User:Erastus/Serving the Sentence - Part 13
{{#ifeq: User |User| Serving the Sentence - Part 13/14 | Serving the Sentence - Part 13/14}}[[Title::{{#ifeq: User |User| Serving the Sentence - Part 13/14 | Serving the Sentence - Part 13/14}}| ]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus Centaur | Erastus Centaur}} | |
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Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus | Erastus}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus | Erastus}}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus | Erastus}}| ]]
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Author: {{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus Centaur | Erastus Centaur}} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus | Erastus}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus Centaur | Erastus Centaur}}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus Centaur | Erastus Centaur}}| ]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus | Erastus}} | | Authors: ' |
Authors: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus | Erastus}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus | Erastus}}]]
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Authors: {{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus Centaur | Erastus Centaur}} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus | Erastus}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Erastus Centaur | Erastus Centaur}}]]
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Forced weaning of a foal is simple to describe. Starting sometime after four months of age, put the foal and mother in separate but adjacent pastures for longer and longer periods of time. Make sure the foal has plenty of food and water. This will encourage the foal to figure out how to gain nourishment on its own.
Execution wasn't always so simple. Topaz didn't like the fence between herself and her mother and was quite vocal about her objection. And like many new mothers Piet had trouble with leaving a crying child alone.
Even though Piet had a rough time of it, it did provide time to get Dave back to the ranch when no mares were in heat. Professor officially closed the Mongolian Riding Club before Piet changed back to human.
Knowing that a change was coming, Professor took pictures of all the horses. It was easy to get the five adults to pose in a variety of positions and groupings. It was quite another to get the foals to cooperate.
Dave found a moment when Amos was alone and told her the whole story of Erin's kiss and his internal debate about whether to tell her.
"Welcome to the fickleness of human love," said Amos, cryptically.
"Huh?" managed Dave.
"When faced with a beautiful woman, a man will do all kinds of strange and stupid things. I would guess this is the first real love of your life." Dave nodded. "Then it's no surprise that you don't know what to do, that your need for secrecy got in the way." Almost to herself Amos added, "Love between horses is so much simpler."
"So what do I do?" Dave's voice had a note of urgency.
"Love her." Dave still looked puzzled. "Instead of demanding that she love you, supply her with reasons to love you."
"And how do I do that?"
"You have to decide that for yourself. All lovers figure it out sooner or later. You'll do just fine."
I do hope it is sooner, thought Dave, and not later.
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It was in early July and a full day after Topaz figured out she could feed herself when Piet asked an unexpected question. "Are any of you being bothered by flies?" After a chorus of "no", she went on, "I itch all over. Stan, could you give me a good brushing?"
Stan was soon wielding a brush. The reason for the itching became obvious -- Piet's fur was falling out. Stan summoned Professor, who was soon in attendance.
The first thing Professor did was to unbuckle Piet's halter. "I don't think you'll need this anymore."
"Huh," said Piet, as Professor pulled it away. "I had forgotten all about that thing."
After a few minutes of brushing, a good deal of horsehair was settling around Piet. Now that she had a chance to think about what the next few hours would bring, Piet said, "I don't think I want to be on my hooves when they change. Stan, could you get a blanket so my tender skin won't be scratched by the straw?"
"Sorry, Piet," said Professor. "You're about to lose a great deal of mass and it all has to go somewhere. I'd think we'd all rather you got the straw dirty rather than a blanket."
Piet sighed, "Right as usual." She carefully settled herself in the straw and rolled onto her back and stuck her hooves in the air.
Over the next few hours in between brushings, Professor documented the loss of mass, retracting muzzle, lost and reshaping teeth, shifting ears, reshaping legs, growing fingers and toes, emerging manhood -- and a tail that would not shrink and middle fingers and toes that wouldn't shrink enough.
Piet lay there as Professor used scissors to cut off hooves that were now only attached to the end of those large middle fingers and toes by slim nails. Piet then flexed all his limbs and muscles, especially newly grown fingers and toes. It was several minutes before Piet said, "Well, let's see if I can stand."
Professor helped him up. Once he was standing and while still clinging to Professor, Piet said, "How did we ever manage to stand on two legs?"
Professor guided Piet over to his computer and handed Piet a mirror. Professor then called up the first photos of the party from two years before. "I've wondered how complete the reversion spell would be. Let's make a list of everything that is different."
