I Found Her

William felt like he was floating for a brief moment... and then came a new sensation.

“...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH...!” He shrieked.

William was falling, from high up in the sky, toward a green, grassy landscape, covered in trees, large boulders, lakes, and rivers. The sky was blue and crisp, with some silvery, puffy clouds in the sky. However, he had no time to admire the view, given how quickly he was plummeting.

As he got closer to the ground, however... it seemed like he was slowing down. His fall continuously reduced in speed, the momentum vanishing, until he came to almost a hover, inches from the ground.Carefully, he planted his feet on the grass, and his gravity was fully restored.

Once he got his bearings, William glanced around, taking in the place he was swept off to, having just been in his living room a few seconds ago.

“Wow...” William whispered in awe, looking around, “...what is this place?”

It looked very similar to someplace that might exist on earth, but a great deal about it felt... alien. It was too perfect, with no signs of exposed dirt or dying vegetation.There was also no noticeable infrastructure. It was bright out, partly-cloudy day... and the strange thing was how large the sun was, and the fact that it was proportionately dimmer, rather than the blinding point in the sky he knew as the sun.

Slowly, he took a few steps forward, and directly behind him after he cleared the area he landed in, was a spiraling beam of light, emanating directly upward. William looked at its zenith point, revealing what appeared to be a hole in the sky, outlined by a golden halo.

“Must be the hole I fell through...” he said, before looked at the light column, “...and must be the way back to it, if I want to leave, I guess.”

Assuming he would still be able to see it at a long distance, he set off to explore the new world he landed in.

Cocoon sat near the edge of a cliffside, staring out at the distant horizon as the wind blew her mane majestically. Without any interaction from other beings, she resorted to letting her mind freely wander the universe, in such a way that seemed like she was blanking out.

After a little while of doing this, however... she caught wind of something. A curious, unknown scent snapped her back to reality. She sniffed the oncoming air.

“Hm?” She hummed. “Wonder what that could be?”

Cocoon stood up from her spot, flapping her wings, and started gliding down the mountain she was on, in the direction of the scent she caught.She made sure to sniff every so often to confirm she was on the trail.

William kept on his trek, but keeping an eye on the portal he came through to ensure he would not get lost. This place was beautiful, he thought, but it still did not make much sense, what happened that led him here.

“Am I in Narnia or something?” William asked no one in particular.

As he continued to hike... little was he aware that he was being watched. Cocoon happened to have followed his scent right to him, and was now stalking him from a higher plane a short distance away from the trail he walked. She stared, dumbstruck, at the being she saw.

“What kind of creature is that?” She whispered to herself. “What is it doing here?”

Carefully, she hovered down from her hiding spot, a few meters behind William. From there, she made her way closer to him. Assuming he was sentient like she was, Cocoon assumed he might be able to understand her language.

“Hello?” She spoke.

The young man froze for a moment, not expecting to hear a voice. Upon turning to the source of the sound... he caught sight of the changeling queen. His eyes went wide and his jaw fell open.

“GAH!” William shrieked, falling and shuffling back. “Wh-what are you...?!”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” The creature said. “I didn’t mean to frighten you!”

“Y-you... can speak English?” William asked.

“English?” Cocoon asked, tipping her head slightly off to one side. “Where I come from, my language is known as ‘Equestrian.’ ”

Slowly, William stood back up, realizing that this creature was not of any threat. Its voice sounded female. She had a black, sleek, quadrupedal body, with seams that made it resemble arthropod chitin. Her eyes were a deep mint-green, with light-teal sclerae, and vertically-slitted pupils like a cat or lizard. Her hair and tail were fairly wavy, and a rich jade-green, and they almost made her look like a horse, particularly with the fact that she had a muzzle. However, she had a long, protruding horn, like a unicorn, and insectoid wings upon what looked like a dark-aqua dorsal carapace. There were also cavities straight through the lower halves of her legs.

Cocoon examined this strange, bipedal creature she just discovered. He lacked fur, but had a patch of chocolate-brown hair covering his scalp, a clean-shaven face, and fair skin. He was tall and thin, wearing garments that adorned most everything below his neck. He also had vibrant green eyes... and for some reason she couldn’t explain, those eyes were just absolutely mesmerizing to her, quite bizarre for a being on par with an alien to her. By far, his extremities were the most bizarre, each having five separate sub-extremities that seemed to work in unison, for grasping and holding things.

“I’m simply wondering...” Cocoon began, “...how did you get here?”

