Changeling Headcanon

Changelings are a Eusocial Species, meaning they are a cooperative species with a brood care within a composite nest is supplied by a worker caste that is more or less sterile and lives long enough to assist the previous generations.

They are a species that is mostly female and are separated into three major castes; worker, soldier and reproductive respectively.
The worker caste is split into two types of workers, nymphs and drones, and generally don't leave the hive. Nymphs are younger females that have yet to grow into their abilities and forms. They are shown to have small horns and wings. Drones are infertile males who have absolutely no ability to change forms, but are slightly stronger and more durable than most of the hive. They have wings, but lack horns and active magics.

Next we have the soldier caste which is broken up into three different types, soldier drones, true soldiers and swarmers, all of which play some sort of military role. The soldier drones are fertile males with the ability to change forms for a short period of time. The soldier drones are both the most important and the weakest of the soldier caste. They have horns, but lack wings, and while they have the capacity for changeling magic their's has the shortest time limit to any other changeling. Therefore they are mostly used for defense and tend to stay in the hive as well unless there presence is called for. True soldiers are infertile females with the ability to change their forms for a incredibly long period of time and sport both horns and wings. They are usually used as spies, assassins or collectors and as such are usually away from the hive, but can be used in a large battle if their is no choice. Finally, there are the swarmers. Swarmers are infertile females who contain the ability to change for a modicum amount of time and, while not to the degree of soldier drones, are physically strong and durable. They contain both wings and horns, as well as making up the bulk of the invasion and attack force of the hive.

To finish this off we have the smallest, but most powerful of the castes, the reproductive caste, which contains two types, usually covering no more than six changelings, the Queen and the Princesses.

The Queen is a fertile female who can change forms for an indefinite amount of time and who is in contact with every last changeling in her hive. She, also, has the ability to banish changelings from the hive and is one of the most unique changeling in her natural form within the hive. There is only ever one Queen in the hive. The Princesses of the hive have similar powers to the Queen of the hive. They can hold a form for an indefinite length of time. They can contact either the worker or the soldier caste, but not both and their natural forms are fairly unique to the hive. However, they cannot banish someone from the hive and their is more than one Princess, but no more than five. The entirety of the reproductive caste has both horns and wings.

The stages of a normal changelings life goes as such; egg, larvae, nymph, pupae and then adult. However, a princess changeling is given a live birth as a nymph, does not go through a pupae stage and grows similarly to a pony.