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The New Lives of the Transformed

Part Four

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Adagiodajiang

A few days later…

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Starlight fed peacefully, his lips pulling and tearing at the grass, ripping it from the ground as the soft, moist earth compressed under his hooves. It was quiet there, peaceful, more so than he remembered. But he couldn't quite remember what had come before, only the peace of being in the field, the quiet of the day, how the dew lined the grass as if it had been frosted in the morning sunshine. It touched the tops of the trees, which would soon be starting to lose their leaves, though Starlight did not quite know how he understood the changes of the seasons quite like that. He just knew, felt it in his bones. And there was nowhere else that the golden palomino stallion would have preferred to be other than in the field, enjoying the day.

He was out there most of the time, when the weather was good, though he could smell mares nearby, other horses in his adjoining paddocks. That was good: he liked the company. He liked, even more, when he was with a mare, pushing over her back, revelling in the act of breeding, furthering his line. He knew that breeding a mare would make little horses, foals that looked like him, and that was something that instinct pushed him towards more and more fiercely every day.

A horse's needs were simple. If his mind had been at full capacity at that time, perhaps Starlight would have understood that. Maybe he would have been surprised at himself for choosing such a life, a previous equine anthro who had been transformed by the mayor of a neighbouring city. It would have been a strange story indeed to tell from his lips, though Starlight understood his reasoning when he had his full mental capabilities at hand – or at hoof, as it was. It was just better for him to enjoy the world as it was, a soft blur of living, a kind and gentle world.

Was that so wrong of him? No, no… Of course not.

Starlight did not care for the outside world. He only saw the world that he was in, the limits of the farm, the fields, the sweet smell of mares on the air. Even then, with the crispness of the changing seasons in the air, he lifted his head proudly, upper like curling back from his teeth to better sift through the scents, enjoying it. He was sure he would be with a mare again soon, though he did not have any concept, really, of time. It was only a sense that he would get what he needed, that he had nothing to worry about there. That was exactly why there were no lines of tension in his body, no contracted muscles that he had any concern about.

He was as he was and that was enough. That was enough for a horse, mindlessly grazing – or mindfully, depending on how one looked at it. A horse did not fear or worry for what was not there, allowing him to be wholly present in the moment.

He lifted his head, a few strands of damp grass clinging to his lips. Somehow was coming, their footsteps heavy; they weren't trying to be quiet. The stallion shook himself off, mane shifting from one side of his neck to the other, not all lying evenly down on one side. It was comfortable like that, though the natural lines of his body and how he moved and held himself dictated the fall of it. That, however, was beyond the comprehension of a horse like Starlight, in his current manner of thinking and mindset. Right then, he didn't need to know more.

“Good morning, Starlight."

The horse's ears pricked. That was a man, a human, a man with a wide bridge to his nose and a quiet smile. Starlight liked that smile. It made the man's face lighter, though he didn't understand the words that came from his lips, not even as the horse snorted and pushed his nose lightly into the man's hand, which was offered. Hands quite often contained food and that was a good thing, a very good thing indeed.

He liked that. He liked food and he liked treats, sweet pieces of carrot and compressed grass, for they contained the sweetness of grass. Starlight licked his lips, jaw chewing, moving softly, while the man stroked his neck, down the strong line of muscle there. Although he might not have known the man's name, the outside world a blur around him, he knew that the man was good. But he would have liked it a little better still if the man had brought treats.

The man fiddled with something, something cold, hard and metallic, though Starlight did not understand any further what it was. It was not natural, not something of the equine world. But that was not for him to worry about as the world around him grew a little sharper and clearer, focusing on that little device in the man's hands.

His throat tightened, shaking his head, eyes wide and snorting. Yet, even though things around him had not actually changed, Starlight felt very much as if they had, grunting, pawing at the ground, seeing things more clearly. He remembered that he'd been an anthro and that he'd chosen life as a non-anthro equine, all to kick up his hooves in the pasture, to live a life of simplicity and kind luxury, something that would never again prove to be any kind of worry in his mind. He didn't want to think about anything, not a single thing that would have brought him back to the cruelty of the real world, not when he was more than happy where he was.

Yet the horse's lips twitched, realising something, something rather quite funny, at least to him.

“Oh!" Starlight started, snorting and shaking out his whole body down to the line of his tail as if there was something physical there that had to be shaken off. “I…"

He laughed out loud, kicking up his heels, throwing them to the sky as he bucked. Oh, to be so light! Sure, of course, he had a little more of his intelligence back, though enough to know also that he was not back to “normal" – not that he wanted to be. But that he had a little more thought in his mind and the ability to know who the man was, that he was the one who had given him so much in life already, was there, yes, it was there. He knew who the man was, his master, eagerly spinning around, a grin pulling at his lips as they twitched and his ears pricked straight forward to attention.

“I forgot what I ate already!" He neighed, his white mane flowing majestically back down the line of his neck. “That means I can eat it again…and have the enjoyment of it all over again! Oh, it's so good not to worry about what I'm eating, eating with so much less…concern! Do anthros and humans really have all this worry on them?"

Saron laughed and shook his head, wondering at the horse who had settled into his new life so well. It seemed like no time at all had passed since he had arrived there, though his intelligence levels had been tweaked and adjusted to his asking and liking, all under his consent. At least, that was what Saron had been told, a muscle at the corner of his jaw twitching. He had been under a lot of stress lately.

“That does sound nice, Starlight… I do have to have people taste my food, of course, before I eat it, so I can appreciate it more. But you don't need to worry about that, Starlight. I have come to see you."

“I am well, master!" The horse proclaimed, practically bouncing on the spot from joy, though his stomach was still hungry, the instinctual need to graze and be nearly constantly eating overwhelming in the back of his mind. “But tell me – when will my previous memories be complete erased? I can feel that there are some there, some here, some that don't need to be. I only need the memories of being a horse, master, no more than that."

Starlight, for Saron, was not doing all of it to please the mayor, whose rule was growing wider and wider, which made him a curious being to Saron more than anyone else. He was used to people fawning over him, pandering to him, doing everything they could to get on his good side. It was unusual for him to find someone who was so interested in a simple, quiet life that they would take on an entirely new body, that of nothing more than livestock, to escape the world.

Maybe that was why he had to do what he was doing, changing the world for the better. Maybe it was just one of many reasons that he was going to become the king of them all.

But that was not for Starlight to worry about, the horse waiting on an answer.

“Yes, Starlight…" Saron smiled, though it did not reach his eyes, cheeks tight. “You are on a diet when it comes to memories. We have to wean you down, bit by bit, so that nothing is damaged."

Of course, if he'd been completely mentally in his own mind, Starlight would have understood what a concept like dieting was, even though he might not have quite understood the methodology that the king was applying to him under those circumstances specifically. The reality of it was that to remove someone's memories completely, all at once, might have caused brain damage – but that was not something that the king wanted him to have to worry about. Let the scientists and those researching the best drugs to ensure the best brain function and health be concerned about that.

“What's dieting?" Starlight asked, pushing his nose forward inquisitively. “Can I eat it?"

Saron laughed out loud, the sound startled from him.

“Oh, Starlight… It's not a diet like that, but you might be thinking of the right kind of thing. Along with food, I mean. Dieting with food is like restricting food to look better, or to achieve a certain goal."

“Oh!" Starlight tossed his head, head high and muscles tense, though he was not concerned. “Does that mean I can eat more as well? That sounds good. I don't like the sound of not having much food, master, that wouldn't be like a place like here. So, I don't want this dieting thing, not with food, no, master."

