Sleight and Sazh were making their way to the Changelings' village, walking through a small valley.
"So, great one, what is it like for you, back home?" Sazh asked. "Are you lauded and celebrated as the marvelous wizard you are?"
"Uh... sure!" Sleight nodded. "I can barely go anywhere without getting mobbed by my legions of adoring fans!"
"As I'm sure befits a Unicorn of such powerful magical blood such as yourself." Sazh smiled.
"Hey, quick question." Sleight declared. "What's with the voice?"
"Excuse me?" Sazh asked.
"Well, I thought you Changelings talked all buzzy, like." Sleight noted. "But you're talking just like a pony. What gives?"
"The buzzing is something of an old dialect." Sazh declared. "Like you ponies and your ancient Equestrian. A lot of us have dispensed with it, but some of the older and prouder Changelings choose to stick with it."
"Ah, I see." Sleight smiled.
"Getting back to the matter at hoof." Sazh smiled. "May I have a demonstration of your magic, great one?"
"Not just yet." Sleight said hastily. "Let's wait until I've gotten an audience with your queen. Wouldn't want her to miss the show, right?"
"Fair point. I bet when the queen sees you, she's going to be real-"
Sazh suddenly stopped dead.
"Sash?" Sleight asked. "Hello?"
Sazh suddenly leapt into a bush.
"Quickly, great one!" He called. "Follow me!"
"What? Why?!" Sleight asked.
"I can't explain now! Just trust me!" Sazh whispered desperately.
Noting the fear in his voice, Sleight made to follow, but then stopped when he saw ponies approaching. Delighted to see another equine, he went over to approach them.
"Hello, fellow ponies!" He waved.
Sazh went slack-jawed and whispered fiercely "What is he doing?!"
The leader of the trio of Earth Ponies, a light blue stallion with a blonde mane, and a stopwatch Cutie Mark, stepped forward.
"Well, well." He declared, noting Sleight's hat and waistcoat. "What's an f-f-f-f-fancy-dressed pony like you doing all the way out here?"
"Being hopelessly lost." Sleight declared. "The name is Sleight Gambit, though I also go by the stage name 'The Mystifying and Extraordinary Sleight of Hooves'. And you are?"
"Name's Twitch." The stallion smiled. He then pointed out the two stallions with him; A white stallion with a black mane, and a black stallion with a white mane. Their Cutie Marks were both spears, but they faced in opposite directions. "These are Slice and Dice."
"A pleasure, I'm sure." Sleight bowed.
The two stallions nodded their heads stiffly.
"Stage name, huh?" Twitch mused. "You some k-kind of performer?"
"A stage macician, actually." Sleight declared. "I was part of a travelling circus before I wound up here. We just stopped off in Baltimare."
"Oh, r-really?" Twitch smiled. "I have family in Baltimare. Great place."
"It's a nice place to visit, all right." Sleight nodded. "Now, if you don't mind my asking, what might you be doing here?"
"...S-scouting." Twitch said simply.
"Scouting?" Sleight asked. "Like talent scouts? Because I am quite a decent magician. Let me show you some card tricks."
Twitch held up his hoof, "Oh no, we're not that k-kind of-"
A snapping sound emerged from the bush; Sazh had most likely stood on a twig, and the bug let out a silent curse. Slice's eyes narrowed.
"There's something in that bush." He growled.
"Nothing we should be concerned about, I'm sure." Sleight said nonchalantly.
Quick as a flash, Slice jumped over to the bush, and pulled out a struggling Sazh.
"What have we here?" He sneered.
"Looks like a big ol' bug." Dice sniggered.
"Let... me... go!" Sazh struggled.
"Zip it, roach." Slice growled. "Were you spyin' on us, or something?"
"That ain't polite." Dice grinned. "Now we're gonna have ta punish ya!"
"Excellent idea, Dice." Twitch chuckled darkly.
"Hey, now!" Sleight stepped forward. "There's no need to hurt the little fellow."
"What do you c-c-c-care?" Twitch snorted. "This runt's part of an inferior species. He belongs under our hooves, squashed like the vermin he is."
"I care because he is an innocent, harmless creature!" Sleight declared.
