The story of a young stallion in seach of limitless power.
Haven, a young unicorn stallion without a cutie mark, hears a story of a stone that grants limitless power to anypony who possesses it. This is the story of Haven's adventure, the friends he meets, and his impact on the founding of Equestria.
Things you should know: (Subject to change/updates as story progresses)
Setting:
The whole of the setting is simply known as The Land. The Land is formed by many small governments maintained by the various breeds of pony.
This story takes place before Celestia, Luna, and even Alicorns exist at all.
There is a very large city in the middle of The Land known informally as "The City". The City is a trading ground used and contractually shared by all pony kind. It's main use is trading, however there are many other things there. Such as theatres, restaurants, bars, etc...
Discord resides in a castle located directly outside the northern end of The City. He also has four military bases in the North, East, South, and West.
The location of the Pony's main territories are as follows: -Earth: The Earth Ponies tend to stay isolated in the South due to good farming, however, they also have various cities and farming lands located in the East. -Pegasi: All of the larger cities are located in the clouds, but they have several cities that are also located in the North of The Land. -Unicorns: Unicorns stay in the West-North/West. -Crystal Ponies: Far north.
Character profiles:
Haven Sapphire: Haven is the main protagonist of the story. He is a brown-haired Unicorn stallion without a cutie mark. Haven is a rather quiet fellow who would rather do than say. He feels as though he's a bit of a failure and must now prove himself to everypony around him.
Shimmering Raindrop (AKA Shimmer)
Shimmer is a grey Pegasus pony with a flaming lightning bolt as a cutie mark who was banished from her village in the clouds. She is mildly tom-boyish, and has a great passion for adventure.
Haven’s life had been full of drama. He was left on the doorstep of a dress mender/designer when he was very young.
Haven had always had a very active imagination, often role-playing adventures with the few friends he had. He grew up making rather poor grades in most school subjects, however excelling in history, and he often had trouble making new friends. By the time he was 8, he was the only colt in the class not to have a cutie mark. And by the time he was 12, he was surpassed by all of the fillies as well.
He was now 17, still without a cutie mark, spending most of his days helping his mother gather materials for her dresses.
Summer was coming; the time of year that every unicorn in the business would head off to The City to sell all of the clothing and accesories that had been produced for the past months. This was Haven’s favorite time year. He would often visit The City’s large libraries for hours and read of other pony's adventures and journeys; but for now, he was stuck loading up the wagons, getting ready for the four day trip that awaited him and his mother.
“We've got to go, Haven. It's going to be crowded, and we need to get a good spot before they're gone,” his mother said.
Haven jumped in the back as his mother started packing some food. He propped his hooves up on the wooden crates of clothing and laid a pillow at his head. His mom, highly skilled at magic, lit up her horn, and off the wagon went!
After a day or two went by, Haven was growing very tired of the continuous, boring ride that was the trip to The City.
“Can’t we just stop for a minute? My flank’s falling asleep,” Haven nagged.
“We need the money, Haven. We can’t afford to get a bad spot. We went over this.”
Haven sighed.
After a few moments of silence, she started talking again. “You know, back when I was young, we had this pretty cool story that went around.”
“What was it?” Haven replied, sounding interested.
“Well, as the story goes, there’s a stone that exists that grants near limitless powers to whoever touches it. However, of course, there’s a catch: only one pony can possess the power at one time. As the story went, Joseph Everfree was a pony who once touched the stone, however, Joseph had a heart full of bad intentions, and his power radiated destruction wherever he went. Eventually, Joseph realised the destruction he had caused, but by then, it was already too late. To avoid any further destruction, he fled to the forest and died there, leaving the darkness of his spirit to roam through the woods.”
Haven sat with his imagination running wild. “Where did he find it?”
“Well, it’s just an old pony’s tale, but it was said that he found it in the mountains up north.”
The story seemed to distract Haven for the remainder of the trip and, before he knew it, they were approaching the walls of The City. Haven’s mother slowly approached the gatekeeper, and showed him her Trader’s Card. He made a hoof sign the stallion manning the gate's opening/closing mechanism, and the gate slowly started to rise.
It was the same every year. There was a large, square park in the middle of the city, and lined up all around the park was cart after cart of merchandise being rapidly sold. Poor farmers were hitting it big with the new year’s crops, and famous designers were flaunting their newest designs down the wagon-torn streets. The wagons were parked block after block with no end in sight. The only area of The City with little to no activity was the north side, as Discord's castle had occupied that area for many years.
The castle was in clear view of anypony in the city. The most eerie thing about it, though, was the fact that it wasn’t doing anything. Nobody walking past the windows, and nobody walking through the gates. Just a couple of stationary guards. Everypony who gazed upon the seemingly lifeless castle had the same feeling: emptiness. It was as though the castle was a twisted picture of themselves; so many things that seemed as though they should be going on, yet nothing was happening.
They searched for a good spot and eventually settled on one. They slowly pulled the wagon into an empty space between two families of beet and artichoke farmers. The two families were made up of rather rugged, southern Earth Ponies.
Haven hopped out of the wagon and started unloading their products while his mother set up a sign.
“Ma! Look a that! That stallion ain’t got no cutie mark!” Cried out one of the young farmers who was unpacking to the right of Haven and his mother.
“Well I’ll be! Son, yer right! Sweetie, look at that stallion! He don’t got a cutie mark!” Replied the boy’s father.
“Well, now! I can’t believe your behavior! I don’t know what they teach you in the south, but in my village, and most certainly in The City, that kind of behavior is not and will not be tolerated!” Haven’s mother interjected.
Within moments, people were gathering from other carts to see what all the commotion was about. As more people came, more people were shocked to see such an old pony that didn’t have a cutie mark. Ponies of different breeds started lampooning him with insults and swears of various degrees. For a second, he could take it. He knew that it was true that it was weird not to have a cutie mark, He wouldn’t let a bunch of low-lives hurt his self esteem!
Haven decided to just look away. “Out of sight, out of mind,” he thought.
He started to look away, and as he did, his eyes caught hold of Discord’s castle. Everything inside him that that was content with who he was was drained out of him.
