"You're a changeling?!"
"Umm..." Daryl looked at his hoof, then back up at them. "Yeah..."
Obsidian stared at them. "And she's your sister...?"
"Well kinda, we did grow up together since we were foals."
He turned to Kind Face.
"And you knew he was a changeling the whole time?"
Kind Face nodded while Daryl answered. "Yeah. There used to be more of us here, but the ponies who found us started running us off after the incident. They even ran off a few non-'ling members 'cause they hung out with us. That's why the whole Circle of Street Artists went from being a tourist attraction for the city to hiding in the abandoned mines down here."
Feldspar approached him slowly. "What about the whole 'eating love' thing?"
"Back when we went out, we all got plenty of that from the audience. I still get some from the rest of the Circle... Annnnnd I might have snuck out a few times dressed as a stray dog to get a bit extra."
Obsidian stepped closer, now more curious than cautious. "And the invasion?"
Daryl stuck out his tongue. "All I can say to that is anypony who can't manage a resource that the other ponies give away for free isn't fit to lead the hive, regardless of how much royal jelly she's had.
"Besides, we started the Circle of Street Artists just to avoid situations like that. Why invade and steal love when you can put on a show and let ponies give it to you?"
"What about afterwards? I thought all the changelings got thrown out of Canterlot by that shield spell."
He winced at that memory. "We did. Most of us got flung clear past the Everfree. I was down here, so I was flattened against that wall for several minutes instead." The others all winced as he gestured to the wall in question.
"I'm not sure what happened to the rest of them. This used to be one of the biggest hives in Equestria. Now there's more non-'ling members than there are changelings, and you've already met most of our members."
These dungeons are so musty. They could use some freshening up. Maybe some new tapestries as well, and perhaps nice wall sconces...
Yes, Rarity was definitely going to talk with Celestia and Luna about their decor when this was all over.
She lit up her horn and opened yet another door, only to find an empty room again. Strangely, her gem finding spell kept pulling her in the same direction every time, but all the doors in that direction only led to empty rooms. The crystal must have been farther into the dungeons than she'd first thought.
She tried the spell again. Once again, it pulled her the same direction. She looked down the hallway to see how far she had traveled.
If I've come this far and it's still the same direction, that crystal would have to be almost a mile from here. It's almost as if it's...
Just as she was realizing the implications, she felt a needle plunge into her side. Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks, and she opened her mouth, only to be silenced by a voice behind her.
"Oh, try to relax darling, you know how stress ages ponies. You look like you could use some rest."
Her world faded to black.
"Get some rest. It's too late to do anything."
"But we want to help!"
Hat Trick smiled grimly. That girl was just like her mother was at that age.
"I'm glad you want to help, but you won't do much good if you're not ready to go."
"But..."
"Sorry, but no. The patrols out there increased when this 'Solaria' first arrived, and the whole town is under a curfew now anyway. If you try to sneak out now, you'll have even more ponies than usual looking for you, and you'll be too tired to dodge them, even with your disguises. We're heading out in the morning."
The three trudged out of the assembly room. Kind Face headed off to her old room, while Obsidian and Feldspar followed behind, curious about what life was like in these caves.
It turned out, she used to share Daryl's room. He was already there in his native form, opening up one of the pods that hung from the ceiling. They watched as he climbed inside and sealed it up again.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm sleeping. What's it look like I'm doing?"
"That's what those are for? I thought they were for imprisoning ponies."
Daryl looked at them, confused. "Why would we use them for that? These are sleeping bags, not prisons." He put a hoof on his chin and thought a moment- "I suppose some 'ling could decide to glue 'em shut with somepony inside, but only a really sick 'ling would want to do something like that."
He gestured to one of the other pods. "You can try it out if you want. They're pretty comfortable when you get used to them."
Obsidian looked decidedly uncomfortable. "I think I'll pass. Hat Trick and Clumsy said we could stay with them."
The upside-down changeling shrugged. "Suit yourself."
As Obsidian and Feldspar left, Kind Face climbed into a pod of her own.
"Good night, Daryl."
"Good night, Kind."
Just as Twilight had finished making her checklist of likely locations for the artifact, something shocked her from behind. Her leg muscles spasmed, causing her to collapse to the ground.
The unicorn guard slipped a magic suppression ring onto her horn.
"You got her."
"Yes." The purple unicorn looked down at Twilight. "It's just like I told you. There is only one place you can shoot an advanced magic user that's guaranteed to work..."
She magically picked up the sleeping student.
"...the back."
The next morning, everypony was in the assembly room.
"Okay. From what these three have said, we're looking for a white crystal with a faint green glow. For all we know, they could have hidden them in the castle itself, which means we'll have to hope that the Princesses or the Element Bearers find it. The other possibility is that they hid it somewhere in the city. That's where we come in. If we find it, we have to get it to the Princesses or the Bearers. Only they will know for certain what to do."
Everypony nodded, then set out on their routes. The plan was simple enough. They would travel the city performing their old routines, but they had organized their paths in such a way as to ensure that they would be able to see the entire city. They also made sure that every team had at least one set of Hat Trick's magic saddlebags so that they could hide anything they found without significant risk.
Obsidian and Feldspar headed off with Hat Trick, with Obsidian wearing a pair of modified saddlebags to hide his wings again, along with a top hat and a pair of Kind Face's red contacts. Besides helping him hide from the security patrols, hiding his wings would turn his native pegasus magic into street magic, and hiding his horn would make it look less likely that he was merely a unicorn casting cloudwalking spells on himself. At Kind Face's insistence, he also dyed his fur green and painted on a fake cutie mark of five cards and a wand.
Feldspar was the plant of the team, hiding among the crowds to simultaneously act along with the magicians and keep an eye out for wandering patrols or suspicious glowing crystals. At her own insistence, she had blue fur and a red mane, with matching red wings and a cutie mark of her own face blowing a raspberry.
As they headed out through the abandoned mine entrance and split off onto their routes, Daryl sneaked back into the mines and headed towards the tunnel that led to the dungeons under the castle. As he made it to the room under the ledge, a voice called from behind him.
"Daryl. What are you doing?"
He turned around to see Kind Face.
"I think we're trusting too much that everything's fine just because everypony important is up there. Something else is going on, and I don't like it."
"So what are you doing then?"
"I'm an infiltrator drone. I'm doing exactly what I do best" -he disappeared in a flash of fire, reemerging as a royal pegasus guard- "infiltrating."
He flew to the top of the ledge and started his way into the labyrinth. After he passed a few turns, the sound of hoofsteps echoed behind him. Turning around, he saw another pegasus guard approach.
"Not without me."