New Beginnings

by PassionQuill

Chapter 4: Resting In The Snow

"Wake up" sang Passion’s soft voice to Allington as he was gently pulled out of the world of dreams. He was woken up to the sight of Passion's big bright eyes staring directly into his, being mere inches away from his face, and beneath them was a wide and goofy smile.

Allington had to admit to himself that seeing her face first thing in the morning was not a bad way to start the day. Lifting his head slowly, he smiled as he began the process of waking up fully.

"Wake up!" she exclaimed much louder than her initial whispering. Her face was pulled back to look over at the mountains, "It's already day, and we got a lot of ground to cover, which is why I got up extra early to make us breakfast." She looked over at the two bowls she'd placed next to the campfire. Each bowl had an assortment of wild plants in them. All of them being some that Allington had shown her were edible and tasty during their tread to the mountains.

"I don't really know how to cook stuff... so I used what you've taught me so far," said Passion as she beamed with pride, sitting down a bit from the campfire.

"Mmmmmoorning..." He said through a yawn, smacking his lips as he scooted forward. "...I see you are extra cheerful today, ma'am. That’s always a good token." He giggled slightly before forming a broad smile.

"Mhm! I think it's a wonderful day today. No particular reason though," she lied. Her giddy eyes and smile gave away her excitement for scaling the mountains, getting to see such a different environment than what she'd known her entire life was something special to her.

Allington Yawned once more and gazed over towards the fireplace, taking in the sight of the food before mumbling, "So you made breakfast then? Ooh, well done, Miss! I see you have learned considerably. Good job putting knowledge to use!" He gave her a small hug without realizing it before sitting back down. "Hehe... Well, I must say I am somewhat proud of you, Passion. Thank you for preparing the meal this morning."

"Mhm! I took my time finding and figuring out which plants were good and which weren't so we could have a lovely meal. I thought it'd be a good-" she paused, mid-sentence as she was embraced by Allington. Although she didn't move away, he could feel her flinching backwards for a moment when he hugged her. A delightful crimson hue on her cheeks was quite visible as he pulled away from the hug. "T-thank you..." She lowered her head some in embarrassment. "It was nothing... I just did what you did yesterday." A strange smile took hold of her lips as he uttered the words 'proud of you', and her pupils flickered faintly. She had no idea what to say to somepony that was proud of her for doing anything, so she said nothing more. She merely pushed over his bowl while avoiding eye contact with Allington.

"Well, even though you repeated my actions, it was still very charitable of you to perform them at all, ma'am," said Allington as he smiled. He noted the strange smile on her face with some interest. The observation passed quickly though as the bowl was pushed in front of him.

"W-well, thank you again... Also, you don't have to call me ma'am, or miss... Just call me Passion," giggled Passion, having once again found her normal composure.

"Alright, I shall try to call you by your proper title then, Passion. Ah, thank you Passion, though, if you will excuse me for a second, I need to, erh, relieve myself before breakfast." He chuckled softly and scooted the rest of the way out of the tent. "I will be right back to enjoy the lovely meal you worked to prepare us."

"O-oh, right! You're excused, Allington." She picked up her own bowl and cutely munched away at the yummy plants she'd collected, every once in a while she gazed up at the mountains with big hopeful eyes. She wondered what it would be like to get that high up in the sky, being able to see most of Equestria in one look. She mumbled quietly to herself with a mouthful of plants, "I bet it's amazing..."

He smiled warmly as he departed. A few minutes later he returned after taking care of business and sat back down near his bowl. He nodded thanks to her before beginning to eat from his own bowl, occasionally glancing between her and the mountains up ahead. "Do not worry, we'll be scaling them soon enough, Passion."

Passion blinked a few times, blushing a bit as Allington was able to deduce what was on her mind. "I know we will," she said with a pout. "I wasn't even thinking about it yet. I was busy enjoying this lovely breakfast." She kept on proclaiming her disinterest in the mountains, not wanting to seem overly excited for something she'd realize is very commonplace for somepony like Allington.

She'd already eaten all of her food by the time he'd picked up his bowl. And she was now wiggling around in her spot as she occasionally looked over at him to see how much he'd eaten, but keeping the mountains as the main focus of her eyes. "Do you think we can get across it in a day?" she asked curiously. "Or, at least very close to that?"

