”Hey, wake up! We're here.”

Karon twitched and his eyes sprang open, but were immediately shielded by his arms when the sun glared right into them. He had to blink a few times to get the burned image out of his retinas. When normal sight returned to him, he saw Lyra standing in front of him with an amused expression on her face.

“Sleep well?” she asked.

“It could have been more comfortable,” he responded with a parched throat, wincing as he stood up. They had travelled through the air without any water, and right underneath a burning sun for most of the trip. Magic had been weaved into the carriage to keep the air pressure tolerable, but the dehydration and heat were nothing the unicorns that had designed it had considered. Ponies were more tolerant to such things than humans, and Karon, apparently.

He stretched his arms high above his head and arched his back while yawning. A few pops and cracks could be heard quite loudly, and his head swam as the blood flow increased. He could imagine that this was how a brittle autumn leaf must feel, and then he remembered what Lyra had said when she woke him up. He rubbed his eyes once for good measure then looked around himself.

Trottingham, the home of Equestrian art and research. If Manehattan was the center of Equestrian economic power, and Canterlot was the high seat of politics and culture, then Trottingham was the great cradle of all things art. And it showed.

The carriage stood in the middle of a wide cobblestone street flanked by large, close standing buildings that were mostly made out of stone. Gray, white, brown and beige colored exteriors could be seen all the way down the street. Wooden balconies made out of dark mahogany stood out over them, and on the rooftop corners gargoyles and stone statues silently stood guard over all within the city. On every possible surface there were markings and pictures either carved or painted on to enhance the beauty of the house's  simple facades.

Lyra was the first to jump off the carriage, followed shortly by Karon after he had grabbed his rug sack, map and spear. The street itself was empty. Karon spotted one curious unicorn looking down on them from a second story window, but no other traces of life could be seen.

“You can return to Canterlot now. Thanks for the ride,” Karon said to the two pegasi drawing the carriage.

“We have orders to remain at the Inn called 'The Nutty Brony' until we are told by captain Shining Armor that he and princess Mi Amore Cadenza are ready to be taken to Canterlot,” the stallion replied.

“Shining Armor? As in the captain of the solar guard?” Karon asked in surprise.

“That's correct,” the other pegasus responded as he took off his harness.

“What is he doing here?”

“I don't know, we were just told to stay at the inn until he tells us he and the princess are ready to leave.”

“Huh, where is this inn by the way?”

“Down the street, you can see it from here. It's the one with a sign hanging on the wall saying 'The Nutty Brony Inn',” the pegasus told him with a patient look and pointed.

Karon turned to where he was pointing and saw said sign sticking out from one of the buildings.

“Ohh...”

“Well thanks...” Karon muttered and walked towards the door underneath the sign, Lyra following close behind.

“Why are we going there? Do you want something you want with the captain?” she asked.

“No, not really, but we do need somewhere to sleep while we’re here right?”

“Yeah sure,” she said.

Karon pushed open the door and stepped inside. It was pretty big. Lit by small windows carved through the rock, and lanterns placed upon the tables, spreading a soft golden shine. The tables were dark mahogany, much like the balconies, and so too was the bar, the stairs and the wooden panel on the lower half of the walls.

The only exception was the wood covering the floor, which was of a lighter variety, though what kind of wood it might be escaped him.

There were a few ponies standing around some of the tables. Karon guessed they must have been having regular conversations or enjoying their drinks before he entered. He had to guess because all of them were now staring open mouthed at him.

“Right, humans aren't exactly common around here.”

“I have a feeling this will happen a lot in the future.”

He sighed and walked with firm steps towards the bar, the spear he used as a walking staff thudded against the wooden floor with each step. Everypony’s eyes snapped towards it at the same time, and widened as their faces shifted from surprise to worry. Karon noticed and tried to move as relaxedly as he could, hoping he would appear non-threatening enough to keep them from screaming for the guards or panicking. He wasn’t about to try the waving-and-smiling tactic any time soon.

Once was enough.

Lyra moved up to his side as he walked, and when he looked down at her he saw she wore a bored expression while looking around. Acting like it was nothing special, that the appearance of an armed human, something only whispered about in campfire stories, was nothing to work themselves up over.

When he reached the bar, Lyra put a hoof on top of it, her careless attitude made the ponies inside shift back to surprise, and finally ended up all looking confused. Karon caught her eye and gave her a quick, thankful smile. She responded with a wink that made the corners of his mouth twitch upwards.

“What can I help you with?” the unicorn barmare asked with her eyes fixed on Karon. She had a coat the color of a sunset, and green eyes sprinkled with gold. She had pulled her auburn mane up in a knot and was wearing a small apron.

“How much for a two beds room, and food and drink to go with it?”

“Eight bits per night, and two additional if you want food and drink for the day. You get to eat off the breakfast, lunch and dinner menu, so you'll have to come down here yourself if you want it.”

Karon had no idea what standard rates for anything in Equestria were besides a bottle of alcohol since he had help selling those. So he just nodded like it was a reasonable price and took off his rug sack. He opened it and dug around inside until he found the bag of money, then gathered ten bits in his hands. The last thing he wanted to do was pull out the giant bag of gold and let everypony know there was easy money to be made stealing from him.

He looked around the inn while he put the coins on the table. Everypony was still staring at him, though now they tried to appear busy with something else, but nopony looked to be interested in his money. No gleam of greed or hunger sparked in their eyes. No, they were just wondering what the hell he really was and what he was doing here. It wasn't like he could be a real human.

That would be really scary.

The barmare's horn glowed with a green aura and the coins floated through the air and down behind the bar, clinking as they landed in whatever place she kept all her coin. Her face shifted into a practiced smile as the strangers before her suddenly became customers, and with a wave of her hoof pointed at the stairs.

“Let me show you your room. Follow me.”

She dropped down on all her four and walked out from behind the counter. Karon motioned for Lyra to take the lead and they both followed her up. They took a left at the top and followed down a narrow hallway, carefully crafted doors lined the hallway at generous intervals, promising that the rooms they led into were generous.

She stopped at the end of the hallway and opened a door to the left, Karon and Lyra went through it and looked around.

It was a normal sized room by pony standards, which was far bigger than they ever really needed, so space would not be an issue between them. The walls were lined with paintings of various artists with clearly distinct styles, but yet managed to fit in well next to each other. Thick red drapes framed the windows, making the room take on an appearance more reminiscent of a library than an inn. This image was furthered by the large bookcase filled with large books and the dark brown sofa next to it.

On either end of the room stood two double beds with carved bed frames in curving patterns. They were of standard pony size, but since they were so wide, Karon would be able to sleep on it relatively comfortably with a bit of imagination.

“There is a restroom through that door,” the barmaid said and pointed to a door right next to one of the beds. “You should have everything you need here, if you want to stay for any more nights you need to pay by lunch tomorrow at the latest.”

“Thank you, we'll see how long we stay,” Karon responded then walked to the far off bed next to the restroom door and threw his spear, map and rug sack on it. He stroked his throat and went into the bathroom. It was small but functional, and thankfully had running water. Karon eagerly eased the discomfort of his parched throat with the cool liquid and splashed his face. When he was done, he looked up into the mirror before him.

