Honey Pie changeling FAQ?

I'm considering updating Honey Pie with some worldbuilding stuff about my version of changelings. (And maybe a few sketches. What scenes do you think ought to be illustrated?)

To help flesh this out a bit, I thought I'd ask for questions people would like to know about them.

So ask me stuff! What do you want to know?

Comments

[Senyu]

Im assuming changelings have to shed their carapace shells as they grow, but do they also have to do it now and then as adults? Maybe like an annual thing? Ooo! Maybe thats how they get their organic looking armor, by coating shedded pieces in a substances that increases their toughness and turns them into armor.

[Azure_Shadow]

Can you sketch a picture of Snack cake(srry if I it that wrong, been a while) while he's in his pony form?

[Dragonslayer Ornstein]

Illistration wise my answer is obvious! When Pinkie kisses him for the first time while hes still in the hospital! The look of bliss on both of their muzzles and maybe have twilight halfway through the door with a dumbfounded expression!..... :3

[shadesofbrony]

I feel like this has already been answered but I have to ask... are your changelings distinctly male/female, hermaphrodites, or neither? Just curious, no need to answer.

[Aegis Steelshield]

Have the other hives have any contact with Equestria? Have they tried to engage in diplomacy?

[SPark]

1993700 I am totally stealing that idea.

[shirotora]

I'd definitely have a pic of the bed jumping scene and the Sweetcake/under-queen fight.

[Flexico]

One question I always have for Chrysalis' hive is, Considering you feed on love, don't you think it would be more efficient to try to be, you know, a little more lovable?

1993752 YES!!

[Spectrumancer]

1993842
I can totally see everyone having a mild freakout at that. Sweetcake shedding for the first time since he arrived, and not needing the shedding for anything, throws it out. Then someone finds it, cue shenanigans.

[Morphy]

Do changelings potty?

We know all changelings feed on love, but only some versions eat food, others just pretend, and some find a way to avoid the situation altogether. The mundane food then figures in to how a changeling could be loved, yet starve to death. And the flipside, a changeling surrounded by food yet starving to death because it's unloved. Would that make "hate" a way to sicken a changeling? Or is [directed strong negative feelings] just an emotion they cannot feed on leaving them starving but otherwise unharmed?

What are the fangs for?

Do the fangs inject a toxin, sedative, or mind-altering substance? Are they merely for show? Is there a bit of snake or spider in the changeling evolution? This segues into the "green goo" changelings emit (somehow?) which has been shown to restrain ponies, up to and including encasing ponies in a cocoon for storage. Apparently the stuff not only sustains a pony without air to breath but also prevents unicorns from using magic, else they'd blast/kick their own way out once conscious. (Or Celestia was merely playing along after the Wedding was crashed in the show, when she woke up, upside down in a cocoon) I suspect the spider motif is more in line with changelings than a snake.

Can polymorphing be used to cheat injuries?

How deep does the polymorphic ability go? Does it merely change the wrapper but not the insides? Cuts and bruises erased after the next shapeshift then? If it goes deeper, could that be used to shapeshift into a restored changeling after suffering a broken limb? What about loosing an entire limb? For argument's sake, we will assume the changeling is loved or has access to several cocooned ponies.

Do changelings get sick?

Every species has some bugs that get them sick. Ponies have all sorts of maladies that effect everypony or just a specific type of pony. What illnesses can strike a changeling? What would effects be? Would a runny nose get really icky as you factor in the green goo? Would shapeshifting go wonky with eye-hurting patterns/color, if not shutting down that ability altogether? Itchy carapace flaking off, getting brittle, or instead turning soft and rotting? Since this field is wide open to conjecture, a writer could have a field day coming up with all sorts of things to inflict.

[SPart]

so a drone can be captured when it gets enough 'love' from another queen ?
cadance might try this ... and see how many changelings she and shiny can get under their control haha

[SPark]

1994407
1994701 There's a couple of you guy's questions that I can't answer without spoilering the heck out of future stuff. But I'll stick the rest in the FAQ, thanks!

[Flexico]

Oh my, so many amazing questions! I can't wait to see some answers! =D

[Graf Zeppelin]

Can a drone become a fertilizer by sheer will? I know there are species that can change sex at will if necessary, so I guess the same can go to actual reproduction.

Also, when they take a pony form, do they become physically fully functional? Are they limited to ponies-only, or can they shape-shift with other species? If so, is there a size limit (like breezies or buffalos for example).

[Flexico]

I thought of a question because of the answer to another question -- Would Pinkie and Sweetcake be able to have kids (assuming SC was in pony form), and if so, would they be ponies or a pony/changeling hybrid?

[SPark]

2002567 This has actually been mentioned in passing in the fic itself. No, ponies and changelings aren't compatible like that, (if you saw the bit about macro vs. micro in the Q and A, Changelings don't get pony DNA when they turn into ponies) so you wouldn't get pony-lings under any circumstances. Well. I guess maybe some kind of magic could make it possible, because "magic!" is always a possible solution to things in the MLP-verse. But not under ordinary circumstances.