//------------------------------//
// Acceptable outcome, but incinerate that one. She's a failure. 
// Story: Census of changeling hive projects 
// by The Psychopath 
//------------------------------//

Doctor walked through the newly refurbished walls of the laboratory, dug deep into the ground. Here, the silvery walls were a welcome comfort, and the stench of blood and medication was like a soothing perfume. Windows were embedded into some of the walls, and he could observe that some of the scientists were taking note of the results. Stopping in front of one of them and simply turning his head, he could see that there was a unicorn strapped to a surgery table. Around him were several movable trays holding a wide assortment of surgical instruments that were accompanied by mechanical arms hanging right above the pony and twitching a bit. They seemed to be trying to decide which part to 'attack' first. Several bipedal figures wearing very long, white science coats and goggles grabbed some of the tools on the table and began to cut into the pony, injecting some fluids into the tissue while they did so. The screams were muffled by the insulated walls, but the voice could still be heard. A few of the scientists watching were taken by a light sickness as they watched, but Doctor simply shrugged.

"Hmmm. Tiny. Perhaps a colt. Outcome for successful procedure seems to be a seventy-seven percent. Acceptable. The project...mixture of various dna to observe the results. I thought we had terminated the chimera programs. Well, new world new possibilities," the biped spoke to himself.

The trip through the halls were met by several security officers in power suits going to meet test subjects who had escaped confinement. One of them managed to block Doctor's path, and this one was large. He wasn't capable of discerning it, but it seemed to be some sort of reptile mixed with pony dna. 

"Flesh shown bare. Scales not in place...mmm, fur falling off...mental state shows deficiencies as subject is in a state of mindless rage. Such a pitiful failure. It could have become a great helper in constructing our facilities," Doctor sighed.

The beast didn't seem to take kindly to these remarks, as it roared and charged directly at him. The biped didn't react, only moving forward instead. The creature was slightly taken back, but regained its composure and ran forward even faster. Now, it was just mere centimeters away from its target, but the bodies never connected. Instead, it was ejected further away by what looked like two gigantic, needle shaped pistons used as arms for a security armor. Said armor walked over Doctor and charged into the beast, creating a loud noise of metal bending and echoing throughout the complex. Doctor paid no heed. He simply avoided the incoming security teams and headed directly for the elevator that was quite a few hallway segments further from his current spot.

A nice trip down the elevator and he was accessing a restricted portion of the laboratory. It was the lowest level created. Going further beneath the city foundations themselves. This area only had two places to go. To the immediate right of the elevator was the observatory. It served both the purpose of observing each hangar and alerting specialized security forces when there was an attempt at fleeing or when the break out successfully occurred. It could also travel between reinforced rails hidden within the walls and give the observers a direct observation of the hives. The other led down into the access area for each of the hangars, but Doctor had no interest in that. He just wanted to get a census of the new hives.

"Status?" he asked as he opened the two doors leading into the observation room.

There was only one worker there, and he was sitting in front of a very long counter covered in a blue, holographic projection of a keyboard with various amounts of buttons and commands spread along the surface. In front and above him were several monitors of varying sizes and shapes. Most of them were outfitted to take the shape of the rounded observational window that was currently shielded and unopened.

"Doctor. What brings you here to my humble deck, that you put me in, might I add?"

"I wish to have a census of a few of our new creations, and watch your tone with me. It is unproductive and unappreciated."

"You mean 'under' appreciated."

The Doctor simply gave the scientist an implied glare through his black head cover and goggles.

"Fine. Would you like to know about the Expansion formula?"

"Yes."

"Direct observation or monitor?"

"Direct observation."

The scientist pushed himself off the counter, allowing to reach the middle buttons. He pressed a few buttons and slid his finger to the left on the console, making the deck shake before sliding across the rails. A few seconds of waiting, and the scientist open the shielding to the observation window. The biped walked forward and leaned himself against the solid black counter. His hands were causing interference with the holograms, however.

