//------------------------------//
// Chapter Ten: Hatchlings 
// Story: A Distant Star 
// by Dr Atom Discharge 
//------------------------------//


A Distant Star
Chapter Ten: Hatchlings


Last time: They waited there for the pursuer to find them as the galloping slowly got louder. The pursuer slowed to a trot, approaching the clearing where Atom and Twilight laid together. A silhouette slowly formed along the treeline, and then the figure was illuminated as it stepped out into the light of Luna’s moon. 
“Atom… I knew I could find you here.”

Before them stood, clad in a tight, blue flight suit was a Wonderbolt;  Soarin. Twilight gasped and tried to back away but her hoof tinged and she grimaced. She knew that the Wonderbolts were the most elite of Equestria’s air force, under the direct command of Celestia herself. She started to shiver a little with fear; there was no way of getting away now, but stopped when Atom sighed in relief.  
“Twilight, this is Soarin, he’s a good friend of mine… kind of an inside contact.” Atom explained with a warm smile. He gently helped Twilight to her hooves, before shaking hooves with Soarin. “Soarin, it’s been too long old friend. Now, what’s the latest?” 

Soarin opened his mouth to speak, but a shout from across the forest got his attention. 
“Sir! I’ve found a camp! It’s still hot, can’t be more than half an hour old!” Both Atom and Soarin looked at each other and started to move. Atom quickly placed Twilight onto his back and dashed off with Soarin, running alongside each him.  
“Atom, we both know there is only one place to hide around here!”  Atom Glared at Soarin. 
“No, I don’t care how far we have to run, but that place is just too dangerous, I won’t chance it with Twilight.” Atom continued to glare at Soarin.

“Atom, that nest was cleared out years ago… I’m pretty sure. It’s that or get caught!” He looked seriously at Atom. “You were never one for endurance Atom… with a mare on your back there's no way you'll last all night.” His voice held a regretful tone.  Atom kept running silently for a few minutes then let out a long sigh. 
“I guess it’s our only hope..” Atom said as they both changed direction and headed towards a rocky formation. As they approached the formation a small opening became apparent in the moonlight, and both of the stallions slipped inside and slowed, moving through the twisted corridors of natural stone.

Soon, after the path had slopped down for a bit they came into a large open cavern. It was huge and dark. The three moved deeper in and set up a small fire, creating a minuscule pool of light, the edges of the cavern still very much shrouded in darkness. Twilight laid back as Atom tended to her hoof and Soarin kept the fire going, while cooking some food after their run. When Atom was done he gently pecked Twilight on the lips and helped her up. 

“Wow… it’s… so dark… where did you bring us?” Twilight asked the two. Soarin and Atom glanced at each other. 
“Well.. it’s an old cave system, supposedly abandoned for many years. But ponies are still hesitant about it. It’s not really the time to talk about that though… it is much too late, and we have travelled much too far today. We should rest. I’ll take the first wat-” Atom was cut off by Soarin. 
“Oh no you don’t! I’ll take first watch, you’ve had a much too exciting day. And I know what your sleeping habits, and thus I know you haven't slept for days anyway!” Atom rolled his eyes. 
“Fine Mummy, I’ll go to bed.” Atom said in a dry tone. 

Soarin gave a little grin. 
“Good boy, don’t forget to brush your teeth.” He gave his best housemare voice, prompting a deadpan look from Atom. Twilight giggled. 
“Don’t be like that Atom, at least you have somepony to snuggle up with.” Twilight winked at Atom before sticking her tongue out at Soarin, who gave the same deadpan look he had recently received. His response was a mumbled; “Touché.”

Atom grinned and laid down next to Twilight, kissing her gently before draping his foreleg over her and pulling her close. They fell asleep almost instantly, drifting into a very calm slumber. Soarin watched the camp all night, not having the heart to wake them. As the hours rifted by, the only sign that day was coming was that the entrance to the cavern glowed ever so slightly. The cavern itself stayed dark, seeming to absorb any light that entered into it, even the small circle of light from the fire was no more than a meter wide. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In The Morning~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, when it seemed to be as light as it was going to get inside the cavern, Soarin woke the two slumbering ponies. 
“Come on Guys, we had best get moving.” Soarin nudged the two gently. They both woke up and stretched. Atom got up and helped Twilight to her hooves. They looked around. 
“So… Does this place ever get light? We can’t even see where things are.” Atom said gazing into the darkness. 
“Well I can fix that!” Twilight said energetically, her horn glowing before releasing a wave of light that spread across the cavern.

No one blinked for a second, as they all got a glimpse of the enormous cavern, and at what was in it. Although the light only lasted a few seconds before fading, they all saw it. The walls and roof of the cavern were covered in odd shapes... something was definitely wrong. 
“Oh… shit….” Atom said. “I thought you said they’d cleared it!” Atom looked angrily at Soarin. 
“A-apparently not.” Was all Soarin could muster. 

Twilight was looking shocked and confused. 
“Er..W-what are the-” She stopped talking as the Cavern started to light back up, a low, eerie glow emanating from the odd shapes… the eggs. 
“Twilight…. They are wild Dragons… Wild Dragon eggs to be exact… one major difference between domesticated dragons, such as Spike, And wild dragons is-” A loud splintering sound echoed throughout the cavern, emanating from one of the eggs. “- Is… they will hatch when exposed to any kind of magic… We have to move… NOW!” He shouted causing the all three ponies to start sprinting further into the cave.

