Flik story Chapter 1 "The New World"

by Lakword

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Sad
Length: 8181

OK so this is Flik the changeling story. Story itself may sound a bit lore unfriendly at start as I did mix my begining of story with Zeks Morshar story. Flik and his Twins got seperate adventures but eventualy will meet. Enjoy Chapter 1!

*Most of characters belong to Zeks Morshar. Eisenfell belongs to Eisenfell*

Flik is a Changeling which was raised in one of those so called hives to be a soldier without free will. Just to do whatever the queen says. However despite all the hard beatings he had received for every time he din't do what he was told to do, because he was too small to do muscle work and also he was thinking for himself instead blindly following orders. He did manage to form some sort of honor code for himself. Being a changeling with free will, and with compassion for the others, he really wasn’t too popular… Or actually he was but the wrong way. He always got the most hard dutys as a punishment. Flik was also refused the right to learn anything in hopes he would become stupid enough to get himself killed somewhere. Thankfully Flik did learn a couple of things still, mostly by watching others and from his own experience rather then from someone else explaining it to him directly or from books… Ahhh yes the books… He never did learn how to read while being in the hive so he is not able to read at all, although he did learn a few spells by imitating other changelings from a safe hiding place. Flik was very quiet most of the time, to avoid beatings for no reason but he did listen… He did learn a lot of words and things about the world just by listening to others he knew that experinced and are skilled in what they do so their knowledge was useful. Flik`s life was a hard one since he was hated by almost everyone and ignored by the rest. In the hive Flik was considered to be bad news, so they either avoided him or tried to gain favors from others by being mean to him. He did respect a few changelings in the Hive but never spoke to them directly. He preferred to observe them from a safe distance and just learn from them. He did know only a few by name like Shadow the Scout who was responsible for finding Hunting grounds for the hive, and Specter the only one who actually could be compared to Flik since he also din't have too much success with doing what he was told to do. There were few others but he hardly ever saw them…

Flik did leave the hive… Ahem… Escaped the hive only by pure luck. During one of The Purges, where the weak are culled, he was one of the prime targets which were to be removed… permanently , so hiding during the chaos wassent going to save him since he would of been captured later on. After the soldiers would finish their work with disposing everyone else mentioned on the list from the queen. He tried to escape as soon as he realized that the purge began sooner than he expected. He knew that most likely he was going to loose if he stood and fought, so he din't take any chances and tried to escape. He tried to escape but all the exits he knew were blocked already. The only one that he knew that may be still open was near the hatchery. He ran there as fast as he could only to realize that the biggest battle took place in there. The Queen herself was in the hatchery looking on the whole action but Flik really din't care for her. His only goal was to reach the exit since the battle was lost from the start because the queen brought her biggest pupil yet which was almost as big as a dragon. Even though Flik was one of the smallest changelings in the hive he was spotted by the Behemoth and got hit while flying just few meters from his freedom. Just like a rock Flik hit the near by wall and was badly wounded, so he couldn’t fly and a direct hit from such a beast broke his horn by shattering it almost in half. The last thing Flik saw before he lost consciousness was Shadow, Specter and a few others escaping.

When he opened his eyes again the battle was almost over. Just a few left who could hardly stand against The Queen's Royal Guard and the Behemoth Changeling blocking the only exit. Flik had a ringing sound in his head after he was hit, it was still loud but he quickly realized that he was surrounded. Flik knew he coulden't talk some sense to anyone, and escape was impossible so at least he thought of going down fighting. His legs could hardly hold him while he tried to stand in one place, and his vision was getting blurry. The pain was hard to withstand but Flik managed to gather his energy for one final spell which instead of a few electric sparks resulted in some strange explosion from his broken horn. After which Flik was standing in a forest somewhere he never seen before. He just took a look around and last thing he saw before passing out again was the moon rising.

After he woke up again he was in some one's home in the woods. All patched up but still unable to move his wings. Even though he should fell relived that he somehow managed to survive all that hell, Flik was terrified. It was his first time away from the Hive and the stories he heard about other creatures were all bad. He was sure they only saved him to gather some information from him or just to send him back to the hive to meet his fate. Flik din't wait long when he realized that someone was coming. He jumped through the window seeing he’s not so far from the ground and ran as fast as he could still feeling the pain after the crash. He tried to catch his breath after a while before he looked behind him… He made sure he`s all alone before he took a few steps ahead. After passing a few trees and rocks Flik found the exit from the forest. He noticed he`s on a cliff of which he could see quite a view. It was a sunny day and the sun was shining over a field filled with thousands of flowers and a crystal clear lake. For a moment Flik did hold his breath for a while and his heart did stop for a moment when he finally realized… He`s now a free changeling… And this beautiful world is for him now to explore. Even though he din't have much knowledge about it he still knew its was better than what the hive could ever offer him even if they din't want to kill him. A felling of happiness which he never experienced went through his entire body making him smile for the first time ever… The Adventure of Flik the Changeling had begun.

While walking through the field of flowers Flik realized that the price for freedom was a tremendous one. He went near the lake and looked at his reflection just to see that his head is covered in bandages and he noticed how bad his horn looked. He thought for a moment about other things as well. He felt a kind of guilt and saddness, that he ran away without saying thank you or at least tried look at who was his savoir. Whoever it was who saved him would not have actually put so much effort into making sure he got better again if he or she would like to hurt him. Flik turned his head around and looked at the place from which he just ran away from thinking if he should go back and maybe give it a chance. There was a fight in his mind between being cautious and being nice. Between being curious and scared… He put his first step towards the road he came from but then he stoped when he felt the hunger… It was one of those things Flik forgot about. He needs to feed on love. There’s no place where all love essence is gathered for him to eat so he faced the cruel fact that he needs to hunt. Though the idea of hunting for someone who may be a really nice person was a big burden for him. He retreated a few steps and abandoned the idea of going back to his savoir for fear that if it’s a nice person he may lose control and hurt him because of the hunger and if it was a mean person they may hurt him since he was weakened from hunger and won’t be able to feast on mean felling’s anyway.

With grumbling in his stomach Flik went ahead and din't look back anymore hoping he will find some way to feed or maybe he`ll find some alternative source of food. After a few hours walking through the fields and the nearby forest, he reached a road next to which was a picnic area. He heard some voices and someone coming his way so he hid in the nearby bushes and observed from hiding. There were two tired earth ponies, all dirty after a whole day of work in the field. They seemed happy to be together and there was a romantic atmosphere that could be felt in the air… It was what Flik needed. He felt their love for each other and was thinking about attacking but his emotions conflicted again. He just couldn’t make himself attack them. It din't seem right to him at all and he actually felt that it`s better to starve than be like the rest of the changelings he knew from the hive. When he gave up on attacking the couple he heard another voice shouting from a a far at the pair.

??? – "Excuse me but do you by any chance know how can I get to Ponyville?"

Farmers – "About two days in that direction. Though I highly recommend not to go there during the night. Everfree forest can be a very dangerous place."

??? – "Well no worries. I planned to spend a night here anyway. This place looks splendid for camping."

Farmers – "Well we'll be on our way then… Enjoy your night."

??? – "Thank you very much. Enjoy your trip back home."

After the farmers left Flik was able to see a big grey unicorn coming in his direction. He looked around the camping area before he put all his equipment all in one place with his magic and started to unpack. He seemed very happy to be on the road and quite polite. Flik had an idea that maybe things here work differently here, by being polite you can achieve more than by brute force. Well he din't have anything to lose since the rumbling was getting louder and sooner or later the big unicorn would notice it and he looked like he wasn’t about to leave the place for some time. He actually was preparing quite a big feat for himself and was tidying the place up a bit. Flik was thinking of the best way to ask if it would be ok to feed on his love which he apparently had a lot of… Himself because he was looking with pride and adore for his reflection in the mirror he had constantly following him thanks to some magic spell. After gathering some courage Flik left the hiding place and slowly approached the unicorn which din't notice the small changeling behind him. Flik took a big breath and said.

Flik - "E-excuse me kind sir but… could you spare some love?"

The big grey unicorn made a terrified face and turned around to see a small smiling changeling behind him. The unicorn's horn began to spark with bright blue magic and out of nowhere a huge can of bug spray appeared directed at Flik`s face. Before Flik could react the unicorn just shouted.

