“Hello,” I smiled cheerfully at the ponies who passed by in the Ponyville streets. They smiled, nodded, and greeted me back. Oh, I love this town! It’s so abundant! I entertained myself with thoughts of all of the happy little delicious meals that trotted past.

I glanced over at a window as I cantered along to check my disguise. Perfect! Shattered Dreams, you are the perfect persona of pony! I looked like any other light blue overly happy schmuck with a dark turquoise to light green spectrumed mane. I rustled my wings, happy I’d chosen a pegasus disguise. Most changelings would certainly prefer the use of their horn. However, I found the wings handy for dispersing all the unnecessary heat these inefficient bodies tended to generate. That, and flying was just too convenient to pass up.

I shook my mane, and ruffled up my wings, savoring the cool air as it sapped the irritating waves of heat rolling through me. I quietly snickered as the ponies around me shivered in the soothing breeze. Silly fleshlings. So fragile- A giggle rumbled it’s way up my throat. -and cluelessly delicious.

So many nummies walking by just radiating free waves of delectable emotions. I stumbled in shock as I quickly wiped away the small line of drool from my muzzle. None of that! Show a little hive discipline!

I shook my head habitually, and cringed in disgust as the fleshy ears flopped back and forth. Eeew...I’ll never get used to that!

My hive had been destroyed three months ago after the Canterlot guard followed Queen Chrysalis and her brood into the wastes. We never saw it coming. Our princess was ill prepared for the slaughtering armies of the ponies as they descended upon us. Not that I blame Queen Chrysalis. Sacrificing a lesser colony to save the mane hives is a noble death in one's duty to the over hive. In the end, our princess did survive along with most of the nymphs. However, enough lives had been sacrificed to sate the blood thirsty ponies. I remember them walking away from my broken body as they left me to die. When I turned to look the other way, my own hive had done no less.

I missed the buzz of the hive dearly on lonely nights, but I had made a decision that day to turn to the life of a hiveless lone fang. There was something to be said for being a lone fang. The food was so fresh compared to the regurgitated green slop of feelings back in the hive pools that it made me giddy just thinking about it. The delicacies that abounded were more than enough to make up for the blistering sun, irritatingly weak vulnerable fleshy guise, and the constant threat of impending doom should I ever be caught.

I shivered, pushing it out of my mind as I focused down on my destination. I trotted merrily up to the Sugarcube Corner doors. Just as I had since the first day the most delectable of all pallet tingly ponies had tackled me upon entering this town.

Swiftly I cleared the drool from my muzzle again. Back at the hive they would call me an excentric for preferring one flavor of love over another. However, I just couldn’t shake the heady joyful tingles that…

“Hay! Dreamy!” A bright and cheery voice screamed from inside the store.

I darted back from the door, reared up on my hind legs, and spread my forehooves wide. “Perky Pink Parfait!” I’m sure I was grinning like a fool as I shouted it out, but I didn’t care as the pink missile burst through the Sugarcube front door and slammed into me.

In those microseconds that I was airborne everything that was Pinkie Pie flowed into me. I reveled in the waves of loving friendship as they radiated through the fleshy guise straight down into my changeling...everything. I didn’t care that my tongue was lolling out, or that my vision was fading around the edges, or that my heart was beating so fast my guise threatened to drop. No, all I cared about was that pink fuzzy embrace that reminded me every day why I would never leave this town to crawl back to my hive.

Pinkie’s love was so different. So innocently free and unfettered by doubts, yet complex in it’s layers. Globs of love infused with syrupy kindness, layered with fruity friendship preserves, crusted over with doubtless crumbles of trust. All in a tirelessly perky pink cup of infectious joy.

The parfait that is Pinkie Pie pounced upon me, pinning me to the ground, and I reveled in every delicious second of it.

“Dreamy!” Pinkie giggled. “Wake up silly billy gumdrop. You’re staring at me again…” She fluffed her hair around. Then her face suddenly dropped in a pink blur, coming nose to nose with me.

“P-P-Pinkie, I uhm...hi!” I said a little too loudly.

“Hi!” She replied with gusto, grinning wildly.

“You kept our Pinkie promise…” Heat rushed into my cheeks from the flood of Pinkie’s syrupy love coursing through my veins.

“Of course Dreamy, I ALWAYS keep my Pinkie promises!” She squeed in response, an action that sent me over the edge.

My heads spinning. I realized too late. I ate too much! Chaotic swirls of emotion sieged my chest. Terror slipped it’s icy maline around my throat. It’s hard to breath... I panicked as I sucked desperately at the air. So hard to breath!

Even as I was blacking out, Pinkies panicked cries for help sent me further into emotional overflow. The intensity of her love coursed through my gut, tingled out my legs, and burned through my wings.

“Soo-” My eyes rolled back. ”-delicious…” And the world went black.

