FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The convention center was packed with people of all kinds, and people of all kinds appearing to be in various stages of transforming into their favorite ponies. It would have probably been exciting, if a little strange, were it not for the blood all over the center of the lobby. There were pieces of...something in the puddle. But people just seemed to be ignoring it and skirting around it. I sniffed. No, not blood, more like fruit punch poured over a torn apart scarecrow. "What the hell?" I asked aloud.

Alex managed to get a security guard's attention as he continued across the lobby. "What is going on here?"

"I have no idea. The con hosts have disavowed it as the act of an unknown con-goer. A janitor should be here shortly to take care of it."

"I was referring to the sighting of an escaped criminal, but the tiny tiger lounging inside my mane was wondering about the bizarre conversation piece, so thank you"

I giggled at this playful jab from Alex, and then peered out at the security guard without poking my head out. He was a black bear that looked to be a little younger than Alex and I. He looked at Alex as if he were crazy; until Alex sighed and pulled a badge out of his pocket.

"SMCU:SSI, now what's the situation on that sighting?"

The security guard finally snapped out of it and said: "Sorry, follow me. You'll want to talk to the boss."

We followed the bear toward a side hallway and past a barrier that read 'employees only'. Next was a series of well-lit white brick corridors with pipes all over the ceiling. Finally, we reached the main security office and left the bear behind as Alex flashed his badge again; this time at two police offers guarding the door, then walked through. I moved to peek out the back of Alex's mane. The bear was still watching, so I poked my head and shoulders out, and waved at him. His eyes turned into saucers before the door closed. I giggled to myself again. Why didn't anyone expect to see a playful little tiger in a lion's mane? I couldn't think of anywhere funner.

I returned to watching out the front of Alex's mane, and saw two huge polar bears in security guard uniforms deep in a discussion with what must be a senior ranking police officer as they studied a large piece of paper on a table between them. We approached, and the slightly smaller of the two polar bears looked up.

"Alex! How you been dude?"

"Hey Cody! Pretty good. You?" So this was Grace's boyfriend. I could imagine why she wanted him. Cody was clearly into weightlifting. That combined with his species made him a huge mass of white fur and muscle. The only person I'd ever seen who was larger was the other polar bear, who was still busy studying what was clearly a map of the building, now that we were closer to the table. I decided it was going to be time to make an entrance soon, but how? I wanted to top my first stunt, but that was just a few hours ago, so me and Alex hadn't had time to test some really cool ones I'd come up with that would need his careful cooperation. I thought for a bit, and then remembered that Alex's shirt today was pretty smooth. Hmm...

"Been busy as hell between classes and work here since I got promoted to second in charge of security, behind my brother of course." He jerked a thumb at the other polar bear as he said that last part. "You should come with Patrick and me to the gym more often."

"Perhaps I will."

"That reminds me. Patrick told me about your love interest, but Grace insists he's already your boyfriend. Which is he? And when do I get to meet him?" I crawled down the back of Alex's mane, and then waited as I heard and felt him growl in response to these questions.

"He's a friend. He got out of the hospital today. And he's right here."

"Ok, ok," said Cody to placate Alex's irritation. "And he's already out? Crazy. What do you mean he's right here?" I took that as my cue, released my grip on the back of Alex's mane, and started sliding down the center of the back of his shirt paws-first. Alex seemed to anticipate what I was going for, and leaned forward slightly to make my slide a little less vertical. "What are you doing Alex?" Asked a puzzled Cody. The material of Alex's shirt was sufficiently smooth, as I'd hoped, but nevertheless started to burn my paws and legs a little as I picked up speed. As I approached the top of Alex's shorts, I prepared to make the short jump past the waist band to the base of his tail.

"Wait for iiii...," I thought as I looked for the perfect time, "...iiit!" I jumped, and then successfully landed on his tail; maintaining my momentum as I grinded down it. Again he managed to predict what I wanted to do, as he set his tail at a moderately steep downwards angle, then flicked it up as I neared the tuft. This sent me flying up above his head, and I reached the peak of my arc a few feet above the top of his mane. I saw that I would overshoot Alex's head, and trusted him to catch me as I improvised; tucking inward so that I started spinning forwards as I flew over his head. Alex didn't disappoint, as he moved his left hand into a position to intercept me as I began to fall towards the floor. He held it at mid-chest height, so I kept spinning until I was falling past his muzzle, unfolded and prepared to land. I finally landed dead center on his palm, crouching to disperse my momentum before bowing as I stood up. "Another success!" I thought. There were definitely possibilities here.

