There were many paths that led up Foal Mountain, and many more underground or over the mountain’s shoulders. But many of these paths were cut short because of the many walls of rock, or led downhill and away from the mountain itself, or they were dead-ends which lead nowhere at all.
There was only one true road, however, which was a snaked path, leading up a steep slope of jagged rock. Long days had passed since the ponies set out east of Equestria; and yet, they still traveled up and up the mountain. It was a hard path and a dangerous path, a crooked way and a lonely and a long. Now they could look back over the lands they had left, laid out behind them far below. And while down below the sky was blue and the air warm, up the mountain the sky remained grey and faint, and there was an invisible blizzard present.
By now the ponies were camped over a high mountain cleft, as many clouds were spread thinly over the lateral walls, and boulders at times came galloping down the mountain-sides every few hours.
“So how much longer until we reach the top?” said Rainbow Dash.
“We will have to see,” said Twilight as she hovered a map on display for her friends. “Foal Mountain is roughly five-thousand meters tall, yet… well, it feels as if we’ve been traveling for days.”
“Um, we have,” said Applejack matter-of-factly. “Anyway, Ah jus’ hope this here stone we’re lookin’ for ain’t too far away.”
Twilight creased her brow and set the map down. She clicked her tongue and looked about in thought. “Still,” she said, “we’ve been climbing for three days now. Any normal pony would have reached the top by now.”
“Maybe if you just let me fly to the top,” said Rainbow Dash hotly, “we would have recovered the stone by now!”
“Rainbow Dash!” said Rarity sternly. “We must stick together as friends. We mustn't spread thinly throughout this dreadful mountain.”
Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and huffed. "Yeah, whatever."
“Maybe we’re going the wrong way?” suggested Fluttershy.
The ponies remained silent—each of them deep in thought.
“Oh, um… forget I said anything.” Fluttershy lowered to the ground, frowning.
“Could it really come to that?” said Twilight grimly. “I don’t want to think that we have been heading the wrong way; however, I am sure we’re on Foal Mountain, and this time-consuming climb must have a logical side to it.” She looked up to the rising cleft: its snowy walls forming a rocky path up the hillside. But they've been climbing for days with few and limited breaks, and still there was no sign of progression. Looking down the side-cliffs Twilight would gaze upon a blurred layout of Equestria, covered in a blue haze; but looking up the mountain peak was shrouded in moving clouds and heavy fog. “Girls!” Twilight called out. “Get packing. We start hiking again upwards.”
“But we jus’ started our break ten minutes ago,” said Applejack unpleasantly.
“Like, really, Twilight?” said Rainbow Dash. “If we can’t even reach the top, then we might as well go back and try a different route.”
“I, for one, think we should keep going,” said Rarity.
Rainbow Dash groaned. “Seriously? Don’t any of you think this hike is becoming pointless?”
For a passing minute each and everyone of them remained silent; and the only sound was the blowing wind, sliding past the rocky walls. Twilight outwardly lowered her eyebrows. She thought, but couldn’t come to a positive conclusion. Maybe Rainbow Dash was right. They were trapped upon the mountain—and it seemed nigh to impossible to climb back down—yet going up only worsened their desired goal.
“What kind of spirits do we have?” said Rarity at least, placing a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. She looked to her friends, her brow creased. “Twilight here has managed to get us through every single problem we were forced to tackle. Every single one. Just because we have become slow in this journey does not excuse the fact that we will make it. I believe in all of you—in all of us, together—but if we are ready to give up this easily, then we shall never save Equestria. Is that what you girls want?”
“I agree,” said Fluttershy joyfully. “Maybe this hike is difficult, but if there’s anything I’ve learned over the past years with my friends, it’s that you can never let yourself be defeated by your goal.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes, but then she too smiled. “Yeah, I guess Rarity’s right. We all have to have hope. Twilight managed to get us through every obstacle, so why not this one?”
“That was a sudden change of attitude,” said Applejack.
Rainbow Dash shrugged and said to Twilight: “Listen, Twi, sorry about that. I should have believed in you from beginning to end.”
“It’s okay,” said Twilight weakly. “I suppose a longer break wouldn’t hurt. Anyway, working together, we’ll save Equestria—after reaching the top.”
“Well, when we reach there, anyway,” said Pinkie Pie, pointing a hoof up the cleft. All the ponies’ eyes shot in similar direction; and as the grey clouds cleared, a white point stood crooked in the very distance.
“Wow, that’s convenient,” said Rainbow Dash. “And… really fast!”
“That’s it, girls!” yelled Twilight. She threw all of her supplies in her saddlebag and ran to the summit. They all hastily followed. “If we can just reach the top, I’m sure we’ll be able to find the third stone.”
