//------------------------------//
// Chapter 69 
// Story: Don't Bug Me 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

A ripple of fear passed through Amie's fresh hunters. A few stood up, shifting towards the doors. Only Rick and Beth were unaffected.

Amie inclined her head to him, then gestured at the hall. "Outside. Everyone else, I'll be right back."

Pachu'a followed her from the room, then down the hall to where Rain Fly had once made her bedroom. Inside she found a space more or less as she left it, with the possible exception of a few fresh claw marks on the wood. So Beth had been using it with her hippogriff persona.

At least she kept the place clean. No new green slime had ruined any of her furniture. "You made it into Agate," she said, as soon as the door clicked closed behind them. "I fail to see why you needed to panic my campers."

Pachu'a remained close to the door, ready to bolt. Though whether he intended to run from her, or something worse—she couldn't know. "Nothing has changed in Agate since our last visit, honored queen. Consider that a moment. There are no new guards—no enhanced patrols—no fresh soldiers crowd the streets."

"That sounds... great!" She crossed to the window, peeking outside. There was no visible difference from her memory. The streets outside were quiet and dark. Hardworking ponies usually slept with the sun. Including one in particular that she wanted to see again.

"I'm sorry, why are you panicking over that? Isn't that exactly what we want?"

He crossed the room in a burst of motion from his feathers, landing on the window seat in front of her. "Because, honored queen, you revealed yourself to that mare during our hike together. The ponies know their city is compromised. They know, and we see no different."

He yanked the curtains away from her hoof, then hopped back down again. "The equestrians are barbaric and simple in their instincts, but they are not stupid. If we do not see their preparations, it means they cannot be seen. It does not mean they make none. A noose is curling around your neck, waiting to tighten. You must escape it and relocate your hunters."

Amie settled down into a sitting position. "There's another option. Maybe I got through to her—maybe she's second guessing the genocide angle. Maybe Sweetie Drops knows that if she does anything to lock the city down, it could spark off a war. But what she really wants is a diplomatic solution."

Pachu'a laughed in her face, loud and bitter. "Diplomacy with barbarians is impossible. Forgive me, honored queen—but you speak like the youngest nymph, freshly born. I warn you this last time: do not allow your naivete to claim the lives of these bugs. Trust the ways of those who have survived in hostile lands."

With each word, he grew increasingly despondent, fearful. She could not conceal her true feelings. She was not convinced.

"You're as doomed as the mad queen," he said, turning to go. "You and your tribe, opposites of the same coin. Proof of the need for balance. They were vicious and cruel, burning the forest instead of taking wise stewardship. Your madness will end in the death of many. The ancestors grant you see the folly in your actions before it is too late."

He left. Si'tsi joined him in the hall, and they made for the stairs. 

Amie rose, then followed him. "Is this the best our future could be, Pachu'a?" 

He stopped, glancing back at her. "Death?"

"Hiding. Running, fighting, killing. There's a better way."

Si'tsi shook her head slowly. "Will the ponies give up oats next? Will the spider stop spinning her web? Impossible." They vanished down the steps, leaving her standing motionless in the hall.

Tailslide should've heard that. Must be exhausted from that stupid job. 

But she couldn't go to him yet—there was one task remaining to her. 

Wes appeared in the doorway, silent. Until the door clicked, and the hunters vanished into the night. "He didn't convince you?"

She shook her head once, stepping back in. Her campers crowded in close, watching her eagerly. 

"He might be right about the danger—I don't know." She tugged the door closed. "We could live the way he wants. We could stay moving, stay on the run, hiding and hunting forever. It works for their tribe. They've done it for centuries."

"But he didn't convince you," Beth prompted. "They were so afraid."

Amie nodded. "They've spent so long hiding from ponies they don't understand them—but I do. You do too, Beth What have you learned?"

"They're... people?" she suggested. "A little weird sometimes. My client is such a boomer. But she means well... just wants a bird to be her friend."

"Exactly." Amie gestured at the window. "They've been hurt. They're scared. But we can get through that to the other side and find the people underneath. If we can do it for them, the ponies can do it for us."

"We aren't in danger?" Sydney prompted. "They wouldn't really hurt us, that's what you're saying."

"No. Unfortunately... no. We're still in danger, the same amount I warned you about. You can't get caught out there no matter what." She turned on Beth. "That goes double for you and Wes. When you go north, you'll be on your own."

Amie wasn't even sure her magic would work at that distance. At least Beth wasn't starving anymore. So long as she stayed on good terms with Wes, she wouldn't even need to hunt. 

"Not alone," Rick said, before either of them could say anything. "I'm going with them too. Two isn't enough."

Amie winced. Her wings twitched open, and she forced them closed again. "Rick, you're an expert on Equestria now. I need you back in Stella Lacus teaching more hunters."

He hurried forward, settling another full jar onto the table in front of her. Glamour, one of several that he and Beth had filled. Not as much as the relief mission of course, but still a significant sum. Amie didn't see it as a volume anymore—she imagined how many mouths it would feed. Two hundred bugs would eat a single meal from the contents of that jar. Every drop stockpiled in the apartment would feed her bugs for a week.

Inadequate. Better than nothing.

