Amie found the old mine exactly where she expected, beside a huge painted sign just off the highway. A huge hotel blocked the cliffside from view at first, its paint faded and windows covered with boards. A half-dozen cars sat in the lot, mostly rusting old hulks. A few were modern, covered with the dust of months. Interesting.
"Why are we stopping here?" Pachu'a asked, hurrying to catch up with her. "Your camp is further."
"It is," she agreed. "But we're stopping here, for now. I'll be going up in a bit." She did not sound very confident as she spoke—because of course she had no idea what might be waiting inside. She ignored the hotel, continuing towards the wooden building flush with the cleared cliffside.
This one would've looked at home in Agate or Motherlode—sun-bleached wood, with peeling paint at the edges and the occasional pipework running up the side. "What does the writing say?" Natane asked. "It is not the pony tongue, or ours.
"Experience a real-life silver mine," she read. "Ride a minecart, explore over a hundred miles of authentic tunnels and search for treasure. Ages 12 and up." She looked away. "It's lying, though. The part you can 'explore' is the top floor. And the minecart ride gets really boring after a few times around."
The hunters slowed, sharing a confused look. At least Natane was keeping up with her. "Do you intend to stockpile the glamour here, Amie? It will do no good to your bugs if they can't eat it."
"No," she answered. "I'm going to deliver it to the starving, and make the healthy come here to get it. I can't build a hive in the open. But the mine—it only has one entrance."
She lingered by the door, resting one hoof up against it. If something bad had happened to her kids and they hadn't made it...
Then she heard something from inside. Quiet, yet clear. A guitar, and voices. "May... she will stay, resting in my arms again."
Relief flooded her, and Amie shoved the door open. "These are the bugs I trust most," she said. "They'll help me build the hive." She flung the door open, into the lobby of a tourist trap. There were various tee-shirts and stuffed toys, and plenty of other knick-knacks for the curious tourist. Only the snack shelves were looted, everything else was basically untouched.
Light glowed from the distance, past a little ticket booth and metal turnstile labeled "Museum."
Natane was the first to follow her inside, levitating up a stuffed doll of a bearded prospector. "May I keep this? You have plenty."
Despite the failure of her negotiation, despite the fear, Amie was grinning again. "It's yours."
She ducked under the turnstile, then rounded the corner. Past several mining displays, past an entire cabin recreated in the building that claimed it was "the original foreman's cabin" complete with glass cases of old-timey garbage.
The glow of a propane camp lantern lit a huge stone cavern beyond. What it had been in the days of mining, Amie didn't know—but now it was the queue for the minecart ride. Or it had been. The metal racks were all pushed to the side, stacked over each other.
Her bugs had arranged their tents in the other corner, forming a little "L" against the wall with a circle of chairs, boxes, and cushions in the center. There was the camp light, and a griffon with a guitar.
Not everyone was around him—but a lot of them were. Including the four “workers,” watching with energy and fascination Amie had never seen from them before.
"Someone's here!" a bug yelled, appearing from the hall just behind them. They'd been hiding in the cabin display—but apparently not paying enough attention to warn the bugs inside. "Who are you?"
Marcus stopped strumming the guitar, then looked up. When he did, the workers all stopped watching. They stood up, marching slowly through the crowd without another word. "I don't think anyone else would know where to find us," he said. "Relax, Conner. Peyton, don't point the bow at them."
Amie focused her magic and banished her disguise. "It's me, Amie," she said. "I know I look different than you remember. It's a long story."
Her kids packed in close, with all the energy of her remote visits and more. She looked a little different, and she was definitely bigger. Nobody cared. The little ones each wanted a hug, bombarding her with rushed explanations of how brave they'd been, or repeating the same question in everyone's mind. When were they getting home?
"One day," was all she could say. She gave each one a few seconds of attention, knowing they would all need more. Even the visibly composed teenagers still wanted validation. They had endured terrible things, and still did what she said. But now that Amie was here, she could make sure it happened.
"I'm proud of you, I'm proud of all of you," she said, a little louder. "First thing's first. Everyone eats."
Amie could've given them something from the supplies they were carrying. They had four packs worth, enough to feed the whole camp for a short time. But somehow, feeding them that way didn't feel right. These bugs were the closest to her, the ones who had suffered for their attachment to her. They would also be the most trustworthy.
Amie gave each of them glamour herself, using a little wax and a tin cup. There was a slow, ritual way she did it, biting through the wax to fill it with what felt like the right amount, then floating it over to each kid.
They were hungry, and not exactly feeling patient. But they all waited.
