Hello again! This is a sequel story to the first Ms Safari story “All Part of The Show” https://www.furaffinity.net/view/49997473/

Like the first one, the artwork is commissioned from the amazing  Mias_Mischief who did an amazing work on this piece! ^^

Enjoy the story!

Zoo-Apology Gone Wrong

It’s been over a month since what was by far the strangest night in my entire life; on Halloween when I met Ms. Safari.

Imagine this: You go with your little brother to a lame kids party, you try to leave early and get some rest after a long day, then some crazy woman with magic powers transforms you into several animals as some sort of punishment for so-called negligence in watching your younger sibling (who by the way was old enough to look after himself)! That is precisely what happened to me with Ms. Safari.

Not only that! I was forced to “volunteer” as Ms. Safari’s assistant in her magic show and act like a fool in front of my little brother; masquerading as her animal performer for that party’s main event. But that’s a story already told. To me, that was water under the bridge at worst, and at best, nothing but a bad dream that seemed a little too real. It was too crazy to be real.

So why bring this up if I was trying to forget?

It was now early December, and the farthest thing from my mind was that night. I was adjusting to my new job out of college at a big investment bank, and this job had many perks! But it also offered me many opportunities to volunteer for community service and firm-affiliated events. I never really felt inclined to volunteer for anything, however. I was too focused on succeeding at work. Honestly, who wouldn’t be? I’m lucky to even have this job. I’d rather make all the money I can then spend any time “volunteering.” After all, look where that got me with Ms. Safari!

But one day, my manager made a fair bet with me that I lost related to one of the World Cup games. I won’t go into detail about it, but I made the bet on the condition that if I won, she would give me an extra vacation day. But if I lost, I would spend that day volunteering at an event of her choosing. Honestly, we didn’t take the bet too seriously. I’m sure she would not have forced me to volunteer either way, but I decided to accept my loss and help out with one event at least.

She surprised me by asking that I support our firm’s sponsorship of the local university along with 5 other co-workers. We were to partake in an event where we would talk to college students and encourage them to apply for jobs at our firm. Since I was fresh out of college myself, my manager told me I would relate to potential applicants and would be perfect for the task. Plus, after the event, we would get a free trip to the zoo; all paid for by the firm. Honestly, it was far from a punishment, all things considered.

The event was a complete success! We ended up piquing the interest of several students at the job fair, and several even indicated they wished to apply as soon as they graduated!

Around 3:00 pm, the fair ended, and we packed up our station to head to the zoo; which was right across the street from the university. The weather was warm for this time of year; and I wore a short sleeve most of the day. We didn’t plan on staying long, however, as most of us (myself included) wanted to beat rush hour traffic to head home. So, many of us decided to go our separate ways and head to wherever section excited us the most.

I went with one girl named Jane who worked in my division to a section called “Exotic Plaza.” Apparently, it was brand new. But strangely enough, it didn’t seem to attract many people. This part of the zoo was farthest from the entrance, and seemed to be eclipsed by the Safari Section; where there were several people gathered especially to see the large elephant exhibit. I shuddered at the sight of the elephants; recalling the time when I was briefly one myself.

Jane looked at me with concern as we walked past the Safari section. “Hey, are you doing ok?” She asked me. At that, I broke out of my trace and grinned awkwardly at her. “Heh, yup! Just glad we’re avoiding all these crowds is all. I hope this section we’re going to has plenty of cool things to look at even though it’s not as busy.”

She grinned back at me and nodded with a slight smile. “Well, we’ll see! I’ve been to this zoo several times and I know a new section when I see it on the map guide. Who knows? It might be a hidden gem!” She said hopefully.

A few minutes after leaving our group, Jane and I arrived at the entrance to Exotic Plaza. “Well, if isn't a gem, it is certainly hidden,” I said to Jane with a giggle upon looking at the gray iron gate that arched over us. “The advertising is terrible. The entrance sign doesn’t even have so much as a ‘grand opening’ banner plastered onto it.”

“Yeah that is strange,” she responded with a rushed tone. “But hey, could you give me a second? I have to go to the restroom real quick. I think I drank too much water from sitting down at that event stand all day.”

