The night was wearing down at the Royal Museum in Canterlot; outside Princess Luna had raised the moon hours ago and crickets quietly chirped in the orange glow of the ornate glass windows illuminating the courtyards. Inside the revered structure there was still bustling activity, a convention of sorts bringing scholars from around the nation together to discuss various new and fascinating archaeological discoveries, but perhaps more importantly to bring the upper crust of Canterlot together to hobnob and perhaps solicit donations to the museum and its greater university.

It was rare for Prism to be present at such an event. She wasn’t a mare from the nobility, nor the shining elite of this marble city, nor a scholar of archaeology for that matter. Quite the contrary, Prism was an ice-cream mare and part time alchemist, which had found her in the unique catering position of soda jerk and dessert bartender at this academic soiree. She had already prepared half a dozen malt shakes, several egg creams, and a couple ice-cream based cocktails to impress the ponies who came to the bar, quite successfully in fact.

A yawn crept over the mare which betrayed her tiredness, reaching up with the back of a hoof to rub her eyes before peering at a nearby clock to verify the time. Nearly midnight and yet these ponies were still here! Mingling about, chatting and discussing various things she didn’t quite understand. Most of her energy had been spent earlier in the evening, delivering service with her excitable smile, but now she needed a break before coming back to the final hour and cleanup after the event had ended.

“Hey Mr. Joe, I’m gonna take a break for a few minutes, ‘kay?” Prism asked brightly of the an aproned stallion nearby, her partner for the evening’s affair, to offer baked goods to compliment her own desserts.

“Wha? Oh, sure thing!” Joe replied waving her off with a shaggy fetlocked hoof as he leaned against the counter.

Prism nods with another yawn, putting her own apron down before slipping out into the cavernous halls of the museum. Most everyone was still in the meeting room, leaving the rest of the building essentially vacant with not a single soul around that she could see. Her hoofbeats echoed sharply around the marble exhibit halls, which she gazed around idly.

A hall of curious wild beasts, stuffed and mounted with meticulous anatomical labels stretched off to her right, and to the left a long statuary hall filled with ancient sculptures of various ponies throughout Equestrian history. She turned down the hall of statues, for she was not too keen on going into the spooky room filled with taxidermied creatures all on her own so late at night. The mare felt like she ought to know who these ponies were on the plinths, expertly and artistically posed and carved. Many had names she didn’t recognize at all, or at least, she didn’t remember from school… though perhaps that may have come from letting her mind wander away during her class lectures back in Cloudsdale; she always did have trouble keeping her mind on track through those dry lectures.

Her ears perked up at the telltale sound of a mare speaking, albeit distantly, the tone echoing about the halls. She hadn’t expected anyone to be back here… since everyone was at the soiree and the museum itself was generally closed. Just cleaning staff perhaps?

No… there was a second voice.

She furrowed her brow and quietly stepped closer, her curiosity getting the better of her as she shuffled her hooves along the stone to prevent from making any clip-clop sounds that would betray her presence to whoever this was.

“ - not the price we agreed on.” The mysterious mare echoed, finally close enough to be heard.

“It’s not quite in the condition we anticipated.” A gruff voice replied. “Just look at it, it is tarnished, barely looks worth a hundred bits much less what you’re demanding.”

“It’s not about the looks... it’s about the magic! Don’t be a featherbrain, you know this.” The voice paused. “You’re gonna pay or I’m walking. WITH the amulet.”

Prism stopped just around the corner from a dimly lit corridor, tilting her head as she listened in to whoever these two were. Selling something? An amulet? In a museum no less, something didn’t seem quite right here but she couldn’t quite place her hoof on it.

Before she could come to another thought she yelped aloud as two dark shapes rushed up onto her from behind, a thick avian talon grabbing hold of her muzzle with scaly digits and squeezing tight, muffling her sound. In a flurry of feathers and twisting hooves, two griffons had overpowered the eavesdropping mare and tied her forehooves quite stoutly behind her back with a length of rope before they each grabbed hold of one of her wings between them and dragged her out into the corridor.

“Ehh, check it boss! Look what we found snoopin’ up on ya!” The first griffon said proudly, rousing his plumage.

