(MADE BY: ROBYNNESKI) Commander of the Swarm

Our time has come! The ponies will stand no chance against us! Today, they celebrate their ceremony of love, but tomorrow, we shall be the ones celebrating, and their love shall be our feast. We have waited long, we have made our preparations, and now, at long last, the moment is upon us. The Queen will not find her subjects wanting. Assemble outside the shield when the order is given, and strike as one. Show these ponies what the power of the swarm truly means!

—Several hours before the Battle of Canterlot

A commission done by . I do not claim to have made this picture in any way, I only provided the idea and the payment. If you like it, please, head over to the maker's own front page and tell them so!

Changelings. Changelings always change their form, but also never change. It's a paradox for the ages. Well, not really, but it sounds superficially close anyway.
The FiM changelings have become a welcome addition to the ponyverse. They have provided something pony had been lacking before: a solid, numerous enemy force. And admit it, they are also pretty darn cool. Even if the individual soldiers did not present much of a challenge, together they proved to be formidable. And don't get me started on Chrysalis. I even wrote a 50k-word fanfic inspired largely by her.
I've also always been intrigued by the exact makeup of their bodies and how it connected to the armour of one of the changeling commanders we saw in A Canterlot Wedding. The blue layer on their torsoes looked like a carapace, but the commander's helmet was also made of the same material and didn't look like a part of his body. Are those layers on them actually just armour too? Are the helmets made from carapace materials? We may never know.
Me, I simply go with a blue armour version most of the time. The idea for this bust is no exception. I've seen a good, changeling-worthy helmet design among the works of , and we adapted it accordingly. As a result, we have a decidedly officer-like changeling with a combative attitude Chrysalis would be proud of.

Originally, I planned to commission a picture of my changeling OC, who still lacks his own reference shot (but will get one soon!). But seeing the way the sketch looked, I opted not to interpret it as such and instead went for one of the changeling commanders (if not the changeling commander) we've seen leading the rank and file soldiers in the show. I daresay that it turned out pretty nicely.

I do like that light reflecting on the left side of the bust; it seems to me to imply the changelings' green flames, either from massed ground slam attacks or from other shows of changeling magic. The attitude is portrayed well thanks to the narrow, wolf-like predatory muzzle full of those teeth and particularly with those large fangs, and the narrow angry eyes. The helmet seems to offer a nice balance to the head's other features: the horn, the ears and the "mane"-membrane. The shading along the lower head, the helmet's edge and the neck is done quite beautifully indeed, I like its gradual soft transition. Finally, the mantle around the base looks like the front of the changeling armour, and could also be a more distinctive look of a commander's set. All in all, it is a job well done. Thank you, ~robynneski!