Slowly, blurry tendrils of light filtered into my vision. I could feel my heart pumping wildly long before I could make out the fuzzy shapes moving around me. My stomach churned. A sick queasy had settled in. “Ohh…I think I ate too much.” I moaned as I rolled over on whatever soft cushy thing I was laying on.

“Really!? I do that all the time.” Pinkie’s voice snapped me out of my blurry little bubble. “Hay...wait a minute…didn’t you come here to eat?”

I stared at her. I could taste little tendrils of worry, doubt, and expectation emanating from her chest. “Oh, I uhm...I’m fine! Really, nothing wrong with me…” I dodged her eyes.

She squinted curiously at me. “That’s not what I asked you, but...oookyyy-” Her eyes perked wide open as she let it slide. “-dokie lokie!” She grinned. “If you say so.”

I expertly blocked the emotions to avoid a repeat of earlier. I’m such a glutton. I need to be more careful. I could have completely blown my cover!

Pinkie appeared again in my face, muzzle to muzzle. “Well?”

My heart exploded. The close contact somehow shattered through my emotional blockade. No! It’s still there! Somehow, she’s getting emotions passed the block! Pinkie...what are you? “Uhh?” I stared into her eyes, searching in panic for the proper reply.

“Uhh?” She copied me half mockingly with a smile on her lips, and her eyes scrunched up in excited mirth.

Tear out my wings, and be done with it! I don’t know what the proper reply is! Is this some sort of friendship ritual? I could feel sweat bead up on my brow. Heat was rushing maddeningly into my face. What do I do? Oh, she smells so good. Shut up brain! Now’s not the time! What should I be doing right now? She’ll figure me out for sure! I’m DOOMED! My mouth moved on its own. “Can...maybe you give me a little hint?” I turned my head to the side and impulsively face-hoofed. “What a stupid thing to ask!” My eyes shot wide open and my hoof slid down to cover my mouth, terrified by the complications my outburst would cause.

Pinkie giggled, turned my muzzle back to hers with a hoof, and rolled her eyes. “Well, duh...obviously if you didn’t come here hungry then you are here for a totally diifffeerreennt reason.” She prompted me, her eyes widening expectantly. I stared back dumbly, the heat flooding everywhere. “Well at least your wings are being honest...” She teased.

I blinked. “Uh...uhm?” I snaked my hoof down to feel my wings which were stiff out the sides. I was trapped, unable to roll either way as these treacherous wings held me captive on my back, and Pinkie kept me pinned by a nose. “They are hard, and...feel like they are on fire. I-is that bad?”

She gasped, the smell of pink parfait washed over me. My ears fell back, and I twittered like an idiot. My antics elicited another giggle from my pink captor. “I like how you tease me! But it’s been weeks, Dreamy! If you’re gonna ask me out would you just do it already!?”

“YES!!” The word left my mouth in a trumpeted blast, blowing Pinkies hair back into wind swept spikes. She blinked a few times in shock, her lips frozen in a wavy grin.

Pinkie shook her head in a blur. “Wow! I wasn’t even THAT excited about it, but now I am!” She hoofed at her chin. “Though technically you didn’t ask…” She paused thoughtfully for a second. “I’ll accept it anyway. Just this once!” She twittered cheerfully as she turned and bounded back towards a pink door at the other end of the room.

I blinked up at the ceiling, laying flat on my back on the rooms only pink bed in shock. “W-what just happened?”

“You asked me out on a date-” She paused dramatically. “-finally.” Pinkie turned and called back over her shoulder. “I’m going to do some chores then get ready. I have all kinds of fun stuff to plan for tonight! You go ahead and rest on my bed. I think you might be the first to keep up with me! Of course that’s what I’ve said to all my dates before, well except maybe for the very first one, but you will be the first for sure!” She looked back with a giddy manic smile and hopped out the door, shutting it behind her.

I listened to her speedy chant of fun-fun-fun fade down the hall in a confused daze. Then it hit me...hard! N-n-no-NO! I am NOT ready to date my parfait! Shivers ran up and down my spine and limbs. I could feel my breathing pick up.

Then another thing dawned on me. This is her bed... My jaw hung open, my breaths coming in panicked gasps… I’m in her brood chamber!

Somewhere in the back of my mind a voice, more versed in survival than I, screamed for me to run. Instead my treaturous limbs refused to move, still trapped by my own wings. Suddenly, I felt incredibly drained, light headed, and exhausted. With a nervous sigh, I found myself accepting Pinkie’s offer to pass blissfully into sleep surrounded by the sweet heady scent of my favorite food.

“Surprise!!”

“Yeahhh!!” I burst out of my sleep, and slammed into the ceiling. Panicked and desperately trying to grasp the situation.

“Wow! I didn’t know you could walk on ceilings!” Pinkie oggled at me.

“Y-yes...I was born with that abilit…” It dawned on me a little late as I let go and flopped back down on the bed. “I-I uh…” I stared at her in horror. This is it! I’m doomed!

