What if one day everybody you know is gone? To make things worse, what if your gender changed and so did your species?
Sky is a nurse. He lives with his dad, and workes to help others. Things change when the Event happened. Will Sky still keep himself? or will things crumble and fall apart. Either way it is worth it to die trying.
Today has been odd, to put it lightly. Between being saved by a fireman, changing species, and gender. I don't believe that I have had time to actually sit down. Let me start from the beginning.
I awoke from my bed in my parents' house. More like my dad's house, but sometimes if I tried hard I could still hear her laugh, and see her smile. We live in a one story house by the Leesburg airport. That is where dad works. He is an airplane mechanic. I work at the hospital, in the trauma care unit. Today is Thursday. Which means that I have a double shift at work and will be home late.
The ride to the hospital is short, nothing more than ten miles. But that is what you get when you live in a small town. I went first to go check up on my friend. Her name is Ashley and she works in the nursery taking care of the babies before sending them off home. “Hey, Ash. How are the little tykes today?” I ask her.
She looks at me sadly. “Five of them have died this week. I don't know what is causing it, but it's horrible. To have to tell the mothers that their baby that was alive and in there arms just an hour ago is now dead.” I gave her a quick hug and sent her to the hospital's physiologist. It happens from time to time in a hospital, with so much death and life. The emotions can get a bit haywire.
The rest of the day was normal. That is for a trauma care. Between the broken bones, Gushing blood, and seven cups of coffee, the day went by like a breeze. Then night fell. And I fell asleep at the nurse's desk while filling out paper work.
I awoke in the morning. Which is odd, because somebody would have woken me up earlier. Heck I might get fired for falling asleep. Which is odd, because there are no other nurses around. It is 7:30 and this is about the time that the morning staff come in to replace the night staff. I got up and fell onto the cold floor. It seems that my feet do not want to work today. I shift to see that instead of feet, scrubs, and arms I am black, holey, and blue. Shuffling a bit to stand up, I found that I had to be on my hands and knees. Which put my head at the eye level of the desk. Which I somehow impaled with this thing on my head. Now I was stuck to a desk and could not move much. Oh and I am hungry.
After getting my horn out of the desk I shuffled/crawled down the hallway. Not a single patient was in sight. And thankfully my boss was not around. I approached the doors to the outside and was greeted by the sound of birds and a light breeze. There was only one ambulance in front of the hospital. Very few cars were in the lot too. After a hour I made my way to the cafeteria. I tried to open the muffin package but my fangs and odd hoof like hands kept me from doing that. Or well it was more like I smashed it than try to open it. None of the food looked good. Which is odd because I have a major sweet tooth, and these are all candy and baked goods. Giving up I chirped a sigh. Which is also odd because I dont know how to chirp in that strange way. Giving up on food I tried my hand at going to the restroom. Which thankfully was a push door. I pulled myself up onto the sink. Which was a mistake. The mirror showed me the monster I had become. I had lost almost all teeth, except for my fangs. I was a dark black bug thing. With thin wings that I could buzz by rolling my shoulders. Near my wings and wraped around my body was a shell of dark cobalt blue, same colour as my eyes. I had a tail and long hair. Both of which I did not have before. It was odd hair too, silk like in texture and blue too. It also had holes in it too.
It was then that I smelled it. The gross smell of chemicals and wood burning. Once I smelled that, I started to panic and slipped off of the sink smacking my head onto the floor. “HELP, PLEASE HELP” I crawled my way threw the door. “FIRE HELP”. It was definitely the cafeteria kitchens that where on fire. I could see the flames from here. I crawled as hard as these holey hooves would let me. “HELP” the air was getting thick. “help”. The fire was catching up to me. That was when I felt someone grab me. And then I passed out.
When I woke up, there was a red pony standing over me. He had white hair, a fireman hat, and a fireman coat on. “hey you okay?” I nodded to him. “good. That fire took out the entire hospital and a few buildings around it before I was able to stop it. Had to dig a fire break and chop down a few trees. You are in the fire house with me. It turns out that that fire attracted a couple others to here too. We are a group of five not counting you that is. Can you speak?”
I nodded and asked. “do you have any food or water? What happened? Why are you a horse?”
