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The New Lives of the Transformed

Part Three

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Adagiodajiang

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One year later.

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Starlight dismounted from the mare with a soft nicker, gentle with those that he bred, though the stallion was trusted to always mount them loose in the field after so long. She was a sweetheart, that mare, one that he thought he had bred before, though sometimes he was faced with so many different ones over a week that he struggled to intimately tell them all apart. His days were broken up by running with a herd of bachelor stallions, bucking and leaping and cavorting, showing off all that made him male, who he was, proud and strong, his pride hanging out half the time.

He liked spending time with the mares most of all, however, for it was not all about breeding and mating, though that was one of the best parts. The sweet mare before him was a light dun with a black dorsal stripe down the line of her back, her mane long and full, draping down past the point of her shoulder. Her tail was always hiked well out of the way for him, even while they were grazing comfortably between mating sessions.

Starlight could not help but adore the feel of her warm hide under him, the strength in her muscles. She was trained by others, humans and anthros at the facility, and had built up a considerable amount of muscle beforehand, even though she would be left to graze and relax in the fields with the other broodmares after she passed a certain point in her pregnancy when exercise was no longer quite suitable for her, however gentle it was. Neither of the horses knew about that, however, merely taking things moment by moment, not even day by day, though he had a little more intelligence than he had been left with before his last intelligent interaction with Ramius, the lynx.

His shaft hung softly under him, a gleam of stallion semen drooling from her folds. The scent of her was divine, hanging in the air, having mounted her easily. Starlight knew who he was, that he was “himself", experiencing the life of a horse without the worry of memories. All he knew was that he was a horse and had always been a horse, even if there were a few things about him that could be seen to be a little different to plain, unintelligent horses in reality.

For instance, he could last longer than a minute in sex, pushing into the mare of his choice with long, smooth strokes, the flex and contraction of his body coming more naturally than ever. The mares always sought him out when they came into season, whether they were nickering excitedly at him over the fence and craning their necks to get to him or in the field with him, enjoying Starlight's very intimate attention.

Enough time had passed too for his foals to be born too, seven of them in total, and he knew that they were his, satisfied with passing on his bloodlines. That was what life was about in the art of procreation, mating and enjoying the fruits of his labours, ensuring that his offspring were big and healthy and strong.

Vaguely, he was aware of a life before he had come to the farm, but he couldn't quite reach back into it, not in the way that he wanted to. There was simply nothing there, like reaching back and back and back into nothingness, but that was okay. He liked the life that he had, even if there was something deeper missing in it for him. He didn't worry about it, but the sense of something being absent gnawed at the pit of his stomach.

Starlight simply wanted to be complete. But he didn't quite understand how that was to be.

When he was brought to his stable that day, there was a bucket of feed waiting for him – and the lynx. That was unusual and had him perking his ears, stretching out his head to her with inquisitive lips. What was wrong with her? Why did she have that strange set to her head, a tightness across her forehead and the lines of her cheekbones, even though they were covered with feline fur?

“Starlight…" She addressed him, fiddling with a tablet, though her hands shook lightly. “One moment, I will allow you speech. Time to come back for a moment, Starlight, though it's going to be a longer moment than you think…"

He started, stepping back within his stable, the sense of being himself as Starlight and Joseph with all his old memories flooding him, as if he had been doused by a sudden deluge of rain. He grunted and shook himself, yet there was no anger in him for having lived life as a feral horse for so long, only a sense of peace, turning his head. He'd much rather head back out into the pasture than deal with Ramius, yes, but there was a sense in her that there was something important to say, something big coming.

“Starlight… No, you should be Joseph now."

He wrinkled his muzzle and shook his head.

“I've chosen my name, Ramius."

Words came easily, though he did not need them. He knew how to communicate as an equine and, for him, that was enough. She, however, could not hold back on her words for much longer.

“As you wish, Starlight, but I'm afraid that the mayor has deemed that you are now to be transformed back into an anthro form. It does not appear that you pose any threat to him any longer and the world outside your stable and field has changed considerably in the interim. This is by the grace of the king, Saron, and him alone."

Starlight reeled, a whinny breaking his windpipe, eyes wide and wild as his nostrils pulsed lightly with the sound.

“What? No! I don't want that – what are you saying? I don't want to go back to that life – we had an agreement!"

She perked up, the tension in her shoulders noticeably relaxing even as Starlight paced and paced, turning around in his stable abruptly to go back the other way again.

“Oh! Well, I am very pleased to hear that! I had thought, after our last spoken interaction one year ago, that you might have changed your mind. I would have been sorry to lose you…Starlight."

There was something there, not a romantic bond but something that had brought the two of them together, inexplicably, despite the twisted nature of the world and how so very much around the two of them had changed. Starlight snorted, pushing his nose resolutely into the palm of her offered hand, though it was a symbol of friendship rather than him, as a horse, merely searching for food. She smiled, whiskers quivering.

