“So, are you sure you’re comfortable in that position, Cassady?”

The 21-year-old patient was lying on the couch at the side of Dr. Cotter’s office. To the therapist’s vague surprise, she had chosen to lie on her front, her head on the armrest and turned to the side to face towards Eliza, who was now sitting in a chair directly in her field of vision. Cassady’s right arm was draped over the armrest behind her head, while her left arm dangled over the side of the chair. She smiled eagerly at the doctor, her eyes flicking downwards to the pocket watch that lay in her lap, tantalising her with its mere presence.

“I am,” she nodded. “I’ve always felt more comfortable lying on my front or my side. I dunno, I think maybe it’s another one of my pony things...”

“Ah, I see,” Eliza said with a nod. “Now before we begin, I have one more quick question for you, about names. I’ve found that some otherkin prefer not to use their human names to address their animal selves - two of my patients at the Farm changed their names when they began living there. Is that something that would interest you?”

Cassady’s mind raced. She had never had a problem with her name, but she had to admit that the idea of changing it appealed to her. It felt like she would be drawing a line under that part of her life, moving on from her human identity, so she could be who and what she really was.

“Yeah... I’d like that,” she murmured. Her eyes met Eliza’s. “But I don’t have any ideas about what my new name could be...”

“Well, you don’t have to pick one right now,” the therapist reassured her. “I could simply call you ‘pony’ today, if you’d be OK with that...”

“Oh yeah, that’d be fine,” Cassady said, but then bit her lip. “But, uh... Do you think you could choose my name? I mean... animals don’t really name themselves, any more than humans do. I kinda like the idea of someone else choosing my new name - especially someone who might end up being my owner...”

A quiver went through her as she said this. Her owner. She loved that. She couldn’t wait to see this Farm, to move there, to live as she was always meant to. She was a pony, and ponies had owners - or caretakers, at the very least. She had no doubt Eliza would be an excellent owner. Not only that, but the thought of being owned by her was... arousing. She blushed, pressing her thighs together, hoping the doctor wouldn’t pick up on how turned on she was.

Eliza didn’t seem to notice - which relieved Cassady and, at the same time, strangely disappointed her. She inwardly chided herself. I came here to be hypnotised, not to seduce my therapist. Get it together, girl.

“I can certainly choose a name for you,” Eliza said, smiling warmly. “As I say, some of my other patients have wanted new names, and have felt much the same way as you did - that they shouldn’t choose their own. I must admit, I’ve been thinking about names for pony otherkin since I came across my first one. I think I know what I might call you...”

“Oh, perfect,” Cassady sighed happily. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

“Would you like me to tell you now?” Eliza paused, her smile growing. “Or would you rather hear it for the first time once you’ve been hypnotised?”

Cassady considered for all of two seconds. “Once I’ve been hypnotised,” she decided firmly. “I should hear my pony name once there’s nothing in here but pony!” She tapped her forehead with an index finger.

Eliza chuckled. “Very well then. Let’s get started.”

Taking hold of the watch’s chain, she held it up above Cassady’s head, letting it dangle in front of her face. Cassady gazed at the golden timepiece, able to perceive more detail now it was so much closer - the case was decorated with dozens of twisting leaf-like shapes, although if she squinted just a bit, they looked more like little spirals... She felt some slight mental fuzziness from looking at the watch for only a few seconds.

“That’s so pretty,” she sighed.

“Thank you,” Eliza said, beaming. “It was an heirloom my husband inherited from his grandmother. He thought it’d be useful for my work - and he was right. Time and time again - if you’ll forgive the watch pun - it’s proven its ability to capture a patient’s attention, and lull them into a deep, peaceful trance.”

Cassady swallowed. She could attest to its effectiveness herself. She was already starting to feel drowsy, although her eyes remained fixed on the watch despite their increasing heaviness.

