Pseudochangelings
"Compare wasps to honeybees and you have a relatively good idea on what these creatures are compared to normal changelings.
They form hives of roughly 100-strong underground, led by a queen, usually next to a town or small city, in order to feed off love and positive emotions, such as joy. They stand about roughly the height of a pony, and they have clear, dragonfly-like wings on their backs. However, instead of the crests that adorn the head and rump, and instead of a shell on the back, they have moth or bumblebee-like hair. Their eyes are also different, because while they are generally one color, the "whites" of the eye, the iris, and the pupil are all visible.
There are four roles in a pseudochangeling hive: guards, workers, gatherers, and queens; all of which are important to the security of the hive.
Gatherers are the most numerous in a hive, generally amounting to about half of the population. They go out into the world and transform themselves into ponies to gather positive emotions, usually choosing to gather emotional radiation rather than drain others by force. They usually gather their emotions by seeking employment in a career that would normally elicit joy, love, or gratitude; psychologist, baker, and nanny are all examples of the jobs they take. In order to make themselves more believable as ponies, each one practices a special talent from a young age, sometimes even posing as fillies when nymphs to attend school!
Workers are responsible for the upkeep and expansion of the hive, in addition to ensuring the safe and proper storage of collected love. They are generally bulkier than either workers or soldiers, because they are the main source of physical labor in the hive. Unlike other changeling hives, the Pseudochangelings keep the place relatively clean; why they do this is unknown. The workers are also responsible for distilling the emotions that the gatherers bring into concentrated emotional essence. Some clever queens capitalize on this; they sell any excess essence they have on the market to earn money, as the liquified feelings magnify the effectiveness of certain potions.
Every member of a pseudochangeling hive occasionally has to do guard duty over the vital areas of the hive. Those whose main career is guarding, though, amount to roughly 10% the population. These individuals act as the leaders in combat, being the field commanders of the hive. The armor they wear generally is metal, their chitin being unsuitable for protection (as the Mane 6 proved during the Canterlot invasion)
Pseudochangeling queens are the leaders, responsible for overseeing every aspect of the hive. They possess power roughly equivalent to a gifted unicorn or pegasus, they are not quite as physically or magically able as other queens. The queen, though, is generally much smarter than the rest of the others in her hive, and possesses an IQ of roughly 30 above average; in addition to towering over her subjects. There is only one ruling queen in a hive at any given time; the queens secrete a pheromone that renders it impossible for other changelings to develop into royalty. When a queen gets old enough, production of this pheromone ceases, only resuming production when another changeling queen is born to either the current one, or to another parent. The queens can live up to 400 years or more.
Unlike regular changelings, all pseudochangelings have both male and female sexual organs, though they usually have some form of gender identity. Further unlike regular changelings, they can reproduce, and often intermarry, with ponies, which is a surprisingly common occurrence due to easier accessibility to love and other positive emotions. Their children are either ponies or other pseudochangelings.
Reproduction is a rather bizarre matter. A pseudochangeling impregnated by a pony always lays a translucent blue egg, from which a pseudochangeling hatches two months later, at roughly 3 years equivalent in pony age. Ponies impregnated by pseudochangelings will either (50%) give live birth to either a unicorn or a pegasus (no earth ponies have been reported), or give live birth to a pseudochangeling (thankfully as a small nymph).
Transforming is also harder to do, requiring more energy to maintain and form a disguise, although they have the unique trait of being able to hold a disguise after being forcibly knocked out. In addition, it also is not uncommon for these creatures to live away from the hive and only return to give up their emotional payload.
Due to this species' similarities with ponykind, those who have studied these creatures often conclude that their traits could very well be a product of a curse; either on changelings so they could better understand ponies, or on ponies as punishment for some foul misdeed. Either way, the changelings like it, because they get all the love they can eat and, better yet, no one tries to hunt them down!" – Unknown.
