The past two days have all been a blur. I’m tired and my head feels numb, but I’m so happy at the same time! I didn’t even have the time to write into you, and I’m super sorry and I promise you’re now going to get the whole story.

You see, the day after we got to see miss Gem and everyone else, a bunch of mean-looking guards led by miss Prominence arrived in the morning to first take me to miss Gem for breakfast, and then to take me into the castle. I mean, they just looked all mad and scary, but in the end they even let me hug the Crystal Heart when I asked politely and said a proper please. A weird thing happened when I did so, though. I felt…

I felt as if I was back in the hive with boss and miss One and Five, Six, Seven, the whole family. As if Ten was still with us, as if Nine was standing guard just outside the throne room door, and as if Thirteen had just made miss One smile.

Everything felt as if things are going to be just right, and then everything turned pink and exploded. The guards and crystal ponies went all shiny and sparkly, and miss Prominence kept just staring at me while they kept looking at each other. I felt great, though, and ready to tackle anything they had for me.

Ooooh, booksy, how wrong I was. My head hurt like that time when I played tag with miss One and tried to hide by transforming into Five, and then I only remember her hoof getting closer and waking up in boss’ apartment in Brauheim castle.

Got a little distracted there. Sorry, booksy, my head’s still not alright. You see, princess Candy and prince Shiny acknowledged that boss really wants to help, and we started translating all those blueprints I brought. I knew most of the mechanical stuff, but then came the weird chemistry, and dwarven understanding of the world of those tiny things we can’t see turned out to be completely different than that of ponies. Fortunately, boss is super smart, and he prepared me even for this eventuality and bundled a tooon of information into my little fragment of the hive mind. The rough part was me having to access all that over and over, and then not just translate the marks and formulas on the blueprints, but also explain those to the pony alchemists from the bottom up.

My body kinda gave up halfway through. I could know all those technical things, or how to control my legs, but not both at the same time. Miss Prominence had to carry me on her back around the castle. She was a bit uncomfortable. You know, like a pony - soft and her sleek coat kept tickling my nose, plus she’s suuuuuper warm. Lying on boss’ or miss One’s back is so much nicer. Or even miss Cryo, but that’s like having one of those boss-sized beds just for myself, and that’s just lonely. Plus, when I can’t wrap my legs around someone, I tend to roll over the side, and miss Cryo is really tall. It doesn’t hurt too much, but I don’t like waking up bouncing.

I’m rambling again, sorry, but I’m nearly done. The guards had to carry me back to the prison in the evening, because prince Shiny didn’t want me inside the castle, and ended up arguing with princess Candy, and not in the teasing and fun way like boss and miss One do, but more in that really bad way like when boss and miss One argued about Thirteen. I didn’t want to cause trouble, so I told them I didn’t mind sleeping in prison. I mean, the solitary cells are super comfy anyway. Dark, with proper cold floor and a bed to sleep under, and sooo quiet. If you had ears, you would appreciate it too. All those smart ponies in the castle just kept talking, shouting over each other, and asking endless questions.

I like the peace and quiet of this place, so I fell asleep immediately after miss Prominence put me in the bed. I wanted to write a bit and then roll over on the floor, but I just shut down like a mining drill. I think I drooled a bit on you too, and I woke up with a broken pencil in my nostril. On the bright side, now I have two pencils, even though they’re a bit smaller.

I wonder, can I write with both at the same thimglephtnekdfs...-

Nope.

Well, booksy, that’s all. Today was pretty much the same, and I really need to go under the bed now to get proper rest.

It’s morning, and most of the inmates have already left the showers to get ready for breakfast. Meanwhile, Three pulls out a toothbrush out of a cuphol- leg hole and his eyelids droop even before he misses his mouth and smears the soap across his cheek.

“Ooof, even the cold water isn’t helping,” he shakes his head and looks up straight into the nozzle of a shower, opening his soapy mouth, “Glrghghghgh.”

The surface of changeling eyes is protected by a rougher membrane, and something as simple as water causes no threat whatsoever. In fact, the gentle massage of the droplets does wonders to at least temporarily ease Three’s constant headache.

What does it do, though, is prevent him from seeing a unicorn walk through the empty common showers and stop behind him. When Three blinks the water away and soaps up his toothbrush for a second attempt, the unicorn clears his throat, making Three spin around on his butt with a simple kick of his hind leg.

“Mhm-mmhhmh-mh?” Three’s eyes go wide when he recognizes the unicorn as one of the unicorn brotherhood.

