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It was the day of the big fall dance and Billy was on the floor of the supply closet with a knee in his spine."Quit wiggling, you dweeb," said Ryan.  He grabbed Billy's left hand and cranked it behind his back.  With his free hand, Ryan shoved a long glove down Billy's left arm.  Ryan was the absolute worst.  He didn't just have confidence and good hair and a great jawline.  He was also the only male cheerleader on the school team."Let go!" Billy shouted, grinding his chest against the floor.  A layer of synthetic blue-and-white fur separated him from the carpet.  Ryan had already managed to wrestle the mascot shirt onto him, and now he was working his way through the other parts of the costume.This was all about Julie.  Ryan didn't even have to say her name; Billy knew it.  To Billy, she was the prettiest girl in the school, with blonde hair kept back in a ponytail and a big, bright smile.  Through some insane stroke of luck, he'd made friends with her.  Julie was a cheerleader too, though.  That meant that, every day, she had to spend time with Ryan during practice.  Billy had tried to work up the courage to ask her out.  He was going to do it tonight, he'd told himself again and again.With the mascot glove tugged all the way up to Billy's shoulder, Ryan grabbed a roll of duct tape.  With one strip around the armpit, he fastened the glove to the shirt.  Then he grabbed Billy's other hand, tugged it up into the air, and stuffed the other glove over his squirming hand.Billy's chin hit the carpet.  On the floor in front of him was his left hand, stuffed into a white hoof-like glove with blue fur all up along his arm.  He couldn't have done much with that hand even if he was the sort of guy who could punch someone.  Should have gotten that mail-order karate book.  Reaching out with his hoof-gloved hand, he tried to drag himself away from beneath Ryan. All he managed to do was pull the cheerleader's knee further into his back.Ryan dropped Billy's other arm once he'd taped the other glove to his shirt.  Billy locked his hands together and tried to pull off one of the gloves, but he only succeeded in stretching the sleeve fabric.  The white foam hooves were too unwieldy to get a good grip on anything, even each other.Ryan turned around and grabbed the lower half of the mascot costume from his paper bag.  "Hey, you're gonna rip this if you keep kicking," Ryan snapped, and then chuckled to himself.  He grabbed Billy's legs, holding them still as he shoved his feet into the furry pants.  The stretchy fabric let him squirm and wriggle, but wouldn't let him shimmy away.  His feet slipped into the big, hooved shoes.  Ryan dragged the waistband all the way up to the bottom of the mascot shirt, then ran a long strip of duct tape around Billy's waist like a belt."Hey, I'm...look, just lemme go, I promise I won't be sweet on Julie any more," Billy lied.  He tilted his back,

trying to force Ryan to slip off, but he couldn't get Ryan's knee out of his back."I'm gonna send a message," Ryan said.  "Cheerleaders are my territory.  'Sides, I'll let you out of the closet once the dance is over."Ryan pulled the mascot head out of the bag, the head of a bull with a big grin, blue fur, horns made out of foam, and a painted plastic ring in its white nose.  It was Bully Charger, the Durnsdale Chargers mascot, in the school colors of blue and white.Billy got out "Fff--" before the head was shoved down over him. It was a tight, hot, uncomfortable fit, squeezing around his forehead, making it hard to move his chin, and smelling like foam and pep rallies.  He could only see what was right in front of him and could barely hear, but he heard the squeak of duct tape and felt Ryan's hands patting around the base of his neck.  Billy tried to grab at Ryan's arms, but Ryan was too quick and Billy's hands too fabric-coated to hold onto him.Billy yelped in pain as Ryan pushed down hard, leaning his weight on Billy's back before standing.  His spine curled and he kicked out behind him, making an ineffectual, soft noise as his foam hoof-shoes dragged against the carpet.   The sudden jolt of pain kept Billy pinned to the floor, smarting and quivering.Like from far away, Ryan said, "See you later."  The closet door opened.  Billy tried to scramble for the door without being able to see it.  The door closed and the lock clicked.At first, Billy just lay on the floor, defeated, trying to get a lungful of good air beneath the mask.  Slowly, he pulled himself to his feet.  He groped blindly at the shelves to hold onto as he went from crouching to leaning to standing.  He had to stop Ryan from stealing Julie away.  He had to get out of here.First, he tried to pull the bull costume off.  The duct tape held the pieces together, and no matter how much he tried to pick and rub at the tape itself, he couldn't peel it up.  The hoof-gloves his hands were stuck in refused to get any purchase.  