Chapter 3: A Powerful Enemy
=Rallies 365, The Changeling Hive, Level 73, Infirmary Room, 6789 C.E. =
Daring Do was still building up her energy, but she knew she had to get up and out of that bed before she was stabbed several times by a Changeling doctor. She managed to sit up, and began the tedious task of pulling herself over the edge of the bed onto the floor. When she did, she fought the nauseating sensation that went through her body whenever she took a step. She could tell she had obviously not fully recovered from radiation poisoning. She snapped back into the world and kicked away the knife from the Changeling's hoof. His eyes stopped flashing green and he walked away, apparently not even remembering he had come over in the first place. Daring Do panted, and began to walk away, still feeling all sick when she walked, and went through the door into the rest of the Changeling Hive.
=Rallies 365, The Changeling Hive, Level 87, Genetic Sampling Holding Cells Room, 6789 C.E. =
The Doctor's widened briefly when he saw the creature behind the door, but they shrunk back again when he saw the chains that held it back so that there was no way it could ever attack them. So, he stepped forward, pulled something out of his pocket, and greeted it the same way he greeted everypony or everybody that he ever met.
"Would you like a jelly baby?" The Doctor asked as he held out a bag of jelly babies.
The insect creature snarled in his face and trashed about.
Romana rolled her eyes and slapped her forehead.
"Now why are you here?" The Doctor asked sort of to himself as he walked around the creature, looking for signs of its purpose. He noticed all sorts of needle marks all over its body. "Hmm, genetic samples being drawn out. Why would they need that?" Then it hit him. "Of course! They remove the samples, copy the DNA, and add it into themselves. They improve upon every aspect of their bodies. Get stronger. Faster. Much more able to take over Equestria. And then they use said abilities to take over Equestria. Genetic reconstruction. Brilliant idea! We should go, Romana. We have an attack to stop."
"Got it, Doctor." Romana said. They then walked through the door, and walked up the stairs to the level above.
=Rallies 365, The Changeling Hive, Level 85, Genetic Samples Testing Room, 6789 C.E. =
Vixon, still looking very angry, strolled into a gigantic laboratory, where Changelings were either typing at computers and making calculations, or condensing and figuring out how to turn the samples they had taken and turning them into part of their DNA.
He walked up to one of the Changelings. "It is time. I want you to give me all that you've got, and turn the samples into part of the Hive."
"What?" The Changeling asked. "But we have to finish so much more before it is ready! We haven't even tested anything yet! Do you have jurisdiction from the King to do this?"
Vixon's eyes flashed green. "Yes, I do. Now start the test." The Changeling walked away hypnotically, grabbing Vixon and latching him to a wall, retaining all four of his hooves. He attached two tubes to the sides of his stomach. Vixon prepared himself for it to be painful. He did not care. If his plan worked right, He wouldn't have to worry about anything hurting him ever again. The hypnotized Changeling wandered over to some controls, and he pulled a lever. Vixon yelled out as the pain turned out to be far worse than he could have ever prepared for. He suddenly felt it stop, and restrains be let loose, but his vision had not yet come back into focus. He collapsed onto the floor, and he could only feel a ripping pain at the scars where his wings once were. As he could start to see again, he looked back to said scars. He suddenly saw little buds of what looked like insect wings grow out of the scars, and they were rabidly getting bigger.
He smiled. The pain ended, and he stood up. "Initiate a lockdown he two levels." He said, his confidence full again. "We have ponies to catch. I don't care if the King won't execute them. I will."
=Rallies 365, The Changeling Hive, Level 73, Hallways, 6789 C.E. =
Daring Do was feeling a lot better, but she could tell she wasn't really in any condition to be walking around to find the Doctor and Romana. Suddenly one of her legs gave out and she fell to the ground. She groaned as she tried to get up. She could tell her legs were not yet fully healed.
"For pony's sake, why does this have to be so hard?" She asked herself.
Suddenly, metal walls slid down around her, trapping her in with no foreseeable way out. She groaned.
"Well, it looks like I won't have to worry about walking around." She said unhappily.
=Rallies 365, The Changeling Hive, Level 86, Hallways, 6789 C.E. =
"Doctor, we're trapped!" Romana pointed out as the metal doors slid down on either way they could go.
"Yes, I can see that full well." The Doctor said.
"Well, what should we do?" She looked around the room, seeing something that made her smile.
The Doctor followed her line of gaze and smiled as well. It was a phone console. The Doctor went over and scanned it over with his sonic screwdriver. "Ah, that's perfect! It has a video transceiver. Not only that, but it has an emergency screen! And I would say this counts as somewhat of an emergency, don't you?" he asked cheerfully.
Romana nodded, wondering about how he could talk as much as he did without even breathing.
The Doctor finished hacking into the emergency call, and a hologram of the Changeling throne room appeared over the wall. The King himself was sitting on the throne. He was a Changeling that was a foot taller than the rest of the Changelings. He had no holes in his hooves, and his eyes had both pupils and green irises. He had lengthy gray hair and silver circular pads on his head, obviously the ones that gave him the main connection to the Hive. He also looked quite surprised. "Who are you, and how did you get this?"
"I'm the Doctor, this is Romana, and your Royal Advisor is completely insane and wants to overthrow you. What's your name?" The Doctor said in a hurried voice.
"I am the King Icide, and I know full well that Vixon wants to overthrow me." He said.
"Really, how?" Romana asked.
"At the time of our last attack, Vixon was captured by the Equestrians. They tortured him to find out our attack plan, but he never cracked. He was let go after they ripped his wings off. He's been bitter and determined to destroy the Equestrians ever since then. I don't agree. He thinks something went wrong at my birth, but I don't want to commence the attack." King Icide explained.
"Which would end up leading to a big disagreement of views. " Romana noted.
"Indeed. But if Vixon means to carry out the attack against my will today, then now is the only time I can cancel the attack. I must stop it-"he suddenly cried out in pain as a large knife went through his heart, and he collapsed to the ground.
Standing behind him was Vixon, his wings fully grown back.
"VIXON!" The Doctor yelled angrily.
"I'm sorry Doctor, by the time I got there; there was nothing I can do." Vixon said sarcastically.
"Stop it! You have taken this too far!"
"Doctor, I must go. I have a battle to win now." He closed the call.
He loaded the King onto his throne, and began to speak to a computer speaker. "Emergency Code 1. The King is dying. We must initiate the coronation process." He said.
King Icide tried to say something, but only coughed up blood.
Two extensions reached out and attached to the silver pads of The King's head. They ripped them out, and the King screamed in pain, falling to the ground, dead.
Vixon rudely kicked the body away, and temporarily looked out the window to watch every Changeling robotically walk to go back into hibernation in their Hive. He watched this all unfold, then walked back to the throne and sat down. "Coronate me." The pads pushed the pads back into his cerebral cortex. He winced in pain as green lightning flashed around his body. When it was over, he stood up, walking over the ashes that were once the king's body. He saw that his whole body had changed. He had grown a whole foot taller. He holes in his hooves had closed up. His eyes now had both pupils and green irises. He stepped back onto the throne and pressed a button.
"This is King Vixon residing over the throne. Begin Genetic reconstruction." He said.
Through the window, green liquid could be seen to fill up the cocoons of the many Changelings in the Hive. He could almost feel all the pain of 9, 357 Changelings in his head, but after a few minutes, it was over. "Now implanting battle information into the Changeling minds. Prepare to head to battle stations. PREPARE TO ATTACK!"