We rounded a corner in the tunnel, and Blaze was immediately stopped by two large soldiers. They looked menacingly as they were definitely a head taller than any of us, which did little to calm my growing unease with the whole situation.
"Halt. What is this? Where do these Hatchlings come from?" the one standing to the left of a closed door demanded.
Blaze set her fiery eyes upon him and took a defensive stance. "Don't tell me you don't know," she huffed. "It was enough that I had to take care of the one with the bad leg until her cast could be removed, and these other two managed to pierce each others' sides with their horns while fighting. In my ring, no less, so I had to babysit them as well."
"I, uh," the soldier stumbled, looking over at the one on the right. "Do you know anything about damaged Hatchlings?"
"I heard about the one with the bad leg. We had been expecting her to be brought here earlier," the other soldier stated. "Are they all done with their training?"
"Of course not," Blaze grumbled. "I was told to bring them here whether they were done or not. None of them can fly, I don't trust the two bandaged ones to be able to save themselves in a fight, and forget their magic practice, but I was told our Queen wants to gather up all Hatchlings here and to bring them anyway. I can't very well go in against our Queen's desires, can I?"
"No," the soldiers both agreed.
"These are the last ones, then?" the soldier on the right asked the one on the left, who gave a nod.
"The other batches are already inside. You Hatchlings should join them or you won't get any cake," he suggested, then turned to push the boulder out of the way.
I winced lightly at that, but fell in line behind Starlight as Pinkie was already through the door.
"Good luck," Blaze grumbled as I passed her by. "You Hatchlings are going to need it."
The large boulder was pushed back in place as Blaze complained to the soldiers about our limited training, and as it fell closed I realized it did a good job of closing off all the noise from outside.
I walked up to join Pinkie and Starlight and followed their glances around; we were standing on something of a landing or raised platform near the entrance to what was clearly a large cavernous room. It was larger than the common room, and from our raised vantage point we could see batches and batches of Hatchlings on the floor below, mingling amongst themselves.
I realized there were no resin veins in this room, and what little light there was came from clear glass vials stuffed with glow worms, placed around the cavern on large stalagmites which reached up halfway to the ceiling in some cases.
There were no resting alcoves hewn out in the ceiling, nor found on the ground floor; any resting Hatchling there had seemed to just lain their heads down where they stood and fallen unconscious. The only way the area was sectioned off was by the pillars shedding light around.
"No way to feed ourselves here," I whispered to Starlight. "Any Hatchling in here is left to starve. Considering the invasion plans, I can reason why; the more hunger we feel, the more ferocious we will attack the ponies in our attempts to feed on them."
"Yes," Starlight agreed. "There are far more here than I thought was possible. This invasion plan might actually stand a chance with this big an army."
"Untrained soldiers. Any one of Canterlot's guards can take on two or three of us," I sighed, to which Starlight took a step away from me.
"You're not one of them. You're here to help us get to Chrysalis, remember?" she stated quickly, and I gave her a nod while reaching up with my right hoof to touch the green gemstone hanging from my neck.
"Yes, I remember. I am a Changeling though, Starlight. These are my family members down there," I explained. "I am one of them, but I will do what I can to keep them from realizing what we're planning to do until you see your chance."
"There's a stage there," Pinkie Pie pointed out. "I hope we're getting a good show!"
I peered past her at another raised platform which had more stalagmites set around it. A thought hit me and I chuckled realizing the place was set up like a festival grounds. The focus was clearly on the stage, with the large empty space before it serving only to offer a place for the crowd to gather.
"We should try to get as close as we can to that stage," I suggested. "If my hunch is correct, our Queen will want to use it to address her new Hatchling army."
Starlight gave a thoughtful nod to that. "We should not stand right in front of it. Off to the side would be a better place. Do you see that corner there?"
I narrowed my eyes as I tried to see what she was pointing at, and noticed the glow worms in one of the vials had let their lights grow more dim. Either they were resting, or they had died. It meant there was an area with slightly more shadow than any other place around the stage, just off to the left of it.
I was just about to agree with Starlight when I spotted a movement in the shadows and shook my head instead. "No, that's a trap. Anyone like us who means to instigate something will be drawn to it. There's someone out there lying in wait, see?"
Starlight stretched her neck out a little, narrowing her eyes, but then nodded slowly. "You're right, Pearl."