“I will pass on your desires to the king."

A day later, much to Starlight's surprise, who had been left with his vocal abilities and his intelligent mind, though his memories had been rendered fuzzy again when he had not been able to rest, his master arrived at the pasture for him. He had not been expecting it, grazing with a herd of four mares, all of whom had been bred by him, one of which still had his semen trickling from her folds, well-bred and surely with foal already. Yet his master had only needed to click his fingers the once to bring Starlight obediently trotting up to the fence, his head and tail proudly held high, showing him the proudness of a stallion just like him. Only, there was no one quite like Starlight, shucking the skin of his old name and the cage of it, the golden beauty rising in splendour out in the paddock.

“I see you look well."

The young lord remained reserved, stroking the stallion's neck, though it was perhaps uncouth of him to act like Starlight was just another horse, considering what he wanted to do to him. Starlight allowed it with a low whicker, lips twitching, his tail loose and relaxed, hanging down past his hocks.

“Yes, I am well here, but I do not want to go back to the human and anthro world."

The king's brow furrowed.

“Joseph, this was a punishment. An unconventional one, of course, but one that spared you your death. The world was not ready for me and I know that now – but I did not need to end lives, which was why the transformation program was put into place. Transforming anthros and humans into livestock gave them a use in the world and stopped them from becoming martyrs in a war that they never had to fight. I wanted to make a better world, but not to leave you transformed forever."

Starlight, however, shook his head, taking a determined step back so that he could better take in his master's frame. He didn't want to miss a thing and, sometimes, his vision was not what it could have been when he was up close with other beings and objects.

“Yes, master, I know. But I do not want to return to that world. I have spoken to Ramius and I agree that my life was…plain, boring, a means of getting by."

He was glad that his vocal capabilities had been restored, for he suddenly had a lot to say, words rushing from him in a flood that could not be stopped.

“I don't want to scrape by in ridiculous work anymore, this hired soldier boy that they didn't know what else to do with. I don't want to go back to the constraints of being an anthro or even a human, I don't want the pressure… Perhaps that is self-centred, but this experience has opened my eyes to a bigger and better world, one where I don't have to be anything but myself."

He implored the mayor to listen, bowing his head respectfully, though one such as him did not even know what he was to do one way or another before someone of a higher status than him. He'd just grunted and followed orders before and it was hard to get out of a mindset like that after such a long time.

“I will do anything you want, if you will allow me to stay in this form, to live as a horse," he nickered, trying to speak clearly, though the tremble of emotion in his voice did not help his clarity. “This is a better life, one that I am grateful, very much so, to you for. I will allow you to ride me, I will pull a carriage, I will be anything that you need me to be in your service. This life is so much more than I could have anticipated and I have no desire to leave."

The king, however, shook his head, Starlight's heart sinking.

“This is no life, Joseph, you only don't see that because you've been present in it for so long. I should not have left you transformed for so many months, over a year, for it must have affected your mind at this stage in your life. That was not my intention, not when the quality of life out there in the real world, not the world of a farm horse, is so much better. There is healthcare, there is entertainment, there are good jobs, safety and security. You were turned into livestock and now it is time to go back, Joseph. Return to your life and serve the mayor how you please, we will find a role for you that fulfils you."

Starlight, however, was vehement, stomping, half-rearing, doing anything and everything that he thought he had to do to get his point across.

“No! I am worse than livestock when I am nothing more than an anthro with no money, no life, no real way to live in the world! I couldn't even provide for my love – and what is a stallion or a man without the ability to do that in the world? This life is better and I want to stay here!"

He snorted, infused with passion, shaking his forelock from his eyes.

“You can make me dumb, master, make my memory disappear completely… It will not change my decision. I want to live like this. It is better to live without thinking than where I was before. I don't need to retain my ability to think, though I would like some of it… Ramius seems able to control that. But I am willing to work with you to adjust the nanobots…the nanotech…"

Starlight shrugged as well as a horse could shrug, pushing his shoulders back briefly before realising that the motion did not quite work on an equine.

“I want this life, to help… I can even help others here adjust to their new lives, allowing them to think a little more and settle into being horses. Maybe more? I don't know if any others have been transformed too. That's not for me to know unless you want me to know, master."

Saron raised his eyebrows, silent for a moment. He could not deny that he was impressed by how passionately Starlight spoke of his life and what he wanted, even if the horse used simpler words than what Saron would have done in his private life. Despite being turned into an animal, he had become so much more, his ability to consider more than himself escalated, elevated to a new state of being. The gratitude was placating and he could not see it as anything other than genuine and sincere, especially considering all that he had done to them. He would have expected anger and raw fury. That was why he stood on the other side of the fence from Starlight, cautious and always calculating, even then.

