Return of the Mare

by Victoria

Part II - Chapter 5: The Strange Tail

Chapter 5: The Strange Tail

It was awfully hard to get down the stairs after my recent leg changes. I would definitely have tripped and fallen down twice already if not for Marcus’ help. I was panting heavily when we finally got outside.

The street wasn’t crowded, but some people who passed us by gave me weird looks despite my hood and long sleeves hiding most of my changes. I couldn’t hide my yellow face, so I tried to keep my head down.

Descending down the stairs opened my eyes – there was no way I was going to reach Marcus’ home on foot, even with his help. It was just too far. We had to get a car.

Neither of us had one. I never even bothered to get a driver’s license, much less a car. My parents offered me to buy one on my birthday, but I rejected their generous offer. I just saw no use in it then. Now that I lived on my own, I regretted my foolish decision.

I had no idea why Marcus never bought one. Perhaps he was struggling for money like me. After all, we get the same paycheck for our job each month.

But at least we could call a cab. To do that, we need to get far away from my building. The police would soon be here if my mum was serious about calling them and I didn’t want to be around, especially dressed as I was.

“There is a bookstore nearby,” I told Marcus. “Let’s go there.”

“What?” he asked in confusion. “I thought we were going to my place.”

“I can barely walk, Marcus,” I explained to him with a note of impatience, “It would take hours for us to reach it at my pace.”

“I see,” Marcus nodded. “We should call a cab.”

“Exactly,” I nodded in return, “But we can’t wait here. The police are probably on their way.”

“Right. Let’s go then.”

The police really did show up just as we were going around the corner. It was one car that stopped on the opposite side of the road from us. Two policemen got out and walked in the direction of my building. It could be a coincidence, of course, but I didn’t believe it for a second. They disappeared from my view before I could know for sure.

I tried to imagine what the police would do when they didn’t find me in the apartment. My mum could be very persuasive, but even she wouldn’t be able to make them investigate my “disappearance” at least for a few days if there was no evidence of a crime.

On the other hand, I was pretty sure my condition wouldn’t improve by tomorrow. That means I would have to skip my shift at the store. Perhaps Marcus could come up with some cover story for me for the owner, but if the police checked the store and didn’t find me neither there nor at home, they would have to take my mum’s claim more seriously.

I needed to discuss this with Marcus, but first we would have to reach his place. I didn’t know its exact location, but I knew it was pretty far to walk on foot. That’s why we were standing next to the bookstore now.

It was an old two-storey house. The shop itself was on the first floor, as told by the old sign over it. Various books were displayed on the shop windows. The shop was about to close for the day, judging by a guy who was putting down the shutters.

I suddenly remembered that I forgot my book that I was going to read before I noticed my first changes. I glanced at the bookstore in sadness. I wish I could just go in here and buy a new one to read. At least it would distract me from my problems.

Marcus took out his phone and called a cab service, while I was lost in my thoughts. They promised to send a car in a few minutes. I hoped that nothing would happen while we waited.

The looks that people passing by were giving me had disturbed me. Perhaps they saw me as some weird junkie, seeing as I was wearing a hoodie on a hot summer day and trying to hide my face. It was only a matter of time before one of them decided to call the police too.

We proceeded to a bench under the shade of a tree. From here, we had a direct view of the road, so we wouldn’t miss the cab. I let out a sigh of relief when we sat down. Sitting was fine, while standing up was increasingly uncomfortable for my spine. I wasn’t sure I could even walk on my own by now without Marcus’ help.

A cab arrived after ten silent minutes of waiting. It was a typical British-style cab, small and black. I had never called a cab before, but I saw them every day. I hoped it was comfortable. Marcus opened the back door for me and I climbed inside. He followed right behind me.

The driver looked at me in concern. Thanks God it was dark back there, but I guess I still looked pretty bad even so.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” the man asked after a few moments of staring.

“She’s fine,” Marcus answered before I could open my mouth.

The driver didn’t appear convinced by that blatant lie. My friend wasn’t a liar, which wasn’t a bad thing by itself, but right now he could at least have been more subtle.

“I’m just coming home from a big party, pal,” I said in a relaxed voice. “You know the address?” the driver nodded, “Then what are we waiting for?”

My charade worked much better than Marcus’ direct approach. The driver took off rather abruptly and I got thrown to the back of my seat, but we had finally started to move.

