It’s the next morning, and Three’s carefully cleaning his teeth with the soap he got yesterday. It doesn’t taste as good as those minty toothpastes from Brauheim, but with some water it gets the job done.

He giggles as he hiccups out a stream of bubbles.

Today is shaping out to be much better than yesterday already, or at least no one else currently in the communal bathroom seems to be outright angry. Magpie is there, looking into the only reinforced mirror on the wall with bleary eyes. He clearly isn’t a morning griffon. The minotaur is there too, already finished, but openly eyeing several mares taking care of themselves.

If the day goes like yesterday, it’s going to be breakfast next, and Three’s more than happy to split his portion with Magpie and the mino. Not having access to any external source of love might bother a different changeling, but Three… Three hasn’t had that problem in ages. He gives love to everyone, and he gets a lot back, even if it’s difficult to admit for some. Besides, changeling drones don’t need much when they’re not working.

Checking his love levels and finding himself a-okay, Three eventually gets to the cafeteria. However, instead of standing in the queue, he suddenly bolts forward, pounces over the nearest table and its occupants with the help of his wings, and slides under the one next to it with forelegs spread.

“Thirteeeeeeen!” he hugs the mare hiding under it, paralyzed by the chitinous bullet headed for her.

“He he heh… hi, Three,” she returns the embrace with some hesitation.

“Why are you down here?” Three tilts his head.

“I… umm… I had some bad encounters yesterday, and I’d rather not get noticed again.”

“Oooh, come on! I’ll show you to my friends. They’re awesome and big, and they can help you if you get into trouble.”

“I’m not sure about-” she protests, but Three is already pulling her foreleg. With a sigh, she slinks from under the table, and rises to her full height. Considering she’s taller than any other pony here, and overall only smaller than Magpie and the minotaur, it had to be a miracle she remained unseen whole day yesterday. It had to.

“And now we can share more of our food with them, which will make them even happier,” Three lets her go, and leads Thirteen to the queue where they get their a bowl of simple oats with milk and a slice of bread each.

It takes Thirteen a moment to realize that Three really is leading her to the huge minotaur sitting alone at the central table.

“Eeep!” he brain catches up with the situation, she trips over her own legs, and drops the bowl floating next to her, spilling its contents. A warden comes over with a rag which he tosses at Thirteen, “I’m sorr-”

“Clean it, and you’re not getting another portion,” he remains standing over her as she wipes the floor while Three sets his bowl next to the minotaur’s, and waves across the cafeteria at Magpie who walks over with his own breakfast, sitting across the table from the minotaur who gives the griffon only a single slightly annoyed glance.

When Thirteen is finished, she sits down next to Three, staring quietly at the mostly empty bowl with the piece of bread in it, not daring to catch the look of anyone examining her, which at the moment is only Magpie.

The griffon slides along the bench until he’s across from Thirteen, lowers his head to look her in the eyes, and says:

“I don’t think Gem ever mentioned you.”

“Eheh...” Thirteen scratches her head, “I’m- I’m not exactly worth mentioning.”

“Thirteen is miss Gem’s sister,” Three beams at Magpie who chokes on his bread, “I mean, miss Gem is a looot older, just few weeks younger than I am, really.”

“You are older than Gem...” Magpie gives him a straight up disbelieving look.

“Yeah, bad mom gave birth to boss and me right before the changeling attack on Canterlot some...” Three counts on his hooves for a moment, his mouth moving quietly, “Two hundred and seventy years ago, give or take. Boss and I kinda had to walk all the way from bad mom’s hive, we met miss One on the way, and soon after that she fell in love with the boss, they did that thing drones normally don’t get to do, and miss Gem hatched from their egg. Thirteen is just like that, but instead of hatching from just a normal egg, miss One said Thirteen hatched from a queen egg.”

“So you’re even more powerful than Gem?” Magpie leans closer to Thirteen who is trying to make herself look as small as possible.

She shakes her head.

“I’m not as powerful as even a single hair of Gem’s mane, mister griffon. I’m kinda… our hive’s screw-up.”

“Call me Magpie,” he offers his talons to shake which Thirteen hesitantly accepts.

“Thirteen, heh, but you already know that. Three must have told you,” turning her head, she catches Three looking at her, at her bowl, and then back at her again, “Oh, oh right,” Thirteen pushes what remains of her breakfast to Magpie, “Ehh, do you want my portion? I kinda just eat love, and sitting next to Three is already helping enough. I’m sorry, it’s been on the floor-”

“Thanks,” Magpie interrupts her stuttered out offer, immediately snatching the offered bowl, “They don’t serve meat here, so even extra bread helps a ton. Feeding oats and milk to a griffon day after day should be a crime.”

