“I can't believe you talked me into this.” Goldleaf looked up the mountain in front of him. He couldn't see the top on account of its slope's curvature, but it was up there. Four thousand feet by his reckoning. Up there was where Silver Farpeak had set up their advance guard, as this mountain was some two dozen miles inland, and the tallest one they could see in any direction from the summit. So the pegasi said.

Goldleaf and Hemlock had hitched a ride with a supply cart to get here, traversing a mostly-dry stream-bed which emptied at their cove. Princess Luna, they figured, would be deep in the dreamworld tonight, as usual; so Hemlock had goaded him into just going off on their own without asking permission. And now, here they were, a night and a day's rest later. The sun was setting behind this great hill; twilight was upon them.

“It's time!” Hemlock said, looking back at him from a narrow trail worn into ground by countless creatures coming and going in days past.

“Lady of Light, save me...” grumbled the unicorn, hobbling forward. This was going to be quite an ordeal. The days had grown hot in Sarathûl, and the nights were quite warm too. Summer seemed a bit late in coming to this land, but come it had, that was for sure. And here he was, climbing a mountain in the middle of it. On three good legs. While carrying provisions in his saddle-bags.

“Believe me, Goldleaf, the view is amazing!” excitedly gushed Hemlock, flying in circles around him as he slowly made his way up the path. “I flew up there the other day, it is worth it to get up there.”

“Thank you, Hemlock, but I don't need constant motivation.” Goldleaf told her dryly. Save it for later, he thought, looking up the forested slope.

“Sorry,” she said, still fluttering around above. “I've just been looking forward to this, and I really want you to see it!”

“I appreciate your enthusiasm,” replied Goldleaf, trying not to roll his eyes. “but please try to calm down.”

“Alright, alright.” Hemlock landed, and fell in beside him. It didn't take long for her faster pace to get ahead of him though, and before he knew it, Hemlock was anywhere from five feet to fifty feet ahead of him. She often turned around and walked back to his location, before ascending the very same path again. This went on for a good hour, before he had to stop and rest.

“This isn't easy, you know.” he said, appreciating the cool night breeze that dispelled some of the heat for a few moments.

“I know.” his pegasus friend said, perched on a rock. “We have all the time in the world, there's no rush.” she said. That glance to the east spoke otherwise, though. She really wants to get up there before dawn, he noted. She had already dragged him this far, he might as well be with her when she accomplished her goal for the moaning.

“Let's get back at it.” Goldleaf said, after taking a swig of water. Hemlock bounded off. “I'm too old for this...” muttered he, though he didn't quite believe it.

And so the process repeated, as they climbed higher and higher. The stars wheeled about overhead, the moon climbed and began to sink, the creatures of the night lived their lives, some unhappy about their disturbance by two ponies. Hemlock was able to lithely surmount any obstacle in their path, while Goldleaf had to cautiously navigate, lest he fall and cripple himself even more. Thus was the advantage of such a fit physique as Hemlock had.

“We better be close.” sighed Goldleaf, looking around the forested slope.

“Not too much further!” Hemlock replied, flying up for a look, and then down to him again. “You can make it, right?” she asked, with a concerned look.

“Of course.” To prove his point, he resumed the climb, though his it was taking quite a toll on his physical well-being. Middle-aged, crippled unicorns were not meant to be on mountains, that much was for sure. But, Hemlock had wanted to go up here and bring him along, for whatever reason. And if it kept her out of trouble, then that was what he was going to do. And he wasn't about to be made to look any weaker than he already was.

The first light of the sun was in the east when Goldleaf emerged onto the bald, rocky summit of the nameless mountain. Over yonder, there was a tent, and a little tower the pegasi had made; no more than a platform on stilts. Some of the Highcrest soldiers gave him strange looks, they weren't use to seeing unicorns around. Many probably didn't welcome his presence. Goldleaf just laid down, thankful he had made it alive and without any incidents.

“You did it!” said Hemlock happily, prancing around him like an excited filly. “And just in time!”

“I told you I could.” Goldleaf said, smiling back despite his weariness. “Just let me catch my breath here.”

“Fair enough, you made it up on practically three legs...” the pegasus looked impressed by that. She sat down, and pulled out her breakfast from her packs. It was only a few biscuits and a carrot, but it seemed enough for her. Goldleaf had the same in his packs, but he wasn't feeling hungry, so much as tired. “Did you do a lot of climbing before..?” she nodded to his bad leg.

“No.” he said. “Why?”

“They called you Goldleaf the Lame in Canterlot and Lithton. That seems to imply you're crippled.” Hemlock said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I am.”

“But you made it up here without trouble. So you can't be that badly hurt.”

“Without trouble?” he repeated, almost incredulous. Goldleaf sat up. “Your opinion of me is far too high. That was a poor performance on my part.”

“Nah.” disagreed Hemlock. “You did fine.”

“You know, there was a time when I would have done better than fine.” He glanced at his bad leg. “This,” he waved it at her. “wasn't always useless.” Hemlock had a fine sense for story time; she looked at him expectantly. “I used to be quite athletic, not as much as you, but I could hold my own in fights, and sporting, and so forth.”

“Were you on any teams?” she asked.

“No, nothing formal.” Goldleaf shook his head, but he smiled. “But we did have our own informal sports, I took part in those. Those were the days... I was on the top of my game, so to speak. Third in my class at the University of Unicornia, ranked by magical talent. Among several hundred, this was quite good. I was full of myself!”