I wiggled uncomfortably, trying to regain my posture. Something was bothering me close to my bottom. Based on the direction of my recent changes, I had a pretty good guess about what it might be. But this wasn’t the time or the place to check it, so I suppressed those feelings for now.

Glancing at the rear-view mirror, I saw the driver looking at me. He looked away when he noticed my attention towards him. I adjusted my hood with my stumps as much as I could so as to hide my face. Not that the stumps themselves were less weird, but at least I could easily put them in my pockets, which I did, far out of sight.

I distracted myself from those thoughts by looking out of the window on the streets flashing by. Nothing interesting caught my eye, so I soon became bored. My thoughts returned again to my present situation.

I was transforming into some weird yellow animal. That much was clear as day to me now, after I got past the initial panic. The fur, the shape of the limbs, the ears – each of those things was one more piece of evidence in my book. But the cause of my transformation still remained unclear.

That was really disturbing. First, my fingers were gone and now I can’t even ride in a cab without arousing suspicion. If the changes continued at this rate, who knows where it would stops?

Marcus touched my shoulder, pulling me out of my thoughts. I looked at him in irritation, which I quickly suppressed. My friend was helping me a great deal and I couldn’t allow myself to be mad at him.

“We’re almost there,” Marcus told me, unaware of my inner struggle.

“Thank you,” I answered. It was like hearing someone else speak. At this point, I was starting to notice the difference in my new voice. I didn’t know how I could have missed it at first.

Marcus’ words proved true as the driver pulled over and stopped at one of a row of similar houses. They looked respectable and probably much more expensive to rent than my small apartment. I hadn’t realized that he could afford something like that. But maybe his parents were rich and bought him a house here; I didn’t know and it was rude to ask, so I just accepted it.

I opened the door and got out, leaning on the car’s roof. It was easier to stand now. My back almost didn’t hurt. I felt a surge of hope: maybe it was a sign that my changes were reversing!

While Marcus was paying the driver for the ride, I stepped away from the car and walked a few steps on my own to test my theory. But my hopes were crashed when I lost my balance and fell down on my face with a frightened shriek. Good thing it was a soft lawn instead of a hard pavement or I could have been hurt.

My friend saw what had happened and rushed to my assistance. Even the cab driver got out of his car to see what was wrong. But I was already getting up on my own. Or, at least, I tried to. Turns out I simply couldn’t anymore.

I put my weight on my arms, but as I made an attempt to stand up, something shifted in my back. I stood on four of my limbs and couldn’t do anything else. My jeans became uncomfortably tight or, more likely, my legs grew thicker. And they didn’t bend like they were supposed to.

Marcus’ strong arms helped me to get vertical. He waved away the driver, who looked like he was about to come and help us.

“Just tripped, don’t worry,” I said in a calm voice, even though I was worried inside.

We went to the house right across the lawn. Each step was hard for me. I guess it would be much easier to just fall on all four and walk like the animal I was becoming. But we had to maintain the façade to the cab’s driver, who was still watching us suspiciously from his car.

He finally took off when we reached the front door of the house. Marcus opened it with a key and we got in. As soon as we were out of sight, I let out a sigh of relief and pulled off my hood. The thing was pretty hot in the summer, even though it was evening already. Marcus gasped as soon as I did that.

“What’s wrong now?” I asked resignedly.

“Your…face is all messed up,” my friend told me. I noticed his stumble on the word “face” and it didn’t fill my heart with confidence.

I touched my face, but couldn’t feel anything with my stump. I examined it closer. Its edges were solid and reflective. It was the same color as my fur and it was hard to distinguish between them. I looked at it in both disgust and fascination. It was a real hoof that had replaced my hand.

At least it explained the problems with my back. If my hands had become hooves now, it meant I was supposed to walk on them, like some quadrupedal animal. But I had been trying to walk like I used to, which was against my spine’s new configuration. It was causing me pain.

“I’m an animal…” I said quietly.

“No, you’re not!” Marcus denied my claim, “You just… mutated for some reason.”

“Mutated into an animal!”

I pushed away from Marcus and bent over to stand on my front hooves. They gave off a loud clopping sound as they kicked the floor. I felt my ears flinch in reaction to the noise.

My neck had become longer, so it was easy to keep my head straight. I glanced back at my friend, without turning my whole body. He was gaping at me for a few seconds, but then snapped out of it and shook his head stubbornly.

“What are you doing? Stand up.”

