Taste of Change

Chap 5

I drove my car in silence, reviewing the plan again and again in my head. It was next to foolproof, but like every plan I made, it only has a 10% chance of succeeding. I mean, entering a location incognito with flashing pink hair and a tail is not the best way to tackle any problem, but it was my only solution. Plus, it is broad daylight, I can't go on the roof. I can’t wait for the night either because it would be too late.

I sighed, “Why can’t anything be easy in life?” I wondered while drumming on the steering wheel. The music playing through the radio was helping to lower the stress, but only a bit. It was an adventure that I had to do with tact and with patience… but I had to go fast too.

While drumming, I’ve decided to sing what was playing, but realized that my voice was off. While I could sing it on key with a deep voice, I sounded more like a woman than a man. “No, don’t tell me I’ll have to change my voice too. Why is everything so complicated lately?

As I parked on the road in front of the lab, I thought about the last few days. “What is going to happen tomorrow if I survive? Will I turn all the way to… whatever I will turn into, or is it going to stop like a bad internet song?” I said, remembering that old website called Youtube. It got deleted because Google ruined it.

I came out and took my dark trench coat and backpack out of my car. If I had to infiltrate this place, I’ll do it with style. I placed my coat on my body and made sure that my… interesting body parts were safely hidden under it. I took out a hair elastic from my bag and attached my hair with it.

“Test, test, test.” I repeated, lowering my tone a little to imitate my old voice. Seriously, it’s hard to imitate a voice, but how about the voice OF ANOTHER SEX! “Hey, my name is Stra-, I mean Anthony. Arg, why am I failing at saying my true name. Anthony, An-tho-ny, Be-rry… GAH!” I shouted, getting the attention of some other people. I looked around and waved at the others. I’m sure that they thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care.

I crouched after my failed attempt saying my own name and opened my bag. Inside is some spy gear straight from movies like James Bond or Mission Impossible. I closed it and placed my hood on. Looks like it’s time for operation ‘Mane Hair’... I’m sure that there is a better name for this.

I placed the bag under my coat and locked my car door. I wonder when I will realize that all of this crazy stuff is real and fall into a psychotic breakdown? Ehh, it’s future me’s problem. Looking through my car window, I tried to hide anything else that escaped my sight.

“Hello Reginald, it’s Berry… Uhh, I mean Anthony. You took my hair and you shall give it back.” I said using my best imitation. I giggled, satisfied of what I’ve done. I’ve gone insane, but I will enjoy this insanity before reality crash head first in my face. I heard the siren that alerted the employees that it was lunch time. “It’s go time.”

I walked toward the main door glancing at the cars to preoccupy myself. Surprisingly enough, I was able to name all my co-workers who owned them. So let’s see…Mikey, Maroun, Nat, Kev, Liam, Jules… wait… I looked at a long van. It looked like something you would see in the movies with the words ‘free candy’ pasted upon it. I wonder who owns this van? I’ve never seen it before and it’s pretty noticeable. It’s probably just a visitor.

I entered the lab, watching each and every step I took. This was the moment where my act would be put under the eyes of the people watching me. I guess that’s how Shakespeare felt before any of his play. “Good or bad, we shall knoweth now!” I arrived at the security window, the only way in unless the guard is absent.

When the guard saw me, he didn’t recognize me at first. “Uhh… are you here for a meeting with somebody or…?” He asked me. I laughed with my fake deep voice and took my ID card out. He looked at the card with surprise. “Anthony, is that really you? Reginald told us you were kidnapped by some crazy pink lady.” I sighed in annoyance.

“It’s not a crazy girl, it’s my cousin,” I said in a monotonous voice. He backed up a little, a bit ashamed of what he said. “I’m sorry, it’s just that Regi and Mark broke into my house and immediately assumed the worst.” I sighed again.

“I know I should have ignored Reginald’s claim of kidnapping and stuff. I’m sorry for that. Anyway, you really should see Regi about stopping these rumors.” He pressed the unlock button, letting me pass. I thanked him and turned around to leave. When I reached the door, I heard him whispering something into his walkies-talkie. Using my new super-hearing powers, I could hear “He’s here.”, but took no notice of it.

In front of me was a crossroad. The door in front of me would lead me to the lunch room where I had my party last time, on the left was the lab where I got the fake skeleton and on the right was another lab. If I would go forward, I’m sure that I would let my cover blow by being stressed. Keeping pink hair and a feminine voice hidden from people who knew you for years is kind of hard.