The obvious thing to put at the top of the list was the tail. It had not shrunk and had not lost any hair. It would now need to be trimmed to avoid dragging on the ground. Right below the tail in that list were those fingers and toes that were noticeably longer and half again wider than the others. The corresponding bones were large enough to create ridges through the hands and feet. It looked a bit odd -- and would probably draw comment, not to mention cause a headache when buying shoes and gloves -- but it was something he could live with, Piet decided, a small payment for his return to human form.
Piet's face looked the same as it had two years before -- much to everyone's relief -- the only difference was Piet's scalp hair and beard were now thicker than before. This beard was thick enough to keep, Piet decided. It rather looked like fur.
Piet's height and other dimensions were about the same as before, though he had less of a paunch and better muscle tone. That was easily explained by the exercise he had gotten as a horse and hadn't as a man. It was enough of a difference that none of his clothes from two years before would fit.
Professor had wisely stocked up on generic t-shirts and drawstring shorts. It was an easy job to split the back seam of a pair of shorts to allow for Piet's tail. But Piet had the shorts on for only five minutes before saying, "This tail-hole isn't gonna work. Splitting the seam for my tail causes chafing and I think the seam is splitting some more."
Stan laughed as Professor went looking for safety pins.
In spite of the tail, Piet was most definitely back to human and back to male, close to what he had been before.
"Why does Piet have a tail?" demanded Jack. "I didn't see humans with tails in Mongolia. I certainly don't want to look like a freaky human."
"Gee, thanks, Jack," said Piet. "I actually like my tail and glad I kept it."
"No offense intended, buddy," said Jack, "but I don't want to be a human with a tail."
Amos said, "Jack, there's a sure way to avoid being a freak -- you could stay a horse."
"Spend the rest of my life popping out foals? No way! I do not want to go through heat or pregnancy again. I want to be a man again. And at this point in the program, I don't think I could convince the curse that I'm happy as a horse."
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Much to Jack's dismay, she did go through heat one more time before convincing her foals to seek nourishment elsewhere. Zane did too, but was a lot quieter about it.
As a goodbye to the club and a way of saying thanks, Dave took Stan on a camping trip into the nearby mountains while the mares were in heat.
Dave and Stan had gotten to be good friends in the time since the riding club opened. The friendship had taken root when Stan realized Dave was only three years older. Stan could swap stories of life in high school with Dave, stories that he would be embarrassed to tell to other adults.
So this trip was a chance for Stan and Dave to talk about the future or tease each other or, more frequently, to be together as a couple of guys and not talk at all.
It was during this little trip that Stan had a suggestion for Dave. "From the quality of your build, your unusual color, and from the way Spike looks like you, I bet he could earn good money from stud fees."
"But they would be my grandchildren!" said Dave. "I couldn't have descendants raised by someone else!"
"In a sense that may be true, Dave. But they are also horses. You have to draw the line somewhere. I can see wanting to keep Topaz, Ruby, Spike, and Logan around, but I think you should save your sentiments for your eventual human children and let Spike be a the stallion he is. Besides, Spike could bring in some serious bucks. Think about it."
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It was the third week of July when Professor documented Zane's transformation. Much to Zane's relief, the tail shrunk to nothing fairly early in the process, shedding its long hairs as it disappeared. Zane hadn't quite believed it when Piet said he was glad he kept his tail. Another early change was the emergence of Zane's manhood. That produced a sigh of relief.
"This is strange," said Piet, who was wielding a brush, "The fur is falling out of Zane's belly, but not from of his legs."
"Oh, man, don't say that!"
Professor said, "Zane, you know hiding from reality won't help." He moved to join Piet near Zane's legs. "Zane, hold out a hand." Zane did so, showing recognizable fingers and a palm already free of fur. Professor compared that to the legs. "Well, Zane, either your feet are going to change last, or you are going to need a farrier for the rest of your life." Zane groaned.
When the change was done, Zane's beard was gray as before -- Zane now preferred the term "dappled" over "salt-and-pepper" -- but his receding hairline had moved forward again. As a human, he had been in sufficiently good shape before that his muscle tone wasn't much different after being a horse.
But starting just below his crotch, legs that were within human norms for hairiness became covered in fur. Below that line each leg had recognizable gaskin, hock, cannon, fetlock, pastern, and hoof.
"Now what do I do?" said Zane. "I'm even freakier than Piet. I can't go out in public at all!"
Amos replied, "Actually, I think you can. Get some rubber horse boots to mask the sound and dress like a monk. As for what you do, you get on with your life. Perhaps one of us learns the trade of a farrier, or perhaps you stick to those rubber boots."
