the experiment
“Oh this is going to be so much fun! My first Changeling test subject!” Twilight clapped her hooves together in excitement.
“…What?” Came the intelligent replay of Changeling 1408.
“Never mind that!” Twilight readied a stack full of parchment and a quill ready with ink at one of the library’s tables. “Tell me everything you can about changelings. Let’s start with the big one. You feed on love?”
“Oh no. That’s actually a blatant misconception.” He waved a holey leg to stop her from writing any further. “We feed on magic. By pony definition we are vampires and likely by any other variation of the term as well. We are energy vampires to be more specific though we do have many differing methods of extraction of energy. Given the age of the changeling race, we are likely the basis of many stories surrounding the mythology.”
Twilight stopped writing mid explanation as was now looking at the changeling with wide and worried eyes that told him she was likely now very worried about her current situation.
“Don’t worry! Don’t worry!” The changeling saw the worry and tried to alleviate her fears… by jumping to the wrong conclusions. “Despite being fully capable, Changelings haven’t used their fangs to drain ponies for hundreds of years!” He gave a fanged grin in what he thought was a reassuring smile.
He rolled his eyes in amusement. “We figured it was way too obvious to locals that vampires were about when ponies were found with holes in their necks.” He chuckled; unaware of the horrified fascination his current employer was giving him. “Evolution allowed us to feed without physically damaging the host. It allowed for longer feeding as well.”
Twilight squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. “… Are you feeding now?”
“No.” He shook his head. “As per contract, we feed only under express permission.” He shrugged. “Not that many ponies would be able to tell unless I was draining large amounts of magic from you, which would be noticeable in the form of fatigue.”
Twilight nodded in a way that said ‘that makes sense but not really.’ “Why do you drain large amounts of magic from ponies if you don’t have to?”
“It’s just the faster method of extraction. Remember that Changelings act as a hive. We require food not only for ourselves but for our young and for building the hive. In fact, only small portions of what we collect go toward sustaining ourselves.”
“Wait!” Twilight shuffled her papers on everything she knew and collected about changelings as a whole until she found a page she was looking for. “Then what was Chrysalis saying about love in the Canterlot invasion?”
“Well, magic IS heavily influenced by emotions, hence the misconception.” He shrugged. “The strongest is arguably love. Magic exists in and around ponies like an aura of energy. When you feel strong emotion, you tend to either radiate it around you or direct it to the object of your attention.”
He tried to think of a good example for which she could understand. “This is actually why you can feel a chill as another pony glares at you behind your back, or claim to physically feel the emotional love of another. Your magic subconsciously picks up on it and accepts it, or tries to shield it or direct it away.”
Twilight was writing furiously. “This… this opens up all new fields of study! Oh I can’t wait to further study all this! I could write a book! Ah!” She paused and annotated her notes. “If you feed on magic does that mean you feed on other emotions as well?”
“We are capable, yes.” He stuck his tongue out in distaste. “However, love is considered the most nutritional. In contrast magic directed by negative emotions like hate and anger could be considered toxic. They can be as dangerous to us as said emotions are to the ponies.” This time he squirmed in his seat as he IS feeling rather peckish. “May I? Just a small nibble?”
“…Okay?”
He leaned forward over the table, almost invading her personal space and breathed in like he was taking in her scent. He leaned back, apparently satisfied. “Curiosity? Horrified fascination? It’s hard to find the proper pony analogy. Compared to love, it could be considered a third class meal to a first class meal.”
“That’s rather interesting.” Twilight spent the next several minutes in silence as she recorded all of her current findings. “While we’re still on the subject of feeding, why cocoon ponies when feeding?”
This was the part the most ponies really didn’t like. “It allows for the maximum draining of energy. The cocoon forcefully drains the pony of magic and allows the Changeling to masquerade as the pony in order to drain the love of others around them.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Rarely done however, as the chance of discovery is often too high.”
Twilight nodded distractedly, writing and listening with thoughts going several different directions you could tell by the way she twitched spastically. “That brings to mind another big question! Your shape shifting ability! How does that work?”
