Although from further back the crowd had showed no sign of thinning, Cotton and Later found that, miraculously, as they got closer to the observatory there were fewer and fewer ponies until they emerged a few metres from the large glass double doors. There were hardly any ponies milling about the marble steps leading up to the doors, so Dessic quickened their pace as they trotted upwards.

"You don't need to walk us all the way up there," Later said, panting to keep up. "I mean, we do appreciate all you've done... but I imagine you have to get to work soon?"

Dessic looked up at the big clock with large, pointed metal hands that hung from the building's front, up a dozen metres or so. "I mean, I guess. I still have plenty of time, though, since I usually get there early. Heck, I could even come looking around in the observatory with you! It's been quite a while since I've had a look in here, lemme tell ya."

Later turned to Cotton Fluff and gave her a look so futile that the brown mare could barely keep from laughing. "That... would be great," Later said through gritted teeth.

"So much for that plan..." Cotton mumbled.

"You ladies coming?" Dessic had already reached the top, standing by the curved metal frame of the building, while Cotton and Later were more than a dozen steps behind. Something... something was strange about the stallion, but they just couldn't place it.

"D-don't mind us," Cotton wheezed. "We'll be a minute or two."

"Well, alright. I'll meet you in the lobby, m'kay? Entrance is free, thank goodness; yeah, maybe the taxes are a little high but honestly, I think it's worth it if I can pop into someplace like this every once in a while. Y'know?" Dessic left that question there behind him; Later and Cotton watched him trot off across the marble towards the glass doors and slip inside.

"Aureate above..." Cotton murmured. "What are we going to do?"

"Um... we'll figure it out," Later replied, looking up at the doors. "I mean, nothing's really going wrong. We just have some random civilian tagging along with this, who we're apparently never going to be able to escape."