"Opposite that, though," I started, pointing my left hoof past her to the right side of the stage. "It's well-lit, but there's no indication anyone is paying it much mind. Most of the Hatchlings are staying in front of the stage. If we head in that direction and just stay near the edge of the crowd, we can head for it once the "show" starts."
"And we can say it's because of our wounds that we want to stay away from the masses, yes," Starlight agreed. "Should we aim to go straight across the room or stick to the walls, you think?"
I glanced over at Pinkie and shook my head. "If we stick to the walls it's going to take us too long. Pinkie can't do that."
"I can't do what?" Pinkie Pie wondered, turning her attention to us.
"Another problem is how we can't signal Blaze or the others. They're going to set off the fireworks in only a few hours, drawing the guards away," I reminded Starlight Glimmer.
"Straight through is going to be a problem; half of them are asleep, but I think I see a path," she offered back, and turned to walk to the stairs leading down from our vantage point. "We have to hurry before the path closes on us."
"Think you can follow Starlight, Pinkie? I'll stay behind you two. You're easy to spot with your bandages," I suggested, to which Pinkie grinned happily.
"I can do that!" the eager Earthpony replied, hurrying after Starlight.
I followed behind and started my own descent just as Starlight reached the main floor. She started weaving her way through the Hatchlings gathered there, and nodded her head whenever they offered a greeting to her.
We were quickly starting to get noticed by the others around, what with the bandaged two in front of me, and my own pearl necklace was only a small attention grab in comparison.
"So that's why we couldn't start yet," I heard whisper, and gave an apologetic smirk in their direction.
"We should hurry to the stage, sisters," I called forward to Starlight to motion her to pick up speed. "We don't want to get stuck in the crowds what with your wounds."
My call had the desired effect, as the whispers spread the news of two wounded Hatchlings trying to get to a safe place near the stage spread through the crowds, and the path we were trying to take opened up ahead of us to let us through.
Starlight gave me a confused look back, but I grinned at her. "Festival etiquette; give the weak and weary the space they need."
"Right on," a brother to my right agreed, and offered up his right hoof for a hoofbump.
"Ah, my leg is still weak," I offered, lifting my right foreleg as if it was weaker than it was and carefully bumping my hoof to his.
"Well, little sister, if you need any help getting to the stage, me and my mates here'll get you there," he offered with a great doofus smile. "Gonna be a righteous show now you're here."
"Sorry for holding up the show, brother, but I think we can get there on our own," I chuckled. "We'll try to get to our places fast so this thing can start."
"You better; I don't know how long I've been here, but I'm hungry as all hell!" a voice from further in the crowd called out, and another voice said something along a similar vein although it was drowned out by a rise of voices throughout the room.
I hurried up past Pinkie and poked my head against Starlight. "Run before this becomes a warzone," I called out to her through the sudden cacophony of shouting and chanting voices, and the three of us ran through the corridor provided by the few who still understood we were supposedly hurt and needed to get to the safety near the stage.
I heard grunting behind me as two groups of Hatchlings decided they suddenly did not like the way each was staring at the other, but then looked up surprised as the earlier brother ran up beside me, nudging others out of my way.
"We got your back, sister," he suggested with that same doofy grin, while he and his mates formed a protective barrier around us and punched those who got in our way back into the crowd.
With their help, the three of us made it to the edge of the crowd, somewhat in front, and slightly to the right, of the stage, and I turned to thank them.
The group of six or seven Hatchlings had formed a wall like I had seen security do at festivals back home, keeping the suddenly fighting crowds at bay, and the Hatchling with the doofus grin was in the middle of it.
"Hey, thanks; we probably would have been stuck in that mess there if not for you," I told him while Pinkie and Starlight checked their bandages to make sure they were still in place.
"No problemo, little sister," he called back while planting his right forehoof in another brother's face. "Crowd's got mean from hunger, ya know? Settle down there, mate."
"Still, we appreciate it. Hope the show starts soon," I suggested, then ushered Starlight and Pinkie on. "We'll head for the side there."
"See ya later," he called after me, and I had to shake my head at it.
"He's probably been at festivals more so than me," I offered up to Starlight, who just stared at me while we made our way to the side of the stage.
"Or me; I have been to a few parties, but nothing like this," she breathed. "It has my heart racing."
"Will that affect your spells?" I whispered to her, but she shook her head.
"It takes more than that to dispell my magic," Starlight chuckled, and I realized she trusted her magic more than she did her ability to be a constructive member of pony society...