//------------------------------// // CHapter 17: Amethyst Lies, Escape The Crystal Catacombs // Story: A New World, And A Better Way // by Recteik Shade //------------------------------// Chapter 17: Amethyst Lies, Escape the Crystal Catacombs One thing to that could be said about the palace was it certainly never empty, particularly since the return of Princess Luna. Day or night there were always guards and ponies about either seeking to see Princess Celestia or more rarely Luna. Tonight however, it was a bit more noisy than usual. Word had come down that Celestia and Luna had met with a something and that both of them had called off their courts for the time being. This of course had the nobles and the council in a tizzy, with several large groups speculating about the situation. Amethyst however, didn't have to guess. The invading monsters would be engaged and pushed back just like every other time in history. "Amethyst!" The mare started and turned to who had called her only to frown,"Great just what I need. What do you want Grissom!?" "The Thestral didn't back down from her harsh glare or tone,"Why was your division moving one of the cannons?" The mare gave him an irritated sneer,"I know you Thestrals are supposed to be single minded but seriously? You are aware we run drills on the at least twice a week right!?" With a short nod she turned and began to leave for her office. "Which is why I'm so confused." Grissom said choosing to ignore her other comment. "Because I distinctly remember you running drills the day before yesterday." Amethyst stopped and glanced back to glower at him and in a voice that was thin and threatening,"I make the schedule for my divisions. Deciding where it's best to focus their time is my responsibility... Not yours. If you have a problem then take it to Princess Luna. And the Princesses can decide if I need to change the training regiments." She turned and walked away,"Now why don't you focus on your duties with the Night Guard? Captain!" Grissom gave a hard scowl at her as she left,"What a bitch." He then started to walk towards his office but glanced at the mare as she departed,"too bad she's got the nicest flank." He sighed,"Why are the pretty ones always so unbearable?" Amethyst stormed into her office and slammed the door behind her. "Damn bat! Poking his nose where it doesn't belong!" She dropped herself into her chair and slouched dragging a hoof across her face. "I'll have to change the schedule now so that's one new headache." Her expression darkened,"And I've still got that traitor Ironside to deal with." What to do? She had to admit that without the fugitive creatures it would be harder to justify her actions. However she doubted that the Princesses would care much when they realized he was about to cooperate with the enemy. She glanced out the window towards the mountain and frowned,'They're out there somewhere. And they'll find a way out of those caves eventually.' An eager grin spread across her muzzle,"I'll be ready for you." Another thought accrued to her as she turned to the few documents on her desk. 'Grissom is bound to keep sniffing about. One the troops who were involved is bound to slip up and say something they shouldn't... I'll have to handle the incident report myself.' With a tired groan she stepped back onto her hooves,"Well I had better see to it then. Not like I needed the sleep anyway." Her ears were still ringing from the sound of the cannon fire and blast of energy screamed around her. Dawn was half death and half blind, her night vision making the bright flashes of magic the equivalent to a flash grenade. She scrambled in the opposite direction as fast as she could, a falling stone half her size bounced and knocked her forlegs out from under her. She winced as the Rock Slide was painful but not a critical hit. She shakily rose to her pause stones falling all around her, still half deaf and with spots dancing in front of her eyes. Another flash and a rumble as a massive boulder half the size of the hole itself fissured and dropped from the cave ceiling. Dawn sunk her claws into the some and tried to evade but she could already tell it was not enough. 