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MoonlitBrush In reply to maximussolini [2014-11-26 19:42:22 +0000 UTC]

Evil is a matter of perspective. Humans breed cattle for the sole purpose of eating them, and in exchange their population is massive plus they have fulfilled their genetic requirements (eat, sleep, reproduce before they die).

I'm assuming a similar fate would have awaited Equestria, or else we would have a lion king scenario where all the food is eaten, the predator population shoots up, and either they move on or perish.

Is it wrong to eat? At least when a Changeling eats the creature is left intact and alive and capable of... the illusion of choice, assuming they are kept under magical control the whole time.

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maximussolini In reply to MoonlitBrush [2014-11-26 20:19:13 +0000 UTC]

If only Changelings would try to live more peacefuly, I don't think that anyone would have any problem with them. Chrysalis  is trying to feed her people in the worst way possible just because Hasbro made her a villain. For me Chrysalis is the best and most interesting character from the whole show (together wit Discord of course 8P) and I rather sad that her story ended that way 8/ (But the 5th season is coming, so who knows 8))

Also I didn't expect that my comment will make you write this massive reply 8)

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MoonlitBrush In reply to maximussolini [2014-11-26 23:25:49 +0000 UTC]

You're assuming that draining love doesn't have negative effects. According to what we have seen in the show, it isn't a pleasant experience and warps the mind of the afflicted. When shining armor is talking to "cadance" he disagrees with her, which she is surprised by and questions him on. When he remains adamant he has a headache, according to cadance, however his expression looks more like he's about to attack her, or is trying to intimidate her.

My conclusion is that the love draining process also acts to make ponies compelled to do what the changelings want them to do, and believe everything they say, making their prey easier to handle during the spying period. However it seems that doing this is less efficient than binding the ponies. It's possible that to gain complete control takes days of work, which would explain why it took so long to weaken shining armor. Eventually canterlot might have been filled with zombie-like ponies, free from external bonds but unable to resist changelings any more.

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maximussolini In reply to MoonlitBrush [2014-11-27 17:06:25 +0000 UTC]

Wait a moment. Wasn't shining armor under a mind control spell? He got a headache when he tried to resist fake cadence and after that she strengtened her spell. She wasn't forcibly extracting love from him, cos she didn't had to. Her cadence disguise was enough, to make him love her.

There must be a way to forcible extract love from someone (I don't think those captured ponies would give it away from they own accord), but it wasn't shown in that episode, so we don't know for sure. Also there might be some serious after effects, but after a normal love extraction, shining armor was only tired (but that might be side effect from the mind control spell, we don't know that)

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MoonlitBrush In reply to maximussolini [2014-11-27 17:27:18 +0000 UTC]

True, one scene suggests that his love is being drained at a constant rate, which has weakened him to the point he can't cast the shield spell when he's supposed to.

The mind control wasn't enough by itself to stop him from casting the spell, but it was enough to make him side with the fake cadance whenever anything happened. Once his love was drained the mind control overrode everything else.

In short, for the mind control to be absolute she had to drain his love for quite some time, according to "Queen Chrysalis: Ah, ah, ah. Don't want to go back to the caves, now do you? Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you. Every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell. Even now, my minions are chipping away at it. Queen Chrysalis: [laughing] He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control now. "

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maximussolini In reply to MoonlitBrush [2014-11-27 18:23:30 +0000 UTC]

I know that scene. I watched it few hours ago, to make a valid argument 8)

That should give us a final conclusion: If the changelings could just blend into the pony community and extract love from others from time to time, they would easily fulfill their needs, without resorting to violence. I think love is a renewable source, so the targets wouldn't be harm in any way.

Or maybe you have a different opinion?

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MoonlitBrush In reply to maximussolini [2014-11-27 18:36:57 +0000 UTC]

I think that love isn't an ambient thing that can just be absorbed, according to what happened within the show it has a debilitating effect on those being drained. The brainwashing became more effective because he was too weak to resist it, the day before the wedding he was strong enough to attempt to fight it off, yet during the wedding his headaches had stopped completely, as well as his ability to communicate or even notice his surroundings, so they can't have their love taken away for long.

If anything the changelings should have taken cadance prisoner as a means of food replenishment.

He only got better after cadance used her magic after all, otherwise he wouldn't have snapped out of the trance.

I also think that the changelings can exist within a community of ponies, but their presence would slowly weaken the partners of the ponies they had replaced. I think the brainwashing is there to override the whole "You're not the pony I fell in love with" thing that would happen since the disguise is merely physical and odds are changelings can't get the personality traits just right.

However, having your mind taken control of is immediately noticeable, so that's probably a last ditch effort on the part of the changelings.

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maximussolini In reply to MoonlitBrush [2014-11-27 19:29:20 +0000 UTC]

We agreed previously, that constantly draining your love will make you weaker, so also more vulnerable for mind spells and suggestions. Though there is also an option, that shining armor just wasn't needed anymore, so Chrysalis turned him into a puppet.

As to changelings hidden in community: A nomadic life would be perfect for them. If they were changing their living place regularly, then their partners didn't have to suffer from exhaustion. Brainwashing could be used during migrations, to help them with replacing their old partners.

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MoonlitBrush In reply to maximussolini [2014-11-27 22:16:55 +0000 UTC]

Though if brainwashing stops, ponies remember they were being brainwashed, which is problematic if they want to come back later, or if ponies communicate with other cities.

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maximussolini In reply to MoonlitBrush [2014-11-28 18:04:16 +0000 UTC]

Thats, true 8/ It seems that to live peacefully, changelings need some sort of consensus with the other side 8/

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