Author's Note

Sorry it took so long to get this update out, been working on so many other things it's been drawing my time away.

Anyway, here it is, dig in.

Six

“See anypony yet?”

“No…”

Two ponies were lying on top of a hill. One of them was a dark shade of grey with bat wings. The other, a light shade of red. The red pony was holding a sniper rifle, searching, while the grey one watched.

“Tell me again, why we have to use that to look around?” asked the grey bat pony.

“Because we don’t have binoculars, and this is the next best thing…” replied the other pony.

It remained silent after that for a long time. Or maybe it was just a few minutes. The ponies just didn’t know anymore. The red pony twitched slightly.

“You know her?”

The bat pony moved to look into the scope. Centered in it was a blueish-green unicorn with yellow, almost golden coloured hair. She seemed to have a fair amount of supplies, judging by the saddlebags on her back. As they watched, she pulled something from some debris. Apparently, it was a great find as she seemed to stare at it with awe.

“No…” replied the bat-pony.

“Good, then move.”

The bat-pony moved and the other pony resumed his spot. The bat-pony noticed the red pony’s hoof drifting towards the trigger, heard him breathe in.

“Wait… what the hell are you doing?”

The red pony looked at him. “What do you think?”

“You aren’t seriously going to…”

“Completely. Judging by those saddlebags and what she just found, she has a fair amount of supplies, and we’re running short.”

“Why don’t just ask her to join us?” The bat-pony tried to talk some reason into the other.

“Look… I don’t trust anyone right now, apart from you. She could kill us both. Those supplies might have been stolen from the ponies that SHE has killed. There seems to be too much there to just be simple scavenging.”

“But-”

“Crescent… just stop… When have I ever led you astray? Ever since all this started, I’ve always made the right call. Just sit back.” He looked through the scope again, finding the mare within a few milliseconds and taking careful aim again.

Crescent couldn’t just sit back and watch. While it was true that the red pony had never led him astray, this wasn’t right. He drew his knife slowly, so the red pony didn’t notice. “Are you sure about this?” he asked.

“Deadly.”

“Do you even care?”

The red pony froze. “I care about my own survival. That is all.”

“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Crescent said, before plunging his knife into the back of the other pony’s neck.

After a brief struggle, the red pony was looking up at Crescent with blank eyes. Pulling the knife from the body, causing the blood to start flowing onto the ground, Crescent picked up the sniper from off the ground and took one last look at the body before slowly walking away.

Crescent opened his eyes and sat up. ‘Not that nightmare again...’ He sighed. He looked around, scanning his surroundings. All of the ponies were still asleep. Seeing the couples cuddle together tugged slightly at his heart-strings. He tried to think of anything to block out the memory of what he did, but it kept returning to him with more force. He still remembered every second of those few moments. He shuddered, though not from the cold that was circulating inside the bunker.

It wasn’t long before Archie, even with what little sleep she did get, awoke and looked over at Crescent. “You okay?”

“Fine.” Crescent replied.

“I know something is on your mind, and it is troubling you, c’mon tell me about it.” Archie said.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s the day you saved me from getting killed, isn’t it?” Archie asked, determined to find out the truth.

Crescent froze. "How'd you guess?"

“It was just a guess.” Archie replied. “What happened that causes it to haunt you the way it does?”

Crescent sighed. "To save your life, I had to end another."

“Did you know the pony personally?”

"Not really. Didn't even know his name. The only thing I knew about him was that he was looking for his younger brother... Thinking about that makes me feel even more guilty."

As the two conversed, little did they know that Mountain had been awake.

"That gun isn't even mine. I took it from him once I'd..." He shivered. "Anyway, I couldn't just stand back and let him kill you..."

Mountain walked over and placed a foreleg around Crescent’s shoulder. “You did what you thought was right, but I must ask, may I have a closer look at the rifle?”

Crescent raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

“My brother always used a certain rifle when he was hunting and such, I saw him with one that looked similar to it the last time I saw him.” Mountain replied.

'Oh god... I didn't just...' Crescent calmed himself down. "Sure, go ahead."

Mountain went and picked up the rifle from where it rested, examining it carefully before he hit his knees. “Th-... This is my brother’s rifle… b-but… h-how did you get it?” he asked, his voice wavering as tears filled his eyes.

