"Let's take a rest under this tree," Rainbow called to me over the wind. Her voice was losing it's strength and so was her step.

She and I had been moving up the side of the valley together frantically searching for any signs. We were running constantly, looking for cave entrances, under trees - anywhere that ponies could hide. It wouldn't be long now before we'd have to go back and meet up with the team for a check in, but her and I were exhausting ourselves. The wind and cold was penetrating my cloak from all the places the wolves had bit through and it felt like we'd been out here so much longer as time dragged on and on in the miserable conditions.

Up to this point I had mostly stayed focused which Rainbow being beside me had a lot to do with. It was a distant presence though; we were so preoccupied with finding the foals and the valley was so dark and noisy from the winds that it wasn't anything like I was used to, as we couldn't really talk to each other unless we were yelling over the wind. We hadn't found even the slightest clue up to that point and the more time that passed by the more I began to think in the back of my mind that maybe our end could be near, though I did my very best to carry on.

Following her under a large pine tree we ducked under the branches and the two of us sat down together against the trunk. We were finally sheltered from the constant winds in a place of relative quiet. We held each other tightly and breathed deeply. Eventually we started to warm each other up with our body heat and resting my head on her I closed my eyes in the silence. My mind was so tense it felt like cords were wrapped tightly around my brain so I tried to relax in a meditative state, telling myself that this was the only way to survive and save these kids and my team. The stress began to leave... slowly it felt as though someone had tied a hose to my head and was draining the tension.

Initially my thoughts were solely concentrated on Rainbow and how I wanted her to the be the last thing I thought of before I passed on from this world to the next. Then I started to think about my life up to that point and the role she had played in it. Moving from place to place as a foal... how hard it had to been to make or keep any friends with that lifestyle. My relationship with my parents seemed so positive at first. I remembered sitting on my mom's lap, looking out over from Equestria on a cloud at sunset as she taught me how the world worked. Recalling her downward gaze on me in my earliest memories I was so sure that she loved me and at all times I was so eager to please her and my father.

Somewhere along the way, something happened. Maybe it was on one of the moves in the north somewhere, I wasn't sure... but their attitude towards me seemed to fundamentally change. They were no longer interested in anything I did and it seemed like I could never please them anymore, and when that happened it seemed so much harder for me to find happiness in nearly anything. Then one day we moved to Cloudsdale. The first experience at flight camp was a disaster. After embarrassing myself on the track Dumbbell and Hoops made me feel like I had no value as a living being at all, and I knew I had no support at home. But then she appeared.

She, the fastest and best flier by far, had freely chosen to defend me from their taunting and not only did she express her mutual concern for the shy filly I was trying to help, she commended me for it. And then she turned and I saw her face for the first time. I saw the raw strength and courage that radiated from it, and I grappled with the fantastic realization that for that moment it was reserved only for me. Then I understood that above all things she was good... good for me and good for everyone, and I resolved to serve and imitate that as best I could. She became the most powerful source of happiness for me. She replaced my parents as the one whom I worked to please at all times and whenever we parted I thought only about the next time I would see her.

Then one day when our friendship was soaring higher and higher with every minute that went by as though we'd reached heaven itself, my parents told me we were leaving right then and there... and I had roughly a minute to say goodbye to the filly that consumed my life. Just like that my entire purpose in life was taken away from me. As I was dragged away trying to make sense of the situation, she called to me and the two of us reunited for one last goodbye and she turned her head and plucked a part of herself off her wing and rested it in my hooves for me to keep.

It's not enough to say talk about the power of this event. As a foal I couldn't fully comprehend what this meant, but it confirmed to me that the basis for everything I did was true... if my life mattered, which the feather affirmed, then others' lives mattered as well.

Next in line during my recollection came the abandonment as I felt Rainbow's breath slowing, the lag between every inhale getting a little longer. Primarily I just wanted to know why. If could just know why they did it... maybe I could try to make sense of it and might not feel so confused and isolated. I remembered waking up the following morning and looking around for my parents in the silence of the forest and slowly realizing that they were never coming back. The waves of devastation quickly made their rounds and I was once again left to wonder what my true value was if anything at all. But yet I still had my feather... and maybe, I thought, that was enough.

