My head thrashed around looking for Thunderlane, but my eyes quickly met and locked with the ice dragon's. As he simply smiled back disturbingly though it occurred to me that if Thunderlane was gone then that could be an advantage for us - as long as the dragons didn't know about him. As I stared fearfully into his eyes I resisted the urge to keep looking and risk giving away that one of us was missing. Instead I turned my head back towards the group and suppressed as much emotion as I could.

Thunderlane was definitely gone. I was in the way back and he wasn't in front of me. I didn't see anything out of the corner of my eye behind the dragon. Is he alright? How did he escape? The only thing I could think of was that the ice dragonets had stolen him away down one of those side tunnels we saw, those black holes in the wall. At least they seemed to like him... I hated not having him around - he was one of the only real friends I had in the world. If something happened to him I would be beyond upset. Please let him be ok, I pleaded.

I couldn't go looking for him though, I had to just trust that he could take care of himself, which I didn't doubt. But I still was gonna worry about him. There was no chance of escaping these dragons in these narrow tunnels where we were; we had nowhere to go, especially after they had quickly demonstrated some kind of freezing breath of death. We had absolutely no choice but to walk submissively at their lead. On top of everything I was so anxious to find out if these dragons had the kids that I could barely keep it together.

Walking silently was a really really bad feeling for all of us. We didn't talk to each other at all, not even Clear Skies said anything. At that point I was just trying so hard not to do anything to upset the dragons.

"Why are you all so quiet?" the dragon behind us asked in a mocking tone.

"I don't really know what to talk about I guess," said Clear Skies. Her voice was uncomfortable but not as uncomfortable as you'd think. "What are your names?"

"My name is Tundra," remarked the first dragon, the one who appeared first and led us from the rear.

"Mine is Glacier," added the front dragon. "Tell us, are you from the Crystal Empire?"

"They don't look like crystal ponies to me," replied Tundra, enjoying every second of his leading us from behind.

"We're from Pon- ow!" started Clear Skies before Blossomforth shot forward and bit her forcefully in the rear, causing her to stop mid-sentence.

"Oh come now!" mocked Tundra. "It's alright, you can tell us."

"We're f-from Equestria," I whispered quietly. Equestria was a huge area, better than giving them our hometown's name. I figured it was a harmlessly generic answer - I figured if they knew we weren't from the Crystal Empire they'd probably know we must be from Equestria anyway. "And we m-mean you no offense of any kind. We're just looking for some lost children-"

"Lost children?" interrupted Tundra in a curious tone. Looking straight ahead I couldn't see his expression, so I wasn't able to tell if it was genuine curiosity or some kind of ruse in which he actually knew exactly where they were but pretended not to know. In my best guesses it sounded sincere if not completely lacking of any actual concern for them, but my curiosity got the better of me and I whipped around to get a glimpse at his face. "Do you know of any lost pony children, brother?" he asked looking ahead to him.

"Hmm," muttered Glacier in front of us, turning his head sideways and flashing a cruel grin. I studied it intensely, desperate for any kind of clue. "As a matter of fact I think Father may know something about them. I, for one, would *love* to meet your pony children."

"We just want the children and we'll go - we promise!" pleaded Clear Skies.

"Be quiet!" whispered Blossomforth.

Both of the dragons laughed as the area around us seemed to be getting a little bit brighter. There were more crystals and more light coming off the them to illuminate the wet cave walls. I tried to curb my heart rate as I looked desperately up ahead of us. I was actually on the verge of crying. Please... please... for the love of heaven just let the kids be in here.

"Do you like our crystals? They're from the Crystal Empire," remarked Tundra, and I glanced back to see him eyeing them proudly. The obvious implication in his tone and his expression was that they were stolen. But I could care less about that - I was utterly preoccupied with the foals, so much so that I actually wanted the lead dragon to go quicker. That's also why I was so afraid... I didn't know what we'd find. You have to understand... everything hinged on this. If we found the wrong thing, I knew I'd be in danger of dying of a broken heart right there.

In a surprisingly short distance, the narrow tunnel began to expand and I saw up ahead what looked like some kind of large opening. The dragons led us to the entrance and we beheld a kind of great hall in the middle of the mountain, a huge round room hundreds of yards wide and maybe just as tall. There were many shining crystals that lit the entire expanse of it - on the floor, and on the ceiling - and ice covered everything: the floors, the walls, the ceilings; there was even a huge throne of ice and intricate pillars of ice that all sparkled in the light of the crystals. Strangely, there were no other dragons that I could see. Scattered around were piles of gold and jewels. I was hardly able to appreciate it's magnificence - I madly scanned the area for any sign of the foals, as I was beyond desperate to find them and terribly unprepared to deal with them being - well, you get the idea.

"We must get them down somehow," said Tundra to his brother. They were now both standing directly behind us shoulder to shoulder.

"They can fly down... they have wings," offered Glacier.

"Yes... they can also fly away," snapped Tundra.

"They have nowhere to go," replied Glacier. He said this, though I saw other black hole entrances to tunnels on the other side of the mountain, but they must not have led anywhere if they said this. They also seemed to be going deeper into the mountain and away from the Valley of White Death. But maybe the foals were back there...

"Shut up!" snarled Tundra angrily, nipping at his brother's neck but making no actual contact with it. "They know now that they have no escape in the other tunnels!"

Glacier lowered and turned his head and gave his brother a nasty, guttural hiss. The rest of us looked at each other uneasily, trying to communicate silently but not really knowing what to say.

"They won't have the chance! And besides, some of them do lead back to the main tunnel but they do not know the way even if they did try to escape, in which they would promptly be frozen to death by me," he growled, whipping his head up the front of us and eyeing us menacingly from the side as a reminder. For extra intimidation he breathed an icy breeze on us that chilled our insides to the bone, though it was merely a tease and not the special full-blown ice-breath attack we witnessed earlier.

"How must we get them down then?" asked Tundra, still irritated.

I looked over at my other team members. They did not know what to do either. Whitewash looked angry, and I was afraid that he might try something. He definitely seemed like the not-afraid-of-death type, but he needed to stay alive. He had a little brother to go home to, and we needed him if we were going to save these foals. I leaned over to his ear. I didn't want to overstep, but I just wanted to reassure him somehow.

"Thunderlane is still out there," I whispered to him. "Nothing is set in stone." Without moving his head his eyes glanced at me, but they were seemingly dismissive.

Suddenly, it seemed the brothers had made up their minds.

"You will fly to the bottom - where those chains are - with us right beside you, do you all understand?" said Tundra, as the two of them separated and walked up to either side of us. Tundra was just to my right, and Glacier was on the left of our line beside Clear Skies. "If any one of you attempts to fly away and back down the tunnel, you will all be frozen to death instantly."