“You’re brushing your teeth with soap and you’re still alive...” comments the unicorn.

“Grgrglrlglrg,” Three gathers a full mouth of water from the shower and then spits it out, “Hey, I think I made it clear the last time that I’d rather be friends than have problems with you guys,” he spreads his forelegs, “I hug really well, I’m told. Come on, try!”

“No,” says the unicorn coldly, making Three sigh in disappointment and reinforce his chitin, “although I’m not here to cause trouble.”

“Really?” Three perks up instantly, “Neat! How can I help you then?”

“We think we kicked our friendship off on the wrong hoof, chan- Three, and the unicorn brotherhood is willing to accept your friendship in exchange for a small favor. What’s in it for you is safety during any time outside in the courtyard and we’ll also help you in case of any trouble inside. We can also smuggle in some basic stuff if you want - cigarettes, alcohol, you know.”

“That’s great!” Three beams, “I mean, not the smuggling, and I can’t get drunk unless I shapeshift my insides to met- meta- bo- to get drunk… but if I can help you mend your ways and have us all be happier, I’m all for it.”

“Yeah,” the unicorn snickers, “Look, we noticed the guards coming for you and bringing you back without too much hassle. I don’t know w-”

“Oh yeah, that’s because I’m helping them make food farms that don’t need sunlight. Boss gave ponies the right blueprints, but they’re in the wrong language, and I’m translating and explaining stuff.”

“Right then. What we need from you is to get a letter out of this prison. Simple, right?”

“Wait, isn’t there a mailbox for us prisoners?” Three tilts his head, “Why don’t you tell a warden? They just look mean, but most of them are alright.”

“Yeeeees,” the unicorn looks away, “but you see, the post office is busy and the wardens are having trouble already since there’s no sun and everypony is panicking, so they don’t have time for us prisoners. Some of us haven’t sent a message to our families and friends for a long time.”

“Awww, that’s so sad. Sure I’ll help a friend,” Three nods, which makes the unicorn present a singular, small, sealed envelope, “Just one letter from all of you?”

“It’s… from the unicorn brotherhood to a friend outside who knows our relatives and so on. He’ll read the letter and know to whom pass which message.”

Three rolls the envelope up and puts it into a leg hole which seals over it.

“Don’t worry,” he gives the unicorn a little exhausted but determined smile, “I’ll make sure your families know that you’re safe and okay in here. I know how it feels to be far from home.”

“Perfect,” the unicorn smirks, “Then you can count on us to make your stay here a lot easier. That, of course, includes your changeling lady as well.”

“See? You guys can play nice.”

“Heh, I guess we’re open to seeing the error of our ways,” the unicorn turns around, “Just don’t forget to send it today, and don’t let the guards see you.”

“Sure thing,” Three nods.

“Aaaah-hah!”

The pony-sized punching bag finds itself in the tight and incomplete embrace of four small, black legs with built-in cupholders. Some squeezing later, the legs let go, and Three kicks himself off, does a backflip, fails the landing completely, and goes splat on his barrel. When his eyes uncross, he shakes his head and gives the bag a ferocious grin, “I’ll get you next time!”

He jumps up few times, cracks his neck, primes his hind legs for another attempt, jump like a bullet-

“I thought we had a deal, changeling,” says the unicorn from this morning.

-and Three slams his face straight into the bag, completely forgetting to hug, and bounces off.

“Ugghh...” he gets back up few seconds later, this time still a bit woozy. Eventually, he stops swaying from side to side and focuses on the unicorn, “Oh hi! I already did it. They let me out of the castle early, because they needed more time to build what we’ve already managed to translate. In some two weeks, you ponies might even get real foo-”

“Yeah yeah,” the unicorn waves his foreleg, “Are you sure no guards saw you send the letter?”

“Don’t worry. I’m no infiltrator but I can still do a trick or two.”

“Perfect,” he smirks, “I suppose your stay here will be almost just like a vacation now. That goes for your changeling friend too. Last time I saw her she was being harassed by some other mares. If you see here, tell her she can hang out with us and won’t receive anything harsher than some looks and maybe a whistle here and there.”

“Awesome. Yay friends!” Three raises a hoof for a high one which the unicorn reluctantly takes.

“Definitely,” he turns around when Three scratches his head with a momentary puzzled expression.

“Hey,” says the changeling, “You’re all unicorn brothers, right? Like a big family.”

“A brotherhood doesn’t mean literal brothers,” the unicorn rolls his eyes, “But only unicorns can join.”