“Perhaps it has something to do with how pretty it looks, how you just want to keep looking at it, admiring it, watching it swing...” As she said this, Eliza began to swing the watch back and forth, gently at first, but picking up speed. Cassady’s eyes followed it automatically. “So pretty, you don’t want to take your eyes off it, which rather makes it an ideal hypnotic focus... Or perhaps it’s the spiral decoration, because you associate spirals so strongly with hypnosis that seeing so many of them together naturally has an entrancing effect... Or perhaps it’s the ticking, the steady rhythm underneath everything I say to you, always there, relaxing you more and more every second, ticking away the time until you drop into trance...”

“Mm,” Cassady mumbled, her eyelids drooping as she valiantly fought to keep staring at the swinging timepiece.

“Or perhaps it’s my voice, soothing you, lulling you, guiding you... Leading you into this wonderful blissful state, letting you know that it’s safe to let go and drift, reassuring you that I’ll take care of you while you’re hypnotised and make sure you have a wonderful, fun, safe experience... Or perhaps it’s your own desire to go into trance, your very decision to embrace hypnosis making it so much easier to hypnotise you... Or perhaps it’s some combination of all of these factors, working together to entrance and enthral you... You know that’s right, don’t you, Cassady? You know it’s all those things, the pretty gold watch, and the spirals, and the ticking, and my voice, and your own desire for trance, all bringing you so so deep, so so fast...”

As relaxed as she was, Cassady couldn’t manage to make the smallest sound, the tiniest noise, to confirm that everything Eliza had said was absolutely right.

“You’re doing so well, Cassady. You’re a natural at this, a perfect hypnotic subject.” Cassady felt a swell of pride, even as her mind emptied of all thought and her body turned into a dazed, mesmerised puddle. “So good at watching the watch, so good at listening to my voice and the endless ticking, so good at letting it all lead you down into a relaxed, peaceful, open state of trance... At this point, all that’s stopping you from sinking down, down, down, is that I haven’t told you to, just yet... If I were to tell you to sleep, you would instantly sleep, because you’re such a good subject, and so completely entranced...”

Cassady didn’t have enough consciousness left to agree, although she certainly would have. Her eyes had lost all focus, almost crossing beneath her fluttering lids, the watch just a golden smear in her vision now. Her jaw hung slack, drool starting to collect in the corner of her mouth, moments away from overflowing.

“And in five, you’ll sink deep, deep down... Four, you’ll be completely hypnotised... Three, in a deep state of relaxation and focus... Two, ready to absorb my suggestions into your peaceful mind... One... Sleep.”

Cassady’s eyes rolled shut, and she dropped into a deep hypnotic trance, seeing nothing, thinking nothing.

“Very good, Cassady. Deeper and deeper every second... More and more entranced and tranquil every second... More and more open and receptive every second... And you can feel me touch or move you, and that does not disturb you - in fact, it only helps you to sink even deeper...”

Cassady felt a hand take hold of her wrist and raise it, lifting her hand from where it trailed on the floor. Her arm dangled like a wet noodle, her hand flopping lifelessly as it moved through the air. As soon as Eliza let go, it dropped back onto the carpet with a thud, totally limp.

The next thing she felt was a hand stroking her hair. She inhaled sharply, sparks of joy and pleasure exploding inside her brain. Eliza was brushing her hair, petting it lovingly, just like she’d brush a pony’s hair. No-one had ever done this before - no-one had indulged her like this before. It was perfect. If she hadn’t been deeply hypnotised, she would’ve been bucking and whinnying with ecstasy.

“There you go, my dear. So relaxed, so entranced, so happy. And now, I want you to picture a stable for me, Cassady. I’m sure that won’t be difficult for you.” She was right - before the therapist had even finished her sentence, the stables where Cassady had kept her faithful companions, Hope and Delta, had sprung into her mind, vividly recreated from thousands of happy childhood memories. “You’re standing in that stable, treading on piles of hay and straw. I’m standing at your side, brushing your hair, making you feel so, so good. And you can look down, and you can see that you have a pony’s legs and hooves. Because of course you do. You are a pony, and this is your stable. Your home.”

In her mind’s eye, Cassady looked down and saw slender, bony legs, ending with pedal-shaped feet made of hard grey keratin. As they shifted on the stone, straw-covered floor, she heard them make clopping sounds, as clearly as she heard Eliza’s voice.

