Chapters The Changeling Hives by Written Word
Frost Fang and Ash Raiders
Hive Frost Fang
As their faith dictates ten thousand years ago a mass cave in at Hive Chrysalis resulted in thousands of changelings getting injured and much more importantly, hundreds gained independence. Discovering this too late the queen at the time thought eradicating such numbers could have drastic side effects on the hive and as such she decided to banish them instead. Surprisingly though instead of heading to the warm and bountiful south they headed even further north. I can’t say why…Their belief teaches they were called that way but more likely the queen just banished them there probably in an attempt to starve or freeze them. Eventually they went as far north as any living creature had ever gone and on the verge of death, kept going. They came across an ice dragon the size of Canterlot Mountain fighting a being only named as “The Light”. This light consumed all matter and threatened to devour the world and so the dragon fought to defend all life. Feeding the changelings its love she told the changelings they have been fighting for hundreds of thousands of years and with their help maybe it could tip the balance. The fight lasted another thousand years, the changelings breeding and growing in number under the protection and love of the dragon while they sent out soldier after soldier to help in the fight against the Light.
Eventually the Light was defeated and the dragon, tired from fighting for so long decided to finally rest. Before going though she gave her power to the changelings which turned them into what they are now before allowing the use her body to build their new hive. Now you must remember that while this is what the hive believes, the evidence that this ACTUALLY happened are slim at best and is more a religious tale then factual history. Changelings of Hive Frost Fang are snow white with icy eyes and hair. From a physical standpoint they look like recolored generic changelings. The only real physical changes is the fact that each use ice magic as opposed to force like most changelings giving them an ice version of all their common spells but also allows their skin to freeze water on touch. Their hive comprises of a massive mound of ice most notable is the fact that it has a long tail like appendage to its rear and a long neck like appendage at its front, ending in a room chiseled to look like the skull of a dragon. Really what stands them out besides being…well…ice changelings is their religious zealotry. Starting supposedly after the death of this ice dragon the Frost Fang faith believes the dragons mind becoming their Hive mind and the queen is a conduit for it. As such its queen is not really worshipped as a ruler but as a prophet. In their view the dragon continues to watch over them and in return they worship her as a god.
To those of Hive Frost Fang they worship her not out of fear but out of love and to show how thankful they are. This does not mean non-believers are shielded from criticism…Quite the opposite. To the changelings living here it’s not a question of whether you believe the faith is true or not but if you appreciate what you have or not. Those few who choose not to follow the faith are seen as greedy, selfish and self-thinking with no value to the community. Most are chased off by other changelings while those who stay are eventually trialed as a heretic and sent to the hives dungeon.
An interesting aspect of the political structure is that it is a matriarchy society. The faith teachers that the dragon was female and so females are not just given more rights than males but position is based on sex. Drones that work in the tunnels and as frontline infantry are not just all male but forbidden to take the form of a female even when taking a disguise.
Military commanders and those in position of power are females though this does not mean if you’re born male or female you are given a certain role in this society. Instead all fillies are taught from an early age to change sex so all changelings begin their teenage life as male. As they get promoted, eventually they earn the right to be female. Now while some view this power base as feminist the truth couldn’t be more different. Females do not think themselves better than men because all females were male at one point or another. It’s a religion custom as opposed to a political one. Another unique aspect of the hive includes holy leaders also being in a position of power creating no different between church and state, also giving the faith an iron grip on the population. Those who believe have greater rights than those in other hives but as mentioned, non-believers are castrated. Due to this zealotry very few hives ever even bother to communicate with them making the hive quite isolationistic.
Since the start of their history there has been a custom involving the queen being isolated for the majority of her life, the only time she engages with others is to selected individuals who ask her for wisdom which due to how close the church guards her, only happens once every couple of months with political orders and the current situation of the hive being communicated through letters. The idea behind this was that the queen is in contact with the will of the dragon and that isolation along with heavy meditation allowed the queen to better understand its mind and also achieve a higher understanding.
This resulted in a string of suicides however that eventually led to a modification to the custom that allowed a single changeling to act as her assistant and maid. This new assistant would clean and sort her room while the queen was still present, help her with her work and studies, assist in organizing meditation and to be a companion. This did vastly lower the queen suicide rates but did start its own set of problems. Soon the queens kept falling for their maids as one often does when spending all their time with a single person. Having the embodiment of a god degrade herself to mating with a drone does not help the faith but there is little anyone can do about it. Even if they go behind the queens back the maid and the queen spend every single moment with each other even sleeping in the same room. The worst case was an individual known as the fallen queen who left the hive with her maid after the priestesses found out they were together, never to be seen again. It’s told now as a cautionary tale about how easy even the purist of souls can fall to temptation.
Now you must be asking yourself “Where do changelings so far out north possibly get their love from?” Well in the few chances one is ever asked the only response anyone has gotten, including other changelings, is “the dragon provides”. It could be possible they are keeping a dragon’s organ alive somehow and are feeding off that but all we have are theories. The fact they don’t need to hunt for prey though means they are very shut in simply not caring about the outside world. They pose no danger to anyone that’s smart enough to stay out of their hive.
Hive Ash Raiders
Now just like Hive Frost Fang most of the history of the Ash Raiders comes from word of mouth though while Hive Frost Fang decrees this as part of their faith Ash Raiders see this more as folk lore. Hive Ash Raiders believed that thousands of years ago there was a hive far north. The queen of this hive chose one of her changelings to become a powerful warrior, training him for decades and sending this drone on the most dangerous of missions. He grew stronger and stronger as time went on all the while still under the heel of his queen till one day he became so strong not even the bonds of the hive mind could control him and tearing free, destroyed his previous master leadding the other drones to freedom. This is how Hive Ash Raiders supposedly began, known mainly as the hive with no mind.
While Hive Frost Fang is orderly and single minded Hive Ash Raiders could not be more different. The Hive could be better described as a tribe living a simple, if violet existence. To the south east of Equestria is swampland and in the center is a small volcanic bio. The area is covered in a never ending rain of ash and in this hostile environment Hive Ash Raiders exist. One would ask why in the name of Celestia they would reside in such a place but they believe living in such harsh lands make those who survive strong and those who pass away the weak. Still, this results in them having only a fraction of the numbers other hives boast though each changeling certainly pulls its own weight and more.
Biological wise the changelings of Hive Ash Raiders could not be any different from Hive Chrysalis. They show a massive size increase, two times the size on average though some get as big as three times the average sized changeling. They have thick chitin that grows in plates forming an organic armor that, oddly enough, does closely resemble ACTUAL plate armor. Even their faces are coved in a helmet of chitin. They are extremely resistant to heat even surviving in lava for a short time along with red eyes. There are some major drawbacks though. Their wings have disappeared, they’re unable to transform and they have no hive mind which means there’s little order and no sense of being part of a bigger machine.
Their social structure is actually pretty simple. Whoever is strongest is in charge. This might seem quite silly but one must realize in their society and environment the strongest usually survive long enough to take over by being extremely clever and quick witted. Many ponies expect to find their chief some simple minded brute only to be shocked by their intelligence. There’s is a second governmental position in the form of the hives shaman. Now, what is so unique about this position is that this is the role the queen fills making this hive the only major one to not have the queen as top dog. In fact, technically the shaman HAS no power but those of the hive show her so much respect she might as well be second in command. The shaman spends most of her time meditating and communing with the spirits of the mountains, helping to keep the hives customs, what rules they do have alive and perform rituals with other members of the hive. A changeling is not considered officially part of their culture until they have drunk a mixture with unknown ingredients, though it is theorized to contain pond weed and poison joke.
Upon drinking this mixture it is described that they go into a long trance where they fight their greatest fear with some accounts including fighting Celestia herself, being buried alive and becoming a filly hunted by wolves. Once they have defeated their fear they return to our plane of existence. Those who fail suffer a panic attack and are disgraced though can try again if the shaman is convinced they are ready. Oddly enough this ritual can be taken by any species but few have ever even tried since not many people find living in an ash wasteland in a tribal society attractive. It has been put down however in cave paintings who have tried and succeeded and this includes two griffins, a unicorn and a diamond dog though any other information on these individuals have been lost to history.
Love is collected though raiding which while primitive, tend to be quite effective. When in a good mood they offer protection in return for an offering of love every few weeks creating a permanent love source. In a bad mood they tend to burn the village down, steal personal possessions and forcefully pin ponies down and suck them dry. It’s a good chance this is where their name comes from as raiding and warfare have become a major part of their culture. Royal guards have taken the fight to them quite often but have always failed to cause any permanent damage. The biggest issue involves the hives bio. Despite their massive size and fighting strength, they have known defeat through clever tactics and numbers but once they retreat to the ash wastelands no one has actually beaten them in battle though anyone with any tactical knowledge would see why. Fighting in a volcanic ash filled land wearing plate armor is not exactly the best position to be in but to the changelings that live there, its home.
Relationship wise they tend to have good partnerships with hives close to nature or simple ways while those with a strong sense or order and religious beliefs they hate. They don’t seem to have any strong enemies though this is mostly because they seem to be constantly fighting local pony forces. Many people, changeling or not, have attempted to convince them to join some plot to take over Equestria thinking they would jump at the chance with their warlike nature but they live simple lives and their culture teaches them to like it this way. Taking over the country tends to be viewed as not only a useless venture, but could break tribal tradition that has stood since the hive’s founding.
Religiously they tell folk lore and believe in natural spirits as opposed to any single entity. Usually tales are told more for entertainment then anything and range massively from each other, such as how one of their kind tried to live an adventures life only to be crushed by a bolder as soon as he entered his first dungeon to a warlord who made war with water itself, turning as much as he could into steam only for a storm, or the waters counter attack as he called it, to scare off his followers. They tend to have morals along the lines of being happy with what you have and the higher you aim, the farther you have to fall. They believe that the spirits of the mountain watch over them since they were chosen as the favorite people because of their strength and power, worshiping them to say thanks for their favor. They pose a serious threat to anyone living or moving near their land but on a national scale, they will always be a pain but nothing more.
The Changeling Hives by Written Word
Hive Trapdoor
Hive Trapdoor records its history so we know it was one of the groups sent out from Hive Chrysalis by the Cult of Change. They followed a changeling that had smaller wings and weaker eyesight but had grown a small set of claws, ending up in the lower west area of Equestria. Just above the mountains that separated the lush west coast from the dessert south, the water from the sea and the humidity from the dessert resulted in deep fields of soft, almost clay like dirt. While grass and reeds grow in big numbers the heat makes trees a rare sight. Originally they were a surface hive who lived in mud huts but in time they managed to construct a hive underground. It was a long process however as tunnels were easily collapsed though it did have the major advantage of being soft enough for any cave in to cause no casualties as those inside when the ceiling fell found themselves almost swimming in goopy mud, simply digging or swimming their way out.
How they ended up constructing a series of tunnels, let alone good ones are a guarded secret that many hives and diamond dogs have attempted to obtain. They started out as a tribal society but started to write and record after the construction of the main hive. In time those of Hive Trapdoor became a little shorter than your average changelings, wings tiny things that are incapable of flight, much shorter fangs, muddy brown eyes and long thick claws they use for digging. While almost all changelings dig they tend to do so in hard materials, were a cave in is rare. For those of Hive Trapdoor cave ins are very common and while a cave in for normal changelings can take days to clear out, with their large claws these changelings can clear a tunnel in less than an hour. They have yet to completely lose their ability to transform but they still suffer from a major penalty. They are unable to change their claws so often they have to take the forms of diamond dogs or timber wolves, creatures that had long claws to begin with.
Started from when they were still a tribal society, some of the changelings gain love by digging holes in the muck and covering the top with weeds and sticks. Mud fish and insects swim under the surface and many ponies head there to spear fish and Changelings like to spring out from their holes when they get too close and drag them under, sucking them dry before throwing what's left out like an empty bottle for these prey to stumble back into town. Ponies consider them a major annoyance especially since this is how many of them get their food and if taken in the morning that means a whole day they could be hunting is used to recover from the energy drain. They have no interests in invading or even hurting the ponies however not risking their food source on any silly scheme. They get enough love to survive and that’s enough for them.
Now what’s different from the previous hives is that this one actually has two offshoots that live separately but are still connected to the mind and serve the queen. The first originated after they finished the main hive. Some changelings felt that they had connected to their land by living on it and burying “Under its skin” was a grave insult. This feeling was not shared by the rest of the hive. They saw it as a chance to be put on equal footing with the major hives, to live like civilized beings instead of a tribe. The queen decided they would be allowed to live their own way, with their own land, so long as they stayed loyal to her. They set up their new village to the east on more solid ground though they still went to the damp soft fields to hunt. These tribals paint their body with damp clay every day and it’s a tradition that if one ever skipped this, they were giving up their way of life though this law was a little flexible, those few who became free but wanted to keep their heritage do the marking with mud or even house paint. They have an oral history but it’s not as rich or mysterious as, let’s say, Hive Ash Raiders since they still have access to the vast records of the main hive, free to visit at any times. In fact young changelings from the main hive are free to join this tribal group, allowing them to keep their numbers up. This group is not big at all only a couple dozen at any given time but unlike the main hive are peaceful and do not have to deal with war. Those of the main hive tend to call these changelings “The Uncivilized Ones” though this is more as a matter of fact name and not some insult like it sounds.
The second offshoot occurred about a hundred and twenty years ago. The queen at the time saw how the hive was nowhere near as large or as powerful as the big hives like Chrysalis or Frost Fang and blamed it on their land. There was no material for weapons or armor besides leather which was what their soldier wore and apart from paintings there was nothing to use to construct statues or architecture. She felt they needed to expand but needed new lands to do so. She oversaw about a third of the hive moving into the mountains themselves digging deep into the rock in a bid to find materials. This new construct, known as the Outpost, became a military and mining base. Digging deep into the rock they come out with iron, platinum and a few diamonds. In time, the outpost was changed to look more like a temple or fortress from the outside, and while armor is still rare it’s now worn by officers as opposed to everyone wearing leather.
Relation wise they have little contact with most hives though the Uncivilized Ones do have a tribal wide dinner with Hive Ash Raiders every two years. Those hives that do have contact with regularly are not on best of terms. Waging war on a whole hive over how to build tunnels better is a silly idea…Sending special teams in to steal it on the other hand is different not to mention diamond dogs aren’t known from staying their hand when they want something and Hive Trapdoor must react accordingly. Most of the time the hive usually spots threats as they are coming though the fields, from there digging a serious of trapdoors in the direction the force is heading and using sound or flashes of light, slowly distract members of the force leading them away only to be grabbed by a changeling and dragged into their hole never to be seen again. Once the invader catches on and choose to continue they simply dig a giant trapdoor, wait till they're underneath and collapse it stunning the foe as soldiers rush in and attack.
Religion wise the Uncivilized Ones believe in the earth farther, a simple embodiment of nature common amongst tribal societies. Not much to say as once you hear about one group worshiping nature, you hear them all. The main hive however actually believes in three different gods. Vermuta, goddess of the sea, Sindri, god of the mountain and Eliza, goddess of the field. They believe that their gods are just three of dozens maybe even thousands and that a lot of other religions aren’t wrong per say its followers just worship a different god. This leaves them very open minded and allow its member to accept other beliefs as their own. The story goes that when creation was made Vermuta and Sindri settled down on the west coast of Equestria. At first both God and Goddess were ok with company but as time went on each started to get on the others nerve, Vermuta the soft and kind soul but with a monster’s rage and the hard cold Sindri, firm but patient. Eventually both went to war against the other, the land area being flooded by sea water as earthquakes churned the soil. Finally when both gods rage passed they had accomplished nothing, but their conflicted had turned what was once generic grassland into its current state and from the ground grew Eliza. Putting aside their differences for their new surprise daughter the three enjoy an uneasy family life.
Those of the hive worship them as one would worship the Olympians, beings that gives favors and protection to those who worship but do not consider the changeling hive as a whole their responsibility. Most changelings tend to worship only one of the three, those who spend most of their time mining or underground Sindri, those who spend their time on the coast or at sea Vermuta and those hunting or gathering Eliza. There are many legends of a changeling or even other mortal races being chosen as a champion of a god before being sent out to do some amazing feat or save the world, along with ancient relics and weapons blessed by the gods themselves that have amazing power. Most of these are lost but a handful of relics have been recovered and stored in each god’s respected temple away from the public eye. The changelings of Hive Trapdoor are little threat to anyone so long as they stay away from their land but any entering without permission will find themselves with a speared ribcage.
Hive Honeycomb
“The Honeycomb Hive is known to prefer hot and humid rain forests. In contrast to other hives they don’t necessarily build their lair underground, but may simply hollow out trees. They are less actively aggressive than other hives (of which the Chrysalis Hive is the most aggressive) and more seldom venture outside their designated area. Their favorite method of trapping creatures is to disguise themselves as dancing females and to lure males into their traps. Those are especially sticky since the hive has an affinity for sweet nectar - and blood. They usually wait for their target to weaken inside the trap, so they can more easily apply hypnosis spells. If they are not outside dancing and creature walks into a trap all by its own, it may take a worker weeks to notice it, which usually leaves a lot of creatures to die in the humid heat.
Hive Honeycomb is a rather tricky hive to dissect mainly because while they offer little threat, they are at the same time the most dangerous hive out there. Their history is somewhat elusive, using tree paintings and markings to tell legends and stories. What we do know is this hive don’t seem to be an offshoot of Hive Chrysalis due to the share distance of which they would have had to travel, living in the jungle areas of south east Equestria. They seem to worship some kind of centipede god though this does not take up a huge part of their culture, with a handful acting as shamans and a majority not even bothering to worship her. They are at face value seemingly like they have the best deal biological wise.
