Somewhere around Amberley, South-East Queensland
Australia

"Delta 255, this is control. Please report position and current status," The controller spoke through the radio of my patrol car.

I picked up my radio, held down the button and said, "Delta 255 is heading West on Ipswich Rosewood Road, currently Code 3,"

Understood,

I was performing daily routine. Patrolling around the area I was assigned, until I get a call-out to an illegal event or something to occur. But my shift was about to end and I was heading in the direction of the police station, ready to head home.

Alright, just hang in there a little longer, and I'll be home before I know it.

And I'm talking to myself again. GREAT.

But as I continued the drive, control came in over the radio again. "Delta 255, this is control. We're getting multiple reports of a missing party situation in your area."

"255, copy. Ready for details," I replied.

"255, be advised, at 1345 hours, a group of tourists was walking in the area you are approaching when they disappeared. A search party was sent for them but they couldn't locate them. 255, you are to go Code 2. Proceed to the area and find the missing tourists."

Well, there goes my early punch out.

"255, acknowledged. Going Code 2," I replied, switching on the lights and sirens of my Nissan Patrol, before hitting the throttle and speeding down the road.

A Code 2 meant that someone was in danger of being seriously hurt and police units responding have to use both lights and sirens. The only thing worse than a Code 2 is a Code 1, where someone's life is in danger.

Within seconds, I managed to reach the location where the backpackers were last sighted. As I expected, there was no sign of them yet. What I didn't expect, was that there was no other police units there. It looked like I was on my own for this. Not the best idea, sending a single-person search party into one of the biggest deserts in the world after a group of backpackers, if I'm honest. But, oh well. I probably was the only unit nearby.

Oh, well. What could I do?

I pulled up to the side of the road, turned off my siren and reported in to control, "Control, this is 255. Now searching on foot,"

"Copy that, 255. Keep us posted," Came the reply.

I switched off my radio and grabbed my flashlight. I switched it on, and its bright beam of LED light cut a swathe through the dark night cloaking the outback floor in front of me. Then, I trekked after the beam of light, beginning my search for the backpackers.

Here we go. The longest search in the history of Australia begins...

---

It had been an hour since I started the search for the lost backpackers, and I hadn't found a thing. There was no sign of the backpackers anywhere, and had already searched what felt like half of the outback already. Happily, I still had plenty of energy thanks to the lunch I had a while ago.

Thank god for LED flashlights and their long endurance, as well.

I was about to call off my search, when, all of a sudden, a bright green light flashed to my left. It startled me bit, and after a moment, I decided to check it out, running in the direction of the light.

As I ran up a dune, the light got brighter and brighter, meaning that I was getting closer to whatever was making that light. Then, I took cover behind a rock, and what was making the green light came into view. It was a huge pointy castle-style building, with many holes emitting the green light I saw earlier. However, the whole "building" looked very familiar to me.

What the hell? Is that the... the Changeling Hive?!

Yes, it was the Changeling Hive. The one from To Where And Back Again. The one under the ruling of Queen Chrysalis!

Then, my suspicions about it being the Changeling Hive were confirmed when I spotted three equines standing out the front gate of the hive. But these equines looked different to the ponies you and I know. They looked more like bugs than ponies, with their two greenish-blue eyes, Swiss Cheese-style legs, bug wings, tails and shells and their fangs.

It confirmed it. They were changelings.

"It can't be... CHANGELINGS?!" I exclaimed. I soon realized that I shouldn't have said what I said out loud, as moments later, one of the changelings turned to look at me, a surprised look on his face. I swore it looked at me right in the eyes. After a few moments of having a staring contest with the changeling, his expression changed from surprise to aggression, as it hissed at me.

I immediately ducked back behind my rock when the changeling hissed at me. I was scared for my life. I had read the stories about changelings doing all sorts of horrifying things to captured intruders, so who knew what they'd do to me if they caught me?

If they catch me, I thought, trying to calm myself.

I looked back over my rock, to see what those changelings were doing. I was half expecting them to jumpscare me the moment I peeked out from behind the rock, but they were still where they were, right at the entrance. But the one that had spotted me was talking with the other, frantically pointing to where I was with his front hoof. The other two listened to the first's rambling, then they looked right at me. Then, I knew that I had been spotted when the second changeling hissed aggressively at me and the third yelled out, "INTRUDER!!!!!!!"

SHIT

Then, I saw the three changelings started to run towards me. And they were furious!

Adrenaline takes hold of me, and I immediately got onto my feet and raced away as fast as I could to escape the changelings who found me out. I maintained my grip on my torch, so I could light my way back to my car to escape in. Sure, it would give away my position, but better being caught by changelings than trip on a rock and break something important. I picked up the pace, as I heard the pattering of changeling wings growing louder from behind me. And I heard one of the changelings yell out, "HALT!!!! INTRUDER!!!!"

I just kept running, when I was suddenly tackled down. I fell to the ground, and when I came to a stop on the floor, I saw that I was being pinned to the ground by one of the changelings. He hissed in my face aggressively, keeping my arms and legs pinned down, trying to hold me while the others come to apprehend me.

Like hell I was going to let that happen!

I knew I couldn't reach for the Glock pistol I always carry with me, so I decided to do the next best thing; I freed my torch hand from the changeling's grip and shined the bright light into his eyes.

Finding himself staring into my high-power LED torch, he hissed out in pain and got off of me, rubbing his stinging eyes. As he got off of me to rub his eyes I was able to break free of his pin, get back on my feet and continue running.

This is ridiculous! One minute I'm assigned to find a bunch of tourists. The next, I'm running for my life from mythical creatures that only exist in a kids TV show! How did my life end up this way?!

I kept up my running, when I heard the pitter-patter of another set of changeling wings approaching. I looked back, when, out of nowhere, another changeling flew up to me at incredible speed and hit me in the temple with incredible force!

I flew into the air under the impact of the changeling's hoof impacting my head. After going flying for about a few seconds, I hit the dirt with a thud, and I blacked out. However, I could still hear what was going on.

I heard two sets of changeling wings approach and then something land near me.

"Did you get the intruder?" One changeling asked.

"Yessss," Another hissed, "He had no chanccccce, trying to esssscape usssss,"

There was a period of silence before the third changeling spoke up, "Ahh, it'sssss another human! Our Queen wil be pleassssed that we have found another human intruding on our groundssss,"

"Well, now that we've got him, what do we do with him?" The second asked.

"Let'sssss take it to the Queen. She'll decccide what to do with it. You two, go find the metal cart he arrived and bring it back with you. Then, nopony should come looking for him," The first stated, before something picked me up and I blacked out completely...

Next Chapter: Meeting My New Queen Estimated time remaining: 22 Minutes