Hidden Observations

As the essence of sleep left his body, Xu Shu awoke from his tree-made bed. He looked around, wondering where he was, until the memories of yesterday came back to him. 'So I wasn't dreaming, huh? Well, things could be worse.' he thought. He then decided to look for some food and maybe some water. As he searched for supplies, he began to think about what he would do next.

'Lets see. So, I'm stuck in a world that's probably filled with vividly colored ponies, surrounded by a dark, gloomy looking forest, with no way back home. Well, this isn't good.' He thought. As he continued to venture through the forest, he heard some noises coming from behind. Turning sharply with his sword unsheathed, he saw nothing but the darkness of the forest. He maintained his stance for a few more moments, listening and watching intently into the forest, before deciding to ignore it and moving ahead. 'Must've been a woodland creature. Who knows what's in this weird world. Better stay alert.' he assumed with caution, before heading deeper into the forest.

Had he stayed any longer, he would've noticed the pink-maned pegasus staring at him from the bushes; a curious expression plastered on her face.

Fluttershy had been observing the weird creature ever since it woke up. She had never seen a creature like this before. Sure, she's seen weird monsters like mantacores, cockatrices, and hydras, but she never had the courage to watch one this close up. She almost never came into the Everfree Forest, only to gather medicine from Zecora. But when she saw the creature take out those timberwolves without breaking a sweat, her curiosity overcame her fear and she decided to follow it. She almost got caught sneaking around it cause fate decided to play dirty and make her step on a stick, gaining its attention. If she had made any movement, she would have been caught for sure.

'That was too close.' she thought with relief. She continued to follow the unknown creature to see how it would survive in a forest like this. The more she follow it, the more she would lose it. It seemed to travel in a random pattern, like it knew it was being followed. She saw it gather all kinds of food like berries and apples. It had also made a makeshift basket, so it could carry its items. 'It must be intelligent. OOOOHH!!! This is so exciting! Discovering a new species and observing its behavior. I feel like Twilight when she reads a new book.' Fluttershy thought with excitement. She used every hiding space she could find to follow it and not be discovered herself. The treetops, some bushes, even the inside of a hole where the owner got mad for having its sleep disturbed.

"Sorry, Mr. Mole." she apologized. When she looked back, she was disappointed to see that she had lost track of the creature. 'Aww. I thought I'd have a little more time to study its behavior.' she thought glumly. She wanted to take it, give it a nice home, and take care of it like a mother would her foal. She then turned back the way she came, and sulked back to her cottage.

'So, she was following me the entire time?' Xu Shu thought as he watched the pegasus slowly trot back to its home. He knew she was following him, and decided to play along with her little game of chase. That is, until she hid inside a mole hole for a few seconds, giving him more than enough time to leap in the air and hide in the trees.

'Maybe if I follow her, I could find out where I am. They do speak the same language as me, so it shouldn't be that hard.' He took hold of his hook, aimed at a nearby branch, and hurled it towards its intended target. The hook struck the large branch with enough force to embed itself into the wood of it. After tugging on the wire a few times, Xu Shu steps off the branch, and swings from branch to branch; repeating the process each time. This way of traveling is by no means hard. In fact, this kind of thing is something he does on a daily basis. After hours or swinging through trees, he found himself eyeing a cottage that seemed to be filled the brim with animals. 'She must be some kind of animal caretaker.' he thought. He then turned to the west and spotted a town in the distance. 'That must be where the other ponies reside. But wait, wouldn't it be dangerous to live this close to a forest like this?' As he pondered this, he heard some ponies approaching the cottage. Circling around the back, he saw the same four ponies from yesterday trotting in his direction. He noticed a fifth one with them.

This pony could be described in only one word: pink. Everything about her seemed to scream the color. Her mane and tail were a dark pink, while her coat was a lighter pink. She was jumping alongside the group. He swore that every time she hopped off the ground, she would make weird springing sound. 'She reminds me of a certain hyperactive girl.'

As they went into the cottage, he peaked through a window that was to his right. He saw the one called Twilight start to speak. "Alright. Now that everypony's here, we can get down to business." Xu Shu could feel the seriousness in her voice. 'Maybe I should've left those fillies alone. But, they would all be crying right about now, and I don't want that kind of guilt bearing on my conscience.' He decided to listen to the conversation inside.

"So, is this about those timberwolves we found dead in the forest yesterday?" asked the one named Rainbow Dash.

"Yes. I was wondering about who or what took down those timberwolves."

"Ah don't know what it was, but if it can do that to five timberwolves, then ah don't want it anywhere near me, mah family, or mah farm." replied Applejack

"Don't worry AJ. As long as I'm here, there's no need to worry. I bet I can take this thing out in ten seconds flat." boasted Rainbow Dash

"Ya don't even know what it looks like. How do you know if it's not a mantacore or a cockatrice?" questioned Applejack.

"Impossible," interrupted Twilight,"If it was a mantacore, those timberwolves would've been smashed, not slashed. And the girls would've been eaten for sure. If it was a cockatrice, the girls, along with those timberwolves, would be stone statues by now."

"So if it wasn't a mantacore and it wasn't a cockatrice, what could it have been?" asked Rarity

The pink pony, who was quiet the whole time, decided it was her time to speak. And in a really fast tone. "Maybeitwassomekindofmonsterthatusedinnocentlittlefilliesinsomekindofponysoupormaybeitwasamonsterthatdoesn'tlikeitwhenfillesgetscaredoramonsterthateatslotsandlotsofcandyand..." her speech was interrupted by a cyan hoof in her mouth.

"Uhh, Pinkie Pie? Maybe you should let us think of something more understandable, OK?" asked Rainbow

When she removed her hoof, Pinkie Pie replied with a smile,"Okie Dokie Lokie" and hopped her way into the kitchen.

The yellow pegasus said something that Xu Shu barely managed to understand. "Umm I might know what it was."

"You do?!" shouted everypony in the room, which made Fluttershy flinch, along with Xu Shu.

"Fluttershy, I'm asking you as a friend. If you know anything about this creature, let us know." said Twilight.

"Well, I don't know much about it, but I can tell you what I do know..."she then explained to them everything saw him do. Xu Shu started to get nervous. If she saw that much, then she could easily track him down. After she finished explaining, the four ponies sat there with mixed expressions. But before anypony else could speak, they heard a rather loud growl come from the window to the left. Xu Shu realized the growl came from his stomach. He was starting to regret not eating breakfast this mourning. When he looked back up, he was terrified to see all six of them staring right at him. He said something that described everything he was feeling right then.

"Oh crap."

Author's Note

Here's another chapter for ya. Hope you enjoyed it. Oh, and I'm gonna try posting a new chapter every weekend from now on, OK? Have a good day or night, everypony.