Abby felt a few sort of sideways looks as she made her way into the school, the high school, the school where a year before she was eager to go and prove she was one of the "big" kids. Of course, that was all before the accident that poured the "Animalia "virus" into a creek that was near her farm's property, leading to a lot of local wildlife and nearly all of her farm's livestock becoming anthropomorphic versions of themselves and before exposure to her family's transformed stallion, Samson, turned her into an adult anthropomorphic mare. She was now bigger than even the seniors and the high school's gym teacher and better built than all of them. She had a perfect hourglass figure with very well toned feminine muscle and breasts large enough to even get most women interested. That sort of made her feel a bit more out of place than the fact that she wasn't human anymore did.
Her ears caught almost every whisper and every hushed voice as she walked toward the front doors. All of them were either in awe and interested, in ways she didn't really want, or came off as deriding her as a freak. Animalia might not be a secret, but Abby knew that didn't mean acceptance. That was a big part of why she would have preferred to remain on the farm and work with the rest of what was now her own kind and fix and build it up so that her parents could grow additional grain crops to feed not just the former livestock and Abby but to actually have something to sell, as while the Government did reimburse her family, that wouldn't last forever. Samson even suggested planting apple trees, which he described as the trees that make the yummy treats. It was funny, and Abby wanted to be a part of that and be where she knew she would be accepted completely and where she would be loved. Loved by her parents as a child and loved by Samson as a mate and potential husband.
But, despite having the body of an eighteen to twenty-nine year old anthro-mare, she was only fourteen and her parents wanted her to at least finish high school. That left her here and having to get used to a lot of new things. More of the mechanical sounds of cars and things, which she tried to ignore, but a real part of her mind wasn't used to that and didn't like it. There was also the squeaking of the rubber shows that the government had made to fit around and under her hooves. They fit fine and protected her hooves from damage, but they squeaked a bit on some surfaces and not to mention the fact that they would have to be replaced when she wore through them. Though, she tolerated them as she really didn't want to have a nail driven into her toenail to hold on a metal horseshoe.She preferred the farm's more tranquil sounds with none of the whirring and squeaking. There was also all the smells. People might not use horses to track down scents the way they used some breeds of dogs, but she could still smell far more than what she could when she was human. Perfumes, cleaning agents, car exhaust, and other things all caught her attention, and they didn't smell natural to her. There was also the occasional scents of male arousal that she picked up from some of the teen boys she walked by, and knew they had their minds in the gutter.
On some level, she didn't mind them being aroused, as she'd found that it didn't take that much to get those of Animalia interested. And while the Ten Edicts forbade breeding between species, they did seem to allow for more casual sex outside of their respective mating seasons, which explained in her mind finding Clara and Samson together. Some times she even felt it with regards to some of the others at Animalia, but her heart always focused on Samson. They might have simply been human rider and horse at one point, but Samson was always there to listen when she had trouble and always seemed to be friendly to her. It was like he understood her and cared for her, in a way that a stallion could care for a human. Now that she was a mare, that relationship had changed quickly, and Abby felt that she LOVED Samson, the way her parents loved each other. It was that that really made her uneasy with regard to the scents of human arousal, particularly when she felt it was aimed at her. Those boys WEREN'T Samson and never would be.
She managed to make it inside without difficulty, though she did have to duck as her head and longer neck were above the door frame, and it was there that her ears picked up something that wasn't about her. The voices were feminine and younger, typical of fourteen year olds and they were voices that she recognized. She looked down to see Sarah Wesley, Jessica Mariana, and Sophie Albers, her best friends from middle school. They were presently standing inside the foyer and looking much of the foyer's interior which had a large glass window on the right to allow people to talk to the office as they came into the building, a glass skylight in the roof allowing light to come in, and a great painted mural on the far wall that depicted the school's mascot, a knight on a horse charging forward with a lance in arm and depicted students following after him. The floor was tiled with large black and white squares in a checkerboard pattern. Her three friends were all marveling at it.
"Can you believe it! We're all high schoolers!" Sophie cheered to the others.
"Yeah," Sarah agreed, "Finally with all the big kids."
"Have you seen Abby?" Jessica asked after a moment, "we all agreed to meet together and enter together."
"No... I'd thought her parents kept her at home to help her deal with all those animals," Sarah commented.
"I wish," Abby spoke up, making all three young teens jump in surprise.
They turned and Abby watched as their eyes practically bulged out of their heads. This came as something of a surprise, as she thought that pretty much everyone found out about her joining Animalia. The government made sure the news people didn't report the full details about her transformation, but she figured that the fact that she was now part of Animalia.
"Abby..." Sarah said slowly with wide eyes.
"Yeah... it's me," Abby said slowly, "I got caught up in all the spilling of the Animalia Virus..."
Abby also felt a bit uneasy about calling it a virus. From what her parents told her, it sounded more like the scientists were trying to come up with a supplement for farmers to use to make their livestock more "productive" while having the animal taste and or be as though it wasn't being given hormones or other additives that farmers had also fed livestock in the past. Though the fact that it was different from intended might be for the designation as a virus.
"What... what's it like?" Jessica asked as she came closer.
"Must be good," Sarah commented, "Look at her... she's REALLY one of the big kids now."
"She looks more like she's an adult now," Sophie corrected.
"Hey, I'm still me," Abby protested.
"I didn't mean anything by it," Sophie said weakly, "but you've certainly grown a lot."
"That was all part of the virus and how it affected me," Abby said slowly.
"Are you okay?" Jessica asked.
"Yeah... I'm fine," Abby said slowly, "I wish I could stay on the farm with the others... as... well... I've changed so much... I'm not human, and the government and the scientists don't think there is a way to turn me back. And well... I've already heard some rather negative comments..."
Sarah came forward and to Abby's surprise, did her best to hug her. Jessica and Sophie soon joined her.
"We're glad your here," Sarah spoke, "You're our friend. And you look cool!"
"We'll stand with you," Sophie promised, "Just as we always did."
"Just as we always will," Jessica commented, "besides... you're so big and strong now, I bet that no one will want to get physical with you."
"With trying to hurt you, anyway," Sarah joked.
"Sarah!" Abby almost whinnied.
"Joking, joking," Sarah assured her.
"That virus and spill thing made all the news," Sophie commented.
"Yeah... we thought that your folks would have had you at home to help with all the transformed animals," Sarah nodded.
"And I would like to be there," Abby shrugged, "but my folks do want to see me graduate... and they've been so accepting of what's happened... so I can't complain."
"Do you know if they got all of that virus thing cleaned up?" Sarah asked, "Or have any more of it?"
"That which got into our farm's irrigation system got cleaned and at least the area where it first spilled," Abby shrugged, "but they're still doing a lot of tests to see if it got into the town's water supply or into another river... Though, if you're looking to join Animalia... I'm afraid that the base virus doesn't seem to affect people. You'd need to come in contact with an infected animal... And before you ask, I've already promised my parents not to infect anyone."
Her friends nodded.
"It's good to have you here with us," Jessica commented, "just don't show us up too much in PE, okay?"
"Okay," Abby gave a small laugh.