Karon had malaria.

Or some weird pony world version thereof, and in addition had several other diseases, infections and maladies with funny sounding names. As thanks for Karon's assistance in more or less safe-guarding “The island's” future, Utole did all he could to cure Karon, an endeavor that took three whole weeks.

Three whole weeks that Karon spent on a straw mattress in Utole's tent. He was occasionally allowed to step outside for air and sunshine, while the rest of the crew, Lyra and Trixie enjoyed the tropical climate and the late night festivities.

When the time finally came that he was healed enough to no longer be in mortal danger, the others were ready to move on as well, and so they bid their farewells and left on the 'Sea Swallow', which the 'reformed' pirates had so kindly given back. They spent an additional two weeks on the sea journeying to their destination, surrounded by endless waters and a glaring sun, growing harsher each day as they traveled east.

It was on such a day Karon that left his quiet corner in the ship's hold and walked out onto the upper deck. The heat struck against him hard, and were it not for the soothing spray of the sea, he would most likely have began panting.

The the crew members were all seasoned sailors and knew enough to keep to the shade as much as possible and conserve their movement. It was an ingrained behavior and could be seen in the tiniest details in how they moved around the ship tending to their tasks. It was also a behavior neither Lyra nor Trixie had grown into.

Lyra stood at the bow in her usual spot, doing her best to offset the heat by staying close to the sea, while Trixie sat in the shadow of the center mast. Somehow, she had managed to coax one of the crewponies into fanning her with a palm leaf, something Karon could only assume she had brought with her from 'the island' for that very purpose.

Karon shook his head in exasperation, but it was halfhearted and more for habit's sake than anything else. Ever since the incident with the pirates, Trixie had been, if not nice, at least tolerable, her arrogance balanced with an occasional glimpse of a real personality

Although, Karon had to admit they were rare.

With a lack of anything better to do, Karon walked over to the captain who happened to be in a deep conversation with his first mate. When they noticed Karon was up and about, they fell into a respectful silence, and this time Karon shook his head in real annoyance.

Ever since he helped save them, the crew of the 'Sea Swallow' had been respectful to the brink of being in awe of the human. He had found it amusing at first, but the novelty quickly wore off.

“Any idea when we'll arrive at our destination?” Karon asked, pointedly ignoring their reverent silence.

“If the winds keep favoring us as they have, tomorrow around noon I think,” the captain said with a glance to his first mate, who gave a nod in confirmation.

“Good. I should finally be able to move around without passing out by then. What was the name of the town we were docking at again?” Karon asked, and his mouth twitched when he saw that the pony fanning Trixie was replaced by another of the crew.

“Your recovery is great news, and you can be sure we're all glad to hear you'll be fine by the time you depart… of course, if you and your friends wanted to, you could remain on board. I know I could use someone like you if we should ever run into trouble again.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I would prefer to continue on my journey … I think it would defeat its purpose if I were to tie myself down to anywhere right now, even if it is on a ship.”

The captain and the first mate looked a little curious at his remark. Despite their constant attempts at uncovering more information about their rescuers, Karon had refused to divulge more than just the most basic information, and Lyra had been kind enough not to do it in his stead.

Trixie, on the other hand, had been happy to tell everyone just how great she was, and if she had any deeper personal background than “Trixie has always been great”, she didn't reveal it.

So, Karon was left to being something of an enigma to the crew, and he liked it that way. There would be enough rumors spreading around about him after everything he had done since arriving in Equestria, and he preferred it if there wouldn't be any actual truth mixed into them.

“Well, you know best yourself I guess, but you'll always be welcome aboard the 'Sea Swallow',” the captain added just for good measure, and Karon responded with a polite smile, but refrained from saying anything further.

Instead he walked over to where Trixie was indulging in the fruits of her labor, her incessant nagging about the lack of service on the ship paying off. To be fair, you could hardly blame the crewponies for giving in. Although Karon had gotten all of his possessions back from the pirates, Trixie had not been so fortunate. Her clothes had been sold and already ruined in order to make a blanket, and ever since then her mood had been quite sour, despite the jovial atmosphere after Karon's defeat of the pirate captain, and she had been more than happy to take it out on the crew.

“Enjoying yourself?” Karon asked the unicorn, her coat almost like a reflection of the sky above running down towards the horizon.

