A bug on the edge of starvation had a feel to them that she would never forget. This was the way starvation manifested in their species. It came with physical withering too, damage to the hardened exoskeleton that never quite healed, and a smell.
Those bugs offered her little resistance, far less than when she first worked with Beth and Rick. Physical proximity seemed to help too, or proximity of vision. Reaching them was easier than trying to see the camp from far away.
"I'm going to help you," she said, not sure if those bugs were even awake enough to see what she was doing in the cabin. "Stay calm, it won't take long. It's going to hurt."
Then it hurt. Sometimes more, sometimes less—but each of them was withered from lack of magic. Amie's perception moved to another body, and power flowed. It was the healing that hurt so badly, making her shudder and sometimes drop to the ground completely. Only this time she wasn't alone in her pain. As the body healed, she felt other thoughts beside her. Her campers were frightened, confused, and just wanted the pain to stop.
She got better at it as the night wore on. With Evan, the first, he was in as much control as she was, and started flailing madly, trying to shake the foreign influence out. Amie didn't blame him—but she didn't yield, either.
I'm healing you! she thought, practically screamed to him. I know it hurts, but it won't take long! Just hold still! Her persuasion did little—but eventually she did finish healing him, and the pain stopped. He stood up, now fully alert, and now completely under her control.
What's happening to me?
Relief overwhelmed her—relief that she wasn't too late. Evan hadn't lost his mind. I found a way to heal bugs from far away. I'm almost done, just one more thing. Pay attention, I'm going to teach you something.
Evan—he was always bragging about wrestling, he would probably make a good earth pony—so Amie made him into one. His own age, with a similar orange and black color-scheme as the jacket he'd been wearing. Amie didn't have time to get particularly creative.
"There," she said, through his voice. "That's one." She crossed the short distance to where the next struggling bug lurked, Danelle. She stared blankly at a Switch propped up in front of her. The screen was blank, battery long dead, but she didn't seem to notice.
Danelle fought as hard as Evan, but Amie expected it that time, so she kept her struggles to a few painful spasms. She too seemed to wake up as she healed, and eventually stopped fighting. Amie left her a unicorn, so she could use magic to play that console when she got it charged up again.
Then came Andre, Joyce, and Sonia. With each move, she left a bug that looked like a pony, a bug who was awake and alert, curious about their new form and also enjoying the attention of the other curious members of the cabin. With each new bug, Amie was better able to take control from her first few seconds. By the time she reached the last of her starving campers, she was able to keep them sitting still until the process was complete.
None of it was free. Amie didn't know how to express glamour in the terms Pachu'a did, but she didn't care. There was no price worth losing more of her bugs. The only real limit to how much she could give was the distance. That seemed to stretch her power, attenuating her glamour until it was a trickle.
It would be far faster if she could be in the cabin with the Pioneering kids—but if she waited that long, some of these might not make it.
As the night wore on, the camp filled up with camping gear, and with ponies. Well—mostly ponies. The campers who were later in line—those least in need of healing, often had their own ideas about what she should make them. That made the process of healing them easier too, since they actively welcomed her presence and wanted her to change them.
Then she came to Marcus, the very last in line. "Beth has been telling me about all the different creatures in Equestria. Could you make me a griffon instead of a horse? The claws and beak seem more useful than what horses have."
A griffon—she had seen only a handful of those during her entire time in Equestria. But it wasn't like the form had to be totally original and perfect. "I think so. Hold still."
Even coming and going with camping gear, Marcus had seen the process enough to know what to expect. He was perfectly cooperative, making for a transformation that took only a few seconds.
Then she was back in Lily's body. She could've used any of the four, but Amie had already decided her plan. She would focus on one patient, and see how long it took to heal her. Then she would know how to divide her resources most efficiently.
"Do you have everything you need?" Amie asked. Lily was still the pegasus she'd left her—the new “worker” hadn't changed back on her own initiative. Could she, even? More to research. "Marcus, did you finish packing?"
"More or less," he said. His voice was different now. While most of the other kids sounded closer to their human selves, Marcus was just another flavor of strange. High, but still masculine somehow. Beaks were weird.
"Why did you want to teach us this?" someone else asked. She was a pegasus now, apparently fascinated by her feathery new wings. "I don't know how we're supposed to make camp think that something isn't happening. Maybe you should've changed us after."
"No..." Amie said. "Because knowing how to go one way means you know how to go back, if you want to. Everyone here should practice switching back and forth—probably a little more once you have food. It uses magic, so actually don't unless you have to." She strode through the crowd of gathered ponies, directly to the table.
The map Marcus had brought was more accurate than anything she had. Her own had to be hand-sketched off a snapshot from a phone screen. This was an original, with all the detail of the ones hanging in Albrecht’s private study.
"You should know where you're going. You should also... not need me to tell you that this is a secret. We aren't abandoning the rest of camp, I'm just getting you all to safety." She pointed on the map with one hoof. Technically it was outside the camp's boundaries, though still well within "their mountain."
