“What's wrong!?” Lyra hissed as quietly as she could, her voice infused with rising panic.

“I can't … it's too much … I'll pass out before we get halfway through....” Karon forced out between labored breaths. He looked ready to collapse, and Trixie was quick to press herself up close to him for support.

“What are we going to do now master?” she asked, her voice betraying the rising panic she shared with Lyra, held only at bay by the new found trust she had gained in Karon.

“I don't know,” was his only response, and he blinked his eyes rapidly in a fruitless attempt to fight off the fatigue.

“You don't know?! We're in the middle of the jackal camp and you don't know!? Didn't you think of a plan B?” Lyra moaned in disbelief and looked over at the entrance to the tent they were in, the cloth flaps waving gently in the breeze, and separating them from the horde of jackals with barely a few millimeters of cloth.

“I haven't … had the best history with plan B's,” Karon noted and smiled crookedly.

Around them they could hear the sound of heavy feet running, padded by the loose dirt and sand underneath, and the shouting of angry voices mixed with frustrated growls and whines as groups of trackers called out to one another in the hunt for their quarry.

And then came the sound the three of them feared, the barking voice of the jackal leader, coming closer towards the tent, shouting to his warriors that he would return to his yurt while ordering them to continue the search. In mere moments he would push aside the lose flaps of cloth covering the opening, and he would find his prey hiding within his own tent.

“Well this certainly has been an interesting couple of weeks.”

“...You could say that.”

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

“Do you understand your orders?” Zuka asked again, his tone a little more impatient than the previous time.

Karon rolled his eyes, and adopted the same tone you do when you try and explain something very complicated to a very stupid child.

“I don't follow orders, I'm doing this because I decided to.”

“Need I remind you that all three of you are still prisoners and have broken the law by attacking one of our trackers and attempting jail break … and trying to kill me?” Zuka spoke with the iron hard authority his position afforded him, and Karon remained as unmoved as he always was by titles.

“The minute we step out of this fortress of yours, you lose all control over me. I could escape now if I wanted to. The only reason I'm not doing it, is because it would be very difficult keeping Trixie and Lyra safe from an entire army looking for us, and because I might actually be able to help those zebras up north getting slaughtered. I don't care about helping you personally, or the empress. Fact is, if this was about anything less serious than the wholesale slaughter of innocents – and don't think I trust those reports you told me about – I might have denied you as a matter of principle.”

Karon wouldn't have been surprised if a lot of the descriptions Zuka gave him of the situation up north were exaggerated, or maybe they even had a hoof in causing it and were just trying to clean up a mistake. However, he had seen the refugees outside the walls, and he had felt the shroud of fear that was slowly strangling the city. There was a very real danger, and he could at least try and see if he could do anything to solve it.

Not that he planned on sticking to Zuka's instructions for it. He preferred making his own plans.

“Remember, the tracker and warriors will escort you to the edge of the savanna where the desert and jackal territories begin. There will be a well with water about three days straight north of where they will leave you, and you will have enough water to make it there. You will have enough food to last two weeks if you don't eat too much.”

“How very thoughtful. I take it the place you leave us in will incidentally be too far from any other well than the one that's in jackal territory.”

“Incidentally it is so....” Zuka confirmed in a grave tone.

“And some wonder why I have problems with people in charge....”

“Great, then I guess all that's left is giving me back my stuff before I get going.”

Zuka eyed him thoughtfully for a few moments before bringing him his spear and rucksack. Karon already carried his map over his shoulder, safely contained in the little tube Celestia had given it to him in. When Karon grabbed the spear, the zebra gave him another thoughtful look, and Karon furrowed his eyebrows and asked in an annoyed tone.

“What?”

“Back when you had me at spear point while you were trying to escape … I spoke the truth, you do not have the blood lust of a murderer.”

“Had you not activated those crystals I would have killed you,” Karon countered.

“I know, I saw the change in your eyes. That is what I wonder. Why would you do that? I have seen killers who murdered by accident, I have seen murderers who murder for fun, I have seen creatures that kill because they can only survive on meat. I have seen all of that and much more, and I am still certain you are not a murderer. You do not have the heart to live with yourself as one, so why were you prepared to murder me?”

“Maybe I just didn't like you're mane,” Karon offered and slung the rucksack onto his back, glaring at the commander.

The zebra glared back just as irritated, but didn't press the issue. Instead he motioned with his hoof towards the door leading out of his office, and Karon walked over to it opened it himself with his magic, partly because he didn't want to wait for Zuka to open it, and partly to show how easily he could fool their security measures.

The door swung open and Karon stepped out of the office. Trixie and Lyra waited outside together with ten of the zebra warriors and one of the so called 'trackers', the zebra variant of a scout and spy. Karon noticed he didn't recognize the tracker in question, and gave off a small sigh of relief. Zuka heard it and asked.

“What?”

“For a moment I was afraid you would send the tracker I picked a fight with to guide us.”

“What kind of fool would send someone with you on a dangerous mission if there is bad blood between you?” the commander asked, stunned by the sheer stupidity of the thought.

“You'd be very surprised,” was Karon's response, and he looked over at Trixie and Lyra, both waiting for him patiently, or in Trixie's case impatiently.

“Alright, we'll follow the zebras to the edge of their land, then we're on our own. How long did you say it would take to get there?” he asked while looking at the tracker.

“If you do not slow down the usual pace, a little less than two weeks.”

“Make sure you stay with them and don't try and escape. Zebras know the land, but I think you will find navigating it without our help difficult. And the sun can be merciless out here where most ponies only come to change the weather.”

“You must have a great tourist industry,” Karon commented dryly, and then pointedly turned his back on the commander. He glanced at his two companions, then over at the tracker standing in front of the group of guards that would escort them.

“Unless anyone has anything more to add, I suggest we get moving. I've quickly becoming tired of this place,” the human said, and the tracker turned to his commander with a questioning gaze. Zuka must have given some form of acknowledgment, for the tracker nodded then turned around abruptly and began walking down the hall.

Karon followed him, and Trixie and Lyra hurried to stay at his side while the guards surrounded them in every direction but forward.

The tracker led them out of the city, from the top level of the empress' palace and down to the ground level of the gateways. When they exited the city, Karon paid special attention to the camp of refugees outside the walls, and to his eyes they looked to have grown in number since he last saw them the day before. The sun was almost at its apex in sky when they headed out across the savanna, with the tracker following trails invisible to anyone else but him.

The pace he kept wasn't grueling. It actually reminded Karon a bit of the 'walking like a gatherer' technique Varsif had employed whenever he was out with Karon, teaching him some nifty trick he had forgotten long ago. However, while the pace was manageable, it was also unrelenting, never stopping once for a break. Even though Trixie didn't complain as much as Karon had suspected she would, Karon could see the weariness in both his companions, and he felt it himself eventually. The soles of his feet throbbed painfully by the time the sun was spreading its last light over the horizon.

When the tracker ordered them to stop for the night, Lyra had thrown herself off her hooves and into the grass happily, and was busy giving off noises of a little too intimate nature from the relief. Karon grinned at the display, but he frowned at Trixie's response, or rather lack of. She had looked distant and thoughtful during the entire time after their visit to the empress, and Karon was beginning to feel worried she might be falling down into a depression of some kind.

The zebra guards were all busy, off establishing watch schedule and starting a fire and doing whatever other military stuff that needed doing. And although Karon felt extreme discomfort about turning his back on someone starting a fire – even if they had cleared all the grass away and built a small fire pit – he did it anyway and walked over to Trixie.

