//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: A new enemy 
// Story: Boy or Beast 
// by AstralFlame 
//------------------------------//

	“Where am I?” Cyril asked as he sat up before looking left and right. He found himself in a room. He recognized this room. This was his room. There over in the corner by the window sat his laptop, next to it was his phone currently plugged into said laptop. On the other side of the room his TV and PS3. There was his dresser, his closet, hell there was his guitar.

“What’s...was that all a dream?” he asked aloud. Silence was his only answer.

Throwing the blanket off of him he slowly went over towards his dresser and opened it up. There were his clothes, clothes he hadn’t seen for well over a month, or was it? Closing the dresser he turned to his door, a sudden thought striking him. Cyril nearly tore the door off it’s hinges as he raced down the hall to the empty bathroom.

Flicking the light on he stared at himself in the mirror. His pale reflection stared back at him. Slowly he lifted a hand and touched his face, but nothing seemed to change. Lowering his hand he couldn’t help but grin at his reflection. The mirror image smiled back at him. He was home. He was really actually home. It had been a nightmare granted it was a real and vivid one but it was still a dream.

Turning away from the mirror he went to enter the shower. There was a flash of green, that didn’t go unnoticed, and Cyril found himself staring back at his reflection. Nothing had appeared to change, even his blue eyes still looked the same. Funny considering he thought he had seen them turn green.

“It’s the nightmare man, still freaking you out,” he whispered a sigh of relief, the explanation good enough to put his mind at ease. Jumping into the shower Cyril adjusted the water temp to slightly hotter than normal, the warm water felt great on his skin, and the slight sting of the hot water helped to focus his mind. “This is real,” he chanted under his breath over and over, the relief and joy of those words putting him in a good mood for the rest of the day.

Once his shower was over, Cyril jumped out and began to brush his teeth, the chilly air of morning not bothering him in the slightest. Spitting the foam into the sink, he leans over to cup his hands under the faucet before rinsing his teeth. Spitting out as well he lifted himself from the sink to stare at his reflection. The mirror was fogged from his earlier shower, and had yet to clear.

Wiping the mirror with his hand Cyril saw something green flash behind him, causing him to turn with a bit of fright, only to see a green towel hanging above the toilet. Sighing in mild frustration he snatches the towel off of the rack and began to dry himself. Dressing quickly, he walked back to his room and retrieved his phone. A quick check, told him it was a saturday which meant he didn’t have to do anything today. Grinning from ear to ear he headed back to his room.

Opening the door, he stopped as something out of the ordinary stood in his room overlooking his bed and TV. The large blue pony with wings and a horn, as well as a mane and tail made of the night sky itself turned to look at him a slightly puzzled look on her face. She turned to approached him, and Cyril could just make out her opening her mouth to say something.


00000\


Cyril woke with a start, nearly falling out of the tree he had called his bed. He took a moment to take in his surroundings, letting the realization that he had been dreaming set in. Anger welled in his chest the urge to scream barely contained by the crushing weight of sorrow as the hope and relief that the dream had brought was swept away.

Shaking his head he focused on his surroundings, letting the darkness of early morning sink in. Jumping out of the tree he moved to stand at the edge of the swamp, his gaze turned to the east, a small sliver of the sun’s light barely peaking over the edge. His gaze then quickly moved to the mountains of Canterlot, though the city gave no indication of commotion. 

“Was she a construct of my mind, or was that really her?” he whispered aloud, a small shiver running through his body which had nothing to do with the nip in the air.

He didn’t ponder the question for long, that fact that she had appeared in his dreams didn’t bode well for him. It didn’t matter if she was his favorite Princess, this wasn’t his world, and he wasn’t himself. He was something different than what his dream had portrayed him as, and different tended to make the ponies of Equestria scared.

“Maybe staying near Ponyville was a bad idea,” he mused to himself before his sights turned to the town in question. A burning desire to go and talk to Twilight nagged at him, but a sense of realism kept his mind firm. The constant questions she’d ask him and her scientific nature in general would be to much for him to handle.

“Where will I go?” he asked not really expecting an answer. He may as well have been talking to the wind. 

Cyril sighed, his stomach growling again. Transforming into a raccoon, he scurried his way into Ponyville, pillaging the trashcans of the residents for a finale time. 


00000


The train had been traveling down the tracks for hours now. Cyril had no clue where he was currently headed, having snuck into one of the cars as the train passed, Cyril had hidden under the seats. Thankfully the car had been empty when he snuck in but when the train had gotten to the next stop, he had to hide under the seats as a rat. When he thought about it, choosing the form of a rat hadn’t been the best choice, but it was to late now.

When the Train stopped the second time, he was glad to see several pairs of hooves standing and leaving. He didn’t know where he had stopped at but by the sound of things from outside. He had to be in a city. When the train started rolling again, Cyril peeked his head out from under the seats. He only saw three ponies all of which sat near the front of the car.

Slipping to the back of the car, Cyril returned to his original form and quickly opened one of the windows before he transformed into a bird and flew out. The feel of the fresh air and the wind through his wings was exhilarating. Cyril always loved taking the form of a bird, the feeling of weightlessness, the ability to fly under his own power, it almost made being him worth it. It certainly made him feel better.

The time for enjoying his freedom passed quickly. Cyril once again found himself hungry, and the need to replenish his energy forced him to take in his surroundings. Behind him sat large skyscrapers. The city had been on the edge of water giving Cyril the impression that he had just left New York, of course he soon realized that it had been Manehatten that he had left, but that at least gave him a clue as to where he was at. 


