Karon was still giggling for reasons beyond those discernible by a mortal mind. For such was the power of the pink moss of fun, or maybe he was just imagining that. Either way, giggling was the proper response.

Zecora had chosen to ignore Karon and was busy trying to get all the smoke out of her house. She had said something about Pinkie a while ago, but he couldn't remember what it was. He had been busy at the time admiring his fingers.

But even the deep thoughts provoked by the sight of the complex patterns in his palms weren't enough to distract him completely from the fact that he was very hungry.

“Pinkie had the right idea. Let's get to Ponyville and find ourselves a snack.”

Concealed in the still lingering thick smoke, Karon rose up from his position on the floor and went out the door. Before him stretched the large and suddenly VERY interesting Everfree forest. How could he have missed all these amazing things in his previous visits? Like all the funny patterns the trees made and the fact that all predators graced with fur were fuzzy!

Interesting things indeed, but Karon had a mission to complete. A mission ordered by his very own stomach, and by all the gods and funny moss in the world, he would not fail it.

He set upon his path towards Ponyville and marched forward. His face set in a mixture of stupid wonderment and determination which can only be found on someone looking for a snack within an ancient forest filled with savage beasts.

Karon took three steps behind a large set of bushes and promptly realized he was lost.

“Dude, didn't we like, just take one step forward and become lost. What if we like, take a step backwards, shouldn't we become unlost then?”

Karon tried, he took one carefully placed step backwards and looked around. Unfortunately, it looked almost exactly the same, the only difference was that he was one step back now. This spawned quite a lot of very complicated thoughts about the nature of being and stepping, but his stomach would not allow him to be diverted from his righteous quest and it growled in accusation.

“Well, if we are lost, we can just go anywhere. It's not like we can get double lost right?”

Karon can be an idiot sometimes.

He walked in a random pattern through the forest, giving off exclamations of amazement whenever he found something new in a color he didn't know existed. But it is a well known fact that the universe, besides enjoying irony, also looks out for fools and brave people. They make life all so much more interesting after all, and even though Karon's bravery was mostly chemical in nature for the moment, it still applied.

So perhaps that explains how Karon's seemingly random path led him almost straight out from the forest and into the cool air of a young Equestrian night. The sky still retained a dark blue color and the moon had barely begun its ascension into the heavens. It was a peaceful time when the creatures of day where readying themselves for a restful slumber until the sun returned.

Or it would be peaceful, if it weren't for that bell ringing and collection of screams echoing out from Ponyville.

They didn't sound like screams of horror. Karon knew screams of horror very well. He had inspired them a few times. These sounded like screams of confusion and fright but not outright terror.

“Maybe it's not something dangerous going on.”

“Do you think that it might have something to do with Pinkie?”

Karon let out a loud hum and considered the possibility.

“Naw, it's not like Pinkie would ... be ... capable ... of....”

“Oh crap.”

Deciding it might be best to investigate what all the commotion was about, and if it could possibly be tied to the abrupt departure of a certain sugar craving pony. He made his way into the little hamlet in uproar and stopped when he found a crowd gathered before the town hall.

Apparently the town hall also functioned as a bell tower of sorts, for the rhythmic ringing of a large bell could be heard coming from it. Karon thought it sounded pretty, but it also served other purposes. It was used to rouse the inhabitants of the town if disaster ever should strike in the dead of night.

And at the sound of the bell ringing, every single pony in Ponyville had come out of their homes, many of the running around in circles and screaming in confusion. Seeing the behavior displayed by their neighbors many ponies decided to join in, just to be safe.

“What's going on?!”

“What is happening?”

“The horror, the horror!”

“It's Pinkie Pie!” a very ruffled looking Lyra called out, a look of shock on her face.

“What!” many of the surrounding ponies shouted in unison, most of them confused by what the party pony might have pulled off that warranted this sort of reaction.