Not that he could even see much of the tape through the eye holes--at best, he could crane his head down and get a look at the duct tape belt holding the pants on.He patted the front and back of the costume up and down, looking for a loose seam or zipper or anything.  Most of it was just baggy blue-furred fabric.  The chest and stomach of the shirt was white, like underbelly fur, and had padding stitched into it to give the appearance of a muscular chest no matter who was wearing it.  Billy was sure it looked awkward on his skinny frame.Scissors were his next thought, but the supply closet had none of that.  He was locked in with a bunch of looseleaf paper, notebooks, and standardized test forms.  It was just a narrow closet filled with paper.  But if he could get a running start toward the door, maybe he could break it down.Billy stood at the back of the closet, taking a

few breaths that tugged the air around his face.  The door was the only thing he could see through his eye holes, focusing him on his goal.  He counted down from three in his head.  He dashed toward the door.  His shoulder was lowered like he'd seen football players do.  Billy hit the door. He collapsed against it, and rolled to the side.  His shoulder creaked and shuddered, throbbing sore.  Billy groaned into the mascot head and clutched his arm with his hoof-gloves.If he didn't get out of here, then Ryan would be able to find Julie and ask her out.  He'd wanted to go out with her since freshman year, and Ryan was going to take that away from him.  All those years of being just her friend, unable to say his true feelings, amounted to nothing if Billy couldn't get out.For a moment, his tongue felt fuzzy.  It was as if it was covered in felt, like his mouth and his teeth were all fabric and soft to the touch.  He gagged and shuddered.  The feeling was gone.  The mascot head's brow furrowed, as if mimicking Billy's expression of concern.  He had no time to sit and fret, though.He wasn't going to let all of that hard work winning over Julie go to waste.  He was going to find a way out of here and find her and ask her out and they were going to have their dance together.A soft 'fshhh' filled the air around Billy, the sound of helium hissing into a balloon or air escaping from a bike tire.  The loose fabric of the mascot shirt across his shoulders tightened, wrapping around the bulking mass beneath it.  It was just the shoulders and neck that were swelling; beyond that, his body stayed the same.  The duct tape that held the mascot head and shirt together gripped tight around his broader neck.He walked back to the end of the closet again.  The carpet muffled the noise of his feet, or otherwise he might have heard the difference between the white foam hoof-shoes and the hard hooves he walked with now.  The blue-furred pants shrunk to fit around his calves.  His calves grew, swelling with that same airy noise.  They were bulkier, swinging with a satisfying weight as he walked.  His heels stretched up into the air and remained off the ground.  Billy balanced on his big white hooves.Billy looked straight at the door again.  This time, he was going to do it.  He took a deep breath.  His mascot head snorted around its nose ring.  His right hoof stamped the floor in anticipation.  Faster than a snap of the fingers, he shot down the middle of the closet.  He leaned into the run.  Billy charged at the door.  He hit it squarely along his shoulder and back.  In his bones and joints, he felt the door frame buckle and snap.  The door slammed open and he tumbled into the hallway.Billy caught himself against the lockers and stood for a moment, taking those breaths that pulled cool air across his cheeks and face.  He was gasping, winded, and the pain still glowed in his shoulder, but

he was free.He turned around, his back against the lockers, hand on his chest as he caught his breath.  The slow hissing noise came again.  This time, he noticed it.  His hand moved, not because he was moving it, but because his chest was slowly puffing outward.  Was something happening to the foam insert?  He gripped where the stitched-in pecs had been.  There wasn't a layer of foam there any more--his hoof-glove was grabbing his chest.  His growing, broader, bulkier chest.The mascot head's ears folded back and its eyes widened.  Another rush hit Billy.  His nose felt too long.  When he swallowed, it was like trying to swallow a carpet.  His head felt hollow and for a moment all he wanted to do was feel his chest.  A grunt left his mouth.  He snapped himself out of his trance.  Billy made a beeline for the boys' bathroom.There, in the mirror, was Bully Charger.  The mascot's head had a worried look instead of the grin Billy was used to seeing.  And below the head, his neck broadened out into sturdy, thick shoulders like you'd see from someone on the varsity team.  His chest was broadening out to match, not just his pectorals but the muscles along his sides as well.  