Tyler's eyes bolted wide open as the ground shook beneath her. Her paws went instinctively over her head to protect it as small stones fell from the cave roof. The trembling in the ground shook every bone in her body. She was frightened, more frightened than she had ever been before. Her breathing increased as the seconds passed, each more unbearable than the last. As soon as the shaking stopped, Tyler jumped to her feet and ran to her parent's nests to make sure they were alright.

"Mom! Dad! Are you alright?" She asked the purple and brown purtles as they were clambering out of their beds.

They both nodded quickly, both their floofs and marks turning green, indicating fear.

"We need to get to the Central Cave, Tyler," said her mom, whose name was Violetta. "The caves could collapse at any moment."

Tyler nodded and led her family down the tunnel that connected their cave to the Central Caves. As they were halfway down the tunnel, the shaking started again. It wasn't as powerful as the last one, but it was enough to knock Tyler off her feet and cut her shoulder on a glowing crystal that was embedded in the wall. Wincing, Tyler tried to get up again, only to be knocked down once more. When the shaking died down a little and she could stand up once more, she limped to her parent's sides and helped them up. She could hear the distressed voices of the other Purtles in the Central Caves. She couldn't help but wonder if they were okay. Hopefully nobody is hurt... or worse. She shuddered and refocused on her current objective, getting her parents out of here. She herded her parents forward, nudging them ever so slightly to make them move faster. The ground began to shake again and Tyler could hear the roof collapsing behind them. A pang of distress coursed through her body. They had to get out of there. Her mom had fallen to the ground again so her father, whose name was Dan, and Tyler helped her up and walked a little faster this time in the direction of the Cave.

When Tyler knew they were close, she picked up the pace a little more. As she got closer, she realized the entrance to the Central Caves was blocked off by some rocks that had fallen from the ceiling. Tyler started to tear up. They were never getting out of here! She started calling desperately for help while clawing at the large stones. Another large quake shook the caves, knocking some of the rocks down, but not helping their situation at all.

"Help! Help us! Someone please!" Tyler shouted from behind the rock barricade. To her surprise, a voice answered her.

"Hello? Are you okay?" a feminine voice called to her.

Tyler looked back at her parents and saw that her mom was bleeding heavily from the side of her belly, "My mom is really hurt but the rest of us are fine. Please help us," she cried.

"I'm going to get help," the Purtle said. Tyler heard her footsteps as she ran away to get help.

Tyler turned back to Violetta, licking her tired face. Her floof was still green, and Dan's was a darker green. Tyler didn't blame him for being anxious over her mother. There was a little tremble in the ground, and Tyler started to worry as well. What if the Purtle didn't come back in time? What if her mother died here, bleeding to death? Her father had joined in with the gentle licks to his wife to try and calm her down. Her breathing grew rapid. Tyler's heart pounded at a quick rate. It was silent for a minute, until a loud boom and some yells could be heard from the Central Cave. She wondered what had happened. I hope everyone is okay, she thought.

She finally heard footsteps and some voices on the other side of the rock wall. She heard them agreeing on which rock to pull out first, and the same feminine voice as before asked her to watch out and protect whoever she was with. Tyler obeyed her orders and made sure none of the rocks that were being dislodged hit her slowly dying mother or frantic father. Every second was torture. Her mother was dying with every passing moment. And Tyler could do nothing about it but hope to Conquietus that she would be okay.

"Watch out!" the feminine purtle yelled from the other side of the barrier. Tyler stood in front of her parents just as the wall came tumbling down. Tyler stared wide-eyed at the purtle who had saved her life. She was a Lilac purtle with darker purple accents and a dark blue floof that ran from her forehead to her tail, which indicated curiosity. Her fur markings were hearts, and they were also colored with a dark blue. She had deep blue eyes full of determination, and wore two purple feather earrings along with a feather necklace. "P-princess?" she stuttered disbelief. "Come on! You're so slow!" the princess called out to her. Tyler helped Violetta onto Dan's back and that climbed over the pile of rocks into the central cave. When they got to a clear area he laid her down, her eyes closed. Tyler buried her nose in her mother's fur, tears threatening to escape her eyes. Some purtles gasped when they saw the body, and one even yelled,"I'll get a doctor!" But it was too late.

Violetta opened her eyes to see Tyler, Dan, and the princess standing over her. She sighed, trying to conserve the last of her energy. She beckoned Tyler to come closer. When her child was close enough, she whispered,"I have to go. The gods are calling my name."

"Mom, no!" Tyler cried, sobs jolting her body.

