“Oh, uhm, fine ... just a teensy bit uncomfortable.”

“Huh? Oh right.” The mage got up and looked down at the pegasus. She seemed to be less unstable now, but her face still showed signs of fear, not that he could blame her. If you wanted to get nasty about it he had just mentally raped her after all.

He was going to pony hell.

“You're sure your okay?” She was about the same size that Twilight had been, but she managed to look so much more ... fragile.

“Well, uhm ... could I please check on Angel bunny, that is ... if you're okay with it.” She looked up at him while saying it, but he noticed her eyes kept flashing to the little bundle of fur lying still behind him.

“Of course.” He stepped aside and allowed her to get up and go over to her unconscious pet. She fell down on her haunches and began cooing at him in a sickly sweet tone and gently nudged him with her muzzle.

The bunny responded with a yawn and slapped her muzzle away like he didn't want to be woken up.

“Heh, the thing got spunk at least.”

While Fluttershy kept on trying to wake the stubborn creature, the mage took a look around.

Dawn had come and the sun was beginning to rise in the sky. It happens sometimes when you go into other minds. An hour turns out to only be a minute, sometimes a minute is really an hour and so on. The wonders of time relativity.

“Fluttershy, where exactly are we?” He doubted it was the infamous Everfree forest that Twilight had spoken of. If this was as bad as it got around here he didn't think he'd be able to take the cutest bits without imploding.

“Oh, we're in, uhm, Equestria.”

“Yeah I got that. I meant that unless you've moved away since Twilight last spoke to you you're still living outside Ponyville, right?”

“Well, yes but- ”

“Good. Would you mind taking me there? I think all of this will be much simpler if I can have Twilight vouching for me.”

“Twilight! We've been so very worried. Please, do you know what's happened to her? It looks like she's sleeping but she's been like that for three whole weeks, and nopony needs that much sleep.”

“Yes I know what happened to her. She should have woken up yesterday. Have you been out here for several days?”

“No, I only went out looking for Angel bunny last night. When he didn't want to go to bed, he ran away and I had to find him, even if it meant going into the woods when it was d-dark and scary, but if Twilight had been awake surely somepony would have told me...”

“I would have thought so as well ... maybe something went wrong. Well, something more went wrong than what's already happened.”

“What do you mean?” She looked concerned but at least she was warming up to him. She had the bunny sleeping soundly between her folded wings and his lack of injury must have reassured her that the mage wasn't dangerous, to some degree at least. He doubted she'd be having this conversation with him otherwise.

“It's a complicated story and I think it's best if Twilight herself is the one to tell it, and if something is still wrong with her maybe I can help ... again.”

“Oh okay. If you think you can help Twilight.” She brushed her hoof against the dirt and looked nervous. Maybe she was still worried he had some nefarious scheme planned despite the fact that she was pretty much helpless against him already. He wasn't even going to try and understand pony logic.

“I haven't eaten you yet right?”

“EEP!”

He smacked his forehead. “I mean I WON'T eat you at all. I'm trying to say that I have no intentions of harming you or your friends, but I might have to stay around these parts for a long time and I would rather I have some friends available during that time.”

“You mean ... you don't have any friends?”

“No.”

“Oh you poor thing ... if you want, I can be your friend, since you don't want to eat me. If you want.”

“Damn it all, why must they act so cute. There is no way I am going to be able to justify acting like I usually do if they're all like this. I will try and act nicer for a while and see how that turns out.”

“Crap I'm going to become like them.”

“Well it's not like I have a lot of opti...No! I mean, yes I would be happy to have you as a friend Fluttershy, hehe.”

“I hate this.”

“How wonderful, and of course I can take a friend to see Twilight if you think you can help wake her up. We have all been so very worried about her.”

“Great. Lead the way.”

The pegasus only gave a tiny little nod and set of at a slow pace, and the mage looked around himself once more before heading off after her. They walked silently most of the time. The air was filled with the sound of birds singing, and dew still clung to some of the vegetation around them. Fluttershy looked up at him from time to time, like she was gathering courage to ask something.

“If you want to try and make friends then perhaps you should try and act friendly, genius.”

“Is there something you want to ask me Fluttershy? You look to have something on your mind.”

She stopped and looked up at him before quickly averting her gaze downwards. She used her long hair as a curtain between them before daring to speak.

“Well it's just that, I don't know your name."

“My name ... long time since I last said it.”

Three years had passed since his name was used by his old master before leaving, and he had never used it after. There was no need for it, no one ever asked. He had even started to think of himself only as the mage.

He had buried his name a long time ago.

Maybe it was time for a new name, he was in an entirely new place with a new body. Maybe he should have a new name to go with all of it. A cool new name.

“My name is ... Gandalf.”

“What a strange name.”

“Fine, how about Dumbledore.”

“But I thought you sai-”

“How does Yoda sound?”