“N-No problem. I’ll try not to spill my portion at lunch if you want more,” Thirteen gives him an apologetic smile, “Can’t promise anything, though. My head and legs just… don’t cooperate.”

“Sorry to hear that. Did something happen to you?”

“Just born all wrong, I suppose...”

“Well, if you need help, any friend of Gem is a friend of mine. I owe her a lot.”

Sudden commotion from the cafeteria entrance makes them look up. A mix of nine ponies in Hex Guard, Royal Guard, and Nightguard armors with added gas masks walk inside in lockstep, followed by a white, muscular unicorn mare with a booty that even gods would murder for. Her mane and tail look as if they were made of living fire, and her orange eyes immediately lock on Three. The guards form a corridor as she picks up the pace and walks over to Three’s table, completely ignoring the few appreciative whistles from stallions around.

“What do you want, Prominence?” Magpie scowls at her.

“I want all three of you,” she points at Three, Thirteen, and Magpie, “Gem and Harriet are already secured in a private room where we’ll be able to talk.”

“Wait, Harriet has been here all along too?” Magpie stands up, which makes the nearest guard aim a spear at him. The griffon gives him an annoyed grumble, “Oh yeah, give me a mace and I’ll school all nine of you.”

“We got Harriet at the same time we caught you, and I had to capture Gem a week later. They’ve both been here in special holding cells with their own Hex Guard escort for a while.”

“If I’m to be technical, why aren’t you in a cell where you belong about as much as we do?” Magpie crosses his forelegs on his chest.

“Shut up, idiot,” Prominence rolls her eyes, “Now, are you going to come quietly?”

“Mmmm...” Thirteen hangs her head low, and stands up.

Three trots atop the table to Prominence, and stretches out his foreleg.

“We didn’t talk back in the hive. I’m Three, and you’re big and super pretty.”

Prominence looks him up and down, and says:

“Get going, I’m not having a chat here. You too, catbird, and stop staring daggers at me. If it helps move things along faster, I am the reason you are still alive. Celestia wanted you to hang for high treason, and to napalm these guys’ hive. Thankfully, Twilight has the final say in what gets done, and she was a lot more reasonable than old Gluteus Solaris.”

“...napalm our hive…?” croaks Three, “...princess Sunny…?”

Prominence nods towards the cafeteria door.

“Move!”

This time she doesn’t wait. She just turns around and walks out in full knowledge that Three, Thirteen, and Magpie are all right behind her.

They follow Prominence through the prison, and down several staircases into well-lit, white, and sterile hallways lined not with standard barred doors, but heavy metal ones with barely a slit in them. Eventually, they reach a dead end with the heaviest looking doorway which makes Three’s nose itch.

“Magic?” asks the drone. He doesn’t get any answer, but the horns of the leading two guards flash, and only after that the door opens on its own. What greets them is a simple, mostly empty square room with only a single table screwed to the floor like those in the cafeteria, although this one doesn’t have a bench on each side, rather many metal chairs with straps and chains tied to them.

Only two of those chairs are occupied, one near each end of the table so that the prisoners in them can’t cooperate in any way. Both of the chained and tied up equines are mares, both possess absolutely stunning physique, and both immediately look at Prominence as she enters, one with visible confusion, and one narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

The first mare is a black changeling whose chitin is decorated with grey, zebra-like stripes. Overall, she looks like a clop magazine model with a perfect hourglass figure, and the kind who could easily make stallions drool with a simple glance even though she’s slouching in the chair too small for her height and the width and fullness of her hips. Her mane and tail are smooth, white, and streaked with grey and pink, managing to look more like liquid silver than simple hair. Even as she’s sitting down, it’s obvious that if she stood up, the would be the tallest pony in the room.

The second mare is much broader, about Prominence’s and Magpie’s height, and no one could ever miss the fact that she is a Corrupted. In fact, she is a corrupted dragonpony, probably the only one in existence. Like most Corrupted, her whole body is black with oily sheen, but her draconic heritage also gives her a line of black scales with red undertone from the tip of her muzzle up to her forehead, down her neck and along the spine to the base of her tail, and up to her thigh on each leg. Also, her forelegs don’t end in hooves, but in a set of claws each. Her mane and tail are also black, but just like her scales they bear the dim shading of the purple they used to be before she got corrupted. Her build could be summed up by strong and a little chubby, obviously someone used to hard work and good food as well, which gives her toned musculature all over her body other than a slight chub around her belly, and a booty even the changeling mare, Prominence, or even princess Celestia herself would be jealous of.