We looked down towards the spot he was talking about and we saw what looked like two straight pillars of ice standing side by side and stretching high. Between the two pillars was a beam that connected the two, forming a perfect "H" shape. Hanging down from the beam that connected the two pillars - several feet above the ground - were eight thick silver chains. Each chain was connected to itself in a circular fashion around the beam so that they resembled shower curtain rings running across the beam, though they hung much lower like a skinny oval rather than a circle.

While the others began to hover I stayed grounded as long as I possibly could. I scanned and scanned and scanned, and I couldn't find anything. Coming in here I had so much hope that the kids were back here only to have found absolutely nothing. I was losing control of my body and slipping into a trance brought on by an overwhelmingly devastated spirit. I briefly forgot - or rather was oblivious to the fact that the dragons told us to move down. Tundra had been watching me, angry at first that I had not taken flight yet but eased up as he studied my expressions.

"There are none of your children in here," he muttered in my ear, his voice traveling all the way down my spine.

By some saving instinct I hovered off the ledge, and the lot of us with our dragon escort glided down fifty feet or so down from the hole we entered through. When we reached the bottom and made our way over to where the chains hung down from the h-shaped figure, Clear Skies, Merry May, and Buddy screamed. I very nearly died right then and there. Beneath the chains that we were about to hang from were a pile of bones.

"Wolves!" cried Blossomforth, and by saving grace I saw in time that she was referring to the canine skulls that littered the bones. It was a tremendous sigh of relief at the lack of any equine bones, but the initial fear was so powerful that it still hurt.

"Not just wolves," muttered Glacier, running his tail over some antlers over the boney rubble. "There are moose in there as well. And some wangdoodles, and more... All are welcome to dinner. You will be our first ponies."

"Where is your father?" I asked Tundra, desperate for answers. I had regained some of my control only through the feather brushing against my ear.

"He'll be here soon, and we'll ask him about your lost foals. I give you my word," he offered.

"What is the purpose of those chains?" asked Clear Skies uneasily.

"Food presentation is very important to ice dragons," replied Glacier proudly.

At this, many of the other team members shrieked or shivered. He was certainly right; this bizarre H-shape that featured chains hanging down from the middle beam seemed hardly necessary other than just being a tease before being eaten, though it also appeared that it was built strong and difficult to escape from.

Again Whitewash looked ready to try something... his ears were pinned back all the way against his neck, which every pony knows means violence. He had a remarkable lack of fear for these dragons, but I knew now was not the time to fight. It was time to survive.

"Ohhh," hissed Tundra, eyeing him sadistically. "This one may put up a fight. He looks very angry."

"How about it, pony?" muttered Glacier, slithering towards him from the other side. Both dragons found tempting him to be quite amusing. He glared belligerently at them - clearly entertaining the idea of acting out while the rest of us watched him nervously. I looked at him and begged him with all of my heart not to. He glanced at me for a moment and just as quick looked down at the ground instead, fighting himself. The dragons became impatient.

"He won't do anything, he is a coward," continued Tundra with a daring glare.

He looked up hatefully at them. But once again he then made the briefest eye contact with me before looking down at the ground yet again and snorting frustratedly. Finally, to my greatest relief, his ears began to relax as they eased up off his neck and eventually came forward to a reluctantly submissive position. He refused to look at anyone, including the dragons, but his body language made it clear that he was not about to try anything. Thank you!!!!

The dragons both raised their heads with disappointment.

"Line up," ordered Glacier. The lot of us listened and fell into a line. Glacier stood at the end of the line facing us and sank back into his hind legs, spreading his wings out and drawing his head back towards his body. He took a deep breath and seemed to draw up a batch of icy breath without using it.

"Take it off," said Tundra mercilessly to Whitewash, pointing to his cloak with his claw. "All of you."

Each of us delicately slipped out of our cloaks, careful not to spill any of our items from our bags. The entire time I prayed for deliverance, wondering if Rainbow could answer them herself, while I pleaded with myself not to give in to fear for my team and those foals as well as self-loathing for my apparent failure.

"Come with me," said Tundra to Whitewash. "We can do this the hard way, or we can do this the easy way. It's your choice. The hard way involves me taking you up there in my claws. The easy way involves you going up there yourself with me beside you. What is your decision?"

Whitewash's eyes moved slowly from the ground to his adversary, mulling over the option while the dragon watched him sportingly, clearly hoping for the hard way. Whitewash picked up on this and decided not to give it to him, so he flapped his wings and flew up to the dangling ring-like chain hanging down from the beam with Tundra right behind him. I noted on the way up that the dragons flew by long, powerful flaps that were much longer to execute than the flap of a pegasus. That could mean that we are better suited for darting and quick turns, which could provide useful in an escape.

When they reached the chain, the ice dragon grabbed Whitewash and wrapped the chain around his stomach three times - interestingly, there was no special harness or lock - but it seemed effective nonetheless, trapping his wings and leaving him dangling freely from the beam several feet above the ground, unable to move.

Next the dragon flew back down at landed right beside me, glaring at me. I was very frightened - I looked down and saw the other dragon at the end of the line, ready to freeze us all to death if I tried anything. In the back of my mind, I knew Thunderlane was still out there. As long as he was alive, we just might have a chance. But I will still overcome with the frustration of having found nothing in this cave.

I flapped my wings and hovered up to the circular chain hanging down from the cross beam. When I put my stomach over the frigid metal chain, the dragon grabbed my flank with his claws and wrapped it around my back twice, trapping my wings. It stung every area of my body that it touched from my back to my stomach. Then I too was left hanging freely from this chain right beside Whitewash. We were not terribly high - only about the height of about four ponies standing on top of each other, but just high enough so the dragons couldn't secure us from the ground.

Eventually this process was repeated for everybody. Blossomforth was brought up next just to my right, continuing down the line with Merry May, Buddy, and Clear Skies, so that she and Whitewash represented the right and left ends respectively. When we were all imprisoned, the dragons began to taunt us by flapping their wings on either side of us, causing us to bang into each other.

"No creature has ever escaped this," they jeered. I was shaking and trembling and began looking around in all directions, frustrated beyond imagination to find the missing foals. After a while I closed my eyes and fought tears, after which I felt the presence of a dragon right in front of me. I opened them ever so slightly and saw Glacier hovering right in front of me with a cruel smirk.

"This one misses his children," he noted, his nostrils literally right in front of my face with deep inhales. I turned my head to the side and closed my eyes entirely, focusing on deep breaths and trying so hard to think only of Rainbow Dash. I felt his slimy forked tongue on my neck and the eyes of everyone else watching us. "I can feel your sadness."

"Leave him alone," said Blossomforth in a brave tone. Glacier turned his gaze to her, aroused at her boldness. He gave her the same treatment, licking her face while she stared hatefully at him.

"Maybe Father will give you to me," he uttered.

Tundra did not seem to like the sound of this, however.

"I wanted those two... I saw the prisoners first," he hissed, pointing to me and Blososmforth. "If Father divides them between us, those two are mine."

