So this is sort of a parody. But it's also a serious attempt at writing a girl-in-middle earth-cliche. It was also a result of a writer's challenge. The challenge being:

"Write a story where the protagonist is in the form of an animal, but with a human mind."

I suppose I could have done this in the fashion of Black Beauty, but where is the fun in that? So I gave myself some restrictions under the guise of realism...or some such notion. Since human minds can't understand animal speech this presents a problem. As does the fact that being an animal means the protagonist can't make human sounds so can't use human speech.

And I swear none of my other AN will be this long, if there are anymore... I just felt the need to clarify.

Disclaimer: if you recognize it as part of Tolkien's genius, it's not mine.

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The first thing she noticed was sensation. The dampness of the grass, wet from a recent rain, lay unpleasantly under her body. She was already cold and wet, though why she couldn't guess. Where was she and how did She get there? Weak muscles rippled under her skin in an unfamiliar way as her mind tried to process everything. They were definitely not the familiar lean muscles built up from years of horseback riding and other adventurous undertakings. Her body twitched, fighting the instinctual panic at being tossed into the unknown. Then came the realization that there wasn't anything against her skin besides the wet grassy ground and a gentle, if a bit chilly, breeze. How did she end up naked? Was this one of those dreams where you had to give a presentation for school but everyone was laughing because you were in your underwear? Her limbs flailed about, bending in ways shrine they shouldn't be able to buy didn't hurt as she momentarily panicked.

How did she get here? Was she kidnapped? Drugged? Were they still here? All of these questions and more ran through her head.

Drugs, perhaps some kind of sedative or paralytic, could account for her body's weakness and maybe the unfamiliarity? She had noticed her sense of smell was much better then it should be. Was that also a result of some drug cocktail? The smell of fresh green grass after a heavy rain dominated her senses. She could also smell some kind of flowers on the breeze. Not knowing or caring enough about flowers to be able to identify more then the basics. Herbs and edible plants were another matter entirely though.

Perhaps, now would be a good time to try the more reliable sense of sight, her rational mind supplied her, Logic and reason, her dear estranged friends. So She opened her eyes, slowly, not wanting to tip anyone off anyone who might have less then pleasant intentions if they were still about.

Her eyes blinked against the brightness of the sun, which had the nerve to be shining right in her eye as she lay on the ground. Her vision was off too. She could clearly see the waving branches of trees directly over head with the brightness of the sun peering between the the canopy. She could also see grass which was odd. She should be only able to see one thing and that was whatever she was facing.

So she was in a forest, somewhere. At least it wasn't nighttime. Who knew what predators hunted here. But why was her vision so odd? Like looking in different directions at the same time. When focusing ahead of herself, looking forward, she could see the trees at the edge of the clearing or small meadow she appeared to be in. Although there seemed to be a blind spot directly in front of her nose. In fact, even trying to go cross-eyed she couldn't see her nose.

At least it didn't appear that she needed glasses anymore.

Next logical step was to try and get up off the ground and dry off. So that's what she did next. Or tried to would be a better description. She rolled over so she was on her stomach even as her limbs splayed about in all directions. She stuck one arm awkwardly in front of herself, not even thinking about hands or how she couldn't feel her fingertips spread against the earth. She tried to turn my head sideways to look around one last time... Except her neck was stiffer then it should be*. Had something happened to her body? Had it been broken somehow? Except she could still feel and nothing appeared to be in pain. Perhaps it was because of however long she had laid there on the ground, it could just be very bad muscle stiffness she told herself.

Her body felt so foreign to her as though it were really someone else's mass that she was steering like a puppeteer does a puppet. She ignored it for the time being, putting it off for tomorrow like the character in a certain well known book.

She had tried to move her head side to side but not up and down yet. So that seemed to be a thing that would be good to know. Okay, neck works to some extent. Next try the head, as she jutted her chin out and up like some stuck up princess and then tucking it down to her chest.

If she had been a cartoon character her eyes would probably be bulging out of her sockets from surprise. For when she saw what was in her current line of sight it wasn't anything she had expected.

She had been expecting an arm, preferably her own, and still attached to a hand and a shoulder. But what she saw was definitely not a hand, an arm, or any other human bit of anatomy what with it being covered in a fine layer of bright copper coloured hair. Like a brand new penny ending in black at the knee and a solid dark hoof.

