I left the pond several hours ago. I took into account of the placement of the sun and figured out where east was. I then proceeded to head north through the tall trees of this shadowy forest. The underbrush was negligible and seemingly nonexistent the farther north I went. Soon however I came upon a point where the underbrush became not only thicker, but a defining feature of the landscape.
I was hungry for blood. I needed something to eat soon, or I’d begin to starve. The green canopy of the forest allowed for many shadows to be created on the game trails I continued to follow. Not only were they useful, but they kept me from over exerting my body's precious calories that I so desperately needed. I found that I didn’t need as much food as I normally did when I was human.
The forest was in a very hilly landscape that seemed to have short cliffs that a human body would be able to easily climb over, but my wolf body couldn’t. The brush was so thick that I could only at most see twelve feet in front of me, and only a foot to my sides. I found this stressful in the human world when I went hunting. But now, I know that I’m the predator that can use this to his advantage, rather than fear the unknown lurking inside it. I knew there was wildlife around me; the bushes occasionally shook with critters running through them to safe locations.
I knew I would eventually run into a small animal if I continued on the game trail. It would only be a matter of time before one crosses my path, while trying to conserve its energy on one of nature’s roads.
But then a thought almost as important as the destination itself came to my mind. In fact it affected the destination itself.
Which way is north?
I asked this to myself more because I’m on an alien planet. What if instead of the sun raising in the east, it rose in the west? What if the planet spun on its axis the other way? Could this mean that when I looked for east, I actually found west, and I was heading south right now? What if North, South, East, and West were at different points? This thought troubled me greatly.
I needed to find an animal to speak to.
I put my nose in the air and took a deep breath through my nose. The cool air of the forest flowed into my lungs and I found there was a gathering of animals nearby. Possibly another safe clearing they found, like the one I found the other day. I took in another whiff of air, to be sure the direction I smelled it in was correct. I was off by a few degrees. Either that, or they were moving.
I looked up at the canopy again and tried to get an idea of the thickness of the trees. I did this because I wanted to find the most shadows to hide in. I noticed the game trail possibly was the brightest thing in my current position, and the sun didn’t shine through the canopy all that much to begin with. The leaves on the trees seemed to rise as high as they could go. The bushes and fauna seemed to try to wrap around the trees and follow them up into the sky. This made very green, leafy trees which hosted the underbrush to free leverage on the other small bushes.
This made it impossible to see the horizon even if I was able to stand twelve feet off the ground. But it made perfect hiding places for me, so I took it without a second thought. I moved down the trail with a quickened pace and found a space in the hedge for me to slip through without making much noise.
I found myself in a maze of twigs and leaves that had little to no space between plant life. I was constantly aware of the noise the animals were making, as they spoke to each other in the chatter a squirrel would use. I crouched low and slowly moved forward through the leaves. I made sure to stop whenever I made too much noise.
Slowly creeping forward, I was able to open up the bushes in front of me with my snout, to part the leaves quietly. I immediately froze when no less than two feet in front of me, was a small rabbit that wasn’t looking in my direction. I moved my snout back and let the leaves quietly move back into position as I peeked through the cracks of the leaves. There were two beavers in front of him, both to my right.
I ran a mental checklist to remain undetected so I can successfully neutralize the beavers. Or at least one, and run off with its carcass. I needed to proceed carefully, too. Beavers have sharp teeth, although they aren’t used for hunting it didn’t make them any less dangerous. Those teeth are specifically made to bite chunks of wood off of trees. So biting through my coat would be child’s play.
“Wait, Fluttershy has a bear hanging at her cottage?” the bunny spoke. “Isn’t that dangerous?” I couldn’t tell what facial expressions it was making, but its ears flopped down and his head tilted to the left.
“Well actually,” the beaver on the left said while pointing his finger in the air, giving him an intelligent aura about him. “If Miss Fluttershy allows him on her property, so he must have to hunt fish outside of the cottage. He’s actually more docile than you’d think. I’ve seen him having tea parties with her.” he lowered his finger and put both his paws on his hips.
The other beaver looked at him with a quizzical expression. “Wait, you’ve been there? I thought you’d have to go through hydra territory?” the beaver crossed his arms.
