Twilight couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed. The fox she had been chasing, the answers she had been determined to get, all of it swept away in only a moment. Honestly Twilight didn’t know how to feel, certainly she was disappointed, the opportunity to learn about something she didn’t know about was something she cherished almost as much as her friends, to have that opportunity stolen from underneath her was...new.
Being the princess’s student she almost always got what she wanted, now being a princess herself nothing was out of her reach, or so she thought. This was something that didn’t happen very often for her.
Just then Rainbow Dash, who had been circling Froggy Bottom Bog, flew into the swamp and landed next to Applejack. “So did we get it?” she asked looking around trying to find a trace of the fox.
“No, a darned crocodile done got ‘em,” Applejack replied in a whisper, the fear that Twilight might snap at the news forcing her to stay as quiet as she dared.
“Got him how?” Rainbow asked a bewildered look on her face. This caused Applejack to facehoof and growl in slight frustration.
“The crocodile ate the fox,” Twilight said, her voice hinting at sadness and a bit of disappointment. Rainbow’s only reply was a small ‘oh’.
“Ahm sorry Twilight, we tried our best, but there aint much more ya can do,” Applejack supplied, hoping to comfort her friend. Twilight only nodded before turning to face the sky, or rather the underside of the leaves of the trees that hung overhead.
“We should head on home girls,” Twilight finally said after a few moments of silence. “I’ll be dark soon, and we’ve wasted enough time chasing that fox,” The others seemed to agree and before long they had found themselves back in the fields around Ponyville, Froggy Bottom Bog quickly fading behind them.
Once they had left the swamp returned to its peaceful silence. The frogs started up their croaks and the crickets began up their songs again. It remained that way until the sun had set and the moon had taken it’s place. Now that the moon shone in the night sky, the fireflies began to come out, which turned the normally ugly swamp into a beautiful and peaceful scene.
Then on the water, small ripples began to form on the surface as something large slowly made it’s way to the surface. To an outside observer it might appear to be nothing more than a fallen tree trunk and it did indeed look like a tree trunk. That was until it opened it’s eyes. The two white orbs breaking the darkness making them stand out.
Slowly the mass moved to shore and dragged itself onto land. There was a brief moment where the crocodile did nothing but that soon changed as the croc began to shrink, its tail quickly retracted into its body while it’s legs slowly grew out to accommodate his shifting form. Before Long Cyril was lying on the ground covered from head to toes in moss and much.
Flipping himself onto his back he gave a weak chuckle. “I can’t believe that worked,” he said aloud before he finally moved to the water's edge and released the contents of his stomach. The acidic taste of bile mixed in with a few earthly flavors of moss and pond scum were doing little to comfort his already upset stomach.
“Never again,” he groaned to himself just before he released another torrent of vomit.
He stayed like that for little over half an hour. It was half an hour of torture as his insides felt like wrenching themselves apart, but it finally ceased and when it did Cyril was up a tree in no time with his head setting against the trunk, his legs propped up against the branches. The events of today flashed through his mind, and he couldn’t help but feel that had even the smallest thing not gone right, he wouldn’t be free.
00000
Earlier that day
Cyril narrowed his eyes as he watched Rainbow Dash circle again and again. She was scanning the area that he had taken last night when he entered Froggy Bottom Bog, no doubt Twilight had put her up to it, though if she actually knew what it was she was looking for, Cyril was unsure.
He grunted in frustration, as a hawk it came out more like a screech than anything else. He needed to lure her away, get her to leave the area, but how. The first step was obvious, but it was also very dangerous. First he’d need to see exactly what it was Rainbow was seeing, the only way to do that was to fly higher than Rainbow and look down.
This in itself presented a large problem. If Cyril were to be spotted, the chase would undoubtedly be on. The option to go as a smaller insect was also out of the question. Flying that high with such a small body would leave him to the mercy of the winds, and not to mention other predators. No he’d have to be a bird to get up there the only question he had to ask himself now was, “which bird was the fastest to get the job done?”
Closing his eyes Cyril focused on wanting to bring out speed, and as such his instincts began to filter in and out of his conscious mind. Cyril could feel the instincts of every bird that met his criteria, they pushed against his mind, trying to gain some type of purchase, hoping to spill into him and allow them to take over.
