Berry Punch woke up with a pounding headache. She groaned as the morning sun hit her eyes, and she felt so dizzy that she had to get out of bed exceptionally slowly. She slowly made her way to her bathroom, her stomach churning with each step that she took, and once she was inside, she took a look at her reflection in the mirror.

“It’s that time again,” she said to herself, her voice raspy. She cleared her throat, and decided to skip brushing her teeth for today. She didn’t feel up to it at all. She instead just trudged her way downstairs, towards the kitchen, and poured herself a glass of water.

“Good morning, mommy!” Berry gulped down the water, and let out a deep sigh. “… That time of the month?”

Berry Punch nodded, raising a hoof to her head as she checked her temperature. “I’m going to have go hunting tonight…” She made her way to the kitchen table, where her daughter, Berry Pinch, was already eating her cereal. Another bowl had been laid out for her, and she began pouring her own bowl of cereal.

“Are you sure you’re not just hung-over again?”

Berry Punch shook her head. “No, I didn’t drink at all last night…” Berry Pinch raised an eyebrow. “Well… One glass… Okay, one bottle, but that’s certainly not enough to get me drunk.”

Berry Pinch sighed and shook her head. “So, I’m walking to school by myself again today?”

Berry Punch bit her lower lip, and looked at her daughter apologetically. “I’m sorry… I didn’t realise that today would be ‘the day’.” Berry Punch lifted a spoonful of cereal to her mouth, and took a bite. “You’re almost at that age now. You’ll find out soon enough what it feels like.”

Berry Pinch shuddered at the thought. “… Do I really have to feed off of love, mommy?”

Berry Punch nodded. “As a changeling, once you reach maturity, you will have to feed off of love in order to survive. There’s no getting around it.” Berry Punch pushed the cereal away, her head aching too much to take than a few bites. “You’ll also have to learn how to shape shift, and erase memories on your own… I can’t keep covering for you forever, you know?”

Berry Pinch sighed, and got up once she had finished her breakfast. “… I’ll be going now.”

“Good luck,” Berry Punch said, causing Berry Pinch to look at her confusedly. “Don’t you have that test today?”

“That was last week,” Berry Pinch said with a frown.

“… Oh.” An awkward silence passed between the two pony-disguised changelings, which was broken by Berry Pinch sighing and walking away.

“See you later, mommy.”

Berry Punch’s ear lowered, and she felt her stomach churning from more than just the sick feeling she had woken up with. “… I’m sorry, Pinchy,” she said to herself quietly. She got up from her seat, and began to wash up the two bowls and spoons that were left on the table. “I wish I could be there for you more, I really do… Why did that stupid Queen have to act so recklessly?”

Berry Pinch walked down the same street that she always did whenever she went to school. She passed by the same candy store, the same bakery, and the same music shop. Everything that occurred that day, was exactly the same as it was every other day. In fact, she could probably make it to school with her eyes closed, if she wanted to.

“Hey, blank flank!”

Ah, the sounds of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, two of the older pupils at her school, giving the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ a hard time… Right on schedule.

“Twitchy tail! Everypony RUUUUUN!”

Pinkie Sense? Okay, so that was new. But that occurred randomly, so she couldn’t really plan for that. Everypony in the area immediately took cover, waiting for whatever was going to happen to happen.

After about twenty seconds, a piano fell down from the sky, thankfully not landing on anypony. Looking up at the sky, Berry Pinch saw the pony responsible for it.

“Oops! My bad…”

Berry Pinch giggled at the clumsy Pegasus hovering in the air. Derpy was always a source of amusement here in Ponyville. And this was a nice town to live in. The ponies were friendly, welcoming, and best of all, most of them were quite dense! It was thanks to that fact that Berry Pinch and her mother were able to live here, with practically no fear of being discovered. The only real threat was Twilight Sparkle, but so long as the two kept their distance from her, there was really nothing to worry about.

Yep, this was a fine town indeed to live in. A nice, peaceful life, where nothing bad ever happened, save for the occasional ursa minor attack, or parasprite infestation.

