Chapter 2: ...going unordinary
I had just finished yelling and I had no idea what to say, what to think, or what to do. Cell kept pointing the knife at me with a shaky hand, still shocked and confused; but I didn't even register it anymore, because the fact that I had just been turned into a changeling was more terrifying .
"This can't be real..." I said to myself. "There's no way this can be real... this must be a dream... just a silly, pointless dream..." I tried to pinch myself, but realised that I couldn't do it with the hooves that had replaced my hands, which made me panic even more. "I have to wake up..." I closed my eyes and punched myself in the face as hard as I could. "Please..." I reopened them and saw Cell still pointing the knife at me, his face now showing a hint of confusion. "No.." I looked at myself again and still saw the changeling body. "NO!"
"Stop that pathetic shit! I know you aren't Yan!" he yelled at me.
"Cell, it's me!" I replied, yelling as well.
"You... you can't even be real! You are fictional! You... you are just a fictional character from a made-up world!" He was obviously as confused as I was; never had I seen Cell this confused and helpless before, which didn't help building up a form of hope that this all could be a weird dream.
I found myself at a loss for words. "I know that this can't be real! But it's me!" was all I could think of at the moment.
"You can't be him! Yan is not a changeling!" Suddenly his face turned from shock to pure anger, as if he suddenly realised what this whole situation could mean. "Oh god no! You replaced him! You.. you trapped him in a cocoon and replaced him, haven't you?!" he yelled even more, the frustration in his voice replaced by fury.
"Cell, no! I am Yan, damn it!" From that point on tears were forming in my eyes, as I was fearing for my life.
"Stop lying and tell me where he is!" he yelled and placed the knife's tip at my throat, the blade close to piercing my skin and ending my life. "Tell me where he is or I am going to stab you to death; and don't think crying is gonna help you!" He was suddenly very determined, probably because I was crying and he saw himself as superior.
"Please believe me! I am Yan!" I pleaded, which - to my own surprise - seemed to make him doubtful for a second, because the pressure on my throat was lowered a bit.
"Prove it!"
This was my chance, probably my last if I didn't convince him that I am myself. "We... we first met while playing Team Fortress 2 in 2009... and we first met in real life in 2011 at the Gamescom; we met Ryu on his birthday just a few months ago!" I said; with every word Cell seemed to relax a bit, letting me hope that I could convince him. "Your favourite colour is green and you had a cat called Susi. I still owe you a new laptop and fifteen Euros for a game you bought me when I couldn't open Steam to get the summer-sale."
"This... this can't be..." He stepped back, his face showing confusion once again, the knife still pointing in my direction, but at least not threatening to spill my blood in a second.
"Cell, if I had really have replaced myself - which doesn't even make any sense - you would be trapped in a cocoon already, or something like that. Look what Chrysalis did after her disguise was blown."
"You.. are right," he said, still breathing heavily, like me. "But... this can't be! Changelings are fictional... Hell! The whole My Little Pony world is fictional! But... how can you be one? Did you know it?"
"I swear by my life that I didn't know it."
"I.. I believe you," he replied and looked at the knife still clenched in his shaking hand. He instantly dropped it, realising what he nearly did.
Relief washed over my body, watching the blade fall to the ground. "Thanks," I said; that was all I could manage to say with the adrenaline slowly leaving my body.
We were both silent for several minutes, giving each other odd stares, because this whole situation was simply awkward; just a few seconds ago one of my best friends nearly killed me because I had turned into a changeling in front of his eyes. "And what are we going to do now?" Cell asked, breaking the silence.
"I have no idea; seriously, I mean, I am a fuckin' changeling!" I said to him, chuckling at the whole situation for a second, more out of helplessness than finding it funny; until realising what it meant for me, what impact this will have on my life, nothing will be the same again... "What are my parents going to say..." I muttered.
He looked at the floor for a second and at me again. "Turn back", he said.
"What?"
"I said 'turn back', like in 'transform your body into yours again'," he said, like it was a matter of fact.
Is he serious? "What? Cell, I just discovered that I am an evil fictional race from a cartoon and now you want me to turn back?" I deadpanned.
"I don't know." He shrugged, his gaze wandering to the ground. "Just turn back and... we forget all of this. Okay?"
I simply stared at him, unsure if he was joking around. "Are you serious? First of all, this is nothing you can forget about. Second-," I paused for a moment before throwing my arms/legs into the air. "-I have no idea how to shape shift!"
"Then... what are we going to do now? You can't go out like that," he stated.
"You are right... First of all I think I should figure out how to change my body until tomorrow morning, or else...," I gulped, imagining how I could explain this situation to my parents. They would never believe me...
"... your parents are gonna find out that you are not a human?" Cell finished my sentence.
