Tailslide faced her down “Tell me, Amie. Let's say you go forward. Tomorrow night you're in charge on that mountain, what do you do? Equestria already knows how dangerous a queen can be when her hive is threatened. There's a lot of suffering—a lot of funerals. A lot of ponies who don't come home."
Amie stormed over to him, closing the distance in a few strides. She was back to being the smaller of the two, though as a pegasus the difference was less stark. She would still be easy for him to overpower, if he wanted to. The only magic she would get to use was changing into something else. "Don't compare me to her, Tailslide. You know me. You tried to kill me the first time we met, and I saved you. I could've left you and went to Motherlode. I've been alone in the office with the leader of the royal guard watching my tribe—I didn't hurt him."
She turned her back just as quickly, both wings open and her fur standing on end. Pegasai definitely had a posture to reflect the kind of annoyance she felt. "You know me. I don't want to hurt anyone. You want to know what I want to do? Make a treaty with Equestria. My kids don't have to starve, and no ponies have to get hurt. The right pony in the middle can negotiate. The alternative is some idiot like Albrecht or Path. Ponies and changelings are dead because of them. I thought you believed in me. I thought you... you wanted to help us."
A wing wrapped around her shoulder. Tailslide, though his grip wasn't as confident as a few hours before. This conversation had done damage, and it would need to heal. "I want to help you. But I think I... needed to hear that. I believe you—I wouldn't be here if I didn't. I hope there's a way to do what you want."
"Me too," she said. She wiped a few angry tears away from her face. "I don't know how, but there's no time to wait. They made a graveyard—there are already too many gravestones. I don't want there to be any more."
He kept his wing draped over her shoulder. Her smell was different now, but his was familiar. "You've done some amazing things already, Amie. I may not understand what's happening, but I trust that you can find a way through it. Somehow."
She leaned her head against his neck, resting in the familiar warmth. She would find none of this softness among other bugs. Their shells were hard, and not particularly warm. "But you should sleep, Tailslide. You're exhausted, I can feel it."
He lifted his wing, then straightened. "When are you going to your camp?"
"Soon," she admitted. "Tomorrow, probably. Or the next day."
"Tell me when. I want to go with you." He left, wandering over to the bed. Amie wanted to join him, but she couldn't. Instead, she went off to find a candle.
That meant returning to her room—or Wes's room, or the toxic dumping ground for green goo. It had to wear a lot of hats right now. She changed back into her changeling self in the hall. This late at night, there wasn't much danger of being discovered. Tailslide's smell probably wouldn't stick to a shell as well as fur.
There were so many changelings inside that they were practically their own little hive at this point. Her campers were back, along with the three orange bugs. Only her brother was missing, though the shut bedroom door revealed where he had probably gone. Amie would have to ask him what it felt like to sleep on that weird goo.
Rick and Beth both sat by the table, with a half-dozen glass jars between them. These were pony glass taken right from the kitchen, so Amie could clearly see the slightly greenish liquid within.
"Councilor Amie!" Beth was the first one on her hooves, trotting across the room to her and embracing her with one hoof. "We thought you might stay in there all night."
She patted Beth gently on the back, the same way she'd done for many other students many times before. "And you did some excellent work for the Rent-a-Friend. Both of you, I hear."
"Yeah." Beth let go, then looked away. "But this was my last day of the contract. Dawnwind's company is moving her up to Motherlode for a few months. I'm sure we'll be back home by then." She paused, for just a few seconds. "You have hair?"
Amie nodded. "That isn't the only change, but I guess it's hard to miss. I'll tell you about it later."
"Pachu'a already did," Rick added. He stood up, but didn't approach her for a hug. He was too old to admit he wanted one. "You're a nymph now, right? You'll be a queen in the future."
"Do you think anyone else will change too? I'd like hair again. Or... maybe feathers. Feathers are wasted on birds." Beth changed in a little flash of green magic, leaving a hippogriff in her place. Almost the form Amie had taught, but not quite. She was a little younger and smaller, closer to the human girl underneath. "Oh, this came for you too! Your boss gave it to me when he paid me a few days ago, so I assume... Rick and I decided not to open it. Knew you'd be back soon enough to decide for yourself."
She held up an envelope in one claw, offering it to Amie.
Amie took the letter, then turned it over. "I... didn't tell her where to send this. I was going to write her first."
It was addressed to the Rent-a-Friend, though it named Rain Fly and not the company. I don't like this. Ivy Path's name was on the return address, along with the address she'd given Amie. So she was safely in Canterlot, doing whatever it was that her father wanted from her. And more importantly, hunting for Amie's portal spell.
Amie tucked the letter away under one wing, to a palpable wave of disappointment from the assembled bugs. She wanted to know what Ivy Path had written as much as anypony else. But there were other problems to solve, more urgently. She would have to survive her attempt to retake the camp before she could try to send its campers home.
Instead she opened another drawer, and came up with a candle and a lighter. "I'll have to catch up with you both in a bit. The others up in Stella Lacus are waiting to hear from me."
"You can use my tablet if you want," Rick said, pointing. "Signal's stable. We can send encrypted messages directly to Marcus. We... don't know for sure that Albrecht didn't lock him in jail and steal the phone, but we know only his phone can answer it."
