After they had trotted over, Midnight and Wendy had allowed themselves to be touched and inspected by Chris’s disbelieving team, Amanda invited the newcomers back to the village – so that the new arrivals could all rest and drink from the tap water, whilst listening to the collective story so far from members of Amanda’s team. How they were all mysteriously teleported to this land, how the physical transformations had started, how they had found the village using Wendy and Midnight’s new centaur intuition, the two centaur skeletons in one of the bungalows, finding the journal that told of the plague that had wiped out the centaur population throughout the land, the burial mounds. And the fact that the centaur’s writing could only be understood by those who were now centaurs in mind, as well as in body.
Jenny frowned as Marcus rounded off the account that Amanda’s team had split up between them. “What do you mean? Those who are now centaurs, mentally? How does that happen?”
“We undergo the mental transformation when we…,” June piped up, beaming at Marcus.
Amanda stuck up her hand to stop her. “Don’t go there, June! They’ve got enough to take in.”
“Like…we’re now stuck here?” Aiko pressed her hands to her face as she sat on the ground in the village square, with the others, whilst Lightning, Daisy, and the five new horses rested close by. “There isn’t a way to go back!?”
“Sorry – but no. And your families will forget about you all, now that you’ve been drawn into this world,” Midnight added in his deep voice. “All trace of your former lives is now being…removed…from the earth.”
“To hell with that! How could you do possibly know this?” Aiko snapped at him.
He shrugged. “Us centaurs who are now complete, just know this, in our minds. It is like a gift from the goddess to those of us who have been transformed and then given in to our new instincts to mate with our chosen…”
“Midnight – that’s enough!” Amanda yelled at him.
“Urgh! I get it.” Zoey shuddered. “We’re all going to transform into centaurs, find an eager partner to bond and mate with. And then none of us will look back. We’ll be the gene pool for repopulating the centaur race on this world. Well – part of it, anyway.”
“Yes,” Bolt spoke up, smiling. “I have not mated yet – but I am waiting for Daisy to join my new race, so that we can be…partners. And I looking forward to all of us becoming centaurs. All of us being brothers and sisters, as part of a new hybrid race. It feels…right.”
“But why us? Why have our two teams been selected by…this goddess…or whatever, to be transformed and repopulate this world of lost centaurs?” Fred posed the question.
“Be-because an equestrian team, with their horses, would – um - be perfect br-breeding stock for the purpose… The horses are already half-centaur, with the same breeding instincts. Whilst their handlers already know how to handle and look after equine creatures,” Ben pointed out, stammering as he sat down to Lucy, idly grooming her fur to steady his nerves, whilst she nodded approval at him. With the arrival of strangers, Ben was feeling somewhat shy in speaking up, though he was making the effort. “A-Apart from my friendship with Lucy, we were all single – or so I thought…”
“…so, because of Amanda’s relationship with me, we’re here too,” Chris concluded with a sigh.
“It’s not our fault, Chris…,” Amanda told him. “But, aside from that, I can think why Fred was brought along…”
“…because we need a blacksmith to provide shoes for us centaurs!” Luke perked up, grinning.
***
The day continued. It was like one of those ‘You’re shipwrecked on a tropical island’ survival situations – such as with Robinson Crusoe. There were now twenty-two souls to feed and look after each other. They all had to be organized and disciplined with regard to their living arrangements and the hours of the day, to gather food and drink, watch out for potential dangers (although the mated centaurs sensed there weren’t any large predators anywhere near them), and they had to watch for the next incident in the series of transformations affecting them.
Some of the horses with Chris’s team were already starting to moult fur around their heads and necks, to the dismay of their riders.
Thankfully, most of the bungalows were still in good condition – fit for habitation, once they had been dusted. And there was a one-storey barn used for gathering hay, where the horses could be secured with the ropes that were present. So, everyone was undercover when the afternoon rain struck, which cooled the temperature and provided fresh moisture to the fields, apple orchards, and the air in general. The rain wasn’t too heavy – and it didn’t last too long.
