//------------------------------// // Sunburst's notes on changeling biology // Story: Cold Fire // by blackcat //------------------------------// I feel I must forewarn any readers of this journal that my areas of expertise do not include biology or medicine and as such I must apologize in advance for any inaccuracies caused by this secondhoof account. All credit for the first medical examination of a live and willing Equus Sapiens Seelie (colloquially: Changeling. Also known as Bug Ponies, Love Takers, Dream Eaters, Heartbreakers, Pillage Bugs, False-Kin, Assassin Bugs, Face Stealers, Joy Vampires, The Dead Eyed Ones, The Buzzing Plague, The Born Dead, The Fake People, Fire Locusts, The Lies That Walk, Life Thieves, The All-Black, Living Obsidian, Ash Hoppers, The Masked Void, Soul Drinkers, The Hollow Nightmares, Hateful Shadows, The Creatures That Destroyed Our Last Twelve Villages, Them, Servants of the Dark Queen, The Burning Raiders, The Empty Hearted, Shadowborn, Fallen Alicorns and Those Rotten Things That Burned My Farm, Stole My Daughter And Drank All My Kerosene.) belongs to Doctor Borderless and her wonderful staff and hypothetically Imperial Apothecary Crystal Ball who, as is his wont, mostly just sat in a corner being creepy. In fairness to the Apothecary, this was somehow calming to Thorax as this apparently is the attitude common to changeling doctors. -Epidermis -Seems the obvious place to start. -Changeling bodies are covered in a thick chitinous shell. There is no endoskeleton, answering the old question, they are in fact giant pony shaped bugs. The shell is hard and feels vaguely like plastic to the touch. The joint sections are more flexible and rubbery. -Like pony bones and unicorn horns the shell is laced with orichalcum allowing it to channel magical energy. In fact according to the subject they can shapeshift even with their horn damaged although in a far more limited capacity. -The outer shell is resistant to all known detection magics and methods and is impervious to scanning by all methods currently available to us in the Crystal Empire. This means all information about changeling internal organs comes from Thorax's descriptions. He offered to let us cut him open but we turned it down. He didn't seem to understand our squeamishness at the offer. -The shell is covered in thin, nearly invisible hairs. These hairs provide the changeling with their sense of touch. They grow denser at the hooves, not unlike fetlocks although it grows from 'the hoof' instead of over it. (There is no actual hoof at the end of a changeling's legs, it's just a flat endpoint for the limb) The hoof hairs also allow a changeling to adhere themself to a surface in a manner similar to a spider. Thorax can suspend himself from the ceiling by his hooves without any apparent discomfort or effort. He implies that he can maintain this state nearly indefinitely. -"When in doubt, stab it with your head." That's the first lesson a changeling ever learns. Their horns are razor sharp and they do not like having them touched. -Changelings are not exotherms like their insectoid features would suggest. Thorax's body temperature borders on feverish. He displays an ability to alter his temperature at will dropping it to a normal pony temperature or raising it to dislodge something grabbing them. -It is possible for a changeling to retract their softer segments into their shell to protect them from harm. This includes theirs eyes and ears. I've seen Thorax do this to his entire body at once. It's rather comical looking but I'm sure it does what it's supposed to, delay predators long enough for the rest of the pack to help. Or get away. (Celestia, is everything so morbid with him?) -The outer shell molts every two years or so depending on wear. The legs usually molt earlier than the main body. -The armor that some of them wear? That's fused to their shell. Why waste time and energy carrying and putting on armor when you can just melt it into your skin? That's time and energy better used to kill things! Who does that to their own troops? What an awful leader Chrysalis is! Okay, I've been told the idea was put forth by a changeling named Ram Horn and was originally and still primarily performed on willing volunteers. And that while the procedure is not pleasant to go through it is not dangerous or excruciating. Have to keep an open mind here and not jump to judgements. Their nature, the shapeshifting, the emotion eating, the exoskeleton, is so radically different from our own that their worldview and morality is bound to follow. -Due to their rapid regeneration changeling shells do not scar. Scars that weren't magically inflicted must intentionally be maintained. The changeling method of war values not being hit or even seen, as such scars are seen as a sign of failure and shame. Interestingly Thorax notes that this mostly happens to the upper ranks as opposed to the lower. Queen Chrysalis doesn't like it when her warrior elite get complacent. Why do they work for her? - The chest plate is able to blunt crossbow bolts, thankfully. Titan's shackles Flash Sentry you heartless muleson! You could have killed somepony! -I should