Bella licked her lips in excitement. She was eager to be part of the adventure of the transformation process with Brad. She reached out a tentative hoof to touch the golden surface, which glinted in the light. "It's only been good so far." She danced on her hooves. "It's given us so much fun. Trust in it."

Brad took a deep breath. "Alright." He pushed himself off the bed. "Are you sure you're okay with me possibly turning into a horse forever?"

Twilight put her hoof on his shoulder, rubbing gently. "That would be unlikely. In the event you turn into a stallion, you could use it again to turn back into a pony. The problem would be the loss of your human form, which I am hoping is not the case."

RC shrugged lightly. "Worse things could happen. Like turning into a chair or a random object."

Brad couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't jinx it."

Bella pressed in close, touching their noses together again. "Trust in me. I jumped first." She waved her hooves at Brad. "And look what I got!" She giggled with growing joy. "Like Twilight said, we won't know until you try it."

Twilight held up the statue. "Brad, it's okay, we won't force you into it."

Brad closed his eyes tight. "I'll give it a try." He reached up, took the statue, and stuffed it in his muzzle. He focused on his original form, that human guise that had served him so well for his entire life until that very day.

With a burst of rainbows and sparkling magic, Brad found himself back to his old self once more. He was still standing on two feet and even managed to catch the falling statue. "Success!" Bella called out, jumping up and down.

Twilight clapped her hooves. "Excellent. But that gives me another idea." She held out a hoof for the statue. "If I may?"

Brad handed it over. "What are you planning, exactly?"

"It occurs to me," Twilight began, "that I may not have to use my personal magic." With a fresh set of sparkles, human Twilight returned to being. "See? The statue appears to facilitate changes between all three forms. Oh! We haven't tried horse yet." Just like that, Twilight, the horse, filled the room.

Bella made a noise of appreciation as she ogled Twilight's size. "Nice. Maybe later. I like my stallion as he is." She came in close to Twilight to touch their noses together. "You make for a nice horse, I think I qualify as a good judge of that. Is that really how large we are?" She looked amazed at how much she had to look up at the horse Twilight.

The human Twilight took back over and stood up. "Looks like we can use the statue's power freely, even without personal magic."

"Good luck explaining that one to humans though." Brad took the statue back from Twilight, returning to his pegasus form. "Okay. Well. I guess that makes this worth something after all."

"Oh yes. It's priceless." RC clapped with the biggest smile. "Stupid man thought it was worthless. Shows what he knows. Okay! Brad! Time to show you how to use these." She spread her wings wide. "You did not become a pegasus just to not fly. Flying is awesome!"

Twilight snorted softly. "We're not going anywhere. There is zero need to shout."

RC scrunched her muzzle. "Fine. Brad, it's time to learn to fly. I shall teach you what I can."

"That's the spirit!" Brad pumped his fist. "Let's fly!"

They all cheered and went outside. Brad was back to being a pegasus, wings flapping experimentally. "I tried turning into a different kind of pony, but I still turned into a pegasus."

Twilight inclined her head. "It's already amazing that it allows for the changes it does. I imagine the three species it allows, each pony has a specific variety of all three they will reliably become. I wonder what determines it. Personality, perhaps?" Twilight stroked her chin slowly, already deep in thought.

Bella galloped up to Brad to smack into him. "That's okay. I love how you look as a pony, and your personality is great however you happen to appear."

RC did some stretches while waiting for the other two to finish. "Time to take wing! Let's hit the skies." She hovered just above the ground, beckoning Brad to join her.

Brad brought down his wings, expecting to not get very far. But he did, lifting from the ground with an almost deceptive ease. "Wow. This is actually quite easy!" He slowed and lowered himself back to the ground with a sigh. "So long as I don't go crashing into something."

"Control is the big thing you have to learn, by practicing." RC zipped over to be next to Brad. "C'mon!" She hovered about halfway between the ground and the tops of the trees nearby. "Let's work on hovering first. Take-offs and landings aren't easy. Hovering is the core of flight control."

Bella dashed around beneath them, her eyes locked on the two as they practiced. At least until she ran into another pony. "Sorry." She got back to her hooves. "I was distracted."

Big Mac nodded lightly. "Ayup." He looked her over a moment. "Mornin'."

Bella realized who she had crashed into. "Oh! Hello! Did I scare you before? You were avoiding me last time we met."

