Chapter 3-
Girl Who Got Away
Amelia walked back down the hallways of the Crystal Palace, her cloak thrown over her shoulder as she strode along. It had been a week since the incident with the golems, and she was beginning to feel confident in her abilities. She had discovered that she could use any battlechip she could remember, which was any she had ever seen thanks to her now cybernetic mind. She had been told that Amber’s ankle and other wounds had actually been much worse than she had thought and wouldn’t be back for a week, meaning she would be back today. In the meantime, Sombra had provided her with a new assistant, Diamond Song, a cream colored mare with an auburn mane and green eyes.
But none of that really mattered now. Right about now, Amelia just wanted a nap. Being a digital being meant that she didn’t sweat, produce waste, or grow hungry, but, despite all this, she still got worn out from her training. She finally made it to her room and opened the door, revealing the meager furnishings. She closed the door behind her and made her way over to the rack in the corner, hanging her cloak on it before going over to the bed and falling into it with a sigh. She made herself comfortable and stared up at the ceiling with her green eyes until they closed and she drifted off into sleep.
“Mistress Amelia.” The call was soft but still enough to make the Navi jolt up in bed, her fist raised over her chest ready to deploy whatever weapon she summoned. She looked her room over quickly and relaxed when she saw Amber Leaf standing at the doorway.
“Amber,” Amelia breathed as she put her arm down, a smile on her face. “You can’t scare me like that.”
“Apologies, Mistress Amelia,” the pony said, closing her eyes and bowing her head slightly. “I was told to come and tell you that I am back to serving you.”
Amelia sighed a bit. “That’s good to hear,” she said. “I’m glad to hear that you’re back and feeling better.”
The mare was silent in response. The silence grew so great that Amelia actually ended up clearing her throat to break it. “Sooo,” she said, dragging out the word. “How was your time in the infirmary? Did they treat you alright?” More silence followed. Amelia raised an eyebrow, the silence, and stillness of the mare bothering her. “Oookay,” she said, drawing out that word as well until she swung her legs out over the bed and got up. “What happened?” She asked as she went over to a pitcher of water. “Did they take your tongue out or something?” She tried to joke, even letting out a little laugh as she poured two glasses. She turned with the glasses in her hands and a smile on her face only to find that Amber still had not moved nor made to answer. Amelia let her shoulders sag. “Amber, answer me, please.”
“No, Mistress Amelia.”
Amelia stopped and blinked. “No?” She questioned, a puzzled look on her face.
“They did not take my tongue, Mistress Amelia,” Amber answered again in a dull tone, her face stone as she remained unmoved.
The Navi stared in confusion. She had meant the request as a plea, not an order, and yet here the pony was treating it as such. She looked the mare over once more, this time paying a little more attention to detail. Amber was still favoring her right front ever so slightly while some faint bruising could still be made out just under the fur. Amelia moved her gaze to Amber’s face, taking notice of puffy blotches under Amber’s eyes. The last difference Amelia spotted was on Amber’s necklace. Where she once wore an emerald in her necklace, it was now a ruby, however, a quick scan determined that it was the exact same jewel as before.
Amelia once more looked into Amber’s eyes and found… nothing. “Amber,” she said slowly. “I want my next question answered truthfully.” The Navi paused for a moment to let her command, and this was a command, sink in. “Where have you been for the past week?” Amelia watched the pony’s eyes and watched as several emotions fled through them. Hesitation, confusion, pain, turmoil… certainly nothing good. Before the maid could even speak, she had her answer.
“I have been in the hospital, Mistress Amelia,” the blue pony said, her voice betraying her eyes in a steady calm.
Amelia nodded. “Thank you, Amber,” she said before she started to step forward. “Would you like something to-” Amelia’s foot suddenly slipped out from underneath her and she fell to the ground, the glasses in her hand shattering against the hard floors as she dropped them. “Oh my god!” Amelia said, quickly moving to push the shards of glass together in a single pile while Amber moved closer to help. Her movements were stiff, jerky, almost like someone would expect a robot or puppet to be.
“Allow me, Mistress Amelia,” the pony said, moving to start pushing pieces together.
“Stay back, Amber,” Amelia said, waving the pony back. The Navi’s warning was ignored and Amber continued to push shards together, only to be cut a few moments later. “Tch, Amber!” Amelia chided, reaching out a hand to push the pony back. “I said to stay back!” Amelia’s hand suddenly darted forward and snatched the ruby necklace off Amber’s neck.
The mare scrambled back to escape Amelia’s reach but was too late. Amber stopped for a moment and blinked, moving a hoof to her temple and shaking her head. After a few moments, she lifted her eyes to find the grinning face of Amelia. “Good morning, sunshine,” the young woman said jokingly.
