had told him about her, about her arrival in Kieselstein, about Hunk, about her childhood and unfortunately about all the misfortunes she had gone through.

Tom was moved,

-"It's a very sad story, she had given new life to poor Hunk, who had welcomed her as a new niece, she had a new family, and instead the Black Feather took everything from her"-,

Father Rufus was also moved,

-"We can't abandon her, the Black Feather has never come here, so she's safe, we could use a couple more hooves"-, Astrid was always against

-“Father Rufus, aren't you really going to let her stay here?”-

-“And where? In the orphanage? Axel is right if in case they find her she would be safer here with us than anywhere else"-

-"But where do we put her?"-

-“We have a lot of free rooms, both for the friars who come to visit us and for hosting poor families, but I suggest not to leave her alone, so I think it would be better for her if she stays in the room with you“-

-“IN THE ROOM WITH ME? But Father have you perhaps gone mad? Should I share my room with her?”-

-"Why not? You have two beds“-

-"Ja, but I use one for my friends who come to visit me"-

-“But no other member of the Woodpecker has stopped to sleep here for months, so it's a great place for Helen and then you're a mare, a female, so you could develop a bond with her, you could be like an older sister for her"-

-"I won't develop anything with her"-

-“That's enough, Astrid, you have to stop, always thinking about the past will get you nowhere, Helen will sleep with you, I said so and so it will be, I'm still the one in command after Father Arthur, so what I say goes done, got it?”

Astrid kept silent, never in her life had Father Rufus yelled at her, so she had to accept Father's conditions.

-“ Okay, Vater, Helen bleibt bei mir im Zimmer (Okay Father, Helen will stay in the room with me)“-

-“And I want you to stop acting like this, you have suffered in the past, but Helen is not responsible for what you suffered“-,

Axel interrupted Father Rufus,

-"Father? But…does you also do it to eliminate feelings of guilt?”-

-“Was?“-, in that moment Astrid understood,

-“Wait a moment, you too Father? Now I understand why you’re already attached to Helen" -

-“ Of course, the poor thing is defenseless and without a family“-

-"Remember that you really can't tell lies, you are doing the same thing as Axel, you want to protect that filly for the mistakes you made in the past, especially because her name is Helen"-

-“Astrid, I won't allow you to raise your voice“-

-"But it's the truth, you only do it for a selfish reason, you want to stop feeling guilty about the mistake you made, and therefore trying to help this filly try to forgive yourself"-

-“Ok, you're right, but it's also true that the little one needs protection, would you like to deny it? Have you forgotten all that I have done for you? And your brother?"-,

Tom answered and sat Astrid down again,

-“Nein Vater, we have never forgotten that, that is why we have never abandoned you“-,

Father Rufus calmed down too,

-“You are free to go whenever you want, you have no debts to me“-

-"but we are a family, that's why this place is not just our base but also our home, we could never abandon you Father, you raised us like a real father"-

-“Do you see Astrid? Your brother Tom is wiser than you“-, Astrid snorted,

-“I was the smart one among the three of us once“-, Axel stopped everyone because he noticed something,

-"Stop everyone, what happened to Helen?"-,

Indeed as busy as they were arguing no one noticed that Helen was missing, Axel was worried,

-“Where could she have ended up? I don't want Astrid's speeches to have frightened or demoralized her." So all four of them started looking for her outside the canteen and called her.

At one point Father Rufus noticed something in his pockets that was missing,

-“Hey Axel? Did you by any chance take my set of keys?”

-“Why should I Father? Those are the keys to the library"-

-“Then maybe it was Astrid“-

-“But what does Father say? If I need the keys to the library, I'll ask for them"-

-“ But once you stole them“-

-“But I was a filly and I liked books, well, I still like them“-, then Father Rufus reflected,

-“Now that I think about it…..Axel said that Helen likes books“-.

So the friar went to see the door that was near the canteen and saw that it was open, he went in and in fact he found Helen inside, who was seeing all those beautiful shelves of books as far as the eye could see, she was doing nothing, she was just looking at those books, he approached her.