??? - "CREEP!!!"

The can sprayed right into Flik`s eyes which turned from a dark green color into red for a moment and filled with tears. Flik was surprised and so angry for himself for not seeing something like that coming. He shouted with anger at the unicorn which was already scared because eve though Flik was small he did look scary with the light coming from the camp fire along with how his red eyes and sharp teeth were.

Flik - "What the **** is wrong with you?! ARRRGH! You have any idea how much this hurts?!"

Eisenfell - "Well that was the main reason of my actions against you! It should be painful! No one shall violate Eisenfell! NO ONE!"

Some offensive spells where launched from Eisenfell's horn and almost hit Flik who was now ready for battle and din't have any regrets by planning to feed on Eisenfell by force… And the battle began.

Since there was too late to reason with Eisenfell and hostile action from Eisenfells side removed every moral problem Flik had with taking what he needs by force he decided to fight. Eisenfell might have been very big but at same time he was a little panicked with whole situation so Flik dint have much trouble in keeping the confusion for his advantage. Even thou his body still did suffer from the punch from the Behemoth he was able to run with his natural speed around Eisenfell which was very effective strategy. Eisenfell might been big but that made him slow at the same time and his magic spells couldn’t even touch Flik which was getting faster with every moment while all that adrenaline was growing in him and his vision was getting better since the bug spray in his eyes did slowly wear off

Flik strategy was first to see what Eisenfell got to offer from his arsenal and also to make him lose some energy before he can strike. It was unexpected for Flik to see that Eisenfell was already tired after shooting few basic spells which dint even hit close. Einsenfell tried to use some special spell to make Flik levitate to make him lose speed but that spell in order to work on a living being had to be casted directly on it or in more powerful version which sadly for him needed to be charged for some time which he dint have, once Flik noticed what he`s up to

Eisenfell was forced to just stand in one place and depend on his mass to protect him while he charged the spell. Flik for first time ever tried his illusion spell in real combat and it actually worked pretty well. Eisenfell was seeing 4 changelings running around him and ready to strike and it made him quite nervous. Flik used moment of his deco centration and started to charge on Eisenfell head to brake the concentration completely. Sadly for Flik his size dint allow him to throw effective punches even with his entire body mass but they did make other kind of effect which was actually very useful. Eisenfell was already very annoyed with whole situation and constant jumps on his head caused him a terrible headache. Seeing how he won’t be able win this battle he tried to retreat as fast as he can but Flik dint want him to leave until he get some energy out of him and take a small payback for the spray thing

Eisenfell made his escape to the foods but in all that chaos he dint take his lamp from his camp and the only light source he had was the moon which was hiding behind clouds every few seconds and the little magic he had left in his horn which dint really gave him much of a visibility needed to safely run thru the forest. Flik was still using his 3 illusions to confuse Eisenfell and every few seconds jumping on his head. Eisenfell finally lost his guard for a moment which resulted in him crashing into a tree not so far form the camp actually since all that running was just a big circle.

Eisenfell was dizzy for a moment but he slowly regain normal vision. But before he could stand up he saw Flik sitting in front of his face with very grim look and his eyes still being partly red after the spray. Eisenfell wanted to say something but then he noticed that Flik is holding the big bug spray can with his magic. When Flik was sure Eisenfell saw the can he just smiled with small evil grin and sprayed the contents in Eisenfells face. Eisenfell jumped from the pain and tried to run but yet again he hit the same tree and lost consciousness. Flik was victorious and very proud that he managed to defeat such a big opponent all alone

Feeling good after his victory Flik started to observe unconscious gigantic unicorn. It was actually something new for him to drain emotions from someone who’s not in coma state and trapped in green goo cocoon. Flik started to absorb emotion aura from Eisenfell but stopped almost as soon as he started trying to catch breath and trying not to choke. That kind of love which Eisenfell felt for himself wasn’t what changeling needs to survive and Flik did fell sick after taking some. It did stop his hunger a bit but it wasn’t worth it. Flik satisfaction from victory turned into big disappointment very fast. He kicked spray can as hard as he could while he was passing next to it and went in direction of the small camp Eisenfell prepared for himself hoping that the fat unicorn have something what can be used as food for him as well… Sadly nothing was good. Everything what Flik tried to eat just couldn’t keep itself inside of his stomach. Apparently pony food cannot be used for changelings. Or at least for Flik since everything tasted so bad. Most of Eisenfells items which he did carry were just some pre made snacks what tasted so awful and some metal junk items or parts. After making a big mess in Eisenfells belonging’s, Flik just went ahead and took his course in direction of Everfree forest thinking that if monsters live there maybe they do eat same kind of food as changelings. At least that would be logical if pony consider changelings as monsters

After few hours of walking throu the field and later large part of Everfree forest, Flik reached some sort of ruins. Since he dint fell comfort able with sleeping in the forest and this would be his first time sleeping out of the interior, he dint really fell sure about just lying in the middle of the forest. He slowly approached the ruins and made sure if it`s safe to go inside. From the looks of it they were abounded and slightly damaged after some sort of battle but stable enough to stay inside. Even thou Flik was pretty sure he`s all alone in there he called few times if anyone’s here and if its ok if he stay here. With no response after few minutes except the echo sound of his voice. He just walked inside one of the rooms and laid down in the corner which wasn’t so messed up with rocks. It was just a moment for him to fall asleep. All those new feelings and excitement and exhaustion make it easy to sleep even in such a scary place

Flik woke up in about the noon when sunlight reached his face throu one of the holes in the sielling. He stand up and stretched his wings and legs and yawn loudly. His big green eyes did still hurt after the spray incident but at least they weren’t red anymore. Flik came to one of the windows and enjoyed the warm breeze of wind coming from the outside. He still was unsure of being in those ruins but he decided they might be a good place for him to stay, at least till the owner won`t come back and run him out of that place. Even thou he was excited and happy to see new day being so nice he still had the greatest worry about feeding himself in this place and in case of a fight he should prepare some more tricks up his sleeves in case his next opponent wouldn’t be a fat and slow unicorn. Felling that his wings don’t hurt so much anymore when moving them, Flik stretched them and took off in air to see whole place from the above and know the area a bit better.

It was warm day and whole place was very clear to see since there was no fog or a single could in the sky. Flik did few rounds around the ruins in order to exercise a bit and see his new neighborhood. For his surprise the ruins were naturally protected by pits and the only two possible entries were by some old bridge and the small rock arc with few trees on it which Flik used last night not even knowing it was a natural bridge. He was excited and started to like this place more and more. Another great bonus about this place was that the closest settlement was a small village near the ends of the forest and some big city on the mountain with a palace far away. This place was perfect for Flik since he could use village as his feeding grounds while still be able to keep himself in safe place. He made few more rounds under the bridge and around the ruins then he landed and closed his eyes and faced the sun letting it warm his face and enjoy another gentle breeze of wing. Calm and felling of being secured made him fell all better already. Thou his mood was spoiled a bit when his stomach reminded him that it’s time to try out new feeding grounds. With big smile on his face Flik took off in direction of the village but using spell of invisibility on himself with a little problem of sparks coming out of his broken horn every few minutes but he was glad that his magic still works even thou his horn was permanently damaged.

