Purpose of Pods/Cocoons

[CMK]

There was some debate earlier on the thread as to what the pods actually do. Do they keep a pony in a suspended state of ecstasy/pain, or do they transform them into an actually changeling over a prolonged period of time? What is their true purpose?

Care to weigh in? EVERY opinion matters! (Some just more than others, though)

[Pawkaf]

Its kind of tough to figure out just what they are used for. Be it for simply holding prisoners. Or used for a more nefarious purpose. I think they are somewhat of a multirole. The changelings can then check individual pods and adjust with some magic just what each pod will do. Lets say one who has a weak will, and submits to them; they can adjust so it just leaves them in ecstasy so the changelings can feed.
So in a nutshell, I think they are used to observe just who will submit to them, and who will take a bit more work to make them give in.

[CMK]

Excelent theory. Personally, I view it as more of a reward/punish thing, forcing them deeper down into submission.

[Dragoon of the West]

I'll just go ahead and give my views and opinions here.

As Gen_Talon already previously suggested, I believe the Cocoons to be multirole in purpose and they can be used from anything to simple prisoner holding to full on transformation pods. The Cocoon's appear to have magic supression abilities, if only because Celestia would've made an attempt to escape in series.

The goo within it could theoretically be adjust by a Cocoon field worker to have a myriad of effects. Be they simple supression of movement and magic or have the abiliity to massage and ravage their captive. It would seem that the goo is a breathable liquid (which is a RL thing, if you don't know) and it may very well have enough, for the lack of a better word, intelligence to filter out any waste produced by the captive. Aside from this, the goo may also have a chemical or pheremone cocktail to induce a variety of effects from a simple aphrodesiac to a truly mind altering mix. In theory, the pod can also induce hallucinations or dream alterations to aid in the bending of the subject. The idea of the pod having tentacles is simply the cherry on top of the sundae.

To break down the various purposes of the pod to a few simple groups: Containment, Mind-Alerting/Brainwashing, Captive Breaking, Transformation (based on new position), or Reward/Punishment for a Loyal or Disloyal subject.

Ideally, all pods aside (but possibly including) containment will induce subconscious loyalty to the Hive and the Queen.

[76561198083709693]

In a fanfic you can get as detailed as you want. For the purpose of the threads on /mlp/, here's what I'm going with: Containment (Like the CMC in the comic), Feeding love to the hive/army/queen etc. If Anon submits willingly the pod can be quite nice. If Anon, or a pony, resits the pod, then it gets rape-y. The pods can turn any emotion into love to feed the hive. So enjoying the experiencing and feeling love is fine. If you resist the pod will torture you, thus producing emotion which it then transforms into love, that's why we want them in the pods, because then no work is involved in extracting love, it's all automatic. The pods CAN transform one into a changeling, but changelings cannot give love, only receive it - so unless there were an excessive lack of drones, love farms would be more useful than more drones. If the pods are used to transform one into a changeling, this takes a long time, even for ponies, and longer for Anons, since their physiology is even further removed from that of a changeling. For those who don't resit, and get the pleasurable pod experience, it's addictive, so a need to be in the pod develops.

As for mind control, Chrysalis can control one pony at a time (like Shining Armor) and even then it takes a long time to bring someone under her spell to the point of being controlled. If this were not the case, why trick Shining Armor for so long? Why not just mind control Canterlot into an instant army? Why lock Cadence and Twilight in the caves instead of mind controlling them? The only way it makes sense it that mind control takes a great effort, even to control just one pony.

As for eggs/broodmare stuff. That's mainly about changeling reproduction, and the /mlp/ threads are mainly about luring Anon's into pods. I just don't see how to fit it in. It's a fine proclivity to have, but it might work better in a fanfic than a thread. Of course, I'm open to suggestion on this.

[Dragoon of the West]

As I said elsewhere, alright with me. I write mostly from a fanfic writer's perpective and that will color my opinion on a lot of these things. And there are a few anon's who do like the idea of being brood mother's, so I'd prefer to keep that open.

As for Shining Armor, I'm (via Author's Fiat, admittedly) kind of assuming that she didn't have the opportunity to put him in a cocoon, him being the central figure of the wedding and all. She had also brainwashed the bridesmaids to keep Twilight and Cadance trapped, too. I don't recall any other Changelings being within the shield at the time, so she may very well have only herself to rely upon at the time. One could argue that Twilight and Cadance would've been powerful enough she could keep all three under at a time and a Cocoon requires a certain amount of upkeep.

[76561198083709693]

I have no problem with the brood mother idea. I just personally don't know what to do with it. I guess if Anon was into it the pod could use the goo with fill Anon with eggs, and transform him into an egg farm. But that seems like too complex a process to be fast, so I think it'd be most fun to start it in the thread, and just talk about "what will become" of the victim as the process goes on into the future. But at that point it's getting into the more indepth RP, which is fine, but it's more common for a thread participant to want to generally submit to the pod/chrysalis's will. If we make it see like the egg thing is mandatory, we'd likely get a few "I just wanted to be in a rape cocoon, nothing kinky." Which is an odd phrasing. In any case, be sure to mention that very few brood mothers are needed, if it comes up, so Anons don't think every pod is a trick to become a brood mother.

Thanks for reminding me about the bride's maids. Though keep in mind, only Cadence's magic love could free Shining Armor, where as the bridesmaids were defeated by flowers.

For the threads I think the cocoons are better as just a plot device. They require no maintainence unless otherwise noted.

[Dragoon of the West]

We coule presume that this is Chrysalis' home turf and thus has already have a maintainence force on hand.

With the Brood Mother thing, with what Three-In-One was referring to, it was more like the Queen laying her eggs in them. Sure, she could just use a hatchery... but where's the fun in that? Why not force/have one of your mortal enemies/willing brood mothers be a living hatchery for her young?

The most delicious coup... the enemy Celestia writhing beneath the Queen, moaning in ecstacy as her belly bloats with the Queen's eggs...

The pod is just there to... improve their capacity for eggs. There's a couple other details from the Corruption thread, but I won't go into them if you don't want me to. I understand this is a very specific fetish.

I can't recall... was the brainwashing defeated or were they just distracted?

[76561198083709693]

So the concept is that while they still have their mind, are still aware of and can feel what is happening to them, their body is taken over and used to propegate the very beings that are obpressing them. Am I gettting the concept right?

[Dragoon of the West]

Indeed... and while some minds still resist, the body has been trained to enjoy to process... from impregnation to egg laying...

That being said, the mind can be altered to make them more accepting... but with your mortal enemy, isn't it sweeter to let them know what you've done to them?

[76561198083709693]

It's a bit of a concept unto itself. We could do a thread CYOA style where Chrysalis is looking for a new broodmare, and and there could be some chase, where those who want to participate take roles, like Trixie in the recent threads, and then we go back and forth with the capturing, until they are ultimately captured, then the broodmaring begins. Who'd be in for a thread like this?

[Dragoon of the West]

Off the top of my head, One-In-Three... but that's kind of obvious, no?
I wouldn't mind watching some egg laying myself, either.