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// 4. Calami's Shopping Trip 
// Story: Balloon Tales 
// by Kaidan 
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Calami finally found the store she'd been searching for in a back alley of Canterlot. This was the balloon emporium, home of the finest balloons in Equestria. If you needed a party balloon, this was the place to go.

She trotted inside, looking around at the dozens of life-size pony balloons. They had exquisite detail. Calami would buy one for her sister's birthday, and really cheer her up.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Calami walked around the store looking for the owner or an employee. "Hello?"

Something caught her leg, causing her to try and kick it off. Calami looked down and saw that she had stepped in a string and it had tangled up around her hock. She gave it another kick that should have snapped the thin string easily.

"Hahaha," Calami chuckled. She didn't know why she suddenly felt so giddy. Flapping her wings a few times she flew in circles, trying to shake the string off.

Her leg started to feel much more stretchy, making squeaking noises as the string tugged on it. She couldn't move her hind leg anymore, and slowed the a hover. The squeaking noises were getting louder.

Pressure increased around her thigh, a small seam forming. She yanked on the string again, but this time her rubbery leg made a different sound, a screeching. Calami regained her wits as she saw a trickle of blood from where the latex seam met her flesh.

"Help!" she shouted, biting her lip to stifle her laughter. Something was wrong, very wrong, and yet happy thoughts were being forced into her brain, distracting her from escape.

As she hovered there, the transformation had crept to her other four legs, locking them in a nice flying position. Her flapping wings causes all four legs to wiggle around, filling the air with tiny squeaks.

Somehow she could still hear laughter as a great emptiness filled her stomach and then her lungs. Calami realized she wasn't flapping anymore, and was now floating in the air. Despite not being able to breathe, she felt herself rising to the limit that the string around her leg allowed her.

Calami smiled, overwhelmed with a peace of mind as her head was enveloped by the latex. She understood now that she was a party balloon, and her job was to make ponies happy. She floated in the middle of the empty shop, awaiting the return of the owner or for a little filly to buy her.