Are...?
The sun had set about an hour ago, but Fiora, Dale, Max, and I continued to trek on through the darkness. Thankfully, ponies had slightly better sight in the dark than humans, and we had Max guiding us, whose senses in the dark were unmatched by anything we had.
Of course, though, we hadn't been travelling the entire time. There came a point where Max looked like he was about to collapse, so we took a break, hidden by a dumpster we found by some barber shop that was closed for the night. Between mine, Fiora's, and Dale's packs, we had enough water and snacks for all of us (Except for some beef jerky Fiora had. She was not happy about finding she'd never be able to eat meat again. The jerky went to Max)
After a quick rest, we had continued on the scent trail Max led us along.
Dale and I held a decent trotting pace behind Max as he kept on the scent. However, Fiora was literally riding circles around us. Apparently, she found she could still use the scooter in her backpack just fine, even if she only had hooves to steer with.
Fiora laughed as she continued speeding about, adjusting to rolling in her new body, "Even if I'll have to be a pony forever, at least changing species won't keep me from shredding it up!"
"Shh!" Dale hissed, glancing around in worry. Thankfully the trail led them over mostly empty roads, so no one had seen them yet. "Not so loud," Dale reminded Fiora, "Anyone could show up and see us."
"Yeah, let's not go attract unwanted attention," I agreed.
Fiora merely sighed as she wheeled back alongside them at a slower pace, "Fine."
Dale trotted up beside Max, "Hey, can you tell if we're close yet, or no?"
Max, distracted by focusing on the already vanishing scent, just shook his head.
Dale sighed, as his hooves were beginning to hurt from walking for so long. It was bad enough that he wasn't familiar with walking with hooves for this long, so the aches in his legs were alien and bothered him more than they normally would as a human.
Fiora didn't share his problem though, since the mossy green mare learned how to use her scooter.
But as for me, I was fine, mostly because I had already experienced walking in the dark for this long before... back with Emily... a smile came to my face at the thought. I remembered back to how she had gotten dragged into this whole pony business with me, and we had to run all across the neighborhood just to hide. A chuckle escaped me as I remembered the good times we had then. Compared to this, back then had been a fun adventure.
"What's so funny?" Fiora asked, noticing my chuckle.
I shrugged, "Oh, it's just this situation reminded me of another time I had to run about hiding as a pony. It was with my girlfriend, who got caught in the transformation, too."
Fiora giggled slightly, "I take it she broke up with you for that."
"The opposite, actually." I went on to tell Dale and Fiora, as well as Max, about my last big escapade, which had started with Angela doing what she that was 'helping', and ending with more friends to share mine and Angela's secret with.
Dale managed to find a laugh from my story, "Geez, it's like you have bad luck. You manage to drag everyone around you into this pony stuff, don't you?"
I chuckled sheepishly, "I guess." But my thoughts began to spiral into less happy ones, "If that's true, I hope you guys aren't angry at me for getting you caught up in this."
Fiora rolled her eyes, "Like you have to apologize. It's not even your fault." She raised an eyebrow at me, "Haven't I been saying I'd pound Taharis' face in for making us furry half-pints forever?"
Dale held a small smile of his own, "Yeah, we can't really blame you for something you didn't cause."
That at least made me feel a little better. "Right. Thanks." But another thought kept nagging at my head. We weren't ever going to turn back into humans, were we? After this was over, and Taharis was somehow stopped, how would my family react? Would it be the same as every time I became a pony at home? What about Emily? Could we even keep our relationship going when I'd be a different species from her? I know she liked me as a pony as well, but could she stand it for longer than the moments we had together? Would she break up with me to find someone who's actually human?
The thought filled me with worry, scaring me almost to tears. The thought of Emily leaving me was too frightening.
"What's that sound?" Dale asked, his ears perked up. Max had already picked up on it, his eyes glancing towards the sky.
All thoughts suddenly evaporated from my head as I could hear it as well. It was... a helicopter... and sound like it was right above us.
