FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The forest was quiet. Hardly a sound could be heard, other than the subtle sounds of nature: water flowing through a stream, birds chirping, insects buzzing around, and so on. The quietness of the forest gave it a very tranquil atmosphere, even when compared to other forests. It had an air of serenity that could scarcely be found anywhere else, seemingly untouched by human civilization and able to flourish freely as a result. Near the edge of this forest, a deer was making its way over to the stream, hoping to get a drink to quench its thirst. But as it bent down to drink from the water-

BANG! The sound shattered the quietness of the forest, causing all the nearby creatures to flee. Except the deer, whose eyes widened as its legs collapsed from under it and it fell to the ground, dead. There was a rustling from the nearby bushes, and another creature stepped out. A two legged creature, wearing a grey cap on his head and a red vest on his body. A human. His name was Ronald, and he had come out of the bushes to examine his latest kill. He looked over the fallen deer, glazing over the fatal wound his weapon had left in its victim's chest. It was a big one, to be sure... but other than that, there wasn't anything particularly interesting about it. He wanted something unique! Something he'd never seen before! And he was going to stay in this forest until he found what he was looking for.

Chuckling to himself, Ronald rose to his feet, hoisting his gun over his shoulder. He knew this practice well: after all, he'd been doing it since he was a boy. His parents were avid hunters themselves, and they'd taught him all the tricks of the trade: what to wear, how to stay hidden, how to track down prey, and of course, how to make the killing shot. He'd spent so long practicing these techniques that he'd begun to think of himself as a master hunter. There was no area too deadly for him to go, and no prey too elusive for him to catch. That was why he was in this forest: it was off the beaten path, out in the middle of nowhere, practically untouched by humans! Which meant there must have been plenty of rare creatures for him to find! Other hunters preferred to stay close to home, but not Ronald. He was daring, adventurous, and most of all, prideful. He knew that his hunting skills were far above average, and he was determined to prove it in any way he could.

Ronald kept his eyes open as he crept through the forest, making as little noise as possible to avoid disturbing the creatures around him. He knew there had to be some kind of rare animal in this forest, and he was determined to find it and make it his! Yet looking around, he still couldn't find anything that caught his interest. Nothing but a bunch of deer, birds, squirrels, and... hold on. What was that? Crouching behind a bush, Ronald slowly peered over the top to get a good look at the creature that had appeared before him. Its head was bent, so he couldn't get a good look at it, but its other features certainly caught his interest. It appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary deer at first glance, but he quickly realized that that couldn't be - after all, what deer had a tail like that? It was long, thin, and ended in a large tuft of hair that reminded him of a horse's tail. More large tufts of hair could be found at each of its ankles near its cloven hooves, and an enormous mane of hair cascaded down its head and back. Again, this reminded Ronald of a horse more than a deer, but that didn't particularly matter to him. This was obviously some rare subspecies of deer, and now it was in his sights, perfectly ripe for hunting!

Quietly removing his gun from around his shoulder, Ronald slowly brought it in front of him, aiming it at the deer's back leg. Even if he couldn't kill it, he could still disable its ability to get away from him. From there, he could either get close to it and deliver a fatal shot or simply wait for it to bleed out and die. It was a perfect plan. He took aim, his finger hovering over the trigger as he trembled with excitement. Once he bagged this thing, he'd be the talk of the town for weeks! All his hunter friends would admire him, even more than they already did! Holding the gun as steady as he could, he slowly locked onto the deer... and he quickly pulled the trigger.

BANG! Another sound rang through the forest as the bullet hit its mark, embedding itself deep within the deer's flesh. Startled, the deer immediately lifted its head, turning to see what had hit it. The moment he saw its head, though, Ronald nearly dropped his gun in shock. The creature's head looked cervine, much like the rest of its body, but there was something there that... didn't belong. Sticking out of the top of its head was a long, thin, pointed horn. A unicorn horn, to be precise. But... that was impossible! Unicorns didn't exist, and even the once he'd read about in storybooks didn't look anything like that! Yet there it was: proof of the impossible, right in front of him.

As soon as the unicorn noticed Ronald, its eyes narrowed. "You."

This time, Ronald actually did drop his gun in shock. Though he hadn't technically heard the word spoken, it echoed in his mind as if someone had forced it in. Based on the look the unicorn was giving him, Ronald could only assume the word had come from it. But that was impossible too! "You..." he stammered, trying to stay calm. "Did... did you just..."

The unicorn shook its head. "So typical. Yes, I'm talking to you through telepathy." Its voice was fairly androgynous to it, but it had a feminine quality to it that made Ronald assume it was female. It looked down at the gun Ronald had dropped, its eyes still narrowed. "Did you just shoot me with that device of yours?"

