“That was ... marvellous.”

“Indeed, though more dangerous than I first anticipated. Maybe I should start wearing a helmet to bed just in case?”

Rarity only pushed the covers over her face to hide it in shame to which Karon responded with a laugh and pulled them away.

“Don't worry. Worse things have happened before and will again. It's just a scratch and will heal, you have nothing to feel ashamed for.”

“But tonight was meant as something special, a dazzling end to a wonderful courting but....”

“Bah don't fret. This was as you said, marvellous, and I don't regret anything.”

“Besides not wearing a helmet to bed.”

“Quiet you.”

“Do you promise?”

“Yes I do, now go to sleep. Tomorrow is the first day we can wake up as mates, you will want to look your best no doubt.”

She smiled and gave him a kiss before going back to snuggling his chest, her horn as always unnervingly close to his throat.

“You now me so well, good night Karon, I ... love you.”

“Goodnight Rarity, I love you too.”

“Do you?”

“Almost, but she has earned hearing those words. Even if they are a tiny white lie.”

“Careful now or you'll turn into a decent person soon....”

Don't worry, I don't think I can.”

Strangely enough, Rarity was the one who fell asleep first. Her breathing became gentle and every now and then she would say something in her sleep. He was still holding her as before, not wanting to let go of the soft, warm presence. He was uncertain as to what he was supposed to be feeling. The sex had been nice for sure, it had been a while since the last time, but there was a nagging that ruined the serenity of the moment. To Rarity this had been more than sex, it had been some sort of ultimate expression of romance and love. To Rarity, it had been about the pleasures of the heart, to Karon...it had been about the flesh.

Not just, he felt something for her. But it was a far cry from the fantasy Rarity had cast herself as the star in, and he didn't know if it was wrong or not of him to feel that way. Was she naive and inexperienced, or was he simply a cynical bastard using her?

"Probably both."

However the question was not enough to completely ruin the moment, and no matter what weird games his heart and mind was playing, it couldn't be denied that it was nice having her next to him.

He fell asleep without ever reaching an answer.

                             ******************************************************

Karon's life settled into a nice rhythm after that night.

He would wake up in the library and begin studying Equestria, her creatures, history and all the things outside her borders. There were several nations outside of her fold apparently, though none embodied the same serenity and sophistication as Equestria. There was the otter kingdom to the northwest, and to the far south, one could find the swamp lands were the harpies's nests lied. To the east were the dragon mountains and contained mostly wilderness inhabited by a mix of creatures with no government save village elders, and if one continued over the sea to the east, they would find the small continent named Punda Milia, where the zebra empress ruled over the desert and jungle.

Karon studied these places and cultures in the morning and usually went out for lunch with either Pinkie Pie or Lyra, largely depending on what mood he was in. After that, he would visit Rarity in the afternoon and spend time with her, and later he would spend the evening with Scootaloo after school hours.

It was an ... idyllic life, Karon started living. He tried his best to maintain training in both magic and the martial arts when he could, but sedation had started to set in and he found himself enjoying his very uneventful life in Ponyville.

Days and night passed as rain, sunshine, storms and wind came and went. Spring blossomed and eventually moved into the hot summer period where the ponies spent most days out in the open fields. Enjoying picnics or games with their families and friends.

Karon was included in that, and it was on such a day, when the ponies had decided to throw a picnic outside the town, that he sat underneath a tree and watched three little fillies play.

“It is impossible infuriating. Months have passed now, MONTHS! And I still have no idea who Scoots remind me of.”

“You are either the dumbest or blindest person on this planet....”

“And you the most annoyingly enigmatic. Why not just tell me?”

“If I know then you already know as well, so it will come to you when you are ready to accept it.”

“I have gone through every single individual I know and still haven't found him or her. Scootaloo is irresponsible, quick to anger and has more than once shown that she is quite adapt at wriggling out of situations and coming up with excuses. She is childish, at times brave in a stupid way and refuses to acknowledge any type or authority and always finds ways to undermine said authorities' control. Who do we know that matches that?”