Thanks for getting my hopes up... "Right and with how overdramatic they can be, this wouldn't be pleasant... wait a minute...", I said and placed my hands-turned-hooves on my head. "That means that my parents are changelings... OR I AM ADOPTED!"
"Hey, hey, hey! Calm down!" Cell said while grabbing me at my shoulder. "I don't think that you are adopted; you told me that you have exactly the same allergies as your mother and it's kinda impossible that this is just coincidence."
"But that means... they are changelings? Oh my god, why didn't they tell me about this," I sniffed, fearing what I possibly did all the time. "All these years I have been feeding off my friends, like they are just... food..."
"Yan, I am okay, Ryu is okay and everyone else you know as well - nobody died and nobody is ill. Even if you feed upon us, it clearly doesn't hurt." he stated.
"You are right..." I said and wiped my tears away. "Cell, this needs to be kept a secret, like you said 'forget that it happened'. If anyone sees me like that it will go around like a forest fire and if the government gets behind this I am dead..." I began to panic again, thinking about what they would do with me. "They... would slice me open, look how I work and what I can do... and... and-" My monologue, aka panic attack, was ended by his flat hand abruptly connecting to my cheek.
"Calm down! Nothing like that will happen! I won't tell anyone and as long as you won't, all will be fine! Think about it: you managed to hide this for all 17 years of your life, even you yourself didn't knew it. If you manage to turn back, you will be safe."
"If I can... I don't even know what to begin with..." I simply shook my head in defeat. "Shit, can this day get any worse?"
"C'mon, this isn't so bad after all," he tried to cheer me up.
"What do you mean?" I asked him while glaring angrily at him, because seriously, what can be good about this? On the other hand, he was just trying to help.
"You are a changeling, right? That means that changelings exist and that means-," he smiled at me.
What could he... I thought before I realised what he meant. "Tha... that means... that MLP is real!" I said while grinning at the thought of meeting the Mane 6 and seeing their world for real.
"Have you ever seen a changeling grin? That looks so creepy, you should see for yourself." He chuckled.
"Wha-, why?"
"Well, you have long fangs and that kinda looks like a vampire mouth... you would be perfect for a fun house!" Cell said and began laughing at the glare I gave him.
"Haha, really funny." He still laughed, but I didn't bother...
Looking at myself again a thought crossed my mind: Wait... why did I even change into this? Shouldn't it need some sort of magic to disrupt a changeling disguise? Maybe Cell knows... "Cell, what actually happened?" He stopped laughing, the grin still plastered on his face. "What has changed me into-," I pointed at my body, "-this? I just remember that we were working on the Tesla Coil and then nothing."
"You don't remember it? Well, no wonder after you hit yourself with enough electrical power to stop a heart..." He scratched his head. "It's a wonder that you are still alive."
I DID WHAT? "Wait, wait, wait; what? Do you mean that I touched the turned-on coil?"
"Not really.... oh wait I will show you!," he said while I gave him a questioning look. "Your camera is still recording, we got everything on tape!"
I gulped at this. "We have that on tape? We should better delete it before-," I tried to stand up but fell on my chin instantly. "Uff! Oh man, what the-," I tried and fell again; meanwhile Cell grinned and suppressed his laughter. "You think this is funny? I have a serious problem here!"
"I don't think that you can walk on two legs," he commented, barely able to suppress his laughter.
"Ugh, now I need to figure out how to walk like a horse as well; great!" I stood up again, still very shakily. I knew how a horse or pony walked, but doing it yourself is something totally different. C'mon Yan, you can do this! It's like crawling on the floor! I tried to step forward and....
To my surprise I didn't fall. I had great difficulties holding my balance, but I somehow managed to stand. "That's... easier than I thought," I said with a smirk on my face...
Until I fell again, Cell now laughing his ass off.
"Hahahah man, that's priceless! Like a foal doing its first steps!" He laughed even more after saying this. And now you know why I call everyone of my friends an 'ass' sometimes...
"Well, these ARE my first steps as a changeling! So could you stop laughing and... I don't know, carry me upstairs or something?"
He stopped laughing and looked at me like I asked him to do something extremely embarrassing. "What? Carry you?"
"Yes! The sooner this is over, the sooner we can forget all of this!" I replied with a stern tone.
"Ugh, okay." He walked up to me and grabbed me at around chest. "You are much heavier than I thought, weren't you trying to eat less?" he said with a huge grin.
"Very funny, Cell! Of course I am heavier in this state! Do you even know how heavy a horse or pony is?"
"You aren't THIS heavy, actually I think you weigh the same," Cell stated. "It's just funny to see you rage." And this is another reason why I call him an 'ass' sometimes...
Grumbling at him making fun of my weight problem - yes I am slightly overweight, but this isn't something you have to know - I noticed something else:
A changeling has one hell of a scary voice! Seriously, that grumbling came out like predatory growling, just like a wolf's one.
