Bonus Chapter: Sparkle's Notes: Changeling Disguises
...Changeling disguises were, for me, the most fascinating part of my study of changelings. How is it that they are able to magically create disguises perfect enough to fool detailed, physical examination, and maintain these disguises for weeks at a time, all with very little conscious thought or effort on their part?
When I posed this question to my primary changeling contact, he was unfortunately unable to assist me. It turns out that using and maintaining these disguises is a completely instinctual and subconscious process for them. So, just as most ponies would be unable to describe the act of breathing in any more detail than ‘inhale, exhale, repeat’, he was unable to give me any detailed information on how their disguises worked. The only information that he was able to give me was that brand new disguises take a not insignificant amount of mental concentration in order to properly visualize everything the first time. This is in opposition to disguises that have been used in the past, or simply copying the form of another pony, both of which can be done with but a thought. This information, while interesting, wasn’t of much use in my search to find out how the disguises worked...
...My first thought was, of course, illusionary magic. Illusionary spells exist that can be maintained for extended periods of time with little upkeep. However, there was a major problem with illusionary magic. While illusions can easily fool sight, sound, smell, and even taste, touch is another matter entirely. Ponies are very tactile creatures, and even the best of illusions would be hard pressed to survive the amount of physical contact experienced by an average pony on a typical day, to make no mention of the amount of physical contact that would be experienced by changelings that feed on emotions like love or lust. Because of this, I was forced to discard illusionary magic as the source of their disguises...
...Transformation magic was another field that seemed promising. If they actually physically transformed themselves into a pony, then that would certainly explain how their disguises could be so foolproof. However, this line of thinking had a few major problems as well. Transformation spells, especially full body transformations, are horrendously complicated and dangerous spells. The slightest of mistakes could result in fatal outcomes like the lungs or heart not properly forming or reforming. On top of this, full body transformations take a tremendous amount of magical energy to cast and maintain. Even the Princesses themselves would be hard pressed to maintain a full body transformation for more than a few days. For these reasons, I also scrapped the notion that transformations magics were responsible...
...Having run myself ragged trying to find what school of magic could be responsible, I had my first major breakthrough thanks to an offhanded comment from my assistant. This whole time, I had been needlessly limiting myself in assuming that it was only a single school of magic being used to create the disguises. Who was to say that it wasn’t two or more schools of magic acting in concert to create them? This thought in mind, I plunged back into my research with renewed vigor. I was confident that illusion magics were at least a part of the answer...
...As it turns out, the missing piece of the puzzle is hard light shell projected around the changeling’s body. This bit of magic is very similar to the shield spell favored by unicorns of the Royal Guard, and that is the specialty of the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor. It was only thanks to this similarity, and a comment one of my changeling contacts had made about their disguise ‘shattering’, that I was able to make this discovery. There are some significant difference between the two spells, however. Most notably, the changeling's shell is much softer and less rigid than a shield spell, the better to properly imitate the skin of a pony. This makes it nearly useless for defensive purposes.
This led to another interesting discovery. I was unsure how they could effortlessly maintain such a system of magic across their entire body using only a single focal point, their horn. However, now that I knew what to look for, some quick tests revealed that their horn is actually not used at all in the creation of their disguises. As it turns out, their entire carapace is a magically conductive substance. The magics that make up their disguise are channeled directly through their carapace, in much the same way that pegasi channel their innate weather manipulating magics through their hooves. This method of using their entire body instead of just a single focal point gives their disguises an amazing amount of stability and durability. It is still possible for this shell, and thus the rest of the changeling’s disguise, to break due to physical trauma. But unless they fall unconscious or take some type of blow to the head, the disguises are able to withstand a surprising amount of abuse before completely failing. As far as I have been able to tell, their disguise is the only magic that they are able to channel in this manner; all other magics must pass through the horn.
As for the second half of the puzzle, the illusionary magics that make up their disguises are amazingly advanced and are capable of astounding levels of fidelity. They are capable of simulating sweat when physically active, blushing when emotionally aroused, and even bleeding and bruising when injured. And all of this is on a completely instinctual, subconscious level. While this does seem amazing, it is important to remember just how old changelings are as a species. They have been using and refining these magics since before the original reign of Discord, long before illusions were even a recognized school of magic amongst ponies!