They were hooves. They were her hooves. She had hooves! She let out an emotional sigh, her heart swelling with pure delight.

“And now that you can see your legs, and your hooves, you can feel the rest of your body, and you know what you are.”

Sure enough, Cassady could feel downy chestnut-coloured hair coating her entire body. She could feel her face was distended, and her ears were pricking up on the top of her head. She could even feel a thick tail hanging from the back of her coccyx, draping over her butt like a curtain. A faint smile flickered across her real face, as she became more aware of her pony body by the second. She realised she’d even become a quadruped - the legs she’d seen when she’d looked down before had taken the place of her human arms, and she had two more identical back legs.

She was a pony. She’d always been a pony on the inside, and now she was one on the outside too. A joyful whinny escaped her mouth.

She heard Eliza laugh warmly. “Good girl! Feeling every inch a pony, every part of your body that of a pony, enjoying exploring that...”

The doctor gave her a few more moments to revel in her new form, before speaking again. “And now you’re aware of a weight on your back. The weight of a saddle, and sitting on that saddle, a person. There’s a person riding on your back, my love, and she’s been there all along.” The pony girl realised this was true. She had a rider. She could feel her. The thought gave her a thrill - she loved to be ridden! “But she’s been there for such a long time, now, and you’re getting very tired of carrying her. It’s past time that she climbed off, and gave you some relief.”

Cassady harrumphed. Quite right! She was exhausted from carrying this human around all day. As much as she loved to be ridden, ponies had limits to their endurance.

“You can feel her climb off you, and hear her land beside you.” The pony girl whinnied with relief - that was so much better. “She’s walking in front of you now, and when she comes into view, you can see that she’s you. You, as a human.”

The rider stepped in front of her, and the pony saw that it was indeed the human Cassady, just as Eliza had said. She snorted with confusion.

“She’s your human self, my dear. She’s your human thoughts, your human personality, your human memories. She’s the burden of your human identity, and she’s been riding on your back for all these years, weighing you down until you just couldn’t take it any longer. But now she’s climbed off, and she’s on her way out of the stable, and taking your human mind with her. As she leaves, your memories of humanity go with her, and all that remains is what you’ve always been.”

Turning her long equine head, the pony watched Cassady walk out of the stable, and felt, if anything, even better. As if an even greater burden had been lifted off her. She had no idea what that might be, but that was alright. She didn’t need to worry about such things. She was just a pony, and she didn’t need to worry, or think, about anything.

“Good girl,” came Eliza’s voice again. Her hands were still gently patting the pony’s head, making her feel so, so good - almost as good as the lifting of the burden that was Cassady. “And I’m going to count up to five, dear, and then say your name. And when I do, you will wake from trance, my sweet, happy pony. I bet you’re excited for me to tell you your name, aren’t you?”

The pony smiled blissfully. She couldn’t wait to hear her name. She’d been looking forward to getting a name for as long as she could remember. (Which wasn’t long at all, to be fair...)

“One, starting to rise... Two, feeling wonderful as you slowly awaken... Three, just a simple pony... Four, almost fully awake now...”

Her eyelids flickered. Her limbs twitched. She swallowed, feeling like she was just about to break through the surface of trance. Any second now, when Eliza revealed her name to her...

“Five... Ember.” Eliza snapped her fingers.

Ember’s eyes snapped open as she let out an ecstatic neigh. She was lying on her front on something soft and blue, raised off a floor that was a different, darker blue. She tried to get up and stand on the soft thing, but couldn’t co-ordinate her legs properly - they flailed around her like she was a newborn foal.

“Slowly, dear, slowly,” Eliza coaxed. Ember’s moment of panic passed in an instant as she realised the nice lady was right beside her. “You can do it.”

Ember trusted Eliza. She understood her. Any question of how she understood her when they were different species never entered her mind. She carefully slid her four bent legs underneath herself and pushed upwards, soon finding herself standing upright on the big soft blue thing.

“Good girl!” Eliza cheered. Ember nickered delightedly. She liked being praised.

