Private Snow Strider of the Crystal Guard glanced up at the weak sunlight poking through the veil of clouds that covered the Crystal Empire. All around him, the citizens of the Empire went about their normal days—the citizens that he and his fellow guards had sworn to serve and protect to the last stallion. Just over a month ago, it had seemed like that pledge would be put to the test, as he had joined his unit in a frantic search for a reported changeling spy. Snow could still remember the palpable tension and fear in the air, everypony knowing that such an act would be more or less a declaration of war between the changelings and the Crystal Empire.
Fortunately for everypony, it turned out to be a false alarm. The changeling—Thorax, as he was called—hadn't been like the other fearsome, battle-hungry monsters of his kind, and had been perfectly willing to coexist in harmony with the rest of the Empire. With the personal endorsement of none other than Spike the Brave and Glorious and Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Cadance and Shining Armour had seen fit to reciprocate, and Thorax now lived peacefully among the Empire's citizens. And, true to his word, there had been no incident.
Snow Strider had been sent by Shining Armour to check up on Thorax and make sure he was settling in okay. As friendly as Thorax was, he tended to keep himself to himself a lot, and rarely ventured outside his home. Snow couldn't blame him, really. They hadn't exactly welcomed him with open hooves to begin with, and justified as their paranoia may have been, first impressions were still rather hard to erase. It didn't help that Snow had been one of the guards who was the most eager to shove a spear through his throat.
Lost in his musings, Snow soon came to the humble abode that Thorax resided in, a cosy one-floor house with a fairly well-maintained garden. Not the most luxurious living in the Empire by a long shot, but it would allow one pony—or changeling, as the case may be—to live in relative comfort. Thorax had quickly gotten to work making the house a home, with a neat little set of wind chimes hanging over the front door and a colourful pinwheel set in the front garden, already turning quickly in the wind. Naff as they may have been, they still brought a small smile to Snow's face. Not wanting to waste any more time, he strode up the garden path and knocked smartly on the sky-blue front door.
"Oh, um, just a moment!" called a voice from inside. Snow whistled tunelessly as he waited for Thorax to come to the door. The sounds of muttering and clattering could be heard from within, followed by somepony fumbling with the latch. A muffled curse, followed by the loud shlack of the latch being forcefully yanked to one side. The door swung open to reveal Thorax, looking...
Well, a fair bit more filled-out than he had when Snow had seen him last.
When Snow had last seen Thorax, he had been thin and gaunt after going hungry for so long, with a visible rib cage and hollow, sunken cheeks. After being welcomed to the Empire and given free reign to feed on the bountiful amounts of love in the air, Thorax had gained back that lost weight... and then some.
Where there had once been protruding ribs, there was now a round, flabby barrel, that looked to be crammed almost painfully tight into Thorax's shiny black carapace, which had been forced to stretch out itself to contain his new mass. Where once there had been sunken cheeks, there were now a round, chubby pair of dimpled chops. Where his legs had once been thin and bony, they were now round and plump, the holes almost swollen shut with flab.
"Oh, hi," Thorax said, blinking and looking surprised. "How can I help you, sir?"
Snow very nearly made some ridiculously insensitive comment about Thorax's weight gain, but swallowed his tongue just in time. He cleared his throat. "Private Snow Strider, Mr. Thorax, sir. Shining Armour sent me to make sure you were settling in alright. Nopony's seen you for a while, is all."
"Oh, of course, of course!" Thorax said, nodding. "No problem at all. Um, would you like to come in?"
Snow hesitated. Even if Thorax was friendly, his instinct still told him that going into a changeling's home was a bad idea. He mentally shook himself and told himself not to be stupid, that it was time to let the prejudice go. "Sure, why not?"
Stepping inside, Snow took stock of the interior of the house. It was rather sparsely furnished, as houses went; a bed, a sofa, a fireplace, a bookcase with a couple of books and not much else. Evidently, a changeling didn't require as much to live as a pony did. Still, it beat hiding in an ice cave, he supposed.
"I'd offer you something to eat," Thorax said, scuffing the ground with a hoof, "but I'm afraid there's no actual food in the house."
"Been feeding off of love since you got here, huh?" Snow asked.
Thorax nodded. "Yes, sir. And as you can see..." He blushed slightly and smiled. "I've been overindulging a little."
"Oh, um..." Snow cleared his throat, engaging his diplomatic side. "It's not that noticeable, I'm sure."
"There's no need to dance around it," Thorax said, waving a hoof dismissively. "I know I've put on weight... a lot of weight. But I just can't help it! There's so much love in the air here, more than anywhere else I've ever been. It's so... so..."
Thorax's eyes widened, before he opened his mouth and a forked tongue shot out a good foot from his mouth, accompanied by him hissing and snarling. Snow jumped back, eyeing him worriedly.
Thorax quickly covered his mouth, blushing deeply. "Sorry. Force of habit."
"Ah... no problem." Snow cleared his throat again. "So, um... how does feeding off of love work, exactly?"
