The boy Cyril, as he was known before he had come to Equestria, had hidden in the trees, as he watched Princess Twilight and her assistant Spike, as they made their way back to Ponyville, a task not at all hard, thanks to the thick canopy, and greenery, which concealed him well. Only when they had reached the edge of the Everfree, did Cyril find his pursuit mildly halted. Ponyville provided little to no cover for Cyril to hide himself, and a cursory glance showed that, while the animal population around Ponyville was small any appearance from him would get back to Fluttershy.
There was another reason for Cyril's hesitation, while difficult to see inside of the small village, Cyril could sense something lurking within the depths of it's citizens. Even though he could not see this threat he knew it sensed him, and it would wait for him to arrive. Suddenly in the distance from atop the tree branch which he had perched, he saw a flash of pink just above the thatched roofs of the houses. A brief shiver went down his spine, as his annalist instincts, told him to flee, that danger lurked within.
Pushing aside his fear, Cyril watched carefully as Twilight made a beeline straight for the town. Taking to wing, in the form of a hummingbird, he followed at a decent distance, just far enough to keep her in sight, but not so close to where she would hear him. Getting into Ponyville was easier than he would have expected, staying hidden, even easier. While the only creatures in the sky had consisted of him, and a few Pegasi, the sky was considerably clear of any traffic, and while that nagging feeling of danger still urged him to run, he shoved it to the back of his mind, at least for now.
Following Twilight through the town consisted of merely flying from one roof top to another, an act which had soon made him lose interest, why he was even following Twilight, escaped him, but at the time it seemed liked a good idea. Naturally to make his little trip a little more interesting, Cyril started to pretend he was a spy. Whenever Twilight would move out of his sight, he would zoom to the next roof, and wait for her to move out again. He even went so far as to hum the Mission Impossible theme song inside his head.
Cyril was confused, when he saw Twilight get to her Castle, only to turn around, leaving spike behind, and heading back the way she had originally came from. It didn't make sense to him, but as of right now his sole mission was observation. He followed close behind, humming theme songs to spy movies all the while. Following Twilight didn't drag on long, the moment she cleared the edge of Ponyville she began to sprint towards the Everfree.
Cyril followed still confused, until Twilight changed directions yet again. In the distance he could clearly see, a stream, barely separating the lush green fields from the tangled branches of the Everfree. Cyril, understood what Twilight was doing now. The princess had been more intrigued by his appearance, than he had first thought, and was thus seeking counsel with the local animal expert, in other words, she was going to Ask Fluttershy if she knew anything about him, or rather him as a wolf.
If he had lips, he would have smiled sadly. Instead he dived towards Twilight, the sudden sound of something coming towards her, caused her to turn around, however, Cyril had already transformed into a flee, having landed in her mane, Cyril stayed still, not wanting Twilight to itch, an act that could potentially cause him harm. Cyril found Twilight's mane to be fairly warm, though he noted with disgust that she needed to buy shampoo designed to fight dandruff. Were he not trying to find a way to remain hidden, both in Twilight's mane and his personal life, he might have ran right then.
From atop the Alicorn's head; using several strands of her hair to mask the green of his skin, Cyril watched Twilight knock on Fluttershy's door. A short pause later, revealed Fluttershy; hiding behind the door, before opening it all the way. She had a timid yet pleasant smile on her face, as she stepped aside to allow Twilight room to enter her home.
"Oh Twilight, I wasn't expecting you to come over today, I should have cleaned up a bit," Fluttershy said, as she quickly began to move through her spotless home as she tried to find something out of place to clean.
"It's alright Fluttershy, you're home isn't that dirty," Twilight replied, ignoring her friends timid nature, as she was used to it "I'm sorry I came over unannounced but I wanted to ask you about an animal I saw in the Everfree,"
"An animal?" Fluttershy visibly perked up at that. "Oh what kind was it? was it a cute little bunny, or a squirrel, or maybe even a porcupine?" Fluttershy had lost all visibly signs of being a shy pony, she now had her face pressed to Twilight's; a look of indescribable, elation on her face, which only seemed to strengthen each time she mentioned an animal. Noticing how close she was, Fluttershy smiled meekly as she backed up, her attempts at hiding behind her mane, more prominent than ever.
"It was a wolf," Twilight smiled, it wasn't often that Fluttershy showed this side of herself, Twilight had only seen it a few times and it was decidedly a nice change from the usual meek and shy demure nature of Fluttershy.
Cyril decided he needed to get a better view, moving as slowly as he could, he moved Twilight's hair out of the way before quickly jumping as far as he could, ultimately he would not make it to any nearby shelves or tables, but a quick transformation, had him flying away with ease. Twilight looked up, confused as to where the slight buzzing had come from, but finding nothing she turned back to face Fluttershy. Cyril himself flew and landed on a nearby wall, from his position he could see all of the room.
"Don't you wish that you were just a fly on the wall?" he sang in his head, his current form bringing new light to the lyrics, as he clung to the wall, one hundred eye's simultaneously scanning the room, both for danger, and to keep an eye on Twilight.
"A wolf?" Fluttershy asked, she seemed a bit concerned, and it was understandable, wolves were predators, and while wolves didn't make a habit of attacking ponies, they had been known to in times of great desperation and hunger, though Timberwolves were another matter entirely, Twilight didn't mention Timberwolves only a wolf.
"Fluttershy, have you ever heard of a wolf with...green fur?" Twilight asked, it was an odd question, and Twilight expected to get an odd stare.
"...No I don't think I have, why do you ask?"