Now, though, she had a new problem - how to get off the blue thing, and onto solid ground? She was a little too high up for her liking, and wasn’t sure how to get down without jumping. And she didn’t want to risk hurting herself. Looking around herself and frowning, she snorted and tossed her hair, stymied by the predicament.

Eliza came to her rescue. “You can climb down, Ember,” she assured her, approaching her. “I’ll help you, so you don’t get hurt. Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” And she reached under Ember’s torso, wrapping her arm around her belly, and placed her other hand on her back. Once again, Ember’s concerns faded. Eliza would keep her safe. Eliza was a good caretaker. Warmth radiated through her body from where it made contact with Eliza’s hands and arm - and the pony especially felt it between her back legs. For some reason, being looked after by Eliza was exciting her in an intimate way. As a simple pony, she had no idea what to make of that - she only knew it felt good.

She allowed herself a moment of writhing and rubbing her back legs together, and then raised one of her front hooves off the soft blue thing, lowering it towards the dark blue ground below. As she reached down, she had to lower the front half of her body into a bow. Then she followed with her other front hoof, her back legs edging forwards as she did so. With two hooves on the ground (which proved, if anything, softer than the high thing she’d been standing on before), it was easier to get her back legs down as well. She felt Eliza supporting her all the way - she wasn’t sure she could’ve managed it without her.

To her momentary disappointment, Eliza let go of her, but then gave her headpats and said, “Good girl! Well done, Ember!” As the pony whinnied, Eliza crossed the room - oh, they were inside, but not in a stable, so she didn’t know what it was - and opened a big glass sliding door that led out into an open green space. Ember’s ears pricked up, and she quickly trotted across to the glass door and stepped outside, revelling in the feeling of her hooves pressing down on the short, crisp grass.

She flicked her head back over her shoulder, looking at Eliza for permission. The brown-haired woman smiled encouragingly and nodded towards the lawn. “Go ahead, sweetie. Enjoy yourself.”

“Hh-hyy-yyy!” Ember brayed gratefully. Then she set off across the green grass.

She chose no specific direction at first, focused only on the grass on her hooves and the sun on her skin. Gradually, though, she began to circle the lawn, trotting around its perimeter again and again. She picked up speed, her body bouncing as she picked up her feet more and more.

As she neared the end of another circuit, she saw Eliza stepping out in front of her. Pulling herself to a halt, Ember gazed up at her caretaker with wide eyes. Eliza stepped close, gave her head and back more adoring caresses, and then knelt down next to her.

“Now, Ember, I want you to become aware of something special that you can do,” she said gently, still stroking the pony’s hair. It was so easy to listen to her when she did that. “I want you to realise, and remember, that you’re a very special kind of pony. A kind that can stand on two legs. That means you can run around this garden more easily, and faster. Do you remember that you can do that, Ember?”

Ember nodded. Yes, she vaguely knew she could stand up on her back legs.

“In a moment I want you to do that, and carry on running around the edges of this lawn. But you’ll have to run slowly, because I’m going to keep my hand on your shoulder the whole time. Is that understood?”

Ember gave a low whinny as she nodded again.

“Good girl. Now, since you haven’t tried standing up before, I’ll help you up.” Eliza’s arm was back on Ember’s torso, right beneath her udders. Despite never having given birth, Ember’s udders were quite large, and sensitive - particularly when her lovely caretaker’s arm was so close to them. She nickered again, rubbing them against the arm, exhaling heavily.

With Eliza’s help, Ember soon got up on her back legs, which she extended fully for the first time, using the hooves on her feet rather than the ones on her knees. (Now she remembered that she had special long legs with extra hooves, so that she could alternate between them. Her hypnotised mind easily rationalised this, just as she’d easily accepted that she could stand on two legs.)

She resumed her canter, her front legs waving in the air in front of her, her back legs reaching up high with every step. It was hard for her to slow her pace, even with Eliza’s hand gripping her shoulder - she felt like she was running in place. She found having her speed dictated to her, controlled by Eliza, oddly titillating. Not to mention, the constant, firm physical contact with her caretaker was turning her on. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d found herself in heat so quickly.