explain that last one. I learned the above fact while me and Thorax were out for our mid-morning stroll past the east field to find a crossbow firing range had been setup over night. By Flash Sentry. The main force keeping crossbows out of the Empire. These glorified cave ponies can barely be trusted with pointy sticks, crossbows are a disaster waiting to happen. We approach the sounds then Wham! arrow to the chest for my friend! Flash apologized for the 'misfire' by one of his 'trainees' and insisted that Prince Shining Armor had gone over his head and called in a favor from a friend to get the weapons and that he was simply doing damage control overseeing the training. Does he think I'm stupid? We both know Shining has no friends in high places, he barely has friends at all, no high ranking guardspony would ever owe him a favor. Most would eat their own tail rather than go near him. And his code of honor would never let him blackmail a pony. Flash is the one with all the connections, it's obvious to anypony smarter than Shining Armor that he doesn't trust Thorax. This whole farce was to test Thorax's armor and he doesn't care if Thorax dies. Probably wanted him to. He shouldn't assume that just because I literally lock myself in the library every so often I have no clue what's going on around me. Duly noted. -Senses -Their ability to sense emotions is not provided by a single unique sense but a combination of several working together. Hearing heart beats, seeing twitches and tells, smelling sweat, the horn feeling the aether around them, etc. -They taste the air with their tongues like a snake. It appears to be specialized to smell pheromones and sweat and other scents associated with emotions. -They do have pupils, they're hard to see but they're there. Little white dots in an ocean of blue. Hard to look away once you start. So blue. So pure. Must look deeper. Can't look away. Can't think. His will is mine his will is mine his will is mine Evidently they are also conduits for an instinctive mind control spell, good to know. Staring contests, bad idea. Very bad. Instinctive sure and I'm the King of Hosstrailia. -Very few foods have any taste to them. Unnervingly blood is one of those few. Thorax is without doubt one of the kindest, gentlest ponies I have ever had the pleasure to meet but if I cut my foreleg he becomes incredibly terrifying to be around, staring at the wound obsessively and licking his lips. I've seen him eat used band aids with a look of sheer euphoria on his face. -They appear to have a heightened tolerance for pain compared to a pony. Whether that is owed more to their physiology or their brutal culture I can't say. -They have superior night vision to a pony and can see ultraviolet light. They do not like bright lights and function best in low light environments. It should be noted that this does not mean that bright light hurts them like the vampires I suspect they helped inspire or that sudden flashes disorient them more than other creatures but that someplace like the Crystal Empire becomes painful to live in quickly. Truth at last from the bug -The head fin appears to be vestigial and doesn't do anything beyond aid in expression. -Their thin, narrow ears are specialized for relatively close range, Thorax can hear my heart beat from the other side of a small room. -Thorax boasts an amazing memory, he claims to be able to recall things from his infancy (grubfancy?) and aces every memory test he's been given. He refuses to do any more however, it implies he's senile or has head trauma, charges he has faced his entire life for his beliefs in peace and friendship. -They do not have a "hive mind" as commonly believed but their psychic abilities sometime cause their minds blend into one another. This can happen when a group of them are focused and in sync, most commonly raiding packs in the heat of battle or work groups laboring on a project. -Diet -As is widely known changelings feed on positive emotions, primarily love but according to the subject any positive or passionate emotion will provide some nourishment. They can even feed on fire although this is difficult to do and less nourishing. -There are two methods of feeding: actively draining love from a victim. This is the most harmful of the two and requires being close to the victim. The other is passively absorbing love and heat from the background. This can be done with or without a disguise, taking the love meant for the impersonated individual, although the former is only profitable in love saturated areas. -Love is unsurprisingly pink. It appears green when changelings extract it due to the coloration of their auras which are near uniformly green. -Changeling venom is a muscle relaxant that induces a state of euphoria, suggestibility and short-term memory loss in those injected with it. This is useful for both feeding and spy work. The euphoria makes them easier to drain, while the suggestibility and memory loss makes it easier to hide their presence. -A normal venom sac has enough venom to knockout two adult ponies. Due to the chemical complexity of the venom it takes time for the to generate more and it degrades rapidly outside of