Rewritten

by THOSEideas

Chapter 2

He scrambled up the rocks and the snow billowed up around him as the wind picked up.

"Do it, and she goes free. Fail, and we will kill you and her."

He glanced behind him but saw only a blanket of white and gray, snow rushed past his fast and into his eyes as the wind changed directions.

"Remember, if you get caught, we will kill her."

He stumbled on and tried to fly away. the wind was too strong.

He was suspended over a cliff, held there by talons of a creature that blended all too well with its surroundings. He felt something stab into his chest and he was let go into free fall.

---

Nest lurched upwards and tossed the growling and scrabbling thing off his legs and stood up. Nest took a step forward and ran into the wall next to him, completely disoriented he grabbed for the wall to steady himself while he tried to remember where he was. He heard a scuffle and then muffled words before two hooves pressed down on his shoulders, forcing him to sit down against the wall.

He then felt a long, wet, rough thing slide across his face and repeat itself. Nest relaxed a little when he remembered that he was alive, inside a friends home, with a hounding wolf to look after him. He relaxed against the hard surface as Sasha pressed her front paws against his chest to get a better angle at his face. Unfortunately she placed a paw on his chest wound and he groaned in pain. She immediately backed off and resorted to sitting next to him, whimpering.

Nest sighed as the pain faded away, however, his wing hadn't faired better at all. He desperately wanted to get this blasted bandage off his face, so he took it off. Nest looked around the cabin that he was in, the structure was made out of wood, except for the fireplace. Nest examined his surroundings to find a set of four tennis rackets, except they were a little bigger. He also found a coat rack that held several heavy looking coats and scarfs.

The thing that surprised Nest the most was Mr. Hermit, he was a dull brown with a starch white mane and tail. A seashell with two antennas sticking out of the opening adorned his flanks, but his most striking feature was hard to miss. He was missing his hind right leg, cut off at the half way point from his flank to his knee. Just then Mr. Hermit turned around from what he was grabbing on the table to see Nest's uncovered head.

"I really wish you would ask before you do anything else, I was going to check and see if you were all right. Whatever, here. Drink this and it should dull some of the pain." Mr. Hermit levitated a small glass towards Nest and he tentatively grabbed it, before downing it in one swallow. Satisfied, Mr. Hermit took the glass back and he placed it back on the table, he did notice Nest's gaze lingering at his missing leg though.

"Surprised?" He said as he looked down at it as well, "so would anypony else if they saw me know. I lost it when I was first coming up here, I was on a search for a place to get food when a rock came down and pinned me in place by my leg. I had to cut it off myself, it wasn't that hard because the rock had turned the bone to powder, still hurt though."

Mr. Hermit shuddered a little as the memory came back to him. "I was going to go back to the Crystal Empire but a blizzard much like this one sprung up and I had to hole up here. That week was the worst in my life, barely any food, cold, and half my blood spilled outside attracting wolves far and wide. I suppose I got some good out of it though." Mr. Hermit made a meaningful nod towards Sasha as he finished his story.

Nest didn't know what to say, the Stallion certainly went through the frozen version of hell, and yet he chose to stay all this time?

"Why do you stay? You could leave, go back home and have an easy life, You would be famous."

Mr. Hermit laughed and cast a glance at him as he walked over to a wood stove positioned in what he assumed would be the kitchen. "When you get better, I hope you will make me famous, as payment. The reason why I came up here was to get away from the easy life. Why should I go back?" Nest didn't have an answer.

Nest sat against his wall and sub-consciously pet Sasha as he thought about his position. The memory of his dream came back to him and he pondered it, it had felt so real. Why would he have a dream like that? Who was this 'her'? Why did they want to kill her and him? Or perhaps it was just a dream, not a memory. He frowned at his troubling thoughts and returned to observe his surroundings.

Pushed off into a corner was a bed with ruffled sheets and a ratty mattress. He briefly wondered where he had gotten the mattress but didn't find anything unusual about it. At the foot of the bed was a locker, slightly open as it was over-stuffed. Pinned to the wall were numerous picture, some painted but most were hoof drawn. He looked closer and saw that some were of animals and some where of scenery, one of a wolf with a deer carcass stood out to him.

Other than an oil lamp hanging from the ceiling, there wasn't much else to the Cabin, a table, a stove, and a couple of cabinets made up the kitchen. He wondered where he got water until he remembered that it almost constantly snowed. Nest was getting bored of sitting around, he wanted to do something.

He struggled to get up but managed to stand on his unsteady hooves, he once again felt blood rush to his head but kept his balance. He took a step forward and winced as pain lanced through his chest. He took a much more cautious step and thanked that the pain wasn't as bad. He then resumed carefully walking towards Mr. Hermit who had placed a pan on the stove after lighting the wood underneath.

"I asked you to not do anything else." Mr. Hermit turned around and glared at him, but his face softened when he heard Nest's stomach growl. "Well I just started putting on food so just take a seat at the table and I will bring it to you."

"I want to help."

"Ha! Patience son, you won't be able to help in a while. Just take it easy and you will get better."

Nest grumbled wordlessly to himself but took a seat at the table anyway. He silently sulked until a very interesting smell filled the cabin. Sasha came bounding over to Mr. Hermit before sitting down next to him and looking up, expectantly. "Nuh uh, not for you." Mr. Hermit said to the begging wolf. Nest took this time to actually compare Sasha's size to himself. Mr. Hermit was about the same size as him, and Sasha was about an inch shorter, but the same length.

Nest thanked that she didn't hate him.

Mr. Hermit picked something out of the pan and bought it on two plates he levitated over. He then brought the plates over to Nest and laid one in front of him. He looked wide eyed down at the fish that occupied his plate. He didn't know if he could eat it.

"I'll eat it if you don't, what do you think I eat up here? Can't grow much, and the stuff I do is savaged by the birds. I had find a river, thank goodness there are plenty fish there, watch out for the bears though. Nest watched as Mr. Hermit brought the fish up to his face and take a chunk out of the side. He looked back down at his and mentally sighed, here goes.

He picked up the fish and brought it to his mouth, he hesitated. His stomach growled, so he took a bite. At first he recoiled at the oily flesh that greeted him but then the flavor sank into his tongue and he sighed in content. He liked fish apparently. He heard a snort and he looked up to see Mr. hermit looking at him, he seemed to be judging him.

"What?"

"You made the same face I did when I first tried it, good?"

Nest nodded his head before taking another bite from the fish, his flat teeth crushing the little bones effortlessly. Sasha whimpered but then huffed her way over to the door and gazed up at it. Mr. Hermit got up and opened the door for her, she disappeared into the billowing storm outside. Something inside Nest urged him him to follow her and get out of this accursed cabin, he hated being in one spot for too long.