Jason stared down at the red hot lava below for several seconds in silence. Even with the throbbing pain in his dislocated arm stabbing at him with each passing second, he could only look down in disbelief. Another explosion rocked the core of the mountain, and shook the already unsteady platform he laid on, shaking him along with it. Still, he was frozen in place, and the tears streaking down his face fell to the boiling inferno below without a word.

Yet another explosion shook the pillar, jolting him up before he slammed back down against the rock, nearly losing his grip on Tempest's collar in the process. He slowly gazed over at the still unconscious unicorn and paused. There was a new cut on her temple, and the blood soaking into her coat made a pit form in his stomach, and a realization sparked in his mind.

I am not losing you too...

Finding newfound purpose, and coming back to his senses, Jason glanced around the room once more. The walls were caving in all around, opening up more pathways for him to escape to the outside world. Once he located the closest exit, he looked back down at Tempest and tried with all his might to pull her up. He grunted in exertion, but it was to no avail. The mare was simply too heavy with her armor on and his free arm unable to assist. Jason frantically looked for another option while the strain turned his fingers white, and the burning sensation crawled up his wrist and into his forearm.

His eyes darted back and forth, but he could find nothing to help him move her. He looked down once more to find the pooling lava still rising to meet him. He quickened his breathing and steeled himself for another attempt, before rolling over slightly onto his side and using as much of his good shoulder as possible to lift the mulberry unicorn away from danger. The strain turned his vision white, and he gasped as the pain snapped through his forearm over and over. Slowly, Tempest's body was pulled up from the danger until she was just a hair below Jason's chest. Biting back the pain that stabbed back in his dislocated shoulder, he reached for her collar with the disabled extremity and grabbed a hold. Once he had a hold of her with two hands, he continued to roll away from the edge, dragging her up to the side in the process.

Her shoulders eventually passed the ledge and Jason cried out in pain and exhaustion as he completed the roll, dragging her fully back onto the ledge in the process. He panted hard for breath, nearly hyperventilating from the sheer exhaustion of the whole affair, before sitting up with a pained groan. He reached over with his good arm and grabbed Tempest by the collar once more, dragging her away from the edge completely and collapsing to the ground. Another deafening explosion sent cracks spider-webbing up the rock walls and driving another pit into his stomach.

He exhaled sharply before forcing himself back up to his feet and grabbing the unconscious mare with his good arm. He finagled with her lifeless body for a few moments before he was able to get his head under her barrel and lift most of her weight onto his shoulders. He cried out in pain as he took her weight on his disabled shoulder, but continued on regardless. Finally, once he was ready, he lifted her into a fireman's carry and found his footing.

He turned around to face the only exit still somewhat level with his pillar before making the painful walk over to the other side of the rockface. Each step burned with the agony of her dead weight laid out on his dislocated shoulder, and he grunted from the exertion several times before making it to the other side.

However, just as he reached the far end, more rocks fell from the ceiling, falling onto the pillar and dislodging it from it's position and forcing Jason off his feet once more. He cried out in pain as he was slammed onto his back again, with Tempest falling from his grasp and sprawling out onto the pillar once more. With tears clouding his vision, Jason pulled himself to his feet and walked over to her unconscious form. He grabbed her foreleg with his good arm and draped it over his neck before lifting her up and bringing his head under her barrel. Once more, his bad shoulder protested painfully at taking her dead weight, but he grit his teeth through the pain and forced her up onto the shoulder in question.

With her weight once more on his shoulders, Jason pushed himself to his feet and turned to the rockface to find that the pillar had fallen another ten feet. He took several heavy breaths before walking to the edge and grabbing a hold of the rocks jutting out the side with his good arm. With his weight shifted the way it was now, all of Tempest's weight came to a rest on his dislocated shoulder, making Jason wince and grit his teeth even harder from the pain. He slowly found a solid hold and grabbed it with his good arm, before taking the nearest footholds and beginning the short climb.

With each agonizing step up, more of Tempest's weight shifted around on his bad shoulder, forcing pained tears to steadily stream from Jason's eyes. He forced himself through the pain and continued to climb, knowing full well that each step up would bring even more pain with it. Still, he pressed on, each step taking a monumentous amount of effort that left him shaking as he reached the next handhold. Somehow, he managed to climb the ten feet without dropping the mulberry unicorn from his hold, and grab hold of the last handhold leading onto the next ledge.