"Mom, yes," Violetta chuckled softly, trying to lighten up the situation.

Tyler felt her eyes grow so watery that it was hard to bear, so she ran back to her dad, who was also sobbing. The princess came closer to Violetta as soon as Tyler ran away. With eyes half-closed, she looked up at Laeta and whispered, "Take care of her," flicking her tail towards Tyler. Dan and Tyler scooted closer to their dying family member, both struggling to contain their sobs. With her last breath, Violetta whispered, "I love you."

The room seemed to light up as they saw the outline of Conquietus and the outline of her mother's ghost meeting each other, then ascending into the sky, passing through the stone roof as they went. Dan and Tyler cried into each other's shoulders. Laeta stood back, debating on whether to comfort them or not. Dan went to help a few other purtles carry the now lifeless body to the graveyard, which left Tyler sobbing quietly. Laeta scooted over to the black and blue purtle, sitting beside her and wrapping her tail around her lower back in comfort. The taller purtle looked down at her with large golden eyes and stuttered,"T-thanks for saving me." Laeta nodded and felt heat rise to her face, and saw her floof turn a light pink color, which indicated love. Her floof then changed to a light yellow as she heard purtles cooing at the sight of the two. "I'm sorry for your loss," Laeta mumbled sympathetically. Tyler's lower lip trembled and she burst into tears again, burying her face in the princess's lilac fur. Once again, her floof turned light pink and heat rose to her face. She noticed that Tyler's floof hadn't changed this whole time. Wouldn't it be light grey for sadness now? She decided not to ruin the moment and ask. She did notice that the markings on Tyler's fur were indeed light grey. Maybe it was a genetic thing. She felt Tyler pull away from her and she saw her sniffle and straighten herself a bit.

"Sorry," she said, her markings turning light yellow.

"It's alright," Laeta replied, her markings and floof turning an orange color.

Laeta thought for a while, and then said, "Do you want to stay in my cave for a while?"

Tyler's eyes widened. "In the royal family's cave?" she asked, surprise lining her tone. Laeta nodded. "Can my father sleep there, too?"

"Sure," Laeta shrugged. Tyler's markings turned an aquamarine color, which indicated excitement, and when Laeta looked down as well, she saw her floof was the same color. Tyler turned around as she heard footsteps coming down one of the corridors, and her spirits sank again as she saw her still-crying father coming towards her. Her markings now light grey, she padded up to him, her tail dragging on the floor. Laeta saw her floof grow orange in irritation that she didn't have the tall black purtle by her side anymore, but she quickly pushed the thought away. She was being silly, there's no reason why she couldn't go and comfort her father. Laeta padded off to where the royal family was discussing the problem at hand by a pile of debris and joined in on their conversation.

Dan wouldn't stop crying, no matter how hard Tyler tried to make him look on the bright side. His somewhat wavy floof was now light grey and his watery green eyes looked up at her as he lay on the floor of Princess Laeta's cave bedroom. Tyler sighed.

"Dad, I need to get some fresh air," she told him. After she got a nod of approval, she stood up and walked into the central cave, bumping into Princess Laeta as she exited the mouth of the royal cave. Tyler giggled awkwardly, the top of her markings turning light yellow and the bottoms light orange. She noticed Laeta's floof turning light yellow as well.

"Sorry, Princess. I was just going outside," Tyler told her through her giggles.

"Just call me Laeta!" The smaller purtle giggled back. "Can I come with you? Making the re-constructing plans have tired me out." She said.

"Uh, yeah! Sure!" Tyler exclaimed, her markings turning aquamarine. Why was the princess hanging out with her? Did she feel bad for her? She was perplexed as to why the princess of the purtles would hang out with her and not someone way cooler like Amethyst, who was distant royalty. She shrugged it off though; it wasn't her business anyways. As her markings resorted back to her neutral color, she took a quick glance at Laeta and saw her floof color was light pink. That meant love, right? she wondered to herself, trying to remember what her mother told her. Her mother. The thought of her made her markings turn light grey. She thought about her all the way to the meadow, her eyes full of water. She laid down in the sun with a sigh, and felt Laeta's fur brush up against her's as she sat down as well. The warmth of her body brought comfort to Tyler, and she knew Laeta would help her get through her grief.

By: dip

Laeta Belongs to: Zod

Tyler belongs to: Limp Noodle

Amethyst belongs to: RaNdOmNeSs990

I spent way too much time on this

Yet you still said descending instead of ascending, guys, Violetta just descended into the sky there's some crazy stuff happening here, but don't worry, I fixed it - The Darknessssssss