“Trixie is doing her best to suffer through this insufferable heat,” she replied and gave the crewmember a stern look, after which he quickly began fanning her twice as fast.

“I can see that. Do I need to remind you that I am the one actually paying for your trip and that you should let the crew do their job instead of adding to their workload?”

“Trixie has earned her passage on the ship many times over!” she responded with a twitch of her neck.

“Maybe you have. Still, I would suggest you let them get on with their work. The captain said we should arrive tomorrow and I'd rather not let that get delayed because you shanghaied members of the crew.”

Trixie blinked in surprise at the news, and a worried look came over her face for a moment before she managed to turn it back into her default look of haughtiness. Karon, of course, did not miss it.

“Do you have any plans what you'll do when we get there? Because as far as I know you have no possessions at all now that you lost your clothes too.”

“Trixie will always find a way. She will dazzle the citizens of whatever backwater hole we arrive in, and soon, she will be back to her rightful place as the most talented unicorn in all of Equestria!” she shouted in triumph, and jumped up on her back hooves with her arms held wide, almost like she was expecting fireworks to go off and frame her in.

“We're outside Equestria's borders now Trixie, so that will prove a little difficult I think. And I also don't think you can become the most talented simply by being recognized. You either are or aren't by virtue of actually being the most skilled.”

“Hmph, Trixie will pretend she didn't hear you. You obviously don't understand the complexities of being as great and powerful as one such as her.”

“You know, despite all the bragging about your amazing power, I haven't seen you use any magic at all.”

“Trixie doesn't want to make you jealous since you helped rescue her.”

“Right … well I do hope your amazing magic will serve you well. You'll need it if you want to survive.”

“Trixie knows how to survive on her own,” she stated with a hint of bitterness in her tone, but she looked up on Karon with a questioning look in her eyes. “However, Trixie confesses that she has … gotten used to your company lately, and she wouldn't be totally against continuing to travel with you. Until she have grown tired of your difficulty in understanding the greater things Trixie knows.”

Karon mouth twitched with the ghost of a smile, and he had to be honest with himself. Trixie could be pretty entertaining when the full brunt of her self-obsession wasn't directed at him.

“Besides, she will drive Lyra insane.”

“Well, I guess another pony would help make me seem less dangerous if the locals have stories about humans here too....”

“And her attitude will make even me appear likable.”

“...so why not? Though I will expect you to pull your own weight and all that, and I doubt our travels will be entirely without danger. Though, I think it will be hard for this world of mostly cotton candy and rainbows to throw me any worse situations than the ones I've lived through already.”

After he said it Karon felt a shiver run down his spine, and the psychic senses he had started to pick up on lately told him loud and clear, he was wrong.

So very wrong.

Suppressing the small ball of ice that had formed in his gut, Karon forced a smile and looked down on Trixie. “But I'm sure you can handle it, being so great and powerful.”

“Why uhm … yes of course, I w- Trixie will assist whenever danger threatens....”

“Good,” Karon said, ignoring the hesitant tone Trixie had used, “Then all that remains is waiting for tomorrow.”

Trixie didn't answer, a worried frown had made its way unto her face, and she didn't even notice when Karon gave the pony fanning her a look that told him to go do his real job. The pony complied with a grateful nod.

Karon left her with her thoughts and crossed the deck to where Lyra was on the bow, his hat mercifully shielding him from the worst of the suns hammering light. Lyra had no such luxury though, and she was forced to squint her eyes while doing her best to enjoy the cooling effect of the sea.

She must have heard Karon approach, because she spoke without turning around.

“So you're finally rested enough to be up and walking without help. I was begin to worry we would have to stay on the ship for a while longer until you got better.”

“No, I'm good now. Besides, I thought you liked it here on the ship.”

“I do, I love it actually. I had never been to the sea before going to Trottingham with you. It's so big and … I don't know.”

“If you really want to you could stay, I could survive without you you know.”

She snorted. “No you couldn't. And I said I would travel with you and I will. I just hope I'll get to enjoy the feeling of going over the sea again.”

“You will. We won't stay in Punda Milia forever. The map showed that there's a lot more land in this world. This is the smaller of the two continents after all … and I don't think I want to explore the more inhospitable places like the southern jungle.”

“Good, I don't want to either. If we can stay in the places where the zebras live, I promise I won't complain.”

“Yes you will,” Karon said with a smile, and Lyra turned around to him with one as well.