“You still kind of are.” noted Hemlock humorously.

“So I did what any young stallion would do when he thought he was about to master the world. I went on little adventures in the city, I wooed local maids, I even got up to some rather criminal acts. Though in my defense, I was choosing to pay for tuition instead of food, and I wasn't intent on starving.” Goldleaf laughed. That had been quite a winter.

“I really don't see you wooing anypony.” The pegasus looked rather amused at that.

“Believe it or not, I had my ways... twenty years back. Good heavens, I can't believe it was that long ago...” It was times like this when he felt old.

“I wasn't even born yet.” Well, now he felt really old. “My sister might have been... Though we were only a year and a half apart.”

“Well, it was good times for Goldleaf. But all good things come to an end, Hemlock.” he said pointedly. “I hit my peak, one late night in a more rough part of Lithton. I had a bit of wine in my blood, but nothing too serious, or so I thought. I was just going to head back to my one-room home, sleep, and then regret the night in the morning. Just another post-exam celebration, right?” Hemlock blinked, having never taken an exam in her life. “It wasn't to be so. I saw these two earth ponies accosting some mare. She was old enough to be my mother; she could have actually been my mother, from what little I remember about her. But ruffians, causing trouble for innocents, in my Lithton? Especially a serf race like earth ponies? Nay, I said!”

“I think I know where this is going.” commented Hemlock, no longer smiling.

“Turns out, there weren't two of them. There were four. And even as the third strongest magic user in my class, I wasn't able to take on all of them. Not so inebriated as I was, at least. I don't recall exactly what they did, but... It certainly left an impression, I'll say that. It's really nothing more than a drunk, overconfident student who got what was coming to him. With lasting consequences.” Goldleaf lifted his bad leg. “They broke the bones in several places, and the whoever found me in the morning either didn't bother with a splint or did it completely wrong, because the doctors weren't able to fix it right.”

“That's terrible.” Hemlock's ears drooped a bit.

“It taught me a very good lesson on caution.” Goldleaf corrected her. “And a healthy respect for earth ponies. I might be a powerful unicorn, by modern standards, but what good is raw strength against numbers and tactics? Perhaps I took that lesson on caution to heart too well. Perhaps I became too worrisome, too nervous, too hesitant to act without thinking something through fully. I certainly got a reputation for cowardice after that. And maybe I am. I did lose some of my spirit after that... Slipped in my studies and dropped to fourth in the class, stopped getting in fights and duels, even stopped bothering mares. I became a very different pony.” Goldleaf paused, reflecting on what to say next. It was a good a place as any to end. “And that's who I've been, ever since. It's helped me survive, and I am very fond of surviving.”

“I am too.” agreed Hemlock, looking east again. “Do you tell that story often?” she asked.

“No, not often. I told it to my sister years ago, and... Yeah. Only you and my sister know exactly what all happened, and why.” he said.

“Well, thanks for trusting me.” Hemlock gave him a bright smile. “But look!” she pointed at the horizon.

Sure enough, the sun was beginning its rise. The line of grey sea beyond the lower hills lit up gold, and so did the sky, its clouds turning pink and red. Hemlock and he turned around to look west, deeper into Sarathûl. There were more low hills out there, but far fewer than the ones nearer to the sea. Their own mountain cast a long shadow over the valley and sparsely-wooded grassland beyond. Other parts were stained that beautiful gold color too, though, and a few streams out there sparkled as the light hit them.

“It really is something.” said Goldleaf, using his horn's magic to take out the spyglass from his pack.

“It really is.” sighed Hemlock, sounding very content. “I used to do this at home, but we're even higher up than Greatfall is...”

Goldleaf took a long look at the realms of men, seeing what he could see. And he saw... a glint? What was that? he wondered, trying to find it again. He recalled that Lady Silver had mentioned a road out there. There! Another glint! “Take a look at this.” He levitated the spyglass to her, and pointed it where he had seen the tiny flash.

“What is that?” she asked. “Wait, hold on, aim it a little left.” Goldleaf did so. Hemlock was silent for a moment, before pulling her face away from the spyglass, looking gravely concerned. The unicorn looked through, and saw what she had seen. A little line of glints, heading north. A line that got longer, and longer, and longer as it moved.

“A column.” he said. “It looks like one of our human friends is going to war.”

“Yeah.” agreed Hemlock. “Against us.”

“Good thing they don't know we're here...”

Up in the little tower, an armored unicorn was also looking through a spyglass. But she was looking at something completely different. Goldleaf aimed his own spyglass that direction. This was much more worrisome than the column out on the road. “Uh, Hemlock...”

“What is it-” she began to ask, as she looked through it. “...Fuck.” she simply swore.

There was a second column. It was roughly five miles away. And it was heading right around their mountain, approaching the way to the cove.

“You!” Goldleaf yelled to a nearby pegasus. “Tell the Princess we're going to have company!”

“Well, here goes our cover.” Hemlock said nervously.

“It was bound to fail eventually.” The unicorn exhaled deeply. “I just hope we can get out in a quick and orderly fashion, just like we drilled.”

But Goldleaf had a very bad feeling that things were about to fall apart in a most spectacular manner.

Author's Notes:

You know what's about to happen. And now for a real note:

Like many [natural] places in this story, this little nameless mountain is based on a real location... I'm bad at taking photos, and you can't see shit because it of the valley fog we get in the winter. Though the view Hemlock and Goldleaf had would not be obstructed by a certain volcanic range on the horizon...