Chapter 9:
Stampede
The next day, Chrysalis has taken Twilight to a large canyon for something she calls a 'Big Surprise'. The clouds' shadow looms over the landscape under the burning sun. Deep inside the canyon, Chrysalis and Twilight walked. Things were going perfectly for Chrysalis, so far, she managed to drag Twilight out here, all alone. Soon, everything else would fall into place.
"Now you wait, here, Twilight. Your mother has a marvelous surprise for you," Chrysalis said to her 'niece' as they neared a rock and tree.
"Oooooh, really?! What is it?!" Twilight asked, already getting excited. She was always impatient when it came to surprises.
"Now, if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise now would it?" Chrysalis said as Twilight sat up on the rock beneath a tree.
"But if you tell me, I will still act surprised," Twilight promised with a grin.
Chrysalis chuckled, seeing right through her trick, "Hoo-hoo! You are such a naughty girl," She teased shaking her head and grinning at Twilight. She was still putting on a good act of being a good aunt. It could fool any creature.
"Come on, Auntie Chrysalis," Twilight pleaded, placing her hooves on Chrysalis's neck, but the mare just shook her head.
"No-no-no-no-no. This is just between you and your mother. You know, a sort of mother-daughter…Thing. Well! I better go get her," Chrysalis said, waving vaguely with one hoof as she started to leave.
"Oh, I'll go with you," Twilight said as she starts following Chrysalis. She wanted to see her mother, plus she liked spending time with her Aunt.
"NO!" Chrysalis snapped, causing Twilight to stop in her tracks but then she regained her composure with a nervous laugh and said as she urged Twilight back on the rock, "Uh, no. Just stay on this rock, dear. You wouldn't want to end up in another mess like you did with the Diamond Dogs,".
Twilight was shocked when Chrysalis mentioned the incident with the Diamond Dogs. How did she know?
"You know about that?" Twilight asked, feeling shocked that her aunt knew about it.
"Twilight, everypony knows about that," Chrysalis replied, pointedly with her lips pursed.
"Really?" Twilight asked, feeling meeked and embarrassed.
"Oh, yes. Lucky, Mommy was there to save you, eh?" Chrysalis asked as Twilight silently agreed it was a bit of a close call before her aunt got an idea, "Oh, and just between us, you might want to work on that little magic of yours, hmmm?" Chrysalis said, bringing herself closer to Twilight. Acting as though she were giving helpful advice.
"Oh, okay," Twilight said sullenly as Chrysalis then walked away again. But Twilight perked up as another question came to her.
"Hey, Auntie Chrysalis. Will I like this surprise?" Twilight asked as Chrysalis stopped for a moment then she turns back with a smile.
"Twilight my dear, it's simply to DIE for," Chrysalis emphasized finally walking away, leaving Twilight all alone.
Chrysalis's smile turned wicked, as she was telling the truth that Twilight's surprise was to die for. But not in a good way.
Meanwhile, as Chrysalis walks off, on the top of the canyon, a huge herd of Caribou is grazing on some grass. Bull Caribou was on the watch while the calves were playing around and chasing each other. But as the herd grazed, they are unaware that Rover, Fido, and Spot were hiding underneath a rock archway, waiting for the signal from Chrysalis. The three Diamond Dogs are trying to be quiet, but Fido's stomach was growling so loud that the Caribous can hear it.
"Be Quiet, Fido!" Rover whispered.
"Sorry, Boss. I just can't help it, I'm so hungry…I Gotta Have A Caribou!" Fido whispered, jumping up and staring longingly at the Caribou herd.
"Stay put," Rover ordered him with a glare.
"Well, can't I just pick off one of the little sick ones?" Fido asked, pinching his finger in appeal. He was trying to reason why he could at least have one. He was hungry and the food was tempting.
"No! We wait for the signal from Chrysalis," Rover snapped back, jabbing Fido in the chest with his paw as Fido slouched in disappointment and lowered his head sulkily.