“If this is true…more research must be conducted. I need to speak with you more, if this is to be a viable option to give other humans and anthros that have been transformed a new lease on life. If they have violated my life, my rights, this can be an act of mercy and no more do I have to see anyone die, not even if they attempt to take my life."

Saron pushed a little more of his weight into his heels, leaving an imprint in the grass beside the paddock where the ground was less trampled from the passage of equine hooves.

“This is interesting… Very intriguing, Starlight, yes? You prefer this name, so it shall be yours, Starlight."

Starlight, as it was, was left to graze peacefully, settled at last, a little surer that he would be allowed to remain as a horse, in the form that he thought that he'd always intended to have. The mayor visited Ramius instead, though his time was short at the facility that day, as much as he wanted to dig into the research that was going on there, all so that he could see what better he could do in the world.

That that good ensured that his rule was secure, well…that was merely a happy side effect, he told himself.

“Did you tamper with him?" Saron said, his louder, deeper voice starting Ramius at the computer in her office.

She leapt up, skittering, heart pounding, yet had to calm herself.

“No, no, my lord…" She said hastily, fumbling for the right words in her shock. “No, of course not. I was as surprised as you to hear that he wants to remain a horse, it is a most unusual development… I don't understand it one bit, but I want to, if you will allow our research to continue here. We could even put him to work as he wants, see what he is best suited for to give him a quality of life worthy of him in this form too."

Saron frowned.

“His intelligence even appears to have increased," he said instead of replying directly to the lynx's concerns. “That is most remarkable, if it is true, but I will require the results of your research in the form of a report, Ramius. If there is any tampering to be had, I am confident you will understand that there will be consequences."

The lynx sweated and shook her head.

“No… No, my lord. No. I will prepare the report for you."

Saron left as abruptly as he had arrived, though she leaned over her computer desk, hands on it, trembling, shoulders shaking. Her eyes watered slightly, though her lips quirked up in a breathless smile, fingers brushing the remote that she used to control Starlight's intelligence.

Whether or not there was tampering would never be found. All that mattered was that everyone was happy.

And that was one thing that Ramius could control.

*

The mayor, his master, visited him every few days after that, though the passage of time was not all that important to Starlight. He was glad to see his master there more and more, speaking with him about their lives post-transformation, that of the other horses in the lord's care – or the care of those, more specifically, in his employ. The mayor did not do any of the dirty work in any situation, least of all when it came to the stables, the farm where more and more creatures were being brought.

“We should give every creature that is transformed from human or anthro to animal a new name, a post-transformation name so that they may better fit into their new identity."

The mayor did not take notes as Starlight spoke, the horse comfortable with the use of his vocal cords after some time had passed. He had an aide for taking notes beside him, scribbling away furiously as conversation flowed between them far more naturally than it had any right to.

“They will be livestock, no longer human or anthro. It is only fitting that they are given a new name as livestock, though it doesn't matter what body they are it, only that they understand and accept their new place in life. I got my name, Starlight. That is who I am, my new name… No…"

The horse frowned, lips twitching, shaking his head as his ears flipped halfway back.

“No… No, this is my name. This is who I am, who I was always meant to be. In the future, I will not even want to remember Joseph. He is another person to me and I am not a person anymore. I am just a horse and that is enough."

The young lord of his domain smiled, his expression softening ever so slightly.

“Starlight it is then. Do you have any other needs after being transformed? Any that you can remember needing from earlier or any that are now in your mind?"

He wanted, still, to make the lives of those that were alive and present under his rule better, for that was why he had become mayor, what seemed like only a very short time ago, after all. Starlight considered the question for a moment, one forehoof raised as if he was about to paw at the ground but mistook what he was doing halfway through the action.

“There were odd memories before… Thoughts that my mind tried to put on me, I think because I could see other horses, younger horses, with their dams, their mothers. My mind tried to give me a family, but the image was hazy and kept being replaced with the odd sensation of fingers on me. I guess that was how my mother held me when I was a baby. The lack of memories makes me feel like something is missing. I need those memories, but I need them to be as a horse. I need to have the memories of suckling from a mare, of feeling that bond, that closeness, growing up with a herd… I need to grow up as a real pony, not appear in an adult life halfway through."

Starlight paused, taking a breath. That had been a lot from him, a stream of consciousness and thoughts that had not made as much sense as he might have liked them to. But things were as they were and that was one of the many benefits to being a horse, that he could be content simply as he was.

He liked that. He wanted to hold onto that, not always looking for something bigger or better and most certainly not always trying to scrape by in life and the world.

