Talk:The Times They Are a Changeling/@comment-818549-20160719214743/@comment-27739895-20160723113601

@ShadowOfOblivion7119

Guildmaster Grovyle's post and explanation make perfect sense to me and, if I'm not mistaken, "expiration date" was never the subject. I would say it is a matter of "emotions"; the changelings need to "feel" the heart of the ponies they feed on and that unfortunately cannot work if the emotions are pre-extracted and blended together with hundreds of other emotions.

Besides, beyond individual theories, one sure thing is that the Siege of the Crystal Empire comic depicts Chrysalis and her changelings showing absolutely no interest in the Crystal Heart despite an accomplice of theirs having gained access to it. In that comic, Chrysalis' only concern is that ponies still have suitable emotions to feed on.

In my wildest changeling headcanons I, too, imagine the changelings storing emotions in the "Heart" of their hive but I also imagine that they have a strong form of hive mind which emotionally connects them together with that "Heart". I like to consider that such stored emotions do retain their "individuality" and retain both the "feel" of the pulsing heart and the "memory" of the resonating soul that the original changeling felt while draining a pony (unlike those stored in the Crystal Heart).

I still want to believe in the possibility of finding common ground between the ponies and the changelings as well (at least in fan fiction) but I personally think the solution would be more complex than simply allowing the changelings to bask in the aura of the Crystal Heart.

@Mega Sean 45

Sorry for further contributing to straying from your original post. I agree with what you wrote (and would venture to say that Flurry Heart might be a key element too, if it came to this).