Amie wasn't sure how long they waited in the ruins of an interrogation room. There were no windows, and the ponies didn't stick clocks in their prison cells.
At least the soldiers didn't try to lock them up again, or return with fresh restraints. They backed out the door, then split into two groups. One aimed their weapons inward, the other out at the hall, sending anypony who approached away in different directions.
Without restraints, there was plenty here Amie might use as a weapon. But if it came down to fighting through a whole castle—there was no point. She had called for the princess, now it was time to see that through to its conclusion.
After a few minutes, Beth couldn't keep up the act anymore, and she rushed over to join Amie. She pressed her head to Amie's chest, close enough to feel her racing heartbeat. The camper didn't seem so small by comparison when Amie used the body of a tiny bat. "I should've known you wouldn't leave," she whispered.
Love radiated from her, as powerful as a child for her mother. Beth's feelings were pale shadows no longer. Her gratitude and loyalty nourished Amie as richly as any pony could.
It wasn't quite enough for the guards not to overhear. Pony ears could be sharp, bat ears most of all. She'd seen at least one thestral out there, no less suspicious of her than the rest.
Amie rested one protective wing around her, the same as she would've done to the youngest of her campers when they needed support. "I'm the reason you're in danger," she said. "I just wish..."
She couldn't finish, but they both knew what she meant. Rick's final charge had provoked an incredible magical display, but it still ended with a spear in his chest.
Beth’s relief turned to pain. Part of her still hoped for Rick's survival, but not much. She saw the spear as much as Amie did.
"He wanted to protect me," Beth whispered. "He... loved me."
"Yeah. I think he did."
Hoofsteps echoed down the hall, loud enough to make both of them turn. Amie removed her wing, stepping between the entrance and Beth.
"Lieutenant. Thank you for standing faithfully over the prisoner. Relieve these stallions and get some rest."
The ponies straightened, turned, and marched away, leaving the doorway open. For a second, anyway.
Princess Luna stepped through, looking even more exhausted than she had before. Her mane frayed at the tips, and bags puffed out under her eyes.
Amie bowed to her as she had the last time. Beth copied the gesture, a little sluggish.
"There's no need for that, pony. We both know I did not send you here. SMILE agent... you're certainly bold enough to be a queen."
Amie straightened, keeping her wings open. She tried to make it casual, as though by being as large as possible the Alicorn might just forget about the bug arrested here. "The bug in your hospital... is he alright?"
Amie felt nothing from this alicorn beyond her exhaustion. The emotions of such a powerful being were probably too strong to feed on, even if she could. The brilliance of it might char her away from the planet.
"Our experience with changelings suggests they are not concerned with their own lives. Individually, they are not sapient, only vessels for their queens."
Amie met her eyes this time. Maybe she wasn't strong enough on her own—but if bugs like Beth believed in her, then she could do anything. "His name is Rick Therieau. He's thirteen. I only met his mom, when she dropped him off—Joann. He's from Vancouver, but his family wanted him to spend a few weeks in nature."
The princess tilted her head to one side. "This one... she looks similar. And the destruction here—it corresponds with what I observed on the streets of my capital. A thaumic mortar... the royal guards could not know what they faced. But they were in no danger. The weapons were created to fight dragons, and other fearsome predators. They do not harm living ponies. Or else the two of you would be pulpy red slime."
"Please, miss... princess." Beth peeked out from beside Amie. "I'm sorry for being here, and... wrecking all this. But Rick was my friend—is he okay?"
The princess settled weakly down onto her haunches, radiating an exhaustion that went all the way to her bones. "You are her, bat. Amie."
Amie abandoned her disguise. With her greater size, she pushed Beth back behind her, brushing away at her mane. "I didn't come to infiltrate your castle, or hurt anyone. I just wanted..."
"I know." The Alicorn lifted a feathery wing, silencing her. "Ivy Path is a guest of my tower. Your kind are a conundrum greater than any Equestria has yet faced. When I intercepted him, the changeling you spoke of had attacked one surgeon and stuffed another into a locker. He tried to flee—when I would not permit him, he swallowed a potent poison and expired before me. Your... bug... has been stabilized. Equestrian curative magic is not known to affect changelings—but it served him, somehow. He lives."
Beth cheered, jumping up and down in place. Amie turned to silence her, and the bug wrapped her forelegs around Amie's neck instead. "Rick's alive!"
"Yeah." Amie wiped away the moisture from her face, then returned the little bug's hug. "He's alive."
"Canterlot has known many changelings. I witnessed the horrific outcome of that abuse—seen good stallions and mares tortured and harvested of every drop of magic they contained. I stood at the funerals of mothers, fathers, and their children. I heard their weeping, begging us to promise that Equestria would never suffer that fate a second time."
She stood, looming over the two of them now. It wasn't as dramatic as her dream appearance, radiating with incomprehensible magic. There was something similar in the regal confidence. "Explain it to me, Amie Blythe. How can your species overflow our streets with monsters, then send creatures like you? I do not need to judge this child to see she does not belong in a dungeon."