I nodded and told her I’d wait on a nearby stone bridge that went across a small stream of water to the right of the section entrance. Across the bridge was a gift shop flanked by several tree-lined paths which led to what I presumed to be animal exhibits. However, I only saw two small groups of people around. This place supposedly opened just days ago, and was already looking like it was going to close down.

I sighed in boredom; placing my hands on the rail of the bridge and looking down into the black water which flowed under. We should have gone with the others to the Reptile Section, I thought to myself. After a couple minutes of waiting, I took my phone out of my pocket to browse the internet; something I like to do to pass time. But barely any seconds passed before I heard a familiar voice behind me saying “Well, look who it is!”

I whipped around with fear in my eyes at hearing that mischievous giggle again for the first time since Halloween.

“Fancy that!” Said a tall woman standing behind me with a bright yellow Safari outfit, with brown eyes glaring straight into my own. She held that same white cane in her hand (but it had a noticeable fracture on top of the handle). “It’s a small world after all! How is my favorite performer doing?” Ms. Safari said to me in a sing-song voice.

“I-I-uh.” Think of something to say, you idiot! Act casual! I mentally deliberated my next words; trying to appear as relaxed and as unprovocative as possible. “I am-um, you mean me? Just fine.”

As I clumsily adopted a leaning stance, my sweaty palm failed to grasp the rail of the bridge, and I ended up stumbling before simply leaning my back on the rail after regaining my footing. So much for casual.

“Tch-tch-tch,” said Ms. Safari with a slow shake of her head as she rested her cane on her left shoulder. “It appears I have frightened you. My apologies. Maybe I was a little too harsh with you when we last met.”

I wasn’t buying that. “I mean,” I began with a nervous but vehement shrug. “You kind of used magic on me to force me to be your circus act. And you probably broke several laws doing it too.”

“Ha!” Went Ms. Safari with an unfazed smile. “There’s no laws against using magic, silly! And that’s all behind us now. It looks like you learned your lesson. You performed well in all three acts of our show. The audience was entertained. And once everyone was gone, I turned you back into a Human again! No harm, no foul!”

I rolled my eyes with a visible frown and adjusted my glasses, almost forgetting I was supposed to be nervous right now instead of slightly angry. “You tricked me,” I told her bluntly but softly. “I didn’t think you’d use actual magic on me and embarrass me in front of dozens of people; my brother included.”

Ms. Safari then dropped her facade and stared at me with a frown of her own, eyebrows raised upwards in an expression that was hard for me to read. After some seconds, her eyes became hidden by the tip of her hat as they dropped to her damaged white cane, and she fingered the fracture. “Even if you felt embarrassed, you were not,” she said with a resigned sigh. “Nobody recognized you, as I promised. But yes, I did go too far.”

Then she sighed again, shutting her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose before dropping the cane to her side. “I’m sorry,” she said finally. Then she turned away towards the section entrance without looking at me.

I picked up on how genuine she seemed, and immediately felt bad for snapping, even though I felt justified in doing so. Despite my frustration with her, I didn’t want to leave things on a bad note. After much hesitation, I tried to get her attention before she walked off the bridge towards the . “Wait,” I called softly; half-hoping she wouldn’t hear me.

But she did hear me, and as she turned around to acknowledge me in some way, she inadvertently pointed her damaged cane at me. Out of nowhere, sparks began flying out of the cane she was holding. And before either of us could react, a loud *poof* was heard.

As quickly and suddenly as it had appeared, a large mist of smoke dispersed around me, and I found myself covered in black and white feathers where my clothes had been. After a brief daze, I observed myself more closely and discovered that I was yet again no longer Human. Not again! I should’ve kept my mouth shut and let the crazy witch go!

I gazed in anger at Ms. Safari; who to my confusion, appeared to be shocked herself! Eyes wide, she covered an open mouth with one gloved hand and held the other aloft as it grasped the white cane. “I’m so sorry!” She said to me. “I didn’t mean it this time! I dropped my cane a while back and I thought it was broken! Just hold on and let me fix this…”

She fumbled in her pocket to grab some sort of small notepad, which she quickly began to scroll through with a pointed finger while mumbling incomprehensibly. “I think I have the spell that can change you back. Let’s see…”

I twisted my long neck and looked frantically around while she looked for the spell and found to my relief that nobody saw what had transpired. Accident or not, in the heat of the moment, I was still mad at Ms. Safari, and I turned back to yell “Hurry up please!” at her, but only an unbearable “Honk!” sound came out.