Of course, the horse had already forgotten that they were talking about memories, his mind simply not strong enough in a state of reduced intelligence from the anthro or human norm to hold onto thoughts for too long. He was still living in the moment, so to speak, moments slipping by him without any real noticeable change. He didn't have to worry about the past or even think about the future, barely aware of what lay ahead, even over time. Starlight's concept of time came in eating and routine, feeling out how time moved by him in that manner, how the sun “moved" across the sky every day and the moon had different phases. He could feel the change in that way, though his master was different to him.

Laughing, Saron shook his head, hands on his hips, though the smile on his face was genuine, if not entirely in Starlight's favour.

“Oh, you dumb beast… You don't know what you are talking about, not when it comes to dieting or memories. But this is how you want to be, isn't it? It is the way of it for you, for you animals, transformed and made to be lacking in thought. It must be a simple life for you, but, undoubtedly, that is what you asked for. Ignorance… Starlight, is it bliss?"

The horse's ears pricked. Did his master think him a beast? He did not know the meaning of the words that his master spoke, even if he knew they were words and could understand something of the sentences. All the equine took it as was a glowing endorsement of him, puffing up his chest, lifting his head high in a proud arch of his neck, the stallion crest rising at the top: always there, of course, only more defined from time to time.

Oh, how he was pleased! As much as a horse could brim over with a stallion's pride, Starlight did in that very moment, tossing his head and prancing, dancing back and forth as if he was lighter on his hooves than he had ever been. It was good, yes, if he was dumb, because that meant he was slower and slower, slipping down into a horse's ways – that of a feral horse, that was, not the equine he'd been. His master was so kind to say that to him, yes, so very kind, and the smile on his master's face only meant that he had done good, that he had done well, snorting and dipping his head in acknowledgement of his master's kind words.

“Yes, thank you, master," he nickered softly. “I am a dumb beast and your horse."

No more and no less: simply, as it was. He didn't need to be anything other than that and if his master decided that there was another equine role for him in life it was one that Starlight would more than gladly take on.

An anthro was not a real horse, not to him, not a domesticated horse that only knew to follow directions, to live a purposeful or a quiet life, exactly as either was handed to them. And that was just why Starlight never wanted to return to his life as Joseph.

“Starlight, my favourite steed… I have one more surprise for you."

Oh? The horse's ears pricked, though they always were in motion, flicking back and forth to catch every slight noise as it flickered by. A surprise – for him? His master must have been in a particularly kind and giving mood!

“What is it, master?"

Saron stepped back, inclining his head to the saddle slung over the fence, the pristine numnah underneath, edged in silver with a soft, royal blue material covering the bulk of it. A matching Havana brown bridle in the same shade as the saddle had been hooked over one of the posts. Starlight had not even noticed them but, really, the horse didn't need to notice things like that. They were not threats to him and would never be threats.

Thus it was that Starlight allowed the master's groom, one of the stable hands, to tack him up, the bit sliding between his teeth and into the gap at the back of his mouth, cold and metallic but soon warming to the heat of his mouth. It was a single jointed bit and lay over his tongue, though he would find his master's hands on the reins to be so skilled that the “nutcracker" action of the single joint would never pop up into the roof of his mouth, nor weigh too heavily upon his tongue. The saddle was a perfect fit for him too, allowing him the freedom to move his shoulder, the gullet more than wider enough to fit his broad back without any unwanted pressure on his spine.

Not that Starlight understood either the intricacies of bridle or saddle fitting. All he knew was that they were comfortable and that was enough for him.

His master was given a prompt and smooth “leg up" into the saddle, Starlight chewing a little anxiously at the bit. Even though his body clearly remembered some training, there was enough of his mind in there to understand that he had to do a good job, enough to fret, for it was his master on his back who he had to keep safe.

But that slipped away as, unbeknownst to Starlight, Saron, once again, used the handheld remote to tamper with his intelligence, dumbing him down a little more again so that tease of worry, as apt as it was for carrying one as great as he, would no longer cause any issues, not as it was. It was not needed there, not as the horse's body under him responded to his training, a simple brush of Saron's heel in fine, leather riding boots against his flank enough to send him walking forward. With a swish of his tail, Starlight popped up into a trot and then a canter with the weight shift of his rider in the saddle.

And then they flew together, galloping down the grassy track between several fields, two bodies becoming one, a centaur in their element, one being, one creature. Their hair whipped back, Saron devoid of a helmet, laughing recklessly as his body moved seamlessly and fluidly with Starlight's, every movement of theirs as they came together perfectly in sync. The only difference in riding, however, was that it was the rider who followed the movements of the horse. Though the rider dictated the movements, so it was still true that Saron was in control.

Starlight tossed his head, wanting to buck and plunge for the sheer joy of it, energy and vitality thrumming through him. There was no space for any words in his head and yet the ever-increasing shock of delight in him could not be ignored, spreading further and further around his body with every heartbeat and every lungful of air. At a gallop, he took a breath with every stride, a moment of suspension built into the gait. And what better way in the world could there be for a horse to truly fly than with his dear, kind master upon his back?

Alas, they had to slow at some point, breaking to a smooth trot on nearing the farm and outside stable yard, which was where the new arrivals were kept. Coming back to a walk, though Starlight craned his neck, trying to see everything at once, Saron quietly returned his intelligence to the level that it had been before riding. Of course, that was not at full capacity, but hovering somewhere around seventy per cent. It was interesting, to him, how little intelligence Starlight needed sometimes to talk, but how complex ideas slipped away quickly, reducing him to simplicity.

It was a concept that Saron was yet to understand to himself.

Starlight snorted and puffed, his sides a little damp with sweat but not too badly, for his coat was not clipped there. His master might decide, when the colder months came and he grew a winter coat of hair, to clip him, but that would be a challenge best faced by Starlight with more intelligence than less. Be that as it may, he didn't recognise the black horse before him, nor the chestnut who was tied up beside him, to the outside stable block.

He worked his lips and jaw, unaware that his intelligence had been tampered with at all during the ride.

“Master, who are these horses?"

Before Saron could say anything, the black horse, a tall Friesian with a flowing mane that looked like he had stepped off the cover of a romance novel, screamed and hurled himself about. The stable door beside him, even though he was tied up to a ring in the wall outside, had not been closed properly and he slammed into it, banging and rattling, head tossing, working himself up into a frenzy. The chestnut stallion merely stepped aside to give him more room, though there were worried lines present in his jaw, a little more tension around his eyes. One would have to look at him more closely to read his emotions without the luxury of words.

“Why, Starlight… Don't you recognise them?" Saron patted his neck as he dismounted, laying the reins over the palomino stallion's neck, confident that he was not going anywhere. “They are your old comrades… I believe their names are Kevin and Raymond. You will be very familiar with them."

Starlight peered a little more closely, blinking, snorting. Their scents were different to how he remembered them, though his memories of them…well… He had a sense of “closeness" in mind still, even though there was little more remaining after that, a sense that they had been there for him in a time of great need. He could not pull up any images of them in how they had used to be, but he knew that he didn't need those memories. Any memories that needed to be present for what he needed with his master, well…his master would fill in the gaps for him, would give him what he needed to know. But he did not feel any strong attachment to either Kevin or Raymond, not anymore. In Starlight's eyes, as much as he wanted to stand with them, even the foaming, plunging and kicking Raymond, he did not know them as he had before.