And today was looking to be just as uneventful as any other day. And Berry Pinch wouldn’t have it any other wa-

“Ooooh…” Berry Pinch stopped in the middle of the street, and clutched her stomach. An odd feeling passed through it, the likes of which she had never experienced before. “W-What was that?”

She tried taking another step forward, but the strange feeling only hit her again, even harder than before.

She had to stuff her hoof into her mouth to stop herself from throwing up. Her head started to feel funny, and she heard a strange ringing in her ears. She checked her temperature… And then she turned towards a nearby shop window, to look at her reflection. Her eyes were puffy, and… They were glowing green. As was her horn.

That wasn’t right. So far, most of the symptoms were there. Her stomach churning, her head aching, her high temperature… They were all signs that she needed to feed. They were signs that today, was her first day of maturity.

But, her horn shouldn’t be glowing yet, and neither should her eyes. That should only happen during feeding, when she took in the love of a pony.

She gasped when she saw her coat glowing with a green aura, and looked around quickly. Nopony seemed to have noticed yet, so she took this chance to bolt through a nearby alleyway. ‘My transformation… It’s wearing off!’

Berry Pinch ran as fast and as far as she could, trying to get home before anypony noticed her. She stopped when she caught a whiff of something in the air, and took a moment to take in the pleasant aroma. Was this… Was this the scent of love? There was a pony with high levels of love nearby.

She tried to ignore it for now, since her transformation was already halfway undone, but the urge was so strong… She found herself unconsciously following the scent, her mouth watering as she drew closer and closer to her target.

She eventually found the source of the pleasant scent. It was a rather dirty-looking Unicorn, with a blue coat, and silver hair. She was sitting next to a dumpster, her head buried in her knees, muttering something to herself.

“Stupid Twilight Sparkle… It’s all your fault… They laugh at me because of you. I have nowhere to go, and it’s all because of you! I hate you, stupid… Spoiled… Rich brat!”

Berry Pinch walked towards the mare, alerting her to her presence.

“Who goes the-” The pony’s eyes widened at what she saw. Approaching her, with a look of absolute lust on her face, was a creature she had seen once before, and had hoped never to see again. “A ch-ch-changeling?!”

The mare looked absolutely terrified at first, but then noticed that this changeling was different from the ones that she had seen before. In that it was smaller. Much smaller.

“D-Do you not know who I am? I am the Great and P-Powerful Trixie! It would be unwise for you to continue your approach!”

Berry Pinch didn’t listen. Or rather, she couldn’t even hear anything anymore. She was too attracted to the scent coming from the frightened mare before her, and before this ‘Trixie’ could run away, Berry Pinch’s horn shot a bright beam of green light towards her horn.

Trixie let out a quick yelp, before falling completely silent. Her eyes glowed green, as did her entire body. This continued for a full two minutes, until Berry Pinch let out a relieved sigh, and collapsed to the floor. She was caught by something, but didn’t have a chance to see what it was before she passed out.

Berry Pinch woke up in her room, staring up at the white ceiling, before turning her attention on the familiar wall paper, decorated with various teddy bears, dressed in all kinds of different outfits. In particular, she liked the builder teddy bear, though the policeman teddy bear looked pretty cool, too.

She saw her mother, Berry Punch, sitting beside her, reading a book. “Mommy?” she called out, and then put a hoof to her throat when she heard her own raspy voice.

“You’re awake?” Berry Punch asked as she turned her attention to her daughter. “Thank heavens. I was beginning to worry.” She closed her book, and offered her daughter a glass of water. “Well, it seems that congratulations are in order.”

Berry Pinch drank the water in one quick go, and then handed the glass back to her mother. “What do you mean? What happened?”

“Try to remember. I’m sure it’ll all come back to you.”

Berry Pinch thought for a moment, trying to remember her day. She went to school… No, that wasn’t it. She tried to go to school, but something stopped her… “Ah!” she said as it suddenly all came back to her. “I fed, didn’t I?” Berry Punch nodded, smiling widely at her daughter. “I fed… Off of a pony’s love…”

Berry Punch scratched the back of her head. “Well… Not exactly…”

Berry Pinch looked up at her mother with a confused look on her face. “What do you mean?”