She sat by herself and was busy observing the setting sun when he came over and sat down beside her. He watched the sun with her for a few minutes, appreciating the beautiful arrays of color the clouds took, before he tried speaking with her.

“Is everything alright with you?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is more than alright. She is always great.” She used the same words as always, but there was none of  the regular the liveliness in them. They were spoken in a flat and very unconvincing tone.

“Wanna try that again? Maybe push a little actual feeling into it?”

She gave him an angry glare but didn't say anything, stubbornly looking over at where the last remainders of the sun's light still shone.

“Ok, that was mean of me, sorry. What I meant is, are you sure nothing is wrong? I am your friend and you can tell me anything … ugh I knew it would sound cheesy.”

“Why did you fight so hard in that place, in that tavern, when the pirates had your friend?”

“You mean Lyra? She's your friend too you know.”

“No she's not. She doesn't like me. She must be jealous of how great and powerful I am.” Once again she used the words in a small voice, not even trying to infuse them with her normal conviction of how utterly true they were.

“She doesn't dislike you … she's just a little wary you might land us into trouble because of your ehh ... supreme self confidence.”

“You mean more trouble than you can manage on your own?” she asked jokingly, and Karon saw a flicker of life in her eyes.

“Was that a joke? I thought you were humor impaired or something like that.”

“Trixie doesn't like jokes. Ponies have joked about Trixie all her life,” she said, her jaw tensed with the words and Karon tilted his head.

“Even so, Lyra doesn't have anything against you. She's just afraid you'll … end up like somepony else.”

“Who?” she asked.

“Maybe some other time, don't try and distract me. What's wrong?”

“You answer first. Why did you fight so hard, I ... Trixie saw how tired you were and how much you were already hurt.” She met his eyes, and within them he saw someone struggling with herself.

Karon shrugged and held out his hands like there wasn't much to it.

“She's my friend.”

“Just that? Nothing more?”

“No, oh no no no, definitely just friends,” Karon told her half laughingly and frowned at the unicorn.

Trixie looked down on the ground, her eyes shifting from side to side like she was considering arguments, or having a very intense conversation with herself. Karon could relate, and so he waited for her patiently to return to him. She would continue when she was ready.

“Would you have done that for me … if we're friends?” she finally asked carefully.

“Yes,” Karon answered without hesitating.

Trixie fell silent again, her struggle became visibly on her face as she tensed and relaxed her muscles repeatedly. Karon leaned back on his arms and looked up at the darkening sky, waiting for the unicorn to arrive at whatever point she would reveal what was bothering her.

“Trixie is great and powerful … but she admits that she has never heard of the kind of magic you use. If she were to learn this magic that no other unicorn knows, then she would truly be the greatest in all of Equestria!”

“Ah, now I get it.”

“And why is that so important?” Karon asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Because Trixie is going to show them all that she IS the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria!” Her usual pathos returned to her voice, and when she spoke, Karon could hear the desperate fire in it.

“You just said that if you learned what I know, then you would truly be the greatest. Wouldn't that mean that you aren't the greatest yet?” he asked in an even voice.

“I … Of course Trixie is already the greatest! But no one could deny her if she also had magic no other pony has!”

“Why? Why is it so important to you that you are known as the 'greatest'?”

“Because … Trixie IS the greatest! And all of Equestria will know it one day!” She shook her head angrily, and the conflict inside her looked about ready to spill forth in tears any minute now if he continued pressing her.

“Fine, just as long as you know the reason why you would study magic is important, because it will demand a lot of you.”

“Trixie is already knowledgeable in magic. She wouldn't be the Great and Powerful Trixie otherwise.”

“Sure whatever. What I meant is that you need to know why you're doing it. I know unicorns must look at it differently than a human because you're all born naturally with pretty extensive psychic abilities, but there is a difference between that and the real magic.”

“I don't understand … I mean, Trixie wants you to explain better!”

“First, where did you learn to use your skills? Who was your teacher? Regular unicorn school or somepony specific?”

Trixie looked away, her face halfway between what Karon for a moment thought was pain and shame, then it turned to anger and she muttered something.

“Could you repeat that louder please?” Karon asked and held a hand to his ear.

“Trixie wasn't taught by anypony. Trixie learned everything she knows all by herself!” There was a lot of anger in her voice, and Karon didn't need the ability to see auras to know there was a lot of pain and resentment behind it.

“How so? I thought every unicorn was taught magic either by regular school or their parents.”

“Trixie doesn't want to talk about it. Can you teach me or not?” She refused to meet his eyes and looked about ready to give up on thought.

“There's a story there waiting to be told.”

“She'll tell us if she wants to. We're hardly one to blame others for wanting to keep their past far behind.”

“That's the thing isn't it. We can't, neither can she. You always carry it with you.”

“Doesn't matter! It's her own damn choice. If she can't deal with her reasons for seeking magic, then that's her own path.”

“Which we, if we would choose to accept the actual role of her teacher, are duty bound to guide her upon and help her in any way we can, even if she doesn't want us to. A role we can't even handle. We barely made it to the intermediate level of study. We aren't some real master, we're a fucking failed student.”

“She just wants to learn. It wouldn't hurt her to learn something useful. As far as I can see, all her bluster about being great is just a smokescreen for her actually being useless as far as magic goes.”

“Still … it would be good of us to teach her what we can, help her learn to survive on her own with Lyra before we....”

“Before we what?” the voice asked him sweetly, dripping with faked concern.

“Okay, I'll do it,” Karon said gently.

Trixie twitched her head in surprise, and turned to look at him with eyes shining of joy, and a mouth that kept twitching upwards in a smile. She composed herself quickly and returned to her normal look of haughtiness, but she couldn't keep the smile out of her eyes.

“Uhrm, yes, well Trixie believes it won't take long for you to teach her all that you know, but she is … grateful that you would help her in becoming even greater.”

“I swear to you that I will do my best to teach you what I know of the arts and help you develop your power and awareness, but in turn I must warn you, the real magic isn't some unicorn psychic skill or easy spell. The real powers are very much alive and they will test and judge you, and if you fail, you will suffer for it by losing it or worse. So remember why you want it, because you will have to face your fears at some point.”

“What if Trixie doesn't want to,” she asked, half in defiance and half in fear.

Karon smiled bitterly and looked over at the dying light on the horizon.

“Then you end up like me,” he said and stood up. Behind him the zebras had started the fire, and were busy talking and laughing together around it. It was noisy, and wouldn't help in getting Trixie to focus.

“Come on then Trixie, I'll teach you something basic tonight, and we'll continue during our trip to jackal land. If we work hard, you'll have learned a few useful tricks by then.”

“Trixie is sure this will be easy for someone as great and powerful as she,” she stated confidently.

Karon shook his head and remembered a time he used to think like that. She would learn, just like he had, that the easy way was the wrong way.

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

The days flowed by with an easy routine where the company would stop at the dying light of the sun and sleep for most of the night. Come dawn, the tracker would rise and wake up the others, and Karon had taken it as a game to program himself to wake up just before dawn and the tracker, teasing him with always being the first up. The zebra tried to take it without showing any annoyance, but Karon only needed to take a look into the zebra's mind to see his irritation with the human.