"Make do," he said. "Beth and I have been together since... the start. She goes, I go. Or Wes can do it alone. Your brother knows how to be a pony too."

My magic won't work on him. She couldn't entertain this argument much longer, or else let slivers of doubt and disagreement work their way into her hunters. They needed confidence now more than ever. "Alright, Rick. You've earned it. But the same warning. Where you go is dangerous. Their capital, then the north. We don't even know what we'll find there. And I expect you to listen to whatever Wes tells you. This is his mission."

Beth nodded. "We can do that. We can change on our own now, Amie—both of us. With that and some money, we'll be ghosts. Wes already explained everything. Meet your old friend, let you take over for a bit, learn the secret magic to travel the worlds. Then north to… wherever's far north. Get up there, get home safe. Sounds more fun than living in a mine."





The next few hours were not easy exactly, but they were at least straightforward. Amie had already planned it all out—building the team that would carry their magic back, traveling out the other direction as hikers before diverting around the city and doubling back. The others would stay, taking on Beth and Rick's clients, or new ones. Amie hadn't just picked the bravest bugs, but the most outgoing, friendly bugs she knew.

For the hunters, Amie helped them take new forms, and gave advice on what their job would be, before finishing with one last admonition about safety. "Marcus. Remember everything we talked about."

He nodded. "Intranet checking every morning and night. Always come back to this building the same way we left. Don't hurt the locals. If you're caught, take the money and run, don't go straight back to camp."

She nodded gratefully, then stood up. "Morning's coming soon. Might want to review for your first hunt. Maps are there... we've got a few campers here who can answer your questions about living in Equestria. I have to talk to Tailslide before work."

If only she could make the trip in person, she could do more than talk to him. But not when she wasn't in her own body. 

One door down the hall, and she reached her bedroom—another identical space among many. A pony slept within, soundly despite the drama transpiring outside his door. But considering how hard Tailslide worked, that didn't surprise her.

The door wasn't locked, so she slipped in without trouble, clicking it closed behind her. Not that she expected any of her campers to try and follow, but she couldn't be sure. 

She approached the bed as silently as a bat. Maybe it would be kinder just to let him rest. But Amie couldn't talk about friendship and honesty with her campers while ignoring it herself. This pegasus deserved a little of it from her.

"Hey," she whispered, as gently as she could. "Tailslide. You with me?"

He cracked open one eye, focusing on her. "Amie?"

"Yes and no. I'm... not really here. This is changeling magic."

He sat up abruptly. "Amie. You need to know what happened. There was this pony—she wanted to talk about you." 

"Sweetie Drops," she suggested. "Earth pony? Cream coat, blue and pink mane? Curly?"

He touched her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. "You fought her on the road? An agent of the Crown? Amie... I told you not to get into trouble! You promised!"

You don't want to know what's happening at camp right now either. She settled down beside him on the bed. She resisted any attempt to move further. It didn't matter how badly she wanted to get closer, she wouldn't do it with someone else's body. "It wasn't supposed to get violent. I just did what you tried to do—told a pony the truth. I thought she might listen to me."

"She... knew a lot. About the battle by the river. Motherlode, you saving me—she knew it all."

Amie nodded. "Did she sound... convinced? Do you think it made a difference?"

"Hard to tell. Knowing what she did—she could've arrested me. But she didn't. That seems good. She did say I shouldn't leave town, but that's it."

Amie chuckled. "Guess I probably shouldn't... tell you what I came to tell you, then. If she doesn't want you leaving."

Tailslide squeezed a little harder with both wings, holding her still. "Whatever it is, I deserve to know, or you wouldn't be worried about it."

More than you know. "Well, I... I don't know how to tell you this..." She pulled free of him, wings opening halfway. Maybe she could fight hard enough to keep her body still, rebelling against all instinct in the process. She tucked her tail, and her ears pressed flat. "You know that... what we were doing... sometimes there are consequences, right? When two ponies are together..."

His eyes got wider. He hopped out of bed, rising to his hooves. "I know the kinds of things that can happen. Are you saying that your transformation is so good... you can get—"

If it was, Amie probably wouldn't know. Surely the act of changing form again would destroy such nascent life before it began. "I think it must be... more magical than that." It was her following him this time, across the room. "I thought you might want to know, since—you're involved. I think they'll be little bugs, not ponies. Maybe you'd... rather not hear this. The whole process sounds super gross, probably lots of goo and slime and straight out of Alien shit. 

"But you deserve to know, even if it's just so you can run as far away from here as possible. Wouldn't blame you."

She didn't have to wonder what he was feeling. Sickly fear, nervous energy, disgust. But something won out over all of that, stronger by far. He wrapped both wings around her again, holding her still. "I'm not going to run, Amie. Whatever this is... you shouldn't have to go through it alone. Are you coming back to live here?"

She shook her head. "N-no. Already... getting harder to travel. I think I'll have to stay where I am until the process is done. I'll use magic to go further, like what I'm doing now. But mostly I'll lay around and... run things."

"Then I'll join you. You need protection. And I want to see—no matter how gross it gets."

Was there a limit to how much love could travel through Farcasting? If so, Amie didn't encounter it then. The stallion didn't have to do anything to her—his oath was enough.