Love to the Nearest Inch (An MLP Changeling Story)

Chapter One

     Cocoon scampered through the gooey corridors and ever-changing halls. She was guided by instinct alone. As she went, her mind wandered. I'm so excited! She thought. I am so ready for this!
     It was her first day out of the hatchery, and she was excited to see what the feeding chamber looked like. Perhaps it will have rows and rows of tables, to fit all five thousand of us, she thought. Or maybe there will be a line that we have to wait in.
     She skipped past a receding hole in the wall, but stepped back a few paces to see what was inside.
     Two guards were chatting as they made their rounds.
     "I wonder what kind of love the Queen brought back today?" wondered one.
     Love? Cocoon asked herself. What is love?
     "I don't know." said the other. "But I hope it's fourth degree."
     Cocoon continued down the corridor, confused. Love? Fourth degree? What were they talking about? Cocoon shook her head. She'd ask Mother about it later.

•••

     Cocoon trotted into the feeding chamber and stopped short. It was not at all what she had imagined. Instead of tables or lines, it was just a huge cavern, swarming with the rest of her kind.
     Confused, she stepped into a row of changelings.
     Several scowled at her. She looked back at them, confused.
     The cavern echoed with five thousand voices. All of them spoke of love and degrees and pain.
     Cocoon didn't quite understand. She was about to ask someone, when suddenly, the entire cavern silenced. She looked up to see Queen Chrysalis standing on a ledge high above them.
     "My children," she called in her buzzy voice. "This week, for the highest ranking, there will be love of the fourth degree."
     The generals and nurses cheered as Chrysalis shot red beams to the highest ranking's horns.
     Cocoon wasn't exactly sure what was happening, but she knew it looked cool.
     "The middle class shall receive love of the third degree."
     This time, the beam was orange, and it went to the rest of the military, the teachers, and the commoners. They gritted their teeth, as not to cry out in pain.
     "And," concluded Chrysalis. "The lowest class will get love of the second degree."
     Cocoon still didn't really know what love was, or how it was food, but she was pretty sure that she was part of the lowest class, which included hatchlings and servants, and she was definitely a hatchling.
     She squeezed her eyes shut, not sure if it would hurt or not.
     When nothing happened, she opened her eyes.
     The queen was struggling to charge her horn with the yellow aura. Suddenly, the queen blasted the lower class with the yellow beams and the cavern was consumed with screeches of pain and suffering.
     Cocoon didn't even realize that her voice wasn't a part of the cacophony. She was too busy trying to block out the sounds, but the screams echoed off of the walls and pounded on her eardrums.
     It felt like hours before the screams died down, but it was only seconds.
     Queen Chrysalis grinned. "You are dismissed."
     The changelings filed out through the multiple exits.
     Cocoon couldn't help but feel sorry for the lower class, as they limped from the feeding chamber.