Cyril couldn’t really see any settlements around Manehatten, of course Manehatten wasn’t far behind him so he didn’t really expect to find any villages around the area, however, the lack of any farms was strange. The show had once mentioned that Applejack had cousins in Manehatten, who ran an orange farm. The lack of even that farm was a cause for a little concern. Though thinking rationally, Cyril figured they owned the farm, not worked on it, and if that was the case, it wouldn’t be that big of a stretch to assume that the orange orchard could be somewhere else in Equestria, that of course meant no easy pickings for lunch.

Cyril thought about turning around and heading back to Manehatten, he could train the rats in the city to do his bidding and fetch him food, or better yet he could lurk as a cat and help rid the city of them. This was of course a joke that Cyril played out in his head. He wasn’t afraid of rats like most humans, and most likely ponies, but they were still disgusting creatures that carried diseases, and he didn’t want to get sick.

Of course he didn’t want to have to hunt for his food either. In fact what Cyril really wanted was to live in Ponyville like the character’s in the stories he’d read, it would make his day to be friends with the mane 6 and go on adventures with them, of course there was something that stopped him from going back, it was also the reason he didn’t go straight to Twilight when he figured out where he was.

The truth was Cyril was afraid. Afraid of being rejected by the mane 6, afraid that they might see him more as a monster than a person, more of a beast than a friend. When Twilight had found him, he thought about showing her his true form, try to talk to her and get her to understand his position, then he remembered that she had an obsession learn what made impossible things tick.

After his first encounter with Twilight, Cyril had thought long and hard one what the possible reactions of each of the mane 6 would be in regards to him. The outcomes were for the most part not pretty. Pinkie pie would probably think he was some kind of animal and throw him a dog themed party. She’d bring dog food instead of regular food, and she’d give him a collar and leash as a present.

Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be any better, she’d take every opportunity to degrade him, trying to force him to do petty tricks for her amusement. While it didn’t sound all that bad the thought of being degraded in such a manner just made him angry. Fluttershy was another one who’d see him as an animal, she’d be insistent on wanting to take care of him, feeding him, grooming him! Talking down to him like he was some common animal who needed to be trained! He wouldn’t have any of that!

Cyril didn’t see anything wrong that Applejack might do to him, she’d probably made a few jokes about him stealing apples, but she’d be playing, still she was more loyal to her immediate friends, if the others treated him like an animal, she’d be more inclined to follow them than him. Finally there was Rarity, she could potentially have been the worst, the fashionista would probably demand he take several animal forms while she designed ‘cute’ clothes for each form. She’d parade him around Ponyville like some stupid purse dog!

Cyril’s flying became erratic as a sudden downdraft threw off his flying sending him into a tail spin. The sudden feeling of helplessness caused him to panic, and he flapped his wings uselessly only serving to worsen the situation. Bits and pieces of memories flashed through his mind, before a sudden surge of concentration and anger forced his mind to clear of fear.
Closing his wings Cyril worked his tail to place him head down the anger from before was the only thing he could feel. This was nothing more than a challenge for him, a way to make himself better. The sky itself was challenging him and he was going to make damn sure it regretted it. When at last he finally got into position Cyril saw the ground. A glare worked it’s way into his eyes and his wings snapped open before he pulled up and swooped low to the ground.

In a matter of moments Cyril slowed down before he landed, and returned to normal. Once the adrenaline had worked it’s way out of his system, Cyril fell to the dirt, his chest nearly bursting with how fast his heart raced.

“That- that was way too close,” he said aloud, his voice shaking with the rest of his body. Cyril replayed what had happened in his head and he soon realized what had gone wrong, why he hadn’t adjusted to the downdraft. His anger had blinded him, made him forget what he was doing, kept him focusing on what he was doing so that what had just happened wouldn’t happen.

“What’s going on with me?” he asked. Cyril had never been one to let his anger take him like it had. Sure he had been known to get angry, hell even when he was in the Everfree he’d get mad at just about the stupidest things, but this wasn’t like that. The anger he had felt had bordered on...on hate? Cyril couldn’t recall ever hating anyone, and certainly he’d never once thought that he could hate any of the mane 6.

“No I don’t hate them,” he reassured himself, as he tried to stop his shaking. “I’m just not in the best of moods because of last night, yea that’s what it is, that dream’s got me angry,” With that Cyril stood, dusting the dirt off of his clothes before he took a look at where he was.

Turning to look at where he had come from, Cyril saw a drastic change in the landscape. Behind him there was grass and flowers, but as his eyes traced the invisible line of his course of flight he saw the grass become brown, before nothing but dirt met him. His eyes stopped short at his feet and he saw as a thin layer of dirt and dust had already begun to cover his clothes.

Shaking his head he tried to think of where he might be. Appleloosa came to mind but that didn’t make sense, Appleloosa should have been on the other side of Equestria, after all it was a completely different bioam than than Manehatten, if he was really around Appleloosa it should have been scorching hot out, however Cyril only found it mildly irritating.

There was only one way to really find out where he was, of course after nearly plummeting to his doom the thought of flying filled him with just a bit of trepidation. Pushing his fear away, Cyril went for a lower altitude than what he was used to. Flying low, Cyril could see above the hills and in the distance just barely contained by said hills he saw the outline of houses.

Circling around the village a bit, Cyril watched the ponies beneath him, the thought that they seemed so friendly crossed his mind, though something about them was off. They were all colorful, as ponies should be, but they were...dull. The colors seemed to have lost something about them.

It wasn’t until Cyril saw the only really colorful pony that he nearly fell from the sky a second time. Landing quickly Cyril watched the light purple mare, a deep burning hatred forming in his chest. She walked around and greeted ponies in a friendly voice. They greeted back just as friendly, and she went about her day. Turning his head Cyril saw her house, it was the only one not lined up with the others.

“Oh there’s no way in hell you’re getting away Starlight,” he thought to himself before he took off again this time looking for the cave where she no doubt held the cutie marks.