“Why do you have so many names?”

He sighed and put his hands over his face and sat down, he needed to think this trough.

“So a name, a name, a name. Question: why am I here? Answer: because Loke is an asshole. Hmmm. No name there, but I'm also here because I actually choose to help Twilight so maybe something to do with that. I helped her get across the void so maybe...”

He removed his hands from his face and smiled. He knew what his new name would be. He rose up from the ground and looked at the patiently waiting pegasus. She wouldn't understand what it meant but still.

It was fitting.

“You can call me Karon, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, okay...Karon.” She smiled at him and he couldn't help but feel a warm glow in his chest at the sight of her.

“Get over yourself, it's only the pupils, your brain is confused and think she's showing signs of attraction. You probably look like a monster of some kind to her.”

“Twilight didn't seem to think anything like that."

"Yeah well you kinda saved her life. It's not like she'd risk it by telling you how creepy humans look."

"Your just being pessimistic now.”

As the pony and human resumed their walk Karon's internal dialogue continued going over how he must appear to ponies and if there was anything he could do to try and make as good an impression as possible. In the end, once more his internal dialogue proved to be of little use except for passing time, and he realized the only sure way to know would be to ask. Hopefully, Fluttershy would be brave enough to give a straight answer even if it would be a bit insulting.

Karon rubbed his hand and tried to appear as non-threatening as he could before gently asking.

“Fluttershy...would it be all right with you if I asked you a question, but you have to promise to answer it truthfully.” He tried his best to imitate those huge puppy eyes of hers. Maybe it would work.

“Well, yes I guess I can. But you have to promise not to get mad at me if I say something wrong.”

“I doubt you have the ability to make me mad at all, but yes I promise.” He put his hand over his heart as he said it.

“Pinkie promise?”

“What now?”

“Do you Pinkie Pie promise not to get mad? You can never break a Pinkie promise.”

“Uhh, how exactly are we supposed to do that when ponies don't even have pinkies?”

Fluttershy just looked at him strangely like she didn't understand what he meant.

“How exactly do you make a Pinkie Pie promise?”

“Oh, you do like this and at the same time you say, 'Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.'” She made some weird crossing over her heart, flapped her arms like wings and put her right hoof over her eye.

Pony logic.

“Eh, sure.” He repeated the procedure and that seemed to please her. He only hoped that fly wasn't some kind of god creature whose jurisdiction he had just put himself under. You never knew.

“So I was wondering ... how exactly do I appear to you? I mean, what kind of impression does my physical appearance make on ponies. Do I look dangerous? Strange? Funny? Would I make people scream and cry if I came to a party, or could I pass for just some unknown but harmless creature?”

“Well ... I don't know really. You're really big..."

“No innuendo!”

“..and you walk very strange, and look a little bit scary but I don't think it's that bad. And many things scare me so, I don't know. I'm sorry.”

“Don't be, it's enough knowing I don't look like some kind of horrible monstrosity to you.”

“Oh no, not at all. Just a little bit strange is all.”

“You're very kind Fluttershy.” She smiled that large wonderful smile again and his chest was once more filled with a pleasant glow. He could get used to that.

Of course, she was the element of kindness. He should expect a more complicated reaction from any other pony he'd cross paths with.

They continued their walk at a leisurely pace, and as the sun climbed higher into the sky the trees began thinning out and making room for open fields of grass that stretched far into the distance. He wasn't surprised that a race of highly evolved ponies would settle in a place like this. They might not graze the way their ancestors might have done, but they still felt a connection in some way obviously.

Most of the view consisted of rolling hills and the occasional tree, but if one looked closely enough a large settlement could be seen maybe an hour's walk ahead of them.

“Is that Ponyville, Fluttershy?” He put his hand over his eyes providing some shade from the sun and tried to make out any details. There were some tall structures but otherwise the entire town looked to be of nothing else but two story houses.

“Yes that's right. Oh I hope the girls aren't mad at me.”

Karon dropped his hand and looked over at Fluttershy with the still sleeping bunny cradled between her wings. She looked concerned. Well, more concerned than was usual.

“Why would they be mad at you? If you're referring to me please don't worry. I will be on my very best behaviour now that I can actually talk with ponies.”

“I'll try anyway.”

“Oh no I'm not worried about that. Well actually I am ... a little bit. But I was supposed to meet with the girls at Twilight's so we could watch over her like we do every day. I hope they're not upset.”

“You all look over Twilight constantly?”

“No, well, we try but there is so much else to do, so Spike and nurse Redheart try and help when we're not there.”

“I understand. So when exactly is it you usually go over to Twilight and meet with the others?”

“Well I usually go after I'm done waking up and feeding all the animals. Oh no, I haven't feed them yet! The poor things.” She looked distraught at the thought that the animals would miss just one breakfast.

Once more, pony logic.

