*Bang*
A crash, like thunder from a close lightning strike, hit me. The sights and smells of city streets and the honking of cars disappeared under a deluge of noise and an onslaught of spiraling and flashing lights. My skin burned, and my bones screeched as I tried to scream in agony only to be met with the realization that I had no mouth. As quickly as everything began it ended and I was met with darkness and the blissful silence of unconsciousness.
When I slowly returned to my senses the first thing I noticed was the sound of chirping birds, followed by a wind rustling the leaves in tree branches overheard. The cool earth felt pleasant on my side while filling my nose with the scent of fallen leaves, moist dirt, and the sense of life.
-Thump- -Thump- -Thump-
My heart beat sent my mind reeling in pain as the worst migraine I’d ever had nearly knocked me back out. To comfort myself I tried to cover my face with my hands only to realize that the familiar sensation of my fingers on my face never came. Instead of my warm spindly appendages covering my face, I felt only a couple of bulky masses clumsily resting against my face. Slowly, despite the warning winces of pain from my head, I opened my eyes and looked at my hands. Instead of my hands previously lightly tanned with a few calluses, I was met by the sight of blue stumps. I sat there and stared, the pain from the head ache all but forgotten as I tried to come to some sort of understanding as to what I was seeing.
Were my hands removed? But where’s the scarring? Why is my skin blue? Was there some sort of terrible accident? Possibilities filled my head but each one didn’t quite fit with what I was looking at. I needed more information, and so I looked beyond my 'not hands'. That’s when I noticed my arms, once nearly hairless, they were now coated in a thick layer of fur and instead of the dark brown hairs I was accustomed to, the hair on my arms were the same deep blue as my ‘not hands’. My chest which was previously flat and nearly hairless, was now barreled, and like my arms had been coated in a thick layer of blue fur. My legs were almost indistinguishable from my arms. I felt heat rush to my face as I realized that whatever changes I had gone through had left me without clothing.
“Wait!” I realized that something was missing, something rather important. Upon closer inspection I realized it wasn’t missing, just very different than it used to be. Feeling somewhat relieved, I continued to inspect myself. I didn’t seem to have shoulders anymore, my hips were a bit off from where they used to be, and for some reason I felt like I was sitting on a lump. I turned my head back as far as I could and looked down my hairy blue black, at the end looking as natural as could be I saw something that was definitely new.
“Is that… a tail?” There, spilling from my backside was a long flowing tail of dark brown hair. Suddenly it hit me, and my eyes lost their focus as I looked for my nose and saw that instead of the squat lump of flesh that used to adorn my face I now had a long blue muzzle. “Am I a horse?”. I passed out at the realization.
Over the next several hours I woke up and began to experiment with my body. Though I was hesitant to accept that I had somehow become a horse I knew it wouldn’t do me any good to remain in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere without food, drink, or shelter to help me. Finding my balance was rather easy with having four legs to stand on but figuring out the rhythm to walking, or is it trotting, was extremely difficult and I often found myself over extending my legs in the wrong way or tripping over myself. At one point I had gotten fed up and attempted to stand on my rear legs and walk like I was used to but quickly found it to be both painful and exhausting.
Eventually though, with the sun high in the sky and its light shining through the canopy I managed to walk a reasonable distance without tripping, or overextending my legs. It helped to think of myself as a toy programmed with moving my legs one at a time. First front left and back right, then front right and back left, and repeat, altering the distances each hoof moved until I felt comfortable walking across the relatively flat forest floor. I wasn’t entirely sure which direction I should be headed to reach civilization but I was confident that by the end of the day I would next to a fire with someone else to help me figure out what the heck happened to me.
* * *
It was near the end of the day and I was not warming myself next to a fire in a cabin. there was no one else around and the forest seemed to stretch on without end. Throughout the day I couldn’t help but experiment with my new body, testing to see how my legs could bend, turning my head this way and that, doing that really annoying thing where you suddenly become hyper aware of your tongue in your mouth and try to do whatever you can to get rid of that feeling.
