The statue form of Mabel blinked in confusion at Dipper.
"Mabel, you're... you're.. y-you're.." Dipper stammered out.
"What am I?" asked Mabel. Suddenly, her eyes went wide open.
"Oh gosh, I'm a ghost, aren't I?!" yelled Mabel. "That's the reason it stopped hurting, isn't it?"
Dipper was still speechless.
"Oh gosh, that bellyache killed me, didn't it?" said Mabel started to pace around. "I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm totally dead! That's why I can't feel anything."
Mabel sat down on the ground, clutching her head.
"If I'm dead, then I'll never get to be a human cannonball again." said Mabel, choking back a sob. "I'm gonna have to be a ghost show, or something, and I'm never gonna grow up, and I'm never gonna-"
"Mabel, you're not dead." Dipper finally managed to say.
"Well what's the point of not being dead if I'm a ghost?!" cried Mabel. She smacked her head with both hands, and her eyes widened again when she heard the dull thunk sound it made.
Mabel quickly lumbered over to the nearest river and looked in. When she saw her reflection, she yelled "What happened to me?!"
Dipper immediately ran up to his sister and hugged her as well as he could, her being a living statue and all. It took a few seconds for Mabel to even realize she was being hugged.
"Mabel, I'm so glad you're alive!" cried Dipper. He would have said "okay" instead of "alive", but he realized that probably wasn't the right term for the situation. "I-I was was really scared that I'd lost you!"
"Uh, bro-bro?" said Mabel. "Thanks for that, but I'm still kinda wondering what happened to me."
Dipper released from the hug and sighed sadly as he looked up and down at his twin. "I, uh, think you've been turned into stone."
Mabel looked at her hands, then clapped them together. It made a thunk noise. Then she looked back at her reflection in the river. Her eyes widened, then she stepped backwards, looked all over herself. She sat back down on the ground. She sighed and looked down sadly.
"So I am." she said. "Guess this is my life now."
Mabel took another look at her hands and said "We're probably gonna need a lot more gunpowder to fire me out of the cannon. If I don't break apart when I land, of course."
She smiled a bit and said "Maybe I could be part of a freak show. Mabel the Human Statue. How's that sound?"
Dipper put a hand on Mabel's shoulder and said "Hey, Mabel, I don't really know what exactly happened, or why you're like this, but I'm sure there's some way to break the curse. Or hex. Or maybe a spell? I don't know, but we're gonna cure you."
Mabel said "Okay, I guess we can give it a shot."
Mabel slowly stood up before saying "Did I just a human cannonball joke?"
Dipper shrugged.
"Eh, maybe I did." said Mabel. "So, where should we head first?"
"Let's try going back to the circus. I don't think Stan has any experience with this kinda thing, but maybe he could find a way to help you."
Mabel nodded and gave a thumbs up.
With that, the twins continued in the same direction they were heading before, Mabel going a little slower this time due to adjusting to her new form. She had bumped her head on quite a few branches, but she barely seemed to react to it.
"So, uh, what's being a statue like?" asked Dipper awkwardly.
"It's weird." said Mabel. "It's like, I can walk around and stuff, but I can't feel anything. Like, anything at all. If I close my eyes, I can't even tell if I'm standing up or sitting down."
"O-oh." said Dipper. "Sorry to hear that, it's gotta be pretty unpleasant."
"Well, maybe it's better I can't feel anything." said Mabel. "Considering how it felt... before that."
She shuddered a bit and said "I'm never eating candy again."
"Hey, you don't need to quit eating candy." said Dipper, as they continued walking through the woods. "It probably wasn't all the candy that did this to you. It was probably those pop rocks."
"Pop rocks are candy, Dipper." said Mabel, walking through a sharp-thorned shrub and not seemingly not even noticing.
"I know they are." said Dipper, sighing a bit. "But I'm saying that-"
Their conversation was halted when they both caught the sound of a series of rocky thunks in the distance. They decided to follow it. Soon, they came across what appeared to be two humanoid boulders pacing back and forth. Hiding behind a tree, The twins watched the two rock creatures.
"See any sign of it?" said the bigger one.
"Nah, not yet." said the smaller one. "But it's gotta be around here somewhere. He can't have gone far, 'specially not with all the thunking he makes when he walks."
As the two rock people continued searching for something, Dipper and Mabel whispered to each other from behind the tree.
"Alright, I have a plan." said Mabel.
"I can kinda guess what it is," said Dipper, "and I don't think it's such a good idea to-"
"I'm gonna walk up to these rocky gentlemen, and I'm gonna ask them for directions back to the circus." said Mabel. "They'll have to trust me. I'm a rock monster, and they're rock monsters."
"Mabel, this plan has a lot of flaws in it." said Dipper.
"It'll be fine." said Mabel. "Now, just wait here for now. I don't know if they'll listen to a human."
Before Dipper could say anything to stop her, Mabel stepped out from behind the tree and confidentially approached the rock people. Dipper whispered "Be careful." as he watched from behind the old pine tree.