Reborn

by shadowsythe22

(sequel to "dream machine"). After the tragic incident with queen chrysalis Crimson is brought into the world in a new body with no memories of who he is or was. he becomes reborn as a new pony in more ways than one and to save his wife he must fully realize what he has become and tap into his hidden power to take down his toughest foe yet. (Rated M for clop)

62. Chapter 62: Frostbitten

-WARNING-

The following chapter contains content of graphic and sexual nature. If you do not wish to view these things then immediately shut down you're desktop/laptop computer (or any other device you are viewing this on), walk outside and stare directly into the sun until you've lost all feeling in your eyes. if not, then please proceed. you have been warned.

What happened next was something that absolutely none of us had expected to happen. But when it was all over, everything made sense. We had just sailed to the middle of the gate, and everything seemed to stop. The air was silent, there was no breeze, no ripples in the water. Waves didn't crash against the bottoms of the mountains beside us, we had completely stopped moving. Everything was dead silent, then there was a deep rumbling as a disturbance ran through the water. The ocean started churning and the ship began to spin. Something was pulling us around. It was hard to stand, I felt an incredible magical presence and the sounds of the churning waves cut through the air smothering all other sounds. The ship jerked and I was forced against the railing, almost falling off. I got a good look over the side, to see that we were being pulled under by a large whirlpool. I tried shouting out, but the roaring sound of the ocean seemed to completely smother my voice. All the others held onto the ship for their lives... And then suddenly something jerked the ship down and we were underwater.

The whole ship was engulfed into the ocean in a matter of seconds. The roar of the churning sea was then silenced and everything became cold and dark, and wet. The ship broke in half as heavy barrels and cannons sunk past me as I too suck down with familiar bodies above and below me. We sank deeper and deeper for what felt like minutes on end, but soon the light was cast away and only darkness remained... Then there was nothing. Nothing but blank darkness, and the frigid cold. All feeling soon faded and darkness remained. But then the cold came back, the bitter and frigid cold that cut my skin like a knife, and light, a faint light which soon engulfed everything, and then I awoke.

I opened my eyes suddenly to fine myself buried, buried in snow. I didn't know what to make of it at first, why was I buried in snow, it was heavy too... So I must be deep. I tried writhing around and crawling giving me more space to get free. I got on my stomach and lifted with all my might and rose up from my snowy grave. When I stood up I was in a solid three feet of snow, and the light of the world stung my eyes. Snow rolled off my back and fell around me and fallen snow built up to my chest. I looked around to see where I was, and there was nothing but snow and snow and snow. Then I turned around, and saw it all. Behind me stood the largest mountain I've ever seen, seemingly made completely of ice and snowy all around me now I saw, large pieces of wood, entire ships and large masts scattered and buried in the snow. Frozen corpses and dead bodies shared the ground with me. What was more disturbing was that I didn't recognize any of their faces, they weren't even guard... They didn't come with us, we came to them.

I looked around frantically looking for a sign of life anywhere. Large jagged spikes poked up all around me in this mountainous terrain. As I looked around I was now starting to put the pieces together, until I finished a large part of the puzzle. Everything that went through the gate must have been caught in that whirlpool, and it has sent whatever it takes... Here. This must be the great ice shard mountain. This all explains why avalanches often follow a disappearance. Our ship must be here, looking harder I eventually found it. The whole whip was torn asunder and a large mast with Snow White flags jetted out from the ground with torn and ripped flags. The large metal hull with the name "iceberg" jetted from the ground. I understood now. The bitter cold cut through the air and stung my body; looking at myself I didn't hesitate to notice I was moderately damaged. I only pray that the others are alright. The cold cutting through me and the pain of my wounds was distracting my mind. If I'm going to have a chance of finding the others them.

I looked around and tried to shout out, tried to call out names, but I couldn't speak. I couldn't muster up the words, it felt like something was wrong, like I physically couldn't call out any names. My through was coarse and dry from the cold. My muscles were tight and hard from the cold making it hard to even open my mouth to speak. I couldn't feel most of my body and I knew that if this continued I would end up as one of the frozen corpses here. If my body freezes and I die, then I won't be able to resurrect myself until my body is thawed out... Which is a big problem, so I can't afford to die here. I shook my head, ice which had covered my body broke and fell off me and I tried moving. I was literally covered in ice which inhibited my movement slightly. I couldn't even flap my wings, there were frozen and wouldn't help what so ever. I looked around and tried to find some hope for shelter. I looked around and saw a cave, a large cave cut into the mountain not too far, just past the large mast that jetted from the ground. I started to trot over giving it all that I've got, using my strength and pushing through the cold. I kept trotting and suddenly something caught my eye.

Not to far from where I stood, just to my right was a small mound of snow that quivered slightly and then went back to rest. It must be somepony. I can't just leave then, even if I don't know who it is, they still might be alive. I diverted my attention to the mound and started waking over to it. Trudging though the three foot snow was killer and every step was a challenge. I trudged my way over and finally stood in front of the large mound. I used my head and my hoof to brush away the snow, and soon I could see a frozen body laying there. I brushed off the rest of the snow and saw scarlet, laying there covered in ice and snow. Her body seemed lifeless and cold, I feared the worst. That was until a gust of wind blew past me and I shivered to the core, she as well shook and cringed in her sleep telling me that she was alive, which made me glad. I couldn't muster the strength to lift her onto my back, so I took her tail in my jaw and dragged her along with me, it was all I could do. I carried her along as I trudged through the thick snow and the harsh winds. A large gust of wind blew past us and threw a flurry of fallen snow back into the air and it hit me with great intensity. I was getting close to the cave. I could feel the snow starting to get slightly shallower.

