It was a quiet afternoon when Misty made her way to the library. The doors opened and she trotted inside, ears perking at the sight of Amber already there. "Hello? Amber?"

Amber lifted her head from the desk, rubbing her forehead. "Ah! Sorry, sorry. There we go, awake and ready for work!" She gestured with a hoof. "Come on, I was waiting for you."

Misty hurried over. "Sorry for keeping you waiting."

Amber shook her head. "You weren't." She hopped down to the floor. "But I did want to show you something, something you've been wanting to see." She led Misty deeper into the library, towards the new third floor. "Come on, upstairs. We'll need the quiet."

Misty looked around, confused but eager. "Do I finally get to see your new trick?"

"Maybe," sang out Amber, trailing with a giggle as she ascended the stairs. "It took practice to get this working properly. I think you'll like it."

Misty grinned. "I'm looking forward to it." Her eyes scanned the upper floor, seeing mostly empty shelves. "Is this a lesson in shelving?"

"No." Amber turned to face Misty. "This top floor will be about pony magic, and we don't have a lot of books on that, yet. We're writing the unicorn one right now, you and me."

Misty nodded. "Right, we'll finish it soon."

"Yes, but that's not what matters right now." Amber looked around. "Is it good up here?"

Misty glanced around. "A little empty, but that makes sense. More teaching spaces, less things to look up, for now."

Amber chuckled gently. "Good, now, eyes on me." She stretched out in a very feline way, horn glowing with magic. Her tail grew an inch, then two more, rapidly extending until she had a great feline tail swaying behind her where once there was a pony one. "Meow. How's that?"

Misty's eyes went wide. "You have a cat's tail!" She circled around Amber, watching the tail in awe. "That's amazing!"

"It is." Amber closed her eyes, focusing on the tail. With active concentration, she could make it flick and curl in ways pony tails did not. "While speaking to our grumpy feline friend, I took note of a few of her songs. Her tail was one of them." She curled the tip. "It takes focus, but it works."

Misty stepped up to Amber and hugged her. "That's so cool. Can I learn to grow a tail?"

Amber shook her head. "In time, in time. You'll note the tail looks a bit large on me. That's because it came from her song. She's a big kitty, so her song is a big tail." She reached back, curling her tail to meet her and let her hug it. "Allura's tail, on me."

Misty reached to touch the tail, running her hooves through the soft fur. "It's really there. You can feel it, even touch it."

"I certainly can, yes." Amber's ear flickered. "It's not an image of her tail. I turned my tail into hers, but it won't last for too much longer." She nuzzled into the soft feline fur just as it began to shrank, slowly returning to its original pony form. "But it isn't the only song I learned from her. Just one of many." She looked at herself. "That reminds me." Her own form shifted, growing taller and fuller, still a pony, but not one that looked like her at all. Her hair was long, her eyes bright green, and her coat was a darker shade of pink. "A song of her size. I didn't think size, by itself, had a song." She stepped carefully, lest she hurt anything with her new bulk. "But it does, for Allura."

Misty gaped, staring. "You're huge." Her horn glowed softly. "It's really you, and you're really bigger. I can tell that much."

Amber gave Misty a little poke, still almost enough to knock her over. "Stop checking for illusions. This is all a transformation spell, just different songs for the target. Being a large purple pony is exciting, but of limited use as a librarian. It's a curious side effect of the song. Maybe it's just part of the full song?"

Amber shrunk back down to her usual self, sighing with relief. "More manageable. Every new friend we make is a chance to learn a few new songs. Just a side benefit, as if making friends wasn't reward enough." She smiled at Misty. "But, you already knew that. So, what would you like to practice?"

Misty flexed a hoof. "I was practicing my floating spell. Now I can do a whole minute." She hopped up but didn't come all the way back down. "See? Barely any effort now."

Amber applauded the effort. "Very nice! You've been practicing, clearly. I am very proud of you, magic buddy. You make me feel a little guilty. I should practice more instead of always looking for new new new."

Misty blushed, setting her hooves back down. "It's not that good, but I'm gonna get better." She nodded. "Practice makes perfect."

"Quite, I just keep seeing new things." She ran a hoof down her face with an embarrassed grin. "Okay, I'll make a promise. No hunting new songs for a whole week at least. I'll work with the ones I've collected. They should be plenty to keep me happy. Oh, speaking of that, have you practiced at all with the part changing spell?"

"Oh, um, no. I haven't." She held a hoof over her mouth. "I haven't thought about it, honestly." She gave a sheepish grin. "I guess I got focused on other things too."

