"Now, if you don't believe me, wave your hoof through through the fog. Prove to me it's not real."
The earth pony gestured towards the small dry ice cloud that hovered next to him. On top of it sat a grinning colt who acted as if there was absolutely nothing unnatural about a non-pegasus sitting on top of a cloud.
"That trick's easy. Somepony just stuck a cloudwalking spell on him."
"Well in that case," the colt scooted over and patted a spot beside him, "why don't you come up and sit down next to me?"
The unicorn stallion snorted, but somepony in the crowd started egging him on. Soon the entire crowd was into it cheering for him to climb onto the hanging mist.
He gingerly placed a hoof on the cloud and pressed down. It swept straight through.
"Aw, come on, you can do better than that. You got to believe you can do it. Come on everypony. You believe he can do it?"
The crowed cheered again for him. He once again lifted his hoof. This time, as he pushed down, the cloud pushed back. He jerked his hoof back in shock, then placed it on the cloud again.
"That's the spirit, sir! Come on! Join me!"
The stallion jumped up onto the cloud and stepped around, then finally sat down as ponies in the crowd took pictures.
Obsidian, meanwhile, had to concentrate. As long as the pegasus magic remained concentrated at the stallions hooves and rear legs, the green glow would be hidden by the cloud. He had been careful so far, but one slip would ruin the illusion completely.
Fortunately, the stallion leapt off, laughing as he did. He turned to Hat Trick and smiled.
"I don't know how you did that one, but I loved it."
Hat Trick thanked him, then announced to the crowd. "Well if anypony wants to see us again, come wander the streets of Canterlot. You never know where you might find a new surprise."
With that, he and the colt disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
In the alley right next to the street, they met up with Feldspar again.
"Find anything, little one?"
"Not much. Just a bunch of old decorations and stuff. But I did see an cool old outhouse."
"Feldspar, what is cool about an outhouse?"
"It's weird, you know? Don't you wanna at least check it out?"
Hat Trick sighed and checked his map. "I'm sorry, young lady, but we need to look for those crystals. Any other day, I'd love to explore this city's general curiosities, but today we've got bigger priorities."
"But it's an outhouse!"
Obsidian was now thoroughly confused. "Why are you so obsessed with outhouses all of a sudden?"
"Obsidian. We're in Canterlot."
The other two stared at her.
"Almost entirely unicorn city... One of the richest cities in Equestria... Palace right over there... The one place where nopony would have any reason to build an outhouse..."
A lightbulb finally went off.
"It. Is. ON.
Rarity glared at her poorly dressed copy of herself and assumed an attack stance. Her copy levitated a storm of syringes and knives.
They all stepped over to the dilapidated wooden shed outside the edge of the city.
All three of them looked at each other, then one of them cautiously pushed open the door. The darkness inside was practically tangible, so Hat Trick took off his hat and lit up his horn. Obsidian did the same.
"Woah..."
"No way..."
"In all my years..."
They looked at each other again, then slowly stepped through the doorway.
"It's bigger on the inside."
Four mares charged into each other in the center of the room, spells formed at the tips of their horns.
Twilight leveled a shield spell around her head and charged forward like a battering ram. Daybreaker released a torrent of fire from her horn. Nightmare Moon vanished into mist, splitting into three Shadowbolts who fanned out and attacked from a different direction each.
Solaria stomped her hoof into the floor, releasing a wave of pure magic that rippled outwards. The ripple tripped Twilight, who crashed and slid across the floor behind Solaria. Daybreaker was forced to break off the attack to dodge the wave, lest her fire spell destroy more of the castle around her. That only left the Shadowbolts, who she repelled with a shield spell of her own.
"Enough of this! At what point will you realize it's hopeless? When will you just give up?"
Twilight had gotten up. She was already analyzing the situation. This was just like some of those books she had read on magical combat theory.
"You may be my daughters, but that won't stop me from reducing you to dust if I have to. Do you want to end up like your..."
She was interrupted by a sharp prolonged whinny of pain... her own.
She turned her head around to see the still-burning Twilight, with fanged mouth clamped firmly onto her rear leg.
Nightmare Moon immediately rammed Solaria from the side, knocking her to the floor, and Daybreaker fired a spell of deep but troubled sleep.
The three stood, panting heavily, and slowly, they returned to normal. Celestia's and Twilights flames diminished, Luna's shadows dissipated, and finally, there was peace again.
"I shall carry her to the dungeons," Luna volunteered. "You two help the others. I doubt they would admit defeat yet."
"Okay, what now?"
The edges of the room were lined with troughs filled with a strange black powder. Some objects sat in the back corner: a box of small gems, come camping gear, a few seat cushions, and a bowl of rotten lemons. Across the back wall was a series of shelves with jars and cans on it. They moved deeper into the darkness. As they did, Obsidian got an idea. He stepped back to the door and closed it, making the darkness nearly complete.
"Hat Trick, you mind dousing your horn?"
Hat Trick gave a confused glance to Obsidian, then extinguished the light. Obsidian extinguished his as well, allowing the darkness to envelop him. Slowly, all three ponies' eyes adjusted, until Feldspar squeaked.
"There! I see it!"
In the corner was the faintest glimmer of light. They lit their horns back up and moved in. It was a wooden box, shoved into the corner next to several identical ones.
Hat Trick pulled away the empties and lifted the lid. In the box was four individual compartments, One of which had a book and a few additional supplies in it. Two were simply empty. The remaining one was packed with hay, and in the center was a single, large, glowing white crystal.
Hat Trick gingerly removed one and put it into the hidden pouch inside his saddlebags.
"Think this is it?" They both nodded. "Good. We'll need to..."
A thump landed outside.
"Open up in the name of Queen Solaria."
"Horseapples... Obsidian, I need you to turn your saddlebags inside-out."
"What? Why?"
"Just do it."
Obsidian obliged and was rewarded by a pair of pegasus-style saddlebags.
"How'd you do that?"
"Magic. Look, there's no point in hiding your wings anymore. As soon as that door opens, you two need to take off as fast as you can. Whether you run or fly is up to you, just choose whichever is faster."
"What about you?"
"I'll be right behind you."
"This is the Her Majesty's Royal Day Guard. Open up or we will use force."
"What about the crystal?"
"I'll handle it."
Hat Trick lowered his horn and blew a hole through the wall beside him.
"GO!"