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by Kiliq

"Justin? Justin!” the secretary called out into the bright hallway. She sighed and hesitated for a moment waiting for a response before ultimately shouting “Dr. Peterson!” Finally hearing his name being called, Justin dropped his paperwork and sprinted towards the secretary’s desk near the front door of the building. His ocean blue eyes were forced to squint to shield themselves from the bright sunlight that always flooded into the office late in the afternoon. “Yes Laura?” he inquired, trying to figure out his purpose of being called. She simply motioned her head towards the delivery man standing in the doorway. Justin examined him for a quick moment, noticing the “Genesis Veterinary Pharmaceuticals” logo on the box. “Oh! Are these the new steroid treatments I ordered?” “Yessir, now if you would please sign here,” the deliveryman stated with an authoritative voice, pointing at his clipboard with a pen. “Oh, oh yes of course.” A short burst of scribbling completed the transaction between the two, and the small package was carried inside and placed on Laura’s desk. “What is that?” she questioned as Justin opened the box. She had a pretty good idea of the drugs that came in and out of the clinic, but had never seen anything from that company. Before responding, he dug around the box a bit more to find a smaller package labelled Equigen. The package contained a set of ten vials of a strange bright blue liquid and a small informational pamphlet. Justin decided to read the pamphlet, leaving Laura’s question hanging in the air. It told of how it would transform the performance of the horse for the better to such an extent that it wouldn’t even be recognizable. From all the research and testing that had been done, their claims seemed to be true as well. Equigen was likely to alter the playing field when it came to joint injections. “It’s a new type of steroid for joint injections,” he told her after reading the piece of paper. “I signed on to a field test of it before it’s completely rolled out, and I’m supposed to inject a couple of horses tomorrow as I make my rounds. I’m rather interested to see how well this works.” “The owners agreed to you using this new treatment?” Laura inquired. “Yup. It’s already been lab tested and has been approved. It’s supposed to be great. I’m mainly focusing on some horses who haven’t really responded too well to other types of treatments.” Laura nodded before going back to working on the computer. The tapping of the keys was still audible to Justin as he walked down the hallway back to his office. It was getting late in the day, and he just wanted to finish his paperwork and head home. It had been a rather atypical Monday, with him arriving back at the office several hours earlier than usual following some last minute cancellations. The paperwork was his least favorite part of the job. He mainly wanted to be out working with horses: essentially why he’d wanted to become an equine vet. For years he had held a special connection to the animals, one that was almost spiritual in nature. He felt himself to have once lived a past life as a horse, and often longed to be a member of their species. This of course was kept a secret from most people for rather obvious reasons, so only a select few people who were close to him actually knew about it. While it could make some days rather difficult, he really enjoyed his work because of it and felt like he was doing a service to the species he so strongly felt a connection to. A small exclamation of joy escaped through his lips as he finished looking over the final document, meaning he could finally head home. Relieved, he ran his fingers through his hair, combing it off to the side. He wasn’t the last one to leave the office that day. Though the other vets and workers within the practice had decided to go and finish whatever they had left to do at home, Laura still remained there. He very quickly packed up his stuff to try and leave without disturbing her. “Good night Dr. Peterson,” she said as he attempted to sneak out the door. “Have a nice evening Laura,” he returned. “Don’t stay too late! I’m sure your husband would like you home before tomorrow.” “Oh, he’ll be fine! He probably has himself occupied with fixing up the farm anyway. The police department has put him on some late shifts lately, so he’s fallen behind on his list of projects.” “I completely forgot you guys got a farm! How’s that working out?” “It’s been good so far, though we still need to find some horses.” “That won’t take too long I’m sure!” he exclaimed as he walked out the door. Happy to be ending the day, he quickly hopped in his black Chevy Suburban to get going on his commute home. After getting stuck in the typical rush hour traffic, he finally made it home to the small farm he owned in one of the suburbs of the city. It wasn’t anything too impressive, as it was only big enough to comfortably house his two horses. He greeted his horses, a dapple gray Tennessee Walking Horse gelding named Sterling and a chestnut Arab mare named Jamie, both of whom were waiting by the fence when he arrived home. “You’re home late,” he heard a voice point out from behind him. Smiling, Justin turned to find his wife of six years, Samantha, standing in the doorway of their small two floor home. She was a beautiful woman. Her long blond hair seemed to glow in the evening sunlight, even with it tied up in a ponytail. Her usual work clothes, tight jeans and a blue polo, even accentuated her thin, yet short build. The two of them had met in college. They were both studying an equine science and management major at the time and started dating their junior year. Though she went on to work after graduating, Justin started veterinary school. After about a year living apart due to the distance between his vet school and her work, she found a job in a barn not far from his school. They ended up getting married right after Justin graduated from vet school. “One of these times I’m half expecting to come out and find you in the field with them,” she joked while walking towards him, hinting at his desire to be a horse. Other than a couple of close friends who knew about it, his wife was the only person he ever joked about it with. She was okay with it and could understand his desire to some extent, though it wasn’t necessarily something she wanted to happen to herself. Her humanity didn’t trouble her at all. “Well hopefully you’d join me then,” Justin laughed before pulling her close and kissing her. She smiled, knowing he was only kidding. “How was your day?” “Not bad, but I had a lot of paperwork to do, so that was a bit of a drag. Those new hock steroid treatments finally came in though! The ones I was telling you about a while ago.” She nodded her head. “How about you? Did you have a nice day?” “Define nice…” she trailed off. Samantha worked as a manager at a nearby stable. She shared much of her husband’s passion for horses, despite not wanting to be one herself. She enjoyed her work, but the people she had to deal with often became a thorn in her side. “Diane, the owner of those two Warmbloods, was being a bitch as usual. She came by and was yelling about one of the farmhands doing something wrong, even though it was exactly what she said she wanted!” Justin frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that.” “Oh well, it’s over now. No sense fretting about it.” She checked her watch and a look of surprise appeared on her face. “Dinner’s ready! Come on, let’s go inside.” “What are we having?” he asked as they made their way towards the door. “It’s a surprise.” “You know I don’t like surprises!” “Too bad,” she laughed. Her mouth stayed sealed as he desperately tried to pry any bit of information out of her. The back door of the house was open and the screen was in place to keep bugs from getting in. Through it, the aroma of garlic bread escaped the house and permeated the air on the back deck. The kitchen table was already set for dinner. The setup was even complete with food on the plates and everything. “You timed it so perfectly. How did you manage that?” “The same way I always do: Find my Friends,” she admitted. “Oh duh, of course.” The evening quickly turned into something that was typical of their household. They ate dinner, and then followed it by watching something on the TV in the family room. The only difference this time was that they chose to watch a rather long movie instead of one of their usual TV shows. They ended up getting so engrossed in the film that they ignored their usual bed time in order to finish it. Their eyes were slow to open the next morning from the harsh beeping of their alarm. “Ugh is it morning already?” Samantha mumbled. “We shouldn’t have finished that movie,” Justin groaned. The two of them slowly rolled out of bed to get ready for work. Things seemed to be going extra slowly for the couple as they attempted to fully wake up. By the time they were eating breakfast, Justin was running a few minutes late to leave for work. He hurried to finish getting ready before heading towards the door. “Bye honey, I’ll see you when you get home,” Samantha said as he came up to kiss her before leaving. “Actually I’m scheduled to see one of the horses at your stable.” “Wonderful! I’ll be looking forward to it.” “Now you can get the enjoyment of seeing me at your work too. You just can’t escape me!” “Oh shut up, just go!” she laughed. “Oh I see someone’s a feisty little mare today!” he exclaimed, continuing their banter. Given Justin’s personal belief, it wasn’t uncommon for them to describe one another with equine nouns and adjectives in private. “Yes, and this little mare is going to kick you. Now go!” she exclaimed as she attempted to shoo him out the door. “You’re going to be late! You still have to feed the horses you know.” “Oh crap, you’re right!” he acknowledged, looking at his watch. “See you this afternoon!” Despite being a minute or two behind on leaving, he still made a point of going to feed the horses. It was his favorite part of the morning. Sterling and Jamie would be given their food, and then Justin would stand in Sterling’s stall giving him attention until he was done eating. He may be around horses all day every day, but the few minutes he got to spend every morning with the horse he had such a close connection with was important to him. It was also during this time that he’d tend to reflect on his desire to become a horse. He kept a strict policy to try to avoid thinking about it on the job as much as possible, for fear of it possibly interfering with his work. To avoid thinking about it was no easy task for him either. Ever since he had been a teenager, his dream was to become a horse. More specifically he wanted to become a bay Arabian. Among the right company, Justin liked to acknowledge the desire as a defining characteristic of his. There were few things more important in the world to him than the desire. Despite the fact that it was an impossible dream, he longed for it to come true more than anything in the world. On some occasions, it could even be bad enough to make him mildly depressed for a few days. As soon as the pair of horses finished eating their food, he snapped back to reality, grabbed their bins and placed them back into the storage room. He usually would stay out with them for a few minutes afterwards, but since he was running late he decided that wouldn’t be the best idea. He followed a fairly routine morning schedule when making his rounds, visiting a few of the larger barns that he tended to visit at least once a week. There was nothing too interesting in the way of treatments either. He had originally been scheduled to perform lameness exams on a couple of horses, but the