//------------------------------//
// First meeting, childhood I: on hives, feeding and families. 
// Story: A Changeling's Life: Discussions with Furor 
// by Koekelbag 
//------------------------------//

Start of first block.

"I was born in the Manehatten Hive, to... well, begin with. I was no. 6215, born into a family of 3 brothers and 5 sisters, and I was named Ayemo." the creature began, and several hooves were already up in the air.

Oh boy, this is going to take a long time, isn't it?

Princess Celestia, naturally, began: "Manehatten hive? Does this mean that there are more hives?"

The creature chuckled. "Oh, yes. In fact, every city should have a hive somewhere nearby, both in Equestria as well as in the other countries. I even visited several hives spread throughout the wastelands and the wilderness, if you want to know."

There were several gasps and shocked expressions at this, even Princess Celestia looking surprised.

I... huh, didn't see that one coming... And judging by the expressions of the others, neither did they.

"That's... unsettling, to say the least." Princess Celestia continued, "But I think it's best that we'll touch later on this matter. Twilight, you wanted to ask something.?"

"Yes princess," the recent-turned princess replied. "Ayemo, you said that you were nr. 6215, yes? Did you mean that you were the 6215th changeling born in that year? That sounds like an awfully high birthrate."

"First of all, It's Furor, not Ayemo" the changeling replied.

Curious, he seems to get annoyed by that.

"And to answer your question: No, I meant that I was the 6215'th changeling born in that hive, which already existed for well over 150 years. We don't have a high birthrate per hive, but it is actually the opposite. You see, hives aren't meant to be metropolitan cities, but rather act as both a meeting hub for changelings, as well as a place for breeding, birthing and upbringing new kin. The second reason why our birthrates are so low is because we absolutely cannot have an overpopulation, for reasons I rather not want to talk about just yet because I'm not entirely comfortable to discuss these with you yet." the creature replied, seemingly addressing everyone with that last line. "Applejack, what was your question?"

The goldenrod mare looked up: "Well, excuse my manners, but ya'll were 'born into a family'? I reckoned your kind was hatched from eggs or something like that, or am I wrong?" she asked, an honest expression on her face.

The creature looked with a frown at her, like she asked him if he could shoot lasers out of his eyes.

Note1: Lasers out of his eyes? Ehrm... no, no, that isn't a good comparison... 
...
Can he?
Note2: He can't, silly me. So far my creative writing. 

"We... reproduce, if that is what you're asking," the creature replied, still with a frown on his face, "like your kind does. So... yes, we have sex to make babies, to put it bluntly. As I said before, hives are meant to meet openly with other kin, and to reproduce our kind. While changeling-pregnancies usually last between 5-6 months, as opposed to your eleven-month pregnancies, our method of birth is still the very same. Well, maybe without all the pain and less blood, but still very the same. Perhaps when this... "bridge", as you call it, Celestia," he said, giving a nod to her; "is formed, you could talk with more experienced people like doctors and delivery nurses, I suppose. By the way, why... why did you think we were born from eggs?" the creature asked Applejack, with an interested look on its face.

Aj's cheeks got a faint blush, seemingly not expecting this question: "Ehrm... well, seeing them changelings imprisoning ponies in these... slimy kind of cocoons back at the wedding, I... naturally assumed your kin were born from eggs... Heh, guess I was pretty wrong then, eh?" She finished, pulling her hat over her eyes.

"But..." the goldenrod mare continued, "born into a family with so many siblings? Ya just said that hives have such low birthrates, so why the high number of brothers and sisters?"

Twilight easily picked up on this: "Applejack is right... how could two changelings create so much offspring,  but yet there is such a small birth to year ratio?"

The creature replied, still a frown on his face: "We aren't related by blood, my siblings and I. When changelings are born, we don't stay with our parents. We do know who they are and what they do, in case we want to ever find them again, but they are not the ones who usually raise us. You see, once we are born, we are left in the care of specialized care-mothers. Or fathers, if the biological mother prefers... although male caretakers are much rarer."