the venom sacs. The Kingdom routinely milks venom from it's non-combatant population to use as a base for various drugs, some of which they supply to their criminal allies. -Heavy draining can destroy the ability to feel the emotion being fed on, rendering them unable to meaningfully feel that emotion beyond the most minimal of senses. It is possible for a pony to recover from this state but it is extremely rare. -They also sometimes absorb memories attached to those emotions. In more ways than one "you are what you eat" is a very literal statement for changelings it seems. -Heavy or prolonged draining causes heightened aggression, paranoia and depression in victims as well as the expected lethargy. -Given a full meal (500-700 "Xox" I don't know how to translate that to calories or Moochick Units) an adult changeling can go for over a week before needing another. Ideally a changeling will get two square meals a week. -Hatred is toxic to changelings in large doses. Thorax compared eating hatred to eating ice. Despair is also toxic but much more tolerable, he compares it to a spice. Most changelings like their love mixed with pain and sorrow for flavor. -They can eat anger as the passion behind it can provide nourishment but they prefer to refine it for use as an explosive. -Fear and pain are like candy to them. I can attest that whenever I stub my hoof Thorax perks up. The way he describes the hive's torture chambers is like the way a pony would describe a candy shop. -They can eat "normal food" but receive little to no nutrition from it. Any ingested material is processed into a slime secreted from pores in their leg-holes and used as building material or as mass to aid in regeneration. -This slime is utterly fascinating. It's natural state is a viscus goo but it is incredibly strong once adhesed to a surface that isn't a changeling carapace. When mixed with simple dirt it creates a malleable but durable building material. No matter it's state it can be manipulated by changeling magic with casual ease. -The Collective gives every changeling a daily ration of "gruel" made of moss, fungus, leaves, tree bark, whatever meat is at hoof, (Including their own dead. Like pegasi they care nothing for their corpses) and dirt mixed in stagnant rainwater and "blood grog" a mixture of blood drained from their captives and whatever alcoholic beverages they can steal. Alcohol has no flavor to them and they can't get drunk so the only purpose of the alcohol is to preserve the blood. The only thing a changeling likes more than drinking blood grog is lighting it on fire. -They don't need to eat or drink if they have enough love, it is healthier to do so but not necessary. Many changelings would happily go their whole lives without doing either. -Their stomach acid is incredibly powerful. Thorax once ate a rusty doorknob on a dare (From Glass Glare. Do the crystal ponies have any hiring standards for their guards?) he hocked it up an hour later striped of rust and with the internal mechanisms melted. He apparently enjoyed the taste, I assume because the copper rust tasted like blood. -According to Borderless' tests Thorax's jaw strength is well below what would be expected for a predator of his size that feeds on prey of our size. I assume this is because they aren't carnivores and only need to bite long enough for the venom to enter the bloodstream. -With the exception of their fangs, changeling teeth are alarmingly weak with thin enamels and few nerve connections. I'm thankful for that last part considering that Thorax knocked them out of his own mouth for us before we could stop him and how cavity riddled they are. I must assume these are all side-effects of adapting to eat pond scum and carrion. -In times of famine or other crises a changeling can enter a hibernative state to conserve energy. -They rarely use love potions in their "harvesting" operations, it rarely creates real love and more often induce hatred. In addition most love potions are addictively delicious but utterly empty of nutrition to changelings. It's like soda pop but worse. -Internal Organs -Their bodies are filled with a blue-green blood-like substance that their organs float in. They call it ichor. It is thicker than blood as well as more magically charged and acts to supplement their nervous system. It's chemical properties are fascinating, I can see why so many ancient cure-alls wanted changeling ichor as an ingredient, although I strongly suspect none of said formulas actually work. The baldness cures certainly can be dismissed out of hoof. What a stupid reason to risk your life and attack a sentient lifeform over. -When a changeling talks about their heart they are referring to the stomach-like organ they use for digesting love not any kind of circulatory organ. Those (they have two) are called Iknok, "Ichor movers." A changeling's heart, according to Thorax is at essence a smaller secondary brain used to store emotional energy. It can take over for minor brain functions in the event of catastrophic brain trauma. In theory a changeling can survive if it is destroyed if they are immediately given a large and constant supply of love, otherwise they