Near the bottom of the tunnels was a twenty foot deep pit with steeper-than-vertical walls that rounded out near the bottom like a giant Erlenmeyer flask.
All three ponies looked over the edge.
A small tunnel led out from the bottom of the pit. The only other way out was to go back the way they came.
"Now what?"
Kind Face paled. "I forgot about this part."
After a couple moments, the faint sound of hoofsteps echoed out of the tunnel. All three of them ducked down, peeking over the ledge. The echos became clearer, and a shaggy blue stallion in a bowler hat stepped out of the tunnel and peeked around.
Kind Face jumped up almost immediately.
"Hat Trick? Is that you?"
The stallion looked up to where she was standing.
"Kind Face? What are you doing back here?"
"Long story. Mind helping us down?"
"Sure thing." He turned head back to the tunnel and gave a sharp whistle. "Hey Clumsy, you'll never guess who's here!"
There was some shuffling, then a light green pegasus emerged from the shadows.
"Kind Face?"
"Yup."
She flew up to the ledge and embraced her. "It's been so long." She looked up. "Who are these?"
"They're my friends."
"Friends?" She hugged Kind Face again. "I knew it. I knew somepony outside the Circle would call you a friend."
She gestured to the other two. "Come, join us. Any friend of hers is a friend of ours."
Obsidian and Feldspar glided down while Kind Face rode down on Clumsy's back. As they all fluttered to a landing, Hat Trick spoke up again.
"Well, welcome to..." He looked at the newcomers, then stammered and clumsily tried to bow. Clumsy looked back and forth between him and the others, then followed suit.
"What are you doing?" Obsidian and Feldspar looked at Kind Face, who was just as confused as they were. She looked at the couple, then back at her other friends. Finally, she realized what was going on.
"It's your horn."
"My..." Obsidian crossed his eyes to look up at his horn, then facehooved upon realizing that he had just flown down from the ledge.
"Guys stop that, I'm not... seriously, I'm not even an alicorn, stop that."
As the couple got back up, Kind Face turned back to Obsidian. "Sorry about that. News from the outside comes a bit slow down here sometimes, especially since the incident."
Feldspar tilted her head. "What incident?"
Hat Trick looked sad for a moment. "It was quite some time ago, but the short form of a long story is that the town became paranoid after it was all over. Most of us left or hid to avoid being thrown out.
"Speaking of which," he turned to Kind Face, "as glad as I am to see you again, you still returned too soon. The air here is still too hostile, especially for a young filly like yourself."
Kind Face nodded. "Yeah. Kinda guessed..."
Hat Trick nodded, then turned to the others. "Well, as you've heard, my name's Hat Trick." He extended a hoof to Feldspar, but just before she could shake it, he twirled the hoof, producing a fan of cards. She was instantly mesmerized.
"Go ahead pick one."
She did, then, at his bidding, memorized it and returned it to the fan. He waved his hooves, weaving the deck through an impressive display of cardistry before popping a card out of the middle of the deck, catching it in his other hoof, and turning it to her.
"Is this your card?"
She shook her head. He looked at the card, vaguely disappointed, then popped another card out of the deck.
"Is this your card?"
"Nope."
"Hmmmmm..." He held his hoof to his chin, then reached behind him and pulled something out of his saddlebags.
"Is this your tape recorder?"
"WHAT?" Obsidian checked his saddlebags. Hat Trick, meanwhile, tossed the recorder to Feldspar.
"Oh don't worry. It's just a recorder." He smiled and reached back into his bags. "It's not like I took your camera, or your bits, or your schoolbooks..."
Each item he named, he tossed back to Obsidian. As Obsidian frantically searched his saddlebags for any other missing items, Feldspar excitedly held up the recorder.
"Hey Obsidian, check it out!"
Inside the cassette slot was her card.
Kind Face, meanwhile, snickered and poked Hat Trick. "Alright, I think he's had enough." She turned to Obsidian and Feldspar. "That is one thing to watch for. He can pick your pockets at twenty paces."
"How?"
Hat Trick grinned, then lifted his bowler hat, revealing a horn.
Clumsy extended a hoof to the others. "Clumsyfeather, but you can call me Clumsy if you want. If you need a pratfall, a fake fight, or anything else with a bit more risk than usual, I'm your stuntmare." As they shook it, she continued. "Come on. Let's go inside."
The tunnel was short and straight, and it soon opened up into a series of small caverns that had been set up for use as rooms. Other ponies were gathered in the rooms, milling about or doing various chores. Hat Trick and Clumsy introduced all of them as they passed by.
"This is Rafiki, a fellow expert in sleight of hoof." The zebra shook hooves with the others.
"Charmed."
"Silver Wing here is one of the best living statues in Equestria."
The pegasus said, and did, absolutely nothing in response.
"And over there's Silent Knight, all the way from Prance."
The earth pony stepped forward and reached out to shake hooves, only to be blocked by an invisible wall. He then spent several minutes trying to find a way around it.
"And Punny Name over there is our resident ventriloquist."
The milk carton next to the unicorn mare politely greeted them.
When most of the ponies had been introduced, the trio set off to explore the caves. Kind Face already knew the layout, so she mostly visited with old friends. As she did, the other two found a side tunnel that looked different from the others.
They stepped into the small cavern to find a large stone column in the center of the room and a few glowing pods hanging near the corner.
"Are those things..?"
"Oh, hey. This, uh, this is my room."
They turned around to see a blue earth pony stepping into the room behind them.
"Name's Daryl." He held out a hoof. "Quick change artist."
Obsidian gave a quizzical look. "Quick change?"
"I'm a costume performer who plays multiple characters in the same show."
"Oh, like Kind Face and her aunt?"
"You know Kind Face?" He smiled as they both nodded. "We grew up together! She's practically my sister."
"Really?"
"Yeah! Hey, come to think of it, you want to see the fastest change in Equestria?"
"Sure."
Daryl grinned, then walked around the column in the center of the room. As he did, a yellow unicorn stepped around the other side.
"Wow!"
"Yeah that's nice! You even did it without any saddlebags."
"Wait," Daryl looked at them, "saddlebags?"
"Yeah," Obsidian continued, "Kind Face always keeps bottles of fur dye and spare horns in her bags, but you did that without any place to... store...... them..........."
He looked at Daryl, then at the pod hanging from the wall. "Ohhh no..."
Daryl looked at the pods, then at Obsidian and Feldspar, who were backing away from him. Noticing that he was between them and the exit, he grinned, then disappeared in a flash of fire.
A black creature emerged from the flames.
"Welcome to the hive!" he rasped.
Obsidian and Feldspar screamed.
That was when a voice called out through the entrance.
"Daryl! Quit scaring my friends!"
He changed back into an earth pony and dropped the rasp as Kind Face stepped into the room. "Sorry sis."
Kind Face just shook her head.
"Obsidian, Feldspar, this is my honorary brother, Daryl the changeling."