He smiles and chuckled. “The first thing that this lady asked us guys is some food and water, guys bring her a bottle” did he call me a lady? I am not female. I am a strong, smart, and >Squee<. Okay, so I am more feminine than most guys, but what do you expect from a guy like me?
“So what is your name knight in shining armor?” I say. Might as well get used to being female. It's not like it will go away or anything.
“I'm Richard, and the cute little grumpy one over there bringing you water is Rose. we are a mix crew of people. All in all, you are the only one we don't know. You have been out since the Event, a good two months ago” she makes a pouty face towards him and continues to bring a bucket of water over. Inwardly I laugh He chuckles at the comment, while Rose dumps the water all over me.
“Everybody has to help out. That means you too Mrs. Bug Lady.” she walks away from the soaked bed. “She has been watered Mr. Richard I am going to go and read a book.” That little SHE DEMON.
Richard helped me out of bed. Which is funny because I am at least half a head taller than him. It was then that I smelled it. It smelled nice, intoxicating, and I wanted it all. Must feed off of the smell. Get closer to it “Uhh lady, its not that I dont like you or anything. But could you please not try to kiss me?” no, no, no! Where is the smell. I want it! Wait what? Kiss?
“Oh god! Sorry Richard!” I push myself away from him and stumble down a flight of wooden stairs that I did not see. One headache later I feel Richard pick me up again and carry me back up the stairs and set me in a different bed. “Lady I have been cleaning and taking care of you for two months, much has happened in that time. For now rest. We will talk later and have you meet the crew.” With that, he laid me down. this time in a diffrent bed. It was by the window and showed the empty world around us. "Look Miss until you give us a name for you Rose will name you. So far the list include Lady Bug, Snore Head, and Coma Girl. Like Rose said, we all help each other here and share the reward with everybody. You are going to have to do that two when you can figure out how to stand. Go to sleep, you will need it for tomorrow." with that he left and went down the stairs. I snuggled into the warm dry bed and slept. Whatever is wrong, it's future Sky's problem.
I woke up with the sun glaring into my eyes. “Lady Bug, are you hungry? We are going to have breakfast soon, and I would like for you to meet the gang.” Richard the red fire horse thing is trying to wake me up. Too bad the sun has already done the job for him. “Look I can help you down the stairs, but you are going to have to get out of bed.” With that I decided to go with him to breakfast. Which brings up the question of what are we going to eat? Should I ask him this or ac like I know what I am doing?
~Why not just ask!~ There is a voice in my head. I must ask that you please promptly get out. My head is my own and I don't want any clutter added to what is already there. ~I am sorry, you asked a question and I was compelled to answer. I am heading your way now and will leave you alone until you ask a question again.~ “Good! No more voices in my head.” Richard looks at me.
“You have voices in your head? Are you some crazy person or something?” oh dear I said that out loud. Time to use diversion tactics. I roll my eyes and try to walk away from him. The key word of the day seems to be try. As soon as I got my arm off of his side, I fell right on my face. “Are you alright?” Nodding I use his side to stabilize myself again. ~Hey I have a question. I found a few others like me, do you mind if I bring them?~ Yes, bring them! Just stop talking to me! “Alright! Here we are. Over there is Mark, he was in the Navy. Next to him is Alessandra, she did food tours and is our chef. You already know Rose, she is the youngest of us. Lastly we have Kris, he was hiding in this fire station when we found him. He doesn't talk much”
“Hello, my name is Sky, but I think Lady Bug is better with the current situation. I was a nurse before all of this happened, and I guess it is nice to talk to somebody.” Rose looks at me.
“Do you know what happened? Your a nurse, and nurses know things about stuff.” I smile at her, like heck if I know what happened.
“Rose I have no clue as to what happened. I think it is best that we stay together and help each other. Any body else have any questions?” Mark was staring into his bowl of oatmeal, Alessandra started eating, and Kris got up.
“We all freaks, you are the worst. I think you need to leave. Freaks like you don't deserve to live. Your going to kill all of us and destroy everything. You are not like us. We are like horses, what are you, a bug? Leave now, there is plenty of water and food out there.” Mark followed him and turned back for a moment.
“You have sat around and waisted time already. I agree with Kris, your a freak.” They both left the room. Alessandra buried her head in the oats and pulled Rose closer to her. Richard still held onto me.
