Julia Wesley, Sarah's mom, calmly walked with Martin Brown, Abby's father, back toward the front of the Brown family home while Sarah and Mary Alice made their way toward the fields behind the house. Neither noticed the two splitting up and Mary Alice turning toward the barn.
"I take it this all comes as a surprise for you," Martin said to Julia.
"Yeah," Julia said, "we saw all the stuff on the news with the virus spreading through your farm and all your animals being... uplifted I think was the word they used..."
"As well as my daughter being infected," Martin said slowly.
"Your..." Julia gasped.
"Abby was with her stallion, Samson, when he was "uplifted" and tried to get help," Martin said slowly, "she got lost and stumbled back onto him as he was with another uplifted animal. What then followed was her being infected and becoming a physically adult mare."
"What followed...?" Julia asked.
"To be brief, Abby had sex with him after her transformation began," Martin answered with some degree of acceptance and startling Julia beyond belief.
"Your... your daughter... half an inch shorter than mine had sex with a horse!?" Julia practically shrieked.
"That didn't actually happen until after she had become a horse herself," Martin answered.
To say that Julia was shocked was an understatement. What helped surprise her the most was how calm Martin was. If she'd found out that Sarah had had sex with someone, let alone had sex with an animal, virus or no virus, she would have been mad beyond belief. She'd raised Sarah to have standards higher than that.
"You... and you just accepted her mating with an animal?" Julia demanded.
Martin turned to her, "Do I have a choice? Abby was ALREADY infected. She was going to become a mare whether she wanted it or not. The only question would be whether she would be a filly or an adult mare, and that was completely by accident. Once she was a horse... the relations with Samson wasn't BETWEEN different species. They are BOTH horses."
"But... the government and scientists all said they were studying it..." Julia said slowly.
"Studying how the society of Animalia works," Martin answered, "some of the scientists are trying analyze the Animalia Virus, but most of that is more to find a way to make it less infectious or find a way that limits it. And all they have to work on is blood samples. They're not going to just experiment on the "Animalians" who have displayed a base intelligence on par with humanity's... essentially applying the same rules against experimenting on humans."
"But... what about...?" Julia began.
"Turning Abby back into a human?" Martin sighed, "I'm hoping for it... but the scientists have said that this virus has evolved so quickly and so unknown to them that they don't know if they can reverse it... not without doing them harm. And while my wife and I might like to see Abby human again... we don't want to see her die either..."
"So you've accepted that she's a horse?" Julia said slowly.
"Yes," Martin said slowly, "and it isn't like she's lost what made her Abby. And nearly all of the uplifted animals have learned a lot and have even demonstrated behaviors and intelligence not typical among their mundane fellows. Many might be fairly simple, but they're smart enough to understand and even work within human society. Samson's even volunteered to work as a sort of "foreman" for the farm. I was surprised he even knew what the term meant... now maybe Abby told him... but still..."
"And what about Mary Alice?" Julia asked, "Will she just decide to leave us?"
"That depend on how your family's treated her," Martin commented, "if you've treated her well... she'll probably stay with you, probably seeing Sarah as a best friend or sister. And as a dog, she's probably smart enough that you could try her in the school with Abby and Sarah, if you wish."
"She won't... leave us?" Julia asked, "because... while she's been bad at times... she really is a good girl... and well, I know my husband and I bought her to be a pet for Sarah, but I've come to love her too."
"Then you shouldn't have too much to worry about," Martin gave a warm and understanding smile, "you may have to look at her as something other than a pet, though... but you shouldn't have anything to worry about."
The two of them kept walking quietly, not noticing a more mature and muscular looking Mary Alice, or MA, or Malice, depending on the nickname, emerge from the barn. The transformed husky felt proud and strong, but above all relief at finally quenching her thirst. A part of her wanted Sarah to feel as strong and as good as she did, as while she had been close with all of the members of the Wesley family, she was closest to Sarah. Sarah had taken her for walks, played with her, fed her, groomed her, and sometimes asked her homework questions. She may have been Sarah's pet, but MA felt like they were sisters and best of friends and she wanted her "sister" and "best friend" to feel as strong as she did. She wouldn't force Sarah into Animalia, but it couldn't hurt to ask. With that, MA went in search of Sarah who she knew had gone to see her friend Abby.