“But Twilight,” said Applejack, steadying her pace to stay at her friend’s side, “what makes yah so sure that the stone is high up there?”
“It’s where it would most likely be, Applejack,” said Twilight. “We’ll just presume that by getting there, it will help out with our main goal.”
The six ponies all climbed the steep hill, the snow becoming thicker the more they went up. They reached a narrow road, arching its way up the summit. To their left was a rising wall of the mountain, and a frozen avalanche of snow and boulders were borne on top. To their right was, to Twilight, the highest drop she had ever witnessed. They literally could not see a single thing save for the blue sky. It made her wonder if they were in space. Even Rainbow Dash decided not to fly and instead gaited by along with her friends. The more they climbed the harsher the winds became. Soon it was a battle against the blizzard.
Twilight deduced that Corvo would recover his stone and return to Canterlot first. As much as she hated to admit it, he was being a whole lot more productive than they were; and he proved to be quicker and smarter, too. The mission was simple: recover the rune stone on the mountain-top, and somehow manage to get down—the latter was going to be the harder job, however.
Many hours had flown by since they initially spotted the top, but the hillside road only climbed up; and terrifyingly, it got narrower. The ponies decided to rest for the time being. But since the road was so narrow and dangerously steep, they all lay in a single-filed line.
"Gaaaaaah!" cried Rainbow Dash. "When are we ever going to get there? We've been going up for, what, seven hours now?"
"Eight, actually," corrected Pinkie Pie.
"Exactly!" said Rainbow Dash. "We really need to think outside the box: find a better way to go up other than following this obvious road."
"Rainbow, that's... really clever of you, actually," said Rarity. "Twilight, while you are my best friend and I trust your every decision, maybe we really should find a different route up Foal Mountain."
"Rarity's right!" said Pinkie, unnecessarily loud. "Hey, Twilight, why not just teleport us up to the top?"
"That seems like a workin' idea," said Applejack, nodding in agreement. Fluttershy, too, quietly nodded.
Twilight stretched her neck outside the road's base, scanning her vision up and down the mountain wall. "It is getting colder," she whispered, her tone monotonous and bleak. "If we keep this up, well, it will likely get too cold before we make it to the top to even keep going." She then looked back to her friends, and a grey shadow grew over her face. "I can't teleport. Not only do I need full concentration—which is very hard to have when a blizzard keeps interrupting your thoughts—I also need a full visual display in my head of where I want to go. I hardly know what the summit's top looks like, so it would never work."
All of her friends moaned in frustration. Each of them had seemingly given up hope. If only there were a way—something which could get them to the lost stone. Every happening that was relatively strange they now blamed on the ominous occurrences. That was probably why this mountain had supposedly gone up to over fifteen-thousand meters by now. But right when they decided to let loose and rest, Pinkie noticed something in the corner of her eye. She lifted her head from resting against the wall, squinting her eyes past the rapidly moving snow. In the very distance, where the whips of snow seemed the quickest, the blizzard was moving in a different direction. While all the snow came in the opposite direction of where the ponies came from, the mysterious sighting had snow moving into the wall.
"Hey, girls, look!" she cried, pointing a hoof down the rising path. All of her friends looked in similar direction. "Something's going on there. Maybe it could help us with finding this crazy stone after all!"
"It looks to be something alright," said Twilight. "Come on, girls." They all walked up to where the snow was seemingly rushing into the wall. As they got closer, it appeared to be something... fortunate. A large and crooked hole was formed in the mountain-side, and all of the blizzard's racing snow was being poured inside.
"Wow, how does Pinkie keep finding these conveniences?" said Rainbow Dash.
"Great work, Pinkie Pie," said Twilight. Her hope had just risen a little higher. "This cave seems to go in pretty deep, so maybe it can help us reach the top. I will scout forth for a bit, just to be safe."
"No can do, sugarcube," said Applejack. "Let me go forth. Y'all gonna need her if this here cave appears to be too dangerous."
"If you're going, then I'm coming with you," said Rainbow Dash, flying over to the cave's entrance. "I won't leave one of my best friends behind."
"Rainbow, please. Ah'm mighty grateful 'n' all that you'd do this for me, but Ah think Ah can handle myself."
"No way! I'm coming with you."
"No you ain't."
"Yes I am."
"No you ain't."
"Yes I am."
Rainbow Dash and Applejack touched muzzles, both of their brows creased.
"Listen, Applejack," said Rainbow Dash, "you're gonna need me if you're planning going in alone."
"Oh please, Rainbow!" Applejack argued. "Ah'm going alone 'n' that's final!"
"Maybe it would be better if we all went?" said Pinkie.
"Why would we do that?" said Rainbow Dash, raising an eyebrow.
"Girls!" cried Fluttershy, pointing upward in terror.