He twisted his head around and glanced down his back.  Bristling bulges of muscle swam beneath the blue fur on his back, too.He stared straight at Bully's face in the mirror and blinked.  The mascot head blinked too.  Billy just barely caught it.  He clapped his hands to the mascot head and tugged at it anxiously, pulling at the big, rounded cheeks and pushing on the snout.  He felt the hoof-gloves tugging and squeezing his face, but it wasn't his face.  It was a second face, floating out in the air in front of him, in the shape of Bully Charger.The sensation of touching a second face was so unnerving that he grimaced, and when he did, Bully's face moved too.  He squinted with one eye, bared his bright teeth, and wrinkled his oversized snout."Aagh!" Billy yelped.  He staggered back and bumped into the wall.  Bully's mouth had moved in the mirror.  He opened his jaw slowly, and so did Bully.  He reached into the mascot's mouth with one hand, prodding his hardening teeth and his felt tongue.  Billy nearly gagged at the fabric feeling.  He tugged at his jaw and it felt like he was pulling at his actual mouth.  He reached up, taking a hoof-glove-full of snout and nose ring. "Ahnng," he groaned.  He ran his gloved fingers along the boundary where the costume fabric became sensitive to the touch.   The dual sensations hurt to think about, like when he'd tried to wear someone else's glasses as a joke and got a headache.The mascot's eyes rolled back.  A fuzzy felt coating rolled over some of Billy's memories.  He saw dizzy flashes of himself running, charging across a field.  He dropped down, one leg bent, the other out straight.  In a cloud of dust that billowed around him, he skidded across the

ground.  His hooves hit home plate and the umpire yelled, "Safe!" and everyone in the bleachers cheered.Billy blinked himself back to reality.  His mind felt slow and ungainly; his thoughts gave way if he pushed too hard.  He tried to shake some of the grogginess away.  What the hell had that been?  Had he just gotten a flashback of being--No, no way.  Bully Charger wasn't a real person.  This was in his head.He stepped back up to the mirror.  He was going to pull off that duct tape and find Ryan and get him in trouble and then have a dance with Julie.  Except now that he looked for it, there was no duct tape.  None around his neck, his shoulders, his waist, nothing.  The costume had joined into one piece without a hint of a seam. This was only getting more ridiculous, but he had to keep calm.  This mascot suit was just fabric, so as long as he found some way to cut himself free, he'd be fine.  But first, he had to leave the bathroom.  Now that he was conscious of everything happening to his body, Billy could barely take a step without losing his balance.  He was overthinking it, he told himself.  His body knew how to deal with hooves, so just let it do its thing.  Sure enough, the less he tried to think about it, the easier it was to cross the bathroom floor.Billy pushed his way out of the bathroom and looked up and down the empty hall.  He needed help.  Everyone in school now was here for the dance, and the dance was in the gym.  He picked up the pace and clopped along the hall, trying to get used to his new gait.  His hooves tucked towards his knees with every step.  His thick chest stood out in front of him, rolling back and forth in a proud swagger.Even if his new body was proud and strong, Billy didn't want this.  He liked being his shy self, and he definitely liked being human and not some kind of mascot animal creature. As if on cue, his body started hissing again.  He searched for the source of the noise, trying to find some way to stop it.  An outside force slowly pushed its way into his arms, like some sort of liquid or gas filling up the loose fabric.  The blue fur bulged out around his swelling arms, rising up, revealing new muscles.  His biceps flared out to match the size of his chest and shoulders, while his lower arms puffed out almost as big, tapering towards his wrists.  If he wasn't wearing the hoof-gloves, he still wouldn't have been able to wrap his hand all the way around his biceps.  The corded muscle bulged out thick enough that he could have been hiding two footballs beneath the blue fur.He'd never seen anyone with arm muscles that big before.  His thoughts fuzzed over.  His muscles felt like big rolls of felt being dragged against his fabric skin.  They prickled and popped and swelled, warm, dry and fuzzy.  He flexed an arm in the mirror, watching the muscles pop out.  Each bulge was clearly defined and cartoonishly