“I can’t do that anymore,” I told him and made a few probing steps forward. “See?”

It felt much easier and more natural to move that way, rather than crawling. My knees weren’t touching the floor. Instead I felt them being up, on the same level as my body. But I couldn’t feel my toes. That was most likely because I didn’t have them anymore – they had been turned into hooves just like my arms.

“Damn,” Marcus cursed. “This is crazy.”

“Obviously,” I nodded, “But here it is.”

I sat on the floor like a cat. It felt weird. I looked down at my sneakers, which were still stuck to my legs. They were ripped open and a yellow hoof could be seen through the holes. I took them off. They were as useful now as sunglasses at night.

My jeans were also stretched. They painfully squeezed my back legs. I needed to get out of them, before my legs became numb. But I didn’t want to do that in front of Marcus. Not after a first date, I chuckled to myself.

“Do you have a bedroom, Marcus?” I asked him out loud.

“Sure, why?”

“I need to undress,” I told him the truth, “These clothes are uncomfortable for me now.”

“I don’t have any girl clothes for you,” he shrugged, “But I can give you some towels to cover up.”

“That will do for now,” I agreed.

We were still at the entrance. Marcus walked past me to the living room and I followed him. I was on eye level with his waist. I hadn’t exactly been a giant to begin with, but now I felt like a kid.

It was the first time I was in Marcus’ house, so I looked at his living room with interest. It was simply furnished, with a small TV and a plain sofa in the middle. A big cupboard took up the whole wall. Overall it looked okay, if a little boring. My friend led me to a door and invited me inside.

“The bedroom,” he waved his hand in the room’s direction, “There is also a bathroom next door, you can get any towel you want there. I’ll be in the kitchen, making us something to eat.”

“Thank you, Marcus,” I said heartily, “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Don’t mention it,” he blushed a little. It was a rare moment when I saw him do that. A smile appeared on my face for a moment, but then I remembered my situation and that moment was gone.

I went inside and closed the door with my back leg. It was surprisingly easy to walk on four legs, as if I had been doing it my whole life. I couldn’t feel the floor under my hooves anymore. I felt some slight pressure but that was it. It was kind of eerie.

I walked up to the bed and put my front hooves on it. Then I climbed up on it and leaned my back on the pillow. The task of taking my jeans off was ahead of me and I had no idea how to begin. If I still had my fingers, it would be a piece of cake, but with hooves…

I poked a button on my belt and noticed it was barely holding in its place. Edging my hoof underneath the belt, I pulled at it with force and the button ripped off. It struck a wall and fell somewhere on the floor. After that, I quickly removed my jeans and tossed them away. I wouldn’t be needing them in the near future.

I could see my legs – there was nothing human left in them. They were covered in yellow fur and ended with big hooves. There went my hard-earned money I had spent on hair removal. Even their shape was animal-like.

And, of course, a long, blue tail with a streak of purple hair running through it was revealed. I wasn’t at all surprised at its discovery. That was what I had felt in the cab on the way here and tried not to think about.

But now, having confirmed its existence with my own eyes, it was hard to ignore. For some reason, the tail had upset me the most out of all my recent changes. Maybe it was so out of place on a human that it finally made me realize for real – I was a mutant, an animal.

I felt my eyes becoming wet with tears. I didn’t want to change; I was perfectly fine with being a human. I just hoped the changes wouldn’t spread to my mind and make me go completely wild, but there was no telling what would happen.

My tail needs to be gone, I suddenly realized. I just couldn’t bear to see it. Cutting it off would be an act of defiance to my transformation. That way, I would prove to myself that I’d be fighting it no matter the odds, until I found a cure.

Marcus said there was a way to the bathroom from this room. I was sure I was going to find a pair of scissors there. But first, I took off my hoodie with the rest of my clothes. Even my bra was thrown away, since there was no point in wearing it.

I hadn’t been an owner of large breasts before, but I didn’t even have those now. Although…I checked my body and found out that they weren’t gone completely, but just traveled down and were sticking out of the lower side of my belly. And they were rather small and hard to notice, that was why I hadn’t seen them at first.

Anyway, I had no idea how I would put a bra on them, so I dismissed the idea completely. Marcus wouldn’t be able to see them anyway since they were down below. The only garment I had left were my panties. I didn’t want to go around flashing my intimate parts for Marcus to see, like some wild beast. Unlike them, I had some dignity.

