“Our mystery horse, Winged Rapier! Now let’s have a cheer for our horses!”
The name reverberates through your being as waves of sensations bombard you. Squeezing your eyes shut, you gasp as an invisible hand forces you down onto all fours. Oddly, the position feels easier to maintain as your arms had gotten longer. Your fingers, meanwhile, straighten out and fuse together into a single shape, gaining a hard hoof at the end to bear your increasing weight. A short adjustment to the joints later, and you have a perfect set of equine forelegs.
Shifting your body, you kick out against the wall behind you, noting the unfamiliar way your legs move. When you lower them again, you find your “feet” now balanced on what had once been your toes but had now become hooves like your former hands. Your long torso, muscular and barrel-shaped, now rests horizontally like any other animal, your ribcage heaving with each breath. Glossy fur the color of snow-dusted auburn covers you, and your hair flows out into a silky black mane. While your head and neck stretch out, your spine extends into a tail with long flowing horsehair almost brushing the floor.
Finally, your face pushes out into a narrow muzzle, your broad teeth gnashing at the air. At the same time, your doe-like eyes travel to the sides of your head. Your ears become long and tapered as they migrate upward to stand above your mane.
Soon, in a matter of seconds, your changes are complete. You have become an elegant roan stallion.
Opening your eyes, you swivel your ears back in fear and let out a frustrated neigh. Unable to turn around due to your new size, you can only dance forward and back, your hooves pawing at the dirt below. Your confusion, though, gives way to another compulsion that grips your heart.
You need to run! You need to be fast! No, not just fast. The fastest!
Your heart trembles with new excitement. It matters not one bit that you are suddenly a horse, if only you can run, feel the earth fly by beneath your hooves, the wind catching your mane. A wide world waits outside, and at the end of it all, a finish line calls to you, begging you to cross it first. Focusing forward, you brace yourself and will those gates to open and release you.
“All horses set!”
CLANG!
Sunlight blinds you, but you don’t hesitate. Pushing off with all four legs, you leap into blessed freedom!
“And they’re off!”