A Man is a Horse, Of Course!
Pairings: Charles Smith x Arthur Morgan
Arthur walked through the forest, muttering angrily to himself. At first, he had no horse. He had gotten it robbed from him, and then tried to tame a wild stallion, which promptly bucked him off and ran as fast as it could. “Damn horse... Boltin’ like that...” he grumbled as he trotted along through the woods. Now, he had no horse and a sore ass.
He looked up at the tall, mysterious trees, and the sky that had turned black. He was lost, and he knew it. He couldn’t even find a road at this point. He pulled out his map and tried to decipher where he was, and how to get back to camp.
“This wouldn’t be so difficult to navigate if I had a-“
“A horse?” A mysterious voice asked. Arthur’s head shot around. There behind him was an old cabin that had vines growing over the windows, and a strange purple smoke coming from the tumbling chimney. In front of the house, stood a woman wearing a purple dress. She had silver hair, which wouldn’t have been strange, except for the fact that she looked to be about twenty years old.
Arthur looked around again. That cabin was definitely not there before. If it were, he would’ve ran straight into it. He looked back at the woman. “How did-“
“Won’t you come inside? It’s getting dark,” she spoke, “And I might be able to help you with your horse issue, too.” Her green eyes seemed to sparkle, even though there was no light to make them shimmer like they did.
“...Sure,” Arthur said as he slowly put away his map. He walked towards the strange woman’s cottage and stepped through the door. Inside, a gramophone was playing music sung in a strange language Arthur had never heard before. There was very few furniture, apart from a small round table with a purple tablecloth, and counters to prepare food on. The windows were covered by tattered curtains, and there was a bubbling pot sitting atop a large fire.
“Won’t you come sit? Dinner will be ready shortly.” The stranger asked as she walked over to the pot. Cauldron, Arthur’s mind warmed him, it’s a cauldron. And yet, despite all the warning signs, he sat at her table.
“Might I have your name, sir?”
“Uh... Arthur,” Arthur answered hesitantly, “And yours, ma’am?”
“My name is not important, Mr. Morgan.”
Uh oh! Uh oh! She knows your last name! She shouldn’t know your last name! You never told her what it was! His mind warned him.
“So tell me, Mr. Morgan,” the woman poured him a glass of whatever liquid was in the cauldron and set it down on the table for him, “How badly do you need a horse?”
“U-Uh.. P-Pretty badly... But if you could just give me directions to Valentine, that’d be just as-“
“Valentine? I’ve never heard of a town named Valentine.”
“Well, if you could just tell me where we are-“
“Won’t you drink what I made? It’s a special family recipe, Mr. Morgan. It’s a recipe that’s very special to my family.” Arthur found himself raising the mug of the strange black liquid to his mouth, and drinking it. It tasted like tar, and burned as it slid down his throat, but he couldn’t seem to stop.
“A horse is what you need, Sir. A horse. Because, why, a horse is a horse, of course, of course,” The woman continued. As she spoke, Arthur found himself pouring the tar down his throat faster. “A horse is a man, too. A man is a horse, of course! Of course, a horse is a man and a man is a horse! Of course! Of course! A horse is a man and a man is a horse! Of course! Of course!”
Arthur’s mind began to dizzy with the woman’s words. As he finished his drink, his vision started to fade to black, and the last thing he heard was the woman say “A man is a horse! Of course! Of course!”
Arthur’s vision slowly started to fade back in. “What the.. hell happened...?” He sat up and looked around, “Nah, nah!” He cried as he recognized the familiar burnt trees that were near horseshoe overlook, “Crazy bitch got me back, but... how?” He stood up and immediately felt sick, and fell back over. He was feverish, and his legs hurt like hell. He groaned and crawled over to the shade of a tree and laid underneath it.
“Just wait it out, you idiot... wait it out,” he told himself. It’s probably whatever poison that girl gave me... He thought as he faded back into unconsciousness.
