“I never wanted hairy legs! And I can feel the nubs of my new forelegs, Ben,” Lucy croaked as she nervously fingered her fine blonde-brown hair. “I’m next… I’m… I’m so scared! How do we get back home? Even if we do…, how are we gonna explain to our folks how we’ve become cen-cen-centaurs!? The government… The military – and their scientists…”
“We would be isolated from everyone we know,” Ben conceded. “I’m so sorry, Lucy… I don’t know if we CAN get back home. I’ve just taken a piss and a dump. Not sure if I’m going to see my package again, after tonight, though…”
Despite her distress, Lucy managed to giggle. “I just d-did my business, too. Shame that the restrooms and the showers in the village are only designed for centaurs. Still… That won’t be a problem for any us before long, I guess. I’ll be joining Wendy, June, and Snow. W-we’ll be washing each other’s flanks and tails!” She turned serious. “My family. I’ll miss them…”
“I’ll miss my friends and family, too,” Ben sighed. “But at least you won’t have to face your ex-boyfriend again, Luce.”
“That’s true,” Lucy breathed. She then winced and carefully took off her shoes and socks. Now both she and Ben could see that her feet were morphing into equine hooves. Trembling, Lucy shook her pulled-down pants off her altogether. But she kept the clothes on that were above her waist.
“Lucy…?” Ben dropped his hesitation, and hugged her.
“You’ve been a good friend to me, Ben – helping me out with advice, and giving me shelter, when my jilted ex-boyfriend starting stalking me. Amanda and Wendy were sharing digs, and didn’t have the spare space…”
“I guess I was happy…to pretend to be your new boyfriend,” Ben nervously chuckled. “But I do care about you, Lucy.”
She nodded. “I know. And I care about you too. In fact…” Lucy blushed.
“O-oh…” Ben was picking up a new scent from Lucy. “Just like Snow and Wendy… And June must’ve experienced it, too,” he muttered. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship, Luce…”
“You won’t,” Lucy told him firmly, momentarily placing her forefinger on his lips. “When we’re both centaurs, I want you to be my mate, Ben. For us to be partners for life. That’s why we were all pulled into this world by that ‘Growing the herd’ painting. We’re here to repopulate this centaur world!” She pulled her face back to regard Ben’s open-mouthed expression, biting her lips nervously. “So…what do you say? We can be more than good friends.”
Ben sighed and pulled Lucy into a long, loving kiss. “I must be dreaming,” he declared, as their lips parted. “If you want this shy geek as your boyfriend…”
“A smart, caring, loyal geek – who is finding his strengths in a crisis,” Lucy pointed out with a wry grin. “You’re good looking too. And I’ll bet you’ll look even better when you become my centaur stallion!”
Ben smiled back. “Then I would love for us to become boyfriend and girlfriend for real, Lucy. For as long as we love each other. For life, if we can. This world seems to be good for us, actually. I’m gaining a new confidence…”
“…and I’m learning not to be so cold to others,” Lucy realised. “There’s no one to trouble me anymore, now it’s just us, and our friends in the equestrian team – including those with hooves.”
“Don’t worry about your friends and family. They’re already starting to forget us. All of us,” a male voice called out.
Ben and Lucy jumped. Ben automatically shielded Lucy’s half-nakedness from Marcus and June as they trotted onto the top of the hill, emerging from the clump of trees around the pair of humans.
“What do you mean? How would you know?” squeaked Lucy.
June shrugged. “Marcus and I just know. But only since…”
“…only since you pair engaged in horseplay,” Ben put to them.
“Gosh. That’s right.”
Pulling out his small notebook from inside his padded work jacket, Ben switched on his pocket torch, so that he could show the writing on one sheet to Lucy.
“What’s that, Ben? I can’t make it out,” she told him.
“Not to worry, Lucy. Now, how about you pair?” Ben presented the page to the centaurs.
“The plague has affected our whole race, across the world. For some reason, only myself and my wife have been spared, as we recovered. Possibly because we prayed so hard to the goddess Epona…,” Marcus read, as he held the pad between himself and June.
“But Fennell is too old now to bare any foals. Our race is doomed to extinction, unless Fennell can channel her magic, via Epona’s will, to find some way of saving our species. Perhaps salvation can be found in the world called Earth – where some of our ancestors roamed in the country called Greece, long ago, before they were summoned back to Arcadia Centauri, and the portal connecting the worlds was closed…,” June concluded the section of writing. Her eyes widened. “Gosh! I can read like an adult human… But how come Lucy couldn’t read it?
“Because I’m not yet a centaur?” Lucy ventured.
Ben shook his head. “No. This is a copy of one of the parchments I showed to Marcus and June earlier today. Neither of them could read it then – but I wager they can read it now, because…”
Lucy made a sharp intake of breath. “…because they’re now mated. And their way of thinking has changed, to the point that they regard us and the horses as ‘halflings’. By making love, Marcus and June have completed…”
“…a mental transformation. We are now complete. We are proud to be centaurs.” June smiled contently as she held hands with an equally-beaming Marcus. Their tails swished happily.
“And it’s already been confirmed that your centaurs each have two hearts – your other organs have been doubled in number.” Ben stroked his chin in thought. “If, somehow, you could be transformed back… What would happen?”