"A-Are you completely sure that that is your brother's?" asked Crescent.

“Y-Yes… his was the only one... engraved with his initials in it, these are his initials.” Mountain replied, pointing out the initials which read ‘C.H.’

"Oh shit... I'm sorry... I'm so fucking sorry..." Crescent said, getting up and backing away from Mountain. "I... I..."

“Y-You… killed him… Didn’t you?” Mountain said, standing up and turning to face Crescent, anger and frustration clearly visible in his tear filled eyes. “Didn’t you!?”

"I... Didn't know..." said Crescent weakly. "I'm... So sorry..."

“YOU SAVE MY LIFE ONLY TO TELL ME THAT YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!” Mountain shouted.

The yell woke up all inside the bunker. After a brief moment of confusion, everypony looked from Crescent, who was cowering against a wall, to Mountain, who has a gun trained on him.

"I... didn't know he was your brother..." Crescent said. "I'm truly sorry."

“The hell you’re sorry, forgiveness is the last thing your sorry ass needs.” Mountain growled, dropping the gun and slugging Crescent across the face.

The blow nearly knocked the bat-pony out, causing him to slide to the ground.

Mountain bent over and picked the gun back up and once again trained it on Crescent. “Get up.”

Crescent slowly rose from the ground, blood trickling from his left nostril.

“Take the fucking gun, now!” Mountain commanded pushing the gun into Crescent’s hooves.

Crescent did so, not daring to say a word.

“Now put the damned thing to my head and pull the fucking trigger.”

"No."

Mountain reached and grabbed the barrel of the gun and shoved it to his head. “C’MON, DO IT! END IT RIGHT FUCKING HERE!”

"I refuse."

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR? DON’T YOU WANT ME TO BE REUNITED WITH MY BROTHER?!” Mountain shouted.

"If you want to be reunited with him so badly, do it yourself." Crescent said with malice. "I refuse to kill again. Your brother, so wrapped up in his own survival, planned to kill others to make that happen. If you want to join your brother, then be my guest." Crescent shoved the gun back into Mountain's hooves.

It was then that Mountain hit his knees again, buckling over as he let the gun fall from his hooves. “I-I can’t… I-I just can’t do it… M-My brother wouldn’t want me to do that… I-I promised him… I’d live for as long as I could… Applejack, Mist, Fluttershy and Archie... t-they need me…” Mountain’s words became unintelligible sobs as he fell to his side, curling his knees to his chest.

Crescent kneeled down. "Whatever image you have of your brother, remember that. This entire situation must of caused him a great deal of stress, and with that, he made all the wrong choices." He stood up again. "I'm going out." he said simply, walking towards the door.

“W-Wait…” Mountain choked. “I...I-I…”

"I can't remain here in good conscience." Crescent replied. "With what I've done, I don't think I can live among you."

“I forgive you.” Mountain said. “Please… don’t go… we need you… We all need you...You saved my life and I should have been thankful for that.”

Crescent stopped, just in front of the door. “But I killed your brother, without hesitation. I was no better than he was when he decided to kill Archie…”

“And if you hadn’t, several other ponies would have died by his hoof, Including Archie. Although it does pain me to know this, I cannot hold it against you. You saved so many by doing the one thing you didn’t want to do.” Mountain said as he stood and walked over, placing a foreleg over Crescent’s shoulder. “What you did to my brother, it doesn’t matter anymore, you saved so many survivors from his wanting to ensure his own survival over anypony else’s. While the least you could have done was knocked him out, I understand why you did it.”

Crescent shrugged off Mountain’s hoof. “Whatever…”

Mountain, clearly seeing how intent Crescent was on leaving, moved up and stopped between the bat pony and the door. “You would really throw my forgiveness and gratitude out the door because of something in the past?”

“I’m not throwing out your forgiveness, neither your gratitude. I just need some more time alone.”

“You know it’s dangerous out there and I can’t let you go alone.”

“Of course I do.” Crescent said, shoving Mountain aside.

“Then whatever happens out there is your own doing, you can return whenever you like.”

Crescent opened the door, leaving the shelter. He turned around and closed it, hiding him from view.