I took another step and tripped over something in the snow. In surprise I fell and let go of scarlet. I fell down face first and laid there. It took me a minute to muster up the strength to get up. I finally managed to pick myself up and grab scarlet by the tail again. I looked back at what had tripped me and it was a frozen corpse that had been buried in the snow. The body was frozen solid without any sign of decay. The body laid there with both eyes wide open as if it was staring off into the sky. The fur had been frozen solid and the skin under was black and purple from hypothermia. When I tripped over him it felt like I had just fallen on a rock, and that made me feel uneasy. I ignored it and carried on dragging scarlet behind me. I kept pulling her and myself towards the cave; it wasn't much longer until I finally made it. The snow died down and I soon started walking on solid ground. The cave was covered in a layer of ice but I dragged scarlet along and carried myself through. The cave was impressively large and further in the ice around the cave dissipated and it was now a normal rock cave. Just stepping on the rock hurt the bottoms of my hooves. I kept dragging scarlet along until I realized that I've been dragging her body across a rock cavern. Worried I quickly looked back to see that not too long ago, once we got over the ice, she had started to form a blood trail.

"Shit shit shit!" I said shaking and letting scarlet go. "Oh god, scarlet I'm sorry... Shit, please be alright." I said rushing over to her body to make sure I hadn't done much damage to her. I turned her over and saw that large pieces of skin had broken off her frozen body, it was frostbite... Really bad frostbite. This wasn't good, she wasn't bleeding fast, but if she doesn't get something over those wounds she'll bleed out, and she can't naturally heal if her body is frozen like this. I stopped dragging her by the tail and picked her up and carried her with all my strength. Even I was getting tired, and I felt my skin crack as frost bite ran over my body as well. Each step I took was more painful than the last and soon I began to trail blood. I stopped and lifted up one of my hooves to see the bottom of it and almost all the skin had been scrapped off of it and there was nothing but raw flesh underneath which bled mildly. I kept trudging on knowing that I have to keep the both of us alive. I could still feel scarlet's heartbeat as she was slung over my back which gave me hope. It wasn't much warmer in here than outside, but there isn't any snow or wind, which is much more than I could hope for... But as I trudged through the cave I soon found that luck was on my side.

Not too much further in, after an abrupt turn in the cave I saw an abandoned encampment sitting at the very end of the cave. There was a circle of stones and charred wood sitting there. The wood had some kind of cloth wrapped around it. It was a campfire of some sorts. I would find it strange that the wood was untouched and hadn't been burnt yet, if I didn't notice the frozen pony next to it with a box of matches in his hoof. He stood there his eyes barely open and his frozen skeleton laying there. He must have escaped the cold, but couldn't get the fire lit in time, so he died. His body decayed and now he's been forgotten, but this is a stroke of luck for us. I hastened my step and walked over only to find something even more disturbing. Lying behind the fire was another skeleton, of another pony. Lying in an almost fetal position. I could already deduce what happened here, they were like us. The pony who has the matches was trying to start a fire to warm up his friend... But he died before he could start the fire. I bowed my head and closed my eyes at the misfortune and laid scarlet down near the fire, in the same fetal position as the second corpse. I moved the second corpse and the first one over near the back. I put them together so that if they must rest in peace then At least they can rest together.

I had taken the box of matches from the first pony and opened it up. I took out one match and tried to light it, my hooves were frozen and shaking and I ended up snapping the match. I cursed out loud and threw the broken match to the ground. I took a deep breath and tried to steady my hoof. I struck a second match on the side of the box and it ignited into a small flame. I smiled on the inside only because my face was too stiff to actually smile. I held the flame up to the cloth draped and tied to the wood and it caught on fire. Soon there was a roaring fire in front of me. Its warmth filled up the cave and I breathed out the deepest sigh of relieve I've ever done. Looked back to the two corpses that I laid together and they seemed to stare at me and scarlet sitting by the fire. The cave lit up and pleasurable warmth covered me body. I glanced back at the two corpses and managed to force a smile out of my face.

"Thank you..." I said to the two bodies as if they were still alive. I looked around for what else was here since there were also a few bags, barrels and crates in here. I looked in the barrels but they were empty. One of the crates here had a few clothes in them. I quickly grabbed one of the articles of clothing. I picked it up and fortunately it was a blanket of wool. I held the blanket over the flames for a little bit to warm it up and once it was warm I draped it over scarlet who laid on the ground now. Her fur was defrosting and becoming wet as well was mine. Her body became softer as her muscles relaxed under the heat and she was now noticeably breathing. If I can keep her warm then she'll be alright. And if I can warm myself up and regain focus I'll be able to use my magic, and that will make sure that we'll both be able to survive here until we can figure something out. There isn't any food here, but if I can use my magic then I'll be able to transmute he stone walls of this cave into food, and even wood if we need it for the fire, until then I'll warm up by the fire and wait for my strength to return. Once I get my strength back I'll break down these boxes and barrels and use them for firewood. "Don't worry scarlet... We're going to be fine."

"I sat down on the cave floor by the fire and held my hooves up to the warm flames. The warmth stung my body at first as the cold inside tried to resist the fires heat, but soon the warmth began to soothe my body. The fire was burning steadily and heating up the cave. I could breath easily now. There isn't much left to do now but wait and worry. I hope that the others are alright, but I did notice tracks running through the snow, strange tracks too, so whatever happened I'm almost certain that they're alright, I'm almost sure of it. I don't really know how but I've developed some kind of sixth sense for telling when m friends are in trouble, and since my body is heating up now I'm able to use that sense, and it's telling me that twilight, thunder, and the others are fine... And I trust in my senses. The storm raging outside is very intense and I'm still cold on the inside, so I can't sense their souls and find out where they are. I am confident that everything is going to turn out for the best though. So until I could do something I sat there and warmed up by the fire. Once I started to get better I checked back to that crate of material and found that underneath the blanket I pulled out was a bunch of bandages, which is perfect. I grabbed a few and carried them over to scarlet. She laid there breathing steadily, but her frostbite wasn't doing too well. I heated the bandages by the fire first before I wrapped them around the large open spaces of black and purple skin on scarlet's body. Once I had covered her wounds I placed the blanket back over her.