-“Hallo Helen (Hello Helen)“-,

Helen wasn't surprised, she had heard the friar coming, so she just turned to him, then she went back to looking at the books,

-“ Oh, hallo Vater Rufus (Oh, hello Father Rufus)“-

-"What are you doing here?"-

-“I don't know, when Axel brought me here and I noticed that door and wondered what was inside“-

-“And tell me the truth, did you steal my keys?”-

-“Ja, you can take them back“-, Helen took the bunch of keys and handed it to the friar, and he took it back,

-“When did you take them from me?“-

-“When you argued with that nasty pegasus“-

-“And how did you know that these keys belonged to this place?”-

-“I didn't know, I just noticed those keys and thought that one of them might be the right one“-

-“ Only Astrid managed to steal my library keys without me noticing“-

-“What is a library?”-

-“It is this place, a place where many and many books are collected, I often buy them in the city or in other cities, while others are written by other friars, are you disappointed? Were you hoping to find something else in it?”

-“Nein, to tell the truth, I'm happy, I had never seen so many books, to be able to read, to read again“-

-“Axel told me that you like to read, and he told me that your mother wanted an education for you, and that old Hunk would have liked to bring you here“-, Helen hugged the friar and cried,

-"Why? Why are they dead? Why didn't the Merciful Pony help us?“-

-“Don't say that Helen, the Merciful Pony is always watching over us, it's not his fault your family died, it's all the Black Feather's fault, but you see the Big Merciful Pony allowed you to come here, he sent Axel who stood up for you and brought you here, otherwise you would have already died, now listen, do you really like books so much?”-

-“Ja“-

-"And would you like to get an education, so you will please your mother who is in Ponyparadise?"-

-“Ja“-

-“So let's do one thing, the other friars and I will be your teachers, I'll teach you everything I can, you won't have to spend a penny, you'll study together with the other city colts who come here to study, and you'll also help me with the chores monastery, we also have a farm here, you will help me with the cows, the sheep, the hens, and also the vegetable garden, here we also take care of the rock dragons who protect us from various intruders, and on other occasions you will also help me keep the church clean, and once a day I will take you to church with me, you will eat with us at the canteen, and you can read all the books you want , I will also teach you some languages and since you need to defend yourself, Axel will train you“-

Helen stopped crying, and she was happy,

-“Does this…does this mean I can stay here, even though Astrid hates me?”-

-"It's not true that she hates you, she's just a little jealous because she was the only filly in the monastery, she likes books too, she's just a little jealous of you, because now she thinks I won't love her anymore now that there you are"-

-“Danke, Father Rufus“-,

-“I have always been like a father to Axel, Tom and Astrid, I raised them more than the other friars, that's why they respect and love me like a father, and maybe I could be a father to you too“-.

Father Rufus took Helen out of the library and outside there were Axel and Tom who saw them, Axel congratulated the friar,

-“Sehr gut Pater Rufus, er hat sie wiedergefunden (Very good Father Rufus, you found her)“-

-" She was just curious to see what was behind that door simple curiosity, and I have already made a promise to her, I will make her do the same things I did with you to raise you"-

-“Ach, won't you turn her into a perfect church filly?”-

-“Not really, but in a perfect studious and intelligent filly“-, Tom replied,

-“I'm happy, so we'll have another Astrid“-, Axel wasn't happy,

-"I hope not, it's already too much to have one of her like her"-, Tom approached Helen,

-“Hey Helen, Axel told me that he wants to train you with the dagger“-

-"It is true"-

-"I'm much better with the sword, I teach the colts of rich families, I could teach you too, so you'll be safe from the Wechselbalg and other monsters you might encounter, trust me, if you'll be my student you'll become strong in no time" -

-“Ich hoffe es, aber ich habe kein Schwert (I hope so, but I don't have a sword)“-

-“We'll start with wooden swords, then one day I'll make you a sword just for you, if you're already good enough“-

-“Danke Tom“-.

