Today’s worky time is special.

It’s not because it’s only half the usual length. With only a couple of exceptions, all drones are working in the safest core tunnels, rebuilding them into the new reinforced and improved style, and carving the texts gained from the smart box into the walls and the ceiling. If it was possible for drones to have an entirely safe day in the hive, this would be as close to it as it can be. There are several drones inside the High Score Cavern, each busy being a tiny cog inside the clockwork of the hive, and one specific little cog has just arrived with what looks like a bushel of dead branches that’s overall at least twice the drone’s size gooped together on its back. Sensing 57999 enter with its peculiar cargo, 10k stops slowly walking around the HSC and heads off to meet the emergency doctor slash non-emergency botanist.

“Huh, I was wondering why you wanted me to give you an outside shift today,” opens the drone leader, “What are all the sticks for? Trading?”

“Nope!” 57999 shakes its head, beaming, “65536 said that one of the pony traditions was having a tree with shiny stuff hanging on it. We never tried that one, but now that I have a greenhouse so close to a forest I decided we could give it a shot this Hard Swarming Eee.”

“Hmm,” 10k watches as 57999 drops the sticks and starts arranging them on the floor by size, “I don’t think there’s enough to build a tree, especially without the biggest support stick. Trunk, I think, it’s called.”

“Well, yeah,” admits 57999, “I’m not supposed to go deeper into the forest so I just grabbed some sticks that were on the ground already. My idea was that we could goop those to one of the pillars,” it points to one of the smooth, round supports of the cavern at random, “That’s kind of a trunk thingy.”

“Sure, let’s give it a shot. The guys are bound to like anything new,” 10k shrugs and heads off to the side of the cavern into which the drones built a new hearth inspired by the one in the throne room, “I’ll go light the fire.”

It doesn’t take long even for 10k with its limited mobility to bring a couple of goop-soaked pieces of coal from the storage, arrange them into the feeding hole of the hearth, and light them up using a flint and tinder hoof transformation taught by 65536. With the slimes constantly moving through the cavern as drones keep bringing random dirt on their hooves, keeping coal out in the open would just get it eaten. Fire lit, 10k sits down and enjoys the hearth’s warmth slowly creeping outwards as the stones heat up. It can’t help but crack a smile.

Watching as 57999 glues each dead branch to the pillar in a vaguely circular pattern resembling a tree, 10k has the time to reflect on how much things have really changed.

Unless something extremely unlucky happens, no drone should be in danger today. We’re not separated anymore, each of us freezing in a tiny shaft that can collapse at any moment, with barely enough love to survive, just so that we can return with a hoofful of shiny stuff that might or might not be valuable. Once this worky time ends, we’ll gather here and celebrate with 65536 and Shiny Nose by eating a whole bunch of various noms. The only need for stashes these days is so that each drone can keep its stuff at hoof, not hiding things so far out of the way that high ranks wouldn’t find it worth the travel time.

Its eyes briefly flick to 99066 resting in an alcove, curled up with the exception of the outstretched hind leg covered in a cast of healing goop.

And, of course, the most important thing - we get second chances. I wonder what High Score would think if it saw this.

“Judging by what I saw about 9999 in the memories of those who knew it, it would be beyond proud,” Voice reacts to 10k’s train of thought.

“It was the best of us,” replies 10k, this time not just thinking to itself.

“It certainly had a clarity of vision you seem to have lost,” replies Voice thoughtfully, albeit such a combative response is unusual for it.

“What do you mean?”

“I do mean that 9999 would be proud of you. So proud, in fact, that it would have the self-reflection to admit you should be the High Score. Not just begrudgingly admit it, it would be the first one to say that you won the title fair and square, and it would cheer for you,” Voice pauses briefly, but when 10k doesn’t react in any way, it continues hammering down the point, “It would realize that what you are now doing on a daily basis takes more responsibility than it ever had. Objectively, 9999 was just a drone who saved a couple of others personally and didn’t run away or break down when things got tough, and that’s what the response team YOU set up is doing every week at least. By lying to the Queen herself and sending Smiley away, you outclassed 9999 saving 17070 both in achievement and in risk. I don’t mean to diminish its role in the development of dronekind at all, don’t take my words the wrong way, I just think- I know it would be happy that you outgrew it. It wouldn’t want to be the best drone, it would want to be the worst one, the minimum for good drone conduct. It would want everyone to be able to outgrow it.”

