Adjusting: Chapter 3

Rob’s hooves thudded against the running treadmill with an audible clopping noise. She wiped at the sweat dripping down her long, equine snout and grunted, fighting the fatigue in her legs. Her protruding gut strained against the fabric of her workout shirt and her plentiful breasts jiggled in place, their shifting mass threating to shake out of the recently purchased sports bra that enclosed them. Finally, an electronic beep signalled the end of the exhausted unicorn’s workout regime, the treadmill slowly grinding to a halt. She stumbled slightly, gasping for breath and gripping the plastic handles on either side of her. Rob hesitated to call her activity “Galloping” but it seemed like an accurate verb to affix to it. She removed her iPod’s earbuds that were still loosely wedged inside of her large, pointed ears and let the sounds of the gym flood through her mind: The clatter of weights, the grunting figures around her and the rhythmic pounding of fellow runners that were still in the middle of their regime. She sidled off of the cardio machine and grabbed her towel from the nearby railing, cleaning some more of the persperation from her hide and dabbing at her long mane, which seemed to change colour on a daily basis. Right now it was a shimmering blue, small silvery sparkles throughout like stars in the night sky. One of the perks of being a magical horse.

Rob place a hand on her gut, which just barely poked out from underneath her tight t-shirt. There was a time when this sort of thing would go unnoticed by her, namely back before she was a she. Robert Mulligan had always been on the tubby side throughout his life, to put it mildly, but it had never really bothered him. It was only his abrupt change into an overweight, female unicorn that had motivate him to try and make a change in his life, to try and find some control over his body.
This had been a vicious uphill battle, as if her body was fighting to keep her fat. For the first few weeks, it felt as though she had been actually GAINING weight until she had looked into dieting and proper fat-burning regimes instead of just spending three hours a week on a cycling machine. And even now, working as tiredly as she did, it was still slow going. Every pound she lost was a small victory in its own right, but all it took was one day off the wagon and she gained it all back, sometimes even with interest.

Often Rob wondered if it was even worth the trouble. Maybe she could just let go, and let herself get soft and plump. Becoming nothing but smooth and yielding flesh underneath a thin coat of fur felt strangely appealing some days, especially while rubbing her sore, raw thigh muscles after a session on the Stairmaster. Rob hugged herself, unconsciously mashing her voluminous breasts up underneath her chin. Her fantasy continued as she trotted downstairs towards the change room, lost in images of the already distinct orbs underneath her growing larger and heavier, pressing and moving off of each other every time she walked, straining the fabric of her shirt and resting atop the thick roll of her belly, trapped and bulging between her bosom and the hemline of her equally taxed sweatpants. Her long, silky tail whipped back and forth behind her, betraying her inner emotions. The daydreaming unicorn was only snapped out of her reverie by the sounds of pained grunting nearby, then a sharp cry of “Help!”

Rob swivelled around to the sound of the distress, scanning the gym before she saw what looked like a young woman struggling with a weighted bar on the bench press. She seemed pinned by the large, heavy dumbbell, lying flat on her back and barely keeping it off her neck with a pair of thin, trembling black marking covered arms that looked seconds away from failing. Rob galloped towards the girl in distress, determined to seize the weight and rescue her.
She was still a few feet away when the long, ivory horn growing out of her forehead suddenly sparked to life, crackling with magical energy and emitting a slight ringing sound. That same glowing aura, slightly blue in colour, manifested itself around the weight. It floated upwards of its own accord, yanking itself out of the girl’s hands. Rob was taken aback, but quickly regained her composure and focused, lest she relinquish her mystical grip on the piece of gym equipment and send it crashing back down. Rob took a deep breath and turned her gaze to the weight rack. The barbell complied and drifted over to the rack, settling in it’s cradle. The aura dissipated as Rob blinked, extinguishing the glow around her horn and turning her attention the woman he had just saved, who was so transfixed with the events that had transpired that she hadn’t even sat up.

Rob got a good look at the girl for the first time, noting that the black stripes that were on her arms extended on her neck and hand. Her ears were located near the top of her head, as furry as the rest of her. Rob made the mental connection and realized he was looking at a tigress anthro, and a pretty one at that. The baggy t-shirt and sweat pants did a poor job of concealing the contours of her hips or the slope of her chest. She turned her wide, amber eyes up to her rescuer.
“Um, Hi” she stammered. “And thanks for the save”
“No problem” Rob shrugged “Sorry if that little light show freaked you out. It still scares me”
“Hey, I’m not one to look a gift horse in….” The tiger’s analogy trailed off as she sat up “Sorry”
“It’s fine” Rob replied “But if you wanna thank me, don’t go lifting weights like this without a spotter. You could have really gotten hurt”
“I’m new to this” the big cat explained “I um…lost some upper body mass recently…in some areas” she added, her eyes flickering down to her bosom briefly.  “I came here, trying to maybe, I dunno, strengthen up or something.” She averted her gaze “I was just….a little too ambitious. It was stupid” She squeezed one of her arms.
The actions of the tiger girl struck a chord with Rob. The way she shakily carried herself, her desire for self-improvement and how she didn’t seem to fit in her own skin all seemed very familiar. Rob had to know.
“I didn’t catch your name” the unicorn offered.
“It’s-ah” The tigress faltered. “I mean…My name is Noah”
The equine almost laughed “Nice to meet you Noah, I’m Rob” She extended a hand.
Noah took the offered digits as a dawning look crossed her face. “That’s kind of an odd name for a girl, if you don’t mind me saying”
“Well, until recently, it wasn’t for a girl” Rob answered back.
It was Noah’s turn to chuckle.

