Prodigy: Hive Exiled

“Rusk?”

Rusk’s disguise fell rather quickly, the soft touch of fur returning to the chitin of his normal body. He was pressed up against the changeling, his mouth open in shock.

Flitter put a hoof up to his jaw, closing it. Her eyes bore into Rusk’s skull as he tried to process what just happened.

“B-buh…” he sputtered, clearly at a loss for words. Flitter smiled, and shifted closer to him, their chests touching together.

“You came…” she whispered, wrapping her hooves tighter around Rusk’s neck. Rusk started to breath faster, managing to say few words in between breaths. He slowly started to come to his senses and breath normally, his heart pumping slower.

“F-Flitter?” He asked incredulously, his chest pressing against Flitter’s every time he inhaled.

“Yes?” The female changeling asked, then suddenly pressed her nose against his when he tried to speak. “It’s okay. I’m here.” She once again shifted closer to him, wrapping her forehooves around his upper back, just in front of the changeling wings.

Rusk closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. The scent he breathed in smelled exactly like her. It was refreshing. Reopening them, he found himself once again staring into her eyes, despite them being the same sea-blue they always had been, he found himself captivated in the way her eyes stared straight back at him as their noses pressed.

Flitter then drew back and buried her face into Rusk’s neck, sniffling. “I’m so scared, Rusk…” Her eyes started to water as she shook, holding fast onto the other changeling’s.

Rusk couldn’t help it. He returned the embrace, finally, as Flitter began to cry, shaking as sobs wracked her body.

How long did it take to find her? It had nearly been three days before he even found the exit of the cave. Flitter had been alone for all that time! He squeezed, letting Flitter hug tighter against him.

Flitter’s sobs slowly turned into sniffles as Rusk comforted the changeling, gently holding the back of her head as she quieted down. Her breathing slowed as her eyes slowly closed.

“Good night.” Rusk whispered under his breath, ceasing his calming efforts and trying to pull away from her. Flitter groaned as Rusk tried to slide his left forehoof from under Flitter. Finally breaking free he weighed his options. The sheets were tucked in tight, leaving few options. He had yet to untangle his hind legs from when the disguised Flitter had tried to harvest love from him.

Which brought him to the next thing. He was full. He had no need to feed for the next few days, which was great. But how? He had obviously not drained the love from Flitter as she wasn't all sour, but that didn't explain why he saw the dual lovepulls. Flitter had been feeding from him and Rusk feeding from her, and they were both full despite the fact that none of them were ten minutes ago.

It was something for the next day. Rusk sighed as he flopped onto the mattress, gaining one more look at Flitter’s slumbering body before turning over and falling to sleep.

It felt weird. A light pressure was against Rusk’s back, gently pushing on his spine between his wings. He groaned as he blinked open his eyes and stared at the chipping paint before him.

The entire thing felt… odd. The warm, comforting pressure on his back, the fact that he wasn't in the hive, and the bed was too soft. Casting his gaze down, he took notice of the holed hooves wrapped around his torso, slightly hooked ends of the hooves holding themselves together. Feeling trapped, he cast his head behind him, twisting his body in the process.

He caught his breath as he laid eyes upon the sleeping form of Flitter. The changeling had a peaceful smile on her face, which contorted into a frown of discomfort as she was dislodged from the spooning position she took around Rusk. Unhooking her hooves accidentally, she shuffled in the blankets, sliding them further up her shoulder.

Rusk laid there, feeling content with this moment. He always had liked Flitter. The two friends had suddenly grown closer, maybe not more than friends quite yet, but in these times they would trust each other with their lives.

Laying his head deeper into the shared pillow, he placed a single forehoof around Flitter’s waist, pulling her closer. A happy smile grew over Flitter’s face, contrast to the frown from earlier.

Unfortunately every moment has to end, in which this case was Flitter stirring and opening her eyes. Rusk gazed back, smiling softly as her sleep-ridden eyes blinked. A green tint worked it’s way into her cheeks as she recognized Rusk, still smiling as she sighed.

“Good sun-up,” said Rusk, “I believe that was some nice rest.”

Flitter smiled. “Yeah. It was so comforting with you here. Thank you for doing that.”

“It wasn't like I had much of a choice…” Rusk mused, making Flitter light up and let a brighter green tint surface on her muzzle.

“Should we get up?” Flitter asked. Rusk, in response, pulled her closer and shook his head, wanting the moment to last as long as possible.

“You're an awesome friend, coming out here for me,” Flitter began, “and I think little things like this can let me show you my gratitude.