The rabbit raised its ears to the sky and looked at the beaver that gave an intelligent air about him. I snuck a little closer to hear better, if he at all gives any indication of which direction this ‘Fluttershy’ is then I’d probably be able to find which way is truly north.
“If you want to get to Fluttershy’s place without worrying about hydras, you’ll need to build a raft. There’s a river over there-” he pointed to what I thought was northeast. “-that flows straight to her cottage. Just let the water take you there while you rest on the raft.” he smiled fondly at the memory and put both his paws on his cheeks while giving a ridiculous content smile. “Oh man, I remember it well. I was able to fall asleep in the warm sun, while the river took me all the way there. I ended up beached at a small lake that connected to a stream that led to her place.”
Ok well, that was convenient; I now know a way to get to this pony's place. I hope that she’s actually in Ponyville, rather than in the forest. This’ll get difficult if I have to communicate with a pony to find the town. But I still worry about accidently getting myself lost, or scaring her and becoming public enemy number one. I also need to see if ponies are ok with carnivores walking around their town. But considering this ‘Fluttershy’ supposedly has a friend that’s a bear, I can be guaranteed I won’t be instantly driven off by ponies with pitchforks.
I also have the luxury of being able to eat the three animals in front of me. I did have the element of surprise on my side, but considering the two beavers are looking in the direction of the bunny they’d instantly turn tail and book it to somewhere safe…
Somewhere safe... THE RIVER! Why not? If they see me, then logically they’ll run for safety, which is the river. If I’m fast enough, they’d only see a figure snatch up their friend and disappear, they’d have no reason to believe I’m a wolf that can swim, even if they knew what I was. So far, all I know is that I’m so rare around here that every animal that would see me won’t know what I am anyway. Considering the small amount of light that’s getting into the trail would keep me hidden in the shadow.
I coiled my muscles to be ready for a strike, while I waited for my opportunity. The intelligent beaver’s friend responded with a skeptical look and kept his arms crossed. “How’d you get back then? If you went down stream then you’d have to get back paddling up river.” he asked skeptically.
The other beaver rubbed his head sheepishly while giving a guilty smile. “Yeah you’d have to paddle, just a little bit though.” he relaxed and looked at his friend seriously, and continued his tale. “But believe it or not, I met a river dragon on my way back upstream. He basically lives in the river and he’s very nice. He only eats fish, so you don’t have to worry about him. He helped me get back upstream by making a wave that carried me all the way back here.”
I rolled my eyes, but I took the story seriously. If I was to meet a river monster of some kind that happened to talk to me, I’d have to make sure I don’t make him mad.
Pushing the thought to side for later, I moved forward a little so that the leaves were beginning to part, but not enough so that I’d be exposed to the two animals close to me. The bunny’s ears lowered and it subtly confirmed its hearing wasn’t good enough to pick up on my expert creeping. I took the moment to prepare my lunge, when there was a loud roar from far away to the right that caught the party of three’s attention.
I knew the animal was too far away to really matter, so while the beavers were distracted, I shot out my head and snapped my jaws around the neck around the now alerted bunny, instantly killing it. I quickly pulled my head back and went deeper into the bushes. The beavers looked at where their rabbit companion was previously located, and noticed the rabbit sized movement of the hedges.
The beaver on the left spoke up, but I wasn’t able to see what he was doing. “Where’d you go?”
I backed up so I wouldn’t be out of sight. I was loud enough so they actually still thought the bunny was running away.
“Hey come back! The Manticore wasn’t that close! I think it was actually on the other side of the river.” I assumed the other beaver spoke.
The voices are too similar to tell them apart. The reason why I was able to tell that the intelligent one spoke up was because I was close enough to tell distance. Now that I’m six feet away from them, and they’ve moved, I can’t tell who’s talking.
I carried my kill away from them into a tall bush about a dozen feet away from them, so they wouldn’t discover me. I started pulling off the rabbit’s skin and devouring it on the spot. I made sure to be silent while I ate so the beavers wouldn’t get suspicious. I was in a very shady bush and it would take a lot of wind to push the scent of dead rabbit out of the bush. For a while, I will be able to eat in peace before crows and scavengers come to pick at what I don’t eat. Which are usually the intestines that digest food.