Suddenly, the dark street was illuminated by a massive spotlight, pointing directly down on top of us. Shielding my eyes, everyone glanced up in surprise as we saw a helicopter holding the spotlight slowly descend onto the street in front of us.
Everyone stood tense as the whipping blades of the helicopter blew wind akin to a vortex around us. I seriously wanted to run, and I bet everyone else had the same idea in their heads. But the way this chopper suddenly found us couldn't have been a coincidence. Was it Taharis? Or was it, maybe, help?
Soon, the helicopter landed, and while its blades still turned, ready to take off again, someone opened the side door and stepped out of the machine. It was a man in a black suit, who turned and approached us.
From the light of the helicopter, he showed no surprise or any reaction towards seeing us. He simply called out, "Lyle Anderson, Dale Ford, Fiora Maywary?"
Confused, the three of us nodded, gathering around the man, including Max. "Um, who are you?" I asked.
"FBI," He stated, "Now, if you all will come with me, we need to take you to a safer location."
____________________________________________________
Hours Earlier...
Sweat trickled down Taharis' brow as he drove to his destination, his home. But to his relief, the house was clear in the light of sunset. If they weren't here yet, that meant everything was going to plan... so far.
Still, the warlock glowered as he parked and hopped out of the car, "I knew I shouldn't have stayed to listen to those kids chat. Curiosity could have killed more than just the cat for my carelessness."
Quickly, he made his way inside. As soon as he did, an excited gasp came from his daughter, "Dad! You're back!"
McKenna came running to the door, arms wide open to hug her dad around his legs. Taharis stooped down to return the hug.
McKenna pouted as she looked up at him, "You're late, Dad! You said you were gonna be home sooner!"
Despite the still present worry in his gut, Taharis wouldn't let it show. Instead, he smiled, "Sorry, sweetie. But I'll need to go again soon."
"You're leaving?" McKenna whined.
Taharis nodded, "Yes, Kenna. But when I go, I need you to do something for me."
McKenna's eyes lit in excitement, expecting a game of some sort, "Yes?"
Taharis could feel his worry beginning to creep to his face. Every fiber in his body seemed to scream that they were coming. "It's not safe to be here for much longer."
"What? What is it, Daddy?" McKenna, seeing her father's worry, asked in confusion.
Taharis held his daughter's hands, "Sweetie, I'm going to take you somewhere else, somewhere safe. I won't be able to stay with you, so I need you to be a good girl and wait there until I get back."
"Daddy! Where are you going?" McKenna asked, worried.
"I'll be fine," Taharis reassured her, "But I need you to be safe, Kenna. Can you be strong and wait for me?"
McKenna stared at him, open-mouthed. Even for a little girl, she could understand just how worried her dad was. Silently, she asked, "Like Mommy was?"
That was the final chink in the Taharis' mask. All at once, the worry covered his face, mixed with sorrow. Tears threatened to come to his eyes as he looked down at little McKenna, "Yes... sweetie, be strong like Mommy."
McKenna began crying, "But I want to come with you! I want to protect you like Mom did!"
A pang of fear gripped Taharis' heart at those words. He shook his head, "No, sweetie. I need you to be strong and wait for me, okay?"
Sniffling, wiping her eyes, McKenna slowly nodded..
A small smile came to Taharis' face as he pulled McKenna into another hug, holding her head close to his, "That's my good girl." She held onto him tightly with her small arms as Taharis' hand felt her long hair. It was just like her mother's... McKenna had always looked more like her mother, making it impossible for Taharis to forget how beautiful she had... been...
Suddenly, a twinge shot through Taharis' body, and he jerked his eyes up in shock. They're here! I didn't think they would find this place so quickly.
He whispered to McKenna, "Be stong. I will come find you as soon as I can." Before she could answer, Taharis snapped his fingers and his daughter vanished.
Not a moment later, the front door burst open as several armored men broke it down, "FBI! Breach and clear!"
As soon as Taharis turned to face them, he found himself staring down the barrels of almost every gun they held. More shouts and loud bangs rolled through the house as more armed men forced their way into the house.