He immediately hopped on the wagon in front of everypony. “HOLD IT, EVERYPONY!” Haven said.
Suddenly the mockery stopped; All was quiet. Everypony was waiting to hear what had possessed him to do what he was doing. “Laugh all you want now, everypony! I’m going to get my cutie mark! I don’t need your mockery! You want to know what I’m going to do? I’m going to find Joseph Everfree’s stone! I’m going to teach you not to mock me!” Yelled Haven at the top of his voice.
All was quiet for a moment, then all broke into laughter. Even Haven’s mother couldn’t help but let out a little giggle.
Haven, infuriated, got his share of the profit from what was already sold, picked up the rest of his lunch, and walked toward the northern end of The City, away from the crowd.
Haven was slowly approaching the entrance to the northern side of The City, and as he was, he could still hear the sound of mockery behind him.
The northern side of the city was, however eerie, a rather beautiful place to be. It was filled with old wooden buildings, and small parks littered about. There was a single brick sidewalk that lead all throughout the city; through the parks, the streets, and it even lead to a few ponds.
As Haven was wandering the streets, his eyes fell upon a particularly beautiful building. The building was two stories high, and constructed with dark, maple coloured wood. The highlight of the piece, however, was the large door that the building seemed to showcase. The door was significantly than most doors, and was highlighted with a highly detailed carving on it’s front. The carving depicting Earth Ponies, Pagasi, and Unicorns feasting together; as if nothing had ever happened between them.
Upon closer inspection, Haven discovered that this building was a library. His face adorned a light smile as he galloped through the unlocked door. Inside, he slowed down to admire the great craftsmanship of the desk/reading area. As he was eyeballing the handiwork of the builders, he heard a book slam closed.
“Can I help you?” a voice called out.
Haven turned around to see a middle-aged librarian reading at a desk.
“Oh, hello. I didn’t know anypony was in here.” he replied.
“Yeah, that’s the way it always is this time of year.” She pushed the book she was reading over to the side, and slowly walked to the check-out desk. “So, what can I do ya for?”
“Well...” Haven approached a stack of old history books and started to read the covers. “You got any books on the stone that Joseph Everfree supposedly discovered?”
The librarian laughed. “Yeah, quite a few, actually.” She walked over to a rather large filing cabinet located in the middle of the room and started going through the cards that were inside. After a few moments, she closed the cabinet, waked back, and laid the card on the desk. “That should prove to be helpful,” she said as she approached the book that she was previously reading.
Haven glanced at the card and quickly memorized the stock number. “Thanks,” he said as he walked toward the large shelves located in the other room.
After a fair amount of searching, he was able to find the book referenced on the stock card: “The Journey of a Lifetime - By Joseph Everfree.” Haven was shocked to see not only that Joseph Everfree was real, but that he had written his own memoir! Haven grabbed the book and walked back over to the librarian.
“Uh, mam... About this book...” he stuttered nervously.
“It’s yours,” she stated in a rather blunt voice. “I’ve always been rather interested in that story... Imagining where the stone might be, and what I would do with it, used to keep me up at night. It’s time for somebody else to have that joy. You can keep it.” The librarian then looked back over to her book.
“Thanks,” he replied. He waited for a response and, when he got none, he headed back out the door.
By this time, it was getting to be about mid-afternoon, and Haven hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, nor did he have any supplies that he would need for his trip. He looked at a map of The City that was hanging up on a sign and saw that the nearest store was several blocks down. He walked for a while, and upon further inspection, he realised that the store had been burned down. The only other store that was large enough to sell hiking supplies was at the south end of The City.
It was late evening when Haven found himself bordering the south end. It was getting rather dark, so he knew he had to get to a hotel room pretty quickly. He looked around and saw a sign for Kenny's Motel; one that offered rooming for only half a bit a night. He walked through the doors, and in an instant his nostrils were filled with the scent of burning tobacco. He approached the rough looking stallion, presumably Kenny, at the counter and asked for a room.
“Room 137,” the man grumbled.
Haven paid that man what he owed, waked up the nearby stairs, and into his room. The room wasn’t as bad as he had thought that it would be. It had a nice bed, clean sheets, a lantern, and a small closet for him to put his bag in. But the room wasn’t without it’s downsides; the floors were sticky, there were bloodstains on the windows, and the walls had copious amounts of profanity scraped into them.
As it the sun started to set, Haven lit the lantern that was sitting on the small table next to his bed. The light wasn’t very bright, but it still managed to put forth enough light for him to read the book that he had acquired.
The book told a rather vaguely described tale of Joseph Everfree’s findings from a first-person perspective. To Haven’s disappointment, however, the book lacked detail on the location of his findings. The story started as Haven climbed a mountain in the Crystal Empire, and ended as he descended the mountain. The only information in the book that Haven thought would be worthwhile was the location of The Stone. The book said that after finding it and acquiring it’s power, Joseph Everfree hid “The secret of the stone” in a maze that he carved out of the mountain.
As Haven finished his book, the lantern began to row dim. He blew the light out, put the book in his bag, and went to bed.
The next morning, Haven was awoken by the hotel owner banging on his door.
“You’ve slept your night, now get out!” he cried, still banging on the door.
Haven got out of bed and threw his bag over his back. He went downstairs to find that the owner had made his way back to the front desk.
“Hey, you know of anyplace I can get some hiking supplies and maybe some dried food?” Haven asked.
The owner grumbled. “Hmmm... There’s a place about a block south. Just hang a left. Can’t miss it.” The man looked back down to his newspaper and took a puff of his cigar.
Haven walked out the door and followed the hotel owner’s instruction. Within a couple of minutes, Haven found himself in front of “Gary’s Travel and Food Dpt.” After a few moments of contemplating on how strangely coincidental this situation seemed to be, Haven galloped inside.
The store, rather large, was filled to the brim with supplies. To the right, the store was filled with travel supplies, and to the right, the store was filled with dried fruit, nuts, etc...
Haven had 7 and a half bits left from his share of the profit from his and his mother’s clothing stand, and 3 bits that he had on himself already.
