Project HIVE
Chapter 5: One More Secret
Previous ChapterNext ChapterSpark Fire had no interest in hearing anything from Dr. Test after his project caused the deaths of so many ponies, however he was stuck with hearing him while the platform continued its way. Against his better judgement, he listened to whatever the message was about.
"I started this project with the goal of giving ponies the changelings' ability to feed on love. I hired 3 of Canterlot's most brilliant scientists for this project, promising to share credit. However, I wasn't really going to. This project is all from my mind and only I will be recognized for it, they lack vision. Although, I must admit I had the same problem when we started this project. At first the goal was simple, but now it has evolved. During my first experiment, I tried to mix the genes of a pegasus who 'volunteered' for the experiment and a changeling, believing that the answer was somewhere in the changeling's genetic code. The result was a pony-changeling hybrid. At first I was shocked, but then I realized that this little 'accident' was in fact the start of something greater. The project's original goal was too basic, but I changed that. Why be a pony that can feed like a changeling when you can be both a pony AND a changeling? This was the birth of a new, superior species!"
Spark Fire was surprised to learn that the project was indeed originally intended to be beneficial to ponykind, however his suspicions about Dr. Test's insanity remained correct.
"As expected, my colleagues saw this as an abomination, so I kept performing my experiments in secret. With time, all the new hybrids displayed a changeling's behavior and even transformed into changelings, an unexpected side effect which I blamed the changelings' DNA for. It was time to see how they ate. I put a pegasus in one of the containment cells with a hybrid to see the results. The hybrid fed on the pony's love, and apparently it wasn't enough...it proceeded to eat the pony. My colleagues were shocked, but I was fascinated. It meant that these hybrids were able to feed on both love and flesh. Of course, ponies are mostly herbivorous in nature, so I believe this is another side effect. Other hybrids instead of eating their victims did something far more fascinating, they encased them inside of cocoons and after an hour the victims emerged as changelings. This was truly my best work, not only did I evolve ponies, but I also gave them the means to evolve others! Then again, my colleagues were not happy with this. I eventually thought of a way to make them see the wonder of my work themselves."
Spark Fire was now starting to see the true extent of the doctor's madness, and he knew he was not going to like what was coming next.
"I isolated different DNA strands from the changelings, each of them somewhat unique. I gave them to 2 of my colleagues, and the results were simply intriguing. One of them died, and the other one became a new kind of hybrid, one that more closely resembled a pony, but could not feed on anything. I learned my mistake afterwards, both strands I used had recessive, incompatible genes. It was time to do some new investigations, and I eventually isolated the Queen Strand, the one that undoubtedly was present in the changeling queen's genes, and would make the subject a hybrid while retaining their intelligence unlike the other hybrids, and even take control of them. Before testing it on myself, I needed another test subject, and I remembered that my colleague White Rose had been acting suspiciously. Needless to say, she was perfect for the job. However, I found her planning to leave with her husband and daughter and expose the secrets of my project to the Princess. I couldn't allow this, not when I was so close to reaching the perfect result. I did what had to be done, I kidnapped her daughter, an action that unfortunately required killing her husband, what a shame, he would have been a good test subject. When White Rose confronted me, I gave her the choice...to be the last test subject, or to leave and tell the Princess, making her daughter the last test subject. She chose to try to murder me outside of the lab, but she was not able to, and I eventually took both of them for the experiment, injecting them both with the Queen Strand. They both began to mutate, but their transformation was not what I expected. After 3 days of observation, I came to the conclusion that this mutation led to the strand becoming more powerful. I am now going to the newly made 'Throne Room' of the 'White Queen' as I called her to isolate the new strand for myself. With this, I will become the perfect specimen of this new species! I will make all of Equestria see the results of my project, and make the world change, bring the evolution of ponykind!" Dr. Test began to laugh like a mad pony as the message ended.
Spark Fire had now heard everything. Dr. Test was the worst pony he had ever known. He could only imagine what Dr. White Rose, her colleagues, her daughter, and all the ponies involved had to suffer because of Test. He now knew he had to leave the complex and tell the princesses what happened, or else nopony would know and the new changelings would get out of the complex and into Equestria, endangering the entire land.
The platform reached its destination, and Spark Fire saw something that at first shocked him but later made him feel satisfied. Dr. Test was lying beside the door, the chest and stomach ripped open and without organs. Spark Fire walked near the mad doctor's corpse, and said the first words that came to his mind.
"You brought this upon yourself, you monster..." Spark Fire looked at the dead doctor's face and wanted to spit on it, however the C.S.D. was covering his mouth and he later thought that even that was too good for the heartless doctor.
He looked at the door, and tried to open it with Dr. White Rose's card, but it did not work. He took a look at the doctor, noticing he still had his own card on him. He took it from Test's dead hooves and opened the door, then threw the card at the corpse as he walked into the Throne Room.
Author's Note
We are getting to the end of this nightmare.
As always, feel free to criticize.