“It would be easier for those that have been transformed," he said slowly, thinking things through a little more before speaking that time, “if they did not remember their old lives and had their lives replaced with horse memories, or other livestock memories. Whether they are fully aware or only partially aware, they could be upset if suspicious that something is wrong. I just felt empty, like there was a hole in my stomach. Not even my hay could fill it."

It was a good idea, a good thought, though one that would be fine-tuned and refined by the scientists in his employ, Ramius heading up the team, though the lynx was busier than ever. She stood up to attention, listening carefully to all orders from the boss who was closer and closer to her, even more involved than he had been for the prior year.

“Send a command to the nanobots," he ordered. “Starlight should have memories of his life as a foal and a yearling, so that he may feel more comfortable in his new life. This will help him and all of our transformed creatures to settle, to become what they were meant to be."

“Yes, sir, of course."

However, it was not that easy, for the lynx had to design the memories herself, setting everything in code so that it could be transmitted to Starlight through the nanobots, the technology working away on the horse even as he grazed, even as he mounted yet another mare.

As Starlight thrust and filled a mare's sweet pussy, his shaft hard and wanting, the fluttering afterimages of Joseph, the man that he had once been, slipped from him. It was so soft and so easy that the horse did not even realise what was happening. Memories, after all, were so very liable to fade that it was a natural process indeed to erase them forever.

Grunting, he thrust tenderly into the mare, lipping at the proud arch of her neck, how she bowed for him, grinding back onto his thrusts to the extent that she could while her hind legs were braced. One more memory teased from his mind, laughing with his horse friends, playing ball, tossing it to one another.

He felt the absence of the memories, quaking faintly, though Starlight thought that that was simply the need to climax sneaking up on him. He did not last very long as… As what? He couldn't remember what he had been going to finish the thought as, jaw loose and tongue moving as he chewed the air, eyes shining with desire.

He remembered…his dam. He might not have had that memory if he'd been nothing more than he did and he couldn't do anything more than enjoy it, the scene playing out before his eyes, even as orgasm pulled at him.

The feel of grass under his hooves, his foal slippers not all that long gone. How he had sprung and leapt, finding his hooves for the first time out in the field with the other foals. Another dam had been protective of her foal and swished her tail at him, sending him off, though he had not listened and played with her foal anyway. They had been the best of friends, him and the little black colt, growing up as yearlings together, though there had been a chestnut too with a light stripe down his face.

The memories for that colt were slow to form, though that was none of Starlight's concern as Ramius orchestrated the transfer of new memories to him instead of the old ones that only caused him pain. He groaned as he leaned over the grey mare, letting her take his weight a little more, grunting softly as he nuzzled at her neck, his teeth grooming her, if only briefly. Through it all, the pumps of his orgasm spilt into her cunny, pumping deeply, her folds close and velvety around him as if her passage was hugging the thick length of his shaft.

Mating like that… Yes, that was all he needed. It was a very good way to spend the day, the best kind of way, and he groaned as he dismounted, sharing breath with the pretty mare, their noses close together.

It was there, out in the field, that he stayed with her, grazing and sharing space as if they did not need any time alone, for socialising and the ability to do so was one of the most important things to any horse. It was something often missed and that Starlight had stressed to Ramius, which could, at the very least, be passed back to those caring for simple-minded equines in other facilities, the ones that had never been anything other than what they were.

But he liked the memories, remembering a time that felt real and unreal at the same time, though the memory would become increasingly normal as time passed, which was just the way the mayor would have wanted it to be. Saron was not all that involved in that part of the true transformation process, however, a system that would, bit by bit, become fine-tuned and tailored for those anthros and humans that were transformed to become less than a threat to the mayor, useful members of society once more. At the bare minimum, it allowed them to let go of the kind of lives that had never given them solace in the first place.

He grazed and drank freely from the water trough, droplets streaming from his lips, clinging to the whiskers of his face. Starlight had never realised before becoming a feral horse just how important those whiskers were and would have very much not enjoyed having them trimmed, for they fed back so much sensory information to him as a feral horse. He could even feel the edge of the water trough with them, sense out food scattered on the ground by a stable hand as he foraged.

They were useful, very useful, remembering the first time that his whiskers had grown long enough to be useful. A butterfly had landed on one of them when he'd been out in the field with his dam. Back then, he had spent a lot of time with her, though he had snuffled and snorted and leapt back from the butterfly as if it was about to sting him, no more than a wasp, and his mother had nickered a laugh at him.

“Little one," she had said, in the equine language of sounds and body language, tiny twitches conveying so much. “It will not hurt you."

He learned to trust his dam implicitly, for she was an older, wiser mare who would never lead him astray. His father had shown him how to run, how to gallop, how to find his wind and fling his body into faux flight, mane and tail streaming behind him. Well, his mane and tail did not so much “stream" as “bob and ruffle about awkwardly" when he had been a foal, still fluffy like a fox cub too that had not shed their first coat. He had pranced and danced and learned to feel his feet, even the hardness of his hooves transmitting sensation through them that others that did not have hooves, not like that, could not understand.

