//------------------------------//
// Chapter Four. Survival. 
// Story: Gone Mustang 
// by BurningBright 
//------------------------------//

Dawn was completely alone, the searing pain in her hind leg almost unbearably bad, somehow she was outside that place again. This time however there was no other pony there, the little filly hated being alone. She could hear the snarling noises as the pack stirred and approached. 

She wanted so badly to run from the wooden monsters, and they seemed to sense that. Glowing eyes narrowing as they slowly slunk towards her. She wanted to run, she desperately wanted to get away, to flee and never even look back, but her legs just would not obey her. She looked down and found her legs had twisted into roots around her , binding her to the earth. 

There would be no running away this time, there was nowhere to escape to and her root legs felt like she was running through water. She tried to struggle even harder, but the harder she pulled the deeper the roots became. The Timber Wolves seemed to be laughing at her helplessness mocking her weakness as their numbers grew, and grew. Each wolf was getting bigger by the moment too. Her heart pounding in her mouth as she gave scared little whimpers.

Then the pack turned and as one they noticed she could not run, then their massive slavering jaws opened as they lunged at her. Then everything was redness and pain.

Waking with a scream sobbing she looked around for an escape. In her panic she tried to fight the roots of her erstwhile home that her legs had become tangled in as she slept. Her flailing was rewarded with sharp pain from her injured leg and flank. She bit back a scream in case she gave away her location to the monsters from the cave. Gradually her breathing settled down to a normal pace. 

Pulling herself together she peered out of her hidey hole cautiously,  ducking her head back almost as quickly as she peered out. When she had followed the other fillies out of camp she had had no idea what she was letting herself in for. Now she knew, she had seen, and felt what they were capable of firsthoof, it made her more cautious. Well no monster had tried to eat her yet, so that was promising at least. Rummaging around  until she found a broken root she poked that outside and waved it about while keeping herself out of range.

No vicious beasts tried to maul her stick or use it to haul her kicking and screaming  to the surface and into their waiting jaws so this time she ducked out of the hole a bit, carefully staying within bolting distance. Her ears perked listening carefully for the monsters. Then she began to tap the stick against the fallen tree that had sheltered her. Quietly at first and gradually getting louder. Trying to make sure the scary monsters weren't lurking nearby , waiting. She had her legs bunched tight ready to dive back to her hole in an instant. Still nothing happened so she ventured further out, her ears pricked for the slightest sound. A small twig snapped under her hoof and she gave a terrified meep diving for cover once again within her nice cosy hidey hole. After about ten minutes of nothing but oppressive silence she relaxed a little, caught her bereat, plucked up her courage  and tried again. 

Gradually inch by painful inch she made her way back towards the camp site, baulking every time anything moved. Terrified of every single sound from her surroundings. Every time though she got closer to her destination. Just as she started to get close though she realised it was starting to get dark, the little one gave a shudder at the thought of being out there when darkness fell. The  possibility sent a shudder down her spine, she had to get back to her shelter now. 

So reluctantly she turned around and headed back the way she had come. Nothing had been near it, that at least was good, she looked around carefully just in case anything was watching her. Then when she was sure the coast was absolutely clear she slipped between the roots and down to her little hiding place.

Sleep of course was a more complex matter than merely finding shelter, the swamp outside was dark, and scary, and full of strange noises. Occasionally she caught scent of one of the wooden monsters as they prowled looking for prey. One in particular with one normal eye and one patch of darkness kept passing, glaring with its good eye hoping to catch a glimpse of her.

It did try at one point during the night to dig her out , she hardly dared breathe during that time. After a few hours though the one eyed creature left in search of easier prey. After all this one was little, not much eating on it. The monster gone once more Dawn worked hard to clear the earth further back into the tangled roots, luckily for her this tree had deep roots so a little bit of determined scrabbling at the earth soon cleared a fairly substantial sleeping hollow. From there it was a simple matter to pack the earth down with a few stomps. She then curled up in a tiny little ball and closed her eyes to try to sleep again.

She was back at the cave once more, that smell lingered in the air all around her, the place looked the same as last time, only this time it was pitch dark, she could hear a voice she knew, Momma, she could hear Poppa too. She tried her hardest to run to them but once again she was rooted to the ground. She tried to struggle harder, she had to get to them, she just had to, but she simply couldn't. Around her she heard the familiar sounds of the monsters approaching, prowling around her hungrily. A single glowing eye turned her way to glower at her. There was no nice safe tree here though, no nice cosy hollow she could hide in. She tried to pull up the roots that held her down but they tightened around her like ropes. 

Still she struggled to pull free, when that failed to work she simply glared balefully back at the monsters snarling like she was one of them herself. That didn't work either though, but at least they wouldn't catch her without a fight. The pack closed in around her once more, and the last thing she saw before the dream broke was a single glowing green eye.