It wasn't long before the landscape began to change again. Upon leaving the town I headed west, and soon the land shifted away from the arid desert landscape I had been in and began to shift into a rocky landscape. This landscape also rose in the air as I went along, on a somewhat steep gradient. Hills! These were hills!
As I kept on climbing, the landscape with alpine fields and plant life sitting underneath local hills was wondrous to behold. It began to remind me of Oregon, a place I would probably never see again now. I stopped to take a few photos, and looked down into the valley below to see mist flowing through it and into the local area.
I was hit with a tinge of sadness as I saw it. This stunning place was a reminder of the home I had once had and would now probably never see again. It was simply another reminder of how out of place I was, a fish out of water, although so far the whole punching bag thing had gone a bit better than I had thought it would. I looked down, lost in my own thoughts (as often happens when one is on their own for long periods of time), before I shook my head and looked around. Now was not the time for wallowing in the past and what might have been! Now I had to push onwards and reclaim the future, and leave this place a better place than I had started in it.
Not that I'll be popping it anytime soon, of course. Prime specimen of earth pony health over here!
So I went onwards, continuing my ascent into the mountains surrounded by clouds and glacial landscapes. Ice began to slowly build up, and the grass was gradually replaced with snow. Towering mountain peaks so tall their peaks seemed to scrape the sky itself stood all around me. I was in awe of what I was seeing once more. All this sitting out of view of the audience. Did the world function like this beyond the screen or was it merely a reflection of my own desires and subconscious thoughts about the world itself?
That made no sense, of course, so I dismissed the thought and pushed onwards into the clouds. The path was showing no signs of levelling out, so I just kept on climbing my way into the sky. Not a problem! The view from the top was probably amazing, and so I simply kept on going as I reached something that seemed to be the top.
The cloud and fog also seemed to be lifting, and this relieved me. Often this denoted a plateau, or a levelling off at the very least. I soon passed a sign in front of me.
HURRICANE'S PASS
HIGHEST CROSSING OF THE WORLD'S EDGE MOUNTAINS
14,000 FEET
Wow. Talk about high. Makes some of the mountains back home seem like toddlers. Getting this high would be illegal in most places!
I came to a stop, and suddenly saw a figure through the mists, sitting on a rock. "Hello?" I called, as I stepped forward. It was definitely a pony I was seeing, but who precisely?
As I got closer, they turned to look at me. They were a turquoise pony wearing a purple cloak, presumably to help with the cold weather, and some frizzy hair seemed to be spilling out of it in shades of greens and blues attached to her scalp.
I then spotted her horn. It was a unicorn! I couldn't help but admit she somehow seemed familiar, though...
She then spoke, looking just as surprised as I was. "Sprout? What are you doing here?"
Of course! It was Misty, the battered unicorn who had managed to collectively melt the hearts of the brony community. But I thought she was introduced in Make your Mark! If we're in the movie and she's here, then how much else has changed in this world? I knew about this general guy, but if a canon, named character is wandering around too early then what is going on?
So I spoke, also a question. "Misty? What are you doing here?"
I know answering a question with a question is considered rude, but the words she had said gave me hope. Back when this journey had started, I had heard these words:
"Transporting lots of people between dimensions is a lot of work. But one more can be moved. It may just take a little bit more power!"
If one more could be moved, that suggested others had been moved before me. And if Misty knew who I was, what if she had been moved as well? It was entirely possible that I wasn't alone in this place, and this possibility along filled my heart with hope.
Misty spoke, dragging me out of my thoughts. "That's as good a guess as any."
She had sat on a rock, so I did the same, and shrugged my shoulders. "I came looking for Hitch."
"Well, he went another way," Misty replied. Something was clearly off. She was being really abrupt with me, which was odd to say the least.
As she sat there, I finally got a closer look at her, a closer look than you could have got when a TV screen was in the way of your perception. I hadn't noticed this before but she had freckles!
I smiled internally as I sat with her. I have no idea how Phyllis would have reacted to me interacting casually with a unicorn, but there I was, free of her attitudes and mindset, whilst sitting her with a pony I have to admit was actually pretty cute. But I didn't think I was falling for her. Finding somepony else attractive and loving them are two separate things.
But she still seemed down, so I chose to break the silence. "Hey, are you OK?" I asked. "You seem troubled."
Misty looked up at me, the first time her eyes had made contact with mine in a long time. "I am currently experiencing emotions and feelings I never thought I'd experience. And I'm here, on top of a mountain, on an alien planet, in the body of a fictional character, talking to another fictional character about how I feel. This is either the greatest comedy or darkest tragedy ever written."
Ouch. It's not fun living in a world where you're the butt of jokes. Trust me, I knew that feeling all too well. And this was the confirmation I needed that she was a former human! "I know how that feels."
"You do?" Misty asked, sounding audibly surprised.
"It's never easy trying to survive in an alien world in the body of a character intended to be a hate sync, and yet I've somehow managed to survive. If you need tips or help with surviving out here, I suggest going against what they expect of you and following your heart instead. That's exactly what I did." Well, that got a lot more meta than I thought it would. But that was exactly what I'd done, after all. I'd followed my instincts instead of simply resorting to the actions of the canon character, and things had turned out better than hoped. At least I wasn't leading an angry mob in knocking a lighthouse over!
Misty then spoke once more, and this attracted my full attention. "Thanks, Sprout."
"No problem, Misty. Now then, shall we get off this mountain?"
On our way through the mountain, I learned more about Misty's experience. Not to say mine was fun, but YIKES! Falling into a pool and being changed in what sounded like the most excruciatingly painful way possible was not fun. Not least given she hadn't been born a girl. Or mare. All I could say is that experience must have been pretty terrifying for somepony like that, not to mention ending up in the clutches of Opaline.
I did get some amusement from Misty suggesting Opaline's pool was never cleaned, though, as apparently it smelled awful!
The landscape began to change around us once again as we began to drop down through the mountains. The fog was back, for one, and it was easy to imagine that spirits were whirling all around us. But not windigoes. No chance of them being around given what happened in Ending of the End Part 2.
Misty seemed scared, though. "Something's not right," she said quietly.
I nodded. Truth be told I felt a little concerned as well, as things seemed to be out of balance. "I know, Misty. But the sooner we're off this rock the better. The bottom can't be that far away, right?"
I was wrong. The fog and mist made judging our position rather difficult, but I soon realised that we seemed to have hit level ground. We had reached the bottom! We-
My heart sank as the fog cleared. We had reached a small clearing area. And lots of strange spirits floated before us in the light.
"What is this? High fantasy cliché day?"