"Well, the mountains are fairly extensive," Said Allington calmly as he ate his meal. "Though if we didn’t have to scale one side, or if we were to leave all our equipment behind, we could possibly cross in a day. Given our arrangement though, it should be a two day journey." He noted with much amusement how much Passion was longing to see the mountains. He almost felt bad for delaying their departure, so he finished his meal in a decent time.

"Well, want to help tear down camp? Sooner it's down, the sooner we can begin our adventure. ...Oh Celestia, I hope there is not a large snow drift as in times past."

He was barely able to ask her to take the camp down before Passion eagerly knocked down the tent and stored it away in one of their bags. "On it!" She squeed in a cracking tone as she tried to hide her excitement mid-squee. Allington couldn’t help himself from giggling a bit at her gusto, hopping out of the way to avoid being barreled over by her in her attempt to dismantle camp in record time.

Passion cleared her throat before asking, "What do you mean? Were you trapped by snow in the mountains?" She looked rather curious, but also a bit scared.

"Even if it does snow, we'll be fine.... right?" her anxiety was slowly but surely growing, "I mean, we can take some firewood with us to make sure we got something to warm ourselves by, and of course there's our coats." She tried to go through the scenario in her head and figure out what to do if it got too cold.

"Well, as far as the drifts go... We cannot economically bring much firewood with us, so that is out of the picture. Also, I have not found myself stuck in the drift before, but rather that the blockage forced me to take a much longer route around the mountains, extending my trip by three days..."

He smiled reassuringly at her. "So if we find a blockage, we become delayed somewhat. If we keep our wits about us though, there should be no large threat." He helped her tear down the rest of the campsite, loading most of the gear onto his back. "Alright now lass, you ready to depart?"

She let out a sigh of relief before chirping, "Ooooh! That's okay; we'll be fine even if it takes a whole day longer. It's fine if we can't bring any firewood. I can totally sleep in the snow if we have to."

Passion took on as much gear as Allington allowed her to carry before taking the lead for once. There was a skip in her step as she pranced up the rocky slope of the base of the mountain. "This is really cool," she mumbled quietly to herself as they'd made it up two dozen feet above the ground level. It was easy to see that Passion enjoyed the view she got from being up this high, which did seem a bit odd. In fact, Allington had yet to see Passion unfold her wings, not even a little flap was given when she jumped around on the rocky formations. It was then that thought struck him; it was quite possible that nopony had taught her how to fly based on how the village treated her. Though, she did have pegasi parents, they should have supposedly taught her. Allington did wonder why, if she loved the altitude, had never lifted above ground before while he had been around. Surely her parents had taught her how to fly... And if they hadn't, and he had been a pegasus, he would have taught her how.

Passion looked down at Allington with her thick mane flowing in the wind. "Come on, Allington. Keep up with me." She blew him raspberries and giggled a bit before turning back around to further scale the mountain.

Allington allowed her to lead for several reasons, one of which being that he acted as a guard lest she take a tumble of some equipment fall. Leading also allowed Passion to take in as much of the mountain's scenery as she could. He stayed mostly silent during the first part of the accent, simply taking in the changing views and watching Passion completely enjoying herself. He giggled when she issued the challenge to him, and he pressed onward a little faster, though he made sure to keep solid hoofing as he scaled the trail after her.

"Just where do you think you're going?" He called playfully after her.

Passion was rather adept at climbing. Despite her jumping and giddy, slightly erratic, movements, she always seemed to get a firm hoof-hold on the rocks she scaled. Though, she did every now and then have some terrain give way under one hoof. This sent a few small rocks tumbling down past Allington, along with causing Passion to stumble her body awkwardly into the rocks. She was bound to have gotten bruised from it, but she didn't even flinch from her stumbles.

Allington kept a watchful eye on them both as they scaled, though he also made sure to have fun with their ascent. He changed his gaze from the scenery to the path ahead and his companion regularly, enjoying each with an equal mirth. Today was a good day.

"I'm getting to the top! That's where." She smirked cockily as she answered him back in an equally playful tone despite her nose-dive. Although Passion was a sprinter, she seemed to have unlimited energy for this. Their playful race up the mountain resulted in them scaling quite a bit in just an hour. She couldn't help herself from stopping completely, standing on a little ledge to gaze out over the landscape.

Allington, having scaled mountains several times prior, only slipped a few times where the ground was looser than anticipated. He managed to keep time with the energetic batpony in front of him during their climb, despite the cargo on his back.