After about 10 min of flight Flik reached borders of the Everfree forest and landed while making sure no one see him. He dint want to have repetition of yesterday’s event so he tried to remember what should changeling do in that situation. Invisibility wouldn’t work because of those sparks from horn and amounts of energy it takes almost all the time while it’s on. Disguise was second best option to infiltrate the village. Yet Flik did remember few most basic comments he did hear while spying on twins and some other changelings which were working outside the hive. Silently whispering those sentences to himself while trying to change his appearance…
Flik – Never turn into allicorn because they do attract too much attention to themselves… … … It’s better to turn in some new pony instead copying someone else. This can save lots of troubles in the long shoot and its less likely that original will appear and ruin all the sheared… … …

After those words Flik concentrated really hard and tried to think of his looks as a pony… Small green and gold aura blasted around him and Flik was now fine looking stallion with still same looking hair but his color did change into bright brown and his eyes were looking not anymore as changelings but still somewhat different than anyone else. They were nice and green yet their glare was very unusual. Flik was being surprised that his first transformation ever was so perfect with the first try. He saw a pond near and went to see his reflection. He took a good look at himself felling somewhat joy of not looking like himself any more. He could fell he still got wings but they weren’t visible at all. All the holes in legs were gone and somewhat his mane and tail did shine more likeable. His teeth weren’t showing and he even got a cuttie mark he dint plan at all. His mark was a sparkling and shining gold clover. Even thou it was a surprise effect he was glad to have it since lack of it would gave him away and also it wasn’t looking so bad. The only problem which occurred in transformation showed when Flik did look on his forehead. It was his broken horn. It was transformed but every few moments it did spark with his gold magic and the horn itself was turning back into his old looks. Flik was prepared for such problem thanks to all the knowledge he gathered while he did spy on other changelings, He remembered that Switch which was like a biggest and meanest bully for him while he was living in hive, had same problem and was speaking with his companion Eve or something like that which was almost working as his brain since Switch dint use his own too much. Anyway Flik did remember what she said to Switch that day. Again silently Flik said to himself words he heard from back then

Flik – If for some reason your wings or horn are still visible and they are giving you away or make you look like an allicorn then look immediately for something to cover them. Best to use accessories like a hat of a shirt to hide your unwanted to see by others, parts of your body…

Flik took a look around the place in desperate search of something to cover his head. Good fortune for him was that there was a cottage nearby with a small field and woodland creatures pens all around. In the corner of the field there was a broken scarecrow. It was looking like it was removed for some reason. Flik couldn’t think why someone would like to remove that thing what supposed to scare birds from the field but he knew that no one would miss the hat what was part of that scarecrows head. It was a nice black cylinder hat and it did perfectly cover the broken horn and the sparks which were coming out of it from time to time. Even thou it was damaged and dirty a bit it did look good on Flik`s disguised form. Flik smiled with joy and went in the direction of the village

When entered the more crowded area Flik did fell a bit of fear and discomfort at the same time with excitement and joy. He was felling quite good surrounded by so many ponies with smiles on their faces. He liked mostly the part that no one was looking at him with disgust as in home. He did think it was his chance to start again a new life… Well except the part he would have to silently feed on everyone here without them noticing and that would be the tricky part. Street was crowded and everyone was busy with their business. Thou Flik got some attention that even he dint expect from two meres did blush when he looked them. It did fell strange and he did kind of worried that that’s not a good sign. Thou its better than getting sprayed in the face. He also did fell a bit silly when he noticed that he is even here still one of the most small living beings. He was just a bit bigger than some fillies what we’re running around the main square. Flik dint know from where to start his hunt for food. He was so excited with the place being so lively he wanted to look at it and also maybe become a part of it as well. Yet every time he thought that he could lose his guard by doing so and expose himself to everyone he tried to keep it calm. Thou he still did enjoy the smell of cakes and flowers all around the place. The most interesting thing what did took Fliks notice was that his horn stopped sparking and was quiet and under control once some music reached his ears. He tried to locate the source of sound and was surprised when he did take a look above him. Seeing few ponies jumping on the roofs sinning some song about smiling. Song was a bit strange for Flik`s taste but her effect on him and catchy melody were more than interesting for him. He wanted to follow them but his stomach started to make sounds and they were quite loud. Someone even took notice of it and thrown him an apple smiling and saying this should keep the hunger and the doctor away. Flik wasn’t sure what just happen but seeing someone show a compassion for no reason for a stranger was something… Nice. Still being unsure what just happened, Flik said “Thank You” to that pony which just shouted from distance “You`re welcome”. Flik took a bite of the apple but it just dint want to go down his throat. He dint want to make a scene by spiting it out in public so he pretended he eat some of it while he just hold the bites in mouth and hide the rest of it under the hat. When he was sure no one is looking at him he spited the ones he got in mouth in nearby compost bin

After few minutes his stomach started to make sound again so Flik dint waste any more time. He was passing near few ponies and without their notice he was sucking love emotions of them. He actually made a good job since they just felt a bit strange but no one could even say what happen. They just got a bit tired. Flik then remembered what he learned from ear drooping on Shadow while he was speaking and trying to teach his brother how to drain love in effective way without being spotted. Flik remembered those hints like it was told to him few moments ago. He was sucking small amounts from many ponies but not in same place. So it took some time for him to move around the entire place. One here… Two there… Another one here and before he knew it he was full in no time and happy that everything went so smooth. After he was full he decided it’s a good time to move out of sight. He slowly moved in direction of Everfree forest and once he was out of everyone’s sight he returned to his old form which was refreshing since keeping a disguise does take some energy after all. Flik being happy about the day decided to keep the hat and returned to his new home as soon as he could

Once Flik reached his destination he just sat on top of the ruins to capture last beams of sun light and watched it slowly hide behind the horizon. Once it got dark and moon replaced sun in the sky Flik remembered he still got that apple under his hat. He took it and flew from the roof and landed near the ruins. Throwing away a gift dint fell right but he couldn’t keep it or it would rotten so Flik remembered that those things if are buried in the ground can at least help other things grow better so he dug up a small hole and put the bitten apple inside and buried it. He took another look in the sky and watched the moon and though that night is still young and he can do some work around the ruins. Not wanting to lose time and occasion he`s full and with energy he used his telekinesis magic to move most of the rumble and junk out of his new room which he found perfect with a nice entrance four large windows, few columns and quite a space to spare. Still it wasn’t the biggest room in entire building but Flik found it very comfort able. All the rocks he gathered went outside to the pile. Once his new room was mostly clean he took a small trip to the forest and gathered some tree branches and many leafs hoping that those will do a fine bed or at least help him keep warm since the stone floor isn’t exactly warm. After preparing himself a bed Flik went clear some other rooms and was moving all rumble and dirt he found on the pile till he finally got tired. During that night Flik did a lot of cleaning work in ruins making them quite comfortable place to stay

The next day Flik woke up in a very good mood. For first few hours he enjoyed nice weather and was relaxing in the sun before he went to the village again to get some food. This time he learned its name and the city which was seen from the distance. He was more open for chat with others yet still very cautious while talking and gathering information. When asked for a name he made up a new one… Golder. Dint had any better idea so he just used the color of the clover to be his new name while he’s disguised. Avoiding any questions directed to him by changing topic on those about weather. Flik was getting used to his new role quite fast. No one even suspected a thing. Even while

he was feeding on them while they weren’t looking. Ponyville was a nice place for Flik but he was still afraid he may lose his guard if he stays there for too long. He was especially afraid of being caught by some pony who knows everyone and remembers every detail about them once she meets them so he was all the time looking out for that dangerous pony. After he got full belly again he went back home. This time it was still early and since ruins were already cleaned Flik dint have much work to do. So he decided it’s a good time to practice magic in case he`ll ever meet some more powerful opponents than his last one. Thou Flik was concern about his horn sparking most of the time when he`s using his magic so he wanted to put it to the test. For the rest of the day he was using more and more powerful magic. All spells he knew were working most of the time and sometimes there was only *Puff* sound and no effect at all. Sparking however was showing all the time no matter if it was working or not. Flik was thinking for some time that the sparking may disappear if a powerful magic will be used. Or that this sparking is responsible for this big distance teleport and if discovered how to use it then his magic would be a lot more powerful. Flik was practicing for long time and was pushing himself for making his spells more effective. Like instead of levitating a rock he was trying to move about dozen of them at once. After hard workout he went to sleep with plans to practice some more the next day

Next morning Flik got nasty waking up. Instead of sun beams and gentle wind he was woke up by water drops dripping on his nose. He looked on that small hole in the silling from which water was coming from. He flew to it thinking with what to fill it to make it stop. Just before he had an idea for a solution a big thunder sound scared him out of his mind. Flik fell on his bed again and just decided to move the bed a bit. After that he went to the window and did look at the thunderstorm outside. He knew that in day like that everyone will be at home instead of walking outside so getting food will be imposable during that day. Flik though for a moment that he really should have listen more when he heard Shadow was talking about conserving energy in some special way after feeding so it will last for more time. Flik sat in front of the window hoping that the rain will stop soon. There was nothing interesting to do and for the first time he was all alone as well. In Hive even thou everyone hated him he always could find a thing to do by watching someone. Now he was stuck in ruins all alone with nothing to do… After two hours of waiting Flik he just couldn’t sit and do nothing. Since he was trapped in ruins because of the weather he decided to make best use of that time and started training with his magic. This time however he did use spells he never did practice before and used almost full force while casting them. Few tries dint work at all and even fewer ended up with some random effect. Like while trying to make light spell he ended up casting bubbles which field whole room. Other spells did make just few random blasts into his face but he did not gave up after that. He wanted to try teleport spell with more and more distances. From one room to another and see how far he can teleport himself. When there was no more untested space in the ruins he teleported himself across the bridge and back. Being excited with how well teleport works he wanted to give it a final test and try to teleport himself to ponyville. He concentrated for a moment and casted spell with power he wasn’t sure if he can even control and puffed. In one moment he was in his ruins and when he open his eyes again he was in some scary looking quarters in style he was quite familiar with…

??? – You’re still ALIVE?!

