The animal option offered the ability to make himself part or all animal. He could have gorilla feet, or rabbit ears, or... he grinned - be hung like a horse. It took a bit of searching the options, but he finally worked out how to give himself the sexual equipment of a stallion.
Four options appeared once the image gained the huge black sheath and enormous testicles. One specified Genetic Mix - specific or adjusted.
The next was called Social Status - Human, Mix, or Animal. The third item was Background - Current, Adjusted Current, Adjusted Full. The last listed Origin - Science or Magic.
Clicking Specific didn't do anything. He tried Adjusted, and saw the image change quite a bit. His picture got bigger, the face pushing out somewhat and ears shifting higher as they got slightly pointed. His teeth got larger, and his hands and feet became thicker and darker. When it was done, he could still recognize the red-haired boy, but now it was obvious that he was a blend of horse and human.
Social status was interesting. Clicking Human clothed him in jeans and a T-shirt. Mix changed the clothes to a loincloth and gave him a shaggier appearance, and the background looked like some sort of carnival tent. Animal stripped him completely and gave him a slightly dirty appearance, and the background became a stable.
The Background options didn't seem to do anything at all, even when he clicked Adjusted-Full. That left Origin. Science or Magic? Science didn't do anything. So he clicked Magic. Again, nothing. Well, it would be interesting to try this beast-boy out. He his accept.
There was a flash of light that blinded him for a moment, and when his eyes cleared, the computer was gone! In fact, the whole room was gone. Greg's mouth dropped open as he looked around the large stall he was now standing in. It smelled like piss and manure, and a glance down showed the stall was well used. By him? He seemed to be the horse-boy that had been shown - naked, dirty, and obviously part animal.
Before he could do anything else, the stall door opened and a girl came in. He stared at her, confused. How could this have happened!? He hadn't saved the file! She had a harness with her, which she slipped over his head expertly. Greg opened his mouth automatically and felt a bit drop into a gap in his teeth. She buckled a strap to secure it, then attached a lead.
"Come on, boy. Turn-out time while I muck your stall." The girl had a pleasant accent - it sounded Scottish. She tugged gently on the lead, and he followed her out of the stable and into a large, grassy pasture full of horses. They were some sort of big draft horses. She unhooked the lead and patted his butt. "Go on, boy." He took a few steps in, then turned and tried to speak to her as she closed the gate.
His words emerged as whickers and whinnies. The girl shook her head. "Give it up. The faerie did a good job on you. Why you fell asleep in a toadstool ring is beyond me. Stupid boy. But you certainly paid the price. You may have been my brother before, but now you are stuck with the life style and life span of a horse. And remember the faerie curse: if you ever leave this farm, you'll lose the rest of your mind and body!"
Greg was stunned, and stared at the girl as she walked away. Faerie!? Toadstool rings? The situation seemed to follow all the options he had checked, but he hadn't saved anything! Accept was just temporary, but where was the computer? Maybe across the ocean, if this was Scotland! He was now a Scottish teenager who had been magically transformed by faerie!
Would Anna remember him? What happened if she turned the computer off? Or if she forgot him completely? He'd spend the rest of a much shorter life eating oats and shaking off flies.