//------------------------------//
// Grove - Chapter 2 
// Story: Solaris The Map Maker 
// by Sir Pudgington 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2
Grove



He broke the canopy and lost his balance as a wing caught a branch. This sent him sprawling he hit the ground hoof first then face as he rolled. “Ah!” he grunted staggering to his hooves. “That was awesome” he yelled a bright smile on his face. “I can't wait to try that agai-“he stopped. Then remembered why he jumped to begin with. “Mm-mom?” he sobbed falling down he buried his face in his hooves. “Why?” He thought. What had he done wrong? So many questions raced through his mind. Only tears were what he got. He laid there crying, eventually the tears stopped coming. Empty sobs were all he had left. Soon those died down. He lifted his head and looked around. It was eerily dark. In the dim moonlight he could make out some trees that surrounded him, the occasional wisps of fog. In the distance little lights danced flashing different colors. “Light!” he thought. “How did Dad’s light spell go?” He remembered lessons his dad gave him in magic. He wasn’t allowed to go to school like Blueblood. Focusing he remembered what his dad said. “To create lights you must focus on how you want it, a very common spell is a floating light orb. This will hover next to your horn because it’s the source of magic it was created from.” His dad would lock him in a dark closet until he got it right. Shaking that memory from his head he focused. 
His horn flickered to life as he conjured a little orb of yellow light. It grew dim immediately as he opened his eyes snapping them shut he tried to pour more magic into the orb. Through his shut eyelids he noticed the change in lighting. He opened his eyes once again to look around; he was inside a little flower patch just feet away from a rather large tree. 
“I guess I am lucky to have not hit that” he proclaimed to the dark. Continuing his search he saw mushrooms, frogs, more flowers and he looked to a patch of bushes. The bushes began to rustle and three large timber wolves sprang from their cover. Their glowing green eyes focused on him. “Ah!” he screamed and turned to run. The larger of the timber wolves grunted at the other two before they could make pursuit, as if saying to wait because it wanted to have fun with his food. It waited until the little pony was almost out of sight. *Click Click* it snapped its jaws and they took off after him. Without his light Solaris would have been even more helpless than he already was. Dodging trees and jumping small shrubs he tried to gallop at top speed. Brambles snapped and bushes swayed as his pursuers closed the distance. 
“My wings!” he thought trying to figure out a way to escape. He opened his wings and began flapping them trying to gain some altitude. Just as he began to lift he ran straight into a bush and crashed right through it. On the other side he was in a very clear and flat area. Before he could take much of the surroundings in, the timber wolves broke through and began to surround him. The leader broke through last and approached him. A low growl could be heard from within its wooden core.  Solaris knew this was the end. He sat and wrapped his wings around him and buried his face and began to cry again. His journey was over…. 
*RAAAOOOR* an ear splitting roar broke him from his horror he looked up and a serpent like body towered above him. *RAAAOOOR* it loosed again spreading its large feathered wings. YIPE the timber wolves yelped as they lept the bushes. Solaris turned to face his new threat. The serpent lowered its head at the frightened Alicorn. Solaris sat wide eyed as the serpent’s tail slithered out of the darkness just inches away from his face. Solaris flinched as the tail stabbed into the ground just in front of him. The tail wiggled then stopped abruptly the serpent looked at Solaris and motioned him to look down. HELLO LITTLE ONE was etched into the soil.