"Between the two of us, I am the better in Father's eyes, so he will surely give them to me," Glacier hurled back at his brother.

Suddenly Tundra let out an enraged roar that shook the chains we were imprisoned in, and the two dragons began flapping higher in the air so that they were well above us. They began circling each other in air with hisses and growls, trying not to show an ounce of being intimidated to other. Then, without warning, Glacier nosedived to the ground in front of and just below where we were hanging from, at which Tundra followed closely and landed right in front of him.

"Father will give us nothing if this continues," growled Tundra, seething with anger but seemingly trying to calm himself. "Stay and guard the prisoners... I will go and get him," he muttered after which he immediately launched off and flew off to the side of the great hall into an unseen place that must have been another passage, because he disappeared and went completely silent. Glacier, meanwhile, snorted to himself and flapped himself angrily onto a perch that was near the top of this giant room looking down over everything. At least he was too high and far now to hear us or bother us too much.

Just like that, all the noise and drama had gone and the six of us were left hanging beside each other in silence. Though none of us said anything I could feel how demoralized and deflated we all were. No one knew where we were, and the only ponies who even knew we were out in these wilds were many miles were back in Equestria. My eyes began to swim. Despair, especially after all the hope that had come into my life in the days before, was the worst emotion I'd ever experienced, and it threatened to eat all of us alive.

Hanging there allowed the deeper questions to come back... Why me? Was I really a part of something bigger, or was I doomed along with everyone I was trying to save? My tears fell down into the pit of bones beneath us as I wondered how all of this could happen, how I had failed the mare who was the only reason I made it this far in life to begin with. I failed all the innocent faces that shined at me on the train station platform. I hadn't ended their suffering, if they were even alive.

When I had slipped out of my cloak before I had secured the feather in my mane on my right ear. What do I do now? I asked the one who gave it to me, wishing I could look into her eyes and thank her just one more time. I remembered then how there were many times in my life - even years where it looked bleak, but somehow this feather got me through all those times before and led me to an experience that was worth all of those hard times. This, however, was perhaps the bleakest it's ever looked. You've got me this far and you've never led me astray... Rainbow, despite her pedestal, never looked down on me. Not even when she learned who I really was.

"What do we do now?" Clear Skies whispered down the line to us.

"Nothing," replied Whitewash, staring ahead blankly as though the situation had overwhelmed him into a kind of calm madness. "It's over."

"What?" she asked, surprised and crushed. I looked up and around. There was no obvious way of escaping, that was certain. Everything seemed super in-place. The two ice pillars we were built on had no visible weakness, nor did these chains around our bodies. Then there was the fact that Glacier was watching and ready. There was no way he could hear our whispering, but he knew we were considering he was staring at us. He didn't seem to care that he couldn't hear us, like he knew it didn't matter. I always heard pride was a defining characteristic of dragons, and his face certainly lacked none of it.

"We just can't seem to catch a single break," remarked Merry May, in a soft cry.

"There's no way out of this," said Blossomforth, looking up at our prison defeatedly.

Whitewash was filled with rage and frustration. I looked into his eyes as he hung there. There was a lot of pain and - for the first time that I'd ever seen - fear in them. Particularly since the reservoir incident his eyes were always cold and uninterested in any interaction with me. But I got the sense there was something deeper about him than just an angry and unfriendly stallion. When the train of foals had left the previous day, I saw what to me looked like real love for his little brother in his eyes, and I saw it again now. Call it personal experience, but somehow I got the feeling that Whitewash had been struggling with something difficult well before any of this happened.

"I've always viewed the Princess as this great protector just like everyone else I guess... but this... I just can't-" muttered Blossomforth to herself.

"W-hat do you mean?" asked Clear Skies.

"How could she send us out here like this?" asked Blossomforth.

"She just wanted to save the foals!" replied Cleary.

"By damning us?" shot over Whitewash. "My little brother will have lost his big brother!"

"But... guys," pleaded Clear Skies, sounding more and more defeated herself.

"Oh for goodness sake, just kill it," dismissed Blossomforth angrily. "We have never had a chance out here. We're nobody. Celestia solved this problem by adding eight more young ponies to the death toll."

Clear Skies gasped, and started to cry. Even Merry May and Buddy seemed to believe Blossomforth, and of course Whitewash. Despair, fear, and failure was quickly dominating the hearts of all us. Of course her words and their expressions were like daggers to my insides, and with everyone I sought to give them some hope somehow but was not sure how to do it, and running out of energy myself.

"Well I accomplished zero in my short life," said Blossomforth to herself with a depressed realization, a comment that seemed more to herself than anything.

We are nobody... Those words rang over and over in my head. Rainbow seemed worthy of so much more than me that I barely even seemed fit to have known her at all. To make it even more obvious, beyond the fact that her absence was such a visible negative blow to the morale of this group and I was failing spectacularly to keep it together, to keep them from despairing. I could barely even keep myself from despairing. In the back of my mind I held out the tiniest hope that Rainbow herself would come through that entrance with all of the answers.

Maybe we were going to die out here in the middle of nowhere where no one cared about us. Even then, I thought, at least they had Ponyville to weep for them. I had no one to weep for me. Ponyville hated me and to add the greatest insult, I was about to fail them one last time when their children who meant so much to me.

Then, suddenly... No, Sonic! The Princess of World chose you over all the ponies in Equestria to save those kids! It was her voice again. You kept my feather for ten years... you never gave up.

"Princess Celestia chose you over everyone else in Equestria," I suddenly whispered to Blossomforth. Suddenly I was determined that she believe in herself, that they all believed in themselves. I wanted to be like conduit for Rainbow's encouragement.

Blossomforth stared at me as I held my ground and stared right back, unwavering. It seemed liked that simple fact hadn't occurred to them. Blossomforth especially seemed surprised and disbelieved that I could say such a thing, curiously studying me, and the more she did the softer she seemed to become - to my relief and replenishment.

"You are the most timid and afraid out of all of us," she remarked quietly. "And yet you're the one that refuses to give up."

"I think you all are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for. I know I'm not right about everything, but I believe that. I've seen so much already. " I replied. I was as honest as I've ever been in my life. They'd survived the bitter cold. They'd beat an army of wolves with wings. Merry May was now looking at me as well, along with Buddy and Clear Skies.

"Well... I still think you're crazy, and that we're about to die a really painful death," remarked Blossomforth. "But I... I admire your heart, Sonic. You're really - I think I know why Rainbow- well, forget it."

Her comment caught me off guard, and at first I didn't really have a reaction; but coming from this no-nonsense mare I had to take it as a compliment and eventually it hit me rather powerfully. Knowing that I had must have had a positive influence on her was such a relief and an encouragement.

"Thanks," I replied genuinely, hoping she understood. She looked back at me and once again seemed receptive to my feelings.