He put forth all of his strength and effort into one more strong pull, while pushing up as hard as he could with his feet. In one swift motion, he propelled himself upwards just enough to get his torso and Tempest onto the ledge, away from the immediate danger. He panted heavily for breath for a few minutes while Tempest's weight continued to press down on his bad shoulder, making him wince with each exhale. Eventually, Jason pulled himself up fully from the ledge and got back onto his feet with the unconscious mare still resting on his shoulder.

Just as he was about to start walking away, another terrible sound reached his ears, and Jason slowly turned around to see the pool of lava as a final, massive explosion ripped through the material and sent a geyser of super heated rock toward the ceiling. The walls around him shook and cracked while the red hot material suddenly flooded the room, pooling higher a hundred times faster than before. Jason only blinked in awe before turning on his heels and breaking into a painful jog with Tempest's weight jostling about on his shoulders.

He panted for breath as his already exhausted body pushed harder with the extra weight on top, and with each step forward, he could hear more and more cracks, and the sizzling of hot lava as it reached his level. He turned around while maintaining his jogging pace, only to see a tidal wave of molten rock and collapsing walls following behind him. He immediately turned around and increased his pace to a run. Each step sent a jolt of pain through his shoulder and the offending limb quickly throbbed from the pain. Still, he pushed forward, the red hot material following right behind.

Jason ran through the hallways of the collapsing mountain and frantically looked for something, anything that might indicate a way out. He found doorway after doorway that all appeared to reach dead ends, before finally arriving at a doorway that lead upstairs with a large ramp. He hastily turned into the hallway and glanced back at the super-heated magma following him. He had less than twenty feet of room to spare, and the heat wave from the material immediately reached his face, making him gasp in surprise.

Jason broke into a dead sprint up the ramp, his legs burning from the new exertion, and his lungs straining to find enough air to comply with his new demands. His shoulder throbbed incessantly, yet he pushed on, giving his all to reach the top of the hallway at the very least. Still, the magma flowed after him at a frightening pace, quickly flooding the bottom of the room and chasing after him with only a spare few feet of breathing room. Jason's heart pounded away in his chest as the sheer exertion burned all over his body. The feeling in his lungs quickly grew to an inferno of searing pain, and the taste of iron filled his mouth while he still pushed even harder.

At the top of the long hallway, a faint light shone through, and it took all of the power in Jason's battered body to push through until he reached the end of the hallway and found the doorway at the other side. White light filtered in to the immediate right, and he hastily banked the turn, nearly slipping in the process before he saw it. Daylight. With his lungs on fire, his legs cramping and straining to keep up, and his shoulder throbbing as if he'd been stabbed, Jason sprinted even harder into the light, and jumped into the abyss.

Immediately, freezing cold air blasted his face, and sent a chill up his spine as he soared through the air into the snowy landscape. The thirty foot fall caught him completely by surprise, and he gasped as he fell for a full second before slamming into the snow and tumbling down the side of the mountain, losing his grip on Tempest in the process.

Over and over he flipped, rolled, and cartwheeled through the ice cold material, losing his bearings and sense of direction the whole way. Fifty, sixty, seventy feet he tumbled, before finally coming to a rest at the base of an icy ledge. He struggled for breath in his newfound environment while the now unbearable pain in his shoulder mercilessly throbbed its protest at such rough treatment.

Jason grunted in pain while reeling from the dizzying tumble down the side of the mountain. It took several minutes before he had enough of his senses back to roll over and push himself to his knees in the snow. Immediately, he glanced back and forth for the mulberry unicorn, but could find nothing. His heart beat faster in his chest while he looked about for her in the snow. Left and right, back and forth he searched, but he could find no sign of the unconscious mare in the white snow, causing a panic to rise in his chest.

Just as he rose to his feet and started moving back up the mountain to look for her, the mountain shook, nearly knocking him over in the process. He glanced up to see red hot lava exploding out of the top of the volcano and spilling all over the side of the mountain in a terrifying display of raw power. Super-heated magma and rocks splattered all along the snowy embankment, nearly hitting Jason in the process. He stumbled his way up the mountain, deftly dodging any material that came his way as best as he could, before a sight caught his eye. A mulberry foreleg stuck out of the snow just a few dozen feet in front of him, almost as if a cry for help took his attention, and he immediately disregarded the incoming lava.

Jason pushed more power into his legs and pushed up the mountain. The strain after having just sprinted several hundred meters slowed his progress some, but quick enough he reached out and grabbed the foreleg in question. He pulled until her upper half was freed from the snow, before again bringing her into a fireman's carry and turning to move back down the mountain. Each step through the knee deep snow sapped at his energy, even going downhill, but he progressed until he was out of the immediate danger from the volcanic eruption.