And that was okay. He had not needed the memories. But something was not quite right, not with how they stood there, eyes on Saron, wide and wild and with an edge of white, as if they were not quite yet the same as Starlight.

“Are they not loyal yet to you, master?" Starlight asked, his head tilting a bit, not wanting to listen to the racket that Raymond was making. “They seem well, they seem healthy."

A horse, after all, could scent the ill or weak among them, even if his mind might not have picked up on more intelligent reasons that either of them might not have been in the best of health. Raymond snorted and pawed furiously at the concrete, foamy sweat lathering up on his chest, striking the concrete with a resounding clang that made Starlight want to pin his ears and be elsewhere.

“This is your task, Starlight. You are to ensure that these fall into line, that they learn to enjoy life as feral horses as you have. This world suits you and it stands to reason that it suits them too. In this way, I give you an escape from the drudgery of reality and a fresh one here, a simple life for your friends too, bringing you all back together again, where you never again have to worry about a single thing."

Starlight liked that thought. He liked it a lot, in fact, nudging his master in thanks, though he knew that they would have to show loyalty to their master sooner rather than later. He had been set a task and, like carrying his master, it was up to him to perform it all with due pride. He had to persuade his two teammates to stay well, to be who they were meant to be, to live as non-anthro equines. At least they, like him, had started life as anthro horses, so perhaps the change would be as amenable to them as it was for Starlight.

However, he was not so sure. Not as his master had them all turned out in a field together where they would be safe, Ramius observing from a safe distance, although his master had to go elsewhere, had to leave them there. He was a very important man, of course, and Starlight knew too that he could always trust his master to come back to him.

Yet enough of his intelligence remained that Starlight was able to speak, to communicate, though he could never be sure how much of his mind he had at any given time. It was all as he wanted, however, even if he had been set a task. It was just as well that Starlight could not understand how steep a task it was for him, whether as a horse or as an anthro, considering how well or not he had handled such things in the past.

“Kevin?"

Starlight approached the shivering, shaking chestnut horse first, the one that he had been told was Kevin. He thought he remembered his friend being a chestnut too as an anthro, but the memory of it wasn't there, his mind filling in the gaps for him. Kevin snorted and lifted his head, backing off, though his hocks were not as stable as the equine might have liked him to be, a finer build than Starlight, who had a strong Andalusian-like body, as if he was about to be ridden off into war.

“Kevin, listen to me. Can you talk?" Starlight extended his neck to the other horse, his heart tugging for his friend. “It's okay, you can talk to me. Everything is going to be okay. You're alive. You're well. Everything is okay now."

“How could it ever be okay?"

Starlight was unsure how Raymond could have pulled out an even more imperious tone, but there was something in the tall Friesian's stature as he floated dominantly across the field that made everyone snap and stand up to attention. He snorted and plunged, expressing himself in flinging his body about as if he was no longer a part of or bound to the earthly realm, eyes wide and wild. The rim of white that was found there would remain a common theme for times to come, the stallion revolting against his capture.

“Look at us," Raymond all but snarled, hurling the words forth with vehemence as if they were poison in his mouth. “We're animals! No better than dull cattle in the field! Do you think that just because we're horses that things are all going to be okay after this?"

Starlight shook his head, some part of him wanting to put his body between Kevin and Raymond, though he could not explain why. There were parts of equine instinct that he still did not understand, even though they would kick in exactly when they were needed.

“No, Raymond!" Starlight stomped, eyes fixed on the other stallion. “This is how things are meant to be! Yes, you are livestock – but that's not a bad thing! You will live here, happily, for the rest of your lives. Why are you so against that?"

“What?" Kevin grunted, finding his tongue, backing off again, his eyes so wide that they gave the appearance that they were about to pop out of his face. “What… Why? Joseph? Joseph, I hear your voice, but that's not you… That can't be you! I'm not a feral horse – get me out of here! Oh, I don't want any of this, none of this!"

But no one was more vocal about their predicament and situation than Raymond, the black Friesian snorting dominantly and striking the air with a foreleg as if he was taking down an enemy in battle. There was not a spare ounce of fat on him, his barrel proud and rounded over his ribs, his tail held high, stallion balls swinging under the barrel of his stomach, close up between his hind legs. His trot flowed from him as if he was floating, yet he spun on a dime and reared, flinging his forelegs out at the air.

“You!" He struck accusingly at Starlight, who merely moved aside, though he wanted to bare his teeth in return. “This is your fault! This is all because of you, that this man thinks that he can control us, that he can do things like this to us! Transforming anthros and humans should not even be possible, but he's somehow got people to work it out for him! You're a disgrace as a captain! You don't deserve to call yourself one anymore!"

Starlight blinked, chewing thoughtfully, though his head was up, senses alert for whether he needed to move out of the way or protect Kevin. Somehow, he had indeed ended up between them, a body and a block that would prevent Raymond from striking at Kevin, the one that he felt more drawn to protect.

As Raymond puffed, sides shuddering with laboured breath, Starlight took his chance to snatch up the conversation.

“Raymond, yes, this is me. But you should call be Starlight now – and I am no captain! You are right, I am a horse, just a horse, a feral horse, and that is all that I want to be. To be happy here… Is that not something that the two of you could want to? You don't need to fight all the time!"

With a hard look in his eye, Starlight rounded on Raymond, forcing him back against a tree, the black horse's rump grazing the bark, leaves trembling down from the branches above. Although they were still green, the change of the seasons was surely coming, drawing their coats to become thicker. Starlight did not know how long Raymond and Kevin had been feral horses too, but their bodies and coats reacted as if they were, which they were, normal non-anthro horses.

As it should have been.

“This is how things are meant to be, Raymond," Starlight insisted, practically pleading with him. “My master is good, he is kind, he has given me this life. He can give it to you too – he wants to give it to you! I am not Joseph; I am not the horse that you remember. Even I don't remember that life, because it is not me anymore. Trust me when I say that this life is better, so much better."

Raymond snorted and all but rolled his eyes, even though a feral horse could not do that in a sarcastic way.

“Ohhhh, of course, don't worry – new Starlight the new sparkle-pony has got everything worked out!"

Starlight opened his mouth to say something back, but the black stallion was too quick, barging into him, invading his space and openly showing his disrespect for him.

“What do you think you are now, Starlight?" Raymond openly mocked him, ignoring Kevin's pleas for them to not be angry with each other. “You shamed yourself and you shamed us, giving in to the life of a beast. You were something when you were Joseph – but you're nothing to us now. What can you even do here as a horse? You have no place in the world that even matters anymore!"

“And you think you did as an anthro?" Starlight shot back, ears pinned, eyes gleaming with anger. “I have a better life, one where I don't have to worry about money, a roof over my head, I have a home. Days here are so much easier and it's not a bad thing to want things to be easier, to have all those idiotic concerns of your world, the world we were in, wiped away. To mate with others here, to run, to jump, to simply be a horse and protect my mares and my herd… There is nothing more that I could ever want for life!"

His sides heaved for breath, impassioned and stomping, tail lashing the air with barely restrained tension.

“This is my home now and I have found my place. This is where you belong too and I will show you that."

Kevin shook his head, edging up, though he didn't seem as confident on his hooves as Raymond did, much less Starlight.

“Oh, so you think you're a real stallion now because you breed mares too?" Raymond snorted, recovering a little. “Well, isn't that interesting. I thought you had a girlfriend, but maybe you just like fucking horses. Do you breed your daughters too? That's how horses do it, isn't it? They don't care about in-breeding and I bet you don't too. But you're smart and clever and you think that that bastard has good intentions for you when he's just a brute who relishes his control!"

