Chapter 10:
The King and Queen Are Dead
Minutes later, after the stampede has passed, the entire area was left in a fog of dust. Twilight reached the bottom of the canyon, and this time she is looking for her mother and father. But it was hard for the filly to find her parents in all this cloud of dust. And Aurora and Cobalt are nowhere to be seen. But Twilight kept on looking for her parents.
'Mommy?! Daddy!" Twilight yelled, calling her parents and looking around the same area that her parents could be at, but there was no luck.
Then a rumbling was heard approaching the young princess.
"Mommy? Daddy?" Twilight asked quietly, hoping it was her parents.
But it turns out to be a stray Caribou, the source of the sound, running past her. Twilight watched it go when it ran past a broken tree further down the canyon and that's when she saw a pair of dark shapes under the tree she clung to in the stampede in front of her. Twilight fearfully approaches the shapes to investigate and she soon realized that the shapes were her parents. When Twilight approaches them, she sees that they were not breathing or moving. Their mane and coat were a mess, their wings were damaged, their eyes were closed and their mouths were a thin closed line.
Twilight was starting to see something is wrong, but she hopes that her mother and father are sleeping.
"Mommy? D-daddy? Hey, come on," Twilight said hopefully, but her parents didn't stir or respond at all.
"M-Mommy, you gotta get up," Twilight said, rubbing against her mother's head to hopefully wake her up. But Aurora's head merely rolls back into place after that rub. She then turns to her father, getting really worried now.
"Daddy, we gotta go home," Twilight pleaded, pushing Cobalt's head with both her forehooves. But nothing happened after that either.
Getting worried, Twilight then tugged the king's mane, remembering it was one of her best tricks of waking her father up, but even that didn't do anything. Now Twilight is starting to get scared as she looked around and ran off a bit, trying to find help.
"HELP! SOMEPONY! Anypony," Twilight yelled, hoping that someone else could hear her, but she heard only her own voice echoing back from the sides of the canyon.
"...Help," Twilight whimpered quietly as tears start to appear in her eyes, and starts to cry.
Twilight has finally come to realize that her parents were dead, But is it her fault for this to happen? Did the young princess really cause her parents' death to happen? Twilight slowly turns back to her parents' lifeless body and nuzzled up under her mother's limp foreleg just to feel like she was really hugging her as she weeded over the loss of the most amazing ponies she'd ever known.
As Twilight continues to cry, Chrysalis approaches through the dust and heads towards Twilight and her sister and brother-in-law's dead body.
"Twilight…What have you done?" Chrysalis whispered. Twilight jumped back a bit in surprise from Chrysalis's sudden appearance,
"There was a stampede and they tried to save me. It was an accident, I-I-I didn't mean for it to happen," Twilight tried to explain but felt too sad to say anything.
"Of course, of course, you didn't, Twilight. Nopony ever means for these things to happen…," Chrysalis said with comfort but faintly as she pulls Twilight away from her parents and embraced her as Twilight buried her face in Chrysalis's foreleg.
"...But their majesties are dead," Chrysalis said as a fact while Twilight trembled against her leg, but she inwardly smirked, as this working just as she hoped, she just need to give the final push.
Twilight looks up at Chrysalis as the Alicorn Mare looks back at her with mock regret, "And if it weren't for you, they'd still be alive," she stated.
It was then Twilight felt crushed by what Chrysalis said and now she is starting to believe it was her own guilt and fault that caused all this to happen. Then another thought "occurred" to Chrysalis as she then gasped and asked, "What will your aunts and the guardians think?". Twilight thought about that as well, she feared her aunts and the guardians would be furious at her for getting her parents killed.
"What am I gonna do?" Twilight asked with a sniffle. She couldn't go back to the city, not after what she did.
Chrysalis was quiet for a moment as she let go of Twilight "Run. Run away, Twilight…," she said leering towards the filly.
Twilight looked at her mother and father one last time and then back at Chrysalis.
"...Run, Run Away, and never return," Chrysalis repeated, sounding like an order rather than a suggestion.
Hearing those words and knowing she has no other choice, Twilight runs off blindly, obviously broken by her own fault. Chrysalis stood there watching Twilight run and smiled cruelly. The King and Queen are dead, but the plan wasn't over yet. Rover, Fido, and Spot appeared from behind Chrysalis with evil grins as the Alicorn gave them one clear order: "Kill Her,".
And with that, the three Diamond Dogs took off after the filly.
Twilight ran until she came across the end of the canyon and saw the rocks that go all the way up to the point where she can get out. But then Twilight sensed someone's behind her and turned around to see the Diamond Dogs approaching her, drooling and snarling.