“She's gone absolutely crazy! She stormed our house and took a bite out of all the food we had.  Then she raided another four houses before Bon Bon went and started pulling the bell.”

“Why?” Most ponies seemed to have calmed down now. This didn't sound too bad in comparison to the things that the bell could have been signalling.

“I don't now! She shouted something about the food not being sugary enough and ran out. She looked to be heading for Sugercube Corner.”

After hearing this, a gray coated, blond pegasus with crossed eyes gasped loudly.

“Save the muffins!” she screamed before flying off towards Sugercube Corner with impressive speed, but not so impressive coordination.

“What should we do?”

“Has somepony contacted the mayor?”

The crowd began chattering loudly and questions were thrown around without getting any answers, but they were all silenced when a newcomer raised her voice....

“What is going on here!?” a very annoyed looking Twilight asked as stood at the edge of the crowd. Her usual tone of authority present, leaving no question that she knew best so they should all answer to her.

“Pinkie Pie's gone crazy! She's trying to eat all the food in Ponyville and is heading for Sugercube Corner,” Lyra answered. Twilight gave a long, annoyed groan, making her feelings very clear for eveypony around.

“Why would she....” Twilight trailed off when she saw Karon standing at the back of the crowd, his head cocked to the side and blinking like an owl. Her eyes narrowed into tiny slits and her voice switched from annoyed to very angry in a split second.

“What did you do?”

Karon pointed at himself in a questioning gesture, trying his best to look like an innocent bystander.

“What. Did. You. DO!?”

“SHE KNOWS!”

“Knows what?”

“STUFF MAN, She knows stuff!”

“Keep it cool, she can't know.”

“Then say something, quickly!”

“It's Pinkie's fault!”

“Smooth.”

“Karon!”

He flinched at the sight of the furious unicorn. Her eyes had started to glow ominously and she looked ready to burst into flame. He thought it best to answer as truthfully as he dared before that actually happened. He just needed a way to put it that didn't make her incinerate him on the spot.

“Hey I was just chillin' out, maxin', relaxing all cool, mixing some potions with ma new tool, when a single Pinkie Pie who were up to no good, started making trouble out in the wood. She spilled one little potion, and the mare got scared, gave me some moss and said 'Here, burn this and breath in the air.'”

“Dude that sounds familiar, where did that come from?”

“I don't know, it was like, the universe inspired me or something.”

Karon hadn't even noticed he had saying it to a vaguely familiar tune. Most of the ponies were looking at him strangely though so they probably had. Twilight on the other hoof kept her angry look and tone of voice.

“This moss ... what kind was it?”

“Zecora said it was named *snort*, 'the pink moss of fun'.”

“Is that smoke rising from Twilight's mane?”

“So you weren't happy with just getting her drunk, now you also had to go and make Pinkie befuddled with pink moss!?”

“Woah, woah, woah. Hold on there ... you call getting high ... getting 'befuddled'?”

“Yes! But that's no-.”

The rest of Twilight's tirade was interrupted by Karon's hysterical laughter. He clutched his stomach and was in danger of falling down. Instead, he leaned against a nervous looking Lyra and kept on laughing.

“Hahaha, look at me everypony. I'm BEFUDDLED!”

“Karon this is serious! We don't know what Pinkie could-”

“Well befuddle me backwards and call me Sir Rothford! We have a mission it seems! Come on all ponies! There are pastries in need of saving! CHAAAARGE!”

Filled with pathos, Karon rushed towards the endangered store with absolutely no pony making a move to follow him. Twilight and Lyra looked at one another before they both took off after the running Karon, following the sound of his laughter. The rest of the gathered ponies began returning to their homes, content that the situation was being handled.

Karon was running towards Sugercube Corner, hoping that if he found and stopped Pinkie's rampage Twilight might decide to spare him whatever horrible fate she had in mind. He had been pushing her from the start and even in his *snort* befuddled state, he understood this had pushed her over the limit.

