Tod was feeling disgruntled. Simba was back and this time he had a horse tail. He had horse forelegs too but he didn’t care about them. Tod didn’t hate Simba. In fact, he found the competitions he would end up in with the lion fun, most of the time. Besides, if he won, it would bring Simba back down to Earth, at least for a day. Simba had fun with Tod too. He liked trying to one-up and show that he wasn’t all talk.
Tod couldn’t understand it but whenever Simba had a horse tail, he was more insufferable than ever. He had seen horses before. Sure, they were big and could run fast but they weren’t fluffy. Not like him.
The rules and stipulations for their competitions changed with each visit and were pretty much made up on the spot. Simba with his horse tail would try to make it all about style.
Tod was looking forward to an afternoon nap when he heard clop, clop, clop coming towards him. “Here we go,” he groaned.
“Hi, Tod,” said Simba, cheekily, “Notice anything different about me?”
“Hm, let’s see… You got an oversized brush stuck to your butt?”
Simba was indignant. “No, it’s an awesome horse tail.” And he ran in front of Tod to show it off.
“Sure, it’s got long hair but you’ll never run fast enough to make it stream behind you.”
“I don’t need to go fast. It’s… magen-tic enough on its own.”
“Well, it’s not as, uh, magnetic as my tail. Yours isn’t even fluffy.”
“Who needs fluff?”
Now it was Tod’s turn to be indignant. “Who needs fluff?! Everybody needs fluff!”
“I never have and I’m still way more awesome than you. Especially with my horse tail.”
Tod harrumphed and walked away, swaying his fluffy tail as he went. “That Simba gets a new tail and he thinks he’s hot stuff. Well, if he thinks he can out-style me, I’ll just out-horse him.” That’s when he realized he didn’t even know how Simba got his horse tail. Transformations were often a key part in Tod and Simba’s competitions but the fox rarely initiated them himself. He didn’t really know how.
Tod ventured deeper into the forest and found an unfamiliar outcropping of rocks. He was still in the mood for a nap and figured it was as good a place as any. He settled down and closed his eyes, wondering how to out-horse Simba.
“Two…”
Tod was roused from his slumber by, what sounded to him like, a hissing whisper. He shook himself fully awake and looked around to see who or what was making that sound. “Hello? Who’s there?” Tod couldn’t see anyone and no one replied.
There was one place it could’ve come from. Within the outcropping. Tod swung round and trying to sound brave said, “Simba, if that’s you trying to scare me…” But there was no one there. Just a shallow pool of water. Well, it would be more apt to call it a wide hole with water in it.
Tod couldn’t recall seeing it before. Then again, he wasn’t really paying attention. Curiosity got the better of him and he slowly walked up and looked into it. Despite how little water was left, it still reflected him perfectly. Tod smirked and struck as horse-like of a pose as he could.
“If Simba thinks having a horse tail is so awesome, imagine how awesome I’d be if I had a horse body.” He blinked and instead of his own reflection, there was the image of a horse in the water.
“Gah!” Tod scrambled back, he wasn’t expecting that. Much more cautiously than before, he walked up to the water. There was still the image of a horse where his reflection should’ve been. With a trembling paw, he tapped the water. When his paw started to tingle, he pulled it away, swiping to the side as he did.
As he swiped, the image changed. It was now that of a cow. Tod’s curiosity returned to him. Careful not to keep his paw too long in the water, he swiped again, the image changed to a deer. And again, a bunny. And again, a zebra. And again, a raccoon.
Tod swiped in the other direction until he reached the image of a horse. “What is this?” he asked out loud.
“Change…” The hiss returned. It seemed to be coming from the pool itself. Tod froze in fear, just for a moment. Then he thought about what the hiss had said.
“Change… Wait, will this give me a horse body?”
“Head…” said the hiss as if to answer his question.
“Head. So I have to hold the paw on the horse’s head?” Tod didn’t get an answer that time. He gave a cheeky smirk, it was worth a try. “Simba, prepare to meet your match!” He checked to make sure he would be touching the horse head then closed his eyes and dipped his forepaws in the water. If he had been looking down, he would’ve noticed that, in his excitement, he swiped to the side. Just a little but it was enough for the water to register.
The tingling returned to his paws. It went up his body until it reached his head. The hiss came again, much more intensely. “CHANGE…!”