Amber gasped and retreated, putting the bed between herself and the Navi. Amelia’s face warped into confusion as she stood and made her way slowly to the bed and looked over to the other side. The mare had backed herself into the corner, her small frame shivering as she watched Amelia with wide, scared eyes. This only proved to cause the young woman even more confusion. “Amber, come on, this isn’t funny,” she pleaded with the mare.
“I-I agree,” Amber replied, her voice losing the edge it had before. “Do you know what you’ve done?”
“Let me take a guess,” Amelia replied, straightening up and putting a hand on her hip while she held the other one up and raised a finger as she spoke. “I tore off that little necklace thingy that was keeping you under someone’s control, I assume Sombra, and now that it’s removed he’s going to be sending some guards after the both of us very soon. Do I assume correctly?” Amber was stunned for a moment before nodding to which Amelia grinned. “Then what are we waiting for?” She asked, turning around and grabbing her cloak off the rack and putting it over her shoulders. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand!”
Amber blinked in confusion as Amelia made her way around the room before letting out another gasp as the Navi reached for the door. “Wait!” She cried. “Do you have any idea what you’re getting into? How do you even know I was under Sombra’s control?”
Amelia’s hand paused as it reached for the door, her head turning to look at Amber. Calmly, the Navi took her hand away from the door and walked over to the mare, causing her to flinch. The young lady noticed this and knelt in front of the terrified pony. “One,” she started. “Sombra is way too cheery, especially for someone who runs an entire kingdom alone. Second, nopony in this wretched place has said a word to me except you, Sombra, and that mare he replaced you with, no matter how hard I tried. Third, this wretched place. I mean, look at it,” Amelia raised her hand and waved it across the room. “It looks like something straight out of a pretty princess dream. Too perfect. Now,” she said refocusing her eyes on Amber. “You can either come with me, or I drag you away, ‘cause I know you don’t like it here.”
Amber was silent for a moment. “What about the guards?” She asked quietly, glancing around at the walls nervously. “They’ll catch us for sure, and then we’ll be-” She was stopped as Amelia put her hands on her shoulders, gently, drawing her attention.
Amelia gave the panicked mare a soft smile. “Amber Leaf,” she said in a sweet, gentle voice. “I’m going to get you out of here safely. Can you believe me?”
The mare stopped and stared into Amelia’s eyes. Slowly, Amber’s tremors stopped and she looked at Amelia with hardened eyes. “I do believe you, Miss Amelia,” she said, standing to her hooves.
“Please,” the Navi said, standing to her feet. “Just call me Amelia. Now, let’s-” The door burst open and two guards rushed in, spears brandished. Amelia turned quickly, her hand extended from her cloak as it folded back into her gauntlet, a hexagon like box folding out. “Yo-yo,” she said a smirk on her face. “That’s not cool!” With a flick of her arm, a round disk on a line shot out of the chamber, slamming into one guard’s helmet before ricocheting into the other’s helmet, drawing forth two painful clangs. “Time to go!” Amelia shouted as the Yo-yo weapon came back to its chamber, beginning to run out of the room, kicking a spear up into her hand as she passed the unconscious guards. Amber hurried to keep up, her still sore ankle slowing her down.
The hall they entered was no longer the beautiful blue crystal from before, but now a sinister black, the decor far darker and malicious as the two ran as fast as Amber’s ankle would allow them to. “Amber, I’m going to need an exit,” Amelia said as they ran down the corridor, coming to an intersection.
“Go right,” the mare replied, doing all she could to keep up as adrenaline numbed her pain.
Amelia nodded and rushed the corner, only to find a blockade of guards in her way. She came to a stop and glared at the guards. “You guys sure are persistent,” she murmured before raising her hand, the Yo-yo folding away and her hand coming back. “But I can fix that! Wave goodbye!” She slammed her hand into the ground, a wave of water appearing in front of her and rushing towards the blockade. The water made its way down the hallway and eventually faded, leaving the guards crumbled in an unconscious pile on the other end. Amelia straightened up and glanced at Amber with a smirk. “See, no problem,” she said before beginning to run forward again.
Amber simply watched her for a moment, before giving a sigh and a shake of her head, following Amelia. “Next left, Miss Amelia!”
“Just Amelia!”
“Sorry!”
There was a loud crash as Sombra slammed his hoof into the arm of his throne. “How come you idiots can’t take a single opponent!” He yelled before looking angrily back at the door. He huffed for a long moment before an idea formed in his mind. As his plan formed, an evil grin formed on his face.
He sent out a mental command to one of the unicorns under his command to go to the training grounds. The NetNavi may have been able to take on all of the usual golems, but she had yet to take on the worst of the challenges he had devised for his troops… and he was going to throw it at her tenfold.
Several guards slammed into a wall after being blown back by a torrent of air. A few moments later, Amelia ran around the corner, an electric fan like weapon folding back into her arm as she ran.