“Truthfully, it doesn’t.”
“Huh?” Twilight blinked. “But then how…?”
“Some of the more powerful changelings like Chrysalis can full on shape shift, but it’s a huge expense of magic to maintain it. It’s a waste of gathered sustenance if you were to ask most changelings. What ponies perceive as shape shifting is often just illusion. We can refract light around us to create form. It also means we have to be careful about physical contact.”
“Physical contact?” She annotated again before starting a new page. “Visual only? You said stronger Changelings are capable of shape shifting. Shouldn’t partial shifts be possible and easier to maintain? Could you demonstrate for me?”
“Usually it’s visual only.” 1408 agreed before bursting into green flames. A moment later a copy of Twilight sat across the table from her; copied right down to her voice. “And yes, more powerful Changelings can fully shape shift. You probably know some spells yourself but for changelings they are never cost efficient.”
“Cost efficient.” Twilight underlined the words and grabbed several tomes on multiple theories of practical magic. You could read her face that it just didn’t make sense to her. “Why not? In a high magic environment like Equestria most spells are self-sustaining-“
“For ponies, yes.” Twilight Clone closed her eyes in annoyance. “Of course you are aware of how Unicorns use magic. You use the magic within you to create a spell, or more correctly ‘a command’ before willing the ambient mana to perform the task. The amount of magic born with a pony is the indicator or how much they can pull ambient mana. This is the reason the Princesses are able to exert such wide control over all of Equestria and the Sun and Moon. It's also likely the reason for why stories of powerful unicorns often perform spells that… overachieve their expectations.”
- - - - - - - - - -
Twilight Sparkle, prodigy and personal student to Princess Celestia stared the Changeling with an open mouth with quills and papers fallen to the floor. This of course went completely unnoticed by her clone. Most ponies didn’t know (or care) how or why magic worked so long as it worked. This has led to a long line of theories on Pony magic.
Theories on Pony magic, that, if the changelings are to be believed are incorrect because most if not all ponies believe the measure of their core is indicative of their strength. When instead they should have been measuring the ambient magic affected by the spell. Why ponies can perform great feats in regards to their special talent (but not outside it) has been a great mystery to ponies.
Or it was. The changelings apparently thought ponies already knew this. For once, Twilight didn’t relish writing this down because she knew just how near impossible it was going to be to tell a bunch of stubborn, traditionalist university professors that they were all completely wrong.
- - - - - - - - - -
Twilight Clone opened her eyes as Twilight Prime was fixing her stack of fallen papers. “Changelings cannot draw mana. All of our magic is purely internal. That is why we are forced to drain and eat the magic of other living creatures.”
Twilight Prime nodded (looking conflicted about writing something down) and picked up where she left off. “What about other sensory illusions?”
“Again, only the more experienced and powerful changelings can do so for any decent length of time. It’s usually unnecessary since we largely target singles to avoid likely abundance of physical contact.” He buzzed his wings as an example. They could be heard buzzing but were invisible to the eyes.
Twilight Prime stopped writing and sat the quill and parchment down in order to give the changeling a very careful look and glanced down at her list of questions. “Outside of factors like strength and magical ability, changelings are just as susceptible to magic as ponies are, correct?”
Twilight Clone pondered briefly. “For the most part, yes. Magic that is emotionally driven will likely have a stronger effect. It’s a bit of a two edged sword really.”
“Then I wasn’t to cast a spell on you. The spell will be a constant effect until it is broken, so I ask that you don’t drain me in the process. I assure you it will cause no harm. Okay?”
Twilight Clone nodded in agreement and watched as the purple spell was cast from her horn, connecting a thin purple line of magic to the two of them. “What is this spell?”
“A lie detection spell.”
The illusion around 1408 fell with a metaphorical crash. “Oh.” He shifted and wondered if perhaps the others were right and things would turn uglier than they already were. “You know that I had no intention of lying to you.”
“Intentions can change.” Twilight countered and peered carefully at him. “Now think carefully before you answer. How many ponies are killed by product of changelings masquerading as ponies?”