10k pokes the floor and Voice waits patiently, decidedly avoiding reading what’s going through the drone leader’s mind until-

“I know…” 10k breathes out and closes its eyes, “I just feel that if I admit it, if I start living as if H- 9999 was just a normal drone, it will really be gone. If I keep the legend of the one and only High Score alive, 9999 can still guide us as someone to aspire to. 36658 realized it first, it thought about the future of drones much more than I did.”

“36658 made its choice, and it chose you.”

“I know.”

“What you’re thinking is decidedly something that 9999 wouldn’t want you to think.”

“I… know,” 10k looks down, “So what now? Do I just say ‘Woo, I’m the best! You should all be like me.’ or something?”

“This isn’t just about presenting the already existing knowledge and information so I need to think about it.”

“Take your time,” 10k shakes its head and takes a deep breath, “This kind of thinking doesn’t belong on Hard Swarming Eee anyway. No need to spoil the good time for others.”

Without 10k bothering to slow time for the mental conversation, 57999 has the time to finish the “tree” during it. Standing under it and examining its work with a scrunched nose, it says:

“Hmm, it feels like it’s missing something.”

“65536 did say that ponies hanged shiny things on the branches too,” 10k takes the chance to think about something other than replacing 9999, “I don’t think that taking shinies from others to decorate the tree this late and without asking is a good idea, so how about glowgoop?”

“Ha! Can’t go wrong with glowgoop. Wanna help me set it up?” 57999 beams at 10k.

“I’d love to, but my wings might shoot off or something. I’ll be allowed to fly again in a couple of weeks and the basic recovery is going to take at least two months, whatever that means.”

57999 shows uncharacteristic observation skills by pausing for a second and asking: “Is something wrong?”

“I’m just thinking about how much things have changed since the old days.”

“Oooh,” 57999 nods as if recalling something that entirely slipped its mind for a long time, “I agree. Deeefinitely much better.”

And that’s it. Nothing more.

“How do you do it, 57999?” asks 10k with a chuckle.

“Do what?” the drone just flies up, starts making small goop balls, and fastening them to branches.

“How come you’re not constantly worried about the future?”

“I’m a drone, 10k. You said your healing would take more than two months, but we come from a time when even the luckiest drones only lived for half the time. Every new chance to wake up is more than I could have ever expected. How can I not be happy?”

“I guess I’m just afraid of what will happen if I get eaten or something.”

“I mean, I’m afraid whenever I go outside too. I still can’t feel my forelegs that well since the time the sticky biter crunched me, but I can’t let that stop me from doing what I’m supposed to do. We can’t get too comfy or too scared to do our job just because we don’t get thrown into the Crusher if we fail anymore. High Score didn’t let fear stop it from taking on the big evil star pony, and that was way worse than anything down here.”

“You’re right, 57999. You’re absolutely right,” 10k looks at 99066 who is now awake and listening to their conversation. Not worried about waking it up anymore, the drone leader walks over to the wounded quicktrotter and asks quietly, “How are you feeling?”

“Tired, aching, still losing control over my body whenever I think of the whole rumbler thing, but I can’t wait to start doing something again,” 99066 smiles, “All in all, I’ve felt better.”

“I’ve thought of a job you can do even like this. Well, once you don’t need the healing cast at least.”

“I’m listening,” 99066’s face brightens up.

“I want you to assess and possibly rebuild the emergency access routes I set up for the rescue team to save drones in trouble. With your quicktrotting experience, you’re the right choice to design routes that should let the rescue team get everywhere the fastest. I wasn’t in the best shape when I originally designed it, and there are bound to be improvements.”

“Yesss!” 99066 victoriously punches the air so hard its entire body moves, ”Ouch!”

“Relax, buddy. Shiny Nose will be here soon, and there will be noms for everyone.”

***

Every single drone is in the High Score Cavern. The quicktrotters aren’t running around, the workshop and the laboratory are empty, and not even 99200 has snuck away for a breaky time adventure. Several latecomers are hovering around the “tree pillar”, sniffing and poking the glued-on branches, the purpose of which hasn’t been revealed yet. It’s something new, though, and that counts for a lot. The other drones are busy, majority with rebuilding their Scufflestick miniatures that were lost due to the fire. Despite the new vents, the HSC is warmer than ever before thanks to the new, roaring hearth built into the center of the side wall, heating up the beehive-like alcoves.