"Uh, sir?" the scientist said as he pointed towards Doctor's hands. "You're going to cause a system error if you leave your hands there. Sir?"

Doctor was engulfed in thought. His project to fuse the dna of Nightmare Moon and Solar Flare proved successful after fifteen years of experimentation, but now, he was trying to create the most versatile taskforce possible, or something similar. He wasn't sure yet why he was doing these experiments.

"Fine. Let me read you the résumé of this queen's hive. As you know, all names of the original projects and their back story are kept in the restricted documents, so if you're interested in something so trivial, you know where to go. Ahem:

Test subject: Empire Hive. 
Color Code: Cerulean.
Test subject was a male soldier. Taken under the guise of a health inspection due to a possible skin disease acquired a week prior to his return from the front. Tested upon to ensure full compatibility with queen serum. As the compatibility with this serum turned out to be successful, the Empire serum was used.
Um..."

"Um? What do you mean by 'um'? What hitch was there in the plan?"

"Well, he was supposed to obtain increased strength, stamina, and tendon strength."

"And that failed?"

"Oh no. Those worked perfectly. It's the mental state of the subject that regressed."

"As long as the intended results were achieved. Why are they not in the field?"

"The queen -er- the man, was in a PTSD state when we nabbed him."

"'Acquired'. We 'acquired' a test subject. We do not 'nab', as you put it so vulgarly."

"Sorry," the scientist said as he rolled his eyes. "The symptoms are that he-she thinks she's still in a battlefield and is being constantly shelled by artillery."

"That would explain the 'huts' made from the secretions", Doctor noted as he leaned forward.

The hangar had been covered in a cerulean colored mucus that had mainly used to build wide covers above the ground. The few courageous changelings brave enough to defy their crazed queen's ramblings were trotting along the surface of the protective shields, although their carapaces seemed...strangely shadowed. Unlike the normal changelings who had a constant in color and shape, these one's bodies were slightly taller and thinner, with the carapace 'sinking' into the holes and taking on a silvery color. Doctor's specialized goggles allowed his sight to 'zoom' in without using the monitors.

"What are those?"

"Changelings that can fire poisonous darts from the holes in their bodies. It's made from their bones."

"And that gigantic brute?"

An enormous changeling with a large size and an extremely thickened hide was walking alongside the smaller ones. Its forelegs seemed to have developed extremely large and high chitinous appendages meant to shield from incoming attack when said legs were joined together.

"We call them 'tank-lings'. Tests have shown that they can survive a cannonball from a nine pounder."

"Considering the technology of the creatures here, that is acceptable. Note research that we will need that ability reinforced."

"Okay. Anything else you wish to see?"

"The queen."

"Oh boy...I'll try, but the changelings shoot darts into the cameras when they light up."

The largest monitor above the scientist's counter lit up, showing a great many squares of activity. A few of them showed static. Destroyed. Carefully, the biped fumbled through the cameras until finally finding the queen. She was in the egg chamber, or fort, in this case. She had wrapped herself around one of the eggs and was currently shaking and crying. She also seemed to be mumbling to herself. Her body was as thin as the original queen, but what were once green features, had turned into cerulean. The long flowing mane of Chrysalis had been cut into a mohawk, and the tail looked like a stringy, thin broom. Her face also had a more rounded appearance to it, giving her more feminine facial features, save for her slightly bulkier build. 

It seemed Doctor's first observation on her being as thin as the original was off due to his angle of perception. Several of the changelings were sat around her. They seemed concerned but used to this event, although a few of the tank-lings seemed rather worried. Doctor noticed that they seemed more emotional compared to the other changelings. Odd, considering the changeling personality and the sheer girth of this variant. Carefully, the camera started to move around the mucus it was hidden in so as to get a full view of the area. It didn't take long for a tankling to notice and suddenly appear and smash the hardware. The scientist jolted back with a scare.

"I HATE it when they do that! Now we're going to have to put them all to sleep again."

"Tell me, what was the purpose of this strand, again?"