Now, as to how these two puzzle pieces actually fit together. As already suggested, the hard light shell comes first, forming the ‘skin’ of their pony form. This shell extends anywhere from being right on top of to a few inches away from the carapace, to account for different builds of ponies. This gives them that tactile component that illusions themselves are simply unable to provide. Then, their illusion magic is layered over this shell to create the rest of their disguise, making them look, sound, and smell like a pony. This entire process happens in the blink of an eye. The hard light shell and the illusion magics are inextricably linked to each other on a subconscious level; it is not possible for a changeling to utilize one without the other.
There are some important implication to be drawn from this discovery of how their disguises work.
First off, changelings are unable to take a form that is smaller than they are. Their actual changeling body very much still exists underneath their disguise. Attempting to take a form smaller than they are would only result in parts of their changeling body sticking out from the hard light shell. Nopony will ever have to wonder about the identity of young fillies and colts. This led to another small discovery when, curious, I asked my primary changeling contact what happens to their horns when they take earth pony or pegasi forms. As it turns out, changeling horns are actually capable of folding back against their head. This is a completely autonomic process tied into their disguises; they have no conscious control over it.
This raises the small question of how Queen Chrysalis was able to take the form of Princess Cadance despite being taller than her. My best guess is that Chrysalis knew something of transformation magics. Unlike full body transformations discussed earlier, size changing transformation spells are much simpler, though still well beyond the capabilities of all but the most magically adept unicorns. The changeling queen I am in contact with agreed that this could be a possibility. As Queen Chrysalis' location is still unknown, it is possible that we will never truly know the answer to this question.
Another implication is that it is theoretically possible for a changeling to take a form much larger than a pony. All they would have to do is extend their hard light shell further out from their body. They could possibly take the form of a griffon, or even a manticore. However, after running this idea past all my changeling contact, including a changeling queen, I have found that this is not realistically possible. As has been mentioned previously, their disguises are an almost completely instinctual process. Attempting to subvert this process to take any form that is not a pony is extremely difficult, if not outright impossible, for the average changeling. Furthermore, even if they did possess the extreme levels of mental discipline needed to wrest control of this system from their subconscious, it would still be completely impractical due to energy constraints. The changeling queen informed me that the amount of energy needed to maintain their disguises, while negligible at pony sizes, increases exponentially with how far the hard light shell is extended from their body. Even if a changeling were able to take the form of a manticore, they would be unable to maintain it for any significant period of time without a constant flow of emotional energy to sustain it.
Even then, these restrictions still leave some intriguing possibilities regarding changelings interacting with non-ponies. Changelings taking the form of donkeys is a possibility, as are buffalos, although that would be stretching things given their relatively large size. The most promising prospect is actually zebras. Zebras tend to be more or less the same size and shape as ponies, and so such a form would not require undue amounts of energy for a changeling to maintain. Upon discussing this matter with a zebra I am good friends with, I found that there are some obscure legends back in Zebrica about shape shifting creatures that feed on emotions, although the term ‘changeling’ was never mentioned. Bringing this up with the changeling queen who is assisting me with my research, she claimed that while such a thing would certainly be possible, she has never heard anything of changelings that live outside of Equestria. Given how helpful she has been with the rest of my research, I am inclined to believe her. It is possible, though unlikely, that a splinter group of changelings and their queen may have left Equestria for Zebrica so far in the past that the event is no longer remembered, thus explaining these seemingly conflicting claims. Unfortunately, a trip to Zebrica in order to investigate further is outside the scope of this current study. As I do not wish to make any claims based only on speculation, this matter will have to remain unresolved for the time being.
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Huh
This is very interesting and enlightening. THank you for this
Somehow, this makes sense while at the same time add more questions... the horns they have are clearly a problem...
Soo... if Changelings cannot take a form smaller than themselves, how did Queen Chrysalis do it? Just wondering. Aside from that, interesting ideas.
Need a space after the period and I think you meant "discovery".
2720345
You have a very valid point there.
2720267
They fold in against their skull when transforming. It was mentioned.