‘I don’t understand, why, when I have forgiven him and have expressed my gratitude, does he dwell on the past?’ Mountain thought to himself. ‘What can I do to help him put everything that he’s done, including the killing of my brother to save Archie, behind him?’ “Sorry I woke you all up, and I also apologize for what you saw, I was… acting irrationally.” he said to the ones that remained. “I hope he comes back.”

“Acting irrationally?” said Mist. “You told him to blow your fucking head off!”

“I wasn’t thinking… I just… Listen, how would you feel if your sister had been killed by my own brother?” Mountain asked. “What would you do?”

“Make him feel guilty.” Mist replied. “I would have wanted him to feel the pain and suffering I had.”

“The only way you could have done that would be to do the same to me.” Mountain stated. “You are a hell of a lot luckier than I am right now. I am the last standing member of my family because of all of this.”

“You don’t know that…” Mist said. “You don’t know if all of your family is dead. And neither do I.”

“My brother is the pony that raised me for the majority of my life, he kept me fed, kept me safe, kept a roof over my head. My parents died when I was just seven, my brother was eighteen when he took me in and began raising me himself.” Mountain countered. “I had no other family than my parents and my brother, and my brother was all I had left until now.”

Mist tried to argue, but found he had no retort. The bunker grew quiet after that.

Mountain walked to the darkest corner of the room, sliding to the floor with his back against the wall, faced away from the group.

Applejack was the first to break the silence. “So… about that hole that Archie found…”

Mountain didn’t look at the group. “You all can go and search it, I’m staying.” Mountain replied. “It’ll give me time to think.”

Mist rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

“Mountain, please…” Applejack begged. “Don’t be like that.”

“Like Crescent, I need some time alone.”

Mist gave a final glance before heading into the storeroom followed by Fluttershy, Archie and Applejack, who still had a pleading look in here eyes.

Mountain placed his head in his hooves.
______________________________________________________________________________

“I hope he’ll be alright.” Applejack spoke, worried about Mountain and his sudden behavior.

"He'll be fine..." Archie stated. "It's just what he learned.”

“What worries me even more is that he tried forcing Crescent to kill him.” Applejack added.

"He was grief-stricken. You heard how much he meant to Mountain..." Mist replied.

“We may need to keep a closer eye on him, who knows what could happen with him being like this?” Fluttershy stated.

"Well... Who's going to stay behind and watch him?"

Archie stepped forward. “I don’t want his lover seeing him suffering the way he is right now, so I’ll stay.” she said as she looked at Applejack. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to him.”

"Th-thank you." replied Applejack.

Archie promptly nodded. “Be safe in there.” she said then headed back into the main room.

"So... Should we go?" Mist asked the two mares.

“Yes… I don’t want to be in there any longer than I have to.” Fluttershy replied.

"Neither do I." said Applejack.

“Stay alert… we don’t know what could be in there.” Mist said as he took the first step into the tunnel.

Applejack and Fluttershy followed close behind.
______________________________________________________________________________

Archie was leaning against the wall on the far side of the room from Mountain, always keeping her eyes on him, but remaining completely silent.

"Why did you stay behind instead of the others?" asked Mountain after a while.

“To make sure you don’t do anything to harm yourself or anypony else, especially with what you are going through right now.”

Mountain scoffed and averted his gaze from Archie. "I could hardly do it to anypony else when I'm alone, can I?"

“You’re right about that, but I won’t take any chances leaving you here alone.” Archie replied. “Besides, I promised Applejack I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, even if it is self inflicted.”

Mountain shrugged. "Whatever, just leave me to think quietly."
______________________________________________________________________________

“I sure hope they’ll be alright. I can’t stand to think of what could happen.” Applejack said, still worried about Mountain and now Archie. “I don’t want anything bad happening to them.”

"I'm sure my sister is perfectly capable to react to anything that life might throw at her." Mist replied, a little sharply.

“I know… It’s just… I’m so worried about Mountain right now.”

"I'm worried about Crescent." spoke up Fluttershy. "He's in the same position as Mountain..."

“I know…” Mist replied. “I’m worried about both of them. I fear that they may wind up going at each other’s throats if they see each other again so when Crescent returns we’ll have to watch both of them carefully.”

"IF Crescent returns..." said Applejack.

“He’ll come back, trust me.” Mist said. “Even if it is just to make amends.”

