Albrecht’s words hit her harder than any attack could've. From the instant she'd decided to move against him, she imagined all the terrible ways for it to end. She had suffered sieges, poisonings, campers armed with sharp sticks rushing in under some hideous threat.
Instead, the old camp director stood right in front of her, helpless. Maybe he had a radio in that bag, but he wouldn't reach it before Amie did. Fortunate for him that she wasn't the bug he claimed her to be. "Surrender," she repeated. "You're sure about that? You... understand what that would mean?"
He nodded weakly. "Of course, child. Hide behind your new abilities all you wish. I fought with all the strength I had to protect the children of Stella Lacus. You may judge my failures, but you were not in my position. You will soon learn the difficulty I faced, when the burden is yours to carry."
Amie considered sending him right back out again. But no matter how frustrating the director could be, this was still her best chance for a peaceful surrender. There would not be another like it. "Come in then. Let's discuss your terms."
She didn't take him into the mine, despite his obvious interest in what her bugs were building. Instead, she had her guards block the way, directing him up the steps to her private office. She switched on the lights as she came in, then shut the door behind them with her magic.
More than a few curious bugs drifted closer to listen through the door. She couldn't count on perfect privacy no matter how much she wanted it.
"I know I'm in no place to make demands," he said. "I have only my own cooperation to give. You hold many of our weapons now, and all the adults trained to use them. By walking in here, I know there's nothing I can do to compel you. But I suspect you won't kill me. If what I hear about your powers are true, you have had that ability for some time now. You did not, which leads me to believe you are sincere. You believe you can do a better job than I have. You will have your chance to prove that."
Amie watched him carefully. She could force her way into his mind—or try, if she wanted. Yet she had never offered food to the director. That act cemented her contact with the bugs, with enduring strength that was very difficult to replicate. She might not be able to look into his mind even if she wanted to.
She felt his sincerity, anyway. He resented her, maybe even hated her. But she didn't find aggression, or any signs of fermenting violence. "I think I adapted faster than you did. I think I learned the truth about the Transit, and how to survive our circumstances. I think your hesitation killed kids. This camp is on the edge of starvation, when it doesn't have to be."
He settled onto his haunches, then dug into his saddlebags. She'd underestimated Albrecht—he could use magic. He could levitate, anyway. He lifted out a stack of papers, holding it towards her. When he spoke, all that anger was replaced with something else—pain. "You think I made that choice callously? That I threw away anyone I didn't think I could use? I didn't care?"
Amie took the pages from him. There weren't many—they were letters, a single typed page. Each one began more or less the same: "Dear Mr. and Ms. Coulter, I know this is the last news any parent wants to receive..."
She skimmed one. The letter expressed condolences and asked forgiveness for the death of a camper. Each one had photographs, taken during the camp, then after. The last picture on each one was a grave. Amie flicked to the next one. Though the contents were fundamentally the same, it wasn't a duplicate letter. Each one had memories and testimony from the individual child's counselors and friends. They described the bravery of each child, the contributions they each made despite their young age.
"There are seven dead so far—not counting those who died following you. I deserve judgment for these deaths—I expect my God to find me wanting when I come before His bar. If others fall, it will not be because of me. How will you write the letters to their parents, when more campers die? When winter comes, will you do better than I did? Will you stop them from starving?"
Amie settled his letters onto her desk, beside all her other plans. "Yes, director. And I'd like your help to do it. We can't rely on charity to keep our bugs fed; we're going to have to hunt for ourselves. Some of the older campers are brave enough, but I would be much happier with adults to supervise. These campers are adaptable—but they're teenagers."
"Hunt," he repeated. "I've had the adults helping with food since the beginning. Trapping game, fishing, and the larger stuff. But one mountain can't feed so many."
"Not that kind of hunting," she said. "But first, I want a list of all your guards. I want the ones you think are reasonable, who will accept your surrender. Then tell me the ones who you think are going to lose it and hurt people. I don't want to waste resources keeping prisoners."
She levitated something off her desk, for him to see. It was a map of Equestria, or at least the nearest few hundred miles. She'd highlighted rail routes, the biggest cities, and little towns, along with everything she remembered about each scrawled in the margins.
There was very little. Most, like Motherlode, had just a line or two. But studying to be Ivy's friend had taught her plenty about Equestria's government that she retained. "I need to get hunters out there—not one team, but a dozen. They need to learn their powers, learn the local customs, and come up with a plan... and we don't have a lot of time to teach them."