'Allen!' "Dawn no!" A shrill voice cried and something small impacted her side hard. The force almost sent her flying and she turn her blurry eyes to see the bright orange of colour of Vulpix fur as the oversized rock dropped directly on her sealing the cave in a thunderous collapse. Dawn was still disoriented and blinked several times at the boulder crushing the young Fire-type. "V- Vulpix no!" An aura of shadowy miasma raced down her forelegs each ending in wicked thee hooked talons. She began to frantically tear her way through the granite, which gave like sculpting clay under her claws. "Vulpix hang on I'm coming! I know you're okay! Please be okay!" She hacked and ripped at the stone with reckless abandon not caring as other rocks fell from the unstable ceiling. A blinding light shone from within the fissures in the stone and Dawn only ripped at the Rock faster cleaving a massive hole through which the shining from drug itself out. The light expanded and broadened until the shape settled and faded to reveal a smudged and dirty, but very much alive Ninetails. Whom groaned and panted on the cave floor,I'm alive?" She sounded surprised and confused,"How am I alive?" "Who cares!" Dawn cried wrapping her in a hug. "Dawn?" Ninetails asked. "I evolved? H-how is that possible?" "Don't know. Don't care." The Dark-type answered quickly as she started to lick the dirt from Ninetails fur. "We're both alive so I call it a win. Let's not question a blessing from Arceus shall we." Ninetails chuckled and leaned into the licking,"I guess you're right. It's just... I evolved! I'm actually evolved!" Dawn just continued to groom her while she continued to gush about how she never thought she would be a Ninetails so quickly. After several minutes of work Dawn had her looking pristine,"Well, now that that's done what now?" She wondered aloud. "We can dig our way out?" Ninetails suggested. The sound of shifting rock drew their attention, Dawn nimbly walked to the pile of loose stone that barred their way. Her ears Alder to the tiniest sound... again the stones on the outside shifted and could be heard sliding along with panicked cries. She reeled back,"They're trying to dig through!" "Maybe it's the nice one who listened to us earlier?" Ninetails offered hopefully. Evolved or not she was still clearly a child. Dawn shook her head,"No I can hear that winged female shrieking out there." "So what do we do?" Dawn turned her eyes to the cave they had retreated to. In the dark her eyes saw every detail of the winding cavern and it's numerous and spectacular crystal formations. "We use these to find another way out." She pointed her nose up and twisted her ears and remained that way for several minutes. The silence only broken by the sound of the ponies outside working to clear the rubble. Finally she smiled,"I can hear the wind. Follow me Ninetails we're getting out of here." The Fire-type fell into step behind Dawn squinting to see in the dark. Nearly an hour passed moving in relative silence. For Ninetails the darkness was total she could barely make out the outline of dawn in front of her. "It's so dark. I can't barely see my nose in front of me." There was a pause as the yellow rings on Dawn's body began to glow softly. "Is that better?" She asked with a smile. Ninetails looked around the winding cavern,"wow it's beautiful!" The walls were covered floor to ceiling in various crystal formations, the soft light from Dawn reflected off their faceted surface painting a wide area in soft yellow light. "Can keep this Flash going for a while." Dawn said. "But we should keep moving." "Dammit Lieutenant I don't want to hear anymore of your excuses!" Amethyst bellowed having had enough of this insolent lower ranking officer. She put a deathly edge to her voice and her expression turned dark,"Now you listen to me. I want your incident report on my desk by sunrise or I'll personally see you Court Martialed! Is that understood Lieutenant!?" The stallion standing opposite her gave her a look that for most might have been hard to decipher. She could see him trying analyses this so he would blame free, clearly wanting to to drop any and all repercussions on her. Finally he sighed,"Yes Captain. I'll start right away." "Excellent."Amethyst replied with a sweet voice and smile. She turned to leave the room,"Captain? What am I supposed to tell Captain Ironside?" The same dark expression came over her face,"Ironside will be indisposed for some time. He asked me to spearhead this himself. Now get to work and remember all incident reports come through me." With that she stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind her so hard it cracked the glass. The stallion stared at the crack for a moment and sighed,"I'm on a have to pay for that aren't I?" Outside Amethyst stomped her way down the corridor fuming,'The nerve of that little shit questioning my orders. I'll have his ass on my wall if he ever does that again.' She paused and glanced out the window, the hour was late so late that even Princess Luna would have gone to bed until the time came to set the moon. Now that she had taken care of the matter of the reports she could go to bed herself a few hours of sleep. "Naw." She said out loud shaking her head. " I better see what info I can squeeze outta that old traitor." An unsettling grin spread