"Have a good day, Dessic," Stout said as he stood in the doorway, leaning against its frame. "Maybe you and I can go out to the pub sometime this week, in the evening? Seriously, man, we need to catch up."

"Yeah, totally," Dessic replied with a nod. "I'll just need to find out when the wife says it's okay. We're having her extended family over for dinner later this week, so I need to make sure we hang out on a different day. But yeah, we've gotta."

Later and Cotton just kind of stood there on the side of the street uncomfortably, shooting glances at each other as they waited for the stallions to finish their conversation. Technically they didn't need to wait—surely, wherever Dessic was going was nowhere near the observatory—but they both seemed to agree, silently, that it would be much more conspicuous if they shuffled out now rather than waiting until they were free of the guard.

"Alright, bye," Dessic finally said, watching his friend trot off back up to the balcony and then into the tunnel. He turned back to Later and Cotton. "Ach, I'm sorry to keep you gals waiting." He looked up at a large clock on the side of one of the buildings. "But hey! That took us nearly half an hour shorter than it usually takes me to get into town! Killer."

Humming to himself, the stallion began trotting to the right onto a downward-sloping street that had a few ponies here and there. A moment later, he looked over his shoulder. "You gals coming? I can show you to wherever you're going, if you like; I've got plenty of time."

"Erm... sure," Later replied with a shrug. "Might as well take your help if you're offering it." She made to trot towards him, and Dessic turned and kept walking.

"Can we really trust him?" Cotton whispered to Later. "He could be working with the guards..."

"Do the guards even know anything?" Later replied, raising an eyebrow. "You saw Stout as well as I did. Did he seem like he knew anything?"

Cotton said nothing, and merely kept trotting with Later until they were right behind the white stallion leading them along.