1408 dropped in his seat. “I’m not actually sure. Changelings are hive minded but Chrysalis would be best described as the lexicon of all changeling knowledge. I don’t think it’s something we ever kept formal records of.” The spell twinged. “I would expect the number to be small. Outside of the swarm, our goals have always been to preserve our existence in secret, and we have lived in secret amongst pony society for over 700 years.”
The spell faded and twilight took a few deep breaths. “Thank you for being honest.”
1408 snorted and grumbled to himself. “Like you gave me a choice.”
“Now come on!”
He was abruptly levitated into the air and trailed behind Twilight as she made for the basement of the library. “I want to run a full physical on you. Oh, this is going to be so much fun!”
Changeling 1408 took a curious bite of the magic levitating him and winced at the amount of eager curiosity. “Fun for whom?”
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This is a brilliant idea!
Interesting will follow for now see where is leads so far it is enjoyable.
This seems interesting and promising.
Let's see where this is headin'
Your chapter titles don't have capitalization, and it's "ad" for your short description.
Interesting, though I partially disagree on something. I mean, it has been shown that they can only do what the form they changed into can do, both in show and comic, so I think it's a full out transformation. To support this:
Twilight, just as a unicorn, was able to transform a frog into a living orange. And later, as an alicorn, can transform multiple individuals.
This means magic can fairly easily change others provided enough powers.
But, to explain how....:
Changelings have lived for generations having to disguise themselves. Therefore, there's a high probability that their ancestor's bodies eventually evolved to be more susceptible to transformation magics. However, this could easily prove to be a double edged sword, were an opponent to know transformative magics. However, that's obviously not much of a problem due to so few knowing about such spells.
However, it does stand to reason that younger changelings would rely upon weaker illusion based magics to get them started with their training.
And to further explain it... it is quite likely that unlike ponies, Changeling's magics run throughout their entire bodies, thus further allowing transformation to be simpler to perform. HOWEVER, this has the downside that the Changelings don't know in regards to likely burning up their mana reserves far faster when they use it for such, thus requiring them to feed off the mana of others.
As for the ambient magic beliefs.... I both agree and disagree with you.
As shown in the show, ponies recover their magic gradually over time, though some faster than others. But, I disagree about their magic being caused from interacting with the ambient magic for many reasons.
One, Twilight's magic, even pre-ascendence, grew over time. Having less magic than before. And she's been able to use those magics even when going to more barren environments(as the comics show). Therefore, having ambient magic of the environment determining how much power a pony can use doesn't make sense.
HOWEVER, I do think that ambient magic still has a part to play. Mainly, in how fast a pony can recover their magics.
I believe that a pony's magic is generated from life force, but both the life force of the individual and the natural 'leylines' of the planet itself. A pony's amount of mana storage can grow over time via the equivalent of 'magical exercise'. Mana from the individual can restock that storage gradually over time, but it does so more quickly in magically abundant environments.
Having mana produced from life force has another possible effect though. If transformations feast upon mana quickly, no matter how better attuned to such Changeling bodies are, it would also mean that over-using it could lead to feeding upon life force if one's mana reserves are emptied. Thus, where feeding of energy of others would be necessary.
In short, I am of the belief that all Changelings can shapeshift, likely due to ancestors seeking an easier way to transform. But, though that's the case, they are unaware that overuse of shapeshifting can drain upon their own life force if they overuse their transformations, and thus, they needed a way to restore their magic quicker than is natural. This need leading to the feeding of the energy of others.
At least, that's my opinion of them.
Also, it's my belief that, naturally speaking, Changelings are asexual. Born like bugs via eggs. HOWEVER, with their ability to shapeshift, they could make themselves a specific gender of their choice however long they want, complete with the organs needed for reproduction.
I am also of the belief that Changelings have a psionic connection, like what you showed. But, due to the hive mind, most, though not all, Changelings aren't all that bright, taking orders and lessons from those above them. However, this can change if given the opportunity to do more than follow orders, with of course the Infiltrators often being the more intelligent of such. Them and Changeling guards whom are high in rank due to greater experience.