will starve to death before the heart can regenerate. -They have two small liver like organs to filter their ichor. The "Ikriki." -They do not have bones (Thorax finds the concept repulsive) instead they have three pairs of chitin spikes inside their torso that prevent their chest cavity from collapsing under pressure and anchor nerves and muscles. One half of the pair tapers at the end to fit inside a hollow opening at the end of the other. -Their spines ("nerve cords" as Thorax calls it) do not have any vertebrae covering them. -There is a lump of stem cells and fat somewhere in their pelvic area. This is mostly used as material for healing injuries but can turn into reproductive organs during their mating season. -They can hold their breath for roughly twice as long as the average pony. They are apparently able to filter smoke as well, Borderless has no idea how that would work. -Magic -Changelings refer to their magic as fluxfire "the primal fire of creation and passion." Thorax treats it with religious reverence and it is the center of the changeling creation myth. In their view it is the first magic created at the beginning of the universe, in turn creating all other forms of magic and matter, which are simply fluxfire that has forgotten what it is and has become "limited" as a result. -Changelings believe they don't have souls (which he describes as a gaseous substance pervading a ponies body) but burning balls of pure fluxfire called "sparks." Anything that lacks one, which is nearly everything, is considered not alive and sub-sentient possessing no rights. -Changeling magic is "corrosive" supposedly because of it being the root of all magic. If I were to try channeling fluxfire I could expect to slowly turn into a changeling myself. Or literally burn myself out, which rules out several experiment ideas. What a creative form of treason you considered. -Changeling auras burn hotter than a unicorns. -They can cast or mimic nearly every known variety of magic, struggling only with those where their hotter aura temperature would be a problem such as cryomancy or botanomancy. Relatedly Thorax displays a journeymare understanding of multiple magical disciplines, changeling education evidently favors a strong generalized education over a broad array of topics. -They are naturals at the arts of pyromancy, umbramancy, illusion, alchemy and mind control. -Their horns appear to have evolved to act primarily as a weapon, it can more efficiently unleash magic blasts than a unicorn's but it suffers from a lower power ceiling and difficulties maintaining their spells over long periods. -They can enter dreams like Princess Luna, they were in fact nicknamed dream eaters in the past. Their own dreams are linked together through their empathic senses. Thorax says he has trouble getting to sleep because his dreams are empty now. He's also a bit bitter that the only reason his dreams don't get him mocked and bullied now is because nopony else can see them. I've encouraged him to talk about them with us, it perks him up a first but then the fact I wasn't actually there comes up and then he gets depressed again. -Shapeshifting -Changeling shapeshifting is somewhere between casting an illusion and a complete alteration of their body. They coat their body in fluxfire that they then will into the desired form. -The disguises are nearly perfect down to the tiniest details like subcutaneous muscle twitches. Thorax took my form while Borderless performed an array of tests and only our most advanced tests noticed any differences and all but one was well within the margins for error and that one was a basic eye exam. Thorax has noted that if he had seen me without my glasses more he could have better mimicked my far-sightedness. -Shapeshifting is instinctual, they can perform it from the moment they are born hatched. Thorax is unable to articulate how it works in ways that aren't foalhood nursery rhymes. -While a disguise is active they project a "Make Prey Stupider Field," (no they don't respect us at all) if this has a less insulting name Thorax doesn't know it. In spite of the foalish name it does not effect intelligence but perception, it makes one more likely to overlook minor flaws in a changeling's disguise, to assume you're seeing things or that it isn't important. Thorax demonstrated how it worked by changing into Glitter Rain while leaving one of his wings unchanged, then approached Crystal Lance, careful to hide the unchanged wing from initial view, and had a conversation without him noticing it, despite Thorax making no other effort to hide it. Lance only noticed it after Thorax revealed the deception and explicitly pointed it out. The exact limits of this field are unknown due to the obvious difficulties in testing, changelings are taught not to rely on it. I find it ironic that they could improve this ability only with the willing help of the very prey they want to use it on. How fortunate then that we will be doing no such thing. -They have trouble mimicking eyes, a lot of little details that we subconsciously pay a lot of attention to. Spies carry hoof mirrors to help them with this. As an added bonus these mirrors