(F to Gorilla, F to Donkey, F to Panda, F to Dog, F to Skunk)

Esmerelda checked her lips in the mirror, giving them a smack for effect. The lipstick, “Knife’s Edge,” was a delightful shade of pink that complimented her pale skin and somehow better brought out the white highlight she’d cast into her jet-black hair that morning.

She looked incredible. So then, why weren’t any humans hitting on her?

The witch sighed, kicking her feet aimlessly. Some of the wood beneath her creaked dangerously, and she gave the bench a sharp glare, before sliding her gaze up to glance with contempt at the children on recess.

Of all the places she could have chosen to claim as her lair, it had to be Riverville, Idaho. Weren’t humans supposed to be more sinful? Instead of the violence and passion she’d dreamed of, all she had here were contented, slow-witted suburbanites.

Her perfectly manicured finger tapped against her spellbook, and she flipped through it again. She was an addict, and proud to admit it. Witches thrived on chaos, and she could really use a hit right now.

“Hey, give it back!”

She looked back to the children, watching as two of the younger boys started to debate over a small printed piece of paper. Funny how without magic, they could amuse themselves over the simplest things. She trailed a finger through a scrying page of her tome, divining their names.

“Make me!” Kyle held the little card over his head, well beyond Jason’s reach.

Esmerelda squinted. It was a blue paper with what looked like a red-and-white ball on the center. On the other side was an image of a cute fictional monster. She didn’t quite understand the appeal, but clearly Jason valued it immensely.

“You’re going to wrinkle it!” Jason yelped.

“Loser.”

“Ugly!”

Kyle crinkled his nose, which did nothing to make Jason’s insult less accurate. “Yeah? Well… Your mom’s a gorilla!”

Esmerelda’s eyes lit up. She flipped though her spellbook, settling on a wonderful little charm to give words some power for the next… Oh, five minutes should be plenty. Just a hit. Just a tiny little bit of chaos. Her smile widened as she felt her curse take hold, and she returned to the pages of her book, giggling as the scrying sheets took her across the town.

xXx

Linda took a deep breath in, calming herself, spreading her arms a little wider. She was a warrior. She deserved this Warrior 2 pose. She wouldn’t be distracted by the chubby guy who’d clearly taken these courses just to try to hit on women like her. He probably thought she was a MILF or something. God, she wanted that, to feel hot again.

“And breathe… Namaste… Inner strength, inner purpose.” The instructor, for her part, was really selling that she cared. Maybe someday Linda would learn her name.

No. Focus. Linda’s brow furrowed, a bit of sweat dewing along it as it swelled. Her arms started to shake slightly, feeling heavier. She settled deeper into the pose. She wondered if she left the oven on at home. She had to focus.

“Exhale, and we slide to Downward Dog.”

Linda leaned forward, hands touching the mat. Only instead of her palms settling on the cheap plastic, she dropped her knuckles onto it. She rolled her shoulders slightly, feeling them grow… denser, somehow. Instead of shaking from the pose, she felt like she could hold it for hours.

There was a loud creak through the air, a few seams popping on her tank top. The muscles on her back grew more defined. The hair on her arms thickened. Did she leave the oven on in the zoo? Why did she keep thinking about that?

“Hey, Linda? You okay?” The woman next to her whispered, a soft-faced, kindly woman who’d always offered Linda free protein snacks after the workout. Maybe she had a banana.

Linda nodded, trying to say she was fine. “Uhhh phoo fwuuh.” She half-hooted, her throat tensing, neck bulging for a moment.

“W-what?”

“Excuse me, if you have to talk, take it outside.”

Linda looked up to the instructor, who flinched back at the sight of her prominent brow, at her squaring face. “AHHOO OOOH AHH!” Linda thumped onto her knees, and for some reason the clothes around her popped off. She looked down, finding her perfect, dark, thick fur. It felt nice.

No, not nice. She was mad. The little instructor-person was making her forget about leaving her spot in the zoo. She thumped at her chest, muscles thickening, powerful fingers drumming a constant tone. Her petite breasts were swallowed by thickening bulk, and a little spittle flew from the new silverback gorilla’s mouth as she established dominance over this strange, lavender-scented room.

xXx

Esmerelda’s eyes fluttered. This was it. This was exactly that she was looking for. Who’d have thought that the perfect chaos would ever have been found in a human playground? Well, every parent, probably, but she was single for a reason.