Surprisingly, Fluttershy was the next to speak.
Because the word "caretaker" has been said?


Ehm... if you don't mind me asking, but why are your... surrogate parents.. oh no, that was rude... Ehm... do you mind if I called them surrogate?" she asked, barely audible.

"I... guess? If you aren't comfortable with "care-parent", then sure, you can call them surrogates... Fluttershy, was it? What did you want to ask?" the creature carefully said.

Carefully... did he knew that Shy needs to be treated with foal gloves? That... scares me, kinda. 
Note3: He knew, see below. 

"Well... why are there, ehm, surrogate parents in the first place? I mean, do changelings not prefer to raise their own... offspring?" She said, a bit more audible now.

"Oh, no, they don't." The creature replied, "They'll probably go insane if they tried, unless they got special training to become a care-parent before." Fluttershy's eyes grew wide at this, making the creature wince. "Wait, that... that came out bad." 

Seems like everyone wants an explanation for this, going by the surprised looks on everyone's face... although there are a few interested ones as well.
Note4: To be clear, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Pinkie and Trixie were the ones with the interested look. Twilight, on the other hoof, seemed to be lost in thoughts.

The creature hesitated a moment, bringing his left hoof up to rub at his throat for a few seconds before continuing.

"Look, to better understand what I meant, let me tell you more about how my kin feeds. As I previously mentioned, we primarily feed off a being's emotions. Twilight, since I'm sure that you studied emotions among everything Princess Celestia has taught you, would you mind giving a general categorization for the less... educated, shall we say? It will be much easier to continue on your model, then if I tried to explain it all." The creature directed at Twilight, making her look up in surprise.

Less educated? What in Tartarus do you think the rest of us are, a bunch of unschooled ponies? How difficult can it be? There's only about... twenty emotions, right?

"Ehrm, let me think for a moment.... So far, we have defined over one hundred and ten distinct emotional states, which can be brought back to... twenty-four? Ah, no, twenty-five broader categories, which in turn can be reduced to six so-called basic emotions. These six basic emotions are love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness, and fear." Twilight finished, looking at her mentor for confirmation, upon which Princess Celestia gently nodded.

...
Nevermind.

The creature also grunted in agreement, picking up where Twilight left off: "Very well. Generally speaking, a Kin's preference falls in one of those twenty-five categories, preferring to feed of all the emotions that are condensed in that single category. I, for example, am a rage eater, which means that rage, fury, hatred and hostility are all emotions I can feed off."
"On the other hoof, the six basic categories are used to divide our hives in subcultures, each associated with a color, and having special educations specifically designed for that subculture. Again, taking me as an example, being a rage eater puts me by the Anger-group, or the "Reds", since red is the color for anger. As a red, I received education fo-" the creature was suddenly cut-off by Princess Celestia, who abruptly raised her hoof. The creature blinked for a few seconds, which she took as an invitation to speak.

"Remember, you were talking about a changeling's feeding habits, not their education. While I'm sure that that will come up in the near future, please do not stray too much from the subject at hand, all right?' The Princess gently finished, but with an... commanding undertone?

"Huh, did that irritate her? Wonder why Princess Celestia said that like that."

The creature seemed to be slightly taken aback by the Princess's tone, taking a few seconds to gather its thoughts.
"Oh... of course, my apologies." the creature answered. "So, as I said, our kin is restricted by this, as we like to call it, "six & twenty-five system", or the "six-two-five". While we prefer to feed of our individual twenty-five category, we are also able to feed of other categories, provided they fall into the six-category our twenty-five category belongs to. Although, this isn't preferred, since those... meals are much less efficient at sustaining us than we would have if it was an emotion from our twenty-five category. In addition, feeding of emotions outside our six-category does not sustain us at all, as if we were simply eating thin air, though we can feel them as well."

Does this explain why it treated Shy the way it did?
Edit: Yes. I knew that she is a very shy mare, even more at that moment, which is why I spoke the way I did then. F-

...My head is starting to hurt. Princess Celestia gave me a concerned look at this.

