The Hunter Hunts Its Prey

Chapter 2

The town of Mountain's Root was - in fact - at the bottom of a mountain. The mountain's specific name was Craggy Summit and was located quite close to the well known Canterlot City. Despite this close proximity to the capitol of Equestria Mountain's Root was a small town and was not well known at all. Being so close to a mountain is often seen as a protective positiom but the people of Mountain's Base knew that Craggy Summit was not very protective at all. Frequent rockslides and the occasional heavy storm proved living close to this mountain a very hard life.

One such resident was Gloomy Skies, a young pegasus whose father was in the Griffon Wars. He had decided that the reason living close to the mountain was dangerous was because of angered spirits that lived on top of Craggy Summit. With this interesting yet misinformed revelation he made to scale the mountain to plead with the spirits. His father warned against him going for the mountain was a deadly place: where a storm could start from the calmest of skies and a rockslide could start from the smallest of pebbles. Gloomy ignored this sage advice and packed rations for the trip and started to fly towards the top.

Unfortunately the mountain was indeed a dangerous place and as he reached two thirds of the way to the top a storm brewed behind the mountain. He flew on and was caught in the storm. As he braved through the piercing rain and the charging wins he grew tired until he could not keep himself steady anylonger. He landed on the mountain face and made for shelter that he found in the form of a over hang of rock that could shield him from the rain.

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Gloomy woke to the sound of thunder crashing. He jumped up and ran out from under the overhang. Unfortunately for him, doing so exposed him to the elements. The wind buffeted him so hard he fell over and gave a whinny of displeasure. He got back up slowly and looked around to see that he had lost sight of the overhang. He turned and decided that if he went higher up he might find shelter. He was struggling up the mountain when he lost his footing on his back hooves. The ground slid from under him and loosened the rocks above him. As the rocks started to slide and tumble down the hill, Gloomy spread his wings and pushed off so as to put distance between himself and the starting rock slide. He managed to avoid the rock slide but with his wings wide open he was vulnerable to the might of the wind and was pulled to the side by it. He crashed into the ground, mud clinging to his fur and rocks digging in to his skin. He looked at the sky and started weeping for he believed that he was to fail at this moment and not be able to stop the danger. He screamed at the top of his lungs random nonsense about how much he hated the spirits. During his tirade he noticed a cave, barely visible in the harsh weather but visible still. He stopped screaming and started making a mad struggle towards the cave. He got on his hooves outside the cave and looked in. It seemed vacant for all hut himself and the damp stones. He trotted in a little spring to his step and stopped in the middle. Gloomy unfolded his wings and dried them until continuing on to shake his whole body, sending droplets everywhere. He heard a sudden noise that startled him. He looked at the entrance of the cave and began backing up towards the back wall. He smelled something foul in the air and whipped around. What he saw was a beast that he knew not of. He screamed the top of his lungs and ran out.

When Gloomy turned around he saw the beast outside it's cave and charging towards him. He spread his wings and took off, yet again forgetting the power of the storm. He was taken up by the winds and flung into the side of the mountain. Weakened, Gloomy looked up. He saw a flash of lightning which silhouetted the beast. He saw that there was no hope of escape: his wings were most likely broken, he was exhausted, and he had been thrown violently to the ground, unable to get up. He closed his eyes, heard a snarl, and felt no more.