There was a bright flash of light, and where Melisaa had stood there was now a full-grown horse, with Melissa's clothe sitting in a pile on the floor beneath it.
"Oh. My. GOD! It worked!", said Sheila. "Mel? is that really...you?" She reached out and stroked the horse's mane, gently. The horse jerked its head back, violently. It was becoming increasingly agitated, and whickering loudly.
"Uh-oh", thought Sheila. "This could be bad." The horse eyed her, and began trying to rear up.
"Mel, calm down!" said Sheila, in the gentlest voice she could manage. However, instead of calming down, the horse seemed to become more upset. Sheila began to worry. The attic was a very confined place, and the horse could easily crush her without even meaning to. Sheila grabbed the spell book and hastily blurted out the reversal spell. There was a bright flash of light, and when her eyes cleared she saw that the spell had only been partially successful - Mel was now human from the waist up, but still a horse from the waist down. In effect, she was now a centaur. Mel looked down at herself in dismay.
"Oh, my God, Sheila, what did you do?" she wailed.
"I'm sorry, Mel! The horse was freaking out, and I read the reversal spell in a hurry! I must have gotten it wrong."
"Yeah, I was freaking out - you try suddenly being turned into a horse, you'll freak out, too! I can't believe that magic is real! God, does that mean all of my uncle's stories were true? Also, I'm naked. Could you hand me up my tee shirt and bra? Those at least should still fit."
Sheila handed her friend the requested items and looked at the book some more while she put them on.
"OK, I think I see what I did wrong - I did misread the reversal spell a little. Let me read it again, and this time, just wish to be normal."
"Alright," said Mel, "but this time, make sure to get it right!"
Sheila spoke the words of the spell again. There was another bright flash, but this time she felt a tingling all over her body - it was bizarre, as though her legs were growing and expanding. When her eyes cleared, she looked at Mel and then down at herself in dismay - not only was Melissa still a centaur, she was now a centaur, too!
"Oh, no! But I was sure I read it right this time!"
"Hey!" said Melissa, "You're fully dressed!"
Sheila looked down at herself - it was true! Not only was she still wearing her bra and tee shirt, but her lower body was covered with sort of four-legged denim pants with a hole in the rear for her tail! Her hooves were covered by shoes that laced up her fetlocks and which had hard rubber bases. She looked at Melissa - she was similarly dressed.
"You're fully dressed, too! What's going on? Mel, did you wish for this somehow?"
"What? No! I just wished to be normal!"
"Then why did - ? Mel! Look around at the attic!"
The two girls looked around at the attic. It was bigger, now. Still cramped, but not nearly as cramped as it should have been with two horse-sized creatures in it. The architecture was slightly different, too. Even the door was bigger. Mel spoke first.
"It's almost as though the whole house is bigger - almost as though it was designed for bigger people."
Sheila replied, "Almost as though - oh, no, let's get downstairs right now!"
The two girls raced down to Melissa's room - they couldn't help noticing that the attic stairs were different, too. Fortunately, laking on four legs seemed to come naturally to them. They looked into Melissa's room, and gasped. The furniture was different - the bed was now more like a gigantic mattress and the writing desk was larger, too. Mel's poster of Mia Hamm was still there - but it depicted heras a centaur, too. They looked out the back window - Mrs. Hodgson, Mrs, Sherman and the three litle girls were still out there, but they were all centaurs, too! The funny thing was, they were still chatiing and playing as though it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Sheila, what happened?"
"I think I know. You didn't wish to be human again, you wished to be normal. "
"So?"
"So it made you 'normal' by changing everyone else to be centaur like you. Now, it's normal for you to be a centaur because everyone else is, too."
"And no one else thinks it's unusual?"
"I guess not. Your mom and Mrs Sherman and those little girls would be freaking out, otherwise. And look at this house! That's why it's different - it was designed for centaurs to live in. I bet the toilet's gonna take a little getting used to."
"Wait, it changed everyone on Earth?"
"I dunno. Maybe."
"Can we change everyone back?"
"I think so. The key will be for you to wish for you - and everyone else - to be a normal human, instead of just normal."
"Well, let's do it, then!"
"Wait a minute, I've been thinking."
"About what?"
""I've bene thinking that before we chsange back, it be fun to spend a little time as a centaur, find out what 'Centaur World' is like."
"Are you crazy, Sheila? We can't do that!"
"Why not? If no one knows there's any difference besides us, what difference does it make? Anyway, you were the one that said she wanted to find out what it was like to race along like a horse. Well, now's your chance to find out!"
Melissa thought about this for a moment, and said...