Flik wasn’t sure what just happen but after hearing that familiar voice coming from behind him he turned behind and his hart stop for a moment when he saw he is almost sitting in arms of Varresa the Crimson Wing… The Queen of the hive. She was so surprised to see Flik appear from nowhere all of a sudden for no reason at all. Flik once realized it’s not a dream but pure reality did froze in fear. His horn was smoking a bit and casting sparks like it was just broken and exhausted. Varresa was in shock just for a few seconds but once she realized Flik dint plan anything like that and that something must have gone wrong for him she smiled showing her sharp teeth and direct her amber gold eyes on him like she was reading thou his mind. Shaking a bit but still being unable to move Flik just stared in her eyes and waited for a punch. To make sure that he won’t run anyway this time she blocked his escape road with her big crimson colored wings forming some sort of a cage for him. Flik tried to say something but fear just dint allow him to even say a letter. She saw that and enjoyed every second of it since queen loved when everyone was knowing their place and trembled before her. But after few seconds of silence she said with very pleased tone…

Varresa – Ahh… I really don’t know how and why did you get in here but your timing couldn’t be more better

Flik – I… M… My qu… I

Varresa – You see after counting and recognizing parts of the weak ones after the purge I discovered that there was still few missing… I know handful of unloyal ones managed to escape and disposed few of my favorite children along the way but at least I knew how they escaped. I was only wondering how did you manage to run away from my little trap. I was almost convinced the blast removed every single part of you from existence but now here you are… How interesting

Flik was shaking more and more from the fear as he knew queen is toying with him before she tears him apart just for fun. He just dint know when the finishing blow will come. He closed his eyes and felt tears are filling his eyes. He did fell a bit more courage when he dint look into her cold amber eyes. He even managed to put a whole sentence but still with fear in his voice and tears in his eyes

Flik – I… But… Whatever did I done to you? … … … J… Just do it already. I won’t even bother to fight back

Flik heard her giggle in evil way and he fell she’s petting him on a head like a small dog

Varresa – I know you won’t fight back. You’re way too small and too weak to even take on the most weak soldier in my swarm… And your magic is harmless… Just look at you. You cannot even control your magic anymore. You are too scared to even move while you look at me… And you know what? That’s nothing new. Even with your horn not being broken you would be still nothing more than a pest…

Flik - Just kill me already and lets have this behind us! I know you just dying to do it… So do it already!!!

Queen Varresa was a bit surprised with Flik talking back to her like that but it just got her into better mood and she continued talking to him in amused way…

Varresa – Ahhh… I see even a cockroach is able to talk back when corner… Ohh no… I won’t just finish you here and now. Where is fun in that? I will make a fine example out of you for other while making sure you will slowly fade away…

Flik – You know that sooner or later someone will stand up against you?

With those words Varresa exploded with laughter. She actually started to cry fun the amusement… Flik did open his eyes to see her staring at him like she just saw the most stupid changeling in the world… Well she did have a point. Flik fear was slowly replaced with rage directed to Varresa. She was everything he hoped not to ever become and felling of anger grew stronger in him with her every single word

Varresa – Aren’t you just most funny little pest in the kingdom? I think I will save your skull to serve me as a memento when I will need good laugh again. Who will stand against me? I already removed whole army of those who dint fit into my vision! Handful escaped but they will be tracked down and meet the same fate. And I`m not even at half of power I plan to be… Ohh it was nice to laugh. Dint have so much fun for some time now… Ohh It did feel good, but I had enough of you already. Enjoy your miserable life while you still can. I have to prepare some nice punishment for you

She was still giggling while she called her guards. Flik felt that same felling he felt last time when he knew it was all over. This time however he had clear shoot right into Queens face. He knew it can’t get any worse but at least he can have some last satisfaction out of his life. He charged the power for a magic shoot hoping it will backfire like last time doing some big boom and by any chance will take her with him. Well magic did backfire not as effectively as he was hoping for out of his horn came out a big dark magic blast which did hit Varresa straight in the face and pushed her back to the wall with powerful force leaving Flik free out of her grasp. Flik actually saw a chance to save himself after all and tried to run to the exit before the alarm will be raised. But when he turn back he saw that by the door few guards entered the room already. They tried to grab him but Flik was still able to use his illusion magic and make three copies of himself to confuse them. Not knowing what to do he started making confusion using levitation spells on all the objects in the room hoping that once again he will be able to teleport to safe place like last time. Everything was flying in the air hitting everyone except Flik himself since he was too small to get hit by anything. Varresa was shouting to take him alive, demanding a chance to finish him off personally. Queens desk while levitating randomly with huge speed did hit a chandelier which did drop on few guards making them unconscious. Flik was sure he`s winning for a moment but more guards came in the room and jumped on him when he was looking out for queen in and her blasts which were shoot randomly since she dint see too well after the blast. He tried to get out but they got him pinched to the floor and waited for queen to calm down… Varresa did catch her breath and still having problems with vision she noticed chandelier with few of her guards under it trying to crawl out. She took deep breath and turn her attention on Flik which was still struggling to set himself free while he was beaten by Varresa guards. Varresa looked with anger on him yet she was a bit impressed with all the chaos he did. She said to two guards which just crawled out from chandelier with a very cold voice

Varresa – Remove that chandelier and clean up the mess… And don’t bother in putting a new one. Seems like everyone is using it against me at the end…

Her eyes were again directed at Flik and she step closer to see him struggle. Flik saw that whatever he did made a nasty mark on her right eye

Varresa – And as for you… I guess I can grant you a bit faster execution after all. You’ve earned it… Thou I make sure it will be painful

As she did prepare to use final blow on Flik, he used small range teleport to set free. Making him appear few steps further while Varresa spell did hit one of her guards instead. Flik was already tired and in pain after all that struggle but he still had some fight in him left. Thou he dint want to fight any more against them as he wanted to fight for his life. He again started to cast some spells to distract everyone but this time he was trying to escape by using teleport he was charging. However spell dint work too well since the backfire did occur again. Instead of him appear somewhere else a big blast did hit the wall which was like a small hole and on the other side he could see some of Everfree forest and Canterlot in distance. Guards were occupied with illusions while Varresa saw what`s going on. She was surprised to see Canterlot but when she saw Flik is heading to the portal she did cast a blast of magic in him. Flik was able to dodge the head on hit but still got hit badly in the back where his wings were. After jumping throu the portal with extra speed boost from the hit, he did turn his head back just to see it was closing slowly. His illusions did fade away and everyone was confused except the queen which was giving him last stare which was like receiving thousands of hate words in a second…

Once portal closed completely and Flik once again did manage to escape sure death he dint even sat down. It was still raining and he was somewhere in the Everfree forest hardly standing and beaten badly and covered in many new wounds. His back was hurt a bit and wings dint want to work as they should… Once he realized how to get back to home he ran with full speed there not minding the pain at all. Even thou he was safe from the queen he still had all that adrenaline in him and dint even see that some sort of wolf made out of wood tried to catch him. Flik just got scratched in the flank and disappeared from timberwolf sight in moments. Once Flik reached the ruins he jumped on his bed made of leafs which were soaked with the water dripping from the siling. Thou it did fell somewhat nice to him. Still shaking and terrified after all what happen Flik tried to sleep hoping that it will just turn to be a nightmere he would like to forget…