can be enchanted for use as communication devices. -They can mimic voices and sounds even without shapeshifting. They appear to have both a set of vocal chords and a syrinx (the vocal organ found in songbirds). They can produce sounds outside of a ponies range of hearing easily and even produce multiple sounds at the same time. -There is no technical limit on how large or small they can shift but past a point it becomes painful to maintain. They can alter their mass to a limited degree but that only goes so far. -Changelings can merge their fluxfire shells together to form larger disguises. This also connects their minds and as such requires intense discipline and trust among the group trying it. -Their disguises can be disrupted by water or loss of consciousness. Before we go hitting everypony with buckets of water, Thorax was quick to note that these weaknesses can be overcome with training and doing so is a minimum requirement for a dedicated spy. It costs more energy to make lasting or waterproof disguises so they don't always do it but we can't rely on them being lazy, can we? -As proven by "Crystal Hoof" they don't need a real pony to mimic for their disguises. This is a more advanced skill but not hard to do apparently. It is more likely to have minor flaws however. -Removing part of a disguise, a hat, coat, etc, does not hurt a changeling but it will dissipate shortly after unless the changeling puts conscious effort into maintaining it or spent the energy to physically conjure the item. -They can mimic even complicated machinery as long as it's large enough to hide within. A skilled enough changeling could even mimic it's function through their magic. -Reproduction and Lifecycle -I will never reveal how this came up in conversation! Not to Borderless! Not to Starlight! Not to anypony! Not ever! -Contrary to popular belief changelings are not eusocial like a bee hive, although they style themselves as such. The Queen is simply their ruler, not the primary source of new changelings. She apparently hasn't been involved in mating for a least several hundred years, presumably to avoid inbreeding as it is taken as a given that all changelings are related to her at this point. -Changeling mating season roughly follows our own but can be triggered by an abundance of love. They generally have two a year, one after Heat Time in the late spring/early summer and the other in winter presumably to take advantage of the holiday season, but can have as many as four in a year if love is plentiful or none if a famine hits. -From the subject's descriptions their mating season is essentially ours taken to the limit. When it hits they lose control of themselves and when it is over they never want to think about again. -Not all changelings feel the mating impulse during heat time. (The lucky dogs) Whether or not a changeling mates is believed to be decided by a sort of collective subconscious. The changeling dislike of thinking about mating means their understanding of this pseudo hive mind is as much superstition as science. They have deduced patterns but do not have a complete understanding of it. -Depending on the time of year or your definition changelings either have five sexes or zero. They are not permanent, a changeling that was male one season can be female the next. -Most of the year changelings have no reproductive organs and only develop them during estrus ("itches") and reabsorbs them afterword. ("itches less, still hurts") This happens over a two week period. Both ways. -Generally only 10% of the adult population become male or female during this period. -As they develop the new males and females release pheromones announcing their status and attracting each other as well as up to a third of the remaining adult population. These are considered "protectors" and become more alert and aggressive as well as compassionate to other changelings. They, as the name implies, protect the breeders while they are vulnerable. -The remainder are considered "avoiders" and flee the scent. This is to avoid having too much of the changeling population concentrated in one place. They are known to become more craven and callous. Historically they are primarily made up of those who already took part previously and are currently raising young. -The fifth is simply those who are so isolated from the broader population that they never feel the mating impulse or smell the pheromones and undergo no changes. They don't seem to have a name and are considered more a subgroup of the avoiders than a proper sex. -When a critical mass of breeders gather in one place, as their instincts and pheromones dictate, they (I can only be blunt about this) engage in an orgy until they pass out. -They have no real memory of this. Or the following and preceding days. I assume due to all the hormones they don't normally have flooding their system. -In the past, before Chrysalis founded the Collective, they would form packs in the aftermath. Generally this centered around 1-3 pregnant females and 2-20 others (there is no pattern to the makeup of these packs beyond an ability to get along with each other. If the father is among them it is by sheer