They have the same abilities as the pure Chrysalis but also have the ability to produce a toxic honey, can make their skin sticky on command and each and every one has hypnosis ability on par with a queen. They do however have one huge issue, their numbers are far lower than other hives, breeding being slow and difficult. Today they number only a few hundred changelings though at their peak they had just about nine hundred changelings despite having three hives under the same banner. This means they value their own lives as well as the lives of each other much higher than most changelings. In order to maintain their hives with such low numbers they turn to husks.
Now one of the biggest myths is that all changeling hives use husks, ponies that have had every inch of love sucked right out of them turning into zombie like slaves to do their masters bidding, eventually being turned into changelings themselves. This is MASSIVELY false. If changelings did indeed have the power to turn ponies into zombie slaves then why not just form a zombie army and take on Equestria? More than that relying on other ponies to transform as an act of breading is rather stupid to be honest. Sure ponies like to scare themselves at the idea of becoming the monster under the bed but if they did have to steal ponies to breed they would have to capture whole towns and villages in order to keep up with demands and with the hundreds of hives all the ponies would be swallowed up in less than a year! Not to mention when a hive needs to lay low or isolate themselves there would be no way to replace losses. One could argue they do it along with normal breeding, but the time and resources needed to turn a pony into a changeling would just be too impractical, if possible at all.
However, there are a handful of hive that DO use them with Hive Honeycomb the most well-known due to their access to huge numbers since they need them in order to get anything done. They are also one of the few hives that throw away the act of tunneling altogether instead hollowing out a series of trees in a location using their honey as concrete to stick branches together and form bridges. Each tree is separated into different jobs such as holding eggs, beds, husk stables etc. One could easily compare it to a normal hive just above ground instead of below.
Hive Honeycomb has, sadly, a violet past, quite odd considering the hive hasn’t showed any aggression outside the jungle. About 230 years ago the hive had a population boom, at least compared to their usual numbers and believed the best way to keep this boom going was to gain more husks. At the time there were far more husks then there are now thanks to treasure hunters looking for temples after one was discovered on the edge of the jungle with some gold left over from looters. Eventually people gave up on this but not before most of them followed seductive dancers into the darkest parts of the jungle never to be seen again. It was believed by the queen that the rise in population was because with so many husks doing jobs for the changelings besides hunting they were free to do whatever they wanted and this time was used to further relationships. As such she set up an expansion of two addition hives that would cover different parts of the jungle to gain more husks which in turn would result in more free time and then more breeding. One hive was built into giant tree, such creations rare in the world. It was previously occupied by nature worshiping pony tribals but they were wiped out. The second hive was set up to the south towards the mountain range, this area being the territory of jungle dogs. Think tribal diamond dogs who forgo their gem lust for spider lust, riding and worshiping giant jungle arachnids which are far more feral and animalistic than the intelligent cave verity.
Now this might be a good time to point out how hive expansions work. Whether it be space or population problem, for defensive or economic reasons, some hives expand into a number of hives. This is why it’s a bit complicated learning about these multi hive hives as you can see from this description alone. A group that follow a single queen and hive mind IS a hive, but the homes of these changelings are also called a hive, so hives can have any number of hives…Confused yet? Anyway, what these hives are called depends on the hive itself. As in, previously hive Honeycomb called its three hives North Hive, South Hive and Capital Hive (inventive lot aren’t they?). Back on topic the north hive was much closer to the jungles borders and this started to get the attention of local pony villages. Before, only those who delved deep into the jungle were taken away but now they can’t even get water from the river without some exotic dancer popping up. In time their anger grew and they formed a militia with the plan of culling the changelings, hoping it would warn them away from their towns. At first hive honeycomb didn’t think anything of it, just set up some dancer and drag the inexperienced peasants away.
What they didn’t count on was the mob pooling their bits to hire a series of mercenaries to train them and act as a spearhead for their force, including a professional changeling hunter. When the hunts were done, three dozen changelings were killed which might not seem that many compared to the thousands and thousands of Chrysalis, but to Honeycomb it was as if they killed hundreds. Enraged, they didn’t even wait for the queen to respond to the incident before they used their husks to attack the villages. It is unknown how the queen would have reacted, she was forward thinking but loved her subjects and the death of so many would not have gone down well with her. It doesn’t matter now as towns found themselves suffering from a zombie invasion, family barricading their houses, ponies being dragged screaming back into the jungle to be converted, even the royal guard outpost was overrun. Sadly, this was a horrible mistake on the changeling’s part as it would result in a MASSIVE retaliation.
Royal guards, militia, even a few noble’s men at arms joined together and marched in on a counter attack starting the short Honeycomb War. Retaking the villages were easy, they set up a defensive line and let the husks throw themselves onto swords and spears. The jungle fighting however was a mess. The heat and insects made even marching in the heavy armor painful with husks rising out of swamps and from atop treetops, dancers slowly and silently pulling away men from the main line into the darkness. Suffering from big casualties they still marched on the hive besieging the tree. Their plan was to starve the changelings out but when night fell, many men were seduced into the tree to act as food. Reluctantly they decided a full on attack was the only way to see victory. At this time the queen had to make a tough choice. Send in reinforcements and risk retaliation if the hive fell or stay her hoof and protect the capitol hive. Neither wanting her subject’s deaths, nor the possibility of the hive’s destruction, she sent orders to the south hive to send men to help them.
This order arrived but was never acted upon due to their own problems but that’s for latter. If the south hive had hooked up with the north hive there was no doubt they would have defended their position, maybe fall back or organize some kind of treaty. Sadly this was not to be as the ponies marched into the long weaving dark tunnels. This cave fighting has been described as hell, husks reaching out of the pitch darkness, changelings coming out of the walls themselves, nothing but a handful of torches for visibility, many groups found themselves surrounded and overrun, others wiped out in a matter of minutes after contact. Panicking, the ponies in command ordered a new plan to be implemented, to destroy the tree itself. With both ponies and changelings fighting in its body, explosives and fire magic was used to destroy the trees roots, the thing crashing down killing hundreds. The changelings that survived scattered leaving their husks behind who, without guidance, slowly awoken to their surroundings and were taken in by the ponies as they recovered. It was a dark day for both pony and changelings kind, though it could have been worse, god forbid how things would have ended if they just set the whole tree on fire.
These changelings returned to the capitol where they were consumed back into the fold. An envoy was sent out and a treaty was signed, Honeycomb would stay away from the jungles edges and the ponies will show no military actions within the jungle without the approval of the changeling queen. This treaty still stands todays, though changelings do move closer and closer to the edge as their hunger grows but in such a slow pace the ponies just don’t care. During this time the south hive had suffered a massive attack. Originally, when their hive was built they removed a tribe of jungle dogs as their camp had a perfect tree density to build a hive on. These dogs had actually united a bunch of other tribes to form a primitive army. The changelings and jungle dogs had a few battles in the jungle but were soon under attack at the hive itself. When orders to send changelings and husks to the north hive to help them, they ended up not acting on it as they were afraid if the jungle dogs attacked in force they would be overrun. Whether Honeycomb has more freedom or if the changeling in charge was just free is unknown. The destruction of the south hive was not overnight like the north hive, it was far slower the jungle dogs simply attacked over and over, causing some deaths before retreating back when the changelings organize to retaliate. In the end, it was not a massive blow but a thousand cuts that ended the south hive and giving up, the changelings and husks just left it to the dogs and retreated back to the capitol.
Today, Honeycomb is relatively peaceful where ponies are concerned, despite using husks they take ponies because they need food not to grow some kind of giant workforce like before and with the smaller population they don’t need that many of them either. Still, stallion or mare, ponies know to stay out of the deep jungle less a dancer drag you away, sex doesn’t matter all are seduced. Jungle dogs however have not lost their hatred for the changelings and while skirmishes are much more common, the odd battle does occur every few years. As a threat, just like hive Trapdoor, just stay out of their land and they will stay out of yours. A live and let live hive one would say.
The Changeling Hives by Written Word
Greeter, Firestarter and Icebreaker
Hive Greeters/Fillyton Village
Now many would look at the name and say “Hive Fillyton Village? That’s a stupid name” But actually the hive now believes themselves as Fillyton Village, for their story is somewhat tragic in a way. An offshoot from Hive Frost Fang, those who could not take the faith usually snuck out and became a part of this hive which started as a like-minded group but grew as more changelings went there with no other place to go. The hive itself is settled on the lower peak of the smallest mountain (Mount Filly) of the Chrystal Mountains since many explorers, adventurers and miners often take that route to enter the frozen waste looking for old ruins, rare mineral veins or just find something no one has ever seen before.
Lacking the resources to build a hive from scratch they instead built a village out of whatever they came across, mostly rock and trees dragged up from the mountains base. The original plan of the ponies was simple. As ponies went through the village to rest and get supplies the whole town would be friendly and kind, sucking up their love as they went along with their business. Things went south fast when one of the explorers accidently entered what he thought was a bathroom but was really the back of a house, walking into the kitchen where undisguised changelings were ironically, cooking him his dinner. He panicked and was tackled by said residence, imprisoned until he managed to escape. The Hive was terrified of retaliation but it never came. It is unknown what happened to this little adventurer but no report was ever given to the guards.
The Changelings after a long discussion decided to instead take the form of ponies constantly. Originally this was just till the flow of travelers slowed down but as it sped up, the changelings found less and less chances to change back into their original forms. The end of the hive came with the construction of a trading post nearby calling in traders and merchants from all over the area, some even coming from the hot south just to get their hands on some exotic wears all passing though and staying at the town. As time went on the fact they were changelings was brought up less and even their children didn’t get much of a chance to learn about their heritage and in time, they forgot completely.
Only one changeling knows that the town is actually a hive, the midwife. In town she is worshiped as a kind of village elder and is supposed to keep the village secrets, the fact the town is a hive being one. The ponies themselves think their young are cursed so that if a second set of eyes see their young they are turned to ash, a lie made up by the first midwife so that mothers never find out they are actually lying eggs. Children are taught how to change into ponies before they can even walk so those who grow up can’t recall their time as a changeling and the changelings had gotten used to feeding so much their bodies do it automatically now. The towns secret was revealed when a scientist cast a detect changeling spell, a powerful spell that required the hiring of over a dozen mages, in the hopes that hive Chrysalis was actually deep into the mountains receiving a big reward from Celestia for the location. Instead however he discovered the whole town was changelings and tried to prove it by watching them before figuring out they never swapped out of being ponies. In frustration he confronted one of the ponies over it only to discover though a spell he was telling the truth and that the whole town had no idea of their origins.
Scientists are studying the town from a distance as we speak, still letting travelers though to act as a love source though they usually only let those approved by the Academy of Science in Canterlot first so there’s little chance they might reveal the truth of their town to the population.
To this day their looks are unknown, religion and culture are unknown, who their queen is and her role is unknown…All lost to history. Many a debate has been sparked about whether studying them is right or not. On the plus side, it helps us better understand the ability of changelings to adapt and even help come up with ways to integrate changelings into Equestria. On the down side they are hiding the truth from these people and using Equestrians as lab rats. Their threat is zero, even if they did find out they still have their honest lives as ponies to fall back on and would consider themselves Equestrians first and changelings second.
Hive Firestarter
Hive Firestarter is an offshoot of hive Ash Raider. Early on in the hive's history many members of Ash Raider found their raiding and forcefully stealing love “Unchangeling” and left early on in their evolutionary lifecycle. They settled far in the north east of Equestria at the right tip of the Chrystal Mountains. In particular one of the mountains, Mount Ember, is actually an active volcano though while it is still bubbling with magma the last eruption was recorded over two thousand years ago. They settled around the lava pools to avoid attacks from local diamond dogs but as their changes took hold they moved directly into the pools.
Firestarters are the same size of a normal changing but have a thicker frame, holeless hooves and are missing their fangs and horns. They have acquired two other abilities to make up for their lack of magic, they're so heat resistant they actually live in the larva itself! They also have a mouth glad that can launch a fire projectile however this is basically a fireball launched every ten seconds, not a miniature dragon breath. They have a military based society with a general and economic leader being one and the same with the queen on top as both ruler and joint chief. They are vastly disciplined, orderly and also have dozens of outposts alone the mountain’s sides.
Religion wise they worship the idea of a warrior heaven much like primitive societies but differs in that these warrior heavens tend to be rather barbaric in nature, with beer halls and tales of slain beasts. The Firestarter heaven is for more orderly. It’s called, translated of cause, as the Great Palace and is supposed to make Canterlot castle look like a clubhouse. A massive towering structure filled with every pleasure one would want but with a sense of order and respect to every inch. This is where all of the greatest generals and commanders in history go, with the greatest soldiers acting as their bodyguards while also indulging in its pleasures. Those who serve well live just outside the palace as the “main army force” missing out on the palace but outside is still described as rolling grassland filled with flowers, a place where food and friends are in an infinite supply. Not quite heaven but still a paradise. Cowards and murderers on the other hand are sent far away from the palace in lands of dirt, stone and mud. They become part of the “axillaries” the peasant army. The land itself needs a few broken backs to work and life is hard but one can still find some pleasures and it is possible for a coward to prove themselves and be let into the main army force. Traitors and those deemed “Hopeless” are sent to the palaces dungeon where they are tortured till the end of time.
The reasons there’s a standing army is because they are preparing to do battle at the end of the world though oddly, this religion doesn't actually HAVE an end of the world. It’s believed that it’s impossible to predict the end of the world and all other religious versions are valid, only that whatever it is they will fight it. To prepare themselves they actually have mock wars with other heavens, having friendly conflicts which while all the pain, hunger and general horribleness is just as real as in life they are resurrected at the palace once the conflict is won or loss. This means they don’t fear death but knowing the pain of having a blade stabbed into your chest kinda makes them want to avoid it at all costs.
The Hive itself is as mentioned, built into the volcano with tunnels and lava pools, the environment itself acting as a power deterrent. Construction wise the hive is separated into two parts, the caves and the halls. The caves themselves are just jiggered rocky tunnels and it is this that forms most of the hive. It’s because as lava cools it becomes obsidian, a brittle rock that can only be broken into chunks as opposed to rock that can be ground up. As they dug deeper they did come across traditional materials and that lead to the construction of the second part. The inner hive is an architectural palace similar to the Equestria marble temples but with a more blocky orderly design to it. This part of the hive is populated by changelings of power especially officers. Now as you might have guessed the hive is separated into two, officers and the general population. Now one would say such a split In the population would result in a bad relationship between the two but on the contrary, what keeps both sides friendly is the simple fact that officers are not picked from family but from experience, as such any soldier or civilian could become an officer. The reason experience is chosen over blood can be traced back to their current position. The war with hive Icebreaker has gone on for decades and the hive needs as many decent men in power as they can get in order to survive.
Now one of the unique things about hive Firestarter is that just under a quarter of the population is diamond dog. A decade into the war with Icebreaker Firestarter began to worry that they might run out of changelings before Icebreaker and also could use a much more powerful force to act as a spearhead in attacks. At the same time a medium sized diamond dog guild, Firepaw, had found their mines at the foot of the volcano running out. Usually materials would bubble up from deep underground and while most went up to the volcano’s surface some would scrap off the sides and over time would layer into the volcanos base. This was a very long process however and once the mines ran out there was little the dogs could do. It was then that the hive decides they would take them on as mercenaries. The dogs were reluctant at first until they were shown exactly HOW they would be paid. Most minerals as mentioned bubble up to the top of the volcano where it is collected by changelings in the lava and pushed out into an empty chamber. From there the minerals hardened and are giving to the dogs.
The dogs moved in, keeping to the lower chamber as its cooler there while having pipes installed that run to the local lake using the water to keep their living spaces cool. As the years and decades went by slowly the relationship turned from a professional one to a social one, the two groups mixing to the point where one cannot imagine their society without the other. Changelings still make up the majority but it’s common to see dogs hanging with bugs. The minerals still roll in and it’s unknown what would happen if the gold, jewels and silver stopped flowing. Both societies have rubbed off on each other the diamond dogs being a bit more gentler and show SOME manners while the changelings tend to be more lay back as far as their pleasures go. The dogs follow the same beliefs, viewing the palace more as a war tent then a castle but the changelings don’t mind. Same belief, different view. The diamond dogs themselves seem to have much thinner fur then other dogs due to living in such a hot environment along with tougher skin, though their cave like environment have shrunk them down a little and made them a little wider. The dogs are led by a war chief which was originally the position as guild master. This dog is an advisor to the queen, acting as commander of the dogs and represents them in the hive. They are usually selected like most of diamond dog leaders, either by combat, vote or by murdering the last one (although that is done mostly in rouge like diamond dog clans and guilds, the diamond dogs of hive Firestarter no longer practice this as a right of succession.)
Now another unique aspect of hive Firestarter is they have been in a conflict with a rival hive, hive Icebreaker. Everything started a good 180 years ago when the hive slowly formed just north of the mountains. Neither hive knew of the other until Icebreaker had a sizable hive and population, where both hives got into contact and made an agreement. As the cold frozen north had very few ponies and the mountains were too difficult for changelings to hike to, climb, then descend constantly, Icebreaker would stay to the north and Firestarter would stay to the south.
This peace lasted a good 27 years until a flood of northern exploration occurred. Supposedly Ruin Finder, as his name suggests, found a serious of old ruins north of the mountains and proved there was once a civilization that far into the frozen wasteland besides changelings. This caused a massive influx of would be adventurers and explorers attempting to find long lost treasures and relics. Soon villages formed to both supply them and transport minerals back into Equestria. Ice mining is also a big business, special Nevermelt ice fetches a big price for mages and those who want a cheap and effective air conditioner that doesn’t melt away in time plus there are many relics, ancient creatures and even treasures trapped in the ice. With the construction of six of these villages Icebreaker went from a starving hive to a fat one, with no government they set up a taxation system protecting the ponies from creatures like ice golems, ice wolves, polar bear and other changelings in return for love. This usually doesn’t work in Equestria as changelings are usually kicked out by an armed response, but without any organization the ponies have adapted to live with it.