I looked around for a solution. There is only two ways to go through. The normal way… I turned left. ...or the spy way. I walked forward, but before entering the lab, I entered the janitor’s closet.

I took my all-around key and unlocked the door, entering the smallest room in the building, but it was the easiest way to enter the air vents. I closed the door, hearing the lock going back in place. It’s Hollywood’s time to shine now.

I took my multi-shape screwdriver and found the right one that I could use to remove the grid. I tried to turn the tool to remove the screws, but my fingers were starting to feel numb. It’s not the right time for the transformation to remove my fingers. After struggling for few minutes, the path was open for me to go inside.

When my head was inside, however, that I realized how dumb of an idea it was. In the movies, air vents were cleaner than a room occupied by an OCD freak, but in real life, it’s dirtier than toilet bowls after a vodka party. After coughing my lungs out multiple times, I was finally able to position myself in a comfortable position to move. I also realised that my legs started their transformation too, because I was able to bend them in some awkward positions due to the new location of my knees.

“Urg, I know I wished for some action in my life, but this stinks.” I said to myself. I started to crawl forward through the dust and spider webs. I sure hope they don’t turn on the ventilation. I wished. I did my best to distribute my weight so that I didn’t create that much sound.

After a minute or two, I found another exit leading out of the cafeteria’s ventilation. I looked under to see if Reginald was eating and thus not in his lab. When I looked, however, I saw Peter and his trench coat talking to some of the employees. I was too far to hear anything, but I saw him point the lab. Why is he curious about the lab… why is he even here?

I ignored the people and continued forward. Using my mental GPS, I knew that I had to go right. It was hard to move because, for some random reason, the more I went on, the dirtier it became. Hollywood, you lying… thing. It took about five minutes before I arrived at my destination.

I took out my tools again, but it was even harder to unscrew the grate. Well, my fingers are now dead. By reflex, I looked around to see if anybody was looking, but obviously I was alone. I placed the screwdriver in my mouth and used my tongue to turn it. It’s… actually easier to do it, but the taste is dusty.

I grabbed the grate right before it fell and pulled it inside the vent. I looked out and stared at the surroundings. Seeing that it was empty, I jumped out and fell on both my arms and legs, like a ninja. Step 1, done without problems. Step 2, ac- Before I could finish my thoughts, some weird rope flew around me, locking my arms to my body.

I struggled to escape, but another rope came out of the shadows tied my legs together. My newly high-placed knees started to make my standing position more painful by the second. I placed my restrained body parts on the floor, making me look like a four-legged animal. It felt almost… normal to stand like this.

Sadly, the feeling was short-lived, as another rope hog-tied me like an animal about to be cooked over an open  fire. The strain placed on my spine was painful, but less painful than it would be normally. I guess it’s all going to end tonight… or start, if we look at it from another angle.

Seeing that I was out of the fight, four men disguised in protective clothing came out of the shadows. One of them was dressed in a tuxedo, but kept a little bag full of rope and goodies to his belt. He must be higher-ranked. He walked over me and smiled.

“Finally a victory. I’m sure our boss will be happy after our little failure at capturing the moon prinzessin. I wonder how you three could fail at such a simple mission, really. These are einfach humans.” The man, or whatever he was, grabbed me and placed my attached body on his shoulder. The sudden movement made me lose my shoes, showing my new hooves to the world. Wait, I never saw those ones before.

“Anyway, here is your payment.” He said to… from my angle I couldn’t tell who it was. I wondered who would sell me to those creeps. It only took a voice to make me know who was the cause of this.

“Thank... you, gentlemen.” I heard Reginald say with slight hesitation. Then, there was a sound of a briefcase opening and then closing. It was obvious that my head was worth a lot of money, but why?

“I guessing you don’t want to wage that money on a game of Pai Sho? Since we could play at my house, you’ll start. The guest always start.” I joked, laughing internally about that game I’ve found online, where I’ve got a custom unused table for.

One of the men placed a gag on me, cutting me off from my only source of freedom. Well, it’s official. I will not play Pai Sho, Shogi or Chess anytime soon. “Shut up, you filthy pferddefrau. Soon, you’ll reach the end of your transforming trail an-”

“What is happening here?” I heard another voice shout a bit farther than the others. This one, however, I internally thanked god or whomever was looking over me for for his arrival. It was none other than the other pony-boy, Peter.

