[Picture Series] Misguided Love Part 12/21 (Patreon)

"So, is it true that you need to lay a fertile egg inside of another creature's womb, like, say, a pony's, in order to gestate Changeling eggs?" Shining asked, basing this question off of a rumor he'd heard from one of his guards, the guard claiming that he'd seen a Changeling raping a mare in an alley and forcing its eggs into her womb against her will. A claim, Shining realized, that was likely false.

"Where did you hear that?! Some scary movie?! Some vicious rumor?!" Chrysalis hissed, before calming herself again; "No…we Changelings don’t reproduce like that. We're not parasites! No, a Queen of the Changelings will usually only lay her eggs in either a special cocoon or a female Changeling drone's womb, not a pony's womb, as it cannot work with ponies. Changeling embryos will not implant themselves within the uterine wall of other creatures and will instead be absorbed by the mare's body later. Changeling eggs are created by a queen by feeding love energy into an undeveloped egg, and it's compatible with only Changelings, so only Changelings can get pregnant by this method."

"So...the queen sires all of the children to all females in the hive?" Shining asked, "There are no males?"

"Well, that kinda depends on situation." Chrysalis said, forgetting the sensual setting they were still in as she figured she needed to set some things straight for Shining, as well as all of ponykind; "There are two options that a queen has to create new Changelings. The first, and most successful, option is for her to lay a 'blank' egg directly into female Changeling drone’s womb. While female Changeling drones do have a full set of female genitals – a vulva, clitoris, vagina and womb – and are able to carry a child of any compatible species to term, including pony hybrids, they lack an ovary to produce eggs by themselves. Eggs are something only a queen has, alongside an ovipositor with which to place the egg where it needs to be – within her womb."

"So," Chryssie continued, "when a female Changeling drone falls in love with a male Changeling – or any virile male creature, including pony stallions or griffin toms – and wants to have a child with them, or if she just wants a child for herself or to offer her womb for the Hive's sake during our breeding season, then she has to come and ask for an egg from her queen."

"So...that means you're the one making them pregnant...right?" Shining asked, growing more and more interested in this topic the more Chrysalis explained. It seemed that everything ponies thought they knew about Changeling reproduction was a lie, born of vicious propaganda or misunderstanding.

"Well, yes and no I guess. This implanted egg initially contains no DNA information whatsoever, and this 'blank' egg will be imprinted with that female Changeling drone's DNA once it is placed within her womb by the queen via her ovipositor much like a pony's egg through meiosis, making it the Changeling drone's maternal child. Then, when the male and female breed much like you ponies do and the male fertilizes the egg with his sperm, it makes his the paternal DNA of the child.

Chrysalis paused for a moment, a smile growing on her face. "The couple will then have a hatchling of their own in three months' time and they will form a family, or the mare will be given custody of her child if the male simply agreed to be a sperm donor, or 'stud' as you ponies say, for her, or the Hive will take custody if the female was only offering her womb to expand our numbers and genetic diversity. Therefore, in your pony words, the male is the sire, the Changeling female is the dam, and the queen is merely...a catalyst of sorts to make it all possible." Chrysalis explained, looking solemn by the end.

"Ah, I see!" Shining said, before seeing her sad look, "What's the matter? Why are you sad about it?"

"Well, Shining...this method – despite being the most successful way for Changelings to breed and most socially important to Changelings, as well as being a wonderful and blissful experience for all three Changelings involved – is very rare in these days. The lack of love and near-starvation for years makes it so no female Changelings can carry a child no matter how much they want to, with them barely having enough love to sustain themselves let alone a growing embryo or nymph, and no male can produce sperm for the same reason."

"So, Changeling reproduction is not so much unlike how we ponies breed, save for the extra step with the queen producing the eggs instead of the individual Changeling producing their own by going into estrus like ponies do, as well as the young needing love as well as food as sustenance." Shining observed, getting a nod from Chrysalis.

"Correct. Except, unlike ponies, we Changelings have an...emergency back-up plan of sorts if you will, given that only a queen can produce eggs and thus continue the species. The other, and least desirable, option is that the queen can reproduce asexually by laying an unfertilized egg in a special cocoon, which she also produces, that works similar to a Changeling drone's womb and lets the unborn Changeling grow within it, keeping it warm and fed with the love deposited by the queen as well. Something called 'parthenogenesis'. Queens will only use this method when she can’t find any female Changelings that are ready to carry a child, or if she has to increase the number of her subjects quickly, like if, say, the race is near extinction or she is starting her own new hive."

"Ah, so that's how Changeling queens make their own hives!" Shining said, so many new worlds being opened for him now.

"Well, yes, but this method only uses the 'default' genetic makeup of the queen and all the offspring share it, and the offspring from these are always female Changeling breeding drones. It's only good for starting a hive, not continuing one, and is utterly exhausting for the queen, costing her far more love and energy than simply producing and implanting eggs. Then, in order to produce male Changelings, or other Hive roles than breeders, the first method of our reproduction has to be used after the second; the first generation of Changeling mares accept a queen's egg, then a male of another species donates his seed to add his Y-chromosome and genetics to the gene-pool, whether willingly or to a Changeling disguised as a female of his species.”

"This is how queens branch off and start new hives, as well as why every hive has different mane and tail coloration and some different traits based on the species of the males who interbred with the drones." Chrysalis said, "As for how new queens are made...well, I'll tell you that later. That's a whole different story."

Shining listened intensely to Chrysalis, seemingly having the same interest in new things and learning that his sister Twilight shares with him. As he once more glanced at her ovipositor, everything seemed to make sense now, and the utmost importance of that organ became clear to him; that through that organ was the only way new Changelings could come to be.

"Changeling that are born from this parthenogenesis method, however, are very weak and have a low chance to survive even to their first molting compared to those who grew within a Changeling's womb. They also lack genetic diversity if the queen is forced to self-imprint on the eggs, as well as some, or even many, dying in the cocoon during their gestation from lack of love. So...that leaves it all up to the queen to continue her entire species, creating the egg cocoons and hoping for the best when she lays her eggs in them, giving them whatever little love can be spared from all of the energy and love that it takes to produce the eggs and cocoons. Hoping her children don't die before they're even born..." Chrysalis said solemnly, more tears streaming down her cheeks. "That's one reason I hate being born a queen; why I was...and still am to an extent...so stressed that I wanted to simply die; making all those cocoons and laying all of those eggs...it's a burden of being a Changeling queen that only death can free me from."

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