Haven

by Xplounder

5 - Haven’s Confrontation, and Entering the Crystal Empire

Chapter 5 - Haven’s Confrontation, and Entering the Crystal Empire

As Haven and Shimmer looked into the distance, they had an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Although they still had far to go, they had made it through step one. Their sense of accomplishment, however, was very short lived.

“Not much farther,” Haven said.

“If I were mean, I would SO fly as fast as I could to those mountains,” she joked. “I would just laugh as your sad, tired unicorn body inched it’s way to--”

*POW*

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the forests.

“What the hay was that?!” Shimmer yelled.

*POW*

Shimmer heard a zing past her head, just before a second shot echoed through the night.

“Oh crap! They’re shooting at us!” She yelled.

Within moments, they started to notice several Pegasi coming out of their homes with rifles.

“They’re Earth Ponies! They came to sabotage our weather machines again!” They heard one yell to the other pegasi.

“No way they’re gonna do that again!” one of the ponies replied as he began to fire his weapon.

“We need to move!” Haven yelled to Shimmer.

“Right! You ran past, and I’ll distract them!” she yelled.

“That’s not what I meant,” Haven yelled as she flew away. “Ugh! She’s going to get herself killed!”

Just as he started to run past the flying bullets, he eyed a grey object speeding high in the sky.

*VOOM*

Suddenly, the sky began to burn into a bright, red ring of fire. The ring started at the grey object, and stretched almost out of vision, then it began to dissipate into the atmosphere. The light was blinding. Everpony in the field was brought to their knees in awe of the sight.

Haven realized this was his chance. He quickly ran past the group of homes and made his way across one of the hills, out of the sight of anypony there.

“Heck of a distraction, eh?” Haven heard a voice call from the right of him. He looked over to see Shimmer flying beside him.

“Hahaha!” he laughed. “Brilliant! That was absolutely amazing!” he yelled happily.

They began to slow down as they got out of site of the Pegasus ponies.

“So... What the hay was that?” Haven asked, slightly laughing.

“My special talent!” she said enthusiastically. “Discovered it when I was 9... Scared the crap out of my parents,” she joked. “I call it a ‘Sonic Flameboom’, but I guess a pretty lame pun.”

“Haha! I wish I could do stuff like that,” he replied, still amazed.

They walked for about an hour until they approached a stream, filled their canteens, and set up camp.

The next morning, they set off for the Crystal Empire, which was only a few hours away. The fields between the Crystal Empire and the woods were beautiful. Rich, green grass covered the hills, and an occasional large, green oak tree was littered about.

The Crystal Empire was a beautiful land. The Crystal Ponies were kind, non-judging ponies, offering refuge to the banished, as well as safe passage through their city at all times. Due to their kindness to everypony, however, they were hated by ponies who believed that other tribes should be treated lesser than everypony else.

Haven and Shimmer approached the gates of the Crystal Empire, and they heard a subtle voice call out. “Please state your reason for entrance!”

“We just need to pass through to the mountains,” Haven called out. After a few moments, the gates began to open. Neither Haven or Shimmer had ever been to the Crystal Empire, so they really didn't know what to expect. As the gates opened, the sun gleaming off of the crystal buildings, and the ponies themselves, was almost blinding.

“Whoa...” They both involuntarily murmured.

As the temporary blindness wore off, they saw dozens of Crystal Ponies walking in the streets, trading in the large marketplace. Scattered in the midst of the Crystal Ponies were also several typical Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns.

“I don’t have many bits, but we should probably get what food and supplies we can,” Haven said.

“Good point, we should probably get some rope since we’ll be climbing,” Shimmer replied.

The two walked down the crystal streets in search of a vendor that sold rope. Due to the rather large number of booths, they were able to find one pretty quickly. They approached the small booth and quickly realized that rope was expensive in the Crystal Empire... Very expensive...

“Give us the largest rope ya got!” Shimmer spouted out.

“Shimmer! We can’t afford-” Haven was cut off by the loud voice of the vendor.

“That’ll be 200 bits,” the vendor stated, plopping the rope down on the counter.

Shimmer grabbed her saddle bag with her teeth and poured its contents onto the counter. Inside the bag was several hundred bits. The vendor gave her her change and she put it back in her bag.

“Where did you get all that?” Haven asked, shocked.

Shimmer grabbed the rope and tossed it on a hook next to her saddle bag. “Well, when you can shoot giant rings of fire out of our flank, you get paid pretty well at firework shows,” she said in a humourous tone.

“You never stop surprising me, Shimmer.” Haven laughed.

Haven and Shimmer spent the rest of their morning gathering some food, tea, and some more matches and other hiking supplies. By the time they were finished, it was mid-afternoon, and the two ponies made their way to the northern exit of the Crystal Empire, toward the mountains. They approached the gate, and as it opened they could see the mountains in the distance, less than a day's journey away.

They walked through the gates and began heading straight north, highly anticipating their arrival to the mountain. There wasn't much between the Crystal Empire and the mountains. There was the occasional house or small farm, but other than that it was just straight fields with a few lightly wooded areas.

It soon began to dark, and Haven and Shimmer started to make camp underneath a patch of large oak trees. It was evident that many travelers had camped there previously. There was a campfire pit, and a few large stones next to it. Shimmer flew to one of the wooded areas to get wood, while Haven prepared the tea pots. Within half an hour, the two were sitting by the fire, drinking their tea.

“We’re almost there,” Haven said, taking a sip of his tea.

After they finished their tea, they both sat back and looked admired the mountains and the moonlight’s reflection off of them.

“I’m glad you’re here, Shimmer,” Haven said sincerely.

“I’m glad to be here,” she replied.

Next Chapter: Haven’s Climb

Author's Note:

Not the best of the chapters, but I'm pretty happy with where the story is going... Can't wait until it really starts progressing. :)