Blarging (with spoilers) · 1:41pm Aug 21st, 2016
A new week and a new episode! Spoilers for S6E16 below.
First thing, I had to watch this twice, I spent all the first watchthrough squeeing like a little filly. There are a lot of implications and thoughts going on in this episode. 
The Good
Changelings: Yay!
Raised in the hive: Boom! You know what that sound is? It is the comic-book canon exploding in a blast of contradiction.
Eggs + grubs: Extra squee. In the past (in the SilverVerse stories I made) I was the first in that world to work on young changelings, describing eggs and larvae. What I described was accurate right down to the design of them (head + forelegs, grub body below that).
Changelings Talk: I thought it was obvious as all heck, but now it is canon (even if Thorax's voice was kind of weak).
Shapeshifting doesn't seem to use a lot of energy: Thorax was 'running out of food', but despite this was willing to shapeshift to just prove a point. Not sure if bad writing or actual canon-point.
Inanimate shapeshifting: Thorax, at one point, shapeshifts into a large rock. Admittedly it was a similar size to him, so we may still have size-constraints when shifting.
The Bad
Songs: Are apparently a natural 20 on diplomacy. "Oh, well Spike seems certain, lets trust our alicorn daughter to what we thought was a monster three minutes ago."
Spike's singing voice: Just... just no. If they are going to have him sing, in future, they should maybe look at getting a new VA to sing.
Spike's acting and the general plot: Not great, not terrible. They have made worse, but they have also made much much better.
The Chittery
I have seen somepony poking a theory that this is a lead up for a second major changeling plot for the end of the season. If this is correct I will be really happy, might we even see Bug Butt herself be redeemed? More changelings? You would be lucky to get any writing out of me for a month that didn't have a changeling in every paragraph.
Oh, and did anypony see any talk of a hive-mind or telepathy?
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atreon
I figured you'd be tickled pink at this week's episode. Once I finished watching, I opened the window to listen for the sound of your gleeful squeeing to drift up to the U.S. from down under.
Hard to not agree on this opinion...
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Rewatching again, a few things come to light.
Thorax claims that the reason he is so nuts when he thinks there is love is that he is so hungry. Inadvertently confirms my writing of Stick in A Penny for your Thought, when she got really hungry and went wild. (yay)
Then there is a new thought on Spike's actions. Early on he makes the comment that he is the hero of the Crystal Empire and they all trust and listen to him. What happened when he went to confirm this, to tell the guards and Shining Armor that they should trust him that the changeling is not violent. His worldview is shattered when the truth hits him, the little guy ends up having to lie to his friends to do what is right. It isn't he that is messing up.
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Also also, horribly misogyny, having the guard only ever be stallions. Cadance, I am ashamed of you.
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Also also also, when Starlight effin Glimmer says your military oppression is getting a bit much, you don't need a song to confirm it!
And another thing comes to mind, that might explain Thorax a little better. We don't know the changeling lifecycle completely, yet. What if he is basically barely out of foalhood?
All in all, this really left us hanging, what happens with Thorax next? Does he replace Sunburst as babysitter? I mean, Sunburst did study at the most prestigious schools of magic and all... can't he... get a better job?
4164387 I wanted to suggest that Thorax could be Shining's child due to Changeling maturing insanely fast. That would explain why he didn't inheritly agree with the rest of his species. But he was around during the Canterlot Invasion, so unless he grew up in a month or whatever that time periode Chrysalis replaced Cadance was. Not longer than 6 months surely.
4164386 I would rather think that Shining is the leader of The Guard and he decides on who to take in. That means however that the pegasi are the ones to pass his tests in great numbers...
4164400 Heh, Shining was trained in the Canterlot Royal Guard, which means he is likely to lean more toward tradition. If his wife put a bug in his ear (maybe a changeling?) I am sure he would start to open the gates... as I have happening in Shining Chitin Redux.
4164402 The thing that always annoyed me is people thinking that there wouln't be that much pegasi in the Empire. Pegasus economy concentrates solely on weather controll and trade, so when the Crystal Empire came back - a lot of Pegasus Cities visited it for trade. Some of their inhabitants are bound to stay for whatever reason - found love, job, liked the place, beeing annoyed by cloud controll...
4164407 Or they got trapped in a changeling pod and replaced by a happy changeling...
4164408 I wouldn't bet on it. The Empire has Cadance and Armour. Changelings are insane if they think they can get so close and not get hit the next time The Love Bomb goes off.
They're propably saver off in Equestria where there isn't as much love but they won't be hit by weaponised hearts...
4164410 Well, purely on show-canon, there is no evidence that too much love is a bad thing. I just think it would be adorable if it made buggies drunk.
Oh, one other thing to mention about this ep, changeling detection spells? NOPE! Nopony had a sure-fire way to spot a changeling. That isn't to say that they don't develop one now, with Thorax's help, maybe a spell to channel love into a creature, then see how it reacts? I mean, you can't just run up to every pony in Equestria and shove Flurry at them... or could you?
4164411 I go rather with the conclusion that there is a spell but it takes a magic-cutie-marked unicorn to use it. We saw it in action:
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Cadance was previously a pegasus, so she is lost outside of her school of magic and Sunbeam is more of a rhetorical sage than a dedicated wizard. I'm pretty sure however that they will occasionally overcharge the Crystal Heart to check if there are no changelings in the actual city - a thing they obciously couldn't do in Thorax'es case because he was outsideof their radius.
4164418 See, now I just rewatched U-571 (not a terrible movie, inaccurate as all heck though), and now imagine Twilight flying around the Crystal Empire, detecting a changeling and Cadance firing off the Heart like depth-charges.
My mind gets silly sometimes.
4164427 I think that's what was going on when Spike was gone on the search. They were running around deploying changeling detection spells all over the place in back doors and windows.
4164450 Clearly, when he found the changelings, he should have started tossing high-explosive bundles of love around. sage nods
4164452 He propably didn't have any lying around...
4164418 Oh, I thought that as more of a general 'disenchant' or 'daze' spell. If it was a disenchant, maybe banishing a changeling's disguise stuns them? Or maybe stunning them drops their disguise?
4164467 Twilight would propably make the spell tripmine mark the ling for her to easily track down. That would be the smartest move for someone with her knowledge...
4164474 The problem is, it it was a targeted spell, not an area affect, and if it is the 'stun' then that isn't really a viable way to find them.
4164388 Future tutor of the Princess isn't prestigeous enough? He propably will be the one to teach her EVRYTHING - from letters to magical theory. He has the privledge of starting so early. He is also the Crystalier or something like that, so he is akin to a pastor of teh Crystal Empire, what is also a pretty high position.
4164513 You could replicate that effect and put it into a bigger spell. A trip mine, changeling magic detector, auto-lock, the disguise ripper and localizator - put all into the spell and you effectivly have it.