These changelings were once fully loved by cities that they moved close to since they didn't cause any trouble and filled previous unfilled positions…That was, till people started asking questions. The curse theory was mostly valid until a research team examined some of their blood. If it was an area curse, a curse affecting a whole community instead of a single individual, then either it would be changeling or pony blood. To their surprise and a lot of people’s horror the blood was a mix of changeling and pony meaning that pseudochangelings are most likely pony changeling hybrids. What’s so shocking about this is while changelings can breed with ponies, births have a one in two hundred chance of actually succeeding and even then there’s about a fifty percent chance that they will have either physical or mental disabilities and EVEN then only about thirty percent of those are not sterile. The odds of coming across a hybrid this perfect is very unlikely, not unless the mate is a diamond dog but that’s a hive for another day. There is a chance that a single pony/changeling was cursed as opposed to a community but the idea of whole hives forming from a single changeling is unlikely though still possible. Even if this was true people like to latch on to the scary possibility over the safest.
Now while some see this as a possibility for a bright future where changelings and ponies live side by side the reality could not be darker. The fact is compared to the average pony pseudochangelings are simply superior and that they breed with ponies just as well as each other. This could possibly mean, with time, that the equestrian population may begin morphing into a pseudochangeling population. Some have even started to second guess their intentions feeling that maybe it’s a changeling plot to slowly turn Equestria into changeling lands by making the next generation all changelings.
The topic has split the population with some pseudochangeling hives having changed very little with some villages or cities they feed on even inviting them to show themselves and live amongst us, others have been chased off, some communities having burnt their hives to the ground. This is quite extreme but you must understand that when a noble feels that pseudochangelings are a risk to Equestria he or she uses political propaganda to make it seems like they are trying to end the world. Worse, changelings have always loathed pseudochangelings considering them filthy even by those who find hive Chrysalis purity a joke. The issue with them is pseudochangelings seem to be a perverted twist on the changeling way of life, loving ponies (Sometimes literally) eating the emotions other changelings can’t even digest and their queens being simply the smartest as opposed to the strongest being. Having a chance to spread lies about them while hunting for food is an opportunity they have jump at.
On the subject there are a number of factions that have formed in the great the Free pseudochangeling debate. The Free Pseudochangelings, the Unity, Ponies Against Pseudochangelings (or the PAP) and Ponies For Pseudochangelings (or the PFP). The Free Pseudochangelings are a group of hives that have decided to try and come to a compromise, mainly that they will isolate themselves feeding with the same caution as changelings while banning breeding with other ponies. These hives had to form an organization as many ponies felt that just because their local hive does this doesn’t mean other hives do so this group help teaches ponies about what they’re trying to do. Second it allows them to be separated by more free willed hives when it comes to laws and future political change. Their new way of life has mixed results, some previous hate filled towns leaving them be, some towns not caring and going after them anyway, and other towns try convincing them that they can live however they want. The Unity acts more like a religious faction comprising of both pseudochangelings and ponies. They believe that the pseudochangelings are the key to a unity between changeling and pony, not just in Equestria but in all pony lands like Saddle Arabia and the Free States of the West. The faith has few numbers but is growing steadily gaining followers in the form of outcasts prosecuted for believing in the innocence of the pseudochangelings in hate filled communities. While they bring about messages of peace at the moment there are dark rumors about how full members can ONLY breed with pseudochangelings and they have slowly become more zealous about their ideals.
The PAP are what it says on the tin, a group of nobles and cities who attempt to remove the pseudochangelings from Equestria. Some going as far as to call for their extermination however any attempt to introduce policy in Canterlot has met failure due to Celestia’s interventions although they are growing in number and Celestia cannot say no to the majority of her subjects. Lucky for her the PFP fight them at every turn defending their right to live the way they want. The discussion is heated especially after the Hollow Shade incident where a group of PFP came under attack by armed PAP members causing the PFP to become more aggressive. Celestia has even considered bringing the six elements in to the argument though something big has to happen to tip the balance and force the hand of the Equestrian government.
Overall I am not here to tell you if the pseudochangelings, whether on purpose or not, represent a risk to the pony way of life but I see them as a little threat. If they are going so far as to ban pony breeding then clearly they are not about to try and invade the capitol or take over leadership. They seem to only want to eat, sleep and enjoy life. Whether you think they should be loved and accepted, or forced to leave just to be on the safe side is up to you, not me.