Just then a bang was heard from part of the monastery, Father Rufus knew what it was,

-“Nein, it's Father Sylvester again with his experiments“-, all four went to check the back of the monastery, and they saw a big shack from which smoke was coming out, they entered it, and inside there was an old friar pony with gray fur, a white beard and glasses, Rufus spoke to him,

-“Sylvester? How many times have I told you that you mustn't do these things because you would put someone in danger? “-

-“Dear Rufus, this is science, without science it cannot go on, I have a lot of things to experiment“-

-“ Aber wie oft muss ich dir sagen, dass du vorsichtig sein sollst? (But how many times do I have to tell you to be careful?)“-

-“I'm paying attention, but I have to do new experiments“-.

Helen looked around, it was full of stills, test tubes and glass containers that she had never seen, there were various tables, and she saw small crystals of different colors, and then she saw a book, many pages were written, the one that she saw were experiments written in various details, other pages were blank, Sylvester approached her,

-"Be careful baby, I wrote this book, it's my science notes"-

-“Did you write it? What is it about?”

-“Don't you know science? By the way who are you? I may be old but my memory isn't bad yet“-, Rufus introduced her,

-“She is Helen Pflanze, she is an orphan who will stay with us from today, and she is a filly who loves books“-

-"Interesting, so you don't know what science is?"-

-“Nein“-

-"See, now I'll explain what I do here after morning mass and meals, here I experiment"-

-“ Und diese Kristalle? (And these crystals?)“-

-“ Rock dragons give them to me, sometimes magic crystals grow from their scales, they are the descendants of crystal dragons, but they are not evil and they only know how to use the power of the rock, usually they eat those crystals…. “-

-“Disgusting, it's like I eat my feather“-

-“Yes, indeed it is a bit disgusting, but these crystals are magical, and if used with other crystals you can obtain different magical effects“-,

Helen seemed quite interested in what the old pony was saying, so Rufus, Axel and Tom walked away slowly,

-“I always thought that Sylvester didn't have his head and that none of us would go near him“-

-"And instead Father Rufus was wrong, he found someone to talk about science with, indeed given how interested Helen seemed maybe she could take her as an assistant like he tried to do with Astrid"-

-“Oh Eternal Pony, if it happens I hope Helen doesn't get hurt“-

-“I'm sure Helen will pay more attention than Father Sylvester“-.

At one point Tom noticed Astrid calling to him.

So he came over to her

-“Oh Astrid, dear little sister, we found her“-

-"I understood this, and I also heard that you offered to teach her how to use a sword, why such generosity?"-

-“ Vielleicht hast du es nicht verstanden (Maybe you don't understand), she stole the dagger from Hunk, and she stole the library keys from Father Rufus, like you did, maybe that filly has some talent, she can be a new member of the Red Woodpecker, and I want to help her, I'll help her use the sword, and then…..you could help her shoot the bow“-

-“Forget it, I won't do anything like that, she will never be a member of ours and she won't be a student of mine, it's already been a long time since I'll have to sleep with her“-

-“ Why are you so mean? Why do you hate foals?“-

-"Leave me alone"-.

Helen spent part of the day observing the monastery, and she would have liked to see it all, but then it was evening, and it was time to go to sleep, Father Rufus ordered Astrid to accompany her to her room.

And the green pegasus obeyed, she took her to a large room with a table and several candles, a mirror on the wall and a wooden cross and two large beds.

Helen went to the bed indicated to her by Astrid,

-“Wow, it's soft, how nice, it's been such a beautiful day I met all of you, and now I'm looking forward to learning a lot of things, and……I would like to meet you too Astrid“-,

but the great pegasus with disgust answered her,

-"I don't have much to tell you, I'm just the best archer of the Woodpecker, and I warn you, don't hope to become a member of our gang, because you're too young, how old are you?"-

-"Seven, but in a couple of months I'll be eight"-

-“Look, just because I have to obey Father Rufus, doesn't mean you have to be my friend, leave me alone and maybe I won't hit you“-

-"But why are you acting like this with me?"-

-“None of your business, and now, good night“-

-“ But I wanted to be your friend“-

-“ Ich sagte GUTE NACHT (I said GOODNIGHT) “-

-“ In Ordnung, gute Nacht (All right, good night)“-.