I had never spoken of it, not even to Zecora. She never asked - she obviously knew. But the role she played in helping me couldn't be understated, and I thought about much I missed her. I began to wonder if I regretted leaving her after only three years. Maybe I wasn't ready, which she wouldn't have wanted if I wasn't. She would sing me the most comforting songs, and I could hear her singing one I was particularly fond of. Far beyond the stars, my soul is longing to go... There beyond the sun, to a better place I know... Through the darkest night, I can see the heavenly glow, far away beyond the stars.

As a teenager I would fly into deep into the country and lay out in grassy fields at night... looking up at the stars and pondering my existence, wondering about Rainbow, and guarding the feather under my hooves. Those years were a mess; I could see the world around me and I understood that I lived in a way that was very different from how most of my species did. But I still knew I had tasted real love and that before I departed this world I had so much of it to give to whoever would receive it and whoever needed it.

I recalled the day in Canterlot I saved a foal from a rogue grocery cart, and when the Princess told me I was headed to Ponyville to meet Rainbow. How every experience from then on was a thrill that somehow topped the insurmountable bar set by the previous one... seeing her for the first time in ten years at that party, all grown up into the mare she was right now rested in my chest. Then reconnecting with her for the first time, and seeing the wonder she returned in her eyes... fighting with myself at her doorstep to return her the feather, then seeing her fold back the cloth and realizing what it was.

"The day that you and I met in the Everfree forest... when you held up your hoof for me to pair with mine... that was the best day of my life," I suddenly whispered, as I recalled it so fondly. It was easy to relive singing my heart out to the skies while I waited on her return to me in the forest by the falls. "I never dreamed it possible to feel so fantastic. I thought it beyond our capacity to feel."

She seemed to lift her head back so to draw strength from me so I obliged her as strongly as I could force myself to, while taking away as much as pain as I possibly could. Eventually when she was replenished enough she returned to my chest and my chin returned to her head, and I next thought of learning about Rainbow's life and meeting Scootaloo for the first time, and reconnecting with Thunderlane. I saw how Rainbow had influenced so many, wanting so bad to leave a positive impact on the lives of others myself... just like her. Life was so wonderful flying through the skies with her.

Then I met the team. I was eager to give them a friendly face which to my great delight they all gave right back to me. With Rainbow at the wheel we finished the thunderstorm job we'd been assigned despite everyone saying we couldn't do it. But immediately after came the failed liftoff that got Rainbow hurt and made me the most despised pony in town, despite my having nothing to do with it. I felt the sting from the faces of the angry ponies who just days before had welcomed me with so much friendliness. I wonder if they'll ever know that it wasn't me... that I never meant to hurt any of them.

I recollected how the next day Rainbow read me the Daring Do books from her hospital bed, and it felt like I was on an adventure of that magnitude with her featuring us two as the protagonists. We conquered every obstacle in our way. We lived the dream together as one and we grew in our connection and devotion to each other. And then... it came out. Rainbow found out the whole truth about me and my past, and I watched as her heart was pierced in ways that few ponies probably thought was possible in this world. I bore as much of it as I possibly could for her but unless I could take it all it would never be enough for me.

Finally, when she seemed to be recovering somewhat, we were called to Canterlot castle and we were delivered the news of the train's fate and thrust into action on a mission to save our town's little ones. Somehow she threw her own heavy burdens aside and set herself on saving these foals, even earning a scorn from the Princess in the process. We said our goodbyes at the train station and I left her with a feather of my own before I joined my comrades. I relived a cold and lonely night from my childhood and took refuge in Princess Luna's heart.

Then we made our way out here, and through the constant ridicule I came to respect my team members so tremendously as I learned about what made each one of them unique in their own responses to the situation. I thought about each one of them and their contributions to us getting this far; Thunderlane, Blossomforth, Clear Skies, Buddy, Merry May, even Whitewash - my feelings for them had gotten so strong, though that didn't make my connection with Rainbow any less significant - on the contrary it only seemed to enhance it. How devastated I was when I thought they'd given up, and having to face Rainbow immediately after, and my soul was torn to pieces at my failure... the true low point of my life. But they came back. They came back without an inspirational speech or anything special from me, which I was incapable of giving anyway.

