"Calling all of my precious children!" Arachnia calls from her balcony, the changeling palace a crude hall and chambers built from the side of a mountain for the time being. "Now is the time that we take back the lands for ourselves! There is an absolute feast out there and the pathetic Chrysalis failed to provide for us. It's not time to slink away and whimper in the shadows. Now we strike back! We will have all the love we can feed upon, my children, and become masters of the ponies lives... come my minions, come and let us become masters of our own fate!" Arachnia's voice carries out across the depths of the Badlands, the new home for the changelings after their forceful ejection from Canterlot. A confident smile on her fanged lips, she turns and heads inside to address her personal advisors.
At the end of the new queen's speech, Blade Hide got fairly excited at the prospect of taking the land back from the ponies. If there were two things he craved; it was emotional feasting, and getting into conflicts. His beefy, spikey frame was helpful for at least one of these things, and his soldier role was well suited for him. At the end of the new queen's speech, his excitement easily showed as he yelled - rather, roared out an entheusiastic "YEAH! WOO!" as he pounded the rock he stood on with both his fore appendages. Then, fired up, he gave the changeling next to him a happy... albeit pretty hard... punch to the side. "Glory to the new queen!"
Viola was hopping up and down giddily after the short, albeit powerful speech. "Chrysalis failed us! Power to the new Queen, Queen-" Viola blinked stopped her bouncing. Now that she thought of it, she had no idea who this new queen was anyways. "Uhh... Long live the new Queen!"
Somewhere nearby, there seemed to be a changeling who didn't live on Love, but caffine. He jittered as his head whipped around, taking in his surroundings at an incredible speed. "G-g-glory! Hailtothenewqueen! Hail! Hailhailhailhail!" He began nodding emphatically, which to most might appear as if he were shaking a gnat from his brain cavity. This changeling would be the one named "Tic" (appropriately enough). He turned to the changeling next to him. "Ican'tcan't...can't wait! We need need need l-love to live onandand...and and and...this Queen'll getitforus! We'll be the Mas-Masters of our fates! Mastersofourfates!" He began bouncing up and down. Well...more like vibrating in place.
In the colossal monster of the lecture hall, Professor Follia is teaching. His voice carries all around the curved room, falling on the students slumped everywhere while jotting (or more likely doodling) things as the stallion in the silver mane stands on the precarious ladder leaning on the bottom lip of a lion's open jaw. He seemed incredibly uncomfortable with the professor poking around in his mouth while the metal supports resting between both sets of molars to keep them apart. The goat head on the same set of shoulders seemed otherwise unfazed. In fact, it was spending a lot of time bleating at the first row, eyeing up the notebooks. As the mood of the lion grew to greater amounts of irritation, the hissing from it's other end began to increase. "As you can see, the Chimera has all the patience of a gnat." Follia complains as he continues to look around inside the lions mouth. His hooves knocked on each tooth in turn, the lion's eyes twitching with every knock. "Ah ha..." A quick snap and Follia leaps from the ladder, carrying something in a kidney dish. It was now that he spotted a smartly dressed mare in the doorway. It was now that the Chimera howls into the ceiling, pacing on the spot, his tails still hissing. Each claw on the front paws scraping another line into the floor. "Professor, what are you doing?" the mare said as she swept into the room, her shoulder length bubblegum coloured mane betrayed her as a fun loving pony. That was not the case however as thirteen expelled students will attest too. "I am making a herbal remedy from rotten chimera teeth." Follia said moving to his desk. A toad sitting in a jar began to make a jazz fusion trumpeting, adding bass every other beat. The bubblegum-maned mare moves closer and takes a good long stare at the toad. "I've never seen this species before..." she said, peering closer. "Is it indigenous here?" Follia gives the jar a loud banging on the side and the music grumbles to a halt: "Shut up! Nope. One of the students had a mishap." "Oh..." She watches Follia drop the tooth in the pestle, smashing it down to dust with the mortar while keeping everything steady with two hooves. Follia then drops the mortar, reaches under the desk and places two glasses and a golden liquid in a thick-glass bottle. Then Follia points a hoof to something behind her: "Excuse me. Would you mind feeding Margret?" "Margret?" She asks. The old professor's eyes gesture up to the chimera, shaking the mouth struts out of her mouth. Nerviously, she agrees: "O-ok..." "Good, the bottles over there." Once the mare had turned her back to him to go investigate Margret's food, Follia tips the tooth dust into one of the glasses. He then pours some of the liquid in both glasses. The pony with the bubble-gum mane finds what Follia had meant: "This is Maple Syrup." "Yes! She loves the stuff." Gingerly, the mare begins to drag the huge, blue container towards the chimera. Once it was in range, Margret's lion head makes a bee-line for the sap, lapping at it like a kitten. "Now." Follia said, taking over a tray to the mare. "A little drink." She was rightly unsure. "Please, I insist." Against her better judgement, he picks up a glass, gulping it down. "To inspectors." Follia places the tray on the floor, grabbing the other glass. He gulps it down before dropping the glass on the floor. "I'm not an inspector. My name is Blue Sky. I was actually wondering if we could talk in private?" At the mare's words, Follia's face dropped. "Your not an inspector? Your not here to sit there and make long lists or tell me to stop the locust races?" Panic was filling the old professors face. "No. Sorry, Locust races?" Agitation entering her tones too. "So, your the pony that's been snooping around. We all thought you were here to judge us." He said, nervously laughing like a boiling tea-kettle. "I'm so sorry." "What?" The mare flops sideways with no warning and no movement left in her body. "That was not meant for you...I am sorry." Follia said, remorsely. "Mitzy, get the smelling salts. False alarm."