Despite Astrid's bad behavior, Helen was happy to have met the others, Father Rufus seemed like a good hearted pony and Tom too, Father Sylvester was a little crazy, but very intelligent, and who knows how many things she would have learned in that monastery.

To be continued…….

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust & Hasbro

Das Treffen mit dem sanften Dieb

Das Treffen mit dem sanften Dieb
Meeting the Gentle Thief

Poor Gelbes and Helen, now without a home or a place to stay, were forced to live in an alley of the city, where they had built a shelter with wooden crates, barrels and old sheets, and being unable to eat they were forced to beg, but sadly not all ponies were generous, and what they managed to keep was just enough for a loaf of bread.

Helen went to buy some bread with what she had begged for, she gave a bigger piece to her mother.

-“ Take it, mom, eat“-

-"But... my baby, you're the one who has to eat the most"-

-"But you're not eating much, you gave me more bread last time"-

-“Ja, but….you're younger, oh my, if only we weren't in this situation, I miss your father, and also Hunk, when I think about the day he allowed us to live here, and by now it's all over, due to a fire“-

-"It wasn't only the fault of the fire, but also of dad's killer, who also killed Hunk"-

-“But now he'll hunt you down, you've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble Helen“-

-“ I have an idea, we can leave for the city of Eichel“-

-“To do what, my baby?”-

-“Hunk knew a certain Father Arthur, we can stay there, we will work in exchange for room and board, we are poor ponies they will help us“-

-“But it's a long journey of two or three days, we will be able to find bandits and monsters, we don't know how to defend ourselves“-

-"But I do"-,

Helen showed the dagger that Hunk had given her, her mother wanted to know where it came from, so the little pegasus told about the times that Hunk taught her how to fight with the dagger, even about the time she fought against the Wolpentingers.

Needless to say, her mother wasn't happy about it, but then she calmed down,

-“Even if you know how to fight, it doesn't mean that you could defeat monsters much bigger than you, if we find a Troll, a pack of Timber Wolves or Wechselbalg what would you do?“-

-“I would hit them fast, I'm fast with the dagger“-

-"If I only knew where Eichel is, I would have wanted to give you the education you deserved Helen, I didn't want you to be illiterate like me"-

-“But I already know how to read and count“-

-“But you are still at the beginning, you need someone who has studied, like the monks, and then who knows how much they would ask for your education“-

-"Mom? Do we have a choice? We have to start from here, if we stay here that unicorn could kill me, and then even if we are tired we have to try, we have nothing left to lose, this city no longer belongs to us"-

-“However, you are very wise to be seven years old“-,

Gelbes was thinking about the opportunity to go to Eichel even if it would have been a long journey full of dangers, but Helen was right, if anyone could help them it was the friars of the Monastery of Eichel, also because even if it was not the only monastery of the kingdom, the friar who ran that monastery knew Hunk, and therefore the two of them could find help thanks to that old friend of Hunk's.

Gelbes fell asleep, but Helen was still hungry so she thought of doing something for her mother, she wanted to go back to their farm, and get some fruit from their trees.

Helen remembered that the trees had survived the fire, and had many apples on their branches, she wasn't actually about to steal, as the farm hadn't yet been put up for sale.

She arrived at the farm, she saw that all the animals had been taken away, and she saw that as she well remembered the trees were full of apples, and so she flew off to get some.

She took a dozen, though she struggled to carry them all, but before she left she heard noises, she Helen looked around the back of the farmhouse, and saw some Wechselbalg (Changelings) who had surrounded a small brown dragon.

Helen felt something inside her, she let go of the apples and took the dagger to go and protect the little dragon.