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-11-11 13:51:33 UTC

Chapter 1

*Most of characters belong to Zeks Morshar. Eisenfell belongs to Eisenfell*

Flik is a Changeling which was raised in one of those so called hives to be a soldier without free will. Just to do whatever the queen says. However despite all the hard beatings he had received for every time he din't do what he was told to do, because he was too small to do muscle work and also he was thinking for himself instead blindly following orders. He did manage to form some sort of honor code for himself. Being a changeling with free will, and with compassion for the others, he really wasn’t too popular... Or actually he was but the wrong way. He always got the most hard dutys as a punishment. Flik was also refused the right to learn anything in hopes he would become stupid enough to get himself killed somewhere. Thankfully Flik did learn a couple of things still, mostly by watching others and from his own experience rather then from someone else explaining it to him directly or from books… Ahhh yes the books… He never did learn how to read while being in the hive so he is not able to read at all, although he did learn a few spells by imitating other changelings from a safe hiding place. Flik was very quiet most of the time, to avoid beatings for no reason but he did listen… He did learn a lot of words and things about the world just by listening to others he knew that experinced and are skilled in what they do so their knowledge was useful. Flik`s life was a hard one since he was hated by almost everyone and ignored by the rest. In the hive Flik was considered to be bad news, so they either avoided him or tried to gain favors from others by being mean to him. He did respect a few changelings in the Hive but never spoke to them directly. He preferred to observe them from a safe distance and just learn from them. He did know only a few by name like Shadow the Scout who was responsible for finding Hunting grounds for the hive, and Specter the only one who actually could be compared to Flik since he also din't have too much success with doing what he was told to do. There were few others but he hardly ever saw them…

Flik did leave the hive... Ahem… Escaped the hive only by pure luck. During one of The Purges, where the weak are culled, he was one of the prime targets which were to be removed... permanently , so hiding during the chaos wassent going to save him since he would of been captured later on. After the soldiers would finish their work with disposing everyone else mentioned on the list from the queen. He tried to escape as soon as he realized that the purge began sooner than he expected. He knew that most likely he was going to loose if he stood and fought, so he din't take any chances and tried to escape. He tried to escape but all the exits he knew were blocked already. The only one that he knew that may be still open was near the hatchery. He ran there as fast as he could only to realize that the biggest battle took place in there. The Queen herself was in the hatchery looking on the whole action but Flik really din't care for her. His only goal was to reach the exit since the battle was lost from the start because the queen brought her biggest pupil yet which was almost as big as a dragon. Even though Flik was one of the smallest changelings in the hive he was spotted by the Behemoth and got hit while flying just few meters from his freedom. Just like a rock Flik hit the near by wall and was badly wounded, so he couldn’t fly and a direct hit from such a beast broke his horn by shattering it almost in half. The last thing Flik saw before he lost consciousness was Shadow, Specter and a few others escaping.

When he opened his eyes again the battle was almost over. Just a few left who could hardly stand against The Queen's Royal Guard and the Behemoth Changeling blocking the only exit. Flik had a ringing sound in his head after he was hit, it was still loud but he quickly realized that he was surrounded. Flik knew he coulden't talk some sense to anyone, and escape was impossible so at least he thought of going down fighting. His legs could hardly hold him while he tried to stand in one place, and his vision was getting blurry. The pain was hard to withstand but Flik managed to gather his energy for one final spell which instead of a few electric sparks resulted in some strange explosion from his broken horn. After which Flik was standing in a forest somewhere he never seen before. He just took a look around and last thing he saw before passing out again was the moon rising.

After he woke up again he was in some one's home in the woods. All patched up but still unable to move his wings. Even though he should fell relived that he somehow managed to survive all that hell, Flik was terrified. It was his first time away from the Hive and the stories he heard about other creatures were all bad. He was sure they only saved him to gather some information from him or just to send him back to the hive to meet his fate. Flik din't wait long when he realized that someone was coming. He jumped through the window seeing he’s not so far from the ground and ran as fast as he could still feeling the pain after the crash. He tried to catch his breath after a while before he looked behind him… He made sure hes all alone before he took a few steps ahead. After passing a few trees and rocks Flik found the exit from the forest. He noticed hes on a cliff of which he could see quite a view. It was a sunny day and the sun was shining over a field filled with thousands of flowers and a crystal clear lake. For a moment Flik did hold his breath for a while and his heart did stop for a moment when he finally realized… He`s now a free changeling… And this beautiful world is for him now to explore. Even though he din't have much knowledge about it he still knew its was better than what the hive could ever offer him even if they din't want to kill him. A felling of happiness which he never experienced went through his entire body making him smile for the first time ever… The Adventure of Flik the Changeling had begun.

While walking through the field of flowers Flik realized that the price for freedom was a tremendous one. He went near the lake and looked at his reflection just to see that his head is covered in bandages and he noticed how bad his horn looked. He thought for a moment about other things as well. He felt a kind of guilt and saddness, that he ran away without saying thank you or at least tried  look at who was his savoir. Whoever it was who saved him would not have actually put so much effort into making sure he  got better again if he or she would like to hurt him. Flik turned his head around and looked at the place from which he just ran away from thinking if he should go back and maybe give it a chance. There was a fight in his mind between being cautious and being nice. Between being curious and scared… He put his first step towards the road he came from but then he stoped when he felt the hunger… It was one of those things Flik forgot about. He needs to feed on love. There’s no place where all love essence is gathered for him to eat so he faced the cruel fact that he needs to hunt. Though the idea of hunting for someone who may be a really nice person was a big burden for him. He retreated a few steps and abandoned the idea of going back to his savoir for fear that if it’s a nice person he may lose control and hurt him because of the hunger and if it was a mean person they may hurt him since he was weakened from hunger and won’t be able to feast on mean felling’s anyway.

With grumbling in his stomach Flik went ahead and din't look back anymore hoping he will find some way to feed or maybe hell find some alternative source of food. After a few hours walking through the fields and the nearby forest, he reached a road next to which was a picnic area. He heard some voices and someone coming his way so he hid in the nearby bushes and observed from hiding. There were two tired earth ponies, all dirty after a whole day of work in the field. They seemed happy to be together and there was a romantic atmosphere that could be felt in the air… It was what Flik needed. He felt their love for each other and was thinking about attacking but his emotions conflicted again. He just couldn’t make himself attack them. It din't seem right to him at all and he actually felt that its better to starve than be like the rest of the changelings he knew from the hive. When he gave up on attacking the couple he heard another voice shouting from a a far at the pair.

??? – "Excuse me but do you by any chance know how can I get to Ponyville?"

Farmers – "About two days in that direction. Though I highly recommend not to go there during the night. Everfree forest can be a very dangerous place."

??? – "Well no worries. I planned to spend a night here anyway. This place looks splendid for camping."

Farmers – "Well we'll be on our way then… Enjoy your night."

??? – "Thank you very much. Enjoy your trip back home."

After the farmers left Flik was able to see a big grey unicorn coming in his direction. He looked around the camping area before he put all his equipment all in one place with his magic and started to unpack. He seemed very happy to be on the road and quite polite. Flik had an idea that maybe things here work differently here, by being polite you can achieve more than by brute force. Well he din't have anything to lose since the rumbling was getting louder and sooner or later the big unicorn would notice it and he looked like he wasn’t about to leave the place for some time. He actually was preparing quite a big feat for himself and was tidying the place up a bit. Flik was thinking of the best way to ask if it would be ok to feed on his love which he apparently had a lot of… Himself because he was looking with pride and adore for his reflection in the mirror he had constantly following him thanks to some magic spell. After gathering some courage Flik left the hiding place and slowly approached the unicorn which din't notice the small changeling behind him. Flik took a big breath and said.

Flik - "E-excuse me kind sir but... could you spare some love?"

The big grey unicorn made a terrified face and turned around to see a small smiling changeling behind him.  The unicorn's horn began to spark with bright blue magic and out of nowhere a huge can of bug spray appeared directed at Flik`s face. Before Flik could react the unicorn just shouted.

??? - "CREEP!!!"