A hoof.

What the hell was happening to her? She thought before panicking. My body making strange noises. She moved the foreign limb in her vision.

Okay, so she was now somehow a horse. How was entirely irrelevant. Unless there was a way to reverse it... She grasped at that thought. Was there? Could she find it? Why a horse? Even if reincarnation was real, which she didn't believe it to be, weren't you supposed to loose your memories of a previous life? Something about starting anew or some such shit. And she thought that she had read somewhere on the Internet that humans usually reincarnated as humans...

Okay, she tried to calm myself. Panicking, no matter how justified or reasonable a reaction given the situation, was not helpful. First she had to figure out how to stand. She dreaded the process ahead. The last thing she wanted right now is to begin her close acquaintance with the ground. She knew from years of bratty horses and certain bad habits how much fun it was to for the ground to reach up for a hug like a clingy boyfriend. Sometimes the ground even succeeded, and much like the clingy boyfriend drove all the air out of ones lungs while simultaneously trying to acquaint ones ribs with their spine.

She could do this, how many times had she seen horses do this anyway. It didn't seem so hard. Stretching her legs ahead and tucking her back end underneath her she prepared for success. Okay, that's step one down. I heard a nicker beside me so I turned my head to look, using my whole neck like a horse would and not just the top but like a human. I felt proud of myself for remembering that.

That must be the mother, my mother now she supposed Damn that horse was tall, either that or she really was just that tiny. Was that supposed to be encouragement?

Gods, She hoped that she was still a girl. What a weird thought but a perfectly valid worry considering how she was now a horse when last she knew she was definitely human.

She tried to remember the mechanics of a horse as it got up off the ground. She had certainly spent enough time watching them but seldom did she have need to ponder the actual mechanics of movement beyond training.

Okay, front feet in front was as good a start as any, she thought to herself as she flailed about into position. Once she got her spindly legs ahead of her body she then attempted to push up with her back end and...

Plop.

Okay, so maybe she needed practice. Preferably not any more in catapulting herself face first in the ground.

Round two. Try again. Legs ahead, check. Push up...

And over...

This time sideways.

At least she wasn't repeating the same mistakes, just making new ones. Which really weren't any better in results anyway.

Try again, third times the charm.

Legs ahead. Obviously that wasn't quite correct as she had fallen both times trying that same approach. So new approach, she spread them apart a little bit wider for balance.

And up...

Success.

Okay she could do this, she thought moving one foot forward... And was sent promptly flailing sideways as she was thrown of balance. She was beginning to look like Bambi when the Disney character first started to stand. It wasn't exactly a pleasant comparison. She did however manage to catch herself, a good thing because the whole falling thing was getting old. She had to remember that she had four feet to balance now, not two. Which didn't bode well for her future as she had gotten into enough trouble as a human with only two feet to worry about.

Try again...

Hell yeah!

She managed to walk a few steps forward. This time without staggering around like a drunken college frat kid. She could feel her ears involuntarily pricking forward and found it was possible to swivel them around to hear sounds better. Those weren't muscles she was well acquainted with as humans (with the exception of a few who may arguably be closer to monkeys) weren't generally able to move their ears at all.

Of course... Being distracted didn't help her coordination any as it took concentration away from what her new legs were doing. With a rather predictable result when they became entangled. Definitely starting to resemble that scene from Bambi now...

Getting up was easier this time now that she knew how to do it right. Her sarcastic side claimed she would get much more practice in the future no doubt.

After practicing it became effortless to move around and she could do so without measuring each step. Much like when she was human, there was no need to think about the mechanics of walking forward. It was just something one did.

She knew though that she had delayed as much as Was possible. Time to bite the bullet... Or the teat rather, and more suck then bite. Pretty sure that her 'mother' wouldn't appreciate being bit anywhere let alone there.

When she had fed as much as necessary she went back to playing with her body... With herself... Damn it, that sounded so much worse then it was actually meant to be.

What she meant was learning her body's new limits. She knew that horses were prey animals and that there were likely predators somewhere in the world who wouldn't mind a bite or two of some tasty foal flesh.