coincidence, they have no method of, or interest in, determining who fertilized which egg clutch) and head off to find a safe, love filled area to lay the eggs. This is believed to be where and when the earliest changeling governments formed. -The preferred egg-laying locations are damp, dark and warm as well as reasonably close to a settlement to feed on. Nowadays they have a dedicated nursery facility but in the past they would use caves and hollow logs in swamps. -After a half-year long pregnancy the changeling mother lays roughly 30 eggs. Up to half of these will be unfertilized eggs that will be arranged outside the main clutch as decoys. As the yoke inside rots the decoy egg the built up gases cause it to expand to match the growth of the real ones. -A clutch refers to the eggs laid by one mother. A brood refers to all eggs laid in a generation. The term clutch-sibling is used to refer to their closest relatives, Since changelings have a dozen immediate relatives and are encouraged to see every changeling as part of their family that means more to them than it would to a pony. -Changelings are a metamorphic species that undergoes several drastic changes through it's life. From egg to larva to pupa to nymph and finally adult. -After a year the eggs hatch into milky white, rear-legless larva. They primarily feed on their parents and dead rodents. Changelings can shapeshift even as larva although only into rocks and other small objects. The decoy eggs are disposed of by smashing them in front of the freshly hatched larva while yelling at them for failing to hatch. This is done to "instill a fear of failure into them at a young age." The lie is exposed during their sex ed classes years later. They are told a horrific lie and then expected to praise the ones who told it. I can't even begin to understand how a parent can pretend to kill an infant and live with themselves. -After two years a larva forms a cocoon around itself and becomes a pupa. They should ideally be the size of a stallion's cannon at this point. The cocoon is camouflaged to the environment around it, this is it's main defense as it doesn't fully harden until the last month of pupation when the changeling inside has stopped growing. They hatch in a year or so. -The newly hatched nymphs resemble foal sized changelings and cannot truly fly as the wings will have not hardened until their final molt which takes four to five years. -A changeling is physically an adult in 10 years after their egg is laid and are legally when they graduate from the nursery hive's education system. This usually takes 2-3 years. Thorax is 20. -They are not allowed to leave the nursery until adulthood? What in Tartarus? "Protecting the younglings is the collective's greatest responsibility. No threats are tolerated. Monoform or changeling, adult or youngling" he says, I say they're raised in a prison! -Buck! I just noticed he never mentioned parents in his description of modern changeling society, only the past. They are raised by "caretakers" a full-time caste of nurses, teachers and guards. The mother never sees her eggs again after laying them and they are raised to see Chrysalis as their mother and every other changeling as their sibling. One big happy family. I feel sick just hearing it. -The changeling conception of gender is completely unmoored from sex and is a relatively recent addition to their culture added to make infiltration easier. Voice is the deciding factor for gender, deep voices are male, lighter ones female. -Changelings are capable of crossbreeding with other creatures, including ponies. They call them halflings and it can happen either from an isolated breeder unable to reach a gathering spot in time or a pony stumbling across the mating grounds and entering the collective heat, from having "too good a disguise" or, rarely, from ponies trying to study and use changeling magic without proper safety measures. -Regardless of their origins halflings are accepted as changelings with all the rights and responsibilities that entails. Mostly responsibilities. -The Changeling Queen can turn non-changelings into changelings. "Adoption" as Thorax called it apparently involves Chrysalis touching their soul and injecting it with fluxfire and then sticking them in a cocoon to protect their changing bodies. Supposedly it can only be done to willing subjects but Thorax is doubtful of that, who could look into Chrysalis' heart and like what they saw? -Halflings can't be turned into full changelings, the not-changeling half is too resistant to changeling magic for it to work. -Hygiene and Medicine -Changeling doctors do not operate under the Hippocratic Oath. In fact sadism is encouraged and the fields of medicine and torture are considered interchangeable. Doctor Borderless spent more than an hour ranting about that, I haven't seen her this mad since she learned the crystal ponies still practice gelding. -A factor in this might be their resistance to sedatives and anesthetics, the few that safely and reliably work are hard to manufacture leaving most injured changelings facing surgery with two choices: bite down on something or take a blow to the head. If they get to