"Why do you ask?" Thorax replied.
"Just curious, that's all," Snow said. "I still know next to nothing about changelings."
"Well, there's two ways a changeling can go about feeding off of love," Thorax explained, raising a hoof. "The first is to drain it directly from a pony, be they willing or unwilling. I'm afraid that's how I got by for most of the time before I came here. It's... not a proud moment in my life, believe me." He sighed.
"Oh. And what happens when... you take too much love from a pony?" Snow asked.
Thorax gave him a deadpan look. "That's not possible. Love isn't exactly a finite resource, you know. It's true that ponies who are drained often feel weak or ill afterwards, but that's more to do with the draining process than anything else. Literally draining an emotion from a body can be very taxing."
"Ah, that makes sense," Snow nodded. "And the second way?"
Thorax smiled. "Feeding off the love in the air. Like so."
He closed his eyes, and his horn began to glow a bright green. Snow's eyes widened as a pink cloud appeared above Thorax's head. A smoky plume extended from the bottom of the cloud, reaching down until it touched the tip of Thorax's horn. Once they made contact, his horn began to visibly draw more and more smoke from the cloud. Snow watched as Thorax squeezed his eyes shut tighter and bit his lip. He was clearly enjoying his... feeding. Snow blushed slightly, feeling as if he were intruding on something rather personal and intimate. He reminded himself not to be silly. Thorax was just eating, after all.
Eventually, the cloud dissipated, and Thorax let out a small moan.
"Sooooo good," he mumbled, sounding like he'd just had a very heavy meal. He stumbled backwards and flopped into the sofa, eyes shut tight. As he slumped into his seat, his bloated belly bulged out in full display, glowing a faint pink from the amount of love he'd gorged himself upon.
Snow Strider wasn't sure what made him do it—a deep-rooted desire? Some form of psychic influence? He didn't know... but, for whatever reason, he found himself irresistibly drawn to the chubby changeling before him.
Thorax's eyes shot open as he felt something press into his belly. Looking forward revealed Snow Strider with a hoof pressed down onto his abdomen, looking at him like a deer in headlights.
"What are you doing?" Thorax exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't-!" Snow babbled simultaneously.
A silence followed that seemed to go on for a century, as the two looked at each other, Snow blushing deeply and wondering just what kind of punishment he'd get for fondling a civilian like that. Then, Thorax spoke up timidly.
"I didn't say stop..."
Snow's eyes widened as he looked at Thorax in disbelief. "Seriously?"
Thorax nodded. "Uh-huh."
Snow gulped. With trembling hooves, he pressed down gently into Thorax's abdomen once more. The soft, malleable flesh reminded him rather of the putty he used to play with as a colt. The glowing reserve of love underneath was almost hot to the touch.
"Ah..." Thorax sighed. "Wh-what do you think?"
Snow was blushing almost crimson. "It's so... soft. And warm."
"Mmm," Thorax nodded. "Growing fat off love will do that to you. Ah... at the rate I'm going, I'll probably be housebound within a month."
"You could always go on a diet," Snow suggested. Please don't, he silently added.
"I could, but the amount of love here is just so tempting it's impossible to resist!" Thorax chuckled. "And you know what? After hiding in an ice cave and scurrying around like a rat for so long, I think I deserve to be fat and happy."
"No argument there," Snow smiled, bending down and resting his head on Thorax's big, warm pillow of a stomach.
"Wha... Snow?"
"Hmm?" Snow mumbled.
"I'm... why can I feel love coming off of you?"
"What?" Snow's head shot up. "Oh, I um... uh... I don't know?" He smiled awkwardly.
Thorax gave him a smile in return. "You play for the other team, don't you?"
Snow's face fell, and he sighed. "Is it really that obvious?"
"Somewhere between the belly rubs and your love giving off all-you-can-eat buffet vibes, yes," Thorax laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna judge you. In fact..." He swallowed. "It's been a long time since I felt a more... carnal kind of love."
Snow's eyes widened. "You don't mean...?"
Thorax responded by leaning forward and kissing Snow on the lips.
Snow moaned softly as he felt his own tongue intertwine with Thorax's, closing his eyes as he pulled himself in closer, wrapping his forelegs around Thorax's plump neck. As they continued to make out, a thin stream of pink smoke began to flow from Snow into Thorax's horn. They continued to kiss, Thorax feeding and kissing at the same time as he gently rubbed Snow's back.
After what seemed like an eternity, they broke the kiss, a thin saliva trail still hanging between their mouths.
Thorax smiled. "Delicious."
"Thanks," Snow grinned, blushing once more. "You weren't bad yourself."
"A gay, pony-changeling relationship," Thorax laughed. "If that's not progressive, I don't know what is."
"So you want a relationship, then?" Snow asked.
"As long as you don't mind your coltfriend being an obese blob bursting out of his own chitin," Thorax replied, smiling.
Snow gave him a warm grin. "I think I can live with that."
END
