Dustin didn’t know what to say. She was shocked on a very fundamental level. Just a few hours ago, the ability to understand human speech was something that she took for granted. But in those past few hours she’d lived two complete lives – lives of animals that didn’t even know what speech was. So when Troy asked if she could understand him, she didn’t know what to say.
“Yes,” came an odd sounding bellow out of the back of her throat.
It didn’t sound like her at all. Or, rather, it didn’t sound like her voice when she was a human male, when she was Dustin. It sounded more like the deep, bellowing speech that cows make in cartoons. And as odd as the thought was, given who, or rather what Dustin now was, she couldn’t help but feel that it was an oddly appropriate voice for a cow like her to have.
“Do you remember being Dustin?”
“Yes.”
Troy broke out laughing. “I gave you just enough of your intelligence back, so I was hoping you would remember. So, Mister… No, MISS furry, how does it feel to have your dream come true?”
Dustin knew that she should be getting mad. She knew that with her new body she could easily crush Troy under her hooves, take the book, and try to turn herself back. But every time she tried to think of hurting him, a strange docileness took hold of her body. She tried to move her legs but they wouldn’t work. Tried to think angry thoughts but they wouldn’t come.
Was this a byproduct of her new body? Of the fact that Troy was her owner? Or was this something else? One of the spells in the book maybe?
As Dustin pondered her new position in life, she saw an impatient look begin to overtake Troy’s face. He was expecting an answer, and she needed to give one.
“This isn’t my dream Troy.”
“Isn’t it Dustin? You didn’t want to be a cow? Didn’t want to be a…” Troy trailed off. “What kind of cow are you even? Oh I know, or should I say, you should know. Be right back!” Troy said as he walked out of the room.
Dustin didn’t have to wait long before Troy came bounding back in, holding a mirror.
“Tell me MISS furry, what kind of cow are you? And don’t tell me you don’t know or I might just make this worse.”
Troy held the mirror up to Dustin’s face. Seeing herself in the mirror made her realize that she… the cow her… had never actually seen itself before. She had a long face with a broad, pink nose. A white line ran down the center of her face, flanked on both sides by dark black stripes. All of this ran up to a thick, bony ridge at the top of her head – where her horns would be, she realized, if she was a breed where the females had horns. Or, a darker thought ran through her mind, if she was still a male.
Troy walked around her body with the mirror, and her new, wider field of view let her follow along and take full stock of what she looked like. Four stocky legs, a barrel chest, a ropey tail with a tassel of coarse black fur at the end, and, of course, the characteristic black and white splotching pattern of a Holstein… of a dairy cow.
“I’m going to ask you one last time MISS cow. What breed of cow are you?”
Dustin lowered her head slightly before bellowing out a weak, “Holstein…”
“Wrong!” shouted Troy, “you’re a dairy cow! So, where’s the dairy?”
Dustin saw Troy skip around his side, she saw him reach between her legs, and she felt his fingers wrap themselves around one of her teats.
Troy gave a slight pull and, with a hint of disappointment, said “not here from the looks of it.”
Dustin let out a low moo as she felt Troy give her a slight pinch, then he began to rub the tight leather that formed her deflated udder.
She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what she could do. Dustin tried to kick, tried to sit down, tried to do anything to stop Troy from toying with her udder. Her udder. She had an udder. It was so bizarre, so humiliating. She just wanted it to stop, but her body wouldn’t obey.
“Troy please…” she lowed.
“Please what?” he laughed. “Turn you back? Sorry Dustin, but I asked you a simple question and you couldn’t give me an answer. And don’t tell me you don’t know what a dairy cow is, even I know that and I’m not a furry. I’m sure you know all the breeds.”
“You don’t understand…” Dustin tried to plead, “Holstein is another…”
“Shut up.” Troy commanded. “To be perfectly honest with you Dustin, I rewrote your reality. You might remember being Dustin, but he never existed. You never existed. You’re my dairy cow. That’s all you are. That’s all you’ve ever been. That’s all you ever will be. I was going to be nice. Going to give you some time to get acquainted with your new body. Going to let you do things willingly. Naturally.”
Troy paused, “you probably don’t remember this, but in between human you and cow you, you were a bitch. A stupid, worthless bitch.”
“No, that’s too mean.” Troy said mockingly as he rested his elbows on her back while the Book of Beast pressed into her thick leather hide, “You did have some value. You taught me that I could do this.”