The scientist began to fumble through his papers and mumble a bit. "Um...It was supposed to want to conquer everything around it simply to expand its empire."

"That explains these mutations. Onto the next."

"Which...next?"

"Surprise me."

"If you say so, but we both know you're never surprised."

Doctor remained silent at this comment. He was a bit more curious as to what the research scientists had managed to concoct, and if there was at least one hive, aside from the one sent covertly onto that island to the far north, that were sane in any way. If none of them were going to remain sane, then that would set their plan back by months.

The shutters closed again with loud screeching, announcing that it was time to move again. It was very uncomfortable how the observatory wobbled from side to side with every start and stop it performed. In all honesty, it seemed that even Doctor was getting rather annoyed.

"Unacceptable. Observatory creates too much reverberation. Vibrations upon ignition and full stop impede thought processes and endanger equipment. I will note that this is to be refurbished immediately after the observations are over."

The shutters opened once more to reveal that this hangar was, in fact, a cavern of sorts. It seemed reminiscent of the crystal caverns that once lay below Canterlot. Several natural bridges were etching out of the terrain. Below them hung what appeared to be a very large, fluorescent species of mushroom. Tiny changing larva could be seen munching on them. They were still in pupa form, but they had tiny faces and gentle gazes. Their forelegs were even little stubs. Sometimes, one would fall and start to cry, to which one of the nearby changeling workers would react, quickly grabbing the tiny pupa and placing it back on the mushroom.

"Hmmm. Intriguing. Why keep the cavern?" Doctor wondered.

"Well-Oh no. Don't look directly at her," the scientist pleaded as he averted his gaze.

Doctor turned his head slightly to the side to get a better look at the scientist, then decided to look around for whatever he was warning him about. Directly below the Observatory, a queen was just sitting, her face completely void of anything but a wide, disturbing stare, and it was facing Doctor directly. 

"She can see through the walls?"

Not one to give in to the attempts of intimidation of a test subject, the biped stared directly at it, his arms still crossed behind him. Much to his curiosity, the world around seemed to start melting away into thick, bright colors of tan, yellow, and red. Even Doctor's body seemed to be melting before his eyes.

"Stupid changeling," he cursed.

Before long, the concentration of the queen started to wane, and she began to start blinking and showing signs of pain and distress. She collapsed several minutes afterwards, crying in pain.

"Trying to outwit me at my own game, no less. Records."

"How did--" the scientist tried to ask.

"Records," Doctor repeated with a rising hint of frustration.

"Oh! Of course. Mmm," the scientist fumbled around the desk and found his papers on the floor, "here you go. Now, let's see. Test subject: Mind control, version zero seven, beta batch.
Color code: incandescent.
Test subject was a young adult mare. Taken from the mass capturing of this region. Responded poorly to initial treatments...began to suffer both cardiac arrest and neural failures. Was deemed unfit for further splicing, and was placed in this project. Chrysalis dna was mixed in with those giant mushrooms you see there hanging underrrr the bridges," he said while trying his best to find the bridges in question. "Reactions to the newly mixed formula exceeded expectations, and her mind was properly 'readjusted' to our desires. She was made to infiltrate any medium and manipulate those around her as pleased her. Mushrooms have, unfortunately, mutated the changeling physiology. Queen has four eyeballs; Two in each socket. Changelings have become cycloptic, their eye seemingly dripping out of their cranium. Most likely a cause of symbiosis with local fungi species. Cause unknown as of yet."

The normal changelings trying to lift their queen back up from her pain lock up looked directly at the Doctor with spite. The biped's goggles had their magnifying lens lower on their own to allow a better view of the subjects. They did indeed have one, large eye in the middle of their foreheads. Out of the few dozen there, only three seemed to not have blinded eyes and saddened looks. The other three's pupils were just enormous, and it seemed that their iris weren't properly formed, as they seemed to just stretch erratically upon the sclera, making pseudo-orange starry shapes. They were practically just as tall as their queen, but they were thin. It seemed that their entire bodies were nearly fully covered by the moss and a few of the mushrooms growing in the cave.

