The night seemed to be like any other, Cress walked along his new home territory at the edge of the Ponyville, he stood staring intently into the darkness of the nearby town. He recalled then the day his family was torn apart. He was at the edge of the Everfree Forest, Canterlot in view nearby covered by a swarm of black equine figures, his brethren no doubt claiming the land as their own.
He had flown, reaching Canterlot in time for a blast of energy sending him hurdling downward somewhere in the forest depths. He had awoken, semi conscious, wondering what had happened, no recollection of how long he'd been out or where anypony else had been blasted. His brother Zahn, and his friends Phobs and Meri all lost to him.
He'd long since learned to live in the forest alone, eating berries and from time to time watching the ponies socializing. While berries were enough to keep him alive, he wanted more. Emotions are the energy that allow a changeling to unlock their full powers.
Upon inspecting the ponies of Ponyville he saw a likely candidate for imitation, a pale yellow Pegasus that befriended the many animals of the forest with ease. Cress dawned her guise and roamed the forest awaiting the creatures to approach him, all so that he may sate the primal hunger which tormented his thoughts each waking day.
That was long ago however, now those creatures roamed the land devoid of emotion, therefore of little interest to him. The streets of the once bustling Ponyville were all but empty, save the few shambling husks seeking flesh.
He need not worry however, he altered his appearance flawlessly, his hardened onyx shell exterior vanishing beneath a pale image of a bygone pony. His red almost crystalline ruby eyes transforming into the dull soulless eyes of a wandering zombie. He copied their every movement, slowly trotting by mouth agape making rasping noises. Cress slipped by most all of them with ease.
He thought little of them, this fate was one these ponies deserved he felt. Despite the fact these creatures were of no use to him they also caused a problem. He could easily kill them, but these creatures sought out only to feed and by feeding they infected other ponies, making them like the others, losing their emotions, sensibilities and all thought only seeking to consume flesh thus increasing their numbers.
The houses lining the streets seemed barren, devoid of any traces of the once peaceful lives the ponies once had there. Fires raged in the streets, leaving some corpses charred in their wake. If not for the fires rampant anypony would be nearly blind at night, but Cress wasn't a pony. He could see clearly in the dark, a factor that worked in his favor when imitating the long deceased colts and mares.
He halted his walk, turning his sight to what he hoped to be an empty home, that he might retake his original form. As if sensing a disturbance, the long dead ponies ceased their aimless shambling and turned to him, noticing something was not quite right with his being. The ruse discovered, Cress galloped to the home and slammed the door as quickly as he could, making use of the discarded furniture and broken objects to blockade the windows and doors.
When was it last when he fed on love, or any emotion for that matter? He recalled the last day he had a satisfying meal. It was March 31th. He trotted along the woods like most times he had before, in the guise of that Pegasus, calling out to the woodland creatures. This time, however, they did not approach, nor did he see any trace of them in the area.
The berries they and he too ate were untouched, he found no traces of footsteps anywhere. He dispersed his illusion, regaining his true form, scowling at the thought that the animals had wised up to his tactics.
"You! Turn around!" Cress heard called to him, he did as the voice commanded for now, wanting to see the one who dared interfere with his meal time. "As I thought, a changeling, so you were the one harming the animals that inhabit this forest, I knew that something was wrong."
He sized whomever it was, he found it difficult to tell the gender, the pony's form was concealed by a long black cloak. "I ask that you leave this place and not return, it would be best for the forest." The voice sounded fairly feminine in nature.
"I've nothing to do with harming the animals of this forest! That stated where are the animals that take refuge here? I worry what horrid fate could have caused them to flee their home." Cress said, shifting blame to an unknown cause.
"I've noticed your actions in these woods more times than I can count and can say without doubt you are the cause of the problems here." she said, pointing her hoof at his snout.
“I'm not responsible for this, as you yourself have noted I've feed on the animals love more than once, and each and every time they still responded to my call, no worse for the wear after my feedings!" he retorted snarling at her accusations.
"I was the one who cared for them after you fed on them so many times after." she said, loud screams could be heard in the distance of ponyville.
"I take it I am to blame for the ponies' cries as well mare?" He said, turning his back to her. He began to outstretch his wings.
"Don't you intend to find out the cause of the screams?"
"What troubles ponies is of no concern to me, I really could care less what you do, I only need to feed and I doubt anypony is willing to care for a changeling." She made not a sound for a moment, as if contemplating something.
"What do you know about love? All you do is feed off it, do you even know what it's like to lose somepony important to you?" she choked out.
"You must've been one of the the ponies who lost a loved one during our siege on Canterlot, I'd say you got off lucky, at least you still have others who care for you, or at the very least a society that accepts you for who or rather, what you are. That's something I lost a long time ago."
"Wait!" She called. He took off into the skies, seeing the smoke coming off of the once peaceful town.
High above the Everfree Forest, Cress gazed at the flames ravaging the small town of Ponyville. "Insufferable ponies, always causing some kind of problem." He muttered to himself.
Despite his opinions on ponies, he couldn't help but feel a bit curious as to the the cause of the chaos. His image warped, changing his form from that of a equine insect to a pale yellow Pegasus. He flew over to the town, taking care to avoid flying into any smoke.
The blaze engulfed the southernmost edges of Ponyville and seemed to be spreading upward and from his aerial view he saw pale coated ponies shambling into the town. He flew cautiously, landing on top of somepony's house to survey the strange visitors from below.
He saw the same black cloaked pony from before directing ponies deeper into town, probably towards Canterlot from the looks of things.
"Everypony, remain calm and evacuate, go as fast as you can to the Castle!" She called out. Most of the ponies ran as fast as they could leaving her behind. As far as he could tell, the pale ones were just some rather poorly nutrient deprived ponies.