"Because my tail is twitching! And that means something is gonna fall!" said Pinkie.
All of the ponies looked up to see a wave of snow and boulders encompassing their view. The shadow upon them became darker and darker as the air became seemingly colder.
"Everypony, inside the cave! Quick!" cried Twilight.
They all jumped into the dark cavern, running down the rocky corridor as fast as their legs would let them. Seconds later and a wave of rock and ice and snow showered past and into the entrance. All faint light immediately vanished as the avalanche poured itself inside the cave, forming a small dike.
After many long minutes of blindly running in the dark, the ponies came to a halt. The only noises were their gasps for breath and horrified groans. On instinct, Twilight lit her horn, illuminating the area round them. The black shadows behind jagged pillars stretched backwards as they descried their environment. The ponies were in what looked to be a claustrophobic conclave of rock. They were now deep inside the mountain with no sense of direction. Their journey had worsened.
"That was not convenient," huffed Rarity in annoyance. "And now we are all goners from the looks of it."
"Weren't you the one who said we should never give up?" said Applejack.
"I said that for inspiration!" argued Rarity. She brushed a hoof over her chest. "It's a talent of mine."
"What now, Twi?" said Rainbow Dash.
Twilight looked about, noticing many breaks in the walls, all of which only darkness lay beyond. Wherever they were, going back was now impossible, so the only option left would be to head forward—or wherever forward was, that is.
"I think we should go—" said Twilight. The many narrow hallways stuck out to her like black paint over a white piece of paper; and the more she thought about it, the less she wanted to move at all. "Well... I suppose we'll just have to guess, seeing as how it's impossible to know which way leads to the top."
"Ooh, ohh! Can I pick?" said Pinkie. "I'll have to trust my Pinkie Sense, and my Pinkie Sense is never wrong!"
The first thing Twilight wanted to do was call Pinkie Pie's idea silly and unreliable; but she quickly remembered how many times Pinkie's Pinkie Sense actually was always correct. So Twilight exhaled and wearily spoke. "Fine. You can lead the way, Pinkie, as long as you know what you're doing."
"Don't worry. You can count on me!" said Pinkie. She rested her ear on the floor, listening intently. There was a long silence, longer than the ponies would have liked. Too long, actually. Minutes went by, and minutes turned to hours. By now all the ponies rested round the cave. Applejack and Rainbow Dash played tic-tac-toe while Rarity and Twilight tried to form a plan to escape; and Fluttershy just kept listening to the drippings of the unseen waters.
While Pinkie held her ear to the ground, something shook in her stomach. She quickly rose up, looking from side to side, concentrating her expression on the dark hallways. All of the ponies' heads sprang up, their eyes wide, listening for a response.
"Oh, I get it!" said Pinkie.
"Yes!" they all said simultaneously, leaning in closer.
Pinkie Pie laughed. "Sorry, girls! It's just that I'm a bit hungry, that's all." She giggled, then resumed to listening over the rocks.
"Seriously!" they all yelled in unison.
"You know what? That's it!" said Twilight. Sweat dripped down her brow from the long wait in the heated cave. "Pinkie, we have been sitting here for two hours—"
"Three, actually," said Applejack.
"Whatever!" said Twilight. "Listen, Pinkie, I'm sorry to say this but you're not helping. We will just pick a path at random and go in that direction, and hope for the better."
"Wait, I got it!" cried Pinkie, practically ignoring her friend's words.
"Oh boy," said Rainbow Dash. "I should of just flown to the top. It would have been much easier than listening to Pinkie Pie's crazy assumptions."
"But, girls, you don't understand!" said Pinkie. "All these hours of waiting has payed off! The way to the top of the mountain is this way!" She tapped her hoof on an arched wall of stone, dark and solid from its many years of standing.
"Pinkie!" said Applejack, sick from the depressing wait. "There ain't nothin' there but a solid wall."
"Oh, really?" she said, lowering one of her eyebrows and raising the other. Immediately she bucked the high wall with one of her hind-legs. On contact it began to crack and break. A second later and the entirety of the wall came crumbling down, sliding small boulders over the ground. All of the ponies' jaws hung open. They supposed to always trust Pinkie from now on, no matter how ridiculous her ideas may seem.
Light filled the room as the opening in the wall brought forth a gush of wind and snow. As the fog cleared, at the very top was the summit peak: its point crooked and leaning to the side. And resting just under that peak was a round stone bearing strange markings.
"Pinkie, you're a genius!" said Twilight, her eyes round as she and her friends hastily ran up the snowy path.
Pinkie smirked and said: "Yeah, I sure get that a lot."
* * *
"Alright, girls, we got the stone," said Twilight. While she hadn't noticed until now, she let out a long-held breath of relief and triumph. "Now all we have to do is get down, which... well, it won't be easy."