Viking spun in a happy circle, and leapt into the air in a weird dance. She clapped her hooves (?) excitedly, and spoke to the jitterbugging pony next to her. "I am so excited! We will get those ponies! I know we will!"
Barely half an hour after her speech, soldier changelings begin to search the hive looking for volunteers to be the first infiltrators. They will be the very forefront of the invasion force, with a briefing from the queen herself and relied upon to guide the forces in future. The soldiers accept all comers as they seek those wanting to prove themselves to the new queen.
Meanwhile, Tic was talking one of the soldier's ears off as he trotted along side him. "...andthenIsaidtomyself...I-I-I want to prove my self self self to the new Queen. New Queen. SoIthoughttomyselfthat maybe...I should should should...should...find one ofthesoldierswhen they come around so maybe maybe maybe I c-c-can join up and beaharvesterofloveandjoyandhappinessbutmostlylove be-be-because that whatIfeedupon. Feed upon." He then grinned and nodded, satisfied that he made his case.
The soldiers gather the recruits and bring them to the palace. Arachnia looks over them with a smile. Perhaps not the best, but each to their own... "So, my precious darlings. You've come to serve me, the great queen Arachnia. Your first task is simple. Infiltrate a settlement to the northwest known as Ponyville. It is sufficiently small enough to go under the palace's radar should trouble arise... I trust you all can get there?" She asks her recruits.
Dark Shine woke up in his bed, and yawned. He'd probably over-slept. But then again, he often did. He went over to his balcony. It seemed quiet. Quiet was nice. Dark went back inside and went downstairs. When he got there he looked at his to do list. -Dark Shine's todo list- . Nothing . Buy some apples . More nothing . Maybe do the weather if not already done . Again nothing
Blue Sky is jerked awake by the smell of ammonia. She coughs, her vision clearing away to then see that she's currently slumped in a colossal leather chair. Although, the rough texture doesn't feel like cow skin. She faces a bookcase that reaches into the ceiling. Her view of it is obscured by Professor Follia and the face of a short, shaggy dog with a concerned face. "I cannot apologise enough Mrs Sky. I really can't." Follia said, his despaired face hopeful that there's no side effects. "You..." Blue Sky mumbles, "You poison inspectors?" "Ah, yes, well..." Follia said, bashfully dancing around answering. "I like to play with them...See if they actually know what their talking about. I don't like the idea of being judged by somepony that doesn't know his horn from his hoof, magically zoologically speaking." "So you poison them?" Follia scoffs: "Right in front of them, for them to see. If they stop and ask, they pass the test! I inspect the inspector! Whoever hired the stream of idiots that waltz into my classroom should pay me quite frankly." "I see. Do you ever manage to kill any of them?" Blue Sky asks. "Oh, Celestia no! I'd never kill them; only make them fall unconscious or hallucinate. I seek to knock down a few pegs those that have no business judging me." Follia replies, "Now, you had a purpose for coming to see me?" "We require your expert eye for some Changeling samples we collected. We hoped you might be instrumental in creating some specialist, anti-changeling measures. Following the recent attack-" "I understand." Follia interrupts. "Just tell me where to pick them up."