"I'm still a freak! And if I dress like a monk I'll have to act like one. I won't be able to go to a pool or to the beach. I'll have a hard time getting a woman to fall in love with me."
"Zane," said Piet, "You're still a good buddy. We can deal with it."
It was another full week before Jack could convince Spike he didn't need his mother's milk. The curse, of course, changed both Dave and Jack at the same time. This time, thankfully, Zane, Piet, and Stan could take turns wielding brushes as Professor documented progress.
Knowing the curse wasn't quite perfect, Jack was quite relieved when his cock began to emerge. He was disappointed -- for a few moments -- that when the skin of his forearm was revealed, his tattoo was gone. After some reflection, he decided that the tattoo was appropriate for his former life, but not this new one.
Zane took a break from his brushing go over to Professor and whisper, "Do the pictures you've taken so far show Jack's neck getting shorter?"
A few taps on the keyboard brought up a photo from the start of Jack's change. Yes, his neck was getting shorter. But his head had not changed.
"You're not telling me something," said Jack. "The last time someone didn't tell me something it was when I lost my cock. Come on. Out with it."
Professor said, "Your head hasn't changed at all, Jack. In Zane's and Piet's case, everything that was going to change had started by this point."
"Are you certain my head won't change?"
"Not a hundred percent, no. But my guess hardly matters as your change will prove me right or wrong in a couple hours anyway. I'm sorry, Jack."
"Sorry, he says. So I get to end up as a freak like everyone else! Well, I don't want to be a freak. I don't want to hide. I got this cock back and I want to use it!"
"Calm down, Jack!" said Zane. He moved around to Jack's head to brush between Jack's ears.
"I'll never be able to wear a tee-shirt again!" wailed Jack. By the time he said it, Zane's brushing began to take effect.
Zane said as he brushed, "Though you had made it tough on us for a while, I'm sure I speak for everyone here that we now consider you a friend. We're here for you Jack. We'll deal with freakiness together. We'll have our own little club of freaks. One horse spread among three men with their faithful talking horse companion."
Jack's neck did return to human size and position but he still had the same head he had had as a horse -- the same muzzle, ears, flexible lips, and white star set in brown fur that also covered his neck and spread halfway across his human shoulders. As Jack had said, there was no way to get a tee-shirt or pullover sweater past that muzzle. He was limited to clothing with zippers or buttons. And leather vests did not work with button-down shirts. Since Jack only had tee-shirts and that was only what Professor had bought, all Jack had to wear for now was one of those vests.
Dave was pleased with the "errors" in his return to humanity. He now had a normal -- more like above normal -- amount of body hair instead of the few wisps that provoked teasing in the locker room. He was also now hung like a horse, still the stallion. After the change Dave's manhood was considerably smaller than when he was a horse -- thankfully since he wanted a human mate -- but it was much larger than before and right at the top of the normal human range.
As with the others, Dave's transformation left behind a thick beard. The good part was that it was much thicker, a vast improvement over the wispy beard he had before. The bad part was that the moustache and goatee were white. Such markings may be normal for a horse but looked mighty strange on a human. Reluctantly, Dave concluded he would have to shave a beard that was finally thick enough to keep. The morning trim would be more of a task compared getting rid of the wisps in his former life.
Piet swished his tail as he looked over his fellow former horses. All of them now had some physical reminder of their horsehood. He said, "I didn't exactly have a lot of contact with the natives in Mongolia, but I don't recall seeing the physical oddities that we display. I'm sure I would have noticed a human with a horse tail, legs, or head."
Zane thought it over a moment, then said, "If I remember the trader's story right, he said our nemesis tried to make the curse permanent and it was his wife, the horse, that made it temporary."
"I remember. So?"
"So it is my guess that she wasn't able to override it completely. Either that or our hasty departure interrupted her spell."
"Meaning we inadvertently did this to ourselves," grumbled Jack.
Piet pondered all that. "That may be true for me and Zane and Jack, but the trader said Dave's curse was to be temporary from the start."
Jack laughed. "Come on Piet, use your brain. Consider a guy who has designed a spell to turn himself into a stallion. He has experienced one mating season to show proof of concept and is now ready to design the spell to return himself to human. What guy is going to design a spell in which he is not going to be hung like a horse when he is done? He's going to end up with the largest size cock he can. The only reason he wouldn't leave it horse sized is he'd never get a chance to use it. Women would see it and flee. The three of us just got on the wrong side of that equation. What man, if he has the power to turn another man into a mare is going to allow that man to have a big cock when he becomes human again?"