Reginald, however, was not happy with him entering the scene. “Peter? I clearly stated that nobody is allowed to enter this laboratory under any reason unless they found the pink haired lady. She’s here, so what do you want?. What are you doing here?” He said angrily. The target of this rage didn’t make a sound.

“I thought I heard somebody I knew, but it was only a hallucination, sorry.” He explained. The man holding me moved beside somebody whom back looked like it belonged to Regi. He grabbed his head and pulled it near his mouth.

“Do I need to get rid of him?” He whispered in his ear. Reginald shook his head rapidly.

“Look, ask what you want and leave us.” My ex-boss ordered. Peter made disapproving sounds. I wished I could see more, but my sausage-like position really didn’t help.

“Few questions actually, why did you bring some pink mane hair with a smile on your face?” Did Reginald looked as happy to find my hair in my house. Wait, he didn’t know that it was mine. I raised my head a little bit and managed to see Regi’s pink cheeks.

“It was… what I needed to make an experiment. Now, can you leave me be so I can finish it?” He said with even more annoyance than before. Run Peter before Reginald loses his cool.

“Another thing, who is this girl?” My… savior? asked. Ouch, that injured my masculinity, thank you man. Reginald grabbed my mouth violently and looked deep into my eyes. I think he’s making sure my gag is on. Does he knows something that I don’t… or maybe something that he’s hiding?

“It’s just a simple girl who happens to be related to my experiment. Don’t mind her. Anything else?” His voice was borderline shouting. Peter laughed at his ex-boss.

“One last thing, can I go poof?” He asked. I wondered why he asked that, but what happened after was as surprising. I saw some kind of smoke ball rolling under us and releasing it’s thick gas. Was it Peter who did this? Why would he do that? It’s so obvious that it’s painful to think for a reason why he did this.

To add to the surprise-shake, he just appeared in front of me, like he had teleported. “Shh, I’ll lead you to safety.” He whispered loud enough that only I could hear. He removed my gag, but I coughed at the sudden air increase. Yet, I knew that it wouldn’t work.

“Look Pete, grab the keys in my pocket and run.” I tried to say peacefully, but knowing that this diversion wouldn’t stay up for long, I didn’t want him to stay and get hurt.

“What do you me-?” He started to ask, but was cut off by my feet hitting his face due to a quick turning mercenary. The impact made him fly backward, but for some mysterious reason, he did an aerial backflip and… flew right before the boss of the gang.

“I’m sorry Berry.” He said, looking at the man. He used his new super speed, grabbed my keys and ran away from the door. Seeing that I was looking at the door, I said one last thing before they managed to place the gag back.

“MY LAPTOP, NORTH!”

V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V

“MY LAPTOP, NORTH!” I heard behind me. I continued to run, though, pushing away anybody that would come between me and the door leading to the parking lot. I didn’t know who these mercenaries were, but I knew they were looking for… people like us. And from the soulless look of their eyes, I know that Berry is in danger. I must act intelligently.

When I arrived, I turned left and used my new hovering abilities to get to a higher ground. I just need to follow them and calculate a strategy to save her. Still, what did she meant by “My laptop?” I asked internally. Making sure that I couldn’t be seen, I waited patiently for my targets to arrive. It only took about half an hour until they came out of the lab.

“Let’s just get to the hideout. I’m gonna do to this pferddefrau what I wanted to do to the princess. I predict a lot of gory stuff, wunderbar.” The head man said to his crew, still holding his prize. Why is he holding her right in front of everybody else?

“Boss, do you really think this illusion will trump them all? I don’t want to hear screams of fear.” The one on the left asked. The boss sighed and spun around, forcing Berry to kick him in the face.

“Obviously, dumm person. As long as no menschen pferd looks at us, we’ll be all fine. Luckily for us, the only one around ran away like a little baby.” He said before laughing maniacally like a cartoon villain. The trio went to their car and, after throwing their load violently inside the trunk, started to drive away. Using the maximum of my new found speed, I bolted for my source of transportation and followed them.

After about ten minutes of driving, we all arrived to their hideout, which was hidden under a house located near a mall. Sadly, it was ten minutes in the opposite direction of Berry’s house which meant that it took more than forty minutes to go from here to it. Why can’t anything be easy? I need vacations. Now knowing where to strike, I’ve decided that it would be a suicide mission to go alone. Maybe I can go to her house, go see what she was talking about, maybe raid her food closet, then come up with a plan. I sure hope that she is okay.