The face staring back at him looked tired, not just physically, but worn out in all its entirety. There had always been a certain kind of amber glow to his eyes, ever since he first saw them in Twilight's mirror. But now they reminded him disturbingly much about the flames of a dying fire.

He sighed and splashed his face again to bring himself out of the pointless meditation. When he walked out of the bathroom he found Lyra standing in the middle of the room, waiting for him with a patient look.

“Yes?” he asked and raised an eyebrow.

“So what now?” she asked him back.

Karon was taken off guard entirely by the simple question, and couldn't think of anything to say in response.

“Well...I...Uhh...”

“You did have a plan when you said we we're going to Trottingham, right? Because when we talked about where we could go you sounded like you had a plan.”

“Well...it's not that simple...”

She groaned and gingerly rubbed a spot between her eyes with a hoof. “So you don't have a plan at all?”

“See the sights?”

“I would feel more confident about your leadership skills if you hadn't made that sound like a question.”

“You were the one that wanted to come along, remember?” Karon shot back.

“I didn't have much choice, it was that or go back to Ponyville and pretend I had just decided to give up all about humans!”

“Well maybe you should have, Karon finished with a glare.

Heavy silence filled the air, pressing down on both of them as they gradually calmed down and the angry tension was replaced with awkwardness.

“I didn't mean that...I'm glad you followed along,” Karon said carefully.

“No you're not.”

“Actually I am. If you hadn't, I would be spending most of my time mopping around and thinking pessimistic, pseudo-philosophical thoughts by now.”

“Like you aren't.”

Lyra snorted and looked down at the floor with a crooked smile.

“Thanks...for letting me come along I mean. I don't think things would have worked out with me and Bon Bon now no matter what. Hay, we hadn't even slept in the same bed for months.”

“Woah, woah hold up. You and Bon Bon were actually a...a thing.”

“Marefriends yeah, didn't you know? You lived in Ponyville for half a year and didn't even notice?”

“Maybe if we had spent our time doing something else then discussing my latest disaster, or you systematically interrogating me about all things human, I might have known that.”

“But it’s obvious when two ponies are marefriends, you get all cute and act like a couple.”

“How the hell am I supposed to know when things are cute and adorable in a couple manner and just cute and adorable in a pony manner? You all act like crazy married couples all the time anyway.”

“Well we ar...we were, a couple. Is that a problem for you or anything?”

“Well...No, I'm just...I can't decide if I should make some kind of innuendo regarding more direct ways of using your horn than magic or not. But that would be a bit crass since I contributed to your break up...kinda.”

Lyra snorted again, however it continued into a laugh this time and she smiled up at him like he was an idiot.

“You would know about such things after having slept with Rarity huh?”

Karon's mouth fell open in indignation while words were unsuccessfully trying to come out of it. Lyra put a hoof over her mouth to hide her smirk when he regained his composure.

“We NEVER tried something like that! Seriously, it's Rarity were talking about here...I mean, not that I would ever try something like that even if she did offer. Which she didn't!” he finished and watched how Lyra fell down of the floor and shook with giggling she couldn't contain.

A few heartbeats passed before Karon's mouth broke out into a grin. Then he chuckled, and then he began laughing just as hard as Lyra. He had to clutch his stomach and brace himself against the bed as laughter spilled out of him.

The tension that had hung in the air was dispersed and both of them stood up straight. They looked on one another with smiles and waited for the occasional giggles to subside.

Finally, Karon looked out the window and said.

“Okay, let's grab a few coins then go see what this town has to offer.”

Lyra nodded in agreement of the idea and waited for Karon to gather a few bits from the pouch before they both walked down the stairs and out into the city waiting to be explored.

“You sure you and Rairty never did anything like that? Because you seemed a little too defensive about it,” she asked, smile still present on her face.

“The subject never even came up, but on another note, from now on I will be forever referring to your horn as 'the love wand'.”

With a quick laugh at the look on Lyra's face, Karon began walking down the street and towards whatever adventures awaited them.

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

Five hours later, just as the sun was beginning to fall, Karon and Lyra entered the inn once more, both of them with sullen looks on their faces.  They went to the bar and Karon put all the coins he had gathered before going out on it.

“Give me as much of the strongest this buys, for her too,” he grumbled at the slightly nervous looking barmare. Her eyes flickered between the angry looking Karon and the sour face of Lyra, then she turned around and levitated a green bottle to the counter. Two glasses followed out from behind it, and she poured a dark yellow liquid into them.

Karon grabbed the closest one and emptied it in one gulp, setting it down and giving the barmare a glance that told her to refill and keep them coming without any objections. She swallowed noticeably, but filled the glass again. And then she left the bottle and went down to the other end of the bar, where apparently a few glasses desperately needed cleaning.

“Rascists! The whole lot of them,” Karon growled into his glass, before taking a large sip from it.

“We have been over this before, they're not racist. It would have been racist if a unicorn discriminates against say, an earth pony. A bunch of unicorn discriminating against a human would be called speciesists.”

“They're assholes either way!”

“Yeah I kinda forgot how ponies around here haven't heard about the human walking around.” Lyra said and sipped her drink with a grimace.

“They didn't even give me a chance to explain I'm not gonna eat them,” he spat and drained his glass once more.

“Well, at least the guards didn't give us a fine,” Lyra offered weakly.

“Disturbing the peace my ass! I was trying to look around the stores not burn them down!” he threw up his arms in the air and shook his head, then reached for the bottle and drank straight from it.

Lyra looked down at her barely touched glass, and then at his, then at the bottle he was greedily drinking from.

“Uhh Karon, this was pretty strong, maybe you should calm down a little, before you decide to burn something down for real.”

He pulled the bottle away from his lips with a gasp of air and squinted his eyes as they watered.  Now that she mentioned it, Karon realized that the drink actually felt like shoving down burning coal in his throat.

“Bah! I'm just fine! Unlike those assholes, I hope their children will all marry donkeys so they can die out of shame!”

“What's wrong with the donkeys?” Lyra asked in surprise.

“What!? You mean there's talking, donkeys here too? Did I just say something insensitive... Ooh wait nevermind, this town is already full of insensitive assholes anyway! Barkeep...put more stuff in the…the thing more stuff goes in!”

“Karon your holding the bottle in your hand,” Lyra said and pointed at the bottle he was currently waving at the barmare. He turned to stare at Lyra, then turned to stare at the bottle. Then he took another swig from it and smacked his lips loudly.

“Forgot 'bout that,” he said, swaying to the side.

“Uhm sir, you’re not supposed to drink that much,” the barmare carefully interjected.

“I'm schupposed to djink all the much I want,” Karon shot back but froze, then stared down at the floor.

“What do you mean?” Lyra asked the barmare while keeping an eye on the suspiciously quiet Karon.

“That bottle is a local mix the unicorn artists use when they are depressed or in need of creativity, it's really strong and you’re only supposed to drink one glass at the most.”