"How can you be so sure?"

“I don’t really know, but I have a feeling that he’ll come back.” Mist replied.

"Then I hope you're right..."

"So do I, Applejack..." Mist replied. "So do I."
______________________________________________________________________________

Archie just sat, watching Mountain closely. None of them had spoken in a while, and Archie was getting a little angry at Mountain. She kept her mouth closed however, waiting for him to make the first move.

Mountain was still sitting there, unmoving, thinking quietly until he suddenly had a confused look on his face and oddly enough looked at Archie. “Hey, Archie… can I ask you something?”

"Sure."

“I’m not sure what you would have done, but, what would you do if you were me right now?” Mountain asked.

Archie thought for a moment. "I don't know... I've never had to deal with what you are going through."

“Oh… well, thank you for being honest.” Mountain said, looking away from Archie and down to the ground. “You know… I-I feel kinda bad for acting the way I did towards Crescent.”

"I'm sure he feels bad too..." Archie added.

“I need to apologize, but I don’t know if I’ll have that chance.”

"You always could... Go looking for him?" suggested Archie, looking at the shelter door.

‘It’s just not safe for me to go alone, I won’t go alone.”

"Crescent went alone." pointed out Archie. "And he could actually be in trouble because of that."

“Would you be willing to go out there again to help me find him and help him if needs be?”

"With the others in that tunnel, somepony has to stay up here... I'm sorry, but I can't."

"Then I’ll just have to go against my gut and go alone to find him.” Mountain said as he stood and headed to the store room to get ready.

"Be careful out there."

“I’ll be as careful as I can.” Mountain replied as he finished pulling on the HAZMAT suit and picking up a shotgun and a case of shells, he then made for the shelter door, opening the first one and continuing through it, closing it behind him.

"Be... Careful." repeated Archie.
______________________________________________________________________________

"Hey, Mist?" Applejack called.

"Hm?"

"I... I know how Mountain feels about all of this, I feel the same way he does but I can't say for sure that all of my family is dead, I have family everywhere." Applejack said.

“Everywhere?” questioned Mist.

"Yes, even in Manehattan and Appleoosa."

“Exactly how much?”

"That's what I'm not sure of. So… how do you think Mountain’s doing?” asked Applejack.

"I don't know, let me check." Mist said then closed his eyes, searching for Mountain. "No..."

“No? What’s up?”

"We have to get back to the shelter and gear up, Mountain went out alone!" Mist nearly shouted as he began running back the way they had come.

“But what about the tunnel?” asked Fluttershy as she started to gallop after Mist.

"It'll have to wait!"

“Why didn’t your sister stop him?!” yelled Applejack.

"I don't know..." Mist replied. "But we're going to find out."

“Then we better hurry.”
______________________________________________________________________________

'I have to find Crescent, I have to tell him I'm sorry for my behavior.' Mountain thought to himself as he ventured out in search of Crescent.

The land was just as dank and depressive since the last time he had been out here. Destroyed buildings, rubble everywhere, the whole scene was just depressing.

'Why did I act like that? Why did I lash out towards him? It's not his fault that my brother is dead, he saved Archie. I had no right to lash out against him.'

He kicked a rock and it clattered away on the the ground.

"Agh! Why is everything that I care for going to ruin!?" Mountain yelled. "All I have left is Applejack, Mist and Fluttershy! Why does th-" he paused when he heard a series of low groans. "Fucking hell!" He shouted as he readied his shotgun.
______________________________________________________________________________

Mist, Fluttershy and Applejack all climbed out of the tunnel.

"Archie!" Mist called. "Get in here!"

Archie poked her head in. “What’s up?”

"Why the hell is Mountain out there alone!?" Mist nearly yelled. "You should have stopped him or went with him!"

“He wanted to go and apologize to Crescent. I would have went with him… but we ne-"

"Don't give me that! No one goes out there alone!" Mist cut Archie off. "You should have stopped him or gone with him as I said just a second ago!"

“He just wanted to apologize to Crescent.” repeated Archie.

"That doesn't mean let him go alone!"

“And I stayed here!”

"If you were so insistent on staying here you should have fucking stopped him!" Mist shouted. "Now it's up to us to bring him back!"

“I think he’ll be fine.”

