//------------------------------// // Mountain climbing // Story: The Secret Side Of Discord // by Lemon Pegasus //------------------------------// Discord had been flying for what felt like an hour, the cold was starting to get to him and he was feeling exhausted with the effort of having to fly for a long period of time. Not to mention the fact that he hardly knew where he was going, the ground was hidden under a huge white cloud of snow, if Discord had flown off course he probably wouldn't even realize it. He knew he'd have to return to the ground sooner or later. Some large shapes soon came into view, darkened for now, but quickly approaching. With some close observation, their shape became clear: mountains. Except, Discord was in level with them? Just how high up where they? A large patch of relatively flat rock was in sight, clutching Starswirl close to his chest, Discord swooped down to land there. He touched the cold, snow covered rock, and held out Starswirl so that he may stretch his hooves. Discord breathed heavily, flying for a full hour wasn't exactly easy. Starswirl looked... not exactly his best. His mane was a mess from the wind blowing in it for so long, he shivered a lot in the whistling cool air, and his usually smiled filled face looked more like a face of trauma! Discord drew an arrow in the snow, facing the opposite direction he came from, so that he would know what direction to travel in when him and Starswirl set off again. His finger felt numb after having it in the cold snow just minutes after he had to hold the weight of Starswirl against the icy winds in the sky. Starswirl's horn started to glow, "finally, some warmth" Discord though to himself. After a beam of orange and a short flame off the ground, the fire died. The stone mountain and the wet snow wasn't exactly ideal for sustained fire. The quick ember did provide a single second of warmth though, and it DID make a difference. The sudden warmth made Discord snap back into action. "We should find shelter before sun down, we also need wood for a fire and something to eat." Starswirl nodded, understanding the needs. Discord lifted up Starswirl and walked forwards, towards an unknown place, the mist covered anything more than 15 feet away. It was a tedious task, having to slowly trudge through thick snow, holding a foal in one arm, covering your eyes from the snow in the other. A slope soon came into view, not too steep, and not too icy by the looks of things. Walking down this slope, Discord felt the snow lose intensity, and after no more than 6 or so feet, he was out of the snow, and was being treated to a view that would make Celestia herself say "mother of me..." The snow above blocked out any sort of sky, so there was just a thick shade of white instead. A large distance ahead, clearly in sight now they had escaped the snow storm, was a vast, colossal mountain. It's face was almost perfectly shaped, as if drawn by the greatest of artists. To the left was a huge cliff face, an enormous frozen waterfall trickling down the vertical stone face, reaching down into the magnificent expanse of snow. To the right, a spiked, curved mountain stretched outwards into the unknown, a pony-carved pathway in the side. Directly in front of them... a sheer cliff face. SHIT! Discord fell back at the immediate sight of a massive drop right in front of them, landing softly yet suddenly in the snow. Starswirl remained still in Discord's arm. He looked down at Starswirl to see if he was moving, and a second later, the foal looked up at him and met his gaze. Discord smiled and patted him on the head. He sighed and got back to his feet, looking for a route along the mountainside path. "Actually, why don't I just fly? He though to himself. "Don't look down..." He told to Starswirl, keeping his head to his chest. The foal closed his eyes, and for good reason! As soon as Discord took off for flight, he had to try and concentrate on the path and nothing but the path, as the drop below his floating paws was so vast, it would make even Hulk scared! He wasn't flying very quickly, what with the combination of being already tired AND the fear. It wasn't so bad earlier because they were flying above the snow storm, so you couldn't actually see any ground beneath you. Now, it was very clear there was a certainly fatal drop just one slip up away. Luckily, Discord managed to reach the path and land safely. He still kept Starswirl in his arm, however, letting him run around on this dangerous path was almost as silly an idea as men into My Little Pony, can you imagine such a thing? Walking along the path wasn't exactly calming, it was only a few feet wide, and there were no safety fences or walls, just the occasional stick... very helpful. Discord, Starswirl in hand, calmly walked along the path, trying to keep his composure. The path curved around the mountainside, so the two of them would be able to see what the other