"You have the gentlest eyes," she remarked, before turning away and shaking her head. "You know..." she started quietly and mostly to me, after a long silence. She still was not looking at me, though she occasionally glanced over bashfully. "I'll be completely honest, I just kind of assumed you really did mess up everything up at the reservoir. I mean I had no way of confirming it - you know, that you were the one who wrecked everything - but... seeing you out here, you really don't strike me as the lying type at all. You really didn't do it, did you?"

"With all my heart - no," I muttered, shaking my head desperately. Though I was exhausted and saddened from having to deny this allegation so many times, I was also suddenly encouraged and grateful for her willingness to believe me.

"I should've known... Spitfire wanting to believe you did it is a good enough reason for me to not believe it... as far as I'm concerned that's all the proof of your innocence that you need," she remarked, half serious and half sarcastic. It was a strange place to have a conversation like this with all of us dangling side be side in a line from our own personal chains wrapped around our bodies.

"That's my sister," she continued to me, motioning towards Merry May with her head.

"Really?" I asked, unaware of this revelation.

"She doesn't talk much," whispered Blossomforth to me. "She talks to Dainty Do a lot. Dainty is like her little sister," she added. "Dainty is one of the foals missing."

It made sense to me. Merry May had taken the news especially hard and had appeared ultra-determined on this trip. It created feelings of both sympathy and awe at their relationship as well as fear and sadness at their separation. It was all the more reason to keep going. I knew what she felt, as I too had a special personal connection with many of them.

"All you care about is getting those foals, isn't it?" she asked, suddenly looking and sounding as though she felt guilty. "I guess I've been pretty selfish on this journey, and my whole life for that matter," she continued, assessing herself to herself. There was definitely guilt in her eyes even if she wasn't crippled by it. This whole moment was a side of the mare that I had not yet seen, as she had been all tough-as-nails until now.

I looked up at the beam we hung from for any weaknesses. I looked the beams on either side as well.

"Good luck with that," remarked Blossomforth. "We can't escape with them watching. I can't move my wings or wiggle free without creating a huge ruckus," she added.

I looked up the ice dragon who was hundreds of feet above us, perched nearly at the top, his eyes watching us sinisterly as he laid with his claws folded underneath his chin.

"We need him and his brother to fight each other," I whispered to Blossomforth, looking straight ahead to avoid suspicion.

"You know," she said, staring ahead in realization. "I think you might be onto something."

"What did he say?" asked Clear Skies. Blossomforth leaned over and whispered to Merry May, who then started to whisper to Clear Skies. I kept my eyes locked forward while my heart rate raced. I was so tempted to look up at the dragon again. I didn't want to give anything away. I couldn't resist a quick peak. He was now very agitated, watching us intently, whereas before he was quite calm and confident. When I heard movement, I looked up again and saw that he was standing up and stretching his wings, preparing a descent.

"That's enough of that," he growled to us loudly, and all but Whitewash looked up fearfully at him.

Part of me wanted his father to arrive, and part of me did not. I wanted to talk to him and find out what he knew about those children. I remembered the fear in the Princess' eyes back in the castle as she scanned the map. From what I gathered it seemed possible that one way to interpret her expressions was almost like there was something out here she was too afraid to talk about. But what was that? Was it this king ice dragon, or something else?

"So... do you ever go outside the cave?" Clear Skies asked the dragon, casually.

"I do indeed," he replied, staring at her with interest.

"What do you do for fun?" she asked him next.

"Fun?" he repeated.

"Yeah, you know! Like what do you like to do the most?" she continued, rather eagerly.

"Hmmmm," he growled to himself with a claw on his chin. "Freezing moose, maybe," he remarked thoughtfully, and Buddy, Merry May, and myself gasped in unison, "though I also enjoy ambushing wolves since they seem to think of themselves as the terror the valley," he boasted.

"Huh, well that sounds like... fun, I guess," mused Clear Skies, though she was not entirely comfortable with her assessment.

"What about your brother? Do you like to play with him?" she asked.

"Play? Ha," he snickered.

"Don't you guys believe in friendship?" she prodded.

"Friendship? Psh..." he snarled, laughing at the word. "I think my mother talks about it sometimes, but my brother and I have found it to be worth nothing."

"So you and your brother have common ground on that?" she replied.

"Yes we do," he retorted.

"But don't you ever do anything nice for your brother? Doesn't he make you happy?"

Blossomforth, Merry May and to some degree Buddy were amazed and fascinated that this conversation had lasted this long and that Cleary's innocence had kept him entertained thus far. We just let it continue the way it was going. Glacier paused to think about his relationship with him, jeering at most of her ideas.

"I never do anything nice for him and he never does anything for me. Well, one time he did offer me one of his wolves... and another time I lied to our father so that he could avoid getting punished. And other times we've greatly enjoyed freezing wangdoodles to death together," he recalled, suddenly flashing signs of fondness for his brother before he shook his head. "But the guy's a wimp," he snorted.

"Your brother?" clarified Clear Skies.

"Of course," he chuckled.

"That's funny," said Blossomforth, drawing his attention. "He said the same thing about you when you were tying us up."

Glacier retracted his head and growled angrily. His eyes flickered with jealousy.

"What?" he asked menacingly, moving towards her with interest.

"It's true," said Merry May, suddenly joining the conversation. "I heard it myself."

"AGH! How dare that smug - !!!" he cried, looking in the direction that his brother had disappeared.

Suddenly though, there was a sharp silence as Glacier froze in anticipation. A feeling of dread that we could do nothing whatsoever about began to choke us. There was a sound like a faint wind from somewhere behind us that got increasingly louder. Then without warning, directly behind us there was a sound of some great physical impact or crash followed by what sounded like many shards of glass (or ice) falling all over the ground. The shards hitting the ground eventually subsided and we were left in a dead silence again... Until, that is... there was the sound of something very large inhaling deeply through it's nostrils right behind us.

At this point I was too terrified to turn around. All of us dangled there in silence, looking at each other fearfully. Glacier smiled wickedly at whatever was behind us. It was as if his father was daring one of us to speak, or turn around and look at him... first one to do so would get iced. Or eaten.

"Don't look behind you," I heard Blossomforth attempting to whisper to the three ponies on her left. I couldn't see his face but I could sense the pleasure he was taking in this little game. Then, finally...

"Look at all the fat on those bones..."

The voice was deeper, older, and even more threatening and fear-inducing than Glacier or Tundra's. It clearly belonged to a dragon much bigger than them, and we dared not turn our heads and look. I shivered I was so scared.

"You sound really big," said Clear Skies. "And really scary."

The large creature behind us seemed to sneer proudly at her comment, and after a series of sounds that sounded like a take-off, the large dragon entered our vision from the right hand side. He flew in and landed straight in front of us and and struck a pose showing off his enormous wingspan. He was magnificent dark blue with rough scales and featured a long tail and a spiky neck. He was fatter and thicker in the chest than than Glacier and Tundra, had a longer neck, and his eyes though small were piercing light blue in color. He shared their long jaws and his claws were huge. All in all he was probably twice as tall as Tundra and Glacier and three times as heavy.