Now that I think about it, my voice sounded different. "Test, test, 1, 2, 3...,"
"What... are you doing?" Cell asked me, slightly confused.
"Nothing, just testing my voice," I replied. It sounds like Chrysalis'... my voice seems to be mixed with another, distorted one... cool? Having a voice like that was cool in one way, I mean, it sounded very alien-like, but on the other hand it was still partly my own voice.
After Cell carried me upstairs he let me down on my hooves so I could stand - actually it was more like controlled shaking than standing... "I will get the camera and don't fall down again. I don't want to patch up a changeling, because I have no idea what to do then."
"Why?"
"Well, maybe changelings have acid-like blood or you go insane by a wound and try to eat flesh to regenerate?" he explained and looked at me like it was a matter of fact.
Í had no idea what to say and simply stared at him. Sometimes I really wondered what was wrong with Cell... or my friends in general... it felt like I was surrounded by group of maniacs... "*sigh* Just get the damn camera, I will be fine..." And with that he went down into the cellar again. Not wanting to stand the entire time in the hallway I decided to walk to the living room, but... how?
I lifted a hoof and already felt my weight shifting to one side, I immediately put the hoof down onto the ground again so I didn't fall. Okay, this isn't going to work... How can this be so hard? Must have something to do with the electrical shock... or the adrenaline... or both...
I tried again, but the fear of falling again stopped me; so I just decided to crawl into the living room, stopping beside the sofa.
A few seconds later I heard Cell hastily walking upstairs again and calling for me: "Yan, where are you?"
"I am in the living room!"
He came into the room and looked at me. "Are you sure you want to watch this and not delete it instantly? I mean, can you bear watching yourself turning into a changeling? Kinda shocking if you ask me..."
I thought about it for a second. Will this change me? Will this change my life? Will this-... Fuck it, YOLO! "Just a single time and then we will delete it, okay?"
"If you say so, then let's watch it." He plugged the cord coming from his TV into the camcorder and started the video.
I could see myself and him standing beside the Tesla Coil; I was currently plugging the cords in and heard Cell trying to warn me, but was interrupted by a bang. The capacitors unloaded their energy in form of a bolt, my body was instantly falling down and engulfed in green fire; Cell looked flabbergasted and shocked at what was happening. "Like in the wedding episode," I commented. After the flames had expired, I could see myself as a changeling, Cell going into 'mental breakdown'-mode; luckily my clothes were still unharmed by the flames, which surprised me. "You can stop the video."
"And? What now?" my friend asked me.
"Like I said: I have to transform myself into my normal self... and then we NEVER talk about this again!"
"What? Didn't you say that something like this can't be forgotten that easily?"
"I know, but what if somebody finds out what I am? What is going to happen? What if they catch me and put me into a lab? What if they dissect me?" I said with a cranky voice. The thought about getting cut into small bits wasn't very pleasant.
"Yan, you already had that thought a few minutes ago and I told you that nobody will find out," Cell tried to calm me down.
"I hope so... The sooner I turn back the sooner I can live my life again and nobody will ever know... Ugh, but I have no idea how to do this, you?"
"Weeeellll.... no. How about thinking about it? Imagine your old self and... use the force?" he suggested.
"Oookay?" With his 'advice' in mind, I tried to think of myself again and-...
"WAIT!"
"What?"
"I am not ready!" I wanted to ask Cell what he meant, but saw that he was crawling under his table and shielding his head with his arms. "Okay, ready!"
"I... ugh" Trying to concentrate again, I closed my eyes and blocked out everything I could. I concentrated on my an image of myself and imagined shape shifting into this form. At first nothing happened, but after some time I felt some kind of... instinct... like a new limb reacting. Trying to control it I felt a static and prickling feeling washing over me; I felt my bones reshaping, my muscles stretching and my changeling shell melting into human skin; it was like every nerve in my body was on fire and frozen at the same time.
This all felt very scary and I was close to freaking out, but at the same time I somehow knew that it was... natural, like I was used to it.
The feeling stopped and I opened my eyes again. "Did it work?"
"Look at yourself," Cell said.
I held up my hand instantly and I could truly see my hand; I wiggled my fingers to confirm that it really was my own. "Yes, it worked!" I yelled in joy and stood up from my lying position.
"That was way faster than I expected. Are you sure that you have never done this before?"
"Currently I am not even sure if this all real. But if it's just... a... " I suddenly felt extremely dizzy and my eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, until I couldn't keep them open. "Cell... help..." I felt myself falling down and hitting the floor.
— — — —
Suddenly I woke up in my own room and everything seemed normal. To say that I was confused was an understatement, but I soon realised that this all was just a bad dream. "Oh shit... that was a nightmare, just a nightmare...," I chuckled at the thought of it. "Just a crazy nightmare," I laughed.
"Not really...."
End of chapter 2