A Stampede to Remember

by ShadowGear

Chapter 11: Final Preparations

Little Strongheart was running as fast as her legs could carry her. High noon was fast approaching, she had to get back to the village before the army moved out. She had never ran so fast in her life and in about an hour she saw Buffaloes dancing around large bonfires. They were performing their war dance hoping it would give them luck in the upcoming battle but Little Strongheart knew they would need more than luck to survive the battle. Stone Horn was at a grinding stone when he saw Little Strongheart run over.

"Little Strongheart, is something wrong?" he asked concerned about why she was running.

"Stone Horn... it's about... Changelings..." she said catching her breath. "Anyway where is my father?"

"He went back in after you left the village. Where were you anyway?" Storn Horn asked as he lead her towards the village's main tent.

"I'll tell you when I speak to my father," she said as the two Buffaloes entered to see Chief Thunderhooves having a quiet chat with Chief Flametongue. "Father!"

"Little Strongheart? Is everything alright?" Chief Thunderhooves asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I need you to listen. My friend Sclerite just told me-"

"Hold it, hold it," interrupted Chief Flametongue. "You've been speaking with a Changeling?"

"Yeah... but that's not important. He warned me that the Changelings have a new weapon. One that will kill all of us if we show up anywhere near the stampeding grounds,"

"And you trust the words of a Changeling?" asked Chief Flametongue. "It could be trying to trick us into stopping our attack."

"He! Has never lied to me before and He! Risked his life to get this information to us!" she yelled.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes! Because he just killed another Changeling to save me!"

There was dead silence as Little Strongheart's words sank in. They all looked at each other until Chief Thunderhooves broke the silence.

"I'm sorry Little Strongheart, but I need more than just the words of a Changeling to believe in this new weapon. We move out now!" he said as he stood up to walk out of the tent.

"Father wait!" she called out but he didn't stop. "Why can't you just see past the fact that he's a Changeling!" she cried out causing him to stop his advance and turn around to face her.

"You will understand when you're older," Chief Thunderhooves said before he left. Chief Flametongue followed him out leaving Little Strongheart and Stone Horn alone.

"Little Strongheart... was Sclerite one of the blue Changelings?" Stone Horn asked.

"Yes, how did you know?" she asked.

"Well... let's just say, I attacked him at one point," he answered.

Little Strongheart glared at him.

"Sorry about that... anyway is it true he saved you from another Changeling?"

"Yes."

"And you believe he did that because he cared about you? I find that weird."

"Sclerite is not like other Changelings. He's had many opportunities to hurt me and he never did it."

"He is dangerous! We can't trust him!"

Little Strongheart snapped, "You are all the same! You can't see past the fact that Sclerite is a Changeling! All you can see is an evil creature who wants nothing more than to hurt everypony! Well guess what? He's been through a lot! But I can't expect you to understand that!" She ran out of the tent in tears.

---

"Hey Sclerite! Are you still alive?"

Suddenly Sclerite felt a hard slap on his face bringing his vision back into focus. He found himself back at the Changeling camp. He looked up to see the angry faces of Tarsal and Queen Formic staring at him.

Sclerite smiled and slowly stood up but Queen Formic pinned him back down with a hole filled hoof. "Hold it! You have some explaining to do," she stated firmly before pulling him up with her magic. "First off, what were you doing outside of the tank?"

The tank? Wait they must have meant that mysterious weapon. "I thought I saw a scout on top of that hill your majesty," he answered.

"Next time tell somepony before you go after them!" she scolded. "Second question, what is up your wings?"

Sclerite looked back to see his wings were glowing and had some strange flakes attached. "I honestly have no idea your majesty," was the only response Sclerite could come up with.

"It's not dangerous or anything?" asked Tarsal.

"I'm sure it's nothing. I really don't feel any different."

"It better be nothing, I wouldn't want to have to explain to Queen Chrysalis why her apprentice died when something could have been done about it. Tarsal brief Private Sclerite on the plan," ordered Queen Formic.

"Yes my Queen," Tarsal responded and led Sclerite to the map he had drawn in the dirt.

The map was a bird's eye view of the valley. "We don't understand much about the enemy's plan of attack, but we do know that they will have to come from above that cliff," he pointed at the line representing the edge of the cliff. "Your job is to use the tank to kill as many of them before they can get to our infantry. This is the most important part of the operation because we are going to be significantly outnumbered in this fight. You don't have to kill all of them, we just need to hold the valley as an example to those who would oppose the Hive. Any questions?"

Sclerite remained silent as he looked at the tank then back at Tarsal. Tarsal took that as a sign that Sclerite understood his job. "Get in position and attack when I give the signal," he ordered and turned to walk away.

Sclerite rushed to his tank and hopped in. Almost immediately the earth began to shake as a large group of Buffaloes lined up on the hill. Upon seeing this, he knew his warning didn't get through. All he could do now was follow orders.

Author's Note:

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. We're finally nearing the end of the story but we still have a battle to go through. I would love to know what you all think of this story so far and if there was any way I could have improved it.