//------------------------------//
// Chapter 32 
// Story: Don't Bug Me 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Amie stayed with him through the night. She helped with the painful preening process Tailslide had been putting off for weeks, watching as he tore out broken and damaged feathers, and put the rest in order. They talked over tea, then he finally collapsed into her bed of stuffed toys and pillows. 

She stayed with him for another hour, until he'd finally drifted off to sleep. She never dozed off for more than a few minutes before she was ready to get up again, brimming with energy. 

She watched him for a little longer, her mind racing. She could do a lot worse than Tailslide—how much braver and more dedicated could a pony be? When Stella Lacus had first arrived in Equestria, she would've been disgusted with herself for even considering...

She still remembered that she should be bothered, the same way she knew the color of the sky and remembered what her parents' faces looked like. But she could no longer explain why it would've bothered her. Ponies were weird. She was a bug; she was even weirder.

That was the real root of the problem, the reason she hadn't pressed him. She was a bug, one of the monsters Equestria hated and feared. Tailslide had already lost enough by sticking up for her kind. If they ended up in a relationship, they might think he was totally subverted, maybe throw him right into jail when she went.

Tailslide had already lost enough.

Maybe one day she would know what it was like to have someone hold her in their wings and tell her it was okay. But if that happened today, it would be a lie. Stella Lacus wasn't okay. Her campers were starving, and winter was coming. Maybe once she heard back from Pachu'a. If they started trading with camp, and food was coming in, then she could relax. They were adults, they could take care of themselves.

Amie got up, and went to pack for her hike. She didn't change back—didn't want to think of what Tailslide would feel if he woke up to a bug. So she had to feel her way around in the dark, levitating in anything that looked vaguely useful. Ivy would have most of what they needed when she got there.

Morning came with the whistle. Tailslide shot out of bed, eyes wild. He caught himself in a hover, scanning the room. "How did I—" He stopped, then saw her. Amie sat in a nearby bean-bag chair, reading to the faint glow of her horn. "You didn't sleep?"

"Bugs don't," she answered, snapping it closed. She tossed the satchel over her shoulder, then bounced over to him. "Listen. I'm camping with my client these next few days. But I want to see you when I get back. When are you flying home?"

He stopped right beside her, close enough for her to feel his hot breath on her face. "I'm not leaving until Equestria agrees to help the changelings trapped in the isolation zone," he said. "That means I'll be here. Well, not here." He glanced nervously to the window. "Working. Saving. Figuring something out."

She wrapped one foreleg around his, holding him in place. "Spend the night here. There's a balcony—just fly in after it gets dark. I'll leave it unlocked. If Bud comes in, tell him you're my boyfriend. Nothing in my contract says I don't get one."

"Lie," he said. "I don't like lying. That's the whole reason I'm staying in the first place. I wouldn't forget what I saw, and adopt the same stupid lie we're all supposed to believe. I won't lie about that either."

Amie leaned up to him, then kissed him. Not as long as she wanted to—but they both had places to be. She let go of him a second later, beaming. "It's only a lie if you say no. I'm serious, stay here. If you wait until after dark, you can go over to my brother's room. Tell him who you are, he knows about you. He'll share our groceries so you can eat."

Tailslide wasn't stunned like he had been the night before. His coat was crisp, his eyes alert. He reached over to her, touched her shoulder. "Okay, Amie. I'll stay. Why are you going camping?"

She whinnied in protest, retreating from him. She was supposed to be there in a few minutes, and she still had to cross Agate. Ivy wanted to leave before her father could tell them no. "It's a long story. But the client, she's a good kid. Well—dad's the client, but that's a story for later." She tossed her satchel onto her shoulder, then waved again. "Follow me out the stairs, but wait until I'm gone. And—don't describe your girlfriend looking like me. If anypony asks, I'm a pegasus. Commander Path does not need to learn the stallion he hates is dating his daughter's best friend."

She darted out the door before he could argue the point, then right down the stairs. There was no time to check on her brother—he'd just have to make do on his own for another day. He wasn't helpless now—so long as he could stay a unicorn, ponies wouldn't give him any trouble. 

Amie galloped her energetic way across town. She barely noticed as she dodged her way between the miners and factory workers, busy with their daily drudgery. She was probably better off moving things slow anyway. She had no idea how relationships worked in this world. Even if her mind had adjusted to the way she looked, there could be all kinds of other customs she didn't understand. Maybe Ivy could tell her, if she could find a subtle enough way to ask.