I finished up while keeping my ear on the beavers that now were heading toward the river. Even the roar of a dangerous creature didn’t deter them. They must be heading for the river if they’re going toward it. If that’s true, then they’ll be making a raft to get there if I remember the story correctly. Maybe I can hitch a ride, and if not, then I’ll have to follow them. But first, I need to get rid of the stench of death in my mouth and on my coat.
I’m going to have to beat them to the river.
I quickly dispatched in the direction I knew the beavers were going. I tread as carefully as I could toward the river, without moving too many leaves to alert the beavers to my position. I moved through the shadowed woods while carefully avoiding too many twigs and leaves. I noticed light up ahead. The bushes were beginning to part and the trees were getting shorter with less competition for light. I pushed through a hedge and came up upon a small cliff that dropped ninety degrees. It wasn’t that tall though and I was at the top of it, a large river was in view from my perch on this small overhang. A meter below me was the shore to the beach.
I turned to my left and went down a less intimidating slope to the slightly muddy grass shore. I trotted over to the water and gave it an analyzing look. I detected nothing that warranted my attention and started lapping up water into my mouth. I didn’t drink it, but made sure the water got all over the inside of my mouth before letting it fall back to the whispering river. I then waited a few seconds and realized my coat might actually also smell like fresh kill, so I jumped in while creating a splash.
Now I tried to dog paddle, but that failed miserably, so I was beginning to panic and get carried away by the river. Thankfully, I suddenly found myself in shallow water and climbed up onto shore with a new perspective on life.
‘Note to self: Learn to swim.’
Now dogs are naturals at swimming and I can doggy paddle well enough. But there’s a difference to doggy paddling when you’re human, as opposed to being an actual dog. For one more surface area because of hands. My slim paws did nothing in this situation.
I quickly cleared my mind of the almost-catastrophe and shook the water off of myself like a dog. The sensation of my coat moving around was new to me and I was puzzled by the feeling. I remembered my priorities and went back up to that small incline I found when I first laid eyes on the river. I walked up the slope and stood over the river by the low cliff-face that hung next to a river, like a natural diving board. Except with the part that hangs over the water itself. I laid down on my stomach and waited for the slow-moving beavers to arrive.
I watched for a short while until the little light brown creatures came into view. I smiled upon seeing them and put my plan in motion. I waited for them to get by the shore. They walked on the green grass of the low ground, while I got a top down view of them. They were at least far enough to be twenty feet away from me and about two feet from the river. I noticed at least one log near them that looks like it’s been cut from a tree recently. It was at least a few feet from them.
“Hello there!” I greeted them as warmly as I could.
They froze and looked afraid for a moment and quickly turned to look in my direction. Apparently I must have blended in with the dark rock of the cliff face. They must have seen me sitting down on top of the cliff, but dismissed me as a rock. I put that down as a mental note that I can hide in the sun, if I put myself in the right place. They began looking at each other with questioning gazes.
“Did you hear that?” asked the one on the left with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes. Was that a voice?” questioned the one closest to me.
I mentally slapped myself, before getting a devilish idea. Why not be the mysterious stranger, eh? Seem smarter than I actually am. Although to be honest, I’m probably the most intelligent animal on the planet, considering I’m human and I have a lot of survival knowledge, along with a few scientific theories. Also, with the majority of gathered knowledge over the years of being in high school, college, and being a Discovery channel fanatic. The Travel and History channels are cool too.
So if anything, if someone fit the wise old wolf… the elder of a pack of one. That would be me.
With a renewed outlook on who I am, I stood up and spoke to them again. Now that I wasn’t on the ground sunbathing to dry my damp coat, I was able to be more visible to them.
“Over here!” I replied and they looked in my direction and saw me standing up.
They both had a look of apprehension and both turned to face toward me and crouched down. They seemed to go rigid and I laughed audibly and walked around the small ledge. I merrily and slowly trotted down the slope and they took a step back. I stopped fifteen feet from them after seeing their apprehensiveness.
“Can you calm down please? All I ask is a little help getting to a town called Ponyville.” I deadpanned trying to be civil.