The small amount of space that his bag could hold wasn’t suitable for his needs, so he was able to sell it to the store owner for a bit, and was able to buy a new, larger, saddle-like bag for 2 and a half bits. He also bought a knife, a fishing rod, some matches, a bag of mixed nuts, a bag of dried fruit, and a water container to hang around his neck. After the purchases, he was left with 2 bits.
Haven, finally prepared to journey to the mountains, left the store and started to head to the northern gates. On his way, he realised a strange building that he hadn’t noticed before. The building was a small wooden structure that appeared to be falling apart. He wandered inside of the dimly lit room and saw an Earth Pony stirring a large cauldron filled with a glowing purple mixture.
“Hello,” Haven said, staring curiously at the pony.
The pony didn’t reply, and continued to stir her mixture. After a few moments, she pulled out a tube and filled it to the top with the mixture.
“Life has many trials, young adventurer. Use it when you need it the most,” the pony handed the mixture-filled tube to Haven and walked into the back room.
Haven walked out of the building and continued to head toward the northern gates. It was about noon when he reached his destination. The northern gates were large, metal gates, as opposed to the large wooden gates on the other corners. Haven walked around the gates and, to his surprise, the gates were locked, and nopony was around to open them. He tried his best to push the gates open, and he even tried to pick the lock with his magic, but everything he tried proved useless.
He walked around to one of the gatekeeper’s posts and saw a large lever on the inside. He pulled the rusty, metal lever with his magic and the gates slowly creaked open. Haven walked outside of the gates, and into The City’s outer fields. He walked up and sat down against a large twisted oak tree and began to examine a map of The Land that was located in the back of Joseph Everfree’s memoir.
On the map, he eyed the depictions of the Crystal Mountains. “North,” he muttered to himself. “That’s where I’m headed.” He put the book back into his saddle, and began heading that direction.
The presence of Discord’s castle was a rather unique thing to experience. The castle was rather small in size, with only three stories, and the building took up little more space than a large house. The clouds above the castle were dark in colour, as if they should be pouring rain onto the eerie structure, the door to the castle was upside down, and there were gardens growing on the stone walls.
Haven tried to avoid the path that the castle was located on, and headed toward north. As he got further away from The City’s walls, he felt as though his life was leaving him. He was leaving his mother, his livelihood, and all he had ever known. Even still, he fought off a tear, held his head up high, and headed out of The City’s fields and into the unclaimed lands.
The Land outside of the governed cities and villages were largely mysterious to pony kind. The vast lands were mostly inhabited by brave travelers, and ponies that were banished by their homeland.
The land Haven was in now, just north of The City, was commonly know as “The Path” to virtually all ponies. The Path’s name came from large green fields surrounding The City’s lands, and the paths forged into the earth by decades worth of travelers carrying their merchandise toward The City’s gates.
The sun began to set just as Haven got to the edge of The Path. The only thing ahead of him now was the Northern Woods; the most peaceful of woods in the unclaimed lands. Haven cautiously made his way through the entrance of the woods, and got about a mile in before beginning to set up a small camp. The Northern Woods wasn’t known for its wild animal attacks, but nonetheless, he decided to play it safe and build a small fire, so he left his camp to go find some wood.
The forest was a very grim, dark place at night. Haven listened to all of the strange sounds that were coming from the distance. The sound of crickets, the humm of the gentle breeze, and the occasional owl hooting all echoed in the distance. He was enjoying his walk, when a shadowy figure fell toward his head and knocked him unconscious.
“Hello?” Haven heard the voice of a mare call out, just as he began to regain consciousness
“Uhhh,” Haven moaned. He started to get up when he noticed the grey pegasus pony with darkish-blue hair, and a cutie mark depicting a flaming lightning bolt, standing in front of him.
“Oh, crap,” she exclaimed. “I am so sorry! I was taking a night fly when my left wing cramped up. I tried to stop myself when I saw I was headed toward your face, but I guess that didn’t work too well, huh?” she joked with a nervous grin. “Are you okay?”
Haven regained quickly regained his position. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he muttered.
“Honestly, it was a complete accident! Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”
“No. I’m fine. I was just getting some firewood, and--”
“Firewood?” she interrupted. “Well, heck! I can help you with that!” She dashed off immediately.
Haven waited around for a few minutes and, when she didn’t come back, continued his search for some good firewood. He walked for about a hundred more yards before finding a mid-sized fallen tree branch. He tied the back end of the branch onto his saddle, and began walking it back to his camp. As he approached the camp, he started to smell some burning oak coming from the distance. He approached with caution and peeked through some bushes toward his camp.
“There you are!” called a voice from the distance. “I got some firewood. Took you so long to get back that I had time to go ahead and build it. Had time to go to my camp and get my tea set too!” She held up her glass of tea. “Want some?”
“Why not?” he replied.
She poured him a glass and handed it to him.
“Who are you? And where are you from?” he asked.
“My name is Shimmering Raindrop, but everyone calls me Shimmer. I’m from Skyfield; a small working village just south of Cloudsdale. Well, at least that’s where I was from.” She looked down for a second.
“What happened? You do something wrong?”
“Well, kind of... You see, living in the working villages isn't like living in Cloudsdale. You’re destined from the start to be a weather pony in at least some way. I was with one of my friends when I accidentally screwed up some plans for a new kind of weather machine. Spilled ink all over them. Come to find out, my friend wasn’t the kind of friend I thought she was. She squealed on me the first chance she got. She got a promotion, I got kicked out. Been camping down here for the last few days.” She paused and took a sip of her tea. “So, what’s your story?”
“My name is Haven Sapphire. I grew up in Greysback; a small village in Unicorn land. I got fed up with people treating me like I was still a colt. "I mean," Haven began to slighty raise his voice in anger. "Just because I don’t know what my purpose is, doesn't mean I don’t have one." Haven took a deep breath and began to calm down. "I left the city yesterday. I’m heading to the mountains to try and find some all-powerful stone that might not even exist.”
“Well that’s weird... In a good way,” she said in an obviously sarcastic manner.