She moved closer to him, folding the map closed as she did so. In her Alicorn shape, she was taller than Albrecht by almost a head, radiating power in a way he did not. "This is your camp—you know what its people can do. Give me teams of three or four. I'd like an adult on each one, or at least a counselor."
"A dozen hunting teams?" he asked, indignant. "Amie, it can't be done. There are barely a dozen people who can shoot straight in all of Stella Lacus. Half of those aren't what I would call 'stable' enough to be unsupervised for long periods."
She smiled. "Fortunately, that isn't the skill we need. In fact, we'll be better off sending bugs who don't know the first thing about violence. We're looking for people who can be good friends. Social, adaptable, and outgoing."
The director walked past her, inspecting her dark office. He eyed the boarded-up window, and the single working electric light overhead. But whatever he was feeling, he hid it too well for Amie to extract.
"You project the confidence of youth," he finally said. "It may be that you're correct. Perhaps your decisions will save this camp. But many have suffered at the hands of those who were certain they did the right thing."
She nodded. "I'm not saying you're wrong, Mr. Albrecht. Whatever happens, I'm sure I'll be the first one to suffer the consequences. Equestria already knows about me, and they've made me the target of their wrath. You may be taking back your position before we make it back to Earth. I hope I've shared everything I learned before that happened. And... that Wes is far away from here."
She nudged him with a wing, then levitated the door open. "Please come with me, Mr. Albrecht. There are some people I'd like you to meet. Then we have a radio broadcast to make together."
It all happened about how she imagined after that. For better or worse, her confidence had won Albrecht’s surrender. Amie released half of his old guards that afternoon, keeping the others trapped until she had more time.
Amie could deal with them eventually, if she was the only one who brought them food. A queen could only offer it so many times before other bugs saw what was already obvious.
There was no war for Camp Stella Lacus. Whatever fears she had conjured, Albrecht’s police were still humans underneath. Humans driven to desperation, fear, and fervent devotion—but not so far that they would murder their way through children.
Amie rode back with Albrecht a few hours later, now using another of her “workers” for the task. She trusted this one adversary—but not the whole camp, shortly after their abrupt change of leadership. If ever someone would make an attempt on her life, it would be then.
But there was no attack. Not during the drive, or after when Albrecht gathered all those in his former leadership council into his office for one final meeting. She felt plenty of anger from the group, ample resentment—but for every angry, bitter member of the staff, there were five more who radiated their relief.
Albrecht kept them alive through painful rationing and brutal security—Amie brought food and promised more.
"There's one thing I don't understand," said Counselor Poole. "About this whole thing. Why the hell do you want our campers living in an abandoned mine? I know the tents aren’t cut out for snow, but we do have real buildings. If you're in charge now, can't you just bring everybody back? Set up housing in the MPR or something."
Several staff members murmured their agreement. "I don't want to live in a cave."
"We still have running water up here."
Amie waited for them all to finish, listening to every objection. If their leaders had them, then even more campers would feel the same way.
"We're sticking with it for now, and I have two reasons." Amie stood up, pacing slowly past the desk. "Only one of them matters for this meeting: there's an army massing at the base of our mountain. Sometime soon, they may decide it's time to invade and wipe us out. They have airships, magical artillery, and a military tradition going back centuries. If we're scattered, Camp Stella Lacus will be massacred."
Dead silence. None of them dared question her—they had no reason to, when they could easily sense her sincerity.
"The old mine has more than enough space to house everyone—and we're adapted to live underground. You can climb walls, dig through rock, navigate in total darkness—we're built to live down there. More importantly, it has a well, and only one entrance. If we had to, we could hold it with the guns we have. Long enough to force them to the negotiating table, I hope."
"You knew this... for all these months..." Nurse Sobol said. After what Amie had done to heal the injured bugs, this nurse was one of her staunchest allies. For all Amie knew, she was the one who had persuaded Albrecht in the first place. "And we continued in ignorance."
Amie nodded. "I know much more, and I don't know how long I have to teach you all. But if you thought I was turning myself into a magical dictator—sorry. I still need you. Everyone still works. Difference is, everyone eats."
She levitated something down onto the desk between them—her plans for the camp, as much as she had time to put together so far. "Here's how we're going to start. I need everyone with construction or contractor experience to report..."