"To better imagine this system, let me take myself as an example. My twenty-five category is rage, so I prefer those emotions. I can also feed off irritation, exasperation, disgust, envy, and torment, the other twenty-five categories from the six-category Anger, although rage emotions are much better for me. In contrast, I have no use feeding of the other five six-categories, love, joy, surprise, sadness and fear, and all twenty-five-categories contained within those six-categories." Princess Twilight raised her hoof at this.

"While I understand that there is a whole system based on categories of emotions and the like... how do you "eat" an emotion in the first place? And do you only eat emotions? I mean, how would you acquire proteins, vitamins and the like?" The purple princess asked, raising quite a few fair points with some ponies grunting in agreement.

"For your first question: Well, we simply do. Much like your kind evolved to feed of the plants in the world, or how the gryphons evolved to feed off meat, we simply evolved to primarily feed of emotions. While I do not know the details about the whole process, you could ask one of our scientists in the future," Princess Twilight's eyes lit up at this. "I am not that learned. However, the basic, simplified process, that we learn as a youngling, goes like this: whenever someone exhibits a certain emotion, their body produced certain hormones before to activate this emotion. These hormones, as a side-effect, create a certain... area, if you will, that emits a special type of magical energy. It is this energy, which is different with each emotion, that we are able to feed off. I'm sure that you've heard of other races that can feel these fields as well, such as the emphatic cats or honor-bound minotaurs, or certain individuals attuned to the magical powers in the world like yourself, princess Twilight, but only my kin can use this energy as a source of food. No, wait, we need this energy, or we'll starve and...." the creature was quiet for a moment, looking away and... slightly trembling?

"Anyway, for your second question," It continued, having gained its posture back, "I already said that we primarily feed off emotions... so not only those energies, but also other, material substances. While feeding of emotions provides the same for us as would a pony gain energy by consuming sugars or fats, we still need actual 'normal' food to gain proteins, vitamins and the like. Also, eating actual sugars and/or fats is necessary before we can metamorphose, which I'll get to later. So, basically, while we feed off emotions as our primary source for energy, we also need... well, normal food, although in a much smaller quantity than a non-changeling would need." Rainbow Dash put up her hoof at this, kinda surprising me.

Weird, I thought Rainbow was dozing off with all this theoretical stuff. Guess she's still as sharp as ever.

"What did you say, needing sugar and fats to... metamofose, or something? What's that, exactly?" She asked, with an honest look in her eyes.
The changeling only looked pleadingly at Princess Celestia, who gave only the smallest of smiles, unnoticeable to almost everyone in the room... unless you're Rainbow Dash, of course, making her pout a bit.
Edit: Or a mare named Dawn, it would seem. F-

"We call it metamorphosis. As a magic field, it would fall under the alteration school, and your kind also knows it as mutation, transfiguration, fleshcraft, reshaping, or, perhaps the best known form... shapeshifting."

"You could have just said so in the first place, you know." Dash said, raising an eyebrow. "Don't forget that we aren't changelings, bug, don't expect us to know all your terms from the start." At this, Rarity gave an undignified look to Rainbow, to which she in response only rolled her eyes. "Rainbow Dash, no need to call our guest here demeaning names! Furor, terribly sorry for Rainbow's... uncouth behavior, that is not how a proper host should behave."

"Oh, no, no, that's... pretty accurate, actually. I mean, if you compare us to your kind, we're pretty much... parasites, I suppose?" The thing unexpectedly answered, stunning both Rarity and Rainbow.

"That's a... curious statement, but let's go back to the feeding." Princess Celestia began again. "Why would you go insane if another changeling tried to feed of you?"

"Well, my kin isn't exactly sure why, but... we don't take well to being fed off, not at all. While changelings can feed off another changelings' emotions with no apparent side-effects, the changeling having their emotions drained will eventually lose their mind. There are currently many theories regarding this, in which I'm not versed enough to give a defined run-down of each one, but I do know the simple and general agreed version: We eat emotions, so we can't stand our own emotions being eaten. If they are being eaten, then our mind will break down eventually. Some changelings can withstand this for long periods, even years, while some break after only a few hours, but everyone eventually goes insane." The creature replied, now having stopped to see if anyone was not following.
At least, I think that's why he stopped.

