Circe’s Medallion

“It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here,” Cindy giggled gleefully as she bounded through the front door carrying a small package.

“What’s here?” Robin asked as she looked up from the book she was reading on the sofa.

“Only the coolest thing ever,” Cindy replied proudly as she put the package down on the table and began to tear the paper from the package.

Her curiosity aroused, Robin put down her book and moved to stand next to her friend to see what could be in the mysterious package.

With a flourish, Cindy opened the box and removed a small golden medallion on a braided gold chain.  The medallion sparkled as Cindy held it up to the light.  The medallion was covered with strange symbols and had a pale blue gem imbedded in the center.

“Behold, the medallion of Circe,” Cindy proclaimed proudly.

“It’s beautiful,” Robin gasped as she admired her friend’s new jewelry.  “Why is it called the medallion of Circe?”

“Because it was owned by Circe herself,” Cindy answered as she stared at the sparkling crystal.

“You’ve got to be putting me on,” Robin said skeptically as she put her hands on her hips.

“No, really,” Cindy explained.  “This is the medallion Circe wore that allowed her to turn men into pigs and other animals.  With it, I’m gonna take control of a lot of problems in my life.  Not to mention making loads and loads of cash.”

“Where did you get it?” Robin asked.  “And more importantly, how much did you pay for it?”

“Internet,” Cindy replied simply as she struggled to open the clasp.  “It was a real bargain, only a thousand dollars.”

“Let me get this straight,” Robin started,  “you spent a thousand dollars of your hard earned money on a piece of jewelry from someone on the internet?”

Feeling a hurt, Cindy answered, “Well, the guys website looked really cool.  Besides, with this medallion, I can make a fortune as a stage magician or something.  I'll be able to make the money back and lots more in no time.”

Robin just shook her head in frustration.

Cindy struggled with the clasp for a minute longer before she asked, “Robin, give me a hand with this won’t ya.  I can’t get it open.”

Sarcastically, Robin replied, “I’m sure, after thousands of years, the clasp would be a bit hard to operate.”  

It took some doing, but Robin was able to open the clasp.  “What are you waiting for?” Cindy asked.  “Put it on me.  I was never any good with fastening things behind my back.”

“So that’s why you never where a bra,” Robin said jokingly as she fastened the medallion around Cindy’s neck.

“Very funny,” Cindy replied.  “Just for that I’m going to turn you into something really horrible; like a fat pig, or a cow.  Maybe a rat or even a slimy toad.”

“Ooohhh, I’m soooo scared,” Robin said, raising her hands in mock fear.

As if she was performing in front of a packed house in Vegas, Cindy closed her eyes and raised her arms above her head and proclaimed, “Oh mystic talisman from a far, turn this non-believer into slimy toad!”

When Cindy opened her eyes, she expected to see a toad where Robin once stood.  Instead, to her disappointment, the only thing that had changed was the expression on Robin's face from disbelief to a mocking smirk.

“I don’t believe it,” Cindy gasped.  “It didn’t work.  What went wrong?”

“I think it started when you got hosed out of a thousand bucks by some guy on the internet to buy a piece of junk jewelry,” Robin said as she turned to walk back to the sofa to continue reading.  “You really are an ass.”

Cindy felt a strange surge of energy flow through her body from the medallion around her neck.  She felt numb all over.  Instantly, she was aware of strange things happening.  She felt like she was moving in slow motion as she looked down to see her body changing.  Her fingers began fusing together and her fingernails were expanded and thickened into dusky gray hooves.

“What the hell is going on?” she thought to herself.

In shock and amazement she watched as coarse, light gray hairs began sprouting all over the skin on her arms.  In no time at all, her arms were covered with thick hairs.  

She then had the irresistible urge to bend forward.  It was like an unseen force was forcing her down on to all fours.  Cindy was shocked to see her arms lengthening and she bent forward.  By the time her hooves hit the floor, they were as long as her legs.  With her transformed hooves on the floor, she actually felt comfortable in this position.  Cindy didn’t realize that her hips and shoulders had reformed to better accommodate her changing body.

Cindy watched helplessly as her body began to expand.  To her, it looked like her body was blowing up like some strange balloon.  The fabric of her jeans and crop top T-shirt strained under the growing pressure that was surging through out her body.  Through the tears in her clothing she could she that her skin was covered in a thick coat of light gray hair.  She was particular sad to see her pert, round breasts absorbed into her expanding rib cage.

The sight of her tennis shoes expanding and literally exploding in tatters, revealing hooves instead of feet really blew her mind.