“I can't let them go hungry, that would be just awful. I have to go home and make sure they're alright. Oh please wait here. I promise I will be back soon.” She hastily scooped up the sleeping bunny in her hooves and flew off in Ponyville's direction. Karon stood staring up after the flying pegasus becoming smaller and smaller before finally disappearing into the blue sky above.

“Uhh, seriously. You expect me to stay here until you get back?”

No answer came back from the sky as expected, but it felt reasonable to ask anyway.

“Hmmm, well if you do that I guess it would be okay for me to try and get to Ponyville right? Because leaving me like that was kinda rude and I am getting hungry as well, you know, since I've only had a few berries in the last 24 hours. I could have had delicious rabbit in my tummy right now being slowly digested but no, you felt it served better as an annoying pet.”

No answer came from the sky, not even a breeze.

“Well alrighty then, I guess it's off to Ponyville since I hear no objections.”

It was silly and definitely stupid of him, but Karon had enough of being left at the mercy of other people's, pony's and god's whims. Time for some proactive decision making. Besides, he was supposed to be some kind of trickster in training. It would be quite irresponsible of him to fail in that by sitting around and doing what he was told.

“Yeah, I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. Making stupid, rash decisions and somehow end up with perfect results and no negative consequences.”

At least he hoped it worked like that.

With the power of positive thinking behind him he set off towards the pony settlement in the distance and tried his best to keep thinking happy thoughts.

“This will go splendidly. This will go splendidly. This will go splendidly.”

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

About two kilometers in front of the optimistic human stood a large tree that had been hollowed out in order to house Ponyville's library. The resident and caretaker of this library was lying in her bed within a room on the second floor. Surrounding her stood four ponies with mixed looks on their faces.

A blond Earth pony with a slightly orange toned coat and a cutie mark in the shape of three apples stood at the furthest from the bed and was looking out a window, her expression one of light concern and thoughtfulness.

“Ah'm telling ya girls, something is not right. Fluttershy wouldn't just forget ta meet with us. There's gotta be a reason for her not being here. What if something happened ta her?”

A unicorn with a shiny white coat and purplish mane looked over at her concerned friend looking out the window, the unicorn did obviously not share her concern as her face had only a look of annoyance.

“Applejack darling you're being ridiculous, Fluttershy probably only needed to take care of some wounded animal and forgot the time. I am sure that there is absolutely nothing to worry about.”

“If you say so Rare, but ah can't shake the feeling something’s not right.”

“We'll of course you do. Duh! I mean Twilights been sleeping for like FOREVER. Of course you think there's something wrong going on because there is,” a pink Earth pony with an even deeper pink mane said before bouncing over and putting her arm around the worrying Applejack.

“Don't worry Applejack, I'm sure that Twilight's going to wake up aaaaany second now, and when she do we will throw a wake up party just for her!”

The pink pony's optimism must have been infectious because Applejack stepped away from the window and joined the others around the bed looking down at the sleeping purple unicorn.

“Ah guess you're right Pinkie, Ah'm just so worried about Twilight is all.” She hesitated before asking, “Ya'll think she's in pain of some kind?”

The other ponies seemed to be taken aback at the question and looked down on Twilight with fearful eyes, noting the look of serenity on her face and totally relaxed body.

“Nah, I don't think she is, I mean look at her. She looks like she's just sleeping peacefully like any other pony.” The statement came from a cyan coloured pegasus with a mane and tail in all the colours rainbow. On her flank one could see a lightning strike in blue, yellow and red erupt from a white cloud.

“I for one agree with Rainbow Dash, she looks to be sleeping soundly. If she were to be having nightmares of any kind I would think it would show,” Rarity said.

“Ah hope you're right. I would hate to think she was in pain and not being able to help her out.”

Before anyone could answer they all heard the door open to the library from downstairs and looked at each other before looking at the door, expecting Fluttershy to come trough at any moment. Instead it remained untouched, and as the friends shared wondering looks with each other they heard Spike give off a loud shout from downstairs.

All of them looked shocked for a moment before they simultaneously rushed to the door to investigate what was going on downstairs.

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

Karon had reached the outskirts of the town and was hiding in the shadows of a tree, not that it afforded him any noticeable kind of cover. It just felt like the right thing to do.

He had stood there now and watched ponies walk around for a little while. Occasionally he had been forced to duck behind the tree entirely to avoid being spotted, though the ponies seemed friendly and he could see no form of town guard or militia of any kind that might act aggressively against an unknown creature that spontaneously decided to walk into town one day.

Of course there did not exist a guard or militia in the universe that could measure against an angry mob of villagers with torches and pitchforks ... which was a sobering thought.

So far he had only seen harmless looking ponies, but appearance didn't matter for much. Every single unicorn would have some kind of magic, and even if he could defeat any single one with ease that did not mean he wouldn't be smeared against the wall by the combined force of an entire improvised army.