“....The dumbest person on this planet.”

“So very funny, why are we even talking if you won't give me an answer?”

“I did.”

“What?”

But the voice inside Karon's head had gone silent for once, and had left him even more confused. So Karon went back to watching Scootaloo play, observing the way she moved, talked and behaved and tried his best to find a match in his memories.

A little ways away from him sat the rest of the pony gang, Rarity predictably having brought a huge pillow that she was now lying on while carefully eating from a cluster of grapes that hung in the air above her. Applejack, on the other hoof, had brought with her food instead, which the rest of the ponies were busy devouring with ravenous appetite. Applejack smiled at the scene and when she saw Karon sitting underneath the tree without anything to eat she trotted over with a plate of apple pie to him.

“Wouldn't want ya to go hungry now would we,” she chuckled while presenting him the home made treat. He accepted it with a quirked smiled and began eating from it, still watching the fillies with a wondering look.

“Ah've heard that ya've taken ta spending time with Scootaloo over there. Would ya mind if Ah ask ya something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Well ya see, Applebloom has gotten kinda concerned 'bout her. Say's she's a lot more distant now and even more rebellious than she usually is. She even got caught trying to cheat off of Sweetie Bell's test in school couple of days ago. Would ya know what's gotten into her?”

“I might, let me talk to her about it and I will see what I can do.”

“Thanks a lot, Ah wouldn't want Applebloom to lose one of her best friends.”

She tipped her hat in thanks and walked back to the rest of the ponies, all laughing now at something Pinkie Pie had said. Karon ate the rest of the pie and rose up from his seat underneath the tree and walked over to the fillies, who all stopped what they were doing when they saw Karon coming their way.

Applebloom and Sweetie Bell looked a bit uncertain while Scootaloo puffed up her chest and a defiant glint shone in her eyes. Both the mouths of the two uncertain fillies dropped open when the cocky pegasus spoke.

“I didn't know you liked little fillies Karon, you've been watching us for a while now.”

“Please, if I had tastes in that direction I could do far better than somepony as ugly as you.”

“Ugly? Have you looked in a mirror lately? You look like a skinny diamond dog with a squashed face.”

“Whatever you say little chicken. Do you have a moment, I would like to talk in private?”

“See you later girls,” she said to the two other fillies still staring at her at having said such things, especially to an adult. She and Karon walked away until they got out of hearing distance and sat down on the grass, the wind gently blew by offering some relief from the heat of the sun.

“So what's up?”

“Applejack came to me mentioning Applebloom is worried about you. Apparently you've been running a little too wild lately and they've noticed.”

“So what? It's not like anypony knows what's it like to be me.”

“What a wonderfully stupid response. Of course they don't, but that is not a functional excuse they will accept for acting contrary to how they want you to act.”

“So I should just shut up and do what I'm told instead!? No way, no pony tells me what to do.”

“That's fine but you have to at least keep up appearance or you'll never be accepted and able to live with others.”

“What does it matter. I'm never going to be able to fly and everypony already looks at me like I'm a freak. I've heard how they whisper about me at the hospital. I might as well just go live in the forest with all the other things ponies don't like.”

“Ughh children ... Look Scoots I know I've been perhaps a little too loose with what I teach and tell you, but you can't live in isolation from other ponies just because you feel others don't get you and are still hurt over ... losing your ... family....”

“...No....”

“Finally! I thought you would never get it.”

“She's ... she's becoming like me....”

“Duh, so what are you going to do about it?”

“Scootaloo I want you to listen very carefully now,” he stared at her hard when he said it and she stared back in turn but nodded, realizing he was serious.

“You don't want that life. You don't want to go down that road. I KNOW you don't want that, nopony want that path. The only reason you take it is because you think that is all that's left for you. That's not true for you. You are still so young and you can choose whatever path or role that calls to you. You WILL learn how to fly and when you do, I think you will be so much stronger and faster than all the other pegasi just because you had to fight for so long and so hard to achieve it. Don't let the mistakes of your parents fool you into believing you don't deserve a good life. It was not your fault you no longer have a family. Don't push other ponies away, they won't abandon you if you don't abandon them okay.”