"You just stay put, the three of us are going to bring him back… if he isn't already dead!" Mist yelled, giving Archie a glare before reaching for a weapon.

The sound of a bow being pulled was abnormally loud. Archie had nooked an arrow and was pointing it at Mist. “No… If this is my fault, then I’m finding him.”

"You would threaten to kill me just to convince me to let you go out there to find him?" Mist growled.

“Yes.”

"Then do it, I'm not afraid. You'll only feel guilt in the end, but if it's what you want just so you can find him yourself then who's stopping you from killing me?"

“Because you’re my brother.”

"Then stay put… no… better yet, you’re coming with us... so that if he is dead, you will be the one burying him."

“No. This happened because of me, and I intend to fix it.”

"And I said you aren't going alone."

“You never said that, you said I shouldn’t have let Mountain go alone.”

“Well I’ve said it now… I won’t let you go alone.”

“Even so, we all can’t go. There’s only two suits left.”

“Applejack, Fluttershy…” Mist asked as he turned to the two mares but suddenly turned back to his sister. “No... you know what, don’t worry about it… If you really want to go find him yourself then go right ahead… but don’t blame me if you don’t make it back.”

Archie’s face turned cold. “Fine then.”
______________________________________________________________________________

The instant Crescent had left the shelter, he wanted to turn right back around and re-enter it. However, he had just kept walking, not looking where he was going in the slightest. He met nopony, alive or dead, while he walked.

‘Why did I admit to killing Mountain’s brother? Even more so why would he try to force me to kill him? He had every right to be angry with me, yet he forgives me… why?’ Crescent thought to himself. ‘I don’t deserve his forgiveness for what I have done, for who I’ve taken from him…’ Crescent’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a distant shotgun blast. “No…” the bat pony said to himself as he bolted in the direction of the sound.

After making his way past rubble and finding his way up on top of a house that had some structural integrity remaining, he looked around for where the sound had come from.

After a moment of looking around he heard another shot and looked in the direction that it had come from to see a pony being pursued by a small swarm of zomponies, He then noticed another group of zomponies approaching behind the pony and his veil of mist quickly appeared around him as he headed in the direction of the pony.

After a moment of running he had closed in on the pony not yet close enough to get his hooves on him to identify him, cutting his way through zomponies that got in his way as though he were a phantom in a desert, using his power to control mist to keep himself hidden.

The small horde of the dead destroyed, Crescent advanced slowly towards the other pony, who was still running, and hadn't yet noticed that they were safe.

It wasn’t until moment’s later that the pony stopped, exhausted from running for so long, and looked behind him to see, not the zomponies, but the cloud of mist that veiled Crescent from sight. “Crescent?” the pony called. “Is that you?”

Crescent froze as he recognized the voice. “Mountain?” he called back, slowly approaching the pony, hoping that it was who he thought it was.

"Who knew you'd be saving my ass two times in two days?!" replied Mountain, grinning.

“I didn’t know it was you, but… why did you come out here alone knowing that you could run into something like that?” Crescent replied, a little upset.

"Because... I wanted to apologize to you... For all the things I said and did back there."

"I… But I single hoofedly killed your brother, you had every right."

"I know... But that's all in the past now. We can't just keep moving back, looking at the past."

"I know… but… I-I just feel so… guilty… for everything I've taken from you."

"Not everything. I still have a lot that I have."

"I... I-I... We should head back to the shelter." Crescent stated. "It'll be safer to talk there."

"Agreed."

"Hold on…" Crescent said. "Something's off… like there's somepony out here other than us, I can't tell whether they are friend or foe."

"Where?" Mountain raised his shotgun.

"It feels like it's to our left."

Mountain looked to the left, studying everything he could. "I can't see anypony there..."

"Just stay close and stay in the mist." Crescent commanded as he used his power once more to shroud the two of them from visibility. "Let them venture closer."

Mountain froze as they watched, waiting for the other pony to reveal themselves.

“Whoever it is, they’re already getting close so keep quiet.”

Mountain kept looking around, searching, but seeing nopony at all, and then a pony came into his view.

The suspicious pony was alone, searching for something or somepony. “Mountain!” the pony called.

“That sounds like Archie.” Mountain whispered to Crescent.

"Sounds like... But I won't believe it until I see her. It could be anypony under that suit." Crescent whispered back.

