Interspecies Potion Solution Part 3 Intro

The steam drifted lazily from the centaur-sized bath, curling around the room like a warm sigh. Kirika let out one of her own, one long exha

The steam drifted lazily from the centaur-sized bath, curling around the room like a warm sigh. Kirika let out one of her own, one long exhale as she trotted inside, hooves clicking quietly against the tile.

Today had been a long day. Good, yes. Successful, even. But after a day of shopping, modeling, cooking, wrangling slime girls and birdbrains, she needed this. A long soak, a quiet bath, and a rare moment without chaos.

So naturally—

“Kiriiiiiii~! Bath time together, right? Just like Papi does with Papis sisters?!”

Papi had wedged herself in the doorframe, flapping her wings with excitement and practically vibrating with nostalgia-fueled energy.

Kirika blinked. “Papi. This is… not a hot spring episode.”

“But it’s the next best thing!” Papi chirped, hopping forward. “Papi always bathed with her big sisters! And now you’re, like, super huge! Papi can even help clean the parts you can’t reach! Papi will be super useful!”

Kirika sighed and dipped one front hoof into the water, letting the heat soak into her aching limbs. “Papi, this bath is for relaxing. Relaxing. That means no shouting, no cannonballs, no wing-flapping that splashes all the soap out.”

Papi stood straighter and raised one wing as if taking a sacred vow. “Papi swears on her feathers! Papi’ll be super quiet. Like, sneaky snake quiet!”

Kirika raised a brow. “Miia is the loudest person in this house and even she knows how to whisper.”

“Papi will whisper! Promise! Pinky claw-swear!”

She held up a talon expectantly.

Kirika stared at it, sighed again, and bumped her knuckle into it. “Fine. You can join. If you whisper.” Although Kirika wasn't sure if Papi would remember that promise even three minutes from now.

“Yayyyy~!” Papi cheered in a slightly-too-loud whisper.

Kirika rolled her eyes, then turned back toward the tub and began climbing in.

It took some doing. Her current body was not small.

Her toned upper half was athletic but undeniably feminine, with wide shoulders and long, muscled arms… to the generous swell of her breasts (which still caught her off guard every time she caught sight of them), Kirika looked like someone had carefully sculpted her to be a heroic fantasy centauress. Her long, dark brown hair was tied back into a loose ponytail that hung down the back of her human torso, brushing against the soft ridge where her lower half began.

And that lower half… was a whole other story.

Four strong, powerful legs stretched behind her, sleek with well-groomed, deep brown fur. Her hindquarters were sturdy and muscular, shaped by daily morning runs and the unavoidable reality of carrying around an entire second body. Her tail flicked idly behind her, occasionally betraying her irritation or amusement like a very expressive cat.

She sank slowly into the tub, one leg at a time, until the water reached up just below her human waist. A long sigh escaped her lips as she untied her hair, letting it open up and flow freely down her back.

She didn’t even notice Papi quietly stripping off her shirt, putting on her swimsuit  and hopping in behind her… until she felt the splash and the small hands touching her shoulders.

“Papi is ready to scrub~!”

Kirika didn’t even lift her head. “Please be as gentle as you can..”

“Got it! Papi will be extra gentle mode!” Papi whispered, as if she were reporting to mission control.

Kirika let her eyes close.

Just ten minutes. Ten minutes of warmth, quiet, and not being a centaur-shaped disaster for once. Just soak, breathe, and try not to think too hard about what the hell tomorrow might bring.

Everything was fine.

…For now.

As the steam thickened in the air and Kirika sank a little deeper into the water, eyes half-lidded, she rested her arms on the bath’s rim. The heat soaked into her aching muscles, and for once, just once, she felt like she could unwind without the threat of chaos around the corner.

Behind her, Papi quietly hummed under her breath. True to her word, she was being shockingly gentle. For Papi, anyway.

With a sponge clutched between her massive wings, she scrubbed in smooth, circular motions down Kirika’s equine back. “Scrub scrub scrub~ soft soft soft~” she whispered, carefully brushing the sponge along one muscular flank.

Kirika barely noticed. Her mind drifted.

She thought about the day. About the weird little moment with Mrs. Smith earlier. About what could possibly be in store for her now. It sounded really ominous.

"God… What is my life even right now?" she murmured to herself, voice low. “Centaurs. Boobs. Dresses. Snakes riding centaurs… I used to just worry about how to handle other extra species girls… not be one myself…”

“Hmm?” Papi paused mid-scrub.

“Nothing. Keep going,” Kirika said with a little wave of her hand, eyes still closed.

Papi giggled softly and quietly got back to work. She worked her way toward Kirika’s lower back, dutifully scrubbing in soft little circles with featherlight care.

She didn’t notice at first.

But when she reached to scrub the wide slope of Kirika’s back again… there was less slope than before.

Papi blinked. Tilted her head.

She moved to the side and started scrubbing a hindleg. A very strong, equine hindleg that, she was pretty sure, used to take up a lot more space.

Now it looked… shorter.

Smaller.

Was that normal?