swollen.As he looked into the mirror, everything he knew of trigonometry was fuzzing over.  It still took up space in his head, but he couldn't reach that knowledge.  Looking at his reflection, though, names popped immediately into his head as if he was looking at an anatomy textbook.  Biceps, he knew he knew that one already.  But then, triceps, deltoid, lattisimus dorsi, flexor, extensor, brachioradialis, all popped into his mind.  He could point out each one in turn.  Wasn't there some jingle he'd come up with for when he helped teach muscle groups in Health class?  Wait, he never--His heads, both of them, throbbed.  It was happening again, the same thing that came over him while he was in the bathroom.  Not just a dizzy, dry feeling; a surge of confidence, colors swirling in front of his eyes.   And then he was on the football field.  His hooves tore up the turf.  High up above him was the ball, a little speck.  He didn't have to even think.  Four steps, then he took a bounding leap.  Mid-air, he clapped the ball in his hooves and brought it against his chest.  He hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop.  The goal posts were above him.  He held the ball up to a whirlwind of cheers.Billy snorted through his mascot-nose as he snapped back to reality.  He put his hoof-covered hands to his snout.  He blushed so hard it turned his cheeks purple.  Not only was it an embarrassingly bovine sound to make, but the feeling of the new nose, floating a foot away from his real nose, made him shiver.  His bull nose wasn't even felt cloth any more.  It was actual flesh he was touching.Billy splayed his hands back across his face, tugging at the fabric that was becoming real fur and skin.  It stretched away from his skin reluctantly.  He let go.  His bull-face winced as it snapped back into place.  How was he going to get out of this suit if there wasn't a suit left to get out of?  His tail, blue-furred and white-tipped, swished through the air nervously.He had to get out of this costume, and fast.  He didn't want to know what more might happen.  The gym wasn't too far.  Get there, get help, find Julie--wait.  If Ryan was trying to keep him out of the picture, he couldn't delay.  Get there, find Julie, get help.  Priorities.Going down the stairs to the first floor, Billy had to shove his chin into his chest to see where he was going.  His big hooves clattered as he climbed the stairs, clicking on the metal as he took the first flight of stairs quickly.  He was used to his old lanky, sneaker-clad self scrambling down stairs, not this heavy hoofed load thumping from side to side.  He misaimed one of the steps on the second flight and his leg fell out from under him.  He tumbled down the rest of the steps and landed on his rear on the floor, sore but unhurt.Billy blinked the stars away from his eyes.  For a moment, he didn't notice, but then it dawned on him: he could see

pretty well again.  He wasn't looking through eyeholes, he was seeing through Bully's eyes.  He blinked a couple times.  He couldn't feel his actual eyelids moving; the bull's eyelids responded immediately.  He shoved himself up to his hooves and clopped out of the stairwell.Again, the hissing noise came.  He was nearly to the gym, just one long hall to go.  His midsection, which had remained slim and baggy, was now catching up with his upper and lower body.  From his knees up, the fabric clung to thicker thighs, while from his ribs down, it swelled against his rising abs and broadening sides.  While his body still had the broad-shouldered, almost triangular shape, his waist was no longer conspicuously slim.  He put his hoof-gloves on his hips and squeezed.  His body wasn't rock-hard, but he wasn't soft and squishy.  His muscles felt like an extra-firm mattress.Billy's main point of comparison for a build like this was strongman guys they used for strength pill ads in the back of the comics he read.  He didn't have giant rippling bulges all over like the strongman guys.  He was thicker, more tightly packed, like a ham wrapped up with string: just a whole lotta meat.  Which made sense, being more athlete than bodybuilder.He had to correct himself.  Bully was more athlete than bodybuilder.  Billy was the one who wanted to get out of this mascot suit before it overtook him entirely.  He didn't want to be some sort of meathead who cared about sports and keeping fit and that kind of thing.By the time he made it to the doors of the gym, he could hear the smooth swinging music and the rattle of conversation from inside.  He reached for the door handle and his hooves thunked against the metal.  From the tips back, his hoof-gloves were going hard, from foam into actual hooves.  He wiggled his fingers inside the gloves, but then he couldn't wiggle them individually, and soon his fingers vanished beneath smooth cloven hooves.  He tried to spread his fingers, but he just parted his big hooves and wiggled the little stubs that were now like his thumbs and pinky fingers.  He looked at both his hoofed hands and pouted.  He wasn't going to let that stop him.Billy scraped his hooves on the door handle, trying to push down the handle and pull the door at the same time.  Even with two sets of hooves, one to push down and one to pull out, he couldn't get it.  All of a sudden, the door opened on its own, and a girl stepped forward and bumped right into him.  Her glass of punch spilled to the floor and she stepped back, stunned for a moment.Billy was also stunned, and he should have been mortified, but the same set of instincts that told him how to walk with hooves stepped in here.  It's okay, the instincts said, you can handle this."Oh, sorry!" he said.  It was Bully's mouth moving and speaking, and a deeper, clearer voice than Billy's own he was speaking with.  "Lemme get you some