The queen herself seemed to have developed a gray chitinous carapace, and her wings were covered by white fuzz. It looked like bread that had expired. Her mane and tail were translucent, but they seem faded and web-like. She seemed completely 'bald'.

"Any mental deficiencies?"

"Not that we know of, sir. So far, she seems content of her area. This is by far one of the most passive hives that has been created. It is most certainly the most successful branching of this type."

"And judging by the series number, the heads were insistent on having this form. I will conduct my own research on this one. I'm curious as to how their symbiosis functions. As well as the queen's ability to 'sense' us."

A moan of pain could be heard while the shutters closed. It was most likely the queen who was trying to curse at Doctor but was cut short by the closing protection.

"Oh! You're in luck. There is a new project that is about to be undertaken."

The shutters opened to a new sight in a very large and empty hangar. A human female was strapped to chair and seemed to be struggling as hard as she could. She was apparently kicking away the surgeon tables and making life difficult for the scientists. They were around twelve to be holding her, with a thirteenth filling a needle with a bizarre substance. It was blocking the serum, so Doctor could not perceive it even with the monitors, sadly.

The woman herself seemed very wounded, as she had several scars all over her body as well as fresh wounds along her arms and face. A light drizzle of red trickled from the wounds, although the initial state of the wounds seemed to have stained the human's flesh with dried, plasmic liquids.

"No! No! Get away from me! Get away you filthy scum! You worthless pieces of shit! Let me go or I'll kill you all!"

One of the scientists' voice could be heard through the speakers on both sides of the observatory's walls:

"I do not believe you are in much of a position to threaten us," he said with a laugh. "Now, be a good test subject and stay...still!"

Pupils widened as a syringe came closer and closer. The woman closed her eyes and looked away, hoping that the prick in her arm would be quick and painless, yet nothing happened.

"What are you waiting for? Do it!" she angrily roared.

"What..is it doing? Open its eyes so that I may administer the dose."

"Why would you...oh no...No! No!"

The woman began to struggle even more as her eyes were forced open.

"Now now. Let us not be feisty. You will lose the energy you need to survive the procedure and keep your mind intact."

"Isn't it annoying when they struggle? It wastes everyone's time...Mainly our own," the scientist joked.

The woman gave a blood curdling scream as the needle when through her pupil and directly into her eyeball, only to have the mixture injected right after. Her screams turned from gargles to gasps of air, then to silence. The biped moved away from her with the syringe being placed on a disinfectant tray which lay, itself, upon a surgeon's table. There was a long silence, the human female seeming to have died. The scientists and doctors began to comment on the event:

"Hm. Another failure."

"Perhaps due to struggles, the subject's strength was too little to resist the effects of the serum?"

"Possible conclusion. Take in new subject and place it under calming sedatives."

"If that fails...Too many sedatives?"

"We won't make the same mistake again. Just enough sedatives to render the subject immobile, but not too much so as to imitate the effects of hallucinogenic substances."

"If the second fails?"

"Then we--"

A sudden groan of pain scared the scientists and doctors  who nearly jumped in fright.

"Predicted," Doctor said.

The woman's body began to jitter in various areas, and she started to melt through the table. Such a sight and intense heat scared away the doctors as they watched her bones break and mangle themselves into a new form. A horn grew painfully out of the woman's head, red squirting a bit as it did so. Her fingers began to retract into her hands and her skin began to peel away to reveal the black chitin beneath. After an hour of extreme pain, the newly made changeling queen difficultly stood on her new legs and glared at the scientists around her. She was trying to have a stance of pride; A stance to show that they were beneath her, but the pain was too much. She kept her right eye closed and seemed to be stumbling onto the left part of her body. Her eyes were a gorgeous red. They weren't too dark, but they weren't too bright either. Her mane and tail followed suite. The mane was curved into the 'rounded head' shape but had two sharpened 'tusks' gently sitting on the sides of her head.

"Do you know who you obey?" one of the doctors asked.

