Night had rushed over Equestria and Secantor Island. It seemed as if Equestria was still the same from afar, if not for the smoldering rubble resting on the side of the mountain, along with the swirling vortex above it. The new labs were going along well, and this pleased Doctor quite a lot. Canterlot grounds had become full of materials and supplies while Scarlet was busy sleeping on a pile of cloths near what used to be the entrance to the castle. No one dared to wake her up, but, then again, her snoring was outrageously violent and noisy. It was, perhaps, in everyone's best intention that she stopped.
As most of the employees went to their make-shift barracks, the weaponry placed in armories, the mechanical suits parked in lots, and the new experimental subjects stocked in containers within the ruins of the castle, the only one who truly stayed awake just for working was the Doctor. He was busy studying and analyzing the changeling dna samples. He was still in that chamber where the woman was turned into a changeling queen. Judging by the various successful combinations he was capable of performing, represented by mounds of vials in containers with labels placed on them, he wondered if there wasn't something more special to their genetic coding than he thought.
Next to the control panels of this room, there were two glass containers. Their round shapes did nothing to aid in the comfort that two new test subjects were about to face a new trial in their short lives. Short lives. This defined these two children nicely. One a human girl, and the other a small filly. The girl, fortunately, was clothed. Doctor did not want to seem like an indecent character, so the majority of his test subjects were always branded with bland, blue clothing. The top of these containers possessed an insertion system. Once a liquid were to be placed within, it would be converted into a thick smog for the subject to inhale. A cruel test indeed.
A few of the monitors above Doctor showed a dark room and the changeling "queen" from before placed on her sides in a corner. She was screaming. Every now and then, a strangely shaped changeling would come, block the view of the queen, and depart with a few eggs in tow. This changeling was hunch backed, had two very thin, grass-hopper-like legs, and the ability to somehow stand despite not having any forelegs. It, instead, possessed many long mandibles that were bone-less. Thus, acting like a sort of tentacle to grab hold of many things. The biped looked up to see the piles where the eggs were being placed.
"Hmmm. She seems to scream in pain, but she doesn't seem opposed to the eggs...She must have an imbalance within her brain. As long as she doesn't try to destroy them. I'll be able to take eggs, insert some samples, and watch the results hatch in the incubator. I didn't expect the eggs to be so big, however."
Doctor took a syringe and flicked it to get the air out, then he clicked his tongue and twisted around, letting the lower portions of his coat sway in the air.
"Well then. Who wants to go first?"
The two children start pointing to the other, despite not knowing what the other was or what to do. How could they? They didn't know any better, and their situation was far too dramatic for any complex thoughts.
"Hm. It seems I'll have to choose myself."
There was a long silence as the tall figure simply stood in place. It was stressful and hear stopping for the two children, but this was broken suddenly by seeing an arm lift up and point to the pony.
"You'll be the first to test my new formula."
He said as he stuck the syringe in the contraption atop the container. A red liquid seeped into the object, and the foal was heard coughing like crazy, followed by the sounds of cracking bones and ripping skin. When the smoke was ejected into a containment capsule for further use, the result in the capsule was a failure. It would be best that such details be left out of the minds of anyone but Doctor and the traumatized child who began to cry silently as her lower jaw jittered and trembled.
"Hm. Another failure. A simple dna extraction aaaand..."
Doctor grabbed the container with the failed experimentation, tipped it over, then rolled it over to what seemed like a blank, dark wall with only a single button with the portrayal of flames upon it. It didn't take long for the secret to be revealed. Instead of saying something and gently pushing the container into the chute, the biped simply kicked it violently into the hole without a care, then closed the opening. He did not care.
"It seems that this experiment was another failure. No matter." Doctor turned to face the other child "You're still here. Yet, children are so hard to come by these days. You get a day of respite as I experiment with children dna and these samples. Down you go." he added as the child went gently down another opening in the floor.
"Hmmm. I think I'll go visit the new queen." the biped spoke with nothing on his face as always.
The only exit of the room slid open, allowing the only occupant to exit and let the door click shut. The entirety of this area was completely darkened in color, very dark and depressing indeed. Some stairs invited Doctor down them, which he accepted. This once quiet area was now filled with the noise of footsteps, giving it an eerie atmosphere. Another door greeted the biped. It was an elevator that only the scientists were allowed to use. A code pad was stuck next to the silvery doors, guarding them shut. It a sliver of a moment to input he code and have the elevator open itself to its future occupant. Finally, the biped was in the lowest floors, where the future changeling hives would be stored. There were thousands of doors everywhere, but they were very spaced apart, and the majority of the rooms they lead to still need to be built and fitted. For now, only five rooms were ready, and one was filled right now. The noisy sounds of buzzing echoed upon the dark metals of this enormous entrance hall, drawing any curious visitors to its glamor. The door leading to the enormous storage room was reinforced with several layers of strong metal along with an equally reinforced glass window.