“Oh, no! It’s okay! Don’t panic, I do stuff that other ponies think is weird all the time.” Pinkie ducked under the edge of the bed. I followed, looking every which way for her. However, she had completely vanished. Then, there was a tapping at the window behind me. Upon looking back I saw Pinkie outside, hanging upside down.

“What!? that’s amaz…” She disappeared. I turned back to the room. “Ahhh!” I slammed against the wall in a panic as Pinkie reappeared from under the bed.

“Tadah!” She threw her forelegs out to the sides with flare, and grinned giddily. “See? Fun right?”

“Wow, there’s no way predators could ever catch you!” I caught of glimpse of myself in the mirror behind her, grinning like some idiot prey ready to hoof myself over for dinner.

“Nope!” She beamed. “Nopony can catch me!”

The predator sparked in me, my mouth moved impulsively. “I wanna try...”

“Best idea ever!” She grinned wider, and in a blur she was instantly invading my muzzle space again. “If you catch me, I’ll give you something special…” She batted her eyes, and in the blink of an eye was gone from the room.

My mouth watered, energy flooded through my limbs, and I bolted from the room. I was down the stairs and outside almost instantly, sniffing the air, my eyes skillfully picking out every shadow in the waning light of the setting sun.

I caught her scent, and homed in on a barrel just outside the Sugarcube diner. Upon popping the lid off Pinkie burst out, and bolted down the road. Instinct coursed through my veins, the world took on new clarity, and my heart felt as if it’d burst through my chest at any moment. My hooves and wings worked in unison to propel me down the road. Shops and ponies blurred past as I used old crowded hive skills to dodge and weave through all obstacles in my way.

Pinkie dodged down an alleyway, I snapped at her delectable cotton candy tail as she yanked it teasingly just out of my reach over and over. “Ahhh, Dreamy’s going to eat me!” She mocked playfully, laughing giddily as she picked up the pace.

I panted, gasping for breath. Oh if you only knew! My hooves pumping the ground in a mad rush to catch the delight of my life.

“Dreamy...oh Dreamy…” Pinkie grinned back at me with a sly smile. “Are you daydreaming about my flank again?”

“What!?” She dodged to the side as I bolted past her, and slammed into a wall. Pain shot through my head and down my spine. I squinted through it, trying to shake off the haze around my muddled brain. I looked over at Pinkie and smiled. “Nice one, you got me good that…” The words turned to stone, catching in my throat. My pony voice had faded, replaced with the natural high buzzing pitch I was born with.

I didn’t have to look at my hooves to know they were covered in black carapace. It was blazon upon Pinkie’s face. Shock and horror seared through me. The feelings coming from her burned in my veins, stabbed at my chest, and sapped the strength from my legs. I lost the will to survive as ponies jumped on me, and pinned me to the ground. Even as I was bound with rope I begged my parfait to not cry, but my words were drowned in the angry shouts of the mob as I was crushed under a pile of squishy limbs.

I sat bound in town square. Ponies gathered around staring at me with mixed levels of horror, disgust, and hatred. The emotional soup in the air made me gag. Royal guards had landed and were discussing protocols on hoofing over the prisoner with the local authorities. Doubtless I would be interrogated then executed.

Who cares, I already died once, and I’m dead to the hive. I sighed, my wings drooping as I stared at the ground. I’m dead to Pinkie... I watched in awe as tears streamed down my muzzle. Why do I care so much about my food? I ground my lip painfully with my fangs, trying to bite away the pain of the emotions searing through my chest and settling in my gut.

“I’m really mad at you…” My head snapped up as I stared dumbfounded at Pinkie sitting a few legspans away. My vision locked onto her, the crowd around us disappeared.

Her honeyed voice gooeyed its way across the gap between us to soothe my misery. A last meal. I mused darkly.

“I’m so sorry…” Though words bubbled in my throat, nothing more would come forth.

“I guess this is goodbye?” She looked up at me.

“You changed your hair?” I stalled, anything for a few more brief moments in her presence before I was hauled off to my death.

“It falls flat sometimes…” She looked off to the side, and slowly turned away. Misery radiated from her, and it made me sick to think I caused it.

“I liked your cotton candy hair.” So pathetic...

Guards started slowly clopping towards us. I glanced at them in panic. It was now or never, I had no more time, she was already leaving, slowly walking away. “Pinkie! I don’t care if I die, but please keep smiling! Your love was the most delicious of them all! I beg you not to lose that!” I sobbed through my words as her hooves faltered.

“PINKIE!” My horn flared to life burning through my bonds with searing green fire. “You are my hive!” The fire engulfed my body and I took on my pony guise once more. I threw my forelegs to the side as I stood up. The guards rushed at me, I closed my eyes, waiting for their blades to pierce my chest. “I love my Perky Pink Parfait!”

I don’t know how long she sent me sailing through the air, but I etched Pinkie’s words onto the very core of my heart. “We’d all starve without love…”