Big Mac looked surprised. "I was?" He tossed his mane. "Ah don't remember that."

"You probably weren't interested in a horse." Bella shuffled awkwardly, shifting her weight. "My name is Bella."

He bowed his head respectfully. "Big Macintosh. Just call me Big Mac." He thought over what she had said, his eyes slowly widening. "Oh! You were that big pony, wit' that human?"

"Mhm. I became a pony. So now I can be closer to Brad." She looked up towards where he and RC were still practicing. Brad had gotten to the point of holding a steady hover. "Now we can talk so much more, hm, complicatedly? I can get out so much!" She cantered in place. "It's nice to meet you, again."

Big Mac blinked a few times, processing that all. "Ayup. Me too." He looked between the two flying ponies. "Ya like Brad then, ah take it?"

Bella grinned sheepishly and looked down, blushing hard. "Yes. He is my stallion. He was always a close and wonderful friend, but now he's even more."

Big Mac gave a respectful nod. "Sounds real nice. Ah gotta git ta work. Maybe ah'll see ya later?"

Bella nodded brightly. "Of course!"

Meanwhile, Brad had managed to gain a basic grasp of flight, enough to at least fly forward at speed. It was the finer controls that would still require practice, and perhaps always would. The difference between driving an airplane and being one.

Still, it was an exciting new experience that had left his body tingling from muzzle to tail. That thrill of flight, being up in the air and able to move about like never before. "Awesome." He laughed and landed on the ground. "And what are you two chatting about?" He trotted up to where Big Mac and Bella were chatting.

"I'm saying hello to Big Mac." Bella grinned over at Brad. "Since I couldn't do that before as easily."

Big Mac was already trotting off to other business. "Ayup."

Brad suddenly perked, new ears dancing. "I just had an idea. It might be a very silly one, but what if you, Bella, tried being human?"

Twilight joined the two of them with a nod. "There are two problems. First is how safe that would be. The second is how she'd react to suddenly changing species."

RC laughed, poking Twilight's side. "Did you hear yourself? Suddenly changing species?"

Bella pointed to RC. "I already changed that! Why would one more make me panic? Twilight, thank you for caring about me. You are a wonderful herd-sister." She went in to touch nose to cheek on Twilight. "You care about me a lot, and I appreciate it. But I think I could manage it, especially if Brad is there to help me learn how to be a human, like he is."

Twilight rubbed along her own cheek where Bella had touched her. "Well, Brad could offer insight to help her learn."

Brad took the statue back in his teeth, carefully considering his options. "Okay." With a haze of sparkles, he returned to his human form, then held out the statue towards Bella. "Hold this and imagine you were a human like me. It should handle the rest."

Bella grinned as she grabbed the statue and focused intently. She could feel the change rippling over her flesh as it reformed. Where once were hooves now were hands and fingers. Her center of mass shifted as her legs adjusted length and style. She was a human woman. It even came with clothes. The clothes had her cutie mark printed on it. She danced on her new feet. "Ooo, this is so strange! Look at these funny legs. Only two!" She flexed her arms and fingers. "Five-finger grabbers. Ooo. This is odd. Fun!" She hugged Brad around the chest with an exuberant giggle.

RC snickered at Bella's reaction. "She takes to being human quite easily."

Brad gasped in surprise, putting his arms around Bella. "Not bad." He ran a hand through her hair, smiling warmly at her. It was human Bella, and, as it turned out, human Bella was actually very nice looking. As a mare, she had been quite a pretty thing, and it seemed this extended to being human. He sighed, gazing into Bella's lovely face. She was a perfect image of beauty, loveliness, and utter perfection. Of course, she was still Bella, filled with more boundless energy and laughter than any picturesque perfection.

Twilight poked Brad's shin. "Are you falling in love with her, again? I know the two of you have been close friends for years. But this feels different somehow."

Bella didn't stop to think about what Brad thought. "No!" She gestured wildly. "I'm not in estrus anymore." She paused suddenly. "Do humans have those? I could never ask before. Now I can, so, Brad, do humans have estrus?"

Twilight waved her hooves, interrupting the lesson before Brad got too deep into biological facts. "Human females don't have estrus, but they do have menstrual cycles and fertility cycles."