Marcus’s face turned white as he reflected on his new, instinctive knowledge. “The shock of our organs reverting would kill us!” he declared.
“Wait! Earlier, you stated that family and friends were already forgetting about all of us…,” Lucy reminded Marcus.
“Yes. We just instinctively know this. You are no longer on the equestrian team website, Lucy. Because all trace of you – of all twelve of us – has been erased from the history of earth. Our place in photos. Our exam papers. Our driver licenses. The lot. Sorry,” Marcus elaborated.
“I understand that the painting that brought us here was called ‘Growing the herd’. It must have been a conduit of magic – and we are the means of growing the herd. Or haras,” June spoke up. An equal number of horses and humans. Likewise, an equal number of males and females. The magic from that painting has now readjusted reality on earth, so that no one remembers us. Therefore no one will mourn our disappearances.”
Ben and Lucy instinctively reached out and squeezed each other’s hand, as they gulped, processing the hard-hitting news.
“I dare say Wendy and Midnight sense this, too,” Marcus added. “This world, Arcadia Centauri as that writer called it, is our home now. We are required by the goddess Epona to repopulate this world. Slowly, and keeping within our means to sustain ourselves. An opportunity to leave the worst of humanity behind…”
“…and combine what’s best about horse-kind and humanity – as we lay the foundation for a new centaur colony!” June gushed.
“No pressure on us then…,” Ben muttered sarcastically. “We’ll have to work out what to tell our children about both our world and this world. For starters, what do we say about science, and all the various religions and world politics…?”
“I’ve had enough crap with how our country is tearing itself apart, egged on by a widening political divide! Authoritarianism is on the rise in the wider world - and certain men in power are threatening violence and war if the world doesn’t bow down and give them what THEY demand. I’m not sorry to leave that all behi- Aagghh!” Lucy suddenly screamed, her knees buckling. Quickly, she pulled her knickers off, exposing the swelling nubs above her pelvis. Growths that were now rapidly expanding into the beginnings of her forelegs. “Oh god! Ben… Please stay with me!”
And at that moment, they all heard Bolt give a human-like scream. The group looked at each other, realising…
Quickly, Ben scooped up Lucy in his arms, and ran back to where he’d left Bolt. Marcus and June cantered after them. “Hold on, Luce!” Ben implored her.
Soon, the company reached Bolt, who was on his side, thrashing as his head and neck transformed swiftly, shredding his fur and giving way to a human head and a male torso with human arms. Ben collapsed next to Bolt, as Lucy’s weight caused her to roll out of her friend’s arms. Her body mass exploded and expanded – her trunk suddenly elongating, even as her skeleton gained new joints, ligaments, muscles, and organs. All under her now-wider surface of skin. A chorus of noises resounded from Lucy as she cried out in pain, grabbing Ben’s stretched hand. Her body went ‘crunch’, ‘snap’, and ‘pop’. The budding forelegs erupted into their full length, and grew hooves. Meanwhile, Lucy’s previously human legs warped and stretched into the rear legs of a horse – and her now-longer spine gave way to a lush, equine tail. Eventually, the entire skin below her waist grew a short, fine coat of blonde-brown fur. As Lucy panted for breath, laying on her side, Ben took in the final change – Lucy’s ears turned pointy and moved up the side of her cranium slightly. They were now a mix between horse and horse.
Marcus squatted down besides her. Smiling, he patted her shoulder. “Welcome to the haras, Sister Lucy! You’ll come to love it; I promise.”
Lucy smiled weakly at him. But she then looked at her larger body and frowned. “I feel so heavy. I’m a heavy freak…”
“No! You’re not a freak, Lucy!” Ben corrected her, squeezing her hand. “You’re now a pretty centaur mare. And I still care about you.” He bent forward and kissed her temple.
“Thanks, Ben…,” Lucy moaned, and then passed out.
“Lucy?” Ben croaked.
“Don’t worry, Ben. The transformation leaves us wacked out. She’ll be fine after a rest,” Marcus reassured him. “Let’s check on your former horse.”
“Bolt…” With Marcus, Ben turned and headed over to Bolt. The former Mustang now looked like a bearded, blond-haired man, aged in his twenties, in his human half. He too, had become a centaur. As he groaned, laying on his side, feeling his face with a trembling new hand, June squatted besides him and kissed his cheek, smiling.
“Welcome to the haras, Brother Bolt,” she declared. “Now we just need to wait for Daisy, Lightning, Amanda, and Ben here to join us. Then we will all be like family – caring for each other. Helping each other to survive. And it feels liberating to have arms!”
Ben knelt next to Bolt. “Hi boy! Are you okay now, Bolt?”
Bolt managed a faint smile. “I will be…fine. Just let…me recover.” He stared at the unconscious Lucy and sniffed her.
“Down boy…” Ben scowled at him.
“Do not worry, Ben… I detect your scent on Lucy. I know you care…about her. I will seek out Daisy – ready to welcome her into centaurhood…,” Bolt trailed off, before falling unconscious.
“I’ll go and alert the others,” Marcus offered, before cantering off, leaving June to comfort Ben as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes – worn down by the latest series of events…