The three Diamond Dogs looked up and see Chrysalis mounting on a rock ledge above them, looking down at them with her mane blowing in the wind and an evil smirk and giving them a slight nod.
"There she is," Rover said.
Knowing it's time for them to act, Rover looked at his two friends and said with an evil and yet amusing expression, "…Let's go have some fun,".
And the three dogs left their hiding place, preparing to set their evil plan into motion.
Back in the canyon, where Twilight was left alone, Twilight is now laying on the rock thinking and still moping about what Chrysalis said about her magic. Twilight felt somewhat annoyed that her magic was only a few sparks. She knows she could produce a strong laser of magic. If she was in danger, Twilight knew she could scare the danger away. She didn't understand why it was so weak.
"Little Magic. Puh!" Twilight said to herself.
Then the princess saw a lizard hanging down from a branch and started walking past her very slowly at a time and perked up for she has thought of something. What if Twilight could scare the lizard with her magic? Maybe it would make her magic stronger.
Twilight tries shooting at the lizard but only a few sparks came out, and the lizard didn't react to this first attempt. Matter of fact, the lizard just walked like Twilight wasn't even there.
Twilight gets off the rock and follows after the lizard to try again. Her magic was getting stronger than before, but the lizard still doesn't react to this of her magic. For the third attempt, and with a devious grin, Twilight moves closer again behind the lizard, and concentrating and inhaling, she lets out a loud, strong, laser of magic onto the ground near the lizard, causing the small reptile to scurry away in fright. The laser sent a huge boom echoing across the canyon walls around the filly.
Twilight listened in on the echo and smiled, now knowing that she could produce a powerful laser of magic like her parents. But suddenly, the echo is soon eclipsed by a low rumble. Twilight heard it coming from somewhere as she feels the ground shaking at her hooves and looks down to see small pebbles jumping from the rumble. That's when Twilight heard the rumble getting louder by the second as birds were heard squawking. Something was definitely wrong. And it scared her.
Looking up at the rim of the canyon uncertainly, Twilight sees a large cloud of dust coming from the top of the canyon, and running down into the canyon is the Caribou herd and they are heading for the Alicorn filly.
Twilight had a terrified look on her face and gasped.
Soon without thinking anything else and seeing the gigantic herd coming towards her, a terrified Twilight takes off running in front of the stampede as more Caribou keep coming and piling into the canyon.
Twilight keeps on running as fast as her legs can carry her to keep ahead of the Caribou Stampede.
Back at the top of the canyon, as the Caribou kept running for the Canyon, the Three Diamond Dogs chased after the herd, snapping and nipping at their heels and sides, to get the herd running.
When every last Caribou ran into the canyon, the Diamond Dogs stopped chasing, paced, and watched in amusement along the edges of the canyon.
The plan was in motion.
But that didn't stop Twilight as she kept on running for her life with the stampede running right behind her, which is steadily starting to catch up to her.
At the same time, it happened, Aurora and Blaze-Horn, another stallion but is a bit smaller than Cobalt or Cliffbore, his coat was pale red, his eyes were bright green, and his mane was striped red, orange, and yellow. He wore a dark red jacket with orange coattails, a brown shirt, yellow shoulder pads, and a pair of brown framed goggles with blue lenses. Wrapped around his forelegs were black bandages and around his neck was a collar with a gold medallion with a firebrand on it. Underneath his coat was his roaring fire cutie mark, were patrolling the area when the latter noticed something in the distance.
They were only a short distance away from the canyon and he saw a large dust cloud coming out of the canyon. Then he remembered a herd of Caribou were there earlier.
"Oh, look dudette. The herd is on the move," Blaze-Horn said to Aurora, gesturing to the canyon.
"That's odd. I was told their migration wouldn't start until the afternoon," Aurora said as she noticed it as well, wondering why the Caribou herds were leaving so soon.
"Aurora! Quick!" a voice said as the two looked down to see Chrysalis climbing up to them, seemingly panicking and out of breath, "Stampede. In the canyon! Twilight's Down There!" She yelled as fear grew on the alicorn mares' face.
