Catherine had been to many libraries before, but this one was something else. It was far larger than the one run by her friend Karina, and handled mostly magic-related texts, many of which seemed to be many decades old. She felt the urge to take one of the books off the shelf to study it, but she was there for a specific reason. She didn’t realize that she was holding her long brown hair, tied in its customary braid, and tightly so.
The person she was there to see, a meerkat shortstack, wasn’t all too hard to find. She was only half the vixen’s height, but much more voluptuous. “Meerina?” she asked softly. It was enough to startle the meerkat. Catherine put her hands out in a gesture of apology.
“Uh, hi,” she said shyly. “You’re Catherine?”
“Yes, I’m the one your boyfriend Jam told me about. A great guy, really.”
“Oh, I know he is,” Meerina said, looking flustered. “I take it you’re here to, well, become me?”
“I am,” Catherine eagerly replied. “Is this twinning spell ready?”
“Yes,” the meerkat motioned behind her. “Right this way, please.” She turned, walking with a pronounced waddle, leading the vixen towards the back of the library, to a locked cabinet. Pulling the key from her bun, Meerina unlocked the cabinet, and pulled out a book with a purple, leather-cover book with goldish embroidering. “Are you sure you want this? It’s a strong spell that may last for a few weeks.”
“Of course! I love twinning. Do it.”
“Well, okay.” Meerina opened the book and turned it to the bookmarked page. She began reading the incantation on it, and a bright lime-green glow issued forth from the pages. And then, a glowing wisp of something like smoke emerged from the book, flowing around Catherine. Immediately, she felt the spell starting to take effect as her belly started to swell, which lifted her shirt to reveal that the fur on her abdomen was changing from white and orange to cream, and it was becoming somewhat thinner. As Meerina continued reading, Catherine started to shrink as the changes spread outward, her belly ending up quite large as her chest and thighs, and rear grew to a large size themselves. The vixen continued to shrink as the fur all over her body changed from orange and white to tan, the claws on her feetpaws and hands becoming much longer as her tail shortened and thinned, its tip turning dark brown in color, as did her fingers, toes, and ears. Her ears moved down and shrank slightly into the sides of her head, which became somewhat more rounded as her cheeks lost definition, and her muzzle widened slightly. The last change to her body was her hair, changing from brown to Meerina’s blond, and shortening into the same bun Meerina had, held together by a single band that almost touched her head.
The glow, however, still persisted, flowing around her head. Her eyes changed from brown irises and vertical pupils to green irises with circular pupils, and a set of memories, those of Meerina’s, made their way into her head, complimenting the original set. Finally, the shy and skittish personality of Meerina moved in and suppressed that of Catherine. The glow dissipated as Meerina finished reading, and closed the book with a heavy thump. “Are you okay?” the original meerkat asked.
“Yes, at least, I think so.” Catherine the meerkat looked down at herself, holding her large belly in one hand. “This is what this is like?” She noticed that her outfit was unchanged, aside from being resized to still fit her.
“Yes,” Meerina said, putting the book back and locking the cabinet. “Like I said, it will be a few weeks before you turn back. I hope you’re fine with being another me.”
“I think I am.” Catherine looked around the room. Everything seemed so much larger now. But then she felt her face get warm. What would her wife think of this? “Uhh, Meerina? Do you know how long exactly this will last?”
“I really don’t, sorry. If I had to guess, maybe twenty days or so?”
“Hey, who’s this?” a third voice called out from not too far away. Both meerkats turned to see a monkey in a lab coat making his way towards them. “Woah, that spell really did work, huh?”
“Are you this Jam fellow I’ve heard about?” Catherine inquired, worried for some reason she couldn’t pin down.
“That would be me! Simian scientist and compulsive body-swapper. Who are you?”
“Meer- I mean, I’m Catherine.”
“Ah, well met.” He looked over Catherine’s shoulder. “I’m surprised you didn’t test that spell out on me first, hun,” Jam commented. So that was what had Catherine concerned, Meerina and Jam had been romantically involved for some time!
Catherine looked at herself again, this time over her shoulder. “Well, I guess this won’t be too bad. It does feel a bit hard to balance, though.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Meerina assured.
“I’ve been like that before, Catherine!” Jam added. “Granted, it was a body swap instead of a twinning transformation, but I still experienced it. I think it’ll be fun for you!”

	Ning could not quite believe her eyes. The tigress’s wife had been transformed into so many fun and strange things, but this? A shortstack meerkat? “But why, though?” she finally sputtered.
	“I thought that it was a good idea at the time?” Catherine answered shyly.
	“Well, I’ll admit, you do look pretty cute this way,” Ning said, kneeling down and scratching behind Catherine’s ear. “Although, not nearly as fluffy.” Ning tilted her head. “However, you do look small enough to do this now.” Suddenly, she picked up Catherine and set her down on her head. “Oh, you’re heavy, but so soft.” Catherine felt her face heat up. “So, somewhere around twenty days, right? That shouldn’t be too bad. Let’s see what your other friends think of this!”

	“Hey, Ning,” Kaze, the gray tabby, greeted his friend underneath one of the local park’s large trees. “Who’s this with you?”
	“I’m actually Catherine,” the former vixen stuttered. “A little thing happened earlier and I’m stuck like this for a few weeks.”
	“Well, at least I’m taller than you now,” Kaze beamed, looking down at Catherine.
	“But you were only a single millimeter shorter before this?”
	“Oh, well,” the tabby said with a shrug. “So, I guess band practice is on hold until you turn back?”
	“I can’t exactly hold that trumpet like this, so yes.”
	It was then that another friend, the ebony-furred wolf Karina, showed up. “Sorry I’m late,” she panted in her customary drawl. “I got off the bus a bit too early - Catherine, what happened this time?” She recognized her friend’s aura at once.
	“I got twinned,” she answered, holding her arm.
	Karina grinned teasingly as she pet Catherine’s head. “You just can’t resist turnin’ into other folks, can ya?” Catherine quietly shook her head. “Good to see you here, too, Ning and Kaze.”
	“Likewise,” Ning agreed.
	“Oh, I got an idea!” Karina, before anyone could stop her, reached out towards Catherine with one hand and spread her fingers. Catherine looked down at herself to see her clothing change into a green-and-white minidress. “Now that’s cute,” she commented, letting her arm drop to her side.
	“Ah!” Ning snapped her fingers. “I forgot my camera. No matter, we have plenty of time to get a photo of your compact cuteness,” Ning reached down and held Catherine’s face in both hands, squishing her cheeks.
	“Mind if I ask where this other library is?” Karina asked. Her own library almost exclusively handled normal, non-magical texts, and this library and its magical collection had her very interested. Before Catherine could recite the address, a car pulled up not too far away, and a familiar meerkat and monkey emerged. The two spotted Catherine almost immediately, and the monkey waved as they made their way over.
	“Hey, Catherine! I didn’t expect to see you here,” Jam said. He quickly introduced himself and his girlfriend, the original Meerina, to the group, and Meerina skittishly did the same.
	“I’m very impressed by your work here,” Karina said, going first. “I didn’t even know your library was around!”
	“Yeah, well, it isn’t exactly nearby, but I’d be willing to tell you where it is and show you around.”
	“Oh, please do!” Karina beamed. “If you don’t mind, I’m kind of curious about bein’ a shortstack, myself. If you could…?”
	Meerina looked from Karina to Catherine, then Jam, then back, and shrugged. “I guess having a third me wouldn’t hurt.” She relayed the address.