Then suddenly, the hissing stopped. The tingling faded away from Tod. He blinked a few times and realized he wasn’t in the cave anymore. Instead, he was in an open field. There was a house and a barn in the distance to the right and a fence with trees on the other side to the left. He was surprised and felt disoriented for a moment. It didn’t help that he was piloting a new body.
“I must be where the horses are,” he thought. Many thoughts ran through his head. “It must’ve worked!” “I hope I can find Simba again.” “I would’ve thought I’d be taller.” He shook his head. “I can worry about that later. Time to check out my new body.”
Tod looked down at where his paws would’ve been, expecting to see hooves. He did have hooves but they weren’t horse hooves like he was expecting. “Huh?” He looked over his body. He had scruffy white fur over his slightly pudgy body. He wasn’t built like a horse at all. Like he had noted before, he was much smaller than a horse. Most disappointing of all, he didn’t even have a long flowing tail. He had a small, dinky tail with the same scruffy fur.
Tod was beginning to panic. Something had gone wrong. He needed to see his reflection just to make sure. He saw a water trough nearby and walked over to it as fast as he dared. Well, “walked”, it was more like he stumbled. He wasn’t used to his hooves, his legs or even his body. Nevertheless, he did make it to the trough and his reflection confirmed his worries. While he still had his fox head, he didn’t have the body of a horse. He was a-
“You silly goat!” came a voice.
Tod looked up. A horse was coming towards him and it looked stern. He backed away nervously, kneading the ground as he did. “S-stasy back! I’m telling you now…”
The horse, still with a stern look, was confused. “What? You don’t honestly think I’m going to hurt you, do you?”
“I, um, well, he-!” Tod’s mind was racing.
“I knew the farmer had brought in some new goats,” said the horse, “but I wouldn’t have thought you were new-new.”
“N-new goat?” asked Tod as the horse walked up behind him.
“No matter. We all have to begin somewhere and you’re starting on cropping duty with Buddy. Now, go on! Git!” With a mighty shove with his head, the horse got Tod moving. Tod was in a state of shock and thought it best to do what the horse said for the time being.
Tod got more confident with his body with each step he took, though it was very wobbly at the start. He looked up at the horse who had taken the lead. Tod was envious at how gracefully he trotted along. He wished that was him right now.
The horse noticed how wobbly Tod was but chalked it up to anxiety. “New recruits,” he muttered.
At last, they reached the part of the field that needed to be cropped. The grass here was taller than any other area. Another goat was already busy cropping away.
“Wait,” said Tod, “so cropping grass means eating it?”
“Sheesh, didn’t they teach you anything?” groaned the horse.
“They never had the chance.” Tod quickly shut his mouth, realizing it probably wasn’t a good idea to back-talk the horse. Fortunately for him, the horse only sighed.
“To crop means to trim it down. I don’t care if you eat it to achieve that. All that matters is that grass is short and even. Now get to it!”
“Okay, I’m going!” said Tod as he made his way into the tall grass. The horse seemed content with this and at last left Tod alone. “Hot head,” he muttered.
Tod reluctantly knelt his head down and took a bite of grass. He had eaten plants before but much preferred the taste and texture of berries. Still, the grass wasn’t that bad. Perhaps it was because he was mostly a goat now but he found that he could clear a row of grass quite easily.
As Tod was cropping grass, he thought he heard a rustling coming towards him. Before he could react, something butted against his head. “Ouch!” he exclaimed.
“Hah!” said a voice, “You new guys are no match for me!”
Tod looked up and saw a goat with big horns standing in front of him. “Oh, so this must be Buddy,” Tod thought. “Uh… can I help you?” he asked out loud.
“I don’t know,” said Buddy, “Maybe if you hold still.” And he headbutted Tod again.
“Ow! Will you cut that out?!”
“Oh, come on. I’m only showing you who’s boss.”
“I thought that horse was the boss.”
“Who? You mean Julius?”
“Oh, is that what his name is?” Tod thought to himself.
“Yeah, he lets me know what jobs need to get done. But between goats, I’m head goat.”
“Fine, you’re the goat’s head or whatever. Now can you please leave me alone?” Something sparked in Tod’s mind. “Goat head.” If he had a goat body, that could mean a goat could be out there with his fox body. He had to find a way back into the forest to swap back.
