As Cloud closed his front door, careful to not disturb his passenger, questions raced through his mind.
Who is this mare? Why was she in the woods all alone during winter? She is a she right? Is she a pony? Seriously, I need to make sure she's a she, not a he or an it. Do I still have that soup leftover? I'm internally monologuing again, aren't I.
As carefully as he could, Cloud brought his new guest into the bathroom so he could reach his first aid kit easily, and to clean the gross green stuff and mud off of her.
Seriously, it sounded like a she so I'm just going to roll with that. Oh crap, that green stuff's blood, isn't it... eww.
After carefully looking her over, Cloud drew a quick conclusion.
Alright, a couple cuts, not to deep, on her side, flank, and cheek; probably dehydrated and a little hungry based on how gaunt she looks; and at least the makings of hypothermia based on the shivering.
Noticing his patient's increased shivers, he turned on the water and waited for it to warm up. As he waited, Cloud got out his first aid supplies and then laid down next to the stranger and gently draped a wing across her back. She flinched, but then pressed closer to his side.
"W-why are you helping me?" She quietly asked.
"Because you probably would have died if I hadn't," Cloud replied with his usual monotone.
"B-but look at me, I-I'm a hideous monster, why would a pony even care if I died?"
"You don't seem too horrible to me, also, that's what a normal pony would do, not me"
She looked at him in confusion and asked
"What does that mean?"
"Eh, I've just never been one to blindly do crap out of tradition or whatever, so I don't really fit in with everypony else. I never have, and chances are I never will. So you're safe with me."
She smiled a little and said,"Thank you, you have no idea how much that means to me."
He shrugged and replied,
"Whatever, anypony else who isn't a huge asshat probably would have helped... okay, they probably would have run screaming like the cowards they are."
She scrunched her face up in an amused expression before asking,
"Was that a joke? I-I've never had a pony tell me jokes before, er, well not without me looking different."
"Whatever, but later you need to tell me how you got hurt, deal?"
"Deal."
Looking over at her he asked,
"Um... sorry if this is rude, but what exactly are you? I've never seen a pony like you before."
With a sigh his guest replied,
"I'm a changeling, we, well, changelings are shape-shifters who feed off of ponies emotional energy, and yes, before you ask I am feeding off of you right now. But don't worry, because you're giving it willingly it will have no noticeable side affects."
"How does that work, are there multiple ways to eat emotions? And can you eat real food or just emotions?"
"There are three main ways to gather love energy: you can absorb ambient emotional energy just by being near ponies, although that method gathers very little and takes so of time to gather a decent amount that it isn't efficient; you can have emotional energy freely given to you, which is the most satisfying and delicious way despite how long it takes to make ponies like you that much. It also is the only way to mostly negate any side effects from feeding given that you're eating emotions that are produced for you, rather than someone else; and finally, well, emotional energy can be forcibly extracted with magic, which, while you gather a lot of energy, causes the pony pain. Not only is it horrible, but it taints the tast with pain, fear, and a bunch of other negative emotions. Oh, and yes, we can eat solid food."
"Oh... well,um, just, don't do that last one please."
With the interrogation out of the way for the moment, Cloud helped the changeling into the tub and started helping her clean off. When she was clean again and he had replaced the water, he headed towards the door.
"I'll go get us some food and water, be back in a sec."
he said before starting to open the door. He froze and said,
"By the way, you never told me your name."
" I don't have one anymore," she quietly replied.
Cloud grunted and walked away, leaving the changeling to warm up in her bath.
As Cloud got his leftover soup out of the fridge and started heating it up, he began seriously thinking about what he just heard.
Ok, so my new guest is an emotion eating, strange looking, non-pony thing. That's actually pretty cool now that I think about it. She probably isn't getting too much from me cause I really am not an emotional pony. Wait, if she needs positive emotions to survive does that mean if I need to feed her I'll need to get all touchy-feely with her, cause I already hugged her which is way outside my comfort zone. Oh great... I have blood all over me too, you do something nice and you end up getting changeling blood all over you 'cause of it, figures really.