The pegasi could become a problem as well. They could fly, he could not. If they surrounded him he wouldn't stand a chance.

Even the Earth ponies would be dangerous to fight. They were the weakest, but they were still quadrupeds. And despite his martial arts training, shallow thought it might have been, he would never be able to measure against their balance. And their kicks would hit pretty damn hard.

“Summary: Don't piss of the townsfolk, they'll kick your ass.”   

He would have to make sure to appear like the most harmless creature imaginable. Quick and destructive magic was not his forte. Karon was a sensitive genius of complicated rituals and mental magic. He could pick up on things few other could, illusions, suggestion and complicated weaves of subtle magic he could manage with perfection, but strong hard hitting stuff was just outside his comfort zone.

Causing earthquakes, lightning and other such epic combat oriented magic was something he never really got the hang of and...

He hated fire.

He thought about that for a moment and went trough the different kind of spells and abilities he knew he could perform with certainty. This was too sensitive a situation to allow any kind of mistake to occur. He hunched down behind the tree and started stroking his beard thoughtfully before looking down in surprise. It felt a lot smoother and shorter than he was used to back home. He started feeling around his face with his hands and wondered what else was new.

No nothing new there as far as he could tell, but his face turned into a shocked expression as he felt his hair. His old hair had been shoulder length and straight, this hair was a lot wavier but shorter. He stretched it out and almost yelped when it was barely half as long as it had been before coming here.

Just as well, his old appearance had not been a decision of taste but rather something that grew from lack of care and grooming.

He rubbed his temples and pushed it out of his mind before he went back to analyzing possible magical techniques he could employ.  

“No,” he finally decided.

He might channel some form of energy that led others to feel that he was completely harmless and even sympathetic but sooner or later he would have to drop it. And when he did they would notice the difference and know he had been messing with their perception. They might not react well to that realization.

“So nice to know nine years of study under the old geezer was worthwhile.”

But he was losing daylight. He doubted Fluttershy would be gone for too long, and when she returned and found him missing she would certainly panic and run to her friends. If she did, they would get suspicious about his intentions and there would be a lot of mistrust to overcome before they would let him anywhere near Twilight.  

“Better be quick then because it will be too late soon.”

Fine, decision made. He would walk into the town and head to the library as fast as he could without looking threatening. He just hoped that he could find his way without having to ask for directions.

He couldn't help but smile. “Now that would be interesting to try.”

He shook his head, he needed to be focused for this.

“No sudden movements. Try and walk as relaxed as possible. And smile at EVERYTHING, nothing dangerous walks around smiling at everything. Well, unless it's a super sadistic monster thinking of all the horrible things it's planning to do...”

“Fuck it, if you wave at the ponies as well as smile everything should be fine. Nothing evil would ever get the idea of waving and smiling at the same time, it's just too ridiculous.”

Feeling a little more confident that he could hide behind a mask of silly behaviour Karon rose up from his position and peeked out from behind the tree.

Not a pony in sight, there was a dirt road leading into the town not far from him and he decided that would be the best way to make an entry. He straightened his back and put on a stupid grin before he began advancing with painfully slow motions and a frantically beating heart.

“Not that slow! They'll think something is wrong with me.”

“Yes because if a candy coloured weirdly shaped pony would have waltzed into town back home at a medium pace while smiling and waving at everyone no one would have given it a second glance.”

“It's not the same thing!”

“Sure it's not.”

“You're not helping!”

“I'm you stupid. You're talking to yourself.”

Yes, Karon definitely needed to make some friends.

His heart began beating with a painful amount of force and he started to feel a little dizzy, as he didn't dare let go of his smile to breath deeper. Air wheezing in and out between his teeth he increased the speed of his walk a little and headed into town.

“Oh god, there's one!”

The pony in question was turquoise and had a mane and horn in the same colour, looking closer he could see she also had a little white in her mane and her cutie marked look like a harp or lyre of some kind.

She hadn't noticed him yet and he forced to continue without stopping, the unicorn looked like she was deep in thought and had her eyes glancing downwards on the ground.

Maybe if he just kept walking she wouldn't notice him?

Apparently not, because she looked up with a frown and saw Karon slowly walking towards her down the street with a stupid smile on his face and a nervous twitch beneath his eyes.

Her mouth promptly feel open and her eyes widened to the size of a pair of bowling balls.

“WHAT DO I DO?! WHAT DO I DO!?” He felt sweat trickling down his back and he cast a nervous glance around himself without losing the smile.

“Wave you idiot! Wave!”

Karon twisted his body a little so he faced the unicorn directly before raising his right hand and waving in a nervous twitch while broadening his smile as much as possible.

The Unicorns eyes went up into her head and she fainted.

“FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK! What do I do? Should I wake her up?”

“No! Someone else might walk by and think you did something.”

“But if I leave her here, somebody else might find her, and when she tells them about me they might take me leaving her as some kind of admission of guilt!”

