There was a knock at her bedroom door, but Caitlyn rolled over and ignored it. Her parents would just walk in after a second no matter what she said, so why say anything?

 

It was just past four in the afternoon now. Dad had come home around noon, and there'd been a big argument. He probably would have kicked her out of the house then and there, claiming she was some stranger that he didn't even know. Luckily mom spoke up and said she witnessed the transformation. 

 

But neither of them would use her real name, and they both kept referring to her as a boy. Even mom, even after seeing the magic, even after seeing her naked. Mom kept calling her the old name, kept calling her 'son'.

 

Caitlyn frowned after a few moments, when she realized nobody had stormed in yet. 

 

There was another light knock, and then she heard her sister's voice. "Caitlyn? Can I come in?"

 

She felt a ripple of joy go through her. It was the first time anyone had used her real name. She nearly burst into tears on the spot. She managed to hold them back and called, "Come in."

 

Caitlyn sat up and turned to look as her door opened and her big sister stepped in.

 

Abigail was four years older than herself. She was tall, slim, with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt she'd picked up at a concert somewhere. Her eyes were wide as she stared.

 

"Holy shit..." Abby shook her head slightly, staring for another ten or fifteen seconds. Finally she added, "Sorry I didn't email you back, Caitlyn. I was cramming last night and had an exam this morning."

 

She nodded slowly, then sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Did you talk to mom and dad at all?"

 

"Did I talk to them," she rolled her eyes as she moved to sit on the bed next to Caitlyn. "I've been downstairs with them for over an hour trying to talk some sense into them. I mean, I honestly didn't believe any of this stuff but mom said she actually saw it happen. I saw the video you posted but... I thought it was special effects or something. Like from one of those fancy selfie apps?" 

 

She turned, looking Caitlyn up and down, and said, "You know this is like, scientifically, medically impossible? Like there's absolutely no explanation for this?"

 

Caitlyn nodded slowly, "It's magic. That's the explanation."

 

Abby shook her head slowly, but she had a small grin on her face. "I'd say there's no such thing as magic... But here you are. My uh, little sister."

 

That sent another little shiver of joy through Caitlyn. There were more tears welling up as she gulped "Thank you Abigail... For using my real name, and for acknowledging me."

 

Her sister gave her a sympathetic look and sighed, "Come here." She held her arms out and pulled Caitlyn into a hug, holding her tight.

 

She sighed happily, letting her head rest on her big sister's shoulder. "Thanks Abby..."

 

They held each other for ten or fifteen seconds, then finally Caitlyn asked "Did mom and dad say anything? Like, are they gonna kick me out or whatever?"

 

Abby said, "They said a lot of stuff, but I calmed them down a bit. I don't think they're going to kick you out, but it's going to take them a while to settle down. And they have some good points. Like, what are you going to do for school?" 

 

Abigail let go of her and sat back, looking at her. "Do you think you'll just show up tomorrow morning like nothing's happened and everyone will just accept you like this?"

 

Caitlyn shrugged, "I guess? I don't know... I guess I thought I'd just tell them my new name and yeah, just go to my regular classes."

 

Abby gave her another sympathetic smile, "ID is another hassle. It can take a couple months to get an official name change done. I have a trans friend at college who's told me about that process. I mean, you can call yourself whatever you want but if you want the right name on official documentation, you need the legal name change and that takes time. Once you have that, you can get your other ID and stuff changed though."

 

"Oh... Ok. I mean, this is all stuff that I'd be doing anyways, magic or not, right? Like, telling the school, changing my name..."

 

"Yeah," Abby nodded. "It's just going to be harder to explain, the fact that overnight you've sort of skipped years of hormones and medical transition and stuff."

 

Caitlyn sighed again. "I guess I didn't really think anything through..."

 

Her sister smiled, "Don't feel too bad. On the bus ride over here I was looking online, searching that hashtag you used? A lot of people didn't think things through. It's causing quite a stir. Though last time I looked there were like twenty people saying it's fake for every one saying it's real." 

 

"Did a lot of people try it?" she asked. "I haven't actually looked yet."

 

Abby shrugged, "I don't know how many, but I'd guess a thousand or so? Maybe two thousand? I tried filtering for just Canada and there were probably a few hundred here." She added with a grin, "I saw someone down in Niagara gave herself fox ears and a tail. I bet in the next few months we're going to see more and more real live furries." 

 

Caitlyn blinked, "Holy crap... I never would have even thought of something like that."

 

"Uh-oh," her sister gave her a look. "I hope I didn't just put ideas into your head. You know how much mom and dad would flip if you did something like that?"

 

She shook her head, blushing. "Don't worry Abby... I'm already perfect. I'm not gonna change again."

 

Abby smiled, then said "Hey stand up, let me get a look at you?"

 

The two of them got to their feet, and Abby looked her up and down as Caitlyn stood there.

 

"Ok," Abigail nodded. "I think you're a bit smaller than I was at your age, but some of my old clothes should fit. C'mon, lets go to my room and we'll start figuring out some clothes for you."