"Twilight?!" Aurora said with a worried and terrified expression.
Back in the canyon, Twilight was still running away from the stampede, but the herd was starting to catch up to her. Twilight looked over her shoulder in fear and looked around frantically for anything to get out of the way. She didn't know how much longer she could keep ahead of the herd. That's when she noticed a dead tree in front of her, in the middle of the canyon, and soon she started climbing onto its branch as it bends forward. And since Alicorns don't have claws, Twilight wrapped her forehooves around the tree branch and held on to it for her dear life.
Aurora and Chrysalis ran and flew as quickly as they could get to the canyon with Blaze-Horn flying ahead of them.
Blaze-Horn makes it to the canyon and dives down as he flew above the stampede and starts looking for Twilight. Then he spotted the princess hanging onto the tree relieved to find her alive, he flew to her.
"Blaze-Horn, Help Me!" Twilight yelled as she slipped and barely managed to hold onto the tree.
"Don't worry! Your mother is on her way! Hold on!" Blaze Horn yelled, flying back.
"Hurry!" Twilight yelled, slowly losing her grip.
Aurora and Chrysalis slid down to the lower edge of the canyon above the stampede and looked around for Twilight, Chrysalis less than Aurora, though she tried to look concerned. Blaze-Horn quickly flies over them, "She's down there holding on to that tree!" He said while pointing them to where Twilight is.
Aurora looked down to see her daughter trying to hold on to the tree.
"Hold on, Twilight!" Aurora yelled to her daughter with a worried expression.
Suddenly a Caribou rams the tree Twilight was on, nearly breaking it with the sound of a 'SNAP!'. Causing the princess to scream in fright while trying to hang on.
"I'm coming Twilight! Just hang on!" Aurora shouted as she jumped from the edge and ran into the stampede trying to save her daughter while Twilight continued to clung onto her tree.
"Oh, Chrysalis-Dudette! This is awful! What do we do?! What do we do?! Wait! I'll go back for help! That's it, I'll go back for…," Blaze-Horn panicked, watching the Queen running with the stampede.
But suddenly, Chrysalis blasted him with her magic, therefore hitting him to a rock wall, and knocking him into unconsciousness.
Aurora continued running with the stampede until she slightly passed the tree, where Twilight was struggling to hold on. The adult Alicorn quickly whipped around in front of some Caribou and ran into the herd towards the tree.
But as Aurora ran close to the tree, she was rammed head-first by a passing Caribou, throwing her to the ground in pain and knocking off her crown and regalias.
Getting up, Aurora looked up at Twilight's struggling form and saw a Caribou strike Twilight's tree, finally breaking the tree and throwing the young princess into the air. "AHHH!" Twilight screamed as she soared towards the ground but before she could hit the ground, Aurora quickly jumped into the air and caught her daughter in her hooves.
Twilight held on as Aurora ran to get herself and their daughter out of the stampede. Chrysalis was walking along the ledge lurking in the shadows above the royal mother and daughter, watching the action below her.
As Aurora ran, a Caribou came running at a fast speed and crashed into her, causing Aurora to lose her grip on Twilight and sent the princess tumbling onto the ground in the midst of the stampede. Twilight gets up and manages to dodge a few oncoming Caribou in terror until Aurora emerges from the dust, runs by, and quickly picks her daughter up again as she ran, nearly missing a hit from another Caribou that crashed.
Aurora runs to a nearby rock ledge and rears up on her hind legs to place Twilight on the ledge. But when Aurora tries to climb onto the ledge with her daughter, she was struck by a Caribou and was carried away back into the stampede.
"MOMMY!" Twilight screamed, watching her mother being carried off and disappearing into the stampede amongst the Caribou herd.
Twilight watches in horror as she cannot find her mother in the swirling mass of Caribou below her. Twilight's eyes looked around frantically for her mother in increasing distress. Until at the last second, Aurora jumps out of the stampede and lands on the side of the canyon. Twilight smiles happily when she sees her mother is alright as Aurora starts climbing with great difficulty up to the top of the slope since she doesn't have claws and her wing is broken after being struck by the Caribou.