I am also of the belief that the drones themselves cannot produce mana on their own... but princesses and queens can. I believe that, like ponies, changelings can ascend. With the production of eggs done through the expenditure of mana. As such, though possible, it's highly not recommended for drones to make eggs.
But, like ponies, changelings can grow their reserves over time and practice, with enough growth leading to ascendance to a princess, whom can generate her own mana, thus allowing for greater intellect and capability to work beyond the orders of the hive.
And lastly, for the queen.... I believe that it's one step further than princess, and... can feast upon the psionic link, even if primarily subconsciously, becoming stronger and stronger by partial feeding upon the mana of her subjects. Thus, making going against her control a bad idea unless that link is severed. Thus, why they follow Chrysalis, despite her terrible job at strategizing. Fear of consequences. However, whether or not Chrysalis knows this consciously is another matter. In fact, I doubt she knows, her own power she likely assumes to have come from ascension alone, not realizing there is more to it. Considering her poor planning with infiltrating Equestria, it's quite likely that she never thought to question where the power of her ascension came from.
Though, these are all just my personal opinions.
What do you think?
Oh, and in regards to Changeling living...
In the comics, it's revealed that Chrysalis survived, though flung to a far-off land. Where they landed though was a land filled with further love than even Equestria, and they created a castle there, one filled with deceptive mazes and traps and physics defying rooms.
In fan cannon, changelings primarily live in caves.
So, I thought, why not both?
The castle, I think, was made due to Chrysalis's ego. Believing that they finally found enough love to make a strong fortress to defend themselves with, and thus no longer needing to hide. Though, likely in part due to being inspired by her time spent disguised as Cadence and living in the palace.
But, before that, they likely used caves due to lacking the love to make their changelings strong, and thus were needing to hide themselves for protection.
And as for Chrysalis' psionics not being detected by your group of changelings here.... well, it's quite likely that the psionic field has a limited range when not using other changelings as waypoints, eh? So, she's likely just out of range to detect them.
Or at least, that's my opinion.
What do you think of these theories?
Oh, and for the 'changing causes great mana consumption' bit... a few details.
Simple transformation doesn't take too much energy. Case in point when unicorn Twilight was changing fruit. She kept doing so with very little effort in her practice runs. Not even sweating from the effort. Heck, even Trixie knew transformation spells, considering what she did to Rarity's mane, so transformation magics are far from unheard of.
Of course, larger transformations would require more energy. But Changeling bodies being used to such would require less than what a pony would require of such.
This means that though changeling transformations are mana intensive, they'd still be able to easily transform numerous times before it would become an issue. But, it would eventually become an issue, due to wasting mana faster than ponies, and as shown by twilight, mana exhaustion effects the body too, and thus why Changelings were defeated so easily by ponies... mana overuse causing their more adaptive bodies to become weaker quickly.
As for why transformations aren't too hard, and yet Twilight couldn't do age spells... that's because age spells weren't just physical. As was shown with Snips and Snails, it effected more than just their bodies, but also their personalities, possibly more. In order to effect more than just the body, the mana must have used up more energy just to examine the individual and their personal timelines, thus being far more costly. And then on top of that changing more than just the body as well. Possibly even effecting mental processes, while leaving out effecting memories normally due to such a spell likely having been created in the first place in an attempt to cheat death. Though, it'd likely just take a little alteration and more energy to effect memories along with everything else for such a spell.
Oh, and ironically for a side note, the more 'drone' like the less experienced changelings are, the more easy it actually is for them to mimic others. Having little to no self-identity makes it easy to make new identities of themselves, thus making it easy to act. And since drones get smarter with practice, the smarter they become, the more they learn to better control their own acting and changes.
Due to this though, due to the drones being not so smart, it would be fairly easy, embarrassingly so, for them to be taken advantage of. Especially if the smarter Infiltrators aren't taking care of keeping track of them. Heck, a 'drone' could likely easily be tricked into thinking that the 'ad' was used for a permanent purchase, instead of just purchasing for temporary services, since there was no clarification in the ad. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if someone tried to buy drones in mass like this.