 

Caitlyn fought back tears again, and nodded. "Thanks Abby... You don't know how much it means, that you're doing all this for me..."

 

Her big sister put an arm around her shoulder and started leading her towards her bedroom. 

 

"Don't think I'm not freaked out, because I am. But I can see how upset you are, and I know mom and dad are still too lost in their own heads being upset to understand how it's affecting you. I'll go be freaked out later in private, or over some drinks with friends. For now, I'm here for you Caitlyn."

 

"Thanks Abby," she sniffed and wiped her eyes again. Then the two of them started looking through Abigail's closet together.

 

 

It was around nine at night when Abby finally left. She and Caitlyn had spent a couple hours digging through her closet and dresser, and she had Caitlyn try on a bunch of different things. They'd also done some quick make-up lessons. And then Abby gave her a slightly embarrassing but very affirming talk about feminine hygiene and women's health. 

 

Part-way through dealing with the clothes, mom called them downstairs for dinner.

 

That started out super awkward, but Abby used her correct name every chance she got, and when she wasn't saying 'Caitlyn' she was referring to her as her sister, and using she / her pronouns. 

 

It might have felt like overkill in any other situation, but Caitlyn desperately needed the validation, and she suspected Abigail was also making the point so it might start sinking in for their parents too.

 

Caitlyn knew she probably wouldn't have been able to sit through dinner if her sister hadn't been there. Her parents were still kind of low-level hostile to her, and hadn't started making an effort yet to get her name right, let alone anything else.

 

She really hated to see Abby leave, but she knew her sister couldn't just hang around here all night. 

 

And she was grateful for all her sister's help. She now had a small wardrobe that fit, with some pants and leggings, a handful of tops and blouses, and some underwear and a bra. She even had two pairs of shoes now, that her sister had outgrown but fit Caitlyn ok. Abigail also helped her figure out her measurements, so she knew what sizes to try when she went shopping.

 

Her sister had even gifted her some old make-up she'd left behind when she moved out. Like the clothes, it wasn't much but it was a start. She had a couple lipsticks and some eyeshadow and eyeliner, though she wasn't confident yet with any of it. She did like the pink lipstick though, that almost matched the colour of the streak in her hair.

 

Finally, the two of them emptied out her closet and dresser. All the old clothes were stuffed into a couple big plastic bags and left by the front door so someone could haul them off and donate them someplace.

 

Caitlyn sighed as she sat back on her bed, alone again now. She still wasn't entirely comfortable with her parents, but at least she had some clothes and stuff to get her through the next couple days. And at least she had one family member who accepted her.

 

She lay back on her bed and picked up her phone. She was surprised to see a couple dozen notifications waiting for her. Scrolling through she realized her new social media account had a bunch of follow-requests. A dozen or so she recognized, some friends and other people from school. A bunch more were from strangers, and half of those looked kind of creepy or suspicious. There were two others that stood out. A purple-haired catgirl name Zoe, and a young blonde teen named Cindy.

 

Caitlyn approved everyone except the creeps, and followed them all back too. She was just going to check her feed when she got a new mail alert. Switching to her email app, she was surprised to find a response from that help email she'd sent this morning.

 

 

She stared at the message for a few moments as she thought it over. Finally she wrote back, yes she still needed help. As much as Abby did for her, she still felt she needed help with her folks, and school and ID and stuff.

 

After she sent the reply, she set her phone down and just lay back on her bed and sighed. It had been a crazy emotional rollercoaster of a day. It was a little early but she was thinking about just going to bed. 

 

She had one nightgown among the clothes her sister gave her, and she was thinking about putting it on when an unfamiliar voice said, "Hi Caitlyn."

 

If it were possible to jump while laying flat on her bed, she would have done that. Instead she just flinched then sat bolt-upright, eyes wide. 

 

Standing in the middle of her bedroom was a young skinny blonde teen. Caitlyn blinked at her. It was the Cindy who'd just followed her on the social media site, she recognized the girl from her profile picture. She looked about Caitlyn's age, fifteen or sixteen maybe. 

 

Cindy glanced around the room then sat down on the chair by the desk, then said "My name's Cindy. I saw you still needed help. What can I do for you?"

 

Caitlyn just stared at her guest for a few more seconds, then finally asked "How did you...?"

 

She hadn't heard her bedroom door open. She hadn't heard the doorbell ring, or her parents greeting anyone. 

 

"Magic," Cindy confirmed with a grin. "I teleported here."

 

"Oh... Wow! How did you find me? How did you know where I was?" Caitlyn was still staring at the girl in shock.

 

Cindy shrugged, "Your social media profile said you were near Toronto, and since you used my spell this morning it wasn't hard to pinpoint you. I could sense the residual magic. Anyways, I'm here, so what can I do for you? Your email said you needed help. Are your parents threatening you?"