“By the way, Trixie is coming with us,” he added offhandedly.

And her smile disappeared.

“You … you're just joking right?” she asked, the tone of her voice making Karon suspect she was praying internally.

“Nope, she's coming with us.”

“But why?” she whined in turn, her voice shrill in a way that would have made Rarity proud.

“She did help me when I needed help, and without her, the chances I would have succeeded in saving you are pretty low.”

“But why do we have to bring her along for that? Couldn't you just give her a little of that money and let her go on her own way?” Lyra grumbled, her face twisted likes he had bitten a sour fruit.

“What's with all the hostility? I thought you got along with her on at least a neutral level ever since the pirates?” Karon wasn't entirely sure about that, his memory of the weeks spent in Utole's tent consisted mostly of fever delirium and the terrible aftertaste of the zebra's potions.

“Maybe she can be bearable to be around when she forgets about bragging about how great she is, which took more than one glass of rum, but I don't want to get stuck with her for I don't know how long. And … I don't trust her.”

Karon's mouth fell open slightly in surprise, and he stared at Lyra with a face begging an explanation. Lyra sighed, but she continued despite any reluctance she might have.

“Look, I don't dislike her, I just don't know if she'll stick around and help the next time something happens. Because you DO attract disasters like nothing else, and despite what you say, you try and save ponies all the time, and if Trixie ends up getting hurt because she tried to run away or couldn't handle it … I don't think you would do very well if you lost … somepony else.”

“So that's what it's about.”

“Lyra...” Whatever words he planned to say got stuck in his throat, and the lecture he would have given  about how he could take care of himself was abandoned. “...you're a really good friend. Thanks, but she's still coming with us if she wants to. We just have to make sure she doesn't die if … when something happens.”

“She'll still be pretty annoying too,” Lyra added as an afterthought, and Karon grinned when she did.

“I know, call it a bonus.”

Lyra narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion, but didn't voice her thoughts out loud, choosing instead to turn around and go back to enjoying the spray of the sea as the ship cut through the water.

Karon walked up and stood beside her, and together they watched the approaching horizon, all the way until night had descended and the moon climbed the sky.

Sometime during the night, they both woke up from their sleep when the lookout cried out that he had spotted land.

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

Mosimji was a fishing town with a small harbor made mostly for the fishing boats the inhabitants made their living with. So, the 'Sea Swallow' was forced to anchor further out, and the crew used the lifeboat to row into harbor carrying with them their three passengers.

The zebras did not give any second glances to the ponies when they stepped out into the wooden bridge, but they stared openly at the strange creature clad in red robe and hat. When he noticed, Karon massaged his temples and tried to calm down. At least they stared in fascination and not in fear like the ponies had. Perhaps that meant the zebras didn't have stories about humans.

They all left the boat behind and walked into the town. The houses were all made out of white stone and decorated with colorful cloth that hung from the windows. The smell of the sea mixed with that of freshly caught fish, and several carts stood around the pier with zebras next to them haggling with groups of customers.

“You sure you don't want to take us up on my offer? We'll restock our supplies then head back out to sea. There might be work further down to the south in the bigger towns,” the captain asked Karon, who shrugged in return and shook his head.

“No, I want to see what we can find in this empire. Might learn something.”

“Well, best of luck to you with that, and if you want to head deeper inland, you should go with one of the caravans. They'll help keep you safe.”

“Thanks for the tip,” Karon said and tightened the grip on his spear. He gave a curt nod to the captain and the crew, then turned around and walked away. Trixie followed him immediately while Lyra stayed behind for a longer goodbye with the captain, and Karon slowed his pace to allow her the time.

He walked around what must have been the dockside market, browsing through the stalls with curious wares and doing his best to play the part of a tourist. Around him, the zebras gave him space to walk unhindered, but not enough to give the impression of being rude. He stopped at one particular stall where wooden masks had been carved with intricate detail. He frowned when he looked closer and brought his hand over them slowly.

They hummed gently in response, and the symbols scribed into them vibrated visibly, revealing that at least some magic had been weaved into the design.

“What are these for?” Karon asked the stall owner, a stallion with a weathered face and warm brown eyes.

“They are meant to keep your house safe. This one is to keep out thieves, and this one here is to keep the spirits of the dead away, and this one right here is to protect against jackals.”