"Freeze! Hands where I can see them!"
Taharis stayed down on his knees, but every trace of worry was gone from his face. McKenna was gone, in a place no one else would find her, except only himself. As long as no one could take the only one important to him, the warlock had nothing to fear.
He gave no retaliation as he was surrounded by FBI officers, not even drawing upon his reserve of magic. But apparently they weren't taking any chances. Taharis suddenly found two bolts shot into his chest, attached to wires. With a quick jolt of electricity, his vision faded to black as unconsciousness overtook him.
_________________________________________________________
I had never actually ridden in a helicopter before, but I found it was actually very enjoyable... though I would have enjoyed it better if they didn't confiscate my bag. Or better yet, I would have enjoyed it if I even knew where mister FBI man was taking us. But from looking out the helicopter's cockpit, I could tell it wasn't anywhere near civilization, as the lights of any city or town nearby disappeared into the night behind us.
Pretty soon, however, out in almost the middle of nowhere, the helicopter slowed near a densely wooded area of wilderness, with only moonlit treetops below us. Soon, we descended, and to my surprise, the trees were only a cover for a facility beneath it. It was as if the trees themselves had moved to make way for the helicopter landing.
We were now outside of a stone building, one that looked more like a bunker than anything else, but I couldn't see most of it, because of the darkness and the dense vegetation surrounding it. The doors to the helicopter opened, and all of us hopped out, the man in the suit leading us along.
"Whoa..." Dale stared at trees surrounding the stone building, amazement on his face, "Those trees must be at least forty years old. How could they build something like this so long ago and still have all these plants covering it?"
"Where are we?" Fiora demanded the man we were following.
A rumble came from the building as we approached it, and a wall of it sank into the ground to reveal an entrance. The man motioned for us to go inside, keeping an extra close eye on Max, thinking the dog might run off like most dogs do, "We are at the headquarters for a special sub-section of the FBI."
"Like that helps," She muttered in reply, "Why're we here?"
"Your questions will be answered soon. Please be patient."
Once we were inside, the door closed shut, and the man led us farther inside. We were walking down a long hallway now. The interior of it was plain, with a mixture of concrete and metal structures making up the ceiling, walls, all except for the floor, which seemed to be made only from some kind of metal. However, several steel doors lined the hall on either side. Soon, the FBI agent led us to one such door, and it opened as we approached it.
Silently, the man motioned us inside. But when I stepped inside, I was met with a chorus of voices shouting, "LYLE!"
I blinked in surprise to find the room only had a long conference table in it, lined with chairs around it. The surprising part was that a few of the seats were taken by a lot of familiar faces.
Angela, Emily, Liz, Ben... everyone who knew about Angela's transformation rituals was here. The moment they saw me, relief filled their expressions.
Emily was the first the jump out of her chair, "Lyle!" She hurried to where I stood. I trotted to meet her, glad to see her. She caught me in a bone-crushing hug, "Oh my gosh! I was so worried! What happened? Where were you?"
"Gah! Babe! Need to breath!"
"Oops, sorry." Emily let go of me, blushing slightly.
Angela was right behind her, running up to me, "Lyle, you okay?"
I sighed, "I'm fine, really. Also, I'm sorry for hanging up on you back then. I was just... angry. I didn't mean to snap at you."
"I'm just glad to see you didn't go do something stupid," Angela replied, "Everyone was worried about you, especially after... we heard..." She meekly tugged her arm sadly.
I glanced back at Emily in understanding, "So... you know?"
She nodded, a frown coming to her face as well, "Y-yeah. I heard from Angela. We all did while we were waiting for you."
I paused in silence, sighing, "Emily, I-"
She merely leaned in and gave me a peck on the cheek, stopping me, "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. We'll work this thing out."
I felt like a wall of bricks had fallen off my lungs, and I was able to breathe with some relief. "Great, took the words right out of my mouth," I smiled.
Liz coughed into her fist, bringing attention to her, "Um, so who are they?"
