Amie was in agony.
Her body was small, much smaller than it had been for a long time. Every limb hurt, every inch of her unnaturally soft black coat. This was what it felt like to die.
At first she saw almost nothing, only a plain wood ceiling and the steady white glow of LED lights. But she felt something else, motion moving through the cot beneath her and the floor under that. There were others still alive out there, where she wanted desperately to be.
Amie inhaled, short and sharp. Her breath brought more than air—it brought sentience. Glamour flowed into her body, drawn painfully-slowly along a single invisible thread. She inhaled again, and more pain came with it. She was burning!
By the third breath, she finally had enough strength to do something. She screamed. Her voice was small and high-pitched, and incredibly shrill. She couldn't help it—it hurt so badly!
She searched for another, attentive for any thought that wasn't her own—but there was nothing distinct. It could be her own thoughts, or her own imagination, overwhelmed with the pain this body was in.
A shape blurred overhead, and someone stood over her. It was Marcus, oldest and strongest of her campers. His face was gaunt and his cheeks sunken, but at least he wasn't lying limp in bed like so many others. "Lily? Lily are you—of course you're not alright. Can you hear me?"
Amie's whole body shook, burning under the force of magic she had not received in a long, long time.
"Shit, Marcus, I think she's—should we do something?"
"What do we do?" someone else asked, their features lost in the building amid so many others.
"I'm not sure." Marcus glanced back at the speakers, other bugs that appeared only as dim shapes outside Amie's field of view. "Amie wouldn't want us to let her die, not when... not when there's a chance."
"She's in agony, look at her."
Amie stopped screaming. It still hurt, but the pain was fading now. She jerked, then sat up abruptly, staring around the room.
All her campers weren't here—this was about half. An equal mix of the smaller, helpless ones, and the older kids. That was probably Marcus's doing too, keeping them from making the group too vulnerable.
Every bug in the hall was now staring at her—except for the three other bugs resting obliviously in their cots. Amie shook herself out, whimpering at the awful smell. Bits of pale shell fell away from her sides, as the rotten exoskeleton crumbled. Shiny black replacement grew in its place. She had to reach up to her eyes, removing bits of uneven white from around her face.
"Lily!" Marcus dropped down to one knee beside her. He smiled, warm enough that Amie felt his relief. "Lily, can you understand me?"
Amie nodded. It still hurt all over, but that pain was fading. My real body is giving her glamour. I wonder how much this will cost. She wondered, but the answer would not change what she did. Lily was going to live. When she got the chance, she would have to do the same for the other kids.
"I don't know if she can hear you," said Sydney. "Maybe she's still delirious."
"I can hear you," Amie said. Her voice was so high and childish—Lily's voice. But where were Lily's thoughts to go with it? "But I'm not Lily. I mean... I am, but I'm not right this second."
Marcus and Sydney shared a look. The girl moved closer, resting one foreleg on her shoulder. Even Sydney was huge compared to her now. "Lily, sweetheart. You've been out a long time. I think maybe it... might have you feeling confused."
"Do we have anything to give her?" Marcus asked. "Check the fridge! There must be something left from the last hunt."
A bug opened the mini-fridge, the same one Amie had kept in her staff cabin to cool her stash of snacks and the occasional wine-cooler. They slammed it shut a few seconds later. "Not a scrap, Marcus. Sorry."
"I don't need it." Amie opened her wings, and flapped them rapidly. They buzzed, shaking off thick bits of chitin and revealing healthy wings underneath. "I know... how strange this sounds—"
They were closing in on her. There was no acceptance, only a sense of overwhelming pity and fear. "You should lay down, Lily. You're hurting yourself." Marcus lowered his voice, glancing away from her. "Someone get me a blanket. Biggest one we have."
They're going to restrain me. Amie couldn't let that happen—she didn't even know how long she had, she couldn't spend that time held down, because they thought she was dying.
Besides, she was sick of feeling so small. She closed her eyes a moment, and concentrated on a familiar form. The body didn't know how to do it, but Amie did.
It took longer than the last time. With barely any magic in the little bug, Amie had to wait for more of her own strength to flow between them to power the transformation. By the time she finally started to change, Marcus was standing over her, holding a blanket in his mouth. Then she changed.
She rose, becoming an equal with him in height, and larger in most of the other dimensions. Changelings were quite a bit skinnier than ponies, for reasons she didn't (and might never) fully understand.
Marcus gasped, dropping the blanket he was holding. The other bugs all retreated from her, radiating amazement and fear. Amie spread her new bat wings, trying to get their attention. "Wait! Please don't run away! I'm Amie—kinda. Healing Lily and borrowing her for a bit."
No one ran. There was definitely enough fear in the assembled bugs, but just as much of it was not focused on her. They don't have anywhere to go. She knew it without needing to guess. They all radiated the same thought, more or less. The only authority they could turn to for help was the camp, and Albrecht was hostile. He would probably punish the whole group if they called on him.
"Amie?" Marcus didn't back away like some of the others. Now that he was the same height, his presence there was less intimidating and more pathetic. Every bug in here was woefully underweight. It wouldn't be long before they joined the three comatose campers in their cots.
"You don't look like Amie. She was a bug. You don't... have any holes." Sydney was even less afraid, nudging her side with a foreleg. "How can you be her and not Lily? We saw you just now."
"We saw her do magic," Marcus said. "Her messages have talked about this. All of us can transform. I didn't know we could use... mind control?"
"We shouldn't just trust her. Ask her something only Amie would know."