“Thanks for the fire and the tea, but it’s getting late. If I plan to get any travel done tomorrow, I need to get some sleep.” Haven stood up and placed his empty teacup next to Shimmer’s teapot.
“Um, okay... I think I’m going to stick around a for a few more minutes and finish this tea. Nice meeting you!”
“Same here,” he replied. Haven approached a small, curved rock formation and tucked himself underneath it with a small blanket that he had packed.
The next morning, Haven awoke to a surprise. Shimmer was stretched out next to the fire, drooling on the ground.
“Enjoy your tea?” Haven asked rather loudly.
Shimmer gasped and jumped up nervously. “Oh... Uh... I guess I fell asleep...” She laughed nervously.
“Sure... Anyway, I’m about to eat some breakfast, if you want some.” Haven used his magic to hold up his bags of nuts and dried fruit.
“Well, now that you mention it, I guess maybe I could go for a little grub... Gets a little hard to come by good food around here... Alone... In the woods... Without anypony else around...”
“Help yourself. You've intruded on my business enough so far, wouldn't hurt to do it a little more , eh?” he joked.
Haven and shimmer ate a few hoof-fulls of food, and haven put it away.
“I guess I’d better get going,” he said as he packed his stuff up. :
“Oh, okay... Guess I’d better be going too...” Shimmer said rather disappointingly.
“You know, I could probably use some extra hooves to help out when I get to the mountains. You’re welcome to come along, if you want.”
“Really?!” Shimmer blurted out. “I’d love to! You, me, on a quest for something greater! This is the chance I’ve been waiting for!” Shimmer flew up into the air and did a few flips. “Um.” Shimmer calmed down and returned to the ground. “What I meant to say was, ‘Sure, sounds fun...’ I guess it just came out wrong.”
Haven laughed. “Okay, then; I guess you should go ahead and get your things. I want to be out of these woods by nightfall.”
Shimmer dashed into the sky and returned only about a minute later with a small bag around her back. She quickly flew down and packed her teapot into the bag. “Ready!” She shouted enthusiastically.
“Okay, then,” replied Haven. “I guess we should get going.”
As Haven and Shimmer walked side by side through the forest, Haven couldn't help but smile; this was the first friend he had ever had.
Haven and Shimmer were walking down a path in the forest. It had been a several hundred yards since either of them had said a word.
“So,” Shimmer interrupted the silence. “Where exactly are we going?”
“Not really sure myself...” Haven laughed a bit. “But for now, were heading to the mountains. Here, read this; it should give you a bit of an idea on what we’re looking for.” Haven pulled Joseph Everfree’s memoir out of his saddlebag and handed it to Shimmer.
“Crap... I thought I was done with reading when I left Skyfield,” she joked.
The two stopped when they came across a cave. It was rather small, but definitely large enough to check out.
“Stay behind me. I’ll light the way up with my horn,” Haven said.
Haven’s horn lit up, and the two walked slowly through the dark, damp entrance. On the inside, it was much larger than the outside had implied. Rats, and the corpses of various small animals littered the cave’s stone ground.
As the two approached the end of the cave, they saw something that made them both stop in shock. It was the corpses of two unicorns. Any clothing/accessories that had been on them had either rotted off or had been looted, as the only things that was left were bones; it was very obvious they had been dead for a long time.
“Oh, crap!” Shimmer gagged. “Definitely wasn’t expecting to see that when I woke up this morning.”
Haven walked closer and began investigating the scene. Among it, he eyed a piece of yellowed paper sitting next to one of the bodies. He used his magic to pick it up, and was horrified when he read it:
“They’re coming. I knew it would happen sooner or later, but why the hay
does it have to be now?! We were so close... Discord must not have his
way. If he does, there’s no telling what could happen. We were heading
for the mountains... Everfree’s stone is the only thing that can help us now.
Please, if anypony reads this, find it. Find the stone and put an end to Discord’s
reign! He’s planning things that can only make the world into a living hell...
I hear the guards... I don’t have much longer. Discord took my friends, my
home, my son, and now, my life. Please... Destroy him before this happens
to anypony else.
Remona Sapphire”
Haven staggered to his feet, dropped the paper, and began to weep.
“What the matter?...” Shimmer asked curiously. “What is it?”
“Th- That was my mom...” he quietly managed to choke up.
Haven had never witnessed death before. In the small village he had grew up in, it was rather rare for anypony he was close to to pass away, and when they did, they were given a proper burial. Death was often portrayed as something peaceful; like an extended slumber, away from any and all evil in the world. But this... Such a change. Death wasn’t portrayed as a peaceful slumber anymore; it was portrayed as decay, horror, and fear. There was nothing that could have prepared Haven for such a sight.
Shimmer read the note and, unaware of how exactly to handle such a situation, simply sat next to Haven and wrapped her wing gently around his back...
About an hour past, and Haven stood up and began to head toward the cave’s exit. Shimmer, who had recently fallen asleep, bounced up at the sight of the bright light radiating from Haven’s horn, and raced to catch up with him.
Seconds past, and then minutes, and then hours without a sounds from wither pony. They simply headed north.
“They left me, you know,” Haven said, breaking the silence.
“What do you mean?” Shimmer responded, acting rather confused by the statement.
“My parents... They left me with an Earth Pony the moment I was born.” Haven spoke in a rather sad tone. “I was told very little about them. They didn’t spend much time in town even before they had me. All I really got to know about them was a couple of names. But you know what? I held on to that. I thought... I thought maybe one day I would find them and they would greet me with open arms, ready to accept me.” Haven paused for a moment. “I knew they were dead; they just had to be. But in the back of my mind, I was able to hold onto that tiny spark of hope. To have that spark die so fast, and so unexpectedly...”
Haven remained silent for the rest of the evening. The two made camp and had a glass of tea. Haven went to bed, while Shimmer stayed up and read Everfree’s memoir by the fire.
The next morning, the two ponies ate a quick breakfast and continued heading north through the forest.
“So... About that cutie mark of yours,” Haven started to ask curiously. “What exactly is it for?” He said as he glanced at the flaming lightning bolt engulfing her flank.