When Ember did give in to the impulse to quicken her pace, Eliza was having none of it. “Ah ah,” she chided, tightening her grasp and holding the pony back with an impressive display of strength. Ember was forced to slow down again, to stop herself from falling over backwards. She gazed at Eliza, breathing heavily through her open mouth, as she continued to trot around the perimeter of the lawn. Eliza smiled back at her, looking for all the world as if she were enjoying this as much as Ember was.

Finally, Eliza had the pony slow to a halt, and then led her inside, still holding her shoulder, though a little more gently now. She led her across the dark blue floor, and sat down on the pale blue thing, patting her lap. “Come and lie down here, my love,” she said with a warm smile. Ember giddily complied, lowering herself onto her caretaker’s thighs, feeling their warmth spread through her as she rested her head on the weird ledge on the end of the big blue thing. She felt Eliza’s hand in her hair again, soothing and exciting her in equal measure.

“Very good girl,” Eliza purred. “You’re such a good pony, Ember. I’m so very pleased with you.”

Ember’s whole body was glowing with pride, as well as arousal. Her hips were jerking a little, longing to hump her beloved caretaker.

“And every stroke of my hand begins to relax you deeper, Ember. Every caress begins to lull you back into trance. Every brush makes you sleepier and sleepier.”

The pony realised that was true - the longer the headpats went on for, the more tired she grew. Her body slumped where it lay, her muscles losing all tension, even her hips ceasing their compulsive twitching. Ember smiled sleepily, her eyelids almost shut, relishing the tender caresses.

“And all I need to do is count, five, four, three, two, one... sleep.”

With one last tiny nicker, Ember gladly sank back into deep hypnosis.

***

Heaving her eyes open, Cassady flicked hair out of her face, wiped drool from her mouth, and rolled onto her back, seeing Eliza looming over her. Though her mind was still sluggish from the after-effects of the trance, she remembered lying down on the doctor’s lap, and realised she was still there. And a moment later, she remembered everything else.

To her mortification, she burst into tears.

Eliza wasn’t alarmed - she merely wrapped her arms around her patient and held her close, cradling her as she sobbed into her burgundy top. “It’s alright, sweetheart, it’s alright,” the therapist soothed her, rubbing her back. “Let it out.”

When she’d got most of the crying out of her system, Cassady shifted back far enough to look Eliza in the face. “I - I’m sorry, I don’t know why...” she sniffed.

“It’s natural to be overwhelmed after an experience like that,” Eliza said kindly.

“That... I - it...” Cassady struggled to form the right words. Eliza didn’t rush her. “That was... perfect,” she whispered at last. “That was the best. The best.” And she cried a little more.

Finally regaining her composure, Cassady sat up straight on the couch, and wiped her eyes and blew her nose with some tissues Eliza gave her. “Thank you,” she said at last, chuckling weakly. “Tears of joy, I swear!”

“I figured,” Eliza replied, smiling wryly. She was still sitting on the couch herself, right next to her patient. “I’ve had that reaction a few times, when I’ve hypnotised otherkin. It’s understandable...”

“Yeah, I... That was the best hour of my life.” She looked Eliza in the eye, trying to convey as much sincerity as she could. She needed her therapist to understand exactly how much her actions had meant to her. “I finally got to be me - the real me, completely and totally, without any dumb human behaviour or memories holding me back. You did that for me. Thank you. Thank you.” She swallowed and blinked hard to stop herself from getting tearful again.

Eliza looked slightly emotional herself. “You’re very welcome,” she said emphatically. “I’m glad I was able to help you. And I’d be more than happy to continue helping you.”

“Yes. Yes, please,” Cassady blurted. “I want that - more hypnosis, and this Farm of yours, I want all of it. I want what I just had, forever.”

Eliza grinned at her enthusiasm. “Well, we can certainly explore that possibility, Cassady.”

The patient thought for a moment. “Ember,” she said decisively. “Please, call me Ember.”

The doctor nodded slowly. “Very well, if you’re sure!”

“I am.” She thought for a moment. “Cassady was just... who I was pretending to be. Ember is who I am.”

“I understand completely,” Eliza assured her. “I take it you like the name, then?”

