This one’s very neat :D

is this just a very magical way of changing their positions

and the truth is revealed chrysi and cadence are actually sisters and the whole thing, everything both of them have done has been to have the ‘exact’ results they did, its all one big conspiracy to spread love!

@OtherFritz  
What a great read!

@OtherFritz  
Cadance looked on, tilting her head curiously. “So you’re saying” she asked “that you could turn me into you and yourself into me? Is that it?”. The queen nodded curtly. Cadance, however, was still somewhat confused. With an inquisitive tone, she then added “But why would you want to? What are you getting out of this?”. At this, the changeling audibly supressed a contemptuous laugh. “This isn’t about what I’m getting.” Chrysalis remarked, an inescapable air of condescension dripping from every syllable “It’s about what your getting, what you need to get. You see, I believe it would help both of us if you could live as I live, that you might walk a mile in my shoes”. Cadance considered this for a moment.
 
“Well?” the queen demanded “What do you think?”. The princess was lost in thought, her mind racing. Curiosity burned in the back of her mind. The idea of shapeshifting was certainly an appetising one, but the question remained; could Chrysalis be trusted? If she was lying, why like this? It was such a peculiar claim. If the queen wanted to harm her, surely she could think of something better than this. Perhaps, even if she was telling the truth, she had some ulterior motive?
 
After a while, Cadance gave the queen her answer. Her head hung low, not daring to look the changeling in the eye, she spoke.  
“Alright, let’s do it!”
 
Chrysalis moved beside her, eagerness plastered across her face. “Just the answer I was looking for!” she exclaimed with no small amount of satisfaction “Now, take off those shoes, won’t you? I’ll be needing them”. With that, the queen’s horn ignited and Cadance found her forelegs consumed by a roaring green flame. It was a peculiar sensation; a feeling of heat, of sudden nakedness, of warm air against bare flesh. It was as if her fur, her skin, even the bone and muscle beneath it was being burned away by an ethereal flame and expelled from her, making way for the new form beneath. It was as if her body was but a fleshy coating, stripped off to reveal the chitin beneath, as if it had always been there.
 
The princess kicked off her shoes as Chrysalis had asked, admiring the blaze that now enveloped her forelegs. As the fire spread to her chest, she removed her peytral. “I think you’ll be needing this too.” she noted, mounting it upon Chrysalis’ chest. Cadance examined the area the flame had altered, furred flesh giving way to charcoal-coloured chitin. She could watch and feel sections of her legs sink inwards, forming great wet cavities that opened into gaping holes. The fire crept toward her face and back over her middle, filling her nostrils with the smell of ashes.
 
Flames licked at her face and rushed over her thigh, her cutie mark fading into the sable carapace. As the spell cascaded across her muzzle, Cadance seized the queen’s crown, swapping it with her own. Feathers detached in great clouds from her wings and combusted, revealing a pair of shining perforated wings. Sleek silky hair burned up in her mane and tail, replaced by the queen’s thick slimy cerulean sheets. As the spell finished its work, she allowed the shoes on her forelegs to come loose. When the flames died down, all that remained of her true form was her horn and a pink tinge in her eyes.
 
With that, Chrysalis’ horn grew dim and she stepped back to observe her handiwork. “Ah, I do believe I’ve outdone myself this time.” she noted with an air of contentment “Now, you turn me. You should be quite capable”. Cadance was about to object, until something occurred to her. The queen’s spell was buzzing in her mind. She couldn’t explain how, but the spell had carved itself into her. It came to her almost naturally. The princess ignited her horn, casting a blue-green flame over the changeling.
 
Cadance watched as the same fire that had transformed her worked it’s magic on the queen. The blaze began on her flank, the princess’s cutie mark imposing itself on a fresh coat of fur. The process went much as it had before, the queen’s carapace replaced with fur and flesh. Once the spell had done it’s work, Cadance was quite amused to find herself looking down at the former changeling. “Well done, princess.” Chrysalis purred, slipping on the princess’s shoes as she did so “It seems there’s only one thing left to do”. With those words, their horns ignited once more and a great flash filled the room.
 
“Oh my!” Chrysalis exclaimed, recoiling somewhat “Everything seems so much more colourful! Do you actually see like this?”. The princess was thinking something similar. Her new eyes didn’t seem to have quite the same capacity for colour vision. Cadance looked down and the queen, now a perfect duplicate of herself. Chrysalis, who was Cadance, remarked “Oh yes, I think I’m going to enjoy this!”. Cadance, who was Chrysalis, simply chuckled to herself. The former changeling approached her and leaned in, as if afraid some third party might overhear. “Well, I suppose that concludes our little meeting.” she said matter-of-factly.
 
“So” Cadance enquired “Now that I have your body, what should I do with it?”. Chrysalis shot her another toothy grin, which looked quite different coming from a pony’s mouth. “Why, anything you like of course!” she declared “You’re an outlaw now! You can do as you please, provided nopony catches you”. Cadance wasn’t altogether surprised by the queen’s answer, but made sure to keep it in mind. “I meanwhile” Chrysalis continued “Will be making sure everything goes smoothly during your absence, and testing out this new digestive system while I’m at it”.
 
“My, how very generous of y-” Cadance began to retort, before she could process the queen’s full statement. With that, her snide comment vanished into the ether, replaced with a question. “Chrysalis, did you set up this entire scheme just so you could get some free food from the palace kitchen?” she asked, somewhat disbelievingly. The queen’s expression told Cadasce everything she needed to know. “Of course not!” she cried indignantly, before admitting “Alright, maybe the idea did cross my mind once or twice. Even so, what of it?”. The princess didn’t answer, amused by the queen’s blustering.
 