I turned on my belly and got down from the bed and slowly walked to the bathroom. My hooves were clopping on the wooden floor. That sound was clearly associated with horses in my mind. Maybe that what I was turning into – a horse? I needed to see myself in the mirror to decide.

But getting into the bathroom proved to be harder than I thought. It had a round door knob and I couldn’t get a grip on it with my front hooves. I punched it in frustration, leaving a mark on its surface with my hoof.

“Oops,” I said, feeling a little embarrassed. My hooves weren’t as agile as my hands used to be, but they were definitely more dangerous.

Calming myself down a little, I tried again. This time I was acting with precision and after a few attempts, the door finally opened with a creak. That small victory made me feel a tiny bit better.

The bathroom was as simple as the rest of the house. Simplicity and effectiveness was in Marcus’ style, I guess. In the corner, I saw an actual bathtub instead of a shower in my own apartment. But what interested me right now was a mirror over a sink.

I approached it in trepidation. Just over an hour ago I had noticed the first changes, and now I was already walking on four legs. But I hadn’t yet seen the most recent changes on my face that Marcus had told me about.

I put my front hooves up on the sink and stood up on my back legs to be on eye level with the mirror. I stared at my face, shocked to the core. There was little left of my old features. My nose was no more, having been replaced with a snout. Good thing it was still pretty short. My eyes had also gotten noticeably bigger, at least twice their normal size.

At least my black hair still remained the same. Maybe there was less of it, but the color was my natural one. I gently removed a flock out of my view with my hoof, flicking something hard on my forehead.

A small bump had appeared there. But just as I watched, it was growing bigger and bigger until I had a lone horn sticking out of my head. I let out a sigh. Perhaps I was turning into a rhino after all, since there weren’t any horses with horns.

Just as I thought about that, an image of a unicorn flashed in my head. But my face didn’t look like a real horse’s. It was almost human-like and just as expressive. Although my transformation wasn’t over yet and it could change.

My ears drooped at this particular thought. Even though this wasn’t my normal face, it was still kind of pretty, especially those big eyes. They seemed to be even bigger now. I didn’t want it to go all the way to some ugly horse-like mug.

I turned away from the mirror in disgust and ran out of the bathroom, leaving my plan of finding the scissors behind. Opening the door was already a heavy task for me, so I couldn’t even hope to use them with my clumsy hooves. Marcus would have to help me with this matter.

I went to the living room and from there to the kitchen, where I could hear some clattering sounds. It was Marcus putting the plates on the table. I could smell scrambled eggs – my friend wasn’t a fancy cook, so he just made something fast and simple.

Marcus had heard my hoofsteps and turned around. He was motionless for a few seconds, absorbing my new form, and then turned back to his task of serving the table.

“So…” Marcus said after a pause, “You have a horn now.”

“Yep,” I confirmed his observation. “And also a tail.”

“A tail?” Marcus looked back again. I presented my side to him to show a long, colorful tail dangling behind me. He looked at it in fascination.

“I need your help cutting it off,” I said calmly.

“What?” Marcus raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Cut it off,” I simply repeated, “Can you do that for me?”

“Of course I can, but why?”

“Why?!” I suddenly snapped at him in anger. “Because it’s a damn tail! Humans don’t have a tail!”

Marcus took my outburst with a stone face. He looked a little upset by my anger, so I said:

“I’m sorry…I’m just…Just afraid of losing my mind and becoming a wild beast. That tail reminds me of everything that is wrong with me.”

“That’s just silly,” Marcus told me, shaking his head. “We’re going to find a way to make you normal again, but cutting off your tail won’t change anything. It can hurt you for all we know.”

“But I don’t want to lose my humanity!” I exclaimed. Why didn’t he understand that?

“I’ll do it if it’s so important to you,” Marcus finally gave up, throwing his hands up, “But only after we eat and talk.”

“That’s reasonable, I suppose,” I said, breathing heavily from my emotional outburst.

I walked up to a chair and stopped in hesitation. I didn’t know how I was supposed to use it now. In the end, I decided to just climb on it and sit on my haunches, my soon-to-be-cut tail hung out to the floor.

Marcus watched my every move with irritating curiosity. He took my transformation much more calmly than me. But I was sure that he wouldn’t have been so tranquil if he had been in my shoes.

“So,” Marcus began, sitting down in his chair opposite to me, “What the hell is going on with you?”

“I wish I knew,” I answered, drooping my ears.

