Equestria and the Time Lord Episode 3: The Changeling Hive
Prologue: The War Games
=Rallies 365, The Changeling Hive, Level One, Deck One, 6789 C.E. =
The TARDIS began to materialize in the middle of a silver platform that was illuminated by green light. Shortly after, out stepped the Doctor, Romana, and Daring Do, the latter of which looked rather annoyed at the Doctor. "Alright Doctor, you've taken us to the future. So where are we?" she asked.
"Well, currently we have landed on the planet Rallies 365, although as of now it has been hollowed out and turned into a place known as the Changeling Hive." he answered.
"Wait, did you say the Changeling Hive?" Daring Do asked suddenly.
"Why, yes I did. The year is now 6789 C.E. We are currently on Level One Deck One, which gets the best view of the whole place. What say we have a look?" The Doctor Said as he walked over to the edge of the deck and looked over into the hollow planet complex below, with Romana joining him very quickly.
Daring Do sighed and walked over to the edge of the deck they were on and looked over. "Oh…wow."
The whole place was lined with at least a hundred decks going downwards, each illuminated by green light. But what was really something was the source of said green light. There was a gigantic glowing green sphere in the center of the planet, and it was enormous. It appeared to have a ton of little hexagons arranged exactly like a beehive under the surface of the sphere, and each one seemed to work to hold transparent cocoons that held green black creatures with equine bodies, except they all had holes in their legs, sharp fangs, insect like wings, and large blue eyes with no pupils or irises visible. There were all sorts of wires and tubes running into the cocoons connected to the creatures. And above the large sphere, there was a large window with the same hive pattern that had oh so many stars in a spacey way that Daring Do had never seen before.
"That's very beautiful looking." She said, slightly awestruck.
"Yes, quite so. Now tell me, what are the Changelings? I can tell you know." The Doctor asked.
"The Changelings are an insectoid race that can shape shift and are always trying to invade Equestria to feed off ponies love until they have no emotions left." Daring Do answered.
"Well they seem like very pleasant ponies to talk to. Still, we can hope that being given their own planet will have mellowed them down a bit more. Wait, what am I even saying? It's never that easy!" The Doctor said to himself.
At that moment, the glass surrounding the hive and all the Changelings slid away, the wires disconnected from the Changelings and retracted back into the sleek walls of the inside of the hives. All the Changelings, who had previously seemed to be in a deep hypnotic state, began to wake up, and stuck their hooves through the cocoons and sliced through them. The Doctor was instantly reminded of the way that the Cybermen had emerged from their tombs back on the planet Telos. Then an idea struck him.
"Well, you can obviously tell that these Changelings have a hive mind. I wonder who the queen is?"
"I wonder that too, but it still doesn't really answer whether or not they're friendly." Romana said.
"Sure it does." The Doctor said. "If one of them has a friendly thought, then all of them will have a friendly thought." He finished cheerfully.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" said a voice behind them that sounded very angry.
"We're doomed." Daring Do said as they turned around to face whoever was speaking.
The speaker was a Changeling, obviously, but he looked slightly different than the rest of the Changelings. He had fewer holes on his legs, and had a short mass of sea green hair on his head that the rest of the Changelings didn't have. He had no wings and slight scars where his wings should be. His eyes had a slightly more greenish tint to them.
"Well hello." The Doctor said as cheerfully as ever. "I'm the Doctor, this is Romana, and this is Daring Do."
"You have betrayed the pact you have made with our species. When the Equestrians threw us off our planet and sent us in search of a new one, you said you would not come after." The Changeling said in a venomous tone.
"Oh my. Our coming here may have accidentally sparked a war." The Doctor said to his companions. "Well, I suppose I can work my way out of this." He turned to the Changeling. "Well, you see, we knew of no pact. In fact, Romana and I are not even from Equestria. We had no intention of messing with your little hive the size of a planet. Tell me, how do you achieve powering this place? It's very impressive."
""The Changeling Hive has the most advanced magical power system in the universe." The Changeling replied.
"The Doctor chortled. "Magic, eh? In my book there is no such thing as magic."
"Then I don't believe that you'll get very many ponies to read your book." The Changeling said sarcastically.
"Personally, all things that I've seen that are considered magic were just a form of powerful energy that was mistaken for magic." The Doctor said matter-of-factly.
The Changeling suddenly smiled. "You really are not from Equestria. Nopony else, not even the masses of the Changelings, know that the telekinetic energies that come from a unicorn horn are just telekinetic energies. Only the Changeling Queen and her Royal Advisor are let in on the secret. The rest of those ignorant ponies genuinely believe that they are performing magic." He said, snickering.
"I can see exactly what you mean." The Doctor said.
Daring Do bucked him in the side.
"Ow!" The Doctor yelled in pain. "Anyway, I may be correct in guessing that you would be the Royal Advisor."
"You would be correct. My name is Vixon. I am one of the very few who has a name in this hive. Names are only given to the highest-ranking officials of the Intellectual Class and the Battle Class. The rest are only numbers and their ranks." Vixon said in a way that made it sound like he was very proud of himself and very appalled at the same time.
"Intellectual Class and Battle Class?" The Doctor asked.
"The Intellectual Class keeps the Hive at maximum efficiency and make the plans of our major mission. The Battle Class train until we have come to a level suitable to carry out the final mission and then they will carry it out." Vixon explained.
"And the final mission is?" The Doctor asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know.
"To invade Equestria. We will lead our swarm on the planet and tear it apart. Nopony will be taken prisoner. We will rip the hearts from all who stand in our way, and when Everypony is our food, the planet will be ours again." Vixon said darkly.
Daring Do, Romana, and The Doctor's eyes all widened at this grim plan.
"Well that's…nice." The Doctor said.