That went smoother than I expected, no signs of subversion or rebellion. Just anger, but with food they should fall in line.
that was too easy
11612816
I second this. That went far smoother than I had been expecting. I'm hoping that when it comes to the ponies, it will go smoother than expected as well. I'm not expecting a miracle peace treaty and integration, but I'd sure as heck like there to not be massed death on both sides.
At the end, they're just humans underneath who want to survive. One huge problem out of the way for Amie. Now for the Equestria dream killer she needs to avoid.
A lot of commenters here really started to think very badly of Albrecht and I'm glad they weren't in the right. Ultimately, he's always just been overwhelmed with the situation.
We got some really bad impressions of him from Amie's own group of campers, but I think their accounts were overblown. Like, some of them said he straight up established his own gestapo force, but as I touched on in another comment several weeks ago, I'm pretty sure he's never actually used violence on anyone.
Things are going to be quite shaky going forward, though. If she sends a ton of new bugs towards the same town (which I suspect is what she's planning, since she wants the experienced hunters to show the ropes to the new ones), Equestria is bound to notice.
Why is Albrecht still acting like he doesn't know what they're supposed to eat? Amie spelled it out for the whole camp in her first phone home over 50 chapters ago. Still, good to see he appears to be genuine.
11612871
He literally sent a hit squad out on Amie and Wes before anyone even knew what was happening :/
That's one obstacle out of the way at least. Amie still has many problems to deal with but at least she doesn't have to worry about a conflict with others in Stella Lacus.
Finally getting this hive into shape nice job Aimee, I wouldn't be surprised if albretch ends up leveling up into a royal guard changling like phyranx as Aimee's second in command #QueenlyPheromones
11612884
He never instructed them to use violence, just to get back Wes and Amie. But they were clearly not the most stable of people.
11612884
Dismissed as propaganda while trying to keep the camp from tearing itself apart as a older man it's hard to change your preconceptions about the world doubly so when so many eyes are hard on you. Alas we are only mortal with all the silly emotions and mistakes that make us so. #BigTimeStress
11612906
I think you replied to the wrong comment by accident.
This is exactly what I was hoping to be the case. Albrecht's decisions were driven by desperation and fear more than a bid for power. He did what he thought was right for a situation he had little idea how to handle. Very glad it went this direction.
Albrecht: wait, when those other bugs brought back food, those weird feelings that came weren't just chemical aberrations? And they're not killing the ponies to get it? What exactly do you mean "hunt" when there's no violence?!?
Sending envoys out to collect food would go much better once Equestria give her blessing. Let's see if they move sooner rather than later, Winter is coming.....
11612906
Which might've held out until the other hive's rescue aid showed up with vibes in a bottle.
The climb is treacherous, the air thin, but you will endure it.
11612929
Although when he saw that she understood the way things were he should have insisted that they follow her instead following whatever mad path he was on. Though I don't trust him 100% considering you trust those who know what they are doing vs those who don't and he knew he didn't know but refused to follow the one who did. I know that he hates losing those under him but you don't call a doctor to do a plumber job and he had the plumber he just didn't want to admit that he wasn't fit for this job.
11612832
It sure feels like it, but maybe Albrecht just recognizes the futility of wasting resources on a civil war. Or maybe, like others have suggested, he really was just doing the best he could with what he knew in a horrible situation.
Yep, he was arrogant and out of his depth, but not a monster. Now the first challenge is out of the way, but the big threat has yet to come. Commander Path.
I am inclined to believe that the dream-knife is a fake; question is how long it will stay his hoof...
it's time to build a strong hold and dig in.
Best possible way to end the bickering and reunite. As clean as possible. The real war might still be coming. That may not be as bloodless.
The irony of Amie's successor truly being her greatest rival. Even more so if he actually continues her path.
It's not often the hero prepares for war while still trying to pursue peace.
11613022
true
It seems the bout between the earth changelings and the ponies is about to commence
So he really did surrender... I'm not sure I trust him completely though
11613011
That's utter nonsense. You can't follow someone who's not even at camp. Not even literally what with the guard perimeter slaughtering any changeling who tries to leave. "Whatever mad path he was on" you make it sound like he was doing something completely stupid. It was entirely impossible for him to gather emotions because there were no reachable ponies to collect from besides murderous guards, even if he understood that emotions were the best food for changelings. The next best thing to eat was meat, so he had people hunting. But it barely worked, so he had to ration out the small supply he originally received from Pachu'a.
Not only was what he did reasonable, it was actually the best thing he could have possibly done with the information and resources at his disposal.
