One night, a homeless man finds a lone glass slipper. An alternate outcome of the Cinderella story.

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I stumbled down the street, no real destination in mind. After all, it wasn’t as though a homeless begger like me had anywhere he needed to be.

Usually this neighborhood was rather busy, even this late at night, but it now seemed like a ghost town. Supposedly there was some fancy ball, so all the upper class citizens were likely busy showing off to each other.

The upper crust usually tossed a coin at me as if in contempt, which was fine with me. Whether through contempt or compassion, the coin I got from them could be spent all the same. Tonight, however, looked to be another hungry night.

A loud bell rung from high up in its tower, signaling the change of hour. It didn’t mean much to me.

Up ahead, a figure rushed across the courtyard and down the steps. A woman, in an elegant ball gown. She stumbled and turned back, seeming to hesitate, then decided to keep going. She quickly climbed into a waiting carriage, which sped off. She seemed troubled. I wonder what that was about.

Something twinkled from the place where she had stumbled, the moonlight reflecting off something. Maybe a dropped piece of jewelry. Well, if she decided abandoned it, it wouldn’t be stealing to take it and sell it.

I hurried over, and began searching around where I thought she’d dropped it. It was darker now, the moon was behind a cloud. So I didn’t see what the woman had dropped until I accidentally stepped on it.

I felt the front of my bare foot slip into a tight crevice which couldn’t accommodate its full size. I looked down to find a woman’s high heeled shoe. It shone like glass.

Actually, it shined brighter that it should. Almost as if the light was coming from the glass slipper itself. In fact, I realized, it WAS coming from the slipper.

I felt a warm, pleasant, tingling sensation coming from my foot from where it sat in the shoe. I stood in awe as I felt the shoe enlarge to match my foot.

No, that wasn’t quite true. My foot was actually shrinking and sliding into place. Within a few seconds, my foot was perfectly sized and sitting snuggly within the glass slipper. Not only that, the hair seemed to have disappeared from my foot. It looked soft and delicate now.

I stepped back in surprise. The slipper stayed on my foot. When I stepped down on it again, the tingling sensation raced up my leg.

I could see through the rip in my pants, my leg was losing its hair, and shifting ever so slightly. It looked more slender and shapely, almost like a woman’s leg.

“Huh?” What was happening?

The tingling reached my hip, then spread out in every direction of my torso and down my other leg. I stumbled, feeling like my legs were of different lengths, and my hips were out of alignment.

Once the sensation had reached all the way to the top of my head, I felt almost dazed. I closed my eyes. It was difficult to think clearly, but I was just aware enough to feel a tightness in my crotch and chest. It was like my member was shrinking, while my chest was swelling.

I felt smaller, shorter, and strangely smooth and soft. After what seemed like a full minute, the tingling sensation subsided, but I was left feeling just as strange.

I opened my eyes and inspected myself. I WAS shorter. And smaller. In fact, my body has changed a lot. My hips were wider, while my shoulders and waist were thinner. There was an unfamiliar weight on my chest, and an emptiness between my legs.

My hands and feet had shrunk, and I was completely hairless, except for my head. While my beard was gone, the rest remained. But my eyelashes were long and thick, while my eyebrows were thinner. And the hair on top of my head had grown the most.

“What…” I said in confusion, vaguely aware of my high pitched voice. I couldn’t do anything except look on.

After another moment, my raggedy clothing brightened to a pure white. It kind of melted together and began sculpting itself into a new shape.

My pant legs widened until they overlapped each other to form the shape of a skirt, which then puffed outward and extended to ankle length.

My shirt clung tightly to my torso and fell down to connect to the skirt. The neckline plunged to expose the upper part of my chest, and the shoulders puffed up. The sleeves detached and formed long, nearly shoulder length, gloves.

Just as I realized it was forming into a dress, I felt something materialize around my other foot then push it up so I was standing with both heels equally elevated. I also felt something like a choker form around my neck, and something rest on top of my head, with my long blond hair curling up to wrap around it.

A moment later, the brilliant white dimmed back to normal color. I was wearing a very elegant ball gown in various shades of baby blue. I now had matching high heeled shoes that looked almost like glass.

Again I could do nothing but stare. My dress hugged all my curves, accentuated my new breasts and hourglass shape. I could feel from how my new undergarments hugged my crotch that my member was gone.

In disbelief, I reached up to feel my face. My jaw was narrower, more feminine. My lips felt soft and glossy, as if I was wearing lipstick.

“Huh.” I mumbled, dumbfounded. Somehow I had turned into a woman. But that was impossible. I didn’t get a chance to dwell on it.

“Ah, there you are.” I heard a man say from behind me. There was something about his voice, almost familiar, that made my heart suddenly race.

I turned and saw a handsome, well dressed man that, for some reason, mesmerized me. I don’t know why, but I felt such an affection for him.

“I thought I was going to have to chase you down.” He continued. “Why did you run away from me?” He smiled warmly at me, causing me to nearly swoon.

Run from him? No, I would never. Because I…

I…

I loved him. It was like my mind was fighting with itself to express that thought, and when it finally did, my resistance broke down. I don’t know why I was in love with a man I just met, or any man for that matter, but I knew it in my heart to be true.

“I’m sorry.” I answered. “I was confused.”

He gave me another bright smile and took my hand. He guided me to hang onto his arm, and started leading me toward the castle grounds. “If it’s alright, I’d like to get to know you better. May I take you somewhere we can be alone?”

I smiled back at him. “That would be lovely.”

Feeling almost like a princess, I allowed him to lead me away. My old life was little more than a distant memory, while I contemplated a new one with this man at my side.

It seemed that glass slipper was the perfect fit for me.

The end.