across her muzzle,"Though I'll have to save the really nasty stuff for after the Princesses make it official." She trotted off with a new sense of purpose. The corridor fell silent as she trotted off. From the shadow of a side hall meant for the Palace staff a pair of bright eyes glowed in the dark. Grissom stepped into to open light and looked in the direction Amethyst had gone,"Hhmmm." "Hey Dawn? Have you noticed it's getting brighter?" Ninetails asked. "Yeah I saw it a little while ago it's coming from something up ahead." Dawn had been heading for it hoping it would lead to a way out. "Hey I hear voices!" Dawn nodded she could hear them as well a lot of them. Many small voices that seemed to impart distress. Slowly sneaking forward she peeked passed the corner to see a large open space littered with crystals that glowed a soft white light. She let her Flash fade as she saw the whole room filled with Carbink. "Great."She hissed. "Fairy-types. As if this day hasn't already been a cluster fuck." "They sound like they're scared." Ninetails said poking her head around the corner to see the little rocks. After only a second she stepped out and into the open chamber. "What's the matter little ones? Do you need help?" You could've heard a pin drop, in fact had they not been in an underground labyrinth she would have expected a tumbleweed to go rolling by. Then every Carbink screamed and ran for the opposite side of the chamber huddled in a behind a single Carbink who looked just as scared. "Wait we won't hurt you!" Ninetails said in dismay. "We!?" The lead Carbink asked his eyes darting around. "Don't be afraid. It's just me and my friend Dawn." Ninetails said with a sweet smile turned to look at the still concealed Umbreon. Who sighed and stepped into the light and gave the Fairies a cautious smile,"Hello." While she knew a few anti Fairly moves she didn't want to fight fifty Pokemon if she could help it. "I'm Dawn." "And I'm Ninetails!"The Fire-type said still showing a youthful enthusiasm. The Carbink seemed to relax a little and the one at the head of the group stepped forward,"Then what do you want?" "Out of this cave."Dawn answered flatly. "Do any of you cuties know the way out?" Ninetails asked sweetly making the lead Fairy blush. "We- I... I'm sorry we are lost too." He looked around,"These are not our caves either. And we have have lost our Princess." "Aw." Ninetails cooed leaping forward and hugged him. "You're talking about Dancie right?" "Yes!" The Carbink said immediately. "Have you seen her!?" "No." Dawn answered. "We've been busy getting buried alive." The Carbink blinked few times while still being cuddled by a Ninetails. "If you come from the outside do you know what region we are in?" Dawn shook her head,"I don't know where the hell we are! It's like no place I've ever seen or heard of. It's like something out of a sci-fi movie." Ninetails and the Carbink both blinked in confusion,"Movie?" They both asked. "Right." Dawn said with a sign. Her ears twitched as she heard a slightly stronger gust in the faint breeze. "Ninetails we need to go. The exit is this way." "How do you know?"She asked releasing the the Carbink and moving to her side. "Allen used to go through caves all the time when we were younger." She smiled. "He was convinced we could find fossils in them. If I had a poffin for every time he got us lost I'd be able to eat for a year." Her smile faded,'I have to find him.' "Come on Ninetails. We need to go." As they made to leave Dawn paused and turned to the Fairy-types,"In the off chance I see her I'll let Dancie know where you little guys are,okay." The group brightened,"Oh thank you!" Came the general reply. Iron grunted in discomfort as he woke to the sound of steel slamming hard against steel. Then the bone chilling sweet sound of someponies voice,"Wakey wakey traitor!" Iron tensed and cracked open his heavy eyelid and saw the silhouette of Amethyst Edge. She was standing in the open door of a cell in the Palace dungeon. "So you really are going to try and go through with this madness amethyst?" "Madness!?" She laughed. "Just shows how little you know." She got very close to to Irons muzzle a twisted smile on her own. "I've already reported the situation to the Princesses. And they've already met with the being responsible for this invasion." Iron stared long at her,"You're lying." He growled. "The Princesses would never condone your actions!" Amethyst laughed again,"They and the council have agreed unanimously with my recommendation. By Morning tomorrow all of Equestria will march to the call. And by this time tomorrow ever monster in the city will be eradicated. One of those freaks survived and Princess Celestia eliminated it with extreme prejudice. " She