The can sprayed right into Flik`s eyes which turned from a dark green color into red for a moment and filled with tears. Flik was surprised and so angry for himself for not seeing something like that coming. He shouted with anger at the unicorn which was already scared because eve though Flik was small he did look scary with the light coming from the camp fire along with how his red eyes and sharp teeth were.

Flik - "What the **** is wrong with you?! ARRRGH! You have any idea how much this hurts?!"

Eisenfell - "Well that was the main reason of my actions against you! It should be painful! No one shall violate Eisenfell! NO ONE!"

Some offensive spells where launched from Eisenfell's horn and almost hit Flik who was now ready for battle and din't have any regrets by planning to feed on Eisenfell by force… And the battle began.

Since there was too late to reason with Eisenfell and hostile action from Eisenfells side removed every moral problem Flik had with taking what he needs by force he decided to fight. Eisenfell might have been very big but at same time he was a little panicked with whole situation so Flik dint have much trouble in keeping the confusion for his advantage. Even thou his body still did suffer from the punch from the Behemoth he was able to run with his natural speed around Eisenfell which was very effective strategy. Eisenfell might been big but that made him slow at the same time and his magic spells couldn’t even touch Flik which was getting faster with every moment while all that adrenaline was growing in him and his vision was getting better since the bug spray in his eyes did slowly wear off

Flik strategy was first to see what Eisenfell got to offer from his arsenal and also to make him lose some energy before he can strike. It was unexpected for Flik to see that Eisenfell was already tired after shooting few basic spells which dint even hit close. Einsenfell tried to use some special spell to make Flik levitate to make him lose speed but that spell in order to work on a living being had to be casted directly on it or in more powerful version which sadly for him needed to be charged for some time which he dint have, once Flik noticed what he`s up to

Eisenfell was forced to just stand in one place and depend on his mass to protect him while he charged the spell. Flik for first time ever tried his illusion spell in real combat and it actually worked pretty well. Eisenfell was seeing 4 changelings running around him and ready to strike and it made him quite nervous. Flik used moment of his deco centration and started to charge on Eisenfell head to brake the concentration completely. Sadly for Flik his size dint allow him to throw effective punches even with his entire body mass but they did make other kind of effect which was actually very useful. Eisenfell was already very annoyed with whole situation and constant jumps on his head caused him a terrible headache. Seeing how he won’t be able  win this battle he tried to retreat as fast as he can but Flik dint want him to leave until he get some energy out of him and take a small payback for the spray thing

Eisenfell made his escape to the foods but in all that chaos he dint take his lamp from his camp and the only light source he had was the moon which was hiding behind clouds every few seconds and the little magic he had left in his horn which dint really gave him much of a visibility needed to safely run thru the forest. Flik was still using his 3 illusions to confuse Eisenfell and every few seconds jumping on his head. Eisenfell finally lost his guard for a moment which resulted in him crashing into a tree not so far form the camp actually since all that running was just a big circle.

Eisenfell was dizzy for a moment but he slowly regain normal vision. But before he could stand up he saw Flik sitting in front of his face with very grim look and his eyes still being partly red after the spray. Eisenfell wanted to say something but then he noticed that Flik is holding the big bug spray can with his magic. When Flik was sure Eisenfell saw the can he just smiled with small evil grin and sprayed the contents in Eisenfells face. Eisenfell jumped from the pain and tried to run but yet again he hit the same tree and lost consciousness. Flik was victorious and very proud that he managed to defeat such a big opponent all alone

Feeling good after his victory Flik started to observe unconscious gigantic unicorn. It was actually something new for him to drain emotions from someone who’s not in coma state and trapped in green goo cocoon. Flik started to absorb emotion aura from Eisenfell but stopped almost as soon as he started trying to catch breath and trying not to choke. That kind of love which Eisenfell felt for himself wasn’t what changeling needs to survive and Flik did fell sick after taking some. It did stop his hunger a bit but it wasn’t worth it. Flik satisfaction from victory turned into big disappointment very fast. He kicked spray can as hard as he could while he was passing next to it and went in direction of the small camp Eisenfell prepared for himself hoping that the fat unicorn have something what can be used as food for him as well… Sadly nothing was good. Everything what Flik tried to eat just couldn’t keep itself inside of his stomach. Apparently pony food cannot be used for changelings. Or at least for Flik since everything tasted so bad. Most of Eisenfells items which he did carry were just some pre made snacks what tasted so awful and some metal junk items or parts. After making a big mess in Eisenfells belonging’s, Flik just went ahead and took his course in direction of Everfree forest thinking that if monsters live there maybe they do eat same kind of food as changelings. At least that would be logical if pony consider changelings as monsters

After few hours of walking throu the field and later large part of Everfree forest, Flik reached some sort of ruins. Since he dint fell comfort able with sleeping in the forest and this would be his first time sleeping out of the interior, he dint really fell sure about just lying in the middle of the forest. He slowly approached the ruins and made sure if its safe to go inside. From the looks of it they were abounded and slightly damaged after some sort of battle but stable enough to stay inside. Even thou Flik was pretty sure hes all alone in there he called few times if anyone’s here and if its ok if he stay here. With no response after few minutes except the echo sound of his voice. He just walked inside one of the rooms and laid down in the corner which wasn’t so messed up with rocks. It was just a moment for him to fall asleep. All those new feelings and excitement and exhaustion make it easy to sleep even in such a scary place

Flik woke up in about the noon when sunlight reached his face throu one of the holes in the sielling. He stand up and stretched his wings and legs and yawn loudly. His big green eyes did still hurt after the spray incident but at least they weren’t red anymore. Flik came to one of the windows and enjoyed the warm breeze of wind coming from the outside. He still was unsure of being in those ruins but he decided they might be a good place for him to stay, at least till the owner won`t come back and run him out of that place. Even thou he was excited and happy to see new day being so nice he still had the greatest worry about feeding himself in this place and in case of a fight he should prepare some more tricks up his sleeves in case his next opponent wouldn’t be a fat and slow unicorn. Felling that his wings don’t hurt so much anymore when moving them, Flik stretched them and took off in air to see whole place from the above and know the area a bit better.

It was warm day and whole place was very clear to see since there was no fog or a single could in the sky. Flik did few rounds around the ruins in order to exercise a bit and see his new neighborhood. For his surprise the ruins were naturally protected by pits and the only two possible entries were by some old bridge and the small rock arc with few trees on it which Flik used last night not even knowing it was a natural bridge. He was excited and started to like this place more and more. Another great bonus about this place was that the closest settlement was a small village near the ends of the forest and some big city on the mountain with a palace far away. This place was perfect for Flik since he could use village as his feeding grounds while still be able to keep himself in safe place. He made few more rounds under the bridge and around the ruins then he landed and closed his eyes and faced the sun letting it warm his face and enjoy another gentle breeze of wing. Calm and felling of being secured made him fell all better already. Thou his mood was spoiled a bit when his stomach reminded him that it’s time to try out new feeding grounds. With big smile on his face Flik took off in direction of the village but using spell of invisibility on himself with a little problem of sparks coming out of his broken horn every few minutes but he was glad that his magic still works even thou his horn was permanently damaged.