Far from being a "mad path".
Also, he couldn't have possibly known that Amie had the solution to the situation. Sure, she had good information, maybe, but it was useless to camp at the time because Albrecht had no way to get ponies to collect from.
Only Amie would know that she had the solution.
As for the rumor that Amie was the murderer of Garcia and the other two hunters way back in the beginning, that was probably started by whoever went looking for Garcia, and probably gained traction with numerous people who were less familiar with Amie before Albrecht was swayed by the growing sentiment and declared Amie a murderer. After starving for a while, any lingering doubts of it would have faded in most people's minds.
While you can blame Albrecht for being swayed, that rumor wasn't solely his responsibility.
Finally, in this latest incident, Amie never even stopped to ask Albrecht to step down before starting her coup. She didn't take any risks. While I don't fault her for that, all the people acting like Albrecht was the aggressor in this situation need to take a step back. Prior to Amie's coup, Albrecht was still assuming that Amie only cared about her kids and would try to rescue them while leaving the rest of camp to die. He's made that fear clear on at least one occasion. And I'm sure many of his men also believed the same thing. There's no way Albrecht anticipated Amie would try and take over, so of course he never even had a plan for when it would happen. That makes Amie the aggressor here. Everyone knew it, even Amie herself admitted she was being aggressive. She did what she had to do, yes, but my point is that Albrecht was never the bad guy any of us made him out to be.
He never did anything evil, greedy, or even stupid. He did everything right. He never did a power grab, he already had the power, and he used it in the best way to keep as many people alive as long as possible given the situation up until Amie's intervention.
Amie, in fact, was the one taking insanely risky gambles over and over again, lucking out each time and eventually amassing enough knowledge and resources to have the perfect solution for Stella Lacus that just so happened to require a rapid and bloodless takeover of camp.
11608299
Based on all your previous comments I get the feeling you just really want to blame the ponies without seeing their side. There are justifications for the way the pony leaders act and also plenty of regular ponies trying to clear up misunderstandings and help changelings. This is a story about fear, misunderstanding, lack of information and leaders making hard decisions for their people, not blind racism. Thankfully so as well. Actual racism is a terrible and incomprehensible thing. Hatred without reason, logic or consideration of the individuals or what is going on in a situation... Ironically similar to how you have been blaming the ponies for everything every chapter now that I think about it . If this story was really about racism Aimee would have died or been screwed over several times by now at the hooves of all the ponies she has revealed herself to.
The entire situation is terrible, and the changelings of Stella Lacus do not deserve to die, but we cannot try to see it all in black and white and just blame the ponies for being racist given their situation.
11613444
Yes, exactly this. I have been anticipating the information we got in this chapter for months now and I am not disappointed. We have had so much derision and demonization of Albrecht based solely on assumptions of what was going on. But that is not a bad thing. People have been making those assumptions because a complex story like this is rare here. We are not used to thinking about what is happening based on what the characters know or what their responsibilities are because so many stories on the site are simple.
"Here is a villain, here is a hero, there is no complex character motivation to this. Have fun."
Here, we don't get that. We have no villains or heroes. We only have leaders making hard choices and rampant mistrust because tensions are too high to share the truth. We have to look at every individual's perspective to get the full picture which just leads to anticipation of the moment when they all realize they are on the same side. It is beautifully and satisfyingly done.
Thank you for making this Starscribe. It is so satisfying to see this type of story done right.
11613444
One he could have followed during one of her deliveries so there no excuses for that. And he should have put a stop to any rumors that she was a murder if he wants help considering it makes it less likely that he is going to receive help. I certainly wouldn't want to help someone who called me a murder and I can't imagine who would. He made his bed so he has deal with the consequences of his bed.
11613407
He sounds like he could be threatened into betraying Amie for the safety of all the other bugs, yeah. But he at least seems sincere.
11613508
You're misremembering. Apart from telepathically controlling some changelings and feeding them across the link, she hasn't made any deliveries before now. And she's never even physically set foot in camp since she originally ditched, so no, he could never have followed her. As for shutting down murder rumors, yes, he should've shut them down. But given the terrible situation, it was forgivable that he didn't. And in the end, it's worked out, because Amie now has control.
11613833
She made deliveries to the camp and explain to him what they were and the fact they were trying to eat the wrong things when they should be eating emotions. She made deliveries then. I would have taken the first person who seem to know what to do and done whatever I could to convince them to help everyone. He ration out what she gave him but gave no credit to her despite the fact she could have ditched them all. You are in way over your head and only one person seem to know what to do then you beg you bribe you do anything you can do to get their help.