Generations as parasites fighting to survive. Humans could end up that way, if it was between evil and starvation. Director Albrecht had already shown her exactly what the first steps on that path could look like. "I might know the answer, princess. But maybe we could have that conversation another time. You look exhausted."
She lowered her head again, but this time her bow wasn't pretending. "Thank you for saving my camper's life. After what other changelings have done to you... we could not expect kindness."
"No greater love," the Alicorn whispered. "Many wars we have won against many foes. In each we knew that victory was no victory if it cost what made us ponies. You have seen no kindness—but perhaps you should have. So many have been blinded by their hunger for vengeance. They joust against the wrong shield."
Princess Luna pointed her horn at a patch of blank wall. A shimmering opening appeared there, leading to a much more comfortable stone room, filled with bookshelves and soft furniture. "The night is far spent. I must confer with my sister. Given what has transpired already, I cannot speak to the safety of the castle proper. Step through to my tower, and do not leave. I will retrieve you."
Amie nodded her gratitude, then approached the glowing magical doorway. Here was a teleport, exactly like the kind she needed for her campers. Except that it would have to pass between worlds, instead of from one room to another.
Beth slipped through, ducking inside with a final muttered thanks. She appeared on the other side as easily as walking through a hallway, hooves settling on wood.
"The tower is sealed with my defensive magics," Luna said. "If there are other infiltrators within our gates, you need not fear them. You and your daughter are under my protection."
Amie shifted, shrinking back into the bat she'd been a few moments earlier. She could've corrected the princess, but stopped short. As their queen, she probably had adopted the bugs of Stella Lacus, young and old. "Thank you. Please don't leave me there for too long. There are a thousand others like her on that mountain, with your army surrounding them on all sides. They need me."
She passed through the spell. The space fuzzed and bent around her, not unlike what she felt while trapped inside the interrogation circle. Then she was through, standing in a wide, circular room.
It was a large, comfortable living-room, packed with bookshelves and cozy places to read them. A telescope took a place of prominence in the center, looking into a huge clear window. The first orange of dawn flickered through the glass. A pony rested on the seat beside it, touching one hoof up against the window.
Ivy had a blanket wrapped around her, and her mane almost as disheveled as Princess Luna's. Her eyes were bloodshot, swollen with many tears. She stared at the pink bug, watching Beth circle the room inspecting the bookshelf. Then she noticed Amie. "You're a bat—did the princess call for me? Or does she want me to..." She looked away, sagging into her blanket. "She won't forgive me. I don't deserve it."
The queen's wisdom repeated over and over how important it was for ponies to never see her change. The less their magic was understood, the more they could use it to escape their sight. Amie did it again, changing back into Rain Fly. Ivy wasn't watching her at first— but the flash of magic made her turn, in time to see a unicorn replace the bat she'd been. "Good to see you again, Ivy."
The pony recoiled from her, but not fear this time. She curled up on the window seat, lifting the blanket over her head. "The princess let you go."
Amie nodded. "I've been judged already. And my kids—Beth! Could you come here?"
She couldn't project the thought to her, let alone compel her to obey. But she didn't have to. Beth scurried over, nudging up against her side. She glanced between them. "I... remember her. She doesn't like you very much."
Amie chuckled in spite of herself. If she still thought Rick had died, Ivy would probably be right. No matter how good her intentions, or childish the mindset behind it, she couldn't easily forgive a betrayal that killed one of her kids. "I just want to know... why," she said. "Did you want them to throw me in the dungeon? Did you want them to kill me?"
"No!" Ivy straightened, flinging the blanket away from herself. Fresh tears streamed down her face. "I thought... I dunno what I thought. You weren't supposed to be a real changeling. But when the steward heard what I thought, she got the guard involved. You were just supposed to admit you lied. Then I would ride back to Agate and leave this awful city. Nopony was supposed to get hurt."
Amie waved Beth off again. She should be using this time more productively—reaching back to her hive, so they knew she wasn't dead. But she wasn't a perfect queen—she needed closure too.
"That's a pretty complicated conspiracy to get you to move, Ivy. Bring some actors to the top of a mountain—learn powerful illusions to pretend to be bugs, then pay an artist to paint you a fake picture of my family. What if you just turned us in to your dad? What if you ran off that peak and hurt yourself?"
"I know it's stupid." She wiped away at her eyes again. She cried so energetically she could never win against all those tears. "I'm sorry. You don't have to accept it. I'm sure you'll never want to see me again. I just... I had to tell the princess. Guess it worked—you're not in jail anymore."
Amie sighed, resting one leg on Ivy's shoulder. "It was wrong for me to let you come here to help. I've gotten into a lot of bad habits—asking kids to take risks like adults with a lifetime of experience. Equestria chewed us up, spit us out the other side." She let go. "Thanks for trying to make it right. Coming to the princess like this—might be the reason she intervened when she did. You might've saved my kid's life."
Ivy sniffed, and finally stopped crying. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. And... I'd rather not live with a grudge. I can forgive if you can."
"I think that sounds—nice."