"What do you think now?" he asked all of us. His expression featured an arrogant smirk, knowing exactly what a sight he was to us. I barely even paid attention to the fact that these were only the second dragons I'd seen in my lifetime, and the first up close; I had only seen large dragons from the ground flying high over me once before a few years ago.

"Awesome... and scary, no offense," muttered Clear Skies, though this time her voice was shaking. I pondered what to say to him myself, though I was so afraid to even look at him. Kids! I shouted at myself in my head. Rainbow would have the courage to ask him. More than that, Rainbow wouldn't even be afraid of him at all. I knew that was already way above me, but at least I could ask.

"I am King Avalanche," he remarked, pleased with her admiring and not offended in the slightest. "Tell me, what brings you to my kingdom? Are you looking to steal back your crystals?" he asked with a sudden hostility, narrowing his eyes menacingly.

"We have not come to steal from you," I told him, and it came out in more of a whine. I forced myself to look at him, and when he turned to me he his eyes loosened, probably because he saw how pathetically scared I was and how little of a threat I could ever pose. "We're looking for some lost foals of our kind - pony children. They took a train over the mountains and never made it through."

I felt the eyes of everyone except Whitewash. But mine remained on the king, pleading with all of my heart for some answers and some mercy. It seemed like for the last 18 hours now I had been fighting through this indescribable heaviness in my soul and mind, and now it was turned up to eleven. He looked at me and then he looked upwards as though in thought, and it certainly appeared as though something came to his mind and he smirked to himself. I was torn with anticipation, ready to devour whatever he told us.

But the timing was such that Tundra arrived behind him and caught the angry gaze of Glacier. He flew in from our left and came down to the right hand of side of his father, and Glacier continued to eye him from his father's right side. Eventually Tundra saw him.

"Here they are, Father," he said, flashing a smirk towards his brother. "Having found them first I believe that you should get three, I shall get one, and Glacier can have the leftover scraps-"

Before he could finish, Glacier left out a roar and spreading his wings flapped powerfully and leapt in his direction, crouching down in front of him and backing his brother away.

"I found them first! I heard them! I smelled them!" he cried, and his brother hissed back.

"I will see if your mother wants them first," said the father. At this both dragons ignored each other and turned to him with displeasure. I barely noticed - I still eagerly and desperately awaited an answer on the foals.

"Mother will not want to eat them!" Glacier cried.

"No! She will want to keep them alive!" added Tundra.

"My kinda girl," whispered Blossomforth.

Their Father seemed angry that they had both challenged and him and his eyes narrowed on them. Scootaloo, Sonic... Scootaloo and Pipsqueak and all the little children that need your help...

"King Avalanche!" I called loudly, to the shock of everyone; even silencing Glacier and Tundra. His head darted back so his piercing eyes were squarely on me. "Can you tell us anything about those foals? The pony children?"

He smirked to himself, thinking about something - he knew something about them, it was clear as to day to me. His smirking and hesitation was utterly torturous and driving me insane.

"I think I have a good idea of where they are," he muttered quietly.

"Where?!?" screamed everyone loudly, all except for Whitewash, though his head suddenly shot upward with intense interest. King Avalanche looked over at Tundra and Glacier, and they both waited for an answer apparently unaware of what he was talking about, though he seemed to be giving them hints in his expression.

"We do not associate with him," he muttered, looking down for a second as I studied his expression madly. I saw something in his eyes that looked like something between fear and respect. His pride would not allow him to ever admit that he was afraid, but there was definitely respect, there's no doubt about that.

"Who?" cried Clear Skies and Blossomforth.

"Where is he?" asked Merry May depserately.

"Are you saying they're alive?" I pressed, with no time in between answers.

The dragon seemed amused by our pestering with a malicious grin on his face, which was tremendously anxiety-inducing. He took his time between answers too, thinking carefully about what to say, and they were very possibly the most frustrating seconds of my life.

"They may very well be alive, my little ponies," he replied to us.

Time seemed to stop. The sheer shock of this revelation was mixed with the blast of relief and at the same time adrenaline and anxiety knowing that we may not be out here in vain after all, and that their salvation was perhaps not yet completely out of our hoofs. I think the others had similar reactions, as they said nothing and were completely frozen.

"Where are they?" I asked again.

"Please tell us!" cried Clear Skies.

"I don't know that it's in your best interest to go looking for them," he replied. His level of amusement seemed to be quickly fading into annoyance with our pestering and my eagerness to learn more. I didn't let that stop me from trying one more time. His comment was also somewhat disheartening, as he had all but confirmed that they were in grave danger. I started to try one more time.

"King- please-"

"I have nothing more to say on this subject!" he suddenly snapped angrily, moving directly in on me and sticking his face right in front of me with a terrible view into his piercing his eyes. I was unable to face them and immediately looked away and closed my own, praying and begging for deliverance from this nightmare.

As this happened, though, I heard something that caused me to open them again.

"My dear, what do we have here?" said a decidedly female voice.

We looked over and saw a new dragon in the lair, flying in excitedly from an unknown place. This dragon appeared young and was a shiny cross between light blue and light gray, with yellow eyes. Small blue spines ran down her back and her scales were smoother than the others'. She looked more similar to Tundra and Glacier than Avalanche, and the most similar to the dragonets we had seen earlier that presumably had kidnapped Thunderlane. Even without any references from the other dragons she was obviously a female and Glacier and Tundra's mother; she was a thinner and sleeker build and her face and expression were very feminine. Her eyes certainly did not seem as threatening or evil as Avalanche's, though they weren't exactly saintly either.

She seemed to be the about same height as Glacier and Tundra, if not a tad taller and not quite as thick in the chest. Like the others she walked on all fours and was more serpentine than Avalanche, with legs that were thick at the joints and thinned out moving towards her claws. She flew in and landed next to her sons, quickly advancing all the way right until she was right in front of us, eyeing us eagerly.

"My, my! What have we here?" she asked, going down the line of us. She studied us for a moment then seemed like she was waiting for something. "Well?" she continued, looking surprised at us like we should've known what she was talking about (we didn't have a clue). "Aren't you going to comment on my scales? Don't you think they're pretty?"

"You do have a really nice color," said Clear Skies, with sincerity in her tone. She was a rather magnificent sight, after all, like a living ice crystal. "And those spines are perfect!"

"Ha!" she chuckled with pride. "These creatures are delightful!" she replied. Glacier and Tundra looked at each other in agreement that this was a bad sign. Blossomforth turned and stared at Clear Skies before facehoofing herself in disbelief. "Tell me you aren't going to eat them?" asked the queen.

"YOU SEE?" cried Glacier and Tundra together to their father who in turn shot an irritated eyebrow raise to them.