“What happens if you drink too much?” Lyra asked with a glance to the barmare.

“Well...most of them go a little crazy.”

They both slowly turned their heads and regarded Karon wearily, who still kept his eyes down at the floor. But instead of a spontaneous combustion or turning into a hydra, Karon surprised them in another way.

He sniffed.

“You...you called me sir, juscht like she did,” he said, and nearly tipped over as he took another swig of the bottle.

The barmare just looked confused, however Lyra looked on him with pity. She went up on her hind legs and put a hoof on his shoulder.

“Come on Karon, you know thinking about that won't help.”

“I knowsh, but itsh just scho hard.”

“Uhh, I think you've had enough now,” she stated with a skeptical look at his slurring.

“No! I only need another djink, then I will be juscht fine.”

“One more, then you're done,” she said firmly, trusting Karon wouldn't have the presence of mind to remember there was little she could do if he simply refused. And if he did, somepony would call the town guards sooner or later, and then things could get very complicated.

She watched Karon take another long swig of the bottle, then he put it back on the counter where it wobbled uncertainly before coming to a stop. The barmare quickly grabbed it with her magic and levitated it back to where it belonged, safely out of Karon's reach. She made a face like she had just bitten a very sour lemon, then spoke to him slowly.

“I'm sorry, but you didn't pay for...that much. Could I...perhaps bother you for the rest of the money?”

Karon raised his head up high so he looked down on the unicorn over his nose, his eyes going in and out of focus repeatedly, making him squint.

“Schure, no problem. Lyra, get the money and pay the nische lady,” he responded with a wave up towards their bedroom.

Lyra didn't move, not quite certain if it would be such a good idea to leave Karon down at the bar unattended. She glanced around the room and saw that most of the patrons were staring at them openly, wondering what was going on with the human. If Karon caught those looks he might be upset, and right now she doubted he would have much control over his impulses.

Well, less so than usual.

“I'll be right back,” she told the barmare and hurried towards the stairs, and the waiting bag of money. Halfway up she nearly ran into a large unicorn, his coat a pearly white and mane a deep blue. She murmured a half voiced apology and shot a glance back downstairs, and saw that Karon looked to be in conversation with the barmare.

She hurried past the surprised unicorn and ran into her room. She had to use her magic to untie the knot Karon had made on the strange rug sack, and during the entire time she cursed her lack of proper hands, it would have been so much simpler.

She managed to untie it eventually and quickly levitated what looked to be a dozen of the coins into the air. She turned around and hurried back down to Karon, the coins floating alongside her. When she got back out on the stairs she saw that the unicorn she had run into was in deep conversation with Karon, and the human looked quite animated, although without a center of balance.

“Uh oh,” she said then hurried down to them.

“What’s going on?” she asked, carefully eyeing the laughing Karon and the smiling unicorn. She discreetly slipped the coins over to the barmare with her magic while she waited for Karon to stop laughing.

“Oh hey! It’sch you, can you guess who thisch is? I beat you can’t,” he replied and put and arm over the stallion’s shoulders. Normally it would have been difficult, but right now Karon was stooping over so low it came without problem.

Lyra looked the stallion over a little more carefully, making note of his groomed appearance, and his confident stance despite being right next to an obviously drunk human, a dangerous creature out of legend.

“A guard of some kind,” she finally guessed, noting that the irony of being approached by a guard, just after they nearly got arrested, was the kind of humor she thought Karon would enjoy.

“You were schooo close,” he said and formed an o with his lips, “This right here is Twilight’s brother, Shining Swarmor.”

“Armor, my name is Shining Armor,” The stallion corrected with a patient smile, like he was used to dealing with drunken humans on a regular basis.

“Twilight’s brother? So you’re the captain those pegasi was waiting for to return to Canterlot. Aren’t you supposed to stay with the princesses and order around all the other guard ponies?” she asked with a frown.

“I’m here on a special assignment actually,” the stallion explained while slipping out of Karon’s grasp discreetly.

“Oh, you’re here to schpyyy on me?” Karon said and pointed at him with a shaky finger.

“No, why would somepony…never mind. No, I’m here to safeguard princess Mi Amore Cadenza during her stay in Trottingham.”

“Just you? No pony else?” Lyra continued.

“Princess Celestia didn't anticipate anything dangerous to happen, but for some reason she wanted Caden…I mean princess Mi Amore, to be guarded until her return to Canterlot.”

“I beat I know why,” Lyra whispered to herself and shifter her gaze to Karon.

He had just noticed the incessant staring of the other patrons of the inn, and he was glaring daggers right back at all of them. She had seen Karon drunk twice, both of those times ended with utter chaos and some damage to property and egos. It would be best if she could get him upstairs and away from anypony else until he was in a better mood, or at least sober.

“Hehe, well it was nice meeting you, but we should probably be going now. Need a lot of sleep after all that walking around,” she emphasized the statement with an extremely faked yawn, then walked up behind Karon and pushed him carefully towards the stairs. He stumbled forward drunkenly and turned around in protest.

“Hey watch where you stichk that horn!”

“Come on Karon, time to go sleep.”

“I don’t wanna sleep,” he objected with a whine, showing quite clearly he had picked up a thing or two from Rarity.

“Too bad, it’s time for sleep anyway,” she responded without budging and pushed him backwards.

“I said I don’t wanna!” Karon shouted and stomped his foot.

“Karon, what would Feather say if she saw you right now?” Lyra asked firmly, wincing when she saw how his face switched from angry scowl to a look of pain.

“Feather…”

“Yes, so let’s go upstairs and sleep, everything will be better tomorrow,” Lyra said in a softer tone, pushing on him carefully until he began walking towards the stairs.

She regretted having mentioned Feather Touch. Helping Karon forget and move on would be important if she didn’t want their journey together to end in disaster, but playing foalsitter to a human was not what she had had in mind when she had asked if she could follow with him. Even so, it had been a low blow, and she made a promise to herself never to use it again.

They went up the stairs and into their room. When Lyra saw her bed she felt drained and in great need of sleep. She hadn’t realized just how exhausting keeping Karon from causing a disaster was. That had been Twilight’s job, and she really didn’t want it. However it wasn’t like she could let the only human in Equestria hurt himself. The odds of her ever meeting another one were about nonexistent.

Besides, she actually liked Karon…most of the time.

She watched as he went over to his bed and shuffled the spear, map and rug sack off it to the floor. He fell down on the bed and began clumsily taking off his clothes, throwing his boots and other clothes around the room.

Clothes was one thing Lyra didn’t have to worry about, even though she had been tempted more than once to begin wearing it constantly, since humans did it. She jumped up to her large bed and stretched out on it luxuriously, then turned to her side and put one of the pillows under her head.

It didn’t take long before her eyelids felt too heavy to keep open, and she closed them happily, convinced Karon would fall asleep soon enough, despite having slept on the way to Trottingham. He wouldn’t get up to any trouble tonight, and with that she allowed herself to relax and drift off into sleep.