My legs didn’t touch the floor and it made me feel nauseous. I put my hooves on the table to steady myself. Marcus leaned in closely to study my yellow hoof and I glanced at him in irritation.

My stomach rumbled all of a sudden. Some things never change. I tried to pick up a fork, but ended up just shoving it away with my hoof. Damn it, I forgot that I didn’t have fingers anymore.

Instead, I grabbed the plate with the eggs between both of my hooves and ate directly off of it. It was a little embarrassing to eat like that, but I never let such things get in the way of food. Marcus watched me in amusement.

“Finished?” he asked me, after I put the plate back on the table.

“Yep. Thanks for the food, Marcus,” I said.

He just waved his arm, showing it wasn’t a big deal for him. But I was still grateful. He was the best friend I’d ever had since my step-mum. Speaking of her…

“My mum is probably sick with worry,” I said. “I should let her know I’m okay.”

“You already tried and she sicced the cops on you,” Marcus stated.

“Yeah, I know…” I sighed in defeat, “But she didn’t realize it was me. She loves me very much and can be a little crazy sometimes. She’d never had a daughter before she adopted me.”

“You were adopted?” Marcus asked in genuine surprise. I had never mentioned that fact in all our time being friends. In my defense, the topic of my parents had never come up.

“Yes,” I nodded, “Just six years ago, actually.”

“So you grew up in an orphanage?”

“Not really. I don’t remember anything about my past before. It’s kind of a long story.”

“Well,” Marcus spread his arms, “You’re saying you don’t remember a thing from your past and now you’re changing into God knows what. It’s a pretty funny coincidence if you ask me. So, what do you remember?”

It did sound pretty suspicious when he put it that way. Maybe the two events – my lost memory and my transformation – were somehow connected. There was no harm in telling Marcus the story about how I was found.

“Well, the first thing in my life that I remember was about six years ago…”

***

Six years ago.

It was autumn. A young girl was lying unconscious on fallen leaves. She looked to be between 14 and 16 in age. She was dressed in a simple gray gown that looked really shoddy.

A forest was around her with no sign of civilization, except for one weird-shaped boulder just lying among the trees. It was quite big, about two meters in diameter, and had a smooth, flat surface on its upper side, like a table surface. It seemed rather out of place here, considering there were no other rocks anywhere in the vicinity, just a lot of trees.

The girl had been lying on the ground for a few hours before she finally stirred, showing that she was still alive. It was a good thing the autumn was warm or she would have frozen in her light clothes.

She opened her eyes and looked up in confusion, keeping her gaze fixed on the cloudy sky. A strange-looking mirror flashed in her memory before it was gone completely. The girl turned on her belly and stood up on her arms and knees and stayed that way for a few moments, with a dumb expression on her face.

Then, having decided on something, the girl rose up from the ground, standing on two legs. She cringed, stepping on a sharp stick. There was no footwear protecting her delicate feet.

The girl mumbled something indistinctly and looked around. There was nothing but the trees in the forest for all she could see. One thing caught her attention though – the strange boulder.

She approached it clumsily, almost tripping over a few times, even though the boulder was merely a few feet away. It was pretty big – its upper side reaching almost to her chest. The girl put her hand on its smooth surface. It was warm despite being in the shadow of the trees, hidden from the sun.

“Who am I?” she asked the stone, not expecting an answer. She thought of an ice cream as she did that. A sundae in particular.

The girl was standing by the large stone for a while, unsure of what to do. She didn’t know who she was or what she was doing here and was a little scared. But there was no point in standing there and doing nothing, she thought in the end. If no one would appear and save her, she would have to do that herself.

The girl picked a random direction and walked forward. Her steps were clumsy at first, but soon she started to walk better, as much as it was possible with her barren feet. There were no paths that she could see, so the girl had to climb over the fallen trees or find a way around the bushes.

It was evening when she first opened her eyes and it was getting darker now. Soon, she wouldn’t even be able to see her way under the dark shade of the trees. The girl hoped that no wild beasts would attack her. She didn’t know anything about that forest and the dangers within it.

Just as she had thought of that, she heard a rustling sound from the bushes to her left. She froze midstep and stared in that direction, trying to distinguish anything in the darkness.

A bright light suddenly flashed in her face, blinding her. The girl stumbled back with a yelp of fright and fell on the forest’s rough ground.

“Damn it, girl, I almost shot you,” a low, powerful voice told her from behind the flashlight.