"I was going to ask what you wanted to do with them, my queen," he replied in a quieter voice, seemingly hiding some disappointment. "It is rare that creatures with such fat on their-"

"No!" she interrupted. "These are not wolves, or wangdoodles - or yaks! They are far more intelligent. Besides, they would be lovely slaves of mine!" she declared happily.

"You don't need seven slaves!" said Tundra and Glacier simultaneously together once again.

"Why not? Am I not worthy?" she asked, suddenly sounding worried.

"We told you this was going to happen," said the two brothers to their father.

"Quiet!" he shot back at them and they hung their heads with deep annoyance.

Their mother looked over at us all. To my discomfort her eyes locked on me with great interest, though from what I could tell I saw no real evil in her expression. She moved towards me as I started to shiver and this pitiful look came over her like she felt bad for me and was going to make it all better.

"Now now my sweet creature, don't be afraid!" she offered in a tender voice, and she reared up and with her snout coming right up to my face so I was left staring straight into her huge yellow eyes. She stuck her index talon directly under my chin - it was extremely sharp and was mildly painful even with how gentle she was being. "Doesn't that sound nice, being my slave? If you serve me well I will treat you with much kindness. I will look after you."

It forced my eyes shut, so I tried my best to relax. I believed that she was sincere, but it seemed like it wasn't a great idea to tell her that my idea of a happy life wasn't exactly being her slave... even if she was a kind master. Now that I had confirmation that the kids were most likely alive, I was desperate for an escape plan. But at that moment it occurred to me that she was very likely our way of surviving and for all I knew if we angered her we could be scraps of food in Glacier or Tundra's teeth. I tried to find something about her that I could appreciate, even if she had the all vanity that one would a expect a dragon to have. She was, after all, at least trying to make me feel better.

"See? I'm not so bad, am I?" she said with a smile as she sensed my appreciation. I felt the eyes of my teammates and sensed that maybe they weren't sure if I was being serious or just acting for the sake of pleasing her.

"This is your fault! I told you we should've eaten them right then and there!" roared Glacier to his brother suddenly.

"What? How dare you! I would've shared them with you in the cave if you hadn't complained," replied his brother, and the two began circling each other.

"I am sick of this nonsense," snarled King Avalanche to them, but they ignored him and suddenly met each other in mid air and the cave was filled with snarls and roars and the other sounds that come from two dragons fighting. King Avalanche growled and zeroed on them. The queen still stood right next to me as all seven of us including her looked on at the spectacle with no words.

"Excuse me, my queen," I asked her humbly over the growls and roars. I put as much respect that I could in the way I talked to her like a servant would. She turned and looked at me full of gratitude and pleasure at my referring to her that way as well as happy and ready to answer. The rest of my team looked at me once again with open mouths. They didn't know what I was doing yet. "What is your name so that I may address your highness properly?"

"My sweet servant," she replied, absurdly pleased and seemingly full of kindness. I'm sure my fear of her helped my sincerity. "I am Queen Blizzard," she said, and she stroked my mane with her talon. "I will protect you from everything. All I ask is for your loyalty."

"What a regal name," I replied in a whisper, and she smiled broadly with approval. "My queen, can you tell me anything about lost pony children out in the valley?" Without looking at them I somehow felt the rest of my team realize for good what I was doing now.

As for her, she didn't speak initially. When I asked her expression faded into more pity and uneasiness like she didn't want to tell me.

"Those are your friends?" she asked with concern, and we nodded. "I believe they are with the white-eyed one, my dear little pony," she muttered.

"Can you tell me where he lives? Does he live in the valley?" I asked, trying to hide my eagerness to find out but probably failing.

"He lives in the valley, and I know it is up that way (she pointed to the west of the cave entrance), but that is all I can tell you," she muttered, looking away sadly. But then... there was a terrible yell.

"ENOOOUUUGGGHHH!!!!"

King Avalanche's roar destroyed our ears and the entire mountain seemed to shake. Shivers ran down my spines and rattled my insides. The rest of cave went silent as the echoes from his thunderous scream died out. Glacier and Tundra, meanwhile, had stopped fighting in an instant and were now embracing in each other's arms and shaking with fear as they looked up at their father. While he stood before them fuming, and all of us looking on white as ghosts, there was a suddenly a noise amidst all the silence from above. A noise that sounded like... yelping.

All other sounds, including Avalanche's heavy breathing, suddenly went away. The raw fear on everyone's expression (including mine) turned to wonder as all eyes turned upward in anticipation. It was familiar yelping that belonged to the young dragonets who kidnapped Thunderlane. When King Avalanche heard it, he flung his neck and head around looking upward with intensity.

"Woo hoo!" suddenly cried Thunderlane. He came down through an unseen entrance and was standing on the backs of two of the dragonets as the other one circled playfully around him in midair. My heart leapt out of his chest. They all came crashing down until they finally landed gently on the cave ground back towards the wall from which we'd entered in, so that they were between us and the big dragons. They all landed rather ungracefully, though they seemed to all be alright; after they landed they began wrestling playfully like they had before and the dragonets jumped around him, biting harmlessly.

I myself was at a loss for words, as was everyone else. Here I was so concerned for him and so hopeful that he would help us escape that the shock of seeing him enter like this - without even acknowledging us or the big dragons for that matter - was beyond incomprehensible to me. Thunderlane and his new friends literally ignored everyone for a solid thirty seconds while everyone stared in silence at them. Glacier and Tundra had separated but sat by side still as statues, and Avalanche stood frozen, his mind struggling to compute the situation.

"Hey there!" he finally said to everyone, picking himself up and brushing himself off. "Ow, stop that!" he cried with a giggle as one of the dragonets nipped his wing, and he laughed more when another one nudged him behind with it's snout. I was trying so hard to think of what he was doing, and why he'd blown his cover in such a way, but the dragons weren't doing anything, other than the baby ones playing with my friend. "Hey - we talked about that, stop it," he said to one of them, acting as though he was loving every minute of their attention and even shoving back and whipping his tail around for them.

"Thunderlane... are you ok?" asked Clear Skies slowly, her voice full of concern. Thunderlane completely ignored and looked around and admired the setting casually, nodding his head.

"Nice place you got here... lots of space," he remarked. Blossomforth and I looked at each other dumbstruck for answers, and came up with nothing before we looked back with squinted eyes.

"*Who* are *you*?" uttered Avalanche.

"Hm... the children seem to like him!" remarked Queen Blizzard, impressed. She was standing right in front of me and looked over at Avalanche as though to see if he agreed with her, and he most definitely did not. He was still at a loss with a raised eyebrow in deep thought and disbelief.

"Sorry... how rude of me! My name's Thunderlane," he replied, dusting himself off again and trying to give some space between him and the dragonets. "I have to ask, are these - are these your children?" he inquired, pointing to the dragonets with a smile before looking over at the Queen, who seemed to be deeply impressed with him being such buddies with her hatchlings. "I gotta tell you, these are great kids - I mean I hope you spoil them to death," he went on.