Shimmer looked around at all of the trees. She began to laugh. “Well, if I were to show you, things would probably get a little weird... I’ll show you once we get out of here.” She smiled.
Haven laughed. “Okay, I’ll take you up on that.”
Shimmer was pleased to see that he was feeling better.
After a few hours, they began to notice the trees getting a bit thinner. Shimmer flew up into the air to check it out.
“Looks like less than a mile left!” She yelled from the sky as she began to descend.
“What’s after that?” Haven asked.
“Looks like a few Pegasi settlements, but I think I can see the silhouette of the Crystal Empire from up there.” She replied.
“Great. Think we could be there by tomorrow?” Haven asked.
“Easily,” she replied assuredly.
Just as their conversation finished, they approached the end of the woods. As they looked out, they saw the sun starting to set over several small, grass covered hills, a few large oak trees, some scattered weather stations, and a few small homes.
The Crystal Empire’s castles, and the mountain’s silhouette were visible for a few seconds before the sun set behind them.
“You ready for this?” Haven asked.
“Definitely,” she replied.
Next chapter: Haven’s Confrontation, and Entering the Crystal Empire.
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.
“Who knew sleeping on a rock could hurt so bad?” Shimmer joked as she awoke the next morning, stretching out her wings and back.
“I know, eh? We’re sure off to a rocky start.”
Shimmer stared at him for a few seconds, shocked that he would stoop so low as to make a joke of such low quality. After the awkward silence and eye contact, the two began packing their things without saying a word. When they were finished packing, they headed to the base of the mountain. Upon arrival, Shimmer pulled the rope of of her saddle bag and tied one end of it to her neck.
“Here’s how this is going to work,” Shimmer said, “I’m going to have one end tied to my neck, and you can have the other end tied to your body. I’ll fly and carry you up the mountain with me.”
“Umm...” Haven murmured, rather freaked out by the idea.
“Look, I know it’s not the most freaking spectacular idea ever, but it will get us up a heck of a lot faster than climbing.” She replied.
“I guess so,” said Haven, and he used his magic to hitch the rope to him.. After all ropes were hitched, Shimmer began to fly. After a few minutes, although it was very uncomfortable for him, Haven couldn’t help but feel as though they were making pretty good speed. The speed, however, was rather short lived, as the knot on Shimmer’s rope began to unfasten.
“Crap! Haven, the rope is slipping!” She yelled.
Shimmer quickly began to lower Haven down to a ledge as the knot slowly unraveled. As she lowered Haven down, she smashed her side into the mountain and began to plummet to the ledge. Haven was only a few feet above the ledge, so he didn’t fall from too high. Shimmer, however, was a much farther distance away and plummeted to the ground at quite a speed.
“You okay?” Haven asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” Shimmer replied. Haven helped her to her hooves as she struggled to regain balance. “Aww!” She yelled as she stretched out her wings.
“What’s the matter?” Haven asked.
“It’s my wing... Just a sprain, but I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be flying anytime soon,” Shimmer said, obviously pretty upset that her brilliant plan didn’t work. “But whatever. Can’t sweat the small stuff. am I right Haven? We’ll just have to continue on hoof!” She said, with an almost freakish amount of enthusiasm.
“Right...” Haven said with a hesitancy in his voice as he stared into the miles of mountain trail that awaited him.
Without too much hesitancy, the duo trekked up the mountain, making fairly good time given their circumstances. They went on for hours with virtually no delay, aside from lunch and the occasional glance at the beautiful view of The Land, of course.
As night fell, the two set up camp over a small, overhanging rock sticking out of the mountain’s side.
“How’s the wing?” Haven asked.
“It’s getting better. Still pretty sore, though.”
They continued their small talk, drinking tea and admiring the moon, which seemed extra bright tonight. A couple of hours went by, and Haven and Shimmer were admiring the view of The Land. Small campfires were visible for several miles, and The City’s lights were a dazzling view coming from over the trees. Even Discord’s castle, usually plagued with a haunting sense of fear, felt almost peaceful as the moon laid over it.
“What’s that, Haven?” Shimmer asked, puzzled.
“That? Oh, that’s what we ground-dwellers like to call ‘grass’,” Haven replied with a prideful tone, almost as though he felt like he was actually teaching her something.
“Not that, jackass. That!” Shimmer said, pointing to a group of small lights quickly making its way up the mountain.
Haven and Shimmer stared at the moving lights, waiting for them to become close enough to see. About 15 minutes went by before they could get a half-way clear idea of what was going on.
“We’re almost there! I can feel them!” cried one of the figures.
Haven quickly put what was left of the fire out.
“What the hay does Discord want them for anyway?” said the pony.
“Crap! Are they looking for us?!” Shimmer cried.
The small band of Discord’s soldiers were gaining speed very quickly. Likely from some sort of a spell.
“Let’s get out of here,” said Haven.
The two ponies began to run up the mountain as fast as they could. They ran for several minutes until they began to hear hoofsteps behind them. Afraid to be caught, Haven thought of a crazy idea that had no chance of working.
“Get on the ground and lean as close to the wall as you can! Maybe they’ll just pass us!” Haven said as the hoofbeats sounded closer and closer.
The duo quickly pushed themselves against the wall, hoping to be passed by the guards. However, to their surprise, there was no wall. They had managed to push themselves into a small opening of the mountain. Before they even had a chance to realize what had happened, the band of Discord’s men ran quickly past the opening.
“Holy. Crap.” Shimmer said, breathing heavily from excitement.
Haven lit up his horn and began to look around. The room was pretty small, with a few other cave entrances around them. Haven began to walk through one of the openings.
Shimmer motioned to a small marking on one of the cave openings. The marking was a small circle with a line through the middle.
“Wait...” Haven said, opening up his bag and retrieving Everfree’s memoir. “Yes! There are symbols like this on every page!” Haven said excitedly, flipping through the pages.
“The others are different,” Shimmer said, examining the other openings.
“Maybe we’re supposed to go through the one on each page,” Said Haven.
“Huh?” Shimmer said, confused.