When Firestarter found out they tried to reorganize the treaty. According to them they wanted two of the villages and were willing to lax Icebreakers restrictions as a result, along with giving them some of their mountain territory. Icebreaker refused these terms despite Firestarter sweetening the deal demanding they stay to the original agreement. Tension ran high as some of the feeding grounds south of the mountains became aware they were being fed upon, slowing down the collecting process to avoid detections. Once again, according to Firestarter, they tried to reorganize the treaty so they could get one of the villages even just temporary to help relieve the love shortage but Icebreaker threatened action if they even crossed the border, whether peacefully or not. As changelings started to starve they knew they could not let Icebreaker get away with this and against their wishes, sent a force over the border to collect love from the nearest village. Icebreaker declared war on Firestarter for this and the two first clashes just outside the village called the Battle of Steam where supposedly the conflict was so close and bloody ice spells and fire balls hit each other repeatedly covering the battlefield in, well, steam.
The war wasn’t expected to be won overnight but it was expected to be short. These were not two massive empires that spanned the world, they were two hives, two small states. Usually conflicts like this only occupied a few battles before a winner becomes clear. There were some factors however that slowed the war to a crawl. First off both forces were very reluctant to cause any permanent damage to the other as both saw the conflict for resources not a war for survival. By the time both sides figured out how serious this war had become their rival had mobilized for war and set up serious defenses. Second, both sides soon resorted to outside help which boosted their numbers, plus boosting public opinion. The war seems far off when instead of your family fighting its people from another country or state. Finally, as the war dragged on hatred and disagreement grew. It eventually got to a point where no one cares about land or resources anymore. It’s all about wiping out the other. What's worse is as time has gone on by both societies have changed into far more warlike social structures. Both countries are built for war and stopping the war might cause more harm than good. The war has also gone on over a century thanks to cease fires. This can give even a decade of peace but all with the goal to build up numbers again to go at it as soon as the expire date is reached.
As far as advantages go hive Firestarter has the volcano to protect itself, diamond dog troops, well trained officers and generally stronger troops physically. Overall, they offer no threat at the moment but if Firestarter wins the war their warlike society will demand more conflicts and there are many good fights to be had down south.
Hive Icebreaker.
Hive Icebreaker claims they are decedents of the queen who left hive Frostfang though there isn’t really any evidence of this. They set up their hive just north of the Crystal Mountains near an active volcano that while kept the base bare, had little impact on the snowy region. Biologically, they are similar to hive frost fire but have much larger wings giving them faster and more controlled flight but are much thinner than other changelings having a smaller carapace and are somewhat weaker. They tend to put their faith in ice spells and their fast flight when it comes to battle. Their society is warlike just like their neighbor hive although while they praise commanders and generals, more often than not it is the soldier that gets center stage.
Religion wise Icebreaker believes in the strength of the individual. A long time ago there was a queen who had everything given to her but the cost was she would spend her life alone and isolated. She found friendship and then love in her servant which blossomed while kept hidden from the rest of her hive. When they found out however they called it heresy, that the queen must only live for the hive as opposed instead of herself. Out of bravery and affection she freed her lover and both left the hive to start a new one where freedom was its base as opposed to servitude. If this is true then the results were…mixed. Changelings of hive Icebreaker have many freedoms not allowed in most hives such as freedom to not don disguises when out in public, having a relationship with “Dirty” races such as diamond dogs, can have their own dwellings not sanctum by the hive and can leave if they wish to. A lot of these freedoms are looked down upon however, free speech against the hive is not allowed and people still put their duty to the hive before their own wants and needs.
It is believed that once a changeling dies they go through reincarnation coming back as another creature. When the person proves themselves worthy, whether in this life or any life, they are allowed into a kind of heaven where every single life they have lived splits off into multiple beings all to enjoy paradise individually. Usually those chosen as worthy are who prove themselves braver then most, heroic, artistic, creative or otherwise use their lives to better the lives of those around them. This does give the hive a friendly atmosphere as many pilgrims and worshipers help each other including strangers for a chance to enter this paradise.
When hive Firestarter absorbed the Firepaw guild Icebreaker found itself on the defense. They thought the alliance could not hold assuming their rivals were paying with a finite resource. To counter them they started taking bit taxes along with love ones to the displeasure of the ponies. They used the money to hire as many Griffin mercenaries as they could find setting up a temporary town for the group to stay in while they fought for the army. As time went on what was supposed to be a temporary thing soon became a part of each other’s cultures. However the difference is while the diamond dogs and changelings see each other as different people they consider themselves one complete hive. This is most likely due to the fact the diamond dogs were given space in the hive while the griffins were kept a few miles away. As time went on their temporary shelter was added and expanded forming a town called Insect Feather named after one very drunk Griffin who thought it made perfect sense and no sense at the same time. The town being populated by mostly griffin mercenaries and latter their families, is free of taxation attracting many pony merchants and craftsman boosting the population and racial diversity. Despite this mixture the fact the hive and town are separate means it’s “Them and us” that the town might serve the hive but the hive does not serve the town.
The hive records that when they started taxation of the villages hive Firestarter demanded they get up to four out of the six villages leaving them to slow starvation as two towns were simply not enough to support the current population. As time went on Firestarter became more and more aggressive threatening the destruction of the treaty if their demands were not met. They ended up Building up their own armed forces before attacking one of the villages at which point Icebreaker sent forces to save their stock entering the Battle of Steam. Their views of Firestarter mimic their view on Icebreaker, loathing them to the point where they believe them to be villains and monsters no longer caring about land only the destruction of their foes. Unlike Firestarter however a small group of pacifists have arisen called the Frost. They believe that this burning hatred only damages both sides, that they should sit down and find a peaceful resolution. Sadl, not only does the government look down on them but so does the majority of the population, some members even coming under attack by pro war changelings. They see their views as traitoress and the government only needs a shred of loose evidence to exile them from the hive.
As far as advantages go hive Icebreaker has the icy wasteland to slowly burn out attacking armies, griffin troops, well trained soldiers and braver, more loyal troops. Whether their a threat is up to debate, while they are a warlike society their religious beliefs and connections with the pony villages could mean that once they win the war they could find peace though this is not a certainty and could decide to expand their empire by adding more villages by force.
Author's Note
Sorry about the long wait stuff happens :/ Not sure if things will get better but whatever happens, I'll still do a little bit every day. Also next time will have two hives belonging to the creator of Honeycomb so that's something to look forward to!
The Changeling Hives by Written Word
Nekropolis and Hagfish
The Nekropolis Hive
Usually they move into already existing family graves and crypts and only set up rudimentary constructions and decorations. Although they use remains and coffins for this purpose, they don’t actually eat either of those to manufacture their building material, as many ponies believe. Instead it has been found their “changeling goo" is mostly composed of various moss and fungi types.
They have little to no contact with other hives and are actually often purposely avoided by them, for the simple fact that, even if it sounds unbelievable, even other changelings are creeped out by them.
Beside their macabre living conditions, the biggest reason for this are their appearance and their general behaviour. While they appear even more “perforated" than other changelings, with colours reminding of dead leaves and decaying matter, their most distinguishing and disturbing feature is what appears to be a second set of eyelids that they can close vertically and, while see-through, allows them to block out most light. This is important because the hive is almost exclusively nocturnal and thus reacts pretty badly to bright lights. Even their hive is kept in complete darkness (which is why they seldomly keep husks).
Their general behaviour has so far been described as “sort of otherworldly". They tend to buzz around with their second set of eyelids closed, seemingly without direction, or huddled in dark corners, humming quietly, as if listening to some inner voice. Perhaps this stems from the fungi they consume and the various gases present in a graveyard. Nevertheless the hive never falls into ruin or disarray. When an intruder appears, the hive is immediately at full alert and goes into attack mode without so much as a whisper. Many a pony has already found themselves thinking they just walked into a zombie pony attack when the coffin lid next to them flew off with a loud hiss.
One should take special precautions when a full moon is out. For some reason, it sends the hive into even more of a trance and a strange sort of dancing motion above the graveyard it currently resides in. Any intruder is immediately killed on sight, but one can usually tell and avoid these events by keeping a lookout for red eyes dancing in the sky like fireflies.
Some ponies refer to this hive as “the order of the fly", proving that they are rather superstitious, but given that anyone who would find themselves in the clutches of this hive would surely think themselves in Tartarus, it is somewhat understandable.” - Time Share
Hive Nekropolis is by far one of the most unstable hives in the world. The fact they haven’t ripped each other apart is pure mystery. Basically while it is simply a theory, though evidence is pretty clear and it is one I personally believe in, the fungi and fumes from the graveyard have caused the changelings of this hive to develop conditions ranging from paranoia and dementia to schizophrenia. Now I know what you must be asking “But Written Word, if they all suffer from mental instability how can they form a society or pretend to be a ponies loved one?” Well first off there have been, although extremely rare, situations where other groups have suffered from similar conditions but also managed to form societies though they are very primitive and barbaric. These includes the Morningstar incident, where a ship’s crew was left stranded on an island only to survive on mind altering fruit and became united in worship of a rock the shape of a face, and The Fallen Ones, a diamond dog guild who has suffered from breathing in toxic fumes of their land and now slaughter anyone or anything that’s not a diamond dog. You must understand that if a group has a leader, if they construct even the most basic of huts and have even an idea of what religion is then that’s a culture, it doesn’t need to have the complex historic glass windows of Canterlot or the art galleries of the Griffin Empire, all you need is a mud hut, a chief and a plank of wood to worship and you're cultured.
The hive originated from Chrysalis when one changeling thought “Hey…What if we went to a graveyard and pretend to be the ghosts?…BEST IDEA EVER!” They got a thumbs up from the queen but in order to be there when someone decided to say hi to a loved one they needed changelings to be on standby, ready as soon as someone walked in resulting in an outpost being built directly underneath. During its construction that they came across the cave system filled with the fumes and fungi that resulted in their current position and as they slowly lost their mind they stopped reporting to the queen. When other changelings were sent to see what was going on they were “Converted” with a belly full of fungi and Chrysalis decided it was a lost cause. The reason they're able to keep a disguise is the theory that when a changeling changes into another creature they change inside as much as the outside, body as well as mind. Why they change back is up to debate, you must understand there is much mystery surrounding changelings that even the most avid researchers and scientists in the field still do not understand.
As for religion they seem to worship some kind of moon deity. The exact details are unknown as riling them up into a killer frenzy is a good deterrent for researchers. There has been evidence of small moon alters scattered around their territory but that’s about it. It does have the moon as the symbol so it hints that they worship the moon itself and not some kind of moon god. These little alters tend to have offerings left but they range from wild flowers to gems and even some pony flesh. As a threat they offer none. The biggest issue for them is when members of their hive leave the graveyard for too long their minds clear up and they start to show stability, as such members who leave can, in time, be absorbed into society and it forces the hive to stay in the graveyard.
Hive Hagfish
While Hagfish was a rather small hive up to very recently everything changed when the Gallopfrey islands were rediscovered. Tropical and exotic products to be traded for, ancient ruins and cities to explore, tribal societies to teach and research, it opened up a new frontier for the ponies. Thousands flock to the islands as we speak forming cities like Sharkbite and Sailboard while a thriving community forms. There’s even a discussion about whether these settlements should come under the Equestrian banner or split off into a separate nation. Before all this the best prey that Hagfish could wish for was the odd fishing ships and skimmers, the most changelings they could pass off as downers were one or two without raising suspicions. Now Frigates and in some cases Gallons were sailing back and forth over and over. The amount of love available to them has sky rocketed and as such so has their population despite the short time it has been since the Gallopfrey rediscovery.
An off shot of Chrysalis, Hagfish have deep blue eyes and wings, much darker than the blue of Chrysalis and have a set of gills on top of lungs though besides that they are pretty generic. Their hive is unique in that they rarely do any digging relying on massive cave systems to hold their population making them not very good at digging and construction but as the lungs suggest, they are amazing swimmers. They usually use equipment either stolen or found washed up on shore which gives their armed forces a rag tagged look though now more cargo has been washing up they have started equipping weapons and armor as opposed to leather coats and fishing equipment. Faith wise they're split into two faiths. One worships Markesh, god of the sea who is described as a quick to anger and violent god but also understanding and open minded. The other faith worships the Deep Ones, squid like humanoids that sleep at the deepest parts of the ocean so far down even they, with gills and the strong swimmers they are, have no chance of reaching, They believe one day these creatures will awaken to consume the world in the waters of the ocean An apocalyptic scene for ponies, a paradise to the sea hive. The former seems to have the majority of followers over the latter but the Deep One faith have had some strange occurrences around it. For example one loyal follower was supposedly taken captured by a pony coastal village but was freed when the town came under attack from a giant squid. Another is the rumor their priests have been gifted with a kind of sea magic, twisting unnatural wet forces to their whim.
Their government is a bit more wild then others mainly because it hasn't changed as they've grown in size like other hives. Basically the only changeling better than the rest is the queen, which means no class difference but also makes organization quite chaotic. Usually their tactics in battle involve swarming and flanking since they still use small unit tactics more useful in skirmishes instead of battle but on a rocking boat it’s still a valid tactic as opposed to on land where a defensive line would simply push them back. Originally as far as assaults go, they would usually swim under the ocean like a school of fish before silently, always under the cover of dark, slink up onto the boats deck or into the base grounds before killing as many people as they can in their sleep. If discovered a brawl would break out. This sort of strategy was needed with so few numbers and resources though after the population and resource explosion the hive has started construction of their own ships. Over a dozen are being built although only about three are actually sea worthy, their first and only ship in service at the moment is the “Queen’s Judgment” a frigate class. The changeling ship design seems to be practicality over design. Pony boats, even warships, are slick and beautiful things made in the shape of swans, eagles and dragons depending on the class. As for changeling ships their all made from the remains of other ships usually build around the hull of a sunken one. This gives them a patchwork look, old and worn out as most of the paint peels off without any new coats being applied. They should not be underestimated however, they are built to be just as effective as other ships just without the bells and whistles.
Their ship tactics seem to be quite different from other races. Ponies try jousting, heading towards another ship head on firing their weapons before retreating away and going in for another run once they're safe. Griffins like to run alongside a ship where they can use their cannons to full effect, diamond dogs drag in their prey with grappling hooks so they can get down and dirty in hand to hand combat. Hagfish likes to try one of two tactics. First, they like to run behind a ship before launching grappling hook into the back of the boat connected by a thick chain. From there instead of bringing it closer they keep their distance while firing weapons from the bow. Most ships don’t mount weapons on the back so they can’t do anything as they're hit by fire. Those who do put something on the rear find the front of changeling ships to be armored. Another tactic is to ram a foes ship from the side, smashing it to pieces with a metal ram either running over the crew or starting a boarding action.
The increase in hive population has split the population a little. The small size of the hive meant that every changeling knew each other and it had a sense of community and family. Now that the hive is much bigger some changelings feel that everyone has become cold and distant. On the other side many changelings feel that this is an opportunity to become an empire, to go down in the books as one of THE changeling hives instead of a footnote at the bottom of the page. After some debating they came to a compromise. Those who felt that they had lost a sense of community were free to leave but could still be called upon on times of emergency. These changelings formed a village on the coast and tried to rebuild the hive they grew up in but this was changed after they came into contact with one pegasus called Sea Shanty. Sea Shanty had opened up a business selling, of all things, fish to ponies. The idea of eating fish came about from the griffin empire where fish was the national food. Curious ponies who could afford it found fish to be an exotic delicacy. Now for those who unaware of this fad or are simply not from Equestria you must be asking “But Aren’t ponies herbivores?” And you would be right! Eating fish GREATLY upsets a pony’s stomach but that doesn’t change the taste and fans of fish not only claim that it’s worth it but that if you eat enough the effects are numbed. Whatever the reason it is the food for the adventuress. It’s difficult to come by however as the market is too small to fund massive hunts and due to the hostility between ponies and griffins all of their fishing ships unload in the Griffin Empire, the only fish making it over in time has to be heavily dried and salted.
Sea Shanty specialized in this sort of trade but came up with a very risky plan. He approached the changelings and offered them a deal. He and his company would vouch for their worth and have them pardoned by the Equestrian government, meaning they were now considered citizens and would be protected too. In return they would just fish for him and he would even send ponies in to provide love. They agreed and overnight, the town was renamed “Fortune”. They began collecting fish, their gills and great swimming ability putting the griffin fishing fleet to shame. Before Fortune was founded only the nobility could afford fish. Now every major city has at least one fish restaurant. Despite their close relation to ponies they are still heavily isolated and are very aggressive towards any other race then ponies and even they don’t exactly get a warm welcome.
The overall risk of Hagfish is somewhat great. Similar to Chrysalis they have dreams of making history and are busy growing and collecting resources although they are a long way off to having a trained, well equipped fighting force. As such whether they accomplice anything or take over the whole south sea of Equestria is up to themselves. Show their might too early and they could find themselves under attack from three different factions all out for blood. Personally, I’ll be keeping an eye on them, see where things end up.
The Changeling Hives by Written Word
Pseudochangelings and Dragon Tamer
Pseudochangelings
"Compare wasps to honeybees and you have a relatively good idea on what these creatures are compared to normal changelings.
They form hives of roughly 100-strong underground, led by a queen, usually next to a town or small city, in order to feed off love and positive emotions, such as joy. They stand about roughly the height of a pony, and they have clear, dragonfly-like wings on their backs. However, instead of the crests that adorn the head and rump, and instead of a shell on the back, they have moth or bumblebee-like hair. Their eyes are also different, because while they are generally one color, the "whites" of the eye, the iris, and the pupil are all visible.
There are four roles in a pseudochangeling hive: guards, workers, gatherers, and queens; all of which are important to the security of the hive.