Chrysalis trotted over to the door, radiating a thick cloud of annoyance that Cadance could taste. At the door, she turned and addressed the princess. “By the way, I’ll be wanting my body back” the queen noted “and I have no doubt that you’ll be wanting yours back as well. Trust me, spending too long in someone else’s body can really make you miss your own. I speak from experience. When you want to switch back, you’ll know what to do”. Inside Cadance’s head, which was technically Chrysalis’ head, the cogs where turning. Something that had been bothering her for a while had just resurfaced. Hurriedly, she blurted out “Wait! Is that why you were acting so oddly at the wedding?”.
 
The queen turned her head once more, giving Cadance a knowing look, before disappearing down the protruding staircase, leaving Cadance alone with her new body. Not long after, Cadance found herself gazing through the great elliptic window. From there, she watched as the mare in her body took flight and disappeared over the horizon.

Somewhere outside the Crystal Empire, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was staring intently at a tidy little map. She had received it in the post a few weeks ago, from an anonymous source. It had been enclosed in an envelope containing a peculiar letter, which had arrived not long after a diplomatic visit from the Changeling Hive. The letter read:  

 
Something about that letter had aroused Cadance’s curiosity. Her only public statement about shapeshifting had been to the recent changeling delegation, so whoever had sent the letter must have been present. But then, why bother with such secrecy? Surely if they wanted to talk they could have just come to her. Suspicious but still curious, Cadance had followed the map to a strange little den, hidden away behind a great cloak of vegetation.
 
The den was rounded in shape and built from an odd claylike substance. Cadance peaked into an elliptical window, revealing a fairly ordinary, if somewhat earthy, interior. Checking her map once again, the princess rapped her hoof against the wooden door. From inside, a cheery voice called out “Come in!”. Filled with trepidation, Cadance entered. From within, Cadance could get a better look at the esoteric abode. The room was lit by a softly glowing hemisphere embedded in the ceiling, the floor composed of thick wooden planks, spaced so as to leave the ground below visible. The windows where placed precisely, penetrating the thick blanket of plantlife around the den while still remaining indistinguishable.
 
“I’m up here!” the voice trilled again, leading Cadance up the curved staircase which protruded from the interior wall. Upstairs was a door through to a windowless chamber, left slightly ajar. The princess pushed through the door, seeing only an empty room before her. Almost automatically, she let out a wary “Hello?”. Behind her, the door slammed and she swivelled around. There, above the doorway, was a great back shape that clung to the ceiling. As the startled princess let out an instinctive cry of fear, the black shape scuttled to the floor and twisted itself to reveal it’s true form. Then, with a familiar voice, it spoke.
 
“Well, isn’t this interesting?” Chrysalis said, grinning profusely “I wasn’t sure you’d come”. Cadance recoiled in alarm and brandished her horn threateningly. “Chrysalis!” she cried “I should’ve know it was you!”. The queen grinned in obvious amusement, her teeth like great daggers, and raised a hoof. “Calm yourself, Princess.” she instructed, her voice dripping with condescension “I’m not here to fight”. Cadance paused to process this information, but did not lower her horn. Chrysalis was eying the princess as a cat might watch a bird. Eventually, she added “Well, I take it you received my letter?”.
 
Cadance produced it from her saddlebag and showed the changeling before her. “If you’re not going to attack me, why did you send me this?” she demanded. The queen regarded her for a moment and gave another broad smile; a thinner one this time. “I was hoping you’d ask me that.” she replied “Do you remember, just over a week ago, your meeting with the delegation from the hive?”. Thinking back, the princess gave a slight nod, wondering where exactly Chrysalis was going with this. The changeling continued “Well, I was there. I was listening to every word and I know you where curious about my species’, shall we say, “unique” characteristics. What was it you said again?”.
 
Then, Chrysalis opened her mouth to speak and the princess heard her own voice from the changelings mouth. “You know, I’ve always wondered” said Candance’s voice “what it’s like. Shapeshifting, I mean. How do you do it? How does it, well, feel?”. The words where certainly her own. She had asked one of the visiting changelings, though she didn’t remember his answer. As if reading her mind, the queen spoke again. “Well, I can answer that question, princess, and I do mean I’ll answer it.” she revealed, a hint of derision in her voice. Then she added, in a shrill imitation of a drone’s voice “I can’t explain it. You’d have to be a changeling to understand.” and followed it with a dismissive snort.
 
Before Cadance could interrupt, she started up again. “That’s why I called you here.” she explained “Because I want to make a deal”. The princess took a moment to think, inhaling strongly as she did so, and faced the queen with a fresh resolve. Looking the changeling in the face, she said “Alright, I’m listening”. In response, Chrysalis gave her a conspiratorial smile and spoke once more. “Well, I’ve had plenty of time to practice spellcraft since my ousting” she said “and during that time, I’ve developed something that might interest you. You see, I have created a spell that can perfectly replicate the biological makeup of any creature and apply it to any other. I hope you’re catching what I’m throwing, princess”.

@Average S. Wordsmith  
Makes sense, since their horns are the last thing to change.

@Background Pony #00BE  
I think they’re just exchanging magic. After all, it’s hard to act like the queen of the changelings if you can’t even perform the most basic changeling spells, and imagine trying to pass for the princess of love without being able to use any love magic.

So at the end is it implied they switched minds as well or overwrite themselves? hmm could be probabematic if they think they were always the other, but despite their bodies changed, there is still some lingering ttaits left each of their prior identies. Be it both positive or negative. Interesting.

Ohh, neat! Needs some lightsaber sound effects, maybe.

Nice one

This would make for an interesting fanfic premise.

Won’t Shining be surprised!

Okay, this is one awesome animation!

Secret partner I see :p

Whoa they even change height, right impressive this is!