Hive Dragon Tamer
Sadly their kind of taming is more how you tame cattle then a pet like a dog. By far one of the most primitive and simple minded of the changelings, Dragon Tamer changelings are a third smaller than other changeling with no wings, no ability to transform and their magic is weaker only able to fire a weak beam as opposed to the list of spells other changelings can cast. They tend to have a muddy green shell with deep grey eyes along with shorter fangs. Now you must be asking yourself “These guys sound pathetic!” but you will be surprised that not only do they hunt dragons but they are one of the most dangerous hives out there. Why? In the time it takes a changeling to be born they birth fifty. The share amount of changelings that populate the hive is staggering, having a higher population then Equestria and the Griffin Empire combined! The only thing keeping their population in check is the fact that a dragon could kill tens of thousands in a single fire breath attack.
It is unknown who they are an offshoot off considering they don’t have any form of history keeping. Their hive is by far the largest in the world, comprising of about three whole mountains with miles of tunnels underground connecting the three, stationed in Fire Valley a small land of mountains and craggy fields with the highest population of dragons this side of the planet, South East of the Badlands. Not much to say about the hive besides that it's also one of the crudest. Craggy and poorly built, cracks in the walls and huge underground fissures, a kind of biological food chain living inside and while most changelings try to keep their hives warm and dry, removing insects and rodents like a pony would from their home this hive is drenched, cold and full of filth. Needless to say cave ins are common. The only form of architecture is flimsy wooden bridges and structures, the only organization a throne for the queen and the iron will of her enforcers. There’s no organization, hunts just occur when one changelings hungry, gets a couple hundred thousand of its friends together and swarm out of the mountainside like it was an anthill. The hive has no mind, most likely burning itself out from having to control so many changelings at once though they still have a queen that stays in power with iron fist tactics. We only have rumors, second hand accounts and untrustworthy information to rely on but this queen deserves a good mention. Now most of you might noticed I don’t often spend much time on a hives queen mainly because first off, queens come and go and each has a different personality. Second, most queens look and act very similar anyway, usually biological differences being the same as their drones. The queen of Dragon Tamer however is first, rumored to not age at all, second, is an actual threat on par with Chrysalis and third, could very well be among us right now.
What form of class they have is separated into four groups. First are the drones which basically do whatever they want. They tend to add tunnels to make home for themselves or to have a shorter route to a chamber they like and often come to blows with fellow changelings, in fact infighting causes more changeling deaths than any other besides burning to death or being devoured by a dragon. They tend to spend their days crawling over the tunnels finding rats to suck what little love they can up leaving shriveled up corpses, digging their own little hidey hole or talking (And fighting) with others. Usually some drones either get bigger and tougher or collect lots of armor and gear to force their will on others and rise above in power, often these drones have mini wars over territory. Second are shamans who worship the mountain, usually very primitive and barbaric. It’s not really a religion as drones that have faith always become shamans anyway. They act as basic doctors and healers. Third is the queen’s enforcers, though they not so much enforcer as just beat up anyone that disagrees with the queen. They make up about twenty percent of the hive and usually get the best equipment. Drones usually get a simple rusted blade, leathery armor and hide shields. Enforces get rusted iron plate armor, spiked maces dipped in a mysterious poison they call “Queen’s rot” and thick wall like steal shields that tend to overlap in battle so arrows bounce right off their formations as well as redirecting a dragons fire breath.
As an army usually drones act as cannon fodder swarming their foe with share numbers, no strategy or skill. This tends to give the Enforcers cover to advance before breaking into a charge when they get close as possible. This tactic might seem very wasteful but if they fought like an equestrian army their already massive population would simply explode. On top is the queen, Bacchus (Bae-cus) who almost no changelings in the hive have actually seen, only her favorite enforces get a look. Now the idea she does not age is most likely a huge myth but all the changelings there accept it as fact so it is my job to tell you what we know, not my personal opinion on how valid this knowledge might be. She is described as huge, though how huge “huge” is can be debated, massively overweight and somewhat messy and gassy. Apparently there is a series of rules put in place when the hive began, though most history of this time is completely gone so why they were set up (And what a lot of these rules were to begin with) are lost. The rule in question are that instead of the queen getting as much love from the stockpile that she wished, she got ten percent of all the love the other changelings devoured which would have been a good idea to put your subjects first and take care of them so you got more love to eat if the population was in the thousands, not millions or billions that Dragon Tamer has reach and as such, gorges herself constantly. Now how could such a revolting thing possibly be a threat to Equestria? Well during the Great dragon migration seven years ago a dragon watcher named Silent Stalker went up to the mountains to see the dragons up close before they nested, something most ponies never do due to the risk of being seen but she was certain that her hiding ability was unmatched.