Jason looked back at the catastrophic display of nature in front of him before sadly shaking his head and making his way along the side of the mountain with Tempest still on his shoulders. For a while, he continued onward, his eyes scanning for any sign of the rest of the group, before the pain in his shoulder became too much to bear, and he paused to shuffle Tempest's weight more to his other shoulder. He quickly shifted his priorities to finding shelter from the freezing cold slowly sapping at his strength, and making him shiver. His gaze lingered on the far side of the mountain for several seconds before a small cave several hundred feet away caught his eyes, and he trudged through the snow to get to it.

The deep snow sapped at his strength even more, and within a few minutes, he was panting heavily from the combined exertion of moving through the snow and carrying Tempest's weight. For a few minutes, he struggled against the snow, before finally arriving at the cave in question and walking inside. The ceiling was just high enough to where he could still stand upright with Tempest on his shoulders, and the walls were wide enough for them both to lay flat on the ground comfortably.

With a position to rest finally found, Jason slowly unloaded Tempest from his shoulders and set her on the ground. He immediately placed two fingers against her jugular, feeling for a pulse. After a moment, he felt her weak pulse against his index finger and gave a thankful sigh. He glanced up at her temple to find that the blood had matted her fur and was slowly drying. With his only good arm, he unslung his pack and placed it on the ground, before digging through it for the rest of his biofoam. Upon finding the applicator, he unscrewed the cap with his thumb and index finger before wiping away what blood he could from her face and applying a fair amount to the cut on her temple.

Once the biofoam was applied, Jason pulled out some bandages and somewhat awkwardly wrapped them around Tempest's head with just one arm. After a few minutes, he had a wrap he was satisfied with that still gave the mulberry unicorn room under the bandages to see. With his work completed, Jason collapsed against the wall and slid down into a sitting position on the ground. Cold air breezed through the cave and sent another chill down his spine, making him wince from the frigid air. He looked out at the angry clouds of the incoming snowstorm and shook his head.

Gonna be a long, cold night...

Jason gazed down at the unconscious mare in front of him and sighed quietly to himself as her body started shivering from the cold.

"Please be okay... Just... please..." He whispered as he felt a particularly cold breeze flood the cave and send a wave of icy pricks across his body.

Jason shivered in his position huddled up against the wall. He looked back outside to see dark skies, and the frigid snowstorm pelting the world with white. Another shiver crept down his body, sending angry chills down his dislocated shoulder and making the nerves cry out in protest. He cursed under his breath from the pain before slowly forcing himself to his feet and stumbling over to Tempest. With a pained grunt, he dug through his pack with his good arm for his sleeping bag. Upon finding the tightly wrapped bag, he unfurled it and opened it up fully beside the mulberry unicorn.

The sleeping bag was just large enough for him to fit inside snugly, and with only a moment of hesitation, he unzipped the bag. He gingerly grabbed Tempest's collar and dragged her into the sleeping bag before zipping it back up enough until just her muzzle stuck out of the dark brown material. He dug through his pack once more and found the blanket from the previous few nights. With a quiet sigh of acceptance, he laid down against the wall and draped the blanket over his body. It did almost nothing to make him warmer.

Eddie laid Sky down on his side underneath a large outcropping of rock slabs. Midnight laid down beside him and rested her head on his wither. Rebecca and Melody sat down beside the couple and caught their breath while the erupting volcano spewed lava and debris that flew hundreds of feet over their heads and into the snow below. With the group now settled in place, Eddie looked over their shoddy situation and took stock of their surroundings.

Sky was still unconscious, and most likely would be for the next several hours at least. On top of that, his burns were severe enough that they'd require the rest of his biofoam, and Rebecca only had a small personal medi-gel packet for herself, leaving them with no more medical equipment if someone else were to be wounded again. Melody was in good shape as far as her body was concerned, however she was shaking, and most likely extremely traumatized from the past day or so. Lastly, Midnight was desperately clinging to Sky as if he was going to wake up at any moment, and Eddie's heart ached at seeing her so fearfully monitoring her husband.

Seeing no other options available at the moment, Eddie opened up his pack and took his biofoam canister out.

"Here, let me treat his burns. When he wakes up, he'll be good as new." He said, giving a compassionate smile to the graphite mare.

"T-thank you... Please just be gentle with him..." Midnight replied, having to pry herself away from the crimson pegasus.

"I will. Promise." Eddie replied.