She was doing much better now. He body had thawed out now and she was warm and soft again. Color was also starting to return to her body, her cheeks were red and her lips were starting to become less purple than they were before. She still needs to keep warm so that she can heal her frostbite. I also wouldn't be surprised if she's got hypothermia or even pneumonia. I probably do too, along with the frostbite. I heated up some more bandages and started wrapping myself. I wrapped the bottoms of my hooves which were almost completely without skin and fur and were bleeding slightly. They had grown a gross pinkish purple suggesting that they've also become frost bitten. The cuts and wounds from the ship wreckage also didn't seem too good either. They weren't bleeding but the skin around all the cuts and scrapes was a dark purple, which I think might be worse. I'd rather prefer that they be bleeding and not purple. There was no hope for those wounds so I just tried to keep warm and hopefully my body will begin to restore itself as it always does.

After a while I had started to feel considerably better. My body was far less numb and more agile now that my muscles aren't frozen stiff. Color as well, had returned to my body and I was feeling much better. The fire had started to die down now and most of the wood had become ash. I figured now was a good time to bust open that crate. I took out the rest of the supplies in the crate which was only a few things of bandages as well as another blanket. I placed the gauze and blanket near the fire to warm them up and I looked to the crate. I was still feeling weak and couldn't use my magic so I turned around and faced away from the box. I geared both my back hooves and then bucked the crate with all my strength. I cringed a bit at the pain of kicking the large wooden crate with my frost bitten hooves, but it had to be done. The crate thankfully broke into many pieces of wood so that I don't have to do that again. I picked up a few pieces of wood which all seemed to be decently sized and threw them into the fire pit. Not too much longer after that did the fire pick up once again, and I relaxed once more. I grabbed the blanket that I had placed by the fire and covered myself with it. It had heated up nicely by the fire and I cuddled up in the blanket. The ground as well was no longer frigidly cold, but was more like room temperature, so it was comfortable to sit on... For the most part.

I sat there wrapped cozily in my blanket with my hooves up towards the fire warming them up so that the frostbite doesn't get worse. I kept a close eye on scarlet for the most part, but all the cold, and the warmth... And the pain started to make me lazy, and then I became lethargic. I found it hard to keep my eyes open and they became increasingly heavy with every passing second. The only thing to do was watch the fire. I tried to fight off the sleep knowing that I need to keep an eye on scarlet, but I couldn't help but close my eyes. I kept my other senses heightened so I could still hear the crackling of the fire and smell the burning wood and smoke. I lay there with my head slumped over and my eyes closed with my warm blanket draped around my back. Suddenly a heard a soft moan, a light but coarse voice pierced the air and caused my ears to perk up. I don't know why but I was so comfortable there that I had just completely ignored it. Then a second moan pierced the air and I lazily opened my eyes back up and looked forward. I saw scarlet's blanket shift and move until she had sat up from the ground with her back turned to me. She fluttered her wings slightly and the blanket fell off of her. She brought up a hoof and rubbed one of her eyes and yawned, but I could still tell she was tired. She looked at herself and then around the cave which led her to look over top me. I just stared at her wrapped in my blanket.

"Crimson!" She exclaimed.

"Good, you're up... How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Numb... Where are we?" She asked. "I remember the ship... We got pulled under and I thought we were all going to hit the bottom of the sea, but then there was a light, and suddenly I was in an avalanche. I remember snow, and pieces of the ship flying past me, and then I blacked out and woke up here... Where are we?" She asked,

"Were in a cave on the great ice shard." I said but she only seemed confused. "Scarlet I've figured it out..." I said. "That whirlpool we got sucked into was a portal that sent us and the ship here, to the mountains. It explains the disappearances and all the avalanches after them." I said. "When I woke up and saw that we landed here I pieced it all together. Plus there's the wreckage and corpses of other ships and ponies here... Like those two over there." I said pointing to the two skeletons lying together at the back of the cave. She looked over to them and I could feel a sullen uneasiness wash over her. "They were in the same situation we're in now, except they didn't get as far."

"Did you drag me in here?" She asked.

"I found you buried under the snow when I was heading towards this cave." I said. "I didn't notice anypony else, but if I had spent any more time than I did out there I wouldn't have even made it to the cave." I said. "You've got some wounds on you that have become frost bitten; I wouldn't be surprised if you've also become hypothermic." I said. "We need to stay warm, I'm certain though that the others are fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I saw tracks out there leading through the snow. Plus I've got a good feeling that they're alright. Twilight, thunder, and the rest are all fine, I'm sure of it."

"I believe in you, and I hope that you're right." She said. "But... What do we do now?" She asked,

"Try and stay warm... We need to get to full strength before we can do anything, once I regain my strength I'll be able to supply us with food, water, and more firewood." I said. "Then we can figure out a plan."

"Crimson, I feel cold and weak, and my side stings." She said. I looked over and saw some dark burnt red bloodstains on the side where her wounds were.

"That's probably the frostbite, and if you still feel cold then its definitely hypothermia." I said. I could see a look of worry in her eyes, she was definitely in pain. I looked at her and let out a deep sigh. I got up and walked over to her with my blanket still wrapped over me. I walked over and sat down next to her. "Here, let me undo these wrappings and see the wound." I said. She nodded and I started unwrapping her bandages. I pulled them off and looked at the wound. It wasn't looking good.

"Oh god, that looks really bad." She said.

"Yeah, it's not good." I said. "It's not bleeding, but there's a lot of dead tissue." I said looking at the wounds. There were large parts of her side that had turned a really dark purple and had red veins running through them. "Can you feel this?" I asked pressing down on one of the dark purple spots on her skin.

"No." she said worryingly. "What does that mean?"

