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// Changeling Life 
// Story: I am Everypony 
// by Diamond Sparkle 
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"So be it."

The Changeling Queen stepped forwards. "This won't feel nice but you'll have to put up with it if you really do want to become a Changeling." She put her hooves on Diamond Tiara's shoulders and began to drain her of her love, her horn glowing softly as she did so. It was the first big meal she had enjoyed since she was thrown out of Canterlot. The normal amounts of love drained from ponies and other creatures did them no harm whatsoever, but Chrysalis deliberately drained far more then any Changeling normally would. Diamond Tiara forced herself to stand fast.  I may not like this...my head aches horribly and it will only get worse, but to get my revenge for my murdered parents I must become a Changeling. Only then can I get the information that I need to find the killer and find out from him who paid him. As Queen Chrysalis continued to drain the love, Diamond very nearly fainted. Only then did the Queen pick up a short dagger with her magic and make a little cut in her own leg. "Drink my blood, now." Diamond did so, swallowing the salty green blood with a gulp, and the Queen rubbed her wound that soon stopped bleeding. "I will have a scar because of that," said the Queen, as she spun a very different cocoon then normal. Instead of the cocoon for holding Changeling victims, it was more like the egg case that covered the unborn Changeling grubs.

"She will hatch in a day or so, and will be very weak, so when she hatches take her to the Love Chamber and give her a full ration. When her mind is back to full power, give her a day of orientation and then put her to work and keep a discreet but strict eye on her. We can use her for basic labor, digging tunnels, guard duty and the like. And two days a week we will educate her like we educate all our larvae once they grow out of the grub stage.After six months she may leave and get her revenge, and then live as a Changeling for the rest of her life." 

A day later the egg-case broke open, revealing the new Changeling inside. Another Changeling was there and ready for it. "Diamond Tiara, you now have wings. Stretch them out and wiggle them around." 

Diamond did so. I have wings. How useful. As she stretched and flapped them, they inflated slightly and hardened. They looked very different from the feathery wings of pegusai and alicorns. These were more like the wings of dragonflies, scaled up to pony size. She gently raised her legs, marveling at the fact that they worked perfectly and without any pain despite the large holes in them. A gentle touch of her face with a hoof revealed the horn on her forehead, and when she looked at the place where her cutie mark had been, it was gone. The other Changeling spoke. "My name is Quick Change, I'll be your guide to the Hive. We need to get you to the Love Chamber first, you need to be fed to restore you to full strength."

He led Diamond Tiara,  supporting her as she staggered along in her weakness, to the central chamber of the Hive, so deep within it that not even a cannon ball at close range could break through. In the center of  the huge circular room, guarded by several spear-armed guards, was a well which glowed with a soft pink light. "That well, is the most important part of the entire Hive, it contains the love extracted from other creatures and feeds almost everyling. Most other races think we feed from cocooned ponies and griffins, and they are partly right. Changeling eggs can't practically be fed like this, and Changeling pupa at the maggot stage are very defensive and tend to bite anyling that touches them, even their own parents. It's not deliberate, it's a reflex. So they have cocoons hung up above them to feed them with the love that seeps out of them. The Queen herself and the High Generals have a few cocoons for food too, but except on the High Holidays and after victory in a war, we have to make do with the excess love that our disguised agents on the outside bring to the Hive. And sadly there is not often enough of it. So this will be your last big meal for three months, until Her Majesty's Birthday."

He went to the guards and explained the situation to them, and they wound a handle and brought up a gourd full of what seemed like a glowing pink water, and tipped it into a bowl. As soon as Diamond Tiara drank it she felt new energy shooting through every bit of her body.

That day he showed her all the important parts of the Hive that were open to the average Changeling, and the bedroom with the hammock of soft, strong, non-sticky web for her to sleep in. He showed her how to use her own web glands and how to pick things up with the magic of her horn.

From the next day on, Diamond was put to the sort of work she would normally have rejected as far beneath her. Digging new tunnels to enlarge the Hive, using her magic to wield a pickaxe. Long hours of boring guard duty with a spear. What was much more interesting was her lessons with Mr Opaque  learning how to change shape with ease, how to replace a pony and how to pass as one.

"When you are out there and undercover your life, not to mention your love supply, will depend upon maintaining your disguise. With the ponies of Equestria, you can get enough love to survive on often just by being one, although to get enough to feed the Hive, you will need to properly replace another pony in a coupledom. If you can do that, you'll have all the love you can ever drink and more," Mr Opaque told her and the rest of the class.