How long was Chrysalis impersonating Cadance?

[silvadel 1,393]

I mean it had to have taken her quite some time to set up.  My guess is three to six months.  The reason I am posting this is because the topic came up in a skype I am in and they seemed to all think this all went down in a single week.  I find that hard to believe.

[Jokuc 8,174]

Well I'd say that she had been down there for about 2 weeks maybe. I mean, there's not really a lot that Chrysalis would have to "set up" for. She knew her plan and she could become Cadence just like that.

 

Also, Cadence knew about the wedding. It can't be as long as you're saying.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Jokuc

[~StatesTheOblivious~ 1,795]

It can't have been for very long. I mean, Chrysalis actually wasn't doing a good job. She obviously didn't even know much about Shining's or Cadance's backstory, otherwise she wouldn't have done such a poor impersonation and would have known about Twilight. I mean, she acted like Twilight was a stranger to her, to Cadance. Okay, that was probably just implemented in the script to underline that she was an impostor, but it's definitely not a sign of a good, long preperation, or of her playing that role for a long time.

[FaZe Vinyl 521]

Not long. Maybe a week at the most. For two reasons.

 

1) Food/Water. When Cadence is trapped in the cavern, she has no way to get food or water. This would make it impossible to stay under for long periods of time. The only ways I see this being invalid is the fact that I'm using the time of survival for humans (3 days without water) and the possibility of Chrysalis sending food and water down to Cadence, through I doubt the later because I'm assuming that Chrysalis was planning on using Shining, then proceeding to feed and overthrow Celestia and Luna, then either proclaiming Cadence as dead, or continue being Cadence.

 

2) More than a little while would mean people would start to know what's up. At some point you can only go so far away from yourself before people start to notice.

[Fhaolan 4,484]

Under normal circumstances I would agree with you @@silvadel, being that wedding of that scale can take anywhere from six months to two years to plan, and Chrysalis would have done the switcheroo after the announcement.

 

But I have to accede to @'s point that Cadence's imprisonment can't have been for that long. I think I spotted water in one of the cave scenes, so it's more how long Cadence could have held out without food before becoming too weak to move. You can normally go without food longer than you can water, but I think more than a week would be unlikely.

[Yellow Diamond 7,575]

Probably several weeks at most. Cadance was trapped in the caves for some time; how she survived without food and water is anybody's guess. Either she managed to scrounge for very basic provisions (e.g., small pools of water; sparse plant life), or alicorn physiology permitted her to survive longer without nourishment than most mammals. She was nevertheless in pretty dire straits when Twilight happened across her.

 

Chrysalis clearly didn't have time to do her homework, given how transparent her ploy was to someone like Twilight. She might also have felt that she was effectively on cruise control, once Cadance was taken out of the picture. She had Shining Armor well in hoof with her manipulation magic. My guess is that Chrysalis was going to make a slow play, retaining her disguise up until Celestia, Luna, and everypony else was clearly overwhelmed. Twilight and Cadance's unexpected interference changed all of that, however.

[pinkiefan1287 610]

I highly doubt Cadance was down in the cave for 3 to 6 month.

 

For one, like everyone else has said, Cadance would have been dead by the wedding day, due to a lack of food and water. Twilight would have found a alicorn skeleton.

 

The other problem is, it would be hard for Chrysalis to keep up that kinda of act up for that long of time. She would have made some mistake with in that time period. There would have been other signs.

 

The last thing would be that wouldn't Shining Armor have been drained of all of his powers by that time? All his power most likely would have been gone in the first month. 

 

So I have to go with everyone else of this one and say it was about 3 days or a week.

Edited September 9, 2013 by pinkiefan1287

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

Consider how fast you can die of dehydration, I'd assume it wasn't very damn long. Even a couple days would be stretching it from a "how long could she survive in that cave" standpoint. 

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

I'm taking a wild guess stating it was about a week.

 

It makes sense as it would take that long to know what to do with her surroundings and the ponies around her.

[Radiance64 7,053]

Probably sometime before or after the 'threat against Canterlot' was made, during which Chrysalis probably infiltrated Canterlot and somehow got to Cadence and imprisoned her- we've seen that she can do it with one spell, so it can't have been for very long, a few days at most I'd say. She must have somehow learned the wedding date, snuck into Canterlot, imprisoned Cadence, and took advantage of Shining Armors love for her during the days leading up to the wedding to build up her power, with his love being its strongest at the ceremony of course where she was able to take complete control of him and stop his protection spell. Plus, she wasn't exactly a master of acting like Cadence, so yeah, not for all that long I'd say.

[Scootalove 10,689]

Chrysalis impersonated Cadence for a week, since it didn't take long for Chrysalis to imprison Cadence in the underground cave catacombs and take advantage of Shining Armor's love.

[Zygen 6,066]

No longer then about a week honestly, i mean first of all cadence knew about the wedding, second of all she while in bad shape was still alive, and if she was down there to long she probably would've died(who knows how she dealt with basic needs anyways. Water, food, a bathroom ;p. Something to keep her busy. Something to keep her from going insane.) So yeah basically it couldn't have been long, or she would have mostlikely died.

 

Infact while i don't know the statistics on ponies, humans can only last about a week without water, so i'd assume ponies couldn't last much longer. Unless a source of water was available.

 

I believe humans can go like 3 weeks or a month without food though.

 

Who knows, ponies could have even less ablity to carry water, although i doubt it, i'm pretty sure they're able to hold and store more food and water then humans(I think its safe to say that if they pee more then humans they can probaly hold more water then humans, but again i dunno how much. A weird way to analyze, but i suppose it makes sense.)

 

I wouldn't bet on her being able to last much longer then maybe 2 weeks tops. Considering the fact ponies might be able to last longer without resources then humans.

 

Maybe i should go do some re reading of pony anatomy ;p.

I looked it up, turns out horses can only go a few days without water, along with humans, atleast according to google.

 

So yeah, she couldn't have been there long.

[silvadel 1,393]

I would have to figure that she had water down there.  Food not so much.  She looks kind of emaciated but she doesn't seem dehydrated to me.

[Winona the Dog 1,984]

I'd say Cadence was trapped for about three days.

 

The first day Chrysalis infiltrates Canterlot. By this time Shining Armor and Cadence already have thier plans made and the wedding is still going to be held.

 

At some point Chrysalis gets Cadence and herself alone and that's when Chrysalis reveals herself and traps her underground. Afterwards taking on her appearance and sapping Shining Armor.

 

End Day 1

 

Chrysalis fakes a threat against Canterlot to get it on lockdown for some reason. Presumably to limit the amount of ponies to the wedding.

 

She then starts brainwashing certain ponies like her bridesmaids.

 

Twilight and her friends then appear and the show continues afterwards following into Day Three.

[Smarts 1,623]

It had to have been after Shining and Cadence announced that they were getting married, but before the wedding preparations took place. I don't know how long Chrysalis was impersonating her for, but it had to be for a little while. Probably a few days or a week.

Edited September 10, 2013 by SmartyPants

[Frith is Magick 1,471]

Judging by the fact that Cadence and Shining Armor still love each other after the debacle, they fell in love and decided to marry before Chrysalis came along. The royal wedding after its announcement would require time to be planned and word would require time to get out. This means Chrysalis was impersonating Cadence for only a short time before the arrival of the Mane 6, but long enough to establish her position and take over planning. I would say somewhere around a week.