-“Hey, ihr hässlichen Monster, raus hier (Hey, you ugly monsters, get away from here)“-, The Changelings heard her and growled at her, Helen was scared, but she plucked up courage, there were five of them and one at a time the they flew against.

But Helen was very fast, sometimes she dodged them and sometimes she hit them several times with the dagger, even if the Changelings got up Helen managed to hit them right away.

Luckily those Changelings had no element they were simple Changelings, but they were still tough, and the last two decided to hit the filly together, they immediately flew at her, Helen struck a pose, but then a guy with a brown coat came and hit both Changelings, he was a green unicorn and used two daggers with magic, but then took one to stab a Changeling right in the chest.

The unicorn saved Helen, he turned to her, he had blue eyes and a green mane and tail, in addition to his cloak he wore a jacket of the same color and a mask on his face, when he looked at Helen he took off his mask and called her back,

“Was machst du hier? Du warst kurz davor zu sterben(What are you doing here? You almost died)“-

-“D…danke for saving me, I just wanted to save that little dragon“-

-“The Wechselbalg are evil beings, who feed on the blood of creatures and their lifeblood, you shouldn't be here“-

-“But this was my farm“-

-"Really? I thought old Hunk lived here"-

-“You….did you know him?”-

-“Let me introduce myself, my name is Axel Juwel, and I am a thief“-, Helen saw a design embroidered on the inner cloak, it was a red woodpecker.

-“That drawing…you are from Roter Specht(red woodpecker), that's why you knew Hunk, he showed me that drawing“-

-“How did you know Hunk?”-

-“He was my grandfather“-

-“Interesting, tell me about yourself“-.

For some strange reason Helen felt that she could trust that thief since he belonged to the Roter Specht (Red Woodpecker).

So she told her the whole story of her, and how she and her mother were reduced.

He was struck by the story.

-“Look Helen, maybe I can help you, I'm in this city because I have to talk to a pony, his name is Doctor Hans“-

-“I know him, he's the one who tried to save my father and Hunk“-

-“For now, take this bag of coins and buy something for your mother, once I talk to Dr. Hans, I'll come looking for you, you said you wanted to go to Eichel, didn't you?”-

-“Ja, I wanted to go there“-

-“I ask you to give me just one day, I have to talk to the doctor, then I will come and look for you and your mother, because I come from Eichel, I could take you there, in that city there is no Black Feather, and then there is a base of the Red Woodpecker, just try to be patient“-.

So Axel accompanied Helen to the city, but they both noticed that the little dragon was following them,

-“What does that little dragon want?”-

-“I think he is following me, because I saved his life“-

-"So you risked your life for a little dragon?"-

-“He was in danger and I wanted to save him“-, Helen took the little dragon and put him on her back,

-“How cute, I think I'll call him Stachel, he'll be my friend“-

-“It's a rock dragon“-

-“A rock dragon?”-

-"Trust me, I've seen different types, I know them, they are rock-skinned dragons, they are very strong and very resistant, and they are also very grumpy"-

-“He doesn't look so bad to me“-

-“Now, but then he will grow up“-.

Axel went to Doctor Hans' house, while Helen instead bought some food for her and her mother with the money Axel had given her.

Helen told her mother about meeting Axel.

-“Have you met a thief? And you were attacked by Wechselbalg? Are you crazy?"-

-"Mom? He saved me, and then now we have a new member in the family“-

-"That is, another mouth to feed"-

-"But look at how much money he gave us, he's not a bad thief, he's part of the Red Woodpecker, so he's as good as Hunk was, and then he promised to take us to Eichel, he'll defend us from danger"-

-"I'd rather talk to him to know better his intentions"-.

At that moment Helen saw that her mother was cooking some strange vegetables on the fire,

-“Where do those come from?”-

-“Oh, a soldier gave me these strange vegetables, we can eat these in addition to the food you bought“-.

Towards evening Axel arrived in the alley, who at the moment was staying at Doctor Hans's house, Gelbes wanted to speak to him.