rain left him with nowhere to do the checks at some barns and therefore he arrived at Samantha’s barn just after one o’clock; much earlier than originally planned. Typically Samantha would get the horses ready to be seen by her husband when he came by to do some sort of visit to the barn, but since he came earlier than scheduled that was not the case. It was especially unfortunate as he was supposed to give the new hock injections to an infamously rowdy mare. She was a complete handful almost every time she had some sort of appointment with him. Even before she left the stall, the mare was being difficult and tried to bite the tech sent to retrieve her. Seeing as how the mare was being rather unruly, Samantha was called over to help assist in keeping her steady enough to give her the injections. Even the combined strength of her and the vet tech was barely enough to keep the wild horse under control, and this was with her being tied up in the crossties of the wash stall and having been sedated. He had no trouble injecting her with the preparatory injections, though trouble arose the moment the syringe carrying the special liquid came into sight. The bright blue color of the liquid appeared to catch her eye as Justin carried the needle from its resting place to closer to her leg. Justin prepped the serum while Samantha crouched down to help hold the horse’s leg. The mare managed to stay still even after the needle broke through her skin, but just as Justin was about to start injecting it, she violently jerked her leg away, causing the needle to slip out of her hock and straight into Samantha’s right leg. In all of the commotion, Justin’s finger accidentally pressed down on the end of the syringe, causing a small amount of the liquid to be injected into Samantha. Samantha yelped in surprise as her body received the serum. Quickly, the needle was removed from her leg, but it was too late. She looked up at her husband with a horrified face, and got a similar expression in return. “This is meant for horses, not humans! Who knows what it will do to me?” she exclaimed in a panic. “Don’t worry! You’ll be fine,” Justin consoled, nervously running his fingers back through his brown hair, combing it over to the side as he did so. “Just to be safe I’ll drive you to the hospital.” He turned to the vet tech standing beside him. “Call the office and cancel my appointments for the rest of the day.” Justin escorted the frantic Samantha to her car. After she was in, he went and grabbed a bottle of the new steroid that Samantha had been injected with before getting in the car himself. His tech watched as the front wheels of the small red sedan flung rooster tails of gravel into the air before speeding off down the stable’s driveway. “I have a strange headache,” she stated in a surprisingly calm manner as her husband weaved his way through the midday traffic. “My mind feels so fuzzy.” “It’s probably just the worrying. You’re stressed out and that most likely isn’t helping you very much.” “I’d feel better if you’d drive slower. I feel like you’re rushing me there because I’m going to die,” she said as she watched the speedometer slowly approach triple digit territory. “Besides if you’re not careful you’re going to get a ticket or crash on these wet roads.” Justin looked down at the speedometer and finally took note of his speed, unaware of how high it had gotten. He eased off the accelerator and let the car coast down to a more reasonable speed. They arrived at the ER not long afterwards. The doctors on hand were intrigued by what had happened. They agreed to run a few tests, drawing a bit of blood to ensure there was nothing harmful that had been injected. Justin was also sure to give them the bottle of the steroid that he had brought with him, hoping they could make sure there were no harmful chemicals in it. A couple of hours of nervous waiting gave them their response. “Mr. and Mrs. Peterson, I believe you’ll be pleased to hear that we found no harmful chemicals in her bloodstream.” “What about the steroid, will there be any adverse effects from it?” Justin asked. “Most likely not. There’s nothing inherently dangerous about the chemicals in it, and such a small dose was injected that it shouldn’t be of any concern.” “Thank god! That’s such a relief,” Samantha said with a relieved sigh. “Thank you very much, doctor,” her husband chimed in. “It’s my pleasure. You’re all ready to check out at the front desk,” the doctor pointed out as he left the room. “Didn’t I tell you it’d be okay?” Justin asserted as he gave her a hug. “Now let’s get out of here and take the night off.” They quickly headed home after leaving the hospital. The only delay was stopping to pick up Justin’s car from the clinic. While he was following Samantha back to their house from the clinic, he decided to make a quick phone call to the company that produced the steroid just to make sure they didn’t express any concerns about a human being injected with it. There was nothing concerning this issue on the label, so he figured this would be the best option. Much to his relief, the answer from the company representative was similar to what the hospital had given him. The treatment may have been made up of a unique concoction of chemicals, but there wasn’t anything in it that would cause problems for Samantha. For the second time that day, Justin let out a sigh of relief. He finished the call just before pulling into the driveway. As a bit of celebration after surviving their close call, Justin made the two filets they had in the freezer that he had been saving for a special occasion. Even though it was raining outside, he still stood over the grill with an umbrella to make them. It was Samantha’s favorite meal and something they rarely got to have on their budget. Despite this, she seemed keen on avoiding the piece of meat while eating her dinner. “Are you alright?” Justin asked. “You haven’t even touched your steak.” “Ye-yeah, I’m fine. I…I just want something a bit greener,” she timidly admitted. Justin did little more than to raise an eyebrow in surprise at her lack of interest in her steak. He figured her stomach was just upset from all the stress of the day. “I think I’ll go grab a salad from the fridge.” “Okay, suit yourself.” She grabbed her plate and carried it into the kitchen to try and make sure she could properly store the steak so it wouldn’t completely go to waste. She came back with a fairly barren salad. There was really nothing but greens and a few carrots sprinkled amongst them. The dressing was even lighter than what was typical for her. Her unusual salad didn’t receive a second thought from Justin. He was too focused on enjoying the steak he’d made, convinced once again that he’d outdone himself with his grilling. Their dinner was a fairly quiet one. Although both made comments on the stressfulness of the day, neither of them was really conscious enough to be able to hold up a full on conversation. The rainy weather combined with the scare with the injection earlier to completely wipe them out by the time they managed to eat dinner. The two of them made an attempt at watching a bit of TV before going to bed that evening, but neither of them could stay awake through an entire episode of anything. They ended up in bed way earlier than usual with both of them barely having the strength to even change into their pajamas. Justin woke up early the next morning, a little while before his alarm was even set to go off. The sun was shining right into his eyes. One of them had apparently forgotten to close the blinds before they went to bed. Deciding to get an early start in the morning to make up for all the missed work the day before, he forced himself out of bed and went to go get dressed. He looked at the clock hanging in the bathroom as he shaved his face, and mentally prepared himself for his alarm when he noticed it was almost time for it to go off. Instead of his usual phone alarm, a shrill scream pierced the morning air. Instantly, he threw down his razer and ran to his wife. “Sam! What’s the matter!?” “M-m-my ass…” she stuttered. “I have a tail!” She turned her back to face him, and sticking through her shorts was a small tail, with blonde hair matching what was on the top of her head. She screamed again as the six inch long appendage flicked, loudly exclaiming, “I can move it too!” In an effort to calm her down, Justin began running his fingers through her hair, brushing if off her ears. It was something he commonly did when she got upset. Only this time, what he found wasn’t quite what he was expecting. When he gasped at the sight of what he found, they twitched. “Your ears! They’re long…a-and pointed…and covered in golden fur!” She threw off the covers to reveal that her feet and ankles were now covered with white fur, while her shins and calves now had the same golden fur that enveloped her ears. Her toenails had all darkened to a grayish-tan color and were longer and thicker than before. Her feet were also no longer the same size, having elongated some overnight as well. Samantha unsteadily climbed out of bed, and eventually was able to make her way into the bathroom once she had adjusted to her legs. Standing in front of the body length mirror, she viewed the changes to her body. Justin helped her strip down out of her clothing, only to cause them to discover the golden fur had also sprouted in the area surrounding her newly formed tail. “The injection! Whatever I was injected with yesterday must have caused this!” she frantically cried. “There has to be a way to reverse it!” “What could we even do? It’s not like there’s an antidote for it.” “I don’t want to be stuck like this!” Justin was already suspecting that the changes were far from complete; something his wife had yet to realize. This was likely just the beginning, although what it would lead to still had yet to be seen “I’m not sure the changes are over,” he cautiously insinuated. “If this much has happened already, you may end up changing more.” She leaned over into her husband’s arms and began bawling. When she looked up at him, through her watery eyes, he could even see the emerald eyes he had often commented on as being so beautiful now had a ring of brown. Not even they could escape the changes. Eventually she stopped crying, but she still stayed in Justin’s arms letting out the occasional sob. Her short tail was tucked down as much as it could be, very accurately displaying its owner’s mood. As his wife was calming down, Justin was trying to figure out what the next move would be. Going to the hospital seemed to be a good possibility, but he began to wonder what they could even do. He’d never seen any records of anything like this happening overnight, which not only meant they might not know how to treat it but that she also may become some sort of scientific oddity. Perhaps calling the drug company would be a decent next step, but even then the same outcome he feared with the hospital could arise. “Well, what could I even be turning into?” Samantha plainly asked, interrupting Justin’s thoughts. “I have no idea.” His mind was too distracted by everything else to even come up with a suggestion. “What if it was a horse?” she said, playing off her husband’s fantasy. She may have been trying to make a joke, but the idea set off a lightbulb in Justin’s head. The steroids she was injected with were causing her to become a horse! She was achieving the very thing he’d dreamed about, and yet the reality of it seemed extremely different from the version he had held so dearly in his head. “Wait…wait…that actually could be it. Think about it! The injection, it was a horse steroid!” “You don’t mean I’m becoming…a horse?” she slowly questioned. “It doesn’t seem to be out of the question.” “I-I