"Seize him," commanded Avalanche angrily, pointing his talon at him.

"Wait!" cried Blizzard in Thunderlane's defense, looking him over. "This one is quite handsome for his kind," she said. Thunderlane might not want me to point out that she may have been influenced in this declaration by the fact that as one who bore a striking resemblance to her dragon babies, he also actually kind of looked like her a little bit too. Moreso than Avalanche did anyway.

"Who, me?" he said, as though trying to play it off. Then he gave Queen Blizzard a look over and raised an eyebrow of wonder. "Look who's talking, you're the most beautiful dragon I've ever seen! Maybe the most beautiful *anything* I've ever seen," he remarked in a smooth-talk, and the young mother dragon was beyond happy with his comment.

"This isn't happening," muttered Blossomforth in disbelief next to me. "Are you seeing this too? Are you hearing this? Please tell me you are... and if you aren't then just tell me you are anyway," she said to me, though I didn't look over at her. My gaze remained squarely on Thunderlane.

"Come to your mother, my children!" Blizzard encouraged, stretching out her claws as though encouraging them to come to her. The dragonets saw her and yelped with excitement, leaving Thunderlane standing by himself and running to their mother. They ran freely into her open forelegs and she wrapped her long around them all for a very mutually enjoyed reunion, though it was very brief and they left her to go to back to playing with Thunderlane.

"Wow, I wish you were the mother of my kids," remarked Thunderlane to the queen, who gasped with flattery and touched her chest with her claw. Avalanche was beside himself.

"Ohhh boyyy... he's cracked," said Blossomforth to those of us on the chains, shaking her head with terrible pity.

"What do you mean?" asked Clear Skies.

"He's gone nuts," she replied. But I disagreed.

"I don't think so," I replied in a whisper, locked in on him.

"Your children?" asked Queen Blizzard.

"I don't have any children actually. Yet, that is. I definitely want some though," he replied, and she raised her head. Then he looked happily back at her dragonets as they surrounded him once more. "These kids of yours... they are just such a *distraction*."

When he said distraction, he put a strange emphasis on it, and more importantly, when he did he had looked over and made eye contact with us for just the moment that he said it. Even without that word the flicker in his eyes was all I needed, and I gathered that Blossomforth picked up on it at that moment too. We realized that the dragons were paying no attention to us whatsoever.

"We've got to escape," I muttered, my heart suddenly racing.

I started to look around at the frantically at our entrapment. I experimented shifting my body around in the chains to see if I could loosen anything, but the way they were wrapped around my body made it almost impossible to slip out of, certainly not without rattling and making tons of noise.

"Anybody got any suggestions?" said Blossomforth, suddenly deeply invested.

"This thing can't be that strong can it?" asked Merry May in a whisper.

"These chains are so thick it's ridiculous. Where did they even get these? And how they did they get them around that thing like shower curtain rings?" asked Blossomforth. "You got any ideas Clear Skies?"

"Well, we could ask them to release us," she said, which prompted another face-hoof from Blossomforth.

I was growing more and more frustrated. Glacier and Tundra were now circling each other again on the other side of the cave, hissing, looking ready to fight. I looked over to check on Thunderlane; though he remained where he was originally, Queen Blizzard and King Avalanche seemed to be closer to him than they'd been before, which is what allowed us to talk to each other. But Thunderlane was essentially backed against a wall and had nowhere to go. Avalanche still looked unamused with his antics... *very* unamused. Meanwhile Blizzard seemed to completely adore him - he lavished on the compliments, many of which even seemed genuine on his part - and every second of it seemed to feed Avalanche's building hatred and Blizzard's growing love.

"We've got to get out of here now!" I whispered, getting extremely frustrated and desperate.

"There's no way out of this! It's a genius way of trapping creatures," cried Merry May in distress.

It seemed as though it didn't matter that Thunderlane was so beautifully and bravely distracting our captors. It seemed like we were going to waste away this opportunity to escape, and instead of saving the kids, instead of reuniting with Rainbow Dash, we were going to be Queen Blizzard's slaves for the rest of our lives if not eaten or frozen to death. I was beginning to lose my mind; this entrapment was airtight, and not even my little blue feather could spring us free. I wanted so badly for Rainbow to come in and rescue us. If she were here, I thought, she'd know what to do. How I wished so badly she was. I had reached a point of anxiety where she was all I could think of.

"I've got an idea."

It was not Blossomforth or Merry May or Clear Skies who said this. It came from the very end of the line, furthest away from me - I barely heard him. It was Buddy. I swung forward to try to get a look at the docile stallion. His expression was scared like it normally was, but I saw that he believed in something that I was eager to hear. With all eyes on him, he gulped.

"Look up at that beam," he said, referring to the cross bar that ran parallel with the ground and connected the two straight standing pieces together forming the h shape. The beam that our chains were hanging from around. I studied it intensely, looking for some sign of weakness.

"What about it?" whispered Blossomforth, looking up at it with nothing, as I did initially as well.

"I don't think it's secured. It was slid into place, not made into place."

"But what does that mean to us?" asked Clear Skies. Then, suddenly, my heart stopped... it occurred to me.

"It means that it could slide out," I muttered, almost too quietly for them to hear. Blossomforth thought madly for a second, and then the lightbulb went off in her head as her eyes and mouth widened.

"Yes," she muttered. She turned to me and we were mutually excited.

"It's worth a shot," I pleaded to them, my adrenaline pumping through my veins as I hoped for the best.

"What is?" cried Clear Skies in a whisper.

"We have to swing back and forth, side by side," said Blossomforth, looking straight ahead.

"How?" she asked.

"We'll lock limbs," whispered Merry May. "Lock limbs, swing side to side, and the shifting weight should eventually slide one side of the beam out of the one of the pillars."

"Wait... what if they look back and see us? What if they hear us?" asked Buddy concernedly.

We all looked over at the dragons. Thunderlane I could tell was getting a little nervous as he looked up into Avalanche's eyes, his claws stepping forward towards him ever so slowly. Both adult dragons' eyes were squarely on him, with two polar opposite expressions. The dragonets danced and played around him. Between their yelping, Thunderlane's talking, and Glacier and Tundra's fighting and snarling in another part of the cave, there might have been just enough noise to shield us.

"We have to try," said Merry May with a heavy heart.

We all exchanged soulful looks and in the moment of silence we agreed that we had no other option. We were all scared, but we at least we had each other. We hesitated for a moment but then we straightened out. I reached to my right and grabbed Blossomforth's hoof and wrapped my right front ankle around her left one. Going down the line everyone locked limbs with their eyes nervously in front of them. I knew this was our only chance.