"What did you do to...me? What's...what's...gah!"

The queen fell to the floor as her mind and memories began to tear away and be replaced by the fake ones implemented within the serum. She started to cry as all her memories were violently torn away. Her friends, her family, her loved ones. The memories of her past, her lessons, and, worst of all, her parents. All gone in the blink of an eye.

"It's this moment that they break," the scientist in the observatory said.

Doctor turned slightly to show that he was looking at his company, implying that he was well aware of this and shouldn't be told the obvious.

"Who do you obey?" the doctor asked again.

"Y...You...I am here...to submit...all to my...will..." the queen forced herself to say while tears beaded down her muzzle.

"Excellent. Bring in the breeders. She will need her own hive."

"Is that wise? Perhaps some recuperation would be in order?"

"She has shown herself to be strong enough to resist this serum. She can deal with the pain of changeling birth and reproduction."

The questioning scientist lowered his head so as to indicate his understanding and followed his colleagues soon afterwards. As soon as the door closed behind them, a larger door opened opposite to the queen. It was very tall and large, and some rather bulky changelings walked through. They seemed to be frothing at the mouth as well.

"What..." the scientist stammered.

"Specially designed to only think about reproduction. They are a disgusting bunch that are placed under stasis when not in use. Otherwise, they are simply shot."

"I see."

"Let us leave. I wish to see the prototype before I make my report."

As the blinders closed shut, the scientist caught glimpse of the three massive changelings charging towards the queen, a muffled 'no' coming out from behind the armored panels.

"I'm curious, sir," the scientist said as he programmed the new coordinates into the observatory. "Why do you keep the prototype? You have never kept prototypes once they were void of use before."

"Because I consider it as...something of a 'pet', if you will."

"I do admit that it is amusing to see her crazed rants and watching the mindless changelings obey her every whim."

It didn't even take a second for the protection to open that green piles of goo were thrown against the wall housing the observatory.

"Charming," Doctor mused.

"Go away! My changelings! Mine! Children...mine! Not yours. All for me. Not for yours-you-yuck. Icky thoughts!"

The prototype smacked her head with her hooves. She was an exact replica of the 'donor' of the dna: Queen Chrysalis. The only difference was her obsession with her children, the deplorable state of filthiness she was in, and the more obvious mental state she was in as well. She galloped towards an enormous pile of eggs sitting in the corner of the hangar and began to hug them. 

"Did she just forget we're here? That's what she does when nobody is watching her," the scientist wondered as he watched the monitors.

The queen's ears perked up, then she gasped and looked up at the wall where the observatory was. 

"They're here? No. Yes! No...through wall-not possible, must be possible. They're there why not of course. Here for children MY children!"

She began to bury her eggs beneath the mounds of green mucus and slime like a rabid dog, then looked up at the observatory's position with cautious and prying eyes.

"Heheheh," the scientist chuckled.

"I have seen enough."

"Then I should bid you a good day of research when you leave the observatory."

"I will be back later to see the progress of the promising results here. And get better control over the fungus changelings. They aren't that passive for no reason."

"So that WAS you who did that to her! Your mind is frightening."

"And you best respect your superiors in the future. I may be somewhat lenient, but my colleagues are not."

"Tell that to all the guys you incinerated for coloring something wrong," the scientist muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Before I leave, the changeling hive in cell 778 are to be incinerated. They are a failure. They only produce an excessive amount of mucus, and these have no extra properties to them. They are taxing our resources to clean out that hangar and it is trying my patience."

"Yes, sir. I'll get the sleeping gas through the exhaust vents and--"

"Sleeping gas? What for? These are defects. We need the gas for other experiments."

"Okay then. Incinerating," the scientist said as he pushed a button on the projector.

Screams and crackling could be heard from the speakers as the fire performed its intended duty.

"And there we go. In a few minutes, Hangar 778 will be freed for future test subjects."

"Good. I'm expecting a full census on all the hives in three days. I will visit those I find interest in at a later date."

"Okay then. Good research."