He remembered this intensity from the first time he had tried to gain control of his powers. In those first few days he tried to transform, he found the instincts to powerful as they threatened to crush his own mind with the raw animalistic nature of their presence. Over time though he learned to control the ebb and flow of his mind, allowing him to place a kind of glass barrier between him and his instincts, what’s more once he had perfected his ability to shift, he only got better at subduing the instincts. Each shift provided him an extra bit of understanding to how an animal thought, and the more he diversified his forms the more he began to control himself while as an animal.
Now though as he searched through his instincts he felt something. It was hard determine what animal was trying to get to him, but it was forceful, almost primal. The need for speed had summoned more than just bird instincts, something else was trying to get to the surface, was trying to force its way into his mind. It scared him and he forced it back, instead choosing the best form which filtered through his mind.
Letting the form set in he did a short examination of himself, and discovered that his size had been drastically reduced. If he had to venture a guess, Cyril would say he was anywhere between 20 to 30 centimeters long. Trusting his instincts, Cyril flew to the top most branch he could find before he spread his wings and shot straight up. Even against gravity Cyril knew he was going fairly fast.
It didn’t take long before Cyril had long since passed Rainbow. Looking around he noticed that she hadn't strayed from her path. In fact her was sure that he was high enough up that none below would notice if he transformed. Quickly shifting forms, from what cyril believed to be a swift, into a hawk, he gently circled along with Rainbow Dash, while he used his improved vision to survey the surrounding area.
It was no surprise to Cyril when he spotted the brown leather stetson hat sticking out from the top of the Fields flowers, though he did note with some mild amusement that Twilight sat just next her her. He couldn’t see her face, but based on how she was fidgeting , Cyril chanced a guess that she was uncomfortable. “Good” He thought to himself. “Let her be the one uncomfortable for awhile,”
Cyril did a few more circles before he was confident that nopony else was hiding nearby to help Twilight. Cyril did find it a bit odd that Fluttershy wasn’t with them though, he was positive that she would be right there along with them if she knew. The thought of chasing an animal down wouldn’t sit right with her, and no doubt she’d want to be their to try and calm him down.
As he thought about how mad Fluttershy would be if Cyril had been hurt, it gave him an idea, though he was hesitant in wanting to pursue it. The prospect of fooling all of them like that didn’t set well with him, in fact it almost seemed cruel, but Cyril couldn’t help but admit that the perks of it was certainly worth it all. Seeing no other alternative he decided to start putting the plan into action. His mind worked quickly as he scanned the surrounding area.
From what he could see, Froggy Bottom Bog and the Everfree were practically the same place, the surrounding area showed no sign that the two were anything more than a single forest except for the river that separated the two and the marshy landscape of Froggy Bottom Bog. To the west he could see the outline of another forest. His memory served him well as he recalled that it was the Whitetail woods.
He also saw a small mountain range that seemed to just sprout out. He smiled and remembered that a pair of tracks ran through those mountains leading to ponyville. It would be child's play fly over those mountains and find what he needed in the whitetail woods, all without being seen by any of the three mares.
The train tracks would help him keep his sense of direction, and a small, more subdued forest rested on the edge of Froggy bottom Bog, before being sliced in half by tracks yet again. This small section of forest was considered peaceful and safe to venture into. If he could smile Cyril would, but his beak held no muscles other than to open and close it. Without hesitation he headed for the mountain ranges.
It had been a long and hard day for Cyril. The flight to get to whitetail woods had taken more energy out of him than he had thought and he had to spent at least an hour catching himself something to eat. A couple of rabbits was his meal, but they didn’t really fill him as they should. Nonetheless he began his search for the animal he needed, and was quite surprised when he came upon it’s tracks.
Finding the animal was easy, killing it without ripping it to shreds had admittedly been harder. Though he quickly found a solution to the problem when he saw the animal bedding down for a nap. Taking the form of a large snake and crushing the air from its lungs proved to be the best option for him. Due to the animals small size and having been caught off guard when Cyril suddenly fell from the tree and wrapped his coils around the animal, he didn’t put up much of a struggle allowing him to squeeze the animal very tightly. Any fight it tried to put up afterwards proved useless.
The tip back to Froggy Bottom Bog was somewhat easy. The animal didn’t weigh very much, and for the first two miles Cyril felt fine. As time passed though he began to feel the exhaustion wear on him. Cyril would have been back at Froggy Bottom Bog earlier, but the constant need to stop and rest had slowed him down.
