Chapter 13

Tommy felt a brisk wind bellowing against him by the time he had begun to woke up. He was still half asleep so he couldn't process everything around him at first and at first he thought the brisk wind was coming from outside the cave at the time.

He slowly opened his eyes and when his vision cleared, he abruptly sat up with a wide eyed look on his face.

"Uh… guys? Wake up!" Tommy cried, his tone of voice sounding panicky. One by one the others rose up.

"Ugh… Tommy? What's going on?" Mary asked, a bit groggy.

"Is it time to go yet?" Paco added.

"Uh… you might want to look around…" Tommy told them, still stunned.

"Why?" Felix questioned. He and the others looked around and to their horror they all appear to be on a large rock on top of a very thin tower of rock connected to the very bottom which was a one why trip to a bottomless pit. The only way out that they could see was a far off edge of land on the other side. No doubt that while they were sleeping the land crumbled around them, destroying the cave and leaving only the spot that they were sleeping on intact, though not for long. They all screamed at the top of their lungs, which woke up the ponies.

"What?" Twilight asked, waking up.

"What is it?" Rainbow Dash added, sounding annoyed that she was woken up so early.

"Hasn't anypony heard of beauty sleep!?" Rarity demanded.

"Forget beauty sleep! The cave is gone and were perched on top of a very fragile tower of rock!" Paco proclaimed.

"What!?" Fluttershy said, fearfully.

"Look around!" Edwin told them.

The girls did so and all screamed at the top of their lungs when they realize that the kids are right. Paco holds his sore ears.

"Ugh, it's like hanging out with dolphins!" Paco griped.

"W-What do we do?" Darla whimpered.

Mary held her close. "I-I don't know…"

"Well I do! We got to get off this thing!" Applejack stated.

"How? Like us, you, Pinkie and Rarity can't fly!" Felix pointed out.

Rainbow Dash then flew up. "But me, Twilight and Fluttershy can!" she stated. "Course, Fluttershy is a bit scared of flying and… Twilight hasn't had much practice."

"We're dead." Paco said.

Edwin turned to Fluttershy. "A Pegasus whose afraid to fly? Interesting," he mused.

"Who cares man!? We about to go on a way trip to a bottomless pit!" Felix exclaimed.

"Hey Twilight, Rainbow, how many of us can you carry at a time?" Tommy questioned.

"Uh… I don't know… but I can try." Twilight said.

"I'll have you all over there in thirty seconds flat, no problem!" Rainbow declared. Just then the rock tower keeping them up began to crack up, causing Darla to cry out in panic.

"Could you make it twenty because this thing is about to go!" Paco exclaimed.

"Ok, Rainbow, Fluttershy, grab one of them and fly over to the edge where it's safe!" Twilight instructed her friends. They both nodded and grabbed one of the kids. Twilight grabbed Mary, Fluttershy grabbed Edwin and Rainbow grabbed Paco. They all flew over to the edge and landed safely on the ground.

"Wow! Can we do that again?" Paco asked, eagerly.

"Later, your heavy you know that?" Rainbow Dash asked, which earned her a scowl from Paco.

"Ok… now what Twi?" Applejack asked. "Like the little guy said; we can't fly!"

"But we can jump!" Pinkie Pie reminded them. "Remember; it's just a hop, skip and a jump away!"

Felix looked at the gap between them and the others. "That's one big jump…" he remarked.

"And you can't walk that well…" Darla told him.

"So what pray tell should we do then?" Rarity wondered.

"We'll figure it out somehow, the rest of you just get jump on over there!" Tommy told them.

"What!?" Pinkie exclaimed.

"No way!" Applejack stated.

"We can't just leave you children here!" Rarity added.

"Well does anyone have any other ideas? Because I think they can only care back one more group before this thing gives!" Felix stated, looking down toward the tower of thin rock that was breaking apart at the seams.

"Aw, nuts, he's right!" Applejack exclaimed, seeing the tower crumbling also. "Uh… Twi? Any ideas?"

"I'm trying to think!" Twilight said, stressed.

"You'd better think fast, your highness!" Paco told her.

"Can't we just fly everypony else across?" Rainbow asked.

"The winds are too dangerous and we don't have much time left as it is… I got it! Rarity, I'll my magic to carry everyone over here!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Are you sure you can handle that, darling?" Rarity asked her, concerned.

"I have to try!" Twilight Sparkle said, as she charged up her magic and began to levitate everypony on the rock up off the ground.

"Whoa!" Tommy exclaimed as he was lifted up.

"Hey, it's working! It's working!" Felix exclaimed, until he noticed Twilight was beginning to strain herself attempting to lift all six of them over the large gap between them all. "Uh-oh, it's not working! It's not working!"

"Oh no!" Darla cried.

"Come on Twi…" Applejack muttered.

It took a little while but Twilight finally managed to get Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie on the other side of the cliff, along with the others.

"We made it!" Pinkie Pie cheered.

"Great, now Twilight just has to get those kids across too!" Rainbow stated. They then heard a strained filled cry from Twilight, who looked very weak at the moment.

"Twilight!" Applejack cried.

"What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked, concerned.

"It's too much… can't… hold it...!" Twilight exclaimed as her magical aura faded and the kids landed back on the large rocket which then began to tilt back and forth constantly. They all scream in panic.

"Oh no!" Rarity screamed.

"Kids!" Pinkie cried.

"What do we do now!?" Felix yelled, as it continued to tilt back and forth.

"We have to jump!" Tommy told them.

"Jump!?" Darla exclaimed.

"Are you insane!?" Felix demanded.

"Relax! Just trust me!" Tommy said, loudly. "On three, we jump, ok?"

Darla and Felix both nod, showing that they seemed to trust Tommy greatly. They then begin to wait a little while as the rock they were standing on tilts further and further back and forth constantly.

"One… two… three!" Tommy cried once the rock leaned towards the others. The three of them all leapt off the rock and towards the ledge. They all screamed at the top of their lungs as they flew through the air, during that point time seemed to slow down and everyone watched as they started to fly towards them and then further down. Then just when it looked like they wouldn't make it, Tommy managed to grab the ledge as well as grab Felix's crutch, who in turn used his other crutch to grab Darla by her shoe. The trio were now a human chain close to breaking.

"Well… that happened." Felix remarked, in a deadpan tone.

"Quick! Pull us up!" Tommy cried. "Hurry!"

Mary quickly grabs Tommy's hand and attempts to pull him up, Paco then grabs onto her and Edwin grabs Paco and before long they all used their muscle strength to pull them all up on the solid ground along with the others. They all pant in exhaustion.

"Boy… remind me to hit the Gym… the next time Darla's Mom offers…" Paco breathed.

"I told you… she's… whew! Too tired to argue…" Darla said, exhausted. The ponies all rush to them.

"Oh my goodness, are you children ok?" Rarity asked, worried.

"We're fine Rarity, we're fine." Tommy assured her.

"That was some pretty swift thinking there, sport." Applejack remarked.

"Not to mention totally awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, excited.

"Thanks… though I don't think I want to do it again…" Felix expressed.

"Me neither…" Darla added.

"At least were all ok." Tommy stated.

"Not for much longer if these events continue to occur…" Edwin said, looking at the destroyed landscape that surrounded them.

"Then we'd better get to the Crystal Empire straight away!" Twilight Sparkle declared. "Come on!"

Twilight the started running ahead with everypony else following her close behind while the icy winds of the north howled all around them.