"Hello. I'm Matt."

"Damn! That was tight. I'm Cody. No one told me you were that awesome."

"Thanks."

"Cody! Get back over here! The police are covering all exits now, and I want that bastard found and out of my building ASAP!" Called Cody's brother.

"Alright, sir!" With that Cody hurried back over to his brother's side, with Alex following.

"You're gettin' scrawny Alex. You should go to the gym more often," said Cody's brother.

"Good to see you too Brian. This is Matt." Alex said, raising his left hand, where I was still stand, up a bit so he could see better without having to stoop.

"Yeah, I heard you and Cody over there. I'm Brian, Cody's big brother. I help keep his ass in line." With this introduction out of way, I scampered along Alex's forearm, and then climbed up his biceps to his shoulder and from there back to my favorite spot in his mane. "We get fights at concerts and small riots at hockey matches, but this is shit is something else altogether. We need to find this guy now, before the manager is forced to announce it and everyone in my building for this damn con goes rushing for the exits."

"Alright. You know this place best. Where do you need me?" Asked Alex.

"Don't forget us!" Called Molly as she Patrick walked in. "Hi Brian!"

"Yeah, yeah good to see you two too. Sorry if I sound a little short, but we need to get on with the search. Alex! Check out this area here with Cody," he said pointing to a wide hallway on the map that had several of the more moderately sized conference rooms leading off of it.

We headed off, following Cody back through the door we came in and into the maze of white brick corridors, as Brian continued assigning search areas. "I know several rooms in that area are being used for the con, but I don't know exactly what's in each one," Cody said. After a pause, he asked: "How do you feel about searching for the guy who tried to eat you and left you stuck as a micro, Matt?" He glanced back at me, or my head anyways, since the rest of my body was once again concealed in Alex's mane.

"I just want this over with. I want to see him locked up so he can't hurt anyone else, but I don't really care for revenge. Even if it was terrifying, and I'd still be having nightmares about it if it weren't for you." I said, rubbing the base of one of Alex's ears, and hearing him purr faintly in response.

"You sure you two aren't a thing?"

"Not yet, anyways. We've only known each other for a week for goodness sake, and I spent most of that stuck in a hospital bed."

"Alright. We're almost to our search area. I'll take the rooms on the right of the hallway and you two take the ones on the..." That's far as Cody got before a fist came hurtling out of the corridor to the right at an intersection he was crossing just ahead of us. It made contact with the side of his head, and must have hit hard, as Cody collapsed and didn't move. Alex jumped back and prepared to fight. The owner of the fist emerged from the side corridor. It was him. He smiled at Alex as if here were an amusing diversion.

"So this is your protector little toy. I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure..."

"Alex."

"Let's see what you can do then Alex" with that he attacked. I had trouble seeing what went on for much of the next couple minutes as I focused on holding on Alex's mane, but from his constant smirk he appeared to be toying with Alex. It ended quickly when he failed to dodge a punch to the face from Alex's right hand; only to grip that arm viciously with his left claws, causing Alex to gasp as he stepped in to deliver an upward one of his own that connected with Alex's jaw and almost sent me flying out of his mane. Alex collapsed on his back.

"Alex!" I had managed to hold on as he fell, and then scrambled over his forehead, and started to pull at his eyelids once I saw that they were closed "Come on Alex! Get up! Please!"

"A poor choice of protector little toy." He kicked Alex viciously in the side of the chest a few times, and then looked down at me with that malicious grin spreading across his muzzle. "It's time we left."

I darted into Alex's mane as he reached for me, and then started tugging his right ear; again trying desperately to wake him up. "Alex!"

"Don't worry little toy. He'll get to live with this humiliation, but I don't think he'll get up anytime soon. Now we really must be going. We never finished our...playdate." With this he rapidly brought his right hand down on top of where I was in Alex's mane, and managed to grab my tale along a few hairs.

I grabbed onto Alex's ear and tried to sink my paw claws into his scalp. "No! Alex!" He started pulling at my tail, a grin of dark amusement playing across his muzzle at my desperate attempts to resist. "Help! Somebody! Anybody! ALEX!" My hind claws failed to hold their grip, and I was now holding onto only Alex's ear. I kicked out with my legs, but he still easily managed to grab up to my waist as he switched to pulling with his left hand. My hand claws were well anchored in the skin of Alex's right ear, and they were getting bloody from the gashes they were making as he tugged on my legs and waist. All too soon, he gave me a hard yank, and tore me free from the ear. He started running down a corridor. "Alex!" He dropped me in his right palm. "Alex!" He lifted his left index finger into view. "Al-"; He pressed down with the finger on my chest; forcing all the air out of my lungs and silencing my screams.