He relaxed, enjoying the memories, which felt quite as if they were drifting through his mind organically, even if the reality was far from that. The nanobots worked away in his mind, transmitting the memories, showing him that he had, truly, been a horse since birth, no more than that, how he had been with both his dam and his sire, even though he was not permitted in the same fields as his foals there. There were still deeply ingrained ways of keeping and caring for equines that even intelligent livestock were yet to change and assist in shifting.

But he could help with that, slowly but surely. There was no rush to it, not when the remainder of his life was already set in stone. It was a good way to live and he even recalled his first time with a mare with even greater clarity, the black mare that he had bred for the first time out in the field. It felt more real for it, as if it was something that had only happened a day ago, a very important memory to him.

For it had been the first real time, yes, that his cock had ever penetrated another, the memories of Joseph remaining, faintly, but not completely erased, except what had already been replaced. It was a strange process to replace one life with another, instead of simply cutting it off entirely, but that was not for Starlight to worry about, not when it was Ramius and more who oversaw that. It was far, far better for him to simply relish in the memory of how good it had felt to slide into the mare's slick folds for the first time, how she had braced her hind legs and winked for him, even releasing a stream of urine to show her readiness for him.

That first time had felt as if it had lasted forever, his mind warping his sense of the seconds passing, though a horse like him had no real use or need of seconds, not like that. He didn't mind time. The sun rose and the sun set and he was as much prey to the rhythm of the world around him as the mare under him, back in that first time, had been to the thrust and push of his shaft. It had driven so deeply into her, the medial ring tugging at her as it slid back and forth, his breath grunting, flanks shuddering. Sweat marked his hide, back in that first time, and the bliss of climaxing inside her, no longer a virgin, had been the sweetest of everything.

It was a memory he held close, though Starlight did not particularly replay it at any given time. Memories were not like that for a horse and were driven more stringently by instinct, linking themselves to certain times and places. Like humans and anthros, horses could build positive and negative associations to certain places and things, depending on what had happened there. The body held memories too, not solely the mind, and merely breaking into a canter would have Starlight, when the memories were implanted in his mind as his own, imagining that first canter across the field with his father all over again, how big and powerful the palomino stallion, just like him, had been.

He realised, in time, what was happening, shrieking and leaping and frolicking, kicking all four hooves off the ground at the same time. It was finally happening! His memories of Joseph were more and more fragmented as he raced back up the long, sloping field to his master's hand, scenting him on the air, the familiar tang of exhaust from his vehicle.

“Master!"

He cried out for his master with all the love that he could have possibly held in his heart as the streamed up to him like a river through the brook, skidding to a halt at the fence and lovingly pressing his nose into his master's hand. Saron smiled, openly delighted, stroking his face, scratching his neck, even reaching up under the stallion's mane so that he could get at all the really itchy spots. They had a bond of sorts between them, though the nature of that relationship came with a clear power differential, as much as Starlight fed ideas to the mayor, allowing him to implement them for the good of all who had been transformed, those that could be allowed even better lives under his rule.

“Master, my memories! Thank you, oh, thank you!"

He nickered and rubbed his head on his master, sharing space with him in a loving gesture of how grateful he was, showing his gratitude with his body language as much as his words. He babbled, sometimes running his words together as if he was losing the ability to speak clearly again, but it was merely excitement, even if he would not have minded at all if he did not have words. They didn't seem necessary to him anymore, though he was still working out what would suit him in that regard. For a horse like him, who had led a plain and simple life, a soldier's life, beforehand, it was a big question to ask. It was a good thing that he had plenty of time in which to run it all through in his head, when he wasn't engaged in the act of mating.

“This is wonderful, so great…" Starlight trailed off, chewing, trying to find the words he needed. “But it's still there… Not all the memories are gone yet, master, and they're painful. I want them gone too, I don't need to remember anything of my anthro horse parents, not when my feral horse parents loved me so much. Those memories feel real…but the old ones confuse it. I only want to be a horse."

Saron listened, his lips soft, though there was still a sternness to his face.

“There may be no going back from this, Starlight. Are you sure?"

“Yes!"

He reared as if for emphasis, striking out at the air with his hooves, though the horse did not care that a small crowd had gathered, including Ramius and the stable hands who usually cared for him, a headcollar in one's hands. He had to say, had to make it known!

“I don't want to remember anything of that life," he snorted passionately, stomping once for good measure. “Please, master – remove them! I don't need it!"

The noise that followed confused the stallion, Starlight backing off from the fence as no one seemed to quite know how to respond.

“What does he mean, he doesn't want to remember?"

“Is he becoming stupid?"

“He wasn't like this at the start."

