"What is wrong with you outlanders?", questioned Faris, "You've never seen a show being perfomed by illusions?"

"Illusions?", asked Rainbow, "Is that all they were? Man, that freaked me out. Oh wait, I wasn't scared, I was just uuuuhhhhh...shaking because it's fun"

"Of course you were", said Faris sarcastically, "Who would like to go and see how this show tonight was being performed?"

Twilight, Spike and Griffy decided to go and check it out while their five friends would stay back and enjoy the cushions and cuizine.

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"I do not believe that you eight outlanders thought that was all real", said Faris as he lead the three to the other end of the tent, "It was part of the performance clearly"

He lead the three toward the elders with the giant round turbans.

"These are our masters of illusion", said Faris, "It was their skill you saw"

One of the elderly female Kiangs, the one who wore the most elaborate female headdress, gazed at the Pony, Dragon and Griffin with shrewed eyes. "So we performed and you believed", she said softly, in perfect Ponytalk.

The three, unsure of what exactly happened, said nothing.

"Show them, Durrah", Faris said.

"Watch carefully", Durrah told Twilight, Spike and Griffy. Then she tugged on an almost invisible thread hanging from the wall behind her with her teeth. A large panel of pale silk dropped from the canopy ceiling and rippled lightly in the breeze.

Durrah nodded to one of the other turbaned elders (a male Baboon specifically), and the fabric was lit from behind by a "magic lantern". This was a large box elaborately carved with the faces of Animals, their mouths and eyes wide open. Inside the Animals' eyes and mouths were glass lenses, lit from within by candles. Glass plates with images of the story painted on them were then slid into the magic lantern. The image on the first plate was the silhouette of Haazina that had begun the performance and the second and third plates wer those of King Kairlamah and his two sons.

A Gemsbok illusionist opened the stopper of a delicate glass vessel with his teeth, and the scent of honey filled the air.

"And the Fenrirs and the other Beasts?", asked the Twilight, Spike and Griffy, not quite convinced. After all, they had leapt through the tent. They hadn't been images on a screen.

Durrah pulled another thread with her teeth. This time a trapdoor in the canopy ceiling opened, and a huge, very realistic Fenrir puppet dropped down and began bounding through the tent. One of the other Kiang illusionists pulled another thread with its teeth, and a second trapdoor opened, releasing a few fantastical-looking puppets resembling Creatures from mythical tales.

Twilight, Spike and Griffy watched, amazed. The puppets looked so real. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity noticed the illusions' secrets being revealed too.

"I somehow knew that they were illusions", said Rarity.

But one thing still troubled Twilight mostly. "And what about that explosion of colorful light?", she asked.

"Come", said one of the Baboon illusionists in Ponytalk, "Let's go outside into the night glow and I'll show you, it's kind of dangerous to do it indoors more than once"

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Twilight and the Baboon walked out the flap-like door of tent to find that same grumpy Camel sound asleep.

"Camels are heavy sleepers", said the Baboon, "So he shall not hear the sparks exploding"

The Baboon dug a tiny hole in the sand and found some really tiny and colorful pebbles.

"Now we don't really have an official name for these mineral", said the Primate, "But I like to call these Spark Pebbles"

He then held the Spark Pebbles in one hand, crunched them all together by making a fist and finally throwing them into the air in which they exploded into blue and red sparks of light.

"Is that magic?", said Twilight, intrigued, "Like what my race of Pony, Unicorn Pony, can do?"

"No", replied the Monkey, "It is clearly science"

Twilight and the Baboon walked back into the tent.

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As soon as Twilight got back to her seven friends, she could not help but notice that Rarity was absent.

"Where'd she go this time?", asked Twilight, a little annoyed.

"She said something about going behind the changing curtains", said Griffy, "My understanding is that the locals use whatever's behind that curtain to get prepared for non-illusion shows"

Suddenly, Rarity came out of the curtained room, wearing a female Tarko Desert dancer outfit. Her four ankles had shiny bracelets around each one, a jade-made medalio necklace around her neck and a veil around most of her face except her eyes.

"What do you all think?", Rarity asked her friends, all 7 of them giving wide-eyed expressions, "I'm already getting a feel for Tarko Desert culture"

"My Rarity", said Twilight, "That outfit does look stunning"

"Ah think ya'll have over done yerself", said Applejack.

"You just look like the same old Rarity", said Rainbow Dash.

"Wow!", exclaimed Pinkie Pie, "It's really pretty!"

"It does look quite nice", said Fluttershy softly.

"Beautiful!", said Spike, his pupils in the shape of hearts and his tongue hanging out.

Griffy just gave himself a facepalm, knowing that Rarity is still going over the top. He, in addition, bonked Spike's noggin to stop himfrom fantasizing about Rarity.

Faris appeared to hang out with the 8 "outlanders", only to be halted by the sight of Rarity in a female Tarko Desert outfit.

"I see you have a real taste for our culture, miss Rarity", said the Gemsbok with an "embaressed to be in public" face.

To Be Continued