Flying (on the plane, not with my new wings) back from my misadventure in Tampa, Fl, I had time to kill. There are questions I need answered. I guess it’s time to really interrogate Chrysalis about what it means to be a changeling.

[Hey, Chrysalis, did you have anything to do with my transformation?]

[William, I told you earlier. I did not willingly transform you into a changeling. I believe that it was a result of our connection.]

[Does this change our relationship? Am I still just an ally, and not a friend?]

Chrysalis sighed, [No, you are just a pawn to me, just like everything else. What made you lower your regard for me?]

[It was a comment one of your changelings made. Thank you, by the way, for sending them. I wouldn’t have lived without them.]

[You’re welco–]

I cut her off, [BUT, that was a very rash decision you made. If you really care about your children so much, why did you send three to save one of me? You put them into a very dangerous situation where their only way home depends on if they could save a dying man’s life. I could tell that they were very scared of the prospect that they might not get home.]

[Oh, oh dear. I never even considered the ramifications of sending them to you. I cannot believe that I did that to my own advisors.]

[Those were your advisors?] I asked.

[Yes, they happened to be the closest changelings on hand.]

[You owe them an apology and a paid vacation. Now, I have some questions for you. First, do these wings on my back work?]

[I’ll make sure my advisors are compensated,] Chrysalis thought to me, [as for your wings, I don’t see why not. You have magic, so the wings should be able to draw from that reservoir for lift. Changelings can fly as soon as their wings have dried from the fluid in their egg.]

[Great… another thing to add to the ‘use sparingly’ list,] I groaned. [At least I can fly. That’s more than any human has a right to be able to do.]

[Don’t worry so much. It will only use energy while you fly. You’re more likely to stop from physical exhaustion before your magical strength runs out. At least, you could always stop and rest on a cloud.]

[Rest on a cloud? You mean like pegasi? Changelings can do that?] I asked.

[Of course. It would be really hard otherwise to imitate pegasi given that most of them sleep in cloud homes.]

[Cloud homes… I would love to see one someday. I don’t think that I’ll be visiting any clouds soon. They are much higher in my world than yours and I would have to worry about being hit by aircraft,] I thought, [What about earth pony magic?]

[No, changelings do not imitate that form of magic. It has few short term visible effects. Our bodies do not express it in an attempt to conserve magic,] Chrysalis thought to me. Not having earth pony magic is fine, especially here on Earth. She continued, [On the other hoof, changeling magic has some other interesting properties in place of the earth pony magic. For instance, undisguised, a changeling can adhere to any surface, enabling them to climb vertical surfaces or hang upside down.]

[Ok, now that’s cool. I can’t wait to try out a Spider Man impression.]

[What is a ‘Spider Man?’]

[It’s who. He’s a fictional super hero that had the abilities of a spider, including the wall crawling ability,] I thought.

From this point, the conversation derailed. We found ourselves talking about the oddest of things throughout the flight, from book so changeling lifestyle. It seemed like small talk on the surface, but throughout the conversation, I could pick up hints of her trying to analyze me.

“Ahhh, it’s good to be home,” Catherine said. He aura shifted to a happy yellow that smelled of citrus. I had been drooling over her the whole way home. In fact, my whole family smelled delicious. I snuck a nibble of my mom’s aura, just a taste. While the love of Catherine’s that I had tasted in the hospital had a more rich and satisfying flavor, the love from my mom had a different quality. It was lighter and less satisfying, probably because it was the love of family versus Catherine’s romantic love for me.

I do have a problem. While I could eat my family’s emotions, there’s no way I would. Unfortunately, this leaves me without a food source.

[Chrysalis, are there other ways changelings feed besides taking the emotions from someone while disguised?] I asked. Perhaps she may have a solution.

[I wondered if you would ask that. Yes, there are other ways. I have mentioned cocooning, correct?]

[Yeah, you have.]

[Good, well there are two other ways. The first is filter feeding. Simply ‘feed’ on whatever the ambient emotion is. You won’t get much energy unless you’re in a crowd and the energy you do get will barely be able to sustain a transformation. The act itself is disgusting, as all the flavors of emotion mix together. But you can use it to conserve your magic reserves. The other method I call ‘rip-feeding.’ You bite your victim and pull all of their life force at once. While it gives you a huge burst of energy, you leave a corpse. Obviously you can see the problem for a changeling trying to hide,] Chrysalis explained.

