The Animalian Games were still several months away, but that didn't mean that those who were interested in competing weren't preparing. Some animals were easily able to pick which event they wanted to participate in, (cheetahs in the marathon, otters in the swimming race, etc.), though others wanted to do various other things. There were plenty of animals who could easily be rounded-out athletes which gave them more options.
For instance, Abigail wanted to participate in the games, though she had a little trouble picking out what he wanted to do. Her main sport back when she was human was horse-riding. Not only would this not work because of the obvious species issue, but she'd be very hard-pressed to find a horse that could carry her, asides from Samson of course. There was the possibility of the triathlon event. Abby could easily run at an impressive speed and horses are natural swimmers. The biggest hang-up would be finding a bicycle that she'd be able to ride on. There were probably going to be a lot of custom bikes that will be delivered for the event, Fuji was probably going to make a small fortune. Until the bikes showed up, Abby could still practice the other two events.
Since running came so easily to Abby, she decided to focus more on swimming for this session. It was actually a bit of a challenge considering the build of her body. Her hooves didn't push out as much water as her feet used to and her mane and tail dragged slightly in the water. And obviously her curvaceous and muscular body was hardly hydrodynamic. The black one piece she was wearing stretched incredibly tight across her body, making it easy to see her muscular definition but also her nipples. Abby had asked her parents for a more comfortable two-piece, but they were a little uncomfortable with their daughter showing so much skin. Abby will just have to wait until a more fitting swimsuit arrive.
Abby pulled herself out of the water and checked her time. It was a little faster than before, but there was still a lot of room for improvement. She was going to have to work harder if she was going to qualify for the triathlon. But at least the Town Hall's swimming pool was a great place to practice.
"Now there's a picture of sophisticated grace," sneered a voice. Abby looked up to see two uplifted mares. One of them was jet black except for the white star on her forehead and the stockings on her legs. The other had mostly brown fur like Abby, but her mane and tail were black, as was the tip of her nose. The black one was wearing a hot pink bikini while the brown one was wearing a lime green bikini. Abby knew the two of them before they were uplifted. Delilah had been the matriarch of her dad's horses and Calamity had been a recent purchase to broaden the gene pool. The two of them had been a little willful when they were normal horses, but the Animalian Virus appeared to have given them quite a lot of attitude.
"You two here to practice for the games too?" asked Abby as she wrung her hair.
"Oh, we're just here to show our bodies for the admiration of others," said Delilah, hitching up her large breasts in her pink bikini top, "It's a shame that the one most deserving to see us isn't here."
Abby sighed and said, "Samson's lifting weights, as you probably already know."
"If he were truly your mate, he'd be here to watch you practice," said Delilah with a slight sneer.
"Probably just as well he isn't here," said Calamity, "She's got the grace of a blubbery seal on land. Pity she can't have the grace of one in the water." The two mares laughed at that. It was fortunate that there weren't any uplifted seals present at the time or they'd have been rather offended.
Abby flattened your ears and said, "Insulting me isn't going to get you Samson. In fact, it'll probably drive him away more."
"Samson deserves to be with a real mare," said Delilah, starting to bare her teeth in aggression, "Not some little girl who happened to be the first thing he came upon when he was uplifted."
"That's not-" started Abby but she stopped. It probably wouldn't be a good thing to reveal she had first seen Samson when he was getting a blowjob from Mayor Clara. Abby didn't hold either of them against it. The virus made newly converted Animalians very horny as she could testify. But it still wouldn't have been a good idea to reveal that Mayor Clara had been having oral sex with someone outside her species, even if casual interspecies sex was permitted outside of breeding season.
"What's not fair is you keeping him to yourself," said Calamity, "I didn't even get the chance to breed with him before the virus came."
"It's just as well," said Delilah, "You wouldn't want to explain to your foals why their father was mating only with a false mare. I'm glad my foals had already been sent to other farms before the shame happened."
"And she won't even give him any foals as soon as she can," said Calamity, "She'll make him wait four years until she graduates."
Delilah tsked and said, "Shameful, a real mare wouldn't be so hesitant."
Abby glared as her fists clenched. She was fighting the urge to punch these two nags into the pool when another voice said, "Is there a problem here?" The mares turned to see an iguana woman looking at them with narrowed eyes. She was wearing a white tank top and bike shorts and her body was easily as large and muscular as any of the mares.
"No, Marlysa, just a little bridle gossip," said Calamity, snickering a bit at her pun.
"Well, if you two are going to take a swim, I think you better get on with it. The frogs will be wanting to use the pool soon," said Marlysa.