So she tore around the clearing, seeing how fast Her little body could run. How quickly she could stop, preferably without falling over. After all, in the immortal words of Sun Tzu, if you know yourself and you know your enemy you need not fear a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory won you will also suffer a defeat. But if you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will succumb in every battle. Given the odds of win, win or lose, or lose, she would choose the options that at least have her a 50/50 chance of survival. So she learned what it was to move in this body, but the novelty was wearing thin. Can she go back to being human now?

She quickly learned that She didn't get any magic language skills when she was reborn or whatever. She still couldn't speak horse any better now then when she was human. She could mimic sounds. And She knew what a few of them meant from observation over the years but if there were actual speech patterns then they would forever remain a mystery. Pity, it would have been interesting to know what went through a horse's mind on a regular basis.

It didn't take her long to notice that after a few hours of observing 'mommy' that she wasn't eating. As someone who had regularly worked with horses she knew full well that that was a bad sign. When she fell backwards trying out her new body and flailed around on her back for a moment the mare moved towards her like a good mamma should. But the mare's walk seemed stiff. She put it down to having just given birth before because she doubted being a horse made it any less painful... But despite writing it off she kept an eye on her.

She did give birth to her after all and the woman trapped in a foal's body felt she owed her that much. Even if she still preferred being human.

Okay, she was human enough to admit there was a little self preservation in there too.

She knew without her dam that she would be pretty much screwed in this tiny body. She was too young to eat grass, not to mention predators.

But throughout the night it only got worse. Twitches along the mare's body, led on to tremors and then stumbling whenever she did walk**. It seemed familiar but she had been an eventer, not a breeder so she only knew a few things here and there about post-birth mares.

Eventually the mare just fell over, her body spasming. Even though she wasn't a vet she knew enough to know that the mare wasn't getting back up. The horse was dying.

And there wasn't anything she could do about it. Even as a human she wouldn't know what to do beyond call the vet before it got that bad.

It might seem cold what she did next but ultimately she was a survivor. There was no way she was going to die in some stupid gesture. Dead was dead and dead people didn't get to feel regret. She had no intention of dying here any time soon and it certainly would if she stayed. Besides there was really nothing she could do except watch the mare die, then die shortly after.

So when the poor mare stopped flailing around from her seizure she went in for milk. Gorging herself she knew that it wasn't likely to find more anytime soon. Which meant, since she still needed milk to survive that her only hope was to find people and quickly.

When she had taken as much as she could, she stepped back, nuzzling along the mare's fallen and dying body like she had seen horses do to each other in the fields at her stables. She hoped it offered some comfort at least, as she turned and walked away.

She could see out of her peripheral vision as she walked towards the only real path out that the mare, her mother in this life she reminded herself, watched her go. With what little strength the mare still possessed she managed to lift her head enough to follow her baby's progress. But still the mare was silent, she didn't call to her. The woman in a foal's body wasn't certain if it was because her mother was so weak by now and couldn't, or if it was because on some level the mare understood her choice to survive. That mare had brought her into this world even though it meant she was a horse now instead of a human, and certainly not her first choice. But the dying mare was still the 'mother' of this body and to some extent herself. She existed now because of that mare. Since she couldn't fix anything then she would at least honour that, by living. But to do that meant she had to survive and for that she needed to find someone who could give her the milk she needed to live. Which meant either hitting up a grocery store or finding humans to bottle raise me.***

*When a horse turns their head they use the entirety of the neck to some extent or another. Humans tend to turn their head from the base of the skull, twisting it along the spine. A horse actually has to move a good chunk of the part of its spine that consists of the neck to look around.

**This is called hypocalcaemia or more commonly 'Milk Fever'. And though uncommon in horses (more prevalent in milk cows and goats) it's not unheard of.

***keep in mind that this is a human mind (soul, spirit, whatever you want to call it) inside the body of a foal. Rather then personifying an animal and giving it human qualities. An actual foal would probably stay with its dam until desperation kicked in when it couldn't get milk and was starting to die from lack of nutrition and dehydration. But humans are colder then that, and often put their own survival above others. Don't forget she still thinks of herself as 'human trapped in a horse' not 'I am a horse, with a human consciousness.' If humans will put themselves over other humans, why would she die for a horse? One that was already dying anyway? Besides, she's not a perfect being anyway.