I'll be honest with you, I'm a slacker. I am not like the boy down the street, who gets a perfect score on everything he does, nor am I the person who just doesn't care about anything and wastes his perfectly good life. My name is Scott Alan and I'm just a regular human, just chilling in my house. My parents died a while ago, though I have gotten over that fact. Their relationship was… deteriorating rather quickly. I'm about 18, just getting possession of a driver's license and a house.
I'm not the most social of guys, having almost no friends at all. I have graduated from high school and work at the local McDonalds. The pay I get is minimum wage, but I survive. The perfect life, right? Wrong. It's not. I get into states of depression at times, thinking of being alone with no one to care about or care for me. I am smart however, and I used to be a strategic kind of guy, always playing chess and board games to exercise my brain.
So, that's who I used to be. I used to be a human; a slacker. I am now something entirely different.
I got out of my car, a white Nissan pickup truck. I inherited it after my parents died. It was one of the few things I still had to remember them by, so I kept it in as good a condition as I could. I washed it myself every weekend, never messed in the interior, and drove carefully. I felt it was a form of respect towards them, showing them I was thankful. I walked slowly to the McDonalds. I despised the place. We were understaffed and our regular customers were generally whiny kids who dragged their parents there, and then messed food everywhere. It just gets on my nerves trying to work in that sort of environment. Today the weather was horrid as well, and rain poured profusely. Generally I don't mind a bit of rain, but it was raining so heavily that I was soaked even from walking the small distance from my car to the door.
I walked into the McDonalds. The place wasn't too crowded now, having a couple of families and a bunch of bikers who smelled badly of gasoline. The least they could do is take a shower and wash their clothes every now and again.
I waved at the cashier. I was stuck with the guy, so getting acquainted with him would make working a little less degrading. Working here is probably down at the bottom of scraping the barrel for money, but at least it's a job. At least I'm not wasting time sitting at home all day. In this day and age, you're lucky to get a job. The economy is bad in America, all because of politicians that argue over the stupidest things and who are dumbstruck by their love of power. They can never be trusted to make good decisions.
I was a cashier as well, working the night shift mostly. I was pretty great with numbers up to the point where I could calculate the funds without the use of the cash register. I had worked here for about two years, and my experience with handling money made it second nature to do the sums by head. The other guy, Steve, had always needed the cash register; he hadn't been educated well enough like I had. It's sad really, that I had a pretty good education but was stuck working in a place like this.
"Nice weather we're having," Steve said "Great time for rain."
"Yeah, sure, if you liked being drenched." I replied, trying to dry off.
"Actually, I do like being drenched." Steve replied. "It's like a shower outside." He gazed at the window, watching the rain fall onto it.
"There's a reason why it is called a rain shower, Steve." I said, putting my misspelt nametag on. The manager had printed it as 'Scot'. Not really a big deal, but it made me feel a little less professional. Not like it counted here.
"I know." Steve said. "It doesn't take a weather man to figure that."
After what seemed like an age of working, it was finally time for me to go home. It was really empty today, meaning I lacked anything to do. I tried chatting with Steve, but he always cut off early in the conversation. He was preoccupied with this little pink pony toy. He kept playing around with its tail. A bit childish, I thought, but there's different strokes for different folks, I guess. Either way, my shift was over. I walked out, waving good bye to Steve. I got inside my car and started to pull out. I was so eager to get home that I pulled out a little too fast and didn't see the Hummer driving past. He rammed right into my car and I blacked out. And that is how I came to be in this world. This strange, strange world.
"Ow, my head," I said clutching my skull. It felt weird, like it was different somehow. Last thing I remembered was pulling out of the parking space. Now my head was throbbing and my entire body felt out of place. I looked up and instantly noticed that my surroundings had changed dramatically. I was no longer in my car and from the looks of it I was not even on Earth. If one word described it, it was cartoony. I thought I must be dreaming, or in a coma from the crash. Or maybe dead. I expected heaven to be a little more welcoming. Looking around, I noticed I was in a forest. There was a river running through it nearby.
I tried to get up, but when I tried to stand on two legs, I lost my balance and fell over. I looked at my appendages. They were completely black, riddled with holes that went straight through them, and seemed to be covered in some sort of exoskeleton, like an insect. I also lacked fingers and my four limbs ended in what looked like hooves. I stood up on all fours and felt a few other additions on my body. I looked on my back and I seemed to have sprouted a large pair of thin greenish wings. They were quite impressive. I also noticed I had a long, darker green mane and tail. I moved my tongue around in my mouth and felt that my teeth were also quite different, most notably my four canines were a lot sharper.
I walked over to a small pond near the river to check my reflection. My overall body structure was similar to that of a horse. I noticed more new things; I had very large green eyes, big ears, and a tall, jagged horn. Seeing my own reflection reminded me of something Steve had told me about. Those ponies that he always liked to play with, they had a show. Apparently he was a big fan of it, and he mentioned something about an insectoid pony villain. I thought it was preposterous, but now that I had seen it with my own eyes… I didn't know what to think. Was I a villain then?
"What kind of wacky unicorn shit is this?" I said under my breath. I had no idea what was going on. Maybe I could find someone, or something, that could help me. I started to head deeper into the forest. I figured that the normal ponies didn't like me, so my best option was to head away from civilisation. After a while of walking further in, I noticed the canopy above me became thicker, making the path ahead darker. I started to hear whispers which got progressively louder the further I walked.
"Who's there?" I stopped to ask out loud. I stood there in silence, waiting for an answer. Suddenly, the bushes rustled heavily and dozens of creatures poured out into the clearing I was in, surrounding me.
"We are loyal to you, our King." They cried in unison.
It was hard to make out much about the creatures other than their glowing blue eyes. I was petrified as I tried to plan my next move. They hadn't attacked me yet so I thought they may be friendly. I tried not to let my guard down while I thought of something to say.
"Uh, good evening.
The eyes started to come closer and I was greeted with many other changelings, though they were smaller than me. They gathered around me, seemingly humbled by me. They bowed before me respectfully. One of them came up to me, followed by two others. The three were bigger than the rest, yet I was still the biggest.
"You are the heir to the Changeling Hive. Welcome, King." The lead changeling said to me. He said that in a monotone voice that was completely void of emotion. It sorta creeped me out.
"Uh, I can't be the heir…" I said
"Yes, you can be and you indeed are," He said "It has been months since we have had a leader, and now you are here. A changeling King."
"There was a leader before me? What happened to them?" I asked. The rest of the changelings expressed sadness and despair after hearing that, they seemed they didn't like their original leader.
"Our queen has perished. She sacrificed herself to let us live." The changeling beside the leader of the group said.
I started to think. They need a leader, but they're evil, right? I can't just say no. I'm risking an entire race's future on my decision. I will lead them through the best way possible. I can't let a species die, it's not right. Who cares if they are evil? I will not let them become extinct. They are going to live!
"Fear no longer," I said "I will be you're leader, and we aren't the Changeling Hive, we are the Changeling Horde!" I couldn't help but feel this may be a bad decision, but it was too late now.
The Changelings started to celebrate, and I started to feel happy that I was helping a race survive, and maybe I can lead them to greatness!