“I was scared. That mare I harvested love from, her love felt… artificial. I didn't know what was going on when I was dragged out by the honor guards. When I was shoved into the tunnel, I was in there for days!

“I thought I had to deal with this all alone, or try to blend into the ponies. But if I failed to harvest love, I would have died…” Flitter shuddered, “but for some reason, when I finally realized it was you… I felt… full. It was weird. I can't explain it in any way, but let it be spoken here: you saved me, Rusk. Thank you.”

Flitter rested her head in the crook of Rusk’s neck, her pointed horn angled to jut out under his chin.

Once again, moments like these are not meant to last.

thump

Flitter flinched and sat up, casting her eyes around the room. “What was that?”

thump thump thump

Flitter’s eyes widened. “Shut off your pheromones and wait here.” Flames engulfed her as she transformed into a bird, and opening the window with changeling magic, she flew out.

Not long, she flew back in, hurriedly transforming back into a changeling. Her eyes were wide, the slightly brighter color of her pupils narrow.

“They have come for us.”

Rusk sat up in the bed, gazing at the female. “Who?”

“Queen Chrysalis! Well, not actually her, but her guards are here! We need to go!”

BANG BANG CRASH

Flitter jerked her head in the direction of the window, her ears pointing down. She transformed into a rat and leaped out the window.

Rusk was quick to follow suit as the stairs creaked with use. He leaped out as a rat just as the door was kicked open.

“He was here!” A male voice hissed, “search for him!”

Flitter as a rat motioned in the gutter pipe, then turned into an eel, sliding down it.

This was risky. Changelings can become alert to transformation magic. If the group used it too much, they would be caught.

Rusk instead used his sharp claws to dig into the soft wood, climbing down and leaping deftly onto the grass on all fours.

Flitter was now a wild cat, her golden fur on end as she jerked her head toward the forest cover closest to the house. She quickly darted off.

Transforming himself into a wild cat, with black fur, he tore after Flitter, his muscles rippling with every stride across the open field. The wind whipped through his whiskers, sending odd sensations to his brain he was not used to as he darted into the overgrowth.

Flitter’s cat tail disappeared into the bushes, and Rusk instinctively opened his maw, following the scent trail she left behind.

Flitter had stopped and reverted to her changeling form not far ahead. Her forehead was glistening slightly with sweat as she huffed to catch her breath. Rusk slowed down as he transformed back into his changeling form as well.

Flitter was staring at something through the ferns. Rusk stood by her side and peeked through. Train tracks were laid across a clearing of grass, the metal and wood looking worn.

“Rusk, I have an idea,” Flitter began, “if we follow the train tracks, we can get to a town. It's better than this… eugh, forest.”

Rusk nodded wholeheartedly, already trotting down the track at a brisk pace. Flitter followed.

The sun beat down on both of them, making them sweat lightly as they briskly trotted, occasionally cantering.

“So,” said Rusk, “how did you get a disguise with a whole backstory that fast?”

Flitter giggled. “Silly, it was my original disguise for the Assessment! That is, until I found that retarded pegasus.”

Rusk chuckled. “Your pony disguise is actually quite nice looking.” He remembered the curls of her mane, the sky coat and the slightly more mature voice Flitter used.

Flitter just smiled.

The pair continued along the tracks for a few hours. They ducked to the side as a train roared past about an hour in, leaving a trail of steam in it’s wake.

It was about midday. The sun was nearly at the top of the sky, already starting to sink towards the horizon. Rusk and Flitter were both relatively exhausted already.

They decided to rest under the shade of some trees, the dappled shadows they cast perfect to take a break in. In their normal forms, they caught up like old friends, trading chatter for a half an hour.

Flitter heard the grind of train wheels against the tracks, and had an idea. She turned to Rusk and said, “If we take the train, we’d reach a town much faster!” Rusk nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with the idea.

They hid in the brush as the train drew close, and awaited the chance to get on.

Rusk suddenly pricked his ears.

“Seize them!” Barely audible over the train, a voice sounded behind them. Rusk glanced behind him to see an armour clad changeling, glaring at him with bright blue eyes.

Rusk and Flitter darted out the bushes.

The train headed in the same direction as them. Glancing behind him Rusk noticed a small band of changelings behind him equipped with shock staffs. One hit from those and you're out.

Rusk galloped as fast as his hooves would take him, glancing behind him to see the train caboose drew near. He prepared to leap for it when he heard Flitter scream.

One of the changelings had thrown his shock staff and hit Flitter! She collapsed and the guards were quick to grab her.