“Well, if this is the first room, maybe we should go through the door with the symbol from the first page. What if each page in the book represents each room?”
“Worth a try, I guess,” Said Shimmer.
They wandered from room to room, making very sure that they were following the signs on the door. They continued this pattern for just under half an hour, when Haven turned the page for the next symbol. There was none, however, there were still three tunnels to choose from. He approached the tunnel entrances to examine them, finding that, although the book lacked any, each entrance still had its own symbol: a coin, a circle, and a castle. Haven thought back and remembered the potion that had been given to him the the witch at The City. - “Life has many trials, young adventurer. Use it when you need it the most,” - he remembered the her saying. He pulled out the vile of purple, ever so slightly glowing liquid and poured about half of it onto the ground so that he could be sure that, if pouring it on the ground didn’t work, he’d be able to try it some other way. As the potion hit the floor, it slowly began to separate and form writing:
“The future is where all must inevitably head. The wise-” the writing cut off. Haven poured out the rest of the potion.
“The future is where all must inevitably head. The wise chooseth his own future.”
“What the hay is that supposed to mean?” Shimmer asked, looking back and forth from the writing to the symbols on the wall, trying to make sense of it.
Haven looked at the symbols on the wall and, almost instinctively, went through the entrance with the circle on it. Shimmer followed behind at a distance, unsure of Haven’s decision. As they walked through the entrance, Haven lit up his horn extra bright, compensating for the size of the large room. There were no other doors; nothing but a large pedestal sticking out of the middle of the middle of the floor.
Haven walked up to the pedestal and admired a small impression in the top. It was about a quarter of an inch deep, and had a fairly large rectangular shape. Haven pulled out his book and began to examine it, looking for anything referencing such an object. Unable to both hold the book up and produce a suitable amount of light to read it, he set the book down on the pedestal so he could read. As he sat it down, the pedestal produced a slight clicking sound - like tumblers on a lock fixating into their proper place.
“What the...” Shimmer murmured.
“My thoughts exactly,” Said Haven. “ Try to look around and see if you can see changes. Like, maybe a trap door opening or something. I’m not sure what that sound was, but something happened to something.”
Shimmer looked around while Haven continued to examine the book. As Haven shifted through each page, he realized a small click, like the other one, only smaller, was being made each time he turned the page. Having a realization, he quickly turned to the page where the last cave symbol was, and then turned two more pages - the page that represented the room that he was in now. As soon as the page was turned, there was a loud click, followed by the sound of rock rubbing against rock. Haven looked down and realized that the sound came from a small hatch that opened up on the pedestal. He pulled out the contents of the hatch, and examined it thoroughly. It was a letter and a small key. Shimmer walked over, amazed, and they both read the letter:
“I know I can’t keep the stone hidden forever, so I’ve hidden it in a place where only a wise and intelligent pony could find it. Hopefully far wiser and more intelligent than me. But please, don’t take foolish advantage of this opportunity. The stone grants more power than even some of the wisest ponies could learn how to control. A power that, unfortunately, I wasn’t wise enough to control myself. I let it change me, and, through my example, I hope that you won’t let it change you as well.
If you sincerely believe you can handle such a thing, please, take it and better the world with it. If not, put this letter back into the box and forget about it; it’s your choice. Make it matter.
If you choose to take the stone, it’s in this cave. I’m sure you can figure it out.
“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? What the hay is Big Mike’s?” Haven said, confused. He had been to The City many times, but had never once heard of Big Mike’s.
“Maybe it’s a bar or something. I don’t know; It sounds like a bar name to me,” Shimmer replied.
“Eh... Maybe, but I’ve never heard of it. It could be that the place is closed. Assuming this has something to do with Everfree, he died years ago. It’s not very often that a place stays open that long,” Haven said in disappointment.
“But it’s still worth a shot!” Shimmer interjected, realizing that the situation was bringing Haven down. “If we take a train, we can be back at The City by tomorrow!”
“If you have the money for tickets, I guess it could be worth a shot, but I’m not making any bets,” Haven said, still with a disappointed tone.
And sure enough, the two ponies began to make their way down the mountain, on their way to the Crystal Empire to board a train.
Everything was going smoothly. Aside from the mild exhaustion from having not slept that night, Haven and Shimmer were enjoying a shock-free night walk, interrupted only by frequent small talk about how hungry Shimmer was.
The beaten path from the mountains to the Crystal Empire was beautiful at night. The grass blew in the end-of-spring wind, and the owls hooted from nearby trees.
As the sun began to rise, the Crystal Empire was in sight, and after a few miles they found themselves once again at the shimmering crystal gateway. The Guard, recognizing them from their previous visit, opened the gates and greeted them cheerfully.
“That guy sure seems nice,” Haven whispered.
“He probably just caught glimpse of the money I had last time,” Shimmer said, halfway joking as she pulled a Bit out of her saddle bag to tip the gatekeeper.
The Gatekeeper, very pleased with the gesture, thanked Shimmer numerous times as the two continued to walk away.
The train station was right next to the gates, so Haven and Shimmer approached to read the train schedule. Luckily, being as though it was trading season, The City was among the only destination on the map, aside from a few other stops. The earliest train to The City was at 9:00 AM.
“We still have a couple of hours. While we’re waiting, we should try to get a good breakfast,” Shimmer said,
“Uh.. I don’t know, Shimmer. I reeeallly don’t want to miss this train,” Haven said, with an overly exaggerated voice.
“I’m buying.”
“Meh. Two hours is plenty of time to get breakfast. Great thinking, Shimmer!” Haven said as his stomach growled.
They got breakfast at a small diner about 10 minutes from the train station. It was some of the best food any of them had ever had. French toast with a cup of coffee and a side of custard. It was a dang fine cup of coffee. They’d had I don’t know how many cups of coffee in their day, but that was one of the finest.
After breakfast, they headed on back to the train station. They were still a little bit early, but that meant that they were among the first in line. When the clock struck ten, the ticket counters opened, and Haven and Shimmer got two tickets to The City. Being that they didn’t have any luggage, other than their saddle bags, they were boarded rather quickly and, soon enough, they were on their way.