She raised one leg to silence him before he could even start. There was no time to waste on pointlessly proving who she was, not when Wes was still alone with the Elders, and her bugs here were obviously starving.
"Before the Transit, I told you I would let you take me to dinner after the camp season was over," she said. "Camp rules would make things really awful if I accepted before you graduated."
She should've been embarrassed. Marcus was—his wings opened and vibrated for a few seconds, his first real showing of weakness in front of the other campers. "It's her," he finally said. "We were alone when I—when we had that conversation."
His pronouncement was as good as gold for the bugs. They crowded around her in a rush, so close that they were in danger of knocking the resting bugs out of their cots.
Amie backed deliberately away, so the other injured wouldn't be in danger of being trampled.
She was bombarded with questions. Some of the younger ones didn't say anything at all, but just pressed to her with desperation, hungry for affection from parents they no longer had. Seeing it melted her heart—but there was very little she could do.
Except one, important thing.
"Listen. I've negotiated with Albrecht for your release. It's obvious you're not being well-treated, you weren't given your fair share of the relief I negotiated. I'm getting all of you out, now. I know somewhere you can go where you will have enough to eat. Marcus, pack everyone up. Travel light. You won't need any survival gear, so only bring your personal effects. I don't know if you will ever see Stella Lacus again. Get everyone ready to move. I know the ponies' patrol routes, but we'll have to move fast before they change them."
Marcus watched her in amazement. He was the first to speak. "Can you be sure that Albrecht will let us leave? The camp patrol are like his... gestapo, Amie. They'll beat anyone who tries to fight. Your campers aren't strong enough to live through that."
"He doesn't have a choice," Amie answered. "But I'll talk to him tomorrow. Those other three... I'll need to connect to them like I'm doing with Lily. Hopefully this is enough to help her mind recover as well as her body. If not, I need you to make sure she makes it, along with anyone else. Get stronger kids to help carry them if you have to."
Marcus nodded. "We'll... we'll try. But even if we make it, it will take the last of our strength to get anywhere. Most of us are too weak to fly."
"Don't fly! The ponies guarding you believe we're hostile invaders. They will treat you like an enemy army if they see you. Don't leave without my instruction—just get a topographical map, and have it here in our cabin as soon as you can."
If only she could stay in contact with them forever, she could probably do more. But Amie heard a distant voice, calling her back to her body. Something touched her shoulder, and she let go of the bonds connecting her to little Lily. Hopefully the bug would recover her mind, with a fresh infusion of Amie's magic.
Amie opened her eyes under Sonoma, with Queen Kaya looming overhead. "I felt your success. I did not wish to interrupt you, but we have little time. There is one other matter I must discuss with you before you can reunite with the other bug you brought. Please follow me."
Amie followed without objection. Her mind spun with all the new work she had to do. As soon as this diplomacy was over, there were three other resting bugs who needed her magic. Despite the risk, she would need to borrow them to help plan the escape. It was time to have a personal conversation with Albrecht. Otherwise, she wouldn't lose just a handful of her campers—they would all starve.
They returned to the primary nest, and Queen Kaya began to speak again.
"When you take your leave today, I will send you with this." She held something up then, a book of rough paper bound by a cover of heavy straps. "Here collected is the wisdom I have gathered, which I give to every nymph I send to found a colony of her own. I have removed the secrets that might harm my tribe, but the rest is yours."
She levitated the book towards her, but not quite close enough to reach. Its presence there was as tantalizing as a sizzling steak—or maybe a pony offering her a hug. Amie's wings opened, but she managed to keep them from buzzing and revealing just how eager the prospect made her.
Except that Kaya could read all her emotions, just as she could read hers. "You're just going to give me that? That's... an incredible gift."
"Not quite," the other queen answered. She set it down on a narrow stone bench, then backed away from it. She left it sitting there unguarded, apparently unconcerned that Amie might steal it. "There will be an exchange. Modest, compared to all the knowledge I would share with you. I think you'll find it impossible to refuse."
Her ears flattened, and her wings closed. This was exactly what she was afraid of. "What terms?"
"You will permit me to send a young drone back with you. You will not harm her, and see that she is as well-fed as your own bugs while she is with you. When you build your hive, you will take her into your court, and allow her to watch. Occasionally, I will speak through her."
As she said it, a little black and orange bug appeared from the darkness, standing just beside her. She was so much smaller than the queen, the right age to be one of Amie's own campers. She had a single tattoo inked into her shell over her eye, but no others. Far less than anyone Amie had met so far.
"I am Natane," she said, bowing to Amie. "I will serve you faithfully on my queen's behalf."
Amie looked over at the book, then the little orange drone. She might be nakedly accepting a spy into her midst—but in some ways, Kaya was showing incredible trust. Once back at the colony, an unscrupulous queen could just kill the servant and keep the book for themselves.
The thought repulsed her, but would other changelings respond the same way? What about the blue ones, who attacked Equestria in the open?
Amie held out a hoof to shake. "Nice to meet you, Natane. I'm Amie Blythe—I think you'll like my campers when you get to meet them. They're a bunch of sweethearts who don't deserve what happened to them."
The changeling stared down at her hoof, bewildered. "I... hope so," she said, looking awkwardly away.
"Take that book, Natane," Kaya ordered. "You will carry it with you back to Agate, and protect it with your life. Queen Amie may demand it from you at any time, but you should always get it back when she is finished reading. Do not permit anyone else to read it."
Natane levitated the book up off the table, then tucked it into the small of her back. "Yes, queen. It will be done."