can’t be! That’s just not possible!” “Something is clearly going on! Look at what’s already happened!” Her mood quickly shifted so that she became hysterical, despite having just been calm enough to make a joke. “This is awful!” she sobbed. “I-I’m terrified! What if I do fully become a horse? What if I lose all of my humanity?” “Everything will be just fine! I’m scared too,” he admitted, “but I know everything will be okay.” “This isn’t one of your fantasies, Justin! It’s not an ideal world where everything will turn out perfectly after something as life-altering as this! I don’t even want to be a horse!” “Look, I’ll do my best to find a way to stop this.” He looked over at their reflection in the tall mirror for a moment. “I’m going to get ready and head in to work for a while. While I’m there I’ll try to dig up some stuff about what you were injected with yesterday.” “What! You can’t leave me here alone!” she exclaimed. “I’ll only be gone a few hours. I’ll call now and take half the day off and cancel for tomorrow.” “What if something happens? We don’t even really know what’s going on for sure!” “You’ll be good for the short time I’m gone, though if anything happens just call me and I’ll be home in no time.” “Okay, fine, but please make it fast.” That was exactly what he did. Justin got ready and was out the door in a record amount of time. He even managed to feed the horses before he left. He waved goodbye to Samantha as he backed his car out of the driveway, desperately hoping she’d be okay while he was gone. Even in the short time since they’d woken up that morning, her ears had grown slightly and the fur had spread about another half inch on her body. Meanwhile her toes had began to merge together to start to form the single digit that would become her hooves. He arrived at the clinic a bit earlier than usual thanks to a miraculously light load of traffic on the way there. Immediately after entering the office, he was bombarded by questions about what happened with his wife and the accident the day before. His response to all of them was the same: nothing had happened. Despite this, he did say that she had caught a nasty virus at the hospital, and that he’d have to go home early to take care of her. With the coworkers out of the way, he set about canceling his appointments for later that day and the day after. He knew his clients would have his head on a silver platter for doing it on such short notice, though there was really little he could do about it. To his relief, this didn’t take nearly as long as he suspected it would, so he was able to start researching more about the treatment he used. Again, he called up the drug company that had sent him the samples of Equigen. He was careful not to mention anything specific for fear of his wife becoming the equivalent of a science experiment. He did ask some questions regarding what could happen if a person was injected with enough of the steroid. Specifically he wanted to know if any side effects were possible. Without going into too much detail, he asked if additional hair growth could be caused by the treatment. They were intrigued by his question but were quick to assure him that a side effect as odd as that one should not be possible with the drug. Despite trying to squeeze more answers out of them, he got nowhere. He wasn’t willing to admit anything specific, but he wasn’t going to get anywhere if he didn’t. Slowly becoming extremely agitated by the call, Justin ended it. He knew he shouldn’t have expected any different, especially with it being such an unusual situation. Defeated by the phone call, he went to continue his research to see if he could find any information on what was in the treatment. None of the components on their own seemed to be damaging, and nothing could explain the transformative effects that had occurred with Samantha. He managed to find the scientific journal articles about the testing of Equigen on horses, but was unable to find anything useful to their situation. Finally, after several hours of research, he gave up and went home. Despite having made such great time the entire morning, Justin arrived home later than he would have liked. He found Samantha sitting on the couch watching TV. Her ears were now visible even through her hair and even turned towards him as he walked in the door. Despite it being one of the warmest days of the year, she was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. She almost never wore an outfit like this, and when she did it was either because she was sick or upset. “How are you doing?” he asked. “And why are you so bundled up? It’s something like 80 degrees outside.” “Well I’ve been better,” she admitted. “I’m dressed like this so I don’t have to watch myself change. You were right though, it definitely is a horse. It’s so frightening and I can’t bear to see how far gone I am already.” “Would you mind if we checked on your progress? I know you just said you didn’t want to see it, but it might be good just to know what all has happened.” Nervously, she nodded her head. He put out his hand for her to hold on to as she stood up, and she grabbed hold of it with a hand that had darkened fingernails and that had already begun growing golden fur. When she put her feet down, they made a very distinct clip clop sound on the hardwood floor. “You already have hooves?!” “Yeah,” she sighed. “They’re not fully formed yet though.” “Are you okay to walk?” “Hmm… I’m not sure, I haven’t even tried yet.” She slowly began to stand up off the couch, careful to make sure she didn’t lose her balance and fall. “Hold on to me if you need to,” he offered. “Let’s go upstairs so we can look in front of the mirrors.” She nodded her head and the two of them started off towards the stairs. As she walked, her tail, which was now over a foot long, was swaying back and forth with each step she took. Samantha stripped off her clothes when she reached the bathroom, and to her dismay the changes were even further along than she previously thought they were. Her legs were now almost entirely covered in golden fur, with it now meeting the fur that was growing around the base of her tail. Her rear end had begun building up more muscle and was gaining a more equine appearance. The fur around her tail had also spread further up her back and was now slowly making its way towards her shoulders. As for her legs, in addition to having more fur on them, they had also undergone some fairly major conformation changes. When combined with all of the other changes that had occurred already, Samantha nearly looked like she was a horse from the waist down. Samantha’s eyes began watering as she looked at her changed self in the mirror. “I was so beautiful. Now look at me! I’m a freak.” “You won’t look like this forever. I’m sure you’ll be the most beautiful horse in the world,” Justin stated in an attempt to cheer her up. “Will that even matter? I’ll be a horse. Who knows if I’ll even still be me?” “Of course you will be. Each of those horses you work with has a unique personality; you know that. So will you. Even if you don’t stay as book smart as you are now, you’ll still be Sam. Nothing will change that, no matter what body you’re in.” Her ears, which had been laid back from her upset mood, slowly began to angle forwards again. “Can you do one thing for me?” “I’m willing to do anything. Name it.” “Please take care of me.” “I promise you that I’ll always be there to care of you,” Justin declared. “No matter what happens I’ll stay by your side.” She leaned over to him and let him wrap his arms around her changed body. At various moments she looked up at him through her altered eyes. The brown ring had expanded and had now covered about half of her iris. Justin decided not to mention anything about it to Samantha; her green eyes had always been special to her. “Let’s go back downstairs. Looking at myself in the mirror like this is awful.” “Do you mind if I get a few pictures of you before you get your clothes on? I feel like this might be a good thing to start recording.” “Can I at least put my underwear back on?” “Now why would you want to do that? I think the view is fine just like this,” Justin joked. For the first time since they’d seen the changes, Samantha cracked a smile. She redressed into her underwear while Justin went to grab his nice camera. He hoped the better resolution from the camera would help keep anyone who saw the photos from assuming they were faked. This wasn’t the only time he was planning on taking photos though. He didn’t want to be mocked if he ever had to explain that his wife turned into a horse. The part horse, part woman stood at the foot of the bed waiting for her picture to be taken in a rather unflattering position, prompting Justin to playfully say, “Now come on, pose a bit!” “And how should I do that?” she laughed, now in a much better mood. “Just look pretty; I know you know how.” She turned to a better pose in which she almost looked to be proud of her predicament. “Your tail looks kind of funny in how perfectly it matches your ponytail,” he pointed out with a laugh when she turned to get photos of her back, “especially when you hold your tail at the same angle like that!” Samantha rolled her eyes at him, knowing that even when she was like this he wouldn’t miss an opportunity to tease her. It was cheering her up, just as it usually did. “You’re not going to show these to anyone, right?” she asked once he had gotten all the shots he wanted. “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,” he smirked. She rolled her eyes before he went on. “Seriously though, only if I need to…I don’t think most people will believe me if you disappear suddenly and then I try and say you became a horse.” “Oh god, you’re right.” She looked down for a moment, until suddenly her ears perked up and her green-brown eyes lit up with an idea. “How about you say we’re going on a trip? I can call and quit my job at the stable, and you can take a couple of weeks off work. We’ll say it’s a…family emergency, and you can just say I’m staying there to take care of a sick family member.” “That might work. We’d need to tie up any loose ends though.” “What loose ends? No one at either of our jobs knows my family.” “Well, don’t you think it’d be a good idea to contact them about this? In probably less than two days you’re not going to be able to speak to them again. Now is your last chance for a goodbye,” “I’m not sure how well they’d take it.” “Does that matter though? At the very least just tell them so they can know what’s going on. They’d probably like to know what’s happening to you.” “Yeah, and that won’t be a difficult phone call. ‘Hey mom and dad, I’m turning into a horse!’” she sarcastically exclaimed. “They probably won’t even believe me!” “Well, we can send them the photos. That might help.” “I don’t even feel comfortable talking to them about it.” “It’s not an easy subject, but you really do need to do it.” “I’m their only daughter! This will devastate them!” “What if we find some way to put it a bit more lightly than just blatantly saying you’re becoming a horse?” “There isn’t a very ‘light’ way to say that.” “We still have plenty of time to figure out what to say. Until then, why don’t we relax a bit? Is there anything you’d like to do?” “Well, I wouldn’t mind just watching TV. I don’t think I’ll get to anymore…unless—“ “I am not putting a TV in the barn for you like Mister Ed,” he interrupted, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. She grinned. “It was worth a shot.” After thinking about it for a moment, he offered, “Actually, maybe we could get you one. It’d probably help with your transition to a horse.” “I think it could help ease the shock of the lifestyle change, definitely.” He nodded before finally