In retrospect running deeper into the cave may have been a bad idea, but at this point they were running mostly on instinct, as the sounds of cracking and shattering increased into a chaotic symphony. All three ran at full speed through the caverns, and then…. Silence… nothing but the sounds of their hooves. They all stopped and listened closely, and only their breaths could be heard. A single screech echoed throughout the caves, followed a moment later by the sounds of thousands of tiny claws skittering across rock, the sounds building together into a terrifying orchestra that filled the hearts of the three ponies with the cold stabbing knife of fear. They quickly got moving again, the sounds of galloping mixing into the wall of noise following behind them, steadily getting louder.

Atom’s horn glowed and a ball of fire formed at the tip of his horn, which he launched back into the tunnel by whipping his head around. The bright projectile illuminated the tunnel behind them, showing that, from about 5 metres behind them and back; every inch of the walls of the tunnel was covered in a writhing mass of scales. All three gasped and sped up, but they were starting to tire, Soarin most of all due to his lack of sleep.

The Fireball hit the mass and exploded, knocking several off the walls. Atom launched a second at the ceiling, causing part of it to collapse, knocking several more down, but then there was a shudder, and a large crack ran along the roof of the tunnel. It stretched ahead of them, and the cave started to fall apart, rocks dropping out of the ceiling forcing the three to move quickly to avoid them.

Then, suddenly, Soarin fell, rolling head over hooves and coming to a stop. Atom ground to a halt and started to run back for Soarin. A slab of rock fell into his path, blocking it completely. Atom kept going and rammed into the rock, and then pulled back and rammed again, trying to move it, or break through. 
“NO! NO! NO! I’LL GET TO YOU!” Atom screamed, even though there was no way Soarin could have heard. He continued ramming until he slid to the ground in despair.

Twilight galloped over and got him onto his hooves. 
“Atom! We have to get to safety!” Atom looked up at her, his eyes desperate, but when their gazed locked his eyes filled with fire and determination. 
“You're right. Soarin is strong, he’ll find a way out. We have to move before the Hatchlings find another way around.” The two started to gallop further down the tunnel, which had become a twisted maze of stone. 

Eventually they came out into another cavern, smaller than the first, but lighter. There was a crevice in the ceiling letting in streams of sunlight from the surface. They wandered further in, carefully though. While the sounds of the Hatchlings had long since faded, they still didn't know what they might find. Though with the light it was easy to see they were alone, the large cavern widened and then thinned again, leading into a tunnel just as high, but thinner than the main cavern. Just after the entrance into the tunnel it seemed to bend. 

They headed towards the tunnel, it being the only other exit to this cavern. But when they were half way across the chamber a thundering rumble sounded, and formed into a growl. A loud. throaty, though still obviously female, voice rang out across the cave from the tunnel ahead of them: 
“You trot into my nest, awaken and hurt my children, destroy my tunnels and stride into my home… How dare you… insolent little morsels…”

The ground shook and from the tunnel snaked a massive dragon, larger than either had ever seen. Both took a step back automatically, and turned to try to retreat to see the entryway swarming with Hatchlings that seemed to be leaking from the very walls. They crawled out of crevices and slowly started to move in towards them. Atom took a defensive stance, prepared to protect Twilight until the end.

“Oh… how precious, you think you can fight us off? No… you intruders shall become my children’s first meal.” The Nest Mother dragon said in a menacing tone, and the Hatchlings started to charge forwards, quickly covering the distance. Atom braced himself and then let out a shockwave knocking the first wave of the horde back, and casting spell after spell to keep them at bay. 

Over the sounds of the spells there was a sudden sound of rushing air as a blue blur blasted through the crevice in the roof and landed next to them. Soarin stood regally. 
“Alright guys, time to get out of here.” He said with a determined grin. But Atom replied with a chilling reality. 
“Since we walked in here they have been scaling the walls to reach that crevice… there is no way you can get us both up there before they cut us off… in short, you’re only getting one us out of here…” He was no more pleased to say that than anypony else was to hear it. He continued launching spells at the oncoming wall of razor sharp claws and ravenous maws.

Atom focused for a moment and a force field formed around them and he sighed. 
“Soarin, take Twilight to the Princess; I should never have put her in danger like this. Twilight, tell the Princess that I made you come, she’ll believe you.” He said solemnly, and then with a little smile he kissed Twilight gently. “I love you Twilight… I have since the moment I met you.”  Twilight was lightly crying. 
“I… I lo-“ Atom stopped her by placing a hoof on her mouth gently and smiling. 
“I know.” He said softly, and then turned to Soarin. “You’ll have to launch the moment I let the force field go. Make sure she is safe.” 

“NO! I won’t leave you Atom! I can’t! I..” Twilight kept protesting but Soarin managed to wrestle her onto his back. He looked back at Atom and spoke semi seriously. 
“You’d better make it out of this you jammy bastard. I’m ready.” Atom nodded. 
“Three… two… one… NOW!” The force field collapsed and the hatchlings pounced at the three, but before they were even close Soarin was halfway to the cavern roof.

The Nest Mother tried to swipe at Soarin but he was able to swerve out of the way. Twilight looked back to see the Hatchlings get closer and closer to Atom, but just before it seemed they would over run him Soarin and Twilight burst out into the full glare of the sunlight. They raced off at full speed away from the cavern over the rolling chaotic forest towards Canterlot. Twilight could barely see through the tears flooding her eyes and falling into the forest below…