Starlight snorted, showing his teeth, snaking his head back and forth, challenging Raymond. Never had he been so aware of what his body was doing, aggression lining his frame, muscles contracted, tail flipping and lashing the air as if it had turned into a whip.

“Yes, a family of beasts! Horses! Just like you and me! That is not a bad thing, Raymond!"

“Oh, but it is, and it's sick that you don't see it!" Raymond charged, kicking, forcing Starlight to wheel out of the way. “Maybe your sons will even mount their sisters or come back to fuck their mothers, you sicken me. Incest is a sin and against the law, Starlight – but maybe not so for horses like you! You might think you still have your mind in there, whatever the hell is left of it, but you're just his slave, a dull servant to do his bidding. You're not the horse we knew!"

Starlight snorted and stomped, cow-kicking out sideways as he had to release his stress and frustration one way or another. A horse did not have the luxury of allowing such things to build up inside, lest they explode, holding everything locked away inside when it had to come out eventually.

Why should he be concerned about in-breeding? He did not care whether he was related to any of the mares that he mounted and his sons too, if they were big and strong, surely deserved to mount and breed both sisters and mothers alike. They did not worry about things like that, for the strongest lines would prosper and that was exactly what Starlight felt that he was there to do.

Yet the notion was there that it would have been wrong between two anthro horses, even if Starlight did not quite understand why. It was more of an annoyance to him to see the difference laid out plainly in yet another way between the two worlds. It was, however, another concept of the crude, cruel world that he wanted to leave behind. A lot of the things that he had believed were wrong, back then, well…they simply did not exist in a feral horse's world and that was okay. Maybe there were more things that horses could teach anthros and humans in their world, but he was not a part of it anymore. It was only up to him to bring Kevin and Raymond into the fold, to show them why their lives there would be better, safer, kinder to them – in the short term and the long term.

He took a breath, steadying himself, using more of his intelligence than he honestly felt that he had done in months, though there was a part of the stallion that loathed it too. It took away his simplicity, making him long for his own field again, his mares, the sweetness of grass in his mouth and the heat of a mare's cunny around his cock as he plunged deep into her. Sometimes the mares could talk with him too and he had had many wonderful conversations with them, talking simply, sweetly, after mating, grazing nose to nose. Those were the kinds of things that he longed for, that he wanted to get back to, even if Starlight ached inside to see things right with his friends once more too.

He owed it to them…even if that was not a concept a feral horse should have understood. And he had to make things right by them too.

He was not just a feral horse, as much as he had to discard all that he had learned to cut deep down to the truth of the matters in the world. They said that horses, livestock, dumb animals, would have their bodies purely taken over by instinct – and while that was glorious, that was by no means all there was to it, at least in Starlight's mind. It was warmth and it was carnal and it was the best kind of passion, so much all wrapped up into one. Likewise, he could not fall prey simply to instinct as a domesticated horse, rushing around and forgetting that his master was sitting on him, otherwise he could hurt his master. And his master was the most important thing in the world to him.

He steeled himself. If his master was there, he would not have been able to throw himself about like that. He would not have been able to block Raymond from accidentally hurting Kevin. And what would have happened to his master if he had seen just how his charges shunned the gifts given to them? Would he have been caught in the middle and put his master at risk? The horse snorted softly, pawing at the ground, though Raymond glared at him from a distance, keeping away. It didn't bear thinking about.

He knew what he had to do.

“Ramius?"

The lynx was not far, thankfully, and entered the paddock cautiously, a little hunched and hunkered a little lower to the ground. It was the pose of a skulking predator, even though Starlight logically knew that the lynx was no threat to him, still in their usual lab coat, though the edges were becoming a little tattered with all the times she was outside and working. Horses didn't much care for things like that, however.

“Yes, Starlight – how may I help?"

It was as if the lynx understood what was happening, though Starlight understood too that everything that happened there would be fed back to his master. That was why he wanted to be a good horse for his master, obedient, to show Saron that he was going to do the best possible for his master and for his friends.

That might take drastic measures, however.

“Block Raymond's ability to think," Starlight nickered, emotion coming through in a more equine-like sound bursting from his lips along with his words. “Yes… He needs to see. And he is dangerous. There will be trouble if he is allowed to still act like this, someone is going to get hurt. I have to help him and I have to speak to Kevin without him charging in."

Ramius, of course, was more than happy to help with that, though it was fortunate that the other horses had already been pumped full of neurotransmitters and the nanobots that allowed the mental capacities to be lowered and heightened, as required. It made it easier, though the process still took Starlight's breath away as he watched the dullness return to Raymond's eyes, the stallion lowering his head, whuffling softly at the ground.

Words were stripped from Raymond and Starlight exhaled, seeing calm in the other horse, though he was a little too damp and sweaty for comfort. Maybe he could have a good roll out in the field or one of the stable hands could help with that? Starlight didn't like that his friend was uncomfortable, yet the glow of intelligence was gone from Raymond's eyes, rendering him calm and helpless – at least when it came to causing harm to anyone else.

If he'd had his full mind with him, Starlight would have understood that it was the perfect way for Saron to incapacitate those that opposed him, to make sure that they would no longer be any kind of threat to him. It was ideal…and yet Starlight would never truly know nor understand it in any form, even if he was using the technology himself.

“This would have been so much easier if you did not fight it," he told the black horse, though Raymond only blinked dully back at him with the oblong pupils of an equine, mooching off to graze. “If you didn't fight, this could be easy. But Kevin…"

For there was one other that he had to help, the chestnut stallion under the apple trees, though there were only two of them in that paddock, a few apples having fallen. They weren't allowed to graze there all the time and Starlight wished that the stable hands were not as quick as they were at clearing up the fallen ones. Something about the apples being bad for him in high quantities? That didn't stop him, from time to time, rubbing on the two trees, hoping for a sweet bite of juicy crunchiness to drop and be devoured in just a few bites.

“What… Joseph, this can't be true," Kevin muttered, shaking his head, quivering, trying to back up, but not quite finding his footing. “Joseph… You're not a horse, not like this. But what's going to happen to us if we're not anthros? Does that mean that they can do anything they want to us? We won't have any rights like this anymore, Joseph, no… No. We have to change back, we have to do something, really, we have to."

“Kevin…"

Starlight had to be as gentle as possible, snorting softly, dipping his head, his eye softening. It was nothing that would ever have been at all effective as an anthro and yet felt undoubtedly right as a feral, as a horse. He didn't need to be more than a horse as he lightened his breathing, sweat cooling on his sides, drying, though his tail hung a little more comfortably over his hind end too, no longer stiff and raised. He didn't like that he knew and understood all those little things about his body, with his increased intelligence, wishing, in a way, that they were just things that happened, all without him having to know why.

Maybe it helped him, however, with Kevin, and that was what he had to focus on, what he had to lean into, what he had to do to help him. In that way, Starlight had to set aside his feelings on the matter to help his friend. Raymond too would have to come a little later as he settled without his intelligence, though Starlight was not at all sure how he was going to make all that work for him.

One step at a time though, like walking across the paddock. Everything had to come one step at a time, leaving hoof prints behind him.

