The Transformation Polka

Two young women got out of a car and started walking toward a slightly run-down hotel.  They were both dressed in jewel-toned knee-length dresses, and looked almost like sisters, especially with their long brown hair done up in identical up-dos.

“Seriously, Maria, what on earth possessed the student council to have prom here, of all places?” asked the slim one in the shimmering green dress.

“It was cheap, Ginny,” replied the slightly taller one in the wine-coloured dress.  “We had to find an alternative to the gymnasium thanks to the repairs.  Besides, there are other advantages to the location.”

“Other advantages...”  Ginny looked around, and her eyes widened.  “We’re right next to a freaking nudie bar, how is that an advantage?”

“It’s a topless bar,” Maria replied absently.  “My uncle Leo works there, though he’s taking the night off to DJ for us instead.”

“Let me guess, that was also cheap.”

“I’m his favourite niece, and I leveraged that into a really good deal, yeah.”

“The things we do for money, or lack thereof...  Ah well.”  Ginny looked up at the banner hanging over the door, proclaiming this the ‘Moon Magic Dance’.  The full moon was just starting to peek over the horizon.

“Thanks for being my ‘date’ for prom,” said Maria as they went in.  “It would have been lame to go alone.”

Ginny smiled.  “I’m glad we could go together.  Fits, really, we’ve done pretty much everything else together.  Besides, the only other person who asked was Martin.  And... ew.”

“You reject the bookish types,” started Maria.

“Nerds,” interrupted Ginny.

“The studious ones.  But you’ve never dated a jock, either.  So just what kind of guy are you looking for, anyway?” Maria asked, with a hint of mischief in her eyes.

“Someone who understands me, who’s sweet and gets my jokes.  But he also has to have enough muscle to sweep me off my feet.”

Maria giggled.  “I didn’t make the wrestling team, but I still kept up the workouts.”  She flexed an arm, showing off well-toned muscles.  “Bet I can pick you up.”  She wrapped her arms around Ginny’s waist, and hoisted her into the air.

Ginny squealed and kicked.  “Eeep! Hey!  That’s not what I...”

Maria set her down lightly.  “See?  I could sweep you off your feet.”

“If you were a guy, I would fall for you so hard,” Ginny said, face flushed.

Maria covered her triumphant grin by giving Ginny a mocking bow, then kissed her hand.  “Shall we go dance, my lady?”

Ginny tittered nervously, but recovered and curtsied to her ‘date’.  “Lead on, kind sir.”

Arm in arm, they entered the ballroom.  With the lights down low, it was easy to miss how worn the carpets were.  The moon-themed decorations on the walls concealed the worst of the dinginess there, too.  Someone had created hundreds of glittering circles, and even taken the time to add craters and dark areas to many.  Set along the sides of the room were dozens of tables for sitting and chatting, each had a frosted globe with a flickering candle inside.  On the far wall was a row of enormous round punch bowls, their contents the gold of a harvest moon.

About fifty of their classmates were dancing on a section of parquet floor taking up the middle of the room, and another hundred or so were scattered around the edges in clumps, chattering to each other.  The girls all wore glittering, fancy dresses, far outshining the decorations.  Most of the guys were sharply dressed as well, at least half still had tuxedo jackets on.  More jackets were draped here and there on the chairs around the room’s edge.

Maria waved to the lanky man behind the DJ station, and he smiled and waved back.  He busied himself at his console briefly, and the next song to start playing made Maria grin.

“Oooh, this is my favourite song!  Come on, let’s dance!”

Ginny reluctantly let herself be dragged onto the dancefloor.  “I guess.”  When she looked around and saw they weren’t the only pair of girls dancing together she relaxed slightly.

   You walk around here like you want to be someone else.

Maria grinned at the lyrics, then started to sing along as she danced with Ginny.  As she finished the chorus, “you could make my wish come true, if you let me treasure you,” Ginny looked at her sharply.

“What are you saying?”