“Something's changed."

“But Joseph, no, Starlight – are you sure you really want this? We don't know if the technology can ever be reversed."

That last utterance came from Ramius and Starlight turned to her eagerly.

“Yes, yes, I am sure. I would not have said so otherwise. It's different for horses. We don't need to think about decisions like humans and anthros do…" He chewed over his words for a moment. “We don't agonise over it. We are just livestock."

Yet Starlight did not notice that the sense of pride in his chest, swelling lusciously, and the words that he had used were not fitting for him. He would have used simpler language if he had been in Joseph's mind or just a horse's mind, for not all was as it seemed and there were more liars amid the corrupt lord's rule than many realised.

Ramius and her scientists… They were far from innocent. In her pocket, the lynx turned up the dial on the handheld remote that she could take around with her, lightly tampering with his emotions, making him feel, well and truly, as if he was making the right decision. Yet the sense that he had been tampered with, that something intrinsic to him had been taken, did not even enter his mind in the slightest. All he felt was pride for who he was, what he had become, that he was more than happy exactly as he was.

No one had thought that he would proclaim his desires so clearly, though they all thought that it was from Starlight's wishes alone, as if the stallion had wished upon a star and, finally, gotten something akin to his heart's desire. He didn't need to be anything when he was simply livestock, the group chattering, though a single look from the mayor had them quieting, softening and easing down, moment by moment.

They knew when he had the floor and the stage that he was not to be trifled with, a young lord who had taken over a city and beyond, whose rule was spreading more and more with every passing day. In fact, his control had already stretched nearly to the other side of the continent, intent on taking everything for his own, regardless of where others stood in his way. They would all be mown down, one after the other, no matter what they wanted, one way or the other.

The mayor would have his way. But not everything had to be known to the mayor for him to believe that he was living and ruling in his perfect utopia.

Thus it was that Saron allowed the lynx to continue their experiments, as if everything was normal, excited to see what could come of his subjects. He only thought that they would have a good life, which was all he wanted, even if his ways of going about such things were twisted at best. The worst, well…

That didn't bear thinking about.

Starlight enjoyed his memories, bit by bit. He formed more feelings and sensations from his dam, how her nose had felt brushing his back, down the line of his withers, when he had been so young that he had been practically hidden by the tall grass of the meadow. His father had snorted and stood watch, though there were no enemies or dangers to be found there, merely a strong, guiding force in which Starlight could always trust.

He tried to think of anthro parents sometimes, knowing, in that current mind, that he had them, though he was not all that concerned about not being able to remember them. He only wanted to check, from time to time, that everything was still okay, that he had the correct memories in his mind. For her records, Ramius sometimes asked him questions about them, all to see whether he remembered them or not. To Starlight, however, they were nothing more than fake, an afterimage that faded more and more into nothingness with every passing day, along with their voices, their touch, even their scent.

Starlight didn't need it anymore. So, he suggested to Ramius directly that more memories, just like with him, could be implanted into the minds of other transformed subjects in the future. If it made him feel that good, it only made sense that it was a gift that he should ensure was imparted onto others. They would be better for it, given new lives and a new direction in which to take their lives.

“The mayor says that he is very pleased with your progress," Ramius fed back to him while Starlight was receiving another physical exam, though he had strange, flat nodules and wires and more hooked up around his head, apparently measuring something with his brain. “He says that you are the most loyal of subjects and wants to keep you close to him."

Starlight flushed with pride. As long as he had the approval of his master, there could be nothing else in his life that brought him more joy. But the mayor had one thing that he wanted for Starlight, the next big step for the stallion to take into his new life and way of being.

After all, it was not solely for Starlight to dictate where his future went, step by step, grazing peacefully and still being used and allowed to breed with as many mares as he had the stamina for. There was still time for more breeding, of course, before the colder months set in.

It was in the stable that the young lord observed him next, though the times between his visits had become a little more extended. He had other things to do, after all, considering his rule of nearly an entire country, an empire that was utterly controlled by him and him alone.

“I have a special surprise for you, Starlight, my most loyal of steeds."

The mayor scratched his neck, running his fingers expertly down the line of muscle in the stallion's neck. A surprise? For him? Starlight shuddered in anticipation. He couldn't wait to find out, for anything that his master had in store for him had to be a most excellent thing indeed, something that he would be grateful for, near enough dropping to his knees before the lord in his ardent worship of him. If he could have pledged his soul to the mayor more than he had done already, Starlight would have done so in a heartbeat.

He was allowed out into his pen, a gate at the other side stopping him from leaving, though it could be opened for him, another mare brought forward to him. Oh, but she was a special mare, a very special one indeed, so strong and full-bodied, a little thicker in her bone as if she had, perhaps, been a full-figured woman when she had been human. Or anthro. Starlight shivered, his sheath plumping out, revealing his hardness softly and smoothly. He didn't care who she had been, only who she was, as she nickered to him, her tail flagged and body wanting him.