He waited, allowing Kevin to come down from his trembling, for there would be no progress made while the horse was so wrapped up in himself, all in such a state. He could not understand while he was fearful and sometimes the best process of showing another that things were going to be okay was in demonstrating it. The peace of the farm, how everything ran on routine, the sweetness of birdsong in the air, how the grass felt under their hooves… How could there ever be anything wrong there? Starlight was already convinced of the sanctity and sanctuary of the farm, that all that was done there was good. It should not be difficult, in time, to show Kevin that his life there could be better too.

It had been for him.

Slowly but surely, Kevin stopped shaking, nose dropping, his eyelids fluttering sleepily as if he was about to doze off. A prey animal was not meant to be in a heightened state of fear for a long time and that could have negative effects on the body, harming Kevin in the long-term if he did not relax. Yet what Starlight knew too was that there was a want and a need in the body to let things be, to soften again, to come back to oneself. Kevin didn't want to be scared.

“Kevin," he said gently, nudging his friend's shoulder. “This is all going to be okay. There is nothing to worry about and, here, we do not need the rights that we had before. Do you honestly think that those rights ever meant anything anyway?"

Kevin sighed, shaking his head, though that was more of a reflex left over from being an anthro than something that a horse would naturally do, not to disagree. Yet he was struggling to come to terms with himself, to walking on four legs rather than just the two, even how his body reacted, how it needed to feed and graze on food a lot more than it had when he'd been an anthro.

Starlight understood that, even though his journey there had been different, softly letting his nose rest against Kevin's, sharing breath.

“That doesn't make sense, Joseph… How could things be better as an animal? They could kill us like this and no one would care."

It was not the time for Starlight to tell him that anyone could have killed them as anthros too and no one would have cared about that either. It could have been said, but it was not the right time, not when Kevin was still worried, his eyes with a glassy sheen to them as if he was trying to dissociate from all the strange, terrible feelings in his body, the aches and twists of worry.

“Our master is a very good man, Kevin, I can tell you that. He wanted to turn me back into an anthro, but it was me that asked to stay like this."

Kevin blinked and snorted, head up, tail flicking.

“What? You wanted…want…to stay like this? That… No, that doesn't make sense."

Starlight snorted and bobbed his head.

“No… It didn't to me at first either. But maybe all of this would be easier if I showed you?"

Slowly, the two of them made their way down from the field, one of the stable hands opening the gate for them. Though they did stop off on the way to eat a couple of apples, Kevin looking dubiously at the round, red and green object as if he had never seen one before. He didn't know how to eat it, whether he could get his jaws around it in that body or not, but Starlight showed him, crunching through the crisp skin of the apple, juice dribbling down his chin. Although Starlight could have fit the entire apple into his mouth at once, he bit it into chunks, showing Kevin an easier way to eat it that perhaps was not so much for the stallion all at once.

No one needed to stop them as they made their way back to the stable yard where it had all begun, though Starlight's master was not there, for which the horse was disappointed. He didn't lift his hooves quite as high when his master was not there, as if there was no need to do so, though Kevin did not know him well enough to understand that.

“Look. Here are the stables. They will let us walk here by ourselves today, though they are keeping an eye on us to make sure we are safe. Normally, we will be led to and from the paddocks, so that we do not have to worry about where we are going. Raymond is already back here."

Kevin had not noticed that the black stallion was back, standing in a stable, appearing as calm as ever, though that was only after his intelligence had been reduced. He snorted, dipping his head, not knowing what to think about that. He wondered what it would be like not to have to think about it, though he did not realise that that was exactly the state of mind that Starlight had found so appealing.

They stood back, Kevin a little unsteady on his hooves, not as agile as Starlight who slowed down to match his face. Thus it was that they watched Raymond being taken from the stall, though it was all very normal to Starlight how the headcollar slipped over the black horse's head, secured lightly and tightly, led from the stable and to the best holding stall at the end of the block.

Starlight snorted, jogging with his tail up, though the gates were closed and there was nowhere that the two of them could have gone unless they might have liked to take up jumping fences. That was why no one stopped them, having been filled in on what was going on there, as they followed Raymond, the black horse's stride ground covering as his huge nuts wobbled and swung lightly back and forth with every step.

Kevin gulped and tried to turn away, but the end stall was open with double doors, allowing them to see the phantom mare, a breeding stand of sorts that a randy stallion could “mount" and brace themselves on.

“What is he… Joseph, what is he doing?"

“My name's Starlight now, Kevin, please use my name. And watch. This is one of the pleasures that the stallions here have."

He would have liked a go on the breeding stand himself, though it was not the kind that already had a hole in it for a stallion to thrust into. That was something else, something that was not needed, not when they could collect the seed that they wanted from the stallions and relieve their need at the same time with a simple, handheld AI device.

Raymond grunted and tossed his head as if the horse knew what he was there for, though all the Friesian knew was that his needs had to be met, that he could smell mares on the air. His cock dropped, thickening out the soft swell of his sheath, balls aching so very desperately for the kind of release that he could no longer get on his own, not with hooves. He had to have relief and Starlight felt intimately just how his need throbbed, the other stallion's cock sizeable, even though horses did not compare things like that between each other. All that mattered was pleasure, mating, breeding… There was little more than that to complicate it for them.

“What is he doing? Joseph? Starlight?"

But Starlight was not ignoring Kevin because he wanted him to use his correct name, watching Raymond mount, up on his hind legs, a stable hand rushing in with the AI device, which was something like a long tube, quite large to hold but big enough to do the job. It was slotted onto the black stallion's cock as he thrust, the head thick and flat, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for all of them to do.

“This will get him a bit more compliant," Ramius said, though Starlight and Kevin had not even realised that she was there. “It will help, though his intelligence should not be left as it is forever, Starlight, I hope you know that."

Starlight nodded. Yes, even though Raymond could act like a horse and breed the AI device so that they could collect semen from him like a horse, he was not a horse, not yet, not when his mind was not there yet. It had to be accepted by him, something that the stallion had to come to on his own. It might not have made sense to Starlight beyond that, but the concept and idea were both something that he was aware of.

Raymond thrust and thrust before them, blind to his audience, intent only on his pleasure. His tail flagged high without any kind of shame or embarrassment, showing off the round, smooth curve of his muscled hind end more clearly, how his balls swung and jostled with every jabbing thrust. He climaxed quickly, just like a horse, seeing and feeling only pleasure, a triumphant squeal breaking his lips as he spent his load into the device and the stable hands ensured that his first collection went smoothly.

More than that should have been too much for Kevin that day, but Starlight was eager to show him all the wonders of the world. He trotted and bounced, lifting his front hooves only briefly from the ground in his excitement, though he had too much to do with Kevin to ask whether he could have a go on the breeding stand too. He might be lucky enough to have a mare brought to him later if he was pleasing to his master, if he did everything that his master and all there expected of him. That would be more than enough for him.

Instead, he took Kevin away from what had set him on the back foot, so to speak, even if it was very much a kind of way that Starlight would have liked to spend his days. If he could have bred mares and any AI device they presented to him, he would have happily done so. There could have been nothing better for him, but there were still other things that they could do as horses – maybe things that Kevin would like more?

“Come here… Excuse me!"

He called to the stable hands, who followed them down to the exercise arena where Starlight had begun his ridden career and been shown how to respond to a rider's commands. One thing that he had been shown in the smooth, sand arena with wooden railings, however, had been to pull a cart. It was not a big part of his life, though it was interesting to do, taking the weight around his chest and over his withers, feeling his back pulling differently, working through his whole body.

“Hey… What, what are you doing?"