Doctor peered through this view port, and saw, to his delight, that the new queen's mind was slowing being consumed by its new directives. Slowly, the human would forget all about her past and be refitted with false memories about her always being a queen raised by them. There were normal changelings walking around, while the worker drones were still grabbing a few more of the eggs and tossing them into a pile. Three of the breeding changelings were layed into a wall of what looked like black mucus. They struggled against their restraints, demanding to be let back next to their "beloved" queen.
"Hmmm. She must have done that when they let her go. She'll welcome them again, I'm quite sure of that. Now then, for that visit."
The door was activated, and from the other side, the metal rectangle belched white steam as the room was unsealed. A strange biped walked through it and threw the door shut as fast as he could.
"Wouldn't want these little bugs escaping, now. Well well. We've been busy, haven't we? Let's grab a larva just for observation."
Every changeling, including the queen, just looked at this creature with astonishment and surprise. Doctor walked towards the pile of eggs, where the worker drones took the hatched larva out of and grabbed the orange food substitutes leaking from a pipe in the ceiling and feed it to said babies. The actually looked kind of adorable. Their little bodies were all plump and chubby, despite having a typical changeling's color, and their faces looked somewhere between the cross of a pony's facial features along with the mandibles, antenna, and eyes of an ant. Doctor grabbed one and started to turn it around with no regard for its well being. The workers, not having the abilities to fight such a creature, backed off with fear on their faces, cliqueting with curiosity and anger.
"Let's see. Mandibles, antenna, multiple eyes...These aren't features noted in adult changelings. I suppose they have their roles defined later on, and these appendages either retract or fall off afterwards. Its body is plump and full of liquids. Huh. It must be food supplements."
With him spinning and twisting the little creature, said baby started to tear up. It was bad to spin a baby so violently, so this one was feeling extra pain. Its instincts kicked in, and it started to cry, letting out a wailing screech at first, but jittering afterwards.
"Now now. No need for this scre--"
Doctor was slammed into the floor by what appeared to be a blue aura. The baby was levitated back to the workers who grabbed the other larva nearby and scampered away.
"You...You...I know you...Agh!" the queen put a holed hoof to her head and groaned in pain.
"You dare to attack your master?!" Doctor yelled.
"You're not my...master...NO! NO! You're not! You did this to me! Don't touch my children...choldren...YES! Children! Childs! Babies! Grrrrrm!" she started to smile and frown at irregular intervals.
"First changeling queen seems to suffer from mental instabilities. This could prove disastrous for future spawn. Release me now or face the consequences."
"Ahaha! You...who are you again...You don't touch meh choldren! They're mine! Mine...YES! MINE! My babies. No touchies!"
Hearing this, the biped sighed, then began to push himself up, his body shaking as he did so. The queen tried to push him down, but it was no use. Soon, Doctor grabbed his tesla prod with his right hand and shocked the queen with seventy-five percent power. Her screams frightened the workers while it heavily angered the breeder changelings still attached to the walls. A thud was all that the queen's body did, followed by heavy breathing. The creature simply kicked her in the stomach, somehow sending her flying across the room and against a nearby wall.
"You will learn to obey me, do as I say, and execute everything and anything I say. Am I understood?"
The queen only passed out as a response. This seemed to anger the biped.
"Accursed prototypes. THEY NEVER FUNCTION! Just like those two damned alicorn prototypes that destroyed our beloved tower. I should have killed them instead of letting that powerful one develop a schizophrenia. Grrr." Doctor regained his posture and readjusted his labcoat "...Nevertheless, that crisis is over. We learn from our mistakes, which is why we never deny failures."
He walked back towards the door, his position being followed by tiny little insectoid eyes. Before he opened the door, however, he turned around to speak to the majority of the changelings here. He hoped they understood his language:
"You better all listen to me, or I WILL kill your mother. There is nothing to sob about. It's not like you can't get another from your eggs. Hmph. Insects. So intriguing and adaptive."
The door slid shut and hissed as it was compressed once more. The workers suddenly rushed to the queen and placed her body back into the area where she was previously, against the wall. They began to tend to her burns, hoping for her not to perish.
"It seems that this hive is mostly centered around worker drones. I wonder if that's just because it is still very tiny? Time will tell. I wonder if we can't engineer one to be a warrior-centered hive? That would be a great achievement! Where to start? Ah! That child I spared. Hmhmhm."
Doctor's chuckle scraped the walls menacingly, implying eternal doom for those caught by them.