You pull your eyes off her, looking anywhere but at her butt. You were glad you couldn’t blush, as if you could, the glow of your face would be blinding. Then again, if you had a human face you would probably just tell her to be a little more careful.
And were she a little more self-aware, you also thought, you might not have to tell her. You shook your head, moving over to the water.
The water looked crystal clear, but you were still hesitant about touching it, more so than Jess. Your mind was filled with memories of a vacation from summers past, spent in a log cabin shitting out your insides due to lakewater you thought was safe. You also remembered the camp counselor’s lecture about parasites, pollutants, and simple beaver piss.
You tried to push that from your mind, as you lapped up the liquid. Most of it fell straight back out, however, as you couldn’t really suck or keep the liquid in with that bar in your mouth. Still, you were so thirsty you ploughed on, inhaling more water than you ever thought possible.
“I’m not hungry really,” Jess said, coming in to rest at your side. She looked a little dejected, her knees pulled into her chest as she watched the water flow by. “I thought I would after all that walking, but I’ve not felt hungry since they took me. Nervous stomach I guess. I keep on thinking about my mom and my sister. They must be worried sick.”
You had nothing to hug her with, so instead you put your head on her shoulder, letting her pet it idly. Your face was now so long that your mouth was in front of her while your eyes were behind, but you didn’t need to see her face to know she was smiling a little.
“Are you hungry?” She asked. “I think you can eat all this grass and stuff?” You snorted; at least the oats you had been eating in the yard smelt homely and were tasteless. You had no intention in developing a taste for dandelions. “C’mon,” she said, yanking a weed from between two rocks, “At least one of us needs to keep up their energy, and while you can carry me I don’t think I would be able to carry you.”
She smiled, stroking the weed, trying to make it look as presentable as possible. While it was annoying that she just assumed you would carry her, you were a horse after all, and it might actually be easier. You snorted, licking the dandelion off her hand.
It tasted fine, though taste is not really the word you would use for it. Instead it seemed to satisfy an itch at the back of and roof of your mouth, filling a void with an unfamiliar sweetness. You had tasted plants before, distantly, as a child, and you remembered how bad they tasted. Why didn’t they taste bad anymore? You chuffed, pulling away from Jess, as you pulled a tuft of grass and fround it down in your maw, waiting for a tang to hit but finding nothing; just that strange satisfying sensation. What the fuck?
“What’s going on?”
Jess had turned to you, watching as you chuffed and snorted, as you assaulted different clumps of plant matter. It felt good, and there was something there, but it didn't really taste in the way you knew it. It was dull, vague, and abstract, confounded by that bar in your mouth that gave everything a metal tang.
You turned back to face her, shaking your head, clopping over to rest beside her. It was your turn to be dejected now, and her turn to cheer you up. Her eyes flickered between you and the grass, trying to figure out what she missed.
“I’m guessing it tastes shit?” She said, patting your nose. You shook her off; as it was just reminding you of your bestial form.
“Oh, it tastes good?” You shook again. No, no it did not, and yet yes, it kind of did. How on Earth were you going to convey such a strange experience without writing it into the earth with your hooves?
“It tastes, uh…”
You looked to one side, looking for something to try to write with.
“How about you write it?” She said, sliding into your vision. You rolled your eyes. Not only were you already on it, but her trying to steal you attention wasn’t helping. You picked up a rock with your teeth, and began scratching out letters on a larger rock.
T
A
S
“Taste?” You clopped a hoof. She whipped the rock clean, readying for the next word.
4
“For, as in like form without…” You clopped again.
H
O
R
“Taste for horse?” You thought about clopping, but wasn’t really the full word you were looking for. You rolled your nose, gesturing onwards. “Horses? Taste for horses?” You clopped.
W
O
R
C’mon, this is an easy one.
K
S
“Taste for horses works?”
D
I
“Oil? Does it taste like oil? Tastes like work oil?” You shook your head. What the fuck is ‘work oil?’ You went back and emphasised the line of the D. “Dies?” You shook your head again.
F
R
E
Wait, was there two Es in ‘Differently?’ You hadn’t seen the word ‘differently’ in a while, who knows? No, it must have two. Fuck. Start over.
D
I
F
“What dies?” You snorted, shooting her a look.
E
R
“Oh. There are two Fs in 'different.'” You glared at her again, blowing wind in her face. “Sorry! Different, is that the word?” You nodded, rolling your head again. “Difference? Different-er? Diff-er… Dif-france?”
The fuck is a dif-france? Why are you so bad at charades?
“Sorry, I am tired! It's been a long day and I’ve not really been sleeping.”
L
Y
She smiled, patting your nose. “What’s a DIFERLY?” She joked.
You snorted, pushing her over with your head, as she chuckled. It was funny to her, and yeah, it did raise an internal giggle, it was starting to exhaust you.
“You could have just used ‘different’ too! That works just as fine!” So pushed her down, trying to shut her up.
“Differently. Your sense of taste works differently, okay. Is it weaker?” You leaned your head side-to-side. “Do you think it's the bridle? The mouthpiece?” You leaned again, squeezing out the best ‘maybe’ you could. “We should test it,” she said, flipping a lock on one of your straps, the mouthpiece falling out. “Go on, give it a try now.”
She could do that. She could have taken that mouthpiece out all along, with such a simple action, and she didn’t.
It took a moment for her to realize why you were glaring at her, and when she did her face melted.
“I am so sorry, I wasn’t…”
Thinking? You snorted, blowing a gust in her face. Evidently. What the fuck. What the actual fuck.
“Babe I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m tired and I’ve just been worrying a whole lot!” And you haven’t? You thought as you walked away. “Babe!”
Jess collided with your rear, patting it as she continued explaining, but her words fell on deaf ears. While you had been touched there by Vicky and her cronies there was something new about the way Jess tried to sooth you. It was gentle but firm, free of vindictive superiority, anger, or dominance, but with a confidence and familiarity. Some may have touched you there like that, but not like this.
Your mind's eye was wandering back to her, to what she looked like, what she was thinking, how she might make it up to you.
Your vagina winked.
The trance broke. Snapping away from her, you neighed, prancing a few feet ahead, looking back at Jess as she looked on in confusion. Did it really take so little effort? Did you really want her that much? Your vagina told you the answer, winking again as your eyes fell on her in those hot leathers. This time you could even see her notice, glowing so red it was blinding.
“What?” She asked, as you moved away from her. From this angle, near the treeline, you could see the bulge reforming.
Fuck, you thought.