When Changeling 117 arrived into town, (ignoring all the towns ponies that avoided him like the plague) he found his new employer/food provider waiting for him at the post office.
At least, he hoped they were his new provider. Clients were, after all only clients if they were willing and able to pay for services. Something not all ponies were willing and able to do.
There was also the fact that she was the only pony within the vicinity not running away from him.
“Hello! I brought all the bits in my piggy bank to pay you… I hope it’s enough…”
And damn it to Tartarus, the sad but hopeful emotions rolling off this filly were enough to make him melt into a puddle of honey.
He looked at the little grey and blonde unicorn as she held up a tiny piggy back with hope and worry all but written on her face. It was an internal struggle not to pick her up and love her to death. He was supposed to RECEIVE love, not GIVE it. At this rate, he’d be drained by evening.
Gently, he pushed the piggy bank back to her and gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile. The fangs DID have a tendency to be rather off putting to most ponies. “Don’t worry, we don’t charge currency.” He smiled as he felt the worry disappear. “So what is it you need a changeling for?”
Bits no longer being an issue, the piggy bank went into a satchel on her back before she latched herself to his foreleg with the ferocity of a leech. “I want you to be my new Daddy!”
That… took a few moments to process. “If I may ask… what happened to the old one?”
The filly let go of his leg and looked despondently down at the ground beneath her hooves. “Mommy said he left before she had me.”
Dirty rotten bastard had better hope he never runs into Changeling 117! He’d tear that pony a new plot hole! “Okay. So what’s your name?”
“I’m Dinky! What’s your name?”
“Changelings don’t have pony names. We get numbers to identify us. I’m 117, or you can just call me Daddy if you prefer.”
“Yeah!” Dinky hugged him around the neck, making him wrap a leg around her instinctively to keep her from falling back to the ground.
He could feed off the filly hugging him, but so much of it was going to be redirected back to the filly he wondered if he should even bother.
“Do you mind if I take another form? A lot of ponies are afraid of changelings so it would be easier to get around if I looked like one.”
A moment later of green fire and a blonde Pegasus stallion with grey shaggy fur sat, still hugging the little filly to his chest.
“That’s awesome! Wait! Where’s your cutie mark?” Dinky squirmed free and did a full inspection of her new Daddy.
One second later and a changeling face smiled on both sides of his rump. “I’ve never been a daddy before so you’re going to have to help me learn how, okay?”
“Okay!” Dinky hugged him again. “Wait a minute.” She looked up at him in confusion. “If you don’t take bits, what do I pay you? I thought Mommy said everything cost bits these days…”
He snorted. “Changelings need love.”
“Love?”
“Yep. You love your mommy, right? And your mommy loves you too? Well, I need love just like you and your mommy do. That’s all I need.”
Oh, his food stores were going to run dry so quickly around this filly, but she was just so darned adorable! “So what is the first thing a daddy should do?” He wondered. Changelings didn’t have daddies so much as they had… siblings. Lots and LOTS of siblings.
“Well… first-“
WHAM!
Sprawled out in a small crater of dirt with a great amount of weight sitting on his chest, he opened his dazed eyes to see angry amber eyes glaring into his… metaphorical soul. As his vision expanded, he saw that they belonged to a grey Pegasus mare with a blonde mane standing on top of him.
A VERY UNHAPPY MARE.
“Strange stallions I have never met, let alone never seen around before, DO NOT TOUCH MY DAUGHTER.” A few jabs from her hoof sent him sinking into the dirt a few more inches.
“Silly Mommy! He’s not a stranger! He’s my new Daddy” Dinky climbed atop the pile of pony pushing him promptly… into the ground.
“New… Daddy?” The Pegasus mare’s eyes wandered in different direction as she tried to understand this new information.
117’s eyes moved to that of Dinky’s. “You… didn’t clear this with Mommy first?” It just occurred to him that whatever small odds he’d had moments before of surviving this just plummeted further.
Dinky shuffled her hooves sheepishly. “It was supposed to be a surprise for Mommy…”
Mommy’s hooves dug a little deeper into his shell. He was surprised he didn’t hear his carapace creaking from the strain. Her glare refocused on him tenfold. “I don’t know what my little Muffin is talking about, but YOU are going to explain it right now. DADDY.”
“Yes dear.”