Rusk skidded on his hooves, bringing him to a stop. His breath came out in ragged gasps, his chest heaving.

Fury lanced through his veins, adrenaline powering it. They were grabbing the convulsing Flitter, her yelling in pain the entire way.

Rusk felt a warm feeling in his forehead as he hissed, and a visible light began to glow on his forehead. Suddenly, pure electricity arced from his horn as he rushed the guards, the tendrils of lightning contacting them as he drew close.

The first one dropped suddenly, probably unconscious or dead. The second convulsed in a sudden pain, collapsing and zapping himself with his own shock staff. The next few all tried to run from the onslaught, but bolts of pure magic stopped them in their tracks.

Rusk stood over Flitter, watching her body convulse and her wings buzz into awkward positions. Her tongue lolled out, a thin stream of drool leaking out onto the dirt.

Rusk lit up his horn on instinct, compacting his wings to place Flitter on his back. He turned to find the train was too far to catch up to.

Unless…

He imagined him, Flitter on his back, standing on the back deck of the caboose. His horn lit up and he engulfed himself in a flash of green light, accompanied with a poof of noise.

He hissed, shutting his eyes. The clack of train wheels startled him and he hesitantly opened his eyes. His eyes went wide.

With Flitter on his back, he watched as the train tracks sped after him, his hooves firmly on the back caboose deck. The railing kept him from swooning off in shock. Rusk had just teleported! Teleportation is a super advanced spell! How did he manage to perform it?

Flitter moving on his back snapped him from his musing. Flitter was not awake, but she was now actually sleeping instead of unconscious from shock. Using his horn to open the door, he walked into the caboose, which had suitcases and boxed piled inside. Using his horn to dislodge a few cases, he made a small resting hole, leaving a window in sight should someone come into the caboose.

Levitating Flitter down onto the floor, he propped himself up on his hind hooves and stared out the window. The trees flew by as the train chugged along, the caboose lightly rattling side to side. The train picked up a little speed as suddenly they chugged into a tunnel, leaving them in darkness save for the shafts of light glowing through the cracks in the boxes.

He stifled a yawn. His head hurt slightly, probably from some form of magical exertion. He laid his head down, eager to at least get some proper rest after the long walk and fight. He quickly took a glance at Flitter.

Her wingtips were slightly singed, and her breathing was unsteady. She was still peaceful despite so. He set up a spell on her so if something went wrong, he would know.

Putting his head all the way down, he fell asleep quick.

Rusk was quick to wake when Flitter’s hot breath blew against his muzzle, making him twitch. He blinked his eyes open and was immediately lost in her eyes.

The blue orbs bore into his skull, a genuine look of care and worry adorning them. Rusk found them genuinely beautiful, and his breath hitched when her fangs prodded her lower lip.

She tenderly placed a hoof on his chest. “What happened?” She asked. Her burnt wings buzzed, her grimacing as she did so. “There were these guards… and then there was just pain…” she nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck, shaking like it was sub-zero.

“I was scared. Again,” she cooed. She drew back, looking at Rusk. “Thank you. I only now realized how much I need you…” she let her head resume its position under Rusk’s chin.

Rusk hummed. He could be like this forever, and not a moment would feel wasted. He wrapped his forehooves around her midsection, careful to avoid her wings. He squeezed, pulling her closer to him.

Of course, it was a cold, wooden floor of a caboose. As he shuffled he felt his spine click.

Flitter craned her neck back, looking at him with worry. “You okay?” She asked.

Rusk stood and arched his back, feeling the joints loosening and clicking into place. “Hardwood floor sucks,” he quipped.

The train suddenly jerked and started to slow. Flitter stood with the help of Rusk, and they exited the back of the caboose, peeking carefully.

The train station was easily visible. Ducking behind the caboose again, they peeked into the forest that lay next to it. Few ponies filed in and out among the trains, chatting as they entered and exited the train.

Perfect. They turned into wild cats and tore into the trees, only changing back into changeling form when they were safely behind cover.

The two stared through the cover to the station. It was empty now, and the Ticketmaster was fast asleep.

“We shouldn't go there,” said Flitter, “maybe we can seek refuge in the forest here.” She turned into the forest, eyeing it’s brushery.

The two ventured in, staying along the edge until they stumbled across an unused path, the moss showing it’s age.

A small rocky alcove lay hidden in the trees, barely visible from an eye’s glance. Rusk trotted down to it and peered into the small covering. Suddenly, he had an idea. Lighting up his horn, he imagined a fake covering of rock draping down the opening. A rock wall shimmered into existence.