He laid under that tree for three days. It rained one of the days, and he still didn’t wake up. What did wake him up, however, was the familiar click of a camera lens. He blinked his eyes opened and looked around. A few yards away from him stood the fuzzy figure of Albert Mason.
“Mr. Mason..?” He muttered as his vision faded back in. Arthur then realized that Albert was taking pictures of him, instead of some animal.
“Arthur!” Albert yelled in shock, “My god, Arthur, that’s you?!”
“‘Course it’s me! Who else would it be?” Arthur put his hand on his head and slowly stood up. “God... my head hurts like a bitch...”
“What? Why?” Arthur opened his eyes and looked at him. He found that he was towering over the man, and was a good three feet taller than before. He looked at his legs to see that they weren’t, in fact, his legs. Or at least his old legs.
What the were was the body of a horse. Arthur’s eyes bulged out of his head and he shrieked so loud, birds flew out of the trees.
He began to panic and hyperventilate. His hooves dug into the ground as he tried to get away from them. “H-How?! What?! W-Why?!”
“It.. does appear that you have the lower half of an American Mustang, Mr. Morgan.”
“WELL I CAN SEE THAT!” Arthur yelled as he stood back up and took a step towards Albert, causing Albert to yelp and covered his face in defense.
Arthur put his hands on his head and looked down at himself again. “Oh god, oh god!” He cried, “I ain’t never gonna get back to normal!”
“I-I’m sure you will, Mr. Morgan! Oh, my, your last name is now a bit of a pun, isn’t it?” Albert chuckled, “Arthur the Morgan! Or mustang, I suppose-“
Arthur suddenly heard footsteps coming from down the hill. It occurred to him that camp was right next to them. He felt his ear twitch in the direction the person was coming from. Twitch?! They twitch now?! Arthur thought, Not only did she give me horse legs but horse ears, too?!
Suddenly, the large figure of Bill Williamson came hunkering down the hill, holding a shotgun.
“Oh dear god.” Arthur said as his ears folded back. He sat down in the tall grass and tried to hide himself.
“What’s all the ruckus?!” Bill asked, “Morgan, is that you? What’re you doin’ down here?!”
Arthur slammed his hat onto his head in an attempt to hide his ears.
“You been here this whole time?! You were gone for a week! We thought you were in the Grizzlies!” Bill began to aggressively approach Arthur and Albert, “We sent Charles after you!”
If Charles goes where I did, then... Arthur’s ears folded back, and his pupils got small from fear. That fear quickly turned to anger. “You sent Charles?!”
“Well, ye-“ Bill cut himself off with a scream when Arthur suddenly stood up and started stomping towards him. “JESUS CHRIST, MORGAN! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!”
“Do I look like I know?!”
“We gotta get you back to camp!” Bill yelled as he grabbed Arthur’s neckerchief like a lead.
“What?! No! We need to go after Charles! Charles!”
A storm suddenly clouded the bright blue sky. It thundered and began to pour down a strange black rain, and purple lightning shot from the strange clouds. Arthur stared in complete horror as he heard a familiar voice chant “A horse is a man and a man is a horse! Of course! Of course!” The lightning struck a tall black tree, but did not light it on fire. It then struck the bushes next to it. Then struck the bushes again, and again, and again. The voice kept chanting.
“A horse is a man and a man is a horse! Of course! Of course!”
The lighting struck the bushes one final time, then the storm seemed to vanish as soon as it started. The clouds melted away, and the sky turned a beautiful blue again. Arthur raced over to the small group of bushes, and low and behold, there laid Charles Smith, completely unconscious.
Arthur picked him up and began to race back to camp. He needed to get him home, and fast. Maybe, just maybe, if he got him away from where the lightning touched, he wouldn’t get turned into whatever Arthur had become.
As he approaches camp, he heard one of the girls scream. “Oh my god, what is that?!”
Arthur shook his head and walked to the nearest private tent that he could fit into, which happened to be Dutch’s, put Charles down on the mattress, and tied the curtains shut. He sat down by the man and watched him. But outside of the tent, he heard the gang congregate around them.