"Well, its deep. The tissue is dead and the nerves are most likely dead too, it's bitten down pretty deep, that's not good. If you stay warm then you can stop it from spreading further… but until I can get my own strength back and heal you then it's going to stay like that forever… it could also get infected, so I'm going to put some more bandages on." I said. She just nodded and lowered her head. I got some of the extra bandages and started to wrap them around her wounds and close them off again.

"Thank you…" she said.

"Here, you should take my blanket too, you need the extra warmth." I said.

"Crimson… no, you keep It." she said,

"Here… take it." I said holding it out to her. She looked up at me and I just gave her a reassuring smile back.

"Thank you…" she said taking it and wrapping herself in it. I walked back over to the other side and sat down near the fire. We both sat there in silence for some time. "I'm thirsty…" said scarlet still looking into the fire wrapped comfortably in two blankets. "And I'm pretty sure we don't have any water…" she added. She looked over to the two barrels and the smashed up crate. She turned back to look at the fire and sighed. She hid the bottom of her face in her blanket and stared helplessly into the fire.

"No… unfortunately we don't have any water… and I'm still too weak to conjure or transmogrify any food or water." I said. "But… that isn't going to stop me from trying anyway." I said getting up and walking over to where the two barrels were and looking over them.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Hey, do you think these barrels are water tight?" I asked ignoring her question.

"Uhm… well, if I had to guess then I'd say so." She said. "Since they've been in the cold the wood hasn't had a chance to rot, and the cold would even tighten the wood making it sturdier." She said. "Why? What does it matter if we don't have any water to hold in it?"

"We're on top of a mountain, and there tons of snow outside…right?" I said.

"Yes…" she said confused by my train of thought.

"And what is snow?" I asked.

"Well it's frozen…water…" a moment of silence past and then she started giggling. "I get it now…" she said. "You know, even though we're like the same pony, person… whatever, I can't believe how good of a quick thinker you are." She said.

"I'll be back soon." I said grabbing the barrel with my teeth and dragging it. "You stay here and warm up; I'll get some snow in the barrel. We'll put it by the fire and wait for it to melt."

"Don't do anything stupid alright?" she said. in response I just chuckled.

"I get that a lot." I said. I dragged the barrel with me and started making my way back down the caves and towards the outside. It was bitter and cold outside along with dark. It had now grown formidably dark as night had most likely fallen by this time. I came to the outside edge of the cave and pulled the barrel onto its side near the entrance. The bitter wind blew up against me and made me shiver, but I was fine. I started to shovel snow into the barrel and packed it in nice and tight until it was full. I pushed the barrel back up and tried dragging it, but it was heavy and I was weak. So instead I pushed it back over on its side and rolled it back. I lost some snow, but since it was packed in there slightly it didn't spill out too much. I rolled the barrel all the way back to the fire where scarlet sat there looking into the fire and smiling. I rolled it close to the fire and put the barrel back up on its bottom near the fire, but not close enough that it'll catch.

"Nice job…" she said smiling. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine… just a bit cold… the fires nice and warm though… how are you feeling?" I asked.

"Better. Being fully awake is making it easier for my body to fight to pain… plus my spirits are getting up there… I'm sure that we'll be fine." She said.

"Of course we will…" I said. "I mean c'mon… we're the same pony, just think about all the shit that we've been through in our own respective lives… do you really think that we're just going to let something stupid like some snow kill us… hell no!" I said jokingly. She giggled.

"Yeah… we're too stubborn for our own good." She said.

"Story of my life…"

"Mine too." She replied making me chuckle. Once the laughter died down we both looked on into the fire and smiled as we sat there and warmed ourselves up. "At least we'll have some water to drink soon." Said scarlet after a few minutes as she glanced over to the barrel.

"It might take some time for the snow to melt… but you can hold out until then right?"

"Of course I can…" she said smiling. I smiled back at her and we sat down by the fire and warmed up. I kept my hooves out in front of me to warm them up. The fire started to die down a bit so a grabbed a few more boards from the pile of wood from the broken box. I tossed them carefully into the fire and the flames soon picked up and came back to strength. I stuck my hooves out to the fire and warmed them up as scarlet sat over on the other side cozily wrapped in both blankets. Suddenly I felt a sudden chill from inside of my body and I shivered and grabbed myself to keep warm. Once the cold got to my neck I ringed and shivered. Once it passed and I opened my eyes I looked over at scarlet who stared at me, she had seen the whole thing. "You're cold…" she said.

"No… It was just a chill… I'll be fine, I promise." I said. She smiled and got up from the other side of the fire. I didn't say anything but just watched as she made her way over and sat down next to me. "Uh what are you..."

"Don't worry." She said cutting me off. She leaned up against me and threw one half of the blankets over my own back as she pressed up against me making me blush slightly. "We should try and get as warm as possible, so we need to share body heat… and your body feels nice and warm."

"Uh, yours does too." I said with my eyes darting around the cave. She nuzzled up against me and smiled.

"Here…" she said taking one of the blankets and laying it down across the ground. "A makeshift bed, now we can lie down and rest by the fire." She lay down on the ground with her hooves right by the fire. "c'mon… relax." She said smiling at me. I blushed but I was tired as well, and lying down right now sounded like heaven even if the ground was stone. I lay down too next to her and rested my hooves by the fire. The ground was hard since it was stone, but the warm blanket made it bearable to sleep on. Scarlet pulled the other blanket over the both of us. It was somewhat comfortable. I looked around and smiled since it was pretty cozy. I closed my eyes and tried to relax. "Hey crimson?" asked scarlet making me get up. I just looked over at her as she had propped herself up slightly. "what's the story with those two skeletons over near the back?"

"Oh… when I found the cave I saw them here, they weren't like that at first, I put them there." I said.

"Can you tell me about it?" she asked laying back down.

"You wanna know?"

"It'll help pass the time." She said.

