Cyril jumped back into the stream by his den for the tenth time that day and began to scrub his fur furiously. “Come off!” he yelled as, raking his nails over his skin again and again but despite his attempts to wash the ink and paint off of him, the black and brown pigment would not leave.
After nearly half an hour of scrubbing furiously Cyril walked out of the stream. Transforming into a dog, he shook the extra water off his body before returning to normal. Spotting his clothes nearby, Cyril got dressed. Spotting his belt, he slung it over his shoulder before moving towards a fallen tree.
Retrieving Twilight’s book Cyril cracked it open to the first page and began to read. Subject appears to be a member of the Canis Lupis otherwise known as a Timber wolf (Not to be confused with a Timberwolf made of actual wood) The only distinguishing features of the subject is it’s dark green and black fur. Initial observation leads me to believe that the Subject’s pigment is in fact not due to outside forces, however closer inspection is required to confirm this theory.
Observation time of the subject ranged anywhere between three to five minutes during which time the subject was observed drinking from a stream and batting at the water. Upon discovering my assistant and I, the subject ran. In my excitement I chased after it and nearly put my assistant in danger.
Cyril read more but it mostly consisted of theories and how his fur was green, and what he ate, as well as to the level of his intelligence, nothing however gave any indication that Twilight suspected that he was anything more than a wolf. After a while Cyril stashed the book in his den before he transformed into a fox and darted into the Everfree. He was starting to get hungry and he needed to scout ahead if he wanted to find anything, and going back to Ponyville right now would prove to be a bad idea.
It wasn’t hard to find something to chase after, after all the Everfree was full of animals, though most of them proved to be predators, they could still be killed it just required a certain amount of skill. Sniffing the air Cyril could smell his prey nearby. A glance at it’s tracks told him he was hunting a type of bird. If he had to guess, he’d say it was a chicken. Cyril had to stop though as he noticed something odd about the tracks. It looked like something had been dragged across the ground.
Shaking his head Cyril continued sneaking through the bushes. Cyril could have used the form of a wolf or a raptor to hunt but both forms were too large, it would have been a waste of energy to use them to hunt a simple chicken. The hunt took an hour, but Cyril had long since learned to be patient when hunting, too many nights without food had been a good teacher.
Cyril’s pursuit of his prey lasted nearly an hour before he could hear it. Peaking from his hiding spot, Cyril spotted what he had been pursuing. The creature had the head of a chicken as well as the legs, but everything else was covered in scales. It’s tail was long like that of a snake and it had two small bat like wings. Cyril froze as he stared at the back of a cocktrice. Instinct told him to run and flee before it spotted him, but hunger told him to continue the hunt.
Instinct would only get him so far and so as quietly as he could Cyril moved to another bush that put him closer to the cockatrice. It was over before the cockatrice even knew Cyril was there. The second the cockatrice lowered its head to peck at the ground, Cyril pounced and grabbed it by the neck. A quick snap of his teeth stopped the cockatrice from trying to struggle.
Cyril was about to claim his prize and return home when he stopped. The feeling of being watched crept up his spine making his ears swivel trying to catch any source of movement. There was a snap behind him, and Cyril turned, fear making him forget his abilities. A strange creature stood before him. It’s face was made of wood, and had strange markings on it, yet Cyril knew it wasn’t a timberwolf, it’s body was much to small and only it’s face was made of wood.
Cyril froze as he suddenly remembered something. He and the creatures of the Everfree were not the only ones who lived here. Cyril mentally cursed, and prepared to run, thought before he could do anything, the creature lifted a hoof and slowly removed the wooden mask. Staring back at him with a curious look in her eyes was the Zebra, Zecora.
“A creature of terror who turns you to stone, a meal for the fox with origins unknown, yet your fur is quite the mess, come with me for proper rest,” the Zebra said as she turned in the opposite direction.
Cyril however stayed put. During his month in the Everfree he had scouted Zecora’s hut and tried to make a note of where it was, but it proved hard. The Everfree was hard to navigate and the further in he went the harder it became to see. he never did find Zecora’s hut. Now though he wasn’t sure if he should follow her. He was pretty sure she wouldn’t try and capture him, but who’s to say she didn’t see him as nothing more than an animal of the Everfree.
Zecora stopped when she noticed Cyril wasn’t following her. “I see you think this all too hasty, but my home for you holds only safety,” Cyril stared up at her, but couldn't find any hint of deception in her voice.
Cyril decided to follow the Zebra, if bad turned to worse, he could always shrink into an insect and fly away, or he could turn into a tiger and scare her until she backed off. Either way worked, but only the former really appealed to him. He wasn’t much for scaring ponies when he didn’t need to.
