Un Down Up

You check the flyer once again, ensuring that you're heading in the right direction. Numerous people seem to be heading the same way, all of them wearing brightly colored shirts with "Donate, Celebrate!" written in large letters on the back. You pick up your pace, noticing a tent with other volunteers moving some boxes, each one varying species. A human assists a wolf in moving a box of canned goods, while a cat scribbles down quantities and qualities of the packages. The small crowd arrives, and the staff team grins brightly.

"Welcome! Thank you so much for coming out today everyone!" There are a few scattered replies from the crowd, and the human continues. "As you all know, this will be an hour long event of sorting goods for numerous programs. You'll be assigned to a working group; you may be taking data, moving boxes, counting, it just depends on where you end up. Now, please try to get in a line so that you can be send where ya need to be." As you follow instructions, the wolf jogs over and begins counting down the line. "Your number is your station! One, two, three, four, one, two..." The wolf continues, pointing to you with a cheerful call of "Four!" You check the tents, noticing the one labeled four, and walked over. You seem to be the only human in the bunch; A crow has begun to idly chat with a mouse, and another cat calls you over to the bunch.

"Well well! We gotta human stacking boxes today!" The group chuckles in a friendly manner. "Cmon; lets try to get this done as quickly as possible, so we can say we did the best!" The crow hops over to the scattered bins on the floor. He picks up a smaller case with ease, but flinches as he sees a few towards the back. "Anyone here have, uh, really good muscles?" You and the others walk over, eyes widened. Those things are half your size, and not in the right area! "We could try to pick them up as a group?" The mouse pipes in, but the cat seems to disagree. "Nah, we gotta get through these fast! If one person could take those, then we could get the rest ready and set by the time they do it." The group turns towards you, and the crow grins.

"Well... if the human there is willing to, eh, volunteer again, then I'm sure we could make it work." The cat nods, going over to lower the covers on the hangar to create makeshift walls. You step away a bit nervously, unsure of what was about to happen. The crow suddenly gains tips of glowing gold on its wings, the small sheen hypnotic. "We'll just make you something a bit more fit for strength."

Before you can react, the crow flaps its wings, the anthropomorphic bird sending a cloud of golden dust your way. It all seems to stick to your body, changing colors in certain areas. The dust becomes a soft, gentle white, save for around your neck and head, where it became a regal black. The crow moves around you as the other two animals move away, avoiding the magic. He flaps his wings behind you, sending more of the dust onto your form. You feel a warm sensation, as if a comforting blanket had been wrapped around you, keeping you safe. The crow nodded with a smirk, "And now we wait."

The dust began to grow into fur, retaining the lovely white and black it had when it landed. Your hands grew larger, paw-pads forming in the bottom as two of your fingers fused painlessly into one, leaving you with four. Claws began to grow, but not in a threatening way; you felt a surge of emotions as you looked at them, as if those claws were made to protect and defend. Your feet follow suit, extending from legs that became strong and agile in nature. Your shoes snapped as large paws grew out of them, each a glistening white with pink pads. Your shorts become snug as a tail forms within them, and you instinctively reach back to pull it out, marveling at the midnight black tuft at the end. The fur around your head begins to grow luscious, the same incredible black as the tip of your new tail. As it grows, your mind seems to alter with it, ever so slightly guiding you to your new goal. As your face extends into a white muzzle, you realize that you're becoming a lion, but not one made to hunt. No, you were made to protect your pride, any pride; to lead efforts to help and acts of charity. Your strength could be used for good, not evil! Your mind continues to melt, and while you still hold free will, you cannot shake off the repetitive miasma of a wish to help, to provide charity. Though, you can't find a place to be concerned about this. You nod towards the others as the change completes, your new body feeling strong and nimble. You walk over to the huge packages, gazing at them with enchanting golden eyes, and within seconds, you are able to pick them up and carry them to the designated area without even feeling a need for effort. The rest of your group widens their eyes and laughs in delight, rushing over to help.

Within fifteen minutes, the daunting pile of boxes had been changed to a neat and orderly stack. The rest of the charity group walks over to you, some gasping in shock. "How did we not notice you before?" "You're incredible!" "Woah, nice mane!" You smile, feeling amazing from both compliments and helping out. The crow walks over to you, chuckling. "Heh, sorry for the sudden change. I know that humans sometimes don't like transformations, so I can change you back if you w-" You hold up a paw, shaking your head no. In fact, you could stay like this for quite a while longer.