All eyes turned towards Dale and Fiora awkwardly standing by the door, Max already sitting on his haunches just beside them.
"Oh, right." I smiled sheepishly, "Guys, this is Fiora," Fiora waved, looking unsure, "And this is Dale," Dale only glanced away, too nervous to even say hello.
By the time I finished introducing them to everyone else, another question had come to my head, "But just asking, but what are all you guys doing here?"
"You got me," Ben shrugged from his seat, "All I know was the FBI picked me and everyone else up in a helicopter and flew us here."
The FBI agent we had followed here called us to attention, "Well, if you all would take a seat, we can begin." Truth be told, I had forgotten about that guy being there.
Taking that as a que, Emily and Angela returned to their seats, and Fiora, Dale, and I took three vacant ones. Even Max opted for an empty seat near the door, which was odd to see a dog sitting at a conference table. A brief thought passed through my head as to who exactly Max had been before he was transformed.
Shrugging the thought away, all eyes turned to the FBI guy as he cleared his throat, "Now, let's get right to business.
"Right now, all of you are in the headquarters for a special division of the FBI, one in charge of handling and concealing earthly supernaturals from public knowledge. We are known as the Supernatural Prevention Team, but we prefer to call ourselves DISPEL."
"Wait, mister agent guy? 'Supernatural Prevention'?" Angela inquired, "This place wants to hide magic from the public?"
The agent nodded, "Yes, but please, call me Agent Gnome." Angela stifled a giggle, and Agent Gnome's brow furrowed, "It's a code name, so I'd prefer it if you didn't laugh, Ms. Ravensdale."
As Angela subdued her giggling, Fiora harshly added her input, "Why would you want to hide magic? It's obviously real, and it would have saved me a panic attack today if I knew about it before." She waved a green hoof up to emphasize her point.
"To put it bluntly, magic is too powerful," Agent Gnome replied, "Ever since the dawn of time, it has been a force that can warp reality and the very world as we know it. Imagine if that kind of power fell into the hands more power-hungry individuals, or even a child who doesn't understand just how much power they possess alone."
Dale couldn't help but cringe, "... You've got a point." From what we'd seen from Taharis today, he alone could cause more damage than I thought. If just anyone could use magic, any accidents with it could be catastrophic.
Agent Gnome continued, "While it is true only people with the blood of the first witches in them may use magic to manipulate nature and everything associated with it, other spells like the transformation ritual can be used by anyone that possesses chi. Even with transformations alone, that power is still deemed too great to be used by anyone.
"This agency was devised to hide the presence of true magic in the world, so no one could use this power, either responsibly or irresponsibly." The man glanced from face to face of everyone before him, "The only ones who know about this agency are our own agents and a select, trusted few higher up in the government. Not even our current presidents knows of this agency's existence while we work under the name of the FBI."
I perked up, putting my front hooves on the table. These guys could definitely help with our problem, "Well, if you guys are here to stop magic, there's a warlock out there right now that needs to be stopped! His name is Taharis, and he's going to destroy the country!"
Agent Gnome held up a hand to silence me, "Do not worry. Taharis, or rather known as Scott Martin, has already been taken into custody by FBI operatives earlier, before we brought you here."
"He has?" Dale asked in shock, "Where is he?"
"He's currently in this facility, unconscious," He replied, straightening his tie, "There's nothing to worry about, mind you. He'll be detained in a way where he'll unable to use his magic, similar to cryosleep, for the moment anyways." He glanced towards my direction, "However, we had detained him for using magic to attack a museum, and transforming five innocents, including one guard. We-"
"Oh wait, there were two others!" Fiora blurted out, "Where are they?"
Agent Gnome glanced at her, annoyed that he'd been interrupted, "Rest assured, they've already been found by us and are being taken care of until we solve this matter." He cleared his throat, "But as I was saying, we never heard of any threat Taharis had against the country. Would you care to explain more into detail on that?"
