Four pairs of blue Changeling eyes, and one pair of blue Unicorn eyes set upon Pinkie Pie after the Earthpony had expressed her genuine interest in visiting the nearby Changeling Hive, even if it should have been clear that it would be as our prisoner.
Considering the chains I had seen on Oval's Unicorn guise in the training room a few days ago, and the emaciated look on each of the "captured ponies", as well as knowing the nature of my new family from both the show and having lived with them for a little while, I could not wrap my head around Pinkie thinking it would be fun to come with us.
It was Breeze who finally broke the silence. Sitting up and looking at us with a deep frown, she scraped her throat and spoke her thoughts. "Actually, I think there's a chance this could work out for all of us."
The attention of all others shifted to Breeze with a snap, except for Pinkie Pie who was looking at me instead, and Breeze held up a hoof to ward off the questioning gazes.
"Bear with me here; You ponies are here to solve a friendship problem, right?" she started, and there was a nod from both ponies. "And we're dealing with a Queen who is apparently losing her mind at the moment."
"You can't mean what I think you are talking about, can you?" Oval wondered, pushing up from the ground to stare at Breeze. Not wanting to strain my neck as I looked from left to right between them, I pushed up to get at the same eyeheight as them.
"Well, I don't know if Moonshine agrees with me, but I think we're all on edge thanks to the rumours about the invasion," Breeze continued. "It's easy to let small things become big ones as a result. And I want to apologize for interrupting her magic lesson with Pearl. I thought it was for the best to help out."
The Moonshine statue was unmoved by Breeze's words.
"I mean, we can solve this between us as long as we don't go flinging magic about again," Breeze chuckled. "It's just a misunderstanding, really. But the bigger issue is our Queen."
Oval groaned. "No, Breeze. Just no. There's no way these ponies can stop our Queen from doing whatever it is she wants to do."
"Think about it; when's the last time she laid eggs?" Breeze asked of Oval directly. "She has been stewing over the failed invasion of Canterlot almost as much as Blazey has."
"I'm not stewing about anything," Blaze threw back with a snort.
"Thing is; our Queen needs someone to talk to," Breeze decided. "and she can't talk to any of us, because her ego won't let her. We're her children, and none of us are potential queens ourselves. She has no equal in the family."
I stared at her and realized she was right.
"I think you're on to something there, Breeze," I agreed. "I told you guys that this is all a fictional realm back home. Something to watch and fantasize over. But there are hundreds of fanfics about how Chrysalis feels hurt and alone. And from what I was taught in these past few days, the rest of the Hive has the same problem thanks to our nature. We just don't fit in. There's a lot of pain buried beneath the surface there."
"Hmm-mm," Pinkie Pie hummed with a nod, finally taking her eyes off me to look around at the rest again.
"I can sympathize with not fitting in," Starlight muttered pensively. "And I've done some bad things myself as a result. But nothing like preparing an invasion..."
"Trust me, I know better than the others here how you feel," I told her. "I know all about your little village where you took the cutiemarks off of other ponies and stored them in a cutiemark safe. I know all about how you fought Twilight Sparkle through time, and how Twilight took you in as her student. I know about your history with your best friend who gained his cutiemark before you and how you met him again in the Crystal Empire."
Starlight Glimmer looked back in utter shock and incomprehension! "H...how?"
"Because I'm not from here," I sighed. "I was sent to this world along with others like me. If it wasn't for me breaking a leg during my training, I would've been stuck in some underground cavern somewhere and would be preparing to invade Equestria right now."
"You didn't break your leg," Blaze corrected me. "It was sprained if anything."
"In any case; back on Earth we have this show which details about the lives of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, including Pinkie Pie," I motioned my left forehoof in the Earthpony's direction. "I know how Pinkie grew up on a rock farm, her relationship with her sister Maud Pie, and all the adventures surrounding them."
"But, most important to the situation right now," I continued; "I think Starlight is the only one here who can understand the pain Queen Chrysalis must feel; the loneliness. Not being understood by anyone around her."
Starlight lowered her ears and looked down.
