I actually drew the first image of this (the top left one) one year ago while vending at FoF con where I live.
I still haven't finished this design sheet and I'm about to vend at the same con again in a few days XD

This is my WIP design of an alternate changeling species that I intend to be an open species sort of thing.
They are called Bloomlings, and while I will provide a proper, full description including some short story stuff about them later, the gist is this;

A changeling hive that lived in a dense jungle. Flying was of limited practicality due to the density of trees, vines and branches. So they found that it was easier to travel by climbing andb y swinging with threads made from the cocooning silk the changelings could produce.
They also rarely ran into other ponies, so their shapeshifting abilities were of limited use, and there was little in the way of opportunities to steal love.
So they adapted to sucking the thoughts out of animals and consuming their mental energy.

After the reform swept over the world, they grew into something new, a divergent evolution of the changeling race. Forgoing their wings for an increased swinging ability with a stretchy, sticky dongle on the end of their bouncy, floppy tails, and forgoing their shapeshifting and love consuming abilities to gain much stronger powers to benefit their diet; hypnotic powers that could satisfy their thirst without being harmful to their prey. They can also consume certain fruits and vegetables.
The bloomlings give off a subtle frequency like a psychic wave of a sound that usually only they and their hivemates can hear, but if enough of them are in the same place, a pony can hear the sound too, like a musical hum. Bloomlings have a pseudo-hivemind, able to feel and hear each other's emotions, as well as the markings on their bloopy tails glowing different patterns and colours depending on their feelings. Hiding one's emotions is almost impossible for a bloomling, so they are very upfront, honest and understanding of one another, very open with intimacy and lacking in social boundries, preferring attitudes of comfort and love between hivemates.
Though, this personality can be a bit... awkward when dealing with ponies, especially when they fail to realise that ponies can't sense their emotions, and struggling to read the mood of ponies.
They live under a giant tree at the core of the jungle which grows these glowing fruits and glowing mushrooms grow at its base. The gentle, warm thrum of light in the grove has a mildly hypnotic effect, the fungus and plantlife resonating with bloomlings ponies who spend a lot of time there will gradually, almost unnoticeably, start to become partially hypnotised as their mind synchronises with the humming energy, the song of the glowroot grove, and the bloomlings themselves, as they passively provide energy to the bloomlings around them.

Of course, bloomlings out in the wild can get their energy by having a trusted friend allow them to hypnotise them, drinking of the pony's thoughts and temporarily putting them into a blissful, relaxed trance.
Oh, and if they swallow one of the huge glowing fruits of the glowroot tree, it makes their tails extra swollen and squishy, and emit a glow and warmth that is somewhat hypnotic to ponies, especially when in direct contact or up close.
Ponies will find it very hard to resist hugging their warm, squishy tail, where the thought stealign effect becomes even stronger.

Bloomlings are highly friendly, hospitable and welcoming to outsiders, very curious and well-meaning. They'll usually try to help lost ponies in the jungle to find their way, and will invite them into the glowroot grove if they need a rest, and to avoid travelling the dangerous jungle at night.

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