She was discovered however by some changelings and brought to the queen. Up to this point their hilly area made contact outside the valley not just impossible but unwanted. They were more concerned with feeding themselves then exploring or expanding. When she was questioned personally by the queen, she found great interest in pony society. The only creature that showed any true culture or societal base beyond a tribal one was diamond dogs and they were quite rare, only the last of Guild Firestone remaining in the mountains as most were destroyed in a war with Dragon Tamer awhile back. The idea of a race that could build artificial mountains (Castles) metal dragons used for transportation (Blimps) and weapons of mass destruction (Unicorn mages) sparked her imagination. The queen wished to examine this world and, to Silent Stalker’s horror, she somehow (It is theorized to be done in a similar manner as hypnotism) possessed her body allowing the queen to use it like it was her own. We have no idea how long she spent amongst pony kind until she was discovered and her mind ejected thanks to powerful magic but it seems that in her time she has taken a massive interest in pony kind and could still be walking amounts us in a new body, even worse encounters with her seem to point to this queen wishing to “Own us” much as they own their dragons.
Threat of invasion aside, most of their love comes from dragons. Usually it involves swarming over them like ants or bees, piling over their bodies stinging them all over until they eventually submit. This process is somewhat helped by using “Queen’s rot” which eats away at the dragon’s scales revealing the fleshy insides and using ballista’s to shoot them down if they take flight. Once down, changelings suck every inch of love from them leaving a lifeless husk behind or if they are not so hungry, chain it up into a ball to disable its wings and powerful limbs before dragging it back into their hive into the “Pens” were it is tied up and used as a renewable love source. The share size of a dragon and their love for gems makes them have massive store of love but as mentioned they take heavy casualties from each encounter. Often the hunter becomes the hunted however as while dragons can survive on gems and plants, it slows growth and can cause development problems. A good dragon puts plenty of meat in their diet and changeling meat tends to have a nice crutch to it. They often claw hive entrances open and shove their tongue down the hole, licking up what they can before eating them up like an oversize ant eater.
The food supply for Dragon Tamer is, horrifyingly, slowly on the decline. Usually the dragon population in the area goes up and down but recently it hit its all-time low. More than that many dragons are considering picking up their homes and migrating to other mountains. Many ponies seem to be worried about a dragon deciding to nest near their homes when by far this hive is a greater risk by a landslide. The queen has shown interest in conquest and they would logically seek out a new love source. There are a number of obstacles that would make this difficult and they come from surprising sources. For one, the United Love Alliance is formed from about twelve hives, including Trapdoor and Ash Raider and is dedicated to fighting off Dragon Tamer, mainly since if they took over Equestria finding love would become incredibly difficult though sadly it seems part of the treaty involves only taking action once the Equestrian royal guard has been defeated. This could mean that, if Dragon tamer is defeated, they might decide to take the defenseless ponies for their own and carve out new states controlled by each individual hive. Second is a much smaller charter called the Unity Protection Action which involves sending a large force of ponies into the mountain to dig its way into the bowels of the hive and detonate magical explosives to cave in the hive, killing anyone inside including the queen. The issue is not many nobles have signed it as Equestria has not had a war in over a thousand years and the idea of going into actual combat on such a scale scares many ponies. Third, the Princesses both believe that they should put diplomacy first and failing that, bring in the elements.
As a whole Dragon Tamer is a massive risk to Equestria, the frozen wastelands and Saddle Arabia, all having pony populations and as such, all grabbing the interest of this queen.