"Well I saw one in the Everfree Forest an-" Twilight started only to be cut off by Fluttershy.
"What were you doing in the Everfree Forest by yourself, I thought we agreed we'd never go in there unless we had somepony with us." Fluttershy's tone was sweet but chastising, a feat that Cyril had to admit, he had never thought her possible. Her animals yes, he could see her chastise angel countless times, along with other animals, but she never really spoke more than a whisper. Cyril had seen her disappointed and sad, yes, but this was not that, it was as if Fluttershy wasn't a shy little pony anymore.
"I know Fluttershy, and I wasn't alone, I had Spike with me, besides, I had to go. Ditzy said she saw the crusaders go in the forest, and she couldn't stop them, so she told me." Twilight explained. It seemed to satisfy Fluttershy, to a degree, though now she was worried about the girls.
"The girls weren't hurt were they?"
"No, I found them running out of the forest, screaming something about a monster. Naturally I decided to go check it out, you know in case it decided to come into Ponyville."
"To late!" Cyril thought.
"That's when I saw the wolf. It was just staring at the water an absent look in it's eyes. Then it looked up, saw me and Spike and it ran." Twilight explained. Cyril mentally cursed himself for that, he'd let his guard down, and because of that, he was currently in this position.
"You're sure it's fur was green? It might have been covered in moss or other plant life," Fluttershy suggested, halfheartedly. Even she knew, Twilight sounded sure. She was beginning to wonder just what Twilight would do, when she found the wolf. Nothing to hurtful, she knew, but Twilight was a scientist after all, and she would definitely do experiments on the wolf if she caught it.
"I'm positive. I watched it drink from a stream, and the green fur stayed the same shade as before it's muzzle went into the water. it definitely has green fur," Twilight exclaimed, her eyes a light with excitement.
“So do you plan to go after the wolf then?” Twilight nodded, the thought of doing anything else never entered her head.
“Yea I wanna head out first thing tomorrow, so I can have an early start.” Fluttershy nodded along with her, it made sense. Looking out the window she saw the sun would set in an hour or so.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to go with you…” Twilight stared open mouthed at her friend, which caused the shy Pegasus to hide behind her mane. “I just want to make sure the wolf doesn’t hurt himself or you, besides if I’m with you, I might be able to keep him calm,” She whispered. Twilight noted the tremor in her voice.
“I don’t mind if you join me, besides I need somepony to go with me anyways, after the scare Spike had today, I don’t think he’d want to look for that wolf so soon,” Again Fluttershy started to get worked up, at the news, thankfully Twilight quickly calmed her down. “Spike wasn’t hurt, just a little shaken.”
The two talked for a bit more, but Cyril didn’t really listen afterwards. He caught bits and pieces of their conversation, like how Twilight mentioned she had a crush on some stallion named Flash something or other, but it was only gossip, and wasn’t really useful to him. When the time for Twilight to head home came, Cyril flew towards the door.
The door was opened and before either pony could notice the fly, he was gone. Cyril quickly turned into a hawk before flying to a nearby tree. Thankfully Cyril had anticipated that the two ponies; despite their goodbyes, would continue to talk, if for only a few extra seconds, enough time for him to move away from the cottage and still observe Twilight from a safe distance. Cyril continued to follow her, but it soon became apparent that she was headed for her Castle.
Cyril, not wanting to return to the Everfree just yet, circled Ponyville. Up above the town looked peaceful, in the distance Cyril could see the sun as it began to set, lighting Sweet apple acres in a plethora of brilliant colors ranging from magenta to golden yellow. Cyril saw the top of town hall, and got an idea. Flying towards the top, Cyril perched himself on the wind vane. Sitting on the tallest building in Ponyville, Cyril could watch the sunset; something he couldn’t do very often.
Closing his eye’s Cyril unfurled his wings halfway, letting the gentle breeze brush his against his wings. Reflecting on his past month or so, he realized he enjoyed this form. He was free to go where he wished, and nothing could stop him. after a few minutes Cyril unfurled his wings all the way, as he enjoyed this moment. Nothing could ruin this small bit of peace.
Suddenly something hit Cyril in the head, causing him to let out an involuntary screech of pain. This caught the attention of a few ponies still out and about, but thankfully they couldn’t see him. Rubbing his head with a wing Cyril looked around trying to find what had hit him. He only needed to look for a few second, before his eyes landed on a small blue cube. In his current form the cube could be considered mildly big, however if he were human it might fit in the palm of his hand.
Moving closer to the cube, Cyril saw it glow with a faint blue light. Cyril gave it a light peck, before jumping back, unsure of what might happen. When he found himself still alive, he moved closer to inspect it. The cube was in perfect symmetry, and he was hard pressed to find any imperfection with the cube. It may have been his vision as a Hawk, but Cyril wanted to take the cube back home with him.
The cube was to large for him to carry with his talons, so Cyril looked around and saw a stray bit of cloth, that looked like it had belonged to a banner. Making sure nopony was watching, He dive bombed the cloth, before quickly returning to the cube, smirking to himself as nopony seemed to wiser. Cyril quickly laid the cloth out and went to push the cube onto it, but he stopped when he noticed writing.
Taking a closer look he saw that each letter was a different color. The entire banner was covered with glitter and the words “Welcome to Ponyville strange bird creature,” written in large bold colors A shiver went down Cyril’s spine as the feeling of dread from earlier today returned. Cyril wrapped the cube as fast as his form would allow before quickly taking to the air, as he headed back to the Everfree and his den.