“Oh come on. You’re not gonna try?” said Buddy and headbutted Tod again. Tod just gave him a look that said “seriously?” The goat snorted. “You’re no fun!” he grunted.
“And you’re worse than Simba,” Tod muttered and he looked around. One of the fence boards looked more rotten than the others. Without thinking, Tod rammed into it with his head. The board buckled but didn’t move. Poor Tod felt woozy. He didn’t even know where that urge to charge came from.
The other goat had seen everything. “Ha! You might want to wait until your horns grow in, Pal!”
Tod had an idea. “Well, Buddy, I’d like to see you do better.”
“What? Charge the fence? That’s easy!”
“And so is talking. I just don’t know if I believe what you’re saying.”
“Oh yeah?! Well watch this!” With that, Buddy charged towards the fence and broke through it like it was nothing. “Ha! What do you say to that, new guy?”
All Tod had to say was “Thank you!” as he ran past. He disappeared into the forest, leaving Buddy at a loss for words.
Meanwhile, Simba was having an argument with a goat-headed fox.
“I keep telling you, kid,” said the “fox”, “I’m not this ‘Tod’ fellow. My name is Will.”
“Sure it is,” said Simba sarcastically, “Look, you really shouldn’t feel bad. Your attempt to ou-do my awesome horse tail might not have gone the way you thought but that doesn’t mean-”
He broke off as a fox-headed goat ran past them. “Hi Simba! Hi goat with my body!” said Tod and he was gone.
The goat-headed fox gave Simba a knowing look. Simba smiled sheepishly. “Uh, heh heh… What did you say your name was?”
Tod was running in circles, trying to find something that would lead him back to the outcropping. At last, he heard a faint yet familiar hiss.
“One…”
“Aha! There you are! I hope” Tod ran in the direction of the hiss. Sure enough, he found the same outcropping and the same hole with water in it. There was much less water in it now but Tod didn’t stop to think about that nor did he really notice.
He swiped the water frantically, trying to find his body. He saw an image of a fox and an image of a goat but there wasn’t an image of a goat head on his body. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do to get his body back. His swipes became less frantic and finally, he stopped altogether while he considered his options.
He had stopped swiping the water on the image of a horse. Tod remembered the reason why he used the pool in the first place; to try to outdo Simba and his horse tail. He still could. He could do it right now, if he wanted to.
“I don’t know…”
“Change…” came the hiss.
Tod thought back to Julius and his commanding presence. Someone like that could put even Simba in his place. That thought alone was enough for Tod. He was gonna do it. Once he figured out the right way to get his own body back, he’d make everything right again, anyway. So, why not?
With his eyes shut with anticipation, he plunged his hooves into the water. One again, he felt the tingling sensation go up his forelegs. This time, it went along his body and concentrated in his tail. The intense hiss returned. “CHANGE…!”
The hiss faded gradually this time, as opposed to immediately. It faded along with the tingling sensation throughout Tod’s body. Tod opened his eyes expecting to be somewhere else. To his surprise, he was still in the cave. At least he thought he was. Everything else looked the same except that there was no more water in the hole.
“What?” Tod tried to swipe where the water had been but all that did was shift the dirt. That’s when he realized something else. He was shifting it with a goat hoof.
“What?!” Tod’s heart sank. He was still a goat. He tried shifting the dirt in the hole, hoping for something to happen. But nothing was happening. “No, no! I don’t get to try again?!”
Tod covered his head with his forelegs. He would have never tried to swap with a horse if he knew he only had one more shot. Was he going to be a goat forever? Would he have to live on the farm with Julius and Buddy? All he could do was breathe with the questions dancing in his head.
As he listened to the sound of his own breathing, he picked up on another noise. A dripping noise. He opened one eye and saw a steady dribble of water slowly dripping into the middle of the hole. Tod stood at attention now, focusing on the water. He could’ve sworn that words were coming from every drop.
“Sev… Ven… Days…”
Before Tod could think about what that meant, he heard another noise getting louder and louder. clop, clop, clop. “Julius?” was Tod’s first thought. It wasn’t Julius.
“TOOOOOD!” Simba yelled crossly.