“I do!” Ember nodded. “It’s really pretty. I’m honoured you chose it for me.” She sat up straighter in her seat, half-consciously trying to present herself in a deferential way towards her caretak- her doctor. A glimmer of the arousal she’d felt earlier made itself obvious to her, and she blushed.

“I’m honoured to have chosen it for you! And I’m so glad you had such a positive experience today. Based on that, you’re an excellent hypnotic subject. I can’t say I’m surprised by that - in my experience, otherkin tend to be.”

Ember beamed. “I really did have a great time. I loved it so much. And you took such good care of me - I mean, of course you did, you’re such a great doctor and you’ve got all this experience working with otherkin like me, so of course you were a great caretaker... I really loved being looked after by you and handled by you.” Realising what she’d just said in amidst the babble, she blushed furiously again, unable to meet Eliza’s eyes.

The therapist laughed lightly, without malice. “I’m pleased to hear that.” A pause. “Ember, my dear... can I ask you a question? And know that whatever you say, whatever answer you give, I will not judge you at all...”

“Um. OK,” Ember said in a small voice.

“Did you find aspects of that experience erotic?”

So she did notice. Gulping, Ember tossed her hair and finally looked Eliza in the eye again. There was nothing negative in the doctor’s face - no judgement, no mockery. She simply smiled and waited patiently for the pony girl to answer.

“I, uh... yeah. A little,” she admitted at last. “Is... is that bad?”

“No, not at all! Animals get aroused, just as humans do. Ponies have periods of heat. The difference is, they don’t feel shame about it. They don’t feel the need to hide it, or avoid discussing or thinking about it, the way most people do. They express it openly - as you did today.”

Ember felt like she might sink into the couch from embarrassment. “I, yeah, that, I shouldn’t have, I sorta... rubbed up on you,” she stammered. “I - sorry, that, sorry...”

“It’s perfectly fine,” Eliza replied, her kind smile never wavering. “As with the crying, it wasn’t the first time it’s happened. I take it in my stride at this point! Believe me, you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. You were being true to yourself, as all animals are.”

“It wasn’t just because I f-felt horny,” Ember blurted, and then felt like swallowing her own tongue for saying the word ‘horny’ out loud. “I, I... It was being around you. Not that I’m into you! I mean, I do think you’re really hot - crap, I - maybe I am into you, but that’s not why... I think it was because you were being my caretaker - basically my owner - and I was being your pony. And the tiny human piece of me still in there, it remembered that a person being owned by another person is different, and hot. And I don’t really know why I found it so hot, but I know I did...”

At this point she felt more like a puddle than either a pony or a person. She’d never discussed sexuality like this with anyone. Her few brief relationships had ended without any real conversations about such matters - she suspected the lack of deeper communication might have contributed to the break-ups, although her equine tendencies probably had a bigger role to play. Eliza’s demeanour, and her treatment of Ember, engendered trust, and the pony girl was finding it easy to open up to her, despite being so flustered. She’d never confided in anyone like this before - not her parents, not her friends, not her boyfriends or girlfriends.

“Well, I may have some idea of why you found it hot,” Eliza said. “I don’t know how much you know about BDSM, but it plays into other kinks like petplay quite a lot. Not that what you’re doing is petplay - you’re not pretending to be an animal, psychologically speaking, you are one - but it’s still relevant. It seems to me that you enjoyed being ‘owned’, and ‘handled’ - being dominated, in other words - because that lingering human part of you has that kink for submission. Of course, I could be wrong, but that’s an educated guess on my part.”

Chewing her lip, Ember nodded slowly. “I do see that. I mean, I’ve thought about it a lot - how I could live as a pony. It was all theoretical ’til today, just fantasies... but I thought about being a pony, and having an owner, and... yeah, it was really sexy.” She gazed into the middle distance, vividly recalling the many fantasy scenarios she’d dreamed up over the years. “They’d keep me in a stable, keep me fed and watered... lead me around by reins and exercise me in a field... ride on my back... have me pull carts... And they’d have to correct my behaviour sometimes, maybe, because ponies can be spoiled or stubborn, and they need firm handling to stop them getting, like, bad habits... maybe they’d use a riding crop or something...” Her cheeks reddened even further, and she laughed and buried her face in her hoov- her hands.

