Author's Note: An ongoing story requested by one of my readers.
*****
Bright lights faded in and out around Mia. They were blurry, unfocused, but she could tell they came in long strips. Loud bangs and shouting voices echoed in her eardrums, though the ringing in her ears refused to let any words through. She couldn't smell anything but copper, intermixed with the sharp odour of bleach. Her mouth was awash in a flavour that made her want to vomit, however that was impossible. There was something on her face, yet she couldn't tell what it was.
Then everything went dark for a long time.
Mia's eyes shot open. She ran a hand through her sweaty hair with a groan, then glanced at her alarm clock; 6:42AM. School wasn't for another two hours. Another groan preceded a disgruntled nicker as she stood up, hooves clicking on the hard, linoleum floor of her government funded home. Even after all those years, she was still adjusting to the way her body moved.
Lights clicked to life around her as she entered her spacious bathroom. Her coat could do with a good wash after that dream, though it was more akin to a flashback. Mia pulled off her shirt, sighing softly when her breasts bounced into freedom. Had she been a normal human, they would have netted her several boyfriends already. As a centaur, however, most were intimidated or freaked out by her appearance.
Not that she could blame them. Mia paused in front of her mirror, one large enough to reflect her inhuman body. After an accident when she was on the cusp of womanhood, she was left completely paralysed from the waist down and orphaned. The details of the incident were hazy, the best explanation being a serious car crash. Mia never experienced being a paraplegic, though.
Without any known relatives or guardians to contact for permission, she was given an experimental - highly experimental - transplant. For reasons that were still unknown to her, her bottom half was replaced by that of a horse. But not a mare as it should've been, given Mia's obvious gender before. It was a stallion's body, which complicated several matters for the young girl.
The most obvious was having to learn to walk. Through means that went over Mia's head, her body had acclimated almost perfectly to the equine. Her nerves, muscles, blood, cartilage and so on were all connected. The stallion had been young, a near equal for Mia's own age at the time. Walking came quickly thanks to an expert physiotherapist. Living with two sets of hormones pumping through her, however, was another matter.
No matter what the hospital and specialists tried, her bodies were at war with one another. At least for most of her teenage years. In the end, she could argue that the benefits spoke for themselves. Mia shook her head as she glanced down at her lower half's reflection, noting the heavy sheath that bobbed and swayed beneath her second belly.
She put most stallions to shame in that respect, while her upper body did the same to human women. Mia tore her eyes away and walked into her specialised shower stall, the water jets activating shortly afterward to douse her in warmth. The perks of having an unauthorised surgery performed on her was that she became an invaluable research subject, as such they paid for her living expenses and made sure she was content. In return for several monthly tests.
Aside from being the first centaur, Mia's life was relatively normal. She finished high school with decent grades, managed to get accepted into her college of choice, and even managed to get a few friends who didn't treat her as a novelty. For a time, she was famous simply for existing, then the fame wore down and she became a spectacle, but not one that caught everyone's eye anymore. Of course, there were always going to be people who tried to shame her for something of her control.
Mia grunted as she tried to fit her bra. Her breasts were unnaturally perky on their own, barely sagging enough to stave off the accusations that they were fake, but a she preferred to wear the undergarment. It was comforting for her to use something meant for humans. Though, now, it tried hard to remove that comfort by constricting the life from her bosom. Mia grunted and gave up, letting it fall to the floor.
"Must've shrunk," she decided and grabbed a newer set, but met the same results, "Or maybe not." Mia sighed, hands moving to weigh her abundant bust. The mounds felt almost impossibly heavier, enough that most women would brush it off. Mia, on the other hand, had to notify her doctors of the change. If her body was still developing, then they needed to know.
Mia eventually managed to locate a bra that wouldn't bite into her breasts. It was still uncomfortably tight, but she could ignore it. The centaur tugged a shirt on, grimacing at how taut the fabric stretched around her chest. It barely reached where her hips merged into her fur. She didn't have to cover her lower half, since it was technically considered an animal. Though Mia had caught more than a few girls glancing at her sheath.
Next came her favourite part of her day; the journey to her campus. Mia lived on a piece of farmland, made with the intent of allowing her plenty of freedom and exercise, though it put her several miles away from her college. She didn't mind. There was a straight path leading toward it, one that she had pounded into the ground herself. She made sure her bag was secure and took a long breath of the open air.
With her lungs full and her mind focused, Mia quickly built into a powerful gait. Her hooves slammed into the dirt below, overriding her past imprints. The wind caught her long hair, casting it behind her like a neon pink cloak, and rippled through her fur. Freedom was the best way she could describe the sensation.
Her muscles pumped in harmony to propel her forward at speeds few humans could experience. The rise and fall of her breasts made her more than aware of gravity, but her legs all but ignored it as they galloped across the earth. Mia's hoof falls turned from dull thuds into sharp cracks against the concrete as she entered civilisation. She slowed down to a gentle trot, sighing in dismay.
"Cheer up, Mia," an optimistic voice dictated, its speaker coming to sling an arm over the centaur's flank, "You can run whenever you want, right?"
"Yeah," Mia exhaled, her breath barely affected after her exertion, "But still..." She turned back to look at Annie, her friend since freshman year.
"If it helps, I could show you another exercise, wink, wink," said another voice. This time, they approached from the front and laid two hands upon Mia's breasts, fingers squeezing rhythmically, "I'll never get tired of these." They sighed and winked at the centaur.
"Quit it, Keira," Mia shuffled back, escaping the perverted grasp of her other friend.
"Yeah," yet another voice entered the fray, this one deep and heavily accented, "Not like you could handle her anyway." It teased, the new arrival stepping into view. Rhona, a British native with Jamaican heritage, grinned teasingly at Mia, who sighed in response.
"Guys, I told you before, I'm just not looking for any relationships right now."
"We know," Annie said, patting Mia's rump soothingly, though her fingers lingered longer than Mia was comfortable with. Particularly since Annie was the only that didn't flirt with her.
"Doesn't mean we can be friends with benefits, right?" Rhona winked, puckering her lips at the centaur. Mia rolled her eyes at the display and moved around the foreigner. The other three quickly moved to walk on either side of her, keeping pace despite her longer steps.
"Did you get taller?" Keira inquired, comparing their height. She only came up to Mia's shoulder now, though she swore that she was level with her chin just a week ago.