Then she was done, and no bug was hungry anymore. They were full.
"You have fed one group," Pachu'a said, a few minutes after she had finished her task, and then sat in conversation with Marcus. "But there are many others who need what we brought. We cannot stay forever; duty calls my apprentice and I to journey elsewhere. But I would fail in my duty if I cannot witness that the relief we brought was given to those who require it."
Amie nodded her agreement. "I apologize to keep you waiting. I have good reason for not starting right away. Once I start distributing the food myself, Albrecht will know exactly what I'm planning. He may attack immediately, or he might send someone to negotiate with me and demand the food. Either way, he won't be getting it, so we had to be prepared. Natane is staying—if you have to leave, maybe she can be the one to witness for you. I know Queen Kaya sometimes watches through her eyes. Would her witness be good enough?"
Pachu'a tensed, glancing nervously away from her. “Good enough” was obviously not the kind of comparison that he was comfortable using with his queen. "Of course, no one would question the honored Queen's words. And I don't mean to say that I doubt you either, Queen Amie. But much of these supplies were donated by the citizens of Sonoma, they weren't taken from a storehouse somewhere. They want to know that their wealth is saving lives."
"Then you will have to wait a little longer," Amie said flatly. "I have had some time to think about how to pull the trigger on this—but there are still some things to prepare."
She stood up, suddenly towering over the room. Many of her kids were still in the pony shapes she'd given them. A handful had decided to change back on their own, but most were not. She remembered that feeling well, a first taste of being normal after so long as a freaky monster.
"Some of you already guessed this—but I'm taking over Stella Lacus. Anyone who wants to help me—you should know how dangerous it might be. If we win, I'm going to change it so we can survive the winter. No one will go hungry, and there won't be any more graveyards. And I can't promise it—but I have a lead on getting home. Once the food situation is secure, once we're safe from invasion, that's next.
"But if I lose—Albrecht’s goons are going to hate you more than they ever did. He might banish you; he might hurt you in the same way he hurts me. You're all... too young for this. You shouldn't have to make a decision like this. But since this is the awful world we're stuck in, this is the choice you have. Join me and help take Camp Stella Lacus, or you can hide. Say you kept your loyalty to the camp. I'll create a fake... jail, or something, and you can stay in there until the fighting is over. If Albrecht wins, you tell him that I locked you up for resisting me. I'll take all the blame."
Her words faded, leaving a painful silence in the queue. Bugs and ponies and other things all looked to each other, waiting for someone to speak first. Even Marcus wasn't brave enough to be the one. But someone was—Danelle.
"If Albrecht wins—camp won't change, will it? We'll keep on barely surviving. When there's no more animals, and no more food comes in from the outside, everyone will starve. I'll go back to feeling... nothing."
Amie nodded once. "Yes. Albrecht doesn't understand Equestria. He doesn't know how to gather food. When he gets desperate enough to send out hunters, Equestria will kill them. If any bugs survive, it will be because our friends in Sonoma, these bugs here, have sent help."
"Which we won't get," someone else said. "Because Albrecht didn't share with us to start with. He was gonna let us starve either way."
There were a few mutters of agreement. Then Marcus spoke. "I'm sure every camper in this room trusts you to lead, Amie. We want to help. But what do you expect us to do? Running away is one thing—do you want us to fight Stella Lacus? Will we have to shoot people? I don't think I could do that."
More agreement. But what was she expecting—these were children. Amie didn't want to kill anyone, so they definitely didn't. "I will not ask you to," she said. "We can't be mad at Stella Lacus for what Albrecht did. The other cabins, the other counselors—they were just doing what they had to not to starve. You don't have to fight them. You don't have to fight Albrecht and his soldiers either."
She strode slowly past the gathered bugs, until she was directly beside the propane lamp. But even on its lowest setting, that propane tank would only last a few days. "Anyone who wants to help me won't be fighting. The bravest of you may be going into Equestria to gather food, or back to camp when I think it's safe enough to help others who want to join us or bring back supplies.
"But most of you will be right here. This mine—it's going to be our safe haven. Underground we'll be protected from the cold, from Equestrian invasion, from Albrecht’s soldiers. There is a well under our hooves, if we can get it working again. There is enough space to make a comfortable place for everyone to live. All of Stella Lacus could live down here if we needed to..."
Though if they did, she would need to consult an actual engineer about exchanging fresh air with the surface. A dozen or two people in such a huge space was one thing, but a thousand would probably suffocate.
"Any bug willing to fight on my side, stand by me. Everyone else, by that minecart over there. I won't judge you, I won't be mad at you, and I will still make sure you're cared for if you don't want to help. But I need to know what side you're on."
