//------------------------------//
// Visiting the Hive 
// Story: The Queen Is Dead, Long Live the Queen 
// by Diamond Sparkle 
//------------------------------//

The next day Rarity found that more then a hundred ponies, several of them with saddlebags full of bits and jewels, had decided that they wanted to view a place that no pony who entered normally ever left again...a Changeling Hive. She smiled when she saw them.

"So many of you have come. That's a bit of a surprise, given how scared many ponies can be of the unknown. But you can trust me, I'm not going to have you cocooned and your love harvested by force. Allright, the rules. There are not many but you do have to follow them. When you're going to the Hive with me, don't wander off. Mine is not the only Hive, and a lot of changelings are deeply conservative and don't want ponies coming anywhere near their homes. If you stray into their sections of the Badlands and get caught, I'm not going to start an inter-changeling war or pay a huge ransom in love to get you back. Once you get to the Hive, no fighting, no stealing and if a place is blocked off, it's blocked off for a reason. It's either dangerous to ponies to enter, or private property. We have homes too within our Hive. Only the newly hatched changelings fresh from the egg sleep in dormitories as it's a lot easier to feed them that way."

The ponies and Rarity got onto a train that would take them to the outskirts of the Badlands and cut the travel time dramatically. It had beds, as it would take a full day and night even going at the maximum safe speed to reach the border post. Rarity passed the time answering all kinds of questions about changelings.

A purple pegasus with a magnifying glass for a cutie mark asked "How many changeling hives are there, and where are they?"

"I'm not sure exactly how many hives there are, and as for where they are? Tartarus no! Even if I knew, I'm not going to tell where they are to anypony. What if you ponies drove them away or worse? If they found out I'd informed on them, it would be such a major breach of the Changeling Way that every 	Hive would march on mine to destroy it as an abomination. The Hives are by no means always friendly to each other, but one thing we never do is inform on each other to the other races of Equestria. Every changeling learns that as soon as he or she is capable of learning anything."

A brown earth pony asked "Do you only feed on love, or on other food as well?"

"Now that's something I can answer. Both, but as long as we have a good supply of love, we don't need food."

A unicorn asked "Do you changelings practise free love?"

"Free love? Normally, no. Sick and injured changelings and very young or old changelings get free rations, and there are free banquets on the Queen's birthday and New Year's Eve, but otherwise changelings have to work for their love, either through infiltrating for it or by doing work back at the Hive."

Several questions later, some of them annoying, others inane or unanswerable as they asked about what other Hives were doing, Rarity went to her bed, and the next day the train pulled in at the edge of the Badlands. The sun was just starting to rise, and the wind-blasted pinnacles and towers of stone cast deep shadows over the arid landscape. "Remember the rules  and stay in your group and you'll be fine. This area is ours. Changelings from other Hives fly through it only with our permission. We'll be at our Hive after an hour's trot."

Inside the Primary Hive, Queen Primary was overseeing the clean-up for the visitors. Feeding rooms were discreetly roped off, as it would not do for the pony visitors to see fellow ponies hanging in cocoons. Walls were scrubbed with water to give a good impression, formerly tolerated anti pony graffiti was cleaned off and new bight lines of glowing web were laid down, so that the visitors could see their hooves in front of their faces. Unknown to Queen Primary one of the changelings was an agent of Hive Chrysalis, and he quietly loosened one of the railings that kept any changeling from accidently falling into the main love well, under the guise of maintenance.  When their love well is polluted by a pony, they will be forced into raiding and their friendship with the Royal Pony Sisters will be ruined before  it can properly begin. Won't my Queen be pleased with me?  At last everything was ready and Queen Primary reminded her Hive "Remember, today the visitors are friends, not food. So resist the temptation to attack and cocoon them please, except in defence of yourselves or property. Many visitors will be rich and might well buy things from us, and that means many more bits to spend in pony society. So be good, and remember, friends not food."

Soon enough the ponies were ushered into the Primary Hive, and marvelled at the wonders around them. The changelings had plenty to sell them...dresses and shirts of fine, non-sticky changeling silk, objects 'd'art, edible fungus, beautiful jewellery, changeling weapons, pads of papyrus, watermelons, and various other items. And a lot of bits changed hands before Rarity took the ponies on a guided tour of part of the Hive, showing them various items before saying "And this here is something that is the centre of our world, the main love well of the Hive. Down there is pure pony love, our main food source..." The earth pony that Rarity had spoke to before screamed as the weakened railing partly gave way, and she fell into the well. In a burst of green flame Rarity took the shape of a griffin, and flew down after the plummeting pony, catching her inches from the glowing pink surface of the love.

Hauling her back up, she squawked in rage. "You stupid pony! Why did you try and swim in our love for? If you foul that, how can we get more?" Plonking the pony back on solid ground, she transformed back to her normal form.

"But I didn't jump, the railing gave way." the pony protested.

She turned her attention to the loosened railing. "There is no way that could have happened by accident. We have an agent from another Hive in our midst. We have to lock the Hive down until the agent is found. For now, noling and nopony can get in our out."