“True… but there’s only one way to find out, we have to reveal ourselves.” Mountain implied.

"That's something I wanted to avoid..."

“Then how are we going to find out if… we could have the pony confirm their identity by asking them a simple question.”

"That's something we could try... Got anything in mind?"

“Maybe like having them confirm the name of Archie’s brother in full.” Mountain suggested.

"Do you know his full name?"

“Well… No…”

"Then that's a problem... The best thing to do would be to reveal ourselves, and escape if things get nasty."

“Then let’s do this... carefully.” Mountain replied.

"If things come to the worst... You do the shooting..."

“I… I’ll try not to hesitate if it comes to that.” Mountain said, hesitation set heavily on him.

Crescent lowered the fog around them, appearing seemingly out of midair to the pony in front of them.

“A-Archie… Is that you?” Mountain asked the pony.

"Mountain? Crescent? Where did you two come from?" asked Archie.

“That doesn’t matter right now, we need to get back to the shelter before another horde attacks.” Crescent quickly replied, then pointed to Mountain. “I already saved him from one horde.”

"We better move then." Archie replied.

With that said, the three headed off in the direction of the shelter they currently call home, keeping conversation to a bare minimum of warning of possible threats nearby.
______________________________________________________________________________

“They’ve been out there quite a while.” Fluttershy stated. “I hope nothing happened to them.”

"I'm pretty sure they'll be fine." Applejack said.

"Mountain is with Crescent right now. Yeah, I've been tracking him ever since I searched for him and discovered his location when we were in the tunnel."

“You know… speaking of that there tunnel…” Applejack started, a little nervously. “We should check it out, while we wait for the others.”

"It's too risky leaving the shelter unattended, anypony could get in and steal our supplies or sneak up on us." Mist replied.

“True, but your sister said exactly the same thing a while ago.”

"I know, that's why we're waiting here for them." Mist said. "There are times when I trust my sister’s judgement and this is one of them."

“That’s not exactly what I meant. When Mountain left, Archie only stayed because there was no one else in the shelter at the time. However, you still berated her for that.”

"I did that because she didn't stop him from going out alone."

“You saw how Mountain was reacting. Even if Archie tried to forcefully stop him, that wouldn’t have stopped him.”

"He took a risk that I will ensure never happens again." Mist started. "I know what it's like to lose somepony close, it's hard to cope with, sure I may not know what it's like to be in the room with the pony that killed somepony in my family, but I do know that it's not easy to cope with."

“Mmm.” agreed Applejack, stretching.

"I'm sure you had younger or older siblings before this and they might still be alive, would you care to tell us about them?" Mist asked, looking at Applejack.

“Well… as I told you, my family is rather spread out over Equestria.”

"That you did, but I'm meaning brothers, sisters, ponies that were closest to you as family could be." Mist stated.

Applejack looked at the ground, very interested in her hooves at this point. “There were three of my family who resided in Ponyville with me…”

"Would you like to tell me about them?" Mist asked.

“Their names were Granny Smith, Big Macintosh and… A-Applebloom.” Applejack’s voice wavered slightly.

Mist still caught on to the emotion causing her voice to waver as it did and wrapped his forelegs around her in a comforting embrace.

“I- I don’t know where they are. I tried to find them but…” Applejack nearly broke down as she tried to steady herself.

"I know you’re holding it back, just let it out… let it all out." Mist urged.

Applejack started crying softly. “They’re the closest family I had.”

Mist sat there holding Applejack in his embrace, continuing to attempt to comfort her while continuing to urge her to let her tears fall freely, listening to her every word.

Fluttershy joined the embrace, hugging her friend tightly.

Applejack eventually broke down, burying her face into Mist's shoulder, soaking his fur with her tears.

Mist patted Applejack lightly on the back. "It's fine AJ, it's okay..."

The weeping mare weakly threw her forelegs around Fluttershy and Mist, continuing to sob freely into Mist's shoulder.

Fluttershy couldn't do much but just hug Applejack tightly, just being there for her friend.

After moments of sobbing and tears, Applejack had cried herself to sleep and was now lying down on her bedroll, Mist and Fluttershy sitting nearby.

"I hope she'll be okay." said Mist, looking down at Applejack.