“But you said....”

“Forget everything I've said. What I've said only goes for me. You are not me, you will NOT become like me. You still have a lot of choices to make while I've already made all mine and they turned out to be mistakes, so learn from me Scoots. Learn from me what you shouldn't do, not what you should do.”

“But you're cool! You can do all these freaky magic things and your eyes glow in the dark and....”

“I am not a good role-model little chicken. If you want one of those stick to Dash. For the most part at least, you should probably try and become a little smarter than her.”

“But I can't just say sorry and act like nothing's wrong! It doesn't matter what I do, everypony's going to leave sooner or...”

“Oh for fuck's sake shut up!” Karon shouted and grabbed hold of Scootaloo, pressing her hard against his chest in a hug. She squirmed at first but eventually gave up and Karon heard her sniffing a few times.

“This is so lame.”

“Perhaps, but you just have to trust me when I say no pony is going to abandon you as long as you don't give them reason to.”

“Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

“But how do I know if I'm giving them reason to leave?”

“That's easy. As long as you don't try and hide your feelings and act like those Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon bitches you'll be fine. Just be yourself and you'll do fine, do you know why?”

“Because ... I'm awesome?”

“Damn straight, and don't let anypony ever forget that. Sure, you had a couple of idiot parents that didn't realize what an awesome daughter they had. Just replace them with somepony better.”

“Karon ... do you think yo-”

“No, no and no. I told you Scoots, I'm not meant for any kind of real parental or care-taking role even if it would be just part time. You need to find somepony else.”

“Do you think ... Rainbow Dash might like to be my new family?”

“Perhaps, if you asked in the right way.”

“I'll make sure she does.”

“Karon....”

“Yes?”

“...Is it okay if we hug a little longer?”

“For as long as you want.”

                          **************************************

Despite the positive resolution to what Karon thought of as 'The Scootaloo incidence', the realization that he had been looking at a little miniature copy of himself was disturbing. Not only because the filly had nearly gone down the same path that he had, but also because she had been, well....

“So childish! Am I truly like that? So self assured and ignorant I can't see what's right in front of me?”

“Well, it did take you almost five months to realize you were looking in a mirror whenever you saw the pegasus.”

“You know what I mean. Am I like her? Because charming spunk or not, Scootaloo is not a particularly smart filly and always seem to mess up for herself. Am I like her in that way? Childish, stupid and ignorant?”

“Well ever since we got here, you haven't done much else but screw things up. It's only lately now that things have quieted down and that's because we lie about the situation with Rarity.”

“I haven't been that bad.”

“What? Just because you haven't manipulated ponies into a full scale war or acted like a psychopath everything is just fine? You have taken each day step by step and haven't really thought of what everything means, why you do anything. You have just reacted and reacted poorly for that matter.”

“Hey, I've done a lot better here than I did back at earth.”

“So? Loki sent you here to learn what it means to be a trickster, what it means to be US. Have we done that?”

“No ... not really.”

“Then maybe we should try that.”

The thought bothered Karon. Things had felt good lately and he didn't want to ruin it, but the questions and reason he was here in the first place remained and would not go away, so he would do the only thing he could do really.

He would ask for advice.

                             *****************************************

“Ah don't know if ah can give ya any advice here Karon,” Bic Mac said from his comfortable position in the pile of hay. The seemingly unshakable farm pony had been the first pony Karon had gone to after the picnic was done and he had just finished recounting what he realized about Scootaloo, how things were with Rarity and his own confusion about ... well everything.

“But I haven't even asked you a question yet!”

“Ah know, but it sounds to me like things are getting awfully complicated for ya. Ah don't know how much help ah can be.”

“You gotta give me something here Mac.”

