Hedgewind immediately took off and trumpeted the alarm of an over-stallion, hoping it would reach Sun Herd. Then he flew down past the edge and shouted to the two weanlings,

“FLY IN!! GO TOWARD THE CLIFF!!”

Blackstorm heard Hedgewind and tried to make his wings obey him. He flapped mightily toward the cliff and managed to slow his descent somewhat. He was starting to fly in when Wintermist plummeted into him, and his last conscious thought was the pain in his wing as it’s major bone broke against the rock. He lost consciousness and fell the rest of the way down the cliff.

Wintermist felt herself collide with Blackstorm when he tried to follow Hedgewind’s instructions and she felt herself fall in toward the cliff. Then she somehow tumbled to a stop on what felt like sand.

I must be dead, she thought. Then she slowly opened her eyes. She was in a small cave in the cliff face. The bottom was lined with sand, and the back corners had several ferns and clover plants.

I still think I’m dead, but if I’m dead, how can I think? For some reason, she could still hear the waterfall’s roar. She turned around and saw the curtain of crystal water, then realized that her left wing ached abominably. So I’m not dead, because if I were, I wouldn’t feel pain or see the waterfall, she thought. Since she was convinced she wasn’t dead, she walked over to the ferns and started eating. As she chewed, she thought about how to get out.