saying, “Go ahead and pick out something to watch, I’ll be right back.” She slipped her clothes back on and sat on the bed while her husband ran downstairs. He grabbed one of the bottles of the steroid that he had brought home with him and took it back upstairs. He wanted to inspect it a bit while they were watching TV. Upon coming upstairs he found Samantha browsing through the seemingly endless depths of Netflix. He plopped himself on the bed next to her and grabbed the bottle out of his pocket. He wanted to see if there was anything he’d missed on it before. “Honey, just leave it alone,” she insisted, putting her hand on his arm. “I don’t feel right letting this just happen. There has to be some way to reverse it.” “There’s nothing we can do to stop this. You said you’d already tried looking.” “I just can’t accept that this is happening,” he countered. “This shouldn’t even be possible! I mean…I know I dreamed about it, but it was never supposed to come true.” “Well apparently it is….Can’t we please just enjoy what little time we have left together?” she pleaded. He placed the full vial on the wooden nightstand beside the bed and looked over at her. “Alright, whatever you say.” “Thank you.” She leaned over against him putting her head on his shoulder. He rested his head on hers and nuzzled her softly. As much as he hated to believe it, the changes were even noticeable as they sat there. Every time certain scenes happened in the movie or when Samantha refocused after becoming distracted, he could feel her ears twitch or turn to face back towards the television. Eventually, she repositioned her hands as she cuddled with him, and he saw that her already darkened nails had already started to grow a bit. Unbeknownst to him, Samantha’s mind was racing with the changes she could feel occurring beneath her clothes. Rather than trouble him with her worries, she kept them to herself. She felt it as the muscles on her legs grew thicker, taking on the shape they’d need to carry her equine body. Fur had also begun to grow on her shoulders and the top of her arms as well. She had only noticed it as the fleece on her shirt began rubbing it the wrong way when she moved. Eventually, she had enough and sat up to remove her sweatshirt, leaving her top half clad in only her bra. Justin’s eyes widened at the revelation of just how much had changed in the span of only a couple of hours. “Well, now that we’ve moved around a bit, would you like some lunch?” he asked her before she settled herself again. “Yes, please,” she said, her response accompanied by a well-timed stomach growl. “Could you make me a salad…oh and put carrots on it!” “Do you want some hay too?” he laughed. His wife responded with a light hoof kick to his leg. “I’ll take that as a no.” “Not unless you want another one.” Samantha smirked. “I’m not a horse yet!” “Ugh fine,” he overdramatically said in an attempt to be humorous. Samantha shook her head and rolled her eyes. He ran downstairs to fix himself a sandwich and throw together a salad for her. While he was making the salad he heard his wife’s hooves clopping on the wooden stairs and then continue their way towards the kitchen. They’d grown slightly more while they were sitting in bed, and now made an even louder noise than before. “You’re not sneaking up on anyone in this house,” he commented with a glance over his shoulder. “I know! It’s driving me nuts.” “You could have just stayed upstairs. I was going to be right back up.” “I wanted to be up and walking around. I’d love to leave the house and not be cooped up in here, but that wouldn’t be the best idea.” “If you put a shirt on and tuck your tail into your pants we could probably go outside for a little while. The neighbors can’t see a decent portion of the yard.” “Could we eat on the deck then?” “I don’t see why not.” Justin grabbed their plates and carried them out to the old furniture they had on the deck. It was something they’d gotten from his parents when they replaced their patio set. It was well worn but it worked just fine; they rarely ever ate outside anyway. Samantha clopped out the door wearing a t-shirt with her tail hidden beneath the waistband of her pants. If it hadn’t have been for her ears, she would have actually looked relatively normal. From a distance it would have been impossible to tell that she was any different than usual. Neither of them knew what to say as they sat down to eat. The morning’s events had left both of them deep in thought. Samantha was still trying to make sense of what was happening to her. What had happened was completely impossible; she knew this. Yet despite all logic, it was happening. Meanwhile, her husband was caught between feelings of anger and jealousy. He was devastated that Sam had to go through this, though he was even more upset that it wasn’t happening to him too. It was his dream after all. The unrealistic fantasy he’d held for years was finally coming true…for the wrong person. Their faces wore stoic expressions as they ate. Not a word was uttered for the entirety of the meal, making it feel like it lasted for an eternity. Samantha chewing the lettuce from her salad was the only thing that broke the silence, and it continued to be until she’d eaten all of it. Once they’d both finished their food, Justin started to clean up their dishes. “Can we stay outside?” she pleaded as he went in the door, finally breaking the extended silence between them. “Sure,” he replied. “Maybe we could go visit Sterling and Jamie. I’d love to see how they’d react to you being half horse.” Samantha chuckled for a moment. “I’d be up for that.” Once lunch was all cleaned up, the two of them set off for the barn. Even though the barn was only a short distance away, it wasn’t going to be a pleasant journey for Samantha. Most of the time she’d have to be walking barefoot on the gravel driveway; something both of them always avoided doing. Samantha paused upon reaching the edge. After a few moments of hesitation, she carefully began to step out onto the gravel driveway, wincing in pain at the first few steps. Their driveway was difficult enough when barefoot as humans and it was no better with equine hooves either. Justin, noticing his wife’s discomfort, snuck up behind her and swept her up off her hooves. “Ooh! You haven’t done this in years,” she purred. "Not since our wedding night if I remember correctly,” he recalled. He nuzzled her a bit as he held her in his arms. “I may as well do it while I still can. Besides, you didn’t look comfortable walking on the rocks.” “Yeah, it’s not fun. Now I know how the horses feel when they go on it...” He managed to carry her the fair distance to the barn from the house, though he did end up struggling towards the end. Upon reaching the concrete floor of the barn, Justin had reached his limit and he quickly set her down. “I’m getting too old for that,” he commented as he composed himself. “You’re too young to be complaining about that,” Samantha chuckled. “You’re only 32.” “I’m old enough,” he jokingly added. The clopping of Samantha’s hooves on the concrete barn floor quickly caught the attention of the horses that were standing out in the paddock. Both Jamie and Sterling wandered into their respective stalls to see what it was that sounded like a horse standing out in the passageway. Their curiosity noticeably spiked when the realized the equine sounding footsteps came from their owner. In the hope of getting some sort of equine response, they both called out to their owner with curious whickers. “Sorry guys, I’m not that much of a horse yet,” Samantha replied as she stroked Jamie’s nose. “I doubt it’ll be too long before I’m with you,” she muttered before starting to tear up a bit. Justin walked up beside her and put his arm around her thin waist. She rested her head on his shoulder; something she’d never been able to do before. He’d always been too tall for her to be able to do it. Samantha’s height increase was ignored by both of them though in order not to spoil the moment. “You know, you turning into a horse doesn’t have to be the end of any of this,” Justin said in an effort to cheer her up. “What do you mean?” “Well, there’s nothing stopping me from joining you.” “That’s very sweet of you, but then we’ll have no one to take care of us.” “We have family and friends who I’m sure would understand.” “I don’t think it’d be very fair to impose this on them,” she pointed out. “Please do see things from my perspective for a moment. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to achieve my ideal dream. Not only would I get to become a horse, but I’d get to be with you as one. I know it may not seem like it now, but maybe this is a blessing in—“ “Blessing!” she exclaimed. “There is no blessing here! My life is ruined! I had a happy home, a stable life, and a nice job and now it’s all being thrown away for me to become…something I never even wanted to be!” “Try to look on the bright side…” “What bright side? That I’ll still be beautiful as a horse? That I’m not going to lose any part of me? It’s already gone! Before too long I won’t even be recognizable and no one is going to even know what happened to me.” “There is a bright side though. Think of it this way: what work will you ever need to do? None! You’ll get to live out the rest of your life relaxing without needing to worry about a job, money, or anything of the sort.” Her eyes, which had been previously been looking up at his face, darted down and away as she pondered what he had said. “Now think if I were to join you, we could start that family we always wanted. No worries about our financial security, schooling for our kid, or not having time to spend with it…nothing at all.” Samantha thought about what he said for a moment before admitting, “That actually does sound kind of nice. It’s not all the perfect world you’ve portrayed it to be though.” “No, it wouldn’t be.” “Locked up in stalls all the time, having someone else decide when you eat, what you do, who owns you…pretty much every aspect of your life would be beyond your control.” “Sure, it wouldn’t be perfect all the time, but would it really be any worse than being a human?” “Honestly, it could be.” She deeply sighed. “Look, I love horses just as you do. They just…I’d never want to be one though. You know there’s more to their lives than that. And you of all people should know just how easy it is for something to go wrong. Besides, even then, at best I’ll only…holy shit…” she trailed off as her eyes widened and began to well up with tears. “You’ll only what?” “I’ll only live for twenty five more years at most!” Justin remained silent as he desperately tried to think of a way to calm his increasingly frantic wife. “Twenty five years is…it’s a long time.” Tears began to stream down her face as she realized what her fate would eventually be. He continued thinking on what to say, or really even do, at this point. Normally he did a good job of consoling Samantha when she got upset, but these circumstances were so much different than anything either of them had experienced before. He had trouble thinking of anything to say, and even remained speechless for several more moments. “Sam, you don’t need to worry about that.” Justin attempted to console her as best as he could; hoping what he was planning to say would help her. “You’re going to still live a good life, and it won’t even make any difference that it’s any shorter. Just make the best of this situation; I know you’re good at that.” Samantha said nothing in return; she just nodded her head. She went and sat down on a bale of hay sitting on the side of the aisle in the barn before putting her head in her hands to continue her crying. Upon sitting down next to her, Justin watched as she shied away from him slightly. “Would you