Kevin snorted and pulled his head up, but someone already had a headcollar on him, holding him in place while two harnesses were placed on their bodies. The well-conditioned black leather had to be tightened and loosened in certain places where the buckles lay to fit Kevin, though the chestnut horse did not make it easier for them as he fussed and fretted.

“Stand still, Kevin," Starlight said, doing his best to soothe him. “It's going to be okay… This is a harness and what you're going to pull behind you is a cart."

He didn't much like being in charge, not when it was not of his mares, though maybe being the leader of a band or bachelor herd of stallions too, his friends, would not be such a bad thing either. Although it felt like it was a natural, equine thing for him to do, it was not entirely in line with Starlight's personality. He could have tired of taking the lead in his life as an anthro but, frankly, there was no way to go back to that life and find out the truth of it.

The harness settled more comfortably over Kevin's back, though he started and squealed when the crupper was pulled under his tail, tight up under the dock as one piece of many that kept the entire harness in place.

“Relax, Kevin! You'll get used to it, I promise. There will be something good for you afterwards, don't worry. It's all going to be okay, I'll help you through it."

Starlight pleaded with him to be calm, not to worry, even though saying that was something more difficult to do rather than using the words. He could say something but that did not make it any easier for a horse who had been thrust into the life to perform.

Still, with the weight of the carts, solid wood and set on two sturdy wheels each, behind them, the horses had something more to focus on. The arena had been harrowed earlier that day and was ready for them, though two grooms, those that could perform the horse exercise too hopped up into the carts to guide them too.

“Hello, Starlight, my old boy," the young man with blonde hair and a twinkle in his eye said, giving Starlight a friendly flick with the reins, rippling them in his hands to send a wave down the length. “Fancy seeing you about here again!"

They were good friends, even though Starlight could not often talk to him, offering a friendly nicker and glance back by way of greeting. The groom in Kevin's cart, however, had a taller order on his plate, something more difficult as the chestnut stallion shifted anxiously back and forth between the shafts of the cart, equine instinct battling with his anthro mind, pulled in opposing directions.

“Kevin," Starlight nickered, stretching out his neck, emboldened by how Kevin turned to him, listening more carefully than he had so far. “Don't worry. All you must do is listen to your handler. The right rein means to go right. The left rein means to go left. There'll be a whip flick above if they want you to go faster."

Those were rather simple commands and Starlight had come to understand more nuanced orders in his time there, but they would do for Kevin. As long as everyone understood what was going on, they could begin, pulling into the harnesses and drawing the carts, Starlight's a little more smoothly than Kevin's, around the arena.

The chestnut stallion's eyes rolled, but, to be fair, it was not particularly hard work. In fact, pulling was more natural to a horse than carrying a rider was, something that their backs were better designed for than riding, though not many knew that. It was something, however, that Kevin could feel as he pulled, snorting, head dipping, finding the right head carriage that would allow him to best pull.

It was good too, in a way, he thought, even though it was not something that he would ever have considered before. It was good to feel his body working again, something of a relief, as long as he didn't have to take a stride or a step up out of walk. He wasn't sure he could handle trotting about like Starlight or something if he was asked to do that, merely increasing his pace a little as the lash of the whip flicked above his buttocks. Although the whip did not touch him, it was still a direction, quite clearly so, and he obeyed quietly.

Could it be that easy? The horse snorted, doubt crossing his muzzle. But to give up everything he was for something easy… Kevin still wasn't sure and could not be sure that that was what he wanted.

The smooth pull of the cart over the sand could be soothing, even though, well…it was a little boring. Starlight was comfortable enough doing it, taking one step after the other, leaning into the comforting work, but Kevin snorted and tossed his head.

“Joseph…" He whined. “I'm bored, come on… You're trying to convince me that this is better, but it's worse! I'm just going around in circles following you here and this is supposed to be some kind of great thing? Really?"

Starlight broke into a trot, showing his body working, how every muscle had its place in the chain. Everything about being a horse, a feral horse, was perfect and he had to show that life, that vitality, how strong he felt, how healthy he was. He had coughed a lot as an anthro. As a feral, if he coughed, he would be taken to the vet straight away and given every manner of care and attention that he could possibly need. He couldn't even remember that last time he'd had medical care as an anthro and that most likely was not because of his memories being erased.

“Starlight, come on…"

Although it was not like Kevin to whine and complain, he had to listen. The chestnut snorted, tugging at the reins, jostling the cart, slowing even as his handler allowed the situation, at least for the moment.

“I don't want to do this anymore, I have to… Unff… I can't just go around in circles all day! This is mind-numbing!"

“There will be something good for you afterwards, don't worry, Kevin," Starlight slowed, not thinking about what he was doing as he lifted his tail, his body working at relieving his needs. “Relax, enjoy it, enjoy the work. It is simple, nothing more to think about. Here, there are no worries…"

“What are you doing?"

“Oh?"

Starlight had not even realised that he was defecating, lifting his tail to squeeze out “horse apples", as he'd heard the stable hands laughing about. It was a funny name for waste matter, but Starlight did not mind what they said, Kevin jerking to the side as he tried to avoid walking through the pile of droppings, Starlight having come briefly to a halt to defecate. His handler, however, clucked encouragingly to him, forcing him to walk through what had been spread out a little further, Starlight's tail slow to come back down as Kevin reeled from what his former commander had done so easily.

“You're an animal, Joseph, and just because you want this life for yourself does not mean that Raymond and I want this for ourselves too."

But there was something more in Kevin, a pain in his stomach, twisting his head, rolling his eyes, not understanding. His body reacted to the scent of fresh droppings, the stallion in him wanting to “mark" his territory too, for there was a lot of information for a horse to be had in waste matter. To his horror, his tail flagged of his own according, guts churning and almost feeling as if they were gurgling, though that was partly Kevin's mind putting what was happening into something he could understand.

“No!"

Kevin whipped his head up and Starlight nodded to the handler in the cart to leave the reins loose while he came back around to speak to him.

“What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

“No… No, I'm not hurt, it's just…" Kevin gave Starlight a pained look. “I need to…go… I need to use the bathroom. Please, I've got to get out of this cart!"

Starlight shook his head.

“Oh no… No, Kevin, you don't have to do that. You need to go here, it doesn't matter that others are around. There are no bathrooms around here for horses like us, but our waste will be cleaned up afterwards. There's really nothing to worry about."

“What? No!" Kevin half-reared, jostling the cart as his handler cried out, hanging onto the seat as it was tipped and shaken. “I'm not doing that! I'm not some kind of animal, no, I'm not, I can't, you won't make me!"

Little did they know that Ramius was watching from the other side of the painted arena fence, feeding everything back to Saron via a live feed while he was far too busy to watch every detail of Starlight showing Kevin and Raymond how to live their lives as horses. But he wanted to be kept in the loop as Kevin's intelligence was lowered, all with the press of a button, so that dull, black rectangles appeared in his eyes again, losing all manner of his ability to think as an anthro.

Blandly, the chestnut stallion swung his head back and forth. Without thinking or even needing to think, the cart behind him stationary for the moment, he lifted his tail, snorting as he neatly deposited a pile of droppings in the middle of the arena. To him, it only felt natural, not even realising that there was something of a crowd watching, even people set up with recording devices. That didn't matter to him, not one bit, not even as the horse beside him said something that he did not understand.

“Come on, there's a good lad now," the groom sat up in the cart behind him encouraged him on with a click of his tongue and a flick of the driving whip. “On you go, walking on now."