He watched me suffocate with a look of irritation tempered with amusement. "I thought you learned your lesson the first time little toy. Do not scream excessively." We came to a door, and he closed his fist around me as he went through, making sure to restrict my breath by pressing his middle finger against my chest. I felt him walk for a while, and then stop. I heard him chuckle to himself. He then started walking again and I could hear music faintly, then louder as we approached the source of it. It soon became deafening to my feline ears, then the fist opened up, and I saw that we were standing next to the door of a room half-filled with con goers dancing. He was holding a Styrofoam cup in his other hand, and he lifted his right with me over the cup. "Do you know what this is little toy?" It appeared to be coffee, and very hot coffee at that, because my tail was dangling down close, and I could feel strong heat wafting up to the tip from the cup. I realized where this was going and stared up at him with renewed terror. "I think you need bath."

I was stunned. The very idea that he would do this for amusement was incomprehensible, and then he tipped his hand. "NO!" I started screaming again as I tried desperately to grab onto his palm, his fingers, anything! I caught his pinkie, but he simply lowered the hand to dip me into the cup. My paws went in first, as I lifted my lengthy tail to delay contact as long as possible. The pain was incredible. I screamed louder still, but he continued lowering me in. next were my lower legs, then upper. The pain became all-consuming as my chest began to go in. I lost my grip on his pinkie and stopped screaming as I had to gasp for breath; stunned by the pain as I was left trying to swim in the scalding hot liquid. Then the pain seemed to fade, and I realized I was going in psychological shock. I somehow managed to swim to the side of the cup then start climbing up out of the terrible liquid as far as possible. Surprisingly, just enough of the cup was empty for me to climb fully out. He grinned down at this. "You're stronger than you appear. I expected you to lose consciousness."

Then I heard something that made my fur stand on end. It overpowered the music from the room he was standing next to and even appeared to make him nervous: it was a roar of pure rage.

"So your protector wakes early little toy. Alright. I'm in the mood to play a little longer. The roar sounded again; much closer this time. Then it came into view. A very large, feral lion with glowing blue eyes roared one more deafening time as it approached.

"Give him back!" The lion looked ready to tear him to pieces, but its eyes focused on me with painfully intense need, as I peered over the edge of the cup.

"A-Alex?" I asked questioningly. Could this really be him?

I accidentally dipped my tail in the coffee and gasped in pain. The lion snarled and prowled closer. "Give him back or DIE!" The lion roared out the last word.

He recovered from his surprise at this new development. "How are you doing this? That's not part of your power!" I didn't know what he was ranting about, but he seemed briefly stunned by the terrifying glare the lion gave him in response.

"This is an unanticipated development. You can have the little toy," I looked up and saw his malicious grin return, "but you'll have to find it first." With that he hurled the cup, with me inside, into the conference room. I screamed in fear of the fall, and pain as the coffee sloshed over me. The cup landed jarringly on its side in the middle of the dance floor, and the remaining coffee rushed out onto the floor, some of it burning me again on the way. I was astonished that nothing was broken, but relief was brief. A hoof slammed down on the bottom of the cup. I cried out in terror, and then fled from the cup as a paw came down on the top part of it. The dance floor was a death trap for someone my size. I dodged and scrambled, but still collided with a few paws and hooves. I couldn't spare a second to even move in a single direction consistently. The deafening music made the wooden floor vibrate, and added hearing damage to my list of likely injuries.

I heard the roar again; louder than ever. The DJ mercifully stopped the track, and paws and hooves stopped moving almost altogether. "What's going on here?" It sounded like this came from someone in the crowd. "Why is there a feral lion in here?"

"Ooh! Are you dressed as Princess Molestia?" That sounded like Molly.

"How d-dare you! It's Princess Luna you stupid bitch!" Whoever it was in the crowd must have started charging Molly, because I could feel what I could only guess was the stampeding of hooves.

"Bad Princess Molestia!" Came Molly's response. I heard a series of impacts, felt the thud of something heavy falling, and heard a collective gasp from the crowd. This was followed by murmurs and growing restlessness.

