A clear sky, ponies about their business, friends conversing amongst themselves.

He remembered it all, this was Manehattan. Before him were his four friends, but their expressions were different. All he could see was anger, hatred, and disappointment in the look the eyes were placing upon him with murderous intent.

The sky had turned a dark grey, everypony had fled to their homes except the ones before him, advancing on him with the intent to kill him.

Before too much longer he took off running, trying to escape his aggressors, as they were slowly gaining on him, he decided to run down an alley, hoping for an escape route.

Panting heavily from running for so long he slowed down and began walking, still searching and hoping they hadn’t followed. He stopped, unfortunately, at a dead end and turned to see that they were right behind him.

He tried to fly, but nothing happened, he looked at his back only to see that his wings were non-existent.

Beginning to panic, “C- C’mon guy’s, w- why are you doing this?” he said “I- I don’t understand, w- why are you trying to kill me?”

No response.

He tried screaming for help, no one heard him.

He broke down in tears as his fate came to him and the ones that were his friends were upon him.

Mist woke with a near scream coming from his muzzle, bolting into a sitting position, causing the others to wake up.

“What in tarnation is going on here?!” Applejack shouted, being roused from her sleep at a rather undesirable hour.

After Applejack’s fit of grouchiness, she looked over to see Mist breathing heavily, sweating heavily, shaking profusely.

“Uh, I think we oughta check Mist to see if he’s okay ya’ll.” Applejack said with heavy concern laced in her tone.

The first to appear before him was Fluttershy, looking worriedly at him, then embracing him to attempt to calm him down as much as she possible could.

Mountain could see that he was still shaken by whatever it was that had gotten to him and decided to let him calm down before asking him anything.

After calming down a bit he returned Fluttershy’s embrace still shaking somewhat, still unwilling to talk.

After a long period of silence, Mist appeared to be willing to talk, so Mountain walked over, Applejack close behind.

“Mist, tell me what happened.” Mountain said.

Mist just looked down for a moment then said “I was there.”

“Where, Mist. Where were you?” Mountain asked urgently.

“I was in Manehattan, I-” Mist choked.

“You what?” Mountain demanded “Tell me, what you saw in Manehattan?”

“It was like this had never happened, but my friends. The- they tried to…” Mist replied shakily pausing to take a deep breath.

“They what? What did they try to do?”

Preparing for the worst, Mist breathed deep again before saying “They tried to kill me.”

Mist immediately broke into a fit of tears after describing his nightmare, burying his face into Fluttershy’s shoulder, who still held him in her embrace as tight as she could. Applejack walked over and placed her forehoof over his shoulder, providing what comfort she could.

For a while, no one spoke, the only sound being Mist’s sobs of regret as he was reminded of his friends for the second time since this had happened, until Applejack spoke up with tears beginning to build up in her eyes and said to Mountain “He’s not the only one thinking of their friends right now.” looking at Fluttershy, who was now in tears.

Applejack placed a forehoof over Fluttershy, keeping the one on Mist in place, pulling them both into her.

Nothing but the sound of tears being shed could be heard, the pain of loss was present among the three that were gathered together, its effect was devastatingly powerful this time. The group was there for the longest time, unmoving, just sobbing, holding on to each other, depending on one another, each trying to support the other as they grieved for their friends.

Mountain was leaning against the far wall, away from the group. He gazed upon the three and he realized that after all this time, he had lost something valuable to him. What it was he did not yet know, but it didn’t bother him. Survival was all that he really strove for; he had no time to get weepy over some dead ponies. He joined the group and placed his forehooves around them, sharing in the moment of companionship.

The sound of mourning ponies was the only sound that filled the air, Fluttershy and Applejack, for their friends Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity.

The realization of Mist actually remembering the mane six in this instant, and two of them being here, mourning for the other four, only crushed him more than the loss of his friends in Manehattan, as Mist knew that these were his true friends that he was with and mourning for, he never knew Mountain until all of this had happened.

Mountain did have a brother, Midnight Star, who taught him everything about survival and navigating the world by the stars.

The thought of his brother brought him to tears as he remembered his brother’s untimely fate because of all of this. “I- I’m so sorry Midnight, I should have brought you with me, it would not have been this way had I allowed you follow me to where I am now. You would still be alive if I had brought you with me, but I was so frustrated that I left on my own.” Mountain thought to himself, breaking into sobs of regret.

It was in this moment that they realized what they truly felt for each other, they felt compassion, friendship and something much deeper. Applejack looked up to have her eyes locked with Mountain’s and Fluttershy’s were locked with Mist’s.

"I… uh… well…” stuttered Applejack.

“Shhh, you don’t have to say anything. I think it would be best we just sit here for now.” Mountain said, gently placing a hoof on her lips.

Fluttershy and Mist were already nuzzling each other lovingly and kissing occasionally; apparently they had already shared their true feelings for each other. Without saying a word, Applejack nuzzled Mountain under the chin causing him to gasp in alarm. After a minute of being unsure of how to react, he nuzzled her back.

“You know, I knew this would happen, but I wished that it wasn’t true, but to a certain point I am glad it did.” Mountain said, sighing immediately after.

“Wh- Why’s that?” Applejack asked out of confusion.

“It brought me closer to the somepony that I never thought I would meet.” He stated with a smile on his face as he watched her try to figure it out.

“Who is it that you have been looking for and for what reason? Applejack questioned, giving up on figuring it out.

Mountain laughed. “You. I have always loved the apples from Sweet Apple Acres, and I knew that the daughter of the Apple family was just as lovely.”

Applejack’s blush at the words went darker “How’d you hear about me?” she asked.

“Oh, let’s just say that Braeburn and I ar- were good friends. I was in Manehattan trying to get my family to understand that this was going to happen, but the only one that did understand was my brother, Midnight. My parents wouldn’t let him go with me. I intended to sneak him out, but I was so frustrated that I just left.” he explained.

“Well, he did talk about me a lot, and I am sorry for your family, especially your brother.” Applejack said with sympathy heavy on her voice, still shaken by the effect of the loss of her friend, and not knowing about the other three.

“Thank you, he really was the only pony that I could talk to about anything, until now.” Mountain stated.

“Twi- Twilight was one of my closest friends, as you might be aware due to my behavior when I found her. I don’t know if the other three are alive or dead, but I still mourn due to their absence.” Applejack said, nearly choking as tears flooded from her eyes as she spoke.

Mountain wrapped his forehooves around her, embracing her tightly, comforting her as she wept into his shoulder.

After a while, Mountain noticed that he no longer heard Applejack crying. He looked to his shoulder to see that she had fallen asleep in his embrace, he couldn’t help but momentarily admire the sleeping mare in his arms before he said to the others “I think it’s time we got back to bed, as you can already see.” revealing Applejack, in a deep sleep.

“Good idea.” Mist replied, lying down and waiting for Fluttershy to join him

Fluttershy nodded and laid down next to Mist. The two kissed once more before falling asleep in each other’s embrace.

Mountain joined Applejack, lying down next to her, he placed his forehooves around her and whispered into her ear “I love you.” before falling asleep.

Author's Note

I did a good bit of the writing but as we all know I still had Ascending Anthem help in terms of a bit of reading and some editing, but please still give him equal credit for doing that much.