Her last thought was if Bon Bon was missing her?

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

When Lyra woke up she yawned and felt like lingering in bed. After all, they didn’t have anything planned for the day anyway, as far as Karon had told her. With that thought she pushed herself up and glanced over at his bed, and her heart skipped a beat. It was empty.

She scrambled out of bed and nearly tripped over her sheets, the sun was spilling forth its light through the window and Lyra spotted one of Karon’s boots underneath it. If the boot was here it was unlikely he had gone outside, unless…he had gone out barefoot.

Humans didn’t do that…she thought. She had asked once and Karon had told her they wore something on their feet most of the time, that the only people that didn’t were either hippies or crazy. Lyra didn’t know what a hippie was, but she knew that Karon wasn’t crazy…not medically so anyway.

The dread that had gathered in her stomach disappeared when she heard the distinctive sound of somepony throwing up from inside the bathroom. She blew out a sigh of relief and put a hoof over her face. If he was vomiting then she hoped he would be sober when he came out.

She shuffled over to her bed sleepily and threw herself on it, the day had barely begun and she was already worrying about what Karon might do. Things wouldn’t work out if it continued.

She lied on her back and stared up at the ceiling for a while, waiting for Karon to finish. When he finally came out he did so with a pained groan, and Lyra sat up and observed his unsteady walk to his bed. However in the place in her stomach where dread had sat just a few minutes ago, now instead an aching hole remained. Then it growled and Lyra felt hunger make its presence known.

“Karon, I want to go down and get something to eat, wanna to join me?” she asked, trying to keep the malicious glee for his condition out of her voice. Maybe if he felt like this a bit more he would think twice about getting himself drunk and dangerous.

The only response she got from Karon was a loud groan that somehow managed to convey his disgust of the idea.

“Suit yourself, I’ll see if they can save something for when you’ll feel better.”

“I’ll never be better,” he responded with a whimper and pulled the covers over himself.

Lyra cracked a smile, then went out the door and headed downstairs. The sun was up and that meant that the inn would at least have begun with their breakfast menu. She eagerly bounced down the stairs two steps at a time and trotted up to the barmare.

“Hey, what do you serve for breakfast?” Lyra asked her, pretending not to hear when her stomach growled loudly in response to the question.

“We have cooked vegetable stew and several types of bread. If you prefer, we have some hay available as well, we got milk and water for drink…unless you prefer something stronger that is?”

“Oh no, I don’t need anything stronger, I’ll have some milk and a bowl of that vegetable stew. Would it be alright if I brought some of it up to our room too? My friend isn’t feeling quite well after last night.”

“I have no trouble believing that. I’ve seen ponies needing to go to a hospital for less than he drank,” the barmare said, then turned around and headed through a half open door behind her.

Lyra’s stomach growled loudly once more in anticipation and she turned to look around for a table to eat at.

The inn wasn't crowded, she only saw three more patrons beside herself, and two of those stood out. They both stood at a table together, a pink coated, multicolored maned alicorn and the captain, Shining Armor. The latter which had seen her, and was waving her over. Lyra answered with a wave back and walked over to them slowly.

She might have been allowed to see the princess Celestia in her own bedchamber while in Canterlot, but that had been because she was in company with Twilight and the other elements of harmony. Ordinary ponies like her weren’t used to speaking and being allowed to see royalty so informally. And the alicorn sitting at the table was obviously the princess Mi Amore something the captain had mentioned.

It was perfectly natural to feel a little nervous.

The princess looked on the approaching unicorn with curiosity etched on her features, in front of her was a bowl with what must be the vegetable stew Lyra herself had ordered. When she reached the table Shining Armor smiled at her and tipped his head.

“Good morning, I hope everything went well after you retired last night.”

“Oh yeah, nothing to worry about, my friend is just a little…uh, indisposed at the moment.”

Lyra swallowed a lump in her throat and forced herself not to stare at the alicorn, she didn’t know if she was supposed to talk to the princess in any certain way. Perhaps it would be best to sound as polite as possible.

She really hoped Karon would stay upstairs.

“I’m afraid I didn’t get your name…?” Shining continued with a questioning glance to her.

“Right, my name is Lyra.”

“Hello Lyra, this is princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Royal Canterlot court.”

The princess smiled at Lyra, and instantly her nervousness was gone. Cadenza must have noticed because her smile widened a little and she spoke softly.

“You don’t need to be afraid of me. I’m a princess only because I’m related to Celestia and Luna. I don’t actually do anything besides a little bit of assistance with diplomats.”

The reassurance and comforting tone of the princess's voice made Lyra feel more relaxed, and the barmare came out with the stew and milk to her at the table. After that, the conversation flowed easily. Shining Armor asking about how Twilight was doing in Ponyville, and Cadenza took great pleasure in Lyra’s accounting of when her aunt Luna appeared there during Nightmare night.

It was an amiable moment, and Lyra was enjoying it. That was until she heard the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. She turned her head around and saw a much dishevelled Karon descending down to the floor, the barmare spotted him as well and her usual fiery orange coat turned a little lighter.

He shuffled his feet over to the bar and had a hand up over his face, trying in vain to protect himself from the light shining in through the windows.

“Excuse me,” Lyra said to the pony pair and walked over to Karon.

“…That’ll be fine,” Karon finished telling the barmare, after which she went into the kitchen like before. The groggy human turned around and saw Lyra walking towards and rubbed his eyes.

“I see you made your way downstairs,” she told him.

“I stopped feeling sick, and now I feel hungry. Besides, I wanted to see what you were up to.”

“I’m just talking to that captain we meet last night and the princess,” she said and flicked her head in their direction.

Karon glanced over at the table Lyra had been standing at and raised an eyebrow when he saw the two ponies around it.

“She’s pink.”

“Yeah…she is.”

“And he’s totally crushing on her.”

“Wait, what?!”

Lyra spun around and stared at the table, wondering what Karon had just seen that she would have missed. But she was disappointed, neither Shining Armor nor princess Cadenza looked to be doing anything that might have led to that conclusion. They were just standing like she left them, talking to one another while smiling brightly.

She turned back to Karon, who was eyeing the two ponies intently while massaging his temples at the same time, still suffering from his hangover.

“What do you mean?” she finally gave in and asked him.

“Come on, he’s practically transfixed with her eyes, he’s mimicking her every move, and he does that nervous looking laugh when she stops talking. He’s crushing on her.” Karon fell silent after that, busy with licking his lips at the sight of the vegetable stew the barmare had just brought with her out of the kitchen to him.

“Thank you,” he said to her, grasping it in both hands and tipping it over into his mouth, drinking straight from it. Lyra observed his use of his hands with naked envy written all over her. She brought herself out of the trance quickly though by shaking her head and returning to the topic at hoof.

“That doesn’t mean he’s falling in love with the princess. Maybe he’s just overprotective and takes his duty very seriously.”

Karon slurped the content of his bowl loudly and pulled it away from his lips, he whipped his mouth with his sleeve then gave Lyra a skeptical look.