“C-could you b-be a b-bit more ge-gentle?” Amber asked from Amelia’s back as she was being jostled around.
“Sorry if I’m a bit more concerned with saving our asses than being comfortable!” Amelia replied, continuing to run. “Where’s my next turn?”
“Straight at the next intersection, then left,” Amber replied. “Has anypony ever told you that you have an attitude problem?”
“Yup,” Amelia replied as she ran down the corridor, ignoring the first intersection and taking the next turn swiftly. She had to readjust her footing as she slid on the slick crystal, but once she felt her boot bite in, she dashed forward, the doors to the palace coming into view. Amelia cracked a small smirk. “We’re almost home fr-” The wall to her right exploded in a shower of large and small crystals, forcing her to jump back to safety. Amelia looked up to see what had caused the wall to crumble like that and saw several large figures lumber out of the dust cloud. Five huge golems lined up in front of the door, all of them having the attributes of all three golem types and being twice as big. Amelia’s face morphed into shock. “Amber,” she muttered gently, lowering down so the mare slid harmlessly off her back. “Get back… way back.”
The pony needed no further instruction as she made her way quickly back the way they had come. Amelia straightened up and locked eyes with the foremost golem, her arms folding out into weapons, the Long Blade on her right and the Super Vulcan on her left. “So, who’s first?” She asked, a glare on her face.
The golems replied by charging their horns and launching condensed balls of magic at Amelia. Her eyes widened and she quickly jumped to the left to avoid the volley. The magic exploded on impact with the crystal floor, throwing up debris and making it hard for Amelia to target the golems. Amelia decided to change up tactics and rushed in the opposite direction she had jumped to, raising her Super Vulcan. The two golems nearest the hole they’d entered from turned their attention to her the moment she came into view, the other three being slower on the uptake. Amelia unleashed the fury of her gun, the high-speed shots rushing towards the crystal beings. The golems crossed their oversized arms in front of them before their wings folded in front of them as well. The shots slammed into the natural shielding of the golems, shearing through their wings like tissue paper. The large arms, though, were more than enough to stop the shots. Amelia looked up in shock as her attack did little to nothing but slightly cripple the two of them.
The other golems finally turned and faced the NetNavi, their horns glowing before they started to launch smaller blasts in a machine gun-like manner. Amelia’s eyes widened and she started to dance around, doing her best to dodge the blasts of energy. Eventually, the golems’ charges ran out and they were forced to cut off their attack, at which time, one of them thundered forward, its arm reared back to strike her. Amelia narrowed her eyes and started to run forward, raising her long blade to a horizontal position as she did. The golem swung its fist forward, trying to crush the Navi. Amelia slashed forward with her blade, putting her full body into the blow and slicing clean through the golem, the monster crumbling into pieces.
The young woman then lifted her gaze to the remaining golems, only to gasp and roll away from her position as the two golems with injured wings ripped the appendages from their back and hurled them towards her. She was quick, but not quick enough. As she launched herself away, one of the wings caught her foot and ankle, a loud crack echoing out. Amelia gasped as she came to a stop, testing her injured limb. She determined that it would be painful, not painful enough to stop her, though.
She stood to her feet and winced a little as she did, an angry expression on her face.”Now you’re just pissing me off,” she said in a low tone. She started to fade from existence, the golems charging up blasts and firing them at her position. The attacks slammed into the ground, throwing up a dust cloud as they exploded. For several moments, nothing happened and the golems looked from one side of the entryway to another, searching for their target.
One of the golems suddenly jerked, before an explosion took its head off. The body crumpled into a pile, and once it settled, Amelia started coming back into view as she stood up her buster smoking. She lifted her eyes slowly, revealing her red irises. The golems backed away, trying to gain distance to strike. All except one.
The golem behind Amelia raised its oversized fist and brought it down, trying to crush the Navi. Trying. Amelia brought her free hand up, a sinister purple aura surrounding it as she caught the giant crystalline fist. Slowly, she turned her head to gaze over her shoulder at the golem with angry eyes. With speed unmatched, Amelia spun in place, her buster folding back up as she brought her arm back. Her fist emerged covered in the purple aura and she slammed the extremity into the golem’s torso, a shock wave running through the crystal and exploding in a wave of air out the other side. The golem stumbled away, a new crater in it, but Amelia was far from done. Amelia rushed forward, faster than before, slamming her super-charged fists into the crystal beast over and over again, leaving crater after crater. The golem was forced to step back with each blow while Amelia’s next blow sent it stumbling back like the first attack. The golem came to a stop and refocused on Amelia as her right fist folded away and reformed, a large yellow forearm and gray fist taking place of her own. With a roar of rage, Amelia dashed forward and slammed the attack into the golem, shattering it like glass.