Karon had begun doing that a lot since the journey's start, looking into the minds of the zebras, reading their emotions and even implanting and changing tiny, harmless thoughts or feelings. It wasn't for entertainment as much as practice. When he accepted the role as Trixie's teacher, he told her he would do his best, and that required his skills and knowledge to be as good as could be.

Not that it seemed to be helping a lot.

Whatever conflict existed within Trixie about how she could be great and powerful and his student at the same time had either been resolved, or she was attempting to resolve it. By constantly questioning, debating and sometimes just ignoring him completely, citing her greatness as the source of confusion. She was simply too great to be taught such trivial things like the basics, and when Karon challenged her to do something advanced and she failed, the blame was put on his teaching.

After a week's worth of traveling and a little more than halfway to their destination, Karon was sitting down in the grass alone on the far edge of their camp, away from the fire. He was looking up at the stairs growing all the brighter as the night deepened. It was beautiful, but it didn't help to brighten his mood.

“She's insufferable!”

“I'm pretty sure we were just as bad … or close at least, when we were just beginning.”

“We're not Varsif, I don't know how to deal with this shit.”

“We could just copy what he used to do to us. We've been doing that mostly anyway lesson-wise.”

“I … don't think a lot of his methods would work with Trixie. He wasn't exactly gentle.”

“Trixie doesn't need gentle. She needs a slap across the face, years of therapy and a good screw. However, barring that, we could do what Varsif did when we were getting really arrogant.”

“Ohh … that one might actually work, if she can even conceive of actually doing it.”

“So put an ultimatum, either she complies or she doesn't get the teaching until she does.”

“Suddenly I understand why Varsif found my transition period so amusing … this might be fun.”

“Or painful depending on how she reacts.”

With a wicked smile on his lips, Karon stalked around the camp until he found Trixie sitting alone on the edge of the fire's light. She was looking up at the stars, much like he had been just a few moments ago, and something made him stop and observe instead of interrupting.

Something about the way she sat, the way she held herself, made her seem different. She usually moved aggressively, and held herself high and tense, trying her utmost to literally look down on those around her. Not now, her shoulders were sagged and she held her legs tightly pressed against her body, and from what Karon could see, she wasn't trying to look at the stars in any other way than the only one you could, up.

She didn't look like the Great and Powerful Trixie, she looked like a vulnerable, alone and sad Trixie. He stood quiet and unmoving, and after what most have been half an hour at least had passed, he realized he was standing guard over her.

The thought struck him as odd, and what was more strange that so much time had passed and he hadn't known what he was doing. It made him a little nervous, it made him feel like his control was slipping, and that could lead to unpleasant things.

So he shook the feeling off and walked over to the unicorn, shattering the peace with a loud, “Good evening little student! What are you up to?”

Trixie sprang up from the ground and turned around with wide, terror filled eyes. However when she saw who it was, the terror turned to irritation, and her high pitched voice ran out across the planes.

“Why are you disturbing Trixie!? Can't you see she wishes to be alone?”

“I have splendid news concerning our little teaching deal.”

“And is this truly important enough to disturb Trixie so suddenly?”

“It is. You see, from now on, if you want me to continue teaching you, you have to do as I say, exactly as I say without debate … and you have to address me as master. If not, the deal is off.”

Trixie's eyes grew wider with each word that passed through Karon's lips, and her mouth fell open in outrage when he finished. She sputtered, and small sounds escaped her mouth, unfinished words she couldn't pronounce in her disbelief.

“What!?” she eventually managed to force out.

“You heard me. Do you want me to repeat myself, because I will.”

“Trixie has never heard anything more preposterous in her entire life! She refuses to call anypony her 'master', she is the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!”

“Not if you want me to teach you, then you're just Trixie. If you want to be a master, begin as a student to one, that's the deal.”

“Discounting the fact we never gained the title of master.”

“She doesn't need to know that. Besides, this agreement will be temporary anyway, I'm just trying to teach her stuff that will allow her and Lyra to survive on their own.”

“Planning on going somewhere, hmmmm?”

“Never mind.”

Trixie stared at him, mouth still hanging open. Karon didn't say anything, he just crossed his arms and waited for a response from the possibly catatonic unicorn. If the internal conflict she had gone through when asking him to teach her was a hard battle, then what was going on inside her now was war. He saw the pressure building in her eyes, shifting like a deer in a spotlight, and it was almost painful to watch.

A world where Trixie both allowed someone to teach her and held her title as 'Great and Powerful' might have been possible, but one where she also had a master … that couldn't be. One had to go, and Karon really hoped it would be the title. Even if it was only temporary, he was her teacher for the moment, and that demanded that he did all he could to help her.

He didn't hold a lot of things truly incontestable in his worldview, but this was one of those things. Varsif had helped him when he was truly unmanageable. He had helped him in a time of his life where no one else had and he was ready to give up. Varsif had saved his life, all because he took his duties as a teacher seriously, even when they weren't easy.

He would do the same, even if it were only for a short time.

The war raged on inside Trixie, and when enough time had passed that Karon was beginning to lose focus, he shook his head and sighed.

“Fine, you take your time to decide. When you're ready, come talk to me. If you want to continue you'll address me as master, if not … then I guess we're done. Teaching wise that is.”

Trixie's features didn't change, but he knew she had heard him, so he left her there to make her choice and headed back to where he had been sitting alone earlier. The grass was soft, and it hadn't made an entirely uncomfortable bed so far. Usually Lyra preferred to sleep close to the fire, the chill night air of the savanna didn't suit her, and she had been told by the zebras it would only get worse out in the desert.

Karon on the other hand liked to stay at the edge of the camp, far away from the fire and where he could collect his thoughts. Trixie usually stayed somewhere in between, not right in the camp nor entirely at the edge. She was in the middle, undecided.

He sat down and considered the landscape stretching out before him. The endless sea of grass that shifted in the wind, the small dots of trees stretching up with stubborn will, and in the distance he could see mountains. Thought they were colored in the blue and gray of night, he knew them to be red and yellow in the day.

He fell back into the grass and put his arms behind his head. Above him the stars burned bright, visible despite the dominant silver of the moon, shining almost as bright as the sun did by day.

He didn't hear the hoofsteps of Trixie's approach, but he wasn't surprised when her head came into view above him, a defiant look on her face.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie does not have a master,” she stated simply.

Karon nodded slowly, and Trixie turned and walked away from him. He took a deep breath and enjoyed the serenity of the sky above, then closed his eyes and stretched his mind out towards the retreating unicorn before she could get too far.

“Do you always run from challenges? I thought you enjoyed them oh 'Great and Powerful' Trixie?”

He could sense her stop. He felt the flare of emotions that blossomed within her aura like fireworks. Fear, shock, denial and desire, all coming together and forming a very confused unicorn.

“If you are truly so great, why does this come as such a surprise? If you truly are so great and powerful, deny me access, throw me out of your mind.”

Shock increased, anger joined the fray, fear spiraled out of control and resentment took to the stage.

“You can't. You can't deny me, and this is nothing. This is a basic trick, a small skill. Do you know what you are even giving up?”

Fear abated, shock gave way to desire and doubt, resentment still held strong but its edge became dull.

“Don't you want it for real?”

Resentment and fear exploded, raging inside like inferno itself, but desire and painful longing won.

Karon felt Trixie turn around, he felt her walking back to him and how her uncertainty grew with each step. Not just uncertainty about this choice, but uncertainty about what it meant, uncertainty about everything.

