Chapter 88
"You're sure about it this time, Amie? I don't have to leave?" Rick settled comfortably into his wheelchair. He would be comfortable, with Beth pushing him gently along. The changeling wore no disguise to hide his true nature. But considering how much he had changed; the bug had the least to hide.
Rick's black shell was gone, replaced by several shades of blue melting to green near his hooves. Not the same bright colors as Wes, but clearly the same species. His wings had the same distinct look, hiding under a shell along his back whenever they weren't in use. Not all of those changes were clearly visible, not with bandages wrapped tightly across his chest.
Amie nodded from inside the hotel room. This was one of the smaller rooms, with only a single bed instead of a double arrangement. But considering the bugs she was assigning to it, Amie didn't think they would mind. There was no hiding a bug's feelings from a queen.
"I'm positive. You and Beth and every other bug who went out like you did—you've done your fair share for Stella Lacus. If you ever want to do some hunting out there, we'll happily accept whatever you bring. But there's no expectation of it. Besides..." She flicked the lights on, gesturing up against the wall. Several boxes and crates of computer parts—most broken, but some intact, peeked out through the door to the connecting room.
That caught his attention instantly. Rick's shell opened, and his wings buzzed once. He wobbled, rising halfway from the chair before Beth caught his shoulder and pushed him back down. "Relax, Rick. Can't walk again for another two weeks, remember? That shell won't harden right if you don't."
He grumbled, but accepted her ministrations, relaxing against the back of the seat. "Fine. What's all that?"
"Bits and pieces of tech stuff. Basically... everything that isn't people's personal devices that looked like it might turn on again. The intranet had already been moved to the mine, but there hasn't been anyone around who knows how to set it back up..."
He groaned, but otherwise kept his head down while Beth rolled him through the open doorway into the next room. Amie levitated the lights on as they came in, illuminating the now-empty space. Except for a desk, it contained only shelves and crates of equipment, waiting to be reassembled.
Rick swore under his breath. He reached towards something, and it levitated out of the pile. Even transformed, he still had the same range of physical abilities that any other bug did. Good thing he hadn't damaged his horn when he threw his life away trying to reach Beth. "The things you ask of me, counselor. Not sure how you expect anyone... we can't rebuild civilization with a room full of scrap."
She glanced back the way they'd come, dropping to one knee in front of him. "I know that. We will have to prioritize—focus on the best ideas, the things we can build with a small group. I don't expect you to be able to do that. But almost everyone still has their phones, and it would mean a lot to the camp if we could get the intranet back up. Would help keep people entertained before we turn this refugee camp into a town."
He grumbled again, tossing the broken piece of electronic scrap aside with his magic. "Today, yes. Maybe tomorrow. But that's exactly the kind of tech we can't replace. I give it... five years tops with any kind of network working. Most phone batteries will be shot by then..." He trailed off, staring down. "Please tell me we'll be back on Earth by then. I don't like that you're talking about building a town now, instead of escaping."
She stood up, turning her back on him. There would be no concealing how she felt, at least not completely. But she could still keep her feelings hidden from bugs who weren't ready for them yet. "Equestria is assisting with research. Princess Celestia has a special team organized as we speak. We should have their results by spring."
"Three months..." Beth muttered. "And you don't even think they'll do it. You were so optimistic before, counselor. Did something happen?"
It was Amie's turn to roll her eyes. "Awful things have been happening to us since we arrived here. But now that we're working with Equestria instead of hiding from them, I think they'll start to turn around." She backed away, retreating out the open doorway. "I've made arrangements to see you both get real food now.”
Beth transformed, getting bigger and taller—into the shape of a hippogriff. That meant she was larger than before, though still smaller than Amie. Her royal status still had advantages. "Part of me is gonna miss never having to poop.”
Amie shrugged, then left her bugs to themselves. She would follow up with Rick in a few days, assuming the intranet didn't come back by then. Considering he would have to sleep again; she would have to assume his time would be twice as constrained as the other members of her swarm.
Except for one, of course, one of those she was most eager to see again. But she didn't see Wes that day, or indeed not for several days to come. But she couldn't hunt for him, not with a whole new colony to worry about, with a thousand different little problems to solve. Not to mention the hunters in three different cities, all depending on her to keep them informed and make occasional updates through the worker around for communication.
