Tldr: Chrysalis is over a 1000 years old, she lost all her friends/children/other changelings, found others that can do illusions, brainwashed them into thinking like her, until Thorax snapped everyone out of it. The end.

Long version: Okay, so, weird idea, but... well, this is basically for all those who don't , eh, like how Thorax and his group turned out, liking the "old" changeling group more (with the actual changing and blending in bit)?

What if Chrysalis is the only real changeling we've seen so far? I'm stressing that this is only a potential point of view, so your mileage may vary, but...

Okay, facts (if comics are facts, heh), Chrysalis is over a 1000 years old. Granted, she's queen for a reason, but if the recent Celestia-episode is anything to go by, she's as old as the princesses, maybe even older. And a lot can happen in that time.

Also, Chrysalis knew about the hidden form her changelings had, making them stronger and not rely on love, constantly hungering for it. Note that she never took this form herself.

Add together, and there are only 3 possibilities I can come up with. (okay, more, but these are the first)

1) She doesn't want the form, since she can't rule her kin anymore through dependency, much like a dealer and addiction.
2) She can't, simply, much like how a blind person can't see. It's a born defect.
3) She can't, because changelings don't have such a form.

Can you guess which option I made this thread for?

Anyway, a 1000 years is long, like... really long. Long enough to outlive every single of your kin perhaps? Whatever the reason, be it a war, accident, or just plain infertility, Chrysalis ended up alone, the last of her race (or at least her hive, maybe there are others but they shun her because what she did in the past/insert other reason here). And when you get lonely, especially if you feed on love... well, crazy things can happen.

Next, seeing how changelings changing seems to be magic-related, or at the very least that Chrysalis (a non-unicorn, headcanons not withstanding) did magic as Cadence, it isn't that much a stretch if other races can do magic as well, which might include illusion magic. Heck, maybe other races (ones we haven't seen before, kinda easy to say but oh well) can do illusion stuff naturally, which Chrysalis found out about (like, you know, what Thorax eventually turned out to be).

And what do you do if you find beings capable of doing the same thing you can do, without the hassle of needing to hunger for that oh so elusive love? Why, you kidnap a bunch of their children, maybe even start a breeding program, and brainwash the children so they instinctively take on your form, while also instilling a need for love (think Pavlov's dog for that stuff) of course.
Okay, not a conclusion one naturally comes to, but I'm already assuming Chrysalis has gone batshit insane at this point, so…

Yeah, there are a lot of assumptions in everything above this point, but, eh, that's what headcanons are, no?

So, anyway, any thoughts? Obvious flaws I missed (like canon outright denying some of my assumptions), or things that might need clarification/might be improved?

6452036
Well...me and a fellow follower of mine have been thinking about making a backstory for Chrysalis and her Drones about how they aren't actually from Equestria, with no memory of how they got there and why they look like they do in the series. I was also thinking about making their world the very definition of Nature.

6452036
It's not the strangest headcannon, I can beat you there. I already wrote a story about how the changelings used to feed on chocolate. Chocolate contains the same chemical the brain produces when you're in love. When their cacao crops were destroyed they needed a substitute.

Definitely not able to fit in canon since the season six finale.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/221670/the-flower-ponies-tame-the-changelings