“Jackals?” Karon asked curiously, something about the word tingled his memory, and it had nothing to do with the jackals back on earth.

“Yes, jackals. I have sold many of these lately. The horrid beasts are making more trouble than usual. We’ve even had refugees coming out here after the jackals burned their homes up north.”

“Interesting....” Karon murmured to himself, and turned around when he heard Lyra clear her throat behind him.

“Said your farewell?” he asked her rhetorically, and she nodded.

“Yeah, so where to now?” she asked in turn.

“Well … the captain did say we should look for a caravan, and it sounds like good advice to me. The world map Celestia gave me isn't exactly full of details.”

Remembering that he wasn't alone with Lyra anymore, he turned to Trixie and asked, “What about you? Any suggestions?”

“Trixie is fine with you determining the course. You can bother her when something of actual importance comes up,” she stated and looked on the wooden mask with mingled curiosity and contempt.

“Right.....” Karon turned to face the stall owner and asked in what he thought to be his polite tone. “Do you know where we could find a caravan heading further inland?”

The zebra was eying Trixie with irritation, the contempt on the unicorn's face obvious even to him, and responded with a harsh edge to his voice.

“Yes, just go and look in the town center, all the caravans go there to sell their wares.” he said and pointed vaguely towards one of the streets leading into town.

“Thanks,” Karon said and headed to the street, Lyra walking beside him and Trixie trailing behind, shooting arrogant looks everywhere she could.

“See, with her with us, no one is going to notice my lack of manners,” he told the unicorn at his side with smile. Lyra only groaned in return.

The caravans were easy to find. From what he had seen of the lay-out of the town, every street inevitably led to the town square where they were gathered. Colorful wagons with symbols, tapestries and images adorned the outside while zebras stood within the open doors, hawking their wares loudly.

Even though it might have been fun going through all the different merchandise offered, Karon decided not to. The gold Celestia had given him would not last forever, and it had lost a fair chunk of its size after the trip overseas.

Instead, he walked over to the closest caravan and asked the shouting owner if they were heading inland after their stay in the town. The response was no, but he was directed towards a zebra that was supposed to, and Karon dutifully followed the directions he had been given until he found a group of green painted wagons with blue spirals on the surface. A large, mustache wearing zebra with black eyes stood next to it, screaming as loudly as he could that indeed, his wares were superior to the competition, even if they sold things he didn't.

They were that good.

“Excuse me, I heard you're heading further into the empire, could we join you?” Karon asked the zebra, who had stopped fishing after customers to stare at the strange creature before him.

“You … talk? I mean yes, yes I will be going back to Mjimkuu after I've done here for today. I have few wares left to sell, and I miss the beautiful capital of our empire.”

“So … could we join you?”

“Hmmm? Oh yes, as long as you can keep up at my pace and don't cause me any delays, you can join me. I will be going the fastest route back. My wife gets incredibly grouchy if I'm gone for too long.”

“That's fine with us.”

“If there is anything particularly enlightening to find in this part of the world, then it can probably be found in the capital of it.”

The trio spent the rest of the day walking around the town, much like Karon and Lyra had tried to do in Trottingham, but unlike the citizens of that town, the zebras of Mosimji didn't treat Karon as an animal that might lash out any second. They remained aware of his presence wherever he went, and kept a respectful distance, but treated him no different than anyone else after he approached them.

Karon found himself liking them, and so did Lyra if her multitude of smiles over the course of the day were any indication. Trixie remained her normal self, arrogant and distant with little to say besides self glorifying comments from time to time.

When the sun was setting, the trio returned to the zebra trader, Mkul was his name, as agreed and were ready to leave the town behind. The zebra in question had closed down his carriage and was standing beside it waiting for them, looking at the position of the sun every now and then for time. When he saw the human and ponies coming towards him, he put on the reins to the carriage.

“There you are, I was beginning to think I would be heading out on my own again.”

“No we're still going with you, wouldn't want to get lost,” Karon joked, and the zebra chuckled at the remark.

“Wise choice. Many of the ponies that come over can't tell one part of the savannah from the other. Let's get going then shall we.”

Without anything further to say, the trio followed the zebra on his way out of the town, leaving the coastal settlement behind for the savannah instead. The dirt road looked to stretch on endlessly. The tall grass framing the landscape was interrupted every now and then by large clusters of rock stretching out of the ground, and trees dotted the sea of grass at seemingly random intervals giving it enough of variety not to look bleak.