After about 10 min of flight Flik reached borders of the Everfree forest and landed while making sure no one see him. He dint want to have repetition of yesterday’s event so he tried to remember what should changeling do in that situation. Invisibility wouldn’t work because of those sparks from horn and amounts of energy it takes almost all the time while it’s on. Disguise was second best option to infiltrate the village. Yet Flik did remember few most basic comments he did hear while spying on twins and some other changelings which were working outside the hive. Silently whispering those sentences to himself while trying to change his appearance…

Flik – Never turn into allicorn because they do attract too much attention to themselves… … … It’s better to turn in some new pony instead copying someone else. This can save lots of troubles in the long shoot and its less likely that original will appear and ruin all the sheared… ... …

After those words Flik concentrated really hard and tried to think of his looks as a pony… Small green and gold aura blasted around him and Flik was now fine looking stallion with still same looking hair but his color did change into bright brown and his eyes were looking not anymore as changelings but still somewhat different than anyone else. They were nice and green yet their glare was very unusual. Flik was being surprised that his first transformation ever was so perfect with the first try. He saw a pond near and went to see his reflection. He took a good look at himself felling somewhat joy of not looking like himself any more. He could fell he still got wings but they weren’t visible at all. All the holes in legs were gone and somewhat his mane and tail did shine more likeable. His teeth weren’t showing and he even got a cuttie mark he dint plan at all. His mark was a sparkling and shining gold clover. Even thou it was a surprise effect he was glad to have it since lack of it would gave him away and also it wasn’t looking so bad. The only problem which occurred in transformation showed when Flik did look on his forehead. It was his broken horn. It was transformed but every few moments it did spark with his gold magic and the horn itself was turning back into his old looks. Flik was prepared for such problem thanks to all the knowledge he gathered while he did spy on other changelings, He remembered that Switch which was like a biggest and meanest bully for him while he was living in hive, had same problem and was speaking with his companion Eve or something like that which was almost working as his brain since Switch dint use his own too much. Anyway Flik did remember what she said to Switch that day. Again silently Flik said to himself words he heard from back then

Flik – If for some reason your wings or horn are still visible and they are giving you away or make you look like an allicorn then look immediately for something to cover them. Best to use accessories like a hat of a shirt to hide your unwanted to see by others, parts of your body…

Flik took a look around the place in desperate search of something to cover his head. Good fortune for him was that there was a cottage nearby with a small field and woodland creatures pens all around. In the corner of the field there was a broken scarecrow. It was looking like it was removed for some reason. Flik couldn’t think why someone would like to remove that thing what supposed to scare birds from the field but he knew that no one would miss the hat what was part of that scarecrows head. It was a nice black cylinder hat and it did perfectly cover the broken horn and the sparks which were coming out of it from time to time. Even thou it was damaged and dirty a bit it did look good on Flik`s disguised form. Flik smiled with joy and went in the direction of the village

When entered the more crowded area Flik did fell a bit of fear and discomfort at the same time with excitement and joy. He was felling quite good surrounded by so many ponies with smiles on their faces. He liked mostly the part that no one was looking at him with disgust as in home. He did think it was his chance to start again a new life… Well except the part he would have to silently feed on everyone here without them noticing and that would be the tricky part. Street was crowded and everyone was busy with their business. Thou Flik got some attention that even he dint expect from two meres did blush when he looked them. It did fell strange and he did kind of worried that that’s not a good sign. Thou its better than getting sprayed in the face. He also did fell a bit silly when he noticed that he is even here still one of the most small living beings. He was just a bit bigger than some fillies what we’re running around the main square. Flik dint know from where to start his hunt for food. He was so excited with the place being so lively he wanted to look at it and also maybe become a part of it as well. Yet every time he thought that he could lose his guard by doing so and expose himself to everyone he tried to keep it calm. Thou he still did enjoy the smell of cakes and flowers all around the place. The most interesting thing what did took Fliks notice was that his horn stopped sparking and was quiet and under control once some music reached his ears. He tried to locate the source of sound and was surprised when he did take a look above him. Seeing few ponies jumping on the roofs sinning some song about smiling. Song was a bit strange for Fliks taste but her effect on him and catchy melody were more than interesting for him. He wanted to follow them but his stomach started to make sounds and they were quite loud. Someone even took notice of it and thrown him an apple smiling and saying this should keep the hunger and the doctor away. Flik wasn’t sure what just happen but seeing someone show a compassion for no reason for a stranger was something… Nice. Still being unsure what just happened, Flik said “Thank You” to that pony which just shouted from distance “Youre welcome”. Flik took a bite of the apple but it just dint want to go down his throat. He dint want to make a scene by spiting it out in public so he pretended he eat some of it while he just hold the bites in mouth and hide the rest of it under the hat. When he was sure no one is looking at him he spited the ones he got in mouth in nearby compost bin

After few minutes his stomach started to make sound again so Flik dint waste any more time. He was passing near few ponies and without their notice he was sucking love emotions of them. He actually made a good job since they just felt a bit strange but no one could even say what happen. They just got a bit tired. Flik then remembered what he learned from ear drooping on Shadow while he was speaking and trying to teach his brother how to drain love in effective way without being spotted. Flik remembered those hints like it was told to him few moments ago. He was sucking small amounts from many ponies but not in same place. So it took some time for him to move around the entire place. One here… Two there… Another one here and before he knew it he was full in no time and happy that everything went so smooth. After he was full he decided it’s a good time to move out of sight. He slowly moved in direction of Everfree forest and once he was out of everyone’s sight he returned to his old form which was refreshing since keeping a disguise does take some energy after all. Flik being happy about the day decided to keep the hat and returned to his new home as soon as he could

Once Flik reached his destination he just sat on top of the ruins to capture last beams of sun light and watched it slowly hide behind the horizon. Once it got dark and moon replaced sun in the sky Flik remembered he still got that apple under his hat. He took it and flew from the roof and landed near the ruins. Throwing away a gift dint fell right but he couldn’t keep it or it would rotten so Flik remembered that those things if are buried in the ground can at least help other things grow better so he dug up a small hole and put the bitten apple inside and buried it. He took another look in the sky and watched the moon and though that night is still young and he can do some work around the ruins. Not wanting to lose time and occasion he`s full and with energy he used his telekinesis magic to move most of the rumble and junk out of his new room which he found perfect with a nice entrance four large windows, few columns and quite a space to spare. Still it wasn’t the biggest room in entire building but Flik found it very comfort able. All the rocks he gathered went outside to the pile. Once his new room was mostly clean he took a small trip to the forest and gathered some tree branches and many leafs hoping that those will do a fine bed or at least help him keep warm since the stone floor isn’t exactly warm. After preparing himself a bed Flik went clear some other rooms and was moving all rumble and dirt he found on the pile till he finally got tired. During that night Flik did a lot of cleaning work in ruins making them quite comfortable place to stay

The next day Flik woke up in a very good mood. For first few hours he enjoyed nice weather and was relaxing in the sun before he went to the village again to get some food. This time he learned its name and the city which was seen from the distance. He was more open for chat with others yet still very cautious while talking and gathering information. When asked for a name he made up a new one… Golder. Dint had any better idea so he just used the color of the clover to be his new name while he’s disguised. Avoiding any questions directed to him by changing topic on those about weather. Flik was getting used to his new role quite fast. No one even suspected a thing. Even while

he was feeding on them while they weren’t looking. Ponyville was a nice place for Flik but he was still afraid he may lose his guard if he stays there for too long. He was especially afraid of being caught by some pony who knows everyone and remembers every detail about them once she meets them so he was all the time looking out for that dangerous pony. After he got full belly again he went back home. This time it was still early and since ruins were already cleaned Flik dint have much work to do. So he decided it’s a good time to practice magic in case hell ever meet some more powerful opponents than his last one. Thou Flik was concern about his horn sparking most of the time when hes using his magic so he wanted to put it to the test. For the rest of the day he was using more and more powerful magic. All spells he knew were working most of the time and sometimes there was only *Puff* sound and no effect at all. Sparking however was showing all the time no matter if it was working or not. Flik was thinking for some time that the sparking may disappear if a powerful magic will be used. Or that this sparking is responsible for this big distance teleport and if discovered how to use it then his magic would be a lot more powerful. Flik was practicing for long time and was pushing himself for making his spells more effective. Like instead of levitating a rock he was trying to move about dozen of them at once. After hard workout he went to sleep with plans to practice some more the next day

Next morning Flik got nasty waking up. Instead of sun beams and gentle wind he was woke up by water drops dripping on his nose. He looked on that small hole in the silling from which water was coming from. He flew to it thinking with what to fill it to make it stop. Just before he had an idea for a solution a big thunder sound scared him out of his mind. Flik fell on his bed again and just decided to move the bed a bit. After that he went to the window and did look at the thunderstorm outside. He knew that in day like that everyone will be at home instead of walking outside so getting food will be imposable during that day. Flik though for a moment that he really should have listen more when he heard Shadow was talking about conserving energy in some special way after feeding so it will last for more time. Flik sat in front of the window hoping that the rain will stop soon. There was nothing interesting to do and for the first time he was all alone as well. In Hive even thou everyone hated him he always could find a thing to do by watching someone. Now he was stuck in ruins all alone with nothing to do… After two hours of waiting Flik he just couldn’t sit and do nothing. Since he was trapped in ruins because of the weather he decided to make best use of that time and started training with his magic. This time however he did use spells he never did practice before and used almost full force while casting them. Few tries dint work at all and even fewer ended up with some random effect. Like while trying to make light spell he ended up casting bubbles which field whole room. Other spells did make just few random blasts into his face but he did not gave up after that. He wanted to try teleport spell with more and more distances. From one room to another and see how far he can teleport himself. When there was no more untested space in the ruins he teleported himself across the bridge and back. Being excited with how well teleport works he wanted to give it a final test and try to teleport himself to ponyville. He concentrated for a moment and casted spell with power he wasn’t sure if he can even control and puffed. In one moment he was in his ruins and when he open his eyes again he was in some scary looking quarters in style he was quite familiar with…

??? – You’re still ALIVE?!