Oh, that was what he had to do. Not thinking, Kevin walked off with a soft snort, yet…his mind was still there, the world coming back into clarity, shocking him with the pile of horse apples left on the sand behind him. If he'd been able to between the cart's shafts Kevin would have reeled and yet there was nowhere for him to go, no safe way for him to express his disgust at what he'd done.

Maybe… He thought slowly, his thoughts still sluggish, not understanding what had happened. Maybe I am just an animal, just a beast… Oh, god, I'm not good for anything else anymore… Stuck pulling a wagon on a farm, around and around. All they saw around me was just a horse, another horse, just a horse, only a horse…

_ _

Kevin ducked his head, overcome with shame, though it was not honestly something that he needed to be ashamed about, even if that was what the horse thought was shameful: public defecation. No one else thought it was anything other than perfectly normal, but Kevin would have blushed heavily and crawled into a hole in the ground if he'd been allowed.

“Starlight…" He used Starlight's real name, hoping against hope that he would be kind to him. “Can I… I need to wipe… I need to clean off…"

“No, Kevin." That time, Starlight had to be firm, tail flicking. “They stable hands will help you stay clean where needed, a regular time every day, but it is not needed. This is an extra service that they, kindly, provide us with. Be patient."

Secretly, Starlight was thrilled, brimming over with pride, that Kevin had pushed through everything so that he could be a real horse, to defecate. He was not, of course, in the know that the remote control had been used to manipulate Kevin's intelligence. Not everything, after all, was under Starlight's control, his mind and jurisdiction, regardless of what he saw from his side of the fence.

He was relieved, however, to park up the cart by the stable, Kevin at his side, all for the harnesses to be removed, leaving sweaty bodies behind, the carts pulled away from them.

“Now…" Starlight nickered, bobbing his head eagerly, his sheath already plumping out with the lure of his shaft. “Now, it's time for a reward! I hope you're ready!"

Headcollars were slipped onto them to allow Kevin to get used to the feel of wearing one, the two stallions led, prancing and wobbling respectively, to a nearby field with seven mares in all different colours. Kevin's head shot up, nostrils flared, and Starlight could not help a little chuckle at what he was going through, scenting them for the first time. Oh, he remembered how that had felt, the sweetness of his first mare, how it had felt as if he was going mad with desire, or was going to go mad if he did not push over her and claim her for his own. Of course, the mares he had taken were all very willingly, bracing and presenting for him. There was no creature on the farm that had not been transformed under his master's orders, allowing them all to live a soft and kind and gentle life.

“No… I can't do this… Joseph, I don't want to go in there!"

Yet Kevin was shut in the field with Starlight and the mares regardless, Starlight's cock hanging out below his stomach, firming up, jerking and slapping up against his abdomen. Kevin whinnied, pressing up to the fence and half rearing, though no one was going to help him, not even as the crowd of observers stood back from the fence to watch. The field was small enough with no natural shelter, allowing them a good view of everything that was to take place there.

Yet Kevin resisted, rearing, pawing at the fence, fear clouding his judgement.

“I don't want to fuck! No! I'm an anthro, these aren't anthro horses! I don't want to mate with them, I don't want to do it, Joseph! Let me out!"

Starlight only had a grin and a wink for him, forelock flopping over his eyes as he tossed his head.

“But you have an erection, Kevin, your shaft is hard…" He pointed out what Kevin had been trying not to address. “You want to do it, you have to give in to it sooner or later."

Alas, he was right, even as Kevin's pink and grey mottled cock, mostly pink with just a splashing of grey near the base, throbbed urgently. The horse didn't know what to do with himself, fear ruling as he weakly threw his body about, though he was weak to so much more than merely that.

“Besides, Kevin," Starlight said, trying a different tact. “You're handsome, beautiful, a stallion like no other I've seen. The mares will love you as much as they love me and you're bound to have so many strong offspring. Look, can you see over there?"

Starlight inclined his head, indicating some foals playing under a tree in a neighbouring field. Even as his cock glistened wetly at the tip with pre-cum, betraying his stallion need, Kevin followed the line of Starlight's gaze.

“That's my son, playing with my daughter. There are other of my foals here too and every one of them is so beautiful. Yes, that's my oldest son down by the river too, the little golden colt. Do you see now?"

Kevin snorted, rolling his eyes, though the tremoring of his flanks could not be subdued so easily.

“Yes… But no… They're animals, Joseph, even if there are others inside them. They look like horses, only horses. Mating with them wouldn't be right. This life is boring, too simple. Not the kind of life that I ever wanted to lead. Maybe it's right for you but it's not for me."

Starlight nudged him, turning towards a mare with her tail hiked, folds winking, tugging and pulling as her body demonstrated, very openly, her need to be bred. Kevin's legs shook a little, weaker and weaker, snorting, his upper lip wanting to curl back, even if he didn't know why.

“Go and try it for yourself then, make your own choice there. I'm sure you'll want this life after you try it! Maybe it would be even easier for you if they take away more of your ability to think, what suits you best."

Kevin grunted and shook himself, though his attention had already drifted from Starlight. The mare beside him had come up with a nicker that something in him wanted to respond to, even if he did not quite understand why he was doing it. He stretched out his head, body locked in place.

“Who are you? What do you want?"

His shaky questions fell on deaf ears, though there was a subtle sheen of intelligence behind her eyes as the mare came up against his side, brushing her shoulder with his, nickering a greeting. The stallion shook his head, though her back end pressed into his face, showing him, once again, the winking pull of her marehood, how much she needed him, to be bred.

He had to resist and yet…he could not. As if in a dream, Kevin pushed his nose under her tail, snorting, scenting the air, taking short, sharp needy puffs of breath, sucking in more and more of her sweet, tantalising aroma. He didn't want to and yet he had to, trembling with a groaning grunt that didn't wound like any noise that he had ever made as an anthro, sifting through the scents in the air as the pretty bay mare with a white snip on her nose backed up into him. Her legs braced as he flexed her hind end, releasing a stream of urine, presenting for him as an otherworldly force jerked the stallion into action.

He was not in control of himself, yet his mind was wholly there, as he mounted her, up on his hind legs as if a giant hand had pulled him there. He couldn't resist it, her sweetness clinging to his upper lip, though the horse had no honest recollection of thrusting his nose up against her, what he had been made to do. But Kevin was prey to desire, neighing helplessly, even though he could have stopped the push of his body if he had truly wanted to.

“No… Nooooo!"

He jabbed and thrust clumsily, hoping against hope for a heartbeat of a moment that it would be okay, that his cock would not slip inside. Yet the squelch of her cunny parting around him, the mare's sex swallowing up his dick as if she was truly as hungry for him as his body was for her, could not be denied. He groaned deeply, sides reverberating, shuddering, putting more of his weight on her than he should have, though he was barely skilled enough to walk around safely, let alone mount a mare! And he didn't want to be there, not even as pleasure enveloped him, the hot sweetness wrapping around his cock, sucking him deeper.

The mare rocked back urgently against him, nickering repeatedly for him to breed her, her body aching for him, passage clenching around him, though the horse was still able to thrust eagerly. Despite his own cock hanging out and dripping, Starlight reared and cheered him on joyously, simply pleased for his friend, that he had finally gotten his dick wet in a real mare. Surely after that he would realise that there were so many more pleasures to be had in the world that to hold back from them would have been utterly sinful!