The one closest to me stood up on its hind paws and tilted its head in confusion. His friend behind him looked up at him and slowly rose to his feet too. The one that stood up in first, scratched his chin in contemplation while narrowing his eyes at me.
“Why do you need help with getting to Ponyville?” he asked suspiciously. “And where’s your pack? he looked nervously at the tree line.
I nodded my head and complied by giving them an answer. “I’m on my way to Ponyville to learn more about ponies, and maybe meet a few other animals. As for my pack, I don’t have one. I’m from the Ezo family of the wolf species. I’m from a previously-believed extinct race.”
My tail began to wag slowly, I wasn’t really sure why either.
“Previously believed?” the one behind his friend spoke up and crossed his arms. “What happened?”
Before I could answer, his friend interrupted me and gave him a sour look. “Is this really the time for a history lesson?”
His friend looked sheepishly at him. “Hehe, right. Sorry.”
“You guys don’t mind if I approach you, right?” I asked, looking at them innocently.
The more cautious of the two looked at me with an aggravated glare and held out a paw in front of his friend to silence him. “How do we know you wouldn’t eat us, when you get close?” he asked suspiciously.
I thought for a moment. I actually put my paw under my chin and rubbed it in thought, while looking down at the ground. I then thought of a reason for them to trust me.
“You didn’t see me up on the hill, because I didn’t want you to. It’s the reason why my race is thought to be extinct. We just chose not to show ourselves to anything. We live in the shadows, and you’ll only find us if we want you to. If I wanted to eat you, I would have done so while you were talking to the white rabbit.” I explained, stating events to prove my secrecy.
I said that not to freak them out, but to show that I could have taken them whenever I wanted. Their eyes widened and the one behind his friend had to pick up his now-slackened jaw.
“H-how do you know him?” the cautious one asked while going on all fours.
“I was actually a no less than two feet behind one of you-” I lied. “-when you had the conversation about the one pony…” I stopped when I couldn’t recall the name and asked them, “Uh, what was her name, again?”
“F-Fluttershy.” answered the one farthest from me.
He was the one who was talking about the pony Fluttershy a few minutes ago. I nodded my head in confirmation and repeated the name several times in my head. I then focused back to the conversation at hand and I looked at them with a bit of a grin.
“Anyway, I wanted to see this place for myself and I’d like you to help me get there. I assumed you were just preparing to leave. Am I correct or no?” I asked as friendly as I could.
“N-” the cautious beaver was cut off by his friend from behind him.
“Yes. We were going to Ponyville soon. But what why do you want our help? I’m sure you can just walk there without much trouble. I mean, we couldn’t see you, even when you tried to get our attention.” he reasoned.
“True as that is. I’d rather hitch a ride on a raft that will take me to my destination, instead of walking through hydra territory and have to worry about everywhere I sleep.” I reply giving him a small frown at the thought of being woken up by a mythical creature that would most likely want to eat me.
The one that interrupted his friend thought for a moment, while his friend started shaking his head already knowing the answer.
“Well ok, I guess we can let you on our raft upstream. But no funny business.” he warned while shaking his finger… paw-finger-thing.
“Fair enough. I’ll follow you guys around and maybe give you heads up if anything is nearby.” I told them.
“Wait, what do you mean? You’ll be right here, right?” asked the closest and the most cautious one.
I snickered and shook my head. “Well I’m not going to let you guys get away so easily. I need to get to Ponyville soon before I have to hunt, and if you guys try to run off and not help me, I might as well keep up with you so you can become lunch later.” I half threatened, half reasoned.
They both narrowed their eyes at me and put their paws on their hips in disapproval.
“Well, you can’t really expect rainbows and sunshine from me now, can you?” I teased them, chuckling for a bit.
I found myself looking at the longer shadows of the trees. I took a peek at the sky and noticed the sun was only just above the trees. It was becoming night time and we needed shelter. I sniffed the air and spun around to my left in a three-sixty, when I became aware of a strange and lovely aroma. It was a scent that my body reacted to strangely. I began to feel safe when I smelled it.
Also a little tired.
The two beavers looked at me strangely while I searched for the scent in place. I realized the scent was a little ways in the woods, so I had to trek a little bit to get there.