Meanwhile, the kids continued their little spat.

“Take it back! She’s not a gorilla!” Jason shouted, blissfully ignorant to the fact that his mother was currently hanging from a strip mall ceiling.

“Are you kidding? She has hairy arms and eats bananas.” Kyle lowered the little card in his hand, long enough for Jason to snap it away.

“Well… Well, your mom’s a dumbass!”

A few of the kids ‘ooh’ed. From her spot across the street, Esmerelda moaned, glancing back down at her book.

xXx

Karen’s lips thickened as she snored, oblivious to the impending changes. She was curled up around her body pillow, savoring a rare Tuesday nap. Kyle was out at school, the house was quiet, the blackout curtains worked like a charm, and she was dreaming of a wonderfully clean kitchen.

Her ears twitched in her sleep, and she squeezed her pillow a little tighter through her bulking thighs. Another snore exposed her bulging buck teeth, large enough to keep her mouth agape. She drooled onto her pillowcase.

The kitchen in her dream was getting dirtier, but in a nice way. The tiles were now straw. The faucet dripped with all sorts of delightful plinking oats, crunchy, wonderful, amazing treats.

Her belly bulged, well beyond the fattest she’d ever been in her life. Dark gray fur raced to cover it, and she unconsciously itched at the fur, kicking her legs slightly. They stretched a little more, thickening, taking on the common bulk of a beast of burden.

In krenny’s head were thoughts of other donkeys, of jacks, strong, muscular jacks. She wanted one right now. She wanted to feel his weight on her back. She wanted to feel his hot breath against the backs of her long, twitching ears. They could bray together.

“HEEAUUUW!”

Her eyes snapped open, and jrenny blinked repeatedly, struggling to get the world in focus. For some reason, she was expecting both of her eyes to be facing forward, when they were currently spreading to the sides of her head, assisted by her growing muzzle.

A particularly knowledgable part of her brain was brushed away by her sloping skull, and she jerked forward, eyes crossing like a moron. “GhhuuhhHHH. Whaawwth gowin AWWWn?” Her thick teeth gave her a lisp, which both of her brains told her was bad. Her human brain had gone to speech therapy as a child, and her donkey brain had no idea what words she was trying to make.

She looked around the room, her room, even though it didn’t seem much like a stable. The jenny’s eyes lit on a picture, a smiling gorgeous blonde and her son. Then she looked up from that into the mirror.

A half-donkey looked back at her, with the face and lower half of an ass, but the torso and arms of a human.

“HEEEAUUW!” She panicked, scrambling back on her bed, hands cupping her cheeks. What was going on? Why did she look like this? She spasmed as if electrocuted, rolling onto her belly, kicking her hind legs behind her, unsure of whether to panic as a person or as an ass.

Her silk nightgown split along her back as her neck stretched well past its length, thickening at the same time. Her body was heavy enough now that her poor bed couldn’t take it anymore. The frame splintered beneath her, and her fat donkey body thumped hard onto the mattress.

The jenny was terrified. She had something. Something to think about. But that breaking sound was nice. Oblivious to the growing numbness in her hands, the creaking of a tail behind her, even the shift in her arms and legs, the jenny began kicking out again, destroying her old room one trinket at a time.

xXx

“You take that back! My mom’s smart!” Kyle glared.

“Nuh uh! She’s a dumbass!” Retorted Jason.

Esmerelda watched them eagerly. But she’d already changed their moms… Maybe if she just nudged a little at the brain of that short girl behind them…

“Break it up, you two!” Ayu stomped between the two, a little surprised by her own bravery.

“Stay out of this, Panda Express!” Kyle pushed her back.

“Yeah, your mom’s a total panda!”

xXx

Haoyue looked at the back of the granola box, proud of herself for understanding the ingredients. It was gluten-free, which meant that it would be great to host her American friends who cared about such things.

She moved to put it into her cart, only to pause at the feeling of crinkly plastic against her hands. Odd. She looked down, and to her surprise found she’d taken a mouthful of the food. Handful? No, she was chewing. Definitely a mouthful.

A human shame passed through her, and she quickly looked left and right, making sure that nobody had seen her just outright start chowing down in the middle of the Whole Paycheck’s. Thankfully, it looked like she’d gone undetected, despite scarfing down another fistful.