Zecora smiled as she watched Cyril grab the dead cockatrice before following her. The trek through the Everfree proved to be short. A path had been carved through the Everfree which lead straight towards Zecora’s hut. This of course led Cyril to question if he was a moron or not, as it seemed to connect Zecora’s hut with Ponyville.
Zecora opened the door before stepping inside. Cyril followed close behind, the cockatrice still in his mouth. When he entered, Zecora began to mix several ingredients together while she mumbled to herself in her native language. Cyril didn’t even attempt to try and understand what she was going on about, he was more concerned with if he should eat the cockatrice now or save it for later.
Cyril didn’t get the chance to decided as Zecora spoke again. “This brew I whipped up just for you, again your fur shall be brand new,” she said as she gestured to the cauldron in the center of the hut. The fire had been extinguished, and the liquid inside didn’t appear to be bubbling and Cyril didn’t see any steam rising from the top. The image of Zecora being an evil Enchantress briefly popped into his head, her attempts at making him jump into the cauldron did little to help her case but Cyril pushed aside trepidation, Zecora had proven in the past that she only wanted to help. Slowly approaching the cauldron Cyril took a leap of faith as he literally leaped into the liquid. Cyril went under only to resurface a moment later yapping in surprise.
“I should have warned you not to be bold, the waters inside are mighty cold,” she laughed as Cyril glared his teeth chattering.
Despite the coldness of the brew, Cyril found himself dunking his head underneath. The ink and paint still smelled even now that they had dried and it was frankly making his nose burn with irritation, however as he used the water to clean himself off, he could slowly feel himself growing tired.
00000
Twilight paced back and forth in her study, her bags and everything that had been inside it were scattered across her desk. Everything had been noted. Pictures had been taken of the scene before anything was moved, samples of ink dirt and blood and fur left from the wolf had been taken and tested extensively. Twilight had even measured the prints the wolf had left in the ink.
Twilight was at the end of her wits, nothing about the wolf made any sense. It’s fur had a strange cellular structure about it that wasn’t consistent with any known breed of wolf she had encountered. Its blood proved to hold even more mysteries. The blood cells had a transmorph property to them as they constantly shifted from one cellular structure to another. The blood itself was completely chaos if the blood came from this wolf there should be no way it was alive.
Scans aimed at trying to find a magical signature proved useless, for whatever reason, the wolf seemed to lack any connection to magic at all. This was strange in itself because everything needed magic to live, if the wolf didn’t have any magic...well Twilight didn’t know what that meant, other than she couldn’t track it.
“Uh! How did it get in!” she practically screamed.
“Twilight calm down,” Spike called getting the frantic mare’s attention. She turned on the small drake with a look in her eye.
“How can I calm down when this wolf is so biologically impossible!” Twilight asked as she turned to assess her collected data hoping to find an answer, “Besides Spike what if it got in again...what if it’s already here?” she asked turning about franticly.
Spike face palmed, dragging his claws slowly down his face before shaking his head. “Twilight if you’re so concerned with the wolf being here, just use a detection spell,” he groaned.
The world seemed to freeze for a moment as the words sank in. The silence frightened the young dragon as it often meant something bad would come next. “Spike you're a genius!” Twilight proclaimed as she turned to face said dragon.
“Uh, I am?” Spike asked hesitantly. If he had given Twilight an idea she might make him help, and while he didn’t mind helping her, more often than not when she became obsessed with something, it meant hours of hard work and little sleep.
“Yes. See I can’t uses any detection or tracking spells on the wolf because the spell has no magic to track, however, I always put tracking spells on every book I own,” Twilight said happily as she began to gather several things.
“Why?” Spike asked. It was a simple question though his meaning seemed lost on Twilight. “Why do you have tracking spells on all your books?” he clarified.
“It’s an old habit from when we lived in Golden oaks, plus I might never have gotten my Daring Do books back from Rainbow Dash if I hadn’t,” Twilight laughed as she turned to the shredded remains of her bags, before sighing and putting everything back. “I guess I’ll just have to bring the wolf back,” She mumbled to herself.
With that said and done, Twilight powered up her horn and headed towards the Everfree. It was of course no surprise where the tracking spell had been leading her, she already knew the wolf lurked in the forest. The spell lead her to a small clearing but that’s where it stopped. Twilight was a bit confused. The spell was suppose to bring her to her notes however the spell told her she was standing on top of it.
Confused Twilight looked under her hooves and saw only dirt. No grass, no stone...in fact she did see something, just the faintest outlines of...a paw print? Twilight looked around and saw more of them, they were faint, but they were all over this clearing. It didn’t take Twilight long to find fresher tracks. One thing they all had in common was they originated from a single point.