Amanda and Chris took charge of their respective teams. In as much as it was possible to do so, everyone who now had hands would do tasks on a rota. This meant being on the hunting parties led by Wendy, helping Amanda to sort out the fields for crop-growing, assisting Snow in the apple gathering, working with Marcus in the large flour mill they had found, and even taking turns in the cleaning out of the centaur toilets and using the manure for fertiliser.
In the meantime, Fred was setting himself up in the blacksmiths, so that he could get a fire going and be able to fit horseshoes to all of the humans-turned-centaurs.
In short, despite bringing brought here without their consent, they were all pulling together in order to survive. It would have to be on a day-by-day basis for now – but at least nobody was starving. And the horses were all being fed, watered, and looked after as well. Of course, some of the humans still wanted to find a way to return home. But it was noted that all of the mated centaurs no one had any wish to go back. The village – and the surrounding lands - was home to them, now. The latter group were all happy and content – whilst at the same time, wanting to do everything possible to help everyone survive.
Whilst they patiently waited for the remaining halflings to join the haras, and become fully-fledged centaurs – in mind, as well as body.
But Bolt and I don’t have the same new awareness that the mated centaurs have.., Lucy pondered. She was also aware, from speaking to Wendy during some personal girl-time, that Wendy’s time of being in heat was short. As soon as she had mated with Midnight, causing the pair of them to mentally become centaurs, her ‘heat’ ended. In other words, it wasn’t a mare’s Estrous cycle. It was another ploy from the Powers-That-Be responsible for them being here, to get Wendy and Midnight to be the first centaurs to gain the instincts that led them to this village, and to understand the written language of the centaurs.
Wendy had also whispered something else to Lucy, whilst smirking. “We centaurs are like horses in another way. We don’t have periods! Don’t ask me how I know. I just know.”
Well, that was a relief, Lucy considered…
Now, as she stepped around the bungalow that had been allocated to her, Lucy considered the items inside. The previous owners had left written parchments, and paintings of family members (all centaurs, of course). The spacious rooms included a decent kitchen and a lounge, as well as a low dining table that was just high enough for a family of centaurs to eat from whilst laying down. The plumping was (somehow) working, providing cool drinking water and warm water on tap, and there was a log fireplace, as well as unlit candles and lanterns. And there were still some good blankets in the bedrooms, besides the straw and pillows. There were even some games in the lounge – something that resembled a pack of playing cards, and games with wooden pieces that could’ve been the centaurs’ version of Chess and Backgammon.
Amanda had by now relented and agreed that the mated centaurs should each have their own house. And so the couples had examined the bungalow and made their selection – whilst keeping close to the rest of the party, for safety.
But Amanda and Ben hadn’t yet moved into any of the bungalows…
I want this house to be a home.., Lucy thought to herself. She sniffed and brushed aside the tears falling from her eyes as she thought of the family and friends she had now lost. At least she still had the next thing she considered as her family – the equestrian team, including Lightning.
Interestingly enough, the buildings all had windows – and Lucy stepped over to look out towards the stream and the setting sun beyond.
The transformations so far had only taken place at night. Who was going to be transformed this evening?
She came to a decision. Adjusting her tunic and jerkin as she looked at her human half in the full-length mirror, Lucy then opened her front door and trotted out to find Ben. As she searched, she caught sight of Amanda feeding and tending to Daisy, in the barn. Nodding with approval, Lucy joined her and did the same with her own horse, Lightning. Lucy also took the opportunity to talk with the other ladies present – Jenny and Zoey. Aiko wasn’t present. From the conversation with Jenny, Lucy was getting the impression that Aiko was blaming Chris’s and Amanda’s relationship for why they had been brought here, against their will. In other words, Aiko was also huffing about losing Chris to Amanda, Lucy reasoned to herself.
Giving Lightning a pat, Lucy decided to change the subject. “Where’s Ben?” she asked.
Zoey smirked at her. “That smart man who dotes on you? I saw him at the archery range.”
“Thanks.” Leaving the barn, Lucy trotted over to the archery range and stopped to watch Ben practicing by himself. He was sometimes missing the target – but generally he was making good hits. After several minutes, Lucy came up to him when Ben decided to take a break.
“How’s it going?” she asked him.
