changelings

The Miasma Hive, second largest of all Equestrian hives, makes its home deep in the bowels of the Manehattan sewer system. Uniquely among hives, they put ponies to work even after they've drained them completely of their love. The so-called "husks" are kept in a permanently hypnotized state and used for menial tasks such as cleaning the hive, transporting eggs and building materials or even as bait for other ponies. This keeps regular hive members free to go out and look for even more victims. In a city as big as Manehattan, it's easy to find lonely ponies looking for love, companionship or plain opportunities. Bums, criminals or simply lost souls…the labyrinth of the hive has space for them all.

Get outta here, shippers!

The Honeycomb Hive isn't particularly organized. Hive members are free to pick a tree as their home as they see fit. Food and playthings (i.e. ponies) are stored rather randomly in the surrounding area, though hive members make sure it isn't too far away from their queen who's known to spontaneously crave entertainment. Other than gathering food or scouting the hive's borders, most members are free to do whatever they want. These changelings like music and occasionally gather for spontaneous dances. It could all seem very idyllic if it weren't for the fact that they are pony-abducting, love-sucking, evil parasites.

The Hagfish hive makes its nest somewhere south of Horseshoe Bay and preys upon seafaring ponies in the surrounding small fishing villages. Since they have limited resources to work with, they have a strict organization within the hive that ensures that each member fulfills a vital role in the daily routines. The hive chambers are usually connected by underwater tunnels, making enemy infiltration or invasion very difficult. It also makes it difficult to stash away ponies in any capacity, but since pickings are slim and no one wants to arouse suspicion, the hive usually contents itself with taking a little bit of love here and there instead of abducting ponies outright and draining them all at once. Here we can see Queen Myxine inspecting this year's meager cluster of future hive members.

True to its name, the Necropolis Hive makes its home in old crypts and graveyards across Equestria. It is unknown whether there is a central hive location with different branches operating in other cities or whether the hive as a whole moves from city to city. In the rare case that a visitor enters hive territory, its members transform into ghostly apparitions or dangerous animals that could be native to the region to drive them off. As such, the only indications of its whereabouts are reports of graveyard hauntings. Such reports have appeared from all over Equestria, from Vanhoover to Baltimare. Despite this, clashes with other hives appear to be rare, as, despite being very territorial, the hive won't pursue trespassers much beyond their initial entering point. Locations touched by the hive appear not to be altered significantly, favouring the theory that they simply move from location to location as they see fit. In contrast to other hives it is therefore impossible to say just how big the Necropolis Hive is.

The Changelings of Polistae's hive create their own pony identities, taking up roles in pony society as writers, artist, actors, and singers, and feeding off the admiration of their fans. To ensure her changelings are up to the task, she exposes them to various creative materials, in this case a good story, at a very young age.