"I suppose… alright." I agreed. "Well when I found them here there was already a campfire set up with these crates and logs already in the pit. The fire wasn't lit though. One of the pony's skeleton was frozen solid with a box of matches in its hoof. The other one was curled up in a ball with their back to the campfire." I said.

"That's kinda sad…" said scarlet.

"Yeah." One was trying to light the fire to save the other, but he froze to death before he could even light the match… thus also dooming the other one… at least that's what I think is what happened."

"I wonder if they were like us?" asked scarlet propping herself up to look at them again. "A guy trying to save a girl. I looked over as well and studied the two bodies.

"Actually, you see that one on the left." I said.

"Yeah…"

"That's the pony that had the matches… that's the skeleton of a female." I said. "The other one on the right who was in a ball is a male." I said.

"Yeah right… how can you tell?" she asked.

"Well, you see the pony on the left has a wide pelvis bone… females have wider pelvises because it's required for child birth." I said. "Males don't have that since we don't give birth to children."

"Huh… I didn't know that." she said lying back down. "But now that you say so, it does make sense…" she said. "So it would be like if I tried to save you." She said.

"Yeah… I guess so. I don't doubt that you could, I'm sure if we had switched roles It would have ended up the same way." I said.

"Yeah… I guess maybe…" she said as her voice grew unsure with every word. She looked up at the ceiling and started to blush. It looked like she was embarrassed about something. "Uh, crimson… can I ask you a bit of a strange question?"

"Well… sure I suppose…" I said. "What is it… is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine… it's just… well." She muttered before taking a short pause. "Well… do you think it would be strange if…? I were to… you know… start to like you?" she asked. I looked over to her with an unsure expression.

"Well, I don't see why not… we're pretty good friends, so..." I stopped for a moment and stared at scarlet who was avoiding eye contact. "Wait… you mean, like me, like me… don't you." I said. She just blushed even more and nodded her head.

"I, uh… can't explain it… and I don't know why… but I just feel so light hearted when I'm with you." She said. "I'm not sure if it's because we're generally the same, or what… but I don't know… I just feel… relaxed around you… you probably think I'm weird." She said blushing and looking away.

"Well… I wasn't expecting you to start coming out at me like this." I said also blushing. "But I don't really think any less of you." I said.

"Really?" she asked excitedly looking over to me.

"Well… yeah." I said. "Look, I've lived my whole life being different. I was different in school, I was different in the military… and even now in this new world, this new life I'm still different." I said. "I've always asked myself questions about my fate, ones that I know for sure I'll never know the answer to, but I know that thinking about these questions gives me peace of mind… somewhat." I said.

"w-what questions?"

"Well. I've always wondered why it has to be me. I've always wondered why I'm the one who has to get sucked into these situations… but then I think to myself, well… if not me then surely it must be somepony else, and I'm sure if that was the case then they would ask the same questions… and wonder the same thing." I said. "The way you look at it… it doesn't really matter if it was me, or somepony else. The only reason it's me is because of the choices I've made In life."

"Doesn't that just answer your question though?"

"No… it's more complicated than that. I know that my decisions shaped my life and lead me to what I am today." I said. "Is it possible that some of my decisions were acted on by outside forces, and if so then who and why… why is it that my particular life is like this… why is it that I've made these decisions? Is it because of the way I am, if so then was I destined to live this kind of life, or is my destiny changing every day, shifting with every move I make and every step I take?"

"I've learned that in the end you should do what you think is the right thing to do, then worry about the consequences later." She said. "But you know, sometimes I wish I knew what to do sometimes, I wish I knew the answers to all of life's tricky questions."

"You know what I wish?" I asked.

"What?"

"I wish I could go back to a normal life." I said. "I'm really just sick and tired of it all, the notoriety, the fame, the power and the fighting… and all the drama." I said. "I wish I could wake up one morning next to my wife in my house and have breakfast with her and my kids. Then we'd go off to work and the kids would head out to school. Then I'd come home, have dinner with my family, and then spend some time with family and friends without having to worry about fighting, or drama, or violence."

"That does sound nice… but I feel there's more to it than that."

"There is…" I said. "To protect the ones that I love I've had to keep secrets and lie." I looked over to scarlet and she looked back at me. "I don't mean to be selfish when I do it… in fact it hurts me as well as the others… but this web of lies I've woven for myself is getting tighter and tighter… soon enough one string is going to snap and the whole web is going to tear me apart. I don't want to break hearts and crush dreams… but it seems that wherever I go evil and misfortune seems to follow… I'd give up all the power, the fame, and the fortune just to have a normal life. No web of lies, no love triangle suspended above a pit of blades. No drama, no broken hearts and no violence. I've told myself hundreds of times that I'm going to change… but I never do, and I blame myself for it."

"Crimson…" said scarlet worryingly.

"I keep trying to carry all my friends and family on my back, trying to help them out, but when I fall they're going to fall too, and there isn't going to anypony there to help us get back on our hooves." I said. "I don't know why I keep promising myself that I'm going to change… because I won't, more like I can't. I'm not sure if it's because I'm afraid, or if I'm completely incapable of really understanding the world around me."

"Crimson… I might not know you personally, but we are the same… and I know what you feel." Said scarlet. "I don't intentionally mean to toy with others emotions. Other ponies call me a tease but I've never intended to lead others on, but when we get attached to others we only end up hurting them more and more with ever move we make… I know." She said.

"I wish it didn't have to be this way." I said.

"I do too crimson, I really do."

Our conversation died down and soon enough we lay down and rested in silence. The cave started to grow less bright as the fire began to die down. I laid there for a moment but I soon got up from the makeshift bed and walked over to the pile of scrap wood. I threw a couple more pieces into the fire and it returned to strength. I walked over to the barrel of snow which had now melted into water.

"Hey... If you're still thirsty the snows melted already." I said.

"Really?" She said excitedly standing up.

