BoC: Feeding

or How Changelings consume love
This document contains the mention of blood, just as a warning.
Emotional Feeding Emotional means changelings absorb emotions, mostly affection and love or happiness. They absorb them with their maws, without even touching their victims most of the time. It can seem like they just stand there with open mouths to those who observe them; emotional feeding can be very subtle. The victim will not feel much in the beginning but after a while they might feel weaker or even pass out. This kind of feeding is limited, since a changeling can only do it if the emotions are felt towards it or its disguise. Which is the main reason changelings use shape-shifting. Victims are usually those with families, loved ones or a lot of friends. The changeling will most likely pick a person they love and replace them. It is not uncommon that the victim and their close ones are observed for weeks before the changeling actually replaces one of them. When replacing children or babies the changeling feeds on the motherly love. The changelings seem to care a lot about their fake families and protect them but are still loyal to their Queen. Sometimes Changelings make up ponies and change into them to get with singles and feed of their love, if they see potential but it does not happen very often despite the fact that it would be the most morally acceptable way for changelings to live among ponies.
Physical Feeding The other kind of feeding is the physical feeding. It is faster, easier but not as satisfying. Physical love feeding is what it sounds like. For the most. There is more to it and it is not actually about love. It is about dopamine, serotonin and endorphins: those transmitters in a certain amount can feed changelings just like love, it provides the same emotional energy but within the changeling's body after consumption. Changelings get it by forcing or tricking the victim to feel euphoria and then drink their blood. Often they use their poison to make it easier to get them into this state. It is a cruel kind of feeding, especially because of the poison and often because of possible blood loss. A lot of the victims die within the first few sessions of physical feed due to blood loss or because the changelings couldn't control themselves or simply didn't heal wounds they might have inflicted. Victims that have been physically fed on often come back to get more because the poison changelings use during this process is highly addicting and causes great euphoria.

Aftereffects Both emotional and physical feeding have aftereffects. The most notable aftereffect is tiredness that kicks in during the feeding process. Victims show zombie-like behavior at first, which can be fixed by a good sleep. But then the more subtle aftereffects can show, a lack of empathy and love, which only makes sense, since the storage of dopamine and the emotional energy needed for empathy and love have been raided by the changeling. This can lead to aggressive behavior and due to an emotional imbalance an increase of negative emotions such as jealousy, anger and sadness. Depression and anxiety are uncommon and not confirmed to be caused by emotional feeding but there have been reports about ponies experiencing a drop in motivation and drive even months after falling victim to a changeling. It can cause greater disharmony if an authoritative being or someone with a lot of responsibility is drained of their love, which is why the Princesses of Equestria refuse to provide love for the changelings.