“Just singing along with my favourite song,” muttered Maria, but she couldn’t meet her friend’s gaze.

“Ohmigod,” whispered Ginny under her breath, quiet enough so only Maria could hear.  “You’re sweet on me.”

Maria cast her gaze at the floor, nodded.  “Yes.”

Ginny squeezed her hand.  “You know I don’t swing that way.”

“I know.  Let’s just dance anyway, OK?  Can you give me this for tonight?”

Ginny paused for a time, and Maria’s heart felt like it had stopped.  Finally she managed a tentative smile.  “I can do that for you.  But no slow dances.”

Maria sighed with relief, the bands about her heart unclenching just a little.  “Thank you.”

So they danced some, and talked some.  Ginny kept eyeing the cute guys, and pointing them out to Maria.  The cute ones had more dance partners than they knew what to do with, and there were clusters of the shyer girls standing about, making moon-eyes at the boys on the dance floor and ignoring the shy guys standing in clusters not far away.

“Come on,” said Ginny.  “Let’s drag a few others out onto the dancefloor.”

Maria shrugged, and tagged along as Ginny made a beeline for one of the clumps of boys.  At the last moment, Maria split off and dragged one of the shy girls onto the dance floor with her, over weak protests.

They danced for a verse of the song, then Ginny swapped partners with Maria.  Maria grinned hugely, and Ginny did too, watching the couple they’d just pushed together on the dancefloor start to smile at each other.  Once the dance was over, the couple stayed on the dance floor.  Without a word exchanged in planning, Ginna and Maria headed out to find partners once more, and dragged them onto the dancefloor.

They had a blast playing matchmaker, and a surprising number of the couples they put together seemed to be quite happy staying on the dancefloor with each other.  As Ginny had asked, they sat out the slow dances, but a lot of their newly-formed couples stayed together through the slow songs.  As the evening progressed some of their friends got caught up in the game as well, drawing more couples onto the floor.

So when the guy in the flamboyant hawaiian shirt and mop-top of unruly curls bounced up onto the stage, everyone was on the dance floor.  He pulled out an accordion from what seemed like thin air, and grinned out over the crowd.  The latest song ended, followed by quiet.

“Is everyone ready to polka?” the strange looking man called out.

There were some boos from the audience, but he just laughed.  “Oh, I think you’ll like this set.  It’s time for the Transformation Polka!”

On that note, a shaft of moonlight hit the stage through a window that hadn’t been there a minute ago.  Music started blaring through the speakers once more, an accordion-accompanied version of ‘A Change Will Do You Good’.

The man with the accordion was very obviously faking his playing, he was just squeezing the accordion in and out and pressing random keys.  He met Maria’s gaze and she giggled, and felt an electric tingle.  She started dancing to the frenetic sped-up pace of the song.  The man’s gaze continued to rake the audience, stopping here and there on specific people.

As the first chorus hit, there were gasps from the crowd.  Here and there among the dancers, catlike ears were poking out from people’s hair, flicking this way and that like real cat ears.  Maria tried out her own, angling them this way and that with a huge grin. Ginny’s eyes widened with surprise, and she reached up to touch Maria’s new ears, making them twitch away from the contact.

Once the initial shock of realization wore off, reactions were mixed.  Some of those with ears squeaked in alarm or surprise, looking distressed at what had happened to them.  Their ears quickly and quietly went away.  Others like Maria just grinned, and a few cheered excitedly.  Maria felt that electric tingle once more, and watched in fascination as her fingertips grew claws.  A tail swished out behind her dress, and she flicked it against Ginny’s waist.

Ginny caught the tail, wrapped it around her like a belt.  “Is this real?” she asked.

“Feels like it.”