choose. -Thankfully they rarely need surgery as they posses a frankly frightening regenerative ability. According to Thorax a limb can be replaced within a day and even decapitation is not inherently fatal if the head is immediately reconnected to the body. -Changeling first aid is simply making sure the injured have enough energy to heal and no foreign objects obstruct the wound or get inside them. -Dental hygiene appears to be treated as an afterthought and is primarily focused on maintaining their fangs. Thorax's front teeth are reasonably clean but the rear ones are coated in tartar and plaque. Damage to their fangs and venom sacs is the most common reason for a changeling to need surgery. -The average lifespan for a changeling is 120 years. -Changelings clean themselves by shapeshifting, an act that rapidly heats their body. The sudden, violent rearranging of their bodies prevent diseases from getting a hoofhold in their body. This causes a build up of char on their body. Most don't consider that a problem, they like smelling like charcoal, and simply chip off any excess that gets in the way. For more thorough cleaning they bath in boiling acid. (the boiling probably isn't necessary but the concept of bathing in not-boiling liquids baffled Thorax, it's apparently the only way to get a changeling to consider going near any body of liquid bigger than a puddle) -Ugh, when Cadance learned how changelings bathed she ordered the crystal ponies to find a supply of acid for him. Nice idea right? Well along comes Jet Set to offer them hundreds of barrels of acidic waste from his factories. If Flash Sentry and Red Ink hadn't put a stop to it the Crystal Empire would be storing Jet Set Aeronautic's toxic garbage and paying them for the privilege. Not that Jet Set minded at that point since the contract she'd already signed gave him thousands of bits if they reneged on their part of the deal. Got them coming and going and walked away with nothing but pure profit. I almost admire him. -Because they differ from other lifeforms so drastically changelings are immune to most non-magical diseases and parasites. They are conversely vulnerable to known magical aliments like Horn Rot and Dead Mana Disease as well as uniquely changeling diseases. -"The Giggles" A psychically transmitted compulsive laughing fit. It is believed to be contracted by eating the awkward laughter you give at a bad joke. Non-fatal on it's own but the sudden fits can hit at any time potentially causing injury. It generally fades within a day or two. -"Heartburn" For changelings that refers not to acid reflux but to the changeling analog to Spontaneous Equine Combustion. It is always fatal and they have no idea what causes it or how to cure it. The obvious idea to cure it (apply ice to lower the runaway body temperature) is considered worse, so they have no means to lower the temperature. Unhelpfully they also regard burning to death as a noble way to die. (I'm sensing a problem with the concept of Pony-Changeling peace...) You don't say. -"Chit-mites" Chitin eating parasites similar to ticks. The most common nuisance to a changeling. -"Phase Leeches" Leeches that can move through solid matter to get to a changeling's ichor. Currently believed extinct by changeling authorities but they've said that many times in the past. A species that can become intangible is unsurprisingly hard to wipe out. -"Drillsquitoes" Mosquitoes with drill probosces adapted to drink the blood of large exoskeletal or scaled creatures like changelings and dragons. -"Extreme Cold" Changelings are acutely vulnerable to frostbite and hypothermia. I think. They hate the concept of cold so much I can't tell if his rants about it's dangers are about real things it can do to them or not. Apparently it can turn them into zombies than "mindlessly destroy all that is good in the world." No, I don't know how that would be distinct from their normal behavior. -"Shell-Chewer Worms" Worms that chew on changeling shells. The name says it all. What do you want from me? -"Form-Lock" When a changeling is unable to shapeshift or trapped in a disguise. Technically a symptom not a disease, lots of things can cause it but it is usually associated with senility and old age. -"Open Mind Disease" A condition that causes a changeling's empathic senses to overload. Either broadcasting their thoughts to every changeling around them uncontrollably or, more commonly, hear every thought and feeling around them without any filter. Some changelings are born with this condition as a side effect of having stronger than normal mental powers. There is no cure other than permanently cutting off their powers although it can be mitigated through specialized headwear. -"Reskren to'non" The best translation for this aliment's name is "the chaos born of a well feed heart." When a changeling feeds they can obtain the memories and tics of their victim, normally this is harmless (for the changeling obviously, that level of draining is rarely pleasant for the pony) but in rare cases it can lead to an identity crisis. One of the Queen's elite, a changeling named Sour Sweet, seems to suffer from a form of this, constantly