The good news is that you do let the trophy go. You watch as it falls from your hand and lands on the desk with a soft clunk. Still your focus is somewhat more on the fact that your fingers have retracted into your hand; a hand that has altered it's form to the unmistakable form of a horse's hoof. You stare at it for a moment, breath coming in short sharp breaths as you watch brown horse-hide starting to replace the human skin of your wrist, and feel a strange sensation as the bones and muscles alter shape beneath the hide. It's nearly to your forearms before you manage to let out a confused cry and tear your eyes away from it and towards the smirking woman.
"What's going on?!" you ask her as the fingers of your left hand clenched into a fist.
"Well if that's your trophy, than you must have been a horse when you won it." she says, leaning back in her chair with a grin that holds a slight hint of malice behind it.
"It's yours, have it back, just give me back my hand!" you say to her desperately.pl
"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that." she says with a smile that tells you she fully enjoys that it doesn't work like that "You can change back, but there are rules. You must take the trophy, place it back on the shelf where you got it and leave the same way you came in without breaking anything in the process. In short, do what you did before only in reverse." she says to you, as she stands up to stroll over to the door. "But I'd hurry, it's not going to get any easier for you." she says. You've managed to control your breathing while she spoke and thus when the rules are explained you reach out to the trophy, only to hear a strange sound and find no trophy in your hands. When you stare at your left hand it's as if someone has wrapped their hands around your heart and squeezed. Your other hand has become a hoof as well, and your left arm is changing rapidly to catch up with your right.
"How am I...?" you ask and turn to the woman. For answer, she simple chatters her teeth together a couple of times. You take the cue and lean over to grab the handle of the trophy with your teeth, awkwardly as you feel them changing as well. You hear her laugh again as you fumble about with the trophy and turn towards the door she's standing by. You approach it and stare at the handle. A snort of frustration issues from your nose, that sounds uncomfortable like the sound a horse would make. You look at the woman who adopts a mock look of confusion and you nod your head at the door. She nods in understanding and opens the door, slowly. By the time you bolt out of the study your face has already stretched out in front of you and your ears have taken on an equine shape as your hair grows down your slowly lengthening neck. You wince as the changes to your arms progress past your elbows and the joints of your arms shift,causing your former arms to push out in front of you.
You pause before the stares. Negotiating them is going to be difficult, but you carefully make your way down them, trying not to stumble as your top gets much heavier. Your head and neck soon meet your shoulders in their changes and merge midway down the stairs, your shirt having long since torn along the hallway and left sitting on the floor. You find that moving is easier, but by no means easy, using the horse legs that have replaced your human arms, dragging your legs behind you. As you continue down the second flight of stairs, you can feel your chest expanding and your back shifting down to your hips, forcing your useless human legs into a different stance, ripping the remainder of your clothes in the process. It's almost a relief when your legs begin changing and you're able to walk on all four legs rather then half-crawling slowly through the foyer. Still as you feel a tail flop from your fully formed horse rear that it dawns on you that you're body has no further changes to make. You're a horse now. You walk to the room you first entered, trying to coordinate four legs to work in together as you go. Finally you place the trophy on the shelf where you got it. You're stunned as you see the tiny plaque. It'd been when you examined it on your way to the study, but now you can see your name spelled almost in it's entirety, only missing the final letter. You fear that if that name completes that something terrible will happen. You have no time. You turn to the window you came in through.
Again a sense of terror grasps you as you look upon a window that could easily fit a man, but a horse couldn't possibly fit through without breaking it, even if it were open. You're in an impossible situation. You have to leave through the window to win the game, but you can't leave through the window without loosing. You let out a frightened whinny as this realization sets in on you. You feel a hand pat you on the side as though to comfort you. You turn your head to see your mistress...that is the woman...you're not sure what caused you to regard her in that way, but you shake the thought off. Clearly you've got bigger problems.
"Ohhh....look at you, you made it so far." she says, walking up to your front and tapping you on the nose with a delicate finger "But that's what you get for being naughty, hmmm?" she says. You furiously try to work out what to do when suddenly you feel strange feeling course through your body. You look over your shoulder and see the last letter of your name carve itself on the trophy. You've lost. You turn to regard your mistress, a thought that you can't shake off anymore. She stands with a pleasant smile as she strokes your neck.
"Come, I'll show you to your new home in the stables." she says. With no further choice left to you, you follow her. Silently wishing you'd just stolen the cheese sandwich.