Kevin moaned, thrusting awkwardly, though he already felt the urge of orgasm, knowing that others were watching, humping and grinding. He couldn't get his hooves in any closer to her, but that was alight as more than enough of his dick was wedged into her to bring him to climax, huffing and panting, heaving over her as if she was all he wanted. But he didn't! The pleasure pulsed around him, massaging his dick, yet he didn't want to be there, couldn't be there, grunting and tossing his head back, eyes wide and wild.

The heat… The flexing of her pussy… How she ground back into him, the earth torn up under their hooves… Kevin closed his eyes, grunting, sides trembling. Why did it have to feel so good to breed her?

Damn him, damn Starlight, damn everyone…

“Good boy, Copper…" Kevin jerked, Ramius suddenly next to him, a tablet held up so that the video feed displayed Saron, a smile on his lips, his facial hair neatly shaven and fresh. “You're doing so well… You shall come along nicely, though I think you shall be my favoured steed for riding out in the countryside. Perhaps pulling a carriage is not for you, although you would look splendid. Breed me a foal, a strong stallion with your spirit, who will trot proudly through the city, showing off your bloodlines, bright red just like you. Breed me a foal, Starlight, be a good stallion for your master now."

Starlight grunted, tail flicking, though he had to accept that his master would enjoy more than one horse, of course. One master could have many horses, though it would be Starlight who had started so many of the transformed anthros and humans down the route into domestication, being useful to their master while living nothing more and nothing less than a safe, idyllic life. He didn't like the jealousy though, trying to push it away. It was something that never had to enter his mind when his intelligence was dumbed down and, frankly, if he had thought that another horse was getting something he was not, he would have barged his way in anyway.

“No… I can't… Not Copper… Kevin… No…" Kevin grunted, eyes closed, but his orgasm was upon him, tingling on the edge of his broken mind. “No… Please…"

“No… No, you must pass on your beautiful, powerful body to your offspring, Kevin, those strong hindquarters of yours. Do it for me. Breed for me, Copper, your master. Love your master."

Kevin grunted, head swimming, though there was little he could do as his cock throbbed and flared, the head thick. That was a familiar feeling, yet it was even more sensitive and carnal as he let out a broken kind of howl that should never have come from a stallion's lips.

“I'm not a breeding…toooool!"

Yet his orgasm was more powerful than he was as his tail shot up, flagging proudly, his pucker tightening under his tail, thrusting wildly as he ejaculated. He screamed as his cum flowed into her, thrust deep with every savage jab of his cock, her throaty nickers soothing him ever so slightly, but not enough to reel from the horror of the breeding. She was his and he was hers – at least for that time, the flow of his cum unstoppable, even though the breeding and his coming together with her had been sharp and overpowering.

She stepped away from him with a whinny and flirty glance back over her shoulder as she took her leave of the stallion, satisfied with the encounter, though the mare left her tail flagged as he dismounted. Showing him the messy cream-pie of her pussy, a string of cream oozing down her folds to the ground, she let the stallion know that there could be no other outcome to their breeding than offspring, her sides swelling with foal in the months to come. Kevin shakily buckled, even with Saron's praise in his ears, mixed with Ramius' words, though he could barely think as he lay down, his legs buckling.

“Did you like it?" Starlight asked, though another pretty cremello mare with light, delicate features was interested in him, showing him her winking folds, her tail hiked high and off to the side. “Oh, it was just as good – no, better! – than I said, wasn't it? You needed to see it too!"

Kevin shook his head, though he could only watch as Starlight proudly and more capably mounted the white mare, her pink nostrils quivering delicately as she snorted and whuffled lightly, her eyes a light blue. She was pretty too and Kevin wondered what body she had had before, whether he would have liked her better as an anthro, as a human or as a feral body-type. It was hard to say, even as his cock refused to retract into his sheath, half-hard and drooling, demonstrating his lust.

Even then, his body betrayed him. He'd loved it, his body had adored it, even though his mind sobbed and broke, trembling from the reality that had become his life.

Starlight, although he could have lasted longer, especially with his mind and intelligence as they were, thrust hard and fast, showing Kevin the power of a stallion. It was a sharp contrast to Kevin's disturbance over the whole thing, his lust, his power, the vitality thrumming through him so obviously. Yet he did not have to last for very long as he sought to seed her full, to sire yet another foal, to enjoy the breeding moment exactly as it was, pure as it was. It didn't have to be any more than that as the mare's pussy closed around him, bringing their bodies together, using every inch of his cock that he could until he shot his load inside her.

“Mmm…"

He dismounted proudly, cock hanging out, nosing at Kevin, though he could have paid a little more attention to his mate of the moment. He was sure he would see her again and spend time with her again.

“You've done well, my stallions," their master praised them, Starlight's head shooting up proudly. “I will be by to observe your mating and I will be very interested to see your progress, Copper. Your chosen mare will be tested to see if she is in foal in due course. We will, of course, ensure that you find an aptitude as a horse that suits you, though it's hard not to envision you pulling a cart even around here after seeing your body in the glow of mating."

Kevin shivered, grunting, nose lowering. He didn't have any more words left to say, only exhaustion.

“Pulling is not a mandatory activity, dear Copper, so do not look so forlorn." Saron misread the look on the stallion's face as Starlight could not help but let out a little snicker. “You have all the water and hay and mares in season in the pasture that you could ever want, following the rhythm of the seasons. Here, there is nothing that you could want for."

“And don't worry about getting bored either… I like your name, Copper," Starlight added, reassuring him. “Leave it all to your instincts, that's the way to do it. Would you like to give it a try? Thinking is not necessary for livestock; it might be nicer for you."

He was so tired, so very tired, Kevin's nose brushing the grass, inhaling the sweet scent of it. Naked, an animal… What good was his mind anymore? Perhaps Starlight and his…master… Perhaps they were both right. He was tired, so tired, too tired. He could barely think straight as it was. Would things be easier to bear if he took on the life that Starlight had?

“I will…" Kevin hesitated, toying with the idea, though he only wanted to follow the lead of someone who knew better than him. “I will…do it. I will do all you ask, whether riding or pulling or something else. I don't want to live my old life. I can't…go back to that, not after this."

Although his motives might not have been the same as Starlight's – he was too ashamed to go back to his old life – his outcome was the same, his master smiling proudly at him.

“But I want to mate again, first. And my name…"

“Your name is Copper. Forget your old life," Starlight assured him, nuzzling into “Copper's" neck. “There is nothing more back there for you. This is your life now."

“Yes, your master has gifted you a fine name," Ramius added, the lynx shifting their weight as they observed and held the tablet for their master. “He already thought of it while he was away, though I am glad that he had the opportunity to see you enjoying your new life."

“Oh, Ramius!" Starlight tossed his head, eyes lighter in an equine smile, lips twitching. “Please, dumb my intelligence too, all the way down. Take it all the way down… Oh, I don't know the parameters. Ten per cent? Block everything for me of being an anthro horse too, anything that was left after the breaking of my memories. I will show Copper the way, how it is to live this life."

With his trust set in the lynx's hands, Starlight exhaled softer, Copper watching on, his intelligence dumbing, lost to the device. It was not needed anyway, not as he snorted and looked towards the mares again, his cock flexing, already ready to breed again. He did not remember breeding the first time, but he wanted it again, a horse of simple, equine pleasures, only knowing that he would take what instinct demanded of him and what felt good.

Copper grunted, curling his forelegs a little more under him, though there was no going back from what he had agreed to.

He didn't even think he had the energy to escape if he tried.

Continued in part five…