Changeling concept: Reproduction

Once or twice a year, the queen will really gorge herself on love to prepare for birthing more changelings. During this time, she is very vulnerable. No mating occurs. The queen is completely autonomous and could in theory start a new hive from scratch, though she'd need to suck at least one pony dry of its love (thereby also providing a first husk/worker for herself). “Suck dry” means that at some point they have turned into husks that live in a constantly hypnotized state and will only serve the queen. Their kind of love doesn't provide nourishment for the changelings. The queen is the only real female, the others genderless.
No-one knows how long changelings live, but at some point in her life the queen will give birth to a new queen. A few workers will quickly move her to a new hive location, as queens are very territorial.
In contrast to normal changelings, the new queen is only half-grown when she emerges from her cocoon. This enables her to gather experience while she grows. Other changelings emerge fully grown because they only need to do as their queen tells them and posses basic instincts that were passed on to them from her.
To see if a new queen is fit to rule, she must travel into a village and suck a pony or other creature dry of its love to the point of turning it into a husk. Upon return to the hive, she will have gathered experience and knowledge of tactics that will help the hive to survive. The changelings from the original mother hive are now hers and will often undergo physical changes to reflect that. (usually signaled by a change of colour)
If she fails her task, the changelings from the mother hive will abandon the young queen, and she must either perish or fight the odds alone until she can start a hive herself.
--------------------------

There are a few more text posts on my tumblr dealing with questions like "What's the size limit a changeling can change into", and similar stuff, if you feel like reading:
carniscorner.tumblr.com/tagged…