Gatherers are the most numerous in a hive, generally amounting to about half of the population. They go out into the world and transform themselves into ponies to gather positive emotions, usually choosing to gather emotional radiation rather than drain others by force. They usually gather their emotions by seeking employment in a career that would normally elicit joy, love, or gratitude; psychologist, baker, and nanny are all examples of the jobs they take. In order to make themselves more believable as ponies, each one practices a special talent from a young age, sometimes even posing as fillies when nymphs to attend school!
Workers are responsible for the upkeep and expansion of the hive, in addition to ensuring the safe and proper storage of collected love. They are generally bulkier than either workers or soldiers, because they are the main source of physical labor in the hive. Unlike other changeling hives, the Pseudochangelings keep the place relatively clean; why they do this is unknown. The workers are also responsible for distilling the emotions that the gatherers bring into concentrated emotional essence. Some clever queens capitalize on this; they sell any excess essence they have on the market to earn money, as the liquified feelings magnify the effectiveness of certain potions.
Every member of a pseudochangeling hive occasionally has to do guard duty over the vital areas of the hive. Those whose main career is guarding, though, amount to roughly 10% the population. These individuals act as the leaders in combat, being the field commanders of the hive. The armor they wear generally is metal, their chitin being unsuitable for protection (as the Mane 6 proved during the Canterlot invasion)
Pseudochangeling queens are the leaders, responsible for overseeing every aspect of the hive. They possess power roughly equivalent to a gifted unicorn or pegasus, they are not quite as physically or magically able as other queens. The queen, though, is generally much smarter than the rest of the others in her hive, and possesses an IQ of roughly 30 above average; in addition to towering over her subjects. There is only one ruling queen in a hive at any given time; the queens secrete a pheromone that renders it impossible for other changelings to develop into royalty. When a queen gets old enough, production of this pheromone ceases, only resuming production when another changeling queen is born to either the current one, or to another parent. The queens can live up to 400 years or more.
Unlike regular changelings, all pseudochangelings have both male and female sexual organs, though they usually have some form of gender identity. Further unlike regular changelings, they can reproduce, and often intermarry, with ponies, which is a surprisingly common occurrence due to easier accessibility to love and other positive emotions. Their children are either ponies or other pseudochangelings.
Reproduction is a rather bizarre matter. A pseudochangeling impregnated by a pony always lays a translucent blue egg, from which a pseudochangeling hatches two months later, at roughly 3 years equivalent in pony age. Ponies impregnated by pseudochangelings will either (50%) give live birth to either a unicorn or a pegasus (no earth ponies have been reported), or give live birth to a pseudochangeling (thankfully as a small nymph).
Transforming is also harder to do, requiring more energy to maintain and form a disguise, although they have the unique trait of being able to hold a disguise after being forcibly knocked out. In addition, it also is not uncommon for these creatures to live away from the hive and only return to give up their emotional payload.
Due to this species' similarities with ponykind, those who have studied these creatures often conclude that their traits could very well be a product of a curse; either on changelings so they could better understand ponies, or on ponies as punishment for some foul misdeed. Either way, the changelings like it, because they get all the love they can eat and, better yet, no one tries to hunt them down!" – Unknown.
These changelings were once fully loved by cities that they moved close to since they didn't cause any trouble and filled previous unfilled positions…That was, till people started asking questions. The curse theory was mostly valid until a research team examined some of their blood. If it was an area curse, a curse affecting a whole community instead of a single individual, then either it would be changeling or pony blood. To their surprise and a lot of people’s horror the blood was a mix of changeling and pony meaning that pseudochangelings are most likely pony changeling hybrids. What’s so shocking about this is while changelings can breed with ponies, births have a one in two hundred chance of actually succeeding and even then there’s about a fifty percent chance that they will have either physical or mental disabilities and EVEN then only about thirty percent of those are not sterile. The odds of coming across a hybrid this perfect is very unlikely, not unless the mate is a diamond dog but that’s a hive for another day. There is a chance that a single pony/changeling was cursed as opposed to a community but the idea of whole hives forming from a single changeling is unlikely though still possible. Even if this was true people like to latch on to the scary possibility over the safest.
Now while some see this as a possibility for a bright future where changelings and ponies live side by side the reality could not be darker. The fact is compared to the average pony pseudochangelings are simply superior and that they breed with ponies just as well as each other. This could possibly mean, with time, that the equestrian population may begin morphing into a pseudochangeling population. Some have even started to second guess their intentions feeling that maybe it’s a changeling plot to slowly turn Equestria into changeling lands by making the next generation all changelings.
The topic has split the population with some pseudochangeling hives having changed very little with some villages or cities they feed on even inviting them to show themselves and live amongst us, others have been chased off, some communities having burnt their hives to the ground. This is quite extreme but you must understand that when a noble feels that pseudochangelings are a risk to Equestria he or she uses political propaganda to make it seems like they are trying to end the world. Worse, changelings have always loathed pseudochangelings considering them filthy even by those who find hive Chrysalis purity a joke. The issue with them is pseudochangelings seem to be a perverted twist on the changeling way of life, loving ponies (Sometimes literally) eating the emotions other changelings can’t even digest and their queens being simply the smartest as opposed to the strongest being. Having a chance to spread lies about them while hunting for food is an opportunity they have jump at.
On the subject there are a number of factions that have formed in the great the Free pseudochangeling debate. The Free Pseudochangelings, the Unity, Ponies Against Pseudochangelings (or the PAP) and Ponies For Pseudochangelings (or the PFP). The Free Pseudochangelings are a group of hives that have decided to try and come to a compromise, mainly that they will isolate themselves feeding with the same caution as changelings while banning breeding with other ponies. These hives had to form an organization as many ponies felt that just because their local hive does this doesn’t mean other hives do so this group help teaches ponies about what they’re trying to do. Second it allows them to be separated by more free willed hives when it comes to laws and future political change. Their new way of life has mixed results, some previous hate filled towns leaving them be, some towns not caring and going after them anyway, and other towns try convincing them that they can live however they want. The Unity acts more like a religious faction comprising of both pseudochangelings and ponies. They believe that the pseudochangelings are the key to a unity between changeling and pony, not just in Equestria but in all pony lands like Saddle Arabia and the Free States of the West. The faith has few numbers but is growing steadily gaining followers in the form of outcasts prosecuted for believing in the innocence of the pseudochangelings in hate filled communities. While they bring about messages of peace at the moment there are dark rumors about how full members can ONLY breed with pseudochangelings and they have slowly become more zealous about their ideals.
The PAP are what it says on the tin, a group of nobles and cities who attempt to remove the pseudochangelings from Equestria. Some going as far as to call for their extermination however any attempt to introduce policy in Canterlot has met failure due to Celestia’s interventions although they are growing in number and Celestia cannot say no to the majority of her subjects. Lucky for her the PFP fight them at every turn defending their right to live the way they want. The discussion is heated especially after the Hollow Shade incident where a group of PFP came under attack by armed PAP members causing the PFP to become more aggressive. Celestia has even considered bringing the six elements in to the argument though something big has to happen to tip the balance and force the hand of the Equestrian government.
Overall I am not here to tell you if the pseudochangelings, whether on purpose or not, represent a risk to the pony way of life but I see them as a little threat. If they are going so far as to ban pony breeding then clearly they are not about to try and invade the capitol or take over leadership. They seem to only want to eat, sleep and enjoy life. Whether you think they should be loved and accepted, or forced to leave just to be on the safe side is up to you, not me.
Hive Dragon Tamer
Sadly their kind of taming is more how you tame cattle then a pet like a dog. By far one of the most primitive and simple minded of the changelings, Dragon Tamer changelings are a third smaller than other changeling with no wings, no ability to transform and their magic is weaker only able to fire a weak beam as opposed to the list of spells other changelings can cast. They tend to have a muddy green shell with deep grey eyes along with shorter fangs. Now you must be asking yourself “These guys sound pathetic!” but you will be surprised that not only do they hunt dragons but they are one of the most dangerous hives out there. Why? In the time it takes a changeling to be born they birth fifty. The share amount of changelings that populate the hive is staggering, having a higher population then Equestria and the Griffin Empire combined! The only thing keeping their population in check is the fact that a dragon could kill tens of thousands in a single fire breath attack.
It is unknown who they are an offshoot off considering they don’t have any form of history keeping. Their hive is by far the largest in the world, comprising of about three whole mountains with miles of tunnels underground connecting the three, stationed in Fire Valley a small land of mountains and craggy fields with the highest population of dragons this side of the planet, South East of the Badlands. Not much to say about the hive besides that it's also one of the crudest. Craggy and poorly built, cracks in the walls and huge underground fissures, a kind of biological food chain living inside and while most changelings try to keep their hives warm and dry, removing insects and rodents like a pony would from their home this hive is drenched, cold and full of filth. Needless to say cave ins are common. The only form of architecture is flimsy wooden bridges and structures, the only organization a throne for the queen and the iron will of her enforcers. There’s no organization, hunts just occur when one changelings hungry, gets a couple hundred thousand of its friends together and swarm out of the mountainside like it was an anthill. The hive has no mind, most likely burning itself out from having to control so many changelings at once though they still have a queen that stays in power with iron fist tactics. We only have rumors, second hand accounts and untrustworthy information to rely on but this queen deserves a good mention. Now most of you might noticed I don’t often spend much time on a hives queen mainly because first off, queens come and go and each has a different personality. Second, most queens look and act very similar anyway, usually biological differences being the same as their drones. The queen of Dragon Tamer however is first, rumored to not age at all, second, is an actual threat on par with Chrysalis and third, could very well be among us right now.
What form of class they have is separated into four groups. First are the drones which basically do whatever they want. They tend to add tunnels to make home for themselves or to have a shorter route to a chamber they like and often come to blows with fellow changelings, in fact infighting causes more changeling deaths than any other besides burning to death or being devoured by a dragon. They tend to spend their days crawling over the tunnels finding rats to suck what little love they can up leaving shriveled up corpses, digging their own little hidey hole or talking (And fighting) with others. Usually some drones either get bigger and tougher or collect lots of armor and gear to force their will on others and rise above in power, often these drones have mini wars over territory. Second are shamans who worship the mountain, usually very primitive and barbaric. It’s not really a religion as drones that have faith always become shamans anyway. They act as basic doctors and healers. Third is the queen’s enforcers, though they not so much enforcer as just beat up anyone that disagrees with the queen. They make up about twenty percent of the hive and usually get the best equipment. Drones usually get a simple rusted blade, leathery armor and hide shields. Enforces get rusted iron plate armor, spiked maces dipped in a mysterious poison they call “Queen’s rot” and thick wall like steal shields that tend to overlap in battle so arrows bounce right off their formations as well as redirecting a dragons fire breath.
As an army usually drones act as cannon fodder swarming their foe with share numbers, no strategy or skill. This tends to give the Enforcers cover to advance before breaking into a charge when they get close as possible. This tactic might seem very wasteful but if they fought like an equestrian army their already massive population would simply explode. On top is the queen, Bacchus (Bae-cus) who almost no changelings in the hive have actually seen, only her favorite enforces get a look. Now the idea she does not age is most likely a huge myth but all the changelings there accept it as fact so it is my job to tell you what we know, not my personal opinion on how valid this knowledge might be. She is described as huge, though how huge “huge” is can be debated, massively overweight and somewhat messy and gassy. Apparently there is a series of rules put in place when the hive began, though most history of this time is completely gone so why they were set up (And what a lot of these rules were to begin with) are lost. The rule in question are that instead of the queen getting as much love from the stockpile that she wished, she got ten percent of all the love the other changelings devoured which would have been a good idea to put your subjects first and take care of them so you got more love to eat if the population was in the thousands, not millions or billions that Dragon Tamer has reach and as such, gorges herself constantly. Now how could such a revolting thing possibly be a threat to Equestria? Well during the Great dragon migration seven years ago a dragon watcher named Silent Stalker went up to the mountains to see the dragons up close before they nested, something most ponies never do due to the risk of being seen but she was certain that her hiding ability was unmatched.
She was discovered however by some changelings and brought to the queen. Up to this point their hilly area made contact outside the valley not just impossible but unwanted. They were more concerned with feeding themselves then exploring or expanding. When she was questioned personally by the queen, she found great interest in pony society. The only creature that showed any true culture or societal base beyond a tribal one was diamond dogs and they were quite rare, only the last of Guild Firestone remaining in the mountains as most were destroyed in a war with Dragon Tamer awhile back. The idea of a race that could build artificial mountains (Castles) metal dragons used for transportation (Blimps) and weapons of mass destruction (Unicorn mages) sparked her imagination. The queen wished to examine this world and, to Silent Stalker’s horror, she somehow (It is theorized to be done in a similar manner as hypnotism) possessed her body allowing the queen to use it like it was her own. We have no idea how long she spent amongst pony kind until she was discovered and her mind ejected thanks to powerful magic but it seems that in her time she has taken a massive interest in pony kind and could still be walking amounts us in a new body, even worse encounters with her seem to point to this queen wishing to “Own us” much as they own their dragons.
Threat of invasion aside, most of their love comes from dragons. Usually it involves swarming over them like ants or bees, piling over their bodies stinging them all over until they eventually submit. This process is somewhat helped by using “Queen’s rot” which eats away at the dragon’s scales revealing the fleshy insides and using ballista’s to shoot them down if they take flight. Once down, changelings suck every inch of love from them leaving a lifeless husk behind or if they are not so hungry, chain it up into a ball to disable its wings and powerful limbs before dragging it back into their hive into the “Pens” were it is tied up and used as a renewable love source. The share size of a dragon and their love for gems makes them have massive store of love but as mentioned they take heavy casualties from each encounter. Often the hunter becomes the hunted however as while dragons can survive on gems and plants, it slows growth and can cause development problems. A good dragon puts plenty of meat in their diet and changeling meat tends to have a nice crutch to it. They often claw hive entrances open and shove their tongue down the hole, licking up what they can before eating them up like an oversize ant eater.
The food supply for Dragon Tamer is, horrifyingly, slowly on the decline. Usually the dragon population in the area goes up and down but recently it hit its all-time low. More than that many dragons are considering picking up their homes and migrating to other mountains. Many ponies seem to be worried about a dragon deciding to nest near their homes when by far this hive is a greater risk by a landslide. The queen has shown interest in conquest and they would logically seek out a new love source. There are a number of obstacles that would make this difficult and they come from surprising sources. For one, the United Love Alliance is formed from about twelve hives, including Trapdoor and Ash Raider and is dedicated to fighting off Dragon Tamer, mainly since if they took over Equestria finding love would become incredibly difficult though sadly it seems part of the treaty involves only taking action once the Equestrian royal guard has been defeated. This could mean that, if Dragon tamer is defeated, they might decide to take the defenseless ponies for their own and carve out new states controlled by each individual hive. Second is a much smaller charter called the Unity Protection Action which involves sending a large force of ponies into the mountain to dig its way into the bowels of the hive and detonate magical explosives to cave in the hive, killing anyone inside including the queen. The issue is not many nobles have signed it as Equestria has not had a war in over a thousand years and the idea of going into actual combat on such a scale scares many ponies. Third, the Princesses both believe that they should put diplomacy first and failing that, bring in the elements.
As a whole Dragon Tamer is a massive risk to Equestria, the frozen wastelands and Saddle Arabia, all having pony populations and as such, all grabbing the interest of this queen.
The Changeling Hives by Written Word
Miasma and Lupa/clan Bug Claw
Miasma and Lupa/clan Bug Claw
The Miasma Hive
“The Miasma Hive is probably the second largest of the known hives. It usually resides underneath or at the edges of big cities like Las Pegasus or Manehatten, modifying sewage systems and/or garbage dumps to their needs. They eat rotten food and the occasional carcass to produce their body liquids, which, in addition to their choice of living space, gives the whole hive a particularly rancid smell. Sometimes it even gets so bad that it's noticeable when a changeling has transformed himself into another creature.
Their Queen, Miasma herself, is a very vain and snobby person and tries to appear better than she is. She has two changelings follow her around with incense burners wherever she goes and douses herself in perfume as often as possible. One wonders what is worse, the rotten smell of the hive, or the overwhelming stench of sweet perfume contrasting with it.
Although trying to appear noble and sophisticated, the queen has a very bad temper and can turn from sweet to sour in mere seconds.*
The hive's manner of gathering victims isn't very sophisticated, ranging from cries of help from out of a gully to simply waiting for someone to get stuck in their secretions while drunkenly wandering about at night.” – Time Share
Hive Miasma is a sparse hive, one that spread it's population out over a massive distance with dozens of smaller hives working together as one. Every major city, not just in Equestria but also the Griffin Empire, Saddle Arabia AND the Free States of the West all have secondary hives of Miasma living in their dumps and sewers. It is unknown if they even have a main hive only that all these other hives tend to have a population of a few hundred. While this leaves each hive fragile, it means that their primitive ways of collecting love work as smaller population means less love is needed plus if one hive gets discovered and wiped out it doesn’t really affect Miasma at large.
While other hives really on massive armies and fortress like hive constructs in order to survive Miasma uses its space and distance. This is not to say they have no defenses, often they use scrap from the same garbage pits they feast on to make patchwork weapons, armor and in some rare cases little forts. Still, this doesn’t really do much against an organized armed response and often when the hive gets discovered they leave. While its tempting to wipe these foul creatures from the face of the earth they offer a very important service, eating the filthy run off from the cities. A group with a high enough population could single handily keep a cities dump from overflowing which is a blessing for mayors and city planners. This is always countered however by their need to still feed on ponies and when your waist deep in rot, a stinky changeling standing over you sucking every inch of love out of you city planning doesn’t seem all that important. Often bounties are put on these creatures, both to keep their population small and also to try and convince them to seek another love source other than ponies though this rarely works.
