With our team growing by the minute now Deadbolt and Crook were both seemingly on our side of things, I gave a weary glance toward the big double doors we had entered through.
"So it's fun and all that we're standing here reminiscing," I told Crook and Burst especially, "but those guards we sent off are just going to find an empty cart up there instead of the promised pies. How long do we have until they return to find us all roaming around with sir Deadbolt?"
"Oh, I wouldn't worry none," Deadbolt grumbled darkly. "My good for nothing son will see I'm not in my office and will take it as his cue to get some extra sleep in. I doubt they are interested in what goes on in here, and the doors have magical soundproofing on it. We could scream our heads off in here and nopony out there would be the wiser."
"Wouldn't that be a security risk in case of a breakout?" I pointed out, having seen my fair share of films back home.
"There's thick layers of mountain all around us and only one exit," Deadbolt reminded me. "Where would anypony break out to?"
"You know, that might work in our favour," Burst considered. "If we get a digging team started we might be able to circumvent all of the guards up there."
"I forget you don't know a lot about rock, older brother," Crook sighed. "Consider me an expert after dating a filly who wouldn't stop talking about the stuff."
"What are you getting at, little brother?" Burst wondered with a raised eyebrow.
"Given I've spent some time here looking at my cell walls, I've noticed they are speckled with hard bits I think she called a conundrum or something," Crook knew. "That's pretty tough to get through, even with magic."
"Corundum," Camellia corrected him. "Pinkie Pie grew up on a rock farm and I met her sister Maud Pie once. She can talk about rocks like none other. It does stick with you."
"Maud, Maud..." Crook tasted. "That could be her name, yes. Talks in a constant monotone unless you get her excited about sediment?"
"I don't want to consider what you did or did not do with Maud Pie," I sighed out. "The important thing is whether it would keep us from digging our way out of this place?"
Burst stood pensively, obviously thinking it over. "Depending on who all got thrown in here, we might still be able to do it. We'll just have to keep them focused. If we dig upward at an angle we should find weaker rock up above, right?"
"That's safe to assume," Meadowsweet agreed. "There's a layer of clay under the top soil before you get down to the rock. The soil in this region is rich in minerals, so there might be some softer crystals buried in the mountainside."
"It's like I'm hearing my Maud talking again," Crook sighed longingly. "What's your name, princess? Are you doing anything after we're done here?"
Meadowsweet took a hesitant step back, shaking her head. "I'm not interested, sorry."
"Can we get back on track please?" Camellia asked out loud. "I can help to dig with my magic if it is needed."
"Have any of you considered that I'm standing right here and you're talking about digging holes in my jail without so much as a 'may we please'?" Deadbolt protested. "I have half a mind to throw you in separate cells just for the audacity of bringing it up!"
I turned back for the elder pony and bowed my head down toward him in acknowledgement of his position.
"I'm sorry, sir Deadbolt. We have been trying to come up with a plan to get through this without casualties and have gotten into a habit of discussing all possibilities," I recognized. "Especially while princess Twilight Sparkle was with us earlier; she has a sharp mind."
"She always had a sharp mind," Meadowsweet recalled of her friend. "Just to be clear; I'm not on board with digging ourselves out of here unless as a last resort option; as the palace groundskeeper I shouldn't be advocating damaging a part of it."
"So give us a viable alternative then," Burst huffed. "I don't know how many of our family are locked down here, but we're already up to three of us if you just consider Crook, Pearl and me."
"Getting past the guards just outside and then out of the palace grounds might be doable if we could transform ourselves," she considered. "We could pose as a group of guards if that's the route we want to take, but that's dependent on the princesses turning the barrier off."
"I hear a 'but'," Camellia pointed out.
"But," Burst continued, "how many of our family are down here? Your guards patrol in small groups, so we might need to send a couple of groups up from here. The more of us going up, the higher the chance somepony up there gets wise and starts investigating."
"One-hundred and thirty-four," Deadbolt stated calmly. "There are six more of you in second, the rest are in the group cells in third."
"What are the names of the ones in second?" Oval had to ask.
"I don't know, I did not get a chance to ask them before they attacked me. That's why they're in second and not first," the old pony responded pointedly.
"One of them is Tizzy," Crook knew. "I could hear her voice yesterday."
"Tiz? Oh, just who we needed to not be here," Oval sighed out with a painful expression. "She's probably already in half a panic just by being here, forget her going feral."
"I don't get it," I had to admit. "Is Tizzy her batch name or what?"
"No, it's her common name," Oval replied to my question. "She's part of an S-batch; Slide, Speck, Stripe, and Swat if I remember correctly."
Meadowsweet flicked her right ear at hearing all the names being listed like that but did not comment on it.
"Maybe we should meet this Tizzy first so we can calm her down, if she's such a nervous wreck?" I pondered.
"Hah, good luck trying to calm her down without pony meds or a stiff drink," OVal scoffed. "But yes, can we please get moving?"
"I was waiting for you all to stop talking," Deadbolt pointed out flatly. "Follow me."
The old pony set in motion toward the central hallway, not waiting for us to fall in step with him.
"I don't know which of the cells has this Tizzy, but I'll take you from cell to cell until we find her if that's what it takes," he decided.
"It's much appreciated, sir," Camellia spoke, walking up to his left side.
Meadowsweet was quick to follow, her ears and tail lowering slightly as she did.
I followed after her, considering how she had been acting. She had been getting more and more skittish, especially after Crook tried to make advances on her.