When at last he did return to Froggy Bottom Bog, he was exhausted. Allowing himself a short rest, Cyril was soon scouting the area inside of the swamp, before he found a perfect spot. The area was nice and secluded. Somepony would have to barge through the greenery in order to see what lay beyond. It was perfect and the water was deep here. Everything was set in place, though Cyril wondered how well this would actually work. Nonetheless made his way to the edge of the swamp before he took the form of a rat and began to sneak his way into the fields.
Once he was in position he quickly transformed into the fox yet again. Though he had closed his eyes to calm himself. The prospect of what he was attempting to pull of was daunting, it seemed like a stupid idea and it had been constructed in only a few minutes, of course it was improved upon over the hours in which he set it up, but he still felt like things were going to go wrong.
That’s when he heard it. The sounds of wings as the got closer. He steeled himself as his nerves began to go haywire. The seconds seemed to turn into hours, and he wondered how long he was going to stay like that. Would he remain Frozen in the fields just outside of Ponyville, or would Rainbow Dash spot him and sound the alarm. What was going to happen?
Cyril soon realized that the sound of wings was growing no closer, and that he had allowed the instincts of prey cloud his mind. Pushing back the fox’s need to run, Cyril took a deep breath before he opened his eyes. There he saw her hovering over the field some distance away from him. She seemed surprised as he suddenly began to appear, and for a moment the two stared at each other intently, her’s a look of shock and his of determination.
Before she could speak he turned tail and bolted for the swamp, his legs pumping furiously as he moved as fast as his small and sleek frame would allow. The silence was quickly broken as Rainbow Shouted. “Applejack, this way,” she called.
Cyril didn’t bother to look back, his legs continued to move at incredible speed. He could see the tree line just ahead. If he could only make it a few more meters he’d be home free. There was another shout but Cyril couldn’t make it out, the sound of the wind and his blood filled his ears as his heart pumped just as fast as his legs.
Just as he thought he was going to break the fields and enter the swamp, he felt something yank back hard around his neck, causing him to yelp at the sudden pressure on his windpipe. His instincts flared for a moment, and he began to fight against the pull of it. Cyril was glad he had lost control. The furious struggle he had put up broke whatever connection was holding him and his fight or flight mode kicked in choosing flight.
Running for all his worth, he broke the treeline of the swamp, and crashed through the bushes that blocked his way. Up ahead he could see the moss and swamp scum covered carcass of the animal he had killed earlier today, the vines that hung from the tree’s kept it strung up in a perfect posture of flight, just over the edge of the water.
Without hesitation Cyril dover for the water headfirst. The transformation was instant and Cyril had just enough time to right himself in the water before he pushed upwards, breaching the water’s surface. His jaws opened wide and the force of his momentum placed the carcass directly into his mouth. Without hesitation He clamped his jaws shut, feeling as bones crunched under his mighty jaws and the vines that held the carcass in the air snapped and fell away from the tree’s.
The body was gone before the ponies could even register what they had witnessed, and before they could get a good look at him, Cyril retreated into the water, where he began to digest the scum covered carcass of a common fox.
00000
Thinking back on how well that had worked out, Cyril wasn’t sure if the universe had decided to give him a break or not. He didn’t really care, he was free now. Twilight thought he was dead, and after today, he wasn’t going to stick around Ponyville for very long. As far as he knew Twilight would search for the wolf, or maybe try and find another green furred animal.
Cyril had to think on the events of the day though. Firstly he was glad he had decided to chew through Applejacks lasso. He hadn’t expected that to come in handy so early after the act, but he shuddered at the thought of what might have happened to him, had he not. Something else was bothering him though. That feeling he had earlier. That primal instinct that had tried to force its way into his head, it was...unsettling.
Cyril had dealt with the instincts of many of his animal forms trying to gain access to his mind, but this wasn’t like any normal instinct, this time it was more...aggressive, dangerously so. Cyril didn’t like the idea of what that form might look like. Cyril didn’t know of any animal that was right out aggressive. Sure many animals were territorial, but this wasn’t that, this was some kind of...bloodlust, with murderous intent.
One thing was for certain though, Cyril didn’t sleep well that night.