napkins."  He grabbed a small stack of napkins from a nearby table, and another cup of punch too.  He passed the cup to the girl, then knelt down and mopped up the spilled punch with the napkins."Gee, thanks, Bully," the girl said, smiling up at him.  Billy didn't remember her name, but he smiled back down at her.  She laughed.  Ashiver ran through him.  He was responding to the wrong name.  "Costume looks great on you by the way," she said.  She gave him another polite smile before she turned and headed off.  He didn't even have a chance to ask her for help.Billy turned back toward the table and downed a glass of punch with his mascot mouth.  Only as he set the empty glass back down did he realize that the punch hadn't touched his real mouth.  He didn't want to look weird in front of people, but he turned to the side and tugged at his snout and lips a little, trying to move the mascot head so he could feel his real face.  It had to be under there.  He couldn't tell where one head ended and the other began.But they could still cut him out of this, right?  Or fix it, or something.  He could have gone after the girl to get help, but he still had to find Julie before he could focus on himself. Julie had to be somewhere, so Billy began to hunt for her.  As he made his way around the gym, he glanced up at the sports banners hanging up around the walls.  One of them had a drawing of Bully Charger on it, making a muscle and grinning aggressively.  Billy was practically the spitting image of that bull by now, body type and all.  There were a few differences; Billy wasn't literally a cartoon drawing.  He felt like he wasn't far off from being one, though."Hey, Bully!  Mind if we get a picture?" A reporter from the local paper raised his camera.  He'd forgotten they were taking pictures of the dance. Billy made the same pose his cartoon counterpart had, flexing his arm down low and beaming at the camera.  The flash popped in his eyes.  By the time he could see again, the reporter had moved off into the crowd, and Billy hadn't even gotten a chance to ask for help.Billy looked down at his big chest and grabbed the white underbelly fur there, tugging it with his hooves.  It had more stretch to it than skin did, but it didn't feel like there was another layer underneath.  The fur was his skin now.  He felt like he was getting lost beneath the costume.  When he finally got someone to cut him out of this, would they know when to stop?The sight of Julie over by the stage snapped him out of his fears.  It was only for a moment, and then he couldn't see her any more, but he had seen his goal.  She was here, and he could find her before Ryan got to her and let her know what he did to her.  Then he could get someone to cut him free.As Billy scooted around the crowds, trying to squeeze by people in his big, handsome bull body, little twinges and tickles ran across his face.  The

bull's face could smile brighter, even with the corners of his eyes.  He could stick his tongue out now, and the nose ring was an actual metal ring and not just painted plastic.  Less and less like a face controlled by puppetry, more and more like it was his real face.  He still had the big, bright, expressive eyes and cheery cheeks as Bully, still the same mascot look, but now with full expressions."Bully, hey!" some guy in a varsity jacket said, patting Billy on the shoulder.  Deep down, Billy wanted to hate him for being a jock, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt like Mike was a good guy and a good football player.  When had he learned Mike's name?"Go-ooo..." Mike lead off, starting to pump his fists up and down together.  Billy barely knew what he was doing, but it sprang to him as naturally as anything else.Billy joined in the cheer, pumping his hooves just like Mike.  "Go-ooo-ooo Chargers!"  they shouted in unison.  Mike put his fingers up against his head like horns.  Billy leaned forward, brandishing his actual horns.They shared a laugh together.  Billy patted Mike on the shoulder with his hooves.  "See ya at the Wildcats game next week!" he said, floating on a giddy high of team spirit.  He walked off before his head caught up to what he'd just done.  He wasn't some jock, and he wasn't some mascot, and he definitely wasn't some jock mascot!  He shouldn't have been this friendly or popular at all.Billy's body bristled with gregarious energy.  