“Hmmm… To be honest, I’m not entirely sure myself. All I know is, that mare you fed off of today… Well, she had very little love to spare. Certainly not enough for you to feed for two whole minutes.”

Berry Pinch blushed, and tried to hide her face behind her covers. “Y-You saw that?”

Berry Punch nodded, and giggled at the youngling’s embarrassment. “Hey, now. There’s no need to feel embarrassed. It’s all a natural part of life, after all… Just, try to be more careful of where you do it next time, alright?”

“I-I’m sorry,” Berry Pinch whimpered. She received a comforting hug from her mother.

“I’m not angry,” Berry Punch assured her. “The first time is never easy. I didn’t expect you to mature just yet… I thought you had at least another year left. I guess you take after your father.”

“What happened to the mare I fed off of?”

Berry Punch focused her magic, and summoned a green screen in the air, which revealed an image of the mare from earlier, sitting in a room filled with books. “I took the liberty of erasing her memory whilst she was passed out. However…”

Berry Pinch watched as a purple mare appeared on the screen, and sat down next to the blue one. They startled to nuzzle each other, and then kissed each other on the lips a few times… Berry Pinch could see their tongues connecting in-between kisses, and quickly ducked underneath the covers, her face as red as a tomato.

Berry Punch laughed at the youngling’s embarrassment, and turned off the magical screen. “It’s quite strange… Usually, a changeling feeds off of love, taking feelings of love away from somepony who had a lot of them.

“But you… You somehow fed off of somepony whose heart was filled with hatred, and now… Well, you saw what happened.”

Berry Pinch came out from her covers, looking at her mother with a look that told she had many questions. “Is… Is that even possible?”

Berry Punch shrugged. “To be honest, I’ve never heard of such a thing before… We’ll have to be careful from now on, and make sure we find out what happened, and if you’re okay.”

Berry Pinch shuddered at that last part, but nodded anyway. As the two sat together in silence for a bit, another thought crossed her mind. “So… What will happen to that mare now?”

“Hm?”

“I mean… Will she continue being like that, or will she… Revert back to her previous state?”

Berry Punch put a hoof to her chin. “… I guess… It’s up to her,” she said. “When a changeling feeds off of somepony’s love, their victim gets to experience life from a different perspective. Whether they get that love back or not depends on which of their two lives they’re happier with. It’s not uncommon for ponies to actually cling on to a life of hatred after being targeted by a changeling, though in those cases, we usually intervene to bring them back.”

“We do?” Berry Pinch asked. “Why?”

“Well, think about it. If all our sources of love stay drained, what will we do in the future? It’s our responsibility, to make sure that there is always love for us to feed off of, and that we never take too much. If we only take a little bit from multiple ponies, then it reduces the risk of ponies choosing hatred over love.”

Berry Pinch put a hoof to her head. “This is… Kinda confusing.”

Berry Punch giggled, and roughed up her daughter’s mane. “You’ll get the hang of it. Anyway, I’d imagine this ‘Trixie’ pony will have to face the same decision… The love you gave her wasn’t targeted towards that other pony in particular. That was a part of Trixie’s true feelings, awoken by the ‘gift’ you gave her.

“Does she prefer a life of love, or hatred? When the love you gave her runs out, she’ll have to choose for herself which path she goes down.” Berry Punch picked up her own glass of water and took a drink. “Of course, if what happened today happens again, you could always just give her another boost of love,” Berry Punch added with a grin after finishing her drink.

Berry Pinch looked up at her mother with a look of worry. “Mommy… What will we do, if there’s something wrong with me?”

Berry Punch reached down and hugged her daughter. “Naturally, I’ll be there for you. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that you’re okay… Because you’re my daughter, and I love you, more than anything else in this whole world.”

Author's Notes:

A strange little idea I came up with whilst writing 'Diamond Tiara Likes Anime'. Don't quite know how far I'm going to go with this yet, but stay tuned for more updates!

Also, turns out this site doesn't have a character tag for Berry Pinch. This saddens me :(