“Don't stop walking dammit! Or smiling! And keep waving to anyone you come across!”

“Oh shit there's another one! Somebody please save me!”

Another pony had come walking into the street from behind a house and was humming to herself. The newcomer had a light caramel coloured coat with a blue and pink mane and some small things he couldn't make out as a cutie mark.

She opened her mouth as if to call out something before she noticed him and reacted with the same shocked look like the one before. Which was fortunate because as she couldn't stop staring at him, she didn't even notice the unicorn lying unconscious in the middle of the road.

He kept walking slowly and changed his direction so if she kept looking at him, she'd turn away from the way the unicorn was and fail to spot her. He kept smiling at her and as he was about to pass her by he gently stopped and gave her a quick wave before daring to ask.

“Uh, hello there, uh madame. Would you mind telling me which way the Ponyville library is?”

He really hoped his voice wouldn't intimidate her. It was far deeper and less sickly sweet than the way Fluttershy had spoken.

The Earth pony didn't answer, she just slowly raised one hoof and pointed it towards the centre of the town. Shifting his gaze Karon could make out what appeared to be the top crown of a very large tree above the rooftops of the nearby buildings.

Twilight had mentioned that the library was a hollowed out giant tree, hopefully that was it.

He tried to make his smile bigger.

“Gah that hurts.”

And nodded in thanks towards the still dumbfounded pony as he continued walking in the direction she'd given, hoping desperately that she would keep staring after him long after he'd be out of sight.

As he kept on going deeper into town more and more ponies noticed him and all of them had the same shocked expression the first two had. Didn't matter if they were sitting on a patio outside a café – he briefly wondered if ponies made coffee – or bartering at some fruit stall. All of them with no exceptions stopped doing whatever they did and stared after him as he passed them by

Waving and smiling at Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

Karon was unsure if it was his bizarre look and behaviour that kept them from doing anything but stare at him, or if they were possibly afraid to approach him lest his weird waving-and-smiling-stupidly ways would infect them.

Didn't matter the least to him.

“I can't believe this is working! From now on I will never underestimate the tactical value of acting like I'm on crack!”

His heart felt like it was about to explode when it made a huge leap, and he breathed a sigh of relief through his nose as a large tree with windows placed around it's trunk came into view. It had to be the library. No other house in town was supposed to be carved out of a tree as far as he knew.

Keeping up his appearance of smiling idiocy he increased his pace and walked briskly towards the library. The door that was quickly coming closer was kind of small, and Karon had a brief flashback to Gandalf standing in Bilbo's home, and made a mental note to look out for low beams and doorways.

He slouched his back a little as his hand stretched out against the door before briefly pausing.

The door was shaped like an oval with the painted image of a burning candle at the upper half and below it was two very low set pair of huge keyholes. He couldn't see any doorknob so he simply pushed at the door and it swung open with an audible creak that could probably be heard in the entire library.

Bending his back a bit to avoid hitting his head he slowly walked in and had a look around.

He certainly wouldn't need to watch out for low beams, the doorways were still a distinct danger though. The interior of the library stretched high up into the top of the tree and book cases lined up to cover every inch of free wall. Ladders rested against them here and there – not that he needed them. He would be able to reach the top shelves with ease.

There was a stair leading up to a second floor where he saw another door. Also on the bottom floor he could see two additional doors in similar design to the outer one. He became busy admiring the large collection of books and felt a little twinge of homesickness. His poor books back home no longer had anyone to care for them.

But his admiration of the library was cut short as one of the doors flew open and what looked like a pile of books with small stubby purple legs came out of what looked like a kitchen. The pile of books were grumbling something and made an abrupt turn to the left, leaving a clear view of a small chubby bipedal lizard.

“No, not a lizard. Spike the baby dragon.”

The dragon was busy mumbling to himself and hadn't noticed the human standing behind him watching as the little guy started putting books back in their right place.

Karon couldn't help but feel a little sad. By Twilights description of adult dragons Spike would one day grow up to become a true badass, but for the moment he just looked like a scaly colourful gnome with a mohawk.

Spike had climbed up a ladder and was about to shelve one of the books when Karon snorted at the thought of Spike with a gnome's beard. The baby dragon twisted around to see what had made the noise and froze with half his body stretched out over the floor, book still in hand; Well, claw.

“WAVE DAMN YOU!”

Karon awkwardly waved his right hand and smiled.

“Say hi!”

“Uh, hello there.”

The dragon didn't respond, instead it just looked even more surprised to find that Karon possessed the ability to speak.

The dragon must have found this bit of information incredibly difficult to process because he failed to notice how gravity began asserting itself and the ladder slowly began toppling over. He snapped out of his stupor as he noticed this and just as the ladder tipped over completely the dragon gave off a loud shout and fell to the floor together with the ladder and a few books landing on top of him with a crash. Karon took a few steps towards the dragon who was moaning when the door on the upper floor burst open and out came one, two, three, four different ponies that stopped and stared when they saw the scene on the floor below.