Amie nodded gratefully, but didn't try to pick up the phone. Instead she went to the couch, now covered with slime as much as anything else. She used a few books to prop up the candle, then lit it in her magic. "It's good that we have that—but I need something faster." And every time I do this, I'm helping heal those kids.
"Your queen is going to farcast," Pachu'a explained. He sat beside the others of his tribe, reading a pony book. It was one of the old “set dressing” titles that stuffed Amie's shelf. A romance, judging by the roses stamped into the cover. "She will be vulnerable to assassination while not in her body. You must protect her with your lives."
"Queen," Beth repeated. "That feels so weird. Do you want us to call you that?"
Amie shook her head once. "He's right about what I'm... becoming."
"We're eusocial insects," Rick said. "There was a whole debate about it in the life science building. They didn't have proof of any kind of dimorphism, even though we've got a lot of evidence about being sterile."
Amie winced, looking back to the flame. The less she knew about where that evidence had come from, the happier she would be. "Put out the fire if something happens," Amie said. "And shove me if that doesn’t work. I'll be focused on Stella Lacus for a while. Maybe until morning."
She didn't even hear what they said next. Her mind was elsewhere.
Maybe it was the physical proximity to Stella Lacus that made it easier for her to reach out and find the minds she was looking for—or maybe it was just that she had already touched the minds before, and healed their rotting bodies.
She really needed to study that book of Queen Kaya's knowledge. She had purchased it at a high price, she might as well get her bits' worth.
She opened Lily's eyes in the Pioneering cabin. The place was packed with bugs, almost every one of the campers they knew. Though there were no formal markings on the floor or physical blockades to separate everypony, the two separate groups were obvious.
The four bugs Amie had healed sat together in almost the exact center of the building. They would've been right in the middle, if there wasn't a table in the way. They didn't move much, didn't talk to each other, just sat there and watched.
Until Amie stood up, and the other three instantly turned to watch her. Amie's presence captured their focus the same as before.
Her kids were too busy with their own activities to notice what she was doing. Mostly they were packing, with plenty of little conversations going about “what they would do” once they escaped. Amie had promised to help them, and soon she would deliver.
Good thing too, these kids needed a little hope. None of them looked healthy, though none were as bad as the kids standing around Lily's body. I need to find every camper as bad as they are and get them fed, soon.
If there was anything to be hopeful about, it was how much Albrecht hated her kids for Amie's escape. They were the last to eat, the last ones thought about in the relief effort. Hopefully that meant the other sections were in better shape.
Amie began the same way as before, by changing. She used a unicorn this time, the same motherly prospector she had used on the train-ride over. Something felt fitting about a body like that, when she had come to see her kids taken care of.
It fit the body's natural instincts perfectly, and made her taller and bigger than anypony in the room. Even a male like Marcus would have to look up to her.
When her form took shape, she did notice one slight discrepancy from the last time—Amie didn't have a belly like this. That probably meant it wasn't some subconscious thing if Lily's body didn't have it.
"Amie's back!" someone called. Conversations died instantly, and bugs swarmed around her.
Not all—plenty of these kids were out hunting last time, and hadn't seen her. They would only have heard about this new ability, not seen a pony in person.
"You said we had a week," Marcus said, the first one to reach her. He seemed to recognize who she was, despite the new body. But who else among these bugs knew how to transform?
"I know." Amie stood still, letting the smaller bugs get close to her. She picked one girl up onto her shoulders, and gave a kid the age of the other three a little hug. It wasn't just the young ones who wanted to be close to her—even the teenagers surrounded her. Some just wanted to touch her.
The sight of it brought hot tears to her face, and threatened to break her voice. She managed to keep calm, though there was no hiding how much this hurt. They would all feel it. "There's been a change, and I wanted to tell you as soon as I could."
"You're not rescuing us?" said the little voice on her shoulder. Kiraline, she was pretty sure. "You didn't come back to tell us that, did you?"
A few nervous mutters passed through the crowd. She could almost see their heartbreak before it formed.
"No," Amie said hastily, before it could build momentum. "You're getting out. Sooner than you thought. I just need to change your preparations."
She faced Marcus, then rested one hoof on his shoulder. "How fast could you be ready to leave? If I needed you out sooner, could you do it?"
He nodded sharply. "We could leave tonight, if you asked. I've brought everyone back who was hunting. Everyone has their stuff here and ready to go."
The saddlebags were all packed, just as he said. Many looked like they were mostly empty. She had given them precise instructions about what to bring. "I need you to dig out the 50 mile gear. Get more bags—enough for everyone. Carry as much camping gear as you can. Shovels, rope, the pioneering poles. Everything you can carry."
More whispers passed through the room. This time they weren't fear or betrayal, but the same groans she got when she asked them to do something hard.
"I don't know if we're strong enough for that, Amie," Marcus said. "These kids are exhausted. Some of them..." He flicked his wing towards a few lingering on the edges of the room. They watched with listless eyes, barely seeing her. "If we have to carry all that, you might get the gear, but you won't get all your campers."
Amie nodded slowly. "I think... I can help with that. Marcus, pick the strongest campers and get moving our crap out of the storage shed. Everyone else... I know how hungry you are. I'm going to help you. I'm starting with the weakest first, but everyone will get their turn."
She cut through the crowd, to the loneliest bug on the edge of the circle, wearing a hoodie smelling like every awful bug excretion she could think of all in one. He was too listless to notice, or care.
It was going to be a long, painful night.