glowered down at him,"And then there's you. You should have heard Princess Luna curse your name. She actually called for your head. She seemed quite dismayed to learn that we had abolished the Death Penalty." Ironside remained quiet not willing to believe her words. Once it became clear he had no intention of talking amethyst continued,"Princess Celestia wanted you Court Marshaled for what you did. I told her you were more use as a labourer than a prisoner. So I'll make you a deal." She got close to his face and gave him a sweet smile that turned his stomach. "Tell me everything you know about the enemy's plans and I promise not to lock you up somewhere where you'll never see the sun again." "You're insane." Ironside answered coldly. "I very much doubt that this is anything even resembling an invasion." A hard hoof caught him under the chin making his head rattle and stars flash in front of his eyes. He did his best to reel away for her but the chain around his neck made it impossible. Wham! Another hard strike to his left eye sent him tumbling to the cold stone floor. "~Liar~" She sang. Iron picked himself up rubbing his eye in an attempt to relieve some of the pain. "I don't know anything like that." Wham! A well placed jab knocked the air out of his lungs and sent him wheezing to the floor again. "~I can do this all night!~" She sang before a manic grin spread across her face,"In fact I think I might." She then began to stomp on his belly again and again all the while laughing like a lunatic. She was about to go for another kick one that would have been more than her thirteenth had Ironside not vomited. Amethyst looked down in disgust,"Uhg. How vile!" She hissed backing out of the cell and slamming the heavy steel door. As she walked away she said evenly,"You had better have that cleaned up before I return with the Princesses." The sound of her hoofsteps faded out leaving the proud stallion barely conscious in pool of his own sick. "This can't be real." "Hey Dawn do you smell that!?" Ninetails asked as she held her nose high. The Dark-type smiled and nodded as well, she briefly let her Flash fade and found the cave was brighter than before. Lifting her nose up she smiled and took in a deep breath of fresh air. They were very close to an exit now and the relief was too much to contain and she laughed happily. As a side thought she used flash once more to light their way then cheerfully followed her nose to the exit. He good move stalled as her sharp ears picked up the faint echo of voices on the breeze. The actual exit of the cave was still not in sight but clearly only around the next bend. "Uhg." Groaned a voice. "I didn't join the Guard for this!" "Shut up." Whined a female voice. "I mean can't they see how much my talents are wasted in the capitol!" The male voice went on oblivious of the mare talking. "I signed on to fight monsters and impress the mares. Why the holy buck am I guarding a hole!?" He paused," I mean you no get, No real drive just a good little soldier who follows orders. But me I'm a bucking hero in the waiting!" "WILL YOU KINDLY SHUT THE BUCK UP!!!?" The mare screamed clearly at her limit of what must have been one he'll of a long tirade. There was a pause then the stallion muttered something and fell silent. "Well that was something." Dawn muttered to Ninetails. "Hang on. I've got this." With that she creeper forward to the cave mouth, there stood two of the armoured ponies both looking out to the city. Silent as death, she placed herself behind them evenly,"Pardon me?" The two yelped in alarm and spun around to face the Moonlight Pokemon. However neither had any way to prepare for what was coming,"Hypnosis." The ponies frozen staring into her crimson eyes as their own grew heavier. After a few seconds they were open to any suggestion Dawn might feel compelled to put to them. "Sleep." She said softly. Though the words were lost on them it mattered little as the suggestion was still planted into their minds. The ponies eyes slid shut and they relaxed in their armour, slumping and leaning heavily on each other they fell into their slumber standing upright. Dawn smiled to herself,"Piece of cake." In an hour or so they would wake and find themselves quite rested. She marched passed the sleeping pair of ponies and looked to the city. They had climbed upwards in their wandering in the caves and now they were somewhere near the highest point in the city. The area looked fairly abandoned and it was still several hours before sunrise the fresh air was doing a number on her as well. Feeling fatigued she looked at Ninetails and saw the Fire-type looked ready to pass out as well. "Come on Ninetails. Let's find somewhere to get some sleep." Ninetails just nodded and followed Dawn.