William shook his head slightly. “I have no idea. I just opened up an old book I found, and well... here I am.”

“I see,” Cocoon said, mulling over how he just described it. “And, if I may ask, who are you?”

“M-my name is William,” the young man introduced himself. “William Schaeffer.”

“A pleasure, William Schaeffer,” the female insectoid said. “My name is Queen Cocoon, and well... I am the sole inhabitant of this realm.”

Well, good thing she’s polite, William thought. I’d hate to end up in a world with a REAL monster...

He walked forward, making his way around Cocoon, trying to get a better look at her. Needless to say, he was quite curious about her, never having come across anything like her before.

“Now...” William began, “...I’m not trying to be rude, but... what exactly are you?”

“I’m a changeling queen,” Cocoon said.

“Changeling?” William asked. “As in, like... a shapeshifter? I don’t believe you.”

“But I am!” Cocoon said.

William folded his arms. “Prove it.”

Cocoon nodded, her mouth curling into a slight grin. “Very well...”

There was a flash of green light, and before the human’s eyes, the changeling queen transformed into a spitting image of Princess Celestia. She then narrowed her eyes smugly.

“Believe me now?” The white alicorn spoke in Cocoon’s voice.

William, speechless and paralyzed, was barely able to nod to convey his shattered skepticism. However, he was able to quickly recover, just as Cocoon took her default form once more.

“Quite impressive, right?” Cocoon asked.

“Oh, definitely!” William said. “You some kind of... mythological creature, or something?”

Cocoon giggled. “I must say, William Schaeffer, you are a rather funny... er... whatever you are!”

“Human,” William corrected her. “My species are called humans.”

“Of course,” Cocoon acknowledged. “That makes things easier for us.”

She then glanced around for a moment.

“Anyway, what’s say we head on back to my place for now? It’s not far,” Cocoon said.

“Oh, sure,” William said. “Could use a bit of downtime, to be honest...”

With that, both the human and changeling queen set off back to the latter’s residence. On the walk to the place Cocoon lived, William decided to keep the conversation going.

“So, like... have you always lived inside this tome?” He asked.

Cocoon frowned, hanging her head. “Not always. There was something that happened... something rather depressing that led me here.”

“Oh...” William said, “...well, if it’s any consolation, Your Majesty, I’ve been going through a tough time, myself.”

“That’s rather unfortunate,” Cocoon said. “And also, you may address me by my given name. There’s no need to be so formal with me. Besides... I have no kingdom to even rule over.”

William narrowed his eyes, glancing about as the two walked. “So then, why are you called ‘Queen?’ ”

“It has to do with my particular caste,” Cocoon said.

“So, there’s more of your kind?” William asked.

“There are,” Cocoon said, before a sad look filled her eyes. “But unfortunately... there are none here with me. They are all back in my native realm, where I was banished from.”

“Banished?” William asked.

“It was my older sister, Queen Chrysalis,” Cocoon explained. “She had a strong desire to rule over our hive... even to the point of driving me out by any means necessary. But she is cruel, she’s a tyrant. She will go to any lengths to get what she wants, potentially reigning over the hive with an iron hoof,” she sighed sadly. “I can only imagine what she is doing to all the drones I only wanted the best for...”

Not wanting to have her dwell on the matter too much, William changed the topic to some benign, trivial topics for the remainder of the walk. It took about a quarter of an hour for them to get to where they were going, before eventually they came upon Cocoon’s residence. It comprised of what looked like a regular house, not unlike one William was familiar with from his world.

The house was two stories, with visible basement windows, and slightly larger than what would be considered average in Atlanta. To Cocoon, however, having lived in a large hive structure, it was quite a bit quainter. She simply had to resort to use of information she could pull from whatever dimension she wound up in to create a place of living.

“Not much,” Cocoon said, “but... it’s what I call home.”

William grinned as he gazed over the two-story house. “It’s much better than what I’ve got...”

“It took a few weeks' worth of magic rationing just to build this,” Cocoon said. “And that was just from sticking with conjuring the essentials, like food and dishes. Water, I can simply boil after getting from the nearby river.”

“Magic...?” William asked.

“My kind can use magic,” Cocoon said. “It’s what I used to transform, remember?”

“Oh, right,” William said upon recollection of what happened a short while ago.