side of the mountain range looked like. After the curve, there was a single, cuboid shaped cliff with a very steep face. Beside it, a massive expanse of flat land. They could see the sun now, well.. not for much longer, it was going to set within an hour or two! And still there was no food, shelter or wood! Suddenly, a small object came flying out of the mountain face: a falcon! It looked tiny since it was so far away, yet it was a magnificent site, nonetheless. The black shadow of the bird looked epic along the bright aura of the sun, Discord couldn't help but follow it with his eyes. It was flying with great speed, towards... some trees! Yay, wood! Focusing on not slipping on this -probably illegal- pathway, Discord made his way towards the forest. It wasn't that far away, so it didn't take that long to get there. Discord shivered slightly, he had forgotten about the cold. Of course, it wasn't as bad now they weren't in the snowstorm, but it was still bucking freezing! After another curve in the mountain, the path to the trees was now a straight line. Approaching them, Discord noticed, it was certainly not forest. There was, at most, 12 trees? They stood 20 foot in the air, their evergreen leaves covered by snow, staying completely motionless and silent. The falcon that was seen earlier sat upon a high up branch, Discord covered up Starswirl for his protection. Well, there were trees... but they didn't exactly have a hatchet. There was a sudden shuffle in Discord's arm, he looked down to see Starswirl trying to get down. Discord let him down, but he stayed close, keeping a watchful eye on the falcon as well. Starswirl stood in front of a large tree, he took a few steps back, as did Discord. His horn started glowing... glowing brighter... before a bolt of flames shot from his horn and made a clean slice through the thick trunk. The tree fell in the opposite direction, giving a great roar as it fell. The leaves shook for a few seconds, shaking off snow as soon as it hit the floor with great contact. Well, that happened. Discord remained having a watchful eye on the falcon, which suddenly took off and flew... through a wall. Maybe the high altitude was making him see things? Discord walked towards the -somehow fly-through-able wall, and noticed there was a hole in it where the bird flew through. He poked it and noticed, it was just made of snow! Starswirl stood by his side, and noticing Discord put his hand clean through this wall of snow, he sprinted through! Discord gave a "no" of distress, before charging through the snow himself, to find... a cave. It was relatively large, large enough for himself and Starswirl to sleep inside. Starswirl was admiring the cave walls (rocks are cool), and the falcon stayed perched upon a ledge. Well, shelter sorted. The falcon suddenly swooped out, Discord dodging out the way as it flew off into the sky. Discord lifted Starswirl out of the cave and walked over to the fallen over tree. "Can you cut a small log off, for firewood?" he asked Starswirl, putting him down. You didn't have to ask him twice, his horn charged and an ember arose, slicing clean through the log, leaving a conveniently sized log. Discord grabbed it in one arm, and broke off a branch with is other. After leading Starswirl back to the cave, he placed down the log and used his own spell to set fire to it, Starswirl had done plenty before now. The cave was illuminated by the warmth and blissful light of the fire, Starswirl seemed to be enjoying it, well, he was just about to fall asleep... Suddenly, the falcon returned! And landed by the entrance, and flew out immediately after. It took Discord a second to notice, it brought them a dead rabbit! ...Why would a falcon deliver food? Eh, free meal, whatever! It was a good thing Starswirl was drifting into a sleep, the sight of a bunny corpse would probably scar him. Discord took his branch and, with slight reluctance, pressed it down the throat of the bunny so it remained there. He then held the rabbit over the fire and allowed it to cook. It was slow, but a good opportunity to warm up in front of the fire. Starswirl didn't look back until the bunny was no longer a bunny, but just a tasty looking piece of meat. Once Discord was sure it had been cooked, he removed it from the flames and used his claw to slice it in two. After removing the bones, he handed some meat to Starswirl, he held it with his magic and hungrily ate the meal. Discord just now noticed, the falcon remained outside, by the entrance, looking away. "That bird gave us this food, we owe him..." Discord thought to himself. as he cut off some meat and through it to the entrance. The falcon approached the meat and pecked at it with hunger. After eating, it didn't long to fall asleep, Discord didn't even realize he had until he was already dozing off. Starswirl joined his side and slept beside him, the warmth of the fire rocking him to sleep (not literally).