Jess removed the stopper of a vial with a picture of a goat on it. She didn't totally believe Mary, so it mattered little to her which animal she was going to turn into.
"Just be careful," Mary warned her friend. "If you drink it all, you'll become a complete animal, but if you just take a little, you'll stay partially human."
Weird rules, Jess thought. She figured she should humor Mary, so she drank the potion but left about a quarter of it in the vial. It tasted like ordinary water.
"Seriously, what's up with this?" Jess said as she put the vial back. "How did you get hair extensions that realistic? Who's your plastic surgeon?"
"You don't believe me?" Mary said, indignant.
"Of course I don't! That's just water in there. What made you come up with this crazy idea?"
Mary smirked at Jess. "If I were you, I'd be more careful of what to believe or not believe."
"What's that supposed to...ACK!" Jess jumped in the air as a tingling sensation flooded across her body. "Was that poison?"
"I've already told you what it was," Mary said playfully. She was getting a kick out of Jess' reaction to her looming transformation. "What does it feel like?"
"Like pins and needles all over my skin!" she said as she furiously rubbed her arms. She took a closer look at them and froze. "What the hell?"
"That's your new fur." Mary could see white hair starting to grow over every part of Jess' skin. "You might want to take your shoes and socks off."
For a second, Jess was in too much of a shock to listen to Mary. Then her words sunk in and she nodded distractedly. She sat down on the bed and scrambled to take her shoes off. She could already feel her feet shifting inside of them. Once she had pulled her socks off, she screamed again. Instead of feet, she saw two dark cloven hooves.
Mary was trying to figure out which vial Jess had taken. Was it the cow, or something different? She didn't seem to have any spots.
"This is nuts," Jess gasped, running a finger over her new hooves. "Gah...it's itchy!"
"Don't let me stop you," Mary smirked. "You've got fur anyway, why bother with clothes?"
Jess threw off her shirt, revealing a white bra which looked a little too small for her furry breasts. Her snow-white fur changed to a light gray around her shoulders and just below her neck. It also seemed to be growing longer there. Jess' hair was changing to match. It bleached to snow white, with a few strands of gray. It was now much thicker and shaggier. More hair grew down her cheeks, and a short scruffy beard formed on her chin.
Mary clapped her hands together, finally realizing what Jess had chosen. "How cute!" she exclaimed.
Jess was too shaken by her changes to have an opinion. Presently she was running her fingers through her new mane of hair. Then she felt something fleshy and floppy, and discovered that her ears were now long and furred. A headache began in her forehead, and she felt two hard things pushing their way out.
From Mary's perspective, she could see the horns emerging from Jess' hairline. They were dark gray, almost black, and ribbed. They curved back as they grew about eight inches long. Jess grabbed them like handles, trying to see if she could rip them off.
"I think they're permanent," Mary chided. She was really enjoying the show Jess was putting on. "You know, I wasn't nearly this frightened when I woke up in bed this morning as a cow."
Jess felt a pain in her shorts and pulled them down, freeing a short tail with long white feathery hairs. Then she realized her hands had changed. Instead of four fingers, there were only two. They were thicker, as were her thumbs, and their nails were wide and black like her hooves. Around her wrists and ankles she found more of the long light-gray fur that was circling her neck. As she kicked off her shorts, leaving herself wearing only a bra and panties, she felt the tingling finally die down and her changes come to an end.
"What...the hell just happened?"
"Welcome to the club!" Mary said as she gave Jess a big hug. "Oh, you're so soft and cuddly!" She gave Jess' beard a playful tug.
"Mary!" Jess shouted. With her mouth open, Mary could see that Jess' front teeth had thickened almost comically. Her nose looked flatter as well. "Do you realize how wrong this is?"
"It didn't feel wrong to me," Mary reflected. "In fact, I loved it. Maybe cow shouldn't have been my first choice, but it felt so great to change into something that I wasn't."
Jess sat on Mary's bed for a moment, rubbing her white furry arms.