It was hard to focus on finding Julie when he wanted to make sure everyone was having a good time.  He pressed on toward the stage, but as he moved up along the edge of the dance floor, he spotted a young guy sitting on one of the chairs, shoulders hunched, staring at his shoes.He recognized him as Edgar, his friend his honors classes.  But since when did Bully take honors classes?  Billy blinked and shook his head.  Had to keep himself straight.  He tried to think of something to say to Edgar, but his new genial side took up the slack for him.Billy plopped himself down in one of the chairs.  It creaked under his weight.  He dropped an arm around the back of Edgar's chair and smiled down at him.  "Hey, why the long face?"  he asked."Well, I didn't come with a date, and my friend didn't show up either," Edgar said.  Billy glanced up, scanning the crowd and spotting a girl that seemed just like Edgar's type.  Thin glasses, nice smile, long hair, just swaying around on the edges of the dance floor.  "C'mon," Billy said, patting Edgar on the back with his hooves.Billy pulled Edgar out of the chair and up to the girl.  She noticed Billy almost immediately--being a big, tall bull meant it was tough to sneak around.  "Sarah, Edgar.  Edgar, Sarah," Billy said.  "He'd like to know if he could have this dance with you."Edgar was blushing, but Sarah said, "Sure," and took his hand.  Billy gave

Edgar a wink and a thumbs-up as he continued on, bolstered by the feeling of having just helped someone.  It didn't occur to him that he should have asked Edgar for help getting out of the costume until he had already left them far behind.  Damn it!  This had to be on purpose.  The costume was messing with his head to keep him from taking it off.Not only did being tall help Billy push through crowds, it gave him a good vantage point too.  He spotted Julie again, by herself, up by the side of the stage.  She looked right in his direction and his heart skipped a beat.  He waved at her, but she looked away.  Why didn't she--oh, of course.  He'd forgotten that she wouldn't recognize him as Bully.Julie slipped out the side door, for a moment away from the crowd, Billy assumed.  He just had to catch her outside, and then he could let her know what was going on and find help.Then he saw Ryan following Julie.  He couldn't help the snort from his snout or the way his hooves stamped against the polished gym floor.  His shoulders and biceps bristled as he marched toward the side door.  People got out of his way as they saw him coming.  He stooped down instinctively as he stepped outside.  His horns just barely cleared the top of the door frame.In the cool air, Billy's nose puffed plumes of fog against his chest.  His ears swiveled up.  Julie and Ryan stood about thirty feet away, their backs turned."...that weirdo?" Ryan finished, just as Billy started listening.Julie sighed.  "He's not...well, not that weird.  He's not my boyfriend though."Ryan put his arm over Julie's shoulder.  "So you're single is what you're saying."  Julie tried to wiggle away, but Ryan held onto her.Part of Billy wanted to tear Ryan away from Julie and make him pay for trying to get close to his girl.  Another part of him just wanted to get him apart from Julie so he couldn't try to hurt her.  His hooves scraped the ground, his nostrils flared, and the fur on his chest rustled.He broke out into a mad charge, teeth bared, head down, horns first.  A deep bellow cut the air in front of him.  His hooves pounded against the gravel.  Ryan had just enough time to turn his head.  A blue-white freight train came straight at him and he was caught in the headlights.Billy and Ryan went flying over a hedge and landed hard on the grass.  In his mind, Billy was on a wrestling mat, locked with his opponent from another school.  A blink, and he was back on the green--another, back to the match.  He twisted himself around Ryan's joints, using his weight to pin him to the ground.Ryan wasn't a wrestler, so he had no reason to play fair.  He shoved his palm up against Billy's face, trying to peel the bull off by hooking his fingers inside of Billy's mouth.  Billy bit down hard.  Bull teeth weren't sharp, but he had a powerful jaw.  Ryan screamed and began to thrash.  Billy let go of Ryan's