“What’s he done with Charles?”
Arthur shook his head and tried to push all of their voices away. It was almost like a primal instinct that he had to stay with his friend. Charles needs me. He needs me. He needs my help. He heard a new voice tell him.
His ears twitched and pointed towards Charles, who was starting to stir from hours of sleep.
Charles’ eyes opened a bit. He looked around, then at Arthur himself. “Arthur...?” He spoke quietly, “What happened to you..? Why does everything hurt so badly...?”
Arthur shushed the man gently, and placed his hand on his. “It’s alright, Charles... I’ll explain everything, just sleep...” he patted his hand. Charles nodded and faded back into unconsciousness. Arthur sighed. He knew he couldn’t save Charles. They were both going to suffer the same fate. At least I’ve got someone to go through this with me, Arthur thought.
The voices outside became louder. Arthur stood up and walked towards the tent flap and slowly untied it. He stepped outside and onto the wooden planks Dutch uses as a podium for himself. The gang silenced themselves and stared at the man. Arthur tried to keep his head, but he was on the brink of screaming and crying and loosing it all.
“So, I guess you all have a lot of questions,” Arthur said to everyone, “I’ll try to give what answers I can...”
“How did this happen to you..?” Tilly asked him. She looked up at him with her big, innocent eyes, and she looked sad and scared.
“I’m not even too sure of what happened... I was in the Grizzlies, up near Roanoke Ridge, when I got jumped by some fellers who stole my horse. I ended up lost in the middle of the forest, when this... weird girl showed up. She took me into her house, and started saying all these chants. She made me drink something, then I blacked out and wound up near the burn like this...”
“What about Charles? Dutch sent him up to the same place, what’s wrong with him?”
“Charles got caught by the same lady I did...”
“Most likely...” Arthur paused and sighed. He took off his hat and held it in his hands, fiddling with the brim of it so he could avoid looking at everyone.
“He’s...” Arthur choked up, “He’s probably gonna end up like me...”
“Oh, poor Charles...” Mary-Beth said. Arthur nodded with her and sighed again.
“I... I need to go somewhere private...”
“Dutch ain’t here right now, he’s in Valentine with Micah,” Hosea said, “You can use his tent until he gets back, Arthur.” Arthur nodded to thank him, then walked back into the tent and tied the flap shut.
The gang stayed close to the tent, trying to see what was going on inside. Grimshaw shooed them all away when they got too close.
Around sunset, Charles began to glow. As in, glow. It was better than what Arthur had been expecting, which was shifting into whatever he now was by breaking and multiplying bones and growing fur. Something told him that Charles got off easy in the transformation department.
Charles’ eyes fluttered open and he looked at Arthur. He then instantly screamed, which Arthur had never heard or expected Charles to do.
“What happened to your ears and legs?!”
“And...” Charles looked down at himself, “AND MY LEGS!”
Arthur grabber Charles wrists. “Charles, please! Calm down!” Arthur told him, “I’ll explain everything if you just calm down! O-Or.. everything I can...”
Charles nodded a bit. “Okay.. okay, I’m calm... everything’s okay...”
“Okay, good...” Arthur slowly let go of his wrists and took his hands instead.
“Explain what happened..” Arthur nodded. He told Charles about how he had gotten lost, and how the woman found him. How she had made him drink the potion and cast a spell on him, then sent him back to the heartlands and turned him into this, and then how Charles had had the same thing happen to him.
“I’m... real sorry, Charles... If I had just walked past that woman instead of going into her house, you’d be-“
“All alone in this situation. And you’d still be lost in the Grizzlies.”
“Well, if it weren’t for me, you’d still be normal...”
“It’s not your fault, Arthur. That woman did this, not you,” Charles reassures him, “and I’m not even sure she was a woman. She might’ve been some trickster god or devil.”
Arthur chuckled a bit. “You’re most likely right... but what are we gonna do now?”
“I don’t know... but we’re gonna figure this out, okay Arthur?” Charles looked into Arthur’s eyes.