//------------------------------// // Prologue - Project Genesis (Fully Revised) // Story: Wasp: The Life of a Changeling Spy // by Dash Attack //------------------------------// Prologue Project Genesis Warning, the following chapter is filled with "tell not show" movements and a large amount of exposition. I wrote this chapter when I was first starting out, and have since gotten a'lot better. Now that my story telling skills have improved, I intend on cleaning this part of the story up when I have some free time. With that said, I hope you enjoy this chapter and continue to read this story. Chrysalis stared at the 128 eggs that lay before her in the breeding chamber. For her, watching each new born hatch was one of the greatest joys in her life. She loved seeing each new changeling soul emerge from their egg, ready to be assimilated into the hive mind. She loved all her children, each and every one. Normally, this would be a happy occasion for the queen. Today however, she felt a mixture of sadness on top of her joy. She knew that most of her children would never be born today. On average, the queen laid about 130 eggs per breeding season. Out of those eggs, about 90% of them would hatch healthy changeling drones. Today was different though. Today, a larger number of her children would die. How many she did not know, and that made her all the more anxious. The worst part about it was, she would allow this to happen for the sake of something greater. Sometime after she was born, her late mother had begun researching ways to create a new breed of changelings. She wanted changelings that could take on unique disguises, think creatively, and inherit superior combat skills. While many changelings could already take on unique disguises, the ability to do so was a rare talent that only a few drones had the patience to master. For most, it is much easier to just steal an existing form than to create one. The hive mind also prevented drones from thinking freely and creatively. Every once in a while a drone would be born that exhibit minor personality traits and limited imagination. However, only a changeling queen or her heirs were capable of thinking outside of the connective hive mind. After all, they were the ones who control it. While all changelings were born fighters, their strength was measured in their numbers. Individually a drone could easily be defeated by strong individuals. The late queen wanted drones that could be just as deadly alone as they were in a group. However, she had no idea how she would be able to accomplish this goal. After years of failed experimentation, the late queen had come up with a theory that could help achieve some of the traits she wanted in her ideal breed. Her theory was that if pony DNA could be injected into the embryos of changeling eggs just moments after being laid, the offspring would mutate into higher evolved changelings. She died long before she could put this theory into action. It now fell upon Chrysalis to achieve what her mother could not. Using her mother’s research notes, she tried to produce a serum that would potentially augment her offspring. To make the serum, she needed DNA from various types of ponies. While she had failed to capture Canterlot and harvest it of its love, she was able to use the chaos to get exactly what she wanted. While her drones had provided her with plenty of common pony hairs and pegasus feathers, she was able to extract something far more precious. She had the feathers of not one, but two alicorns. One she got from Cadence when she had her imprisoned, the other she got from Celestia after she knocked her out. In addition, she had also found a lock of Shinning Armors Mane to add to her collection. She made sure to combine all three samples into one serum, which she hope would bring about excellent results. After laying her eggs, she had 127 injected with regular pony DNA. The last one she injected with the mixture that contained DNA from the sun goddess, the spirit of love, and the soldier. What effect this would have on the child was anypony's guess, but she knew that this one would survive. After all, this one would be born from two beings that had created an entire barrier out of their own love for each other. Celestia's may gave the child heat vision, but the power he would get from both Cadence and Shining Armorer together was unfathomable. She made sure that egg was placed separately from the others, so that she would know which one it was. As Chrysalis's thoughts returned to the present, she saw one of the eggs begin to move. "It’s starting," she said out-loud with a wide grin on her face. Come to Mommy. --------- Today had turned out worse than she had ever imagined. As of right now, only 12 had scornfully hatched. The rest remained still, with no sign of hatching. This meant that almost all of her children had died in their eggs. Their embryos must have rejected the DNA. I killed them, I killed them all. "She buried her head in her hooves as tears ran down her face. The new born foal stared at their birth mother with quizzical looks. If Chrysalis's hooves weren't in the way, she would have been able to see that each little foal had eyes just like hers. Not only that, but they each had different colored manes, and had no holes anywhere on their bodies. Their horns and wings where perfect, but still those of a changeling. Just then the Queen heard a loud crack come from the egg in the corner. She lifted her hooves and wiped away her tears. Out from the egg emerged a healthy changeling boy who looked just as unique as his siblings. Their eyes were exact same shade of emerald green. In addition, his mane and tail had the same dark blue color as Shining Armor's hair. He did not, however, have a light blue streak coming down the middle. His wings where