hand.  His arms clamped around Ryan's neck, squeezing him into the crook of his elbow.  Ryan's shoulders jerked against Billy's arms.  He held onto the bull's forearms with both hands.  His thrashing grew lazier and his eyelids drooped.  Billy dropped Ryan to the ground.  He'd only be out for a few minutes; Billy had a killer sleeper hold.Billy sat on the ground, legs spread, panting, trying to think straight.  Why had knocked Ryan out?  Because he was threatening Julie.  Bully shook his head, swinging the weight of his horns from side to side.  He wasn't the school mascot.  His name was Bully--It was Bull--Bully Charger?  If he had one of his team jerseys on, he'd be able to just look at it and tell.  He could remember the shy young man he had been, but there was a greater distance to cross to get to those memories.  In bits and pieces they bled over into his new memories, mixing and melding together the harder he tried to hold the two separate.He rose up onto his hooves, taking a few deep breaths that made his chest puff out.  Each breath still clouded up in front of him in the cool air.  There were so many things to like about being like this: the strength, the good looks, how everyone seemed to like him.  He had a great smile, good jawline, and handsome horns with just the right curve to them.Julie hopped over the hedge and came running toward him.  Like a flash running through him, one side of his thoughts was suddenly empowered."Julie!" he boomed, in a voice that was deep and broad and great for being heard at games.  "It's me, Bull--Billy!"Julie came to a stop in front of Billy, opening her mouth to thank him, then realizing what he'd just said.  "Wait.  Billy?  Has that been you in there all this time tonight?"Billy nodded frantically, unsure how much more time he'd be in control.  "Ryan stuffed me in this costume and then it...it grew on me, and now it's real, and it's making me feel different.  It's making me into Bully," he gushed, while Julie gazed at his body, up and down, from the points of his horns to his big white hooves.  "I'm a big blue bull now!" he whined.  A faint moo left his snout as he exhaled and pouted."So that was you helping Edgar out?  And being friendly with everyone?" Julie asked.  It she had shown any shock that Billy was a bull now, she hid it well enough that Billy didn't see a blink. "Well, kind of, but--" he began to say, but was cut off by Julie putting her hand on top of his snout."Billy, whatever you've got in you that's making you act like that, it's making you a better person."Billy snorted abruptly.  His cheeks flushed from blue to purple.  Julie stroked his furry snout. He hadn't thought about it that way.  Keeping himself intact had been the only thing on his mind.  But maybe it would be better if he let himself become more friendly and sociable and athletic.  The more he

considered it, with Julie right there, running her hand along his fur, the more it made sense.  Maybe he wasn't quite as smart, but he could be a better person and have the girl he was sweet on.  All he had to do was accept that this change was for the better.  Brains wasn't everything.For a moment, a fear flickered in the back of his head that Bully might squeeze him out of his own head.  He closed his eyes and let his guard down.  A sudden relief, a burden flying off his shoulders, made him feel as if he was soaring through the sky.He'd had nothing to worry about.  There was no sudden takeover of his mind.  Bully wasn't someone else, it was just him at his best.He opened his eyes and looked down at Julie."Call me Bully," he said.  He put his hoof on Julie's lower back and she leaned against him.  This embrace was a moment he'd tried to plan for months and months, but when he just let it happen, it was as easy as apple pie."Okay, Bully," Julie said.  She stood on her tiptoes to try to get closer to his height.It felt good to hear her call him that name.  None of that old baggage.  He had a fresh new self that he could feel good about.  He could be Bully Charger, Durnsdale's mascot, and he could be happy.Bully asked, "Do you want to go on a date?"  It came out as naturally as anything."Sounds swell," Julie said.  With a hand behind his horns, she nudged him down so that she could give him a quick kiss.Bully looped his arm around Julie's back and hefted her up and over the hedge, back onto the pavement.  "Maybe the day before the Wildcats game?" he suggested.Julie waited for Bully as he stepped over the hedge one hoof at a time.  "As long as we don't stay up too late," she said.  She shot her new bull boyfriend a teasing sort of grin.  Arm in arm, they headed back to the gymnasium to enjoy the rest of the dance.---Ryan tried to sit up, but his head throbbed.  He flopped back onto the grass, letting it cool his aching forehead.  He was careful with the fingers of his right hand as he shifted around.  It was where Bully had bit him, but as he moved, he realized it didn't hurt any more, even when he flexed his hand.His head definitely did, though.  He lifted his right hand to his forehead and two hooves clicked together softly.  His eyes shot open.  His fingers were a pair of slender white hooves.  His arm was covered in blue fur, all the way down to the sleeve of his shirt.  Beneath his shirt, on the right side of his chest, a rounded, perky mound jutted out into the fabric.  His new breast tugged the neck of his shirt down far enough that he could see the white fur on his chest, creeping past his sternum."Oh nn--mmooo!" he groaned.  His voice cracked into a much more feminine pitch.  He had to find that god-damn, very handsome bull.