Sylvan glanced around the glittering interior of the castle, eyes moving from bookshelf to bookshelf and occasionally lingering on the various tapestries and relics that were placed about. Truly though, the most magnificent additions to this hall were the numerous life size and incredibly life like statues of each of Equestria’s races displayed between the shelves of books. A griffon, standing rampant with wings outstretched to the left, to the right a Pegasus captured as if in flight, a kindly looking unicorn beyond, a zebra, a buffalo, they all seemed accounted for… except for one. There was not a single cervine statue in the long library hall. But there was an empty plinth.

The deer gulps, looking at the chunk of polished warm marble that sat before him, with a brass plaque firmly screwed into the front. It read simply “Cervidae”, the species of which he was part.

“Well then, shall we get started? Not thinking of backing out of our agreement I hope?” A gentle voice speaks from behind him, the Princess of Magic, whom he had almost forgotten was there.

“Oh! Goodness no… I wouldn’t dream of letting you down, eh?” He replies, unsurely. The unicorn had been very persuasive when she saw him in town. Convinced him to join her in the castle, to complete her special collection… and have a place in her court. In a way, anyhow.

“Hop up then, I do have a rather busy schedule!” The alicorn chuckles, giving the deer a nudge with the tip of an outstretched wing.

Sylvan nods rapidly and clambers atop the stone plinth, cloven hooves slipping a bit on its expertly polished face. He stands tall, turning to face the Princess.

“Nono, on your haunches.” She replies about his pose.

“Right! Yes, sorry.” He laughs a little, sitting himself down, feeling the cool surface beneath him.

“Alright, it’s simple. You don’t have to do a single thing except hold still until you don’t have to anymore.” Twilight nods, flipping open a nearby book and glancing at its pages before flaring her magic into view.

The deer nods, mesmerized by the dancing glittering lights of the spell as it surged forward and danced around him. His skin tingled and fur stood on end as the magical charge begins to soak into the very core of his being, filling him with the spell and beginning its magic.

Almost instantaneously he feels a stiffness creep into all his joints, as if he hadn’t moved them in hours. Not any pain, but the discomfort was rising from the sensation as it grew stronger, the deer fidgeting a bit in place and swaying a little. He found those movements sluggish and slow, in everything below his head, each strain of his muscles met with resistance and the faintest gravelly sound like scraping rocks.

He turns his gaze down, mouth agape as he sees the colour of the plinth seeming to run up into his hooves, all four— fusing them into place with surety. The deer tugs, but they were not going to budge. The colour of rippled stone crawled along him, bring a cold firmness with it and sending shivers down his spine. Fur gave way to dense, hard stone over his flanks and lower legs, tail twitching anxiously before it was grabbed and held fast in the embrace of the marble that rose over him like a tide.

Twilight’s spell shifts its shape, moving along his body with the petrification, beginning to compact his form inward and squeeze him tightly wherever the stone was, up over his belly and chest like a crushing hug that enveloped him. The force around his chest trapped his breath within a rigid shell of stone, stealing away any hope he’d have of speaking out from this point on- even if he changed his mind he would not be able to say it! The deer fidgets as much as he can, ears flicking as he realizes that his entire body below his shoulders had become dense and solid stone. The crackling sound of its approach became ever clearer over the hum of the alicorn’s magic.

“Come now, that’s not a fitting expression for a statue of mine…” The alicorn says, noting his worry. She adjusts her spell, taking hold of his head and turning it forward and up, adjusting his remaining muscles and visage in her magical grip as the stone cracks and pops its way up over his chin.

Sylvan’s head was now rigid, frozen in place and soon was followed by his muzzle and nose, the warm marble squeezing over his face and head as it had elsewhere, the sounds of the rising stone echoing. In a moment, he found his eyes stuck in its solid embrace, ears incapable of flicking as it crept over the top of his head and feminine antlers, completing his new form.

The magic faded and the deer found himself staring straight out, the bizarre rigidity of his new being utterly alien to him. Such inability to move even the slightest fraction of an inch… he couldn’t fathom yet just what he had gotten himself into. The cracks and pops echo and fade as his form settles into permanence, his own inner magic shifting its very nature to align with his new form. Even the most advanced of detection spells would not be able to see him as anything more than a slightly enchanted statue, but he was still whole within.

His mind, his senses, they remained— albeit, dulled and muted in some ways. The plinth below him almost felt like an organic extension of himself, he had become a very part of it. His eyesight was fully functional, but locked in one direction, hearing slightly muffled through stone ears, capable only through the magic, he was sure.

Twilight reaches a hoof out and pats the deer’s stony cheek.

“And now my collection is complete, thank you so much Sylvan! You’ll be well kept as long as you’re mine, which will be quite a long time.” She giggles, turning on her hooves and walking away down the hall, leaving the deer alone with his thoughts to come to grips with his newfound inanimate nature. He was just an object to decorate her library… and that’s all he’d ever be, from now on.