Director Albrecht was gone, and with him all his knowledge and leadership skills. Bugs still seemed to respect Amie—she was the one who had secured their peace, after all—but she was also the one who lost the camp. It would take her considerable time and effort to make up all of that lost ground.
It was through one of her hunting workers that Amie finally saw her brother again. Late one evening in Agate, when the Rent-a-Friend was largely closed down as many of the hunting bugs returned to rest and relax before the next day's assignment.
Most of the ponies they worked with still didn't know about their presence, of course—their true nature was very much a trade secret, one that enabled the Rent-a-Friend to provide its customers with such interesting ponies and other creatures. Except for those few who requested specifically to meet a changeling.
Those customers would pay the largest dividends in glamour by far, just as Ivy had when she knew who Amie was and decided to accept her anyway. The same was true of Tailslide's acceptance, and ultimate affection.
Some part of Amie was still nervous when she heard scratching at the balcony window and sat up from her seat. The worker she used that night wore one of her familiar bat bodies, something instantly recognizable to ponies and bugs alike. Besides, not towering over them all made her more approachable.
She didn't draw a weapon—her own magic was more protective than anything she could hold with it. But Marcus did, lifting one of the construction mallets up off the table between them.
Despite meeting in the kitchen, there was no “food” here to share, at least not of the conventional variety. Only jars of glamour, and the bugs preparing them.
Amie was one of the first out onto the window. Then she saw who was waiting outside, and nearly fell over.
It was Wes, joined by a crystal pegasus stallion. Even at a distance, Amie guessed the pegasus must be a bug—no pony she knew could look so awkward and out of place while not actually doing anything. Then there was her brother, who might very well be a common pegasus by the way he flew and the casual way he landed there.
At least until he saw her and rushed through the opening to meet her. "Amie! I heard such incredible stories..."
"Some of them are true." She met him there with a hug, so tight and intense that she briefly lost track of time and might have lost contact entirely if her powers were a little worse. Such profound bursts of magic given to a worker almost helped them wake up, like she could feel the person underneath struggling to fight against heavy weight. Then they faded back to unconsciousness, their fingers slipping through hers.
Amie told him everything—the attack, Albrecht’s death, and the ultimate relocation to Maneport. She told him about Equestria's cooperation and the treaty, along with the various restrictions they would have to follow to uphold it.
She didn't want to share all that with him at first, not until he gave his word for his companion. "This is Thorax—new friend of mine. Met him up in the Empire. He's one of us, except..."
"From another tribe," Amie finished for him. "Not a big deal. I've met two tribes now. Guess you must be from the Gaudivores? Loquerisne Latinam?"
The bug met her eyes with a blank, featureless expression. Wes caught him by the shoulder, so he couldn't retreat. "Not them. Different bugs." He changed right there, his body flashing briefly with light, before returning to his usual colorful outline.
Not that the bugs inside this particular kitchen were being terribly stealthy. They worked with little jars of glamour, even though none of them were bugs themselves to disperse and distribute the stuff.
Amie sighed, then changed herself—shrinking down smaller than her brother. But it wasn't hard to be the smallest in the room when her workers were taken from the weakest in camp. "There. We're all friends here."
"Friends," Thorax repeated. "Bugs who are friends. How do you have enough to give?" He changed in an instant, far faster than even Amie's own transformations could be. This bug was a master of the craft, someone who had taken new bodies for himself since a young age.
He was taller than most drones, bigger than all but a handful of her adult leaders. But not “old,” whatever that meant for a bug. He was still strong, his blue frills vibrant.
Blue. That meant...
Amie's own snapped to attention, and she retreated from him. "You. You're one of the Erovores. The reason everypony in Equestria hated us to start out with. Wes, do you—"
"I know." He caught one of her hooves, pushing it back down. The bug beside him retreated a few steps, flaring both wings in preparation to fly away. But those wings didn’t look quite right, catching the air like sheets of glass more than transparent insect flesh. But he didn't flee, possibly because of Wes blocking the retreat. "Amie, it isn't his fault what they did. Their individual bugs barely have any free will at all. He didn't decide to invade, any more than we decided to invade the countries ours attacked back home. He was just along for the ride."
