Chiton was starving and desperate. He left his hive a week ago to strike it out on his own, but had no idea what to do next. After suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the pink alicorn princess and the Elements of Harmony, he knew there was no use obeying Chrysalis anymore. She couldn't keep him or the other changelings safe.
The biggest problem was food. Changelings didn't eat meat like griffins or plants like ponies, they ate love. Chiton had tried to subsist himself on real food, eating sandwiches and apples from the pony marketplace, but they did nothing to fill his rumbling stomach.
"I need to eat something soon or I'm going to starve…" Chiton muttered to himself. Keeping up his pony disguise was getting harder, and his new neighbors were going to get suspicious if "Clyde", as he was calling himself, kept turning down their invitations to dinner.
That's when he saw it. While wandering through the outskirts of Canterlot, Chiton came upon a large, pink building with heart shaped windows and red heart-patterned roof. "Amore Candy Store…" He read the sign curiously. "All our treats are baked with love. How convenient."
Chiton quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching, and shapeshifted into a rat, slipping under the front door. The lights were out so hopefully no one would be home, and he could test his hypothesis. If changelings can drain love from creatures, why not baked goods?
Turning back into his changeling form, Chiton took a brief look around the candy shop. Everything was pink, red, chocolatey brown or white, and covered in ribbons. It made him even hungrier than he already was, looking at all the heart shaped decorations and pictures of ponies kissing. Apparently, a pony holiday called "Hearts & Hooves Day" was coming up soon.
Chiton used his horn to break open a case of chocolate pastries, and began wolfing them down. They were delicious, filled with cream and ingredients he had never heard of. Chiton didn't have words for how good they tasted.
He cleaned his face and waited, but his hunger wasn't sated. "Maybe there just wasn't enough love in these…" Chiton said to himself, nervous. He turned to the candy hearts, then chocolate ponies, and then a massive wedding cake in the middle of the store. It all just made him feel sick.
"Hello? Is someone there?" A high-pitched voice broke the silence, and Chiton's entire body tensed up. "Is it the racoons again? I paid that pegasus ten bits to talk you into moving! I'm bringing the bat this time!"
A unicorn stallion with a white coat and a pink and red striped mane stepped into the store, levitating a baseball bat and a large dripping candle over his head. He had big brown eyes that, if they weren't full of fear, would have been really cute, and two interlocking male symbols for a cutie mark.
"Sorry!" Chiton shouted, just as nervous as the pony. "I'm so hungry and your store is really cute and the sign said baked with love… I just wanted something to eat."
"A changeling… holy crap." The stallion dropped his bat in shock, processing things slowly. "Why didn't you just come in the morning? I work here, we're open six days a week."
"I haven't eaten in a week." Chiton confessed, his stomach growling for emphasis. "Changelings can only eat love, everything else is just junk food to us. I thought maybe your candy would count, because of all the hearts… it was really tasty, but it didn't work."
The unicorn's expression softened to pity. "Oh, you're just hungry, you poor thing." He used his magic to clean up the broken glass, then levitated a napkin to wipe some icing off Chiton's face. "My name is Valentino Amore, what about you? Do changelings have names?"
"I'm Chiton." He answered. "We do, just not as… colorful as pony names. Sorry again for breaking in. I couldn't help myself." Chiton waited for Valentino to blast him with unicorn magic or hit him with the bat, but instead, the unicorn stepped closer to him.
"How do you do it?" Valentino asked, his muzzle practically touching Chiton's. "How do changelings eat love? Do I have to kiss you, are you going to bite me and suck it out? Or is it something more intimate?"
Chiton felt himself blushing, something he didn't even know he was capable of. "I-I'm sorry, what's happening? Are you… offering to let me feed on you? Is this a trap?"
"I promise it's not a trap." Valentino said, closing his eyes and pressing his face against Chiton. "You said that you're starving, and you can only eat love. Well, I have plenty of love to give, and I'm happy to share it with you. This won't hurt, will it?"
"It won't hurt. Just make you feel a little tired, and it might cause a headache if I take too much." Chiton didn't actually know how feeding worked, just that it did. He opened his mouth, a pink mist coming off Valentino which he quickly inhaled. His whole body shuddered as he fed for the first time in a week, an intense pleasure washing over him.
Usually when Chiton fed, he only saw brief glimpses of whatever it was that his victim loved. Puppies, family members, cake, that sort of thing. But Valentino's love was showing him a whole herd of handsome stallions, as well as male griffins and even a dragon. This was certainly a new experience.
"You taste good… is that weird to say?" Chiton fluttered his wings nervously. "Sorry, no pony has ever volunteered to be fed on before. I got to see what you were thinking of, and there's a lot of different stallions in your life."
Valentino blinked, feeling dizzy, and giggled. "My special talent is all about romance, so I go on a lot of dates. I like to spread the love around, you know? So, when I see a cute stallion, or griffin, or dragon, or even a yak… Well, it's kind of like what you changelings do, but in reverse."
Chiton tilted his head in confusion. "I don't follow. You give love to other creatures for free? Why? How does that benefit you?"
"You're still thinking of love like food, you have to look at this from a pony point of view." Valentino explained. "Let me show you." He leaned in and kissed the changeling, softly, on the lips.
Chiton didn't know how to react. He knew what kissing was, obviously, but this was his first one, and it felt… good. Really good. Changelings had very few joys in life outside of food, so this was world shattering.
"Well, big guy? How was that?" Valentino teased, looking at Chiton in a way no pony had probably ever looked at a changeling before. "I've been told I'm a pretty good kisser."
"Do it again." Chiton begged. Valentino giggled and kissed him repeatedly. Chiton actually kissed back this time, and he wasn't terrible, despite having no experience.
Chiton shivered as his hunger faded. "Is this what sharing love feels like? It feels... good." As he said that, pink light wrapped around his body, exploding as he was transformed.
"Chiton! You're... really handsome!" Valentino gasped. Chiton inspected his new body, shocked. He was still a combination of pony and insect, only now he was much more ponylike. He was taller, his body pale blue with big red eyes, and the holes in his legs were gone. He also had iridescent wings, instead of his old tattered ones.
"Well this is... new." Was all he could say. "What do I do now?"
"You wanna keep making out?"
"Yes."