As the monster’s remains scattered around the room, the young woman turned to face the two remaining golems. They had taken the time Amelia had used to tear down the other golem to charge their horns to the max. Amelia made to walk towards them, the golems unleashing all encompassing beams of energy at her. The NetNavi was engulfed in light, her shadow growing then disappearing in the attack. The beam lasted a good seven seconds before beginning to die down. After ten seconds, the golems’ energy reserves ran dry and were forced to cut the flow of their attack, a dust cloud prevailing afterward. After a few moments, the dust settled, revealing a glowing sphere of purple energy, Amelia standing within, her arm outstretched and body turned sideways.
The NetNavi lowered her hand slowly, the barrier fading away just as slowly. Amelia looked between both beasts before her face twisted into a snarl, flames rushing over her form. She rushed forward, her eyes locked on the golem to the left as an oversized hammer came to her hands. The golem raised its arms in front of itself, its wings folding in front of them. Amelia got within striking distance before she disappeared. The golem stayed as it was, trying to analyze what was happening. Its torso was then launched forward from its body to shatter against the opposite wall while the rest of it tumbled to the ground. Amelia stood behind the pile as it fell, her body and hammer smoking from the now extinguished flames.
Amelia looked towards the final golem, rage clear in her eyes. The golem unleashed one more blast of energy, meant to at least knock her out. Amelia simply hit the ball of energy away from her and into the castle doors, blowing them apart. She glared at the golem and began to stalk towards it. “I’ve had enough of this,” she growled darkly. When she came within range, the golem struck, trying to crush her, only to be crushed itself as a huge block made of rock pinned it to the ground from above. Amelia walked up to the helpless monster before lowering herself down and holding her hand out, palm up. An egg shaped device with a flat top and black display materialized there. “Have fun with this,” she said in a cold voice before standing and beginning to walk down the hallway Amber Leaf had disappeared down. Before turning the corner, she mentally triggered the explosive she had left with the golem.
Amber was currently down at the other end of the hallway, peeking around the corner and watching their backs. Amelia walked towards the mare, her body slowly relaxing after the fight and eyes shifting back to green. “Hey, Amber,” she said.
The mare nearly jumped out of her fur in fright. She let out a small yell and twisted to face the Navi, her face full of panic. “Amelia!” She cried upon recognizing her. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
Amelia raised her hands up. “Sorry, Amber,” she said. “Didn’t know you were so jumpy.”
Amber huffed. “Well, I am,” she said. “Did you finish off those golems?”
“Weeell,” Amelia said slowly before an explosion shook the floor under their feet. She then grinned. “Did now.”
Amber just stared up at the NetNavi before rolling her eyes. “Let’s get out of this place,” she said, moving to walk past the young woman, only to wince as her hoof hit the ground.
Amelia winced alongside her. “Would you like me to carry you again?”
Amber hesitated a moment before nodding. “We would move faster,” she admitted.
Amelia nodded and turned her back, taking her cloak off as she did so. “C’mon,” she said. “Let’s go.” Amber hesitantly climbed onto the Navi’s back. “Hold on tight,” the young woman said before throwing her cloak around both herself and Amber. She turned and walked back down the hallway, walking passed the havoc she had caused and into the wintery streets, activating Invisible as she went.
She began to pick up her pace. First, a jog, then a run, and within a few seconds, a full out sprint. She looked to either side of her as she traveled, seeing the mines and slave quarters of the Crystal Empire, the ponies in chains as they were forced to work. The young woman grimaced and turned her head forward, knowing there was little she could do to help them now. As she approached the dark wall surrounding the city, she made a promise as she leaped into the air. She would come back, and she would end Sombra’s reign. Amelia landed on the other side of the wall, a hard look in her green eyes as she ran off into the wild arctic.
Sombra let out a yell of rage as he felt the NetNavi’s presence leave his domain, his head raised towards the ceiling. Dark magic energy rushed out of him, cracks beginning to spiderweb through the floor from where he was standing. His eyes turned pure venomous green as the purple mist flowed freely from them in clouds. Black shadows began to pour out around him as his yell shook the castle.
His yell finally came to a halt, and he brought his eyes back down, huffing as he brought his breathing back under control. Yet, his fury still remained. He looked towards the open balcony and out to the icy lands. One thought persisted in his mind. If he could not have this being as his weapon, then he would destroy her as an enemy.
A mass of tents spread out along the frozen wasteland, the howling winds blowing through them. Just outside the tents’ perimeter, a lone white figure stood, staring into the distance at a lone black monument that was barely visible, except to her own magically enhanced eyes.
She canceled her spell and settled for simply glaring in contempt at the structure. “Soon, Sombra,” the figure murmured. “We will reduce you and your tyranny to ashes!”