A chorus of screams rang out through the sorority house, mixing with the overloud music to create a horrifying cacophony. 

Gabe clutched at his sides, feeling like they were being crushed in a vise, barely keeping on his feet. The costume was rapidly becoming tighter all around his body, though he could swear that it seemed to be getting more flexible, easier to move in.

An ache radiated through his bones, giving the sensation of grinding together, with some shrinking and others lengthening or widening. His joints were killing him, his hips flared with pain; even his skull felt like it was reshaping.

A sharp pain struck his groin, driving further up into his body, causing him to try and protect his little buddy with his hands, but he only felt the flat exterior of the costume.

Except he was feeling that sensation with both his fingers, and the spot his fingers were touching.

The burning sensation tearing through him seemed to ramp up a notch, and he felt his stomach heave again. He lurched forward and hurled into the planter for the second time. This time it was definitely smoking. The remains of the plant burned up quickly.

He didn’t have time to think about that, though. His spine was suddenly sending waves of agony through his body as it stretched and lengthened. He swore he could actually feel the tail of the costume now, new muscles he never had before starting to awaken and twitch, while rows of spines erupted along the full length of his tail (tail?!) and up to the base of his skull

Brief relief from the heat suddenly hit, along with the ripping of fabric. He looked down to see the costume reshaping around his legs, leaving a gap between his… bikini briefs(!?) and the top of his dark green scale patterned thigh-high stockings. His feet were encased in tall heels with glowing spikes for heels. His arms were far more slender than he ever remembered them being, and were adorned with what seemed to be elbow length green scaled gloves. Except they weren’t gloves, weren’t stockings, or boots. They were part of his body!

He gasped as a sharp surge ran through his chest, beneath the… frilly gothic dress(?) his costume had become, his chest began to swell, slowly at first, then faster, until a fairly tremendous weight had settled on his chest, barely restrained by the bra presumably beneath the dress, and giving him an ample valley of pale cleavage to look down into.

Despite the scaly coverings on his arms and legs, the skin that was still bare was soft, and completely hairless, other than the hair spilling from the top of his head down past his breasts, and rapidly approaching his waist.

His screams of pain shifted, becoming more feminine, but with a certain sonorous quality to them. A sharp crack and a shift in his throat changed the sound entirely, as his scream turned into a roar. It drew the attention of a few others around him, causing them to back away.

He felt the heat building in him again as his insides seemed to ignite. The spines along his back began to hum and glow as the burning within him built to a peak, like a raging furnace. He threw back his head to scream, letting out another roar… and a gout of blue flame erupted alongside it, scorching the ceiling. People were definitely running and screaming now, if they weren’t before.

“Woah,” a nearby voice said. 

The heat and pain starting to fade, Gabe turned to look towards the sound of the voice, the alien swaying of his new body striking him immediately. A girl that was nearly as busty as he was now was standing there in a ridiculously skimpy outfit that looked vaguely thief-like.

“...El?” he asked, his new voice heavy with a feminine gruffness.

“It’s Elreana, now,” the girl said, posing. “Elreana the beautiful thief of desserts.”

“No way,” Gabe muttered, taking a step back. His tail lashed once to help keep his balance, smashing a nearby floor lamp.

“You look awesome!” Elreana said, grinning. “Wonder if there’s any giant moth girls around for you to fight? I’m gonna go look.” She turned and jogged off into the crowd, her new assets jiggling furiously.

“The worst of the situation seems to have passed,” a small pink dog was saying.

Wait, was that dog talking?

The circle of magical girls nodded, except one who was looking around.

“I think we should stay and help,” she said.

“No, Princess Cabbitberry, we have to go!” The dog snapped its… paws? and a dark hole in reality opened up, consuming the lot of them.

He filed that away for a later ‘what the fuck?’ moment, casting his gaze around the party. He seemed to be a bit taller now, so it was easier to see.

He had to find Fiona.

==========

“I’ll help you!” Fiona shouted, scrabbling to try and get the overturned table and entertainment system up off of the two girls laying under it. Her long fluffy fox tail lashed at the air behind her, and her ears pinned back as she strained her scrawny muscle-less arms. Her large chest didn’t help matters either. She was truly struggling, until a pair of hands took hold of the other side of the table, helping her lift.

She swore she recognized something about the girl… but Amber didn’t have silvery-white hair, or red eyes, or fangs… but she couldn’t think about that right now.

The vampire formerly known as Amber helped her lift the table with moderate effort, freeing the two cheerleaders from beneath it.

“This is one hell of a party,” Emilia said, straightening her outfit.

“Yeah,” Christine agreed. “Wish I hadn’t agreed to be the designated driver for this one… I could use a drink after this weirdness.”

“Careful what you wish for, you never know who might be listening,” Emilia warned.

Just then, a gout of fire erupted on the other side of the party-turned-panic, causing others to scream and scatter more frantically for any exit.

“We need to go,” Fiona said, her ears perking up. “Anyone see an exit that isn’t packed?”

“Over there,” a new voice said. It rang with an almost ethereal quality.