Suddenly, they all sense something. They don't know where it comes from -because Chrysalis masks the hive mind signal- but they know that Hard Swarming Eee is finally here. Everyone immediately stops what they’re doing and groups up near the center of the cavern. These days, most drones are older than a year, so they know what’s coming and expectantly look forward with smiles on their faces. The less than thirty new ones look at the others and, when they see that the strange feeling can’t mean bad things, relax and wait.

A circle of the most evil-looking green flames bursts out of the floor, sharply contrasting with the excited gasps of drones now smiling even wider as the strange fire reflects in their blue eyes. Some can’t contain themselves and ‘Eee!’ quietly while their wings buzz on their backs, making the flames dance due to the added flow of air. Slowly, a menacing, suspiciously Queen-sized, towering shape rises in the center of the circle of fire which fades as the figure draws into its full height and reveals itself. It can’t be the Queen, obviously, because the Queen would never wear a torn but still fluffy reindeer costume, a glowing red ball on her nose, and a set of broken, plastic antlers. Her mere presence makes the glowgoop balls stuck to the branches on the pillar light up.

“Shiny Nose!” several drones whisper as one.

“Shiny sticks…!” breathes out another.

On Shiny Nose’s back sits her official Hard Swarming helper, 65536, wearing a worn-out, red, pointy cap with a fluffy ball on the tip and white fuzz around the bottom rim. In contrast to Ch- Shiny Nose’s stern and judging gaze, 65536 is beaming and waves at the gathered drones the moment the flames of teleportation die down and stop obscuring the view of the pile of presents behind the two. As Shiny Nose takes a step towards the drones who twitch in unison, 65536 hops off of her back and quickly starts moving the presents under the branch-covered pillar, chuckling at the novel execution of a Hearth’s Warming tree.

“Attention!” says Shiny Nose sharply, and all drones go silent in response immediately, “Everyone who was a good drone this year, step forward!”

Just like it always happens whenever drones are in a crowd, they all look around first. It’s not that they don’t think they’ve been good drones since last freezy time, it’s more about whether or not they’ve been good enough. No one ever told them any objective metrics. Were there some hidden criteria they were supposed to figure out on their own? However, the second 99158 sitting in the front row shuffles forward, being certain that its work on the rescue team qualifies it as a good drone, everyone moves.

Well, almost everyone. Sitting in the back row before and now being the lone drone behind everyone, 10k remains in place.

Shiny Nose points at it before unceremoniously shoving the drone directly in front of her aside.

“Make way,” she says, walking through the quickly formed corridor over to 10k. In a flash of green, a floating piece of paper materializes in front of her face, making the surrounding drones twist their necks to see what’s written on it. Thankfully, none can see it from such a low angle because there’s nothing written on it and it’s all just for show. Shiny Nose looks down at 10k who, for the first time since the island incident, looks at peace, “Hesitating? Hmm, the list says you were a good drone.”

“I’m not so sure, Shiny Nose,” says 10k, “It’s been a trying year.”

The piece of paper vanishes again, and Shiny Nose leans down to 10k’s face.

“The list always knows,” she rises up again, “You see, drones that do bad things can sometimes avoid the list. Maybe if they had a good reason, and if they did all they could to make things right,” she circles behind 10k’s back, and puts her hoof between its shoulder blades. If 10k knew what a guillotine was, it would feel like it was under it right now. However, all that happens is that she shoves the drone forward to rejoin the crowd of ‘good ones’. With a couple exceptions, no one has any idea what this whole thing is about, but after seeing Shiny Nose proclaim 10k worthy there are no exceptions to everyone starting to cheer.

Once the ‘yaaaaay!’, the buzzing of wings, and the stomping of hooves on the floor dies down, Shiny Nose returns to her spot in front of everyone.

“Since we’ve already started with you, 10k, let’s get to the presents right away. Hard Swarming Assistant 65536, do we have something for this… redeemed little drone?”

“Uhh, yes!” 65536, still busy moving the presents so quickly its red cap keeps swinging in the air, briefly darts to a small pile separated from the unsorted boxes made of colorful paper, and picks up… an envelope? A very thick one. It rushes over and gives it to 10k with: “You might want to open it alone, and be sure to read the small note inside first.”

