"'Ey," Dash hears a muted voice through the darkness. "'Ey, Dashie," the same voice calls again an invisible force rocks her body lightly.

A tiny line is cut through the darkness as her eyes slowly open. Groaning, she sits up and stares at the fire for a second or two.

"Dash, 't's your shift f'r guard duty." Cartridge's voice is soft and gentle, almost soothing.

She sighs, stepping out of the small shell that used to be a house that they are using for a base of operations for the moment.

"Alright, get some sleep, I've got this for a while," She says, still only half awake. She rubs her eyes, slowly waking fully. Cartridge hands her the gauze rifle she traded for way back near the beginning of her journey.

"It sure was simpler back then…" she says with another small sigh. Cartridge lets out a low whistle.

"Isn' that the truth," he says with a small shake of his head as he lays down on a low, long crate. Several moments of silence pass. But it's not the eerie silence of the tunnels, it isn't the type of silence that slowly eats away at a pony's resolve until it breaks and they run in panic, without sanity. It's a peaceful silence. It's the kind of silence where it feels as if everything is just slowing down for once, as if the world is settling, and everything will be okay from that point on.

"Y'knnoooww," Rainbow starts, drawing the word out slowly, causing Cartridge to look at her, a thin, almost smug grin spreading across her muzzle, "I used to be the fas-"

"The fastest flier in all of Equestria, yeah. What about it?" Cartridge cuts her off, a smug grin of his own appearing.

"And I haven't been allowed to fly in over seven years. I bet it'll feel reall' nice to spread these babies out again," she spreads her wings at the last part, the feathers pulling out and slowly spreading away from one another, pulling away from the positions they had been locked in for most of the last seven long years ponykind had been locked in the metro.

"I wouldn't do that, but if yu really have too," Cartridge says cautiously, in an almost warning tone. Dash shaking her wings down and turns, giving him a confused look.

"Think about it," he says, responding to the unspoken question, "we're in an area crawling with little bitches that would love nothin' more than ta rip our flesh from our bones. And flying would create quite the attention grabber, wouldn't chya think?" Dash stands for a moment, motionless save for the wind blowing her mane across her face, then sighs in defeat.

"Yeah, I s'ppose that would make sense." She looks to the sky longingly, still her friend despite its grey, menacing new look. "I just wanna be up there so bad." She sits again with a barely audible thud.

"Heh, I understand. You wouldn't believe how eager I was to get back to the surface for my first mission as a stalker." Cartridge's voice is calm and understanding as it flows from him with a slight nod while he sits up again to a sitting position. He lets out a pathetic, regretful chuckle. "I was stupid. So stupid." He leans back against the wall from his hunched over position, sighing deeply as his back touches the cinder-block barrier.

"Why do you say that?" Rainbow asks, her eyes still groggily half-closed, but with a spark of curiosity in them as she raises an eyebrow at the comment.

"Ehhh, y'know, the usual absolute rookie mistakes," Cartridge replies in an airy tone, a large cloud obscuring his covered features from her view. He absently pulls his rifle to his shoulder, checking the sight's alignment. "I got excited, ran about a little too carelessly, and wou-" his voice hitches, "wound up the only one lucky enough to make it back to the metro." Rainbow can hear the pain in his suddenly cracky voice, and her face droops in sorrow for him.

"I'm so sorry to hear that…" she half-whispers. After a moment, she stands up and walks over to him, sitting next to him on the crate. He swallows hard and angles his head back, looking skyward.

"We're all out of the metro in another few years, if the science-y ponies are as smart as they think they are," Cartridge says simply. "'T's too buckin' long if you ask me." Rainbow smiles at the simple thought.

"You can say that again, C."

"Hey, um, Dashie?" Cartridge says, turning to Rainbow, "d'ya want to know a bit of a secret?" She nods. "Your guard shift doesn't start for another hour." Dash almost chokes, sitting bolt upright and looking back at the colt in annoyed shock. "But thanks for humorin' me for a while anyway."

"I- but you- why did?.. Ugh, never mind," she gives up, shaking her head, resting it on her hoof. Cartridge just chuckles to himself, his lips curling into a smile behind his ever-present greyscale bandana.

"You don't have to take it, if you don't want. I'll take care of it, you've been nice."

The two just sit in silence for a while, listening to the low whistle of the wind blowing through the hollow houses. "Nah, I'm fine. You can go on to sleep if you want, I've got this," Rainbow finally replies. Cartridge chuckles a bit.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm gonna actually be able to sleep." He sighs, "Insomniac problems."

He stands up and grabs a chunk of a set of shelves, walking back over and throwing it on the shrinking fire. He sits right next to it, curling his knees into his chest and resting his arms on them. Starting to rock back and forth ever so slightly, he starts to sing softly.

"Pol-no vam, snyezhochki, na ta-loy zyemlye lezha-a-at. Pol-no vam kazaaachenki gorye goryevat…"

"What's that?" Dash asks, breaking the tune.

"It's an old Cossack tune. I don't actually really know what the words mean, but it was a song to get through hard times," he explains, "Something like 'fill yourself with grief, we'll get used to this, Cossacks aren't afraid of anything', bits and pieces, but nothing whole. There's just one line I really remember. It goes like 'with a song, daring we will go to battle to the death'."

"Mmh, wow…" she replies, eyes softened in admiration for those ponies. She sighs for what feels like the millionth time that day. "Yeah, I used to think like that. I used to think I would be able to handle anything in the world. But I guess I was all bark an' no bite, as they say." Several moments of easy silence, filled by the howling wind and crackling fire pass.

"Thanks for talking with me, it's been nice," Dash says, "Don't tell anyone I said this, but I really miss just talking to talk, not talking about how to survive to the next day, or what best thing to do in a crazy situation that I never would have thought was possible is, or something crazy like that." Cartridge smiles shaking his head at how little Dash has really changed, yet still seems so different.

"You, Dashie, haven't changed a bit. You still live such a bluff, with the truth lying inside, just waiting for your wall of facades to falter, and let your inner fears and feelings to shine through your tough-mare, rough and tumble exterior," he says, looking from the fire to her crystal aquamarine eyes as she grunts, raising her eyebrows for just a quick moment. He just gets lost in them, their depth and shine, with the light of the fire reflecting off of them in smooth, dancing arcs.

"You're so pretty," he mutters under his breath, hardly loud enough for him to hear himself. He realizes what he said as Dash looks at him with an arched eyebrow, and he winces, mentally smacking himself.

"I'm what?" she asks, disbelieving.

"I-I-I don't… I didn't mean- I mean you are, just not… not like that. Or maybe? Nonono, I jus-" Cartridge opens and closes his mouth, no sound escaping him. He sighs, slouching over in defeat. Well that was a bloody mess. *sigh* Looks like it's time for the all-purpose plan-b.

"One moment please." He stands up and walks over to a wall, facing it. He takes a deep breath, leaning his head back in an effort to relax.

"DYAAHH!" he shouts, smashing his head into the wall, and staggers backwards to a shocked Rainbow Dash. "Ohhh, bloody-" he slurs before falling over.

---

I really am sorry for not being able to update as frequently as I would like. But, unfortunately, I'm at a point in schooling where I actually have to *gasp* work. So... please don't hate me? I dunno, but thanks for reading, and we'll get back to the action next chapter. Oh, and just a heads up, I;m going to try to bring this to a close in another 3-4 chapters, and then maybe add some extra stuff at the end, just wanted to let you know. Thanks for being awesome, tschüß.