When she looked towards the speaker, Fiona’s breath caught in her chest as she took in the breathtaking beauty. She was tall and lithe, with lean curves. Her face was all sharp, beautiful lines, which directed the eye to her long, pointed ears. A gathering of a few other partygoers had grouped up around her, seemingly enthralled, and Fiona noticed they were also dressed as elves, though nowhere near as regal.

Fiona struggled to shake herself free of staring at the pretty elf. She followed her willowy limb pointing to an open bay window. 

“Oh! Good, let’s go!” She pointed, urging the girls towards the window.

Beyond the confines of the window, people were trying to find ‘which way is up’ and center themselves in the madness. An orc girl in a flapper dress was directing foot traffic to an impromptu first aid station being monitored by what appeared to be a gryphon girl and an extremely well endowed nurse/stripper.

Apart from their obvious physical changes, Fiona was struck by how odd it was that they’d been able to set up a first aid station so quickly.

‘Never doubt the ingenuity of college coeds, I guess…’ she thought, starting to make her way over towards the first aid station when she heard her name being… roared?

==========

Everyone was running and screaming. He just wanted it to make sense, but it was overwhelming, and something in him wanted to panic and just start smashing things. He pushed that urge down, stalking across the party.

‘Fiona. Gotta find Fiona.’

“Let’s go!” he heard, just before watching a humanoid fox girl lead two cheerleaders, a vampire, and an elf woman with her pack of followers out an open window.

Something about her voice was familiar, and the costume. ‘Fiona?’

He crashed towards the window, and launched himself through it after them.

“FIONA!” he bellowed in his feminine voice.

The crowd renewed its screams, some fleeing faster - girls of all shapes and sizes, some human, others very much inhuman. Strangely, there were no guys in the entire crowd.

“Wait… that costume… Gabriel?” Fiona’s fox-like muzzle dropped open in disbelief.

“Fiona?” he asked, slowly stalking towards her.

“Oh my god, you’re a… why are you a lizard girl?”

He reached down with his hands, cupping his ample breasts. “I… I don’t know…”

“I guess I didn’t get the worst of it, huh?” Fiona asked, comparing her newly augmented chest size to her now-former-boyfriend’s, and reaching out to give ‘her’ much larger chest a squeeze.

Gabe blushed intensely. ‘Oh, I could definitely get used to this feeling…’ he thought, his tail swaying happily.

==========

Sadly, any sexy-time would have to wait, given the arrival of campus security, followed by the actual police and other first responders. The sorority house did appear to be on fire, Gabe realized belatedly. 

‘Oops,’ he thought, watching the blue flames spreading over the building. 

The cops tried to detain all of us, but I’m sure some slipped away. Those of us that stayed were there to see the black SUVs roll up, each carrying a half dozen people in black suits.

“I think it’s time for us to go!” Fiona said as the crowd of recently changed people started to flee the mysterious men in black. 

“I can’t exactly run like this!” Gabe protested.

“Don’t worry, I have a feeling they’ll be a little too distracted to chase you,” a woman said.

Standing nearby was a rather plain looking woman with waist length brown hair, currently pulled back in a ponytail. She was dressed in a simple black tunic top over black leggings with halloween jack-o-lanterns, and a pair of witchy looking 3” heeled leather boots.

“Who the heck…?”

“Don’t worry about the ‘who’, just think of me as a friend.” She pulled a very fancy ballpoint pen from her bag, and began to write in the air, leaving faint gold trails that quickly faded.

Shouts of surprise rose up as the various assembled law enforcement officers and government agents started to change, turning into women one by one.

“What’s going on?” Gabe demanded.

Several of the other girls were starting to approach them now, too.

“Who is she? Does she know what’s going on?” Emilia asked, closing the distance with Christine at her side.

“She seems suspicious,” Amber said evenly, silvery hair fluttering as she stepped from the shadows.

“I don’t know, I kinda like her,” Elreana said, offering her a slice of pumpkin roll she’d acquired somewhere. “Pumpkin roll?”

“Thank you,” the mysterious woman said, taking it and devouring it in an instant. “Unfortunately,” she said as she licked the last remnants off her fingers, “this is a short story, and I don’t have time to tie up all the loose ends you ladies represent… so I’ll just have to send you off to your own little stories.”

She flourished her ornate pen in the air, and suddenly the other women were ensnared in what looked to be glowing strands of letters and numbers, pulling them into gaping holes in reality. Once they were through, the holes sealed back up.

“What the hell?!” Fiona demanded.

“Plot holes, darling. Don’t worry. I’ll resolve them later.”

“Who the fuck are you, lady?” Gabe asked, subconsciously planting his hands on his now ample hips.

“Me? I’m the author, dear.” She smiled pleasantly at them and wiggled the fingers of her free hand in a casual wave.

“The author? That doesn’t make sense, this isn’t some story… it’s our lives!” Fiona protested.

“Of course it’s your lives… but does that make your lives any less my story? Aren’t all of our lives just a story? Unfortunately, I didn’t account for how long it would take to resolve such sticky government and law enforcement involvement, so I’m going to have to resolve this thread with another little plot hole...” She winked playfully, and then flourished her pen in the air.

There was a brief tugging sensation, and then the grass, the burning sorority house, the screaming masses trying to flee being captured, it was all gone.