“You’re grasping for straws and you know it. Seems like I’m not the only one that can’t spot a pony couple straight away after all,” he told her with a smirk before raising the bowl to his lips again.

Lyra blew out some air in annoyance and turned observe the alleged couple closer. Now that Karon did mention it, Shining Armor was kinda following the princess's every move. And did she just flutter her eyelashes at him? Were they flirting with each other? It had certainly not seemed like it when she had been talking with them.

“Okay, you might have a point. What are we going to do about it?”

Karon coughed into his stew, then rubbed the splatter off his face with an irritated sigh.

“What do you mean ‘what are we going to do about it’? Obviously nothing, it’s not our concern.”

“We can’t just ignore it, if Shining Armor likes the princess don’t you think we should help him a little at least?”

“Uhm, no.”

“Why not? He’s been nice to us, and he’s also Twilight’s brother so you would be helping her in a way too. What if they end up being meant for each other and getting married and having children and so on. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing for Twilight? That her brother married an alicorn princess?”

“You’ve been reading too many trashy romance novels Lyra. Even if they do get together for whatever reason, they’re not going to get married and gallop off into the sunset together. If they fall in love, it will most likely last a few months at the most then end in some kind of court scandal. Their love won’t be some kind of epic legend that ends up saving Equestria or whatever.”

“Has anypony ever told you you are really cynical. What are we doing here exactly that takes priority over helping something that might become love bloom?”

“That’s…complicated.”

“Yeah? Because yesterday I remember you telling me you didn’t have a plan.”

“That was different. I meant I didn’t have a plan specifically for going to Trottingham. I do have a…grand plan in general.”

“Which would be?” she asked him and leaned against the counter, convinced what he would say next should be interesting.

“Uhh…Self-discovery,” he said and shrugged his shoulder.

Lyra facehoofed and shook her head gravely.

“And how are you planning on accomplishing this exactly?”

“I thought I might figure that out along the way.”

Lyra’s hoof smacked into her forehead once more, but then she forcefully relaxed herself and smiled at him.

“Well since you haven’t done that yet there’s nothing stopping us from giving Shining Armor a helping hoof…or hand.”

“Actually I was thinking that we should head down to the harbor today.”

“Why the harbor?”

“Well, Trottingham is located on the eastern coast of the continent, there must be plenty of ships going to all manners of places.”

“Well…yeah sure, but why would we go anywhere else? You said it yourself, no plan.”

“Yes, but this place also happens to be a den of panic-prone idiotic rac…speciesists.”

“Karon, humans aren’t exactly common anywhere. If anypony has heard of them it’s through horror stories and legends, none which paint a pretty picture. I think most ponies will react the same way no matter where we go.”

“Then we’ll go to a place where there are no ponies,” Karon said firmly.

“What!? Where the hay would we…Oh no, not a chance.”

“Come on Lyra, it can’t be that bad.”

“Have you checked the description on the map? It’s either desert where we will die of thirst or jungle where we'll be eaten by some horrible monster.”

“If the Zebras can live there so can we. Besides we’re just visitors.”

“No way, that place is obviously too dangerous.”

“You mean unlike Equestria, where a new crisis isn’t popping up every few months?”

“You don’t have to be sarcastic about it,” Lyra murmured in defeat.

“It’s settled then, we’ll go down to the harbor and see if there’s any ships going to the zebra empire on Punda Milia.”

“Fine, but if that’s how it going to be I want you to help me with Shining Armor until it’s time to leave.”

“I don’t see the point of us meddling with this.”

“I do, and if I’m going to have to suffer through whatever disasters I know you’re leading us into, I want to think I at least did something meaningful first.”

“Sure, whatever floats your boat and gives you kicks. But we will leave on the first ship going there. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Lyra said with a smile and happy glance towards the two ponies, still chatting pleasantly with each other.

“Good, let’s go down to the harbor first and look for a ship. When we find one and get a time for when it’s time to go, we can play cupid until then.”

“Play what?”

“Never mind, we can deal with the whole captain and the princess drama after we find a ship.”

“Let’s go then,” Lyra said eagerly, the prospect of helping her new friend find love driving her forward.

The way down to the harbor wasn’t marked by any signs, so they had to stop and ask for directions more than once. The ponies they meet treated them with varying amounts of suspicion and fear, which actually helped in their favor when it came to getting quick and direct descriptions.

They walked down the cobblestone street, slipping in and out of the sunlight as they passed by the ornamented houses. Eventually they reached the promised harbor, where massive ships with ropes hanging around great masts rested. Ropes clung to them like spider webs, and the great sails were tied to the rigging, waiting to be released and catch the wind.

Karon and Lyra walked down to the water edge and observed the waves splashing towards the solid rock for a few minutes. A serene calm settled over them, the beatings of their hearts slowing down to match the rhythm of the waves. Karon breathed in deeply, and the smell of salt and sea entered through his nostrils.

“Yeah, searching for a ship was the right decision to make.”

“Let’s hope so.”

Lyra poked her hoof into his side, and when he looked down at her quizzically she pointed it towards a group of rough looking ponies gathered next to a pile of stacked crates. Many of them wore loose fitted and worn clothes, several also sporting tattoos of different kinds in addition to their cutie marks.

“They do look like seafarers. Let’s go see if they know any ship leaving for Punda Milia.” Karon said and took a step towards the group.

“Karon wait…Those ponies look to be pretty tough.”

“Don’t worry Lyra, I speak testosterone,” he stated confidently with a wink and walked over to them.

“Can someone say mistake?”

The pony’s eyes had all snapped to him as one when he crossed some sort of invisible line separating the group from everpony around them. They didn’t speak, just glared at him with challenging gazes. If they felt any concern about him being human they didn’t show it.

“Uhh…Sup? I was wondering if any of you knew any ships that are heading for Punda Milia any time soon? Specifically the zebra empire?” Karon asked neutrally, ignoring their hostility.

The ponies looked at each other, remaining silent. Then one of them spoke up, a grey coated, black maned pony wearing a red bandana over his head. On his flank there was an anchor, but most notably, he was wearing an eye patch over his right eye.

“Aye mate, ther’e be ah ship sailing in t'morrow. If ye and yer lady there be ah interested it’lla be twenty gold a head for te trip. That’a ship over there it’ll be. ‘Sea Swallow’ be her name. Ah long as ye be there before the hour after sunrise ye can board with.”

The pony spoke with such a thick accent his words were nearly indistinguishable, but Karon caught the gist of it. He nodded in satisfaction and looked over at the ship the pony had been pointing to. Perhaps it would be a bad idea to board a ship whose crew he knew nothing about, but if they would get any funny ideas he had a few ways to discourage them.

“We’ll be there,” Karon said and nodded in thanks. When he and Lyra left the group behind all the ponies turned to face the speaker with surprised looks on their faces.

“By the ocean grave what did you just say to that thing?” one of them asked him.

“Oh I was just putting on a show for the land dweller. Didn’t you see his face when I started speaking like that? Hilarious, besides the lads on the Swallow could use a little entertainment on the journey, and judging by how tall that thing is, I think it’ll be a while before he gets any sea legs. Playing the stereotype seafarer will be good for a laugh or two.”