like some time to yourself? I would completely understand,” he offered. She slowly nodded. Justin was taken aback; rarely did she ever push him away to deal with something on her own like that. Despite his lack of desire to actually leave her alone, he followed her wishes and stood up to walk out of the barn. The short walk he took led him to the side of the pasture, where the two horses quickly came over to greet him. Giving the horses some attention allowed him to clear his head and stop worrying about his wife’s predicament. As the minutes slowly turned into an hour, Justin went back into the barn to check on Samantha. She was sitting down where he’d left her earlier, though now her shirt was no longer on. In just the short time he was away from her, the fur on her arms had spread even more, making its way down towards her hands to meet the fur that had already grown upon them. Upon closer examination, her hands had also lost some of their dexterity. They were both starting their journey to becoming hooves at this point; a change that Justin had hoped would come much later. Samantha didn’t even notice her husband as he stood at the entryway to the barn. He knocked on the wooden wall to grab her attention, causing her to startle. Once she calmed herself back down, a smile appeared on her face as she patted the bale of hay with her lightly furred hand, inviting Justin to sit down beside her. “I’ve been thinking,” she started as he sat down. “Maybe you’re right…about all of this. It may not all be so bad. I don’t want it, but maybe one day I could be happy with it.” He nodded, pleased that she was starting to be able to come to terms with what was happening. “I’m still not completely comfortable with it yet, but I’m starting to see it’s not the end of the world,” she admitted. “Plus it’d be better if I wasn’t alone, so could you please join me?” “Of course I will!” he exclaimed, barely able to contain his excitement. Getting permission from the most important person in the world to him was exactly what he needed. He knew he wouldn’t feel right without her okaying it. “I know you would. This is what you’ve wanted for years! I’m surprised you haven’t injected yourself already.” “Let’s just take one step at a time,” he smiled. In reality, the thought of transforming himself hadn’t even crossed his mind in a serious manner. His focus had been set on caring for his transforming wife. “I’m not sure when I will, but you need to be settled in before I do it.” “Well thank you for that.” “I also would need to take care of you until someone can be found to take care of us.” “That’s true. Any thoughts as to who would you get?” “I honestly don’t know.” He thought about the question for a moment more, trying to see if anyone would really be able to take care of them. “Neither of our parents would really be up to the task…speaking of which we need to call yours, my brother is in Florida and won’t move up here, and you don’t have any siblings.” “It’d probably also be too much of a burden to ask a friend to care for us, wouldn’t it?” she asked. “I wouldn’t want to put them on the spot like that. ‘Hey, can you take care of my wife and I since we’re becoming horses?’” “So then what do we do?” “What if we did nothing?” he suggested. “I’ll spend some time building feeders and setting up water troughs, and we should be good for a while. Someone will come to the house eventually. If anything, I bet someone from the office will swing by if I just stop calling in.” “That seems like a risky move to bet on…” she suggested with a nervous tone in her voice. “Well, it doesn’t seem like we have many other options,” he pointed out. He looked down in a moment as he tried to think of a solution, but didn’t come up with anything. “How about this: I’ll just hold off transforming myself until I can find someone to care for us, or at the very least come up with a plan. I may be dying to transform, but I can wait until the time is right.” “That sounds fair.” “I’ll be sure to run the plan by you before doing anything.” A thought hung on Samantha’s lips. There was a long pause that persisted between them before she was finally able to let it out. “Assuming I’ll still be able to understand you.” “Trust me, everything will be okay.” He stood her up and brought her close to him. She looked down and away from him despondently. Her mind was unable to match his certainty. Instead of responding, the two stood quietly for several minutes. A dark feeling hung in the air. Neither of them were able to break free of the silence. Samantha motioned that they head back to the house so they could get back to doing something they enjoyed together. Control over what they did for the rest of the afternoon was given to her. There was so much she wanted to do and so little time for her to do it. After pondering the issue for a short time Samantha decided on playing one of her favorite board games. For the next hour, the two of them competitively tried to one up each other during their game. Samantha ended up taking the prize in the end. She suspected that she was allowed to win, which was quickly denied by Justin. During that time, her mind had also been happily distracted from the changes that were occurring to her. Justin had been observing what was going on, but was careful not to spoil her good time by telling her what was happening. In the hour they had been playing, her ears had repositioned themselves more on the top of her head. Further down her body, Justin noticed that Samantha’s previously loose pants were growing tighter, particularly around her thighs and waist. Her torso had surprisingly not changed much by that point. Samantha had retained most of her dexterity in her hands, despite the change’s slow progression over the past hour. As a result, she felt like she needed to squeeze in one more activity that would greatly require it. Justin raised an eyebrow as she got up from the table to clop her way into the family room to turn on the TV and his Xbox. “Since when do you want to play Xbox?” he questioned in a surprised tone, caught a bit off guard by her sudden interest in videogames. “Well, since I’m never going to do it again,” she replied. “What two player games do you even have? I’ve never paid much attention to your games.” “A couple of racing games and probably a Call of Duty. Take your pick.” She picked out one of the newer racing games and placed it in the disc drive before joining Justin back on the couch. To nobody’s surprise, her racing abilities paled in comparison those of her husband. Justin managed to lose only a few races, and those were because he kept getting cocky and decided to screw around. The changes progressed even as they were playing. After a fairly short amount of time racing, Samantha’s hands began to lose more of their dexterity. Her thumbs lost some of their range of motion and it kept getting progressively harder for her to use the joysticks on the remote. Not only this, but her middle finger also slowly grew to become more prominent as it began to merge with her index and ring fingers. They had been so caught up with everything else that they nearly forgot to take off her gold wedding ring and diamond studded engagement ring before they got to be in the way of the transformation. As the changes mounted, so did her frustration. Her hands were what she dreaded losing more than anything else. Now both her wedding ring and engagement ring were sitting on the table in front of her, seemingly mocking her for the human side she was losing. Eventually they had to stop playing their game, not only because it was getting too difficult for Samantha to play, but also because she became so distracted and frustrated that it wasn’t even fun for either of them anymore. Even after Justin had turned off the game, the two of them remained sitting on the couch. Samantha had grown despondent from her latest changes and didn’t want to get up. Instead she just leaned over onto her husband’s shoulder without saying a word. Both of them just ended up watching as her hands slowly continued their journey towards becoming hooves. While she had ended up losing most of the dexterity in her fingers by that point, her hands still had a long way to go before they were completely changed. Their time whittled away as they watched the changes progress before eventually Justin broke the silence between them. “How about we have some dinner? I’ll even make it.” Samantha’s stomach growled as if on cue, and Justin added with a laugh, “I’ll take that as a yes!” She amusedly blew out her nostrils. “Could I have a salad?” “Just a salad? I was thinking about something with a bit more…pizzazz.” “Well, like what?” “Pasta?” “And you said my salad lacked pizzazz…” she mumbled. “It is going to be one of your last meals with semi-human taste buds; you may as well do something you’ll really enjoy.” “There’s not that many options. I can’t go out, and I know there’s not that many non-meat items that you will cook.” She paused for a moment, trying to think of something. Her changing taste buds and preferences really limited their choices, since both of them loved meat. “How about a pizza? I know I’ll miss eating that. Plus we can have it delivered.” “Great choice! I’ll go order one now,” he stated as he pulled his phone out to call the pizzeria. She was slightly disappointed not to get her salad, but he did have a point about it possibly being the last time she’d ever get to eat it. After he placed the order, Justin suggested they go upstairs so he can get a few more photos of the changes. He thought having a good record of her changes useful to have. Plus it would help prove his case when he would inevitably get questioned about what happened to his wife. As Samantha disrobed down to her underwear, it became clear that there had been plenty of changes going on beneath the surface that neither of them had noticed. Her legs had gone through even more changes, making them look nearly identical to a horse’s. More muscle mass had grown around her thighs as her bones stretched out even more to be closer to the right proportions. The changes didn’t stop there. Her abdomen had grown slightly thicker, gradually approaching the barrel shape that it was destined to be. Even her tail had increased in length: it was now nearly dragging on the ground. Justin happily became a shutterbug taking pictures of his transforming wife. She even began enjoying herself some when seeing him attempt to get the best angles for his pictures. In her mind, she looked like a freak. Her husband was going to great lengths to make her feel as pretty as possible though, which she greatly appreciated. Eventually, after taking what felt like a hundred pictures, Justin switched over to his phone to take a short video of her. When the pictures and video had finally all been taken, Samantha decided to put some clothes back on. Tired of sitting around in the bulky pants that were getting close to not fitting, she decided to attempt to try to put on a pair of her athletic shorts. They were a bust. Her legs had become too large to fit through the holes of the shorts. Her shorts were quickly swapped out for a pair of Justin’s basketball shorts, which miraculously did fit. The doorbell rang just as she was finishing putting her clothes on. Justin ran downstairs to get the door while his wife camped around in their bedroom to ensure that she wasn’t seen. As the smell of the pizza wafted around the house, she no longer regretted getting it over her salad. Eating became a struggle with her hoof-hands. The fresh slices of pizza were greasy and hard to hold on to. Eventually she got a method down and stuck with it and even managed to enjoy her last pizza. She certainly ate it like it was her last too, with her demolishing half of the large pizza. Normally she would only eat half of that amount. After dinner, Justin finally persuaded Samantha to make the call to her parents that she had been so desperately trying to avoid all day. She nervously paced around the family room as she hit the call button. “H-hello?” she stuttered as her mother answered the phone. “How are you doing?... Good, good…Me?... Well no, not exactly,” She sighed, “That’s actually why I called tonight…I-I need to say goodbye.” A tear slowly began to roll down her cheek before she continued. “Something’s happened and I won’t be able to talk to you anymore… No! No, I’m not dying… I’m just, well, changing,” she finally admitted, carefully dancing around the truth. She was trying her hardest not to cry, as she knew the news would break her parents’ hearts. Eventually, after a moment of silence on both ends of the phone, she continued, “An accident happened yesterday. I accidentally got injected with a horse steroid and I’m…” her admittance became interrupted by a sob, “I’m turning into a horse!... Yes, I’m telling you the truth! Why would I ever lie about something like this to you?... I know it’s seems that way but… It really is happening!... Look, whether or not you believe me, I just wanted to let you both know I love you very much.” More tears began to stream down her face. “No, I’m not lying! In two days I’m going to be a horse. I’ll have Justin send photos to prove it!” She nodded to him, and he texted her mother a couple of the pictures. Her parents’ gasp on the other end of the line was audible even for Justin. “I told you, I’m telling the truth!’ The call continued on for another half hour, as Samantha continued to struggle to explain the predicament to her family and to say goodbye. She ended up completely breaking down and crying by the end of it, knowing that might very well be the last time she’d ever get to speak to them. Towards the end of the call, Justin ended up needing to hold the phone for her. Her hands had changed so much that she was unable to do it herself. For as much time as she spent on the phone, Samantha needed just as much to try and calm herself back down again. Even with her husband doing his best to comfort her, little progress seemed to be made. “Before we do anything else, is there anyone else that you want to call before tomorrow?” Justin asked after her mood had started improving. “You may not be able to talk tomorrow, so it’d be best to do it now.” “I think I’ll call some of my friends. I’d like to let them know what’s going on.” She then proceeded to call her two closest friends. Fortunately for her and her emotions, the calls were much shorter and much less taxing. The lessons she learned while talking to her parents turned out to be quite useful for the calls. The explanation was much more direct and a picture was sent to them quickly after she admitted what was going on. By the time Samantha had finished her phone calls she was done for the day and ready to go to sleep. Justin attempted to protest her desires, citing her limited time left with her humanity, but she was having none of it. The transformations and the stress resulting from them had completely drained her energy. They ended up going to bed, with Samantha falling asleep within an instant of getting beneath the covers. Justin awoke bright and early the next morning. Not to the spring sunlight streaming in to the room as he usually did—it was actually still dark outside—but instead to a vaguely equine sounding noise followed immediately by a loud thud. He sprang up in the bed to investigate, and found that he was the only one in it. “Sam!” he cautiously called out into the still dark room, “Are you alright?” As a quiet groan answered his question, he grew more concerned. He was just about to speak up again when she responded to him, “Ye-yeah…I’m fine. I’m just having a little problem standing up is all.” Justin quickly flipped on the light; he already had a suspicion of what her problem was. A suspicion that was correct. When he finally caught a glimpse of Samantha, she was still sprawled out across the floor. It was clear no further attempts to move had been made. This allowed him to see that there definitely had been decent progressions to her transformation overnight, the chief of which being that her hands were now entirely hooves. “Try to stand up again,” he instructed. He wanted to test to see if his suspicion was correct. She followed his order and attempted to stand up, only to quickly loose balance and fall onto her fore hooves. It was exactly as he thought: she was no longer able to stand on two limbs. “Oh no, don’t tell me-“ she started. “-you can’t walk on two legs anymore,” he finished. “Damnit,” Samantha angrily muttered, before sarcastically adding, “This is just fantastic.” “Well, we knew it was coming.” “True.” She sighed. “Well, we may as well go see what other changes happened last night.” She followed Justin into the bathroom with surprising ease. Walking on all fours was much easier than she ever expected it to be. One of the most obvious changes, other than her modified posture, was that her arm/foreleg conformation had changed to be almost entirely equine. This was likely what allowed for her to be walking with all four legs so easily. As she walked, she also noticed that unless she held her tail up, it would drag on the ground. It’d grown too long for her in this half-horse, half human stage. Justin ended up needing to help her out of her shirt and shorts. There was no way that she would have been able to get out of them on her own. Her hooves were useless compared to her hands, and she wouldn’t have been able to bend her arms the right way anyway. Taking off her shirt and shorts revealed that the golden fur had blanketed nearly her whole body. It only stopped midway up her neck. Her body had also thickened out a tiny bit more compared to the day before, though it was still miles off where it needed to be. Though her size also seemed to have increased slightly, she was fairly small for a horse. Her front and hind legs had also bulked up a bit in terms of muscle, reaching a more equine appearance as well. She then suggested he take off the underwear she had on as well. Unsurprisingly, her reproductive anatomy was also taking on a more equine appearance. But in an unusual sight—more unusual than anything else that was going on at least—her breasts had also started to make their way down her stomach to find their new proper placement. To their amazement, her face had not changed at all other than the fact that her ears were now slowly making their way towards the top of her head. No changes to her hair, facial structure, or teeth had occurred. Both of them were thankful for it though, as it meant Samantha had more time to be able to communicate as a human. Justin did become concerned that this may change before too long, given the horse-sounding noise that escaped her lips when she fell getting out of bed. “It’s still early; do you want to try to get some more sleep?” he asked. She thought for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Eh, probably not. Today’s my last day as a human. I don’t want to waste it!” “Sweetheart it’s 5 A.M.…” “You can sleep, but can you turn on the TV in the family room for me before you do?” she requested, to which he replied with a head nod. Samantha carefully made her way down the stairs into their family room. Traversing the stairs wasn’t easy, but she did start to get the hang of it about halfway down. Once they reached the family room, Justin fiddled with the TV while she attempted to get comfortable on the couch. He spotted a film sitting right inside the TV stand, Spirit, a film about horses ironically enough, and put it on for her to watch. Samantha rolled her eyes and smirked before saying, “Of course, you’d put this on.” “You do love the movie,” he pointed out. In fact, it was one of their favorite films. “You’re right!” she smiled. “I do.” He chuckled before making his way back up the stairs to lie back down in bed. The seconds turned into minutes as he lay there and the minutes felt as though they were hours. Guilt was accumulating within him for his decision not to spend more time with his wife. He tossed and turned for what felt like a while longer, though he was shocked to see that just ten minutes had passed on the clock. After seeing that, he lost all hope about getting any more sleep. The guilt eventually won him over and he got out of bed to join his wife downstairs. He smiled as he heard one of Bryan Adam’s songs from the soundtrack play through the TV speakers. The film was also one of his favorites as well. In the time since they’d first met, Justin and Samantha had likely watched the film more than five times. Samantha raised her head off the couch and perked her ears up when she heard her husband coming down the stairs. He sat down on the couch near her head and let her place it on his lap. It was the only semi-comfortable way for her to sit. She couldn’t sit like a normal human nor could she lie like a normal horse. Her legs had changed too much to do the former, yet her body just didn’t have the right conformation to do the latter. As their film was drawing to a close, the sun was beginning to peek over the top of the tree line behind the pasture. Broken rays of sunlight were starting to pour through the windows of their family room and it was streaming right onto the couple sitting on the couch. They squinted to finish their movie as they eagerly awaited the sun to rise above the top of the window. “Would you like for me to get you anything for breakfast?” Justin asked when their movie was over. “Hm, I am hungry,” she declared, “but I don’t know what I want.” “If you’re still up for eating human foods I could make you some pancakes,” he offered. It was really the only breakfast food he could make well other than French toast, which she didn’t like. “Oh yes! Do that!” she exclaimed. “Put blueberries in them please.” “Will do,” he smiled. She stayed on the couch as he went to cook their breakfast. Trying to use the TV remote had become extremely difficult with no fingers to use it with. Despite attempts to use her nose, she was unable to do much of anything. Not really interested in watching the “DVD” logo bounce around the screen until her food was ready, she carefully got off the couch to join her husband in the kitchen. Her mouth watered as the pancakes cooked on the griddle. She pushed her way up to stand next to Justin as he made their breakfast, poking her head up towards the counter. “The way you’re standing reminds me of a large dog,” Justin laughed as he transferred the pancakes to their plates. “Excuse me, I am a horse, thank you very much,” she jokingly corrected. “Okay, if you’re such a horse then why don’t you gallop on over to the table,” he suggested. “I’ll be right over.” She heeded his advice and made her way over to the table. As she stood there, she began to see that there was a problem arising. Despite the fact that her transformed body’s height left her head right at table height, there was no way that she could easily eat her food. Eating the pancakes turned out to be a massive challenge for Samantha. She attempted to eat them on her own in a number of ways she had come up with, all of them to varying degrees of failure. Her hooves were useless, and her head, despite being at the right height, wasn’t at the right angle to allow her to eat the food. Finally, after watching his wife struggle through yet another attempt at eating them by herself, Justin stepped in to cut the pancakes and feed them to her. Red coloring filled her face as she shook her head in embarrassment. She didn’t want to turn down his offer, but she certainly didn’t want to take it either. Even the