The dragon Spike buried beneath a pile of books and a ladder with just his tail and a claw visible and Karon standing just a few steps away with his hands outstretched as he was about to help him.

Or, he just realized, as if he had just thrown Spike into the bookcase.

He must have not been the only one to have come to the second conclusion because three of the ponies gasped as they looked at him.

But the fourth of the gang, a cyan coloured pegasus with a rainbow patterned mane and tail, took one look at the scene before she zipped down and placed herself between Karon and the dragon still recovering from the fall.

“Okay I don't know what you are but you have five second to explain yourself before you're in trouble. What did you do too Spike? Are you the one behind Twilights sleep. Did you come back here to spy on us. Huh did you? Are you some kind of evil spy!?”

Once more Karon couldn't help himself, okay he's weak, these damn ponies were just to easy too target for smart assery.

“Yeah I'm totally a spy. I came here to find out how the hell you manage to dye your mane and tail in a rainbow colour. So tell me, is it some kind of super secret recipe or do you just shove your head and butt in a box of crayons every morning and shake around?”

He could hear how two of the ponies upstairs gave off another loud gasp, though the pink one just giggled at what he'd said.

“I like that one,” was the only thing he had time to think before the pegasus in front of him puffed up her chest and more or less screamed in an offended voice.

“Oh that is it!”

She shot right at him with the speed of a cannonball and he barely barely had time to react before she flew into him. Thankfully the reflexes from his training kicked in and he had begun to duck before he even knew she was heading for him. So instead of catching him straight in the stomach and knocking the wind out of him, she pummelled into his chest and they both went down as he involuntarily grabbed her for support.

“Shit, she weighs next to nothing!”

For someone her size she should have least have broken a few of his ribs at that speed, instead he would probably just walk away with a huge bruise. But he didn't have time to consider that as the pony kept struggling as he kept her wings locked to her body with his two arms.

She was still on top of him and her balance was evenly placed as she stood on all fours while trying to shake him off. He was far too heavy compared to her for that tactic to work though, and as she lifted her left back leg to kick him, he dropped his hold of her wings and swept her left front leg to the side so she tipped over to her right.

She yelped in surprised as he grabbed her left front leg and raised it up as he positioned himself above her with his right knee pinning her down below the armpit. Ponies must have a similar nerve cluster as humans in that location because her face contorted in pain for a brief second before he pulled her hoof back to gain leverage against her.

But the damn thing folded backwards and he fell off her.

He turned his momentum into a backwards roll and came up in basic stance and looked at her legs. He didn't need to look carefully to see that her legs had two large set of joints close to each other allowing her to bend her legs both forwards and backwards. He really should have noticed that, he must be getting rusty after all that sitting and reading.

Thankfully the pegasus didn't press her advantage she just flew up above him and looked down with a mixed look of anger and, was it fear?

She looked about ready for another launch at him so before she did he held up one hand to stop her and said.

“I'm sorry I insulted you. I tend to say stupid things like that when I'm in a situation with a lot of tension. If you calm down I promise to answer all of your questions.”

She hesitated at this but still looked on the verge of assaulting him again. He took it that this must be the 'Rainbow Dash' Twilight had spoken of. If she was, she probably had taken his refusal to get his ass kicked by her as a personal challenge of some kind and he didn't have time for things like that at the moment.

He quickly stretched out his senses before she could decide what to do and made a scan of her. He was very surprised when he felt the magical emanations coming from her. He thought only unicorns used magic. But it became obvious that she wasn't really. No, it was the world itself that was responsible for it. He felt how the hidden streams of energy that surrounded them reacted to the pegasus' movement and he realized that their flying abilities wasn't a result of flapping their wings, not by itself at least.

No, it was more like she was a part of the air around her, like it had given her permission to fly without having to fight the physical forces other creatures would have to.

The world simply wanted her to be able to fly.

But she was unaware of this fact, he knew that. Twilight had mentioned nothing of it, and if she knew, he was sure she would have mentioned it at some point. And if Twilight didn't know, then the pegasi of this world definitely did not. He plunged deeper into the stream supporting her. It reacted to her will, so the speed and skill associated with a pegasus' flying was as much mental conviction and will as it was experience based skill.

With a smile and wave of his hand Karon temporarily cut the connection between the pegasus' mind and the surrounding energy streams. The pegasus wings stopped flapping and she promptly fell down with a crash to the floor. She looked back at her wings in surprise for a moment before turning back to Karon with eyes overflowing with shock and fear. He felt a little bad at first. Rainbow Dash, from Twilights stories, loved nothing more than flying.