There is also one detail a knowledgeable observer would notice about both mares, which is that none of the shackles and straps holding the mares would last for more than few seconds if either of them decided to escape.

“Miss Harriet! Miss Gem!” Three darts forward between the guards’ legs, and hops onto the table. One guard raises his spear, but a quick shake of Prominence’s head makes him lower it again.

Magpie walks past the guards, and sits down into the nearest chair of his own volition while Thirteen rushes over to the changeling mare - Gem, who is currently smiling as Three’s hugging her chest like a tick and nuzzling her neck. Soon, Three pushes himself off, and rushes off to the Corrupted, not acting as intimate, rather just booping her nose with his which makes her eyes tear up, although just like Gem she starts smiling.

Prominence lets this go on for few moments before clearing her throat.

“Everyone, I hate to interrupt the family and friends reunion, but this is serious,” she looks at everyone as the guards fan out around her, “First, Gem, please don’t try any nonsense with pheromones, hypnotic eyes, voice, or anything. I think I know your tricks fairly well, which also means I’m one hundred percent sure that if you wanted you would have escaped this facility within a day from when we caught you. But just in case, the masks these guards are wearing have toned glasses, ear mufflers, and air filters. And you, Harriet, how are you on the good old sanity and self-control?”

“Having all those strong guards around isn’t helping, and my whole body feels really weird when I’m cooped up down here, but I’m not going to go crazy any time soon, especially now that this little bundle of pure happiness is here,” six tentacles erupt from her back, and tickle Three. This makes Thirteen twitch and try to move one chair away from Harriet, which lands her on Magpie’s lap.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” she pushes herself up, trips on the chair in front of her, and goes splat on the floor, “I fink I bit my tongue...”

Prominence raises an eyebrow, nods at Harriet, and orders:

“Untie and unshackle her.”

“Prominence?” a guard looks at her, not moving.

“Look, if she wanted, she could rip the damn chair out of the floor, but Harriet is a good girl who probably has zero idea why she’s here,” explains the unicorn, which is enough for the guard to untie Harriet, “Feel free to stretch your legs.”

“To be frank, I could do with a refresher myself, really,” Magpie shrugs.

Prominence sighs, and starts pacing back and forth.

“Where do I even begin?”

“I, umm,” Thirteen, now sitting on the floor, raises her foreleg, “Why would ponies send me and Three to prison when dad sent us to help by giving you the technology to grow food without the sun?”

“I see, so you really don’t know anything? Especially why the sun is gone in the first place?”

Other than Gem, they all shake their heads. Prominence notices, though.

“Gem?”

“Look, Promi,” the gorgeous changeling sighs, “We’ve been friends for few years already, and I know that you know that you can trust me. I know what happened. Dad told me how our hive got involved, and you were with Magpie, Packy, Harriet, and me in Zebrica during the massacre. I just don’t know why any of it happened, that’s the problem. Just start in the beginning, and maybe we’ll figure something out. I assume you hunting all of us down has something to do with you talking to Twilight, Luna, and Celestia about their side of the story.”

Prominence chuckles mirthlessly.

“Yep, excellent deduction as usual. Alright then, I’ll try to make it brief. Last year, a pony by the name Flow started attacking secret vaults guarded by ponies from all branches of the Guard, gathering several artefacts. By all means, he was invulnerable to any attacks and magic, and was using some kind of power no one had any idea how to stop. Luna fought him once, and got really badly hurt while achieving nothing. We learned that the artefacts he was gathering were keys to an ancient seal north of the Crystal Empire which kept a void creature called the Herald locked away. Despite our best attempts to stop or at least slow Flow down, he managed to gather the keys to the seal, and he attacked the fortified camp we set up at the site of the seal,” she looks straight at Gem, “And as you undoubtedly know, the changelings from your hive as well as the minotaurs from Rift and few other factions were on Flow’s side during the attack. Do you know anything about that, Gem?”

The changeling nods, and Three’s ears perk up. Finally, he would hear the full story.

“From what dad showed me in his hive mind memories, Flow appeared one day in front of him, threatening to massacre all of us if we didn’t do what he said. Mom and dad tried to fight him,” Gem shakes her head, “She got hacked to pieces, dad got badly hurt too, and he agreed to do what Flow said after that show of force. I know the way I’m telling it doesn’t do it justice, but if there’s someone who can brush off mom and dad as if they were flies, they could end all of us as well as the dwarves. And that’s what he wanted. He wanted dwarf technology, specifically anything related to weird crystals called istrium. How he got to know about us, I have no idea.”

“I do!” Three waves his foreleg, making everyone’s jaw drop.

“Y-You do?” Gem blinks several times, “How?”