"Oh! Um..." This was bad. Ronald took a step back, his legs trembling. "I... I'm sorry, m-madame. I... I didn't realize-"

"I'm a MALE, idiot!" The force to the unicorn's tone nearly made Ronald fall over in shock. "My name is Rociel, in case you care." He stumbled around to face the terrified human, limping with his injured leg. "Again, that device. You used it to shoot my leg, didn't you? Why?"

"Um..." Ronald could barely form his words. "I... thought... you were... a..."

"A what? A deer?" Rociel actually seemed to growl. "Do I look like a common woodland deer to you? Granted, I suppose you couldn't have seen my head clearly, but what about my tail? Or my mane? Do those look like common deer attributes to you? Well? Do they?"

"Um... no, but..." Ronald swallowed. "You c-could have just been a breed that I'd never seen befo-"

"And even if I was just some common deer, what difference would it make?" continued Rociel. "Why would you just go around shooting innocent deer? Are you simply trying to assert your supposed dominance as a human over them? Or - no, don't tell me - perhaps you're trying to assert your dominance over other humans? And killing innocent animals is simply a way of showing that you have more guts, or you're more of a man, or something stupid like that?" He chuckled. "Surely not. No living being could possibly engage in such a twisted practice, right?"

"Er... Um..." Ronald didn't have an answer for this. Rociel's words had struck a nerve, and now he had an unbearable pit in his stomach. The unicorn's perspective made hunting the way he did sound so... evil. But how could that be? Hunting was a skill he'd grown up with; he'd done it since he was a boy, and he'd been praised for his skills in it for nearly his whole life? Surely it couldn't be so wrong, right?"

"Anyway, I suppose it doesn't matter," said Rociel, looking back over at his wounded leg. "I could probably heal an injury like this in a matter of hours using my magic." He looked back over at Ronald, anger flaring in his eyes. "But don't think for a second that means you're getting off scot free! Oh no, I have something special in mind for you." Slowly, he began walking towards Ronald, his horn glowing slightly. "Given that you seem so fond of your humanity, I think spending some time in another form would do you some good. Like a donkey, perhaps. Yes, I think that will give you some much needed perspective. It'll only be for a few days, but it'll be long enough to teach you a valuable lesson!"

As he watched Rociel walk towards him, Ronald started to panic. Curses like that weren't real, right? A human couldn't just turn into an animal... right? But up until a few minutes ago, unicorns and telepathy hadn't been real either. As he backed away from the unicorn, he suddenly looked down and noticed the gun lying at his feet. Panic flooded his mind, preventing him from thinking rationally. Before he knew what he was doing, he had dropped to the ground, grabbed the gun, aimed it at the Rociel's chest, and fired.

BANG! Another shot rang through the forest as Rociel dropped to the ground, blood oozing from the bullet wound in his chest. Ronald could hardly believe what he had just done, but he knew he didn't have time to dwell on it. Now was his chance to escape! He needed to get out of this forest and forget this nightmare ever happened. Tucking his gun under his arm, he started to turn and-

"STOP." The word echoed in Ronald's mind, startling him into stopping. Rociel was still alive, and his horn was glowing with such intensity that Ronald found that he couldn't look away. "Now... now you've done it." said Rociel, glaring up at Ronald. If his eyes had been angry before, they were absolutely furious now, filled with a rage that Ronald had never seen in his life. "You've shot me in... one of my vital organs," he continued, the shortness in his voice barely masking an unfathomable wrath. "This is impossible for me to heal... unfortunately for you."

"Unfortunately for... me?" Ronald was starting to get scared again. "What do you mean?"

"I'm about to die... which means I need a new body. A new host. And I can hardly think of a more fitting person than the one who shot me." Rociel's horn began glowing brighter and brighter as he looked up at Ronald with a wicked grin. "Now, I'm going to teach you a lesson that you'll never forget. Or... actually, you will forget it pretty quickly. Along with everything else you've ever known." The glow from his horn became brighter and brighter, until it finally reached a climax. "Goodbye, human. I look forward to inhabiting you... permanently."

"Gah!" The glow from Rociel's horn was now reaching a climax, forcing Ronald to squeeze his eyes shut to avoid being blinded. As soon as the glow dissipated, he opened his eyes again and saw... nothing? The unicorn that had stood before him had completely vanished, with only the forest's foliage remaining where he had stood. For a moment, Ronald just stood there completely dumbfounded. Then he shook his head. Apparently, his mind was playing tricks on him. Maybe it was something he ate, or maybe it was the spores of some poisonous plant. Either way, he no longer cared about his hunting aspirations; he just wanted to get out of this forest as soon as possible. Maybe he could see a doctor afterwards.

But as soon as he took a single step, he suddenly felt all of his muscles lock up, freezing him in place. "Wh... what is this?" he cried, trying to move his body to no avail. As he struggled, he noticed something strange about his fingers: they appeared to be turning gray. This strange gray coloration spread across them until it completely covered them, his fingernails almost disappearing under it. Once that was complete, his middle and ring fingers suddenly pulled apart from each other, pressing into his index and pinky fingers respectively. Then... they began to merge. Slowly they became less defined, forming into a single mass and leaving Ronald with only three fingers on each hand. At the same time, his thumbs began to shrink, pulling back and resting uselessly at the sides of his hands. At this point, his fingers didn't even look like fingers anymore. They looked like... hooves. Cloven hooves.