Fluttershy continued again. "So, ehrm, what about those special surrogate parents, if you don't mind me asking?"

"When a changeling is born, they reflexively seek out food, just like a newborn foal would. However, since they don't yet know that they shouldn't go around feeding of any changeling they see, they are still newborns after all, nor are we some kind of barbarians that keep non-changeling slaves of the like that serves as their nutrition, my kin adapted the idea of a "care-taker" a very long time ago. These care-takers would follow specialized programs to... prepare themselves should their emotions be fed off. These programs are harsh, due to how easily one can lose their mind if not properly trained, so being able to succeed in such a program and able to withstand younglings feeding off of you is considered quite an accomplishment, and as such creates such large families." It then looks at Fluttershy again, asking "Is that enough to satisfy your question, Fluttershy?"

It seemed that she hadn't heard it, giving no reaction, likely because she was still taking in all this information. After a small poke by Pinkie, she sprung up. "Ah, eh... yes. Thanks."

At this point, only one hoof was still up in the air, Rainbow's. Somewhat begrudgingly, the creature motioned for her to start.

"What's up with that weird ass name, anyway?" She blurted out, turning some heads, and the creature didn't seem to know what to say. 
Edit: In my defense, this was indeed a question I was not expecting, neither in tone nor content. F- 


Surprisingly, Princess Luna spoke up. "Rainbow Dash, might you perhaps rephrase your question? Why is it a name you find weird, specifically?" She asked, making Rainbow look over to her. She was silent for a few moments, before talking again. "Okay, like. What is that even supposed to mean? I don't know of anything "ayemo", never even heard of it, does that mean something in bug? To be honest, I expected it to be something insect-related, or maybe even with flowers, after your leader." Rarity seemed to want to talk up again, but managed to suppress it. It was still unsure, however. "First of all, Chrysalis was not our leader. Let me make that very clear. Secondly... it's just a name? It doesn't mean anything, not in any language that I know. As for why it doesn't relate to bugs or flowers... there are only so many such things, which is hardly enough for the entire current changeling population, so-"

Princess Twilight interrupted again, asking: "Oh, how big is your population then?" It looked over at her, not answering immediately. "I don't know the exact number, but... for any given country, the changelings that inhabit it is around a seventh of the non-kin living there." 

Twilight was taken aback by this, as were the other princesses. "Wait, hold on... every country in the world?" She asked in a gasp, to which the creature only nodded. "Wait, but that would mean..."

"That's over thirty million bugs over the entire world." Rainbow Dash suddenly said, pausing at her own words.
Okay, that was fast. Seems like she didn't even realize she had already done the math.

After a second, Rainbow Dash's mouth opened, realizing what she just said. "Oh. Wow. Damn, you bugs must be good if we have only discovered just the one. I'm impressed" She continued, seemingly having found something actually admirable for the first time.

Before it could continue again, Princess Celestia spoke up again, having just looked at the clock. "Well, it seems quite some time has already passed, and a lot has been said already. I suggest we take a short break, and reconvene in an hour."

End of first block.

Note4: And so we did. Everyone seemed happy to stand up again after all that sitting down, though no one seemed all that eager to strike up a conversation. The creature moved to the window with Trixie, the six heroes went out the door while the remaining princesses began talking amongst themselves, and I just continued my writings. Nothing noteworthy happened in the following hour.

Edit: Please, I have said so already, please don't call us that. We just did what anypony would have done. TS- 
Edit2: Doesn't change the fact that you have saved this country on several occasions, which makes you lot a hero in my books. D-
Edit3: Sigh. At the very least, please don't write it down as "heroes", use "elements' then. Ts-
Edit4: Alright, if it bothers you that much, I will. D-