Changelings

For a list of other pony races, see here.

Changelings are a race of quadrupedal ponies who are originally lived alongside the rest of ponykind in Equestria, but were later banished to the badlands where they have resided ever since.

They subsist off of love, and obtain it by absorbing it from someone who is in love. In order to do this without raising suspicion, they are able to transform themselves into the person that their target loves, and are thus able to siphon off their victim's love more easily.

Prime Queen
The Prime Queen is considered the ultimate matriarch among all of the various clutches, and is the head of the Changeling Empire. She is usually chosen by a majority vote - which often ends in each queen voting for herself, in which case the Prime Queen is determined by a show of strength - but due to the fact that a Prime Queen can pass the title down to her successor there have been many cases of the title staying within a single clutch. The current Prime Queen can be challenged, however, which keeps any one clutch from holding a complete monopoly on the position.

Queens
The queens are rulers of the various clutches that make up the combined nation known as the Changeling Empire. They have near-sovereign rule over their clutches, however there are certain cases when the Prime Queen's ruling overrules their own. This includes drafting, war, and major changes to political policy.

Royal Guards
While not an actual part of the government, the royal guards are a subtle way of the various clutches to manipulate the current Prime Queen. Many factions will send their best soldiers to guard the Prime Queen, and if she chooses one as a mate will often manipulate him in an attempt to push their own views. Occasionally - most often after a war when many royal guards are injured - the royal guard is sometimes replenished with capable drones from other areas. In certain cases, such as Guard's, so many royal guards are injured that even less than capable drones are temporarily recruited into the ranks.

Reproduction
Changelings reproduce in a manner similar to both insects and mammals, though their reproductive system is closer to that of insects. They lay fertilized eggs much like ants do, however unlike ants the queen is not the only one to reproduce. There are a variety of female changelings who hold a position lower than the queen who seek out mates for reproduction. The queen not only produces the most eggs on average by a significant margin (The queen can produce hundreds of eggs, while most other females only produce a few eggs), but acts as a literal queen and ruler over her clutch.

Usually the queen will choose a mate or mates among males from another clutch, however sometimes she will choose a mate or mates from among her own clutch for various reasons. These males are almost always offspring of other females, as she would risk her children having genetic defects if she reproduced with her own children. The Prime Queen has, with relative frequency, chosen a mate or mates from among her personal guard. This is usually because of their near proximity, constant availability, and often close relationships of intimate trust.

Shape-shifting
Changelings are capable of simplistic shape-shifting. While their disguises are nearly indistinguishable from the original, those who know the real pony well enough may be able to pick them out as fakes. Furthermore, changelings are only capable of copying the appearance of a pony's loved ones (With the exception of the unique changeling, Litch), limiting their ability severely.

Eating Love
Somehow changelings are able to metabolize love, using it as a 'food' source. They can also use it to power their magic, which without love becomes much weaker than normal.

Magic
Like unicorns, changelings are capable of using magic. They are more limited in their abilities, however, as their magic is heavily reliant on their absorption of love. If enough love is absorbed though, changelings can wield magic more powerful than even that of most alicorns.

Telepathy
In order to disguise themselves as perfectly as possible, changelings read the minds of those around them to piece together a picture of how the pony they're emulating generally acts. After their integration back into pony society, using telepathy without permission became a serious offense. Even among the changelings it has always been considered rude to invade another's mind without consent, that is unless one was doing so in order to feed.