At some points, the road disappeared as the sea of grass gave way to wide areas of dirt and sand, and if it weren't for their native guide, Karon and the others would have lost their way for sure. But Mkul led them on without difficulty, and stopped when the night grew too dark to continue. Moon and Sun chased each other over the sky, and below them Karon and his companions went on their journey, until one day, Trixie seemed to have enough.

“Trixie demands that we stop and rest! Her hooves are aching and she is sore all over!” she shouted loudly and sat down on her haunches.

Mkul continued on like he didn't hear anything, though the small smile on his lips said otherwise. Karon sighed and walked over to the protesting unicorn, Lyra wisely deciding to stay out of it and continuing ahead with Mkul.

“Trixie come on now, you can rest when Mkul camps for the night.”

“Trixie is tired of only stopping when the fat zebra wants to stop! She demands to either ride in his wagon or she isn't walking any more.”

“Okay then, good luck with staying here. Try and not get eaten by the tigers too fast.”

“I wonder if that will work again.”

He turned his back on her and headed after Mkul and Lyra. Trixie in turn stared off after him and bit her lower lip, the desire to rest battling with her fear of being left behind apparent on her face. Fear won out, and she trotted after Karon fast enough to catch up to him quickly, but not enough to seem desperate.

“Looks like it did.”

“The deal was that we keep up with him Trixie, and unless you suddenly became very good at the local geography, I am going to stick with Mkul.”

“Trixie thinks Mkul is an evil slave-driver that cares nothing for the sophisticated habits of superior unicorns.”

“I think you're right about that one, of course, I don't either.”

“Trixie can't believe she agreed to come with you. You forget that without her you would never have succeeded against those horrible pirates.”

“That might be true, but you can only ride on the credits of old services rendered for so long, and you aren't doing much to endear yourself to anyone lately.”

“Trixie doesn't need to 'endear' herself to anypony. She is the Great and Powerful Trixie, and whatever you can do, she can do better, so she deserves everything she asks for.”

“Really, I take that challenge,” Karon said with a surprisingly chirpy voice and smiled down at the unicorn.

Trixie in turn looked shocked at the statement, then a little afraid, and finally the emotions she displayed settled somewhere around cocky.

“Fine, Trixie shall show you the true meaning of magic!”

“Oh I wasn't talking about magic. If you want to win, you have to be a better friend to Lyra than I am.”

“That doesn't count, it's not a skill,” she quickly added, obviously not pleased Karon hadn't chosen magic.

“You're very wrong about that. It's a skill, and one very hard to master, for me anyway.”

“Trixie still says it doesn't count, she is great and powerful … and doesn't have time to prove she could be a better friend than you could.”

“Really, then let me ask you a simple question. What do you have time for?”

“Well … I … Trixie has time only for challenges that let's her prove that she is superior to everypony else, and that she is the greatest and most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria!”

Once again she got up on her hind legs and flung her arms out, expecting some kind of explosion to go with the statement. Karon found it vaguely amusing, especially when she started wobbling as her balance gave out. He laughed at the sight and Trixie glared back at him after she got back down on all fours.

“You know for a while I was like you, when I was younger. Always trying to prove how much better I was than everyone else, that I could do all these things they couldn't.”

“Trixie understands you must have given up when you failed,” she said with a smirk, however Karon only grinned back at the insult and continued unperturbed.

“No, something Varsif told me once he got tired of my endless quest for self-gratification. He grabbed me by the neck one day after I tried outshining a bunch of campers because I could use the wind to move around stuff. He brought me back to his cabin then told me to move a couple of logs he had cut down using only the wind. I couldn't, I'm not that strong with primal stuff. Then he did it like it was nothing, made logs from huge pine tress dance in the wind like they were leaves. Scared the crap out of the local wildlife. He didn't brag afterward, he only asked if I wanted to be able to do what he had just done. I said yes of course, so then he said something that kinda got through to me, he said 'Good, then you should know it's pointless to try and rise above others, when you could rise above yourself.'.”

Karon increased his pace after he was done talking, and left Trixie trailing behind after him doing her best to understand what he had just said to her, and possibly, what it might mean. If any of it actually got through to her he didn't know, but for the remaining days of their journey towards Mjimkuu, she didn't complain once.