11613450
can't say I know the other guy's points but ya fuck the ponies their dangerous primitives I don't care if they think they're right they are in the wrong here and too stupid to figure out their own mistakes and I very much hope they pay for it the same way we had to but that won't happen like at all they got a low key god empress figure (holy fuck does she disgusts me in most fics and a Little bit in cannon ) that the best thing you could say is she a Benovlet overlord you know as long as you don't try fucking around and finding out and get your soul stuck in stone for who know how long.
na anything they learn here will go right out the window
11613840
Chapter 38, first relief package by Pachu'a. Albrecht texted Amie to thank her. This is also when Amie straight up told Albrecht she wanted to get her kids out of camp. So I should've mentioned that earlier. Albrecht assumed Amie only wanted to get her kids out of camp because that's exactly what she said she would do. It was only later that she changed her mind and decided to take over altogether.
11612949
tsaukpaetra, this part is for you too.
Chapter 51, Amie contacts Albrecht face to face (kind of, she was using Lily's body at the time). Amie tells Albrecht about the need for "glamour", the liquefied emotion that changelings can produce when they have excess stored emotion. Although Natane has shown the ability to recognize the emotion used in producing glamour (she said Beth and Rick's glamour tasted like curiosity and affection), Albrecht did not understand what glamour was, indicating that the emotion sensing ability between changelings does not quite bring the same feelings as eating glamour. And since emotions somehow bringing sustenance makes no sense from a human perspective + Albrecht really did not trust Amie at all, he must've just assumed the emotion thing is bs and that glamour is actually something else entirely.
Albrecht also thought Amie was abandoning the rest of camp to starve because she said she wanted to take her campers, again (this makes the second time she's told Albrecht of these intentions).
This meeting was also the third time that Amie explained that changelings feed on emotion. The first time being Chapter 15, and the second in Chapter 19. On both occasions, we never got a response from Albrecht about what he thought about it. But in Chapter 19, he made it clear he didn't trust Amie at all, thinking of her as having abandoned the rest of camp entirely.
Speaking of Chapter 51 again, Albrecht again showed that he didn't trust Amie not to be out for her own benefit at the expense of camp. Her telling him to sit still and wait for a relief package definitely pissed him off, and rightly so. She's telling to just wait and do nothing while people starve to death one by one, letting her have her campers all while having to just hope that she comes through for camp. As for your suggestion of following her here, number one, he actually suggested such a thing, and she told him not to. As I mentioned, she just told him to sit and wait. Secondly, she was in Lily's body, and she was never going to take Lily out of camp in this situation anyways. So no, Albrecht couldn't have followed her here. And this was the last time she contacted Albrecht before launching her coup.
And he still thinks she's a murderer according the the dialogue in Chapter 51, which I find quite interesting.
Critical analysis:
Going back to Chapter 18 (may as well look at Chapter 10, too, to recognize that Davey was the guy who fell off the cliff and Garcia was one of the remaining two hunters), where Amie first found out about the narrative of her murdering Garcia and the others, I noticed that the story of the murder was very detailed and blatantly fabricated. But if you recall, Albrecht was camp directer, not a hunter. He couldn't have fabricated that story on his own because Albrecht's story would have to be consistent with the hunter he sent to look for Garcia. If Albrecht lied on his own, he would have faced opposition from whomever was sent looking for Garcia, and Albrecht would be outed immediately.
So Albrecht wasn't the guy who came up with the story. It was whomever was sent looking for Garcia. Or... was it? Because the story mentioned "survivor" testimony with no name provided. That's odd, because we know for certain there were no survivors. If someone claimed to be a survivor, it wouldn't be someone who was sent looking for Garcia, it would have been someone who was sent with Garcia, meaning there was a 4th hunter that was supposed to help track Amie and Wes down, and whoever it was fabricated the story out of hatred for what happened to their 3 fellow hunters.
So now we know the source of the fabricated story, and now it makes sense why Albrecht and so much of camp ran with the narrative. They didn't want to question the "survivor" who told them the story. Especially when Amie seemingly abandoned camp and took the one hope they had to survive.
The "survivor" probably ended up with an influential position among Albrecht's remaining staff, allowing them to solidify their narrative and keep anyone from ever questioning it.