"Oh, so you think you can reach it without taking a spill off the face?" He called in a mock jest to her. "I imagine you won't last long, what with your tumblin' about!" He giggled as he continued the brisk climb. They were making excellent time, and they just might be able to make it three fourths of the way across the mountains before nightfall at this rate.

"Wow..." Was all Passion could manage to mumble as she tried to take in all the details of the land below them. "We're up so high!!" she squeaked, turning bright red the second her squeaky voice had escaped her lips.

Allington’s attention returned to Passion as he heard her squeak. It was adorable, to say the least. "You surprised at the altitude, Passion? Aye, we are quite high up indeed."

She nodded rapidly, "Yeah... I've never been this high up in my life. Things are really pretty from up here." She was almost glued to the view, but did manage to rip herself away from it to continue up the mountain with Allington, now being behind him.

"Erhm, I got a question. I've read that dragons live in mountains. Does there live a dragon up here? Or perhaps at the base of the mountain?" she didn't sound that scared of the prospect of a dragon being around. She was far more curious, probably due to reading about them in books.

"It's not that I want to see one. I'd just like to know, just in case." She'd slowed down a fair bit by now, no longer skipping around and instead just walked in a steady pace.

"You know, I am unsure if one does or not." He said casually, though he wanted to see her reaction to a possible dragon sighting. In all his treks through here, he had never seen any evidence of dragons nearby. Not that he was certain there weren't, but he was fairly sure that there were none around their trailhead.

"Who knows? I haven't seen one up here, but that doesn't mean there is not one living nearby..." He trailed off with a small giggle.

"Hhmmm, okay." His answer was more than enough for Passion's curiosity. She kept on trailing in for a bit longer, but eventually made her way up next to him as they followed the track up the mountain.

The two of them spent the next many hours climbing, and climbing... and climbing. As they went up, the temperature went down. Eventually, snow began to fall and take up the rocky ground they walked on. Those hours spent climbing were passed in great enjoyment by both Allington and Passion, though the slope became steep at times and as a result became tiring to climb. Despite making great time, they did stop a few times to catch their breath and grab a snack or two.

"Snoooow!" yelled Passion before sticking her tongue out, along with turning her head in awkward ways to catch a snowflake with her tongue. "Aaaahh, got one!" She smacked her lips with satisfaction from the taste of the fresh snow. "I love snow, even if it can get really, really cold. Not the snow, I mean the weather."

Allington watched in amusement as Passion cavorted about once the snow started falling. "Well yes: snow is by definition cold, Passion. I understand your meaning though." He said with a giggle, looking upwards and closing his eyes to let snow fall on his face.

"It’s a wonderful feeling in moderation though." He said, returning his head to its normal position. "...When there isn't six feet of it you have to wade through."

Passion pouted profusely. "I know thaaaat. I meant the weather can be really harsh, but it's worth it to get snow," she said while wading through said material, which was quickly getting deeper and deeper.

Allington suddenly felt a quick sensation of moist heat on the tip of his left ear, along with a slight tugging when he closed his eyes. There was no doubt about it. Passion had nipped his ear for a second. Though, she continued talking as if nothing had happened. "Yeah, if this gets a lot deeper, we'll have trouble walking through it. Also... is the air harder to breathe for you?" she asked while taking noticeably deeper breaths due to the thinner air.

Allington blinked a few times in confusion at what had just transpired. Had she just nipped his ear? He wondered why she decided to do that, though a part of him felt a little giddy that she had done so.

"Aye, it is harder to breathe because the air is thinner here. Air becomes thinner the higher up you go, Passion." The snow was building rather fast. It didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon either. That concerned him a little, and his thoughts drifted to shelter, seeing as they wouldn't be able to cross all the way today anyway.

"Passion... I want you to be on the lookout for a suitable spot for shelter. ...The snow doesn't look like it is going to relent anytime soon, and our passage might become dangerous in a few hours time. I believe that setting up camp might be our best course of action."

"Oh, that's why... it really is harder to breathe up here. Getting a bit light headed from it." Passion shook her head rapidly after her legs had begun to wobble some. She managed to straighten out her walking and keep an eye out for a suitable spot for them, at least look out for it to the best of her current abilities.

He watched with concern as she struggled to stay upright. When he saw her start to wobble, he galloped as best he could over to her side, should she collapse or faint. Luckily, neither happened. He stayed close to her from that point on though, in case anything else should happen to her.