For some reason, an angry Twilight scared him far more than the princesses ever did.

But when he arrived at Sugercube Corner, he became witness to one of the most surreal scenes imaginable. In front of the store, a furious Pinkie was desperately trying to get in, darting forwards in lightning quick charges so fast that she was barely more than a pink blur, but she was repelled at every turn by the cross eyed pegasus he had seen earlier.

Somehow the pegasus managed to predict Pinkie's every move perfectly, barring her path to the store filled with the delicious pastries Pinkie so desired. Pinkie growled loudly in fury at having her craving denied and continued her furious attempts at making it past the stoic defender of the muffins.

Finally, the pink pony had had enough and retreated. She stopped about fifty meters back and hunched down, preparing to charge into the store no matter what blocked her path. One way or the other she would have her delicious treats and she would pour hot sauce over each and every one!

The pegasus noticed what she was planning and flew up in the air, tensing up as well. They both remained as such, staring into each others eyes, not flinching. Well it looked like they were staring into each others eyes anyway, it was hard to decide when one pony was crossed eyed and the other's eyes looked very glazed.

And of course, a tumbleweed lazily blew by between them, making it clear this was indeed a classical stand off. Both waiting for the other to make the first move. Pinkie Pie caved in first, driven to to the edge of desperation by her amplified love of all things sugary and sweet.

She darted forward with such speed the air around her looked distorted, a line of pink trailing after her as she roared a battle cry.

“CUPCAKES!”

The defending pegasus responded by turning around and launching herself, ass first, towards the incoming pink blur screaming a battle cry of her own.

“MUFFINS!”

It was definitely one of the strangest moments in Karon's life, watching as the pink pony defying the laws of physics shot towards the store while the blond pegasus shot towards pinkie like a living cannon ball on a perfect intercept course with her, ass first.

There was a brief second where the moment seemed frozen in time, just before the pegasus crashed into Pinkie, but it shattered as the loud explosion like sound that resulted on impact. Dust billowed out from it's center in a large cloud.

When the dust settled, Karon saw both Pinkie Pie and the unknown pegasus lying in an honest to goodness crater in the ground. Apparently the pegasus' ass was a force to be reckoned with. Pinkie weakly raised a hoof towards the prized store with all it's pastries, so close but so far away.

“Cuuuupcakes....” she tried shouting in a very strained voice.

“Muuuuuffins....” the pegasus answered with equal amounts of weariness and weakly slapped Pinkie's hoof down before they both passed out.

Karon had trouble getting his brain to process what the hell had just happened, and how it could be physically possible when he heard the sound of running hooves coming from behind him. He turned around and saw both Lyra and Twilight come around a corner, they both ran towards him but froze in their tracks when they noticed the large crater and the two ponies lying in it.

Twilight right eye began twitching, and Karon thought he heard something cracking. It looked like the poor unicorn had finally had more than she could handle and didn't move. Lyra looked almost as confused by the scene before her but noticed her companion's difficulty with handling the situation. In an attempt to ease Twilight's troubles she took it upon herself to clear everything up.

“What ... happened?”

Karon focused on the question and went through the events of the last minute trying to find some way he could explain what had taken place. After a few heartbeats of torturing his brain with the unreasonable request, he just threw up his arms in defeat and responded with the best explanation he could think of.

“God damn ponies is what happened!”

Lyra only looked more confused at his enigmatic response, but it snapped Twilight out of her stupor.

“No YOU'RE what happened. This didn't happen until YOU came here! You're what caused this! First you almost destroy my library when you decided to get everypony drunk and then you attacked the princesses just because they ruined your CLOTHES! And now you decide to befuddle Pinkie Pie's mind with the most potent psychoactive plant in all of Equestria! I know how you humans act in your own world and treat others, but that's not how you will act while you stay in Ponyville! Are we clear?”