“Don't be afraid, it's only temporarily. Your ability to fly should re-establish itself in a few minutes time. I only wanted you to know that I am not some weakling to be pushed around at whim Rainbow Dash.”

The relief from his words was obvious as she relaxed, but still appeared ready to continue the fight. Instead, she looked up at the other ponies uncertainly and down to the dragon that was climbing out of the pile of books.

“Spike would you please inform Rainbow Dash here that I did not attack you in any manner.”

The baby dragon looked at him with a skeptical face before shaking his head and rubbing his neck.

“Uh, yeah sorry about that. I was just kinda surprised that a ... whatever you are was inside the library. I've never seen anything like you before.” He turned and looked up at the ponies standing on the second floor listening to what he said.

“I kinda forgot that I was standing on the ladder and fell down. It's not his fault. Well kinda.” The dragon turned back to Karon and pointed to him with an odd look.

“You have a really creepy smile dude.”

“I have a creepy smile? A creepy smiled I have used on maybe half the population of Ponyville today? I'll worry about that later.”

“I'll try to remember that for future reference. Anyway, I am ready to answer any questions you might have now.”

The three ponies trotted down the stairs and lined up before him while Rainbow Dash looked to be trying to get her wings started again. Spike on the other hand, or claw, seemed to be unsure of where to go to so he simply remained where he was.

The first one to speak up was a white coloured unicorn with a purple mane that shone in the sunlight streaming in from the windows around them. Her white coat looked to gleam a little as well and she was the only one present that looked to be wearing make-up.

“Must be Rarity.” he thought before she began talking.

“Well as you can probably understand this was very unexpected. I don't mean to be rude but I would like to know first of all how it is that you know our names?”

Karon straightened his back a little and put on a look of aloof delight.

“Time to adapt and make some friends.”

He smiled with his mouth closed and hoped it wouldn't be as creepy as the one he'd used before.

“You my dear can be none other than lady Rarity. It is truly a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He fell down on one knee and put his left arm behind his back and used his right hand to lift her hoof to his lips and give her a tender kiss while never breaking eye contact.

He remained on his knee and looked into her widening eyes as he continued.

“My name is Karon and I humbly offer my assistance should you ever have need of it.”

She looked a little taken aback but made no move too remove her hoof from his gentle grip.

“You know who I am?”

“Oh yes,” he continued and tried to smile without actually smiling. It was hard.

“But seeing you with my own eyes convinces me that none of the descriptions I have heard ever did your beauty true justice.”

He was laying it on pretty thick but judging by her now sparkling eyes and wide smile it was definitely working.

“Oh what a gentlecolt, but you're just flattering me.” She actually put her hoof over her mouth and fluttered her eyelashes at him as she said it.

“Oh hell why not. It's obvious she wants more of it.”

“It is no such thing, the truth of my words are apparent for all to see.”

She gave him a wider smile and looked very pleased as she took a step back and he got up from his kneeling position.

“One down, three to go.”

He looked at the other ponies around the room, they looked a bit surprised at his shift in behaviour. Except for the baby dragon that stood behind them glaring daggers at Karon.

“Right, interspecies crush on the unicorn, should not forget that again.”

The orange earth pony with a cowboy hat on was the next one to speak.

“Ya have a way with words ah give you that. That won't work on me though, I want to know what you are and what you're doing here?”

And shifted his gaze so he was looking into the vibrant green eyes of the pony before responding.

“What I am is somewhat complicated and a thorough explanation would take more time than what is practical at the moment, but I will explain everything in better detail later. For now the short version will have to do.”

He cleared his throat before continuing and gave everyone a quick glance.

“The name of my particular species is human, and no it isn't the least bit strange that none of you have heard about us. I'm from a very distant place.”

“Actually ah've heard about humans before, but only in o'l campfire stories meant to scare little fillies.”

“Huh Twilight never mentioned that.”

“I was not aware of that. Well please disregard anything you have heard about humans from campfire stories. I doubt there is an accurate description of our species in them.”

“Or maybe it is perfectly accurate.”

“Anyway, as to the reason why I am here ... Well it is even more complicated. And I think it is best that you hear it from Twilight instead of me, so you can be sure it is the truth.”

“Twilight!” they all exclaimed in unison and looked surprised.

“What do ya know about Twilight hmmm?” Applejack said with a suspicious look at him.

“It's going to be tough winning her over.”

“As I said, complicated, but for the moment let's just say that I was helping Twilight out but it didn't go as planned which is why I am here now.” He looked at them all before continuing.

“I take it from your faces that she haven't woken up yet. I was afraid of that. If you allow me, I would like to examine her and see what exactly went wrong and if I can fix it.”

They looked at each other with varying degrees of skepticism, none of them moved out of the way.

“You can watch over me the entire time and make sure I don't do anything wrong to her.”

They still looked unconvinced but eventually Rarity went over to his side and addressed the rest of the ponies.