“Remember mister Cromach, boss’ griffon friend? He told him.”

“Cromach?” asks Prominence, “How did Cromach know about you and the dwarves? I thought no one on the surface was supposed to know dwarves even exist.”

“It’s a long story from centuries ago,” Gem shakes her head, “During dad’s first summit of the world rulers in Canterlot, we stopped a lich who was trying to assassinate the princesses. Unfortunately, Cromach learned about us and the dwarves during the event. We thought any rumors and knowledge about the dwarves would die with him, but who would have guessed we would stumble upon a griffon that would turn out to be immortal? Also, he’s not exactly dad’s friend. I think they did get along in the end, but Cromach was pretty much blackmailing us to give him and his Silver Sun organization any dwarven technology he needed in exchange for him keeping us secret.”

“Now it makes sense,” Prominence nods.

“Not to me, really,” Gem, now also unrestrained, crosses her forelegs on her chest, “I know Cromach, Desert Shade, and some Corrupted called Heavy Hoof wanted to revive Flow after we killed him right before Seven and Mistake broke the seal and released the Herald, but I have no idea why any of that happened in the first place.”

“Throwing a little too many names around here, Prominence,” Magpie drums his talons on the table.

“Considering what you said and what I learned from Celestia, I think I can piece the story together. Let’s start with the names then. Does Blazing Light ring a bell?”

“Sounds familiar, but I can’t place it,” says Three, “I think I heard it from the boss at some point.”

“Blazing Light was Cromach’s lover who died a long time ago while stopping the return of the mad god Harmony. We don’t know how it happened, but he was Flow. From what Gem said, I think Flow or Blazing, however we want to call him, learned about your hive from Cromach.”

“No,” Gem shakes her head, “I can’t explain, but I’m pretty sure Cromach had no idea that Flow was Blazing right until the end. Besides, Cromach hasn’t been with the Silver Sun for over a year. Desert Shade was the one working for Flow.”

“Cromach’s Order of the Silver Sun was involved. Luna was investigating several clues tying Silver Sun to Flow, which led to the discovery that someone was diverting Silver Sun money and paying Desert Shade.”

“That’s the mean hippogriff lady,” adds Three.

“Trust me, we all know,” growls Prominence, “That bitch ambushed us and sold us to zebra slavers. If I ever see her again, she’s about to get a sunburn that no amount of SPF will help with,” she shakes her head, “Nevermind.”

“Alright, so Flow was Blazing Light, and someone who knew about Cromach’s deals with dad’s hive was paying Desert Shade who worked for him,” summarizes Gem, “Why did they want to release the Herald in the first place? They saved the world more than once, why would they want to destroy it?”

“Well, that’s the thing...” Prominence shakes her head, “I suppose you don’t know what happened on the surface after we brought the dragon to your hive, right?”

“I, mister Cromach, that black alicorn lady, and that nice earthpony Corrupted were sent into a pocket dimension,” Three speaks up.

Prominence facehoofed.

“Oh my bucking god, that’s right! I completely forgot that you went with them. Alright, Three, talk.”

“The pocket dimension felt super sad. It was a park inside the ruins of a big city, and we met a unicorn. All dark blue with pink eyes.”

“Mistake,” nods Gem, “the guy who was leading the army massacring Zebrica.”

“He didn’t feel like a baddie, though,” Three sighs, “More like a goodie who got hurt really, really bad. Much like mister Cromach, actually. Anyway, he admitted that all the killing and pain in Zebrica was a distraction as well as a source of power for something big. Then he talked with mister Cromach, and when I hugged Mistake, there was a huge explosion of black fire nearby, and something flew away.”

“A distraction to allow Flow gather the seal keys while we were dealing with refugees fleeing Zebrica,” Prominence nods, “And the explosion was Flow getting resurrected after we killed him, and returning to the real world. You see, when Flow faced me and the princesses, he got killed by Cromach, Luna’s son, and some paladin. Unfortunately, at the same time Mistake and Seven finally broke the seal, released the Herald, and teleported away. Then you, Gem, wanted us to do the thing with the dragon which led to Flow’s return. Before I ask anything, I’ll just finish the story. When Flow returned, he destroyed the Herald instantly. Do you understand? All alicorns and a battalion of unicorns could do against the Herald who opened a huge void rift above the Crystal Empire was to slow the spread of the rift down. Flow killed him with one strike. Just saying it to illustrate the sheer scale of power we’re talking about here. Everything would have been okay if it ended there and then, but then Flow, somehow, ripped the rift open even further.”

“And that swallowed the sun?” asks Gem.