Before 10k can say anything, 65536 resumes moving the pile of boxes, leaving the drone leader stumped as to what the present can be. Even Shiny Nose gives 65536 a second glance if it really is everything.

“Looks like that’s-” she tries to move on to the next drone on the secret hive mind list, which is entirely unrelated to the smudged piece of paper she used for her theatrics earlier, when a presence makes itself known inside her head.

“Your Majesty, I think it’s time to-”

As time outside of her mind stands still, Shiny Nose listens to Voice’s request. In the end, she continues her sentence from before she was interrupted.

“-not everything. The Great Shiny as well as Her Royal Majesty, Queen Chrysalis, decided that one more present is in order, one you’ve earned a long time ago but also one which you weren’t ready to accept. I, hereby, bestow the title of High Score on you.”

10k hangs its head for the brief moment of absolute silence before a burst of cheering and stomping from all drones much louder than before deafens it. Once it dies down again, 10k only nods and says:

“I’ll do my best.”

“I would hope so,” Shiny Nose nods back.

“Go read the letter!” adds 65536 from the back in an insistent whisper that’s so loud everyone can hear.

“One more thing before we move on,” Shiny Nose raises her hoof, “High Score is and used to be a title, which means that it is earned. There will be no re-ranking or re-numbering, but the Queen will know who High Score is, and any of you will, from now on, have the chance to become it through exemplary service to the hive. Although it may take some time to surpass 10k here,” she smiles at the drone leader and pats its head before looking back over her shoulder at 65536, “Next! Assistant 65536, bring the present for 99111.”

Knowing the procedure from last year’s Hard Swarming, 10k walks off to find a private place while 99111 steps up to Shiny Nose, its back arm tensed. 65536 rushes over with a thick, hard-cover book bound by a gold-colored ribbon.

“Gasp! A… book thingy? I like the yellow noodle wrapped around it!” 99111 sits on its haunches and takes the huge book with its forelegs, reading the large letters on the front, “En-cy-clo- clop…” it pauses, overwhelmed by the long word.

“It’s an encyclopedia!” 65536 beams, “That means a book with tons of useful explainy scribbles. This one is about basic mechanics, and engineering. There might be some scribbles about springs in there too.”

“Gasp again!” 99111 hugs the book, “Thank you, Shiny Nose. Thank you, 65536! And-” 99111’s back arm, motionless until now, boops Shiny Nose’s red, shiny nose, “-gotcha!”

Before the drone can even take its first step to flee, invisible grip tightens around its midsection. Shiny Nose narrows her eyes and says calmly:

“99111, put the book down. It would be a shame if it got damaged before you got the chance to read it.”

The drone immediately puts the encyclopedia down with utmost care, worried more about its present than about the sudden inability to move, and immediately gets lobbed upwards in a beautiful arc ending in the goop pool under the big slide. Several bounces later, it sits up, dizzy but unharmed.

“Next, 99856!” Shiny Nose calls out and 65536 brings up another huge book.

“Ooh, do I get a cyclo-thingy too?” it asks, “Neat, but I wouldn’t mind sharing 99111’s either.”

“Yes, you do,” says 65536, “And this one is different from 99111’s. This one is about applied physics and chemistry, and there are basic experiments you can perform. You’ll have to make your own equipment, though. Delicate glass is difficult to move without breaking.”

“Next, 57999,” calls out Shiny Nose after 99856 scoots off with its book as well as 99111’s, which the still swaying tinkerer takes when it returns from its forced flying trip.

65536 brings another book, although this time it’s accompanied by a satchel. 57999, being a little more experienced than the “scientist” duo, reads the whole cover first.

“Botany?” it looks at its hooves, “Neat. I could use some tips on how to make booties, especially when it’s so cold outside. For my hind leggos mostly, the front ones are numb all the time.”

“Botany is a pony word for taking care of plants and flowers,” 65536 shakes the satchel, “Plus, there are labeled bags of seeds in here that you can plant when it gets warmer. They’ll last a while and they are described in the book, so you can plant them as you read about them.”

“THAT’S EVEN BETTER!” 57999 beams, takes the book with one leg, the satchel with its mouth, and shuffles off on three legs, “Mhmm mmmhm mmm! Mmhank mhoo!”

“Next, 99380!” is the following roll call, and the requested drone sitting in the back row looks up, surprised.