2720369
I missed an error? Dammit!
(The document barely had any errors as I started though; so I probably grew a bit complacent while reading through)
Nice backstory
2720345
Gah, someone noticed the biggest flaw in all of this!
I realized the same thing, but simply couldn't come up with an answer I found suitable. 
The best thing I could think of was that Chrysalis' (and thus all queen's) legs are able to shrink slightly, via collapsing a few of those holes, but that sounded silly compared to the rest of what I had, so i decided to just not bring it up at all.
2720684
What this one said>>2720026
It's a lot of head-cannon to take in, and I think (it's been awhile and I may need to reread before confirming a line of thought you could easily break down) I have an idea on how Chrysalis was able to shrink her body (beyond the obvious fact that she had a mobile, brainwashed emotion battery she could feed on for a body transformation spell- and I just blew myself out of the water
; screw it, I'm gonna explain anyways)
perhaps all queens 'grow' when they are connected to the hive (to a certain point) and all she had to do was lessen her connection a bit to 'shrink' to a closer "average pony" size (yeah... it sounds silly after typing it out to me too, I like the one that blew me out of the water better anyways
; maybe I should go back to bed)
2720608
It happens to us all. I doubt I got all of them, it is just that errors in spacing and wrong words hang me up when I am reading.
Interesting chapter.
...It actually seems like you have too much time on your hands.
2720763 but its just a light force field witch means nothing on her actually change so that shouldn't be possible even if she is more powerful.
>>Alert! Plot Hole Detected!<<
"Equestria has more love than any place I have ever encountered." -Queen Chrysalis, "A Canterlot Wedding Pt. 2"
This statement is all to often forgotten by writers of changeling stories. It strongly indicates that changelings are not native to Equestria. This also implies that they routinely disguise themselves as other species on a regular basis. While this examination is fascinating, well thought out, and seemingly plausible, it just doesn't hold up when compared to the show's canon.
2720755>>2720763
oh, you know what? I'm an idiot.
I have the answer right there in the chapter! clearly she's just using transformation magics to do it. I'm gonna add a little explanation in real quick.
2721435
I claim artistic license
Maybe for a changeling making a disguise is as easy as for a spider to spin a web.
2722376
happens to the best of us
2721435
Well, yes and no.
Later on in this story there is mention to possible hives in Zebrica.
Chrissy could just be from Zebrica, or part of a nomadic type of hive.
You right now-
I need to start writing again... Or at least find someone who needs editing help...
-The things that pass through my mind would make you cringe-
NEW HEADCANON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blissey1... this fic is currently third on the Top Rated fics list of all of fimfiction
2735050
Yes, I've noticed. It's also the #1 rated fic about changelings.
not sure how this happened...
2735060
Brace yourself... top spot seems to attract mindless downvoters. Flitter used to be on #1 too at one point
I love it
i need moar 
Just remember, the people who made star trek, did the same thing
2745609
2747175
Over think the science
Huh. I heard mention that Flitter was at the top, but found this instead. Not bad. First time I read someone analyzing how their transformations work.
Light Shields: very creative. I approve of this. I wonder if there could be others? But for now, headcanon accepted.
(The only way right now for other possibilities to occur would for laws of magic to be slightly different, for me at least)
2793825
Heh. Flitter used to be on the top, long ago, but this community is full of people who downvote stuff without even reading it because they don't like the theme a story is about
2804860
Needing to actually post a reason would make some of it less, though that may either be exploited by simply mashing the keyboard or take too much time for admins to check all of them. They have enough on their plate already.
I like it. You put a lot of thought into this and a lot of it makes sense to the extent that a fictional explanation about a fictional species can actually make sense; but still very detailed and intricate. Can't wait for more
I like this. Nice to have something to read the night before an exam.
Also...
I think it's supposed to be 'pass'
I love this very much!
>>>Transformation magic was another field that seemed promising. If they actually physically transformed themselves into a pony, then that would certainly explain how their disguises could be so foolproof. However, this line of thinking had a few major problems as well. Transformation spells, especially full body transformations, are horrendously complicated and dangerous spells. The slightest of mistakes could result in fatal outcomes like the lungs or heart not properly forming or reforming. On top of this, full body transformations take a tremendous amount of magical energy to cast and maintain. Even the Princesses themselves would be hard pressed to maintain a full body transformation for more than a few days. >>>
Funny how so many fanfic writers never think of little things like this.