He leaned down and slowly unwrapped the wet rags from Sky's legs and barrel. Once they were all removed, and the burnt, blistered skin was exposed to the elements, Eddie quickly applied the biofoam. It took several minutes, but eventually, every burnt section on Sky's body was covered in a layer of white foam. Next, Eddie took out the remainder of his bandages and wrapped them around Sky's legs and barrel, effectively wrapping him from head to hoof. Once the work was done, he leaned back and allowed Midnight to return to her place, laying against her husband and holding his head to her chest.

Eddie allowed a soft smile to form on his lips at the scene before turning to look at the outside world and frowning.

"Come on, Jay... Where the hell are you?" He muttered, just quiet enough for no one else to hear him.

Rebecca looked out at the frigid outside world for a few minutes before frowning and walking back over to Eddie.

"If they're out there, they're gonna need shelter. It can't be more than ten degrees out, and that's with the sun up. The storm coming in is only going to make it a hundred times worse." Rebecca asserted.

"They're out there. Don't worry. Jason knows what he's doing. Mike too. Hell, even Tempest knows what she's doing. If anyone can hack it out there, it's the three of them." Eddie replied, a measure of confidence in his voice as he surveyed the deteriorating landscape outside.

"I hope you're right... How are we gonna find them in this soup?" Rebecca pressed.

"The way I see it... We have two options. We either stay on this mountain and waste what little resources we have, not to mention risking Sky's life... Even with the biofoam, he's in bad shape. We need to get him to a town where he can properly rest." Eddie mused.

"...And the second option?" Rebecca questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"We go to Ponpei and wait for them there." Eddie replied.

"We can't just leave them out here."

"I don't want to leave anyone anywhere... but like I said, Sky needs medical attention. Biofoam is nice and dandy, but those burns are third degree... Poor guy pretty much set himself on fire to get us out of there," Eddie said, sparing a sad glance at the crimson pegasus, "As much as I don't want to leave Jason and the rest of them out here... I know they can make it to the town... And we all owe it to Sky to get him to a hospital that can really deal with his injuries. We'd all be dead right now if it wasn't for him."

Rebecca sighed.

"So... what? Do we just leave when the storm's over?" She asked.

"For now, that's probably the best course of action. I'm not trying to walk through that shit when I can't even see ten feet in front of my face." Eddie replied.

"Well... this isn't exactly the best shelter in the world." Rebecca said, eyeing the overhang above her with a frown.

"We have a tent between the five of us. If we all share it, we'll be warm for the night. We just need to set it up." Eddie explained.

"Alright. Let's get this thing set up." Rebecca replied.

Eddie turned to Midnight and Melody before unslinging his pack and digging for the stakes for the tent.

"Hey, Midnight, can you help us set up a tent? Once it's up, we'll get him inside and share it so that everyone stays warm tonight." Eddie asked.

"Sure. I can-" Midnight began, before Melody spoke up.

"I can do it. You just worry about your husband." She said, giving Midnight a compassionate smile.

"T-thank you." Midnight gratefully replied before returning her attention to Sky.

"Alright, here, grab the tarp and help us set the stakes." Eddie said.

.

.

.

.

.

Tempest awoke with a pained groan. A throbbing migraine danced about in her head, making the process of simply opening her eyes seem like a monumentous feat. At first, she could see nothing, but after shaking her head to the side a few times to free herself of the sleeping bag's material, her head popped free of the fabric. Slowly, the dark cave revealed itself to her bloodshot eyes, and with deliberate, sluggish movements, she turned her head enough to look around at her surroundings more clearly. Immediately, she saw the dark clouds of the outside world, and the angry snow as it fluttered about through the air.

She glanced down at the sleeping bag and tilted her head to the side.

What the?

Tempest's ears flicked back on instinct, alerting her to a quiet sound coming from behind. She turned around as quickly as she could without making her migraine any worse, and gasped as her eyes fell on Jason's shivering form in the corner. The blanket he was covered with wrapped around his legs and torso tightly, although his arms hung limply to his side. His eyes were closed, and his breath came out in shallow wispy clouds that dissipated within a few inches of his face.

Tempest pushed herself to her hooves and unzipped the sleeping bag enough to step free. The harsh cold instantly stung at her skin through her coat and bodysuit, forcing a sharp gasp to escape her lips and drive a hard shiver through her body. She shakily walked over to Jason and tried to shake him awake with a hoof. He awoke with a start, and seemed to shiver even harder as he came to.