Tod turned and saw Simba and the goat-headed fox just out from under the outcropping. He still had his horse hooves but instead of a nice, flowing horse tail, he had a small white goat tail.
“Tod, what did you do?!” asked Simba.
“What did I do?” asked Tod, trying to stifle a laugh.
“You know what you did! Not only did you steal Will’s body-!”
“Hi, I’m Will,” said the goat-headed fox.
“-you also stole my awesome tail!”
Tod stared then he looked behind himself and saw that Simba was right. He now had Simba’s familiar horse tail. That would explain why Simba now had a white goat tail. His goat tail. Will’s goat tail?
“I’m so sorry, Will,” said Tod, “I wasn’t trying to ‘steal’ your body and I wasn’t trying to ‘steal’ your tail, Simba. I was trying to get my own when I stole- I mean! When I accidentally swapped with Will by mistake.”
“And now you’ve ended up with my tail by mistake too?” asked Simba.
Tod thought for a moment. Then he began to laugh. “I guess I did!” he turned around to show it off. “I can see why you like it so much, Simba. In fact, I think it suits me much better!”
“IT DOES NOT!”
Tod wasn’t listening, he was just wagging his new tail. Slowly at first then faster and faster.
“Easy there, boy!” called Will, “That thing can snap like a whip!”
“Wait, it can?”
“Yes, it can,” concured Will. Tod stopped wagging after that. “Now are you going to tell us how this all happened or what?”
Before Tod could gather his thoughts, they were once again interrupted by a slow methodical clopping sound. A large shadow loomed over the three of them. “Oh no,” said Tod.
“You…!” said a familiar stern voice.
“Julius!”
The huge horse towered over Tod, Simba and Will. “You have been a real pain in my side today! I will not tolerate you abandoning the farm like that! Either you come back with me right now or-!” Julius stopped. He looked at Will who certainly had the head of a typical goat. Yet Tod had been the new recruit at the farm earlier that day. “Wait a minute. What the heck?”
“I think I can explain,” said Will, “You see, I’m supposed to be your new recruit.”
“Yeah, and my head ended up on his body by mistake,” added Tod.
“Like how I ended up with his tail while you got my awesome one,” grumbled Simba.
“Not the time, Simba!” hissed Tod.
“Oh, shut up!” neighed Julius. The trio subsided into silence. “Look, I’m not gonna pretend like I know what’s going on. What I do know is that the farm is currently down a goat. I don't know which one of you that’s really supposed to be so you will live and work on the farm until we can sort this out.”
“Wait,” said Tod, “does that mean-?”
“That’s right! Now y’all move out!” Julius used his head to shove Will and Tod into motion. Both knew it probably wasn’t a good idea to defy him and compiled. Simba snickered as Tod started to leave.
He stopped when Julius turned to him. “You too, kid.”
“What? Me?! I’m not a goat.”
“Your tail says overwise.”
“That alone can’t make me a goat.”
“Listen, I’m not taking any chances. You have the tail of the goat that’s meant to be on the farm. Now get moving!”
Simba harrumphed. “Well, that’s not going to happen.” Julius tried to shove Simba into motion. Try as he might, the lion just wouldn’t go.
“Simba, I think you’d better listen to him,” said Tod. Simba rolled his eyes. “I'm serious. You heard what Will said about whipping horse tails.”
Simba looked back at Julius. He posed ready to whip his tail at him. “I really don’t want to have to do this,” said the horse.
Simba gave in then and walked alongside Will and Tod back to the farm. Julius kept an eye on them the whole way. “So, how long do you think until we ‘sort this out’?” asked the lion.
“Based on this fella’s attitude,” said Will, “not until we’re back to normal.”
“And how long will that take?”
Tod gave it some thought. He suddenly remembered. “I think I know. I think it’ll be seven days.”
“Seven days?!” exclaimed Simba, “I have to be a goat for seven days?”
“So do I,” replied Tod.
The lion sighed. “Well, If I’m gonna be a goat, I’m gonna be a better goat than you!”
Tod whipped his head at Simba. “What? You? You only have a goat tail. I have a whole body.”
“And I’ll still be ten times the goat you ever could be.”
“Simba, I’ve seen what goats can do and you can’t do that.”
“Well, just sit back and see just what I can do!”
Will sighed. This was going to be a long week.