“Not right there and then. A strange creature Luna later identified as Nightmare, one of the three gods of Equus who possessed her over a millennium ago, appeared. She tried to close the rift too, but Flow fought her, and then they both disappeared. The rift opened wider, then everything went blue, and when the blue glow disappeared, stars, sun, everything was gone. Few moments later, Cromach appeared in a flash of light, carrying Flow with huge parts of his body disintegrated and necrotic. Celestia went berserk from the pain of losing the sun, and wanted to kill Flow as well as exhausted Cromach. Twilight stopped it, and instead opened the gate to Tartarus and sent Flow there. Cromach swore bloody revenge on Twilight and Celestia, and teleported away. So here’s what happened. As to why… your guess is as good as mine. Long story short, what Flow did destroyed the rest of the universe, your hive was the main force that helped it happen, and that’s why we’re here.”

“But boss sent us to help you,” objects Three, “And Seven felt really bad about what he was forced to do.”

“I want to believe you, I really do, but I think we’re past that. The sheer scale of the catastrophy isn’t something that feeling bad can alleviate,” Prominence lowers her head, “What I need is you contact your king and have him present himself to Twilight.”

“No way,” Gem shakes her head immediately, “Dad has too much on his plate already.”

“Gem, Celestia wants to send an army into your hive. This is the only way it can end without bloodshed.”

“No, you don’t understand, Promi,” Gem leans forward, “There’s nothing there. Our hive is gone, Brauheim is gone. We detonated everything. There’s no technology to salvage, there are no traces of anyone. All dwarves and our hive are weeks away from here. I don’t even know where. I specifically didn’t want to know where, just in case someone went after me. That’s why I wasn’t even trying to escape this place. I straight up don’t know anything that might harm dad and my hive.”

“But what about those two?” Prominence looks from Three to Thirteen.

“We split over a week ago,” Three shrugs, “and boss expected us to get caught, so we have no way to contact him. We’re supposed to stay in the Crystal Empire anyway to help build the farming machines. Besides, I want to help fix everything!”

“Unless you have a new sun in your pocket, I doubt we can resolve this amicably.”

“Well,” Three rubs his chin, “I mean, what if we talked to the super powerful Blazing Flow baddie who took the sun away and told him that he could be with mister Cromach if he gave the sun back?”

“...why do we even let him speak…?” whispers Magpie, facetaloning.

“Three, as much as I like you, even I think that’s stupid,” says Gem. Three’s eyes go wide, and he slumps on the table, his lower lip wibbling. Harriet pats his head for comfort when she notices that the purple glowing runes on his body grow dimmer. Not even this returns any perkiness to his floppy ears, though.

“So, what now, miss Prominence?” asks Harriet, “You know we didn’t know about any of that. You were in Zebrica with us when we tried to stop Mistake and his army. Are we going to stay locked in here for the rest of our lives?”

“Look, if it were up to me, I would let all of you go, but I can’t,” Prominence turns away, “Especially since Gem had us resurrect Flow without telling us anything about what we were doing.”

“I didn’t know what I was doing!” Gem rolls her eyes, “I literally locked my own memory away until my hive was leaving Brauheim. When I tracked Cromach and Heavy Hoof who caught Desert Shade, I just… I just couldn’t believe he was on the wrong side. I think we’re missing something here.”

“Thirteen and I have to stay with princess Candy,” peeps Three, “The machine blueprints aren’t in ponish, and we don’t know where to return anyway.”

“You know what?” Prominence sighs, “I’ll talk to Shining Armor and Cadance. If your machines are the real deal, the sooner we can mass produce them, the better. Harriet, if you promise to behave, I can tell the staff here to give you access to the inside gym. If they let you among inmates, they’ll go nuts after your body, and you’re either going to have to hurt someone or spread corruption. And you, Gem… I have to keep you here, but if there’s something I can do...”

“Let me have some time with Three every day,” says Gem immediately, “I’m getting hungry, and since I’m not allowed to feed from guards or inmates, our little hugbox here can help.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Prominence nods.

Booksy, I think they’ve got it all wrong. I know when someone is a baddie and when they aren’t, and that unicorn Mistake I met wasn’t a baddie by any measure. Mister Cromach wasn’t a baddie at all either, though him threatening to hurt everyone is scary.

But I’ve got an idea now. First, we have to help build the farms, but then… we do have a friend in Tartarus after all - miss Comfort. Six and Five went to Tartarus once, so we should be able to as well, and we can talk to Flow, figure out why he did what he did, and tell him to help us fix the sun. A pony as powerful as he is must know how to fix what he caused.

We’re gonna make boss proud!

...even if miss Gem thinks I’m a dummy now.