"Um..." I rubbed the back of my head, sheepishly, "Well, besides the fact he said the country would be destroyed by tomorrow, I don't really know anything else. Sorry."
"Very well, not that it was too important anyways. Taharis has been arrested and that's all that matters." He looked around the table, "However, now I have something else I have to speak with you all about." The tone in his voice sounded more serious than when he was talking about Taharis... that couldn't have been good.
"What is it?" Angela asked, unsure. Apparently she had picked up on his tone as well.
The Agent glanced towards the three ponies in the room, "I am assuming you three know that the spell put on you was designed to be eternal, to never dispel until you have no chi left."
I nodded, "Yeah, but I've been wondering, couldn't we just cut off our flows of chi, or just get rid of enough that the chi to stop the transformation?"
Agent Gnome shook his head, "No. The flow of chi works like a kind of stream, where some chi goes, the rest follows. It is impossible to break the chi flow of another person. The only way to cause a break would be under your own will and control, but the ravenous nature of the transformation ritual would make that impossible for you to achieve.
"That being said, speaking from an agency whose sole purpose is to keep magic hidden, we can't allow you three to return back to your homes and live the lives you had before."
...
"WHAT?!?!"
___________________________________________
Deeper Inside DISPEL's HQ...
Agent Alchemist waited down in the main lab, laying out the necessary serums in syringes on a white stand in anticipation for the prisoner coming. He was a middle aged man, having done this job for many years already. But despite his years, he never lost the curly hairstyle he had dawned from High School. The Alchemist, or how other agents called him Al for short, was preparing for the arrival of some warlock that had been stupid enough to expose himself. From what he heard, this one, some fellow calling himself Taharis, was quite dangerous and quite powerful.
But when he heard that, all Al could do was shrug. He knew another witch would be delivering the prisoner, and with her nearby, he wasn't in any danger. And if he ever was, nobody in their right mind should underestimate a potions master.
Just then, the steel door to the lab opened, and a woman and a few armed guards stepped into the room. With them was another man, unconscious and strapped to a table as the others rolled him into the room. Al recognized the face from the picture he received; it was Taharis.
Al gave a friendly smile to the woman at the front of the guards, "Evening, Wand. I take it the extraction went well."
Agent Wand, a slim woman whose figure did her code name good service, smile back with red lips, "Perfectly, actually. This warlock didn't even put up a fight when we breached his home. However, he apparently hid his only daughter away. From my own readings, he sent her out of his home in a fifty mile radius," She glanced down towards the man strapped to the table with a frown, "His power surprises even me. We still have teams searching for the girl, but nothing has been found yet."
Al merely shrugged as he picked up the first syringe, "Oh, well. Can't apprehend them all." He chuckled to himself for a moment, before clearing his throat, "It's not like this guy's going anywhere, or even going to be awake for that matter." He laughed again, "If he was, I'd tell him how hilarious I thought it was that he used a transformation ritual to turn people into ponies. Ha, ponies! I bet the looks on their faces were the best!"
"Glad you liked it," A low voice grumbled.
Startled, Al glanced down at the apparently conscious man, only to feel a gloved hand touch his chest. Suddenly, a sharp pain ran through his body as his legs buckled and began to change with the Alchemist screaming.
"Freeze!" Agent Wand shouted as the guards with her lifted their guns towards Taharis on the table. Electricity danced through Wand's fingers as she launched a spell to subdue the man, but before it even his, Taharis had vanished. The next moment, she was pushed aside by a gloved hand, and her body screamed as the transformation took effect.
The other guards shouted, one trying to pull up a radio to call in the situation, but none of them got the chance to fight back as Taharis popped between all of them quicker than smoke through vent. Soon, all of them collapsed to the ground, screaming as fur sprouted across their bodies and they shrank slightly beneath their clothes.
In only moments, Taharis stood in the middle of the underground lab, his glove shimmering slightly with power on his hand. With a look of satisfaction, he glanced at his handiwork. A rose red unicorn mare with a mane the color of dandelions groaned where she lay in the corner, a sandy earth pony in a lab coat with a lime mane was sprawled beneath his clothes that no longer fit him, and three other ponies lay on the ground, buried mostly from visibility by their protective gear and equipment.