Doing just that, it took 40 minutes of long and stressful driving to get to where I wanted to go. The only thing that was interesting was the music that was playing at the radio. It was a rock and roll special. At least I can stress under the sound of The Beatles.

I took the keys out of my pocket and unlocked the plastic and metal door, opening it. I took a look around for the sake of nostalgia, it’s been a really long time since I entered this place. On the table were leftovers from Subway, which I knew were from this morning, and the laptop was left open. If she is letting me enter her private device, then let’s do it.

I looked at the page she was looking at. It was a website I’ve never heard of, but it was some kind of forum. She was looking at her personal messages last time she was on. the only thing that was on the page was a message sent earlier today to some guy called ‘We are the meta’. From what I could gather, he or she was supposed to be one of us. I hope the mercenaries haven’t caught them too. How to I reach them?

I pressed the ‘new message’ button to write a follow up to Berry’s message. I guess I’ve used everything she owns already, might as well go the full mile and use her username on this website. I hope she don’t mind me calling out for help. I stretched my numb arms and started typing.

“Look wearethemeta, my name is North Wind and I’m Strawberry’s friend. She got captured by some crazy german soldier mercenary… thing. If you really are in our camp, please find a way to contact me. Add me  on Skype or whatever program you use, please answer. Skype name : PeterMartineau1”

While pressing send, I hoped that he would get the message on time. I couldn’t imagine what the man could do to her. I sure hope that it’s painless, that it wouldn’t kill her. My eyes widen when I realized what I thought. Nonono, she is alive, I know it.

I raised my arm to clean the sweat off my forehead, but what met my noggin’ was a bit fluffier. I stared at my arm in disbelief when I saw it covered in blue fur. How did I miss this? How did the mercs miss this?

I used my fists to remove my shirt, because my fingers were now disconnected from my nerve system. I’m starting to fear what’s going to happen. I looked at my body to see that about three quarters of it was covered in the same fur-like material as my arm. With all that’s happening, I’m sure it’s real fur.

I stood up awkwardly on my mysteriously smaller legs and wobbled toward the nearest mirror. My legs are starting to kill me, I thought while looking at the reflecting glass. I stared at my new face with surprise and some… satisfaction. My eyes were larger and far more blue than last time I looked at myself. My hair was longer than this morning. I hope it’s not going to grow longer, I want to look masculine.

As I turned around to leave, I took a glance at my back, only to see something sprouting out of it. I’ve decided to stop and keep looking at them. Are those… wings? Am I turning into an angel? I poked them to see if I would get any reaction. I guess I found what is gonna replace my fingers.

With my legs now killing me, I quickly made my way back to the laptop and sat down on the couch with a happy sigh. I took the device slowly using my palms and placed it on my legs. It’s time to look deeper into this guy.

I looked around their profile to see if there was a way of communication that was more real-time than PMs, but it was only containing the basic information required for a simple profile. I sighed, rubbing the sides of my head. Today was the worst day of my life, what could make this night worst? Let me jinx it… SURPRISE ME, WORLD!

I stood up to go get something to drink, but my center of gravity shifted and I was forced on four legs. To my surprise, both my arms and legs were about the same length. Well, I’m officially between human and circus freak. Why did I even challenged the world? I know I’m going to get my flank kicked.

I trotted, still creeped out by my appearance, to the fridge. Inside, I’ve found some natural orange juice, some carrots and a piece of frozen pizza. For whatever reasons, the carrots seemed more appealing than the fancy piece of dough. Following my guts, I grabbed the bag of orange cigars and poured myself a glass of OJ.

I can safely say that, for the first time ever, I actually liked carrots more than anything else. What is happening to me? I asked myself while I placed the drinking glass on the counter after drinking it. I looked through the window to see that it was sundown. Wow, the day flew by really fast. I don’t think I’ll stay awake for long.

I made my way to her bedroom. I hope you don’t mind that I sleep in your bed, Berry. I removed my pants, only leaving my underpants. I closed the lights and took place under the covers. Closing my eyes only one thought remained. Please, be safe, Strawberry.

V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V^V

Her screams echoed along the hallway leading underground. The constant sound of something hard hitting flesh was filling the ears of the guards taking care that nobody entered the location of the sounds. Sometime, the rhythm of hits was only broken by the screams as the wet sound of skin ripping under the stress of the beatings.

“Now that we’ve finished with the french baton, how about we do it my way, little pony? Lightning and fire!” A german voice asked after the hallway fell in silence. Following his question was a little high voice coming from his target.

“N-no… please…”