“Take her."

The command was easily obeyed, Starlight not even paying attention to the stable hand who was holding the mare, his cock hardening as she spread her hind legs a little more and urinated, demonstrating her readiness. Yet he barely had the time to allow the hot stream to splash into the bare dirt outside his pen when he was released, smoothly and compassionately mounting her as his cock slapped urgently up against his belly.

That time, he didn't need to be guided into her as his cock found her folds and pushed deep, stretching out her passage as if his shaft had been made for her and her alone. Her body was a rich, liver chestnut with a darker shade, her mane the same colour as her coat, not as bright as a red chestnut but deeper and more carnal. He grunted, thrusting and driving into her, the rhythm of his body and instinct dictating to him just how he was to thrust and keep thrusting, his passions rising more and more.

He could hold off for longer, his memory feeding him a constant stream of pleasure, how good it felt, her folds tight around him, even though he still thrust easily. The stallion grunted softly, his tail flagging proudly, desire curling through the pit of his stomach, desire thrumming, pulsing, with every single beat of his heart. He could not go any deeper into her, or so it felt, overwhelming lust coursing through.

He had to cum, but he wanted to enjoy every last moment of it too, nickering softly and shaking his head back and forth. His tail flicked, the long hairs swishing, though the mare rocked lightly back against him as she enjoyed it too, showing it with light snorts and tilts of her head. He heard it in her cries of lust, how her body closed around him, rippling and pulsing, though there was nothing regular about her muscular contractions, everything deliciously erratic.

Although he lasted longer, the pleasure could not be held back, rising, balls swinging and churning, even as Saron stepped in close enough to get his attention.

“How is it then?" He asked, an eyebrow raised. “To mate as a horse, not an anthro? A wild, untamed horse…"

He grunted, lip wobbling though he could not hold back, slowing his thrusts as the skin pulled back and forth over his shaft, the medial ring pressing insistently at her folds with every thrust.

“It's better than ever," he answered honestly, although the grunting breaths came snatched between his words. “The desire of a stallion… It's…unff…like nothing else…"

But Starlight could say no more, snorting heavily, head tossed up in a neigh, mane flying and rippling back down the length of his neck. It was better, better than ever, much better than when he'd not had any memory at all as a dumb horse, losing all his intelligence… All he'd want then was to make a herd of his foals, to mindlessly spread his seed with no greater thought! But there he could focus on the pleasure, trembling on the edge of orgasm.

The mayor, for good measure, patted his back end, running his fingers over the horse's strong gluteal muscles, even under his tail, the velvety dock of his tail. But his master had control and a quick spank of the horse's arse bounced off his muscle, hardly setting his flesh jiggling at all.

Smack! Smack!

_ _

A few spanks, just to gee the stallion on a little more, Starlight shuddered, twisting his neck back and forth, the throbbing of his backside making him want to thrust all the harder. It was as if he was being sent forward in a race, stretching out his neck eagerly, wanting to do even better for his master as the mayor spanked his rump.

“You have a nice, strong rump, Starlight… I hope you pass that on to your foals. They will pull my wagons and carriages, proudly strutting through the city streets and parks."

That did it for him, for he could not hold back, showing off with the high flagging of his tail, his balls no longer able to withstand their load. He grunted deeply, chewing and clenching his jaw, the mayor saying something that he did not quite catch as a button was pressed on a remote in his master's hand.

That was his undoing, but Starlight did not care, not as he spent ropes of his slick cream into the mare, her nickers encouraging him on. He was on show, other eyes on him, lust filling the air, a stallion in the throes of passion, thrust after thrust carrying him forward.

Yet he didn't feel right, not quite right, not as his mind slowed, dulling. He tried to think, but thinking was not his strong suit at the best of times, least of all when he was ejaculating. For as he spent spurt after spurt into the mare's sweet cunny, he lost his sense of self, the sweet lusciousness of it flowing from him, leaving only the desperation and instinct for breeding, to reproduce.

Yes… Starlight could not want for anything more, thrusting, filling her, shuddering through the final spurts of his orgasm. He enjoyed it, yes, but he did not have to drag out the experience, only there to breed and dismount, no more than that. To him, the mare was just a mare and he would treat her as such, both humans and anthros trapped in a body of another, but neither of them realising. It was a broken, twisted way of being, though he was not to know that and neither was she. Neither understood, not in that state of mind, just how they were caught in a snarling trap that only the mayor of all of them controlled.

Starlight blinked slowly, aware of the humans and anthro, his master, dismounting from the mare carefully to land on his four hooves again. His mind was still there, but something had changed and he did not know what. Was he still him, Starlight? Or was he Joseph? Sometimes Joseph's mind felt so dull and thick that he didn't know the difference between that mind and the brain that was him, truly, as Starlight.