“Well, it seems to me ya are just confused and don't know what yer supposed to do. Ah can tell you this, Ah do what Ah do because Ah love working at the farm and Ah love working with ma family, an' Ah love it not just because Ah like doing it, Ah love it because Ah know Ah'm doing it for the right reasons. So Ah think you're just confused because yer thinking so hard about how yer supposed to be a trickster fella and not why yer supposed to do what yer supposed to do.”

“That's ... awfully perceptive. Thank you once more Big Mac. Did you like the new mead recipe I gave you by the way?”

“Eeyup!”

“Nice to hear it. Well, I think I should get going. I still want to ask Lyra on her opinion on the matter.”

The red stallion simply nodded and went back to his nap in the comfortable hay while Karon went inside and collected his cut from the latest alcohol sales. After that, he headed straight to Ponyville and a certain human obsessed unicorn's home.

When he knocked on the door it was Bon Bon that opened. She and Karon had developed a very cold relationship between them. Ever since Karon had arrived in Equestria, Lyra's obsession had hit new levels each week it seemed, and it had turned from an obsession into something resembling an actual science ... a mad one though, and Bon Bon did not like it at all. To her it was all Karon's fault, since he existed and all.

Lyra herself couldn't be happier though and when Karon walked into her room she immediately dropped everything she was working on a grabbed a notebook.

“Not today Lyra. Today I will be asking you questions.”

“What? Why? Can't I have one question at least?”

“Because I find myself in need of some perspective and you weird ponies are all I have at the moment.”

“Okay ... What do you want to ask?”

So Karon explained what he'd realized about Scootaloo and how it had made him start questioning himself, Lyra was listening carefully at first but towards the end she looked a little bored.

“I don't know what to say to that, maybe you haven't thought about it carefully enough. I mean, I would never have learned this much about humans if I hadn't worked so hard to get it. If you don't know the answer, you should just investigate until you do, as long as you have the right questions to begin with.”

“Better than nothing I guess. As thanks, would you like for me to tell you about the Mongolian empire?”

And so what Karon had thought would be a brief stay, turned into an hour long presentation of the rise and fall of the Mongolian empire and all the important historical figures within it. Lyra had put up a huge time line on one wall detailing the part of human history she knew and the blanks still missing. When Karon announced he was done for today she thanked him hastily and began writing in the new details on her time line.

Karon left the house with a frosty nod to Bon Bon on his way out and headed towards Rarity's boutique. He wouldn't be spending any more time with Scootaloo today and he could use a pleasant distraction for the moment.

Above him, the Equestrian summer sun shone brightly and made the days almost unbearable in their heat in Karon's opinion. He hadn't worn his robe for a long time, favoring the shirt instead, and just this once he might admit that black wasn't the wisest option for clothes during this season.

He wiped the gathered sweat from his forehead and knocked on Rarity's door before walking inside. She was standing before a mirror and was admiring herself in a new dress, not taking her eyes off it once as they scanned critically for any mistakes. She made a self satisfied sound when she found none and spoke.

“Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the most fabulous pony of them all?....Why yes it is me! Don't you agree Karon?”

She turned towards him and fluttered her eyelashes suggestively, having grown far more bold with each night they spent with each other.

“I can't disagree. That dress suits you, brings out your eyes.”

“Exactly what I was thinking. We truly are meant for each other.”

“Indeed....” Karon replied and took a seat on his usual position on top of a table. Rarity glanced back in the mirror for a few seconds before she turned around to him again.

“I will go upstairs and undress, do you want to join me? Are you staying the night?”

“I'll be along, and no I'm not staying tonight. I am feeling exhausted and just need to rest.”

“Oh okay,” she replied a little disappointed and walked up the stairs and into her room.

Karon remained where he was and tried to gather his thoughts. When he was unsuccessful, he looked at the mirror and walked to it. Within it he saw himself looking back, those shining amber eyes leaving no doubt that whatever he was now, it wasn't human.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the greatest deceiver of them all?”

He didn't hear any reply. There was just his reflection, looking back at him with an uncertain face.