As the sun set I was tired, hungry, and very, very thirsty. I had stopped to look at the occasional patches of grass here and there, surely as a horse I was now able to eat it but I couldn’t help but be turned away at the thought of it, as one time as a young child I had tried to eat grass, and the horrible taste, as well as the incredibly fibrous texture quickly informed me that grass was definitely not meant to be eaten by humans. But now as darkness began to creep in and my stomach growled at me I wish I had decided to stop and try the grass. I chided myself, Surely as a horse you would be able to eat grass you idiot!. Tired and hungry I realized how alone I truly was. I had been placed in the middle of nowhere, turned into a horse, and left without even a hint of what happened.
“No” I said aloud, stopping myself from falling into my doubts and fears. “There will be time for that later, but for now you’re lost and without supplies, survival is the number one priority here!” I pumped myself up, doing my best to push intrusive thoughts of doubt and despair to the back of my mind. Although the light was fading, I did my best to think about anything that might help the situation I was in. Memories of old survival t.v. shows flashed through my head, things like how to start a fire with a single match, a flint and steel, or heck even a piece of a broken glass bottle but none of that would help me immediately. I looked around at the seemingly temperate forest around me trying to jog my memory. I could remember that edible plants were pointed out here and there but none of them really stuck in my mind, I thought I was smart at the time so sure that by simply watching these shows I’d be an ace at surviving in the wild but instead I found myself at a loss for what to do until I remembered one rule of thumb. Water flows downhill.
I looked around in the rapidly dimming light and sighed to myself when I realized that the whole day I had been walking on relatively flat land, but there had been one spot a few hours back where I remembered seeing a dip in the terrain, I hadn’t heard running water at the time but if the dip continued it might lead to a creek, which could flow into a stream, then a river, and following the common theme of civilization I might find a town built along the river somewhere. But the sun would be down before I could get back, so instead I did my best to point myself in the direction I remembered coming from before scraping a line in the dirt with my hoof. For now I would go to sleep and hopefully in the morning I would set off in the right direction.
* * *
It was a struggle to sleep that night, my body ached from walking the whole day, and the unfamiliar noises in the night kept waking me. In the distance I heard the hoot of an owl, followed by the cry of a rabbit. “At least someone is eating,” I said to myself “wait can I even eat meat anymore?” The intrusive thought stumped me. I knew horses were herbivores by nature but what about people turned horses, were my insides now matching my outsides? Come to think of it, how was I still having what seemed to be the same conscious experience as a horse, was my brain still human? Or were the horse girls in highschool right the whole time about how intelligent horses could be. Had humans enslaved another sentient species the whole time, using them and breeding them to our whims, could it be that the vast majority of humans had really missed the sentients of our equine neighbors? If horses were sentient then what about other animals? Cows? Sheep? Goats? It suddenly made sense to me why goats might always be so mean.
The snapping of a stick pulled me from my musings, it sounded from behind me somewhere but it was too dark to see. Even with a full moon in the sky the tree canopy above blocked most of the light from coming through. I listened carefully, the silence of the forest creeping in. I could feel my heart pumping in my chest, the pressure of the blood in my ears was audible to me, and I couldn’t help but feel like I might be missing the sound of movement because of it. I held my breath and continued to listen but no other sounds came to me. I didn’t sleep that night keeping a lonely vigil in the dark forest surrounding me.
* * *
When the sun finally rose I was absolutely exhausted. My legs had grown stiff in the chill of the night and from walking the previous day. My eyes felt dry and threatened to close on me and send me to sleep before I could even start my day. I opened my mouth to take a breath and started into a violent coughing fit, my throat was dry and my tongue felt like sandpaper in my mouth. Today it was my mission to make it to water, and drink the source dry.
Standing was a chore in and of itself, my stiff joints creaking a popping as I stood. I stretched and immediately felt the relief of moving limbs that had been still for too long. I chuckled to myself when I realized I had just stretched like I’d seen dogs do at the local park. I must have been quite the sight as a blue horse stretching in the woods. I looked to the line I had drawn in the dirt the night before and nodded to myself before beginning the trek back where I had seen the dip.
At some point in my walk I had found another patch of grass and this time when my stomach growled it left me no choice. I bent my neck and face first dove into biting at the grass. It came away from the earth smoothly and although it might have just been my hunger talking, to me it tasted like the finest salad i’d ever had in my life. Crisp blades of grass were pulverized in my mouth and even though I was absolutely deprived of water for the past day and a half my mouth still found some moisture to help me swallow my meal. I ate until the already sparse patch of grass was gone, and even then I dug in the dirt hoping to find a few roots I might be able to snack on as well. All too soon my meal came to a close and with a sigh of disappointment I continued on my way.