“I say we should give him a chance. So far nothing we have tried has worked at all, even princess Celestia couldn't wake her up, and if there is even the slightest chance that this will work I think we all owe it to Twilight to let him try.”

“Flattery always pays off in the end.”

Now that he had Rarity's backing, it looked to be decided and they gently moved aside and gave him a clear path to the stairs.

He looked down on Rarity and gave her a little nod and winked at her. She put a hoof over her mouth and giggled before giving him a wink back. Yay, he'd made another friend today.

He walked up the stairs while the three ponies and baby dragon followed behind. Ducking his head he walked trough the door and found himself in a room that looked like a smaller version of the library outside but with a platform on a second level.

He moved to a ladder and climbed up to the platform. There, he saw a large bed upon which a very familiar unicorn was sleeping, her chest and stomach gently rising with each slow breath. He walked up to her and gently placed a hand upon her forehead and tried to sense if she was present.

She was. Her mind had returned but she had yet to wake up for some reason. He began stroking his beard again, though it wasn't even half as satisfying as it used to be when it was longer.

“Do you know what is wrong with her?” The questions came from Rarity and she looked at Twilight with obvious concern, they all did.

“Yes, at first the problem was that she had attempted something she hadn't enough training or skill to pull off and her mind got stuck in ... another place. I found her and helped her to return here but there was an incident that interrupted us at the end and I had to abandon her the last way before something really bad happened. I had hoped she would have made it safely back into her body and she did.”

“What do you mean? Surely if she had returned to her ... body then she should have woken up.”

He nodded before continuing. He needed to find the right words for what he was about to do next or they would definitely take it the wrong way.

“She should have but she didn't. Her mind is back inside but she is unaccustomed to shifting her awareness between spheric realms. To put it in terms you might understand, she's back and sleeping like one normally does but her mind has forgotten she is sleeping and thinks it is in an awakened state.”

The ponies looked a little confused at his explanation. Not that he blamed them. He had been far worse at the beginning of his training.

The memories brought a sad smile to his lips.

“But it can easily be fixed. Her mental body is once more connected to her physical body to the degree that they share sensory perception.”

“And what does that mean exactly.” Rarity looked like she was beginning to understand but the others looked hopelessly confused.

“Clever girl, I'm beginning to like you.”

“It means that whatever her body feels, she feels, but she misinterprets it as something going on inside her dream. There is a simple way to use this to make her wake up.”

“How exactly?”

“We simply give her body a shock and it will send a strong enough alarm signal to her mind that she will wake up regardless of her mental state.”

“Whatever do yo-.”

She didn't have time to finish the sentence before Karon raised his hand high with an open palm and slapped Twilight's cheek as hard as he could.

The other ponies gave of various noises of protest but became quiet when they heard twilight beginning to sputter and cough as she rolled around on the bed. She became very still for a moment, and then she slowly opened her eyes.

“Those eyes...”

She looked confused and frightened and was unconsciously rubbing her cheek. All the other ponies and even the dragon gave off loud shouts of happiness and launched themselves at the unicorn and hugged every part of her they could get their hooves and claws on. Twilight was still reeling from the sudden wake up call and looked groggily at the merciless huggers that were pinning her down.

Her eyes settled on Karon standing at the side of the bed looking at her with a small smile on his lips. Her eyes, her beautiful eyes, widened in surprise at seeing him here before returning his smile and looking over at the chattering bundle of friends clinging to her.

“Girls, girls, it's not that I'm not happy to see you again but it's getting kinda hard to breath here.”

They all looked at her and voiced various apologies before letting go of her slowly, like they were afraid if they didn't hold her she would slip away from them once more.

“I can't tell you how happy I am too see all of you again. I have been through so much and I couldn't stop thinking about how worried you must have been.” She smiled gingerly at her friends, all of them with tears in their eyes from finally having their friend back with them.

Twilight turned her face towards Karon and looked at him silently for a few moments before saying.

“Thank you. I don't know what happened after you ... let go off me, but I know with certainty that without you I would never have made it back home.”

She said it with such sincerity that even Karon began feeling a sting in his eyes. He hastily wiped them with his sleeves and cleared his throat so he wouldn't choke up on the tears threatening to make themselves known.

“Anything for you Twilight.” She blushed a little and her smile widened.

“Okay, where did that come from?”

But the tender moment was interrupted as the pink pony began bouncing up and down and exclaimed in a loud chirpy voice.

“This is the bestest day ever! Twilight wakes up so now we can have a wake up party for her! And we also made a new friend so we can also have a welcome party!” She gave off a loud gasp as her eyes widened and she looked at the other ponies.

“Do you realize what this means?” No dragon, human or pony dared answer.

“A DOUBLE WAKE UP WELCOME PARTY!”

Karon smiled at the suggestion. He could certainly use a drink after all of this.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5: Settling in Estimated time remaining: 26 Hours, 14 Minutes