Delilah gave a small snort before saying, "I think we're done here anyways," before she and Calamity walked off.
Marlysa turned to Abby and asked, "Have those two been giving you trouble?"
"A little bit," said Abby, "It's just insults right now, but they're starting to get worse."
"How about you tell me more about it in the sauna?" asked Marlysa, "You look like you can have a nice steam."
"Sure, why not?" said Abby before the two of them walked off.
---
The Town Hall's saunas were mainly built for Animalia's cold-blooded citizens. It was not unusual to see a few reptiles soaking up the heat in here. Though Abby and Marlysa found one that was currently unoccupied. The scent of wood and steam inside was a little strange to Abby's equine nostrils, but it actually felt kinda nice to be in here for a while. Animalians had more relaxed standards of nudity than humans so both women were not embarrassed to be sitting there in the nude with the towels meant to cover them under their butts.
Abby wasn't attracted to other women, but she was looking at Marlysa's body, mostly because she hadn't seen an uplifted reptile in the buff before. Marlysa had retained many features of the Green Iguana she had been. She still had the bright green scales, the long tail, a dewlap under her chin (though greatly shortened), and spines down her back, though those were a little more flexible. Her feet still had pretty long toes, but they weren't too long to keep her from walking properly. Other than that, she had the body of a female bodybuilder. The definition of her solid muscles could easily be seen under her green scales. She might even be more muscular than Abby. But there were still details about her that were definitely those of a woman. She had a large pair of breasts, that looked rather odd on a lizard, but they blended quite well. They were even tipped with a pair of dark green nipples, which were probably just as capable of releasing milk as Abby's were. Her waist dipped inwards to give her more feminine curve. Her rear was not quite as plush as Abby's being more hardened muscle than soft padding, but for a reptile, it was still pretty round. Her slit was a little harder to discern between her legs, probably because reptiles kept their reproductive organs well-hidden.
Realizing that Abby had been staring a little too long, she cleared her throat and said, "Thanks for helping me out with those two, Mrs. Williams."
Marlysa chuckled and said, "You're welcome, but I'm not Mrs. Williams. Not yet anyways." She fingered a ring on her finger that Abby hadn't noticed before.
"Oh, did he already propose to you?" asked Abby.
"He did so the day we transformed," said Marlysa, "Anton truly loves me, but he didn't want to do anything improper until we were engaged. He's planning on giving me a proper wedding like a good Christian, whatever that means. Personally, I would rather just say we're mates and be done with it, but apparently human relationships are more complicated than that."
"Yeah, and I suppose teaching you religion is a bit complicated too," said Abby.
"A lot of it doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but if Anton wants me to be Catholic too, I'll do it for him," said Marlysa, "I'll try to be the wife he deserves to have. I suppose it's similar with you and Samson."
"Well...I guess so. There are a couple of differences," said Abby.
"Such as that I was the pet before while you were a human?" asked Marlysa, "It was certainly weird for me. Before, I wasn't capable of much thought, but I knew I was as affectionate with Anton as much as an iguana could be. Then when I started changing and my mind expanded, I realized that I really did love him. I hadn't realized that kissing him would have infected him as well and, well, things carried on from there."
"Yeah, me and Samson were pretty close before that too," said Abby, "He was always the one I could confide in. I never would have guessed that we'd become this close." She sighed and said, "I thought I was pretty close to Delilah too. I mean, I knew she was pretty stubborn and didn't always like to do what she was supposed to, but I really didn't want to be rivals with her."
"And what about that other one?" asked Marlysa.
"Calamity was new to the farm. I think she believes that she should have more privileges than she gets. She didn't get much time to settle before the virus got loose," said Abby, "I think the other mares are mostly following their leads, but I don't think they're holding it that seriously. They're already trying to find other mates, even if the boys at school aren't impressive enough for them yet. It's only Delilah and Calamity who actually have it out for me."
"Not sure what I can tell you about that," said Marlysa, "With iguanas, it's usually just one female with the males fighting for attention. And once you have eggs, they leave. Obviously, that's not gonna be the case with me and Anton. But I might just ignore those two. Eventually, they'll move on to some other stallion."
"I hope so," said Abby, "The world could be harsh enough to Animalians without them fighting among each other."
"Don't think any more about it," said Marlysa as she stretched, "Just enjoy the heat." Abby was a little amused that this lizard woman can take romantic rivals so lightly. Not that there were a lot of iguanas that got uplifted. Abby just leaned back with a sigh, partially wishing that she didn't have sweat glands like Marlysa.