And that led us right up to where I was right now, with the greatest pony in the world snuggled so tightly in my grasp.

"Rainbow," I whispered. "What could I ever say to you now that would be worthy of you," I continued, knowing that it would be easier to count all of the stars in the sky then take on such a task. "If I had the ability to fully understand what you've been through the last couple days... the last I could ever want in this world... not only for my sake but for Scootaloo's, Pip's, and all of the rest of them... I would do everything in my power to comprehend the depth of sorrow you've endured for us, when you could've so easily said no. When I would converse with the stars as foal, I would gush with awe at your greatness and the marvels that the love of that small one act had done for me, and here all this time they were saying back to me that your glory was a million times greater than I even knew. If anything could ever be said of me, let it be this... that I lived for the good things you have done for me and to let it shine through me onto as many other ponies as I could find."

Rainbow's lips slowly closed in on mine until they met for a most intimate exchange. She held my head in her hooves and poured her deepest affections straight into me, mirroring everything I felt for her. Both of us knew there were elements of deep sadness in the other over the situation but we seemed to have put that aside as we willed only the greatest feelings of happiness for the other.

"Sonic," she whispered, with the faintest smile amidst her exhaustion. "I'd go through this nightmare till the end of time... for one minute with you," she continued which drowned me in gratitude. She was fighting back against her body and her shutting eyes to make sure I knew the full force which she delivered it.

"You have always been my true captain," I told her, as my head fall onto hers again, willing so hard to ease her pain. My eyes closed and my mind slowed as the sounds from the valley started getting fainter and fainter. "My hero," I whispered. Rainbow's heartbeat seemed in union with mine. I started to drift into unconsciousness, for one final breath. "My feather."

"My feather?" repeated the voice of what sounded like a young foal... but it wasn't in my head. It had to have come from the real world. My eyes screamed open. A wave of energy rushed through me. Rainbow's head whipped back and the two of us traded incredulous stares. She had heard it too. The two of us stood up and moved slowly around the trunk of the tree, and I was more frozen right then then I ever was out in the valley. As we moved around it, the most powerful image I've ever laid eyes on inched its way into view... A grey shivering pegasus colt with scared eyes, followed by a purple filly, a yellow colt, and a red filly.

Rainbow and I looked at each other in disbelief, making sure the other saw the same sight. We were equally overwhelmed. They were huddled together as foursome, trying to keep each other warm with their body heat though they all shook. Rainbow and I looked at them, then to each other, then back at them and back at each other one last time.

"Is that - d-do you see?" she asked, as I shook my head up and down.

"Uh huh."

"Did we just- ?" she asked.

"It's them," I whispered, grabbing her hooves before we threw ourselves around each other. "Rainbow... we found them."

After so many hours of nothing, countless hours spent in a state of eternal torment as the thought of them weighed so heavily, so much time fought to keep this hope alive with anything I could... now, finally... here they were right in front of us. I fell to my knees, Rainbow following suit. We had found the lost foals. Four of them anyway. The two of us lowered our hoods, which prompted the red filly first.

"Rainbow Dash?" she asked. They looked confused, perhaps not knowing what to think though hopeful that we were there to help. They were without any cloaks or anything but didn't look nearly as bad as you would expect, though they had a few bruises, snow in their manes and tails, and the yellow colt looked like he was in some kind of minor physical pain.

"Rosie?" repeated the mare.

"Guys! It's Rainbow Dash!" she proclaimed to which the others gasped, and I saw the triumph in her expression as she stood up excitedly.

Whereas just moments it felt like the both of us were about ready to fall asleep - perhaps permanently - now we were becoming so overwhelmed we had to actually tone it back as not to scare the kids. My mind went into a flurry as my thoughts jumped all around. Their faces were so energizing. They were alive and well, feeling and thinking with all of the youthful innocence you could imagine. Rainbow and I could hardly accept it. All those hours of searching, hoping beyond hope for the slightest of leads, and hour after hour nothing came... to have our steadfastness rewarded like this was beyond anything.