As she lifted her gaze up from her transformed feet to her reformed hindquarters, she noticed that a dark, bristly tail was growing longer and longer down her backside.  It stopped growing just before it reached her transformed knees.

She was a bit disconcerted by everything that was happening to her.  She couldn’t feel any of the changes; she felt like she was moving in a vat of jell-o, and everything sounded muffled, even the sound of her ripping clothing sounded far away.

Raising her head to look for help from Robin, Cindy noticed that her nose and mouth were pushing away from her face.  She had to cross her eyes a little to see what was actually happening, but her nose and mouth were in deed transforming into a muzzle covered in light gray hair.

To Cindy, the transformation seemed to take minutes to complete.  When in all actuality, it took less than two seconds.

She opened her mouth to cry out for help from Robin, but all that came out was a screeching bray.

“Very funny Cindy,” Robin said as she turned to make fun of her friend some more.  But the sight of a donkey standing amidst the tatters of Cindy’s clothes made her stop and stare in awe.  The only things unchanged on her friend were her eyes, her hair was still in its usual style; even though is continued down her long neck in a mane, and the medallion of Circe was still attached around her neck.

"Holy shit," Robin said as she moved forward to touch her transformed friend.  She needed to be sure that she was not seeing things.  But as soon as she felt the coarse hairs that covered Cindy's body, she knew what had actually happened.  "Well, what do you know.  Looks like that medallion works after all."

Cindy tried to plead with Robin for help, but all that came out of her equine muzzle was a series of loud brays.

"Take it easy, take it easy," Robin said as she walked to the table and the box the medallion came in.  "Maybe there are instructions in the box or something."

Indeed, there was a small white envelope at the bottom of the box.  Robin pulled it out and read what it said aloud.  "Congratulations on your purchase of Circe's medallion.  It is our hope that you enjoy your purchase fully, that is why we have enclosed this brief history and instructions for the safe operation of your new found magical abilities.  As I am sure you are well aware, legends speak of Circe transforming unwitting travelers into beasts.  What the legends neglect to mention, is that she was able to transform her victims with the aid of her medallions.  Circe had many medallions that she imbued with fantasic magical powers.  She would then place the medallion on the neck of her intended victim and when she spoke the name of an animal, the person transformed into said beast."

"I guess history is full of stuff we don't know," Robin said absently.  Cindy simply looked on as her friend continued to read the instructions.

"How to operate Circe's medallion.  Step one, place the medallion around the neck of your intended subject.  The person who places the medallion around the neck of the subject will be the only person who can successfully transform the subject.  Step two, speak aloud the name of the desired animal you wish to transform your subject.  Step three, stand back and enjoy the hours of fun.  Warning, clothing will not change with the person, so make sure they are wearing clothes they don't intend to wear again, especially if you turn them into something larger than their normal form.  Caution, if for any reason you remove the medallion from your subject while they are in animal form, they will be permanently trapped as that animal till the end of their days.  So be careful."

"That's good to know," Robin said thoughtfully.

"How do you turn me back to normal?" is what Cindy wanted to say, but all that Robin heard was more screaching brays.

"Hold your horses," Robin said with a snicker as she continued to read.  "To change a person back to their normal form, simply speak their name followed by "return".  Huh, sounds easy enough."

Cindy brayed angrily at her friend.

"Okay, okay, give me a minute here," Robin replied sarcastically.  "It isn't my fault you didn't read the directions first.

Cindy brayed once more and clomped her hooves on the tile floor.

"You know, this situation certainly has some potential," Robin said with a sly grin.

Even though she no longer had human features, it was evident that Cindy knew something bad was going to happen.

Robin's mind raced with possibilities.  "Cindy was right about one thing, someone is gonna get rich with this thing," Robin thought to herself.  "And that someone is me."

"Cindy return," Robin said, her devilish grin growing wider.

Just as before, Cindy's transformation took only a couple of seconds to complete but she still had the disorienting feeling of moving in slow motion.  She watched as her hooves became hands again.  Her eyes crossed as her equine muzzle retreated to her normal pert nose.  To her relief she was back to her old self again, granted, sans clothing.

"Thanks," she said to Robin as she began to pick up the tatters that had once been her clothes.  "Took you long enough."

"Is that so?" Robin asked with mock innocense.

"Robin, wait, don't," Cindy pleaded as she was crouched on the floor.

"I'm sorry, what did you say froggy?" Robin said with a wide smile.

Before Cindy could say "shit", she felt the numbness envelope her body once more.  Time seemed to slow as she watched her body change.  She noticed her skin changing from a well managed tan, to a mottled green.