Karon shrunk back a little, his bloodshot eyes showing serious fear of Twilight for the first time. He needed to remind himself that in pure power she still had an upper hand, well hoof, on him, and she was right, he had been doing a lot of things with little regard to how it would effect the ponies living here. But he didn't feel that bad about it, it was mostly harmless things in his own eyes. It could have been so much worse.

“I don't know man, that sounds like a, you know. Very bad excuse, I think.”

“I'm sorry,” he finally relented in a pitiful voice. In a way, the moss had done it's work. It made everything a little brighter, a little clearer and things looked a little bit different. Giving him a new perspective.

Twilight gave him one last look before going over to the two unconscious ponies and performed some kind of spell, a purple cloud of energy enveloped them as the unicorn's horn shone in the darkness that had fallen since Karon stumbled out of the forest.

Pinkie was the first one to open her eyes. It looked really weird when a pony's eyes were bloodshot because of their huge irises and pupils. Her eyes darted around for a second before settling on the structure that was Sugercube Corner. Karon stood several meters from her, but could still hear the loud rumbling that was Pinkie's stomach growling.

She began to rise, hungrily eyeing the door to the promised land of sugary goodness, but Twilight put out a hoof before her and gave her a stern expression.

“Twiiilight. A friend never stops a friend from eating delicious goodness!”

“I'm sorry Pinkie, but I can't let you eat the Cake's entire assortment.”

“I won't, I promise!”

“Do you Pinkie promise?” Twilight asked with a meaningful stare.

At first Pinkie Pie looked ready to do so, but she stopped herself halfway there and instead only gave off a sad whine.

Karon felt a little nervous speaking at all after that scolding he had received from Twilight, but he didn't feel like he could leave Pinkie hanging. He felt the same need for delicious pastries, though he doubted it was on the same level as Pinkie Pie did.

“Uhh, Pinkie isn't there like, some other place you could get snacks? Like, a stash somewhere you might have or know of?”

The pink pony perked up at this idea and put a hoof on her chin as she thoughtfully considered if she did. With a loud “Aha!” she suddenly bounced out of the crater and shot out into the dark, pink blur once more trailing after her.

“How does she do that?” Karon asked Twilight, letting the sight of somepony so carelessly breaking the laws of physics make him forget he was supposed to feel nervous about talking to her.

“I gave up on understanding Pinkie Pie a long time ago.”

“Yeah man, Pinkie's like, way mysterious and stuff.”

They both stood silent after that, staring in the direction Pinkie had disappeared to. It didn't take long before the pink bundle of mystery returned, her hooves laden with bags of some kind and her mouth full of something orange she was loudly chewing on.

“Are those ... Cheetos? And a bag of Doritos? Do they even make those in Equestria?”

“No, if they did they would have called them something else.”

“So where...?”

“Pinkie Pie man, just go with the flow.”

“Looks like some poor bastard got his stash of snacks raided and will never know it was done by a pink hyperactive pony high on an interdimensional drug able to apparently breach dimensional boundaries without repercussions from the powers.”

“Heh, dude ... Dude! What if, what if Pinkie Pie ... is one of the powers...?”

Karon found that thought so terrifying that he shut down all the mental activity he could and just focused on the surroundings. Twilight was eyeing Pinkie's payload suspiciously, but didn't say anything about it, wisely keeping to her previous statement.

“Are you happy now Pinkie? Can you promise you will eat ... whatever that is, then go to sleep without doing anything else?”

“Mmhmmm,” she said while nodding happily, her mouth full of the most delicious cheetos that have ever existed. Such a shame the human they rightfully belonged to would never get to enjoy them.

“Pinkie promise?”

She swallowed loudly and Pinkie promised, and Twilight was satisfied at that. Pinkie Pie would never break a Pinkie promise no matter how affected her mind might be by outside influence.

She looked over at Karon and Lyra before turning her gaze down towards the still unconscious form of the brave pegasus.