-“ So you are the thief who saved my daughter?“-

-"Ja, madam, Helen told me everything, I will be happy to accompany you to the monastery of Eichel, at the moment there is no Father Arthur, he is travelling, but there is Father Rufus who manages the monastery in his place, If there is a friar to trust, it is Rufus."-

-“So you are telling me that you will bring us and Dr. Hans?”-

-“Ja, that's right“-

-“ Why he wants to leave the city?“-

-"I shouldn't tell you, but he saw the face of a member of the Black Feather and so it's better if he runs away from here, the same goes for your daughter"-

-“Well, if you are a good thief like Hunk was, I can trust you“-

-“We will leave tomorrow morning, be ready“-

-“Danke, Axel“-.

Axel returned to Hans, while Gelbes, Helen and Stachel were preparing to eat.

Helen found those strange vegetables that mother had from a soldier very tasty, perhaps not all soldiers were bad, even little Stachel ate those vegetables.

They still had food thanks to Axel, but Gelbes thought of saving supplies for the trip, Helen agreed but suddenly she noticed something strange, her mother was starting to cough, she put her hoof on her chest and spat blood.

Helen got scared,

-“ Mom? Was ist los? (Mom? What's wrong with you?)“-

-“Ich weiß nicht, Helen (I don't know Helen), but I don't feel well, it's like it’s burning my stomach“-.

Gelbes fainted on the floor, but Helen with all her strength loaded her on,

-“I'll take you to Dr. Hans, it will definitely be an illness, hold on“-.

Helen went to the pony doctor and explained everything that had happened.

Doctor Hans was surprised,

-"But .. she suddenly started coughing?"-

-“Ja, and he said that she felt burning inside“-

-“I have to take her to my patient room, you Helen, stay here with Axel“-.

Axel hugged little Helen to comfort her.

-“Helen? But what happened?”

-"I don't know, we had finished eating and then she felt bad"-

-"What did you eat?"-

-"Strange vegetables that looked like stones, you saw them too, mum was cooking them on the fire, but we didn't eat anything else"-

-“Ah, are you talking about those vegetables?”-

-"Why? Do you know them?"-

-“Ehm…..no, I don't think I saw them“-

-"Me and Stachel ate them too but nothing happened to us"-,

Time passed and Dr. Hans had no good news.

-“Helen, I'm sorry, but your mother won't make it, she was poisoned“-

-“Poisoned? How is it possible?"-

-“She must have eaten something poisoned, I knew the soldiers were poisoning poor families on the street, but I didn't know how“-

-"How is it possible? My little dragon and I ate the same things as her and we are not poisoned” -

-"Evidently you have been miraculous, unfortunately your mother has little time left, just an hour to live, so tonight we will take her to the cemetery, I will have her buried together with your father and your grandfather Hunk"-

-“Nein, nein, I don't want to live without my mother”-

-“I'm sorry, but I don't have the right antidote for this poison“-,

Helen went to her mother, her filly hugged her crying, her mother wanted to talk to her,

-“Helen? My baby, the doctor was clear, and unfortunately I don't have much time left "-

-“Nein, mom, don't leave me, I have only you“-

-“Don't worry, soon you can go to Eichel, if that Axel is really as good as he looks you can get the education I wanted you to have“-

-"But...but I want you to be there with me"-

-"Don't cry, you have to be strong, always have faith in life, now I'm here today, but maybe if the Merciful Pony will allow me tomorrow I will watch over you like an angel, up there in Ponyparadise, promise me that you will be strong, and that you will use head and heart, that you will be judicious and strong, you must be strong, I could not die happy to see you cry“-.

Then Gelbes took two gold rings from her hoof and gave them to Helen.

-“Here, Helen, your father gave me these rings when we got engaged, now I want you to have them, take care of them, so it will be as if I will always be with you, my baby“-

-“Ja, mom, it will be as if you were always with me“-.

Helen hugged her mother again, but tried not to cry for her, because she didn't want to see her cry.

It was now late in the evening, Axel, Hans and Helen with Stachel were in the cemetery with a friar who was praying for poor Gelbes who was now dead and the coffin was already down in the ditch.