I reached my left hoof out but it was not met with anything. I turned and saw Whitewash with his head down and his limbs relaxed. His eyes were open and he stared dejectedly at nothing in front of him. My heart dropped. We couldn't do anything without him. He'd been such a force in our battle against the wolves, I knew that this devoted big brother had to have something left in him.

"Whitewash?" asked Clear Skies from down the line as everyone looked over at him. He did nothing to acknowledge her.

"Whitewash," said Blossomforth in a very serious hush. "I know that this seems like a waste of time. But I think he's really onto something here. This beam does not look secured in those pillars. It's worth a shot."

In truth I was at that moment deeply afraid that he was going to ignore the mission and condemn us to one of the fates I mentioned by not participating. The entire time since we got off the train it seemed like he was just moments away from quitting. It seemed that way, but yet here he was. I knew that he had a soft spot and that he wanted to see his brother again. I knew that he was suffering. I could relate strongly to both of those feelings, although instead of a brother it was Rainbow, my hopes and dreams, and my dear Scootaloo and her friends.

"Whitewash... we can't do this without you," I whispered. "Please..."

He did not acknowledge me. He continued to hang there dejectedly with no motion. With every second that passed and he did nothing, my hope faded and faded and I felt the morale of the other ponies slipping. When my eyes began to water from the pain that was swelling inside, I suddenly noticed his his head lifting ever so slowly. At a speed slower than a sloth, his eyes made their way upward, and in slow movements his eyes wandered from both pillars on either side of the H. Our heart beats subsided and our hope returned. He stared then began to stare into space. This lasted longer than I anticipated, and just like that the doubt was starting to build again....

His eyes widened and emotion came back to his face. He looked over at my outstretched and limb and immediately wrapped his hoof around my ankle.

The adrenaline shot through my body as I looked down at the rest of the team. We all looked straight ahead, and the only sounds in the cave were from everyone else but us. We fully comprehended what was at stake - especially now that we had finally got a lead on the lost children - and that made doing our job that much more difficult because of the enormous pressure that was on the situation. When I had locked ankles with Blossomforth I realized we were both sweating pretty profusely. This was it. Then we began to sway.

I shifted my weight the opposite way that Blossomforth did at first and Whitewash's weight seemed to be pulling himself away from me as well. As a group we went nowhere. We tried again, and this time me, Whitewash, and Blossomforth were together; our weight shifted ever so slightly to the left; Clear Skies, Merry May, and Buddy however went right. Us three on the left held our weight, then when the three on the right went left, we released - we had gotten our first shift in the same direction as a group. We didn't hardly move, but when we came back the other way, we went the tiniest bit further.

We kept doing this for another minute or so, and the distance we traveled as a team got the smallest bit further, but it seemed like we'd have to move more in quicker for this to work. My breathing was getting faster and faster - all of my energy and focus went into shifting my weight with the team. We had it down as a team now. Left.. Right... Left.... Right..... Many lives depended on getting us to sway further back and forth and shake the center beam loose from the two pillars. A few more seconds passed, and suddenly I was passing over a greater amount of bones. I looked back at the rest of them and saw that they were just as anxious and determined as I was, and I added that to my source of strength alongside the precious blue feather nestled away in my ear.

"You been lifting with your chest? Very nice work, looks great," I heard Thunderlane say to Avalanche in an attempt to appease him. Thunderlane was now very nervous, though he still somehow seemed to be playing it off well to them. "Let me ask you this - what do you eat after a workou- "

"What does he eat? Too much!" replied Queen Blizzard, essentially shooting down his attempted compliment and Thunderlane knew it. But before she continued, he looked over and saw us going side to side and after a quick glance he immediately went back to them trying with all his might not to show any reaction to us that might give us away. "He's gotten fatter. He can't even fit through the main cave entrance!"

Avalanche growled in her direction, though lucky for us he didn't look completely as we were behind her from his vision. It was the most nerve-racking moment in my life... if at any time they looked in our direction they would've seen us swaying back and fourth. We were now swaying for several seconds in either direction, each one getting a lit bit longer than the previous. Everyone including Whitewash was giving their maximum effort and attention. It wasn't just shifting your weight. It was fighting through the dizziness. It was keeping quiet when you knew they could look back any second and all would be lost; the chains themselves were not super noisy though they were making some sounds. If this plan worked, if we somehow pulled this off...

Suddenly as we swayed, we felt the beam move ever so slightly... it slid maybe a couple inches. We swayed back the other way as a team and felt the weight of us shift the beam in the other direction and when we topped out to the left, the beam shifted that way slightly more than it did before. We went back in the other direction and it slid a little further. Then again.

Every time we reached our furthest point at a team where we stopped before swinging back the other way we all looked up at the beam we hung from frantically. It got to the point where the the suspense of whether or not it was going to finally slide out became almost unbearable. Each of us was trying so hard and we knew how close we were and how easy a look back could end it all. I made a point to make eye contact with each one of them so they knew that I believed in them as Rainbow did. Everyone - including Whitewash and Blossomforth - was fully invested in the effort.

Avalanche was closing the gap between him and Thunderlane, who I could tell even though I couldn't hear them anymore was losing his confidence and couldn't resist a few more glances in our direction. Though our stress levels were at an all time high and we toiled away at a level that was hardly possible, I was deeply and consciously impressed with him. You're doing wonderfully my friend... just a little bit longer!!!!

With limbs locked, we swayed to the left so far the Whitewash was able to touch the left pillar... several seconds later on our shift to the right Buddy touched the other one, and the beam we hung from slid several inches if not more than a foot every time we maxed out on one side. At the height of anxiety again my thoughts naturally turned to Rainbow Dash. We're doing it Rainbow!! We haven't given up!!! The thought of seeing her again was on my mind. As was getting those kids out of there. Hang on, we're coming to get you!!!

One single sway now felt like an eternity as we moved across the length of the beam and we all watched the beam breathlessly at the end to see if it would slide out, hoping desperately that it would, and if it didn't then we went right back to work with even more effort on the next try. I shifted my weight left and we trekked across - I looked over and saw Thunderlane's smile had faded and he had lost all confidence.

"I hate you," hissed Avalance, to which Thunderlane backed up in fear.

"H-hate? That's s-such a strong word," he muttered, sweating bullets. He was shaking with his flank pressing against the wall and his eyes full of fear as Avalanche began to move in on him. Queen Blizzard cried out in very loud protest while the dragonets surrounded Thunderlane to try to protect him from their father if completely in vain.

"COME ON!!!" I screamed as we approached a result and seeing Thunderlane's imminent harm. At my yell everyone else let out the cries they'd been bottling up, and the dragons' heads whipped around. We moved all of our weight together and Whitewash actually moved a few feet past the pillar on our side. As we came to a halt, we all looked up and felt a massive shift in the upper beam towards our side. Then... on the opposite side - Buddy's side - the middle beam that we hung from slid entirely out of the hole and came thundering to the ground.