11613955
His assumptions created a mess if he had asked if she would take the rest of the camp she probably would have said yes but he let his pride be the boss. And I get having doubts about her before she returned with not only the key to them surviving but also food but when she did it is time to face the facts that you don't know what you are doing. Maybe the reason she put the kids first was because they were the most important people in the camp to her as a counselor. She bonded with them before they changed and did her best by them.
11613955
You misunderstand. The second sentence assumes post takeover and presumably after Equestria ceases hostilities. What are you on about?
As for the first part: verification of the unbelievable wouldn't really be that hard. Even taking one moment to ask anyone else that came (forgetting the testimony of the so-called murderer) with food would have been enough the most basic of understanding, yet he's above such things. Why question how the quiche is made, and all that.
Unless the assumption was that they did ask and the curiosity stopped at "this is from prey" and everyone thought "weird, goo stuff. Meh, makes sense!"
11613765
Yeah, just saying I wouldn't trust him with everything right away, is all
11613963
"His assumptions created a mess if he had asked if she would take the rest of the camp she probably would have said yes but he let his pride be the boss."
I just showed that he never made those assumptions. Apart from assuming that the "survivor" from Chapter 18 was telling the truth about Amie murdering the others, everything he assumed about Amie was things she herself told him. And he did ask her about the rest of camp, and she said she would get another relief package and that's it. She never said she wanted to take over until she took over.
"And I get having doubts about her before she returned with not only the key to them surviving but also food but when she did it is time to face the facts that you don't know what you are doing."
She didn't return with food. Chapter 38 was Pachu'a, and she wasn't present there. Chapter 51 was just her talking with Albrecht and promising him another shipment, while also telling him what the glamour is and simultaneously that he has no way of getting any besides waiting for her shipment. This latest shipment coincided with her coup, and he immediately surrendered without a fight.
"Maybe the reason she put the kids first was because they were the most important people in the camp to her as a counselor."
Not sure what your point is. That was part of the reason Albrecht didn't trust her, because his intention was to save everybody while Amie seemingly only cared about her kids while everybody else was an afterthought.
"She bonded with them before they changed and did her best by them."
Yes she did, but doing her best by her kids and doing her best by all of camp are two different things.
11614023
I was specifically only addressing your interpretation of Albrecht. I wasn't commenting on your second sentence at all. Albrecht didn't know what glamour was because it clearly wasn't obvious from the taste, and in Chapter 51 Albrecht makes it clear that Pachu'a never told him what the glamour was or where it came from. Maybe Albrecht didn't ask, but we don't know if maybe Pachu'a just withheld the information for some reason.
In any case, it still wouldn't change the fact that Albrecht had no way of sourcing glamour without attempting to penetrate the guard perimeter.
11614147
One it wasn't her idea to the one in charge but she is the queen and that puts her at the top and even if she got someone to deliver the food for her that doesn't change the fact that she sent it. He never really asked what she wanted beyond Saving her kids. A mother will think about her kids everyone else second this isn't much different. He never asked anything beyond getting taught to do same stuff and possibly she didn't wish to take them all at once because the military is next door and certainly will notice everyone leaving at the same time. A smaller group has better chance of being unseen.
11614152
Which, as we said, was very odd. Unless Pachu'a was being unusually cruel withholding information, Albrecht should not be surprised that consuming animals wasn't the only method of sustenance. We refuse to believe he's that stupid. Even taking into account the blockade, the mere concept that "hunt" might not refer to killing things should have been obvious, even holding the belief that Amy supposedly hunted enough to feed the camp which would imply something other than mass murder as demonstrated by her continued freedom. It's simply not logical to stay that closed minded.
Well, that's a relief, I was worried Albrecht would try something underhanded. Thankfully everything worked out, and Amie and the others can focus on the real threat and figure out how to keep the ponies from massacring the camp.
You would know, yes.
For good or for ill, Mr. Albrecht did what he thought was best given the circumstances. He's doing it even now. Amie has some idea of what she's doing... and sometimes the best way to destroy your enemies is to give them exactly what they want. Still, if this is a gambit to get her crushed under the burden of responsibility, he's in for a pleasant surprise. Probably. That hunter-killer spell is still waiting for Amie to fall asleep...
Albreicht is waiting until Amie has shown him everything then he will murder her. He wants she and her campers dead. He had already denied them food and had them socially and physically isolated. He was planning to let them starve to death. No matter what he says, he is an absolute monster and he WILL try to murder Amie.
11616509
I'll take that bet.