“...Hmmmmm~” Papi whispered suspiciously, narrowing one eye as she scrubbed harder. Not out of mischief, but pure curiosity.

Another few seconds, and the leg seemed to pull in tighter beneath Kirika, like she was naturally folding into herself. Even her tail had gotten thinner, twitching just a little less expressively in the water.

Papi held her breath. She wanted to squeal. Wanted to announce this discovery to the world.

But she had promised. No loud noises. No wild flapping.

She clenched her tiny fists, vibrating silently, and mouthed a triumphant “Yessssssss!” to the mirror at the edge of the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Kirika just let her shoulders slump in the water.

"...God, if I could just stay like this all night, that’d be great. Maybe get a massage. A drink. A second bath in the first bath. Although papi is actually doing a very good job…”

Papi smiled hearing that, then nodded to herself and resumed her work. More scrubbing. More shrinking.

Bit by bit, inch by inch, Kirika’s powerful equine half seemed to be melting away under the sponge. Her hindlegs folded in. Her back receded. The water shifted as her mass slowly changed shape. Through it all, Kirika just breathed, utterly unaware.

Papi, on the other hand?

Papi was on a mission.

Quiet. Gentle. Determined.

She didn’t know what was happening, but she was absolutely going to scrub her big horsey sister until she was sparkly clean… and maybe a bit smaller, too.

Because clearly, she was doing something right.

And for once… she wasn’t even messing it up.

Papi’s sponge moved with the intensity of a tiny bird on a mission.

She had already scrubbed away most of Kirika’s horse half—bit by bit, flank by flank, until only the base of her back remained. And now, as she circled her sponge along the dwindling remnants of Kirika’s equine form, she realized something amazing.

She was right there. One more push, and she could totally erase those extra legs.

Her wings twitched with glee.

Papi focused, puffing out her cheeks like a determined little chef finishing the most delicate dish. “Scrub scrub scruuuub~” she whispered, voice no louder than a breath.

She scrubbed hard.

And then it happened.

With a final, oddly satisfying slip-pop, Kirika’s hind legs vanished entirely beneath the water—no kick, no twitch, no splash. Just… gone. As if they had never been there in the first place.

Papi froze.

Then gasped.

But quietly.

She clutched the sponge to her chest with both wings and vibrated silently, eyes shining like she had just seen a miracle. She so badly wanted to scream “I DID IT!” but somewhere, deep in her feathery little brain, a memory flickered.

You have to be quiet.

She didn’t remember who said it. Or why. But she remembered it was very important.

So instead, she flapped gently in place, mouthing a huge, delighted “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah~!” to no one in particular.

Meanwhile, Kirika blinked. Her eyes opened just slightly, brows furrowing.

“…That was weird,” she mumbled. Her back felt… shorter? Lighter? But she shrugged it off. “Meh. Probably just the bath water messing with my nerves.”

Then she felt Papi start scrubbing her upper back. Her human back.

Kirika tilted her head slightly. “Wait. When did we get to my—oh, screw it. She said she wanted to help, didn’t she?”

She exhaled and relaxed again.

Papi, meanwhile, had moved on like a tiny, feathered engine of transformation.

As she scrubbed Kirika’s spine, her body began to shrink again. Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first. Her shoulders narrowed, her long arms pulling in ever so slightly. Her body, once towering and strong, now gradually receded toward something much more… compact.

Kirika sank lower into the bath, the water now rising higher on her frame.

She went from towering centaur queen to a tall girl. Then to a normal-sized girl. Then… smaller.

Shorter.

Smaller still.

Papi’s sponge made soft swishes as she kept going, oblivious to the laws of nature she was defying. Kirika’s back curved inwards slightly, her muscles tightening and redistributing into a far lighter build. By the time she reached Papi’s height, the two of them were practically twins in scale.

Papi floated back, marveling at her work.

She wanted to scream again.

She wanted to yell, “KIRIKA SHRANK!” and do a victory lap around the tub.

But.

You have to be quiet.

The rule echoed again. And again, she obeyed it.

Barely.

She just fluttered in place, beaming.

The sponge now rested gently in her wings, warm from the bathwater and from the tiny miracle she had just committed.

Kirika, still blissfully unaware, let out a quiet yawn. “Mmm… I should take baths with you more often, Papi. You’re oddly good at this.”

Papi said nothing.

But her eyes sparkled like twin stars.

Because this was the most magical bath she’d ever taken… and she wasn’t even done yet.

But Papi had one last piece of the puzzle: the legs. Kirika's front centaur legs were still mostly underwater... and she couldn’t quite reach them without doing a full dive. And that was somewhat hard to do with her wings.

So, she broke the silence.

“Kiriii~?” Papi whispered, as sweetly and gently as she could manage.

Kirika cracked open one eye. “Yeah?”

“Can you… can you float on your back? Papi wants to scrub your legs, but they’re hiding underwater…”

Kirika blinked. That was… a strange request. But not a suspicious one. Not really. And honestly, Papi had been so polite today. She’d more than earned a little trust.

“Sure, sure,” Kirika murmured, lazily shifting her weight.

She floated up effortlessly… from standing to lying on her back, legs drifting above the water’s surface like it was the most natural thing in the world.

