Looking himself in the mirror, Eric smirked. “If it helps, I don’t see the appeal either. Anyways, not sure she’s trying to imply we should do anything with each other, Tom, though unless she suddenly became a nymphomaniac, I’m not so sure she could really handle both of us even one at a time.” Eric took in a deep breath as he saw himself unclothed. “Alright, Wave, let’s do this! And for once I can actually see it happen.”

Wave flew up to Eric and gently embraced him from behind as her hooves pressed into his sides and chest. A sudden warmth of powerful heat ran through him along with a chorus of snapping bones and rearranging flesh. It became a haze of discomfort and pain as his body was surrendered to her will, or the will of her goddess, or maybe both. Neither claimed full credit as Eric's body sprouted white fur all over. His eyes changed subtly, becoming almond shaped and long-lashed as a long slender snout grew in. Eric wasn't becoming a stallion. Maredom was rushing on him with all the unstoppability of a train going downhill.

Watching, Tom blinked a few times as that white fur started to completely cover Eric, although from the angle he had Tom couldn’t really make out much more beyond the fur and general shape. Still, he had a vague clue, and a hand shot to cover his mouth as he winced.

Eric started laughing through all the pain, struggling to keep his or her eyes open and watch as many details as possible as they rushed in. Hooves pressed on the bathroom counter to brace herself as everything shifted into place, the bipedal balance disappearing along the way. “So… Wave… heh… are you the… jealous type? … Still want me… in your… herd?...”

Wave twitched her ears as the new female voice. "Of course I do." She punched him, er, her, in the side with a hoof. "Dummy, you're family, and I made you, uh, this way. Are you OK?" She flew around the new mare, looking her over curiously before sniffing at her. "At least you're a land pony." She looked to Tom curiously. "I doubt you'll be so lucky."

“You, Eric,” Tom muttered, now that it had been confirmed. “Uh, you make for a very pretty mare?” he hesitantly offered up, looking over to Wave and shrugging. “I’ve got these, so I’ll be a mix, or something weird like that?” he said, waving a leg as he held out his arms. “It comes from your goddess, so… whatever I end up as can be blamed on her if there’s any craziness?” Tom smiled, looking at Wave and nodded his assent.

Eric nodded, looking herself over in the mirror from different angles. “Thank you, both. What do you think of ‘Pyrite Glitter’ for a pony name? I told you’d been thinking about it.”

Wave cast a nervous smile. "That's a nice name, for a nice pony, but I don't know, I mean, about Tom. They could become a tail, like mine." She wagged her thick aquatic tail. "I know you don't want that…" The thought seemed to depress her a little. "I guess no one would want to be a siren if they didn't have to be."

Before the last word slipped from from Wave’s mouth, Tom wrapped her up in a fierce hug. “If I became a siren, I’d be perfectly fine with it, Wave. There’s nothing wrong with being a siren at all, please don’t feel down? Like Eric over there, I want to change. The only difference is that I’m already partly changed, and I’d rather just get it over with so I can adapt and fully enjoy life, Wave, as whatever I end up,” he softly spoke, finally relenting his hug just a bit. Glancing over to Eric, he nodded with a weak smile and gave a thumb up for the name.

“Your turn then, Tom,” Pyrite said as she slipped up next to Wave to whisper. “So just to be sure, you’re saying you want Tom and I both in your herd, and you won’t get mad at me for seducing him later? I mean… I need some time to adjust first anyways, but I want to know I won’t be angering you or anything.”

Wave only got more confused before something clicked in her and she made quite the O of an expression. "If you both become mares, we won't be able to do what I almost did before, but we could do the rest of it." She frowned a little. "That's…" She returned Tom's hug firmly. "Don't care. We're together, as family. That's the important part. Now, ready?" She didn't wait, and began to rub at Tom's ribs and up over his face as she willed the last of the humanity away and banished her itchiness with it. The parking-sign green color spread up over Tom rapidly as those fins began to migrate upwards in strange fits. He was clearly changing, becoming something new.

Pyrite interrupted the process with an exclamation of “only almost?!” before shaking her head with a hoof on her forehead.

Closing his eyes, Tom felt those odd sensations return, catching what the newly named Pyrite had said. “Yes, she wasn’t ready, so I didn’t push it. This feels weird, but not a bit of pain,” he muttered, shivering slightly as he felt that fur spreading, and the gentle tugging from the fins.

The herd went from stallion dominated to solely mare run as he became a she. Those fins reached her back and began to spread out and grow, becoming like strangely shaped wings as she fell to all fours in Wave's changing grip. Wave tilted her head in confusion. "What kind of wings are those? They don't have feathers."

“Alright then. Enough crowding around the bathroom,” Pyrite said as she started toward the bedroom, only to end up sprawled in the doorway in a tangle of hooves. “Oh, right. Need to learn a whole new set of limbs too… all the more reason to not be crowding around the bathroom.” With determination she managed to flounder ridiculously into the bedroom to have more space to flounder.

Shivering, Tom’s eyes slowly opened. “I have, wings?” Hooves shot to her mouth, successfully smacking her muzzle somewhat painfully with newly formed hooves. “Ouch! So, it’s done then, Wave?” she questioned, a hoof slowly moving along her face, stopping on her throat. “So… I’m gonna be as graceful as Pyrite there, too, huh…” Tom muttered, still trying to comprehend the new feelings of her changed body as a raspberry colored lock of mane fell into her vision.