All around them, people were gasping and pointing at those who’d liked the changes, all of whom were transforming as Maria had, growing even more feline.  For most it stopped at claws, slitted eyes, and swishing tails. But those most keen, most happy with it changed further.  Spotted fur, stripy fur, muzzles pressing out yet still leaving a humanoid mein.  Ankles turned and stretched, leaving them digitigrade, dancing ever more nimbly.  One girl changed so far that her boyfriend scooped her up in his arms, she was little more than an oversized persian cat, purring up a storm.

The song changed abruptly and a similarly accordionized version of “Lola” started playing over the speakers.  Maria stared at the man pleadingly, and found he was already watching her.  He nodded, and she felt her whole body tingle this time.  Maria used her tail to pull Ginny close, and wrapped her arms around her friend as she felt her body and clothes reshape themselves.

Ginny pushed Maria back a little later once she realized what was happening.  Maria’s dress was gone, replaced by a shirt and pants.  The ears and cat eyes were still there, but Maria was now very much a catboy instead of a catgirl.  “Oh... Oh wow.”

The look Maria got then made his heart leap for joy, and he pulled Ginny back into a warm embrace.  They danced to a song that wasn’t playing, twirling in a half-time polka to the edge of the crowd where there was more space.

Couples were changing, swapping genders.  Big muscular guys were changing into big muscular girls, and girls into slim guys that still somewhat resembled their former self.  Again, those that acted most accepting of the changes shifted further, former guys slimming down to become dainty and petite, and their partners bulking up. More than a few newly-muscular guys lifted their new girls off the floor to give them a spin, laughing.  Maria spotted at least two such couples slipping out of the room before the song was over.

The song changed again, this time a frenetic cover of ‘Electric Barbarella’.  It was Ginny’s turn to gasp as she felt the gaze of the accordion man on her.  Maria watched in wonder as his girlfriend’s skin started to change, becoming glossier.  At the same time, her chest was getting noticeably larger.  The dress would have strained to contain it, except it too was shifting.

“What’s happening to me?” squeaked Ginny, fretfully.

“Shh, shh.  Nothing bad.  It looks like you’re becoming a doll.  Enjoy it.”

“Enjoy it?  I’m turning into plastic.”

Maria pulled her close, reveling in the feel of expanding breasts against his chest.  “Does it hurt?”

“N... no.  It feels... oh God, it feels so gooood.”  Ginny’s eyes closed and she pressed her hips against Maria, squirming against her friend’s muscular leg.  “Kiss me!”

Maria didn’t hesitate.  Ginny’s lips felt as soft as they looked, and the insides of her mouth, most noticeably her teeth, were even softer.  Their tongues twined, and Ginny’s knees buckled.  Maria’s strong grip around Ginny was the only thing that kept her from tumbling to the floor.

Maria broke for air, Ginny’s eyes were shining, and not just because they’d become glass.  “That,” the love-doll squeaked, “was fucking incredible.  Again!”

Neither of them noticed the same scene playing out among dozens of other couples.  Before long, every girl at the dance, new girl or old, cat-ears or no, was made of plastic.

When the song finally ended, and Maria and Ginny separated, they both gasped.  There were dozens that had changed even more than Ginny, becoming fully robotic.  Traceries of glowing circuits covered their bodies, and their eyes were glowing blue orbs.  Gaps in their glossy, smooth skin showed cables and gears underneath.  Some moved as smoothly as silk, others with the stop-and-go jerkiness of a robot.  One girl had changed further yet, and was a two foot tall marionette, her strings leading up to her boyfriend’s hand.  She was dancing madly at his command, giggling up a storm.  The grins on both their faces were epic.

“Oh wow,” Maria breathed.  “Now what?”

“I hope you enjoyed the Transformation Polka,” Leo announced over the speakers.  “Let’s have a big round of applause for our guest.”

There were scattered cheers among the applause, but also worried looks.  Were they going to be stuck like this?

Then the familiar strains of ‘Highway to Heaven’ started up, the proper version, not an accordion-mangled one.  Their guest watched over them with a smile that gave them nothing to fear, so they danced.  Maria pulled Ginny in close for the slow part at the beginning, and Ginny didn’t object.  Instead, she snuggled up even closer, and set her head on Maria’s shoulder as they danced.