“I hope so too.” Fluttershy added, following Mist’s gaze.

Mist moved a little closer to Fluttershy, placing a foreleg around her and placing his head on her shoulder.
______________________________________________________________________________

“We’re almost there, keep your eyes peeled.” Archie said to the stallions behind her. “Don’t want any surprise attacks.”

“Alright.” replied Crescent, looking around at the deserted landscape.

After mere minutes of walking, the three had made it to the door of the shelter and quickly made their way inside.

Mist looked over his shoulder at the others entrance. “Great. You’re back.”

“What’s with the dullness?” Mountain asked. “Afraid we’d be going at each other’s throats?”

"Nah.. Nothing like that..." Mist looked over at Applejack for a second, before returning his gaze to the others.

“Well, we got everything sorted out and now we’re cool with each other. And I am terribly sorry for going out alone.” Mountain said, then looked at Applejack.. “What happened? Is she okay?”

"Physically, she's fine. Emotionally, she's a train wreck.”

“What got her?”

"I asked about her family closest to her... Fucking stupid thing to do in hindsight, but she's been holding in tears for a long time..."

“I’m guessing she cried herself to sleep in your hooves?” Mountain said as he walked over and sat down next to Applejack, who was still asleep.

"Yeah... Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened." Mist sighed. "So what happened to you?"

“Well… Let’s just say I ran into trouble out there, but luckily Crescent saved my ass again.”

"You're pretty accident prone, aren't you?" said Crescent.

"Not usually." Mountain replied. "My emotions can often cloud my judgement if I'm not careful."

"Like what happened before..." Crescent pointed out. "With you and... That." He looked over at Mountain's brother's rifle, that was leaning against a wall.

"Exactly like that." Mountain replied.

"Just... Please don't do that again..."

"I hope I don't act the way I did again."

"Now, with all of that swept under the carpet, can we go check out that tunnel?" asked Mist.

"Yeah, why don't you and Fluttershy take some personal time while we go check it out." Mountain said as he did a hinting downward gesture.

Mist looked at him with a mixed expression of anger and disapproval. Fluttershy blushed deeply. "Sure..." Mist said, getting up.

"Sorry… I-It was just so painfully obvious."

‘I think we’re fine for the time being… But go on ahead if you must.”

"Well… if you want to tag along then I won't stop you." Mountain said. "But make up your mind quickly cause we're going in just a minute."

“Somepony has to stay up here.” Mist replied. “Just go…"

Mountain nodded. "Alright… are the rest of you ready to go?"

They all nodded.

"Alright, let's get to it." Mountain said as he headed to the store room.

The rest of them, excluding Mist, Fluttershy and Applejack, who was still asleep, filed in after him, the door closed, and the main bunker was silent.

Mist sighed. "I hope they'll be fine in there."

“Me too.” Fluttershy said, hugging herself close to Mist.

Mist held Fluttershy tight in his embrace, nuzzling her chin affectionately.

“I wonder what’s down that tunnel…” Fluttershy thought aloud.

"I don't know, but right now all that matters to me right now is you… and keeping this room locked down."

Fluttershy leaned over a little and kissed Mist lightly before pulling away.

Mist grinned and pulled Fluttershy back into a kiss of his own, keeping in mind not to go too far.

Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around Mist, pulling herself closer to him.

Mist slowly fell to his back, gently pulling Fluttershy down on top of him without breaking the kiss.

Fluttershy slowly trailed her tongue over Mist’s lips, silently asking for entrance.

Mist parted his lips to allow Fluttershy to explore his mouth.

Feeling Mist’s lips part, Fluttershy slowly entered his maw with her tongue, slowly trailing her tongue on the inside of his mouth.

Mist gave a low moan as he felt Fluttershy's tongue wriggle and writhe within his maw, encouraging him to wrestle her tongue with his own.

Slowly, Fluttershy touched her tongue against Mist’s.

The stallion wrapped his tongue around Fluttershy's in a loving embrace, suckling lightly on her tongue as he did.

Fluttershy squirmed a little, the suckling on her tongue ticklish.

Mist began letting his hooves wander about Fluttershy's back, rubbing every bit of her back sensually.

Fluttershy giggled into the kiss as Mist’s hooves rubbed deep into her tender spots.