“I'm feeling tired after all of this and want to get back to my studies. Can you two make sure Ditzy gets home okay?”

Karon said nothing and allowed Lyra's nod to speak for the both of them. Twilight turned around after that, satisfied that the situation had been resolved and she could return to her reading.

Karon turned to the joyfully munching Pinkie and spoke.

“So I guess I owe you a dinner tomorrow.”

“Really? What for?”

“You know ... for me ...Uhm, smacking your ass,” he rubbed his neck, feeling a little embarrassed. Especially from the look he got from Lyra after saying that.

Pinkie Pie only giggled in response.

“Don't worry silly, I like it rough anyway. See you in the morning!”

And with that goodnight, she bounced forwards and into Sugercube Corner while simultaneously holding all of her conquered snacks, leaving a very disturbed Karon and Lyra in her wake.

“You think ... all of this is just a hallucination?”

“No, what kind of screwed up mind would it take to imagine all of this? Not even we are at that level.”

“So ... Pinkie actually just said....”

“Try not to think about it.”

Lyra seemed to be of the same mind and shook her head as if to shake out the disturbing thoughts Pinkie's comment must have conjured. She instead turned to Karon and cleared her throat before asking.

“Could you carry Derpy, we should probably get her home as soon as possible. Her daughter might be worried.”

Karon nodded, but before doing that he hastily sneaked inside the pastry shop and stole a muffin before returning outside and scooping up the pegasus in his arms. Like all pegasi, she was very light for her size, and Karon was once more amazed they could put so much pressure on their bones without breaking them during all those sharp turns when they flew around.

Lyra began walking down the street towards what Karon assumed to be the pegasus' home and followed beside her, putting the muffin in a pocket to save for later.

“I thought Twilight called her Ditzy?”

“She did, her name is Ditzy Doo, but everypony calls her Derpy since she's so clumsy.”

“So is she...?” Karon scrounged up his face and rolled his eyes around to indicate somepony with brain damage.

“No nothing like that, she's just a bit different. She's really clumsy and it's hard for her to understand some things like math, but she is really good at other stuff. No pony gets how she can deliver everypony's mail despite the fact that she can't even remember what the names of the streets are.”

“Ahh, I think I understand.”

They continued on the way to Ditzy's home with Karon feeling a little sorry for the pegasus. She couldn't have had it easy growing up. She probably didn't have it particularly easy at all, especially not if she also had to care for a child. He was wondering if the family relation between them was good. There weren't a lot of things Karon held sacred in the world, but family was one of them.

Not everyone had that blessing.

But his worries were put to rest when they arrived at a white house where a small unicorn with the same colors as her mother sat on the porch steps looking worried. When she saw Karon and Lyra coming towards her carrying her mother, she panicked and ran out to meet them.

“M-mommy?” she asked fearfully, not daring to look up at Karon and instead kept her eyes locked on her mother.

Karon sank down to his knees so they were on the same level, and Ditzy stirred at the sound of her daughter's voice. She opened her scrambled eyes and turned her head towards her daughter, giving her a large smile before she got out of Karon's arms and embraced her.

“Where were you mommy? I was waiting for you to come home after the bell went quiet, but you didn't come.”

Ditzy looked down on her daughter with a sad smile, speaking in a hushed reassuring tone revealing volumes of just how much she cared for her daughter.

“I know Dinky, but I had to keep Pinkie Pie from eating all the muffins in Sugercube Corner so you could have your morning muffin tomorrow.”

“But I love you more than I love my morning muffin!”

The little unicorn buried her face against her mother's chest and hugged her tight, making sure she wouldn't be going anywhere else. Ditzy's expression was harder to read than that of normal ponies because of her eyes, but Karon thought she looked very happy being together with her daughter again.

He put a hand gently on top of the little filly's head. She shrunk down a little when she noticed and carefully glanced up at him, face still pressed hard against her mother.

