//------------------------------// // 6 - Haven's Climb // Story: Haven // by Xplounder //------------------------------// Chapter 6 - Haven’s Climb “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. “What’s this?” Shimmer asked, interrupting Haven’s exploration. 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. -Joseph Everfree” Next chapter: Haven’s Fate