(Backtracking a few minutes…)
Back in the village square, Jenny had just made her declaration to Epona – that she and Sandy were ready to join the centaur herd.
But she was surprised by the message that she received in her mind, seconds later.
“My apologies, my daughter-to-be. Your time will come tonight,” the female voice of Epona informed her. “But the Trickster god – Fate - has redirected my magic to another human before you! He is eager to see this one punished…”
And with that, the goddess’s voice vanished – to be replaced by Deputy Joseph Jackson suddenly stiffening from where he was, before collapsing on the ground, close by. His just-emptied plate breaking upon the ground. The kids perked up – and Luke and Snow moved in, forming a barrier between them and Jackson, as he made gagging-like noises and twitched.
“Oh no! Is he having…? What do you former humans call it? A seizure?” Snow panicked.
“It’s not a seizure! Look at his hand and face,” Luke instructed his mate.
Snow soon saw what Luke meant. Jackson’s outflung hand and arm began to thin out slightly – the hairy forearm, sticking out of the short-sleeve shirt, was suddenly shedding hairs and developing smooth skin. At the same time, the scout master’s form deflated a bit within his clothes – though his hips were now wider in comparison with his narrowing waist. Then the man’s bleached-blond hair turned white as it grew past his shoulders. Sarah, Jessica, Steve, Jenny, Sandy, and the centaurs present then witnessed Jackson’s face and throat subtly alter – the Adam’s Apple deflating, his eyebrow ridge disappearing, the facial skin smoothing out as the jawline became more rounded.
Then Jackson cried out – and his voice soon changed timber, rising in pitch, as his hands shot to two parts of his changing body. One hand to the swelling of his new breasts underneath his shirt – and one to his groin as he felt a certain part of his anatomy shrink…
“Nnnnoooo!”
Jackson’s wide eyes stared at Steve, Sarah and Jessica – as if begging them to help. But they were stared back, frozen and numbed by what they were seeing.
And then the new woman buckled on the ground, and screamed as her trousers and shirt became stretched and tore apart – revealing above her hips the beginnings of the growths that would lengthen into her equine forelegs; as well as her swiftly-expanding waistline and trunk that were already pushing her human legs, now-morphing, back along with her growing rear. Jackson’s mane turned white and grew longer. Pale-almost white-fur started to cover the lower body that was swiftly taking shape and filling out. Snow watched Jackson’s new pair of equine teats form – whilst the new mare’s vulva tilted backwards, became larger, and turned leathery.
The older boys and girls were racing around the square – trying to get a good luck at the man-turned-woman-turning centauress. And the existing centaurs were in engaged in riot control, to give the latest addition to the herd a shred of dignity…
And with a cry, one of the horses belonging to the scouts neighed, collapsed on his side, and began thrashing, as his neck and head changed shape – beginning the transition into another newborn centaur. Yelling, Ben and Lucy hurried over to assist him, if needed.
Watching all of the chaos in amazement, Jenny suddenly grinned as a wild plan formed in her mind. She spun round to Sandy, who was gazing at the action, blinking in amazement.
“Hey, Sandy! I wouldn’t normally do this kind of thing… But before I lose my human legs, I would like one last, wild ride on a horse! Are you up for carrying me?”
The horse snickered. “I would like to escape to somewhere…more peaceful, Jenny. Climb on!”
And so, acting swiftly together, Jenny swung herself over the crouched Sandy – before he pushed himself onto all fours. Then, as the horse began to pick up pace, Jenny unbuttoned the large tunic that June had given her, wiggled her arms free of it, and then flung it into the air behind her – hitting Chris’s face as he turned round to stare at his team member.
The girls who could see Jenny gasped, and the boys hooted with laughter, as Jenny’s bare form – her back turned towards them – was carried away by the now-galloping Sandy. Jenny’s long, curly-brown hair flowed behind the rider, in her wake.
“Jenny! What the hell…?” Chris yelled at her.
“Where in the UK was I born – before my family moved to the USA, Chris?” Jenny laughed back at him, glancing briefly over her shoulder as she clung tightly with both hands around the neck of Chris’s horse, now running through the streets of the village.
“What does she mean, Chris…? Where she was born in the UK?” Amanda asked him, stepping alongside him as she gaped in the direction of the vanished horse and rider.
Chris facepalmed himself. “Coventry… Jenny’s just recreated the legend of Lady Godiva on us!”
***
“Zoey and Pegasus have just become members of the Haras. Jenny and Sandy are next,” Lightning calmly stated, as he relayed Epona’s message.
“Then let’s not waste any time,” April declared, feeling ecstatic; “I want to be the first to welcome Jenny as a fellow herd sister.”
Then April sensed the pounding hoof steps coming towards them, and she pulled herself up sharpish. Lightning stopped too.
In the next moment, they spied the naked Jenny streaking past on the galloping Sandy at the street junction just before them. Jenny smiled and gave her former horse and her new mate a cheery wave. Then they were gone, headed out for the countryside.
April and Lightning stared at each other for a long moment, in utter confusion.
“I think that the stress of the impending change got to Jenny,” April eventually concluded, shrugging her shoulders.
“Humans are strange creatures,” Lightning reasoned.
“Let us hope, then, that my former mistress is calmer when she becomes a centaur, like us.”
“Yes. Let us hope so. For Sandy’s sake, at least!”