The worker bugs moved first. Lily, Scott, and the rest, crossed the room almost as a unit. Strange that they were aware enough to understand her general meaning and know when it was time. Then Marcus stepped towards her. A few others did... then came the flood.
She felt their fear, their nervous excitement. A few were hesitant. They didn't want to tell her, but they didn't think she would win. Those followed only because of the shame they would feel if they looked afraid in front of their peers. Amie would have to give those bugs the easiest and safest jobs, knowing they wouldn't remain strong under pressure.
But in the end, everyone joined her. Only the three orange bugs watched from afar, expressions unreadable.
"I'm glad to have you," Amie finally said. "I'm going to pick a few team captains for each job. For now, there are three: one team to help lock up the front, one team to investigate the well, and one team to start building our permanent camp. Let's go with... Marcus, Danelle, and Sydney. I'm going to put the strongest people on the blocking team... I only need a few of you to look into the well, and the rest are building camp."
She separated them, keeping those with the weakest loyalty on the camp job. Eventually they were all in their groups. She sent the workers with the security team, expecting them to do well moving heavy objects. That left Amie alone in the queue line, except for three orange bugs.
"You have experience in leadership," Natane said, approaching Amie slowly. "I see your noble mother trained you well to form your own swarm. Whether that will be sufficient to overcome your other personal failings—we will see."
Amie's wings buzzed—and she forced them to her sides. "Humanity has changed since your ancestors were taken to Equestria, Queen Kaya. Some of those changes are for the better. We're not so quick to violence as we used to be. We realize that there are other ways to solve our problems."
"Or perhaps you've become cowardly and weak," Kaya said. She made no pretense to being Natane anymore, circling slowly around Amie like a hungry shark. "I do not wish to see your swarm suffer and die. But they might, if you hide from necessary action. Remember, the sun is also a warrior."
Hopefully if it comes to it she'll will find the courage to kick butt. As for Celestia being a warrior maybe once she was but her tendency to put everything on twilight and friends has left her weak in that area.
Hopefully her plan works and she cna get control of the camp without having to fight anyone. I expect that should it come down to it only a few bugs would have a problem with Albrecht being removed from power. Most of them can probably see he doesn't know what he's doing.
*Celestia, arrives in the heat of battle* what is going on here?!?
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I get the distinct feeling if push came to shove, she would lay waste to whatever enemy faced her. As for the wedding, Chrysalis had time to supercharge before the fight. If she didn't get that boost, she probably would've been one fried little mosquito
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Maybe but yet it is twilight who has to handle everything that goes wrong. Where are the guards and where are the princesses? Twilight and her friends aren't paid to deal with the problem of the week and weren't trained to be able to handle it. If wasn't for luck they would be dead already.
So Amie has her team. Now she merely needs her plan to succeed
Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition, as it was once said.
Every success, Amie.
The sun is also a warrior.
Knowledge can also destroy.
Nor can the kindest will
Preserve you from the kill.
Not all of wisdom brings joy.
That's as much preparation as Amie can do. It's really time to fight, now. Do or die.
There's certainly questions on Natane's (or Kaya's) interest. A peek into her cousin's culture? Or she finds it pleasing like a child would. There's still humanity in them.
It still has its dangers. They may have to defend themselves if discovered.
As powerful as the sun is, she is neither omnipotent nor omniscient. She can be countered and outmaneuvered even if she cannot be engaged directly. That being said, it appears Amie was reminded that she should watch her back as well. Kaya is an ally for now but she is an opportunist as well.
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Going from canon, she does that so Twilight can gain experience so she can lead when she and her sister decide to step down.
If it came down to her having to do it, I'm sure she could handle whatever threat she had to face.
I'm very curious what Amie's plan for dealing with Albrecht is. He has armed troops and she's not taking any soldiers. Avoiding bloodshed is admirable, but I'm still not clear on how she's going to stop him from just shooting her. If she wants to convince him to lay down his arms, she's got some solid arguments why she'd make for a better leader (mostly the food supply), but those would have to land on ears that listen.
Then again, I think it's unlikely that Albrecht ever actually had anyone shot, and if he started suddenly, that would cause quite the ripples among the population of Stella Lacus, even against an accused murderer if that same 'murderer' came with a delivery of much needed food for everyone.
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Considering leadership is only partly luck and the rest is good planning for what might happen. Twilight doesn't have those skills. How many times was luck and only that which saved the day. Plus she couldn't even handle a fancy party How is she supposed to handle a whole kingdom which is way harder.
