Snow fell around the Rosewood Emporium. The dying light of the winter sun streamed through the trees, casting long shadows across the tile rooftops, as the amber light from the shop within bathed the clearing in a warm glow. Smoke drifted lazily from the magical fire within, the cosy cottage interior masking the shop of arcane wonders within...

   Inside, the staff of the emporium busied themselves with their final tasks before a well-deserved yuletide break. Or, at least, the two human witches did: Phoibe, a sphinx who had spent millenia dispensing cryptic wisdom and had earned her rest, lounged across one of the rafters, her tail dangling back and forth over the shelves below.

   “Phoibe?” Evie called up the roof space, pacing through the labyrinth of potions, tomes, and stranger devices, trying to spot a glimpse of Phoibe’s caramel fur. “Did you send off the rest of those presents? They needed to go out tonight.”

   “Urgh. Of course I did…” In the distance, Phoibe huffed, absently stretching and digging her claws into the wood, hazing down at Evie’s ginger hair, safe in her hiding place. “I magiced them away this morn-” a crash interrupted her, echoing through the shop, punctuated by a distant Sophia cursing “-ning…”

   Evie rushed off through the store, following the sounds of disaster, Phoibe silently pouncing from rafter to rafter overhead. Soon, they both found Sophia tangled in the hose of a small air pump, the ground littered with bright red wrapping paper.

   “Little help…?” Sophia called out, vainly trying to tug the hose from where it had stuck to her thigh, sealed unnaturally tight. Evie spared a moment to fix Phoibe with a look (it wouldn’t have been the first time the sphinx had “accidentally” misplaced something) before going to the younger witch’s aid.

   “Don’t worry, you should be fine as long as it doesn’t start blow-” a shrill whine cut through the air, the pump’s motor kicking into action, the hose flailing about as it filled out, the air pushing into Sophia’s body. “-ing...” Evie and Sophia looked down in unison, both knowing it was too late to stop things now, staring as the skin around the hose started to turn black and shiny. The only thing they could do was let the magic run its course, and wait to change her back afterwards. Warm skin turned to cold plastic, stiffening as it pushed out, tugging and stretching at her thigh, forming a solid nozzle.

   “Just what I need at Christmas…” Sophia muttered to herself, giving the hose a final tug, feeling her skin shift and stretch as it stiffened, the alien sensation spreading up her leg. Already, she could feel the enchanted air starting to flow through her body, changing her. Her skin was starting to vibrate with the pulse of the air pump, tingling slightly. Her breathing became strained as more of the air started to fill her body, pushing out against her skin, and in against her organs. “Don’t suppose you know what I’m going to become? Damned if I’m going to be Santa...” Resignation was replacing frustration - this wasn’t the first magical mishap she’d seen, and she doubted it was going to be the last - looking down over body for any signs of the coming change.

   Soon, her body began to stretch and shift, bulging and pushing out underneath her dress. With each movement, her body started to squeak as flesh turned to plastic, stretching and warping into vinyl fabric, rubbing against itself. A bicep started to push out, air billowing under the fabric, artificial skin shining in the light of the shop as it transformed, turning a rich brown shade. Sophia carefully ran her fingers across it, shivering slightly at the electric touch of skin against sensitive plastic. It steadily spread out, stretching up and down her arm, deforming around her probing features.

   “Okay, not Santa…” she sighed in relief, relaxing a little. All over her body, brown fabric was starting to bulge out, stretching and straining against her clothes. Billowing out of her dress, her chest ballooning up in front of her face, soon it was hard to tell where human ended and inflatable began. “Ah… hell… I need to get out of this dress…” Sophia reached clumsily over swelling thighs to clutch at her socks, yanking them down as she stumbled clumsily forward. With twin THWOMPS, her socks and shoes sent flying, freeing her bulging ankles, toes awkwardly pressing outwards as they grew.

   “Never mind your dress…” Evie called out, reaching with one hand to scoop up the pump, the other frantically grabbing at part of Sophia’s changing body. “We need to get you out of here before it’s you that’s tearing!”