One of the other ponies sighed deeply.

“Land dwellers, hmph, thinking we are all uneducated louts. I went to the Earth pony institute for gifted ponies.”

“Yeah, well good luck with that one, he made my teeth itch, that means there’s going to be trouble.”

“When are you going to stop with that prediction nonsense Slugger?”

“I can’t help it, it runs in the family.”

“Well I for one will trust in my ship and crew. We can handle whatever trouble that thing might bring. As long as he pays I’ll treat him like any other pony.”

“I think you might come to regret those words,” Slugger said and looked after the disappearing human.

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

“Okay then, how do you want to do this?” Karon asked while cradling the small glass of whisky he had ordered earlier.

They both stood around one of the tables inside the inn. Evening had fallen and only the lanterns offered any light. Shadows melted and formed again and again around the room as ponies walked by. They sat far into one of the corners, observing Shining Armor and the princess, eating their supper quietly.

Had it not been determined for sure earlier, both Karon and Lyra knew now that the stallion had a thing for the alicorn. He kept giving her glances across their table, and sometimes opened his mouth, like he was about to speak, but kept his silence.

“I don’t know. Maybe we could just…get them talking about it.”

“Genius, I wonder why I didn’t think of that,” Karon said dryly.

“I’m waiting for you to say something better.”

“How about we trick the guy into confessing?”

“You can’t just trick somepony into confessing love! It ruins the point of it,” Lyra hissed under her breath.

“I beg to differ,” Karon said with a chuckle, and locked his eyes on Shining Armor.

He slowed his breathing, pushing it deep down into his diaphragm and releasing it steadily, working it into a pattern. His mind became unburdened, focused, and free of outside influence. The room became clearer, the outlines of everything inside sharpened, and to Karon, it felt like he was rising out of the murky waters of a dream.

Energy flowed through his mind, and shaped into a field that ran through everything inside the inn. It touched upon everything inside, echoing out from him like a sonic wave. It ran through the small clouds of astral matter, the left over remains of emotional release from troubled customers coming to drink away their problems. The energy channeled into their hopes and dreams as they had stood within and wondered where they had gone wrong. The wave swept over and registered it all, sending bursts of energy back to Karon, feeding him information of what it crossed.

He could sense all of it, it was fine magic, basic, but fine. The subtle side of the art, the one less heard of in Equestria. And he could sense when the wave crashed into Shining Armor’s aura, sending back a jolt of energy to Karon, and in return, he hooked on to it. He shaped a bridge of mental energy, linking them together. He felt the stallions fear, the fear of stepping out of line, of dishonoring the code of conduct he had been drilled so hard in during his training. He felt the raw passion, the way the stallions heart beat faster when he looked on the princess, the way her smell would make his mouth go dry. And he felt the soft, caring desire to only do good to her, love.

“Yupp, he’s fallen hard for her.”

“Let’s see if we can give him a helping hand then.”

The mental link formed between them was a one way street, Shining Armor would not have any form of information about Karon transmitted to him, not by itself. But that did not mean Karon couldn’t use it, to reach into the unicorn’s mind, to plant little suggestions, and even tamper a little with what his brain was telling him.

“Lyra, you might want to get closer for this,” Karon said, his voice sounding distant and dreamy, the words drawn out lazily.

She narrowed her eyes at him, looking between Karon, with his half-closed eyelids and slightly open mouth, to the pony pair he was intently gazing at. But she did as he said anyway, and walked over towards the two ponies discreetly, keeping out of their immediate sight. Karon felt her as she moved, he felt her aura, the flaming lines of energy leaping around her. He felt her frustration and growing concern about him, and about her decision to follow him on this journey. He filed that away for later, and waited until she appeared to be within hearing distance of the princess and her protector.

Then he sent a tiny little piece of false information, feeding it to his brain’s flow of sensory data. In reality, both he and the princess sat quietly and ate of their food slowly. But that was not what the stallion saw, or heard, for just a few seconds. To him, the princess raised her head and looked him deeply in the eyes and asked.

“When are you going to admit how you feel about me?”

Armor looked at her like she had just put the death sentence on him,

“We…I…I…I…”

The real princess head rose up, and she looked at him the same way the illusion did, and then Karon let it go, and only reality remained. Which happened to a very confused princess.

“Shining what ar-?”

“No, wait, please let me do this right,” he interrupted her, forgetting entirely that he was speaking to royalty. “I…I guess I’ve been putting this off for too long.”

The princess looked on him curiously, not quite understanding what he was on about. But she kept quiet, and waited for him to say whatever he wanted to say.

“Cadenza, I have…been with you now for only a few days, but…during those days I…I…Oh to hay with it, I’m in love with you,” he burst out.

The princess looked on him across the table, a mask of surprise on her face, which shifted into a smile.

“I know,” she simply said.

“Whu, whu, what!? You knew?”

“Yes, I was the one that…helped awaken the spark in you. You looked so lonely, whenever you talked to me you sounded so strict, so rigid. I just wanted to help you see there is more than just duty in a pony’s life…I just didn’t know the love would turn out to be for me.”

“But it is. Do you…regret that that happened?” The stallion asked, stoically trying to appear in control, like he wasn’t hanging on to every sound that passed through her lips.

Cadenza stretched her hoof across the table, and gently put it on his.

“No.”

A smile broke out on Shining Armor’s face, a smile that radiated joy, and Cadenza answered with a smile of her own. They looked to be almost fallen in trance within each other’s eyes, and Karon could feel how passion and love erupted within them, spreading out to infuse every cell of their being. However they were brought out of it when a loud squeal sounded within the inn.

Karon brought himself out of his trance as well, and looked over at Lyra, who was bouncing up and down with her hooves over her mouth, and eyes nearly double their usual size. Both Cadenza and Shining Armor blushed when they realized they had an audience, both none of them looked displeased.

“Sorry, I will leave you alone,” Lyra managed to squeeze out, her saucer eyes never leaving the couple as she moved away, balancing on her hind legs precariously.

“That went well,” Karon commented off-handedly and sipped his whiskey.

“Shhhhh, you’re ruining the moment,” She whispered and watched the couple. Karon smiled at her behavior, but looked over at the two lovebirds he had just helped bring together. They were talking, but in too low a voice for him to make anything out. However, in truth, Karon doubted what they said mattered. It was just noise, something to fill the space between them, what really mattered was that they were together. Holding each other’s hooves and basking in the comfort of the love they felt.

Karon had felt that love too, he had felt how it had turned from a trickling spring to a flood, drowning out all other emotions. And when he now looked over at the couple, at the love he had helped, in a small way, to be expressed, he felt a warm glow spread inside his chest.

“Come Lyra, let’s leave them alone to their lovey-dooveyness.”

“Do you have to ruin this?” She asked him, affronted by the callous way he spoke.

“Yeah that’s me, heart of stone,” he said, and then dragged her away.