Wide-eyed, Ronald suddenly felt his arms crack, forcing him to straighten out completely. They were starting to grow longer, the bones and muscles stretching and shifting as they relocated to change the structure of his arms entirely. At the same time, soft fur was beginning to sprout across them, mostly white with some splotches of brown here and there. It was mostly short, except for the area on the undersides of his wrists: here, large plumes of white fur were sprouting instead, flowing with a majestic quality to them. Once the change was finished, Ronald suddenly placed both his hands on the ground, mostly just feeling it through his new hooves. It wasn't because he wanted to, though. It was simply something he'd done instinctually, without really meaning to. It felt like his arms weren't even arms anymore: instead, they'd become the front legs of an animal.

Panic began to fill Ronald's mind again. Had Rociel managed to curse him after all? Was he really going to spend the next few days as some kind of wild animal? The moment the thought occurred to him, he suddenly felt a splitting headache tear through his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth as he tried to block out the pain and barely aware of the changes going though his head. His face was starting to stretch out in front of him, growing out into a square-ish muzzle. His teeth seemed to be sharpening as well, two of them growing out into short tusks that curled over his lower lip. More fur quickly spread across his new cervine snout, brown on the top and white on the bottom. Had he been able to see these changes, he would have noticed that his face now bore a striking resemblance to Rociel's. Instead, he was starting to notice new thoughts filling his mind... thoughts that didn't seem like his own. This body was coming along perfectly, he thought. Just a few more moments and he would be completely back to his old self again, and that annoying hunter would never bother anyone again!

Wait, what? Ronald's eyes snapped open as he felt his upper body swell, growing larger and thicker to match his long forelegs. He quickly tore through his shirt, more brown and white fur spreading across his rapidly expanding body. Meanwhile, his short brown hair was beginning to grow longer and longer, turning white and flowing across his neck and down his back. He chuckled. His glorious mane had returned! He briefly felt a sudden pressure in his backside as a long tail suddenly burst through the seat of his pants, growing longer and longer and ending and another tuft of beautiful white fur. Upon feeling this, Rociel nearly laughed out loud. The transition was almost complete. Soon, he would be reborn!

No! Ronald squeezed his eyes shut again, trying to force these thoughts from his mind. He wasn't Rociel! He was Ronald, a human! This wasn't him! But his body continued to disagree with him. More short fur appeared on his upper legs as they swelled, tearing through his pants and causing the remains to fall to the ground. The bones and muscles shifted and grew much like his arms had, raising up his backside and making it easier for him to stand. His heels suddenly lifted from his shoes, his feet seeming to stretch longer and longer as more luxurious white fur tufts sprouted from them. He could feel his toes harding and merging together into cloven hooves at the same time, just as his fingers had. Every single part of his humanity was being taken from him, he realized... even his mind.

As his ears grew longer and stretched to the top of his head, Rociel laughed to himself. Only one change left to go, and then his body would be complete! Ronald immediately tried to wrestle control of his mind back from Rociel, but deep down he knew it was pointless. He was fighting a losing battle, and it would only be a matter of time before his personality slipped away completely. Another pressure was starting to build within the being's forehead, both Ronald and Rociel quickly realizing exactly what it was. With each pulse, Ronald felt his thoughts getting weaker and weaker, while Rociel felt himself gaining more control, more power. Finally, with one final burst of pressure, Rociel's horn burst through the top of his forehead, shining like new. And with it, the transformation was complete. Ronald's body was no more, and Rociel was born again.

With another chuckle, Rociel glanced over his new body. It didn't feel new, of course; it felt just like his old one, but he knew that that was just part of the magic. The human's thoughts had faded away entirely by this point, allowing Rociel full control over his body and mind. It was just as well, too, since he needed to be at full capacity if he wanted to continue protecting this forest, helping it grow and thrive. Really, the whole situation was a win-win: he'd gotten a new body that would probably last him a while, and he'd taken it from someone who'd clearly been out to harm the forest, so he'd protected it in the process. It was far better than taking the bodies of random humans, which was what he usually did when he felt that he was about to die. Unfortunate, yes, but a necessary sacrifice as far as he was concerned. He was a protector, after all, and that made well-being extremely important. He needed to keep the forests he found sustainable for as long as he could, and if that meant taking the lives of a few ordinary humans... well, he figured he could live with that.

But enough about that. He couldn't dwell on this incident forever, he had a job to do! And so, he turned and walked back into the foliage, leaving Ronald's clothing and weapon in a pile on the ground. Perhaps someone else would find them and remove them and come up with their own story about what happened to that poor old hunter. Humans seemed to be pretty good at doing that, at least.