Aug
20th
2014
Changelings Converting Ponies · 6:59am Aug 20th, 2014
Despite the title, this one isn't a world building post at all, so much as a question I'm proposing to my followers as I got no clue about it.
Where, exactly, did the whole idea of changeling cocoons converting ponies into changelings come from in the fandom? I mean, I can kind of understand it, as it plays into that whole "body snatcher" theme they kind of have going. But did this actually come from a specific fanfic or fan comic or something? Anyone know the origin point?
The question is really stuck in the back of my head right now.
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GreyGuardPony · 296 views
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I think it originated from Celestia's cocoon in the season 2 finale. "Cocoon" typically describes something used for metamorphosis or just for something that envelops/surrounds.
I personally chalk it up to their superficial resemblance to the ALIEN creatures and the cut subplot from the original movie wherein the crew wasn't being killed, but converted into eggs or directly impregnated.
And now I'm terrified.
Wish I knew myself. Though it seems to have been more of a divergent consensus than anything with a specific origin. That is to say it just sort of seems that multiple different fans all hit upon similar ideas which then quickly spread taking on a life of its own thereafter.
Some of it probably is the whole cocoon thing, though I think it also just helps further feed into the creepy-pasta nightmare fuel aspect of changelings and the loss of self-identity that comes with any shapeshifting adversary. Not only do the kidnap and replace you, but then they convert you into one of their own to further repeat the process. That second factor is a horror trope going all the way back through vampires, werewolves, and beyond into numerous older myths. So I think maybe it's just something that speaks to our instinctual primal fears.
It never made much sense to me. If ponies turn into changelings, what about Diamond Dogs, Gryphons, Minotaurs, and anything else they stick in a cocoon?
I've yet to see a 2-legged changelings or one that looks like a buggy gryphon.
Seems to be a lot like the Conversion Bureau plot device, only it's ponies, not humans getting changed. Who knows, maybe it was TCB stories that inspired changeling assimilation... or it was the Borg.
2385130
I suppose this might be the simplest and most logical origin, since that's what cocoons are actually.
2385145
I agree. That's some good old fashioned nightmare fuel right there.
2385280
You've probably hit the nail on the head with this one. It just kind of came across as an odd confluence of events that everyone in the fandom seemed to have decided on that being the case. So I guessed there might have been some fic that first played with that idea and that enshrined it in the head of the fandom.
2385313
You know, that's a really good point. I'm surprised I didn't think of that.
2385313
Well, it's possible that Changlines are an exclusively equine derivative and so the conversion process only works on ponies (maybe donkeys and zebras too). Alternatively, changelings might only have the singular default form, so it doesn't mater what the original species was, after conversion they all look the same.
2386935
There where a LOT of changeling stories post A Canterlot Wedding. Though predominantly I think most of the first wave were either X character is really changeling and Chrysalis redemption stories. I'm not really sure when or where conversion stories entered the picture, though outside the obvious use for horror stories I can see how it might have also been desirable for the other two.
X is really a changeling could use it as a way to ostensibly "soften" the blow by still allowing the character to have originally been a pony. Conversely it also naturally led into the variation, wherein X is converted at the start of the story, leaving the rest of the narrative to be about them adapting to the change.
Likewise, Chrysalis redemption stories could ostensibly claim that she never wanted to be evil in the first place, having started out as something else and forcibly converted against her will, thus framing her reform as a restoration of some dormant personality from her past life.
Furthermore, I'm not sure it was really fics that where first responsible for the conversion theory, but rather artwork. Not necessarily even artwork of characters being converted, but rather that after the introduction of changelings there was a popular trend of drawing different characters as changeling hybrids, which might be the principle inspiration for writing stories based on that art.
Well, I've got some ideas and stuff of my own, but I'm afraid I can't really tell you a whole bunch, because of spoilers to Unyielding-- and I know some of my followers follow you too. That being said, I've never really been big on "cocoons turning ponies into changelings". Then again, I'm kind of known for thinking outside the box, putting a different twist on something that has been done several hundred times already.
2386935 Sorry, simple and logical isn't usually my thing, but I was really tired.
2387102
Does this mean we can expect something completely out of left field by tomorrow?
2387171 If you expect something to be random, doesn't it become slightly less so?
2387203
Oh Lab, the joy isn’t whether or not something “random” is expected or not. It’s the exact nature of the randomness. The not knowing exactly what is inside the carefully wrapped present. Never being quite certain if the donut is filly with sweet jam or sinus-melting mustard. The mystery of whether I’ll actually make a point or not.
2387220 Joy was irrelevant in the original question. Also, I just look at the back of the donut where they pump in the jelly/mustard/vaseline.
2387448
Your muffins are irrelevant to the original question!