Now before we get any further I have been asked this question again and again, especially when touring public schools. Yes some of these hives live in sewers and no, I do not know if they eat pony poop. Now you can all stop asking me, let’s talk about their eating habits. Each hive deals with food differently, some breaking it down into a goop they use for building or cocoons while others have food greatly disagree with their stomachs maybe causing belly aches or even have the food turn entirely into fat since their bodies cannot break down the foods nutrients. The fact that Miasma enjoys eating, able to break both food and garbage down plus have no actual use for this stuff beside producing fowl bodily liquids makes them one of a kind and how they evolved to become the flies of the changelings is a mystery.
Miasma tends to be treated differently depending on the culture. In Equestria ponies tend to try a live and let live policy, letting the changeling live in their dumps and try to ignore them, though this still leads to ponies walking into police and hospitals drained of love and smelling like a dead skunk. Griffins actually call these changelings ghouls and have a much more aggressive way of dealing with them. Often they are removed by force, though they rarely go after them if they choose to leave mainly because they offer a one of a kind service for them.
Unlike the ponies of Equestria the griffins of the Griffin Empire often considers the battlefields a second home especially when fighting off attacks from barbarian diamond dogs from the east or Hive Vermata from the north. After big battles, stalemates or sieges griffin generals often get auxiliaries or second class citizens like hippogriffs to collect these Ghouls and release them onto the battlefield to devoir corpses preventing sickness from spreading through the ranks while also allowing soldiers to do their jobs as opposed to separating some for burial duty. This technique has come under great scrutiny even by other griffins but morality aside it has proven very effective. The Free States of the West tend to be way too busy with the dozens of other problems their cities suffer to worry about these guys, especially when they serve a purpose and in some cases are even invited to join as citizens which they often accept. Saddle Arabia is a very superstitious nation and they tend to avoid these changelings whenever possibly most believing them to actually be ponies murdered and left in the dump to rot, resurrecting as some kind of zombie cursed to walk amongst the filth until their murderer is brought to justice. On the other side of the border Zebra tribes don’t have garbage dumps and as such never have to deal with them, though often warriors and hunters who want to prove their worth tend to sneak over the border and hunt them, bringing back their horns as trophies.
It’s also rather unique in that they have no unified religion, most likely due to the distance between population clusters and religious types tend to follow a faith common in the area whether it is pony, diamond dog or griffin in nature even adapting religions from other hives. Culture wise they are obsessed with eating, tend to be very laid back and somewhat mischievous. They end up living in either small huts made from the garbage they can’t eat or eat tunnels though an especially large pile of trash and use it as a sort of mini hive. When in times of emergency, the changelings are summoned to the location of the queen although certain populations too distant go undisturbed. This hints that while this hive’s hive mind must be massive to cover so much land there’s probably a limit to its range, most likely following the queen around.
Miasma has only ever been to war three times, once in Saddle Arabia where they came to the help of the ponies when the zebra took to the offensive in the October Push fearful that the zebra might try and wipe out their population there. While they did offer some help overall their actions were overshadowed by the armed forces. The second time was when Griffin Empress Sarah the Weak declared the desecration of corpses on the battlefield immoral and banned it under punishment of court-marshal. To make her point clear she attempted to eradicate the “filthy ghouls” from the Empire, which Miasma went to stop. The idea of such an untrained, unorganized and unexperienced force going up against the might of the Griffin Army was laughable at best, so Miasma set up a dummy army using bit of trash to lure the griffins away from the capital before the Queen and the rest of the changelings assaulted the palace through the sewers, taking the Empress who, as griffins tell their children, “screamed like a filly as she was dragged off not even offering a fight.” Empress Sarah was known for trying to make peace with warring factions and chose to stop the Empires slow expansion, also attempting to reform the government so it was based more around trade then war. Had she succeeded she would probably have been called the Just, but with her removal from power she has gone down in griffin history as a coward who always tried to run away from a fight instead of tackling it head on like a true griffin would. There is a rumour that the Empress still lives, a pet and play thing for the current queen but it’s probably a myth told to scared chicks to show what happens to cowards. After all, that would make her two hundred and fifty, more than double the life expectancy then a normal griffin though I did want to mention it as in this day and age myths seem to be turning into facts rather quickly, if she was still alive then she would still have a claim to the Griffin Empire’s throne.
The third time is somewhat more personal but we have little information to go on,, mainly because we didn't know the other faction even existed until open war was fought. What we do know is recently hive Lacera, a previously unknown hive, went on the offensive against Miasma attacking garbage dumps and sewers all over Equestria lead by their queen of the same name, most notable for being Miasma's mother. This surprise attack would have certainly worked in their favor, unfortunately they were slowed down by pony militia and royal guard forces who though these attacks were the start of some kind of changeling invasion targeted at them, not Miasma. Everything settled once Lacera "retreated" to more remote Miasma locations. By then Miasma herself had called back any changelings she could, even traveling for a short while to make sure she got everyone she could. This was to be the largest gathering of Miasma changelings in its history, surprisingly almost one hundred thousand showed up from all of the world. The conflict itself wasn't as one sided as you would think, despite Miasma outnumbering Lacera three to one but Miasma were not warriors or fighters and their weapons were basically recycled garbage, a complete contrast to the well trained and well armed Lacera.
The war was very personal with a focus on eliminating the others queen. Now as any soldier can tell you personal wars are always the most costly. Victory is not seen in assets, land and lives but who can kill the other leader first and often many costly risks are taken. The war lasted just under a year when one of the many assassins sent by Lacera returned with the location of Miasma, a dump outside Manehatten. Lacera herself, wanting to see her own daughters death first hand, lead the attack and soon smashed away the areas defenders. As they fought though it became clear that the information given was indeed false. Miasma had broken the will of this assassin and was told all the changelings security codes, sending one of her own changelings disguised as said assassin. If Lacera had taken the time to double check the assassins credibility this changeling would have been discovered, however she was too concerned with seeing her daughter dead and this spelled the end for her. The battle was short with Lacera being slain by Miasma herself in single combat. The war was extremely costly, Miasma losing over half its population to desperate gambles and pour leadership although introducing of the remaining Lacera changelings into the hive helped.
Miasma is about as threatening as a fruit fly on a nation-wide scale. Sure they can be annoying but they offer a useful service, though my advice would be to never go to the dump alone.
Hive Lupa/Clan Bug Claw
The legend goes that thousands of years ago, before ponies came to Equestria, changelings of hive Chrysalis fought bloody battles on the surface with a powerful diamond dog guild, known as Rock Taker. At first the guild master only wanted to mine the area for everything it was worth but after years of fighting he slowly became fascinated by his foe. His imagination went wild as he kept asking himself what it must be like. To have the power of a dragon, the speed of an eagle, the endurance of a cave troll…All granted with just a thought. He romanticized the idea and it wasn’t long before he began to look into ways of turning himself part changeling. At first he tried magic but this had horrible results on his “volunteer” test subjects and soon resorted to far more radical attempts to change himself. It got to the point where he would basically throw stuff at the wall and see what stuck, one of them breeding with a changeling female. Shortly after he tried the unthinkable, he devoured the corpses of a dozen changelings and had their blood injected into his own veins. The transformation that followed over the next few days varies from account to account but in a nut shell, he turned in a Cthulhu esc blob of insect flesh, eyes, mouths and tentacles before he was cast off a cliff by his peers, screaming in pain and agony the whole time. They even say he still lives, in the bowels of the deepest cave in the mountain he still screams in agony and if you rest your ear to the mountain side, you can even hear him.
This changeling was kept as the guild-master hadn’t picked a diamond dog mate and as such, technically she was now in charge. She stopped the war and isolated the guild to the center of the Crystal Mountains, soon laying three eggs. Now you must understand while we have no idea why diamond dogs and changelings are perfectly compatible as sexual partners. So why don’t we have more changeling diamond dog hybrids running around? Well first off both races hate each other with a passion, their cultures and ideals are very different if not downright the opposite of each other plus diamond dogs guilds and clans, along with changeling hives tend to smash hybrid eggs since they're seen as a crime against nature even by the few hives that get along with diamond dogs like Firestarter. This was different however since a changeling was in charge and these were her children. Don’t get me wrong, the diamond dogs apparently tried everything to overthrow her but she managed to beat any challengers to a pulp, probably thanks to the power of motherly love and the muscle building nature of a diamond dog life. When the eggs hatched they developed into hybrids.
Hybrids walk on two legs like a diamond dog, their feet forming into three claws, two at the front and one at the back for balance along with holed arms and legs from the elbow and knee down with hard chitin forming natural light armor over their chest and thighs. They have insect wings though without holes and a changeling head with a sharper, narrow chin. The rest of their body is shaped in the same style of a diamond dog, almost like one is wearing an unbelievably good costume with their skin and shell looking just like that of a changeling with yellow eyes and wings. Their horn has very little magic only able to form a light for exploration or a sharp striking bolt used to blind an attacker. Their strength is huge, being slightly stronger than a large diamond dog and are very wild in battle, snarling and roaring as they leap at their foe claws out often digging their teeth into the pour sods neck more out of battle rage then anything, though the cost of this power is their ability to transform.
Overtime the guild’s diamond dog population vanished as more and more of the next generation became hybrids, now there is not a furry one amongst them. It is said the changeling transformed into Queen Lupa which is what we name the hive after despite calling themselves clan Bug Claw. While that would make her the oldest changeling queen to ever live I’ve seen queens who eat garbage, want to turn pony kind as a whole into their personal pet, content with being a shaman and deciding to take over a nation via a wedding so Queen Lupa being that old isn’t that big a stretch. She is supposed to be warm and motherly, but cold and harsh to outsiders treating every one of the changelings like they were her children because in one way or another, they're all related to her anyway. She is supposed to look similar to a normal queen with yellowed eyed, hair and winged but has feral canine claws instead of hooves and a longer tail moving more like a wolf then a pony or bug.
This hive is, thankfully, isolationists. They stay inside their territory at all times stealing away ponies that enter without their permission. We understand from one who escaped they have set up a sort of farm, which are very lax and act more as mini tribes comprising of diamond dogs, griffins and ponies living amongst themselves working the land the best they can all while being fed upon by the hybrids. This technique does result in a low population but considering they wish only to stay within their borders a small population is probably a good thing as a higher one would call for expansion. When a hybrid gets old enough they are sent on “the Great Walk” were they are allowed to leave the mountains and explore the world a little before coming back for a life of isolation. These hybrids are warned to stay away from cities and villages as they are usually described as cold and unforgiving, a place where people do not think of themselves as brothers or sisters but as individuals, concerned mainly with gaining personal wealth…Which is technically true. This has led to sightings of hybrids to start wild tales of a strange and horrible monster living in the nearby forest or swamp but by the time these tales take hold usually the hybrid has moved on. Some don’t return, deciding to stay in the outside world but it’s a very small percentage and most come back at an older age to settle back down with their people, especially since even if only visiting those who come back are greeted with open arms.
The hive is rather spiritual with most members believing in an All Mother, a being who created everything. They also believe that Lupa is an avatar of her will, something she has not confirmed or denied, and that they are all the All Mother’s chosen though instead of chosen to take over the world like most “chosen” people they believe they are chosen to keep the purity of their life alive, as the world around them gets bigger, darker, colder and more advance they will always stay the same under her protective gaze. They live a tribal existence in stone huts, one very large building housing the queen along with a blocked off valley for the multi species village to stop those without wings from leaving, which tends to keep those with wings to stay as many have been birthed and raised there, unable to stand leaving their friends and family behind. They don’t wear armor in combat usually either using oversized throwing spears or their own claws for fighting and while small in number they have been known to wipe out whole royal guard outposts. In slaver groups putting a changeling of Lupa and a changeling from Ash Raider in a ring together is considered the ultimate money maker, having even nobles paying a ransom just for a seat. It’s only too bad for these slavers that either changeling can rip apart a whole team of herders like a griffin threw a fish burger.
Out of all the hives I’ve seen this shows the least risk. They isolate themselves in a remote and difficult to get to area, only steal ponies away if they wander into their territory without permission and even then they can live a long and full filling life. Still, if I had a choice of which kind of changeling not to run into it would be these guys.
The Changeling Hives by Written Word
Hive Conflict
On odd name originating from a phrase its members use, “We are conflict”. Before we get into the hive I have to get into Saddle Arabia history in order to fully understand what makes this hive tick.
For those of you who don’t know Saddle Arabia was founded shortly after Equestria. The majority of the pony population agreed to a united government where all were treated as equal but some ponies from each faction were not happy about as each still considered their own roll more important than the others. Instead they chose to keep heading south through the desert and into the lands which they soon named Saddle Arabia. The plan was to separate the land into three states, each to be populated by a certain breed of pony. Each state would make its own laws, taxes and support their own army. When needed a percentage of each states army would form a national army and each state would vote in a representative to the council, a group that would decide nation-wide issues. This plan came to an abrupt end when they discovered the land was already heavily populated by zebra. Zebra culture put the old ways above all ways and as such, despite having a very large population they kept to a tribal lifestyle, although they did farm to support their numbers. Zebras are very connected to the land and unlike other tribes they tend to stay put but still house themselves in basic grass and twig huts as anything more advance would act as an oven in the hot environment. Their technology is primitive but with farming boosted by another hobby of theirs, alchemy, and their diet of plants, most of a zebra’s time is spent with each other resulting in a close nit family style community.
The reason zebra tools and resources are so backwards is quite simple. Thanks to alchemy, a healthy lifestyle and close nit family groups, advance technology is not really needed. They didn’t need to invent the train to visit distant relatives, carts and hoes to make farming easier or advance weapons and armor as hunting and warrior rites consider weapons besides the spear, shield, bows and the brumen (a wooden club with a sharpened stone tip) to be dishonorable. Their also quite conservative either worshiping the land or family spirits and the idea of a cold, massive city frightens them more then attracting their attention. In the past native races have assured their own destruction by showing interest in the new foreign power like when the Free State were formed. Lucky for the zebra they didn’t. It was probably because they started off on the wrong hoof coming into contact with the pegasus army as they crossed the dessert who, low on food and water, stole supplies from a tribe to finish the journey without rationing, thinking that the zebra’s they met were isolated. They were wrong and news spread fast creating much animosity between the two races especially when the pegasus went unpunished.
While the majority of the zebra simply acted negatively towards this new settlers some tribes to the south attacked the ponies in a number of situations, these attacks along with raids from diamond dogs, griffin pirates and the untamed wilderness resulted in the ponies, ironically enough, uniting under a single flag in order to survive. Over time they expanded and fought back until they controlled one third of Saddle Arabia. Saddle Arabia has a fully equipped, trained and experienced army comprising ponies from all walks of life, having such a force along with this land grab usually at the expense of the zebra made tensions high. From the zebra’s view these ponies were slow invaders threatening to kick them off their land if not outright wipe them out. To the pony’s zebra have always been just another threat to their nation, who are incapable of simple thought and consider tribes more akin to a pack of timber wolves then a village of cultured and open minded individuals. It is this kind of thinking that eventually led to the first war between the two.
The incident at Horseshoe Ridge, or the Counter Attack to the zebra, was an event where armed forces attempted to forcefully remove a village overseeing the ridge as a fort there could allow spotters to see distant threats to the country and report them to the capital long before they came close to their borders. Now up till then Saddle Arabia had a policy for dealing with tribes. Since they often could not simply convince them to move off their land they would make life difficult. Overfishing, driving off local wildlife, removal of what vegetation there is usually drives the tribe out. Saddle Arabia gets most of its resources from renewable forests and food from the sea deep in their territory so they can afford to do this and usually they let the land recover once they move in. The Zebra, who obtain food and resources from local sources, can’t support themselves after the change. This has not gone unnoticed however and often an expansion is brought to a standstill when a tribe gets free resources from three or four nearby tribes knowing if they don’t send help, their home will be next.
Full on removal of a tribe was never done because it was considered a step too far. While the majority of the ponies saw zebra as inferior they still considered them living creatures that had some basic rights. More so, even back then in a time of bigotry there were ponies that supported the Zebra fighting politically for them and removing tribes by force would give them ammo, something the government at the time wanted to avoid. It’s still unclear whether the order was from the commander or the government but once they were removed they went to other tribes for help, formed a war party and the rest is history. The Unification War was a long and bloody one, the Zebra having the advantage of numbers and resources but Saddle Arabia having experience and better tactics. After six years the war was finally ended when a group of coat clad ponies introduced themselves to the population and taught both the ponies and zebra the error of their ways by showing how they weren’t so different, that it was misunderstanding that caused this conflict, that is was nobody’s fault. Part of the arrangement was that the zebra would be absorbed into the nation allowing the sharing of land as opposed to splitting it in two. Both governments would stay in power with members forming a council to deal with issues affecting them both. These mysterious ponies were celebrated, grand parties and social get together were set up to thank them…It’s just a pity their motivations were a lot darker than they thought.
Conflict originally gained love by settling disputes, usually between diamond dogs, griffin merchants and warring tribes collecting the love created from a new found form of understanding and regret, the amount formed certainly makes up for how long it takes to collect. When the war broke out they saw this as an opportunity and once both sides had made peace there was enough love to go around for decades. Now you might ask “Well isn’t this a good thing? They help stop wars, they get fed.” Well the issue is after the love eventually ran out, Conflict felt that spending most of their time on recreation as opposed to hunting was a wonderful way to live, instead of going back to their old way of collecting food they simple took new forms, went back into Saddle Arabia and cause a civil war. After a few year to let the hatred seep in and take root, they return as the same clock clad ponies respected by both sides who listen closely to everything they say, convince them to make peace once more. Out of eleven wars Saddle Arabia has had since Unification, its suspected that they are the cause of nine.