The mountains had a lot of flatten areas near the top, nice big ledges for them to walk around on as they waded through to get across the top. Passion let out a weakened shout while pointing a hoof in the direction of the mountain wall. There was a slight indent in it, which created cave with the depth of perhaps three fourths of their bodies.

"We can rest there, right? If we set up the tent above the little cave, we can be more than fully covered from the snow. And, we can put snow around the sides to help keep heat inside." Passion had already begun galloping over to the indent, eyeing it curiously. "What do you think?"

He nodded in affirmation when she pointed out the semi-cave. "Aye, that'll work for us." He galloped over with her. "Alright, this spot looks suitable. If you help me with the roof, we can then start moving the snow." He took his luggage off and placed it against the rock face, pulling out the roof material that they had set up twice before together.

"Okay..." Her eyes were getting heavy, and her voice was slowly weakening. Passion took off her own bags and began to help Allington set up the tent. Once the tent had been put up, she began to shove snow onto the sides to help seal off the cave so only the tent entrance would leak hot air.

"There... I got the sid-" Was all Allington heard before a thud of something hitting the snow. It was easy enough to guess what had happened, and turning around confirmed his suspicion. Passion was lying on her side in the snow, almost unconscious as her mouth opened and closed ever so slightly as she took long deep breaths. All the moving about was too much for her when the air was this thin it seemed.

Allington had become more concerned with her well-being the longer they worked. Getting a shelter assembled quickly was important though, so he simply kept a close watch on her. Though, as soon as he heard the thud, he spun around and saw her collapsed form. "Passion!!" He stopped what he was doing and immediately rushed to her side, straightening her body to allow her lungs more room to expand.

He pulled her into the tent and off of the snow. He crouched beside her as he waited for her to return to a normal breathing pattern and fully regain her faculties. In the meantime, though, he did everything he could to ensure she stayed stable.

Resting did wonders for Passion. It only took a couple of minutes before her eyes flickered open and her breathing returned to a somewhat normal rhythm. "Huh?.. what happened?" she asked quietly while looking around slowly. A smile spread on her face as her eyes ended up on Allington. "Heeey... I had a dream about you." She slowly raised a hoof to give his body a slight tap before closing her eyes. "I was falling, and you caught me... in your big strong forelegs..." mumbled Passion while being half-asleep.

"Is that so?" He smiled tenderly as he asked in return. He was glad to see her returning to the waking world after having collapsed like that. That was quite the scare to him. He should have not allowed her to work so hard, but now he knew that for the future. "Well, that sounds like a nice dream, though I am sorry to say that I was unable to catch you in real life..."

Even though Allington was fit, Passion’s comment still made him happy to hear her compliment him in that manner. He patted her shoulder gently with a hoof as he gazed down at her. "There now, you rest and return to full strength..."

She nodded weakly and mumbled, "Mhm... you caught me... I know you did." She insisted it to be true, despite what his reality said. Her eyes opened a bit again as she continued to mumble things. "I can still help with the chores..." Though, she seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness as she spoke and had soon forgotten her urge to get up to work.

"I was so scared... but you told me something after catching me..." she continued with explaining her dream. "Then you did something that made me feel warm all over..." A happy, albeit weak smile took up her lips.

Her words were completely unexpected to Allington, though he couldn’t deny that things had taken quite the interesting turn. Also, why was she dreaming about him for? He was already smiling at her as he listened, though his heart felt stranger all of a sudden. Not in a bad way, just... It was something about her.

"Oh, I said something?" He giggled softly. "Tell me now, what did I say?" He spoke to her now mainly to make sure she was still mentally with him, but his curiosity was piqued. What was she dreaming about, and how did it involve him?

She kept on smiling and looking quite content with herself as she was dreaming while talking to him. "Yeah... you said something..." Passion nodded once again, squirming around a bit on the cave floor, but not in a bad way. "You told me... to come closer..." Her eyes opened once more for a brief moment before closing again. "Come closer and I'll whisper it..."

“Blazes, she looked adorable like this,” mumbled Allington through a suppressed giggle. He really would try to prevent her from overexerting herself in the future though. It would be dangerous for her health to slip into this condition again.

"Eh, what is it?" He almost whispered as he leaned in closer to her, curious -and a little excited - to find out what she would say.