No point in hiding appearances anymore, It's not like I can be blamed for this crap anyway. He thought, reverting to his original form. He continued to stare at the cloaked mare from above entering homes and informing ponies of the strange invaders. These ponies seem harmless, as usual the commotion is unmerited. He rolled his eyes at the sheer absurdity of it all.
I do wonder what caused the fire however, it's a nice touch. He took notice as a young chestnut filly stood alone in an alleyway below as the pale ponies approached him, cutting off his only way out.
He cocked his head, confused by the sudden appearance. Without a second to spare the pale ponies snarled, opening their mouths chomping down on his muzzle, back, and any exposed flesh available to their mouths. They consumed most of his pectoral muscles, leaving part of his ribcage exposed. Blood dripped out from his sides as he laid on his back helpless as the creatures continued their feast on his body.
"Hel-p... me!" he cried out, blood oozing from him in pools, his hoof extended from the pile of feeding monsters. Cress stared on from above, in disbelief at what he saw.
The black cloaked pony swooped through the alley, grabbing the extended hoof and pulling him out of the pile, flying out into the street. All the feeding ones turned their heads, their food removed they growled and snarled, blood dripping down their snouts and their mouths. Cress stared down at them apathetically.
"You'll be alright, we'll find help for you." the mare said, holding onto his hoof desperately shaking in the process.
"He's a good as dead." Cress called out from above. The hood of the cloak fell down as she looked upward revealing the a purple toned mare. Her eyes were a deep blue, her snout slightly lighter than the rest of her face. The small colt's eyes went blank as he breathed his last breaths, dying his hoof in hers.
"You really should just save yourself, you can fly after all, just go somewhere those things can't reach and you'll be fine, that's what I'll do." Cress continued, jumping off the roof, landing perfectly on all four of his hooves.
"And what of those who can't fly? The ones who need help and can't defend themselves, should I just leave them to die in the streets as these things try to eat them one by one!" She cried out, tears forming in her eyes. The colt below her began to quiver, the color from his eyes faded, his skin tone lightened.
"We should probably move." Cress said, taking flight again.
"I thought you didn't care about what happened to ponies." she said, joining him in the air. A bit of blood dripped from her hoof. The colt's body began to convulse, a pinkish froth emanating from his mouth. He rose to his feet once more, all his attention on Cress and the mare, guts spilling out over the ground as it took steps toward them.
They both took off, landing once again on the house. "I understand that you hate ponies for what happened, but it's not their fault your swarm was separated." She said. Cress let out a sarcastic laugh.
"It is entirely their fault, but I should thank them, being alone has taught me you can't always rely on others for anything." he said, devoid of emotion. The mare landed shortly after him, wincing as her front right hoof hit the hay.
The cloaked mare gazed back at Cress' glare, as if scanning him to find words that might change the callous Changeling into somepony at least more tolerant. "I know how ponies feel about changelings, but that doesn't mean you have to act like the monsters they make you out to be." she said.
Cress noticed the blood leaking from her forming a small pool, he said nothing to her, his eyes observing her. It was painfully obvious this pony was not like the others. Cress couldn't help but smell something. Emanating from her was sorrow. Tears flooded her eyes. He grabbed onto her, allowing her to sob into his cold hard exterior, absorbing the sorrow from her in the process.
He could tell she was ready. He would feed upon her now, his horn began to glow, a crimson wisp appeared around his horn and then moved over the mare's body, drawing her even closer to him. He could taste her sorrow as it flowed to him through his mouth. It was gritty, bitter yet somehow still a bit sweet, her hope she'd helped the others survive had mixed in with her sorrow.
He thought how could obtain more from her. "It's only a shame that that colt you saved didn't make it, I wonder what his parents would think, their child becoming a monster like that, dying before they did. I wonder if he'd go back to them, knowing full well they'd welcome him inside, only to feed on them the moment he entered." He whispered into her ear. Opening her eyes again she turned, her head down to the now undead colt still snarling at them both.
Tears forming again them at the mention of such a fate. She was imagining in her mind the story Cress conjured in with his words in her mind he could tell. He'd broken the floodgates of her emotional distress, allowing an even stronger form of sorrow to be released, she clung to him, her head buried in his chest allowing tears to flow down to his stomach, dread flowing freely from her and into Cress. He took the new emotion into his mouth, savoring the flavor as if he were drinking a fine wine.
"Sweet, but subdued..." he mumbled to himself, allowing the emotion to finally pass down his gullet. He began to pet her head with his hoof, "Shhh... hush now." he said in an almost comforting tone, Her eyes glossed over leaving them a dull pale blue shade. Her tears stopped flowing as she laid down on the soft hay, looking up to Cress as he stood, looking down at her with his cold, judgmental eyes.
He looked to the growling beasts below then back to the Mare held in his hooves "Yes, sleep now, you've done well, this sleep is my gift to you for a job well done." he said, continuing to pet her head and mane while he spoke. She slowly strained to keep her eyes open, unable to muster any strength to fight back against his commands. Angry snarls could be heard from below, he looked down to them, then back to the mare now unconscious by in his hooves.
"Before you finally turn into one of those things, I'll help you help somepony else, that's what you would've wanted I'm sure." he snickered, removing her cloak to look upon her full form. She was a fairly young mare it seemed, purple, her mane blue and white with a heart shaped cutie mark on her rump.
"You can help those poor ponies now struggling with their appetites, I'm sure you'll make a fine meal for them. But don't worry. I'll make sure any survivors you saved get to thank you properly..." Cress said, rolling her unconscious body over the edge and into the huddled group of pony eating menaces.
He leapt into the air, taking her form and putting on the mare's cloak. He took off toward Canterlot castle where he expected a warm hero's greeting.