Eliza gave another light chuckle. “Well, I appreciate you divulging all that!”

“I’m sorry, this is, like, crossing a line, isn’t it? Talking about how hot I find this?”

“No, not at all! I did ask, after all. And as I said, you’re being true to yourself.” Eliza hesitated for a moment, before continuing, “As a matter of fact, we’ve made... provisions for some of our otherkin patients at the Farm, because they, too, sexualise aspects of living as their animal selves. So if that’s something you want to explore, if you consent to it... we could revisit that at some point, if you do come to live on the Farm with us.”

“Huh.” Ember pondered that, a smile spreading across her face. “That’s something to think about! I mean, how, what, what kinda things do you do?”

“Well, we have means of providing relief to the patients,” the doctor said matter-of-factly. “We have sexual aids - toys such as vibrators and dildos, and anything else that might be suitable. Patients can have intercourse with each other, as long as both parties consent - but they need to communicate that consent clearly to each other, and to a supervising member of staff, just so there’s no misunderstanding, and we have ways of doing that without needing to bring them out of their animal states. And, also - again, if both parties consent... the patients can, and do, have sex with staff members. Including me, and my husband.”

Ember caught her breath, her eyebrows rocketing up. “You... have sex with the patients?”

Eliza nodded. For the first time, she looked a little ill at ease, appearing to struggle to make eye contact with Ember. “It took me a while to make that decision. I won’t lie, I find otherkin as attractive as they are fascinating, and a few of my patients have expressed their feelings for me as well. But for a while, I resisted giving in to the attraction. In normal circumstances, it would be an unforgiveable abuse of my role as their therapist. Eventually, though, I came to terms with the fact that these are not normal circumstances, by any means. And that by letting go of those worries, and doing something with my otherkin patients that would be completely inappropriate with any of my other patients... I was helping them. And that’s all I want to do, most of all.” Whatever dark clouds that had been passing through her mind had clearly departed, and she was back to her normal bright, composed demeanour.

Ember had only half-listened to Eliza’s speech. She was too busy reeling from the thought of having a genuinely intimate relationship with the gorgeous woman who’d just hypnotised her - who’d given her the chance to be her true self at long last.

“I want to live on the Farm,” she declared. Her tone did not waver. For the first time since she’d arrived - actually, for the first time she could remember in recent years - she was steady, and full of conviction and resolve.

Eliza seemed to see this. “Then let’s make it happen,” she said softly. “I would suggest that you come for a visit first though, so you can have the grand tour and see how we work. Could we do that in a couple of weeks, so we can make sure our pony-related facilities are fully prepared? Two weeks on Sunday, does that sound good to you?” Ember nodded keenly. “Excellent. In the meantime, we could have another session or two here. I could hypnotise you some more, so you’re used to living fully as a pony, even if it’s only for an hour at a t-”

“Yes. Please, yes,” Ember blurted, and then grinned sheepishly.

Eliza chuckled. “Alright, then! That’s what we’ll do. There’s some other stuff we’ll also need to figure out if you’re going to come and live on the Farm...” When, Ember thought, but didn’t interrupt. “But we can discuss that another time. After this first session, all things considered, I can’t yet see any reason why it wouldn’t work out. If all goes smoothly, we could have you living there within the next two months!”

Ember didn’t answer. She simply dove towards Eliza and hugged her tightly. Laughing fondly, the doctor returned the embrace. Ember loved the way she rubbed her back in smooth circles.

With nothing else to discuss and their hour nearing its end, they booked their next session, and double-checked both of them would be available on the day of the Farm tour. Then they said their goodbyes, sharing another hug. As she exited the room, Ember looked back over her shoulder and gave Eliza a last smile of gratitude.

As she made her way out of the empty waiting room, she shot a glance at a wall mirror, taking in her appearance. Her clothes were dishevelled, her hair was a total mess, and there were grass stains on her hands and knees.

She’d truly never been happier.