Given how she had voiced her fears at Camellia's house, I pondered if she was falling back into that now she realised she was going to have to deal with more of us Changelings.
It could be a problem for us if she couldn't control her emotions.
Crook wandered up to my right side. "How are you doing, sister? Let me officially introduce myself; Name's Crook, as you might have heard. Did I catch that your name was Pearl? So you're from a P-batch then?"
"I'm not from here, actually. I'm a convert," I half-joked about my situation like I had joined a different religion back home.
"Run that by me again?" Crook queried, not getting the reference.
"When's the last time you've been to the hive to the East of here?" I wondered. "I thought everybody was tasked to help us there to prepare for the new invasion?"
"Pardon? New invasion? What's this nonsense?" my elder brother sputtered as if the information was new to him. "Is that why we're in this mess right now?"
"No, no new invasion. It's not happening. We prevented that," Oval called back. "Less said about that the better. Look, Pearl's from a different world. She was transformed a few months back and has been adopted into the same clutch as Blaze, Breeze, and me."
"You're kidding?" Crook gasped out in amazement. "Since when are we transforming ponies from other worlds?"
"Ah, see, technically you still aren't transforming ponies from a different world, since all of the 'hatchlings' like me were formerly human," I pointed out to him.
The other Changeling's face drew a blank. "You main? What?"
"Human," I spoke again. "H-u-m-a-n. We walk on our hind legs, have no tails, and generally think we're better than everybody else."
"Sounds like a lovely bunch," brother decided with some measure of sarcasm to his voice, only to break into a smile immediately after. "So, new blood, how are you liking our world then? Given you're from a different one?"
"Honestly, so far? I've had to deal with almost being sent here as part of an invasion force, had to conspire with ponies and Changelings both to get it through to our Queen's head that that was a very bad idea, and then thought I was done with all the hubbub only to arrive in Canterlot and get into this new mess..." I recited. "I would have had a much calmer life back home."
"Ah, but calmer is not always as interesting," Crook pointed out with a wink. "Would you rather stare at grass growing than be involved in something as grandiose as this? It's certainly calmer, but this kind of situation is what stories and songs are made out of."
"Do you really think they'd write songs about the valiant Changelings who tried to infiltrate Canterlot's castle, little brother?" Oval threw back from behind us. "You know how ponies are."
"I resent that statement," Camellia called out in turn.
"I'm sorry, but you know there aren't any positive songs about us Changelings. It's all warnings and doom and gloom," Oval listed. "It's tough on us constantly being portrayed as the evil ones, you know?"
"I'm catching only half of the conversation there, young 'uns, but I'm starting to get the notion of what your Pearl there tried to tell me the more I think about it," Deadlock added to the conversation. "I must be going senile or something, but it just doesn't sound fair if all you're trying to do is live your lives."
"Well, our Queen has made a few bad decisions in the past, and I'm sure we're not fully without blame. I had to learn to live peacefully with you ponyfolk myself, and the same holds true for others in our family. But we all make mistakes in our youth, no?" Burst spoke to Deadlock.
"Right you are... lass? Lad? I'm sorry, that part is still confusing," our jailor admitted as he continued to lead the way deeper down into jail. "I'm sure not free of the burden of mistakes myself. Lost a few friends over it through the years."
"See, that's how I've been dealing with this as well; just simplify things down to basic facts for yourself until it makes sense," I spoke. "We all have our good sides and bad sides, but for some of us the bad is all others want to see."
I paused a moment and watched for a response in Meadowsweet's ears or tail positioning. She was clearly listening but kept quiet for now.
"There is as much good and bad in us Changelings as there is among you ponyfolk," I continued to orate "We should all get a chance to learn from our mistakes and better ourselves."
"That's honestly way too much thinking for me, little sister. I tend to leave that sort of thing to Burst over there," Crook scoffed. "It's better to not think too much about those things and just enjoy life, good company, and a good book or two."
"That's also a way to do it, I guess," I agreed. "Maybe not the wisest way to do it, but it is definitely a way."
"Why do I feel like you're making fun of me, sister of mine?" Crook chuckled. "I haven't said anything about the limp you show, have I? What happened to your foreleg?"
"Ah, she fell down the stairs in my home," Camellia called back. "My fault, really; I attacked her."
Crook missed a step, then caught back up again while Oval burst out laughing.
"Yeah, and that's after she had just healed back up from breaking the same leg during a fight with another hatchling," she revealed. "I'm sure Matron is going to have some words with her about it if we ever talk with her about it."
"Sprained, not broken. I would have felt it if it was a break," I protested, noting Deadbolt and Camellia turned around the corner to the left as soon as we got to the second section of the jail.
Meadowsweet was right behind them, but took the turn at a slower pace and looked back at me with a quizzical look on her face. It was clear she was dealing with some heavy thoughts about us, or me personally, but I thought it better to leave it up to her to bring them up in conversation.
"Now, this cell has one of you in it, but I'm not sure if this is that Tizzy you were talking about," Deadbolt spoke, and the three of us Changelings rushed to catch up to find him at the first jailcell on the left side.
He motioned to Camellia and Meadowsweet.
"You ladies might want to take a step to the side in case this one gets rowdy. Perhaps you two lads want to step in to deal with your friend in here in case they make trouble? Saves me the energy," Deadbolt suggested to Burst and Crook.
"I'll keep to this side then," I offered up, giving a weak smile toward Camellia and Meadowsweet taking their positions on the other side of the door.
With Burst and Crook standing beside him, Deadbolt put the key to the lock and opened the cell door...