"SHUT UP AND STOP MOVING!" Roared the lion. It felt like a blast of sheer sound and air and I fell over, stunned. Then it called more gently "Matt! Where are you?" It had to be Alex.

"Alex! Over here! ALEX!" I started calling out as loud as I could. His feline ears must have picked up my voice, because soon I heard and felt the thundering of large paws rushing towards me. I noticed movement from one direction in the maze of paws and hooves, as the crowd parted for something with large, golden paws. Then a fox practically standing over me was forced leap backwards as the lion rushed to me. I collapsed, exhausted and relieved to be found. It picked me up gently in its warm mouth and carried me to the side of the room. Then it sat down, dropped me on its front paws, and started licking the coffee residue off of me.

I thought this would trigger spasms of pain from the third degree burns I must have gotten from the coffee, but all that ached were a few bruises. The tongue bath continued as I saw Molly, Patrick, and Brian approached slowly and cautiously. "What is that thing?" Asked Brian.

Before anyone could respond, another familiar face barged its way through crowd gathering by the door. "What the hell is so interesting people! I heard a-ohhh my," said Grace, "Who the hell is this? Where's Alex? And is he giving Matt a tongue bath?"

"I think it's Alex," responded Patrick.

"How can that be, honey?"

"How should I know?"

I would have added my opinion, but there wasn't time between full-body licks to say anything. Then the lion's eyes faded from glowing blue to normal brown, and in seconds the body reduced in size and morphed into Alex; still giving me a tongue bath. He realized what he was doing, and averted his eyes in embarrassment for a moment before standing up and carefully transferring me from the back of his hands to his left palm.

Grace got in the first word: "Well, well. So this is what you look like naked. Grace would consider tapping that if she didn't already have her polar bear."

Alex blushed, realizing for the first time that he was indeed missing clothes, and tried to hide his crotch behind his free hand.

"Holy shit! How did you do that?" Asked Brian.

"I don't know. I woke up sometime after he knocked me out like Cody, and I realized you were gone," he said, looking down at me. "I was terrified of what he was going to do to you; what he might do to you. I was mad at myself for failing to protect you, and desperate to find you; and it just happened. I didn't question how or why. My senses grew much stronger, and I could follow your trail, so I ran after you. Speaking of that bastard, where did he go?"

"That's another damned mystery. He literally vanished right in front of us as you charged into this conference room and started looking for Matt. It was like he teleported or something, but he better not still be in my building. You!" He called to one of his inferiors. "Get this boy one of the spare uniforms! I won't have one of my brother's crazy friends running around naked in my building!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Is there an ambulance on the way?" Asked Alex.

"Yeah, and we'd better get you two to the front to meet it," replied Brian.

"What about Cody?"

"What happened to Cody? Where's my high priest?" Questioned an instantly concerned Grace.

"Sir!" Called a security guard, running up to Brian. "Cody has regained consciousness. He seems fine; he's just gonna have a hell of a headache."

"Well that answers that. He'll be fine," said Brian. "I've kicked his ass way harder than that before."

"What about me?" Called what I could now identify as a female horse that was struggling a little to stand back up in what looked like a fairly impressive costume; if a little battered from whatever Molly did.

"You'll be fine Princess Luna. None of those blows were seriously damaging." Replied Molly.

"Wait, did you know her name this whole time?"

"Duh! But I knew it would probably set you off, and you really needed to shut up. It was obvious to me that Alex was trying to use his ears to find Matt, and at his size he would need utter silence."

A short ambulance ride later we were back at the hospital. "I thought I just discharged you," said Dr. Freeman, surprised to see us back after just 6 or so hours.

"It's been a busy day," I returned, as Dr. Freeman examined me.

"Well you've surprised me again. I can't find any burns on you, so all you have is some minor bruises. "You, on the other hand, will have a very sore jaw and some bad bruising on your side for a while. Not to mention some possible scars from wounds on your right arm." he said to Alex, "but I can prescribe a mild pain medicine, bandage those up, and send you both on your way."

"Thank you Dr. Freeman," said Alex.

"You're both quite welcome, but please try to stay out of the hospital for at least an entire day this time." We chuckled at this; Alex also wincing a little as that agitated his bruises, and were on our way shortly.

Eventually Alex stumbled into his apartment and collapsed on his back on the bed, then remembered that I was in his mane. "Would you like to sleep in the micro unit tonight, or"

"I'm fine right here," I said; cutting him off as I snuggled into his mane. I suspected that he smiled at this before we both quickly fell asleep.