When they actually did arrive at the capital, and got their first glance at the height of zebra culture, all three of their jaws dropped. The city was huge, with each section rising higher above the previous one, going further and further up the more closer to the center you got. It looked to be made entirely out of white stone, but unlike Canterlot with it's towers and rounded tips, buildings of Mjimkuu were squared, with flat roofs everywhere you could see.

The city was surrounded by a large wall, and small figures could be spotted walking around on top of them on patrol. Mkul chucked when he noticed their reactions, but didn't stop to give them time to compose themselves.

“Come on now, it is even more glorious when you get inside the walls, and my wife is waiting!” he called back to them and laughed loudly.

The trio looked at each other, then hurried after the zebra, gaping at the city with each step closer they got.

“I have to admit, that is quite impressive.”

“Indeed, let's just hope they don't have anything against strange creatures inside their walls.”

The sight was impressive, however Karon noticed something seemed off when he was nearing the gates. Large cluster of tents were pitched outside the walls, and zebras hung around the encampment, wandering around with miserable looking faces, all of them displaying signs of despair.

“That doesn't bode well.”

“Uhm, Mkul is it usually like this?” Karon asked the zebra thoughtfully.

“No, no it is not. I have only been gone for two months selling my wares. I can't see what has happened, only rumor I have heard is jackals are getting braver up north, but zebras always say they are.”

“Maybe its true this time,” Karon said, the soft echoes of someone crying reaching his ears.

The gates into the city were closed, and four zebras stood guard at it, armed with spear and wearing brown armor of some kind, marked with symbols and adorned with feathers. Three of them wore black feathers, but the fourth had feather of both black and blue, and he was the only who approached the caravan when they got close enough.

“Hold, what's your business in great Mjimkuu?” The zebra asked and gave Karon a long, hard glance of suspicion.

Mkul sputtered in indignation and approached the zebra, his wagon trailing behind him.

“My business! I live here you bozibozi street cleaner!”

The zebra looked unmoved by the tone and insult, and instead pointed towards Karon and two ponies.

“And who are these, they do not look to live here?”

“Travelers from the pony lands of course, they come seeking the adventure and pleasures only great Mjimkuu can provide,” Mkul answered for them.

“That one is no pony, and he carries a spear,” The zebra said, and the three zebras behind him looked to grasp their own spears a little harder at the words.

“This is the great Majani empire, everyone carries a spear if they are out traveling.”

“You do not.”

“I'm too big and scary to need one,” Mkul said confidently and chuckled, then gave the guard a hard stare. “Now let us in before my wife comes and beats you because you kept me from her eager hooves.”

The guard didn't seem very impressed with the threat, but he stepped aside anyway and allowed them to pass through. Staring after Karon all the way through the gates.

Inside, the city was bustling. The sun still shone strong in the sky above and the inhabitants of the city were going about their business. But there was something wrong within the city walls as well, Karon could feel it in the air, and he stopped in the middle of the street and slowly raised a hand, like he was caressing the air before him.

“What are you doing?” Trixie asked with her usual undertone of arrogance, no doubt thinking that whatever he was doing, she could do it better.

“Checking something,” he answered her quietly, his focus elsewhere. Then he dropped his hand and looked at the city before him.

“There something very wrong going on in here,” he said out loud, making both the zebra and pony stare at him in question.

“What do you mean?” Lyra asked looking around.

“Every city has a pulse, the splash of energy going off from all the living creatures inside it. Emotions, thoughts, dreams and everything else swirling around, creating a vortex that cloaks the place with its own unique signature.”

“He speaks truth, every city has moyo, has heart and spirit, and the great Mjimkuu has the greatest heart and spirit in all Punda Milia.” Mkul said, his voice both somber and proud.

“Maybe, but I am sensitive about these things. I'm good with the things creatures have inside themselves, and I can tell you with certainty that right now, the 'moyo' of this city is screaming in fear and uncertainty.”

The ponies looked around like they were expecting every zebra around them to suddenly start galloping in panic, or begin screaming in terror. Mkul only looked as troubled as Karon felt, which only seemed to confirm his fears, if the zebra who was obviously so proud of the city didn't voice any objections, then it was definitely something wrong.

“Do your senses tell you what ails our great city? I have been gone for only short time, yet I am welcomed at the gates like I was a criminal,” the zebra finally asked him, his usual jovial attitude gone.