"Huh, w-what?" He gasped, looking around quickly.

"Jason, what happened? You're freezing!" Tempest said, the concern in her voice drowning out the confusion at the current situation.

"I... y-y-you got... knocked o-out i-i-in the v-volcano..." Jason stammered in the cold.

Tempest looked back at the sleeping bag and frowned.

"Alright, you need to warm up. Come on, let's get you in the sleeping bag." She said, grabbing his right arm and and attempting to help him to his feet.

"Gahh!" Jason cried out from the pain, making Tempest immediately let go.

"What!? What's wrong?" She questioned, fearfully glancing down at his arm.

"M-my s-s-shoulder... f-f-fucked u-up." Jason tried to explain.

Tempest looked more carefully at the arm in question to find that it did infact hang just a few inches lower than his other arm.

"It looks dislocated... Alright, here, let me help you into the sleeping bag, and when you warm up, maybe we can do something about it." She said, this time grabbing his good arm and pulling.

Jason slowly got to his feet and stumbled over to the sleeping bag. With Tempest's help, he managed to crawl inside and zip it up until it covered his entire body, save for his head. The mulberry unicorn's body warmth still clung to the fabric of the bag, instantly warming Jason's cold extremities and forcing a relieved sigh from his lips.

"Better?" Tempest smugly asked.

"B-better." Jason replied.

"Now, Jason... What happened?" She pressed, laying down beside him.

"W-when we were leaving the volcano, w-we fell. You, me, and Mike all f-fell. You were knocked out and Mike broke his elbow... I... I almost lost you..." As Jason spoke, a frown slowly formed on Tempest's face, and she unconsciously glanced around the cave for any signs of the rest of the group.

"Y-you were about to fall... but I caught you... then... M-Mike fell... I caught him too... but I fucked up my s-shoulder... He... He..." Jason trailed off, a sad frown forming on his face.

"Jason..."

"He let go... He let go and now he's gone..." Jason finished, blinking back the beginnings of several tears.

Tempest felt a weight hit her right in the stomach, and she shakily exhaled from the force of the mental impact.

"No..." She whispered.

"I... I barely managed to carry you out of there... When... when I saw how bad you hit your head... I thought I was gonna lose you too..." Jason explained, feeling his chest tighten.

Tempest leaned down and rested her head on Jason's chest while hugging him with her forelegs.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered.

"It's not your fault... It's nobody's fault." Jason admitted, feeling a tender warmth from Tempest's body heat.

"I was nothing but dead weight back there..." She sadly protested, "If I hadn't been unconscious... then... then Mike would still be here..." She closed her eyes and sulked.

Jason moved his good arm to unzip the sleeping bag enough to reach out and grab Tempest by the wither. She looked down at his arm in shock before he pulled her a little closer and into a one armed hug. After a moment of hesitation, she gratefully accepted the embrace, and buried her muzzle into his neck.

"What happened up there... That was not your fault. The whole situation was fucked. You do not blame yourself for what happened up there, you hear me?" Jason firmly declared, squeezing her tightly against his chest.

Tempest hesitantly nodded in his embrace before he released her and she pulled back far enough to properly see his face once more.

"I just... I just wish I could have done something..." She admitted.

Jason wearily sighed before replying, "Me too..." He said, almost a whisper.

"How do you do it?" Tempest asked, her eyes glued to the floor.

"Do what?" Jason asked.

"Just... keep on going. In that cave, you killed those cultists without a second thought... I... I could never do that... and losing Mike... How do you keep going?" She asked, her eyes finally rolling up to meet his.

Jason sighed quietly, "I have second thoughts about everything, Tempest... Those cultists... If we didn't intervene, they would have killed Melody... I don't like killing... I never have... but sometimes... Sometimes you have to do horrible things so that good people don't get hurt..." He explained.

Tempest was silent for several minutes as she mulled over his words. Eventually, she looked around the room once more and bit her lip.

"What about everyone else? Sky, Midnight, Eddie, Rebecca, and Melody?" She asked.

"...I don't know... I got us to shelter as fast as I could. I don't know where anyone else is." Jason admitted after some time.

"We have to find them." She replied.

"I know. If I know him as well as I think I do, then Ed's probably gonna head to Ponpei. I think getting there is gonna be our best shot." Jason mused.

"How are we going to get all the way to Ponpei? And what if they're out there looking for us, or worse, they're hurt and still on the mountain?" Tempest pressed.

"They got out. Ed got them out. I know he did." Jason replied.

"How do you know that?" Tempest questioned.