Helen tried not to cry but a few tears streamed down her, and Stachel tried to comfort her by licking her tears, this tickled Helen.

After the funeral, Hans decided it was time to leave Kieselstein and so he asked everyone to go back to his house, but Helen stopped, she saw Axel looking at Hunk's grave.

-“What are you doing Axel?“-

-“I was just…just saying hello to a pony I knew“-

-“Did you know Hunk?”-

-“Ja….but it's too complicated to explain, so don't think about it“-.

Everyone went to Hans' house.

The doctor thought that perhaps it was better to rest before leaving at night, Axel decided to sleep together with Helen, but the green unicorn was keeping watch instead of sleeping.

Helen kept thinking about her mother, she had slipped the rings into her left hoof and thought about her, now she had lost her whole family, she only had her new dragon friend left, and she didn't know how she would manage without her parents , but she certainly couldn't stay there since her life was in danger, she had to leave the city of her fillyhood.

Suddenly, noises were heard from a room and a scream, Helen ran to see.

She opened the door and saw that Doctor Hans's room was in a mess as if there had been a fight, she went to open another door and saw an ugly sight, Doctor Hans was on the floor bleeding, and next to him there was a unicorn with a torn cape, Helen had no doubts that was her father's and Hunk's killer.

-“You…..killed Doctor Hans, Du bist ein böses Wesen (You are evil)“-, the blue unicorn saw her,

-“I found you, very well now I can kill you too“-.

Helen began to back away, she tried to take Hunk's dagger, but the unicorn took her hoof with his magic and was ready to kill her.

-“ Begrüßen Sie Dr. Hans aus dem Jenseits (Greet Dr. Hans from the other side for me)“-,

Helen screamed, but luckily the unicorn didn't touch her because at that moment, Axel arrived, who attacked him with his daggers,

-“Do you take it out on the fillies? Let's see how strong you are against me“-.

Helen was safe, but she couldn't do anything she was scared, she hugged Stachel and asked for help, at that moment Stachel lit up and spat a powerful flame that hit the evil unicorn, which screamed in pain and escaped from a window.

Axel took advantage of the moment,

-“Quick Helen, we have to get out of here right now, I can't do anything for the doctor now, but you're still alive and I swear on my honor that I'll get you out of here safe and sound“-.

Helen hurried after Axel and as she ran she held Stachel on her back, when they were out they checked that there were no other members of the Black Feather.

-“Why didn't you come immediately to help the doctor?”-

-“There were other Black Feather thugs outside, they held me back, now we have to get you out of here“-.

They drove out of town to Hunk's farm, where Helen took her grandfather's old cart.

-“What do you want to do with it, Helen?”-

-“This place was mine, so this cart belongs to me and then it could be useful to you“-

-“But you really have the qualities of a thief“-

-"I don't think so, but this way I can take a piece of the farm with me"-

-"Come on, get on the cart, I'll take you away"-

-"but you haven't even rested"-

-“It doesn't matter, I'll rest on the ride, it's a long way to Eichel, and I'll take you to a new place that you can call home“-

-“But without my parents“-, Axel looked into her eyes,

-“Listen Helen, I lost my parents too, I was a little older than you, but I grew up in Eichel monastery and I grew up well“-

-“Does that mean you really live there? You? A thief? “-

-“You said you knew Father Arthur was once a thief“-

-“Ja, but now he is a friar“-

-“But he uses the monastery as one of the Red Woodpecker's secret bases, and that's where me and two of my friends live, I'm sure they'll welcome you well“-

-"Are you sure?"-

-“Father Rufus has always been like a father to me, and he is the best of the friars in that monastery, I'm sure he will accept you, now hurry up, you and Stachel get on the cart and let's go“-.

So Axel took the cart and drove out of the city, Helen looked back, and said goodbye to the city where she had grown up, and where she had left everything, with the hope that Axel was right, but still she had to be strong, just like promised to her mother .

To be continued…….

My Little Pony by Lauren Faust & Hasbro