“Oh, hi Luce. I wasn’t very good to start with – but I’m getting better with practice. I need to be good enough, if I’m to help in the hunting parties, after all,” Ben sighed.
“You’re tired. You need to relax,” Lucy observed as she laid down on the ground. “Come on. Mount me.”
“Urrr…”
Lucy giggled at her friend’s expression. “Not like that, you doofus. I mean… Climb onto my back. Let me take you for a run. I saw how shy you were becoming again, now that we’ve got strangers in town.”
He glared at her. “You deliberately phrased ‘mount’ like that, in order to see my face, Lucy.”
“True. But I needed the laugh.” She winked at him – then her expression turned sober. “I want us to be together like this… Before the opportunity is lost. I want… I want you to get used to being close to me, Ben.”
Ben nodded solemnly at Lucy as he put the bows and arrows away. Then he took her hand. “I’d like that, too,” he admitted with a sigh.
With Ben on her back, without a saddle – and with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, Lucy set off – first trotting across a stone bridge that crossed over the stream, downstream of the village. Then she picked up her pace, cantering along the dirt track that headed west, past neglected fields of different crops – fields that would, in time, and with Amanda’s farming know-how, be put back into working order to help feed the new colony.
Lucy was beginning to enjoy herself now, as she tapped into her growing sense of coordination, confidence, and new-found power and endurance. “Hold on, Ben,” she called out to the man behind her head. “I want to push myself!”
“Oh, great…!” She heard him reply. Then Ben cried out in alarm, as Lucy changed direction and headed north, picking up speed into a gallop, as she ran into a rain-freshened field of wheat and headed up the slope to a high wooden hill ridge.
Minutes later, the two of them reached the top, and Lucy slowed down to a halt. Whilst the pair of them admired the view of the village and the fertile plains and hills around it, Lucy took the opportunity to get her breath back, before punching the air.
“Yay! I did it!”
Ben chuckled and began tickling her blonde-brown mane. “I actually enjoyed that too! Thanks Lucy. It’s a good view from here, as well.”
“You are welcome, Ben. Now, given that we’ve never actually…you know. I want you to be comfortable with me in another way…” Lucy proceeded to take off her equestrian team sheepskin jacket and her centaur-made jerkin.
“Luce…?”
“Please Ben. Relax and explore what I have, right here.” She took one of his hands and positioned it over a cup of her bra.
“Okay…,” Ben breathed. “I guess I’m ready to stop being shy with you, Lucy. It’s just… I’m not experienced.”
She reached behind her head with her other hand and ran her fingers through his hair. “I actually love the fact that I’ll be your first, Ben. After you’ve transformed, of course. And I want to be your only lover – in the long life that I hope we’ll happily share together.”
“Ditto,” Ben whispered to her. “I dare say you’ll soon see a lot more of me around, Lucy. And that we’ll have a stable relationship.”
“No stable for us, Ben – once you’ve grown hooves, a tail, and a mane, I want you to move into my bungalow! No ‘buts’, now!”
“Just our equine butts, then. All right! I accept. How can I refuse a lovely creature such as you?” Ben smirked. And with that, he unhooked Lucy’s bra and dropped it upon the ground. Then he slowly, and gently, traced his fingers along the edges of her slender breasts.
“Hmm…,” Lucy sighed with pleasure. “Tell me how you love me, Ben. Without words.”
And, smiling, Ben did so. Still on her back, he caressed his fingers and thumbs over Lucy’s nipples, before moving them to tenderly brush her mane again. Bringing his mouth closer, Ben kissed her mane in several places, working his way upwards to finish with his friend’s neck.
Feeling weak at the knees from what Ben was doing to her, Lucy placed one hand on the nearest tree, whilst she carefully lowered herself to the ground. Then Ben climbed off Lucy, and knelt in front of her – so that their faces were level. Lucy was sweating – her face flushed with arousal. Both of them were smiling with adoration for each other.
Ben moved in, circling his arm around Lucy’s waist. He kissed her – hard. She grabbed him in turn, and pulled Ben tightly against her, kissing him with equal vigour, as the two of them explored their feelings for each other – taking their friendship to the next level, with no regrets.
Above them, the first of the two moons was now rising into the darkening sky, as the sun touched the western horizon…