She mumbled something too in return, but the man with the flashlight didn’t catch a word. He approached her, hanging a rifle on his shoulder, and helped her get up. Then he asked:

“What are you doing here all alone?”

The girl had no answer.

***

Present Day

“…turns out the man was a hunter. I told him that I didn’t remember anything and he brought me to the local police station. Then I spent some time in a hospital, while the police were trying to figure out who I was. When they couldn’t find me in their database and the search for my relatives yielded no results, I was sent to an orphanage and was soon adopted by a good family. I was lucky that way, I guess.”

“So Annie is not your real name?” Marcus asked thoughtfully.

“It’s the only one I know. They had to make new papers for me, so I chose myself a new one,” I explained to him. “They also wrote down my age by a guess. I’m 20 years old now, but I can easily be a few years off.”

“Wow,” Marcus looked impressed and a little shocked by my story. I would be too if I’d heard anything like that. “You have to admit – you waking up in a forest with no memories sounds pretty damn suspicious.”

“Well, obviously,” I rolled my eyes.

“I mean, what if you were experimented on in some kind of lab?” Marcus shared his theory. “And they just dumped you after they were done. And now you’re mutating…”

I smirked. That sounded all too similar to some conspiracy theories that I had always found ridiculous. Secret experiments, mutations – usually it was all a bunch of hooey to me. Marcus was offended by my reaction, judging by his frown.

“Do you have a better idea?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to upset you,” I looked down in shame, “I’m just nervous. You can be right for all I know.”

“We can search the internet,” Marcus said. “Perhaps we’ll find something similar to your situation there. If it really was an experiment, there might be some rumors about that.”

“I suppose,” I shrugged. “But even if we do, then what? And what about my job? I can’t hide in your house forever.”

“I don’t know,” Marcus shook his head, “I’ll take the day off tomorrow and we’ll think about that together. Right now, I think we should rest.”

“I don’t want to rest,” I said and immediately let out a big yawn. “Or maybe I do. Okay then, let’s get some rest.”

I jumped off from my chair and stopped in front of Marcus, who was collecting plates off the table. He looked down at me questioningly, arching his eyebrow.

“You promised me something,” I reminded him and turned around to present my tail.

“Eh…What?” Marcus asked, not getting my point.

“You promised to cut off my tail after we were done with dinner.”

“Ah, that,” he said without any enthusiasm. “Maybe you should reconsider? I don’t see any reason–”

“No, I won’t,” I interrupted him. “It really bothers me. I shudder inside every time when I feel it brushing against my legs. I’m trying to ignore my transformation, but it’s a constant reminder.”

“I don’t think it’s healthy to ignore the facts,” Marcus shook his head in disapproval. “And the fact is you’re not a human anymore, not physically.”

I was appalled at his brutal honesty. Of course, I understood that he was right, but how dared he say that to my face?! I let out an angry neigh and wanted to shoot out a retort, but stopped with an open mouth.

A neigh? It shook me to the core. That is not a human sound, it’s the sound a horse makes. But I look nothing like a usual horse. Maybe Marcus was right and I am the result of some crazy genetic experiment. Suddenly, his theory became much more plausible in my mind.

“What was that?” Marcus asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

“I don’t know,” I answered in a quiet voice. The anger that had been there just a minute earlier had evaporated.

“It sounded like a horse’s neigh—”

“Don’t say that!” I cried out.

Marcus stopped talking and just looked at me in worry. I was wondering myself why it was bothering me so much. Perhaps one of the reasons was that I had always hated changes. When I got used to something, it was very hard for me to accept something new afterwards.

My transformation had happened very suddenly. Just this morning, I had been a completely normal girl and now I’d become a freak. I just hadn’t had the time to adjust. Marcus didn’t understand my situation.

I breathed in and out a few times to take my emotions under control. My discomfort was no excuse to be rude to Marcus, who had already helped me a lot.

“I’m sorry,” I said to him in a broken voice, “I’m just stressed.”

“I understand,” nodded Marcus. “You should get some sleep. I’m giving you my bedroom.”

“There’s really no need,” I rejected his offer, not wanting to give any more trouble to my friend.

“No, it’s fine,” he insisted. “This couch is pretty good. I’ll sleep here today,” Marcus waved his hand at the sofa in the living room.

“If you say so,” I agreed, feeling too tired to argue any more.

“About your tail…” continued Marcus. “If it really bothers you so much, I’ll cut it off tomorrow.”