“I guess we will have to vote on if you stay or not. Have some breakfast I will go and bring them back and we will settle this, okay?” I sat at an empty chair and waited for Richard to come back.
“Fine! I will sit at the table with the freak, but you know my vote!” with that outburst all three of them came back into the room and sat down. “Hey freak, if we are voting on if you are staying, I just want you to know.....” Richard kicked him.
“Okay guys, so let's vote. All in favor of her staying say Aye.”
I left the fire house for somewhere else, this put me on the main street of downtown leesburg. what happened, well, lets just say that i met a few ponys.
I was walking down Main Street, and made my way for the Library. It is a two story building filled with books. If anything i will need the knowledge from the non-fiction section of the library. I reached the doors of the library when a black pony thing steped out. "Hello Queen, we have finally found you." In a way he buzzed with excitement. "Come on in Queen we have prepared a meal for you! The dogs around here taste fantastic!" Dog? They are eating a dog? "Don't worry Queen! it is what we eat, or atleast one of the things we eat." So he knows more about us. "Oh yes my Queen. I will tell you everything that I know after we eat, you must be starving!" So he can read my mind. "Yes my Queen! You just have to think of something and we will do our best to do it."
"Thats horrible!" The best thing anybody can say in this situation. "How many of us are there?" with that comment a total of seven black pony things buzzed out of the door.
"Hey! I am Lily." A Black pony thing with a pink jacket on said.
"My Queen, I am Sergent Kipling" Another black pony thing with brown national guard fatigues on.
"Alexandar My Queen" The one who was talking with me stated, he wore a light blue scarf.
"John." This one had a yellow construction hat on.
"Ben, My Queen" He had nothing on to distinguish him, whis is odd personally.
"Me name es Oonah, Me Queene" A very thick accent but like Ben she had nothing on.
"Thomas, My Queen" He had a plad button up shirt on.
"Lana, Your Worship" She had less holes than the others, and everything about her was smooth, her voice, shell, and hair.
"My Queen, we need a place to stay, any segestions?" Thomas asked. I quickly thought about several places. The National Gaurd Armory, It would be easy to defend, but not a lot of room. Here at the library, no defence at all, and nowhere to get proper sleeping arangements. City Hall, but that place is too cold and too central for it to be a good base. The Airport is as good as any, lots of room, a tower, high fences, and is next to a Lowes. (A huge Hardware store)
"Then the Airport would be the best option. and there is room to grow into the neighboring suburbs." Alright i should get an award or something for making the first decision for our group.
"My Queen, is there anything you want us to get form the library before we go?" Alexandar asked.
"Yes, as many of the non-fiction books as you can grab. Put them into shopping carts and pull them. One cart for everybody, incuding me. Oh and we should finish off the meal before we go." They seemed to like that choice, I wonder what all it is that we can eat.
We reached the Airport and dropped off the books into one of the hangers. Then each of us went to the Control Tower, Kipling stood at the front. “Your highness, I will stand watch over the entrance.” I nodded to him and went inside. Finding a semi-nice spot in a chair, I went to sleep.
This was my dream, of sorts. I woke up in a black and green room. Light came from the green globes that where on the walls. “Hello new Queen. I am Chrysalis. Don't worry pet. I have some information for you. I wont be able to maintain this for long so stay with me” a foggy black thing said. “You will start a new hive. In order to have a good hive though you need Love. Love comes from animals, and we can eat it. The best love though comes from ponies. In order to get this love you must capture them, and put them in pods. They will live, yes. And experience artificial creations in there sleep. These creations will be of someone who they love most. When they experience this they will secrete Love into the cocoon around them. As you need love, for the hive, you must bite the cocoon, and lick at the juices that come out of it. The juices will come out of it for a time, and seal up. You can directly harvest love from the other significant lover if you have one of them in a cocoon. This will directly remove Love from the pony, but be careful. Too much can kill the pony. Which sometimes is not a bad thing. I have one last thing to say before I must go, Luna be damned! I am loosing the connection! Every two months you will lay a clutch of eggs! These will be more changelings, and you must pare them off with an adult changeling or~” the black foggy thing dissipated. All around me cracks grew into the walls. Globes shattered and leaked fluids everywhere. Light broke threw the ceiling as the room crumbled away. Then I woke up.
“Your Highness! Are you alright? You where restless in your sleep.” Alexandar stated.