While Aurora was climbing, Twilight watches anxiously from her ledge as the young princess turns and starts climbing to the top of the canyon. She wants to meet her mother at the top.
Meanwhile, out of Twilight's sight, Aurora has reached the point right below the ledge, where she couldn't climb anymore due to the steepness and the fact that she doesn't have any claws on the back of her feet so she doesn't have any traction. The Queen looked up and sees Chrysalis standing above her on the ledge and looking down at her disdainfully.
"Chrysalis! Sister! Help Me!" Aurora pleaded, starting to slip and barely managing to hold on, scraping on the rocks and struggling to hang on.
Aurora's hooves scrabble for purchase, kicking bits of rocks into the stampede below.
Chrysalis continued looking down at Aurora a little longer until suddenly she reared forward and latched her hooves onto Aurora's hooves, causing the Alicorn Queen to whinny in pain, primarily from the sudden pain of Chrysalis's hooves stomping on hers.
Chrysalis lowers her head to look at Aurora eye-to-eye as Aurora looks back at her.
"Long Live The Queen," Chrysalis said slowly with an evil smile.
Aurora's eyes widen for she has a sudden realization and her expression changes to horror as she recognizes her sisters' true intent. Part of her wondered why she never realized it before.
And Chrysalis threw her older sister off the slopes and Aurora free-falls, right into the stampede back-first, flailing.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Aurora screamed as she falls to her death.
"Nooooooooooooooooooooo!" Twilight screamed, watching her mother hit the ground from atop the canyon.
The stampede concluded as the last of the caribou ran out of the canyon before Twilight ran down to the ground to try and find her mother…only to be met with the moment that would scar her for the rest of her life.
Author's Note: Looks like the marvelous reign of Aurora has came to an unfortunate end in this chapter.
Chyrsalis takes Twilight to a Canyon because she told her niece that her mother has a 'big surprise' for her. Twilight begged Chrysalis to tell her what the surprise is but Chrysalis told her to just stay on the rock and not to get in another mess like she did with the Diamond Dogs. Chrysalis also told Twilight to work on that little magic of hers.
But what Twilight didn't know was that her big surprise was another one of Chrysalis tricks. For above the canyon is a huge herd of Caribou grazing and keeping watch, Rover, Fido, and Spot were waiting for the signal from Chrysalis until the Alicorn came and gave them the signal which means it's time...
Meanwhile, Twilight was practicing on her little magic, trying to scare a little lizard. When Twilight unleashed a stronger, brighter, and louder laser of magic, it created a loud boom across the canyon. That's when Twilight was about expect something she has never expected before, for running down into the canyon was no other than...
A Caribou Stampede!
Twilight runs off, trying to get ahead and escape the stampede. But what Twilight doesn't know was that it was the Diamond Dogs who were causing the stampede.
At the same time it was happening, Aurora and Blaze-Horn were patroling the area until Chrysalis approached them and informed Aurora that Twilight's in trouble, which had the queen concerned. Heading to the canyon as fast as they can, Aurora and Chrysalis arrived at the Canyon as Blaze-Horn pointed them to Twilight, who is now hanging onto a tree but not for long.
Jumping into the Stampede to save her daughter, Aurora makes her way to the tree by running along the stampede while Chrysalis zaps Blaze-Horn with her magic, knocking into unconsciousness.
As she makes her way to the tree to save Twilight, Aurora was struck by a Caribou but she managed to catch her daughter in the air and ran to get them out of the stampede.
Aurora has saved Twilight, but getting struck by another Caribou and climbing up a steep cliff with difficulties, the Queen can't save herself from the traitor in her family...Chrysalis.
Chrysalis betrayed Aurora and threw her down the cliff to her unfortunate death, which didn't go unwitnessed by Twilight as she watched her mother falling and screaming.
Something tells me that Twilight is gonna be in to get a scar, but not a scar on the outside, but a scar on the inside...