She let him take her away from the scene with little resistance, completely satisfied with what they had accomplished, even though she might not have quite understood the method used.

Karon stopped at the bar, then waved to attract the attention of the barmare. She hurried over to them at took their order, and after a few minutes came back with their lunch. Sandwiches with dandelions which Lyra ate heartily of, and Karon happily surrendered his share of the flowers to her. They paid for another night at the inn, and the barmare accepted their money, despite that Karon must have scared away a few customers. After they were done, they both retired upstairs to their room, and spent the rest of the day discussing their future plans over the map.

When night fell, they were both mentally exhausted. There had been a lot of arguing involved, and by the time the light from the outside was not enough to illuminate the map, they were ready for bed. Lyra had worried about making sure they would awake in time to get down to the ship, but Karon had promised her he would take care of it.

He lied in bed, covers drawn up to his chin and tightly wrapped around, and relaxed. Keeping time was perhaps an issue for many, but not him. He was a mage skilled in mental magic, you didn’t become that without being able to control a lot of your own inner workings. He sent a simple message down to his subconscious, informing it that he was to wake up before sunrise, and that was that.

With the problem taken care off, Karon surrendered quickly to sleep, and did so with a warm glow still present inside his chest.

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

He stood within his library, the mental representation of everything stored within his mind cluttered the bookshelves around him. He had not chosen to go there, so was he dreaming? Or was he really there, driven by something deeper than his consciousness, guided by something he had not controlled?

He looked to the sides, and when his eyes fell on the books around him, he realized where he was. He was in the section which he had forbidden Twilight to ever enter, the part containing his memories, thoughts and feelings.

He swallowed, and slowly turned around, fearing he knew exactly what would be behind him. And justly so, for before him stood the black door. When he laid eyes on it, he could hear the distant screams, and smell the smoke of burning wood…and flesh. The roaring of a fire accompanied the screams, and through the crevices of the door, thin, black smoke escaped.

Dark chains barred the door, precautions to keep it from being accessed by him. He could not reach that which was inside, he had put it away, beyond his reach to recall.

Or so he had thought.

To his horror, he watched as one of the chains began rattling, and slowly it twisted and turned, until it broke off, and fell to the floor.

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

Karon sprang up from his bed, panting with fear. He could feel cold sweat, marching down the spine of his back, making the normally pleasant summer air chill.

He swallowed what little saliva present in his mouth, and it trickled down his throat painfully. It felt raw, had he been screaming? Or just breathing too hard?

“What the hell was that!?”

“I’m…not sure. Actually I have no idea, perhaps it was just a bad dream?”

“No…no it wasn’t.”

He swallowed again, the taste of smoke present on his tongue. It had been too real, that didn’t happen often in the dreaming realm. No, it had really happened, but why?

He didn’t want to know, just as long as the door went unopened, he could handle it. There was no other option.

He forced out a long breath, then slowly filled his lung with the morning air. When he looked out the window it was light, but the blue light of approaching dawn, not of direct sunlight. He wiped the drops of sweat from his face, then walked into the bathroom and splashed himself with water several times. Eventually the memory of what had transpired within his mind receded, sunk back to the far depths of his subconscious, making it more distant with each passing breath.

Feeling awake finally, Karon walked back into the room and put on his clothes, savoring the feeling of fabric brushing his skin. It was a grounding feeling, and one that made him remember where he was heading.

“To far and distant lands, exotic sights and exciting adventures.”

“Or maybe just a bad case of gonorrhea.”

“Don’t be so pessimistic. Besides, is there such a thing as a good case of gonorrhea?”

“You have a point.”

When he was fully dressed he grabbed his spear, rug sack and map. Ready to depart, he walked over to Lyra and shook her gently.

“Time to wake up, we need to go.”

She stirred, and after some more goading she opened her eyes with a yawn. She looked around, orienting herself, and slowly enough she remembered where she was and what time it was.

“Already? This feels a little too early,” she sleepily commented, her mane clung to her head in a perfect example of disorderliness.

“I’m sure, sunrise isn’t that far away, you get a…sense for such things when you study magic.”

“I’ve never felt anything like that,” She halfheartedly interjected, not quite ready to abandon the comfortable bed.

“You’ve never studied real magic, but seriously, we need to get going. If we don’t get there in time they will leave without us.”

“Hey I’ve studied magic plenty much, an- Yeash, I’m going, I’m going!” she shouted to him, caving in when he began hitting her with one of the pillows.

She threw of the covers and got out of bed, her horn glowed briefly when she did and her mane corrected itself to its usual style. Because of her abrupt decision to go with him she had no baggage at all, and after a quick stop at the bathroom she was ready to leave.

They both went downstairs and said good bye to the barmare, who kept her facial expression in check, making it hard to say if she was sad or happy to see them go. Lyra told her to give Shining Armor and his new love their best wishes whenever they would come down for breakfast, and the barmare was more than happy to convey them.

Karon dug into his rug sack and pulled out a few extra coins, leaving them as a thank you for putting up with his troublemaking. After that they left the inn, and Karon took the lead in a hurried pace.

“Why don’t you calm down? They said the hour after sunrise, and it hasn’t even risen yet!” Lyra complained.

“Because I've got this nagging feeling something might happen that could cause us to miss it. And when a mage senses something, you don’t ignore it.”

“Yeah sure, says the thing with twice as tall legs,” She shot back, but didn’t add anything else.

They both travelled down the cobblestone streets briskly, the distant cries of seagulls guiding them as much as memory. Looking up at the sky Karon saw the first signs of approaching dawn, the clouds colored by lights of orange, red and green.

“Wait, what?”

His momentary confusion was heightened when he heard the distant sound of explosions, and as he turned towards the source he saw a streak of light shot up into the sky. It exploded in a shower of blue, a thousand tiny spheres of light in an expanding circle.

“Huh, fireworks this early?”

Beneath the echoing sound of the distant frizzling and booming, he could hear another sound. A chorus of angry voices, growing louder as the sounds of the fireworks died down. Then Karon saw the smoke, rising above the roofs to his right.

“You think something’s happened?” Lyra asked, turning her face from him to the smoke, then back again.

“Judging by the sound yes, though it could just be ponies angry of being woken up this early.”

“Maybe we should take a look? I mean, it’s not like we're in a rush, it’ll take just a few minutes.”

She looked up at him hopefully, and Karon had a suspicion this wouldn’t end well, but he still felt a bit curious of what might have happened. He looked down the street towards the harbor, and then up at the smoke at his right, there was a small street that looked to be leading right towards it.

“Fine, a quick look, nothing else.”

She headed down the small street that led towards the source of the commotion, Karon followed behind her with his eyes and ears on alert. The nagging feeling something was about to happen was back, stronger, and growing ever so more with every step he took.

He flexed his fingers unconsciously, a tell he was mentally preparing himself for a quick use of magic, should it be needed.

They followed the road dutifully, crossing around houses and walking by closed stores, some of them Karon recognized, since he had been unceremoniously thrown out of them. The road was leading them towards the city’s marketplace by all signs.