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ya haven't seen the show has been trying to make time to watch it so I have a better idea but fanfic like the rise of Darth Vulkan that made me think ya it seam kind dark i mean those diamond dogs were down with slavery last time I check trying to kidnap (rarity tho I don't know the detail) don't know the ponies idea about that but still points to the world being at least able to be more grimdark
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As the saying goes, some are born great, and some have it thrust upon them. Those that have it thrust upon them adapt or flounder. Plus, Twilight was pretty antisocial before the series started, so of course she would suck in a social situation like a party.
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Yeah but she had been social for years and all she had to do was put it together not go to the thing. If some of the employees hadn't spoken up the party would have been a disaster.
"with the loyal first born changeling to join the great mother queen's new hive and thus she has taken the first step to the throne of a new hive, and war against the usurper Albrecht" from the first annual of the history of hive Stella Lacus,
The calm before the storm.
Interesting how Sonoma still hasn't been made aware just how far humans have progressed technologically since their time.
Surely you could bribe the sun away with a few cakes, yeah?
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I’m still not sure if their ancestors were or weren’t humans… It’s just been assumptions from what I understand.
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Don't forget Luna is in the picture now as well. We learn from the last chapter that Luna is not buying the narrative completely.
I am curious as to why we have not seen the main six Heroes get involved yet. It could be that all the adventures the main six have have been on are carefully selected by Celestia for maximum possible success.
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https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/982387/new-story-dont-bug-me
This blog from the author states that all changelings came from humanity. Until that's retconned in the story itself or by the author's word, we can assume it's safe to take it as fact.
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Yeah but Luna seems to think that they are going to be bad even though she has nothing to base that on just because the last queen was a jerk doesn't mean they all are. Although she might be tougher in a fight than miss let's make twilight and friends do it all.
Well, after getting a stable hive, the next best step is to find a way to rearm their firearms.
I like the idea of your ancestors doubting the newer generations! It's very HFY, minus the aliens of course.
And so the actual fight approaches. Despite Amie's best efforts, I doubt this will be pretty. We'll see what happens from here. Part of me hopes Mr. Albrecht will surrender to someone who actually knows what she's doing, but I highly doubt Amie will be that lucky.
and plans are put in too motion.
this sadly is going to be a fight.
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I see, thanks. I just hadn’t seen more than speculation inside the story itself, since the native Changelings don’t remember who their ancestors were.
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And use them on what? Amie won't be able to build an army capable of taking on any established groups. They could only be useful against wildlife, but Stella Lacus already seems to have a handle on the wildlife in the area.
Didn't expect to se a Leslie Fish lyric here, good taste you have.
Kaya's certainly questioning Amie's urge to cozy up with the Equestrians - that's predictable though.
So, she thinks Amie came from nobility. That narrows down the question of where Kaya's hive comes from - a feudal society, most likely. And Chrysalis is likely the most modern...
Albrecht needs to be put down. He is a tyrant and no good will come from him surviving. If there is any sort of peace talks Amie needs to be EXTREMELY vigilant. The commander or Sweetie Drops might just assassinate her for kicks, no matter what the Princesses say and we all know Celestia and Luna would lie for them. Luna's hateful condemnation in the dream was proof enough of that. No help will come from Luna and probably not Celestia either. Their ONLY hope is Twilight.
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on the ponies that will make the think twice
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them*
Is that a Leslie Fish reference I see at the end there?
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Yeah, no. That makes it a full scale war. Doesn’t matter if the ponies are scared or not, shooting them leaves no room for peace. At that point, it’s all out war until one side is dead. And Stella Lacus won’t be winning that war with a handful of crappy double barrel shotguns.
Even a military base couldn’t win that war.
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ya no i ain't planning for them to fight a conventional war instead use the fear of seeing weapons they had never seen before and the threat of worse things to come honestly the problem would be getting them to talk after also no it doesn't make it a full-scale war it makes it at most boarded conflict or some shit like that if they did then at that point just kill as many of the enemy as possible but hey my thought process is very different.
the main problem is they don't get the knowledge or time to work things out like making fortifications, kill zones, and making sure their resource problem ain't a problem.
also getting them to believe they are anything other than monsters it's funny enough thatit might be better to have them think that and stay away.
Edit: note this is mainly in the hope of getting them to double-think their ability to just come in and kill them and try to get them to the negotiation table again the problem is getting them to believe anything.
Kaya doesn't seem to know the difference between resolve and arrogance. A common attitude that has created so much tragedy throughout history.
Was that a filk reference at the end?