As the music’s pace rose, so did a swirling mist.  Glowing with moonlight, it rendered the other dancers indistinct shapes, swirling and leaping to the racing music, dancing figures that did not look human.  Satyrs and nymphs flitted in the fog, but as the song wound down to its plaintive finale, and the mist drained away... everyone was human once more.  Tails and ears and plastic skin were all gone, and everyone in the ballroom save one was back in their normal gender as well.

Ginny looked around, then back at her friend.  “You didn’t change.”

Maria smiled fondly at his girlfriend.  “No.  I didn’t.”

“Thank you everyone, you’ve been a great crowd,” called out the flamboyantly-shirted man, his accordion nowhere to be seen.  “If you have any questions about your parting gifts, I’ll be by the entrance for a little while.  Remember girls, deep breaths...”

There was chatter and consternation among the crowd as he strolled to the front of the ballroom.  People wondered what he meant, until suddenly one girl’s chest expanded like a bullfrog’s.  She squeaked in amazement, and her boyfriend grinned at how she was threatening to spill out of her dress.  With a gusty exhale, her breasts returned to normal.  “I have inflatable tits!” she squealed, looking amazed.  Her boyfriend had the goofiest grin you ever saw.

Ginny took a deep breath, then laughed as her chest expanded.  “Oh, wow.  I hope I get to keep this.”

“Me too,” said Maria in her new deep voice.

Ginny started dragging Maria toward the door.  “We need to talk to him, get you changed back.”

“Is that what you really want?” asked Maria.

Ginny stopped cold, and slowly turned to her friend, eyes widening as realization after realization set in.  “You’d... you would stay like this?  For me?”

Maria couldn’t speak, only nodded, eyes shining with emotion.

“Oh...”  Ginny’s eyes narrowed.  “Maria Yvonne Cleary, did you arrange for all this chaos just so you could become my boyfriend?”

Maria nodded slowly.  “Yes.”  He bit his lip.  “Though I didn’t expect it to get quite so wild.”

Ginny grabbed him in a bear hug.  “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard!”

After a long, passionate kiss, Ginny came up for air.  “Foo.  Being a love doll had its advantages.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.  Didn’t have to break a kiss to breathe.”

Maria chuckled.  “We could get you changed back, if you like.”  She gestured to the guy by the door. Two of the couples that had slipped out during ‘Lola’ were talking to him.  One started changing back.  The other couple hesitated for a long moment, then smiled and walked outside as they were, out into the moonlight.

“Tempting... but I think I’d like to be human for this next bit.”

Ginny pulled her boyfriend to the guy in the brightly-coloured shirt.  “Hi.  How long will this last?”

“I can change you back now... no?  Then it will fade in a week.”

Ginny sighed.  “Oh.  I was hoping...”

The man looked over at Maria.  “Do you want to stay like this?”

Maria bit his lip, looked down at Ginny’s begging eyes, and smiled.  “Yes. With all my heart.”

“Go.  Look upon the Moon.  If that truly is your heart’s desire, so it shall be.”

He stepped out of their way, and Maria and Ginny went out into the parking lot.  “Do you think he was serious?” Ginny asked.

“Given everything else that has happened tonight... yes.”

Ginny squeezed Maria’s hand.  “Then let’s look up together.”

A glow enveloped the two figures, briefly.  They staggered for a moment, then hugged each other happily.

“Was that a dream?  Are we really going to be like that?” asked Ginny wonderingly.

“Yes.  And I’ll do my best.”

“Oh...” Ginny’s voice was lost in wonder.  Then she giggled.  “I guess this means I get to keep my inflatable boobs, too.”

“Awesome.”

Maria swept Ginny up into a spin, twirling her around with his newfound strength, then set her down to gales of giggles.  Then, arms around each other, the couple walked off into their new life together.