"Marcus. This is where you're getting everyone. Not the old hotel, that place is condemned and super unsafe. The mine itself."
Silence descended on the cabin. She felt their eagerness melt away. Most didn't know what she was pointing at, but the few that did radiated disappointment that quickly spread. Even Marcus raised an eyebrow. "The 'authentic gold rush silver mine'?" he asked, speaking slowly. "You want us to hide in a... tourist trap? I assume it's a first stop on the way to getting everyone out. Closer to the pony blockade, so it's faster to leave?"
"Yes," she said. "It's half an hour's walk from the edge, which is..." She had to take a pencil in her mouth, since she didn't have the magic as a pegasus. She had seen these maps a dozen times in Agate Base, so it wasn't hard to make them accurate here. "But it needs to be close enough to camp."
She turned away from the map, facing her bugs. "Everyone—you're the toughest bunch of kids I've ever had. You've made it through things that plenty of adults couldn't. It's not fair what Albrecht put you through, and that ends today. But there's another side to it—we can't leave the rest of Stella Lacus behind. If something doesn't change, all your friends who aren't in this room are going to starve."
"Why should we help?" someone demanded. An earth pony near the front—Amie had already lost track of everyone's new forms. "No one stopped Albrecht from treating us the way he did. No one fought him. I say they deserve him. He's the one they wanted."
Some mutters of agreement passed through the crowd. But they didn't go unopposed.
"Do we have to leave Lisa behind?" asked Danelle. "She works in the greenhouse."
"My little brother is in woodshop, I have to get him!"
"My uncle is still in maintenance, I think he'd want to—"
Amie smacked her hoof down, spreading her wings as big as she could. That silenced the conversation. "Deep breaths, everyone. We're not leaving them behind. Here's the truth—this camp, it's the only little piece of our home we have. We can make it safe, we can make it comfortable, we can make sure there's plenty of food. Once we're safe, we can start looking for a way home."
She pointed at the map again. "That mine—it only has one entrance. If we had to, we could close the whole thing off, and stop Albrecht or someone else from getting us inside. With a little work, we could build comfortable housing for..." everyone in Stella Lacus.
"...everyone here. Marcus, keep everyone together. The first floor has a visitor's center, set up the tents there, as far back from the entrance as possible. When you're inside, I don't want anyone outside to know you're there. We can make more plans when I reach you. Can you all do that?" She looked around the room, focusing briefly on every camper in front of her.
"This won't be easy—but I know you can do it. Stay together, move fast. I should be able to get to you... tomorrow night, that should be enough. Marcus, get everyone into that mine before sunrise."
He saluted. "Can't you come with us? Or... whatever you're doing."
"No. I have to wake up now. The mine is further from me than it is from you."
She turned again, pushing gently through the crowd until she reached the three silent bugs. These “workers” were the only ones who still looked like changelings. "Obey Marcus's instructions. Follow the group when they leave. Stay close, and don't wander. I'm going to heal you too... as soon as I can."
"Can we..." Marcus began. "Amie, could we speak for a minute before you go? In private?"
She nodded, waving him towards her office. The door was open, into what was basically an empty closet at this point. At one point they had used the room for sleeping space, but not anymore. Everyone's sleeping bags were already packed.
She shut the door behind them. How much privacy it would actually give them, she couldn't know.
"You sure about this plan?" Marcus asked, as soon as the door was shut behind them. "Even if Albrecht promised that we could leave, he can't control his goons all the time. Some of them have their own ideas about what should happen to us. They might act on those feelings."
"That's why we're leaving right now. It's earlier than I told Albrecht. It should throw them off."
"Maybe." He closed the distance, so he could whisper directly into her ear. "They'll follow our tracks. If we don't get past the border, they'll find us eventually. It's not about if, it's about when."
She nodded. Amie couldn't know for sure if his goons would really be petty enough to attack children like that. But even if they didn't, she was about to take control of the food supply. They would come. They would bring weapons. They would try to kill her, personally. She'd already felt that rage once.
"I'm going to depose Albrecht," she whispered right back, as quietly as she could. "He's a great administrator, but a shit dictator. This mine—it's somewhere you can all be safe if my plan doesn't work."
"Oh." He grinned. "I should've known you had a plan. I hope you'll let me help."
Amie nodded. "For now, just keep the others safe. You've done a fantastic job so far. It's good to know I have someone I can trust."
He leaned even closer to her, breath hot against her cheek. "You know Amie, camp's over. When the dust settles... you should let me take you out."
"I..." Her cheeks lit up, and both wings opened. I can't tell him now. "Sure. When Stella Lacus is safe. You can take me out. It's a date."
She backed away from him, then opened the door again. The longer she remained, the better his chances of sensing what embarrassed her. Hopefully he just thought she was too shy to admit she was attracted to him.
She changed Lily back, then moved back into the cabin with the others. Many of the campers inside were already wearing saddlebags, or helping others put them on. I'll see you all at the silver mine.
Amie closed Lily's eyes, then opened her own.