“Well, because your mother was brave and managed to stave off a crazy Pinkie Pie, you can now have both,” he said with what he hoped was a child friendly smile and presented his stolen muffin to the unicorn.

The filly gasped in surprise and took the muffin from him with both her hooves. She looked down at it with childish joy before looking up at her mother.

“What do you say Dinky?”

“Thank you,” the little unicorn said dutifully to Karon, “Mommy do you want to share with me?”

The pegasus nuzzled her daughter lovingly.

“I already have my little muffin, and you better get inside before I decide to eat you,” she finished playfully and made a few sounds suggesting she might do so right away.

Her daughter gasped before she ran inside giggling all the way, a muffin half the size of her head carefully held in her mouth.

Ditzy turned to face Karon and looked up at him with crossed eyes shining with happiness for what he'd just done. Happiness born out of a love for her daughter and being unused to kind gestures or words from other ponies, or humans.

Karon felt anger stirring in some deeper part of him, the part containing the better sides of him. The pegasus might be different, but it was not possible to call her anything but beautiful after seeing the way she acted towards her daughter or looking into those crossed golden eyes. Filled to the brim with gratitude at such a small gesture.

Lyra on the other hand looked ready to leave and gave Karon a nudge to make him understand that. He turned around to her with an annoyed scowl, but nodded and she turned around and began walking away from the house. Karon faced Ditzy again and tried his best to sound understanding.

“If you would ever need some help with anything, feel free to ask me whenever you want.”

“Thank you very much, but I try to solve as much as I can by myself.”

Karon nodded in understanding, but before he turned around and left he kneeled down and gave the pegasus a kiss on her forehead. Then he left her and joined Lyra waiting for him on the other side of the street.

“Do you kiss everypony you meet? Should I feel left out?”

“Sigh, I take it you've heard about Rarity then?”

“Everypony has. She was practically shouting about it over at a cafe a few days ago with Twilight, and the rumor spread fast.”

“Excellent. Like things weren't complicated enough.”

“So why did you kiss her?”

“I don't know, I was drunk and horny I guess.”

“Sounds like a real ponytale there.”

“Oh you are so clever. I need some more of that damn moss, it was the strongest stuff I've ever tried, but it doesn't seem to last for very long.”

“Really? From what little I've heard, the pink moss of fun is supposed to be the kind of thing that can last for days.”

“Hmmm, could be that humans react differently to it or that my mental training has kicked in, probably both.”

“Fascinating,” Lyra said and looked over at him like he was a huge test subject in a vat located in a secret underground lab somewhere.

“Don't get any funny ideas about cloning me for research.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

“Nothing, nothing.”

“No tell me! Is it something humans use for researching?”

“It's complicated. Well actually it's pretty straight forward, but we can talk about it another time. I'm feeling a little too worn out for another hours long interrogation on humanity.”

She looked disappointed when he said it but Karon felt no guilt. There was plenty of time he could set aside for Lyra and her obsession. An obsession it would probably be good for her having denied from time to time. Which reminded him.

“Do you know what time it is?” he asked her.

Lyra briefly looked around before spotting a clock through a window.

“It's about a quarter past eleven, midnight should be here soon.”

“Damn.”

“What?”

“I was hoping I would have time to speak to Rarity. It's the only other thing I needed to do today, and I shouldn't postpone it any more than necessary. It's already been too long.”

“You could still go to talk to her, she usually works pretty late.”

“How do you know that?”

“Everypony knows that. More than one unfortunate pony has been chased out from her store in the early morning for daring to disturb her beauty sleep.”

“Hehe, yes she can get pretty feisty,” Karon said thinking back to their fight.

“So, are you going?”

“I can't think of a reason why not if she's still awake.”

“Okay, do you think we could talk tomorrow? I want to know all about this clomning research you mentioned.”

“Cloning, and yes I think I could find the time.”

“Perfect, stop by my house any time you want.”