a little bit whiter than the rest of his siblings, possibly from the fact that he had Celestia's DNA in him. Over all, as changelings go, he was adorable in the eyes of the Queen. Maybe some good could come out of this mess. Remember, they didn't die for nothing. It was all for the good of the hive With that she scooped up her children and gave them all a big hug. "Only time will tell if you little changelings are special or not, but for now, welcome to the hive." ------- Six months after hatching The Changelings matured tremendously fast. Although they had life spans as long as anypony had their childhoods' where extremely short. In about two years, they would become young adults. Despite being only six months old, the 13 changelings now had the bodies and minds of school children. The pony DNA inside of them certainly made them act a lot more like children than bland changeling drones. Nevertheless, the queen worked them 10 times harder than all of her other fowls. In their short lives, their potential became very apparent. Chrysalis had kidnapped specialists of all sorts to teach them how to become the perfect spies. Using her mind control spell, she was able to set up a rigorous training program that would push her 13 to the limit. Although she resented names, she decided to refer to each one by a number. Their number was determined by the order in which they hatched. Each one of them was unique in their own special way. No.1 showed a vast intellect beyond what any adult drone should be capable of. Her daughter Princess Cocoon a.k.a. No.6 could actually turn invisible in addition to morphing. Chrysalis hoped that Cocoon's own children would inherit this ability in the future. Out of all of them, her very lucky No.13 was a born natural. While not as smart as No.1 or as fast as No.7, his cunning mind and reflexes were outstanding. His grades in his subjects were slightly above average compared to the rest of the 13. However, he made up for this extremely well during physical tests. She had only one problem with him, he was a little bit of a smart flank. In all her years as queen, she never had a drone backtalk her. It infuriated her, but at the same time intrigued her. Today, she decided to pit No.13 against one of the brainwashed pegasus knights. No.13 was extremely happy, but at the same time scared. Chrysalis had built an arena deep within the hive for her soldiers to spar in. On each side of the arena was a gate where the fighters would enter. No.13 and Chrysalis were behind one while the guard stood mindlessly behind the other. "You will do fine my child," said Chrysalis in tone that was both nurturing and sinister "I will make sure that the stallion won't kill you. However, i'm still mad at you for what you called me the other day. You might get very badly bruised for your insolence. Tell me, where did you learn that word." "I read it in one of Brains books." Said No,13 with a cocky grin. "I told you only female changelings get names." shouted Chrysalis "I know you all are unique, but can you must call your brother No.1." "Whatever floats your boat your highness, now can I go beat the crap out of that drooling zombie already." "Your words can't hide your fear my child, I can taste it from under your misplaced self confidence. However, if your so eager to go to the infirmary, why should I stop you." The gates opened, and Chrysalis flew to her special seat in the bleachers. From her seat, she gazed at the hundreds of drones that filled the arena. She said to crowd. "We all know whose fighting who," she said to crowd. "Why waste time on introductions? Let the fight begin." "Wait mom I'm not re- Pow While his head was looking up at the Queen, the zombified knight flew towards him and socked him right in the face. His chitin shell cracked a bit, leaving a nasty mark on his face. 13 used his wings to help him off the ground and back on his hooves. The knight landed a few centimeters away from him before making a "come here" motion with his right hoof. No.13 charged him and tried to return a punch to the feather brains cheek. However, the pegasus deflected the punch with his left wing. Dammit, maybe I should have apologized to mom before the fight. This guys' going to kill me After five minutes of fighting, No.13 was able to land a few hits on his opponent, but the pegasus had beaten him senseless. He felt dizzy and disoriented. He could barely see his opponent anymore. He was going to faint. I might as well go out in style. He thought to himself. "Ahhhh" Like a mad stallion, he charged at his opponent in a final act of desperation. For a brief moment, his right hoof was enveloped by a green flame, but he didn't notice. Instead, all he thought about was winning. He closed his eyes and prayed for the best. He pushed his right hoof forward into his opponents' face, who was to to slow to block his punch. Shing He opened to his eyes and looked at his opponent. Blood was gushing from his neck, and sprayed 13's face and mane. The pegasus was gagging as his life slowly ended, while 13 gazed it horror at his hoof. Somehow his right hoof had been replaced with a long shiny stick. He recognized the imagine from the stick from Brain's books. His foreleg had transformed into a sword. Suddenly there was a bright flash. Every changeling in the room gasped. The Queen stared at her son with awe. Her eyes were shinning brighter than ever. She she began to softly sing to herself . This day has been just perfect, the kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small. All the ponies he will destroy, my special little boy, my mother would be so proud of them all. No.13 removed his foreleg from the dead pegasus and watched as it transform back into a hoof. He turned his head to his flank. Upon it there was an image of a bright golden bee.