"You must be planning to turn the other way," Amie said conversationally. As she spoke, the mist parted on the mountains ahead. It revealed the even grade of the highway, stretching with three lanes in each direction. Aside from a little debris, the highway was in perfect shape.
Without a word exchanged between them, they both stopped walking, staring up the mountain. At this scale, Stella Lacus was relatively hard to see. Its cabins were thoroughly surrounded by the trees, and daytime meant no lights for paths and buildings. Only the little cul-de-sac of real houses owned by some of the camp staff was clearly visible from here, since they all kept clear of nearby trees.
"I probably shouldn't talk about it," the mare said. "You're in enough danger just walking this way. There are so few royal guards to patrol such a large area. We might not know if changelings were loose until it was too late."
She shrugged. "Of course, of course. You don't have to tell me anything. I'm just... wondering aloud. Strange to hear about, stranger to see for myself."
"It continues all the way across the new mountain," Sweetie Drops said. "Unlike anything I've ever seen. Even the Crystal Empire doesn't have highways like that. Nopony knows what they're for, or why the changelings need them." They started walking again, much slower this time. There was a lot to look at, from a pony perspective.
Amie spoke casually, as though she were remarking on something out of mild interest. "The whole mountain looks like someone ripped it out of another world. I bet the road connected with something on either end."
The mare nodded. "That's the theory. An incredible spell, meant to put them right in vulnerable territory. But we're confident they weren’t able to exit the mountain before the guard arrived. For all the reasons I discussed with you—we would know if they got loose."
"Seems like a strange way to attack," Amie said. "Teleporting a whole mountain here is as obvious as you could get. Why wouldn't they limit their magic to one place—a fortress. Or maybe even a group of changelings out in the open, teleporting none of the ground along at all. Then you'd never know where they came from."
Sweetie looked sharply in her direction. For the first time that morning, she was really looking at Amie. She stopped right in the center of the path, eyes intent. "If you're IA, you've really outdone yourself. I didn't know there were spells to fake a pregnancy. Prosthetic, maybe?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Amie said, with absolute confidence. "What's an IA?"
"Internal Affairs," she said. "Insight like that—come on, Silver. Miners can't analyze an invasion."
Amie shrugged, keeping her face impassive. "It's all in plain sight, miss. I don't need to be from the guard to think through what's happening."
The mare patted her shoulder once—or that's what it looked like. Her leg slid down Amie's side when she did it, so she brushed against the edges of her belly. She's looking for a prosthetic. Of course, she found nothing, and soon she relaxed.
"If that's true, you might consider another career," she said. "You're wasted as a miner. But you should wait until the little one grows up, there's a lot of travel."
She didn't have to force a smile this time, she was beaming quite naturally. "You think I should join SMILE? I don't know if I'm cut out for that, miss. I just have some—some ponies I'm looking out for."
The mare nodded back. "Of course, seeing the flaw in another's theory is the easy part. What do you think is actually happening? Before you ask, don't. I can't tell you what I think."
Amie forced a laugh. "I wasn't going to. I'm just surprised you care what I think. Just a mother who knows a thing or two about mining and keeping her kids safe. That's it."
"It's alright if you don't have any ideas," Sweetie responded. "Few ponies do. This mountain is a mystery."
"I didn't say that." Amie slowed, looking up the slope again. She could see the occasional black shape moving in the gloom up there. What she feared to see wasn't black though, but a mixture of vivid colors. If her campers hadn't made it in time, the old hotel and mine entrance were definitely visible from the base of the mountain.
"I know what happened."
The mare was still grinning. "If that's true, I'll put in a recommendation for you myself. The mare who cracked the Motherlode changeling infestation will be a hero."
Infestation. She tried not to let her frustration show. She kept her voice neutral. "They didn't bring a covert group and attack because they aren't an invasion. They don't even want to be here. I think if they knew how, they would already have gone home, and left Equestria in peace."
"Didn't think there were any ponies who still felt that way," Sweetie said. Her voice had changed—instead of sounding impressed, she was patronizing. "Don't forget, changelings can't be peaceful. They're obligate parasites. They have to hunt to survive. We've seen them killing anything they can get their hooves on."
The fork wasn't far ahead. Even with the fog, she could see the dim outlines of three “unicorns” waiting on the road. They lingered on the Motherlode side but didn't continue up the hill. They were still too far away to overhear, if they were trying to talk. But it wouldn’t be long now.
Amie went right along. Even if her voice was casual, her focus was intent, watching the mare's movements and emotions. The other changelings knew the danger much better than she ever could. "But did you wonder why those buildings were so big—why these changelings didn't act the way you expected? Both questions have the same answer: they aren't supposed to be changelings. They weren't changelings, until they got there."
The patronizing feeling vanished. Amie sensed something else in its place—confidence, maybe even a little relief. "So, you are IA? That was Princess Luna's theory, if I recall. You could just be honest about overseeing this mission."