The two made their way inside, which yielded a nice entry lounge with minimalist decorations. There were leather sofas and chairs, along with a coffee tables and matching end tables, as well as a cabinet that held a large CRT television. William immediately liked her home, given how more substantial and spacious it was compared to his prefabricated house.

“So, is there anything I could get you?” Cocoon offered.

“That was quite a walk over here,” William said. “I could use something to drink.”

“Sure!” Cocoon said, making her way into the kitchen.

The kitchen was quite elaborate and nice, with numerous pantries, spice racks, breadboxes, gas stoves and ovens, and even a wood oven. Cocoon made her way over to the wet bar.

“Do you have a preferred beverage, William?” Cocoon asked.

William pondered for a moment. “...Some tea would be nice.”

“Of course!” Cocoon said. “What kind?”

“Could you make, um... Earl Grey, by chance?” William requested. “It’s my favorite.”

“Indeed, I can,” Cocoon said, nodding. “I’ll heat up some water for it.”

From there, Cocoon filled a stainless kettle with water from the bar’s tap, putting it on the nearby stove to heat up. From there, she pulled open a fairly large sliding cabinet, filled with various teas, such as varieties of white, green, oolong, and black, just to name a few. At William’s request, she pulled out the Earl Grey jar. She scooped out enough for both of them, since she decided to have some herself.

Once the kettle started whistling, Cocoon already finished putting the tea blend into a filter for a teapot. From there, she poured the hot water over the tea, filling the pot. After letting it soak and cool for a moment, she then brought the teapot over to the table, where she had two mugs already prepared for herself and her guest. William was already at the table, seated in front of his own cup.

With his tea poured first, William raised the mug in front of his face, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath of the Earl Grey aroma, before taking a sip.

“How is it?” Cocoon asked, pouring some for herself.

“Mmmm,” William hummed, just before swallowing his drink. “Really good! It’s even better than the store-bought stuff I’ve got in my pantry.”

Cocoon closed her eyes with a warm smile, tilting her head slightly. “It makes me so happy to hear such a compliment!”

And so, the two simply chatted while they drank their tea. For both of them... this was quite a welcoming experience, particularly with the way they both had to live their lives lately.

“I must admit,” Cocoon began, “it’s truly splendid, to finally interact with another sentient being, after being banished for so long. I’m so glad to have met you, William.”

“So, like...” William began, setting his mug down, “...why don’t you leave this tome, Cocoon? There’s a portal I came through.”

Cocoon frowned. “...It is because I was branded with a Banishing Rune.”

The changeling queen raised her right hoof, showing a strange, Celtic-looking symbol on what was the equivalent of the back of the palm. It was gray, slightly lighter than her chitin.

“It is a cursed mark,” Cocoon explained, “and so long as it remains imprinted on me, I shall be incapable of leaving this tome through that portal.”

“Have you tried to find ways to remove it?” William asked.

“Indeed, I have,” Cocoon said. “However, it is difficult when one is lacking sufficient amount of magic power needed to access knowledge of magic from my home universe.”

William paused, not knowing what to say. He could hardly comprehend the fact that magic existed, let alone how it worked. There was an awkward silence for a moment as he thought about it all.

“...I’m really sorry, Cocoon,” William said. “Hard to imagine what you’ve been through.”

“Also,” Cocoon said, “you mentioned that you’ve been undergoing a harrowing experience yourself earlier. Would you, mayhaps, like to talk about it? Get it all out in the open with me?”

“Oh, where to begin...” William said, laying back against his chair, “...for one thing, my father is away from home a lot, serving in the United States Navy. My mother got fed up with it, and well... she filed for divorce. Since then, well... communication with my father dwindled with the rest of my family. But,he is still able to contact me every now and then... but still not often enough.”

Cocoon’s eyes widened as she listened to him.

“My mother later remarried...but, it was to this prick named Jack Poole.He’s just the absolute worst man you could imagine. I feel like he just hates me because I’m living proof that my mother’s been ‘taken’ before him. He abused me all throughout my adolescence, making me feel completely inadequate by criticizing me at every moment he could. He even resort to beating me on occasion, sometimes with a belt.Mom, sadly, never lifted a finger to stop him; I guess she was always upset from the time Dad left...”

The changeling queen’s mouth fell open as William kept speaking.

“In school, I was bullied quite a lot. In retrospect... I can see why. Thing is, I’m fairly quiet and introverted, not to mention, well... timid. I didn’t have the willpower to stand up for myself. And, well... I was pushed around and taken advantage of. Nobody offered to help me... and that just made me feel betrayed by everyone.”

