In the very centre of the Hive, guarded around the clock by Changeling patrols that ceaselessly patrolled the craggy corridors, lay a very special changeling egg. Whilst most eggs were simply glued to a convenient pillar in the Hive's communal birthing chamber, with a number written under it so that it's parents could tell their egg apart from the others, and hatched within weeks, this egg had slowly grown over nine months on a cushion of royal jelly. Great care had been made to feed the growing egg with a rich mixture of different types of love.
To changelings, love had taste. Pony love, the love that was greatly preferred by the vast majority of changelings, tasted as sweet as chocolate but without any of chocolate's long term damage to teeth and fangs. And it was by far the easiest type of love to gather as well. The kidnapping and replacement of ponies was rarely needed, as many ponies simply gave off small amounts of the sweet love as they walked along. All changelings needed to do was take the shape of a pony and walk through a crowded street with their emotion sacs open, and there was enough not only to sate their own hunger but to bring back to the Hive as well.
Griffin love was different. It tasted fiery, like ginger, a taste that some changelings disliked. It was also far harder to gather. Unlike ponies, griffins did not leak love as they walked. The only ways to gather griffin love, were either to take griffin shape and seduce a griffin or capture and replace one. Griffins were hard to seduce; it could take months of careful courtship to successfully earn the love of a griffin. And overpowering one was not easy; griffins had deadly claws and lion paws quite capable of ripping through chitin and tearing a carapace apart. This and the taste of their love meant that most changelings left them alone.
Buffalo love was chewy and tasted like beef jerky. Whilst it was a more popular taste then that of the griffins, it was almost as hard to get. Buffalos were clannish, and their love was for the family and tribe alone. They were rarely alone, and their hooves could crack a carapace, whilst their hairy skin was hard to pierce with fangs. Seducing one by taking the shape of a random buffalo was also quite hard, because of their tribal system and the fact that lone buffalo tended to be in exile from their tribe because of some crime. Most buffalo did not want a criminal as their boyfriend or girlfriend.
Zebra love tasted like boiled sweets and was the second easiest kind of love to gather, although not quite as much of it was shed as that of ponies. The fact that they spoke in rhyme made it quite hard to infiltrate zebra society, unless the changeling had been taught bardic level rhyming first, meant that training was needed first just so the changeling could speak like they did. As such, zebra love was rarely consumed by the average changeling outside the great celebration days of the year. Most changelings thought of it as quite a delicacy due to it's rarity.
Minotaur love tasted like well-cooked sausages and again was quite hard to get. With their horns, hands and fists, and the tools and weapons that they could make and use, only griffins were harder to bring down by force. Despite the nice taste, few changelings found the meal worth the fight that they would have first. Seducing them by taking the shape of a random minotaur was easier then the complex courtship of a griffin, however; all the same, minotaur love did not often end up on the diet of most changelings all that often.
The egg was not alone in it's secure chamber-the chamber was lit up by the soft green glow of ten cocoons containing two ponies, two griffins, two zebra, two buffalo and two minotaurs that had been kidnapped with great care. Only by being bathed constantly in all five forms of love for a long period, would a changeling egg hatch a royal changeling from it instead of an average changeling. Every day a trusted changeling guard had checked it to make sure it was parasite-free. Now that it was very close to hatching, it's mother, Queen Nephila, came with her guards and attendants to see her royal baby hatch.
The Queen was old....her light green wings had become see-through and could no longer carry her as far or as fast as they used to. And her carapace was grey and somewhat brittle with age. She smiled as the shell tore open, revealing the little changeling foal inside, which started to cry as soon as the air hit it. "Hello, my little Chrysalis," the Queen said. "No maggot-stage for you, you are fully-formed as a royal princess should be." Her horn lit up and carried the little foal to her, and she wiped it clean of egg-white and placed it gently on the ground where it stopped crying.. "Time for your birth-test, little one." In a short burst of green flame she took the shape of a huge and fearsome-looking griffin, and there was a similar burst of flame from the ground. Where the new-born changeling foal had been, there sat a griffin chick. The Queen next took the shape of an alicorn, and the chick automatically took the shape of a pony foal. Finally the Queen and the new-born changeling princess both regained their true shapes. "Excellent," the Queen said. "Your automatic self-defence routine works as it should. Not that any attackers would ever penetrate this Hive to get to you." Chrysalis giggled when her mother stroked her still-soft carapace with a hoof.
Soon enough her mother had her carried up to her new bedroom and placed in a cot with plenty of pillows and toys. "Good night, little Chrysalis. Right now, there is so little that you can do, but in the few decades that are left to me I am going to turn you into a worthy Queen to rule this Hive when I am gone."