“Out of all six hive-kingdoms that populates the Under-realms beneath the Badlands desert, the changelings of Hive-Kingdom Metamorphium are perhaps the most well-known They are a hardy hive who occupied the vast swath of land surrounding the underground river Genesis that lies at the heart of the underground world, whose water nourished the rich fungal-dominated ecosystem, which in turn gave rise to the hive’s proud civilization. Its capital, the city of Metamorphium, lies upstream near the source of River Genesis. A legendary metropolis of utmost grandiose, it basalt statues and bas-relief well surpasses those of Manehattan, and whose splendid obsidian towers could even rival the gleaming ivory spires of the great Canterlot. It is there the royal palace lie, and from whence Queen Chrysalis issues her dominion over the nation.
 
The denizens of each hive-kingdom was marked by a unique bodily feature. It, too, holds true for Hive-Kingdom Metamorphium. Compare to their counterparts, changelings of this realm express a universality of excessive chitin growth, covering most of their skin save for portions of the face and the joints. This growth usually last through an entire lifetime. As a result, all barber parlors and saloons offer chitin trimming and polishing services, and how well one’s chitin was cared for often reflect one’s social standing. Many in the upper echelons of the society had well integrated artfully trimmed chitin shells as a form fashion statement. Needless to say, it is also this trait that gave the changelings of other hives a lasting impression that Metamorphians lacks true emotions, due to the facial chitin growth interfere with facial expressions, as well as contributing to the misconception among the surface ponies that all changelings are alike chitin-clad, emotionless automatons who listen only to their queen.
 
Queen Chrysalis had always had a reputation of a go-getter. Unlike Queen Miasma who prefers cultivating art and culture or Queen Caliphora’s mysticism, Chrysalis often drafted her polices with a pragmatic approach, and at times heavy-leaning towards militarism. It was, after all, her initiative to bring all hive-kingdoms out of their centuries-long isolation, sometimes with forceful means, and her desire to conquer the surface world, to the extend of even sacking Canterlot for a short period of time. It is also this ideal of governing that made Hive Metamorphium the leading power of the changeling hive-kingdoms, both as an economical leader and the military backbone. Currently, the hive-kingdom’s focus is placed in strengthening its military, developing its scholastic pursuits as well as trading, with both inter-hives and Equestira on the surface. In turn it gave rise to the finest academy of theoretical studies (especially history) and military school, as well as merchants that can be spotted in any settlements of the Under-realms kingdoms and beyond.
 
It was common knowledge that military forces of the hive-kingdoms conduct regular raids and skirmishes along the Equestrian border, pillaging resources and abducting Equestrians then replacing them with changeling agents. It is however something of an open secret that Queen Chrysalis and the rest of the changeling queens also maintain an extensive network of infiltration cells, for the purpose of extracting and distilling vital pheromones of supreme quality from love its existence is known to almost all inhabitants of the hive-kingdoms, yet there had never been an official confirmation of its existence, and the information on the details of its operation is cloudy at best: It is said that the network encompasses the entirety of Equestria, stretching from Vanhoover to Manehattan, its presence found in all but the most remote settlement; its sheer size requires an entire inter-hive ministry to manage its activity; its agents exist in all facet of Equestrian society, up to and including legions of royal guards in Canterlot; it possesses heavy influence toward the shady Equistrian underworld, which made their regular activities kidnapping-swapping and smuggling all the more easier.
 
Due to the recent events and the subsequent treaties signed with Equestria, rumor has it that the queens of the hive-kingdoms had agreed to cease border hostilities completely, and dismantling most of the network in exchange for normalized diplomatic relations, trading and military support from Equestria against the ever-creeping nightmare that has been slowly eating away at both the Under-realms and the surface world. How much of the network was actually dismantled had never been fully known except by the selected few, yet high quality love-distilled pheromones still flows on the market in regular quantity. It is something that many had quietly acknowledged as a sign that the network is still very much operational.
 
Contrary to common stereotypes, Metamorphians can be found working in all types of professions with a wide range of personalities. The vast lands the hive-kingdom holds came with variety of geological terrains, which in turn gave rise to their versatility.
 
Common stereotypes: a stoic (if not intimidating) guard-constable or solider, a stuffy academic or a stern school-mistress, or a rather worldly merchant who had traveled far and wide.”
 
Tl;dr ver: Applejack as changelings, making honest living by serving Chrysalis.
 
It’s a small setting I’m working on, with design largely inspired by Carnifex’s changeling queens. The setting will be something of a mixture with inspirations drawn from a variety of fantasy settings, added with a heft dash of Lovecraftian undertone.
 
up next, spore breathing changelings of Hive-Kingdom Venusia, of Queen Miasma ––> >>959223