A race of emotion vampires (but not “emotional vampires”) who are perfect shapeshifters, there’s hundreds or even thousands of them, they can all fly and do some magic, and are led by a Queen, Chrysalis, who under the right circumstances can be the equal to or even the superior of Celestia and who, in addition to probably having the normal array of changeling powers, can also teleport ponies and who seems to be pretty good at illusions and is dangerously good at mind control. And what is their primary motivation? Hunger.

I LIKE THESE GUYS.



This one goes to 11.

I really like their motivation, it has to be repeated. Hunger. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t find them sympathetic at all, they’re very clearly evil or at least malicious. But I have a soft spot for beings like them. They’re not suggested as being cursed or damned or something. They’re not like most vampires, who are trying to continue an unnatural existence by stealing the lives of others. They’re natural creatures whose biology simply requires them to do this. Asking them to not feed on the love of others is the unreasonable, evil request: you’re asking them to voluntairily starve to death. Like illithids (mind flayers) or Morlun or Galactus, they’re not evil because of their eating habits alone (disclaimer: Galactus isn’t even evil at all, for that matter). They have to feed upon sentient beings in order to continue living, and they're not going to angst over that. But it does give them a fascinatingly alien worldview. Again, like Galactus, or Morlun, or illithids.



He is my favorite comic book character, full stop, by the way.

Galactus, that is, not the Surfer. Screw the Surfer.

And Queen Chrysalis. As Queen of the Changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects! Oh, I like you. I like you a lot. You had a plan and it pretty much played out as intended. You beat Celestia one-on-one, the first on-screen villain to do so (Nightmare Moon was only implied, while Discord was never shown at all). You hit snags on the way, but you reacted accordingly. Twilight causing trouble? Step up that brainwashing and make her look like an idiot. Turn on those tears. Teleport her away. Celestia tries to step in? Nuts! Have to actually fight for this one! – wait, True Love is on your side, whether it wants to be or not! Sometimes all you need is luck.

Luck and a villain song.

And why were you doing all this? To feed your people. Like any good ruler, you're tending to the needs of your beloved subjects. Heck, given the insect subtheme changelings seem to have going on, it's possible that she's their mother, as with a hive of bees or ants, though I'd rather not assume that. Not all insects are hive-dwellers!



This was posted two hours after the episode premiered. TWO HOURS. Jesus.

Changelings. Man, it needs to be said again: I LIKE THESE GUYS.

I like their look, I like their actions, I liked their plan, I like the changelings. These guys have uses. These guys have potential.

Consider: they are shapeshifters who feed on love. Suddenly all those duplicate ponies we’ve seen every now and then? Any of them could have been a changeling, masquerading and stealing a quick bite to eat in the form of impersonating somepony’s special somepony for a day and then slinking off before anypony noticed.

My God, the possibilities for fics are endless. And I can definitely work them into the Lunaverse. Not immediately, of course, but suffice to say that I have just cancelled all long-term plans for the Lunaverse while I evaluate exactly how fanboy I am going to go over the Changelings and their Queen Chrysalis. This is a brand new toy that has to be used sparingly lest familiarity breed contempt for it.

For the record, “long term” plan refers to everything after “Crisis on Two Equestrias,” so no worries for the eager and patient fans.



Also, she was voiced by Kathleen Barr, who voiced Trixie. This is cool, but very mean of Hasboro at the same time.