Chapter 20:

Twilight Escapes

"Yes, we got her!" Stone Heart said, looking down at the defeated and weakened queen. He was elevated, for the dream that he had for so many years was coming to fruition as his band slides down the hill and into the canyon to continue their attack.

Pharynx was the first to launch at Twilight, ready to attack her again. But Twilight managed to quickly dodge out of the way and ran with the Outsiders giving chase behind her.

"Remember your training as a unit," Stone Heart ordered them as Twilight ran until an Outsider recklessly jumped onto her but was shaken off and the Outsiders continued chasing her.

Twilight ran until she stopped by what appeared to be a dam made of logs and looked up to see that it was her only out and to get there she would have to climb. It wasn't ideal, but when Twilight looked back, she saw Stone Heart and his band getting closer to her, ready to finish her once and for all.

Seeing that she has only one choice, Twilight quickly made her way up the logs to get out of the canyon and away from the Outsiders. Although Twilight was having a bit of difficulty and knocked some logs loose and fell towards the Outsider. Stone Heart and his band backed away and dodged a falling log as they looked up at their escaping target, snarling.

Twilight looked down at the Outsiders below her panting in fear, knowing she is in deep water now. Then she looked up and saw Ocellus, who has recovered, standing on the ledge of the canyon looking down at her in concern.

"Twilight!" Ocellus called out.

"Get her, Ocellus! Get her! Do it now!" Stone Heart encouraged, wanting his daughter to finish the job, so their revenge can be accomplished.

But to everypony's surprise, Ocellus ran off as Twilight struggles to climb up the logs to get to safety, not wanting to suffer the same fate her parents suffered from.

"I'll do it for you, father!" Aria declared as she leaped onto the log pile and started climbing after Twilight with some difficulties as well.

"Father, are you watching?! I'm doing this for you and I'm doing this for me," Aria shouted, looking down to see if her father is watching, and muttered the last part with a light evil chuckle as she continues climbing after Twilight.

Twilight struggles climbing over a log and just when she was to climb up to escape, Aria quickly grabbed her by the foot with a clawed hand made by her magic aura and Twilight winced and grunted in pain.

"This is my moment of glory…" Aria tried to say, but her victory was short-lived when she felt the log beneath her hoof becoming loose and breaking into pieces as Aria finds herself falling down the log pile.

"NOOOOO!" Stone Heart cried out as he and Pharynx watched Aria fall down with worry and shock on their faces.

Aria then landed in a small pit of logs as the log she was holding onto fell on her. Twilight managed to make it to the top and jumped onto the ledge, kicking a loose log down the pile. While Twilight struggles to climb up, Aria was trying to get the log off her until she looked up and saw a larger log rolling straight toward her and crashing in front of her.

As Twilight finally made it out, the Log Dam continued to fall apart until it was now nothing but reduced to a thin layer of logs and sticks.

Ocellus ran down into the canyon and approached the log pile as she started digging through the logs. But Stone Heart pushed her out of the way and started digging through the logs desperately as Ocellus and the other Outsiders watched with worry and nervousness. Ocellus was actually afraid of what happened to her older sister. It felt parallel to what happened to Chrysalis.

Finally, making it through the logs, Stone Heart found Aria buried within the logs coughing and she wasn't in good condition as she was before.

"Aria…" Stone Heart whispered sadly.

"I'm…sorry…father. I…tr-iiii-eeeed…" Aria stuttered with a weak smile, shivering in pain.

Stone Heart softly shushed her as he placed his hoof under her chin, assuring Aria that he's there with her.

"Well...I finally got your attention…did I?" Aria asked as she let out her final breath and went limp as Stone Heart let her go and panted sadly, for he knows that Aria is dead.

"Aria," Pharynx whimpered, appearing next to Stone Heart and looking down at his deceased sister before looking away in sadness.