“No … but it hangs thick in the air … really thick. It feels more like liquid than gas, and that means the energy is pretty dense.”

“But what is wrong? Can you sense it?” the zebra insisted.

Karon sighed and brought both his hands up, his fingers twitching like they were bring pricked with needles.

“The city is afraid. It's like something is coming, you can't see it, but the carrion birds circle you above, and you know it is approaching. Animals are good at sensing such things, time flows both backwards and forwards, and sometimes what is or perhaps could happen in the future goes to the past, like a backwards echo, and you can sense it. The city fears something is going to happen, it is worried, but I don't think anything is certain.”

As is to emphasize what he had just said, a screech sounded from high above them, and a vulture glared down at them. Mkul spat at his side and glared right back up at the bird.

“Filthy creature. Well, if anything dares threaten great Mjumkuu it will have to go through Mkul to get to it … and also my wife, she is scarier.”

Karon gave him a halfhearted smile but didn't say anything further. They parted ways after that, Mkul invited them to dinner at his house, but Karon declined for the night and said they should find somewhere to sleep during their stay. He was pointed towards what Mkul called, “The greatest inn in the greatest city of the world.”

The three of them followed the directions Mkul had provided, and ended up outside a large three story building. A great banner hung from the roof, painted green and red on either side. “The Jungle Cat Inn” it read, and it looked clean enough from the outside to bring credence to Mkul's claim.

“Should we head inside?” Karon asked, not waiting for an answer. There wasn't a door. A thick cloth hung instead in the door frame, and Karon pushed it aside gently. The inside was cooler, and sygils glowed with light blue light at the corners of the inn, magic meant to regulate temperature Karon guessed. There were pillows placed in circles around low standing tables throughout the room, and next to stairs leading up to the higher floors were shelves lined with bottles of all colors imaginable.

The smell of incense drifted through the air. It was sweet but not overpowering enough to be annoying. In the far corner, a zebra sat with a large flute like instrument of some kind which she was playing. A rhythmic melody bounced from it, and hummed pleasantly through the inn.

All in all, Karon liked it.

They walked over to where an old matronly looking zebra stood, rummaging through a crate next to the shelves of bottles.

“Excuse me, are you the owner?” he asked her gently.

The zebra jumped and turned around quick like a viper, and didn't seem to relax when she saw who had spoken to her.

“Yes, old Kena they call me, and my house this is. Do you want to be guests here? If so, then coins are the proper gift to give the hostess,” she said in a strong voice at odds with her otherwise old appearance.

“How much per night?” He asked and took off his rug sack.

“Three coins per night, and two coins per meal if you wish to partake of my food,” she said, then flashed a smile at Trixie and Lyra.

“My, my such sweet looking ponies that come to my home. I do not know the name of his kind, but he must be something special to snare both of you at the same time,” the old zebra said, accompanied with a wiggling of her eyebrows.

Karon buried his giggles in the rug sack when he saw the looks on both Trixie's and Lyra's faces, the mares displaying a mixture of outraged shock.

“We're not his marefriends!” The both shouted in unison, then glared at Karon hopelessly trying to hide his laughter.

The old zebra made “tsk!” sound and shook her head, but didn't lose the smile. When his laughter died down, Karon brought his head out of the rug sack and dug out a handful of coins, which he gave to their new hostess.

“Here, that should cover for all of us plus some food and drink,” he said.

The zebra counted the coins then nodded. She led them over to one of the small tables with pillows around it and the three of them sat down. Traces of outrage were still fixed on both the ponies' features.

“I will bring what I made for dinner, I hope you'll like it. What would you wish to drink?” she asked, eyes jumping between the three of them.

Karon sprawled his legs out wide with a content sigh, and turned his head to the ponies.

“Water, definitely water, but something strong to go with it after a bit of hydration. What do you drink in these parts?”

“For strong drink, we have fermented seed, honey wine and-”

“Honey wine should do it, we call that mead where I'm from, bring a lot of it.”

The old zebra give him a curious stare, then her mouth twitched upwards when she looked at the two mares around the table, and she chuckled to herself when she left to get their order.

“I like her. She has a dirty mind.”

