Inspiration struck at the last possible second, as you and the pursuing horse approached the woodline. That beast, that titanic concentration of muscle and bone had probably twice your mass, and that necessarily meant half the friction, half the control, half the ability to simply stop.
All four of your hooves planted themselves into the earth, ripping up a layer of leaves like a smokescreen, blinding the beast. It sped straight through and past you, bouncing your body into the dirt and vanishing past the wall of leaves, into a cacophony of screaming and neighing and earthy scraping and thudding. Then, complete silence.
"Holy fuck." You heard Jess gasp. You snorted in agreement.
You wobbled onto your hooves, turning around and inspecticting your flank, as Jess rolled into a sitting position near a tree. To your surprise there wasn’t a mark on you, though you did feel a little stiff, and your neigh wobbled with a hint of humanity. The two of you stared at one another, panting, stunned into silence, your breath masked by the chatter of birds.
“Are we safe?” Jess asked, adjusting her sundress. “Can you… I mean, you don’t have to…”
You whipped your head around, hobbling over to the hole the beast cut in the wall of leaves to get a better look. The adrenaline was staring to wear off, and the great bruise the beast gave you was starting to sting.
The best wasn’t dead, but it was laying still, panting heavily amidst it's meteoric impact, bloody. It's great glassy blues took on a more pathetic, pleading look, but you felt no more sympathy for it.
“Oh Princess,” the earth spoke. You readjusted your eyes, looking down to find Vicky’s crumpled body caked in dirt and torn grass. “You were gonna have such an easy life. So fun.”
You wanted to stomp her, take one of the hooves she had created and use it to stomp out the last light of life from her. Instead, you neighed passively. None of it was gonna matter, you would be human soon, and this horrible saga would be over.
“That’s not what I mean.” She said. She was looking at you, past through your eyes and into your soul. “You were going to lead a easy horse’s life, now you are going to lead a difficult horse’s life.”
She stirred in the muck, rising with a dark laugh.
“There is more than one way to keep you like this, and if I can do one last act before I die you can bet your ass I’m gonna seal you in that way.”
The dark horse neighed, scrambling in the muck as it inched away from vicky, trying to escape as she flopped into it. You moved forward, unsure if it was a trap, as she took out a shiny blade, the beast breaking into a panicked scramble.
“Shush Inky,” she said, petting the beast, “you are going to love it.”
Before you could react she sealed the deal, but rather than killing the beast she drove the blade into her hair, cutting off her pony tail. With a flash the beads that held her tail in place shattered, pushing you back into the woodline.
Inky was still trying to flee, still trying to get away, even though the blade crumbled away. Something was telling you you should have done the same, but despite your efforts your hooves remained rooted to the earth, unable to look away.
“What’s goin on?” Jess said as she hobbled over. Resting on your flank, you managed to shoot her a look of horror before the show finally began.
Inky was crying, kicking at the dirt and trying to push Vicky way, as she sank into the earth. It was getting harder and harder to separate her from the mud, as the two blended into one reddy brown goo, her grin the last glimmer of humanity before her face slopped into liquidity. You watched in horror as the viscous liquid spilled onto Inky and pooled all around him.
As your strength returned you gave him one last look in the eyes, your mind invaded with a fading thought.
“Remember Incitatus. My name is Incitatus. Try to remember. Try.”