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// 2 - Haven's Departure 
// Story: Haven 
// by Xplounder 
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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.







Next chapter: Haven’s First Encounter