“So, Haven, would you rather lose your horn, or have it growing out of your flank?” Shimmer asked, in a freakishly serious manner.
Haven chuckled. “Well, I guess if I had to choose between the two, I’d choose my horn to be coming out of my flank.”
“Interesting...” Shimmer trailed off.
“How about you?” Haven asked. “Would you rather lost your rings, or have them growing out of your head?”
“Oh, dear. I guess I would have to have them on my head.” Shimmer said. “But would it hurt my head hanging from the wings like that?”
“Well, you’d have to work out your neck muscles in able to avoid breaking your neck.”
“I guess I’d go with them on my head then,” Shimmer ended the conversation.
They arrived in good time at The City, and made their way to the city hall to see if Big Mike’s had any records of existence. On their way, several people recognized Haven from the big scene he had made several days prior. Avoiding the laughing, they soon arrived at their destination: City Hall. It was a very large, beautiful building made almost entirely from wood.
“What was that all about back there, Haven? The other ponies laughing, I mean,” Shimmer asked.
“It’s a long story,” Haven said, unamused.
“Okay, then,” Shimmer said as they walked through the beautifully stained wooden doors.
Haven and Shimmer approached the young mare at the desk who was sorting through paperwork and answering phones.
“Excuse me,” Haven said.
“Just a minute, hun,” the worker replied, putting her call on hold. “Okay, what was it you were wanting?”
“Oh, well, I was looking for some business records. I need to know of any place that might be or might have been operating here at some time by the name of Big Mike’s.” Haven said.
Suddenly, at the mention of Big Mike’s, the place went from quiet to quieter, and the young mare working the desk hung up on all of her held calls.
“Big Mike’s?” The mare asked, almost as though she hoped that that wasn’t what she heard.
“Uh- Yeah... Big Mike’s. You ever hear of it?” Have asked, very confused.
‘Look hun,” the mare began, pulling out a pen and writing something down on a piece of paper as she whispered. “You’re lucky, and I mean very lucky, that Discord’s guards aren't here right now. You’d be taken to the castle on the spot if you were to even whisper that name around one of them. See-” the mare paused and looked both ways, “Mike was a friend of mine. He got involved in some weird stuff. Mind you, he never let me in on exactly what it was. And I think he did that for my own good too. I don’t think he wanted what happened to him to happen to me. Anyway, here,” the mare said, handing the paper over to Haven. “Be sure you’re alone when you read that. Now leave.” The mare ended sternly, returning to her work as if nothing had happened.
Haven tried his best to walk out nonchalantly, but it was pretty obvious by the look on his face that something had happened. Fortunately for him, however, Discord’s guards were too busy collecting “taxes” from the vendors to notice that something fishy was up.
Haven and Shimmer headed to a small park away from all of the vendors, as well as Discord’s guards.
“Let’s read it already!” Shimmer slightly shouted.
Haven double checked his surroundings to make sure the coast was clear and pulled out the note. Surprisingly short, it read:
“Go to Kenny’s Motel - Kenny was a good friend of Mike’s. Tell him I sent you there.”
“Kenny’s Motel?” Haven thought out loud. “I think I stayed the night there before I left the city. Seemed like a pretty shady place as far as I could tell.”
“Do you think it’s safe? You don’t think it could be a trap, could it?” Shimmer said, concerned.
“A trap? I highly doubt it. All we asked for was Big Mike’s. There’s no reason that they would want to catch us in a trap.” Haven said, reassuringly.
The duo left the park and began to head to Kenny’s Motel. They hurried there quickly, and arrived in a matter of minutes. Sure enough, it was the same place Haven had stayed several nights prior. The two approached the door just as soon as Kenny barged out of it.
“The light was on last night; I’m sure of it!” Kenny yelled to a couple of other stallions who were following closely behind him.
They were loaded to the ‘T’ with mountain climbing supplies, and seemed to be in a great hurry.
“If we take a train, we could make it there by nightfall, but we need to leave ASAP,” another one of the stallions said, exiting out the door.
Haven and Shimmer stood there in disarray, watching the three stallions hurry off.
“Oh, crap. They’re talking about the light at the mountain. They have to be talking about the light at the mountain! What else could they be talking about besides that light at the mountain?! And worse - What are they going to do when they find out it was us who made it come on?! Crap! Crap! Crap!” Haven yelled, almost going into a panic.
“Shut up, Haven! They’ll be gone for at least a couple of days. We have time to leave if anything goes wrong. But for now, guess what?” Shimmer said, almost happily.
“What?” Haven said, beginning to calm down.
“They left the door unlocked,” Shimmer said with a smirk.
“Do you think it’s safe to go in? What if there are more in there?” Haven asked.
“Only one way to find out,” Shimmer replied, opening the door.
It was empty. Completely empty. The lights were out, the room was clean, and there was no sign of anypony sticking around.
“Oh, yeah...” Shimmer murmured happily under her breath.
They began to search the place top to bottom, making sure to leave no trace of their snooping.Unfortunately, however, they found nothing. Either these guys were brilliant at covering their tracks, or they weren't up to anything more than maybe a few backroom poker games.
The two ponies were about to end their search when Shimmer came across something of interest.
“Haven, check this out!”
Haven turned around to see a faded outline of letters above the front door. The letters read “Big Mike’s”.
“This must be where Big Mike’s used to be.” Haven said, excitedly.
This fueled the fire within the two ponies, and they began to search for clues faster and more thoroughly than before. But even still, nothing was found, and the duo was about to give up until Shimmer accidentally tripped on a rug.
“Whoa! Shimmer!” Haven exclaimed.
“Oh, come on, Haven, I only tripped. It’s not that big of a deal.” Shimmer muttered while regaining herself from the fall, “
“I’m not talking about that! I’m talking about what’s under the rug! look!” Haven said excitedly.
And sure enough, underneath the rug was a large door that looked to be a cellar entrance.
Shimmer turned around and began to tug on the handle but it didn’t budge.
“It’s locked.” Shimmer said, angrily. “Wait- Haven, try the key!”.