Amie closed both her wings, looking the stranger up and down. Of course, she wasn't the only one paying attention now—with her energy, Marcus appeared behind her. A handful of smaller bugs watched from the other, their little containers of food briefly abandoned.
"I just hope you thought hard about bringing him here," Marcus said. "This whole friendship thing needs secrecy. If it's common knowledge what we really are, I think we'll lose them. They're not quite ready to just be friends with bugs in the open."
"This is confusing." Their guest made his way in, inspecting the table before looking back at Wes. "All this food. There's barely any hunters in here! How did they catch so much love?"
"Love isn't really my jam," said one of the other kids. "We talk about technical stuff mostly. She just wants somebody to listen to her."
"I think my client can tell I'm not a real pony. But he feels so bad for me—the stuff we do together is more about teaching me to be normal. He'd never admit it, but... I can tell."
The others each shared their own opinions of the craft, each focused on the kind of food they collected. The more they spoke, the more bewildered Thorax became.
"You're... really bad at this," he finally said, settling down on his haunches. All fear was gone from him, replaced with curiosity. Maybe a little amazement, focused on that wealth of glamour on the table between them. "Hunters like you shouldn't be able to feed yourself, let alone any of the swarm."
Wes puffed up his chest, apparently proud of their little display. "Because we're actually friends with ponies. And probably because the ones who come to a place like the Rent-a-Friend are really desperate and sad. They're far away from home, and they want somepony to confide in. But the same thing can happen with ponies who aren't with the company, can't it Amie? Your boyfriend..."
"I saved his life," she said flatly. At that particular word, she felt a sudden rush of tension from Marcus. The bug couldn't just miss the emotions between them when they were together. But he also hadn't given up on her. If she behaved like other changeling queens, he probably wouldn't have to.
But she didn't yet. "But yeah. Ponies are just people. Anything that would work back home will pretty much work with ponies. Be yourself, be friendly, be attentive and kind and they'll like being around you. Collecting glamour might be the mission, but we aren't here to force it. It'll just happen along the way."
"I'd like to... stay around and observe for a few more days," Thorax said, lowering his head to her. "I assume you must speak for the queen. Can you ask her for permission?"
Wes laughed. A few of the others did too—but not Amie. She kept her face neutral. "Sure. Just so long as you make sure my brother makes it back to Maneport when you're done. I'll sleep a lot better at night with him under the same roof. Or I... would. If I slept."
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Thorax should tell them the whole truth because it doesn't look like he understands that when it comes to love no matter what form the more you give the more you get.
11721911
intranets are small privet networks. This could be either an internet and intranet, depending on how you view it.
11721911
Nope. The Internet is back on Earth and completely inaccessible. A small intranet to serve their remaining local devices with whatever limited content they have preserved from the camp systems or create themselves is about all anyone can reasonably expect until Equestrian reinvents a dozen new industries and a few times that many new technologies to enter a similar Information Age.
So Chrysalis is keeping her swarm mostly dumb so she can have greater numbers faster. Perhaps with excessive glamour the other drones can also awaken?
You don't say, Amie, you don't say.
It's good to see Thorax making friends with Amie and her campers, but his coming there is more than likely going to stir up a hornet's nest for Amie something awful. Both the Princesses and Kaya seeing him there will definitely make them think she's been conspiring with Chrysalis. The only one who might have any doubt would be Luna.
Ayyy, there's my boys!
I knew he'd be with thorax! Good for them!
11721911
Unfamiliar words can often be discovered with a search engine. Look it up before you decide it's a mistake.
11721911
Let me guess, you also don't know what ARPANET is?
Nice to see Thorax finally making an appearance hopefully they cna learn from eachother.
Sure, let's go with that.
Did Thorax meet Spike? Or did Wes got to him first and brought him to Amie. Because if he did meet Spike, the whole thing would be going smooth as butter as Twilight and the Crystal Empire would endorse them because they accept Thorax, that would dispel the majority of the suspicion especially if the couple that had their wedding attacked by the changelings accept Thorax's friendship.