"Yeah." I said. I looked down into the barrel which was now half full with water. It was somewhat cold too. Scarlet walked over and looked in and smiled. She stuck her head down into the barrel and placed her mouth into the water and started drinking. Once she was done I stuck my own head in and drank up as well. It didn't taste gross, it was actually very refreshing. Once I was done I let out a gasp of air and pulled my head out from the barrel.

"That's so much better..." Said scarlet seeming very relieved. Her voice had once been slightly coarse and raspy but now it sounded better. "It definitely cleared up my throat." She said.

"Feeling better?" I asked.

"Much..." She replied. "So we've got water... But no food. What are we going to do now?" She asked.

"Well, when I was outside a while before I dragged you in here I did notice that there were many strange tracks leading through the snow outside. They were pretty deep, but I don't know if the snow has already covered them up by now. I figured that once morning comes and this storm passes we could look for something. I'm sure those tracks belong to the others, so I'm certain that they've found shelter and are safe." I said as we both walked back over to the makeshift bed. Scarlet lay back down but I sat up and peered into the fire.

"I can feel it too..." She said

"Like a sixth sense..." We both said. We both laughed at the coincidence and blushed.

"I think after this is all over I'm going to go back home to moonlight and just relax for a while... This life is getting to crazy for me. I'm going to start getting wrinkles and stress marks soon." She said. I chuckled.

"Yeah... That's easy for you to say..." I added. "Once this is over you can go home, but I've still got more shit to do."

"Yeah... By the sound of it, it seems like you could use a vacation." She said. "I'm pretty sure your adventures here have been a lot more interesting than my own." She said.

"Interesting definitely is a word for it..." I said smiling. "And I think you're right, I do need a vacation... But, there ain't no rest for the wicked..." I said.

"Sucks, doesn't it..." She said. "Puts when you think you can relax something pops out of nowhere and kicks you in the ass."

"Oh yeah... All the time." I said. We sat there for a while in silence. Scarlet soon sat up next to me and looked into the fire. She had a smile on her face as her eyes reflected the flames, but soon the smile turned sour and she had a glum look on her face.

"Hey crimson..." She said. "Since we're the same pony, you know where we originally came from, the world we were born in."

"Yeah... I know." I said.

"I had a husband, Laurence... And a son, Sam. My name used to be Alexis Wesson, but know its scarlet... Sometimes I forget that I'm originally human, but being around you... I suddenly remembered." She said.

"Mmmm... My name used to be Alex Wesson; I was married to my wife Lauren with my daughter Sarah. I used to be I the military, Special Forces... Black ops." I said. "Then that day came..." I said.

"The dream arch..." She said. "And that makes me think..." She said. "Is there actually an original universe... Is it mine, or is it yours... And, if it's your universe, does that mean everything that I am is just a broken copy, completely useless... Do I really even make a difference in the grand scheme of everything?"

"You know... The way I look at it is this way." I said. "There is no original universe... But there is an idea. An idea of a universe created by a higher power, and then each different universe is its own separate place, they all and hear to separate rules. I'm no greater than you, were just different and we both hold the same significance in our own respective worlds."

"That's a good way of looking at it." She said. "But do you really think that's true?"

"It doesn't matter if it's true or not, it's what I make of the world, and it helps me cope. I can go through my whole life thinking this and it won't make a difference."

"Yeah, I think you're right... I'll try not to dwell on it too much." She said. She kept looking back into the fire but soon laid back down on the blanket and pulled half the second blanket over herself. She kept her hooves close to the fire and tried to keep warm and relax. The room had now grown considerably warmer. The cave was deep enough that the wind from outside and the cold didn't reach us. Scarlet who was lying on her back now rolled over onto her side and shivered a bit and cringed. She then opened her eyes and looked down at her body as she hugged herself.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"It's... It's cold in here." She said.

"No, I think you've become hypothermic, in fact I'm sure of it." I said. "That isn't good." Now that she's become hypothermic, it means she could be in danger. Even though she might be warm on the outside her body temperature is low, dangerously low. Sitting by a fire and lying under a blanket won't be enough.

"W-what's going to happen to me?" She asked shaking and quivering from cold.

"Are you just starting to feel the cold now?" I asked.

"I've been feeling cold for a while now. But it just now started to really bother me."

"That isn't good." I said. By now it's probably passed over her entire inner body now. "Why didn't you tell me you were cold before...? We could have prevented it."

"I-I...I thought warming up by the fire would be enough..." She said

"Well... No, the cold you're feeling is internal... So we would have to raise your internal body temperature." I said. "If we had any hot food that would do the trick but we don't have that luxury at the time. We need to figure out how to excite your body and raise your temperature."

"What about the water... If you leave it next to the fire it'll heat up, and I could drink that..." She said.

"Yes that could work... But I'm not entirely sure how well since it's water and can cool off rapidly." I said. I walked over to the barrel and stuck my hoof in the water which was about room temperature. "It's not warm enough." I said.

"Is there anything else...? I'm really cold." She said.

"Well... There are other options... Most of them are a bit... Physical." I said.

"Well, what do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, you're body is very capable of recapturing your internal temp from the heat outside, it's just that it's having a hard time right now so the cold remains... But if we were to excite your body then it would begin to heat up."

"What do you mean by... Excite?" She asked.

"I mean we need to stimulate your body... Physically." I said.

"Are you telling me that we should have sex?" She asked with a worried and surprised tone.

"No no no... Not at all... We don't need to actually have sex... But, uh... We need to trick your body into preparing for... Well, sex. So it knows to heat itself up and start raising your body temp."

"I'm not sure about this..." She said. It was definitely not a very orthodox method, but it'll help her, and it's the only thing really. It's embarrassing for me too.

"Don't worry... I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to; it's not even going to get that far... But if you don't want to... Then there's almost nothing else." I said.

"Uhm...well. If it can't be helped... Then fine." She said blushing furiously.

"Alright... Can you roll over onto your back please?" I asked.

"Why?"

"I'm going to give you a massage."

