//------------------------------// // A Better You - Prologue // Story: Canterlot High's Changeling // by OdicHastings //------------------------------// I tapped my fingers against my desk while staring at my class's clock. The minute hand inched closer and closer to twelve. The silent whispers of the class had intensified within the last few minutes. The teacher was done with her lecturing, and the students with their work. Just a few more minutes. Out the window, dark clouds formed in the distance. Wouldn't be much longer. Tick-tock. The hand kept marching forward. And there I was, sitting there, bored; in a classroom, filled with teenagers. “...How did it come to this?” I let my head fall forward, allowing it to smack against the desk. One day you're invading an entire city of pathetic foals, the next you've somehow wound up in another world, turned into a... 'human' or something. It wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't also freaking de-aged to a punk kid. And now I'm trapped in a public education facility. Who would have thought that the police think a kid not attending school is suspicious? My eye twitched as I stared down the clock. Just one more minute. Something like 'appearing to be a child' didn't use to be an issue. It was almost comical how I took my gift for granted back in my own world. Being able to shape-shift, able to completely alter my identity on the fly with no effort, big whoop. Who cares? I started to, right after arriving in a world where I couldn't do it anymore. Well, couldn't 'quite' do it anymore. I smirked darkly, trying to conceal a chuckle from my classmates. The bell rang. “Finally!” I leapt from my seat near the back and dashed across the room, making it out the door before any of the students. I hated that school. It was worse than anything I had ever experienced in my life; I was surrounded by idiot teenagers, I had to relearn material that was still mostly useless, and I couldn't transform anymore. A she-demon trashing the school awhile back spiced things up for a surprisingly short period of time at least. But, like everything, it faded into old news. I marched through the school's corridors and out the entrance. A horse statue adorned with mirror surfaces on all sides of its base waited just outside the school. Its purpose wasn't clear to me; perhaps it was meant to be aesthetically pleasing? Perhaps it was meant to memorialize something? Who knows. All I do know, is that I came out of it. Somehow. And now I can't get back through. I touched the smooth glass. Nothing happened. I simply felt cold glass. With a longing sigh I stared ahead, seeing an unfamiliar face looking back. It didn't matter how long I held that form for, it never quite looked right to me. Blue hair, yellow skin, and green eyes. How ridiculous; everybody knows teal and black is the way to go. “Someday,” I mutter before taking off for what served as my home. The same thing, everyday. Tartarus isn't an awful plane of indescribable pain. Its just a slow tedium that consumes your entire existence. The same thing every day. “Every. Single. D-” “Excuse me, sir.” I stopped, staring down the empty sidewalk ahead of me. Through my peripherals I saw somebody had set up a booth on the school's lawn. “Yes, you sir.” It was a man talking. “I would like to speak to you!” I took a deep breath, sighed, and turned my head. A chubby fellow in a dirty and torn lab-coat stood behind a table. His hair was black, and his skin was as white as that lab-coat probably should have been. A banner was taped to the front of his table, the words 'A Better You' were printed across it. Two sticks held a similar banner up above his head. “Aha, I see you've noticed our slogan.” He smiled. “'A better you'!” I blinked slowly. “Tell me, son.” He snickered. “Have you ever wished you could go that extra mile?” I stared. “Did you ever try to get that girl, but just couldn't quite pull it off?” He asked. “Have you ever crammed for a tough test the night before, but just couldn't remember anything you read the next day? Ever failed to keep up with your rival school's sports team during the big game?” “No.” I continued down the street. “W-wait!” He waved his arms frantically over his head. “Do you wish you were more charming? Smarter? More agile?” I rolled my eyes, and continued at my pace. “What about hostile!?” I kept going. “A better you!” He shouted. “Come in today, and be a better man tomorrow!” I honestly wondered who let that guy on school grounds. They should really keep the psychos away from the kids. “A better you? Utter nonsense.” I shook my head. “Who would even give that guy the time of day?” I arrived home half-an-hour later. “Yeah. 'A better you'. It looked really interesting!” My 'mother' chatted merrily with a friend on the phone. I sat on the sofa, pretending to watch the news. The living room was meticulously clean, not a speck of dirt, or a mote of dust, blemished the carpet. Fine china sat behind a glass screen in a shelf; various vases sat atop it. The television set was an older model – or so I had been told – first manufactured almost two decades ago. “I'm thinking of heading up there, maybe take a look around.” She was a plump woman, with pale-yellow skin and blue hair. She held the phone in her neck by tilting her head to the side, while digging through her briefcase. “I know, I know,” she said. “But there's no harm in looking, right?” I narrowed my eyes. “Alright, I gotta let you go.” She closed the briefcase and walked over to the front door, setting the case down next to it. I craned my head to see her. “You're not actually checking that hack's offer out are you, Glory?” “Honey!” Glory placed her hands on her hips. “That's a little harsh don't you think?” “Not really.” She smirked. “C'mon, I'm not expecting a miraculous, life-changing experience. It's all in good fun.” I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn't come up with a retort. She walked past me. “Wanna come?” “Not really.” “I never see you go out anywhere after school.” She snickered. “Do you really have anything better to do?” “...Not really?” She smirked. I sighed. “Grab your coat, honey.” She wandered into the hall. “It's nippy out.” “Wait.” I stood up. “We're going now?” In less than fifteen minutes, we arrived at the most pathetically rundown building I had ever seen. Windows were either shattered or completely missing their panes. Cheap wooden boards were set behind them, keeping people from seeing inside. The walls were marred with dozens of holes. We were at the outskirts of town. The dull noise of the city was behind us, replaced by utter silence. Apparently even feral animals knew to stay away from such a location. A cracked concrete path led up to a door stained with yellow spots. Rust clung to its metal handles. 'A BETTER YOU!!!' was crudely painted over the doors in vibrant pink paint. Glory stared at the building with a look I could best describe as a mixture of disbelief and outright terror. “It's all in good fun?” I smirked at her. “I, uh.” She swallowed nervously. I took one final look at the dilapidated structure. Glory seemed eager to leave. It probably wouldn't be too hard to talk her out of going in. But who was I kidding? There was no way I wasn't at least taking a peek inside that pathetic hovel. I gently grabbed Glory's shoulder, and guided her forward. “Shall we?” She nodded numbly. “Sure...” I marched up to the doors, grasped the handle, and threw them open. My jaw nearly hit the floor when I looked inside.