Seeing as she was crouched on the ground to pick up her torn clothes, her position changed little.  Looking down, she saw her arms shorten slightly as webbing began to form between each lengthening finger.  While she looked down at her slowly changing hands she noticed that her feet were growing longer as well.  In no time at all the had lengthened to three times their usual size complete with webbing between each toe.  Cindy wasn't aware of it at first, be as she looked up from her feet she saw her legs growing longer as well, jutting comically out on each side.

She had a brief sensation of vertigo as everything swelled enormously around her.  Cindy realized quickly that she was shrinking down to, what she guessed was about six inches tall.  Even though she couldn't see her face changing, she could feel it happening.  It felt like someone was pulling on the sides of her head.

Robin watched casually as her friend change from a beautiful young woman to small green frog.  Again, the only things that remained the same on Cindy were her eyes, hair and the medallion around her neck.

"This is so cool," Robin said as she reached down and picked up her transformed friend.

"I hope you get warts," Cindy thought to herself silently.

-------------------------------------------

For the better part of the next hour, Robin transformed Cindy into all manner of beasts.  Aside from being changed into a mule and frog, Cindy had been a chicken, an armidillo, an ostrich, a gorilla and countless other animals.  Alternating between human and animal became boring after a while for Cindy, so she just sat down on the sofa and waited for her friend to tire.  

"Cindy return," Robin said dully to the penguin laying on the sofa.  She then sat down next to her naked friend.

Without looking in her direction, Cindy asked, "Tired of your new toy already?"

"No, just running out of new ideas," Robin answered with a sigh.  Looking around the room, Robin realized how trashed their apartment looked.  You could almost see the light bulb go off over her head.  "Cindy, be a sweety and clean up this mess, please."

"So this is the part where you blackmail me into doing your dirty work or else you'll turn me into something like a banana slug, is that about right?" Cindy said evenly.

"You're smarter than you look," Robin replied with mock surprise in her voice.

Slowly getting up from the couch, Cindy began to straighten up, muttering to herself, "This sucks, I'm the one who paid for the medallion and I don't get to have any fun with it.  This sucks.  Making me clean up this mess.  It's not all my fault you know.  It doesn't look that bad to me."

Hearing her friend gripe brought a small smile to Robin's face, to which she commented, "Not that bad?  Are you kidding me?  This place is a sty.  I swear your half pig."

Feeling the numb sensation envelope her body, Cindy dropped the trash that was in her hands.  Not out of surprise, but she would be damned if she was going to pick up anything if Robin was continually gonna keep changing her into things.

"What the?" Robin said with a little genuine surprise in her voice.  "Sorry Cindy, I didn't mean that."

By the time Robin said that last sentance, Cindy's transformation was nearly complete.  Her nose had pulled away from her face and turned up into a perfect pig's snout.  Cindy's ears had grown considerably, jutting comically through her hair.  Four rows a breasts formed beneath Cindy's normal breasts, growing gradually smaller as ther trekked down her swelling stomach.  

Robin stiffled a giggle as a pink curly tail grew from the base of her friends spine.

Cindy looked down at her hands and noticed that her pinky and ring fingers merged into one digit, as did her two other fingers.  Leaving three digits on each hand that ended in hard dusky hooves.

Then, to Cindy's surprise, the numbness disappeared.  She knew this meant that the transformation had ended, but she wasn't a pig, well, not entirely.  Her arms and legs were still the same, although a bit fatter, and she was still standing in a relatively normal way.

"Now that's something different," Robin commented from the sofa.  "How do you feel?  Can you talk?"

Not sure what to expect, Cindy opened her slightly transformed mouth and said, "I look like Miss Piggy."  Her voice was the same, if only an octive or two lower.

"This opens up a whole new realm of possibilities," Robin said happily.  She then realized that her friend was just staring at her with her arms on her hips.  "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?  What's wrong?!"  she shouted.  "Look at me, I'm a freak.  It was bad enough being turned into an animal, but this, this is too much.  I gotta draw the line somewhere, and you just crossed it."

"Cindy, I didn't mean for this to happen," Robin said as she walked over and tried to put a hand reassuringly on her friends shoulder.  "Besides, how was I supposed to know this could happen, it wasn't in the instructions."

"You just better pray this thing isn't broken," Cindy said angrily.

"Relax," Robin replied.  "I'm sure the medallion isn't busted, here let me show you, Cindy..."  Robin stopped mid-sentance.  Then shook her head.  "Oh no you don't.  I'm not gonna fall for that trick.  You finish cleaning up this mess and then I'll change you back."

All Cindy could say was "Damn" as she went back to cleaning.  "I almost had her," she thought to herself.