She turned around and started heading towards her home, head already buzzing with the thousands of potential questions she could throw at Karon.

He on the other hand, headed towards Rarity's boutique, his head swimming with the thousands of potential ways this could end in disaster. He arrived at the boutique without having reached any conclusions and hesitantly knocked on the door. There was light shining through the windows so he guessed Lyra's assumption of Rarity being up was correct.

He waited patiently as Rarity came and opened up the door. She had been wondering who would be disturbing her at this hour, but froze when she opened and saw Karon standing outside. It only lasted for a few moments before she regained control over herself and stepped aside with as much grace as she could muster to invite him in.

He stepped through the doorway and walked over to the same table he had been leaning against the last time he was here. The gesture did not go unnoticed by Rarity. She cleared her throat delicately before she spoke to him in a carefully neutral voice.

“I see you've returned from your visit into the forest, I hope it went well?”

“Uhh....”

“As well as I should have expected it to go, but that's not what I'm here to talk about.”

“Oh then what brings you here so late?” she responded, carefully dancing around the issue.

“Do we really need to do pretend like this?”

“Pardon me Karon, I'm just not sure of what to say.”

“I'll talk then and you interject if you feel the need to add something, is that agreeable?”

She nodded and bit her lower lip in response. Karon took a deep breath to clear his head before going into the strangest and most awkward conversation about a relationship he had ever had so far.

“It's obvious you have some feelings for me and you must have noticed I have some for you as well. I'm having trouble understanding exactly what those feelings are, and I can imagine you might have the same problem ... This situation is hardly conventional for either of our kinds. So, I guess at this point the only thing I can do is ... ask for your permission to begin to cordially court you. If we are going to make an honest attempt at ... whatever this is, I might as well do it in a way that befits a lady like yourself.”

“Once more we seem to have struck gold.”

Whatever Rarity had been expecting him to say, this was not it. He had dropped the usual flowery speech he reserved for Rarity, so she hadn't believed he would try and keep up his usual gentlecoltly manner, but here he was instead, in an extremely awkward position that technically she was responsible for putting him in, and he did exactly what could be expected of a gentlecolt. Karon was no longer just acting, he WAS a gentlecolt.

What more could she ask for?

She didn't know how to respond at first, but got a little more time to consider everything when Karon continued speaking.

“I know I am supposed to ask permission from your father, but since I have no idea where he is and the fact that he might not approve of an other-worldly space monkey courting his daughter, I will let it be your decision. After all this is about ... us.”

“I....”

“Before you say anything let me just add that if you give me your permission this will not be simple. There are a lot of ponies that would not approve of this....”

“Like Twilight.”

“...so it will have to be discreet and secret until a later time. So as long as you understand that this will be nothing like an average relationship ... what do you say?”

Rarity smiled and walked up to him, her head held high and a glint in her eyes.

“Darling, I never settle for anything average.”

He smiled back at her. They were in agreement, and they were going to see if this might possibly lead somewhere. Karon honestly felt that the thought was quite exciting now that the awkward part was over. This might be fun.

That was until he remembered he was supposed to COURT her.

Brief flashes passed by of him standing beneath her window playing a lute off key and scaring away birds with his terrible singing. He had tights ... and they were yellow, and for some reason he was wearing a jester's outfit.

“I can't imagine where that association might come from.”

“I will need to find a book on pony courting and perhaps one of pony romance an- OH GOD I'm turning into Twilight! Damn these ponies and their freaky influence on me, I'm being ponyfied!”

“Eeyup!”

“That's not funny!”

The distracting thought made Karon miss how easily misinterpreted his next words were.

“So do you think I could sleep here tonight?”

He almost slapped himself when he saw the shocked expression Rarity had.

“W-well I-I don't know if that would be such a good idea....”

“No, no, nonononono. I meant just SLEEPING. I think Twilight might not be that happy to see me right now, and I need somewhere to stay for the night.”

