Max had converted into a Shire horse Animalian mostly before the physical benefits. There wasn't any question that it was a massive upgrade from the homely basement-dweller he had been before. But now he had to be more considerate about his health. For starters, he needed a healthier diet, one that couldn't contain meat anymore. And while the conversion gave him enormous muscles, he was told they wouldn't be permanent. Animalians were just as capable of gaining weight and losing muscles as humans. In fact, the pandemic has cut into many people's workout time and a few stomachs were rounder than they usually were. Once things cleared up, there would be a lot more Animalians hitting the gym, that's for certain.
Max certainly wasn't prepared for the female attention he'd be getting. Not surprisingly, he hasn't had many girls pay attention to him before. He could count the number of dates he had on one hand, if going out for lunch counted as a date. Max wouldn't deny that one of his reasons for becoming a stallion was to finally score some dates. He didn't expect to be approached by a mare as soon as he walked out the door. As he would later learn, it was a pretty common approach for the mares in the 'Mane Six', considering how narrow the selection of single stallions were. Max certainly learned a lot after he met all of them. He looked back at his first meeting with a bit of embarrassment. If felt like he had been trotted out to the horse market...
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Max was pretty nervous when Vera led him back to the apartment she was sharing with her friends. Were they really all about to ambush him? Wait, they were horses, not wolves. But still, would he be able to handle all six of them? He was sweating quite a bit. He almost bolted before Vera opened the door. "Hey, guys, I'm back," called Vera. Vera grabbed Max by the wrist and pulled him in. If he had remembered that he was a lot bigger and stronger now, he probably would have resisted.
Max was a little surprised to see that were six mares waiting for them when Vera had said that she had moved here with five friends. He was also surprised to see a few other stallions here. "Guys, this is Max. He was just converted," said Vera, "Max, here are my friends; Mary-Anne, Sara-Jane, Elizabeth, Jessie, and Theresa." She indicated five of the mares as she spoke.
"The Mane Six plus one?" asked Max.
"And I'm the plus one," said the seventh mare, "My name's Blythe and I'm kinda Vera's partner."
"Ok, I'm getting confused," said Max.
"Well, me and Vera are bi," said Vera, "Though we are open to sharing a stallion. However, those 'Studs in the Hood' aren't really working out for us."
"At least Coye and Marquise seem to be working," said Blythe.
"More power to her," said Vera offhandedly, "But those other two...well, we just don't match up. So we're looking for better fits."
"Also my sister Faye is still looking for her own coltfriend," said Blythe.
"Blythe, we don't say 'coltfriend'," said Vera, "You can say 'boyfriend', 'stud', 'mate', 'stallion', whatever. But we don't say 'marefriend' or 'coltfriend'."
"So then who are they?" asked Max, pointing at the other stallions.
"Well, those are my brothers, Abraham and Elijah," said Blythe, pointing.
"And there we have Alex, Kip, and Adam," said Vera, "They're the 'keepers' we've sorted out."
"Currently we're also observing those two Arabian stallions," said Theresa, "Depending on whichever one that Leila doesn't want for her official mate."
"But first, we need to see if this young stud is worth keeping," said Elizabeth. After that was probably one of the mortifying moments of Max's life. The mares surrounded him, taking note of all his physical aspects. Which mostly involved the size of his muscles. There was quite a pit of poking and pinching. Max half-expected them to look in his mouth. He was more relieved that they didn't pull down his pants.
Thankfully, Adam was able to get him away from the mares. "Not so easy to be a Shire horse, is it?" he asked. Max quickly noticed that Adam was also a Shire horse. He wondered if Adam could have been his donor. "Believe me, they were even worse when I first came here," said Adam, "But at least they're more composed now."
"Uh, Adam..." started Max.
"Archie will do," said the other Shire horse, "I don't think we need to stand on ceremony here."
"Uh, Archie, are these mares intending to give us, er..."
"Oh they're not subtle about it," said Kip, "But they can show restraint. They'll just need to decide which one of them is a better match for you."
"But I could end up with two mares," said Max, feeling a bit more nervous than he probably should have.
"And I hope you won't take them for granted," said Abraham, giving Max a stern look. He may be smaller than Max, but he somehow threw more weight.
"It's probably more them taking him for granted," said Elijah, "You need to relax more."
"I'll be relaxed when everyone's situated," said Abraham.
"Well, these mares are a little flighty," said Alex, "It may take some time for them to make up their minds."
Max sighed. He wondered what he had gotten himself into. At least he had an option to leave if things didn't work out. He just hoped his confidence will get stronger before these mares got serious.