//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: A Trek To The Mountains 
// Story: H.P. Hoofcraft: Shadow Of The Sun 
// by Inkwell_the_writer_horse 
//------------------------------//


We journey across the Equestrian landscape. The beautiful cities which the Royal Equestrian Railway ran through are truly a sight to behold. The train crawls  from Canterlot through Fillydelphia until we meet with the frozen wasteland surrounding the Crystal Empire. It takes no longer than for me to take a final sip of my coffee as the train barrels through the fierce blizzard in our path. We soon pulled to a stop, the train coming to screeching halt outside of the Crystal Empires central train station.


We are immediately greeted by our guide, a griffon, a surprise neither welcomed nor shunned, but a surprise nonetheless. The griffon was prepared for the treacherous mountains of the icy north. A scarf was tightly wrapped around the griffons head, obscuring all of its features, save for a peak of the creatures beak and its sharp, piercing eyes.  A thick, worn tarp of cotton hung from the griffons body, held on by saddle bags, strapped to either side of the griffon. 


The creatures voice boomed through its shroud as it exchanged pleasantries with my party, before finally coming to me.


"I am Gertrude, of the Griffon kingdom. I was asked to lead you into the mountains by your queen."


The beast held its talons out, expectantly. I politely took it, limply shaking as I mumbled to the creature. 


"Princess, actually. Princess Luna of the night. She had not informed me beforehand that our guide was not actually pony folk."


I noticed a look of confusion in the creatures eyes as I quickly slung my saddle bag on, clearing my throat as I attempted to change the subject into something less sensitive. 


"Shall we be off?"


The creature quickly shook its head, before stuttering in agreement. 


The trek to the mountains was not as long as I had predicted, but, in fact, longer. The superstitious ponies of Equestria past had avoided the mountains for centuries before the eve of technology, so much so that there was not even a simple foot path leading from the crystal empire to the mountains. My party and I relied on the intuition of a Griffon, an emissary from a foreign land who somehow had a better understanding of Equestrias landscape than us.

The road we travelled was indeed dangerous, with our path often obscured by a heavy blizzard and the very floor beneath often becoming the victim of numerous small avalanches. after hours of climbing vertically up the mountain, it becomes clear that the rest of my party was not only obscured by snow, they were gone completely. As I feel a cold embrace enthrall my body,it suddenly becomes harder to move, to breathe, to keep my eyes open.