Quickly, Twilight flies up the rocks with the Diamond Dogs chasing behind her as she flies through a small hole, nearly missing a slash from Fido's claws as they scraped across a rock.
Twilight then reached the lip only to see a sheer drop on the other side. Twilight gasped and looked back to see the Diamond Dogs catching up to her. Having no choice, Twilight jumps off the cliff and tumbles down with the Diamond Dogs following her in pursuit. Twilight then fell through a patch of thorns and landed on the ground hard. She looked up and saw the Diamond Dogs were still in pursuit of her.
Twilight then carefully climbed through the thorny branches while trying to avoid getting scratched as she crawled to the other side.
When the Diamond Dogs were running towards the briar, Fido was the first to see the thorns below. "WHOA!" He exclaimed, trying to stop himself by skidding on the ground and managed to come to a stop just above the briars.
Fido let out a sigh of relief until Rover bumped into him and then Spot, sending Fido flying into the thorny briars screaming, "WHHOOOAAAA!".
"YEOW-OOOOWWOOO!" Fido howled in pain, jumping out of the briars covered in thorns.
Rover and Spot laughed at their friends' misfortune as Fido painfully walked back to them. "Ah! Ooh! Eey! OW!" He yelped as with every step he took the thorns pricked him as Spot just continued laughing. Then Rover stopped laughing when he noticed Twilight flying far away from the briars and into the Everfree Forest.
"Hey! There she goes! There she goes!" Rover exclaimed, watching Twilight run farther and farther away from them.
Fido then started pulling out the thorns in him as he turned to Rover, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go get her!" Fido insisted, before taking another thorn off his arm.
"There ain't no way I'm going in there!" Rover retorted as he turned to the big blue dog with a smirk, "What, you want me coming out looking like you, Mr. Cactus Mutt?!" he asked as Fido takes three thorns off his rump and looked at Spot, who was looking at him in amusement, which caused him to spit the thorns at Spot's nose making the small Diamond Dog yelp in pain.
"But you heard, Chrysalis. We've got to finish the job," Fido said with a glare as Spot rubbed his nose. "We go back and tell her we didn't kill her, we're dog meat!" He reminded the lead dog as he walked over to him as they looked over the cliff and the running princess.
"Nah, that filly is as good as dead out there, anyway. And IF she comes ever back, we'll kill her," Rover said, it was simple.
Fido smirked as he looked to Twilight before she disappeared over the horizon, "YEAH! DID YOU HEAR THAT?! IF YOU EVER COME BACK PRINCESS, WE'RE GONNA KILL YA!" Fido shouted to the runaway filly as she faded into the sunset. And with that, the three Diamond Dogs made their way off the cliffs and back towards the City Of Harmony in malicious laughter. Knowing that they and their leader have succeeded in their plan in getting rid of Cobalt, Aurora, and, technically, Twilight Sparkle.
Later that evening, nighttime has arrived in the City Of Harmony, but this night is a night of sorrow. All the Alicorns and Ponies have gathered at the Castle Of Harmony to hear Chrysalis's address. Even Celestia, Luna, The Guardians, Cadance, Shining Armor, and Flash Sentry are there.
"Cobalt and Aurora's death were a terrible tragedy. But to lose Twilight, who had barely begun to live…." Chrysalis said her eulogy, beginning her address placing a hoof to her forehead.
All the Alicorns and Ponies bowed their head in sadness when they hear Chrysalis's Address. Some of them, Celestia and Luna bend their head down in extreme pain and sadness, as the two sisters grieved over the loss of their older sister, brother-in-law, and niece, with Marina and Cliffbore comforting them. Flash was rubbing against his mothers' hoof crying.
"For me, it is a deep, personal loss. So it is with a heavy heart that I assume the throne. Yet, out of the ashes of this tragedy…," Chrysalis said as the Army Of Diamond Dogs started emerging from the shadows and approached her.
Every Alicorn and Pony then gasped in horror when they now know Chrysalis's true intentions.
"...We shall rise to greet the dawning of a new era…in which Alicorns, Ponies, and Diamond Dogs come together. In a great and glorious future of Equestria!" Chrysalis said as she ascends the Castle Of Harmony and more and more Diamond Dogs appeared in full force.
In the distance, Starswirl shook his head in sadness and shame for an unfortunate future. Eventually, back in his home, Starswirl sat in silence and deep sadness as he mourned for his friends. Wiping away a tear of his own, Starswirl looked at the painting of Twilight. With a heavy heart, he reach up and rubbed his hoof across the painting of the filly.
Because Starswirl knows that without the rightful heir to the throne, the City Of Harmony has no hope. This may have been the end of Twilight.
Or so he thought...