"Beeeeeeeep"
Cloud shook himself out of his thoughts and quickly got a bowl of soup and some water to give to his patient. As he walked back into the bathroom, he noticed the changeling looking confused and poking her horn.
"Uhh... are you okay? Or is something broken, because if you still won't go to the hospital I'll just have to fix whatever needs fixing with grit, spit, and a whole lotta duct tape."
The changeling quickly looked up and had a dejected look on her face as she said.
"I think something's wrong with me, I can barely sense your emotions and they're all muddled and weird. They're there, but something seems off, like my emotive abilities are being suppressed right now. And were you being serious when you said you would fix me with grit, spit, and this 'duct tape' stuff because I am unsure that grit and spit really heal anything. Unless this tape you speak of has healing powers. Wait, how stupid of me. That was a joke, wasn't it? I really am such a dumb bug some times."
"Yeah... duct tape doesn't heal ponies, it was a joke. And the emotions thing, probably me, not you. Oh and quick question, what emotions do changelings eat 'cause I can try to feel something if you need."
The changeling blinked and looked up at him in confusion
"You're surprisingly calm, all things considered. Most ponies would have run screaming or be totally grossed out by my *ahm* diet."
" I don't really care enough to freak out, and honestly, that's pretty cool. You know, being an, emotion eating... changeling? It was changeling right?"
"Yeah, changeling was the right word. And to answer your question, changelings can eat all kinds of emotions. Happiness, sympathy, friendliness, and, if we can get it, love. Love is the most powerful and nourishing emotion of all."
Cloud gave her a more deadpan stare than his usual one.
" Really? Love? Fine, whatever. But if you ask me that seems kinda, I dunno, ironic? You said ponies are scared of you, and you need ponies to like you to survive. I feel like if everypony knew about changelings that there would be tons of cliche stories written about it, or some such thing."
The changeling looked at him funny for a bit before saying,
"I now agree with you completely, you are definitely not like other ponies."
Cloud rolled his eyes.
"What tipped you off? I thought I was hiding it so very well. By the way, my name's Cloud, Cloud Nine. What about you? You said you didn't have one anymore, what do you mean by that?"
The changeling's expression fell and with a sigh replied,
"I was banished from my hive for being too weak. I was told to forcefully take love from a pony, but I wouldn't do it. They striped me of my name and threw me out. I then decided to try something no changeling has ever tried before. I was going to live with ponies. At first I was hopeful, I walked undisguised into a small farming town, expecting some odd stares but that if I proved myself friendly, they would accept me."
"I'm assuming it didn't go well?"
She shuddered.
"They ran me out of town. I tried again and again with a bunch of different towns, but it was the same thing each time, until, I just accepted it and decided to go disguised from town to town, absorbing ambient emergy and then moving on."
"Why not just stick around one town and make them all like you?"
Still shaking she quietly told him her biggest cause for shame.
"I'm scared of ponies."
Cloud blinked and asked,
"You're scared... of ponies? Well... that explains a lot about earlier."
"I'm surprised your not laughing, here I am, a changeling, who can't go anywhere near a pony without having a panic attack. Just admit it, you think I'm pathetic. The only reason I'm still talking is because I'm panicking so I'm desperately trying to keep calm but--"
She began to hyperventilate and tears rolled down her cheeks. Cloud braced himself and took the plunge, gently placing his hoof on her shoulder he said,
"I understand, and no, you're not pathetic. You're afraid for a perfectly good reason, and I'm assuming that the last of your little visits went south judging by your various wounds. So believe me, I'm going to help you out."
The changeling nodded and then looked at his hoof quizzically then back up to him.
" What do you mean?"
With a small smirk, Cloud asked,
" How would you feel about being my new roommate?"