"Are any of you hurt?" I asked.

"Is he your boyfriend?" piped the grey colt, to which Rainbow sighed and chuckled while I blushed.

"He's a *lot* more than that."

"Oh darn it," he replied sadly, apparently wishing he were hers which I found very endearing.

"How did you get here? Where are the others?" asked Rainbow.

"Bumble thinks he broke his ankle," said Rosie, glancing back at him.

"And I've got a headache," said the purple filly.

"Me too," said the grey colt. "Are you - are you here to save us?"

"Yes, we are," answered Rainbow, glancing to me an empowering newfound strength. The four foals, all of whom were pegasus, beamed at each other hopefully. They looked like small versions of ourselves, each with their own story of how they got here with each other that I could only wonder about. "How did you get here?"

"Scootaloo sent us," said the yellow colt named Bumble.

"Scootaloo?" repeated Rainbow breathlessly. "She's ok?"

"I think so, she was the one who told us to come out here - she wanted to stay behind with the rest of the non-pegasus ponies," she replied. I ran my hoof over my forehead as I looked over at Rainbow again. I needed water, as I was now sweating profusely. Every development was too much for me to take in all at once. "Unless the creepy guy did something."

"We're going to get you home, but we have to get your friends too," I said, taking out water and offering it to them first, as Rainbow did the same. "Do you want to go home?"

"Yes," replied the grey colt wearily, and the rest of them shook their heads up and down.

"I miss my parents," said the purple filly.

"Me too," said Bumble.

"Me three," said Rosie.

"Well, they definitely miss you a lot too, and they're gonna be really happy once we get you back," I said with a glance back at Rainbow, and I believed they were buying into it as they nodded acceptingly. "Can you tell us everything that happened starting when you were on the train?"

"Well," started Rosie, and I prepared myself for the most attentive listening of my life. "We were on the way to the Crystal Empire and it was snowing really hard outside, and then there was this 'swoosh' and this really, really bright light... and the next thing we knew all of us were like transported to this giant cave that was like a fun house."

"A fun house?" asked Rainbow Dash, as the two of us traded horrified looks.

"Yeah, with this like really creepy guy with like the head of a pony but white eyes," said Bumble.

"But he stands up on two legs! And has these white paws and feet," said the purple filly.

"Ok, do you think you could describe the fun house to us?" I asked, as Rainbow and I knelt down right in front of the four.

"It was actually pretty fun for a little bit!" said the grey colt, which I found unsettling. "There were all these slides, and mazes, and games," he went on.

"Really good food," said the purple filly.

Rainbow and I traded looks again, checking each other's status as we followed along. I tried to make sense of what heard but hadn't come up with much. I kept listening as intensely as I could.

"And he even gave us that those really strong apple cider drinks that adults make!" said the grey colt with energy. "But Bumble had too much and got really -"

"Shut up - I did not!" replied Bumble angrily.

"Ok, I said gently, and the four of them stopped talking. I held my hoof to my forehead trying to recollect for everything. "So, you're on the train, big flash of light takes you to this cave where this strange guy with white eyes owns this kind of fun house... how did you guys escape?"

"Scootaloo knew from the beginning that this guy was weird, and she told us not to trust him," said Rosie, and I felt my heart ping at the sound of it. "We all just ignored her at first because he said he was just trying to make us happy, but when we asked about going back to our parents and families he said we'd never have to see them again," she continued, her voice shifting to one of worry and sadness. "And he told some of us our parents don't actually care about us."

"He lied," growled Rainbow.

"He was like nice at first but he's actually really mean!" said Bumble. They told their side with such passion and enthusiasm.

"Guys," I said, lowering my head, trying to be as delicate as I possibly could. "This guy isn't a good guy. He's a bad guy. We were sent from the princesses to save you from him, and bring you back to Ponyville safe and sound," I continued looking tenderly at them. They gasped once again with fear, and my heart braced heavily for my next question. "He didn't hurt of you did he?"