She delivered their meal quickly, and Karon found it to his liking. There was a lot of fruit involved, and an ungodly amount of different ways they've found to prepare hay, but in general the food was edible and well tasting. The copious amount of mead he poured into himself surely made it easier to eat, and even though the two ponies didn't drink quite as much, they did partake of the wine with gusto, letting the weariness of the road disappear in a haze of pleasant warmth.

It took time for Karon to get as drunk as he did. The need to stay hydrated in such heat clashed with the constant dehydration of the wine, and he had to drink as much of the water as the mead, but eventually the sun set, and the heat the sygils did their best to keep the heat at bay receded, leaving Karon to focus entirely on emptying their hostess' supply of the wine.

It was sometime during the night, when even Lyra and Trixie were beginning to feel the effect of the drink, that more and more customers piled in and lounged around on the pillows, laughing and talking louder than was necessary.

Even through the fog of inebriation, Karon could sense the underlying tension leading to it, the customers spoke loudly, laughed louder, and drank more than usual to go with it, all so they could keep their fears at bay. Not that Karon minded it, everyone dealt with bad stuff in some way, and alcohol was a good way to go.

“I wonder if that is purely a statement of theoretical knowledge, or if it perhaps stems from practical experience,” a voice said dryly inside his mind.

“Hey I'm not a drunk! And I don't self prescribe alcohol as medicine or anything, I just want to get drunk some times.”

“Funny how those times seems to come around whenever we get close to situations with a lot of fear and suffering.”

“Just shut up and stop ruining the moment.”

Karon frowned in anger at having his moment of bliss ruined, and it was at that moment he noticed the hard stare he was receiving from a zebra across the room. At first he thought it was simply because the stallion must never have seen a human before, however after staring back at the zebra for a few minutes he recognized him. It was the same zebra that had stopped them at the gates.

Karon anger grew in size, and thoughts about being stalked by the zebra fluttered through his head, even though it was most likely a coincidence. He spread his arms out wide, then flicked two fingers towards the zebra, and even though the meaning of the gesture was lost upon the creature, the general intent of it was not.

The zebra glared harder at Karon, then emptied the bowl he had been nursing and crossed the room towards him.

“You never revealed your name and what your business in Mjimkuu is … and what you are,” the zebra said aggressively, his eyes drilling into Karon.

Karon sneered at the zebra and shook his head.

“No I didn't, and I won't, so go away and stop bothering.”

“You should tell me now, before I find a reason to question you in a cell. For all we know you could be sent by the jackals to spy on us.”

Karon raised both his eyebrows at the zebra in surprise, but despite knowing he shouldn't antagonize a guard, he felt anger boiling inside, and poking him with a metaphorical stick felt like fun.

“I'm not a spy, but perhaps you've heard about humans hmmm?”

“Ponytales the ponies scare their children with,” the zebra said dismissively, and Karon responded with a wolfish grin.

“No … I'm a human, and unless you want to find out how much of those stories are true, I suggest you get lost quick … I'm feeling hungry and I haven't eaten meat for a while now.” Just for effect he licked his lips.

The zebra looked furious and stepped forward, his eyes alight with anger.

“That's it, you will come with me, and we shall find out just who you are and what threat you are to great Mjimkuu!”

“Fuck you I do what I want!” Karon shouted and flew up from his seated position.

“We shall do this the hard way then,” the zebra said with a smile, and did a motion reminiscent of someone cracking their knuckles.

“That's it, prepare to have you ass kicked,” Karon stated confidently, and cracked his knuckles for real.

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

“I can't believe you got us sent to jail!” Lyra repeated for the fifth time.

“I heard you the first time,” Karon groaned and gently massaged the bump on his head.

“You got us sent to jail!” Lyra repeated like a broken record, pacing around in a circle while Trixie sat with an empty stare, unwilling to cope with the situation, or perhaps still drunk.

“How was I to know he had a friend sneaking up behind me?” Karon said defensively.

He had woken up in the cell with the two unicorns, and Lyra had been quick to admonish him with the few words she still seemed capable of speaking. Karon's head had spun around a lot, and he had vomited in a bucket placed within the cell, no doubt meant for other, if just as unpleasant, contents.

After an hour had passed, Karon felt good enough to stand straight, and he walked over to the bars of the cell, inspecting them closely.

“I can't believe you got us sent to jail,” Lyra repeated.

“Don't worry Lyra....” Karon said, and turned around to her with a smile.

“...I don't plan on staying.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 35: Here we go again... Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 17 Minutes