Meanwhile, Twilight was limping her way home by herself. By the nearby hill, her son and friends appeared and saw her limping and was very wounded.

"Mother? Mother! Rainbow get help!" Dusk ordered, turning to Rainbow to go and get help.

"On it!" Rainbow Dash replied as she zoomed back to the kingdom to get help for Twilight while the others head to the injured queen.

Twilight continued limping and panting as she saw her son and friends heading towards her.

Dusk was the first to approach his mother and nuzzled her, he was so worried about her.

"Mother, are you okay?" Dusk asked, nuzzling his mother in worry.

Twilight was too injured to answer as she kept panting as her injuries are starting to take their toll on her.

Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie arrived and stopped when they saw all the gashes, bite marks, and even Twilight's broken right wing on Twilight in shock.

"Twilight are ya okay, sugarcube?" Applejack asked in concern for her friends' condition.

"Darling, talk to us. What happened?" Rarity asked, wanting to know what happened to Twilight.

"Who did this to you?" Pinkie asked next, wanting to know how Twilight got injured.

"Ocellus…Ambush," Twilight said as she collapsed to the ground from her injuries, coughing and groaning.

"No," Dusk whispered in disagreement, feeling greatly shocked that Ocellus led his mother to an ambush but he finds it very hard to believe.

Twilight's friends helped her up as Pinkie grabbed her tail and said, "Don't worry, Twilight. We're here for you,".

And the Mane 4 helped Twilight up and gently carried her home to get her strength back as Dusk walks by his mothers' side feeling greatly confused about how Ocellus would be involved in something she wasn't.

Meanwhile, back at the canyon, Stone Heart and the Outsiders mourned over Aria's unfortunate death. Now they have not only lost their queen but also a member of their band.

"Chrysalis, watch over our poor Aria," Stone Heart sadly prayed to Chrysalis's spirit.

Ocellus felt greatly ashamed for her sister's' misfortune, being unaware that Stone Heart fiercely turned his gaze to her with fury and anger.

"YOU!" Stone Heart roared, running up to Ocellus as she turned to her enraged father.

Only for Stone Heart to zap her on her left eye with his magic, causing Ocellus to grunt in pain and look away. Stone Heart looked at Ocellus fiercely as she turned to her father panting with hatred and anger, she couldn't believe her father would hit her. Stone Heart looked with shock for what he saw was a scar over Ocellus's left eye, identical to the scar on Chrysalis.

"What have you done?!" Stone Heart demanded, wanting to know what Ocellus has done.

"I didn't…I didn't mean to…It wasn't my fault…I…," Ocellus tried to explain, but then she stopped and came to realize something…

"Wait…I did…Nothing!" Ocellus snarled, realizing that she didn't do anything.

"Exactly, Ocellus! And in doing so you betrayed your band! Betrayed Chrysalis!" Stone Heart said, reminding her how she didn't do her mission and was close to betraying her family and her destiny.

"I want nothing more to do with that monster!" Ocellus snarled, standing up to her father.

"You cannot escape it, Ocellus. Aria is dead because of you!" Stone Heart reminded her as he walks up to Ocellus, causing the mare to walk back in fear.

"No," Ocellus said, shaking her head feeling greatly scared.

"You killed your own sister like Chrysalis did!" Stone Heart roared in anger and hate.

"NO!" Ocellus yelled in fear as she runs away from the Outsiders. She didn't want to think she could be like Chrysalis.

"Let her go! Twilight has hurt me for the last time! Now she has corrupted Ocellus," Stone Heart said, stopping his band from chasing Ocellus as he heads up to a rock ledge and turned to his followers as they gathered to hear his speech.

"Listen to me all of you. Twilight is now injured and weak. Now is the time to attack and we'll take her entire kingdom…BY FORCE!" Stone Heart announced as all the Outsiders whinnied out in victory ready to go with their leaders' new plan while Stone Heart laughed maniacally for the dark age for Equestria is nigh.