Moving closer Twilight saw that it was a small hole dug into the side of a small hill. The freshness of the tracks leaving the area suggested that the wolf wasn’t around, but Twilight couldn’t pass up the chance to see the wolf’s home. The entrance to the den was big enough for her to walk in but didn’t allow for much movement. Since the wolf had been a little bigger than her, her horn could fit inside as well.
Using a spell to light up the darkness, Twilight Traveled down the tunnel until she reached the bottom. Exciting the tunnel and coming into the main area of the Wolf’s den, Twilight nearly lost her stomach. The den was large and was scattered with bones of all sizes. The den didn’t smell any better either.
Firing up her tracking spell again, Twilight found her notes near the back of the den where she found a small bed made of leaves and grass that had been dragged in. Twilight grabbed her book and looked it over, besides the teeth marks on the spine of the book, it seemed fine, not at all destroyed like her bag.
Curiously she examined the rest of the den, and found strange items inside. There were several sticks that had been sharpened to a point and left around, but a closer examination showed that they were made cut with some kind of blade, and not with teeth or claws. It was odd but it begged the question of who else lived here with the wolf? Could it be somepony’s pet? and if so What were they doing living in the Everfree?
Twilight didn’t know and she didn’t have enough to go on, but she decided to leave her notes for now. If somepony lived here they’d notice if the notes suddenly disappeared. They’d most likely move the Den. No if Twilight left the notes here she’d be able to come back, and the wolf or whoever lived here did move, she’d still be able to find them. Twilight had begun to formulate a plan, but as she left the den behind and instead chose the freshness of the outside air, she began to truly see where she was at. She recognized the stream nearby and knew that Zecora lived not that far from here.
Thinking it over Twilight knew that nopony knew the forest better than Zecora, if something was happening inside the Everfree Zecora would know about it, plus it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra set of eyes looking for the wolf. Several ideas were scrapped or moved around to fit Zecora into her plans to locate the wolf.
Without realizing it, Twilight had subconsciously started to walk in the direction of Zecora’s hut. So wrapped up in her planning was she that she almost didn’t noticed the creepy mask that she nearly walked face first into. The Princess Gave a shout of surprise which caused a ruckus inside the hut before the door opened and Zecora walked out holding a bag of something that didn’t smell particularly pleasant.
Upon seeing Twilight however the Zebra gently sat the bag down. “Twilight Sparkle you gave me a fright, I thought some creature was looking to fight.” The Zebra said as she gave the princess a warm and inviting smile.
“Sorry Zecora, I got wrapped up in my thoughts and scared myself,” Twilight admitted, her face glowing red with embarrassment.
“Come and join me for tea, I have something inside I think you should see,” Zecora said in a hushed whisper. Twilight was curious now, she wanted Zecora to help her, but the Zebra had never been one to disappoint and if She thought something would intrigue Twilight it usually would, be it a flower she hadn’t seen or the behavior of certain animals that nopony knew about. The Zebra was very knowledgeable.
“Um sure,” Twilight said a bit hesitant, she didn’t want to get distracted but she didn’t want to turn Zecora down, after all she made some of the best tea Twilight had ever tasted.
With Zecora leading the way Twilight walked into the hut, and stopped. There laying on the floor with a towel wrapped around itself was a fox. The species wasn’t what surprised her though, it was the fox’s fur that had her speechless. There just as green as the forest around them was a fox with green fur. Twilight turned to Zecora only to see her already making tea.
Twilight moved to examine the fox closer but Zecora stopped her. “It sleeps for now thanks to my brew, a potion of sleep to keep him subdued.” she said as she motioned Twilight over.
“How did you find him?” Twilight asked sitting at the table with Zecora, the zebra in question placed a cup in front of her before pouring zebafrican red tea inside. Twilight took a small sip and sighed in content.
“A cockatrice had grown to near, and I had planned to run him out of here, when out of the bushes this fox did pounce and turned this beast into a feast,” Zecora motioned to the cockatrice that had gone unnoticed until now.
Twilight made a face at the dead creature but otherwise didn’t say anything about it. “Zecora I actually wanted to ask you something. A green wolf was spotted in the Everfree not long ago, and I just wanted to know if you’d keep an eye out for him?” Zecora only nodded though she turned to look at the Fox a perplexed look on her face.
“And what do you intend to do?” Zecora asked.
“Well… I wanted to study it, see what makes it’s fur green, and see if it’s dangerous or if there's more of him,” Twilight replied rather enthusiastically.
“And the fox who sleeps so close at hoof?” she urged?
“I want to take him with me and have Fluttershy help me examine him,”
Zecora nodded, and the two spoke a bit more while they finished their tea, Zecora assured Twilight that the fox wouldn’t wake for several hours. When all was said and done though, Twilight left, the fox still firmly wrapped in the towel.