reassuring look he gave her wasn’t helping much. Her human pride, or what was left of it, was taking another massive hit. After breakfast, Samantha figured she’d try to finish the book she’d been reading before she was injected. Since she no longer had hands, she reluctantly had to ask her husband for help with turning the pages. To her delight, he was more than willing to do so. She happily immersed herself in the mystery novel. The twists and the turns of the book distracted her mind from the dramatic turn her own life had taken. Eventually, the time came for them to decide what to do for lunch. This ended up being harder than anticipated, after Samantha sternly announced, “I don’t want to be fed again like I was this morning.” “Well…are you open to trying some horse food?” Justin suggested. His options for things to give her were becoming increasingly more limited. This seemed like the only choice. She sighed. “I guess. I’ll have to do it sooner or later.” “Alrighty, I’ll go get some out of the barn.” He ran out to grab a small bucket of pellets, part of a bale of hay, and even a couple of horse treats. He wanted to get a sample of just about everything so she could get a good glimpse of what her future meals were going to taste like. In order to spice up the meal a bit, he added a small amount of molasses and other types of feed into the bucket with the pellets so it’d hopefully taste better. After a few minutes of gathering what he hoped would be a good meal for his wife, Justin returned back to the house and set all the stuff down on a towel on the floor of the kitchen. “Now, you don’t have to eat all of this,” he stated. “If you don’t like it, then tell me and I’ll happily make you something else.” Samantha nodded her head. Surprisingly, there was a fair bit of anxiousness in her about trying this food. Usually she wasn’t against trying new things—that was her husband—but with this she was keen on avoiding trying it. She figured it was likely due to the fact that eating this meant that she’d lose yet another piece of her human self. Shrugging, she lowered her slightly lengthened face into the feed bucket. After grabbing a mouthful, her head was pulled back out and she chewed the pellets for a few moments, getting a feel for the various flavors. This isn’t half bad, she thought. Actually, it’s great! Almost immediately after swallowing, she went back in for another bite. “I guess you enjoyed it!” Justin laughed. Samantha nodded her head without even taking a break in her chewing. After a few more moments of her demolishing the feed, he asked, “Would you like to try the hay?” She took her head out of the feed bucket and contemplated the decision for a moment. Justin found her expression to be amusing as she thought about it. Her head was tilted ever so slightly and her ears were lazily facing forward. It didn’t take her long to come to a conclusion though, and she moved over to the hay that was laid out for her and grabbed at a few straws. Her reaction only seemed to improve with each and every new food item. To her, they all tasted great. She finished everything with the exception of the hay. That she left so that she could graze on it throughout the rest of the day. After lunch, the pair was quickly running out of things to do. Samantha was confined to the house, yet there was only so much she could do in the house while stuck on all fours with no hands. Watching TV was the primary option they had. Samantha didn’t mind it though, since it’d probably be the last she would get to watch. Despite this, she ached for something else to do. Nothing else ended up coming to mind, so they just decided to stick with watching TV. They sat on the couch for hours watching whatever Samantha wanted to. All the while, the changes continued to her body. Her chest continued to expand to form her barrel while her fore and hind legs grew longer. Her face continued to push out ever so slightly, as did her neck. Her mane had also started to grow in, spreading slowly down her lengthening neck. Even her eyes were not exempt from the changes. The browning continued in them, reducing the green to a few miscellaneous streaks around her pupils. The time and afternoon wasted away as they sat there. For hour after hour they contentedly sat together on the couch. Every so often they had to change positions to accommodate the slowly changing body. Other than that, they hardly moved a muscle. Even if it wasn’t an ideal way to spend the afternoon, neither of them wanted to change anything about it. The rest of the afternoon was spent in this manner. They finally stopped when it was time for dinner, where once again Samantha sampled the foods of the species she was becoming. This time it was in a much larger quantity. Her body was now starting to fill out to become its correct size. After they ate their meal, Justin brought has camera down from the bedroom so he could get more pictures of Samantha. He figured this would be the final time pictures would be taken. She’d be done transforming by the time they woke up the next morning and he doubted any more pictures would be taken later in the evening. “Do we really need to do more pictures?” she implored in a disappointed tone. “I think it’d be good idea, yeah,” he replied. “We’ve gotten so many already. I just want to go back to watching TV.” “Aren’t you getting tired of that?” “No, not really. It could be the last time I’ll get to do it.” “Come on, let me take the pictures,” he pleaded. “I’ll do it fast!” “Alright fine.” Justin was true to his word and took the photos as quickly as possible, though he was frustrated that he couldn’t get more. This would likely be the most dramatic set of them yet. Samantha’s changes had started accelerating over the course of the afternoon. Given her new size and conformation, it would have been difficult to tell that she was ever a human being. Only her face still gave it away, though even that was drastically starting to lose its human image. Samantha was eager to return to the couch after Justin announced he was done with his photos. She got situated on the couch while Justin set up a movie for them to watch. They were trying to watch some of the movies Samantha had always wanted to see. The first movie they watched actually finished early enough that they had time to watch another, though that one didn’t end up being done until well into the night. Not long after midnight, beneath the light of a waning crescent moon, the pair stepped outside of the house for the first time that day. None of the outdoor lights were on: they couldn’t risk anyone seeing them. Despite the possible danger, Samantha needed to get out of the house for a few minutes. She really just needed a walk to calm herself down as her transformation was drawing to a close. By the time they decided to go out, her transformation was almost complete. Her body was entirely that of a horse. The proportions were all there and correct, but she just had a bit more growing to do. Compared to Justin’s 6’4” body, she barely came up to the middle of his stomach, which led him to believe there was still more height left in her. Her face had miraculously stayed somewhat human. It was also the only thing that was still remotely human on her. Though it had started to push out on its way to becoming her finely featured muzzle. Even with this being the case, it hadn’t changed enough so that her ability to talk was impeded by it, but her voice still didn’t escape the changes. It had become higher pitched and developed a nasal sound to it. “I’d like to stay in the house with you tonight,” Samantha stated, putting an end to the silence between them. “It’d be safer for you to stay in the barn, don’t you think?” “Please? I’d be more comfortable if I was with you. God knows I’m barely going to be able to sleep, and I’ll be able to sleep even less in the barn!” “Alright, if that’s the case then I suppose we should go over the plan for tomorrow,” he suggested as they meandered through the pasture. “Okay, so assuming I’ll be able to understand you—“ “—which you will,” he quickly interrupted. “Can I finish?” Her agitated voice cut like a knife through the still air. She paused before starting over. “Assuming I’ll still be able to understand you, I’d like for you to ask me some questions. You know, make sure I’m still there.” “That’s fine. Can we do it once we get out of the house?” “That’d probably be best…Oh! Make sure you ask yes or no questions only.” “Good point.” After a moment of thought, he added, “I’m going to bring a halter in the house before we go back in later. Just in case you aren’t…all there…I’d like to have some way to control you until we get out to the barn.” “Okay.” “Even if you do show signs of intelligence, I don’t want to risk anything. It’ll be very easy for you to get hurt in the house.” “I think making some space in the house for me would be a good idea. Could you do that before we go to bed?” “Of course, that’s a great idea,” he agreed, gently stroked her golden withers as they walked. For the next half hour, they continued to walk around the perimeter of the pasture side by side, all the while continuing their discussion. When they got back to the house, Justin went about doing the preparations he had promised to her. She helped out where she could, but there was little that could be done without hands. Before long she ended up just watching her husband do all the work. He cleared out the family room, made a path to the door, and even made up the couch so he could sleep on it. The halter was placed on the back of the couch so he could reach it easily. After Justin finished all of the preparations, they decided to go to bed. For the last time as a human being, Samantha laid her head down to sleep. She chose to sleep just below the couch in the family room so Justin could sleep by her. Plus it also had easy access to the back door. The morning that awaited her was enveloped with a shroud of mystery. Part of her was looking forward to it, while another part of her was terrified about what could become of her. Justin was lying on the couch just above Samantha. His wife’s worrying permeated the air in the room, and he couldn’t help but be drawn into it. He was filled with a bit more hope than she was, but the worries were still there. He was also excited for the fact that soon he’d get to fulfill his own lifelong dream of becoming a horse. The situation couldn’t have been more perfect. Both of them ended up falling asleep at around the same time. Despite having different things on their minds upon falling asleep, they were anxiously awaiting what was to come in the morning. Samantha was the first one of the pair to wake up. As soon as she opened her eyes, she noticed her exceptionally distorted vision. Her field of view had considerably expanded so that she could now see almost all the way around her without moving her head. Her eyes didn’t focus the same way they used to either. Now she had to move her head to get them to focus on things that were different distances away. Once Samantha finally got used to getting her eyes to focus correctly, she decided to have a look at her new body. From what she could see, the changes had to have been complete. At least it was physically. She wasn’t sure if she had even undergone a mental transformation. For a few moments, she tried to look through her memory to see if everything was still there. She noticed several new things that had come up; things that would have come naturally with being a horse. To her surprise, nothing really felt missing either. Everything she could think of from her human brain was still there. She didn’t even feel any less intelligent than she had before, just very different. She rolled herself on to her hooves before attempting to stand