This is so cool! I said with a wild grin (or as close as horses can get to grinning). Still can't believe I let you talk me into this, but cool nevertheless.

See? You don't have to be in grizzly morph to have fun, Cassie informed me. You don't have to be shopping to have fun. Okay, Rachel?

Shopping is still cooler, I muttered.

Is not.

For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, Cassie and I were in horse morph. She'd talked me into it, saying that if I tried it out I could drag her to the mall. I didn't understand why we couldn't run in wolf morph, in cheetah morph, in something cool. Nooo, we had to do plain old horse morph.

But even I had to admit that this was cool. Way cool. Extremely cool.

For a non-predatory morph, that is.

We were morphing the horses we'd used to infiltrate Zone 91. We'd been running for our lives at that point, and I hadn't really noticed the thrill of it, but running in Cassie's pasture was way different.

It was just slightly more fun that running for your life from brain-stealing aliens with Dracon beams, longing for grizzly claws, wolf teeth, elephant trunk, something more dangerous. It was just slightly more fun than hearing the Visser say "Kill them, just to be sure" or whatever it was that he'd said.

Just slightly, that is.

I bet I could jump that fence, I said cockily.

Rachel, no. No, no, no. You break that fence and --

Let me have a little fun! I wailed in a piteous voice.

NO!NO!NO!NO! Cassie yelled.

It's not that --

Not that, Rachel! My dad's coming out to the pasture! He'll know we aren't normal horses, or at least that we aren't HIS horses!

That's bad, I replied. But if we jump the fence, we'll be out of --

Rachel, that fence is five feet high!

I could jump it, I muttered. To prove my point, I started galloping toward it. I could feel the stallion inside me ready to soar into the air. I could feel my powerful muscles gathering, ready to --

JUMP!

"What the!" Cassie's dad yelled, letting out a curse. I wheeled, waiting for Cassie.

Okay, so maybe you can jump it, Cassie admitted. She eyed her dad cautiously. He was holding out a halter, trying to calm down the jumpy stallion on his land.

"A stallion!" he muttered. "A stallion -- a THOROUGHBRED STALLION here on a FARM?! Did Cassie --"

Yeah, blame me.

Cassie, I seriously hope that wasn't open thought-speak.

It wasn't, okay? She sidled away, still trying to evade him. Yeesh.

Cassie reared up on her hind legs, front legs flailing. It was like a classic scene from a wild west movie -- the only thing missing was the rider.

"YAH!!"

Cassie's hooves hit the ground and she ran. She gathered herself, leaped up, and soared over the fence.

I could just hear the music playing. I mean, it was a cinematic moment.

I grinned a horse grin (or as close as they get to it). That was fun!

So, Rachel, admit it. There are things as fun as shopping.

Never! But...there are things that come pretty close.