"Ah reckon the fastest way down is from where we came from," said Applejack.
Twilight racked her mind over what she had learned of Foal Mountain. It was apparently twenty-thousand meters tall, four times the estimated height—but that was most likely due to the unexplainable events, which they hoped to uncover sooner or later. She couldn't afford to underrate the mountain's effects again. She looked past the arched point of the mountain, gazing upon the vast field of blue. They would have to doled their resources; for they were to run out in a day, and the journey upwards took nearly four days in total.
"We'll have to climb down from here," said Twilight.
Half of her friends gasped, and the others adjusted their postures uneasily. Twilight wandered to the edge of the peak, looking downward, then looked to the side where many steep dikes of stone slid down into a sea of fog.
"I'll try to teleport us back to the cleft," said Twilight. "It's the only way to actually start our journey downwards. From here, maybe Rainbow Dash could get down, but the rest of us are sitting ducks."
"Twilight, are you sure this is safe?" said Rarity. "We trust you with your magic, but this can lead to a disaster!"
"C'mon, Rarity," said Applejack. "Ah'm sure Twilight is good enough to get us all back to Canterlot. With her alicorn powers, how couldn't she?"
"I suppose you're right," said Rarity warily.
"Shh," Twilight hushed. "I need to focus. This will take a few seconds."
They all remained quiet and still as Twilight lit her horn. A purple aurora swallowed them, and round them bright sparks of magic shot from the cold ground. Twilight's horn burned brighter, using all the magic that she could to carry six ponies over a great distance. She closed her eyes, arraying her thoughts; and when she re-opened then, they instantly vanished in a flash of magic.
* * *
The noise of rushing wind combined with a blast of sparkling magic shot over the deep snow. The ponies all appeared two meters from the ground, screamed, and all fell and rolled down the cleft.
"Ow! Oof!" they all grunted as they slowed down their pace. Eventually they managed to get up and quickly re-group.
"Well, that went splendidly," said Rarity, breathing heavily. "A little sloppy on the execution, but we are now where we last camped."
Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that," she said. "It was just hard to focus on this place. Anyway, we should all just head down the path where we came from—and a few thousand more meters down we should find the initial road we took."
"Great!" said Rainbow Dash, stretching her legs while hovering in the air. "I just hope it ain't too hard to get down the other paths. Just climbing up here was a pain in the flank."
"Um... g-g-girls," Fluttershy muttered, her voice shaking as she backed up. They all looked up to where the lateral walls nearly met. An enormous mass of snow was slowly sliding off the sides of the cliffs, causing a lasting groan of the blizzard.
Twilight's pupils shrunk. Before she could light her horn she said: "Maybe we should—"
"Run!" Pinkie yelled.
The mass came crashing down the cleft, resulting in a wave of snow to chase after them. The ponies all screamed and ran as fast as they dared, but it was not fast enough. The avalanche engulfed them, dragging the ponies past the previous hills they've climbed. From afar, it looked like Foal Mountain was leaking. A massive snow-slide poured down the jagged walls, destroying any boulder which stuck in the way. The wave of snow repeatedly built up whenever it looked to be ceasing—and at last, the avalanche reached the low ground, spreading the snow and ice about the grassy fields. It was like a rippling floor of cold, constantly growing over the many trees and rivers.
After many minutes the snow-slide ceased its spreading, and Twilight managed to poke her head out of the snow. She groaned in pain, rubbing her temple while scanning about the cold field. A hoof stuck out from a distance, and then a head. Her other friends eventually emerged from being buried under the snow.
"Everypony okay!" Twilight yelled. She got multiple frustrated moans in return. They all climbed out, and found themselves amid a solid sea of ice and snow.
"Let's... never... do... that... again!" said Twilight. Her friends all nodded and hummed in approval.
"What now?" said Fluttershy.
Twilight held a hoof to her chin. "Well..." She looked about, then looked to her torso. Her saddlebag was gone! "Oh no!" she cried. "Where is it? My saddlebag! I had the stone in there!"
They all gasped, then frantically searched round them, digging snow and looking over the cold hills. They each ran left and right, hastily shifting their heads, scanning everywhere.
"Found it!" cried Pinkie. Twilight immediately ran to her pink friend.
"Oh, thank goodness! You have it, Pinkie," said Twilight. Then she thought back on their final hours of climbing Foal Mountain. "Wow, I feel as if you've been doing most of the work until this point."
"Oh, Twilight," said Pinkie, hopping back to gather up, "you know it's all my Pinkie Sense. I didn't do anything!"
Twilight laughed. "Of course it is, Pinkie," she said sarcastically.
All of her friends laughed, wearily walking down the snow field and back to Canterlot.