@Jokaro  

… Seems so obvious after someone’s mentioned it…

@N2MP  
Because the word shapshift is pretty self explanatory.  
A more interesting question would be why does she have holes in her legs in the first place? My theory is that she was crusified but kept shapeshifting out of the nails, however the wounds would remain as scars.  
But who knows maybe you’re right. Or maybe she could just shapeshift into a slime creature like the Smooze and get free which she obviously doesn’t know of!

@N2MP  

Because it was the only part that really warranted a response – limitations of size or organic/inorganic composition are sort of irrelevant to the actual point of whether she can or can’t move her holes around or change their shape (and I agree that changing shape or composition wouldn’t remove the lock, except maybe by changing into something strong enough to break it), so I saw no need to return to that tangent once addressed.
 

Right back at ya; asking the other person to elaborate on the core point is not “getting hung up on” the core point.
 
And, just to be clear, the elaboration was quite satisfactory and you’ve shifted my position from extremely neutral/indifferent to leaning towards yeah, she’s actually stuck.

@Exhumed Legume  
You’re seeing what you want to see. I just emphasized it because it because that was your sole response to my previous comment.
 
If anything, I was annoyed at myself. It’s like, you see something you wrote, think something in it might get focused on for not being clear enough, dismiss it, and then get proven right.

@N2MP  
Better.  
Could use a bit less passive-aggression, but better. :)

@Exhumed Legume  
Ugh. I had a feeling you were gonna get hung up on that when I forgot to put ‘seem to.’
 
All we’ve seen is straight, one to one, full-body transformations. They become other ponies. They become other species. They can even become objects. But have we ever seen a partial transformation? It may not be impossible but she doesn’t SEEM TO be able to reconstruct her body whatever way she wants. There’s a difference between simple transformation and Discord levels of body reconfiguration.
 
And in the context of THIS image if she had that power she wouldn’t be in distress here. It’s not like her horn is blocked.

@N2MP  

And you know this… how, exactly?

@Exhumed Legume  
Haven’t watched much of the newer seasons, so I forgot about Rock Thorax and haven’t seen the episode with the baby changelings. Only makes the Canterlot Wedding look stupider if even babies can turn into things like that but the ones from the episode just turned into copies of the Mane 6.
 
But even so the idea is they transform into something else, so even if she turned into a rock she’d still have a lock stuck in her. And while she can turn into other things she can’t just freely modify her own, actual body, such as moving her leg holes so she can get the lock off.

@N2MP  

That aside, the assumption is that Chrysalis, being a shapeshifter, could open those holes to let the lock out.

I’ve seen a few people comment she could just transform to get out of the lock, but why do they think that would work? They can only seem to transform into a creature of relative size, so turning into another creature would only fill up those holes and make it exceptionally painful instead of just annoying. At best the lock would be treated like a piercing, which means she’s in no different of a position than before.

@Thorned Rose Ninja  
Suirano did a few images about that very subject.

@Kalash93  
Sub Chrysalis is an intriguing idea.

@Dirty Bit  
I am always use to that movie.

@3DRLunatic  
Yeah, I also like fire. Camp fires, s’more fires, house fires. Yeah, I like fire.

@3DRLunatic  
Pyromaniac.

@SmartMars603  
Funny that you mention arson, I have a long history with fire…

Shiny appreciates having the queen helpless for once. Cadance gets off on watching and directing the action. Chrysalis loves others taking charge and just getting enjoyment from what they can do with her.

@3DRLunatic  
Commiting arson because anarchy.

@Communist Starlight  
As I already mentioned. What’s better than having the prince in shining armor save you?

@genervt  
Hell, she probably lets it happen just for shiny to help her!

 
Yes she can.

@Twilight_Shimmer  
“Ooooooh~! Blindfold and ballgag next, daddy?”

@Background Pony #67DD  
Derpibooru - it’s for you!

@Background Pony #67DD  
But the lock is funny.