“Hold on,” Ms. Safari said with a raised finger; face still buried in her notepad. “I haven’t done this for a while…A-ha!” she exclaimed. With a confident smile she put away her notepad. Then with a focused expression, she raised her cane at me again. I squinted my eyes shut as another *poof* sounded off.

But I was disappointed when I opened them and saw a large gray snout occupying the entire bottom half of my vision. I had absolutely no idea what I was, but I knew I wasn’t back to normal! I felt way too heavy, was on all fours, and for some reason, I was suddenly very hungry and wanted to jump into the stream of water below. But I kept my head and decided now was not the time for food or a bath! As I opened my mouth to express my dissatisfaction, a deep, inhuman groan came out instead of words.

“No way! I know that was the right spell!” Said Ms. Safari with an uncharacteristically panicked tone; a bad sign for me. “Let me try again!”

After she raised her cane again and another *poof* came to my ears, I found myself still on all fours, and still not Human! Ok, I’m in serious trouble, I thought to myself as I noticed a large camel colored hump on my back. Turns out that’s exactly what I was!

“Umm…” Said Ms. Safari with a fake smile as I turned around again to give her the most threatening death stare ever given to anyone by a Camel. “Hey, funny! Um….it happens to be Wednesday, and you know what Wednesday is?” She said sheepishly with raised hands.

That’s not funny! I wanted to scream. But I knew it would just come out as some sort of grumble. So I just settled with giving Ms. Safari another grimace.

“Erm-right…Don’t worry! It just needs another try. I’m sure of it!” she said to me not-so-reassuringly, as she raised her cane once more. Another familiar *poof* sounded off.

I was not surprised at this point to find myself still on all fours and now covered in light brown fur. A large black nose stretched out far in front of my eyes, and I raised a large claw to adjust my glasses to ensure I was still seeing this all correctly. Even after everything, I still had trouble believing this was even possible!

But unfortunately, it was true. And I was now apparently a Bear. This can’t be happening to me! I screamed internally. At this point, I decided that being angry at Ms. Safari could wait. I wanted to prioritize allowing her to fix this. And constantly giving her death stares and making inhuman noises at her wasn’t helping her focus. So I relaxed and tried to take as much pressure off her as possible; standing completely still as she fumbled around in her pocket to take out her notebook again.

Ms. Safari was clearly nervous by now that she wouldn’t be able to change me back. It seemed that the fracture on that magic cane of her’s was keeping it from working properly, but I was hoping that the real reason she wasn’t able to change me back was that she was a little rusty!

“Okay,” Ms. Safari said after some seconds; lifting her eyes up from her notepad and raising her cane again. “This HAS to be the spell. Don’t worry. Just stand still and hope this works!”

I squeezed my eyes shut; praying that I would be Human again when I opened them!

This time, a loud *CRACK* followed yet another *poof*, but I kept my eyes shut. Hope came to me when I felt myself standing on two legs again, but it quickly vanished when I felt a large tail thumping the stone ground behind me. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Ms. Safari wearing the most nervous grin on her face yet as she held something behind her, failing to conceal the broken handle of the cane that dangled from the rest of it by only a few small strips of wood. She looked up at me as if some sort of monster was standing right in front of her. And I looked down at her (in worry rather than anger) as if she were some sort of ant.

Oh……No…….

My panic instantly increased as I sighted Jane coming out of the restroom behind Ms. Safari. It didn’t take her long to notice me. Then she jumped back with a sharp *gasp*, frozen in place like a deer in headlights.

I tried to feel my face and discover why she was so frightened, but I couldn’t reach it! As I looked down, I discovered that I had two clawed fingers on each “hand” and short, small twigs for arms. Forest green scales of many shades covered my body. And as the low afternoon sun peaked out from behind high clouds, I saw the shadow of what looked like a carnivorous Dinosaur stretching out from my clawed feet.

“Oh…….No………” I tried to mumble in horror, as only a deep whimper came out.

That’s all folks! ^^


Once again, all credit goes to  Mias_Mischief for the artwork!