Flik wasn’t sure what just happen but after hearing that familiar voice coming from behind him he turned behind and his hart stop for a moment when he saw he is almost sitting in arms of Varresa the Crimson Wing… The Queen of the hive. She was so surprised to see Flik appear from nowhere all of a sudden for no reason at all. Flik once realized it’s not a dream but pure reality did froze in fear. His horn was smoking a bit and casting sparks like it was just broken and exhausted. Varresa was in shock just for a few seconds but once she realized Flik dint plan anything like that and that something must have gone wrong for him she smiled showing her sharp teeth and direct her amber gold eyes on him like she was reading thou his mind. Shaking a bit but still being unable to move Flik just stared in her eyes and waited for a punch. To make sure that he won’t run anyway this time she blocked his escape road with her big crimson colored wings forming some sort of a cage for him. Flik tried to say something but fear just dint allow him to even say a letter. She saw that and enjoyed every second of it since queen loved when everyone was knowing their place and trembled before her. But after few seconds of silence she said with very pleased tone…

Varresa – Ahh… I really don’t know how and why did you get in here but your timing couldn’t be more better

Flik – I… M… My qu… I

Varresa – You see after counting and recognizing parts of the weak ones after the purge I discovered that there was still few missing... I know handful of unloyal  ones managed to escape and disposed few of my favorite children along the way but at least I knew how they escaped. I was only wondering how did you manage to run away from my little trap. I was almost convinced the blast removed every single part of you from existence but now here you are… How interesting

Flik was shaking more and more from the fear as he knew queen is toying with him before she tears him apart just for fun. He just dint know when the finishing blow will come. He closed his eyes and felt tears are filling his eyes. He did fell a bit more courage when he dint look into her cold amber eyes. He even managed to put a whole sentence but still with fear in his voice and tears in his eyes

Flik – I… But… Whatever did I done to you? … … … J... Just do it already. I won’t even bother to fight back

Flik heard her giggle in evil way and he fell she’s petting him on a head like a small dog

Varresa – I know you won’t fight back. You’re way too small and too weak to even take on the most weak soldier in my swarm… And your magic is harmless… Just look at you. You cannot even control your magic anymore. You are too scared to even move while you look at me… And you know what? That’s nothing new. Even with your horn not being broken you would be still nothing more than a pest…

Flik -  Just kill me already and lets have this behind us! I know you just dying to do it… So do it already!!!

Queen Varresa was a bit surprised with Flik talking back to her like that but it just got her into better mood and she continued talking to him in amused way…

Varresa – Ahhh… I see even a cockroach is able to talk back when corner… Ohh no… I won’t just finish you here and now. Where is fun in that? I will make a fine example out of you for other while making sure you will slowly fade away…

Flik – You know that sooner or later someone will stand up against you?

With those words Varresa exploded with laughter. She actually started to cry fun the amusement… Flik did open his eyes to see her staring at him like she just saw the most stupid changeling in the world… Well she did have a point. Flik fear was slowly replaced with rage directed to Varresa. She was everything he hoped not to ever become and felling of anger grew stronger in him with her every single word

Varresa – Aren’t you just most funny little pest in the kingdom? I think I will save your skull to serve me as a memento when I will need good laugh again. Who will stand against me? I already removed whole army of those who dint fit into my vision! Handful escaped but they will be tracked down and meet the same fate. And I`m not even at half of power I plan to be… Ohh it was nice to laugh. Dint have so much fun for some time now… Ohh It did feel good, but I had enough of you already. Enjoy your miserable life while you still can. I have to prepare some nice punishment for you

She was still giggling while she called her guards. Flik felt that same felling he felt last time when he knew it was all over. This time however he had clear shoot right into Queens face. He knew it can’t get any worse but at least he can have some last satisfaction out of his life. He charged the power for a magic shoot hoping it will backfire like last time doing some big boom and by any chance will take her with him. Well magic did backfire not as effectively as he was hoping for out of his horn came out a big dark magic blast which did hit Varresa straight in the face and pushed her back to the wall with powerful force leaving Flik free out of her grasp. Flik actually saw a chance to save himself after all and tried to run to the exit before the alarm will be raised. But when he turn back he saw that by the door few guards entered the room already. They tried to grab him but Flik was still able to use his illusion magic and make three copies of himself to confuse them. Not knowing what to do he started making confusion using levitation spells on all the objects in the room hoping that once again he will be able to teleport to safe place like last time. Everything was flying in the air hitting everyone except Flik himself since he was too small to get hit by anything. Varresa was shouting to take him alive, demanding a chance to finish him off personally. Queens desk while levitating randomly with huge speed did hit a chandelier which did drop on few guards making them unconscious. Flik was sure he`s winning for a moment but more guards came in the room and jumped on him when he was looking out for queen in and her blasts which were shoot randomly since she dint see too well after the blast. He tried to get out but they got him pinched to the floor and waited for queen to calm down… Varresa did catch her breath and still having problems with vision she noticed chandelier with few of her guards under it trying to crawl out. She took deep breath and turn her attention on Flik which was still struggling to set himself free while he was beaten by Varresa guards. Varresa looked with anger on him yet she was a bit impressed with all the chaos he did. She said to two guards which just crawled out from chandelier with a very cold voice

Varresa – Remove that chandelier and clean up the mess… And don’t bother in putting a new one. Seems like everyone is using it against me at the end…

Her eyes were again directed at Flik and she step closer to see him struggle. Flik saw that whatever he did made a nasty mark on her right eye

Varresa – And as for you… I guess I can grant you a bit faster execution after all. You’ve earned it… Thou I make sure it will be painful

As she did prepare to use final blow on Flik, he used small range teleport to set free. Making him appear few steps further while Varresa spell did hit one of her guards instead. Flik was already tired and in pain after all that struggle but he still had some fight in him left. Thou he dint want to fight any more against them as he wanted to fight for his life. He again started to cast some spells to distract everyone but this time he was trying to escape by using teleport he was charging. However spell dint work too well since the backfire did occur again. Instead of him appear somewhere else a big blast did hit the wall which was like a small hole and on the other side he could see some of Everfree forest and Canterlot in distance. Guards were occupied with illusions while Varresa saw what`s going on. She was surprised to see Canterlot but when she saw Flik is heading to the portal she did cast a blast of magic in him. Flik was able to dodge the head on hit but still got hit badly in the back where his wings were. After jumping throu the portal with extra speed boost from the hit, he did turn his head back just to see it was closing slowly. His illusions did fade away and everyone was confused except the queen which was giving him last stare which was like receiving thousands of hate words in a second…

Once portal closed completely and Flik once again did manage to escape sure death he dint even sat down. It was still raining and he was somewhere in the Everfree forest hardly standing and beaten badly and covered in many new wounds. His back was hurt a bit and wings dint want to work as they should… Once he realized how to get back to home he ran with full speed there not minding the pain at all. Even thou he was safe from the queen he still had all that adrenaline in him and dint even see that some sort of wolf made out of wood tried to catch him. Flik just got scratched in the flank and disappeared from timberwolf sight in moments. Once Flik reached the ruins he jumped on his bed made of leafs which were soaked with the water dripping from the siling. Thou it did fell somewhat nice to him. Still shaking and terrified after all what happen Flik tried to sleep hoping that it will just turn to be a nightmere he would like to forget…