Rusk turned back to Flitter. “As long as you know it’s an illusion, you can go through it.” He demonstrated by disappearing into the wall, his body going through it. Flitter stared incredulously. He did it like it was nothing, the spell that even Flitter could not do herself.

Shaking her head, she thought hard that the illusion was fake and stepped through the barrier.

The inside felt much smaller now that the walls were ‘sealed in’. The rock gave them enough room to stand and walk around a small bit, but they’d probably only use this small place for sleeping.

“I set the enchantment to only fall if we go too far, for instance, leaving the town. I think it was set to about two kilometers,” he said, placing a hoof under his chin.

“We can’t just go into the town in our natural forms, though,” said Flitter, “We need to assume a disguise.”

Rusk immediately changed into the same dark gray and crimson stallion that he was disguised as when the two reunited. Flitter transformed into the same turquoise mare. The two smiled broadly.

“You ready?” Flitter asked.

“You bet.”

The town itself was quite quaint, with wooden cottages lining the streets, the hay-thatched roofs swaying ever so slightly in a quiet breeze. Few ponies littered the streets, as it was a lazy day in the town. The changeling duo headed into the quiet town, keeping to the side of the street as to not make much of a scene. From what it looked like, the entire town knew each other, which meant it was a very small community.

Maybe they should not have come should they try to blend in. They tried anyways.

And failed. A pink pony has approached them and asked their names, in which after them saying their names, she gasped and floated into the air, defying gravity, before disappearing in a literal puff of smoke. In the shape of her form.

She left the changelings head scratching, suffice to say. The two shrugged and continued their self-tour of the town, mapping it in their heads.

As the sun began to set in the sky, they found that most of the buildings were nearly identical, save for a few double floored ones, a house that looked like a sweet tooth’s erotic dream, a cloud house they only noticed last, a house that had differing paint split directly in the middle, even affecting the door itself, an ornate house in a cylindrical shape with a cone shaped roof, and a house built into a tree. The town hall was the tallest building in the settlement, with a rather tall cylindrical shape that tapered at the top sharply.

What a weird town. The two ended up relaxing in the park, them watching as pegasi flew lazily in the sky and unicorns and earth ponies trotting below. They all chatted, smiles barely leaving their faces.

It was quite a happy little place, and maybe a suitable place for Flitter and Rusk to lay low until the changelings lost interest.

Leaving the park, Rusk noticed a mare staring at her. The earth pony had a cream-yellow colored coat and a mix of a pink and blue mane. Her gaze followed then as they left the park.

Rusk shuddered. “There was this creepy mare staring at us. Her face was totally all frowny for the ponies of this town.”

Flitter shrugged. “We are new ponies in town. Of course they would be sizing us up.” She started to trot at a more brisk pace. “Come on, let's go back to camp.”

Making sure eyes didn't lay on them as they cantered into the forest, they slowed down as they walked across the moss-covered path.

“So,” began Flitter, “How do we approach this? The ponies here have a very happy culture. I'm not sure how to tackle this.”

“We just play it by day,” said Rusk, hovering for a second to shrug his shoulders. “Besides, I feel the worst that can happen right now is someone knowing who we are.”

They reached the pile of rocks, with the hidden cave behind the illusion. They grafted into it, entering the small space. Rusk lit up his horn as they sat down, casting a green glow across the room as he transformed back into his natural form. Flitter also changed back.

Rusk laid down, his wings buzzing as he sighed, the soft moss a decent bedding.

Flitter scooted closer to him, probably because of the cold bitter night that pierced their exoskeleton. Their flanks pressed together as they reveled in each other’s warmth, breathing in tandem.

Flitter rotated herself, her softer underbelly shell pressing against his side. He craned his neck slightly to the side and let Flitter place her muzzle in his shoulder.

He felt her cool fangs press against his shell, and he liked it. He smiled contently as he rotated to face Flitter. The two locked eyes, pausing only when they blinked. Flitter scooted up until her head was level with Rusk’s, and gently nuzzled her nose up against his.

No words were needed to be spoken, for all they would want to say was spoken in the short figurative electrical shocks running down Rusk’s spine. Flitter gazed at him with those eyes, and Rusk practically melted.

Never in his life would he ever imagined such an adventure!

More like, he couldn't believe that his affections were returned by her.

She gently cooed as she drifted off to sleep, quietly tucked up against Rusk’s body. Her breathing leveled as she transitioned to deep sleep.

Gently stroking her he shut his eyes and hoped to get rest as well.

Sleep came fast.