Haoyue was hungry. She felt a little embarrassed by it and tried to snuggle a little bit more into her thick white cardigan, only for it to merge with her skin. Her black leggings sank into her as well, then both fluffed up with thick, heavy fur.

Haoyue stared down at herself, unsure of how to even react to that.

Then her stomach exploded outward, bulging like a dense, wobbling balloon. She gained over fifty kilograms in an instant. Her eyes rounded on her face, taking on an expressive, innocent quality. She wobbled back, thumping against the aisle behind herself, knocking more delicious treats onto the ground.

The woman thumped onto her hands, bouncing back slightly as cute, thick pads fluffed out of her palms. She landed on them again, kicking her feet as her shoes tightened around them. No, wait… Her feet were bulging within them. That should be scary, right?

It took a second, but her dimming brain finally got there. Haoyue kicked a little harder, backing up, fattened form jiggling as she scraped another few boxes from the shelves. “GrrOOUH!”

A worker rounded the corner, looking at the commotion, only to panic and run. “B-bear! There’s a bear here!”

Bear? Where? Haoyue swiveled her head left and right. With the first glance, her ears lifted to the top of her head. With the second, a cute snout pushed out from her nose and jaw. She looked back down to the boxes on the ground, but the symbols in front of her were as foreign to her as the day she’d moved. No, maybe more so. At least then she’d have understood there was a meaning behind the symbols.

Now… Well, now the only thing that mattered was food.

Her belly rumbled, and she dipped her head towards the ground like a beast, crunching down, nose twitching as she smelled something better.

There! At the end of the aisle. Bamboo! It was a display around some flowers for some reason, which was silly because flowers weren’t nearly as delicious as the stalks.

Haoyue’s form bulked up a little more as she thudded her way forward, eager to crunch down on her favorite treat.

xXx

“Wha… Is that because she’s Chinese?” Ayu glared at Kyle, who realized he’d gone too far.

“No, it’s because she eats from the trash!”

One of the nerdy kids piped up from the back. “Actually, I think that’s something about raccoons, like was saw in Guardians of the-”

“Oh, shut up, nerd! Your mom’s a total bitch!”

The nerdy kid flinched, sniffling.

Esmerelda, beads of sweat dripping down her face, nearly fainted. Dog transformations were her favorite! She brushed the white stripe of her hair from her face, fanning at herself to calm down.

xXx

Rosie rubbed at her throat anxiously, waiting for the doctor. This dumb sinus infection wasn’t going away, and it made her every inhalation half sound like a growl. Not that she didn’t have reason to growl right now – the doctor had kept her waiting for nearly an hour now.

She could hear him in the hall, flirting with the nurses. The nerve.

Her foot started to tap. It wasn’t entirely angry, though. It was more just… pent-up. She’d been going stir-crazy in here, and had too much energy. She wanted to move. Needed to move.

“Well, if you’re going to waste my time, then I can play ball.” Rosie paused, looking around eagerly. “Ball? Ball? Where’s the ball?”

Her curly hair bounced, shortening as she dropped to all fours, looking under the chairs for the ball. More of this curly hair itched its way out from her body, and she giggled, digging her fingers into the fluff, combing her nails through it.

Why was she angry earlier? Could she even be angry? It was practically bred out of her – Labradoodles were perfect like that. Her tongue lolled from her mouth as she focused on that dog breed, unsure of why she’d even had that thought.

Labra. Doodle. Labrador Poodle. Labradoodle. Rosie giggled, falling onto her side and wriggling against the cool office tile. It smelled funny, like cheap cleaner and sick people, but also like shoes and there were shoes in the room right now!

“Hrrryip!” She bounced towards the shoes she’d been wearing before settling down into the examination room, trying to open her mouth wide enough around one to fit it into her maw. Happily, her jawline accommodated, stretching into a canine muzzle perfect for being pet and for eating nice things. Things like shoes.

Rosie fluffed up, body shrinking as she dwindled away into a seventy-pound mop of a dog. She shook her butt, and a tail wagged its way out from her spine, thwacking against the crinkly, nice, good paper. That was so much more fun than shoes!

“ARF!” She lifted herself onto her hind paws, digging her little claws into the paper, scrabbling at it, shredding it.

“Miss Rosie, the doctor will-” The nurse managed to get that much out before noticing Rosie’s smaller body. Then Rosie’s brain registered the woman as a new human potential best friend, and she pounced onto her.