“Do I want what?” she asked in half a whisper, a question made as much to herself as him.

“Do you want to dance in creation itself? Do you want to see all that life and death holds within their domain? Is the path of the arts truly what you want? To have tea and biscuits with gods and goddesses, to listen to demons and angels and spirits, to soar together with dragons, and look at eternity and see its course. To see what dwells within yourself, to call out to the ancient and that which is to come, to seek the divine and be welcomed to it with open arms.”

Karon stopped his speech and looked up at the stars.

“To walk on a path of burning stars, a starlit path, and see what wisdom, power and secret lies undiscovered on it. To walk beside those who have come before and led those who will come with time. Do you like to look at the stars Trixie?” Karon finished and stared right into her wide eyes, clining to his every word.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Would you like to talk to them?” he asked with a smile.

Trixie stared at him, disbelief battled with longing, desperate longing.

“Yes,” she told him, her voice burning with desire even stronger than he would have thought.

“Yes what?” he asked, forcing steel into his tone.

“Yes ... master.”

She didn't spit the words out. She didn't speak them like they were toxic or sour. Instead, she just sagged from them, sank down form her high perk and hung her head in defeat. Karon surprised himself. Hearing her say it didn't bring him any pleasure, it just made his conviction to help her stronger, to make sure that the pain she had just put herself through wouldn't be for nothing.

He sat up and stroked her head gently. She didn't pull away like she had done the last time he tried that, she remained with her head hung low and spirit broken.

“Time to remind her she gave it up for a reason.”

“Come Trixie, let me show you how we can help increase your ability to connect to different field of energy.”

She raised her head and looked at him strangely, like she couldn't decide what she was supposed to be feeling. However she nodded her head, and couldn't keep the tiny smile off of her face.

“We did something good tonight.”

“Yes we did.”

As Karon led Trixie out a little further from the camp, where they could do her lesson in private, he himself wasn't quite sure what he was feeling. There were a lot of emotions that came and went quick as thought, but above it all he felt proud of himself.

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

The smoke rose thicker from the cracks of the door, and the sound of the fire seemed to rage louder than it had before. The screams pierced the silence of his inner library, and it struck him deep into the core of his soul every time.

He tried to look away, tried to avert his eyes, but he couldn't.

He could only stare as another of the black chains began to rattle, twisting and coiling like an angry serpent. Until it sprung lose and fell clattering to the floor.

Karon couldn't turn away, he couldn't stop it.

He could only scream.

***************************************************************************'

He sat up with a heaving chest, the air pushing in and out of his lungs in greedy gulps. Cold sweat covered his skin like a blanket, and blades of grass clung to him, making him look like a terrified hermit who hadn't had a bath for years.

The sun was just rising, and Karon looked over at the camp belatedly, this time the tracker had beaten him to it, and was staring back at the human with ill concealed satisfaction. Karon ignored him, he didn't care about the silly game between them. How could he when something was so very, very wrong.

He cradled his face with his hands and focused on his breathing, pushing down the lump of ice that had gathered somewhere among his entrails.

“Just a nightmare … just a nightmare.”

“Karon are you alright?” Lyra asked and put a hoof on his shoulder.

He yelped and jumped to his feet, and the sleepy unicorn recoiled from him.

“What's the matter?” she asked and rubbed her eyes.

“Nothing. Nothing is wrong,” Karon said after he found his voice, his chest still heaving gently.

Lyra didn't look entirely convinced, perhaps because Karon had the same look about him that Rarity's cat had whenever she had tried to give her a bath, tearing down half of Ponyville in the ensuing chase.

“You sure?” she pressed on, stifling a yawn.

“I'm fine. Just bad dreams, nothing more.”

Judging by his voice and appearance, Lyra suspected there was more to it, but trying to figure out what was going on inside the human's head was like trying to imagine Pinkie Pie living without sugar. It was a mental exercise without end.

“If you say so,” she offered lamely, neither of them buying it.

Besides, she hadn't searched Karon out in the time she usually reserved for glaring at the world with bleary eyes just to find out why he was acting strange this morning. She had sought him out to discover why he was acting strange all around.

“Karon … would you mind telling me why we're doing this again?”

The human grunted something and drew a hand over his head, wiping away the grass that was stuck to his skin. He didn't get it all, but Lyra knew better than to comment on it. Instead biding her time and waiting for the human to answer truthfully or try and come up with a lie, by now she knew what the most likely choice would be.

“I'm trying to save zebras, and avoiding getting on the empress' bad side,” he answered and looked over at the awakening camp.

It was a simple, logical and sane answer built on sound reasoning, which was why she didn't believe it for a second.

“No, that isn't true. I deserve to know what is going on Karon. I'm stuck out here too you know, surrounded by zebra guards that are here just to make sure we don't run away.”

The human frowned and looked at her clearly annoyed, then he sighed and moved a little closer to her, whispering to make sure he wasn't overheard.

“Look, I'm not planning on following Zuka's plan. It's stupid and clearly of a 'ends justifies the means' thinking. Been there, done that, and not interested on being the tool in such a plan. I know from experience how those usually end up.”

“So?” she asked, drawing out the words expectantly.

“So what?”

“So what is the real plan!?”

“I was going to save that for when we got to the well … you won't like it.”

“I'm already not liking it since you we're going to save it for a time I guess it would be a little to late for me to argue against it, hmmmm?”

Karon's mouth dropped open in surprise and he closed it quickly.

“Thought so,” Lyra muttered in disappointment.

“Look, it's not as bad as you might think. I didn't work out something that could be dangerous for you or Trixie, it's the opposite.”

“What do you mean?” the unicorn asked, then grimaced as she realized she probably didn't want to know.

“When we reach the well, we load up with all the water we can. There is food to last the three of us for two weeks, so you and Trixie remain at the well, doing your best to keep out of sight in case jackals come by it. In the mean time, I will head out into the desert and find some jackals. I'll get them to reveal what is going on somehow and get back to you with the information. After that you two head back to the empress and give her the info. She'll release you, and you can be on your merry way.”

“You mean we three go back to the empress … right?”

“No, after I get the information to you, I'll go back out into the desert and see if I can solve whatever the reason they're attacking the zebras.”

“Are you insane! That's suicide Karon, you can't expect to survive all alone. I heard the zebras talk about the jackals! They're all evil, and vicious and eat meat! They kill everything and eat it! They'll eat you!” she shouted at him, not caring in the least if the guards heard her, she didn't care about them right now, only Karon.

“Don't be so melodramatic Lyra. I'll be fine. I can move around and keep hidden a lot easier if I'm on my own.”

“Even you can't be this arrogant. You're not stupid Karon, I know that, but you're acting like it. You've acted strange for a long time now. This isn't like how you were back in Ponyville, not even in Canterlot, and I saw how you were changing back there.”

Lyra meet his glare without flinching, and she saw how the amber color of his eyes flared up with anger, and the sight almost made her glad. The normal glow in his eyes had been nearly gone ever since they left Canterlot. Actually they've been that way ever since....

“Is this about Feather Touch?” she asked straight on, not wasting time on being subtle.

Karon bit his tongue and looked away for a second, then replied in monotone, “No.”

“Are you sure? Because it's becoming harder and harder to recognize you.”

“Maybe you never knew me. Maybe you just thought you knew me because I was your little info dispenser for all things human related. Your own living, breathing encyclopedia.”