I silently nodded in thanks and left the kitchen, heading straight to the bedroom. My thoughts were a mess right now and I needed some rest. Maybe tomorrow the situation would become clearer.

This time I opened the door much faster. I decided to just bite on the knob instead of trying to handle it using my hooves. It was uncomfortable, but it worked at least.

I jumped on the bed and curled up on the pillows, closing my eyes. I tried to relax, but something was bothering me. I realized that my tail was trapped between my body and the bed. Nothing like that would ever happen if I was still a human.

I am still a human, I corrected myself. Just because I looked different, it wouldn’t change that fact. That means the tail should go – I won’t be comfortable with it dangling on my rear all the time.

After I turned on my other side, the tail was freed. I wagged it a few times to make sure it was okay, but then caught myself in the action. It doesn’t matter how it was, I was planning to get it cut off tomorrow anyway.

I sighed. What a crazy day I’d had today. It was straight out of the pages of one of the countless fantasy books that I had read. I could barely believe I had actually turned into a weird horse creature now. Hopefully, we would be able to find a way to reverse it. But if we failed, I was afraid to imagine what the rest of my life was going to be.

Author's Note:

And now it is clear that Annie and Sundae is one and the same.
Wait the next chapter to see how she and Marcus handle the situation.

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[PurpleSmart2]

And finally another chapter is out! And this story just keeps getting more and more interesting! It really makes you wonder where all this is going to end for her. I feel sorry for poor Annie. She didn't want any of this and now she's being forced to undergo a transformation into something she doesn't even recognize. I wouldn't want to wish this on anyone—least of all on someone who suffers from memory loss.

[Marble Unicorn]

One of the main advantages of this story is stunning, lively and natural style of speech with realistic descriptions of events. Short sentences can sometimes be combined into a single whole, but the overall impression of what I've read seems to me very pleasing.

[PurpleSmart2]

8963170
Well, I do prefer short sentences over being long-winded. Many writers can get lost in their descriptions, leading to purple prose. Katie's pithy and terse descriptions are just part of her writing style and it does have its merits, for sure.

[Marble Unicorn]

Is it not worth adding a little more action, shooting, chasing in this tale?

[PurpleSmart2]

8963224
Perhaps, but only if it's actually justified. I'm sure the adventures will come later. First, she actually has to come to terms with what she's turning into.

Not every fanfic has to consist of non-stop action. And for action to truly work, it has to be properly set up first. Just look at most action movies—they're not action 100% of the time! The plot needs to be properly developed; characters need to be established and fleshed out; the setting has to be explained so that we know what makes sense for this world and what doesn't. Otherwise, you end up with a Michael Bay-tier mindless series of random explosions, where you're not invested with what happens to those characters at all, the plot is practically non-existent, and the setting is so internally inconsistent that you're constantly wondering how something is even possible—instead of just enjoying the show.

Developing characters in action movies is the crucial difference between "I guess that random character just exploded into tiny bits. Whatever..." and "Oh no, my favorite character just exploded into tiny bits! This is terrible!". Without us being given a deeper look into the protagonist's character, we won't feel invested when shit does go down.

So if Annie were to immediately accept her transformation just so that she can have some adventures already, I would feel cheated. It simply wouldn't make any sense for her to immediately accept such a drastic change—unless for some reason she had always wanted to become a horse, which would also need to be something that was established first. So for better or for worse, a few establishing chapters—where the protagonist's internal struggles are demonstrated—are simply a necessity.

[Vortex Clipper]

8963224
Nah. She hadn't even known she could cast magic.
And c'mon, police chase? This is not in the US, mate.
I doubt if actions are necessary before Annie can overcome her mental issues and accept her being a small yellow unicorn with magic.

[PurpleSmart2]

8964038
Yeah, it might take a while until she realizes she can cast magic. From what Katie has told me, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic doesn't exist in this world at all, so Annie has no real frame of reference for what she's turning into—except that it looks somewhat like a horse.

My guess would be that her magic will come out at a time of great emotional distress—similar to what happened to Twilight in The Cutie Mark Chronicles, where Dash's Sonic Rainboom triggered her huge power outburst.

[Rosie Quill]

“We can search the internet,” Marcus said. “Perhaps we’ll find something similar to your situation there. If it really was an experiment, there might be some rumors about that.”

I guess you could say,

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Holy crap i so wanna hug Annie right now. :(