“WOOF!” She pressed her fuzzy face against the woman’s cheeks, each lap of her tongue flattening the appendage more and more, until she was giving a proper face bath.

“What the?”

“Is that a dog in here?”

“Oh Chris, Mister Grant has allergies, get her out of here before he starts complaining again!”

So many best friends! Rosie wagged her tail like crazy, and she hopped off the nurse to paw in a small circle, unsure of where to go.

The bright light of the warm sky-hug poured down the hallway. “Shoo! Shoo!” One of the humans called to her.

Rosie could pick up wonderful, good, happy smells. She bolted for the door, panting, wagging her tail.

xXx

It seemed this was an insult too far, as all the kids backed away from Kyle, who looked a little upset himself. His eyes were focused on his shoes, and he toed at the ground. “O-oh. I’m sorry.”

“I’m telling the teacher!”

“No, you can’t! Keep insulting each other!” Esmerelda yelled from her spot on the bench, only to squeak in shame as she realized she’d gotten carried away. But it just wasn’t fair. One more change and she’d be so close that she could easily finish herself off at home.

BBBBRRRRIING! The recess bell chimed, and the kids lined up elegantly, starting to head back inside.

“What’s her deal?” Jason muttered.

“I dunno. Weird skunk lady, did you see her hair?”

The kids laughed as they walked into the building.

Esmerelda suddenly felt very self-conscious. More than that, she felt afraid. Since when had the outdoors gotten so huge? It would feel so much better right now to just hide, to burrow, to – those weren’t intelligent thoughts, were they?

Esmerelda blinked, feeling her fingers spasm. She looked down at the twitching digits, only for them to all grow a thick coating of enamel, stretching as her claws came in. They were perfect for digging, and useless for spellcraft.

“W-wait, what?” She realized, a little too late, that her spell had still lingered long enough to hear that last jab.

Frantically, she flipped through the book, settling on a spell that should easily undo the results of nearby magic. Even those few seconds had cost her. Her face had grown a little more pointed, and her legs had begun to pull into her body.

“Counter chrrrse! Iiik!” She stomped her shrinking feet. “Chhrr-chhrr squiik!”

Trying to talk with her changing vocal chords was like trying to play the banjo on a piano. She was sure it was possible, but couldn’t conceive where to begin. Which was unfortunate, because incantations were the quickest way to unweave magic.

She looked back down to her book, only finding grass. She looked up to see the table’s edge much further away than it should have been. Her clothes had fallen off too, unable to remain attached to her dwindling body.

She’d been shrinking this whole time, and only now was beginning to notice how screwed she was. Not that she was that screwed, of course. She just had to get back to her book, trace over the symbol, and-

“WWARF! ARRF! RRRUF!!”

Scary! Big! Curly fur! Dog! Predator! Run!

Esmerelda realized that the Urgent Care had been a little closer to the school than she’d thought, and also realized that dogs were terrifying to skunks, which she was – wasn’t –was. She pawed at her head for a second, before her shrinking arms stole the gesture from her.

“Chhrrriip!” She tried to command herself to focus, or maybe to fly, but how would skunks even fly? That would be magic, wouldn’t it? And she… Well, she couldn’t be magic, she was surely a skunk, which meant… Meant what?

“WARF!”

The dog was close. Too close. When had it gotten so close? She squeaked, oblivious to the fact that each of her squeaks only made her look more like a black-and-white ball. Her tail shot out, forcing her back onto all fours where she belonged.

She… Skunk… Her brain was hazing over. She could feel it. But couldn’t focus now. Had to run. Needed run NOW!

She took off like a black-and-white blur, racing away from the only object that could have undone her changes. Thick, white fur bloomed from her tail, making her look even less like a living being and more like a chew toy.

The dog closed in, and a tiny bit of Esmerelda’s brain wailed in horror at the indignity of what she was about to do. Then she sprayed a cloud of musk – not nearly potent enough, given that her body hadn’t fully yet changed.

The Labradoodle reached her, received a cloudful of useless spray, and sneezed, spattering the skunk with snot.

Dirty! Run! Clean! The skunk pawed at herself frantically, before scampering away, searching desperately for water. Behind her, the dog had noticed the former woman’s clothing, and was contentedly snacking on her shoes.