“It isn't like that anymore, and I know you well enough to know when you're deliberately trying to make me angry so I will forget about what we were talking about.”

Lyra suspected that the look he gave her was a mixture between being disgusted and impressed with her at the same time, but she didn't falter in her stare, Karon did.

“What do you want me to say?” he finally relented.

“That what happened is still bothering you and that its affecting your judgment.”

“My judgment? Where the hell have you been the last eight months? I HAVE no judgment.”

“Then why do you say that you are going to send us away just so you can go on some ridiculous mission that you will die from, all so you can stop zebras from dying?”

“It's complicated Lyra....”

“No its really not,” she said, and she felt her eyes begin to sting.

“Don't you dare cry, don't you dare,” she thought furiously.

Karon noticed, he always noticed. At least she could take some satisfaction in seeing the guilt on his face. She knew something was wrong, and it hurt.

“I'm trying to take care of you Lyra, both of you.”

“Yeah, I've noticed you and Trixie,” she said, perhaps letting a little too much emotion into her voice.

Karon frowned, then raised his eyebrows and asked tentatively.

“Wait, Lyra are you … jealous I'm spending so much time teaching Trixie magic?”

“No!” she exclaimed and refused to meet his eyes.

“Lyra, you know you're the only mare for me,” Karon said and forced a smile. She saw it was forced, whenever Karon smiled for real his eyes always glowed a little brighter.

“Then why do you want to leave me?” she asked pleadingly and couldn't hold back the tears that started trickling down her chin. She hated crying, the tears always made their way out to her muzzle and made her nose wet and icky.

“Because I can't let something happen to you, either of you,” he said and got down on his knees so that their eyes were at the same level.

“Don't you get that maybe I can't let anything happen to you too?” she said and wiped her muzzle with a hoof.

Karon didn't answer, and for once she had managed to leave him at a loss for words. Small victories and all that.

“I'm not leaving, that's it Karon, I'm not leaving,” she stated firmly and stomped her hoof in the ground for emphasis.

Different emotions chased over the human's face, anger and joy being the most noticeable. She had gotten used to his facial expressions enough to know them, even though she still found the inner workings of Karon's mind mostly a mystery.

This time joy won out, and a real smile, glowing eyes included, plastered itself on his face and he pulled Lyra in for hug. She put her hooves around his neck and squeezed hard, trying to tell him just how much she had grown to care for the stupid ape with with touch alone. Just to annoy him, she wiped her nose against his neck when he released his hold on her, and he pulled back with a disgusted sound and ran his hand over it.

“You two, it's time to get going!” one of the zebra guards called out from the camp, and three of them walked over towards her and Karon, probably worried they might be up to something fishy.

The human put a hand on her head and scratched it. He knew she couldn't resist the amazing sensation of having so many fingers rubbing her head, producing the most amazing feeling. She frowned in disappointment when he stopped only after a few seconds, but he didn't see it. He walked to the three approaching zebras, all innocence and with his hands spread wide like he had nothing to hide. Lyra heard the gruff voice of the middle guard, and she walked over to them to better hear what he said.

“-screaming all about?” she caught when she got closer, and Karon replied in a sickly sweet voice that dripped of feigned naivety.

“Oh she was just upset when I thought that maybe 'hey, the jackals might not be so bad at all, maybe all zebras are as annoying as the warriors going with us? If that's the case their actions would be perfectly understandable, and all that really needs doing is talking to them with a sympathetic ear.'”

The zebra's glared at him without concealing their anger, and the two flanking guards butted their spear into the ground a few times, but did nothing further.

Lyra resisted the desire to roll her eyes, having decided that if she were going to do that every time Karon decided to be foalish then she'd end up like Derpy. The guards split aside so Karon and Lyra could pass by, perhaps not trusting they wouldn't run off into the savanna unless they were walking behind them or something just as dumb.

Karon grinned from the display of distrust, and Lyra suspected he considered it as some kind of compliment. He motion for Lyra to go first, and she shook her head at the false gentlecoltly manner he was playing at, but she complied and walked ahead towards where the tracker stood, waiting for the stragglers impatiently.

Karon was still the old Karon, but she knew there was something wrong going on, something that he tried to hide, but couldn't. Not from her, she had gotten too close to him to be as easily fooled by him as most ponies were. She would find out exactly what was going on, and if he tried do shake her off at the well, or sneak away in the middle of the night....

Then he would find out just how stubborn she could be.

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

Two days passed by, three, four and finally five. On the fifth day when the sun had just passed through its zenith, the tracker held up his hoof to make the travelers behind him stop. They waited silently while the tracker looked around carefully, then turned around and spoke with his eyes fixed on Karon.

“This is the place. We leave you here. Water is three days same pace north, in those mountains there,” He spoke shortly and pointed with his hoof towards a cluster of small, rocky mountains.

The tracker's work was done, and he began heading back without any further words to any of them. The zebra warriors turned to follow him, and one of them stopped and told him curtly.

“Do not return to zebra land without finishing your task. If you return to great Mjimkuu with false knowledge, it will be discovered, and you will be punished.”

“It has been a pleasure getting to know you,” Karon said and fluttered his eyelashes.

The warrior left them behind with an angry growl. As the warriors walked away, their hooves kicked up clouds of dust and Karon could just imagine a jackal sitting somewhere hidden in a rocky outcrop and seeing it. He watched the retreating backs of the zebras for a few minutes, listening to the sound of them disappearing. Eventually he turned and took a careful look at the landscape before him.

The savanna behind him had gradually become more and more desolate, with cracked earth and dry, brittle trunks replacing the flowing grasslands and lush, if scattered, trees. Rocks had become bigger and more common, until they had entered an area with nothing but yellow sand and cliffs of red sandstone were to be found.

Which was the kind of landscape that Karon could see before him, with small scatterings of some kind of cactus plants and bushes fighting to keep a semblance of life.

“Yeah, I'm not surprised anything living here might decide to raid more hospitable places for supplies.”

“Still, if these attacks are so unusual, then something must have changed.”

“Then let's find out what.”

Trixie and Lyra walked up to him, not saying a word while observing the hostile landscape with the hostile creatures they would have to traverse. The zebras had unceremoniously dumped a bag containing the promised rations of goods next to two small water caskets connected with a strap, meant for a zebra, or pony, to carry over their back.

Trixie refused to carry the water, and Karon responded by ordering her to do it. The fact that she only complained for the first hour showed she had made some definite improvement concerning her ego, or it might just have been the fact that every time she opened her mouth moisture escaped through it. Either way, she eventually shut up.

Karon took it upon himself to carry the food, consisting mainly of root vegetables and fruit that didn't rot quickly, or so he at least hoped.

There didn't need to be much said between the three of them as they began the trip northwards, most of their focus was put towards enduring the terrible heat. Karon had it especially bad, his robe was thick enough to make sweat trickle out of his pores in a steady stream, however he didn't dare take it off for fear of getting sunburned beyond recognition. His wide brimmed hat offered the only comfort he could take, and he had to force himself from stopping all too often for water.

It took long enough for Karon to wonder if Celestia was deliberately tormenting him, but the sun eventually descended and the heat lessened. It actually dropped quickly, and by the time the light of the sun had disappeared entirely, the air was cold.

“Okay, we stop here for the night,” he announced and rubbed his arms.

Behind him Trixie moaned in relief as she finally got to take the burden off her back, too tired to make some comment about her being too great and powerful for common labor. Lyra sat down on her haunches and rubbed the soles of her hooves, and turned her head around like she was searching for something.