“Uh, me? Okay? I was just waiting for the shared noms. I had no idea there would be something for me. I don’t even do anything specific like the others-” it talks in a nervous tone as it approaches Shiny Nose. 65536 gives Shiny Nose a smaller but much thicker rectangle this time bound by two ribbons.

“There you go,” Shiny Nose just levitates the present to 99380 who almost presses its nose to it as it reads, “The Ad-ven-tu-res of Da-ring Do: The Scep-ter of Qu-ve-zu-lak. Book one,” it turns the present around, realizing there are three soft-cover books, from book one to book three, “Are these explainy books too?” it looks up at Shiny Nose who glances sideways at 65536.

“Nope,” little helper 65536 shakes its head, “These are, umm, fiction books. They’re stories about strange and new stuff that may be partially true or completely imaginary. They are fun to read if you pretend they’re real. It’s like when you told everyone the story about what happened during the island trip, only not real.”

“We’re getting loads of scribbles on this Hard Swarming Eee,” comments someone before 65536 can say anything else.

“Yup, isn’t that great?!” the drone next to the interrupting changeling beams, “Do you think 99380 will read to us?”

“Like while we’re working? Stories instead of tunes?”

“Oooh, that sounds fun!”

“Maybe some worky times we’ll get music and at other times stories?”

“YAAAY, MORE STORY TIME!”

As more and more drones join the impromptu discussion, Shiny Nose and 65536 call out 99526 who steps up, even more surprised than 99380. 65536 quickly hops over with an actual paper box. When 99526 opens it, it wibbles and asks:

“Awww, so many tiny noms just for me? How come?”

“These are special,” 65536 beams, “I don’t know how it works exactly, but they should have very few calories - that means you should be able to eat way more without getting sick and join in as everyone stuffs their face.”

*Wibble wibble.*

“Glad you like it,” 65536 pats 99526’s head.

*Wibble.*

“Shoo!” Shiny Nose waves the drone off.

***

The time comes for the presentation and tasting of the, frankly, tooth-melting amount and variety of candy. 10k isn’t in the drone crowd, however, instead it’s sitting on the second floor of the HSC -the balcony lining the entire cavern- and out of sight of everyone. The envelope in its hooves is only lightly glued, and the seal opens with just a push of the tip of 10k’s hoof.

I wonder what this is. 65536 said to find the small note first.

The envelope is stuffed, but there’s a small rectangle right next to the open seam, smaller than the folded paper behind it and numerous big, sturdier rectangles filling the rest of the envelope which 10k decidedly avoids looking at. Unfolding the small note reveals it’s covered in writing, so 10k starts reading.

You wouldn’t believe what happened this spring, 10000. I got my photo taken for a newspaper because Princess Celestia wanted to show that changelings can join the Guard branches too and do a good job. That specific newspaper is sold all over Equestria, and a couple weeks later I received a letter from Stalliongrad - that’s a big city in Equestria far northeast from Canterlot. I’ve never been there and I didn’t know anyone from there, so I had no idea what that could be about. I don’t want to spoil stuff, so I’ll just say that the letter you’re about to read is the result of me visiting Stalliongrad twice afterwards, first time to see what’s going on and the second time to make this present. You can read the letter now.

Having received zero explanation so far, 10k puts the note back and takes the folded letter. It’s written in the large but extremely precise letters of someone who isn’t used to writing and considers every letter a small picture.

Hi, 10013! I mean 10000.

65536 told me you got promoted and you’re the High Score now but you don’t like when others call you that. How come? 9999 would be happy to see a drone get so far in life. Speaking of which, 65536 told me that things are much better in the hive these days and that I should come visit with it some time, but Hearth’s Warming is a pretty important time here in Stalliongrad so I can’t just leave for a couple weeks, sorry.

As for me, I can hear again, kinda! I can’t understand anything, but I know when someone is calling for me. When Miss Ladle took me to a pony doctor here they said that it probably wouldn’t get better anymore but they didn’t know much about changelings but supposedly our ears are super similar to ponies and I’m missing some tiny inside bits. It’s not the biggest deal anyway, because I learned something ponies call “a sign language” - it’s moving your hooves in such a way that it means things. No, it’s not just random flailing! 65536 learned it just so that it could talk to me, isn’t that amazing? I was thinking that you could send Smiley to Canterlot to learn from 65536 too. By the way, how AWESOME is it that Smiley is now a full smart changeling?! And she’s a she! The last time I saw her she was still only walking around and doing what others told her. I mean, being a good drone and doing what you’re told is still important, but you know what I mean. She can read and write now! I learned to read and write too and it was pretty hard without any high ranks around but now my head doesn’t even hurt anymore when I read for a long time.