switching between a kind pony-like tone and seething rage at everything around her. -"Scripnel'kik" (Sharpshot's Ailment) A verbal tic that causes a changeling to repeat the end of their sentences, sentences. Some are born with it but it is most often caused by getting struck by lightning, lightning. Sufferers are useless for infiltration but apparently develop improved horn-eye coordination, making them favored as snipers, snipers. Cute. -The myths that changelings are allergic to garlic, mustard or roses are just that nor are they hurt by the tolling of silver bells or rooster crows. Wooden stakes will not piece their carapaces even if made from ancient oak, iron and silver ones will because they are metal not because they have any special vulnerability to them. Not even cold iron. They don't need permission to enter your home, they simply prefer not to leave signs of a break-in and find tricking ponies to be more fun. They aren't repelled by any holy symbols, at least that they know of. They can cross salt and running water. They don't like being near running water but that won't stop them from crossing it to get at their prey. They aren't repulsed by their reflection, which they have, if anything they love looking at their reflections. Thorax has no idea where the notion they don't have reflections came from. -Miscellaneous -A small group of changelings is called a pack. A large group of them is called a swarm. -They are pack creatures and get very uncomfortable when alone. I'll be blunt Thorax can get annoyingly clingy at times. I'm sorry that's mean, I'm just not a very social pony. It's a shame the only pony around here who seems to understand my "leave me alone to think attitude" is Flash Sentry. He's good conversation but his hobbies are songwriting and plotting to murder the entire Imperial Family. Are they hobbies when you get paid for it? -They are unnervingly obsessed with fire in a way that seems, for lack of a better term, primal. At dinner Thorax just stares at the candles muttering what I think are prayers. He was so happy when Cadance gave him the titles of Imperial Falotier and Imperial Bougeior, now he can set fires everyday without anypony getting mad. Except the Lords Carnelian and Tourmaline whose relatives had held those titles. And the rest of the Noble Houses of Precious Stones who hated seeing a foreign commoner get two Imperial titles. I wish she and Shining would think before they do things. Or at all. I wish they'd stop doing things. -This is paired with a violent hatred of all things cold. When Ruby Polish bought him an ice cream cone he blasted her with magic and hid in his closet screaming about "Indigo"(Chrysalis' favorite assassin apparently) finally coming to get him and how horrible his looming death would be. I have spent days on end explaining that cold things aren't inherently evil and he still doesn't seem to entirely understand. -I still don't know how their hole-riddled wings can fly but having seen Thorax's in action I can only say that they work very well. The test races with the crystal pegasi confirm the military accounts of their flying abilities. They can't fly as high or fast as a pegasus but are far more maneuverable. -While only having one test subject isn't very scientific and the relatively short gaps between testing weren't wholly ethical I still feel I've conducted a thorough series of tests on the effectiveness of various potions and chemicals on a changeling. Ingested potions did little beyond discoloring his teeth and giving a stomachache, only ones that effect the mouth directly worked as intended. Injection was a nonstarter, there are few areas a needle can hope to pierce and they don't have bloodstreams to circulate it anyway. Potions meant to be used as balms or body paint were very hit-or-miss, they're made to be used on skin and fur not chitin. -I've used every lie-detector spell, truth serum and honesty charm I can think of on him, in every possible combination, none worked. The closest, using some of the strongest on record all at once, just made him speak gibberish for a few minutes and didn't work at all after the first use. Changelings cannot be compelled to tell the truth. -They, or at least Thorax, are heavy sleepers. He's turned his bed into a cocoon-like nest of torn mattress and slime. Their sleep cycle appears to naturally be catlike, frequent light naps and a leaning towards the nocturnal. Do not startle a sleeping changeling! -Contented changelings make a weird sort of clicky-purring sound. It's adorable. On that we agree. -From Thorax's descriptions changeling society seems to be overrun with psychopaths. Did Chrysalis create this or is that their nature? Does it matter? -I have every reason to believe that Thorax is the most honest changeling alive and the choice to set out on his own makes him incredibly brave. He jumps at every sound and lies compulsively. What are the rest of them like? You know what they're like, don't be naive. Do you think a speech is going to make them all nice nice? -It is unclear how much of this applies to Chrysalis. Her medical records are classified at a level far above what Thorax could have accessed.