“Yes, I am fine Alexandar. I have a few ideas for the hive. First we need real sleeping areas.” he nodded and went over to wake Ben and Oonah.
“Come we need to get you over to Lana so you can scout out the area for possible supplies. Also the Queen wants proper sleeping areas for us. So look for mattress stores nearby.” I listened in to the conversation and walked over to the large observation windows to the area around us. Everything seemed fine, but where was I going to get ponies to harvest love from? Should I try to capture the first group I was in? What would happen to Rose and Richard. They where nice, maybe I can keep them separate from the cocoons. Would they like the person, pony thing that I have become? As the black foggy thing called me, a Changeling? Or would the be afraid and scared of me? “Your Highness? You seem lost in thought?”
“Yes Alexandar, I am thinking of the future of the Hive, we are only nine for now. But that will change.” he looks at me oddly.
“The future of the Hive Your Highness? Where will we get more changelings?” he askes.
“I will make more, I guess. I have no clue how, but I know that every other month I will make some eggs. Then I will have to give the eggs to adult changelings. Why though, I have no clue. On top of that, we will need Love. Which will require ponies. So do we capture the other group? And force them into some odd cocoon things?” he looks at me. Then like some lightbulb sparked to life in his head he states.
“My Highness, we must capture the other group. If there is anybody that you want to keep separate from the rest, then I am sure that the other changelings will understand.” thats Alexandar for you.
"Alexandar? Can you please get all the other changelings? I would like to have a meeting." He nodded and walked away. I gathered a few random pillows that I could find in the tower for the meeting. slowly one by one the rest of the group came in.
"Hello. I want this to be our first meeting, and I want to get to know you all." the other changelings looked around and then back to me. each of us took a pillow in a semi circle formation and waited. "I guess I will go first then. Before the Event, i was a nurse. I lived with my father in a house not to far from here. The Event happened durning my late shift and i fell asleep. I woke up to an empty nurses station and an equally empty hallway. The hospital burned down with me in it and I was saved by a Firefighter pony thing. That part is the fuzzyst part for me because i passed out and did not wake up for three months. Now Alexandar it is your turn." I gave him a smile and a nod.
"I was a secretary at Atlanta. I worked for the Mayor. When the Event happened I was leaving work. It was very late, and there where not many cars on the road at the time. It had rained less than thirty minuets ago and my car hydroplaned. It was heading for a semi-truck that dissapered for some reason. I flew into a ditch and stayed there for a good hour. After I figured out how to get out of my car I crawled my way to a gas station that was a few miles down the road. When i got there it was empty so I tried to get on the phone that was on the wall. One of those old pay phones. I thought that the hard black shell that I had where burns. But my car did not go up in flames. The worst part was that I thought that i was going to die. I could not reach that phone and I had lost all hope. But then I felt a pull. It was like sombody was calling for help. I knew i had to help them." He stoped talking and was hyperventalating just a little. I walked over and gave him a hug. He calmed down a little and nodded to Lily.
"I should go next. I was a foster mother before the Event. I had three children and my husband worked as a factory worker. We lived in Texas. I worked at home so i could be around the children as much as possible. I never could have children of my own, and any child that i took care of was my own. I have there photos if you want to see them." she pulled out a few photos from her jacket. "This one is of my family. My husband Alvan is on the left, the one in the middle is the youngest her name is Melody. On her right is chris, he loves trucks and took aprt the microwave one year. Alvan was so mad at him. On Melody's left is the oldest, he was a senior in highschool this year. His name is Matt. He wanted to become a singer." she started to cry. "I miss them, but I don't know if i will see them again. We where all asleep when it happened. I woke up at the normal time to make sure that they where getting ready for school. Alvan was not in bed, but that was normal. He usually left early to go work at the factory. I could not walk, and i thought something was wrong. the house was never this quiet. I flopped around on the ground trying to get up."she stopped, and curled into a ball sobbing. We all gathered around her into a group hug.
"I think that we should stop for today, we can have the meeting at a later date." I helped Lily up and took her to the chair she was sleeping on. "Goodnight Lily. I am sorry that you have lost so many that you love. We will work together as a team, okay? No more need for the water works you have us now, and we are going to stick together okay?" she nods slowly and i stay with her untill she went to sleep. after that i headed to my chair. How does somebody come back from looseing there entire family?