“Nopony moves...” Pinkie Pie spoke in earnest, waving her forelimbs apart. “...nopony dies.”
Rainbow Dash bit her lip. Every tiny tremble caused more and more fractures to spiderweb across the petrified wooden planks beneath her. Her marefriends held their breaths as she looked from left and right, desperately judging the scale of the fractured rooftop beneath her.
“Uhm... maybe...” Twilight braved a hopeful smile. “M-maybe it wouldn't be that terrible a height if you just dropped down through?”
Rarity vigorously shook her head. “You think the roof is bad, darling?” She gulped, gesturing downward. “The two stories beneath us have already given way. There's jagged rock and broken splinters exposed through the floor below.”
Rainbow grimaced. “Frig...”
“Rainbow...” Fluttershy murmured, drifting closer. “Not to make a bad situation worse, but the griffons are sweeping closer.”
“Friggin' frig.” Rainbow inhaled and exhaled.
The air crackled as more planks of wood bent and warped around her. Cold mists wafted closely overhead, chilling the pegasus. Goosebumps formed along her shaved scalp and next.
“Any chance you can hop on another cloud, Dashie?” Pinkie asked.
“There's nothing condense enough for that to work,” Rainbow grumbled. “And I'm afraid to hop in any direction or... or...”
CRACK!
Rainbow's weight shifted down.
The four ghostly mares gasped.
Rainbow squinted one eye, wincing. She jolted in place, barely supported by a crossbeam below. Meanwhile, the loud crack of the fragile rooftop...
...echoed across the Mist Cliffs, dipping down into the ravine. Every jutting needle and column of granite resonated with the noise.
Commander Seraphimus paused in mid-flight. “...?” She tilted her helmeted gaze up.
The two Sergeants heard it too. Starstorm and Raptr stopped gliding across their respective sides of the mountains. Their hawkeyes traveled up to the misty ridge overlooking the lower topography.
“What in Goddess' name was that?” Starstorm stammered.
Raptr blinked. “A boulder, perhaps?” He glanced across the group. “We did kick up quite a breeze just now.”
Seraphimus took a deep breath.
“Commander?”
“Resume your search,” she ordered. Wings flexing, she slowly drifted north. “I shall go investigate.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
Fw-Fwoosh! Seraphimus soared upward, eyes piercing.
Instantly, Fluttershy trembled.
“Mmmm!” She spun about. “Rainbow Dash! Their leader—”
“Right. Got it.” Rainbow gnashed her teeth, staring down at her locked legs against the splintering wood. “Time to move.”
“But where?!” Twilight Sparkle exclaimed. “If you so much as tremble—”
Rarity spoke over her. “Rainbow, if you can make it to the north end of the shack...”
“Yeah...?”
Rarity gulped. “It'll surely be arduous... but...” She pointed. “There's a steep slope descending down the north end of the ridge. If you can make it there, it should be an easy gallop into the plateau of Ivory Prefecture.”
“Whatever you do, Dashie, you'd better do it quick!” Pinkie squeaked.
“But... b-but...” Twilight trembled.
Rainbow exhaled, then took a step forward.
Crkkk!
A shingle of wood fell down into the second story below. Nevertheless, Rainbow crawled forward, lifting one hoof after another.
Crkkk-crkkkk!
“Oh jeez...” Twilight covered her muzzle with trembling hooves. “Oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez—!”
“Could do without the paranoid soundtrack, thank you,” Rainbow hissed. She exhaled vaporously through clenched teeth as she marched forward. A savage crack formed in the ceiling behind her, shaping into a fractured “V.”
“Quicker,” Fluttershy insisted, gazing behind them at a silver dot as it approached the foot of the ridge, glinting. “Quicker!”
Cr-Crkkkk! More planks of wood fell beneath Rainbow Dash.
“Guhhhhhhh...” Pinkie had to grasp her tail to keep it from twitching.
“You're doing good, Rainbow!” Rarity said with a sweaty grin. “There's a support beam beneath you! And it would appear that it's supporting your weight—”
CRAKKKKK! The entire two-story shack shifted.
Rainbow froze in place, eyes wide. She looked down. The beam beneath her was bowing. Every shingle slid apart behind her.
“Buck it!” Twilight shouted.
“Run, darling!” Rarity shrieked as the shack gave way beneath her. “Run like a maniac!”
“Rrrrrrrrrghhh!” Rainbow desperately threw herself forward. Wind shifted past her ears as the vertical columns supporting the building finally gave way and—
Scrkkkkkkkkkkk!
Seraphimus' charcoal eyes blinked. Her armor rattled as she caught sight of a massive wooden structure completely spitting its support beams loose and careening down the side of the ridge...
...and towards her.