She kept on calling him closer and closer till she could feel his breath against her face. Passion then suddenly lifted her head a bit to give him a sort and very weak kiss. It was barely long enough to be called it, but it was one nonetheless. Her head lowered back down instantly as she had drifted off to sleep once more.

"I'm cold..." mumbled Passion while curling up a bit to warm herself. It was fairly warm for a snowy mountain top thanks to their shelter, and their body heat was slowly, but surely filling the tent with a bit more heat, but it was still nonetheless cold in there.

He was stunned by the kiss. He sat there for a good minute or two without moving, blushing furiously and staring at her mouth. She just... she had kissed him. Granted, she was half-asleep when she did so, but that only showed a bit of what she was thinking. She kissed him.
Eventually, Allington snapped back to reality as she mentioned being cold. They needed heat. Since the fire was nonexistent, he made an alternative: curling up snugly against her, he draped the small travel blanket from the pack over both of them. He made sure to keep a monitor on her heart rate and breathing for as long as he was awake, though. He couldn't risk something terrible happening to her. He thought she was too sweet for that.

Passion looked so very happy in that moment, despite her physical condition. She turned around in her sleeping state to face Allington. Her head snuggled in under his and her chest pushed firmly against him. "Mmm..." Her body was intimately connected with his as she slept peacefully. She had indeed kissed him, but it didn't seem like she had registered the fact herself. He could then hear her mumble, "Allington..." in her sleep, along with feeling her muzzle nuzzle into him while taking in a whiff of his smell.

Passion was fairly warm after a few minutes of cuddling; their combined body heat was more than enough to keep them warm throughout the night that was rapidly approaching. For all that had transpired, one thing was for certain. Allington was definitely on Passion's mind. More than what he could have thought of earlier today.

It warmed Allington’s heart to see her in a recovering condition, but his heart was also beating faster than normal. He still couldn't believe what had happened, and now... they were snuggling together, face to face, almost. He felt his stomach turning in on itself in a benign way, and he couldn't help but have a wide smile on his face. She was thinking about him. And that made him so happy to know. She had been on his mind a lot more during the last day, but it was now that he got to feel just how soft her fur was, and how she smelled. He kissed her forehead as he lay curled against her. This was almost too good to be true, and perhaps it was. After all, she wasn't her normal self. Still, he would remember this night, even if she didn't, or if she freaked out the next day which was a possibility. For now, though, she was sound asleep, and sleeping ever so cutely, he noted. He stayed awake and gazed at her form, though the darkness prevented him from seeing much. It was quite possible that he was falling for her. Falling fast, too.

For as much as Allington enjoyed Passion's company, so did she enjoy his. Her facial expression was still happy, and taking in his smell only amplified it. Her silky coat was gently brushing against his as her body wiggled about a tiny bit every now and then. Her own smell was almost flowery in and of itself, though it was a strange one he could not quite put a hoof on. However, despite its foreign nature, it was still pleasant. Only morning would truly tell him how much she actually remembered, how much she truly desired of him, and if he was actually this much on her thoughts when not dreaming. All of them being questions only the morrow could answer, but for now, Passion slept peacefully for the rest of the night, never straying away from Allington's cuddling embrace.

Comments

[Krokorokok]

Good sir. Please, have all of my yes!

[NoLongerSober]

We should punch your editor in the kidney. ;O

[PassionQuill]

4774361 I bet he's the one who disliked my story!

[PassionQuill]

4774341 aawww, glad you enjoy my story

[NoLongerSober]

4774367 On second thought, let's just remove his kidney. ;)

[PassionQuill]

4774372 Yeah! and replace it with.... love~

[NoLongerSober]

4774381 Oh... sure, let's replace it with that. I was thinking a frag-grenade, but love works. ;O Also, I am compiling some of the errors i've noticed. Want me to post them here or mail them?

EDIT: Mailed them to you so that I don't clog up your comments.

[PassionQuill]

4774384 Do mail them

[Krokorokok]

AFRHADUGBCJKSCACBU J

WHO DISLIKED THIS?!

[dawn seeker]

absolutely WONDERFUL i love this story it is perfectly paced and very heartwarming

[NobleValor]

Probably overused, but it fits so well here:

[Professor Tacitus]

My God she is so ADORABLE!!!!!! She's just so cute it makes me want to cry when I think about how horribly she's been treated and how she's finally found someone like Allington

[LunarModule]

More?

[Mocha Star]

Well I'm giddy

[Amos Anon]

Man, I'm a sucker for romance.