11722037
His wings seem to have changed already.
The moment Chrysalis kidnaps the other princesses, and Amie along with Spikes saves them, Equestria will have to acknowledge they're great.
Thorax has no clue that he's talking to the Queen is pretty funny, and Wes really missed a lot. I mean a lot.
I don't think they can recover the level of technology lost but with Equestrian resources they can probably scrounge something up. We're going to have to see how the Romans will respond to things. They haven't been defeated yet. And Chrysalis is still out there. And I wonder how seriously damaged relations with Kaya is. But things are clearly winding down. The day is won for now.
Why did Wes run off to the Crystal Empire anyway? I remember something about reading the news, but Amie didn't see anything there.
11722100
depends on one generation with a bunch of individuals that have an idea of the end goal but knowledge ya no BUT if there are some people there with some work experience.
electric engineer/someone with mechanical knowledge/ and to at the very least has the idea of the scientific method these things i think would be enough to kick start them rather fast after some of our most advanced tech works on rather basic principles that can be applied with the help of magic to be a fair effect style and safe to with telekinesis offering them such an advantage.
with a strong enough TK field to grab matter and condense it into plasma and then fusion can happen all with simple magic pushing or pulling in one spot. a great but honest not very safe way to gain power to perform work on large scales. the main thing would be they don't have a lot of need for raw energy but if they had such a way to produce massive amounts of energy well then we have some interesting possibilities ahead of us all it takes is one kid that likes comics and then it hits them they got super power do stuff with them.
for instance, using that massive amount of energy to just do nuclear transmutation main problem is, oh god is a lot of energy if they can't hold it then dame goodbye story. let's take it another approach if they stupidly mind you just giving human knowledge to the ponies, the amount of industries that can be produced and then sending products there way can get them there to the point a new nation could be formed of there backs after all it benefit both sides.
11722251
The problem will be microchips and transistors.
But there are two potential ways to circumvent the problem.
Either they get a portal home to earth with equestrias help even if the transformation is irreversible.
Or if the mirror portal exists they may be able to get components from the EQ world.
Well, I really didn't expect Wes to pop up out of nowhere again. It's still not entirely clear what exactly happened with him, but considering it just ends with him befriending Thorax and introducing him to Amie, it doesn't seem like his perspective will be worth a story of its own. I'm just all the more baffled by the choice to excise him from this story midway through.
Good to see that she can now quite reliably start getting closer to rousing some of the drones. She'll get there eventually!
You know, considering the lore of this series, it's entirely possible Chrysalis is watching through Thorax's eyes... Concerning.
11722349
basic analog tech can serve to take care of a lot of the basic stuff while I won't lie I would have been a lot better if they had that opinion it honestly seemed to die with the camp at most maybe a phone could be sacrificed to learn but they should need it if they have someone who has the knowledge to work on electronics they would wipe up something basic.
well if magic brought them here it should be able to get them back
I thought he would meet up with him, good chapter. I require more! ;)
I wonder if our lil group with a variety of diets of different emotions will be healthier over time? pure love wonderous but i don't think it should be the end all be all to things balanced a need of the bad and good then just love the good times aren't forever
oh man, she can't sleep but the last time she slept she got dream interrogated and then the knife that left a bit of PTSD.
11722852
Vacuum tubes are not a lot more complicated to make than light bulbs, and I think Equestria has light bulbs. The question is if Stellar Lacus has someone with the knowledge to think to make vacuum tubes.
11723040
nice, i thought they may have to redevelop their tech tree around thing like steam and other stuff they can remember
Yeah, in the long term, the microchips are unsustainable. Of course, the question is how much long term there is... and the answer is probably "More than anyone wants to admit."
Still, Thorax seeing another hive will probably have huge ripple effects down the line. We'll see where that leads.
11722852
The problem isn't the magic needed to jump worlds (they do have a sun god) its alwase a case of getting the coordinates from a magicless world. Though there is a strange history between the two there might be something detectable near the camp lest they have to wait out for a new drop.
11726004
, ya i thought if it happened enough times, then if they could find a way to make it happen but in reverse, maybe find a way to open a portal and get some help
Finallyyyyyy! Yay for new friend Thorax!