We don’t know much about them outside one or two that were caught in Equestria attempting to expand out and cause trouble in other nations, the reason being that most researches stake out hives or use surveillance spells that allow them to watch the hive but not know its location. Hive Conflict however made theirs in a diamond dog ruin, created by a diamond dog empire (surprisingly common before the rise of Discord) and use their disguises to trick a tribe of diamond dogs to worship them, acting as guards, doing repairs and other leg work so they have no need to leave the walls of their home unless it’s to collect love. The only thing we do know from captives is that they are run by a queen who takes the form of a sort of king changeling most hours of the day and that their changeling forms are a musty sandy yellow with amber eyes. Why the queen does this is up for debate. As a threat they are a major one, recently attempting to move some member north into Equestria to make us just as war torn as Saddle Arabia. As a physical threat they don’t have many members, have no standing army and don’t even produce armor or weapons trusting on their trickery and diplomatic skills to win out.
Hive Vermata
The Griffin Empire is a vast and powerful land filled with a high population, the most technologically advance inventions in the whole world and an army that puts Equestria’s to shame. There are however a lot of cons with living in the Griffin Empire. If you’re not a griffin you’re a second class citizen, laws are set in stone with brutal and bloody consequences, much more importantly they are often under attack from diamond dog tribes to the east or this hive, Vermata, from the north.
Vermata, named after the mountain they turned into their hive, is one of the few hives that claims to be all original, that they developed naturally over time and did not offshoot from any other hive though the chance of this, considering they have so many similar characteristics to all other changelings, is very unlikely. Scientists debate whether changelings looking similar to ponies hint that they might have been ponies to begin with, while other believe they take the shape of the species they feed on and while there’s evidence against that theory, this hive acts as evidence for. These changelings have the body shape of griffins, still keeping their dark grey shell and holed feet but also having sharp poisonous claws at the front, a holed beak and no horn. Their eyes and wings are a muddy brown with the wings oversized to better fit their larger bodies and while their bodies are shaped as a griffin their features are more in common with traditional changelings. How the queen looks is a mystery as most of our information has been collected recently and as the hive considers itself constantly at war the queen is logically far more protected and well hidden then other hives.
Vermata originally started off as a medium sized hive that fed on the Deer Confederacy before it was wiped out by the Empire, little is known about before as record keeping was kept strictly for logistics. In fact we are unsure if they were griffin like before then or if they resembled deer. Their relationship with the deer were pretty run of the mill, the changeling feeding on them in secret and while discovered changelings were imprisoned they were not executed and the deer never took the fight to the changelings. When the Empire set up shop in the ruined deer cities, rebuilding for griffin settlers, their diet soon changed to a griffin one although they did not expect the backlash they would receive. They assumed the griffins would react to the feedings as the deer would, not hang them at city gates as a warning to any other changeling foragers. Over the next hundred years tension between the two rose sharply. The population of the hive boomed as did the griffins, the more food available the more eggs would be laid but as it did so did the number of changelings getting caught which suffered horribly at the hands of the griffins. The griffins were nervous at the prospect of changelings, much more then ponies and as the empire eventually hit its eastern limits and started to come under attack from an enemy they couldn’t chased back into their own lands, removing the changelings was considered an important goal as it would free up guards and militia to be sent to the front as opposed to staying behind in order to keep an eye out for any shape shifters. The reason it took so long for either side to make a move was simply because the griffins had unclaimed land to the south to take and the changelings slowly accepted that this was just their new life now, although they certainly didn’t like it. It was during this time that hives from Equestria attempted to come over and expand in what was thought to be an untapped land but Vermata soon fought back raiding these hives and forcing them out. Only Miasma managed to set up positions there thanks to being around large griffin cities making assaults risky, dangerous and simply not worth it considering how little a risk these particular changelings are to Vermata.
About a hundred and twenty years ago during a time of peace between the dogs and the griffins, something that was bound to end eventually and they both knew it, a force was marshaled with the soul objective of removing the hive for good. The first stage of the assault went pretty well, the changeling forces offering little resistance…At least, little resistance to muskets and cannon. The area around the mountain was flat grassland so it favored the attacker though the changelings were smart enough to see a losing battle and quickly retreated back into the mountain. The second stage, the invasion of the tunnels, was a blood bath for both sides. Initially the assault was supposed to be completed over the course of a night but in the end the griffins would limp out over a month later. Similar to pony hive assaults, the changelings had the tunnels, the dark and the enclosed space to their advantages but unlike the ponies the enclosed spaces helped the attackers as well. Setting up cannon with canister shot would turn a tunnel full of changelings into a tunnel full of mushy goop not to mention the griffins could and would set up heavily defended checkpoints that took thousands of changelings to take while only held by under a hundred griffins. The battle devolved into a sort of trench warfare where the griffins could not advance anymore as the changelings had ambushes and traps set up in the thousands while the changelings couldn’t advance without being ripped in two by a volley of musket fire and cannon shot.
In the end the griffins pulled out due to logistics. With changeling ambushes it was impossible to properly supply forward checkpoints. It was when sharpened poles were issued that they realized they had no choice but to leave. Still, the mission was considering a success as while leaving the griffins detonated the tunnels to cut off exit and starve them. Their plan almost succeeded till some workers managed to dig out a new tunnel at the top of the mountain. After this the changeling’s opinion vastly changed. It was us or them, either they wipe the griffins out or the griffins will wipe them out! Rebuilding would be difficult however as the last thing they wanted was a chance for the griffins to realize they were still kicking around and as such the Queen at the time introduced a feeding system called “village hoping”. Basically changelings would set up safe houses in small griffin villages but did not feed on the villagers themselves. Instead, workers would move across the nation from safe house to safe house right to the untamed east where they could feed on diamond dogs before passing the love along the line to whoever was stationed at the safe house, creating a long chain to deliver love to the hive without the worry of being discovered. Still, many changelings starved while it was being set up, even the queen having to go without but it was worth it. Over the next forty years the hive went on a breeding frenzy, vastly boosting their numbers while transforming chambers into smithies and armories.
The construction of a serious of forts in their land finished preparations and around seventy years ago Vermata attempted its first invasion. You must understand that at the time it was believed that if they could force the griffins away then they would never have to worry about death or destruction ever again. This narrow goal changed how they thought over the decades. In time the goal of removing griffins gave way to beating them, beating them gave way to invading them and finally invading them became eradicating them. The assault, known as the First Grey Crusade (after a comment from a griffin soldier who described a battle as “a wave of grey” referring to the dark grey bodies of the changelings) went well for the changelings at first, mainly because there was little in the area to stand against them. Even after forces mobilized they were unprepared for the changeling’s new tactics and organization, losing the battle of Coolrun Bridge, Vintage and Fort Featherduster. Eventually the changelings had forced their way deep into griffin territory which made many on the Empire’s council nervous, resulting in a state of emergency being declared and forces from each houses personal armies were called up to serve in a joint task force. Operation Diversity was a plan to use this new army to hold up the changelings in the city of St Golbez while the national army would sweep in around from their position out east to cut the changelings off. The operation was a success but the battle went back and forth, events such as the destruction of the bridge out of town, the accidental detonation of griffin gunpowder reserves and the changeling love desertions shifted the tide of battle over and over till around two months later the changelings were finally crushed, not a single one survived.
The griffins went on the offensive but soon found changeling lands dotted with large specially design fortresses. Each one was constructed based off plans written up by a changeling engineer known as Catheline, someone who had great ambition and had dedicated her life to making each of her forts one of a kind with their own special defense mechanisms. For example, Fort River Run had a trench that used complex machinery to flood at a moment’s notice and retract the water just as easily. Continuously washing attacking waves downriver meant that only siege weapons could be used and even then the fort could be continuously supplied from the river. Another, fort Pyro, was built into the side of a sleeping volcano and as the enemy scaled the wall magma would pour down from creases, caking the whole surface in lava preventing any assault but airborne. The griffins managed to take two of these forts but with a great loss of men and considering the casualties from before and the danger of the dogs constantly looming over them they retreated setting up the “Fly Trap” a long stretch of fortresses dedicated to defending the north from any more assaults. Since then there’s be nine Grey Crusades, most destroying one fort in the Fly Trap before using the gap in the chain to funnel troops threw. The reason they fight now is pure spite, a polar opposite to the dogs that fight simply to loot and pillage. While an alliance between them would seem logical the dogs are formed from dozens, sometimes over a hundred different group and making an alliance with anyone that isn’t a dog would be difficult, time consuming and not to mentioned most of them believe changelings can’t be trusted plus Vermata isn’t to kind on those who kill their food source for fun and shiny stuff.
Vermata was originally an Atheist hive but adopted an ancestry system. Basically, if you were a changeling who revolutionized the hive or served it in some great way you would accent to godhood when you pass on. An example is Catheline who is now worshiped as a god of Engineering. There’s over three dozen different gods ranging from god of water and war, to partying and alcohol. Naming all of them and giving their backstory would fill up a book all on its own so we’ll skip that. Another unique aspect is that despite their new warlike culture most changelings spend their free time on art, painting, statue carving and pottery. This came about just under four hundred years ago when the now god of art, Jacob, wanted to spread the love of his passion to the rest of the hive and after a very long, difficult life he did manage to reform the hive culturally and now stands as a testimony to how one changeling can change the entire hive with nothing but hard work and a passion. Strategy wise they are very modern and well trained, using tactics similar to Equestria royal guard which makes them adaptable. Equipment wise they were taught smithing by unaware deer and as such they have much better gear then other hives using steel swords, spears, crossbows and decorated armor with every member well equipped although this all does little to stop musket balls. Vermata does have rifles but they don’t have the factories to produce them in numbers, theirs usually stolen and given to veterans or scouts who can perform hit and run attacks.
A constant never ending risk to the griffins but as for everyone else they pose little threat. Even if they wipe out every griffin on the planet they would just retreat to their home to live in peace once more. Does make you ask if the ends justify the means.
The Changeling Hives by Written Word
Hive Palus
Hive Palus is basically wiped out. Their hive destroyed, their culture eradicated and now their population lives in the slums of major cities in the Free States. Sometime four hundred and seventy years ago a storm hit the coast near the Hagfish hive, about forty percent of the population getting washed out. By the time the storm had passed they had been washed far away from Equestria. Most likely they slept on ship wreckage before being caught in currents that went passed the Equestrian south coast, ending up in the west seas. From there the group was split by a second storm dragging them away from Equestria and both ended up in what is now known as the Free States. One landed on the southwest shore, the other the northwest shore. The north group heading into the mainland believing they landed back in Equestria and went looking for help. The south group on the other hand looked at the weird flora and fauna realizing they had ended up in a new land,settling down and becoming Palus. The land they ended up in was miles of bog and swampland making life just as difficult for them as it did for the ponies that would arrive latter. Many changelings lost their lives to exotic diseases even their naturally resistance could not keep out but over time they adapted, evolving to better suit their surroundings. They now have a muddy green shell and dark grey eyes keeping their great swimming ability and gills for moving quick and silently through swamp water. They formed a pro-tribal society keeping basic technology, living in swamp reed long houses, their villages are usually surrounded by a wooden wall to offer some protection against the monsters outside. Their religion was based more on their past then their land or future, believing the land they came from was a paradise and someday their fellows would return to bring them back. This most likely came from hopeful changelings who’s faith was warped by Chinese whispers.
Culture wise they like to spread out but the danger of collecting love keeps the population of each individual village small. They’re not as superstitious as one would think using the swampy land to their advantage, often one changeling would attract large predators before having a dozen changelings launch themselves out of the water digging into their prey before dragging them under the still water sucking every ounce of love out leaving behind a shriveled corpse. As a society they formed a loose nation focused around the queen, who would be the chief of the largest tribe. Instead of forming a council tribes in need come straight to the queen, who if unable to help using her own tribe will send messages to other tribes to form a temporary union to deal with the problem. Without the queen being the center of every tribe and having her direct power limited resulted in the queen being much more humbled, wiser and more motherly but also far less aggressive and strong. They use the swamps to isolate themselves from the diamond dogs and Hive Firefly leaving them free of conflict which gave their population a hopeful attitude.
About two hundred and fifty years ago pony explorers discovered the coast and soon a Celestia backed settler wave hit. Villages were founded up and down the east coast but most didn’t last long. Exotic disease, rampaging diamond dogs and becoming the new snack food for the lands predators quickly emptied the settlements either attempting to return home or ending up in unmarked graves. The swamp villages, at first, seemed like they were going to be the first lot to fall especially as the swamp made disease and gang green especially bad but it also did protect them from outside predators, plus they soon came into contact with the hive. Now Hive Palus wasn’t populated by idiots, despite coming from another land and being shaped like themselves they did figure out that these were not their ancestors coming to take them to paradise, In fact they believed they came from a different land altogether. They did realize that they needed help surviving and considering their tribes were very isolated it was an opportunity to start trading, maybe receive information that could help discover their homeland. The ponies were skeptical at first but soon accepted their help, having their injuries and sickness treated, given safe plant life to eat and assisted in draining areas of land to build their cities on. The ponies returned the favor by gifting them with small trinkets and signed a trade agreement. This wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows however as the ponies soon discovered the changeling’s faith and decided to keep their knowledge of both Equestria and other changelings to a minimum in order to keep the hive in the dark and willing to work with them. The last thing they wanted was for their savors to pack up and leave. They also refused to trade any weapons or advance technologies to them. Carts, furs and food were ok, armor, train parts and potions were a big nono.
As the cities grew in size and big stone walls were erected to protect the citizens from the outside world engagements with Palus was kept to a minimum. Mostly traders and adventurers did business, dirt roads often being directed through their villages to act as rest stops while also boosting trade. The end to all this actually occurred for three reasons. First, and largest, came from the discovery of hive Firefly and the failed invasion by the Griffin Empire. The zealous war between the ponies and Firefly lead to mistrust of Palus mainly because they were the same race and the ponies felt that Palus might have known about Firefly. The influx of abandoned Griffins lead to the Unity Act but more on that in a second.
Second was the sudden demand to obtain pony weapons. A tribe came under attack from tribal diamond dogs who had wondered into the swamp and three dozen warriors fell to the beasts before only half a dozen patrolling outer city guards put an end to the fighting quickly. The fact that six ponies could end a fight that cost thirty six warriors made many changelings suddenly relies how backwards they were, starting to request pony weapons be open for trade. This just boosted mistrust for their hive with the final straw being the uprising of Jacob. A changeling warrior who managed to get a merchant talking, he found out about the lies and information being withheld to Palus. After gathering a number of tribes under his banner he started attacking merchants and guards demanding the cities tell them the truth about the land they came from. This all lead to their inclusion in the Unity Act. Basically after the failed Griffin Empire invasion over two thousand Griffins were left behind. The answer to this issue was the new Unity Act. Despite Celestia hating the idea and ordering the plan to be scrapped, it was the perfect way to deal with most of their problems. Basically the Unity Act, which ironically did not involve uniting the cities in any way, gave citizenship to the changelings and griffins. The cost however was to make them second class citizens. They would be put in the most run down areas, required to do hard labor and they would be required to move into the cities so the guards can keep an eye on them. The idea being that this would make the changelings useful while removing their will to fight, the new population would produce a larger army to fight back against Firefly and these new citizens would work the jobs most ponies hated. It was popular with the ponies as the previously pour were moved into the lavish inner city and received help in getting higher paying jobs as guards, merchants and bankers.
As you can guess it wasn’t as popular with everyone else as griffins, changelings and later on diamond dogs would be forced off whatever little square of land they managed to live on and forced into their new homes. There was heavy resistance with many tribes but fighting stopped when the queen reluctantly agreed to be moved into town. As for the effects of the Unity Act ponies would easily say it was a success! It didn’t take long for griffins and changelings to get jobs in industry and food production, lack of financial support forced many of their new citizens into the army and resistance crumbled. After all, it’s hard to organize a revolution when you need to work twenty hours a day to put food on the table. The changeling culture met its end when most of them found out about Hagfish and Equestria as it’s somewhat difficult to keep the secret when changelings became exposed to tens of thousands as opposed to the odd merchant or adventurer. While they were some grumbling most changelings were just too tired of the recent events to make a big deal of it. Most of their culture had been based around this belief but how do you keep a culture based on an undisputed lie alive? Add the fact they were banned from transforming and their previous way of life died pretty quickly. They did adapt a new family based culture, often shoved into city blocks together they began taking care of each other and soon previous chieftains became community leaders. Despite how the cities might treat them it is a known fact not to mess with a changeling less the whole community comes after you.
Over time many small rebellions did occur. An inner city farm came to a standstill in New Canterlot when its changeling workers had a strike and in many cities small gang like groups started attacking guards forcing each cities inner army to force a crackdown. Even worse their outer armies were very reluctant to fight or even force their new laws on changelings as many generals showed affection towards their soldiers. It was often caused by respect, after all they were allowed to change on the battlefield and having men who could change between an archer, meat shield, brawler and siege specialist at a moment’s notice was a massive boom to any commander. This climaxed when a riot erupted in Mareville when a small strike outside a local shop got put down by members of the inner army, which started a brawl that escalated. A mayor Thunder Strike came up with a very clever way to prevent his city from burning down, flat out told people the changelings have won and that the city council had surrendered and agreed to their terms. He would improve working conditions by introducing a minimum wage and better working hours. This was changed from getting basically nothing to getting pocket change and from twenty hours to fifteen but the fact that they had supposedly won was enough for most changelings to stand down. The way most of them saw it, they had succeeded, they wanted to make changeling lives better and they did, plus they had won. The mayor said so. Those who did see through this trick demanded the changelings get equal hours and pay to ponies or they would continue to fight. The mayor offered a twelve hour working day plus Sundays off and they agreed. All but one city has copied these reforms bringing an end to changeling resistance.