"Alright..." She said rolling over. I walked over to her and sat down next to her. I placed my hooves on her back and started to press and rub on her muscles. She let out a soft moan and began to blush. I worked my hooves lower and lower until I was around her flank. Once I started massaging the area around her butt she really began to blush and breathe heavily. "I'm not so sure about this... Can you please stop?" She asked.

"Alright... I won't keep going if you don't want me to." I said. I pulled my hooves away and stayed seated right next to her. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Not really..." She said. "This is really embarrassing, and it doesn't feel right." She was blushing brightly now and hiding her face in her hooves.

"Sorry... I tried to help."

"It's alright... But, it's not that... I... Uh, didn't like it..." She said sheepishly. I didn't really hear that last part over the sound of the crackling fire.

"What?" I asked.

"Well... The massage... Felt really good." She said more confidently now. "But I'm really embarrassed, and it's not because of the massage, it's because of you..."

"Oh... Thanks." I said jokingly.

"No no, that's not it..." She said defensively. "It's just... Well, I mean getting close to you like this, it... Feels wrong, but... A large part of me really likes it. The only reason I told you to stop was because I felt like I would end up taking it too far."

"Oh... But, I don't mean to pry... But that was kinda the idea of the whole thing, to get you not and bothered." I said.

"Don't say that!" She said blushing furiously and then looking away completely embarrassed.

"Sorry, sorry..." I said chuckling a little. "If you feel uncomfortable still, then we could just lie down and hug... We could exchange body temperature. If we don't do something now then it'll only get much worse..." I said.

"Mmmm... I don't know, I still feel weird about it." She said. I smiled and rolled my eyes. I lay down on the makeshift bed with her and faced her. I reached over and started to wrap my hooves around her. "Hey, what are you doing?" She asked. "Stop!" She said. I ignored her and pulled her into me. She didn't fight it but once I pulled her into me she grew quiet. "Y-you're... So warm." She said.

"When I fist arrived here I cast a spell on myself called dragon heart." I said. "It keeps a fire burning inside me which keeps me warm." I said. "It doesn't dispel until I tell it to, or until I die." I pulled her tighter and she pressed herself up against my chest and placed her hoof over the place where my heart is. "It might explain why I haven't become hypothermic as well, it doesn't warm me on the outside, but it keeps me warm on the inside."

"Y-your heart..." She said looking at my chest with her hoof over my heart. "I can feel a wave of heat with every pulse."

"There is one other way that I could warm you up, but I kept it from you because I knew it might freak you out a bit..."

"H-how?" She asked.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Well... It couldn't hurt to know..."

"Well, with the dragons heart, I could breathe warmth into your body..." I said blushing a little, and she did too.

"You mean... Kiss me." She said.

"Basically, yeah..." I said. "But I would have to keep breathing warmth into you until the cold was gone..." I said. She and I both blushed furiously. She pulled herself away from me and looked away. She held herself and shivered. "I knew you wouldn't like that idea... It's why I kept it from you."

"Well... It isn't... THAT, bad of an idea." She said looking back at me. She turned back around and eventually had buried herself back into me. She placed her hooves on my chest but looked down, she didn't look me in the eyes. I could tell she was extremely embarrassed and was blushing furiously, I was too. I thought that she might say something, but she didn't. She just looked up at me and then looked back and turned around. She pushed herself up against me and laid there. I wanted to say something, but I figured that it would be best that I not.

We both laid there, the tension began to die down and I felt less embarrassed. It was definitely an awkward moment but it was a bit better now. I could feel my strength beginning to return to me and once I noticed that the fire was beginning to die down once more I looked over to the pile of wood and tried to focus my magic. I was able to successfully levitate a few pieces of wood into the fire without a problem. I smiled at my own success and looked back towards scarlet, but she didn't even seem to notice. Seeing her in pain made the smile quickly fade from my face. It's a good thing that we have some wood, but these small wooden planks burn much faster than the logs that were originally here, and I'll have to change them more often. I could levitate things easily now, and I probably might be able to do some other things as well, but some of my advanced stuff like healing and transmutation might be more difficult, maybe within time I'll be able to teleport the two of us away.

I looked back over to scarlet and saw that she was very cold now. Despite the fact that she was right next to a roaring fire with blankets covering her and her back brushed up against me, she still hugged herself and shivered. At this rate she won't make it before morning. I want to help her, but it can't... I'm seeing now that I'm pretty useless without my magic when it comes to certain things, and I can't help but feel like this key be my fault for clumsily dragging her in here. I wish that things could be simpler, but they can't ever be that way. I let out a deep depressing sigh and lay down next to scarlet. I turned over so my chest was up against her back and I wrapped my hooves around her and held her tight. She was shivering, but felt warm. Even though she was warm on the outside I could feel the cold within her. When I pulled her close to me she seemed surprised and turned her head. I gripped her tight, holding onto her for dear life, like she was only mere seconds from death.

"Crimson... Stop, I'll be fine..." She said.

"Please don't try and dull the situation... We're both very aware of what's going to happen..." I said.

"Crimson..." She said turning around and looking at me. "I'm so cold, I need you to share your warmth with me... Please crimson." She said pushing herself against me. She pushed hard enough that I rolled over onto my back and she lay right on top of me. She leaned in closer and closer to me and her face started to turn flush red, as did my own. Soon she brought her soft, warm lips close to mine and she caught me in a deep kiss. I took in a deep breath in my nose and exhaled hot air into her through the kiss. She quivered once the air started running down her throat into her lungs. She got tense but soon relaxed and I exhaled another breath of hot air into her body. Soon she started to grind her hips against my own, which I found strange.

"Scarlet..." I said tearing away from her. She lunged back at me and gave me another deep kiss again before I could even continue my sentence. I was somewhat shocked at her, but I know how she must feel. She held the kiss even though I didn't breathe any more warmth into her. She pulled away and looked at me with big sad eyes.