"No, not really, he pretty much stays away and just watches sometimes," said Rosie, and Rainbow and I each released sighs of indescribable relief.

"You're telling us none of you have been hurt? All eighteen of you?" asked Rainbow for final clarification, and all four of them looked at each other and shook their heads "no".

"Sonic!" said Rainbow to the point of tears and the two of us hugged each other again. My eyes lifted upward. Somewhere deep down, I thought I knew it. I was so overwhelmed. But we quickly got off each other and tried to stay focused, we had to stay strong and collected for them.

"So what happened when you came out here? You said Scootaloo sent you?" I asked.

"Yeah. We found the exit to the cave - Scootaloo sent us out to try and look for help, since we're the only ones that could fly... so we came out into this blizzard, but then we came to this really big cliff and when we tried to fly over it we all got sucked up in this tornado and it blasted us right out there," said the purple filly.

"That's when I hurt my ankle," said Bumble.

"And my head hurts," said the grey colt. "It was really strong."

"You mean the cliff is right out here, and the cave is just right below it?" asked Rainbow, pointing to the opposite direction of the tree we had come in from. I thought and thought about everything they said, looking to Rainbow when they mentioned the part about the cave and the cliff. I think I was getting some kind of idea about what was happening, though I still needed more details. Many more. I turned my attention back to them.

"You're in the Valley of - " I started to say it, but I caught myself with a quick glance to Rainbow who was relieved I did. "Well, we're way up north near the Crystal Empire, in a valley. Outside the valley your parents and the princesses are waiting for you with doctors and royal guards," I told them, and their eyes lit up with mutual excitement and they shot each other smiles. I came back to Rainbow, who I could tell was as desperate to talk to me in private as I was. "Wait right here, Rainbow and I are gonna talk about how to get you all back, is that ok?" I asked, and they all nodded their heads willingly.

Her and I turned away, hardly able to contain ourselves. We held each other and poured out our emotions, rocking each other back and forth. Finally - after all the horrible things that had befallen us both - some good news.

"They're alive... Scootaloo's alive and unharmed, they all are," I assured her as this truth swept over and around us. I relished in the comfort it brought her as she struggled to contain herself... it was a best case scenario.

"I knew it... I'm just so proud of you," she whispered, bouncing and shivering with new energy. "But we can't get too worked up because this isn't over until it's over," she said, and I was darkly reminded that she was quite right, in actuality we had a monstrous task in front of us that I knew was maybe greater than we'd yet faced.

"You're right, you're right - I'm sorry," I muttered hysterically, trying to get a handle of my mental state and my heart rate as I madly rubbed my mane. "You're right - this isn't over. It's so far from over," I told myself, shaking my head, preparing for the next and perhaps the last wave of challenges.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! You're alright!" she assured me with a loving voice.

"What should I do? What do you command?" I whispered breathlessly, desperately eager to serve her in whatever way she deemed necessary. She looked back at the kids, concentrating on deep breaths and thinking hard until a sobering expression came over her face though her orders couldn't come soon enough for me.

"I'll take them back," she declared.

"W-what?"

"I can't get down that cliff with a broken wing, Sonic... It's perfect - I can fit four of them on this sled. I'll give them my coat and my blanket; harness the rope to this sled and me and I'll run them straight out of the valley."

I processed this in wildly different ways. It was an incredibly dangerous and impossible task that my spirits dived in every which way at the thought of, but as I stared into her it was abundantly clear that she was the only pony in Equestria who could do this. And I would be dead before I protested her or fought back her decisions, though in particular I dreaded one of multitude of implications. She's going to have to leave me.

"Sonic," she said, shoving her face into mine. "Find the others and go to that cave and get the kids," she said, putting her hoof on my shoulder as the thought of such pumped indescribable anxiety into me with every breath, my body shaking all over. "And then please..." she pleaded, shedding her tears with a headshake. She had been so strong, but now her desperate longing was flooding through. "Come to me... and we'll all go home!"

"Yes," I muttered, shaking my head at the thought of it. "YES!!!!!!!"