During my walk I realized that I was being a fool and had potentially let myself wander off course. Trying to internalize where I had been walking and looking around for familiar landmarks I looked at the sun which was still angled to the east where it had risen. I oriented myself accordingly and continued my walk, checking the direction of the sun every so often to keep myself on course. Even though it took longer than I thought it would, I managed to find my way back to the dip I had seen yesterday. As I approached the dip I couldn’t help but smile to myself, although it might seem like a mild accomplishment, to me it was a ray of hope and hopefully a major milestone to my survival. I followed the slope down and walked in the small ditch as it curved and sloped through the forest. Soon I came across another patch of grass, I ate it nearly as quickly as the previous patch but I was able to stop myself from digging for roots this time. Not but a few minutes later I found another patch, then another, and soon I was standing in a very green ditch with the ground beneath my hoofs feeling soft and moist.
Continuing onwards I could see water starting to seep from the earth and into a small pool of water. It was murky and didn’t look to be moving so I had to use every ounce of my will to stop myself from drinking. The water was stagnant and if there was one thing I knew about water was that stagnant water was not safe to drink. But if there was stagnant water here, I knew I would find flowing water somewhere. Still as I continued to walk I couldn’t help but feel that I had made a mistake. When the ground started to slope uphill I very nearly started running back to the puddle to drink it all, getting sick be damned. But instead I pressed on, hoping against all odds that just over this hill would be some sign of life, some scenic view of a river, maybe a cabin with a chimney billowing smoke. But as I crested the hill there was no view of a flowing river, no cabin to be seen, and no magical civilization on the horizon. Instead I did find that the top of the hill was relatively clear of trees, and I managed to get my first view of the landscape unobstructed. I stared in wonder, the land stretched on for miles, the rich green of trees coating the landscape in all directions. The sky, which I hadn’t got the best view of, was an endless bright blue so vast that you could almost drown in it. I was suddenly very aware that I was in nature, I mean yeah I knew I was in the woods but now I could really know it. There was nothing notating even the most minor signs of civilization. Instead I could suddenly feel it, all around me was nothing but the heartbeat of nature, and though it wasn’t a heartbeat one could hear, you could feel its strength all the same. The circle of life was incredibly active here and it hadn’t really hit me until now. That was when I felt a pit in my stomach, I was a horse, and horses were prey animals.
* * *
After wrestling myself back into survival mode I had spotted a section of trees that looked to be lower than those around them, it wasn’t a sure thing but using the sun as my compass I had begun to move in the direction of the trees.
Finally things seemed to be turning around for me. At first I had found only more flat earth but then I began to hear it, the murmur of water in the distance. After walking a few more minutes, with the sound of flowing water growing louder I found a stream. Laughing and excited I ran down into the stream, thrusting my muzzle into the wanted and doing my best to drink water without drowning myself. I sputtered and coughed a few times, I wasn’t used to having to my nose and accidentally breathed a bit of water but eventually I got the hang of it and drank deep. My tongue which had gone back to feeling like sandpaper rejoiced at the sensation of the cold water, delicious and fresh from the earth.
After what must have been a solid ten minutes of drinking, pausing, and drinking some more I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself, “What did they say about leading a horse to water?”. I lay in the stream and sighed in relief as the cool water eased my legs, the flow of the stream taking the day's stress with it. After lounging in the water, eating some nearby grass, and drinking more water I found a nice spot on the bank of the stream where the sun shined through and lay down. There I got my first real sleep since waking up in this place.
I dreamt I was back in my bed, waking up late to work in a panic. I rushed to put on my uniform and was out the door, rushing down the stairs from my fourth story apartment and down the street to the nearest bus stop. I heard a familiar voice call my name and I stopped running and turned to face the owner of the voice. A gorgeous woman with short cropped blonde hair and vibrant green eyes looked back at me smiling and waving at me. I jumped with joy when I saw her and sprinted over to her.
* * *
“Oh I’m so happy to see you, you would not believe the dream…” I blinked and looked around. The familiar city streets were gone, replaced by the sea of endless trees and the flowing stream that cut through it all. The sun had begun the set but It promised at least a couple more hours of light. A deep sigh escaped my lips and I winced when the sound reminded me more of a horse's snort than the sigh I was aiming for.