[Ouch… can you rip-feed without killing, like by taking only half their energy?]

[Then you have a comatose body. Remember, our venom is a paralytic hallucinogen.]

[I forgot about that.] I pondered what I could do about food. None of these options seemed very pleasant. I could leave my family to impersonate someone else. I could capture someone for a cocoon, but then I have to deal with having a cocoon to hide. I’m definitely utilizing the filter feeding, but that won’t be enough. And the rip feeding… Maybe I could make the half feeding work. No one knows about changelings here, and if I just assume a random form… That could work. The venom gives good dreams, anyway. If they are asked, whatever my victim sees could be written off as a hallucination. That could work…

I stop when I realize that I really am a vampire now. Then I laugh. ‘my own life is tuning into a vampire-loves-human-and-doesn’t-want-to-eat-her story.’ My family gives me a strange look for my sudden outburst, but I don't elaborate.

I stood at my window, moonlight illuminating my face. I slid open my window and peered out. The air was fresh and crisp. My wings buzzed in anticipation; they were the only oddity about my otherwise perfectly human form. I climbed out of my third story apartment and onto the fire escape. I smiled to myself, and jumped. With a buzz, my wings carried me skyward. After only a second, I landed on the roof of my building. I laughed, ‘I did it! I flew! Take that, world! Changelings 1, Humans 0!’ As I soared above the rooftops, I looked inwards at my magic. With how little I have left, I’ll have to cut my flight short. ‘Let’s see if I can’t grab a bite to eat.’

The woman walked down the street of Atlanta. She scolded herself for not having a ride this late at night, but she was only a dozen blocks away from her apartment building. She did not notice me watching her from my perch upon the ally wall.

‘She looks good. Plenty of life force and all alone. Now, how to get her…’ I thought to myself. The idea came to me, and I smiled. I teleported into the next ally way and transformed. The little girl that I had become was a seven year old version of Catherine. I had made her clothing seem dirty and worn. Her brown hair was disheveled, and her eyes were full of tears. I made sure my voice was ready, and then began to cry.

The woman I had been looking at herd the crying and turned to find the source. Upon seeing the ‘little girl,’ she gasped. “Hey girlie, watcha doin’ here so late? Shouldn’t ya be home?”

I, in the voice of young Catherine, said, “No, Daddy was drinking again. He hit my little brother. Brother and I ran away. We hid in here. Now my brother won’t wake up. I’m scared.”

“Oh dear. Let me see him,” the woman cried out.

‘Sucker,’ I thought. She ran into the ally expecting to find a hurt little boy. Instead, she found nothing. The woman turned around, but in place of the girl, I stood in my true form. My 8’6” frame dwarfed her 5’ something height. With my hand alight, I silenced her and bound her arms. “Don’t you know better than to trust little girls when a vampire is on the lose?” I said, making sure she got a clear look at my fangs. All I got from her was her muffled screams. I grabbed her arm and pulled it up to my mouth. I was not going to bite her neck; I could damage her arteries and kill her.

My mouth chomped down on her hand. She screamed in pain. I could feel my venom entering her body while I drained her of energy. Her life was amazing! All of this emotion! So much LOVE! It’s delicious! I watched as her body aged rapidly. Perhaps without magic, I have to take the time someone has left to live.

As I sucked, I could feel the rate at which it came out slow down, and I took that as my cue to finish. Removing my fangs, I got a small taste of her blood. It tasted rather pleasant,metallic aftertaste and all. The woman, who had now aged something like 40 years in ten seconds, collapsed to the ground. I could see her eyes jump around behind her eyelids. The smile on her face and blush on her cheeks hinted at the nature of her dream.

I transformed into an older woman and dug through my victim’s purse. Upon finding a pen and pad of sticky notes, I wrote ‘Help Me.’ I stuck the message on her shirt and dragged the unconscious woman to the ally entrance. Satisfied with my work and meal, I sprouted my wings and flew home.

Author's Notes:

*Ding* Have a chapter.
I've been working on this one for over a week, which is quite slow for me. In the mean time, I put out several other stories.
Hope you like it.

And so begins the second section of BQ,RK

If you wonder why He takes being a changeling so well, it's because The mind is a plaything of the body and he's a villain protagonist.

(edited 12/21/2013)