[ SECRET POST #1954 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1954 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 040 secrets from Secret Submission Post #279.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Of course, the pony Chrysalis synthesizes is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and there are a few reasons behind the points that every seems to hate about her. One, the name: Chrysalis doesn't know much about pony names. She figures this is close enough to pass inspection, and doesn't spend any more time thinking about it. Two, the whole "alicorn is Celestia's niece" thing: Chrysalis, for all her nonstandard character design, can use both magic and flight, by virtue of being a changeling (Discord thought it was funny). Since she's effectively going into deep cover, it makes sense that she'd want to leave both options open. Two, she realized how rare alicorns are and figured that she'd have to be fairly related to Celestia. But if she were a daughter, the Lotus effect wouldn't be strong enough to overcome at least 1000 years of not having a daughter. Therefore, a niece, since that can be handwaved a lot more easily. Three, the Power of Love: alicorns, and relatives of Celestia, seems to have theme talents going on, and while Cadence could be more powerful, the power of Love seems like a safe and out-of-the-way thing to give her, so that a) nopony will think of a dangerous line of inquiry on why, say, this supposed princess of the morning star or whatever never showed up before, and b) in case Cadence did break out, which is possible (if something dramatic enough happens, or somepony gets close enough to start second-guessing the lie they've been fed).

This is all about 2 months before the finale, when Chrysalis starts the process to synthesize and replicate basically an entire backstory and form. The shield is up, and Chrysalis can't feed off the ponies in the town unless she wants to die by Princess Attack. So she cannibalizes the changelings that brought her the supplies (they knew, and went anyway). That's why all the changlings have holes in them: they're trying to conserve body mass in the places they need it the most, so they can survive a little longer.

About a month later, the form is done, and the story Chrysalis feeds everypony is the one we get in canon. The truth is, Shining Armor is just some poor stallion. I mean, he's still Captain of the Guard, but he's not Twilight's brother. He was the one who foalsat her when she was little (which Chrysalis took and adapted when she heard about it from the one of her four trapped subjects that she sent to do research), and they've fallen out of touch. But she needed a reason to have access to him, and desperate and half-starved, frantic about what might happen to her subjects/hive, the canon story is what Chrysalis came up with.

She spends a month having a "whirlwind romance" with Shining Armor, feeding on him occasionally to sustain herself and gain control of the protective spell. When the invitations are sent out, the reason Twilight accepts the story Chrysalis has spun is because of the magnifying/amplifying power of the cocoon, which, with the link provided by the invitation, extended to Ponyville. All that was needed was a nudge from Twilight in song form to get the rest of them believing it too.

[(Anonymous)]

The finale happens, blah de blah, look at everything in a new light. As the wedding (and the changeling vanguard force) gets closer, Chrysalis starts controlling Shining more directly, and when Twilight sees Chrysalis use her magic on Shining's head, she was exerting her influence over him, both with the Lotus effect and through the mind control. However, when Twilight finds Cadence, she's broken out of the cocoon. There's no one down there to keep an eye on her, and Twilight's suspicion of Chrysalis created enough of a backlash against the illusion that Cadence woke up, under the impression that Chrysalis had trapped her down there, etc. The reason Chrysalis revealed her plan so quickly at the wedding was that she was actually trying to salvage anything at all from this mess; since Cadence had broken out, she'd lost the edge she had over everypony, and she didn't want it to be a complete waste. She could defeat Celestia because a) Celestia wasn't giving it her all (she was in a room full of normal ponies and didn't want to blind, burn or otherwise harm them at all) and Chrysalis was (she was fighting for the lives of her and her people and had no such compunctions), b) consuming Shining Armor's blood had made her stronger than she'd previously thought, since it was the first time she'd had blood directly from a pony in years. But mostly a).

Cadence, meanwhile, believes all the stuff she does in canon, and goes through a Pinocchio subplot in which she uses her powers of love (remember, that talent that Chrysalis thought would be useless?) and her belief in Shining Armor, a guy she only thinks she's met before, to conquer Chrysalis (who, remember, never had any sort of connection to love, it was just something that slipped through the translation filter). There was enough of the cocoon left to perpetuate the illusion that Cadence was holding on to, and while it only would have lasted a week at most (because of how fresh it was), the Power of Love blast that rid the city of changelings also permanently fixed that perception in everyone's minds, so as far as they care/know, it's real.

*New headcanon for this that I just thought of: the changelings are Discord's playthings. Remember how Pinkie Pie was so delighted with the changeling soldier's abilites? The majority of them were wiped out what he was defeated, but a few escaped to the edge of Equestria and spent the next thousand years carving out a place for themselves and eating animals or lost travelers, and they became the Things That Would Get You in the Woods at night. Scary stories. With Discord's return, they came out of hiding and were again crippled majorly by his defeat. This time, though, the ponies nearby don't fear them beyond simple nonrecognition, so they're able to approach cautiously, explain an edited and sugarcoated version of what's wrong, and get the help they need.

(Sorry for the comment spam, I had no idea how to judge how many characters LJ would let me have.)

[(Anonymous)]

While I don't agree with everything, I think your headcanon will make for a really interesting fic. I hope the writing goes well so you'll be able to post it!

[(Anonymous)]

Well, it still needs a lot of refining. :) And it likely won't show up for a while, since I have a lot on my plate. But I'm really loking forward to it, and thanks for the encouragement!