“Screw this,” he muttered and went upstairs where Rarity was waiting for him. The rest of the evening they spent together in bed, holding each other while Rarity told Karon about all of her latest designs. Karon wasn't listening of course, his mind still occupied with all the questions swirling round in it.

“An identity crisis, how very original of you.”

“It's not an identity crisis. I just need to know what I am supposed to do exactly.”

“You'll find out eventually.”

That wasn't good enough, Karon hated not knowing the answer to a question. Especially when it concerned himself, he was supposed to know things, it was his only real advantage, but at least Rarity's presence calmed down the worst part of his mind, allowing for some more manageable contemplation.

“Rarity.”

“Hmmm, yes Karon what is it?”

“....Nothing, forget I said anything,” he leaned down and kissed her, stroking the back of her right ear at the same time. He had learned a lot about pony physiology ever since he and Rarity had begun having sex, and even though it was most likely different from mare to mare, Rarity herself had a weak spot in the form of her ears.

Outside the sun had set and Karon realized he had forgotten the time. He climbed out of bed and gave Rarity another kiss before heading towards the door.

“I should go, Twilight is expecting me to be back around now and I disappear enough as it is.”

Rarity looked very disappointed and just a tiny bit afraid.

“Karon ... are you happy with me?”

“...Yes, yes I am.”

“Then why can't we just tell everypony about us?”

“Several reasons why, please Rarity. Just have patience, one day we will tell them.”

She nodded in response but didn't look convinced. Instead, she looked out the window as he left trying to make sense of it all.

“So are you?”

“What?”

“Happy.”

“...Yes.”

And it was the truth. Odd or not, he had managed to scrounge up some kind of happiness in his life here in Ponyville, but it wouldn't last forever and Karon knew that. He just wished he didn't.

The walk to the library was a lot cooler since the sun had fallen and it improved his mood by a slight degree. Which is perhaps why Twilight didn't pick up on his feelings when he entered the library and greeted her. Instead she just greeted him back before returning to her latest project.

She was writing a study of telepathy and the different ways it could be utilized by ponies. Because of this, Twilight had begun using telepathy almost everywhere and on everypony. It had gone so far, her friends had joined together and put a ban on all use of telepathy on them or while they were in the close vicinity. Karon had playfully dared her to try and get to his mind though, and every time she did he just blanked it, leaving her very frustrated with her lack of success.

It was a demonstration of just how far their relationship had gone, that Karon was so comfortable and had gotten to know Twilight so well that he was confident he could predict whenever she would make an attempt, and Twilight had become more friendly as well, taking a liking to his new found studies, and they had spent many night up late discussing new finds either of them had made and fallen asleep next to each other.

Karon took a seat in a pile of pillows he had placed on the floor to act as his seat while reading and picked up a book from the closest pile. His back was turned away from Twilight and the rest of the library so she wouldn't notice that he wasn't reading the book. Just using it as a reason to sit down and think things through.

“So do we try and formulate some new plan?”

“I don't know, that's the point. We need guidance of some kind. Loki should have been the one to offer such things, but instead he opted for throwing me into the pool and either I learn how to swim or drown.”

“So we go to someone else.”

“Like who?”

How about Eldros?”

“That ... might work. But, there is a chance he will give an answer through some kind of elaborate and very painful demonstration meant to make me realize something.”

“It's worth the risk. We won't get anywhere if we continue like this.”

“I haven't done all too bad. I managed to acquire some friends and even a steady flow of bits, I even got Rarity and she is improving a lot with the sex, als-”

Karon's inner dialogue was interrupted by a sharp intake of breath from behind him, and he turned around with a cold dread gathering in the pit of his stomach. He saw Twilight standing on the other side of the room facing him. Her horn was glowing steadily with a purple light and her eyes....

“Those eyes..”

They screamed of the pain and loss she was feeling at that moment.

She had heard everything. Next Chapter: Chapter 21: The right thing to do Estimated time remaining: 18 Hours, 10 Minutes