   “Good idea,” Sophia replied, the swelling finally reaching her head, a slightly dizzying sensation as it filled with air. She stumbled forward, feeling weaker with each passing moment, as more and more of her muscles gave way. Evie followed after, hose and cable trailing, practically pushing the transforming witch out of the shop, books and scrolls scattering as Sophia’s inflating body stretched out against the shelves.

   As they went, Sophia could feel air flowing up through her head, somehow blowing further upwards, carrying her hair with it. Strands spiralled together, winding and branching, weaving themselves together into vinyl fabric. They flopped around at first, gradually rising as more air filled them, forming cartoonish antlers. Each time Sophia passed under a beam, she could feel them hitting it, bouncing off, the strange sensation of fabric crumpling and rebounding, the weight shifting above her head.

   By the time they reached the door, Sophia was barely recognisable. Her face pushed out ahead of her, broad and round, mouth pressed out across her fabric skin, stretching out into a cartoon grin. Clumsy, bulbous fingers still tried to grab at her dress, pinching her torso tightly, even as her arms and legs turned into little more than cylinders. She stumbled forward, her whole body shaking and wobbling, little more than loose fabric stretched tight by the air. Evie dashed ahead, opening the door ahead of them, reaching back to pull Sophia through, as cool air and snow danced around them.

   “Ah’m stuck!” Sophia cried, her voice carrying as a squeaking hiss of escaping air, her inflating body pressing out against the doorframe. She tried to press forward, only really succeeding at wedging herself further, head rammed up against the wood, vision distorting as her eyes crumpled against it. She could feel Evie’s warm hands reaching, the strange pleasure as they rubbed across her skin, crumpling and collapsing her arms, forcing more air into her legs, desperately tugging and pulling.

   A weight barrelled into her from behind, knocking Sophia forward onto Evie, her lightweight body bouncing and shifting, finally settling into the snow on all fours. What remained of her hands stretched outwards into the cold snow, fingers merging into a single mass. Her limbs were little more than crude cylinders stitched to the sides of her torso, darkening almost to black at the ends to suggest hooves.

   Evie was left staring up at the underside of an inflatable reindeer, torso still pinched by the dress, head and neck stretching out above her, bobbing slightly in the wind. Shuffling out from under Sophia, she pulled herself up, brushing snow aside, staring into the changing face of Sophia: her eyes widening into comic proportions, nose bulging out and turning brilliant red.

   “Ittle ‘elp?” Sophia hissed, her body shifting ever so slightly, her skin vibrating with each word.

   “Oh, sorry…” Evie blushed a moment, then smirked… why waste an opportunity like this? A quick wave of her hand, and Sophia’s dress dissolved into golden light, cascading around the inflatable reindeer’s body.

   The sudden release of pressure sent Sophia bouncing up from the ground, snow spraying around her, pressure fading slightly in her arms and legs as it rushed to fill her torso. She could feel herself stretching outwards, shifting into more proper reindeer proportions, a sudden squeak from her rear as a tail popped out. A moment later, and she settled back down into the snow, bobbing gently in the wind.

   “Can’t have you blowing away,” another flick of Evie’s wrist, and the golden light spun itself into bands, wrapping themselves around Sophia’s body, forming brilliant stripes across her skin. Sparks of silver danced outwards, tracing lines out from Sophia’s body, anchoring her into the ground. She could feel them tensing, tugging tightly against her skin, holding her tight, “and besides, how can you pull a sleigh without reins?”

   Sophia was too surprised to be angry; and besides, the sensation of the lines was strangely comforting and reassuring, almost restful. She gazed out from the cheerful reindeer face, watching Evie stand back to admire her handiwork, Phoibe pacing through the snow to stand beside her, a smirk on her feline face.

   “One final touch, I think,” Phoibe purred, reaching out a paw to the pump, flicking a switch. Sophia felt a sudden jolt of electricity flowing up into her, tracing its way through her body, her nose suddenly shining brilliant red in front of her eyes. Inside, more lights lit up, the tingle strangely pleasurable as they flickered on and off, illuminating the snow around her, as Phoibe admired her handiwork. “There, now she’s ready to pull a sleigh.”

   “Veree funnee…” Sophia bobbed a little, face still fixed in a joyous grin, “you’re going to change me back, right? … Right?”