Not an alarm had been sounded, and no one else knew of his escape... yet.
Taharis smiled to himself. With a snap of his fingers, his black overcoat covered his shoulders once more, just like how he had called his glove back to his hand just moments ago. Another snap, and his mask covered his face once more. It was time he made use of this element of surprise he had acquired. With a smirk, he walked out of the lab, "Now we begin."
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Oh damn... this is as bad as Loki ending up in the helicarrier! Where is this guy pulling all this power from? Teleports, summoning, translocation over 50miles?
"I cannot be caged. I cannot be controlled. Know this as you perish, ever pathetic, ever fools." Jon Irenicus, Baldur's Gate 2
6478804
So the DISPEL are kind of like Men in Black? I dunno. I thought that was a proper comparison if you ask me. Also, it sucks that Lyle, Dale, and Fiora's lives are forever changed now.
Damn you, Taharis! 
Villain is much stronger than I thought as well. He totally deserves to be taken to Detroit!
6478909 I think the flaw in the analogy is in the machine part. The spell is more an alteration to the hose rather than an additional machine the hose hooks to. As gnome said, where some chi flows, the rest follows.
I've been thinking about this for a moment, and Taharis mentioned something about "revenge" when he started to do his transformation antic in chapter 3. And now that I've read this chapter, I think he's using his powers for his own good in response to his wife's death or something. Perhaps his wife was killed by the DISPEL for trying to do something reckless.
I hope to see what his motives are; I still don't see why he should go out and randomly transform innocent people into ponies.
Oh, that's bad. Bad bad bad bad bad.
*jots down idea of Magical MIB for later Bewitching Circumstances odeas*
6479421
Well.... I hope you like hooves
Oh no there ain't no rest for wicked
Come on, sing it with me
I saw what you did with the chapter names, you sneakity sneaker snoo. You can't sneakity snoo you're way past the likes of me!
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What, am I supposed to say something else? Fine, great chapter, please continue, love it all, etc., etc. (Seriosly though, I really do love your story. Plz update soon!
)
6478995 Well, these MIB wannabees just got their asses handed to them in the span of thirty seconds. Simply saying he's stronger then we thought is a bit of an understatement in my opinion.
I hate to say this, but compared to the other two stories in this series, I have been enjoying this one less than the first two. I think it's because of the fact that the first two stories involve main characters getting turned into ponies and doing random pony stuff in the human world until the spell expires, while this one has a more serious feeling and the fact that the main characters are stuck in their forms in the story. Plus, there's this overpowered villain doing evil acts for unknown reasons in the story so far, and things seem to be getting worse until some sort of miracle or deus ex machina happens.
I'll keep reading the story, but right now, I'm not feeling good about the events of the story so far.
I have a huge feeling that Scott Martin's rampage is going to expose all of magic to the entire public at last to which will lead to a magical apocalypse
.
Who knows, maybe somewhere Celestia, Luna, or the Mane 6 can sense something extreme going on at an another world...
these people do know anti-magic is a thing right? you can project a field that would have permanently diabled this guys magic well inside it and you couldn't do it.
were the heck are the compotent good magicians?
Angela doing what she that was 'helping',
Improper grammar
I need you to be a good girl and wait there until I get back.
Reminds me of the first spy kids movie when they were heading to the safe house.
Emily was the first to jump out
"That being said, speaking from an agency whose sole purpose is to keep magic hidden, we can't allow you three to return back to your homes and live the lives you had before."
That's why I came up with the idea to display a human to hide my oc.
Figures
Al gave a friendly smile to the woman at the front of the guards, "Evening, Wand. I take it the extraction went well."
I'm imagining his voice as Al from Quantum Leap.
it even hits
P.S: Sorry if you find any errors!
Nothing out of the ordinary for me!
My head C voice for Al is "Weird Al Yankovic"
More of An SCP Fan Myself