Haven pulled the key that was in Joseph Everfree’s letter out of his saddlebag and approached the lock. He gently stuck it in and hoped for the best as he began to turn the key.
*click*
Haven sighed with relief and began to chuckle in happiness, and with a light of his horn, he used his magic to pull open the hatch, and the two ponies entered inside.
Haven and Shimmer slowly made their way down the steps, checking closely for any sign of other ponies.
“It looks like the coast is clear to me,” Shimmer said as she double checked around the room.
“I think you’re right,” Haven replied, lighting up his horn bright enough to see the entirety of the room clearly.
The cellar was a large square room with two doors; one on the left wall, and one on the right. It was relatively empty, aside from a small table, a couple of chairs, and some lanterns on the corner of each wall.
The two ponies searched around the room, making very sure they didn’t miss a thing. The table, as well as the chairs, had accumulated a fair amount of dust, indicating that it had been quite some time since its last use.
“The doesn’t seem to be anything in this room. Let’s check that room first,” Haven said, pointing toward the door to the left of the table.
They approached the door, Haven in front so that he could defend them with his horn in the off-chance that someone was in there. His horn lit up and the flung open. As expected, there was nopony inside.
The room was smaller than the one the were entering from and contained a small desk and a couple of chairs. The desk was littered with mostly blank, dusty papers. Sorting through them however, Haven came across a larger paper that appeared to be a map around the mountains.
“Shimmer, look at this,” he said, calling her attention from the drawer she was sorting through and to the dusty map.
The map looked hand-drawn, as opposed to printed, and on the bottom right corner written in black ink was a signature: “Everfree”.
“Whoa...” Shimmer said. “Do you think these guys are searching for the stone too?”
“I don’t see what else they could be doing. That must be why Discord did away with Big Mike. It looks to me like after that they must have given up. I figure that’s why this place hasn’t been used in so long.”
They continued searching what little of the drawers were left.
“I think that’s it,” Shimmer said, wading through the last few pieces of blank parchment from the only remaining drawer. “Yeah, probably. Let’s go check the other room real quick.” He replied.
They left the room, and while walking past the hatch leading out into the motel, they heard murmuring. The amount of fear struck into them was beyond words. Unable to speak, Haven simply started to approach the hatch as quietly as possible.
“Seriously, how did you forget your bag? I just don’t see how it’s possible to forget mountain climbing gear when you know that the sole purpose of your leaving was to climb a mountain,” He heard one voice calling to another pony.
“You didn’t have to come,” another voice called from further away, assumingly in one of the back rooms.
“Like hay I didn’t. If I hadn’t brought you, you wouldn’t be at the mountains for another day at least. And don’t you try to tell me for a second that you wouldn’t have been pissed the hay off if that’d happened.”
The voice in the back room laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right... Okay, I think I’ve got everything.”
“Okay, just-” The voice cut off, and just a second later the hoofsteps of the stallion in the back room stopped.
There was silence for several moments.
The hatch opened and before Haven could see anything more than a figure, he heard a thump and fell unconscious.
Haven’s eyes opened as his mind slowly began to grasp a hold onto what was going on around him. He was out of the cellar, laying on a small table ladened with green felt - it was a poker table from one of the back rooms!
Muffled voices were making their way into the room from the lobby/bar area. Turning around, expecting to see shimmer laying next to him, he instead saw a window. It was evening... Or morning? It really didn’t make too much difference, so Haven made his way off of the table as quietly as he could. As he approached the door leading into the lobby, it flung open. Expecting to once again be hurled into a state of unconsciousness, he was all the more surprised to see that it was Shimmer. Looking past her, he could see the stallions whose voices he heard start to stare at him. “It’s okay, Haven,” Shimmer said as he instinctively started backing away from the stallions. “They’re with us.” Noticing Haven’s confusion, Shimmer brought him over to the table with the stallions and sat him down.
The stallion sitting in front of him was a large muscular unicorn with very light blonde, almost yellow, fur and brown hair. His cutie mark was covered by his large saddle that was heavy laden with rock climbing equipment.
“I can see how this must seem rather odd,” the blonde stallion said. “Your friend told us what you found in Mike’s study down there.”
Haven was still too disoriented and confused to fully put together what was going on, so he simply looked to Shimmer, then back the the stallion.
“Allow me to explain,” he continued, “I’m Kenny. I, along with Jack over there,” Kenny averted his eyes to the other stallion sitting at the table, “and the rest of the gang who should be here shortly, used to be buddies with Joseph Everfree.”
“You knew Everfree?” Haven asked, starting to become more aware of his surroundings.
“Yes, we were very close,” Kenny replied with a hint of nostalgia in his voice. “Back when Mike still ran the place, Joseph would come into town to restock his supplies and make frequent stops here. He didn’t like people much, you see. Felt if he got too close to them, he’d end up hurtin’ them with his power. That being said, we were sort of his connection to the rest of the world at the time”.
“Wait,” Haven interrupted, “so what’s your connection to the stone?”
“Well, Joseph’s original plan was to keep it in the mountain... He assumed that if he left it up to fate, and anybody evil got ahold of the stone, then it wouldn’t be on his conscience. Toward the end of his life when Discord came along, however, he knew that that plan could no longer work. He trusted us to do his will after he passed, so he made it clear that he wanted one of us to take the stone after his death to avoid the likes of Discord getting ahold of it.”
“Then why havn’t one of you taken it?” Haven asked.
“We tried. It was clear that, out of the group, Joseph trusted Big Mike the most. Mike tried to get the stone when Everfree passed, but when Discord noticed what he was doing he... Well, he put a stop to fast... The rest of us feel like Discord will just pull the same move again, and the further we get to the stone before he kills us, the closer he is to it.”
“Where’s the stone now?” Haven asked.
“We don’t know. Joseph told Mike, and Mike thought that telling us would put us in danger.”
Just as Kenny finished what he was saying, the door was burst open by another stallion. He looked paranoid and he quickly shut the door behind him.
“Randy, what’s the matter? Where’s Thunder?” Kenny asked.