up. Despite all her movements, Justin didn’t move a muscle. He was still sound asleep. The palomino mare lowered her long, arching neck and nosed at his face in an attempt to wake him up. When that didn’t work, she decided to try her new vocal cords. Her first shot to make noise came out as a strangled whinny. The next attempt was vastly more successful. Slowly Justin began to wake up. Outside, the sky was just barely starting to turn pink from the impending sunrise, revealing a cool mist that had settled across the pasture. It looked so inviting. Eager to get out of the house, Samantha decided to try one more whinny to wake him up. That one turned out to do the trick. When she finished her whinny, his eyes slowly started to open. As she waited for him to finish waking up the rest of the way, she curiously explored the first floor of the house, inspecting everything from the perspective of her new form. Despite the fact that her mind had anything she needed to survive as a horse, it still had yet to account for her larger size. This led to her bumping into a few chairs and even knocking a lamp on the floor as she strayed out of the open area that had been made for her. “O-oh my goodness! Sam! You’re up?” Justin exclaimed as he quickly sat up upon hearing the shattering of the lamp. She whickered in response as he struggled to figure out where his wife had gone. Finally he heard her call and made his way to her, examining her in the process. “I guess you’re done changing,” he stated in a despondent tone. They both knew she would be finished by the morning, but he still hoped he’d get a little more time with his wife. It seemed like the only thing that hadn’t completely changed was her eyes. Even then, only a few specs of emerald coloring still remained like gems as a memory of what she used to be. Her formerly human body now stood as a solid 15.1 hands of palomino mare. Surprisingly, her body had distinctly Arabian characteristics, despite the fact that Arabians didn’t naturally carry the gene required for that color combination. A long arching neck led up to a refined head with a concave profile. Her full, cream colored tail sat high on her back end. After he finished looking her over, he nervously asked, “How are you feeling?” The mare sat motionless staring at him. She wasn’t sure how to respond. “Wait, sorry…yes or no questions only…” he reminded himself. “Are you feeling okay?” She nodded her head, and he slowly began to smile. “I suppose you want to go outside now, right?” He received another head nod. “Alright, let me grab the halter.” Samantha fiercely shook her head and pinned her ears back. She knew she would be good enough to walk to the barn without him leading her. “Come on sweetheart, we talked about this. You agreed to wear it.” She sighed and let him put it on. He squeezed her through the back door and on to the deck. The pair stood together for a moment letting their breath fog up the cool morning air as they prepared to tackle the next obstacle: the stairs. They posed quite the challenge for Samantha in her new body, as she still wasn’t quite used to everything about it yet. It ended up being less of a problem than previously believed, but they still took the pair a minute or two to traverse. “Now don’t expect me to pick you up when you get to the gravel this time,” Justin said when they reached the driveway. She snorted as she took the first steps down the path that would lead her to her new life. In no time at all, the palomino mare’s behavior was almost indistinguishable from the other horses she was living with. Not only that, but she also managed to get along quite well with the other two horses. Sterling and Jamie quickly welcomed Samantha into their herd. Justin suspected that it was due to the fact that they’d known Sam when she was a human, and still recognized that she was the same being. Despite the transformation being such an immense change to her life, after a few days Samantha started to actually seem to enjoy living as a horse. Things weren’t perfect for the new mare, and it wasn’t too uncommon that Justin caught her longingly gazing back at the house. But that didn’t seem to stop her from making the best of her situation. Justin also made sure that she had everything she needed and even ended up pampering her some to try and make her like her new form a bit more. For Justin, life went on without his human wife. The days following the completion of Samantha’s transformation involved him making preparations so he could transform himself. He made it so the water hose could be operated by a horse and even managed to figure out an automatic feeder system. Whatever he built didn’t need to last them long. He figured he’d inject himself after a week and a half. Until then he planned to give updates about the trip he was claiming to be on to Laura, the clinic’s secretary, every couple of days and say that he was planning on being back a few days after the transformation was due to be finished. Eventually, when he couldn’t call anymore, he knew her well enough to know that she’d come out to make sure everything was okay. It was a fairly complicated plan, but Justin was confident it would work out. He signed off on the note with a shaking hand; it would be his final message to the world. He took his letter and posted it on the main door to the house before returning to the syringe lying on the kitchen table. With a nervous sigh, he picked up the needle containing the same serum Samantha had accidentally been injected with a week and a half before and held it just above his skin. His mind was absolutely racing. Do I really want to go through with this? he thought. Sure, it was his dream; the thing he’d been lusting after for years. He kept circling away from that and focused on what he’d accomplished already in his current state. I’ve made a great life as a human. I have a great house, great job, great…wife…No, I need to do it. I want to be with her. Justin winced as he gave the needle one last push so it would break through his skin, finally injecting some of it into himself. The deed was now done, and there was no going back. To his own surprise, he was relieved at having finally done it. His dream of being a horse was about to be realized in just a couple days. And as he spent more time focusing on that fact, he became even happier about his final decision. Feeling content, he exited the house to go talk to his wife and inform her of what he’d done as he waited for the transformation to occur. One week later: Justin and Samantha’s sudden disappearance and ceasing of communication didn’t go unnoticed. When neither of them ended up returning to work or social events from their “trip,” coworkers and acquaintances alike started to become worried for their wellbeing. Finally, Laura from the veterinary clinic elected to go out to their house with her husband to see if she could find any clues as to their whereabouts. Upon arriving, they found four horses standing in the pasture. Laura recognized two of them as Sterling and Jamie, though the other two were unknown to her. One was a beautiful palomino Arabian mare with white socks on all four legs and blaze down her face. The other was a striking bay Arabian stallion, standing at around 15.3 hands. He had a white sock on his left fore and hind legs and a perfect star on his forehead. The new pair quickly ran up to greet the two humans that had arrived at the side of the pasture. The human couple met with them for a moment, allowing them to sniff their hands and in return giving them both attention. While doing so, she noticed that the palomino’s eyes oddly had tiny flecks of green in them. The stallion’s eyes were very similar to the mare’s, though they contained blue rather than green. She continued petting them for another few moments, not really showing much concern over the unusual eye colors. Finally, Laura shook her head upon remembering what she came to the house to do, and left them to go investigate the house. It didn’t take her long to find the only clue she needed: the note Justin had posted on the door. To whom it may concern: Please do not worry about my or Samantha’s wellbeing. I can assure you that both of us are alive and well and in fact have been in plain sight the entire time. Following an incident on April 24, Samantha was accidentally injected with an equine steroid treatment. As hard as it is to believe, a few days after this she had become the palomino mare (hopefully) standing in our pasture today. In an effort to continue to be with her, I have injected myself with the same treatment. By the time you will be reading this, I will likely be the fourth horse standing in the pasture. At this point I’m unsure of what I’ll look like, so if you’re not familiar with the horses here, I will be the one that responds to ‘Justin.’ Even after watching Samantha change, I find it hard to believe what had happened. So to help try and prove my case, I’ve attached a few photos of her transformation. If I am able to, I will attach some of myself changing too. All that we ask is that whoever finds us may treat us with the love and care that they would treat any other horse, in addition to not separating us. We are happy this way, and would like for our wishes to be respected. Signed, Justin Peterson She sat in disbelief after she finished reading the note, and very quickly reread the entire thing to ensure that she hadn’t imagined it all. Cautiously, she looked back at the two horses who had greeted her so amiably. The bay horse excitedly whinnied and was quickly joined in chorus by the palomino. “Well I’ll be damned,” she muttered before calling to her husband. “Max you need to see this, now!” He ran over and she handed him the note and photos. He read over it in no time at all, shaking his head the whole time. In his mind, the whole thing was just an elaborate hoax. “I know it’s true!” Laura explained, with the note and photos being enough to convince her. “Watch!” She called Justin’s name, and he whinnied right back to her. This wasn’t enough to convince Max, so she did the same for Samantha and received the same result. Understandably, he was still having a hard time believing her. Eventually, Laura thought to play a yes or no game with the two horses, with one hoof tap meaning yes and two meaning no. For the two horses, this was surprisingly simple. Despite their changed thinking processes, they were able to comprehend and respond to Laura with ease. She asked them various questions ranging from simple to more personal. Each time she received a correct answer. After a dozen or so questions, her husband was finally convinced that this was not merely a hoax. “Well what are we going to do with them? They can’t just stay here,” Max asserted. Laura began grinning. “I have the perfect idea,” she declared before turning to face the horse couple. She whispered it to her husband where it was received with a raised eyebrow. He certainly wasn’t enthusiastic about it, but he also didn’t turn it down. “How about you two come home with us? Max and I have been looking for a couple of horses anyway.” The pair happily nodded their heads. Justin knew they’d be a good set of owners, and his agreement with it was enough to make Samantha go along too. “I’ll make sure Sterling and Jamie find good homes. They can come with us for the time being.” “I’ll make sure this case never reaches the rest of the department. We’ll just say you two…disappeared,” Max hinted with a sly grin. “No one will ever need to know this happened,” Laura said as she folded the handwritten note and put it in her pocket. A smile formed on the faces of the two horses. This wasn’t an end, not by a long shot. It was only the beginning…

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