The reality of our impending separation was upon us. She reached her mouth into one of her saddle bags and her teeth pulled out a grayish-blue feather belonging to a stallion that belonged to her body and soul. I reached back into the saddlebag over my own neck and pulled out my own much smaller blue feather, and we held the two feathers out in front of us until we touched them together. Rainbow and I shared one final but very special kiss, and I believed as long as we kept these with us we'd always have a part of the other there with us to get us through. By the stars and the heavens I vowed to fight until my very last breath with every last ounce of will I had left. Then I sent them off and they disappeared into the darkness.

I sprinted through the snow in the direction where the foals had pointed and quickly came to a wide cliff, maybe several hundred yards wide and one hundred feet high. Below it was a small open field covered in snow and on all sides the mountains shot straight up into the darkness. I looked down at the base of mountains and saw in the distance what had to be what they were talking about. In the center there were strange and powerful winds whipping up with drifting snow from the cliff getting sucked into it's wintery vortex. Oddly enough it seemed to have some color variation, almost like small-scale northern lights that outlined sides just enough to make the surrounding areas just barely visible in the night.

I spread my wings and streaked back to the place where we had agreed to meet the others. To my dismay there was no one there. I reached into one of my saddlebags and pulled out a green flair, biting off it's fuse and setting off a loud green light show that lit up the area around me. I was so ready to go into the cave and retrieve the children that I couldn't sit still, I paced back and forth in the snow. Come on Thunderlane! Blossomforth! I pleaded. Those two were the closest since they were in charge of searching for the middle of the valley.

I gazed around in all directions, weary of something else my fireworks may have drawn the curiosity of. The valley was darker now, which suggested it was our second night here. I anxiously waited for them to arrive thinking about Rainbow pulling the four kids back in the wilderness, wondering about all the different things that she could have to face out there and how physically demanding it would be to drag through through the snow that long. She'd been so tired, how would she have the stamina to make it all way back? If it was any other pony I would say there was simply no way, but she was different. I had to trust and her and believe in her. It was tremendously anxiety-inducing that she had to leave me yet agian after such a short time together, but my willingness to fight was stronger.

I started to think about all of the things the foals had said. Who was this evil creature they were describing? Everything they described I had found truly disturbing... a mysterious powerful light that essentially teleported them all to the mountain's base with this pleasure-island type trap that he'd laid out for them. What in the heck was he playing at? I had so many questions but I was going to have to find out for myself, and I was wrought with fear at the thought.

"Thunderlane!!!! Blossomforth!!" I called into the abyss of pine trees and drifting snow. "Where are they?" I reached into my saddleback and pulled out another green flare, knowing I had several of them. After using it I threw it into the snow and searched fiercely for any sign of them. "Thunder!!!" I called over the wind one more time, prancing around.

"Sonic!" a familiar voice called, and finally the silhouettes of two ponies appeared in the dark, and soon enough the two of them came running out. I wasted no time.

"We found them," I declared, out of breath. The two of them were speechless and they traded stupefied glances.

"W-what?" whispered Thunderlane in disbelief.

"Are... are you serious?" pressed Blossomforth, as the same thing Rainbow and I had been through moments before swept over both of them. "Where's Rainbow?"

"Yes!" I said, shaking my head and up and down. "We found four of them! Four pegasus under a tree, they had escaped from whoever did this. They said the other foals haven't been hurt!" I said, catching my breath.

"They WHAT?!?" cried Thunderlane, who did a backflip. Blossomforth covered her face in her front leg and then leapt out at me. I eagerly received her for an emotional hug. "I need in on this," said Thunder, who came over buried his head into us, who was also readily received.

"Who? What foals were they?" she pleaded.

"Where are the rest of them?" asked Thunderlane.

"Follow me it's not far!"

The three of us darted through the trees before we came to the top of the cliff and I explained to them everything the foals had told us about the kidnapping as well as Rainbow's decision to take the four of them back herself - the latter to which they reaction with visible concerned. I pointed down the cliff to the back of the canyon, at the base of the mountain where you could barely make out what had to look like an opening.

"Gosh darnit..." remarked Thunderlane fearfully in the direction of the opening. "I had a feeling that this was gonna come down to a battle with a big bad."

