A List of Changeling Plots that Don't Involve Replacing a Main Character with an Evil Duplicate of Themselves

• The Catfish--Appear as multiple different characters, all with differing motives, when really you're funneling the main character into your trap.
• The Innocent--Appear weak and helpless, ingratiate yourself to the cast, then sneak in and take what you need while their defenses are down.
• The Superlative--Instead of being evil, be better than the character you're attempting to replace. Once they kick the imperfect original out for being you, repeat with the rest of the cast until you've winnowed them down far enough for you to attack.
• The Mole--Actually try to pretend to appear as the character you're replacing, long enough to get the information you need.
• The Paranoiac--Appear just weird enough that they realize there's a changeling, then leave and let them eat each other alive.
• The Fake-Out--On a similar vein, appear as a stranger giving them advice, but make it obvious you're a changeling. By reverse psychology, they'll do the opposite of your advice, meaning they'll walk right into your real trap.
• The Starlight Glimmer--Appear as a character with no personality; that way, you'll blend in perfectly with no effort. (Yes, I'm still bitter. )
• The Hostage--Appear as an innocent/pony you kidnapped in a fake deathtrap, then make them give up what you want in exchange for your "safety."
• The False Positive--Kidnap character A. Blackmail family member of character A into acting like a changeling. Use them capturing and interrogating your plant as a smokescreen to accomplish your goal.
• The Double Fake-Out--Appear in your true form, so that the characters will think it's a trap of some kind. It's not; use their confusion as an opening to strike.

Alternatively, you can:

• Appear as the bride at the royal wedding and be evil at one of the characters to sow dissension in the ranks and stall for time
• Have six changelings replace the mane 6 and be evil at each other in order to sow dissension in the ranks
• Twist the mane 6's ethics and have them be evil at each other in order to sow dissension in the ranks (special Discord edition!)
• Have six changelings replace the mane 6 and be evil just... all the time because you already won, so you might as well
• Create six evil duplicate... homunculi? of the mane 6 and have them be evil at each other in order to sow dissension in the ranks... which will somehow get you the Elements of Harmony (Also forget that Starlight is in the room, and hey, if you're currently stealing hair like a weirdo, might as well make a homunculus [homuncula? homunculae?] of her as well. But Starlight is pretty forgettable, so--okay, okay, I'll let it go. )

Comments

[AlicornPriest]

Okay, fair enough, I did skip a couple changeling plots that aren't "replace with evil doppelganger."

• In the "Chrysalis wins" timeline, Chrysalis walks into the last Equestrian camp disguised as Applejack, with two changelings playing backup as Rarity and Rainbow Dash. This... doesn't actually achieve anything, since Zecora immediately sees right through this, but it wasn't technically an evil duplicate situation.
• In the episode I already mentioned where the mane 6 get replaced and Starlight has to go save them, the changelings replace Discord and then use the duplicate to lead the party into a trap. Also not an evil duplicate, but I'm gonna nitpick and point out that Chrysalis isn't actually involved in this plan, so she doesn't get any points for it.

Basically what I'm saying is, Chrysalis is bad at plans. (And the writers are bad because they should have made Chrysalis better at making more varied plans.)

[Georg]

What would 'posing as Trixie's pet in order to survive and collect love count as?

Or getting captured and constantly confetti-cannoned until brain damage is suspected? (It contains a lot of the above, as the changeling squirms to get off the hook)

The 'Twist the mane 6's ethics' I've done with Seven Brides.

[Midnight Quill]

[homuncula? homunculae?]

It's homunculus and homunculi

The Starlight Glimmer--Appear as a character with no personality

Is it the wrong timing to say that I like her more than Sunset?
She's very emphatic, determined, creative and abstract in her thinking, has a thin skin, little self-confidence, is afraid of failure, has fears of separation... There are worse characters out there tbh. She got more character than the best background pony Applejack by this point ^^
(Had to catch myself there in order not to start a war in the comment section)

But I get your overall point: The episode had lots of build-up for no gain. We saw Chrysalis doing cool magic. We saw the tree of harmony going all "This looks like heresy to me. Lemme just purge that." but it all lead to nothing. Her last plan was better (after all, it got pretty close to working out for once), which is why I'm looking forward to the finale.

[AlicornPriest]

4880125
No, it's not the wrong timing. The truth is, as they've fleshed out Starlight more and more, my heart of ice is starting to melt on her. A little. I think the reason why I so easily connected to Sunset as opposed to Starlight is that Sunset is a main character in her series--she actively puts herself in charge of her group. Starlight, by contrast, began her good guy stint beneath Twilight, and thus took on a more passive role. (To put it another way, Sunset rejected her past life in "My Past is not Today," but Starlight merely let it go.) I also think, even as weak a characterization Sunset has, it's still less of a clone of Twilight's than Starlight. And when Starlight isn't like Twilight (or Spike), she's simpering, apologetic, and distant, which I find very boring.

[EDIT: Re-reading your post, you are grossly mistaken re:Applejack. I think Applejack's characterization, particularly the White traits I described in my Magic color pie post, has been well established. For some reason, though, it seems like some fans don't like this characterization, which I don't really understand. Like, "Somepony to Watch Over Me" was uncharacteristic of Applejack? Are you sure? It seemed pretty similar to, say, "Bridle Gossip" to me.]

As an example, let's look at Marks for Effort. Imagine Spike were the guidance counselor instead of Starlight. (Come to think of it, why isn't Spike the guidance counselor instead of Starlight?) I can only imagine this change being for the better. Spike has a funny, bitingly sarcastic personality, but he can also be blunt and pragmatic when he needs to be. I can imagine him saying almost literally the exact same lines Starlight says in the episode, but they'd work so much better because I understand Spike's personality. Whereas as far as I can tell, Starlight is basically a cipher, and her saying those lines doesn't impart any of her personality onto them.

You can look at this episode, too, and see the same thing. We've seen Spike carrying all of Rarity's crap in the past, and it was really funny, partly because of Spike's own personality as a diligent workhorse, and partly because of his chemistry with Rarity. Why is Starlight carrying all of Applejack's crap in this episode? Because... she doesn't like camping? That's a cipher's personality--Applejack's love of camping cast negative onto a blank slate.

...Having said all that, thinking about this question has put my thoughts on Starlight (and on Sunset as well) into sharp relief. I need more thought on Starlight as a character, and to release what might be some harsh preconceptions I've let bias me into refusing to notice her actual characterization. I kinda feel like I might be just repeating the thoughts I've heard from other analysts--I'm a cipher myself.