She didn’t even question how that was physically possible for a centaur.

She just wasn’t thinking about logistics at that moment. She was just relaxing

“That better?” she asked.

Papi made a muffled squealing noise into her hands. “It’s perfect~!”

The harpy girl zoomed in like a blue missile, sponge in wing, and began scrubbing Kirika’s forelegs with care. Back and forth. Soft circular motions. Magical ones, clearly, because with every swipe, those legs… changed.

Kirika’s legs thinned.

The once-thick musculature of her equine build tapered gently, like sand slipping through an hourglass. Her fur vanished, replaced with a gentle gleam and pale skin, then softer down, and then a glossy shimmer that started to show scales and avian strength.

Kirika didn’t even notice.

She was too busy breathing easier. Literally. Her chest felt lighter. Her back less burdened. Like someone had finally loosened a belt she didn’t know she was wearing.

Even her hair began to pull in slightly, strand by strand. The long, brown ponytail shrank into something shorter, shaggier, more feather-light. Water curled around it in little loops.

Papi focused like she never had before.

She scrubbed around the knees until they became thin and birdlike. She scrubbed down to the ankles, making them already scaly and sleek.

Then came the final moment.

With one last determined swipe of her sponge, she rubbed the hooves.

Then they cracked.

Pop—snap—flutter—

The black hooves folded like petals, reshaped like clay, and burst outward as sharp, strong, and unmistakably harpy like talons.

Papi pulled back, wings to her mouth in awe.

While Kirika was still floating, eyes closed.

This wasn’t a centaur anymore.

Not even close.

But the subtle ability to feel her toes again and move them did raise some alarm bells in her head. And that's when she started thinking again. 

She was floating on water. On her back. How…?

She was feeling her toes again…?

Her chest felt… almost nonexistent again?

“What…?”

Kirika sat up slowly, water dripping from her now much smaller frame. Her balance was off. Completely off and it took her a second to realize her center of gravity had drastically changed.

“Wha…” she let out again, standing up in the shallows that was now reached twice as high as it did before.

Her legs were now long, scaled, and talon-tipped, moving beneath the water’s surface way easier than her horse legs did. Her once Cerea-like voluminous hair was now a short, feather-light crop, much more in line with Papi. Her arms felt lighter. Her chest… nearly flat. She was slim, small, probably no taller than Papi now.

“What… What happened…? I—”

But before the question could finish forming in her mouth, Papi launched at her like a joyful cannonball.

“Scrubby time’s not done yet!” she cried, tackling Kirika straight back into the water with a dramatic splash.

“Papi! Wait! What are you—?!”

Kirika flailed in the water as Papi climbed on top of her again, now gripping a sponge in her wings and furiously scrubbing at her forearms.

“Papi must scrub the rest of Kiri! Kiri needs to match properly!”

“Papi! My arms are fine! My AR…! Wait! What the—?!”

It was already happening.

Feathers. Fine, long brown feathers began pushing their way out from her skin. First at the wrists, then racing up toward her shoulders. Her bones ached, stretching and reshaping. What had once been regular arms were rapidly reshaping into broad, powerful wings.

Kirika’s eyes widened in growing horror. “Papi! Papi stop! What is this?!”

“I’m scrubbing Kiri as good and silently as I can,” Papi said with proud, innocent sincerity, somehow whispering while tackling. “It’s working! Yay~!”

“PAPI, I’M FEATHERING.”

With a surge of effort, Kirika finally managed to get the sponge-wielding harpy off her and jumped up out of the water onto the rim, wings propelling her through the air out of instinct, making her land on her butt quite bombastically. 

“Ouch…”She wanted to rub her behind with her hand, but quickly realized why that was somewhat hard.

She held one of her “hands” up in front of her face.

Yeah, “hand” was stretching it. It was truly and purely, a harpy wing.

In fact, from head to talons, she was a dead ringer for Papi now. Small. Feathered. Taloned. And completely flat. Also probably down to one twentieth of the weight she had before.

“…this has to be the fastest anyone has ever lost weight in history…,” Kirika breathed, trying to keep a clear head.

At that exact moment, the door slammed open.

“MY LADY! I HEARD THEE SCREAM—!”

Cerea burst into the bathroom, sword halfway drawn, eyes wide with panic.

Behind her, Rachnera strolled in with a mug of tea. “It sounded more like a squeal, honestly.”

Both of them froze.

They stared at Kirika.

Kirika stared back.

Papi, standing beside her, puffed out her chest like she won the olympics.

“Papi has successfully and silently scrubbed husband into a harpy!” she declared triumphantly, wings raised in a proud V. “Like Papi!”

Silence.

More silence.

Rachnera blinked first. “...Huh.”

Cerea’s sword hand trembled. “I—I know not what foul sorcery hath occurred but… my Lady, are thou well?!”

Kirika took a long, deep breath. She looked at her wings. Her talons. The puddle she was sitting in. Then looked at Papi, still glowing with pride.

Then she turned to Cerea and Rachnera.

“…Can you guys call Miss Smith again?”

To be continued...