 

Caitlyn sighed, "They haven't threatened me directly, but they're scaring me and making me really uncomfortable. They won't use my new name at all. I'm scared they'll try to make me change back." She added, "My sister visited this afternoon, she's the only one who's actually been nice about stuff. She gave me some of her old clothes and stuff. My mom didn't even want to help me get new clothes."

 

"Ah," Cindy frowned. "How old are you? How long have your family known you're trans?"

 

"I uh, just came out to them last night." Caitlyn blushed as she admitted it. "I've known for half my life but I was too scared to say anything. And I'll be sixteen in a couple months."

 

Cindy nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. "Huh, ok. I can see how that'd put you in a really rough spot..."

 

After a few moments, the strange blonde seemed to make her mind up about something.

 

"Ok Caitlyn, there's some stuff I can do for you. I need you to swear to keep it secret though ok? I can't do this stuff for everyone, and I don't want word getting out that I can do this stuff at all. I also don't want like ten thousand people emailing me asking for this sort of thing. I'm just here visiting you because you sounded like you really needed my help, and you were brave enough to be one of the first to do this."

 

"Uh, yeah ok," Caitlyn nodded, surprised but curious. "I swear I won't tell anyone. What sort of stuff can you do?" 

 

Cindy replied, "I can cheat a little bit with your ID. Because you're so young it'll be a huge hassle for you to go through normal channels, like you'd need your parents to do it and it sounds like they're not on board with that just yet. You'll still have to deal with school, updating stuff there yourself, but I can give you a head start." 

 

"Wow, really?!" Caitlyn felt her eyes going wide. "How?"

 

Cindy asked, "Can I see your current ID please?"

 

It only took a few moments for Caitlyn to dig her health card and student card out of the old canvas purse Abby had given her. She set the two cards down on her desk, "That's all I have right now."

 

"No birth certificate?" Cindy asked.

 

"Mom keeps that someplace," she replied, rolling her eyes.

 

Cindy nodded, picking up the health card. "Ok. I'll be right back."

 

There was a glow of soft purple light in the teen's eyes and she vanished, leaving Caitlyn standing there alone, blinking in surprise. After a minute or two she was starting to wonder if she should email again, when Cindy re-appeared.

 

The blonde smiled, "Sorry about that. It's easier for me to do that stuff uh, somewhere else." She then set down three new documents on the desk. There was an official-looking 'certificate of name change', a birth certificate, and a new health card. Everything had Caitlyn's new name on it, and the health card had her new picture.

 

The name-change certificate had the old name as well as new name. Like the video she'd made, it sort of 'proved' who was, who she'd been before. And she realized with joy both the birth certificate and health card indicated her sex as female now! 

 

"Holy crap!" Caitlyn gasped, staring. Her eyes were wide but so was her grin, as she looked at the new documentation.

 

"Yeah," Cindy smiled. "Ok so with these three things, you should be able to get your school to update their computer and issue you a new student card and stuff." 

 

She warned, "The only thing is, your parents might really flip when they find out? Like, technically you wouldn't have been able to change your name without them."

 

That sent another wave of anxiety through her. "What if they get mad at me? What if they...?"

 

Cindy replied, "I can't mess with their heads or anything, Caitlyn. It's up to you to deal with them. Same with like, your teachers, friends at school and stuff. People are gonna freak out. People are gonna question and doubt. It's part of the risks of going first, right? You're out there showing people that magic is real, and that this is the real you."

 

She gulped but nodded slowly. Still, she was scared again. "What if my folks try to force me to change back?"

 

"They can't do that." Cindy stated. "The spell doesn't work that way. Nobody can make you change yourself to something you don't want."

 

A moment later she added with a sigh, "Unfortunately it can't stop people from being assholes, and they could just try to make things unpleasant enough to think changing back might be easier... But I won't let that happen. I can't stop people from like, trying to hurt you. But I can protect you so they won't succeed."

 

Caitlyn saw Cindy's eyes glow with that purple light again for a second, and she felt a tickling sensation on her right hip, causing her to gasp a little, "Aah, what was that?!"

 

The glow faded from the teen's eyes and she smiled, "There's a little magical protection for you. Like I said, it won't stop people trying to hurt you, but it will stop you from actually being hurt."

 

She added, "Now, I have to get going. Keep in touch, you've got my email, or you can private-message me on social media. I'm glad your sister's supportive and hopefully your folks will come around eventually. Good luck with school tomorrow, with the ID and stuff. Remember, this is all secret, don't tell anybody I did this stuff for you ok?"

 

"O-ok," Caitlyn nodded slowly. "Thanks..."

 

Cindy smiled, then there was that purple glow in her eyes and she vanished again.

 

Alone once more, Caitlyn looked at her new ID again. She picked up the health card and grinned at the little picture, her new name, and the 'F' in the corner.

 

She knew the next few days, or weeks, or maybe even months would be tough, but there was also a huge relief knowing that nobody could take this away from her. 

 

No matter what happened next, she was herself now.