“Sorry again for the magic” Rob tapped her horn as they marched off to the change rooms together. “I’m still figuring it out myself”
“So how long has that been going on?”” Noah inquired.
“Well, I joined the proud ranks of Magical Fairy Sparkle Unicorn Princess about a month and a half ago, and ever since then the magic part has been on and off.” Rob continued “Hell, first time I moved something was when I wanted a soda from the kitchen, but didn’t want to get off the couch, I found it floating an inch away from my nose-um, snout. Complete accident”
“Sounds like you could do some serious damage if you put in a little practice” Noah offered. “I’m still getting used to the tail”
“Yeah, it’s a transitory period” Rob shrugged “Sometimes I like to think that I’ll just wake up one day back in my own skin, but I doubt that’s an option”
“Haven’t you heard about those medical trials?” Noah inquired “Apparently there are some scientific groups that are trying to find cures. Make people human again”
“I’m not holding my breath” the unicorn responded “I can’t say that I’m exactly thrilled, but I can live with this”
“Speak for yourself” Noah muttered, scratching at the underside of her bosom.
“Hell” Rob laughed as they headed into the showers “You should see my pal Arthur. Now there’s someone who took to their change like a duck to water. He was right at ground zero with me when we all changed, and now the dude can bench press a bus. Doesn’t even mind the boobs”
“I guess everyone adapts in their own way” the tiger sighed. She paused after they entered the girls change room. More than once she’d accidentally walked into the mens room without thinking, and she still felt odd about standing amongst the women as they undressed. Sure there was that perverse thrill of living out a high school fantasy, but she usually waited until she was alone before ever changing herself.
Rob noticed her new friend’s hesitance as the horse started to strip, grabbing a towel.
“You alright?” she asked.
“I’m-” Noah started. “You go ahead, I’m gonna wait my turn”
Rob figured out the details on her own and trotted off to clean herself.

Noah sat next to the lockers, listening to the sound of rushing water and the unicorn’s off-key humming.  She hesitantly tugged at the elastic waistband of her sweatpants, yanking it down and exposing the vibrant orange and black stripe pattern running down her hip and thigh. She afforded a small glimpse and grinned slightly at the sight. It wasn’t terrible by any means, and when Noah was alone, in her room, she did a lot more than just analyze her form. But in public, in front of others…in many ways Noah was still recoiling from that little strip show she had given the surrounding city block during the day of her transformation. What the hell had she been thinking? Noah wasn’t some curvaceous babe to be ogled, Noah was a programmer who liked Italian pasta and martial arts movies. He was a single, skinny white guy, trapped in the body of a tigress who just so happened to have an ass you could bounce a quarter off of.

As Noah’s thoughts then started focusing on her ass, she became aware to the oh-so familiar cramp that squeezed the base of her tail. She always stuffed the thing down her pants, and it got it’s payback for the confinement every time she sat down. She stroked the furry appendage under the cloth of her sweats. What exactly was she afraid of?
In a single, fluid motion, the Tigress grabbed at her striped tail and pulled out over the waistband of her pants, letting it sway freely in the open air. She let out a sigh, flicking it back and forth and working out all the little kinks that it had built up. That it felt so much better.
It did feel good, she thought, it felt good just to let all of this crazy, cat, girly…stuff out into the open. She looked over towards the sound of Rob cleaning herself, then down at herself. Then she started to peel her clothes off.

Rob had managed to wash most of the stank off of her body during her time in the shower and had moved on to her mane and tail. She was reaching for a bottle of shampoo when she heard the glass door leading out of the communal showers slide open and shut, permitting entrance to a svelt, but curvaceous tiger-lady. She hung her towel, the only article of cloth she had brought into the room, over a nearby crossbar and joined her new friend under an adjacent shower head.

Rob was transfixed. Despite his latest “hormonal imbalance”, Rob was still very interested in female form. In this situation he usually cheated a few sideways glances out of embarrassment, but this time he found himself scanning Noah’s nude form. She was attractive, of course, but what held her were the stripes. The orange and black sequence that ran along her back and tail, one of the animal kingdom’s most recognizable patterns, thrown across the body of a beautiful woman. Noah turned sideways and tracked Rob’s eyes.
“Problem?” she inquired.
Rob turned away in shame, suddenly feeling very naked herself. “S-sorry. I…sorry.” She stumbled out an explanation.
Noah sighed, looking down at her own body once again. “It’s okay” she smirked “Nothing you haven’t seen before…”