“You ok?” asked the one behind his friend.
I looked back at them and smiled. “Yeah, I smell something lovely. I think flowers. Not sure, need to check that out later. Anyways, the sun is going down and we need a place to sleep.”
“Well, we already have a den we share. It’s upstream though and you have to get in through the bottom. So you’ll have to sleep somewhere else.” explained the cautious one, a little relieved, while his voice seemed agitated. More toward me though.
“I’m fine with that. Can’t say I want to sleep in a stick home. I’ll find some meadow or fluffy bush to sleep in. I’ll be here sometime in the morning, so meet me here. Though if you chose to not help me, do me some courtesy and leave an X on the ground with four sticks so I know you don’t want to help me.” I told them.
Might as well give them a way to back-out without simply ditching me. I don’t really want to wait a whole day to get an answer.
“Ok, that seems reasonable.” replied the one farthest from me, with a nod of his head.
His friend looked skeptical, but nodded his head too. I decided I’d move on and get to finding whatever that smell was. In fact it’s been on my mind most of the time. I really wanted to find out what it was so I left without saying goodbye. I walked up the slope that they walked through and onto the game trail.
I picked up the pace and didn’t even bother to look behind me to see if they were high-tailing it or collecting sticks to make that X. I walked deeper into the woods and lost the scent, but I knew which direction it was, so I took a sharp left when I found a space between the hedges. The forest became darker now that the shadows were longer and the sun was setting. I angled left a bit and suddenly found the faint scent I smelled only moments ago.
I picked up my pace as I got closer, not caring if something heard me. My nose and my subconscious seemed to be screaming something to me that I couldn’t decipher, and I wanted to know. The sweet scent got stronger, but not by all that much. My body rubbed against a lot of bushes and branches creating a loud rustling of leaves as I walked into the shadowy woods. I soon broke through the maze of hedges and came upon a clearing.
I froze when I saw what was before me. It was a large clearing about thirty feet in diameter where the forest dared not to encroach. In the center was a large patch of small blue flowers, that looked suspiciously like roses. I knew they weren’t because I knew what a rose smelled like, and these didn’t smell that way. They almost seemed threatening, in a way.
But I walked forward and took that threat as a challenge. I looked down at the small blue flower and looked at the yellow pollen it held. I trotted forward into the small patch of blue flowers, and every step was like walking on a soft bed. The flowers felt like silk on my padded paws. I got to the center and sat down. It was comfy.
I decided this is where I would sleep. But I wondered if my new friends would hear me if I began to howl. So I howled the howl of friendship Zander taught me. Might as well use what he gave me, right? He gave it to me for a reason, and I hoped that it would make the beavers trust me.
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The two beavers waded up river, conserving energy as they fought against the current. They reached a small log hut that floated on the water and was connected to the shore by several logs. They went underwater and swam under the wood hut, entering through a hole in the bottom. They entered a tiny room that could fit five guests, with enough room for food to be stored. A small glassless window was on the side of the wooden structure.
“Ok what’s for dinner?” asked the one who reluctantly agreed to the conditions of the wolf.
“Some carrots I got from a bunny.” replied the one who already made the trip to Ponyville.
He walked over to the wall of the hut and pulled some wood aside to reveal an assortment of carrots. He grabbed one and tossed it to his friend, before grabbing one for himself. They then began eating the carrots and relaxing in the wooden shelter.
“Hey do you really think trusting the wolf was a good idea? I mean he could eat us after all.” stated the cautious friend, as he lay on his back trying to sleep.
His friend did the same and looked at the ceiling. “I dunno. But he didn’t eat us when he could have.”
“He could be saving us for later.” his friend replied morbidly.
The other beaver thought about it. He thought hard and long, until he finally could respond. “I don’t know, but there’s something about him that seems-”
He was interrupted by a howl. A howl that carried a familiar pitch to the wolf they were just talking too. The howl began low and then the temp rose to be higher. Then it started dilating into a rhythmic changing of high notes. The low note seemed to start the song in a way to show low to high, so when the high notes were reached it seemed cheerful. Like it was made to portray something happy to a howl that was normally associated with a predator that hunted you in your sleep.
The beaver thought before finishing his sentence. “different.”