"How are we supposed to fly down there with that tornado there?" asked Blossomforth.

"Welcome to Equestria, where random inconveniences make everything so much harder," observed Thunder, but I had another idea.

"I don't think that's random," I said. The same thing that transported a train full of foals to a cave down there could probably do something like this, which made me dread the thought of his power. "I think that was meant for us."

"We need to find the other three," said Blossomforth, referring to Merry May, Clear Skies and Buddy with a glance behind into the dark valley.

"Of course," I said, but I knew something else had to be done. "Someone should go those the kids now though. He'll find out the four escaped very soon if he hasn't already." There was a brief silence between us three as we all considered everything. "I will go."

"Sonic... are you sure?" asked Thunderlane.

"I think so," I said. "Someone has to go down there now. Someone has to be with them," I said, lamenting the thought of their predicament.

"He's right," whispered Blossomforth. "Thunderlane and I will go and get the others. But what we do when we get back? Just wait for you to come out? Or should we try to go in after you?"

"This tornado makes everything so much harder," I said, and my mind went to work in mulling my options. "We have to get them up and over this cliff somehow, and we can't just fly them up with that there because this thing is dangerous - especially carrying foals," I said, looking down across the bottom, thinking exhaustively for a solution. There didn't seem to be way out of this. The mouth of the entrance was situated at the bottom of a kind of bowl, and the only possible way out of it seemed to be to fly in and out, which wasn't an option with these constant swirling winds.

"If there was some way to scale this cliff," said Thunderlane. I thought of one solution, but it sounded very difficult.

"Rainbow gave me extra rope," I said, turning back to them. "I may have enough to harness them all to me with one big leash. I could go in there and then sneak them out - lead the kids along the edge of the bottom there, hugging the sides where the winds aren't having an effect - look," I continued, pointing to where the swirling winds were not touching. "Then climb up this cliff with them."

"Sonic I love you to death but there's no way you make it up this cliff with fourteen foals dangling behind you," said Thunderlane.

I looked down one more time. It was a daunting task for sure. It was steep here at the top but the rocks looked climbable enough on the lower half that maybe if the foals could climb up some distance with me, they could throw a rope down to me and lift us up the rest of the way.

"What if you five combined your rope together and made one for me to grab onto? Then you could pull us up?" I suggested.

"That's easier said then done," said Blossomforth, shaking her head. "But we can try it. Are you sure you can handle all of this? How are you gonna get down there?"

"I'll think of something," I said, looking down. "Hug the cliff on my way down maybe. I'm gonna give it my all, I promise you that," I replied, moreso for own reaffirming.

"I know," they said in unison.

There was another silence, and suddenly a surreal sight commanded my attention, my abrupt reaction turning Thunder and Blossomforth to it as well. Directly overhead of us a small patch of clouds had cleared and the most breathtaking expanse of stars twinkled brightly in a sea of black - the most spectacular I'd ever seen while a gentler arctic breeze passed over my face. The three of us stood side by side as still as the stars themselves, sharing the moment in total awe before the clouds covered them up completely again.

"Be careful Sonic," Blossomforth finally said, hiding tears. "We'll be back."

"I'll be here... thanks to you," I remarked, which she seemed to receive very well. "And you," I said to Thunderlane.

"This whole thing has made me so soft for all of you," he said.

"You always were," I told him, touching him with my wing and recalling all the times he spoke up for me or made me laugh.

"Especially you," he said, and I saw a twinkle in his eye that reflected a depth of feeling that I think may have been unchartered territory for him.

"Ok, well let's not forget we're still in an everything-or-nothing situation with the worst probably yet to come so let's get back to business and we can hug and kiss later when the kids are alright, because I've read too many books to know not to celebrate now," he said, turning and taking off into the sky.

"He's never gonna change," said Blossomforth to me before spreading her wings and following after him.

It wasn't before they left me completely alone that I realized they had a forced a smile from me. I turned back to face the place where I knew Scootaloo and the other foals were waiting for me. Here I come kids... I thought to myself, and began searching for a way to get down there.