"Crimson... Please, I need you to warm me up." She said. "It's so cold... Pease crimson... Please, I know it might be wrong... But I don't want to die, please..." She said.

"Uh, scarlet..." I muttered as she began to grind her hips against the base of my dick. I could feel her warm underside growing hot and moist as all the blood began to rush to my penis and it started to grow erect. I'm always bad with these kinds of situations. Whenever a girl gets on top of me and does this kind of thing it's like I just freeze and let her have her way. Thought this time isn't really like the others, this time it's literally life or death, and i never really thought it would ever come down to that. If me and scarlet do end up... Well, you know, then it will absolutely be enough for her to fight off the hypothermia, at least enough that her internal body heat will come close enough to her external body temp and the two will balance each other out.

As I was thinking about this all she had kept grinding her hips against me and let out a soft moan. She was beginning to sweat and blush. She began running my now hardened shaft between her legs practically teasing herself. She kept moaning and breathing heavily and I could feel a warm light liquid begin to trickle around my cock and by my legs. I looked to see that she had already gotten off on just that alone. She leaned back in and grabbed my face and pulled it closer to hers and forced me into a sloppy kiss. I felt her tongue breaking through and wrapping itself around my own tongue. Then I felt her bring her hips forward and rest them on the tip of my cock. She rested her pussy on my tip and then without much thought or hesitation she began to push my shaft into her, deeper in between her legs. She let out a soft moan into our kiss an I couldn't help either. I let out a lower moan too which breathed more warm air from my lungs into hers. I kept our kiss trying my best to breathe warm air into her. It was too late to stop now, so I could at least make sure that this works.

"Crimson..." She said blushing and pulling herself away from me. "I can feel you inside of me; it's so warm and soft..." She said. " I can already feel the cold starting to fade..." She said. She brought her head down and started to kiss me on the neck. She moved her hips upward as my shaft slowly began to slide out. Before it was all the way out she stopped and immediately trusted her hips back down slamming them against my own hips. Once she did this one of the kisses that she placed on my neck turned into a bite as she bit down on my neck from the shock of what she just felt. "I'm sorry..." She said. She kissed the wound and started working her way back up to my lips. She began to slowly thrust her hips up against mine moaning and gasping with every thrust. She held onto me as if for dear life as she began to thrust her hips harder and faster.

She leaned back over and placed another kiss on me and began moaning and breathing into me. I breathed hot air back into her from my lungs to hers and I could feel her heart rate start to soar and she was beginning to sweat, so was I. It was now obvious that her metabolism was starting to repair itself and was working to heat her body up on the inside. Scarlet kept grinding her hips up and down on my shaft. I felt every second of it, every inch as her soft insides slid gently past my shaft and the tip of my cock. She bucked her hips more furiously now and closed her eyes and started blushing furiously. She bucked harder and faster until she slammed her hips down in my cock once more and pulled her mouth away from mine to let out a loud moan. I felt a splash of hot liquids sputter against my lower body. Scarlet soon fell weak and limp. She was breathing heavily and opened her eyes and looked right at me.

I held onto her and flipped over so now I was on top of her. I slowly shifted my hips back and forth now pushing my shaft in and out of her as she began to moan once more. I could tell that she had exhausted what little energy she had left. I kept bucking my hips against her as she closed her eyes and kept moaning with her head tilted back. Her body was limp and fatigued. She could only lay there and feel everything. I closed in on her and soon I placed my lips against hers. I kept bucking my hips against her softly and gently as I breathed into her. Every breath to her seemed like a wave of warm pleasure and every thrust was another as well. I kept on top of her bucking my hips harder and faster with every minute or so that went by. I broke away from our kiss and she let out another loud moan which only suggested that she had climaxed once more.

"Oh, crimson... Please, don't stop... Don't stop." She moaned. "It's so warm...don't stop...faster..." She said. I obliged and started thrusting into her faster. I let out a satisfied moan and fell back. She groaned and moaned as she placed her hoof on her stomach and her eyes started to roll back in her head. I leaned in close to her and gave her another deep kiss still breathing warm air into her lungs. She moaned and muttered into my mouth but it was only dulled down and not as loud as it once was. I was beginning to feel myself starting to near climax. I bucked my hips faster and faster against scarlet as the repetitive waves of pleasure soon became just one continuous wave of bliss and ecstasy. Soon I had reached my limit and let out a loud grunt as I reached a climax and shot my load right into scarlet who moaned loudly and closed her eyes.

I could feel all of my warm semen start to flow out around my shaft and start to trickle out of scarlet's pussy. She looked down at it and began breathing heavily. She let her head fall back and she looked up, completely exhausted now. I too was exhausted. I was surprised that I was even able to gather a little bit of magic to make my semen sterile so that she doesn't get pregnant. Once my shaft had grown soft and slid out from between scarlet's legs I grew tired and fell down besides scarlet. I hit the hard stone floor and lay down next to scarlet with my hooves wrapped around her.

Using the last bit of energy I had left I used my magic to levitate a few more planks onto the fire and reached over to pull the blanket over the two of us. I held scarlet close and she laid down fast asleep breathing lightly with her mouth open and her eyes closed. I couldn't help but smile a little. I pulled her in tight and held her. I made sure that she was the closest to the fire and I nuzzled up against her and rested my head on the ground. I could feel her warm body as I began to feel my eyes grow heavy. I could see the color returning to her body, and I could feel that she was beginning to warm up on the inside. I know now that we'll end up being alright. I fell asleep happily knowing that we were both going to make it. And soon I was whisked away, to a land of dreams and darkness.

I hope the others are better off than we are...

-Authors Note: Well, you guys asked for it... crimson and scarlet doing the dirty... you people make me sick. then again, i am the one who wrote it and put in the details... so i suppose i make myself sick. I'm going to go cry in a corner now, dont bother me until chapter 63.

-Stay Shady~