"We've both been trotting in our own direction." Amber booped Misty on the nose. "Now, how about we trade? You wanted to know my trick. The catch, it's part of that part switching spell." She dug out her book and laid it flat on the ground. Her magic flipped it to the part switching spell. "Here."

Misty looked. "Right, the spell with a big blank spot." Her eyes went to that blank first. "That you have to fill in, with what you want to turn into, and what part of you is doing the turning."

Amber raised a hoof. "About that! I've learned that the song for what you turn into often has the part about what is changing already kinda built in. A song about Allura's tail is going to already be about tails. If you wanted to have her tail as an arm, you'd have to really work at that. Not sure why somepony would want that."

Misty shuddered at that thought. "That's creepy."

"Agreed, but it does mean we can leave that blank spot. You can just sing the song and hope you're on key." She tapped at her horn. "And that's the trick, isn't it? Practice! You've been practicing your hovering, and me, these transformations. Both lovely spells, but we can't master both of them at the same time, now can we?" She smiled. "So, I think we're doing alright, each with a favorite spell we're working on."

Misty nodded, smiling. "Okay, I'll get this one next, promise!"

***

Comforting faced her rival, one she hadn't even known she had until just a chapter before. "So, what do you want exactly?"

The goat answered first, "Your head and your wings, plucked from your corpse."

The dragon snickered, "With a side of fries, please."

The lion frowned at them. "This is no laughing matter."

Comforting made a face. "If you're a chaos creature like me, you know death's hard to come by for us, on any lasting level."

The goat nodded, "We are aware, and we also are aware of the solution to that conundrum. We needn't kill you to end your miserable existence. We just need to pull you inside out."

The lion rolled her eyes, a female, unlike the other two. "Metaphysically, that is. You have a tie that keeps you going. Just have to separate you from it. You have a mortal tie, and we can break it."

The dragon laughed softly, "And that's easy. We already know what you're tied to."

The goat nodded, "And it's not going to last forever, which makes this easier than ever."

Comforting slammed her hands on her hips. "I don't appreciate you making threats on anyone I happen to like, but I'm not my dad. I don't have any one person I'm tied to. I have quite the collection. Look, what do you want? Attacking me is great and all, but to what end? Surely you have an end game in there somewhere?"

The goat chuckled, "Yes, we do." He tapped his snout. "We're going to replace you. There can only be one chaos being in this world. Your existence keeps us from being able to stay, so we're removing you."

Comforting blinked at that. "I'm only taking up space around this city. I thought I was keeping things to myself. Why can't you haunt any of the other places?"

The goat sneered at that. "Your presence makes it impossible. It isn't about territory, but about order." She held out her hoof. "As chaos, we do not fit into this ordered, rational world."

Comforting considered that a moment. "Mm, well, Together does run a fairly orderly ship, but she's not as strong as she has been in the past. I'm not interfering with her, so maybe I could help you find a spot to work around us. I can sense Together, and help you avoid that, or I could ask her to let you stay in this world."

The dragon peered at Comforting with a new curiosity. "You can communicate with this world's order spirit?"

"Yes. I have been, for decades. I used to be mortal, and I was her agent, one of many. After I became a chaos spirit, that never entirely changed. We're in good!" She balled a hand and put it into the air just in time for a sparkling image of a tree to collide, completing the brofist before the image vanished. "Together and I are friends, if not family."

The goat looked dubious, "Then why is she so powerful here?"

Comforting threw a hand wide. "You're next to her, literally. She lives in the pony cities. Go away from the pony cities and you can find lots of room to do what you want without her watching." She snapped a finger. "She's not the strongest there is, not any more anyway, and hasn't been for some time. She'd probably let you stay without being a problem."

The dragon considered that, looking towards the lion. "What do you think?"

The lion frowned in thought, but her expression slowly softened. "We didn't think we could speak to order." She looked at Comforting. "It has never, in all my times, been able to speak with order. Maybe you have a use besides being a target for destruction. What does your order call herself?"

Comforting smiled brightly, "Together."

The dragon blinked. "How delightfully on the nose."

The goat chuckled. "Well, I suppose we'll give it a try."

The lion gave a low purr. "To avoid Together, we have to stop being so close. That fits. Order, at this strength, is hard to be near. Take us somewhere more comfortable, if you're serious about helping."

Comforting smiled. "Alright! Glad to be of service. As it turns out, offering comfort is a thing I love doing." She went up to the less irritated chimera and gave them a soft hug. "Isn't it nicer to make a friend or two?"

The lion chuckled. "I admit, I didn't think of it that way. You have certainly given us reason to reconsider. Come, let's get away from that big, horrible, tree."

And so they vanished.

Author's Note

Oversized kitty tail? What a fine spell.

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