It's the same thing with all the 'transforming ponies into changelings' fics. It's just not energetically feasible.
It does make me wonder about the cockatrice, however. How does it manage to turn ponies into stone, with a completely different matter density and atomic composition? Is it, in actuality, merely constructing a stony facade over a sort of quantum locked state, in a manner akin to the "Weeping Angels"?
With the hard-light shell method of "transforming," even though it would take much more energy and not be capable of being used for long, could a changeling, in theory, carry an injured changeling, pony, or something else on its back, extending the disguise to its passenger, possibly as a means of both hiding the injured from predators or other enemies, and as a way to possibly bluff their way through danger? For example, could a changeling don the guise of a manticore, small dragon, or other medium-sized monster, extending it to its passenger, and make it appear if that monster was charging at the enemy, causing it or them to scatter and flee from the supposed threat, as the changeling just tries to get past them or it?
2735068
well then it would only make sense to upvote it more than it gets downvoted
"While illusions can easily fool sight, sound, smell, and even taste, touch is another matter entirely."
Odd. My experiences with hallucinations are [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_vibration_syndrome"]phantom vibration syndrome, [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis"]sleep paralysis, and, obviously, dreaming. Phantom vibration syndrome is usually when my phone is on vibrate, and it's a tactile hallucination. I have also heard it ring, but that's less common. I have barely had a visual hallucination in the corner of my eye during sleep paralysis, but I regularly have a strong tactile hallucination that I don't have sleep paralysis. The moment I do something I should be able to see, the illusion breaks. Once I happened to be sleeping with a sleep mask, which gave me unprecedented freedom of "movement", and I tried to test taste by putting my hand in my mouth, but it doesn't have much of a taste and I was hallucinating that my mouth was really dry, so I can't really tell. Also, I have a terrible sense of smell, so I doubt I'd ever be able to hallucinate that, even in a dream.
In short, it's easiest to hallucinate touch, so I'd think that would be the easiest illusion.
If the illusions are actually creating light, rather than causing nearby ponies to hallucinate, then a force field should also count as an illusion, and taste and smell should require conjuring small amounts of chemicals to be the same kind of "illusion".
"First off, changelings are unable to take a form that is smaller than they are."
How did Chrystalis look like
2735068 THISS COMENNT IS OFANCIVE TO DOWNVOTERZ!!! DOWNVOTERD!!
ugh twilight ur eggheaded talk make me head hurt
Hmm, this sort of fits with how I believe Changelings function, though I never really thought about a sort of shield...I'm amazed with this whole story, it has reinforced my beliefs of Changeling behavior, though there is a bit of conflict that is to be expected, but adds more personal flavor to what I've got planned. Now if only I can find my flash drive with my notes...
I seriously hope that this has a sequel or something. I'm finishing up the remaining chapter(s), and I'm definitely following you! You have earned and internet and an insane Pinkamena!
Wouldn't zebra legs be too skinny for a changeling to replicate? Zecora's legs are closer to the girth of real horse legs than the ponies are, if I recall correctly.
Uh...The Times They Are a Changeling showed that changelings can turn into infant dragons and inanimate objects (example: rocks).
Sorry, but...canon's moved on. Great story, just...well...yeah, Hasbro's decided something else.
Also,
This is me nitpicking an Author's Note, but by separating 'playing games' and mentioning 'free time', it makes it sound as if playing games isn't part of your free time - i.e. it's a job.
I believe you meant that you were using your free time in a more personally-relaxing manner (and since that's three games being played interchangeably and one LP being watched, that must be a reasonable amount of free time).
I apologise if that sounded (read?) rude, but I do tend to notice nitpicky things.
8357420
he means free as in freely available for the story.
sure his Free Time isnt being infringed on, but his free time is
8357420
he means free as in freely available for the story.
sure his Free Time isnt being infringed on, but his free time is
Interesting.