"Innocent?!" Twitch repeated in exasperation. "W-what?! H-have you been living under a f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-" His stuttering seem to prevent him from saying the next word, leaving him in a loop.
"Sir, you're doin' it again." Slice groaned.
Twitch stopped, and take a deep breath, continuing in a calm tone, "Have you been living under a rock? Because evidently, you do not recall the incident of the Canterlot Wedding…"
"You mean prince Shining and Princess Cadance's wedding?! That happened over twenty years ago-" Sleight countered.
"And let's not forget what happened in Baltimare and Las Pegasus two years before…" Twitch cut him off. "And what of the Crystal Empire after that?"
"Oh come on, be reasonable! I wasn't even at the Empire back then!" Sazh defended.
"Sash's right-" Sleight sputtered.
"It's Sazh." Sazh corrected.
"Sazh-" Sleight was about to continue.
"You can't even get his name right?" Slice piped up.
"You're defending this pest, but you can't remember his name. Kinda pathetic, ain't it?" Dice sneered.
"Look, the point is, Sazh isn't hurting anypony!" Sleight groaned.
"No… but why give him a chance? To quote my great uncle Smith, the changelings are a disease… and we are the cure."
"Seriously?" Slice asked.
"Okay, I might had e-embellished a little, but it doesn't matter." Twitch sighed. "All that does matter is the Changelings are nothing more than ants that need to be stomped under our hooves!"
"No!" Sleight barked, quite stupefied by their attitude towards a changeling. Sure, he heard of the bad things they had done, but surely, somepony like Sazh didn't deserve this! "I could care less what it is you have against Changelings, but I am not going to just stand by while you hurt one of them!"
Slice and Dice, as well as Twitch, all glared darkly at the magician.
"Are we gonna have a p-p-problem, Sleight?" Twitch asked, his left eye twitching. "Because I-I don't like problems. They make me mad. And w-when I am m-mad, I tend to do things that I am not p-proud of… and you do not want that. S-slice, D-dice…"
Slice and Dice let go of the changeling as they approached the magician menacingly.
'These ponies must be the evil Sazh was referring to.' Sleight thought. 'Well, let's see how they handle me!'
"Stop." Sleight hold up his hoof. Slice and Dice did as such, in confusion.
"What?" Slice and Dice asked in unison.
Sleight then pulled out a deck from one of his coat's pockets.
"Pick a card." He spread the deck out in his hoof. "Any card... in fact, why not all of them?"
Using his magic, Sleight the cards at them like a blizzard. The cards, coming in at a high speed, began nicking at them, each one hurting like a bee sting.
"Hey!" Twitch yelped. "Kn-knock it off!"
Reaching into his pockets, Sleight pulled out some exploding dice. He often used them as effects in his shows, but believed they could be of use here. He flung them at the hooves of the thugs, creating a flash-bang that sent them reeling.
"Gah! M-my eyes!" Slice cried.
"It burns!" Dice moaned.
Being blinded, and suffering a couple of scratches from the flying cards, Twitch did the only reasonable thing.
"R-r-r-r-retreat!" Twitch yelped.
The three Earth Ponies ran away at top speed.
"That's what you get for taking on Sleight the Mystifying and Extraordinary!" Sleight taunted them.
Once the assailants had fled, Sleight turned to Sazh.
"You okay?" He asked.
"Oh, thank you!" Sazh beamed. "Thank you! You are every bit the hero I knew you were!"
Sleight felt a pang of guilt. He was still lying to the poor Changeling, after all. But he managed to suppress it.
'Don't falter now, Sleight.' He told himself. 'You're so close to becoming a king and getting a beautiful mare. The little guy thinks you're a hero, so let him keep thinking that. Just keep up the act for a little while longer...'
Meanwhile, Twitch and his thugs finally stopped running.
"Who was that guy?!" Slice whimpered.
"You don't think that the Changelings got some powerful pony to fight for them, do you?!" Dice gulped.
"I dunno. But that prophecy the old vermin told might have water to it after all!" Slice shuddered. "What do we do, Twitch?!"
Twitch, being the most frazzled from this, just let out a nervous sigh.
"I don't know… but I do know this… the b-b-b-boss is so not going to be happy about this..." He gulped, his eye twitching again.