Since then changeling rights have not changed at all. When all cities introduced a good citizen system, where individuals usually forced to live in the outer city and slums could move into the inner city if they perform some great feat, changelings were left out of the system meaning if you had bug eyes and holey feet you were doomed to be poor. The changeling queen would move into the New Canterlot block were she remains, forming the Ever Changing House set up like the inner city merchant houses only they do not get acknowledgment from the city council. It’s easy to sum Palus as some kind of tragedy especially running through its history but I’ve been to the Free States, I’ve walked through the slums and despite being a pony they greeted me with open arms. They answered all my questions, including personal ones about their queen and hive mind before inviting me to one of their celebrations. Often ponies in Equestria see Palus as an oppressed people but to be truthful they seem to be happy and full of life. Not only that but ponies seem to have a better opinion of changelings then many believe. The best way to describe it as how one treats a cat. Sure they don’t deserve to eat at the table, don’t deserve to take up your favorite chair, but anyone who takes advantage of a cat for their own gain is a horrible person and those who hurt cats are very sick beings. The same can be said for changelings, that they are beneath ponies but neither do ponies have a right to abuse them.
Some ponies believe that the Unity Act was the perfect, in some cases only way to achieve unity between the changeling and pony races while other believe it as a twisted form of slavery. It all depends on your own personal view. What is more important, personal freedom or safety? Should we leave native populations alone or better their lives at the cost of their culture? Do the ends justify the means? As a threat Palus is more a benefit then a risk.
Hive Firefly
When the northern group moved into the mainland they found traveling to be extremely difficult thanks to the local wild life, many members losing their lives to local fauna. Eventually they made their way to the west coast hoping to find safer lands, only to discover they have, if anything, traveled into more dangerous areas of the continent. The group shrinking faster and faster they desperately moved into one of the few places the native wildlife avoided, an area they ended up calling the Grove. The Grove was previously a huge tunnel network that had its ceiling opened up to the outside thanks to erosion, though the plant life inside the cave adapted. Many trees are damp and moldy, blocking most sunlight and keeping the area mostly in the dark. Why animals avoided the area was because of the flora.
The Grove is covered in huge patches of Savior mushrooms, named such by Firefly as they considered the plant their salvation. Most toxic mushrooms only poison when digested but Savior released toxic spores constantly. Moving into the area protected them from animals while their resistance to poison protected them somewhat from the spores, though many changelings died from these deadly poisons before they adapted to have a full immunity. Firefly changelings have a normal dark grey coat with lime green eyes and wings, losing their gills and having a shorter horn with a far smaller magic pool. Something that stands out is their lack of tail, replaced by a rather large bulb that constantly glows a lime green. This was an adaption to the constant darkness of the grove, the bulb acting as a light to guide the changeling though the black although the odd ray of light often pieces through the tree tops makes developing night vision a bad idea considering said rays could blind anyone who looks at them with such sensitive vision.
One of the things Palus and Firefly have in common are faiths spun around tales from their ancestors. The exception was Palus forefathers told their children about the wonders of the homeland. Firefly was based on suspicious and aggressive tales about ponies and Equestria. Originally these stories were to warn their children in case they ever ran into some ponies. Over time and with many Chinese whispers these changelings began to believe ponies to be some kind of demonic entity, destined to burn their homes, poison the water and rape the women. This state of mind lead to their creation of a military society, otherwise avoidable considering the land protected their homes from any risk which unfortunately resulted in their discovery by pony explorers to be quite bloody with only two members escaping, Firefly spies followed them back to the Free States. Firefly amassed an army that caused havoc at the battle of Outpost Moonlight destroying both it and defeating an outer city army at the battle of Vumire Swamp. The changelings were eventually defeated when they tried besieging New Canterlot, the largest of the city states though they were close to victory until Firefly’s flanks were attacked by a combined force of Palus changelings and an inner city army from Wingspan.
Since then Firefly has constantly attacked Free Sate territory, butchering anyone they came across considering the other races who live within to be working with demons. Technology wise they are certainly not on the level of ponies but are far from tribal like Palus. The cave system that eventually developed into their homes was formed from a dead volcano giving the occupants ample supply of obsidian which they mine to produce their weapons such as spears, arrows and Macuahuitls. Originally Firefly used simple hide shields and armor for protection but after diamond dog tribes formed into guilds thanks to the introduction of Equestrian inventions and ideals, iron has become available to the hive, being far more flexible and malleable then obsidian their armors now have a layer of the metal under a second layer hide and a third layer of moss or mushroom cap which offers protection against fire arrows and basic flame spells. We don’t know much about their culture, mainly because they kill anyone not native to the continent but considering they are at constant war with the Free States we know a lot about their military organization.
Most changeling armies are very similar to pony ones, with light, heavy and ranged infantry along with flying troops to act as support. Firefly however has a huge range of different troop choices all based on a rather unusual requirement for service. Instead of training each individual soldier, recruits are expected to train before signing up. Once they have registered they are given a rite of passage, ordered to bring back a kill from outside the Grove. This does make producing new soldier inconsistent but considering their armies have to march from the West coast all the way to the East you can understand why they need to know how these soldiers would react to the dangerous outside, especially since on average twenty percent of these forces often die on the journey to the Free Sates instead of actually fighting.
What creature they skin notes both their rank and position which may seem short sited but in order to kill the larger creatures one must be sly, ungodly cunning and stealthy, all good attributes of a military officer plus wearing the skin over their shoulders help denote position in the middle of combat. As a unified force troops troop types are considered options as opposed to fulfilling set rolls. A general does not see his troops as parts of a machine but as tools to achieve overarching plans. While this puts fair fights in favor of the Free States it means most generals consider each move they make as opposed to just throwing troops at a wall and hope for the best. Fighting in the environment is obviously where the changelings are at their best but Firefly suffers when performing sieges mainly because their options are limited, more often than not they only have ladders and tree logs to act as siege equipment.
The lowest rank in the army consists of basic infantry, lightly equipped with short iron armor, obsidian spears and basic iron weapons including hatches, picks and hand maces. They make up the bulk of the army normally stations from the second row back when put into formation, usually trusting their numbers will win the day in open conflict. Compared to pony infantry they tend to be lightly armored using patches of hide armor laced with a thin sheet of iron but they are quite the match in open combat, able to bounce around and dodge very easily. They also makes excellent scouts, skirmishers and guerrilla fighters often using stealth techniques often seen with griffin snipers, making them the masters of ambush. Infantry hunt species of large lizard which the ponies called Skinks, pony sized reptiles that have a light aqua coloring. Other than that they basically look like shorten garden Skinks from Equestria however these ones are very territorial, violent and venomous. Their bite can numb a pony for weeks and it’s often used to slow their opposites, making them an easier target. Why so many changelings choose this to be their kill is really due to their massive population. They're simply easy to find.
The leg up from that are the archers. Archers are equipped the same armor as the infantry making them light but still more armored then other ranged units. They are high in number usually armed with a short bow, a quiver of arrows and an iron hand weapon usually being positioned right behind the infantry. Unlike other ranged units who are positioned as far back as possible Firefly archers are usually positioned right next to the battle allowing their cheap and easy to produced bows to achieve maximum effectiveness. This often forces them into the fray but their armor and weapons means that they are useful in a pinch even if engaged in melee. The Javelin Frog is the prey of choice this time, a large dog sized amphibian that fires an acidic glob at short distance. They're also very common but more dangerous than Skinks and as such get a few less hunters.
From this point on we get into the exotic soldiers. Bullworks are changelings permitted to take a different form in combat, in this case a huge, oversized humanoid brute with thick natural armor replacing any changeling made one. They are more often than not equipped with oversized, square obsidian shields about the size of a cart which they form together to make a wall at the front of Firefly formations. In their free hand often they carrying hollowed out obsidian ball with a handle in the center making it a sort of weaponized boxing glove to pummel and smash anything aside. Their issue is there’s not as many of them as Firefly would like, meaning they are unable to provide cover from the whole army. They're best used to open up or holding choke points such as gates and bridges or being used as mobile cover during sieges allowing groups of infantry to get right up to the walls without receiving any losses. The hunted this time are giant grazing animals called Berines who are four legged mammals more in common with a yak then the other more exotic creature of the land. They spend most of their time grazing although being the size of a cottage, covered in a thick layer of fur and their extra territorial nature makes them very dangerous. They keep to the grasslands to the north meaning any hunters have to travel a lot farther then their comrades for even the opportunity to hunt.
Longshots are next. Longshots are given the right to transform into bipedal insect like forms usually comprising of four long but strong limbs each ending in a three talon hands shaped like an eagles foot. They use these limbs to scale trees, towers and even stone walls in record time before hanging from branches often upside down by a single leg. Their weapon of choice comprise of a long bow, easily three times the size of a short bow and used for a sort of sniper role often firing arrows normally used with ballista’s. Usually Longshots fills one of two roles. During guerilla actions and battles occurring in heavily dense foliage they often move from tree to tree, firing pin point arrows at commanders and officers to weaken the ranks. When in open battle their positioned far back from the battlefield, often too far to fire their arrows with such accuracy but they can fire volleys basically anywhere on the battlefield helping to keep the pressure on. Longshots are extremely rare and often a attacking force can contain thousands of infantry and archers, over a hundred Bullworks and only twenty five Longshots. Their hunts are actually quite unique in that instead of hunting animals, they hunt tribal diamond dogs. An area of land to the south is sectioned off and within its borders all alliances are voided. Diamond dogs and changelings often venture in to obtain a sense of glory by hunting and skinning each other, dogs gain great respect for the skin of a changeling and changelings join the Longshots once they get a dogs skin.
The final group is Devastators. These are large brutes but on a smaller scale then Bullworks, making them faster and more agile. Devastators act as a sort of mace to Bullworks shield, smashing aside other infantry and forcing their way through formations. They're bipedal and tend to be slightly larger then big diamond dogs, covered in crude iron armor along with their animal skin. For a weapon they use a war hammer spear hybrid, a weapon that uses a spear shaft, ending in a large obsidian hammer head with a large spear tip on top. The design allows them to literally smash shield walls apart while raising their weapons as spears to piece anyone who charges the group. Devastators act as the spearhead during assaults while acting as the force needed to break stalemates though they also carry large Macuahuitls as backup weapons. In loose combat they often act independently from each other, usually grouped up with infantry acting as a sort of small scale commander. In organized battles their often positioned to the right of formations to sweep around from the flank or positioned up front when pushed into narrow passages and gates. Devastators hunt queen Lazuriths, spider like insects the size of cats with the queen being as big as a couch. While slaying the queen is not that difficult, it’s getting to her though the swarm of soldiers and workers is. Usually great endurance and determination is required, perfect aspects for a line breaker.
From then on out we have officers which generally hunt a list of specialized prey that requires thought and planning in order to hunt. Finally there’s the queen which actually has a second rank to achieve. Dragon Queens are respected and feared by all species, these being queens who have proven their worth as leaders by slaying a swamp dragon. Swamp dragons are the largest and most terrifying creatures out there with the head and neck of a dragon connected to what can only be described as a scaly blob of flesh, withering tentacles attached at the base. They are often scaled brown or grey and hide in swamps pretending to be huge, tower sized boulders until large prey walks. It then ties it's prey down with it's tentacles, devouring them whole although if things go south they employ their toxic breath to melt away the flesh. To slay such a creature usually requires an army and even then often these huge forces sent out to slay such beasts are never seen or heard from again. For a queen to slay one she must be the smartest, most cunning, powerful and strong willed leader out there. They gain massive respect and almost zealous followers once they have skinned the beast, wearing the hide into battle to show off her accomplishment. People who slay a Dragon Queen take her hide as a trophy and are often gifted their own house if a pony or given citizenship if they're different species. The only person that has slain one who still lives is the Lord of Wingspan although there is much debate about whether he truly deserves it, as he slew the queen from a distance with a ballista as opposed to one on one combat like most cases.
Firefly is a serious risk to the Free States but would probably be satisfied with purging their land.
The Changeling Hives by Written Word
Independent groups and epilogue
Independent groups
As one might know there are quite a number of free changelings in the world and while they were seen with contempt originally (although in many places they still are) the increase in number has made many ponies change their attitude. The influx came after the invasion due to the simple fact that ponies were seen as changeling enemies, both by the changelings and many ponies alike. When a changeling is kicked out many believe they can find at least safety and a hot meal by defecting to Equestria, hoping the government would take them in for their knowledge and information. Sadly Equestria is not some kind of military state, most changelings end up on the streets or pretending to be ponies in order to establish new lives, though as their numbers increase a lot of groups have formed around these new migrates.
The United Changeling Union protects changelings from a political level. Originally they were a sort of work union organizing strikes for equal working conditions. As they grew the group branched out concentrating their effort in passing laws to better protect changeling rights. Their success is usually mixed, Celestia herself more than happy to sit down with their leaders and come up with an effective compromise although other towns often give them a hard time, in some cases they simply get ignored. Metamorphis is a group with a much more colorful name with much deeper goals. While the UCU focus mostly on rules and law Metamorphis focuses more on pony opinions. They're a much more aggressive group targeting racist focused pony organization organizing counter protests and setting up rather creative punishment for anti-changeling ponies such as, let’s say, spreading photos of them kissing a changeling, the individual in the photo really be another changeling in disguise. Some say they went too far when they broke into Baltimare’s town hall to steal documents that proved the town government was anti changeling behind their voter’s back, having been banned from a number of cities although their still allowed within most major towns.
Bread for Changelings, a rather unimaginatively named group compared to Metamorphis, focuses more on charity work collecting money from ponies usually with house calls to clothe and feed homeless changelings, helping new arrivals to get on their feet quickly. They're mostly changeling run but they're are a number of pony volunteers and working for the group counts towards community service making it a top choice for convicts. Funny enough they are actually in a need for these convicts as some of their charity op shops have come under attack by anti-changeling ponies and having one or two large burly ponies working there drastically lowers the amount of trouble a place has. From the other side of the fence the Ponies Against Free Changelings are a pony based group that focus on keeping changeling rights in check. They’re not exactly racist as much as distrustful of changelings, often acting as the rival to United Changeling Union. They often get mixed reactions much like the changeling groups with some calling them out as single minded bigots, fighting a good fight or simply not prosecuting changelings enough.
The Truth is the extreme opposite end to Metamorphis, a group that calls about the extermination of all changelings. Luckily, they have been marked as a criminal organization though that hasn’t stopped their protests and violet acts. The group is pony based but also has branched out into Saddle Arabia. The organization believing that the only good changeling is a dead changeling, that all are deceptive, cruel and wish only to cause pony pain whether though battle, infiltration or simply stealing pony jobs. They receive the mostly hate and while the Equestria chapter often has to work behind the curtain the Saddle Arabia chapter has shown more success. They were excommunicated however by their mother chapter after they decided to include zebras into their hate filled speeches and actions.
All of these groups are relatively small mainly because the number of changelings in Equestria can be numbered in the thousands compared to the hundred of thousands of ponies, not to mention couple hundred griffins, zebra and diamond dog. Probably the largest changeling related group is the Institute of Changeling Management in the Griffin Empire. While the Inquisition deal in spies they take care of the day to day management of changeling related issues such as public information, running the world’s first changeling only prison and rounding up Miasma changelings to be used on the battlefield. They're more logistic based then anything physical but they have a center in all major towns usually accepting changeling accusations before passing it on to the Inquisition. They're government run and as such doesn’t really have to worry about finances and manpower, unlike our next two groups. On the other side of the world in the Free States changelings are third class citizens and that doesn’t always go down well with people. The Revolt is a group based out of Wingomi which was originally one of many pegasus only settlements until over time they became multi species. Unlike most cities diamond dogs and griffins are given equal citizenship, however changelings are used strictly for slave labor, laws being put it place that prevent one from ever being free. In fact if freed by their master they become property of the city, which then get sold back into slavery. The Revolt, quite simply, comprises of mostly changelings (although they also has ponies, dogs and griffins in its ranks, mostly foreigners disgusted by the treatment of these slaves) that exist to make life difficult for slave owners. They often organize riots, sabotage machinery, free slave and use fertilizer to produce primitive explosives. The group is clever enough to keep their numbers low within the cities walls though this makes causing any permanent damage difficult and many a secret hideout becomes the new snack lounge for the monsters outside the walls.
The Red Beast was originally a group of these changelings who established a camp in other cities to intercept slave trains and free the prisoners but as they spent more and more time away from Wingomi theses changelings began to be more concerned with the treatment of their species in the other cities. After all, what’s the point of freeing their brothers and sister if living in scrap tin huts and working ten hours a day was the best they could hope for? The group originally kept to the same strategies as the Revolt but their numbers quickly grew as they had a wider population to recruit from. Things went south however when a number of changelings, in their name, brutally murdered a factory owner and her family before being accepted into the organization instead of being punished. This started a trend of more bloody and brutal attacks, going from a spanner in the works to a knife in the back. Their name originates from this time too, as The Revolt discommunicated them while the Lord of Wingspan described the group in a speech as “A red beast” and so they began to wear it as a badge of honor before officially naming the group. While the leader of Revolt is unknown, The Red Beast is led by a mare of unknown originals simply called The Red Mare, despite her coat being white. We know she is a unicorn of average power, with a white coat and green mane but that’s all, as she has only appeared in propaganda and many argue whether she is even real or just an icon.
Epilogue
Classifying changelings as monsters could not be more wrong. Their diversity, physically, biologically, culturally and spiritually diversity make the changeling just as intelligent and cultural as any other race including ponies. Viewing them as nothing more than a foe to be conquered vastly limits what we can personally take away from the species. Despite being separated their species has flourished and while others attempt to prevent this, have continued to grow into communities full of their own rich beliefs and personality. Sure, they are often plagued with issues that we take for granted, such as racism and safety but they have accomplished more than they could together.
To decide that changelings are monster is to call ponies greedy. Many a noble and business pony suck up the bits from the poor and needy, to stuff their coffers with riches while those around them starve and suffer. These ponies are few and far between but if one was exposed ONLY to these ponies one would make that assumptions don’t you agree? While I am not suggesting we should work together with these insects, forgive them or even feel at ease I simply believe one should judge on what a person is instead of what they might look like. Hopefully, I may have convinced one or two of you while informing a lot more on the diversity, culture and mystery of the changeling.
For False Image, my one and only partner who freed me from my prejudice.