“What are you looking for?” Karon asked and took off his rug sack, the bag of food he had put in it had greatly increased its weight, and his shoulders ached from carrying it all day.

“Some wood for the fire,” she replied offhandedly and continued looking around.

“No fire, we're in the middle of a open plain, if we start a fire here anything in the vicinity will spot us immediately,” he said firmly.

“Karon, do you feel how cold it's getting?”

“Yes, and it'll get worse during the night.”

“So what, we're gonna freeze to death … in a desert!?”

“It won't be that bad, and if we huddle close together we'll keep warm enough.”

“If I wake up tomorrow and can't move my hooves because they're frozen, I'm not going to be kind about it,” she threatened.

“Duly noted,” he said and walked over to Trixie.

“Am I interrupting something?” he asked and tilted his head, and the unicorn stopped making noises usually reserved for the bedroom.

“No, Trixie is just trying to relax after having been treated like a pack mule all day!” she replied with a note of accusation in her voice.

“Wanna try that again?” Karon asked neutrally.

Trixie sighed deeply but changed her voice to a more respectful one.

“I am just trying to relax after all the walking, master.”

“If you want maybe I can help with that?”

“How?” she asked curiously, having grown used to the way Karon used to approach lessons.

“Nothing magical per say, just something that might help your back since its probably pretty worn after carrying that water.”

“Trixie d- … yes master, I'm very sore.”

“No innuendo ... no innuendo....”

“Lay on your belly,” he said gently, and she complied.

He got down on his knees and put his hands on her back, rubbing them up and down to create some heat. He felt her tense up the instant he touched her, but slowly relaxed when he started massaging her deeper and more carefully. He wasn't very good at it by any human standard, but he did what he could and he certainly didn't hear any complaints coming from his equine apprentice.

“Apprentice, so strange.”

“You know if Varsif found out we've taken on an apprentice he'd kick our teeth in.”

“I won't tell him if you don't.”

“Humor … my you are in a good mood. What's the occasion?”

“Don't know, I'm just trying to enjoy this- ... I mean her … I mean … it.”

“Are you getting flustered from a conversation with yourself?”

“Never mind. Go back to wherever you usually hang out.”

He stopped massaging Trixie's back, and instantly she made a sound of disapproval.

“No, that will have to be enough. Wouldn't want to forget about tonight's lesson would we?”

She pushed off the ground and turned to face him with an involuntary smile. Had she been a dog, Karon imagined she would have been wagging her tail.

“I must be better than I thought.”

“What will we do tonight?” she asked enthusiastically.

“Well … we have gone through the absolute basics about energy interaction already, so … I think we should do a little more practical exercise.”

Trixie's smile widened and she nodded in delight, no doubt imagining something grand and exhilarating, it was almost a shame to let her down.

“Increasing body heat sounds like the best for tonight, since we'll need as much as we can get.”

“Can't we do something else? We can just build a fire for that … master,” she added the last word quickly.

“No fire. We will be easy to find if we do, and you shouldn't be so careless with use of fire … it's dangerous. No, heat it is. Oh don't look so glum. Besides, learning to keep warm will help develop your ability to channel more energy.”

She perked up a little at the last mention, and look about ready to begin her lesson. Karon glanced over at Lyra and saw her digging around in his rucksack for the food. The pony would most likely want to sleep after she'd finished her meal, so he'd have to get on with the lesson quickly or leave her to endure the cold alone until they were finished.

“Okay, the starting key here is breathing,” he told Trixie, adopting the lecturing tone he had gotten used to over the days, “Breathing brings oxygen into your body, gets the blood flowing and helps stabilize the nervous system if you breath down into the diaphragm. Try it, let the air flow into you deeply, pushing out your chest and stomach as far as it goes, then let it flow out on its own.”

He watched as Trixie tried it, stumbling a few times in her control and tensing far more than what was needed. Karon didn't have a perfect understanding of pony physiology, but it was good enough to understand that the basics would work. He wouldn't get into the more complex levels anyway. He found himself drifting in thought, and imagined he should have asked Twilight more about their anatomy when he had had the chance.

“Twilight....”

He brought himself out of the reverie and shook his head, bringing his mind back to the lesson at hand.

“Good, that's enough. Breathing is good, without breathing you die. You can last days without food and water, but only a few minutes without air. Now, we will go on to the next level, it is more than just our body that breaths, our spirit breaths too, but it doesn't breath air. It breathes … let's just make it simple and call it prana, it's a kind of energy. What is important right now is that by breathing with both body and spirit, we start to connect the two deeper, and the energy that the spirit breathes in flows without fault through us, and it can then take form as heat, providing our body with warmth when we need it.”

“How?” she asked, enthralled like usual once Karon got going.

“Energy feels energy, just like matter reacts to matter by way of the forces that flows through them. If you breath enough that the pattern becomes automatic, the mind and eventually spirit will follow. It's an ever flowing stream of interaction between inner and outer, top to bottom and bottom up data. And it all affects one another since they are connected.”

“I understand....” she said hesitantly, and resumed her attempt at deep breathing.

Karon leaned back with his hands digging into the cold sand and watched her struggle and slowly get into a steady rhythm without even truly noticing. He waited until her eyes became dim and distant, and he looked at her with his second sight and saw her aura shift like a flame caught in a breeze. And soon enough, the colors grew stronger, and a charge leapt around the lines of energy like electrical currents, some of it blossoming forth into heat and warming her body.

She opened her eyes, and her lilac colored orbs that shone with a look of wonder.

“What was that?” she asked quietly, slowly returning from the state of half trance.

“Well, life basically, or one side of it.”

“It was … it felt....” she struggled to find words, frowning deep enough it nearly touched her nose.

“I know, enjoy it. Like a pegasus I know would have said, 'it's … nice'.”

Trixie nodded thoughtfully while Karon got up on his feet and arched his back gingerly. He dusted off his robe and nodded his head towards where Lyra sat.

“Come, she needs some company and we need some food. Then we'll get to sleep. If things are going to be as hot tomorrow as they were today, we'll need it.”

Trixie didn't say much after the lesson. She ate her food with the look of wonder still persistent on her face while Karon made some small talk with Lyra, discussing how anything would want to live in a place as desolate as the desert they were in.

When they went to sleep the curled up next to on another, with the still pleasantly warmed Trixie in the middle and Karon to the right and Lyra to the left of her. To add to it, Karon had taken off his robe and put it over all three of them as a cover. It wasn't perfect, but the three of them ran next to no risk of being damaged by the cold like that.

Fatigue made itself known fast, and all three of them drifted into slumber gently.

Karon woke up when the moon was high up in the sky, spreading its soft light upon the sleeping figures below. The reason he woke up was a familiar one, but still so new and alien. Trixie's horn was jabbing him in the shoulder hard, and she had both her hooves wrapped around him awkwardly. She looked different when she slept, much like she had when she was sitting alone looking up at the stars. However she didn't appear like a figure burdened with sadness now, she looked peaceful, happy, a tiny content smile gracing her lips.

Her horn still jabbed into his shoulder, and he didn't mind. He just put an arm around the unicorn then went back to sleep.

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

“Well that was a mistake.”

Karon groaned in self pity, the hard ground wasn't the most comfortable of places to sleep, even if it consisted mostly of lose sand and dirt. And his left shoulder screamed in pain from having Trixie's horn jabbing into it for most of the night.