“Why? What happened with Twilight?”

“A little mistake where me and Pinkie Pie ended up causing some trouble earlier tonight.”

“Hmmm, this wouldn't have had anything to do with that warning bell ringing now would it?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, I guess it would be alright for you to spend one night with me, but I'm afraid Sweetie Bell's bed is far to small for somepony your size ... So you will just have to sleep in mine. There is room enough for both of us, and I trust you won't do anything ... untoward.”

“I will do nothing you don't want me to do, lady Rarity.”

She cleared her throat again and a small blush was apparent on her cheeks, once more making Karon wonder what kind of strange skin or coat the ponies had, but Rarity had just taken note of something else.

“Karon ... where is the robe I made you?”

“Shit.”

“Well ... The forest isn't kind towards humans or their clothes so ... I need to fix it up a little before I can wear it again.”

“Oh no! Please don't tell me it's ruined.”

“No, no. It's not ruined, just a few ripped stitches and holes ... and it's covered in blood. Nothing that can't be taken care off.”

“B-blood...? Goodness darling are you okay!? What happened in there?”

“I'm fine Rarity. Just had an encounter with a pack of wolves that ended badly. Mostly for them.”

“You mean you fought an entire pack of timber wolves and lived!? My, you must be quite ... strong.”

She said and eyed him carefully, taking note of the shapes and patterns of his displayed muscles. She looked ... pleased at the sight. It was different from ponies' usual musculature, but then again, if Karon could appreciate Rarity's beauty by her shining coat and sparkling eyes, it wasn't that far fetched to believe she could find him attractive in some non-pony ways.

“Rarity finds me sexy, lalalalalalala.”

“Most of it was with magic, but it's a long story that might be better suited for another time?”

“Oh yes, of course. Forgive me, this would be a good time for us to retire for the night. Please, come with me.”

She finished and turned around, gracefully walking up her stairs with an air of dignity befitting a queen. Karon shook his head, a little amused that the ponies could be so trusting that they didn't even lock their doors for the night, and followed.

They went into Rarity's bedchamber, for another word didn't truly fit, and Karon stood back and waited patiently as Rarity walked behind a screen. He heard the telltale shimmering sound of a unicorn's telekinesis and watched as a pair of silk pyjamas thrown over the screen came down to her.

Three seconds later she stepped out dressed in dark maroon silk, shining in perfect contrast to her shining purplish mane and pearly white coat. It looked....

Sexy.

She walked over to the bed and carefully scooted down in under the cover, not moving it an inch to either side. Karon raised an eyebrow at this but didn't say anything. He took off his boots and socks and crawled in the same way. He decided to keep his pants on, no need to push his luck any further than he had already.

Rarity's horn briefly flashed and the light's went out, leaving the room in the relative darkness of Equestria's night. Neither of them said anything, unsure if it would make the situation better or worse.

Finally Karon simply settled for the classic.

“Goodnight Rarity.”

“Goodnight Karon,” she replied and they both left it at that, waiting for sleep to take them.

All in all it hadn't been that terrible of a day. He got nice and hi- no, befuddled, and managed to sort out the problem with Rarity, and his settling of his debt with Applejack would bring an opportunity to earn some money, but the best part had undoubtedly been when he gave that muffin to Dinky. Both her and Ditzy were ponies that Karon felt deserved as much happiness as anyone could give them.

He was a little worried about the influence he had noticed the ponies around him seemed to be having on him. He hadn't even noticed the changes in his behavior until just recently, but they were just small things.

“It's not like they will really affect the way I think or feel anyway.”

And for once, the day didn't have a bad ending either. He was in bed together with the pony he had now decided to court without making a fool out of himself. It was ... nice.

“God damn it Fluttershy.” Next Chapter: Chapter 17: Mysterious mares and lost fillies Estimated time remaining: 20 Hours, 13 Minutes