With another look around I began to walk, following the flow of the stream. At least the sound of flowing water was pleasant to listen to, and with it I knew I would find my way out of this forest one way or another.
I continued to walk trying to take my time and pull myself out of the melancholic funk that had taken hold of me. I looked to the sky which had started to turn a gorgeous orange with the setting sun and forced myself to smile.
* * *
Eventually the sun had set and I was no longer able to make progress. I slept for the night near the stream, my stomach full and my thirst quenched. The next day I continued to follow the stream, jumping over the occasional creek that joined the flow until soon I was walking next to a large flowing river, winding through the landscape. Eventually the water calmed down enough to be a smooth flow and I realized that if I wanted to I could take a look at myself in the waters reflection. I attempted to shrug my shoulders, but realized all that did was make me bob in an odd way before snorting to myself and walking to the water's edge.
As I peered into the river I saw a blue horse looking back at me, but something was off. Instead of the long muzzle I expected myself to have, it was actually quite a bit shorter than I had imagined. My eyes were still the familiar green that I would normally see in the mirror, and the mane on top of my head stuck up a bit, but was also the same dark brown as my tail and as my previous hair. At least I could take comfort in some things about me not changing. Picking up my front hoof I tried to push my mane around, hoping to flatten it out when I realized I was pushing on something sticking out of my forehead. I squinted at my reflection, pushing my mane out of the way and froze up, my eyes widening in surprise. There in my reflection, blue as the rest of me was a horn spiraling straight out of my forehead. I immediately moved the hair back into place, covering the horn and quickly stepped away from the water.
“One thing at a time, One thing at a time” I mumbled to myself while quickly trotting along the river. Trying to keep my mind off of the nonsense I had seen, after all everyone has a limit, I kept myself alert and examined my surroundings. The sun had nearly set when I saw it and froze in my tracks. There just in between the trees was the most beautiful walking stick I had ever seen. It looked to be about six feet long, ramrod straight, and the wood was a beautiful oak. I walked over to it and looked down at it admiringly before reaching for it. I froze when my hoof touched it, and my vision began to blur. I couldn't grab it, I couldn't grab this perfect walking stick before me.
Here I was, someplace I didn’t know, lost as all get out, not even human anymore, and I couldn’t grab this walking stick. I had a stupid horn on my head, and I couldn’t grab the walking stick. All the emotions I’d been pushing back since arriving were boiling, and I couldn’t hold them back any longer. Tears began to flow from my eyes, and a wretched sob escaped my throat. Collapsing I wailed in agony and in despair. Memories of being home, memories of being with friends and family, they brought me to a state I wasn’t very proud of. I stayed like that, sobbing incoherently next to the stick on and off. When I got hungry I would eat nearby grass before going back into a depressed stupor. In the end I wasted the whole day wallowing in my own misery before sleep finally took me.
* * *
“I may be a horse, but I won’t give up on my pride as a man!” I walked along the river, my new walking stick held in my mouth. The taste was about what you’d expect and sure there was no meaning to me carrying it, but I liked this stick. It was a good stick, and given any other situation I would have taken the stick with me. It had almost been a week since I first woke up in this forsaken forest and today was the first time I was feeling genuinely optimistic about getting out of the forest. I had plenty of food near the river which was also water whenever I needed it. Occasionally I would see a fish jump here or there in the river and I was able to take on the mentality of this being a beautiful walk through nature. Looking back on these memories might even be nice some day. But I would have to make my way out first.
The first few hours of the day had been refreshing yet decidedly uneventful until I noticed that the light was beginning to fade. Looking up I could see clouds filling the sky and only growing darker as a storm began to roll in. I looked back to the river and realized it was already flowing faster and it definitely seemed to be a bit higher than it had been a few minutes before. As I felt the first few drops of rain on my face and back I made my way further up the back in case of a river flood. That's when I heard it, the rumble of thunder in the distance. This was not going to be a fun time if a thunderstorm was rolling in.
The storm had rolled in and I had managed to find a tree with enough overhang that I was slightly less wet then I would have been in the open. It was nothing to celebrate and the flashes of lightning and explosions of thunder made me wonder if I might be safer away from the tall tree next to me. I tried to shrug again before rolling my eyes, “No use worrying about it now, after all how could it get any worse?”.