He had woken up somewhere between dawn and midday, with both the ponies already up and enjoying breakfast. If Trixie had woken up in a more intimate manner than what was traditionally appropriate between a master and apprentice, she didn't make any mention of it while Karon joined them. And after having devoured a few dried fruits and carrots, they drank a healthy amount of water and set out north once more.

The day passed by without anything eventful occurring. They passed over what Karon guessed was a dried out river, perhaps waiting for a squad of pegasi to bring a monsoon its way. They didn't see a trace of any jackals, and during the entire course of the day he kept a careful lookout for anything indicating they were being watched. But no shivers ran up his spines, and no feelings made their way into his gut. No, their day was simply filled with walking, more walking and the odd stop for water.

Come nightfall they didn't speak much, too tired by the strain they had put on their bodies to do anything else but eat. Karon walked Trixie through another basic exercise, this time helping her gently connect to another mind, something the unicorn had no success with at all, leaving her very disgruntled.

Karon did not wake up from having Trixie holding him that night, and his shoulder wasn't screaming in pain when morning came. He couldn't place if he felt relief or disappointment for it.

She had been awfully soft.

Finally, in the third day of walking they reached the jagged collection of rocks that made up the small mountains where the promised well was supposed to be. There were small winding pathways carved through the rock, and Karon led them through carefully, anticipating a jackal ambush to reign down stones and whatever weapons they made use of at any second.

They were spared that fate, only to find one possibly worse.

As the shadows cast by the cliffs grew longer and longer, and the sky above shifted from blue to orange, Karon noticed that the passage he was following grew wider, and the open areas they passed through were becoming larger and more frequent. Enough so that he was beginning to get worried. The path they had followed so far looked to have been well worn, and so he, for lack of any better options, assumed it led to the well and followed it.

He seemed to have guessed correctly, as they came out into a grand open area with the cliffs circling around. A few large boulders were scattered about, but most of the surface was covered with round tents the color of sand. Walking around the camp were bipedal, scrawny looking dog like creatures with long snouts and large pointy ears. Their fur was a matted color of beige and brown, and they wore patchwork clothing made of material that Karon didn't recognize.

And they all, without exception, carried weapons.

Karon took it all in during the course of the two seconds he stood out in the open, then hurriedly ducked back into the passage before someone could see him. Trixie and Lyra walked up to him and tried to angle around the rock to get a look at whatever had spooked him. Lyra managed to do it first and her eyes doubled in size and she inhaled sharply.

“Karon … are those?”

“Jackals? I would think so. They look like it.”

“And why are there so many camped right here!?” Her voice sunk down into a hoarse whisper.

Karon sighed and rubbed his temples.

“If I had to guess, which I do … I would say that they're camped around a valuable supply of water.”

“I really hoped you were going to say they were just taking a break and would be going away soon....”

“I wouldn't mind being able to say that but....”

“But luck has a streak of sadism when it concerns us.”

“That's one way to put it.”

“What do we do?” Trixie asked and pulled her head back from looking around the cliff, her eyes just as wide as Lyra's.

“I don't know … I'll have to think.”

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

“That's the worst idea ever!” Lyra hissed.

Above them the sky had grown dark and the stars had begun shining brightly, the moon still obscured by the tall cliffs surrounding them.

“You think of something better then!” Karon hissed right back at here.

“”Anything's better than 'you stay here and I'll look around',” she challenged and stuck her chin out defiantly.

“We need to find out what they're doing here, and we need to get more water. What little we have left will barely last half a day now.”

“Well we have to find a way into their camp for both of that,” Lyra said, motioning her hoof to the camp.

“Yes, and I can maybe get into their camp if I go alone. All three of us will take to much space and make too much of a ruckus not to be noticed!” Karon added and crossed his arms over his chest.

“We need a distraction,” Trixie said, then blinked like she hadn't meant to say it out loud.

“A … distraction,” Karon and Lyra echoed in unison.

“Yes, and the Great and Powerful Trixie will...” she grew silent when Karon cleared his throat loudly and gave her a meaningful stare. She looked from Karon to Lyra and back again to him almost pleadingly, but he only raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat even louder.

Trixie sighed then put a hoof on her chest and continued, “I will be able to give it. Tr- I know how to play a crowd and put on a show stopping scene.”

“And how exactly were you planning on giving a distraction without them attacking you?”

“I will them that I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, and that I was sent by the zebra empress to negotiate with the jackal leader. They will have to take me to him, and if he is not here, take me to whoever is in charge.”

Karon raised his hand to object, but couldn't find any words. Sure, he could argue that it was dangerous, but they were in a place where just being there was dangerous. Leaving them both here was just slightly less so for them but far more for him.

“And you were thinking about me and Lyra following you, invisible?” Karon guessed.

“Exactly, and if their leader is here, then maybe we can find out why they're attacking the zebras just by letting me talk to him.”

“It might work if you're really as good as you think … but what's your exit strategy?”

“Huh?” the ponies asked.

“What's your plan for getting out? You might be able to trick the leader to reveal his plans in true evil villain fashion, but what then? He'll not let you leave.”

“When we've found what we need to know, you can make me invisible too. You can do that right? If you're already standing beside me but the jackals don't know it?”

“I … yeah it CAN be done. I just need to extend the field to encompass you. Not easy to begin with, and if I'm already supposed to cloak both me and Lyra for the entire time, and then also make you invisible while we escape … I don't know if I can handle that much strain.”

“I trust you master,” Trixie said confidently.

There was no way to respond to such a thing when uttered by a pony other than “Okay”.

The plan set, the dice were cast and a seemingly lone unicorn walked out of the ravine. The jackals didn't notice her until she was almost inside the camp. They howled loudly towards the sky at the sight of the intruder, and they bounded towards her, some of them running on all fours others on their back legs, wielding spears and crude looking axes in their paws.

Trixie stood still and unfazed by the approaching jackals, and when they formed up around her in a circle and growled loudly with saliva dripping down their jaw she didn't react. She waited until one of them took a step forward and spoke in a jagged, throaty voice that should have belonged only to a life long chain smoker.

“Pony here, in jackal territory? You do not belong, speak why you here is or we make you dinner.”

Karon had to force himself from making a smart ass comment about the jackal's speech, and in turn revealing his and Lyra's hidden position just outside the circle surrounding Trixie, hidden behind his veil of invisibility. A veil that was even more strenuous than usual, since he was making sure all olfactory data that passed through the shell around them also was ignored.

“I am the Great and Powerful TRIXIEEEE! The most powerful and famed unicorn in all of Equestria! Be careful what you say you or I will show you unicorn magic the likes which your tiny little mind has never even DREAMED of!” she thundered loudly, attracting more jackals running out from the camp to see what was going on.

The jackal that had spoken looked confused, and kept giving glances to his compatriots and scratching his head.

“Ehhh, pony no answer question. Why is pony here in Jackal land. IS OURS, YOU CAN'T HAVE!”

Karon tried really hard to stifle his laughter, but couldn't, and was rewarded immediately by a headache as the energy needed to keep the sound ignored increased greatly.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie was sent by the zebra empress herself to speak with the leaders of the jackals. For only she is powerful enough to make the journey alone and speak with your leader without fear!”