It was a guess proven true, when he and Lyra passed by one final set of houses and came out in an open square. Market stands and wagons stood in a semi-circle, while regular shops framed the area, doors locked and windows barred this early.

With one exception, one of the houses, a three story giant dwarfing the buildings around it, wasn’t locked, it was on fire.  

Smoke rose from the building as the fire licked the wood inside, thankfully most of the actual building was stone, and with the space between the houses there was at little risk of it spreading. Several pegasi above were soaring around, gathering up the clouds, mashing them together in the attempt to use rain to douse the flames.

But not every pony was busy trying to save the building, as large crowd of a few dozen ponies were the source of the angry chorus of voices. They were slowly advancing upon a lone unicorn, and the mare in turn was slowly backing away from the crowd, not daring to take her eyes off it.

“You burned down my hotel! And you can bet your flank you’re gonna pay for all the damage!” one big stallion with a moustache shouted at her. The angry chorus made a collective sound of agreement, and advanced a little quicker towards the unicorn.

Karon and Lyra watched how the poor mare’s eyes darted between the crowd and the building currently on fire. Normally Karon would have remained where he was, satisfied with just observing, but something told him that wouldn’t do this time. The nagging feeling that something was going to happen had reached its crescendo in full, and the increasing feeling told him quite clearly that he wasn’t to sit this one out. Something very important was about to happen, something that would affect him deeply.

“Hey isn’t that-“ Lyra began saying, but were interrupted by Karon when he abruptly strode forwards towards the lone unicorn.

“Why do I get the feeling I should have stayed in bed?” she asked out loud, but went after him anyway. She couldn’t let him get into trouble without her after all.

“Ok, that’s enough!” Karon said loudly, he took position between the unicorn and the crowd, standing tall above all of them. A few of the ponies murmured nervously at the sight of him, but crowd mentality works in a funny way, and many ponies that ordinarily would have feared him instead reacted in the opposite way.

“You’re with her!? Then you can help her pay for all of this!” he roared at him, and waved his hoof to the burning hotel.

“Calm down, we’re not doing anything until I know what happened. And I would prefer if you make it quick, I have somewhere I need to be."

“I won’t calm down until that insufferable pony showers me with gold or goes to jail!” the stallion shouted at the top of his lungs.

“I would prefer if we could settle this peacefully,” Karon responded calmly, beating the butt of his spear hard into the cobblestone.

The entire crowd fell silent, staring up at the deadly weapon as one, then the stallion in the lead roared louder than Karon would have thought possible.

“MURDERERS! MURDERERS IN THE STREET! HE THREATENS TO KILL US ALL!”

“Woah, hold on I didn’t mean-“  he tried to object, but too late. The cry had been taken up by everypony in the crowd, screaming so loudly it was near deafening.

Karon spun around and looked to both of the unicorn mares beside him, then simply said.

“Run.”

The possibility that they actually heard what he’d said over the great cacophony of murder accusations was slim, but the meaning behind it became clear when he sprinted down the nearest street as fast as he could.

The two unicorn mares barely missed a beat, and went off after him. Then the crowd made a swift transformation into a full-fledged angry mob, and charged after the fleeing trio with a roar.

Karon ran as fast as his legs could carry him, the distant light of the rising sun guiding him through the winding streets towards the harbor. Lyra and the unicorn kept an even pace with him, their four legs and superior balance making it easier to turn tight corners.

It was upon turning such a corner, Karon barely missing crashing into a wall, that he came upon the last thing he had ever expected to see.

The unicorn was of an almost black color, with a white mane, even the cutie mark in the shape of a shovel became marked in Karon’s mind. However, it was not the unicorn that shocked Karon, it was the sight of his old hat sitting on the unicorn’s head that did.

He didn’t stop running once, and in a split second decision, Karon stretched out his hand and yanked the hat off the unicorn. Leaving him behind before he realized what had happened.

“Thief!”

Karon heard him shout, and the only response Karon offered was laughter. He laughed as he ran, adrenaline coursing through him with every beat of his heart. There was something about the situation, running from the mob of angry ponies, alongside Lyra and the stranger unicorn. Having retrieved his lost hat was the last puzzle piece, and now, Karon felt like he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

Close to getting lynched.

It only made him laugh harder, and with a joyful surge of speed he ran out from the cluster of houses, and found himself on the docks. The sound of the mob following them could be heard close behind, and Karon’s eyes sought possibly their only chance of escape, and he found it.

Far out in the ocean.

“God damn it!” he swore.

“Hold on, hold on. Its sails are still tied, all of them, and their still anchored. Look at the chain going down into the water.”

“Then why are they out there?”

“I don’t know, but look around for anything small we can use to get out to them.”

Both Lyra and the other unicorn looked up at Karon with frightened eyes, waiting for him to say something.

“Come on,” was the only thing he could offer, and he ran down to the water edge, his eyes scanning for any rowing boat they could borrow. He spotted one, but it was full of sailor ponies, he even recognized one of them.

“Hey you!”he shouted and ran towards them.

The sea ponies all looked up to the bridge, and the human running down it with two unicorn mares following behind. One of them recognized Karon in turn, and a grin split his face.

“Yer made it after all, Ah did think yer weren’t coming. Lucky lady be with ye today, hadn’t we forgotten o’l Foaming Shore here in ta pub we wouldn’a come back here.”

“Yes, yes, lucky us. We need to get going now!” Karon responded, jumping down into the boat. Lyra jumped down after him, but the unicorn mare they had helped looked down uncertainly.

“What’s yer rush?” The old sea stallion asked, but was answered then the roaring mob ran out into the open. They all stood still for a moment, then one of them spotted the unicorn mare, and they all took up their roar again and ran towards her.

The mare took one look at the approaching horde, then jumped down into the boat. Karon turned towards the sailor ponies and shouted.

“ROW! Row as fast as you can!”

The bloodthirsty roar of the mob was all the motivation they needed, and as one they took the oars into their hooves and rowed with all their might. The boat left the dock behind quickly, and by the time the mob reached the end of the bridge, the trio was out of their reach.

Karon chuckled at the site of the infuriated collection of ponies, many of them shaking their hooves angrily towards the boat.

“What a great way to begin the day,” he said and leaned on his spear.

Lyra only shot him a dirty look in return. It had been her idea to check out the disturbance after all. Karon gave her a grin, but turned to the unknown mare instead.

“So…who are you?”

The mare looked on him with a haughty look, yet a small measure of thankfulness could be seen in her eyes, if you looked really deep. Her mane looked almost like liquid silver, her coat was sky blue in color, and her eyes a clear lilac. On her flank was a cutie mark of a crescent moon next to a wand with a star on top. And perhaps most curiously, unlike most ponies, she wore clothes. A hat not unlike Karon’s own, but in a color matching her eyes, patterned with stars on it. And she wore a matching cloak to complete the outfit.

“I’ll have you know that you have the pleasure of addressing the Great and Powerful TRIXIEEEE!”

Next Chapter: Chapter 33: A pirate's life for me Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 16 Minutes