Brad tapped his chin slowly. "This is all a bit much, but in a good way. I'd have to pencil today as being a fantastic day. RC." He turned to her. "Good job, finding that statue.

"Thanks, Brad." She offered a wing for a high-five, which he managed to slap. "All in a day's work."

Bella twisted a bit, staring down her own frontside. "Humans are built so differently. It's even more different from the inside."

"We can talk anatomy another time. For now, let's let Bella get used to being a human." He tugged her hand gently, guiding her along with him.

As a herd, they got everyone back to the library. Twilight, being closest to the door, opened it. Inside was Spike, curled up on his bed, reading a book. He looked up, spotting the herd as they came in, including a new person. "Huh?" He sat up, eyes on Bella curiously. "Who's that?"

"That's me!" Bella waved happily. "I'm Bella."

"Bella." Spike tilted his head slowly. "Wait, Bella, but she was a—horse?"

Twilight nodded proudly. "Indeed, Spike. It turns out, the statue can turn ponies into horses and also humans."

"Wow." Spike rubbed his forehead. "That's crazy."

Brad laughed lightly. "Actually." He offered the statue to Spike. "You could try it."

Twilight blocked the statue with a hoof. "I cannot recommend that. Spike is not one of the three species it can exchange between. He could lose his original dragon self, and that would be unideal, at the least."

Spike made a face at the statue. "Naw, thanks, Twilight. I like being myself."

RC rolled her eyes. "Dang. And I really wanted to see what he'd transform into. I bet Spike would make for a cute human, or pony, or even a horse. Spike horse!" She laughed, imagining the various permutations of Spike.

He crossed his arms stubbornly. "No deal."

Bella wandered about, exploring the library while the others chatted. It wasn't all that interesting since she was still mostly getting a handle on this human walking thing. It was nice to be in Brad's world with him, and to be able to walk alongside him. She returned to his side, looping one arm with his. "Walk with me, my stallion."

Brad obliged, letting her hold onto his arm for stability. The two circled around the lower floor of the library. Bella giggled merrily, then spun about to dance in front of Brad. He went with her motions, the two starting an impromptu dance despite the lack of music to move to.

"You make for a fine dancer," Brad complimented. His eyes followed Bella as she whirled around, seemingly caught in a storm of her own motion.

Bella felt free, and yet tied down, the freedom coming with her new form, with its ability to walk with Brad properly. But, she wasn't a horse, and the form felt new and alien despite its wonders. It felt restrictive, holding her down to earth. "I want to be a pony again. A mare." She plucked up the statue, then looked to Brad for guidance. "Is that alright?

Brad guided her back towards Twilight. "Of course it is, and there's nothing wrong with it either."

With a puff of sparkles, Bella fell back to her four-legged pony form. "Much better. Human me is interesting, but so strange."

Bella threw herself at Brad in an exuberant embrace, her whole body quivering. "Pony me feels so good. It feels natural! Do you feel natural as a human?"

Brad put his arms around her, rubbing his cheek against hers. "Yep. It's what I've been the longest. Actually, I'm surprised you're so natural in your pony form, considering you started as a horse. Does it really not feel that different?"

"It is different, but not a bad different?" Bella sank to her haunches with thought. "Like a different horseshoe, instead of a big jump. And also not that. It's a difference that doesn't feel like a difference. That's the best way I can describe it." She looked to Twilight. "You tried being a horse, how was that?"

"Not that different, as you said. Similar enough I could get around." Twilight gestured broadly. "Horses and ponies have a lot in common, more than we have differences. Being a human is far more jarring, in comparison." She looked to Brad. "Did you feel this when you were a pony? You appeared to be enjoying yourself."

He chuckled and wiggled his shoulders slightly. "I admit it was fun. Ponies seem so much freer."

Bella nuzzled into him. "Being a human was freeing in a way, but limiting in others."

RC threw up her hooves. "Each is different. Not a bad different, but different. I like them all in different ways, but I haven't tried horse yet. Forget that for now! I feel like we're getting somewhere. Like I understand us, you, Brad, and everything. Together. I think we've done great."

"Yes. Good job." Bella added her two cents cheerfully.

Twilight cleared her throat. "What we've done is generate more questions than answers, even if we've enjoyed the journey."

Spike rolled a hand. "So, a normal day for you then, Twi?"

Author's Note

They all seem to be enjoying this. What would you do with this statue?

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