Amie ignored the remark. She was already committed to this path now, there was no going back. "When they got here, they didn't want to invade. They were confused, lost, and terrified. They looked like monsters, suddenly they couldn't eat any of the food they had in storage. They reached out with their technology, but no one answered their radio transmissions, and there were no satellites in orbit. They were on another planet."
Sweetie Drops stopped in her tracks, blocking the path ahead. "Go on then, Silver. Which office are you with? I know everypony in the Canterlot office, so it must be... Manehattan? Of course, it would be Manehattan. If you're going to reprimand me for warning a pregnant mare of the dangers of living here, I'll accept the demerit with pride. It was the right thing to do."
"It was," she agreed. "But don't you want to hear the rest? I'm telling you exactly what happened. It's okay, you can be the one to take credit. I only care about keeping everyone safe."
She felt a flicker of tension from ahead of them—at least one of the bugs was listening. All three outlines were gone from the path ahead. But Sweetie was facing Amie, she couldn't see. She reached into her bag with her magic, shuffling it up towards the top past many sealed jars.
"You've learned more than home office?" she asked, eyeing Amie's belly. "Looking like that? You could never make it onto that mountain and back. A mother's love is one of the strongest things there is—they'd be drawn to you like sharks. Unless it's a spell."
Of course, it wasn't, but Amie didn't respond. "Those buildings up on the mountain—they're part of something called an adventure camp. It's a place for children to go over the summer, to hike and climb and explore out in the mountains. There's no army up there—only helpless, terrified children. They don't want war with Equestria, they just want to go home to their parents."
Now she sensed doubt, and more. The mare's emotions became harder to read the more Amie said. "Not possible. Changelings are monsters—they can't be reasoned with. They don't negotiate, they don't compromise, they don't control their hunger. They don't have children, just bigger and smaller monsters. I've seen them kill when they were half your height. Seen it, True Silver."
"I can prove it," she argued. Amie levitated something out of her bag—her phone. It was already on. She took out her foil-wrapped stylus, using that to navigate to the photo gallery. She moved slightly to one side, closer to the mare, so she could see the screen easily.
Amie took hundreds of photos, sorted into folders by camp cohort. Their parents would want photos to hang on the wall of their brave little adventurers climbing rope bridges and building shelters out in the woods.
She chose the last cohort's folder, the one she hoped was hiding in the mine right now. They might be close enough to see her standing there, if the fog cleared and one decided to poke their head out towards the freeway.
"This is what they looked like before—last group of summer. I always take a photo on the first day, so we see a contrast with when they go home. See how shy they are—new kids always act like that. You can tell who has been to Stella Lacus before from their face."
Sweetie's mouth fell open. She leaned in close, where she had the clearest view of the screen. "Explain what you mean. And tell me who you are—this has gone on long enough."
Amie stuck the phone back into her pack, then cinched it closed. "The changelings who invaded Equestria were led by an evil queen. They traumatized your whole country. Innocent ponies died. But maybe the bugs living on the mountain aren't that way. Maybe they don't want to hurt anyone."
Then she changed. Amie abandoned her pony disguise, returning to the changeling queen she really looked like underneath. In this case, the pony disguise was so close to her real size that the saddlebags didn't even feel loose. She was a little taller than Sweetie Drops, a little leaner, with the angular look of a changeling. Except for the soft underbelly, of course.
"I don't want to hurt you, or anypony else," Amie said. "I don't want to invade, and I don't want a war. I just want to go home."
Amie knew what kind of reaction she would get—she'd known and decided to try anyway. What mare was better placed to accept the truth of her situation than a mare who had already been inside the camp before?
Even she was taken aback by the change. Sweetie Drops had been so friendly before, almost protective of the young mother going into danger with her little family. She had even gathered a little glamour from her that way, the quantity growing as the earth pony got to know her and her feelings grew.
Nothing as powerful as Ivy or Tailslide, of course. Adding a lie between them attenuated the magic just like trying to control a drone at a great distance.
Amie had only once seen aggression like this from a pony, when the royal guards descended from the sky into deadly combat. Sweetie backed off, crouching low. Her ears folded backward; her eyes locked on Amie. There was magic too—with all four hooves on the ground, this earth pony was rooted magically to the spot. If someone shot her, the bullet would probably glance off her coat rather than penetrate.
She still didn't know the limits of pony magic, and what she did know was restricted to unicorns. "This whole time—what did you do with the real True Silver? You must've interrogated her for a long time to know her that well—is she trapped on your mountain right now? She... tried to move to Motherlode, just like you pretended. And you captured her on the border."
Amie shook her head vigorously. She was only about a meter from the mare. Too close, given the power an earth pony could probably manifest. If Sweetie Drops attacked her, she might kill her.