It was tradition amongst the community for a child to, when turning 7 years of age, to hold a little magic show; a showcase of skills, if you will. Generally, the child will have the opportunity to perform a few simple parlour tricks, and it’s generally just a simple and fun activity. The family is there to watch, of course, as is the child’s friends, just like a party.

Heather Arelle was the child in question on this fine day, and she was a bright young lass. Her parents were amused by her activeness, watching her excitedly prepare her setup in the living room. She had spent all night the previous night, excitedly planning her routine for the next day. Card tricks, little fire and light magic shows; and she wanted to go for the most traditional of magic tricks, the rabbit from the hat. The portal spell in the hat was a common one, but as much as her parents suggested something flashier, she insisted. 

The rabbit in question was sitting in a little enclosure in her room, out of sight from where the rest of the audience would watch. Said audience was slowly trickling in, and Heather happily waved to the familiar faces moving in. Her parents were talking to some other adults, lingering around the food and drink laid out on the table. Some of them wished Heather a happy birthday as they passed, and she gave polite nods in return.

Soon, it was time for the show to start, and Heather could hardly hold her excitement in. “A-alright, everyone, thanks for coming! …I’m going to start now!” With that awkward introduction, she began by conjuring up a small ball of light, and sending it spinning around above the table, trailing light. The applause bolstered her confidence, and with a grin she launched into her routine.

Everything was going great, and the audience of fellow kids loved it, while the adults applauded politely. Heather had gotten to the finale, where she was to pull a rabbit from her hat. With a flourish, she picked up the hat and reached deep inside, hand passing through the portal and grasping at the rabbit enclosure.

Something was odd. She couldn’t find any sign of soft fur or floppy ears. She felt her way to the corners of the enclosure, and with a sinking heart, she confirmed that the rabbit wasn’t there. It had somehow slipped out, and was in all likelihood hopping around the floor of her room, confused. 





‘Oh no… where am I gonna get a rabbit now?’ Those thoughts flashed through Heather’s mind as she stared blankly at the audience, setting the hat back down. A blush crept across her face, as she shuffled her feet. All those faces staring at her… she wished she could produce a rabbit from somewhere, anything to defuse this awkward situation…

And of course, to make manners worst her ears had to begin tingling. She reddened slightly at this, only for the pinkish hue to develop into a full-blown blush as her nose started to tingle too. Worse yet, it started to twitch on her face, and the girl squeaked in surprise.

“W-what?” Heather stammered, lifting her hand to her nose only to yelp as it rose upwards on her face, flattening out at the slightest press of her fingers. “Eep! I didn’t mean to do…” She looked up in a panic to find her friends and family were all looking at her, with mounting interest.

“Um…” She blushed, falling quiet as her two front teeth grew a little larger in her mouth. She could feel them pressing against her lower lip, and her nose and ears continued to tingle as she got more and more embarrassed.

Heather felt small, and for a moment she pictured herself as the rabbit, caught in the stares of everyone at her party. She wondered how it would feel for this to happen if she was such a small animal, and then she started to shrink.

The girl didn’t notice it at first, even though her sleeves had extended past her fingers and her pants were bunching up around her feet. She didn’t even notice as her hat started to get looser on her head, though its heft was starting to weigh down upon her ears.

This was another element of her affliction that was making it hard for her to notice her shrinking, and harder to notice that the full extent of her form’s fluidity. Her ears had stretched longer and longer with every passing second, growing until they were just about as big as a rabbit’s.

This growth kept her hat from falling over her head for a few seconds longer, until the girl was half her height. Finally, the brim slipped past her eyes, and the girl squeaked in surprise, lifting her hat only to yelp as whiskers shot out from her cheeks.

She tried to say something, but all that escaped her lips was a quiet, almost chirp-like squeak. She looked down in mild surprise and brought a hand to her lips, only to watch both her face extend into a muzzle and her hand morph into a paw.

Her other hand was changing too, as were her feet. She could feel these intensely, like they were being squeezed in a tight hug, so tight that it was somehow transforming them. The girl yelped in surprise at the sensation, staring down to watch her fingers shrinking back into palms that were growing plush pads.

Heather leaned forward a little too much as she looked down to her hands, the motion unbalancing her and sending her tumbling down to the floor. It was the least expected surprise of all, and the girl yelped aloud in both shock and fear alike.

What was happening? Why was she changing? She didn’t know, and by now her face was just so long, stretched out like a rabbit’s muzzle. Come to think of it, the rest of herself was getting rather rabbit-like as well…

The girl mused upon this as her body shrank back into her clothing, the fabric too big to preserve her modesty. In seconds, that became a moot point as her skin itched, countless white hairs forcing from her form. They cloaked her from head to her lengthened toe, and a huge cotton tail puffed out from her backside to complete her changes.

Her nose continued to twitch as she peeked out from under the hat, finding that her captive audience was still enthralled by her performance. A small rabbit mind awoke within herself, and for a moment she wanted nothing more than to run to the nearest burrow and hide in the warm, loamy soil.

She almost gave into the impulse, were it not for her human mind rationalizing that the nearest door was through a crowd of people. Instead, she managed to barely keep calm, wiggling her furry backside and wondering if someone would say something.

As Heather looked around at all the pairs of eyes gazing intently down at her small body, she couldn’t tell if the fear was from the animal instincts, or just the overwhelming embarrassment. Suddenly, the kids started cheering and clapping. The adults, too, were applauding, harder than at any of the prior tricks she did. Slowly, her tense muscles relaxed, and she gave a little bunny bow.





“That was really impressive,” one of the ladies sidled up to Heather’s mother. 

“Yeah, I didn’t expect that of her.” She looked upon her daughter with a newfound pride.

“She might have a lot of potential. You know, there’s that new academy… what’sit called? Oh yeah, the Proteus Academy. They specialize in shapeshifting magic, maybe she should attend one day.”

“That sounds good, I’ll look into it.” Heather’s mother looked on her daughter with a wry smile. “Maybe we should help her change back, then. She’s looking a little worried behind that smile.”

Heather, in the process of being handled by the kids and being pet and brushed, gave an apologetic smile to the adults who were moving closer. It was an odd experience for her, but unknown to her, it would set her path in the future.