Haven

by Xplounder

7 - Haven's Discovery

“Wow,” Said Shimmer, staring at the note, “This is now officially among the strangest things that have ever happened to me in a cave.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Haven said, stuffing the letter into his saddle bag. “What the hay are we supposed to do now? There’s no more book to read! No more of the letter!”

Haven and Shimmer covered every inch of the small cave, making sure there were no hidden buttons, levers, or anything else that could be a sign of something more. After nothing was found, they left the cave and were surprised to see sunlight.

“What?... We were in there all night?! It seemed like just a couple of hours!” Shimmer said in disbelief.

“There’s no way! Maybe night just goes by faster when you’re this high up,” Haven said with all sincerity.

“You’re kidding, right?” Shimmer asked, shocked that he, or anypony for that matter, could think something so absurd.

“Uh - Yeah,” Haven fake laughed, “just joking!”

The two ponies sat back and rested for a bit. Haven trying to fall asleep, and Shimmer examining the letter from the cave. A little time passed and Haven, unable to fall asleep, decided to join Shimmer and discuss the next plan of action.

"You find anything?" Haven asked, walking out of the cave, coming up behind Shimmer.

“Nothing,” She replied, “it’s got to be something simple - something that we’re putting too much thought into...” Shimmer stumbled off into thought.

“Wait, Shimmer...” Haven began to stutter, “Where’s the sun?”

Sure enough, He was right. Although the sky was as bright as a Summer afternoon, the sun was nowhere to be seen! In fact, they could even see the moon suspended in the abnormally bright skyline.

“What... What is this?” Shimmer said.

Shimmer flew up into the sky to check out this strange phenomenon. She flew above the mountain and stayed up there for what Haven perceived as a rather long time. About twenty minutes passed, and Haven began to worry. Just as he began to walk up the mountain to try and get a glimpse of Shimmer at another angle, the sky quickly turned from a bright spectacle to its previous state of darkness.

“Shimmer?!” Haven yelled out.

“I found something!” Shimmer yelled.

Haven turned around to see shimmer flying toward him with a piece of paper grasped in her mouth.

“Wha- what was the light?! How did you turn it off?!” Haven said, half shocked and still half scared from Shimmer’s sudden arrival.

“It was some light coming out of the mountain, but I’m not sure what was causing it. I didn’t do anything to turn it off; it did it itself.” Shimmer said, rushing her sentences in excitement. “But look at what I DID find!” Shimmer held out a piece of paper. “Next to the hole that the light was coming out of, there was another cave! I went in and, after some rough navigating, found this hanging on the wall.”

Haven took the paper and examined it. It was what appeared to be a flier, or menu, or some other paper printed by either a bar or restaurant. It was very faded, with almost nothing readable. The only thing that Haven could make out was the business name at the very top in big letters:

Big Mike’s.

Next chapter: Haven's Return to The City