“Oh, William...” Cocoon said, quietly.

“And...” William readied himself to confess to his new friend, blushing slightly, “...I’ve never been able to... ask out any girls I’m interested in.I swear... every single time I’ve mustered up the courage to ask them, they turn me down. It could be for any reason, but the two most popular are ‘I’m taken,’ or ‘I’m not interested’...”

The dining room was completely silent, with the human and changeling queen both lost in thought.

“I...” Cocoon broke the silence, “...I never would’ve imagined... the first being to access my prison world... would have gone through much more than I have.”

“I don’t know,” William said. “Being alone for a good, long while... that doesn’t sound so good either.”

“But still,” Cocoon spoke up, “I can’t imagine being around a great many people who hold you in such disdain. It must be awful trying to get by, day by day. William... if you ever need emotional support, just know that I am now an available option.

William smiled. “Thanks, Cocoon. You make me glad that I stumbled upon the tome that brought me here.”

Cocoon’s stomach growled. She rubbed it just before looking at William.

“...I’m hungry,” she said, softly.

William stood from his seat. “Should we prepare a meal, then?”

Cocoon, instead of responded, stood from her own chair, walking over to her human visitor. She wrapped a foreleg around him, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Just hold me close, William...” Cocoon said, softly, “...it’ll feed me.”

William was caught a bit off guard by this sudden move. However, given that she actually sympathized with him... he actually felt quite compelled to return the hug. Closing his eyes, he held his arms behind the lower of her neck, gently running his fingers through her mane. As time passed... he absently tuned out everything, focused solely on the embrace he shared with the changeling queen, as though he were hypnotized.

“Hmmm...” Cocoon hummed, smiling with her eyes closed, “...your hug... oh, this feels so nice...it is so nourishing...”

“So is yours,” William whispered in her ear.

They held each other for a good, long while, paying little regard to the passage of time, before eventually, they summoned the will to let each other go, staring at each other.

“...That was nice,” William said, “but... where did it come from?”

Cocoon nervously shuffled her hooves for a moment. “See... my species feed on the positive emotional energy from other beings. While food can keep us going... it’s that positive energy that really fuels us and gives us the ability to use magic more effectively.”

“Really?” William asked. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

“Well, now that I have more energy from your positive emotions...” Cocoon said, glancing around, “...I’ll be able to improve my place of living much faster!”

“That’s good to hear,” William said, nodding once.

“Yes,” Cocoon said. “I must really thank you, William Schaeffer... you truly made me feel happy once more, after a bleak fate.”

William shrugged, grinning. “It’s the least I could do. And I only hope to do more of just that for you, now that I’m here.”

The two continued to have a conversation, delving really deep into their inner thoughts and worries about how they came to be where they were, before the sun began to set, and William figured he should head back to the real world and get settled in for the night.

“The magical whirlwind should be able to easily lift you back up to the tome portal,” Cocoon said as William made his way to the front door of her house.

“Thank you, Cocoon,” William said to the changeling queen. “I really needed this.”

Cocoon nodded. “As did I.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, after I get off work,” William said, waving.

Cocoon smiled, closing her eyes and tipping her head off to one side. “I’ll be waiting!”

“Great! See you around!” William said, opening the door and stepping out.

“And William...” Cocoon said, making the young man look back at her, “...don’t ever think that you’re worthless or undeserving of anyone’s time. Because, well... you really are a special person, and it only took one afternoon of open conversation for me to know that.I truly feel like your stepfather and boss should really have the courtesy to listen to you.”

William was quite surprised at just how effective being open with someone about your problems could be in finding the root cause, and possible solutions. In any case, he gave a final wave to his new, nonhuman friend.

“Thanks, Cocoon,” he said.

Cocoon waved back. “And thank you, William.”

With that, William set off on the trail that would lead directly back to the tome portal. It was still perfectly visible from Cocoon’s house, despite being a distance away. It seemed like a lengthy distance to walk, but for a new friend... he’d go the distance anyday. After another good quarter of an hour, William made it to the whirling light column directly nadir to the portal, and upon stepping into it, felt his feet leave the ground as he ascended with a slow, counterclockwise spin.

He took in the lovely evening view, the world rotating around him, as he ascended back to the portal he passed through only a few hours ago. A world this beautiful and perfect... it was only fitting in contrast of the stark and unforgiving world he came from... the former he wished to visit every day for the remainder of his life now.