"Breeze's idea actually has merit, is what I mean," I suggested. "I mean, it works that way in the show. It's probably the best shot we have at staving off the invasion. We need to get these ponies to Queen Chrysalis so our Queen can get some friends... cause... there's honestly nothing else I can think of that just our little group can do against her plans."
"Well, we could let them go so they can mobilize the pony defenses," Oval muttered.
"That won't work; they're here because of a friendship problem," I retorted. "They have to fix that friendship problem. And there's one really big friendship problem staring us right in the face; Queen Chrysalis."
"She's not even at the Outpost," Blaze threw back. "She's over at the main Hive."
"No, she's here," Breeze corrected her. "I've felt her presence for the past few days now."
"In that case she must be close to where the Hatchlings are being kept," Oval pondered. "There's no way we can get these ponies anywhere near there. There are too many soldiers in that area, and it's off-limits for us."
"You got me, don't you?" I realized. "I'm a Hatchling, and I'm supposed to be there with the other Hatchlings. I'm sure I can get to those chambers."
"But the ponies can't," Oval sighed.
Breeze snorted strongly. "That's the one problem I can't figure out a solution for."
"Excuse me," Starlight Glimmer started, "but what's a Hatchling?"
I held up my right forehoof to her. "I am. Notice how I have solid legs, still? I was transformed into a Changeling when I was taken into this world. I don't feel the hunger yet that my sisters are feeling."
"That's the only difference between you?" Starlight wondered, and I saw a spark in her eyes.
"Er, yeah," Blaze answered in mild confusion.
"I might know a spell that could transform Pinkie and myself to look like you, but the holes would have been a major problem with that," Starlight offered up. "If all we needed to do was look like you without having holes in our legs and other bodyparts, so as to pose as Hatchlings ourselves..."
Breeze stood up and gave a quick nod. "That could work! The guards would just see you as Hatchlings; they don't have the ability to sense magic as strongly as we do. They may just look straight past that and just shove you in with the rest!"
"Wait, we're going to do what now?" Oval wondered, looking confused.
"Oh shit, this may actually work," I breathed out, realizing the depth of what it was we were planning.
"It's going to blow up in our faces," Blaze worried. "We can't get to those chambers ourselves. We can't be of any help once you and Pearl go in that deep."
"If there's a chance I can make a new friend, I have to take it," Pinkie Pie stated with grim determination. "There's nothing worse than a pony without friends!"
"Technically our Queen is not a pony," Oval coughed uneasily.
"That doesn't matter!" Pinkie threw back, speeding over to Oval and grabbing a hold of her, shaking her about. "It's FRIENDSHIP we're talking about! FRIENDSHIP!!!"
Oval's head wobbled as she got physically assaulted by an overly-excited Pinkie Pie, but even so managed to nod in response.
"Alright! Alright! Friendship! I get it! Stop shaking me!" Oval decried.
A deep sigh came from the direction of the statue, who was slowly turning into a proper unicorn again as Starlight's spell wore off. It only lasted a moment before Moonshine dropped that guise, and she narrowed her eyes at me for just a brief moment.
"Okay, I'm game," she mumbled weakly, moving her jaw a bit. "As long as I don't get turned to stone again."
The pearl which was still resting on the ground up to now, and had somehow escaped being trampled on by Pinkie as she had shot forward to assault Oval, lifted up into the air and floated over to Moonshine.
Breeze's horn was lit with our green Changeling magic as she placed the pearl down in front of Moonshine. "I'm sorry for having caused you distress, sister. Please take the pearl Pearl made as a sign of goodwill?"
Moonshine looked at the green gemstone and took it from Breeze with her own magic, but then closed her eyes with a sigh. Her horn glowed brighter for a moment, and a simple leather lace appeared near the gemstone. It threaded itself through the pearl, then drifted toward me.
I sat still as I could as the necklace was fastened around my neck by Moonshine, her eyes opening again to look at what she was doing. It sat loose around my neck, with the green resin marble resting against my chest, and I relaxed a bit once Moonshine's horn stopped glowing and I felt it settle.
"Pearl should keep it. You were right; the invasion plans are weighing heavily on all of us. I overreacted," Moonshine spoke softly. "We should give these ponies a crash course on how to behave within the outpost before I return the room back to where it belongs."