Where was the line? Things had become so blurred that he could not tell, not anymore.

Starlight turned to his master, nostrils quivering. Yet he couldn't find words, only impressions and images, his lips moving without actually allowing any sound out. His master held up a remote, adjusting something – and then Starlight could speak again.

“What… Master… Master, what was that?"

The mayor's smirk would have chilled another soul, but he had been adjusted to think that everything that the lord said was a wonderful, unique, fantastic idea, as if his master could do no wrong. Regardless of what Starlight's level of intelligence was, he only knew the wonder of his master and how good and how kind he had been to him.

“When you are mating, you can lose yourself in it. That is the way that it should be for all the livestock in my care, after the transformation, of course, has taken effect."

Starlight nodded, bobbing his head eagerly. Oh, he had to hear more! His master had the best ideas!

“Your brains will eventually become completely animalistic in mating at the very least. You shouldn't have to blame yourselves for not being able to resist the lure of sex, being lesser beings. You shouldn't have a problem with it either as it's all voluntary, of course… You need the freedom to be, simply, as you are, no restrictions, no holds."

The mayor pushed his hands into his pockets, laughing lightly, though there was no sincere humour in his tone.

“It's wonderful living in my pasture, is it not, Starlight? I will see to it that my facilities are expanded, all so that more can experience this manner of living, the best way for them, being that they will have been sent to the transformation chambers for crimes against myself and my state. This is fitting for your kind, Starlight."

“Oh, master!"

He half-reared in his excitement, striking at the air, tail lashing the air, flicking back and forth in his keenness.

“That is a wonderful idea, master, fantastic, truly, I can't wait to experience it again! But…" He hesitated, one forehoof raised in the air. “Can you dumb me down again? I don't want to have to think, not like this. I want the peace again, the quiet again, the simple… The simple life…again. Master, is that okay? Can I ask that of you?"

Saron answered by using the remote, which was tuned in to Starlight and him alone. The horse's head dropped, licking and chewing, the sheen of intelligence in his eyes slowly but surely softening to a lack of intelligence.

“Down to twenty per cent should do…"

Saron smiled, yet the light of it did not reach his eyes. The horse's thoughts were no longer formed of words, solely images, impressions, memories that came with sensations and little more than that. He knew of fear, of trauma, but his memories had been set so that none of that mattered, not in his mind, not existing to warn him that other things might have been a danger or a threat to him.

Time slowed, sunshine filtering through the leaves in the trees splashing the ground. He snorted, nosing at the grass, eyeing up the mare who was being led away. Who was she? Starlight wouldn't have minded her coming back, for a little while.

Although he couldn't understand the words of people around him, he knew he was safe, protected. That was all that mattered. Being as he was, lowering his head to graze the grass where he was loose outside his pen, was the best thing for him.

His stomach yawned with hunger, not rumbling, but churning with gut noises, needing something. He nosed around, though didn't find any hay, not until the stable hand came to slip a headcollar on him and usher the calm, quiet stallion back into his pen.

Ah! There it was! His hay! That was the best thing, the very best thing, teeth digging into the long, coarse strands, though Starlight did not know that that kind of hay was one of the best kinds for him to eat the most naturally. He needed long strands to help grind down his teeth, especially when he did not roam miles every day like his wild horse ancestors, even though he was a wild horse in his mind.

His tail lifted, though he did not notice that his cock was still out, swinging lightly back and forth, soft and floppy, even though he did not retract it into his sheath, not quite yet. That would come in time, when his body was ready for it, need churning and curling inside his body, the thickness of his barrel. The power of a stallion had to come out sooner or later and yet he would be the most respectful of stallions when it came to mares, giving in to his instinct but not minding all that much more.

They would mate and he would procreate, seeing more and more of his foals running around. That was all that he needed as a stallion, the world around him soft and kind and slow. It was a good place to live, a good place to be, snorting, grunting, devouring his hay in eager, quick snatches of his teeth and lips.

His master left, his voice growing fainter and fainter with every passing moment. It all slipped away and he was content with what and where he had been left behind. He had friends around, other horses that shared his paddocks with him, though he longed to be back in the field, the scent of mares on the air, tickling at his nostrils.

He'd be out there again soon, he was sure. The stallion drank deeply, cool, fresh water slipping down his throat, cooling his stomach. It was where he needed to be, a safe, calm place to live, somewhere that he knew the routines of, allowed to have his own kind of rhythm and pacing that best suited him.

His shaft, very slowly, slipped into his sheath, though he paid it no mind, sheath plumping out and then softening as it retracted all the way.

Life was good. It was life and it was good.

As a horse, Starlight knew no more.