Which could easily be another problem towards befriending ponies, eh? Though, admittedly, I doubt any such ponies exist in Ponyville. ...places like Canterlot, however...
Oh, and here's a thought in regards to my theories. With Changelings being so adept at transformations, I bet they could forcefully transform others.... but they've done transformations only to themselves for so long that the concept of changing others just completely slips their minds.
You sure it shouldn't be; want?
5611489
There are a number of different and interesting takes on how Changelings work.
Yours is one of the more through out.
I personally work with the lay line system for Magic. The idea that Unicorn spells most often work through commands makes sense to me, also including that others use magic, but sans any 'commmands'
As for the chancelings, I'm at a bit of a middle road. Transformation is a standard method, but there's still an efficincy scale added to it a bit like the one added here.
Commonly only outer apperance is transformed, this transformation is most energy efficient at a mass consistency.
Illusion is more flexible and cheaper in the short run, but needs more active maintenance.
As for genetials, the caster needs to picture the change in their mind, hence why most remains incompatible with any other races.
It also explains why copy is easier than craft.
As for queens, I'm a sucker for the Bee Hive system, which means there are: Harvesters, Soldiers, and Queens (princessess)
(I'm still arguing with myself if some are born the changeling equivalent of male or that's reserved for a specific class, like with ants)
In terms of the hive mind, we pretty much agree. The Queen usually acts as an overseer and center. Long distance means limited signal. And Changelings can be kicked off (or if they are strong enough) leave the network themselves.
But that's just my version.
5612016 I'm of the belief, in regards to leylines, I think they do play another factor, especially with Changelings, actually.
That factor... well, I believe that the leylines create an overall 'collective consciousness for information'. Not quite sapient per se, but a collective of information in regards to that reality. And when using magic, though most of the magic is from the user, the magic still intermingles with those leylines to complete any 'gaps' in the spell. For example, in a transformation, the spell cast would give orders and guidelines, but the leylines would fill in other unknown details. Like muscle strength, unseen details(like scars hidden by fur) and the like. Basically, you could consider the leylines like passive supporters to the cast spells, along with being able to help rapidly restore mana users' magics the more affinity the creature has with those leylines. With ponies, of course, being the most in tune with them among the creatures in their world.
An interesting story, I just wish this chapter had come later. I always enjoy stories that feature slightly (or sometimes more) demented changelings and their follies in relation to Pony society, and your prologue was rife with potential for that. I wish we had seen some more of them and their antics around town before Twilight got to them.
I like the ideas present here, very intriguing. I'll keep an eye out, see where it goes.
Oh, and though I said that I think drones are dumb... I am somewhat unclear there.
Average drones would likely be dumb all around. But, there's likely jobs other than just Infiltrator. Those selected for other jobs would likely have grown smart, through experience and training, in regards to whatever they were trained in. But, socially and in regards to common sense or how easily they are tricked? Likely extremely dumb there unless they were trained as infiltrators.
Who says you can't buy love.
Twilight is going to perform a physical? I hope the probe isn't too big.
1408, eh?
Good show there, Lucky 13!
5613185
So we agree that Changelings isn't inheritly dump but rather uneducated culturally different and inexperienced... have you read: with out a hive?
5614301 That I have.^^ But, I have another theory. The Changelings' brains evolve differently as they use their traits. It would explain why most of them were dumb enough to ram their HEADS into Shining's force field instead of their feet.
0.o Thank you, Regreme.
I do believe I have just been schooled on all things Changeling.
I'll try not to disappoint you (or anyone really) but obviously, going by the story tags, this is primarily a comedy and slice of life and not to be taken too seriously. (I'll have to copy your posts down in case I ever do a more serious changeling centered story. Thank you for that.)
Overall, I just hope you all have fun with it.
5611399
meh comics are rarely cannon, and he could just make a headcanon of his own to go with, it isn't a crime to world build if the information is false
IS->WAS for tense consistency.
The grammar in that section...needs some serious work. go over it with a fine tooth comb yourself, I want to keep reading this story.
want
...damnit, it's a great story, but all these errors are starting to drag it down...