“And me?”

“You’re… a temporary ally.”

“And can you all do magic?”

“Yes. In fact, most of us are here for some kind of… magical misunderstanding.”

“Hmmm...” Three pouts, “Do you know how to summon a succubus? Or how to send someone into Tartarus?”

“Yeeees,” agrees the unicorn after some hesitation, “Why would you want either of that, though? Can’t you changelings get as much tail as you want? And I’m pretty sure sending somepony to Tartarus is what landed few of our guys here in the first place. Illegal as buuuuuuck.”

Three turns his head around to look at his backside.

“I think I can get any tail I want,” he wiggles the short stump back there, “But I like ol’ shorty. No, I have a succubus friend, and I need to get to Tartarus, so I thought that she could get me there, or you could send me there if summoning her was impossible.”

“W- Why?” stutters the unicorn out.

Three points at the black sky.

“I wanna fix that, and I think that if I can find the baddie who did it, I can ask him to make the sun shine again!”

“Are you for real?” hisses the unicorn, narrowing his eyes at Three while leaning down to the changeling’s face. However, his expression changes halfway through the motion into a smirk, “You know what? I think we could help with that after all. We can’t talk here, though.”

He nods to the side and leads Three through the courtyard towards a group of faintly familiar unicorns from the brotherhood.

“Guys, he sent the letter, and I think he might be the last thing we need for the plan,” he whispers.

“Plan, what plan?” asks Three.

“Shhh!” the unicorn hisses at him. The others form a tighter group around them, “Our plan to get out of here.”

“Buuut aren’t you here because you did some bad stuff?” asks Three with suspicion.

“Are you?” the unicorn raises an eyebrow.

“Uhhhh, that’s a bit of a grey area about collective blame but no, I definitely didn’t do anything for which I should go in prison. Boss is great about teaching us what we should and shouldn’t do around and to ponies.”

“See? Most of us are here for mild infractions and… misunderstandings, as I said. The real bad guys are locked down underground.”

“Oh, I get it - like miss Gem and miss Harriet!” Three nods, “But they’re there not because they’re bad but because of a huge misunderstanding too… and because if they wanted to leave, nothing up here could stop them.”

“Yeah, exaaactly,” the unicorn wraps his foreleg around Three’s shoulders, “So, we’ve really learned our lesson, and we want to get out a bit sooner. You know, to see our families and so on. We have a plan to do that, but there still are holes we unicorns can’t fill as such, but you as a changeling...” he leaves the sentence hanging in the air.

“I dunno… are you all here by accident, really?” he furrows his brows.

“Oh of course not,” the unicorn smiles, “We deserve our time here, we just disagree with the authorities about the length of our sentence. As I said, we’ve learned our lesson, and our friends and relatives just feel awful without us. I’m sure your friends miss you too,” he winks at Three who gives him a slow nod.

“I’ll be happy to be back with the boss, but only after I’m done fixing what he was forced to do. Well, at least after we’ve made sure you ponies have enough to eat.”

“See? We all have somepony we want to be with. Now, I’m not just asking you for something. You said you wanted to get to Tartarus, and we can help, but we definitely can’t do it from here and with these things on,” he taps on the suppressor around his horn, “Help us get out and take these things off and we’ll get you your succubus or a way to Tartarus. I think we can do either.”

“Hmmm...” Three rubs his chin, “I mean, why not? But you still have to wait until I’ve done all the translation work for princess Candy. Boss sent us here to make sure you ponies don’t starve, and I’m not leaving until I’ve done everything I can.”

“And how long that’s going to take?” the unicorn hisses.

“Two- three weeks tops,” Three beams, “Princess Candy has all the smartest ponies working on it, and they can often understand things even before I can explain them.”

The unicorn looks around at the staring faces of others.

“Few weeks? I think we can manage that,” he smiles, “But if you don’t mind, I’ll refrain from telling you about our plan until you’re done, just in case some information leaked out on accident.”

“Sure thing,” Three waves his foreleg dismissively, “I’ve got a lot to think about as it is. We’ll get to escaping when we get to it. I don’t see a reason why my friends should sit here too once we’re done with the food situation.”

“Excellent,” the unicorn nods, and the others surrounding Three spread out and return to what they’ve been doing before, “Is there anything else?”

“Nope,” Three shakes his head, “I’ll talk it over with my friends just in case they have a reason they need to stay here like I do.”

With that, he heads back off to the big punching bag. He has more tackle-hugging to practice.