Mist broke the kiss, breathing heavily, a string of saliva connecting their lips. "K-kissing you… is like kissing… an angel…" he panted as he slowly regained his breath. "It's just… breathtakingly wonderful."

Fluttershy blushed. “Y-you’re just saying that."

"No need to fluster at such a compliment." Mist giggled a bit before pulling Fluttershy back into another kiss.

This kiss lasted a little shorter than the first. Fluttershy pulled away, breathing heavily. “Did you... really mean what you said before?”

"Every… bit of it." Mist breathed.

Fluttershy squeed in embrassment and returned to the kiss.

Mist moaned lightly as his lips reconnected with hers.

Fluttershy started trailing her hooves over what little of Mist's back she could reach.

Mist rolled, changing positions and allowing Fluttershy better access to his back as he pulled him self closer to her.

Thankful for Mist's position change, Fluttershy continued, rubbing Mist's back deeply.

Mist moaned into Fluttershy's mouth at the sensual contact, urging him to press his tongue forward and brush against the mare's lips.

Parting her lips and allowing Mist's tongue entry, Fluttershy continued to rub Mist's back.

______________________________________________________________________________

"I wonder what those two are up to?" Archie questioned.

"Probably making out or something?" Crescent suggested.

"That's a likely possibility, considering that we walked in on them last time, hence ruining the mood for them." Mountain implied. "But I can't say they were the only ones that did that, Applejack and I did once."

“I don’t see how you ponies can do that after knowing each other for a few days, even in this situation.” Crescent sighed.

“We don’t want lust driving us insane now do we?” Mountain questioned. “It’s better to do that type of stuff with the pony you love than to be driven to fuck anything that moves, is it not? Especially when mares are in heat.”

Crescent just shrugged. “Whatever.”

“Hay, you can’t say that you haven’t loved somepony enough to go a round in bed with them.”

“Well, actually, I can.”

“You’ve never had a marefriend before, have you?” Mountain asked.

Crescent looked at the ground. “I never considered feeling that way about… well anypony…”

“Oh… well… I’m sure there might be somepony out there for you.” Mountain assured.

“Even after all this, I highly doubt it.”

“All you have to do is wait and see.”

Crescent shrugged again. “So, what do you think is at the end of this tunnel?”

“Dunno... but something tells me we are very close to what ever it is.”
______________________________________________________________________________

Mist and Fluttershy had been lying on the floor kissing deeply for a few minutes, breaking for a few seconds before kissing again.

Fluttershy was in heaven. She'd never had somepony kiss her like that. She moaned a little into the kiss, pressing herself a little more firmly against Mist's lips.

Mist pulled himself closer to Fluttershy, pressing their bodies together as the kiss continued.

Fluttershy broke the kiss before it could go too much further. “Not yet... I’m not ready... to go that far... just yet.” she breathed heavily, regaining her breath after the long kiss. She then pulled him into a tight, loving embrace, which he returned just as affectionately. “Soon, Mist. Soon, I will be ready.”

Soon the two were breathing normally, and just in time, as soon as Applejack had awakened.

"W-where is everypony?" she asked, yawning hugely.

"A tunnel was found in the store room, they went to investigate." Mist replied.

"And you two stayed behind, huh?"

"More like we were told to take some personal time for ourselves." Mist stated, a light blush warming his cheeks. "But we didn't want to go that far with you being in here."

"Oh, was I interupting?" Applejack blushed herself.

"N-no, we just… wanted to be respectful of your presence." Mist quickly replied.

"I see." She looked around nervously. "Should I follow the others?"

"I'm sure they'll be back soon, so just stay here with us." Mist replied.
______________________________________________________________________________

The three that had ventured into the tunnel soon came across a metal door similar to what a vault would have.

"What do you think is inside, Mountain?" Crescent asked, curious about the vault.

"Not sure... Anything really..." Mountain replied, looking at the vault with interest.

A sudden banging on the vault door from the inside startled the group. “Did you hear that? We have to get in there now.” Archie ordered as she began prying at the wheel on the door to get it to turn.

"I don't know... Whatever is in there could be dangerous." Mountain replied thoughtfully.

“Just help me get it open!”

The rest of the group silently moved forward to help out.

Within a few minutes the vault door was opened and what they found was shocking.