"Because I have to believe that... I already lost one friend today... I can't lose any more." Jason sadly admitted, his gaze dropping from the mulberry unicorn still laying on top of him.

Tempest frowned and looked down at Jason. She bit her lip in thought for a moment before leaning down and nuzzling her cheek against his.

"I'm sorry... If you're sure that they're going to head to Ponpei... then how are we going to get there?" Tempest said after pulling away slightly.

"Don't be... You're just trying to take care of the group, I can't fault you for that. As for getting us to Ponpei... I'm still working on that... First things first, I need you to help me pop this shoulder back into place." Jason responded, cupping her cheek with his good hand and gently stroking her soft fur.

"Jason... I don't think I should... I don't really know how to do that to a human... and if it's anything at all like a pony... it'd be better to wait until we get to Ponpei where a doctor can properly help you." Tempest reasoned, tilting her head to the side.

"Tempest, I'm gonna be completely honest with you right now," Jason said, getting an understanding nod from the mulberry mare, "I'm in a lot of pain right now... I really need this shoulder fixed and if I wait too much longer, I think I might start to lose it." He admitted.

"What if I just make it worse?" Tempest questioned, uneasily eyeing the shoulder.

"I trust you." Jason replied.

Tempest felt a small bud of warmth flicker to life in her chest, and although she still had several doubts in her mind, she slowly nodded and pulled herself off of Jason's body. Once she was clear, he sat upright and pulled his torso out of the sleeping bag, once more exposing himself to the chill of the outside air.

"Jesus... How are you not freezing in this shit?" He asked as he removed the shoulder armor with his good arm.

"Fur helps, but I'm still cold. Just not as cold as you." Tempest replied, a small bit of smugness filling her voice.

"Right, well... let's do this then." Jason said, twisting his torso to give her the best angle.

Tempest sat down on her haunches beside him and gingerly grabbed his arm with her forelegs. She lifted the extremity until she felt the ball of his humerus tap against the pocket of his shoulder. Jason instantly winced from the pain, and she froze in place.

"Are you okay?" She asked, eyeing him with concern.

"Y-yeah... Let's just... Just do it." Jason replied, steeling himself for the inevitable pain he was about to endure.

"Okay... I think I have it lined up right... I feel the pocket of your shoulder..." Tempest hesitantly continued, preparing to shove the joint back into place, "You're sure about this? We can still stop and have an actual doctor do this once we get to Ponpei." She asked.

"Just do it." Jason firmly replied.

Tempest bit her lip, and albeit with some more hesitation, she shoved the bone back into its socket. A painful pop sounded from the shoulder, and Jason immediately grunted in pain. He grit his teeth as the searing agony wracked at his shoulder over and over for several seconds, before finally slowing and dissipating. He sighed out in relief before working the shoulder over a few times to test for any residual pain or issues.

The shoulder rolled and moved just like before, and Jason turned to Tempest to give a grateful smile.

"Thank you." He said, enough relief in his voice to warm the two of them in the cold, dark cave.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked, stepping closer to inspect the still swollen joint.

"Yeah. All thanks to you." Jason replied, gently brushing his hand against her neck and tracing up to her cheek with his fingers.

Tempest leaned into the affection and took another step forward, bringing her muzzle just a few inches away from his face while she closed her eyes in relief.

"I'm just glad you're okay." She whispered.

"Me too. I was really worried about you back there..." Jason trailed off, his fingers still stroking at Tempest's cheek.

Tempest breathed out a quiet sigh from the soft feeling of Jason's fingers through her coat, and for a short time, that gentle feeling was all she cared about. She blissfully relaxed into the feeling for longer than she realized before she felt her forehead gently come to a rest against his. Her eyes fluttered open to see two pools of emerald green softly looking back at her, and once again her defenses melted at those piercing green eyes.

She pulled back only far enough to bring her lips to his in a gentle, yet desperate kiss. Jason warmly returned the gesture, and softly kissed her back. It was a moderate, chaste kiss, to be sure, but one that warmed both of them in the cold and sent a small chorus of fluttering butterflies through their chests. As fast as it started, it was over, and they pulled just an inch away from each other. Jason quietly brought his forehead against hers once more in the softest of ways, earning a pleasant sigh from the mulberry mare as she reciprocated.

"No matter what happens from here on out... You stay with me, okay?" Jason whispered.

"Only if you do the same." She whispered back.

Jason kissed her muzzle and stroked her cheek once more, "Promise."

Author's Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSUKXKhmakM