Ask a Shapeshifter

After the treaty, everything changed.

[askashapeshifter]

(Former) Changeling Royalty (afab, prince, retired). Hatched as Princess Chrysanthemum's younger sister, before the cataclysm that turned Flutter Valley into the Badlands. he masculinized himself through controlled molts over a period of years after the nascent changelings discovered that other species had more than one gender and thought this was neat, aesthetically speaking. changelings have gender and pronouns, but not gender roles. All reproduction is parthenogenetic. Any changeling genders are mutable and potentially subject to change at a later time.

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Finally an updated Metamorphosis ref sheet, albeit missing some angles that are still in progress. Really. Truly. I also need to fiddle with the two gradients on his wing, I think I might have angled them incorrectly. 

Based on a previous design by @tarajenkins, 2015. 

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May 9 2024: special thanks to @askcaffeinehazard for help and input to make the “chrome” gradients look better. (As of May 9, 2024, I have done nothing but teleport gradients for three days.) 

May 20 2024: revised shell coloration after nearly a decade. 

May 21 2024: ...those shell colors are starting to look an awful lot like Chrysalis’ colors. Ah well. It was bound to happen eventually. 

Sep 18 2025: revised shell gradient, scrapped swimsuit, streamlined puppet a bit, and I have almost finished a version of him after either consuming too much soda syrup or getting pregnant which may be posted on my mod blog. 

Oct 21 2025: fiddled with the positioning of the images a bit. 

Jan 19 2026: fiddled with background and biographical information, added shell gradient colors to Image #3. Image #3 is cluttered, may eventually revise or split into two images. 

Jan 28 2026: added a new image with a first draft of Dust Jacket (tail and ears need revision) and fiddled with layout of the images. 

February 25 2026: updated background slightly, and also made a new post as a test. Test failed but I learned something new.

[allyooops]

A belated birthday to our favourite bug @askashapeshifter 😁😁😁😁 a big happy family

[askashapeshifter]

Metamorphosis ref sheet, 2026.

(Former) Changeling Royalty (afab, prince, retired). Hatched as Princess Chrysanthemum’s younger sister, before the cataclysm that turned Flutter Valley into the Badlands. he masculinized himself through controlled molts over a period of years after the nascent changelings discovered that other species had more than one gender and thought this was neat, aesthetically speaking. changelings have gender and pronouns, but not gender roles. All reproduction is parthenogenetic. Any changeling genders are mutable and potentially subject to change at a later time.

Vector based on a previous design by @tarajenkins 2015.

Update: so the new ref sheet layout is incompatible with my blog theme. Back to updating the images in the older 2023 post, and pinning that one again. (I will probably update both whenever I make a change.)

[askashapeshifter]

Gonna upload the ref sheet pages again, but using Tumblr's new interface, and see if replacing them is difficult or not.

[askashapeshifter]

Kissy kissy!

[askinquiry]

DC: Tall, dark, and handsome, how could I ask for more?

((Actual MLP style is not a strong suit of mine, but I think it turned out pretty good!! Hope you enjoy @askashapeshifter​ ))

[shiftermod]

[shiftermod]

Metamorphosis at some point in his timeline reproduces and produces a single egg which hatches/will hatch into his daughter, Lobelia. And I'm experimenting with ideas.

So, is the changeling belly array stretchy on its own, or do the plates separate like a honeypot ant's?

As usual I am messing around with the puppets and iterating the design, and need to deploy some of the newer changes to earlier models and do some further experiments. I think I might be able to redesign both belly designs to fit over the default form instead of doing the (obnoxious) masking stuff I was doing previously based on the initial (failed) plate separation concept from 2019. If I play my cards right, I should be able to compartmentalize things so I end up with fewer puppets overall, which will make iterative deployments easier.

Re: Changeling Physogastrism

Stretchy material resembling "plates".

Plate separation over a stretchy connective tissue.

Voting ended onSep 23, 2025

[askashapeshifter]

Rebugging for bigger sample size.

[shiftermod]

Metamorphosis at some point in his timeline reproduces and produces a single egg which hatches/will hatch into his daughter, Lobelia. And I'm experimenting with ideas.

So, is the changeling belly array stretchy on its own, or do the plates separate like a honeypot ant's?

As usual I am messing around with the puppets and iterating the design, and need to deploy some of the newer changes to earlier models and do some further experiments. I think I might be able to redesign both belly designs to fit over the default form instead of doing the (obnoxious) masking stuff I was doing previously based on the initial (failed) plate separation concept from 2019. If I play my cards right, I should be able to compartmentalize things so I end up with fewer puppets overall, which will make iterative deployments easier.

Re: Changeling Physogastrism

Stretchy material resembling "plates".

Plate separation over a stretchy connective tissue.

Voting ended onSep 23, 2025

[askashapeshifter]

[temporary rebug]

[askashapeshifter]

I have been made aware that cuddling with Beloved Floofums™ does not make for an interesting plot, with conflict and action and anything interesting.

But sometimes it is nice to just have a nap and to doze in bed and to feel safe... and to feel desired.

Lazy Saturday mornings with the blinds and curtains drawn are the best. (Yes, I am aware we could just turn off the windows altogether, but then we'd have to turn them on again later, and fancy window coverings are traditional.)

Unrelated: the other day Chirp told me that some mean little pony had allegedly called him “an inveterate lovesucker,”—or at least, that's what I was able to finally glean.

At the time, Chirp was quite insistent that he is not an “invertebrate.”

I was sorely tempted to remark that it was good to see him show some backbone, but I worry he might take the compliment literally and shapeshift into something… questionable.

[pumpkinspice-creations]

The clean version of my mermay piece and the results of the stream! featuring @citizenscrapper @shiftermod @mordenheim @boxxie98

Here are the requests for my Mermay stream! If you were drawn you can pay $25 to have the image to be fully upgraded to a shaded piece. (when I return from break)

[askashapeshifter]

[Gorgeous work by @pumpkinspice-creations ]

[whirlwindflux]

Shakes off dust * yo bestie what did I miss I was a sleep to long

Flux: I wasn't sure if you'd be back either?

Flux: Hello? who else is still out there?

[askashapeshifter]

[mlp-ask-blog-doodle]

fancy boy

[askashapeshifter]

Fancy.

[mlp-ask-blog-doodle]

grown ass adults playing with their dolls

[askashapeshifter]

(Canonically speaking, I don't think Metamorphosis the character would necessarily do this. But I as the mod of this blog absolutely would. Look, look, that's Ironhide! He has a head! Not a chair! An actual head! And is fully articulated?! Oh, what a day! What a lovely day! *happy bug noises*)

[ask-a-grumpy-melon]

Honeydew needs ponies to attend the party! Reblog with a reference to maybe get a cute cameo as the Party Arc continues! 😁 I’d love to draw some of you beautiful ponies indulging in pizza at the Mel-Inn

[askashapeshifter]

(And also Beloved Floofums of course.)

(Also where in the timeline is this party?)

[allyooops]

A very Happy Birthday to my buddy @askashapeshifter !!! You are an absolute gem of a human and I love all the silly things we’ve talked about for our lovely boys ❤️ hope your birthday was nice and relaxing 😌

[askashapeshifter]

Thank you. I slept through most of it. ;w; But I have cake.

This is gorgeous.

[askashapeshifter]

[askashapeshifter]

In the future, as DC gets older and grows a full beard (I imagine similar to Balanced Budget's) Morph adapts his physical form and grows one in solidarity.

(Special thanks to @askcaffeinehazard Mod for helping me figure out the beard.)