The two of them landed near the base of the mountain, looking and feeling exhausted.

"What... in the world... was THAT?" the unicorn demanded between breaths.

"I have no idea!" he said. "But it was fantastic! I haven't done that in ages."

"Well, as much as it scared the living daylights out of me, do you think you could do that again to get us up this mountain?"

"Nope, it drained all of my magic for a while. Sorry about that."

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I would think you are trying to make this adventure as long as possible."

"But aren't you having fun?"

She didn't answer because she was still debating on how she actually felt about this journey, and looking at the huge climb they had to do didn't make her feel any better.

"It will be easy. Just take one step at a time, and we'll be up there in no time!"

Twilight took a step and then another. Discord climbed beside her and they went from rock to rock. She noticed that the air was getting drier and cooler. After some time, she stopped to take a rest and glimpsed down. It was amazing to see how high they had already come in this short time, even though they still had a long way to go. She clung tight to a rock, thinking about what would happen if she fell. It reminded her of being on Cloudsdale to see Rainbow Dash's performance, and wondering what would happen if her magic had failed. She remembered seeing Rarity fall and how scared she was. It wasn't until now that she realized she had a fear of heights.

The rock she was holding was warm. She turned to see that it was actually Discord's arm. Feeling embarrassed she immediately let go.

He smiled. "It's alright, Miss Sparkle. After all, you don't have wings."

She was about to mention to him that he had wings, but she decided not to say anything because there had to be a reason why he wasn't flying her up there. Maybe it was related to how he couldn't do magic after that rainbow ride.

They were feeling better and continued climbing. It was getting steeper, and Twilight hoped she wouldn't slip, and if she did, then Discord could probably catch her. So to make things better, she didn't look down anymore.

"How much further do we have to go?" she asked. "I'm getting very tired."

"See that ledge up there? That's the end."

She saw that it wasn't too far away and became excited. She summoned the strength to make the last few steps to reach the ledge.

At last their climb was completed. They pulled themselves onto the ledge and saw the scene around them. It was truly magical. The sun was setting down through the clouds which cloaked the vast and majestic mountain like a silky blanket. Snow covered the ground flat and pristine and sparkling, untouched by ponykind since the three tribes abandoned it centuries ago. The evergreen trees were tall and perfectly formed, dusted lightly with snow. As far as she could see, the mountain was being painted with the colors of the sunset and gleaming with snow. Of all the things she had seen so far on this journey, this was probably the most beautiful. It was sparkling so much, and soon it would be twilight.

While she was dazed by the beauty of the view, she momentarily forgot how cold and tired she was. The climate here was drastically different from the jungle way down below.

She took a step forward, creating a whole in the snow which made a light crunching sound. There was a gentle wind blowing through her mane that was cold but brought with it what sounded like magical music to her ears.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?" Discord remarked, breaking the silence. "It's been so long since I've seen beauty like this, since I've felt so free."

Twilight was hit with pity again, probably harder than ever before. She thought about his loneliness as she watched the sun disappeared out on the horizon. For a moment, she felt like crying, but she held back tears and tried to forget about him.

"Well, we should probably set up camp. It's like twenty percent cooler here than it was in the jungle."

"Um... it's a bit more than that. It's freezing!" she corrected him.

"Yes it is, even a little too cold for me."

"But we can't both fit in that tent."

"Exactly, which is why I brought my tent."

He snapped his fingers and made another tent appear. It looked a little bigger, but she still didn't see how they could both go inside.

"Well, who don't you take a look?" he suggested.

She peeked inside and gasped. "It's bigger on the inside!"

"Yeah, I know..." he grinned.