Going under for an operation was always an unusual experience. You stared up at the clock in the New You clinic and saw that it had been about thirty minutes since you checked in. Ten thirty at night. That was a late time for a medical procedure, but you were going to have the whole evening having your head re-wired for hooves and a tail. The scheduling made sense.
You could feel the anesthesia starting to take hold. You blinked your eyes and the clock read ten forty five. Then you blinked again and it said six twenty.
“Huh…?” You groaned and sat up.
Your balance felt off. Why had the clock suddenly jumped backwards like that? Your mouth felt dry and… Hang on, did time pass? Right, it jumped forward…
“Oh, you’re awake!” The nurse walked over, “We took you off the IV about an hour ago. Everything appears to have been a success.
A success? Your mind was still catching up. You tried to focus on what happened in the last few minutes. You were laying in a bed waiting to fall asleep, you had some unusually abstract dreams full of swirling colors, and then this nurse started talking to you.
“The horns suit you,” she smiled.
Horns!? Your hands shot up. Your coordination wasn’t great, and you immediately bumped into too small horns that had grown out of your temples.
“Oh wow…!” You coughed.
She handed you a glass of water. “Take all the time you need. Our next round of appointments aren’t for a few hours.”
“Right…” You sipped at the water greedily.
Oh… oh man. It actually worked. You felt ecstatic. Then you felt your tail start to wag. Woah, right, this wasn’t just horns…!
You pulled back the covers on the bed slowly. Sitting there at the bottom of your dressing gown were two glossy pairs of hooves. Your feet were just completely gone. The hooves weren’t even reminiscent of your old feet. It was hard to believe this shift had happened in just six hours, but that’s what the coma was for you supposed.
You pulled your leg forward and rubbed the hoof. It felt glossy and smooth. It only offered up the most subtle hint that you were touching it. A bit of brown for had grown around the base of them, but they shifted back into human legs quickly enough.
The excited wagging started up behind you again. You dangled your legs over the edge of your bed and looked over your shoulder. There behind you was an eagerly wagging tasseled tail. It too was a nice pleasing shade of brown, and poofed up in the end in just the way you wanted.
“Oh hey bull, you’re up.” Agent Jackson waved from then only door out of the clinic area. He looked like he hadn’t slept all night. “Let me know when you’re ready to test those bad boys out.”
“Thanks!” You settled back into examining yourself. They you realized he was staring at you expectantly. “Can I… change first?”
“Sorry, it’s really got to be first thing.” He wiggled the camera in the air, “Get over here.”
“Right, uh… Gimme a sec,” you mumble.
You look down at the tile floor of the clinic. Easy to clean, perhaps not as easy to stand on with hooves. You experimentally try to put weight on one of your legs and- Yup! It just kind of shot out from under you!
Shit shit shit…! How were you supposed to walk on these things!? It was so easy in VR! Then again, that virtual space was carpeted.
“You keep trying to put your heel down,” Agent Jackson commented.
“What?” You looked down at your leg and tried to balance on one of the hooves again.
“You don’t have heels any more,” he said rather bluntly. “You keep trying to bring pull your leg back like you do.”
“Oh, uh…” You tried setting your hoof down on the floor again.
“This isn’t my first- You’re not the first person I’ve seen wake up with hooves.” He shrugged his shoulders, “Try imagining yourself standing on your tip-toes. I hear that works.”
“Okay…” You mentally re-adjusted your expectations. You pictured the hooves as something you were pointing down rather than a platform you were balancing on.
It… worked! You managed to stand up at least!
“I still can’t believe they don’t run you new Furs through PT or anything,” Jackson watched you awkwardly wobble your first few steps.
“I got it, I got it…” You wobble bashfully. Man, this were tricky to get a hang of, but exhilarating at the same time…! You honestly couldn’t feel your feet throughout the whole process of walking across the room.
“Alright, say cheese,” the agent snapped a picture. “Now turn around. And… one more of the face.” They spun their camera around, “You good with this as an ID photo?”
Your picture mercifully didn’t have the hospital gown showing through. You did have a slight case of bed head though. You were mostly just focused on seeing your new horns for the first time. They were a lot smaller than you had designed. You’d probably grow into them over time?
“Looks good?” You tilted your head at a notification on the screen, “That thing does retinal scans too?”
“Yup! I’m just going to need your palm scans on this tablet and we’re good,” he held out a glowing rectangle.
“I don’t think y’all had this much info on me before,” you blinked and did as instructed.
“We did.” He gave a very customer service smile. The tablet flashed as you held your hand in place. “…and now we do again.”
“Anything else?” You pulled your hand back when the device dinged.
“Nope, we’re done here,” Agent Jackson grabbed your new ID card from a portable printer, “If we get any reports of someone getting in a bar fight and running their horns through a table, expect a call.”
You weren’t sure how serious he was until he gave you a wink.
“Right, uh… thanks?” You took the ID card from him. It had your new picture and most of the same information as before. There was a new “DNA” box on the back of the card though.
Human: 84%. Bull: 16%
Wow. You were officially part- Woah! You couldn’t walk and read just yet…! You managed to catch yourself before you feel thankfully.
You were officially part bull now. You had just gotten your hooves, horns, and tail all documented by the government, but you could still hardly believe they were real.
The early morning clinic was fairly quiet. After all that, it felt like an anti-climax to just tug off your hospital gown and put on the change of clothes you had brought. Thankfully your bed had a privacy curtain you could pull shut.
You had a properly tailored pair of pants for your new tail. What you hadn’t considered bringing was a pair of tail friendly underwear. The elastic on your underwear kept trying to ride up under your tail in an awkward way. Alternatively you could try to tuck it underneath, but that’s just crushed the tail awkwardly under the fabric. You just ended up having to go commando.
“Oh! Sorry about that!” The clerk smiled as you checked out. “I hear jockstraps work wonders?”
“Duly noted,” you nod and then glance back again as your tail swished happily through your pant’s tail hole.
“Alright, your next appointment’s set.” The clerk- Nic right? Nic handed you a small pile of papers, and what looked like a moleskin notebook. “There may be some residual changes over the next few days. Extra fur, horn growth, that sort of thing. This mood journal isn’t required, but you’re working with a new body chemistry. Some people find it useful to document any mood swings or personality shifts after a big change like this.”
“Anything else I should know?” You took a peek at the journal. You still felt like yourself.
“I think that’s it? Your genes should be stable enough for another change by next Friday.” Nic looked you over curiously, “What did your friends say when you told them you were trading in your feet?”
You smiled sheepishly, “I… actually haven’t told them yet.”
“You’d be surprised how many people do this on impulse. Once you find the right version of yourself, it’s hard to shake that idea.”
You nodded along with the clerk. Then you yawned as the post-op grogginess caught up with you.
“Anything else I can do for our in-progress minotaur?” Nic grinned.
“Yeah, where’s the closest coffee shop?” You laughed as you stifled another yawn.