The jackals shifted their weight around nervously. Trixie never lost her composure of utter confidence, and managed to look down on the jackals with utter contempt despite them being just as tall as Karon. Beneath her stare, the jackals found themselves in a situation they had never been before, and so they resorted to the same tactic millions of creatures in the same tight spot had made use of since ancient times.

Pass it along to someone else.

“We will take you to see chief. The big chief is not here, but chief is biggest here, you talk to him.”

The jackals led Trixie through the camp, keeping a respectful distance from her while still serving as some kind of escort. Karon made good use of the jumbled mess that was the jackal's formation, and he found less trouble than he had expected in avoiding bumping into anyone. Even so, the pressure building inside his head from keeping up the invisibility was getting worse by the minute.

The jackals stopped outside one of the bigger tents and showed Trixie in. Most of them remained outside, so Karon and Lyra had to time it perfectly when they opened the flap to the tent like structure and entered, but they managed judging by the lack of outcry.

Inside was a jackal bigger than the rest, wearing fabric looking a little less rough than the ones worn by his lesser brethren. Trixie stood with the same look of contempt on her face, and waited for the jackal chieftain to finish speaking.

“-Claim to have come from zebra boss, why would zebras send pony to speak for zebras?”

“Because the Great and Powerful Trixie possesses magic no jackal or zebra could ever hope to understand. And even though the empress is a zebra of low taste, since she didn't know of the Great and Powerful Trixie until recently, she immediately realized the value of pleading on her bare knees of my help.”

“What zebra boss want? Jackal will continue to take stuff we want, zebras are small and tasty,” the jackal leader said and licked his lips.

“The empress has asked me to investigate why you are harassing her people, and what she can do to prevent it.”

And just as they had expected, there wasn't need for more than the tiniest nudge to send the jackal into a typical bad guy unveiling of the grand scheme, which in this case, was neither grand nor really a scheme.

“Great chief Vako unite all jackal tribes! Great chief Vako say, 'I find old crown of last jackal king in old jackal city no jackal knows where is now. Crown will give us power to stop stupid zebra land-magic, jackal will have jackal magic, and great chief Vako will take us to zebra land and we will eat them and take their stuff!” he finished barking and slammed his fist hard into his chest, a move mimicked by the other jackals present inside and they all howled loud in blood thirst.

“How terribly … unoriginal.”

“Maybe it will turn out things aren't at all what they seem, and this Vako is actually an abnormally intelligent jackal with convoluted schemes and mad designs that could threaten this entire world should he go unchallenged.”

“Not likely.”

“Nah you're right. They're just idiots.”

“And how is this Vako planning on finding your lost city and crown if it is … lost?” Trixie asked and sneered at the leader.

“We have stone from lost city!” the jackal barked and pointed to a table inside the tent, upon which several large stones sat. Now that Karon looked closer, he saw that not only was there a table present inside, so was the largest bed Karon had ever seen, it could easily fit five people. It was a logistic nightmare. They would have to make use of several jackals just to carry the damn thing, and the table.

It spoke volumes of the owners ego.

“And how exactly will that help you?” Trixie asked and sniffed, and Karon was honestly surprised even such a dimwitted creature like the jackal leader would go on like he did without stopping to think.

“It's way too convenient.”

“Yeah, which usually means that fate will toss us into a terribly fucked up situation just to balance it out later.”

“Have you noticed that lately our life has been following these strange set of rules relating to drama?”

“No, I haven't. Sounds like you're becoming paranoid.”

“Jackals will find lost city and lost crown. We have rock from lost city, and jackals will sniff rocks and then sniff where lost city is!”

“Well you might have a point.”

Trixie's mask of haughtiness was broken by the disbelief that colored her features, but she adapted it quickly again and spoke in the same nasal tone usually reserved for when one spots a bug and insults it.

“Well, then the Great and Powerful Trixie has heard all she wants to know, and she will now use her great and powerful magic to return to the empress and inform her what she has heard.”

“Huh, ehhh, no! I don't think so, pony will stay here, we will go to great chief Vako and tell of you, he will decide what to do.”

“Trixie thinks not,” she said with all the flourish of a stage born actor and brushed a hoof against her chest.

“Well … here goes.”

Karon summoned all the strength he had and pushed the boundaries of the field enveloping him and Lyra further, stretching it to embrace Trixie as well. He grind his teeth and it felt like blood vessels were popping all over his head, but the field stretched far enough to devour Trixie entirely. One moment she stood in plain view, and the next she was gone.

The jackal's leader face fell, and he stood uncertain, staring at the spot where Trixie had been present just a heartbeat ago. The other jackals present did the same, until the leader started shouting loudly and ran outside.

“Find the pony! Find the pony and take her back! Vako will want pony. Vako will be angry if we don't find pony!”

The entire camp came alive at the threat of the great chieftain's rage, and the peace of the night time was broken by the howls and clamor of the jackals hunting desperately for the pony, hunting for any pony.

Inside the tent, Trixie, Lyra and Karon came out into view, and the human swayed groggily to the side, squinting his eyes in pain.

“What's wrong!?” Lyra hissed as quietly as she could, her voice infused with rising panic.

“I can't … it's too much … I'll pass out before we get halfway through....” Karon forced out between labored breaths. He looked ready to collapse, and Trixie was quick to press herself up close to him for support.

“What are we going to do now master?” she asked, her voice betraying the rising panic she shared with Lyra, held only at bay by the new found trust she had gained in Karon.

“I don't know,” was his only response, and he blinked his eyes rapidly in a fruitless attempt to fight off the fatigue.

“You don't know?! We're in the middle of the jackal camp and you don't know!? Didn't you think of a plan B?” Lyra moaned in disbelief and looked over at the entrance to the tent they were in, the cloth flaps waving gently in the breeze, and separating them from the horde of jackals with barely a few millimeters of cloth.

“I haven't … had the best history with plan B's,” Karon noted and smiled crookedly.

Around them they could hear the sound of heavy feet running, padded by the loose dirt and sand underneath, and the shouting of angry voices mixed with frustrated growls and whines as groups of trackers called out to one another in the hunt for their quarry.

And then came the sound the three of them feared, the barking voice of the jackal leader, coming closer towards the tent, shouting to his warriors  that he would return to his yurt while ordering them to continue the search. In mere moments he would push aside the lose flaps of cloth covering the opening, and he would find his prey hiding within his own tent.

“Well this certainly has been an interesting couple of weeks.”

“...You could say that.”

Karon hefted his spear with tired arms, the energy to wield it just wasn't there, and the shift in weight was nearly enough to make him fall over. He was going to try and kill the leader quick, and if he somehow managed to sound an alarm, he would distract the jackals long enough for the ponies to get away hopefully.

His plans of martyrdom were delayed when Lyra grabbed both him and Trixie and dragged them with her as she hissed,“Here, hide under here!” and pushed them under the leader's huge bed before making her way in beside them.

Mere seconds later, they heard the jackal leader enter the tent and pace around it angrily, muttering to himself in a whining language none of them understood. They remained still, their nerves raw with anticipation of what would happen next. However their fears were never realized. At some point the jackal leader must have given up, and after what could have been hours if not years of wandering around the tent, he shuffled over to the bed and threw himself on it.

After a short time his loud snoring sounded in the tent, loud enough to drown out the still clamoring of the jackals outside still searching for Trixie. Karon turned to face Lyra very slowly, and whispered straight into her ear, “You are never allowed to complain about my ideas again. Yours suck.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 37: Sand, stone and surprises Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 46 Minutes