Hours passed and the storm continued unabated, lightning struck every few minutes and the cacophony of thunder left my ears feeling sensitive and hard for hearing. It reminded me of times I had been a little too near the speaker of a concert for the whole show and how afterwards I would feel like I was deaf. And so I had no forewarning of anything sneaking up on me until I was sent slamming into the dirt, sharp pain ripping into my back as I fell. The Walking stick I had brought with me skittered off to the side. I looked up and back at what was causing me pain and kicked out in fear, striking what was biting at me. The thing flew off of me and hit against the tree I had been sheltering under letting out a familiar lupine yelp of pain. I raced to my hooves to face down what had attacked me and froze confirming what I thought I had seen. It was a wolf, or at least it looked like one. I couldn’t take my eyes off the creature before me as the mass of sticks, leaves, and vines moved as a wolf standing up. It looked at me and growled before making another leap at me. I was too stunned to do anything other than raise my front leg to try and block it, which only earned me more pain as it bit into my leg. Blood spilled out of my wound and I couldn’t help but scream in pain as it began to shake its body, trying to rip at my leg. Adrenaline pumped through me and using my other hoof I smashed at the wooden wolf's head over and over until I felt it give way. The wolf leapt back from me and shook its head, this time it was the one stunned. I looked at my leg and made a quick decision, I wasn’t going to be able to outrun this thing so the only option I had was to fight. Looking back at the wolf I quickly rose on my back legs and hobbled over to, with my good front leg I attempted to stomp down on the beast as hard as I could. Unfortunately it must have had some experience with being knock around itself as it recovered before my stomp could land and swiftly moved out of the way.
The wolf snarled before lashing out at me with its claws, its chops biting at the air as it barked ferociously. The claws raked across my bad leg further shredding it and causing more blood to seep from my wounds. It took everything I had to not collapse and give up then and their. I screamed putting all my anger, all my fear, and all my hope at the wolf, wishing more than anything for this fight to be over and to be somewhere safe. Suddenly the world around me glowed a familiar green and the Wolves eyes widened before an explosion of light and sound knocked me off my feet. I probably would have fallen unconscious if it wasn’t for the cold rain pouring from the sky and the burning pain exploding across my leg. I quickly looked up, trying to spot the wolf and froze. Where the wolf had previously been standing was now a scattered pile of wood, some of it burning in a bewitching green fire.
I stared at the scene for quite a while before realizing I was still bleeding and that my leg still hurt like crazy. I glanced around for my walking stick knowing that despite what just happened I would need to get moving and find help if I wanted to stop the bleeding. Sharp pain from my back reminded me of the bite there as I stood. I grunted and looked one more time for the walking stick before stopping myself. I knew there was no point to grabbing it now, it’s not like I could use it in any way that could be helpful. I turned and looked to the river, it had definitely risen by quite a bit but the way looked clear enough that I could still follow it.
* * *
I don’t know how long I had spent walking in that cold rain. The cold numbed my wounds and I was beginning to feel light headed. I still hadn’t been able to figure out what had happened to cause the wolf to explode the way it had, but at this point I couldn’t care less. I kept my eyes on the forest floor ahead of me, focusing on limping one step at a time. I fell and landed on the cold now muddy floor of the forest. The icey sensation leached at my body heat and I forced myself to get up as quickly as I could. With the serious wounds on my leg and back, the last thing I needed was to put myself at even higher risk of hypothermia. But at this point I was nearing the end of my rope. What little sunlight that made its way through the storm and trees above was beginning to fade. I was too cold and had lost too much blood, I felt like my vision was starting to fade. I took another step, then another, I looked up and stopped. Ahead of me there were no more trees. Through the dark and rain ahead of me could see the lights of a town, it was beautiful. I took another step forward and then realized I was looking at the dirt. I had fallen over and didn’t even notice. I struggled to look up as I lay on my side. The warm lights glowed in the distance, teasing me with thoughts of good food, family, and laughter. I thought I could see something moving in the lights before I lost consciousness.
* * *
I felt warm. I couldn’t open my eyes, and my leg and back still ached in pain but I was warm.
“Doctor, I think he’s waking up!”