Prism blinked rapidly, unable to say a word with the talon gripping her muzzle, but she saw a curious sight in front of her. It was one of the mares she’d seen back at the party! A famous mare too, she knew her as Daring Do, one of the professors at Canterlot university. The other creature she did not recognize, a huge griffon, dark brown in plumage with a scowl on his face and a bandolier over his shoulder.

“What’s this, Daring! A rat!? Is she with you!?” The griffon roared, flaring his wings angrily.

“Wayco, no! I… think that’s one of the staff from the party, I don’t know what the buck she’s doing back here.” Daring stomped a hoof, sighing.

“Well then. I think she’s seen a little too much then, hasn’t she?” Wayco growled, gesturing a talon across his neck in reference to her.

Prism recognized the obvious signal, her eyes going wide at the sudden mortal danger she was in, feeling one of the goons wrapping a rope around her neck and pulling tight, cutting off her air and forcing her to squirm in breathless panic.

“Wayco you brute!” Daring protested. “You know what, drop her, I’ll show you this thing’s power to you, that’ll prove it’s worth full price.”

Wayco quirked a brow, pondering a moment while Prism struggled before tipping his head in signal to the now disappointed goons who pulled the rope away from her neck and tossed her forward onto the ground before her.

“Well then, pony, you’d better show me just how it works. Or maybe we’ll take care of both a’ ye, take the amulet, and take our money too.” Wayco grinned wickedly.

Prism gasped, sucking in the life giving air she had been denied for the past minute, whimpering as she looked up, unable to stand upon her tied forehooves. “G-guh… a-ahh… please, please just let me go! I haven’t s-seen anything, I j-just need to get back to the party!”

Daring sighed softly, shaking her head. “No hard feelings kid, I’m saving your life here… kinda.” The pegasus lifted up a hoof, drawing attention to the amulet which was wrapped tightly around it, a very curious looking shape made of grey iron with spread bat-like wings, a long snake tail, and an avian head. Most striking of all though was the star shaped emerald set in a copper ring upon its face, which almost seemed to glow entirely of its own accord. The pegasus seemed to be concentrating as the emerald glowed brighter, pulsing with a magical aura that manifested itself in the form of trailing, sparkling wisps of arcane energy that coalesced first around the amulet but quickly lashed out and swirled around Prism.

“W-wha… what are you doing!” Prism protested.

Her words fell on uncaring ears as she felt the magic lift her up form the floor, carrying her a short distance to an empty statuary plinth which sat nearby in the museum. The magic forced her down into a kneeling stance upon the smooth marble base, pegasus and griffons gathering around with curious glints in their eyes as the magic began to work.

The strangest of sensations began to fill her, bubbling up from within like a fizzy float after the ice cream is dropped in, almost unnoticeable at first and building into a bubbling magical heat that filled her being. A bead of sweat formed on her brow as her eyes widened to see the edge of the stone beneath her creeping upward, rising onto her hind hooves, the point where her flesh touched seeming to have fused with the marble, sinking down a millimeter as the smooth stony surface seeps upward onto her hind legs. She squirmed in place as the magic took deeper hold of her, seeming to grasp her in a semi-rigid embrace and forcing her to hold the pose. The mare could pull against it, her expression, her wings, her body, but it was as if her bones were now made of rubber; the further she stretched away the harder it got and she had to relent, only to be snapped back into place.

Cool stone rose up her hooves toward her knee, inching and creeping along with the crackling grinding sound you’d expect from dragging two rocks together, sending shivers up her spine. In spite of herself, an inexplicable arousal began to fill her, sending deep blush upon her white furred cheeks and a quiver to her exposed marehood below. The sensation rose to her inner thighs as the tight stone surface encroached upon her nethers, squeezing her flesh and compacting it into smooth polished stone, a whimper escaping her clenched jaws.

“Mnnph… w-why… what is this!” Prism shuddered.

“Is that mare enjoyin’ this…?” Wayco asked rhetorically, seemingly dumbfounded by the sight before him.

Daring merely nodded, a wicked grin crossing her face as she narrowed her eyes, taking no small measure of enjoyment herself upon inflicting this curse upon the hapless mare before her, with a devious idea for how to use the magic to make this just a little more interesting.