Oh, right! I got worky time here too, ponies call it a job. They have a lot of words that each mean one specific thing. It was really weird talking to them until I realized they didn’t hear what I thought I was saying. Did you know that when I said rumbler, they heard big loud bitey noodle? There’s a ton of stuff like that, and 65536 said it bypassed the problem because someone called Miss Fury pushed a lot of knowledge into its head over the first weeks in Canterlot. Did you know that “bypassed” was a word? I read A LOT these days. Sorry, I’m jumping from one thing to the other, I’m just so happy 65536 visited me in person and told me that you, 20100, 47989, and 57999 are alive and well, and that there are a whole bunch of new drones and that everything is much better back in the hive. I’m sad that I didn’t get to thank 9999 but I heard it led you guys in stopping the biggest baddie anyone has ever seen, so that’s GABLONK!

Wait, the job thingy - I made it to a cook recently! I’ve been a helper in training after we arrived at Stalliongrad, then I became an assistant, which means I got good enough to get shinies for my work, and this year I’m finally a real cook! I learned that we changelings taste stuff differently from ponies, so I gotta remember the recipes step by step and do them right so that the taste is right for ponies. I can make tons of noms from the weirdest things! Did you know that ponies eat a whole bunch of stuff that comes from monsters we would generally call gribblers? There must be so many edible things in the hive if only someone figured out how to hunt and prepare them. I’m trying to learn to make sweet noms now too. I’m not good at it yet, but I made a bunch of caramel blobs and gave them to 65536 to bring to you. I also bought a big glass of honey for you. Both of those will last until winter easy. I dunno what to write down next because so much has happened so I’ll send you a bunch of photos! Ponies have a saying that goes that a picture is worth a thousand words, and a thousand is a lot!

PS (that means post scriptum - that’s the “after the letter part”): 65536 told me it was learning all it could about pony surgery to help you get better. I hope it works for you. From all I heard, you’re doing a great job as the leader and it would be a shame if the drones lost you. Good luck, 10000.

Signed: 17070

With shaking hooves, the drone leader carefully folds the letter again, puts it into the back of the envelope, and goes through the photographs with zero interest in how these seemingly perfect pictures were created, only in what’s in them. They follow a theme - depicting a normal, smiling, indistinguishable drone who must be 17070 in various places of what looks like a pony city during different times of the year. Sometimes, the drone is on its own, but the vast majority of the photos are in the company of a bulky stallion 10k doesn’t know and a chubby, adult mare who is vaguely familiar from the drones’ past in the logging camp. 65536, recognizable by its slightly more muscular build and a midnight blue Nightguard neck piece, is only in a couple pictures, meaning that 17070 was taking photos in between 65536’s visits as well.

10k has no idea during which picture it started crying.

65536 isn’t unique. We can make it outside.

Crying but happy. Crappy? No, that doesn’t sound right.

Lost in its own world for now, 10k reads the letter and goes through every single picture over and over and over. It completely misses Shiny Nose’s departure followed by the ravenous drones downstairs stuffing their faces with candy until 99111 distracts them by turning on the new radio on the top floor. A crackly but audible voice comes out of the speakers, and it takes only a couple minutes for all drones to move themselves and the candy to the third floor of the HSC and huddle up and start eagerly listening to what seems to be a story about some pony who really doesn’t like Hearth’s Warming.

“Izzat a music box?”

“It’s a talky box!”

“Shush, the talky box is talking and there’s a tune too!”

“Hard Swarming tale, part two? Did we miss part one?”

“We’ll miss part two too, if you don’t shut up!”

“Oh, right!”

“Boo, Snowfrosty! Boo!”

“Yeah, don’t mix all those weirdly named thingies to take Hard Swarming away!”

“What’s a ghost?”

“No idea, but the voice said it had a sharp slashy! Get Fallfrostysnow!”

“Ha! Slashy threatening worked! Snowfall is giving presents now!”

In 10k’s blurring eyes, this is the best Hard Swarming to date.

Author's Note

You know what? I'm not going to split the finale into 1,5k-2k word parts, just into real chapters.
I'll take a break afterwards.