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The Changeling Hives by Written Word
Additional: Hive Thorax and Hive Chrysalis Holdouts
Hive Thorax
Formed after a failed invasion attempted by Hive Chrysalis, Thorax was formed after a unknown chemical reaction to the energies of the main six resulted in a spontaneous mutation of the changeling genetics. These “new changelings” or as they are known by most other hives, “abominations” are completely self-sustaining requiring no love to survive while also showing a number of other biological differences. Instead of a queen the hive seems to be tied directly into a king figure, along with gaining some minor visual features such as a diverse color palette (similar to ponies) and the ability to eat food. While this is believed by many to be the work of ‘sharing love’ a far more scientific view is that the wild magics and energies tied to the relationships of pony kind permanently infused these changelings with pony DNA creating a hybrid race. While changeling pony hybrids have been born in the past, most of these children tend to have a dominate gene. In other words, they tend to be more changeling then pony and vise versa. These new changelings are a perfect fifty-fifty combination of the two allowing for the benefit of both races instead of sharing their weaknesses like other half breeds.
The change has completely revolutionized the very culture of the hive, turning a once deceptive society into one of creativity and artistic expression. Not only does the hive now trade with Equestria at large but has a defensive alliance with Canterlot itself, something that many would considered impossible in such a short a time if not for the leadership of their king. Thorax himself, once a friend to the ponies before taking a leadership role, has proven to be a very effective trader, organizer, policy maker and developer spearheading a hive reconstruction effort ending the endless expansion of the hive and instead putting the resources into redeveloping war rooms and weapon manufactory chambers into public forums, libraries, schools, public hospitals and indoor gardens. His close relationship with many key leaders of Equestria have allowed the king to sign a large number of economic and political treaties with the powerful nation drastically improving growth and production. Unlike the independent city states of Dimondia and Griffonstone Hive Thorax’s formation was specifically tied into the relationship shared between the ponies and the changelings. Dimondia is but a trade town formed out of the desire to achieve unbound riches through trade instead of mining, while Griffonstone was formed after the failed Griffin Empire’s invasion of Equestria during the reign of discord. Thorax on the other hand personally knew each Equestrian leader, having gained their trust long before his takeover of the hive. While both Dimondia and Griffonstone are recognized and represented in Equestrian matters both state’s population tend to be somewhat mistrustful of the Equestrian government stunted both their economies and willingness to form hard alliances.
Hive Thorax on the other hand has been completely open to pony involvement, leading to the amazing level of growth. In time, it is assumed that the hive will form into a large nation of its very own drastically strengthening both itself and the Equestrian nation. Other agreements include a migration treaty between the two nations and the redevelopment of the hive environment. While most ponies find the long travel and freezing temperatures to be off putting a large portion of changelings have migrated into pony land. This has drastically increased the number of free changelings within Equestria while also drastically lowering the negative response changelings usually receive. A lot of current free changelings have already agreed to undergo a similar change, adding to the new changeling’s numbers while firmly establishing the new species as a integral part of pony society. The areas around the hive have also began to warm up to the surprise of many. Despite located far north surrounded by snow the hive has slowly become an ‘oasis in the ice’ turning the bone chilling void landscape into a mild garden. The only hint we have as to the nature of this change is the aura generated by the new changelings, a loving warm which may be changing their environment to suit their new disposition.
However, not everything looks up for this new hive. Many members of Hive Chrysalis either escaped or were away from the hive when the transformation took place. While we will explore these changelings in a second, the main point is there are already forces attempting to undo this amazing transformation that know the hive inside out. The changelings from most of the other hives have also responded to the change with revulsion and disgust. While some hives who already had close ties to Equestria (such as the Pseudochangelings) willingly took the transformation themselves, most see these new changelings as something totally alien. Not only do they stand for everything most changelings are against, but even on a biological level they seem totally different and wrong. The simple ability to eat food is often brought up with utter revulsion when discussing the new hive, Chinese whispers running wild as to the ‘actual’ origin of the hives including a failed experiment by Chrysalis to breed the perfect weapon, ponies poisoning their water supply, some kind of horrific virus and even the idea that they’re actually some kind of other worldly creatures that has failed horribly at copying the changeling form. While those of Hive Thorax are now free of pony mistrust, they now must be cautious of their own kind wishing to ‘purge the filth’. There have been a number of cases where migrate Thorax changelings have come under attack in towns, quite a shocking series of events considering how cautious and careful most changelings have to be.
Most of this stems from a societal fear of these new creatures. Not only does Hive Thorax have information of most of the other changeling’s hives but they also fear the infectious nature of the transformations. While the idea of endless love might seem appealing the brighter more adventuress and creative personality change has turned most others off. To them, changing into one of these new creatures is like losing yourself. Having what’s you erased and removed, replaced with something more ‘in line’ with pony ideals. Worse yet while Thorax has been an excellent ruler he has proven himself a sub-par general. Attempts to pin and capture individual Chrysalis groups have all been failures, and on top of that Thorax himself seems very reluctant to show resistance to military advances. Many outposts and military borrows have been taken by other hives without a fight, their forces told to simply leave and avoid a conflict all together no matter the numerical and tactical advantages. On top of that while the lower tunnels have been sealed off the Diamond Dog population within the network has sky rocketed. Without the hive’s constant war to keep the underground tribes in check the marauding bands have completely taken over. Only time will tell if these groups will turn against each other or, in a worse-case scenario, come to the surface looking for more treasure and battles.
Hive Chrysalis Holdouts
While a number of changelings left with their queen not every such group proved so loyal. Many outposts and bases soon declared themselves independent from both parties, forming into small individuals hives lead by committee instead of queen. Most tend to view the fall of Chrysalis as an inevitability, a leader brought down by her own incompetence and stupidity. Chrysalis herself had been under a judgemental gaze since the failed Canterlot wedding attack, a few minor operations occurring after only making the matter worse. Not only did she utterly fail with both numbers and surprise on her side, but exposed the whole race as a serious and dangerous threat to pony kind. Time and again she was shown up but a small group of friends, not by armies, or queens, or politics but the tea club crew features femasaurous. Chrysalis kept control out of fear but now on the run, targeted by two nations and with little support, her once loyal follows now declare their own domains.
These holdouts tend to differ wildly but most tend to be focused either running a democracy free of set rulers while others are run by warlords, usually a changeling commander who used his position to slip into power. Both are naturally very aggressive to both Hive Thorax and the ponies, some going so far as to perform raids on undefended trade posts and caravans. Despite the aggression these group show it should be noted the individual numbers of each group rarely go above a hundred. These locations ranged from simple watch towers to military barrows, used for simple fortification or border patrol. They were simply not organized or equipped for hive construction or large-scale warfare.
Despite the disadvantage some groups have actually begun fighting each other over resources and drones, simply gaining numbers by conquest of other holdouts. This anarchy has been singled out as an example of Thorax’s inability to lead an effective defence force, that he would let such wild and unpredictable groups fight it out in his very own borders though with the demilitarization of his hive and most groups unwillingness to negotiate he’s hands may be tied.
The Changeling Hives by Written Word
Introduction and Hive Chrysalis
Introduction and Hive Chrysalis
Introduction.
There are dozens if not hundreds of different Changeling hives most separated into minor and major hives. Major hives are the minority but can have up to a hundred times more changelings then some minor hives. They often defines the majority both culturally and biologically since most minor hives are either offshoots or formed from mixed breeds between two different hives. For the most part minor hives are not really worth going into detail with but you should be aware that just because you live far away from these major hive locations does not mean tunnels aren’t being dug right under your feet. Now all hives tend to differ on levels just as different species of ponies were before unification. They differ biologically, politically, socially and all the same ways we were, but just like us, there were some key features that each and every one of them shares.
First is that most of them have a queen. Now this is true for almost all Changeling hives but there are a few Hives that go with an elected or just plain tyrannical drone leader but these have always put the queen species in some kind of high political position, often as spiritual leaders. This has always interested me as it goes against my next point. All hives have a weak hive mind that bonds every Changeling to each other.
Now the Changeling Hive mind is very simple compared to ants and bees. Instead of controlling them like machines or the limbs of a body it simply compels a Changeling to do as it is told by the queen. This means all of the Changelings do indeed have free will but one must understand when they are given an order it is not like in cartoons where their bodies fight against them. They do it instinctively, without a second thought and tend to never even question wh, resulting in most Changelings going their whole life without even knowing that need is there. Another effect of the Hive mind is to be able to know the location of other Changelings, though it is not like radar were they know the exact location. Free Changelings whom I have interviewed have described it as feeling the warmth of another but from a distance, giving them a beacon to follow if isolated. This also gives the Changeling a feeling of never being alone.
Now as I just mentioned it is possible for Changelings to become “free”, to break apart from the hive mind. Now while it hasn’t been proven the most accepted theory is that the Hive mind works like a radio channel sending out a signal that all changelings of that Hive follow, which is why two hives can intermingle without sharing the same mind. Changelings pick up this signal though their horn and send out a weaker signal to give a general idea of their location. Now, when a Changelings horn is broken or just snapped off changelings are suddenly cut off from the Hive mind. Changeling horns do grow back but it seems to not affect their freedom and it’s thought that once a new horn is grown it’s “set to a different frequency”.
Also, another way they achieve freedom is through, in simple term, giving themselves a bang on the head. It’s a bit confusing how this works the same way as snapping the horn but it has be theorized that it’s like how if you drop a radio it may still work but the frequency would be changed. Now it should be pointed out that simply removing a horn is far safer than, let’s say, banging a Changelings head against a rock. This gives them freedom to do as they please and most choose to leave the Hive. Now not all leave because they hate their hive but because many hives arrest and even execute these free Changelings so they have no choice. Often many Changelings don’t even get to this point, breaking free of the Hive mind not only gives the Changeling freedom but also removes the ability to sense other Changelings. As such it has the same effect as being alone for the first time in your life and if combined with, let’s say, a cave in insanity is a nasty side effect. Even those who get through it often have nightmares about the experience.
The only Changelings to not be directly connected to the hive mind are those who give ideas and opinions to the queen. After all, advisors cannot give advice if they are forced to always agree with the queen! Still, these Changelings are often under heavy guard not just to protect them but also to make sure they don’t use their freedom to damage the Hive. Now it was quite hard to choose which hive to start with, as the shear amount and variety is incredible, so I decided to simply start with the infamous, the most known the largest hive in all of Equestria. Hive Chrysalis.
Hive Chrysalis
Hive Chrysalis name to fame in the Pony world is their failed invasion of Canterlot during the “Royal wedding incident” but their name to fame in the changeling world is that they have the highest number of changelings, the purest genes and the longest written history. Hive Chrysalis might not be as biologically interesting like Hive Honeycomb or as religiously dictated as Hive Ice Fang but despite having the purest Changeling genes or being “vanilla” Changelings they do have some features that make them unique amongst the Hives. First is that they are allegedly the first hive. Now this is believed to be true due to the fact they have the longest written history out of all of them and the purest genes but considering Hives such as Honeycomb and Ash Raiders use cave and wood paintings to tell their history and a lot of other hives use oral instead of written, it cannot truly be proven although most changelings regardless of Hive believe it to be fact. They also have the highest population thanks to living in a safe location, having a breeding program to acquire soldiers for their conquest while not actually engaging in any form of combat. Finally, thanks to their aggression against the huge and well informed nation of Equestria they are the most well-known Hive of Changelings in the world. Mention the word “Changeling” and it is those of Hive Chrysalis that they think of.
Now you might notice it’s named after its current queen, Chrysalis. While other Hives have named themselves after their biological uniqueness, such as Hive Honeycomb and the honey like substance their bodies produce, to inspire fear such as Hive Ash Raiders or due to their religious ideals such as Hive Ice Fang, Hive Chrysalis has always been named after their current queen. There is no real major reason for this only that it is theorized that their first queen named it after herself, her daughter named it after herself and so on and so forth.
Out of all the hives Hive Chrysalis is the most open minded. They do not believe in a single religion or in singular ideology. They do not worship strength or power and they do not believe in any great being watching over them but they do have a strong sense of purity. While relationships with other species have happened on rare occasion they are banned from ever having any children under punishment of death. This is sadly due to vanity. They are the purist hive and wear that as a badge of honour, they don’t want a single Changeling to mess up the gene pool for them. Many hives see this as a weakness but it seems mutated changeling hives have more powers related to their Changeling origin fade, giving purity an actual value.
While this is the attitude of most changelings in the hive, there has been some minor religious propping up as there are in every culture. Church of the queen believe that the Hive mind itself is formed from the minds of pasts queens and so worship previous rulers as saints, celebrating when a queen passes as opposed to weeping. The church of taint, a slightly darker faith, believe all changelings were once ponies who were part of a kingdom that tried to conquer Equestria and almost succeeded until they insulted the god of darkness (said god has no name or description) and were turned into Changelings as punishment. They believe that they must convince every changeling to lament in order to be turned back. This makes them the most vocal but also the most hated, mainly because they are seen as unrealistic and just annoying in their attempts to convert people. Finally there is the church of change. Inspired by other hives, they believe that mutation is good. They have spies all over the hive keeping an eye out for Changeling foals born with biological differences but are tolerated because if they do find one they send them out with follows to start a hive someplace with this foal hopefully becoming a queen. Not only is this harmless, it also removes the impure from the Hive.
Now it is unknown whether queens are drones who have changed in a lapse of power or if they are born that way, even to the changelings it’s a closely guarded secret of the queens and for good reason. If drones do become queens then many factions would try and steal a few to have their own little pet Hives. If they are born that way then any raiding party would know what to look for and what to kill.
Location wise they live Northwest of the Crystal Mountains in a place most ponies only call the Dead Lands. The Dead Lands are a unique bio as there is almost no life beyond poison mushrooms and large insects underground. There is also no sources of water above ground, add the fact it is surrounded by mountains and despite being massively below freezing no snow drops there and you can understand where it gets the name Dead Lands. Its unsure how this Dead Lands formed but it’s believed the Changelings evolved here explaining why they had to resort to love instead of food for energy. The area itself does not actually comprise of dirt until deep underground. Instead a crystal like mineral called Blackrock comprises most of the landscape which was used to build the hive. The Mineral itself is very hard but also fragile like diamond but not to that degree. This makes tunneling slower but also far sturdier and much less likely to cave in. While tunnels further down need constant upkeep those higher up practically need no upkeep and as such Hive Chrysalis is the largest and most well build out of all the Hives.
Biologically they have blue insect eyes, insect wings, black to grey skin and curved horns finishing with fangs. They can transform into a range of creatures and can mimic their abilities but cannot mimic magical power. They can also cocoon prey up by vomiting green sludge which is theorized to be made using food they eat while disguised. Magically they can use simple beams, shields and levitation, rather weak but act as a good defense mechanism and can overpower in number. Overall these are the Changelings we all know about but as we go into the more diverse Changelings you will find out that with evolution and mutations there is always a tic for tac reaction, new abilities added at the cost of having other abilities removed.
Now their government created the bases that most Hives follow with the queen on top with no representatives. There have been rumors of a large scorpion creature involved somehow but this sounds silly and is probably an old wives tale. Their relationships with the other Hives range from being good friends to heated rivals but there are no strong foes or strong allies as it’s believed that having either could bring the Hive into a local conflict and Hive Chrysalis would rather worry about problems at home. They do however have a much heated relationship with the diamond dogs. For a very long time the Changelings were the only intelligent life in the Dead Lands but a lost diamond dog clan discovered the high density of the blackrock meant diamonds were very common underground and this began a diamond rush, Diamond Dog clans and guilds rushing north and fighting amongst themselves over who would get the right to mine.
At first the Changelings in the area didn’t really care as these clans were smart enough to stay away from the hive but as the area was split between four of the most successful clans and guilds diamond mining began to reach deeper and deeper. It was not long before the Diamond Dog mines and the changeling hive tunnel network started to run into each other, skirmishes to all out brawls breaking out as soon as the tunnels walls crumbled in. Over the next two centuries both races have developed a deep hatred for each other with some incidents ending in military operations and even small wars. It’s common for a dozen miners and drones to run into each other and fight, and while uncommon, it’s not rare for a couple hundred diamond dog brawlers and changeling soldiers to engage over important tunnel networks. While diamond dogs also have nasty relationships with other hives (Especially Hive Trapdoor) most Diamond Dogs know to “Go for da ones with da blue eyes!”
Now as we all know Hive Chrysalis is ultimately out to take over Equestria, but why? This can be lead back to Queen Pupa who ruled about four hundred years ago. Pupa was interested in the isolative Hive FrostFang and their self-sustainability. It was a closely guarded secret however and in the end she guessed they had domesticated another race to act as a love source. The reason Changelings don’t normally do this is a resource issue. It takes time for love to regenerate and it does so much faster when engaging in social activities, something one cannot do chained to a cave wall. Pupa was not deterred however and came up with what is known as the Barnyard Plan. Based on the act of animal domestication she wrote up a plan to domesticate an intelligent race as one would a pig or chicken. The idea was that they could go out and live their lives but under extreme control and observation by the Changeling hive. Considering the Griffins aggression, the low breeding rate of Diamond Dogs and that non intelligent animals gave far less love than intelligent ones she decided that the Ponies were the best race for this.
Considering the huge amount of ponies needed for this idea to become practical the first step in the Barnyard Plan is surprisingly simple. “Take over a Pony nation” It was just luck that Equestria was the closest and not obscured by oceans or deserts of ice. Although Pupa passed away before her plan could be realized a number of queens after had taken it upon themselves to see the Barnyard Plan put into effect, the most recent Chrysalis. Most other hives see this plan as unrealistic and those who do believe it is possible see it as a nice dream but is just too full of problems. As such no other hive has given them assistance in their take over. Their threat to Equestria is massive, though that’s all they want…Equestria. They show little threat to Saddle Arabia or the Griffin Empire. They both have their own hives to worry about, but that’s for later.