“Wave, would you mind informing Twilight that we’ll be needing to stay a bit longer as guests than previously anticipated? I’m sure the Princess will understand. Especially once the species and gender changes enter the conversation,” Pyrite requested. After a moment, she looked back and forth between the two ponified humans. “Oh, hey, my mane matches your fur. Neat.”

Wave smirked a little. "I told you it could change, but I thought it'd be a tail, not wings…" She reached with a hoof to swat at Tom's raspberry colored tail. "You did get a tail though. You both have nice tails, but mine's bigger." So she has a little pride. "I'll tell Twilight, and maybe she can figure out your wings? They don't even look like fins anymore. I don't understand." She suddenly flew/swam off through the air.

“So…” Tom started, trailing off as she watched Wave leave before turning to Pyrite. “We’re both mares now, and I’ve apparently got wings? Fins?” she queried, slowly moving her neck to get a better look for herself. “I, uh, hadn’t really thought about any pony names, not like you did apparently.”

“Pyrite means ‘fool’s gold’. It felt particularly fitting to me, all things considered,” Pyrite mentioned. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about my mistakes along the way. Even if they do tend to work out. I’ve always had a bit of a charmed life though.”

Tom looked at those sleek wing-fins, able to make out some of the tiny scales that seemed to completely coat them. “Hmm, I can see the reasoning behind that. This is, weird… it’s sorta like Night’s wings, but not? Wonder if they work,” she mused aloud before splitting her focus, half of it trying to move them, the other half continuing with Pyrite. “I suppose a name mixing sucker and water would be a good idea for me, hmm?” she joked, giggling a moment before her eyes went wide at the action and she felt two pricks against her lips.

“Hmm… what do you think of ‘Hydrofoil’? Just a thought,” Pyrite offered. “You’ve probably got as much learning to do with the wings as I do with the horn, I’d bet. Less books involved, if that’s any consolation.” She was still stumbling about, trying to get her legs to bear her around the room properly.

Awkwardly attempting to get four hooves underneath her, Tom shook her head. “Nah, that just sounds weird. I’d go with something cliche like Ocean Breeze before going with Hydrofoil, Pyrite,” she retorted, licking at her teeth. “And, I’ve got fangs. A pair of them, it feels like.” She opened her mouth and turned towards Pyrite. “See?”

“Oh, neat! Not complaining about being a unicorn, but you got to be something pretty nifty and unique in the end. So, no regrets, bro? err.. sis? Herd sister? I dunno how this stuff works,” Pyrite stumbled verbally to match her movements.

“Ask Twilight when she gets back with Wave?” she questioned, a wing twitching randomly ever so slightly. “You could always swear fealty to a goddess too and end up with her heavy touch all over you too, you know,” she remarked with a shrug, scrunching up her nose as she got to all four hooves, onto to fall flat on her snout. “Ouch… Also, Ocean Breeze might not be half bad… whatcha think? I’d thought bout going pony, but didn’t think one second about the whole new name part.”

“Tom and Eric just don’t fit anymore, right? Ocean Breeze is perfect, actually. Seems like only a few days ago I was watching…” Pyrite got a bit of a sad look on her face before shaking her head fiercely. “That was another lifetime. No regrets. Can’t move backwards, only forwards.” Determinedly, she pushed to her hooves and managed a couple of steps before tripping herself up.

Getting back up to her hooves was a slow process, to say the least. “Ocean Breeze,” she rolled the name slowly off her tongue, playing with it a bit. “I suppose I can live with that. Ocean for the water, and if these things work, well, Breeze becomes quite self explanatory then,” she mused, peeking once more at those wings. “What an interesting turn of events, though… I’d read novels and wondered what the opposite sex would be like… looks like I get to live it instead, heh.”

“I’d honestly been curious since like… high school. Hadn’t imagined being a pony, to be honest. Always ran more toward the scaley side of the furry fandom. Not that I mind. New experiences by any measure, right? So… now that we’re both mares, still thinking that a herd with a bunch of mares is for you?” Pyrite asked as non suggestively as such a thing could be asked.

“New world, new life sorta deal?” she questioned before sighing, taking a hesitant step. “This… might be easier on a floor that isn’t tiled too, by the way. But, yes, my curiosity has also been there for a long time. As for that last bit… I still love Wave, and I asked her to do this, so I’m not going to change my mind so quickly. Especially not with a goddess who’d mince whatever Wave left,” Ocean said with a shake of her head, nearly sending herself tumbling again. “But… might as well try?”

Pyrite drew her hooves up under her to just lie on the floor in a particularly equine pose. “This is… new. Anyways, I guess I’m being too subtle here. Now that we’re all mares do you still find me, you know, sexually repulsive? Or do you think I could actually be with, well, both of you? Sexually. Not, like… before we figure out how to walk, or anything, but… soonish?”

“Wave is still under the impression that family is a herd, and vice versa… even if I kept holding out, she’d still insist, even once she fully understood what I was trying to say,” Ocean muttered in exasperation. “You’re… rather stunning for a pony, I’ll admit. Attractive? Yeah, even though you don’t have any of that exoticness that drew me to Wave in the first place. Sexually? I don’t even know how I feel about being a female, beyond curious still.” She stared at a spot in the mirror, shrugging in response.

Pyrite sighed. “This is the longest I’ve been without sex since… three years ago, give or take. Though now I guess we’re all virgins in a sense? The newness of it all… it fills me with a burning curiosity, that just compliments my libido. But I get the sense you’re both the opposite. Afraid? That’s probably overstating it.”

Next Chapter: 35 - Becoming a Family, Formally Estimated time remaining: 30 Minutes