She flashed her keychain at the gate, and found Ivy just inside, standing over a pair of military-issue saddlebags. She had a little pile of cans left over, though there wasn't a lot of room left to put them. She looked up as Amie approached, relieved. "Almost finished getting ready. I was about to search my dad's office for you all over again."

Amie nodded. "Sorry! I planned on being earlier before, but I got a little distracted. We still beat the sunrise by a few minutes!" She settled her satchel into the open place on the heavier-looking bag, then fastened it closed. "Leave out those last few cans. I don't eat much when I'm on the trail."

"You don't eat much ever," Ivy said. She fastened the saddlebag closed with her mouth, then crawled into it without magic. "Are you sure you don't want these?"

"Positive." Amie urged her towards the gate. "If I'm wrong, I'll forage." They didn't bother bringing a few extra cans to the quartermaster, but walked straight back out the gates the way they'd come. Ivy broke into a trot, and Amie kept pace with her, despite the gear.

Amie could keep up the pace for hours, if she had to. Her body might look like a pony, but the strength she needed was in the magic she ate. She was always full. Fortunately they didn't keep up that pace for the whole trip. As soon as they were outside Agate's walls, they slowed to a stop, and Ivy took out the map.

She levitated it in front of her, only a little shaky in the air. "So if I'm reading this right, we go left at the first fork, but instead of continuing up to Motherlode, we'll turn west, away from the Changeling Isolation Zone. The trailhead should be another half mile that way."

Amie took her turn with the map, nodding after a short time. "That's right! Wish I could take credit for you knowing how to do that one, but this is all you."

Ivy giggled, folding the map closed. "At least I learned something after all the years of my life I've wasted with tutors. Too bad for my dad it wasn't any of the skills he wanted."

They walked together up the trail, passing the occasional cart of ore or traveling miner going one way or the other. Amie kept an eye on their feelings, but there was never anything dangerous. Equestria was a friendlier place than the nation she left behind. Besides, anyone who attacked them would be in for quite the surprise—so long as she could get her pack open in time.

They spoke as they walked, wandering from topic to topic until they reached the first fork. There was a break in the trees on all sides as they ascended a ridge, with a clear view in both directions. Ivy turned east without hesitation, but Amie stopped on the rocks, squinting off the other direction. There was the black asphalt of the highway, cutting in a black streak straight up the mountain. She could make out the gas station's sign clearly, and the glitter of reflective glass from further up. Maybe that was the greenhouse, or a solar panel? 

She strained her emotional senses, reaching for any survivors who might be there. Maybe she would find one of her boys out foraging, and she could pass a message back?

She had so much extra magic, so much that it didn't even feel rare. She would feel guilty about wasting it if she knew the secret of bottling it, but Amie hadn't figured that out yet.

Besides, she'd still have to get it to her kids, even if she could. She was separated, unable to do a damn thing to help them. She might as well be a thousand miles away.

"Worried about the changelings?" Ivy asked, coming up onto the ridge beside her. "The whole reason I'm here. Monsters living among us, plotting to strike."

Amie opened her eyes again, looking sidelong at her. "You think he's right? They're as bad as everypony says?"

Ivy's eyes widened. "You don't? I heard hundreds of ponies died in Canterlot."

She should say nothing. But Amie wasn't exactly making a lot of wise choices, lately. "Look onto the mountain there. See that black line, with the shiny green sign by it?"

Ivy shielded her face with a hoof, leaning forward. After another second, she nodded. "Yeah. So what?"


"The changelings who invaded Canterlot didn't build, they just took. These bugs built themselves a home. I think they might not all be the same. Like—ponies. We have tribes, pegasi and earth ponies and unicorns. What if changelings had tribes too?"

Ivy touched her shoulder, then turned away. "I never thought about it like that. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. But if those bugs aren't bad, why wouldn't they try to talk to us by now?"

She shrugged. "You think your dad would listen? The guard would probably kill them on sight. Once they crossed the river, they'd be dead without even knowing why."

The unicorn whistled. "I guess... Is it wrong if I hope they're the same ones? At least that way it's bad creatures trapped here, instead of someone who just doesn't know better."

"Guess so." She didn't turn away, staring out over the horizon. Her kids were so far away, but there was something out there. A shadow she recognized, just out of sight. But maybe—no. It didn't matter how hard she stretched. Something held back her magic, a barrier she would have to find a way to break. 

Amie followed Ivy away from the cliff, then up the trail.